The bottom third of G5, DII, DIII, and NAIA coaches are worried about one thing only: returning production on the offense side of the game. Coaches know what they need to score consistently to win in their system. And won/less records are nearly always driven by an analysis of whether certain offensive production factors are met. Defense can fluctuate year to year and still rwin but offensive production has to remain consistent or the losses follow.
So your proven producers are commanding the most in the portal right now. A G5 WR with 1,500 yards last season is getting more offers and more money than a former 4 star Alabama WR who didn’t play but has similar analytics like speed and arm length etc. same thing for a 6’9” forward scoring 6 points and 6 rebounds a game.
So those guys are leaving the lower third. So the lower level coaches are sweating how to replace them. They don’t care so much about the NIL stuff. You don’t miss what you never had and nobody they are talking to is offering money either — yet. It’s losing a 1,200 yard WR and replacing with two new hs recruit WR who were ready to play and wouldn’t have come there unless they could play, but only combined for 910 yards the following season and the team dropped 4 more games.
A lot of the coaches are leaving because the find the salary stuff distasteful. Some are just saying that. Many can see that they won’t be able to attract players and retain them who have the quality to hit the minimum production numbers to make their system work. Something they dedicated their lives to perfecting.
Which is what makes TU’s new coaching staff a little concerning. They brought in talent, but nearly all of it is unproven. Which likely means we went cheap in the winter. We shall see this summer.
Let’s hope Konkol is seeing a labor pool that can get his offensive production numbers up to make his system work,
