This is an opinion column.
Last we spoke on Sunday, the idea of setting narratives was the topic.
It’s often the sport of choice in what we call the “offseason” — a mythical quiet time on the sports calendar when we pretend nothing happens. That’s especially not true this summer when the very idea of collegiate sports is being redefined.
We’re talking about the College World Series for Hearts and Minds and this revolution isn’t televised. Or perhaps that contract with ESPN is still being negotiated.
Either way, the latest stage for this drama was set in a third-floor lecture hall on the beautiful Homewood campus of Samford University. On Monday morning, the athletic directors from Alabama and Auburn spent an hour meeting with reporters, editors and students at the Associated Press Sports Editors regional meeting.
A full hour on the record with the Administration Iron Bowl wasn’t something to miss given the upheaval over everything from athlete compensation to roster sizes, NIL and transfers — all the fun and exciting stuff that keeps the internet afloat before football season.
And there were several interesting and good points made by Greg Byrne and John Cohen.
They agreed it was difficult to speak definitively on where the legal settlement in the House vs. NCAA case would land when complete and that’s fair. Cohen joked he was afraid to say anything that would end up in federal court.
The two actually go way back, and each brings a unique background to this conversation. Auburn’s Cohen, for example, spoke about growing up in Tuscaloosa with a father who taught at the UA School of Law. Going back to his childhood, Cohen remembers his father telling him that one day collegiate athletes would be paid more than their scholarships, room and board. Incredible foresight in a time before cable television rewrote the business model.
Byrne is a second-generation big-time athletics director whose father (Bill Byrne) led departments at Oregon (when it was in the Pac 10), Nebraska (when it was in the Big Eight and Big 12), and Texas A&M (when it was in the Big 12). The younger Byrne lamented the loss of the Pac 12, which was the victim of mismanagement and an unregulated conference structure that ate itself.
“That’s not good for college sports, and it’s not good for opportunities for young people,” Byrne said.
It’s another example of how we find ourselves in this moment where nothing is sacred and the suits screwed things up for the athletes, fans and everyone else who loves collegiate sports.
Who is to blame?
A lack of foresight is also how the NCAA and its member institutions are wrangling with plaintiff attorneys over athlete compensation and the minimally regulated NIL/transfer space.
Do Byrne and Cohen think mismanagement plays a part in where we find ourselves?
“The easy way to say it is yes,” Cohen said. “But I think you have to go deeper than that. Nobody has a crystal ball. Definitely I think you could see some things evolving at an early stage. Could some of the issues we’re facing now have been– not necessarily be avoided but worked through at a higher level many years ago — probably. But at the same time, nobody could have imagined exactly where this was going to go. So the easy thing is to be critical and be a Monday Morning Quarterback but I think it’s more complicated than that.”
Byrne agreed. He said nobody would start a business with college athletics with football being the only major money maker and every other sport outside of men’s basketball losing money.
“You can blame leadership if you want,” Byrne said. “That’s an easy go to. One of the sayings I’ve said for a long time — probably one of the only original sayings I’ve ever come up with — is people are all for progress and change as long as it doesn’t inconvenience them.”
Byrne related it to the changes in journalism — certainly not immune from mismanagement at the top.
“Y’all have gone through an evolution,” he said. “We’re going through an evolution and we have to adjust to it.”
How that all shakes out will be a challenge to overcome.
“There are challenges and laws and colliding and we’re in the middle of it,” Cohen later said. “That part is not fun but we do recognize this is a new frontier. There will be some positive aspects to this and some kids — some kids — will profit from this and get some opportunities that they didn’t have in the past. Those are the good things. The idea, the thought that Harry Cohen had 50 years ago was great but how is it going to happen in our current system?”
A few takes on transfers
The conversation later shifted to the transfer market and its evolution coinciding with the introduction of NIL in 2021.
They made interesting points about SEC schools having fewer scholarship spots available for high school recruits given the vacancies filled by transfers. That starts a cycle where someone with SEC-caliber talent might begin a career at a smaller school and then attract the attention of the bigger programs down the line.
Byrne mentioned Mark Sears, a transfer from Ohio who’ll play his third Alabama season beginning in the fall.
“That’s great for the individual,” Byrne said. “… You also feel for the kids who were at Ohio who were playing with Mark. That impacted them too. Sometimes in the world of the portal, it’s much more thought about from the individual’s standpoint than from the team’s standpoint.”
Byrne went on to note some of the hypocrisy of this.
“That happens when a coach leaves. That happens when an AD leaves,” he said. “We have both done that. So pot meet kettle on this, but I also think these decisions aren’t just in a vacuum so it’s made it more challenging for the Group of Five level to keep their roster intact just like it’s difficult to keep our roster intact.”
Cohen took it a step further. Before moving up to the AD role at Mississippi State in 2016, Cohen was a college baseball coach at Northwestern State, Kentucky and in Starkville.
“I can’t imagine coaching at that (small school) level, and I did, but I can’t imagine coaching and developing a kid for two or three years, finding that kid and having a relationship with that family. And then they get too good or they perform too well against the wrong team. I guess that’s just the new world they live in. That’s life.
“But there’s something about that that doesn’t feel good.”
Forgive me, but for who?
Who are we serving here, the coaches or athletes? If there’s room for upward mobility of the coaches, why shouldn’t the players have the same opportunity? It’s also worth noting Cohen began his baseball playing career at Birmingham-Southern before transferring to powerhouse Mississippi State after his freshman season.
While certainly not the most inflammatory comment in the history of quotes, it speaks to the disconnect at times between the objectives of the athletes and those who run the departments.
With all that said, managing an athletics department in the summer of 2024 is an unenviable position. Competing interests are everywhere and keeping everyone happy is impossible.
Looking at the hour conversation as a whole, neither came off completely out of touch. They genuinely want to get it right and they’re partially paying for the mistakes of those who came before them.
It’s also important to keep the lines of dialogue open. Spending an hour picking the brains of those atop the pyramid of the two most powerful athletics departments in the state was enlightening and appreciated.
We should do this more often because everyone has something to say in these consequential times. These powerful leaders have countless platforms to convey their narratives and it’s our job to add context and, when necessary, accountability.
Respectful disagreement is all part of decoding narratives.
So it’s fitting we had this talk in a college journalism classroom.
“This will go more toward the students,” Byrne said in a closing remark Monday. “The media is really important, OK? And I think reputable and good reporting is critical to our country and is critical to telling the stories of people.”
That we can all agree on.
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.
