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OPINION | WALLY HALL: Crazy times set to get crazier in college sports

by Wally Hall | July 27, 2022 at 2:53 a.m.

If you thought the college world of perspiring arts has been a little crazy with the transfer portal and NIL, brace yourself. It is about to get crazier.

It is expected that a week from today, Aug. 3, the NCAA will rubber stamp the Transformation Committee's recommendation to allow unlimited transfers for student-athletes who are academically eligible.

Yes, an athlete could play for four different schools as long as the athlete keeps up their grades, and the institution that accepts them finds scholarship money.

One has to believe that if coaches could have seen this coming back in the 1970s, they would not have voted out the four-year scholarship contract.

Apparently with scholarship limits on the way, they didn't want to feel like they were stuck if they made a mistake.

As for the Transformation Committee -- headed by SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and Ohio University Athletic Director Julie Cromer -- it is trying to be fair to athletes who were far too restricted in the past.

It isn't going to stop, either. The Big Ten has received a demand from players for a share of TV revenue.

Now, though, coaches run the risk of a yelling at a kid, hurting his feelings and he's out the transfer portal before they can work it out.

It is expected the Transformation Committee is also going to recommend some conferences make some of their own rules and not be under the NCAA umbrella.

Another way to put that is the SEC and Big Ten are tired of sharing revenue with smaller conferences.

Currently every member of the NCAA, from the smallest to the largest, gets one vote. All votes are equal.

That's why there are 85 scholarships instead of 120.

Next week is huge for the future of college athletics, and we don't even know all the recommendations that are going to be made. But Sankey revealed the unlimited transfers at SEC Media Days last week.

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A couple of interesting things came out of Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman's time on the podium last week.

Pittman's new contract has an SEC non-compete clause, which means he'll never be the head coach at another SEC school and that clause was his idea.

He also praised Chris Evans and Felicia Saine and their staffs on the academic side for football graduating 100% of its athletes who exhausted their senior year since Pittman arrived on the UA campus.

Lastly, and this didn't come from Pittman but evoked a "Go Hogs" from him, the Razorbacks are 16-6 against the betting spread the past two seasons.

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The University of Arkansas men's and women's golf teams, who finished last season ranked, have been invited to participate in the second Jackson Stephens Cup that will be played at Seminole Golf Club in Semo, Fla.

The Stephens Cup is a national collegiate golf tournament, named in honor of the late Jackson (Jack) T. Stephens, the former chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and a founder of Stephens Inc., a Little Rock-based investment firm.

"Our goal is to create a distinctive and highly-competitive collegiate tournament that is comprised of tomorrow's PGA Tour and LPGA stars playing some of the country's premier golf courses," said tournament chairman Warren Stephens. "Dad [Jack Stephens] truly believed that golf instilled life lessons and built character, especially when started young. Therefore, he would be very humbled and proud that this tournament is named in his honor."

There are seven teams in each division and play will be Oct. 9-12.


Print Headline: Crazy times set to get crazier in college sports

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