BREAKING: Elijah Hawkins to transfer

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bga1 said:
A. He got a better offer
B. He is hearing what our guys and others on other teams are getting and he wants to find out what he is worth in the marketplace.

I hate to say it GHolers but Easy Pilgrim may be right. It's not gonna matter who is the coach if you don't have adequate NIL support. Those who are sticking their heads in the sand and saying- "these reports are BS...they aren't getting that kind of money"- are wrong.

Big money is out there for the better players (top 100-150 transfers) and it is pretty darn hard to tell a kid who hasn't had much money that they should just stick where they are and not market themselves when they hear their friends making bank.

There are a lot of things that have something to do with Ben. This isn't one of them.
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I think the money is continuing to grow by the day across the board.
 


MNVCGUY said:
The only saving grace in all this is that there are lots of guards in the portal....but this just sucks.
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Right, I wouldn’t be getting cute anymore if I’m Ben. Contact every kid with 4 stars after his name 😭 push hard for Evans too.

And Traore, Pryor, Foster.. everyone lol
 

MNVCGUY said:
Yep....this whole free agency, pay for play, portal era has really eaten away a huge chunk of what used to make college football and basketball great. Tough to get invested at all in the players when you have no clue if they will even stick around for more than a year.

Heck, at least in the Pros they have contracts so you can kind of assume a player will be around for at least that long unless they get traded.
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Agreed. The high-dollar, high-interest college sports business model isn't compatible with the new free and easy transfer rules. The golden goose will collapse eventually. A major reason why fans get invested in teams is for the individual personalities and styles. Take that away, and interest declines at least partially.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
I think the money is continuing to grow by the day across the board.
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The only real, significant NIL money that will ever go to Gopher athletes is when the U athletic dept can pay directly for it using TV revenue.

As it should be.

That day can’t get here soon enough.
 



Good Question = Why would anyone possibly want to be a college coach these days?
Better Question = Why would anyone possibly want to be a fan of college sports these days?

It's over folks, at least for a while. Soon we'll see people transferring teams during the seasons. It's the same legal argument of not restricting a student's ability to make money playing sports. If your team's not doing well, transfer to one that will get to the dance. If they lose in the first round of the dance, transfer to a team that did advance.

A solution is to legally separate the teams from the universities. We could still have a conference called the B1G, and a team called the "Minnesota Gophers", but it'd be separate legal entities just paying a licensing fee to the U of M. That way, rules for the league, and enforcement of those rules. could be set just like the NBA, NFL, etc. have rules.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
I think the money is continuing to grow by the day across the board.
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Of course it is. Administrations and boosters are seeing that this is a direct and fast way to change the arc of their program. Our administration will figure this out in 2026.
 

GoldenMAV30266 said:
Right, I wouldn’t be getting cute anymore if I’m Ben. Contact every kid with 4 stars after his name 😭 push hard for Evans too.

And Traore, Pryor, Foster.. everyone lol
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Would be really interesting to know how blindsided the coaching staff was by this. Think about it, they have been working the portal trying to fill holes while thinking the one position they really didn't have to worry about was PG because they had Hawkins coming back, Asuma coming in and Mitchell available to run the point at times.

Now they have to start actively pursuing Point Guards as well. I get that college coaches are paid well but at some point you would have to ask yourself is the stupidity of the current setup really worth what you are making?
 





FinnGopher said:
I am ready to dump college sports rather than any coach.

What is happening is an absolute joke. If no one has loyalty, then why should I care.

Let college sports burn to the ground at this point. Just start up Euro league levels of pro teams and universities can rent out their facilities.
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well said
 

It's gross but at this point you need to be contacting every kid on every lower level team and offering them $$. Hey kid I know you like Samford/Liberty/old dominion etc but we can offer more here. It's all slimy but I guess it's the only way to play?
 



Panthadad2 said:
Agreed. The high-dollar, high-interest college sports business model isn't compatible with the new free and easy transfer rules. The golden goose will collapse eventually. A major reason why fans get invested in teams is for the individual personalities and styles. Take that away, and interest declines at least partially.
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If you have no connection to the players you may as just watch pro sports and see the best in the world do it as opposed to a collection of guys your team was able to put together for the season.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Would be really interesting to know how blindsided the coaching staff was by this. Think about it, they have been working the portal trying to fill holes while thinking the one position they really didn't have to worry about was PG because they had Hawkins coming back, Asuma coming in and Mitchell available to run the point at times.

Now they have to start actively pursuing Point Guards as well. I get that college coaches are paid well but at some point you would have to ask yourself is the stupidity of the current setup really worth what you are making?
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At this point, they should just offer senior guards from small schools that were stat sheet stuffers. No point in being picky and looking for multiple years if they won’t stay.

I don’t like Mitchell playing point. He seems like an off ball guard to me, and if they want to compete, they can’t lean on Asuma to start. He needs 2 PG/CG’s now. Along with another C and wing.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Yep....this whole free agency, pay for play, portal era has really eaten away a huge chunk of what used to make college football and basketball great. Tough to get invested at all in the players when you have no clue if they will even stick around for more than a year.

Heck, at least in the Pros they have contracts so you can kind of assume a player will be around for at least that long unless they get traded.
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That's what the scholarship used to do, but now it's the Wild Wild West. I agree with NIL, but shouldn't be mixed with recruiting. Now that the cat is out of the bag, I'm not sure how guardrails can be set without lawsuits.
 

Full Speed Ahead said:
Good Question = Why would anyone possibly want to be a college coach these days?
Better Question = Why would anyone possibly want to be a fan of college sports these days?

It's over folks, at least for a while. Soon we'll see people transferring teams during the seasons. It's the same legal argument of not restricting a student's ability to make money playing sports. If your team's not doing well, transfer to one that will get to the dance. If they lose in the first round of the dance, transfer to a team that did advance.

A solution is to legally separate the teams from the universities. We could still have a conference called the B1G, and a team called the "Minnesota Gophers", but it'd be separate legal entities just paying a licensing fee to the U of M. That way, rules for the league, and enforcement of those rules. could be set just like the NBA, NFL, etc. have rules.
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Universities are in a quandary. Big time athletics drives donations and marketing awareness as well as TV/gameday revenues. Do the donations continue if the athletes and sports are separated from the universities?
 



Full Speed Ahead said:
Good Question = Why would anyone possibly want to be a college coach these days?
Better Question = Why would anyone possibly want to be a fan of college sports these days?

It's over folks, at least for a while. Soon we'll see people transferring teams during the seasons. It's the same legal argument of not restricting a student's ability to make money playing sports. If your team's not doing well, transfer to one that will get to the dance. If they lose in the first round of the dance, transfer to a team that did advance.

A solution is to legally separate the teams from the universities. We could still have a conference called the B1G, and a team called the "Minnesota Gophers", but it'd be separate legal entities just paying a licensing fee to the U of M. That way, rules for the league, and enforcement of those rules. could be set just like the NBA, NFL, etc. have rules.
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This is the one reason I have hope. College coaches held all the power before this new era of free agency and NIL. They have lost a ton of power to the players. If there's anything we know about human nature is that people love power and money. They're still getting money, but no longer have nearly as much power. I can see a collective of them banding together to force change at the NCAA level (or some other institution for basketball and football only to replace it). If you are a college coach, I think this current system is untenable. Even the big time schools are getting raided of their talent, so it's not even the haves vs. the have nots. There is no way this system keeps going as-is. It may take a number of years, but it would seem the most likely outcome is actual payment of players (through the Universities, not NIL collectives), make them employees, and have them be under contract.
 


GoldenMAV30266 said:
At this point, they should just offer senior guards from small schools that were stat sheet stuffers. No point in being picky and looking for multiple years if they won’t stay.

I don’t like Mitchell playing point. He seems like an off ball guard to me, and if they want to compete, they can’t lean on Asuma to start. He needs 2 PG/CG’s now. Along with another C and wing.
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Getting a PG is a must, Mitchell is not a PG, he's a guy that should just be ready to shoot when he gets the ball, dribbling prohibited.
 





Full Speed Ahead said:
Good Question = Why would anyone possibly want to be a college coach these days?
Better Question = Why would anyone possibly want to be a fan of college sports these days?

It's over folks, at least for a while. Soon we'll see people transferring teams during the seasons. It's the same legal argument of not restricting a student's ability to make money playing sports. If your team's not doing well, transfer to one that will get to the dance. If they lose in the first round of the dance, transfer to a team that did advance.

A solution is to legally separate the teams from the universities. We could still have a conference called the B1G, and a team called the "Minnesota Gophers", but it'd be separate legal entities just paying a licensing fee to the U of M. That way, rules for the league, and enforcement of those rules. could be set just like the NBA, NFL, etc. have rules.
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I'd take $5 to $10M a year for 3 years.

As a fan, I can turn it off and one come the first game of the season when I know who the team is.
 


MNVCGUY said:
If you have no connection to the players you may as just watch pro sports and see the best in the world do it as opposed to a collection of guys your team was able to put together for the season.
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yep just said the same thing to a co-worker!
 

He’s too short and a defensive liability!
 

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