Roster Turnover by College Coaches Good for Short Term, but Could Cause Long Term Damage

Programs like Arkansas basketball, Colorado football could face unintended fallout

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas freshman guard Derrian Ford is now gone from the Razorbacks and, from all reports, it was as amicable as can be in the situation. 

However, the move again puts the spotlight on what college sports has become. While this practice of turning over the entire roster has worked out in the short term, it is beginning to become a hard pill to swallow that could have long term effects on recruiting, especially in-state.

It has already become difficult for the Razorbacks to bring in quality basketball players from Central Arkansas. It's quite possible that with the departure of Ford, coaches in South Arkansas who coached against him or kept up with his exploits might stiffen at the idea of sending their players to colleges that churn the roster so heavily as well.

For those who go to work every day at the office surrounded by adults all the time, seeing the roster sifted as if it's an NBA team probably doesn't faze them much, especially if they don't have children. However, for the million-plus educators in the country, seeing the system that has been implemented by way of the transfer portal in college basketball and most recently in football at Colorado is hard to watch.

That's why it is becoming increasingly difficult for teachers and coaches to feel good about encouraging athletes to pursue their dreams at certain schools. For Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders, this could be a one-time house cleaning in Colorado, but with Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman and a handful of his college basketball peers, it's the yearly strategy. There are a few high school coaches who have said they are OK with the be the best right away at 18 or be able to handle being asked to move elsewhere approach, but most express a need for at least a second year to develop under a coach if the player wants.

With the convenience of the transfer portal and implementation of NIL, college athletic programs have begun to treat their athletes as commodities instead of people. Even with a roster full of players who have publicly stated they are coming back, the contacts keep coming and the roster keeps churning until the last possible moment. Building college rosters truly have become a non-stop moving assembly line.

This creates difficult situations for educators who are willing give their lives if necessary to protect their students. These are kids they have loved as their own children for the past several years and, in many cases, have known since they were little.

Whether anyone likes it or not, college athletics take place in an educational setting, which means players should be seen as humans, not tools or contracts. Educators see the young men and women for whom they are responsible through a lens of deep humanity. The number one goal of education is to give students a place where they can feel safe and at peace because, without that, education cannot happen to its fullest. 

Life may be a total disaster at home, and a lot of times it's a nightmare that can't be escaped, but in an educational setting, students are to feel loved and valued. At school there is no estranged father banging on the side of the house at all hours of the night making threats while children cower in their beds. At school there is no stepmom strung out on drugs or an empty refrigerator. 

Even students who come from good homes go through rough patches. Teachers and coaches do the best they can to take the broken and hold them together. They guide them through dark times and celebrate with them when the highs come along, especially when dreams come true. For a kid growing up in Arkansas, that dream is often to become an Arkansas Razorback — putting in all the work to do the state proud.

Those same educators and coaches who went through the highs and lows, complete with break-ups and disappointing moments do all they can to help achieve dreams. However, asking someone who teaches students each year to step over their injured body and keep moving to get to safety in the event of a school shooting to then be comfortable with helping them go to an environment where odds are they will lose everything that matters to them is a lot.

Fewer and fewer coaches and educators are going to encourage athletes to become part of programs where college coaches are so willing to pull the rug out from under them. The damage that does to the players is immeasurable. One minute they're living the dream, making friends, possibly falling in love while doing what they always hoped. The next they are being told they're not wanted, not worthy of further development, and cast away from everything they know. Even if that's not the intention of the college coach, it's the message that's often received.

High school coaches have a huge influence on decisions made by their athletes in all sports. There'a reason SEC caliber players from certain high schools left the state to play elsewhere in the conference in the early 2000's. There has to be a trust that the young men and women these coaches send to specific universities will take care of them. Again, a few are understanding of the process in place, but most want their athlete treated with the same care and effort toward development they would provide.

Once that trust is broken, it's hard to get back and the pipeline closes. The question then becomes how many other pipelines close with it.

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