Bearknuckle said:

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boognish_bear said:

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I just don’t see how the current college football landscape is sustainable

Iowa State had been a solid program for years

Now?

They have 17 players remaining on the roster for next year, only 1 returning starter

It’s impossible to compete like this pic.twitter.com/H132azdfAX

— CFBTalkDaily (@CFBTalkDaily) December 29, 2025

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most programs who just lost a head coach experience dramatic turnover in this era. But unlike NFL contracts, NIL deals are season to season with no guarantees for players who transfer, so they aren't taking massive financial hits when it happens.

It's a ****ty situation overall no doubt, but it's not like Jimmy Rogers is going to be unable to field a team next season.

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they hired a good coach - maybe better than MC.

they'll be fine - as fine as a smallish not exactly super monied university can be in CFB 2025+.

- UF

wh/ is probably the same as dear ol' BU.

D!

It looks bad, but it's not Colorado, OSU, ISU bad.

boognish_bear said:

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Much chatter about an incoming 9th Circuit-based Title IX athletics lawsuit challenging football-heavy revenue-share distributions. 👀

— Scott Schneider (@EdLawDude) December 29, 2025

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This really won't stop anything. The revenue share thing is not the issue. Unregulated (and unregulateable) NIL, paired with a fully Tim Walz level transfer policy has ruined the college game.

Any attempt to regulate NIL is going to get spit roasted by SCOTUS.

It would be ideal if they threw out Title IX altogether, but given the current composition of the court that is highly unlikely.

So far we've only been able to hear who is thinking about leaving. Starting tomorrow we should start hearing about who may be coming here.

That should start giving us a feel if McNamee has been able to rev up some of the donor base or not.

Que Johnny Cash's I've been everywhere man

Committed to Washington in 2020

Decommitted from UW Feb. in ‘21

Committed to Texas in June ‘21

Flipped & signed w/Oregon in Dec ‘21

Transferred in May ‘23 to Indiana

Committed to Oregon St in Dec. ‘23 l

Transferred in April ‘24 to Michigan St

Transferred May ‘25 to UCLA https://t.co/ZnvCzLgX5w

— Lars Hanson (@LarsHanson) January 1, 2026

Ppl laugh at Michael Irvin, but he is what we’ll probably never see again due to the transfer portal. Something to be said about the pride you have when it comes to your alma mater.

— Israel Troupe (@troupestar28) January 1, 2026

Colton Price must be entering

DTBear said:

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Colton Price must be entering

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Painful if we do end up losing him, but Koltin Sieracki should be ready to step up this year if we do (Junior year is typically when players make a breakthrough at OL).

I need an update (maybe an addendum to her letter) on what Linda thinks about the current state of our roster and recruiting class. If this is her definition of "...retaining our current roster and protecting a nationally ranked recruiting class...", then yikes. She added that doing both were "...essential to our future success...."

I hope our portal signings go well, because the current state of our roster and recruiting class cannot possibly be what she meant.

True Grit said:

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I need an update (maybe an addendum to her letter) on what Linda thinks about the current state of our roster and recruiting class. If this is her definition of "...retaining our current roster and protecting a nationally ranked recruiting class...", then yikes. She added that doing both were "...essential to our future success...."

I hope our portal signings go well, because the current state of our roster and recruiting class cannot possibly be what she meant.

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I think she was just told what to say not knowing that to the rest of the world it just sounded like an idiot farting out of her mouth.

BUATX2000 said:

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True Grit said:

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I need an update (maybe an addendum to her letter) on what Linda thinks about the current state of our roster and recruiting class. If this is her definition of "...retaining our current roster and protecting a nationally ranked recruiting class...", then yikes. She added that doing both were "...essential to our future success...."

I hope our portal signings go well, because the current state of our roster and recruiting class cannot possibly be what she meant.

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I think she was just told what to say not knowing that to the rest of the world it just sounded like an idiot farting out of her mouth.

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Isn't it amazing that many of us "poors" were the only ones who knew what was going to happen in the exit portal, notwithstanding the excuses that would be made for it?

LSU o-line transfer DJ Chester has set the following visits, a source tells @mzenitz and me:

Georgia Tech
Baylor
South Carolina
Mississippi State

Chester, who is repped by @Agentbutler1 of @AgencyOneSports, has made 14 career starts between C and LT. https://t.co/06huUdracC pic.twitter.com/DyU8YIJhCz

— Chris Hummer (@chris_hummer) January 2, 2026

True Grit said:

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I need an update (maybe an addendum to her letter) on what Linda thinks about the current state of our roster and recruiting class. If this is her definition of "...retaining our current roster and protecting a nationally ranked recruiting class...", then yikes. She added that doing both were "...essential to our future success...."

I hope our portal signings go well, because the current state of our roster and recruiting class cannot possibly be what she meant.

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Anyone with any sense knew that letter was idiotic the moment they read it.

I wrote a thread on it at the time. Even if you know you're retaining Aranda, that letter was stupid.

Robert Wilson said:

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True Grit said:

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I need an update (maybe an addendum to her letter) on what Linda thinks about the current state of our roster and recruiting class. If this is her definition of "...retaining our current roster and protecting a nationally ranked recruiting class...", then yikes. She added that doing both were "...essential to our future success...."

I hope our portal signings go well, because the current state of our roster and recruiting class cannot possibly be what she meant.

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Anyone with any sense knew that letter was idiotic the moment they read it.

I wrote a thread on it at the time. Even if you know you're retaining Aranda, that letter was stupid.

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Yep. I think Kendall Kaut also wrote about this topic at the time. statement about roster retention was ridiculous on its face and totally unnecessary to the moment. There was universal agreement on that point.

The real disagreement revolved around which path leads to self-destruction: retaining Aranda OR to initiate AD and Coaching searches at the same time.

Making the "retain the roster" argument central to Linda's decision making* is what so many posters here want to do because it provides facile justification for their belief that retaining Aranda was the suicidal move: all the players are leaving like we said they would Linda, you ****ed up!

But no one who thought retaining Aranda was the least terrible option given the total context also believed we were going to hold the whole roster together because we'd retained him.


*seems obvious we didn't have the booster enthusiasm (read:$$$) to turnover the AD, the staff and the roster at the same time within a shortened window. All other justifications are just puff.

True Grit said:

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I need an update (maybe an addendum to her letter) on what Linda thinks about the current state of our roster and recruiting class. If this is her definition of "...retaining our current roster and protecting a nationally ranked recruiting class...", then yikes. She added that doing both were "...essential to our future success...."

I hope our portal signings go well, because the current state of our roster and recruiting class cannot possibly be what she meant.

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I think her idea of success and the average fan's idea are completely different.

She probably set up her alma mater well by not pulling the trigger on Eric Morris.

2026 would be much better if Dave and Linda rode off into the sunset.

What I have learned on these roster attrition situations in the modern era is to not take it at face value. Posters here have no idea what may be lined up to come in. You judge portal attrition after portal signing day not before the portal opens or in opening day.

PartyBear said:

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What I have learned on these roster attrition situations in the modern era is to not take it at face value. Posters here have no idea what may be lined up to come in. You judge portal attrition after portal signing day not before the portal opens or in opening day.

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Agree with this. We really don't know what is going on behind the scenes with roster building. It sucks to see some of these players leaving… but the coaching staff may have perceived upgrades coming in. It's just hard for me to remain hopeful because Baylor seems to be trending down right now.

I think portal signing day has become more important for most schools than HS recruit signing day. The players you sign in the portal are most likely going to be on the field next season. The kids we sign as HS recruits...who knows if we will ever see them in a BU uniform.

What a complete and total mess. Such a headache for these programs to try and navigate this mess. Especially the programs they are not the elite ones... which is the majority of FBS programs.

NEW: Sleepless nights. Hundreds of texts. Rosters worth $25M and more. Contracts guaranteeing apartments and cars.

The House settlement and new transfer window were supposed to calm the portal this year. But it’s more expensive and chaotic than ever.https://t.co/mCUg9KQdeI

— Amanda Christovich (@achristovichh) January 2, 2026

That would be one hell of a 3-for-1 if Ok St picks up Morris, Mestemaker, and Hawkins.

Could have been us.

Have placed a Crystal Ball pick for Oklahoma State with star North Texas RB Caleb Hawkins, who is officially in the portal.

Hawkins led the FBS with 25 rushing TDs to go along with 1,434 yards rushing on 6.2 ypc.

Ranks as the No. 2 RB in the portal. https://t.co/pzKJOkRBvV pic.twitter.com/sjTQjoqvlM

— Chris Hummer (@chris_hummer) January 2, 2026

There may also be a hidden cost, at least to the public, concerning these large payouts. You can go spend millions on a guy to come in, and then he gets hurts in the spring and never sees the field. Do I really want to throw money into this with that type of realistic scenario. How much did we spend on defensive players this year that never saw the field? Perhaps the schools are buying insurance, I don't know. But for the average fan, who wants to contribute to this, with the real benefit is some hope that you get a passing high by winning in that particular year. Odds say that more years will be busts than highs.

PartyBear said:

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What I have learned on these roster attrition situations in the modern era is to not take it at face value. Posters here have no idea what may be lined up to come in. You judge portal attrition after portal signing day not before the portal opens or in opening day.

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Today we have an idea of 2 more who are trying to leave the program.

blackie said:

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There may also be a hidden cost, at least to the public, concerning these large payouts. You can go spend millions on a guy to come in, and then he gets hurts in the spring and never sees the field. Do I really want to throw money into this with that type of realistic scenario. How much did we spend on defensive players this year that never saw the field? Perhaps the schools are buying insurance, I don't know. But for the average fan, who wants to contribute to this, with the real benefit is some hope that you get a passing high by winning in that particular year. Odds say that more years will be busts than highs.

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I've been really high on Morris but I agree with you, especially depending on the budget he's got.

If the QB & RB combine for less than 10% of the total budget, it might work out, but unless the $2.5M number is exaggerated OR he's got a budget approaching $30M, he's probably closer to committing 15-20% of this budget to those two players...and that seems like a fatal mistake out of the gate, at least to me.

Baylor has offered South Alabama wide receiver Jeremy Scott.

The 6-3, 210-pound prospect posted 417 yards and four touchdowns during his freshman season. #SicEm pic.twitter.com/0OXMHpiLMt

— Grayson Grundhoefer (@GrayGrundhoefer) January 2, 2026

Baylor is up to 23 prospects in the transfer portal.

Notables
RB Joseph Dodds
TE Kelsey Johnson
OL Coleton Price
DL DK Kalu
EDGE Matthew Fobbs-White
EDGE Kamauryn Morgan
LB KT Thomas
LB Jeremy Evans
LB Phoenix Jackson
LB KB Winston
S DJ Coleman
CB Caden Jenkins

— Grayson Grundhoefer (@GrayGrundhoefer) January 2, 2026

boognish_bear said:

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Baylor is up to 23 prospects in the transfer portal.

Notables
RB Joseph Dodds
TE Kelsey Johnson
OL Coleton Price
DL DK Kalu
EDGE Matthew Fobbs-White
EDGE Kamauryn Morgan
LB KT Thomas
LB Jeremy Evans
LB Phoenix Jackson
LB KB Winston
S DJ Coleman
CB Caden Jenkins

— Grayson Grundhoefer (@GrayGrundhoefer) January 2, 2026

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without knowing the strategy our staff is employing here, our budget, etc. I'd list them this way:

Really painful losses if they go:
Thomas
Price

Losses that hurt if they go:
Kalu
Johnson
Jackson
Winston
Fobbs-White
Morgan



Everyone else.

Bearknuckle said:

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boognish_bear said:

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Baylor is up to 23 prospects in the transfer portal.

Notables
RB Joseph Dodds
TE Kelsey Johnson
OL Coleton Price
DL DK Kalu
EDGE Matthew Fobbs-White
EDGE Kamauryn Morgan
LB KT Thomas
LB Jeremy Evans
LB Phoenix Jackson
LB KB Winston
S DJ Coleman
CB Caden Jenkins

— Grayson Grundhoefer (@GrayGrundhoefer) January 2, 2026

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without knowing the strategy our staff is employing here, our budget, etc. I'd list them this way:

Really painful losses if they go:
Thomas
Price

Losses that hurt if they go:
Kalu
Johnson
Jackson
Winston
Fobbs-White
Morgan



Everyone else.

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What strategy has Decaf Dave been employing the last 6 years?

Bingo… there is no strategy with Dave.
The guy throws **** at the wall at hopes it sticks. That's his strategy

Iowa I think you're very level headed and gives credit due when credits due. I appreciate that, and you opinion is appreciated by me. With that being said, please can we just say that dave sucks without constantly attacking him by calling him dip**** dave and such. i get that he sucks, but we can still have our decency. Again I appreciate your opinion greatly though.

IowaBear said:

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Bingo… there is no strategy with Dave.
The guy throws **** at the wall at hopes it sticks. That's his strategy

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This is the reason we are struggling.

He'll be alright. He has some generational wealth coming towards him for being a failure. While we have to work the rest of our lives for an income that won't ever rival what he got from Baylor to go away. That opens up some criticism in itself. This reminds me of Coach O at LSU when discussing severance, "You show me which back door to walk out of"

Imagine if he was at LSU or Florida. Perspective is everything.

I partly blame Mack for dressing up this pig, and marching DA out there under a new guise with new coordinators every freaking year

He really fricked us…

Baylor has offered UTRGV wide receiver Tony Diaz.

The 5-11, 176-pound prospect posted 881 yards and 11 touchdowns this past season as he earned Southland Conference Freshman of the Year honors. pic.twitter.com/JvYY1c6TKR

— Grayson Grundhoefer (@GrayGrundhoefer) January 2, 2026

For sure. Absolutely no vision or strategy. We are just a day to day team.

Because I respect the posters on here (includes you of course) I will dusk the Dave talk back and settle for calling him Aranda. Seem fair?

I appreciate it man! do agree though that we have no apparent plan in place…..