It’s All About Money at UTSA

When it comes to the name, image and likeness debate in college football, I seem to be in the minority, I don’t like it, at least the way it is currently constructed. I agree players should get something. The insanity of the NCAA over the years is why we are where we are today. But the N.I.L. of today is completely over the top. I have heard other college coaches talk about the issues of money in their programs but I don’t it ever rang clearer than when UTSA head Jeff Traylor joined Jason Minnix and I on The Blitz earlier this week. He seemed very distraught about the Runners loss to the Texas Longhorns this past Saturday. I get it, a coach upset about losing. But as the conversation continued, it became clear that Coach Traylor is concerned that his Roadrunner team will never be able to compete against the so called “big boys” until they can compete with the money those schools can pay their players.

UTSA hung with Texas for a half, but then it was apparent the depth of the Longhorns wore the Runners down. Coach Traylor explained that is starters can compete, but it’s the issue of the players after that, there is not much difference between the Texas starters and the backups and that is the missing ingredient in the UTSA program. Schools like Texas, Texas A&M, Alabama and Georgia will never have an issue with paying players. But UTSA simply can’t compete on that scale and most likely never will. Whether you agree or not, I believe the NIL as it is currently is killing smaller programs, the rich will continue to get richer. UTSA head coach Jeff Traylor may be one of the best recruiters college football has ever seen, but in today’s game, that is simply not good enough. Boosters and bankers have all the power and until their is some change to the system, teams like UTSA will always be the little brother of teams like Texas. It is a complete sham of a system and I pray someone with some sense somewhere will make a change soon. Until then, “go Runners” win Conference USA, because that’s really all we can hope happens.