College football coach complains about big schools poaching his players

Sep 4, 2021; Champaign, Illinois, USA; UTSA Roadrunners head coach Jeff Traylor watches his team during Saturday’s game The Illinois Fighting Illini at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

The transfer portal has dramatically changed the landscape of college football, and one head coach believes the NCAA needs to do something about the way big programs are abusing it.

UTSA coach Jeff Traylor took to Twitter on Monday to express frustration with Power Five schools trying to recruit his players. He urged the NCAA to find a way to remedy the issue.

Dear @NCAAFootball How does @UTSAFTBL report Power 5 Schools who are trying to poach our young talent? How much evidence do we really need to make this not be a part of our game?

— Jeff Traylor (@CoachTraylor) December 20, 2022

“Dear @NCAAFootball How does @UTSAFTBL report Power 5 Schools who are trying to poach our young talent? How much evidence do we really need to make this not be a part of our game?” Traylor wrote.

Players who enter the transfer portal can be recruited by other programs. When you combine the existence of the portal with the new NIL rules, opportunities are created for big programs with big financial resources to essentially buy top players from smaller schools. The issue that Traylor and other coaches have is with schools who skirt the rules by recruiting players who have not entered the portal.

Such behavior would constitute tampering, which is punishable by the NCAA. The issue, of course, is proving it.

There is a difference between student athletes having more control over their futures versus being influenced by powerful people who convince them to make a change. That is what Traylor and others want the NCAA to take more seriously.

Traylor was an assistant coach at Arkansas before he took the head coaching job at UTSA in 2020. He is 30-10 in three seasons with the Roadrunners.