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I have a neighbor who is a dear friend. He will lend you his leaf blower or help you move something heavy. He will pick up mail when you are on the road or even listen to a boring story you tell because he has a heart of gold. It's the same friend who asked me in 2020 how he could vote in the Iowa Caucus while living in Orlando. He also complains all the time about the potholes on his street and the broken sidewalk he wishes was fixed. He complains of high taxes and believes all politicians are crooks. But if you ask him if votes in local elections he will tell you "nah, what good would it do."
For years in college sports, I cried out that year after year all I would hear was coaches telling you how the players deserve to be paid or "get something" and every year the most powerful coaches talked a great game and never did anything about it. They never demanded their AD or president take action and change the very system that benefited from. They never walked out and protested a game in support of the players. They just created a short sound bite caring about the player and hoping the system would change.
For decades members of the media whispered and evenly openly talked about coaches paying for players before the world of NIL or Pay-for-Play. Rarely did they report on the whispers with actual facts and everyone just giggled and went about their business.
But here we are with another situation where some college football coaches are enraged with the current transfer portal games being played. And here is a moment for a coach, any coach, to step forward and do something.
The rules state that a team, coach, rep from the program could not contact a player until that player put his name into the transfer portal. Then and only then, could someone from a team reach out to that player. But no one followed the rule. Teams started reaching out to players during the season. Some used high school coaches, a youth coach, a friend of a friend or anyone connected to the player. And some coaches just flat out reached out directly, according to some coaches.
Washington State coach Jake Dickert said this about his program that he is trying to build but also talked about the problem he faces with the transfer portal and what it is doing to his program:
https://twitter.com/SpokesmanClark/status/1602375841429659648
Again, he said "We've had guys contact our player's parents. We had another coach from another school contact one of our players offering NIL."
Shocking? No. The only coach to do something like this? No. Is anyone policing the rules? No. But there is something Jake Dickert can do about it. He can name the coach.
Who is it Jake? Give us the name. Call out the coach. Lay it all on the table. If it's true then provide the proof and let that coach answer for himself. Show the receipts and embarrass that coach. Otherwise, what is the point of commenting? If you won't do something about it, why even bring it up?
Do you just want to throw something out and then blame the NCAA because they don't have the resources or ability to police the rules, or do something about it? Sitting there and complaining and doing nothing will never fix the problem.
What happens if he mentions names?
If your first thought is "snitches get stitches" stop watching mob movies. If you say "coaches don't call out coaches" then my response is why not? If you are so bothered by something and you are working so hard to build your program the right way and believe you and your staff are doing it the right way, then call out the violators.
"He doesn't want the attention of making an accusation" is a weak excuse. He brought it up. He either knows it's a fact or he is making it up. Heck, he might become a hero in his profession for speaking up.
Change is not easy but you either are passionate about making change or you act like my neighbor or just believe there is no point.
In the end, Jake Dickert would likely tell you he has better things to do then get involved in an NCAA investigation accusing another coach of breaking rules. I would say then don't bring it up. If it's for the optics to give the appearance that you and your staff are the good guys, maybe he wins. But often coaches complain about things that need change but rarely do anything about leading change. Why? It's easy to accuse. It's hard to actually make change happen...
Final note: Reindeer can be found in northern Idaho and northeastern Washington. Those reindeer usually travel from British Columbia.