In less than 24 hours, Scott Satterfield went from being Louisville’s coach in the upcoming Fenway Bowl to the coach of the opposing team. The strange situation with Satterfield and a few other higher-profile coaches is a microcosm of the chaos being unleashed in college football.
Alabama’s Nick Saban appeared on numerous TV shows over the weekend to talk about favorites and underdogs while shamelessly lobbying for a playoff spot. Deion Sanders, better known as “Coach Prime,” took the Colorado coaching job, named his son the starting quarterback and immediately told the current players to consider transferring. Jimbo Fisher failed to coach Texas A&M to bowl eligibility but is a favorite to keep his job instead of getting a buyout of $85 million.
While coaches are always on the move in December, player free agency is now in full effect. The transfer portal attracted more than 1,000 players by Monday.
The future will bring a new frontier. Multiple conferences are realigning, the playoff will expand from four teams to 12 in 2024, and—last but not least—there’s essentially no salary cap in the NIL era with big-money boosters allowed to do business out in the open.