Behold: the perfect offseason headline involving Lane Kiffin, the word sexy, player movement and the NCAA.
Yes indeed, that is the case after the Florida Atlantic head coach went off on the buzz-worthy NCAA transfer portal after practice on Thursday, labelling putting one’s name in the portal “a sexy thing to do” for players in college football nowadays.
“I can get in this portal so I can get some attention — we’re in a generation of just wanting attention no matter what — so now, I can go in this (portal), get an article written about me, and get re-recruited because I don’t like exactly how something’s going,” Kiffin said, according to the Palm Beach Post.
The somewhat ironic thing is that Kiffin has made a bit of a living on transfers during his time in Boca, landing a number of contributors from Oklahoma, Florida State, Florida, Auburn and others. Just this week he landed a player via the portal in former five-star recruit Calvin Ashley.
Still, Kiffin’s rant against the portal has less to do with the players coming into his program as those going out, noting how difficult it is to replace guys who leave due to both scholarship restrictions and the number of “counters” a team can have each year.
“I’m not saying kids shouldn’t transfer, shouldn’t be able to transfer ... but if they do, you need to have the ability to replace them,” Kiffin added. “You’re gonna see rosters around the country that are not at 85 (scholarships) and they won’t be able to get to 85. So what do you do if you have 25 seniors and 10 guys transferring? That’s 35 off your roster, but you’re capped at 25.”
Kiffin isn’t wrong and his sentiment is far from unique among coaches in the sport. And if there’s anybody well versed in scholarship math who can speak on the subject, it’s the coach who had to do quite a bit of roster management to lead USC out of crippling NCAA sanctions.