Dabo Swinney thinks the news that Oklahoma and Texas are moving to the SEC is just the beginning in what he believes will be a restructuring of major college football in the next 10 years.
The Clemson head coach did admit at the ACC Football Kickoff on Thursday he was surprised to hear the news about Oklahoma and Texas possibly leaving the Big 12 to join the SEC. Reports surfaced on Friday that Oklahoma and Texas could be telling the Big 12 they are leaving the conference to join the SEC as early as next week.
However, Swinney did not give it much thought at the time when he heard the news on Wednesday. However, he was not shy about giving his opinion on the subject and what the future holds in college football.
“I would say you will hear a lot of conversation over the next five to seven years. I would imagine there will be some type of restructuring in college football over the next decade,” Swinney said. “I don’t have any intel, that is just my gut instinct, but we will see.”
You can understand why Swinney feels this way. Last month, the College Football Playoff working group recommended the CFP expand from a four-team playoff to a 12-team playoff. Then the NCAA changed its bylaws to allow student-athletes to receive compensation for their name, image and likeness on July 1.
Earlier this month, NCAA President Mark Emmert also spoke on how the NCAA might look into redefining its role on how it regulates collegiate athletics. And, this past Wednesday, new ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said this is the right time to have a complete holistic review of the NCAA’s leadership and structure.
“There have been so many things that have happened in our space here that the timing is right,” Phillips said. “There are no pre-determined outcomes. Let’s just take a look.”
Phillips wants to take a look at the government structure. Is it the right one? Does one size fit all? Is the NCAA council working? Is that the right structure?
“Then championships. We have had a couple of issues this year with championships,” Phillips said. “It is the thing our student-athletes love to do, so an assessment there. Championships and then enforcements.”
The ACC’s new commissioner believes the NCAA has to look at timeliness and fairness when it hands down punishments and also make sure they are not punishing the wrong coaches and student-athletes.
Phillip said he is not trying to dump everything on what is going on Indianapolis because he thinks the NCAA does a lot of great things for student-athletes and the schools.
“I think we all have our fingers on the reasonability we have as leaders, whether it is commissioners, athletic directors or presidents,” he said. “So, this would be a great time. The President of the NCAA has already called for it, kind of a recalibration of the NCAA. I think we should take him up on that opportunity and let’s work collaboratively with the NCAA, with our conferences, with our presidents, athletic directors and such and let’s spend the next eight to twelve months figuring this thing out because more changes are coming.”
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