Over the last five years, the college football landscape has changed drastically. The NIL era brought the age of player compensation, and the evolution has continued ever since its arrival in 2021.
To Duke coach Manny Diaz, there’s a need to come together and ensure the sport as a whole stays strong. But he also wants to make sure the fans can still find joy watching college football, both now and in the future.
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Diaz noted the efforts to stabilize the space, including the Protect College Sports Act in the U.S. Senate. But with so much change, he wants to make sure college football continues to be something fans of all ages can enjoy.
“I know everybody’s sick of hearing it and it sucks because the game is good, but everything out of the game kind of stinks right now,” Diaz told Jim Rome. “The issue is we can’t agree on what’s best because we’re all competing. And no one’s really in charge, so everybody wants what’s best for them. We’re not collaborating on what’s best for the game.
“And I do think of the fan you’re talking about. I think about the 12-year-old kid who, like when we were 12 when we fell in love with the sport. The games are good, but there’s all this other stuff and it’s just not the same. And I worry that if we continue to screw this up, we’re going to alienate our next generation of fans.”
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Of course, as players enter into NIL and rev-share contracts, coaches have also stressed the need to enforce those agreements. Duke was one of those schools to take action via a lawsuit after Darian Mensah said he planned to enter the transfer portal despite signing a two-year deal with the Blue Devils in 2025. The two sides later resolved the legal dispute and Mensah committed to Miami.
When asked about Georgia Tech coach Brent Key’s comments about how adults sometimes “end up being the bigger problem,” Diaz agreed. He noted the difference, though, is that contracts in the pros have consequences if players break them.
“I do think adults screw things up all the time,” Diaz said. “But when adults live with it, adults live with contracts. Adults live with consequences. And I think what we’re saying is you can’t have it both ways. If you want to be compensated, if you want to be business, if you want to be grown-ups, then you have to honor your contract. If you don’t honor your contract, then there’s going to be consequences. That was, certainly, what surrounded our situation. And there’s a way to do that.
“Listen, we don’t have to invent it in college football. All the pro sports have already been through this. There’s already a system in place. We just need to get together and just agree [on] which is the best that fits our game.”
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Manny Diaz: ‘Are we depending on Congress?’
The Protect College Sports Act remains at the forefront of discussion around the future as Senators enter “Deal More” to try and pass it, as Ross Dellenger reported. The bipartisan legislation takes aim at multiple aspects of college athletics with hopes of bringing stability.
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More importantly, to Manny Diaz, it can help answer an important question about the future of college football. Who will be in charge?
“Right now, are we depending on Congress?” Diaz said. “There’s a bill obviously going through there because at least, they’ve got the weight to make it the law of the land. I just think we have seen it if we have tried to do it a la carte, which each conference is trying to have their say, I don’t think we’re ever going to come to any type of consensus.
“We know we don’t have a commissioner over the sport. So in a weird way, going to D.C. and asking them to save us is quite extraordinary, but I don’t really know what other options we have.”
