One of the harshest truths in modern college football is that the era of fairness is long gone. Only the highest bidder gets the biggest returns, and it is all thanks to NIL. Smaller programs with less capital or NIL funding are left behind in the dust. And a former big-time coach exposes a harsh reality in today’s transfer-portal era that only a handful of coaches dare to speak openly about.

“I got truly broken by college football in a great way. Everybody goes; that’s so. Why would you say that? Well, because that’s part of growth,” UAB’s former head coach, Trent Dilfer, said to OutKick’s Jonathan Hutton. “I mean, you have to be broken and reshaped and molded. College football broke me, just the losing and developing players.

“We have 14 kids that we recruited, I recruited, and we developed, and then you watch them go, and you play them, and then they go to Ole Miss, Arkansas, Alabama, and everywhere else. It was so hard to maintain the relationships and work with people who didn’t see winning like I did.”

Trent Dilfer returns to coaching at Lipscomb Academy in Nashville after his turbulent stint as head coach at UAB. After getting fired in October from the team where he compiled a 9-21 record in less than three seasons, Dilfer is now leading the Mustangs once again. He first had a successful stint with them from 2019 to 2022. During that period, he led them to back-to-back Tennessee State championships in 2021 and 2022, finishing with a 44-10 overall record and 26-1 in his final two seasons.

But that transition from CFB to high school wasn’t that straightforward for him. In this modern era of college football, where NIL and the transfer portal have changed the entire game dynamics, keeping players close to the program is a tough task. Just take the example of Carson Beck, who made a move to Miami from Georgia for a $4 million deal; even Bryce Underwood turned back on LSU for Michigan’s $10.5 million deal.

Even UAB faced severe transfer portal chaos as they lost their top three cornerbacks, Mac McWilliams, Colby Dempsey, and BJ Mayes, following the 2023 season. Both McWilliams and Dempsey transferred to Texas A&M, a top team. Then, they lost quarterback Jacob Zeno to Texas A&M after he started games for them. Even receiver Amare Thomas, UAB’s top receiver, transferred to Houston.

Back in 2024, no team in the AAC faced more damage from the transfer portal than UAB. With starting QB Zeno gone, other offensive weapons bolted as well. By the end, their roster shrank to just 41 scholarship players, forcing Dilfer to rebuild through the portal. That’s exactly why he brought 49 new faces in the 2025 season, including 31 transfers across FBS, FCS, junior, and Division II colleges.

That lack of experience ended Trent Dilfer’s college football journey on a rough note. Just like Trent Dilfer, even Bryan Harsin’s tenure at Auburn ended because of recruiting failures and roster instability.

With that, even Nick Saban agrees about the chaos the transfer portal is bringing to college football.

Transfer portal chaos hits college football hard

College football faces challenges as the transfer portal chaos reaches unprecedented levels. With over 3,350 players, roughly 25% of FBS players are on the portal; this chaos is making it tough for teams to fill the spots. Just take quarterback Desmond Williams, for example, who entered the portal just days before signing a mid-$4 million deal with the Huskies. This forced them to take legal action.

The turmoil extends to South Carolina, too, where nearly all the team’s offensive line abandoned the program after LaNorris Sellers returned after the signing of offensive coordinator Kendal Briles was announced. Players like Sam Leavitt and Brendan Sorsby, who enter the transfer portal seeking better NIL deals, are turning it into a pay-for-play system driven by negotiation.

It’s not limited to players but extends to coaches as well, including Lane Kiffin, who reportedly made a $91 million move to the LSU Tigers. Numerous firings and head-coach changes have also made things tougher. Moves like Alex Golesh’s switch from USF to Auburn even prompted QB Bryum Brown to consider transferring. And Nick Saban has echoed the same sentiment.

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“The NCAA doesn’t seem to be in control of the way things are happening right now, and I think if we’re going to change things in college football, we’ve got to get Congress to have some kind of antitrust legislation because the NCAA can’t enforce their own rules,” Nick Saban said. “So even if they tried to change this, somebody might sue, and they might not be able to do it; that’s how we got where we are now.”

Now, with a new season approaching, let’s wait and see how things turn around in college sports.