When Rich Eisen asked Kyle Whittingham how he would fix college football, the coach pointed to the sport’s money gap, roster chaos, and uneven rules. His answer landed in the same lane as the SEC’s ongoing breakaway talk, even if he did not frame it as a formal campaign.

“I think it’s got to be an NFL minor league model where we have a salary cap, and you know the players are employees. I think you know, as distasteful as some of that is, I don’t think there’s any other way that is better than that. And you know, right now it’s out of control,” Whittingham said when Eisen asked about his two cents on the topic.” I think that the only way to get that evened out and level the playing field is to go ahead and pattern it after an NFL, like I said, a minor league NFL model and super league.”

Whittingham thinks the sport needs to stop pretending it’s an amateur game and just face reality. Whittingham did not attack the NCAA directly, but his comments made clear he sees the current system as unstable.

His big solution? Stop treating this as a regular college sport and just turn it into an NFL-model league, specifically, a super league. Even though he knows some old-school fans will find that idea totally distasteful, he truly believes there is no better option left on the table.

The real problem, he suggested, is that a handful of schools can now outspend everyone else by a wide margin. Some schools are at least 5-10 light years ahead of others, and the gap’s going to get worse. The Wolverines’ HC Whittingham dropped a crazy prediction, saying that in just the next recruiting cycle, about a dozen teams are going to have mind-blowing $50 million rosters.

According to him, the Super League’s the only way to go about it.

Under his big “Super League” plan, about the top 48 to 60 heaviest-hitting football schools would break away into their own VIP club. This elite group would probably split into four regional divisions to keep those classic local rivalries alive. This split would separate the powerhouse schools from the rest. More importantly, it lets them lock down TV deals and run the show on their own terms, the very thing the SEC’s been fighting for!

Behind the talk is a bigger fear. If college football cannot settle on one national model, the richest leagues may start building their own. That is why SEC leaders have described the breakaway discussion as real, even while saying it is not their preferred path.

This Super League will probably change how the postseason works. Last week, Kyle Whittingham told On3 that he’s looking for a clean 16-team playoff bracket built entirely inside this elite 48-to-60 team bracket. The Wolverines’ head coach claims colleges are leaving way too much cash on the table right now, and a self-contained playoff would max out the profits while giving fans an insanely entertaining product at the same time.

This new league would bring in strict professional rules. The players would officially become university employees, signing real contracts backed by professional collective bargaining agreements to keep roster movement under control. Eisen pointed out that power players like SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey are already making serious moves toward this exact reality.

Whittingham nodded in agreement and doubled down: “Exactly. And you know, if you had the super conference that breaks away and has their own commissioner and runs it again, just you know, almost a carbon copy, what’s going on in the NFL? Then I think you get a chance.”

In the end, Whittingham believes this setup would finally make the game fair. By copying the NFL structure, breaking away into a super-conference, and hiring a single commissioner to run the show, everyone would finally have to play by the same rules on a much more level playing field.