Mike Leach presents radical change to college football in transfer portal era, calls out cancel culture

Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach has never been shy to provide his opinion whether ranking mascots or providing critical judgment on the future of college football. He again stepped in front of several microphones on Tuesday during SEC Media Days with a number of topics on his mind.

During an appearance with Paul Finebaum, Mike Leach provided a number of revolutionary ideas to adopt a professional model without converting college football to an NFL minor league system.

“It’s kind of disturbing isn’t it? Well nobody wants to stick their neck out,” said Leach. “At the latest everyone’s afraid of getting canceled. Then they say, ‘Well, you might get sued.’ Well sue them back, OK? Then, no, but I think that there’s an awful lot of people on a college football team that would probably like to remain a traditional student-athlete providing maybe they got a little more.

“Let’s say I want to continue to be a traditional student-athlete. Well, there’s a number of reasons for that. One, they can’t cut me for playing ability. Two, I can’t get traded. Three, and I think we ought to do this because I think we ought to cultivate and encourage people getting their degree, if you get your degree and you play and you exhaust your eligibility at a university, give them $150,000. If you go in the transfer portal you’re not eligible for the $150,000. And then if you don’t get your degree you’re not eligible for it.

“Everywhere from the NFL to minor league baseball. Professionals get drafted, traded and cut. … So far we’ve been celebrating all the privileges of being a professional without the responsibility, which is exactly why we have unmitigated free agency.”

Mike Leach on saving college football

The plan created by Mike Leach to save college football does not end with limited transfer portal entry, it also includes a choice for players to get everything they want out of the experience.

“What I would do is you can come in and you can sign in as a traditional student-athlete or professional,” said Leach. “So we would put you on the list, make a list of everybody that’s a professional. … Schools would draft them. Boom, boom, boom. Now if you don’t play well, we’ll cut you. … This receiver’s a professional, let’s trade him over there on the West coast to get us a kicker. So you trade, we got a kicker, they got a receiver, I mean it’s awesome.

“And people are somewhat shocked about this, but I mean there are 17-year-olds getting traded all over the country and playing minor league baseball. … But that’s what professionals do. There’s nothing shocking, revolutionary about it. What is revolutionary is the notion that we would find ourselves where we currently find ourselves without any consideration whatsoever for what a professional actually is and try to reinvent the wheel on our own when we already know how professionals do stuff.”