Grambling State coach suggests buyouts for players who move to bigger schools through the transfer portal

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Grambling State coach Mickey Joseph understands why players would want to go to a bigger program after a successful season. But he also believes there should be some sort of compensation for the player’s former school when they transfer to a bigger program.

Joseph, a former Nebraska assistant and the Huskers' interim coach in 2022, posited that a buyout should be paid to him or another coach in a similar position if an FCS player has a big season and transfers to a school at the top level of college football. 

He also made it clear that he has no problem with a player going to make more NIL money from a school with more resources — especially since coaches have been moving to bigger and higher-paying jobs for decades without many complaints from fans.

“We understand, I think the kids understand that if they’re here and if they’re sophomores and they have a big year and a Group of Five or a Power Five [team] approaches them and they have the finances to pull them out of there and I can’t match the finances, then you know what, they’re going to go,” Joseph said. “That’s part of it. Coaches have been doing it for years. So we shouldn’t get mad as coaches when these kids make decisions to take care of their family.

"Like I said, I’m going to say it again, coaches have been doing it for years. But I also think there needs to be a buyout. If they move up from me and go to Group of Five or Power Five, I should get kind of a compensation for that, you know? So NCAA, you listening to me? I need a buyout.”

As you can see from the video above, Joseph’s smile may mean his request for personal compensation is at least slightly in jest. But the overall point is one that isn’t new to college athletics as players are making money off their image rights and able to transfer freely.

However, a buyout would also require contracts to exist between schools and athletes. And the NCAA has been very reluctant to go that far as it has gone to great lengths to not classify athletes as employees.

But in the ever-changing world of ...