Trent Dilfer sends stern message to coaches who may try to poach UAB players: 'I'm gonna call your ass out'

BleedGopher

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Per CBS:

Tampering is a hot-button issue in the current college football landscape being dominated by the transfer portal. Several prominent coaches have spoken out on the issue while bemoaning the lack of mandates as it pertains to coaches luring players away from other programs. Few have actually ever called out opposing coaches by name for tampering, however, but first-year UAB coach Trent Dilfer is prepared to go that route should the opportunity arise.

During a recent appearance on the "Rick & Bubba Show," Dilfer sent an impassioned message to any opposing coaches hoping to entice his players into the transfer portal and away from his Blazers program.

"By the way, come try to get my guys," Dilfer said. "I dare you, Power Fives. I got a pretty big platform that I can step on, and if I find you in my kids' DMs, and if I find you talking to high school coaches about my kids -- if you're in my roster, I'm gonna call your ass out. I'm going to say it, by name, to the biggest voices in television today and it's going to make [College] GameDay and it's going to make SportsCenter. By the way, those guys running SportsCenter are still my friends.

"So go ahead. I dare you to jump into my roster. I told the American [Athletic Conference] coaches the same thing. I said, 'Why don't you guys have the you-know-whats to stand up and say get out of my roster?' I said here's why: 'cause you want their job. I want this job. I don't want no Power -- I want this job. I want to live in Birmingham. I want to live downtown. I want to go see my grandson in Nashville. I don't want that other job, so I don't care if you blackball me. I want this job. I want the city of Birmingham to say, 'No. That's our city. That's our coach.' So, go ahead. I'm not scared of whoever -- the Grand Poobah of Poobahs -- to blackball me. Like, get out of my roster. These are my guys. I love these guys. Stay the hell out of it."


Go Gophers!!
 


The only way the poaching will ever get under control is if coaches are willing to call out the teams that are doing it. I hope someone tests Dilfer on this and he stays true to his word and calls them out.

The portal is what it is...but no team, or booster associated with a team, should ever be reaching out to guys on another roster who are not in the portal. We all know it is happening but it 100% shouldn't be.

I applaud Dilfer for taking this stance and hope he follows through when the opportunity presents itself. Being in that part of the country odds are pretty good he will get the chance.
 

Sure, when Nick Saban comes and takes a linebacker off of UAB that Dilfer didn't recruit or sign, I'm sure ESPN reporter loyalty will be with their fired former colleague from 6 years ago and not with the interview subjects they need to be friendly with to keep their own jobs.
 

Sure, when Nick Saban comes and takes a linebacker off of UAB that Dilfer didn't recruit or sign, I'm sure ESPN reporter loyalty will be with their fired former colleague from 6 years ago and not with the interview subjects they need to be friendly with to keep their own jobs.
Dilfer is a big enough name and connected in enough places media wise that he would have no trouble finding plenty of people willing to listen if he was going to put another coach on blast, especially if that coach would happen to be Nick Saban.
 


the willingness most people have to break the rules is directly proportional to the perceived risk of getting caught AND facing punishment.

If I know that "nobody ever gets ticketed for speeding on Highway X," then I'm going to drive as fast as I want.

But, if I know that "everyone who speeds on Highway X is getting pulled over," then I'm setting my cruise control about 2mph over the limit.

coaches will poach other teams as long as they think they can get away with it, or until there are clear rules and a real enforcement mechanism with real consequences,
 

Dilfer is a big enough name and connected in enough places media wise that he would have no trouble finding plenty of people willing to listen if he was going to put another coach on blast, especially if that coach would happen to be Nick Saban.
Agreed. 10/10 reporters would run that story. Saban isn’t going to blackball ESPN given ESPN owns the SEC. The only way it wouldn’t go is if a supervisor vetoed the story and I think that would have far bigger implications on their job security once that story leaked out.
 

The only way the poaching will ever get under control is if coaches are willing to call out the teams that are doing it. I hope someone tests Dilfer on this and he stays true to his word and calls them out.


Then what?

I don’t see anything of consequence likely happening after that.
 





I think Pitt called USC out for enticing Jordon Addison ... their 2021 Biletnikoff winner. Supposedly he got over a million in NIL money to leave. It didn't do Pitt any good to do so. USC just said Addison came on his own.
 

I think Pitt called USC out for enticing Jordon Addison ... their 2021 Biletnikoff winner. Supposedly he got over a million in NIL money to leave. It didn't do Pitt any good to do so. USC just said Addison came on his own.
yup.


 

Sure he can call out the other coach, but unless and until the other coach is punished it's nothing more than petulant whining.
 



Sure he can call out the other coach, but unless and until the other coach is punished it's nothing more than petulant whining.
Nothing will change unless a majority of University Presidents want it to. The once mighty NCAA has been relegated to some recruiting rules, game regulations, and some end of season tournaments.
 

Dilfer can report whoever he wants and it still won't stop anything. Unfortunately for him, he's in the minor leagues and his team likely has the NIL for minor teams. If a young recruit sees him report a coach and essentially stop another player from possibly making hundreds of thousands of dollars, that young recruit likely isn't picking UAB. It's just the way of the world now in college football. It's big business and Dilfer will learn the hard way.
 

I get those saying that Dilfer calling out another coach for poaching won't change anything but coaches being willing to be vocal about it is the only way there is a chance that something will change eventually.

If everyone stays quiet and there are zero consequences for poaching players than it will just continue. If it gets called out over and over again eventually a change will have to be made.

In the end there may be little to nothing that can be done in the current wild west that is college athletics but I hope people still try to get the word out and call teams out for going after guys that are not in the portal.
 

Dilfer is a big enough name and connected in enough places media wise that he would have no trouble finding plenty of people willing to listen if he was going to put another coach on blast, especially if that coach would happen to be Nick Saban.
Totally agree on that
 

I get those saying that Dilfer calling out another coach for poaching won't change anything but coaches being willing to be vocal about it is the only way there is a chance that something will change eventually.

If everyone stays quiet and there are zero consequences for poaching players than it will just continue. If it gets called out over and over again eventually a change will have to be made.

In the end there may be little to nothing that can be done in the current wild west that is college athletics but I hope people still try to get the word out and call teams out for going after guys that are not in the portal.
I'm with you. Just make noise at a minimum and see where it goes. If anything, maybe a few schools can get a tarnished rep or something where no one will respect them or their victories - kinda like the Houston Astros and their sign-stealing World Series. Sure, they still won it, but if everyone else just chooses to ignore it - or, man this would be cool, lets say the AP decided to withhold crowning a team a national champ if there were valid instances of poaching? So maybe the AP just decides to declare a non-poaching team the National Champs? Then we'd have split nationals champs, and most schools would prefer to recognize the non-poachers?
 

No one with an ounce of sense leaves one job without having another one waiting.
I presume most players entering the portal have a certain idea from communications from the target team where they are going to end up and for how much.
Having the offended coach yell and scream that a coach poached one of his players will be like water off of a duck's back.
 

I get those saying that Dilfer calling out another coach for poaching won't change anything but coaches being willing to be vocal about it is the only way there is a chance that something will change eventually.

If everyone stays quiet and there are zero consequences for poaching players than it will just continue. If it gets called out over and over again eventually a change will have to be made.

In the end there may be little to nothing that can be done in the current wild west that is college athletics but I hope people still try to get the word out and call teams out for going after guys that are not in the portal.
Exactly. You'll never stop the machine, but perhaps you can slow down parts of it -- like P5 coaches communicating illegally with players. If Dilfer can get guys who don't intent to enter the portal to turn over DMs and texts from P5 coaches urging them to do so and dangling NIL, playing time, etc., I do think that would cause a little scandal. May never happen, but perhaps the threat of it will slow some of this down. And the more G5 and FCS coaches who follow his lead, the more impactful it's likely to be.
 

No one with an ounce of sense leaves one job without having another one waiting.
I presume most players entering the portal have a certain idea from communications from the target team where they are going to end up and for how much.
Having the offended coach yell and scream that a coach poached one of his players will be like water off of a duck's back.
I think the sheer number of players in the portal that never find a new home would indicate that many players enter the portal with no clue where they are going to end up.

What you are saying probably rings true for the high profile guys that are in a position to demand the big paydays and are likely the guys being targeted by teams looking to poach. But that won't apply to the vast majority of guys.
 

The folks who do not find a home after entering the portal probably were not missed from the teams that they left.
I do not know the % but they are the ones without an ounce of sense.
 

Coaches are also pushing people out more often than they used to. It's the "cost" of the new system for the players.

For a lot of the folks in the portal, it's not that they didn't have enough sense, they just weren't good enough.
 

That clown is a Super Bowl winning qb.

Gawd!
 




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