Chuck Martin, aggrieved football coach of Miami (OH), wants everyone to know that Alabama “stole” his award-winning field goal kicker.
As if Martin wouldn’t leave the Redhawks in a heartbeat for the Crimson Tide, too.
There are going to be winners and losers in this new era of college football, and Martin is making a strong case for himself to be included on the wrong side of the scoreboard. The concept of “stealing players” is an insult to guys like Graham Nicholson. He’s the kicker who transferred from Miami (OH) to Alabama in the offseason — as one does — and I’m hoping that his services didn’t come cheaply for the Crimson Tide.
Nicholson is set to replace record-breaking Alabama kicker Will Reichard this season. Reichard graduated from Alabama as the NCAA’s career leader in points (547). He’s now plying his trade in the NFL for the Minnesota Vikings.
Last season, Nicholson actually beat out Reichard for the Lou Groza Award. Smartly, Nicholson then used that résumé builder to cash in his chips.
People should be happy for Nicholson, but Martin is apparently a hater. In Martin’s eyes, Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer is a thief and Nicholson is a traitor. It’s such a bad look for the coach of Miami (OH) that I’ll be surprised if he remains at the FBS level for much longer.
Martin was asked this week about replacing Nicholson. The coach used that opportunity to embarrass himself.
“We didn’t lose him,” Martin said. “He’s at Alabama. We know exactly where he’s at. Again, you media people, it’s all pretend.
“Like, no, Alabama stole our kicker. They illegally recruited our kicker and stole him from us and that’s a fact. We act like it’s not. We live in this la-la world, like ‘Hey, let’s not talk...’ I don’t know why. Everybody knows what’s going on.”
Martin needs a reality check. College football is now a professional sport. Everyone is a free agent after every season. Players at the Group of 5 level should be celebrated for leaving one school for another for more money.
If coaches don’t like that, then they should go work at a middle school. If fans don’t like that, well, it’s time to embrace a new form of the game. I can’t say I necessarily love the idea of players jumping schools multiple times in their careers for the next big paycheck, but for now that’s the economy of college football.
Beginning in 2025, athletic departments can begin sharing revenue with players. Maybe that will be the mechanism that helps settle the sport. Who knows at this point? Something tells me that the marketplace will adjust and the arms race will just transition down a different path.
I know one thing for sure at this point. Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer did nothing wrong in offering Nicholson a roster spot at Alabama after Nicholson entered the transfer portal. DeBoer should be commended for his ability to go out and land the best kicker in the country.
DeBoer was asked about Martin’s accusations on Wednesday. Alabama’s coach just shrugged his shoulders and smiled.
“He entered the portal and we reached out to him, so that’s how it goes, right?” DeBoer said. “We did everything that we were supposed to.”
DeBoer is turning into college football’s awe-shucks assassin and I love it. He doesn’t say much, but under that persona hides an elite competitor.
College football these days reminds me of that famous scene in the award-winning Western thriller “There Will Be Blood.”
In the movie, actor Daniel Day-Lewis plays Daniel Plainview, an oil prospector turned oil tycoon who is overcome by his own ambition. Like college football, the movie is a classic American epic.
Plainview is belligerent by the end of the movie. He’s estranged from his family and lonely. An old acquaintance named Eli pays him a visit, but Eli is only looking for money. Plainview beats him to death with a bowling pin, but not before explaining how his company had already taken all the oil from Eli’s property.
“That land has been had,” Plainview tells Eli. “Nothing you can do about it. It’s gone. It’s had. You lose...Drainage! Drainage, Eli, you boy. Drained dry. I’m so sorry.
“Here, if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw. There it is, that’s the straw, you see?”
Plainview holds up his finger like a straw.
“Watch it,” he says.
Plainview backs up a couple steps inside his mansion’s bowling alley.
“Now my straw reaches acrooooooos the room, and starts to drink your milkshake.
“I... drink... your... milkshake!
Plainview makes a slurping sound.
“I drink it up!” he screams.
There will always be blood, and there will always be sharks to devour the weak.
