This offseason, Northern Illinois lost a bevy of crucial players to the transfer portal from a team that beat the national runners-up on the road.
Fluid movement from school to school has created quite the headache for college football head coaches. Loosening transfer restrictions coinciding with the ability for players to profit off their name, image, and likeness has made it difficult for smaller schools with tighter budgets to hold on to their best players. NIU head coach Thomas Hammock said in a lengthy rant earlier this week that priorities have been thrown all out of whack.
“Everybody’s talking about everything else besides what is the most important thing for going to college,” Hammock said.
Things might get even trickier, too, following the approval of the House settlement. With schools able to directly share revenue with players, larger athletic departments will have a leg up on smaller ones that don’t generate enough.
“I enjoyed my college experience,” Hammock said. “I didn’t get one dime. But the lessons I learned were more valuable than any money you could ever pay me. I appreciate that because that’s long term. People are losing the fact this is short term…Don’t lose focus of the long term. Get your degree and learn valuable lessons that are going to help you in the long term of your life. That’s the whole purpose. This is a transition from being a kid to a grown up. I hope people don’t lose focus of that.
“… If you’re going to college to get a couple of dollars, you might as well go get a job. This is too hard to go get a couple of dollars. Learn the lessons that you need to learn to be successful in life for the next 40 or 50 years of your life. I would do it again for free because of the things I learned. That’s why I’m standing here today, because of what I learned in college. Not because of how much someone gave me.”
As promised, here’s the full video of Thomas Hammock’s impassioned remarks on the state of the transfer portal. Hammock briefly highlighted his own experience as college athlete, saying he considers the lessons he learned in college more valuable than any financial incentive.… t.co/hVdRaRMPCI pic.twitter.com/bkoAweblbs
— Skyler Kisellus (@skylerkisellus) August 13, 2025The Huskies went 8-5 last season, a significant improvement from 2 years prior when the program slipped to 3-9.
But the transfer portal was unkind. NIU lost its starting quarterback to Illinois and a likely backup job. It lost its top 3 pass-catchers. It also lost 5 defenders to power conference schools — one to Indiana, one to Mizzou, and a couple to Mississippi State.
“In life, you’re going to make decisions,” Hammock said. “Sometimes, it’s going to work in your favor. Sometimes, it’s not. I told our team the other day, we lost all these guys. Let’s see who plays. It’s all good when people put on Twitter ‘All glory to God, I’m going in the transfer portal.’ Let’s see if they play. How many of them guys are going to play or travel or get snaps?”
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