Kirk Herbstreit calls for college leaders to ‘have some balls,’ stand up to athletes

The Nico Iamaleava situation has brought a lot of conversation to the current state of college athletics at the moment. Just days before the Tennessee spring game and NCAA transfer portal opening, On3’s Pete Nakos reported Iamaleva was negotiating a fresh contract with the program for more money. Just hours later, Josh Heupel cut ties with his quarterback.

ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit praised Heupel for me move and believes more decisions like that are needed. He wants college leaders to “have some balls” in an era where players seemingly have all of the power. Herbstreit knows they are scared of potential repercussions but at some point, the line needs to be drawn, in his opinion.

“Everyone is afraid. Right now, this player movement, if you do anything that’s perceived to not be willing to give what the players want, then you’re a problem, you need to be removed. People are kind of leaning like this,” Herbstreit said on The Pat McAfee Show while covering his face with his hand.

“They’re terrified to leave, they’re terrified to make big decisions. Ultimately, they’re sitting back and not doing what, to me, is what they need to do. Which is having some balls and making some decisions and taking the heat. The problem right now is, if you do do that, you get an attorney who either threatens to sue you or does sue you. And now you’re in a tough spot because the players win all these arguments.”

McAfee was quick to point out Heupel has not taken much heat for this decision. The general public has been on Tennessee’s side throughout. Heupel has received a ton of credit for making the decisions, including from Herbstreit.

But the statement was made in a broader sense, Herbstreit went on to clarify. Players have taken complete control of the power and the ESPN analyst is hoping to see a little pushback.

Maybe similar to what Miami head coach Mario Cristobal recently claimed. Asked about the Iamaleava situation, Cristoball made his stance incredibly clear on how things were going to work in Coral Gables.

“We’re not going to do that at Miami,” Cristobal said. “And I say that without any hesitation. If anyone is thinking that — They can be the best player in the world. If they wanna play holdout, they might as well play get out. Don’t want to do that, don’t want Miami to become that. Too many guys have sweat, bled, and have laid on the line on that field to ever become that kind of program.”

Plenty of people have called out the NCAA for how college football is being run. Plenty of blame gets put on them but Herbstreit is ready for people to stand up and speak out against the players.

The post Kirk Herbstreit calls for college leaders to ‘have some balls,’ stand up to athletes appeared first on On3.