Article on the portal and its effects on building and patience. Mention of more Year 2 firings which I don't think is likely. I think we'll see it with Harsin this year but with long term initial contracts (even 5-6 year ones), I find it hard to believe that most schools will eat up all that money. I think it'll still be a rarity.
Article is paywall but some excerpts:
On Washington :
Then he added
Michael Penix Jr., whom he had coached at Indiana. And he added four more Power 5 transfers, including the team’s leading rusher,
Wayne Taulapapa from Virginia.
The Huskies are 4-0 and lead the nation in passing offense after finishing 80th last season. Washington went from four wins in 2021 to the AP Top 15
“Certainly, in college athletics in general, there’s a mindset that you do need to win sooner than later,” he said.
On Tenn:
Tennessee’s star quarterback who beat
Florida on Saturday to make the Volunteers 4-0 and move them into the Top 10 in Year 2 under Josh Heupel? He was a Power 5 transfer. (So is his backup.)
The Vols’ leading receiver in the game: a Power 5 transfer.
The cornerback whose interception sealed UT’s cathartic victory: a Power 5 transfer.
NCAA sanctions loomed (and still loom). Around two dozen players left Rocky Top, including the Vols’ starting running back, starting left tackle (both to Oklahoma) and two of the defense’s three top tacklers, who landed at Alabama and Michigan State.
Oklahoma also swiped the Vols’ top-ranked signee in the Class of 2020.
Heupel never asked for patience, but he deserved it.
“How are we trying to build this? It’s a long-term vision,” he said at his introductory news conference. “I believe that we can have immediate success as well.”
But hardly anyone could have expected this level of success this quickly. Less than a season and a half into Heupel’s tenure, Tennessee secured the program’s highest ranking (No. 8) since 2006.
General Commentary:
But Washington is no outlier. Dozens of programs could, theoretically, do what Washington has done this season. DeBoer doesn’t have a resume full of No. 1 picks and Heisman Trophy winners and isn’t at a program with the same kind of history as USC.
But he has rebuilt the program, and specifically the offense, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”-style.
The era of “wait until he gets his guys in here” is already over.
“What the transfer portal does is it gives you an eye toward competing immediately instead of saying: ‘All right, look. We’re going to take our lumps. We’re going to build it with freshmen. It’s going to take some time,’”
LSU coach Brian Kelly said.