If coaches can leave after 18 days, I’m pretty sure athletes changing schools ain’t the end of the world

Manny Diaz made a totally fair decision to leave his new job at Temple to go back to Miami, this time as head coach. Mark Richt stepping down from the Canes’ head job was evidently a surprise to all. Diaz thus set aside a non-power job in order to go back to his hometown, take over a roster that was halfway already his, and become one of college football’s most prominent coaches.

So this post isn’t a complaint about Diaz at all. Good for him. He’s far from the first coach to have circumstances change like this. Sucks for Temple in the short term.

Instead, this is something to keep in mind whenever we hear a coach or media figure complain yet again about Wild West free agency transfer epidemic participation trophy Generation Z quitters entitlement issues plaguing college students who choose to play sports at different schools.

College athletes transfer nowhere near as frequently as the people in charge like to argue, then usually have to sit out a year upon doing so. Coaches, meanwhile, not only get to come and go at will, but sometimes end up holding down jobs at two different universities at the same time.

Let’s just keep this in mind the next time we’re instructed to be very mad about an athlete transferring from one college to another, whether they’re a former five-star QB or not. A player attempting to improve his or her situation is to be encouraged, especially in an allegedly amateur sporting association.

The supposedly rampant and ever-increasing “transfer epidemic” in major revenue sports isn’t even a thing ...

... and I’ll trust any commentators who get worked up about backup quarterbacks transferring are also pissed off about millionaire head coaches and volleyball players changing schools frequently as well.

Again, Diaz did nothing particularly wrong. Temple should understand his decision, and Miami’s players are publicly delighted to have him back. So this isn’t about Diaz at all, but rather a system that only polices the agency of the talent on the field.