It’s certainly been an interesting offseason for a handful of Ferris sports.
It started with hockey replacing its head coach of 33 years with Brett Riley last month. Of course, the announcement of former coach Bob Daniels’ retirement came months in advance. Most recently, football and men’s basketball received more surprising moves.
Fresh off a DII football championship, Trinidad Chambliss announced he’d enter the transfer portal and took his talents to Ole Miss. Around the same time, NCAA DII national championship-winning basketball coach Andy Bronkema resigned and made his jump to DI as the head coach of Central Michigan.
There have been other changes, too, as Ferris hockey lost captain defenseman Travis Shoudy and Hobey Baker nominee forward Caiden Gault to the portal. Football just hasn’t lost Chambliss either, with offensive lineman Bryce George, wide receiver Jacarvis Alexandre and running back Kannon Katzer leaving.
In my four years here, I can’t remember any change on this level. Before this year, I had only seen one coaching change at Ferris.
These changes have me focusing on the bigger picture. The amount of longevity I’ve seen in Ferris athletics is simply astounding. For the non-sports watchers and or understanders, let me break this down for you.
Sports are a fickle thing. From a coaching and athlete perspective, especially at a collegiate level, it’s overly complicated. You can have good players and a bad coach and not be good. You can have a good coach and bad players and still be good. A team can find millions of different ways to win and still be bad.
On top of this, there’s always the risk of losing what’s good. A smaller school with a good coach and players? There’s always somewhere bigger that’s gonna want to bring them in. This is what is happening at Ferris now.
Change in sports is guaranteed. Players get traded, sign elsewhere and enter the transfer portal. Coaches get fired, are offered bigger and better or retire. It happens and ends up being one of the most consistent things in the industry.
This really hasn’t happened at Ferris. It’s a little weird to see it now. Take a second to think about this year. Ferris coaching has lost a 33-year head coach and a 12-year head coach in the same offseason. The length of these coaching stints is pretty much unheard of. Even in college sports, it only takes a few bad seasons for a coach to fall on the sword. Even with a few good seasons in a row, other higher-level teams are always looking for a new start.
For the players, it makes sense, but it’s still odd. I’m shocked that the transfer portal hasn’t negatively affected Ferris like this earlier. It started with linebacker Konnor Near transferring to Oklahoma a couple of years ago. Now, the dam seems to have broken. Ole Miss, Iowa and Jacksonville State are all collecting their share of DII standouts.
How do we begin to make sense of this irregularity in longevity in coaching, and why it took the transfer portal so long to come calling?
With DII, the schools that make up the level are smaller in both size and financials. On the coaching side, perhaps there’s a small-town charm that comes with it. The coaches I’ve known here have lived in the area. They fell in love with the area. Feeling at home can be more enticing than money.
For the players, I think that there’s a significant barrier between DI and DII, regardless of how close in namesake they are. Just as there are those in DI who excel but don’t crack it at the pro level, there are those in DII who excel but don’t crack it at the DI level. As the NCAA landscape changes and NIL evolves, schools need to get more creative. Not even the most financially well-off institutions can have every single good player.
In life, change is constant. In sports, it’s also its largest pillar. Coaches and players leaving Ferris for bigger and perhaps better opportunities were always in the cards. It was long overdue for it to happen.