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Northern Illinois Coach Says Opponents Tried To Poach Players In The Middle Of Game

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Several college football coaches have referred to the NCAA transfer portal as the “wild, wild west.”

There does not appear to be much in the way of rules, and few what rules there are, nobody seems to follow or understand.

But some fans may not exactly grasp the magnitude of which things have gotten out of control. Thankfully, Northern Illinois head coach Thomas Hammock gave us a bit of insight.

Northern Illinois HC Thomas Hammock Says Players Are Being Poached In Games

Hammock, whose Huskies recently notched a massive upset over the the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in South Bend, joined Urban Meyer on his “The Triple Option” podcast this week.

Meyer asked Hammock about coaching at a non-Power 4 school. Specifically, he asked about roster-building and how difficult it is in the transfer portal era.

Hammock’s answer was more than a little surprising.

“In December, I had a bunch of guys come to my office (with) different opportunities to explore. We wound up losing a couple. We lost one to Florida and we lost one to Louisville. But two didn’t become 12,” Hammock stated.

But that was just scratching the surface.

“The thing that’s hard nowadays is there’s so many extra coaches on the sideline. So you got guys looking at your roster,” he said. “We played Western Illinois the first week of the season and then they played Indiana. I got a coach from Indiana asking me about a couple guys on my team. And I’m thinking to myself, those questions are almost like an NFL personnel department.”

Hammock said the questions made him very uncomfortable, and it’s easy to see why.

It’s hard enough to recruit kids to small schools. It’s even harder to retain them and nearly impossible if they’re being tampered with during the season.

It’s a testament to the fifth-year NIU coach that he’s kept his roster in-tact. And now they could well be position for a College Football Playoff spot.