Joel Klatt believes experience is 'the currency we should be talking about' in college football

As the 2024 college football season looms, coaches are still trying to get a handle on how NIL and the transfer portal have changed the game. Most of the decisions on that front have already been made.

But as FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt points out, coaches have adjusted their philosophies when it comes to building a roster.

The constant turnover of the transfer portal has actually placed a premium on player retention as a way of ensuring culture carry-over from year to year.

“I talk a lot with coaches about this, I think experience is really starting to become the currency that we should be talking about more in college football,” Klatt said on The Joel Klatt Show. “We’ve talked about stars and talent, and yes that’s important. I’m not saying that it’s not important. But I think that having a veteran team is maybe more important.”

A veteran team that has been through the highs and lows is more likely to stay even-keeled during the big swings of a college football season. That is not an insignificant bonus.

Moreover, we’re starting to see signs of what it might look like as multiple years of the transfer portal and NIL stack up on top of each other. It can wear teams down and chemistry can be tough to come by.

The flip side, though, is that big advantage Klatt referred to.

“I think Michigan was evidence of that,” Joel Klatt said. “Washington, in a lot of ways, was evidence of that. The older that you can be, I think the better that you’re going to be in college football. In particular when you’re starting to see teams that are built on a year-in and year-out basis.”

Speaking to a fan on his show, Klatt pointed out the potential pitfalls of having a less experienced roster.

“The depth at which their leaders can lead and that they can play is going to be minimized, whereas if you get a veteran team, I think that their ability to win and their competitiveness could increase,” Joel Klatt said. “And I think Michigan, to your point, is a case study in that.”

So how does one go about building a more experienced roster when the transfer portal is constantly pecking away at your lineup? It has to be an intentional strategy to keep players around.

“I would also say that that’s why a lot of coaches that I talk to have talked to me about the importance of when they’re spending their NIL dollars, and remember, NIL dollars are being spent as pay for play,” Joel Klatt said. “Coaches are spending money on their own players to retain them at a much higher level than they are to acquire players that aren’t on their team. Now that doesn’t mean that money is not spent on players in the transfer portal to acquire them through name, image and likeness deals, the pay for play, as I like to call it. Whatever. It’s just that the money is more well-spent on players that are currently on your roster.”

Klatt even offered an example of a team that might benefit from having focused much of its NIL efforts on retaining current players.

“I think Ohio State could be a case in point of that this year, moving into next season,” Joel Klatt said. “Michigan was last year. Ohio State kept a lot of that roster and they had to invest heavily to do so. By the way, that veteran leadership, that veteran presence, at least in Ohio State’s case they’re hoping pays off just like it did for Michigan to the tune of a national championship.”