The transfer portal controversy hit a low. Ever since the portal timeline overlaps between the season and post-season schedule, coaches have seen significant sit-outs for their important games. From Deion Sanders to Rhett Lashlee, coaches landed on the bitter side of a college football reality. They voiced their concern but couldn’t blame players at all since they all are entitled to think about their own growth in careers. The best-case scenario would be if they could do it without leaving their existing team in severe jeopardy. However, the NCAA reality didn’t allow them to do the same. Amidst the chaos and the players’ exodus, Marshal decided to opt out of the bowl game. And guess what? They are paying the price now.

Marshall announced that it couldn’t take part in the Dec. 28 game against Army due to a lack of depth chart. The Thundering Herd clinched a dominant win in the Sun Belt title game over Louisiana and was supposed to face the Black Knights in the bowl season. But the pathetic transfer portal reality, more triggered by an approaching change in coaching, propelled their players to pack bags and leave. As an aftershock, the team took a hasty decision. Two weeks before the bowl, they made they can’t make it to the game. Consequently, the conference made up their mind. On Friday, they charged Marshall with a hefty $100,000 fine.

Head coach Charles Huff had been in the Sun Belts in the final year of his four-year contract. However, before he could finish his tenure on pen and paper, he was tagged as a Southern Miss fit. No wonder it triggered a lot of Marshal players to hit the portal and join Southerm Miss to play under coach Huff.

Now, the matter of fact is that they will have to deal with the six-digit fine to ditch the independent bowl. The fun fact is Charles Huff isn’t contributing to the bill, owing half of the responsibility of the roster hodge podge.

However, if you scratch your head thinking it’s an instance of a greater punishment for a lesser offense, you just need to look deeper into the picture.

The grave reality behind Marshal’s 6 figure fine

All conferences don’t have the same financial disposition at all. Smaller college football programs were already underrepresented, lagging behind amidst the high-flying NIL lure. And it’s gotten significantly difficult in a day and age where players just float from one school to another in the blink of an eye. So, the urge to stay relevant and make money for the less popular conferences is legit.

The Sun Belt received a boost on that ground this season after eight of its teams made it to a bowl. The list contained Marshall, which mounted a spectacular 10-win season (marred with some controversy) since 2015 to go bowling for the eighth year and a row and showed some (slim) signs to break a five-game losing streak against Army in the Independence Bowl.

Marshall’s no participation resulted in a huge backlog. It propelled the Sun Belt and the rest of its members failed to draw their share of a six-figure reward. So, technically and ideologically, there is no wrong if they take a step to pull that money from the team itself. The rest is in your judgment.