It doesn't seem like anyone is happy about the Oklahoma Sooners canceling their annual spring game -- not Sooner Nation, not former OU players and now not even athletic director Joe Castiglione.
OU announced on Monday that it was canceling its annual spring game and replacing it with the new Crimson Combine, which OU called a "new fan-centric football event" that will feature players and coaches participating in combine-style drills, skills challenges, on-field fan engagement activities, autograph and photo opportunities, and more.
Since, Sooner Nation has collectively grumbled about the decision and former OU defensive tackle Gerald McCoy even voiced his disapproval.
The move followed a new college football trend as programs around the country are canceling their spring games, mostly in fear of other programs seeing talent and poaching them through the transfer portal when it opens again in April.
Castiglione was a guest on Toby Rowland and TJ Perry's show on KREF on Wednesday morning and made his first public comments about the spring game decision other than his statement in OU's press release.
Castiglione admitted he did not like the decision but felt like it was necessary. However, he also slipped that he knew it wouldn't solve the issue of losing talent to other programs. He also knows fans are disappointed and claims he relates to their frustration and OU will do all it can to make the new event worthwhile.
“I’m 100% sympathetic toward them," Castiglione said on the radio show. "This is not a great thing. I’m not at all trying to excuse it, justify it or try to put any lipstick on it. It’s a rotten spot to be in. And I feel for the fans. … There are a lot of schools that have canceled spring games and not doing anything at all. We’ve just said, forget that.
"We’re going to try to create an entirely different way for our fans to engage with our team. And we haven’t announced all of the details yet. We’ll have more and more details to follow as we get closer to April 12. It’s not going to be a testing type of combine that we would relate it to in the NFL, but there will be a lot of competitive games, fun games. I think you could consider it being more like what we’ve been seeing lately with the NFL Pro Bowl, where there are fun games testing people’s skills, but things they normally don’t do all the time.”
Oh, yes, the new NFL Pro Bowl model that everyone still loves and enjoys (sarcasm). Fans would still much rather watch a real game to get real insight, just like NFL fans would also prefer a normal game, not flag football and wide receivers trying to catch a ball with oversized Mickey Mouse gloves.
This is a constantly changing time in college football, though. But it seems no one really knows how to maneuver it and just follows the first person to try something new, even if they don't believe it will work.
“The whole world has changed, and I don’t like it either," Castiglione said. "The world has changed dramatically, and we don’t have to like it, but it’s something different -- the unregulated free agency style that we’re facing. Whether we have a spring game or not, players can leave. During spring practice, after spring practice — they could leave this summer. Whether there’s a portal or not, players can leave. It’s not healthy, Toby. It’s just a situation that we’re trying to address the best way possible.
“We had the transfer portal for over three years, but they did have some limitations on transferring. Now, there aren’t any rules. It’s a tough spot to be in. We do not have contracts that are enforceable, so we’re trying to manage it with the players that we have. I can’t tell you whether a spring game would open a door to poaching more than what goes on behind the scenes right now, but it’s more about trying to utilize every practice we have and prepare a team that has a lot of new players.”
The Sooners start spring practice on Thursday, with the new Crimson Combine on April 12, the same day the spring game was originally scheduled.