NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The American Football Coaches Association convention is an annual gathering of logoed quarter-zips, bro-hugs, speeches and job interviews, as well as conversations about key topics and teams around college football.
ESPN spent four days last week at the AFCA gathering, where more than 7,000 coaches descended from every corner of the sport. The event wrapped up Wednesday with the FBS coaches meeting, during which the group discussed the sport's biggest challenges.
"Lots of frustration," a Big Ten coach texted toward the end of the meeting.
Multiple coaches used words like "chaos" and "mess" to describe the current state of college football. Before Wednesday's meeting, a Group of 5 coach said it would be hard to screw up the sport more if you tried. Although coaches realize they're not seen as victims and shouldn't be -- "We make $2 million to $10 million per year," a Big 12 coach said late Tuesday. "We're paid to deal with this stuff" -- they also want their voices heard and note that they predicted some of the sport's biggest challenges years ago.
"Many of the things we suggested in the transfer portal infancy, and in the NIL infancy, we've circled back many times to what the coaches suggested from the very get-go," said AFCA executive director Todd Berry, who is retiring later this month and will be replaced by Craig Bohl, the former Wyoming and North Dakota State coach. "When we had our FBS head coaches meeting, you could sense the frustration in the room about many things, because we propose things and ... other people act like it's the first time they've ever heard them."
The convention included more than big-picture complaints. Coaches weighed in on teams, transfer portal transactions, NFL draft decisions and other topics.
Here are five things ESPN learned from conversations with coaches and others at the convention.