American Conference Fights for Retention Amid Extreme Turnover

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The American Conference was the only Group of 6 league to beat teams from the Big Ten, SEC, Big 12 and ACC last season. Commissioner Tim Pernetti touted that fact in his opening address at American Conference media days.

Pernetti also shared a more dispiriting statistic: 78% of the American's first- and second-team all-conference players transferred to a Power 4 program this offseason.

Many of those players were the backbone of teams that punched up a level. And now a considerable chunk of them are no longer part of those programs.

"We’re deep with talent, elite coaches and programs, quite frankly, that are consistently the target of other conferences," Pernetti said at the Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront.

That's the reality of life at the Group of 6 level — even in one of its best-positioned conferences. The resources are simply not on par with the Power 4 leagues. The American suffers as players, coaches and even programs succumb to the pull of deeper-pocketed conferences.

"The top of the mountain for us on the issues of the American Conference is the transfer portal," Pernetti said.

It might not fix everything, but that's one reason Pernetti made a push for a proposal in the Protect College Sports Act that could establish a separate pool of money set aside for player retention.

"Our coaches are doing an incredible job of developing talent," Pernetti said. "I want to keep them in the league longer."

Coaches hardly blame players for bettering their circumstances in pursuit of a better payday or a higher likelihood of ending up in the NFL. They are also in the business of moving up the ranks to those same conferences.

That's why there are four new coaches across the American Conference this season at Memphis, Tulane, South Florida and North Texas. All four outgoing coaches took jobs at Power 4 programs. And the newcomers will be tasked with the unique challenge of retention at this level.

Temple is an outlier in that it didn't lose a single starter to the transfer portal. The Owls brought back tight end Peter Clarke and wide receiver JoJo Bermudez, two all-conference nominees.

Head coach KC Keeler said plenty of his players had Power 4 offers worth hundreds of thousands more but turned them down to stay at Temple.

"We’re in the locker room talking like, 'I think we should just hunker down and get this ship corrected,'" Owls linebacker Eric Stuart said. "And everyone’s like, 'Alright, if you guys are staying, I’m staying.' So it’s kind of a domino effect. I think that’s hard to do in this environment."

Keeler said retention is the top priority when it comes to roster construction. Next is high school recruiting. And then finding finishing pieces in the transfer portal.

• Related: K.C. Keeler Thinks Temple Is Ready to Compete

There is more money to be had for top performers. Keeler said his staff told 10 players during their bye week last season that they overdelivered based on their compensation and rewarded them accordingly.

"Sometimes there’s only so much you can do," Keeler said. "But sometimes there are things you can do. And we take care of our players, but not at the level that they could have gotten because we don’t have that kind of money."

East Carolina coach Blake Harrell said fending off Power 4 programs is a good issue to have because it means you have players performing at that level. But many of those conversations are occurring before a player puts their name in the transfer portal. That's the reality of the current system.

• Related: American Conference Football 2026 All-Conference Team

"Those guys are gonna get hit up," he said. "Whether it's agents, whether it's illegally, legally — whatever it may be — it just happens."

Harrell led ECU to its winningest campaign since 2013 in his first full season in charge. But the Pirates still lost their starting quarterback, running back and left tackle to Power 4 programs in the transfer portal.

East Carolina only has three returning starters. Two of them — wide receiver Brock Spalding and defensive lineman Jasiyah Robinson — made the trip to media days with Harrell.

"It's tough, because a guy like Iverson Hooks, a guy that I love, he goes and gets paid an absurd amount of money at Oregon," UAB quarterback Ryder Burton said. "He's playing in a better conference, a better opportunity for him, many would argue."

Burton said his priority was continuing to play for and develop under first-year coach Alex Mortensen.

• Related: UAB’s Alex Mortensen Finding His Footing as First-Time Head Coach

It's an old-fashioned concept, especially in the modern era with so much movement, but loyalty to a coach or a program could be a solution to the problem at hand.

"Being proud of being a Bull is a weapon more than ever," said new South Florida coach Brian Hartline.

UTSA coach Jeff Traylor said everyone on his roster who played last season made a conscious decision to stay. That includes quarterback Owen McCown, a two-year starter for the Roadrunners and preseason all-conference player.

"Very open, very transparent, honest, try to be compassionate," Traylor said of the process. "[We] let them know what our budget was, what we could afford, we couldn’t go over a certain dollar amount, which drove some guys out of here. Some of 'em stayed."

Of course, there's always the other route.

"I’ve got to find me a Cody Campbell or a Mark Cuban in San Antonio," Traylor said.