Texas A&M AD Trev Alberts Issues Grim Warning About the Future of College Sports

Texas A&M Aggies Athletic Director Trev Alberts didn't mince words about the slippery slope college sports are on

Oct 15, 2025; Birmingham, AL, USA; Texas A&M Aggies athletic director Trev Alberts watches as head coach Bucky McMillan talks with the media during SEC Media Days at Grand Bohemian Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images | Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

College sports are in a completely different state now than they were 10 years ago, maybe even just five years ago. While change was slow at first, NIL and the transfer portal have sped up the process.

With frustration mounting among players, coaches, athletic directors, and donors, college sports are teetering on a slippery slope. One wrong could push it over the edge and change the landscape for the future.

Texas A&M Aggies AD Trev Alberts is aware of the issue and issued a grim warning about the lack of enforcement and rules, alluding to the fact that the hole is only growing deeper as time passes.

It Might Be Too Late

Dec 20, 2025; College Station, TX, USA; Texas A&M Aggies running back Ej Smith (22) runs with the ball during the game between the Aggies and the Hurricanes at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Between coaches leaving before a playoff run, players demanding money and breaching contracts signed with schools, there are no enforcement or federal bills that dictate what is or isn't allowed for NIL and the transfer portal. What started as a tame project, allowing players to profit off themselves, quickly turned into too much change in too little time.

“Lots of people in this league are saying," Alberts told Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports. "‘What is Plan B?’ I’d put a really small group together. Put everything on the table. You’re saying, ‘If we were going to start over, what would it look like?’ The longer we wait, the deeper the hole gets.”

With little to no historical data to go on, knowing what will work and what won't, Alberts is keenly aware that if change doesn't happen soon, it might be too late when it does.

This stems from a broader conversation that SEC athletic directors and commissioner Greg Sankey have had in the past week, worrying about what the future of the sport will look like if enforcement doesn't happen soon.

“If the CSC is not going to enforce the House settlement, if the NCAA is not going to enforce tampering rules and if Congress is not going to pass the SCORE Act, then it leaves the SEC in a position that we have to go our own way to create some rules and a level of responsibility,” Georgia president Jere Morehead, a former chair of the NCAA DI Board of Directors, told Yahoo Sports. “We’d be able to make a much stronger argument that we are not in violation of antitrust rules because we don’t have market power.”

The whole sport is dealing with the issue plaguing the system, and while the SEC may be the most outspoken, no one will disagree with their words. Alberts himself understands that there is nothing besides the sports they have now, but if change doesn't happen soon, well, then it could be the end of NCAA-recognized sports.