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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/lopea182 on 2025-05-29 17:00:32+00:00.
Original Title: [Rexrode] “We’re picking the dad almost as much as we’re picking the quarterback,” said a Power 4 head coach, who was granted anonymity, like others in this story, so he could speak freely on the subject. “Every person in this business has horror stories.”
“Quarterback Dad” is generally not a compliment among the college coaches I talked to for this piece, some of whom have stopped recruiting quarterbacks who checked every box except: Can we tolerate his dad?
“We’re picking the dad almost as much as we’re picking the quarterback,” said a Power 4 head coach, who was granted anonymity, like others in this story, so he could speak freely on the subject. “Every person in this business has horror stories.”
“It’s heightened the anxiety around everything,” Dooley said of Quarterback Dads now having seven-figure paydays as incentive and free movement as leverage. “I mean, you’ve got dads, not long after kids get out of the womb, kids that are 5 years old, coming up with logos and slogans for social media to get attention. You’ve got dads talking dollar amount with coaches before they ever talk football or academics.”
How bad is it for some? One Power 4 coach contacted for an interview on Quarterback Dads replied: “Nah. I’m staying away from that.”
A Group of 5 head coach said he loved the topic and that it should be made into a documentary, but was fearful of telling any specific stories because “if it ever got back to me, I’d never get a quarterback again, ever.”
He did explain the difference between dealing with problematic Quarterback Dads now and five years ago.
“A dad texts, ‘Why aren’t we doing more quick game with my son? Why so much dropback game?’ S— like that,” the coach said. “Back before the portal, you text back something like, ‘Man, let’s sit down after the season and talk about this if you feel that way.’ Now? You pick up the phone immediately and talk through it. You explain why you’re doing what you’re doing, in detail.”
As a Group of 5 assistant coach said about Nico Iamaleava’s abrupt departure from Tennessee amid reported financial conflict: “The kid’s in a perfect offensive system for him, he’s paid $2 million a year, even as a freshman to not play and redshirt, and you leave that for UCLA? That’s not the kid, that’s the people around him.”
I’ll keep unnamed the Quarterback Dad who used to call me frequently about 20 years ago, once assuring me the very bad team I covered had as much talent as Pete Carroll’s national champion USC Trojans and was poorly coached — that was very untrue, and he was very inebriated.