Players can do what they want. I think the new transfer rules suck and are very shortsighted by the NCAA, but it is what it is and I don't see it changing soon.
The thing that terrifies me is that guys who are ingrained in the EWU culture are still choosing to leave, and leave for programs that haven't achieved anywhere near the level of Eastern. What's worse is that it doesn't sounds like they hate the coaches, but they don't like the university. That should be a red flag for everyone in the University administration. The bottom line is sometimes players don't feel valued despite the amount of effort they put in. And frankly, given the behavior of our last President, the current Interim President, and some of the faculty, it sort of makes sense if a player feels this way. Does May or Hickey even care? No one knows the answer because they won't even comment on it, despite having the report they paid for given to them months ago.
Can you imagine Delaware or North Dakota State allowing talk of dropping athletics? Or even just football? Can you imagine ANY of our peer institutions allowing it? NAU? Weber State? UC Davis? I feel like the university is a mess, and I don't even spend that much time Cheney. Being a part of that each and every day must really drive someone nuts.
Can you imagine our football coaches right now? The defense is awful and instead of focusing on how to improve it, they have to worry about what their budget is going to look like next year. This is stuff that they shouldn't be sweating, but the mismanaged university can't even bring themselves to commit to excellence. And when you've got faculty running to media and talking about abolishing athletics at the D1 level without any pushback or discipline, you can't help but feel like you're unsupported.