Is there any hope for college football?
- Thread starter Slick Manager of Champs
- Start date
I didn't even know GM's were a thing till like a week or two ago.
Same. When I read the headline on ESPN this morning about an Alabama GM I thought WTF is that? You beat me by 2 weeks.
Looks like Alabama copied my idea. Been saying since NIL started that these programs need to have a GM position.
major P5 schools need to seperate the football program (and possibly men's hoops) from the other programs, completely seperate them from each other and have a staff and an AD running one, and a second AD and staff running the non revenue / olympic sports programs..
in this day and age, with the money, the AD shouldnt be sharing their time worrying about the womens soccer team as well as the mens football program. im sure the Assc AD does alot of this but make it completely seperate. have a staff, an AD, now a GM for football and on the complete other side of the building, in different offices, let the other AD and staff worry about lacrosse, wrestling and gymnastics..
Of course the budget for salaries would be indicative of what side of the building you are working on.
in this day and age, with the money, the AD shouldnt be sharing their time worrying about the womens soccer team as well as the mens football program. im sure the Assc AD does alot of this but make it completely seperate. have a staff, an AD, now a GM for football and on the complete other side of the building, in different offices, let the other AD and staff worry about lacrosse, wrestling and gymnastics..
Of course the budget for salaries would be indicative of what side of the building you are working on.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
Outside of the "football first" schools, it would be easier for schools to divest or peel away from the arms race.
any program not in a P4, i agree. crazy that they arent. even some P4 schools, i look at Stanford and wonder why in the world they are even attempting to try and compete in big boy football. they have so much going for them, academically and athletically outside of football, why in the world they are still entertaining the thought of trying to compete at the highest level.
So, who will be the first GM/coach to clash because a high-profile coach disagrees with the GM? Which coach will hold both roles giving him control of all football related decisions.
The GM role seems redundant, I see this as a move by some football schools to strip the AD of all football-related decisions and pass them to a GM they control, whose sole focus is football.
The GM role seems redundant, I see this as a move by some football schools to strip the AD of all football-related decisions and pass them to a GM they control, whose sole focus is football.
But then how will the schools funnel the football generated revenue to fund the gold plated swimming pools for the water polo teams? That's really what this is all about; Using football revenue to prop up all sports in an arms race to keep up with the Jones while also crushing anyone not in the big two conferences, which will in turn free up more revenue to be shared between fewer schools. It's really professional football now. Except instead of of them giving players huge contracts, they get smaller salaries and the schools funnel that money back to themselves.
Yes, it's simply putting an executive in charge of the football program, since their are all professionals now.
How will Stanford be able to compete in Olympic sports if a competitor like USC is getting an additional tens of millions per year that can be put towards those other programs? Yes, it's Stanford and their endowment is larger than God's, but that's a lot of money they will need to self generate.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
Do you really think these schools are going to use the cash to prop up Olympic sports vs Football and Basketball???
Uconn basketball seems to be doing okay these days without its football team bringing in exorbitant amounts of money.
I've also heard that Marquette's basketball budget is about as big as anyone's in the country.
Hey, maybe this will all change soon and the SEC and BIG will start to dominate in hoops and I'll look like an idiot. But there seems to be a path for now anyway.
Because the administrators who are employed by these programs would rather make more money than field a competitive team. Could be the different between $150k/year and $200k/year.
But even if you asked many of the fans on this board, they would tell you they'd rather be part of the big show than compete in any type of lesser division. I bet 80% of the people on here would rather be in a BIG/SEC super league where we share a division with Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, etc. than be in a second-tier league with WVU, BC, Cincy, etc.
Personally, I'd choose being competitive above all else. I've seen enough of the Pirates over the years to know that being part of a league you're completely saddled in isn't enjoyable. But I see both viewpoints.
The GM's role should be player salaries/retention.....much as it is in the NFL. The HC shouldn't be worried about this. Their job is to recruit and coach. And in the recruiting part, they shouldn't be worrying about how much money to offer certain players. They should get a budget from the GM and the GM tells them how high they can go on certain players.
I watch less and less every year.
It is beyond stupid when there is more roster turnover than the NFL. It is stupid when only about 5 or 6 schools really matter and about 15 additional schools almost matter.
Sports are supposed to be a distraction from real life issues and simple and fun. Sports have been prevented to the benefit of such a few that I just lose more and more interest.
Honestly while I agree. Hasn't it been like this for awhile? I said like 8 years ago I can name the Preseason top 15 in 2024 and probably nail 12 of the 15.
Let me give it a try. I honestly haven't looked. Im not going in order
PSU
OSU
Mich
ND
Clem
FSU
UGa
Bama
Ole Miss
A&M
Texas
Oklahoma
Oregon
Utah???
Tennessee???
That's pretty much 12 who are grandfathered into the Top 15 plus Utah, Ole Miss, and Tennessee
Yes, that is my point, it's always the same usual suspects. A CFB version of the KC Royals rarley sneaks in past the CFB version of the Yankees. As stacked of a system it was against the Pitt's/ Syracuse/BC/WVU of the world 8 years ago, it is even much harder today.
Plus roster turnover is much more prolific than 3 years ago let alone 8 years. I don't want to relearn who the 60% of the team is.
Plus Tennessee is one of the schools who I called "almost matter". Them being top 15 should be expected, that is how bad they f'd that program for too many years.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
I don't really know what the point of being a "player' in a bigger conference is if there isn't any chance of being competitive without just pouring more and more cash into a football program. The analogy about the Pirates is perfect because your best shot at a "good season" is limping to a game or so over 0.500 and being a whipping boy in the playoffs. Only difference with the Pirates is that their pathway to the playoffs is limited by one person's unwillingness to spend money. Football programs needs tens of thousands of people to spend money and that just isn't happening at a majority of the schools.
It is hard to walk away from it, but the times I would watch two or three games over the weekend are long gone.
I watch less every year but I still watch some and pay attention. The only way I would ever totally quit it is if the P2 broke away. They have tried their best to ruin college football but it keeps getting more popular. Look at that new college football video game. 2.2 million people bought the video game 3 days early for an extra $30. That is an astounding number considering there are only 330 million Americans and Im sure the game sells close to 0 copies in other countries. That means 1 in 150 Americans bought this game 3 days early.
I was that guy who watched :
Thursday-college game (back then a lot of East Carolina and Mountain West games)
Friday- a High School game in person, then rushed home for skylights
Saturday - From noon till I fell asleep watching a West Coast game on Fox Sports Pittsburgh. If Pitt was home I went then continued my Binging on games at home.
Sunday- obviously the Steelers game (usually 1pm) then and the other game opposite time of the Steelers game ( usually 4pm)
Monday- Monday Night Football
Then they added Sunday Night Football and I watched. Then the NFL started playing on Thursday Nights and Colleges on Friday nights. At some point with the over- saturation and the changes in how rules are enforced, and just what I will call the silliness of the business side of both college and NFL.
I now watch:
The Steelers, Pitt, a Friday night HS game, the Army/Navy game, the NFL playoffs. I will watch the Saturday and Sunday night game while in bed as I dose off. It has to be a great game to keep me up.
Any other game I watch is because I have nothing else going on. I will admit with Roku I am able to watch a lot of PSAC games and President Athletic Conference replays during the week. I play them in the background while I work.
Obviously I am not missed by either P4 college football or the NFL. But I swear my apathy grows yearly with the nonsense.
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Stanford is not hurting for money in their athletic program. They are the top dog in everything outside of football. My guess is they have standards. If they decided to overlook them and go all in for football they could probably be a title contender in no time.
But you are saying this now. Give it a couple of years to really swirl down the crapper. Don't know if any of you listened to Sirius XM college sports this morning but the first topic was Ferentz and a 'suspension' for tampering. A lot of these kids on P2 teams will be shutting it down once their teams are eliminated from playoff contention (4 losses?). Which could be late Oct in some cases.
With 105 schollies, expanding pay for play, actually taking classes becoming an afterthought, etc....yearly roster turnover will likely become 50% or higher across college football. I know that the American sports fan will stare at at any train wreck, no matter how gory. But I think that college sports will become too big of a septic tank for a lot of people...
I'm at the point where I record the Pitt game and watch it later if it seems interesting. It's funny, I've been a Lair member for years and I honestly have given up on college sports. I find myself looking forward to the Pirates/Steeler talk on these boards. I've come to realize that this site is one of few remaining connections to my hometown .
Agree, but then you get national reporters like Stew Mandel, Nicole Auerbach and others who should be criticizing the current state of affairs but once the games role around their inner fanboy/girl takes over and their comments are usually just "It's still college football and we love it no matter what"
pittdan77
Athletic Director
There are bills to be paid so reporters do what they have to do.
Yep. People will still watch and that’s all that matters. I pretty much just watch Pitt anymore. Prior to the past two years I’d watch any acc game.
I don’t care about watching a now manufactured usc vs Michigan or anything. Again though, fans will complain, but then turn on those games. Just like everyone complains about Yankees vs Red Sox on prime time, they still tune in.
Yeah, I would usually plan Saturday nights around the big game (Michigan-ND, USC-Alabama, etc.) that was on. Now, not so much but I will watch if I'm home. I'm just less likely to adjust my schedule.
The difference is, while MLB and its networks may not like it. When it happens, if it happens, it happens. And they continue to evolve the rules like college FB does. In college FB, they almost legislate against say a Group of Five team from doing this.
If a team is that bad, it's easy to stop watching. I know I won't be watching Pitt much this year. I think they have 7 home games and even though we have season's tickets, I'll be going to maybe 2 of them. This is just going to be another 3-9 season. I used to really enjoy going to Pitt football games, going since 1966. But now with the turn that college football has made, they're just a professional league. NFL Lite as someone said. That's accurate and I hate the NFL.
I will still watch games. But what I will no longer do is sell my Saturdays to sit and watch college FB. It is the nicest weather of the year. I am not giving up going to say, Oktoberfest Festivals to watch Pitt or college FB games. Pitt/YSU I will be in OCMD. I am kind of glad they have clowned up this sport. It makes it easier to walk away.
Oklahoma State has QR codes on their helmets to link to their NIL account. This is so stupid. Pay the freaking players so that fans dont have to.
