“Don’t kid yourself—every single one of us would love to be in Nick’s situation,” one SEC coach said. “But that’s a tough spot. You know what Jalen gives you. You’ve seen him go through the wars. But Tua, boy, that’s a talent right there. He looks like one of those ‘hey, these dudes only come along every so often’ type of player.”
Well, Kirby probably wouldn’t. But that’s because he may already be in Nick’s situation.
Filed under Nick Saban Rules
Pretty eye-opening numbers here:
If you really want to believe these programs are losing money, the only explanation for that is that college athletic directors are the most inept administrators on the planet. That may in fact be a valid explanation.
It’s not an excuse, though.
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UPDATE: Check this out.
Yep, that’s right. Coaching salaries have been growing at a faster pace than revenues.
Filed under It's Just Bidness
This is too good to pass up.
A penny for your thoughts on his thoughts.
Filed under Name That Caption
For there to be a real quarterback controversy at Georgia, there’s one huge barrier Justin Fields will have to overcome.
The thing that stands out to Thomas about Fromm? His overall knowledge of the offensive system in place in Athens.
“I would say Jake, his knowledge of the game. It’s crazy some of the things he sees and the plays that he checks to sometimes is just perfect,” Thomas said. “Sometimes we didn’t even see it.”
The Bulldog lineman was then asked for an NFL comparison for Fromm. Without hesitation, Thomas had a name ready.
“Probably Peyton Manning. That’s a joke that we have,” Thomas said. “We do a drill, it’s a check drill where we change the play to whatever you want to call it and Coach Smart tells Jake not to be Peyton Manning — because he tries to get the call perfect every time.”
Fields is an immense talent. I don’t think there’s anyone out there who would reasonably debate that, but talent doesn’t mean much without a solid grasp of the offense. Yes, Smart’s already shown in two seasons that he’ll start a true freshman quarterback, but that doesn’t mean it’s his preferred option, especially when he goes into his third season with an experienced quarterback who has learned the system and gained the trust of his teammates and coaches.
The funny thing is that with the usual dumbing down that goes on in the spring game, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see Fields acquit himself well and excite the fan base, as well as pundits who love a good story. But we’re not going to know whether he’s anything more than a good story in the short run until he’s got a lot more practice work under his belt.
I don’t expect Fields to redshirt — one nice thing about that opener against Austin Peay is that it ought to give him a great opportunity to get his feet wet in a real game — but barring injury (I know, I know), bringing Fields along slowly and carefully this season is a luxury Smart and Chaney have and I doubt they’re foolish enough to waste it.
Filed under Georgia Football
More absurdity from the college basketball scandal:
That included Gatto and Adidas allegedly doling out a $45,000 payment to a North Carolina State recruit, Dennis Smith Jr. That transaction, the indictment charges, came at the request of a Wolfpack coach so Smith wouldn’t back out of his commitment to the school. Gatto was charged with defrauding NC State, although how you can defraud a place when you’re acting at the behest of a key employee is an intriguing concept.
It also included Gatto being asked to help an unnamed but easily identified high school star, 6-foot-9 Silvio De Sousa, so that he would attend Kansas. The problem was that De Sousa, according to the indictment, “had received illicit payments in return for a commitment to steer the student-athlete to a university sponsored by a rival athletic apparel company.” De Sousa was considered by recruiting experts to be a near lock to attend Maryland, which is sponsored by Under Armour. In order for De Sousa to attend KU, his guardian, via an Adidas-sponsored AAU coach, was allegedly asking Adidas to “repay the [original] illicit payment.” Gatto allegedly approved. Later, there was an additional request for “‘another $20,000’ ” payment to get ” ‘out from under’ the deal to attend the [other] school.”
The problem isn’t one-and-done, agents or a lack of NCAA enforcement. The problem is that major college athletics have become obscenely profitable. Ironically, when it comes to basketball, that’s on the NCAA itself. As Dan Wetzel writes,
College basketball is its own multibillion-dollar business. It has its own motivations. Age rule or no age rule, tickets will be sold, television deals inked and coaches expected to win. The game was no less competitive or cutthroat before the age-limit rule when the best high schoolers went directly to the NBA. Just because LeBron wasn’t available, revenue, salaries and competition went up.
You really want to put a halt to all this? Take the big money out of college athletics and it goes away tomorrow. The odds of that happening are about the same as the NFL starting its own minor league. But if it makes you feel better to blame the pros, have at it.
Filed under It's Just Bidness, The NCAA
Man, Shea Patterson and his lawyer are working the media hard. Dennis Dodd reveals the contents of a nine-page letter Patterson wrote the NCAA in an attempt to justify being allowed to play immediately at his new home that begins, “I’m not going to hold anything back …”
I’m trying to feel the righteous indignation here, but my chuckling over this gem keeps getting in the way:
In his filing, Patterson said he found “a trustworthy, high-caliber coach” with “values, integrity and leadership qualities” in Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh.
**giggles**
Um… sorry.
“It doesn’t seem fair to me that the only thing standing in the way of Coach Freeze making $5 million a year at another school was the discovery that he wasn’t the trustworthy, straight-laced role model that he claimed to be,” Patterson states.
Bless your heart, Shea. It just now dawned on you that a college football coach isn’t always 100% straight with others?
Filed under Freeze!, Heard About Harbaugh?
Alabama’s national title run didn’t come cheaply.
Including bowl bonuses paid out to football staffers, Alabama’s athletic department bill for its most recent title-winning run through the 2017-18 playoffs totaled nearly $7.6 million, up slightly from its 2016-17 playoff appearance.
Alabama’s combined expense report for its recent CFP appearance totaled more than $5.37 million, including in excess of $2.8 million for its national semifinal win over Clemson in the Sugar Bowl and another $2.5 million for its title victory over Georgia in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, according to documents released through a public records request by The Decatur Daily.
I’m curious to see Georgia’s numbers in that regard. Whatever they turn out to be, one thing I feel fairly certain about: if Michael Adams were still president, they would have been much higher.
Filed under Alabama, BCS/Playoffs, It's Just Bidness
