If this isn’t a “go ahead and make my day” kind of threat, I don’t know what is.
Daily Archives: June 28, 2018
Today’s dose of Steele
Steele ranks units not just nationally, but also by conference. His SEC rankings for Georgia:
- QB 1
- RB 2
- Rec 2
- OL 1
- DL 4
- LB 3
- DB 3
- ST 1
Alabama ranks first in six categories (tied with Georgia at QB and OL), which is tops for the conference. However, there’s more variation in the Tide’s rankings, as Steele ranks their receivers sixth and special teams seventh.
All in all, it’s another indication Steele perceives the gap is shrinking between the top to two programs in the SEC.
Why Georgia really is one of the best jobs in college football
Using a formula that weighs four factors…
- Championships Won Over Last Decade: 1 point (A division title), 2 points (A conference title), 3 points (Multiple conference titles and/or multiple major bowl appearances), 4 points (A playoff or national title game appearance), 5 points (A national title)
- Recruiting Over Last Decade: 1 point (No top 10 classes or five-star recruits), 2 points (One top 10 class or five-star recruit), 3 points (Multiple top 10 classes and/or five-star recruits), 4 points (A top 5 class), 5 points (Multiple top 5 classes)
- Revenue*: 1 point (No top 25 finishes within last 3 years), 2 points (Top 25 revenue finish), 3 points (Multiple Top 25 finishes), 4 (A top 10 finish), 5 (Multiple top 10 finishes)
- Pressure: 1 point (Extreme job volatility), 2 points (High volatility), 3 points (Moderate volatility), 4 points (Some volatility), 5 (Low volatility)
… this post at 247Sports ranks college football’s top twenty jobs.
Checking in at number three, behind Alabama and Ohio State (now there’s a real surprise), is Georgia.
This isn’t recency bias. It’s a reflection of what Georgia can be when directed by the right coach and money is spent to keep up with the Joneses. The Bulldogs are in an ideal position in terms of on-field opportunity. They’re in the weaker SEC division (the East), providing a yearly path to compete for championships. Georgia also operates in a state with recruiting riches. In fact, Georgia produces more high-end talent than any state in the country per capita. Kirby Smart is mining that properly, producing back-to-back top 3 recruiting classes, including a No. 1 effort during the 2018 cycle. That combination led to Georgia reaching the national title game in Year 2 of Smart’s tenure.
From a monetary perspective, the Bulldogs are finally spending to keep up with the top dogs in the country. Georgia opened a new indoor facility last February, and a $63 million stadium project is on the way. The Bulldogs are investing in recruiting. According to data from the US Department of Education, Georgia spent more money on recruiting in men’s athletics than Alabama did in 2016. [Emphasis added.]
That’s nice, but I’m afraid a little correction is due. It’s not so much a question of whether Georgia’s spent money so much as whether Georgia has used its obvious resources wisely. As a wise blogger who shall remain nameless once posted,
If you manage an SEC football program, there’s a difference between being committed to winning and being financially committed to winning. Everybody wants to win. The hard part is figuring out how to allocate resources to make sure that happens.
I say it’s only a little correction because it’s obvious that Kirby has a clue. And that’s what Georgia needed.
Filed under Georgia Football
At Georgia Tech, you can do that.
Let me be the first to say it: the same folks who brought you the Lexicon-enshrined “4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, 4 cokes” ticket policy have actually come up with something shrewd. (h/t)
… Georgia Tech athletics announced on Tuesday that it has introduced a Stinger Mobile Pass for the 2018 football season.
The Stinger Mobile Pass is a new, flexible ticket option for Georgia Tech football fans. For only $149, the Stinger Mobile Pass guarantees a seat for all six home games at Bobby Dodd Stadium in 2018. The six-game home schedule is highlighted by pivotal Atlantic Coast Conference showdowns versus defending Atlantic Division champion Clemson (Sept. 22) and Coastal Division champ Miami (Nov. 10), as well as tilts against Alcorn State (Season Opener – Sept. 1), Bowling Green (Family Weekend – Sept. 29), Duke (Homecoming – Oct. 13) and Virginia (Senior Day – Nov. 17).
Stinger Mobile Pass tickets are mobile-only and delivered to the buyer’s iPhone or Android device each gameday. The exact seat location will vary from game to game, giving Stinger Mobile Pass ticket-holders the unique opportunity to experience Bobby Dodd Stadium from a different vantage point each gameday. Fans can buy up to two (2) Stinger Mobile Passes per account. Stinger Mobile Passes purchased in one transaction will have seats together for each game. Friends can also link Stinger Mobile Pass accounts to ensure that their seats will be together for each game.
Let’s face it — if you’re not selling out, you’ve got to try to come up with something to soak up the excess capacity. This is a pretty clever solution that is also, dare I say it, fan friendly. It wouldn’t surprise me to see other schools in similar straits as Tech adopt a similar strategy.
And with that, hopefully, I’ve used up my yearly quota of praise for Georgia Tech football.
Filed under Georgia Tech Football
Completely upfront and honest
Friends, this is the sound a business decision makes.
“There were so many rumors every year,” Fitzgerald says of Mullen. “He told our team, ‘I’m not going anywhere.’” The Sunday after the loss to Ole Miss, Mullen met briefly with players. “He came in and said, ‘I’m leaving,’ and he walked out of the room.”
Florida plays Mississippi State this season, and all I can say is it sure is a good thing Mullen is a head coach and not a player. Gawd only knows what kind of state secrets he might have carried with him to Gainesville if he’d have been, say, a backup offensive lineman. Instead, we can all sleep easier knowing the Republic is safe.
Filed under It's Just Bidness, SEC Football
It’s the only way to be sure.
Some of you saw the egregious bullshit former Baylor AD Ian McCaw tried to sell about the sexual assault scandal that rocked the football program and the school:
Liberty University Athletics Director Ian McCaw in a deposition said Baylor University undertook “an elaborate plan that essentially scapegoated black football players and the football program for being responsible for what was a decades-long, universitywide sexual assault scandal,” according to a motion filed Wednesday in Waco’s U.S. District Court.
McCaw said he was “disgusted” by Baylor regents’ racism and by a “phony” 13-page document held up by the board as a summary of a nine-month investigation into how Baylor responded to reports of sexual assault. He was questioned June 19 by lawyers representing 10 women who allege Baylor denied them educational opportunities protected by Title IX after they were assaulted. The motion includes excerpts from McCaw’s sworn testimony.
McCaw spent 13 years as Baylor’s athletics director and accepted the same role at Liberty in November 2016. At the height of the scandal in May 2016, Baylor regents sanctioned McCaw and placed him on probation, and McCaw resigned days later.
McCaw said he resigned because he “did not want to be part of some Enron cover-up scheme,” according to Wednesday’s motion.
No part of any cover up. Uh hunh. Right.
Make no mistake about it. His defense, such as it is, is completely vile: pay no attention to the student-athletes who were arrested and convicted of sexual assault nor to the football program that did its damnedest to protect them, because they were scapegoats in the face of a larger scandal.
Cry me a river, Ian.
Of course, this has given the usual suspect the opening you’d suspect he’d run through.
Ugh. These people.
I have only one thing to say in response.
Filed under Baylor Is Sensitive To Women's Issues
Get The Picture 