Shot.
(Yes, that’s the day before national signing day.)
Chaser.
Leave the bottle on the bar and go.
Daily Archives: February 4, 2020
When there’s a school, there’s a Way.
Vanderbilt just fired its athletic director, after only one year on the job.
The university sent out a press release earlier in the day naming Candice Story as the new interim Vanderbilt athletic director on Tuesday.
“Candice embodies the Vanderbilt Way, which is our commitment to ensuring that student-athletes excel on the field of play, academically and in life,” interim chancellor Susan Wente said.
So, exactly how did Malcolm Turner not embody the Vanderbilt Way? Honestly, given it’s Vanderbilt, I think we have to give the guy something of a pass on the “excel on the field of play” bit, but academic issues? Player behavior scandal?
Forget it, Jake. It’s college athletics.
Rumors have swirled for weeks over unhappiness between Turner and Vanderbilt. The source of much discontent was Turner’s spending.
Ex-athletic director David Williams left behind a “rainy day” fund that sources estimated at $17 million. Turner blew through that in less than a year on the job.
A source familiar with the inner workings inside Vanderbilt athletics, weeks ago, said that there had been a spending freeze and that the department was running “deficits on top of deficits on top of deficits.”
Ah, that’s the Way we all know and love.
Filed under SEC Football
“Let me talk about the word quit.”
Steven Orr Spurrier, ladies and gentlemen ($$):
He was thinking a lot, particularly, about Atilla in 2015 when he walked away from South Carolina’s football team midway through the season…
“In my situation, I thought it was like that. In ‘Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun,’ it says, ‘When defeat is inevitable and there’s no way you can win, it’s better to retreat and come back and fight another day.’ Quitting to me has always meant in the middle of a game you have a chance to win and your players or coaches quit on it. That’s quitting. I felt like I was defeated. I needed to retreat, to get out, and maybe somebody (else) could provide a spark that I could not provide for that team. Maybe it was just such that nobody could have helped it much.”
Even as he’s baring his soul, he still can’t bring himself to mention getting waxed by Georgia as a cause for his despair. Gotta give the man credit for staying on message.
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UPDATE:
Filed under The Evil Genius
The least self-aware person in America
This guy.
Honestly, I don’t think the connection ever crossed his mind. Which explains how he ran Baylor, not to put too fine a point on it.
Filed under Baylor Is Sensitive To Women's Issues
Thoughts on Georgia’s latest annual NCAA financial report, part two
The other noteworthy item from the report? Check this out:
Football recruiting expenses jumped more than $1 million to $3.7 million in the most recent fiscal year. The Bulldogs already led the nation in the previous fiscal year—by $250,000 more than Alabama—according to numbers reported by USA Today.
Clemson reported spending $2.2 million on football recruiting and Oklahoma $1.28 million for the 2019 fiscal year.
Georgia’s football recruiting spending in fiscal year 2019 is more than five times what it was in fiscal year 2014.
Georgia spent nearly two and a half times more money in fiscal year 2019 recruiting football players than it spent recruiting athletes for its other 20 teams combined.
To put it more graphically,
The next time somebody tries to sell you on the idea that Butts-Mehre fully supported Richt financially in the same way it does Smart, point ’em to that.
Filed under Georgia Football, Recruiting
Thoughts on Georgia’s latest annual NCAA financial report, part one
The first big take on the report covering the period from July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019 is that, while in some aspects the Georgia Way abides…
The Georgia Athletic Association remains one of the most profitable enterprises in the Southeastern Conference, netting nearly $31 million over expenses in Fiscal Year 2019, according to UGA’s latest NCAA financial report. That report was obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Monday through an open-records request.
Georgia’s surplus is tops among the SEC athletic programs that have shared their balance sheets publicly so far.
… as does McGarity’s “hey, don’t call it profits” take…
Georgia Athletic Director Greg McGarity attributed the Bulldogs’ strong bottom line to “football success, keeping down expenses and being fiscally responsible.”
While that number is considered profit, McGarity points out that almost all of it of that money already was spent in “capital projects” and predetermined outlays. The athletic association donated $5 million back to the university in 2019 and allocated $23.1 million to ongoing or recently completed facility improvements.
The remaining $2.7 million was turned over to the UGA Foundation for future athletic enhancements, according to Stephanie Ransom, deputy athletic director for finance.
(By the way, just because you choose to spend the money doesn’t mean it’s not a profit, Greg. But I digress.)
… there is one thing in there worth focusing on as a potential canary in the coal mine.
Nearly a third of UGA Athletics’ revenue last year came from contributions — $52.5 million in 2019, 84 percent of which (or $44.3 million) was earmarked for the football program. But overall giving was down significantly from the previous year, 22.5 percent overall and 28.9 percent for football. Georgia reported $67.7 million in donations in Fiscal Year 2018, likely due to the Bulldogs run to the National Championship Game the previous season. [Emphasis added.]
Broadcast money from the conference increased, as did money from ticket sales, but that’s an awfully sharp dip in contributions. Towers attributes that to the national title run from the previous season, but I suspect that the change in the tax laws and the way the athletic department has moved Magill Society contributors to the front of the line has at least as much to do with the decline.
It’s only one year, so it’s not worth drawing any major conclusions yet, but if the decline continues, it sure will be interesting to see if Butts-Mehre takes any steps to arrest the trend, or if it simply embraces the new reality. My guess is that with the new TV contract on the horizon, they’ll be all in on the latter.
Filed under Georgia Football, It's Just Bidness
“A perk of the job”
It’s refreshing to see political hackery openly expressed like this.
While state lawmakers last December were scooping up coveted tickets to the College Football Playoff National Championship between LSU and Clemson, one member of the LSU Board of Supervisors suggested he’d like to scrap the policy that gives legislators priority access to the tickets and, instead, let board members dole them out to lawmakers who vote to support LSU.
In a text message sent Dec. 9, board member Rémy Starns—a Metairie attorney who recently was named state public defender—says, “I want to end this. I want ALL tickets to anything under my committee. We will dole them out.”
Starns, who chairs the board’s external affairs committee, sent the message to LSU administrator Chris Vidrine in response to an article that day in The Advocate, detailing how lawmakers were “scooping up” the playoff tickets, taking advantage of “a perk of the job.”
Though state law prohibits lawmakers and other elected officials from receiving free game tickets, LSU policy allows them to purchase tickets at face value, before they’re sold on pricey secondary markets. Under the policy, members of the state Legislature are allowed to purchase two tickets each.
Starns linked to the article in his text message to Vidrine, who works in the president’s office as interim associate vice president of governmental relations and public policy.
“We should discuss this,” Vidrine replies. “There are many issues.”
Replies Starns: “YES there are. Among them are state legislators who vote against LSU.”
Football and Southern politics, like mom and apple pie.
Filed under Political Wankery
Todd Monken isn’t talking to us.
But he is talking to recruits.
The chief reason behind his latest visit was necessary to get a good gauge of new Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken.
“Being able to sit down and watch film with coach [Todd] Monken was great,” Pryor said. “I got to see how he does things and see how things will look for UGA this year.”
He expanded on that “how things will look” topic.
“It is very good,” Pryor said. “It is professional. Like from talking to coach Monken, his offense is what football is turning in to be. Using the back in space. Using the back out of the backfield and also still handing the ball off. I like it a lot. I think it is great.”
Yeah, I know. Talk is cheap, especially sales talk. Still, what I’ve seen so far is that Monken’s pitch to recruits has been pretty consistent with regard to opening up the offense. It’s just that the devil, as always, is in the details. And we don’t get to see those for a while.
Filed under Georgia Football, Strategery And Mechanics
The Pirate gets his man.
There’s a new quarterback at Mississippi State.
From Palo Alto to Starkville should be one helluva culture change, but if Leach is getting the 2018 version of Costello, he’s gonna have a big piece in place for the Air Raid.
Costello earned second-team All-Pac-12 honors for Stanford in 2018, when he started all 13 games and passed for 3,540 yards, the second-highest single-season total in team history. He completed 65.1% of his passes with 29 touchdowns, and led the Pac-12 in both pass efficiency (155) and yards per attempt (8.57).
Leach has had a good run of taking transfer quarterbacks and making them into something special. Will it work in the SEC? Who knows? Costello may even turn out to give Kyle Trask a run for his money.
Filed under Mike Leach. Yar!
Musical palate cleanser, as promised edition
One of reggae’s all-time greatest songs…
Filed under Uncategorized
Get The Picture 