Y’all keep telling me there’s not enough money to go around, but here’s UCF making Randy Shannon the first $1 million Group of Five assistant coach.
Meanwhile in Lansing, Mel Tucker hasn’t had time to unpack his bags, but he’s already putting that big ol’ checkbook Michigan State gave him to work.
Marrow is the guy who makes Mark Stoops’ recruiting go. Of course UK will match. It’s not like the ‘Cats can’t afford it.
And so it goes.
Filed under It's Just Bidness
Okay, but tell us how you really feel about it.
Filed under Political Wankery, The NCAA
I’ve watched a couple of things on TV lately that really made an impression.
CBS’ streaming service offered the first episode of Star Trek: Picard for free viewing for a week and I took advantage. Can’t say I was expecting too much, but I was pleasantly surprised, especially with the level of writing. It didn’t tug at me enough to make me willing to shell out the $5.99 a month CBS was hoping to entice me into paying, but I figure it’ll eventually migrate over to Amazon Prime, where I’ll happily tune in.
That’s already the situation with Counterpart, which Starz unfortunately cancelled after two seasons. The show is riveting — part sci-fi, part spy fic and part study on the human condition. J.K. Simmons is fantastic, playing two characters who are the same but different, if that makes sense. I tore through all 20 episodes in four days. Highly recommended.
What have you seen on streaming television lately that’s worth a look?
Filed under GTP Stuff
Paul Finebaum is negotiating with TV networks about a sitcom based on his life; such a move would see him leave ESPN and SEC Network.
Okay, I guess that’s both good news and bad. It’s a shame “Just Shoot Me!” was already taken as a title, though.
Filed under PAWWWLLL!!!
It’s obvious in reading bits and pieces from yesterday’s Senate Subcommittee on Manufacturing, Trade, and Consumer Protection hearing that what the NCAA wants more than anything right now is more time, not because it’s working hard to come up with a solution for NIL rights in the face of increased state legislative activity, but because, in its time-honored tradition, it simply wants to put off making any hard decisions as long as humanly possible.
Unfortunately for Mr. Emmert’s organization, it was also obvious that the Senate knows the game he’s playing.
So what’s being done to correct this inequality? John Tester, a Democrat from Montana, asked that question to Emmert during an exchange midway through the proceedings.
“I’m going to be honest with you,” Tester told Emmert, “you don’t want us to solve this. You want us to help you solve this. So the question is, where are we at as far as putting stuff on paper, because a time is a clickin’ and we can’t stop states from what they’re doing. We’ve got to figure it out.”
“There is a timeline in place for having this resolved for January 2021,” Emmert responded.
Asked the senator, “Do you have anything on paper right now?”
Said Emmert: “We don’t.”
The skepticism was bipartisan, in case you were wondering.
Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican and the chairman of the Subcommittee on Manufacturing, Trade, and Consumer Protection, said he was not inclined to act until after the NCAA reveals its new rules.
“I wish Congress was in a position to be able to provide the NCAA and the athletes the opportunity to find a solution. … The ability for Congress to do that is, that’s a challenge,” Moran said in an interview after the hearing. “The next step is to see what the NCAA is capable of presenting to us in April.”
I wouldn’t expect much, Senator.
Filed under Political Wankery, The NCAA
ESPN’s Alex Scarborough calls this season’s Georgia-Alabama match up “more (a game) of interest than of importance”. Does that seem like a fair characterization, given that the loser will likely be working with a razor-thin margin of error the rest of the year to win its respective division?
Filed under Alabama, Georgia Football
I don’t know if you’ve heard last night’s “life comes at you fast” news, but Georgia’s former defensive coordinator is the new head coach at Michigan State.
Between the sexual assault issues, the feckless behavior of its administrators regarding same and Mark Dantonio’s abrupt exit one day before the February signing date, MSU is something of a dumpster fire, which no doubt factored into Tucker’s initial reluctance to consider jumping ship after only one year at Colorado. That left the Spartans with only one thing to do.
They made Tucker an offer he couldn’t refuse ($$).
People with knowledge of Tucker’s deal with the Spartans said it doubles his Colorado coaching salary pool (which was $3.15 million in 2019), includes a substantial increase to the Michigan State strength and conditioning staff budget and program resources and will more than double Tucker’s Colorado salary, which is around $2.7 million.
If that sounds familiar, it’s only because Mike Leach was coaxed to Mississippi State with a similar offer. (Leach came a little cheaper because he’s been jonesing for a long time to coach in the SEC, but still.)
And therein lies the problem for Larry Scott’s conference. In the last month two Pac-12 programs have seen their football coaches poached because they don’t have the financial resources to match their better funded peers in the Big Ten and SEC. And that doesn’t appear to be changing any time soon.
Those of you who are concerned that further player compensation would upset the delicate competitive balance of college football have missed the obvious point that the coaching compensation train has already left the station in that regard.
Filed under Pac-12 Football
… there is Alabama, there is Georgia and then there is every other school.
The top of the rankings come as no surprise, with Alabama and Georgia as the only schools averaging a top-three class over the past five years. With two No. 1 classes in the past three years, the Bulldogs have closed the gap with the Tide on the recruiting trail created by Nick Saban’s run of consecutive No. 1 classes at the start and through the middle of the decade.
That’s what the gap Florida thinks it’s closing looks like.
Filed under Georgia Football, Recruiting
Coach clucking.
Coach fucking.
Can one of you “kids these days” blamers explain the difference to me? I mean, they’ve gotta learn the behavior from somebody, amirite?
************************************************************************
UPDATE: Dan Wolken has this right.
Though the optics of Tucker’s sudden change of heart are awkward at best, it would be silly to criticize him for being disloyal. As one coach who recently got a mind-blowing contract told me, you might only have real leverage in these situations a few times in your life so you better take advantage. As Michigan State’s search for Mark Dantonio’s replacement became increasingly desperate, Tucker had it and used it. Good for him.
Not sure why that should be any different for college athletes, but, then again, I’m not a head coach.
Filed under Transfers Are For Coaches.
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