Victims of their own success

Generally speaking, I think Jon Wilner’s a savvy dude and I’m always up for a little NCAA bitch slapping, but I think this observation misses the mark.

College football is a mess right now, with ESPN and Fox as the puppet masters.

But let's not forget the reason the industry is vulnerable: NCAA economics require two profitable entities in each athletic department to support 14+ money-losing subsidiaries. Unsustainable model

— Jon Wilner (@wilnerhotline) July 8, 2022

I’m sorry, “NCAA economics require” is basically horseshit.  Schools are non-profit organizations, in name at least, and providing athletics opportunities is supposed to be part of their academic mission.  (Not to mention Title IX requirements.)  But nobody — certainly not the NCAA — is holding a gun to anyone’s head and saying you must pay coaches and administrators responsible for non-revenue producing sports an arm and a leg.  Or providing palatial facilities.  That’s a choice, an idiotic one, sure, but a choice nevertheless.

If schools have chosen an unsustainable model, it’s because they’ve believed for a long time they’re immune from the backlash of wasteful spending.  And if that’s unsustainable now, just wait until the day comes when they’re allowed/required to pay college athletes directly.

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Glory days in Gainesville

Geez, Gators, when they put it this way…

FLORIDA

SEC titles: 8

Most recent: 2008

Synopsis: All eight of Florida’s league championships were compiled from 1991 through 2008, a stretch that included national championships in 1996, 2006 and 2008. The four SEC title-game trips since 2008 have ended in losses to Alabama, which included a 54-16 embarrassment in 2016.

… no wonder everything before 1990 is a blur to y’all.

Danny White’s got a plan for everything.

Okay, this seems a mite ambitious, even for Vol Land.

The “Rise Glorious” plan specifically outlines how the program must perform to reach its goals. They want to win a national championship in at least one sport every four years with each sport notching at least one national top-16 finish every four years.

Then again, this is Danny White we’re talking about.  It’s not beyond him to simply declare that his football program won a natty, is it?

Has Mark Richt lost control of another player?

You may remember this.

Fred Gibson needed some quick cash. He didn’t want to wear jewelry on his fingers. So, he saw nothing wrong with selling his Southeastern Conference championship ring for $2,000.

“It’s my ring,” the Georgia receiver said. “I should be able to do with it what I want.”

Instead, Gibson and eight teammates from the Bulldogs’ first SEC championship team in 20 years were declared ineligible for violating NCAA rules by selling their 10-karat gold rings just a couple of months after getting them.

To be reinstated, the players will have to reimburse the school for the cost to recover the rings, which were sold to a single broker and wound up being peddled on eBay.

“They’ll definitely pay a price,” athletic director Vince Dooley said Thursday.

… School president Michael Adams delivered a stern warning to an athletic program still reeling from scandalous reports of payoffs and academic fraud on the men’s basketball team. The Bulldogs withdrew from both the SEC and NCAA tournaments, and coach Jim Harrick was forced to retire.

“My patience, the patience of the faculty, and the patience of most of our supporters is exhausted over this continuing improper behavior by athletes,” Adams said. “I am disappointed and I expect corrective actions to be taken.”

Leave it to Michael Adams to equate selling a ring with academic fraud.  But I digress.

The players weren’t penalized, because the NCAA didn’t have a specific rule about ring selling.  At least not at that point.  But a rule was created in response.

… The rule against selling gear while playing in the NCAA is a relatively new one. It was created after nine football players at the University of Georgia were caught selling championship rings and a jersey on eBay in 2003.

At the time, the closest relevant rule was one that said players could not use their name and reputation to earn money, through selling autographs, for example. So, the nine players were not penalized, but they brought the issue to the NCAA’s attention.

Now, players who sell gear can face ineligibility or temporary suspension.

All of which brings us to the here and now.

Former Alabama Crimson Tide running back Keilan Robinson’s 2020 championship rings are listed for sale by a Las Vegas pawn shop for $60,000.

Robinson transferred to Texas from Alabama last year. He was not on the Crimson Tide’s active roster in 2020, having opted out due to COVID-19.

The SEC, Rose Bowl and College Football Playoff championship rings are being sold by Gold & Silver Pawn Shop — home of the TV show “Pawn Stars.”

Robinson’s name and number are inscribed on the rings.

A clip from the show covers the sale of the rings, which were brought in by someone named Jon, who says he was gifted the rings by his uncle. It’s unclear how the family came into possession of Robinson’s rings.

It’s only within the past year that current college athletes have been able to sell merchandise without risking their eligibility.

Is that right?  I’m genuinely curious.  It doesn’t seem to be, at least according to this tweet.

So apparently Texas RB Keilan Robinson's 2020 Alabama championship rings are for sale…https://t.co/m1EY86iQek

Selling rings while still in school is a black-letter NCAA violation, which I don't think NIL changes affected…

— College Football Nerds (@CFBNerds) July 6, 2022

Anyone profess to know where the truth lies here?  I’d hate to think all that Georgia Way hand wringing has gone for naught.

Let’s give ’em something to talk about.

Shot.

“Here’s the summary for me on Georgia,” PicKell said on The Hard Count. “I wholeheartedly believe they will be back in Atlanta playing Alabama for the SEC title game. Can they get there without one loss on their schedule? Remains to be seen. But when they get to that SEC title game, when they get to the potentially College Football Playoff or games where they have to score points — when they get into a corner and it says, ‘OK. You’ve got to score 35 to beat us. You’ve got to score 42 to beat us.’ Can Georgia score with those teams? Because, again, not a knock on Stetson Bennett, but we’ve seen when they put the ball into his hand and say, ‘Stetson, you’ve got to beat us,’ that hasn’t always worked out in Georgia’s favor.

“So ultimately, believe in this Georgia team, but believe that there are still some things they’ve got to put into place in order to get back to the mountaintop, to get back to hoisting that trophy. There’s tons of firepower here. Can you get all your ducks in a row? Can you mix all the ingredients together in the right capacity to get to where you need to be? Ultimately, if Georgia can have that leadership replaced on defense, can have other playmakers step up on the outside and then be able to utilize the talent they have on this team and put them in position to succeed, especially the tight end position, they’re going to be OK. Actually, they’ll be better than OK.”

Chaser.

While Steele was impressed with the Volunteers, he explained he still has Georgia winning the East and running the table during the regular season just like it did in 2021.

“All eight of their units rank in my top-20 units out there. And while the defense is young — they lost, what, 8-9 draft picks to the NFL [and] all those first-round draft picks — going over the defense with their coordinator [Glenn] Schumann, I think you’ve got a lot of talent. They go three-deep over on that defense as well,” Steele said. “I think at the end of the year, that defense is going to be somewhat close to last year. At the start of the year, they won’t be as close because of the inexperience level, but they’re going to have a very good defense and an improved offense.”

And you?

I knew I liked this last decade.

As a general rule of thumb, I’m telling you that you can take any article headlined with “How did the Gators, Seminoles and Hurricanes go from Big Three to broken?” and inject it directly into my veins.

I mean, reading this lede…

For anyone old enough to remember the glory days of Florida’s Big Three, the Florida-Florida State game has become hard to stomach.

From 1990-2000, every matchup between the Gators and Seminoles was a clash of top-10 teams. Six times, both were in the top five.

But when they met last November, neither had a winning record. The Gators had already fired Dan Mullen, giving the game an interim coach for the third time in the last four meetings. A series that once decided national championships now determined who went to the Gasparilla Bowl.

That’s how far Florida college football has fallen.

… is better than getting wasted in a opium den.  Don’t stop there, either.  You’ll want to read the whole thing.  It’s glorious.

“Kirby [Smart] got dog-cussed constantly,” the source said.

So, ESPN has this lengthy piece on what it bills as the hardest job in college football — being Nick Saban’s defensive backs coach — and seemingly manages to interview pretty much everyone who’s occupied the position over the last decade plus, except for Kirby Smart.

Interesting omission, wouldn’t you say?  Eh, maybe Kirby was busy washing his hair, or something.