Always follow the money.

You probably thought I was kidding the other day when I said “I’m really looking forward to the day when Jimmy Sexton takes on his first recruit as a client” — hell, I thought I was kidding — but I should have known better ($$).

How much has the game changed? CAA agent Jimmy Sexton, who runs CAA’s football division along with its coaching division, told ESPN that the last year has been seismic.

“From the college side, this is clearly the biggest time of change I’ve ever seen in 35 years in the business,” Sexton said. “A lot of times, change is good.”

If you’re Jimmy Sexton dealing with SEC ADs, when isn’t change good?

Striking while the iron is hot

The least surprising bit of news you will see today is…

Sam Pittman has requested a new contract at Arkansas that would nearly double his salary, reports @TomMurphyADG. Agent Jimmy Sexton is asking for a seven-year deal worth more than $50 million, according to the report.

Pittman recently switched agents. https://t.co/1ETcCZn8mD pic.twitter.com/Ex7S0GyjTu

— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) December 13, 2021

The hot iron referenced above being the insane market for coaches more than Pittman…

Gratitude only gets you so far.

Sam Pittman’s gonna bring a gun to a gun fight.

Sam Pittman has changed agents and will now be represented by Memphis-based super agent Jimmy Sexton, multiple sources have told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: https://t.co/iK7ANnsg4X

— WholeHogSports.com (@wholehogsports) December 5, 2021

Honestly, I’m surprised Sexton wasn’t already repping him.

When will Jimmy Sexton paint his masterpiece?

‘Cause I guarantee you, as obscene as Mel Tucker’s deal is, this ain’t it.

Can confirm that Mel Tucker’s Michigan State deal is $95 million over 10 years, as @freep reported. Source adds to @YahooSports that the deal is fully guaranteed and includes the potential for lucrative bonuses.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 25, 2021

Fully guaranteed and lucrative bonuses?  Hoo, wee, it’s gonna be a fun Thanksgiving in the Tucker house today.  Dude has a career record of 16-14, his team just got pantsed by Ohio State and his reward is to be making almost 50% more than Kirby Smart.

Oh, wait…  I may have just figured out the answer to my header question.

You cannot defeat Jimmy Sexton.

You cannot even hope to contain him.

James Franklin will be staying at Penn State, after all, and possibly for a long time to come.

… Beginning Jan. 1, Franklin will be scheduled to make $8.5 million annually, including a $500,000 retention bonus each Dec. 31, according to a term sheet released by the school. That amount includes $1 million in the form of loans to be used to pay the premiums on a life insurance policy. Pennsylvania open-records law does not require Penn State to make employment contracts public, but the school likely will be entitled to reimbursement of the loans from the insurance policy’s death benefit.

The deal’s guaranteed value is $80 million – all the money involved except the annual retention payments. That will give Franklin the second-largest guaranteed amount of any public-school sports coach, behind the $95 million that Texas A&M will be guaranteeing football coach Jimbo Fisher as of Jan. 1, according to information obtained by USA TODAY Sports.

What a coincidence, eh?

Franklin is 67-32 at Penn State — certainly not awful.  He’s even got a win over Ohio State along the way to go with a conference title.  He recruits well, too.  For that, though, to be worthy of a 10-year contract to go with a top-five salary tells you that the market for head coaches is changing again, largely (I suspect) driven by the anticipated money coming in from new TV deals for the Big Ten and the CFP.  And Jimmy Sexton’s shrewd enough to read which way the wind is blowing.

Jimbo.  Mel Tucker.  And now Franklin.  It’s the new normal, peeps.

Can’t wait to see what Kirby’s new deal looks like.  You know it’s coming.  After all, who’s his agent?

Today, in there’s no money in college sports

I keep thinking there’s nothing a college athletic director can do any more that would surprise me, and I keep being proven wrong.

If all goes as planned, Mel Tucker will become the highest-paid coach in the Big Ten. And Michigan State will make a major show of strength that it plans to be a significant spender in college football in the next decade.

MSU is preparing a historic $95 million, 10-year contract extension for Tucker to remain with the Spartans, university sources confirmed to the Free Press on Wednesday. The 49-year-old Cleveland native is set to become among the highest-paid coaches in the country.

Alumni Mat Ishbia and Steve St. Andre will donate the private funding to the university for Tucker’s reworked contract, according to “Inside the Locker Room” podcast hosts Brian Mosallam, a former MSU Board of Trustee member, and MSU radio analyst Jason Strayhorn.  University sources confirmed Ishbia and St. Andre as the donors for the new contract.

The deal surpasses the estimated $7 million contract of Penn State’s James Franklin that is the highest salary in the Big Ten in 2021, according to a USA TODAY salary database. Only former MSU coach Nick Saban at Alabama ($9.753 million) is making more this season than Tucker will under his reworked contract, according to the database.

You read that correctly.  Mel Tucker, the current possessor of a lifetime head coaching record of 16-13 (11-6 at MSU), will soon be making more than his former boss, Kirby Smart.  Not only has Mel not even sniffed a division title in his three seasons of coaching, he finished his first two seasons with losing records.

These people are fucking nuts.

I don’t need to tell you who Tucker’s agent is, do I?  I also don’t need to tell you the sales pitch getting ready to be thrown Josh Brooks’ way soon by the same agent, do I?

Today, in pearls of wisdom

In response to the news that Va. Tech is canning Justin Fuente now, instead of waiting another month to get a reduced buyout, David Hale reminds us why ADs aren’t nearly as smart as they believe they are.

There are, generously, maybe a dozen truly difference maker coaches out there.
⬇️
There will prob be a dozen good jobs open.
⬇️
Most/all of the dozen great coaches already have jobs.
⬇️
Many of the schools hiring now will be doing it again in 3-4 years.
⬇️
Jimmy Sexton is rich.

— 💫🅰️♈️🆔 (@ADavidHaleJoint) November 16, 2021

And likely to be getting richer.

Your preseason SEC Power Poll

Jimbo Fisher is in the fourth year of a 10-year/$75 million fully guaranteed contract.

Fisher has not won a national championship at Texas A&M.

Fisher has not coached in the CFP at Texas A&M.

Fisher has not won the conference at Texas A&M.

Fisher has not won the division at Texas A&M.

So, naturally, this is happening.

Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher has seven years remaining on his contract paying him $7.5 million annually. A&M believes that is not enough on both counts following a successful first three seasons under the former Florida State coach.

A&M will soon announce a contract extension and raise for Fisher, according to university insiders, after the Aggies (9-1) were No. 4 in last season’s final Associated Press poll, their highest finish since winning their lone national title in 1939.

A&M will add three years to Fisher’s contract to put it back to 10 years remaining and he will make about $9 million annually, according to an insider with knowledge of the process. Based on the updated contract, which is expected to easily receive A&M regents’ approval, Fisher would trail only mentor Nick Saban of Alabama (recently raised to an average of $10.6 million through 2028 season) when the ink dries in College Station, according to a USA Today database.

Bidding against themselves.

Okay, the header is a joke.  But… if I did post a conference power poll today, I’d rank Jimmy Sexton number one.

“College football is almost too big to fail.”

It says so much about the business that the only people Dennis Dodd could get to speak on the record about coaches’ agents owning athletic directors were two retired ADs and a sports lawyer who said,

“You have so few agents representing the vast majority of Power Five coaches, it makes it easier to control the market,” said Darren Heitner, a South-Florida based attorney specializing in sports law. “[They’re not going to] allow individuals to go against the grain and agree to a lower-term deal.”

I can’t wait to see what happens the first time an AD tries the “it’s [now] a different market” argument with Jimmy Sexton.

There’s a bond there.

That hyped meeting between Kirby and Jake on Monday?  Maybe it was just so Fromm could get a phone number from Smart.

Have been told that Jake Fromm will be represented by agent Jimmy Sexton (CAA).

He’s in excellent hands there. pic.twitter.com/aHZUfnAXb1

— Wes Blankenship (@Wes_nship) January 8, 2020