Mike Jackson

This conversation on LK was great. Generally our biggest problem in athletics trace back to spirit of our Alumni base. How valuable is our alumni network versus the schools our best players are transferring to? Having a guy transfer to one of the best 25 brands in football isn't a problem imo. But losing guys to Baylor and SMU is disappointing.

This is great little discussion related to this topic.

Very grounded logical assessment. Too bad it got an eye roll reaction.

Neither the system is broken beyond repair due to greed. If it football are ancillary to education then most of the revenue should go back into education. The state of FBS College Football is an endemic to the biggest problem our country face’s “greed is good screw the consequences” prime directive. The logical legal end to that in “fair” system is for the players to be paid and have guaranteed contracts just like coaches. 4-Star players and above would like get multi-year contracts and 2-star would likely only get one year contracts. The situation for walk-ons wouldn’t change. Under those conditions only the employee - employer contract matter. They could dismiss a player during spring camp but the salary remains payable as long as the student stays academically eligible paid on two week schedule.

Name me the flag ship university of a public public university system respected or well known because of its Basketball program without a FBS football program. A NIT Championship is great but it isn't as significant as a sweet 16 appearance. Furthermore let compare the history of the programs. Winning Percentage Basketball 0.463 Football 0.502 Conference Championships Basketball 6* (only counting NCAA invites and the NIT Championship as an equivalent to a conference championship) Football 25 Weeks in AP Poll Basketball 0 Football 2 The history says we aren't a basketball school and DFW area isn't a hungry Basketball market. SMU couldn't get to a sweet 16 with HOF Head Coach Larry Brown. We will likely never be able to hire a coach with a resume similar to his. So expecting any coach here to reach a sweet 16 or higher here no matter the amount of money we throw at it is foolish. In summary you can logically argue we should make more judicious investments in Football and loosen the purse strings on basketball spending. But you can’t logically argue we will likely be a basketball powerhouse just by throwing more money at it by cutting football. If that were the case experiments at UTA and SMU would have been far more fruitful.

🙄 No but Harbaugh doesn’t drive Michigan football attendance or gets them a bigger base cut of the money from the Big 10 media deal just like none of those professors singularly drive Michigan student enrollment. And isn’t just Harbaugh the average salary for an FBS head coach is well over 1.5 million dollars a year and most guaranteed contract are 5 years or more. Michigan Football generates a ton of revenue regardless of if there is a 50 year old coach with NFL experience at the helm or a first time head coach in his 30s. That demand argument in theoretical vacuum has always be intellectually lazy. The fact is if you are going put an artificial limit on player benefits/income it hypocritical to defend huge coach contract without limits citing "demand".

It isn’t fair and hypocritically so in light of the ridiculous conference realignment going on and FBS head coach salaries on par with NFL head coach salaries. If it weren’t a for profit endeavor I believe conferences would still be small and regional providing the best conditions for EDUCATION of the students who won’t go on to be pros. The fans have never clamored for realignment they campaigned for a playoff. If it were about education, students, athletes and fan experience we would have had a playoff 40 years ago and the SWC might still be together (maybe with UNT a member of it). They complain about the players wanting it both ways but it is the leaders of these programs have been getting both ways since the first coach started making 1 million per year adjusted for inflation. So Jim Harbaugh is going to get paid as much per year as 70 University of Michigan professors, or 250 clerical employees, or a nearly infinite number of adjuncts. This seems . . . disturbing. ( https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2014/12/brief-history-college-football-coaching-salaries-context-new-gilded-age — I didn’t need lawyer blog to form that opinion this was just the first example of why a scholarship isn’t sufficient compensation. They put all these regulations and limits on the income/benefits student athletes can receive but none on coaches. And Coaches who don’t keep their job long if they are not able to recruit some of the best players. (But they keep 100% of contracted future salary if they get fired)

I just find it very interesting that very few see the irony of refining in coaches salaries and AD staff salaries more in line with professors. The coaches that built their colleges sport teams into to the revenue producing sports brand juggernauts of today, made middle or upper middle class salaries. I assume AD and staff salaries were closer to the median salary in the USA at the time. The sport wouldn’t be in this obvious conundrum if salaries grew at rate in line with or modestly above inflation. One head coach contract at a modest G5 program shouldn’t set you financially for life. And we are getting to the point that coordinators at P5 are set for life. I wish the other end of the spectrum would be addressed to make the “student athlete” model work and equitable. It would be a novel idea that these programs be “true” 501 3c. With the "profit" actually going back to the school and slowing down the rise in cost of education for your average student. Student athletes (especially before transfers without penalty, and NIL) were something between indentured servants or young craftsmen apprentice of the early industrial age. In a world were Coach Littrell is making around 150k per year and Coach Saban 750k-1 million as the top earner I would be all in the "get off my lawn" mindset. But the system is broken and conference realignment putting east coast and west coast teams in the same conference should give you a clue. It isn't "greedy spoiled players" that broke college football it's their bosses! Now the lawsuit is just to get those bosses to live up to the responsibility of having employees. So before you wag your finger at players for "wanting it both way" you need to have that same energy for all the pigs that have been getting fat at the trough for 30 years. In fact we would probably be in a much better place if dissolution of the CFA came with a mandate to recognize revenue sports players as employees. If I were a judge on the bench during that case that would have been my first question. Do you see the irony? You are suing for the right to get top dollar for the value of your product independently of the CFA but the bulk of the labor that produces the product isn't directly compensated with a salary based on the value of their labor.

THIS⬆️ This topic in the world of farming = "Hey guys I just bought some chics, I need your best omelette recipes".

I swap TCU ahead of SMU. Other than that I only see typical TAMU and UT hype. Nothing to get upset about.

It isn’t about proving something in football it about leadership managing the program correctly. Seth’s multiple extensions were laughably unnecessary. And as far as basketball it is really good that we have an NIT Championship that but that is our ceiling here because the coach was already good as gone before the team advanced to the semifinals. Furthermore basketball just isn’t a hot ticket in DFW. And that matters because we will never be able to afford to keep the best head coaches we hire. And now with NIL and transfer portal the best talent the head coach brings in and develops will leave too much money on the table to stay at UNT. What do you think basketball attendance numbers will be for the defending NIT Champions next year? I guarantee they will be subpar.

No need to point out their non-athletically impactful shortcomings. Generally conference should steer clear of adding private institutions if their current membership is more than 12. Also a young program, not in a major TV market, that doesn't have a strong following throughout their home stare and without a New Year's 6 bowl appearance is not a hot commodity for media coverage contracts. SMU is a laughably poor addition to the Pac 12 but that is an even better add than Liberty to AAC. Whenever the ACC gets raided they won't be "P5" level anymore and I don't foresee an ACC conference with the likes of North Carolina, Clemson, FSU, Miami, Syracuse, Boston College or Duke in it with Liberty. If anything AAC should be hotly pursuing UConn while they are still available without a good football program. Once they put out the dumpster fire that is football they are a P5 program just by virtue of their association with elite basketball. Having UConn Basketball would be a game changer for our basketball. It would make almost all the schools in the conference now more reluctant to leave for any conference except the Big 10 and SEC. And with UConn the league probably gets two bids into the NCAA tournament any times it produces 2 quality teams and some years three teams in.

Are you referring to tenure? I assume you are. And we should mention coaches have guaranteed multi-year contracts professors don’t. And coaches like Seth can retire off of one FBS head coach contract. Professors can’t retire in their mid 40s tenured or not. Tenure is not retirement and while it hard to get it taken away it can be. This whole discussion to me is a microcosm of irony. The work class people dumping on other young working class people trying to make a living defending the graft of system.

I find this a straw man argument NOBODY proposed utter idiocy. But I love the C-Suite “free market” mentality. So when a profitable company announcing a great quarter before layoffs I want to hear praise from all College Football fans. 🤣

“The Market” is an utter bullshit excuse to do a lot of duplicitous things that are morally ambiguous. The problem with ambiguity is that it often counter to the public good. The Market says Tik Tok is great and documentaries are almost worthless. So yeah “the market” is a great way to make all big decisions 🙄.

Watching those employees do their job isn’t a significant reason why you buy a cup of coffee. Horrible comparison. And I notice how limiting coaches salaries to more in line with professors and academic administrators wasn’t mentioned. 🤷🏽‍♂️

Please add administrators and anyone drawing large 6 figure salaries from college athletics. Let’s be honest college football has been a cut throat dirty business since before SMU started their road toward the death penalty. Now players are getting paid above board (90% of players are getting pennies compared it anything compared to the others feeding off the revenue college football generates) and can transfer we are so salty. 🙄🙄🙄. You know the fans who aren’t bent out of shape over this? The ones of programs that compete consistently at the highest level.

I absolutely get that. My advice to any young man is talk less and listen more. I had that issue with this guy in particular but I am over it. Don’t care about getting updates chiefly because of the way he left. And updates on guys like Siggers make us sound like jilted incels fans of college football at NT. But like I said before off the field college football has been an unsavory duplicitous mess since Fry left and NT dropped down to FCS (I-AA) because they didn’t have the resources to “play dirty”. None of the powers that be ruining College Football will give up power or 2 nickels of revenue to make the sport better. And everything up to wanton blatant disregard of player safety is up for sale for the right price. (And the safety thing is also tied to revenue because they could be sued. Without that and public outrage college players could probably be hitting people like Nightrain Lane and Deacon Jones did back in day). They would send Alabama & Ohio State to play an October Wednesday night game In Australia if they NFL playoff game revenue from it by doing so with no other options to get close to that money. Knowing that is very hard for me to maintain any ill will toward these 18-22 years olds for more than a week or two after they transfer. 🤷🏽‍♂️

….To me NIL and portal gripes have highlighted what turns me off from revenue College Sports. It was all good when millionaire coaches were hoping from job to job paid several times more than deans, department heads, and well respected Ph D professors. Who cares if the players get nothing but a liberal Arts, General Studies, BS and wreck their bodies. Until the NCAA or another governing body has substantially more revenue sharing and decision making power over all of FBS it will be messy. And it has been very messy since the dissolution of CFA. UCLA and Maryland are about to be in the same conference. NOBODY wanted that a decade ago because it is logically ridiculous. But now we are all but hurt talented players are trying to maximize their opportunities also. 🙄

All the uglieness revolving around transfers and NIL makes me not like college football "fans" more than the leaders of the sport. It is very clear to me that very few of the people invested in the sport whether they be Administrators, fans, alumni, or coaches Al really care about these young men. There is something very morally duplicitous having no problem with everyone involved in the sport being allowed to operate like free market capitalist making 10x more than the young men putting their bodies on the line. Even worse we now have the football money grubbing inflicting unreasonable hardships on non-revenue athletes who don’t have a lucrative pro league to aspire to. There really needs to be a NCAA with real power to impose things like regional conferences, sharing of 50% of all revenue, equal media revenue share for all members of a conference, punishing programs for tampering, limiting travel Tuesday-Thursday and real punishment for low graduation rates. Until we have that the sport will always be chaotic with very little guiding “biggest payday rules the day” with no loyalty from coaches, students athletics , administrators, or conferences. 🤷🏽‍♂️

I hope he proves me wrong. Any Mean Green Fan take shots at him at this point, I question whether they are a fan. I would love to see him practice against NFL talent.

I am not judging the newest AD. And firing a below 0.500 against FBS isn't bold at all. It was actually 10 months late. And he was actually extended twice with NOTHING in the football trophy case. (That wasn't the current AD's call back then because he wasn't the AD). Everything you mentioned is LATE. They've been building/rebuilding our Rome for since they fired Dickey. And unfortunately some really loyal and great supporters have passed away in the following 16 years just hoping for ONE season with a conference championship and bowl win. Those aren't lofty goals. I judge this way because it is the logical perception from the the outside that I confront when trying to get friends and family to come to games. I would love if we had the resources to do a top notch survey of our football program's perception locally. I think some of us on this board live in a bubble. If this program had been successful we would be in legitimate Pac 12 expansion rumors instead of, or a long with SMU. Sorry that is the truth and the truth is just pathetic. I wish the new AD all the success in the world but the timing of this recent coach transition is another avoidable challenge that pisses me off.

You can't have a timid leadership and make the bold moves necessary to get alumni to buy in. Seem we have leadership expecting the program to win in spite the avoidable challenges they encounter here. ( I think Coach Dickey would passionately concur with that statement ). Coach Fry left because some of the challenges here were beyond the capability of the school to change. Apogee Staduim 10 years late minimum and now the leadership is repeating that with the Superpit. Just think if the new basketball coach keeps the momentum going just to get hired away with a arena or massively upgraded Superpit still on the drawing board. Coach Dickey's peak was the 2002 season and ground broke for Apogee's Contruction 2009. I thought RV leaving would have alleviated a lot of this but Seth's retention for 2002 was very reminiscent of an RV move. That just confirms to me that we have a deeper university sports culture problem that infects and limits an AD decision process. Like I have mention before even a public courting of Coach Sanders would have be the best advertisement for the football program trying 100% than even Apogee Staduim. (Even with Apogee they had to wisely had to opt for a 30k stadium instead of one with 40k plus that would be in line with the aspirations)

I knee jerk wanted to down vote this because it is still very odd to me why a Stang is so committed to commenting here regularly. But on the other hand this comment is a dose inconvenient truth. We better start ramping up NIL on the basketball side more. Maybe I am wrong. 🤷🏽‍♂️