Fighting for scraps off of the table

[Fryowa]

I think that is history. The Big USC boosters are mostly now 80 at the youngest. ND has lost a lot as well. What does continue is regional local team support to some degree in places without an identity such as Iowa, Nebraska, Alabama. Then there are the OSUs and UMs which are their own animal.

A guy I umpired with for a lot of years owns a SW Minnesota insurance company with I think 8 branches now. Went to ND and so have 3 of his 4 kids so far. He’s a fairly significant donor himself, but his son is a cardiologist and is a REALLY significant donor. I’ve had dinner a couple times with the family and we’ve talked about the process of how money flows into those programs. He’s a really interesting guy and the average college football fan has zero clue how much power donors have over every aspect of a program. Way, WAY more than the ADs except in a situation like Alvarez.

Anyway, ND isn’t on the way down by any means, they’re just the opposite. There’s a huge contingent of people sick of the down stretch they went through who are in their 40s and 50s and remember the ND their parents and grandparents talked about and they want it back. Bad. And they’ll get it. ND grads are a different breed and there’s more money there than you could possibly imagine. They’re already on the way back up, but look for them to join a conference soon and become a mega power again.

 

[HawkGold]

A guy I umpired with for a lot of years owns a SW Minnesota insurance company with I think 8 branches now. Went to ND and so have 3 of his 4 kids so far. He’s a fairly significant donor himself, but his son is a cardiologist and is a REALLY significant donor. I’ve had dinner a couple times with the family and we’ve talked about the process of how money flows into those programs. He’s a really interesting guy and the average college football fan has zero clue how much power donors have over every aspect of a program. Way, WAY more than the ADs except in a situation like Alvarez.

Anyway, ND isn’t on the way down by any means, they’re just the opposite. There’s a huge contingent of people sick of the down stretch they went through who are in their 40s and 50s and remember the ND their parents and grandparents talked about and they want it back. Bad. And they’ll get it. ND grads are a different breed and there’s more money there than you could possibly imagine. They’re already on the way back up, but look for them to join a conference soon and become a mega power again.

Hope you are right. Had a boss who was an ND grad and he was thick in it. Still seems like a mad scramble for relevance.

 

[racerhawk]

My predictions

Big Ten-24
USC, UCLA, Wash, Ore., Stan, Cal
NEB, Iowa, Minn, Wisc, ILL, NW
Mich, MSU, OSU, Pur, Indy, PSU
ND, MD, Rut, VA, UNC, GT

SEC-24
Clem, NCSU, FL ST, VT, SCar, Ga
Bama, Aub, Tenn, KY, vandy, FL
Ole Miss, MSU, LSU, A&M, Arky, Mizzou, Tex, Ok
Kan, Col, Ariz, Utah

Best of the Rest-24
Ariz St, BYU, Wash St, Ore st
SDSU, Boise St, UNLV
TT, Ok St, Kan St, Iowa St
TCU, Baylor, Houston
WV, Cincy, UCF,
BC, Cuse, Pitt, Wake, Lou, Duke, Miami

Actually, the Best of the Rest is not a bad basketball conference

This looks pretty legit and reasonable to me (given the current state of affairs).

 

[okeefe4prez]

A guy I umpired with for a lot of years owns a SW Minnesota insurance company with I think 8 branches now. Went to ND and so have 3 of his 4 kids so far. He’s a fairly significant donor himself, but his son is a cardiologist and is a REALLY significant donor. I’ve had dinner a couple times with the family and we’ve talked about the process of how money flows into those programs. He’s a really interesting guy and the average college football fan has zero clue how much power donors have over every aspect of a program. Way, WAY more than the ADs except in a situation like Alvarez.

Anyway, ND isn’t on the way down by any means, they’re just the opposite. There’s a huge contingent of people sick of the down stretch they went through who are in their 40s and 50s and remember the ND their parents and grandparents talked about and they want it back. Bad. And they’ll get it. ND grads are a different breed and there’s more money there than you could possibly imagine. They’re already on the way back up, but look for them to join a conference soon and become a mega power again.

LMAO. His son isn't a major donor. Maybe he donates $100k a year. The school will laugh at a guy like that calling with a list of demands. Sure, they'll give him some assistant AD to make him feel like a big dog when he calls, but he ain't shit.

Donors who have sway over programs are dudes who founded big businesses and routinely donate 8 figures with 9 figure gifts not out of the question. They are dudes like Joe Jamail after whom the U Texas field is named, T. Boone, Phil Knight, Pat Ryan, etc.

And I hate to burst the bubble of the little Notre Dame circlejerk you live in, but ND ain't coming back if they join the Big Ten. ND has lost two of its last 3 against Northwestern and I think if they lost control of their schedule they'd be boned. The problem isn't that the Big Ten is full of juggernauts, the problem is that if you play in Camp Randall the second week of October, then draw Sparty at home the next week, then have to go play someone like Purdue or Northwestern the next week there's damned near no way you're going 3-0 unless you have some unreal team because the compounding effect of the hits you take through the Big Ten schedule just makes your team tend to get worse as the weeks grind on. I mean, how many times have we seen Iowa or Wisconsin or Purdue just take a total shit all over someone's season when they're ranked in the top 10? The middle of the Big Ten plus the weather variable is why it's so tough, but building teams for that weather is also why the Big Ten will always be inferior to the SEC.

 

[Hawkboys]

Rumors are Big 12 is getting 4 teams from Pac 12 (Both AZ schools along with Utah and Colorado) instead of the other way around. The Pac12 appears to be dying 1st.

 

[Zstatman]

A guy I umpired with for a lot of years owns a SW Minnesota insurance company with I think 8 branches now. Went to ND and so have 3 of his 4 kids so far. He’s a fairly significant donor himself, but his son is a cardiologist and is a REALLY significant donor. I’ve had dinner a couple times with the family and we’ve talked about the process of how money flows into those programs. He’s a really interesting guy and the average college football fan has zero clue how much power donors have over every aspect of a program. Way, WAY more than the ADs except in a situation like Alvarez.

Anyway, ND isn’t on the way down by any means, they’re just the opposite. There’s a huge contingent of people sick of the down stretch they went through who are in their 40s and 50s and remember the ND their parents and grandparents talked about and they want it back. Bad. And they’ll get it. ND grads are a different breed and there’s more money there than you could possibly imagine. They’re already on the way back up, but look for them to join a conference soon and become a mega power again.

In my younger days I used to go to a sports bar in Glandale, AZ called Max's. Max himself was from Omaha. He loved to have game watches for the B1G schools and Nebby, loved them as the fams would come in, drinkup, eat up, and spend lots of money.

The one school he didn't like having game watches for was ND. He said they ate salads, drank water, didn't spend any money and just took up seats. He said the ND fans were just different.

 

[Zstatman]

I would have never guessed the PAC 12 was this fragile.

I've wondered about this, too. The last two times there was major expansion, TX and OU to SEC and MD and Rutgers to B1G, the Pac 12 just sat there and said they wouldn't be expanding at this time. Well they waited too long.

For one thing, why didn't the Pac 12 ever get on DirecTV? When they recently got their new Commissioner DirecTV was ready for them, had a channel number set aside and the terms were such DirecTV would agree. How much $$ did that leave on the table.

I just was listening to the radio over the weekend and they were talking about how the Pac 12 schools were haivng meetings on how to share conference revenue. It sounded like Merton Hanks, an associate commissioner or something, was leading the project. USC and UCLA were both saying they needed to be making more revenue from their local media rights. The rest of the schools weren't in agreement. They mentioned that UCLA is currently carrying a $30M athletic department deficit and pointed out that Northwestern is or soon will be getting $80M/yr from broadcast rights. Hearing this it isn't hard to understand why the LA schools started looking at their options.

 

[BigD]

If the B1G goes to 20 teams, can we just start calling it the Big 10s network?

Makes more sense than calling a 14 team conference the Big 10.

The way we are spread from coast to coast maybe we should rename the conference to the Big Tent conference.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Yep,

I know we all enjoyed making fun of our little red headed sister just west of Iowa City about 100 miles, but seriously what are they going to do over there?

Bad timing for them as their head coach has brought them back to respectability.

We can look at the Big Ten conference and see examples of where there are two conferences teams in the same state. We are just increasing that in a couple of years with UCLA and USC. (Michigan & Michigan State) (Purdue & Indiana) (Northwestern & Illinois). Would it hurt instate recruiting if Iowa became one of those states?

So wouldn’t it even be better that instead of just 100 million dollars pouring into the state of Iowa from the University of Iowa why not have two hundred million pouring into the state from the big ten channel network paying two Iowa colleges.

So with that in mind there really isn’t any reason why the Big Ten shouldn’t let UNI join the big ten conference.

drum roll for a joke - Google Search

Just CLOWNing around!

Actually, Iowa just got more of a boost with in-state recruiting because of the health of the conferences. Hell, UNI might have as well.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Colloquially the “Group of Losers”

The top in the scrap league will always be known as "The Best of The Worst.".

 

[MelroseHawkins]

I would have never guessed the PAC 12 was this fragile.

Their TV deals and games times have always sucked. It has been the death to that conference.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

USC had 75k at home v ND and the next highest was 57k v Stanford. They played in front of 24k was WSU. Yes they are fragile. Oregon averaged under 50k per game. UCLA average draw was 45k. Stanford average was under 36k.

Telling ya'll. We are seeing the demise of football and a scramble to keep it relative. Why does the Big want anyone from the west except maybe Wash and USC if they can compete.

Not about competing. It's all about eyes on the TV and the BIG Ten Network being in cable and streaming packages. See Rutgers and Maryland.

 

[BigD]

Not about competing. It's all about eyes on the TV and the BIG Ten Network being in cable and streaming packages. See Rutgers and Maryland.

Agreed

As far as reputation of being quality sports programs how about we drop Rutgers and Maryland and call it a league improvement with the addition of UCLA and USC.

Then add Clemson and Notre Dame to enhance the image and toughness of the league. Hell Notre Damn alone would bring more eyeballs than Maryland and Rutgers would combined…………. not even close.

 

[beavdawg8216]

LMAO. His son isn't a major donor. Maybe he donates $100k a year. The school will laugh at a guy like that calling with a list of demands. Sure, they'll give him some assistant AD to make him feel like a big dog when he calls, but he ain't shit.

Donors who have sway over programs are dudes who founded big businesses and routinely donate 8 figures with 9 figure gifts not out of the question. They are dudes like Joe Jamail after whom the U Texas field is named, T. Boone, Phil Knight, Pat Ryan, etc.

And I hate to burst the bubble of the little Notre Dame circlejerk you live in, but ND ain't coming back if they join the Big Ten. ND has lost two of its last 3 against Northwestern and I think if they lost control of their schedule they'd be boned. The problem isn't that the Big Ten is full of juggernauts, the problem is that if you play in Camp Randall the second week of October, then draw Sparty at home the next week, then have to go play someone like Purdue or Northwestern the next week there's damned near no way you're going 3-0 unless you have some unreal team because the compounding effect of the hits you take through the Big Ten schedule just makes your team tend to get worse as the weeks grind on. I mean, how many times have we seen Iowa or Wisconsin or Purdue just take a total shit all over someone's season when they're ranked in the top 10? The middle of the Big Ten plus the weather variable is why it's so tough, but building teams for that weather is also why the Big Ten will always be inferior to the SEC.

O MY. Dont tell this guy the SEC has won like 10/14 national Championships and constantly have 2 teams in the final four with a couple times both playing each other for the ship. Yikes. This guy is dead wrong on ND as well. If they ever joined the big ten they would be right there with Ohio State yearly at the top. Its ND there top 5 prestige can recruit entire country and there recruiting is only getting better.

 

[HawkGold]

Not about competing. It's all about eyes on the TV and the BIG Ten Network being in cable and streaming packages. See Rutgers and Maryland.

College football is dying on the west coast. Except the 9ers, pro is too. Rams, Charges, Raiders....

 

[HuckFinn]

O MY. Dont tell this guy the SEC has won like 10/14 national Championships and constantly have 2 teams in the final four with a couple times both playing each other for the ship. Yikes. This guy is dead wrong on ND as well. If they ever joined the big ten they would be right there with Ohio State yearly at the top. Its ND there top 5 prestige can recruit entire country and there recruiting is only getting better.

ND=Over Rated

 

[HaydenHawk56]

LMAO. His son isn't a major donor. Maybe he donates $100k a year. The school will laugh at a guy like that calling with a list of demands. Sure, they'll give him some assistant AD to make him feel like a big dog when he calls, but he ain't shit.

Donors who have sway over programs are dudes who founded big businesses and routinely donate 8 figures with 9 figure gifts not out of the question. They are dudes like Joe Jamail after whom the U Texas field is named, T. Boone, Phil Knight, Pat Ryan, etc.

And I hate to burst the bubble of the little Notre Dame circlejerk you live in, but ND ain't coming back if they join the Big Ten. ND has lost two of its last 3 against Northwestern and I think if they lost control of their schedule they'd be boned. The problem isn't that the Big Ten is full of juggernauts, the problem is that if you play in Camp Randall the second week of October, then draw Sparty at home the next week, then have to go play someone like Purdue or Northwestern the next week there's damned near no way you're going 3-0 unless you have some unreal team because the compounding effect of the hits you take through the Big Ten schedule just makes your team tend to get worse as the weeks grind on. I mean, how many times have we seen Iowa or Wisconsin or Purdue just take a total shit all over someone's season when they're ranked in the top 10? The middle of the Big Ten plus the weather variable is why it's so tough, but building teams for that weather is also why the Big Ten will always be inferior to the SEC.

Only reason why schools win is because I build their buildings!

 

[racerhawk]

LMAO. His son isn't a major donor. Maybe he donates $100k a year. The school will laugh at a guy like that calling with a list of demands. Sure, they'll give him some assistant AD to make him feel like a big dog when he calls, but he ain't shit.

Donors who have sway over programs are dudes who founded big businesses and routinely donate 8 figures with 9 figure gifts not out of the question. They are dudes like Joe Jamail after whom the U Texas field is named, T. Boone, Phil Knight, Pat Ryan, etc.

And I hate to burst the bubble of the little Notre Dame circlejerk you live in, but ND ain't coming back if they join the Big Ten. ND has lost two of its last 3 against Northwestern and I think if they lost control of their schedule they'd be boned. The problem isn't that the Big Ten is full of juggernauts, the problem is that if you play in Camp Randall the second week of October, then draw Sparty at home the next week, then have to go play someone like Purdue or Northwestern the next week there's damned near no way you're going 3-0 unless you have some unreal team because the compounding effect of the hits you take through the Big Ten schedule just makes your team tend to get worse as the weeks grind on. I mean, how many times have we seen Iowa or Wisconsin or Purdue just take a total shit all over someone's season when they're ranked in the top 10? The middle of the Big Ten plus the weather variable is why it's so tough, but building teams for that weather is also why the Big Ten will always be inferior to the SEC.

I agree. ND has had difficulty with Big Ten teams even when they had a much more controllable schedule. I think you're absolutely right. Playing teams like Wisky, Iowa, Minny, Northworstern, etc grinds on a team as the season wears on. One or more of those teams is going to hand it to you. Playing a physical team each week in shitty weather ain't great. Iowa was on top of the world after making the world spin backwards on it's axis when they beat PSU last year. It was improbable... great defense, deafening crowd (best crowd I've ever seen in person), an injury, and great field position. Next week, our most hated rival crushed us.

Edit: They do open with tOSU this year, so that's interesting.

 

[Motigerhawk]

Time traveler from the 70s "What? Usc beat Colorado for the Rose Bowl title?"

 

[BigD]

College football is dying on the west coast. Except the 9ers, pro is too. Rams, Charges, Raiders....

I am sure with the legalization of buying players in college sports, that a portion of the sports fan bases just fell off. I am talking about the fan bases that don’t necessarily like pro-sports because it is all about money.

Although boosters over the decades have corrupted college sports you still had some hope that there were pockets of integrity spotted across the landscape. Plus it was always fun to watch some of the local schools recruit local kids and watch some of them blossom.

I am guessing that is what has made the Iowa fan base as it sure as hell was never about winning conference titles or competing for nation titles with the exception of wrestling.

Some one posted a comment about fan attendance at some of California colleges. Seriously??? Those schools are competing against a ton of other distractions like professional sports and sandy beaches and bikinis. What a choice to have to make………. hmmmmm go to an Iowa game and watch the Iowa offensive shit show or drive out to the beach and watch all those bikinis move and bounce around. Hot brunettes dark tans racked and tight frame or go attend an Iowa game and watch zone blocking and three yard runs to the right side of the line. Damn life is full of tough choices. In those circumstances I don’t think Iowa’s attendance would be all that out on the west coast.

Speaking of which I spent several days in Hawaii enjoying Waikiki beach this past May…………… JUST DAMN!!!!! Iowa football was the last thing on my mind.