What is it with flag planting? Post-game brawls broke out yesterday at Ohio State, Florida State, North Carolina, and Arizona. Is this the new normal?
If youâre in a city called Columbus, you donât get to be mad about someone planting a flag on land that doesnât belong to them.
11 Likes
Jim,
I am trying to construct something that is more useful than the giant generalization that I made before. That wasnât constructive input. But as a college employee at a major university, I can tell you with certainty that this system is having very negative impact on womenâs sports, the marching bands, and lesser college sports that still serve a need. Worst of all, some of the expense of paying these kids is being passed to my students. We have seen major funding cuts to the arts and even seen the entire foreign language department disappear since this system has been implemented.
Iâm not a fan.
I also think the previous system was amoral. I basically feel like the pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction. But seeing firsthand some of the consequences to this type of monetary output, it has sullied my enjoyment of the game significantly.
ETA: I had to say goodbye to two of my favorite colleagues this last year. They simply eliminated tenured positions due to a âbudget shortfallâ that miraculously mirrors the amount of money that has been ânegotiatedâ as revenue sharing with the ncaa. Iâm sure itâs just a coincidence.
ETAx2: I have less then 40% of the available scholarships to offer my undergraduate students than I did 2 years ago. I now have a whopping 100% decrease in graduate funding in the same time. I canât offer them a dime. It makes me want to get out of it.
UT athletics does not run like that, and the portal and NIL are two separate things.
Iâm sure I donât know the ins and outs of where the money comes from and I donât really care. But itâs obvious to me that schools are prioritizing sports (specific sports) over education. So Iâm happy for UT and you, but the landscape is bleak elsewhere.
At this time, this may change, the school is not paying the players. Boosters are
That money is now exclusive. Some of these folks used to donate to multiple departments. They donât anymore.
UT athletic dept. contributes money to the University general fund; it does not take money from it.
The portal benefits athletes, and I am all for it. You can debate NIL if you want, but again, I doubt that money comes from a collegeâs general fund. Maybe it does from yours, dunno.
4 Likes
In a town like Morgantown WV, the donor pool is extremely small. Thereâs only so much money to distribute and the ratio of that amount has skyrocketed recently towards the menâs football team. My good friend is a head coach for one of the womenâs athletic teams. I wonât repeat his/her name because I know him/her through a group for a specific ailment. But he/she has resumes out. They think their program is dead because the âpoolâ of money wonât come his/her way. Big schools can absorb this but itâs absolutely unsustainable for a large amount of big programs. But hey, maybe thatâs what the sport needsâŚ? Just 20-25 competitive teams and the rest can go get bent.
Only 57% of universities nationwide report a âprofitâ from their college athletics. That âprofitâ can be dubious at times although Iâd imagine that UT is a major net positive for THAT school. But thatâs 57% of ALL athletic programs and after creative accounting, most college athletic programs are a drain to the actual education aspect of their school.
1 Like
Where does the Neil Brown buyout money come from?
I thought that number was actually much smaller, like in the teens.
I donât want to know. I might be out of a job soon. Fucking madness with that buyout.
It might be. But I went with the highest number I could find so that I wouldnât have to dispute the numberâŚ
The NFL model or, even less likely, but better, an English relegation system would be the only real solutions. The wealthy teams will never allow it. Why would they?
1 Like
Because they might want their sport/league/model be viable for more than 4 years?
ETA. Sorry guys. Iâm really down on where college education is headed, even as an employee. And I might be misguided to put some blame on college athletics (thereâs plenty to go around) but all of this money doesnât exist in a vacuum. Donations to other endeavors take a hit. Once folks can explicitly donate to âAâ⌠âBâ quickly becomes irrelevant.
If some schools fail, which does not exist in the realm of the impossible, the big teams/schools wonât really notice. But ffs⌠colleges are not vehicles for sport. The sports were meant to be the âside thingâ. Weâre supposed to be churning out employable individuals in diverse fields of study, that is MY TASK. Sorry toâyellâ but fuck⌠I have a greatly reduced scholarship pool to offer students. I hope you see this as a concern.
6 Likes
That is absolute fucking insanity.
Neil Brown will receive over 9 million for his buyout. These numbers are never figured in to the âprofitabilityâ of college sports.
My department had a 20% workforce reduction due to a $22 million dollar (school-wide) shortfall last year. âDonorsâ wonât eat this new 9 mill. Us employees will. WVU football will remain fucking mediocre for the next decade regardless but theyâll still pay for it. Itâs broken folks.
2 Likes
The current NIL system is unstastainable for the long term.
I am waiting on a big NIL backlash because they are breaking the number one rule of fundraising - treating your donor like an ATM. I can show you the impact of your donation to my non profit, @WVASTRO can tell you about the impact your donation had on the student who got a scholarship, etcâŚ
When you ask me to give to a scholarship fund for athletes, I can see the life changing impact of a kid coming to college. When you ask me to pay for a playerâs salary, I donât see that impact. You had better win and that player better produce if you want me to keep giving. Most givers want to see the impact of their gift. To know they are making a difference. Seeing social media of the playerâs new car and his outfits on game day arenât going to cut it in the long term unless there is success on the field/court.
ETA: Why isnât my browser catching my typos anymore?
My one problem with NIL, which I support in concept, is its use to recruit player out of HS or to transfer. To me, that is just as illegal and wrong as the conduct of SMU which resulted in the death penalty. UT has a Texas One fund with a board to coordinate and to organize donations and to make certain some programs do not get left out. No, I do not contribute to it.
When donorsâ money dries up, so will the system, imo, and athletes will be exploited again.
The exploitation of athletes is the whole problem. The meet every definition of âemployeeâ you can think of but are not recognized as such.
Until that changes, things like NIL are just band-aids on a major wound.
3 Likes