College Football 2023-2024

[HalfSmokes]

There were signs that Bama was behind the curve on the way things work now with NIL and the portal. Saban was the best recruiter in the land because he could offer kids the single most reliable way of becoming NFL millionaires. Today, in a world where kids can become millionaires without ever reaching the NFL, that is just slightly less compelling of an offer. If you're a hot prospect, you have literally never failed on a football field in your life before, and you are confident that you will make it in the NFL no matter what you do because you're 18 and feel invincible, do you come to Alabama to work hard and Trust the Process or do you come to Miami to party on booster money?

Lane Kiffin gets this new reality. Lanning does too. Dabo, no. Saban, to me, looks like he grudingly got it (the same way he grudlingly eventually got huddle-up offenses and RPOs) but didn't really want to keep doing it. Maybe he also saw his good friend BB circling the drain and decided he didn't want things ending that way for him.

2023 might be one of Saban's best actual coaching jobs because the team looked awful early in the year and then won the SEC title. How did they get that good between Week 3 and championship week? Coaching probably had a lot to do with it.

Ironically, Saban did better there either last season. I think the big change is that it's much harder to keep a decent qb on the bench because they no longer have to sit out a year. That means you have to get that one position right every year. Lanning looks great now because he bet right on Bo Nix. If he's wrong next year, he'll drop off of everyone's list

[imref]

Alabama gets Washington’s coach. Incredible.

[Natsinpwc]

Alabama gets Washington’s coach. Incredible.

Ron Rivera?

[imref]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/sec/2024/01/12/alabama-kalen-deboer-replace-nick-saban/72195423007/

[Natsinpwc]

The real winners are the other coaches who parlayed interest in that job to longer deals at their current schools.

[HalfSmokes]

https://twitter.com/hbtfd1/status/1745935687558262976?s=46&t=JjuzOUo_2stMbhkcQjfzJw

[JCA-CrystalCity]

it's FCS, not FBS, but when a 200 win coach retires after 30 seasons, numerous conference championships, and whole mess of guys in the pros, his retirement deserves a mention. Tim Murphy is retiring from Harvard.
https://www.boston.com/sports/college-sports/2024/01/17/tim-murphy-harvard-football-retires-after-30-seasons/?p1=hp_featurebox

Harvard won 10 Ivy League titles under Murphy, and finished three seasons undefeated (2001, 2004, and 2014). Murphy is Harvard’s all-time winningest coach and also holds the same title in the Ivy League.

There was a long stretch, like about 6 years, when he beat Yale, which is a heck of a rivalry streak. Before Harvard, he had a good couple years at Maine, which he parlayed into a 5 year run at Cincinnati. Went back to FCS after that. Good decision. He had Yale's current coach, Tony Reno, on his staff before Reno came back to Yale and restore Yale to a consistent title winner / contender.

Among his pros were Fitzy, of course, as well Matt Birk, a long time center for the Vikings, and Isaiah Kacyvenski, LB for the Seahawks and a few other teams.

[Count Walewski]

Harbaugh to the Los Angeles Chargers.

They're going to just promote Sherrone Moore, right? I used to think all the time that when Harbaugh leaves Michigan, the search for a new coach would be a complete crapshow as Michigan boosters with unreasonable expectations would undermine the AD at every turn, but I think Sherrone Moore has turned this into a no-drama situation.

[HalfSmokes]

Harbaugh to the Los Angeles Chargers.

They're going to just promote Sherrone Moore, right? I used to think all the time that when Harbaugh leaves Michigan, the search for a new coach would be a complete crapshow as Michigan boosters with unreasonable expectations would undermine the AD at every turn, but I think Sherrone Moore has turned this into a no-drama situation.

I think it really depends. The guy who follows the legend usually fails. I doubt Sherrone Moore (and DeBoer for that matter) ends up coaching there through the end of his contract

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Saban or Belichick

[imref]

I think it really depends. The guy who follows the legend usually fails. I doubt Sherrone Moore (and DeBoer for that matter) ends up coaching there through the end of his contract

Thanks for bringing up the memory of Richie Pettibon.

[Count Walewski]

If you had asked me to script out what a Michigan coaching search to replace Harbaugh would have looked like, as recently as last year I'd have said it would look something like this:

- Michigan AD quickly finds a promising head coach from a lower Power 5 program who has recruited well, won a bunch of games, and is eager to work with the massive resources of a school like Michigan. Unfortunately he has no prior ties to Michigan.
- Michigan boosters torpedo the hiring right before it is announced and demand a "Michigan Man" - they quickly find a preferred candidate who played at Michigan 50 years ago and was a relevant figure in college football 20 years ago
- Said candidate rejects them, saying he prefers the facilities and lower expectations of his retirement community (there's a really comfortable recliner and as long as he can feed himself the staff are delighted with him)
- They end up with PJ Fleck

But no I really think there will just be a no-drama hire of Sherrone Moore, probably as early as today. And yes he'll disappoint big in his first year due to everyone graduating and Ohio State bulking up big.

[imref]

it does seem crazy that 3 of the 4 playoff teams this year will have new coaches next year.

[imref]

No surprise: Michigan promotes Moore.

[HalfSmokes]

The Big10 and the SEC are forming a joint advisory committee on the future of college athletics. Dartmouth Basketball players just won an NLRB ruling that they are employees. Somehow the combination of those two things happening within a week of each other seems like the death of college sports

[Natsinpwc]

Real college amateur sports died for football and basketball a long time ago for the big schools. 

[HalfSmokes]

This just seems like the nail in the coffin

[Natsinpwc]

Too much money being made. It may change but won’t go away.

[HalfSmokes]

Too much money being made. It may change but won’t go away.

If non-revenue sports have to pay athletes, I think those go away. I could also see larger school, but not necessarily profitable football programs taking a big step back. My biggest fear is the SEC and Big10 opting out and creating their own thing outside of the CFB or NCAA.

[HalfSmokes]

P5 college football is now professional

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/40206364/ncaa-power-conferences-agree-allow-schools-pay-players


The settlements seems to open the schools to another antitrust suit:

"The NCAA and its leagues are moving forward with a multibillion-dollar agreement to settle three pending federal antitrust cases. The NCAA will pay more than $2.7 billion in damages over 10 years to past and current athletes, sources told ESPN. Sources said the parties also have agreed to a revenue-sharing plan allowing each school to share up to roughly $20 million per year with its athletes."

I doubt courts will view an effective salary cap that isn't collectively bargained kindly.

[Count Walewski]

This is obviously huge in a sense, but will have little practical effect except maybe crowding out non-revenue sports at some schools. That $20 million per year is going to be split among the men's football team, men's basketball team, women's basketball team, at some schools the baseball team and the women's volleyball team...by the time its all divided, NIL will still be a more significant source of revenue for student athletes.

[HalfSmokes]

This is obviously huge in a sense, but will have little practical effect except maybe crowding out non-revenue sports at some schools. That $20 million per year is going to be split among the men's football team, men's basketball team, women's basketball team, at some schools the baseball team and the women's volleyball team...by the time its all divided, NIL will still be a more significant source of revenue for student athletes.

That $20 million cap lasts right up until it gets challenged on antitrust grounds. This is buying time for a congressional solution that isn’t coming