Note from Juanyeh Thomas

[Boaty1]

If collegiate athletics becomes more about the athlete than the college than it’s time for the colleges to move on and force these individuals into a minor league football. Everyone knows how glamorous the minors are for baseball players.

 

[gt02]

If collegiate athletics becomes more about the athlete than the college than it’s time for the colleges to move on and force these individuals into a minor league football. Everyone knows how glamorous the minors are for baseball players.

So should colleges stop profiting off of sports (and the players) then?

 

[g0lftime]

The coaches are the ones that are making the money. FB and BB coaches make more than the presidents.

 

[forensicbuzz]

There is no fair and equitable solution to this. To allow the SA's to be paid would make the graft and pay-offs legal, but would lead to further abuse. The money question is not about the school alumnus or rabid fan, the question is all about the bandwagon fan. Alumni and rabid fans are going to support their school regardless of who is on the team. The name on the front of the uniform is 1000X more important than the name on the back of the uniform. The bandwagon fan cares about success, and that's to do with the level of talent.

If football players are allowed to get additional revenue from the school, then you start a legal arms race. and that's not good for the sport. The rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer. There is no way to prevent those that want to cheat from cheating. Those that cheat a lot, will cheat more. The NFL should have no restriction for when someone can enter the League. HS students that enter the Draft should be ineligible if they are drafted. That's a gamble they take. If they're not drafted, they should still be eligible for college. The HS draft should be separate from the college draft, as there needs to be time for a HS senior to still be able to pick a college if they're undrafted. Maybe push the NSD to March 1 and have a HS draft the weekend after the Superbowl. It can be treated as a supplemental draft, so there are no obligations for teams to draft a HS player. If they do, they lose their respective round draft pick in the regular draft. I anticipate 3 HS players being drafted on average each year.

If a HS player wants to earn money playing football but can't make the NFL, they can play in a semi-pro league. That's on them, not the college.

I get that the football players, and basketball players to an extent, feel taken advantage of. But, they need to form a class-action lawsuit against the NFL. No one other than the NF is stopping them from earning money playing professional football. No school is twisting the kid's arm, making him play.

Just one person's not-so-well-thought-out opinion.

 

[Boaty1]

So should colleges stop profiting off of sports (and the players) then?

Does Tech run a profit?

 

[Skeptic]

The coaches are the ones that are making the money. FB and BB coaches make more than the presidents.

To paraphrase the Bambino, maybe they had a better year.

 

[Skeptic]

There is no fair and equitable solution to this. To allow the SA's to be paid would make the graft and pay-offs legal, but would lead to further abuse. The money question is not about the school alumnus or rabid fan, the question is all about the bandwagon fan. Alumni and rabid fans are going to support their school regardless of who is on the team. The name on the front of the uniform is 1000X more important than the name on the back of the uniform. The bandwagon fan cares about success, and that's to do with the level of talent.

If football players are allowed to get additional revenue from the school, then you start a legal arms race. and that's not good for the sport. The rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer. There is no way to prevent those that want to cheat from cheating. Those that cheat a lot, will cheat more. The NFL should have no restriction for when someone can enter the League. HS students that enter the Draft should be ineligible if they are drafted. That's a gamble they take. If they're not drafted, they should still be eligible for college. The HS draft should be separate from the college draft, as there needs to be time for a HS senior to still be able to pick a college if they're undrafted. Maybe push the NSD to March 1 and have a HS draft the weekend after the Superbowl. It can be treated as a supplemental draft, so there are no obligations for teams to draft a HS player. If they do, they lose their respective round draft pick in the regular draft. I anticipate 3 HS players being drafted on average each year.

If a HS player wants to earn money playing football but can't make the NFL, they can play in a semi-pro league. That's on them, not the college.

I get that the football players, and basketball players to an extent, feel taken advantage of. But, they need to form a class-action lawsuit against the NFL. No one other than the NF is stopping them from earning money playing professional football. No school is twisting the kid's arm, making him play.

Just one person's not-so-well-thought-out opinion.

The 19-year-old rule (or one year out of HS) has done more damage to college basketball than all the lying and cheating and payoffs combined. One-and-dones -- really about four months and done -- have turned even the most previously saintly -- Duke and Coach K, I am talking about you -- into AAU teams, with no school loyalty or affection nor rabid fan bases. In the '80s and into the '90s a rivalry like Duke and UNC, or any along Tobacco Road, would be talked about for months leading up to the game, untold thousands of kids "got sick" and stayed home during the ACC tournament, and the players stuck around and built an identity for at least three years: the players you rooted for this year would be back next year.

And now? My hired gun can beat your hired gun, and my relationship with AAU coaches is a lot more important than any HS coach could be. And when once Coach K demanded that in order to retire a jersey and hang it in the rafters one had to graduate, regardless of how good he was, that is, well, so old school any more.

It has become over the top when serious suggestions are made that the Clemson QB phenom should sit out, not one, but two college seasons to protect himself against injury before the NFL draft. Worse than the suggestions was the reaction: well, sure. Thankfully the 18-year-old QB actually wants a college experience. (Hard to remember what that is anymore.)

More of a rant than analysis from somebody becoming increasingly distanced from college sports.

 

[Vespidae]

To paraphrase the Bambino, maybe they had a better year.

This is the madness of college sports today. A program like Alabama, whose athletics generated $125-150 million a year, pays Saban around $9M a year. A typical business of that size would pay its executive around $250,000 with another 100,000 in bonuses.

When I was a kid, the baseball coach at the local university (whose teams regularly went to the college World Series) worked part time at a local sporting goods store selling baseball gloves and cleats to kids in the area.

It’s the free market, but obscene.

 

[LibertyTurns]

This is the madness of college sports today. A program like Alabama, whose athletics generated $125-150 million a year, pays Saban around $9M a year. A typical business of that size would pay its executive around $250,000 with another 100,000 in bonuses.

When I was a kid, the baseball coach at the local university (whose teams regularly went to the college World Series) worked part time at a local sporting goods store selling baseball gloves and cleats to kids in the area.

It’s the free market, but obscene.

Your Executive compensation model may be a bit off. If you’re running a successful business like Bammer, your company is probably worth 4x revenue or in Bammer’s case $500M. The avg Exec compensation for a company that size is about $2M per year. Bama football has net profit about $45M/year on about$125M in revenue. I don’t have visibility into many industries besides my own but I think that margin % is huge. Saban’s raking in the cash for Bama, he’s raised their profile & he’s covering all the other sports. He’s worth every penny of that $9M.

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

The coaches are the ones that are making the money. FB and BB coaches make more than the presidents.

And in many cases, it would appear, the coaches are under more onerous rules and scutiny.
So Nick Saban is the highest paid public employee in America - but the Prez over there signed off on the deal.

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

Does Tech run a profit?

Don't know if you are referring to GTAA or the Institute - but the school benefits / capitalizes on publicity from athletics every chance they get.

 

[Vespidae]

Don't know if you are referring to GTAA or the Institute - but the school benefits / capitalizes on publicity from athletics every chance they get.

I disagree. Tech has more student applicants, higher SAT scores, and research dollars than they can handle. If Tech faculty could eliminate athletics, they would.

 

[Skeptic]

And in many cases, it would appear, the coaches are under more onerous rules and scutiny.
So Nick Saban is the highest paid public employee in America - but the Prez over there signed off on the deal.

Actually I think Swinney holds that place now. But yes, presidents and the trustees sign off and often demand that kind of deal, and with it comes returns to the university. (At Clemson, for instance, there is now a women's softball program, its first -- hard to believe -- but funded almost totally by the football income. A baseball fan once cut off my complaints about overpaid players by noting that the owners "are businessmen, good or bad, and if they think they are worth it, then they are.")

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

I disagree. Tech has more student applicants, higher SAT scores, and research dollars than they can handle. If Tech faculty could eliminate athletics, they would.

I believe records may show that when we won football NC and went to final 4 championships that applications rose beyond what you stated.

 

[Vespidae]

I believe records may show that when we won football NC and went to final 4 championships that applications rose beyond what you stated.

Do we think Tech is struggling to find high quality students?

 

[yeti92]

Not at all. Last year's acceptance rate was 18.8%, and I believe I saw that there were like 35,000 applicants for 2020. Tech tends to get a lot of crap actually for rejecting high quality in-state students because they get so many applications from the very top tier students. No chance I would get in these days.

 

[GTpdm]

I disagree. Tech has more student applicants, higher SAT scores, and research dollars than they can handle. If Tech faculty could eliminate athletics, they would.

I tend to disagree. Most GT faculty members (myself NOT included) are indifferent to athletics. Asking GT faculty whether they would like to eliminate athletics would be like asking fly-fishers if they would like to outlaw linoleum.

 

[Skeptic]

This is the madness of college sports today. A program like Alabama, whose athletics generated $125-150 million a year, pays Saban around $9M a year. A typical business of that size would pay its executive around $250,000 with another 100,000 in bonuses.

When I was a kid, the baseball coach at the local university (whose teams regularly went to the college World Series) worked part time at a local sporting goods store selling baseball gloves and cleats to kids in the area.

It’s the free market, but obscene.

Up front, I have collected bonuses and took them gladly. But I am increasingly skeptical about being paid a bonus for doing something one is hired to do, whether in business or sports. Why one should pay $9 or $10 million a year for a football coach -- Saban and Swinney as examples -- and then throw in another $50,000 or $100,000 for winning a championship they were paid to win in the first place, as the movie line, goes, "It's a mystery." I would hate to think any coach needs that incentive to coach better. And I could do a serial riff on the "Exceeds Expectations" rating on employment reviews, a rating needed to qualify for said bonuses. Maybe like, "You're a bigger jerk than I first thought."

But proving I can teach it either way, as long as the booster clubs and fans and alums are paying, maybe it's none of my business.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

Up front, I have collected bonuses and took them gladly. But I am increasingly skeptical about being paid a bonus for doing something one is hired to do, whether in business or sports. Why one should pay $9 or $10 million a year for a football coach -- Saban and Swinney as examples -- and then throw in another $50,000 or $100,000 for winning a championship they were paid to win in the first place, as the movie line, goes, "It's a mystery." I would hate to think any coach needs that incentive to coach better. And I could do a serial riff on the "Exceeds Expectations" rating on employment reviews, a rating needed to qualify for said bonuses. Maybe like, "You're a bigger jerk than I first thought."

But proving I can teach it either way, as long as the booster clubs and fans and alums are paying, maybe it's none of my business.

That's the way every business should operate. Part of your pay should always be incentive-based. Numerous studies show the validity of this and it gets a lot more buy-in from the employees. Not every field has a job set up to do such a thing easily, but most do.