As college football's elite is engulfed in a power struggle, G5 left just trying to survive: 'We are a farm system'(Ross Dellenger @ Yahoo)

[huskymedic]

-> “I’m talking to people about what’s going to happen in college football,” Hall said. “We’re going to get parameters around NIL and run it through the school with revenue sharing. For 2-4 years, we are in this (NIL) business. We’ve got to embrace it or we get left behind. If you get left behind in this next change, it’s catastrophic. You might never come back from it.”

It’s a jarring comment from a sitting head coach but one that many within the sport feel is real.

“You’re heading to a model where there is a consolidation at the top and then a batch of others and then a group that is out,” said Toledo athletic director Bryan Blair. “We want to make sure we are in that second category. We want to be in that catch-all after that.” <-

 

[huskymedic]

It’s soooo broken:

-> Multiple Group of Five coaches tell Yahoo Sports that Power Five programs, having hit their NCAA-mandated 85 scholarship limit, are adding players as “walk-ons” with collectives footing the bill for a scholarship through NIL. The NCAA permits at least 30 walk-ons.

One Power Five collective director, in fact, acknowledged this trend, telling Yahoo Sports that they often “layer on top” an extra $50-60,000 to cover a walk-on’s tuition, books and fees.

“They’ve got to make up what a scholarship covers. I get it. It’s smart,” Chadwell said. “But the NCAA needs to create a rule requiring players to sit out a year if they are not on full academic scholarship.” <-

 

[Exit 4]

It’s soooo broken:

-> Multiple Group of Five coaches tell Yahoo Sports that Power Five programs, having hit their NCAA-mandated 85 scholarship limit, are adding players as “walk-ons” with collectives footing the bill for a scholarship through NIL. The NCAA permits at least 30 walk-ons.

One Power Five collective director, in fact, acknowledged this trend, telling Yahoo Sports that they often “layer on top” an extra $50-60,000 to cover a walk-on’s tuition, books and fees.

“They’ve got to make up what a scholarship covers. I get it. It’s smart,” Chadwell said. “But the NCAA needs to create a rule requiring players to sit out a year if they are not on full academic scholarship.” <-

While I completely agree with the sentiment that the gap is widening and the whole dang thing is less fun than ever for G5 programs, it seems to me the only true rebalancing mechanism is the original mechanism; playing time. These walks-on at the P4 level sitting 7th+ on the bench in many positions will hit the portal after two or three years and return to the G5 where they should have been.

That said, in the years ahead, seems to me a lot of kids that could be developed into NFL level talent (albeit perhaps low level NFL talent) won't ever find out what they could really do because they wasted too many years sitting deep on the bench at the wrong level. And when they left and dropped down, they didn't leave themselves enough remaining years to get through that full development process.

However, the NFL will always need players and so it stands to reason that other kids that are on the field for 3 or 4 seasons will get the NFL call in their place.

Bottomline, a lot of talent that could be developed will be wasted sitting deep. And so it goes.

 

[uconndogs]

I don't think anyone can be surprised by this and it's not just the G5 at a disadvantage. The lower tier P4 programs that cannot put together the NIL programs of the elite programs will also be at a distinct disadvantage. Will they have the resources to protect their best talent and also recruit and retain depth? The portal will be a giant sucking sound for those programs as well. I can also see the scenario, which is probably already playing out, where elite talent is incented to defer a year for the NFL. Only the best healed NIL programs will be able to issue those checks.

.....and NCAA regulation......my sense is that the SEC and BiG wouldn't even pick up the phone to learn about new regulations around NIL.

I'm not sure they ruined college football, but it's a reasonable question to ask.

 

[ZooCougar]

It's going to be a sport where at the start of every season the fans have no idea who 1/3 of the team is or where they came from. Over a period of time, fans will lose that sense of connection and the popularity will decrease.

It won't happen overnight. But this is what will happen if they continue on this course.

 

[TMB4405]

The horses are out of the barn on this. With some of these big schools (or those like Florida state who think they are the greatest) they wont be happy until they have a league of 12 sharing all the revenues. Better yet 6 schools with two teams each. I have stopped worrying about it and will just enjoy going to the games.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Light is the best disinfectant.

A lot of schools are just realizing where they stand on their own in an unregulated market. Collectivism was good for over 90% of the NCAA football schools. And collectivism was good for about 95% of the athletes.

It's always been a few who pulled all the money and all the interest from tv, advertisers and fans. And after those few gorged themselves, the leftover scraps were enough to keep the others alive. Unfortunately some of those scrap eaters felt they were the reason for the kill and the feast.

 

[Purple Stein]

You know what, this splintering is not the end of the world. It's a different world than what we've been used to, but it's not the end of the world.

Part of the fun of college football in the fall is the local team. But part of the fun is also being able to tune into any of a million different broadcasts. The centralizing of power works right now because broadcasts are centralized through an old TV model that's on its last legs. Once sports consumption moves fully to apps, people can choose what they want to watch, not what they're forced to watch.

Let the left-behinds (including us, if that's how it plays out) form their own league with their own playoffs. Not FCS -- an alternative top-level league. Make it a different brand of football that's exciting to play and better to watch. Make it experimental - something that's compelling to kids and something that draws eyeballs. Throw out challenges to the BIG/SEC that they'll never answer. Set the same goal as the ABA had for the NBA - build a league that, through its play and its panache, seeks to force a merger.

Maybe that's pollyannish. But I think the whole "they're killing CFB" thing is overstated. It won't be the same, some schools may fold up shop, but UConn will still be able to find 12 teams to play in what are perhaps more meaningful and more fun games.

 

[uconndogs]

You know what, this splintering is not the end of the world. It's a different world than what we've been used to, but it's not the end of the world.

Part of the fun of college football in the fall is the local team. But part of the fun is also being able to tune into any of a million different broadcasts. The centralizing of power works right now because broadcasts are centralized through an old TV model that's on its last legs. Once sports consumption moves fully to apps, people can choose what they want to watch, not what they're forced to watch.

Let the left-behinds (including us, if that's how it plays out) form their own league with their own playoffs. Not FCS -- an alternative top-level league. Make it a different brand of football that's exciting to play and better to watch. Make it experimental - something that's compelling to kids and something that draws eyeballs. Throw out challenges to the BIG/SEC that they'll never answer. Set the same goal as the ABA had for the NBA - build a league that, through its play and its panache, seeks to force a merger.

Maybe that's pollyannish. But I think the whole "they're killing CFB" thing is overstated. It won't be the same, some schools may fold up shop, but UConn will still be able to find 12 teams to play in what are perhaps more meaningful and more fun games.

I do see this as a scenario and I think it is potentially favorable to UCONN and its fanbase. You can see where regional rivalries drive a lot of interest. It would be great to play BC, Syracuse, UMass in some type of conference format. Holds a lot more interest for me than watching NFL-Light (i.e. BiG and SEC).

 

[AllHusky]

You know what, this splintering is not the end of the world. It's a different world than what we've been used to, but it's not the end of the world.

Part of the fun of college football in the fall is the local team. But part of the fun is also being able to tune into any of a million different broadcasts. The centralizing of power works right now because broadcasts are centralized through an old TV model that's on its last legs. Once sports consumption moves fully to apps, people can choose what they want to watch, not what they're forced to watch.

Let the left-behinds (including us, if that's how it plays out) form their own league with their own playoffs. Not FCS -- an alternative top-level league. Make it a different brand of football that's exciting to play and better to watch. Make it experimental - something that's compelling to kids and something that draws eyeballs. Throw out challenges to the BIG/SEC that they'll never answer. Set the same goal as the ABA had for the NBA - build a league that, through its play and its panache, seeks to force a merger.

Maybe that's pollyannish. But I think the whole "they're killing CFB" thing is overstated. It won't be the same, some schools may fold up shop, but UConn will still be able to find 12 teams to play in what are perhaps more meaningful and more fun games.

I was thinking afl nfl, but yup, this will happen over time. The folks that say drop fb don’t realize how large and influential a group the fb alums are at a school like UConn. They will do an awful lot to maintain a program at as high a level as possible.

 

[ZooCougar]

You know what, this splintering is not the end of the world. It's a different world than what we've been used to, but it's not the end of the world.

Part of the fun of college football in the fall is the local team. But part of the fun is also being able to tune into any of a million different broadcasts. The centralizing of power works right now because broadcasts are centralized through an old TV model that's on its last legs. Once sports consumption moves fully to apps, people can choose what they want to watch, not what they're forced to watch.

Let the left-behinds (including us, if that's how it plays out) form their own league with their own playoffs. Not FCS -- an alternative top-level league. Make it a different brand of football that's exciting to play and better to watch. Make it experimental - something that's compelling to kids and something that draws eyeballs. Throw out challenges to the BIG/SEC that they'll never answer. Set the same goal as the ABA had for the NBA - build a league that, through its play and its panache, seeks to force a merger.

Maybe that's pollyannish. But I think the whole "they're killing CFB" thing is overstated. It won't be the same, some schools may fold up shop, but UConn will still be able to find 12 teams to play in what are perhaps more meaningful and more fun games.

They won’t do it.

Everyone is more likely to grind themselves into dust trying to keep up.

 

[Windham4th]

While I completely agree with the sentiment that the gap is widening and the whole dang thing is less fun than ever for G5 programs, it seems to me the only true rebalancing mechanism is the original mechanism; playing time. These walks-on at the P4 level sitting 7th+ on the bench in many positions will hit the portal after two or three years and return to the G5 where they should have been.

That said, in the years ahead, seems to me a lot of kids that could be developed into NFL level talent (albeit perhaps low level NFL talent) won't ever find out what they could really do because they wasted too many years sitting deep on the bench at the wrong level. And when they left and dropped down, they didn't leave themselves enough remaining years to get through that full development process.

However, the NFL will always need players and so it stands to reason that other kids that are on the field for 3 or 4 seasons will get the NFL call in their place.

Bottomline, a lot of talent that could be developed will be wasted sitting deep. And so it goes.

Be prepared for a crappier NFL product. More bad defense, penalties and injuries. it will be like when hs kids left for nba and quality of play in ncaa took a while to adjust

 

[JMick]

The sport is too far gone to save. Hopefully they come to their senses and split football off separately so they don't ruin the rest of the sports, too.

If we want to find the real root of the problem I think we have to go back a long ways to slipping admissions standards. You have star players who literally can't read and somehow they get into these schools and are supposed to care about a college degree? Couple that with the devaluation of a college degree and it's a recipe for disaster. Throw the travel in and the lack of ability to actually attend class and it's no wonder we've got into this employee-esque crazy compensation situation.

 

[noeynox]

While I completely agree with the sentiment that the gap is widening and the whole dang thing is less fun than ever for G5 programs, it seems to me the only true rebalancing mechanism is the original mechanism; playing time. These walks-on at the P4 level sitting 7th+ on the bench in many positions will hit the portal after two or three years and return to the G5 where they should have been.

That said, in the years ahead, seems to me a lot of kids that could be developed into NFL level talent (albeit perhaps low level NFL talent) won't ever find out what they could really do because they wasted too many years sitting deep on the bench at the wrong level. And when they left and dropped down, they didn't leave themselves enough remaining years to get through that full development process.

However, the NFL will always need players and so it stands to reason that other kids that are on the field for 3 or 4 seasons will get the NFL call in their place.

Bottomline, a lot of talent that could be developed will be wasted sitting deep. And so it goes.

That leaves G5 coaches rolling the dice on a bunch of guys, who no one knows if they could play or not.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[tiger paw]

What is the final goal of the SEC / B1G ? Maybe they should just merge with the USFL. A split season . And just pay the universities $ for use of their facilities + school name.

 

[JMick]

What is the final goal of the SEC / B1G ?

To make as much money as possible

 

[UCFBfan]

If they let the Pac 2 remain on the same level as they were before 90% of their conference up and left, I will have no words. This sport continues to leave me speechless but to see two schools get royally screwed in conference realignment yet still keep their status, will infuriate me beyond belief after the wasteland we've been travelling through......

 

[giddyup]

If they let the Pac 2 remain on the same level as they were before 90% of their conference up and left, I will have no words. This sport continues to leave me speechless but to see two schools get royally screwed in conference realignment yet still keep their status, will infuriate me beyond belief after the wasteland we've been travelling through......

Well maybe we can be Big East Football Conference 1 and demand an AQ and revenue since this is all made up BS. They don’t even hide the fact it’s an arbitrary money control grab.

 

[uconnbill]

The horses are out of the barn on this. With some of these big schools (or those like Florida state who think they are the greatest) they wont be happy until they have a league of 12 sharing all the revenues. Better yet 6 schools with two teams each. I have stopped worrying about it and will just enjoy going to the games.

I disagree. I believe they want only a few at the table, but not 12 but more like 48-60 at most. That is what they want. Four Super conferences who control all.

 

[Forte]

You know what, this splintering is not the end of the world. It's a different world than what we've been used to, but it's not the end of the world.

Part of the fun of college football in the fall is the local team. But part of the fun is also being able to tune into any of a million different broadcasts. The centralizing of power works right now because broadcasts are centralized through an old TV model that's on its last legs. Once sports consumption moves fully to apps, people can choose what they want to watch, not what they're forced to watch.

Let the left-behinds (including us, if that's how it plays out) form their own league with their own playoffs. Not FCS -- an alternative top-level league. Make it a different brand of football that's exciting to play and better to watch. Make it experimental - something that's compelling to kids and something that draws eyeballs. Throw out challenges to the BIG/SEC that they'll never answer. Set the same goal as the ABA had for the NBA - build a league that, through its play and its panache, seeks to force a merger.

Maybe that's pollyannish. But I think the whole "they're killing CFB" thing is overstated. It won't be the same, some schools may fold up shop, but UConn will still be able to find 12 teams to play in what are perhaps more meaningful and more fun games.

This. I've been saying this all along ... it will be two conferences B1G and SEC (which we all already know) and the sooner they get all the top programs they want and all the money they want the better for us. Let them play semi-pro and let us all get back to regional fun college football. Get the welcome home mats ready for BC, Cuse, Pitt etc... I would not be shocked if it also included WVU. It's kind of hilarious that Rutty is hanging onto the coattails in all this. Either way, I could care less. Bring on the chaos and heartbreak because we can only go up and they can only go down...

 

[uconndogs]

This. I've been saying this all along ... it will be two conferences B1G and SEC (which we all already know) and the sooner they get all the top programs they want and all the money they want the better for us. Let them play semi-pro and let us all get back to regional fun college football. Get the welcome home mats ready for BC, Cuse, Pitt etc... I would not be shocked if it also included WVU. It's kind of hilarious that Rutty is hanging onto the coattails in all this. Either way, I could care less. Bring on the chaos and heartbreak because we can only go up and they can only go down...

This is where I am as well.

 

[Kolumbo]

“You’re heading to a model where there is a consolidation at the top and then a batch of others and then a group that is out,” said Toledo athletic director Bryan Blair. “We want to make sure we are in that second category. We want to be in that catch-all after that.” <-

I'm not sure what his point is. which is the "batch of others" and which is the "group that is out"? The MAC is the worst of the G5. If anyone is left out it would be the MAC, but I figured it would be the B1G/SEC and everyone else. Or does he think Toledo is headed to the Big 12?

 

[DoctorWho85]

To make as much money as possible

As much money for the school as possible. Yeah there's NIL right now, but no one in the the Olympic or non-revenue sports are getting any of that money. I feel like they're getting screwed at the big schools like that just as much as schools that are getting poached because of NIL money.