The Athletic on Edsall

[pepband99]

You and your ilk are so unwilling to hold leadership accountable for what they do and say it’s a facinating view into the Stockholm Syndrome you suffer from.

Let me know when you find a national media puff story on a coach where the athletic director is in the story saying the exact opposite.

To liken it to an employee privately asking for a raise is hilarious - but when you are tasked with trying to defend ridiculous comments you may as well say anything I guess.

Keep digging.

Any coach who publicly acknowledges he’s for player compensation is against his AD.

...but because one reporter bothered to ask the AD his thoughts on the subject, there must be undying hate between only our AD and coach, because you say so.

 

[whaler11]

Keep digging.

Any coach who publicly acknowledges he’s for player compensation is against his AD.

...but because one reporter bothered to ask the AD his thoughts on the subject, there must be undying hate between only our AD and coach, because you say so.

Ignore the obvious all you like. There are a half dozen things that make it clear.

Maybe you should try and follow how competent athletic departments operate and that would help provide context.

“I would have played for free”. LOL.

 

[pepband99]

Ignore the obvious all you like. There are a half dozen things that make it clear.

Maybe you should try and follow how competent athletic departments operate and that would help provide context.

“I would have played for free”. LOL.

You mean like “Corey” you cited, which has -1000% to do with Benedict?

If anything, you could just as easily argue that edsall doesn’t have the best history of getting along with AD’s. Either way, in this case, it’s all noise.

 

[whaler11]

You mean like “Corey” you cited, which has -1000% to do with Benedict?

If anything, you could just as easily argue that edsall doesn’t have the best history of getting along with AD’s. Either way, in this case, it’s all noise.

The fact that the school couldn’t get Corey done had nothing to do with Benedict?

Okey dokey.

Again - I’d suggest monitoring a functioning athletic department for some context.

 

[CL82]

I mean a program that is completely forgotten.... gets a big national outlet to write a puff piece and he completely contradicts the football coach who did him a favor coming for below market value.

Who does that?

The AD of a university to whom pay for play would mean the death of big time athletics?

The fact that the school couldn’t get Corey done had nothing to do with Benedict?

Some, I guess, but it had a lot more to do with the overreach of an state ethics committee.

 

[freescooter]

All he had to say was positive things about Edsall. Could have even said the math is tougher outside the Big Ten and SEC but we are paying the kids the $2,800.

He went full: I would have paid to play at Southern Utah.

His employee who bailed him out of a jam by taking peanuts had a very positive piece written about him... and he completely contradicts him for no reason other to do it?

Edsall had to fix the Corey law himself. Edsall got sick of waiting on ticket prices and announced it himself. Benedict couldn’t stand to let this piece be written without a complete contradiction on Edsall’s stance?

And people accuse me of being a jerk for pointing it out? L-O-L.

What the heck...? The official position of the university and the NCAA is that we won’t pay players. The coach says he thinks you should so what do you want the AD to say? He didn’t attack Edsall. He didn’t say he was out of line even. He merely respectfully disagreed and mentioned his own experience which frankly is not that different from a whole lot of college athletes. I did pay to compete for UConn. My kids paid to compete for their schools. My nephew was all A10 and paid to play soccer at UMass. We all did it because we loved our sports or the competition or the comraderie and frankly the life lessons. If there is a jerk in this discussion I suspect is the guy named for a defunct hockey club.

 

[whaler11]

What the heck...? The official position of the university and the NCAA is that we won’t pay players. The coach says he thinks you should so what do you want the AD to say? He didn’t attack Edsall. He didn’t say he was out of line even. He merely respectfully disagreed and mentioned his own experience which frankly is not that different from a whole lot of college athletes. I did pay to compete for UConn. My kids paid to compete for their schools. My nephew was all A10 and paid to play soccer at UMass. We all did it because we loved our sports or the competition or the comraderie and frankly the life lessons. If there is a jerk in this discussion I suspect is the guy named for a defunct hockey club.

I’m not sure what is so hard about all this.

A program that gets zero national attention gets a realitively prestigeous outlet writing a positive piece on the coach and his boss is in the story going completely over the top in his dissention with the coach’s platform.q

You’d do that to a subordinate? You’d take that from your boss? A boss who you bailed out of something like his Diaco mess?

Nobody gives a flying crap about you not getting a scholarship for running through the woods. It has nothing to do with any of this - you might notice the lack of national media pieces about you or your coach as a start.

 

[CL82]

I’m not sure what is so hard about all this.

A program that gets zero national attention gets a realitively prestigeous outlet writing a positive piece on the coach and his boss is in the story going completely over the top in his dissention with the coach’s platform.q

You’d do that to a subordinate? You’d take that from your boss? A boss who you bailed out of something like his Diaco mess?

Nobody gives a flying crap about you not getting a scholarship for running through the woods. It has nothing to do with any of this - you might notice the lack of national media pieces about you or your coach as a start.

Edsall has an opinion. Benedict has a different one. It's not a scandal. Get over it.

 

[champs99and04]

What the heck...? The official position of the university and the NCAA is that we won’t pay players. The coach says he thinks you should so what do you want the AD to say? He didn’t attack Edsall. He didn’t say he was out of line even. He merely respectfully disagreed and mentioned his own experience which frankly is not that different from a whole lot of college athletes. I did pay to compete for UConn. My kids paid to compete for their schools. My nephew was all A10 and paid to play soccer at UMass. We all did it because we loved our sports or the competition or the comraderie and frankly the life lessons. If there is a jerk in this discussion I suspect is the guy named for a defunct hockey club.

It's not unreasonable to disagree with Edsall, but I can see how context would matter. The anecdote about his time at Southern Utah 20 years ago makes him sound out-of-touch.

I do think it is possible to sound like an adult while siding against player compensation, but coaches and AD's tend to make it difficult with their ridiculous false equivalences. Everyone knows damn well that college football has been professionalized. To the extent that the players appear to have no leverage is what makes this difficult, not the fact that walk-on x busted his tail to become scout team linebacker. The idea that they can't profit off their likeness makes these their arguments even harder to reconcile. If I have to hear the story about Dabo Swinney sleeping with his mother one more time I am going to gauge my eyes out.

But hey, if this is all about competitive balance, why not put a cap on coaching salaries too? How about program expenses? Make Alabama use the same facilities as Yale. The hypocrisy is what's difficult to stomach more so than the model itself.

 

[Nostical]

I'm reading lots of faux outrage on this issue. Edsall supports paying players. Benedict doesn't. Rather than seeing this as an AD undercutting his coach in one of the few national stories about UConn football, I see it as providing Edsall with a platform for even more media attention down the road. I can't imagine a future panel discussion on the issue not including him. And there's a bonus if his point of view is perceived by his players as having their backs. But the debate has two sides. Most Presidents and AD's believe players shouldn't be paid and advocating for paying players is tantamount to financial suicide for too many institutions. Then there are the many legal dilemmas of dealing with Title IX, non-revenue sports, starters vs reserves, and the "employee" designation (imagine the Worker's Comp premium!). Bottom line, I respect Edsall for advocating a controversial position. I also commend Benedict for representing his own (and his institution's) point of view. Both of them were genuine.That's what matters. Now let's win some games.

 

[ZooCougar]

This is no big deal.

And since we won’t be actually paying players anytime soon there is plenty of room for cordial disagreement.

 

[freescooter]

This is no big deal.

And since we won’t be actually paying players anytime soon there is plenty of room for cordial disagreement.

And that’s what this was. Look Edsall took a position you haven’t heard anyone else take. His AD respectfully disagreed. What’s the problem?

 

[ZooCougar]

And that’s what this was. Look Edsall took a position you haven’t heard anyone else take. His AD respectfully disagreed. What’s the problem?

It’s part of the stupid state of our nation.

If we all don’t agree on every little detail then we are polar opposites. We leave no room for dialogue.

You’re ok with civil unions but not gay marriage, then you’re homophobe.

You’re ok with gun control but not banning guns, then it’s like you shot up a school yourself.

Ok with legal immigration of people into the US then you are soft on illegal aliens and pro terror.

We’re off the ledge now.

 

[whaler11]

It’s not about them having different opinions.

It’s about the need to go over the top in a positive article about your coach. There is literally no reason to do it.

But the fact that Edsall had to lobby the state legislature himself, the fact that Edsall went ahead and beat the ahletic department on annoucement on ticket prices, the arrival and departure of Lashlee in quick measure... everything is splendid between the two.

You’d think if you find yourself agreeing vehemently with Nostical that alone would be enough to reconsider... I’m sure we’ll see plenty of articles around the country where the AD counterpunches against their coach in a positive story in the national media.

Maybe if someone writes something nice about Geno, Benedict can remind everyone they lost two years in a row.

 

[Nostical]

Maybe if someone writes something nice about Geno, Benedict can remind everyone they lost two years in a row.

Ha! What a crock. If Benedict had said this in response to Edsall’s support for paying players: “Well, that’s Edsall with his whacky ideas. Don’t forget he left us high and dry after the Fiesta Bowl” it would have been the nefarious dig you claim occurred in this article. What Benedict actually did was simply respond with his opinion on the paying of players issue and he did so respectfully and appropriately.
On this one it’s Nostical 1, Whaler 0.

 

[whaler11]

Ha! What a crock. If Benedict had said this in response to Edsall’s support for paying players: “Well, that’s Edsall with his whacky ideas. Don’t forget he left us high and dry after the Fiesta Bowl” it would have been the nefarious dig you claim occurred in this article. What Benedict actually did was simply respond with his opinion on the paying of players issue and he did so respectfully and appropriately.
On this one it’s Nostical 1, Whaler 0.

Okey dokey. You’ve considered yourself correct 500 times in the past and we’ve seen how that worked out.

There was no need for what he said. The article isn’t about what Benedict thinks - God forbid he let Edsall have something positive written about him without arguing the exact opposite.

Benedict was better when he was in hiding and was harder to get a comment from than Osama Bin Laden.

 

[Chief00]

No I blame Susan for the majority of our current predicament. Benedict is just supposed to salvage something from the disaster he inherited. Still TBD on that one

I agree. The dislike other Presidents have for Susan made conference realignment a nightmare. Couple that with Blumenthal personally suing other Presidents - it was the perfect storm to keep us out of a major conference. In summary, we have Herbst and Blumenthal to thank.

 

[Chief00]

Yes but as I asked in my post "how fast"? My sense with Toner interviewing Diaco my guess is Toner would have known what he had in about 20 seconds.

I agree about Toner.

 

[Chief00]

Randy is difficult to deal with i know past coaches , and current ones that don't like him..

True.

 

[Nostical]

So let me get this straight. Other coaches don’t like Edsall, other Presidents don’t like Herbst. Here’s a newsflash, Lots of coaches like Edsall. Lots of Presidents like Herbst.

 

[ZooCougar]

It’s not about them having different opinions.

It’s about the need to go over the top in a positive article about your coach. There is literally no reason to do it.

But the fact that Edsall had to lobby the state legislature himself, the fact that Edsall went ahead and beat the ahletic department on annoucement on ticket prices, the arrival and departure of Lashlee in quick measure... everything is splendid between the two.

You’d think if you find yourself agreeing vehemently with Nostical that alone would be enough to reconsider... I’m sure we’ll see plenty of articles around the country where the AD counterpunches against their coach in a positive story in the national media.

Maybe if someone writes something nice about Geno, Benedict can remind everyone they lost two years in a row.

No.

 

[J187Money]

I'm with Whaler in that I thought it was an strange and unnecessary comment given the supposed purpose of the story. OTOH, I think it is much ado about nothing.

 

[whaler11]

I'm with Whaler in that I thought it was an strange and unnecessary comment given the supposed purpose of the story. OTOH, I think it is much ado about nothing.

Agreed it’s not a big deal because nobody anywhere but here cares about their relationship - but making excuses for the bizarre comments is crazy.