We need to stop listening to the "Big East Sucks" Doom and Gloomers

[Kolumbo]

It's hard to believe that you are ever serious about what you type.

Willard currently makes 2.5 million more than Neptune (Nova's current coach). For Nova to land him, they'll have to spend about 4 to 5 million more per year on their head coach than they are currently doing.

In terms of highest paid basketball coaches in the country: Hurley is #3. The second highest paid Big East coach is Shaka Smart at #44. #44. Let that sink in. Less than half of what Hurley is paid.

Men's Basketball Head Coach Salaries - USA TODAY

Ever wondered who the highest paid coach in men's basketball is? Find out today with USA TODAY's complete salary data.

sportsdata.usatoday.com

Is it possible that Willard goes to Nova? Yeah... if they quadruple their current investment. Is it more likely he's using it as a power play to get more NIL investment from the Twerps? Also yeah.

Bottom line: the Big East as a conference is not investing anywhere near what the P4 are, and they had better start soon or we're screwed...

You never know. Maybe the status and quality of life at nova would be a much more enjoyable experience than being a coach at a program noone else in the big ten cares about. And maybe nova can come up with the money.

 

[UConnDan97]

You never know. Maybe the status and quality of life at nova would be a much more enjoyable experience than being a coach at a program noone else in the big ten cares about. And maybe nova can come up with the money.

12 people booing vs 3 million extra per year.

12 people...3 million...12 people... it's really a hard call, isn't it?!?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

The chirping died down when they made a bowl again and sold more tickets for it than we do for any basketball game (I love basketball).

I am one of the very few in this thread who has a coherent, defensible position on this issue. Everyone else is making a very strident case for shutting down the athletic program.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

It's hard to believe that you are ever serious about what you type.

Willard currently makes 2.5 million more than Neptune (Nova's current coach). For Nova to land him, they'll have to spend about 4 to 5 million more per year on their head coach than they are currently doing.

In terms of highest paid basketball coaches in the country: Hurley is #3. The second highest paid Big East coach is Shaka Smart at #44. #44. Let that sink in. Less than half of what Hurley is paid.

Men's Basketball Head Coach Salaries - USA TODAY

Ever wondered who the highest paid coach in men's basketball is? Find out today with USA TODAY's complete salary data.

sportsdata.usatoday.com

Is it possible that Willard goes to Nova? Yeah... if they quadruple their current investment. Is it more likely he's using it as a power play to get more NIL investment from the Twerps? Also yeah.

Bottom line: the Big East as a conference is not investing anywhere near what the P4 are, and they had better start soon or we're screwed...

Are you serious about what you type? All most of the realignment board does is bitch and moan that we are not Ohio State or Alabama. 1) We all understand that they have more money than we do, we don't need UConn fans like you to remind us of that every 3 posts. You have never provided a single insight in one of your whiny posts on this topic that virtually every regular poster on this board doesn't already know. They have more money than us. We heard you the first 1000 times you complained about it. 2) If you like those programs so much, root for them. We have never had trolls on this board as relentlessly negative about UConn's future as most "UConn" fans are now. It is exhausting.

 

[uconnyankee]

Let me know how it goes over in Buckeye land when the school cheaps out on the interior OL so it can outbid Georgetown for some transfer from Fordham.

Nelson is right in that the Big East is much better-positioned for long-term success than some of you let on. Will it be at a major advantage over the football schools like the article speculates? That seems unlikely. But the anxiety it's causing people across the P4 is clearly real. The Big East has legitimate advantages over the P4 that this board doesn't want to acknowledge because of the obvious conflict of interest it presents with regard to UConn football.

Disagree. Big East is geared for short term. Once things settle down the stability of a $80M conf
Check will win out

 

[UConnDan97]

Are you serious about what you type? All most of the realignment board does is bitch and moan that we are not Ohio State or Alabama. 1) We all understand that they have more money than we do, we don't need UConn fans like you to remind us of that every 3 posts. You have never provided a single insight in one of your whiny posts on this topic that virtually every regular poster on this board doesn't already know. They have more money than us. We heard you the first 1000 times you complained about it. 2) If you like those programs so much, root for them. We have never had trolls on this board as relentlessly negative about UConn's future as most "UConn" fans are now. It is exhausting.

Yeah... me...the guy who predicts undefeated seasons every year... I'm the guy who is too whiny and relentlessly negative.

Time for you to buy a large mirror, Nelson...

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Disagree. Big East is geared for short term. Once things settle down the stability of a $80M conf
Check will win out

If it is so obvious that the Big East’s future is hopeless, why aren’t all the Big East schools dropping down to D3?

 

[uconnyankee]

If it is so obvious that the Big East’s future is hopeless, why aren’t all the Big East schools dropping down to D3?

I’m curious, in the world you live in, what happens to Big East in next 5 and 10 years? By year 2030 and 2035 what is your prediction for Big East?

 

[Waquoit]

It's hard to believe that you are ever serious about what you type.

Willard currently makes 2.5 million more than Neptune (Nova's current coach). For Nova to land him, they'll have to spend about 4 to 5 million more per year on their head coach than they are currently doing. The second highest paid Big East coach is Shaka Smart at #44. #44. Let that sink in. Less than half of what Hurley is paid.

Bottom line: the Big East as a conference is not investing anywhere near what the P4 are, and they had better start soon or we're screwed...

This didn't age well. Besides, your data is flawed. It doesn't even include Pitino or Cooley and we know they are each making more than Shaka.

 

[ecasadoSBU]

Could impending rev-share changes help Cinderellas in the future? 'Everybody will be in the game'

As the college sports industry sits on the brink of historic change, an unexpected spending disparity looms — and some mid-majors will be able to take advantage of it in basketball.

sports.yahoo.com

Because they talk out their butt. There are many, many, many posters that are being proven spectacularly wrong on this.

Can the whole system just fall apart already?

What a mess this has become. shameful.

They continue to add complexity on top of a system with a flawed foundation. They should just let the whole thing collapse

 

[John]

It's hard to believe that you are ever serious about what you type.

Willard currently makes 2.5 million more than Neptune (Nova's current coach). For Nova to land him, they'll have to spend about 4 to 5 million more per year on their head coach than they are currently doing.

In terms of highest paid basketball coaches in the country: Hurley is #3. The second highest paid Big East coach is Shaka Smart at #44. #44. Let that sink in. Less than half of what Hurley is paid.

Men's Basketball Head Coach Salaries - USA TODAY

Ever wondered who the highest paid coach in men's basketball is? Find out today with USA TODAY's complete salary data.

sportsdata.usatoday.com

Is it possible that Willard goes to Nova? Yeah... if they quadruple their current investment. Is it more likely he's using it as a power play to get more NIL investment from the Twerps? Also yeah.

Bottom line: the Big East as a conference is not investing anywhere near what the P4 are, and they had better start soon or we're screwed...

Jay Wright was making 6 mil when he retired, so they've previously spent in that neighborhood for a coach. However, Villanova, one of the supposedly cornerstone programs of the Big East, sure is attracting some non-exciting coaches.

 

[UConnDan97]

Jay Wright was making 6 mil when he retired, so they've previously spent in that neighborhood for a coach. However, Villanova, one of the supposedly cornerstone programs of the Big East, sure is attracting some non-exciting coaches.

And that's my whole point, really.

If Nova (and others) are unwilling to invest at a "P4 level", then the Big East is it's own worst enemy...

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I’m curious, in the world you live in, what happens to Big East in next 5 and 10 years? By year 2030 and 2035 what is your prediction for Big East?

Our entire system of higher education may look completely different in 10 years, so no, I can not predict exactly what will happen to the Big East. A few predictions I am willing to make:

1) At least one major public university will have a complete financial collapse in the next 10 years, effectively going bankrupt and needing a bailout or major austerity program just to survive. WVU, Kentucky, Auburn, Arizona and Arizona State are my top choices, but many major universities, including UConn, are possibilities. This has nothing to do with athletics. Many of these universities are in completely unsustainable financial trajectories.

2) There will be less than 200 schools playing D1 basketball in 10-15 years unless the definition of D1 basketball is changed in some form to accommodate major conference programs and minor universities.

3) I think there is about a 50% chance football breaks off completely from other sports either by choice or because of litigation.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

And that's my whole point, really.

If Nova (and others) are unwilling to invest at a "P4 level", then the Big East is it's own worst enemy...

Another post how we are not Ohio State or Alabama. I had not considered that. You must be the smartest sports poster on the internet to have performed this amazingly deep analysis.

 

[UConnDan97]

This didn't age well. Besides, your data is flawed. It doesn't even include Pitino or Cooley and we know they are each making more than Shaka.

I'll give you Cooley because his 6 million is up there for sure. Pitino is making 3.3 million, making him #41. Not the flex you think it is.

If Nova signs Willard, it's a step in the right direction. But my point (and it seems others agree) is that Nova shouldn't have been in this situation to begin with. If your school has won multiple national titles in the last 10 years, you shouldn't be going "on the cheap" to replace your best coach since Massimino (probably better)...

 

[UConnDan97]

Another post how we are not Ohio State or Alabama. I had not considered that. You must be the smartest sports poster on the internet to have performed this amazingly deep analysis.

Oh look, another straw man!

Nova doesn't have to be Ohio State. They don't have to pay their football team tens of millions of dollars. But they DO have to be a top tier basketball program for this conference to succeed, whether you want to admit it or not...

 

[FfldCntyFan]

Our entire system of higher education may look completely different in 10 years, so no, I can not predict exactly what will happen to the Big East. A few predictions I am willing to make:

1) At least one major public university will have a complete financial collapse in the next 10 years, effectively going bankrupt and needing a bailout or major austerity program just to survive. WVU, Kentucky, Auburn, Arizona and Arizona State are my top choices, but many major universities, including UConn, are possibilities. This has nothing to do with athletics. Many of these universities are in completely unsustainable financial trajectories.

Agreed, but I believe the will be more (in terms of quantity, not overall size of student bodies) private schools that will need to close shop. Quality schools won't have a problem (especially those with large endowments) but there are a number of mediocre schools that are around solely because they will accept kids unable to get into elite schools.

2) There will be less than 200 schools playing D1 basketball in 10-15 years unless the definition of D1 basketball is changed in some form to accommodate major conference programs and minor universities.

Agree for the most part. I believe the number will end up slightly above 200 but we are on the same page here.

3) I think there is about a 50% chance football breaks off completely from other sports either by choice or because of litigation.

I don't see this happening. Those in current power conferences know that this is what gives them their advantage. They won't willingly give this up and have the ability to wait out the slow, inevitable move of non-power schools to a tier below in other revenue sports.

There really isn't a lot that can be used as grounds for litigation here. All schools have had the opportunity to choose if they did or did not want to field a football team and there are very few D1 schools that did not have a football program at one time. Most voluntarily chose to downgrade or eliminate the program.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Agreed, but I believe the will be more (in terms of quantity, not overall size of student bodies) private schools that will need to close shop. Quality schools won't have a problem (especially those with large endowments) but there are a number of mediocre schools that are around solely because they will accept kids unable to get into elite schools.


Agree for the most part. I believe the number will end up slightly above 200 but we are on the same page here.


I don't see this happening. Those in current power conferences know that this is what gives them their advantage. They won't willingly give this up and have the ability to wait out the slow, inevitable move of non-power schools to a tier below in other revenue sports.

There really isn't a lot that can be used as grounds for litigation here. All schools have had the opportunity to choose if they did or did not want to field a football team and there are very few D1 schools that did not have a football program at one time. Most voluntarily chose to downgrade or eliminate the program.

1) Many small private schools are going to shut down. Not a lot of insight there. It is rapidly happening already. While scale may seem like a good thing, there are a lot of gigantic, mediocre or bad universities, that have major overhead problems. A small school can pivot or merge with other schools to share administrations. It is a lot harder for a big school wresting with the Demographic Cliff to make that pivot with their overhead. I can see a Tier 4 school like Kentucky struggling to attract on campus students. The MAC is basically cooked. Several of those schools are going to have to combine. There just aren't going to be enough kids interested in an open admission quality education in Ohio for all of those MAC schools

3) Bundling is a factor in about half of all anti-trust litigation, and the NCAA/P4 track record in court with anti-trust cases is already terrible.

 

[Kolumbo]

1) Many small private schools are going to shut down. Not a lot of insight there. It is rapidly happening already. While scale may seem like a good thing, there are a lot of gigantic, mediocre or bad universities, that have major overhead problems. A small school can pivot or merge with other schools to share administrations. It is a lot harder for a big school wresting with the Demographic Cliff to make that pivot with their overhead. I can see a Tier 4 school like Kentucky struggling to attract on campus students. The MAC is basically cooked. Several of those schools are going to have to combine. There just aren't going to be enough kids interested in an open admission quality education in Ohio for all of those MAC schools

3) Bundling is a factor in about half of all anti-trust litigation, and the NCAA/P4 track record in court with anti-trust cases is already .

I know you state that often, the demographic cliff. I don't think the Universities are going to struggle quite as much as you think they will. Yes, the trades are a great route for people who don't want to go to college. People with degrees often go into the trades. Maybe Universities will start offering degrees which somehow include the trades and that will bump enrollment. There's a thought. I mean, lots of bad contractors out there because they are either stupd, uneducated, lazy, or just bad businessmen. They do awful work, they quit half-way through a job, they borrow more than they can afford and go bankrupt. Hire a contractor with a BS in Small Business & Contracting Management and that guy will do well.

Some of the MAC schools are very good academically. I haven't looked at the data but if MAC schools are more affordable than Big Ten schools, they will probably be OK. I mean, for many degrees an education at Ohio, Miami or Toledo will serve you just as well as one from Michigan State. I'll bet CCSU is doing well partly because many CT kids can't get into UConn anymore. Meanwhile the CT town I live in is experiencing growth in the student population. In CT.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I know you state that often, the demographic cliff. I don't think the Universities are going to struggle quite as much as you think they will.

You should tell the universities that because they are freaking out.

 

[pepband99]

Our entire system of higher education may look completely different in 10 years, so no, I can not predict exactly what will happen to the Big East. A few predictions I am willing to make:

1) At least one major public university will have a complete financial collapse in the next 10 years, effectively going bankrupt and needing a bailout or major austerity program just to survive. WVU, Kentucky, Auburn, Arizona and Arizona State are my top choices, but many major universities, including UConn, are possibilities. This has nothing to do with athletics. Many of these universities are in completely unsustainable financial trajectories.

2) There will be less than 200 schools playing D1 basketball in 10-15 years unless the definition of D1 basketball is changed in some form to accommodate major conference programs and minor universities.

3) I think there is about a 50% chance football breaks off completely from other sports either by choice or because of litigation.

Few data points:

Absolutely nothing will happen before 2032 on a macro front. I keep seeing "antitrust," but contracts in law are the big gun. When you have the NCAA funded through 2032 via Turner paying for the men's tournament, that keeps things civil.

I think 1 is somewhat likely, but it will take a big move on student loan reform to do it.

For 3 - "break off" is too vague. Again - 2032. That's a ton of money to give up for "breaking off," and if anything, the tea leaves seem to be pointing to the sports media rights gravy train slowing down, so who backs up the truck to offset the loss?

 

[CL82]

Seth Davis's take, sort of


Personally, I think Willard just needed to get out of town ahead of the posse, but I'd like the narrative that a big school is a better designation than a big 10 school.

(And, no Nova isn't the best job in college basketball.)

 

[Waquoit]

I'll give you Cooley because his 6 million is up there for sure. Pitino is making 3.3 million, making him #41. Not the flex you think it is.

Flex enough to destroy your original point. You used bold type and "let that sink in" and you had the facts wrong.

 

[Kolumbo]

You should tell the universities that because they are freaking out.

State universities serve vital roles. Maybe they are freaking out because they may have fewer students requiring fewer staff, I don't know. Connecticut has done a great job of running itself into debt and yet there are no worries for UConn. I think they'll be fine.

 

[UConnDan97]

Flex enough to destroy your original point. You used bold type and "let that sink in" and you had the facts wrong.

If you think that having 2 coaches out of the top 40 is destroying my point about a lack of investment from this conference, then you aren't good at understanding points...

 

[noeynox]

If you think that having 2 coaches out of the top 40 is destroying my point about a lack of investment from this conference, then you aren't good at understanding points...

How many should they have in the top 40? Sheez man. You're trying to hard to crap on the league. They just took a coach from a school in the P2. All things considered, that ain't bad.

 

[UConnDan97]

How many should they have in the top 40? Sheez man. You're trying to hard to crap on the league. They just took a coach from a school in the P2. All things considered, that ain't bad.

I'm not trying to crap on the league. Good God, everyone is having trouble reading lately.

My point was, and still is, that we NEED the Big East to step up their b-ball investment. I've already stated that we are the best non P4 league out there, and I've stated it multiple times.

Nova finally decided to go big and replace Neptune. Great. That's what we need. Schools like Seton Hall and DePaul and Providence are going to need to step up too. You should know more than most on this board that I was "all in" on Independent football and Big East Olympics. And it saved both.

This is an arms race. The entire Elite Eight were P4 schools. If half of our schools in the conference don't invest heavily (despite being in some of the highest population cities in the country), then we are our own worst enemy...

 

[noeynox]

I'm not trying to crap on the league. Good God, everyone is having trouble reading lately.

My point was, and still is, that we NEED the Big East to step up their b-ball investment. I've already stated that we are the best non P4 league out there, and I've stated it multiple times.

Nova finally decided to go big and replace Neptune. Great. That's what we need. Schools like Seton Hall and DePaul and Providence are going to need to step up too. You should know more than most on this board that I was "all in" on Independent football and Big East Olympics. And it saved both.

This is an arms race. The entire Elite Eight were P4 schools. If half of our schools in the conference don't invest heavily (despite being in some of the highest population cities in the country), then we are our own worst enemy...

I assume Willard will give the league 3 in the top 40. How many is enough? Not every school in the BE can or will approach that. Just like many in the P5 won't. Hurley got that money after succeeding here. The goal shouldn't be to outspend for coaches, that is silly. Hire the right guy, and if he succeeds pay to keep him.

 

[UConnDan97]

I assume Willard will give the league 3 in the top 40. How many is enough? Not every school in the BE can or will approach that. Just like many in the P5 won't. Hurley got that money after succeeding here. The goal shouldn't be to outspend for coaches, that is silly. Hire the right guy, and if he succeeds pay to keep him.

The coaching salary is only 1 part of the equation. Another big part is NIL money, as you already know. We've already heard reports about Seton Hall having scarce resources there. So having Holloway there (who I believe is the "right guy") doesn't mean a hell of a lot because he can't put the right squad together...

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Few data points:

Absolutely nothing will happen before 2032 on a macro front. I keep seeing "antitrust," but contracts in law are the big gun. When you have the NCAA funded through 2032 via Turner paying for the men's tournament, that keeps things civil.

I think 1 is somewhat likely, but it will take a big move on student loan reform to do it.

For 3 - "break off" is too vague. Again - 2032. That's a ton of money to give up for "breaking off," and if anything, the tea leaves seem to be pointing to the sports media rights gravy train slowing down, so who backs up the truck to offset the loss?

You think everything is fine with the higher education industry, I do not. We will find out who is right.