Saban: The Demise of CFB ?

I agree Nick. I also think college coaches are overpaid and have ridiculous buyout clauses so they can’t get fired. I think it’s bad for the sport too, but I bet he won’t speak on that.

 

Not exactly parallel, but his "warning" could have been from John Wooden and basketball. "Cal and Company are going to DESTROY college basketball."

Yes they are and have but to proclaim absolution is absolutely preposterous.

And to the posters who want some sanity, besides the obvious push towards a union and an unvarnished minor league setup with...um...sponsorship from "benevolent" universities, THE place to get it has to be from the NFL. They HAVE to ding players who are not hanging in there to receive the real paychecks in the future. As long as they use a blind eye and sign them to lucrative contracts out of college, it WILL continue.

 

What if I told you that every school was buying players?

 

I said “with impunity.”

 

It's because he runs the program like a business. He hires the best available at every coaching position and most importantly adapts his offense and defense as the environment changes rather than trying to force a 1990s philosophy to work in 2023.

Rather than having a specific strategy and focusing on perfecting that he seems to look at what is working now and focus on doing that with as close to perfect fundamentals as possible and adapting things to work for his talent.

If he did what a lot of coaches do he'd still be trying to run the same offense and defense as he did in the late 2000s. Instead he hires people like Lane Kiffin and let's them run their parts of the business.

 

Places like Furman, Montana, USM, North Dakota, state, University of North, Alabama, continue to play college football

they look very different at the top, the college football will never go away in to lifetimes

 

I should've clarified. By defections, I meant our 8 COMMITED recruits that defected and reneged in the last month. I'd bet my last dollar that the reason that happened, to a man, was because we were outbid. Portal transfers are a completely diff matter, and I agree with all your points.

My point is that none of them went to Bama because Bama, like UF, doesn't play that way. Don't get me wrong, their recruits, like ours, get sweet deals. But they aren't the school driving this insanity that were witnessing. The insanity that gutted our top 3 recruiting class.

 

That's one of my main points. Their philosophy on NIL, which I think matches up similarly with ours, works for THEM because of their unparalleled success. Sadly, it does not, however, work for us. As was evidenced by being outbid for so many "100% committed" kids down the stretch.

 

Yeah, and have 10 feet high chain link fences topped with concertina wire and police dogs to enforce a curfew. Are you going to make professors do the same thing and cap their income? Doug Dickey made the equivalent of 197k in todays dollars in 1970. Coaches salaries are ridiculous, but other than Dr. Cade, what professor at UF has brought a huge amount of money and exposure to UF than Spurrier, Donovan, and Urban?

 

Any "Guardrails" put in place will just allow the cheaters to cheat, as teams like ours will keep within the "Guardrails".

I hate what is happening to college football, HOWEVER, in many respects at least everyone has a chance at portal players and recruits... It just comes down to how much money they want to spend.
The cheaters that used to get the cream of the crop can't skim the cream because everyone else has an equal shot at it.

 

There are a few others, but since they didn’t create an entirely new consumer products industry. They aren’t as well known.

 

Bama and Saban ushered in the insanity with the facilities war, bloated staff and unfettered pay for play.

 

I agree with you that it is creating more parity, in a sense. But it's also not making a ton of change either. It's still generally the same teams vying for a natty with an exception of the surprise team every so often. Reminds me of MLB. Those with the most money will generally win the most, while those with out it hope to hit on special players that may help them make it to the playoffs before that teams special players get poached for more money by the usual heavy hitters. Just like what is been happening in MLB. Your diamond backs, Padres, brewers, Ray's, get and develop players, gonna tonmake a little noise one season and boom off to teams like the Dodgers, Yankees, red Sox etc. The next season. Meanwhile the smaller schools will not be able to keep up the spending which will inevitably continue to grow and may be forced to start closing some athletic departments.

 

It's my belief that less than 10% of those entering the portal are doing it for the money. The majority want to get on the field and play before their football dreams end.

 

Agree. That's why I think a football only super conference will eventually emerge.
The regional conferences will continue for non football sports. Heck we might even see the PAC come back once they realize the travel burden.
That makes the most sense.

 

I don’t feel that way at all, I’m happy for Max. Yes I wanted him to stay at UF, but I wanted that because I wanted to see him play and be productive as a QB at UF. I wanted to see what he could do and I was excited about the potential that he flashed but if is going to be unused or misused then he has to do what’s best for him.

 

Unionized and a Draft. Without a draft it is the same uber rich with serious fu money that can do what they wish.

Only problem with NS is he wasn’t our coach

 

Super unfortunate though for those kids who don't make the roster of those 32 teams if the smaller Schools shutter their football operations. Going from 124 fbs football teams to 32 will kill a lot of kids dreams of using their athletic ability to obtain a education or a career.

 

I agree the system needs some checks. But let’s not go crazy comrade..

Paying head coaches $90k? Sounds like high school or D3 (and I’m
guessing even high school coaches making 90k isn’t unheard of).

Coaches salaries are out of whack, i don’t disagree as a lot of it’s getting irrational, but at the end of the day it’s a free market and top coaches are going to demand to get their cut out of hundred million programs (especially coaches that have a proven ROI even with a high salary). The issue is more with the way NIL is going. Are these contracts? It’s like agreements mean nothing. It also seems very much like NIL deals are driving recruiting, rather than players getting sponsorship deals AFTER they make a name for themselves at a program. The way NIL was pushed, that wasn’t supposed to happen. I think a free “one time pass” on transferring is ok. But with players now doing 4 schools in 4 years it’s like they’ve totally lost the plot on *college* football. Next up, none of the athletes will even have to go to class. What’s the point of even affiliating it with a University then? Might as well just move the football team to Jacksonville or something…

 

Those smaller schools aren't going to shutter their programs. They aren't competing on the same level, now. The levels below FBS haven't shuttered their programs, and their fans love their teams as much as major programs do. I went to Troy State, briefly, when they were D2 and the home games were always well attended, and the fans were really into it.