The formal admin is fine. It’s the informal admin that isn’t. Our boosters and hangers on are not nearly as dirty as the top schools. We need $100 handshakes starting in middle school. We need phony jobs for parents and uncles. IMO that is the difference.
Florida was the second State to allow NIL behind only CA. Instead of preparing for the possibility of the NCAA losing its NIL case, they apparently spent all their time wringing their hands about whether it was "ethical" or not to do it. Anyone recall the letter that boosters got finger wagging us about how a booster contributing to NIL was a NCAA violation on the eve of the NIL dam bursting in college football? I got one. I'm sure it had a chilling effect on many boosters thinking about moving into the new paradigm. I don't like NIL, because that isn't what it is, but the wording of the case opened the floodgates to pay for play that any fool could have told you would happen with the rules structured as they are. UF completely missing the opportunity to get ahead (or at least keep up) in this area is directly on the UF Admin. I agree that the schools and universities that had informal NIL networks long before there were formal ones (we all know who they are) had an advantage of just converting an existing system, but there was a window for the rich schools to catch up. UF obviously wasn't looking ahead at all.
I don't get this actually. The administration is responsible for the downfall when they acted like they could run the program as if it was still the 80s or 90s regarding facilities. They also need to get off the soapbox regarding the NCAA. Bama/fsu/Georgia/lsu all ran filthy programs while we worried about ncaa compliance. Not that I want to run a rogue program like Georgia but the ncaa has been shown to be a paper tiger in this day and age. It isn't the 80s anymore and Florida shouldn't be afraid like we have been since our TV ban and scholarship reduction. With that said, the admin gave Napier everything he asked for. They gave him more money than he proved he was worth from the get go. They made a bad hire based on the negligence of Mullen in multiple aspects of the program. They thought they were plugging the holes Mullen and others left because Napier talked a big game about analyzing where other coaches failed and he came off a championship program in a lesser conference with experience in championship programs under Dabo and Saban as well. The Problem is they didn't dive into the on field metrics with any real scrutiny. He underperformed greatly against the spread multiple times in his championship year despite having a more talented roster. he won 5 games by one score where they were heavy favorites. Its not normal to win all of your one score games. If his record was anything other than a title that year i doubt we take him. Also, His plan wasn't to bring any real sec coaching experience with him and thought he could run the same program at Florida he ran at Louisiana. The only hindrance he had was the lack of foresight by the university and the state of Florida to get ahead of NIL but even with that he has been given more than enough to win. It's why I said leading up to the season thar despite supporting Napier up until this year I always disagreed with those who said Miami wasn't a must win game. I always thought it was because either we were improved or we weren't. No more excuses. I also didn't see the schedule as daunting as everyone else for the same reason. So far a number of the teams on the schedule don't look nearly as good as everyone thought they would be. If we had a decent product on the field we are 3 and 1 at worst and likely 4 and 0.
I agree we gave an under-vetted coach a brinks truck full of money and pretty much everything he would need to immediately turn the program around. What they didn't give him was a well-prepared NIL program that would allow us to compete with what used to be our peers (Bama, Ga, LSU, even Miami for crissakes!). I think he would have squandered it anyway, but that's another issue. Our administration has consistently been behind the curve in our football program for 20 years (Urban had to beg for a facility to host recruits and their families before games). Personally, I think the UAA should be thoroughly fumigated before we go through the motions of hiring a new coach. I shudder to think that this University may just decide to just go through the motions of playing SEC football, collect that check, and become another Vandy (has someone, somewhere already made this decision?)
I totally agree that the approach that he has laid out is not the way I would like to see the stadium fixed. But, as you said, we deserve to have a better environment to view a game in.
Fans pay for TV money, too, by buying based on the ads and by paying for cable and streaming networks.
Just re-numbering the seats to add 3-4 inches to each would be easy. You would lose a lot of capacity, but it would be a bit more comfortable. Truth be told, however, if we keep going in the direction we are headed, we won't have to worry about capacity much.
I'd like to see more leg room even more, but, I know that's much harder to change. Attendance will drop some if this continues, but, it will return just as quickly if we become competitive again.
Yes. For decades. Maybe I’m in the minority, but having a winning team gets me to many more games than chairbacks, WiFi, etc. Further, winning produces increased revenue that can pay for fan amenities. Losing results in lower donations so you get more losses and no amenities. Different strokes.
In theory. In reality, we have higher fan costs, lower fan comfort, and worse football production than in the past, all while the "amateur" "student" athletes get rich and puffy in the digs we built for them under the guise of increases in production on the field. And, by the way, I didn't ask for any of those upgrades you mentioned. I agree that what they are focusing on in Stricklin's proposed upgrades shows they aren't listening to the fans.
Some seem to have a hate boner for some unnamed "admin" but if what we're hearing is true and the boosters want to drop big cash on a "proven" hire then what would stop them from having competitive NIL?
Both sides of Los are bargain players. That pretty much sums up the effort to actually win. Swap those players with Georgia and tell me you believe they sniff a ship. It won’t happen with the best of coaching.
Yeah I think we are way past ever being a top football program again. We may get lucky someday and hire a great up and comer, but he will leave for a better payday, or less headaches, or both. Like Spurrier and Meyer did. What kind of program makes it more difficult for their best coaches, rather than less difficult.
