Brian Kelly to LSU.

Dawgg

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Kelly will do amazing at LSU. Truly sucks for everyone else in the West. Esp State. His talent level just went way up. Impossible to get out of the middle of the pack in this conference. Hard enough just to stay in the middle.

Well on the bright side, there’s not going to be an SEC West for very much longer.
 

Quincy A. Wagstaff

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LSU won national championships with Les Miles and Ed Orgeron for goodness sakes. Some of you folks are clueless. Chances that they win another one under Kelly are damn near 100%, and chances that they have positioned themselves to be the pre-eminent power in the post-Saban SEC are also pretty high. Absolute homerun hire for them.

It could prove to be false, but it’s being reported that he will make $15 million per year. I’m not saying he can’t do as well as Miles or Orgeron. I’m saying he’s not worth $15 million per year. For that much money he is expected to beat Saban now, not wait for him to retire. I haven’t seen anything from Kelly that gives me confidence to give him $15 million per year to beat Saban. 2012 and 2020 are the best data points I have.

Do you really think they are paying him that much NOW to be a preeminent power in the SEC AFTER Saban retires? When will that be?
 

wsjmsu75

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It could prove to be false, but it’s being reported that he will make $15 million per year. I’m not saying he can’t do as well as Miles or Orgeron. I’m saying he’s not worth $15 million per year. For that much money he is expected to beat Saban now, not wait for him to retire. I haven’t seen anything from Kelly that gives me confidence to give him $15 million per year to beat Saban. 2012 and 2020 are the best data points I have.

Do you really think they are paying him that much NOW to be a preeminent power in the SEC AFTER Saban retires? When will that be?

Saban and Tom Brady will retire in the same year- 2039.
 

Dawg1976

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I wouldn't be fired up as an LSU fan. $15 mil a year is ridiculous. Not worth it.
 

Ralph Cramden

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None of these guys are worth 10 million a year. Just like baseball players are not worth 30 million, basketball players not worth 25 million, etc. Its ridiculous what they get paid
 

greenbean.sixpack

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It’s also pretty much the textbook definition of libel….not exactly something I’d be throwing around for a millionaire’s legal counsel to just happen to stumble upon even if the perceived chances of any ramifications were pretty low.

I've heard many sports show hosts make this same claim, haven't heard of any being sued?
 

Quincy A. Wagstaff

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Would take a pretty significant amount of chaos for ND to make it in….and infinitely more for them to win it. Kelly’s no fool and he knows that.

I don't know. 1-loss Bama plays Georgia. 1-loss Michigan plays Iowa. Undefeated Cincinnati plays Houston. 1-loss Oklahoma State plays Baylor. Don't they just need two of those to lose? I won't be surprised if Notre Dame is in the CFP.
 

Go Budaw

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I've heard many sports show hosts make this same claim, haven't heard of any being sued?

No, you haven’t. Literally no one has accused him of actual murder….because that’s not what happened. By the way, there’s a big 17ing difference between questionable decision making or negligence that may have contributed to a death, and the deliberate and purposeful decision to kill somebody.
 
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TrueMaroonGrind

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And Jimbo was a lock to kill it at A&M too. How has that turned out so far? Let's don't over hype our opponents too early.

Did everybody buy the Jimbo hype? I just never thought he would be amazing the way he destroyed Florida state at the end.

Kelley feels different to me. He’s built and sustained success for a long time at Notre Dame with no signs of slowing down.
 

Go Budaw

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It could prove to be false, but it’s being reported that he will make $15 million per year. I’m not saying he can’t do as well as Miles or Orgeron. I’m saying he’s not worth $15 million per year. For that much money he is expected to beat Saban now, not wait for him to retire. I haven’t seen anything from Kelly that gives me confidence to give him $15 million per year to beat Saban. 2012 and 2020 are the best data points I have.

Do you really think they are paying him that much NOW to be a preeminent power in the SEC AFTER Saban retires? When will that be?

If he wins a single national title, he’s worth every penny of that $100+ million….and then some. If he wins two or more, he’s a bargain. I remember when Saban wasn’t worth $4 million a year….how’d that turn out? Not saying Kelly is Saban, but these salaries are the same proportional drop in the bucket as they were when Saban was first hired at Bama. Everyone has 3x as much money now, so its not a stretch at all for any big school to pay that much. We’re going to have to pay Leach $7-$8 million per year 3 years from now just to keep from being at the bottom of the SEC. Cost of doing business in big time college football.
 

TrueMaroonGrind

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I wouldn't be fired up as an LSU fan. $15 mil a year is ridiculous. Not worth it.

Louisiana children’s hospitals are doing well it seems.

Seriously at some point the bubble has to burst. Idk when or how, but this is crazy. When do we get to the point to stop paying them so much? 20 mill? 30 mill? 50 mill? I thought 10 mill was crazy but that number was left in the dust a while ago.
 

Eleven Bravo

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Way too much money being paid to guys who can’t balance a checkbook. LSU hired Kelly to beat Alabama-if he can’t beat Alabama at least 50% of the time they will fire his ***. They will be looking for his replacement 4 years from now. In the meantime they just keep driving the salaries up on people who have problems spelling on a 5th grade level. They are ruining college football in the process. 17 them…
 

mstateglfr

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Louisiana children’s hospitals are doing well it seems.

Seriously at some point the bubble has to burst. Idk when or how, but this is crazy. When do we get to the point to stop paying them so much? 20 mill? 30 mill? 50 mill? I thought 10 mill was crazy but that number was left in the dust a while ago.

It's shocking how low assistants are paid at many p5 schools when they are making and maintaining connections and developing the players that make the HC successful.
Obviously some of the cash has rolled downhill, but its surprising how wide the divide is.
 

Quincy A. Wagstaff

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If he wins a single national title, he’s worth every penny of that $100+ million….and then some. If he wins two or more, he’s a bargain. I remember when Saban wasn’t worth $4 million a year….how’d that turn out? Not saying Kelly is Saban, but these salaries are the same proportional drop in the bucket as they were when Saban was first hired at Bama. Everyone has 3x as much money now, so its not a stretch at all for any big school to pay that much. We’re going to have to pay Leach $7-$8 million per year 3 years from now just to keep from being at the bottom of the SEC. Cost of doing business in big time college football.

That makes sense if you assume they couldn’t have gotten a coach that would have won as much as Kelly for less money. I’m not convinced of that. If Miles and Orgeron can win titles at LSU so can coaches cheaper than $15m/year.

It’s OK to admit they overpaid. That’s what happens when you are determined to make a splash hire.
 

BigDawg0074

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Yeah, Kelly won't beat Bama, and that's what they hired him to do.

Are you kidding? Coach O did and nearly beat them again this year. Nobody knows what Kelly will do but he’s absolutely as capable as Eddie O.
 

oxfordrebel22

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None of these guys are worth 10 million a year. Just like baseball players are not worth 30 million, basketball players not worth 25 million, etc. Its ridiculous what they get paid

I get what you’re saying, and it does feel absurd sometimes. But if you ran a business and could hire an employee for $200K a year and that employee increased your revenues by $800K, would you not hire them? Even if you felt like $200K was a crazy salary, you’re going to pay it because you’d be crazy not to, when that employee is going to make you an additional $600K over their pay. I mean sure, you could go hire someone for $50K but if they aren’t giving you a similar result, you’re leaving a lot of money on the table.

Now, I do think Kelly’s contract is absurd, and a drastic overpay. But I disagree with the premise that all coaches and big time pro athletes are overpaid. The economic impact and ROI that many of them have is 10-20 times higher than their salary.
 

greenbean.sixpack

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No, you haven’t. Literally no one has accused him of actual murder….because that’s not what happened. By the way, there’s a big 17ing difference between questionable decision making or negligence that may have contributed to a death, and the deliberate and purposeful decision to kill somebody.

Plenty have said he was responsible for killing a kid or sent the kid up there to die, but not used the term "murdered."
 

harrybollocks

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Why are elite colleges able to pay higher salaries to head coaches and position coaches than most professional football teams (and baseball and basketball teams). The NFL is a business that makes money and has a good ROI and gets all sorts of taxpayer benefits. College football teams are much larger, some twice as large, as NFL teams. That's a lot of extra labor to pay for. So why do these college coaches make more money? What's the economic reason for paying college coaches more than NFL coaches? Are universities, and college football, just better run businesses than the NFL?
 
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Coast_Dawg

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I get what you’re saying, and it does feel absurd sometimes. But if you ran a business and could hire an employee for $200K a year and that employee increased your revenues by $800K, would you not hire them? Even if you felt like $200K was a crazy salary, you’re going to pay it because you’d be crazy not to, when that employee is going to make you an additional $600K over their pay. I mean sure, you could go hire someone for $50K but if they aren’t giving you a similar result, you’re leaving a lot of money on the table.

Now, I do think Kelly’s contract is absurd, and a drastic overpay. But I disagree with the premise that all coaches and big time pro athletes are overpaid. The economic impact and ROI that many of them have is 10-20 times higher than their salary.

Isn’t the college sports budget pretty much finite with respect to football? Is he going to sell more tickets? Perhaps the ticket prices could rise? If you say on average he is going to make $5mil per year more than what they would have paid whoever, how are they going to make that unless the TV contract goes up?

And it might when Oklahoma and Texas arrive.

Legitimately asking for you or anyone to explain how they could increase revenue enough to cover the extra price tag.

(Majored in engineering….not business)
 

harrybollocks

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Dude. You gotta read this thread again. Some people on here know exactly what Kelly will do. They can predict the future with 100% accuracy. I just wish they'd give us stock tips and winning lottery numbers while they're at it.
 

maroonmania

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Not good news for MSU. LSU has a real solid coach now. They will be really good under him and will be another very difficult win to get. I wish Coach O could have lasted another year but it wasn’t meant to be.

True, but I'm convinced the LSU culture can corrupt almost anyone.
 

Smoked Toag

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Peter Burns is going to get a lot of responses to this tweet:

Brian Kelly is already the winningest coach at NDHis legacy was secured in South BendWhat's left for a Hall of Fame Coach? To win a titleHe's seen first hand that in order to win a title in today's CFB environment you need a different tier of players.He'll get that at LSU— Peter Burns (@PeterBurnsESPN) November 30, 2021
This is what's wrong with college sports today, no loyalty left. What legacy in South Bend? Losing title games? And now he's walking out on them? That ain't no 17-ing legacy.
 

Dog316

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And Jimbo was a lock to kill it at A&M too. How has that turned out so far? Let's don't over hype our opponents too early.

So true. Having a team filled with four and five star players doesn’t necessarily guarantee that coaches having a championship teams. There are numerous coaches who were successful with three and four star rosters that have been busts with a super talented rosters. Something very different about managing the egos of teams filled with super star talent that causes many otherwise successful coaches to fail. There are numerous examples.
 

Dawgg

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Would take a pretty significant amount of chaos for ND to make it in….and infinitely more for them to win it. Kelly’s no fool and he knows that.

Define significant. They're sitting at #6.
Georgia is probably going to wipe the floor with #4 Alabama, Iowa has a legitimate shot at beating #5 Michigan, Houston has an even more legitimate shot at beating #4 Cincy. Then it comes down to a 1 loss Notre Dame vs a 1 loss OK State (assuming they beat Baylor). If you think ESPN is picking OK State over Notre Dame, Texas A&M would like to see your math.
 

harrybollocks

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You don't have to pay employees, players, and their benefits that normal workers get. Taxpayers cover that. That's not the case in professional leagues which is why a lot of NFL players make more than coaches and even the league minimum puts you in the top 5% in America. A lot of people who pay for the product, such as students who pay athletic program fees, don't actually use the product they are forced to pay for (universities also hide ways to funnel money to athletic programs). Universities avoid a lot of taxes (no property taxes, for instance. tax-exempt amateur athletic foundations are non-profits like charities and those charities build some pretty awesome facilities for players they don't have to pay wages and salaries to). The NCAA is a tax-exempt organization. Some football programs do make a lot of money as well. Guys like sports and rich guys love to donate to athletic programs and hang out with players, coaches and get invited to university functions. BTW, it's not just coaches making cash. You can get rich at a non-profit and at a university and enjoy a great retirement (I do appreciate and thank the taxpayers for my personal, material well-being). The IRS allows this and smart people know how to take advantage of it. Private industry isn't always better. Just don't be some angry, theoretically-driven English prof. (Engineering profs do well, btw.) College players don't seem to mind this system. They seem cool with a scholarship, some other freebies, nice facilities and access to coeds. I do like the fact that universities now have tutoring centers and academic support for athletes and genuinely try to help them get a degree. That wasn't always the case.
 

Go Budaw

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Plenty have said he was responsible for killing a kid or sent the kid up there to die, but not used the term "murdered."

Maybe so. But that’s an important distinction. Do you think the plant manager at a facility that has a workplace fatality should be charged with murder?

And, it’s also a false statement to even say Kelly had anything to do with it. The videographer who was killed was working for the university video director (a guy not named Brian Kelly). He was on a piece of equipment that was not rated for use above 25 mph, and it was up there in 35-40 mph gusts. There were 6 different OSHA violations uncovered as a result of the death. That’s an institutional failure on behalf of the university and their safety management protocols. Who is their OSHA compliance lead? I’ll give you a hint, its not the 17ing football coach.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/news/story?id=6219373
 

Go Budaw

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That makes sense if you assume they couldn’t have gotten a coach that would have won as much as Kelly for less money. I’m not convinced of that. If Miles and Orgeron can win titles at LSU so can coaches cheaper than $15m/year.

It’s OK to admit they overpaid. That’s what happens when you are determined to make a splash hire.

They are paying for certainty. That’s what you get when you “overpay”, which means you aren’t overpaying at all. Name another coach on the market that would have provided the same level of certainty to not fall flat on their face? You can’t.

Orgeron and Miles weren’t awful coaches, they were simply average guys that could keep the lockerroom culture and surround themselves with good assistants. That led to short to intermediate term success for each. Believe it or not, there wasn’t another guy out there that was even guaranteed to be as good as those two, besides Kelly who was many magnitudes above them. The only other options were Riley and Napier who were already snapped up. Everyone else out there carries huge risk.
 

greenbean.sixpack

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Maybe so. But that’s an important distinction. Do you think the plant manager at a facility that has a workplace fatality should be charged with murder?

And, it’s also a false statement to even say Kelly had anything to do with it. The videographer who was killed was working for the university video director (a guy not named Brian Kelly). He was on a piece of equipment that was not rated for use above 25 mph, and it was up there in 35-40 mph gusts. There were 6 different OSHA violations uncovered as a result of the death. That’s an institutional failure on behalf of the university and their safety management protocols. Who is their OSHA compliance lead? I’ll give you a hint, its not the 17ing football coach.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/news/story?id=6219373

I agree with you! Was the settlement his family got released? I'm assuming 10s of millions?
 

1984Dawg

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More volatility and ability to make an impact in college. Recruiting vs draft. Developing raw talent vs marginal gains with professionals. Competing with other schools for fans and students vs a relatively captive audience in the NFL. And college is not a cartel like the NFL, so there is a lot more to lose.
 

Go Budaw

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Define significant. They're sitting at #6.
Georgia is probably going to wipe the floor with #4 Alabama, Iowa has a legitimate shot at beating #5 Michigan, Houston has an even more legitimate shot at beating #4 Cincy. Then it comes down to a 1 loss Notre Dame vs a 1 loss OK State (assuming they beat Baylor). If you think ESPN is picking OK State over Notre Dame, Texas A&M would like to see your math.

Georgia wiping the floor with Bama? I doubt it. Georgia has played the weakest schedule in the SEC by a lot, and has no signature wins. If Bama and UGA is a close game either way, there’s a pretty damn good chance that both are in the CFP. If either blows out the other, you can argue that the loser should not be in the CFP. Oklahoma State has probably the strongest chance of losing out of anyone, we’ll see what they do. Its tough to put ND in over Cincy even if they lose to Houston, because Cincy holds the head to head and ND doesn’t really have any big wins either.

A one loss OSU, one loss Michigan, an SECCG loser if its a close game, Cincinnati in any case, and obviously the SECCG winner are all going to be taken over ND. They either need both Michigan and Oklahoma State to lose, or they need a blowout in the SEC championship combined with a Michigan loss or an Oklahoma State loss. Or both. None of those possibilities seems likely to me, so that’s my definition of “significant” chaos.

All of that doesn’t even really address that ND is rocking a trio of 3-point wins over Virginia Tech, FSU, and Toledo, and their best win is over 8-4 Wisconsin. Their resume is crap compared to the other top teams.
 
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Go Budaw

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I agree with you! Was the settlement his family got released? I'm assuming 10s of millions?

Not that I saw. OSHA fines were almost $80,000, which is quite substantial in terms of OSHA fines. I’ve seen cases where deaths and dismemberments in manufacturing have gotten fines of only $10-$15k. But yeah, I’m sure there was some settlement.
 

Dawgg

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Georgia wiping the floor with Bama? I doubt it. Georgia has played the weakest schedule in the SEC by a lot, and has no signature wins. If Bama and UGA is a close game either way, there’s a pretty damn good chance that both are in the CFP. If either blows out the other, you can argue that the loser should not be in the CFP. Oklahoma State has probably the strongest chance of losing out of anyone, we’ll see what they do. Its tough to put ND in over Cincy even if they lose to Houston, because Cincy holds the head to head and ND doesn’t really have any big wins either.

A one loss OSU, one loss Michigan, an SECCG loser if its a close game, Cincinnati in any case, and obviously the SECCG winner are all going to be taken over ND. They either need both Michigan and Oklahoma State to lose, or they need a blowout in the SEC championship combined with a Michigan loss or an Oklahoma State loss. Or both. None of those possibilities seems likely to me, so that’s my definition of “significant” chaos.

All of that doesn’t even really address that ND is rocking a trio of 3-point wins over Virginia Tech, FSU, and Toledo, and their best win is over 8-4 Wisconsin. Their resume is crap compared to the other top teams.

The only way we get two SEC teams in the CFP this year is a narrow Alabama win. Full Stop. They are not going to put in a 2 loss non-champion in over a 1 loss Notre Dame. Even if Georgia wins by just 2 points in 10 OT, Alabama is out.

Georgia has 3 wins over CFP currently ranked teams (Clemson, Arkansas, and assumedly Kentucky will be ranked tonight). Hard to call that a weak schedule. Now, they've found a way to lose to Alabama before, but this year's Georgia team just feels different.

If ND's schedule is dog food, Cincy's is dog ****, regardless of the head to head win over ND. The committee has repeatedly shown that late wins/losses > early wins/losses, so a Week 14 loss to Houston is going to weigh a lot heavier than a win over ND in Week 5. Plus, the committee would love any reason to keep Cincy out.

So it's literally down to one (not all) of three things happening to get ND into the playoff:
Georgia beats Bama
Houston beats Cincinnati
Iowa beats Michigan

Baylor beating Oklahoma State would be a bonus to secure it, but I don't think it's necessary. Oklahoma State has to stop losing to Iowa State in years where they have National Championship potential. It's happened to them twice now.
 

oxfordrebel22

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Isn’t the college sports budget pretty much finite with respect to football? Is he going to sell more tickets? Perhaps the ticket prices could rise? If you say on average he is going to make $5mil per year more than what they would have paid whoever, how are they going to make that unless the TV contract goes up?

And it might when Oklahoma and Texas arrive.

Legitimately asking for you or anyone to explain how they could increase revenue enough to cover the extra price tag.

(Majored in engineering….not business)

I think the impact a really good coach, that’s winning and creating a buzz, has on a university and its community is immeasurable. I think Leach and Kiffin are literally driving tens of millions in economic impact in Starkville and Oxford right now. I’m no expert but here’s a few thoughts I have as to why:

- study after study shows a direct correlation to increases in enrollment when the college football program is winning. That is huge. It’s obviously more students and tuition, who become alumni and possibly support the university for life. But they also live in the town 2-5 years and pay rent and spend money, etc.


- athletic donations go up dramatically when the team is winning; particularly from the big money people who get sucked up into the excitement and want to be close to this thing that’s creating so much buzz and positive excitement and is getting national attention. I’d about guarantee that the vast majority of these big salaries have been guaranteed by big money boosters, privately, who are frustrated with losing and/or where they’re at. I mean it’s how Ole Miss wound up with Kiffin. The piss and Miss embarrassed the big money so much they paid Luke’s buyout that day. He was sent out recruiting and then get fired.. it was obvious.

The media around LSU and Florida both have stated in last couple weeks that the message they got out of the Athletic Dept’s was that it wasn’t about spending big to win. It’s that the simply cannot afford to continue to lose. It’s catastrophic.

- then you start factoring in the local economic impact and it’s gigantic.. you start talking about 100K people in Starkville and Oxford on big game weekends. And you have a lot more big games when you’re good. Those communities not only survive off of the football games, but when the teams are good and exciting they THRIVE. And that money flows back big time. Heck, the Texas A&M weekend, the COVER CHARGE to get in The Library was $160 and it was lined around the block. It’s ridiculous, yes, but hell people paid it. They get caught up in the excitement. They book $500 hotels. They order extra drinks. They but extra shirts at the local stores. They order the appetizers for the table.

- and I know in Oxford - and I’d assume it’s the same in Starkville and other college towns - that the price of real estate skyrockets when the program is good or on an upward trajectory. Real estate prices went up like 30-40% during Eli’s time at Ole Miss.

I’ve heard 3 separate people, not affiliated, that cover Ole Miss (one was Yancy, in full transparency and honesty) say that local business owners have estimated that Arch Manning signing with Ole Miss would have a billion dollar (with a B) impact on the Oxford area across his 4 years. That seems extreme to me, I’ll admit, but I can see how it would have a monster impact. In the same way that if Dak Jr. is the #1 QB in his class in 18-19 years and signs with MSU.

- and of course when you have a packed stadium and excitement, ticket prices go up, concessions go up, beer sales, merchandise, parking.. on and on and on.

You get the point, but the gist is, football drives a LOT of things around it’s respective universities. And with the SEC TV money coming in, and the price of winning going up, nobody wants to be left behind over a couple million dollars. I mean look at where Vandy is at right now… it feels almost helpless. They won 9 games 3 years in a row, not that long ago. MSU just fired a coach with back to back bowl seasons who won both Egg Bowl’s. The fear of losing is EXPENSIVE right now.
 

tacodawg

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Dude. You gotta read this thread again. Some people on here know exactly what Kelly will do. They can predict the future with 100% accuracy. I just wish they'd give us stock tips and winning lottery numbers while they're at it.

You do know part of the fun with sports is talking **** as if anyone knows anything, right?
 

Coast_Dawg

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I think the impact a really good coach, that’s winning and creating a buzz, has on a university and its community is immeasurable. I think Leach and Kiffin are literally driving tens of millions in economic impact in Starkville and Oxford right now. I’m no expert but here’s a few thoughts I have as to why:

- study after study shows a direct correlation to increases in enrollment when the college football program is winning. That is huge. It’s obviously more students and tuition, who become alumni and possibly support the university for life. But they also live in the town 2-5 years and pay rent and spend money, etc.


- athletic donations go up dramatically when the team is winning; particularly from the big money people who get sucked up into the excitement and want to be close to this thing that’s creating so much buzz and positive excitement and is getting national attention. I’d about guarantee that the vast majority of these big salaries have been guaranteed by big money boosters, privately, who are frustrated with losing and/or where they’re at. I mean it’s how Ole Miss wound up with Kiffin. The piss and Miss embarrassed the big money so much they paid Luke’s buyout that day. He was sent out recruiting and then get fired.. it was obvious.

The media around LSU and Florida both have stated in last couple weeks that the message they got out of the Athletic Dept’s was that it wasn’t about spending big to win. It’s that the simply cannot afford to continue to lose. It’s catastrophic.

- then you start factoring in the local economic impact and it’s gigantic.. you start talking about 100K people in Starkville and Oxford on big game weekends. And you have a lot more big games when you’re good. Those communities not only survive off of the football games, but when the teams are good and exciting they THRIVE. And that money flows back big time. Heck, the Texas A&M weekend, the COVER CHARGE to get in The Library was $160 and it was lined around the block. It’s ridiculous, yes, but hell people paid it. They get caught up in the excitement. They book $500 hotels. They order extra drinks. They but extra shirts at the local stores. They order the appetizers for the table.

- and I know in Oxford - and I’d assume it’s the same in Starkville and other college towns - that the price of real estate skyrockets when the program is good or on an upward trajectory. Real estate prices went up like 30-40% during Eli’s time at Ole Miss.

I’ve heard 3 separate people, not affiliated, that cover Ole Miss (one was Yancy, in full transparency and honesty) say that local business owners have estimated that Arch Manning signing with Ole Miss would have a billion dollar (with a B) impact on the Oxford area across his 4 years. That seems extreme to me, I’ll admit, but I can see how it would have a monster impact. In the same way that if Dak Jr. is the #1 QB in his class in 18-19 years and signs with MSU.

- and of course when you have a packed stadium and excitement, ticket prices go up, concessions go up, beer sales, merchandise, parking.. on and on and on.

You get the point, but the gist is, football drives a LOT of things around it’s respective universities. And with the SEC TV money coming in, and the price of winning going up, nobody wants to be left behind over a couple million dollars. I mean look at where Vandy is at right now… it feels almost helpless. They won 9 games 3 years in a row, not that long ago. MSU just fired a coach with back to back bowl seasons who won both Egg Bowl’s. The fear of losing is EXPENSIVE right now.

So it’s basically the donations going back into the school from private donors. Thanks for explaining. I too often overlook that aspect.
 

harrybollocks

New member
Oct 11, 2012
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All good points. Incentives are in place that enable college coaches at major schools to make much more than pro-coaches. Athletic departments don't face the same liabilities in their operating budgets that private businesses have to consider. It's not that they have all have unlimited funds but there are enormous funds available especially from donors. Kelly at LSU will likely earn a salary of around $400,000 from the state. The rest is coming from the Tiger Athletic Foundation.
 

Go Budaw

Member
Aug 22, 2012
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The only way we get two SEC teams in the CFP this year is a narrow Alabama win. Full Stop. They are not going to put in a 2 loss non-champion in over a 1 loss Notre Dame. Even if Georgia wins by just 2 points in 10 OT, Alabama is out.

So if Bama beats UGA by 14 points, UGA is out of the playoff? ??? No….just no.
And you can’t hold Alabama being a non-champion up against ND as a disadvantage, when ND doesn’t even play in a conference. Facts are that Alabama’s best win over CFP #8 Ole Miss, along with playing a schedule against 9 SEC bowl teams far outweighs the one additional loss when compared to ND’s crap schedule with their best win being over an 8-4 team. And Alabama would skull17 ND on a neutral field, which matters.

Georgia has 3 wins over CFP currently ranked teams (Clemson, Arkansas, and assumedly Kentucky will be ranked tonight). Hard to call that a weak schedule. Now, they've found a way to lose to Alabama before, but this year's Georgia team just feels different.

Guess who else has 3 wins over CFP Top 25 teams? That would be Mississippi State. And our best win (#18 NC State) is two spots better than UGA’s best win. That’s right….as of right now a 7-5 team from the West has the same number of quality wins and better wins than the #1 CFP team. So yeah, as far as SEC teams go, I’d call that a very weak schedule. Not exactly UGA’s fault, just is what it is.

If ND's schedule is dog food, Cincy's is dog ****, regardless of the head to head win over ND. The committee has repeatedly shown that late wins/losses > early wins/losses, so a Week 14 loss to Houston is going to weigh a lot heavier than a win over ND in Week 5. Plus, the committee would love any reason to keep Cincy out.

The committee has not repeatedly shown that. They generally weigh the games equally. Later games on conference championship weekend are quite often the needle movers because they feature games against top quality competition, but they don’t count any more than they would have in the regular season. ND’s resume doesn’t hold up to Cincy’s with the head to head loss because they have no signature win to trump it. They beat an 8-4 Wisconsin and a bunch of 6-6 teams from non-SEC Power 5 conferences.. It just doesn’t hold up.

So it's literally down to one (not all) of three things happening to get ND into the playoff:
Georgia beats Bama
Houston beats Cincinnati
Iowa beats Michigan

Baylor beating Oklahoma State would be a bonus to secure it, but I don't think it's necessary. Oklahoma State has to stop losing to Iowa State in years where they have National Championship potential. It's happened to them twice now.

You are greatly discounting Oklahoma State’s resume. They’d be 12-1 with three wins over CFP top 14 teams with the Baylor win. Zero chance that ND gets taken over them if they beat Baylor. Simply put, at least 2 and probably 3 games need to go ND’s way.
 
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