Mike Leach Speaks Out

[SaintLouisVol]

Lulz…if the 2020 season taught us anything, it’s that CFB can survive with minimal fan support as long as those TV dollars keep rolling in.

Do you not qualify watching the game on television as "fan support?" Do you think those television networks would continue to pay the NCAA and conferences to televise games that no one is watching?

 

[Lawrence Wright]

Do you not qualify watching the game on television as "fan support?" Do you think those television networks would continue to pay the NCAA and conferences to televise games that no one is watching?

Allow me to clarify…the 2020 season taught us minimal fan support watching games in the stadium didn’t matter as long as the TV dollars kept rolling in.

That revenue stream didn’t exist at this magnitude 10 years ago. $45M per school annually under the current TV deal. The upcoming ESPN deal is even more lucrative.

Coaches are earning upwards of $7-10M/year on the high end.

So I’m not going to drag some kid with a legit shot of being drafted for skipping a bowl game so he can focus on his professional career.

 

[SaintLouisVol]

Allow me to clarify…the 2020 season taught us minimal fan support watching games in the stadium didn’t matter as long as the TV dollars kept rolling in.

That revenue stream didn’t exist at this magnitude 10 years ago. $45M per school annually under the current TV deal. The upcoming ESPN deal is even more lucrative.

Coaches are earning upwards of $7-10M on the high end.

So I’m not going to drag some kid with a legit shot of being drafted for skipping a bowl game so he can focus on his professional career.

I agree regarding those who do not wish to play in a bowl game. I understand both points of view, but I was never forced to make such a choice, so I am not going to judge them for the one they made.

 

[05_never_again]

Playing South Alabama had virtually no meaning and the risk of injury was the same as any game. Why not opt out of that game too?

Reaction from teammates, most likely. The bowl game is the very last game of the season, and a lot of your teammates view it the same way you do (i.e., as a quasi-exhibition game). It'd be more awkward to opt out of a creampuff regular season game, then come right back the next week.

 

[Lawrence Wright]

I agree regarding those who do not wish to play in a bowl game. I understand both points of view, but I was never forced to make such a choice, so I am not going to judge them for the one they made.

I understand both points of view as well.

As a fan I want to see my team win, but everything isn’t about what I want.

Whatever joy or goodwill a Gasparilla/Music City/Duke’s Mayo/Cheez-It Bowl trophy provides isn’t nearly as important to me as players looking out for their future.

 

[Lawrence Wright]

Reaction from teammates, most likely. The bowl game is the very last game of the season, and a lot of your teammates view it the same way you do (i.e., as a quasi-exhibition game). It'd be more awkward to opt out of a creampuff regular season game, then come right back the next week.

The attempts to equate a regular season game to a bowl game are interesting to say the least.

 

[05_never_again]

The attempts to equate a regular season game to a bowl game are interesting to say the least.

Yep. Non-CFP/BCS bowl games, even before it became really common to opt out of them, have always operated in this gray area as far as their value. They didn't even start counting towards your official NCAA career stats until 2002.

Rightly or wrongly, there absolutely has been a cultural change relative to how players view bowl games. That's just a fact. Whether or not you think it's good, bad, or indifferent is a matter of opinion.

Personally I understand both points of view and do not have a strong feeling either way. Guys have been able to make life-changing money in the NFL for many, many years now, so honestly I'm kind of surprised mass opt-outs haven't started earlier than they did. Especially when the bowl schedule started swelling up to 30-40 bowl games.

 

[Chattanooga Butchslappers]

Allow me to clarify…the 2020 season taught us minimal fan support watching games in the stadium didn’t matter as long as the TV dollars kept rolling in.

That revenue stream didn’t exist at this magnitude 10 years ago. $45M per school annually under the current TV deal. The upcoming ESPN deal is even more lucrative.

Coaches are earning upwards of $7-10M/year on the high end.

So I’m not going to drag some kid with a legit shot of being drafted for skipping a bowl game so he can focus on his professional career.

I’m not particularly taking a side in the initial right-wrong of opting out right here…….but you are correct, no in-person fans needed to keep revenue streams flowing…..that TV money is what’s funding posh facilities and coach salaries.

And you’re right, that comes from networks who predominantly make money off of advertising. But, decrease eyeballs on the TV, add shares fall, revenue paid to the conference/school diminishes……..so indirectly fans are responsible for the revenue stream right?

If 50% of college football fans permanently turned off the TV……before too long those viewership numbers decline and, when published, advertising drops off and the network payouts/forthcoming contracts dry up.

Not claiming the right to judge a kids intentions or decisions, but fans en mass definitely feed the revenue stream indirectly

 

[Lawrence Wright]

I’m not particularly taking a side in the initial right-wrong of opting out right here…….but you are correct, no in-person fans needed to keep revenue streams flowing…..that TV money is what’s funding posh facilities and coach salaries.

And you’re right, that comes from networks who predominantly make money off of advertising. But, decrease eyeballs on the TV, add shares fall, revenue paid to the conference/school diminishes……..so indirectly fans are responsible for the revenue stream right?

If 50% of college football fans permanently turned off the TV……before too long those viewership numbers decline and, when published, advertising drops off and the network payouts/forthcoming contracts dry up.

Not claiming the right to judge a kids intentions or decisions, but fans en mass definitely feed the revenue stream indirectly

The vocal minority of fans threatening to stop watching CFB because of NIL, players having more power/freedom, or coaches “making too much money” are more than welcome to stop watching.

I seriously question if their absence will make a dent in the economics.

 

[DeepSpringsVol]

I personally agree with Leach. If we are getting to the point that non playoff bowls matter. And the top line players dont want to play then we need to judt have more games similar to senior bowl where regardless of class you get invited. So perhaps Freshmen and sophomores and juniors that dont get to go to the playoff get invited. Heck transfer portal entries could be eligible and it would give alot of coaches opportunity to see them in practices and with other players and maybe they show something that didn't show up when with their past team based off coaching or restrictions of gameplans, or lack of talent around them etc...

I love bowl games but if the better crop of players are opting out from our team I prefer they not go out there and be judged off losing a bowl game that 10 years from now people won't remember we list because 4 guys sat qaiting for NFL draft.

 

[GetYouSomeofThat]

The schools shouldn't accept the bowl money if that's gonna be the attitude. Watered down products suck and CFB is now just another form of entertainment. The money is better spent on reruns of Saved By The Bell.

CFB has always been another form of entertainment. That's why they sell tickets

 

[05_never_again]

The vocal minority of fans threatening to stop watching CFB because of NIL, players having more power/freedom, or coaches “making too much money” are more than welcome to stop watching.

I seriously question if their absence will make a dent in the economics.

Oddly enough, there seems to be a direct correlation between belief in coaches making "too much money" and getting mad at your school for "not paying up for a big name coach." Coaches make "too much money"...unless he's your coach and winning a bunch of games.

I think the group of fans that hate NIL, players opting out, coaches making a lot of money, etc. do not hate those things out of principle but think that, for whatever reason, their school will be on the wrong side of those changes. Usually because their team is currently struggling.

I don't know the temperature of other fanbases like I do Tennessee's, but Tennessee's fanbase seems to be more critical of these new changes in the game than fanbases like Alabama, Ohio St, etc. Are there Alabama fans saying they are going to stop watching college football because Quinn Ewers got paid $1m? All this "the game as we know it is ending" stuff comes from fans of programs who are currently struggling.

 

[ZZ13]

I didn’t go through the graduation ceremony. I thought it was silly and a waste of time. You just get a rolled up blank sheet of paper. Plus I didn’t want to sprain my ankle on the stage steps. I just headed to my new job with IBM right after classes ended. Of course to this day my mom is really angry about my decision then.

 

[Lawrence Wright]

Oddly enough, there seems to be a direct correlation between belief in coaches making "too much money" and getting mad at your school for "not paying up for a big name coach." Coaches make "too much money"...unless he's your coach and winning a bunch of games.

I think the group of fans that hate NIL, players opting out, coaches making a lot of money, etc. do not hate those things out of principle but think that, for whatever reason, their school will be on the wrong side of those changes. Usually because their team is currently struggling.

I don't know the temperature of other fanbases like I do Tennessee's, but Tennessee's fanbase seems to be more critical of these new changes in the game than fanbases like Alabama, Ohio St, etc. Are there Alabama fans saying they are going to stop watching college football because Quinn Ewers got paid $1m? All this "the game as we know it is ending" stuff comes from fans of programs who are currently struggling.

Oh the paradox is real…it’s not uncommon to find someone posting about the ills of socialism in the Political form, yet complain about NIL and coaches’ salaries in the Sports forum.

 

[05_never_again]

Oh the paradox is real…it’s not uncommon to find someone posting about the ills of socialism in the Political form, yet complain about NIL and coaches’ salaries in the Sports forum.

Yes. The crowd complaining about NIL (and college football fans generally) I would imagine is quite conservative politically. Usually, they have no problem with people making money.

 

[rjd970]

By all means, lay out $350k in education costs then.

Why just education costs for the student athlete? Better/more nutritional food, world class training facilities and personnel, etc.

Obviously the exact number will be different depending on the school. Why use Miss St? Why not Harvard, or Stanford, or ND?

But this is why typical message board arguments delve into absolute stupidity and idiocy. People want to argue some part of a post instead of actually addressing the point being made. Even if it were $10K or whatever, the point he is addressing is the scholarship athlete is getting benefits in a way that other students/people are not, even those on full rides.

I’m not saying I necessarily agree with him, but I would address the point being made as opposed to some other detail that was just thrown out to make a point.

 

[MiramarVol]

Leach bailed on Washington St for Mississippi St, give me a break.

Obviously doesn't apply to coaches chasing checks.

 

[rjd970]

Oh the paradox is real…it’s not uncommon to find someone posting about the ills of socialism in the Political form, yet complain about NIL and coaches’ salaries in the Sports forum.

Eh, political ideology is not even the same thing as sports.

 

[Lawrence Wright]

Eh, political ideology is not even the same thing as sports.

Capitalism and socialism are more economic systems than ideologies.

My point remains…if you hate socialism, yet have a problem with an individual legally maximizing their earning potential, that’s quite the contradiction.

 

[Lawrence Wright]

Why just education costs for the student athlete? Better/more nutritional food, world class training facilities and personnel, etc.

Obviously the exact number will be different depending on the school. Why use Miss St? Why not Harvard, or Stanford, or ND?

But this is why typical message board arguments delve into absolute stupidity and idiocy. People want to argue some part of a post instead of actually addressing the point being made. Even if it were $10K or whatever, the point he is addressing is the scholarship athlete is getting benefits in a way that other students/people are not, even those on full rides.

I’m not saying I necessarily agree with him, but I would address the point being made as opposed to some other detail that was just thrown out to make a point.

Those other students aren’t generating hundreds of millions of dollars during their time at the university.

 

[rjd970]

Those other student athletes aren’t generating hundreds of millions of dollars during their time at the university.

I agree.

 

[rjd970]

Capitalism and socialism are more economic systems than ideologies.

My point remains…if you hate socialism, yet have a problem with an individual legally maximizing their earning potential, that’s quite the contradiction.

I think the problem most have is it was always against the rules of the SPORT before this season.

I personally have no problem with it.

 

[05_never_again]

Capitalism and socialism are more economic systems than ideologies.

My point remains…if you hate socialism, yet have a problem with an individual legally maximizing their earning potential, that’s quite the contradiction.

Their opposition does make sense though, if you look at it through the lens of their conservatism generally, meaning they don't like things to change.

NIL, players transferring, etc. make college sports more closely resemble professional sports, and a big reason why many college football fans like college football is because "they are college kids playing for the love of the game." It interferes with the quaint idea many people still have about college football, even though the days where guys were predominately playing "for the love of their school/the game" probably ended in the 70s at the latest.

You can have every game on TV, 100k-seat stadiums, and apparel/gear galore...or you can have the game be "quaint." You can't have both. If you want the game to be quaint, then the sport would have to go back to something more closely resembling intramurals or club sports...basically, what the sport was in the 1930s.

The argument that the sport can generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, and coaches/admin people can make millions from it and leave whenever they want, but players cannot make anything and cannot leave is kind of untenable at this point. It simply generates too much money, and when any enterprise generates the amount of cash college athletics does, then it is going to become more about the money. We all play our own little role in it as followers of the sport.

 

[Lawrence Wright]

Their opposition does make sense though, if you look at it through the lens of their conservatism generally, meaning they don't like things to change.

NIL, players transferring, etc. make college sports more closely resemble professional sports, and a big reason why many college football fans like college football is because "they are college kids playing for the love of the game." It interferes with the quaint idea many people still have about college football, even though the days where guys were predominately playing "for the love of their school/the game" probably ended in the 70s at the latest.

You can have every game on TV, 100k-seat stadiums, and apparel/gear galore...or you can have the game be "quaint." You can't have both. If you want the game to be quaint, then the sport would have to go back to something more closely resembling intramurals or club sports...basically, what the sport was in the 1930s.

The argument that the sport can generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, and coaches/admin people can make millions from it and leave whenever they want, but players cannot make anything and cannot leave is kind of untenable at this point. It simply generates too much money, and when any enterprise generates the amount of cash college athletics does, then it is going to become more about the money. We all play our own little role in it as followers of the sport.

Quality post.

 

[Lawrence Wright]

I think the problem most have is it was always against the rules of the SPORT before this season.

I personally have no problem with it.

Rules change as times change.