Chad Bowden to USC

[IrishLax]

Here is what I heard from the USC side of things, one my friends from HS was president of their San Fran alumni club and is in general quite plugged in to stuff. I don't know how much of this is true or may have changed over the past two days but this is what he texted me:

-Bowden's only reservation in taking the job was Lincoln Riley. Apparently he has a very low opinion of his competence as a coach / culture guy and this is a belief shared by a lot of people at USC (and also coaches at ND and throughout the Big Ten). Basically everyone who knows anything about Riley or has seen him first hand thinks he sucks but USC is not going to cut bait on that big contract until they absolutely have to.

-Accordingly, it was important to Bowen that he not report to Riley and his position be independent of whoever the HC is. I don't know if that's how the org chart is ultimately structured but apparently even if Riley gets canned next year that wouldn't affect Bowden. He had no other reservations in taking the USC job and is confident that he can get the team turned around is ~1-2 years regardless of the coach.

-The big money spent on Bowden is because they want to task him 100% with both funding and roster construction ... like a true professional sports GM ... and that's somewhat unique. It's also a far cry from the level of control he had at ND. And one ND guy I know said that he has a family connection to the USC AD and it tracks that he'd be given this kind of sweetheart deal if the AD wants to hedge against Riley failing.

-According to him, Bowden has a ton of friction with ND and was sick of feeling hamstrung by lackluster NIL, annoying admissions/transfer restrictions, etc. USC has promised him they will get anyone into school he wants at any time and he will have "unlimited" NIL. The AD wants to compete directly with Oregon in terms of aggressive pay-for-play because there is bad blood with that school and donors at USC are sick of Oregon taking some many California players simply because they pay more. My note -- if you look at the guys over the past two years that they had "locked up" and then lost out because of not being able to commit the $$ of other schools, it is quite understandable why he might feel that way.

Overall, I think this is a big loss for ND, but I also think the more alarming thing is that ND is clearly not all in on pay-for-play like Ohio State, Oregon, Miami, Michigan, etc. It seems like they are positioning to pay full freight with the upcoming "revenue sharing" and are not going to push the envelope with NIL to HS players from 3rd party sources to go above and beyond the revenue sharing. I would be very concerned if I was an ND fan about us not being "with the times"... with that being said, there was a 0.0% chance we would pay Bowden what USC is and I also think while he may be the next Vinny Cerato there is equal chance that this whole thing combusts. Everything that I have heard about Bowden from ND people is that he was very well liked, a great recruiter, brought a ton of energy but was not very professional at times.

 

[IrishTusker]

How can a GM in college be worth that much money? Spend it on something else. I thought college HCs are like NFL HCs + GMs in terms of their role. That is, shouldn't the HC/assistant coaches be the one constructing the roster?

And if Bowden wants to be an NFL GM (which I have read) he probably needs to go up through an NFL organization first. I don't think being a "college GM" sets someone up for NFL job. College GM is a job that was invented like a year ago.

As for ND not being "all in" on NIL, I don't know enough to comment other than to say that ND has tons of money and rich alums/fans. So it's time to pay up. But I don't think ND would ever try to break the rules assuming a "salary cap" comes in. But we'll hit the cap like Bevacqua said.

 

[Katzenboyer]

Great info. Thanks LAX.

Only thing I’d say is that I really, truly just do not feel like ND won’t “be with the times.” I trust Freeman to know what that means and direct the program in the “right way,” and I trust that ND admin trusts MF enough to make sure they get there.

 

[calvegas04]

Hope the new "GM" isn't a fan of the whole dressing up in costumes thing. Was pretty funny/cool at first but seems corny now.

 

[MPClinton22]

I do hope this means some of the cringier recruiting shticks fall by the wayside. That would be one good outcome of this

 

[EvilleIrish]

Here is what I heard from the USC side of things, one my friends from HS was president of their San Fran alumni club and is in general quite plugged in to stuff. I don't know how much of this is true or may have changed over the past two days but this is what he texted me:

-Bowden's only reservation in taking the job was Lincoln Riley. Apparently he has a very low opinion of his competence as a coach / culture guy and this is a belief shared by a lot of people at USC (and also coaches at ND and throughout the Big Ten). Basically everyone who knows anything about Riley or has seen him first hand thinks he sucks but USC is not going to cut bait on that big contract until they absolutely have to.

-Accordingly, it was important to Bowen that he not report to Riley and his position be independent of whoever the HC is. I don't know if that's how the org chart is ultimately structured but apparently even if Riley gets canned next year that wouldn't affect Bowden. He had no other reservations in taking the USC job and is confident that he can get the team turned around is ~1-2 years regardless of the coach.

-The big money spent on Bowden is because they want to task him 100% with both funding and roster construction ... like a true professional sports GM ... and that's somewhat unique. It's also a far cry from the level of control he had at ND. And one ND guy I know said that he has a family connection to the USC AD and it tracks that he'd be given this kind of sweetheart deal if the AD wants to hedge against Riley failing.

-According to him, Bowden has a ton of friction with ND and was sick of feeling hamstrung by lackluster NIL, annoying admissions/transfer restrictions, etc. USC has promised him they will get anyone into school he wants at any time and he will have "unlimited" NIL. The AD wants to compete directly with Oregon in terms of aggressive pay-for-play because there is bad blood with that school and donors at USC are sick of Oregon taking some many California players simply because they pay more. My note -- if you look at the guys over the past two years that they had "locked up" and then lost out because of not being able to commit the $$ of other schools, it is quite understandable why he might feel that way.

Overall, I think this is a big loss for ND, but I also think the more alarming thing is that ND is clearly not all in on pay-for-play like Ohio State, Oregon, Miami, Michigan, etc. It seems like they are positioning to pay full freight with the upcoming "revenue sharing" and are not going to push the envelope with NIL to HS players from 3rd party sources to go above and beyond the revenue sharing. I would be very concerned if I was an ND fan about us not being "with the times"... with that being said, there was a 0.0% chance we would pay Bowden what USC is and I also think while he may be the next Vinny Cerato there is equal chance that this whole thing combusts. Everything that I have heard about Bowden from ND people is that he was very well liked, a great recruiter, brought a ton of energy but was not very professional at times.

Thanks for the insight. It’s weird to me how many different reports you hear of ND and how committed to NIL the school is. Some neat guys say they’re all in and then suggest the opposite.

 

[Giddyup]

That sure is like a dissertation. Don’t think Bowden is worth the read. Get the rb’s coaches son to take over

 

[rtrn2glory]

I'm very interested in how the hell they are going to make it work where he doesn't have to report to the head football coach.. Very interesting

 

[calvegas04]

I'm very interested in how the hell they are going to make it work where he doesn't have to report to the head football coach.. Very interesting

Hey HC here is your roster, good luck with no DTs

 

[IrishLax]

How can a GM in college be worth that much money? Spend it on something else. I thought college HCs are like NFL HCs + GMs. Shouldn't the coach be the one constructing the roster?

And if Bowden wants to be an NFL GM, he probably needs to go up through an organization first. I don't think being a "college GM" sets someone up for NFL job.

As for ND not being "all in" on NIL, I don't know enough to comment other than to say that ND has tons of money and rich alums/fans. So it's time to pay up. But I don't think ND would ever try to break the rules assuming a "salary cap" comes in. But we'll hit the cap like Bevacqua said.

They're not. There's industry reporting that it's sending shockwaves where other "GMs" are asking for massive raises at their schools and being told "lol no way". USC did not effectively negotiate here, they are overpaying because they want to take roster construction out of Riley's hands because he is failing catastrophically in some areas. The $$ doesn't matter when it's just considered a rounding error on the overall NIL commitment they're preparing to make going forward.

 

[Giddyup]

I’m just gonna post this IE ad to represent our GM position. A lot of great minds will want to hit our ND GM position

 

[Dale]

I think Bowden is a better fit at USC

 

[NorthDakota]

How can a GM in college be worth that much money? Spend it on something else. I thought college HCs are like NFL HCs + GMs in terms of their role. That is, shouldn't the HC/assistant coaches be the one constructing the roster?

And if Bowden wants to be an NFL GM (which I have read) he probably needs to go up through an NFL organization first. I don't think being a "college GM" sets someone up for NFL job. College GM is a job that was invented like a year ago.

As for ND not being "all in" on NIL, I don't know enough to comment other than to say that ND has tons of money and rich alums/fans. So it's time to pay up. But I don't think ND would ever try to break the rules assuming a "salary cap" comes in. But we'll hit the cap like Bevacqua said.

If you build a championship team, the donations will go bananas and applications will too.

There is probably an argument that it's more valuable than the NFL. It doesn't matter that the Jaguars suck. They are an NFL team. They will be just fine.

Look at Alabama pre and post Saban Regime. Enormous growth.

 

[FWIrish4]

While Bowden was a great recruiting coordinator, playing video games with high school kids, costumes and shticks on visits, his role vastly changed with the sport in a very short period. Maybe being a full fledge GM and recruiting coordinator is an overload and ND could potentially elevate here.

We whiffed pretty heavily in our summer OV’s so maybe it was time for all to move forward and reset.

I wonder if ND will consider having a GM and RC role moving forward with the RC reporting to the GM. This would allow the GM to be bigger picture and be more financially focused, as that role has heavily shifted that direction.

 

[Dale]

According to him, Bowden has a ton of friction with ND and was sick of feeling hamstrung by lackluster NIL, annoying admissions/transfer restrictions, etc. USC has promised him they will get anyone into school he wants at any time and he will have "unlimited" NIL. The AD wants to compete directly with Oregon in terms of aggressive pay-for-play

I’ll take “Things that aren’t true for 1000”

 

[GoldenAura]

According to him, Bowden has a ton of friction with ND and was sick of feeling hamstrung by lackluster NIL, annoying admissions/transfer restrictions, etc. USC has promised him they will get anyone into school he wants at any time and he will have "unlimited" NIL.

Huge Brian Kelly energy here. This weak ass attitude belongs at SC.

I have faith in ND to find someone on par or better who won’t get his panties in a bunch about admission requirements. We just played for a Natty ffs.

 

[rtrn2glory]

Great info. Thanks LAX.

Only thing I’d say is that I really, truly just do not feel like ND won’t “be with the times.” I trust Freeman to know what that means and direct the program in the “right way,” and I trust that ND admin trusts MF enough to make sure they get there.

I trust MF....I do not trust ND administration even a little bit

 

[NDMatt91]

As for ND not being "all in" on NIL, I don't know enough to comment other than to say that ND has tons of money and rich alums/fans. So it's time to pay up. But I don't think ND would ever try to break the rules assuming a "salary cap" comes in. But we'll hit the cap like Bevacqua said.

Based on what John Brice reported, ND’s 2024 payroll was around $7 Million, UGA was $12M+, and Ohio State was $20M+. A big issue is ND doesn’t have a website where ND fans can donate directly to NIL, which apparently isn’t the case with the SEC schools, Ohio State, and Oregon. I reached out to the RALLY folks and was told that ND fans can make a NIL donation for a specific sport with a wire transfer. No clue why ND has to make everything hard for themselves.

 

[Crazy Balki]

While Bowden was a great recruiting coordinator, playing video games with high school kids, costumes and shticks on visits, his role vastly changed with the sport in a very short period. Maybe being a full fledge GM and recruiting coordinator is an overload and ND could potentially elevate here.

We whiffed pretty heavily in our summer OV’s so maybe it was time for all to move forward and reset.

I wonder if ND will consider having a GM and RC role moving forward with the RC reporting to the GM. This would allow the GM to be bigger picture and be more financially focused, as that role has heavily shifted that direction.

They do, Caleb Davis is the recruiting director.

 

[Gladiator]

How can a GM in college be worth that much money? Spend it on something else. I thought college HCs are like NFL HCs + GMs in terms of their role. That is, shouldn't the HC/assistant coaches be the one constructing the roster?

And if Bowden wants to be an NFL GM (which I have read) he probably needs to go up through an NFL organization first. I don't think being a "college GM" sets someone up for NFL job. College GM is a job that was invented like a year ago.

As for ND not being "all in" on NIL, I don't know enough to comment other than to say that ND has tons of money and rich alums/fans. So it's time to pay up. But I don't think ND would ever try to break the rules assuming a "salary cap" comes in. But we'll hit the cap like Bevacqua said.

I think we'll be fine. I also think this is how other teams are going to cheat.
How are they going to enforce this cap limit? I'm actually curious how the NFL does It and If that's the model the NCAA NIL will follow?

 

[NDFAN2008]

The concerning thing is we aren’t competing in NIL with Michigan Ohio State and the big boys gonna be hard to land dudes if we don’t get with it

 

[rtrn2glory]

The simple thing is for me to win the power ball and NIL will be totally never be a problem at ND football ever again

 

[Giddyup]

Yeah we’ve bought the top qb in the portal two yrs in a row. I’m not too worried about our money pumping into the program

 

[IrishWayDomer]

I honestly don't care about Bowen. But the rest of that info fucking sucks and needs to change immediately, not after a few disappointing seasons.

 

[SoIll]

Yep. My feelings too.

 

[Crazy Balki]

Based on what John Brice reported, ND’s 2024 payroll was around $7 Million, UGA was $12M+, and Ohio State was $20M+. A big issue is ND doesn’t have a website where ND fans can donate directly to NIL, which apparently isn’t the case with the SEC schools, Ohio State, and Oregon. I reached out to the RALLY folks and was told that ND fans can make a NIL donation for a specific sport with a wire transfer. No clue why ND has to make everything hard for themselves.

7 million? I like John, but there is no way it's anywhere near that low.

Leonard alone made over a million in NIL deals. I can't imagine Mills, Cross, Watts and Kiser came back without some sort of substantial financial incentive. Morrison absolutely got a bag. Love and Price got a bag. Evans got a bag.

There's zero chance all that amounted to just about 5 mil and change, and that doesn't even include the rest of the players, including starters, who got some legitimate form of NIL money.

 

[NDRock]

The simple thing is for me to win the power ball and NIL will be totally never be a problem at ND football ever again

But it’s not about ND lacking the money. It’s about them not wanting to go all in. Notre Dame has plenty of money and don’t need fans to give in order to compete. Will they? I doubt they will ever be at the top of NIL. Obviously, this is predicated on LAX’s info being correct.

 

[Dale]

I mean, I think ND could stand to spend more but the source is a USC person who says they are gonna spend like Oregon.


That 100000000000% just isn’t true. That just won’t be happening and they can talk at their suit and tie dinners like they will but everyone in the sport knows USC themselves is a total NIL mess.

 

[Crazy Balki]

I mean, I think ND could spend more but the source is a USC person who’s says they are gonna spend like Oregon.


That 100000000000% just isn’t true. That just won’t be happening and they can talk at their suit and tie dinners like they will but everyone in the sport knows USC themselves is a total NIL mess.

Yep. This is what I'm not totally bought into what LAX posted.

Yes, I think Bowden probably had some frustrations over his lack of control, but that was probably by design, because a first time GM probably shouldn't have that much control, nor should he not have to report to the head man. Freeman is the one that brought him here.

And the whole notion that Bowden was frustrated about NIL....who's gonna tell him? To say USC is an NIL mess is a MASSIVE understatement.

 

[Huntr]

According to him, Bowden has a ton of friction with ND and was sick of feeling hamstrung by lackluster NIL, annoying admissions/transfer restrictions, etc.

The head of the Trojan Alumni Chapter in SF said this was what he heard from someone who talked to Bowden.


k.