SEC Open Thread

[Irish Insanity]

#FuckMichigan

 

[pkt77242]

What am I or any fan going to do that will change them? Nothing. All you can do is accept them and move on.

Why get all hot and bothered over things you can't change?

As long as Harbaugh isn't delivering bags of cash to players Ole Miss style and breaking NCAA rules, he can pretty much do whatever he pleases.

And if he keeps winning 10+ games every year, he'll really be able to do whatever the hell he wants. You think the AD or school will stop him? Ha. No. Because if he's turning Michigan into a serious winner they are going to rake in the $$$$$$.

It got so bad under Hoke that people weren't renewing their season tickets and Dave Brandon was having to give away tickets to a game for a bottle of Coke.

After Carr retired, Rodriguez had 3 years of hell, Hoke came in had a fluke season then 3 years of hell. Harbaugh came in year one and turned it around from 5-7 to 10-3.

Michigan has had only two 10 or more win seasons in the last 9 years. The other 7? They had a 9 win season with an embarrassing loss to App State in Carr's final year, and the other 6 were pretty much disasters under Hoke and Rodriguez.

You think the want another decade in the wilderness? I doubt it. They are going to shut the hell up and let Harbaugh do as he pleases and they are going to like it. That's just the way it is unfortunately.

See here is the thing, there is something that fans can do, vote with their pocketbook. To pretend that you are powerless and you must go along with it, is well chickenshit.

 

[TomHaverford]

See here is the thing, there is something that fans can do, vote with their pocketbook. To pretend that you are powerless and you must go along with it, is well chickenshit.

you really think fans will STOP coming to the games and buying merchandise if there is a winning product on the field?

For every fan that was morally outraged and stopped, there'd be 50 more who were more willing to spend their money if there was a winning product on the field.

And honestly the average fan who goes to the game and buys merchandise, pays zero attention to recruiting. They don't know what's going on there. Recruiting is a very niche thing. Most fans just don't know or care.

 

[Legacy]

What am I or any fan going to do that will change them? Nothing. All you can do is accept them and move on.

Why get all hot and bothered over things you can't change?

As long as Harbaugh isn't delivering bags of cash to players Ole Miss style and breaking NCAA rules, he can pretty much do whatever he pleases.

And if he keeps winning 10+ games every year, he'll really be able to do whatever the hell he wants. You think the AD or school will stop him? Ha. No. Because if he's turning Michigan into a serious winner they are going to rake in the $$$$$$.

It got so bad under Hoke that people weren't renewing their season tickets and Dave Brandon was having to give away tickets to a game for a bottle of Coke.

After Carr retired, Rodriguez had 3 years of hell, Hoke came in had a fluke season then 3 years of hell. Harbaugh came in year one and turned it around from 5-7 to 10-3.

Michigan has had only two 10 or more win seasons in the last 9 years. The other 7? They had a 9 win season with an embarrassing loss to App State in Carr's final year, and the other 6 were pretty much disasters under Hoke and Rodriguez.

You think the want another decade in the wilderness? I doubt it. They are going to shut the hell up and let Harbaugh do as he pleases and they are going to like it. That's just the way it is unfortunately.

Michigan went all in with Harbaugh. They bought out Hoke for $14 mill, gave Harbaugh a $40 million contract with a $2 million signing bonus. If fired, Harbaugh gets the remaining money on the contract but returns the signing bonus. Michigan paid H's assistant coaches $4 million and bought out Hoke's OC Nussmeir for $1.6 million.

That's just short of a $60 million commitment.

 

[Legacy]

J. Michael Hankerson (Wash h.s., SB) commits to Miss St

 

[Bishop2b5]

Quick question...has anyone ever checked back on the grey shirts to see if they did end up at their grey shirt committed school? What sort of percentage?

As Legacy posted above, all the greyshirts offered by Saban during his time at Bama got their scholarship as promised. For any coach, not honoring their promise of a scholarship to a greyshirt would be recruiting suicide. You'd basically brand yourself as completely lacking in character, integrity and honesty, and it would be a long time before most parents & recruits would believe a word you said. Every rival recruiter would remind all your recruits of it at every opportunity and you'd have a hard time getting most high school coaches to ever let you near one of their players again. A coach can get away with backing out of a scholly shortly before NSD, but you ask a kid to sign with you and wait a semester then don't give him the scholly, you might as well look for a new line of work.

 

[PANDFAN]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bret Bielema on ESPN2: "Florida is kind of the new Ole Miss. They're doing some things in recruiting that kind of shock you a little bit."</p>— Jon Solomon (@JonSolomonCBS) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonSolomonCBS/status/694957760950063104">February 3, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[NDShark]

My goodness Bama is having a day

 

[ab2cmiller]

Riley Cole - Bama cast off - committed to South Alabama

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Welcome <a href="https://twitter.com/Rileyc44">@Rileyc44</a> to the family!! Huge addition to the LB crew. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/JagNation?src=hash">#JagNation</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OneHeartBeat?src=hash">#OneHeartBeat</a> <a href="https://t.co/yVG73X0WtY">pic.twitter.com/yVG73X0WtY</a></p>— Coach Joey Jones (@CoachJoeyJones) <a href="https://twitter.com/CoachJoeyJones/status/694983737940041728">February 3, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Irish#1]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bret Bielema on ESPN2: "Florida is kind of the new Ole Miss. They're doing some things in recruiting that kind of shock you a little bit."</p>— Jon Solomon (@JonSolomonCBS) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonSolomonCBS/status/694957760950063104">February 3, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

So Florida is now paying their kids?

 

[dublinirish]

Riley Cole - Bama cast off - committed to South Alabama

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Welcome <a href="https://twitter.com/Rileyc44">@Rileyc44</a> to the family!! Huge addition to the LB crew. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/JagNation?src=hash">#JagNation</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OneHeartBeat?src=hash">#OneHeartBeat</a> <a href="https://t.co/yVG73X0WtY">pic.twitter.com/yVG73X0WtY</a></p>— Coach Joey Jones (@CoachJoeyJones) <a href="https://twitter.com/CoachJoeyJones/status/694983737940041728">February 3, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Seemingly he was only in Bama's class as a Long Snapper. When he decommitted they took Scott Meyer as a preferred walk-on. I'm guessing Southern Alabama is the only offer he had that were willing to give him a shot at LB

 

[NDgradstudent]

Oh my

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/AlabamaFTBL">@AlabamaFTBL</a> has more 5 stars on its roster than the entire Big Ten, Pac 12 & Big 12 <a href="https://t.co/A83pS0Lp3Q">pic.twitter.com/A83pS0Lp3Q</a></p>— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) <a href="https://twitter.com/finebaum/status/695344912812756992">February 4, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[IrishLax]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mizzou commit couldn’t sign letter of intent because he was in jail <a href="https://t.co/dm0n5C1BeM">https://t.co/dm0n5C1BeM</a> <a href="https://t.co/D00P8iRvUW">pic.twitter.com/D00P8iRvUW</a></p>— CBS Sports CFB (@CBSSportsCFB) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSSportsCFB/status/695378688976617472">February 4, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Seems legit.

 

[IrishLax]

Oh my

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/AlabamaFTBL">@AlabamaFTBL</a> has more 5 stars on its roster than the entire Big Ten, Pac 12 & Big 12 <a href="https://t.co/A83pS0Lp3Q">pic.twitter.com/A83pS0Lp3Q</a></p>— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) <a href="https://twitter.com/finebaum/status/695344912812756992">February 4, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

That's so misleading, because it is ESPN 5-stars. If we looked at something that was remotely objective like 247 composite I'm sure that's not the breakdown.

ESPN has a known quid pro quo with their UA All-American game. If you go to that, you get moved up the rankings. If you don't, they move you down the rankings. It's a joke.

I still remember when they ranked Matthew Thomas ahead of Jaylon Smith at OLB. Guess what game Matthew Thomas went to?

 

[Bishop2b5]

That's so misleading, because it is ESPN 5-stars. If we looked at something that was remotely objective like 247 composite I'm sure that's not the breakdown.

ESPN has a known quid pro quo with their UA All-American game. If you go to that, you get moved up the rankings. If you don't, they move you down the rankings. It's a joke.

I still remember when they ranked Matthew Thomas ahead of Jaylon Smith at OLB. Guess what game Matthew Thomas went to?

Actually, ESPN has been rather conservative about awarding 5 stars to Bama commits and tends to rank our classes a bit lower than the other services. According to 247's rankings, Bama has 18 5-stars on our roster (including the 3 who signed yesterday).

5-stars per 247 that are on Bama's roster heading into the spring:

2013
Reuben Foster

Jonathan Allen

O.J. Howard

Robert Foster


2014
Cam Robinson

Da'Shawn Hand

Tony Brown

Marlon Humphrey

Rashaan Evans


2015
Calvin Ridley

Kendall Sheffield

Blake Barnett

Daron Payne

Minkah Fitzpatrick

Damien Harris


2016
Johah Williams

Ben Davis

Lyndell Wilson

 

[Andy in Sactown]

Sources: OIe Miss football cited in 13 of 28 rules violations by NCAA

Gee, I wonder which class racked up the most of those...

EDIT: Now that I actually think about it, that class got away with their shenanigans. If the NCAA only knew (and had subpoena powers). Smoke screen I say!

 

[Legacy]

Gov. John Bel Edwards lays out plan to combat budget crisis: 'I don’t say this to scare you'

In a rare statewide television address, Gov. John Bel Edwards said Thursday night Louisiana’s budget crisis requires sweeping action to avoid closing colleges and universities and watching the state’s health care system implode.

"Let's talk about our universities and community and technical colleges.

The Louisiana TOPS scholarship fund is now so depleted that, if the legislature does not raise revenue, fewer high school students will receive awards and current recipients are in jeopardy of losing their existing scholarships for next year.

Even with additional revenue, higher education this year will need to cut $42 million. This will be combined with a $28 million cut in TOPS scholarship funds that the universities will have to absorb, resulting in the largest mid-year cut in Louisiana history. However, if there is no new revenue raised this year, higher education will face catastrophic cuts over the next 4 months. And that comes on the heels of the largest disinvestment in higher education in the nation over the last eight years."

TOPS, the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students, is Louisiana’s popular college scholarship program that generally covers tuition for in-state students who meet mid-level academic benchmarks.

Tuition per semester for in-state students at LSU is about $3,500.

“Due to the possibility of state budget cuts, all TOPS payments are being suspended until further notice,” said an email from the Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance that went out to all TOPS eligible institutions at 3 p.m. “More details will be provided as information becomes available.”

However, Gov. John Bel Edwards said Thursday night that none of the 49,710 students who are TOPS recipients will have to cover the cost of their scholarships. While about 20 percent of the TOPS scholarships will not be paid, the governor said it will be the universities and colleges that will absorb the loss.

Louisiana is facing a $940 million shortfall. Revenue is $570 million below official state forecasts, in part because of plummeting oil prices and less than expected sales and corporate income tax dollars.

 

[Bishop2b5]

Sources: OIe Miss football cited in 13 of 28 rules violations by NCAA

Gee, I wonder which class racked up the most of those...

EDIT: Now that I actually think about it, that class got away with their shenanigans. If the NCAA only knew (and had subpoena powers). Smoke screen I say!

I don't think there's anyone outside the Ole Miss fan base that hasn't been pretty certain they've been dirty for the past several years. When a third-tier program with little or no history of winning championships and no obvious attraction to their program suddenly starts reeling in elite players, there's something fishy going on. It's like seeing a 200 lb guy hitting 10 homers a year suddenly blowing up to 250 and knocking 40 out of the park.

And btw, I'd LOVE to see the NCAA have subpoena powers and be able to actually be a threat again to cheating programs.

 

[NDbrbkny]

Supposedly LSU could be shut for the season regarding the budget

 

[GoldenDome]

Oh my

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/AlabamaFTBL">@AlabamaFTBL</a> has more 5 stars on its roster than the entire Big Ten, Pac 12 & Big 12 <a href="https://t.co/A83pS0Lp3Q">pic.twitter.com/A83pS0Lp3Q</a></p>— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) <a href="https://twitter.com/finebaum/status/695344912812756992">February 4, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Hmmm....click bait. Finebaum is the biggest troll ever. Ignore him.

 

[Legacy]

Supposedly LSU could be shut for the season regarding the budget

A bit more:

(Oct 1, 2014) LSU among worst in SEC for alumni giving; fundraising oversight aims to win donor dollars

Ballard said the vice president will continue work with affiliated organizations toward the creation of a common database to share data, ideas, technology and other initiatives to better coordinate and target donors.

"We've got a long way to go in our fundraising," King noted at the meeting. "We're turning our attention to it."

(August 3, 2015) LSU Donors Set Record for Philanthropic Support in One Year
Donor support record is nearly $100 million more than previous high

“Despite our challenges this year, LSU was able to break almost every previous fundraising record in our history by a significant margin, proving that everyone knows LSU is not only a great university, but a great investment value as well,” said LSU President F. King Alexander.

Evidently their donors are responding to the crisis. Not exactly the time to buy out Miles or upset the donors. But not a good time for the state or university to rely on oil companies either.

 

[T Town Tommy]

Supposedly LSU could be shut for the season regarding the budget

The football team made something like $60 million last year. It's probably the only profitable thing in La right now given the state of the O&G industry. LSU football isn't going anywhere. The best their governor can do is to make idle threats about shuttering the football program in the hopes of somehow getting a tax increase.

 

[T Town Tommy]

Actually, ESPN has been rather conservative about awarding 5 stars to Bama commits and tends to rank our classes a bit lower than the other services. According to 247's rankings, Bama has 18 5-stars on our roster (including the 3 who signed yesterday).

Here is the conference breakdown according to 247 rankings. Will be telling in the future if this type of trend continues amongst teams/conferences.

Look at these charts and marvel at the imbalance of 2016's college football recruiting - SBNation.com

 

[Legacy]

The football team made something like $60 million last year. It's probably the only profitable thing in La right now given the state of the O&G industry. LSU football isn't going anywhere. The best their governor can do is to make idle threats about shuttering the football program in the hopes of somehow getting a tax increase.

All oil-producing states, usually with Republican governors, are facing deficits. Oklahoma has a $900 million dollar deficit. Wyoming has a $1-1.5 billion deficit. Alaska faces a $3.5 billion deficit. New Mexico faces a $1 billion deficit. Slashing spending and salaries goes so far and has already happened. For the first time Alaskans may have a tax and forego their Permanent Fund dividend checks. Wyoming is talking about accepting Obamacare to help with their health spending. Rainy day funds are the only other place to go and are being drained in some states. Oklahoma cut $1 billion in taxes in 2004 and gave $2 billion in tax credits and exemptions.

Louisiana already cut its colleges and universities more than any other state in the union.

 

[Andy in Sactown]

All oil-producing states, usually with Republican governors, are facing deficits. Oklahoma has a $900 million dollar deficit. Wyoming has a $1-1.5 billion deficit. Alaska faces a $3.5 billion deficit. New Mexico faces a $1 billion deficit. Slashing spending and salaries goes so far and has already happened. For the first time Alaskans may have a tax and forego their Permanent Fund dividend checks. Wyoming is talking about accepting Obamacare to help with their health spending. Rainy day funds are the only other place to go and are being drained in some states. Oklahoma cut $1 billion in taxes in 2004 and gave $2 billion in tax credits and exemptions.

Louisiana already cut its colleges and universities more than any other state in the union.

#priorities

 

[T Town Tommy]

Sources: OIe Miss football cited in 13 of 28 rules violations by NCAA

Gee, I wonder which class racked up the most of those...

EDIT: Now that I actually think about it, that class got away with their shenanigans. If the NCAA only knew (and had subpoena powers). Smoke screen I say!

Guy over on secrant.com has been pure gold on the NCAA investigation of Ole Miss thus far. He has to have some sort of inside contact in the NCAA because he is putting stuff out well before it is actually coming out. Screen name is MButterfly. He has been dead on with what he posts and is adamant that this year's class has three players currently under investigation. He predicts a long summer for our friends in Oxford.

 

[NDinL.A.]

The football team made something like $60 million last year. It's probably the only profitable thing in La right now given the state of the O&G industry. LSU football isn't going anywhere. The best their governor can do is to make idle threats about shuttering the football program in the hopes of somehow getting a tax increase.

Yeah, I laugh at anyone who thinks that LSU football will be touched with a pinkie, much less stop the program. Those people live and die for that program, budget and educational downfall be damned. The person who tries to shut down LSU football should be on 24/7 alert for his life...not even kidding.

 

[Irish Insanity]

#LesMiles2ND?

 

[Legacy]

Yeah, I laugh at anyone who thinks that LSU football will be touched with a pinkie, much less stop the program. Those people live and die for that program, budget and educational downfall be damned. The person who tries to shut down LSU football should be on 24/7 alert for his life...not even kidding.

Will LSU Play Football In 2016? Yes. No. Maybe. (Probably)

State funding for higher education overall has been cut every year from a peak of $1.13 Billion in 2009 down to $535 Million in 2015, with more cuts expected again this year even before the current situation.

If you're someone who was born and raised in Louisiana over the last 35+ years, you know about TOPS. The "Taylor Plan", the 1997 brainchild of LSU Petroleum Engineering grad Patrick F. Taylor, is a state funded scholarship that provides a full tuition scholarship to all academically qualifying Louisiana high school graduates for attendance at any public institution in the state.

As of yesterday, the state has suspended all payments to universities for scholarships in the TOPS program. Students currently enrolled will be fine for the current semester in progress, but unless some method of funding TOPS is found, those students will be responsible for paying their own way going forward. More than 50% of the students currently attending LSU are doing so on the TOPS program.

You got to feel bad for La higher education and LSU students.

 

[Legacy]

Louisiana and LSU financials

Louisiana and LSU financials

LSU football brought in $57 million last year. Overall, the athletic department brought in $138 million and spent $126 million for a $12 million profit. Their TAF booster club donated another $12 million to athletics. A Les Miles buyout prior to Dec 31, 2015 would have cost LSU $15 million minus any salary at a new institution.

Good article on how Louisiana got into this budget mess of solving a shortfall of $1.6 billion dollars by July 1 and another $2 billion for the 2016-17 fiscal year.

In 2008, the governor and lawmakers trashed a tax program passed by voters and a previous legislature in 2002 that would have given Louisiana $800 million more per year, primarily from the highest income group. Louisiana gives over 440 separate tax breaks, which amount to $7.1 billion in lost revenue. The impact on this year's budget shortfall is the state is giving $229 million to corporations in tax credits and exemptions since November - more money than it takes in from corporations. Louisiana is expected to end the year negative on corporate taxes.

Louisiana spared higher education from cuts last year, but cut health care by $190 million. This year, higher education proposed cuts are $131 million. LSU would see $65 million in cuts. Louisiana higher education has been cut $700 million in the last eight years, which is the time period since the taxpayers' approved tax plan on higher taxes on the highest earners was eliminated by Gov. Jindal and the legislature. That $800 million per year for eight years would have brought in $6.4 billion - more than enough to eliminate all those cuts and to adequately fund these services.

Taxpayers are in favor of increasing taxes, while not cutting education or health care any further. This governor wants to tap into the rainy day fund instead of cutting higher education or raising taxes on high earners, corporations or doing away with tax breaks. Louisiana's state legislature has to find $1.6 billion in cuts from a discretionary budget of $2.6 billion - a 62% cut - to balance the books without any changes. Then they need to address the $2 billion shortfall for next year.