Unverified Voracity Induces Perd One Last Time
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Exit J'Marick Woods. Ol' Woods hit the portal:
Per the portal, Woods — who is in his third year at Michigan — intends to pursue a graduate transfer.
— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) October 21, 2019
Getting guys through in three years is something they've done before thanks to summer school and early enrollment—Woods did enroll early—and it's good to send guys off with their degree. Woods was inevitably going to get passed by Dax Hill, and has. That meant he was blocked from starting as a senior, and naturally this leads to a departure.
Michigan's safety depth next year will consist of Sammy Faustin, German Green, Quinten Johnson coming off ACL surgery, and true freshman. A little ominous, that.
We can't send Woods through the portal without one last look back at the most remarkable part of his Michigan tenure:
"He's kind of earning his nickname -- we call him 'Woods' -- and he definitely brings the wood, as a physical player."
The worst nickname in the history of the world.
[After the JUMP: a Todd comparison I like but you'll probably hate!]
Assumed but now confirmed. Isaiah Todd is aiming to be one and done:
In an interview with HighSchoolOT.com, another outlet that was in Raleigh, Todd said, “I’m focusing on being a one-and-done. Juwan and I have spoken about that. He just wants to push me to that.”
His high school coach speaks on his game a bit:
"His skill set is impeccable," Williams said. "He's not a big man. He's not a guard. He's just a real unique player."
Williams plans to play Todd at multiple positions this season against a challenging schedule. Todd can handle the ball and shoot from the outside, a luxury at his size. “And the good thing is he doesn’t overplay on the perimeter,” Williams said. “A big guy can’t check him and the guards are too small. He’s a mismatch problem.”
DJ Wilson, but more and immediately?
Huh. Kwity Paye made PFF's list of the best guys in "pass rush win rate":
Chase Young is winning 36.9% of his pass-rush snaps this season, best at the FBS level and is on a historic pace this year! pic.twitter.com/231J4ADW6e
— PFF College (@PFF_College) October 17, 2019
He is in fact the #2 P5 on this list behind only Chase Young. I can't say my grading has agreed with that. If you'd told me Uche is in that spot I'd believe you. Paye has been decent—better than last year. He hasn't popped out as the guy most likely to get to the QB on any particular down.
Favored! Michigan is favored vs ND. By one point, but still!
This is actually in line with the fancystats, which haven't been enthusiastic about Notre Dame this season. SP+ has ND five spots behind Michigan. The gap is only 1.5 points, but that would imply a 4.5 point home spread, so the betting line is actually more skeptical than the numbers that I'm pretty sure are no longer baking in a preseason component.
No, I don't know how Michigan is the #14 team in the country after:
- Squeezing by #77 Army in OT
- Getting obliterated by Wisconsin
- Squeezing by #24 Iowa at home
- Having a reasonable game against #70 Illinois
- Rugtgers///////
SP+ probably gave Michigan a lot of credit for a shoulda-won game in Happy Valley. Still don't get it.
They tried that already. You'd think an athletic director asked to say things about the direction of college sports would have a passing history of where the vector is coming from. Florida AD Scott Stricklin:
“One of the problems we have from an optics standpoint is our athletes aren’t in a free-market setting,” Stricklin said. “They’re in a socialist setting. But yet we have coaches coaching them who are in the ultimate free-market setting. It’s really an uncomfortable dichotomy.
“If Congress wanted to cap coaches’ salaries and administrative salaries in college athletics, I’d have no problem with that. I think it’s un-American, but so is the system we have for student-athletes. It’s socialism, right? But it’s socialism in the name of providing opportunity in an academic setting that makes some kind of sense."
…
ok
First, here is an SEC athletic director straight up asserting the NCAA system is "un-American"! Friends like these, Dude. Second, the NCAA tried capping assistant coach salaries and got obliterated in court. Third, "one of the problems we have from an optics standpoint"… gah. People in charge of things are just in charge of them.
And the thing they tried. The NCAA capped a certain assistant spot at 12k. Dollars. In 1998, not 1898. These days:
If you are lucky enough to be the head golf coach at Texas A&M, you are down to make $209,100, which is dog food compared to the head men’s golf coach at the University of Texas, who makes $275K.
The head women’s basketball coach at UTEP makes $246,000, or $700 less than the defensive coordinator for a Miners football program that is currently 1-4.
And if you are the the head women’s bowling coach at Sam Houston State university you pull in $73,584.
That's where the money goes instead of Denard. The average compensation for a D-I football coach is up 9% to 2.7 million.
If it's Jim Heckman, it's crap. The company that bought Sports Illustrated and then made it into a network of team sites with underpaid freelancers is run by the two guys who have run around various sports organizations over the past decade, running them into the ground. The Maven is next up:
According to an SEC filing that covers the quarterly period ending June 30, 2018, Maven’s management expressed “substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern within one year.” Maven’s independent public accounting firm came to the same conclusion based on the company’s financial standing as of the end of 2017. During the first six months of 2018, Maven lost more than $8 million, and in July 2018, the company borrowed $225,000 from chief executive officer James Heckman.
“Notwithstanding these recent financings, the Company does not have sufficient resources to fully fund its business operations through June 30, 2020,” the filing says.
Heckman will exit with yet more money. I will buy the Sports Illustrated branding and turn it into a brochureware website advocating the return of Pitbull to college football commercials.
What is an athletic department for? Bradley University doesn't have sports to make money directly. It has sports to market the school, and that function doesn't change when players get more money. Matt Brown interviews NYU professor Lee Igel:
MB: Let’s talk about that a little more. I was reading recently that the president of Bradley University, where he was saying that this imbalance (between the rich and poor schools) could get to the point where they’d decide not to have sports at all. My understanding is that at Bradley’s level, the real purpose of the athletic department is for student recruitment, and to help your brand, rather than trying to win anything meaningful. Is it possible that endorsement opportunities could cause some D1 institutions to rethink that calculus?
Dr.Igel: Yes, sure. And they refocus on the meaning of the school and what they’re trying to do with students? Yes, absolutely. I’m at an institution where that’s part of the conversation about athletics. NYU is DIII, and in the past, they were a powerhouse basketball program (years ago), and after some seedy things that went on, the administration decided to refocus. Athletics are still an important part of the student experience, they just look differently at our institution. And sure, that could happen.
MB: That level of refocusing seems awfully rare though, doesn’t it? I know it took gambling scandals to spur that conversation at NYU. I know Chicago famously did it, and Idaho sort of did it, but even a low-major school leaving D1, unless they’re broke, like a Savannah State, seems pretty rare. You think this could cause that level of paradigm shift?
Dr.Igel: It could, because this will be a different landscape. What this law does, it really changes the definition of student-athlete. And I think if we go one step further with it, for the NCAA, that’s been the sticking point all along. We’ve known it since the early 20th century!
And the world around is going nope. It means something much different than it did 100 years ago. And the world has just gone on, and the NCAA isn’t. But it’s changed!
So now all schools, from the biggest and best to the Bradleys of the world, they’re all going to have to re-think what it means to be a Division 1 school.
They can re-evaluate, and nothing will change. The lure of the NCAA bid will keep Bradley in D-1 and will keep the OVC pretty much the same.
Etc.: A Name and Image bill FAQ if you're still catching up. Hockey picks up a commit from WMU decommit Mark Estapa, for some year between 2021 and the moon blowing up. Uh… you can't… I mean… it's not legal. Connor Grady apologizes. Josh Langford out until January for MSU basketball. That guy can't catch a break.
October 22nd, 2019 at 2:55 PM ^
Actually, all Langford can catch are breaks...I'll see myself out.
6.3.4October 22nd, 2019 at 3:47 PM ^
Bravo... bravo.
October 22nd, 2019 at 3:01 PM ^
Maybe I'm getting out of touch after a couple of really good years in business, but are we really trying to claim that $209,100k per year for a NCAA D1 Golf Coach is a lot of money?
If I did my taxes for this year and saw that as the gross income, it would motivate me to work a lot harder for next year......
October 22nd, 2019 at 3:07 PM ^
First, yes, that's at least in the 95th percentile for income in the United States. Second, there is no market justification for it - golf doesn't make money at Michigan and I'd doubt that it does anywhere else. Paying a golf coach $200K is something to do because you can, not because it makes any real sense.
October 22nd, 2019 at 3:17 PM ^
Yep, you're certainly not wrong. If football and basketball players started receiving a larger slice of the AD budget, I'd imagine that will come directly from Women's Sports. Not sure if this will fly with Title IX, but I'd imagine paying players isn't really feasible until Title IX is reversed.
October 22nd, 2019 at 3:35 PM ^
The recent conversation has been around allowing student athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness, not having the universities divert funds from other programs to pay the football and basketball team.
October 22nd, 2019 at 4:04 PM ^
Dude's been too busy raking in fat stacks to pay attention to the intricacies of the proposed laws.
He's only commenting now because his power lunch ran late, so he's blowing off heading back into the office, but he's got some time to kill before Happy Hour...
October 22nd, 2019 at 4:48 PM ^
Haha, I actually work from home.
October 23rd, 2019 at 1:09 AM ^
In that case, get your money while the gettin's good. AI will be coming for you sometime soon.
October 23rd, 2019 at 9:57 AM ^
Eventually, yes. I'll be long retired by then though, and probably living in Thailand or somewhere like that.
October 22nd, 2019 at 4:05 PM ^
Do you think they will drop salaries when some of the revenue the Universities were making now starts going directly to players? How often do you see salaries get cut in any business let alone a quasi-governmental entity like a university?
The money will come from somewhere, and it won't be from the Nick Saban's and aspiring Nick Sabans. My guess is non-revenue sports will get he ax, one by one.
This business model sucks, but at least it provides many hundreds of athletes, many of whom would never have a chance to go to the schools they are now, a "free" education. Paid for by Denard Robinson, yes, but better than paid by no one.
October 22nd, 2019 at 4:48 PM ^
Did you read the post to which you are replying?
October 23rd, 2019 at 8:11 AM ^
What'll be interesting will be watching how and where the cash flows. You'd expect that the star players are most likely to get endorsement offers, as opposed to the 85th guy on the squad. What's the effect going to be on a locker room when only a few guys are making money and the rest make squat? You'd think that unionization might be a possibility to get everyone something but you can be damn sure that the stars won't be thrilled with that.
How long does it take for someone (think of Shea Patterson) to get a deal? Will an athlete be able to get a deal before getting to a school, in Patterson's case before being declared immediately eligible? What's to prevent a kid from being contacted about potentially getting a deal from a booster for use of his image if/when he transfers away from his current school? Or can a kid get offered a deal while being recruited out of high school? And then, does the booster actually have to use the image i.e. can the booster just pay the athlete for the right to use the image without actually using it? It seems that an Ed Martin can pay a lot of money to athletes by entering into contracts for use of the name, image and likeness.
This is going to be real interesting.
October 22nd, 2019 at 7:20 PM ^
How much money do you have after the hookers and blow?
October 22nd, 2019 at 9:58 PM ^
All of it. The trick is to kill the hookers afterwards. CJK5H
October 22nd, 2019 at 3:34 PM ^
It's a head coach level. Ignoring the sports aspect of it, it's still a mid to upper management position with the organizational skill set that goes with it. I know a lot of people working at small non-profits pulling down that much with half the pressure and responsibility. It ain't chump change, but it's not outrageous for a leadership position in 2019.
October 22nd, 2019 at 3:42 PM ^
But you're not running a business or non-profit. You don't have scores of people depending on you doing a good job. You're coaching amateur golf players.
It's completely irrational. In no other country in the world would a collegiate golf coach make anywhere near this kind of money. And the difference is not because there is this huge consumer appetite for collegiate golf in this country, either. Off the top of my head I couldn't name a single Michigan golfer, ever. And I covered women's golf one year for the Daily!
October 22nd, 2019 at 3:58 PM ^
In most parts of the world, I'm guessing that's a volunteer position. Doesn't mean they shouldn't be paid, but is it a full-time job, year-round? If so, maybe that's the problem. It shouldn't be a full time, year-round job.
October 22nd, 2019 at 4:51 PM ^
I can't speak for every school, but I think a lot of golf coaches will also manage the school's course. I'm not sure it could be a volunteer position since they also have to make travel and hotel arrangements and supervise the golfers during tournaments, so there's liability.
$200K is great pull tho, no doubt. And the Texas guy did coach Jordan Speith, so that helps the school and the course.
October 22nd, 2019 at 7:27 PM ^
My family is good friends with Chris Whitten's (guy who just stepped down after eight years coaching Michigan's men's golf team) family.
On the surface, it seems like the cushiest job ever. A three or four month season coaching...golf!??! Talk about country club easy!
The reality is that it required nearly constant travel reruiting players in the offseason and then attending matches during the season. He decided it just wasn't worth it to be away from the family 180 nights a year.
That said, it's an open question as to why from a market perspective Michigan feels like it needs to be competitive in men's golf such that there would be pressure to recruit, or even why Michigan feels like it needs a men's golf team at all.
Kind of goes back to the original article. What are the priorities of the school?
I have a bit of a theory that goes beyond general publicity: I think that it allows schools to expand the traditional admissions criteria in a way that allows for a diversity of "intelligence" or success markers.
I know a bunch of former Ivy League lacrosse players and rowers. These are not "revenue generating" sports. Most of them would not have been admitted to their alma maters if they were not varsity qualified athletes. But the schools made admissions concessions for them. Why?
Well, the vast majority of the ones I know are really successful, especially in sales and finance (and hence probably give back to the school and their programs extensively).
Intelligence comes in many forms. Traditional admissions policies pit everyone mostly on "book smarts". But I think sports enable schools to identify other types of success markers. I don't think it's an accident that a large percentage of students at Stanford and the Ivy Leagues are varsity athletes. You might not be a potential rocket scientist but if you've worked hard enough to become an elite competitor in your sport, that probably says something about your future.
I don't know if schools are this intentional about admitting athletes in non-revenue sports, but I would imagine that they know full well what comes back to these programs - and maybe to the school in general - from the former participants in these programs.
In the end, it's all about ROI for American institutions. How successful are the alums and how much do they give back to or accomplish for the school? There isn't perfect correlation between HS grades and future success and I bet adding elite sports achievements helps to better fit the success curve.
October 22nd, 2019 at 8:34 PM ^
This comment deserves a hundred more upvotes.
October 22nd, 2019 at 5:59 PM ^
I can name one, because she was in a section I taught in the fall of 1999.
October 22nd, 2019 at 6:26 PM ^
Didn’t we have a guy not long ago who got in the Masters as an amateur? Can’t remember his name, tho (proving your point)
October 23rd, 2019 at 10:19 AM ^
Lion Kim
October 23rd, 2019 at 1:43 PM ^
Also the kid who made the finals of the US Amateur a few years ago, Nick(?) Carlson.
October 22nd, 2019 at 3:15 PM ^
Capitalism fever - catch it!
Also, I'm not sure if you're operating in good faith, but that's an immoderate amount of money for a non-revenue sport coaching job, utterly so.
October 22nd, 2019 at 3:16 PM ^
According to this calculator, $209k puts you in the 97th percentile. That doesn't change if you look at just Texas but it does go down to just the 90th percentile if you specify College Station.
I don't really have time to compare $209k to the average golfer so I can only contextualize against my own experience. In my subjective opinion - that seems like a lot of money for that position.
October 22nd, 2019 at 3:20 PM ^
Yes, you are out of touch. Most people in the country would be thrilled with more than $100,000 and be able to live comfortably off that. Unless you're somewhere where cost of living is obscene like San Francisco, etc. Also as someone else mentioned there is no economic justification for a golf coach to make that much.
October 22nd, 2019 at 3:21 PM ^
You seem like a douche
October 22nd, 2019 at 9:08 PM ^
In life, as in sports, the boos always come from the cheap seats.
October 23rd, 2019 at 12:21 AM ^
Keep it classy.
October 22nd, 2019 at 3:21 PM ^
If I did my taxes and saw half of that for my gross income I would be ecstatic! I have a professional degree (engineering) from M, and that is A LOT of money.
October 22nd, 2019 at 3:28 PM ^
Hey everyone! Come see how much money I make!
October 22nd, 2019 at 3:48 PM ^
It's a lot of money; not a stupendous amount by any means, but that's a pretty good salary for a non-revenue sport. I don't think it's excessive, but if you're paying him $210k and won't let a guy on the football team make a buck off his name, that's wrong.
As for the rest, nothing highlights how confident and successful you are like veiling allusions to your paycheck.
October 22nd, 2019 at 4:12 PM ^
Say hi to Connor Grady for me.
October 22nd, 2019 at 4:21 PM ^
I'm guessing Connor is unemployed after graduation, and that's why he is taking his aggression out on football players.
October 22nd, 2019 at 6:01 PM ^
He may be unemployed or even underemployed following graduation, but regardless, a previous poster was right... you do sound like a douche.
October 22nd, 2019 at 6:14 PM ^
Ever alert for an opportunity to tell people you make a lot of money. I'm impressed!!
October 22nd, 2019 at 7:04 PM ^
I make 8 turdickrls per fortnight. Is that a lot? I'd earn more, but I gotta chew on these fucking nutritionless eucalyptus leaves all day.
October 22nd, 2019 at 7:09 PM ^
I really hope you are just some douchebag trying to humblebrag, because anyone who thinks $210,000 and under isn't a lot is scary out of touch with reality, or they live in San Francisco.
The median household income in the US is close to $60,000 fyi.
October 22nd, 2019 at 7:16 PM ^
Ah the simple minded poor person. How dare you insult the rich! Your not even worthy to reply this guy's post. He's too busy Scrooge McDuck diving into his chamber of wealth to read your reply anyways.
October 23rd, 2019 at 10:10 AM ^
We are on a website of Alumni from one of the top universities in the entire world. Nobody on this site should strive for the median income.
October 23rd, 2019 at 11:49 AM ^
Nice gold-plated shovel you've got there. By all means, keep digging....
October 22nd, 2019 at 7:12 PM ^
Don't listen to these peasants goblue234! These disgusting bloodsuckers don't work hard! Their poverty is repulsive to hard workers like us.
October 22nd, 2019 at 10:16 PM ^
Have they even considered pulling themselves up by the bootstraps?
October 22nd, 2019 at 8:53 PM ^
JFC dude
You had better sign off MGoBlog or you and Mrs. Howell are gonna be late for that 3 hour tour.....
October 22nd, 2019 at 3:04 PM ^
Michigan -1 feels about right. Notre Dame has been solid, but uninspiring. Michigan's offense appears to be improving and the team always does well at home. I think we've got a good shot
October 22nd, 2019 at 3:15 PM ^
With respect to SP+ fancystats:
- As of last year, Bill Connelly has been explicit that preseason projections are included at some level for the entire year. They are never completely phased out, though they gradually carry less and less weight. He made this change because keeping the preseason projections in for the entire season improved predictive performance. This shouldn't be surprising. College football seasons are insanely small sample sizes, and so our priors continue to carry weight even ten, eleven, twelve games in. Bill added this reminder to all of his articles last year on SBNation, for example here: "Preseason projections will remain in the formulas all season. Fans hate this — it’s the biggest complaint I’ve heard regarding ESPN’s FPI formulas. Instinctively, I hate it, too. But here’s the thing: it makes projections more accurate. Our sample size for determining quality in a given season is tiny, and incorporating projection factors found in the preseason rankings decreases the overall error in projections. So I’m doing it."
- Michigan was actually ranked 13th in SP+ (18.8) before Penn State and 14th in SP+ (18.5) now after Penn State. Penn State also slid a few spots.
I know we're all supposed to be wallowing in BPONE right now, but yes: SP+ likes Michigan. OK, you can say that we haven't lived up to preseason expectations so SP+ is overrating us; equally you can say that SP+ still "knows" how talented Michigan is and is hedging against the possibility that everything clicks on offense, rather than throwing its hands up in the air and moaning about how everything is bad and will always be bad because I have bad feelings about football right now like basically everyone in the Michigan fan base is.
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