BELOW FROM
COUGFAN.com
Keiran
Collins talks about first offer, Pac-12 camp
By Brandon
Huffman Cougfan.com
Burien
(Wash.) Kennedy Catholic 2022 athlete Kieran Collins (6-1, 175), has had an
eventful past week.
Collins
camped with Washington State on Saturday, the same school his grandfather
attended, the school he grew up rooting for.
On Monday,
Collins got word from Florida State that he had an offer, weeks before he
starts his freshman year in high school.
"I don't
think I ever expected that," said Collins. "At first, I was thinking
I need to keep working, work on getting better and faster for the
offseason."
Collins
and HEIR Football 7v7 coach Reggie Jones called Florida State assistant coach
David Kelly and he got the word.
"When
I talked to Coach Kelly, it was like a dream," said Collins. "I
always dreamed of being on that big stage."
Collins
said the offseason work contributed heavily to his growth as a player.
"I
played 7v7 with HEIR Football and Coach Reggie put me out there," said
Collins. "He helped me a lot, with a lot of techniques and how to get
better on my routes and cuts."
Collins
said the offer from Florida State came as an athlete.
"They
like me as an athlete, both safety and receiver," said Collins.
"Safety is my more natural position and where I'm more comfortable."
On
Saturday, Collins joined several of his prep teammates at Kennedy Catholic and
camped at Washington State.
"The
WSU camp was very good and Coach (Steve) Spurrier (Jr.) really helped us on our
cuts and stances and in 1on1's," said Collins. "Coach Spurrier, I
really liked him. He was pumping people up, helping people out and making sure
we got that work in."
Collins
also had a chance to meet head coach Mike Leach at the camp.
"We
met Coach Leach after the camp and he was really mellow and cool to talk
to," said Collins.
Collins
said he enjoyed his time in Pullman.
"The
facilities and campus were nice, and the coaches were telling us how they have
tutors to help you and talking about the education," said Collins.
"It was my first time at Washington State camp and it was a good
experience. It was so surreal, I can't believe I was there, and I felt like I
held me own."
Collins
worked at Washington's 7v7 tournament earlier this year with Kennedy, his first
time working with his new teammates.
"We
did the UW 7v7 with our Kennedy team and it was good getting in to the
flow," said Collins. "I was there having a good time with my
quarterbacks and working on situations."
Collins
said he grew up a fan of Washington State since his grandfather attended
Washington State and that was the school he cheered for growing up.
Now he's
getting an opportunity to see more schools and plans to visit more in the
coming year.
"I
know I want to get down and visit Florida State at some point and meet Coach
Kelly in person and Coach (Willie) Taggart," said Collins.
But he's
also excited to just start high school.
"I'm
excited for high school and to start playing with my
teammates,"
said Collins. "This offseason has helped me, given me a confidence boost,
seeing how I work."
Collins
said he'll play both receiver and safety for Kennedy Catholic, with his heart
at safety but open to receiver more and more.
:::::::::::::::::::
Summer
hoops: for new-look men’s basketball Cougs, team chemistry impressive
By Brian
Stultz Cougfan.com
PULLMAN –
Sitting in the men’s basketball office on a scorching summer day, Ernie Kent
briefly pondered the question -- will the 2018-19 Cougars be his best team
since arriving in Pullman in 2014? -- before answering pragmatically.
“It needs
to be,” he told Cougfan.com. “It has the potential and it should get there to
be the best team we’ve had here.”
Kent’s
best team in his four seasons was his first, which went 13-18 overall and 7-11
in the Pac-12. The Cougars are coming off a disappointing 12-19/4-14
performance last season but Kent definitely liked what he saw in the six weeks
the team was together this summer.
“This is
one of the more unique groups of individuals I have ever coached in terms of
their chemistry, how much they appreciate being here, what we do for them when
they’re here and how quickly they have come together,” he said. “Typically,
guys will come together and then you will see some signs of it falling apart.
They’ve come together and stayed consistent during the six weeks and that is a
good sign.
“It was
pretty emotional for me to have to say goodbye to them and then head out on the
road (recruiting) knowing I’m not going to see them again (for a few weeks),”
Kent said. “I’m anxious for them to get back.”
Kent’s
time on the recruiting trail illuminated why this team shows the potential to
turn the corner.
“In the
past, I have always gone out on the road during the summer and sat there amazed
at how big and athletic some of these junior college guys are, how developed
and physical they are … for the first time, I’ve come back and felt that my
team is just as big, athletic and plays just as hard.”
Indeed,
the Cougars will be long, athletic and strong, fueled by seven newcomers --
five of whom stand between 6-5 and 6-10. They are:
Freshman
C.J. Elleby (6-6, 185, Cleveland High/Seattle)
Freshman
Aljaz Kunc (6-8, 198, Impact AcademyFlorida)
JC
transfer Marvin Cannon (6-5, 170, Barton CC/Kansas)
JC
transfer Isaiah Wade (6-7, 215, Iowa Western CC)
Invited
walk on JC transfer center James Streeter (6-10, 270, Lake Region State/South
Dakota)
The other
two newcomers are point guards Jervae Robinson (6-2, 185, Otero
College/Colorado) and Ahmed Ali (5-11, 165, Eastern Florida State College).
“Every guy
is from a winning program,” Kent said. “The JUCO players were either
All-American or honorable mention. They all bring something unique … It is just
a nice mixture that is coming through the door that took our talent to another
level.”
They join
a returning crew of six who are also pretty long and athletic:
6-7/240
Robert Franks
6-9/240
Jeff Pollard
6-11/233
Davonte Cooper
6-9/200
Arinze Chidom
6-5/215
Carter Skaggs
6-2/175
Viont’e Daniels
Kent said
one of the key goals in fall practices will be maintaining “a Level 5 effort --
being able to sustain maximum intensity, focus and communication. We had signs
of it in the past six weeks and now the players have a feel for what that is
like.”
For this
team to reach another level, players beyond Franks and Daniels will need to
step up. Kent points toward Skaggs, Cooper and Chidom to be that player who
raises their performance from the prior season the way Josh Hawkinson and
Franks, among others, have in the past.
As for the
rotation he envisions this season, Kent says it’s too early to talk about, “but
I will tell you it’s going to be deep -- we have a deep bench.”
Prep
coaching star Thielbahr talks recruiting & WSU Rose Bowls
By Brian
Stultz Cougfan.com
Jul 31 2018
JEREMY
THIELBAHR HAS the unique distinction of being a member of two Washington State
Rose Bowl teams -- as a redshirting freshman running back on the 1997 team and
a graduate assistant on the 2002 club -- but nowadays he’s better known as the
chief architect of one of the best high school football programs not just in
the state but on the West Coast.
The head
coach and athletic director at Eastside Catholic in Sammamish has two state 3A
title trophies and a handful of runner-up finishes as he enters his eighth
season at the helm. For perspective on the strength of the program, consider
that neither of those championships came in 2016 or 2017 when the Crusaders
piled up a collective 21-3 record. The 2018 squad will be tested in a major way
right out of the gate, as they’ll travel south for a Sept. 1 battle with
California powerhouse Oaks Christian.
Winning,
it seems, is part of Thielbahr’s DNA. At WSU, as a player and graduate assistant,
he was part of four 10-win teams.
We
recently caught up with ‘The Ruckus” -- a.k.a. The Pride of Sandpoint, Idaho --
to get his thoughts about recruiting, the lessons he learned from Mike Price,
his favorite memories of playing in Cougarville, and much more.
Here are
highlights:
Cougfan.com:
What was the common thread that you saw between the successful teams at
Washington State?
Thielbahr:
It was family and love and accountability. I’d
been there in 1997 when the Fab Five and Ryan Leaf and the great defense we had
took us to the Rose Bowl. I was a redshirt freshman and got to see that
leadership dynamic which was based on family and love. I saw us through the
down years (1998-2000) and those teams struggled with each other -- they didn’t
have a common bond or great leadership dynamic. In 2001, I was blessed to
become a team co-captain and that was sort of a turning point. That group was
based on love and family and we believed in each other. Guys were accountable
during the summer and accountable in the classroom. Those core values and
leadership were important when I was at Washington State. Mike Price preached
to us all the time. He was a great leader and a great coach.
CF.C: Do
you stay in touch with your former teammates?
Thielbahr:
I’m in touch with several of them. They are
all doing great. A bunch of them are coaching football. A bunch of them are
great fathers and great in their community ... I had a very special bond with
my brothers at Washington State. They were all great friends. You know, when
you get older you try to see them as much as you can, but the minute you see
them, you go back to immediately (to the old days). It’s really special
relationship that you develop and really special bond you have. It is as close
to going to war without shooting as you can. The amount of time you spend
lifting and running and practicing you do, it creates an inseparable bond.
CF.C: What
is your best memory of the 2002 team that went to Rose Bowl?
Thielbahr:
I was a
graduate assistant by that time so it was a funny experience for me
transitioning from a player to a coach … (One day) Jason Gesser and the seniors
tied all the doors together for the freshmen so they’d be late to practice and,
as a graduate assistant coach, I couldn’t let that happen. That dynamic was
pretty fun for me -- just the great bond that team had together. There are
several great memories from that season. The road trips, me learning how to be
a coach from Price. Great memories from the staff meetings; the laughing, the
love, the togetherness.
CF.C: What
is the best piece of advice that Mike Price gave you about coaching?
Thielbahr:
There are
so many things. I don’t know if he gave me direct advice other than to be
yourself and have as much fun with the players as you could. Be authentic and
teach them how to become men. As a high school coach now, I really see that as
my No. 1 charge, not necessarily wins and not necessarily winning a state
title. It’s more of the experience you have. Mike Price showed me that at a
high level. In 1999 we got beat in the Apple Cup and we were playing Hawaii
after that and he let us all go to Hawaii and still have a great time (the
Cougs won the game). We had a horrible season and he didn’t pound us into the
ground saying, “Hey, you’re horrible, (so) you can’t have any fun on this
trip,” and making us miserable. He started listening to the players and I
really think that was the turnaround.
Coach
Price was really cutting edge as far as keeping kids fresh toward the end (of a
season). Back then, you would go for three-hour practices and hit over and over
and over. In 2001 and 2002, he transitioned us from that to keeping players
fresh because we need them on the field and it paid a lot of dividends. We were
never the most talented team, but probably the hardest-working team ... He did
a great job of captaining the ship that needed to be turned. There was pressure
on him, pressure on us and finally in 2001, my senior year, we beat Purdue in
the Sun Bowl, won 10 games. It really was set up by Coach Price and how he
handled the losing seasons.
CF.C: What
makes a great college running back? (note: at WSU, Thielbahr played running
back before moving to fullback and eventually tight end)
Thielbahr:
The No. 1
thing is work ethic. The backs that I saw at Washington State that were in
front of me or had great careers always had a great work ethic. They bought
into what the coaches were saying. They understood the schemes and understood
them at a really high level. They understood where they needed to be in protection.
That, coupled with great athletic ability and vision, makes a great running
back.
CF.C: How
have you been so successful at Eastside Catholic and what is your team
philosophy?
Thielbahr:
It has
been an interesting journey that I have had. Going to the University of Idaho
as the special teams coordinator and running backs coach, I then took the
Eastside Catholic job and they hadn’t had much success before I got here.
Gesser had been here (as head coach) but he hadn’t had any winning seasons yet
… We are lucky enough and blessed enough to have a great coaching staff … and
get great support from the school. We became sound quickly as a football team
and became loved based and family based. Our saying is “Faith Family Finish
Forever” … Coach Price really taught me the moments you will have forever with
your team, it won’t necessarily be a win or a loss, but those unique moments …
We really established that to get the faith of the kids. We have great kids.
Eastside Catholic is an unique school. I think it is 'unduplicatable' the way
the school develops kids academically, socially and morally … I had never been
a head coach before but I had great leadership on my team and great kids that
bought in that were hungry to win and transitioned it into something that is
pretty amazing. We are going to be in the hunt every year.
CF.C: How
has recruiting changed since you have been a coach?
Thielbahr:
It is very
different than it was even when I was coaching in college. I don’t like the
direction that recruiting is going with all of the early offers. We have a
freshman right now (defensive end J.T.
Tuimoloau) I think will be the No. 1 kid in the country -- he’s
basically been offered by everybody (Alabama, USC, Washington and many more but
not WSU). We have several kids who have been offered early. I think it is
difficult these days on these young men when all these schools offer them
early. You are still trying to develop these guys into the best men and best
character and hardest workers that you can and sometimes when they’ve already
reached a pretty high pinnacle, they have a tendency to relax. I am blessed
with kids now that work their tails off, from the kid who has all the offers to
the kid who has none of the offers. We have really developed a great culture of
work. I think I am insulated a little bit because the kids that have all the
offers on my team are some of our hardest workers. It’s really a blessing. At
Washington State, some of our better players when we were losing weren’t the
hardest workers. Once you get a culture of some of your better players are your
hardest workers, then something special can happen …
Recruiting
has changed so much, from Twitter to texting. These college coaches are
year-round. They really work all the time now. July is not off anymore. It has
gotten much harder for a college coach to do a full evaluation. For them, they
can’t be wrong and there is so much pressure to win that they really need to be
allowed to talk to kids when they are younger if they are going to offer them.
I mean, really get to know the kid at a really deep level.
NOTABLE:
One of
Thielbahr’s assistant coaches at Eastside Catholic is former WSU receiver Greg
Prator.
Thielbahr’s
first state title at EC, in 2014, was a titanic upset of Bellevue, which came
into the contest with six-straight state title wins, including the last two
over Thielbahr’s Crusaders. EC won in a rout triggered by some coaching genius.
Thielbahr had incorporated elements of the read-option and wildcat into
Crusader practices throughout that season but never ran a single play from
those formations in a game the entire year -- until the championship tilt.
Bellevue was caught completely off guard.
In 2016,
Thielbahr accepted a large pay cut to return to his hometown to succeed mentor
Satini Puailoa as head coach at Sandpoint High, in Northern Idaho. One day
later, Thielbahr changed his mind. “You build relationships with kids and
families and administrators and board members and those relationships tugged
back on me and that’s why I decided to stay (at Eastide Catholics),” he told
the Spokesman-Review at the time.
Eastside
Catholic’s brand new president is a familiar face to WSU partisans. It’s Gil
Picciotto, who spent the last decade as executive associate vice president of
the WSU Foundation and was widely known as Elson Floyd’s right-hand man.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
BELOW FROM
SEATTLE TIMES
Behind the
Byline: Assistant sports editor Stefanie Loh on the inherent drama of sports
journalism
Originally
published August 1, 2018 at 6:00 am Updated July 26, 2018 at 1:19 pm
In our
ninth edition of Behind the Byline, our interview series helping you get to
know the journalists who bring you the news, we talk to assistant sports editor
Stefanie Loh on the drama of sports journalism, being a woman of color in the
field and more.
By
Mohammed Kloub
Seattle
Times news producer
Stefanie
Loh came to the United States from Singapore to attend the University of
Oregon, and she quickly fell in love with Seattle while visiting.
Since
then, journalism has taken her to a staggering 39 states and introduced her to
countless new people, including her wife, whom Loh met while reporting a story.
But she
kept her eye on Seattle because — like her — it’s outdoorsy. It’s innovative.
And it’s gay friendly, which is important to Loh and her wife. It took her
nearly a decade to get back here, but now it’s not a city she would voluntarily
leave.
You may be
familiar with her as our Washington State University football reporter, but Loh
recently left behind her beat-writer days to take on the role of assistant
sports editor. After taking us into the journeys, victories and defeats of
countless athletes, she’s on the other side of the interview this time.
Q: What
was your first job in journalism?
My first
job was covering West Virginia football for this paper in Morgantown, West
Virginia, called The Dominion Post. I was just blanketing the country with my
résumé when I graduated because I came out of school in 2007, when there were
no journalism jobs to be had. I didn’t even really care which sport or where.
And that was the job that I got.
I always
watched football in college, but I watched as a fan. I remember starting my
first job and thinking, “Oh my god, I’m this giant fraud, I have no idea what
I’m doing.” But I learned.
I
discovered that I really, really enjoyed covering football, because there’s so
much inherent drama in the sport, both on the field and off. What really stuck
out to me was how much every single game meant. You can’t have a bad week,
because if you have a bad week, you might not be playing for the national
title, especially at the college level. So that inherent drama wrapped into
this 12-week season that we spend the rest of the year hyping just kind of
sucked me in. Football became, and still is, my favorite sport to watch and to
write about.
Q: You’ve
covered West Virginia, Penn State, San Diego State and Washington State
football. Which was your favorite?
It’s hard
to say because there’s always the good and bad of every team. I can tell you
the times I’ve just wanted to tear my hair out and just shake the coach, and I
can tell you the times I wrote a really cool story or developed a relationship
with a kid that was really meaningful. I don’t know if I can pick one.
Q: What’s
something people don’t always know or understand about your job?
This is my
pet peeve: There are people who think that if you’re a beat writer following a
team that you’re supposed to be the PR person or the cheerleader for that team,
and I hate that because that is not my job. They write you emails like, “Why
are you being so negative?” My job is to report on what’s happening with that
team, whether it’s good or bad. I don’t control the positive or negative tenor
of the news; I’m reporting the news.
Q: What is
it like to be a woman of color in journalism, and also in sports writing?
I talk to
a lot of college kids who are trying to get into journalism and the question
comes up a lot, because it is still a rarity to see women in sports, and to see
women of color in sports. For the most part, in my career, it’s only helped me,
because I approach it thinking that my different perspective gives me a
multitude of different ways to connect with people. That can be very helpful,
because I can talk to an 18-year-old football player and approach him
differently than one of my male colleagues would. I did a story on Nathan
Adrian, who was an Olympic swimmer from Bremerton, and I connected with his
parents really well because his mother is Cantonese and so am I. As a reporter,
you should be going into stories and situations trying to find ways to connect
with your subject because you want to show them you’re a person. If you show
them you’re a person, you’re going to get better stories.
Q: Is the
world of sports reporting unique compared to other kinds of news? How?
Yes and
no. Sports often gets looked upon as like the toy department because we cover
fun things, and we don’t have to deal with knocking on somebody’s door the day
after someone dies or things like that. We don’t do that frequently, but it
happens.
I think
sports is a microcosm of society, so I don’t think sports reporting is really
that different than any other sort of reporting. I think the beats are a little
more defined, because if you’re covering the Seahawks, then that’s your thing,
whereas in news, even if you’re covering technology, there can be so many different
aspects that people can swoop in and help with certain stories. But with
sports, you’re really given the chance to own something and turn that beat into
what you want to make of it. That is a very valuable thing, but it can also be
a very life-sucking thing because you get married to your beat and sports
happen at all hours of the day.
Q: What
does going from reporting to editing mean to you?
It took me
a while to wrap my head around the change because I’ve spent the past three
years cultivating WSU football as my beat and getting to know all the main
characters and I felt like I was finally at a good place. If something
happened, I would know who to call and how to dig out a story, and it was hard
to give that up.
But I was
sort of at the point where I was looking for a different challenge and trying
to figure out what to do next. I didn’t feel ready to give up journalism
because it’s this horribly addictive thing, but I thought it would be
interesting to do it from a bigger-picture point of view to help plan what we
cover, the direction we drive the section, the kinds of stories we tell and how
we do that.
Q: Who is
another journalist in the newsroom whose work you admire? Why?
Probably
[food writer] Bethany Jean Clement. She always makes me want to go eat. I don’t
always agree with her, but she’s always entertaining, and I love the fact that
she takes food writing and turns it into this work of art on its own. She just
has this flair for telling stories about food that goes beyond your typical
restaurant review.
(Editor’s
note: Want to get to know Bethany better? Check out our Behind the Byline
interview with her and Tan Vinh.)
NOTABLE
STORIES BY STEFANIE LOH
Megan
Rapinoe of Seattle Reign FC, left, and Sue Bird of the Seattle Storm are the
new power couple of the Seattle sports world, each with a long list of national
and international accolades to their name. (Bettina Hansen / The Seattle Times)
Meet
Seattle sports’ newest power couple: Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe
Since Sue
Bird revealed that she’s dating Megan Rapinoe, the two Seattle sports stars
have become an iconic couple within the LGBTQ community. Here’s a glimpse at
what life is like for them. (June 22, 2018)
Leader of
the Pac: How WSU’s Luke Falk defied the odds to become a Cougar legend
Even as
records fell left and right and the Cougars piled up W’s, senior year didn’t go
as smoothly as Falk had hoped. Perhaps that’s to be expected, as he has had to
fight for every shred of success he’s enjoyed. (November 20, 2017)
Seattle
Seahawks cornerback Shaquill Griffin, left, talks with his brother, Central
Florida linebacker Shaquem Griffin before Seattle’s game at Jacksonville last
season. (Phelan M. Ebenhack/The Associated Press)
‘Us
against anybody’: Inside the bond between twin brothers Shaquill and Shaquem
Griffin
With
Shaquill, the Seahawks’ third-round pick, locking down the starting right
cornerback job in Seattle, and Shaquem coming off the best and final season of
his college career, both Griffin brothers are thriving despite being apart from
each other for the first time in their lives. (December 29, 2017)
Harrison
Maurus of Auburn has made a meteoric rise in weightlifting. (Dean Rutz/The
Seattle Times)
South of
Seattle, a weightlifting prodigy has his sights on the 2020 Olympics
Last
December, 18-year-old Harrison Maurus of Auburn became the first American man
in 20 years to medal at the International Weightlifting Federation World
Championships. His meteoric rise could end in gold. (May 4, 2018)
::::::::::
College
football’s TV gravy train is slowing down. It’s time to put the focus on fans.
For the
last two decades, it’s been all about TV. That looks to be changing, and if
teams are smart, actual fans will be better off.
By Matt Brown Coug Center Jul 26, 2018, 10:04am EDT
Right now,
college football is the most financially successful it has ever been. But if
the schools aren’t careful, their entire operation could fall apart.
College
sports’ relentless focus on TV money has given fans lots of stuff they never
asked for and, in many cases, don’t want.
The Big
Ten’s desire to reach the New York TV market gave fans Rutgers, which has
gotten drubbed in almost every sport. An obsession with ratings gave them
Friday night games, which fans and coaches hated.
Elsewhere,
it’s led football teams to play weekday games, which has led to class
cancelations. That’s just at rich, powerful schools.
For
everybody else, the TV gods have been even more demanding. The MAC didn’t play
a single Saturday conference game in November. It’s pushed the Mountain West to
play tons of late games, a source of frustration.
In leagues
big and small, TV has forced athletes to travel long distances, sometimes on
short turnarounds and school nights.
The money
doesn’t always do much for fans.
Programs
aren’t likely to add new sports like lacrosse or hockey. At the lower levels, cutting
sports is more likely, as New Mexico’s doing right now. Across college
football, attendance is down, but tickets aren’t getting appreciably cheaper.
If tickets, food, and parking are expensive, start times are inconvenient, and
games feature opponents fans don’t care about, what’s keeping fans engaged?
In the Big
Ten, a TV mega-deal with ESPN and Fox has pushed school distributions above $50
million a year. At the conference’s media days, I asked commissioner Jim Delany
how that windfall has benefitted fans. His response:
It allows
for the development of venues, academic support, psychological support, travel.
So if you’re a fan of a Big Ten institution, typically fans support not only
football and basketball but to a lesser extent Olympic and other sports ... I
think it allows us to recruit nationally. It allows us to have financial aid
packages to the maximum allowed by NCAA. It allows us to have the broadest base
programs in the country. We have nearly 10,000 students participating and $250
billion of financial aid.
So it
simply allows for a platform that provides high-quality educational and
athletic opportunities. They’re really unequalled among the major conferences
in the country. Without those resources, we’d be unable to have a presentation
and an opportunity set that I just described.
That’s a
fair answer. The Big Ten has a lot of sports and a lot of things to spend money
on.
But the
Big Ten was also able to sponsor those sports, often at competitive levels,
when school payouts were in the high $30 millions.
The No. 1
constituency for a league should be its players, but it’s hard to see how any
of those investments directly benefit the fans — especially if they don’t watch
Olympic sports.
Here’s the
thing, though: Someday, massive TV money should start to dry up.
Before
cord-cutting became a viable option, if you wanted to watch your team, you
needed cable. That high demand meant ESPN, Fox, and conferences like the Big
Ten could bundle their channels into every basic package, pocket a fee, and
make money whether you watched or not.
It was one
of the biggest reasons the Big Ten added Rutgers and Maryland. After all, if
you could get BTN on every cable package in Big Ten territory, then adding
markets like New York, Baltimore, and Washington D.C. would mean even more
money.
Now,
cord-cutting is an option. Ratings for sports networks aren’t always excellent
in the first place — only so many people need to watch Eastern
Illinois-Arkansas in Week 1 on SEC Network — and consumers are dropping cable
in droves. Conference USA’s TV revenue is way down. Comcast is poised to drop
the Big Ten Network from basic cable packages over a fees dispute. If it can
happen to the Big Ten, it can happen to anyone.
Maybe
conferences will find new partners to stream their games. That’s possible, but
unless a conference is able to, say, boost every Netflix’s subscriber’s fee by
$2 a month to include Michigan games, the gravy train won’t continue
uninterrupted.
Making
matters worse, lots of athletic departments struggle with financial management
even in the best times. Tons of schools across the country are facing huge
athletic deficits, and that’s in a system in which players aren’t paid.
If TV
money drops from “ludicrous” to simply “lots,” the Ohio States and Alabamas
will be fine. Plenty of other schools will get around a loss in TV money by
planning carefully. But not everyone will.
One way to
plan for the future is to think about fans for a change.
College
fandom is different than pro fandom. College fans are more likely to stay
engaged through tailgating, by connecting with old friends, and by rooting for
(or against) teams they have history with. They want start times that can
accommodate traveling to and from the stadium, without ruining tomorrow’s
workday or school night. They want to be able to buy a hot dog and a soda for
their kids without having to file a FAFSA.
It’s
important for leagues to get this right now, even if it means a short-term
revenue hit. College students, with lots of debt and lots of things competing
for their time, have easy reasons to back away from their schools’ sports.
Those students will then become 30-somethings, with less disposable income than
30-somethings used to have.
Athletic
departments need to make it easier, not harder, for fans young and old to love
their teams. You don’t do that with schedules so bloated that a student might
not get to see a conference football opponent his entire time on campus. You
don’t do it by charging 60 bucks a ticket for a game against a lower-level
team, forcing your best game to be on a Friday or super late at night, or
loading your non-conference schedule with paycheck games.
Making
these changes might require someone to be the bad guy, but it’ll make programs
stronger in the long run.
An AD
might get crushed for slowing down coach salaries or falling behind peers in an
arms race. But if that’s what schools need to do, that’s what needs to happen.
Spending a gazillion dollars probably won’t improve recruiting enough to take
your team to the promised land anyway, unless those gazillion dollars goes into
the uh, bagman fund.
There’s
enough money in college sports to prepare for the future.
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