Kiyoat Husker

Things change. College football has changed to the point of no return. Some things suck, like not playing Oklahoma after Thanksgiving. Some things are far better, like a playoff versus the #1 and #2 teams playing in different bowls. Just be glad we are in the B1G and no longer under Bevo's Thumb.

Today FSU submitted their plan to the Big Ten to upgrade their academics and get to AAU status within 5 years.

 

 

I'm starting to think this may come about.

I think FSU would be huge, and when packaged with UVA, UNC, and GIT would make a nice "Eastern Division" of some kind. We could go head-to-head with the SEC in several new markets and own DC. Assuming the SEC and Big 12 would compete for the rest of the ACC. Nice scenario for ND. Armageddon.

interesting developments/rumors. So IF Virginia, GA Tech, and FSU are all prospecting towards the B1G, that would put pressure on UNC or maybe even ND to get on board? Sounds a lot like the Texas/Big 12 implosion. Some of the major players left, some stayed, and you are left with a smaller, less powerful conference that is overpaid by ESPN just to exist outside of the superconferences. We can only hope.

I hope they use this one:

56th-ranked band? No wonder the AAU dropped us. Even newcomers Maryland and Rutgers have us beat. Ouch.

fixed the endowments list to add "system-wide" to several of the schools (including Nebraska). Not exactly apples-to apples, but however you slice it Bevo brings a massive endowment to go along with its massive Athletic budget and massive ego. To be clear, TAMU has its own separate system of Universities, and Cal is also listed as a system-wide entry. They just split the Regent money from the foundation money with Cal(whatever the h@ll that means)

Let me know if you think of another way I can rank these schools .....

... (setting up a joke)...

Football win percent 1992-2012

Ohio State 1

Florida State 3

Nebraska 4

Texas 6

Michigan 11

Wisconsin 14

Notre Dame 23

Boston College 31

Georgia Tech 33

Iowa 35

Virginia 36

Michigan State 45

Syracuse 48

North Carolina 50

Missouri 55

Purdue 60

Northwestern 63

Pittsburgh 65

Maryland 68

Penn State 75

Kansas 76

Rutgers 78

Minnesota 82

Illinois 85

Indiana 95

Vanderbilt 98

Duke 105

UConn not included because of the timeline.

This one is Ranking out of all the 120 schools, so Duke and Vandy really are that bad.

Penn State seems like it should be higher, not sure what is going on there.

I couldn't find a good resource for ranking the schools on basketball, but I guess that is only really a factor for a handful of BB Revenue-producing schools like Duke Kansas and UNC.

Athletic Dept Revenue 2012:

(private schools did not report)

Duke private

Northwestern private

Notre Dame private

Vanderbilt private

Boston College private

Pittsburgh private

Syracuse private

Texas 150

Ohio State 132

Michigan 123

Penn State 116

Wisconsin 96

Iowa 93

Michigan State 85

Nebraska 84

Minnesota 79

Virginia 78

Illinois 78

Florida State 78

North Carolina 76

Kansas 75

Indiana 71

Purdue 66

Missouri 64

Connecticut 63

Maryland 62

Rutgers 60

Georgia Tech 54

Georgia Tech was a suprise to me here. They must be a smaller university, but I thought they had more fan support.

Would be nice to get the private school data. I am assuming ND has a big budget.

Size of Endowment in 2012 (in billions)

Texas 18.26 (system-wide)

Michigan 7.69

Northwestern 7.12

Notre Dame 6.33

Duke 5.55

Virginia 4.79

Vanderbilt 3.4

Pittsburgh 2.62

Minnesota 2.49

Ohio State 2.37

North Carolina 2.18

Purdue 1.92 (system-wide)

Wisconsin 1.81

Penn State 1.78

Illinois 1.67 (system-wide)

Boston College 1.65

Georgia Tech 1.61

Indiana 1.58 (system-wide)

Michigan State 1.41

Nebraska 1.22 (system-wide)

Kansas 1.18 (system-wide)

Missouri 1.17 (system-wide)

Syracuse

Maryland

Connecticut

Rutgers

Iowa

Florida State

The ones at the bottom had less than a billion in endowments, and didn't appear on the list I used (Wikipedia)

I was curious how the expansion schools compared to the existing B1G in a number of categories, so I looked it up and put it into a spreadsheet. I realize that there are numerous factors that make a school desirable or feasible that cannot be itemized on a list, but there are some interesting facts on these lists:

University Ranking by US World News 2013:

Duke 8

Northwestern 12

Notre Dame 17

Vanderbilt 17

Virginia 24

Michigan 29

North Carolina 30

Boston College 31

Georgia Tech 36

Wisconsin 41

Texas 46

Penn State 46

Illinois 46

Ohio State 56

Syracuse 58

Maryland 58

Pittsburgh 58

Connecticut 63

Purdue 65

Rutgers 68

Minnesota 68

Iowa 72

Michigan State 72

Indiana 83

Florida State 97

Missouri 97

Nebraska 101

Kansas 106

Also keep in mind that this ranking includes many schools outside of the 120 FBS Football schools, so a ranking of 101 is not terrible, although I hope Nebraska improves on this as we transition to the B1G.

I'm not sure of all the metrics they used for this ranking, but I think ACT/SAT scores, quality of faculty, academic reputation, research profile, stuff like that. The webpage may say more about it:

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities

What is nice is the local Iowa fans have really shut up the last two years.

True.

It was starting to get a little annoying. Now their kids can be raised right.

The kids will go from this:

To this:

So . . . _______ are all the bodies buried yet?

Just about...

Blaming the state of Florida for the failure of hand-selected and groomed recruits is asinine. If anything this article points to a failure of identifying talent that fits your system, or a failure to develop that talent. This IS a little odd with a well-established program like Ferentz's. It seems like he has shown an ability to develop talent that fits what he does, so I guess I would put the blame on recruiting decisions and targets.

Maybe they need better recruiters on staff. Either way it is going to be a while until they are strong again.

Looks like the Hero's Trophy is going to keep looking brand-new in our display case. Another (yawn) new rivalry that doesn't measure up to NU-OU.

From the mailbag:

"The America 12 is an awesome choice for a name! - Sincerely, Legends & Leaders"

"America 12 makes no sense! The conference will have ten teams for a couple of years, and then maybe go to twelve. Get your math straight Big East! - Sincerely, The Big 12 and the Big 10

America 12 is pretty generic as to region. A lot like Conference USA. Reading between the lines:

"we expect to lose and gain teams continuously, so we thought it best not to be too specific with the name"

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/9031167/catholic-7-leaving-big-east-june-30

Date now officially June 30 - Catholic 7 will be keeping Big East name and Madison Square Gardens championship- will be 10 teams (likely with Creighton) - Notre Dame will leave this summer.

Also this:

Besides coming to an agreement so Notre Dame may leave this summer, the remaining Big East membership also must determine a new name for its conference. League sources told ESPN that the America 12 Conference is the favorite to become the league's new name, but no official decision has been made. On Tuesday, Covington & Burling, the conference's law firm, purchased and registered the domain name America12.org and several other variations of America 12, according to WhoIs domain-registration data.

"We have not chosen a new conference name at this time and there are no favorites," Aresco said in a statement. "We are going through a thoughtful evaluation of potential names for our conference and will select a name in a timely manner."

 

on the name: meh

and this:

The Catholic 7 group, besides the Big East name and the right to hold its tournament in Madison Square Garden, also will receive about $10 million of an estimated $110 million in exit fees collected by the Big East the past few years, sources said.

Of the remaining $100 million, $15 million will go to lawyers' fees and consultants, sources said. That leaves about $85 million to be distributed between the remaining members and incoming members. How that money will be divided is still being determined with holdovers Connecticut, Cincinnati and South Florida expected to receive the biggest percentage.

 

holy schnikes. Interesting that they don't have a distribution plan. Sucks for the new "America 12" members

The problem is that athletic director DeLoss Dodds knew about Major Applewhite. He knew about Cleve Bryant and his actions. Whatever else is out there, he should have known about that, too -- that's part of his job description.

Derek A. Howard, the attorney for Kearney, has filed FOIA requests not only for the athletic department, but possibly for other employees of the university as well.

While on the surface this would seem to be a case that involves deep investigations into the personal conduct of those employed by the athletic department, Howard seems intent on making it stretch beyond Bellmont. In an interview with ESPNW, Kearney's attorney mentioned that he believes some Texas faculty may not have been held to the same standard.

This is a hunt to not only uncover every incident of sexual misconduct in the athletic department, but also within the entire university.

At a school as big as Texas, they are bound to find something.

 

The more significant issue than Applewhite, outside of whatever other poor choices members of the Texas athletic department may have made in regards to their personal conduct, is the story of former associate athletics director Cleve Bryant.

Bryant, as many may recall, was man that Mack Brown used to tell people no. One of Brown's closest confidants for years and the man who was involved in many of the day-to-day logistics involved in running the football program, Bryant also appeared to have had his own significant appetites.

He was fired in March of 2011 because of a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by a former employee of the athletic department who alleged that he had made repeated unwanted sexual advancements towards her.

The case settled out of court for $400k.

As bad as that is on the surface, the issue as it pertains to the current situation is that Bryant had managed to earn the nickname around the office of "Ol Freak Nasty," suggesting that his behavior with the former staffer was not his only transgression. In fact, two other members members of the athletic department said that they had been kissed by Bryant.

Bryant appealed his firing, but a public legal battle that like now being waged by Kearney never ensued.

The athletic department knew about his behavior and covered it up or looked the other way for some time. It's difficult to say whether the school would consider Bryant's actions similar to those of Kearney in terms of the power dynamics of the associate athletic director and athletic department staffers, but it's hard to see as much of a difference between Bryant's situation and Kearney as there was with Applewhite.

 

http://www.burntorangenation.com/2013/3/9/4083566/bev-kearney-texas-longhorns-scandal-athletic-department-cleve-bryant-deloss-dodds

ok, finally here is a more substantial explanation to what is going on down there. It certainly does not look good for Bevo.

Whoring out co-eds?

I may have to reconsider going back to school...

I wonder if the pom squad was involved...

oops, wrong forum...

So does this development change anyone's view on Michigan's potential division finish?

Do you realize the second thing you posted is fake? It was written by some random person on the Texas message board... http://www.shaggybev...partment/page14

no, I was just grasping at straws looking for whatever.

Got a little excited there, I may have been hyperventilating.

If true that the football program will be untouched that will be disappointing, but Dodds "retiring" would be satisfying to me because of the aforementioned high-stakes poker game he tried to play with TO.

http://michiganstate...exas-17342070/2

Some more plain english explanation on a MSU message board:

Doing some snooping around and piecing a few facts together, here's what I can surmise...

 

Bev Kearney, a lesbian African American track coach, was fired recently when it came out (she admitted I believe) to a sexual relationship with an athlete back in the early 2000's. After that firing it also came out that Major Applewhite had a sexual relationship (one-nighter) with a student trainer. His pay was frozen, but he was not fired. After his pay freeze he was promoted to co-OC and given a big raise. Kearney and her lawyers are upset and claiming inconsistent and discriminatory treatment in how her firing.

 

Sexual relationships between UT employees and students are not actually illegal. They are highly discouraged by the university though, and the employees are required to report them. (editorial comment - Due to the quasi-employment status of student athletes a whole host of sexual harassment laws may apply and claims could be brought if a student chose to sue the school, so the school clearly doesn't want to see this stuff go on.)

 

My educated guess here is that in preparing a legal case against UT, Kearney and her lawyer have obtained "the list" of all such reported sexual relationships either within the AD or possibly all of UT. It's not just "Kearney and Applewhite", it's bigger, messier, and much more embarrassing than that. And they're either threatening to or have leaked it and it will become public. I will also guess that UT is going to try to split hairs here in the legal department. They will claim Kearney was fired not for the relationship, but not reporting it or covering it up, and that Applewhite's relationship was reported. This sort of a legal defense of course is horrible for PR, even if it may be technically defensible. The court of public opinion will not care.

and this post:

This just posted on the Shag... (fair warning: read at your own risk)...

 

"This is the post you guys have been waiting for, i called a buddy's dad who is a 5 figure donor annually and has a lot of work connections to the big cigars.

 

back in 2010, cleve must have thought that the texas ath dept was his personal $#@!in chicken house. there were always rumors of him getting his $#@! sucked in his office, university employes saw him and grad assistant trainers out at bars, and basically everybody knew he was a $#@!ing sleazebag, but he was mack;s BFF and we were still just a year away from the NC game against bama and no one $#@!ed with mack.

 

well, $#@! hit the fan when dumbass cleve thought that he thought his $#@! didn't stink and tried to get a dyke to switch teams. yes, THAT dyke. Cleve tried to get $#@! wet from Bev. Mainly, it was innuendos in emails and the occasional univited visit to her office. Of course, she reported to deloss, powers and bellmont $#@!s. this was 2010, nobody wanted to stir up too much $#@! with Mack's BFF. fast forward 2 months, $#@! is starting to settle down and it's the beginning of summer. cleve usually held a bbq at his place for some of the head coaches, good ole boys in the AD, and bellmont big cigars every year for the past 4 or 5 years. He sends out email inviting everybody, yada yada, well, mack replies to cleve something of along the lines of, Do not try to get bev drunk or there will be hell to pay, deloss already talked to you and we agreed to keep things quiet but the next strike and you're out. Except Mack $#@!ing hit REPLY ALL. It went to Bev, deloss, barnes, powers, $#@!ing everybody now knew how $#@!ing shady deloss kept things under wrap. At this point, cleve is pissed at mack. mack stupidly thought that if cleve left town, the mack brown golden touch could smooth everything over. YEAH $#@!ING RIGHT. so mack sends cleve out to a "recruiting trip" to the east coast for a few days. the recruit was a 2 sport athlete from philadelphia. cleve had to go out to his basketball practice to try to talk to him, but a fight broke out. what did cleve do? he whistled for a cab and when it came near, the license plate said "fresh" and there were dice in the mirror. If anything he could say, that this cab was rare, but cleve though to himself "naw, forget it, yo home to bel-air!" un-$#@!ing-believable"

I also have looked at ACC message boards to garner fan opinion. Agree that most of them would prefer to stay in the conference, especially NC. There are obvious reasons, from rivalries to historical/sentimental, to travel concerns. Those that want to go to the B1G mostly just cite money and stability, or an extreme dislike for the "uneducated" SEC. So I guess that would be the "lesser of two evils" argument. In the scenario that the ACC becomes unstable, I think opinion will change, but not completely.

I get all the reasons we are targeting certain schools, but it is too bad we aren't looking hard at schools that are a better cultural fit, like Pitt, Mizzou, Syracuse, etc. Notre Dame makes the most sense, but I'm starting to think that will never happen.

 

so you are telling me that players get more benefit out of a few mop-up reps against Idaho St. than going against our #1s in practice every day?

 

yes. for one they practice against their own defense so they know more. two they watch film of team not exactly like playing against them. you can't substitute a simulation for a real game.

Interesting. I respectfully disagree.

 

Any experience is helpful so game experience is good but I find it slightly amusing how many people think playing in games is some sort of "magic bullet" that will make players better. As I said, it helps. But 15-20 reps in a couple games pales to 60-70 reps every day all year long in practice.

 

Do you think that RKIII will be the #2 QB this year because he's played in some games while Armstrong hasn't?

About the only thing I agree with Husker 99 on is that an actual game is different than a practice, and can be valuable experience. (for everyone on the team, not just backups). This also applies to a game against a MAC school, or a B1G school. The better your opponent is, the more you get out of it, so why dumb it down? If your goal is national championships, as ours should be, you shouldn't have to dumb down your schedule.

If you are good enough to start, then you get those game-time reps. If not, then you will have plenty of time and opportunity to get experience and show what you have in practice. I disagree with the idea that we NEED or are ENTITLED to a cupcake game. I think by scheduling crap teams you are cheating the team and fans more than you are helping backups.

When we are in the situation of having a game in hand, sometimes it is smart to play backups for game-time experience. It would be better to have that situation against good opponents, not FCS teams.