starts in an hour!
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So if Iām reading this right the good feet guy thinks we need to give lambos to OL transfers to fix football and also he wrote some other words
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Best part is right at the very end he tagged Ball Hawk
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I liked the part where he said āitās bad if your QB gets sacked a lot.ā I agree!
Also, you canāt really mention SMUās finances without mentioning the fortune of placing oneās university near where a bunch of dead dinosaurs decomposed.
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On further consideration I think this was just an āIām a big supporter and Iām pissed and I want changeā post masquerading as a list of suggestions. Iām marking it in the āmore noise around the ADā column.
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I have a lot of respect for him and I truly appreciate what heās done for the program and the continued support.
But(here it comes), heres what I truly hate and scares me about the NIL era. Outside influencers now speak with authority and weild power within the program.
Heās a minor local celebrity and I use that term loosely. His financial contributions are significant but again this aināt Dave Portnoy buying a qb for Michigan levels of financial influence. Or what Mark Cuban had done for IU.
Sometimes you need to understand your place sit back and enjoy the ride even when it sucks.
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I think it is meaningful that our very visible NIL benefactor started his spiel with āI left Scott Stadium yesterday as an unhappy customer.ā That is the kind of thing that should raise some red flags even if he is just bloviating a little.
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Not sure how this genie goes back into the bottle. Even once the revenue sharing model is in place for funds to come directly from the schools, I imagine the schools are still gonna want/need the funds that the collectives and individual boosters currently supply?
I dunno, I canāt say I understand at a particularly deep level how the funds flow actually works, especially when it comes to the relationship between VAF-like organizations and collectives.
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Agreed Iām not saying their shouldnāt be concern. Anyone whoās watched the last few weeks can see that.
But multiple things can be true. And at rhe end of the day heās not a typical paying customer and he certainly sees himself as more than that. His words carry weight for better or for worst.
@AdventiveQuasar im with you I dont wver see a world where we remove this sort of influence over schools. They will meed the continued support of these mega donars and one thing Iāve learned is life is power is rarely returned willingly after someone gets to experience it.
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Itās easy to be cynical and dismissive about comments like this. But he wasnāt just bitching about how bad things are. He expressed his views as an entrepreneur and business guy in terms of the big picture moving forward. I think what he says make a lot of sense.
The academic types at U.Va. no doubt would be clutching their pearls if Ryan or Carla said these things out loud. But the reality is that U.Va. writ large is in many ways resting on its increasingly stale laurels while other more aggressive universities are trying to push schools like U.Va. aside. Like it or not, unless you are an academic superpower (which U.Va. is not), sports are part of the equation. Many SEC schools are using their successful sports programs to attract more qualified applicants.
Maybe Cotten didnāt say anything that our leadership doesnāt already know. But I have yet to see evidence of that. I would love to see someone with the same kind of attitude be the next AD.
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Is this really a symptom of the NIL era or just a symptom of the social media era? Big donors have always wielded power within the administration, athletic or otherwise. Iām sure that it has increased with NIL, and NIL is the only reason I have any idea who this dude is, but I also think the big money guys 20 years ago pre NIL wouldāve made their concerns known somehow but just didnāt have twitter accounts for the rest of us to read.
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Very good point.
I think the social media aspect plays in with the size of the donor being heard. Primarly the big guys who move the needle still are off of social and make their voices heard in person.
But I think social given that small major donor a voice they didnāt have
From what Iāve heard, Iām not even sure how significant his contributions are. At least to the NIL space. That said I think he does make some decent points, especially about blaming customers (fans) for not showing up.
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100% this. Better sports = bigger brand = more money and more applicants = also money invested into school etc. etc.
UVA has stagnated academically as you have said, and the state of the basketball and football program right at the time where UVAās fate in one of the two emerging super conferences is about to be determined disheartening to say the least. Right now we are just hoping either conference wants to tap in further into the DMV and Virginia markets.
Vandy Michigan UNC Cal Stanford etc. etc. show the excuse of academics isnāt a valid one. It is a constraint for sure, but not an excuse to not even be remotely competitive in those revenue spaces. And itās not just hiring a big name who can buy players, but an established head coach with a strong culture and strong identity.
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Larry Ellisonās significant other is actually their big fish. As long as she has him hooked on Michigan football they will be top dog in NIL
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Right my point in calling out Portnoy is he has arguably the biggest microphone of any donor anywhere his word can out reach his dollars. The Good Feet guy is a large donor but heās not in our top level and at best heās a local celeb with a moderate microphone.
While what he said may be true i become leery of him wilding his power
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1mn to each team. Extra 500k to Oregon for winning
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Crazy to think of colleges possibly selling pieces of their sports teams.
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I hate it.
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lmao college sports are dead dead. Just like everything on this dying planet
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