So a lot of you make contact with me and I wish there was a
way to start a convo board on the blog so people could more easily share with
the rest of the collective. I like
hearing others opinions on stuff and the insight educates us all and makes us
better sports fans….er, slappies!!!
A
couple of recent E-mails:
Can
you believe Bama is going to pay Nick Satan $11M ANNUALLY for the next 7
years? Is that INSANE? Is ANY COACH worth that much? I mean, how much is Belechik making
anyway? This is crazy. Do you see Michigan or ANYONE ELSE keeping up
with that???
If there’s one thing the Ole MMQ has learned in life and business: Anyone is worth whatever another person or
group of people are willing to pay to have that individual around. You can’t blame Satan. He’s happy to take that cash, trust me. In the case of Bama Football and their never
ending desire for National Titles, the Bama collective seems to believe that Satan’s
$11M annual price tag is a bargain. Even though I don’t think anyone
was lining up to match that offer to lure Satan away from Bama. And I really
don’t think Nick will last another 7 seasons.
He’s going to want to enjoy some of that cash and he’s perfect for
TV. So it looks like he’s getting an
“Early Retirement” bonus from Bama. And
Bama just likes screwing with everyone else in the SEC to keep things
interesting….
But, to put it into some sort of context: That’s $733,333.33 per GAME assuming Bama
makes the CFP Title Game (that’s 12 regular season, SEC Championship, CFP Semi
and Title Game for a total of 15 games).
If Bama only plays 13 games (assuming the regular season and a bowl
game) it’s $846,153. Given that
more than HALF of the D1 Football coaches out there don’t make that much in a
SINGLE SEASON is more or less enough evidence that Bama is paying quite
a premium to keep Nicky Satan around.
And Belechick is only making $8M annually and coaches a boatload
more games. So, yeah, Bama is paying a hefty
price that I don’t think they need to pay as I can’t think of anyone else that
could even begin to approach that number…with the exception of maybe the Domers
if they’d actually have Satan as a coach.
Go
Figure….
And no, I don’t think Michigan will increase Jimmy’s salary
to keep him around. This fan wouldn’t
like that and the ticket prices are high enough as it is. And Jimmy hasn’t won a national title yet,
either. Start bringing home some
hardware, any hardware, and we’ll talk.
Another observation:
IS this the beginning of the end of the College football peak? When you start seeing salaries like that,
it’s a logical question to ask. Things
can only go up so high until they come down.
That’s a fact. I have to believe
most Universities Presidents and Board of Regents are looking at that and
saying, “Enough!! College Athletics don’t
warrant those kinds of salaries.”
35
underclassmen didn’t get drafted after opting out of their final season of
college. Why doesn’t football do the
same thing as hoops and let the kids back for their last year of eligibility? And what if these kids don’t sign? CFL time?
Good question. And
once again, the NCAA and the NFL could care less about the individual and only
care about making money. Essentially,
you have to declare in January for the NFL draft, the longest “declaration
period” of any of the sports. Basketball
and college Baseball can declare, not get drafted, and as long as you haven’t
signed with an agent, you keep your amateur status and can go back to your
team. I actually think you can get
drafted in baseball, elect not to sign with the team that drafted you, and
still play college baseball. In
football, because National Signing Day is after the day you declare for the draft but
before the NFL draft – the student athlete is more or less
screwed. Coaches have signed the players
spot away with new recruits and they couldn’t go back even if they wanted to.
As far as kids not signing:
If they don’t sign with an NFL team, the CFL and NFL Europe are
waiting. I’ve also read about and seen
debates on an NFL Development League that would start 2 or 3 weeks right after the
draft. The NFL would own all the
teams and each city with an NFL franchise today gets a development team. The Kicker is they are set up like AAU
Football: 7 on 7 with no pads or
helmets. Less chance of injury as a
result. The league would pay players a
minimum and pay bonuses for team victories. The league would have games right
up to the middle – end of July when NFL pre-season begins. It would be a way for teams to see some of
the talent that might be available and also let talent in that couldn’t, for
whatever reason, play in college. Why this isn’t happening is that the NFL is
afraid they would lose money with this type of arrangement. I’m thinking the head of NFL marketing and
finance don’t have a brain between them as this would be a watchable LIVE
product on the NFL Network that has too many talking heads and too many
re-runs of boring NFL games.
I
agree with you about Jake Butt being an example of not playing in the bowl,
especially if it doesn’t mean anything.
Look at Peppers. Didn’t play and
went in the 1st Round! Do you
think more coaches will sit their starters in meaningless bowl games as a way
to show future recruits that they care about their NFL futures?
That’s actually an interesting observation. In meaningless bowls, where a coach would
probably like to get a read on their underclassmen anyway, it could make a lot
of sense for coaches to bench their High-Potential Early Round Draft players in
favor of playing younger players.
And future recruits would take notice and think, “Hey, this dude doesn’t
care about his bowl record or his bowl bonus as much as he cares about the
players he’s coached for 4 years. That’s
a statement!” But the question
remains: Is it fair to your team mates
to sit out of a game they’d like to win?
If I was on the team with a high potential playing in a meaningless
game, I wouldn’t have a problem with the High-Pot sitting. Just saying.
I, personally, would feel a lot worse for Jake Butt losing all that
dough and losing the game, too.
CBS
Sports Top 25 - Thoughts on Harbaugh @ #5? Why isn’t fleck on here?!?!
Here’s the link to the article….
CBS ranked all 65 Power 5 Football coaches and I’ve listed
them here through 35 (to answer the PJ Fleck Question):
1. Nick Saban
2. Urban
Mayer
3. Dabo
Swinnney
4. Jimbo
Fisher
5. Jim
Harbaugh
6. Bob
Stoops
7. Chris
Petersen
8. David Shaw
9. Bill
Snyder
10. Gary Patterson
11. Mark
Dantonio
12. Mike
Gundy
13. Bobby
Petrino
14. Kyle Wittingham
15. Mark
Richt
16. Pat
Fitzgerald
17. David Cutcliffe
18. James Franklin
19. Gus Malzhan
20. Kirk Ferentz
21. Dan
Mullen
22. Brian
Kelly
23. Jim
McElwain
24. Paul
Johnson
25. Mike
Leach
26. Larry
Fedora
27. Brett
Bielema
28. Tom
Herman
29. Paul Chryst
30. Mike
MacIntyre
31. Wille
Taggart
32. Bronco
Mendenhall
33. Hugh
Freeze
34. Justin
Fuente
35. PJ Fleck
My thoughts on Harbaugh at #5 are that he’s ranked right
about where he should be ranked, for now.
Let’s face reality:
Harbaugh hasn’t won anything yet.
That’s a fact that comes up in every discussion. In fact, 3rd place East is about
the best Michigan has done under Jimmy.
Granted, he’s only in his 3rd season and some claim there was
a lot of re-building to be done, but I feel he had the necessary tools in his
hands last season (and even 2015) to at least win the B1G. And I think some noise could have been made last
year in the CFP, also. The
Agonizing Facts: Michigan was 5
lousy points (and two 1st Downs) away from an undefeated season
(assuming they win the B1G Title in Indy) and a CFP berth. That’s gotta’ be worth something.
With respect to other names on the list, Why don’t we have
the MMQ Rank them as HE sees it and then perhaps a short discussion as to why I
move anyone up or down. I’ll state now
that my criteria will be
1. Success.
2. Potential for success.
3. Longevity
4. POTENTIAL for Longevity.
5. Anything else I make up as I go along…
The MMQ’s Top 35 Football Coaches in Power 5 Conferences:
1. Saban
- Urban Mayer (tie)
2. Dabo
Swinnney
3. Jim
Harbaugh (5)
4. Jimbo
Fisher
5. Chris
Petersen
6. David Shaw
7. Gary
Patterson
8. Mike
Gundy
9. Bobby
Petrino
10. Bob
Stoops (6) – I’d rather have anyone below Stoops at 6 to this point right here
11. Jim
McElwain (23) – I’d much rather have him over everyone up to Stoops
12. Kyle Wittingham
13. James
Franklin (18)
14. PJ
Fleck (35) – This is how highly I regard PJ Fleck. But he could drop from here.
15. Tom
Herman (28) - Ditto
16. Mark
Richt (15)
17. Pat
Fitzgerald (16)
18. Paul Chryst
(29) – Considered moving him up a little higher as I think Wiscy is going to be
back…
19. Kirk
Ferentz
20. Justin
Fuente (35)
21. Mark
Dantonio (10)
22. Dan
Mullen
23. Wille
Taggart (31)
24. David Cutcliffe
(17)
25. Hugh
Freeze (33)
26. Bill
Snyder (9)
27. Brian
Kelly (22)
28. Paul
Johnson
29. Mike
Leach
30. Larry
Fedora
31. Brett
Bielema
32. Gus
Malzhan (19)
33. Mike
MacIntyre
34. Bronco
Mendenhall
So, there’s my ranking for 2017. Again, this could change after a couple of
seasons. Quick observations: It should be clear, if I was an AD for any
team besides Michigan, that I’d take a
healthy Urban Mayer or Satan if you put a gun to my head – I wouldn’t like it
very much, mind you, but yes, I guess I’d have to take them. Dabo I left in the next spot as he’s been
doing it for a couple of seasons and won a NC, so yeah, I might look long and
hard at taking Dabo, but ONLY KNOWING WHAT I KNOW NOW! I hope that makes sense. At the same point in their careers, I would
take Harbaugh over Swinney. Harbaugh can
easily surpass Swinney if he’d just win…well, anything. Division, Conference, NC. Whatever.
And it would appear that I hate old guys (Bill Snyder being highest
ranked old guy that dropped from 9 on the CBS list to 26 on my list) and I hate
primarily run-oriented coaches. Surprise,
surprise. I’d much rather have a
youthful ability and a future to look forward to rather than have a guy around
for a few more years knowing that I’m going to be looking for a head coach
soon. My highest move was PJ Fleck, who
moved up from 35 to 14. And for good
reason. I think he’s the real
deal. Time of course will tell, but
again, I’d rather have Fleck over everyone BELOW HIM. One of the larger drop downs, for good
reason, was Dantonio. Questionable team
and player character coupled with a disaster 3-9 season will, I think,
become more of the norm in East Lansing at this point with the true Power
Schools in the B1G East getting measurably better Head Coaches (Harbaugh,
Mayer, Franklin, Durkin). Dantonio
will keep sliding down this list for awhile. Ditto for Malzhan. I have Gus on the Hot Seat in Auburn
and with Les Miles waiting in the wings with his knowledge of the SEC, well,
that’s going to be a fun story to watch unfold.
I wanted to drop B. Kelly
further, but when I got to the Johnson – Leach – Fedora trio, I
found it difficult. I wanted to move
Fedora up, but I literally got as far as the Pirate (Leach) and figure I’d
rather have him than Fedora. Harbaugh
disciple Taggart is a logical move up and will probably continue to climb up on
the list. I will review from time to
time for relative ranking.
Biggest surprise not in the Top 35? Kirby Smart….Gotta be. That’s kind of a shocker, but after what he’s
done in Georgia (nothing) I’m starting to think there’s just clones of Satan
running around doing everyone’s job…
Some Texts
The
Bears are idiots…
Totally agree.
Trading up to the two spot had to be the dumbest move in the NFL draft
this season. There’s been worse
blunders, but that one takes the cake.
Drafting a QB that played a total of 1 season in college and thinking
you’re going to turn him into a starter in the NFL has to be some form of
insanity. I’m not sure what happens in
those draft war rooms and what kind of group think begins…but clearly it
happens.
Didn’t
see Taco going that high (in the draft)!!!
I kind of did, but didn’t.
What I thought was that Charlton was probably a GREAT 2nd or 3rd
round value pick and I was really hoping the Lions would have a shot at
him with their 2nd round pick.
Regardless, Dallas was smart grabbing him in the 1st. Upside potential all the way with Taco….
Lot’s
of Michigan guys going high in the draft.
I didn’t think that would happen…
Then you haven’t been paying attention. The NFL knows that both Satan and Harbaugh
have been to the Show and know what it takes to develop a kid and get them
ready for that level. There’s value in
having an NFL coach back at the collegiate level working with guys for 4
years. I truly believe that plays into
it. Not to mention that there’s probably
some background communication happening on some of these guys….
Tweets
and Social Media
This is one more reason why you shouldn’t drink:
That’s a Michigan Man and loyal reader wearing the WRONG
COLORS. Booze will do strange
things to people….Maybe stop with the two fisted drinking?
