Stone

“legally off limits” – there is no such thing anymore (if there ever really was). Every team that wants a recruit continues to recruit him on a mission. Hell, teams recruit players that are actively playing for another team. It doesn’t matter. It is pointless to complain about such stuff – if a player wants to go somewhere else, they will go…[Read more]

It is not just a old white religious guy thing. There are credible arguments to restrict it that have nothing to do with one’s skin pigmentation, age, or religion.

Anecdotally, I have seen it mess up multiple people. But I have seen it do nothing negative to others. My point is there are definitely potential negative consequences to it. And not…[Read more]

Tampering? I am sorry, but the semblance of any structure or rules to transfers and NIL is nearly nonexistent. It is naive to think there is any real boundary at this point. The NCAA has no control over it. Players and teams can talk to whomever they want whenever they want.

If a kid goes to another school, it is going to happen. Who cares when…[Read more]

There is no going back. Frankly, the idea of investors purchasing teams is probably the best path forward, if it leads to a super-conference that is NFL-lite.

Same here (regarding MLB)! I used to scour over the box scores in the newspaper, knew stats of many players, watched the standings and games religiously. Then free agency happened. Then the strike happened. Then my interest died, almost completely. Maybe it was for the best, as I devoted way too much time to it.

The same has happened to me with…[Read more]

I think the only hope is for a super-conference to form that becomes a de facto professional league. It would then have some rules about contracts, salaries, etc. The current model is wholly unsustainable. NIL is the death of college football as we knew it…hopefully, it is not the death of college football altogether.

Yes, I fear your feelings are shared by many (including me). If things are not reigned-in in a balanced way, I think a lot of fans are going to turn the whole thing off.

Agreed. NIL is the wild west. There are no real rules. It is a mess, and it is going to kill the sport. The beauty of college football (in my opinion) has been getting to know the players, see them develop, and cheer for the alma mater. I liked that the players were trying to play their way to the next level and a paycheck.

I LOVED Utah…[Read more]

I am a Utah fan. Have been my whole life–including many rough decades. Also, I am not a fan of NIL. I am not a defender of the system. Just a defender of fairness within the system (despite its flaws).

My gripe is people calling out another school for doing the very thing our school is doing (and, frankly, wish we could do better).

Yes, BYU…[Read more]

Totally agree that NIL is a joke. I am no defender of the system. It is laughable that it is under the auspices of name, image, likeness–none of the money being paid is actually tied to that. Like you said, we are not seeing ads with these players. It is straight up bribes. I think it has made a mess of things. I would rather see players become…[Read more]

The principle of whether an institution sticks to its mission is the same, no matter the mission. You are picking and choosing which missions need to be adhered to and which do not.

But, regardless, I am not of the opinion that allowing a booster to make a private contract with a student at the school is contrary to ANY school’s mission.…[Read more]

I will add that it is possible for ANY university, public or private to benefit from NIL. All it takes is a booster that has plenty of money and is willing to put it toward the school’s athletic success. That is the crazy thing about NIL. A billionaire, such as Phil Knight or Ryan Smith, can offer huge sums to recruits and completely transform and…[Read more]

Is it your position that all Utah boosters should donate to more worthy causes than Utah athletics? The University of Utah’s mission is to educate, not pay people to bounce and throw a ball through a hoop. So is the University of Utah hypocritical to allow boosters to sponsor recruits?

Who decides what is a “worthy cause”? Is every non-essential…[Read more]

I would support this approach. Make it minor league NFL.

Then let college sports be students that play sports. Instead of athletes that got to class (sometimes).

I totally agree that there is no real monetization. The “investment” by a booster in NIL is one with extremely limited (if any) financial returns for the booster. It is essentially a hobby for the booster. But that has largely always been the case. There is no real financial return to donate large sums to an athletic department or buy a box seat.…[Read more]

But how exactly is Clark hypocritical? Has he stated that he supports Ryan Smith sponsoring an athlete? Does he have the ability to prohibit Ryan Smith from paying an athlete? Also, how are BYU fans hypocritical in this? For supporting a booster paying an athlete to go to the school they support? Did they collectively say that they would never…[Read more]

Look, I understand the gripe. But is Clark Gilbert paying the athlete? Is the athletic department paying the athlete? If Nike wants to pay a guy to sign with Oregon, does the Oregon Athletic Director get to void that contract? What is Clark Gilbert’s role in deciding whether a booster can pay an athlete? The whole point of NIL is that players get…[Read more]

I do not think anyone is disputing that New Mexico played weaker competition than P4 conferences. But all four of the OCs that were being considered (Washington State, Texas State, UNLV, and New Mexico) are all at that same lower level (New Mexico was essentially in the same conference as Washington State and UNLV). So the critique would apply…[Read more]

Arbuckle was head of the 22nd ranked offense last year.
Leftwich was head of the 6th ranked offense last year.
Beck was head of the 4th ranked offense last year.

Beck has more experience at the FBS level than either of those other guys. Spent many years in ACC at Virginia and then at Syracuse. I recognize Arbuckle and Leftwich were hotter…[Read more]

It is almost as if it has very little to do with the OC or even the Head Coach (in terms of schemes and approach), and almost entirely dependent on the QB. We can certainly blame the lack of a good QB on the coaches (recruiting/development), but based on those numbers above, it seems like the play-calling and schemes are far less important that…[Read more]