I'm glad he's speaking up. It's the truth. Unfortunately no one will listen. His words might carry more weight if his team wasn't opening its season against Stephen F. Austin.
I guess in some way he is correct, but what are the options? Not televise college games, go back to the single game of the week and your team can only be on TV 3 times in a 2 year period? I don't think many people want to go back to that. Should we go back to the 9 game season? That certainly would be better for the student part of the student athlete wouldn't it? Anybody want the Olympics to go back to the strictly amateur model that they used to espouse? How about a 12 game NFL schedule, and a 152 game MLB season? Should we wish that the Reds still played in Crosley Field that the Tigers still played in Tiger Stadium? I'm a little familiar with college golf for an example. American kids go to college for golf, where they are limited by NCAA rules in their practice time, their tournaments, they have to go to class make grades, etc. Europeans don't go to college, Rory quit school at 16. Have you looked at the World Golf rankings? Euro's are dominant, we are unlikely to take the Ryder Cup back. I think the same is true in futball (soccer) Euro and kids around the world are identified early and funneled into programs sort of like minor leagues, they don't play for high school soccer teama, or college soccer teams. They go pro early. Our system needs some reform for sure. The whole total cost of attending college, the guarantee that you can finish your degree whether or not you have football eligibility left or not. Lots of things can be done to make it better for the kids. But going back to the '50's isn't an option.
Terry, I'm not sure that was his point, but I don't know exactly what he was saying. Nevertheless, your commentary above is thought provoking. It made me think about how we are evolving as a society. Those thoughts brought me to where I believe the direction of college football is more of a societal issue that an attitude on the part of the schools. Per your comments above, think about where we were 20, 30, even 50 years ago as a society. Bring it down to the individual, how people's attitudes and beliefs have changed, some for the better, some not so much. I say "changed" when in reality, today's 30 and 40-somethings, those on the threshold of leadership positions throughout our institutions, were raised in a world far different from the world we 60 and 70-somethings were raised. I would suggest that, in general, our world today is more materialistic and less "principle" driven than the world in which we made our bones. Hence, Snyder's comments will elicit no more than a tsk, tsk from those who are driving the bus, who are setting the new, ever-evolving societal standards that will be judged in retrospect long after the current senior population is gone. My hope is that my children and grandchildren can adapt to the changing societal norms without losing sight of the fundamental principles that we old folks have tried to pass on. Whew! I'll step down from my soapbox by opining that Terry is correct when he essentially says that we can't turn back the clock. We can only hope that those in power don't lose sight of the basic principles upon which our institutions were built, including college sports.
I have to agree with Snyder. I used to be able to watch the Buckeyes on ABC, but not too much anymore. I still refuse to pay for cable. Heck, I may end up listening to the games like I did before TV came around! :lol: Once the big money commenced, you will never turn it around now.
I give Bill Synder a lot of credit for the job he has done in taking one of the worst programs in college football history and turning it around to be a regular member of the top 25, won several B12 titles, and came very close to supplanting ND in the 2012 title game. But while I wont do the research to compare KSU academics for their football program to Notre Dame, I'm guessing we do much better and he is well known for building his program with JUCO's. It is also well known that players are in JUCO mainly for 1 reason, they couldn't qualify academically for Div 1 football, sure there are exceptions. But by and large if you have a lot of JUCO's you probably have a lot of very marginal students who need some very easy majors to stay eligible to play. But times they are a changin'...to quote Bob Dylan. Just look what the internet has done to college recruiting. Back in the 60's I never knew very much about what players were at Notre Dame, barely knew the incoming freshmen at Texas. Now we know way too much about them, due to social media, recruiting services, etc. In fact we demand that information. The NFL, MLB, and the NBA all require coaches and players to give interviews or else after games. They know the fans want it and they won't let players not do their part to promote the league. Did you see where Kevin Durant is expected to get 30M a year for his next shoe contract? Money is everywhere.
I have to agree with Snyder in a lot of ways. I'm not sure what can be done to put the genie back in the bottle, but here we are. :?
I agree with Snyder as well. There was something neat about four bowl games, listening to a few games each year on radio, rushing to get the paper to read about your team. Waiting for the Bob Hope All-American team show. I've mentioned this book before. From pure excess to absolute depravity in today's college football.....
Like Sid, I'm not sure what Snyder's point is. I beginning to see college football having peaked as far as live crowds are concerned. Our Florida fans no longer are keen on season tickets and it seems to me that ND has been selling single game tickets on a larger scale than I remember. I may not make it to a game this year (moving has a big impact on my schedule) but the travel, traffic, and weather all have an effect on my feelings. The championship playoff games will be riveting but what happens to the other former BCS bowls? Are they still tied into conferences? Will schools still be on the hook for buying thousands of tickets if their teams are invited to bowls? Lurking in the fringes is the concussion issue. It's going to have a significant impact on the number of kids playing HS football, equipment, rules and overall fan appeal. The future of college football is cloudy at best.
:!: :idea: College football has always been controversial. There was talk over 100 years ago of banning it or having the government "intervene." It can't be stopped. Like alcohol or marijuana it's what the people want in overwhelming numbers. Anyone who tries to stop the juggernaut will become road kill...
The problem with college football is that at long last, they let the money get out in front. Temptation, corruption, fraud are all human elements that you will never be able to eradicate. There's always going to be someone cutting the edges and others trampling over lines of decency. The real problem is that the TV money was so large, that everyone literally looked the other way while college football grew into a monster that is now trampling the downtown skyline for the hell of it, and we're trying to put the thing back in a box. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's going to be tough.