This is all based on the assumption that Wilner made a while back that Cal has value because it is in the Bay Area and San Diego has value because it is a large market. The problem with this is that a large market that isn’t interested in what you’re selling isn’t worth anything.This guy suggests the Big 12 take the top 8 Pac schools and leave OSU and WSU behind. But would they all come? Would they agree to equal shares?
Realignment chess moves for conferences and schools are becoming clearer
It is hard to guess the final outcome of realignment, either in the near or long term. Will the Pac-12's current membership remain fully intact and maybe add another pair of schools, or will the Big 12 raid the Pac-12 and boost its membership? We all have opinions and…trojanswire.usatoday.com
Realignment Megathread (All The Moves)
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It’s like opening a state of Iowa fan shop in nYC. It’s a huge market! Lots of eyeballs!
I wish the best for any program/ group of programs that are funding and putting an effort into fielding teams that can compete at the highest level. Sometimes they may not be given the opportunity to play as many of the great teams they would like to play, but I applaud the devotion they have.
Yeah, I think we're getting into degrees here. It may be a large market area in terms of raw numbers, but the maximum capacity of CFB fan viewership in all forms, is low.
Even after leveraging brands, public perception of the larger markets and the media hype when the teams are doing well is deceptive...that still, at best, registers similar to the typical viewership numbers of teams in the Big12.
And good luck getting that LA and Bay area to care about off-brand college football.
It was increasingly apathetic before. Now it may crater
Media hype. The fact that the media have raging boners for certain schools plays a massive role that often can have absolutely nothing to do with the actual product a school produces on the field. It’s an enormous illusion.
I think people are overlooking a big issue with Cal stil and that's the west coast elitist stuff. Them and Stanford are a huge part of the we dont talk to religious schools and the academics matter a ton stuff too. Thats on top of nobody, fans or admin, giving a **** about athletics
Do we really want a less productive Texas in our conference?
Do we really want a less productive Texas in our conference?
Didn't Klitckoff say this during his hire and everytime he gave an interview since then? Wilner, nothing new here.Wilner mailbag
Hotline mailbag: Options if the Pac-12 raids the Big 12, an ACC Network deal and more
Expect Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff to get creative with revenue streams.www.ksl.com
Walden's problem too is that he changed the offensive style every 2 years. The Oberg offense was just getting good, and then he went wishbone and that was that.
This was the last thing of cal I watched.
I like this guy and his "Major Updates". Entertaining.
Sorry to interrupt the Cal discussions.
Had no idea she was married to Rickie Fowler.
Nobody is suggesting that at one time they didn't have good players or couldn't again. People are simply saying they don't have many fans, which is true.
Because they are not as big of CFB fans as in other parts of the country. Plenty of stuff to do in Michigan with all of the Major Professional teams, great outdoor activities, etc., but they still show up in big numbers for Wolverine and Spartan football games. Sure there is a bit of ebb and flow with quality years vs. down years, but the fact is that people in Michigan are bigger CFB fans than people in the Bay Area regardless of how much there is to do in either place.
And it is just a few Saturdays out if the year, and everybody that is not going to a Cal or Stanford game is not automatically going out to do something that other people cannot do in other areas. Apathy is apathy. It's fine that they aren't huge CFB fans, but it shouldn't be an excuse "that there is more to do." Hell, I can do other things in Iowa too on any given Saturday, but I choose to go to ISU games 6 or 7 times a year (and I have sat through an 0-10-1 season!). I just don't like the lame excuse used to cover up a lack of CFB passion.
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So true! You can go to a concert, play tennis or golf or ride a bike anywhere in the US.
Walden had a lot of problems that was just one of them and it's just one of the signs of a poor coach. He was terrible at Wash St, and for some stupid reason (Cheap) we hired him, then kept him for almost a decade.
Then he had the nerve to act like it wasn't his fault. Our Policies sucked for AD and Facility support, but Walden was just a terrible coach. The reason we had Walden was because we were cheap and wouldn't pay for a good coach. It's not what made Walden a terrible coach.
Hire the right coach and you’ll be good? You’re only as good as your record. I think the key is to win games. For that you just need to have more points than your opponents when the game clock expires! No need for this coaching, program mumbo-jumbo!
This is a combination of wishful thinking and revisionist history.
Johnny Majors was right on that 50 year boundary. He won a national title at Pitt, and some SEC titles at Tennessee.
Earle Bruce won conference titles at Ohio State, and came this close to a national title in a 1-point loss to USC.
Chizik is the last coach I want to defend, but that is unfair. In 4 years as a head coach he won 3 bowl games (including a national title) and was fired after his only season worse than 8-5. In his 2 seasons as a DC, his defense was instrumental in getting UNC to an ACC title game.
In the brief window Paul Rhoads was attractive to the likes of Wisconsin, his departure was a very real possibility, and a source of major anxiety around here.
Perhaps you’ve missed the freak-outs about Coach Campbell (or Coach Heacock) getting poached? We all hope Coach Campbell is an odd duck and stays at ISU with continued success. The fact he hasn’t been poached yet is evidence of this.
Yes, very insightful…the right coach will make a team good! The wrong coach bad!
You cite Notre Dame. They’ve had 3 coaches over the last 20 years. Each has had exactly 1 losing season, an overall winning record, and least 1 season with 10+ wins.
Michigan? Four coaches in the last 20 years. A total of 4 losing seasons. All but one coach with at least an 11 win season. That coach accounted for 2 of those losing seasons, and was shown the door after going 7-6 in his third. His replacement was let go after his 5-7 fourth season. He was 31-20 (for comparison, Coach Campbell was 26-25 after 4 seasons). That final losing season? That’s interesting, it was the first time didn’t pull the trigger, purportedly because of financial concerns. You might recall that the following season they won their conference and made the playoff.
Texas. Well, yeah. I’ve heard rumors they’re back.
The programmatic factor allows for both continuity and course correction. I won’t try to enumerate the elements of that programmatic factor. You mention money, facilities, local talent, and history.
Those are a good starting point, and I’d argue have played a role in why, despite your assertion otherwise, ISU *has* lagged in recruiting.
Recruiting class rankings and NFL draft picks aren’t a perfect proxy for this, but they give a good signal.
Going back to lowly Cal for comparison: In the 12 years of the 247 era ISU has managed to recruit a higher rated class exactly twice (2017 and 2022).
Draft picks are sad of course. ISU has only 1 first round pick and 6 second round picks all-time. Using that 247 era window only, Cal has 4 first round and 3 second round picks (27 first rounders and 22 second rounders all-time).
That’s a window that includes Cal firing two coaches and their worst season in program history (1-11).
To be clear, Cal has very much been a middlin’ program all-time. Much like ISU they just surprisingly kept their below-.500 current coach who was offered the Oregon job. They’ve mostly sucked the last decade (not a single winning record in-conference). Two fired coaches (and no monetary advantage to hire a star), yet…still recruiting OK…and that is against 3 in-state, in-conference rivals.
Those last two fired coaches, who weren’t great, account for a conference title, 6 bowl wins in 9 appearances, two 10-win seasons, one 9-win season, and four 8-win seasons.
I’d argue that there is some recruiting advantage they have, which is a part of why their floor is *clearly* above ISU’s floor after coaching change, even recently.
Surely someone with the name Hawaii Clone understands that there is more to do in some places of the country than in others.
These things are related. There are fewer entertainment options in certain places, so those places turn to CFB more than the others.
It doesn’t really matter why people in CA care less about CFB than people in IA but it’s just a fact that they do.
That’s not true. I was only responding to those who, likely because of regional (and some recency) bias seem to think Cal is closer to pre-Snyder KSU than a….hopefully….post-Campbell ISU in on-field success.
That parochial mindset drives me up a wall when it affects ISU’s perception, and it is pretty galling to see this fan base ape it.
As far as fan base, I’ve mostly steered clear, but…we’ll see. It is certainly in the least a fickle fan base, and certainly garners less of their addressable market than ISU does.
Surely you understand that the largest industry in Iowa is pretty busy during most if not the entire football season, but no one lets us use that as an excuse for attendance or viewership.
I don’t know or care enough about Cal to wade in further, but fair to say this board (and this thread) has the rosiest view possible of ISU’s perception and maybe the worst possible view of other schools affected by realignment. It really shapes the discussion in unhealthy ways.
