By Franz Beard
A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning:
NAPIER’S TURN AT THE PODIUM IN ATLANTA TODAY
Billy Napier will take his turn at the podium at 1 p.m. today in Atlanta, his first time dealing with the horde or writers, reporters and broadcasters who make SEC Media Days the best covered event of its type every year. It will rank among the greatest upsets since Samson slew 1,000 from Team Philistine with a donkey’s jawbone just to make it sporty if Napier says anything remotely controversial. He will sound well prepared and quite business-like, not the least bit awed by the stage he’s on, and he will give a very straightforward account of just how far the Gators have come since he arrived on the scene last December and how far they have to go before the season opener with Utah on September 3.
It won’t be sit on the edge of your seat waiting for the next zinger like it was in the Spurrier days nor the almost rock star presence of Urban Meyer. It will be straight football. No Free Shoes U. No school out west. No my dog Clarabelle. Spurrier was naturally funny. Meyer made you think he could will opponents into submission. Jim McElwain, it seems, wanted us to believe he could have been Paul Lynde’s stunt double on Hollywood Squares. Billy Napier is none of those things. He does have a personality and it’s rather pleasant although he doesn’t allow himself to stray too far outside the white lines of the football highway.
If you’re expecting to be entertained you might want to renew that subscription to Hulu to watch reruns of The Gong Show. If you want to feel like your Florida football coach is extremely well prepared and knows exactly what he’s doing, then you might want to tune in.
SANKEY ON THE NEED TO EXPAND
Following Greg Sankey’s State of the SEC address in Atlanta Monday we can connect the following dots:
1. The SEC is quite content to remain at 16 teams and feels absolutely no urgency to get the drop on the Big Ten to see whose is bigger.
2. With the additions of Texas and Oklahoma to what is already the best sports league in the country, Sankey says the SEC is already “a super league” and is in a “position of strength.”
3. Without saying so and by offering an expanded 8-team, all at-large playoff possibility it was a clear endorsement for Notre Dame to remain independent.
4. Any move the SEC makes will be dictated by what’s in the best interests of the SEC and not a reaction to any move made by the Big Ten or any other conference.
5. Sankey and Notre Dame hold all the cards when it comes to conference realignment, contraction, expansion. Kevin Warren can hold his breath, turn blue and wait for the paramedics before Sankey or Notre Dame will let him dictate anything.
NOTRE DAME SETS THE BIDDING HIGH FOR ITS NEXT MEDIA RIGHTS CONTRACT
Two things to wrap your arms around: (1) Notre Dame controls its own destiny when it comes to independence or joining a conference and (2) the Irish will get MORE than the $75 million they’ve floated out there for renewing with NBC.
First things first. Notre Dame is still Notre Dame. Their desire is to remain independent rather than join a conference. If someone meets their media demands they stay independent. If not, they will contemplate joining whichever conference makes the most sense in every way. Staying independent is not going to damage their ability to make the College Football Playoff.
Secondly, NBC will not be the only bidder for Notre Dame football. That was just the first salvo. CBS, which may get into the bidding for the Big 12, is thought to have an interest and streaming services such as Amazon and Apple TV both want to get into college sports. Notre Dame is a rather juicy plum for all of them. Odds that Notre Dame will get less than $75 million: 1-5 percent. Odds that Notre Dame gets $75 million or more: Go with the over.
COACHES COMMENTS FROM SEC MEDIA DAYS
Nick Saban
“We’re one of the haves. Don’t think that what I’m saying is a concern that we have at Alabama because we’re one of the haves. But everybody in college football cannot do these things relative to how they raise money in a collective or whatever, how they distribute money to players. Those are the concerns that I have in terms of how do we place guidelines around this so that we can maintain a competitive balance?”
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin
“If you have boosters out there deciding who they’re going to pay to come play and the coach isn’t involved in it, how does that work? They could go pick who they want, pay him however much. Are the boosters going to tell you who to play, too? When they don’t play, how is that going to work out? … I'm sure other people said it. I said day one, you legalize cheating, so get ready for the people that have the most money to get players. Now you have it. It is what it is.”
LSU Coach Brian Kelly
“I don't feel like we're being out-bid by anybody. I don't think that's the place of NIL anyway. So if we were being out-bid, then we're going to be out-bid if we have $50 million in our collective.”
The Pirate, Mississippi State coach Mike Leach
“Go up to your next favorite NFL guy, say, ‘Hey, I heard in the NFL they're going to have unmitigated free agency, 365, 24/7. And, by the way, there's not going to be any salary cap or draft, you're just going to have bidding wars.’ Just watch the expression on their face. Don't look at anything else or write down any notes because the expression on their face will be well worth it.”
South Carolina coach Shane Beamer
“I didn’t come here to South Carolina to be 7-6 every year. We have higher expectations than that.”
Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea
“We know in time Vanderbilt football will be the best program in the country. As I said a year ago, there are no cheat codes, shortcuts, no hacks that will allow this to happen overnight. This is still about going the long, hard way, independent of the trends and headlines generating the most attention right now in college football. We are engaged in what has become a unique form of team building. We are a relationship-driven, student-athlete-focused program that values the holistic development of our people over all else. To us, this isn't an antiquated concept. It still matters. When you do the right things, the right way, with the right people, with respect and appreciation, you will not be denied.”
THOMPSON, BARCO, FABIAN AND SPROAT GONERS; RIOPELLE WILL BE BACK
Barring some sort of snafu between their agents and the teams that drafted them, Sterlin Thompson, Hunter Barco, Jud Fabian and Brandon Sproat will never suit up for the Florida Gators again. Taken by the Colorado Rockies with the 31st pick in the Major League Baseball Draft, Thompson has a slot valued at $2.43 million. Barco, taken with the 44th pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates, is slotted for a $1.78 million bonus. Fabian, taken with the 67th pick by the Baltimore Orioles is slotted for a $1.03 million bonus while Sproat, who went to the New York Mets with the 90th pick, has a slot value of $691,000.
First baseman Xavier Isaac (Kernersville, NC East Forsyth) was taken by the Tampa Bay Rays with the 29th pick in the first round. He has a slot value of $2.55 million. Mercer transfer Colby Thomas was taken with the 95th pick by the Oakland Athletics. He has a slot value of $641,000. Isaac will almost certainly sign. Thomas has two seasons of eligibility remaining so he has leverage to say no to Oakland.
Catcher BT Riopelle, who went undrafted, announced he will be back for his senior season. Third baseman Colby Halter was draft eligible but also went undrafted.
Two Florida signees were taken in the draft: pitcher Magnus Ellerts (Florida Southwestern State College) by the Chicago Cubs in the 11th round and pitcher/first baseman Yoel Tejada (Calvary Christian HS) by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 19th round. Ellerts is expected to sign while Tejada is expected to enroll at UF.
As it stands today, here are Florida signees and transfers expected to make it to campus: Yoel Tejada Jr., P/1B (Davie, FL Calvary Christian); Luke Heyman, C (Altamonte Springs, FL Lake Brantley); Jake Clemente, RHP (Coral Springs, FL Marjory Stoneman Douglas); Cade Fisher, LHP (Dalton, GA Northwest Whitfield); Chris Arroyo, LHP/OF (Coral Springs, FL Marjory Stoneman Douglas); William Ross, RHP/1B (Winter Garden, FL West Orange); Salvador Alvarez, C (Miami, FL/Montverde, FL Montverde Academy); Erik Blair, OF/LHP (Fort Lauderdale, FL American Heritage); Tyler Shelnut, 2B (Lake City, FL Santa Fe College); Clete Harzog, RHP (Panama City, FL/Dothan, AL Wallace Community College); SS Alex Ulloa (Miami, FL/Prescott, AZ Yavapai College); and Dale Thomas, 2B (Orlando, FL Mercer transfer).
ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: The Atlantic Coast Conference media days begin this morning in Charlotte with the state of the ACC address by commissioner Jim Phillips. I wonder if Phillips will have the guts to tell the media that he was part of one of the more colossal goofs in the history of sports when he joined with Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren and Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff to form “The Alliance,” whose only accomplishment was to torpedo expanding the College Football Playoff. Expanding the playoff, by the way, might have saved the Pac-12 from extinction and prevented the ACC from becoming the poor kid on the block.
Pac-12 media days will be next week, ample opportunity for Kliavkoff to discuss the buzzards circling his league thanks, in large part, to his (a) stupidity and (b) trusting Kevin Warren. His league is just waiting for the fork and the declaration they’re done. Wednesday morning is Phillips’ chance to explain how he dismissed the several hundred million dollar lifeline the expanded playoff would have provided him. People who know him say Phillips is a very bright guy. He might have a hard time convincing athletic directors and boosters in the ACC who see their league doomed to college sports’ equivalent of third world status.
To be perfectly clear, you can’t lay ACC poverty at the feet of Jim Phillips. No, that mantle has to be assumed by John Swofford, who spent decades cultivating an image of one of the really smart guys in college sports only to prove he’s not with this media deal with ESPN that includes an iron-clad grant of rights provision that will hamstring the league until 2036. How bad is it? ACC schools are expected to collect their first $40 million media rights paycheck in 2025, the same year the expanded SEC will be knocking down something like $80 million per. Due to grant of rights, any ACC school that wishes to bolt will have an enormous buyout plus owe all its media money UNTIL 2036 to the ACC.
So, you can see where having an extra $150-200 million to distribute from an expanded playoff could have come in rather handy. And you see why Phillips isn’t exactly going to be the nominee for Miss Congeniality (hey, we live in a world where you can name your own gender, remember?) among the movers and shakers in the ACC.
In the immortal words of Walter Cronkite (he actually said this), “Never trust a fart.” That’s what the so-called alliance was, nothing more than a fart that left a bad stink before it dissipated into nothing.
A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning:
NAPIER’S TURN AT THE PODIUM IN ATLANTA TODAY
Billy Napier will take his turn at the podium at 1 p.m. today in Atlanta, his first time dealing with the horde or writers, reporters and broadcasters who make SEC Media Days the best covered event of its type every year. It will rank among the greatest upsets since Samson slew 1,000 from Team Philistine with a donkey’s jawbone just to make it sporty if Napier says anything remotely controversial. He will sound well prepared and quite business-like, not the least bit awed by the stage he’s on, and he will give a very straightforward account of just how far the Gators have come since he arrived on the scene last December and how far they have to go before the season opener with Utah on September 3.
It won’t be sit on the edge of your seat waiting for the next zinger like it was in the Spurrier days nor the almost rock star presence of Urban Meyer. It will be straight football. No Free Shoes U. No school out west. No my dog Clarabelle. Spurrier was naturally funny. Meyer made you think he could will opponents into submission. Jim McElwain, it seems, wanted us to believe he could have been Paul Lynde’s stunt double on Hollywood Squares. Billy Napier is none of those things. He does have a personality and it’s rather pleasant although he doesn’t allow himself to stray too far outside the white lines of the football highway.
If you’re expecting to be entertained you might want to renew that subscription to Hulu to watch reruns of The Gong Show. If you want to feel like your Florida football coach is extremely well prepared and knows exactly what he’s doing, then you might want to tune in.
SANKEY ON THE NEED TO EXPAND
Following Greg Sankey’s State of the SEC address in Atlanta Monday we can connect the following dots:
1. The SEC is quite content to remain at 16 teams and feels absolutely no urgency to get the drop on the Big Ten to see whose is bigger.
2. With the additions of Texas and Oklahoma to what is already the best sports league in the country, Sankey says the SEC is already “a super league” and is in a “position of strength.”
3. Without saying so and by offering an expanded 8-team, all at-large playoff possibility it was a clear endorsement for Notre Dame to remain independent.
4. Any move the SEC makes will be dictated by what’s in the best interests of the SEC and not a reaction to any move made by the Big Ten or any other conference.
5. Sankey and Notre Dame hold all the cards when it comes to conference realignment, contraction, expansion. Kevin Warren can hold his breath, turn blue and wait for the paramedics before Sankey or Notre Dame will let him dictate anything.
NOTRE DAME SETS THE BIDDING HIGH FOR ITS NEXT MEDIA RIGHTS CONTRACT
Two things to wrap your arms around: (1) Notre Dame controls its own destiny when it comes to independence or joining a conference and (2) the Irish will get MORE than the $75 million they’ve floated out there for renewing with NBC.
First things first. Notre Dame is still Notre Dame. Their desire is to remain independent rather than join a conference. If someone meets their media demands they stay independent. If not, they will contemplate joining whichever conference makes the most sense in every way. Staying independent is not going to damage their ability to make the College Football Playoff.
Secondly, NBC will not be the only bidder for Notre Dame football. That was just the first salvo. CBS, which may get into the bidding for the Big 12, is thought to have an interest and streaming services such as Amazon and Apple TV both want to get into college sports. Notre Dame is a rather juicy plum for all of them. Odds that Notre Dame will get less than $75 million: 1-5 percent. Odds that Notre Dame gets $75 million or more: Go with the over.
COACHES COMMENTS FROM SEC MEDIA DAYS
Nick Saban
“We’re one of the haves. Don’t think that what I’m saying is a concern that we have at Alabama because we’re one of the haves. But everybody in college football cannot do these things relative to how they raise money in a collective or whatever, how they distribute money to players. Those are the concerns that I have in terms of how do we place guidelines around this so that we can maintain a competitive balance?”
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin
“If you have boosters out there deciding who they’re going to pay to come play and the coach isn’t involved in it, how does that work? They could go pick who they want, pay him however much. Are the boosters going to tell you who to play, too? When they don’t play, how is that going to work out? … I'm sure other people said it. I said day one, you legalize cheating, so get ready for the people that have the most money to get players. Now you have it. It is what it is.”
LSU Coach Brian Kelly
“I don't feel like we're being out-bid by anybody. I don't think that's the place of NIL anyway. So if we were being out-bid, then we're going to be out-bid if we have $50 million in our collective.”
The Pirate, Mississippi State coach Mike Leach
“Go up to your next favorite NFL guy, say, ‘Hey, I heard in the NFL they're going to have unmitigated free agency, 365, 24/7. And, by the way, there's not going to be any salary cap or draft, you're just going to have bidding wars.’ Just watch the expression on their face. Don't look at anything else or write down any notes because the expression on their face will be well worth it.”
South Carolina coach Shane Beamer
“I didn’t come here to South Carolina to be 7-6 every year. We have higher expectations than that.”
Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea
“We know in time Vanderbilt football will be the best program in the country. As I said a year ago, there are no cheat codes, shortcuts, no hacks that will allow this to happen overnight. This is still about going the long, hard way, independent of the trends and headlines generating the most attention right now in college football. We are engaged in what has become a unique form of team building. We are a relationship-driven, student-athlete-focused program that values the holistic development of our people over all else. To us, this isn't an antiquated concept. It still matters. When you do the right things, the right way, with the right people, with respect and appreciation, you will not be denied.”
THOMPSON, BARCO, FABIAN AND SPROAT GONERS; RIOPELLE WILL BE BACK
Barring some sort of snafu between their agents and the teams that drafted them, Sterlin Thompson, Hunter Barco, Jud Fabian and Brandon Sproat will never suit up for the Florida Gators again. Taken by the Colorado Rockies with the 31st pick in the Major League Baseball Draft, Thompson has a slot valued at $2.43 million. Barco, taken with the 44th pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates, is slotted for a $1.78 million bonus. Fabian, taken with the 67th pick by the Baltimore Orioles is slotted for a $1.03 million bonus while Sproat, who went to the New York Mets with the 90th pick, has a slot value of $691,000.
First baseman Xavier Isaac (Kernersville, NC East Forsyth) was taken by the Tampa Bay Rays with the 29th pick in the first round. He has a slot value of $2.55 million. Mercer transfer Colby Thomas was taken with the 95th pick by the Oakland Athletics. He has a slot value of $641,000. Isaac will almost certainly sign. Thomas has two seasons of eligibility remaining so he has leverage to say no to Oakland.
Catcher BT Riopelle, who went undrafted, announced he will be back for his senior season. Third baseman Colby Halter was draft eligible but also went undrafted.
Two Florida signees were taken in the draft: pitcher Magnus Ellerts (Florida Southwestern State College) by the Chicago Cubs in the 11th round and pitcher/first baseman Yoel Tejada (Calvary Christian HS) by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 19th round. Ellerts is expected to sign while Tejada is expected to enroll at UF.
As it stands today, here are Florida signees and transfers expected to make it to campus: Yoel Tejada Jr., P/1B (Davie, FL Calvary Christian); Luke Heyman, C (Altamonte Springs, FL Lake Brantley); Jake Clemente, RHP (Coral Springs, FL Marjory Stoneman Douglas); Cade Fisher, LHP (Dalton, GA Northwest Whitfield); Chris Arroyo, LHP/OF (Coral Springs, FL Marjory Stoneman Douglas); William Ross, RHP/1B (Winter Garden, FL West Orange); Salvador Alvarez, C (Miami, FL/Montverde, FL Montverde Academy); Erik Blair, OF/LHP (Fort Lauderdale, FL American Heritage); Tyler Shelnut, 2B (Lake City, FL Santa Fe College); Clete Harzog, RHP (Panama City, FL/Dothan, AL Wallace Community College); SS Alex Ulloa (Miami, FL/Prescott, AZ Yavapai College); and Dale Thomas, 2B (Orlando, FL Mercer transfer).
ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: The Atlantic Coast Conference media days begin this morning in Charlotte with the state of the ACC address by commissioner Jim Phillips. I wonder if Phillips will have the guts to tell the media that he was part of one of the more colossal goofs in the history of sports when he joined with Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren and Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff to form “The Alliance,” whose only accomplishment was to torpedo expanding the College Football Playoff. Expanding the playoff, by the way, might have saved the Pac-12 from extinction and prevented the ACC from becoming the poor kid on the block.
Pac-12 media days will be next week, ample opportunity for Kliavkoff to discuss the buzzards circling his league thanks, in large part, to his (a) stupidity and (b) trusting Kevin Warren. His league is just waiting for the fork and the declaration they’re done. Wednesday morning is Phillips’ chance to explain how he dismissed the several hundred million dollar lifeline the expanded playoff would have provided him. People who know him say Phillips is a very bright guy. He might have a hard time convincing athletic directors and boosters in the ACC who see their league doomed to college sports’ equivalent of third world status.
To be perfectly clear, you can’t lay ACC poverty at the feet of Jim Phillips. No, that mantle has to be assumed by John Swofford, who spent decades cultivating an image of one of the really smart guys in college sports only to prove he’s not with this media deal with ESPN that includes an iron-clad grant of rights provision that will hamstring the league until 2036. How bad is it? ACC schools are expected to collect their first $40 million media rights paycheck in 2025, the same year the expanded SEC will be knocking down something like $80 million per. Due to grant of rights, any ACC school that wishes to bolt will have an enormous buyout plus owe all its media money UNTIL 2036 to the ACC.
So, you can see where having an extra $150-200 million to distribute from an expanded playoff could have come in rather handy. And you see why Phillips isn’t exactly going to be the nominee for Miss Congeniality (hey, we live in a world where you can name your own gender, remember?) among the movers and shakers in the ACC.
In the immortal words of Walter Cronkite (he actually said this), “Never trust a fart.” That’s what the so-called alliance was, nothing more than a fart that left a bad stink before it dissipated into nothing.
