By Franz Beard
A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning:
SIZING UP EXPANSION CANDIDATES IF THE SEC MAKES A MOVE
1. Notre Dame: Yes, the Big Ten makes geographic sense, but Greg Sankey and Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick are very tight. The Big Ten makes sports sense for Notre Dame’s hockey teams, but for all other sports, the SEC is the better choice. Still, odds are long that it would happen.
2. Clemson: Clemson has always seemed like an SEC school that was living in exile in the ACC. The Tigers have won 10 or more games 11 straight years. They’ve won two national championships and lost the national championship game twice. Dabo is an SEC guy who played at Alabama. If the SEC calls, Clemson will answer. You add the Charlotte TV market.
3. North Carolina: Charter members of the ACC and the top athletic program top to bottom in the league. It would be a big addition to SEC basketball. It won’t happen, though. Men’s lacrosse and men’s soccer are important to UNC. The SEC doesn’t have either. If the Big Ten calls, UNC answers.
4. Duke: The Blue Devils won’t move the football needle, but they are great in basketball and have a top flight program top to bottom. It won’t happen for the same reasons UNC won’t join the SEC.
5. Kansas: Yes, this would mean raiding the Big 12 again, and it might mean adding a school in NCAA jail for basketball, but this is the winningest program in college basketball history. Kansas basketball moves the TV needle more than ESPN’s Saturday night football game. KU would join the SEC in a heartbeat.
6. Baylor: Baylor is a national power in men’s and women’s basketball and the football program is on the rise. Baylor fits the geographic footprint. Even though the SEC already will control the Texas TV market, Baylor wouldn’t be a bad fit at all.
7. Virginia Tech: The Hokies have rabid football fans and they get the SEC into the metro DC and Richmond TV markets. Strong baseball and women’s sports. They would gladly join the SEC.
8. North Carolina State: Whereas Carolina and Duke are academically snooty to their country cousins, North Carolina State could be competitive in the SEC in football and basketball, plus they have strong women’s sports. You get the Raleigh-Durham TV market plus Greensboro and Charlotte.
9. Miami: In 1992, Miami said no to Roy Kramer when he offered the Canes a chance to join the SEC. If Greg Sankey offered, they would crawl backwards to Birmingham to join. The Miami TV market is substantial.
10. Florida State: The Seminoles really need the cash the SEC could provide. They finished 13th nationally in the Director’s Cup standings. Florida, Arkansas and Kentucky are the only current SEC members that finished higher.
11. Louisville: Louisville has extraordinary facilities and moves the basketball needle when it isn’t on probation. Strong baseball and women’s sports. An excellent geographic fit.
12. Oklahoma State: The Cowboys don’t move the TV needle, but they are a good football program with great spring sports.
13. West Virginia: Only if the SEC added North Carolina State and Virginia Tech. It does put the SEC uncomfortably close to Pennsylvania TV market.
My picks: Notre Dame, Clemson, Duke and North Carolina would be my first choices, but three of the four may be wishful thinking at best. So, Clemson, North Carolina State, Miami and FSU would be the choices and it would keep the SEC on sound geographic footing.
SEC FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL/BASEBALL
Alabama: Third baseman Zane Denton, who hit 13 homers last season, is transferring to Tennessee … Alabama has self-reported 12 Level II/III violations across six sports including three for its basketball program.
Arkansas: The Hogs have added three baseball transfers including first team juco All-American Caleb Cali, who hit .438 with 17 homers and 77 RBI at College of Central Florida (Ocala). Also transferring in were Kansas outfielder Tavian Josenberger and Nebraska pitcher Koty Frank.
Auburn: Auburn will face Memphis in a non-conference basketball game at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena on December 10.
Georgia: Power forward P.J. Horne, who averaged 8.5 points and 3.4 rebounds per game last year, is in the portal as a grad transfer. Horne spent his first three years at Virginia Tech.
Kentucky: On Twitter, commenting on UK football recruiting, Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio said, “… the 2023 class isn’t at the level yet it should be. And Kentucky’s internal NIL restrictions are the reason why.”
Mississippi State: Duke shortstop Wil Hoyle, who hit .201 with four homers and 17 RBI is transferring to MSU.
Ole Miss: Athletic director Keith Carter says Swayze Field will be graced by a statue of Tim Elko, one of the heroes of the Rebels’ NCAA baseball championship, the first NCAA title in a men’s sport at Ole Miss. In leading Ole Miss to the title, Elko hit 24 homers and drove in 75 runs … Righthanded pitcher Sean Higgins (6-3, 5.34 ERA) is transferring in from Columbia.
Texas A&M: Former Aggie running back Trayveon Williams will co-teach a course in NIL along with attorney Alex Sinatra at the Texas A&M School of Law.
BIG 12 NEGOTIATING TO ADD FOUR PAC-12 TEAMS
Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports reports that the Big 12 is wasting little time to make its move to become the third most relevant conference by engaging in “deep discussions” to add Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado from the Pac-12. This comes at a time when the Pac-12 says that it will immediately start negotiating for its next TV contract, a contract that may hinge on the league keeping the four from defecting while poaching the Big 12 for Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, TCU and Texas Tech.
Here is what I believe will happen: (1) Because of the Pac-12’s uncertainty, the four Pac-12 schools will take the sure thing and go to the Big 12 effective in 2024; (2) the Big 12 will release Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC effective in 2024 with the SEC and ESPN assisting with a ransom payment of somewhere between $80-100 million to free the hostages so they can make ESPN’s first season of SEC football a big splash; and (3) thanks to their cooperation in releasing Texas and Oklahoma, ESPN will give the Big 12 a nice media contract that will allow the league to pay something like $40 million per school per year.
As for the Pac-12, it could lose Oregon, Washington, Stanford and Cal to the Big Ten which could leave Washington State and Oregon State forced to join the Mountain West.
MATT HAYES (SATURDAY DOWN SOUTH) RANKS EXPANSION POACHABLES
1. Clemson; 2. Miami; 3. Stanford; 4. Oregon; 5. Florida State; 6. North Carolina; 7. Washington; 8. Utah; 9. Baylor; 10. Arizona State
Hayes next five: Virginia, Kansas, Oklahoma State, San Diego State, Texas Tech
DAN WETZEL (YAHOO SPORTS) ON NOTRE DAME TO THE SEC
“The Irish to the Sec? Yes, it sounds ridiculous and probably is. But if Notre Dame has to join a conference, why not the biggest and best? The idea of a SEC outpost on the Indiana/Michigan border would drive the Big Ten mad. And Notre Dame is the only value-add available out there for the SEC … But, at this point, it’s the only move that makes sense for the SEC until the ACC breaks up and Clemson, Miami, North Carolina, Florida State and Virginia become available … Or it can just sit around and count its money and national championship rings.”
JOHN CLAY (LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER) ON BIG TEN EXPANSION
“Southern Cal and UCLA have no business being in the Big Ten. The powers that be are sacrificing their Olympic sports in the name of a football windfall. But hey, this is 2022 and the Big Ten is in the middle of negotiating what experts say will be a $1 billion television rights deal.”
ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Unless you are the type to study the preseason magazines and depth charts of SEC schools, there is every good chance you have never heard of Javion Cohen. He started at left guard last year for Alabama (14 of 15 games). The pro scouts know him quite well. He’s strong, mobile and mean as evidenced by 21 dead roach blocks last year.
He’s rather courageous. Not because he plays in the trenches in a line of scrimmage football league, but because he has admitted he has mental health issues and done something about it. Cohen spent the last month at a Massachusetts rehab facility learning to cope with the pressures he has felt as an athlete expected to perform at the highest level for the program that is the standard bearer for all of college football.
Here are some excerpts from a statement that was made public Tuesday in an Al.com article by Michael Rodak (it’s all in lower case):
“the pressure we feel as athletes is insurmountable and can be too much at times. i don’t want to focus on the bad though, i want to shed light on the good that has come of this … the biggest lesson, it’s okay to not be okay but it is not okay to not say you’re not okay. i know i’m not alone when i say i felt for the longest i had no support. no outlet to express my emotions too without feeling judged or being afraid to do so … i encourage everyone reading this to put yourself first and stand up for your mental health. the struggle ends when you decide to talk about it. this has been an absolute blessing from God and i’m completely sure it will be for others too. seek the help you need and do not be afraid to be open about your troubles.”
It takes so much courage to face mental and emotional problems. Far too many athletes try to bury their troubles in alcohol, drugs or other excesses only to discover that there are no answers found in their vices. In the more than 50 years I’ve been writing about sports, I’ve talked to so many former athletes who admit that their problems began long before they retired from their sport and that even at a young age they were looking for escapes. So often the drugs, the alcohol and other excesses are merely visible symptoms of the disease we call mental illness.
About 10 days ago, a longtime friend told me that he used to think that today’s athletes are lazy fat cats who have it made because they have so much given to them. Now, however, he has changed his mind, believing instead that far too often today’s athletes are being pushed to a breaking point by 24-hour news cycles in which their performance and even personal lives are dissected by the public.
I think he’s right. We see 13- and 14-year-old kids being evaluated for their “pro potential” before they’ve ever played a high school game. Far too many of these kids who are labeled can’t miss and given 4- and 5-star ratings when they’re so young don’t pan out to be superstars at the college level. Does that mean they were failures? I think a lot of kids feel that way and they’re not helped by fan bases that label them as busts because they didn’t pan out.
I’ll finish with this thought: Tim Tebow is one of the greatest college football players in history, yet because he was unsuccessful in the NFL way too many critics overlook his tremendous success when he played football for the Gators. Some of those same critics labeled him a bust because he didn’t have a successful baseball career, not taking into account that Tebow made it to AAA even though he hadn’t played baseball since he was a high school junior. Fortunately, Tim has a different perspective and a higher calling. For every Tim Tebow who is unfazed by the critics there are dozens upon dozens of athletes who can’t handle it when they hit the competitive wall and can’t go any farther. Those guys succumb to all forms of depression and coping mechanisms that dig deep, dark holes from which recovery seems next to impossible.
So, I congratulate Javion Cohen and any athlete who has the courage to come to grips with the pressures. It takes a big man to own up to his own frailty.
A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning:
SIZING UP EXPANSION CANDIDATES IF THE SEC MAKES A MOVE
1. Notre Dame: Yes, the Big Ten makes geographic sense, but Greg Sankey and Notre Dame AD Jack Swarbrick are very tight. The Big Ten makes sports sense for Notre Dame’s hockey teams, but for all other sports, the SEC is the better choice. Still, odds are long that it would happen.
2. Clemson: Clemson has always seemed like an SEC school that was living in exile in the ACC. The Tigers have won 10 or more games 11 straight years. They’ve won two national championships and lost the national championship game twice. Dabo is an SEC guy who played at Alabama. If the SEC calls, Clemson will answer. You add the Charlotte TV market.
3. North Carolina: Charter members of the ACC and the top athletic program top to bottom in the league. It would be a big addition to SEC basketball. It won’t happen, though. Men’s lacrosse and men’s soccer are important to UNC. The SEC doesn’t have either. If the Big Ten calls, UNC answers.
4. Duke: The Blue Devils won’t move the football needle, but they are great in basketball and have a top flight program top to bottom. It won’t happen for the same reasons UNC won’t join the SEC.
5. Kansas: Yes, this would mean raiding the Big 12 again, and it might mean adding a school in NCAA jail for basketball, but this is the winningest program in college basketball history. Kansas basketball moves the TV needle more than ESPN’s Saturday night football game. KU would join the SEC in a heartbeat.
6. Baylor: Baylor is a national power in men’s and women’s basketball and the football program is on the rise. Baylor fits the geographic footprint. Even though the SEC already will control the Texas TV market, Baylor wouldn’t be a bad fit at all.
7. Virginia Tech: The Hokies have rabid football fans and they get the SEC into the metro DC and Richmond TV markets. Strong baseball and women’s sports. They would gladly join the SEC.
8. North Carolina State: Whereas Carolina and Duke are academically snooty to their country cousins, North Carolina State could be competitive in the SEC in football and basketball, plus they have strong women’s sports. You get the Raleigh-Durham TV market plus Greensboro and Charlotte.
9. Miami: In 1992, Miami said no to Roy Kramer when he offered the Canes a chance to join the SEC. If Greg Sankey offered, they would crawl backwards to Birmingham to join. The Miami TV market is substantial.
10. Florida State: The Seminoles really need the cash the SEC could provide. They finished 13th nationally in the Director’s Cup standings. Florida, Arkansas and Kentucky are the only current SEC members that finished higher.
11. Louisville: Louisville has extraordinary facilities and moves the basketball needle when it isn’t on probation. Strong baseball and women’s sports. An excellent geographic fit.
12. Oklahoma State: The Cowboys don’t move the TV needle, but they are a good football program with great spring sports.
13. West Virginia: Only if the SEC added North Carolina State and Virginia Tech. It does put the SEC uncomfortably close to Pennsylvania TV market.
My picks: Notre Dame, Clemson, Duke and North Carolina would be my first choices, but three of the four may be wishful thinking at best. So, Clemson, North Carolina State, Miami and FSU would be the choices and it would keep the SEC on sound geographic footing.
SEC FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL/BASEBALL
Alabama: Third baseman Zane Denton, who hit 13 homers last season, is transferring to Tennessee … Alabama has self-reported 12 Level II/III violations across six sports including three for its basketball program.
Arkansas: The Hogs have added three baseball transfers including first team juco All-American Caleb Cali, who hit .438 with 17 homers and 77 RBI at College of Central Florida (Ocala). Also transferring in were Kansas outfielder Tavian Josenberger and Nebraska pitcher Koty Frank.
Auburn: Auburn will face Memphis in a non-conference basketball game at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena on December 10.
Georgia: Power forward P.J. Horne, who averaged 8.5 points and 3.4 rebounds per game last year, is in the portal as a grad transfer. Horne spent his first three years at Virginia Tech.
Kentucky: On Twitter, commenting on UK football recruiting, Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio said, “… the 2023 class isn’t at the level yet it should be. And Kentucky’s internal NIL restrictions are the reason why.”
Mississippi State: Duke shortstop Wil Hoyle, who hit .201 with four homers and 17 RBI is transferring to MSU.
Ole Miss: Athletic director Keith Carter says Swayze Field will be graced by a statue of Tim Elko, one of the heroes of the Rebels’ NCAA baseball championship, the first NCAA title in a men’s sport at Ole Miss. In leading Ole Miss to the title, Elko hit 24 homers and drove in 75 runs … Righthanded pitcher Sean Higgins (6-3, 5.34 ERA) is transferring in from Columbia.
Texas A&M: Former Aggie running back Trayveon Williams will co-teach a course in NIL along with attorney Alex Sinatra at the Texas A&M School of Law.
BIG 12 NEGOTIATING TO ADD FOUR PAC-12 TEAMS
Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports reports that the Big 12 is wasting little time to make its move to become the third most relevant conference by engaging in “deep discussions” to add Arizona, Arizona State, Utah and Colorado from the Pac-12. This comes at a time when the Pac-12 says that it will immediately start negotiating for its next TV contract, a contract that may hinge on the league keeping the four from defecting while poaching the Big 12 for Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, TCU and Texas Tech.
Here is what I believe will happen: (1) Because of the Pac-12’s uncertainty, the four Pac-12 schools will take the sure thing and go to the Big 12 effective in 2024; (2) the Big 12 will release Texas and Oklahoma to the SEC effective in 2024 with the SEC and ESPN assisting with a ransom payment of somewhere between $80-100 million to free the hostages so they can make ESPN’s first season of SEC football a big splash; and (3) thanks to their cooperation in releasing Texas and Oklahoma, ESPN will give the Big 12 a nice media contract that will allow the league to pay something like $40 million per school per year.
As for the Pac-12, it could lose Oregon, Washington, Stanford and Cal to the Big Ten which could leave Washington State and Oregon State forced to join the Mountain West.
MATT HAYES (SATURDAY DOWN SOUTH) RANKS EXPANSION POACHABLES
1. Clemson; 2. Miami; 3. Stanford; 4. Oregon; 5. Florida State; 6. North Carolina; 7. Washington; 8. Utah; 9. Baylor; 10. Arizona State
Hayes next five: Virginia, Kansas, Oklahoma State, San Diego State, Texas Tech
DAN WETZEL (YAHOO SPORTS) ON NOTRE DAME TO THE SEC
“The Irish to the Sec? Yes, it sounds ridiculous and probably is. But if Notre Dame has to join a conference, why not the biggest and best? The idea of a SEC outpost on the Indiana/Michigan border would drive the Big Ten mad. And Notre Dame is the only value-add available out there for the SEC … But, at this point, it’s the only move that makes sense for the SEC until the ACC breaks up and Clemson, Miami, North Carolina, Florida State and Virginia become available … Or it can just sit around and count its money and national championship rings.”
JOHN CLAY (LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER) ON BIG TEN EXPANSION
“Southern Cal and UCLA have no business being in the Big Ten. The powers that be are sacrificing their Olympic sports in the name of a football windfall. But hey, this is 2022 and the Big Ten is in the middle of negotiating what experts say will be a $1 billion television rights deal.”
ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Unless you are the type to study the preseason magazines and depth charts of SEC schools, there is every good chance you have never heard of Javion Cohen. He started at left guard last year for Alabama (14 of 15 games). The pro scouts know him quite well. He’s strong, mobile and mean as evidenced by 21 dead roach blocks last year.
He’s rather courageous. Not because he plays in the trenches in a line of scrimmage football league, but because he has admitted he has mental health issues and done something about it. Cohen spent the last month at a Massachusetts rehab facility learning to cope with the pressures he has felt as an athlete expected to perform at the highest level for the program that is the standard bearer for all of college football.
Here are some excerpts from a statement that was made public Tuesday in an Al.com article by Michael Rodak (it’s all in lower case):
“the pressure we feel as athletes is insurmountable and can be too much at times. i don’t want to focus on the bad though, i want to shed light on the good that has come of this … the biggest lesson, it’s okay to not be okay but it is not okay to not say you’re not okay. i know i’m not alone when i say i felt for the longest i had no support. no outlet to express my emotions too without feeling judged or being afraid to do so … i encourage everyone reading this to put yourself first and stand up for your mental health. the struggle ends when you decide to talk about it. this has been an absolute blessing from God and i’m completely sure it will be for others too. seek the help you need and do not be afraid to be open about your troubles.”
It takes so much courage to face mental and emotional problems. Far too many athletes try to bury their troubles in alcohol, drugs or other excesses only to discover that there are no answers found in their vices. In the more than 50 years I’ve been writing about sports, I’ve talked to so many former athletes who admit that their problems began long before they retired from their sport and that even at a young age they were looking for escapes. So often the drugs, the alcohol and other excesses are merely visible symptoms of the disease we call mental illness.
About 10 days ago, a longtime friend told me that he used to think that today’s athletes are lazy fat cats who have it made because they have so much given to them. Now, however, he has changed his mind, believing instead that far too often today’s athletes are being pushed to a breaking point by 24-hour news cycles in which their performance and even personal lives are dissected by the public.
I think he’s right. We see 13- and 14-year-old kids being evaluated for their “pro potential” before they’ve ever played a high school game. Far too many of these kids who are labeled can’t miss and given 4- and 5-star ratings when they’re so young don’t pan out to be superstars at the college level. Does that mean they were failures? I think a lot of kids feel that way and they’re not helped by fan bases that label them as busts because they didn’t pan out.
I’ll finish with this thought: Tim Tebow is one of the greatest college football players in history, yet because he was unsuccessful in the NFL way too many critics overlook his tremendous success when he played football for the Gators. Some of those same critics labeled him a bust because he didn’t have a successful baseball career, not taking into account that Tebow made it to AAA even though he hadn’t played baseball since he was a high school junior. Fortunately, Tim has a different perspective and a higher calling. For every Tim Tebow who is unfazed by the critics there are dozens upon dozens of athletes who can’t handle it when they hit the competitive wall and can’t go any farther. Those guys succumb to all forms of depression and coping mechanisms that dig deep, dark holes from which recovery seems next to impossible.
So, I congratulate Javion Cohen and any athlete who has the courage to come to grips with the pressures. It takes a big man to own up to his own frailty.
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