A note on the Portal...

[TheOriginalCane]

It's ironic that you tell him his opinions are wrong but you claim your's and other valued opinions to be fact on the issue of NIL, which unlike coaching salaries aren't public record...yet. Canesfreak is a player in NIL and he keeps the figures of his deals with UM players close to the vest and rightfully so. The numbers that most or all of these kids are getting is just speculation.

But to think that SEC programs that are averaging 10,000 people at games aren't a much bigger presence in the NIL game than most of the other programs in the country is a bit naive.

What a dopey response.

I didn't tell him his opinions were wrong. I told him that his facts are wrong.

Look at you...on one hand, you want to tell me that I don't know anything about NIL numbers because they aren't "public record...yet". Then you want to derive conclusions by generalizing about certain SEC programs. It's especially humorous when one realizes that "attendance" and "NIL" are not nearly synonymous, particularly when you think about where all of this attendance is actually happening (rural areas without a lot of wealth and nothing better to do with their time).

The reality is this. You are inventing a fake bogeyman of huge (non-public-record) NIL sums being paid in Mississippi and Arkansas and Louisiana...but it just isn't true.

You are still free to believe your opinions as to what is really happening here. Of the 7 schools that cracked 6,000 in per-game attendance (and 200K overall), only ONE (University of Texas) is in a sizable city with at least one pro sports franchise (Austin FC).

 

[bobbo31]

What a dopey response.

I didn't tell him his opinions were wrong. I told him that his facts are wrong.

Look at you...on one hand, you want to tell me that I don't know anything about NIL numbers because they aren't "public record...yet". Then you want to derive conclusions by generalizing about certain SEC programs. It's especially humorous when one realizes that "attendance" and "NIL" are not nearly synonymous, particularly when you think about where all of this attendance is actually happening (rural areas without a lot of wealth and nothing better to do with their time).

The reality is this. You are inventing a fake bogeyman of huge (non-public-record) NIL sums being paid in Mississippi and Arkansas and Louisiana...but it just isn't true.

You are still free to believe your opinions as to what is really happening here. Of the 7 schools that cracked 6,000 in per-game attendance (and 200K overall), only ONE (University of Texas) is in a sizable city with at least one pro sports franchise (Austin FC).


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Go *&$% off you &*CK*#% cuck. Is it necessary to attack everyone who has a difference of opinion or a different way of seeing things than you? It gets old with you. First it's you with Pitcher in the Rye, now it's anyone else. If you don't think that a grassroots fan driven NIL collective centered around 10-20k rabid fans at Ole Miss or Miss state giving $10, $20, $50 or $100 a year can't make a difference then there's no use discussing this subject because I know for a fact both alumni associations have NIL collectives set up exclusively for Baseball.

 

[TheOriginalCane]

Go *&$% off you &*CK*#% cuck. Is it necessary to attack everyone who has a difference of opinion or a different way of seeing things than you? It gets old with you. First it's you with Pitcher in the Rye, now it's anyone else. If you don't think that a grassroots fan driven NIL collective centered around 10-20k rabid fans at Ole Miss or Miss state giving $10, $20, $50 or $100 a year can't make a difference then there's no use discussing this subject because I know for a fact both alumni associations have NIL collectives set up exclusively for Baseball.

Lighten up, Francis. You chose to intervene on someone's behalf, and I just told you that your response was dopey. Unlike you, I'm not out here name-calling, I'm just critiquing posts.

You like to argue the points that support your argument, and ignore the rest. At all of those other big-attendance SEC schools (Ole Miss, Miss St, Arkansas, LSU), a Florida resident would have to pay out-of-state tuition, but I guess that wouldn't matter with all that fat, fat NIL money, right?

The point is very simple. If NIL is a big driver, then you go to an in-state school, where you'd have to spend less of your NIL money on your own tuition (plus you could qualify for in-state financial aid, such as Bright Futures).

If the personal situation (including losing a parent) is the big driver, then you go to a school nearby where you can be close to your family.

Meanwhile, people are out here acting like the kid is a mercenary and is visiting Hogtown a day after he enters the Portal. And you're yapping about the attendance at SEC programs in ****hole states, and acting as if nobody knows what the college baseball NIL market is like because Barry Jacks-off hasn't filed a public news report on the amounts.

Believe what you want to believe. But stop crying because I called your post "dopey". It was. You were acting as if attendance at rural college baseball games somehow drives deep, deep NIL numbers that would be substantially higher than market, when everyone knows that SEC fans are far more interested in funding football.

 

[MiamisMoperiestMopes]

Much hubris

That is amazing. I'd approach Tread, RPP, **** even Driveline and see if they are interested.

I'm 44...I'm caught between old school and new school but the two can work together. But if you totally ignore tech today you are doing a disservice to the kids.

im 49 and saw the very beginnings of driveline and know the founder, im wishing i had some foresight to get involved rather than dismiss it and him.

 

[HurricanePhilly]

Much hubris

im 49 and saw the very beginnings of driveline and know the founder, im wishing i had some foresight to get involved rather than dismiss it and him.

You are not the only one. I hear that a lot.

I wouldnt say I shut driveline out early but I was guarded. What got my attention was there were things I believed that others didnt that Driveline did...so thats how they got their claws in me. Plus its science so things will change as they learn more. So I appreciate how they are always adapting.

 

[kanin81]

Lighten up, Francis. You chose to intervene on someone's behalf, and I just told you that your response was dopey. Unlike you, I'm not out here name-calling, I'm just critiquing posts.

You like to argue the points that support your argument, and ignore the rest. At all of those other big-attendance SEC schools (Ole Miss, Miss St, Arkansas, LSU), a Florida resident would have to pay out-of-state tuition, but I guess that wouldn't matter with all that fat, fat NIL money, right?

The point is very simple. If NIL is a big driver, then you go to an in-state school, where you'd have to spend less of your NIL money on your own tuition (plus you could qualify for in-state financial aid, such as Bright Futures).

If the personal situation (including losing a parent) is the big driver, then you go to a school nearby where you can be close to your family.

Meanwhile, people are out here acting like the kid is a mercenary and is visiting Hogtown a day after he enters the Portal. And you're yapping about the attendance at SEC programs in ****hole states, and acting as if nobody knows what the college baseball NIL market is like because Barry Jacks-off hasn't filed a public news report on the amounts.

Believe what you want to believe. But stop crying because I called your post "dopey". It was. You were acting as if attendance at rural college baseball games somehow drives deep, deep NIL numbers that would be substantially higher than market, when everyone knows that SEC fans are far more interested in funding football.

Let me jump in here since he was responding to my post. How population equals NIL money is beyond me because then Rutgers should be a powerhouse then being across the river from NYC. All you need is a one or two rich alums for a school to have deep pockets I.e. Phil Knight and T Boone Pickens. I don’t have inside knowledge of these schools NIL programs but I read and listen to the college baseball landscape and I know where this is going.

There has been clear growth in college baseball and money will begin to flow, now that NIL money is now legal. If Cyr chooses UCF it’s because of a non baseball reason and that’s understandable. Cyr leaving because JD is a dud and wants to make sure in his draft year he is getting really good coaching, he is going to an SEC school. Cyr getting paid (in the baseball world) plus getting good coaching is not exactly mercenary work, it’s being smart.

 

[kanin81]

A lab with multiple Florida locations approached Jim Morris and Blake James back in 2017 or 2018 - before Wake developed their state-of-art pitching lab - wanting to partner and open a facility with all of the same capabilities as Wake. Also, like WF, they wanted to be able to use it during certain hours through the week and off-seasons for camps and mainly sessions with mostly a professional pitcher/MiLB and MLB focus. Miami would have been the first program to have this capability. Now everyone has it.. including Appalachian State.. and Miami doesn't.

I don't remember exactly what the proposal wanted and maybe it was outlandish but I don't think that was the case. Basically wanted to partner with UHealth to have a physician and the medical backing and only some of the funding and then a small facility. Wake's is only about 30 feet wide by 90 feet long. It would have been much larger than that here.

Instead, Blake James said he'd rather focus on bleachers and video boards and Jim Morris said physics and labs in baseball "are a bunch of abracadabra hocus pocus bull ****" and it ended right there.

Still feel like the avenue is there. Wake partnered with their medical school and hospital to build it and staff it. Miami should do the same with UHealth - especially with the alarming rate of TJ going on with this program.

James and Morris not seeing the potential and the future of where baseball was going doesn’t surprise me at all.

 

[TheOriginalCane]

Let me jump in here since he was responding to my post. How population equals NIL money is beyond me because then Rutgers should be a powerhouse then being across the river from NYC. All you need is a one or two rich alums for a school to have deep pockets I.e. Phil Knight and T Boone Pickens. I don’t have inside knowledge of these schools NIL programs but I read and listen to the college baseball landscape and I know where this is going.

There has been clear growth in college baseball and money will begin to flow, now that NIL money is now legal. If Cyr chooses UCF it’s because of a non baseball reason and that’s understandable. Cyr leaving because JD is a dud and wants to make sure in his draft year he is getting really good coaching, he is going to an SEC school. Cyr getting paid (in the baseball world) plus getting good coaching is not exactly mercenary work, it’s being smart.

I agree with you, for the most part.

Orlando, and Windermere, are big baseball areas. My HS (Lake Brantley) has produced quite a few MLB players, including Jason Varitek and the Weeks brothers. Thus, it's overly simplistic for anyone to just say "SEC will pay more NIL" or "high attendance school will pay more NIL". Dr. Phillips (Windermere area) has produced a bunch of MLB players, including Johnny Damon (my wife used to be friends with his wife). It wouldn't be so crazy to think that you could find one or two people who would fund some UCF NIL.

As @Canesfreak has indicated, multiple schools tried to pull Cyr last year, and he didn't jump. I definitely agree with you that "getting really good coaching" is not, in and of itself, mercenary. I WAS saying that getting wined and dined one day after entering the Portal AND choosing a school based solely on who has the higher NIL is mercenary. Or at least people saying that this is what will happen is a description of a mercenary decision.

Having said that, as people have pointed out, Cyr is a likely first-round draft choice. Even with all the "TERRIBLE" coaching he got at Miami. So let's not pretend that he needs a magic year with some magic coaches to "develop". He needs to stay healthy and play everyday at a good program, and then he will be drafted.

Going to UCF is not going to "stunt his development", particularly if he feels a comfort level with Norberto. I'm the first to admit that I hate UiF and F$U (check out my posting history), but it's more the combination of Blake saying "no" last year, and his more recent circumstances, that lead me to believe that he is not just looking for the biggest NIL offer and/or certain SEC coaches. He already knew what JD was like, and if he had any concerns last year, he would have made a change last year.

Let's see how it all plays out. The kid's family is not broke, and he will soon have plenty of MLB money. He doesn't need "development", he just needs a healthy season with some good stats.



PS, funny Johnny Damon factoid:

 

[TheOriginalCane]

James and Morris not seeing the potential and the future of where baseball was going doesn’t surprise me at all.

This is true.

I tried to tell people about Blake James years ago, when people were acting like "but but but he built the IPF" was some great character trait.

The approach Blake ALWAYS took was to field a suggestion for a capital or program improvement, and immediately ask some alum to fund it. And if he didn't get someone to write a check immediately, the project went into his circular file.

No vision, no planning, no prioritization, no action. A summary of the Blake James Era.

 

[kanin81]

I agree with you, for the most part.

Orlando, and Windermere, are big baseball areas. My HS (Lake Brantley) has produced quite a few MLB players, including Jason Varitek and the Weeks brothers. Thus, it's overly simplistic for anyone to just say "SEC will pay more NIL" or "high attendance school will pay more NIL".

As @Canesfreak has indicated, multiple schools tried to pull Cyr last year, and he didn't jump. I definitely agree with you that "getting really good coaching" is not, in and of itself, mercenary. I WAS saying that getting wined and dined one day after entering the Portal AND choosing a school based solely on who has the higher NIL is mercenary. Or at least people saying that this is what will happen is a description of a mercenary decision.

Having said that, as people have pointed out, Cyr is a likely first-round draft choice. Even with all the "TERRIBLE" coaching he got at Miami. So let's not pretend that he needs a magic year with some magic coaches to "develop". He needs to stay healthy and play everyday at a good program, and then he will be drafted.

Going to UCF is not going to "stunt his development", particularly if he feels a comfort level with Norberto. I'm the first to admit that I hate UiF and F$U (check out my posting history), but it's more the combination of Blake saying "no" last year, and his more recent circumstances, that lead me to believe that he is not just looking for the biggest NIL offer and/or certain SEC coaches. He already knew what JD was like, and if he had any concerns last year, he would have made a change last year.

Let's see how it all plays out. The kid's family is not broke, and he will soon have plenty of MLB money. He doesn't need "development", he just needs a healthy season with some good stats.

I don’t live in Florida so I will trust you with the area he grew up in that this is not just a money situation for him.

I do think you are underscoring the coaching and development aspect and how pro teams look at players. UF is known to not have a good pitching development program. Christian Scott was a mid week/Sunday starter/Reliever and now he is one of the top pitching prospects and looks good after 4 starts because the Mets tweaked his motion and pitch usage. The Mets did the same with Sprout and he is already in AA, Braves made changes to Waldrop and now he is looking good. FSU turned Cam Smith and Tibbs into top 15 picks with very good underlying metrics. Cyr could be looking to do the same, I don’t know but baseball has become much more analytical than just “ hittum where they ain’t” and Cyr is smart enough to know this if he ends up at one of those good hitting developmental schools.

 

[TheOriginalCane]

I don’t live in Florida so I will trust you with the area he grew up in that this is not just a money situation for him.

I do think you are underscoring the coaching and development aspect and how pro teams look at players. UF is known to not have a good pitching development program. Christian Scott was a mid week/Sunday starter/Reliever and now he is one of the top pitching prospects and looks good after 4 starts because the Mets tweaked his motion and pitch usage. The Mets did the same with Sprout and he is already in AA, Braves made changes to Waldrop and now he is looking good. FSU turned Cam Smith and Tibbs into top 15 picks with very good underlying metrics. Cyr could be looking to do the same, I don’t know but baseball has become much more analytical than just “ hittum where they ain’t” and Cyr is smart enough to know this if he ends up at one of those good hitting developmental schools.

Fair points. But Cyr isn't leaving UM because he needs to tweak his hitting.

 

[kanin81]

Fair points. But Cyr isn't leaving UM because he needs to tweak his hitting.

Yes, I think it’s much more than that.

 

[Angry Ibis]

Ya'll arguing NIL nonsense to somehow defend incompetence, when someone in this thread that knows has said a little goes a long way in the scheme of things....

SO Cora and Arod could finance a team of portal all stars with their lunch money.... FIGURE IT THE **** OUT because your bro just lead us to the worst season in almost 70 years...

Highly innovative and aggressive -- identify, pay, play... DONE!

 

[TheOriginalCane]

BLAH BLAH BLAH NIL.... BLAH BLAH BLAH...

Per someone in this thread that knows: a little goes a long way in the scheme of things....

SO Cora and Arod could finance a team of portal all stars with their lunch money.... FIGURE IT THE **** OUT because your bro just lead us to the worst season in almost 70 years...

Highly innovative and aggressive -- identify, pay, play... DONE!

So that whole rant...was just stating the obvious?

I didn't support the hiring of JD. But he's there for now. So can we possibly just separate issues into the "JD's Fault" and "Not JD's Fault" buckets?

It's not JD's fault that prior UM coaches didn't support a more robust use of NIL and/or the Portal. It's not JD's fault that he was hired so late in 2023 and was tardy to his first Portal Party. It's not JD's fault that prior UM coaches (and a certain beta Athletic Director) allowed our facilities to fall behind.

I'd be fine if we replaced JD, whether it's now or next year. But whoever the replacement is will still have to deal with a number of things that are "Not JD's Fault".

Unless we intend to find a time-traveling DeLorean in order to change our facilities, NIL, hiring-timing, and recruiting strategy, I don't think we will get an immediate fix. But we have seen some other in-state schools turn things around quickly. If we can retain our HS recruiting class and sign a bunch of good guys in the Portal, there's no reason we can't start getting things turned around by next year. But, yes, it will take a few more years to improve and modernize the facilities.

 

[jmcanes22]

You are not the only one. I hear that a lot.

I wouldnt say I shut driveline out early but I was guarded. What got my attention was there were things I believed that others didnt that Driveline did...so thats how they got their claws in me. Plus its science so things will change as they learn more. So I appreciate how they are always adapting.

Hphilly, your comment about being stuck between old school and new school hit hard. I laughed out loud. I am 49 and I can say that I dialed a rotary phone and voice dialed a cell phone. Do we even have a home????

 

[HurricanePhilly]

Hphilly, your comment about being stuck between old school and new school hit hard. I laughed out loud. I am 49 and I can say that I dialed a rotary phone and voice dialed a cell phone. Do we even have a home????

Amen brother. Caught in between two truly different times. Some good and some bad.

 

[Lance Roffers]

I could have sworn that when the millions of dollars of improvements were going on/announced, that the analytics and "lab" style stuff was supposed to be a part of that. That was the word anyways. You're telling me they bypassed all of that?

I’m telling you they don’t have a focused lab for either or pitching and mostly rely on TrackMan and video data rather than the advanced high-speed cameras and advanced pitching machines that pro orgs focus on.

They have gone from nothing tech to some tech machines, but they’re flash than substance from what I’ve seen.

 

[NotUncleLuke]

With all due respect to CanesFreak, I have a better source on Cyr than his agent (feel free to go back through my ~5 posts made on here). I was told his issue WAS with the coaching staff, and particularly with the god-son getting preferential treatment. I’m sure other things played a role, but I was told this before he broke his thumb. Cyr is a MIF, not an outfielder. Obviously has legit MLB potential as a MIF.

I honestly haven’t asked/heard the latest yet, but I don’t think he ends up at UCF as some have suggested. Probably destined for a big time ‘blue blood’ program.

However, It’s crazy how a lot of you still look down on UCF as somehow lower tiered by saying things such as ‘he wouldn’t go there for baseball reasons, etc’. UCF is right up there now with the state of Florida’s ‘big 3’ in terms of athletics, especially now being in the Big12.

 

[kanin81]

Blake Cyr is visiting Tennessee this weekend.

 

[Plymouth99]

Blake Cyr is visiting Tennessee this weekend.

Was he in Hogtown this week?