MEGA Conference Realignment and lawsuits Megathread: Stories, Tales, Lies, and Exaggerations

[Cryptical Envelopment]

Lots of coaches can recruit and have kids play hard for them, not disputing his potential or current ability. But he is unproven as a head football coach. There is a lot that goes into it beyond recruiting. Politics, staff, conflict resolution, booster management, game day management. Coker also had some of our all time recruiting classes and had kids play hard for him, even won us a ship, but also along with the midget troll spun us into oblivion. Not saying he's Coker, but he's far from a sure bet. I'm just saying their stock is at the all time high IMO and the time to act is now and stop with this BS idependent identity that's going away IMO. These two super conferences are going to change the playoffs and the future of CFB, including ND.

Look nothing is anything until its something. But all signs so far point to him having success. He is incredibly well-respected in coaching circles too, and a great recruiter as we are seeing with their current #1 class. He's not a "good recruiter" he's going toe to toe with the usual top 5 powers and winning a ton. This isn't a "promote Clappy from within and let's recruit of the newspaper lists from 1999" situation. Again, he was able to keep the DC (him) and OC (Rees) from an 11-1 team. They have continuity and momentum.

Dude was an All-B1G conference LB at OSU, played in two National Championship games, had a year in the NFL before he had to medically retire, coached five years in the B1G, then was wildly successful as DC under Fickell at Cincy and Kelly at ND. He's known as a developer.

Now I am going to go throw up. Thanks!

 

[Ispyin]

Any one else notice these faces for ESPN (Finebaum, Herbstreit, now Donnan) are saying UM to the SEC.
What is that about ?

i missed where the human ******** finebaum said that?

 

[Tony4Canes]

Read someone on Twitter say ND would like to keep NBC contract for all home games and Fox for away games if they were to join B1G

Would B1G go for that deal?

 

[Ispyin]

Assuming that ESPN is really behind all this realignment thing and the final aim is to create a superconference under the ESPN umbrella, could they say to the ACC, whose target is to survive at this point, something like this?

"Guys, we will give you a better tv deal and we will throw in some other schools from West but you gotta rip off the Grant of Rights and let go Clemson, Miami, FSU and UNC to the SEC".

I know: it's an oversimplification and things don't work like that, but, again, who knows.

Is that you Andy Staples

 

[Ispyin]

ACC network bros said this morning that Phillips, ACC commish, and Swarbrick, ND AD, don't get along so don't expect ND to join.

Notre Dame’s athletic Director was one of the leading people behind the playoff proposal that the ACC commissioner and schools then came behind and torpedoed. I’m sure he wasn’t too happy about that

 

[Ispyin]

ND isn't jumping on a sinking ship. Their best move is to join the B1G but their hubris may let them think they can survive long-term if they stay independent.

I think they actually can because the SEC would rather keep them independent and include them in the playoffs and see them go to the Big Ten which excluding them from a playoff would force them to deal within seconds unless of course they chose to go to the SEC. Either way Notre Dame can do whatever they want whether we like it or not

 

[NorthEastCane]

Specifically what decisions would’ve been different had Miami stayed in the BE?

Do you think Shalala would not have lobbied for Shannon if we were still in the BE? Or not hired Golden? Do you think the BOT would have been “hungrier” to hire a better AD than Eichorst? Do you think somehow Shalala and the BOT would’ve saved the OB?

IMO, it seems sketchy to believe anything would’ve been any different. Bad hires were made—it happens at the best of programs. Putting the athletic dept in the best-possible position for long-term financial viability did little-to-nothing to change those hires or the situation surrounding our facilities.

I'm not claiming any decision would have changed. I'm also not claiming that UM should have stayed in the Big East. I'm just describing the reality that existed at that time. If UM wanted to leave the Big East, there were not suitors that would have been open to UM (other than PSU Ark or USCe, the Big 10 or SEC didn't expand until 2012 - 2014).

What happened appears to be a convergence of independent decisions that created a perfect storm scenario precipitated by the ACC offer to join the conference. During that period, Shalala was trying to build up the School of Medicine into what eventually lead to UHealth. It required extensive capital and, in the beginning, operated at a deficit. The last thing she would want is also carrying the burden of an additional deficit if football had a bad year and didn't make a high payout bowl. The same football program that was already under pressure to support increased title IX spending.

Retaining Coker, hiring Shannon or Golden was a low-cost option. We didn't for a coach until Richt. Evenb there, it was an incomplete investment in the program. Richt had to contribute $1 million of his own funds for the indoor practice facility.

The entire sequence was a comedy of errors.

 

[Ispyin]

They absolutely care about the USNAWR rankings. There are entire teams dedicated to understanding the algorithm and maximizing that ranking. Sure, the hardcore academician is looking at other things, but no competent administrator is going go dismiss the USNAWR as it is the most publicly recognized university ranking system. Public perception is huge for many reasons, including applicants, and philanthropy. The BOT cares a lot.

I can confirm that the optics of the rankings does matter to the board. The school and the president were crucified when the ranking started to go down and especially now that Florida state is tied. It’s part of the reason that if it were not for Covid eL jefe frenk might’ve lost his job there - now he’s on stronger footing because of how he navigated the school through it and now the athletics program

 

[Alex Del Piero]

Is that you Andy Staples

 

[WeBallinBoyz]

Yeah, there's plenty to criticize, but folks get all up in this theory that she single-handedly ruined football. First off, there's plenty of blame for that, and it's probably worth looking closer to the field on that one. Second, how does nobody remember our latest tussle with the NCAA? We were big-f*cked, and she weaseled us out of a lot of that. Dont delude yourself into thinking the NCAA backed off because they had no proof...when has that ever mattered to them? She went at them hard and convinced them they'd lose more than they'd gain if they didn't wrap sh*t up and give us half the punishment they'd been talking about.

But hey, go ahead and neg me and scream about how she ruined everything. Because, as usual, the truth is more complicated and tougher to swallow. Miami failed on many levels like so many schools have the last 20 years. What we're seeing is a few teams figured out how to run a program like a cut-throat business and have dominated. The rest of us sat here acting like it was still 1992, and we've seen the results on the field. So yeah, she should have done better, but she's not the f*cking boogyman.

100 percent true.

She still sucks though and looks like Chewbacca

 

[Baba Yaga]

I think they actually can because the SEC would rather keep them independent and include them in the playoffs and see them go to the Big Ten which excluding them from a playoff would force them to deal within seconds unless of course they chose to go to the SEC. Either way Notre Dame can do whatever they want whether we like it or not

Agreed. They're a huge brand even when they're down and are a cash cow for whatever network wants to purchase their media rights for football, it's a golden parachute for them financially. I was thinking WRT scheduling if we do end up with two super-conferences, they may be left picking from scraps of the Big12, PAC and ACC bc not too many teams are going to want to add ND OOC after running the gauntlet of conference play.

But in your scenario, if they had a playoff spot all but guaranteed as an independent and NBC still wants to throw the sink at them, it may not make sense to join the B1G.

 

[Badbart43]

100 percent true.

She still sucks though and looks like Chewbacca

Hey, don't compare her to Chewbacca. He's quite handsome, for a wookie!

 

[CaneInHeelCountry]

I'm not claiming any decision would have changed. I'm also not claiming that UM should have stayed in the Big East. I'm just describing the reality that existed at that time. If UM wanted to leave the Big East, there were not suitors that would have been open to UM (other than PSU Ark or USCe, the Big 10 or SEC didn't expand until 2012 - 2014).

What happened appears to be a convergence of independent decisions that created a perfect storm scenario precipitated by the ACC offer to join the conference. During that period, Shalala was trying to build up the School of Medicine into what eventually lead to UHealth. It required extensive capital and, in the beginning, operated at a deficit. The last thing she would want is also carrying the burden of an additional deficit if football had a bad year and didn't make a high payout bowl. The same football program that was already under pressure to support increased title IX spending.

Retaining Coker, hiring Shannon or Golden was a low-cost option. We didn't for a coach until Richt. Evenb there, it was an incomplete investment in the program. Richt had to contribute $1 million of his own funds for the indoor practice facility.

The entire sequence was a comedy of errors.

I’m sure that costs were a factor in how we operated. I’m definitely not suggesting otherwise.

But retaining Coker was certainly not a “low cost option.” He was among the highest-paid coaches in the country at that time, and ultimately his buyout cost us a good chunk of change. If anything, his buyout is the reason that a cheaper hire like Shannon was attractive.

And we reportedly reached out to several coaches for whom we’d have been willing to spend more money before settling on Shannon and Golden. So cost was not the only reason for their hiring.

Both of those hires were understandable and defensible at the time, apart from the cost issue. Neither was considered a home-run, but they were both graded in the A-/B+ range among the talking head crowd at the time.

Granted, they didn't work out. But I don't think those hires are evidence of some sort of complacency brought about by the move to the ACC, which is what you're arguing.

 

[Canedude08]

Who said anything about politics. I shure didn’t. You can slurp her all you want. She was a terrible hire, and forever a stain on the U.

Tell me you have never been on campus, without telling me.

 

[Jonnyblaze]

Agreed. They're a huge brand even when they're down and are a cash cow for whatever network wants to purchase their media rights for football, it's a golden parachute for them financially. I was thinking WRT scheduling if we do end up with two super-conferences, they may be left picking from scraps of the Big12, PAC and ACC bc not too many teams are going to want to add ND OOC after running the gauntlet of conference play.

But in your scenario, if they had a playoff spot all but guaranteed as an independent and NBC still wants to throw the sink at them, it may not make sense to join the B1G.

Playoff access is the key. As long as they have that, they’ll stay indy. NBC will continue the relationship so they’re good there too.

 

[CaneTheGaytors]

Tell me you have never been on campus, without telling me.

I lived in Miami the majority of my life, and have been on campus many times. One of my ex-girlfriends attended UM. She was in the drama department (actress), and I was often on campus with her. You’re an idiot. Porst less.

 

[Category69]

Look nothing is anything until its something. But all signs so far point to him having success. He is incredibly well-respected in coaching circles too, and a great recruiter as we are seeing with their current #1 class. He's not a "good recruiter" he's going toe to toe with the usual top 5 powers and winning a ton. This isn't a "promote Clappy from within and let's recruit of the newspaper lists from 1999" situation. Again, he was able to keep the DC (him) and OC (Rees) from an 11-1 team. They have continuity and momentum.

Dude was an All-B1G conference LB at OSU, played in two National Championship games, had a year in the NFL before he had to medically retire, coached five years in the B1G, then was wildly successful as DC under Fickell at Cincy and Kelly at ND. He's known as a developer.

Now I am going to go throw up. Thanks!

LOL, fuq ND is all I got to say at the end of the day. I hope Freeman and the Quasimodo's fail in a burning cloud of fart dust. But I got respect for your opinions CE, you're a fun/quality poster on here.

 

[TheOriginalCane]

I'm not claiming any decision would have changed. I'm also not claiming that UM should have stayed in the Big East. I'm just describing the reality that existed at that time. If UM wanted to leave the Big East, there were not suitors that would have been open to UM (other than PSU Ark or USCe, the Big 10 or SEC didn't expand until 2012 - 2014).

What happened appears to be a convergence of independent decisions that created a perfect storm scenario precipitated by the ACC offer to join the conference. During that period, Shalala was trying to build up the School of Medicine into what eventually lead to UHealth. It required extensive capital and, in the beginning, operated at a deficit. The last thing she would want is also carrying the burden of an additional deficit if football had a bad year and didn't make a high payout bowl. The same football program that was already under pressure to support increased title IX spending.

Retaining Coker, hiring Shannon or Golden was a low-cost option. We didn't for a coach until Richt. Evenb there, it was an incomplete investment in the program. Richt had to contribute $1 million of his own funds for the indoor practice facility.

The entire sequence was a comedy of errors.

Fair enough.

I simply dispute the insane notion that "ACC money" made anyone lazy.

The reality is that Paul Dee retired, and the next 3 ADs we hired were either weak (Shermanator, Beta Blake) or were not all-in at Miami (Hocutt).

We also didn't hire the greatest football coaches, which can be an outgrowth of the AD turnover.

We also had a VERY bad break go our way with the Orange Bowl. The Miami voters had already approved 9/11 stimulus bonds to be used for the renovations, the City of Miami had already signed a binding contract with Hammes for the renovation, AND NOW THAT TROLL DAVID SAMSON HAS FINALLY ADMITTED TO THE BACK-CHANNEL POLITICAL MACHINATIONS BY THE MARLINS TO SCUTTLE THE ORANGE BOWL RENOVATION.

So for all of the jackholes who have LOOOOONG lied about Shalala "abandoning" the Orange Bowl, it is FINALLY obvious that all she did was walk away from an automatic loss. It is beyond dispute that the Orange Bowl was destroyed by David Samson, Jeffrey Loria, and the City of Miami politicians that they bought off.

The University of Miami had a LOT of bad ****e happen to our Athletic Department from about 2005-2015, including Nevin Shapiro.

But to call the whole situation "lazy" is just...a lazy oversimplification. And I'm not directing that at you, per se, but anyone who makes that argument.

 

[Canes Legacy]

 

[CaneGangg]