Utah just changed the game a bit. Smart move.
Other schools are going to have to decide how to move forward, this is a cheap way stretch NIL money for a perk that recruits will be eyeing.

Every football scholarship athlete for the Utes just received a brand new leased Dodge Ram 1500s courtesy of a Utah NIL group.

Roughly about $800/month to lease, so that's about $850,0000 to lease a vehicle for each player. Not sure how much the insurance payment is on that.

video is going viral on social media.
it's interesting how they did it, 6 month leases contingent on players eligibility continuing.

Utah NIL collective

BarcaBear said:

---

Utah just changed the game a bit. Smart move.
Other schools are going to have to decide how to move forward, this is a cheap way stretch NIL money for a perk that recruits will be eyeing.

Every football scholarship athlete for the Utes just received a brand new leased Dodge Ram 1500s courtesy of a Utah NIL group.

Roughly about $800/month to lease, so that's about $850,0000 to lease a vehicle for each player. Not sure how much the insurance payment is on that.

video is going viral on social media.
it's interesting how they did it, 6 month leases contingent on players eligibility continuing.

Utah NIL collective

---

That is 5 million dollars.

Cal will give you vouchers to Steve Koreans BBQ and La Burrita.

Waaaay better

This is just silly.

As I write this, Lincoln Riley is meeting with the owner -- $C grad -- of European Motors - Newport Beach.

oski003 said:

---

BarcaBear said:

---

Utah just changed the game a bit. Smart move.
Other schools are going to have to decide how to move forward, this is a cheap way stretch NIL money for a perk that recruits will be eyeing.

Every football scholarship athlete for the Utes just received a brand new leased Dodge Ram 1500s courtesy of a Utah NIL group.

Roughly about $800/month to lease, so that's about $850,0000 to lease a vehicle for each player. Not sure how much the insurance payment is on that.

video is going viral on social media.
it's interesting how they did it, 6 month leases contingent on players eligibility continuing.

Utah NIL collective

---

That is 5 million dollars.

---

huh?

Leasing...

$800 x 12 months = $9,600 per vehicle per year.

85 vehicles x $9,600 per year = $816,000 to lease vehicles for 85 players per year.
Throw in another $2k for downpayment for the lease, that's another $170k

if they bought them it would be over $5 million, but they aren't buying them.

Bobodeluxe said:

---

This is just silly.

---

this is reality.

you think you can offer players bus passes or mopeds?
the game is no longer about paying outrageous sums to coaches, its about paying the players.

Might work in Salt Lake, in Berkeley just give the guys scooters and BART passes.

Utah is essentially doing what the NCAA gave SMU the death penalty for doing in the 1980s.

Strykur said:

---

Might work in Salt Lake, in Berkeley just give the guys scooters and BART passes.

---

If we gave them trucks they would have nowhere to park them.

Maybe we can just give them parking spots if they bring their own vehicle.

Cal can give out free hotdog cars. Sponsored by Top Dog.

BarcaBear said:

---

oski003 said:

---

BarcaBear said:

---

Utah just changed the game a bit. Smart move.
Other schools are going to have to decide how to move forward, this is a cheap way stretch NIL money for a perk that recruits will be eyeing.

Every football scholarship athlete for the Utes just received a brand new leased Dodge Ram 1500s courtesy of a Utah NIL group.

Roughly about $800/month to lease, so that's about $850,0000 to lease a vehicle for each player. Not sure how much the insurance payment is on that.

video is going viral on social media.
it's interesting how they did it, 6 month leases contingent on players eligibility continuing.

Utah NIL collective

---

That is 5 million dollars.

---

huh?

Leasing...

$800 x 12 months = $9,600 per vehicle per year.

85 vehicles x $9,600 per year = $816,000 to lease vehicles for 85 players per year.
Throw in another $2k for downpayment for the lease, that's another $170k

if they bought them it would be over $5 million, but they aren't buying them.

---

I multiplied by 4, assuming the average player is on scholly for 4 years. Also, the collective is paying for car insurance and I am guessing there is no or a high mileage limit.

Coupons to bennigen's! That's better than money Guy!

BarcaBear said:

---

Bobodeluxe said:

---

This is just silly.

---

this is reality.

you think you can offer players bus passes or mopeds?
the game is no longer about paying outrageous sums to coaches, its about paying the players.

---

Nope. This is wrong. It is paying BOTH. Now pool the revenues that pay coaches. Allow NIL donations to move you up the season tix priority list (this is happening hit and miss in a few places).

And it is also, for a school like cal, unsustainable. It is a PAIN IN THE ASS to raise ongoing yearly non-tax deductible donations for "operating" expenses. Hat tip to seb but donor fatigue is going to be real at the point that doners yearly are writting 7 figure checks.

Yah, I don't think offering high school football players great educations are going to work anymore. Sorry Shocky. Folks in Cal's upper mgmt should make the tough decision: put up or drop back. Hanging around the middle (ie. making no real commitment to any direction) will be slow death.

82gradDLSdad said:

---

Yah, I don't think offering high school football players great educations are going to work anymore. Sorry Shocky. Folks in Cal's upper mgmt should make the tough decision: put up or drop back. Hanging around the middle (ie. making no real commitment to any direction) will be slow death.

---

This. but it is going to take a ton of concensus building. Honestly also will be talking truth to folks like Seb and really asking the legends people about their commitment to a long term sustainable model. Lets assume that the budget is $10 million to be "competitive". That would equate to a lift of $150-200M to endow a fund to throw that off on a permanent basis since it would be taxable income. I just don't see it. But whatever, either Cal and the Cal community will do it or I will work on my sprinkler system on saturdays

socaltownie said:

---

82gradDLSdad said:

---

Yah, I don't think offering high school football players great educations are going to work anymore. Sorry Shocky. Folks in Cal's upper mgmt should make the tough decision: put up or drop back. Hanging around the middle (ie. making no real commitment to any direction) will be slow death.

---

This. but it is going to take a ton of concensus building. Honestly also will be talking truth to folks like Seb and really asking the legends people about their commitment to a long term sustainable model. Lets assume that the budget is $10 million to be "competitive". That would equate to a lift of $150-200M to endow a fund to throw that off on a permanent basis since it would be taxable income. I just don't see it. But whatever, either Cal and the Cal community will do it or I will work on my sprinkler system on saturdays

---

It's an interesting problem that I don't see us handling well. Maybe some fantastically wealthy Cal fan will say, f-it, let's go big. And some out of the box Chancellor will go, yah, school's not the be all and end all for football and basketball players.

82gradDLSdad said:

---

socaltownie said:

---

82gradDLSdad said:

---

Yah, I don't think offering high school football players great educations are going to work anymore. Sorry Shocky. Folks in Cal's upper mgmt should make the tough decision: put up or drop back. Hanging around the middle (ie. making no real commitment to any direction) will be slow death.

---

This. but it is going to take a ton of concensus building. Honestly also will be talking truth to folks like Seb and really asking the legends people about their commitment to a long term sustainable model. Lets assume that the budget is $10 million to be "competitive". That would equate to a lift of $150-200M to endow a fund to throw that off on a permanent basis since it would be taxable income. I just don't see it. But whatever, either Cal and the Cal community will do it or I will work on my sprinkler system on saturdays

---

It's an interesting problem that I don't see us handling well. Maybe some fantastically wealthy Cal fan will say, f-it, let's go big. And some out of the box Chancellor will go, yah, school's not the be all and end all for football and basketball players.

---

My own "hope" (or at least what I would be strongly pusshing would be).

1) Let Regents deal with the stadium. Lots of other bonds around the system for capital projects that didn't pan completely out. Heck, we built an entire campus (I support that) which has an admission rate much higher than about 1/3 of the CSUs because Merced is a tough sell outside of the central central valley.

2) Eliminate scholarshiips for olympics to the level required for title IX.

3) Move basketball to the Big West and compete with other UCs

4) Seriously look at football and ask whether we want it or to join up with Big Sky.

But people don't want to go threre. They throw a fit about "relevance". They make farcical (and they are) arguments that the only way to get donations to Cal is from football (UCSD would like a word). They get folks to donate (I did) to legends. They write about some deep cuts to sports which are non-starters once you go one level deeper and ask which sports would actually be cut and what the raminfications would be to the university. And so Cal football will continue to be played and it will absolutely be "meh" or worse in the emerging era of college football.

socaltownie said:

---

82gradDLSdad said:

---

socaltownie said:

---

82gradDLSdad said:

---

Yah, I don't think offering high school football players great educations are going to work anymore. Sorry Shocky. Folks in Cal's upper mgmt should make the tough decision: put up or drop back. Hanging around the middle (ie. making no real commitment to any direction) will be slow death.

---

This. but it is going to take a ton of concensus building. Honestly also will be talking truth to folks like Seb and really asking the legends people about their commitment to a long term sustainable model. Lets assume that the budget is $10 million to be "competitive". That would equate to a lift of $150-200M to endow a fund to throw that off on a permanent basis since it would be taxable income. I just don't see it. But whatever, either Cal and the Cal community will do it or I will work on my sprinkler system on saturdays

---

It's an interesting problem that I don't see us handling well. Maybe some fantastically wealthy Cal fan will say, f-it, let's go big. And some out of the box Chancellor will go, yah, school's not the be all and end all for football and basketball players.

---

My own "hope" (or at least what I would be strongly pusshing would be).

1) Let Regents deal with the stadium. Lots of other bonds around the system for capital projects that didn't pan completely out. Heck, we built an entire campus (I support that) which has an admission rate much higher than about 1/3 of the CSUs because Merced is a tough sell outside of the central central valley.

2) Eliminate scholarshiips for olympics to the level required for title IX.

3) Move basketball to the Big West and compete with other UCs

4) Seriously look at football and ask whether we want it or to join up with Big Sky.

But people don't want to go threre. They throw a fit about "relevance". They make farcical (and they are) arguments that the only way to get donations to Cal is from football (UCSD would like a word). They get folks to donate (I did) to legends. They write about some deep cuts to sports which are non-starters once you go one level deeper and ask which sports would actually be cut and what the raminfications would be to the university. And so Cal football will continue to be played and it will absolutely be "meh" or worse in the emerging era of college football.

---

Well you're no fun. You must be a Republican.

These threads continue to get more and more depressing.
As a result, my sprinklers are in top notch shape this year!

82gradDLSdad said:

---

socaltownie said:

---

82gradDLSdad said:

---

socaltownie said:

---

82gradDLSdad said:

---

Yah, I don't think offering high school football players great educations are going to work anymore. Sorry Shocky. Folks in Cal's upper mgmt should make the tough decision: put up or drop back. Hanging around the middle (ie. making no real commitment to any direction) will be slow death.

---

This. but it is going to take a ton of concensus building. Honestly also will be talking truth to folks like Seb and really asking the legends people about their commitment to a long term sustainable model. Lets assume that the budget is $10 million to be "competitive". That would equate to a lift of $150-200M to endow a fund to throw that off on a permanent basis since it would be taxable income. I just don't see it. But whatever, either Cal and the Cal community will do it or I will work on my sprinkler system on saturdays

---

It's an interesting problem that I don't see us handling well. Maybe some fantastically wealthy Cal fan will say, f-it, let's go big. And some out of the box Chancellor will go, yah, school's not the be all and end all for football and basketball players.

---

My own "hope" (or at least what I would be strongly pusshing would be).

1) Let Regents deal with the stadium. Lots of other bonds around the system for capital projects that didn't pan completely out. Heck, we built an entire campus (I support that) which has an admission rate much higher than about 1/3 of the CSUs because Merced is a tough sell outside of the central central valley.

2) Eliminate scholarshiips for olympics to the level required for title IX.

3) Move basketball to the Big West and compete with other UCs

4) Seriously look at football and ask whether we want it or to join up with Big Sky.

But people don't want to go threre. They throw a fit about "relevance". They make farcical (and they are) arguments that the only way to get donations to Cal is from football (UCSD would like a word). They get folks to donate (I did) to legends. They write about some deep cuts to sports which are non-starters once you go one level deeper and ask which sports would actually be cut and what the raminfications would be to the university. And so Cal football will continue to be played and it will absolutely be "meh" or worse in the emerging era of college football.

---

Well you're no fun. You must be a Republican.

---

LOL. Actually born and raised in Berkeley and attending Cal football for now 52 years (maybe more but I don't really remember before than). We have, sadly, ALWAYS sucked. Essentially the Chicago Cubs of CFB. Sure, some glimmers of hope and then dashed hopes. And professionally someone who has to think about systemtic issues and how they impact outcomes. Some of that in higher education. And now I got a HS senior who is apply to Cal (where I hope he goes)

That (probably too narrowly) makes me really skeptical about arguments about "leadership" or "Just getting the right coach". It amde me really think about whether my fandom was about ME or about the students/future students.

People want to ignore it but there are structural explinations for Cal suckatude. If you think of the university as a business, I believe, it all becomes a lot clearer because enterprises that are in a business line that is secondary to their main efforts and which don't synergize often are sucky at it. It just, to be blunt, doesn't really matter compared to core strategic concerns.

That is Cal.

socaltownie said:

---

82gradDLSdad said:

---

socaltownie said:

---

82gradDLSdad said:

---

socaltownie said:

---

82gradDLSdad said:

---

Yah, I don't think offering high school football players great educations are going to work anymore. Sorry Shocky. Folks in Cal's upper mgmt should make the tough decision: put up or drop back. Hanging around the middle (ie. making no real commitment to any direction) will be slow death.

---

This. but it is going to take a ton of concensus building. Honestly also will be talking truth to folks like Seb and really asking the legends people about their commitment to a long term sustainable model. Lets assume that the budget is $10 million to be "competitive". That would equate to a lift of $150-200M to endow a fund to throw that off on a permanent basis since it would be taxable income. I just don't see it. But whatever, either Cal and the Cal community will do it or I will work on my sprinkler system on saturdays

---

It's an interesting problem that I don't see us handling well. Maybe some fantastically wealthy Cal fan will say, f-it, let's go big. And some out of the box Chancellor will go, yah, school's not the be all and end all for football and basketball players.

---

My own "hope" (or at least what I would be strongly pusshing would be).

1) Let Regents deal with the stadium. Lots of other bonds around the system for capital projects that didn't pan completely out. Heck, we built an entire campus (I support that) which has an admission rate much higher than about 1/3 of the CSUs because Merced is a tough sell outside of the central central valley.

2) Eliminate scholarshiips for olympics to the level required for title IX.

3) Move basketball to the Big West and compete with other UCs

4) Seriously look at football and ask whether we want it or to join up with Big Sky.

But people don't want to go threre. They throw a fit about "relevance". They make farcical (and they are) arguments that the only way to get donations to Cal is from football (UCSD would like a word). They get folks to donate (I did) to legends. They write about some deep cuts to sports which are non-starters once you go one level deeper and ask which sports would actually be cut and what the raminfications would be to the university. And so Cal football will continue to be played and it will absolutely be "meh" or worse in the emerging era of college football.

---

Well you're no fun. You must be a Republican.

---

LOL. Actually born and raised in Berkeley and attending Cal football for now 52 years (maybe more but I don't really remember before than). We have, sadly, ALWAYS sucked. Essentially the Chicago Cubs of CFB. Sure, some glimmers of hope and then dashed hopes. And professionally someone who has to think about systemtic issues and how they impact outcomes. Some of that in higher education. And now I got a HS senior who is apply to Cal (where I hope he goes)

That (probably too narrowly) makes me really skeptical about arguments about "leadership" or "Just getting the right coach". It amde me really think about whether my fandom was about ME or about the students/future students.

People want to ignore it but there are structural explinations for Cal suckatude. If you think of the university as a business, I believe, it all becomes a lot clearer because enterprises that are in a business line that is secondary to their main efforts and which don't synergize often are sucky at it. It just, to be blunt, doesn't really matter compared to core strategic concerns.

That is Cal.

---

And the way it should be. There is no D1 college football. There is unregulated professional laundry football.

Maybe the two to four years I gave the UC Berkeley - ACC stupid deal was a little optimistic.

I get it. Do you want to be great at higher education or great at big time D1 football. I think the time you may have been able to pull off both has past. We'll see.

82gradDLSdad said:

---

I get it. Do you want to be great at higher education or great at big time D1 football. I think the time you may have been able to pull off both has past. We'll see.

---

I don't like that phrasing. It plays to the "What about Michigan!!" "What about Wisconsin" crowd.

Rather - I like

"Is it possible to be a non-flagship, highly competitive land grant university and excel at football.?"

Why that (correct) description of Cal matters is.....

Non flagship - it means that you can't "tax" the other members fo the system to fund your operations. You have no special draws on budget/revenues/etc. Your "brand" can't be "the university of california" cause there are 8 other campuses.

Highly competive - my fingers are raw from typing about why football sucess and juicing the application pool maters for others but not for cal

"land grant" - it means you are pulled in directions that serve broader state goals. One of the big ones in our state (unlike places like Michigan and WIsky) is that we have an increasingly diverse state that UC _MUST_ serve with this mission and, generally speaking, the fastest growing demographic in the state has a less than passionate relationship with football.

And before you type "UCLA" it is probably worth noting that in FB they are NOT that much less sucky in the new world than Cal. You might chalk up any extra wins to the advantages of being south of the grapevine. Their basketball program is unique in that it benefits from HOF alumni who demand excellence. Probably some extra juice as well to UCLA from having Chancellor Young there for 30+ years and then that SoCal is a bit more "southern" in its migration patterns during formative growth years for LA and thus a bit more football crazed. Not dramatically but maybe a little bit.

But so we don't have to keep talking about Cal maybe we should ask the question of why it has been 4+ decades since the NorthEast produced a great public university football team. I mean a ton of money in New York. Lots of population. Lots of eyeballs. No natty for UNY Sunnybrook or Albany. UMASS isn't crushing it. Really other than PennState no one north of the Patomac has a great program. Why is that?????

PS. I should add in "that plays in a major metro market". Cal is also hurt that we compete for eyeballs against a bunch of pro teams (though less than a decade ago so upside options there)

socaltownie said:

---

But so we don't have to keep talking about Cal maybe we should ask the question of why it has been 4+ decades since the NorthEast produced a great public university football team. I mean a ton of money in New York. Lots of population. Lots of eyeballs. No natty for UNY Sunnybrook or Albany. UMASS isn't crushing it. Really other than PennState no one north of the Patomac has a great program. Why is that?????

---

Because the rich alumni in the NE went to private liberal arts schools rather than the low quality public schools.

socaltownie said:

---

82gradDLSdad said:

---

socaltownie said:

---

82gradDLSdad said:

---

Yah, I don't think offering high school football players great educations are going to work anymore. Sorry Shocky. Folks in Cal's upper mgmt should make the tough decision: put up or drop back. Hanging around the middle (ie. making no real commitment to any direction) will be slow death.

---

This. but it is going to take a ton of concensus building. Honestly also will be talking truth to folks like Seb and really asking the legends people about their commitment to a long term sustainable model. Lets assume that the budget is $10 million to be "competitive". That would equate to a lift of $150-200M to endow a fund to throw that off on a permanent basis since it would be taxable income. I just don't see it. But whatever, either Cal and the Cal community will do it or I will work on my sprinkler system on saturdays

---

It's an interesting problem that I don't see us handling well. Maybe some fantastically wealthy Cal fan will say, f-it, let's go big. And some out of the box Chancellor will go, yah, school's not the be all and end all for football and basketball players.

---

My own "hope" (or at least what I would be strongly pusshing would be).

1) Let Regents deal with the stadium. Lots of other bonds around the system for capital projects that didn't pan completely out. Heck, we built an entire campus (I support that) which has an admission rate much higher than about 1/3 of the CSUs because Merced is a tough sell outside of the central central valley.

2) Eliminate scholarshiips for olympics to the level required for title IX.

3) Move basketball to the Big West and compete with other UCs

4) Seriously look at football and ask whether we want it or to join up with Big Sky.

But people don't want to go threre. They throw a fit about "relevance". They make farcical (and they are) arguments that the only way to get donations to Cal is from football (UCSD would like a word). They get folks to donate (I did) to legends. They write about some deep cuts to sports which are non-starters once you go one level deeper and ask which sports would actually be cut and what the raminfications would be to the university. And so Cal football will continue to be played and it will absolutely be "meh" or worse in the emerging era of college football.

---

I agree with your overall sentiments, but would aim a little higher than you do.

• Folks seem to believe there will be another major media/sports shakeout in a few years resulting in 24-32 teams in one or two superconferences getting top $$$. Cal will not make that cut. But neither will lots of other schools: Northwestern, Illinois, UCLA, the 'Zonas, maybe not Oregon or UDub.
• 3-4 regional conferences will emerge from this fallout. A new Pac-8/10 will be one of these. Maybe a few teams like SDSt or FresnoSt are included. There will be some TV money, though not nearly as much as the top 24-32. THIS IS WHERE CAL NEEDS TO AIM.
• Cal should accept the sh*tty deal they signed with the ACC as the future norm - they'll never see the 100% media $ share from the ACC. Therefore, they should use the next few years to:
• Replace Knowlton (ASAP) and Wilcox
• Right-size the IAD for this future including reducing the number of varsity sports while being Title IX-compliant.
• Invest more in football to be competitive in the ACC (>.500 in conference) while really aiming to be a very strong member of this future Pac-X.
• Rebuild student/alumni interest (hard to do) through reduced (free for freshmen) ticket prices and most of all, putting more competitive teams out there. Offspring of Tedford era alumni are coming soon - try to lure them to games.
• Work with faculty to develop enhanced offerings for student athletes. Maybe it's preferred entry to some grad programs or ways of pursuing tougher majors that are currently not viable for varsity football and basketball players. This is what Stanfurd seems to offer that we don't. Many recruits won't initially care about this but transfers from one of those top 24-32 teams who sat on the bench for 2-3 years probably will care because they've downsized their NFL aspirations.

DiabloWags said:

---

These threads continue to get more and more depressing.
As a result, my sprinklers are in top notch shape this year!

---

OK, this is ANOTHER sprinkler mention. This HAS to stop!

What it is it with work on sprinkler systems? Don't you have more interesting things to work on? I can offer my services and teach y'all some bicycle maintenance so you'll be wrenching on those sweet $12k Colnagos and Yetis instead of digging in the dirt!

And maybe Diablo and others can teach us some Porsche maintenance tricks, so the rest of you can get greasy working on your valves, ceramic brakes and double-wishbone suspension bits!

Let's up our "Saturday maintenance" game, shall we?

TandemBear said:

---

DiabloWags said:

---

These threads continue to get more and more depressing.
As a result, my sprinklers are in top notch shape this year!

---

OK, this is ANOTHER sprinkler mention. This HAS to stop!

What it is it with work on sprinkler systems? Don't you have more interesting things to work on? I can offer my services and teach y'all some bicycle maintenance so you'll be wrenching on those sweet $12k Colnagos and Yetis instead of digging in the dirt!

And maybe Diablo and others can teach us some Porsche maintenance tricks, so the rest of you can get greasy working on your valves, ceramic brakes and double-wishbone suspension bits!

Let's up our "Saturday maintenance" game, shall we?

---

My problem is that I have a dozen irrigation valves (no sprinklers, all drip) on two different timers and six road bikes (Italvega, Trek, Centurion/Cinelli, Tommaso, Litespeed, Zunow) to maintain. I did make time to rebuild a Specialized Allez (zero-dollar yard sale find) last winter, though.

It is important to recognize that sprinkler system repair.

1) One of the WORST homeowner tasks there is. Dirty, tough, hard work and at least for me running back and forth to turn the thing on to see if you got it right
2) A task that HAS to be done. You can not paint the baseboards. No one cares (other than the wife) or the folks for the Arch Digest photo shoot. Bad sprinkler? Waste water and possible lose landscapping
3) Cal not sucking is an excuse to not do it. Cal sucks - gotta do it.

TandemBear said:

---

DiabloWags said:

---

These threads continue to get more and more depressing.
As a result, my sprinklers are in top notch shape this year!

---

OK, this is ANOTHER sprinkler mention. This HAS to stop!

What it is it with work on sprinkler systems? Don't you have more interesting things to work on? I can offer my services and teach y'all some bicycle maintenance so you'll be wrenching on those sweet $12k Colnagos and Yetis instead of digging in the dirt!

And maybe Diablo and others can teach us some Porsche maintenance tricks, so the rest of you can get greasy working on your valves, ceramic brakes and double-wishbone suspension bits!

Let's up our "Saturday maintenance" game, shall we?

---

The "sprinkler" reference comes from threads that were posted back in the days of Sonny Dykes, when 30 point leads were NEVER safe given a defense that was like swiss cheese.

Hence, the numerous references to "sprinkler" work.

College football has become a disgrace.

socaltownie said:

---

82gradDLSdad said:

---

I get it. Do you want to be great at higher education or great at big time D1 football. I think the time you may have been able to pull off both has past. We'll see.

---

I don't like that phrasing. It plays to the "What about Michigan!!" "What about Wisconsin" crowd.

Rather - I like

"Is it possible to be a non-flagship, highly competitive land grant university and excel at football.?"

Why that (correct) description of Cal matters is.....

Non flagship - it means that you can't "tax" the other members fo the system to fund your operations. You have no special draws on budget/revenues/etc. Your "brand" can't be "the university of california" cause there are 8 other campuses.

Highly competive - my fingers are raw from typing about why football sucess and juicing the application pool maters for others but not for cal

"land grant" - it means you are pulled in directions that serve broader state goals. One of the big ones in our state (unlike places like Michigan and WIsky) is that we have an increasingly diverse state that UC _MUST_ serve with this mission and, generally speaking, the fastest growing demographic in the state has a less than passionate relationship with football.

And before you type "UCLA" it is probably worth noting that in FB they are NOT that much less sucky in the new world than Cal. You might chalk up any extra wins to the advantages of being south of the grapevine. Their basketball program is unique in that it benefits from HOF alumni who demand excellence. Probably some extra juice as well to UCLA from having Chancellor Young there for 30+ years and then that SoCal is a bit more "southern" in its migration patterns during formative growth years for LA and thus a bit more football crazed. Not dramatically but maybe a little bit.

But so we don't have to keep talking about Cal maybe we should ask the question of why it has been 4+ decades since the NorthEast produced a great public university football team. I mean a ton of money in New York. Lots of population. Lots of eyeballs. No natty for UNY Sunnybrook or Albany. UMASS isn't crushing it. Really other than PennState no one north of the Patomac has a great program. Why is that?????

PS. I should add in "that plays in a major metro market". Cal is also hurt that we compete for eyeballs against a bunch of pro teams (though less than a decade ago so upside options there)

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Because Quinnipac and UMASS won D1 ice hockey championships instead.

TandemBear said:

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DiabloWags said:

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These threads continue to get more and more depressing.
As a result, my sprinklers are in top notch shape this year!

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OK, this is ANOTHER sprinkler mention. This HAS to stop!

What it is it with work on sprinkler systems? Don't you have more interesting things to work on? I can offer my services and teach y'all some bicycle maintenance so you'll be wrenching on those sweet $12k Colnagos and Yetis instead of digging in the dirt!

And maybe Diablo and others can teach us some Porsche maintenance tricks, so the rest of you can get greasy working on your valves, ceramic brakes and double-wishbone suspension bits!

Let's up our "Saturday maintenance" game, shall we?

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As soon as my wife feels comfortable with me riding again (more seizure fallout) I'm with you on the bike maintenance. I don't remember having to do that much though. Amazing machines.

HearstMining said:

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TandemBear said:

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DiabloWags said:

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These threads continue to get more and more depressing.
As a result, my sprinklers are in top notch shape this year!

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OK, this is ANOTHER sprinkler mention. This HAS to stop!

What it is it with work on sprinkler systems? Don't you have more interesting things to work on? I can offer my services and teach y'all some bicycle maintenance so you'll be wrenching on those sweet $12k Colnagos and Yetis instead of digging in the dirt!

And maybe Diablo and others can teach us some Porsche maintenance tricks, so the rest of you can get greasy working on your valves, ceramic brakes and double-wishbone suspension bits!

Let's up our "Saturday maintenance" game, shall we?

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My problem is that I have a dozen irrigation valves (no sprinklers, all drip) on two different timers and six road bikes (Italvega, Trek, Centurion/Cinelli, Tommaso, Litespeed, Zunow) to maintain. I did make time to rebuild a Specialized Allez (zero-dollar yard sale find) last winter, though.

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Hey, another BI cyclist reveals himself! Love it (even though I am hardly ever riding lately).

GoOskie said:

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College football has become a disgrace.

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It's time to end the charade of and term "college football". At least at the highest levels, it's devolved into nothing more than free agent pro football. Why not just start calling it that.