calumnus said:
BearlyCareAnymore said:
calumnus said:
BearlyCareAnymore said:
calumnus said:
BearlyCareAnymore said:
CalGrad95 said:
Got our ass beat like a drum by a 2-5 team. Junior varsity coaching staff. Fire them all.
People keep talking about the fear of being relegated on the next realignment. The more I watch this conference, the more I'm convinced we have already been relegated. This conference is absolutely crap that needs 17 teams to put together 3 or 4 serviceable ones. These last two games have been horrible on both sides and brutal to watch.
The ACC is still considered P4, pays well, is an ESPN darling and the fact the teams are so bad just highlights what an opportunity we are squandering with Wilcox. We only needed to be around the #50 team to win 10 last year. This year's schedule is even worse. Win 10 and make the CFPs, even as a fraud, and start filling CMS, recruiting at a high level and actually become good (ie fake it till you make it). Then win in the CFP and make it to the B1G or a Superleague in the next realignment. The path is right there. SMU made that jump from G6, we can too.
There is no P4. People are already referring to the P2.
The crap teams in the ACC pushed for Cal, Stanford and SMU over the objections of the good teams because they know the good teams are leaving and with the three of us there are enough teams to maintain a conference that is substantially worse than the P2 but somewhat better than the G?
Yes, but people expect the P2 to expand again and when they do they will take the best teams/markets from the ACC and Big-12. That is why we need to win in the ACC, become one of their best teams, become regularly ranked by virtue of beating bad teams in the ACC and own the Bay Area market. The B1G presidents also like academics. We are perfectly positioned for B1G expansion if we take care of business. The path is right there. Worst case if we try is we own the ACC and remain ESPN's darling while filling CMS, ie Cal football survives at a relatively high level.
OH FOR GOD'S SAKE. They aren't going to expand that much and they aren't taking us win or lose. We won't bring them more money and that is all that matters. There are a handful of teams, mostly the top teams in the ACC, who have something to add to the P2. They aren't us. They don't care if we miraculously win a couple time in 60 years. They care about prolonged, sustained ability to add value to a conference.
The Big 10 doesn't need to expand AT ALL. They may take a couple specific teams like Notre Dame who clearly add value. They don't need to go looking for numbers. We aren't going anywhere and it is time people make there peace with that.
We usually agree on our analysis of whatvis, but differ greatly in our vision of what can be.
No one knows for sure what the future holds but no one thinks the current conferences remain as is. Maybe there is expansion, maybe there is a super league, but the bottom line is Cal needs to start being the best version of Cal it can be to give us the best chance of surviving what the future brings.
I truly believe Cal has tremendous potential to compete at the highest level (consistent top 20) and fill CMS and Haas by filling the East Bay sports void but we need to think strategically and identify our comparitive advantages and play to them, which we have never really done in football (the Calgorithm and our Game Day atmosphere came close) and have only done to a limited extent on occasion in basketball.
If you don't believe we can do better than this and want to give up, fine. But why oppose those who believe it can be done and try to stop Cal from trying? Why try to convince the crowd it is pointless? I don't get that. Just make excuses for Wilcox then and say we should retain him for next year.
I do believe we can do better than this, but better than this does not necessarily mean super leage.
First of all, there is no indication there will be a reformulation into a super league. Much more likely is that the Big10 and SEC are the defacto superleague and they stay how they are. Maybe increase their ranks to 20 each tops, and do an exclusivity agreement to only play each other and have a playoff.
My issue is that everyone assumes realignment will happen (I think it already has) and that we have to get to top 20 status in both success and money in that time or it is all over. We don't know if there will be a major realignment, when it will happen and if we have a chance if it does. Making stupid decisions because we have a 5, 4, 3 year window is bad for Cal.
Cal needs to be the best Cal it can be long term and stop playing to a deadline. What happens with realignment happens.
Literally a lot of us argued a few years ago that if we were raising all this money we needed to get a new coach and then do NIL because the NIL was not going to help with Wilcox. The argument all over this board, egged on by pretty high up sources was that we didn't have time for that. Realignment was happening and it was Wilcox or bust. Well, it was bust. Very predictably.
We have to stop playing short term because "it's all going to be over!!!!!"
I think the handwriting has been on the wall since the last realignment. The Big10 and SEC are almost full. They have zero incentive to rebuild the P4 by increasing to like 30 teams a piece. Honestly, they are already too big. There are a handful of major teams that have been left out because of circumstances or, in ND's case, their own decision making. When they free up, the 2 conferences will probably take them on because they will make them money. My guess is that the Big convinces ND it is now or obscurity and they take one other team which would probably be one of the two Florida teams who would make a lot more money than us and who would open up a major recruiting territory they don't have unless the SEC plays defense and takes them in. Or one of the NC teams who will bring basketball and drive their footprint further south, or a Texas team which will open up that territory. Honestly, the SEC with no California or west coast connection either for market or recruiting would be a lot more sensible, but it seems like both sides don't want to have anything to do with each other politically
I think it is obvious that the ACC was trying to get ahead of realignment by getting three of the best also rans on board ahead of time so they wouldn't all be relegated to G5 status but maybe could hang on to a play off spot and at least be the best of the Other category. They know Clemson, FSU, Miami and NC are leaving, at the very least. We were just looking for a lifeline to not end up like OSU and WSU. This is the only reason taking us on made sense. I don't think the ACC is going to implode. I think the top is getting skimmed and the rest keep on going. Mostly because there won't be any more chairs for any of us to go to.
As unlikely as it may be that Cal can pull off a new head coach, then more NIL, then tremendous success that brings more money, then tv ratings etc. that make us a healthy program, we need to just do it and if the timeline works it works. What I know is that there wasn't much chance of it 2 and 3 years ago, but we've wasted 2 or 3 years taking half measures in the interest of being fast when if we had done what needed to be done then, we'd have a lot better chance. Now the timelines are laughable.
And yes, we have always differed on the East Bay sports void. As a former Raider fan, I can tell you that Raider fans are not Cal fans. None of the Raider fans who are not already Cal fans are switching to Cal. They are staying Raider fans or rooting for someone else. And most of the East Bay are 49er fans. Literally no Warriors fan is following Cal instead of following the Warriors to SF. There is no "East Bay". It is the Bay Area and Bay Area fans follow professional sports. Raider fans who aren't crazed will become 49er fans and A's fans will be Giants fans and Warriors fans will be Warriors fans. And the problem you have is that Cal sporting events are extremely expensive. The tickets are way over market rate for what they are and frankly people are overpaying because it is a borderline charity. People not connected to Cal are not going to pay high prices to see minor league football and basketball.
