True, but I think that if you give a player a full ride and he doesn't pan out, that is the coaches fault for mis-grading him when he was recruiting him. You shouldn't punish the player for that.
But I guess that's the difference between institutions that understand what higher learning is supposed to be and what it isn't supposed to be. The SEC is the only conference that does this, so I really don't think all the other conferences are screwing it up and the SEC are saints.
You shouldn't give a kid a scholarship only to take it away because you, the coach, (lookin at u saban) misjudged what kind of player he was going to be. That's completely fucked.
To play devil's advocate, it's common practice to let have a Sr. riding the pine, because they couldn't get past 2nd string in other conferences...the coaches that are winning know you can't do that. If a player doesn't pan out by the second year, you need that roster space to be training another freshman for later on. There's loyalty, there's keeping your word....but then there's keeping your job, which takes winning games, which means you can't give a guy a scholly if he isn't helping you win.
Taking the Little10+2 as an example, they are very 'family' and big hearted and while rivalry games are must win games, your willing to keep someone like Rudy Rudiger on the team if he's a good kid, just not good enough to play. You can't keep to many of those charity cases, so you don't take so many gambles, and some of the guys grade out as players...others quit and go academic (since that may be what they were at the school for anyway), or they give their darnest on the scout team to help the real players be better (their way of helping the school, of earning a scholarship).
In the SEC, if you have a bad record two seasons in a row, or two out of three, you're out regardless of what you've given to the program (C'ya, Fulmer!), so coaches don't have space for charity case kids. Every crop you are bringing in has to be pushing your upperclassmen for playing time, and at the same time earning his place on the roster next year. Shit or get off the pot, because that's what the coach is told...and it rolls downhill.
I think the SEC, having pushed it's coaching salaries to the sky, and raising the expectations equally out of reach, have fed that environment - win or make way for someone who can, whether you are a coach or a player.
In the Little10+2, or PAC10, or Big12-2 type areas, where the big school is the only school, you have a lot of kids growing up always wanting to be a Buckeye, a Longhorn, a Trojan - and many of them are 2nd or 3rd generation students, if not athletes, of that school. There's a family tie in, there's that :gasp: tradition. In the SEC, there isn't that much anymore. Kids want to go where they can get ready for the pro's, and they'll go to any school that can give them the best chance to do that. There is a lot of raiding of one another's back yard for talent - it isn't for school loyalty, it's for who can help me win (in the coaches eyes), and who can help me go pro (in the player's eyes).
I was surprised to read about Carlos Dunlap, who went pro from the Gators as a junior, is back in school finishing his degree. Yeah, the NCAA has rules about graduation rates, but I believe (without looking up stats) that the SEC, and schools like FSU, MIA, etc are churning players thru the classes and losing them to 'turning pro' at a higher rate than other more school rich, 'character building' schools like tOSU, BC, ND, etc. Those schools get kids who value the school and the education AS WELL AS getting to play for them. SEC looks for kids who can win, and if you get a degree....that's on you, you've got the chance, and if you decide instead to go pro, well we both got what we were after didn't we? That is not to say we have more players actually making it in the pros, just more that think they can, and therefore they use our programs to get there, forget the academics. Along with another 'look this up', I wonder what the average salary, or job in general, is for athletes from non-SEC schools who don't make it in the pros vs those from SEC schools. I'll be their degrees mean a lot more, in part because they earned them and finished the degree in most cases
Damn. I didn't expect to get up on that soapbox. Sorry.
[damn we're good]
and it's our fault that nobody can beat us? [weak competition doesn't lessen our awesomeness, we'd beat anyone if they'd play us...except for all those ooc games we seem to lose]
I fail to see your logic; we can't help being the best and beating the best (as our best in CFB BCS win record shows)
plus, the Big Ten is making strides in bettering their conference. the fact of the matter, thanks to ESPN and the Big Ten Network, is that we are trying to add solid teams to our conference (like Nebraska next year) [okay, we are beating up on Sister Mary's school for the Blind, but we're bringing in someone to fix this...wait, did I just admit our conference is weak?]
the SEC is damn good, but there is a lot of shiestiness that is synonymous with that conference. just look at GT leaving and all the reports in the media
you can't fault tOSU for winning all the time, in this fractured system of BCS beauty pageantry - all a team can do is beat who they are up against
You are aware, I hope, that GT left back in '64. It's had 56 yrs of evolution in the SEC since then, some good (money, money, MONEY!), some bad (...8)....no comment)
no, but i think it's a problem when you say you are the best and have no real threats in your conference (as you said) when to be the best in the SEC there are serious programs you have to beat. is that a BCS problem? maybe. but perhaps the big ten just sucks, and to be the best of a shitty conference ain't that awesome.
Backing up this statement by K, being the biggest bully of the elementary school playground doesn't mean a lot to the high school kids. When you are playing grown up nearly every week, coming back with the bloody knuckles and broken teeth to prove it ever Saturday, win or lose....then you can talk to us about being tough.
Even then, I don't think you'll have enough to buy the best
players coaches, like we do...because you conferences won't shell out that kind of money and fire the guy a few months later. You aren't that crazy - you actually care about the coaches and players. Therefore, you can't compete with is
