College Sports Have Been Destroyed

[IthaCuse]

I’m a lifelong Syracuse sports fanatic, going back to when I went to my first Syracuse basketball game as a 9 year old in 2001. I was a Syracuse football season ticket holder for nearly the entire Babers era. College sports, and especially college football, were always a huge passion for me. I far preferred them to the NFL and especially NBA because of the connections we built with the players. That connection is now gone.

Even as it was unfolding, it was striking how much more I enjoyed the 2018 season than the 2024 season, despite that both ended in a 10-3 record. The 2018 season was the culmination of the building of a program where I saw several young men grow up before my eyes. I watched Eric Dungey, Dontae Strickland, Chris Slayton, Jamal Custis, etc come in as freshmen and struggle through three straight 4-8 seasons before finally going out as winners. I watched guys like Steve Ishmael, Erv Phillips, Zaire Franklin and Paris Bennett help bring the program to that point.

2024 was the total opposite. You had a small core of program guys left (Wax, LeQuint, Barron), but the biggest contributors on each side were hired guns. There was no process of watching young men grow up, and I felt no emotional connection to most of the players as individuals. I find myself deeply frustrated at the start of both football and basketball season, resigned to the fact that I have to learn an entirely new team with very few familiar faces.

There's no pro sports league which so thoroughly dismisses the human side of sports. Even NFL teams have four year contracts for rookies! When I look at my Buffalo Bills compared to Syracuse football, the core has remained largely the same. Which makes if much easier to care!

Now we’re mired in a season where the bottom has fallen out, and the number of program guys has shrunk even further. Who could you even consider that at this point? Villari for sure, I would say Jobity, but I can’t think of anyone else. Next year we will have an entirely new group of guys vs the group out there today, and I will have another 16 new starters to try to remember.

I just wish there was something that could be done to reverse this horrendous product decision, one which has destroyed the single greatest American sports tradition. I’m actually at the point now where I care much more about the Bills than Syracuse football, and care very little about basketball now as a whole. I would rather go back to 4-8 seasons with teams full of guys I knew and loved than continue whatever this travesty has become.

 

[Archbold44]

I’m a lifelong Syracuse sports fanatic, going back to when I went to my first Syracuse basketball game as a 9 year old in 2001. I was a Syracuse football season ticket holder for nearly the entire Babers era. College sports, and especially college football, were always a huge passion for me. I far preferred them to the NFL and especially NBA because of the connections we built with the players. That connection is now gone.

Even as it was unfolding, it was striking how much more I enjoyed the 2018 season than the 2024 season, despite that both ended in a 10-3 record. The 2018 season was the culmination of the building of a program where I saw several young men grow up before my eyes. I watched Eric Dungey, Dontae Strickland, Chris Slayton, Jamal Custis, etc come in as freshmen and struggle through three straight 4-8 seasons before finally going out as winners. I watched guys like Steve Ishmael, Erv Phillips, Zaire Franklin and Paris Bennett help bring the program to that point.

2024 was the total opposite. You had a small core of program guys left (Wax, LeQuint, Barron), but the biggest contributors on each side were hired guns. There was no process of watching young men grow up, and I felt no emotional connection to most of the players as individuals. I find myself deeply frustrated at the start of both football and basketball season, resigned to the fact that I have to learn an entirely new team with very few familiar faces.

There's no pro sports league which so thoroughly dismisses the human side of sports. Even NFL teams have four year contracts for rookies! When I look at my Buffalo Bills compared to Syracuse football, the core has remained largely the same. Which makes if much easier to care!

Now we’re mired in a season where the bottom has fallen out, and the number of program guys has shrunk even further. Who could you even consider that at this point? Villari for sure, I would say Jobity, but I can’t think of anyone else. Next year we will have an entirely new group of guys vs the group out there today, and I will have another 16 new starters to try to remember.

I just wish there was something that could be done to reverse this horrendous product decision, one which has destroyed the single greatest American sports tradition. I’m actually at the point now where I care much more about the Bills than Syracuse football, and care very little about basketball now as a whole. I would rather go back to 4-8 seasons with teams full of guys I knew and loved than continue whatever this travesty has become.

Hard to disagree. This whole thing went the wrong way.

 

[Dick_in_MI]

You're not wrong, but the horse is out of the barn.

To a degree, it has become a bit like Boeheim's Army. There are guys on the team that you know, guys you don't know but will get to know, and when the season is over, many of them will be gone. Some will only be around for a single year, never to be seen again. And basketball has become worse in that regard than football.

You root for the name on the jersey, but the days of developing more of a long-term attachment to the players are likely over forever. And yes, that is to the detriment of the sport for many of us. There are those who like the new way, so for them it is not a problem. Time marches on I guess.

 

[OburgOrange]

I am glad I was around for the glory years of the mid 80’s to 90’s. Great teams and you could watch your favorite player’s develop for four years years. You could identify with them. Those days are over, and I hate it. You don’t know year to year who will be on the team. Just rooting for the jersey now

 

[Dick_in_MI]

You don’t know year to year who will be on the team. Just rooting for the jersey now

I am embarrassed to admit that I didn't make any real effort to learn the basketball players' names before the season this year. I am just absorbing them by osmosis as the season progresses.

Prior to the first game, a reporter could have had this conversation with me:

Reporter: Donnie Freeman and JJ Starling are returning players this year, but can you name any other SU player."

Me: "Kiyan..."

Reporter: "BESIDES Kiyan Anthony."

Me: Well, give me a moment, no not really,"

Reporter: "who plays center?"

Me: "The big kid?"

Reporter: "Care to elaborate?"

Me: "Um...he's from UCLA, right?"

Reporter: "Yeah, he has a name."

Me: "Hmmmmmm...Kyle McCord!!!"

Reporter: "No. William Kyle."

Me: Are you sure?"

 

[OrangeTarheel]

Add to this frustration the new world of playing lots and lots of young roster players - especially in a year like the one we’re having - even for just a couple games to get them a feel for a real game or for us to get a real feel for them in a real game. If it weren’t for this board I wouldn’t know a one of them. I certainly don’t recognize all the new names immediately even though I’m following this board daily …

It would be great to turn back the clock on this but I don’t see that happening. Not a lot of good sense being exercised in this sport, just a lot of monied interests seeing how to continue making as much money as possible on “amateur” athletics

 

[cusefan88]

Don't blame the players when every coach and administrator fattened themselves at the greed trough.

Had things been less about monetary greed maybe it would have played out differently. I never blame college kids only the adults that degraded the situation to create this.

 

[Dinkyspond]

I’m a lifelong Syracuse sports fanatic, going back to when I went to my first Syracuse basketball game as a 9 year old in 2001. I was a Syracuse football season ticket holder for nearly the entire Babers era. College sports, and especially college football, were always a huge passion for me. I far preferred them to the NFL and especially NBA because of the connections we built with the players. That connection is now gone.

Even as it was unfolding, it was striking how much more I enjoyed the 2018 season than the 2024 season, despite that both ended in a 10-3 record. The 2018 season was the culmination of the building of a program where I saw several young men grow up before my eyes. I watched Eric Dungey, Dontae Strickland, Chris Slayton, Jamal Custis, etc come in as freshmen and struggle through three straight 4-8 seasons before finally going out as winners. I watched guys like Steve Ishmael, Erv Phillips, Zaire Franklin and Paris Bennett help bring the program to that point.

2024 was the total opposite. You had a small core of program guys left (Wax, LeQuint, Barron), but the biggest contributors on each side were hired guns. There was no process of watching young men grow up, and I felt no emotional connection to most of the players as individuals. I find myself deeply frustrated at the start of both football and basketball season, resigned to the fact that I have to learn an entirely new team with very few familiar faces.

There's no pro sports league which so thoroughly dismisses the human side of sports. Even NFL teams have four year contracts for rookies! When I look at my Buffalo Bills compared to Syracuse football, the core has remained largely the same. Which makes if much easier to care!

Now we’re mired in a season where the bottom has fallen out, and the number of program guys has shrunk even further. Who could you even consider that at this point? Villari for sure, I would say Jobity, but I can’t think of anyone else. Next year we will have an entirely new group of guys vs the group out there today, and I will have another 16 new starters to try to remember.

I just wish there was something that could be done to reverse this horrendous product decision, one which has destroyed the single greatest American sports tradition. I’m actually at the point now where I care much more about the Bills than Syracuse football, and care very little about basketball now as a whole. I would rather go back to 4-8 seasons with teams full of guys I knew and loved than continue whatever this travesty has become.

no more 4-8 seasons, I'd rather have mercenaries and go 8-4, 9-3. Like somebody else said here, you root for the laundry. If hired gun McCord can come in here and lead us to 10-3, so be it!

 

[JustPherU]

I’m a lifelong Syracuse sports fanatic, going back to when I went to my first Syracuse basketball game as a 9 year old in 2001. I was a Syracuse football season ticket holder for nearly the entire Babers era. College sports, and especially college football, were always a huge passion for me. I far preferred them to the NFL and especially NBA because of the connections we built with the players. That connection is now gone.

Even as it was unfolding, it was striking how much more I enjoyed the 2018 season than the 2024 season, despite that both ended in a 10-3 record. The 2018 season was the culmination of the building of a program where I saw several young men grow up before my eyes. I watched Eric Dungey, Dontae Strickland, Chris Slayton, Jamal Custis, etc come in as freshmen and struggle through three straight 4-8 seasons before finally going out as winners. I watched guys like Steve Ishmael, Erv Phillips, Zaire Franklin and Paris Bennett help bring the program to that point.

2024 was the total opposite. You had a small core of program guys left (Wax, LeQuint, Barron), but the biggest contributors on each side were hired guns. There was no process of watching young men grow up, and I felt no emotional connection to most of the players as individuals. I find myself deeply frustrated at the start of both football and basketball season, resigned to the fact that I have to learn an entirely new team with very few familiar faces.

There's no pro sports league which so thoroughly dismisses the human side of sports. Even NFL teams have four year contracts for rookies! When I look at my Buffalo Bills compared to Syracuse football, the core has remained largely the same. Which makes if much easier to care!

Now we’re mired in a season where the bottom has fallen out, and the number of program guys has shrunk even further. Who could you even consider that at this point? Villari for sure, I would say Jobity, but I can’t think of anyone else. Next year we will have an entirely new group of guys vs the group out there today, and I will have another 16 new starters to try to remember.

I just wish there was something that could be done to reverse this horrendous product decision, one which has destroyed the single greatest American sports tradition. I’m actually at the point now where I care much more about the Bills than Syracuse football, and care very little about basketball now as a whole. I would rather go back to 4-8 seasons with teams full of guys I knew and loved than continue whatever this travesty has become.

Preach!

 

[Surfan06001]

I’m mad we’re 3-7

 

[JRHEETER]

I gotta disagree with the not watching the players develop...


We literally just had MULTIPLE guys on last seasons team stay fro 4/5 years...

Gadsden, Wax, Allen, Barron to name a few...

All well liked and loved by the fan base...

I am sure there are plenty of guys on this current team that will be here there entire 4/5 years.

 

[BeetleCuse]

no more 4-8 seasons, I'd rather have mercenaries and go 8-4, 9-3. Like somebody else said here, you root for the laundry. If hired gun McCord can come in here and lead us to 10-3, so be it!

Agree, I just want to watch good football in Syracuse, I don’t care how it happens. College football has been destroyed in many ways, but it’s tough to be nostalgic as a Syracuse fan. We didn’t function very well under the old system either past about 2000.

 

[Blanko97]

I am embarrassed to admit that I didn't make any real effort to learn the basketball players' names before the season this year. I am just absorbing them by osmosis as the season progresses.

Prior to the first game, a reporter could have had this conversation with me:

Reporter: Donnie Freeman and JJ Starling are returning players this year, but can you name any other SU player."

Me: "Kiyan..."

Reporter: "BESIDES Kiyan Anthony."

Me: Well, give me a moment, no not really,"

Reporter: "who plays center?"

Me: "The big kid?"

Reporter: "Care to elaborate?"

Me: "Um...he's from UCLA, right?"

Reporter: "Yeah, he has a name."

Me: "Hmmmmmm...Kyle McCord!!!"

Reporter: "No. William Kyle."

Me: Are you sure?"

This happened because the team was bad though. If they performed better you probably keep a few more guys. Looking at this year, a tournament run likely has you keep people like Anthony, White, Fennell, betsy, George

 

[Dick_in_MI]

Don't blame the players when every coach and administrator fattened themselves at the greed trough.

Had things been less about monetary greed maybe it would have played out differently. I never blame college kids only the adults that degraded the situation to create this.

I don't blame the players, but if a guy gets a free ride through college plus substantial NIL$, doesn't produce, and is shown the door, it is hard to have much sympathy. Welcome to the real world.

In some ways, while a boon to the stars, the new world has the potential to not be so great for the marginal players. Citing basketball especially because of the smaller roster size, a guy has a limited amount of time to impress the coach and be pigeonholed into the team's future plans. In the past, they could marinate for a few years but now there are shiny objects in the portal just waiting to take your place. And there are coaches who are now willing...and almost have to...grab those shiny objects and help you move your stuff into a moving van.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

The only way to minimize player movement would be multi year contracts.

I have a bigger issue with the never ending conference shuffling, and conferences that are too large. I love me some round robin leagues.

IMO the best thing would be to cap conferences at 9 teams.

For BBall that lets you play everyone home and away, and you play 16 of 31 games within conference.

For FB you have an equal amount of home and away games, playing everyone once. It also allows for 4 OOC so plenty of intersectional games, which is good for the sport and TV.

Also having an odd number of teams in both sports forces OOC games throughout the year. No more conference only after January in BBall, and October in FB.

It would be pretty easy to do amongst the P4, and then have a new breakaway sub division in FB. You can have the PAC 8 + 1, the Big 8 + 1, the Southwest + 1 (not counting Rice since not P4), the OG Big 10 - 1 (Iowa to Big 8 would be my choice), the OG SEC -1 (Vandy or Miss State), the Big East +2 (not counting Temple), OG ACC +1, WAC +1, and the Metro +4.

 

[Dinkyspond]

Agree, I just want to watch good football in Syracuse, I don’t care how it happens. College football has been destroyed in many ways, but it’s tough to be nostalgic as a Syracuse fan. We didn’t function very well under the old system either past about 2000.

if teams like Indiana and Vandy can be in the playoff picture, so can we!

 

[sufandu]

I am glad I was around for the glory years of the mid 80’s to 90’s. Great teams and you could watch your favorite player’s develop for four years years. You could identify with them. Those days are over, and I hate it. You don’t know year to year who will be on the team. Just rooting for the jersey now

And you also got to know the rivals too. Hating Mourning for 4 years made things a lot more special.

 

[DocFlanders]

The only way to minimize player movement would be multi year contracts.

I have a bigger issue with the never ending conference shuffling, and conferences that are too large. I love me some round robin leagues.

IMO the best thing would be to cap conferences at 9 teams.

For BBall that lets you play everyone home and away, and you play 16 of 31 games within conference.

For FB you have an equal amount of home and away games, playing everyone once. It also allows for 4 OOC so plenty of intersectional games, which is good for the sport and TV.

Also having an odd number of teams in both sports forces OOC games throughout the year. No more conference only after January in BBall, and October in FB.

It would be pretty easy to do amongst the P4, and then have a new breakaway sub division in FB. You can have the PAC 8 + 1, the Big 8 + 1, the Southwest + 1 (not counting Rice since not P4), the OG Big 10 - 1 (Iowa to Big 8 would be my choice), the OG SEC -1 (Vandy or Miss State), the Big East +2 (not counting Temple), OG ACC +1, WAC +1, and the Metro +4.

Thing that sucks the most of all is the SEC and B10 trying to squeeze everyone else out, just ridiculous

 

[PAcuse]

Money
With the massive amount coming and going it was bond to happen.
We will still have those players we get to see go from barely hitting 5th on the depth chart to Syracuse legends BUT now we got to see KYLE ***ING MCCORD sling the rock around the dome.
We get to see teams come and go quickly vs "oh wow it's the same 4-5 teams" with MAYBE a TCU or Boise getting a sniff from time to time.
LOVED LOVED LOVED what college football was but it is always evolving and connects to the kids for finally getting a taste of all the money they have made these schools.
Basketball has been messy since the "You have to go to college for one year" nonsense.

 

[DocFlanders]

But……having no “salary cap” is eventually gonna squeeze a lot of teams out of any reasonable expectations, including Syracuse

 

[Newhouser]

if teams like Indiana and Vandy can be in the playoff picture, so can we!

Exactly. I don't think college sports has been ruined. I think the fact that we have been stinking at the two spots that matter makes it stink. We get good at either, life is good.

 

[atlanticuse]

I’ll say it again.
We redshirt guys because… why?

 

[Cusefan95]

Exactly. I don't think college sports has been ruined. I think the fact that we have been stinking at the two spots that matter makes it stink. We get good at either, life is good.

I think that’s true for football, not for basketball - and applies broadly. College football ratings have remained strong, college basketball ratings have been dropping for decades now. I doubt even a good Syracuse basketball team would get me all that excited at this point - all that matters is the tournament, and there’s no continuity so a good team this year doesn’t mean next year is likely to be…it’s very hard to care. There’s no overarching narratives in basketball.

I don’t even know the names of the players on this years team, and I am not going to waste my time learning them. I’ll catch the games I can - but the days of recording games I couldn’t watch live are over.