Tony Bennett retiring

[Dr. Bill]

Yeah man, I kinda do realize that. Since I was part of the network that gave all that money to the ACC.

Look, rationalize it however you want. But it's ridiculous that we now have a system where player salaries are literally paid by fan donations.

Fan contribution is not is not sustainable!

 

[two3zone]

Great for our program

Bad for basketball.

 

[M2MPrinciples]

Leaving right now definitely put his players in a bind. But if Bennett wasn't going to retire at the end of last season I think this is the next-best solution. The AD gets a chance to see if he can get a steal with whichever assistant takes over, has plenty of time to evaluate the market in the meantime and if the assistant doesn't work out he doesn't get any heat because Tony put him between a rock and a hard place.

 

[Consigliere]

By the way, Consigliere, I respect what you do with the tailgate NIL. Sincerely. I just believe the entire system is ludicrous.

We are on the same page I suspect. The lack of control, the unfettered multiple transfers, the ability of players to sell themselves to the highest bidder year after year are all ripping apart the fabric of college sports. Players have no responsibility to the institution and the recent examples of some quitting on their teams to preserve a year of eligibility so they can get an even bigger payday based on blatant tampering is Armageddon.

Where we disagree is the assumption that the schools have the resources to pay the players. Especially with the proposed settlement of House v NCAA that will add $22MM in cost for direct payments to players and as many as 240 additional scholarships just in the small portfolio of sports that SU has. I can guarantee you John Wildhack is sleeping well trying to solve that. ACC media deal pays roughly $40MM. And the department barely breaks even. Additional costs need to be covered by either additional revenue or cost cutting. And cost cutting means elimination or deemphasizing non revenue sports. Debate probably belongs in a separate thread but I see no light at the end of the tunnel. Additional revenue falls on the fan in one way or the other. Using the NBA example, what’s the price of a Celtics season ticket today?

 

[elimunelson]

Abuse of NIL is the issue. NIL as it was supposedly intended is nothing but a positive. We certainly don’t offer life changing money through the SyraCRUZ Tailgate NIL Initiative, but the 33 student athletes that we have supported have been outstanding representatives of our university and have shown true appreciation for our efforts.
The down side is the two or three that have told us $500 to spend a couple of hours as a tailgate guest is not worth their time to review.

If you heard some of the stories about the uses the few hundred to thousand dollars have been put to you might feel differently.

I think that's great. I'm not attacking anyone who considers funding kids with full rides an initiative worth pursuing. I think the system is ghoulish that we've come to this.

Part of me is happy it's all falling apart and real coaches are just walking away. Eventually the game will corrode because we'll be left with salesmen coaching vs real coaches like Tony Bennett.

 

[elimunelson]

We are on the same page I suspect. The lack of control, the unfettered multiple transfers, the ability of players to sell themselves to the highest bidder year after year are all ripping apart the fabric of college sports. Players have no responsibility to the institution and the recent examples of some quitting on their teams to preserve a year of eligibility so they can get an even bigger payday based on blatant tampering is Armageddon.

Where we disagree is the assumption that the schools have the resources to pay the players. Especially with the proposed settlement of House v NCAA that will add $22MM in cost for direct payments to players and as many as 240 additional scholarships just in the small portfolio of sports that SU has. I can guarantee you John Wildhack is sleeping well trying to solve that. ACC media deal pays roughly $40MM. And the department barely breaks even. Additional costs need to be covered by either additional revenue or cost cutting. And cost cutting means elimination or deemphasizing non revenue sports. Debate probably belongs in a separate thread but I see no light at the end of the tunnel. Additional revenue falls on the fan in one way or the other. Using the NBA example, what’s the price of a Celtics season ticket today?

Celtics seasons are expensive but you are paying to see a broadway play of professionals vs a quasi professional experience. I see your point and if that's the point, then the band aid needs to be removed and the athletic depts should be detangled from the non profit schools and become a for profit operation. Maybe even publically traded if they become big enough. Then you'll see cost cutting that is intelligent and accretive for the shareholders.

 

[Bayside44]

It's also unfortunate to see SU pivot hard into encouraging folks to give to NIL funds rather than donate for athletics capital projects.

I get why they've done it -- we're a small fan base, relatively speaking, and the calculus is that it's better to pay players than build facilities when the resources are limited.

But it's just all so friggin' stupid.

Fans paying players while the universities luxuriate in oodles of TV money. Fans are chumps, there's no other way to describe it.

FWIW word is SU has a few big donors lined up to button up the big buildout.

But otherwise, yeah, 100% agree.

 

[jordoo]

Completely understandable. If I had made the money he has and had the success he has why participate in this insanity. I wish him well. Sucks for UVA though.

 

[richmondcuse03]

FWIW word is SU has a few big donors lined up to button up the big buildout.

But otherwise, yeah, 100% agree.

They def feel a lot better today than they did a few years back. But the reality is still difficult.

The math will always be bad for most private schools because as Mark and others have mentioned above, you're leveraging two sports to fund 20 others. It's why fans are asked to donate and support. If we were just trying to breakeven on football and basketball, you can do that with TV contracts and ticket revenue. That's the issue and why it's not the same as pros.

Something HAS to give -- I'd argue that non-rev sports should be funded by the university, not the ADs office anymore. It's just not practical. And if you don't see the benefit of funding those sports, exclude football and basketball from Title 9 requirements.

 

[Consigliere]

Celtics seasons are expensive but you are paying to see a broadway play of professionals vs a quasi professional experience. I see your point and if that's the point, then the band aid needs to be removed and the athletic depts should be detangled from the non profit schools and become a for profit operation. Maybe even publically traded if they become big enough. Then you'll see cost cutting that is intelligent and accretive for the shareholders.

Essentially what you will see is non revenue sports demoted to club status. And logically that may not be a bad thing. I had a colleague whose daughter went Nebraska on a full athletic scholarship for…
…Women’s bowling.

Not sure you can make a case that there is any value in that to anyone other than women bowlers.

Gets a little tougher when you have a limited portfolio like we do. I know many who would miss men’s soccer.

But let’s take further discussion to a separate thread and leave this to a Tony Bennett subject.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[Orangezoo]

Class act and he is spot on.

 

[orangecuse]

Tony Bennett's response to the current landscape, which clearly no longer is a semblance of what drove him to get into 'coaching' in the first place.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[NineOneSeven]

Good for him! ENJOY your life!

 

[UnknownOrange]

Lol i am reacting much differently than most of you guys. I think this incredibly weak. You quit 20 days before the season starts. Terrible look, IMO.

 

[SmilinBob]

Hope Red has his # because he'd be a fantastic consultation guy to have give pointers on man to man D.

That is, if TB wants some extra cash and wants to coach on his terms when and where. Imagine brining him in for a day/week or so?

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[dollarbill44]

This has caught me totally off guard. I had read that he died over a year ago - Lady Gaga was really emotional about it. I wonder if she knows he's still with us? I would think this would really tick her off.