The difference is Dabo Swinney won his conference multiple times and won a couple of national titles before NIL being in a conference with Florida State and Miami. Gundy didn’t do either one even in years OU was down, and Texas sucking for over a decade.
I don’t really mean as a policy piece. I think Nick Saban didn’t think that’s how the sport should be and left, so convictions about the game are one thing, so you can quit, change your convictions, or be stubborn. As far as that goes, I think Gundy did change his modus operandi this year. They hit the portal hard. So, if he was previously stubborn, he’s now changed his perspective. That’s one kind of adapting, but I’m not really talking about that.
I’m more talking about ability. If what sets Gundy apart is developing undervalued/undeveloped talent and then the system changes such that it’s harder to do that, it takes away his edge. Having a young group of guys grow and gel together into a cultural mold is a different skillset than being able to bring in a bunch of semi-established guys that bring dozens of locker room cultures with them and then getting them to play as an effective unit quickly. I don’t know if he can do that, but I think he’s giving it a try. Abilities can be trained, but aptitude is still a thing. I can’t carry a tune; I’m bad with rhythm. Could I become a better singer if I took lessons? Yeah, but I’m not going to be Michael Buble. You can’t educate iron into gold. We’ll find out by the end of October if Gundy has the aptitude. That kind of adaptation has to play out.
It is worth noting that NIL and portal are things that every coach in the Big 12 (and the country) have to deal with. And outside of Tech and BYU, all the teams in the B12 are working with similar donor bases and NIL dollars. As such, isn’t it fair to say that OSU’s biggest issue is Gundy’s (and the administration’s) failure to adapt to the new paradigm of college football, rather than saying that the paradigm (portal and NIL) itself is the problem.
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Were splitting hairs there, which is fine. Regardless of who someone blames for whatever problems they perceive are within college football…NIL and the Portal are here to stay. So your rooting interest had better learn to play within that framework or run the risk of falling further behind.
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Whole-heartedly agree with this statement. If you are a programmer today, and you aren’t adapting to the use of AI in the real world, then you are failing at your job, regardless of how great your prior programs were. The world constantly changes, and either you adapt, get out of the way, or get run over. Gundy unfortunately chose the latter. Dabo is getting run-over. Saban just got out of the way.
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Agree 100%. Im not taking a shot at any poster, particularly the one I was talking with on here, but the excuse of blaming NIL/Portal for a coaches bad season, roster or record is the laziest, lowest hanging fruit to me. The NIL and Portal have been going long enough now that its not an excuse anymore. Is the landscape skewed for certain programs? Absolutely. Is it the reason why OSU was terrible last year and so far this year? Of course not.
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Understand. You keep giving analogies that take a person who has never done this certain thing and was never in this hypothetical field and then acting as though I assume they should be adaptable to doing this particular thing. You will never be a singer. Never will Gundy. But asking or expecting your head football coach to win football games within the current landscape is not the same as expecting a bricklayer to turn into Micheal Buble. OU’s OLine coach is Bill Bedenbaugh. Very, very old school guy. He was completely against NIL stuff and thought hed just coach guys up that he was able to get. It resulted in the worst OLine theyd had due to that 2 year window in which he was too stubborn to change. Now, hes shifted his mentality (adapted) and hes off the hot seat. OSU and Gundy cant pick themselves up off the mat as easy as OU and their coaches can. I certainly get that its easier at a place like Norman. I just cant see how some fans that are still Gundy loyalists are ok with him still bellyaching over the NIL/Portal stuff. I dont think anyone likes the current setup, including me. I dont really think the Ohio St’s and Oregons enjoy it being this way either. But id want my coach to figure it out and quit saying stuff that wreaks of excuses. Im not accusing you particulary of that. Just saying
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Is BYU working with more or less, I am guessing the latter, NIL funding.
BYU and Tech are doing pretty well, NIL wise. Theyre above the rest of the pack in the Big 12. OSU though is right on par with everybody else in the league
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Much more. BYU is just a lesser version of Notre Dame. They have an international fan and alumni base. I expect that when the next round of conference consolidation occurs, they’ll be the first conference team poached.
Well, programmers are just getting straight up replaced by A.I., so ironically the “learn to code” crowd were trying to usher people into another career dead end. That’s what I mean. If your skillset becomes obsolete, you can’t just necessarily pick up an equivalent one.
Theyre well funded, but not well desired to get into a Conference like the SEC or Big 10. And those are the only two that you would leave the Big 12 to pursue. So barring someone leaving the Big or SEC, BYU isnt going to be getting an invite
I get that. I thought maybe the Mormon thing might lower their desire to pay players, but again Brigham Young was very rich.
The reason why Brigham Young has not been poached is because of its strict religious manner. The PAC 12 didn’t like it, I’m going to guess others won’t either.
@chris5 They have been…theyre in the Big 12
I laugh about the mention of Trace Ford. During the last 4 years of Bedlam all players who played for either OSU or OU during that time went 2-2, except Ford who went 1-3.
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Yeah I worked with him a little last Spring. Very good young man. Easy to root for.
He was talking about the next round of consolidation and I believe inferring that BYU would go B10, which is not going to happen. So many other schools in front of them in the pecking order.
I hope he does well in the NFL.