Realignment Megathread (All The Moves)

If you'd like to know how out of control coaching salaries have gotten....

Kirk Ferentz is 6th in the Big Ten at $7M per year.

1-Mel Tucker-$9.56M
2-Ryan Day-$8.78M
3-James Franklin-$8.5M
4-Jim Harbaugh-$8.11M
5-Luke Fickell-$7.9M

And, unfortunately, these numbers are only going to get bigger.

Also, one of those names is not like the others and it's sitting on top.
@FriendlySpartan fill me in on how Mel Tucker negotiated such a salary, his was the only name I didn't know.
 
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50 years is too long, it was 40 years during the 1980's that ISU lost their way in football. A series of poor head coaches were hired, at times the AD and university were almost anti sports, rights at the time two important things happened. Schools started to throw money into football and EIU hired Fry and he turned the program around. Any momentum ISU had during the 70's and the new stadium, was slowly chipped away during the 80's and early 90's.

The Big 8 and Big 12 also hold a some of the blame, OU and Nebraska, later UT and aTm had set up a system to reward those schools, not allowing money to flow to everyone, much like MLB does today, while the B10 set up more of an NFL model, where all schools shared revenue equally.
A perfect storm had developed, EIU was winning, the B8/12 was not providing much money, teams started building up facilities, poor coaching hires, apathy by the AD and university president and ISU, KSU and others just kept losing ground.

One other important thing: ESPN was born, and the money/exposure grew exponentially - right when ISU was both bad and leadership dgaf. No worse time in history to be terrible and leaderless.
 
Curious what folks think the Big 12 would look like today if ISU, K-state, and Okie State treated their athletic departments (mainly football) the way they do in 2023, 50 years ago. I wasn’t around during those days but it just seems like those schools were such a non-factor compared to today, and the Big 8 was a 2-school show.

Compared to the Big 10 who seemed to build a great foundation, a lot of schools in the Big 8 seemed to treat athletics as an afterthought. That’s not the case today, but we’re obviously way behind the curve. Maybe if these 3 schools plus Kansas really invested early on then we’d be looking at a different landscape.

Maybe there would have been some better rivalries with OU, Mizzou, Nebby. Interesting to think about

I've heard Hawk fans call the Big 8 the big 2 and everyone else-- an accurate description of the Big 10 before UI's rise under HF (it was 3 for awhile). It wasn't an accurate description of the Big 8.

What distinguished the "Big 2" in the Big 8 is there was a period of time 50 years ago when Nebraska and Oklahoma were at the very top of the heap (unlike tOSU and Michigan).

In 1971, the year NU defeated OU on Thanksgiving 35-31 (called the game of the century) NU, OU, and Colorado finished 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the national polls (January 1972). Without looking it up, NU and OU defeated Alabama and Auburn, respectively, quite handily in their bowls, as I recall, leading to that final ranking. In the 1970s, it wasn't uncommon for 4-5 Big 8 teams to be ranked in the top 20 (they didn't do top 25 then). As posted in a thread yesterday (for example), 5 Big 8 teams finished in the top 20 in 1976, including ISU--and a 6th, Missouri wasn't in the final poll, but ranked 7th nationally at the time ISU beat them during the 1976 season. That sounds like a bad year for Missouri. Yes, it was in a way, but they played 5 top 20 teams in the same conference.

Those were decent finishes for a conference with just 8 teams.

Just prior to the formation of the Big 12, the Big 8 similarly would often have teams ranked in the top 20, and the north in particular was strong. Oklahoma was around 20th for awhile, and NU won 2 or 3 national titles or something. NU's Coach Osborne didn't beat OU's Coach Switzer for a long time, but NU was the very best once they started to. At the same time, Colorado was close to the top (and eventually won a national title), and Kansas State was in the top 10. OSU was also ranked and very good in the late 1980s (Thurman Thomas and Barry Sanders as running backs), and Missouri and Kansas were occasionally ranked.
 
Didn't he have some really rich fans (Rocket Mortgage owners) that basically underwrote his salary?
Close. Dan Gilbert (owner of rocket and the Cleveland cavs) is also an alum who has donated a lot but not for this. Matt Ishiba (owner of United Wholesale Morgage and the phoenix suns) donated a good chunk of Tuckers salary. He did it in conjunction with donating a new football facility strangely enough the “Tom Izzo football building”

Tucker secured the contract because his first year was the covid season and we still beat Michigan and the second season he went 11-2 and showed the strength of the transfer portal in getting KW3. Sparty did not want to lose a hot coach immediately to LSU so they backed up the brinks truck. While last year we had our best recruiting class ever (9/10 4 stars depending on the service) the on field product was a ******* dumpster fire with some horrific coaching errors. We lost a game to Indiana when they completed 1 pass in regulation an somehow put up 30+ points.

So his seat is a little toasty this year although there is almost nothing to do if he flames out this year. Add in the fact that we have the second toughest schedule in all of football and probably looking at another 4-5 win season. Plus the optics of losing the top WR to the portal isn’t good.

Another talking point Michigan fans will always point out is that even with that 11 win season he has never finished above 3rd in the big ten east. Which is just funny
 
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If you'd like to know how out of control coaching salaries have gotten....

Kirk Ferentz is 6th in the Big Ten at $7M per year.

1-Mel Tucker-$9.56M
2-Ryan Day-$8.78M
3-James Franklin-$8.5M
4-Jim Harbaugh-$8.11M
5-Luke Fickell-$7.9M

And, unfortunately, these numbers are only going to get bigger.

Also, one of those names is not like the others and it's sitting on top.
Let's not forget the buyouts. At least one or two of those coaches will receive a huge payout in buyouts before they are through.
 
Let's not forget the buyouts. At least one or two of those coaches will receive a huge payout in buyouts before they are through.
Day will most likely be bought out after this season with another loss to Michigan, I also really doubt that Tucker makes it through but we’re just way to early in his contract to have that talk. 3ish years from now probably.

Harbaugh is untouchable now so he’s there till he dies. Franklin also has insane security and hasn’t shown a desire to leave.
 
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If you'd like to know how out of control coaching salaries have gotten....

Kirk Ferentz is 6th in the Big Ten at $7M per year.

1-Mel Tucker-$9.56M
2-Ryan Day-$8.78M
3-James Franklin-$8.5M
4-Jim Harbaugh-$8.11M
5-Luke Fickell-$7.9M

And, unfortunately, these numbers are only going to get bigger.

Also, one of those names is not like the others and it's sitting on top.

I applaud Tucker for fleecing MSU when his stock was high. Gives all of us something to aspire to.
 
Day will most likely be bought out after this season with another loss to Michigan, I also really doubt that Tucker makes it through but we’re just way to early in his contract to have that talk. 3ish years from now probably.

Harbaugh is untouchable now so he’s there till he dies. Franklin also has insane security and hasn’t shown a desire to leave.

Day isn’t going anywhere unless he wants to leave. Recruiting and money is absolutely rolling at tOSU and the decision makers aren’t going to cave to the terd fans after this year especially with the changes to the league coming.
 
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Well anything they built or rebuilt 10-15 years ago could easily stand to be rebuilt/renovated/upgraded again. They could tear out the bleachers and put in individual seating. They could add permanent LED field lighting with the special effects systems. They could upgrade the luxury suites. They could put in a new scoreboard/videoboard. They could put in a pedestrian bridge from Finkbine commuter lots to the stadium. They could expand the indoor practice facility. I'm no expert on what/when the current facilities were built. But I think you're kidding yourself if you think there aren't a million ways a football program could enhance its facilities, no matter how new/current its existing facilities are, in order to keep up with the arms race that is college football recruiting.

You SOBs trying to steal our bridge!;)
 
Close. Dan Gilbert (owner of rocket and the Cleveland cavs) is also an alum who has donated a lot but not for this. Matt Ishiba (owner of United Wholesale Morgage and the phoenix suns) donated a good chunk of Tuckers salary. He did it in conjunction with donating a new football facility strangely enough the “Tom Izzo football building”

Tucker secured the contract because his first year was the covid season and we still beat Michigan and the second season he went 11-2 and showed the strength of the transfer portal in getting KW3. Sparty did not want to lose a hot coach immediately to LSU so they backed up the brinks truck. While last year we had our best recruiting class ever (9/10 4 stars depending on the service) the on field product was a ******* dumpster fire with some horrific coaching errors. We lost a game to Indiana when they completed 1 pass in regulation an somehow put up 30+ points.

So his seat is a little toasty this year although there is almost nothing to do if he flames out this year. Add in the fact that we have the second toughest schedule in all of football and probably looking at another 4-5 win season. Plus the optics of losing the top WR to the portal isn’t good.

Another talking point Michigan fans will always point out is that even with that 11 win season he has never finished above 3rd in the big ten east. Which is just funny

Sounds like the recruiting advantage that MSU has had is going away.
 
Oh boy, you just don’t understand OSU football

I live in the epicenter of it. The shift to recruiting being the main focus of the media and the money fans over the course of the past 5 years has been pretty stark. Guarantee a slip out of the top 5 of the recruiting rankings or not getting any 5 stars or having recruits flip to other “rival” schools will get Day canned faster than losing to UM again this year.
 
Never knew that. What types of AD money goes back to campus departments?

The obvious answer is payment of tuition, but what are other budget items?
Rent is one. The Iowa swim team rents the pool from Rec Services.
 
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Oh boy, you just don’t understand OSU football
I also think Day has a longer leash than fans/media think.

OSU has only had 6 different coaches since 1951 (not including Fickell’s interim year). And most of those coaches retired or were fired due to controversy (Hayes, Tressell, and Meyer) not due to performance. They’re not a knee jerk school like the SEC.
 
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I also think Day has a longer leash than fans/media think.

OSU has only had 6 different coaches since 1951 (not including Fickell’s interim year). And most of those coaches retired or were fired due to controversy (Hayes, Tressell, and Meyer) not due to performance. They’re not a knee jerk school like the SEC.
I just agree to disagree with you guys. Does a third loss to Michigan with a playoff bid get him fired this year? Doubtful, more than one loss though with Heartline sitting right there as a replacement is a different story. If they didn’t have an obv coach in waiting or if the defense continues to show it can’t compete at an elite level I think he’s gone.
 
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