I know this isn't exactly breaking news but I still wanted to make sure everyone is aware in case they missed it amongst the game of coaching musical chairs that erupted the last few days.
Hat tip to Gordon Gee and Gene Smith.
Now that I've got your attention, I obviously don't say that with regard to their respective abilities to manage an unwelcome visit from the NCAA.
Instead, I give them props for hiring Eddie George to the tune of $220k per year based on this job description:
"Will work with multiple internal and external university constituencies to increase awareness of health and wellness initiatives, support the efforts to engage alumni and friends in the life of the university, assist with fundraising, alumni relations, and communications for Ohio State, and work with student-athletes.”
Basically, the university has brought on Eddie as a hired gun of sorts so he can be dispatched to help the school make more cheddar, increase their handsome factor, and assist with helping close the deal on prospective student-athletes, among other duties.
Clearly, Eddie is as polished as the come and will pay immediate dividends. His take on the move:
“It is such an honor and privilege to be able to work for Ohio State, which gave me so much and helped me grow personally and professionally. I am grateful to have the opportunity to apply what I’ve learned from my academic and football journey while at the university, along with the work I’ve been doing in the world of business, to support the transformative initiatives happening at my alma mater.”
The move is elementary in its simplicity and purpose, so much so that I'm surprised more schools aren't taking the same approach when it comes to leveraging name recognition to print money and help bring in blue chips. It's a win-win in that they can throw some money at guys who have done more than their fair share to generate loot for the school while using their name recognition to further foster the revenue stream.
At $220k per, I think Gee and Smith would be wise to approach a few more guys over the next handful of years. You can never have enough of an edge when it comes to cash flow and recruiting.
THE BIG HOUSE: DISEASE AND DEATH ARE COOL. Champions for Charity, a for-profit group that oversees an annual run for charity called the Big House Big Heart event, announced yesterday that the University of Michigan has told them to pound sand.
For the last six years, Champions for Charity has organized the charity run which boasted a finish line within the Big House.
In a typical year, roughly 15,000 runners would participate and the charity rented Michigan Stadium for about $7,000. After first raising the rent to $16k, the athletic department recently informed the organization they could no longer hold the event at the stadium.
There could very well be a good reason why the school has nixed the event but well, probably not and even if so, screw those guys. Amirite?!
WINNING AT ALL COSTS. USA Today took a look at which college football programs spent the most money per win this season and the stats are pretty hilarious.
Ellis Johnson paced the pack with zero wins despite his $790k salary, but the names get a whole lot more familiar after that.
As expected, Fat Charlie is the 2nd least economical coach in the land with a $2.5 million salary that generated exactly one victory while the recently unemployed Gene Chizik cost Auburn roughly $1.7 million per victory, which doesn't even take into account the $180k the school had to shell out for Cam Newton.
Holding down the 4th slot for expensive wins, perennial B1G coach of the year Kirk Ferentz sent Iowa a bill of $958k for each of the team's four wins this season.
Behind the recently canned Jeff Tedford and Joker Phillips, Illinois coach and Tressel tree-branch Tim Beckman's two wins were the 7th most expensive in the land at $800k apiece.
In case you're wondering, Urban's 12 wins were quite thrifty as the school shelled out just $354k per victory.
The cheapest, you ask? How about Darrell Hazell's 11 wins coming in Odd Lots-style at $27k each.
Badger fans are struggling to cope with Bert's treasonBARRY ALVAROSE. In the wake of Bert's surprise departure to Arkansas, Barry Alvarez and the rest of the Badger brain trust have been left with the task of not only finding a coach to succeed Brent, but also a short-term solution as to who will lead the team out of the tunnel in the Rose Bowl.
According to the State Journal, the Rose Bowl situation has been resolved in the form of Alvarez serving as the team's head coach in Pasadena.
Apparently, the team's captains asked Alvarez to take the helm for the here and now and Barry obliged.
The move will be confirmed later this morning at a presser in which Alvarez will address Bart's move to Fayetteville.
As for the long term, Alvarez is reportedly interested in talking to Chris Petersen and potentially Al Golden, who likely has his bags packed in prep for the NCAA's impending hammer.
On an unrelated note, I wish I could attend the presser and ask Barry if his son has microwaved any other wildlife since the '99 incident in which he fried his fraternity brother's parrot.
CUT IT OUT. As talk persists regarding the potential further elimination of cut blocks in the NFL, there's some early chatter about whether or not the NCAA would follow suit and what impact it would have on the game and player safety.
Specifically, the service academies and Georgia Tech would be in deep trouble should the NCAA ever take such a step.
Army head coach Rich Ellerson knows a ban would cripple his offense:
"At a service academy, you won't have 300-pound guys, so you get strong, fit, athletic guys that need to use their athleticism to be effective blockers. To turn it into a Greco-Roman type, push-shove game, the physics work against us."
Reluctantly, I'm forced to agree with Yellow Jackets head coach Paul Johnson when it comes to presenting injury stats before altering the game in such a fashion, though the eye test seems to favor outlawing the practice:
"You'd think the way everybody talks about it, it's just like a morgue every week when you play, like they're carrying guys off on stretchers and I haven't seen it. I don't know how you ask 180-pound back to pick up a 260-pound blitzer or how you do a lot of things if you don't allow blocking below the waist. It's a phenomenon driven by people complaining. I'd like to see some stats on the injury part of it."
Where do you stand on the issue of cut blocks – keep or eliminate?
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