Bombshell news in the college sports world today: The University of Southern California (aka USC) and the University of California at Los Angeles (commonly known as UCLA) have agreed to join the Big Ten. It's all about the mammoth cash cow.
I'll get to the details momentarily. But first let me say that until this story broke a few hours ago, I was undecided on today's blog topic. I jotted down a few topics on a Post-It note while at work today. (Yes, I sometimes daydream or goof off for a few minutes while on the job -- who doesn't?)
I may or may not delve into these subjects in the next few days; all have been put on the back burner due to the Big Ten conference breaking news:
-- Wednesday was the 15th anniversary of the iPhone's debut. The smartphone has radically changed our way of life, sometimes in good ways, but often for the worse.
-- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Washington State high school football coach who was fired for praying (and having his players join in prayer) on the field after games. Essentially, SCOTUS said public school employees are constitutionally protected by the First Amendment to pray on school grounds.
-- I'm sick and tired of climate change virtue signalers. Germany is one of the worst, and they now have egg on their face as tensions with Russia have turned off the natural gas energy spigot and required the Germans to return (tail between legs) to coal, nuclear power, and liquified petroleum gas.
-- Don't look now, but the Michigan Supreme Court, controlled by Democrats, harshly rebuked leftist nut job Attorney General Dana Nessel with a 6-0 ruling against Nessel's one-man grand jury that indicted former Gov. Rick Snyder and several others for their involvement in the Flint lead-tainted water disaster of 2014-2015. The Chief Justice, Democrat Bridget McCormack, even used the term "star chamber" to castigate Nessel's tactics. The nasty progressive Nessel and her cohorts were clearly guilty of pursuing their self interested, vindictive, and politically motivated hatchet job on Snyder and his administration. The Democrat-controlled court slapping down a fellow Democrat is something that absolutely would not happen at the federal level.
-- Our power grid is extremely vulnerable -- to hacking, physical vandalism and the fearsome threat of an electro-magnetic pulse. Such a kill shot would send us back hundreds of years, with tens of millions of people succumbing to starvation and/or disease. Yet our fearless leaders have done little to address, or even acknowledge this threat. More on this soon.
....Okay, glad I got that out of my system..... Now on to the Big Ten (or should I say, the Big 16?)....
USC and UCLA, flagship programs in the Pac-12 conference, have agreed to join the Big Ten -- possibly as soon as 2024. This will further detract from the Big Ten's traditional persona as a Midwestern, middle-American conference. In 1993, the staid Big Ten allowed previously independent Penn State to join the conference. This was a bit of a change, as PSU is located in what is considered a Mid-Atlantic State. In 2011, Nebraska joined the conference, but this seemed like a good fit as Nebraska is nominally a Midwestern state, and the football program had a reputation as being big, burly and run-oriented.
But in 2014, two East Coast universities really upset the applecart: Maryland and Rutgers (of New Brunswick, New Jersey) joined the Big Ten. At the time, I remember hearing that it was all about the media market and ratings. High school players from talent-rich New Jersey, metro Washington, D.C. and the New York City metro area would be more likely to sign with Big Ten teams if they knew their games would be televised to millions on the East Coast.
Ergo, it would be much easier for Midwestern power teams -- Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan State -- to recruit on the East Coast and get talented players to sign on the dotted line.
Well, fast forward a decade. Now it's not so much about the TV ratings, per se, and the recruiting, but about the almighty dollar. The Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) paradigm has introduced big money into college sports. The old de facto "pay for play" paradigm has become the harsh reality.
With the addition of the Los Angeles media market (second largest in U.S.), the Big Ten will soon have teams playing in the nation's top four media markets. Rutgers clearly falls under the New York metro area media umbrella; Northwestern and Illinois are part of Chicagoland's coverage; L.A. media give blanket coverage to UCLA and USC; and Philadelphia (No. 4 media market) covers Penn State and to a lesser extent Rutgers, which is only about an hour's drive from the City of Brotherly Love. These powerhouse media markets augment the Big Ten's other major markets, including Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Minneapolis.
The bullies of the Southeastern Conference have generally kicked ass against the Big Ten's best over the past 10 years or so (Ohio State being the rare exception). The likes of Alabama, Georgia, Clemson and LSU have dominated in recruiting and on-the-field performance. The Southeast has the greatest motherlode of college football talent, and many of these players prefer to stay close to home rather than play for a Midwest or West Coast team.
Too, I think the well-heeled alumni of these good-ol'-boy schools have managed to grease the skids under the table for many years without getting caught. (What's the old joke? "SEC" stands for "Surely, everyone cheats.")
Switching over to college hoops to make a point (then I'll jump right back into football), Michigan State basketball Coach Tom Izzo has been to eight Final Fours since 1999, but won just one national championship. His critics, including jealous and ignorant Meechigan Skunkbear fans, claim he's a choker and has underachieved.
Quite the opposite. Izzo has coached up plenty of good but not great players, getting the most out of them to reach the Elite Eight or Final Four on many occasions. It's just that he has not had enough horses to get over the hump. He has succeeded in signing a few four- and five-star recruits, but not nearly as many as the likes of Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina and other blue bloods. Almost every time he has lost in the Final Four, it was to a team with far more talent -- with four, six or seven guys who would go on to play in the NBA.
Izzo might sign one five-star recruit every one or two years; former Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski would sign three or four five-stars per year. The same principle applies in college football. Nick Saban is really not that much better at coaching than the likes of Urban Meyer, Dabo Swinney, Kirby Smart or Lincoln Riley. He just has far more talent. It doesn't take much imagination to understand what has been going on with Alabama's well-oiled system of alumni and boosters "persuading" talented high school players to sign on with the Crimson Tide. Hats off to them: They're damned good at not getting caught!
The benefits of staying close to home and avoiding harsh cold and snowy Midwestern winters might not carry so much weight with southeastern football studs as the big money and bright lights of NIL take control in the next few years. And I'm here to tell you, the large Big Ten universities with their massive endowments, billionaire alumni and major media markets are going to rock Nick Saban's world.
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