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Will Money Make College Football Say Goodbye To Parity? By Charlie Barnes, Vice President - Seminole Boosters Billy Sexton arrived on campus in Tuscaloosa as a freshman in the fall of 1969. Anxious to get his Alabama football career off to a good start, Sexton went about making friends with 100 of his Alabama teammates. That is, his 100 freshmen teammates. Yes, Bear Bryant’s 1969 freshman recruiting class numbered 100 of the nation’s finest football players. Before the NCAA limited the total number of scholarships, a few coaches like Bryant had the means to sign players he might never intend to use; he just wanted to keep them off the roster of his opponents. Back in the day, all you had to have was the muscle and the money and you were guaranteed a measure of success. But over the last 30 years, a reform movement of the NCAA ushered in an age of parity. And oh-my, parity did make things interesting on a Saturday. The Division I-AA Appalachian States were able to take down a Michigan from time to time. Boise State rose up from their frozen blue field like the ghost of Marley, striking terror in the hearts of the established powers. Boise’s 2007 upset victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl is considered one of the most exciting college games ever played. Parity was fun, while it lasted. With every team limited to a maximum of 85 scholarship players, the smaller Davids had at least a sporting chance occasionally bring down a Goliath. But there is a new landscape taking shape in college football today. We may soon be saying farewell to parity. And we Seminoles should want to know how all this is going to affect Florida State. During their span of reforms, the NCAA imposed limitations on the total number of players and on the number of recruits. In the backwash of scandals in the 1980s and ‘90s, there were restrictions placed on housing for student-athletes as well as the elimination of alumni and booster involvement in recruiting. One of the most far-reaching and controversial of the NCAA’s reforms was something called "the progress rule." Under NCAA guidelines, a student-athlete’s progress toward graduation is closely monitored and the students as well - as their teams - can be penalized for not timely reaching predetermined benchmarks. The noble intent of course was to encourage actual education, instead of having the student-athlete languish on campus until he either flunked out or turned pro. However, the unintended consequences have been both costly and academically frustrating. As a practical matter, student-athletes must attend summer school now, every summer, in order to meet the progress requirements. That means the Athletics Department has to come up with a great deal more tuition and housing money. The second consequence is academic. How many times did you change your major? Did you know as a freshman what you wanted to pursue as your life’s work? The progress rule makes it very difficult - sometimes impossible - for a student-athlete to change majors. He or she loses too much academic ground, as calculated by the NCAA computer. Parity flowed from the fact that everyone had to play by the same rules. Teams were the same size, and a more rigorous academic climate shook out many of the pretenders and short-timers who set the field on fire as freshmen and then disappeared. It’s all changing now. Parity may become a quaint relic of the past. You'll not be surprised to learn that the culprit is money. The NCAA has legislation on the table proposing that each Division I school pay each football and basketball player $2,000 per year. But the schools only have to pay if they can afford it. Programs that cannot afford it will be out of luck. Try lining up recruiting visits with that introduction. The elite programs can afford to pay their football and basketball players, can install huge support staffs in their state-of-the-art academic counseling facilities to ensure "progress" and can hire the nation’s best talent to coach their teams. Athletic budgets at the top are enormous and growing. Soon, the lesser beings of college football may just as well line the road and tug at their forelocks while the gleaming limousines roll by on their way to championships and more riches. The Big 10 has its own television network. The SEC is planning the same. Staggering amounts of money are flowing into the budgets of the anointed athletic programs, and far less into the budgets of those affiliated with more sedentary conferences. So, what is the key to success? Is it really all about money? The answer to that question depends on whether or not you have money. If you’re East Carolina, money may be the determining factor in how far you can advance among Division I programs. But if you’re Notre Dame, money is not an issue. Whatever problems the Irish may have in recruiting or in hiring of coaches are not because of lack of funding. Huge inflows of cash have immediate effects. Do you remember when the Oregon Ducks dwelled near the bottom of college football? There was a time when the only way that either Oregon or Oregon State was guaranteed at least one win for the year was when they played each other. Now, look at what NIKE founder Phil Knight’s money has done for Oregon. The Ducks are the newly arrived dominant power in the PAC 12. Did you see them defeat Wisconsin in the highest-scoring Rose Bowl ever? Do you remember not that long ago when Oklahoma State was Oklahoma’s poor cousin? Oklahoma State went for decades without a win over its in-state rival. Enter OSU alumnus T. Boone Pickens with his half-billion dollar gift to Cowboy athletics. Bloomberg Businessweek featured Pickens’ gift last summer. "T. Boone Pickens, the Texas oilman turned hedge fund investor, says he had a simple motivation for giving more than $500 million to his alma mater, Oklahoma State University: He got sick of watching the school's football team, the Cowboys, lose. 'I quit coming to homecoming games because we got beat,' says Pickens. 'I don't like that feeling.'" Pickens’ Cowboys ranked #3 in the nation in 2011, and defeated Stanford in overtime in the Fiesta Bowl. And speaking of Stanford, their small, private school athletic program has been made nationally prominent by money. They have won what used to be called the Sears Directors’ Cup (now known as Leirfield Directors’ Cup) for 17 consecutive years. Stanford has almost exactly the same number of undergraduates as Duke, but Stanford funds 34 men’s and women’s intercollegiate teams (FSU offers just 20 sports, as does Duke). The Cardinal feasts on an athletic endowment fund of around $450 million, down from a 2008 high of $530 million. Financial disparity between the Haves and the Have-nots is increasing exponentially. Programs hungry for wins are not afraid to invest the cash pouring in from fat media contracts. Washington State Cougars Head Coach Paul Wulff made $600,000 in 2011. Wulff was fired after this 4-8 season, and now the Cougs have hired Mike Leach for $2.25 million. Washington State Athletics Director Bill Moos noted that the school has sold an additional 1,300 season tickets just since Leach’s hiring. What’s more, more than $1 million in new Booster annual fund gifts have been received and the luxury suites that are part of WSU’s $80 million stadium renovation are sold out. Washington State is not unique. Compensation for all Division I football coaches rose by more than 7% in 2011, according to a study released in mid-January. And compensation numbers have increased by 55% across the board since 2006. How does all of this impact Florida State? If what you’ve read above gives you concern for your Seminoles, it should. In December, Auburn offered our defensive coordinator more than twice his salary, some $900,000, just move to Auburn in the same capacity he currently serves the Seminoles. Auburn did it because it has the money. But Florida State can boast its own considerable assets to offset this kind of raid, and we’re glad he decided to stay put in Tallahassee. Florida State is blessed with some natural advantages that money cannot purchase. Professional coaches know why Tallahassee is a good place to be. Those advantages include our location in a state that allows high school spring football, providing Florida’s players additional coaching and practice time. We are in close proximity to a wealth of the nation’s finest high school football talent. We have first-rate facilities, plus the national standing to attract that talent. Also, it’s to our advantage that our alumni base is devoted to football, and football is the largest income producer in American intercollegiate athletics today. Fifty years ago, Florida State did not have many alumni of means and was not capable of raising large contributions. But that was 50 years ago, and much has happened since then. Twenty-five years ago the Boosters organization widened its scope beyond the Annual Fund. A grand plan was crafted to bring Florida State’s athletic facilities and funding up to speed with our older and wealthier competitors. We established scholarship endowment to offset the rising cost of athletic scholarships, and we set about to build a park of beautiful athletic facilities to match any in the country. Twenty-five years ago the concept of University Center was born. Now, our gothic stadium is one of the most beautiful college football venues in America. Several consecutive Seminole Booster capital campaigns (the "Dynasty Campaign" and the "Legacy Campaign") funded a remarkable collection of first rate new athletic facilities. Money to support Seminole Athletics comes from ticket sales, Booster contributions and Conference revenues. Florida State does not receive as much money from the ACC as do schools from other conferences. The athletic facilities of which we are so proud were built largely with money contributed by Seminole fans. All of this was made possible because of endless, relentless fundraising. Time passes so quickly. Step back for a moment and consider what has taken place in a relatively short time.
In just 25 years, the Seminole Boosters have built a $50 million Scholarship Endowment fund. It would take $200 million to generate enough income to pay the annual cost of all the athletic scholarships enjoyed by our Seminole student-athletes. But $50 million is a lot, and as we finish paying off our facilities bonds and other obligations, we’ll be able to direct even more money into the Endowment. And now, the new Indoor Practice Facility you’ve read about in Unconquered will be a much-anticipated addition, paid for by our loyal and generous Boosters contributors. Is college football really about to see the triumphal return of muscle & money? Will the winners and losers once again be predetermined by who is among the Haves and who among the Have-nots? I don’t know the answer. But the good news is that Florida State is probably strong enough for now to compete with the best. For the last two years, Florida State has been the only Division I school in the country to have each one of our men’s and women’s teams make the NCAA play-offs in their sport. It is possible to sustain excellence indefinitely given the right support. When you make your Booster contribution, you are ensuring that the Seminoles have the best chance to win. Join the Seminole Boosters. Buy season tickets. That’s how we gained the strength and standing we enjoy today. |