Yesterday, it was kudos for North
Carolina and Wake Forest for scheduling non-conference football games with each
other when the Atlantic Coast Conference doesn’t. So, the question asked of
those two schools is: What took so long? (Not to be answered. Kudos for doing
so.) And the question for NC State and Duke: Why don’t you do the same? The
answer: Win games; Follow the money!
Football coaches have one mindset:
Win games, which is good in itself. Why? To keep their job. Sometimes, though,
winning will not keep the coach. Case in point is Tom O’Brien who did a fine
job at State but Athletics Director Debbie Yow and the powerful fans wanted
better, more exciting teams. Why? To continue the flow of money required to pay
the coaches and support the program.
State has six or seven home games a
season, sometimes eight. In that mix, there will always be four conference
games. With the current rotation, the Wolfpack will host Atlantic division foes
Clemson, Louisville and Syracuse along with North Carolina one season and
Florida State, Boston College and Wake Forest along with one from the Coastal
division the next year. With each lineup, sales of season tickets reach the
35,000 +/- level annually. With parking and tickets running about $350 a seat,
that’s an income of $12,250,000. The payout to the non-conference teams except
Notre Dame and East Carolina run no more than $750,000 a school, sometimes less
than that.
Games against conference teams,
including a non-conference game against Duke, will cost a lot more for NC
State, and it’s doubtful Duke would want reciprocate in kind when State plays
at Duke simply based on attendance. The dollars just don’t make sense for State
to play Duke when it’s not necessary. But there’s also the possibility of
losing to Duke instead of defeating South Alabama or James Madison. It takes
six wins to get to a bowl, and having a slate of non-Major 5 teams makes it
that much easier. And, with Notre Dame and East Carolina in the mix, why chance
it?
One more thing, that’s hard
to dig up. Do the football coach and the athletics director get a bonus if the
Wolfpack plays in a bowl game? It’s been part of past contracts. If it’s true,
neither should be involved in the scheduling process or the bonus threshold
should not include number of wins or getting into a bowl. Only pay out extras
for winning conference titles and beyond. More tomorrow.
--------------------
Dictionary.com word of the day
sodality (noun) [soh-dal-i-tee; suh-dal-i-tee]: fellowship;
comradeship
FROM ANONYMOUS DUKE FAN: Because we need to play a tough opponent - not someone we beat all the time, like the last two meetings. Quality opponents and we also only have three pick up truck parking spaces so that cuts out playing State College.
ReplyDelete