Recent Comments

So i think VTbandit oversimplified things a bit, but i have been going back and forth in my own head for a while on this. Especially as the discussion around Franklin potentially leveraging options for a salary at $10M+. I do believe who the head coach is matters, as they have to (1) generate enough buzz and interest to raise the dollars; (2) still recruit the players for both the portal and high school; (3) get quality assistants to want to be on his staff; and (4) generally run the program in a professional manner where players, coaches, admins, other university employees, and fans respect the position and the authority.

In addition though, I don't think any one coach is going to get you to the promise land in the world of NIL unless you can raise the money. You raise the money, you can build a roster to win as long as you have some semblance of football knowledge. Tony Elliott is doing it at UVA right now, and quite frankly, he's as much a shit coach as Pry turned out to be. Joey Maguire is doing it at Texas Tech. Sitake does it with LDS money at BYU (so is their bball coach btw, my goodness that roster). And i'm sure there are several other instances of non-blue bloods who are relevant in the football picture because of NIL (Ole Miss, Indiana, etc). And yes, i get it that some are underperforming with big NIL budgets (i'm looking at you LSU and Florida), but i do think the new world order is unfortunately going to be driven by which program can best buy their roster.

Now that doesn't mean you have to spend the most, it just means you have to have a competitive budget and then be smart enough to know how to build a team with it. That's going to require a good staff, a good GM, a good fundraising arm, and a supportive culture throughout the university. So in my opinion, you find a program builder that knows how to win and has proven it throughout their career. That could certainly be James Franklin, as i have stated previously.

Or, if things don't work out with Franklin because of fit or finances, i'm coming more and more around to just hiring a coach who has shown he can win no matter where he's at, regardless of the level, while also seeming to be good fits for Tech and attainable. The name that I keep coming back to is Bob Chesney. Won at all four levels (Regina-D3, Assumption-D2, Holy Cross-FCS, JMU-G5), and not always in a tailor made situation. I think that level of success is what your looking for.

While i don't think it bothers most, i do think some of the pushback that comes on Chesney is JMU related, just like there are folks that say LSU won't hire Sumrall because he's Tulane's coach. Maybe we swap, as i think Sumrall falls in the same category as Chesney (won at both Troy and Tulane), and i would have listed him if i thought he was attainable. But i think i'd prefer Chesney to Sumrall if both were available because Chesney has proven it at four stops compared to two, and for 16 seasons (127-51) compared to 4 (38-11).

TLDR, i think if i were in charge of this search, i would be doing my due diligence on Chesney's ability to raise money and spend it wisely, because i think he has proven he can manage a program. I would also get feedback from all the big donors and NIL managers, or however NIL is going to work in the future and see if that is a hire they are ready to get financially behind from a warchest standpoint. And if it checks out, i think he's the alternative to Franklin, and i wouldn't argue with you if you said he should be the target over Franklin.

someone mentioned yesterday that on TSL they saw this: "Things have quieted down over the last couple of days, which is probably a good thing"

But now they're saying it's basically extortion?

I have no idea how to actually feel lol

Dead on! The Cholla is the nastiest damn plant in the desert. Always have to warn visitors not to touch the fuzzy looking cactus. Always carry pliers when out on the trails

It's because of all the AI bots scraping content to train LLMs.

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Totally agree on the bomb. Liquid pain and no flavor. Last dab is hot as hell but actually has flavor. Quite a few of the sauces are actually really good.

My favorite is when they release some kind of player or team ranking by one of the talking heads in the morning with a scorching hot take in it, and by the end of the day it becomes a major talking point throughout the network on the "controversy" around that player or team.

yeah true, but he's the poster child. and there's Sackafee being so over the top with everything

At least it took us 600 comments, ESPN opens with that strategy

We've officially reached ESPN talking-head status on TKP where we create a narrative, push it as fact, and then overreact to that narrative down the line.

Ricky Slade