What’s going on in the Big 12 and beyond? I expand and explain every Sunday in Postscripts at Heartland College Sports, your home for independent Big 12 coverage.
This week, Tennessee set a tone-deaf precedent I fear Big 12 programs will adopt, how the last “Woj Bomb” will filter throughout college basketball and one ACC team believes it owns the Big 12 (at least for now).
TENNESSEE’S TONE-DEAF DECISION
Perhaps the biggest announcement of the week was Tennessee adding a 10% talent fee to its football tickets starting in 2025. The fee is designed to help Tennessee pay their football players as part of the revenue sharing agreement that the NCAA and its member schools hope to get approval on soon. By the way, there’s been a bit of a roadblock related to NIL. Because of course there is.
In the meantime, Tennessee is planning ahead. And I can’t tell you how tone-deaf this makes the Volunteers look, in my opinion. Tennessee plays in the richest conference in college sports. The SEC makes more money and distributes more money to its member schools than any other league. That isn’t changing and that distribution is sure to continue to rise.
Tennessee is also among the wealthiest athletic departments in the country. And yes, a $22 million salary pool to pay student-athletes across all sports is going to take a carve out of its budget.
But if you’re a resident of Knoxville or the surrounding area and you’re a die-hard Volunteers fan, how are you not just a little upset about this? It may start with football tickets, but you know at some point it will filter to other sports.
It’s not like Tennessee isn’t finding creative ways to rake in sponsorship money. Heck, the Vols signed a sponsorship agreement with Pilot for 20 years for its football stadium and didn’t even have to change its name.
This feels unseemly. There’s a part of me that hopes the fan base there on Rocky Top gives it to their athletic director, Danny White, but good. But, you know what? I doubt it.
The belief all along is that schools would use their television money to pay out the student-athlete revenue share. So, Tennessee is doing a beta test. The Vols are testing to see what their fan base will accept.
Will Vols fans revolt or just treat this like it’s a Ticketmaster charge? If it’s the latter, then the ship has sailed. And I’m betting it’s the latter. There’s never been a better time to be a Vols football fan, at least not since the Phillip Fulmer days. Those fans want to keep winning.
If they pay the toll, then it’s only a matter of time before other programs pass that cost along to fans. And that includes Big 12 programs. Part of the equation for winning is how much cash you have on hand.
The precedent is tone-deaf. But it’s also coming for your wallet.
THE RISE OF WOJ AND HOW IT IMPACT BIG 12 SCHOOLS
The final “Woj Bomb” was always going to be when ESPN NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski left the network. But it was where he went that startled everyone.
He left ESPN to work at his alma mater, St. Bonaventure, as its general manager for men’s basketball.
That begs the question, “What the heck is that in relation to college basketball?”
Well, glad you asked. After all, we as sports fans are used to the pro sports general manager, who usually handles things like scouting, roster retention, player acquisition, the draft and contracts.
So what does a GM do in the college ranks? Well, one of my favorite follows is Matt Brown, who writes the Extra Points newsletter. He digs into the business of college sports and after Woj dropped his bomb, he wrote about what a college basketball GM does (or might do). Because, as Brown wrote, it’s still a mushy job description:
But in college? It’s not exactly a one-to-one comparison. There’s no CBA that would provide structure and transparency for player payments or movement, so one can’t exactly be a college sports cap-ologist the same way one could in the NBA. Professional teams don’t need to fundraise, but college programs certainly do. Athlete educational development, alumni relations, and public relations also aren’t generally the most important things a professional GM does…but they could fall under a college GM purview. And, it goes without saying, that in college, this person would unquestionably serve under the head coach, not the other way around.
There are schools that are starting to organize in this way, though we’re seeing it more often in football. Alabama, for instance has an associate athletics director and football chief operating officer in Ellis Ponder and a director of player personnel in Bob Welton.
In basketball I checked Kansas as a reference. The Jayhawks have a director of basketball in Fred Quartlebaum. His job description might be the closest comparison. But his role is around logistics and player development.
Most schools have a director of basketball ops. But I see the GM role Woj is about to occupy as evolving into something like the pro GM role in way specific to college basketball.
Remember when Bill Self caught heat in March for saying that he was already looking toward next season? He was referring to his roster, not to March Madness. And coaches have to look ahead, and you can do that without losing focus on the now of it all.
Well, the GM can help with that, and that’s how I envision the job evolving. The GM can watch the transfer portal, recruiting news, help manage the roster and bring skill sets that some college coaches don’t have. Someone like Woj brings NBA connections to the job that will be useful to the Bonnies. And while Brown is correct that there is no CBA in college sports, a salary pool is coming and someone has to manage it.
But the House vs. NCAA settlement is going to create unintended consequences, just as the transfer portal did. The revolution of the general manager in college sports is about to be one of them. Woj, as always, is just a trailblazer.
PITT OWNS THE BIG 12?
If you’re a reader of this site you know I was at the West Virginia-Pitt game on Saturday. No, it wasn’t a full crowd, but the atmosphere was incredible and it only reinforced why we have to protect rivalries in college sports. It makes college football and, frankly, all of college sports special.
Pitt also did something earlier this week that makes college sports great. They didn’t just troll West Virginia after winning the game, the Panthers trolled the entire Big 12.
Going into Saturday’s games, nobody has a better Big 12 record than … Pitt?
Well, at least for another week or two.
TCU WOMEN BUILDING A BEAST?
Things continue to look up for TCU women’s basketball. The program had a great recruiting cycle and did well in the transfer portal, not the least of which was convincing guard Hailey Van Lith to play her final year of college ball in Fort Worth.
But, the Horned Frogs are really starting to feel themselves on the recruiting trail, too. Earlier this week On3’s Talia Goodman reported that the site’s No. 5 recruit, Emilee Skinner, was down to her final five before signing day. Notice that logo on the far right?
The Millville, Utah, product isn’t even considering in-state schools BYU and Utah. But she’s considering the Horned Frogs.
I could not have imagined TCU would be in play for a player of her caliber just a few years ago. But coach Mark Campbell, entering his second year, knows how to recruit. He’s building a team and a program to compete in this new Big 12.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
