NCAA Football '11-'12

[MadBurgerMaker]

Buying players will not give A&M an advantage in the SEC.  Though maybe they will no longer lose to Sunbelt teams so often.

I should clarify.  By "good" I meant A&M's good, not normal people good.  Like maybe a bowl game win.  Things like that.

[Valmy]

I should clarify.  By "good" I meant A&M's good, not normal people good.  Like maybe a bowl game win.  Things like that.

They are pretty awesome at corporate sponsored games played in Houston.

Long will the Corps guys fill their jizz jars with thoughts of the GalleryFurniture.com Bowl and the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

[MadImmortalMan]

Galleryfurniture.com bowl saves you money!

[grumbler]

Dave Brandon, Michigan's AD, just made the first major faux pax of his reign as AD at Michigan:  he announced today the the Michigan Marching Band would not be going to the Alabama game at Jerryworld.  No announced reason, but the expense (probably $400k) is assumed to be the reason.  He had arranged for game tickets for the band to be provided gratis in the contract, so he surely expected the band to go when he signed the contract.  Alabama is, of course, bringing their band (even though they are officially the visiting team).

Fan reaction has been highly negative.  All the major websites are organizing email campaigns (I am no joiner, but even I sent one).  The MMB is a huge part of the Michigan brand, and it is stupid not to include it on such a massive stage (every sports site and magazine rates this as the top non-conference game of the year, and it is prime time).

It will be interesting to see if DB caves on this.  He never has in the year he has been there, but has never faced pressure, either.  I am hoping he does, because that means that he will cave when he tries to introduce a mascot, too (Michigan doesn't use a mascot any more; they tried, in the 1930s, but Wolverines are far too ferocious to actually have as live mascots) when Michigan's tradition is that they proudly don't have, or need, a human-dressed-as-an-animal mascot given the results of their earlier efforts to have the real thing.

The mascot thing is the real elephant in the room, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

And... Brandon caves to the shitstorm.  The MMB will go to Dallas.

http://annarbor.com/sports/um-football/michigan-marching-band-informed-it-will-be-attending-2012-football-opener-in-texas/

Good.  A nail in the coffin for his mascot ideas.

[MadBurgerMaker]

Good.  It seems like it would be weird without the band being present at a big game like that.

Florida cuts the Computer Science department to save 1.4 million, increases athletic budget by 2 million!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2012/04/22/university-of-florida-eliminates-computer-science-department-increases-athletic-budgets-hmm/

I just saw this:  So what?  I mean, it sucks for the CS department, but the two things don't really seem to have anything to do with one another.  The $2 million for the athletic department isn't coming from the school, it's coming from athletics.  UF is one of those programs that generates a profit, some of which goes back to the university itself.

They are pretty awesome at corporate sponsored games played in Houston.

Long will the Corps guys fill their jizz jars with thoughts of the GalleryFurniture.com Bowl and the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

  Thats gross man

[grumbler]

I just saw this:  So what?  I mean, it sucks for the CS department, but the two things don't really seem to have anything to do with one another.  The $2 million for the athletic department isn't coming from the school, it's coming from athletics.  UF is one of those programs that generates a profit, some of which goes back to the university itself.

Money is fungible.  If $2 million less is being given by the AD to the school, then it is the same as the school giving $2 million.

Now, you can certainly make the argument that the AD spending $2 million more will increase revenue over time (say, better facilities that attract better athletes that create more TV coverage and thus revenue) and thus be a sound investment, but athletic department profits plowed back into the university are not some favor that the AD is doing the school.  An increased budget for the AD means a lowered budget for someone else, at least in the short term.

So, the two budget decisions are directly linked.  That's not to say that the decision made was a poor one; I suspect the contrary.

[derspiess]

That may well be true, but IMO it's much less of an "issue" to allow the AD to spend money it brought in than having to divert money to the AD that came from other sources.

[grumbler]

That may well be true, but IMO it's much less of an "issue" to allow the AD to spend money it brought in than having to divert money to the AD that came from other sources.

No question about that.  The appearance is different.  But that same money could have been used in the CS department as easily as in the athletic department.

[MadBurgerMaker]

The shortfall is caused by the state cutting Florida's budget by a whole bunch, not by anything the AD is doing.  Increase in the AD budget or not, UF was going to have to figure out how to cut their own costs no matter what. 

E:  A response to the one Tim posted: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/04/college-vs-college-sports-why-you-should-ignore-the-outrage-at-the-university-of-florida/256252/

Since 2006, the state has cleaved 30 percent of the university's budget, or about $240 million total, according tot a recent op-ed by a former school administrator. Meanwhile, state law limits the university's ability to raise tuition. Its only option: cut. Rather than spread the pain around evenly, the College of Engineering plans to break apart its Computer & Information Science and Engineering Department, sending about half the faculty to other parts of the school, cutting staff and teaching assistants, and refocusing the mission of its remaining professors on teaching. Certainly it's a sad situation, but it's also not a wholesale abandonment of computer science as a discipline.

Those are some huge cuts by the state.  It does note later though that since 1990, the AD has sent $61 million to the school, which includes $6.1 million last year when they made a profit of ~$10 million.  Not an insignificant amount, but it isn't shit compared to that $240 million.

Also note that the CS department isn't completely going away, which the other article failed to mention for some reason.

[Valmy]

That same sad story is happening everywhere.  UT Austin got its state budget slashed by 20% last legislative session and I am dreading the next one.

[PDH]

Wyoming is 1-1 after the Spring Game

[Berkut]

I have trouble having sympathy for universities and their budgets. They are as much benefactors of a grossly screwed up market with perverse incentives as they are victims of budget cuts.

[Ed Anger]

Wyoming is 1-1 after the Spring Game

[grumbler]

Wyoming is 1-1 after the Spring Game  

Why the frown?  They have gotten half their expected wins for the season before the season even started!

[grumbler]

I have trouble having sympathy for universities and their budgets. They are as much benefactors of a grossly screwed up market with perverse incentives as they are victims of budget cuts.

+1 

Universities have gotten out of control.  Compare tuition increases to inflation some time.