2024-2025 Off Season

[clenz]

One thing that I heard him say, and I remember BC saying this too, is that Drake is non-scholly because they use those funds kids pay to attend Drake to fund programs (I didn't think of it like that until BC's comment). He mentioned that he has had many kids who wanted to play for him but couldn't afford the tuition. At UNI, he's finally able to have access to a wider pool of people with a lower tuition cost, scholarships, etc... I think that's a big deal too.

Ultimately, the proof will be in what happens this next season and going forward. It's all hearsay until then.

It is a big reason these PFL schools keep football. Valpo doesn't care about football. They would be so much better off taking the 1.2 million they spend on football and putting it elsewhere in the department. However, they had 118 kids on roster this past season. That is roughly $5,310,000 brought into the school in tuition alone. That covers the cost of football plus 4.1 million left. The program, at a school like Valpo, is 3% of their total enrollment, which is a fairly sizable chunk.

D+ cares more about football than Valpo, but not enough to not have a real long look at just dropping football and trying to go the A10/Bradley/Evansville route if their choice was no football or MVFC/scholarship. The math is similar at D+ though. Slightly more expensive tuition, essentially equal enrollment. The most recent expense reporting at D+ had 1.3 million paid out in expenses, meanwhile, 115 players at essentially 48,000 per year in tuition is 5,520,000. This means the football team brought in over 4.2 million dollars for D+.

[ronfitch]

It is a big reason these PFL schools keep football. Valpo doesn't care about football. They would be so much better off taking the 1.2 million they spend on football and putting it elsewhere in the department. However, they had 118 kids on roster this past season. That is roughly $5,310,000 brought into the school in tuition alone. That covers the cost of football plus 4.1 million left. The program, at a school like Valpo, is 3% of their total enrollment, which is a fairly sizable chunk.

D+ cares more about football than Valpo, but not enough to not have a real long look at just dropping football and trying to go the A10/Bradley/Evansville route if their choice was no football or MVFC/scholarship. The math is similar at D+ though. Slightly more expensive tuition, essentially equal enrollment. The most recent expense reporting at D+ had 1.3 million paid out in expenses, meanwhile, 115 players at essentially 48,000 per year in tuition is 5,520,000. This means the football team brought in over 4.2 million dollars for D+.

Having just gone through the college search process with my kid, at privates very few pay sticker price. We hit about a dozen private four-year liberal arts schools on our visits and while many (most?) offered need-based aid, only one (Weslyean in CT) had no merit-based aid (and the admissions director lamented that, saying that it was a top priority for the president to tackle that next - their need-based aid was incredible if you qualified). But every other one had merit-based aid that was applied if the student was accepted. Sticker price is marketing - if accepted, there will be some sort of aid applied. In most cases, it was up to 40% off the sticker price for the schools we looked at. In the end, the first-year cost of attendance across the dozen or so privates and the three out-of-state publics were all pretty close, with a couple of outliers (one on the high side being U of Washington).

That said, I know people whose decision on school to attend included the opportunity to play a few more years of a sport they loved but were not going to get a scholarship. It was never the only reason to pick a school, but continuing to compete was always part of the decision. I swear there are some D-IIs and D-IIIs with half their student population or more are on one of the teams. It is a selling point.

[BCPanther]

Having just gone through the college search process with my kid, at privates very few pay sticker price. We hit about a dozen private four-year liberal arts schools on our visits and while many (most?) offered need-based aid, only one (Weslyean in CT) had no merit-based aid (and the admissions director lamented that, saying that it was a top priority for the president to tackle that next - their need-based aid was incredible if you qualified). But every other one had merit-based aid that was applied if the student was accepted. Sticker price is marketing - if accepted, there will be some sort of aid applied. In most cases, it was up to 40% off the sticker price for the schools we looked at. In the end, the first-year cost of attendance across the dozen or so privates and the three out-of-state publics were all pretty close, with a couple of outliers (one on the high side being U of Washington).

That said, I know people whose decision on school to attend included the opportunity to play a few more years of a sport they loved but were not going to get a scholarship. It was never the only reason to pick a school, but continuing to compete was always part of the decision. I swear there are some D-IIs and D-IIIs with half their student population or more are on one of the teams. It is a selling point.

Upper Iowa. You're describing Upper Iowa.

Last I knew they had like 530 students on campus and over 400 of them were athletes.

[Blue42]

Upper Iowa. You're describing Upper Iowa.

Last I knew they had like 530 students on campus and over 400 of them were athletes.

I think Graceland in Lamoni has had similar ratio. As said previously, a lot of smaller schools do.

[catsize]

I think Graceland in Lamoni has had similar ratio. As said previously, a lot of smaller schools do.

And a lot of D-III 'non-scholarship' programs have student-athletes on very nebulus 'leadership' and 'service' scholarships.

[QCPanther05]

I was worried he was not going to be a portal guy before I read anything about him. His background in non-scholarship D1 and D2 and D3. You can win at that level with high school kids from your state. The portal is outside his comfort zone. In the MVFC, you're going to need to utilize the portal and you're going to need to go outside the state lines if you want to be successful. Yes, there should always be a premium number of high school kids from Iowa, and there always will be. That is the low hanging fruit. And we should take pride in that. But you're going to struggle if you don't make a strong effort in the porta and outside of Iowa as well.

We have a guy that has never coached or played at this level, who had a losing record at his last job, who had to be convinced to come here, said he didn't get in it to win championships, and doesn't want to use the portal. That could all be meaningless hyperbole, but I sure wish he had said some of the things we wanted to hear.

I don't know guys.

Wtaf? Who says this dumb $hlt when they get a new coaching job? This guy is at minimum a total dumbass. This could be a disaster hire.

[kochrab]

Wtaf? Who says this dumb $hlt when they get a new coaching job? This guy is at minimum a total dumbass. This could be a disaster hire.

Before you freak out, some context might help you. He never said championships weren't on the radar and he never said he doesn't want to use the portal. He specifically said he is going to use the portal pretty heavily this year to fill gaps in our team. Putting things in context really helps. People love to take one bit of the quote and pull it out of context. Good grief.

[Blue42]

Before you freak out, some context might help you. He never said championships weren't on the radar and he never said he doesn't want to use the portal. He specifically said he is going to use the portal pretty heavily this year to fill gaps in our team. Putting things in context really helps. People love to take one bit of the quote and pull it out of context. Good grief.

It's fair to say he wasn't absolute in his takes about the importance of championships or using the portal.

It's also fair to say he did a pretty poor job of affirming for UNI fans they got a coach with a plan to win in the toughest conference in FCS. He missed the mark on that.

Doesn't mean he doesn't have a plan. But he did a poor job of describing it.

[UNIAlum95]

It's fair to say he wasn't absolute in his takes about the importance of championships or using the portal.

It's also fair to say he did a pretty poor job of affirming for UNI fans they got a coach with a plan to win in the toughest conference in FCS. He missed the mark on that.

Doesn't mean he doesn't have a plan. But he did a poor job of describing it.

His tone was similar to Dr Franklin who also soft pedaled the vision and needs at UNI at her intro press conference. Seems like some PR101 is needed for some folks. Heck I'll give similar feedback from the PSC dinner where with a full room full of new people they dropped the ball on introductions, engagement, and creating a welcoming atmosphere. I'll give credit on game day operations which are 110% above last year. That said the other stuff has been a big flop so far.

[MVCBeat]

It's fair to say he wasn't absolute in his takes about the importance of championships or using the portal.

It's also fair to say he did a pretty poor job of affirming for UNI fans they got a coach with a plan to win in the toughest conference in FCS. He missed the mark on that.

Doesn't mean he doesn't have a plan. But he did a poor job of describing it.

I think that is fair.

[Blue42]

His tone was similar to Dr Franklin who also soft pedaled the vision and needs at UNI at her intro press conference. Seems like some PR101 is needed for some folks. Heck I'll give similar feedback from the PSC dinner where with a full room full of new people they dropped the ball on introductions, engagement, and creating a welcoming atmosphere. I'll give credit on game day operations which are 110% above last year. That said the other stuff has been a big flop so far.

Agree there's some room for improvement on messaging and selling skills. They're both likeable people...and that's important.

Now they need to find a higher gear on selling the football program and overall athletic dept to current and potential supporters. It's really fundamental to the job...especially at UNI at this point in time.

Gotta find that gear.

[kochrab]

It's fair to say he wasn't absolute in his takes about the importance of championships or using the portal.

It's also fair to say he did a pretty poor job of affirming for UNI fans they got a coach with a plan to win in the toughest conference in FCS. He missed the mark on that.

Doesn't mean he doesn't have a plan. But he did a poor job of describing it.

For sure. I can understand that take. I'm kind of in the camp that we'll just have to see how it plays out ultimately. I'd rather he be honest and succeed rather than BS his way with hype and completely flop. I get there could be a best of both worlds though too.

[BCPanther]

I'm not wild about the 'honest and fails miserably' either....

[ronfitch]

I'm not wild about the 'honest and fails miserably' either....

Aside from a five-year deal, have any specifics of the contract been released?

[BCPanther]

Aside from a five-year deal, have any specifics of the contract been released?

Nothing yet. I do know that it's been FOIA'd so we should have it shortly.