🍺🍿 Time to sit back with some popcorn and that beer over there and casually watch the demise of big time (including Mid-Major) athletics brought about by NIL and the greedy P5/football/BB powers.
The next step in this process is when someone challenges the tax exempt status of these colleges and universities who pull in trainloads of cash from athletics and shamelessly act as conduits of even more cash to 19 year old kids who aren’t even really “students” - just hessians playing for money to enrich themselves and their “employers”.
The final step will be when the courts eventually make it so onerous that many universities will opt out of athletics and adopt the European model where kids come to school only to learn and earn a degree 😱. Any athletics will be done on a club level outside the bounds of academia. Huge campus stadiums and BB arenas will fall into disrepair and be demolished for parking lots and academic buildings.
It’s a snake eating its own tail a d eventually consuming itself.
Coach Powell has been such a success that he found two kids no one else wanted and turned them into budding D1 standouts who could've led this team back to the NCAA tourney. He's a man of great character to boot.
But this portal and the NIL money have blown up the mid-majors and any sense of roster continuity in D1.
I don't think that D2 is an option. It's the Jan Brady of NCAA categories.
People may interpret this as my suggesting that VU throw in the towel, but I think there's a case for be made for D3. Of course, I happen to like D3.
Both the men's and women's hoops teams of my law school alma mater, NYU, are in the D3 Final 4. Granted, NYU has the national reputation and the attraction of New York City, but it's also very hard to gain admission (even for athletes) and it's very, very expensive. But both the MBB and WBB squads have enjoyed a renaissance in recent years, and now they're both playing at a championship level. (For the women, it would be a National Championship repeat...)
Also, I enjoy following the D3 football playoffs, and I wonder if Valpo could ever compete with Midwestern powerhouses like North Central and Mount Union.
I agree with fwalum in that Roger will go after D-2 guys or whatever to be competitive, It is a shame that good, competitive mid-major college basketball as we knew it is going down the toilet. I feel one thing is certain, even though we don't hear or read much about other schools that we compete with, many are having the very same problem that we are going through . I think it wont be long before before the problem blows up. We just need to hang in there!
@valpotx Degree? DEGREE!! Don’t kid yourself. None of these kids care about that now. Nor do the colleges. Like it or not, it’s all about the highest bidder.
Good point on the misery loves company. Butler is a shell of itself, without a quality season since 2019-2020, as well.
The current developments suggest the time has come to face facts some on here have noted in the past, and look for a solution. One, the idea of a multiyear rebuild is nothing but unrealistic nostalgia and a dead end. Two, you might find an exceptional freshman, but at best he will remain only a year or two. Three, don't kid yourself, Valparaiso will never have the funds to compete in NIL with other schools. Four, as a mid-major there also will be no big income from NCAA shares now that only the larger conferences are getting multi-bids: when the SEC gets 14 schools earning tournament shares and mid-major conferences are limited to one, the disparity of income, reputation, and media status only exacerbates the imbalance between teams and leagues.
Therefore, Valpo is painted into a corner with only one option for movement and adaptability. Without changes to revenue sharing or monetary adjustments to NIL and transfer regulations, VU must approach the recruiting process from the lower rung of the free agency ladder. First, use the skill of the coaching staff to discover unheralded lower-level D-1, D-2 or Juco players, convincing them they will get more court time and exposure here: this is the new version of one-and-done. Second, find a freshman or two who shows great promise and can be persuaded his development at Valpo will lead to greater financial gains as a transfer after his first or second year: take advantage of the Schwieger and Wright situation and propose Valpo as a place with a reputation as a premier feeder program for larger schools. Three, realize there is only one goal, winning the tournament in a conference where all 12 teams will be in a crapshoot for success each season. The Drake model this year of a team following a coach being an aberration, all will be in the same boat, and the only thing that matters is surpassing the other 11 teams in recruiting. Finally, visit the chapel and say a prayer or two.
Hey… at least we’re not the MAC. A conference with way more money going towards athletics (granted most of it is for football) but still some how manages to be absolutely garbage in basketball. I think Valpo was 3-0 against the MAC this year. I believe those are all state schools, if not then they’re schools with 15-20k+ students. BuT lEtS gO to d3.
For those of you that think the Summit League and/or Horizon League would take us back, you are mistaken. It would have to be something like the OVC, as the schools left in both prior conferences, are loving the fact that we've been a middling team, since our move to the MVC.
First, there are no currently known openings. We get that. But we are saying we’d take it if the opportunity arises. You assume too much without listening to what we are saying.
Second, we who believe in the downgrade don’t believe other conferences are still obsessing over us the way you seem to think they are. It’s a ridiculous assertion that some made up grudge from the past would come back. No one is even thinking about Valpo sadly at the moment. Our problem is NOT that they are thinking about us too much.
Powell states what many of you scrooges need to hear
....and finished 11th in a 12 team conference.
