[Purple Haize]

I am going to be in "wait and see" mode with IM until the Baylor situation is resolved. If he comes out clean, I will be his biggest fan. If he doesn't come out clean, there needs to be some sort of action taken...regardless of the results produced.

With that said, he has done incredible job thus far. The schedule for 2018 looks fantastic, 2019 is coming along together nicely as well. I suspect that in the coming years, the schedule will only improve. I would prefer to be in C-USA instead of being an independent, but I am starting to see A LOT of positives to our current status. Looking back, it's funny that we were ever frustrated with not being invited by the Sun Belt. We would not have the schedule we have for next year, if had been invited to the SBC.

The one "negative" that I've heard thrown around lately is that we have no bowl tie-ins. To which I say, "Who cares?" A good majority of these bowl games are unwatchable and most of them struggle to garner 50% attendance. Last year, we saw a number of high-profile NFL draft prospects simply skip bowl games. Regardless of your position on that issue, it's not going away and you will only see an increase this year. Outside of boosters, and college football purists, very few care about the bowl games. And IF bowl games are so important, you've seen what IM has done with our schedule. Is it really all that crazy to believe he could negotiate a bowl tie-in with our school specifically?

Whether or not he helped quash rape investigations has no effect on how he can effectively operate the business side of college athletics. What he is doing is Sport Management 101. Apparently he is being allowed to do what others have not

[VAGolf]

I never said it had any effect on his ability.

[Sly Fox]

I have a ton of connections to the Baylor situation and pursued details with anonymous sources who have direct knowledge of the mess in Waco. Every single person considered our AD to be a victim to the situation and not a perpetrator. Every. Single. One. As a result, I am fully on board with the hire even though I admit that I was reluctant at the announcement. I would be VERY surprised if something emerged to indicate his direct culpability in the investigation.

I agree completely with your sentiment, R i. I am very grateful for all that Jeff Barber was able to accomplish for our school. But I am enthusiastically in support of the direction that our current AD is leading us.

[Class of 20Something]

I have a ton of connections to the Baylor situation and pursued details with anonymous sources who have direct knowledge of the mess in Waco. Every single person considered our AD to be a victim to the situation and not a perpetrator. Every. Single. One. As a result, I am fully on board with the hire even though I admit that I was reluctant at the announcement. I would be VERY surprised if something emerged to indicate his direct culpability in the investigation.

I agree completely with your sentiment, R i. I am very grateful for all that Jeff Barber was able to accomplish for our school. But I am enthusiastically in support of the direction that our current AD is leading us.

It's pretty obvious that even with leaked text messages, "That would be nice" is the worst thing he has said in response to WPD not going public about an assault. If he was throwing his weight around, we would have heard about it by now. I'm just glad LU is on the opposite extreme of Title IX enforcement. I'd rather be in LU's shoes with Jackson than BU and Pepper Hamilton.

[VAGolf]

I have a ton of connections to the Baylor situation and pursued details with anonymous sources who have direct knowledge of the mess in Waco. Every single person considered our AD to be a victim to the situation and not a perpetrator. Every. Single. One. As a result, I am fully on board with the hire even though I admit that I was reluctant at the announcement. I would be VERY surprised if something emerged to indicate his direct culpability in the investigation.

I agree completely with your sentiment, R i. I am very grateful for all that Jeff Barber was able to accomplish for our school. But I am enthusiastically in support of the direction that our current AD is leading us.

I feel confident in your research Sly. However, I remain hesitant because I still would have preferred LU to wait until IM's name was clear. I am not anti-McCaw by any means but you won't see me wrap my arms around him just yet.

With that said, I'm really glad that everyone read my post above and singled out one line.

[Purple Haize]

I have a ton of connections to the Baylor situation and pursued details with anonymous sources who have direct knowledge of the mess in Waco. Every single person considered our AD to be a victim to the situation and not a perpetrator. Every. Single. One. As a result, I am fully on board with the hire even though I admit that I was reluctant at the announcement. I would be VERY surprised if something emerged to indicate his direct culpability in the investigation.

I agree completely with your sentiment, R i. I am very grateful for all that Jeff Barber was able to accomplish for our school. But I am enthusiastically in support of the direction that our current AD is leading us.

What has changed? Time has passed. We will never know what happened and it will all get swept under the rug. If allowed, he will do the job of running the LU Athletic Department like an actual athletic department. He should be able to bring in some donors because, if he was a 'victim of circumstances' he has some favors to cash in, and that will certainly help.
Whether or not LU should have hired him is irrelevant at this point.

[Class of 20Something]

So just looking at a talent perspective, going forward we have about 5 more scholarships per year to hand out. That takes us from about 15 to about 20 per year. Outside of the obvious issues with coaching, how many 3* recruits do we need to pull in each year to never dip below .500? I'm thinking that we will need to bring in 7 the first year to remain competitive. Then average 10 each year after that to have success. I dream of a day when we are unexcited about 3* recruits and the occasional 4* visit ends with a commitment. 24/7 Sports will breakdown how many of each class of recruit were gained by every team. Using CUSA as an example, there were no 4* recruits, but there is a direct correlation with these teams recruiting classes and their on field performance. Keep in mind averaging these classes gives these teams a massive talent advantage and depth late in the game. If Troy always gets seven 3* recruits, they would have 28 of them on the team. A massive disparity over our current talent.
http://247sports.com/Season/2017-Footba ... ence=C-USA

For some of our opponents in 2018

UNT and ODU both had five 3* recruits,
Troy had seven,
Army had three while UMass had eight.

[Ewglenn]

1.32 million to ODU???

http://pilotonline.com/sports/college/o ... 7aae1.html

[Sly Fox]

There is more involved than just that one game. But yes, we did pony up.

[Purple Haize]

1.32 million to ODU???

http://pilotonline.com/sports/college/o ... 7aae1.html

I wonder what the Auburn check will be

[Sly Fox]

There are multiple factors in the compensation for these games where we are having teams buy out of existing contracts to become available for us. Sometimes the bumping around plays to additional opportunities for us.

[Ewglenn]

1.32 million to ODU???

http://pilotonline.com/sports/college/o ... 7aae1.html

I wonder what the Auburn check will be

I doubt much more than that. Going off of last years numbers that would have been the highest payment. Second would have been Alabama to WKU for 1.3.

[Sly Fox]

Keep in mind there are buyouts that needed to be engaged to make this deal work for ODU. They clearly recognized the opportunity that we presented. And some of the collateral impact has opened up opportunities for other dates.

[A Sea of Red]

Football notebook: scheduling & stadium expansion

http://www.aseaofred.com/football-noteb ... expansion/

[Sly Fox]

Very good details, Jon. Thanks for the hustle. Ditto to Damien.

[lawrenceq]

The AD and his team did a great job putting things together. Kudos to them. It's all on the coaching staff now. Will they deliver?

[Ewglenn]

The AD and his team did a great job putting things together. Kudos to them. It's all on the coaching staff now. Will they deliver?

No and Briles will be on the phone soon...

[flameshaw]

The AD and his team did a great job putting things together. Kudos to them. It's all on the coaching staff now. Will they deliver?

No and Briles will be on the phone soon...

Zero chance of that.

[Purple Haize]

The AD and his team did a great job putting things together. Kudos to them. It's all on the coaching staff now. Will they deliver?

No and Briles will be on the phone soon...

Zero chance of that.

Keep telling yourself that

[LUGrad2000]

Zero chance.

[VAGolf]

Unless Briles is behind bars, I'd say there's a very good chance he gets an offer.

[BJWilliams]

I will say that it's amazing how people's perspective will change when they start seeing those commas after a dollar sign

[Footballfan]

Art Briles was the fourth highest paid coach in college football in 2015 before he was fired...............

http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/o ... d4a31.html

[Purple Haize]

Art Briles was the fourth highest paid coach in college football in 2015 before he was fired...............

http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/o ... d4a31.html

LU has the money

[Ewglenn]

Art Briles was the fourth highest paid coach in college football in 2015 before he was fired...............

http://www.tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/o ... d4a31.html

LU has the money

LU does have the money but I don't think money is the issue he is dealing with. It's mostly the scarlet letter that no one is willing to take on. I expect a small salary but he would take it for another shot.