kreed5120

I don't really follow the news of Twitter or X or whatever it's referred to these days. Any word on support staff other than Morrow?

They probably had more NIL /s

It's a step up I suppose from his unpaid internship at Clemson

You can probably add the Browns to that list. I believe they have been at or near the top of the league in dollars spent the last few years from trying to manipulate the cap by converting base salary into signing bonuses and then absorbing large cap hits when said player isn't even on the roster.

That's pretty accurate. Even Providence College said they plan to spend $10M next year. That would mean I would expect the Michigan, Florida, and Alabama to spend closer to $15 million. I imagine the top 2-3 spending programs like a Duke or Kentucky could approach or surpass $20M

Maybe he does, but hard to give someone with only 39 followers any clout.

You heard the man.

I could have sworn I was in an elevator with Nemer at half-time during the Kent game. Then again maybe that was the booze thinking.

Roster construction is still important. UMass spent the most money in the MAC, but still finished 8th in the MAC. If you pay top dollar for a bunch of mid players that's not going to suddenly make them great. The issue is there is a lot more money out there than there are players worth spending it on. You're going to see more and more fringe P5 players, like Nate Johnson, command $1.5M+ plus. You have to spend a lot of money to contend, but just because you spend a lot of money doesn't mean you will contend. If that makes any sense.

Not surprising, I read LSU has a $40 million roster for football next year. It seems about 1/3 of what gets spent on football gets spent on basketball.

I wouldn't mind him, but I doubt we could afford him.

I wonder if this will open the flood gates of others publicly stating whether they plan to leave or stay. They don't have many more days left before the portal opens to decide.

I'm honestly not surprised. Out of all our players with remaining eligibility he probably has the highest market value due to his size, athleticism, and well rounded game.

$12K plus being a human billboard to raise awareness for both the team and collective

I'm looking at their website and they sell a lot of branded school merchandise that retails for $35-$40. I'm sure Bud is getting a discount for ordering in bulk, but I wonder what the margins the collective is earning on this stuff. I would be surprised if the collective is making more than $10-$15 margin per hat.

Mine is showing delivered based on tracking number. Will have to make sure to check when I get home.

I agree the talent is there and he's good enough to start somewhere. I'm more just pointing out the logjam at the position. If he stays in the MAC he could develop into an All-MAC caliber player in the future.

I actually don't think this transfer means much to them. He was their 4th best pg IMO. Ipsaro was arguably their best player last season until he got injured. Skaljac and Kirby IMO are better than Perry as well. All three of those guys as of now will be returning. Now they will be hurting if one of those three transfer now because they no longer have depth at guard.

That to me would imply chasing a paycheck. I don't think anyone here is claiming that, especially after seeing his salary is pretty similar to Akron. In fact, he might have taken a pay cut once you factor in cost of living adjustments. If it was about just collecting a paycheck I imagine he could have left Akron a while ago. I imagine at some point in 9 years a school called and offered him more money than Akron was paying. Groce is a competitor and wants to win. He likely believes that CoC provides him a better opportunity to make a Sweet 16 run because they have a larger war chest of NIL money.

Yep, this is the biggest reason. I'm sure weather, fan support, and amenities all are positives, but if NIL CoC was offering was comparable to Akron no way he makes the switch.

I don't really know if that's true, but if I was an incoming freshman I certainly wouldn't stay committed to a team where I don't know the coaches. After all I doubt Groce was actively trying to recruit any of those players while at Illinois so he had no relationships with them. I would either follow that coach to the new school or go to one of the other schools that was originally trying to recruit me. I imagine you would to if you were in their shoes. That's why coaching changes void NLI. Big Dog and Cheatham were graduating. I believe it was widely known Noah planned to transfer even if Dambrot stayed. I believe the same was true for Josh wanting to play with his brother at Robert Morris. As you mention the portal isn't what it is now so Akron was always in for a rebuild year. May have even played a role in Dambrot deciding then was a better time than ever to make the move.

Interesting to note, Campbell's head coach, who plays in the same conference as CoC, has stepped down to become an assistant coach at Louisville. He is very blunt in his letter saying he's leaving because the University isn't giving him the necessary resources to compete.

He didn't take Ivey or Utomi either. Hughes only played in about half the games. Combined TDM and Hughes averaged 5.8/2/1.5. That would be like if Halligan and Oggy enter the portal this offseason and someone posts well damn there goes our entire team. Nobody here would treat those losses as something we couldn't recover from.

I'm not as close to the program to know what differences Ford and Groce had philosophically so I can't speak to any schematic changes. I expect us to continue down the same path of targeting young players, developing them, and then using the portal to plug deficiencies. From much of what I've read online player development is what many have pointed out as one of Ford's strengths. We'll continue to rely on that and perhaps can even use it as a tool to recruit under the radar underclassmen who might still be a bit raw.

They were leaving anyway. Look at any coaching change and you see huge roster turnover. The exception is if you promote an assistant like we did with Ford. Even then it's no guarantee. Edit: Didn't he only take 2 if I remember right? Hughes and that undersized pg? Memory is fading at my old age. Edit 2: Tavian Dunn-Martin