Manther

Not if you also add TTU and Okie Light and go to 20, with 5 team pods. Then the 5 team pod for us could be UT, OU, Arky, TTU and OSU. (Sub in aggy for arky if you want to watch mass suicide). That ends any pressure from either the Oklahoma or Texas legislatures.

None of this matters until the B1G makes whatever countermove it is going to make. Sounds like the ACC GOR until 2036 will keep the B1G out of tobacco road. Thus, the only viable expansion options will be west. I think that the B1G will gut the Pac 12 and go to 20 taking the four California schools, Oregon and Colorado. They will go to 5 team pods, with CU moving into a 5 team POD with Corn, Minnesota, Wisky and Iowa. The West Coast teams will be a pod and they will divide the remaining 10 equally. You play your Pod (4), one other Pod (rotates) (5), and one floating conference game to allow for the inevitable permanent rival games. The western two Pods play a semifinal, with the eastern two doing the same. The winners advance to a conference championship game called the Rose Bowl. The B1G will claim that the saved the soul of the tradition and the Pac 12 while gutting it.

I view Herman's tenure fairly similar to John Mackovic's. We got way better from an historic low. We won games that shocked people (96 Nebraska, '18 Georgia), lost to teams we never should ('94 - TCU/Rice; Herman - TCU every year). Both were bad personality fits with the Admins and BMDs. In other words, both helped to put us back in a position of winning from coaches that broke the system down (McWilliams and Strong). However, it seemed pretty apparent that while better, we could always expect dumbass losses and the ceiling was about 9 wins with an occasional elite bowl because of brand name. Mack was able to come in a build on that base and win pretty quickly. We had a NC caliber team by 2001. That was mainly built on the strength of the assistant hires. I think Sark has a similar opportunity. He's taking this ship over waaaay better than what Herman had to deal with. While recruiting will dip in the year of the change (it always does); there is enough talent on hand to put together a solid start next year to get recruiting fired back up. Casey Thompson appears more than capable of winning games. It really depends on the quality of the assistants. You nail that and you could get off to a great start and jellyroll like Mack did. I just think that unlike Strong or Herman, Sark is actually taking a program that isn't in decline or terrible shape. It gives a better chance to succeed.

You wonder how long private schools can keep going online only without seeing attendance drops. $50k+ is helluva lot to pay for online education.