College Football in 2020 in danger?

[MoJames 8258]

1 hour ago, high side 3 way said:

@Alex Karev who is the beautiful blonde in your avi?

Per googles - icoone na twarz efekty

[gmr548 16704]

Will football die off to brain damage?

This is the bigger and long-term concern.   Look to the younger ranks - plenty of parents are opting out of their kids playing football at a young age.
Fewer insurance providers are willing to insure the sport as well, and those that will still do so are charging ever higher prices. Bigger problem at lower levels but worth mentioning.

[ouflak 60]

23 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

There's always a shit-ton of high school players ready and willing to take the place of any current players who walk out.

I'm not so sure about that anymore. Maybe a ton, but not a shit-ton anymore. And I think that number's dropping steadily.

Edited August 3, 2020 by ouflak

[Slacks 7079]

Nobody gives a shit about sitting around and watching a bunch of Johnny Manziels flame out, playing for teams that may not even be there a year from now.  Football is too expensive, because it ties too many players and resources up, versus what it could bring in.   It can't capture that atmosphere that minor league baseball does (and baseball is far cheaper).
Or to put it another way:  If the NFL could have put together a profitable farm system, we would have it already.   The XFL, NFL Europe, etc. all didn't work.  CFL is its own thing (they don't have an agreement with the NFL, last I checked).
CFB is the farm system for the NFL, both for players and coaches, and it's awesome for the NFL, because it costs them nothing, and brings in fans.
 

The latest XFL was on the path to succeed... It was interrupted by covid.

There will be a spring football league. XFL needs a few years of QB pipeline to not suck.

[Captainant 28607]

40 minutes ago, Snacks said:

The latest XFL was on the path to succeed... It was interrupted by covid.

There will be a spring football league. XFL needs a few years of QB pipeline to not suck.

XFL is back at least

And as far as wrestling-linked ownership goes, The Rock is head and shoulders better than Vince.

[TeddyBearStallion 73]

12 minutes ago, Captainant said:

XFL is back at least

And as far as wrestling-linked ownership goes, The Rock is head and shoulders better than Vince.

Do you smell what the league is cooking?

[lemonandaturd 4289]

1 hour ago, TeddyBearStallion said:

Do you smell what the league is cooking?

Bob Stoops' upper lip?

Edited August 3, 2020 by lemonandaturd

[Neonmoon 38130]

1 hour ago, TeddyBearStallion said:

Do you smell what the league is cooking?

An outbreak?

[Dnaguy 12724]

1 hour ago, TeddyBearStallion said:

Do you smell what the league is cooking?

No.....

 

 

 

[Hornius Emeritus 12819]

 

[atomheartbevo 90684]

2 hours ago, Snacks said:

The latest XFL was on the path to succeed... It was interrupted by covid.

There will be a spring football league. XFL needs a few years of QB pipeline to not suck.

The ratings dropped by over half pretty fast.  Even before covid, they were already planning on relocating three teams.  It filed for bankruptcy on April 13, a month after pausing for covid, and ESPN was trying to cut ties with them, and saying they'd only broadcast games, but were not willing to own anything.  Dwayne Johnson and Co. bought it for $15 million.

These things do not inspire confidence.

It's going to go the way of the NBA development league or whatever it's calling itself now - like the NBA, pro football has to compete with a very healthy college market.  

[ousux 5649]

Will football die off to brain damage?

This is the bigger and long-term concern.   Look to the younger ranks - plenty of parents are opting out of their kids playing football at a young age.
Take away the school part and chance of getting a degree, even less parents let their kids play football..

[ousux 5649]

There's always a shit-ton of high school players ready and willing to take the place of any current players who walk out.

It's been that way for a long time and still is today, but will it always?

I'm not so sure about that, at least not unless fundamental changes are made that simply makes CFB flag football with star athetes...who may no longer be stars if people arent interested in a game that barely resembles what they once loved.

[NeverMarryAStripper 22323]

34 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

It's going to go the way of the NBA development league or whatever it's calling itself now - like the NBA, pro football has to compete with a very healthy college market.  

It will do better once all the current college players become available when they quit because they don't get 50% of the revenue.

[SHOOTER12 8890]

8 hours ago, JFKFC said:

Where are my prayer warriors?!? Prayer can fix college football and the coronavirus, just like it solved gun violence and school shootings. Also, while you are praying, can you mix in a request for a couple of UCLA Asian-coeds for me? 

Call KarenKeyLargo she can probably hook you up.

[gmr548 16704]

The ratings dropped by over half pretty fast.  Even before covid, they were already planning on relocating three teams.  It filed for bankruptcy on April 13, a month after pausing for covid, and ESPN was trying to cut ties with them, and saying they'd only broadcast games, but were not willing to own anything.  Dwayne Johnson and Co. bought it for $15 million.
These things do not inspire confidence.
It's going to go the way of the NBA development league or whatever it's calling itself now - like the NBA, pro football has to compete with a very healthy college market.  

The NBA G league looks a lot different than it did five years ago, as almost every team has a direct affiliate now. And it'll probably look way different in five years with the G leauge now offering top prospects $120k for a year before being draft eligible. The NBA is starting to use it as a farm system first, profit center second. Probably because the development of college players is garbage. One of the consensus top 2021 prospects has already signed on so there is obviously some appeal.

NBA needs to adopt the baseball rule, IMO. Three years if you sign with a college, draft eligible otherwise.

[Alex Karev 1071]

6 hours ago, high side 3 way said:

@Alex Karev who is the beautiful blonde in your avi?

A very special friend indeed.

[Sejjr 3250]

5 hours ago, Snacks said:

 If the NFL could have put together a profitable farm system, we would have it already.   The XFL, NFL Europe, etc. all didn't work.  CFL is its own thing (they don't have an agreement with the NFL, last I checked).
CFB is the farm system for the NFL, both for players and coaches, and it's awesome for the NFL, because it costs them nothing, and brings in fans.

Why the fuck would the NFL spend resources building out a farm league when a free version exists, and has existed for many decades before the NFL even existed.

The NFL and CFB absolutely have an "agreement." If they didn't the NFL would play games on Saturday throughout the regular season. CFB does not want the NFL to have a devvy league to poach their talent, and the NFL is 100% cool with that arrangement. Again, free farm system.

IF College Football implodes due to all of this shit, and the massive pool of free talent diminishes, the NFL would be idiotic NOT to start a devvy league. It would be IMG Academy on steroids (errr....on even stronger steroids) and yes, people would go watch these games. It would suck and be massively depressing to see this happen, of course. And I don't think it will happen. But there is a scenario that exists where that could be a possibility in due time.

 

 

[Js1 87300]

 

[South Austin 53276]

2 minutes ago, Js1 said:

 

Pussy.

[NeverMarryAStripper 22323]

1 hour ago, Sejjr said:

Why the fuck would the NFL spend resources building out a farm league when a free version exists, and has existed for many decades before the NFL even existed.

The NFL and CFB absolutely have an "agreement." If they didn't the NFL would play games on Saturday throughout the regular season. CFB does not want the NFL to have a devvy league to poach their talent, and the NFL is 100% cool with that arrangement. Again, free farm system.

IF College Football implodes due to all of this shit, and the massive pool of free talent diminishes, the NFL would be idiotic NOT to start a devvy league. It would be IMG Academy on steroids (errr....on even stronger steroids) and yes, people would go watch these games. It would suck and be massively depressing to see this happen, of course. And I don't think it will happen. But there is a scenario that exists where that could be a possibility in due time.

 

 

An NFL developmental league would never be as big as college football is now.  An NFL developmental league would greatly diminish college football, but it might be better off in the long run.

[Beau Vine 55894]

1 hour ago, Sejjr said:

The NFL and CFB absolutely have an "agreement." If they didn't the NFL would play games on Saturday throughout the regular season.

That's actually federal law: https://www.sbnation.com/2018/12/15/18141446/saturday-nfl-games-december

[Francisco 2.0 32619]

https://www.theringer.com/2020/8/3/21349611/season-schedule-power-five-conferences-college-football-playoff

 

Quote

College football is a lot of things. It’s the packed stands on a frigid afternoon in the upper Midwest at a rivalry game that’s been played since before the invention of radio. It’s the empty bleachers on a 90-degree day in the Bahamas at a bowl game that was created a few years ago to fill a television slot. A college football Saturday starts at noon Eastern and ends at about 4 a.m. on Sunday morning, when a Hawai’i game wraps up in the middle of the Pacific. There’s a team at a Mormon school and teams at Catholic schools; there are teams for future military members in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard; there are conferences for historically Black schools; there’s a team for deaf players. (They invented the huddle.) College football is a melting pot that produces gumbo at an LSU tailgate and fondue at the Harvard-Yale game. If you’re American, there’s probably at least some part of this sport that’s for you.

 

Quote

College football is a lot of things, and that makes it easy to romanticize. But the sport’s size and diversity means that the schools involved have more differences than they do similarities. College football is Ohio State, a powerhouse that perennially competes for national championships and sends players to the NFL. College football is also Ohio, a team from the Mid-American Conference that needs the paychecks it receives for playing schools like Ohio State to break even. College football is any of 21 Division III teams in the state of Ohio, which don’t give players scholarships and are able to survive primarily because the athletes pay tuition. According to a 2016 report from the Department of Education, Ohio State generated close to $100 million from football, Ohio made around $10 million, and the D-III schools in Ohio didn’t break $1 million. College football is a lot like Canis Familiaris, the species name for dogs—all dogs, the ones that are 200 pounds and the ones you can hold in your palm. A Great Dane would starve if it was fed a Yorkie’s diet; a Yorkie would die if it tried to give birth to a Great Dane. Somewhere along the line, though, they all descended from friendly wolves, so we say that they’re part of the same species. Similarly, because all college football descended from students playing rugby against each other in the 1860s, we consider Ohio State, Ohio, and the Division III schools in the state to be parts of the same college football system.

 

Spoiler

College football is a lot of things, and that makes it nearly impossible to govern. This is especially problematic during a pandemic. No singular governing body is telling the schools with teams what to do. There are differences in testing protocol: Clemson had dozens of players test positive for COVID-19 and simply kept practicing; Michigan State had one player and two staff members test positive and quarantined the entire program for two weeks. Meanwhile, Toledo has said that it can’t afford to test players regularly, even though its football team returned to practice. Incidentally, Toledo’s head coach recently tested positive for COVID-19. There are also differences in scheduling protocol. The Big Ten announced on July 9 that it would go to a conference-only schedule in an attempt to limit the spread of the virus; the Pac-12 and SEC have since followed suit. On Wednesday, the ACC said that its schools would play an 11-game schedule, with 10 conference matchups and one nonconference matchup of their choosing. Yet in the Division II and Division III ranks, many conferences have either canceled their seasons outright or moved them to the spring. All this while Big 12 schools are adding games to their fall schedules, replacing canceled ones and in some cases bumping up their start dates. 

This level of disarray is unseen anywhere else in the American sports landscape. In the NBA, WNBA, NHL, NWSL, and MLS, the owners and players decided to play the seasons in contained bubbles. The owners and players in the NFL and MLB had more contentious negotiations, but both sides eventually came to agreements on health and financial protocols. It’s easy to see why these sports were better suited to reach such agreements than the NCAA. The richest and poorest NBA team owners are both billionaires who make huge sums of money off their teams; the richest and poorest NBA players are both pro athletes who have accepted the physical risks of sport in exchange for a paycheck. When the sides met to determine how to play games in a pandemic, the goals of both were clear, and a deal was struck. 

College football has no such clarity. The lack of leadership over the past few months has prompted calls for the sport to install a commissioner who can make decisions and take control. But if there was a single commissioner for college football, who would that commissioner serve? The schools that would be financially ruined by the loss of college football this year? Or the schools that would be financially ruined by the playing of college football this year? (I’d say maybe a commissioner would look out for the players, but remember, this is college football.)

This lack of clarity also has exposed the fundamental flaws in the sport, and that led to two massive developments on Sunday. Sports Illustrated reported that members of the Power Five conferences—the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC—are now exploring the possibility of staging their own championships in all varsity sports without sanctioning from the NCAA. This would allow the moneyed conferences to keep playing sports even if the poorer leagues can no longer afford to because of coronavirus-related losses. It could mark a split between the biggest leagues and everyone else. One athletic director suggested to SI that such a move could be the “final break” between the Power Five and the rest of the NCAA. 

Meanwhile, hundreds of Pac-12 football players published a letter in The Players’ Tribune in which they threatened to sit out this season unless their schools agreed to a list of demands designed to improve athlete welfare. These demands include enhanced coronavirus protections; the creation of a civic-engagement task force to address “racial injustice in college sports and in society”; the freedom to make money off of name, image, and likeness rights; and a distribution of “50 percent of each sport’s total conference revenue evenly among athletes in their respective sports.” These changes would require the Pac-12 to leave the NCAA, which the players understand. “Right now it’s clear the conferences don’t need the NCAA,” said Ramogi Huma, the founder of the National College Players Association. “Each conference is an industry unto itself.” 

The schools that generate the most revenue from their teams are making decisions out of self-interest. The players at some of those schools are pointing that out, and the people who are nominally in charge of governing the sport are abstaining from using their limited power, thereby enabling those schools. The other schools are probably wondering why they’re part of a structure that isn’t meant to serve them. College football is a lot of things, and right now nothing binds those things together.

College football is a lot of things, so sometimes “college football” means different things in different contexts. For example, a writer can say that Oklahoma State’s Chuba Hubbard is “college football’s leading rusher” in 2019 and I wouldn’t call it inaccurate, even though Jaleel McLaughlin of Notre Dame College rushed for 2,316 yards in Division II. Hubbard rushed for 2,094 yards, but he plays in Division I.

Another example: There’s a competition called the College Football Playoff, the four-team championship bracket for the 130 teams that make up the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the upper tier of Division I. However, the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), the lower tier of Division I, holds a 24-team playoff to decide its champion, and the Division II and Division III ranks also have playoff brackets. I guess you could call the FCS, D-II, and D-III competitions “college football playoffs,” although none are the College Football Playoff. Despite this, nobody gets too mad about the FBS labeling its event the College Football Playoff, because for most people “college football” refers to the brand-name teams eligible for the FBS title. 

Of course, you could argue that not all FBS teams are really eligible for the College Football Playoff. The college football playoffs at the FCS, D-II, and D-III levels are sanctioned by the NCAA, as are the championships at all levels of NCAA varsity sports. Yet the NCAA has long allowed the top tier of college football to create its own championship system. In 2014 the College Football Playoff was born, owned and operated by the 10 FBS leagues and Notre Dame. (Not Notre Dame College, where McLaughlin ran for 2,316 yards last season. The University of Notre Dame, where Rudy once recorded a sack. Notre Dame College plays college football; the University of Notre Dame plays College Football. I can see how this is confusing.) This event is highly profitable: ESPN pays about $470 million each year to broadcast the College Football Playoff games. 

By rule, the College Football Playoff selection committee must include athletic directors from five FBS conferences: the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC—that’s right, the Power Five. The five other FBS conferences—often referred to as the “Group of Five,” because the “Powerless Five” didn’t stick—have yet to get a single team into the College Football Playoff, even though they’re supposedly eligible and sometimes go undefeated. These conferences are technically part of College Football, but they’re generally treated as if they’re merely part of college football.

According to the NCAA’s terminology, the Power Five are called the “Autonomy” conferences. For years, Power Five schools would propose giving schools the ability to provide athletes with stipends, and they would be voted down by the hundreds of schools in other conferences that didn’t have the financial resources to do so. So the NCAA granted the Power Five the ability to create its own rules, via an incredibly complex voting system that requires explainers. The Power Five are an elite subset within an elite subset of college football—and yet, they’re still part of the same overall college football structure as everyone else. 

The closest thing college football has to a commissioner is the NCAA Board of Governors, which recently held a meeting on whether NCAA sports should hold fall championships during the pandemic. The board’s decision was to not decide, as it punted the choice to a later date. (It will meet again on Tuesday.) But the fact that the Board of Governors was even tasked with this decision says a lot. The board has no impact on whether the College Football Playoff takes place this season, but is disproportionately comprised of representatives from schools that are eligible for that event. By rule, eight of the board’s 25 members are from FBS schools, six are from other Division I schools, and six are from all of the other divisions combined. (The board also includes five “independent” members, including Grant Hill.) To summarize: The 130 FBS schools get eight spots on the board that decides whether Division II and III schools have championships this season, while 700-plus Division II and III schools have just six spots. Representatives from the FBS schools will likely vote to hold fall sports championships at all levels, because that will make it easier to justify having their highly profitable football season. Reps from D-II and D-III schools will not have the opportunity to reciprocate by voting against the College Football Playoff, because the FBS runs that with zero input from anybody else.

The reason small football schools are willing to give the big football schools so much power is obvious: money. The big football schools help fund the smaller football schools. In 2018, for instance, Ohio State paid Tulane $1.5 million to play a nonconference game in Columbus. (Ohio State won, 49-6.) And the College Football Playoff gives the Group of Five conferences $90 million to divide among themselves every year. That’s a lot less than the $66 million that goes to eachPower Five conference, but it still comes out to more than a million dollars per Group of Five school. 

What’s less transparent is why the big football schools would agree to be part of an association with the smaller football schools that appear to offer little in return. But the answer to that is also money: When big-time college athletics programs that generate hundreds of millions of dollars say they’re part of the same college football system as the schools that don’t, they can argue that they should be governed by the same amateurism rules. 

Ohio State, Ohio, and every Division III school in Ohio might be drastically different, but Ohio State benefits massively from preserving the idea that it plays the same kind of college football as Ohio and all of the Division III schools. When the notion of paying players is brought up, many people associate what’s happening at the big football programs with the quaint worlds where athletes play for little more than the love of the game and the chance to get a degree. People will often ask how the small schools could compete if paying players was permitted, and in some ways that’s a fair point. Ohio State could easily afford to pay its players; Ohio would have to shutter its football program to do so. But in other ways, the point is moot. The small schools are already fundamentally incapable of competing with the big ones. Ohio State is 34-0 all time against schools from the MAC. (It did lose to Akron in 1894, but I’m not sure that game should count.)

This relationship is supposed to be symbiotic. But in the pandemic, the bigger football schools are acting with only their own self-interest in mind. The Big Ten went to an all-conference schedule, hypothetically in the name of limiting the spread of the coronavirus. But there’s a financial element too: There’s little reason to pay $1.5 million to a small program from another conference if you can’t fill your stadium with 100,000 fans. The Big Ten’s decision surprised and upset the MAC schools whose football margins are often built upon payouts from Big Ten programs. Bowling Green’s athletic director released a statement in July saying, “The decision by the Big Ten is the tip of the iceberg.” Other Power Five leagues have acted similarly, essentially abandoning the Group of Five in a time of crisis.

Given the SI report, it now seems possible that the 2020 college football season could be contested exclusively by the Power Five schools, without the rest of the FBS. By filling some television airtime, these schools could recoup some of the tens of millions of dollars they might otherwise lose during the pandemic. Purely from a competitive standpoint, this could look similar to a normal season. A few hundred games would be played, and Clemson would inevitably meet Alabama in the College Football Playoff. That five of the 10 conferences would be missing would barely register to many fans. 

But college football is a lot of things, and a season exclusively for the Power Five is few of them. It’s clear that the Power Five teams have needs and goals that differ from everybody else’s. By playing games solely against each other, they will maximize both fan interest and profit. Maybe the Power Five schools will realize this arrangement is financially beneficial even in non-pandemic circumstances. But a few dozen teams with similar needs and goals making decisions that benefit each other isn’t college football. It’s a professional sports league. And professional sports leagues have to pay and provide fair treatment to their players. This feels like a lasting split, and the more bonds the College Football programs sever with the college football programs, the harder it will be for them to pretend they still have anything in common with the distant relatives they’re leaving behind.

 

[mdleast 8524]

[Chet Steadman 940]

On 7/30/2020 at 5:33 PM, TeddyBearStallion said:

Who's this Geoff Ketchum guy and does he have any credibility?  

 

lol

[hornian 5299]

8 minutes ago, mdleast said:

I am shocked that the Big XII did what all the other conferences did, just a month later. 

[Hurtlocker 2219]

And the non-con has to be a home game.

[naija 3066]

13 minutes ago, hornian said:

I am shocked that the Big XII did what all the other conferences did, just a month later. 

seriously. the "leadership" is a joke.

[mdmost 44114]

I know if it comes down to Texas or an SEC team for that final spot, that UTEP win is really going to push us over the edge.

[HRSchenker 2341]

What exactly is the incentive for schools to give into these demands? Athletes are free to come and go thanks to the transfer portal so it's not as if a HS senior is really committing to a 4 year stay at a program. Smaller programs like Washington State, Texas A&M, and Northern Illinois may be hurt by that but big names like Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan, Ohio State? Sometimes when you negotiate the other party calls your bluff. Does the university really want to give half of its revenue to the athletes? I don't think so.

[EuroHorn 3295]

 

[SHOOTER12 8890]

2 hours ago, South Austin said:

Pussy.

Yeah, I was going to say"quit your whining bitch".

Yep special place in hell yada, yada

[4th&Five 42027]

 

[TeddyBearStallion 73]

7 hours ago, lemonandaturd said:

Bob Stoops' upper lip?

You mean, upper goiter?

[MillerEP 30907]

https://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/08/02/washington-state-football-releasing-players-support-pac-12-movement/

Report: Washington State players who support Pac-12 movement ‘released from team’
By John TaylorAug 2, 2020, 6:23 PM EDT

 

 

 

[perfectchaos007 6780]

10 hours ago, Dnaguy said:

No.....

 

 

 

 

 

[JesusSweatDuck 18170]

7 hours ago, South Austin said:

Pussy.

Something something your mom's pussy last night

 

Did I do that right?

[Hurtlocker 2219]

9 hours ago, MillerEP said:

https://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/08/02/washington-state-football-releasing-players-support-pac-12-movement/

Report: Washington State players who support Pac-12 movement ‘released from team’
By John TaylorAug 2, 2020, 6:23 PM EDT

 

 

 

This has "massive lawsuit" written all over it

[Herpa Derpa 6361]

20 minutes ago, Hurtlocker said:

This has "massive lawsuit" written all over it

Coaches are so dumb. /manlandsonmoon

[SwanderedTalent 5761]

42 minutes ago, Hurtlocker said:

This has "massive lawsuit" written all over it

Well, sure, this is just about the most litigious country on Earth, but as long as the scholarship is honored, I'm not sure the plaintiffs have a great case to force a coach to keep them on the team if he doesn't want them. I'm interested in seeing how they (specifically, they/their legal representation) argue it. 

[gmr548 16704]

Well, sure, this is just about the most litigious country on Earth, but as long as the scholarship is honored, I'm not sure the plaintiffs have a great case to force a coach to keep them on the team if he doesn't want them. I'm interested in seeing how they (specifically, they/their legal representation) argue it. 

Username kinda sorta maybe checks out

[927 E. 41st 1124]

1 hour ago, Hurtlocker said:

This has "massive lawsuit" written all over it

If he is still on scholarship how is he actually harmed? i would imagine they would have a hard time proving he has a "right" to be on the team. 

I don't think you should be playing football for a program and be unhappy about it, but there are a number of resolutions to that problem. If you make demands and "overplay your hand" then you will get to explore those other options. IMO the Pac-12 guys demanding 50% of revenue be spent the way they want is just such an overreach. 

I've tried to go way too far on at least two business deals and got my ass handed to me both times. YMMV.

 

[927 E. 41st 1124]

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[Hurtlocker 2219]

Not saying its a winning lawsuit, but its terrible optics.   Also, I'm pretty sure the entire movement is above the paygrade of the football coach and would be with the admin.   So either we'll see the WSU PR machine start backing the truck up, or this came from above, which then gets into a students rights issue, not a football player issue.

Here's the full transcript.   His stance on Covid and not participating with the team makes sense, probably should have stopped right there.

Full Transcript, DMN

Quote

Washington State WR Kassidy Woods called head coach Nick Rolovich on Saturday to inform him that Woods would be opting out of the season. The two then discussed the PAC-12 unity movement, which was published in The Players’ Tribune on Sunday.

Woods was a former WR at Greenhill High School in D-FW.

Washington State spokesperson Bill Stephens told The Dallas Morning News that he hasn’t been cut and never was cut from the roster.

“He is a member of our football roster,” Stephens said.

The drama started on Sunday afternoon when Woods’ mother, Jerline Woods, tweeted that he’d been cut from the roster.

Kassidy Woods spoke with The News on Sunday evening and suggested his time at Washington State was possibly over.

“The damage has already been done,” Woods said. “Shoot, that’s all I’ve got to say about it. If had shown me they wanted me to stay, they wouldn’t have done all this. So, I’m not the problem here. I didn’t create the problem. They did.”

Woods said he is unsure if he will still have a scholarship beyond this year. Woods, co-founder of the Black Student Athlete Association at the school, also said he spoke with Cougars athletic director Pat Chun. Woods said Chun supported Rolovich’s decision.

He was a leader at the school previously, and had a relationship with Chun. Up until a couple days ago, Woods thought he’d spend his whole collegiate career with Washington State.

“I loved WSU,” Woods said. “It’s a great place. I have built my platform here ... I never intended for things to lead this direction. I’ve been [nothing] but a service to this school.”

Woods shared an audio of his conversation with Rolovich with The Dallas Morning News. Here’s a full transcript.

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Woods: What’s up, coach?

Rolovich: Kass, how you doing?

Woods: I’m doing good.

Rolovich: Sup?

Woods: I just wanted to inform you that I would be opting out of playing in the season. I just wanted to give you a heads up, so you won’t be caught blindsided by it. But the reasoning behind it is just, you know with concerns with my health. Because -- I’m pretty sure you probably don’t know, but first and foremost, I have Sickle Cell. So and like with all this COVID stuff, it affects the respiratory system. And really, we really, really don’t know much about the virus within itself. So I just don’t -- I feel like there’s not enough in place for me to be safe, you know, and for sure that I would be able to play. So that’s the main reason why I’m opting out.

Rolovich: I got nothing wrong with that. That’s why I told you guys, this shit, this part, I don’t care. Now are you gonna be joining this PAC-12 football unity movement? Is that what it is?

Woods: Yessir, mhm.

Rolovich: OK so that’s going to be, that’s gonna be an issue if you align with them as far as future stuff, cause the COVID stuff is one thing. But, um, joining this group is gonna put you on a, on a — that’s obviously, you know, you get to keep your scholarship this year, but it — it’s gonna be different. You know, if you, if you say, ‘I’m opting out ‘cause of COVID and health and safety,’ I’m good. But this group is gonna change, uh, I guess, how things go in the future for everybody, at least at our school. Um, so just think about that is, if it’s about getting paid and not (inaudible) about racial justice and that stuff. Then it’s probably, it’s there’s two sides, there’s two sides here. I’m good with the Sickle Cell and the COVID, and but this, this group is gonna be at a different level as far as how we’re kind of going to move forward in the future. Does that make sense?

Woods: Yes sir.

Rolovich: OK so it’s not, you know, there’s one way we’ll handle it if it’s COVID-related. And then there’s one way we’re going to handle it if it’s joining this group. So I appreciate you letting me know. And I was going to address this tomorrow night at the Zoom.

Woods: OK I got you.

Rolovich: So, um, no I appreciate you telling me and I’ve got nothing wrong with that.

Woods: Yes sir.

Rolovich: Are you gonna go home?

Woods: No I’m not gonna go home. I was just, you know, informing you that I would be opting out for the season. I mean, I’m still gonna do workouts and stuff. It’s just, I don’t feel comfortable traveling, and doing all that.

Rolovich: Yeah, but I don’t think you’re gonna be with the team this year. You know what I’m saying?

Woods: OK.

Rolovich: I can’t -- I don’t, I don’t think that’s a good look for everybody. This guy’s still working out with us, but he’s not playing. So, um, it sends too much of a mixed message moving forward, so.

Woods: If I may ask, how does it send a mixed message?

Rolovich: Uh, because, you’re really playing this year for the team. You know what I mean? And you have your reasons and I’m fine with that, but I don’t think you being included in everything we’re doing is gonna be, uhh, how we want to move forward. We kind of want to be one team in that. So [inaudible]. … It’ll be — we’ll have to alleviate, you’ll probably have to get your stuff out of the locker room, you know what I mean? Stuff like that. So, and you know, it adds to another — the less people we can have around the better chance we will have this season, I guess is what I’m saying. And if you’re not gonna play, then we’re gonna use the resources on the guys that are gonna play this year.

Woods: OK.

Rolovich: [Inaudible.]

Woods: Yessir.

Rolovich: So I appreciate you telling me.

Woods: Yessir, no problem Coach.

Rolovich: And let everybody else know. I know you guys will probably talk about it. And I’m gonna address it tomorrow on the deal, on the team meeting.

Woods: OK, I appreciate you Coach.

Rolovich: Alright, how’s your family?

Woods: They’re doing good. I already talked to them about it, so.

Rolovich: OK. Cool. Well, alright my man, I’ll see you on the team meeting.

Woods: Ok, yessir.

Rolovich: Bye.

Woods: Bye.

 

[Liquor and Poker 3659]

4 minutes ago, Hurtlocker said:

Not saying its a winning lawsuit, but its terrible optics.   Also, I'm pretty sure the entire movement is above the paygrade of the football coach and would be with the admin.   So either we'll see the WSU PR machine start backing the truck up, or this came from above, which then gets into a students rights issue, not a football player issue.

Here's the full transcript.   His stance on Covid and not participating with the team makes sense, probably should have stopped right there.

Full Transcript, DMN

 

I don’t really think that they did anything wrong here per se, they just did it in a way that invites criticism.   Which invites criticism from me for a different reason. 
 

Say “We have discussed the issue With him, and the measures we have taken to address his and others’ concerns. After that discussion, he’s not going to play for the team this year.  But we continue to welcome him as a student and will honor his scholarship”

You’ve done the same thing but don’t look like you’re acting like union-busting employer whose trying to make an example of an uppity minority player. You look reasonable and even generous, and his continued criticism comes across more like whining after that.

 

[Hurtlocker 2219]

12 minutes ago, Liquor and Poker said:

I don’t really think that they did anything wrong here per se, they just did it in a way that invites criticism.   Which invites criticism from me for a different reason. 
 

Say “We have discussed the issue With him, and the measures we have taken to address his and others’ concerns. After that discussion, he’s not going to play for the team this year.  But we continue to welcome him as a student and will honor his scholarship”

You’ve done the same thing but don’t look like you’re acting like union-busting employer whose trying to make an example of an uppity minority player. You look reasonable and even generous, and his continued criticism comes across more like whining after that.

 

Agreed, hell he could have just said, "Hey mate, just to let you know, if you opt out via health concerns we support that and will honor your scholarship, but you need to realize it means you're opting out of ALL team activities for the year."  Then shut up about any movement, being unnecessary if the kid was already opting out.

[mdmost 44114]

And yes, it's only Idaho so I'm sure some will totally write off their concerns for a quick joke. 

 

 

Edited August 4, 2020 by mdmost

[927 E. 41st 1124]

Well, at some point the "optics" will suffer but the result will stick. Perhaps not this time, but at some point reality comes home to roost. 

The upcoming lack of funds that college sports are about to encounter will have some positive effects. Some will come to understand that it's something of an honor to GIVEN room board and a shot at an education in return for playing a game. The actual value of an athletic scholarship would probably be appreciated more if there were about 20 % less of them. 

Also, there may be less schools stupid enough to pay a $75 mil 10 year deal to a coach... never mind they will still be there and still be stupid.

[927 E. 41st 1124]

35 minutes ago, mdmost said:

And yes, it's only Idaho so I'm sure some will totally write off their concerns for a quick joke. 

 

 

Well, if this is the first domino that ultimately wipes out the season, does this mean we were "Vandalized"?

See, you can make a lame Idaho joke without downplaying their concerns.

 

[Js1 87300]

3 minutes ago, 927 E. 41st said:

Well, if this is the first domino that ultimately wipes out the season, does this mean we were "Vandalized"?

See, you can make a lame Idaho joke without downplaying their concerns.

 

Small potatoes.