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Here is a realistic no bs PLAN. If you have another or one different- share it.

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bulldoghair

All-Conference
Jul 9, 2013
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Here is a realistic, no bs plan of what Mississippi State athletic department could do to be the absolute best it could be under current 2025-26 revenue sharing and NIL rules.

The House settlement allows schools to share up to $20.5 million per year directly with athletes across all sports. There is no strict legal percentage cap per sport- the $20.5M is a school wide total.

In practice, most Power 4 schools allocate 70-85%+ of the pool to football and men’s basketball.

For us, $16.4 million would be 80% of the $20.5M pool.
This would be aggressive but doable. Top programs like Texas, Georgia, and Ohio State are already in the $15–18M range for football.

We need to drastically cut spending on non revenue sports- baseball, women’s basketball, tennis, soccer, track, golf, etc.
Current non revenue spending combined is $25–30 million per year- including the large deficits in baseball and women’s basketball.

Being aggressive and going barebones the realistic floor would cut it to $12 – $15 million total across all non revenue sports- down from $25–30M now.

This would free up $10 – $15 million in redirected funds that could be pushed toward football- via rev share, facilities, NIL collectives, etc.

Funnel all or most all NIL/Collectives to football. NIL collectives are third party and not capped the same way as the $20.5M school rev-share. In an all in scenario, we could push $12 – $18 million+ through football specific collectives. Top programs like Texas and Georgia are already in that range or just a little higher.

If we went full “football first” and maximized every lever- we could have a realistic football investment of roughly $31 – $42 million per year.

This would put MSU in the top 10 nationally for football spending.
A $31–42 million annual football budget would be transformative.

We could compete for top-10 classes consistently
World-class weight room, nutrition, recovery, player lounge- the small edges that turn good players into great ones.
Higher salaries for better coaches and assistants.
Most likely 9–11 win seasons regularly with legitimate SEC title and playoff contention.

Football is the only sport that can generate real profit at MSU. If the goal is to be the very best they can be, the drastic move is to maximize football spending by minimizing non revenue losses and aggressively funneling every available dollar (rev-share + NIL + boosters) into football. This is exactly what the top programs are already doing. We are currently leaving money on the table by continuing to subsidize large deficits in baseball and women’s basketball while football struggles to compete. Football is the only sport that generates real profit. Maximizing it creates a much larger surplus that lifts the ENTIRE department. This HAS to be THE plan going forward. If anyone disagrees then lay it out. I’ve been saying this since the NIL/portal started. If we are not united in thís funneling plan- that we would get left behind in everything- and the that the holes only grow deeper.

If you don’t like this plan- then lay out one instead of just whining.
 
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OG Goat Holder

OG Goat Holder

Heisman
Sep 30, 2022
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First of all, I'm seeing 28M-34M for total for NIL. 80% rev share (16M) plus the collectives 12-18M. I think we'd need Charlie to tell us if that is anywhere near accurate (I highly doubt it). That 10-15M you cut from the non-revenue sports is going to go to facilities, because the NIL is capped out. So if this is what you mean, OK fine.

Let's get into specifics about football. How do you ensure this investment is wisely used? Even if we draw close to the blue bloods in NIL, they STILL have the advantage because they are the blue bloods. They have better culture, bigger fanbases, bigger stadiums, etc.....all the stuff that used to matter back in the day, and STILL matters now once the money is equal. What do we do to offset? Because this sounds like merely surviving, not being proactive.
 
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TimberBeast

Senior
Aug 23, 2012
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bulldoghair said:
Here is a realistic, no bs plan of what Mississippi State athletic department could do to be the absolute best it could be under current 2025-26 revenue sharing and NIL rules.

The House settlement allows schools to share up to $20.5 million per year directly with athletes across all sports. There is no strict legal percentage cap per sport- the $20.5M is a school wide total.

In practice, most Power 4 schools allocate 70-85%+ of the pool to football and men’s basketball.

For us, $16.4 million would be 80% of the $20.5M pool.
This would be aggressive but doable. Top programs like Texas, Georgia, and Ohio State are already in the $15–18M range for football.

We need to drastically cut spending on non revenue sports- baseball, women’s basketball, tennis, soccer, track, golf, etc.
Current non revenue spending combined is $25–30 million per year- including the large deficits in baseball and women’s basketball.

Being aggressive and going barebones the realistic floor would cut it to $12 – $15 million total across all non revenue sports- down from $25–30M now.

This would free up $10 – $15 million in redirected funds that could be pushed toward football- via rev share, facilities, NIL collectives, etc.

Funnel all or most all NIL/Collectives to football. NIL collectives are third party and not capped the same way as the $20.5M school rev-share. In an all in scenario, we could push $12 – $18 million+ through football specific collectives. Top programs like Texas and Georgia are already in that range or just a little higher.

If we went full “football first” and maximized every lever- we could have a realistic football investment of roughly $31 – $42 million per year.

This would put MSU in the top 10 nationally for football spending.
A $31–42 million annual football budget would be transformative.

We could compete for top-10 classes consistently
World-class weight room, nutrition, recovery, player lounge- the small edges that turn good players into great ones.
Higher salaries for better coaches and assistants.
Most likely 9–11 win seasons regularly with legitimate SEC title and playoff contention.

Football is the only sport that can generate real profit at MSU. If the goal is to be the very best they can be, the drastic move is to maximize football spending by minimizing non revenue losses and aggressively funneling every available dollar (rev-share + NIL + boosters) into football. This is exactly what the top programs are already doing. We are currently leaving money on the table by continuing to subsidize large deficits in baseball and women’s basketball while football struggles to compete. Football is the only sport that generates real profit. Maximizing it creates a much larger surplus that lifts the ENTIRE department. This HAS to be THE plan going forward. If anyone disagrees then lay it out. I’ve been saying this since the NIL/portal started. If we are not united in thís funneling plan- that we would get left behind in everything- and the that the holes only grow deeper.

If you don’t like this plan- then lay out one instead of just whining.
Click to expand...
Complete garbage, you don't cut the other sports period.
 
A

Anon1774962825

Redshirt
Mar 31, 2026
36
45
18
OG Goat Holder said:
First of all, I'm seeing 28M-34M for total for NIL. 80% rev share (16M) plus the collectives 12-18M. I think we'd need Charlie to tell us if that is anywhere near accurate (I highly doubt it). That 10-15M you cut from the non-revenue sports is going to go to facilities, because the NIL is capped out. So if this is what you mean, OK fine.

Let's get into specifics about football. How do you ensure this investment is wisely used? Even if we draw close to the blue bloods in NIL, they STILL have the advantage because they are the blue bloods. They have better culture, bigger fanbases, bigger stadiums, etc.....all the stuff that used to matter back in the day, and STILL matters now once the money is equal. What do we do to offset? Because this sounds like merely surviving, not being proactive.
Click to expand...
There is no cap on NIL. There is a cap on revenue share. Forcing sports like baseball to take less rev share and provide more NIL from a fanbase that is going to refuse to let it lack money for NIL is the way to go. If we are going to be obsessed with baseball then the school needs to find ways to squeeze that group financially because that is where there is a hunger to win big.
 
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bulldoghair

All-Conference
Jul 9, 2013
2,646
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OG Goat Holder said:
First of all, I'm seeing 28M-34M for total for NIL. 80% rev share (16M) plus the collectives 12-18M. I think we'd need Charlie to tell us if that is anywhere near accurate (I highly doubt it). That 10-15M you cut from the non-revenue sports is going to go to facilities, because the NIL is capped out. So if this is what you mean, OK fine.

Let's get into specifics about football. How do you ensure this investment is wisely used? Even if we draw close to the blue bloods in NIL, they STILL have the advantage because they are the blue bloods. They have better culture, bigger fanbases, bigger stadiums, etc.....all the stuff that used to matter back in the day, and STILL matters now once the money is equal. What do we do to offset? Because this sounds like merely surviving, not being proactive.
Click to expand...
That $10–15 million cut from non revenue sports that I’m saying doesn’t only have to go into facilities. A large chunk can and should go straight to football NIL/rev share and player personnel. But it can also go for football facilities, nutrition, strength staff, etc. This freed up money goes in the overall athletic budget, which allows for a larger more aggressive percentage of the $20.5M to go to football. Again it’s a snowball effect that helps all sports as it grows and moves forward.

Now to your real pessimism- you say, “Even if we match the blue bloods in NIL, they still have the advantage because of culture, fanbase, stadium, etc. What do we do to offset?”

You’re right- money alone doesn’t win. But money + smart execution does.

Here’s what we do- create culture- Hire coaches and staff who build a winning culture, not just collect checks. Demand accountability. Stop tolerating mediocrity. Culture is built, not inherited- and right now ours is soft.

We already have one of the best on campus atmospheres in the country when we win. Winning fixes fan engagement faster than anything. Empty seats and low energy are symptoms of losing, it’s not the cause.

Stop subsidizing $10 million in combined baseball + women’s basketball deficits every year. That money redirected to football creates a virtuous cycle- better talent → more wins → bigger surplus → even more talent. Blue bloods have history, but history doesn’t block for you on 3rd and 1. Talent and execution do.

We don’t need to become Texas or Georgia overnight. We need to stop self sabotaging by pouring millions into sports that lose money while our flagship sport struggles. Football first isn’t emotion- it’s math- math in today’s new world of college athletics. Maximize the engine, then everything else gets easier.

If you have a better plan that actually balances the books and makes us competitive without pretending deficits don’t matter- lay it out. So far it’s mostly “but tradition” and “blue bloods have history.”
 
A

Anon1774962825

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Mar 31, 2026
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mcdawg22 said:
I ain’t reading all of that but I can tell you no matter how you allocate it, we will never be top 10-15 in football spending. It’s just not happening. We are bottom 10% power 5 alumni base.
Click to expand...
We had a top 20 football NIL budget this year. We could not spend it because we have a bad head coach
 
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ZombieKissinger

ZombieKissinger

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May 29, 2013
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The issue is that with any kind of strategy you have to think about how your opponents would respond. This is game theory 101. If you’re successful, they just copy you and drive the price up. You may say some schools don’t have the balls to do the same thing, but I suspect a lot would if they found themselves getting beaten by us. I’m not opposed to doing creative things with our cash, but we shouldn’t get into a spending war
 
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theoriginalSALTYdog

theoriginalSALTYdog

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Jul 10, 2021
1,566
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bulldoghair said:
Here is a realistic, no bs plan of what Mississippi State athletic department could do to be the absolute best it could be under current 2025-26 revenue sharing and NIL rules.

The House settlement allows schools to share up to $20.5 million per year directly with athletes across all sports. There is no strict legal percentage cap per sport- the $20.5M is a school wide total.

In practice, most Power 4 schools allocate 70-85%+ of the pool to football and men’s basketball.

For us, $16.4 million would be 80% of the $20.5M pool.
This would be aggressive but doable. Top programs like Texas, Georgia, and Ohio State are already in the $15–18M range for football.

We need to drastically cut spending on non revenue sports- baseball, women’s basketball, tennis, soccer, track, golf, etc.
Current non revenue spending combined is $25–30 million per year- including the large deficits in baseball and women’s basketball.

Being aggressive and going barebones the realistic floor would cut it to $12 – $15 million total across all non revenue sports- down from $25–30M now.

This would free up $10 – $15 million in redirected funds that could be pushed toward football- via rev share, facilities, NIL collectives, etc.

Funnel all or most all NIL/Collectives to football. NIL collectives are third party and not capped the same way as the $20.5M school rev-share. In an all in scenario, we could push $12 – $18 million+ through football specific collectives. Top programs like Texas and Georgia are already in that range or just a little higher.

If we went full “football first” and maximized every lever- we could have a realistic football investment of roughly $31 – $42 million per year.

This would put MSU in the top 10 nationally for football spending.
A $31–42 million annual football budget would be transformative.

We could compete for top-10 classes consistently
World-class weight room, nutrition, recovery, player lounge- the small edges that turn good players into great ones.
Higher salaries for better coaches and assistants.
Most likely 9–11 win seasons regularly with legitimate SEC title and playoff contention.

Football is the only sport that can generate real profit at MSU. If the goal is to be the very best they can be, the drastic move is to maximize football spending by minimizing non revenue losses and aggressively funneling every available dollar (rev-share + NIL + boosters) into football. This is exactly what the top programs are already doing. We are currently leaving money on the table by continuing to subsidize large deficits in baseball and women’s basketball while football struggles to compete. Football is the only sport that generates real profit. Maximizing it creates a much larger surplus that lifts the ENTIRE department. This HAS to be THE plan going forward. If anyone disagrees then lay it out. I’ve been saying this since the NIL/portal started. If we are not united in thís funneling plan- that we would get left behind in everything- and the that the holes only grow deeper.

If you don’t like this plan- then lay out one instead of just whining.
Click to expand...
We can't just match what the blue bloods pay. We have to beat it in order to get those type of players. So, we're screwed either way.
 
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bulldoghair

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Anon1774962825 said:
There is no cap on NIL. There is a cap on revenue share. Forcing sports like baseball to take less rev share and provide more NIL from a fanbase that is going to refuse to let it lack money for NIL is the way to go. If we are going to be obsessed with baseball then the school needs to find ways to squeeze that group financially because that is where there is a hunger to win big.
Click to expand...
If we “squeeze that group financially” to keep feeding baseball, we’re just subsidizing a chronic money loser instead of building the sport that subsidizes everything else. That is the exact opposite of growing the department long term in today’s world which is the opposite of a smart plan.

The smart move is to minimize baseball’s drain- cut its deficit aggressively- and maximize football’s share of both rev share and NIL. Football wins → bigger surplus → more money for the whole department without resentment.

Encouraging big NIL donors to keep baseball fat while football struggles is not strategy- it’s emotional spending dressed up as “hunger to win big”. You’re going to stay upside down in payments while everyone else is passing you by in everything else- by doing it the smart way.
 
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Anon1774962825

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bulldoghair said:
If we “squeeze that group financially” to keep feeding baseball, we’re just subsidizing a chronic money loser instead of building the sport that subsidizes everything else. That is the exact opposite of growing the department long term in today’s world which is the opposite of a smart plan.

The smart move is to minimize baseball’s drain- cut its deficit aggressively- and maximize football’s share of both rev share and NIL. Football wins → bigger surplus → more money for the whole department without resentment.

Encouraging big NIL donors to keep baseball fat while football struggles is not strategy- it’s emotional spending dressed up as “hunger to win big”. You’re going to stay upside down in payments while everyone else is passing you by in everything else- by doing it the smart way.
Click to expand...
Baseball donors are not going to let that sport fail and most of them only donate to baseball. Squeezing them financially means making them keep that ship afloat on their own, which they will…. I’m agreeing with you that we should cut rev share with that group and force them to foot the bill. They will do it if they are forced to do it. They have never been forced to fully fund that program by a single administration at State.
 
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bulldoghair

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mcdawg22 said:
I ain’t reading all of that but I can tell you no matter how you allocate it, we will never be top 10-15 in football spending. It’s just not happening. We are bottom 10% power 5 alumni base.
Click to expand...
Keep on saying “it’s impossible” without reading the numbers. That’s worked great so far. Lazy asss.
 
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bulldoghair

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Anon1774962825 said:
We had a top 20 football NIL budget this year. We could not spend it because we have a bad head coach
Click to expand...
Yes, coaching matters. But to be fair, you can’t recruit or retain elite talent when you’re bleeding the amount of money and resources on non rev sports that we do every year. That money is coming straight out of the athletic department’s overall pool- the same pool that could be used for football NIL and player personnel, facilities, better coaches ect.
 
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bulldoghair

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theoriginalSALTYdog said:
We can't just match what the blue bloods pay. We have to beat it in order to get those type of players. So, we're screwed either way.
Click to expand...
That’s the mindset that keeps us mediocre. We don’t have to outspend Texas or Georgia dollar for dollar to improve. We have to stop self sabotaging FIRST.
It’s not about matching their total spend- it’s about maximizing what we already have instead of wasting it. We’re not screwed- We’re just choosing to stay mediocre by protecting sacred cows instead of feeding the golden goose and getting the whole ball rolling. It’s the only plan to actually move the snowball and get it rolling down hill. Let’s stop making excuses and start making real moves. We need some balls.
 
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The Cooterpoot

The Cooterpoot

Heisman
Sep 29, 2022
6,927
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I'd have Sydney Sweeney come do a lingerie show and autograph session. For big money, you could wrestle her in a jello pit, mud, oil, whatever. Emissions of bodily fluids would cost you $1M.
 
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8dog

All-American
Feb 23, 2008
14,118
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OG Goat Holder said:
We need to figure out the ideal candidate for coach. Then hire that guy over and over.
Click to expand...
No sure thing. It’s not easy. But it’s a lot easier than shutting down every program so we can still have to scratch and claw for players. But honestly if Lebby had just hired someone average at DC and kept Kennedy we would all probably be a lot more positive about things
 
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Allday.sixpack

Sophomore
Aug 24, 2012
564
159
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The best plan to subsidize NIL is to find creative ways to leverage the Foundation’s 1 Billion endowment.
Matching for every 1M donation.
That’s our best strategy iMO
 
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bulldoghair

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8dog said:
Just hire a good coach. Everything else will work itself out. Indiana didn’t turn things around bc they took money from Other sports
Click to expand...
Indiana and MSU are not parallel situations.
Indiana turned things around with a massive, sustained investment in facilities, NIL, coaching, and culture- while operating with a much larger overall athletic budget and donor base than we have.

We’re not saying “shut down every program.” We’re saying stop subsidizing two massive money pit sports while our flagship sport football struggles to compete for top talent.

Redirecting even a portion of that subsidy back into football isn’t “taking money from other sports” in a vacuum- rather it’s reallocating resources so the sport that actually generates profit can stop carrying dead weight, and begin to carry ALL forward.

Just hiring a good coach isn’t enough when the budget is handcuffed. Indiana had the financial runway to make big moves. We need to create that runway first by FIRST fixing the leaks.
 
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bulldoghair

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Anon1774962825 said:
Baseball donors are not going to let that sport fail and most of them only donate to baseball. Squeezing them financially means making them keep that ship afloat on their own, which they will…. I’m agreeing with you that we should cut rev share with that group and force them to foot the bill. They will do it if they are forced to do it. They have never been forced to fully fund that program by a single administration at State.
Click to expand...
Totally agree. That’s what I meant earlier when I said we need to get some balls.
 
8

8dog

All-American
Feb 23, 2008
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bulldoghair said:
Indiana and MSU are not parallel situations.
Indiana turned things around with a massive, sustained investment in facilities, NIL, coaching, and culture- while operating with a much larger overall athletic budget and donor base than we have.

We’re not saying “shut down every program.” We’re saying stop subsidizing two massive money pit sports while our flagship sport football struggles to compete for top talent.

Redirecting even a portion of that subsidy back into football isn’t “taking money from other sports” in a vacuum- rather it’s reallocating resources so the sport that actually generates profit can stop carrying dead weight, and begin to carry ALL forward.

Just hiring a good coach isn’t enough when the budget is handcuffed. Indiana had the financial runway to make big moves. We need to create that runway first by FIRST fixing the leaks.
Click to expand...
We have given Lebby tons of money. He can’t land anyone. And he hired some awful coaches. That’s the real issue. Indiana didn’t go from horrible to 11-1 in a year bc they outspent people. No one was dying for Kurtis Roarke. 247 had their 2025 portal class at 25 and the 2024 at 30. All about coaching. And when a good coach proves himself the money will never be an issue
 
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olblue

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Aug 17, 2011
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bulldoghair said:
Here is a realistic, no bs plan of what Mississippi State athletic department could do to be the absolute best it could be under current 2025-26 revenue sharing and NIL rules.

The House settlement allows schools to share up to $20.5 million per year directly with athletes across all sports. There is no strict legal percentage cap per sport- the $20.5M is a school wide total.

In practice, most Power 4 schools allocate 70-85%+ of the pool to football and men’s basketball.

For us, $16.4 million would be 80% of the $20.5M pool.
This would be aggressive but doable. Top programs like Texas, Georgia, and Ohio State are already in the $15–18M range for football.

We need to drastically cut spending on non revenue sports- baseball, women’s basketball, tennis, soccer, track, golf, etc.
Current non revenue spending combined is $25–30 million per year- including the large deficits in baseball and women’s basketball.

Being aggressive and going barebones the realistic floor would cut it to $12 – $15 million total across all non revenue sports- down from $25–30M now.

This would free up $10 – $15 million in redirected funds that could be pushed toward football- via rev share, facilities, NIL collectives, etc.

Funnel all or most all NIL/Collectives to football. NIL collectives are third party and not capped the same way as the $20.5M school rev-share. In an all in scenario, we could push $12 – $18 million+ through football specific collectives. Top programs like Texas and Georgia are already in that range or just a little higher.

If we went full “football first” and maximized every lever- we could have a realistic football investment of roughly $31 – $42 million per year.

This would put MSU in the top 10 nationally for football spending.
A $31–42 million annual football budget would be transformative.

We could compete for top-10 classes consistently
World-class weight room, nutrition, recovery, player lounge- the small edges that turn good players into great ones.
Higher salaries for better coaches and assistants.
Most likely 9–11 win seasons regularly with legitimate SEC title and playoff contention.

Football is the only sport that can generate real profit at MSU. If the goal is to be the very best they can be, the drastic move is to maximize football spending by minimizing non revenue losses and aggressively funneling every available dollar (rev-share + NIL + boosters) into football. This is exactly what the top programs are already doing. We are currently leaving money on the table by continuing to subsidize large deficits in baseball and women’s basketball while football struggles to compete. Football is the only sport that generates real profit. Maximizing it creates a much larger surplus that lifts the ENTIRE department. This HAS to be THE plan going forward. If anyone disagrees then lay it out. I’ve been saying this since the NIL/portal started. If we are not united in thís funneling plan- that we would get left behind in everything- and the that the holes only grow deeper.

If you don’t like this plan- then lay out one instead of just whining.
Click to expand...
Quite frankly, I have better things to do with my time than developing a plan for MSU athletics. For instance, planning to help MY company grow.
 
Lucifer Morningstar

Lucifer Morningstar

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Aug 30, 2022
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bulldoghair said:
Here is a realistic, no bs plan of what Mississippi State athletic department could do to be the absolute best it could be under current 2025-26 revenue sharing and NIL rules.

The House settlement allows schools to share up to $20.5 million per year directly with athletes across all sports. There is no strict legal percentage cap per sport- the $20.5M is a school wide total.

In practice, most Power 4 schools allocate 70-85%+ of the pool to football and men’s basketball.

For us, $16.4 million would be 80% of the $20.5M pool.
This would be aggressive but doable. Top programs like Texas, Georgia, and Ohio State are already in the $15–18M range for football.

We need to drastically cut spending on non revenue sports- baseball, women’s basketball, tennis, soccer, track, golf, etc.
Current non revenue spending combined is $25–30 million per year- including the large deficits in baseball and women’s basketball.

Being aggressive and going barebones the realistic floor would cut it to $12 – $15 million total across all non revenue sports- down from $25–30M now.

This would free up $10 – $15 million in redirected funds that could be pushed toward football- via rev share, facilities, NIL collectives, etc.

Funnel all or most all NIL/Collectives to football. NIL collectives are third party and not capped the same way as the $20.5M school rev-share. In an all in scenario, we could push $12 – $18 million+ through football specific collectives. Top programs like Texas and Georgia are already in that range or just a little higher.

If we went full “football first” and maximized every lever- we could have a realistic football investment of roughly $31 – $42 million per year.

This would put MSU in the top 10 nationally for football spending.
A $31–42 million annual football budget would be transformative.

We could compete for top-10 classes consistently
World-class weight room, nutrition, recovery, player lounge- the small edges that turn good players into great ones.
Higher salaries for better coaches and assistants.
Most likely 9–11 win seasons regularly with legitimate SEC title and playoff contention.

Football is the only sport that can generate real profit at MSU. If the goal is to be the very best they can be, the drastic move is to maximize football spending by minimizing non revenue losses and aggressively funneling every available dollar (rev-share + NIL + boosters) into football. This is exactly what the top programs are already doing. We are currently leaving money on the table by continuing to subsidize large deficits in baseball and women’s basketball while football struggles to compete. Football is the only sport that generates real profit. Maximizing it creates a much larger surplus that lifts the ENTIRE department. This HAS to be THE plan going forward. If anyone disagrees then lay it out. I’ve been saying this since the NIL/portal started. If we are not united in thís funneling plan- that we would get left behind in everything- and the that the holes only grow deeper.

If you don’t like this plan- then lay out one instead of just whining.
Click to expand...
I had to read it twice, but I must say it makes sense to have to maximize our limited resources in the most effiecent way possible. I do respect the efforts on the plan that you present. I would say no matter the size of the pool of money if it is not managed properly then the returns will never be what they could be. I told Mrs. Devil the other day it is like since CL died nothing has gone right.
 
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bulldoghair

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8dog said:
We have given Lebby tons of money. He can’t land anyone. And he hired some awful coaches. That’s the real issue. Indiana didn’t go from horrible to 11-1 in a year bc they outspent people. No one was dying for Kurtis Roarke. 247 had their 2025 portal class at 25 and the 2024 at 30. All about coaching. And when a good coach proves himself the money will never be an issue
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Curt Cignetti is a very good coach, but he didn’t turn Indiana around in a vacuum. He walked into a program that has a larger overall budget and fewer massive deficits to cover than we do- which means they can allocate a higher percentage of the $20.5M revenue sharing pool to football and support larger football specific NIL collectives. They had already started investing in facilities and support, and had the financial flexibility to bring in portal talent quickly. They were ready.

Here, even a great coach would be fighting with one hand tied behind his back because football profit and other resources are constantly being drained for baseball and other things to a ridiculous degree. It’s not just “hire a good coach.” It’s “hire a good coach with the resources to succeed.”
 
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bulldoghair

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Lucifer Morningstar said:
I had to read it twice, but I must say it makes sense to have to maximize our limited resources in the most effiecent way possible. I do respect the efforts on the plan that you present. I would say no matter the size of the pool of money if it is not managed properly then the returns will never be what they could be. I told Mrs. Devil the other day it is like since CL died nothing has gone right.
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You’re absolutely right- no matter how big the pool of money gets, if it’s not managed properly, we’ll keep feeding the golden calf (baseball) while the golden goose (football) starves. Since Coach Leach went home to glory, it does feel like your demons have been running loose around here. But I will say- that if You, the Prince of Darkness himself, is saying my plan makes sense- That’s gotta be proof of apokatastasis- and that your redemption, Lucifer, is certain.
 
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leeinator

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Feb 24, 2014
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I like football and have season tickets.
I like basketball and attend a game or two every season.
I LOVE baseball and have chairback season tickets. If baseball did not have a "house note", it would be a big-time money maker. It made money hand over foot back in Polk's heyday.
 
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OG Goat Holder

OG Goat Holder

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bulldoghair said:
Indiana and MSU are not parallel situations.
Indiana turned things around with a massive, sustained investment in facilities, NIL, coaching, and culture- while operating with a much larger overall athletic budget and donor base than we have.

We’re not saying “shut down every program.” We’re saying stop subsidizing two massive money pit sports while our flagship sport football struggles to compete for top talent.

Redirecting even a portion of that subsidy back into football isn’t “taking money from other sports” in a vacuum- rather it’s reallocating resources so the sport that actually generates profit can stop carrying dead weight, and begin to carry ALL forward.

Just hiring a good coach isn’t enough when the budget is handcuffed. Indiana had the financial runway to make big moves. We need to create that runway first by FIRST fixing the leaks.
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They are pretty damn similar. Bottom line is that Indiana didn't do this with NIL, period.

bulldoghair said:
Curt Cignetti is a very good coach, but he didn’t turn Indiana around in a vacuum. He walked into a program that has a larger overall budget and fewer massive deficits to cover than we do- which means they can allocate a higher percentage of the $20.5M revenue sharing pool to football and support larger football specific NIL collectives. They had already started investing in facilities and support, and had the financial flexibility to bring in portal talent quickly. They were ready.

Here, even a great coach would be fighting with one hand tied behind his back because football profit and other resources are constantly being drained for baseball and other things to a ridiculous degree. It’s not just “hire a good coach.” It’s “hire a good coach with the resources to succeed.”
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7% of 20.5M is 1.4M. That's what baseball roughly gets. It's not moving the needle. And then if you talk about us 'subsidizing' the actual non-NIL part of the program, that means nothing either. Once the stadium is paid for the baseball program will print money.

This is just not a game changer for our football program at all.

If you want to change football, you have to first start by accepting all of our disadvantages, and there are LOTS. We are among the most unfortunate in all of G4. Until we all accept that and agree we need to do things differently and deliberately, we can't move forward. We will just continue to try stuff like muh sHoWtImE and about 20% of the time, we'll get lucky and it will marginally work just enough to keep us coming back.
 
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Bulldawg77

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Dec 1, 2019
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leeinator said:
I like football and have season tickets.
I like basketball and attend a game or two every season.
I LOVE baseball and have chairback season tickets. If baseball did not have a "house note", it would be a big-time money maker. It made money hand over foot back in Polk's heyday.
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I hate to break it to you and others but non revenue baseball hasn’t made a single dollar since 2010…. We have invested over 20MM over those 16 years and the ROI is in the red. Imagine had we that into football? The house note you mentioned only exacerbates that’s negative amount. Facts We invested in a glorified clubsport
 
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8dog

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bulldoghair said:
Curt Cignetti is a very good coach, but he didn’t turn Indiana around in a vacuum. He walked into a program that has a larger overall budget and fewer massive deficits to cover than we do- which means they can allocate a higher percentage of the $20.5M revenue sharing pool to football and support larger football specific NIL collectives. They had already started investing in facilities and support, and had the financial flexibility to bring in portal talent quickly. They were ready.

Here, even a great coach would be fighting with one hand tied behind his back because football profit and other resources are constantly being drained for baseball and other things to a ridiculous degree. It’s not just “hire a good coach.” It’s “hire a good coach with the resources to succeed.”
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There was no revenue sharing when he got there. And our coach has plenty of resources to succeed. He couldn’t even spend what we gave him this year. I doubt Indianas facilities are materially any better than ours but I also think facilities are a relic of recruiting. And they had like 5k at his first game. We need money but we also aren’t gonna money our way to success. Indiana didn’t either
 
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bulldoghair

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leeinator said:
I like football and have season tickets.
I like basketball and attend a game or two every season.
I LOVE baseball and have chairback season tickets. If baseball did not have a "house note", it would be a big-time money maker. It made money hand over foot back in Polk's heyday.
Click to expand...
A full season budget in the peak Polk years was $300 - $500 thousand. When he first started coaching us in the late 70’s, his salary was $15,000 per year. They would barely break even most years or turn a very small profit- and that wasn’t often. Today, even if the stadium debt service were completely eliminated tomorrow, which it never will be, baseball would still run a huge substantial deficit because of its ongoing operating expenses far exceed all its revenue avenues.
 
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bulldoghair

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OG Goat Holder said:
7% of 20.5M is 1.4M. That's what baseball roughly gets. It's not moving the needle. And then if you talk about us 'subsidizing' the actual non-NIL part of the program, that means nothing either.
This is just not a game changer for our football program at all.
Click to expand...
The real subsidy isn’t just the rev share slice baseball receives. It’s the going on $5 million operating deficit baseball runs every year now. That hole is covered by the athletic department’s overall budget- which is largely funded by football’s $10.7 million profit.

Every dollar we keep pouring into baseball’s structural losses is a dollar that cannot go to football NIL, portal players, facilities, or staff. Cutting baseball’s rev share slice is good, we should, and it wouod most definitely move the needle- but even moreso- aggressively reducing its overall deficit frees up real money too that can be redirected to football’s share of the $20.5M pool and to football specific NIL/collectives ect.

All this is not “nothing.” It’s reallocating from a chronic moneyloser to the sport that actually generates profit. That’s how you create the runway for real improvement. Indiana had the runway already built. We have to build our runway first. This is the only way. We are not Indiana.

Finally, when you say, “once the stadium is paid for, baseball will print money”-
This is a delusion that needs to end once and for all. The average annual debt service at the time of approval is $2.1 million per year- and will continue through the year 2050- depending on the exact issuance schedule and any refinancing of course which is likely. So again- Even if the entire “house note” disappeared tomorrow- baseball would still run a huge and growing deficit.
 
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