gatorhokie

Those with money tend to look at paid players opting out like an employee taking every sick day the company offers them. In the NIL world, the idea that these kids got paid and then decided not to play in the NIT sits differently. This isn't just a group of college kids who balled all year, have some injuries, and just missed the cut line on Selection Sunday. Opting out shows just how much less they care about the school they're now paid to represent and how much more they care about their checking accounts.

Egos that barely fit through the door. Solid runs improving programs. Program builders with broad brush marketing type mentalities. Desire and focus to market themselves and their programs through national media. Love of the spotlight. Recruiting looks elite in certain areas, but seems to lack an overall plan with year over year problems at key positions (Buzz - frontcourt; CJF - undersized, elite speed backs for days, but gaps in o-lines and regressive QB play across several examples and coordinators). Solid track record of wearing out their welcomes and moving to other places. The list can be expanded with ease. In truth, a big ego isn't all bad in these roles. Curt Cignetti isn't exactly humble. CMY however, is humble. He's Tony Bennett humble. And it's easier to love a great, humble coach, than a great, ego driven, coach. When things go poorly for the big ego coach, they tend to get fired or take their egos elsewhere. It would be nice to see a big ego coach transition to a more humble person. You want to hope that a guy like Buzz gets to a place like VT, has the program a bunny away from the Elite 8, and says this is home. But that's a rare sight. The ego is what they would say landed them their place in the profession, and they're unlikely to abandon it. If CJF pushes our football team back into the national spotlight, you can probably bet the house his ego will have him at a press conference of a bigger program in a fortnight. And you shouldn't hate him for it. If that happens, he will have done a fine job here.

With Franklin, they have to ignore the weeks of their own posts saying this was a nightmare scenario but it wasn't going to happen, and they will now go into prototypical C-Ville character assassination mode, claiming he's not worthy of the morals instilled at a university founded by a slave owning rapist. On the football side, they will question Xs and Os (legit question) and whether Franklin's greatest strength (recruiting) is largely neutralized in the NIL era (legit question). Hard to ignore it appears some big boy ball programs, say the one in Gainesville, may have looked at these legit questions with the guy and said, pass. That's fine. With Chesney, they were ready to laugh and say VT thought it was big time but they now hired the JMU coach who is having a magical season, but isn't close to the last JMU coach killing it at Indiana. Either way, they were going to spin themselves into a mental space where all is fine. And, it may be for them. They have cash to compete too. We're getting what we're getting. They have what they have. Let's see what unfolds. I like our chances. Let's go...

You stay and you are a star on campus and a fan favorite for really doing nothing other than not leaving. That’s reality for that teenager. I was never in those shoes and won’t judge, but you’d like to think these things would matter.