Illinois Football Recruiting Thread
So what's the ROI for the big-time NIL donors who are buying players for their alma maters? Is it just bragging rights?
It would be OK if Mizzery had a decent year this year and Drinkwitz got a better job.
Some of the Walton (Walmart) family have connections to Columbia. Stan Kroenke and Ann Walton even have one of their many homes there. That is why there isn't a Costco within a hundred miles of Columbia lol. Lot of money there just like here.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
It's monetized fandom. Instead of wishcasting, you can be actively involved and help your team become more successful. In a vacuum, and for many stakeholders, this holds great benefits. For national fandom reasons, there are many deficits.
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I think you have to look at this differently. Missouri is a very appealing job with money influx and recruiting success. Remains to be seen how patient they will be if seasons are below expectations. I don’t know if it is Eli creating the beneficial environment, more like a product of surroundings. If he gets fired, would be able to spend big money on a coach.
illinidarrin
- from parts unknown
Do we have any rich people in Illinois that can donate to the football team? Fans can't come up with the money they need to go out and get real good players through the portal. we Have to have some wealthy people get involved. Illinois football can't exist like this. If they do have money, then i really don't understand why we haven't made our move yet? It is so frustrating checking the board everyday and still nothing.
It's real-life fantasy football.
Their money is primarily going to basketball, it seems. Both because we are a basketball school primarily, and they have had great success recently.
If football were to show success, I would imagine more donors would come to the party. The problem is that it is going to be increasingly more difficult to be successful without those donors.
Go wholly pro with privately owned teams that rent the stadiums and facitlies, and hire players who aren't students and don't have to waste time going to classes. Participation by universities would be optional. Opt in or opt out, and let the owners transfer their teams whenever they want. Problem fixed.
illinidarrin
- from parts unknown
I'm a football guy, and that really pisses me off that a sport is being favored over another one like this. How can the football team have success if they continue to get screwed by the basketball team? Seriously, how can the football team field a good team if they don't get the resources they need? This is not right.
There is a surprisingly large amount of $ around Champaign and some crazy wealthy alums. But as others have said, basketball takes a lot of the NIL $. Still, the university (administration and environment) has also done a great job pissing off several billionaire alums that could have been significant supporters (see Kahn, R. Johnson, M Andreessen).
Others have given a LOT of $, but they do not have the ridiculous levels of wealth or desire to pay players we're competing with nationwide - at least not yet.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Vice versa also applies.
Not an Illinois-specific problem. Every school in the country faces the same dynamic.
illinidarrin
- from parts unknown
Then the fans can't ever expect the football team to be good. If we can't money for transfers and have to depend just on recruiting, we have no hope. We can't recruit like Michigan,OSU and others, we can't even lock down our own state, so we have to depend on transfers and Juco players to make things work, but if we have one arm tied behind our back with the lack of money, i don't see how things will work?
Two simple equations govern, for a given pool of available NIL funds:
- at Illinois, basketball ROI > football ROI (for chances of winning games / championships and the ensuing financial success).
- NIL divided by a dozen basketball players allows a much higher per-person payout than dividing by 85 football players.
Of course there are many 'football' schools that flip the above, but I'd argue that is because their ROI calculations look very different than ours.
mhuml32
- Cincinnati, OH
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I mean, yeah. Not really any other way to say it.
If facing Sophie's Choice between the programs, there is simply no doubt which way Illinois leans.
And to be totally candid, I personally used to be #OneOfThe17, but I'm not anymore, which has more to do with the state of the two sports than the state of our program, but still.
I'm genuinely surprised there isn't more panhandling happening on the college sports internet. That has to be the next step.
How long is this sustainable? Eventually donors are gonna get tired of donating large sums except mega donors.
Also, we keep complaining about not being able to compete in this new system. Guess what? We weren't competing in the other system either. Our lane is building teams by finding system guys that may not be the best, but are good at what we need them to do. We are going to have to do twice the work for half the results, but unless Urban Meyer or some other top tier coach takes pity on us and uses us as a personal pet project, we are where we will be and generally always have been.
Success at Illinois is a winning season.
Also, we keep complaining about not being able to compete in this new system. Guess what? We weren't competing in the other system either. Our lane is building teams by finding system guys that may not be the best, but are good at what we need them to do. We are going to have to do twice the work for half the results, but unless Urban Meyer or some other top tier coach takes pity on us and uses us as a personal pet project, we are where we will be and generally always have been.
Success at Illinois is a winning season.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Writing big annual checks to old State U has always been a very common practice for a lot of people megarich and otherwise. There's a ton of money in the system.
But the blind panic of higher, higher, higher, more, more, more every offseason can't sustain itself.
Exactly. Jimmy Deeppockets will always write his big check over, but I imagine they get tired of being hounded for more NIL all the time. Unless they are giving some serious perks to keep the money coming in. But what can you offer to a person who can go buy it anyways?
Are NIL payments tax deductible?
if you want to see what happens when there is a massive gap between the have and have nots, anyone familiar with Southern California high school football should be familiar.
essentially 2 schools play twice a year, with a 3rd or 4th that can make it close with the top 2, who are typically the top 2 nationally or at least in top 5. The other games are foregone conclusions. The talent gap is that large. General interest has fallen substantially. Lacrosse is getting huge, along with country club sports. Players jump from school to school every year, much like college.
A lot of public schools with loads of tradition, once competitive with anyone, are now bonafide tier 2 or 3. They don’t try to compete off-field with the big boys because they can’t and have really embraced the ‘kids in the neighborhood’ approach. In other words, reverted to how things were initially, and left the top 2, with 5 or 6 others who still try, to do their own thing. As someone who’s followed SoCal football since I was 5, it’s nowhere near as fun to follow, and I really don’t anymore. Even though I’m an alum of one of the top 2, and coached at a once competitive, but still proud, public program.
I, as well as others, see something similar coming on the college level. Will Illinois be one to say, ‘f’ it, we’ll coach whoever we can get that wants to come here and play indianas, Purdues, northwesterns, and not even try to pull a mizzou?
essentially 2 schools play twice a year, with a 3rd or 4th that can make it close with the top 2, who are typically the top 2 nationally or at least in top 5. The other games are foregone conclusions. The talent gap is that large. General interest has fallen substantially. Lacrosse is getting huge, along with country club sports. Players jump from school to school every year, much like college.
A lot of public schools with loads of tradition, once competitive with anyone, are now bonafide tier 2 or 3. They don’t try to compete off-field with the big boys because they can’t and have really embraced the ‘kids in the neighborhood’ approach. In other words, reverted to how things were initially, and left the top 2, with 5 or 6 others who still try, to do their own thing. As someone who’s followed SoCal football since I was 5, it’s nowhere near as fun to follow, and I really don’t anymore. Even though I’m an alum of one of the top 2, and coached at a once competitive, but still proud, public program.
I, as well as others, see something similar coming on the college level. Will Illinois be one to say, ‘f’ it, we’ll coach whoever we can get that wants to come here and play indianas, Purdues, northwesterns, and not even try to pull a mizzou?
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Does anyone know what is going on with Pearl not being signed at all? I was hoping him and Adams would be draft picks to help our recruiting