|
Post by rc on Dec 8, 2021 20:16:59 GMT -6
RC, how was the table set for Earle? What I meant is Stone Earle had excellent athletic tools and coach Patterson's new team could be built offensively around Earle's strengths. That combined with a stronger defense and a more open offense could have put Earle is a nice position for a few years. Lamberton as offensive coordinator was really just a quarterback coach since the plays were really called by Dorrell. Our old OC was never really in charge of the offense. However, I believe an opened-up offense with Earle at the helm could really be exciting for all of us going forward.
|
|
|
Post by kjmike1956 on Dec 8, 2021 23:22:49 GMT -6
www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2021-10-06/di-council-approves-one-year-waiver-football-scholarship-limitsThis was an article from 10-6-21 "The Division I Council this week approved a one-year waiver of the annual signing limit and initial scholarship limits in football to allow schools to replace up to seven scholarship student-athletes who leave school after the first term. Both the Football Bowl and Football Championship subdivisions approved the waiver. Council members acknowledged the solution was temporary but necessary; a more permanent solution will be considered in the coming months. The waiver addresses concerns about potentially high numbers of college athletes transferring after all student-athletes were given the opportunity to compete immediately after transferring for the first time. It will apply at the end of the first term (students who depart on or after the earlier of the last day of the school's fall term or Dec. 15, 2021, which is the first day of the early National Letter of Intent signing period). The waiver was recommended by the Football Oversight Committee, chaired by Sandy Barbour, athletics director at Penn State. We believe schools should have temporary flexibility to help address possible roster depletion due to transfers," Barbour said. "This one-year waiver enables schools to properly utilize their scholarship limitations." The waiver is effective immediately for the 2022-23 academic year only. The overall scholarship limit remains at 85 for the FBS and FCS. And, in the FCS, the limit of 63 scholarship equivalencies also remains in place." This is the reason so many players are entering the portal at this time. Things will change starting next year. It is a shame we had a coaching change under these conditions. If enough players transfer we might not be able to get to 63 scholarship players because we are still limited to 25 scholarships plus up to 7 additional for players lost in the transfer portal. If we lose more than 7 scholarship players in the portal we will not be able to replace them. This is my understanding and maybe someone else knows portal and scholarship rules for the coming year.
|
|
|
Post by footballmama on Dec 9, 2021 12:09:54 GMT -6
There are over 2100 players in the football transfer portal. There's a huge freshman recruiting class that really hasn't been seen by coaches because of COVID. I'm hopeful that our staff can hit the ground running. ACU has a great opportunity if they will act on it. I'm sure you have all seen what BYU,Miami and Texas are doing. Texas is offering each scholarship offensive lineman $50,000 in addition to their scholarship each year. I hate this state of college football and I feel that it is crazy, but it is the new normal. What if the new coaching staff had some money to offer players? What if they were able to convince some to stay because they could offer additional money? Could we keep the quarterback we want? Or could the coach go get the quarterback he wants out of the portal? When you have kids that make all conference, would they be more likely to stay if they received a bonus or received additional money so that they would stay and continue to build the program at ACU instead of using their all-conference status to look for a bigger school? Are there certain positions (OL/DL/QB etc) that you know if you locked in every year you would have a great foundation and could easily fit in the missing pieces? I do not have the connections at ACU like many of you do. I do not know if any businesses or individuals would be interested in doing something like this. Most places will make the boys do volunteer work to earn their money. It could be a win-win situation as ACU would be well represented within the community with the players volunteering, and ACU football would prosper because they could get and keep the players they want. Again, I know this is not what anyone wanted college football to become. But unfortunately, it is what it is. ACU can take this and make it an opportunity. Give this new coach the additional tools he needs to stand out above all of the other schools and get the kids he wants. Because like it or not, it is going to start happening at every school. So ACU can either be one of the first and get this thing going or wait and fall behind. I just hope that some of you know the right people and can get something like this going before February. It sure would help a new coaching staff and get them off to a great start.
|
|
|
Post by catfanatic on Dec 9, 2021 12:31:24 GMT -6
The “new” Wildcat Club!?!
|
|
|
Post by wildcatter on Dec 9, 2021 12:51:40 GMT -6
We struggle to pay our coaches competitively compared to our peers so to reference the coaches having a part in this is naive. It’s got to come from donors and boosters. Businesses are not going to benefit from college players doing commercials for them. Donors and boosters that want to see the program succeed will give money but you gotta find enough rich and passionate ACU sports fans looking for ways to blow money.
|
|
|
Post by Outsider on Dec 9, 2021 20:21:42 GMT -6
We struggle to pay our coaches competitively compared to our peers so to reference the coaches having a part in this is naive. It’s got to come from donors and boosters. Businesses are not going to benefit from college players doing commercials for them. Donors and boosters that want to see the program succeed will give money but you gotta find enough rich and passionate ACU sports fans looking for ways to blow money. I think some local businesses could benefit from NIL deals, but I don't see a large portion of them doing so. The volume wouldn't be big enough to greatly affect the need from boosters.
|
|
|
Post by rc on Dec 9, 2021 20:45:50 GMT -6
Things are evolving for ACU in Abilene. More and more I see some pride of ownership for the university in city leaders, movers and shakers, regardless of their background. I base this on several contributing factors. One is the right to claim the top position for student success in the entire state, another is the emerging recognition of the impact of Next Lab, another was the victory over UT in the NCAA basketball tournament, the success and impact of adding engineering to the curriculum, and amazingly the support of the city by a grant of $2.9 million in support of NEXT Lab as well as the deal to sell the Taylor elementary land to the university for expansion and another research lab.
I attend lots of meetings and am invariably asked about the amazing things going on at ACU or hear comments about the upgrades going on all over the campus. This university is actually becoming more and more a claim to fame for the city -- just not yet in football for the moment (although a grocery bill printout had a free ticket to an ACU football game.) Today, I even heard a strong compliment about the baseball team and a question about when we would have some home games with P5 opponents. Now, that does not mean financial support from businesses for athletics or individual athletes, although I see signs in businesses around town claiming to be ACU Supporters. Something has happened and the school has clearly moved upward in the view of the city. There used to be three distinct camps depending on the three private universities but now it seems more like there is recognition that ACU is at the local top of the heap. I could share more but you get the picture.
|
|
|
Post by musicman on Dec 10, 2021 10:09:55 GMT -6
Although I feel the frustration of many of my fellow Wildcatters, jumping ship is Not The Answer !!!!! It only gets you wet , under water and more frustrated. I’m on my downhill of life (Age) and have found out though experience having faith (in God) and hard work brings more success !!!!! I’m sure SE,s dad would not have made it so many years in the NFL if he had jumped ship too soon. This applies to others as well !!!!!!! Hanging on and fighting through disappointments & adversity is better !!!!!! Go Wildcats !!!!!
|
|
|
Post by wildcats0075 on Dec 10, 2021 10:22:04 GMT -6
Things are evolving for ACU in Abilene. More and more I see some pride of ownership for the university in city leaders, movers and shakers, regardless of their background. I base this on several contributing factors. One is the right to claim the top position for student success in the entire state, another is the emerging recognition of the impact of Next Lab, another was the victory over UT in the NCAA basketball tournament, the success and impact of adding engineering to the curriculum, and amazingly the support of the city by a grant of $2.9 million in support of NEXT Lab as well as the deal to sell the Taylor elementary land to the university for expansion and another research lab. I attend lots of meetings and am invariably asked about the amazing things going on at ACU or hear comments about the upgrades going on all over the campus. This university is actually becoming more and more a claim to fame for the city -- just not yet in football for the moment (although a grocery bill printout had a free ticket to an ACU football game.) Today, I even heard a strong compliment about the baseball team and a question about when we would have some home games with P5 opponents. Now, that does not mean financial support from businesses for athletics or individual athletes, although I see signs in businesses around town claiming to be ACU Supporters. Something has happened and the school has clearly moved upward in the view of the city. There used to be three distinct camps depending on the three private universities but now it seems more like there is recognition that ACU is at the local top of the heap. I could share more but you get the picture. Thanks for sharing, this is great to hear. When I was a student at ACU 20+ years ago, I always got the impression that the city was not behind ACU and the general population felt that ACU was holier-than-thou and could not really relate. Would love to think that the City and its people as a whole could more embrace ACU (and frankly ACU embrace the population of the city).
|
|
|
Post by catfanatic on Dec 10, 2021 10:46:14 GMT -6
Things are evolving for ACU in Abilene. More and more I see some pride of ownership for the university in city leaders, movers and shakers, regardless of their background. I base this on several contributing factors. One is the right to claim the top position for student success in the entire state, another is the emerging recognition of the impact of Next Lab, another was the victory over UT in the NCAA basketball tournament, the success and impact of adding engineering to the curriculum, and amazingly the support of the city by a grant of $2.9 million in support of NEXT Lab as well as the deal to sell the Taylor elementary land to the university for expansion and another research lab. I attend lots of meetings and am invariably asked about the amazing things going on at ACU or hear comments about the upgrades going on all over the campus. This university is actually becoming more and more a claim to fame for the city -- just not yet in football for the moment (although a grocery bill printout had a free ticket to an ACU football game.) Today, I even heard a strong compliment about the baseball team and a question about when we would have some home games with P5 opponents. Now, that does not mean financial support from businesses for athletics or individual athletes, although I see signs in businesses around town claiming to be ACU Supporters. Something has happened and the school has clearly moved upward in the view of the city. There used to be three distinct camps depending on the three private universities but now it seems more like there is recognition that ACU is at the local top of the heap. I could share more but you get the picture. Thanks for sharing, this is great to hear. When I was a student at ACU 20+ years ago, I always got the impression that the city was not behind ACU and the general population felt that ACU was holier-than-thou and could not really relate. Would love to think that the City and its people as a whole could more embrace ACU (and frankly ACU embrace the population of the city). Exactly!!
|
|
|
Post by Outsider on Dec 10, 2021 11:33:25 GMT -6
Things are evolving for ACU in Abilene. More and more I see some pride of ownership for the university in city leaders, movers and shakers, regardless of their background. I base this on several contributing factors. One is the right to claim the top position for student success in the entire state, another is the emerging recognition of the impact of Next Lab, another was the victory over UT in the NCAA basketball tournament, the success and impact of adding engineering to the curriculum, and amazingly the support of the city by a grant of $2.9 million in support of NEXT Lab as well as the deal to sell the Taylor elementary land to the university for expansion and another research lab. I attend lots of meetings and am invariably asked about the amazing things going on at ACU or hear comments about the upgrades going on all over the campus. This university is actually becoming more and more a claim to fame for the city -- just not yet in football for the moment (although a grocery bill printout had a free ticket to an ACU football game.) Today, I even heard a strong compliment about the baseball team and a question about when we would have some home games with P5 opponents. Now, that does not mean financial support from businesses for athletics or individual athletes, although I see signs in businesses around town claiming to be ACU Supporters. Something has happened and the school has clearly moved upward in the view of the city. There used to be three distinct camps depending on the three private universities but now it seems more like there is recognition that ACU is at the local top of the heap. I could share more but you get the picture. Thanks for sharing, this is great to hear. When I was a student at ACU 20+ years ago, I always got the impression that the city was not behind ACU and the general population felt that ACU was holier-than-thou and could not really relate. Would love to think that the City and its people as a whole could more embrace ACU (and frankly ACU embrace the population of the city). I don't think we are there yet, but I do think we have made some progress.
|
|
|
Post by rc on Dec 10, 2021 13:33:36 GMT -6
We are making good progress. I get a lot of loyal Texas Tech fans as well as UT ex's who are impressed by ACU. They are not members of the church nor related to the school, but they do take pride in ABILENE Christian University moving up in the world. A good example is a completely unrelated key leader of the city came up to me and said he wanted to donate some money because of the tour city leaders got of NEXT Lab. He heard ACU, Texas A&M, UT Austin, and Georgia Tech students talking about their research and how happy they were to be selected to work here in Abilene on such an important project. He directed his fund at the community foundation of Abilene to send several thousand dollars to ACU to further support the research.
You should hear the clamor at a monthly evening discussion meeting of key and diverse city leaders. They always want to know about progress and have always asked how they could help. This is not the ACU where I went to school decades ago, this is now a place of pride and excitement. They like dreaming of how advances led by ACU are going to continue to elevate the city, and the state as well. The latest thing was a member of the group who is an international cybersecurity expert who volunteered to help update ACU's program and he has just informed me his company is offering an ACU student a cybersecurity internship. We can do better in both directions, I know. However, when a key scientific faculty member of one of our neighboring universities asks me discretely how he might apply to teach at ACU, I have to reign in my inner smile that we are a rising ship. I hate to continue to repeat myself, but it is the same as years ago when I once said, "Now we just want a football team our Physics Department can be proud of." Sorry, that is enough for now. I think we can get there.
|
|
|
Post by wildcatter on Dec 10, 2021 13:43:49 GMT -6
That’s all great, really is, but it’s not going to pay offensive linemen an annual salary to play football. Frankly, few schools in the FCS level will be having any players make money from NIL arrangements based off of simply being a student athlete. It will not be an important part of recruiting at our level UNLESS we have an extremely wealthy ACU sports addict. That’s it.
|
|
|
Post by rc on Dec 10, 2021 16:42:41 GMT -6
And you are correct of course. But it is now true that students come to ACU for lots of reasons and some are due to new accomplishments. We all want excellence. Football in this new era is going to take new approaches as you point out. It is going to require supporters, coaches, and student-athletes. We have a great mission statement and I want us to do what we do well.
|
|
|
Post by CrazyPurpleCat on Dec 10, 2021 21:27:49 GMT -6
It will not be an important part of recruiting at our level UNLESS we have an extremely wealthy ACU sports addict. That’s it. I have the ACU sports addiction part down. Now if I can just figure out the “extremely wealthy” part figured out.
|
|