How close were we? = How close are we?

[roscoe]

5 hours ago, hhcmatt said:

Seems like a reason we're closer is because we have a better coaching staff that has a clearer vision of the types of players that will work in the system we're trying to deploy.

 

They brought is some dogs and need a few of those to compete in Big 10.

[colhusker]

Can someone DM all the good info here?

[dbj]

I'm a long time reader because I bleed Nebraska red. I am frustrated right now. What makes anyone think next year will be different than the last 23. I will still follow you and them. But unless the sun comes up in the west tomorrow things won't change. Imo we will be rated 14th in the conference again next year. Sorry to be a downer. I hope I'm wrong 

[The Polish Rifle]

12 minutes ago, dbj said:

I'm a long time reader because I bleed Nebraska red. I am frustrated right now. What makes anyone think next year will be different than the last 23. I will still follow you and them. But unless the sun comes up in the west tomorrow things won't change. Imo we will be rated 14th in the conference again next year. Sorry to be a downer. I hope I'm wrong 

I think Fred finally has the right staff in place. We get the right 2-3 transfers in and all bets are off. I hate calling year 4, “year 1” but if you consider that it was an entirely new staff and we played that well…what kind of jump can they make in “year 2”.

[Silverbacked1]

16 minutes ago, dbj said:

I'm a long time reader because I bleed Nebraska red. I am frustrated right now. What makes anyone think next year will be different than the last 23. I will still follow you and them. But unless the sun comes up in the west tomorrow things won't change. Imo we will be rated 14th in the conference again next year. Sorry to be a downer. I hope I'm wrong 

You might be right but what the hell I can’t cheer for anybody else after 58 years.

[busticket]

35 minutes ago, dbj said:

I'm a long time reader because I bleed Nebraska red. I am frustrated right now. What makes anyone think next year will be different than the last 23. I will still follow you and them. But unless the sun comes up in the west tomorrow things won't change. Imo we will be rated 14th in the conference again next year. Sorry to be a downer. I hope I'm wrong 

There were a lot of posts like this last offseason.  We took a massive step forward this season.

 

Next season depends heavily on us getting two guys who can replace Griesel and Walker.  I don’t think it is unreasonable we might get a couple really good guys.  With a dead man walking coach we got Sam, Gary, Bando and by all accounts could have gotten Keyante Johnson if our medical staff cleared him. 
 

I don’t think it is doom and gloom time unless we strike out in the transfer portal.  And even then Minnesota has reservations for last place already made.

[dbj]

I don't think Fred should be fired. I just don't see any upside for the current situation. Like I said I hope I'm wrong. Right now I don't see a tournament win for several years. Hope I'm around to see it. I'm 71 now and have been following the team since the early '60s

[Art Vandalay]

18 minutes ago, dbj said:

I don't think Fred should be fired. I just don't see any upside for the current situation. Like I said I hope I'm wrong. Right now I don't see a tournament win for several years. Hope I'm around to see it. I'm 71 now and have been following the team since the early '60s

IMO we actually have momentum for the first time under Fred so I see upside. Definitely need a good offseason but I can see it.

 

Scott Drew did not have a winning season at Baylor until year 5 so it can happen

[colhusker]

19 minutes ago, dbj said:

I don't think Fred should be fired. I just don't see any upside for the current situation. Like I said I hope I'm wrong. Right now I don't see a tournament win for several years. Hope I'm around to see it. I'm 71 now and have been following the team since the early '60s

You're not alone, there are several of us here who have had seeing an NCAA tournament win on our bucklist for over 50 years.

[busticket]

1 hour ago, dbj said:

I don't think Fred should be fired. I just don't see any upside for the current situation. Like I said I hope I'm wrong. Right now I don't see a tournament win for several years. Hope I'm around to see it. I'm 71 now and have been following the team since the early '60s

Man good on you for never giving up and sticking around.  I’ve been a fan since the 80’s so you’ve put in more time than me.  The majority of the time it has been frustrating to be a fan with a few moments of hope sprinkled in.  I really hope us long suffering fans get to see that first NCAA win.  Especially the guys who have hung in there as long as you.

[HuskerFever]

8 hours ago, Art Vandalay said:

IMO we actually have momentum for the first time under Fred so I see upside. Definitely need a good offseason but I can see it.

 

Scott Drew did not have a winning season at Baylor until year 5 so it can happen

 

Meanwhile, Scott Drew is getting paid $3.3M while Hoiberg is getting paid $3.5M.

[huskerbaseball13]

On 3/18/2023 at 10:56 PM, hhcmatt said:

 

Oh yeah there's breaks either way for sure.  We win those two in the regular season and we don't play Minnesota and then maybe we're still out because we don't win our first tourney game. Those just seemed like the couple of games that we could have won had things broken our way more.

 

The reality was that we didn't even make the NIT so we weren't *that* close.

We probably make the NIT with our current record if we did not get our brains beat in so many times. Losses are going to happen but starting next year we need to turn those 15+ losses in to 10 points or less and that will help our NET dramatically. 

[busticket]

7 minutes ago, huskerbaseball13 said:

We probably make the NIT with our current record if we did not get our brains beat in so many times. Losses are going to happen but starting next year we need to turn those 15+ losses in to 10 points or less and that will help our NET dramatically. 

There is that, but I still think the bigger and more controllable part is scheduling.  Being in the Big 10, and playing Creighton every year, we should be playing more of a Bill Snyder inspired non con schedule.  If you take 2 of the 4 games and schedule a school for the blind in there, we are in the NIT at 18-14:

 

St John’s (assuming this was a Gavitt game so we are playing this one)

Memphis

Oklahoma

K-State

 

With how tough our conference slate is, we should be playing Creighton and one other team with a pulse in my opinion. We will have a pretty good SOS based on our conference alone.  

[HuskerFever]

17 minutes ago, busticket said:

St John’s (assuming this was a Gavitt game so we are playing this one)

 

And there's no more Gavitt series going forward. So that's either replaced with some other series or it's an open non-conference game we have flexibility to schedule with.

[Swan88]

It's been fun over the past few days noting teams still playing that we beat--and most of those victories came after some really bad adversity for the Huskers:

Maryland

Iowa (twice)

Penn St.

Creighton

Rutgers

Wisconsin

And all of that was with some new assistant coaches and a cobbled-together roster after some really bad results over a few years.

Can't wait to see what the coaching staff pulls off after a season of some really-positive developments!

 

[Blackshirt83]

Scheduling needs to be smarter. We were 11-4 at home and 4-9 on the road. That's 13 road games. Meanwhile no other Big Ten team played more than 11 road games all season except Indiana with 12. We have no buisness leading the conference in road trips. 

 

[millerhusker]

20 minutes ago, Blackshirt83 said:

Scheduling needs to be smarter. We were 11-4 at home and 4-9 on the road. That's 13 road games. Meanwhile no other Big Ten team played more than 11 road games all season except Indiana with 12. We have no buisness leading the conference in road trips. 

 

Seems like most Big Ten teams play 17 home games, 11 away and 3 neutral. We played 15 home, 13 away and 3 neutral. Rutgers played 20 home games. Some power conference schools don't play any non-conference true road games. We have a great homecourt advantage and need to use it. 

[brfrad]

15 hours ago, Blackshirt83 said:

Scheduling needs to be smarter. We were 11-4 at home and 4-9 on the road. That's 13 road games. Meanwhile no other Big Ten team played more than 11 road games all season except Indiana with 12. We have no buisness leading the conference in road trips. 

 

We had 3 road games St John's (Gavitt game) Creighton (rivalry game), and K-State (in KC 3 game series with K State).  What if we won against St John's and 1 more in the holiday tournament.   We would be 18 - 14 and probably in the NIT.

[Swan88]

Here's why we are much closer than may appear: we have an active and effective Athletic Director in charge.

 

Before Trev Alberts stepped into that position, I saw an interview with Bob Stoops talking about Nebraska's football travails.  He said the problem is at the top of the athletic department--that no team and coach can do it on their own.

Such observation seems particularly apt for Husker basketball:

   --Remember the non-support (if not active undermining) from the top for Tim Miles?

   --It may be that Fred Hoiberg was not undermined--but there was no active support or direction either.

When Trev Alberts arrived, he began providing direction for both programs from day one: resulting in the firing of one coach but active support for the other. 

Early returns on Trev Alberts's leadership are this: both programs are heading in the right direction and building steam.

[NUdiehard]

 

ADs, coaches, systems, culture, all play a role in the success of the program.  But this is a new era.  It is the NIL era.  Let's say a high level recruit (whether HS or through the portal) has been offered by Nebraska along with a number of other P5 schools.  If that recruit can get $100K to play at another program, why would he come here to play for $40K?  Especially considering NU has no history, no tradition, no record of winning, no guarantee of going to the tourney, etc.  The only possible reasons are possibly (1) playing time, or (2) really likes coach Hoiberg and the coaching staff.  But if that recruit has multiple offers, it is likely that he can find another program where he could get playing time and more $$$$ and he likes the coach.

 

On the flip side, NIL may just be the golden ticket that could finally help NU attract top level talent.  If NU can offer a recruit more money than the competing teams, then it might be able to attract talent it otherwise never would have been able to secure.  But this is the big if.  I have no idea if NU is doing this, other than Shatel's article a few months ago saying NU's NIL is not as robust as Creighton's NIL. 

 

If NU really wants to rise to a new level, we can't just be "close" to other schools with NIL.  And honestly, we probably can't just be "even" with other schools.  If we are even, then the recruit defaults to the "other" things like tradition of winning, opportunity to go the tourney, etc.  We need to be "better" than the other schools.  NIL is the one aspect of recruiting that NU can actually control and can win in recruiting pitches.  NU can't change its past moribund history, but it can change it's current and future level of financial commitment.  And frankly, the dollars required shouldn't be an issue, the NU Ath. Dept. is flush with cash. 

 

There was a recent article in the OWH talking about how much the NU Ath. Dept. was bringing in.  I believe it is 6th in the entire country, and that didn't even include the additional "donation" dollars going the foundation.  NU has more money than virtually any other program in the country.  It is Trev's job to figure out how to get some of the money to the players/recruits to upgrade the talent to the necessary level. 

 

https://omaha.com/sports/huskers/nil-could-be-just-the-beginning-for-college-athletes-and-nebraska-is-preparing/article_93b953b6-c4e0-11ed-8b3e-7f10267e1622.html

 

It is a no-brainer to make this initial investment now.  Husker fans are extremely passionate and loyal.  If we spend money to bring in players, the program will easily recoup that money through attendance and fan support.  Plus, once we use that initial investment to upgrade the talent, and then start a tradition of winning, we may no longer have to out-bid the other schools because we will be the up-and-coming program that everyone wants to play for.  An significant initial investment now could pay dividends for decades to come. 

Edited March 21, 2023 by NUdiehard

[HB]

2 hours ago, NUdiehard said:

 

ADs, coaches, systems, culture, all play a role in the success of the program.  But this is a new era.  It is the NIL era.  Let's say a high level recruit (whether HS or through the portal) has been offered by Nebraska along with a number of other P5 schools.  If that recruit can get $100K to play at another program, why would he come here to play for $40K?  Especially considering NU has no history, no tradition, no record of winning, no guarantee of going to the tourney, etc.  The only possible reasons are possibly (1) playing time, or (2) really likes coach Hoiberg and the coaching staff.  But if that recruit has multiple offers, it is likely that he can find another program where he could get playing time and more $$$$ and he likes the coach.

 

On the flip side, NIL may just be the golden ticket that could finally help NU attract top level talent.  If NU can offer a recruit more money than the competing teams, then it might be able to attract talent it otherwise never would have been able to secure.  But this is the big if.  I have no idea if NU is doing this, other than Shatel's article a few months ago saying NU's NIL is not as robust as Creighton's NIL. 

 

If NU really wants to rise to a new level, we can't just be "close" to other schools with NIL.  And honestly, we probably can't just be "even" with other schools.  If we are even, then the recruit defaults to the "other" things like tradition of winning, opportunity to go the tourney, etc.  We need to be "better" than the other schools.  NIL is the one aspect of recruiting that NU can actually control and can win in recruiting pitches.  NU can't change its past moribund history, but it can change it's current and future level of financial commitment.  And frankly, the dollars required shouldn't be an issue, the NU Ath. Dept. is flush with cash. 

 

 

 

With regard to "frankly, the dollars required shouldn't be an issue, the NU Ath. Dept. is flush with cash":  You do understand that the athletic department can't fund NIL, right?   The collectives aren't UNL or its athletic department.   And the AD and coaches can't directly be involved in NIL solicitations, allocations or payments.   I realize Trev has been talking bout potential future changes in what can be paid to the student athletes through the academic institutions, but right now your NIL comments do not reflect an understanding of how it works. 

[Norm Peterson]

26 minutes ago, HB said:

 

With regard to "frankly, the dollars required shouldn't be an issue, the NU Ath. Dept. is flush with cash":  You do understand that the athletic department can't fund NIL, right?   The collectives aren't UNL or its athletic department.   And the AD and coaches can't directly be involved in NIL solicitations, allocations or payments.   I realize Trev has been talking bout potential future changes in what can be paid to the student athletes through the academic institutions, but right now your NIL comments do not reflect an understanding of how it works. 

 

Lemme ask you a question about NIL.

 

I understand Trev and the coaches can't be involved in decisions about how to spend the NIL money.

 

BUT can Trev do anything to recruit donors? Can he, for instance, call up Howard Hawks and say "thanks for your commitment to NU football. I know you like Creighton hoops, but it really helps our football program if we're perceived as having generally successful programs across all sports, so please allocate some of your wealth to our hoops program, too"?

 

Or does the NIL thing have to be completely and totally separate from the AD?

 

Also, does anyone know who's kicking in the money to Creighton's NIL program and whether they're donating to ours also or just to theirs?

[NUdiehard]

3 hours ago, HB said:

 

With regard to "frankly, the dollars required shouldn't be an issue, the NU Ath. Dept. is flush with cash":  You do understand that the athletic department can't fund NIL, right?   The collectives aren't UNL or its athletic department.   And the AD and coaches can't directly be involved in NIL solicitations, allocations or payments.   I realize Trev has been talking bout potential future changes in what can be paid to the student athletes through the academic institutions, but right now your NIL comments do not reflect an understanding of how it works. 

 

Where there is a will there is a way.  I understand that the Ath. Dept can't "directly" give money to the athletes or NIL collectives.  But there certainly are indirect ways he can help facilitate the money getting to the right collectives and players, and whether he likes it or not, that is not a huge part of his job.

 

I am just a random dude on the internet, but I will go ahead and list a number of ways that I think Trev and/or the Ath. Dept. can facilitate money to NIL and the athletes:

 

1.  First, your statement is not 100% accurate.  It has been previously reported (and repeated in the article I linked), that the latest media contract requires the media company to set aside more than $2 million for NIL payments to NU athletes. We can play the semantics game, but that sure sounds like Ath. Dept. money to me.  And if they can require $2M, why not $5M or $20M for NIL.  If I recall, I the total contract value is in excess of $300M over 15 years.  This means that the $2M designation is less than 0.7% of the total contract for an Ath. Dept that is already flush with cash.  The AD already has more money than it knows how to spend, but it could only muster a paltry 0.7% for NIL?

Quote

As another sign of the school's embrace of NIL, its latest multimedia contract requires the rights holder to set aside more than $2 million for NIL payments to NU athletes.  

Quote

The Nebraska Athletic Department announced today that it has entered into a new 15-year multimedia rights agreement with Playfly Sports. The agreement is worth reportedly $300 million.

This will be the third Big Ten program to sign with Playfly Sports. The other two are Michigan State and Maryland.

Sean Callahan from Husker Online reported the following:

The payouts would start at $13 million in 2023-24 and increase to $23.2 million in the final year of the agreement.

Nebraska would also receive $7.5 million in signing bonuses, $6.5 million in estimated royalties, $6 million in capital investments, and $2.25 million in NIL funding.

https://www.cornnation.com/2022/9/22/23366945/nebraska-nearing-a-15-year-300-million-multi-media-rights-agreement-with-playfly-huskers-news

Admittedly, the terms aren't entirely clear.  If it is $2M per year, then that is better because it would be a total of $30M, thus 10% of the total, but I don't see any indication that is the case.  And if so, why not?  The AD is flush with cash from the BTN media deal, the ticket sales, the donations, so honestly, if permissible, it should funnel ALL of that $300M to the NIL.  I guarantee you that would buy some nice championships in both football and basketball.

 

2.  Trev obviously has considerable influence over donors.  The AD is raising money for a $150M facilities upgrade.  Why not have the Ath. Dept. use its own cash for the facilities upgrades and ask those same donors to instead donate to the collectives?  This is essentially a way for the AD to legally "wash" the donations to NIL.

 

3.  If part of the PlayFly media contract can be set aside for NIL, can part of the BTN contract also be set aside?  What about the Pepsi contract?  What about the Adidas contract?  What about other contracts?  Has this been explored? 

 

4.  Required ticket donations go the UNL foundation.  The recent OWH article indicated those donations amount to about $23M per year.  Can the foundation give money to the collectives or NIL?  Has this been explored?  If no, can the "donation" requirement be changed so that the donations go directly to the collectives or NIL?  Has this even been considered?  Maybe its not permissible, I don't know, but maybe it is.  These are the types of things that should be researched.

 

5.  Other schools have started using "in-house" fundraisers for NIL.  NU has not.  Why not?

Quote

Some schools are even using their in-house fundraisers to solicit funds for their NIL collectives. Nebraska has not gone that far. But Alberts constantly watches how the bounds are pushed by schools as they seek to gain an edge.

 

These are five ideas off the top of my head on how to facilitate more money to NIL.  With more time and research, I'm sure I could come up with more ideas.  Some may work, some may not.  But where there is money, and where there is a will, there is a way.  Now it is up to the AD to figure out how to make it happen.

 

 

Edited March 21, 2023 by NUdiehard

[Fullbacksympathy]

We need to at least match last year's talent on the roster pre-injury.  The talent this past season murdered Creighton.  I think that's a pretty good barometer.  It was probably an NCAA bubble team.  

 

Get the same type of talent (TEAM dudes who are serviceable athletically and tough) and we should have the philosophy in place to go to work.  Our system on both ends appears to be pretty forward thinking.  The defense requires a lot of intelligence and hustle and the offense only really requires one or two mismatches to work well.  

Edited March 21, 2023 by Fullbacksympathy

[HB]

1 hour ago, NUdiehard said:

 

Where there is a will there is a way.  I understand that the Ath. Dept can't "directly" give money to the athletes or NIL collectives.  But there certainly are indirect ways he can help facilitate the money getting to the right collectives and players, and whether he likes it or not, that is not a huge part of his job.

 

I am just a random dude on the internet, but I will go ahead and list a number of ways that I think Trev and/or the Ath. Dept. can facilitate money to NIL and the athletes:

 

1.  First, your statement is not 100% accurate.  It has been previously reported (and repeated in the article I linked), that the latest media contract requires the media company to set aside more than $2 million for NIL payments to NU athletes. We can play the semantics game, but that sure sounds like Ath. Dept. money to me.  And if they can require $2M, why not $5M or $20M for NIL.  If I recall, I the total contract value is in excess of $300M over 15 years.  This means that the $2M designation is less than 0.7% of the total contract for an Ath. Dept that is already flush with cash.  The AD already has more money than it knows how to spend, but it could only muster a paltry 0.7% for NIL?

Admittedly, the terms aren't entirely clear.  If it is $2M per year, then that is better because it would be a total of $30M, thus 10% of the total, but I don't see any indication that is the case.  And if so, why not?  The AD is flush with cash from the BTN media deal, the ticket sales, the donations, so honestly, if permissible, it should funnel ALL of that $300M to the NIL.  I guarantee you that would buy some nice championships in both football and basketball.

 

2.  Trev obviously has considerable influence over donors.  The AD is raising money for a $150M facilities upgrade.  Why not have the Ath. Dept. use its own cash for the facilities upgrades and ask those same donors to instead donate to the collectives?  This is essentially a way for the AD to legally "wash" the donations to NIL.

 

3.  If part of the PlayFly media contract can be set aside for NIL, can part of the BTN contract also be set aside?  What about the Pepsi contract?  What about the Adidas contract?  What about other contracts?  Has this been explored? 

 

4.  Required ticket donations go the UNL foundation.  The recent OWH article indicated those donations amount to about $23M per year.  Can the foundation give money to the collectives or NIL?  Has this been explored?  If no, can the "donation" requirement be changed so that the donations go directly to the collectives or NIL?  Has this even been considered?  Maybe its not permissible, I don't know, but maybe it is.  These are the types of things that should be researched.

 

5.  Other schools have started using "in-house" fundraisers for NIL.  NU has not.  Why not?

 

These are five ideas off the top of my head on how to facilitate more money to NIL.  With more time and research, I'm sure I could come up with more ideas.  Some may work, some may not.  But where there is money, and where there is a will, there is a way.  Now it is up to the AD to figure out how to make it happen.

 

 

 

Wow, you truly don't get NIL, and I'm not going to waste anymore time reading your absurdly long tomes on it.  Carry on.