After taking trips to Michigan and Alabama. USC needs to make a move fast or the new guy is going to be playing catch up for a while...
FC/OT: Top USC Commit Domani Jackson finally bails....
- Thread starter Midnighter
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Speaking of USC, there is a program that really faces some obstacles.
They generate only about 1/2 or less of the revenue of the big programs. Their football program generates about $50 Million per year, less than 1/2 of what most Big Ten programs get - which is largely due to the TV contracts of the Big Ten vs the PAC 12. With $50 million less to spend than, for instance, Penn State Ohio State Michigan Nebraska Wisconsin, and making less than even the lower level Big Ten and SEC programs.
Indiana generates more football revenue than USC. Indiana. Almost all of that, of course, from the TV contracts.
They have less revenue than the other USC - South Carolina.
The only saving grace for them is that most of the other west coast programs they compete with also have limited money. About the only one that generates significantly more is Washington (though Oregon and Utah also generate a bit more than USC)
They generate only about 1/2 or less of the revenue of the big programs. Their football program generates about $50 Million per year, less than 1/2 of what most Big Ten programs get - which is largely due to the TV contracts of the Big Ten vs the PAC 12. With $50 million less to spend than, for instance, Penn State Ohio State Michigan Nebraska Wisconsin, and making less than even the lower level Big Ten and SEC programs.
Indiana generates more football revenue than USC. Indiana. Almost all of that, of course, from the TV contracts.
They have less revenue than the other USC - South Carolina.
The only saving grace for them is that most of the other west coast programs they compete with also have limited money. About the only one that generates significantly more is Washington (though Oregon and Utah also generate a bit more than USC)
Yeah, but as noted, they have a lot of built in advantages and a bigger endowment than any other 'football school' save Notre Dame (and some of the bigger state system schools - Texas, California, Michigan); I don't think money will be an issue for USC if that's the implication. USC is a prestige brand/program and there is likely enough NIL money around LA for players to have pretty nice off-campus digs. Not to mention the celebrity that comes with being on the team.
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I believe you are correct, location and name recognition could all be parlayed into advantages, I think. And Pete Carroll certainly did it there. Could Franklin, or someone else, do it? Carroll also did it at a time when the TV revenues for USC were not nearly as far behind those of the current power conferences, the Big Ten and the SEC. And, again, the difference between USC revenues and the other west coast programs is not nearly so large, for however important that may be.
That said, as far as the money is concerned, USC has historically spent exactly what they bring in, as far as athletics is concerned. In other words, they have had a hard line with regard to using tuition revenue, endowments, and the like to spend on football. Whether that would change, and to what degree, and under what circumstances, I don't know.
If they keep churning coaches, and want to go after a Big Fish - Big Name new coach, they may have to.
Being a private school, it is not always easy to get detailed information regarding USC contracts, but I do not think any of their recent hires, Kiffin Sarkisian Helton were in that upper tier of salaries. I don't think any of them were in the $5 million per year range - Helton may have been in that ballpark at the end - even now that $5 million is almost chump change in the Big Ten and SEC. And $5 million in LA isn't nearly equal to $5 million in East Lansing or Baton Rouge.
I'm pretty sure their cheerleaders have bigger endowments.
A good friend of his committed to Michigan so it is suspected that is where he will end up also.
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