As long as there is such disparity in athletic budgets, facilities, stadiums, etc., the SEC is going to be a league of haves (who can temporarily slip) and have-nots. The last time a team other than Alabama/LSU/Auburn/Georgia/Florida/Tennessee won the SEC? Ole Miss in 1963, 50 years ago. And it would be no surprise if those 6, along with Texas A&M, won all of the next 50 SEC championships too. Yes, Arkansas and South Carolina could potentially win it with the right coach and a perfect storm of powerful teams down, and I'm obviously aware that we won the West in 1998 and led the championship game in the 4th quarter, but that was a different era. I don't think we'll see an extended period of Alabama and LSU down ever again.
That's why I think the SEC should step in and try to equalize things. Every NFL team, even the ones that are horrible now, can legitimately win a Super Bowl over the next decade. If you're a Jaguars fan, you can dream of a Super Bowl win without being a sheepish fool. On the other hand, teams like us in the SEC dream of getting to the point where we're somewhere around 8th best most of the time and occasionally around 4th best. But no matter what, the money disparity is going to catch up with us.
Here are a few things the SEC could do. I'm not necessarily advocating any or all of them -- just trying to toss around some ideas:
I believe in rewarding programs who are run well, but that's not at the reason our budget is not at a competitive level. We're at the bottom of the totem pole because of the 11-state SEC region, our state is the poorest, the second smallest in population, the worst high school coaching and development, the worst high school system academically, and one of only 3 that has two teams. None of the other schools earned this advantage over us -- Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs football have nothing to do with the fact that their states beat ours on those factors -- so these proposals are not about punishing well-earned success.
And yes, I realize the NCAA might try to stop some of these, but let's ignore that. Who knows how long the NCAA will be around anyway.
That's why I think the SEC should step in and try to equalize things. Every NFL team, even the ones that are horrible now, can legitimately win a Super Bowl over the next decade. If you're a Jaguars fan, you can dream of a Super Bowl win without being a sheepish fool. On the other hand, teams like us in the SEC dream of getting to the point where we're somewhere around 8th best most of the time and occasionally around 4th best. But no matter what, the money disparity is going to catch up with us.
Here are a few things the SEC could do. I'm not necessarily advocating any or all of them -- just trying to toss around some ideas:
- Implement a broad revenue-sharing program between the 14 teams. Although we'd still be at the bottom, at least the gap couldn't grow any wider and over time we could probably even it out.
- Let the SEC pay the head and assistant coaches instead of the schools. If profit sharing is too much, at least this could close the coaching gap (especially at the assistant jobs).
- On the opposite token, the SEC could set a high minimum standard for how big and nice your stadium and facilities have to be, and the conference could pay to upgrade every school who doesn't meet that level. That would make a much more level playing field for recruiting, and if combined with the first suggestion, create a system for long-term parity between all 14 teams.
- More radically, there could be some kind of recruitment cap to keep the talent approximately equal. I really don't know how this would work (the SEC hires a large, extensive scouting committee to grade every prospect?), but it would be like a college equivalent of a salary cap.
- If the NCAA, or a post-NCAA governing body, ever allows players to be paid, either directly or indirectly though endorsements, the SEC definitely needs to set a cap on that or we'll get eaten alive.
- Any other ideas?
I believe in rewarding programs who are run well, but that's not at the reason our budget is not at a competitive level. We're at the bottom of the totem pole because of the 11-state SEC region, our state is the poorest, the second smallest in population, the worst high school coaching and development, the worst high school system academically, and one of only 3 that has two teams. None of the other schools earned this advantage over us -- Florida Gators and Georgia Bulldogs football have nothing to do with the fact that their states beat ours on those factors -- so these proposals are not about punishing well-earned success.
And yes, I realize the NCAA might try to stop some of these, but let's ignore that. Who knows how long the NCAA will be around anyway.
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