Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Are College Sports Programs About To Make A HUGE MISTAKE? | Miami Talent Upgrades | Syracuse Rising

Starting point is 00:00:00 Are several college athletics programs about to make a costly mistake? You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Shout out to the everydayers for making Locked on ACC your first listen and your first watch today. We're free wherever you get your podcast. We're available free on YouTube. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. He is Kenton Gibbs from Locked on Wolfpack.

Starting point is 00:00:36 I am Alex Dono from Locked on Cains. So Kenton, this is going to become a reality within the next year or two that college athletics programs are, I think it's inevitable. They're going to be taking on private money, whether you refer to private equity or probably more accurately as private credit. It's something that is going to happen with all the new expenses that are coming up from this House versus NCAA settlement where schools will be on the hook for about 30 million. per year in extra athletics expenses. Now, the SEC spring meetings are going on, Kenton. And we talked about a ridiculous thing that SEC Commissioner Greg Sanky said yesterday about reasons why they don't want to make student athletes, university employees.

Starting point is 00:01:22 Right. Ridiculous statement on that. But some of the other things that Greg Sanky said make a lot more sense. The SEC commissioner warned against private equity. He said, quote, in my experience, those involved with private equity want to be paid back. So I would caution people around the notion of short-term fixes, right? And I think there's on something there, Kenton, as you brought up earlier this week.

Starting point is 00:01:48 You know, Donnell, before sports betting was legal, there were a thing called bookies, okay? And people would always think, oh, this is a safe way to bet, or these loan sharks are a safe place to get my money. And guess what would happen? They need to be paid back with interest. Or they come to collect on that bad bet that you made. Hey, Anthony Edwards,

Starting point is 00:02:14 26 and a half, he got exactly 26. How you feel about that? That's what was ultimately going to happen in these types of situations. And people never really figured it out until pretty late in the game. Oh, this is dangerous. Greg Sankey, like I said,

Starting point is 00:02:30 a broken clock is right twice a day. it's the second time in the day because he is ahead of the curve on this one, taking private money, even if it is a quote unquote zero interest loan. I don't see how that's possible. Hello. Like there's no such thing as a free lunch.

Starting point is 00:02:48 That's the first thing you learn in economics class. Like there's no such thing as a zero interest loan. There's no such thing as a free lunch. A zero interest loan from private equity. I've told you all a story. on air one story of private equity screwing somebody over but there are thousands of

Starting point is 00:03:07 those stories. This is like Red Lobster is not unique in that they took private money and then all of a sudden their world got flipped upside down and I know what you're thinking. Well these are public institutions for the most part so they can take that money and what can you do? You can't bankrupt the public

Starting point is 00:03:23 institution. You want to bet? You want to watch them try? I do agree with, I don't remember who it was but one of the other high reps or admins for either a school or a conference said that schools don't have money problems in terms of revenue. They have expense problems, which I thought we shouldn't agree with. For so long, the NCAA has created this environment where regardless of how much money

Starting point is 00:03:48 you make because of their 501 status for a lot of these schools and because of their public status where it's a nonprofit, every dime they get, they find a creative way to spend it. They find a new way to stop doing that. Stop. Now you have to pay the players. The players being paid is a line item that needs to go in there. Some of you are going to have to pull from your endowments to do so. But guess what? Taking out of that, taking that private money, it seems good at the time. It seems like a good idea at the time. And then when you're looking up and all of a sudden, you're like, wait a minute, is our STEM department partially owned by Raytheon? How did this happen? You're going to be really sad about that. You're going to be, wait, what? What? do you mean we can't develop any more cures? All we can make are weapons that make people vaporize? Hold on. This isn't good. Now, obviously, that's hyperbole. I'm sure that that wouldn't be the case. But I'm just saying you cannot, you can't go into this thing. It's a foolhardy endeavor to take hundreds of millions, tens of millions, $200 of millions of dollars from private equity and think they're doing it for the love of the game. For all out of the kindness of their hearts. I've never heard of private equity doing anything out of the kindness of their hearts.

Starting point is 00:04:59 So I'd love to see how this one turns out. By the way, we're also going to talk on this episode about a cool article, Andrew Adelson wrote on ESPN about Fran Brown at Syracuse and how he's already making an impact when it comes to without having coached an actual game yet. He's making an impact in terms of talent acquisition. Can he turn Syracuse football into the Syracuse that I remember, you know, coming up in the 90s when that program really mattered, right? We're going to talk about Florida State and Miami leading the ACC. in new talent acquisition. But, you know, more on this private equity or I think maybe private credit is the more accurate

Starting point is 00:05:36 way to say it because you can't technically have equity and nonprofit institutions. But there are counterpoints to this Kenton. And with Greg Sankey saying what he said, it's a little bit ironic because the schools within his conference need it less than ACC and Big 12, for example, because there is going to be a big revenue gap. But it goes back to what you said, and I saw those same comments as well, that it's not really like a revenue problem. It's a spending problem, right? It would be much easier for SEC institutions and Big Ten institutions to get their financial priorities in order because of the extra TV revenue that they're bringing in compared to the others. A good way to explain this, you know, private capital or private credit that's probably going to be coming to college sports.

Starting point is 00:06:24 Sportico did a good job explaining this. they say there's a misunderstanding in much of college sports regarding the nature of the talks between universities and private equity funds. Yes, schools are looking for infusions of capital, but I expect they write to see those talks yield significantly more private credit deals than private equity. Private credit is structured more like a loan. Instead of receiving equity in a company, the fund receives a guaranteed annual return. That's the setup, Sportico gleaned from an early look at the conversations between Sixth Street and Florida State. that's a group that Florida State has talked to before. Private credit is likely an easier sell in public academia

Starting point is 00:07:03 and will be backstopped via contracted media rights and football ticket sales to fairly stable income streams per top college sports programs. So you go by that assessment, it makes it sound a little less risky, Kenton. Like you take universally like Florida State, for example, their attendance and ticket stales at Doak are very steady. obviously you know more or less what TV revenue you're going to be bringing in. Now on the flip side, I looked at this synopsis on what private credit is, courtesy of J.P. Morgan. They say private credit securities may be rated in the two lowest investment grade categories or not rated.

Starting point is 00:07:41 Such securities are considered to have speculative characteristics similar to high yield securities, and issuers of such securities are more vulnerable to changes in economic conditions than issuers of higher grade. security. So like, you know, God forbid if another, you know, pandemic were to happen or some some sort of an active God that would, you know, make those those revenue streams not as, not as steady, then that that is something that could get in the way of this. Yeah, for sure. But I think that here's, here's my biggest deal here, okay. If they were to come in with a private credit deal and everything was to work out perfectly along those lines, fine, great, beautiful, the only thought that I have is this. Normally with those private credit loans, you see long terms on those loans

Starting point is 00:08:28 in high interest rates. Even if you're saying, well, the interest rate is going to be low and it is going to be long term. Sure, a long term loan, even if it is low interest, you still basically are saying, hey, we're going to have to sacrifice our ticket sales and our media rights for the next 15 to 20 years, which, I mean, hey, I get it. The rich dad, poor dad guy is always talking about that is good. That is good. More debt is always a good thing. I'm not so sure that applies to these public institutions when you're talking about their sports teams. You're talking about the athletic stadiums. You talk about trying to get a coach into a new contract or try to get a new coach altogether. You do not want to be stuck holding the bag and having to sell fish plates to get your new coach the entire

Starting point is 00:09:14 signing bonus he was guaranteed because you no longer have it in your coffers because you're paying all of that money that you're getting yearly into oh man we took that deal with red canary capital or you know red herring finances got us and all of a sudden we we keep looking up and every year when we think to ourselves oh we made more money than ever red herring comes in we made more money than ever y'all be safe y'all take it easy no it's a fantastic point and i was i was reading this from this was outlined very well by football scoop they said so you're talking about essentially an interest-free loan at just the right time when many schools desperately need it where the lender takes on all the risk it's enough to make one wonder what's the catch right of course of course donald

Starting point is 00:10:08 you and i know better than anybody right you're from the south florida area correct yes i'm from the west side of Detroit. Now, you and I know a little bit about money. You and I both know that when people are at their most vulnerable, that's when economic institutions are the most fair and decent to them. You know, economic engines and institutions are not the most fair to those who are wealthy and stable and powerful. The vulnerable are the ones who they hold up. I'm kidding. This is sarcat. Whenever people are coming in a state of desperation, that's where you see those ridiculous interest rates where you borrowed $50,000, but you end up having to pay $200,000 back over the course of the entire loan.

Starting point is 00:10:50 So, you know, I would, again, I would venture against this very strongly. And if not, at minimum, hold off. Hold off on this until you see some other team. Don't be the first people that you do this and be the crash test, don't me? At least wait and see like, oh, that team went in desperation. And now they're stuck paying them back for the next 50 years as opposed to like, hey, We're coming from position of strength. We figured out how to give all these players their money.

Starting point is 00:11:18 We figured out how to add in these scholarships and whatnot. But we might have used this money. We're good, but we, you know, we don't need to come here and sit down in whatever terms they thought this we have to sign. We can walk away from this saying, you know what? These terms are objectionable. I'm good.

Starting point is 00:11:36 Coming up next, can Miami maximize the infusion of talent? And can Florida State use their infusion of talent to stay on top of the ACC. You want to keep it locked right here. We're only getting started on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. And I'm only getting started with Fandool. Guys, the playoffs roll on. What an opportunity to have action on these games, to have skin in the game.

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Starting point is 00:13:10 Have to turn down the volume with all that shouting. make the switch to Locked on Sports Today. A free 24-7 sports streaming channel program for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all the screaming. Lockdown Sports Today brings you can't-miss analysis, opinions and news, streaming 24-7 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Alex Dono and Kenton Gibbs with you.

Starting point is 00:13:34 So Kenton, in terms of talent acquisition, ESPN put out a piece on this, teams that newcomer class rankings is what it is. So it combines recruiting class of 2024 with Transfer Portal class of 2024. And the ACC has a team

Starting point is 00:13:54 in the top five in that regard. It's not Florida State. It's actually Miami. They had number four behind Texas at number one, Ohio State at number two, and Ole Miss at number three. Miami at number four. They talk about the big recruiting edition.

Starting point is 00:14:10 like four-star wide receiver, Josiah Trader, five-star defensive end, Marquis Lightfoot, five-star defensive end Armando Blunt, four-star safety, Zayquan Patterson. Miami has a top 10 transfer portal class as well. Florida State also appears on this list, Kenton, at number nine. So those are the two ACCC schools within the top 10. And then you get Clemson at number 13. Obviously for them, it's recruiting only. Oh, sorry, I'm looking at a different list there.

Starting point is 00:14:38 Clemson does not appear in that list because it would have been, like I said, recruiting only for them. So the next ACC team on there is NC State at number 13, Louisville at number 15. They had an active transfer portal. So in terms of what Mario Cristobal is putting together from a talent acquisition standpoint at Miami, do we feel with additions like Cam Ward at quarterback, Damien Martinez, at running back, Simi and Barrow at defensive tackle, that this is an option. opportunity for them with the favorable schedule compared to what they had last season that they could

Starting point is 00:15:13 actually make some noise and maybe win double-digit games. Oh, absolutely. And I would not only say they could, they should do something along those lines. You can tell this is an all-in year. This is Miami pushing their chips to the middle of the table and saying, hey, and granted, all-in for college football looks different than it does for professional. Because for professional, all-in means you're leveraging your future and saying, hey, damn the torpedoes, we got a rock right now.

Starting point is 00:15:42 That's not exactly the same for college football because the reality is all these guys are going to time out at some point in time anyway. You constantly have to be filling these new spots anyway. So there's no such thing as like I'm giving up recruiting capital to get these guys. No, it doesn't translate one to one. However, you can tell from the moves that Miami is making that this is a pushing chips to the middle type of year. Because imagine this, Dono. Imagine Christobal wins eight games with this roster and this schedule. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:16:14 It's not going to go well in Coral Gables. It's not going to go well. People are going to be calling for his head immediately because, again, you went out there and you got your guy at quarterback, the number one quarterback in the portal. You went out there and you got your guy running back in Martinez, again, one of the top running backs in the portal. And then your recruiting class, it's Miami. You're always going to do well in recruiting. What did Howard Snellenberger say? We need to recruit the state of Miami better than anybody else and we'll be fine.

Starting point is 00:16:44 They are doing that. They're getting these ballers. They're getting these studs, the five and four stars. So at that point, your job is to now create tangible results. It does not matter. You can talk to your blue in the face about, hey, we're recruiting great. We're recruiting great. I work in talent acquisition.

Starting point is 00:17:05 I'm an HR and TA guy. And do you know what I always tell hiring managers or owners of companies when they bring me in? I say my job is to build a winning team. I trust you. I trust your vision to take the team to be a winner, but it's my job to build the winning team. Mario Cristobar has built that team that everybody believes is a winner, but he's the owner and the recruiter. So now it's all on you, brother. It's all on you.

Starting point is 00:17:32 You've got the pieces assembled. You've got the best of this, the best of that, the best of that, the best everything, it's now your job to take them to the promised land. Right. And, you know, and my hope in terms of, because we talk a lot about, you know, the balance of portal where you bring it in a lot of, you know, sometimes one and done guys or two year guys in his transfers, how that mix is going to work.

Starting point is 00:17:56 And we're yet to see if it does work at Miami. You know, similar thing worked for Florida State very well the last couple years, especially last year. So can Miami make it work the same way? I think if you can find players that, A, fit the system, which Miami has tried to do, several of the guys that they brought in were coached at their previous stops by current Miami coaches, like offensive coordinator, Shannon Dawson, had, you know, Sam Brown, defensive coordinator, Lance Guidry, had Diani Hill who transferred in Miami's linebackers coach, had Jalen Alderman from Louisville a couple of years ago.

Starting point is 00:18:31 But then also the culture fit is very important as well, Kenton. And I know some people will say right off the bat, it's hard to bring in good culture guys through the portal because why are they jumping around in the first place if they're good culture guys? I don't know. It's so easy to jump around now in college football. But I take comments made by Miami running back Mark Fletcher on an interview last week that gives me hope that, you know, if Miami can find the right guys that can guide some of these young players. Because Mark Fletcher, you know, he had a breakout season as a true freshman running back last year, had a really good year last year. last year he emerged as Miami starting running back by the end of the year. And, you know, when Miami went and brought in Damian Martinez, like a lot of people assumed, oh, is he going to, is Fletcher going to take that the wrong way?

Starting point is 00:19:14 Is he going to say, well, what are they doing, you know, recruiting over my position? He made, and he seemed completely genuine in these comments that he made. He said, before Martinez committed to Miami, he said, I texted him and I told him, I need you here. We need you here. Fletcher said, I'm young in this game. He wants to learn from Martinez, who's, you know, put in, uh, over 2,000 yards rushing over the last couple of years.

Starting point is 00:19:36 So if you can establish that sort of culture, because something that has really hurt Miami-Kenton over the years is not having upperclassmen who set examples for younger players. And so that just perpetuates a cycle of guys not working hard and not having good habits. So hopefully if you can bring in players who have good habits, and I think Damien Martinez fits that category, I know Cam Ward does,

Starting point is 00:19:59 that you can set a positive example. So the idea of bringing in, you know, upper classmen, you know, one and done guys can be a bad thing. It doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing if they're setting the right example for the young guys. I have a thousand percent agree. And I think that there is something that that touches that that that we need to get into because there have been rumors about certain players from Miami that, hey, the work ethic isn't there. They got all the talent in the world and all that. And so that goes into that culture fit aspect of it. Because some of those guys who you've heard those rumors about, you're more intimately.

Starting point is 00:20:31 familiar with the Miami situation. I am. There are some who are out of the portal. There are also some that are homegrown that's like, hey, there are issues with this guy's work ethic, with his leadership, with those things. So you're absolutely right. And I'll tell you what, Mark Fletcher isn't dumb. He knows it is 2024, one back, even if you do make it, even if you are this bailout against, I don't know, 250 carries or so, you know, you're a 20 carry per game guy in college football that hurts you in terms of the NFL. Look at all those Wisconsin running backs and where they keep getting drafted at against how they produce in the NFL.

Starting point is 00:21:08 Why is that? Because they are very high usage guys and NFL teams look at that and they're like, do we want to spend a first or second round pick on the back that's leaving college with 500 plus carries? I mean, you look at it this way. You're at a used car lot and you're looking at, you know, You're looking at two Toyota tundras, and one of them has, you know, 20,000 miles on the odometer. One of them has 50,000 miles similarly priced.

Starting point is 00:21:39 Which one are you going to go with? You're going to go with the one that's got the lower mileage. Exactly. And so that's really, you know, that's really credit to Mark Fletcher there. But again, Miami faces this problem. Florida State faces this problem. NC state faces this problem. Any team that brings in a lot of new guys, you have to have a culture and identity already

Starting point is 00:21:58 board so that, you know, one of the things, again, back to my TA background, when I build teams out, I've had, I've had, you know, founders and owners tell me, hey, I want you to grow the team by this amount. Or I want you to bring in this many people. And it's like doubling or tripling team size. And I'm like, you want me to double or triple your team size in three months? That, that sets you up in a bad situation because the new people are going to set the culture, instead of the culture being set upon the new people and, hey, this is how we do things here. Now, if you don't like your culture and you want it to be revamped, sure, but it's the same type of thing here, right? You don't need necessarily two to three times the amount of guys that you're going to get in the portal who are going to be playing.

Starting point is 00:22:42 Because realistically, if you go to get a guy in the portal, he's probably going to be playing. You're not going in a portal to get 20 depth pieces. That just doesn't pass the smell test unless you're Colorado. But even with the high schoolers, it's the same. deal. High schoolers are 18 years old. They were just slow dancing at prime a couple of months ago. They're wet behind the ears. They still got simulac on their breath. Everything is big and new and beautiful to them. And they've never experienced anything like what you're bringing, except for maybe the kids from like IMG and DeSoto. They've never seen this level of like facilities and all the things.

Starting point is 00:23:16 So what your job is there is just to guide them in the right direction. But for the guys in the portal, you have to make sure that they can be guided in the right direction at a higher level than you would for those 18 year olds. Because if that 18 year old can't be guided, you can say, hey, you're immature, your brain is going to develop a little bit more. Please heed the lessons. Do it the right way. But if a portal guy comes in and is setting a bad, bad temperament for the team, you're looking at some real trouble. And that real trouble could catch up to Miami, could catch up to FSU, could catch up to NC State if they don't do a great job because all these guys have added great players. All three schools have added starting

Starting point is 00:23:52 all three, I believe two of the three schools have added starting running backs. These schools have all added guys in the wide receiver room that are going to be either be starters or high impact guys. There are high impact guys being added on both sides of the ball everywhere for these guys. They have to find a way to mel it. Mesh in jail. I just combined those two words together, which is very ironic. Mel.

Starting point is 00:24:13 They got to find a way to mel. They got to find a way to mel it up, baby. Well, and those teams that you mentioned are not the only ones that have acquired a ton of talent. Syracuse, who's obviously a program that the last couple of years, they've teased us, right? 2022, a 6-0 start, had a 4-0 start last year before things went south, but they've got a new sheriff in town. Can Fran Brown turn it around?

Starting point is 00:24:38 You want to keep it locked right here on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. And thank you for making Locked on ACC, your first listen and your first watch today. So this was cool. I was reading this article this morning from Andrea Adelson at ESPN, and she puts the spotlight on Fran Brown at Syracuse, who is, I mean, it's impossible not to notice what he's done in terms of bringing in transfers and bringing in recruits. Now, I know, listen, Kyle, Kyle McCord was, you know, he's the highest rated transfer portal player Syracuse has ever brought in. I hope that works out for them, but not really that high on McCord, he was really carried by Ohio State.

Starting point is 00:25:19 But Aidelson writes, um, more trans. transfers followed after McCord, including defensive lineman Fidel Diggs from Texas A&M. Syracuse wound up with 18 players from the transfer portal, 12 from the Power 5, 7 from the SEC, unprecedented at a school that has won 10 games only once since 2002. Top-tier recruits have also signed with Syracuse, too. This past December, defensive end King Joseph Edwards became the first ESPN 300 prospect to ever sign with the Orange. in all, Brown signed four star prospects more than the five previous seasons combined. Syracuse finished with the number 42 signing class, highest ranking since ESPN started ranking the top 75 in 2014.

Starting point is 00:26:07 And like Kenton, I, you know, I can't help think about, you know, when I, when I grew up, you know, watching Big East football, right? And I think about when I was when I was in high school in the late 90s, early 2000s. And I considered Syracuse to be a very prominent power program. I mean, I remember Donovan McNabb wearing the orange. I remember, you know, anytime Miami had to go to, you know, the stadium formerly known as the Carrier Dome, I was scared. Like that was a tough place to play. That building was rocking.

Starting point is 00:26:38 Syracuse was good back in those days. So, you know, this program, that football program does have a history. And if Fran Brown can make, you know, living and playing and playing. in Syracuse an attractive proposition again for young football players coming out of high school, then look out because I hope he can make that program relevant again because the entire ACC can benefit from that. Fran Brown is a hometown guy that has come back to do good by his hometown program. I am telling you all right now, watch out.

Starting point is 00:27:11 Watch out. He is a hell of a recruiter. The only question about Fran Brown that still remains, how good is he at the X's and O's? but even with that, we all know the same. It's not about your ex and your olds. It's your layers and your joys. However, you do need to put those layers and joes in at least decent positions. You know, there's something to be said there for the fact that Syracuse is,

Starting point is 00:27:36 while people don't think of New York as a recruiting hotbed necessarily, just do the math statistically. They have so many people. They have to produce good football players because, again, And just by odd strokes of luck and chance, the percentage of your population that's going to end up good, even if it's a lower percentage than let's say Idaho, Wyoming, Minnesota, even Michigan, even if it's a lower percentage, you just have so many more people than them. And I am telling you right now what Fran is doing in the recruiting and not just in New York, what he's doing nationally is disgusting. He's finding guys everywhere that, hey, he's convincing people that playing at Syracuse is sexy. If he can find a way to bring that talent and put them in the right position to win,

Starting point is 00:28:26 man, I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what. It is really interesting to see how much buzz he has gotten and how much buzz has surrounded him coming in. I'm cautiously optimistic because he's saying all the right things. and I think he's going to be the guy that wins Media Day. However, winning Media Day doesn't win your football games. Axe Halfley. Halfley won Media Days every year.

Starting point is 00:28:50 Every year you walked away from Media Day. Oh, man, Boston College is up to something. I believe in that Halfley guy. And then what happened every year? Four and eight, five and seven, six and six and seven. You know, that type of deal. So again, Fran is doing his thing. What he's done in the portal, tremendous growth.

Starting point is 00:29:08 And Halfley was never the recruiter that he is. But again, you still have to put that ball down. You still got to go move other people against their will. So we're going to see how that works out for the orange. We will see. And we will talk to you guys again tomorrow. He is Kenton, Wolfpack, follow him on X at TGIF underscore Kenton. I am Alex Dono from Lockdown Canes.

Starting point is 00:29:29 Follow me at Alex Dono. We'll talk to you guys again tomorrow on another episode of Lockdown ACC, part of the awesome Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Thank you.

Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - Are College Sports Programs About To Make A HUGE MISTAKE? | Miami Talent Upgrades | Syracuse Rising

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