Sentinel: Support Staffs

Swamp Donkey

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http://www.orlandosentinel.com/spor...ollege-football-support-staff-0709-story.html

Saban's unparalleled success and the increasing demands of football coaches have inspired others to follow the Alabama model when building a support staff, adding as many roster spots as possible.....

Bielema’s support staff last season totaled 18 members to rank 13th in the 14-team SEC, according to an Orlando Sentinel survey of 2016 media guides. Alabama and Georgia boast 29 support staff members, South Carolina 25, Florida 23 and LSU 23.

Donk's note: Does anyone believe that Bammer only has 29? Most reports say twice that but they get very creative with the job titles. Someone commented that the GAs have GAs. I've seen numbers as high as 70 for their real staff.

Saban’s support staff is so vast and fluid it might help if everyone wore name tags.

“I was there three years, and I still didn't learn everybody's name in that building,” Kiffin said in May...

The Football Oversight Committee hopes to find out who’s who, who is doing what and how many people are enough as the NCAA considers capping the number of support staff members allowed. Staff rule changes are possible as early as next year. ...

Based on his four years under Saban at Alabama, UF coach Jim McElwain arrived from Colorado State with big ideas. McElwain, the son of a high school English teacher, sees value in Saban’s approach to hiring support staff.

“Hedging back to your days of education, class size, that’s one of the biggest issues all these school districts face,” McElwain said. “The bigger the class size, sometimes the less teaching that goes on. So I think it’s really good.”

The Football Oversight Committee, in theory, hopes to address the support staff needs of all 130 Football Bowl Subdivision members. In reality, it is a big ask to legislate for schools with such diverse goals and resources.

“There is a discussion about that, but I still think we’re a long ways away from seeing something concrete,” first-year Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne said. “We all have to manage the resources that we have to work with. It’s not always going to be a completely level field with those things; each school is unique in its own way.”

Meanwhile, Byrne protege Scott Stricklin, in his first year at UF, said one issue is universal for all schools.

“The majority of our students on campuses who are student-athletes don’t get full scholarships. Why is that never been an issue?” Stricklin asked. “We have baseball players and softball players and soccer players and a lot of track athletes who come on our campuses and they’re having to take out student loans to be athletes on our campus, even if they’re on scholarship because they’re not on a full scholarship, [unlike the majority of football and men’s basketball players].

“I don’t think that’s right.”

Stricklin’s former school, Mississippi State, has an SEC-low 16 support staff members. But he said he is “comfortable” with what the Gators are doing in football - the cash cow of every SEC athletic department.

Saban and his former assistants, including McElwain, hopes the NCAA does not try to hinder their approach to the game. In fact, the 55-year-old McElwain wonders why support staffs sizes are an issue at all.

“My personal opinion is people are making a really big deal over something that isn’t,” McElwain said. “Honestly, look, you’re going to give opportunities to people. I don’t care what profession you’re in. I don’t know if there’s any other business in America that limits the amount of employees they can have.

“There’s not a business in the world that says, ‘Hey, you can’t have X amount of people.’”
 

Swamp Donkey

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Whelp.... there ya go, boyz and girlz. Strickland is happy with us having a support staff only slightly bigger than Vandy, but is really worried about the tiddlywinks and horseshoe team.
 

revgator

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Thats right from the SJW playbook. He sounds like those admin's you read about who don't stand up to 19yo college kids when they make ridiculous demands.

Not too comfortable with him at the wheel.
 

Swamp Donkey

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Thats right from the SJW playbook. He sounds like those admin's you read about who don't stand up to 19yo college kids when they make ridiculous demands.

Not too comfortable with him at the wheel.
Look, I agree, sort of, with the proposition. But the coaches make the decisions regarding half schollies in those other sports. Maybe it was just poor editing and he said plenty of other stuff that didn't make the article.

However, we have to fix football and part of it is being prepared. We can't continue to keep fighting with one hand tied behind our back. The reason Bammer, Clown Town, and everyone else of that ilk beats us by 40 is because they ARE better prepared than us. Even if we had a championship caliber roster, we aren't going to be able to compete with the teams that have two or three times the staff analyzing every play and tendency and reviewing every rep in practice or workouts and correcting the players.

I wonder about the apparent disconnect between Mac saying he sees no reason to limit staffs and Stricklin being "comfortable" where we are.
 

t-gator

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Makes me wonder/hope it's just stricklin not wanting to dump more money than he has to into the Mac era.
 

Marianna-FL_Gator

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In my opinion everyone should only be allowed so many support staffers and they should also put a cap on what you're allowed to pay them.

Btw...if you go to an Alabama game there's damn near as many coaches/support staffers on the sidelines as there is players. I would bet there's at least 50 ain't I'm not exaggerating. It's unreal!
 

Gator Fever

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Whelp.... there ya go, boyz and girlz. Strickland is happy with us having a support staff only slightly bigger than Vandy, but is really worried about the tiddlywinks and horseshoe team.

Yep it sounds like Stricklin might want to take money from football to give soccer players full scholarships.
 

gators4224

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This is definitely something that Florida needs to work on. We can't limit ourselves against our toughest opponents if we want an even playing field. So if a team has 100 staffers, we need that many or more. They have better facilities, we need better facilities. Whatever it takes. No more letting ourselves be at significant disadvantages anymore. It's time we push the agenda. In the fall, when we watch the games on TV, we only see part of the picture. We see the performance but we don't see the behind the scenes things that go into building good teams
 
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InstiGATOR1

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Whelp.... there ya go, boyz and girlz. Strickland is happy with us having a support staff only slightly bigger than Vandy, but is really worried about the tiddlywinks and horseshoe team.

I see your UAL envy is showing again. Also you are confusing cause and effect.

I am not interested in winning the recruiting championship. I am not interested in winning the support staff champtionship. I am not interested in the assistant coaching pay championship. I am not interested in winning the head coach pay championship.

I am interested in winning the SEC championship again. In the 25 seasons from 1984 to 2008 UF won 36% of the SEC titles. That is about the rate UF should be winning SEC titles now.

Once you start winning championships, then you both get better recruits and your recruits get ranked higher. Once you start winning championships, your coach has enough clout to get a bigger supports staff, a bigger salary and bigger salaries for his assistants.

Mimicking the effects of UAL winning, will not cause UF to win. Having a championship coach will cause UF to win championships and all the rest would follow. So the burden is on McElwain to show THIS YEAR he is that type of coach. The jury is still out, but barely still out for McElwain.
 

Swamp Donkey

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I see your UAL envy is showing again. Also you are confusing cause and effect.
I've never flown on United Airlines.

I will tell you that I'm well aware that the schools with the huge staffs are Trailer bammer, Clowntown, Clemson, Michigan, and Ohio State.

You're the one that's confused about cause and effect. The reason on Saturdays that we look like a bunch of fvkking idiots who aren't prepared is because we're a bunch of idiots who aren't prepared. We have a couple of scripted series and then it's over. we don't have game plans that have contingencies for certain defenses on certain plays in certain situations, even when they're known tendencies. We are as bad as it gets especially after halftime.

Like the previous athletic director, you're living in the 80s thinking that nothing's changed with respect to game preparation. While I agree that more staff wouldn't change the fact that we have terrible coordinators and a mediocre coach, we still need to give them the best shot possible. If nothing else it will show the next coach that we are not still stuck in the 80s and that we will pursue championships here, not just championship game experiences. A competent behind the scenes staff stay in place with the next coaching staff anyway, making the change that much easier.
 
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InstiGATOR1

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I've never flown on United Airlines.

I will tell you that I'm well aware that the schools with the huge staffs are Trailer bammer, Clowntown, Clemson, Michigan, and Ohio State.

You're the one that's confused about cause and effect. The reason on Saturdays that we look like a bunch of fvkking idiots who aren't prepared is because we're a bunch of idiots who aren't prepared. We have a couple of scripted series and then it's over. we don't have game plans that have contingencies for certain defenses on certain plays in certain situations, even when they're known tendencies. We are as bad as it gets especially after halftime.

Like the previous athletic director, you're living in the 80s thinking that nothing's changed with respect to game preparation. While I agree that more staff wouldn't change the fact that we have terrible coordinators and a mediocre coach, we still need to give them the best shot possible. If nothing else it will show the next coach that we are not still stuck in the 80s and that we will pursue championships here, not just championship game experiences. A competent behind the scenes staff stay in place with the next coaching staff anyway, making the change that much easier.

So your examples are:

1. UAL won multiple championships evidence that frills follow success.
2. FSU won a championship more evidence that frills follow success.
3. Clemson won a championship in two consecutive championship games more evidence that frills follow success.
3. Michigan has gotten the some of the frill you can buy and not championships.
4. Ohio State won championships so more evidence that frills follow success.

So either show me that UAL, FSU Clemson or Ohio State got the frill and then immediately started winning championships or get back to me if Michigan wins after getting the frills first.

UF has not look unprepared under McElwain just not very imaginative on offense. So before UF goes after those recruiting, support staff or coacing pay championships people like to whine about around here, what needs to happen is for UF to start trying on offense.
 

Swamp Donkey

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If we were getting ready to fire the Muschump Part II, Id support not hiring appropriate staff and letting the next dude do it. However, there is zero chance that is what we are doing.
 

deuce

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How many support staff do Clemson have?
 

revgator

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Look, I agree, sort of, with the proposition. But the coaches make the decisions regarding half schollies in those other sports. Maybe it was just poor editing and he said plenty of other stuff that didn't make the article.

However, we have to fix football and part of it is being prepared. We can't continue to keep fighting with one hand tied behind our back. The reason Bammer, Clown Town, and everyone else of that ilk beats us by 40 is because they ARE better prepared than us. Even if we had a championship caliber roster, we aren't going to be able to compete with the teams that have two or three times the staff analyzing every play and tendency and reviewing every rep in practice or workouts and correcting the players.

I wonder about the apparent disconnect between Mac saying he sees no reason to limit staffs and Stricklin being "comfortable" where we are.
That's what concerns me, is that while Mac is trying to get enough resources and a system to compete, Stricklin is thinking of ways to get the competitive cheer team a full scholarship since the football team is ok.

Of course I'm reading a lot into this and there is a valid point regarding all sports vs football. But, football earns revenue.

If he wants the girls field hockey team to get scholarships he needs to focus on creating revenue from field hockey and not draw from football.
 

Swamp Donkey

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How many support staff do Clemson have?
A lot. Probably second only to Bammer and more than Clowns. At least twice what we have. The last estimate I saw was 50 but who knows how accurate those numbers are. They are very Bammerish up there also with their shell game. Their recruiting staff may well be the largest, even more than Bammers.

Dabo was quoted as saying that his GAs have staffs and GAs, and they don't know how good they have it.
 
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Swamp Donkey

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Hope so, no point in pouring money into a support staff that the next coach will need to replace.
The support folks are usually on one-year contracts. Most of the assistant coaches are only on one year contracts.
 

gatorkev85

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Makes me wonder/hope it's just stricklin not wanting to dump more money than he has to into the Mac era.
He did give an extension to Mac so this don't make sense if he don't want to dump more money into him, granted it was only a year but still.
 

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