Tidbits from coaches caravan...

[Falcon137]

A few notes from Kingston....

As we all know, the Tennessee game is worth $1.2 million. Said he is working on getting away from 2 for 1 series with P5 schools. Thinks he is close to home and home series with P5 schools.

Addressed uniforms. Travis Greene has been in on the designs. There will be 3 sets of jerseys and pants. Orange, brown, and white. Don't think BG will wear the same uniform twice.

Working with UT's athletic director about getting the BG / UT game to be annually in October.

Never wants to have a 5 game home schedule again.

Babers....

Said bluntly the defense is going to be better than last year because of bringing in Brian Ward.

Said the offense will be electric under Matt Johnson. Added he has the best backup in the country, but, the offense is a different animal with Matt Johnson.

Wants everyone at the Doyt for September and October games. Understands November games are tough.

[MarkL]

Good to hear all around. Based of Babers' comments, it sounds like year 2 could be a nice reset year. The defense should by all accounts be better, and a proven commodity at QB returns.

[mscarn]

As we all know, the Tennessee game is worth $1.2 million. Said he is working on getting away from 2 for 1 series with P5 schools.
Working with UT's athletic director about getting the BG / UT game to be annually in October. Never wants to have a 5 game home schedule again.

"It profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world...but for $1.2 million?"

[Flipper]

Do you have $1.2 million to help fund the program?

[mscarn]

I'll take the Ron Swanson strategem of only answering a question with a question: Is it all going directly back into the football program? (It would still be a mistake even if it was. Getting the 2015 season off to a good note with a virtually assured win over an easier opponent and better positioning us for a bowl game over other MAC schools is worth more to the program, both short term and long term.)

[able1]

Given the situation at the time, there was no other option available. I don't understand why this keeps coming up. There was no other choice.

[BGSU33]

A few notes from Kingston....

As we all know, the Tennessee game is worth $1.2 million. Said he is working on getting away from 2 for 1 series with P5 schools. Thinks he is close to home and home series with P5 schools.

Addressed uniforms. Travis Greene has been in on the designs. There will be 3 sets of jerseys and pants. Orange, brown, and white. Don't think BG will wear the same uniform twice.

Working with UT's athletic director about getting the BG / UT game to be annually in October.

Never wants to have a 5 game home schedule again.

Babers....

Said bluntly the defense is going to be better than last year because of bringing in Brian Ward.

Said the offense will be electric under Matt Johnson. Added he has the best backup in the country, but, the offense is a different animal with Matt Johnson.

Wants everyone at the Doyt for September and October games. Understands November games are tough.

Thanks for the info! Much appreciated!

[Flipper]

I'll take the Ron Swanson strategem of only answering a question with a question: Is it all going directly back into the football program? (It would still be a mistake even if it was. Getting the 2015 season off to a good note with a virtually assured win over an easier opponent and better positioning us for a bowl game over other MAC schools is worth more to the program, both short term and long term.)

And if I go into the butcher shop and show the man how nice my smile is, he'll surely give me steaks for free. Nothing is of more value to a mid major program than a fat pay day.

[Schadenfreude]

As we all know, the Tennessee game is worth $1.2 million. Said he is working on getting away from 2 for 1 series with P5 schools. Thinks he is close to home and home series with P5 schools.

If he can get Indiana/Minnesota/Maryland type schools to agree to a home and home series with us, more power to him. But if two-for-ones are what it takes, let's do the two-for-ones, even if it means some no-name FCS home games to fill in the gaps. In my mind, it makes a really big difference to get P5 schools in here now and again. The atmosphere was really good for our games with Indiana, Minnesota, and Missouri. I like match ups with the Sun Belt and Conference USA, too, but I don't think they create the same level of interest among casual fans.

[Falconfreak90]

Jake had a lacrosse game the night the caravan was in the Cleveland/Akron area. I love what I'm reading.

[Class of 61]

Odd that nothing has been mentioned about the Indiana portion of Caravan.

[HoopsFan]

I went to Indy. Kingston was not there so Dan (Meyer?) took over. The 4 coaches spoke and I have never met Coach Babers before. Wow. I like him! He said that the team should be more comfortable with the plays and that the only "rookie" was the QB, but Matt was a great athlete and beat out the other two guys.

In a funny moment, he mentioned that the $120 for Falcon club was a "bar tab". He must not have gone out with Chris Jans

HoopsFan

[mscarn]

I'll take the Ron Swanson strategem of only answering a question with a question: Is it all going directly back into the football program? (It would still be a mistake even if it was. Getting the 2015 season off to a good note with a virtually assured win over an easier opponent and better positioning us for a bowl game over other MAC schools is worth more to the program, both short term and long term.)

And if I go into the butcher shop and show the man how nice my smile is, he'll surely give me steaks for free. Nothing is of more value to a mid major program than a fat pay day.

We fundamentally disagree on this, but let's presume money and paydays are of paramount importance. Not playing Tennessee is worth far, far more than $1.2 million. Colorado State received a buyout of $7.5 million from Florida for their head coach, and he got that job because he won football games. Putting our coaches in difficult positions to win not only hurts the immediate program, it hurts their long-term value as commodities should a larger school ever come to us seeking them out with their own fat buyout check in hand.

It's all about winning. Winning helps morale, helps the coaches, helps recruiting, helps attendance, helps fundraising, helps bowl positioning, helps just about everything. Repeatedly playing games where the odds are overwhelmingly against you is a recipe for disaster and not what this program should be about. If they want to make an argument that this infusion is needed to support the cost of attendance mandate from the MAC then you might be able to conceivably tie it directly to activities that immediately benefit the program and its recruiting. Still, it's a hefty price to pay regardless of intention.

To address another point, there's always options available. If Tennessee didn't have us they wouldn't play an 11 game season. They would have found somebody else just like we would have. We did it for the money; an FCS would have done the same thing for us. There's no question it was done for financial and expediency reasons, and both reflected flawed, short-term thinking at best when it comes to the best interests of the program.

[mscarn]

Also, the opening game is traditionally the best crowd of the year. The cost of depriving fans of that experience is steep. 18,000+ BGSU football fans of all stripes don't get to see a home game during the best chance many of them have to do so all year.

[Flipper]

1.2 million helps the program far more...near and short term...than a win over Dumptown State or whatever no name program you're going to plug in to come to BG. Do you honestly think this one game swap is going to have an impact on Babers resume as a coach? Honestly?

Economic reality...unlike theoretic exercises about crowds and bowl bids and resumes...is reality. For a mid major program where the school's entire athletic budget is in the $15 mil range, $1.2 million is not something you can pass up.