re: Bagmen of College Football

They certainly give out of their own pockets but they tend to have a circle they got the money from. A very tight circle. You had folks that were willing to put in money and then you had folks that distributed money. It was a delicate balance of keeping things very quiet but also putting multiple layers between where the money came from and the recruit. You wanted the bagman to be someone smart and quiet that understood business and money.

The hilarious thing to me is when schools act like only other schools did it. Everyone did it, the only difference was in how they did it.

Have a "cousin" that owned a large tractor dealership in North Alabama. First time I met him he told me all about his $5,000/month tithe to the Auburn player fund after I told him I was an Alabama grad. Told me he couldn't remember how many handshakes he'd given out over the years. You'd think he could barely rub two nickels together when you see him. Total good old boy hayseed.

In retrospect that 5k seems kind of light.

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I posted months ago, that the SEC schools would be in trouble with the NIL money. Nobody with the possible exception of Alabama and Georgia can compete with Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma. Look at the school endowments, an indication of how much money the alumni are willing to cough up. LSU, the Mississippi schools, Arkansas, Auburn all are not going to be able to match the money.

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School endowments are not a very good metric. And regardless, schools are still capped at 85 scholarships players, 25 scholarships per year, and 105 total players on the roster.

Unlimited scholarships and unlimited roster sizes created far greater disparity between the biggest/wealthiest programs than NIL ever will. Bear Bryant used to have 150 scholarship players on his roster to keep his SEC rivals from having any talent. Nebraska used to employ similar tactics in the Big Eight.

By contrast, I think every school in the SEC is going to be fine in the NIL era. I actually think the opposite may be true: currently teams like Bama and Texas have a massive built in advantage because of superior facilities, fan support, tradition, coaching staffs, etc. But donors/alum from schools like Mizzou or Arkansas can offer just as much or more in NIL money if they so choose as anyone at Bama or Texas.

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I posted months ago, that the SEC schools would be in trouble with the NIL money. Nobody with the possible exception of Alabama and Georgia can compete with Texas

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This just makes their future losses to Vandy even more enjoyable

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currently teams like Bama and Texas have a massive built in advantage because of superior facilities, fan support, tradition, coaching staffs, etc.

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t.u. doesn't have superior facilities, fan support or coaching staff to any SEC program and their current tradition is of being soft and weak.