KEN WILLIS: College football knows what it wants, but can it get there?
It figures.
During these turbulent times, when no headline appears too outrageous, here comes a basketball guy to save college football.
Remember Tom McMillen? College superstar (Maryland), Rhodes Scholar, 11-year NBA journeyman, U.S. Congressman . . .
McMillen, now 70, is president and CEO of a group called Lead1, which is a trendy modern label for the gang formerly known as the Division 1A Athletic Directors Association. He’s been the group’s leader since 2015, and for his first five or so years, his biggest challenge was deciding how best to divvy up the riches.
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But along came pay-for-play (the NIL), the transfer portal, seismic conference realignments and, of course, Covid, which taught everyone that the status quo isn’t immune from massive alterations.
It was only natural for folks to suggest big-league college football (Division I FBS — speaking of a label in need of modernizing) will break away from the NCAA’s oversight and officially become what it appears to be now: Its own entity, a higher-profile version of Triple A baseball, an NFL feeder league that also feeds millions and millions of beneficiaries — from 40-deep support staffs to the intern who gasses up the head coach’s courtesy car.
Then came this week’s seasonal meeting of athletic directors, who are suddenly digging like hell for some semblance of firm footing. And order.
A very large majority is strongly in favor of remaining under the NCAA tent, we’re told.
Knowing how the devil is always in the details, we bring you the rest of that thought . . .
. . . Assuming the NCAA “can be more streamlined and less bureaucratic.”
Cue the sad trombone.
“Rarely do we have such consensus on an issue,” McMillen told ESPN after the meeting. “It was doubly reaffirmed today that the status quo was not acceptable, and that there was a strong, very strong preference for a model in the NCAA that is extremely streamlined and much less bureaucratic.
“. . . There’s a better way to run a railroad within the NCAA.”
Running a railroad is child’s play compared to bringing together the Iowa States and Tulsas with the Ohio States and Notre Dame. The leadership from the wide variety of football schools — mega-money Power 5s and scrappy, put-upon Group of 5s — likely couldn’t agree on how to organize a two-car parade.
But hey, it’s a start. There’s a destination. The route will be the issue.
At least they have Tom McMillen. At 6-foot-11, he can see further over the horizon than most and can keep reminding the ADs something workable awaits.
In theory, anyway.
The Picks: Nick Saban, Alabama get the belt, but avoid the lash
Let’s see . . . hmmm . . . who gets the belt today?
Last week, Sept. 10 was etched in stone as a holiday among Sun Belt Conference football schools. Three of its members pulled off stunners and, along the way, got a coach fired.
Appalachian State beat Texas A&M, Marshall beat Notre Dame, and Georgia Southern cleared out Scott Frost’s desk at Nebraska.
Looking down this week’s slate of Sun Belt opponents, we find the 17th-ranked Baylor Bears, who were ranked ninth before losing last week. This week the Sun Belt delivers the Texas State Bobcats to Waco, so buckle up, Bears.
Who else? Oh, my. What’s this? Nick Saban?
That’s right, Alabama, fresh off a closer-than-expected win over Texas, kinda welcomes Louisiana Monroe to Tuscaloosa. Yes, kinda. Some visitors, you have to keep an eye on. Nick Saban went full Nick Saban when it was suggested, ever so slightly, that ’Bama faces a decreased degree of difficulty this week.
“Every player should want to be the best player they can be,” he said. “Why would it matter whether we’re playing Texas or playing somebody else?”
Most of us eventually give in to Human Nature and let it run its course. Not Nick Saban; he’ll ride into the sunset throwing haymakers at it — ’Bama 44, La. Monroe 2.
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Elsewhere: FSU by 8 over Louisville (Friday night); Georgia big over S. Carolina; Oklahoma by just 8 over Nebraska; Oregon mildly upsets BYU; Auburn over Penn State; Notre Dame might beat Cal, might not; Ole Miss over Georgia Tech; Florida beats USF by a few TDs; UCF over FAU; Texas A&M takes it out on Miami; Princeton beats Stetson; LSU over Mississippi State; and in a matchup long on schematics and short on personality, the Engineers of RPI, at home, by 12 over the Engineers of WPI.
Rockets and the Wheel: RPI, WPI has given us plenty
BTW: Worcester Polytechnic Institute gave us Robert Goddard, the father of 20th Century rocketry, which is rather impressive. But Rensselaer Polytechnic gave us George Ferris, who invented the wheel. Yes, that wheel.
RPI also produced the men who invented television (Allen DuMont) and email (Raymond Tomlinson), while my school claims the former president of Red Lobster.
— Reach Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: College football has a goal; can Nick Saban dodge the Sun Belt's lash?
