[McKenwood]

I would still like to see evidence that someone high up in the university's administration actually has (i) a vision for what the future of college football should be, (ii) Stanford's place in that vision, and (iii) a willingness to lead the transition.


Will there be an NCAA? If there is to be a "super conference," how will its members be picked? How will non-football sports be funded? What will be the relationship between the athletic and academic enterprises in universities?



The passivity I see from our university is unbecoming.

Stanford's administration is so opaque, who knows what is going on. Stanford News Service posted an interview with Jerry Yang yesterday. BoT President commenting on all of the recent leadership changes at Stanford. An opportunity also to comment on the state of Athletics. But there was nothing. So we are left to try to read tidbits from other sources around the internet which may or may not be true.

However I think that Stanford is in a weak position to influence the future of college football, and the BoT, AD and their advisors know it. The drivers of college football right now (and therefore of college athletics) are the SEC, Big 10, ESPN and Fox. Stanford has a weak hand with all of them. If a super league or super conference was formed now for college football, Stanford would not be included. To be honest, I don't know that Stanford can do anything to change that situation. But Stanford is not giving in to my defeatist attitude and is trying to find a lifeline for both football and the rest of Athletics by pursuing membership in the ACC. I don't see passivity at all.

Good summary Branner and Spiny. Really not sure who is running the show at Stanford now but the prior leadership team was atrocious in so many areas, including athletics. They were disinterested, hostile and/or incompetent. Now Stanford will be spending much more on sports than it ever planned for because of this malfeasance.

I wish Stanford had led change at the NCAA level and hived off football from all the other sports five years ago. NCAA controls the championships and TV contracts for all the other sports with the MBB tournament being a big revenue generator. Other sports (WBB, WSoccer) may get larger TV contracts in the future for their tournaments. In this structure the NCAA would not have to deal with football and all the shenanigans that go on with this sport and could impose some order on the other sports by controlling the championships and TV contracts.

I also wish Stanford and like minded schools had put a stop to the NCAA's senseless strategy of litigating against the rights of student athletes. Stanford should have been at the forefront of respecting the rights of their student-athletes. A compromise that would have been beneficial to student-athletes and the schools could have been agreed to long ago. Instead we have schools basically paying players under the guise of NIL and massive turnover in teams every year via the portal.

As of now Stanford is wounded, with their sports credibility in football shot (and all its other sports dependent on where football ends up) and no meaningful leadership in place to make change at the NCAA level.

[McKenwood]

I would still like to see evidence that someone high up in the university's administration actually has (i) a vision for what the future of college football should be, (ii) Stanford's place in that vision, and (iii) a willingness to lead the transition.


Will there be an NCAA? If there is to be a "super conference," how will its members be picked? How will non-football sports be funded? What will be the relationship between the athletic and academic enterprises in universities?



The passivity I see from our university is unbecoming.

Stanford's administration is so opaque, who knows what is going on. Stanford News Service posted an interview with Jerry Yang yesterday. BoT President commenting on all of the recent leadership changes at Stanford. An opportunity also to comment on the state of Athletics. But there was nothing. So we are left to try to read tidbits from other sources around the internet which may or may not be true.

However I think that Stanford is in a weak position to influence the future of college football, and the BoT, AD and their advisors know it. The drivers of college football right now (and therefore of college athletics) are the SEC, Big 10, ESPN and Fox. Stanford has a weak hand with all of them. If a super league or super conference was formed now for college football, Stanford would not be included. To be honest, I don't know that Stanford can do anything to change that situation. But Stanford is not giving in to my defeatist attitude and is trying to find a lifeline for both football and the rest of Athletics by pursuing membership in the ACC. I don't see passivity at all.

Good summary Branner and Spiny. Really not sure who is running the show at Stanford now but the prior leadership team was atrocious in so many areas, including athletics. They were disinterested, hostile and/or incompetent. Now Stanford will be spending much more on sports than it ever planned for because of this malfeasance.

I wish Stanford had led change at the NCAA level and hived off football from all the other sports five years ago. NCAA controls the championships and TV contracts for all the other sports with the MBB tournament being a big revenue generator. Other sports (WBB, WSoccer) may get larger TV contracts in the future for their tournaments. In this structure the NCAA would not have to deal with football and all the shenanigans that go on with this sport and could impose some order on the other sports by controlling the championships and TV contracts.

I also wish Stanford and like minded schools had put a stop to the NCAA's senseless strategy of litigating against the rights of student athletes. Stanford should have been at the forefront of respecting the rights of their student-athletes. A compromise that would have been beneficial to student-athletes and the schools could have been agreed to long ago. Instead we have schools basically paying players under the guise of NIL and massive turnover in teams every year via the portal.

As of now Stanford is wounded, with their sports credibility in football shot (and all its other sports dependent on where football ends up) and no meaningful leadership in place to make change at the NCAA level.