Okay yes maybe I am on the ledge after last night, but even after sleeping on it and clearing my head, I'm finding myself struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel right now when it comes to the future of this program. Most of this is just venting but before you call me a tater or a bandwagon fan, let me make it clear that I was born and raised a Gamecock and was around for the 1-10 and 0-11 years. I will always have a soft spot for this program but as far as I'm concerned, with the way college football is headed our window has closed...permanently.
If this was five or ten years ago then I would consider this year zero and be hopeful for the future just like the first year under Lou Holtz, but NIL completely changes the game. The way I see it, college football will soon be made up of 15-20 major programs (maybe even less than that) that will fully commit to football and will basically be semi-professional teams, leaving all other programs in the dust. Unless the rules change, we will never be even remotely close to being competitive with those programs. The university just doesn't have the marketability, the finances, the donors, or even the desire to be competitive in this new world of college football.
Even if you don't take NIL into account, our biggest strength over the past few years has been our new facilities. As nice as they are, it won't take long for them to once again be considered obsolete compared to other programs, especially in our conference. We needed to take full advantage recruiting-wise once those facilities were completed, but apparently they weren't enough for a guy that claimed he could sell ice to an eskimo. Now, we're starting all over with facilities that are now several years old, which is ancient in the world of college football.
Obviously I could talk about the current staff and the recent decisions by the university but I don't feel like beating a dead horse. I'm just not seeing much hope for the future of this program and I just am not sure that I should even care anymore. I really do hope that I'm completely wrong and that I can look back at this and laugh at it in a few years, but only time will tell.
Okay enough venting. You can bash me now.
If this was five or ten years ago then I would consider this year zero and be hopeful for the future just like the first year under Lou Holtz, but NIL completely changes the game. The way I see it, college football will soon be made up of 15-20 major programs (maybe even less than that) that will fully commit to football and will basically be semi-professional teams, leaving all other programs in the dust. Unless the rules change, we will never be even remotely close to being competitive with those programs. The university just doesn't have the marketability, the finances, the donors, or even the desire to be competitive in this new world of college football.
Even if you don't take NIL into account, our biggest strength over the past few years has been our new facilities. As nice as they are, it won't take long for them to once again be considered obsolete compared to other programs, especially in our conference. We needed to take full advantage recruiting-wise once those facilities were completed, but apparently they weren't enough for a guy that claimed he could sell ice to an eskimo. Now, we're starting all over with facilities that are now several years old, which is ancient in the world of college football.
Obviously I could talk about the current staff and the recent decisions by the university but I don't feel like beating a dead horse. I'm just not seeing much hope for the future of this program and I just am not sure that I should even care anymore. I really do hope that I'm completely wrong and that I can look back at this and laugh at it in a few years, but only time will tell.
Okay enough venting. You can bash me now.
