Jumbo Package: Lane Kiffin details difference between his offense and Sark’s approach

This is the most commonsense proposal the NCAA has had in years:

On Tuesday, the NCAA announced it has appointed a working group to “examine issues highlighted in recently proposed federal and state legislation related to student-athlete name, image and likeness.”

“This group will bring together diverse opinions from the membership — from presidents and commissioners to student-athletes — that will examine the NCAA’s position on name, image and likeness benefits and potentially propose rule modifications tethered to education,” said Val Ackerman, commissioner of the Big East and working group co-chair. “We believe the time is right for these discussions and look forward to a thorough assessment of the many complexities involved in this area.”

I’ve never fully understood the legal fiction that goes with granting schools the image, name, and likeness rights of its student athletes. I looked across Bryant Denny last year and saw a sea of No. 13 jerseys throughout the stands. Guess what? It isn’t so much that there are that many fans of the fabled unlucky number as there are fans of Tua Tagovailoa.

Vesting these clear property rights back to the very persons to whom they belong always seemed to me the most intuitive balance to strike between the amateurism model and well-established property law.

Schools are not placed in the position of of paying for non-employee services, or destroying the number of available scholarship opportunities, or trying to meet the tough balancing act of Title 9. Best part? It’s already gender neutral. How many Rebecca Lobo jerseys would UConn have sold? Wouldn’t Brittney Griner have loved to capitalize on a little extra cash from her dominating collegiate career? Wouldn’t the women’s golf team enjoy a branded-driver from Titleist? Even the white fullback on your roster, Player No. 37 on your old EA Sports College Football games, get a check from a renegotiated deal — even a $117 check while never seeing the field is at least an acknowledgement that it is your likeness being used, and your contribution to the team.

Besides having the benefit of running ahead of the curve on pending litigation and legislation for a change, this is simply the right, just, moral thing to do. The forfeiture of NLI rights is simply a bridge too far for what is otherwise a straightforward contractual agreement — and it is that provision and NCAA bylaw, and that provision alone, that makes the present system a grossly unfair one.

The ADs will howl about their merch sales being nibbled into. But, litigation and judicially required pay-for-play lurking on the horizon will be a damned sight far more costly — and ruinous to collegiate sports. This is not the issue or the time to be pennywise and pound foolish.

Make this happen, NCAA.

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After a scorching second round that saw the Tide gain 8 strokes, the Tide again played decent golf on Wednesday. But, the hole they dug for themselves in Round One, was just too much.

The No. 28/30 Alabama men’s golf team finished play at the 2019 NCAA Athens Regional in 11^th overall, closing with a team score of 891 (302-294-295). This marks just the second time in the last nine years, and the first time since the 2015 season, that the Crimson Tide has failed to reach the NCAA National Championships.

It’s been that way most of the season: At one bad round per event has cost this talented team far more strokes than it should have been on paper. Coach Jaw Seawell was absolutely sick after this season’s results, so I wouldn’t expect him to stand pat during the offseason as he gets the Tide back into contention.

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This is outstanding stuff:

Now back with the Crimson Tide, what makes Sarkisian’s offense different from Kiffin’s that made Alabama successful?

Former Alabama offensive coordinator and head coach at Florida Atlantic Lane Kiffin joined The Game with Ryan Fowler to the differences between his offense and Steve Sarkisian, reflects on wide receiver Amari Cooper and running back Derrick Henry remarkable seasons at Alabama, and what motivates Nick Saban at this point of his career.

Fans of schemes and Xs and Os will really enjoy this piece from LMFK. I know I did.

#Lane4Bama...#In2035

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There are far worse things than Reuben Foster being on the same team as Landon Collins. Collins was Foster’s mentor at ‘Bama, and helped keep his head out of the cloud and his rap sheet clean.

Now that they’re teammates with the Washington Crimsonskins, he plans on doing so again.

But from that standpoint, I’m glad to be a part of that and be a part of him, be a part of his life yet again because that leadership that I bring for him and just being around him -- putting my arm around him and taking him underneath my wing, that’s major, and he loves it.”

Step one, Reuben? Dump that girl — she’s allegedly filed two false reports already. Step two? You probably don’t need to ride dirty with weed and guns.

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ABC’s prime time college football schedule dropped yesterday, and we begin on August 31 with Oregon-Barn Round II.

Auburn against Oregon on Aug. 31 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, will be the first ABC Saturday Night Football game this season.

ESPN announced Wednesday the first three games of the 14th season of Saturday Night Football. LSU at Texas on Sept. 7 will be the Saturday Night Football game in Week 2. Defending national champion Clemson at Syracuse on Sept. 14 will fill that spot in Week 3.

The start time for Saturday Night Football has been moved up 30 minutes this season to 7:30 p.m. ET.

Feel free to watch Alabama maul Duke, take a nap, reload your drinks, and watch Auburn get ran out of the building to start your Labor Day off right! (I kid; Auburn is going to destroy the Ducks.)

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Another story on the impact of the Transfer Portal...this time, from a guy who has ran more quarterbacks off a field than the Cleveland Browns.

Kirby Smart is torn. Georgia’s coach believes players deserve a certain amount of transfer freedom. Excuse him, though, if he’s not exactly celebrating the seven-month anniversary of the transfer portal this week.

”My biggest problem with the portal is that it gives kids an easy way out,” Smart said. “I know the devil’s advocate of players’ rights and they should be able to go wherever they want to go. But I’m telling you, no normal parent would say, ‘At the first sign of trouble, I want my son to run.’”

Also in here: Ryan Day, Lincoln Riley, Herm Edwards, Clay Helton and others.

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Yesterday, the Alabama Board approved new contracts for Alabama’s basketball coaches:

Oats’ five-year contract worth $2.462 million per year was officially approved. He will earn a base salary of $275,000, a talent fee of $2.175 million a year and has an expense account of $12,000 a year for a grand total $2.462 million annually from March 28, 2019, through March 14, 2024. There was a buyout of $750,000 to Buffalo in order for Oats to take the basketball job at Alabama.

...

“We had turned down jobs that I just didn’t want to pursue that other people thought would be great fits for me and I didn’t think so,” Oats said. “Can you get players here? I think absolutely, they’ve had a lot of talent. Are they going to fund you, give you the resources necessary to compete at the highest level? One hundred percent they are. Is the administration fully behind you? Yes. I mean, those are the big ones, and they checked them all.

Can we say that $750,000 was an absolute steal for a buyout? On the flipside, Oats has a mother of a buyout himself — $9 million beginning next season, and it only drops by $1.9 million per year through 2024.

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The zombie argument that won’t go away:

“I’m open to the consideration and to looking at it and to thinking about it,” Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said Monday of playoff expansion. “Anytime our Big Ten champion is left out of the playoff … that’s something that needs to be discussed. Because I obviously believe that you go through and you win the Big Ten championship in this league, you’ve accomplished something that deserves to put you in position to play for the national championship.”

Yes. It’s this s***. Again. Worse, it’s expanding, with the Big 10’s ADs suddenly presenting a united front. And, look, I get it: that’s a lot of money the conference has left on the table the past two years because its flaky league champion had a really weak schedule and two 30+ point losses to 7-5 teams.

The solution, as we’ve discussed often, is 1. to improve OSU’s SOS — note, when they played Oklahoma and Virginia Tech, the Buckeyes made it in the playoffs, even with bad losses — and 2. for the rest of the conference to catchup. Penn State tried — but lost two games. And it seems as though Michigan never will. That’s a you-thing, bruh. It’s certainly no reason to add yet more games to unpaid players’ schedules.

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Finally, there’s this cool app called Clutch! that I got wind of yesterday:

...a peer-to-peer parking and tailgating marketplace connecting sports fans to sellers offering privately-held parking spaces near the stadium. Clutch! is like the Airbnb of gameday parking, where sellers with extra space surrounding event venues can list their spots on the app and fans coming to the games can reserve the spots in advance. This means people can reserve spots for tailgating and parking around the venue, without having to pay outrageous prices. Additionally, sellers can enhance the user experience by offering restroom access, beverage service or more. See how it works in this video, narrated by Josh Snead of SEC Shorts: https://vimeo.com/285175444

This isn’t a sponsored post or anything; this just seems like a cool idea by some ‘Bama entrepreneurs to address the very frustrating tailgating experience at Bryant Denny Stadium.

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That’s likely it for the day, folks. Have a good one.