While it is true that some D2/D3 schools can choose one sport to compete at the D1 level, the converse is not true. As of the mid-1980s, a D1 school cannot choose to compete in one sport at a D2/D3 level. Santa Clara did just this until the mid-80s when the rule was changed (though SCU did have a grace period that permitted it to continue into the 1990s, after which the football program was killed).
EDIT: Sorry I misread your post. I thought you were trying to say that you would bring back football at D2/D3 level. After re-reading, you seem to be saying that you’d demote all SCU programs to D2/D3 and restart football at D1 level. If so, my bad.
I’ll take the opposite side of betterer with my usual naive optimism. If it’s true that Santa Clara intends to enter the revenue-sharing era with multiple millions of dollars put into agreements with players and if the advent of revenue-sharing effectively kills off NIL deals (which it should since aside from Caitlyn Clark and Cooper Flagg, college basketball players have very little marketing value), then I think Santa Clara may very well put itself in very competitive position.
The Big 10 and SEC schools are going to direct 75% of their revenue sharing to football, with the rest shared between all sports. At the current estimated revenue sharing amount of $20.5 million per power conference school, that means that roughly $3-5 million will go to men’s basketball. Kentucky will allocate its money differently than Clemson, probably. But the point is that if SCU intends to put $3-7.5 million into basketball (which is a helluva investment, but SCU is about as well positioned for it as any school of its size), then Santa Clara may just find itself capable of competing at the highest level of the mid-major ranks.
It’s not particularly noble to outspend your opponents as a means of gaining advantage. But it’s certainly the biggest advantage that SCU has over peer schools but has not to this point been an advantage that the school could employ directly. That’s about to change and may actually be the thing that allows the Broncos to finally break through.
re: football – It’s such a money pit. Notre Dame built its identity around football. No other Catholic university was able to do the same and only Boston College even tries. I would rather Santa Clara take a moon shot on what might be the college sport of the future by investing a lot in soccer and rugby where the ability to compete can be bought much more cheaply and may someday grow to compete in popularity with football/basketball. Maybe not, but I’d rather take that gamble than mortgage Swig Hall to finance football.
I am sure we have contacted a long list already but here is one … Isaiah Elohim from USC. Former Top 100 Recruit that did not play much at USC this year, so we would need to make the Podz pitch to him.
Day 4 of the transfer portal arrives, and things are starting to slow just a tad.
Steven Jamerson, USD’s solid center, is in the portal, and now USD finally looks all but decimated. The first Don leaves the Hilltop in Jason Rivera-Torres who never really cracked the rotation.
On3 is reporting that Tilly is talking to Ohio State and Illinois which means that he is gone-gone for big money, as we expected. He has been re-rated as a top-30ish transfer in the portal so far.
Moe Odum has committed to Bobby Hurley and ASU. Seems like a strange fit, but we will see.
A detail I missed: Hannah Rapp, sister of Austin Rapp, played for SCU this past season as a grad transfer. He was also a teammate of KJ Feagin in Australia. Perhaps Rapp would pick up the phone for SCU? He fits the mold of the front court player that’s needed with Tilly, O’Neil, and Tongue gone, though the staff will still have to find a big and solid post defender as Rapp is more finesse than bully-ball.
Riley of USF to the Portal. If he does indeed leave, probably a bigger loss than either Tilly or Bryan because he is just scratching the surface of how good he can be.
I just saw that. Agree. Riley would have been Frosh of the Year if not for Rapp and was a surefire starter next year for the Dons with an outside shot at an NBA career if he really developed to his potential.
Riley was already a starter this year and played significant. Early season had several 20pt+ games. Agree ton of talent and high ceiling.
He’s a USF legacy so surprised he’s leaving.
re: Tilly…unless something changes with his toughness, rebounding, interior play and he takes a step forward, I suspect OSU, Illinois or whatever power conf school he lands at will end up being disappointed with what he provides. Can you see him going against the typical guys that Michigan St. has for instance??? Things move extremely fast with the portal stuff and I could see where a coach could be easily romanced by a highlight tape of Tilly nailing a three, shot faking and driving for dunk or the occasional nifty move around the rim. But if you watch him play night-in, night-out, especially against more physical posts you’ll leave with a different impression. Just watch his tape vs. a less than elite Fallah at OSU and the red flags would be plainly obvious.
That said…maybe it finally clicks for him and some other coach gets him to understand that he must be more physical and embrace contact and the not so glamorous battles in the paint.
Michael Ajayi out at Gonzaga. Not totally unexpected, but it forces the Zags to replace a lot for next season. Especially since it’s not guaranteed that Ike stays and who knows if Steele Venters wants to spend a 6th or 7th (?) year as a college student.
Poor USD is down to just three scholarship players with eligibility remaining. Portland is down to just four. USD at least has three commits coming in next season, but Portland only has one. It’s a full rebuild for both squads…unsustainable and will likely spell the end for both Legans and Lavin if they both even coach next season.
Jevon Porter (LMU) committed to Mizzou. Hometown move and where his older brother played college ball. Makes sense.
Still no Gaels…Bennett’s bunch have pretty clear roles for next season. But Marauskas, Lewis, and potentially Wessels all could have high major appeal. Not sure what Randy’s secret sauce is. Or maybe the Gaels will have a delayed reaction to the portal disease but aren’t immune.
Does a student athlete that enters their name into the portal immediately cease becoming a student at the school in which he/she is leaving? Christoph and Tyree for example, can they continue to attend class, functions, etc until they sign with new school?
If anything, it has to be a little uncomfortable or awkward.
“On the men’s side, 53 percent of all rotation players previously logged minutes at another Division I school, according to a Washington Post analysis. Roughly one-third of these key contributors — the top eight players in total minutes on each roster — played for another D-I program just last season.”
“There are exceptions, including Purdue (a No. 4 seed) and Marquette (a No. 7 seed). Neither team has a single player in its eight-man rotation who has transferred at any point in his college career.”
“And then there are the most extreme cases of the Portal Effect. At St. John’s, six of Rick Pitino’s top eight players in minutes are transfers. He recently said on the Pardon My Take podcast that he is not recruiting any high school players for next season, feeling he can’t win big with them in the transfer era. At Kentucky, the entire rotation joined the team this past offseason, after coach John Calipari left for Arkansas. Together, the Wildcats’ top eight players entered this season with plenty of experience: close to 18,000 combined minutes. It was just all at other D-I schools.”
While the story focuses on Maryland’s Willard going to ‘Nova, there is meaningful discussion about the amount the Wildcats will spend, unencumbered by D1 football.
If the 5 million dollar number is accurate, it seems we’d be competitive.
This depends on the institutional and team rules. The majority of coaches likely take any student-athlete off any aid once they enter the portal, at lest if they’re not graduate transfers, though it’s not required.
The only update that I could find today is that Martin Gumwel entered the portal, a 6-11 center from Pepperdine who, as far as I can tell, never played a single minute.
Some of the highly rated transfers are starting to commit, but many are those following their coaches to new jobs (e.g. Drake to Iowa). It’ll probably be mid-April before SCU starts really getting transfer commitments. There are also whisperings that many players in the portal and their agents are vastly overestimating the amount of money actually out there on the market, enticing students with the promise of hundreds of thousands of dollars when there may be merely tens of thousands to offer. That’s allegedly creating additional confusion that will take time to work out–product of an opaque market with no rules. Everyone is operating on rumor.
