The Collective......does it work....what's your gripe

[BobcatBuiltTexan]

I felt that the bobcat portal thread was taking a turn towards discussing the collective and its effectiveness instead of just updating discussing the guys we are losing or getting......

I'll start.....

It depends on what you think the collective is for. As someone that is in and around college football players a lot I feel your collective is doing it's job. A collective is to BRING IN players not necessarily retain them. As I know it, your young guys don't get a part of the collective. The older guys get the money and the extra help right now. Most your young guys aren't playing so you have a lot of young talent stock piled right now.

The older guys take advantage of the collective and the ones that perform at a high level are able to move up to fbs and better their situation as a whole, if they choose to. There is nothing you can do about that. UGA, UF, BAMA, etc lose players every year and they ARE paying their young guys. NIL isn't there to keep them when you are not at the top of the heap.

I think that there should be an adjustment to how everyone is viewing the collective and how it is being used. Again you will never keep the ones that are getting 500K, but what you can do is attract that hs kid that is choosing between you and a directional fbs school....you will get them because they will play meaningful football get some money and have a chance to move on....that's ok.

Next MSU has lost 3 players that were key players so far...guys the collective is doing it's job...if MSU had lost A.jones, polidore, dowler, dowler, eiden, and 3-4 freshman I would say you're not doing a good job. As it is right now the core of the team is still there and as of now are coming back....you stop donating and you'll see how hard it is to be as good as you are right now.

[AFCAT]

I've changed my view on the Collective since it started. I used to try to do my little part trying to help out individual players that I enjoyed watching. I'd purchase their individual gear, regardless of what year they were in the program. I also donated a smaller amount of money to the Collective every month to help everyone on the team. I thought most, if not all, Bobcat players can sign NIL contracts with the Collective and be compensated in some way. If Freshmen or lower level athletes/non-starters can't join the Collective and be compensated or are being excluded from compensation, then that's news to me and it's wrong, if that's the case.
Last season, I changed my philosophy and started donating a larger sum of money to help the whole team via the Collective and only purchase individual items if that player is a senior or I purchase Group merch (i.e., DONJOY Mafia gear, or Juice Squad gear). My issue with NIL isn't our collective necessarily, but the larger schools using NIL collective millions to recruit players in other programs. Obviously, the Bobcat Collective will NEVER be able to do that. I'm not going to just go out and donate even MORE money to the Bobcat Collective to hope to match or keep a player from bolting for a higher paycheck. I just wanted the Bobcat Collective to do what its mission was and that is to: "Serve Montana State University student-athletes....and allow student-athletes to earn compensation while serving the greater Montana State University community."
I'm not into sending in money to try and keep stars or bring in talent. I'm donating to help the athletes that are already here and want to play here.


It's funny; MSU and um are lucky there isn't an NFL team within a decent distance to the majority of Montanans. I checked and it would be cheaper for me to have season tickets or just purchase individual game tickets to almost any NFL team than it would be for me to continue to donate as much as I do to Bobcat Athletics every year. Obviously, there are other reasons I'm a Bobcat fan, but donating for the entertainment value isn't cheap.

[BobcatBuiltTexan]

I've changed my view on the Collective since it started. I used to try to do my little part trying to help out individual players that I enjoyed watching. I'd purchase their individual gear, regardless of what year they were in the program. I also donated a smaller amount of money to the Collective every month to help everyone on the team. I thought most, if not all, Bobcat players can sign NIL contracts with the Collective and be compensated in some way. If Freshmen or lower level athletes/non-starters can't join the Collective and be compensated or are being excluded from compensation, then that's news to me and it's wrong, if that's the case.
Last season, I changed my philosophy and started donating a larger sum of money to help the whole team via the Collective and only purchase individual items if that player is a senior or I purchase Group merch (i.e., DONJOY Mafia gear, or Juice Squad gear). My issue with NIL isn't our collective necessarily, but the larger schools using NIL collective millions to recruit players in other programs. Obviously, the Bobcat Collective will NEVER be able to do that. I'm not going to just go out and donate even MORE money to the Bobcat Collective to hope to match or keep a player from bolting for a higher paycheck. I just wanted the Bobcat Collective to do what its mission was and that is to: "Serve Montana State University student-athletes....and allow student-athletes to earn compensation while serving the greater Montana State University community."
I'm not into sending in money to try and keep stars or bring in talent. I'm donating to help the athletes that are already here and want to play here.


It's funny; MSU and um are lucky there isn't an NFL team within a decent distance to the majority of Montanans. I checked and it would be cheaper for me to have season tickets or just purchase individual game tickets to almost any NFL team than it would be for me to continue to donate as much as I do to Bobcat Athletics every year. Obviously, there are other reasons I'm a Bobcat fan, but donating for the entertainment value isn't cheap.

Interesting take....never thought about it like that. I like that......it's about supporting the team and players that play for the montana st community.....I like it. I think if more people take that approach and stop worrying about who we lose and downrating them acting like they are walking out on family and such the happier they will be......