WHO STAYS AND WHO GOES?

[nevadacat]

I was convinced a month ago that Battle would be leaving, so this is not a surprise. Didn’t consider DB, but with Coach Sprinkle going, that makes sense.

The portal will be the death of college sports.

[aucat]

I really can't find fault with Sprinkle quadrupling his salary. We had a really good run this year, and frankly, if we had brought our A game against KSU, who knows what might have happened? But I don't know....I can't really say that MSU has established itself as an upper tier team in the Big Sky. Time will tell, but heck the coach is gone and the team is dissolving.

Honestly, next year I'm going to take more interest in watching boys and girls high school basketball. If we are going to have a college sports landscape where the roster of a basketball team turns over every year, I am going to start losing interest in college basketball. The kids in high school? Guess what? Chances are the kids who were there as freshmen will also be there when they are sophs, juniors and seniors.

I know some folks are fine with this kind of roster turnover with college basketball and I'm glad they feel that way. I wish I felt that way too. But I absolutely abhor it and I'm afraid that's going to translate in a loss of interest in the sport.

[HighPlainsBobcat]

I really can't find fault with Sprinkle quadrupling his salary. We had a really good run this year, and frankly, if we had brought our A game against KSU, who knows what might have happened? But I don't know....I can't really say that MSU has established itself as an upper tier team in the Big Sky. Time will tell, but heck the coach is gone and the team is dissolving.

Honestly, next year I'm going to take more interest in watching boys and girls high school basketball. If we are going to have a college sports landscape where the roster of a basketball team turns over every year, I am going to start losing interest in college basketball. The kids in high school? Guess what? Chances are the kids who were there as freshmen will also be there when they are sophs, juniors and seniors.

I know some folks are fine with this kind of roster turnover with college basketball and I'm glad they feel that way. I wish I felt that way too. But I absolutely abhor it and I'm afraid that's going to translate in a loss of interest in the sport.

100% at this point that, had the MSUBobacts beat KSU, Sprinks would still be at Utah State. He was going to leave regardless. Despite the bloviating, prognosticating, etc, he was going to leave with the right offer. Utah State or some other HC job.

As some have said, MSU and the powers that be, need to decide, especially after the past few years, does the university want to be seriously considered. If so, pay up. If not, may the best man win.

Until the NCAA instills changes that reduces the “free for all” we currently are experiencing, low/mid major and even high major to some extent, will continue to see a “hired gun” sort of scenario.

[MSU01]

I think the Transfer Portal is going to look a lot different once the Covid year goes away and we go back to all players having only 4 years of playing eligibility. There are so many graduate transfers out there right now when in "normal" times those players (such as Darius, Raequan, Kola, Darian, and Isaiah) would have finished their careers with MSU and been universally celebrated for their championships and records instead of criticized by some for electing to use their extra year at a new school.

It sucks that Coach Sprinkle left, but at the same time it's amazing that he achieved the success he did in a much shorter timeframe than any of us likely thought was possible at the time he was hired and UM, Weber, and EWU were dominating the league year after year. I'll take that any day over the consistent mediocrity MSU had under Huse and Fish, when there were zero worries about the coach being hired away by another school.

[Desert_Bobcat]

I really can't find fault with Sprinkle quadrupling his salary. We had a really good run this year, and frankly, if we had brought our A game against KSU, who knows what might have happened? But I don't know....I can't really say that MSU has established itself as an upper tier team in the Big Sky. Time will tell, but heck the coach is gone and the team is dissolving.

Honestly, next year I'm going to take more interest in watching boys and girls high school basketball. If we are going to have a college sports landscape where the roster of a basketball team turns over every year, I am going to start losing interest in college basketball. The kids in high school? Guess what? Chances are the kids who were there as freshmen will also be there when they are sophs, juniors and seniors.

I know some folks are fine with this kind of roster turnover with college basketball and I'm glad they feel that way. I wish I felt that way too. But I absolutely abhor it and I'm afraid that's going to translate in a loss of interest in the sport.

Even if MSU had beaten K State, Sprinkle would be at a different school. As a person you can’t fault him for finding more financial security. As a professional you can’t fault him for wanting to go do bigger and better. No matter where you grew up, a person doesn’t dream of being the coach *insert low-major school* you dream of coaching in the NBA or at the Power 5 level. It takes some serious stones to come back to your alma mater to coach and even more resolve to do what he did in this short amount of time. Hate it or not, he’s done just about all you can with a school in a low-major conference.
As for “fans” losing interest because of the current collegiate landscape, I 100% get it. The NCAA has opened a can of worms they probably can’t close and the product is getting worse by the day. As someone who is a sibling of a student-athlete at MSU, this is extremely disheartening. MSU hoops have just had the best back-to-back seasons in their modern history (I figure most of us weren’t alive in 1929). We are currently in the greatest era for Montana State athletics and fans are just willing to slide back to the same state of mind they had for 20+ years of mediocrity that have preceded these last 4 years!? Yes the Golden Boy is gone, no Jubrile Belo isn’t coming back, yes we’ve lost recruits and have transfers that want to join the coach that recruited them. But what Sprinkle has done for the basketball program and university is put it on the national stage as a program that can:
#1 serve as a springboard for young hot-shot coaches
#2 Is a spot for juco or power 5 players to reset themselves mentally and be the star of a program
#3 Can win lots of games and compete in NCAA Tournament games
If that’s not grounds to be extremely optimistic I don’t know what is
If fans aren’t willing to come to games and support those newcomers, the odds of them staying longer drops to almost zero.
I will be at games supporting the team with the same level of fandom if they’re 30-3 or 3-30. I’m not expecting fans to support the same as I will. I’m asking please don’t give up on the new faces we’ll see on the court and on the sideline next year before they’re even given a chance.

[Bobcat4Ever]

I’m confused by the disparate references to the NCAA — they were mistreating players because they wouldn’t let them transfer at will, and now that they can there is a call for the NCAA to fix it. The NCAA (who is really a Council of Presidents who seem to have run for the exits) didn’t cause this problem — they were coerced into it by court decisions on multiple lawsuits. And the NCAA cannot fix it because they’ll just get sued over and over again.

[Cat Grad]

I’m confused by the disparate references to the NCAA — they were mistreating players because they wouldn’t let them transfer at will, and now that they can there is a call for the NCAA to fix it. The NCAA (who is really a Council of Presidents who seem to have run for the exits) didn’t cause this problem — they were coerced into it by court decisions on multiple lawsuits. And the NCAA cannot fix it because they’ll just get sued over and over again.

You're correct. Here's an article with the old school mentality the Supreme Court unanimously stuck down and opened the door for NIL. Seems really bizarre someone drawing a five million dollar contract is against paying kids, at least to me.

Also within the article are his thoughts on breaking college football into three tiers.
https://www.si.com/college/2023/04/13/u ... y-for-play

[RickRund]

I really can't find fault with Sprinkle quadrupling his salary. We had a really good run this year, and frankly, if we had brought our A game against KSU, who knows what might have happened? But I don't know....I can't really say that MSU has established itself as an upper tier team in the Big Sky. Time will tell, but heck the coach is gone and the team is dissolving.

Honestly, next year I'm going to take more interest in watching boys and girls high school basketball. If we are going to have a college sports landscape where the roster of a basketball team turns over every year, I am going to start losing interest in college basketball. The kids in high school? Guess what? Chances are the kids who were there as freshmen will also be there when they are sophs, juniors and seniors.

I know some folks are fine with this kind of roster turnover with college basketball and I'm glad they feel that way. I wish I felt that way too. But I absolutely abhor it and I'm afraid that's going to translate in a loss of interest in the sport.

Hate to be a debbie downer but I have to agree.

[mslacatfan]

Yup. The transfer portal is ruining college sports. I hate it.

[tetoncat]

We are digressing into an overall portal and NIL discussion, but. There are some who think it is best thing for athletes. Do you think each should get the same, stars should make way more, bench player who never gets in a game should be paid when an academic student doesn't. Curios to hear the range of support or reasons to not like.

My personal belief is most schools do no generate a lot of profit on sports, coach salaries are modest, and we are trying to spend on infrastructure, NIL and coaches and there will be fan/supporter fatigue except at the higher level conferences where they can offset some with tv revenue.

[aucat]

As an add on, I will be the first to admit it--I'm a "fair weather fan." I'm not a MSU alumnus, though I have been a fan of MSU for a long time--since the mid 90s. But that doesn't mean that I am automatically going to attend all MSU basketball games. When both teams were going through pretty bad seasons several years ago I didn't attend many games. I just wasn't interested. The entertainment value was not there for me. This past year I had season tickets for the women's games, and after this season for the men, I was definitely going to buy season tickets for the men next year. However, I can tell you that with both rosters dissolving I have lost enough interest in both programs that I seriously doubt that I will buy season tickets for EITHER team next year. That's the nature of sports entertainment. I think it is absolutely great to be a dedicated fan that will attend every basketball game and yell their head off even if the team is 30 points behind. I'm not one of those types of fans though. There's no way that I will never not be pulling hard for the Bobcats against every team they play, especially the hated Griz. But I will admit it. I like a winner. A team that competes for championships. That will get my butt to the arena to watch the games in person. The NCAA allowed this monster of free portal transfers to happen. They better figure out a way to fix it. Fast.

[Cat Grad]

We are digressing into an overall portal and NIL discussion, but. There are some who think it is best thing for athletes. Do you think each should get the same, stars should make way more, bench player who never gets in a game should be paid when an academic student doesn't. Curios to hear the range of support or reasons to not like.

My personal belief is most schools do no generate a lot of profit on sports, coach salaries are modest, and we are trying to spend on infrastructure, NIL and coaches and there will be fan/supporter fatigue except at the higher level conferences where they can offset some with tv revenue.

Put this in college sports and find it strange an old school coach pulling down 5 million a year is against NIL and thinks tough sheet if a school can't pay at the same time? Plus, his thoughts on the three levels of college football also comes across as arrogant. Glad the Supreme Court is helping the NCAA go to hell in a hand basket, personally.

https://www.si.com/college/2023/04/13/u ... y-for-play

[Desert_Bobcat]

Saw on Twitter this morning coach Andy Hill is leaving MSU and will be joining Sprinkle in Logan. If we were to retain one coach I hoped it was him. Have to imagine Haslam is on his way out as well.

[thefrank1]

Haslam will be a bigger loss than Sprinkle but if he moves on, I wish him well. Andy Hill never impressed me and wasn't here long enough to have an impact on our program.

[Cat Grad]

Saw on Twitter this morning coach Andy Hill is leaving MSU and will be joining Sprinkle in Logan. If we were to retain one coach I hoped it was him. Have to imagine Haslam is on his way out as well.

Man, Hill's resume speaks pretty loud. Everyplace he's been makes the tournament! Multiple schools: Griz, Utah, New Mexico, MSU...

[tetoncat]

Saw on Twitter this morning coach Andy Hill is leaving MSU and will be joining Sprinkle in Logan. If we were to retain one coach I hoped it was him. Have to imagine Haslam is on his way out as well.

Man, Hill's resume speaks pretty loud. Everyplace he's been makes the tournament! Multiple schools: Griz, Utah, New Mexico, MSU...

Because of him or did he come in to good situations. Wasn't he here 1 year. If so does he get credit for this year being so successful

[Bozcat003]

Ouch

[tetoncat]

I now fear Great will be gone as well.

[HighPlainsBobcat]

A week ago I was on the verge of “Sky is falling”. Today after seeing the anticipated moves, I have a lot of hope! We all should.

Go Cats Go

[Cat Grad]

Saw on Twitter this morning coach Andy Hill is leaving MSU and will be joining Sprinkle in Logan. If we were to retain one coach I hoped it was him. Have to imagine Haslam is on his way out as well.

Man, Hill's resume speaks pretty loud. Everyplace he's been makes the tournament! Multiple schools: Griz, Utah, New Mexico, MSU...

Because of him or did he come in to good situations. Wasn't he here 1 year. If so does he get credit for this year being so successful

One or two years is the new normal. Better get it done by the end of the first year or expect to be met half way through your second year with a pink slip. Portal makes it pretty damn easy to get decent players and turn it around the first year. Many examples just for football. Basketball is even better after this last year.