Here are a few things Gene and I have picked up recently on the football scheduling issues and the coaching salary reductions:
SCHEDULING DRAMA
Nothing is off the table when it comes to Florida State’s 2020 football schedule. Contrary to some premature reports, nothing has been decided regarding whether the ACC will go to a conference-only schedule, or retain some non-conference opponents. There’s also been no consensus on whether the schedule should begin the first week of September or will be pushed back a few weeks. Ultimately, we hear nothing is expected to be decided or announced by the ACC prior to July 29.
One of the options being discussed is the ACC going to a regional “pod” schedule. In this scenario, teams within each of the three pods would play each other twice -- in an effort to reduce the amount of air travel -- with two out-of-pod ACC games added. While that sounds fine on the surface, some conference schools aren’t proponents of this format. We believe FSU is in that group. The primary reason is that some teams are still going to have to travel via plane and probably stay in a hotel regardless – there aren’t opponents close enough for bus trips to become viable.
One of the positive developments from the Big 10 and Pac-12 going to conference-only schedules is that Notre Dame’s schedule has opened up. The Irish are already scheduled to play six games vs. ACC opponents. We’ve heard that there’s talk of two more ACC games being added, and FSU is one of the teams on the short list. If it happens, the game would likely have to be played in South Bend. That’s because the Seminoles are scheduled to host Notre Dame to kick off the 2021 season. If there is a game in South Bend this fall, what would Florida State’s motivation be to play an additional game that would carry huge travel costs with no tangible revenue coming in? Just shooting at the hip, but maybe FSU can ask for Notre Dame/NBC to reimburse it for travel costs and throw in a monetary bonus.
Hopefully, you read Corey’s column on why the in-state rivalry games should still be played if the ACC goes to a conference-only schedule. The good news is we hear there hasn’t been any initial pushback from the ACC or SEC on these rivalry games being played. In fact, one scenario that has been mentioned is an end-of-year ACC vs. SEC challenge, where teams within both conferences face off against each other at the end of the season.
While there’s a push to go to some type of conference-only schedule, Florida State is still committed to playing as many games as possible. While we think it's unlikely that the Seminoles end up playing West Virginia or Boise, there's a chance those games could be replaced with regional opponents. Samford could still be on the table if the Bulldogs commit to a level of COVID protocols that satisfies FSU and the ACC.
The bottom line is there a LOT of moving parts to all this, and they may not be resolved until the end of the month.
MORE ON COACHES' SALARY CUTS & MORE
As you likely saw on Friday, FSU's athletics department is reducing the salaries of all employees who make over $150,000 by 10 percent this year. As you might guess, that basically only includes the top administrators in the department, head coaches and assistant coaches in the high-profile sports (football, basketball and maybe baseball).
We also confirmed from a source that three FSU coaches -- Mike Norvell, Leonard Hamilton and Sue Semrau -- voluntarily took larger pay cuts. Norvell is taking a 25 percent reduction this year, while Hamilton and Semrau are each taking 15 percent cuts. Athletics director David Coburn also took a 20 percent reduction.
From what we were told, this was actually Norvell's idea from the beginning. He volunteered to take a larger cut to offset the reductions for his staff members. So his salary this year drops from $3.75 million to around $2.8 million (not much more than the $2.6 million he made last year at Memphis).
That's a lot of money, but it shows a couple things -- loyalty to his coaches, since more than one of them are believed to have taken less money at FSU than they could have made elsewhere. And also a belief in himself and his staff. If this staff is as successful at FSU as Norvell thinks it will be, he will be in line to more than make up for that lost income.
Some have asked why Hamilton and Semrau didn't take larger cuts -- as if a 15 percent reduction isn't enough. But it likely comes down to having smaller staffs. Football staffs are several times larger than those of those other sports, so they wouldn't need to reduce quite as much to help out their coaches. And those staffs also have been in place for some time. In Norvell's case, he literally just recruited these coaches to Tallahassee, and they moved their families here. It's tough to then ask them to take a 10 percent pay cut just a few months later.
We'll have more on all of this as things develop.
SCHEDULING DRAMA
Nothing is off the table when it comes to Florida State’s 2020 football schedule. Contrary to some premature reports, nothing has been decided regarding whether the ACC will go to a conference-only schedule, or retain some non-conference opponents. There’s also been no consensus on whether the schedule should begin the first week of September or will be pushed back a few weeks. Ultimately, we hear nothing is expected to be decided or announced by the ACC prior to July 29.
One of the options being discussed is the ACC going to a regional “pod” schedule. In this scenario, teams within each of the three pods would play each other twice -- in an effort to reduce the amount of air travel -- with two out-of-pod ACC games added. While that sounds fine on the surface, some conference schools aren’t proponents of this format. We believe FSU is in that group. The primary reason is that some teams are still going to have to travel via plane and probably stay in a hotel regardless – there aren’t opponents close enough for bus trips to become viable.
One of the positive developments from the Big 10 and Pac-12 going to conference-only schedules is that Notre Dame’s schedule has opened up. The Irish are already scheduled to play six games vs. ACC opponents. We’ve heard that there’s talk of two more ACC games being added, and FSU is one of the teams on the short list. If it happens, the game would likely have to be played in South Bend. That’s because the Seminoles are scheduled to host Notre Dame to kick off the 2021 season. If there is a game in South Bend this fall, what would Florida State’s motivation be to play an additional game that would carry huge travel costs with no tangible revenue coming in? Just shooting at the hip, but maybe FSU can ask for Notre Dame/NBC to reimburse it for travel costs and throw in a monetary bonus.
Hopefully, you read Corey’s column on why the in-state rivalry games should still be played if the ACC goes to a conference-only schedule. The good news is we hear there hasn’t been any initial pushback from the ACC or SEC on these rivalry games being played. In fact, one scenario that has been mentioned is an end-of-year ACC vs. SEC challenge, where teams within both conferences face off against each other at the end of the season.
While there’s a push to go to some type of conference-only schedule, Florida State is still committed to playing as many games as possible. While we think it's unlikely that the Seminoles end up playing West Virginia or Boise, there's a chance those games could be replaced with regional opponents. Samford could still be on the table if the Bulldogs commit to a level of COVID protocols that satisfies FSU and the ACC.
The bottom line is there a LOT of moving parts to all this, and they may not be resolved until the end of the month.
MORE ON COACHES' SALARY CUTS & MORE
As you likely saw on Friday, FSU's athletics department is reducing the salaries of all employees who make over $150,000 by 10 percent this year. As you might guess, that basically only includes the top administrators in the department, head coaches and assistant coaches in the high-profile sports (football, basketball and maybe baseball).
We also confirmed from a source that three FSU coaches -- Mike Norvell, Leonard Hamilton and Sue Semrau -- voluntarily took larger pay cuts. Norvell is taking a 25 percent reduction this year, while Hamilton and Semrau are each taking 15 percent cuts. Athletics director David Coburn also took a 20 percent reduction.
From what we were told, this was actually Norvell's idea from the beginning. He volunteered to take a larger cut to offset the reductions for his staff members. So his salary this year drops from $3.75 million to around $2.8 million (not much more than the $2.6 million he made last year at Memphis).
That's a lot of money, but it shows a couple things -- loyalty to his coaches, since more than one of them are believed to have taken less money at FSU than they could have made elsewhere. And also a belief in himself and his staff. If this staff is as successful at FSU as Norvell thinks it will be, he will be in line to more than make up for that lost income.
Some have asked why Hamilton and Semrau didn't take larger cuts -- as if a 15 percent reduction isn't enough. But it likely comes down to having smaller staffs. Football staffs are several times larger than those of those other sports, so they wouldn't need to reduce quite as much to help out their coaches. And those staffs also have been in place for some time. In Norvell's case, he literally just recruited these coaches to Tallahassee, and they moved their families here. It's tough to then ask them to take a 10 percent pay cut just a few months later.
We'll have more on all of this as things develop.
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