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Media guides must be smaller this season

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I can see it now.. in 20 years the NCAA will be really excited about how things turned out. For those of you who can't see the future, here's a transcript of a conversation I overheard:

NCAA Guy #1: "These last 10 years have been outstanding, haven't they?"
NCAA Guy #2: "Outstanding! Except for those three years where 'Big' teams won the NC."
NCAA Guy #3: "Yeah.. damned Ohio State, USC and Notre Dame!"
NCAA Guy #1: "Notre Dame?"
Guy #3: "Yeah.. I hate them."
Guy #1: "HOW DARE YOU HATE NOTRE DAME?!? What great history they have!"
Guy #3: "Whatever.. they haven't broken .500 in 8 of the past 10 years."
Guy #2: "Look, Guy #3, you go to hell!"
Guy #3: "The point is that 7 of the past 10 years, the winners of the NC have been Utah, Louisville, Marshall, Tulsa, UAB, and South Florida won it twice. No more dominance by the "Big 6" conferences."
Guy #2: "Yeah. I wonder why that is?"
Guy #1: "Dummy.. of course it's because we limited every program's media guide. All teams were on an even playing field."

I guess I really don't see how a media guide changes anything. The results of a particular play, the outcome of a game or a season, the decision of a recruit, etc. Maybe the NCAA weirdos are smarter than I am (which really doesn't say much).
 
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is there any way to take these fuckers down a rung or two? the NCAA is clearly out of control... where are the checks and balances? can't the University Presidents get together and tell the NCAA to go fuck itsself???

better yet, who is going to be brave to stand up and call bullshit?

is there a way to figuratively throw the tea in the harbor???
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Actually a couple years ago when the small schools were threatening to sue to get into the BCS wasnt there a lot of rumblings about the Big market schools saying fuck the NCAA and forming their own leagues?
 
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It makes sense actually.

When you start recruiting someone you send them the Media Guide. If your wide open, you will read the media guide and you might make some kind of judgement based on it. Its stupid, but I can see where it makes sense.
 
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BuckeyeSoldier said:
Actually a couple years ago when the small schools were threatening to sue to get into the BCS wasnt there a lot of rumblings about the Big market schools saying fuck the NCAA and forming their own leagues?
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That would be awesome. The ACAA. American Collegiate Athletic Association. Make up their own bylaws and we're off and running. :biggrin:
 
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More Words on Smaller Media Guides - tOSU's Snapp

As seen at Dayton Daily News

NCAA wages war on words

Restrictions on media guides have schools scrambling to rewrite their gridiron history

By Doug Harris

Dayton Daily News

COLUMBUS | Longtime Ohio State sports information director Steve Snapp never thought he'd see the day when NCAA rules-makers would target his department.

<!--endtext--><!-- inset --><!--begintext-->Snapp is in charge of putting together the football media guide, which contains all the pertinent data from the program's 116 years. But while the Buckeyes have a rich history in the sport, they are getting no more space to tell their story than Division I-A newcomers such as Florida International.

The NCAA, which has come to view the guide as an over-the-top recruiting tool, has restricted schools to 208 pages this year. That meant Snapp had to slash all the bowl recaps prior to fifth-year coach Jim Tressel's arrival, last year's game summaries, profiles of athletic officials, action photos and specialty items such as records against ranked opponents.

Oh, yeah, he also had to reduce the type in some cases, which made the guide even less visually appealing. But he managed to trim 158 pages to meet the NCAA requirement.

Snapp agrees the publications were becoming increasingly unwieldy. After all, a full set of 2004 Big Ten media guides weighed a hernia-producing 28.2 pounds, compared to 17.8 this year.

But he believes the NCAA overstepped its bounds.

"Schools were trying to keep up with the Joneses and out-do each other," Snapp said. "But I still think it should have been an institutional decision."

The NCAA has said the rationale behind the rule was to promote fiscal responsibility and level the playing field in recruiting. But Michigan State's director of media relations, John Lewandowski, scoffs at those notions.

"In the grand scheme of things, I don't know why the NCAA felt the need to make this an issue," Lewandowski said. "To say that this is going to level the playing field is ludicrous. It really has nothing to do with recruiting.

"If they really wanted to level the playing field, why not limit the size of weight rooms and football facilities? Let's face it: If the media guide is on a kid's list when he selects a school, you're recruiting the wrong kid."

As for fiscal restraint, Lewandowski pointed out that the cost of football guides amounts to a mere pittance in multi-million-dollar athletic budgets. And schools are still allowed to publish and distribute information that was deleted — as long as it's stapled, not bound.

Many schools will mail out supplemental packets before the first game.

"There's no net savings," Lewandowski said. "It's flawed all the way around."

NCAA assistant director of public and media relations Crissy Schluep pointed out that member schools voted on the legislation.

"The membership definitely felt the number of pages was getting out of control," she said. "They wanted everyone to have the same amount of pages to convey the information."

Ohio State expects to lose money in additional copying costs since all its media guides had been printed for free under terms of a multi-year contract with the Columbus Dispatch, Snapp said. In exchange, the newspaper gets to sell the ads in the football program.

"It's actually going to cost us more now to produce (supplemental packets)," Snapp said.

Needing to shave 92 pages to meet the standard this year, Michigan State began by truncating many of its all-time statistical lists.

"These people put their blood, sweat and tears into the program, and we're telling them, 'Sorry, that's the way it goes,' " Lewandowski said.

Penn State chose to remove biographies on its 86 All-Americans, reducing them to head shots, as well as its list of all-time letterwinners. It also whacked bowl stories and regular-season scores prior to coach Joe Paterno's first year in 1966.

But while the cuts were painful, Brian Siegrist, assistant director of athletic communications, likes the sleeker look.

"I agree with the concept that they needed to be limited," he said. "There definitely was an arms race that was getting out of control. When you look at a school like Missouri that had a 600-page guide — everybody's mind-set was bigger is better as they tried to compete on the recruiting front.

"Really, there's a finite amount of information that needs to get into people's hands. Look at the professional media guides. They're usually pocket-sized."

Contact Doug Harris at 225-2125
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Let's face it: If the media guide is on a kid's list when he selects a school, you're recruiting the wrong kid."
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Absolutely pathetic! The NCAA is getting out of control and here is yet another example. If you seriously think that recruits include the media guide in their decision making process then you are flat out ignorant. More often than not you have dedicated fans buying these media guides as collectables or just to peruse through the stats. This is just pathetic
 
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Listening to folks complaing about the NCAA is a bit like listening to folks complain about the government and what THEY are doing. Just as WE are the government the member schools ARE the NCAA. The NCAA never veers far from what the member schools want it to do. That never makes all schools happy, just as the government never makes everybody happy, but it is a self governing body formed and ultimately managed by its member institutions so I'm not sure how much better it can get.
 
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Oh8ch said:
but it is a self governing body formed and ultimately managed by its member institutions so I'm not sure how much better it can get.
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They'd be perfect, in my opinion, if they'd listen to only me. Or maybe I should be the dictator of the NCAA. I'd agree with my decisions all of the time. Or, at least half..

You make a good point. They probably can't get much better, and we're only hearing about the ridiculous decisions the NCAA is making, not the ones that are fair and we'd all agree with. But I don't think that excuses the funnier decisions they've made.
 
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BB73 said:
Sandgk, props for finding this thread for your post!
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Thanks - It took a little of this
animatedgravedigger.jpg
 
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There definitely was an arms race that was getting out of control. When you look at a school like Missouri that had a 600-page guide
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Yes ... that's right, Missouri. A program that has seen a grand total of 567 wins -- dedicating a full page in the media guide to each victory. The last time Missouri didn't lose 4 or more games in a season was under Dan Devine in the 60's.

That 400 page hit to their media guide probably just killed Brad Smith's Heisman campaign.
 
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Dryden said:
Yes ... that's right, Missouri. A program that has seen a grand total of 567 wins -- dedicating a full page in the media guide to each victory. The last time Missouri didn't lose 4 or more games in a season was under Dan Devine in the 60's.

That 400 page hit to their media guide probably just killed Brad Smith's Heisman campaign.
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It just killed their recruiting too. Missouri always pulled in top notch recruits year after year.
 
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BuckeyeNation27 said:
It just killed their recruiting too. Missouri always pulled in top notch recruits year after year.
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That late 90s team was pretty fearsome with Katzenmoyer at quarterback. Or was that Corby Jones wearing a Katzenmoyer jersey?! I don't remember ...
 
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