Mailbag 2/15

GTBuzzed: I recently read about the “Tech Way” Collective and how it compares to other colleges, especially the millions of dollars in the Miami Collective. It’s one thing for the Pros to independently partner with an agency and run sponsorships. The agencies are independent of the Pro team. These NIL “Collectives” seem different. It’s a contest of which college can gather the most money for the university with pre-signed advertising deals, and then distribute to the highest-profile sports positions in that institution. I’m not sure if the millions in NIL are commensurate with a given company’s revenue increase from advertising, or if it’s just a way for boosters to officially funnel money in.

My questions are: Is my understanding of NIL Collectives basically correct? And if so, isn’t it basically a slush fund? And if so, how is any of this legal and/or regulated?

Ben: Officially, it’s a way for boosters to funnel money in. It should not be in any way tied to money that is coming from the schools. Generally, part of these agreements is that they attend a particular school or the deal is only offered to members of a particular school (as is the case with the Tech Way). As far as legality and regulation, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Jack: Yes, this is pretty much the gist of the current state of collectives. Will this be the state though going forward? Who knows. The NCAA’s new president, former Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, is coming in at a time when the NCAA needs action from capitol hill to smooth the future of NIL. I think the idea here was to get a guy who knew that world and could guide the NCAA through what certainly will be a contentious period in its history.

chilidogringsFO: Thoughts on the loss of our S/T coach and his apparent replacement?

Ben: Before I answer this question, I wanted to apologize for the lack of content. Things typically slow down a bit after football season wraps up, and that has only been escalated as FTRS is going through some staffing changes. Unfortunately, Robert is stepping away from being our Football editor to focus more on work and school, and I have not been able to find an interested replacement yet (look for a post later this week about that). But with that, coverage has fallen off a great deal. In the interim, Jack and Jake have done a great job keeping us apprised on all of the other goings-on of the rest of Georgia Tech sports!

Now, to answer your question, I am a bit disappointed to lose Jason Semore. I thought he was a phenomenal linebacker coach for us, and honestly, I kind of wish he had been given an opportunity to serve in the co-DC job that Kevin Sherrer got, but I understand why he wasn’t promoted. He is still very inexperienced, and now, he’s just getting a G5 DC job. Maybe he works his way back here at some point, who knows?

As for his apparent replacement, Ricky Brumfield. He was most recently at FIU but also has experience at Virginia. Reading through his bio, one thing immediately sticks out to me:

In Brumfield’s first season (2018) at UVA his punt return defense finished No. 1 in the ACC and No. 7 in the nation with 3.21 yards allowed per return after he inherited a group that finished No. 117 in the nation the year prior (2017).

I don’t think it’s any secret that punt coverage is where Tech struggled the most on special teams, so seeing Tech bring in someone who brought in such immediate and drastic improvement is incredibly encouraging.

CTjacket: Beesball starts Friday. Who’s excited to see what we have this year?

Ben: I will say that I probably don’t as much about the team as some others, but I’m excited to see them get started and see how they do this season.