I was thinking about the past 2 weeks and how things just feel different from a program standpoint. Obviously, UCF has gone through tremendous change in the past 4 years. New AD, HC, a slew of assistants, move to the B12, etc. I know UCF is doing a good job at "keeping up" with the evolution of the NIL landscape. I think we benefit from having a guy like SJ running the Kingdom who is at least aligned and has a good relationship with Gus. It could be a lot worse if we had infighting between NIL and the coaching staff (ask Florida State).
I was watching the beatdown in Gainesville and you could just see Florida had bigger, faster, and stronger guys. Not a huge surprise but to think UCF is going to get there with talent, is sort of a pipe dream with how we collapsed our momentum/hype train. I thought a couple of years ago we might be able to really displace one of the Big 3 if we continued to rise.
At any rate, I pondered the question of how worse off would we really be if we didn't spend NIL money for football?
This isn't a jab at anyone, just more a hypothetical curiosity. If all we will ever be is mid (relative to talent levels), should we just find a good culture coach and get kids that want to showcase their ability somewhere. Surely, P4 football exposure is good enough for some kids. Maybe our recruiting dips to the 50s or so nationally but do we have a better record? Do we find more diamonds in the rough? Do we get better culture kids? I'd imagine we'd have a lot of churn but don't we now? I just don't see us being top 20 in NIL or roster talent. Just being real. Anyways, since it's a bitter week, I figured I'd pose the question here. I imagine the kids playing at service academies aren't getting NIL. Not saying we'd win a conference championship that way but if we're only good for 5-6 wins a year, should we focus on basketball where a guy or two really matters?
I was watching the beatdown in Gainesville and you could just see Florida had bigger, faster, and stronger guys. Not a huge surprise but to think UCF is going to get there with talent, is sort of a pipe dream with how we collapsed our momentum/hype train. I thought a couple of years ago we might be able to really displace one of the Big 3 if we continued to rise.
At any rate, I pondered the question of how worse off would we really be if we didn't spend NIL money for football?
This isn't a jab at anyone, just more a hypothetical curiosity. If all we will ever be is mid (relative to talent levels), should we just find a good culture coach and get kids that want to showcase their ability somewhere. Surely, P4 football exposure is good enough for some kids. Maybe our recruiting dips to the 50s or so nationally but do we have a better record? Do we find more diamonds in the rough? Do we get better culture kids? I'd imagine we'd have a lot of churn but don't we now? I just don't see us being top 20 in NIL or roster talent. Just being real. Anyways, since it's a bitter week, I figured I'd pose the question here. I imagine the kids playing at service academies aren't getting NIL. Not saying we'd win a conference championship that way but if we're only good for 5-6 wins a year, should we focus on basketball where a guy or two really matters?
