Northwest Missouri State Bearcat Fans FaceBook Post ... Now We Know

[ZubCat81]

I just copied this interesting post currently running on FaceBook for those who follow 'Northwest Missouri State Bearcat Fans'. Removed the individual's name who posted it just for this thread. Just need to go to Facebook to pick it up and some of the bickering. Fun.

Northwest Missouri State Bearcat Fans

It’s no coincidence that NW was a perennial contender when AD was head coach. It wasn’t because he was HC or because RW was the DC, although those things helped tremendously. The fact of the matter is that Northwest outspent almost everyone in the country on football. Northwest no longer does that - by a long shot. Northwest spends less now than they did 10 years ago. The game of college football is NOT the same as it was 10 years ago. The transfer portal and NIL has completely changed the game- definitely not for the better for D2.
The x’ and o’s of the game haven’t changed. HC Rich Wright has proven over the past two decades that he is one of the best defensive coaches out there. I have talked to a lot of people who have forgotten more about football than I pretend to know- and they all hold Sturdy in very high regard as an offensive coach. So if the X’s and O’s haven’t changed- then it comes down to the Jimmy’s and Joes. Northwest isn’t getting the talent- and this day and age because of the portal and NIL, talent comes via transfers. You have to have NIL money to get the kids to commit to transfer. Northwest doesn’t have that. Northwest doesn’t have an NIL collective. Northwest doesn’t have the money to recruit. It’s no coincidence that Pitt and UCM who are outspending Northwest pulling farther away. So we can either continue to ***** and moan, or we can open our wallets and donate. Because it doesn’t matter who the coach is if the money doesn’t change.

[washeduptiger]

I may be crazy but I’m guessing most D2 players - even in the MIAA - aren’t making much if any NIL money. If I’m completely off base someone please correct me.

[Wallst]

I may be crazy but I’m guessing most D2 players - even in the MIAA - aren’t making much if any NIL money. If I’m completely off base someone please correct me.

https://nil-ncaa.com/

Nothing on D2. But the other D1 schools if you click that link go from North Dakota down to Chicago State. I would bet the majority of MIAA lives in the middle of that pack.

[lleachieshusband]

His perspective is interesting, but to me, incomplete. Granted, recruiting in this day and age has gotten harder, but the question is “who” is funding the NILs for Pitt and UCM? Large-spending alums?

On a funding-related note, I’d heard that quite a few of the bigger NW athletics donors funded the fieldhouse but were unhappy with PresJ and the situation with AD leaving and said they weren’t going to contribute larger amounts as long as J was in charge. Now that he’s gone, is there any chance of that funding coming back and what can be done to increase it?

While I agree that NILs and the portal have both had an impact on recruiting, it’s still half the battle. In the day, one of the things about the coaching situation was that Mel and AD coached teams had “something”, and that was the ability of the coaches to coach up players and literally get them to perform at a higher level beyond native talent/skill levels, and then maximize that with above-average preparation and game-planning skills to put their players in the best position to win. The latter are things that simply haven’t been seen during RW’s tenure - even allowing for first-game nerves, the focus and discipline characteristic of NW teams and the coaching to get them there … just hasn’t been there.

And nor has the scheming and play calling been anywhere near what it used to be, although one wonders if it’s not a case of, say, Sturdy not opening up the offense or RW intentionally not allowing him to up the offense because of a lack of confidence in either it or the defense?

Thoughts?

[CatFan88]

Northwest made a major step forward in the N.I.L. space on June 24 when the athletic department announced a partnership with Influxer — an apparel brand which creates customized jerseys, shirts and other apparel.

“It is a win-win for us and Influxer,” Northwest Assistant AD-Marketing, Promotions and Licensing Tucker Quinn said. “But it is also a huge win for our athletes with the door opened at Northwest Missouri State for an active N.I.L. marketplace and should be the first step of many in that direction. It is exciting to get started.”

Each athlete in the department has the option to opt-in with Influxer. The process is simple for athletes who provide an account for Influxer to direct-deposit into.

While this isn't a collective, it's not like NW is completely out of the NIL game. There are some statements in the post I agree with, some I don't. There are a "million" coaches out there associated with every sport who are held in high regard that have never won a national championship, state championship, professional championship, etc. Were they actually good coaches? Or just held in high regard because they were able to survive the profession X amount of years? Secondly, success as an assistant or coordinator was, is and never will guarantee success as a head coach. Rich Wright is a fantastic coach and has a proven track record as a Defensive Coordinator that I believe should give him a shot as a coordinator at the next level. The fact that we as fans don't actively coach doesn't mean we don't know the game. It doesn't mean we don't know the X's and O's. It doesn't mean we don't know the Jimmy's and Joe's. Many of us played the game, some through the college ranks, perhaps higher. All anyone has to do is turn on ESPN Sports Center. Plenty of people who aren't coaches or players giving their opinion on everything sports. I firmly believe because I pay for the privelege to park my car in a reserved parking lot and plant my ass in a seat at Bearcat Stadium, that I can voice my opinion about the state of NW athletics. And that's because I care about the state of NW athletics. It doesn't take a genius to know that the NW football program is headed in the wrong direction. I firmly believe some of it is coaching, but there's also a major problem with our talent pool. And it's high time we start playing the transfer portal game and the NIL game if there is one at the D2 level. This is the way of college athletics now. Players aren't developed anymore and there's little or no loyalty to a program because there's too many opportunities to play now because of the transfer rules.

[libertybearcat]

Not sure how much of UCMs and Pitt's higher spending is for NIL...but they have invested in additional staff positions...Director of Operations & a Recruiting Coordinator who isn't also a position coach. I'd guess they have also invested more in recruiting, but I don't know that.

NW invested more $$ when there wasn't any NIL...that spending has fallen off due to many of the things already mentioned...from what I've heard from friends who have had kids on the team the past 5 or 6 years the culture Coach T established, AD continued has been slowly or not so slowly diminished...is today's environment different? Yep...NW doesn't appear to have been able to adapt to it as well as some other schools.

I've had conversations with people who have been approached about funding NIL money at NW and they seem to be willing until they realize it is an annual occurrence not a one-time investment...when that happens the willingness starts to fade quickly. Say you have 60 kids you'd like to give extra money to...they'd need $10k-$12K a year to pay for the half of school they're likely not getting paid for...that's $600k to $720k a year...just for FB...expand it to say 100 including other sports now you're at $1M to $1.2M a year.

I realize those amounts could be lower, but if you're trying to compete for players with $$$$ you will always need more $$$$ to compete.

It'll be interesting what happens when D1 goes to 105 schollies & roster limit...will FCS be able to afford that many? Will those additional schollies suck up all the guys who used to be walk-ons? Or will there be more very talented players be looking for opportunities to play with some, most or all their school paid for at the D2, D3 and NAIA levels?

In the early 2000's NW benefitted from Nebraska's meltdown in hiring Steve Pedersen as AD who then with Bill Callahan scrapped the walk-on program and we got a lot of high quality Nebraska kids at NW...when the SD and ND schools went FCS with 63 schollies a lot of those kids started taking full rides with those schools so NW doesn't get as many talented players from Nebraska.

There are definitely a lot of forces at play and right now, NW seems to be trailing other schools in adapting to those challenges.

[TigerAlum]

I may be crazy but I’m guessing most D2 players - even in the MIAA - aren’t making much if any NIL money. If I’m completely off base someone please correct me.

The answer is closer to no one making anything and the few that are it is likely less than $100 a month.

[northwest missouri state]

someone is spinning a narrative & i don’t mean reed. nil has been legal since 2021 & we have been sliding the wrong way broadly speaking since rw assumed control. budget may or may not be an issue & the jj stuff is likely real given what else we know about that dip & it may (?) be true we’re behind cm & ps in nil but those are red herrings relative to the largest issue & what’s driving it designed to buy time.

to all of you talking coaching in terms of x’s & o’s, i would submit in cfb recruiting IS coaching & the biggest problem we have atm. which is not to ignore the developmental component of cfb but you have to have material to work with.

[NWFanatic]

RW wasn’t happy with some of the penalties on the defense. The PI late in the game was iffy but do the RTP calls show lack of discipline?

[NWFanatic]

https://influxermerch.com/athletes/n...rsity/football
NW already has an NIL agreement with Influxer. NW fans just need to man up and buy some stuff

[Predatory Primates]

Some good and some silly points here.

I know in the transition from Beck to Wright, the staff and salaries grew, as did recruiting. Pitt now has guys on the ground all over the country in the offseason. I'm not sure, but I suspect the recruiting budget also increased at that time.

The NIL money is a strawman excuse, imo. Lots of D2 players are sharing a tiny bit of NIL money from local businesses, boosters, and a few online platforms that sell t-shirts, etc... Nobody is making a living on it. Nobody in the MIAA has formed a collective with enough stroke to pay much. It's comparable to pillow money, if that. Are schools trying to grow that, sure, but as far as I know, none have.

[Predatory Primates]

https://influxermerch.com/athletes/n...rsity/football
NW already has an NIL agreement with Influxer. NW fans just need to man up and buy some stuff

That's one of the deals Pitt uses. Another is an online marketing deal where a player will post on your feed, etc... another is sort of like a gofundme type site. A few players have appeared in local grocery store commercials, and a certain DT from neosho with a crazy mustache made a little money selling some funny shirts with him in a laying down supermodel pose through jocks nitch a couple of years back.

All in all it's still peanuts at this point.

[Predatory Primates]

I know that Pitt hasn't done much to promote the various NIL things, but IDK if they are allowed to?

[Predatory Primates]

The whole system is a long way from the stories guys tell me about players they knew in the 90s who literally couldn't afford food while in school.

[Redwing]

The whole system is a long way from the stories guys tell me about players they knew in the 90s who literally couldn't afford food while in school.

I know that sadly it's still going on at some school.