Ketch's 10 Thoughts From The Weekend (Intel you need to know)

[94Sip]

Every kid that comes to UT comes because of money in some form or fashion.

do you specifically mean athletes? Because my whole family went to UT and none of us had a scholarship and paid for everything ourselves.

If you mean athletes, then kinda - meaning we clearly were not getting all the top talent, before NIL, because of all the illegal crap that has gone on in college sports.

Now you could say that athletes chose Texas for long-term financial opportunities but now you are talking apples and oranges, imo. You can't conflate those issues.

 

[Ketchum]

do you specifically mean athletes? Because my whole family went to UT and none of us had a scholarship and paid for everything ourselves.

If you mean athletes, then kinda - meaning we clearly were not getting all the top talent, before NIL, because of all the illegal crap that has gone on in college sports.

Now you could say that athletes chose Texas for long-term financial opportunities but now you are talking apples and oranges, imo. You can't conflate those issues.

I'm talking about every student.

 

[94Sip]

I'm talking about every student.

well then you are mixing up the issues, imo. Many kids go to UT because their family, parents, siblings went there. its how they were raised, regardless of social status or affluence.

 

[Ketchum]

well then you are mixing up the issues, imo.

No, I'm really not.

The issue was that it was mentioned that someone hated that athletes were coming to Texas for the chance to enhance revenue for themselves.

Other than the very luckiest and most privileged, that's what college is... the springboard or pathway to making the money they will make in their lives.

The kids in the Business school are there because of money. They want it.

 

[AgaveHorn]

I keep seeing it written on here and talking to folks that tell me they give thousands to the Longhorn Foundation so they aren't doing Texas One Fund. The ask is not to do them both the same amount but to just get involved, that might be $22, it might be $50 a month.

 

[Ketchum]

I keep seeing it written on here and talking to folks that tell me they give thousands to the Longhorn Foundation so they aren't doing Texas One Fund. The ask is not to do them both the same amount but to just get involved, that might be $22, it might be $50 a month.

There's need for anyone to live in extremes. Agave is 100% right. What matters is getting in the game.

 

[94Sip]

This above …why would you donate or spend money on anything else related to Texas football when your NIL contributions are the one thing that actually CAN somewhat control and guarantee results ? If you care about winning and the actual results on the field - this is the one place we got to ALL donate at

Here's one (or a few) reasons:
1. UT should be about education first and foremost - "what starts here changes the world". For those of us who are alumni and weren't UT athletes, I would wager we have benefitted almost entirely due to the quality of our education. And I say that as someone who LOVES sports.
2. This school has done some really stupid shizz, especially in terms of admissions, that I fundamentally abhor. I'm not asking for UT to be like A&M, but this school has rejected everything that allowed many of us to get into, and benefit from the charter of UT. All in the name of political bs (imo).
3. Because of #2, the school is openly willing to let people give a "donation" to get their kid in. I know explicit examples of this happening, with kids who are dumb as rocks, but the parents were extremely wealthy, made a donation, and voila, kid admitted. So our school is no different than USC and all the others that were highlighted in the Netflix documentary, At some point you have to stand for right and wrong.

On the other hand, I am glad that the NIL has exposed the level of cheating that was going on.

 

[AgaveHorn]

I think the 'throwing money into a black hole' argument has merit as a reason NOT to give. The appetite of student athletes will be unending and unlimited. Rather than looking for continuing supporters donating each month, a better argument can be made for an endowment campaign to raise X amount to create an investment fund that pays out interest into a base amount to each scholarship player in all sports and x amount for all football players. Literally, an NIL PUF.

Stanford did something like this a few years back when they raised enough to endow every sport scholarship at the school.

An endowment campaign still requires folks to get involved.

 

[AgaveHorn]

 

[94Sip]

No, I'm really not.

The issue was that it was mentioned that someone hated that athletes were coming to Texas for the chance to enhance revenue for themselves.

Other than the very luckiest and most privileged, that's what college is... the springboard or pathway to making the money they will make in their lives.

The kids in the Business school are there because of money. They want it.

That's really not the full picture. The kids in the business school do work hard, same as Engineering (me) or Natural Sciences (comp sci) or any other school.

But the key is they are getting a QUALITY education - they are learning to THINK. That is a lifelong investment that no one can ever take from them, short of being killed, or some injury that harms their brain.

That's not what we are doing with these athletes - they aren't student athletes - this is just minor league sports so why don't we just call it that? And the owners of these franchises are just affiliates of a school, just so people can belong to something. Because the school is funding NIL. They school only cares because they make all this other revenue off of it. So why don't we just let the schools be minor league franchise owners?

I mean if we are going to all in on your capitalistic point of view, then lets go all in on it.

 

[Ketchum]

That's really not the full picture. The kids in the business school do work hard, same as Engineering (me) or Natural Sciences (comp sci) or any other school.

But the key is they are getting a QUALITY education - they are learning to THINK. That is a lifelong investment that no one can ever take from them, short of being killed, or some injury that harms their brain.

That's not what we are doing with these athletes - they aren't student athletes - this is just minor league sports so why don't we just call it that? And the owners of these franchises are just affiliates of a school, just so people can belong to something. Because the school is funding NIL. They school only cares because they make all this other revenue off of it. So why don't we just let the schools be minor league franchise owners?

I mean if we are going to all in on your capitalistic point of view, then lets go all in on it.

The idea that college is about the quality of the education is romantic to say the least, but let's keep it a buck... it's about the pathway to making the most money you can make in life.

I went to Texas. I loved the education. The most value I have from my time there is the pathway it created the living I make, no matter how much I enjoyed my American Studies courses.

 

[McGuapo]

The idea that college is about the quality of the education is romantic to say the least, but let's keep it a buck... it's about the pathway to making the most money you can make in life.

I went to Texas. I loved the education. The most value I have from my time there is the pathway it created the living I make, no matter how much I enjoyed my American Studies courses.

I went to Texas as well and now I have to be associated with you a-holes forever.

 

[Ketchum]

I went to Texas as well and now I have to be associated with you a-holes forever.

 

[McGuapo]

 

[94Sip]

The idea that college is about the quality of the education is romantic to say the least, but let's keep it a buck... it's about the pathway to making the most money you can make in life.

I went to Texas. I loved the education. The most value I have from my time there is the pathway it created the living I make, no matter how much I enjoyed my American Studies courses.

I don't think its about romanticism.

It's like Jon Snow's line in GoT - the minute we start telling little small lies, to be pragmatic, is the minute we just become liars, and we don't distinguish ourselves from the people we hate.

How about that for romanticism?

And I'm not saying that UT isn't a great springboard for money, happiness, etc.

 

[AgaveHorn]

I dug into our software today and pulled the September numbers compared to August for football only.

August monthly donors 487
September monthly donors 600

The Fund has 2250 monthly donors total for all sports.

 

[Kermit68]

So if UT can’t afford to continue to fund NIL, where do you think the rest of College football stands with the ability to fund? It was an unsustainable model as soon as kids started demanding 5 grand to visit a school If not before.

 

[AgaveHorn]

So if UT can’t afford to continue to fund NIL, where do you think the rest of College football stands with the ability to fund? It was an unsustainable model as soon as kids started demanding 5 grand to visit a school If not before.

We can 10000% afford it, we just need folks to start yelling "cannonball" and jumping in the pool. Right now, we got a middle school party where most folks are just standing on the periphery watching.

 

[gravity26]

So if UT can’t afford to continue to fund NIL, where do you think the rest of College football stands with the ability to fund? It was an unsustainable model as soon as kids started demanding 5 grand to visit a school If not before.

UT doesn’t pay NIL. Fans, boosters and companies sponsors do. It is illegal for Texas to pay players still. That is what one fund is. Texas set it up and distributes the funds. So all that money that Texas makes and has belongs to Texas. Paying the players to come to Texas is on us.

 

[Ketchum]

I don't think its about romanticism.

It's like Jon Snow's line in GoT - the minute we start telling little small lies, to be pragmatic, is the minute we just become liars, and we don't distinguish ourselves from the people we hate.

How about that for romanticism?

And I'm not saying that UT isn't a great springboard for money, happiness, etc.

It's not a small lie. It's a hell of a place to be able to sit in to suggest that it is IMO.

I know people that are still selling their souls to be off student loans and they didn't acquire those loans for the pageantry of the experience. It's a means to their end. Real talk.

 

[Ketchum]

I dug into our software today and pulled the September numbers compared to August for football only.

August monthly donors 487
September monthly donors 600

The Fund has 2250 monthly donors total for all sports.

That is freaking wild.

Ole Miss has 8,000

 

[Ketchum]

So if UT can’t afford to continue to fund NIL, where do you think the rest of College football stands with the ability to fund? It was an unsustainable model as soon as kids started demanding 5 grand to visit a school If not before.

Depends on the program. Most of the teams in the SEC don't struggle with enthusiasm as Texas has.

 

[Ketchum]

We can 10000% afford it, we just need folks to start yelling "cannonball" and jumping in the pool. Right now, we got a middle school party where most folks are just standing on the periphery watching.

Simple as that.

 

[o5prey]

That is freaking wild.

Ole Miss has 8,000

That’s flipping depressing to me

I def thank the big money guys making it happen for now

But that really sucks and paints a bleak long term picture for us unless something really changes

 

[McGuapo]

That is freaking wild.

Ole Miss has 8,000

For football only?

 

[Ketchum]

For football only?

I think combined.

 

[xthekingoftownx]

Stalingrad, FURY, Come and See, 3 I'd add, at least to the honorable mention group.

Great films. Come and see was brutal.

 

[94Sip]

It's not a small lie. It's a hell of a place to be able to sit in to suggest that it is IMO.

I know people that are still selling their souls to be off student loans and they didn't acquire those loans for the pageantry of the experience. It's a means to their end. Real talk.

Hold on Ketch - I wasn't claiming someone is telling lies. I was simply drawing a parallel to the idea that holding core beliefs is important.

To me, what college football has become is what we are talking about here, and what do we truly believe and hold dear about the role of college and STUDENT athletes, and the role of education in their lives.

Choosing to pay them and say its ok because everyone goes to college (or UT) because of money is where we start blurring lines to be pragmatic, and we lose sight of core beliefs (truth in Jon Snow terms).

At some point, you get so far down the line, you can never find your way back - America, and too many of our corporations, and especially our politicians, are plagued with not knowing how we got to where we are in society, or not wanting to own their decisions.

 

[cooleyo]

It's not a problem for A&M.

What isn’t? So what A&M is doing with “NIL” is above board? Because if it’s not, that means actual “NIL” is in fact a problem for A&M.

 

[Ketchum]

What isn’t? So what A&M is doing with “NIL” is above board? Because if it’s not, that means actual “NIL” is in fact a problem for A&M.

They have more engaged people than Texas. Simple as that.