More Rice Commitments Looking Elsewhere

[Water Pony]

$aban or Grah-ain't?

Give me a A.R. "Red" Barr or Lovie Smith or Tony Dungy. Character is number one, especially in college sports.

The Rice Owls don't deserve ridicule for not being as crazy as everyone else. Yes, they are big losers and it will set them back, but it doesn't mean they are wrong.

[westexSMU]

Graham is a good coach but now his character will always be in question just like dear old Fran at A$M. Same kind of deal. It will be interesting to see how he progresses in the future. One thing for sure, you would think he would treat his players at Tulsa etc. the same way in a heart beat if he thought it was a positive career move.

[EastStang]

If Tulsa has a good year next year, Graham's name will start surfacing for BCS jobs. My guess, he'd be gone in a heartbeat to a program in the Big XII or ACC. My guess is that Virginia will be shopping for a coach next year. I am not sure if any SEC teams will be shopping, possibly Mississippi State or Ole Miss. The Big XII will certainly have at least one firing next year. The Big Ten looks pretty stable now that Minnesota has a new coach. I don't see any openings there unless Joe Pa dies or retires and that job will probably be filled from his staff. The BE might have an opening or two.

[davidsmu94]

Dude, you are morbid

[PonyPride]

Whenever Paterno leaves Penn State, isn't the Rutgers guy considered a near slam-dunk to take over there?

[ponydawg]

Rice could have met the market rate paid by TCU, Tulsa, UCF and others for rising young football coaches who perform miracles. That market rate is now in excess of $1,000,000 a year. If Bennett performs a miracle next year and is a National Coach of the Year Candidate by going 10-2 or something then SMU will have to join the million dollar club. They weren't willing to make that commitment-a very telling and relevant fact to Rice commitments. I would have looked elsewhere too-Football really ain't that important to Rice-they are sitting on an endowment of over 3,200,000,000. They never even bothered to counteroffer to a guy thaty won 6 more games than last year, took them to their first bowl in 45 years and was National Coach of the Year candidate. There is a price to pay for being below market.

Just posting for an owl fan who didn't want sign up.....some interesting points...and some just defending his school....He didn't ask me to post this, just wanted something to make Friday go by faster.

"I believe Stallion is the same guy who posted last year that Rice was going to have a dismal year because they had no good players, and specifically not a single qb who was any good. He lost some credibility then.

A few things:
1) Rice did counter to $600K per year.
2) Kragthorpe was not in the million dollar club
3) It is widely agreed that UCF jumped the gun with OLeary and paid him too much
4) If Bennett wins 10 games next year at SMU, he is worth $1 million. Rebuilt the program from scratch.

Graham is not worth $1 million. Rice made the right decision in not meeting Tulsa’s offer – at that price they can have him."

[Stallion]

Graham raised $6-8 Million Dollars in about 3 weeks which is more than Rice has raised in the previous 30 years to make improvements that should have been made 40 years ago. So when you say he wasn't worth a Million-I have to laugh and say No he was probably worth a lot more. Rice will never meet the market price in athletics-bottom line-they just don't care. If they had any desire at all the compete in athletics they would have torn down Autry Barn 50 years ago. Well now Rice will have to live with the consequences. Rice would have have been better off competitively if they had just paid the going non-BCS rate for top coaches that is paid in the non-BCS market for miracle workers. But then again Rice doesn't really care about being competitive. I'm just getting tired of the whining and [deleted] because mean ole Tulsa paid too much. Saw a lot less from UCF when we stole their AD. Exact same situation. SMU paid above market rate-UCF went didn't. Obviously Rice recruits saw very clearly that Rice doesn't really care.

[PonyTales]

GRAHAM raised $6-8 million? Not sure I follow you there. Coach Doherty has been everywhere and shaking hands and talking the talk, and certainly has helped raise the cash for the Crum Center, but I'd still say Steve-O and his athletic administration raised the cash. I also would suggest that Graham -- his nice season at Rice notwithstanding -- is not the face/name that Coach Doherty is. So isn't it more a case of RICE raised $6-8 million while Graham was there?

Whatever -- maybe we're arguing from the same point of view, just saying things differently. He had a nice year, and I hope Rice benefits from that year, because clearly he was using Rice while the university was planning to have him stick around. He's creeping into Franocchio territory when it comes to commitment and loyalty (although he might well be a better recruiter and coach. Can you imagine what this clod would do if he had the re$ources and free rein that he'd get at aggietown?)

[Stallion]

No Graham raised it all by himself within weeks of his hiring. He went to the big Rice alums and said Rice needs these Stadium improvements in order to have any chance to be competive. I detailed the fund raising on this board as it happened. Rice got about 10 times more from Graham than the amount of his salary-and the very nice improvements to Rice Stadium are ONLY because of Todd Graham. They ought to thank the man for waking those morons up down there. The present Rice coach is lucky as hell to be following Graham. So all you Rice fans keep bitchin' because all you are doing is allowing guys like me and others to point out all over the internet "where recruits can read" that Rice simply doesn't really care about athletics.

[OC Mustang]

Graham raised $6-8 Million Dollars in about 3 weeks which is more than Rice has raised in the previous 30 years to make improvements that should have been made 40 years ago. So when you say he wasn't worth a Million-I have to laugh and say No he was probably worth a lot more. Rice will never meet the market price in athletics-bottom line-they just don't care. If they had any desire at all the compete in athletics they would have torn down Autry Barn 50 years ago. Well now Rice will have to live with the consequences. Rice would have have been better off competitively if they had just paid the going non-BCS rate for top coaches that is paid in the non-BCS market for miracle workers. But then again Rice doesn't really care about being competitive. I'm just getting tired of the whining and [deleted] because mean ole Tulsa paid too much. Saw a lot less from UCF when we stole their AD. Exact same situation. SMU paid above market rate-UCF went didn't. Obviously Rice recruits saw very clearly that Rice doesn't really care.

Are you sure that Graham actually raised that money, and it wasn't already plugged in and ready to go vis-a-vis alums who were primed to give to a new coach and new direction? Not picking a fight, but I question whether or not Graham himself is the reason they gave money. I certainly concede were they to have hired a much lesser coach, maybe the contributions/pledges wouldn't have come; however, from that concession, it does not automatically follow that Graham was a "money guy". I never got that impression. It just looks like Rice came to its senses for a year and got lucky with a great coach and great season.
Remains to be seen whether TSU's former coach will be successful at Rice, just like it remained to be seen a year ago whether an OC (albeit, a successful one) from Tulsa could come and be a successful head coach at Rice.

[Stallion]

Yes 100% sure. I posted it on here as it was happening. As a result Blog claimed I had a "man-crush" on Graham.

[westexSMU]

From what I have read and heard from Rice fans, Graham was the driving force behind the money raised.

[smupony]

Stallion is right on...Graham sold the concept of a new regime/new team...He changed the whole culture of Rice football...He changed the uniforms, got them a new field, and stadium upgrades...He is the reason they got anything...Too bad he is a spineless tool, who puts no value on his word...

[ponyboy]

Yes, how are you feeling right now if you're one of the Rice schmucks who dropped a mil or two on Graham's plan?

[Stallion]

probably a lot better than the schmucks like you who fell for Kenneth Pye's Athletic Model. At least they got a weekend in New Orleans out of it.