The Unofficial Furman Football Page

Furman announced via Facebook the receipt of $1,000,000 for the football program. Just wow!

Flagman wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 17, 2021 10:21 am

Furman announced via Facebook the receipt of $1,000,000 for the football program. Just wow!

Excellent news. Its on the official site.
https://furmanpaladins.com/news/2021/8/ ... ndrix.aspx

IMO - this is a really big deal. This is the third million-dollar gift since Clay has become the head coach.

Great news. Hope there is a couple more of those major gifts in our future.

This is great, but I really do wonder if going forward it will make sense for the high rollers to hold back donations and use that money to pay players, uh, I mean contract them for use of their valuable NIL’s. If the money comes directly to the schools it seems like it’s more regulated. I fear our donors aren’t sleazy enough to embrace the new order.

Furmanoid wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 8:08 am

This is great, but I really do wonder if going forward it will make sense for the high rollers to hold back donations and use that money to pay players, uh, I mean contract them for use of their valuable NIL’s. If the money comes directly to the schools it seems like it’s more regulated. I fear our donors aren’t sleazy enough to embrace the new order.

Regulated by the school is better than regulated by sleazy donors.
Of course, this so called major donation (which won’t go as far as most seem to think it will, unless it shakes loose additional $1M donations from “high rollers”) may be just a distraction by a donor wishing to “hide” sleazy. Maybe he or she has another $1M+ to contract for NIL with the high-impact players.

I’m just thinking we could, just for instance, run over to Clemson and offer their 3rd QB (often a 5 star) $250K to come start for us. He can still make the NFL if he shows out and he makes a bunch of money.

But $1M donations are certainly not a bad thing. They will really be a big deal if, down the road, our money games go away.

affirm wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 8:39 am

Furmanoid wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 8:08 am

This is great, but I really do wonder if going forward it will make sense for the high rollers to hold back donations and use that money to pay players, uh, I mean contract them for use of their valuable NIL’s. If the money comes directly to the schools it seems like it’s more regulated. I fear our donors aren’t sleazy enough to embrace the new order.

Regulated by the school is better than regulated by sleazy donors.
Of course, this so called major donation (which won’t go as far as most seem to think it will, unless it shakes loose additional $1M donations from “high rollers”) may be just a distraction by a donor wishing to “hide” sleazy. Maybe he or she has another $1M+ to contract for NIL with the high-impact players.

Sour grapes? I know this hurts you and the other football downsizers but try to be an adult.

I did a casual google search into major donations for a few FCS programs.
I've not found a school that has had three million dollar donations anytime recently.
You might say this won't go far — handled correctly and I'm sure these gifts are and will be they will go far.
Clay made the point that gifts like these help the program in many ways, including showing that in this case, a former player believes in Clay and the program.

Furmanoid wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 8:51 am

I’m just thinking we could, just for instance, run over to Clemson and offer their 3rd QB (often a 5 star) $250K to come start for us. He can still make the NFL if he shows out and he makes a bunch of money.

But $1M donations are certainly not a bad thing. They will really be a big deal if, down the road, our money games go away.

I really don’t think the FBS/FCS games aka our “money” games are going to go away. Just this week Georgia added NC A&T for 2030, Minnesota added E. Illinois for 2026 and Missouri added Missouri St. for 2033.

apaladin wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 12:05 pm

Furmanoid wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 8:51 am

I’m just thinking we could, just for instance, run over to Clemson and offer their 3rd QB (often a 5 star) $250K to come start for us. He can still make the NFL if he shows out and he makes a bunch of money.

But $1M donations are certainly not a bad thing. They will really be a big deal if, down the road, our money games go away.

I really don’t think the FBS/FCS games aka our “money” games are going to go away. Just this week Georgia added NC A&T for 2030, Minnesota added E. Illinois for 2026 and Missouri added Missouri St. for 2033.

That is good news. Hope those contracts have iron-clad PAY UP out-clauses.

Also - there is nothing “sleazy” about NIL ‘deals’ anymore. If ‘we’ (FU peeps of any stripe) find them sleazy, then ‘we’ should be vigorously advocating for Furman to leave behind any affiliation with the NCAA. If you haven’t done that yet, then you are being hypocritical calling them “sleazy.” So, if the anonymous former Furman Football Player / Alum does have another Mil to structure NIL deals for Furman Football Players, that should also be viewed as only MORE GREAT NEWS, as opposed to how it was nastily characterized in an earlier post.

I do think that pretending to pay players for the marketing value of their NILs when you are really just paying them to play for your school is dishonest and, yes, sleazy. But it is also perfectly within the rules. So it’s OK with me to jump on that sleaze wagon.

It’s my understanding that the NCAA tried to hold the line against NIL so I see no reason to be mad at them.

Furmanoid wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 2:30 pm

I do think that pretending to pay players for the marketing value of their NILs when you are really just paying them to play for your school is dishonest and, yes, sleazy. But it is also perfectly within the rules. So it’s OK with me to jump on that sleaze wagon.

It’s my understanding that the NCAA tried to hold the line against NIL so I see no reason to be mad at them.

Clara Peller was paid $317 for the “Where’s the Beef” ad. Value to Wendy’s over 30+ years probably in Billions. So, who’s to say 1 of these 4th Team Walk-on’s getting an NIL deal won’t be the next Clara Peller for their sponsor(s). Nothing sleazy about free market & exchanging fair market values or potential fair market value. No need to feel dirty about it. You’re good.

“NCAA tried”…c’mon…the only thing the NCAA tried is the only thing they ever try…to make as much money for the NCAA as they can, as fast as they can, as long as they can. The NCAA & (Big) College President’s & AD should have been way ahead of this & figured out how to maintain some semblance of competitive balance AND enable Players to get paid in a more or less free market kinda way. But, no, they were like the monkey (or person) who reaches in a jar to grab something desired & can’t get their hand out of the jar without opening their fist…and they won’t open their fist. Instead they got their arm sawed off & I’m not sure there is a tourniquet that’s going to stop the bleeding. We’ll see. I think the NCAA is nearing anachronism status. The (Big) school’s have a lot of ‘blood’ - They may be able to survive & grow another arm or get a great prosthesis (maybe even one Steve Austin would covet)…but the overall body of College Athletics is going to be changed. How? Dunno & won’t really know for several years. We’ll see.

By the way…for all of you Kool-Aid drinkers out there, your provider of sustenance has hitched their wagon to their chosen NIL guy before he’s played a down of college football…ROOOOLLLLL TIDE! (bet he got more than $317)



FUBeAR’s 1st grandchild WILL be named Nike…or Amazon.

tim wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 11:05 am

affirm wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 8:39 am

Furmanoid wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 8:08 am

This is great, but I really do wonder if going forward it will make sense for the high rollers to hold back donations and use that money to pay players, uh, I mean contract them for use of their valuable NIL’s. If the money comes directly to the schools it seems like it’s more regulated. I fear our donors aren’t sleazy enough to embrace the new order.

Regulated by the school is better than regulated by sleazy donors.
Of course, this so called major donation (which won’t go as far as most seem to think it will, unless it shakes loose additional $1M donations from “high rollers”) may be just a distraction by a donor wishing to “hide” sleazy. Maybe he or she has another $1M+ to contract for NIL with the high-impact players.

Sour grapes? I know this hurts you and the other football downsizers but try to be an adult.

No, not sour grapes. Just saying the amount is not big enough for people to get so excited about. It is good, but not “wow”.
Also please note that Furmanoid, not Affirm, brought up the “sleazy” and “not regulated by the school” characterization for the type of donors we should have. Affirm did not say anything was wrong with people who wish to “fund NIL”.

AstroDin wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 18, 2021 11:36 am

I did a casual google search into major donations for a few FCS programs.
I've not found a school that has had three million dollar donations anytime recently.
You might say this won't go far — handled correctly and I'm sure these gifts are and will be they will go far.
Clay made the point that gifts like these help the program in many ways, including showing that in this case, a former player believes in Clay and the program.

I would expect that only a portion of the annual investment earnings (probably less than what we could get for one high-paying FBS game) would go directly to the program. I would expect the donation goes into endowed funds.
The point about “showing that someone believes in Clay and the program” is absolutely correct, in that showing that can potentially and hopefully shake loose other big donations.
By the way, where was evidence found that the anonymous donor was actually a former player? And whether it was or was not a former player, why is there not more engagement by former players showing noticeable support for Furman football? Is it just a secret?