Unconquered

It can't. It's in Saban's contract that every media story, regardless of content, must be approved by his mistress/motorcycle polisher.

For some reason i doubt that. Many of the places coaches need to go to are in the middle of nowhere, where you are lucky to find a Hampton or Holiday Inn.

I think the big focus will be on flight expenses and meal expenses.

I believe there is a line item in the athletic budget for recruiting purposes. Too, they may be governed by a set per diem and ceiling for their hotel accommodations. Hard to say at this point without being able to read their employee standards manual - should there be one. In the Southeast, I imagine personal and/or rental vehicles are used to minimize flight costs. Whether or not excessive expenditure for costs is uncovered or not, I personally believe Jimbo is a better man than to let his staff just run wild. Heck, Corch Coffee just runs on espresso for Christ's sake, and Corch Stogie just needs a big fat cigar to munch on for nourishment and attitude adjustment.

What else is the Democrat going to peruse hmmmmmm? How about looking at all the women's sports too. Let's be fair now, if it's sauce for the goose, then you have to pour it on the gander as well. More and more - to my mind at least, it looks like it may be an attempt at an expose'.

People at the top of their profession deserve to treat themselves to nice meals/hotels/entertainment from time to time on road trips. Being on the road and away from loved ones can be rough, so I'm perfectly fine with our coaches being taken care of. So long as it is within reason of course. I don't want to be reading any stories of Trickett and Hudson racking up $200 bar tabs, but I don't mind if they are staying at a Marriott instead of a Motel 6.

Jimbo makes 7 figures a year, so for all intents and purposes he is the equivalent of an executive at a large company. Does anyone know people at executive level of large companies? I know two and they live lavishly on the company dime. Heck, I know small time people (myself included) who live it up on road trips or conferences. If people knew what my Dad's per diem was on Government trips overseas they would shit their pants. I have a cousin getting combat pay while staying at a 5 star hotel in the Philippines. Basically shareholders, tax payers, donors at all levels would be upset if they knew how much people at the top of their professions spent on the company dime. Its a reward for success and a nice way to keep people who could take 100 other jobs in an instant happy.

If the Democrat pisses our coaches off. If this turns into a national story. If this article is written heavy handily. There will be hell to pay for the writers of it. All I have to say is they better bring their A game, because there will be a lot of people smarter than them ready to pick it to pieces.

I took care of the upvote for you

Would you rather the newspaper look the other way?

Is it really looking the other way?

it's known that coaches are traveling for long hours and constantly hopping from place to place. that will include plenty of hotel stays and expensive, last minute flights. renting a car last minute can often be very expensive. typically the cheap hotel rooms are all booked up if you need one within a day or two notice.

i don't need a reporter to tell me that.

it will be interesting to see what they dug up, but i anticipate the report to be very slanted. no reason for them to single out fsu and not do a focused report on florida programs in general.

should we expect them to eat at chili's and applebees every trip? or mcdonalds? i don't ever eat at those places and i'm used to a standard of living much lower than jimbo and the rest of the coaches.

also, +7 to spicnolie's post above.

This is absolutely infuriating! If your going to do such an investigation - you damn well better do it inclusive of other Florida programs because we know whatever problem they want to uncover is likely worse down the road in Gainesville.

Boy are they really playing with fire here!

It's hard to tell what the report is without actually reading the report. If the Democrat uncovered a plethora of wasteful spending and didn't report it, sure that would be looking the other way. The problem is, relative to what you were saying, it can be quite tricky identifying wasteful spending. A $250 hotel room doesn't tell me anything. You hit the nail on the head, that could be a last minute booking... same goes for a $1000 plane ticket. But, if there is a three night hotel stay for a one day visit of a recruit, that might be another story. I agree however, this probably won't have any earth shattering information and will more or less be shock and awe with little to no substance.

And spicnolie's post seems to hit the mark just a bit. Top level executives do have a lavish travel budget. But they still answer to the board and stockholders. If Rex Tillerman(Exxon's CEO) wants to fly first class, nobody will care because Exxon is making a ton of money. FSU, on the other hand, isn't. Is there anything illegal about the FSU coaching staff staying at the nicer hotels? Probably not. They just need to be careful living the life of Rex Tillerman then turning around and asking us for money. This is a public university funded by tax dollars along with the Boosters which are funded basically by private donations. They don't want to do anything that leads me to believe they don't need my money.

One thing spicnolie nailed was if the Democrat goes down this road, they need to hit a homerun. This is not something to mess around with... especially a newspaper that is hurting financially as bad as they are.

Here was a short back and forth I had with Corey Clark of the Democrat yesterday. Take it for what it's worth, but Corey seems like a straightforward, honest guy. I found it intriguing that he agreed on the tone of the blog.

@dreschinbham:
@Corey_Clark @rsmccrary - based on the blog the tone sure sets it up like an attack piece.

@Corey_Clark:
@dreschinbham @rsmccrary don't disagree. But it's not. There will be a LOT of context provided.

Ban them if they make the program look bad. The program is bigger than the Democrat and they need to know their role in town. I hope all Noles drop subscriptions and don't advertise in the democrat anymore.

Should the paper ignore it? Yes unless it's illegal otherwise they should focus on bigger issues like uf's cozy relationship with the state DA who is a bullgator.

The Big12 at the time, was mostly a "State of Texas" conference, which is unlike just about every other conference that's existed. (OU and OKState sit like 2 hours off the border and 90%+ of their recruits are Texas kids)

So keep that in mind...

That being said, yes, Baylor released a huge "economic impact" report talking about how TAMU leaving the Big12 would result in billions of losses, etc. Also, the Texas State Board of Ed. got involved and started swinging it's hammer until "opposing political forces" got involved and squeezed them back into their collective hole.

So yes, there were politics there.. but it was regional... just like nobody outside of the state of FL is really going to care about FSU's money and impact either.

...
...
..here's a copy of one report.......

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

August 15, 2011

Numerous benefits for participating universities as well as local and state economies are clearly obtained through participation in large athletic conferences. The Perryman Group (TPG) recently quantified the economic impact if Texas A&M leaves the Big 12 Conference.

If Texas A&M leaves the Big 12, but the rest of the conference remains intact, the decrease in business activity in the state would include losses of $217.2 million in output (gross product) each year and 3,050 jobs. This reduction in economic activity also results in lost tax revenue to the State and to local governments. The Perryman Group estimates that State fiscal revenue would be reduced by $28.2 million per year if Texas A&M leaves the Big 12, but the Conference survives. Losses to local governments would be $13.1 million per year.

If Texas A&M leaves the Big 12, leading to other realignments and the dissolution of the Big 12, the reduction in business activity in the state is even larger. Losses in total spending could be expected to top $1 billion, while output (gross product) falls by $589.5 million each year. In addition, 8,329 jobs would likely be lost. Tax revenue losses to the State and to local governments would also be larger. The Perryman Group estimates that State fiscal revenue would be reduced by $53.2 million per year if Texas A&M leaves the Big 12 and the Conference dissolves, while local governments lose $22.6 million per annum.

These losses in home game expenditures, major conference games, media contracts, and visitor spending are net of impacts Texas member schools would continue to generate through activity in other conferences. Negative effects would be particularly notable if the balance shifted in the Texas representation relative to other states.

“Schools in the premier conferences also realize notable benefits such as national media exposure and lucrative media contracts, and the presence of four schools in a premier conference is important to Texas’ ability to capitalize on the potential economic stimulus of college athletics,” said Dr. Perryman.

The big issue you have here, is that you aren't in the Texas region, and you simply don't care, and therefore you don't understand.

Your implications of "FSU Leaving" being "far greater" are based on your belief of FSU's worth.

You can't sit here and say the Big12 wasn't going to crack, because it was in fact, on it's deathbed. The commissioner was ousted, 4 of the larger teams left, OU was trying to make deals with the PAC to take them and OKState..... and ESPN/FOX threatened to pull the media contract if they didn't add more on quickly - causing Texas to take TCU, something it dispised.

You can't re-write history just because you're dying for FSU to go to that conference because you fell it's better than the situation you have now (no argument there).

That's the BIG problem I have as a Seminole - people polishing the turd of issues that is the Big12 due to wanting to leave the devil you have now, the ACC.

People say that the Big12 would have been fine, because Texas and OU have to have a home... and that's basically true - the better colleges will ALWAYS have options and will find a solution.

Some deluded Aggies were so drunk on the SEC (as FSU fans are now the Big12) that they thought Texas might get really hurt by them leaving... of course not.... Texas may not have ended up exactly as they wanted it, but Texas would survive OK.....

... well do you not think that about some of the teams of the ACC?

Look people... FSU and Clemson going to the Big12 and a couple teams maybe going SEC aren't going to destroy the ACC completely... there are enough teams left over that aren't in the SEC/Big12/PAC/Big10 that need a home and will "conference up"..... people need to remember that.