It's time for The Mailbag, presented by Whitney McNutt of Tommy Morgan Inc. Realtors, Edition 137.
I asked for your questions. You delivered. So here we go...
From ChargerRebel: Mike Martin Jr was very public with his frustration with the baseball selection results, and I imagine he isn't the only one. For the conferences that care about baseball, is this more fuel on the fire to break away from the NCAA?
I mean, I guess so, but college baseball remains such a niche sport that I can't imagine a few coaches feeling wronged moving that needle very much. The move to break away will come from football and playoff-related revenue streams and from the inevitable realization that the NCAA Tournament revenues are being far too widely distributed.
From SipRebCard: What part of your time on the OM beat has been the most lucrative? Also what has been the least lucrative?
Well, that's complicated. The Freeze-era years were good to us. The winning was good for business. The chaos was good for business. The fact that we dove into the NCAA thing was good for business. I also think that was the time that people began to finally appreciate our approach.
We've grown the site. We're a top-15 site in the network now, something I couldn't say when I got here in 2008. The podcast network, which is a completely separate entity, has begun to become lucrative.
Those first few years, if I'm honest, it was hard to grow and I wondered if I'd committed career suicide. From a growth standpoint, the Luke years were pretty stagnant. The worst thing for this business is mediocrity.
From Bo Rebel: Two questions about baseball selection processes1. In your opinion, who are the right kinds of people to sit on a committee that picks and seeds the teams? ADs seem biased and you can make the argument former college coaches are as well. So then who?2. Does the MSU AD have that much power, or is this OM fans being hyperbolic as usual about MSU? State got a seven seed and a sweet draw and OM got no favors.
1. There's no perfect way to do it. The committee needs to be more complex, I suspect, and it likely needs to be bigger and include more Power-5 ADs and/or former coaches. Perhaps mix in some corporate people, maybe even some media.
2. It's both. I do think some of the criticism of Cohen is hyperbolic. On the other hand, MSU got a crazy good draw. I don't believe, however, that Cohen is using his "bullets" to hurt Ole Miss necessarily. Help MSU? You bet. However, that's likely the extent of it.
From Frasier Crane: What is the Friday Night Lights recruiting event(s) that we keep hearing about?
I'm not positive, but I suspect it's a camp setting, likely in the stadium, where they turn on the lights and the music and let good players compete against good players. I suspect they also bring players back into the Manning Center to talk. It's just a recruiting day with a cool name.
From walnutreb: Do you expect a flurry of commitments in the next few weeks or do you see it as still slow playing? I know this staff has shown it cares less until NSD, so should we be expecting commitments or do you forsee it being more of a see who's on campus type deal?
I suspect you'll see a few commitments, but what's far more interesting is who comes to campus and then of those, who plans to return in the fall. I don't anticipate a ton of early commitments. I don't think that's this staff's plan for this class.
From North Tampa Rebel: What is the ballpark range you expect to see for 5-star football recruits getting in NIL deals? Do you think they'll be one-year or four-year deals? With the transfer rule, will it be pretty much free-agency each offseason?
That's a great question. I have no idea, however. I mean, we're in unchartered waters here. It's one of the stories I am excited to work on at SEC Media Days. I'm curious to hear from both coaches and players regarding their expectations for how NIL will impact them.
As for the transfer rule, yes, it's basically now an open market.
From Levi275: What do you make of these incidents with fans throwing popcorn/water bottles/etc. at NBA players? Should the league push the fans further away from the players and restore traditional media seating?
I just think it's as simple as a lot of people suck. They don't possess basic manners or basic respect. They have to be prosecuted and they have to be banned from the buildings/games in the future. And as much as I'd love to see traditional media seating restored, it's never going to happen.
From rcg61: Now that the word is out that the Manning family was against the hiiring of Lane Kiffin, do you think there is less than a 50% chance that Arch Manning will sign with Ole Miss if Lane is still the coach at signing day?
Look, if you're putting the over/under at 50, I'm going under. Right now, I'd bet on Clemson. I think Ole Miss can close the gap and land Manning, but I think it's going to take a really strong fall/offseason to pull it off. By the way, I spoke to The Athletic's Jeff Duncan, who did a big story on Manning this week, and he doesn't believe there is any tiff between the Manning family and Kiffin.
From BIGBGISME: Do you think a home field advantage in baseball works the same as in football? Are the 3 points in football equivalent to 1 run in baseball?
That seems like a bit much. Maybe half a run? Baseball is so much about pitching. Football crowds can impact a game much more than baseball crowds can.
From Grovin1551: Why doesn’t my YouTube app alert me to the OEP even after rang the bell?
I don't know, but I will move heaven and earth to get to the bottom of this scandal. You have my word.
From walnutreb: Up at 5 AM writing an essay on Beowulf, got any thoughts on the character?
That's pretty deep for 5 a.m. Beowulf is the epic hero, symbolizing all of the characteristics the Anglo-Saxon culture desired (courage, strength, generosity, desire for fame) in their heroes.
