Tag: Brandon Marcello

Former Texas A&M head coach opens up on NIL and the Aggie’s previous budget

Jimbo Fisher won’t commit a return to coaching unless the NIL landscape establishes equal footing

Former Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher is back in the news after his Monday night appearance at the Little Rock (AR) Touchdown Club. He discussed many topics, including a potential return to coaching and the ever-changing NIL landscape.

For those who may have forgotten, Fisher was fired from Texas A&M just a day after the Aggies’ 51-10 win over Mississippi State with just two games left on the 2023 schedule. This resulted in a record-setting $76 million buyout that the University will pay for the next decade.

Nowadays, Fisher is focused on spending time with his family while hunting as much as time permits, knowing that the game will always be there if a return is in the cards.

However, Fisher can’t understand the current NIL structure. He notes that the unequal footing among the larger and smaller conferences could get out of control, as next year’s revenue-sharing introduction could exceed $22 million for larger programs in the SEC and Big Ten. Speaking with CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello, Fisher had some strong opinions about the future of CFB.

“People don’t realize that Alabama, Georgia and all of them ain’t got that money,” Fisher stated to CBS Sports. “They’re not like Ohio State, Texas. There’s a difference within your own conference, in my opinion. Maybe you make it $16 (million) or $18 (million) so the other mid-level schools have a chance. I just hate taking the Big 12 out of this, the ACC. I mean, it’s crazy to me. You think of the national championship between Miami, FSU, Clemson  … it’s still a shame to me.”

However, concerning Texas A&M’s budget after the program landed the highest-rated 2022 recruiting class in 247Sports history, Fisher referenced the previous BroBible accusation that Texas A&M’s 2022-2023 collective was working with over $35 Million, revealing that the number was nowhere near that astronomical value.

Fisher further explained to CBS Sports that during the 2022-2023 season, all 20 Texas A&M Athletic programs were working with under $1 million, which led to a flurry of phone calls from players and their family members.

“‘Where’s my money?'” was the general question, he said. “Why I came out and went against it as much as anything was because families were calling and saying, ‘Coach, I wasn’t bought.’ It was the families of the kids they were talking about. You don’t think about that avenue of it because they kept getting questions, too. That’s why I made the statements I made.”

Like him or not, you have to respect Fisher’s brutal honesty. As the NIL landscape will no doubt continue to create chaos if more regulations don’t come into play, Fisher feels that College Football should adopt the NFL structure if things continue down the same road.

“Here’s what bothers me,” he stated “No one has stepped up and watnt do do what’s right for college football. There needs to be a commissioner.”

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty.

247Sports analyst backpedals on dismissing Notre Dame

Beep, beep, beep…

Beep, beep, beep.

That noise you hear isn’t a dump truck at a nearby construction site but Brandon Marcello of 247Sports backing away from his recent thoughts on Notre Dame football in 2024.

In case you missed it, Marcello released his summer rankings of college football’s top 30 teams on Wednesday and Notre Dame wasn’t on the list.  He tried to justify that but his reasons for Notre Dame not being there could very easily have applied to seemingly half the teams he did rank.

Marcello released a short video on Thursday further discussing the Notre Dame matter. It’s posted below but to paraphrase it for you, he pretty much says Notre Dame could very easily win 10 games (which would give them a great chance to be in the College Football Playoff) and that his preseason rankings will change (where he’ll get a chance to make up for leaving Notre Dame off this list).

As the world turns or as the “way too early college football rankings chatter turns”?

You be the judge; I’ll be busy counting down days until late August.

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ACC commissioner Jim Phillips talks Notre Dame independence

No need to be concerned for now, independence fans.Bra

With ACC Media Days underway, this also is the time for the man at the head of the conference to speak out. Commissioner Jim Phillips took the podium in Charlotte and faced his annual round of questioning from assembled media.

At some point during the day, Phillips was asked about Notre Dame’s independence. He is on record as saying he wants the Irish to join the conference for football, and he had this response according to Brandon Marcello of 247Sports:

With the SEC and Big Ten on the verge of becoming super conferences, the question of whether the Irish will stay independent becomes more relevant than before. It will be interesting to see how long the program can keep this going before the deck becomes stacked against it enough that joining a conference is the only option.

While many Irish fans don’t want to think about being in a conference, nothing is off the table anymore. Money talks, and the Irish might eventually have to bite the bullet to stay relevant in college football.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

247Sports not very high on Notre Dame’s new coaching staff

A bit low don’t you think?

In what has been an extremely interesting off-season, the Brian Kelly moving down south and the elevation of defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman. It’s become quite the norm across all sports to have changes in coaching staff, even from the smallest role to the largest.

Today, 247Sports Brandon Marcello graded the new staffs around college football and the Irish did not fare well in his rankings. With a grade of a B along with the 10th overall spot, Marcello doesn’t seem to be very high on how Notre Dame did to replace Kelly.

There was an asterisk with the assessment however, as Marcello mentioned that “this grade could rise or fall depending on the last two hires.” Those would be a defensive coordinator along with running backs coach.

Although Freeman has yet to name the final coaches on his staff, this grade was lower than LSU, Georgia Southern, SMU and Colorado State. I think Marcello will regret ranking the Irish staff so low in a few years.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Mike on Twitter: @MikeFChen

Irish losing grip as Clemson’s main challenger in ACC?

A few analysts see Notre Dame trending in the wrong way. Should the Irish be concerned at all?

After one week of play, there is a concerning trend that some analysts have taken when looking at Notre Dame. The Irish are on the verge of losing their grip as Clemson’s main challenger for the ACC crown.

Eric Mac Lain, an analyst at the ACC Network, has the Irish behind North Carolina. Both teams won, both teams needed big second half’s to secure those wins.

Over at 247Sports, they looked at week two overreactions and the Irish showed up. Brandon Marcello stated the obvious that the passing game needed to be better, but his assessment after was concerning. Marcello noted “North Carolina, meanwhile, looks like more of a challenger than Notre Dame in the ACC.”

Yes, this was a look at overreactions, but it’s still a reaction. One that doesn’t have the Irish trending in the right direction. The good news is that after Kelly’s meeting with the media yesterday, he shed some light on the offense. A new zone blocking scheme held the offense back a bit, without live reps in preseason camp, there were kinks to be worked out.

Could that have been why quarterback Ian Book struggled? There were other reasons, his receiver with the most reps in camp, Bennett Skowronek, got injured and didn’t return. All new skill position players needed to be broken in.

North Carolina returned a 1,000 yard rusher, two 1,000 yard receivers and quarterback Sam Howell. They have the chemistry but still struggled.

Yes, some have “dropped” the Irish a notch in there rankings but it doesn’t matter much. Notre Dame’s schedule is set up for them to be able to break in a new offense, while still being able to win. Louisville and Pittsburgh are ranked opponents, but would they be in a normal season? Doubtful.

The defense looks like it won’t skip a beat from last years very good group. They will give the offense a cushion to get comfortable. Brian Kelly’s group should be fine going forward as they compete for the ACC title.