Tag: Rick George

Karl Dorrell’s buyout number is a huge concern for CU Buffs

All eyes are now on Rick George

The Colorado Buffaloes are off to an 0-3 start. Now, they weren’t expected to win many games and we’ve talked in depth about the difficulty of their September schedule.

On the other hand, the Buffs have scored 30 points combined through three games and have lost each game by at least 25 points. That isn’t good, and head coach Karl Dorrell hasn’t found success from any quarterback or really anybody on offense, for that matter.

So, naturally, after a 49-7 loss to Minnesota, questions began to swirl about Dorrell’s job security. As athletic director Rick George decides his next move, Brian Howell of BuffZone and Pac-12 columnist John Canzano brought up Dorrell’s buyout, which drops off in January.

So, if the Buffs do move on soon, they are on the hook for nearly $9 million. If it happens in January, after the season ends, it drops to $7.4 million.

Those numbers are massive and would be a ton of money for Colorado to eat. It may decrease if he got another job, but with the way he has performed in Boulder, he might be headed for an assistant role next.

Still, questions are arising about the next step for George, and nearly $9 million to move on from Dorrell right now is a tough pill to swallow.

Then again, if they keep him around and lose more games, players won’t want to come to Colorado. Fans won’t want to attend games at Folsom Field, and, well, the program will lose out on even more money.

It is time for Colorado to look in the mirror and see what makes sense at this point.

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Rick George reminds everyone about USC, UCLA’s lack of recent national success

Rick George fired a subtle shot at USC and UCLA

USC and UCLA will only be in the Pac-12 for a couple more seasons. Their move to the Big Ten has the entire college football world shaken up, and the Colorado Buffaloes are one of a half dozen teams the Big 12 may have their eyes set on.

The domino effect won’t be ending anytime soon. But for now, the Pac-12 will have USC and UCLA. Colorado athletic director Rick George got honest about the loss of the Los Angeles schools.

“We didn’t lose any team that has appeared in a CFP playoff game,” George told the media on Wednesday. “We still have the strength of those (remaining) teams that are in our conference.”

His comments were humorous (from a CU fan’s perspective) and truthful, however you want to swing it. And it might not go over well with the USC and UCLA fans.

Sure, the Pac-12 didn’t lose teams that have played in the College Football Playoff, but UCLA and USC are both on the rise (especially the Trojans with Lincoln Riley), and the loss of two historic programs will still be detrimental to the conference.

Nonetheless, after George’s update on Wednesday, it’s unclear if Colorado will stay in the Pac-12 or return to the Big 12.

Still, George probably ruffled the feathers of UCLA and USC, fans and he might not want to check his mentions or emails for quite some time.

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Rick George believes trust is present among remaining Pac-12 schools

Rick George said the Pac-12’s main focus moving forward is keeping the remaining schools aligned

After USC and UCLA dashed for the Big Ten, you’d think that the remaining Pac-12 schools would be left with some trust issues. Colorado athletic director Rick George, however, sees mostly transparency during recent discussions with his now-nine other counterparts.

George spoke with the media on Wednesday and said the Pac-12’s current loyalists are aiming to stay aligned, though it’s not yet clear if that means committing to the Pac-12 or joining another conference. While George said “everything is on the table,” keeping the band together seems to be the prevailing focus.

“We trust the people in the room and we have to,” George said. “We look each other in the eye — we’re not in person, but we’re on Zoom — we see each other and we talk through it. I think when this initially happened, there was some concern and there was a reaction to the news that went out there just like you all had a reaction. But again, I always think that cooler heads prevail. Once we had an opportunity as a group to sit down and talk through where we were, to make sure that we were aligned in where we wanted to go, I think it’s been really helpful for us.”

Colorado’s nine-year AD also commended Pac-12 Commissioner George Kilavkoff on his handling of the situation.

To add another layer to the conference’s alignment, George was asked if CU has had a closer relationship with Utah throughout this process, which was at least the thought from outsiders. Despite joining the Pac-12 together and sharing a geographical connection, he confirmed that wasn’t the case; rather, he reiterated a 10-team commitment.

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Colorado AD Rick George and chancellor Philip DiStefano give statement on massive Pac-12 news

Two of Colorado’s higher-ups expressed their thoughts on the recent Pac-12 news

On Thursday, USC and UCLA stunned the world by announcing their decision to leave the Pac-12 and head for the Big Ten beginning in the year 2024.

Everything happened so fast, and now the Pac-12 is left wondering what to do. Will Oregon and Washinton leave? Will the Arizona schools go elsewhere?

But, most importantly, what happens with Colorado? At this point, nobody knows. Plain and simple.

Well, on Friday, Colorado athletic director Rick George and university chancellor Philip DiStefano sent out a statement in an official press release:

The announcement of USC and UCLA joining the Big Ten came as a disappointment to all of us at CU Boulder. Despite this news, we remain resolute in our commitment to our student-athletes and will continue to provide them the resources for success both in the classroom and on the fields of competition.

We have been in constant communication with our fellow universities as well as conference leadership and will continue to work closely as this dynamic situation continues to develop. CU Boulder is a world-class academic institution with elite athletic programs and will continue to be a leading voice in the changing college athletics landscape.

The simple form: That doesn’t say very much. A report came out on Friday that neither Washington nor Oregon is joining the Big Ten just yet as they wait for Notre Dame to decide.

But, still, who knows what happens with the Pac-12. If other schools leave, the conference is in a world of trouble. And, after Colorado left the Big 12 to come to the Pac-12, it’s unlikely they can go back, and it’s doubtful that the Big Ten would want the Buffs right now.

So, the waiting game is on. The idea of San Diego State joining the Pac-12 makes sense, along with Boise State, Utah State, Colorado State and even Fresno State.

But, as of July 1, 2022, nobody has any clue what to do — including the Pac-12 itself.

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Colorado AD Rick George speaks on NIL situation: ‘We should all be concerned’

What are your thoughts on how NIL is changing college athletics?

The college football landscape has changed drastically after the addition of the NIL (name, image and likeness). Players now have the right to negotiate deals and make money off of their name, something that should have been done a long time ago.

As such, the transfer portal has also changed quite a bit, and Pittsburgh WR Jordan Addison entering the portal for other NIL offers is the talk of the sports world lately.

Colorado athletic director Rick George spoke on this situation recently (h/t John Canzano):

“We should all be concerned about where this is going and what is happening in our industry right now… there’s a lot of people hiding behind the NIL.”

The NIL has changed things for college athletes in a massive way, and the fallout with the portal has been a talking point right now. In college basketball, Miami guard Isaiah Wong also entered the portal in hopes of finding a better NIL opportunity, and surely more athletes will be considering this going forward.

As a concept, the NIL is terrific for college athletes, but at this point, it’s a tricky situation and could end up doing some damage when all is said and done.

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Ross Dellenger lists Rick George as a ‘candidate to watch’ for Big 12 commissioner vacancy

Could Rick George be a fit for the Big 12 commissioner vacancy?

The Big 12 conference will officially be getting a new leader in the near future, as its current league commissioner Bob Bowlsby has announced that he will be stepping away from the job later this year. Bowlsby has been the Big 12 commissioner for the last 10 years, overseeing significant changes to the conference in terms of school membership.

Colorado was a member of the Big 12 from 1996-2010 and was a member of its predecessor, the Big Eight, from 1948-95. During that time, the Buffs won five Big Eight championships and one Big 12 championship. Despite CU now being in the Pac-12, athletic director Rick George has been listed among a field of “candidates to watch” (per a tweet made by Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger) to land the Big 12 commissioner job in the wake of Bowlsby’s decision.

George has been the athletic director at Colorado since 2013 and was formerly the president of business operations for the MLB’s Texas Rangers. He also previously spent a few years as a football recruiting coordinator alongside legendary Colorado head coach Bill McCartney. George’s current contract at Colorado was extended in 2021 through the 2025-26 academic year.

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Karl Dorrell and Rick George call for updated transfer portal rules

Karl Dorrell and Rick George discussed their thoughts on the transfer portal

Colorado athletic director Rick George and head football coach Karl Dorrell met with the media on Thursday to discuss a variety of areas impacting CU and the NCAA as a whole.

One topic that quickly arose was the NCAA Transfer Portal. The Buffaloes have watched 14 players enter the transfer portal since late September, including Brenden Rice, Christain Gonzalez, Mark Perry and other big names. While entering the transfer portal doesn’t mean those players can’t withdraw and return to CU, the uptick of transfer portal entrees around college football is a worrisome trend, at least for coaches and administrators.

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For Colorado, 14 entrees may seem like a large number, but it’s not far off from what other institutions are seeing; since the 2021-22 cycle began on Aug. 1, the average for an FBS program is 11. George believes that the “convergence” of new NIL liberties with student-athletes no longer being penalized for their initial transfer has led to the current situation.

“We’re seeing a lot of big names from a lot of different programs around the country in there,” George said. “I think these are two areas that we need more governance on either at the NCAA level or the conference level. It’s an area of concern, in my opinion, for our industry. It’s something that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.”

One possible solution that both George and Dorrell discussed was to shorten the window players have to enter the transfer portal.

“The NCAA window for these guys to enter is a tremendous window; it’s really all year long,” Dorrell said. “To me, that might be something we need to revisit.”

Dorrell continued to say that it’s difficult to plan for an upcoming season when players can enter the transfer portal during and even after spring camp. But until any drastic transfer portal updates occur, the second-year head coach said he must be ready for sudden changes and keep a “level head.”

As more and more players across the country enter the portal, these conversations will likely continue amongst college football higher-ups.

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WATCH: Coach Karl Dorrell shows his frustration following loss to USC

Head coach Karl Dorrell was shown knocking down a videographer’s camera following Colorado’s loss.

In a video tweeted out by CBS Denver’s Ryan Greene, Karl Dorrell knocks away a CBS Denver sports photographer’s camera while jogging off the field following Colorado’s 37-14 loss to USC.

The video was posted after Dorrell’s postgame press conference and he was not asked about the incident.

Colorado Athletic Director Rick George tweeted out an apology soon after the video went viral:

“Coach Dorrell sends his apologies to the local journalist who he intercepted after today’s game. We treat journalists with respect and apologize for falling short of that today,”

As of 7 p.m. MST, the video had over 39,000 views.

Colorado has a bye next weekend and is back in action on Oct. 16 hosting Arizona.

Pac-12 Commissioner George Kilavkoff visits Folsom Field for CU-Minnesota

In-Game Reading: Pac-12 Commissioner George Kilavkoff at Folsom for CU-Minnesota

For the second time in about a month, new Pac-12 Commissioner George Kilavkoff paid a visit to Boulder. Kilavkoff, who was accompanied by Colorado Athletic Director Rick George, spoke with the media prior to Colorado’s Week 3 contest against Minnesota.

“We’ve been running around meeting with donors and alumni and fans and it’s just a beautiful, beautiful campus,” Kilavkoff said. “I got a lot more impressions when I was here for two days, and actually got to meet with a bunch of the constituents. What I would say is I was most impressed by is our student-athletes. It kind of blew me away.”

He added that his goal is to visit every Pac-12 school for a football game this season. So far, Kilavkoff has been present for UCLA beating a ranked LSU team and Oregon upsetting Ohio State. “I’m hoping to bring a little bit of luck for the Buffs,” he said.

Among other things, Kilavkoff discussed a potential 8-1-1 scheduling format for future Pac-12 football seasons. This would mean eight conference games, one ACC game and one Big Ten game. The other two non-conference games would be decided by the school. Kilavkoff called the new scheduling format the “North Star” of the recently announced alliance between the Pac-12, ACC and Big Ten.

Kilavkoff replaced longtime Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott in May.