I used to be as soon as the Grinch who hated when groups with shedding data ended up making the postseason. All groups. All sports activities. All eras – even these I wasn’t round.
In 1960, the 12 months earlier than arriving in Los Angeles, the 25-50 Minneapolis Lakers made the playoffs, sweeping the 30-45 Detroit Pistons in a primary spherical. For a Lakers fan like me, it ought to be a feel-good story. As an alternative, my interior Grinch would hear this little bit of historical past and marvel: What’s so particular a few group with a shedding document beating one other?
However that was the previous me.
I now have a coronary heart for groups with sub-.500 data, and it is all due to the 5-7 Minnesota Golden Gophers.
This school soccer group would not actually belong within the postseason. Not with that document. However the NCAA traded bowl benefit for bowl a refund in 2010 when it allowed 6-6 groups to be eligible. This allowed extra (pointless however worthwhile) video games to be squeezed in. Two years later, after additional bowl growth, the group allowed groups with shedding data to turn out to be eligible if there weren’t sufficient successful groups to fill the bowl video games.
This 12 months, solely 79 groups received six or extra video games and there are 82 bowl slots. To fill the vacancies, the NCAA invited two faculties from decrease divisions — James Madison and Jacksonville State — to bowl with the large boys. Mixed, they went 19-5 this season, in order that is smart.
The Gophers, then again … effectively, they made the lower due to good grades.
You don’t say.
In 2003, the NCAA instituted a brand new scoring system designed to carry universities extra accountable for the educational efficiency of pupil athletes. That features taking a look at commencement charges. Ohio State received the nationwide championship at simply 36% in 2003. The bottom price in that postseason belonged to the Oklahoma Sooners. They received the Rose Bowl at a price of 26%.
This 12 months’s Gophers might have completed the common season on a three-game shedding streak, however they nonetheless completed within the Prime 10 for tutorial efficiency. And of the five-win groups, Minnesota was ranked No. 1 and earned a bowl invitation.
Subsequently, calling the Gophers losers regardless of their document on the sector would not fairly ring true. For 4 consecutive seasons, the college has completed above the educational common within the NCAA. An achievement worthy of recognition. And there is definitely no must be a purist about postseason eligibility when mediocrity is so worthwhile.
Have a look at Texas A&M paying Jimbo Fisher $75 million to not coach soccer. That is the price of firing him two years after he signed a totally assured 10-year, $95 million contract. In line with Yahoo Sports activities, faculties are on the hook for greater than $120 million in buyouts this 12 months. In 2021, universities spent a then-record $94 million on layoffs.
The added bowl video games of latest years introduced extra income however apparently not scrutiny as plenty of athletic administrators acted as in the event that they had been utilizing Monopoly cash to rent coaches.
This is similar mind belief that argued in opposition to paying the gamers or letting them make cash off of name-image sort offers.
Enterprise was at all times paramount. For many years, school soccer emphasised the “athlete” as “student-athlete” and put cash earlier than revenue.
The Gophers might have disenchanted followers by shedding seven of 12 video games within the common season, however for the remainder of us, they’re now a feel-good story. Which bowl they find yourself in will not be identified till Sunday, however the one in Las Vegas is a attainable vacation spot. In a season the place tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} go to coaches who did not win, why should not the Gophers additionally get a season-ending bonus?
The schooling locations a transparent emphasis on follow in addition to research. Minnesota has lately received 5 straight bowl video games, a streak that started in 2015 with the Fast Lane Bowl, which was created the 12 months earlier than. And like this group, that Gophers group additionally completed 5-7 and made the postseason due to good grades.
The previous me hated that postseason giveaway spot. However my little Grinch coronary heart has began to develop.