The pathological futility of VU football

[jpmando]

I’ve been watching these games since Jack Green coached here.
With rare exceptions, The kind of sustained failure I have witnessed just does not seem in any way natural. With millions in resources and legitimate talent at times , with coaches who have done this for years, it is stunning how poorly things have been for 60 years-Clark Lea directed a final four defense for heaven sake.

I sincerely hope that someone in our program can help the current staff understand what the intangibles of this awful mess really consist of. It’s really hard to beleve that ETSU has such superior talent and coaching to deliver this shameful beating.

If nothing else , surely a Psychology PhD candidate is searching for a dissertation subject on “ Factors Predicting Underperformance”.
There must be more to this recurring theme.

[Albert_Camus]

Pathological futility is an excellent phrase for this phenomenon.

One subtext of the Lea hire is that this may be the last shot for VU football. Given the changes to the sport, it could actually already be too late. The pressures on Sankey to jettison us will be real. I don’t like the idea of our chances if we are on the wrong end of a money conversation with that cutthroat.

In 1945, the residents of Dresden were convinced that their city would be safe from the Allied bombing campaign because of the history and beauty of their city. In reality, the Allies just hadn’t gotten around to them yet. Relying on the tender mercies of SEC presidents and their representative because of our status as a founding member strike me as similarly naive. We should consider getting out in front and trying to negotiate a football-only Vexit from the conference with enough juice to keep basketball and baseball viable. It is a hard deal to get but not impossible.

[MrMemorial]

The bad news is how the mid-majors have closed the talent gap. With the glut of talent coming out of high schools (and juco), a school who can take a marginal academic student-athlete has a bigger advantage than ever.

Results from this weekend include:

Northern Illinois over Georgia Tech
Cal-Davis over Tulsa
Eastern Wash. over UNLV
South Dakota SU over Colorado State
{Fresno State with a near upset over Oregon}
Marshall over Navy by a bunch
LaTech near upset @ Miss. St.
Northern Iowa near miss vs top-10 Iowa State
Missouri State close vs Okie St.
South Alabama clobbers Southern Miss
Nevada over California
Utah St. over Washington State

No coincidence that Duke, Vandy, Northwestern, Stanford all got beat. The mids and 1aa are closing the gap and the more highly academic schools are going to be on the short end of it. Kudos to Tulane for hanging tough with Okie. It was 40-22 Okie when I changed the channel and when I switched it back it was 40-35.

[MrMemorial]

Pathological futility is an excellent phrase for this phenomenon.

One subtext of the Lea hire is that this may be the last shot for VU football. Given the changes to the sport, it could actually already be too late. The pressures on Sankey to jettison us will be real. I don’t like the idea of our chances if we are on the wrong end of a money conversation with that cutthroat.

In 1945, the residents of Dresden were convinced that their city would be safe from the Allied bombing campaign because of the history and beauty of their city. In reality, the Allies just hadn’t gotten around to them yet. Relying on the tender mercies of SEC presidents and their representative because of our status as a founding member strike me as similarly naive. We should consider getting out in front and trying to negotiate a football-only Vexit from the conference with enough juice to keep basketball and baseball viable. It is a hard deal to get but not impossible.

There were times that (per rumors) the BigTen wanted us to be in a division opposite Northwestern. I would support a move to the BigTen if it looks needed. Their TV money is similar to SEC money.

Here is an interesting read:
https://247sports.com/college/vanderbil ... 104710566/

As far as travel, UF is nearly a 600 mile drive from VU. As is LSU. A&M around 760.

Vandy to tOSU - 380. To Indiana around 280. To Illinois 370.

[Johnmn555]

I would probably support a move to the Big 10 for no other reason than it would be a change.

[Go Vandy!]

[quote=Albert_Camus post_id=155173 time=1630869314 user_id=253...negotiate a football-only Vexit from the conference...[/quote]

How many P5 conferences allow any school except Notre Dame to play every sport but football? Zero.

We would have to go to G5, which we may anyway.

I did read that the NCAA can tell student-athletes exactly how long they have to stay in school, but cannot verify that.

[BamaVandyFan]

This is a hard thread for me to read, primarily because it is from many long time and respected Vanderbilt supporters. Within a decade this program has been 5-3 and 4-4 in the Conference, and by all accounts now has much more institutional support than then. Included in those years were wins over Florida, Georgia, Auburn, UT (2). James Franklin did a fantastic job on West End, but he's not proven to be the second coming of Coach Paterno at PSU. Clark Lea may not turn out to be the prodigal son everyone hopes, but let's not shut down the program over one loss. I'd point out Nick Saban lost to UAB (1st edition) his first year at LSU, and ULM his first year at Alabama. Changing a program's direction takes time.

[AuricGoldfinger]

No coincidence that Duke, Vandy, Northwestern, Stanford all got beat. The mids and 1aa are closing the gap and the more highly academic schools are going to be on the short end of it. Kudos to Tulane for hanging tough with Okie. It was 40-22 Okie when I changed the channel and when I switched it back it was 40-35.

I was actually thinking even before this weekend that with all this talk of scheduling alliances, those four schools ought to have their own scheduling alliance, with one appearing on each team's non-conference schedule every season.