How will college conference shakeups affect student-athletes
Amidst all of the talk about potential seismic changes on college sports' landscapes, a key factor is being ignored.
It is true another major reshuffling of major college conference membership is financially-driven and will impact athletic department budgets and TV contracts. But for the two main sports -- football and men's basketball -- it will mean little to nothing to the student-athletes themselves.
Our 15-years plus of teaching communications and leadership skills to these players has told us they want to win national national, rather than league, championships. That is not to say winning a conference championship isn't a nice byproduct of a season; but ask them whether they would rather win a bowl game or a couple of NCAA tournament games and their answers are usually uniform: get and win in the post-season. Many we bring up in mock interviews as part of our pre-season sessions don't know and don't care about the details of a schedule. Their focus is on the next game and reaching and ultimate goal at the END of the season.
Should -- it is probably more accurate to say when -- the next conference realignment takes place this year, some players will notice their travel itineraries changed with different airports, hotels, stadiums and arenas to deal with each year. But whether they play at Pitt instead of Purdue or Florida State instead of Florida is of little consequence. A win is a win and a stepping stone toward the ultimate goal of a higher national ranking, a higher seed or a better bowl game.
Rivalries just don't mean as much to today's athlete as they did a generation ago. While fans want to see a Missouri-Kansas, Michigan-Michigan State or Auburn-Alabama game each year, to many football and basketball players it is of importance, not necessarily imperative.
The periodic reshuffling of conference memberships has changed scheduling anyway; Oklahoma-Nebraska used to be every year, now they are in different divisions. The Big Ten round-robin means not every team players each other twice in basketball;expanding to 12 or 16 teams will make two meetings a year between rivals a rarity. When we covered college sports in the old days, Marquette-Notre Dame was a big deal for players and fans alike. Today, it is generally just another game after Marquette-West Virginia and before Marquette-South Florida.
Now this isn 't to say altering conference membership won't have an impact on Olympic sports. OUr vast experience in training athletes has shown winning a league title means much more to a volleyball, soccer or softball player than it does to their basketball/football brethren. The Olympic sport athletes aren't in the same televised fishbowl existence and they tend to be throwbacks to that golden era when winning a conference championship and displaying the league trophy actually meant something.
The league alterations are tailored toward money, specifically television revenues and in particular post-season conference games. There will be considerable media hype about the expansion and contraction (and possible elimination) of conferences in the next several months.
It is true another major reshuffling of major college conference membership is financially-driven and will impact athletic department budgets and TV contracts. But for the two main sports -- football and men's basketball -- it will mean little to nothing to the student-athletes themselves.
Our 15-years plus of teaching communications and leadership skills to these players has told us they want to win national national, rather than league, championships. That is not to say winning a conference championship isn't a nice byproduct of a season; but ask them whether they would rather win a bowl game or a couple of NCAA tournament games and their answers are usually uniform: get and win in the post-season. Many we bring up in mock interviews as part of our pre-season sessions don't know and don't care about the details of a schedule. Their focus is on the next game and reaching and ultimate goal at the END of the season.
Should -- it is probably more accurate to say when -- the next conference realignment takes place this year, some players will notice their travel itineraries changed with different airports, hotels, stadiums and arenas to deal with each year. But whether they play at Pitt instead of Purdue or Florida State instead of Florida is of little consequence. A win is a win and a stepping stone toward the ultimate goal of a higher national ranking, a higher seed or a better bowl game.
Rivalries just don't mean as much to today's athlete as they did a generation ago. While fans want to see a Missouri-Kansas, Michigan-Michigan State or Auburn-Alabama game each year, to many football and basketball players it is of importance, not necessarily imperative.
The periodic reshuffling of conference memberships has changed scheduling anyway; Oklahoma-Nebraska used to be every year, now they are in different divisions. The Big Ten round-robin means not every team players each other twice in basketball;expanding to 12 or 16 teams will make two meetings a year between rivals a rarity. When we covered college sports in the old days, Marquette-Notre Dame was a big deal for players and fans alike. Today, it is generally just another game after Marquette-West Virginia and before Marquette-South Florida.
Now this isn 't to say altering conference membership won't have an impact on Olympic sports. OUr vast experience in training athletes has shown winning a league title means much more to a volleyball, soccer or softball player than it does to their basketball/football brethren. The Olympic sport athletes aren't in the same televised fishbowl existence and they tend to be throwbacks to that golden era when winning a conference championship and displaying the league trophy actually meant something.
The league alterations are tailored toward money, specifically television revenues and in particular post-season conference games. There will be considerable media hype about the expansion and contraction (and possible elimination) of conferences in the next several months.
Posted by Randy Minkoff at 5/18/2010 8:37 AM 
Categories: College sports
Tags: Players want national championships not league titles
Categories: College sports
Tags: Players want national championships not league titles
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