Some thoughts...

[fballcoach65]

These are just my opinions/thoughts on what happens as the season comes to a close. Some of what I will say has already been offered up by others on the board. Feel free to disagree.

1. Coaching changes are necessary. RH is in the second year of a five year deal, and I do not believe Hardt will ask for his resignation. I do believe, however, that Hardt will demand change, and that will be at the expense of some of the staff. Not sure if both coordinators will go, but the OC and QB coach must. I know Corp is an alum, but he is doing nothing to develop the QBs. OC has has a myriad of weapons and cannot find a way to creatively use them. We see the same BS stuff every week, and look where it has gotten us.
2. We have some very good position coaches that I hope stay around. WR, LB and line coaches all did well with what they had and in working through all of the injuries. I don't see Sparky getting the boot as he does a decent job with the backs and is probably the best recruiter on the staff.
3. There has been a fine recruiting class pulled together for 2019, and that may make it so that no changes occur until at least the early signing period is over in an effort to hold the class together.
4. I am not concerned with the RS Juniors that walked with the exception of Simpson. He is a weapon and his speed will be missed. With the exception of a handful of carries this season, DT has not contributed much. The rest of those players didn't play much or at all, and their departure won't have an impact on what happens next season.
5. There will be 18-20 (maybe more) scholarships available in 2019. The staff needs to nail all of the current commits down in the early signing period, get aggressive in looking for OL/DL playmakers for the February signing period, and make a big run at transfers who could come in and make an impact. While there has been some success with transfers (Simpson, Coleman) there have been more disappointments. We cannot afford to offer scholarships to transfers that don't even see the field like the LS from Cal and the MD DL.
6. The staff needs to do more to build up a good group of PWOs. We continue to have 15-20 less players on the roster than our CAA peers. It is amazing that the allure of a UR degree wouldn't attract a lot of PWO players. The university does a pretty good job of giving these boys the financial aid needed to be here as a PWO until they prove they are worthy of a scholarship.
7. Whatever changes occur, and whomever the staff can bring on, things need to gel quickly. The 2019 schedule is going to be challenging given how most other teams in the CAA are improving. On the road next season at BC, JMU, Maine, Villanova, UD and given how strong the away opponents will be, we need to make sure we win every home game.

Anyway, my two cents.

 

[Captain Anderson]

Good stuff @fballcoach65. What are your thoughts on us making a change in the secondary in terms of position coaching? I hate to beat a dead horse but the tackling and inability to find and play the ball in the secondary has really hurt this defense this year. With the DL we have coming back next year fixing the secondary issues would go a long way to significantly improving the defense.

 

[MolivaManiac]

Good analysis. I think your 2 cents are pretty valuable.

Can someone provide a summation of which R-Juniors walked? I was hoping it would be quite a few.

Do you think Corp would be able to do better with a better Offensive Coordinator? Durden may be screwing things up for both the players and the staff.

We have GOT to start next fall with more than 90 players on the roster, through whatever means we have to do it. Closer to 100 would be even better. I had a bad feeling that we were in for a world of hurt when i saw he had only 83 or 84 players on this squad back in August.

 

[United_In_Red]

We have GOT to start next fall with more than 90 players on the roster, through whatever means we have to do it. Closer to 100 would be even better. I had a bad feeling that we were in for a world of hurt when i saw he had only 83 or 84 players on this squad back in August.

I know we have discussed the many benefits of redshirting, but this is another benefit of playing with redshirt seniors. In their 5th year they typically take one class. This counts as 1/4 scholarship to our team totals, but the player still receives all of the benefits of a full scholarship athlete. PWO program is also key.

 

[ChoppinBroccoli]

4. I am not concerned with the RS Juniors that walked with the exception of Simpson. He is a weapon and his speed will be missed. With the exception of a handful of carries this season, DT has not contributed much. The rest of those players didn't play much or at all, and their departure won't have an impact on what happens next season.

Our starting quarterback notwithstanding.

 

[32counter]

Our starting quarterback notwithstanding.

Speaking of verbal commit QB Jackson Walker of Tenn.

 

[spiderhawk111]

Speaking of verbal commit QB Jackson Walker of Tenn.

View embedded media

kid looks good , i hope he gets here,

 

[Eight Legger]

I know we have discussed the many benefits of redshirting, but this is another benefit of playing with redshirt seniors. In their 5th year they typically take one class. This counts as 1/4 scholarship to our team totals, but the player still receives all of the benefits of a full scholarship athlete. PWO program is also key.

Didn't realize this. I did hear that the university is changing policy and not providing campus housing for students who take only 3 credits a semester anymore, so I wonder if that is an issue with fifth-year senior athletes who might otherwise return? Not sure if that's a make-or-break situation, or if there's a way around it for athletes, anyway, but if they have to start paying for off-campus housing when they weren't before, maybe it's an impact.

 

[GKiller]

Like EL I find that comment interesting. United can you clarify that? Maybe I misunderstood or this is new rule. Right now it doesn't make sense to me. Or could be I just never knew. But if 5th years only count as 1/4 ship, then say you had 12 5th year redshirt seniors that only means you're using 3 scholarships. Would have 9 additional ones then and could go over the 63 limit. Feel like schools at every level would be all over that using to their advantage. Especially now with the 4 game rule making it easier to take redshirt. Could you have meant it only counts 1/4 to the overall body count (for title ix etc) rather than scholarship totals. I can see them counting as 1/2 ship since presumably they'd graduate by end of that 1st semester of 5th year. But that would really only help you with transfers for 2nd semester ships. Never heard of this and curious. Thanks.

 

[United_In_Red]

Like EL I find that comment interesting. United can you clarify that? Maybe I misunderstood or this is new rule. Right now it doesn't make sense to me. Or could be I just never knew. But if 5th years only count as 1/4 ship, then say you had 12 5th year redshirt seniors that only means you're using 3 scholarships. Would have 9 additional ones then and could go over the 63 limit. Feel like schools at every level would be all over that using to their advantage. Especially now with the 4 game rule making it easier to take redshirt. Could you have meant it only counts 1/4 to the overall body count (for title ix etc) rather than scholarship totals. I can see them counting as 1/2 ship since presumably they'd graduate by end of that 1st semester of 5th year. But that would really only help you with transfers for 2nd semester ships. Never heard of this and curious. Thanks.

At the FCS level you are allowed to give partial scholarships. You have 63 total scholarships you can divide among 85 players. At the FBS level there are no partial scholarships. 85 scholarships for 85 players. So in the FCS, if you have a 5th year senior taking one class, his scholarship would count as the cost of one class plus living expenses for the semester. I estimated 1/4 of a scholarship because most students take 4 or 5 classes a semester. So it would more likely cost between 1/4 and 1/2 of a scholarship, but never more than 1/2 of a scholarship.

 

[GKiller]

At the FCS level you are allowed to give partial scholarships. You have 63 total scholarships you can divide among 85 players. At the FBS level there are no partial scholarships. 85 scholarships for 85 players. So in the FCS, if you have a 5th year senior taking one class, his scholarship would count as the cost of one class plus living expenses for the semester. I estimated 1/4 of a scholarship because most students take 4 or 5 classes a semester. So it would more likely cost between 1/4 and 1/2 of a scholarship, but never more than 1/2 of a scholarship.

Thanks United. I knew about partials but don't think you're calculating that right. I don't know, where is @SFspidur when you need him. Come back SF. United, you had said...This counts as 1/4 scholarship to our team totals, but the player still receives all of the benefits of a full scholarship athlete...how can a player receive benefits as a full scholarship athlete if he's on a partial. If you're on a partial scholarship of say 25% for example, the other 75% would your own expense. The university costs are related more to room & board and other things than just classes. If so then a kid who decides to take less of a load one semester you could calculate his ship money as less than give balance to someone else presumably under that kind of model. I suppose for 5th years maybe you can get away with giving those guys smaller partials if UR allows a student to be enrolled part time and take classes ad hoc, maybe they live off campus. Possible they agree to that if they would have less costs than normal. But they would still be responsible for paying expenses after the predetermined partial scholarship. Sorry I'm skeptical of what you describe but interested in understanding this better.

 

[PhillySpider]

FBS football is a head count sport while FCS is an equivalency sport.

That means in FBS you have your 85 scholarships, but you also have a limit of 85 total people (head count) on scholarship and thus effectively no partials (you can give a partial, but it counts as 1 full person against the 85 limit head count). Some FBS schools that are not fully funded give partials but still would have only 85 total kids on scholarship in the program. At FSC, you have the equivalent of 63 full scholarships and no limit on the total number of people you have on scholarship. So you could give all half scholarships and have 126 players on scholarship (which you could not do at FBS).

That means 5th year guys taking one class as described above are treated very differently as well. A 5th year guy at FBS taking one class for one semester gets all his costs taken care of and he counts as one full person for that year against the 85 head count. At FSC what they are actually counting is not head count of scholarship players or even portions (half, quarter etc.) of scholarships, but rather they are counting dollars. Everyone - - - including coaches and administrators, however, talks about portions because its the common language. You get the equivalent of 63 full time scholarships in dollar value. So, lets say a scholarship as UR is worth $60,000 (the actual calculation is determined by an NCAA formula etc.). Assuming UR is fully funded, they have $3,780,000 ($60,000 x 63) scholarship dollars to hand out. So a 5th year (full ride) senior taking one class for one semester might need only $15,000 to cover his full costs and will be granted only $15,000. His costs are 100 percent met (still a full ride) but they are only $15,000. At FBS, the guy gets his 15K and he counts one full person against the 85 limit. In essence, his "remaining" $45,000 is not utilizable for any other scholarship. At UR (FCS), he gets his 15K and it counts only $15K (or about 1/4 of a scholarship) against the $3,780,000 limit and the school has full use of anything still left to give to others. So that fifth year senior taking one class really does use up far less than a full scholarship equivalent. The actual math will depend on a lot of things, but that how it works that 5th year guys are "cheaper."

 

[GKiller]

Very informative. Thanks Philly and also United - sorry for the skepticism.

I knew about partials and the whole pot of money makes sense, I didn't realize there was essentially a "consumption" element to the calculations. Interesting.

A few other questions/comments for you guys if you don't mind..

I have seen the 85 for 63 numbers before. So 63 ships for max 85 players. Philly u mentioned no limit but I believe United right on that, if u want to confirm. I know your comment was theoretical about 126 players on half scholarships but not possible by rules. That was only real conflicting info I saw between your posts.

• How are grad students calculated on consumption? Similar to 5th years or a more traditional undergrad. I assume 5th years. Otherwise you'd push the students to come close to graduating but prefer them to be a class or so short, to game the numbers.

• What is the cut off/formula to calculate consumption, just curious how UR views it. For instance many football players take 1 less class 1st semester during season. Makes sense lot of responsibilities with football. Still seems like you're using all of that ship money to me, but maybe school can view it as only 95% while to student athlete no difference. there most be a cutoff somewhere right?

• Forget the ":consumption" part for a sec, if you are on an agreed partial ship say 80% coming in, can that only go up or can it go down, because obviously the money allocation varies annually. Meaning could a school, if they wanted, cut your 80% ship to 50% the next year. Or is it agreed it would not get cut year to year only potentially increased?

Obviously redshirting in football has some benefits regardless but I agree even more important based on United's original point. Trickle effect. Need to use this effectively. Get solid group of 5th year redshirts and have lot of left over $$ to allocate to more signings. Keep that cycle of 5th years going ideally every year. Hope best ones don't grad transfer out on you (we really haven't had that issue in football that I recall). Wont help our #'s next year b/c sounds like lot are leaving. Certainly still harder for UR to get partials and walkons because of UR cost but if doing it right w 5th years it matters a lot.

 

[PhillySpider]

Very informative. Thanks Philly and also United - sorry for the skepticism.

I knew about partials and the whole pot of money makes sense, I didn't realize there was essentially a "consumption" element to the calculations. Interesting.

A few other questions/comments for you guys if you don't mind..

I have seen the 85 for 63 numbers before. So 63 ships for max 85 players. Philly u mentioned no limit but I believe United right on that, if u want to confirm. I know your comment was theoretical about 126 players on half scholarships but not possible by rules. That was only real conflicting info I saw between your posts.

• How are grad students calculated on consumption? Similar to 5th years or a more traditional undergrad. I assume 5th years. Otherwise you'd push the students to come close to graduating but prefer them to be a class or so short, to game the numbers.

• What is the cut off/formula to calculate consumption, just curious how UR views it. For instance many football players take 1 less class 1st semester during season. Makes sense lot of responsibilities with football. Still seems like you're using all of that ship money to me, but maybe school can view it as only 95% while to student athlete no difference. there most be a cutoff somewhere right?

• Forget the ":consumption" part for a sec, if you are on an agreed partial ship say 80% coming in, can that only go up or can it go down, because obviously the money allocation varies annually. Meaning could a school, if they wanted, cut your 80% ship to 50% the next year. Or is it agreed it would not get cut year to year only potentially increased?

Obviously redshirting in football has some benefits regardless but I agree even more important based on United's original point. Trickle effect. Need to use this effectively. Get solid group of 5th year redshirts and have lot of left over $$ to allocate to more signings. Keep that cycle of 5th years going ideally every year. Hope best ones don't grad transfer out on you (we really haven't had that issue in football that I recall). Wont help our #'s next year b/c sounds like lot are leaving. Certainly still harder for UR to get partials and walkons because of UR cost but if doing it right w 5th years it matters a lot.

OK I will try to tackle what I can here.

The 85 for 63 is correct. Generally (as in all but FCS football I believe), equivalency sports have no head count limits, however FCS football is a bit of a hybrid and there is both the 85 head count and 63 scholarship limit.

All players (undergrad, 5th year, grad school) are treated and counted exactly the same. Each counts as 1 full head against the head count if they get $1 of scholarship money and each counts whatever amount of aid they are actually granted against the "cap". Understand that the math I believe is done at the grant level and not a consumption level (although if everybody is on the same page they will be the same). The school agrees to provide (grant) X dollars and that amount counts against the "cap". If a player is granted say $50,000 and that's a full ride and ends up only being a part-time student 2nd semester (unanticipated) and uses up only $40,000, you don't get to go use that $10,000 somewhere else. Grants are done at a point in time and all your limits etc. applied at that time based on grant amount. Actual consumption for any one player could be less (but NOT more) than grant amount and if it is less, you don't get to reallocate etc.

I have no real inside (or other) knowledge about the intricacies of what you refer to as the consumption calculation but is really the grant calculation. What knowledge I do have about any of this comes from knowing the recruiting rules from the student side as I help many of the kids I coach through the process and from my own two kids' recruiting process. I coach girls basketball which is a head count sport and that's the ones I know the most about so I haven't much first hand knowledge of equivalency intricacies. My own kids play(ed) Olympic (and thus equivalency) sports, but never had occasion to get into the school side of things and understand how their math works in detail.

Most (and maybe all I am not sure) scholarships are one-year renewable deals. Meaning its only for that year and the school can revoke it entirely at any point its up for renewal for the new year. So yes, they can also cut the amount if they wish. Practicality is that coaches don't do this very often because any sort of reputation for doing this would make future recruiting very difficult. Players and families generally assume (incorrectly) that they have a 4 year commitment. Factually they do not, but implicitly they do and coaches generally recognize that they can't operate on the one year basis when everyone else is living up to the implied 4 year commitment. This is why you see coaches running off kids and kids just taking it. Coaches will try the nice way first of counseling etc.("look your never going to play here, but you can play down a half level and you'd be happier doing that I am sure etc. and I want you to have a great college experience etc. etc." ) to try and convince kid to transfer on his own. But if the kid doesn't take the hint and the coach wants/needs the scholie back, the coach "reminds" the student that they could take back the scholie anyway if they want since its only one year and if player doesn't transfer, he/she WILL take the schollie away so he/she should just transfer. Coaches use the threat ALL the time, but rarely have to follow through because the kids almost always just go away. This one topic I have more knowledge than I'd like to have quite frankly!