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From a great article in the Athletic by Andy Staples
SEC-izing — Spend the GDP of a medium-sized nation on facilities and staff to provide every recruiting and on-field edge possible. This includes new football facilities, indoor practice fields, new weight rooms, new locker rooms, an army of analysts for video, nutrition, strength & conditioning, and recruiting, and a bigger salary pool for the best assistant coaches/recruiters available with a bigger emphasis on recruiting than coaching
Swinney actually was the first to recognize what Saban was doing at LSU and Alabama and then try to convince his bosses to let him do it too. He spent the first years of his tenure at Clemson trying to convince his administration that the Tigers needed to beef up their staff to have any chance of competing with the Alabamas and the LSUs of the world for recruits and on the field.
Like Saban, Swinney tends to identify trends and inefficiencies long before anyone else. So, after some initial resistance, he actually was the first to SEC-ize a program outside the SEC. The difference is he’s managed to strike a work-life balance that makes assistants love working at Clemson. That’s tough to do, and it has more to do with the head coach’s personality than with the resources available to the program.
After Mario Cristobal successfully SEC-izing* Oregon in the Pac-12 a few years after Urban Meyer SEC-ized Ohio State and James Franklin SEC-ized Penn State in the Big Ten, as far as which program is next, my bet would be on someone in the Big Ten because that league makes more money than even the SEC. A good guess probably would be Michigan State. The Spartans already had to open up the checkbook to get Mel Tucker. Tucker worked for Saban at LSU and Alabama and worked for Smart at Georgia, so he already understands the infrastructures of those programs. The circumstances under which he was hired put Michigan State in a position to acquiesce to his demands, so I’d bet he’ll get a lot of what he asks for in terms of infrastructure. He also can make a compelling case that this would be the only way to compete with division rivals Ohio State and Penn State, which are ahead of the Spartans on that front.
Oklahoma and Texas already have done all this. Oklahoma is only a few great defensive line recruits away from being where the Sooners want to be. Texas, meanwhile, hasn’t been able to find the correct formula despite having plenty of money to buy whatever infrastructure is necessary. For a while, the issue was that the Longhorns wouldn’t spend that money. That isn’t the problem anymore. Now the issue is getting the correct people in place. We’ll see if Tom Herman’s recent staff changes help on that front.
This was part of a Question - Answer article written as part of Staples' analysis of UGA hiring Scott Cochran away from Sabin and Alabama.
SEC-izing — Spend the GDP of a medium-sized nation on facilities and staff to provide every recruiting and on-field edge possible. This includes new football facilities, indoor practice fields, new weight rooms, new locker rooms, an army of analysts for video, nutrition, strength & conditioning, and recruiting, and a bigger salary pool for the best assistant coaches/recruiters available with a bigger emphasis on recruiting than coaching
Swinney actually was the first to recognize what Saban was doing at LSU and Alabama and then try to convince his bosses to let him do it too. He spent the first years of his tenure at Clemson trying to convince his administration that the Tigers needed to beef up their staff to have any chance of competing with the Alabamas and the LSUs of the world for recruits and on the field.
Like Saban, Swinney tends to identify trends and inefficiencies long before anyone else. So, after some initial resistance, he actually was the first to SEC-ize a program outside the SEC. The difference is he’s managed to strike a work-life balance that makes assistants love working at Clemson. That’s tough to do, and it has more to do with the head coach’s personality than with the resources available to the program.
After Mario Cristobal successfully SEC-izing* Oregon in the Pac-12 a few years after Urban Meyer SEC-ized Ohio State and James Franklin SEC-ized Penn State in the Big Ten, as far as which program is next, my bet would be on someone in the Big Ten because that league makes more money than even the SEC. A good guess probably would be Michigan State. The Spartans already had to open up the checkbook to get Mel Tucker. Tucker worked for Saban at LSU and Alabama and worked for Smart at Georgia, so he already understands the infrastructures of those programs. The circumstances under which he was hired put Michigan State in a position to acquiesce to his demands, so I’d bet he’ll get a lot of what he asks for in terms of infrastructure. He also can make a compelling case that this would be the only way to compete with division rivals Ohio State and Penn State, which are ahead of the Spartans on that front.
Oklahoma and Texas already have done all this. Oklahoma is only a few great defensive line recruits away from being where the Sooners want to be. Texas, meanwhile, hasn’t been able to find the correct formula despite having plenty of money to buy whatever infrastructure is necessary. For a while, the issue was that the Longhorns wouldn’t spend that money. That isn’t the problem anymore. Now the issue is getting the correct people in place. We’ll see if Tom Herman’s recent staff changes help on that front.
This was part of a Question - Answer article written as part of Staples' analysis of UGA hiring Scott Cochran away from Sabin and Alabama.
