SBJ College: Sources: USC-Bohn Deal Won’t Hinge On Meyer

ESPN this week released its ranking of the all-time 150 best college football games, and I was in the building for eight of them, including four of the top 50. My biggest gripe about the ranking: LSU’s “Bluegrass Miracle” at Kentucky was ranked No. 113, which is way too low. Most memorable: Standing on the sideline at Clemson watching Florida State’s wide-eyed LeRoy Butler race down the field with the “Puntrooskie.”

Here is what's cooking on campus:

SOURCES: ABILITY TO HIRE MEYER NOT HOLDING UP BOHN TO USC

• USC’s courtship of Cincinnati AD Mike Bohn is expected to result in Bohn’s hiring to be the Trojans’ next AD. That’s what reports were saying on Friday as well. As more time has passed without an announcement from USC, though, speculation began to build, including one story that Bohn was backing away from the job because the school wouldn’t give him permission to hire football coach Urban Meyer and his considerable baggage.
  
  
• I can tell you that absolutely no one I spoke with today believes that story about Meyer. I’m not totally sure why the hire is taking so long to consummate, but the idea that Bohn would pull out of the USC search because he couldn’t hire Meyer is silly, said my sources in the business.
  
  
• What hasn’t been brought up, surprisingly, in the days since Bohn emerged as the leading candidate were his controversial quotes in 2015 that supported penalizing football players by withholding some of their cost-of-attendance money. Bohn, who was backing up football coach Tommy Tuberville, attempted to clarify by saying it’s not a fine, but a method of holding players accountable if they don’t meet expectations off the field.
  
  
• "Our expectations are high,” Bohn told ESPN in 2015. “Coach told them, ‘We love you but don't think that if you continue to do the wrong things that we are required to provide every piece of that support package.' It's an accountability measure." The quote brought tons of heat on Tuberville and Bohn at the time, but there’s no indication that they ever followed through with it.

PARITY IN COLLEGE HOOPS STANDS IN CONTRAST TO FOOTBALL

• I don’t think the NCAA’s Dan Gavitt was throwing a barb at the College Football Playoff when he pointed out that 17 different schools from nine conferences have made the men’s basketball Final Four in the last five years. But the numbers stand out as a distinct difference between the two events. “There's a level of parity in men’s basketball almost unmatched among other NCAA sports,” Gavitt said. The CFP, on the other hand, has been dominated in its five years by some usual suspects -- Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State and Oklahoma. In all, 10 schools have made the CFP, representing five conferences.
  
  
• With college basketball officially starting tonight (also check out SBJ's preview section), I reached out to several of the game’s influential figures to see what stories they’ll be watching this season:
  
  
  • Conference USA Commissioner and NCAA Basketball Oversight Committee Chair Judy MacLeod: “We’re looking into professional development for coaches, how we train them and give the young coaches in our business the right kind of experience, with a heavy emphasis on ethics.”
    
    
  • West Coast Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez: “People call us mid-major, but that really doesn't describe us at all, with respect to basketball. … When we speak of ourselves, we're a multi-bid league. It doesn't have the succinct marketing ring to it, but it actually is the most apt description.”
    
    
  • ACC Senior Associate Commissioner Paul Brazeau (on starting the season with conference games): “I'm not going to sit here and say all 15 coaches were in love with the idea, but there wasn't strong opposition to it either from any two or three guys. It was, 'okay, if it's good for the league, and good for the network and good for college basketball, they're willing to give it a shot.'"
    
    

BAMA CAN EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED WITH POTUS IN TOWN

• As soon as I heard about President Trump’s plan to attend Saturday’s LSU-Alabama game in Tuscaloosa, I thought about the last time he went to a college football game -- the 2018 CFP National Championship in Atlanta. While any POTUS appearance adds cachet to a sporting event, it’s a nightmare for organizers because they cede all control to the Secret Service.
  
  
• What I remember most about the CFP finale at Mercedes-Benz Stadium was how disruptive Trump’s entry was. The president's team decided to commandeer the largest and busiest gate in the stadium for his entry and exit. It was the same gate where a third of all fans typically enter the stadium, forcing the rain-drenched crowd to migrate to smaller entrances that struggled to accommodate the throng of fans, creating bottlenecks and long lines.
  
  
• What this means for Alabama’s staff is that Saturday will almost certainly bring the unexpected. The Secret Service will not tell the school when they’re arriving or where they’re going. One thing that would help the Crimson Tide event staff is if Trump arrives sometime after the 3:30pm ET kickoff, which would allow fans to get into the stadium before he gets there. All in all, though, having Trump in attendance is a good problem to have, despite the headaches that come with it.

SPEED READS

• John Anthony, founder of Anthony Travel, visited SBJ HQ in Charlotte today. It was fascinating to hear how the 1988 Miami-Notre Dame game that propelled the Fighting Irish to a national title inspired him to create a business built on fan travel and team travel in 1989. Now in its 30th year, Anthony Travel works with nearly 90 colleges and it has staff embedded in the athletic department at 55 schools. Anthony also has worked behind the scenes to coordinate the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, which resumes next season with Notre Dame-Navy. More than 30,000 U.S.-based fans are expected to make the trip.
  
  
• The world of varsity esports has largely been reserved for smaller schools. That is very slowly beginning to change at the higher levels of college sports. Kansas just announced tonight that it Is forming a varsity program and joining the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE) -- basically the governing body for college esports. The Jayhawks join Missouri and ArizonaState as NACE members from P5 conferences. That’s one way to renew the KU-Mizzou "Border War" rivalry.
  
  
• The Orlando Sentinel’s Mike Bianchi, appearing on Paul Finebaum’s radio program, called Florida State's athletic department “dysfunctional.” He said, “They’re in debt, they’re paying the second biggest buyout in the history of college football. [FSU President] John Thrasher is going to retire soon. He’s probably going to take [AD] David Coburn with him. If you’re a hot shot college football coach, are you going to want to come to a program where your president and AD aren’t going to be there that long? I wouldn’t.” FSU has hired DHR Intl’s Glenn Sugiyama to lead the search, though, per Coburn, boosters will also have a role in the process. CBS Sports’ Barton Simmons said on the "Cover 3" podcast: “It sounds like there’s going to be a lot of cooks in the kitchen.” ESPN's Kevin Negandhi said on the "College Football Podcast" that one thing you notice in Tallahassee is that Doak Campbell Stadium is "not filled up." Negandhi: "When the base isn't showing up, and that stood out especially with Miami in town, that's when you start to look at things."
  
  
• Illinois AD Josh Whitman took some flack for extending Lovie Smith after a four-win season last year, but things are looking up in Champaign. The former NFL coach has the Illini one win away from being bowl eligible for the first time in five years. Smith told John Feinstein about the growing pains in his first three seasons, “To me a big part of coaching has always been teaching -- high school, college or pro. Of course, no matter how much you enjoy teaching, 9-27 is never fun.”
  
  
• Heading into Week 11 of the college football season, Dr Pepper has been the most-frequent advertiser during games across all networks, airing 2,338 commercials (seven unique spots), according to SBJ's David Broughton, who combed through data from iSpot.tv. That spend has cost the brand, which is also an official CFP sponsor, $27.2 million. Coming in a close second in McDonald’s, which has aired 14 unique spots across 2,314 commercials. However, the Golden Arches have spent only $6.6 million on those ads.

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Something on the College beat catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to either me (msmith@sportsbusinessjournal.com) or Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it. Also contributing to this newsletter is Thomas Leary (tleary@sportsbusinessdaily.com).