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The whale
RaceBannon
Member, Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 113,095 
I'm in the Oregon money is important but not the only thing camp. But for those looking for a UW whale it comes at a cost. This could all be bullshit but I don't see the academis minded UW giving Joe Billionaire control. This is the GM role in my opinion
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"Hey Mr. Bezos we want to run your new running back up the A gap here can we get a go ahead on that? Phone me back quick we have 20 on the play clock thanks"
What is it with old guys who look like that telling kids they will be on/in TV…
Here's the difference with UW and Oregon. I believe that Race is totally right about upper campus at UW.
My perception, and I have not done all the research, is that it seems like Oregon is happy to be known as an athletics program campus rather than a university that also has athletics. The tail wags the dog, sports are the front porch, Nike runs them, etc.
At UW, that will probably never happen. The regents have to be known for academis prowess and prestige, blah blah blah. Granted, that is probably what the primary objective of any university should be and us UW fans/grads are stuck with it.
Michigan won the national championship 11 months ago
and they seemed pretty proud about it
Act like you've been there before!
What does that have to do with anything I said there?
Michigan and Washington were universities that were football powers in the old days and won national championships in the 90s but struggled pretty quickly in the new millennium and I think the culture of the schools really held them back. Both also really struggled to compete with schools to the south that have different priorities and have been almost impossible to keep down for even a season or two for a long time.
The only way both schools were probably getting back to the top of college football was the whale equivalent of a coach who had a connection to the school who would never leave. Michigan got Harbaugh and UW got Petersen and both took some time to even get over the obstacles and win on a high level. Obviously Petersen was gone by January or 2024, but his recruits and foundation set it up.
Now, both might be shit out of luck again, though this Ellison thing could change that.
I’m just really glad this thread wasn’t about me because it easily could’ve been.
👏
UW definitely is not equivalent to Michigan, as you pointed out with the buying of players there. Canadwag pretending like we're on equal footing, or Michigan has the mindset equivalent to UW, is laughable.
I meant to say Michigan definitely is a better version of Washington, is less I assume less academis and culturally left than Washington, has better instate talent and a bigger population, and has had more overall success, but there's also a ton of similarities, including that a lot of the winningest program of all time stuff associated with Michigan is aided by Gil Dobie era undefeated seasons.
They only have Ellison because his girlfriend randomly went to Michigan. I forgot to mention they also have Dave Portnoy too but he's a guy who randomly went to Michigan. I do believe they have a good sports communications/media program though which helps them get people like that in their school and I think get a lot of east coast rich kids who want to go out of state and go to a Big 10 type school.
We also have a winning record against them in the last 50 years and that includes a game where Slick Rick lost it by leaving an extra guy on the field and a forward fumble rule that was changed after.
I don't like smack talking my school, but the numbers don't lie. UW and Michigan are not the same.
Ellison will change that as long as he’s still banging it sideways.
AGain, Michigan is higher than UW, but go look at when most of those Michigan wins were accumulated. We're talking 100 years ago.
Washington upper campus is not in the top 10 as far as the "give a shit" rankings that we want them to be. Absolutely. Probably not even top 15.
But I would say they are top 25 and they have actually shown that they care.
The mid 2000s they definitely were elitist and turned their nose up at the cavemen playing sports. Now? Not so much.
There is an institutional investment in winning. There needs to be more.
There is 0 downside and tremendous upside into investing in your athletics brands.
Basketball has the NUMBER ONE RECRUITING CLASS IN THE B1G.
For Washington with decrepit Hec Ed, that is insane. That place needs a big remodel. Make it happen.
And make that type of class happen in football. Find the donors.
Dont we have a whale on the basketball side writing big checks (and getting commitments from big time recruits who have never even visited lol).
Upper campus seems fine with it.
Football and basketball are totally different, culturally.
If UW was the school who had hired Conor Stallions and was spying they would have self-imposed the death penalty on the program as soon as the story leaked. Michigan said fuck off and won the Natty. That's the difference.
We? aren’t even Wittenberg for Christs sake.
It depends on who the new President is. Is the President the type who believes you can walk (top academics / research) and chew gum (top football and basketball program) or is it a Todd Turner type who wants to focus only on academis?
When UW is firing on all cylinders (Coach Pete), they could be in the playoffs most years. But in this new era of NIL, UW will need to find $5 to $10 million more dollars to fire on all cylinders again. A smart President / AD would understand that you can have abundance.