Jedd said on his radio show with softy recently we are well under $5M in NIL annually. He said it will take getting to $10M-$15M annually to be at the top range of NIL spending nationally. This is over and above $15M in rev share. What is Jedd and UW doing to find this $?
1. What sense do you get from Jed as to how he feels about UW’s NIL status
2. How many programs have a large booster vs a broad base. How much do those broad bases generate at top programs?
3. Is the upper campus supportive of the NIL as it currently exists or are they hoping for major reforms and discouraging participation
4. I hear all kinds of numbers, where does the UW really stand in terms of NIL, top 15, top 25?
All of these would be in regards to pure outside NIL not the House money dedicated from the university, which I assume all top 25 programs are doing at the same rate
Follow up to this, I see our athletes having NIL deals with adidas, Alaska airlines, T Mobile, Learfield, Msft, and Simply Seattle to name a few. You would think these would be worth several million alone. Wonder what else is out there?
What UW fan 2011 said. It would seem that a competitive NIL bankroll is critical for attracting and retaining both on-field talent and coaches, particularly the head coach.
Uhhh f/u to this - Our NIL collective was one of the top 10 in the nation before revenue sharing rendered them obsolete. How the heck did things fall apart so quickly and where did all that money go?
Christian can answer this hopefully but seems because Chun was heavily involved in the making of the CSC that UW has taken the position of trying to do things the "right" way and shut the fan collective down, while all our peers ignored the rulings and continue business like usual.
What is the buzz around other head/assistant coaches in the industry regarding the Washington head coaching job? It used to be considered a top 15 job in college football and yet in recent times it seems like our coaches are now poachable by other schools within the top 15 (I'm not discounting that Alabama, USC, and Michigan are higher tier jobs). Fearing that another program was going to come steal your head coach if he did well was never a problem at Washington before. What has gotten the program to this point, what is the view of the job from other coaches, and how can the program get back to a level where it's seen as a destination rather than a stop along the way? If it were NFL teams taking our coach(es) I would understand that but that isn't happening and, to the best of my knowledge, never has.
Looking ahead to next season in the B1G, the Dawgs get Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, and Penn State at home and then have road trips to Michigan State, Nebraska, O****n, Purdue, and USC. Which of those teams would you say are on an upward trajectory vs. which are on a downward trajectory? The schedule looks tougher now than it initially did at the start of the season.
Any thoughts on Sark's firing of Kwiatkowski? Any chance you can interview him about that and a potential return to Montlake someday? We'd all love to have him back here if Walters ever leaves.
Why is there such a disconnect this year between the AP/Coaches poll view of the Huskies and the metrics view? They're a consensus top 25 team in metrics, with some having them as high as 14th and most having them well into the top 20, but the voters have basically written them off all year.
Looking back at your travels into Big 10 country over the past two seasons, are there any game day experiences that stood out? Things that you hadn’t seen before at other stadiums?
I like this, particularly in the context of what Caple has seen elsewhere that Huskies could do better with the Gameday experience. For example, one thing that we are severely lacking in is the ability to have butts in seat 15 minutes before kickoff. I get the factors behind why that's the case, but there are certainly ways UW can make this better.
Hey Christian, can you comment and/or research a bit re: why the Huskies haven’t been able to generate NIL $ on par with other elite programs? We may not have the “largest” fan base and maybe lack the “only show in town” monopoly of some markets (Bama, Ohio St, Ole Miss, Auburn, etc) and we lack a “Daddy Warbucks” (Ok State, TAMU, SMU, $&@& Orygun, etc) but we should have one of the wealthiest fan bases and alumni groups… plus some of the top F500 firms are right here in Seattle.
Said differently, our diaspora is fairly large and it’s extremely wealthy… but where does it stand on the giving scale?
There has to be a frame work to analyze… perhaps it’s been done already. If not, it’s begging for the Caple Index to be borne!
There are some obvious areas where this team could benefit from additions from the transfer portal, however at some level good players are good players and you could always use more of those. So to put this in context I have a hypothetical scenario for you - I’ve turned the transfer portal into a time machine. It can no longer be used to acquire players from other programs, it can now be used to bring back players from our recent past. Let’s say the last ten years. However, there is one rule - this player can’t have taken a snap in an NFL game. I think that rule makes this a more interesting exercise. Because obviously having more defensive tackles or a true top end wide receiver would be big deals for this team, but I don’t think it’s realistic to say that Vita Vea or John Ross is going to arrive through the portal this offseason. The no-NFL-snaps-Time-Machine maybe imposes similar constraints as the talent pool and salary cap impose on the real life portal.
Thanks again for another year of coverage. We’re lucky you bet on yourself after the athletic. It is a privilege in this era of sports journalism and I don’t take that for granted. We experience this thing we care about through your perspective and it’s very unique to have had continuity through three different companies - the news tribune, the athletic and substack.
I think Fisch has done a terrific job as head coach: improved facilities and amenities, improved NIL, rebuilt roster, hired excellent assistants. I would not give him as high marks as OC and play caller. How would you assess Fisch as OC and play caller ?
What would it take for UW football to be considered a "blue-blood" program? Is it a combo of a roster budget of $30+M, NIL budget of "X", head coach pay of $10M-$12M/yr? Would there be other aspects that would go into that informal formula?
Whenever questions come up about Blue Bloods, I always ask this question (and I hope you see this, Dave, to have a chance to respond): Please define what Blue Blood means to you. Maybe Christian could do the same.
We try to have meaningful discussions about this without a consensus meaning of Blue Blood, and it seems to me that the conversations go off the rails.
Husky Stadium has been selling Alcohol Beverages throughout the Stadium over the past 5 years. How much income does the Athletic Department generate over the course of 6-7 games a year because of this? Seems like the 2025 season has to be the biggest yet based off of how much better the vendors have gotten getting people through the lines on gameday.
Why did Mohammed enter the transfer portal? Was it because he thinks he’s in a great position to cash in, or was there something he didn’t like about next season’s Huskies?
Can only speak for myself here, but generally speaking: when you hear a rumor, and then that rumored thing doesn’t actually happen, it’s not responsible to report it. When that rumored thing then happens some time later, as with Mohammed, that original rumor becomes fair-game context. Does that make sense? It’s always a judgment call with that type of stuff.
Fisch has done a tremendous job rebuilding the roster after KDB left it in shambles, but he hasn't really gotten any wins against teams that we shouldn't beat. I forget the spreads at kickoff but even USC and Michigan last year turned out to be teams we should have been clear favorites over. Do Jedd and his staff have what it takes to pull out a victory over a team that's better than theirs?
Jedd said on his radio show with softy recently we are well under $5M in NIL annually. He said it will take getting to $10M-$15M annually to be at the top range of NIL spending nationally. This is over and above $15M in rev share. What is Jedd and UW doing to find this $?
To sum up my questions:
1. What sense do you get from Jed as to how he feels about UW’s NIL status
2. How many programs have a large booster vs a broad base. How much do those broad bases generate at top programs?
3. Is the upper campus supportive of the NIL as it currently exists or are they hoping for major reforms and discouraging participation
4. I hear all kinds of numbers, where does the UW really stand in terms of NIL, top 15, top 25?
All of these would be in regards to pure outside NIL not the House money dedicated from the university, which I assume all top 25 programs are doing at the same rate
Follow up to this, I see our athletes having NIL deals with adidas, Alaska airlines, T Mobile, Learfield, Msft, and Simply Seattle to name a few. You would think these would be worth several million alone. Wonder what else is out there?
What UW fan 2011 said. It would seem that a competitive NIL bankroll is critical for attracting and retaining both on-field talent and coaches, particularly the head coach.
Uhhh f/u to this - Our NIL collective was one of the top 10 in the nation before revenue sharing rendered them obsolete. How the heck did things fall apart so quickly and where did all that money go?
Christian can answer this hopefully but seems because Chun was heavily involved in the making of the CSC that UW has taken the position of trying to do things the "right" way and shut the fan collective down, while all our peers ignored the rulings and continue business like usual.
What is the buzz around other head/assistant coaches in the industry regarding the Washington head coaching job? It used to be considered a top 15 job in college football and yet in recent times it seems like our coaches are now poachable by other schools within the top 15 (I'm not discounting that Alabama, USC, and Michigan are higher tier jobs). Fearing that another program was going to come steal your head coach if he did well was never a problem at Washington before. What has gotten the program to this point, what is the view of the job from other coaches, and how can the program get back to a level where it's seen as a destination rather than a stop along the way? If it were NFL teams taking our coach(es) I would understand that but that isn't happening and, to the best of my knowledge, never has.
Looking ahead to next season in the B1G, the Dawgs get Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, and Penn State at home and then have road trips to Michigan State, Nebraska, O****n, Purdue, and USC. Which of those teams would you say are on an upward trajectory vs. which are on a downward trajectory? The schedule looks tougher now than it initially did at the start of the season.
Any thoughts on Sark's firing of Kwiatkowski? Any chance you can interview him about that and a potential return to Montlake someday? We'd all love to have him back here if Walters ever leaves.
Why is there such a disconnect this year between the AP/Coaches poll view of the Huskies and the metrics view? They're a consensus top 25 team in metrics, with some having them as high as 14th and most having them well into the top 20, but the voters have basically written them off all year.
Looking back at your travels into Big 10 country over the past two seasons, are there any game day experiences that stood out? Things that you hadn’t seen before at other stadiums?
I like this, particularly in the context of what Caple has seen elsewhere that Huskies could do better with the Gameday experience. For example, one thing that we are severely lacking in is the ability to have butts in seat 15 minutes before kickoff. I get the factors behind why that's the case, but there are certainly ways UW can make this better.
Hey Christian, can you comment and/or research a bit re: why the Huskies haven’t been able to generate NIL $ on par with other elite programs? We may not have the “largest” fan base and maybe lack the “only show in town” monopoly of some markets (Bama, Ohio St, Ole Miss, Auburn, etc) and we lack a “Daddy Warbucks” (Ok State, TAMU, SMU, $&@& Orygun, etc) but we should have one of the wealthiest fan bases and alumni groups… plus some of the top F500 firms are right here in Seattle.
Said differently, our diaspora is fairly large and it’s extremely wealthy… but where does it stand on the giving scale?
There has to be a frame work to analyze… perhaps it’s been done already. If not, it’s begging for the Caple Index to be borne!
There are some obvious areas where this team could benefit from additions from the transfer portal, however at some level good players are good players and you could always use more of those. So to put this in context I have a hypothetical scenario for you - I’ve turned the transfer portal into a time machine. It can no longer be used to acquire players from other programs, it can now be used to bring back players from our recent past. Let’s say the last ten years. However, there is one rule - this player can’t have taken a snap in an NFL game. I think that rule makes this a more interesting exercise. Because obviously having more defensive tackles or a true top end wide receiver would be big deals for this team, but I don’t think it’s realistic to say that Vita Vea or John Ross is going to arrive through the portal this offseason. The no-NFL-snaps-Time-Machine maybe imposes similar constraints as the talent pool and salary cap impose on the real life portal.
Thanks again for another year of coverage. We’re lucky you bet on yourself after the athletic. It is a privilege in this era of sports journalism and I don’t take that for granted. We experience this thing we care about through your perspective and it’s very unique to have had continuity through three different companies - the news tribune, the athletic and substack.
I think Fisch has done a terrific job as head coach: improved facilities and amenities, improved NIL, rebuilt roster, hired excellent assistants. I would not give him as high marks as OC and play caller. How would you assess Fisch as OC and play caller ?
What would it take for UW football to be considered a "blue-blood" program? Is it a combo of a roster budget of $30+M, NIL budget of "X", head coach pay of $10M-$12M/yr? Would there be other aspects that would go into that informal formula?
Whenever questions come up about Blue Bloods, I always ask this question (and I hope you see this, Dave, to have a chance to respond): Please define what Blue Blood means to you. Maybe Christian could do the same.
We try to have meaningful discussions about this without a consensus meaning of Blue Blood, and it seems to me that the conversations go off the rails.
Husky Stadium has been selling Alcohol Beverages throughout the Stadium over the past 5 years. How much income does the Athletic Department generate over the course of 6-7 games a year because of this? Seems like the 2025 season has to be the biggest yet based off of how much better the vendors have gotten getting people through the lines on gameday.
Why did Mohammed enter the transfer portal? Was it because he thinks he’s in a great position to cash in, or was there something he didn’t like about next season’s Huskies?
Heard on dawgman podcast he’s wanted out since spring but stuck around. They said it was not a secret fwiw. No further details.
What feels strange to me is that it wasn't a secret, but it was a secret to us. Is there some agreement among insiders to not tell the fans?
Can only speak for myself here, but generally speaking: when you hear a rumor, and then that rumored thing doesn’t actually happen, it’s not responsible to report it. When that rumored thing then happens some time later, as with Mohammed, that original rumor becomes fair-game context. Does that make sense? It’s always a judgment call with that type of stuff.
Thanks Christian, totally makes sense.
I guess that changes the question to why did he want out?
Which fan base is more confident going into 2026, (#17!) Arizona or unranked Washington?
Fisch has done a tremendous job rebuilding the roster after KDB left it in shambles, but he hasn't really gotten any wins against teams that we shouldn't beat. I forget the spreads at kickoff but even USC and Michigan last year turned out to be teams we should have been clear favorites over. Do Jedd and his staff have what it takes to pull out a victory over a team that's better than theirs?
If Jedd decides to leave who is most likely to be the next head coach?
Is there actual institution will to win at any cost at Oregon or is it all going to crumble away as soon as Phil kicks the bucket?
Go look what's happened to Oklahoma State w/o Boone Pickens