It appears to me that in this new era, college sports is 90% about money available to offer to players.
This is a professional sports industry now - it is really not very much about classes, degrees, and the collegiate experience. We are talking BIG BUCKS when news reports were saying many potential draftees stayed back in college for the NIL over the NFL salary!
And, in this new era, alumni pay for the players, not administrations, who have managed to create a system where they keep all the ticket and tv receipts!
Therefore, I'd like to see rankings of colleges by:
Number of alumni
Average income of alumni
Average net worth of alumni
Total net worth of all alumni
Donation Engagement % of alumni
Athletic Passion Engagement Level of alumni
Finally, a category or two measuring non-alumni fan base who contribute excitement noise and bodies but no salary money. I suppose this would also encompass social media clicks, which lead to player name recognition (which leads to advertisement possibilities (more money).
That may be the battlefield factors in this new era of recruiting. Throw the academic ranking out the window, Cal. It's all about the money.
Agree? Disagree?
Comments, please.