What college football can learn from the NCAA basketball tournaments
Lessons gleaned from watching March Madness
No. 1: There is no such thing as Blue Bloods anymore
One of the most prime head coaching gigs in the country has always been Kentucky’s men’s basketball program. Years ago, Rick Pitino left the comfy confines of Madison Square Garden and the New York Knicks to pace the hardwood floors of Rupp Arena. John Calipari eventually took over the position from Billie Gillespie, who had replaced Tubby Smith, who had replaced Pitino. For the last 15 years, Calipari has been the face and voice of Wildcat basketball, with some early successes, including a 2012 National Championship, but recently with some underwhelming results.
Eventually, the relationship grew sour. Kentucky’s AD had to come out following the Wildcats’ first round loss to Oakland to reassure people that Calipari was still their guy. Not exactly a ringing endorsement, especially to a guy of Calipari’s stature and ego.
College head coaches need to be wanted, and it was clear that Calipari no longer felt loved in the Blue Grass state. Arkansas is more willing to shower him with praise and money, and they have the deep-pocketed alumni, to make NIL happen in a big way for the Razorbacks men’s basketball team.
We’ve already seen similar departures happen in college football just this off-season, with Nick Saban walking away from Alabama and Jim Harbaugh leaving Michigan for the NFL, but don’t be surprised if the trend continues, and we see coaches continue to walk away from “presumed” Blue Blood programs.
Calilpari’s situation is strikingly similar to Ryan Day’s spot at Ohio State. Vociferous alumni, rabid fan base, sport-crazy state. Who’s to say Day might enjoy coaching more up in Madison, Wisconsin following next season.
The truth is: Blue Blood programs are dead.
No. 2: Stars create viewership and interest
We’re borrowing this fact from the women’s tournament, which saw successive records in viewership thanks to Iowa’s Caitlin Clark. The tournament also featured Angel Reese, a member of the defending national champion LSU Tigers team, and a controversial figure thanks to her “put a ring on it” gesture toward Clark following the 2023 title game.
There was also an undefeated South Carolina team coached by Hall of Famer Dawn Staley, and led by 6-foot-7 Brazilian Kamilla Cardoso. Not to mention Connecticut’s Paige Bueckers, who was the national player of the year as a freshman before suffering knee injuries the last few seasons.
The women have also become real celebrities thanks to media and PR blitzes from colleges making the players stars on Instagram and other social media platforms.
The familiarity of Clark and Reese and Bueckers led to the increased interest of this tournament. It drew eyeballs. As good as the Connecticut men’s team was the last two seasons, not one of their players has the drawing power of any of these women.
One of the best known men’s players, the 7-foot-4 Zach Edey, is far from the charasmatic players the women’s game featured this past season.
Players need to be promoted, but they also need to stick around, and preferably with the same school (looking at you Caleb Williams), for at least two seasons.
The old adage from boxing is, “Styles make fights.” In college football and men’s basketball, players leave before developing their own style and personalities, which is what draws the casual viewer.
No. 3: Schedule smarter
Did you watch the men’s national championship game Monday night? Or, did you watch the Raw after WrestleMania?
Did you even think about letting your 9-year-old stay up to watch the 9:20 p.m. EST tip-off?
What was college basketball thinking? Parents are not allowing their kids to stay up to watch the tip, never mind the end of the game, when you start games an hour past some of their bedtimes. Eventually, you lose an entire generation of fans (see: Major League Baseball).
This past year’s football national championship game ended past midnight!
The women’s tournament was smarter, playing it’s championship on Sunday afternoon, right before the start of night two of WrestleMania. The move helped set a viewership record, including beating the ratings for the men’s championship game on Monday night.
WrestleMania also set attendance and viewership records.
WrestleMania’s Sunday show started at 7 p.m. and was over around 10:30 p.m. Add the fact many schools had the next day off due to the eclipse, and WrestleMania catered to a much wider audience than most of the major sports leagues even think about.
No. 4: The regular season needs to matter
Most playoffs have made the regular season become watered down tortures, for players and fans.
The opposite is the NFL, which rarely has a meaningless game.
Sadly, college basketball has become so dominated by the three weeks of the NCAA tournament, that the regular season is now meaningless.
Add conference realignments, and who cares if Syracuse loses to Wake Forest? Most people below the Mason-Dixon Line wonder where Syracuse even is. And people above the MDL wonder the same about Wake Forest.
I grew up on Big East basketball living in New York and Northern Virginia. There was nothing quite like a match-up between St. John’s and Georgetown at MSG, or the Capital Centre. With conference realignment, the Big East now has a school (Creighton) in Omaha, Nebraska!
College football is treading dangerous water thanks to wild realignment (California teams in the Big Ten) and the continuous expansion of the college football playoff. I like the 8-team format that will start in 2024. Anything larger than that, and fans may wonder why they should even bother to attend the home opener against Austin Peay.
Don’t allow the regular season, the fanfare, the rivalries, the meaningfulness of conference superiority, become second fiddle to the playoffs.
The NBA has had to create rules to penalize players for sitting out so many of its 82-game schedule because players, coaches and teams were so focused on being healthy for the playoff run.
We already have players opting out of bowl games. The last thing the college game needs are players opting out of the 2 or 3 sleepers each of the major teams play at the beginning of the season.
No. 5: Saturation works
The NCAA tournament works so effectively because people literally adjust their life for the first four days of the tournament.
They know that Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be wall-to-wall hoops.
People take vacation days and men schedule vasectomies (what better time to sit on the couch icing your private parts?). Our school librarian made the trip to Pittsburgh for the first two rounds of the tournament.
Sometimes quantity is better than quality.
What if the college football playoff was played over four straight days?
It’s always a tricky time with Christmas, New Year’s, and other sports trying to wedge into the viewer’s schedule. The NFL has trampled over the NBA’s stronghold on Christmas day and will continue its efforts going forward.
Schedule the playoff games strategically, and own Thursday through Sunday in late December. Or maybe you own Monday through Thursday. Every night a college playoff game during the holiday season, while friends and family are gathered.
You will need to do something to put the College Football Playoff on par with March Madness, and I think the right answer is more days of football, not one day loaded with football, and games that end after midnight.
I love college sports but I find myself increasingly not caring. The way games are reffed in the Big 10 is ridiculous. One half will be letting them play, the other half everything is called and we get a free-throw contest. I'll watch a few of MSU's big games and tune in for the tournament but that's about it for hoops.