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[RyeCat]

Cal is a pathetic program. I hope they lose out this year. And all years.

They certainly seem to bring in more than their share of MSU football players lately. A degree from Berkley may also play a role.
They are not a great football program, were they ever?

Welcome to the “I have no pride in the program I play for but I got a lot of money” era.

[AFCAT]

Cal is a pathetic program. I hope they lose out this year. And all years.

They certainly seem to bring in more than their share of MSU football players lately. A degree from Berkley may also play a role.
They are not a great football program, were they ever?

Welcome to the “I have no pride in the program I play for but I got a lot of money” era.

Hey, Man, 6-7 and a loss in the LA bowl and I get $100K. Well, maybe $75K after taxes and I get some free swag thrown in. Count me in! Winning and little to no money is for suckers.

[Cataholic]

Anyone have a good big stick to poke MSU football with? See if its alive at all?

Careful, you're supposed to be excited about everything. Whenever someone leaves that just proves even more how great the program is doing. We'll pick up whatever we need in four months. Everyone is dying to come to Bozeman, just not yet.

Think it's somewhere in between. You don't need to be jacked that we lost good players and some coaches. But anyone paying attention knew that was going to be the case before the season even started. And next season too. And the season after that.

If I remember correctly, I don't recall being super busy during this time period last season either.

Bottom line is that if you truly believe in Vigen and this staff, they really haven't given any of us reason to think they don't know what they're doing. We'll add players, adjust our staff, and look forward to another promising season next year.

Correct. And if you don't have faith in Vigen knowing wtf he's about at this point, I dunno what's going to convince you. Modern college athletics is a big adjustment for fans at best and sucks at worst but we're in good hands.

I have no problem with Vigen. We're in the best hands we've been in during my entire lifetime. I'm (mostly) just joking about how some people have hinted or outright said that we're close on signees/coaches and then nothing happens but we're just supposed to ignore that and go along with the newest idea that it's all by design and everything will get wrapped up after spring ball. And if you question any of that you're being impatient and irrational.

Just a friendly reminder that just because you can't read it on BN, does NOT mean that stuff isn't happening.....

Then why is it happening everywhere else?

Why is what happening everywhere else? Message board chatter? That is exactly my point. Just because you all don't have all the answers when you want on BobcatNation doesn't mean:

Staff isn't recruiting players and likely has a great idea of who they are targeting and feel good getting

Vigen isn't solidifying his staff

They aren't active in the portal

NIL isn't doing what it should

Donations and exciting stuff isn't happening

Sure some message boards are very active with portal players. Doesn't mean anything. May work out, may not. But not every team in the country needs the same amount of players or the same position players. So it means nothing for us. Aside from one other team, no one else was still playing less than two weeks ago. Many teams didn't sign a high school class as big as ours. There are a plethora of reasons why some of you aren't getting the information you so desperately want.

So my point stands. Just because you're not getting all the info you want on this message board, does NOT mean that there isn't a lot happening within the program right now.

I really appreciate this take. I've said it off rip.... we will be just fine.... the coaches are doing their work. We were one of the last teams playing and yes we took some big hits. Everyone hates it but this sense of entitlement to knowledge about what's going on is crazy. Those who know, know... those that don't will find out. Have some faith in a staff that has shown the ability to evaluate, recruit and develop players at a high clip.

We signed 26 during early period... that's crazy good. We lost 14, 5 important pieces. They aren't going to make rash decisions on players coming in. They have to fit msu football mentally and physically. That takes time to evaluate. There are players they thought would be available that chose other places, they aren't going to divulge that because other players they were looking at don't want to be 2nd choices. It's called strategy folks and you don't let anyone know what you know or what you're doing. They tip off what theyre doing and other teams WILL try to swoop in and steal kids. I know for a fact that schools will just sit and wait to see who another schools follows or they hear they are recruiting only to start recruiting them too. Especially a school like msu that rarely misses on talent. Other coaches are watching us and using us to evaluate the talent then try to take those guys because we want them... so they must be good. When u speak on these schools in taking big time fbs schools, schools that we can't compete with their player packages. Just relax everyone we will be just fine.

Sense of entitlement would be going to quarterbacks club or directly to athletic department and demanding answers and info. Posting randomly on message boards of fans wondering why there is no news and hoping to get some is not entitlement.

There seems to be plenty of posters demanding versus wondering…

[AFCAT]

Cal is a pathetic program. I hope they lose out this year. And all years.

They certainly seem to bring in more than their share of MSU football players lately. A degree from Berkley may also play a role.
They are not a great football program, were they ever?

I had to look it up. They claim five national titles, the last being in 1937. Their last conference title was a co-championship in 2006. They are due to win it all then and will be sure to climb the mountaintop in 2025.

Oh, since players consider college football a business, it may be time to tax their athletic scholarships and any bennies (food, paid travel home, free swag, etc.) too. Did I just open up a can of worms? Uh oh.

[BelligerentBobcat]

They were decent when Tedford was the HC and they had Aaron Rodgers at QB. Tedford was a QB guru in his day.

[BobcatBuiltTexan]

Anyone have a good big stick to poke MSU football with? See if its alive at all?

Careful, you're supposed to be excited about everything. Whenever someone leaves that just proves even more how great the program is doing. We'll pick up whatever we need in four months. Everyone is dying to come to Bozeman, just not yet.

Think it's somewhere in between. You don't need to be jacked that we lost good players and some coaches. But anyone paying attention knew that was going to be the case before the season even started. And next season too. And the season after that.

If I remember correctly, I don't recall being super busy during this time period last season either.

Bottom line is that if you truly believe in Vigen and this staff, they really haven't given any of us reason to think they don't know what they're doing. We'll add players, adjust our staff, and look forward to another promising season next year.

Correct. And if you don't have faith in Vigen knowing wtf he's about at this point, I dunno what's going to convince you. Modern college athletics is a big adjustment for fans at best and sucks at worst but we're in good hands.

I have no problem with Vigen. We're in the best hands we've been in during my entire lifetime. I'm (mostly) just joking about how some people have hinted or outright said that we're close on signees/coaches and then nothing happens but we're just supposed to ignore that and go along with the newest idea that it's all by design and everything will get wrapped up after spring ball. And if you question any of that you're being impatient and irrational.

Just a friendly reminder that just because you can't read it on BN, does NOT mean that stuff isn't happening.....

Then why is it happening everywhere else?

Why is what happening everywhere else? Message board chatter? That is exactly my point. Just because you all don't have all the answers when you want on BobcatNation doesn't mean:

Staff isn't recruiting players and likely has a great idea of who they are targeting and feel good getting

Vigen isn't solidifying his staff

They aren't active in the portal

NIL isn't doing what it should

Donations and exciting stuff isn't happening

Sure some message boards are very active with portal players. Doesn't mean anything. May work out, may not. But not every team in the country needs the same amount of players or the same position players. So it means nothing for us. Aside from one other team, no one else was still playing less than two weeks ago. Many teams didn't sign a high school class as big as ours. There are a plethora of reasons why some of you aren't getting the information you so desperately want.

So my point stands. Just because you're not getting all the info you want on this message board, does NOT mean that there isn't a lot happening within the program right now.

I really appreciate this take. I've said it off rip.... we will be just fine.... the coaches are doing their work. We were one of the last teams playing and yes we took some big hits. Everyone hates it but this sense of entitlement to knowledge about what's going on is crazy. Those who know, know... those that don't will find out. Have some faith in a staff that has shown the ability to evaluate, recruit and develop players at a high clip.

We signed 26 during early period... that's crazy good. We lost 14, 5 important pieces. They aren't going to make rash decisions on players coming in. They have to fit msu football mentally and physically. That takes time to evaluate. There are players they thought would be available that chose other places, they aren't going to divulge that because other players they were looking at don't want to be 2nd choices. It's called strategy folks and you don't let anyone know what you know or what you're doing. They tip off what theyre doing and other teams WILL try to swoop in and steal kids. I know for a fact that schools will just sit and wait to see who another schools follows or they hear they are recruiting only to start recruiting them too. Especially a school like msu that rarely misses on talent. Other coaches are watching us and using us to evaluate the talent then try to take those guys because we want them... so they must be good. When u speak on these schools in taking big time fbs schools, schools that we can't compete with their player packages. Just relax everyone we will be just fine.

Sense of entitlement would be going to quarterbacks club or directly to athletic department and demanding answers and info. Posting randomly on message boards of fans wondering why there is no news and hoping to get some is not entitlement.

The way some people are acting yes it is a sense of entitlement. Whether it's going to qb club or here. To sit here and go on and on because there's no news to your liking is entitlement. Just relax we're good.....

[Bobcat4Ever]

Cal is a pathetic program. I hope they lose out this year. And all years.

They certainly seem to bring in more than their share of MSU football players lately. A degree from Berkley may also play a role.
They are not a great football program, were they ever?

I had to look it up. They claim five national titles, the last being in 1937. Their last conference title was a co-championship in 2006. They are due to win it all then and will be sure to climb the mountaintop in 2025.

Oh, since players consider college football a business, it may be time to tax their athletic scholarships and any bennies (food, paid travel home, free swag, etc.) too. Did I just open up a can of worms? Uh oh.

I posted a link a few days back, either in this thread or the other transfer thread, that directly addressed the tax status of athletes. Don’t worry — since athletes are now ruled to be “independent contractors”, NIL + all the things that you mention are now taxable. Yes, free swag carries a tax load, as do gifts from boosters.

[Long Time Cat]

Cal is a pathetic program. I hope they lose out this year. And all years.

They certainly seem to bring in more than their share of MSU football players lately. A degree from Berkley may also play a role.
They are not a great football program, were they ever?

I had to look it up. They claim five national titles, the last being in 1937. Their last conference title was a co-championship in 2006. They are due to win it all then and will be sure to climb the mountaintop in 2025.

Oh, since players consider college football a business, it may be time to tax their athletic scholarships and any bennies (food, paid travel home, free swag, etc.) too. Did I just open up a can of worms? Uh oh.

I posted a link a few days back, either in this thread or the other transfer thread, that directly addressed the tax status of athletes. Don’t worry — since athletes are now ruled to be “independent contractors”, NIL + all the things that you mention are now taxable. Yes, free swag carries a tax load, as do gifts from boosters.

I also read that college NIL agents get a 20% commission compared to a 3% commission in the NFL. So it looks like $100,000 could turn into $50,000 pretty quickly. Now, if you end up with $2 million, like Great Osobor, you’re still way ahead.

[Long Time Cat]

Cal is a pathetic program. I hope they lose out this year. And all years.

They certainly seem to bring in more than their share of MSU football players lately. A degree from Berkley may also play a role.
They are not a great football program, were they ever?

I had to look it up. They claim five national titles, the last being in 1937. Their last conference title was a co-championship in 2006. They are due to win it all then and will be sure to climb the mountaintop in 2025.

Oh, since players consider college football a business, it may be time to tax their athletic scholarships and any bennies (food, paid travel home, free swag, etc.) too. Did I just open up a can of worms? Uh oh.

I posted a link a few days back, either in this thread or the other transfer thread, that directly addressed the tax status of athletes. Don’t worry — since athletes are now ruled to be “independent contractors”, NIL + all the things that you mention are now taxable. Yes, free swag carries a tax load, as do gifts from boosters.

I also read that college NIL agents get a 20% commission compared to a 3% commission in the NFL. So it looks like $100,000 could turn into $50,000 pretty quickly. Now, if you end up with $2 million, like Great Osobor, you’re still way ahead.

[Long Time Cat]

Great Osobor to Earn $2M in NIL After CBB Transfer to Washington from Utah State

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/101 ... utah-state

[tetoncat]

Careful, you're supposed to be excited about everything. Whenever someone leaves that just proves even more how great the program is doing. We'll pick up whatever we need in four months. Everyone is dying to come to Bozeman, just not yet.

Think it's somewhere in between. You don't need to be jacked that we lost good players and some coaches. But anyone paying attention knew that was going to be the case before the season even started. And next season too. And the season after that.

If I remember correctly, I don't recall being super busy during this time period last season either.

Bottom line is that if you truly believe in Vigen and this staff, they really haven't given any of us reason to think they don't know what they're doing. We'll add players, adjust our staff, and look forward to another promising season next year.

Correct. And if you don't have faith in Vigen knowing wtf he's about at this point, I dunno what's going to convince you. Modern college athletics is a big adjustment for fans at best and sucks at worst but we're in good hands.

I have no problem with Vigen. We're in the best hands we've been in during my entire lifetime. I'm (mostly) just joking about how some people have hinted or outright said that we're close on signees/coaches and then nothing happens but we're just supposed to ignore that and go along with the newest idea that it's all by design and everything will get wrapped up after spring ball. And if you question any of that you're being impatient and irrational.

Just a friendly reminder that just because you can't read it on BN, does NOT mean that stuff isn't happening.....

Then why is it happening everywhere else?

Why is what happening everywhere else? Message board chatter? That is exactly my point. Just because you all don't have all the answers when you want on BobcatNation doesn't mean:

Staff isn't recruiting players and likely has a great idea of who they are targeting and feel good getting

Vigen isn't solidifying his staff

They aren't active in the portal

NIL isn't doing what it should

Donations and exciting stuff isn't happening

Sure some message boards are very active with portal players. Doesn't mean anything. May work out, may not. But not every team in the country needs the same amount of players or the same position players. So it means nothing for us. Aside from one other team, no one else was still playing less than two weeks ago. Many teams didn't sign a high school class as big as ours. There are a plethora of reasons why some of you aren't getting the information you so desperately want.

So my point stands. Just because you're not getting all the info you want on this message board, does NOT mean that there isn't a lot happening within the program right now.

I really appreciate this take. I've said it off rip.... we will be just fine.... the coaches are doing their work. We were one of the last teams playing and yes we took some big hits. Everyone hates it but this sense of entitlement to knowledge about what's going on is crazy. Those who know, know... those that don't will find out. Have some faith in a staff that has shown the ability to evaluate, recruit and develop players at a high clip.

We signed 26 during early period... that's crazy good. We lost 14, 5 important pieces. They aren't going to make rash decisions on players coming in. They have to fit msu football mentally and physically. That takes time to evaluate. There are players they thought would be available that chose other places, they aren't going to divulge that because other players they were looking at don't want to be 2nd choices. It's called strategy folks and you don't let anyone know what you know or what you're doing. They tip off what theyre doing and other teams WILL try to swoop in and steal kids. I know for a fact that schools will just sit and wait to see who another schools follows or they hear they are recruiting only to start recruiting them too. Especially a school like msu that rarely misses on talent. Other coaches are watching us and using us to evaluate the talent then try to take those guys because we want them... so they must be good. When u speak on these schools in taking big time fbs schools, schools that we can't compete with their player packages. Just relax everyone we will be just fine.

Sense of entitlement would be going to quarterbacks club or directly to athletic department and demanding answers and info. Posting randomly on message boards of fans wondering why there is no news and hoping to get some is not entitlement.

The way some people are acting yes it is a sense of entitlement. Whether it's going to qb club or here. To sit here and go on and on because there's no news to your liking is entitlement. Just relax we're good.....

That I what fan boards are for. If everyone wanted to sit back and wait with mo discussion they would read a newspaper or online sports news. I just don't understand posters being so upset about others wanting info, or venting frustration. It shows fans care.

[onceacat]

Cal is a pathetic program. I hope they lose out this year. And all years.

They certainly seem to bring in more than their share of MSU football players lately. A degree from Berkley may also play a role.
They are not a great football program, were they ever?

I had to look it up. They claim five national titles, the last being in 1937. Their last conference title was a co-championship in 2006. They are due to win it all then and will be sure to climb the mountaintop in 2025.

Oh, since players consider college football a business, it may be time to tax their athletic scholarships and any bennies (food, paid travel home, free swag, etc.) too. Did I just open up a can of worms? Uh oh.

Theres a ton of back and forth on whether to treat athletes as employees or as students. It's a huge issue because if football players became employees they would be covered under workers comp, which is crazy expensive in Montana.

Scholarships aren't taxable because the vast majority of people pay tuition with pre-tax earnings. I think the current tax credit for college tuition is somewhere around $4k (so roughly $25k-$35k in tuition for taxpayers in most brackets).

Free swag in excess of certain limits is already required to be reported as are in-kind expenses like travel, although it usually isn't.

I'm pretty sure that you never have to report room and board provided by an employer if you are away from your permanent address. I know I certainly never have to report employer reimbursements for hotels & food per diems when I travel, thats all tax free.

[PapaG]

Cal is a pathetic program. I hope they lose out this year. And all years.

They certainly seem to bring in more than their share of MSU football players lately. A degree from Berkley may also play a role.
They are not a great football program, were they ever?

Welcome to the “I have no pride in the program I play for but I got a lot of money” era.

Cal played in a crappy bowl game last season. Lost to Miami 39-38 in a classic comeback by Cam Ward.

For some posters here, moving to FBS and playing in these bowls and these kind of regular season games is the ultimate accomplishment and goal. An FBS national championship would never happen at Montana State, and most likely Cal, but Cal currently has 17 NFL players in the NFL and competes against the best of the ACC. Jar the very good Aaron Rodgers/Marshawn Lynch/Desean Jackson teams. Even beat Auburn (in a down year) last season.

A Cal degree is a life-changer, too.

Good on Dru.

[Lord Vigo]

Cal is a pathetic program. I hope they lose out this year. And all years.

They certainly seem to bring in more than their share of MSU football players lately. A degree from Berkley may also play a role.
They are not a great football program, were they ever?

They poach our players and do nothing with them.

[onceacat]

Cal is a pathetic program. I hope they lose out this year. And all years.

They certainly seem to bring in more than their share of MSU football players lately. A degree from Berkley may also play a role.
They are not a great football program, were they ever?

I had to look it up. They claim five national titles, the last being in 1937. Their last conference title was a co-championship in 2006. They are due to win it all then and will be sure to climb the mountaintop in 2025.

Oh, since players consider college football a business, it may be time to tax their athletic scholarships and any bennies (food, paid travel home, free swag, etc.) too. Did I just open up a can of worms? Uh oh.

I posted a link a few days back, either in this thread or the other transfer thread, that directly addressed the tax status of athletes. Don’t worry — since athletes are now ruled to be “independent contractors”, NIL + all the things that you mention are now taxable. Yes, free swag carries a tax load, as do gifts from boosters.

The off field things that a college kid does in order to receive NIL payments is 1099 income. Getting paid to play (e.g. scholarships, room and board, books) is neither a 1099 nor a W-2 issue since players are not university employees. Football scholarships-at least for the time being-are treated the same for tax purposes as a band or academic scholarship & are almost entirely untamable since they aren't employee income.

[TomCat88]

Vigen and staff know how to develop players. The lone portal players to come in for 2024 and make noise were Rohan Jones and Alec Eckert.

MSU showed no noticeable drop off when Jones was injured.

MSU has improved talent-wise every season since Vigen arrived. The end result may not reflect that but I think if you evaluate the rosters and look at how some of results came about you will see this clearly.

I’m not so sure about that. His versatility and speed down the seam made a difference in how teams defended us. I think like Snell, he made a big difference that didn’t always show up on the box score.

I would disagree as we still was hanging 30+ on everyone. There we were still highly productive without him. Yes he made things easier but the the combo of players and coaching scheme still showed us to put up a lot of points in his absence.

That’s my point. Rohan is a great TE/FB, but even without him MSU’s offense continued to play well. Would they have been better with him? Probably, but the bottom line is MSU continued to play excellent offensive football with him on the sideline. The same goes for the defense without Schmidt, Uluilakepa and Dowler. Would they have been better? Probably, but…still an excellent defense. The players who filled for them initially after their injuries all played well and all three were players taken out of HS. (Sharbono, Daily and Taki (later polidore)).

This is probably a minor distinction, but I don’t think “still played well” and “no drop off” are the same things in this situation. That’s more my point.

MSU still played well and saw no drop off in scoring, total offense or yards per play with Jones on the sidelines. This leads into the fact that MSU isn’t a paper mache team that is drastically weakened whenever a starter gets knocked out of a game or for the season. This was true for every player lost either for a few plays or the season.

That hasn’t always been the case at MSU. I don’t recall any teams that absorbed significant injuries as seamlessly as they did this year. The reason they were able to do that is their player development program isn’t just better, but it’s superior to almost every program and as good as the best with none being better.

All that said, I would think fans would be more focused on that than bringing in, or losing, players from the transfer portal.

Transfers rarely make a huge impact and those that do have players behind them that are very close to their ability thanks to MSU having possibly the best development program in the country.

I do think MSU will miss Mellott but I don’t think the offense is going to be drastically worse. It’ll still be one of the top five offenses in the nation. I also think the defense will be better next season.

[SparkCat]

Vigen and staff know how to develop players. The lone portal players to come in for 2024 and make noise were Rohan Jones and Alec Eckert.

MSU showed no noticeable drop off when Jones was injured.

MSU has improved talent-wise every season since Vigen arrived. The end result may not reflect that but I think if you evaluate the rosters and look at how some of results came about you will see this clearly.

I’m not so sure about that. His versatility and speed down the seam made a difference in how teams defended us. I think like Snell, he made a big difference that didn’t always show up on the box score.

I would disagree as we still was hanging 30+ on everyone. There we were still highly productive without him. Yes he made things easier but the the combo of players and coaching scheme still showed us to put up a lot of points in his absence.

That’s my point. Rohan is a great TE/FB, but even without him MSU’s offense continued to play well. Would they have been better with him? Probably, but the bottom line is MSU continued to play excellent offensive football with him on the sideline. The same goes for the defense without Schmidt, Uluilakepa and Dowler. Would they have been better? Probably, but…still an excellent defense. The players who filled for them initially after their injuries all played well and all three were players taken out of HS. (Sharbono, Daily and Taki (later polidore)).

This is probably a minor distinction, but I don’t think “still played well” and “no drop off” are the same things in this situation. That’s more my point.

MSU still played well and saw no drop off in scoring, total offense or yards per play with Jones on the sidelines. This leads into the fact that MSU isn’t a paper mache team that is drastically weakened whenever a starter gets knocked out of a game or for the season. This was true for every player lost either for a few plays or the season.

That hasn’t always been the case at MSU. I don’t recall any teams that absorbed significant injuries as seamlessly as they did this year. The reason they were able to do that is their player development program isn’t just better, but it’s superior to almost every program and as good as the best with none being better.

All that said, I would think fans would be more focused on that than bringing in, or losing, players from the transfer portal.

Transfers rarely make a huge impact and those that do have players behind them that are very close to their ability thanks to MSU having possibly the best development program in the country.

I do think MSU will miss Mellott but I don’t think the offense is going to be drastically worse. It’ll still be one of the top five offenses in the nation. I also think the defense will be better next season.

And hell, who knows, if the passing game starts to really click with whoever is the new QB, well that could be really scary for other teams. The Tommy void will not be filled, sucks to lose a player that alone could turn the tide of a game. However, going forward, Tommy won’t be the one to win it all or even be the last to get us to the championship game. Will the next be a better athlete, probably not, but a more complete QB would do this program wonders.

[RangeCat]

Getting some news.

[AFCAT]

Cal is a pathetic program. I hope they lose out this year. And all years.

They certainly seem to bring in more than their share of MSU football players lately. A degree from Berkley may also play a role.
They are not a great football program, were they ever?

I had to look it up. They claim five national titles, the last being in 1937. Their last conference title was a co-championship in 2006. They are due to win it all then and will be sure to climb the mountaintop in 2025.

Oh, since players consider college football a business, it may be time to tax their athletic scholarships and any bennies (food, paid travel home, free swag, etc.) too. Did I just open up a can of worms? Uh oh.

I posted a link a few days back, either in this thread or the other transfer thread, that directly addressed the tax status of athletes. Don’t worry — since athletes are now ruled to be “independent contractors”, NIL + all the things that you mention are now taxable. Yes, free swag carries a tax load, as do gifts from boosters.

I don't believe schollys are taxed but I knew NIL stuff is.

[Norsky19]

They were decent when Tedford was the HC and they had Aaron Rodgers at QB. Tedford was a QB guru in his day.

Didn't he also coach Jared Goff there?
I worked with Tedford when he was the OC under Sweeney....really good guy. Was disappointed when he went to Oregon. I bumped into him at a high school in Fresno trying to recruit a kid to Oregon. I gave him a lot of crap.