OT: Major issues at Northern Colorado football
Light Michigan ties as a former Wolverine is the starting QB at the center of this firestorm, but it's an interesting read on what has become a huge mess at the University of Northern Colorado. Seems like a toxic combination of nepotism, hubris, head coach being in over his head, apathy to rules and the needs of players, and beyond...
January 31st, 2022 at 12:59 PM ^
Pay Wally.
January 31st, 2022 at 1:04 PM ^
I have to admit that I only skimmed the article. But those sorts of problems seem reasonably predictable when you hire a guy who had only been a high school coach for two years. Also, I'd never thought about how the partial scholarship situation in FCS football makes things even more complicated than they are in FBS football. You need someone who knows that he's doing to handle that.
January 31st, 2022 at 1:32 PM ^
It gets even worse when you look at sports like baseball. 11.7 scholarships available and roster maximums of 35 guys and there's a maximum of 27 players who can be on scholarship. Also, if you offer a baseball scholarship it has to be minimum 25% (this is all NCAA D1).
Guys find out other guys in their class got more than them or maybe a junior is on 25-30% and a freshman at the same position gets brought in at 50% or something and it can cause issues for sure.
It actually creates massive advantages for teams in the south since a lot of the talent is pooled there. For example, Florida's roster has 3 total guys on it from out of state. Whole lot easier to convince a kid paying in-state tuition to take smaller scholarships and stay home than it is for places like Michigan who can't supply multiple P5 level D1 schools with in state talent.
January 31st, 2022 at 1:49 PM ^
There's a cool little docu out about college baseball recruiting and scholarships. Vanderbilt dominates all other schools.
January 31st, 2022 at 2:22 PM ^
Yeah I didn't want to get into Vandy since that's a whole different can of worms. Great for those kids who get the opportunity but definitely not a fair playing field.
January 31st, 2022 at 2:13 PM ^
Players on my son's D3 team are getting pretty good academic scholarships, up to 50%, since D3 doesn't give athletic scholarships. I wonder why D1 schools can't do the same with baseball, to make sure all the athletes, especially the OOS ones, aren't having to pay to play or to supplement their athletic scholarships.
January 31st, 2022 at 2:34 PM ^
My school had both (NAIA). I was always told they were separate but it would not surprise me if coaches looked at "all in" costs when trying to allocate scholarships. "yeah we offered SioneForPrez 25% but he's got academic money too that gets him to 60% so we might need to offer this other guy 50% because he's not getting any academic money"
January 31st, 2022 at 3:35 PM ^
D1 schools absolutely can use academic scholarships to boost their overall scholarship numbers for baseball. Unless something has changed in the last 15 years, that's the way it was when I played.
January 31st, 2022 at 6:01 PM ^
Baseball is pretty weird when it comes to recruiting. Some D1/D2 schools can 'stack' aid (combine academic and athletic money), and other's don't/can't. Grades might matter more for Baseball than any other sport for all I know. My son is going the D3 route as well and got a lot of academic money.
What also sucks is the fact that college baseball only pays two assistants. Which leads to all sorts if things teams have to do in order to pay volunteer assistants. It is the most underfunded sport in the NCAA. The documentary that someone else posted the link to is very good. I'll be interested to see how NIL changes baseball recruiting/funding. Get a guy a NIL deal, give someone else more scholarship money....
January 31st, 2022 at 2:19 PM ^
There is absolutely no reason that the available scholarship number should be lower than the maximum allowable number of players who can be on scholarship. So for baseball, if you can have 27 players on scholarship, you should be allowed to offer 27 total scholarships. It's complete bullshit that if you have 27 players on scholarship, the max average scholarship per player is 43%.
The small schools who cry poverty can go fuck themselves. I'm fine continuing to allow partial scholarships in these non-revenue sports (unlike football and basketball that require all scholarships to be 100%). If a team truly can't afford 27 baseball scholarships, they can offer less than 100% to various players. Or they don't have to have 27 players on scholarship if they can't afford it. The Ivy League prohibits their teams from offering scholarships, and they do just fine, plus I'm pretty sure there are other schools that do that as well (I feel like Harbaugh's San Diego teams were like this).
It's not actually about money, it's about small schools wanting their cake (not wanting to have to pay for more scholarships) and eating it too (not having that affect competitive advantage vs richer teams.
January 31st, 2022 at 4:45 PM ^
This isn't a budgetary issue. This is about Title IX compliance. Because there is no women's football to balance out the 85 scholarships that male football players get, male athletes in other sports lose out.
January 31st, 2022 at 1:41 PM ^
Also, I'd never thought about how the partial scholarship situation in FCS football makes things even more complicated than they are in FBS football.
I have to admit before reading this article, I thought the 65 (or whatever) scholarship limit for FCS meant 65 full-scholarship kids and a bunch more walk-ons, not partial schollys. I was aware of partial scholarships in many other sports (e.g. baseball and hockey) but never made the connection that that was likely done in lower levels of college football.
January 31st, 2022 at 1:59 PM ^
It sounds like a bit of a mess.
Curious that the athletic department didn't step in to help a new coach with these sort of issues and details.
January 31st, 2022 at 2:29 PM ^
I worked D1 track at a MAC school for a couple of years. And all of those partial scholarships were crazy.
quite a few happy moments like those videos when the walk-on LB gets told he has a football scholarship in the team meeting. But also a number of frustrated ones too.
One of my best friends on the team hated the head coach. When he got a full ride academic scholarship for his senior year, he was so happy to go tell the coach to shove his 50% back up his….I mean… that he was free to give it to another athlete
January 31st, 2022 at 6:38 PM ^
You have it right Erik he had no business getting that job. UNC is my alma mater and I played ball there. I almost fell out of my chair when I heard he was given the job to replace Collins. He used to have a football camp in the Denver area I used to help coach at. He was an idiot then and couldn’t coach. The only reason he got the job at Valor was because of his kids and I heard he strong armed his way into that job. Hell you don’t have to know anything about coaching to win there with their talent level. Hate seeing what he’s doing at UNC and hope he is fired soon
January 31st, 2022 at 1:05 PM ^
WARNING: Don't click that link. It was trying to give me a virus...
And not even a fun "pfft, we can go without a condom just this once" kind of virus...
January 31st, 2022 at 5:10 PM ^
on an unrelated note my firstborn's name is virus.
January 31st, 2022 at 1:07 PM ^
Just 28 student-athletes in the transfer portal this year? Sounds like everything is just fine in Northern Colorado.
January 31st, 2022 at 3:27 PM ^
Tuck Comin’
January 31st, 2022 at 1:13 PM ^
Little of what's found in the article is surprising given McCaffrey's lack of coaching experience and what seems like an attempt to get-rich-quick improve a team via transfers while not putting much effort into actually growing a sustainable culture. It also sounds like the coaches were a bit over their head when it comes to preparation and working hard at their jobs, which again isn't surprising for what feels like a bunch of family members being hired for tough jobs.
January 31st, 2022 at 3:07 PM ^
To be honest, it sounds like they're in *way* over their heads, and they're bending some ethics in part because they're completely disoriented. Like, reducing scholarship portions that had been raised without saying anything about it? Maybe there's some manipulative tendencies, but it sounds like they're just clueless and terrible at managing people.
I hate saying stuff like this but the McCaffrey family seems... pretty out there. Weird stuff, like Dylan just leaving the team midseason to recover from a concussion, and now going to play with his dad when he still was considered a D-1-caliber starter, even if he really wasn't going to start at Michigan.
January 31st, 2022 at 3:23 PM ^
Yeah, the scholarship management sounds rough but also not that surprising; you hear stories about guys taking over programs and sort of driving guys away. The mismanagement of scholarships, though, feels like an AD/school level issue more than even coaches somewhat so not sure what's going on there. Like, I believe the school has to send you a letter if your scholarship gets reduced, so if that isn't happening I don't know if that's really on the coach from an administrative effort. They absolutely do sound overwhelmed at the requirements of running a program, which makes sense since again his experience is mostly being a pretty good football player and coaching HS kids for 2 years.
The McCaffrey clan has definitely had some weird vibes going on. Luke transferred twice in an off-season and Dylan wound up going to play for his dad at some FCS school despite (I presume) overtures from D1 teams. He also showed up to support playing at UM during the 2020 year and then bolted a couple days later. I have to think there's more going on than we've seen.
January 31st, 2022 at 1:39 PM ^
McCaffreys? Nepotism?
Never.
January 31st, 2022 at 1:39 PM ^
Northern Colorado's football program is currently just an attempt by the McCaffrey family to get Dylan in the NFL. If Ed had a love of coaching he would have been a real coach other than helping at Dylan's high school before this.
January 31st, 2022 at 2:49 PM ^
Yep, exactly right. CU and CSU would never have considered McCaffrey for a job opening (and they both had one after the 2019 season, the same time UNC did!), so McCaffrey basically went to the next closest school that would consider him. Greeley it is!
McCaffrey rents a small place in Greeley and still spends a lot of time back in his owned home in Highlands Ranch. Which is his prerogative, but it does say something about his long-term commitment to the program. That commute absolutely sucks.
January 31st, 2022 at 3:18 PM ^
To be fair, any rational person would want to spend as little time in Greeley as possible.
January 31st, 2022 at 4:16 PM ^
They say you stop noticing the cow shit smell after awhile....
January 31st, 2022 at 11:29 PM ^
Problem is when the wind comes out of the east and the whole Front Range smells like cow shit.
January 31st, 2022 at 5:37 PM ^
To be fair, the same could be said about Highlands Ranch, given for very different reasons...
January 31st, 2022 at 7:03 PM ^
Agree. I think Northern Colorado > South of Denver therefore Greeley > Highlands Ranch.
February 1st, 2022 at 12:53 AM ^
A non-insignificant portion of Weld County (the home of Greeley) residents and governmental officials want to secede from the state of Colorado and join Wyoming! This idea was floated as recently as last spring!
That will never happen in actuality, but there is a weird anti-Denver dynamic up there.
January 31st, 2022 at 6:40 PM ^
Actually he lives in castle pines and does still spend a lot of time there
January 31st, 2022 at 1:41 PM ^
Funny part of the article is when they mention they actually improved their record this year.
January 31st, 2022 at 1:54 PM ^
This prompted me to go take a look at Dylan's stats for the year. He completed 60% of his passes with 5 TDs and 7 Picks. I guess maybe it isn't crazy to think he wasn't going to beat Milton out of the job a couple years ago. Certainly give me Cade over that all day.
We have had such weird QB luck since Harbaugh arrived.
January 31st, 2022 at 1:55 PM ^
Also, Tru Wilson played for them this year. He has to be past 25 at this point right?
January 31st, 2022 at 2:13 PM ^
I saw him play against Montana State this year in person. He was awful. 14 of 24 for 99 yards, 1 TD and 3 ints.
January 31st, 2022 at 2:14 PM ^
Dylan seemed to me to be more of a runner at UM anyway. He had a couple of long runs for TDs (and one called back vs. Nebraska). We would have probably been a solid running team in 2020 with him, but would have wasted any WR talent.
Cade definitely has earned my respect even if I see JJ as the future - Cade made most good decisions and hit some key passes vs. PSU.
Back in 2018, I thought UM had finally solved its QB abyss with Shea playing well mid-season, Dylan and Milton as backups - then came 2019/20.
January 31st, 2022 at 2:33 PM ^
In no way do I desire a return to the RichRod days, and they obviously didn't go well, but it would be interesting to see McCaffrey in a system like that. I wouldn't expect him to greatly prosper, but it would be a good fit for him.
January 31st, 2022 at 5:48 PM ^
But not a sustainable runner. I don't know if it was something about the way he ran, but all of his runs seemed to end with a near-death experience for him.
January 31st, 2022 at 2:05 PM ^
Ed McCaffrey gives off a little bit of a Lavar Ball vibe, which is not meant as a compliment.
Side note: Northern Colorado is the same program where the backup punter stabbed the starter, in an attempt to Tonya Harding his way to the starting job, maybe a decade or so ago.
January 31st, 2022 at 2:13 PM ^
Punter on punter violence is the worst.
January 31st, 2022 at 2:08 PM ^
Not shocked - when I saw that his brother was fined earlier this year for throwing a clipboard into the stands. Looks like UNC went for a name and not a real coach.
Not sure what all REALLY led to Dylan leaving UM - he would probably have taken over as starter if he hadn't gotten drilled (twice) in the UW game. Shea was really playing lousy at the start of the 2019 season and was terrible before being benched down 35-0. Rutgers at home would have been his first start.
Dylan got concussed at least twice this past season - I'm starting to wonder if he will be like Steven Threet and have to retire early.
Some of this is clearly sour grapes from guys who expected more money or PT, but the fact that the dirty laundry is being publicized and the school is having to make statements says that at least some of this stuff is true and doesn't make Ed look very good at all.
January 31st, 2022 at 2:15 PM ^
Would have loved to see Dylan as a WR. You’d think he’d have a good handle on coverages and the offense, plus he’s tall and very athletic.
January 31st, 2022 at 2:33 PM ^
Eh, he strikes me as athletic for a QB, but not nearly athletic enough to play WR. Don't recall him having much wiggle or shiftiness, just decent straight-line speed, but not nearly fast enough to blow by DBs DPJ style who you can't fool with moves.
Honestly, I feel like the closest comps would have been guys like Ricardo Miller or Fred Jackson's kid, not athletic enough to play WR but not big enough to play TE, except in Dylan's case he was WAYYY too small for TE to ever be a possibility.
January 31st, 2022 at 2:19 PM ^
UNC gambled on a bunch of FBS transfers and Ed must have promised them a lot of come aboard. This has the same feel as RichRod alienating some of the Lloyd recruits and favoring "his guys" - coaching like any leadership role is always a delicate balance between making those you inherited feeling important vs. those you are bringing in feeling they can be the stars.
Ed M must be some kind of egomaniac who hasn't figured that pro success means nothing when it comes to the sidelines. Credit JH was moving to U of San Diego (and not SD State) and starting to build a winner at the lowest level vs. feeling he "owed" obedience by all.
January 31st, 2022 at 3:09 PM ^
Even before the U of San Diego head coaching job, Harbaugh was moonlighting as a volunteer for his dad's Western Kentucky football team while still playing in the NFL.
The McCaffrey-Northern Colorado experiment was doomed from almost the start. McCaffrey fired his OC, his most experienced assistant and former college position coach, before they even played a game, and replaced him with his son Max who had zero experience as a college assistant. And he was also starting his own son at QB. I think he probably assumed that Dylan moving down to the FCS level would cover up for the other deficiencies and inexperience. Rodger Sherman of the Ringer nailed this 3 months ago when Max McCaffrey got in trouble for throwing a clipboard into the crowd on the road:
We probably don't make a big enough deal about how Ed McCaffrey became head coach of an FCS team and made his son with no coaching experience the OC and made his other son the starting QB
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) October 6, 2021
The sad part is that he had the 2020 COVID year to figure things out before putting his final product out on the field. I would have thought that having the 2020 season canceled for him would have given him more time to adapt and learn on the job, but maybe I am wrong and someone with experience running a program may have been what was necessary to make elevate the program during COVID.
January 31st, 2022 at 3:24 PM ^
This article is wild. It is hard to pick the which detail is more insane. The kicker at the end of the section on communication with the coaches caused me to spit my drink out on the computer
Additionally, Mark said both McCaffrey coaches weren’t people players wanted to talk to.
“Personally, I never really liked talking to him; (I) always felt like it was awkward,” Mark said. “Ed didn’t seem like a person I wanted to go to for issues.”
This isn’t completely uncommon in the sport; players often connect with the director of operations. This person performs general management duties, such as organizing schedules, but is not a coach who can bench a player for raising concerns.
This role still exists at UNC, but it’s held by Kathleen Messier, who is dating Max McCaffrey.
He made his son with no coaching experience the OC, and his son's college girlfriend the director of operations. What could go wrong?
January 31st, 2022 at 5:39 PM ^
Check out homegirls LinkedIn.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathleen-messier-blum-48a45a9b
I'm sure she checked all of the boxes when the Director of Football Operations job was posted. Who knew being an Associate Sales Analyst for Pepsi could land you a role as a Director of Football Operations at a decent sized college.
Nepotism.. Nope....Not at all..
January 31st, 2022 at 3:24 PM ^
Man, that reporter went on an assault. Having said that I think Ed (Dad) is kind of an asshole. Can’t believe how far Dylan has fallen.
January 31st, 2022 at 3:55 PM ^
Guy is only making 190k/yr. Can't expect him to actually come to work for that.