Posts Tagged ‘big ten’

ESPN has compiled a list of the top most profitable programs during the 2011-2012 season.

Texas finished as the most profitable program, generating nearly $78 million profit. Michigan finished a distant second at $61.6 million.

Not surprisingly, the top ten is led by schools from the SEC. Six SEC programs (Georgia, Florida, Alabama, LSU, Auburn and Arkansas), two Big Ten schools (Michigan and Nebraska), a Big 12 University (Texas), and independent Notre Dame made the final cut.

The entire top 10 list is below in order of profit:

Texas - $79.9 million profit
Michigan - $61.6 million profit
Georgia - $52.3 million profit
Florida - $51.1 million profit
Alabama - $45.1 million profit
LSU - $44.8 million profit
Auburn - $43.8 million profit
Notre Dame - $43.2 million profit
Arkansas - $39.9 million profit
Nebraska - $36.4 million profit

As far as revenue goes, Texas was the only program in the country that brought in over $100 million, and Alabama had the highest expenses nationally (nearly $37 million).

Only two programs listed above were able to finish in the top ten while compiling a losing season (Auburn and Arkansas). The article also points out that the largest revenue producer from a non BCS conference back in 2011-12 was TCU. 

Read the entire piece here, including more on how much different programs brought in, and spent last season.

Bill O'Brien was recognized yesterday as the Hayes-Schembechler Big Ten coach of the year, and there's no doubt that the job that him and his staff have done at Penn State, coming into a very unique, and very difficult situation, has been impressive.

O'Brien noted on BTN Live yesterday that his NFL experience with a 53 man roster helped him manage practices and their overall roster after 20 players decided to leave the program following the announcement of NCAA sanctions.

"It was a matter of managing them and making sure that we didn't have blood-bath type practices every week, and we always used to use the phrase 'Get them to the gate' on Saturday and most weeks that worked, but sometimes it didn't."

Even after an impressive 8-4 season, O'Brien admits that he still has a lot to learn being a first time head coach.

"I learned that, number one, I have a lot to improve on. Whether it's game management, clock management, practice schedules, dealing with things that happen in the football building, or dealing with players. I'm just going to try to look to improve every single day and hopefully do the best that I can to help this football program improve." he explained.

"You learn a lot because when you haven't done this before, there are so many different things that come across your desk as compared to when you're an assistant, so hopefully you learn something new every day and can improve on that and go into next year with a better grasp on certain things."

O'Brien's passion and resolve  were just what Penn State needed during a very, very difficult time, and as the program moves forward, there's no doubt that they got the right guy for the job. In his first year on campus, he admits that there is plenty for him to learn but the bottom line is that he took on a situation that many coaches were very hesitant to enter...and at the end of the season it would have been hard to script it any better.

Congrats to Coach O'Brien and his staff for the well deserved recognition.