Finally getting some respect.. but..

[gopherdiehard]

first time poster but long time fan of gopherhole.. just like to say its really nice to finally be getting some national publicity.. its really exciting for me as a fan.. something minnesota doesnt get alot of.. but one thing iv seen alot the last few years something i would like to stop in college sports. and that is featuring college coaches and players on tv commercials. they talk about an even playing field when it comes to recruiting and all that but in reality how often do you see the head coach of teams like oregon state or north carolia state or us have their players or coaches on espn commercials or whatever.. i find that should stop anybody else agree with this?

 

[OSUfan]

Well, ESPN is going to promote whatever games they are televising, and they are their own business and they pretty much choose the games they think will get the highest ratings. Obviously, there are certain programs that get better ratings than others, and therefore some programs will be on their channels more often than others (and thereby get more plugs for their games). As far as the TV commercials, there aren't really any teams on commercials, just coaches, and that's something individual companies decide who to use in their advertisements, something the NCAA really has no control over (and I don't think they should!). What do you expect the NCAA to do, make a rule that coaches cannot be permitted to be in commercials? Seems like a rule that would be far from the ordinary business of the NCAA.

 

[year of the gopher]

In addition to what OSUfan posted, I would also respond with "Watch the Big Ten Network some time". The BTN has players and coaches from Big Ten schools on commercials constantly. It's a great promotional tool that the conference is using to everyone's benefit. A rule like you suggest would actually lessen the amount of media the Gophers get in that regard.