Ferd Lewis: Spartans hope to play for more than money

To build the bank account or build the football program — that was a dilemma that confronted Marie Tuite when she took over as San Jose State’s athletic director in late 2017.

The Spartans had been notorious for scheduling so-called multiple “money”or “guarantee” games, contests where they would play Power 5 schools in the same season against huge odds for the lucrative paychecks they would bring.

Between 2010 and 2018 they took in more than $10 million for those games while also going 0-14 against the likes of Alabama, Auburn, Wisconsin and Texas. Many of them, such as a 56-0 shellacking at Texas in 2017 for $1 million, weren’t pretty.

“Money” games are an economic fact of life for non-Power 5 schools such as San Jose State and Hawaii, but the Spartans were regularly playing two or more of them a year and, as Tuite puts it, “Starting off our season 0-3 or 1-3 in nonconference,” often beaten down before opening Mountain West Conference play.

This is the first year of a more balanced nonconference schedule and it shows as the Spartans are 4-5 (1-4 MWC) coming into Aloha Stadium for Saturday night’s game with the Rainbow Warriors (5-4, 1-3).

The Spartans might be the most improved team in the conference and have victories on the road at Arkansas and Army to show for it. Even some of their losses, 52-42 last week at Boise State for instance, have been highly competitive and respectable.

Not playing back-to-back “money” games might have also helped them win one for a change. They were double winners in Fayetteville, Ark., in Sept., taking both the game, 31-24, and a $1.5 million paycheck.

The Razorbacks are a struggling team, but beating an SEC team on the road for the first time in school history was impressive and no fluke. “For three quarters they were the SEC football team. They took it to us,” Arkansas coach Chad Morris acknowledged afterward.

Head coach Brent Brennan is in this third season and Tuite said, “We’re building a program here and you want to give your coaches (and players) a chance to be successful.” The goal, she said, is to eventually compete for MWC championships and “to do that you have to have some strategy in scheduling.”

The operative plan that kicked in this year since scheduling is often done years in advance, calls for the Spartans to play one “money” game a year against a Power 5 team, two games (home-and-home) against fellow Group of 5 teams and one game against a lower division Football Championship Subdivision team.

This season that meant games with Tulsa, Northern Colorado, Arkansas and Army.

Next year the Spartans will play at Penn State for $1.5 million followed by trips to Georgia for $1.8 million in 2021 and Auburn for $1.85 million in 2022, necessities for an athletic program trying to fund 22 sports on a $35 million annual budget.

UH recently signed to play at Michigan in 2022 for $1.9 million.

At San Jose State, the hope is apparently that if the Spartans can get on a winning footing they might be able to make up through increased crowds at the gate and sponsorships what they give up by no longer undertaking multiple “money” games.

Not an easy call in these days of escalating “money” games, but one that will bear watching.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.