Navigating the College Football Landscape with Rich Cirminiello

The college football landscape is forever changing. And like the evolution of mankind, the sport has seen a rapid peak, bringing variables and uncertainty that seem almost limitless. Subsequently, this has also occurred in its media field. Yet, in an era where foresight from its decision-makers has failed dramatically, navigating the path of college football has become just as challenging. With that in mind, having a conversation with Rich Cirminiello, VP of College Awards at the Maxwell Football Club, about this very subject was enlightening in multiple ways.

Navigating the College Football Landscape with Rich Cirminiello

In a world where college football is rapidly evolving, relations become key. And when having productive discussions about its future, there’s few more qualified to talk about it than those who watch the film, understand the processes, and are constantly building relationships.

Who is Rich Cirminiello?

In terms of sports media, Rich Cirminiello has essentially done it all. He’s been a writer, on-air personality, podcast host, an analytical researcher, and more. And quite frankly, that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Cirminiello’s flexibility in this niche. Yet, there was a chance that it may never have happened at all.

“It’s been a wild ride,” began Cirminiello. “It started very quietly for me. A little over two decades ago I was working in the corporate world. I was actually working for Panasonic here in New Jersey. I really wasn’t thrilled from what I was doing from a corporate standpoint [I was] a little bit bored. [Yet] I always had an interest in sports, played sports throughout my life. [But] I was very lucky in terms of timing because I don’t know if I would have gotten to this point if I started today. So, I’m very sympathetic to young people coming out looking to start a career in sports. The world was not as saturated in terms of content at the beginning of the century.”

Journey into Sports Media

Leaving the corporate world behind, Cirminiello began his journey in sports media as a freelance writer. Writing for College Football News, the Jersey native started receiving opportunities to do things he never dreamed of – including having MTV at his house to film an episode of True Life. From there, Cirminiello has gone on to work on some major projects, including with a legend in sports writing in Phil Steele.

“Phil and I have known each other for close to a decade. I’ve been working with him on a regular basis now for a little over two years. I was doing freelance work for him at the beginning; and for anyone who is young and listening, the biggest advice I would give is to network. Obviously, you have to be good at what you do and you have to have a passion. But for me, the biggest tipping point has always been meeting new people.”

Ironically, it was Cirminiello’s work with Maxwell that introduced him to Phil, who helps them with their award selections. Starting as an intern, Rich became VP of College Awards with the club in 2008. And as fate would have it, good fortune would cross paths with him once more.

“That was really fortuitous as well, to be honest,” admitted Cirminiello. “I was writing Heisman articles for College Football News at that time. It’s got to be 17 or 18 years now; I got a phone call – and I’m not even sure how Mark Wolpert found my number. My dad was sick and I was driving home from the hospital and he was like, ‘hey I really need someone. I’ve been reading your articles and I really need someone to help steer the ship and help us out.’ It was all volunteer which I was happy to do because it kind of gave me access to this incredible world of individuals and athletes current and former. It was one of the wiser things I’ve done. The money has not been great because it’s a non-profit. But the access I’ve been able to gain meeting new and exciting people (like the Mannings, Shaun Alexander, and more). It’s really grown into a great opportunity and a lot of good friendships as well.”

When does College Football Reach its Tipping Point?

Moving into general college football discussion, the conversation steered towards the new era of the sport. Name, Image, and Likeness have created unique opportunities for athletes. However, it’s also opened Pandora’s Box in regards to what’s expected to come. For many, collective bargaining seems to be the final solution towards what’s deemed the inevitable. Yet, is that really sustainable for the sport going forward?

NIL Adds Nil to College Sports’ Future

Like many others close to the sport, Cirminiello is one who believes athletes deserve to be paid. However, the way that the current format allows pay-for-play activities to occur has left a black mark on what was supposed to be an evolution in the game.

“I have been advocating for many years, long before NIL, that players in all sports [deserve to be paid],” began Cirminiello. “I’m a capitalist at heart, so if you’re a 20-year old star and can make money away from the field I think that’s awesome. Where we are now, where we have NIL collectives, strictly pay-for-play, I think it’s problematic because it’s impossible to have an even playing field. In professional sports we obviously have salary caps [that] exist; it’s just the wild west right now. I don’t mean to pick on Texas Tech, but you can have [a program like that] who has well-heeled donors or backers who can just open up the vault in order to pluck players out of the transfer portal. There’s something fundamentally wrong with that in terms of an equitable playing field. It’s not good for the sport, it’s not good for the fans. I have no problem with athletics making money and if it’s significant money that’s fine. But the scales have been tipped towards the larger and better-funded programs and I don’t think that’s healthy for college sports.”

A Loss of Motivation

Cirminiello has an excellent point. Programs are supposed to be capped at $20.5 million in direct athletic revenue share. However, this is often circumvented by using these third-party NIL collectives. While some of them truly help the roster-building process for multiple programs, others are looking only to garner influence and monetary gain. This results in the pay-for-play format we’re currently seeing now, and a ceiling may not be in sight anytime soon. Yet, there’s also the other potential consequences of paying high school players six figures before they even step foot on a college football field.

“If I can add this too – I don’t want to be someone who limits the earning potential of anyone at any age,” Cirminiello added. “That’s not something I would try to do. But I do think we’re going to see some negative ramifications of flooding so much money in the direction of young athletes who have achieved nothing at this point. I think there’s some sort of soft negative ramifications of that. You’ve almost paid your way out of having that natural motivation that an 18-year old athlete had, where you have to go out and still do it whether you’re a 5-star blue-chipper or else you’re not going to have a big payday or get into the NFL. Now, you have high school star athletes [getting] six, even seven digits immediately. Human nature tells me that some of that innate motivation to continue and bring [that mentality] day in and day out is gone. I do think we’re going to see some situations like that [going forward]. There may be a market adjustment [going forward].

The Consequences of Realignment

Another major focus in college football has been realignment. Now, this has occurred throughout history with schools moving up, down, or laterally into different conferences based on their program and university success (or lack thereof). However, recent realignment changes seem to be dictated more towards total revenue accumulation rather than geographical situations that would make more sense – and could potentially benefit universities in more ways than one.

“For the longest time the longest we’ve heard what separate college sports [from others] is its tradition, and that’s true. We still have a lot of tradition in college sports, rivalries, and amazing rivalry trophies. But I think little-by-little we’ve seen that decline. One example that comes to mind is Bedlam. Oklahoma versus Oklahoma State. These are the incredible games that sort of define college athletics – not just football. The fact that an Oklahoma and Oklahoma State is not being played every year is sad to me. I think that’s a regression.”

The Loss of Geographic Rivals

Talking about the realignment of college football, Rich Cirminiello agrees that geographical rivalries are being lost as realignment continues to take hold.

“I think there are so many rivalries that have been lost,” stated Cirminiello. “Geographic rivalries are amazing. I think it’s better for fans and families when there’s somewhat of a simplicity in terms of travel. You can hop in a car and still see those games [being] played. It’s really unfortunate when you lose those rivalries. Again, the one that really bothers me is the dissipation of the PAC-12. You have Stanford and Cal now in the ACC and it makes no geographic sense.”

Like many, Cirminiello is not against realignment. However, what the sport has presented in that regard up to this point has been underwhelming.

“Personally, I’m not a fan of the realignment we have seen [up to this point],” said Cirminiello. “We all begin this as a fan first, right … Not having a PAC-12 in college sports [was] one of the worst things I’ve seen, and there were a lot of individuals responsible [for that] including the PAC-12 and the leadership team there. But, that’s not progress to me. Having USC, UCLA, Washington, and Oregon in the Big Ten is not progress to me.”

Rich Cirminiello Gives His Thoughts on College Football Playoff Expansion

Another major talking point in college football circles is the expansion of the College Football Playoff. Once the BCS format was removed, the CFP initially started at four teams upon signing a TV rights deal with ESPN. In 2023, the amount of teams have been moved to 12. Now, there’s serious discussion about it being moved to 24 teams, doubling the number of programs involved from just three years ago. While some enjoy the process as it grows, others believe that it may cause issues with the sport down the road.

“I was a fan of moving to a deeper playoff [format],” began Cirminiello. “I like where we’re [currently] at in terms of numbers [of teams] and would not expand any further. My thought has always been that more important football in December and January is good, especially at a time where we’ve seen the bowl games decrease in value. That’s tough for someone like me who fondly remembers bowl games in the 1980s and 90s and what it meant to kids, programs, and fanbases. I don’t think it’s possible to recapture that unless you’re a smaller school – where it’s still a big deal [to get into a bowl game].”

And, Cirminiello is right. We’re already seeing programs opt out of bowl games because they didn’t get into the CFP. Meanwhile, G6 programs like Delaware have fanbases ecstatic because they secured a bowl (and a victory) in their first season at the FBS level. However, as time marches on, it seems like an expanded playoff is becoming inevitable.

“The bowl schedule is weak [right now]. You have a lot of kids that are not particularly interested, either opting out or going into the transfer portal. Increasing the number of meaningful games is a good thing. But I think we’re going to see some watered-down blowouts in the playoffs. I don’t think it’s necessary to expand it; you just got to follow the money to see what happens with everything in sports at every level. I certainly expect to see more teams in the playoffs in the future.”

Effect on the Regular Season

Another topic that hardly gets represented when discussing playoff expansion is the regular season. Which, Cirminiello makes a great point about as we continued our discussion.

“Anything that hurts the regular season of college football, I think is a bad thing,” began Cirminiello. “One of the unintended consequences of playoff expansion is that incredible intensity, visceral vibe we feel in November as teams jockey to get into the top-12 and into the playoffs is incredible. I’ve always believed that the regular season in college football is as good or better than anything else in American sports. And I think the more we expansion that we have, I do think it’s possible we see teams [like in the NFL] start tapping the breaks if they already know they’re locked into the playoffs. SEC teams are a great example where they’re so ironclad. Anything that hurts the regular season I think is a bad thing.”

A G6 Playoff Format?

Another topic of discussion as the CFP continues to expand is the potential for a Group of 6 playoff format. While expanding the current CFP isn’t ideal, Cirminiello believes adding a G6 playoff format could increase revenue and excitement for players, programs, and fanbases.

“It must be feasible, but why don’t we have some kind of a playoff amongst the G6 teams?” questioned Cirminiello. “I would much rather see [that]. I want to see who’s the best team, who has the best conference? Is it the American, the Sun Belt, the newly-formed PAC-12? Again, it’s all about meaningful football to me. Bowl games just aren’t that meaningful any longer especially when you have players opting out and coaches no longer coaching their teams. It’s a mess at this point. That would be my one suggestion. I would love to see those matchups. Give me Miami of Ohio against Boise State, that’s an interesting matchup. I’m not saying there won’t still be opt-outs or coaches leaving, but I think you’re more likely to keep kids there if you can win a G6 National Championship.”

The thought of a G6 playoff has been met with mixed reactions from players, fans, and media members alike. However, Cirminiello does bring up a good point about meaningful football. If the continued CFP expansion continues to close the door on those G6 programs, it may be wise for the conferences to create their own playoff format instead of settling for bowl games that don’t do as much for the programs participating in them.

Inevitable Autonomy?

Yet with all the discussion of change in college football, one question that looms large is the potential separation between the SEC, Big Ten and the NCAA. There’s been serious conversation within the “P2” conferences about moving on from the NCAA for a variety of reasons. After all, there’s a reason why the Power 4 are known as the autonomy conferences – they can truly govern themselves. At this point, anyone who thinks it isn’t viable has their heads stuck in the sand. And, Cirminiello agrees that it’s inevitable that we see a split from the NCAA at some point.

“I almost feel like it’s inevitable at this point,” declared Cirminiello. “It’s going to be very difficult to keep those two power conferences from branching off and being on their own. The NCAA has been neutered. I don’t think there’s any going back to the NCAA being prominent when it comes to college athletics. A lot of that is their own undoing over the years, quite frankly. They’ve made a lot of mistakes over the years. There’s more money involved for the SEC and Big Ten when it comes to autonomy. I think they can make their own decisions at that point. I don’t know what the time frame would be, but I fully expect to see that happen. And again, I don’t think that’s necessarily progress for anyone outside of those programs and the administrators and the coaches involved with those programs. As more time passes, the more I see college athletics becoming kind of like a minor league to the pros. There used to be a line in the sand, a differentiation, and that’s getting blurred more and more with each passing year.”

Rich Cirminiello on the Future of College Football and Sports Media

As the sport of college football grows, so does the media covering it. We’ve seen print and basic cable turn into internet subscriptions, aggregate accounts, and artificial intelligence in abundance. And while the latter can be good for the overall evolution, we must be careful with how its utilized when it comes to journalism.

“That’s a great question,” began Cirminiello. “Let me start by letting me telling you how I use AI. I began my career mostly as a longform journalist. A storyteller, anything from game recaps to individual bios. I happen to enjoy the art of writing, it’s something I find vary cathartic – I still do to this day. AI for me, has really been a helpful tool in terms of gathering information faster and a really good editor for me. I don’t use AI any way for writing, but I’ll use it to see if I’ve used this word too many times, which can happen depending on the size of my articles. So, AI has been helpful in that regard.”

Yet, while AI and technology have given fans and media more ease of access than ever, there’s also serious concerns that come with it. And, Cirminiello points out his thoughts on the ever-changing landscape.

“Journalism, sports and otherwise, I am concerned we’ve gotten away from longer form, deeper dives into subjects. I think The Athletic does a really good job with that. Hopefully they’re good from a financial standpoint and able to last because we need those types of journalists now more than ever. Longform seems to be dying which is unfortunate. Appetite for longform articles, the attention spans have obviously been changing and shortening over a long period of time. I don’t know how much shorter we can get at this point. My personal passion outside of this is documentaries, and there’s some great sports stories out there. But my biggest thing is the deep dives are still important. There aren’t many people doing it. However, we do have a lot of really good interns at the Maxwell, so that gives me some hope for the future.”