Clark: One tweet, without a single word, speaks volumes about FSU Football
Michael Alford knew exactly what he was doing Friday morning.
The first-year Florida State athletics director isn't a serial tweeter. He's not on Twitter to troll. Or to rack up likes and retweets.
His tweets are actually pretty sporadic, and they are almost always reserved for congratulating FSU teams or athletes for their accomplishments.
Friday hit a little different.
Because on Friday, as the whole college football world continues to try to find footing as the landscape shifts and cracks beneath its feet, Alford threw this tweet out there:
Alford didn't write anything to go with that graphic. He just tossed in some eyeballs.
Enough said. (As an aside, I love it when us older folks use emojis on social media. It's straight fire.)
And I truly do love this tweet.
Because it says so much without having to say anything at all.
Florida State fans are worried -- rightfully -- about their future in this ever-changing sport. With a poorly structured TV contract that runs until the sun burns out, along with five straight years of sorry on the football field, there's a real concern about where the Seminoles will land when this thing is all over.
What if realignment comes and goes, and FSU hasn't aligned itself with anyone but Boston College, Syracuse and Pitt?
The Seminoles' athletics director, in one tweet I think, eased some of those concerns.
Now, they're not erased completely. Not until a contract with someone, for much more TV money, is signed.
But It was a great reminder of just where Florida State stands, still, in the realm of big-time college football. The Seminoles are still a name. An iconic brand, in fact! And they're still very valuable.
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I'm not going to get into exactly how Forbes comes up with a valuation list like this -- I'm not a forensic accountant, although I do look like one -- but safe to say that despite all the talk about how poor FSU is and how poor the quality of play has been lately, Florida State is still a very attractive piece to anyone's puzzle.
That's why I liked the tweet so much.
Because it was a reality-slap for some of the more cynical Florida State fans, who because of the last half-decade have forgotten just how strong a brand this is and how much weight that name still carries.
The only non-SEC and Big Ten schools on that entire list are Notre Dame. Oregon. Washington. Clemson. And Florida State.
Clemson is on the heels of its most successful run on the football field ever.
Notre Dame is Notre Dame. Touchdown Jesus has always printed money.
Oregon has more money than Jesus thanks to Phil Knight and Nike.
Washington, I guess, is still selling a lot of Mark Brunell and Corey Dillon jerseys from back in their glory years. But the Huskies, to be fair, have a solid fanbase and reside in a major metropolitan city.
Florida State, meanwhile, hasn't had a winning record in four years. It's in the midst of its worst run since Darrell Mudra. And it's still -- still! -- one of the top 15 most valuable entities in the sport.
You can thank Bobby and Mickey and Deion (well, maybe hold off on that) and Charlie and the Warricks and Jimbo and Jameis and Jalen for that. You can thank the warchant and Osceola and Renegade for that. You can thank all those classic battles with Miami and Spurrier. You can thank everyone who had anything to do with the Dynasty in the 1990s and the resurrection in the 2010s.
Because Florida State -- despite its recent struggles -- is still in the national consciousness. It's an enormous fish. And as the bidding war continues, and we eventually (in my mind anyway) shift to a two-conference model, Florida State will be on the VIP list.
It is a money-maker even when the football team is down.
Imagine, seriously imagine, what this program could do and how popular it could be if it was making three times as much TV revenue as it is right now.
Florida State isn't a sleeping giant. It's a napping giant. And either of these two super-conferences could wake that money-making beast up with one single phone call.
Hopefully, it comes sooner rather than later. For all parties involved.
Because, as Alford adeptly pointed out with those emoji eyeballs, that call would certainly be worth their while.
Contact senior writer Corey Clark at corey@warchant.com and follow @Corey_Clark on Twitter.
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