Thanks for the update. It definitely feels like more than a week since this all started.

Any chance he shows up at the pete tomorrow night to announce hes coming back?

Whatever he decides to do, Im glad hes taking the time to make sure he is making the right decision.

I don’t now why everyone is advising Shady to go Pro. He is not a “lock” as a first round pick. If he were, I would say turn pro. Otherwise he should stay at Pitt, buy a one or two year NCAA insurance policy for up to $5 million. He only pays for the premiums if he collects on the policy or turns pro and then he has the money to pay for it. I think the policy only costs 10-12 thousand per year per million. Staying at Pitt he is likely to move himself up to a solid first round pick. He is covered if he gets injured and he can get closer to finishing his degree. The landscape is littered with NFL running backs that lasted a few year, got cut or hurt and ended up blowing their signing bonuses and no degree to fall back on. I’m sure that this is some of the stuff that DW and Tony D. told him. I give him a lot of credit for slowing down the process and considering all of his options. He may be an emotional person, but he is showing some intelligenc by not being rushed into something until he is ready. That actually shows a sense of maturity that he doesn’t get credit.

I hope he shows up at the SF game and rocks the house.

Hail to Pitt

Matt Forte and Steve Slaton didn’t go in the first round this year. Didn’t hurt them. Ever hear of a future Hall of Famer named Curtis Martin? And there are MANY others. Running backs have a short shelf life and even the best ones get devalued in the draft. McCoy won’t get drafted any higher next year probably and if he gets hurt or has a bad year then he will go even lower. He would be crazy not to go. Almost every RB that can go in the first three rounds, leaves. Don’t believe me, look it up. Just look at how many are coming out this year and only two are going in the 1st round. Think of the kid, not your team. Support him leaving because its the best thing for his life.

I support him doing whatever he thinks is best. I think everyone here would be supporting him wholeheartedly to go- if he was acting like he actually wanted to go. We can only speculate on what’s going on inside his head, but the way this has played out seems very consistent with the idea that he wants to stay, but is being pressured to go. If the kid doesn’t feel ready to jump to the NFL after 2 years of college, then why do you assume that it’s the best thing for his life? None of us know what that is.

Shady, we all love you. If you decide to go pro, then I will cheer for you when you get drafted. If you come back, I will cheer for you when you get the ball. It’s that simple.

Just trust yourself. If you are not ready to leave the nest, then don’t go flying into traffic just yet. You only get a chance like this, once. But, if you feel like you can run with the bulls, then go make that paper …just don’t make it rain, please. Tough call, choose wisely my young hero.

We all can name college players who left early, didn’t get drafted and are out in the cold. (Maybe we should invite Greg Lee to participate in this message board’s discussion.) Rutgers’ Ray Rice was in Shady’s position last year. I think that he got drafted in the 3rd round. He made the team, but time will tell how long of a career he may have and if leaving school without a degree was in his best interest. What we will never know is what would have happened if he chose to stay in school for his senior year.

I agree with TMGPanther. Take out the insurance policy and remove the $$ from the decision. $4M isn’t something you retire on, but if you get hurt its a pretty good start. It is also better than Slayton and Rice’s first NFL contract plus signing bonus. (below)

Scout.com is reporting Steve Slaton signed a four-year deal with the following minimum base salaries:

(2008) $295,000
(2009) $385,000
(2010) $470,000
(2011) $555,000

Signing bonus of just over $664,000.

Ray Rice has signed a 4-year deal with the Ravens worth $2.805 million plus a $1.1 million signing bonus.

I hope he removes money from the process and makes the right decision. I’m not sure what it is, but if he really wants to play for a year or 2 more then insurance and waiting is the right move.

A degree is not an issue. Even if he’s a 3rd rounder and is out of the league in 3 years, he’ll still have enough money to go back to school.

Either way, I’m just happy there’s only 2 days left before he has to declare so we don’t have to worry about it much longer.

I’m fine with whatever decision he makes, it’s not my life! I think either way he can’t go wrong. Of course for selfish reasons we all kind of want him to stay.

“Take out the insurance policy ”

How does that work? TMGPanther suggests that a $5 million insurance policy may cost $60,000. I presume that Shady can either write a check or go right to the ATM machine. Does anyone know if taking out insurance (assuming one can come up with the money from a source other than an agent) has any eligibilty implications with the NCAA?

The NCAA provides the policy. Shady only has to write the check if he makes it thru the season and gets drafted or if he gets hurt during the period of the coverage. There is no money out of pocket until he either gets a signing bonus or gets hurt and receives the payout from the insurance, less the premiums of course. It was specifically put together by the NCAA to adress this situation and to take the potential of agents fronting the money out of the equation.

Here is a link to a story on the NCAA insurance coverage. link to pittsburghlive.com

I assume they have the facts correctly. It cost a little more than I stated for football players. If he was my son, this is exactly what I would advise him to do. I’m just a risk reward guy that looks at things over the long term.

TMGPanther, thanks for educating me. I was completely unaware of the practice. (This wouldn’t affect Shady, of course, but I would assume that the NCAA would have to have some pretty good evidence of the liklihood of a player getting drafted in the early rounds before they would “partner” with the player, true?)

BigGuy,
You apply for the program directly with the NCAA and I assume that the NFL DRaft Review Board opinion on a player would suffice as evidence, although we are talking about the NCAA.

I would like to see him stay for two reasons:

Completely disagree with the post above insinuating that LeSean won’t be a higher draft choice next year. Being a front-runner for the Heisman, improving his ball security, and getting bigger and stronger will all improve his draft stock. Not to mention the latter will also increase his ability to have a long NFL career. He should also take advantage of the insurance policy.

Second, he should stay because it seems like he genuinely wants to be at Pitt next year and is only being pushed to go to the NFL by his family. Now, I’m not saying that they are being selfish or aren’t thinking of LeSean’s best interests, but the decision certainly isn’t clear cut, and it would be nice to see him be able to make the choice to stay in school if that is what he wants to do without feeling pressure from his family.

Either way, I wish him a long and successful career.

“Completely disagree with the post above insinuating that LeSean won’t be a higher draft choice next year.”

TJ, to which post are you refering?

“McCoy won’t get drafted any higher next year probably and if he gets hurt or has a bad year then he will go even lower. He would be crazy not to go.”
-Mark

I just don’t think the decision is that clear cut. Will he make a lot of money if he leaves this year, absolutely. If he stays, however, I think there is tremendous upside potential and he’ll have the chance to be a top pick (provided he has the type of season we all probably expect him to have and stays injury free). I know there are risks involved with this decision, I just think that the upside is enticing and certainly wouldn’t say he’d be crazy not to go.

Does anyone even know where he is hanging out or staying? I know this is a moot point, but if he is coming back, he better get back for classes soon so that he doesn’t get behind in that aspect. I would love to see him return for selfish reasons, but think he could really benefit for staying at least one more year. If he does say, he needs to mandate to Wannstedt that Bill Stull must go! Whatever his decision, I hope he makes it soon as I am getting in trouble with the wife for consistently turning to ESPN news and the internet for any updates.

The top RB goes around 20 at the highest. McCoy is probably around 25-30 right now. That’s hardly worth coming back for. Some of you guys just want him to stay for selfish reasons. If it was your kid, you would tell him to go, too. You don’t turn down millions.

No, I would stress to stay and get an education first, and I am sure I am not alone in saying that. Heck, look at the guy who is pursuing his Rhodes scholarship next year in Oxford instead of turning pro. Money is not everything and we shouldn’t be so narrow minded to see that first. Sure, I want Pitt to be great, but it isn’t going to take one player to make or break this team. Shady will help, but he isn’t the end all to Pitt’s problems.

You turn down one or two million to make six or eight.
And of course, I would love to watch him play next year. I don’t think it is selfish to feel bad for a kid who seemingly wants nothing more than to stay in school…unfortunately he seems to be getting a lot of pressure from people he respects and cares about (ahem, family)to make the jump to the pros.

In 2008 a RB was taken 4th and 13th.
In 2007 a RB was drafted 7th and 12th
In 2006 a RB was drafted 2nd
and in 2005 a RB was selected 2nd and 4th…

So if McCoy is maybe, maybe a late first rounder now (not a sure thing) there is certainly upside to returning and improving his stock. Not sure why are you are proclaiming that a top running back only goes as high as 20th overall. And if you want to talk about $ you can’t tell me that a top 5 pick isn’t doesn’t have more leverage when trying to get as much guaranteed money as possible (signing bonus) than the 20th pick.

The guy studying at Oxford won’t be putting his body on the line playing another year of football while he’s doing it.

Once you have money, you can get an education whenever you want to.

If he’s a lock to go in the first round, then he should leave. If not, the decision is a little bit tougher.

However, if he really wants to stay, no matter what, then I guess the guy should do what he wants and it sucks people are pulling him in different directions.

I agree, but the guy going to Oxford is doing what he wants because that is whay he wants to do, not because of his parents telling him what to do. As a parent, it would be selfish of me to ask my child to do something they are not ready for or want to do so that I would gain financially at his/her loss. Even if he is a first round pick this year, it doesn’t matter if what he really wants to do is stay. That is the most important thing to me; doing what he wants to please himself.

“$4M isn’t something you retire on…”

WTF? If i had 4 million dollars i’d retire at 18. Sure you could do “business for fun” the rest of your life when/if you wanted/felt like it, but if you can’t retire on 4 million…i was going to say i feel sorry for you, but i can’t feel sorry for anyone who has 4 million.

“If i had 4 million dollars i’d retire at 18”

Don’t bee too sure about that. First give Uncle Sam what he is due. Afterwards, when you’re young, you want to buy some toys (an expensive car or two, gold jewelry, etc.) Then comes a wife and house (or house and girlfriend). If you got $2.5 million in the bank after making peace with the IRS, one usually will purchase a “fitting” house with “fitting” property taxes and take “fitting” vacations just for starters.

Do the math and you can begin to understand why a number of former NFL players are belly-up financially soon after their football careers are over.

I’d put my $4M in the bank and live off the interest. At a modest 6% return, that is $250,000 in pocket every year without touching the principal.

But then again, how many multi-millionaires can live on $250,000/year, especially when the guy in the locker next to them just bought a $250,000 watch. Bling Bling. Nothing makes me laugh harder then when some smuck (see Mike Vick and Chris “Birdman” Anderson) with all the talent in the world blows their money on dogfighting supplies or crack cocaine. Like Stuart said, you can’t feel sorry for anyone who has that kind of money.

(Yes, I said the Birdman has talent. He is the most talented person I know at missing dunks in a slam dunk contest)

I agree with Stuart on this one.

Keep in mind that the 4 million dollar insurance settlement is tax free under the tort and insurance law theories that the money is making the individual whole again and not some kind of normal or windfall taxable income.

Thus, even at 3% interest, which is quite modest, that’s $120,000 per year. Does that mean that he can live in a mansion in Beverly Hills and party hard for the rest of his life? No, but the dude could still afford a nice house and a comfortable lifestyle. So, while I wouldn’t “retire” tomorrow at 27 if I had 4 million tax free, I also know that I could also wash dishes or work in retail part time for my life and still eat steak dinner 4 nights per week.

For those of you unimpressed by that kind of income, could I kindly forward you a resume?

Also, Big Guy, I totally see where you are coming from as well. There are always people with their hands out and you bring up a great point that so many athletes go bankrupt through faulty business dealings.

Hopefully whenever Shady turns pro, he has ethical financial advisers and lawyers. He can start by not hiring Master P as an agent.

Orange Julius – don’t forget there’s no agent fees (05-15% of the gross) attached to a Disability payout either.

I think fans are underestimating what kind of a safety net that NCAA insurance provides.

You’d have to have around a guaranteed $12M-$15M Million signing bonus/salary to match the actual compensation that policy will provide.

Also, invested properly, and for the long term, that $5M would provide a more than comfortable lifestyle for the rest of his life – and, again, invested wisely, for future McCoy generations.

Bottom Line: Either decision is a positive one for this young man. If he were to ask my counsel I’d tell him to get a hotel room somewhere, don’t tell anyone where he is, and just be alone to sit and think for one full day – when he woke up the next morning, go with the first feeling he had.

^^^^ Forgot to add that the NCAA provides ultra-low intrest loans @ 1% (one percent!!)to cover the $50K premium on that policy. That’s charged so they don’t break their own (the NCAA’s) financial compensation rules. The payback is deferred until the athlete signs a contract or the policy payout occurs.

Right…i see we’re all on the same page here….

…and yes, i know the stresses of making a ton of money for the first time if your life and then blowing it…it happens to many people…i think anyone that is going to be rich at some point would be better off having been rich once, losing it all, and then being rich again…i bet they don’t make that mistake twice…

Stuart and Reed,

What the hell are you two doing up at 4AM discussing loan rates and financial matters!!!!

“The payback is deferred until the athlete signs a contract or the policy payout occurs.”

The payout occurs when the player signs with an agent and the agents office forwards a check for the remainder of the balance.

90 minute commute forces the early wake up call. It’s my only time of the day to sit around by myself, so I jump on the PITT discussion train.

Has to be early because I start every day off drinking screwdrivers at 5 am, so I try to hit the “Window of Sobriety” from 4-5.