everything is within the context of this year
there was a big upward trafectory, just between Syke's health and inability to manage/coach/develop/perform in crunch time, the team has had a platteau
it only makes it harder to navigate the headwinds of this era to keep whoever you can and recruit when a team is headed the way this team is headed.
I guess the big draw becomes your star player can score a major contract (Askew, now Sykes although still not sure where Sykes will fall he will get some offers but he does have a LOT to work on with his defense).
Long Beach is not ready for D2, it's basicallly hang on and IMO targer the sports you still have or can have a competitive advantage (Volleyball & Baseball, maybe soccer) and just wait out whatever happens with this college-pro sports marriage that HAS to fail, even the big boys (aside from a few) are amassing debt that cannot be sustainable.....or maybe they will just keep amassing debt in this arms race.
recruiting will continue to be chaotic. I think only UCSB really has a clear NIL budget within the Big West 
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You literally are comparing different era's. This is the NEW professional era (TP and NIL). Moving forward, LB will NEVER be more than a one year way station for ANY talented kid. This is why even it was soo amazing that San Diego State made it to the NCAA finals two years ago. Previous Message
lol, so you are saying it could be worse?
brutal end in process to this season, all the momentum has been wiped out. It's still too early regarding Acker. CDM built up zero that was sustainable. zilch. if anyone brings up CDM again I'll barf. Again, when he was fired, the team had lost 5 straight with that talented of a team, and was sucking eggs in home games vs Irvine, Davis, and UCSB. It was not pretty until Smitherin lit a fire under that team. doesn't mean Smitherin deserves credit, just that CDM does not either. he had run things in to the ground that season when he was fired. It's like people forget how bad that end of 2024 conf season really was. or the season before, or 2017-2021, or 2023...... on and on
no one wants another 3 years of this, or even one. Just do not thing can determine if he can coach, with this era's constraints, in two years. He's got an impossible job. The team needs crowds and NIL, and is in a spiral that prevents both without winning. Previous Message
I thought Acker would be a shoo-in but there are two coaches in Niner history with a worse record in their first two years.
Ron Palmer 11-45
Larry Reynolds 11-43
Chris Acker 15-42 (to date)
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on 2/17/2026, 7:45 am, in reply to "