You can file this one under the "surprising no one" category. Turns out, the more money an ACC school spends on its football team, the better its chances of winning games. Joedy McCreary of the Washington Post reports that the best teams in the ACC are the ones willing to spend some serious moolah to make it happen.
BC, Clemson and Virginia Tech (the three schools that have spent the most amount money on Football in the most recent available data) have combined to make six ACC championship game appearances and win two conference titles, both by the Hokies, since the league expanded to 12 in 2005.
But McCready also reports that the money is often hard to come by, and that can often mean tough choices for some of the coaches; including Maryland's Ralph Friedgen.
"Obviously, we'd all like to have more money. My staff hasn't gotten a raise in a while. ... That's why I'm hoping to do well so I can get a bonus this year, so I can give it to my staff. Otherwise, I don't think it's going to be long before I start losing some of them."
That's Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen on the problems that come along with spending money on your football program. It's a pretty vicious cycle for some of these schools: You don't spend enough money to put a successful team on the field, the lack of interest in a losing team doesn't put enough dough in your pockets to improve the product.
You have to spend money (on football) to make money (on football), and some of the teams in the ACC don't have the money to get that cliche started. Friedgen is a perfect example of that. He wants to win this year just so he can make money to give to some of his assistants. If they weren't having the success they are, there is a chance they could be leaving.
Maybe it's because Friedgen has assembled a pretty expensive coaching roster; an offensive coordinator and coach in waiting in James Franklin, and an up-and-coming star at defensive coordinator in Don Brown. But like McCreary said in the article, you have to have good people on your coaching staff to win games and good people cost good money. And you have to win to make it.