Why College Football’s Looming Collapse Endangers All Youth Sports and How to Prevent It
Heavy Or Not - The O.G. Swim Guide
Release Date: 02/14/2026
Why College Football’s Looming Collapse Endangers All Youth Sports and How to Prevent It
Heavy Or Not - The O.G. Swim Guide
Coach Mark Rauterkus worries that the looming crisis in college football will create a ripple effects across all college sports. He outlines a reform plan, highlights recent program cuts, and offers a path forward. You’ll learn in episode #89 of Heavy Or Not, The OG Swim Guide: The urgent need to reform college football before it collapses and drags other sports down. Key takeaways from Coach Nick Saban’s interview (Episode 88) and the reform package available at . The fallout from Cal Baptist cutting its men’s Division I swimming & diving team and the disappearing...
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Nick Saban’s Five Enemies of Greatness via My New Best Friend at The 7 Minute Leadership Pod
Heavy Or Not - The O.G. Swim Guide
How Entitlement, Discipline, and Complacency Undermine Teams – Insights From Saban Inside Penn State’s Quarter‑Billion Dollar Athletic Budget and Its Profit Margins In episode #88 of Heavy Or Not, The OG Swim Guide, you’ll meet my new best friend, Paul Falavolito and a snip from his show, The 7 Minute Leadership Podcast. He shares Nick Saban’s “Five Enemies of Greatness.” Plus, we’ll break down the money behind a powerhouse college athletic department. You’ll get practical leadership takeaways and a raw loo k at Penn State’s finances. The five hidden threats to...
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Heavy or Not? The Doping Crisis No One Wants to Talk About | OG Swim Guide #90
Heavy Or Not - The O.G. Swim Guide
Doping at 69?! The Ugly Truth About Recreational Sports. Say "No" to Enhanced Athletes and Their Games In Episode 90 of Heavy Or Not, The OG Swim Guide, we peek into two shocking doping cases. One is involving a 69-year-old Masters athlete and the other is with a 41-year-old cyclist busted at a Gran Fondo. No prize money. No fame. Just ego, insecurity, and a culture obsessed with optimization. When does “biohacking” become cheating? Is TRT just wellness… or is it performance enhancement? And what happens to sport when authenticity gets replaced with chemistry? This episode...
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Coaching Burnout and Safety: Uncovering the Hidden Crisis in Our Sports Culture
Heavy Or Not - The O.G. Swim Guide
Survey says, 91.9% of coaches say they love what they do… so why are nearly 85% of them facing burnout and ready to quit? The Coaching Crisis is here, now. Few are talking about it — but Barry Healey of BC Canada is. A SafeSport report on its coaches survey began by exposing the hidden crisis in U.S. sports — where passion for coaching is crushed by politics, pressure, and lack of support. Parents, Politics & Pressure = Burnout The biggest burnout driver for coaches? It’s not the kids. It’s the parents, the politics, and the impossible pressure. Coaches Are Quitting in Droves...
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If you’re a new coach, this is your unfair advantage…
Heavy Or Not - The O.G. Swim Guide
The path to elite swim coaching isn’t what you think—mentors, conversations, and unspoken rules are more powerful than any degree or software. Episode #84 of Heavy Or Not, The OG Swim Guide explores truths behind elite swim coaching with insights from a 2023 international survey of 123 top coaches. Discover how these pros actually learn, coach, and use (or ignore) technology. And, we wonder have things changed so much in the past few years. Peer‑to‑peer learning dominates – 89% say conversations with other coaches are their primary knowledge source. Mentorship matters –...
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Athletic Matrix Formulation - From General Prep to Taper
Heavy Or Not - The O.G. Swim Guide
Heavy Or Not, The OG Swim Guide, episode #86, goes to the realm of a TRACK coach. Much of the planning is similar to swimming and other sports. Unlock the secret behind elite performance: a step‑by‑step guide to building a winning training matrix. Learn how to turn a chaotic schedule into a precise, adaptable roadmap for any athlete. The three‑tier hierarchy: training plan, program, and matrix explained Coach Jose’s 8‑week sprint matrix: phases, intensity, volume, and recovery How to progress workouts safely while boosting performance When and how to adjust the matrix for...
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AI Coaching Wizard: Grant Application for Transforming Youth Swimming into a Community‑Driven Learning Lab
Heavy Or Not - The O.G. Swim Guide
See the proposal on the web at Reimagining Pool Coaching: AI Connects, Learns, and Empowers Young Athletes Welcome to episode 85 of Heavy Or Not, The OG Swim Guide, where we reveal a grant proposal to the to build an AI‑powered Coaching Wizard for youth swimming programs. We’ll explain the vision, the tech, the partnership model, the budget, and the roadmap to launch. The core concept: AI as a connector, not a director, to spark reflection and conversation. How the Coaching Wizard works: personalized prompts, voice/text reflections, and 3‑D avatar...
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College Football Is Broken — This Radical Fix Might Save It
Heavy Or Not - The O.G. Swim Guide
With chaotic realignments, rigged outcomes, and rising costs — this proposal might present the best hope to save the sport we love. This episode breaks down a bold proposal to reset everything — from the playoff system to who even gets to compete. The NCAA system is broken — and Heavy Or Not, episode #83, lays out the urgent blueprint to fix it. From rigged playoff paths to disappearing rivalries, NCAA Division I football has become less about performance and more about power. In this summary of the reform proposal, we explore a bold new structure: 80 top teams, regional pods,...
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Relegation Revealed: How Promotion Can Revitalize American Sports and College Football
Heavy Or Not - The O.G. Swim Guide
Relegation & Promotion as part of Sports Reform, especially for NCAA Football D1 Pods In Episode 82 of Heavy or Not, Mark Rauterkus and Barry Healey break down how relegation and promotion work in European soccer and why these concepts could transform American sports. They dive into the mechanics, incentives, and how a U.S. version might look. How parachute payments soften the financial blow for relegated clubs The playoff system that lets teams 3‑6 fight for promotion Real‑world examples: Wolves beating Man U, Canadian owners climbing from the bottom Why a tiered...
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Steps for Fixing NCAA DI Football: Structure Changes Begin by Blowing Up the Conferences. Return to Regional Rivals
Heavy Or Not - The O.G. Swim Guide
College football needs a structural reset, and Mark Rauterkus lays out a clear, geography‑first plan for a top‑flight “pod” system. In this episode we break down the proposed 80‑team tier, regional pods, and how promotion and relegation would work. The 80‑team “top tier” built on performance, not brand prestige. Eight regional pods (Gridiron, Trench, Tackle, Pressure, Block, Blitz, Huddle, Grandstand) and their member schools. Promotion/relegation: yearly movement of five teams between the top tier and sub‑tiers. Preserving traditional rivalries and reducing travel through...
info_outlineCoach Mark Rauterkus worries that the looming crisis in college football will create a ripple effects across all college sports. He outlines a reform plan, highlights recent program cuts, and offers a path forward.
You’ll learn in episode #89 of Heavy Or Not, The OG Swim Guide:
-
The urgent need to reform college football before it collapses and drags other sports down.
-
Key takeaways from Coach Nick Saban’s interview (Episode 88) and the reform package available at 4rs.org.
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The fallout from Cal Baptist cutting its men’s Division I swimming & diving team and the disappearing full‑time diving coach.
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How a “pod” system with promotion/relegation could replace money‑driven conference moves (e.g., North Dakota, Sacramento State).
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The risk of a 30‑team super league (“JV NFL”) and why equitable, merit‑based structures are essential for the sport’s future.
Let’s put equity over money. A New, Tiered Model to Preserve College Football’s Future needs your help.
Here is your call to action.
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This Heavy Or Not podcast is pushing for a Merit‑Based, Pod System to Safeguard College Sports
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