The Dillon Panthers Problem Is America’s Problem

We all miss Coach Taylor and Tim Riggins and Matt Saracen and Tami Taylor and Lyla Garrity and so many other characters in NBC’s hit show, Friday Night Lights that ran from 2006-2011. That show hit everything you could possibly want from football to drama to the high school love story. However, there is one particular story that is playing out right in the public eye. In season 3, now Principal Tami Taylor takes a stand against Dillon boosters over a new scoreboard that was more than a small-town drama. It was a parable. The boosters wanted prestige, visibility, and bragging rights. Tami wanted what students actually needed - teachers, after already having lossed three to start her tenure. Swap out Dillon for nearly any American university or state system today, and you’ll find the same fight.

We keep choosing scoreboards over students.

LSU: Luxury Meets Poverty

We’ll start with our friends over in Baton Rouge. Louisiana State University is a powerhouse. The last three LSU football coaches before Brian Kelly all won national titles. Who could forget that wild 2007 season where every week a new team claimed #2 until Les Miles and the Tigers emerged holding the BCS trophy (and yes, we should bring that trophy back). Who could forget Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase torching every defense in sight on their way to a Heisman and a 2019 national championship. And of course, who could forget some guy named Nick Saban, taking down Oklahoma in 2003 for the program’s first modern title.

But while LSU was hoisting trophies, Louisiana itself was falling behind. Netflix’s Katrina: Come Hell and High Water reminded us of the deep inequalities and poverty that never went away after the storm. LSU football brought in nearly $220 million in 2024 - but only after spending $218 million to get there. At the same time, Louisiana ranks 46th in teacher pay, faculty are fighting budget freezes, and the state faces chronic teacher shortages. And yet, LSU is plowing ahead with a $400 million expansion plan.

In Baton Rouge - one of the poorest cities in the country - gleaming athletic facilities rise like monuments to misplaced priorities, towering over underfunded public schools. It’s Dillon all over again: a scoreboard before a classroom.

Rutgers: Paying for Losses

Just out of curiosity - have you or any of your friends ever gotten together and spent more than five minutes of your time wondering how the Rutgers Scarlet Knight football team is doing? I haven’t, and I’d wager most people in New Jersey haven’t either. Rutgers ranked 14th in the Big Ten in attendance last year, and for good reason - the product on the field is just simply not good.

But while the stands sit half-empty, faculty are filling the streets. In 2023, Rutgers professors and adjuncts went on strike over stagnant pay and exploitative conditions - with some instructors making under $30,000 a year. At the very same time that all of this was happening, the university gave head coach Greg Schiano $6.25 million annually for a program that rarely posts a winning season. In his second stint at Rutgers, his high-water mark is seven wins, with a 29–35 record overall at the time of writing.

I don’t mean to sound like an investment banker, but if we are all being honest: is that really a good return on investment? Imagine what even a fraction of that money could do if it went to the classrooms and faculty instead of another losing season.

Golden State, Broken Priorities

The biggest state in the union is also not immune to the scoreboard syndrome. In 2024, not one FBS football program in the state won more than seven games. The Golden Bears finished 6-7, USC and UCLA underperformed, and Stanford’s program continued to decline. UCLA has been a flat-out joke in 2025 and could legitimately be the worst program in college football. They are paying their quarterback, Nico Iamaleava, a hefty sum of $1.2 million while playing in front of a handful of fans in the Rose Bowl.

California universities continue to pour billions into athletics facilities. Meanwhile, the state’s educators are fighting hard to make ends meet. In January 2024, faculty across all 23 Cal State campuses had a systemwide strike, where they demanded a 12% pay increase while CSU offered 5%. Many professors and lecturers said their salaries simply could not keep up with inflation or the cost of living in California. Some even drive 80 miles or even more between campuses to have a full schedule. The strike eventually paused when a tentative agreement was reached, but the problems never disappeared.

Even for those who make it, the numbers are bleak. Many lecturers earn as little as $64,000 a year despite holding PhDs teaching multiple classes over multiple different disciplines. One of their demands during the strike was to raise the pay floor by $10,000, just to bring some dignity to their positions. Across the UC and CSU systems, the classrooms are overcrowded, pay is stagnant, and the cost of living is suffocating.

So while universities drop millions on football facilities, the state’s educators are striking, commuting hours to teach, and watching inflation tear away at their salaries. So what’s it going to be - paying hardworking educators what they deserve, or lighting money on fire so UCLA or Stanford can go 3–9?

UMass: The Mid-Major Mirage

Then there’s the UMass Minutemen - one of the greatest nicknames in college sports. Massachusetts is a state that invests heavily in education, from K-12 to its universities. So what’s the problem? THEY ARE STILL LIGHTING MONEY ON FIRE. This is a program that tried to chase prestige and ended up chasing its own tail. Instead of staying in the FCS and playing its traditional New England rivals, UMass decided to take on the FBS in 2012. While there have been some great success stories in recent years for this move such as Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, James Madison, Texas State, and many others, Umass is as far from a success story as you can possibly be. For a few years it hid out in the MAC, but when that didn’t fit, they went independent. Independence sounded bold, but it meant no conference TV revenue, no guaranteed scheduling partners, and no stability.

The result? A decade of misery. As an FBS independent, UMass has been one of the worst teams in college football, putting up earth shattering records such as a strong 2-10 in 2024 while still carrying the same cost obligations as every other FBS school. They’ve been forced to schedule money games against powerhouses just to collect checks, even if it meant getting blown out on national TV. Georgia once paid UMass nearly $2 million just to be a punching bag in Athens.

And the costs keep climbing. UMass spends over $40 million a year on athletics, with football alone eating up close to $11 million. They’ve shelled out more than $1 million annually just on private jets and travel. And now, in the middle of all that losing, they’ve announced a $25 million overhaul of McGuirk Stadium, expanded staffing, and new NIL commitments - as if any of the spending is going to change what happens on the field.

Meanwhile, the return has been what? No bowl games. No rivalries. No real fan excitement. Just losses and red ink. At some point, you have to ask the obvious question: wouldn’t all of this money be better spent in the classroom, on faculty, and on the one UMass program with proven national potential - basketball? Remember Coach Cal, remember Marcus Camby? That’s an article for another day. But the point remains: if you’re going to light money on fire, at least do it where it can win. And now, the athletic department has decided to jump to the MAC. Why? Not because it makes basketball sense, but because it finally ends the football program’s miserable run as an independent.

The cost? UMass leaves behind the Atlantic 10 - a league where they share the court with basketball powers like VCU, George Mason, and Loyola Chicago, all Final Four programs in the 21st century. Instead, they’ll now be playing in the MAC against the likes of Kent State, Toledo, and Miami (OH)…schools that have never even come close to that stage.

Scoreboards Over Students

Across the country, the pattern is the same. Universities and their boosters will always find money for end zones, scoreboards, and luxury locker rooms. But when it comes to hiring more teachers, reducing class sizes, or paying adjuncts a living wage, suddenly the well runs dry.

In a piece I’m currently writing for Culture Shock on why 2000s teen dramas are actually good for you, Friday Night Lights in this case is more than just entertainment - it’s a history lesson hiding in plain sight. It shows us exactly what happens when prestige wins out over priorities. It’s always easier to raise money for a scoreboard than it is for a classroom. It’s easier to brag about a stadium than to quietly invest in student support.

But just like in Dillon, those choices reveal what a community values most - and too often, it isn’t education. Clear eyes, full hearts…but if you keep choosing scoreboards over students, you just might lose.