WEBVTT - New 2021 Coach Evaluations + Juicy Transfer Moves 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.120 This is Tie. My voice is getting better, but I'm 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.200 still trying to rest it before attacking the off season. Luckily, 0:00:07.360 --> 0:00:09.880 you're in good hands with Dan and Max Olsen as 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:13.520 they talk about coaching, hires and transfers and probably pizza 0:00:13.600 --> 0:00:17.400 at some point. Also, you probably didn't know this about me, 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:21.560 but I consistently lose to Dan at table tennis. Enjoy 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:22.120 the show. 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:30.479 Welcome to the Solid Verbal. I'll that for me. 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:33.040 I'm a man, I'm forty. 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:35.000 I've heard so many players say, well, I want to 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:38.200 be happy. You want to be happy for dake Eda stake. 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:39.360 Is the war whom? 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:45.080 And now Dan and Tie. Hey everybody, and welcome back 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:47.800 the Solid Verbal. This is once again the voice of 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:51.200 your at least second favorite host of the show, Dan, 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:55.040 because Tie's voice is still on the end, as you 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:58.280 well know. But that's okay because we here at the 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:01.320 Solid Verbal are not just committed to five star talent 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:04.319 hosting the show, which we happened to have today, but 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:06.640 we also have a contributor to the five star culture 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:10.560 at the Solid Verbal. We're talking about a writer for 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:13.679 the Athletic. We're talking about what I believe to be 0:01:13.760 --> 0:01:18.480 from his instagram, a softball champion, a resident of Nebraska, 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:22.760 somebody who I looked up his most popular tweet in 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:24.840 the last year or so and it involved a frog 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:28.559 and a spider. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, Max Olson, 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:29.199 how's life? 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:32.040 Hello, Hello, Thank you for having me on. I'd like 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:34.040 to clarify that I was the worst player on a 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:37.760 softball team, in a pre pandemic softball team, but I 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:44.040 appreciate you mentioning my small trophy collection here. I'm good man. 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:46.600 I'm a couple of weeks away from becoming a father 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:52.360 and so that is very exciting. And thank you for 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:56.680 all of the pre fatherhood advice you unloaded on me 0:01:56.880 --> 0:01:58.279 prior to this podcast. 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:02.000 Was I have a lot and it's mostly marry a 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:08.679 smart lady and go with what she says. But I 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:10.960 can confirm that she made a lot of really smart 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:14.520 decisions that are now in retrospect. Say, great job, Jody 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:16.960 with an eye, great job. So it sounds like you 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:19.160 married a smart lady too, So I think you're gonna 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:19.799 be in a good place. 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:25.080 Yeah. Yeah, and you know, very it's it's nice to 0:02:25.400 --> 0:02:28.480 put this crazy season behind us and you know, focus 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:29.880 on folks, on real stuff. 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:34.640 That's true. That's absolutely true. And let's I guess, here's 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:37.080 my segue, here's my soso segue into the real stuff 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:39.680 of what's actually we're getting college football right now, which 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:42.800 is not much, which is just it's actually a nice 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:45.720 distraction from the very strange season that was the twenty 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:48.639 twenty season, and we're into the silly season. We're into 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:52.400 Tennessee firing a coach because that's something that happens every 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:55.440 so often. We are seeing coaches get hired. We are 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:59.040 seeing transfers on a huge level, good or bad. We're 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:01.400 seeing a ton of people transfer away from their school, 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:05.560 be a grad transfer, otherwise. And you wrote a long 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:08.639 piece on I want to assume maybe the most fascinating 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:12.720 or the highest stake situation during this coaching change season 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:16.880 about Tom Herman and why things didn't work out at 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:19.760 Texas for Tom Herman and his staff in that tenure. 0:03:20.240 --> 0:03:24.519 And now as Texas moves forward into the Steve Sarkisian era, 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:31.600 I wonder, with the benefit of hindsight, why why couldn't 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:37.000 Tom Herman's Texas teams consistently separate from what I mean 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:41.560 with what we perceive to be better talent? And has 0:03:41.720 --> 0:03:46.240 sark done anything early slash. Do you believe Sark will 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:51.080 do something differently in order to meet those great unmet 0:03:51.160 --> 0:03:52.800 Austin expectations. 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:56.280 Yeah, that's the you just asked the twenty four million 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:59.640 dollar question. This is why they are going to write 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:01.920 some big, big checks to make people go away and 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:05.120 make new people come to Austin is to just try. 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:08.400 And you know, I think ultimately they decided this is 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:09.920 not the guy that's going to be able to fix 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:13.680 this problem. And the thing the problem with Texas among others, is, 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:17.520 you know, during the Herman era, certainly you have the 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:21.120 peak there, the high of you know, going to a 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:23.440 bitual title game, playing, you know, beating Georgia in the 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:25.720 Sugar Bowl and all that, which sort of sets up 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:28.720 all this hype for the next two years. But the 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:33.279 problem that Texas couldn't couldn't really solve over these years 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:36.479 was they played in twenty seven games decided by one 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:39.719 score margins, and they went fourteen and thirteen in those games. 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:43.760 I mean, they played more close games, you know, than 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:46.120 any Power five program during that four year run. They 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:49.960 had more losses as a ranked team to an unranked opponent, 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:52.880 seven of them under Herman, than anybody else in the 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:57.039 Power five. And so it's a weird thing where Tom 0:04:57.040 --> 0:04:59.320 Herman was always very good at being an underdog as 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:01.240 a head coach, but then once they had to like 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:03.120 kind of start being the favorite, once they had all 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:06.000 this talent from a couple of years of really high 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:08.440 level recruiting, and it was kind of time to you 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:10.200 know that you had the quarterback, you had a lot 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:13.040 of these pieces. They just couldn't really figure out how 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:15.400 to turn all those ingredients into a team that could 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:20.120 win really consistently and you know, win ten to eleven 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:22.120 games and go play for a big toll title. They 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:24.480 just couldn't really put it together. And that's that's the 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:26.480 job for Sorry, Like, if. 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:28.440 You're looking at the complete stew right now, you're looking 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:33.040 at all the ingredients. Was there anything more flavorful about 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:36.640 that Texas failure to separate than something else? 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:41.080 Well, it's a it's a really kind of hard thing 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:43.920 to like. I think now in hindsight, fans are going 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:45.719 to want to put that on Herman and the coaching 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:47.680 staff and say, if they'd just been, you know, a 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:50.280 better coach, you get over the hump. But even this year, 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:53.480 it was a bunch of like really weird little things. 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:56.400 I mean the three losses, lose to TCU at the 0:05:56.880 --> 0:05:59.239 you know, fumbled the goal line there when you're driving 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:02.640 to win it. You you know, lose to Oklahoma and 0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:05.360 four overtimes where if you just go for it two 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:07.800 point conversion once you could win that game, and then 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:10.880 you lose to Iowa stayed on a you know, you 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:12.960 miss a game or a game time kick there. So 0:06:13.360 --> 0:06:16.600 I mean, like it's it wasn't They weren't horrible this year. 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:18.520 They finished in the top twenty. They go seven and three, 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:21.800 but it was kind of This is the thing that 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:25.040 I think Chrystal, Connie and the stakeholders of Texas kind 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:26.880 of lose hope is when you give the guy all 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:30.920 the ingredients, and certainly they went through they remade their 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:33.440 entire coaching staff pretty much going to twenty twenty, which 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:36.200 made it a lot harder to be consistent and successful. 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:38.800 But when you give this guy all the ingredients, can 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:40.960 he put it all together? And ultimately I think they 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:42.960 kind of lost faith that Tom Herman could be that guy. 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:45.480 And so you look at Sark and you say, hey, 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:48.119 here's the pedigree. You come from Alabama. You just built 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:51.120 this incredible offense. The guy's learned from Nick Saban and 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:53.880 Pete Carroll. Can he be the one to take this 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:56.560 and not tear it down, but take it and take 0:06:56.560 --> 0:06:57.400 it to the next level. 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:00.320 A school that I think seemed to be on the 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:04.280 cusp of that, but have since sort of tread backwards 0:07:04.320 --> 0:07:06.360 to me, and I think it's been apparent to everybody, 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:08.640 But I don't know how much actual stock you put 0:07:08.640 --> 0:07:12.480 in the twenty twenty season and performances therein Michigan. Michigan 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:16.760 had been a program with a usually sterling defense, with 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:20.080 quarterbacks who kind of came around and generally found an 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:22.320 identity on offense by the end of the year, and 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:25.400 you know, either one double digit games or flirted with 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:29.200 it and then embarrassed themselves against Ohio State, except when 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:32.720 they didn't. Now they just seem to be a program 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:35.880 where nobody feels anything like it. It feels like even 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:39.400 down programs find reasons for hope, and I know Michigan 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:41.720 fans are hopeful that I think it's JJ McCarthy, the 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:44.680 incoming five star quarterback, as the savior, but it just 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:48.960 feels like the ann Arbor is buzz free right now. 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:52.920 Do you get that impression, and is there a reason 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:56.720 why you do or don't get that sort of stagnant, 0:07:56.760 --> 0:07:59.320 if not backsliding feel to the Wolverines. 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:02.800 Yeah, it's weird because you felt like going into twenty twenty, 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:05.680 you still felt like, look, they're they're close, and like 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:09.640 if Ohio State just didn't exist, they'd be pretty happy, right, 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:13.280 they'd be pretty pretty damn close. And you know that 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:16.480 they kind of have have done enough of the right 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:19.720 things to to kind of finally put it all together. 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:21.960 But I mean, I thought the way you know, I was. 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:24.280 I was fine with the way they settled things at 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:27.000 the end of the season to say, look, we don't 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:29.400 we don't want to fire Jim Harbaugh. The NFL is 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:33.120 not hiring him. We don't really totally know who the 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:36.080 next head coach of Michigan should be. Let's strike a 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:40.520 deal that's kind of fair on both sides here to 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:44.640 not make a change at the top, but change some 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:47.599 stuff and and kind of reset the dynamic here. I 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:51.280 was fine with that. That's that's that's reason prevailing in 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:54.040 a way that almost never happens during this silly season. 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:56.800 But you're right, it is kind of like a this 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:59.920 is fine situation where I mean, do you feel that 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:03.320 great about what they're bringing back? Do you do you 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:06.199 feel like this is and obviously this was a weird 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:09.120 year in their division in a lot of ways, but 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:13.040 do you feel like you know and and I'll say this, like, 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:16.480 I'm pretty sure Don Brown didn't forget how to coach defense. 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:19.680 I don't think that he suddenly got very, very bad. 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:23.080 And I'm curious how much you know Mike McDonald, the 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:26.120 thirty five year old new DC off of John Harbaugh's 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:28.079 raven staff, how much that shakes things up? 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:31.960 But he'll lose two key assistants in Al Washington and 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:33.040 Greg Madison. 0:09:33.320 --> 0:09:38.120 That's right, That's right. Yeah, it's hard to be like 0:09:38.360 --> 0:09:41.640 really fired up, especially when you've seen now here's Ohio 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:44.079 State just chilling at the top of the mountaintop here too, 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:48.200 right that it's not like uh and with with you know, 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:51.480 certainly with you know, Chris Olave and Jeremy Record announcing 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:54.080 they're coming back today, like it's not like a big 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:56.640 old backslide is coming anytime soon. In Columbus. 0:09:57.520 --> 0:09:59.679 One of the interesting things you touched on, especially when 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:02.160 you're talking about Texas, is going out and hiring two 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:06.160 promising new coordinators when it was apparent that changes needed 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:08.600 to be made. But it's also you can you can 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:10.120 pad a coach on the back, a head coach on 0:10:10.120 --> 0:10:12.400 the back for saying, yes, these are where changes need 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:15.160 to be made. But also he was the one who 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:18.760 at least was a part of hiring those coordinators, which 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:22.200 is not a great reflection. And that can kind of 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:25.560 be said of at Orizron at LSU, who seemed to 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:28.600 make a couple of pretty big whiffs and is starting 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:32.400 over with both coordinators on each side of the ball. 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:37.760 And I'm curious as to how you see LSU and 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:41.320 needing a great reset of their own and if that 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:45.000 sort of says anything bigger about the state of the program. 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:49.280 Yeah, it's a it's a really kind of fascinating dynamic 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:53.760 here in ed arz RAN's tenure at LSU, where Matt 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:57.120 Canada was just based on results and how that all 0:10:57.120 --> 0:11:00.839 played out was like a very bad season, ruining higher, right, 0:11:01.480 --> 0:11:04.720 and so was Bo Polini And you kind of like 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:08.719 ruined two seasons based on on on whiffing on those 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:12.720 hires and then in between, uh, those those hires are 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:16.360 are you know this sandwich? Those these really prime years 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:19.480 when LSU was incredible with Joe Burrow, you know, and 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:24.839 so I I think the the changes, you know, make 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:28.440 a ton of sense on on the LSU side. Clearly 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:31.040 the DC higher was just a bad higher that didn't 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:33.120 you know that you didn't really see them make any 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:35.360 good adjustments over the course of the season and get better. 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:37.280 Like they had one of the worst pass defenses in 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:39.600 the country with two of the best young corners in 0:11:39.600 --> 0:11:41.680 the country, Like, how does that? How does that happen? Man? 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:45.840 Like so and obviously like there's a lot of excuses 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:47.800 and and they were missing you know, X number of 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:48.480 players and all. 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:52.360 That, but instingly was hospitalized before the season started. There 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:53.160 are variables. 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:55.920 Yeah, certainly, certainly a lot of things did not go 0:11:56.080 --> 0:12:00.240 right and and that's the trade off for just having 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:04.599 the most perfect season possible in twenty nineteen. But with 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:08.600 the Jake Pet's higher, I think is really interesting. They 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:10.840 just announced today that Ryan Nielsen's going to be the 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:13.079 DC or at least that's the words leaking out now 0:12:13.080 --> 0:12:16.600 that they're hiring him away from the Saints, which if 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:18.840 I'm sure folks are not super familiar with either of 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:22.199 their work, but Ryan Nielsen's the guy behind that incredible 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:24.760 D line at NC State that had Bradley Chubb and 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:28.200 all those NFL players, and Jake Pets just worked with 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:31.320 Christian McCaffrey and the Panthers, which went pretty well when 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:34.760 he was healthy. So you're betting on some guys to 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:39.600 I don't want to say like save ed or Jaran's job, 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:42.640 because that seems hyperbolic, But at the same time, like 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:47.000 that's when you're in that division and the expectations are 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:50.679 where they are thanks to your national title, like you really, 0:12:50.840 --> 0:12:53.240 you really have to nail these And I also think 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:56.719 losing Steve Ensminger's is a not insignificant thing here. 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:01.600 Sure, no, he bridges the gap, and I guess let's 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:04.320 go to the other division because South Carolina, certainly, with 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:06.400 getting rid of Will must Champ and paying him the 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:09.439 money to leave and then bringing in Shane Beemer, seemed 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:11.640 to make some waves in that division, at least until 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:15.840 literally today when Tennessee got rid of Jeremy Pruitt and 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:18.760 also Phil Fullmer stepped down and Kevin Steele steps in 0:13:18.840 --> 0:13:22.200 after being named an ambiguous defensive assistant and now they're 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:24.199 looking for a new head coach, but probably have to 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:28.160 hire an ad first, So South Carolina other than losing 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:30.880 some of its assistants to other schools, it's been a 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:34.320 relatively quiet start. I know they lost a big quarterback 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:37.360 recruit as well. But something that I had heard a 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:41.680 lot of with Shane Beemer's hiring was people really missed 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:44.320 him in Columbia. He really has a lot of friends 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:48.360 at South Carolina. He's really well liked. And I don't 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:52.040 know anything either way, just because I have not looked 0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:55.880 into special teams coordinators super in a super detailed way. 0:13:56.400 --> 0:14:00.040 Why is it that people like Shane Beemer and what 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:03.240 is his perceived upside in Columbia. 0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:07.559 I think the very very likable guy. I think everyone 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:10.200 has said that, and we'll keep saying that, and that 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:12.160 will that will be the thing that sex with I 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:16.280 think that probably when he interviews for the job, the 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:19.200 idea is, look, I can I can take the old 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:20.920 school of what I learned from my dad and the 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:23.760 new school of working for Lincoln Riley and seeing, here's 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:29.120 how you run like a very like vibrant modern program 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:31.920 that kids want to play for and that that everybody 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:33.920 is like really happy in their jobs and have a 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:36.200 good culture. Like I think he can kind of bring 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:37.840 a little bit of both to the table for South 0:14:37.840 --> 0:14:41.960 Carolina and just be like a positive person that everyone 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:44.640 likes and gets behind, and that the recruits in that 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:46.360 region kind of get behind. And it reminds me, like 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:49.480 I just wrote about prior to the Orange Bowl, kind 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:52.720 of wrote about how mac Brown has nailed this return 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:54.600 to coaching at North Carolina, and a lot of it 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:58.320 is that he came in, came back to Chapel Hill 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:01.600 with the cheek codes. He knows exactly how you win there, 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:04.800 who you recruit, who you had to hire, like what 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:07.960 works you. You've saved the years and years of like 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:11.800 missteps that that you know other folks that could have 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:15.440 hired would go through. And you know, maybe Shane Biemer 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:17.440 and coming back to South Carolina, not that he's won 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:20.440 at the level of mac Brown, but having having been 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:22.600 at that place before, you would think, kind of, maybe 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:25.360 he can come back and avoid some of the mistakes 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:27.360 that others might make in that job and and kind 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:31.280 of bring bring everybody together there in the right direction. 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:33.440 I think that's the that's the hope there. I would 0:15:33.480 --> 0:15:34.880 think I think that. 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:37.280 The reaction on the other side of the sec back 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:40.320 to the West with with Brian Harson arriving to the 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:43.920 planes has been okay. He has this pedigree where he 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:47.320 actually coaches at Texas and Arkansas State and goes back 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:50.160 to Boise and has coached under or with a lot 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:52.520 of really strong coaches, including I believe was Mac Brown 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:56.080 who hired him at Texas with Brent Peace. If I'm 0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:58.800 remembering my co offensive coordinators from way back when. 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:03.360 That was that was when Mac wenton, did Harson and 0:16:03.400 --> 0:16:04.760 Nanny Diaz as the program? 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:05.000 Right? 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:06.800 You know, Reviver that that. 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:08.960 Was his own reset. Maybe we'll do a whole podcast 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:12.960 about resets. I love a good love a good reset, absolutely. 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:16.440 But Brian Harson goes to Auburn, has head coaching experience, 0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:19.000 which seems very nice when you go to a major 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:22.400 program like Auburn, makes a couple of interesting hires, including 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:26.680 Derek Mason to coach his defense. I imagine there's optimism 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:30.120 just because that's the general feeling when you hire a 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:33.080 younger I think he's in his early forties, a younger 0:16:33.120 --> 0:16:35.480 head coach who has head coaching experience and has one 0:16:36.560 --> 0:16:40.480 What is known about Brian Harson, what is expected and 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:43.880 what is expected of him? That will be different if 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:46.080 they're trying to get away from the Gus Malson era. 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:50.280 What is noticeably different about Brian Harson than what Auburn 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:52.240 fans were used to with with Gus Malson. 0:16:53.680 --> 0:16:56.400 I want to start by asking this, when that, yeah, 0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:59.600 when that hits your timeline that afternoon that Brian Harson's 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:01.840 the new head coach of Auburn, what was your reaction 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:08.680 that he was their third choice? That he has won? 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:12.960 But I haven't like every year I care about Boise 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:16.359 State football a little bit less, and they just seemed 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:19.760 to be treading water as a good program. But they're 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:23.320 not a killer anymore, and there's not the unique quality 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:27.320 to Boise that they were under Chris Peterson, and he 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:30.240 seemed to hire good coordinators that got hired away Andy Avlos, 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:32.959 who's now their head coach, to Oregon, and I think 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:34.800 it was Zach Hill went to ASU. So that's a 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:38.160 good sign for him. But I never I had seen 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:41.040 stories leading up that Brian Harson was unhappy that Boise 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:44.240 wasn't taking as taking football as seriously as he wanted 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:46.600 them to, So that didn't come as a surprise that 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:49.520 he leapt at the opportunity for a big job, but 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:52.840 also like it was out of the region. 0:17:54.280 --> 0:17:57.520 It seemed fine. It didn't. It didn't strike me as like, ooh, 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:00.320 good for Boise. That makes a ton of sense. I 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:03.119 never had that sense about it. Right to me, it 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:06.239 was like kind of a jaw dropper. And that's not 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:09.320 to disrespect Brian harsonn't. It doesn't mean I think he 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:12.280 can't be successful. And it's funny because like we always 0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:14.280 kind of think about this stuff as like I think, 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:17.320 especially fan bases, when you're going through coaching change, you 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:19.719 always kind of fantasize about like can you hire the 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:23.640 person that everybody else in the conference goes like, oh shit, 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:26.960 like oh we're trouble exactly right. And I don't know 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:29.600 that Brian Harrison does that for Nick Saban or anybody 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:33.680 else in that division, but maybe they kind of sneakily 0:18:33.760 --> 0:18:35.800 just like hired a very good coach who just sort 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:38.520 of like chucks a bunch of boxes. And I mean, 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:41.440 I was, you know, when they moved on from Gus, 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:44.399 Like I joke to my old colleague justin ferguson that 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:47.320 night of like it seems like Auburn is moving on 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:51.840 from like a pretty pretty good marriage thinking that like, oh, 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:53.440 I want to hit the dating pool, see what's out 0:18:53.440 --> 0:18:54.879 there for me, just so they can kind of like 0:18:55.359 --> 0:18:57.720 be disappointed in all sorts of new ways by lesser, 0:18:57.880 --> 0:18:59.840 lesser men, you know what I mean. Like it's it's 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:01.720 it was a big old risk when they did it. 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:04.720 And you should mention if we're going to talk about 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:08.320 Tennessee here at some point, Kevin Steele, you know, chaos 0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:11.280 is a ladder, you know, yeah, what an offseason. But 0:19:12.440 --> 0:19:13.840 in terms of the Harson. 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:17.920 Move, I the the the coordinator hires of of Mike 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:22.879 Bobo and Derek Mason, I think are are pretty interesting 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:26.680 kind of kind of pairings there. Usually, you see, when 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:29.439 a guy's had as much success as he's had at Boise, 0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:31.680 you're kind of bringing the whole game with you, right, 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:34.760 So to go go out and bring guys that that 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:38.120 have this sec experience, it kind of goes to show 0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:41.040 you first that you know, maybe they felt like they 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:43.600 needed to have really strong coordinator hires to feel feel 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:46.840 better about this this choice. But I mean, I think 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:49.719 I'm I'm with you on on kind of the the 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:52.159 trend and perception of where Boise was at. I think 0:19:52.680 --> 0:19:56.800 Boise State fans probably were like both pretty grateful for 0:19:56.920 --> 0:20:00.280 Brian Harson and and also maybe a little bit little 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:03.040 bit underwhelmed in some ways too. And it's hard to 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:06.040 follow Chris Peterson, so that's that's just hard for anybody. 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:11.960 But I think they'll be good. I'm fascinated to see 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:13.960 how recruits respond to this and can you build the 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:16.920 kind of staff that you know, you know, Auburn is 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:18.680 a job that you can recruit at a top ten 0:20:18.760 --> 0:20:20.880 level if you if you play your cards right. Can 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:22.359 they build the kind of staff that can do that 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:26.960 or is it going to be building an Auburn program 0:20:27.080 --> 0:20:30.439 around kind of more of the you know, OKG thinking 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:32.280 of like here, here's what we need and we're not 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:36.040 chasing the big studs. I'm really curious. It's a really 0:20:36.040 --> 0:20:38.560 interesting experiment, and usually guys like him do not get 0:20:38.680 --> 0:20:41.480 jobs like this coact from the G five level. 0:20:42.040 --> 0:20:45.840 The thing I'm I'm always curious about is when you 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:49.560 go in a coordinator direction with two recent head coaches 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:53.240 and guys who probably want to be head coaches again, 0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:56.320 because that's typically where they where they fall under this circumstance. 0:20:56.359 --> 0:20:58.440