Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbal hell that for me. I'm
Speaker 1: a man, I'm forty.
Speaker 2: I've heard so many players say, well, I want to
Speaker 2: be happy. You want to be happy for a day?
Speaker 2: Edo Steak is that woo woof?
Speaker 1: And them and Tye welcome back to the soliburbo boys
Speaker 1: and girls when we are driven by Geiko. My name
Speaker 1: is ty Hilda Brandt. That fine gentleman over there in
Speaker 1: snowy and blustery and wintry but steer kind of cheerful. Yeah, Chicago, Illinois.
Speaker 1: Is Dan Rubinstein, sir? How are you?
Speaker 2: I'm pretty good. I can't complain. Got a good night's
Speaker 2: sleep last night. Hit that wordle hard first thing around
Speaker 2: six am Central, nailed it in three tries. I know
Speaker 2: everybody cares. But the thing is, I'm trying to feed
Speaker 2: my brain, as are you. You're working out early. I
Speaker 2: try to do some crosswords early on. I want to
Speaker 2: be the best me because I'm about to evaluate with
Speaker 2: you a bunch of gentlemen trying to be the best
Speaker 2: versions of them elves for their teams and for their program.
Speaker 2: So I'm trying to do my part. Also, I'm quite
Speaker 2: hungry right now, and so if my blood sugar waxes
Speaker 2: and wanes during the show.
Speaker 1: That's why did we want to tell the story about
Speaker 1: me doing the fake wordle.
Speaker 2: You were doing fake wordles. Yeah, you downloaded a copycat
Speaker 2: app that was not at all wordle.
Speaker 1: I did not know that it wasn't an app. I
Speaker 1: didn't know it was a web app and not a
Speaker 1: phone thing, and so we had a bit of confusion
Speaker 1: this morning trying to figure out where we stood in
Speaker 1: the world universe, until you made it apparent to me
Speaker 1: that they needed to go to the weblink.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a fun it's a fun, fun little exercise,
Speaker 2: and I like that you can only do one a
Speaker 2: day and everybody's doing the same word and comparing notes,
Speaker 2: and you can compare like the green boxes or whatever.
Speaker 2: If you don't know what wordle is or you don't
Speaker 2: like wordle, I'm sorry, look it up or just move
Speaker 2: on fast forward. But it's not an original game. I
Speaker 2: was on the game show Lingo, which Wordle is a
Speaker 2: direct ripoff of, And that's okay because I enjoyed Lingo
Speaker 2: and I enjoy wordles, so I'm okay with it.
Speaker 1: Well, we will at some point have a wordle themed
Speaker 1: episode if we can figure out exactly how to shoehorn
Speaker 1: that reference into the college football world. But in the meantime,
Speaker 1: for the next forty five to sixty minutes or so,
Speaker 1: you'll be here with us talking all things second year coaches.
Speaker 1: We'll get into that momentarily, tell you exactly what we've
Speaker 1: got in store before we go any further. If you
Speaker 1: like the show, subscribe, slash, follow anywhere you can find
Speaker 1: the podcast. If you can give us a rating or review.
Speaker 1: All that stuff really does help, especially now in the
Speaker 1: doldrums of the offseason where people who are out there
Speaker 1: they're college football fans. They don't know about us. Believe
Speaker 1: it or not, we've been around for a decade plus.
Speaker 1: People still don't know about podcasting or the solid verbal
Speaker 1: or they've got this college football itch that they need
Speaker 1: to scratch, and maybe we can help them do that.
Speaker 1: So let your friends know, rate, review, all that stuff.
Speaker 1: Follow along on social media. We're on all the platforms.
Speaker 1: We'd appreciate you following along if you haven't already. Reballers
Speaker 1: dot Com is also something that we will continue to
Speaker 1: water and feed throughout the course of this offseason. It's cold,
Speaker 1: there's not as much sunlight in the college football ether,
Speaker 1: but we're going to do our best to make that
Speaker 1: world grow. Just keep feeding the community with more content.
Speaker 1: We've got the Weekly Brew and a episodes. I read
Speaker 1: the first hand account the testimonial that we received on
Speaker 1: the website after we did our last episode. We have
Speaker 1: a lot of fun with those. We do them every Friday.
Speaker 1: We've got a bunch of other bonus stuff that is planned,
Speaker 1: So going out to verballers dot com and check out
Speaker 1: our updated, certified and premium Verballer tiers if you are
Speaker 1: ever so inclined to support the show. And last, but
Speaker 1: not least, we have a new solid giveaway. It is
Speaker 1: a signed Reggie Bush mini helmet. If you are like
Speaker 1: Dan and I, if you worship at the altar of
Speaker 1: Reggie Bush. Even if you're not an SC fan, it
Speaker 1: gives a damn. It's still Reggie Bush. He's a big
Speaker 1: part of why we're all college football fans. You can
Speaker 1: win a sign mini helmet. You just need to go
Speaker 1: through a few quick and easy and free steps to
Speaker 1: get your name in the hat and subsequently the hat
Speaker 1: in the ring. We will draw that victor on February
Speaker 1: the fourteenth, fittingly on Valentine's Day.
Speaker 2: At Valentine's You got plans yet, Ty, Come on, you're
Speaker 2: a romantic.
Speaker 1: I am.
Speaker 2: It's a different kind of year. I get that, I am, But.
Speaker 1: No, not not yet. Okay, we're about a month out.
Speaker 1: That's a level of planning that I don't know.
Speaker 2: Never too soon.
Speaker 1: If either you or I inherited from our parents.
Speaker 2: We'll do a Valentine's Day show. We will at some point.
Speaker 1: Will That is not the Valentine's Day I have in store? O?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you should just record the show and play it
Speaker 2: for the solid wife Kate and sit silently on the couch,
Speaker 2: listening to yourself and pristine digital audio.
Speaker 1: You would look at that. Oh, I'm sure I love that.
Speaker 1: What is today's show?
Speaker 2: So today we are drafting humans who don't get drafted.
Speaker 2: That's not we're doing a redraft. But it's not really
Speaker 2: a redraft. It's sort of a new draft because we
Speaker 2: are drafting second year head coaches. Now we've already seen
Speaker 2: a couple fall by the wayside, at least a couple,
Speaker 2: and then we've seen one leave for a new job.
Speaker 2: Kaitlin de Borr, Right, So that's Fresno State to Washington
Speaker 2: and of course, Jimmy Lake and Nick Rolovich no longer
Speaker 2: employed by their the schools that hired them two years ago.
Speaker 2: So these are coaches that were put into extraordinary circumstances
Speaker 2: in that they took over in a very strange twenty
Speaker 2: twenty COVID year and had to make the best of
Speaker 2: things with some unforeseen obstacles as a head coach than
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one. Obviously much more normal. And we're going
Speaker 2: to go back and forth. We have a bunch of
Speaker 2: I think, bigger names to choose from. Oh yeah, and
Speaker 2: we're going to select the coaches, but I think we
Speaker 2: have to lay out some parameters of I mean, it's personal, right,
Speaker 2: it's why you're selecting this coaches, these coaches. We're gonna
Speaker 2: go back and forth. Of course, we are not forming
Speaker 2: squadrons of coaches. We're not forming a team, but just
Speaker 2: who we value and why because of the job they've
Speaker 2: done or the job that they appear to be doing
Speaker 2: and can do at their current place. How I'm choosing
Speaker 2: to look at this, and you can tell me if
Speaker 2: I'm wrong or whatever, but like I am looking at Okay,
Speaker 2: I'm trying to find the most average school. By the way,
Speaker 2: I'm watching you take a water break because you can
Speaker 2: feel me talking as much as I am. I don't know,
Speaker 2: And maybe this is a point of contention, a point
Speaker 2: of debate too, but like who is the most average
Speaker 2: school in that the upside is pretty high, Like if
Speaker 2: everything breaks correctly, they could win double digit games, but
Speaker 2: they've got a clunker of a year in them if
Speaker 2: things break exceedingly poorly across the board, with coaches, with injuries,
Speaker 2: with players not working out, with transfers, whatever. Like I
Speaker 2: looked about at twenty twenty one, and I looked for, like, okay,
Speaker 2: who are like the net like zero teams that forever
Speaker 2: point they put on the board they took off points
Speaker 2: per drive, is how I looked at it. And so
Speaker 2: there were teams like cal and Virginia and Louisville. So
Speaker 2: that's the kind of that's the gauge I'm going with, Like, Okay,
Speaker 2: who would I want to hire at a place like
Speaker 2: this to maximize not an elite place, but a place
Speaker 2: with potential to succeed on an interesting level.
Speaker 1: So this is all going to a place where you
Speaker 1: take Jeff Hathley number one overall, I don't know.
Speaker 2: This is where it's going you game this out.
Speaker 1: You know, you're all about the half, but who.
Speaker 2: Is that team? Who? What is that program? To you?
Speaker 2: We're just like, look, they're gonna go six and six
Speaker 2: or seven and five sometimes, but they get the right
Speaker 2: QB in there, they get a hot shot, young coordinator,
Speaker 2: they get their load up on transfers, and it all
Speaker 2: works out. They go nine to three, ten and two. Yeah,
Speaker 2: because like Louisville has been to a New Year six game,
Speaker 2: Virginia has been to a New Year six game, cal
Speaker 2: has not. But those were just some of the teams.
Speaker 2: And like Florida State had an offense and defense ranked
Speaker 2: in the sixties this year. But they themselves already have
Speaker 2: one of our second year coaches that's draft eligible, so
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna consider them in that conversation. They've also
Speaker 2: won a national championship. They're a step above in terms
Speaker 2: of stealing in terms of ceiling. So that's what I'm
Speaker 2: going with. Who can transform that kind of place into
Speaker 2: a maximizing place? More often than not.
Speaker 1: I think I am approaching it from the standpoint of, uh,
Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm not too far removed from what you're describing, right,
Speaker 1: You're you're taking a relative measure. You're looking at a coach,
Speaker 1: and you are saying, who is the right guy at
Speaker 1: the right time to get the most bang for the buck?
Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm in a similar spot. I am
Speaker 1: a little bit more enticed by the wind totals though,
Speaker 1: of course, and we have a couple instances like that.
Speaker 1: I'm sure they're gonna be like David Randa's gonna be
Speaker 1: on your list, Sam Pittman's gonna be on your list.
Speaker 1: Mel Tucker is going to be on your draftable list.
Speaker 1: These are guys who had pretty noticeable increases in win
Speaker 1: totals going from twenty twenty to twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: This is a very interesting crop of coaches.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and so I think that suys me a little
Speaker 1: bit more. To be honest with you, I don't know
Speaker 1: how I feel about Jeff Trailer. I know that Jeff
Speaker 1: Trailer did an awesome job with UTSA. I know he
Speaker 1: won five more games in twenty twenty one than he
Speaker 1: did in twenty twenty point yep. Is he the right
Speaker 1: guy that i'd want to pick for my team? Well,
Speaker 1: who's your team? I don't know.
Speaker 2: Well that that's why I'm asking an imaginary team.
Speaker 1: I'm working through it as we go here.
Speaker 2: Okay, I can tell you some of the like the
Speaker 2: net like zero point zero ish teams that are like
Speaker 2: either had amazing offenses and terrible defense or we're just
Speaker 2: sort of average at everything, Like Miami was at point one.
Speaker 2: They had the number forty seven offense and seventy five defense.
Speaker 2: So if we're looking at Power five programs like Memphis
Speaker 2: is right there negative point one, three Texas Tech with
Speaker 2: a not so good defense, but the offense, even with
Speaker 2: injuries at quarterback, was pretty decent most of the year.
Speaker 2: West Virginia was right around there, Mississippi State at point two,
Speaker 2: Texas at point one, certainly Texas with more advantages, Oregon
Speaker 2: State at point one, Auburn right there at sixty two
Speaker 2: net rating net points per drive, So like, there are
Speaker 2: interesting programs in there that you're like, Okay, like, how
Speaker 2: do I fancy Jeff Trailer at Auburn for Miami? That
Speaker 2: kind of thing I think is worth thinking about.
Speaker 1: Okay, We've got a list here in front of us
Speaker 1: of all the coaches who were hired going into twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: twenty twenty notably called year zero by a great number
Speaker 1: of folks in college football media for obvious reasons, twenty
Speaker 1: twenty was the weird COVID year, not to say twenty
Speaker 1: one wasn't, but twenty twenty was far more uncertain and
Speaker 1: we had no idea what to expect. There were some
Speaker 1: teams I'm looking at, like Michigan State played seven games,
Speaker 1: it went two and five. Rady Hope went four and
Speaker 1: four for San Diego State. So it's not exactly comparing
Speaker 1: apples to apples when you look from twenty to twenty one.
Speaker 1: But we still have a pretty good idea based on
Speaker 1: what we saw this past season. Who truly improved versus
Speaker 1: who stayed stagged in in some cases, which schools took
Speaker 1: a step back. Yeah, why don't you make the first
Speaker 1: pick and justify my god, this entire crop coaches? Yeah,
Speaker 1: if you have your druthers, who are you taking first? Overall?
Speaker 1: Who's your guy for your team? It's a great question.
Speaker 1: It's a great question.
Speaker 2: My parameters are what have we seen, How do I
Speaker 2: feel in the moment, what do I believe they're ceiling
Speaker 2: to be? And do I see them being able to
Speaker 2: adapt and go with changes in college football and not
Speaker 2: be stubborn and just like try to stay a step
Speaker 2: ahead of the competition. Somebody that is That's what I
Speaker 2: look for in a coach, right, Okay, guys are transferring.
Speaker 2: I'm getting in on the transfer action. This is where
Speaker 2: offenses are going.
Speaker 1: I see.
Speaker 2: I'm right there. I'm not afraid to flip things around.
Speaker 2: That's what I value. Yeah, my first overall pick I'm
Speaker 2: looking at. I'm loading up my draft board right now
Speaker 2: because of age, because of performance, because of sealing to me,
Speaker 2: because of what I believe where recruiting will go. You
Speaker 2: read me like a book. I'm going Dave Randa. Yeah,
Speaker 2: well number one Dave Randa, because I think he's going
Speaker 2: to continue to hire smart. I think he has been
Speaker 2: around the sport enough that his connections are pretty deep.
Speaker 2: Having coached what Utah State, Wisconsin, LSU. Now Baylor has
Speaker 2: the West Coast ties, made the change in offensive coordinator quickly,
Speaker 2: has the defensive background within the state of Texas. I
Speaker 2: think he is going to continue to do well. Now,
Speaker 2: he might not compete with Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A, and
Speaker 2: M on that level for recruits, but if we're dealing
Speaker 2: with this like Central Anonymous School, I think he has
Speaker 2: enough connections and he has enough of a vision that
Speaker 2: I'm going to go with a guy who went from
Speaker 2: taking a team that was kind of bad to a
Speaker 2: conference champion, a Power five conference champion in just a season.
Speaker 2: So I think there's there's proven stuff there. I think
Speaker 2: there is upside with recruiting. I'm going Dave Randa to
Speaker 2: spearhead my program. Of this list of coaches, we can
Speaker 2: go through the bank of available coaches as well. I
Speaker 2: don't know if people know these off the top of
Speaker 2: their head.
Speaker 1: We could, we could, but quickly on the Randa point,
Speaker 1: random went.
Speaker 2: And feel free to pick on it, like you know,
Speaker 2: nitpick my selection. No.
Speaker 1: I mean, look, Randa went two to seven, yeah, in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty last season. This past season twelve and two
Speaker 1: won the Big twelve. That's a pretty good turnaround. That's
Speaker 1: ten more games. You're not going to find a lot
Speaker 1: of coaches that can pull that one off. And I
Speaker 1: think what you alluded to is really the important point
Speaker 1: about Dave Randa. There are a lot of coaches that
Speaker 1: are stuck in their ways that they come to a
Speaker 1: place and they've got a system or an idea of
Speaker 1: a system, and they stick to it. That's not always
Speaker 1: a bad thing if it works. But what I think
Speaker 1: we saw that of Dave Randa in year one is
Speaker 1: that he was always willing to crumple it up and
Speaker 1: throw it at the waste basket. Yeah right, Larry Fedora,
Speaker 1: big name hired run the offense wasn't working when a
Speaker 1: drastically different direction. Fedora tried to do a little bit
Speaker 1: of everything. Grimes said, Jeff Grimes, who came over from BYU,
Speaker 1: he was much more simplistic in his philosophy, and he said,
Speaker 1: let's do a couple things really well. And that's what
Speaker 1: they did and it worked. David Randa caught hell for
Speaker 1: being too conservative on offense in twenty twenty, especially as
Speaker 1: it relates to things like fourth downs. He went for
Speaker 1: it a lot, a lot more this season. He read
Speaker 1: the internet in the off season. I don't know, but
Speaker 1: he took it to heart. He was a lot more concerned,
Speaker 1: a lot more aggressive, excuse me, when it came to
Speaker 1: moments like that, And I think it paid dividends. So clearly,
Speaker 1: if flexibility, if the willingness to kind of go a
Speaker 1: different to look at the landscape, figure out what's working,
Speaker 1: figure out what's not working, not have so much of
Speaker 1: an ego about you that you're stuck in your ways.
Speaker 1: Aranda is the guy, man, He's got to be the guy.
Speaker 1: He's gonna be a name. And I hate to say
Speaker 1: this for Baylor people, but it's true. They know it.
Speaker 1: He's going to be a name that every big job
Speaker 1: that comes open, either in college, if he continues on
Speaker 1: this trajectory, maybe even the NFL. You're gonna have to
Speaker 1: get used to hearing Randa's name in the same manner
Speaker 1: that you heard Matt Ruhle's name, because in such a
Speaker 1: short period of time, this turnaround story has been remarkable.
Speaker 1: So I'm jealous you got Randa here and pick one.
Speaker 1: There are other really good names that we can go through, but.
Speaker 2: It was not easy for me. You said you like
Speaker 2: had to be Randa. I don't think it has to
Speaker 2: be Rando like I think. I mean, the other two
Speaker 2: considerations I had for a picking number one overall would
Speaker 2: have been Mel Tucker and Sam pitt Pittman, right, Yeah,
Speaker 2: those are my other considerations. I think when you look
Speaker 2: at turnarounds, when you look at vision for programs, when
Speaker 2: you look at hiring, especially in the case of Sam Pittman,
Speaker 2: and the Barry otom higher Like, I just, yeah, the
Speaker 2: early returns on Arkansas and how competitive they are and
Speaker 2: what that program is looking like moving forward, and sam
Speaker 2: can be said from Mel Tucker for sure, especially on
Speaker 2: the recruiting front. It was not an easy decision. It
Speaker 2: came down to I suppose personal preference, and that's sort
Speaker 2: of what I went with. But yeah, like Arkansas got
Speaker 2: blown out a couple of times, I believe. Obviously Michigan
Speaker 2: State did against Ohio State. I don't think that's a
Speaker 2: defining characteristic of these guys. But when I went with
Speaker 2: what Baylor looked like this year, I thought to myself,
Speaker 2: you know what, I think that the uptick and recruiting
Speaker 2: is going to keep happening and they're just going to
Speaker 2: get better and better. We saw how we hit the
Speaker 2: portal daved Randa in year one. It was Apuika who
Speaker 2: came over from LSU to help anchor that defense up front.
Speaker 2: I don't know, I just what with my gut there.
Speaker 1: Okay, So that brings it to my pick, right, Yes,
Speaker 1: I will go Mel Tucker. Okay, surprise, surprise, Yeah, you
Speaker 1: have to eleven and two. It's well documented how well
Speaker 1: this season went for Michigan State. That is an increase
Speaker 1: of nine wins from what he did in year zero,
Speaker 1: which was two to five. Mel Tucker, I think also
Speaker 1: showed that willingness to adapt. And we all know that
Speaker 1: the past defense was not what it should have been.
Speaker 1: This year it was awful, really bad. They got to
Speaker 1: get better. Still won eleven games. How did he do that?
Speaker 1: First off, he went out and he hit the transfer
Speaker 1: portal really hard. I mean really hard. Keep in mind,
Speaker 1: this is a guy who took over very late in
Speaker 1: the cycle after they had the retirement, right, so he
Speaker 1: comes in. He did the best he could in year one,
Speaker 1: but we always knew it was going to be slow going.
Speaker 1: With the benefit of a full offseason, he hit the
Speaker 1: portal hard. He brought in fifteen guys. He also was
Speaker 1: able to cobble together what I think is a pretty
Speaker 1: good offense. Right the Kenneth Walker the third transfer, paid
Speaker 1: huge dividends for him, and over the course of time
Speaker 1: Peyton Thornton came or Peyton Thornton excuse me came around.
Speaker 1: They were able to find ways to make this offense
Speaker 1: really potent in clutch situations. I think back to that
Speaker 1: Michigan game, right, They needed to get an incredible effort
Speaker 1: late in order to pull off that dub. They were
Speaker 1: able to do it. What I like about this team
Speaker 1: is how they were able to play hard week in
Speaker 1: a week out. They really played hard week in a
Speaker 1: week out. And you never expected a Michigan State team
Speaker 1: to take weeks off. They didn't. They didn't know. So
Speaker 1: I like that about him. I think it's meaningful that
Speaker 1: mel Tucker was one of the names that came up
Speaker 1: for some of the big openings came up, of course
Speaker 1: for the LSU jobs. You know, you can go around
Speaker 1: college football. Everybody was talking about Meltucker. So I also
Speaker 1: credit Michigan State for locking him up. They read the
Speaker 1: tea leaves. They knew that this could pretend actually be
Speaker 1: a very wild coaching carousel. They locked him up, gave
Speaker 1: him a ton of money, made headlines nine and that
Speaker 1: was it. Nine and a half million yep for mel Tucker.
Speaker 1: Big old booster came in, yep, nine and a half million.
Speaker 1: What are we what are we talking about here? But
Speaker 1: they had the foresight to do that, to lock him up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I just feel like there's nowhere but for me.
Speaker 1: It's hard to improve on eleven wins. But I do
Speaker 1: feel like there really truly is nowhere but up in
Speaker 1: terms of stability for this program. It was in a
Speaker 1: good place before, had maybe petered off a little bit
Speaker 1: under the previous regime, but now with this boost, I
Speaker 1: think they're going to continue to get the most out
Speaker 1: of their talent. Peyton Thorne, I think in your in
Speaker 1: year two for him as a starter coming up will
Speaker 1: be much improved. I like the direction of this program,
Speaker 1: So for me, mel Tucker's the answer here. He's a
Speaker 1: good recruiter as well, Like there's just so much to
Speaker 1: like about what this guy brings to the table. The
Speaker 1: fact that he would move on as quickly as he
Speaker 1: did frankly from Colorado a bummer for the Buffs, but
Speaker 1: another credit to the administration at Michigan State that they
Speaker 1: were able to see what he or what they thought
Speaker 1: he brought to the table and snag him real quick.
Speaker 1: So I like Meltucker a Lot's.
Speaker 2: Okay, So mel Tucker clearly a strong pick. Clearly has
Speaker 2: done a very strong job at Michigan State. The nitpick
Speaker 2: to me with mel Tucker, in my considerations, is leaves
Speaker 2: Colorado after a year, can recruit against him be like, look, guy,
Speaker 2: when he sees a better situation, he will leave. That's
Speaker 2: the problem. That's something right now, and that's not unique
Speaker 2: to mel Tucker. There's a lot of guys on this
Speaker 2: list who would do the same thing right if they
Speaker 2: found themselves in a situation they didn't love for whatever reason,
Speaker 2: and something new appeared, as the Michigan State job did.
Speaker 2: And all credit to Meltucker because of where that Michigan
Speaker 2: State team was at the end of the marked into
Speaker 2: by the way, because by the way, not Big Dave,
Speaker 2: not yet. Anyway, Big Dave will get his name in
Speaker 2: the hat for some of those other I don't know
Speaker 2: why I'm calling him Big Dave.
Speaker 1: But David Randa, David Randa, well, I know those conversations.
Speaker 2: But he had an opportunity, has been he had.
Speaker 1: An opportunity here, and he chose to stay at Baylor.
Speaker 2: Correct, he had opportunities. Meltucker had opportunities this past year. Obviously,
Speaker 2: the status of Michigan State football is in a higher
Speaker 2: place than the status of Colorado football. I look a
Speaker 2: little bit at Michigan State's scheduled this past year and
Speaker 2: the results when you look at the Nebraska game, when
Speaker 2: you look at, obviously the loss to purdueing Ohio State,
Speaker 2: when you look at the Indiana game that this wasn't
Speaker 2: necessarily it's not smoking mirrors. And I think good coaches
Speaker 2: win a lot of clunkers. I think you'd rather win
Speaker 2: your clunkers than lose your clunkers. I just didn't see
Speaker 2: Michigan State in control. I think the record is a
Speaker 2: little bit inflated, and that number that's associated with Meltucker
Speaker 2: and the Spartans right now is not necessarily representative of
Speaker 2: how strong that program is. On I look, the past
Speaker 2: defense was terrible. That said, this was the I looked
Speaker 2: it up. This is the number two most improved offensive
Speaker 2: unit in the country, and it's the number one Power
Speaker 2: five one in terms of points per drive going from
Speaker 2: twenty twenty to twenty twenty one. Kenneth Walker the explosive
Speaker 2: plays downfield in the passing game. It was a joy
Speaker 2: to watch. Yeah, I'm just not sold on Michigan State
Speaker 2: as a whole. As a this is a new era.
Speaker 2: We're back to being ten plus win Michigan State more
Speaker 2: often than not just because of the results, just because
Speaker 2: the lack of consistent strong wins. But I mean win
Speaker 2: is a win. Is a win, is a win is
Speaker 2: a win in Michigan State won for sure, and I
Speaker 2: think I am hopeful that further stability will be on
Speaker 2: the way. This is still very much a work in
Speaker 2: progress if we want to consider this truly year one
Speaker 2: from El Tucker. Yeah, it took a while to work
Speaker 2: some stuff out. We thought Anthony Russo was going to
Speaker 2: be the quarterback, remember that. Yep. No, I mean the
Speaker 2: cupboard was difficult with you know, the rocky lumbar already,
Speaker 2: Anthony Russo, Peyton Thorne like it. It was not a
Speaker 2: team where you looked at them and said, this is
Speaker 2: a team that's going to make big plays happen. And
Speaker 2: this is like they have explosion within them. Maybe in
Speaker 2: year three or something like that with a couple of
Speaker 2: recruiting cycles, but they have a quarterback of the future
Speaker 2: coming in I think from southern California. Brandon Huffman talked
Speaker 2: about him. Yeah, I think to look at Michigan State
Speaker 2: right now is to look at a program that is
Speaker 2: going to recruit potentially better than they ever have under
Speaker 2: Mel Tucker. I'm curious to see what those hires look
Speaker 2: like here and in year out and I'm curious to see
Speaker 2: now with an up Michigan, with Ohio State obviously going
Speaker 2: to stay where they are, Penn State, I think will
Speaker 2: be in a really good place. It's the sort of
Speaker 2: re establishing themselves as a team that can beat any
Speaker 2: of these teams any given week, like where they were
Speaker 2: in whatever it was twenty thirteen, fourteen, somewhere in there.
Speaker 1: I think effort is not to be undersold here. You're
Speaker 1: right that the record of eleven wins is built a
Speaker 1: little bit on sand because the second order wins says
Speaker 1: that this is an eight and a half nine win team. Sure,
Speaker 1: and so you know, you called out a couple of
Speaker 1: the games. There's a Penn State game, there's a Nebraska game.
Speaker 1: There's like three or four in.
Speaker 2: There that Penn State was in snow. You know, I'm
Speaker 2: willing to write off a little bit of that.
Speaker 1: But yeah, for sure. But point taken, and I think
Speaker 1: it's valid. My hope for Meltucker is that he continues
Speaker 1: to build upon the success because it was a success
Speaker 1: at eleven and two. Let me pivot. Then I will
Speaker 1: go back to you if you can make the next
Speaker 1: pick whatever.
Speaker 2: Well, I was just going to say if you're one
Speaker 2: of those teams that I mentioned, right, Cal Virginia, Louisville, Miami.
Speaker 2: You're thrilled with Meltucker as your head coach. You will
Speaker 2: look at the moon with what mel Tucker would bring
Speaker 2: to your program.
Speaker 1: All right, So I'm looking. I see in the upper
Speaker 1: left hand corner of the video, which you can watch
Speaker 1: it for ballers dot Com, you've got snake. So is
Speaker 1: this a Snake draft?
Speaker 2: Am I up agains up to you? I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think you should go again. I'll take Sam Pittman,
Speaker 1: do it. Sam Pittman's the obvious one. Now Here's what's
Speaker 1: not lost on me. Could you not make the same
Speaker 1: points against Sam Pittman that you could melt Tucker, Because
Speaker 1: certainly if you more difficult schedule, I think on the
Speaker 1: Arkansas side playing in the SEC, but I think if
Speaker 1: you look at their second order wins total in the
Speaker 1: same boat eight and a half nine win team, there
Speaker 1: were games throughout the course of the year, the Mississippi
Speaker 1: State one comes to mind, wins in the box score,
Speaker 1: but games where the team did not play particularly well.
Speaker 1: What I like about Arkansas and what I like about
Speaker 1: Sam Pittman. Recall back to what he did in your
Speaker 1: money at Felipe Franks. Felipe Franks was very good for
Speaker 1: Sam Pittman and Arkansas did a good job before he
Speaker 1: got hurt. This year, what he did with kJ Jefferson
Speaker 1: is what I think I'm most excited about because as
Speaker 1: we saw in the bowl game against Penn State, when
Speaker 1: in the first there was a lot that was not
Speaker 1: working for Arkansas and they were down a couple guys,
Speaker 1: I get it, but they relied on kJ Jefferson. They
Speaker 1: were able to rely on kJ Jefferson, and that to
Speaker 1: me is a big deal moving forward if you've got
Speaker 1: that guy right. We talked about it coming into this season,
Speaker 1: actually with Eli Drinkwitz, who I will not be drafting,
Speaker 1: and we could talk about, but it is such a
Speaker 1: different mindset when you feel like you've identified that quarterback
Speaker 1: that you can build around, versus still being in a
Speaker 1: state of flux. Right. We thought that Connor Beasilak was
Speaker 1: going to be that guy for Eli Drinkwitz that you
Speaker 1: know he's transferring now to Indiana. That culdarly did not
Speaker 1: work out.
Speaker 2: To be clear, Sam Pittman didn't recruit kJ Jeffers.
Speaker 1: He didn't recruit him but he he had the foresight
Speaker 1: to put him into a situation where he could succeed. Sure, yeah,
Speaker 1: and succeed he did. It was an incredible season for
Speaker 1: kJ Jefferson. He balled out big time. Yeah, big time.
Speaker 1: This is a program that I just felt has taken
Speaker 1: on to bleeps in pretty much every direction. They weren't
Speaker 1: always the team that was going to go out there
Speaker 1: and beat your brains in, but they were able to utilize,
Speaker 1: at least offensively, their talent at quarterback, their talent at
Speaker 1: running back, the talent at wide receiver in the best
Speaker 1: possible ways, and they were damn competitive in the SEC.
Speaker 1: They won nine games. They went from three to seven
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty to nine and four this past year.
Speaker 1: I mean, you can nitpick it if you want, but
Speaker 1: to do that in the SEC, especially for where Arkansas was,
Speaker 1: like even compared to Baylor, which you know, Baylor had
Speaker 1: its moments, but even compared to Michigan State, Arkansas was
Speaker 1: down and out. Man, he was down out taking that
Speaker 1: job and to do what he's done in such a
Speaker 1: short period of time is frankly maybe the best turnaround
Speaker 1: story in all of college football.
Speaker 2: I think the case for Sam Pittman as the best
Speaker 2: of this class is wronger than mel Tucker's because the
Speaker 2: degree of difficulty with which Arkansas operates playing in the
Speaker 2: SEC West, the degree of difficulty with transfers and being
Speaker 2: making Arkansas a destination. Not that Arkansas is a bad place,
Speaker 2: but just because of recent Arkansas results, you have to question,
Speaker 2: you like, what's going on here? As Bill c Likes mentioned,
Speaker 2: it's not always the coach, sometimes it's the school. So
Speaker 2: you're like, Okay, what is going on in Fayetteville for
Speaker 2: Sam Pittman to come into a situation recognize what needed help.
Speaker 2: I love when an offensive line coach gets a chance,
Speaker 2: because at the very least, you know, okay, there's an
Speaker 2: identification of talent up front, there's development of talent. You
Speaker 2: know that there's going to be focused there. When a
Speaker 2: team has two offensive line coaches, a head coach and
Speaker 2: a position coach, and obviously you have Gas Nalys whatever,
Speaker 2: But when they have those two offensive line coaches, you're
Speaker 2: pretty sure that that's going to be a good looking
Speaker 2: team up front. And I love the floor raising that
Speaker 2: that gives you. Specifically to Arkansas. I mentioned the coordinator Hires.
Speaker 2: I mentioned how aggressively. They've hit the portal on both
Speaker 2: sides of the ball. This past offseason we hat Drew
Speaker 2: Sanders from Alabama and then Jaden Hazelwood on the other
Speaker 2: side of the ball, the receiver from Oklahoma. They've hit
Speaker 2: the portal impressively hard. And there's something about the Sam
Speaker 2: Pittman experience right recruiting offensive line portal assistant hires that
Speaker 2: I think, to me could translate more efficiently anywhere that
Speaker 2: his force of personality, and the same thing be said
Speaker 2: of Meltucker right when you have two defensive backs coaches,
Speaker 2: whatever depends, but the force of personality with Sam Pittman,
Speaker 2: the ability to look they gave Alabama kind of everything
Speaker 2: they could handle for what over three quarters, three and
Speaker 2: a half quarters. This is year two versus year whatever
Speaker 2: it is thirteen for Nick Saban. So there is something
Speaker 2: about Sam Pittman that wherever he would go, I think
Speaker 2: that he would be fueling eight plus win teams. The
Speaker 2: difference to me with mel Tucker, which I think is
Speaker 2: more of a case for Sam Pittman as well, is
Speaker 2: you look at how many ten plus win seasons Michigan
Speaker 2: State has had in the past decade versus what Arkansas
Speaker 2: has done in the last decade. Yeah, it's just more difficult.
Speaker 2: They're starting for becoming, they're starting from a different point. Yeah,
Speaker 2: he I mean, look, Michigan State was horrendous when mel
Speaker 2: Tucker got there, don't get me wrong, But in terms
Speaker 2: of reputation, what Arkansas was dealing with with their low points,
Speaker 2: which I guess was losing to Western Kentucky, I just, man,
Speaker 2: it was so down in the dumps. So I don't know,
Speaker 2: I give I give a lot of out of the
Speaker 2: box credit to Arkansas for making the move that they
Speaker 2: did and empowering Sam Pittman like they have. So that
Speaker 2: was it was a tough back and forth with me
Speaker 2: for Sam Pittman. I think I might have gone a
Speaker 2: Randa because of age that Sam Pittman, I think is
Speaker 2: considerably older than Dave Randa, so maybe that's a factor.
Speaker 2: I just I love it. I love the pick hit
Speaker 2: job well.
Speaker 1: And another thing quickly on Pittman. We like to look
Speaker 1: at improvements beyond the win total. Win total can sometimes
Speaker 1: be deceiving. This is a program in Arkansas that took
Speaker 1: a thirty five spot jump in the overall SP plus rankings.
Speaker 1: They finished the year twenty second. Overall, a pretty sizable
Speaker 1: jump in both offense and defense. Now there's nuance to
Speaker 1: those numbers. If you dig in, you can find spots.
Speaker 1: I'm sure where there were steps back, but by and large,
Speaker 1: it's tough to argue with nine wins in the SEC.
Speaker 1: It's tough to argue with nine wins with a first
Speaker 1: time starting quarterback in kJ Jefferson, just everything he's done
Speaker 1: across the board and his force personality too. You know,
Speaker 1: this is the kind of thing that I think for
Speaker 1: sure both Sam Pittman and Meltucker have in common. You
Speaker 1: hear a lot about mel Tucker, especially walks in a room.
Speaker 1: He's got that gravitas, and there's a lot of that
Speaker 1: going on with Sam Pittman as well. So I'm it's
Speaker 1: hard to argue with any of the three guys that
Speaker 1: we've thrown out there. Maybe the argument gets a little
Speaker 1: bit more interesting now as we dive into your pick,
Speaker 1: your fourth pick, because it seems to me like those
Speaker 1: are the three obvious ones. The more we dig in,
Speaker 1: now now we're getting into like Lane Kiffin territory. Right now,
Speaker 1: we're getting into.
Speaker 2: Jeff Hafiege, Norvelle half Lates. Yeah, Solar Shiano.
Speaker 1: Shiano, Yeah, Mike Leach, I don't know where do you
Speaker 1: want to go next? What's your next pick?
Speaker 2: Should also mention Arkansas, by the way, just because I
Speaker 2: mentioned it with Michigan State top twenty and both most
Speaker 2: improved offense and defense, so they were the number sixteen
Speaker 2: most improved defense, number nineteen, most improved offense in terms
Speaker 2: of points per drive taking away garbage time. I'm I'm
Speaker 2: all aboard time. I'm on the lane train.
Speaker 1: You're on the lane track?
Speaker 2: Is lane Kivin? Yeah? Yeah, Yeah, I'm on the lane
Speaker 2: train because I'm a believer in the current version of
Speaker 2: Lane Kiffen, with recruiting, with offensive vision, with assistant hires,
Speaker 2: with on field ability with those assistant hires, with quarterback developed,
Speaker 2: with system with identification of systems developing, Like he's run
Speaker 2: a different stuff at different places, and you know, bringing
Speaker 2: in Levy, you know having I think it was FAU
Speaker 2: That's where he was with Charlie Weist junior. Like he
Speaker 2: has taken components of a bunch of different offenses spread
Speaker 2: in West Coast and RPO. I think he's going any
Speaker 2: school he goes to, we'll have a productive at the
Speaker 2: very least quarterback. We'll have speed, We'll hit the portal hard.
Speaker 2: He'll recruit well, and he's connected enough in the college
Speaker 2: football world to make savvy hires. I mean, how many
Speaker 2: games that all Miss win this year? They win ten games?
Speaker 1: They went ten and three. That's up from five to five.
Speaker 2: That's pretty good. Like, we can look at him cartoonishly,
Speaker 2: but that cartoon wins a ton of games, right Like
Speaker 2: we you can look back at his time at Tennessee
Speaker 2: and the Raiders and USC and say, yeah, he's inconsistent.
Speaker 2: I don't know why he gets as much love as
Speaker 2: he does. But as of late, he sort of went
Speaker 2: back to square one with going to Alabama and going
Speaker 2: to FAU and working his way back up and sort
Speaker 2: of rediscovering what makes his name attractive in the coaching world.
Speaker 2: I look at the defensive improvement this year from Ole Miss.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, I'm just like, there's a case that Lane
Speaker 2: Kiffin is actually the best proven coach on this list
Speaker 2: because of the amount of time that he has spent
Speaker 2: as a head coach and major coordinator. That if you
Speaker 2: were to give a coach a year to build a
Speaker 2: winning team, that Lane Kiffin might do the best job
Speaker 2: of it. There's the wildcard element that I think goes
Speaker 2: against taking him first overall. But if you're just judging
Speaker 2: somebody based on proven best coach, like it might be Lane.
Speaker 1: Lane Kiffin is only forty six years of age. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's been a head coach now five times MS if
Speaker 1: you count this gig with Old Miss. He's been in
Speaker 1: the NFL, he's been at Tennessee, he's been at USC. Like,
Speaker 1: this is a guy who's gotten around. This is a
Speaker 1: guy who clearly has a lot of coaching experience, and
Speaker 1: he's still a pretty young dude. I believe in redemption arcs.
Speaker 1: I believe that a lot of the baggage that has
Speaker 1: been with Lane Kiffin throughout the years, hopefully he's the
Speaker 1: kind of thing that he's grown out of or can
Speaker 1: grow out of. I guess that would be the argument
Speaker 1: against him, right, that'd be the argument against him that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: is this guy reliable? Because there have been moments where
Speaker 1: you know you got him and he wants to jump
Speaker 1: elsewhere Tennessee, Right, guy ends up going to USC. Can
Speaker 1: you trust him? Is he the kind of guy that
Speaker 1: you want to build your program around? Feels like a risk,
Speaker 1: Like these are real things that I think follow Lane
Speaker 1: Kiffin wherever he goes. That being said, you're right to
Speaker 1: improve Old Missus defense, Like everyone's going to focus on
Speaker 1: Matt Carrall and he's probably gonna be a first round pick.
Speaker 1: And the offense was very good. The defense was quietly
Speaker 1: the story for Old miss this year, quietly the story because.
Speaker 2: Couldn't stop the Ronaton. But they improved.
Speaker 1: There's nuance. Right again, there's nuance. But the fact that
Speaker 1: they improved to the extent that they did and defensively
Speaker 1: was much more of a force than they had been
Speaker 1: in years past. That to me is kind of the
Speaker 1: hallmark of a guy who's starting to figure it out.
Speaker 1: He's starting to figure it out. And now to the
Speaker 1: recruiting point, and especially now with the transfer portal bringing
Speaker 1: over Zach Evans right sure to be the starting running back.
Speaker 1: Who knows if they end up getting a guy like
Speaker 1: a Jackson Dart who could potentially be in play at
Speaker 1: Old Miss arch.
Speaker 2: Manning, they've hit They've hit the portal hard yep.
Speaker 1: Arch Manning another big name right like all world everything
Speaker 1: quarterback recruit couldn't up in Oxford. His legacy, So like
Speaker 1: there's just a lot going on there that if you're
Speaker 1: an old mis fan, you have to feel very optimistic
Speaker 1: about what this programs under Lane baggage. Aside, the proof
Speaker 1: is there. This is a team that got a lot better.
Speaker 1: Matt Carrall elevated his game, I think to a different dimension.
Speaker 1: He's probably gonna get picked in the first round. So
Speaker 1: these are all recruiting bits that Lane's gonna use. He's
Speaker 1: also fabulous on social media and like, Yeah, not to
Speaker 1: say that either you or I enjoy living in that world,
Speaker 1: but I think we both respect its value in the
Speaker 1: modern age of college football, right, and the fact that
Speaker 1: he's that good and that kind of with it. He's
Speaker 1: got his finger on the pulse of Twitter or whatnot.
Speaker 2: It he's with it, he is. It stands for something
Speaker 2: in today's cool missus digitally forward in no small part
Speaker 2: because of Lane Kiffin's presence. Yeah, so again, I'll turn
Speaker 2: it to this. You now have Lane Kiffin, Dave Randa,
Speaker 2: Sam Pittman, or Mel Tucker, and you are Virginia or Louisville. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and you are you are tasked with let's say they'll
Speaker 2: all accept the you know, six million dollars or whatever
Speaker 2: you're offering six seven million dollars to be the new
Speaker 2: head coach, and your big stipulation is you only get
Speaker 2: paid if you win nine games, and you have a
Speaker 2: year to you know, figure things out, and then the
Speaker 2: next season you have to win nine games in the
Speaker 2: ACC right now, an average conference coaching an average team
Speaker 2: in Louisville, Scott Sanderfield is like, whatever, are you still
Speaker 2: going Sam Pittman or excuse me, are you still going
Speaker 2: Mel Tucker as your first choice? With Dave Verranda off
Speaker 2: the border? Would you go Randa or would you go
Speaker 2: Lane Kiffin or would.
Speaker 1: You go to Sam?
Speaker 2: You know which of these first four? If that changes
Speaker 2: your mind at all with the benefit of hindsight, the
Speaker 2: way I'm presenting this exercise.
Speaker 1: There is a very strong case to be made that
Speaker 1: if you are looking for the quickest lift possible, yep,
Speaker 1: Lane Kiffin's your guy. Because despite the fact that Dave
Speaker 1: Randa has done a bang job at Baylor and Mel
Speaker 1: Tucker has been rebuilding this thing and he's lancing, and
Speaker 1: Sam Pittman has done you know, I mean, he's like
Speaker 1: walking on water in Fayeville at this point.
Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: Lane is probably the strongest recruiter of all three of
Speaker 1: those guys, Lane is Lane brings a star power with
Speaker 1: him that the others don't have. They could get there,
Speaker 1: but Lane's been around this game for so long and
Speaker 1: I just think he's He's a different kind of cat
Speaker 1: when it comes to the recruiting game. So I guess
Speaker 1: it depends what you're after.
Speaker 2: He does not come well, I said, I said, I said,
Speaker 2: basically a year. So I'm not asking for a long
Speaker 2: term solution here.
Speaker 1: Long term, Yeah, you could make a really strong case
Speaker 1: for him.
Speaker 2: I think it might be. Yeah, I think in that
Speaker 2: very specific ask, I think it's Lane, which is why
Speaker 2: I'm going with him. I think I have a value
Speaker 2: pick and now Lane and Oranda as my grouping.
Speaker 1: What's your next pick?
Speaker 2: I have it down here, I'm I have Jeff haff.
Speaker 1: There, it is there, it is back together again.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So he definitely has an incomplete at BC because
Speaker 2: he hasn't recruited a high school quarterback that has played
Speaker 2: a lot of time. He hit the portal relatively impressively
Speaker 2: with philder Kovic, though hurt for the majority of twenty
Speaker 2: twenty one. So I can sort of give BC and
Speaker 2: incomplete in terms of how it reflects on Jeff Haffley,
Speaker 2: but I like his staff a lot. I like the
Speaker 2: youth and energy from his staff, the recruiting, and I
Speaker 2: like his background both within the NFL and at Ohio
Speaker 2: State his short time at Ohio State. I like the youth.
Speaker 2: It's an incomplete though. This is much more of a
Speaker 2: a hope. This is much more of a ceiling thing
Speaker 2: and a potential thing. Like I could have gone Greg
Speaker 2: Schiano or Mike Leach right like Greg Ciano is definitely
Speaker 2: raising your floor one hundred percent, Mike Leach largely is.
Speaker 2: And you have the vision thing, and you have the
Speaker 2: track record thing that he's been there, done that, and
Speaker 2: so those are clear case to take either Leech or
Speaker 2: Chiano over Jeff Halfley. So I'm sort of banking on
Speaker 2: the unknown at this point that I think his teams
Speaker 2: play hard. I think he is going to be smart.
Speaker 2: I think he's going to be cutting edge. I think
Speaker 2: he's going to raise floor pretty quickly no matter where
Speaker 2: he goes, because I don't think he's necessarily long for
Speaker 2: Boston College. If he does win eight or nine games there,
Speaker 2: I think it's a difficult place to win. So for that,
Speaker 2: for those reasons, I'm going to roll the dice with
Speaker 2: Jeff Halfley, and I know BC fans aren't like fully
Speaker 2: enamored with him by and large just because of the
Speaker 2: inconsistent results his first two years. All that into consideration,
Speaker 2: I still am a believer in his reputation, in how
Speaker 2: the industry seems to view him, and say, I'm going
Speaker 2: I want him on my make believe squad. Okay, would
Speaker 2: you have taken somebody else over Halfley? Here? Would you
Speaker 2: have taken Jeff Trailer? Would you have taken and say, like, Okay,
Speaker 2: I know he has this. You know it's a he's
Speaker 2: a one state guy in Texas, right, I mean, I
Speaker 2: think he's been at Arkansas, but his the majority of
Speaker 2: his career has been in the lone star state that
Speaker 2: you know Shiano, you know, NFL coach for US of
Speaker 2: Nature hit the portal hard from major schools.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I you know I will grade Jeff Hafley
Speaker 1: against himself. Okay, because year one in twenty twenty I
Speaker 1: thought was very promising. Now, Jeff Hafley, keep in mind
Speaker 1: we've been talking about coaches took a big jump when
Speaker 1: it comes to win totals. Jeff Hafley was six and
Speaker 1: five in twenty twenty. He was six and six in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. Now there again, we have to color
Speaker 1: in different shades here because there are reasons for that.
Speaker 1: Phil Jerkovic went down. It changed the trajectory of this
Speaker 1: season in a pretty drastic way. They were really counting
Speaker 1: on him to be the guy. He came back later
Speaker 1: in the year. We could talk about what that meant
Speaker 1: to the team, what it didn't, but I think that's
Speaker 1: the reason for the incomplete I was gung ho on
Speaker 1: BC coming into this year, and a lot of people
Speaker 1: were You could squint and find a way to get
Speaker 1: them to ten and two. The over under in Vegas
Speaker 1: was seven, and I remember at the time when I
Speaker 1: did the preview for BC, I was all in on
Speaker 1: over seven. All in again, I could take the optimistic view.
Speaker 1: I'd give them ten wins. You could also look at
Speaker 1: the schedule and say this is maybe a five win team.
Speaker 1: In reality, because of the injury, they ended up being
Speaker 1: closer to the lower end of that. Right. He is
Speaker 1: a guy who What I liked about Jeff Halfley is
Speaker 1: in year one he did something very wise, had a
Speaker 1: transfer quarterback coming in, didn't know what we get out
Speaker 1: of field your COVID. But whereas a lot of coaches
Speaker 1: out there tried to run like the full playbook in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, Jeff Hafley just stripped the thing down. He
Speaker 1: went techmo super Bowl style. Let's just do a few
Speaker 1: things that we know we can master given the limitations
Speaker 1: of the season, and they did a great job with it. BC,
Speaker 1: even though they only had six wins, was a breakout
Speaker 1: success in twenty twenty because of the job that they
Speaker 1: did under Halfley had the injuries this season. He just
Speaker 1: feels like a guy who knows how to maximize talent
Speaker 1: and he's at a place like BC where they're never
Speaker 1: going to get five star recruits, not in droves, right,
Speaker 1: that's not the game that they're going to play in BC.
Speaker 1: But the fact that they've been competitive now in a
Speaker 1: manner that they have for two years running to varying degrees, Like,
Speaker 1: I just think that's a great job that he's done.
Speaker 1: So as I'm looking up and down the list here,
Speaker 1: you could probably convince me on Kaylin de Borr, who's
Speaker 1: my boy?
Speaker 2: You know, I love Kaylen to Borr, but I don't
Speaker 2: is he eligible for this exercise? I mean he's not
Speaker 2: at Presdent. He's not a second year he's not a
Speaker 2: second year coach. He's a first year coach.
Speaker 1: You could if we relax the rules, let's say zero zeroth, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you could. You could talk me into Kaitlin to bor Oh.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: But Jeff Trailer, I you know, I mean, Jeff Trailer
Speaker 1: did a good job. Jeff Trailer won five more games
Speaker 1: this season and last. I am not as high on
Speaker 1: Mike Leach. I'm not as high on Greg Chiano. I'm
Speaker 1: not as high on Mike Norvel. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you're high on Mike Norvel. But Brady Hoak, like somewhat,
Speaker 1: could we throw Brady Hoak in there? I still have
Speaker 1: I mean, I still a scar tissue from the Michigan experience.
Speaker 1: So yep, and Ricky Ronnie it was a great story,
Speaker 1: but he's a huge incomplete because they didn't even play
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty. I think the only answer here is
Speaker 1: Jeff Hafley.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, the good news for Jeff Hafley is
Speaker 2: I don't think Boston College lost any games they really
Speaker 2: should have won, which can be somewhat attributed to coaching,
Speaker 2: and they didn't. I don't did they win any games
Speaker 2: they should have lost, Like they just sort of were
Speaker 2: who they were, so in terms of identity, like Boston
Speaker 2: College was fine. I don't know, it's it's definitely incomplete
Speaker 2: to me, but yeah, I'm banking on upside here.
Speaker 1: Do we want to quickly talk through some of the
Speaker 1: other names. We've each got three coaches now right that
Speaker 1: we've broken down and as we kind of turn the
Speaker 1: corner here in the final ten minutes of the show, Yeah,
Speaker 1: there are some names that we haven't mentioned. So we've
Speaker 1: thrown at Jeff Trail or we can go into a
Speaker 1: little bit more detail about him. But I want to
Speaker 1: talk about Mike Leach because Mike Leach a well known
Speaker 1: figure in college football. You are very high in Mississippi
Speaker 1: State coming into this season. I was the Mississippi State
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty was four and seven. They went seven
Speaker 1: and six into twenty twenty one. I feel like seven
Speaker 1: and six is a bit of a disappointment cause you
Speaker 1: had much higher expectations for this team. I'm curious why
Speaker 1: Leech is still in the conversation for you win total
Speaker 1: went up right out about it jump by three, but
Speaker 1: at the same time, seven to six still feels like
Speaker 1: a bit of a disappointment relative to preseason expectations.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they were just kind of all over the place
Speaker 2: when you look at the wins that obviously the textas
Speaker 2: A and m one stands out beat in Kentucky the
Speaker 2: way that they'd like. There were impressive wins, but just
Speaker 2: that they would fall behind twenty eight to three, twenty
Speaker 2: eight seven and claw back in right they lose to
Speaker 2: LSU in that manner. You know, the Memphis game was
Speaker 2: kind of a nightmare. The Arkansas game was obviously winnable.
Speaker 2: I I don't know. The Bowl performance wasn't great, especially
Speaker 2: in an emotional spot for him. They improved over the
Speaker 2: course of you know, Mike Leach's tenure thus far, and
Speaker 2: they have a quarterback who seems to be more and
Speaker 2: more comfortable in this offense. They've got playmakers at receiver obviously,
Speaker 2: playmakers on defense. I just think that the inconsistency points
Speaker 2: to some sort of I don't know, messaging problem, an
Speaker 2: inspiration problem, a motivation problem. I don't know what it is,
Speaker 2: but I can't fully get on board knowing that there
Speaker 2: is that while that the team reflects the head coach
Speaker 2: and Mike Leach is nothing if not a wild card,
Speaker 2: and that's what Mississippi State seems to have been this
Speaker 2: past year. So the best of KLANGA is really fun
Speaker 2: and impressive and can hang with or beat most teams,
Speaker 2: but man, the depths, especially like last year when what
Speaker 2: they beat LSU they throw for all those yards the
Speaker 2: kJ costello and I mean obviously an awful and decimated
Speaker 2: LSU team, and then to completely fold the way that
Speaker 2: they did for the stretch through the middle of the season.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I'm just I don't think I would
Speaker 2: feel super comfortable at this point saying this is who
Speaker 2: I can count on if I'm Louisville, Virginia cal Like,
Speaker 2: I just I need more dependability and a little bit
Speaker 2: more recruiting for me.
Speaker 1: You know how many times Mike Leach has won double
Speaker 1: digits in his coaching career. He's been a head coach by.
Speaker 2: The way, right, he's gonna bring you to be an
Speaker 2: annoyingly competent team. He's good, too, great.
Speaker 1: Right. He's been a head coach at two notable stops,
Speaker 1: Texas Tech in Washington State. There's a bit of a
Speaker 1: layover between job one and job two, but only twice
Speaker 1: in his tenure as a head football coach has he
Speaker 1: won double digits, and each was in the second to
Speaker 1: last year of his tenure. The win total did go
Speaker 1: up for Mississippi State. But I guess my question is
Speaker 1: is that good enough? Is it good enough to be
Speaker 1: annoyingly competent? Is that a selling point for a coach
Speaker 1: to establish that base levels to ability where you're gonna
Speaker 1: win seven eight games a year? Is that good enough
Speaker 1: for Mississippi State at this juncture in college football?
Speaker 2: It's a good question. It's a good question. I can't
Speaker 2: wait to see year three. I can't wait to see
Speaker 2: a jump in year three. And the other two I
Speaker 2: think major names are Eli Drinkwitz and Mike Norvell. Those
Speaker 2: are good picks in theory. Those are two teams that
Speaker 2: were really down and out, and there's a lot to
Speaker 2: be encouraged about based on administrative moves within the team.
Speaker 2: Who has been added to the roster in the portal
Speaker 2: or what recruiting classes have looked like short of a
Speaker 2: major cornerback who opted for Jackson State, I hear you,
Speaker 2: But those are in theory, interesting names. So I just
Speaker 2: haven't seen enough on the field, Like if the best
Speaker 2: of Florida State is what the way they finished out
Speaker 2: the Miami game, the way that they finished out almost
Speaker 2: beating Notre Dame, Like, what what are we buying here
Speaker 2: with Florida State? And so yeah, Miszoo is much more
Speaker 2: hypothetical just because it's a more difficult job based on conference,
Speaker 2: based on recent track record. But yeah, you look at
Speaker 2: Florida State this past year. It's I yeah, it's pulling
Speaker 2: out Miami and almost pulling out Notre Dame, which is
Speaker 2: not amazing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Norvel thing to me, I it was a
Speaker 1: rocky start to his tenure. It was a very rocky
Speaker 1: start to his tenure. And certainly the way that year
Speaker 1: two started off, there were questions like is this guy
Speaker 1: gonna make it through the year? Start off owing four
Speaker 1: Boston Jacksonville State. Jacksonville State wasn't even a good FCS team,
Speaker 1: like it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, hard to draft that.
Speaker 1: It's tough to pick that. And I think he did
Speaker 1: an admirable job pulling it together after that, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: there's no two ways about it. Didn't make a bowl,
Speaker 1: but they at least had a chance to make a
Speaker 1: bowl game going into that Florida matchup. That was a
Speaker 1: close game that was a coin flip. Yeah, that Florida game,
Speaker 1: and they could have won that, so they pulled together late.
Speaker 1: It still feels to me like, given what we saw
Speaker 1: from him at Memphis, to be Trott and Jordan Travis
Speaker 1: out there is not what he wants to do. That's
Speaker 1: not his mo. So it remains to be seen to
Speaker 1: me if he can get more of his kind of
Speaker 1: quarterback in there, if that's going to reverse fortunes a
Speaker 1: bit on offense and and make this team just feel
Speaker 1: a lot different and get to different heights. The recruiting
Speaker 1: thing with Travis Hunter, Norvell was the victim of that
Speaker 1: this year. People were calling for his head because of it.
Speaker 1: There are gonna be other coaches that fall victim to
Speaker 1: this too. It's not Norvell just happened to be the first.
Speaker 2: Victim to a kid going to an HBC.
Speaker 1: I'm being dramatic. I'm being dramatic.
Speaker 2: I know you are.
Speaker 1: I know I'm being dramatic. You know where I'm where
Speaker 1: I'm at with this. But it will happen. Other kid's
Speaker 1: going to happen, Nick Saban. At some point, sure there'll
Speaker 1: be a kid who gets lured away, Maybe not by
Speaker 1: Jackson state, but by a different program because of nil money,
Speaker 1: like it's just going to happen. I'm just not sure
Speaker 1: if I have the level of confidence that this thing
Speaker 1: is going to turn around at all.
Speaker 2: Okay for him, fair enough.
Speaker 1: It The way they closed out the season was admirable
Speaker 1: to an extent, But that being said, there's still a
Speaker 1: lot of.
Speaker 2: Holes to fill for sure, and some they improved. I'm
Speaker 2: not sure the improvements there. It just it's a you know,
Speaker 2: the NBA is what a make and mis league? Yeah,
Speaker 2: everything's a win and lost league, and that's what that's
Speaker 2: what we need. That's all.
Speaker 1: Let me close it out very quickly by talking about
Speaker 1: Greg Ciano.
Speaker 2: I'd love to, as long as that the hypothetical school
Speaker 2: we're dealing with is in New Jersey. He's an interesting pick. Otherwise,
Speaker 2: who knows.
Speaker 1: I don't know, man, I I like Rutgers going out
Speaker 1: and get him. I don't typically like the retread, right,
Speaker 1: especially if it's a retread that's been there before. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't like going for the sequel. But Rutgers is
Speaker 1: at a unique disadvantage in the fact that it's supposed
Speaker 1: to be kind of like the easternmost anchor of one
Speaker 1: of the biggest conferences in college football. Fordham still may
Speaker 1: literally be the team of New York. Okay, we make
Speaker 1: that joke, but true. I don't know if anyone truly
Speaker 1: gives a damn about Rutgers football in the numbers of
Speaker 1: the big power. Yeah, it's just it's just not a thing.
Speaker 1: And so it's hard to kind of rebuild that. It's
Speaker 1: hard to recapture that magic, the pandemonium in Piscataway that
Speaker 1: he was part of way back when, over a decade ago.
Speaker 1: To kind of have that local knowledge and the experience
Speaker 1: of having done that once I think is very valuable
Speaker 1: at a place like Rutgers. And so he's already elevated
Speaker 1: and raised the floor. In year two they went from
Speaker 1: three wins to five and eight. With the Wonky Bowl situation, yep,
Speaker 1: I think they're getting better. They are at least far
Speaker 1: more competent than they were under the previous regime. So
Speaker 1: I like him there in terms of somebody that I
Speaker 1: would draft, He's a lot older than pretty much every
Speaker 1: name on this list. That works against him, for better
Speaker 1: or worse. If we're drafting, if we've got our two
Speaker 1: cents about who we're gonna who we're gonna take and
Speaker 1: when in what order? I like you said, outside of Jersey.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it plays, but at least in
Speaker 1: that very specific instance, he's done.
Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah, he'll raise your floor. And it's hard to
Speaker 2: gauge because the depths of Rutgers football are tremendous, uh,
Speaker 2: these past you know, basically ten years. So yeah, I
Speaker 2: think he'd raise your floor anywhere. I think he would
Speaker 2: field a good defense. He would hit the portal hard.
Speaker 2: He still has the you know, he coached in the
Speaker 2: NFL for a considerab amount of time or sometime. He's
Speaker 2: a name, he's a big name. It's just what has
Speaker 2: he proven in the modern era on any level in
Speaker 2: terms of success yet to be seen?
Speaker 1: Yet to be seen? All right, yep, right in, Soliverbalo
Speaker 1: atgmail dot com.
Speaker 2: Yeah, rank them.
Speaker 1: Let us know what we got right, what we got wrong.
Speaker 1: We'll be posting clips of this out across all of
Speaker 1: our social media platforms. Respond wherever, let us know your thoughts.
Speaker 1: Because very much a subjective exercise. But I thought a
Speaker 1: fitting thing to do now that we're through what amounts
Speaker 1: to year two or year one for many of these guys,
Speaker 1: especially since it was such a big talking point coming
Speaker 1: into the season. Right, there were so many unknowns, especially
Speaker 1: with these guys in their programs and the jobs that
Speaker 1: they did. So write and let us know what your
Speaker 1: thoughts are. Don't forget to subscribe and follow, rate and
Speaker 1: review the show. Going out to verballers dot com. That's
Speaker 1: our Patreon, Going out to solid Giveaway dot com. That's
Speaker 1: where you can compete, compete on don't know, enter the contest.
Speaker 1: You don't really have to compete to win. That signed
Speaker 1: Reggie Bush.
Speaker 2: Mini helmet in a way.
Speaker 1: In a way, alrighty Dan, fun show, as I'd like
Speaker 1: to say, that is good. I enjoyeda same for that
Speaker 1: guy there, my good friend Dan Rubinstein, for myself, Tie
Speaker 1: Hilton Brand, thank you so much for downloading, for listening,
Speaker 1: for playing along at home. We will be back next Tuesday.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, today saw peace