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Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbal.

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Speaker 2: Hell that for me.

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Speaker 1: I'm a man, I'm forty.

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Speaker 2: I've heard so many players say, well I want to

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Speaker 2: be happy. You want to be happy for a day?

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Speaker 2: Edith Steak is that woo woom? And Dan and Tye,

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Speaker 2: Hey everybody, and welcome to the solid verbal. My name

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Speaker 2: is Dan. Ty couldn't join today. He will be back soon,

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Speaker 2: I promise. But sometimes there are episodes where I just

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Speaker 2: I elbow tie out of the way, like Anthony Mason,

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Speaker 2: or look, this is an LA guest, so like Eldon Campbell. Right,

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Speaker 2: I don't know how far back I need to go

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Speaker 2: to really hit the sweet spot of Ryan Abraham USC

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Speaker 2: football dot Com, Like who is the Laker that you

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Speaker 2: have a soft spot for on the low block?

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Speaker 1: On the low that's a good question.

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Speaker 3: I mean I don't like a Rambus. A Rambus was

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Speaker 3: the energy that was there. He was always great. I

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Speaker 3: mean Michael Cooper, how wasn't as big of a Cooper

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Speaker 3: guy like everybody like Rambus.

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Speaker 1: But I mean when you go like.

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Speaker 3: To the shock kind of people like that's like, you know,

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Speaker 3: as far as put bullying people around, bringing down the

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Speaker 3: backboards and stuff like.

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Speaker 1: He was always fun to watch. It's how to go

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Speaker 1: to Laker games whenever you can.

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Speaker 2: I'll transition and I'll segue this really easily because USC

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Speaker 2: football at times was a situation that everybody hated and

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Speaker 2: must have been the biggest, absolute joy to watch at

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Speaker 2: the absolute heyday. And I felt that way about Shack

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Speaker 2: and being a Laker fan like the late nineties, early

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Speaker 2: two thousand years, Like, I get why you hate this,

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Speaker 2: but as somebody invested in the success of it, it rules.

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Speaker 2: It is a complete joy every night that he could

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Speaker 2: destroy equipment. He's so dominant and I love them, so

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Speaker 2: it's good.

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Speaker 1: He's great on too, so it's wonderful him and by

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Speaker 1: are awesome.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely is all right. I'm bearing the lead here

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Speaker 2: because Ryan Abraham is the publisher, longtime publisher, and face

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Speaker 2: of USC football dot com, which sounds like an official

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Speaker 2: site because it is just not for the team but

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Speaker 2: for now the twenty four to seven sports affiliates, the

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Speaker 2: headquarters of all things the host co host of the

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Speaker 2: Paristyle podcast, a true, true pioneer in the college football

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Speaker 2: podcasting landscape. You've been doing this for how long now?

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Speaker 1: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: I think the same year you guys started with that

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Speaker 3: and then yeah, yeah, because we were back I remember

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Speaker 3: back in the day. I forget where you were working,

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Speaker 3: but you were maybe the SI stuff, and we were

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Speaker 3: like comparing our Twitter followers. We probably had a couple

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Speaker 3: of thousand at the time or something. I think you've

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Speaker 3: you've kind of beat me by then, but like, yeah,

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Speaker 3: that was early on, early on, like two thousand and eight.

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Speaker 3: Like it was mostly because if you're you know, you're

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Speaker 3: a la la person.

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Speaker 1: This is a pro sports town.

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Speaker 3: And I would do radio across the country, like the

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Speaker 3: station from Omaha or Tallahassee would call you because USC

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Speaker 3: was good and they would want to talk and it

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Speaker 3: was hard to get on the local sports radio. So like, oh,

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Speaker 3: I don't know what podcasting is, let me try that.

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Speaker 3: So that's that's basically little I started.

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Speaker 2: I love it. I love it. Yeah, it was basically

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Speaker 2: I didn't know that college football podcasting existed when Ty

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Speaker 2: and I started, and we're like, well, we might as

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Speaker 2: well do it. And Ty had a background a little

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Speaker 2: bit in audio production, so that's why we did it,

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Speaker 2: and so we came across each other very early on.

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Speaker 2: But we're having you on. I'm having you on today

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Speaker 2: because USC after a little bit of time, and these

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Speaker 2: are your words in the Baine Dungeon in terms of

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Speaker 2: college football success and relevance and excitement has crawled out

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Speaker 2: and has seen the light of day because they've hired

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Speaker 2: a new coach. And I turned to you because I

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Speaker 2: have all sorts of questions about the process and the

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Speaker 2: outlook and the feeling and where this is all going.

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Speaker 2: But and I jotted down a number of things. The

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Speaker 2: most important thing that I want to know because I'm

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Speaker 2: from the area and you have been in the area

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Speaker 2: for quite some time. We saw Brian Kelly put on

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Speaker 2: a voice at a basketball game in Baton Rouge. We're like,

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Speaker 2: you're not from the South, but you just said family.

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Speaker 2: Has it come to pass that Lincoln Riley has now

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Speaker 2: accidentally taken on like a South Bay Southern cow Like.

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Speaker 2: Has he pulled you aside and said, bro, should we

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Speaker 2: get burritos at LBJ and go to to mescal or

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Speaker 2: what like? Has that happened?

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Speaker 3: That would be awesome if once we start talking to

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Speaker 3: him about which freeways he needs to take to get

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Speaker 3: to wherever he's going. Yeah, he takes the four h

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Speaker 3: five to the like. If he starts talking that way,

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Speaker 3: for sure, he did. He was on I think it

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Speaker 3: was on the PAC twelve network. He was on with

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Speaker 3: Ubi Roth on signing day and he did reveal that

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Speaker 3: he surfs so well. I don't know where that came

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Speaker 3: from from Texas coaching in Oklahoma. I mean, maybe with

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Speaker 3: just Stint on the East Coast or something, but he

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Speaker 3: said he does surf. Wow, we're gonna get to talk

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Speaker 3: to him. It'll be our first a little bit later

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Speaker 3: today when we're recording this the first press conference with

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Speaker 3: him outside of like the pomp and circumstance one that

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Speaker 3: he did at the top of the coliseum. This will

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Speaker 3: just be sort of a regular one with the local

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Speaker 3: beat about the early signing period and show.

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Speaker 1: But it seems to be fitting in so far.

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Speaker 3: But I don't know if he stopped when you the

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Speaker 3: early signing period makes things everything's crazy, you know, they

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Speaker 3: had to host official visitors and hire a staff and

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Speaker 3: all those things. While he's watching practice, like he watched

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Speaker 3: USC practice for the col game, the last game of

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Speaker 3: the season that was postponed the championship weekend. Two teams

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Speaker 3: are working to make a ball. So it was a

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Speaker 3: really weird couple of weeks with him. But I don't

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Speaker 3: think he's done anything like what Brian Kelly did down at.

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Speaker 2: L Yeah, that's yeah. Point unfortunately, yeah, no, unfortunately.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: When he comes up with thoughts about the one to ten,

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Speaker 2: he's like, actually, got to get off at this exit, dude,

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Speaker 2: that's the move. That's the pro move. Get off at six.

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Speaker 2: That's You're like, oh, man, you are it's your one

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Speaker 2: of us, You are one of us. When you start

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Speaker 2: having those opinions, all right, Uh, when did this all start? When?

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Speaker 2: Because Clay Hilton has been sort of a you know,

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Speaker 2: dead man walking is probably a cruel term, but the

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Speaker 2: idea of Clay Hilton as the long term USC football

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Speaker 2: coach was not an especially realistic one for quite some time.

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Speaker 2: And the Bedlam Game happened, Oklahoma losing, and in a

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Speaker 2: matter of hours, the story of Lincoln rally coming to

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Speaker 2: La breaks. And he's talked about it that it came

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Speaker 2: together quite quickly, But it is my belief that contracts

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Speaker 2: in the dozens and dozens of million dollars with very

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Speaker 2: specific perks and bonuses are not negotiated in a number

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Speaker 2: of hours. So obviously USC was looking for quite some time.

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Speaker 2: Because they fired Clay Hilton early on in the season.

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Speaker 2: Just if it's a guess, it's if it's an educated guess.

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Speaker 2: How long was the flirtation between Lincoln Riley's people and

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Speaker 2: usc going back and forth.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so I think you could look at a number

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Speaker 3: of different ways. One, I mean, it starts with the leadership,

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Speaker 3: and they had Mike Bowen come over from Cincinnati. His

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Speaker 3: chief of staff is a younger guy, Brandon Sasna, who's

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Speaker 3: an up and coming star in the league, and we

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Speaker 3: talked to him. He had looked at Lincoln Riley back

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Speaker 3: in twenty fourteen, you know, when they were at there.

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Speaker 3: So he's someone that they've had their eye on for

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Speaker 3: a while now. He told us that Lincoln Riley didn't

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Speaker 3: return their call. At the time, no one knew really,

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Speaker 3: I said, Bob Stoops was going to retire and then

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Speaker 3: Lincoln Riley was going to take over the Oklahoma program.

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Speaker 3: But that's someone that's kind of been on their radar

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Speaker 3: for a while. As far as like when they came

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Speaker 3: down with this, I feel like this was kind of

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Speaker 3: like a Hail Mary last minute thing that there was

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Speaker 3: probably feelers put out there, probably agents being contacted, but

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Speaker 3: were they really going to like pull the trigger on

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Speaker 3: Lincoln Riley. You know, we asked Brandon about the Bedlam game.

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Speaker 3: If it goes the other way, if they don't get

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Speaker 3: that PI call or whatever and Oklahoma wins, he's probably.

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Speaker 1: Not going to be the head coach at USC.

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Speaker 3: And I think, you know Tim Tesslon, the UC sports

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Speaker 3: information director, I was talking to him. He's actually retiring

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Speaker 3: after forty three years. He's like the Hall of Fame

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Speaker 3: and all this stuff. But he was out the breakfast.

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Speaker 3: I think it was a Bill's Pancac house Manhattan Beach.

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Speaker 1: You're familiar.

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Speaker 3: Of course, they flew his family in, like his daughter

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Speaker 3: from New York because he was retiring. So they were

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Speaker 3: at the cow game and you know, they brought his

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Speaker 3: son actually lives like a few houses away from me

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Speaker 3: and Hermosa Beach.

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Speaker 1: Us family out.

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Speaker 3: His wife was there and they were going to breakfast

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Speaker 3: Sunday morning. So this is when things were starting to

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Speaker 3: break and you know, Brandon gives him a call like,

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Speaker 3: we need another bio written for Lincoln Riley. So he

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Speaker 3: had a lot of bios written for potential head coaches,

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Speaker 3: and we know Tim told us just you know that

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Speaker 3: Lincoln Riley wasn't one of them, so there could have

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Speaker 3: been probably like some sort of talks, but I don't

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Speaker 3: think they really realized this could happen until things started

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Speaker 3: to fall into place that Saturday night and then in

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Speaker 3: Sunday morning, and even you know, Alex Grinch comes out

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Speaker 3: on and Dennis Simmons come out on the plane with

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Speaker 3: him from Oklahoma.

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Speaker 1: Neither of them have even.

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Speaker 3: Had contracts at the time, so it was I think

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Speaker 3: it does come together quickly, but I know some people

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Speaker 3: get tied up in the semantics. But at least the

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Speaker 3: sports information person didn't realize that he was a candidate

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Speaker 3: because he didn't have a bio written at that morning.

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Speaker 2: What other bios were written, They don't.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, they don't really tell us that kind of stuff.

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Speaker 2: If you would say, yes, if you had to put

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Speaker 2: a few Abraham Shekels down, which bios may or may

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Speaker 2: not have been written, just as possibilities.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's like coming from the Luke Fickle. You know,

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Speaker 3: everyone think, you know, I think you have to have

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Speaker 3: that one. But I think they realized too that he

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Speaker 3: just seems to be like an Ohio guy and it

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Speaker 3: wasn't going to go there. We heard some real rumblings

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Speaker 3: with the Dave Randa stuff that came on later. But

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Speaker 3: I feel like when you talk to Brandon, you talked

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Speaker 3: to Mike they I mean, this wasn't going to be

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Speaker 3: about a flash in the pan sort of thing. If

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Speaker 3: you look at like USC's basketball coach who's doing really well,

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Speaker 3: they're like in the top ten right now, Andy Enfield,

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Speaker 3: But when they hired him and Pat Hayden hired him,

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Speaker 3: it was because they made a Sweet sixteen run with

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Speaker 3: Florida belf Coast, Like that didn't seem to be their

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Speaker 3: mo That was more about, like, if you look at

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Speaker 3: like a James Franklin, who I think they were were

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Speaker 3: looking at for sure, what did he do at a

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Speaker 3: place like Vanderbilt And what did were they like before?

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Speaker 3: What were they like afterwards? Vannerbilt was terrible for many, many,

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Speaker 3: many many years. Then they were good for three years

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Speaker 3: when he was there, and they've been terrible since, Like

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Speaker 3: they haven't won as many SEC games since you know,

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Speaker 3: Franklin left than they did the three years when he

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Speaker 3: was there. So that's more about sustain success. So that's

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Speaker 3: why the Dave Randa thing might have been a little

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Speaker 3: because he didn't you had an okay first year of

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Speaker 3: not that good first year and then a really good

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Speaker 3: second year. Yeah, but we did hear there was some

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Speaker 3: momentum with him and like a Matt Campbell for sure.

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Speaker 3: They kept to be To give those guys credit, they

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Speaker 3: kept us way closer to the vest than really any

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Speaker 3: other administration before. Like we could talk to a lot

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Speaker 3: of people that work in the athletic department and they

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Speaker 3: what everyone would tell you what they were hearing. It

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Speaker 3: was pretty much, you know, unless you were Mike Bone

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Speaker 3: to Brandon Sasa, like, they weren't really talking to people.

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Speaker 3: So even the people that work in the department so

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Speaker 3: much more professionally done. But I think those are the

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Speaker 3: probably three of the bigger names that would have been

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Speaker 3: on that list.

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Speaker 2: Gotcha now, I wanted to ask about the Mic Bone difference.

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Speaker 2: Obviously kept things close to the vest because it you know,

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Speaker 2: the Lincoln Riley name popped and nobody had really considered

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Speaker 2: it or thought about it and looked at it as

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Speaker 2: a possibility. So during this search, what has been the difference?

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Speaker 2: I think obviously the quiet nature of it. But what

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Speaker 2: makes Mike Bone more of a professional than Pat Hayden,

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Speaker 2: Lynn Swan, you know, to the back end of the

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Speaker 2: Mike Garrett era. What has been the difference in your eyes?

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Speaker 3: So, I mean just hiring somebody that's good at their

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Speaker 3: job is something that USC avoided at all costs for

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Speaker 3: whatever reasons.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean it's so bizarre, like.

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Speaker 3: Let's get a former football player to be the athletic director.

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Speaker 3: Literally for like thirty years they had former football players

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Speaker 3: as the athletic director. And Mike, you know, Mike Garrett

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Speaker 3: made the Pete Carroll hire. He was working in the

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Speaker 3: athletic department when they promoted him. But Pat Hayden and

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Speaker 3: Lint Swan had no college administrative experience whatsoever, and really

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Speaker 3: just the only reason they were hired was because they

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Speaker 3: were former football players. And I feel like Dan, there

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Speaker 3: was just this terrible kind of environment in the athletic department.

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Speaker 3: They were successful, but they sort of just did everything

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Speaker 3: their own way. It was very insular, and when you

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Speaker 3: bring in someone from the outside that doesn't know anything

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Speaker 3: about what's going on, they don't come in and say

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Speaker 3: here's how we're going to do things. They say, hey,

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Speaker 3: how do you guys do things? And I think that's

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Speaker 3: what they wanted to just continue on. But that's just

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Speaker 3: going to deterior It's like, you know, termites eating at

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Speaker 3: the building, and so then you just go out and

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Speaker 3: I don't know if Mike Bone's going to be a

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Speaker 3: great athletic director. I mean, this is a great hire,

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Speaker 3: for sure, that's the most important job you can do.

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Speaker 3: But he was at least someone that's been there before.

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Speaker 3: He's worked in the Pac twelve had you know, great

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Speaker 3: success at Cincinnati. At least hiring Luke Fickle. And you

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Speaker 3: bring someone in that's going to have their own like

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Speaker 3: they've seen things before, They've like, oh, I've made that

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Speaker 3: mistake before. Here's we're going to do this differently. And

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Speaker 3: I always felt like you get a real athletic director

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Speaker 3: that comes in, he would look around and go, Okay,

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Speaker 3: why are you doing that? That's horrible idea, Never do

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Speaker 3: that again. Like there's a lot of that stuff. I

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Speaker 3: think that was going on in the athletic department. They

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Speaker 3: had to fix. So they fixed it up. The fans

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Speaker 3: really wanted them to fire clay out in a couple

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Speaker 3: of years ago. Their mo was, we need to like

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Speaker 3: get everything in order in our house so we can

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Speaker 3: attract a great coach. If they fired clayout two years ago,

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Speaker 3: I don't think they're getting the caliber of a guy

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Speaker 3: like Lincoln Riley. So, yes, things have gone downhill for

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Speaker 3: the last couple of years, but they I think it

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Speaker 3: was a bet on themselves and I think it paid

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Speaker 3: off because it's while they fixed everything and then you

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Speaker 3: allow a guy like Lincoln Riley to come to USC.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I imagine you were one of those

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Speaker 2: people critical of retaining Clay Hilton without fully knowing the vision.

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Speaker 2: Which is fair, right, if you don't know the vision

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Speaker 2: of Mike Bone and you're being critical, it's totally fair

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Speaker 2: that you don't, you know, see the big picture until

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Speaker 2: it all becomes a little bit more clear. And I

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Speaker 2: think to your point that it's Mike Bone not just

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Speaker 2: having the experience. But it's like, this is what you

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Speaker 2: look for in a deputy. This this is what you

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Speaker 2: look for in a deputy that this is what you

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Speaker 2: look for in somebody overseeing basketball. This is you know,

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Speaker 2: and it's one of those things where if you're attracting,

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Speaker 2: if you're looking to attract a coach, and there were

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Speaker 2: stories about urban Meyer being interested but not really seeing

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Speaker 2: the resource allocation and not really seeing that this is

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Speaker 2: a serious program from the top down that you do

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Speaker 2: have to get things in order, because it doesn't matter

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Speaker 2: if you bring in Lincoln Riley, because if the foundation

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Speaker 2: is cracked and not ready to compete for PAC twelve

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Speaker 2: and beyond championships, he's not going to do it. And

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Speaker 2: I think that's what became the most obvious these past

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Speaker 2: couple of years.

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Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, no, I agree.

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Speaker 3: And you find like when they came in and you

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Speaker 3: start to talk to these guys and they were very accessible,

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Speaker 3: Like lind Swan wouldn't I mean, he didn't talk to

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Speaker 3: people that worked for him.

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Speaker 1: It was it was very strange.

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Speaker 3: Like you would talk to be like yeah, Linzwan doesn't

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Speaker 3: even return my calls, and like, oh, you work in

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Speaker 3: the department. There was just a bizarre higher altogether. But

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Speaker 3: these guys, I think they were very upfront about things,

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Speaker 3: and they would talk about, you know, some of the

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Speaker 3: problems and you know there was some low hanging fruit

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Speaker 3: there that they could fix. You know, they would talk

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Speaker 3: about hitting singles. They would come in and fix some things.

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Speaker 3: Like USC is one of three schools that had never

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Speaker 3: played an FCS program, and they decided to schedule for

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Speaker 3: this season UC Davis. They didn't really need to, but

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Speaker 3: they wanted to get more home games and the fans

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Speaker 3: didn't like it, and so the athletic department comes in,

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Speaker 3: they paid a bunch of extra money and they schedule

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Speaker 3: Saturday stay instead and it's like, oh, that's like hitting

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Speaker 3: a single. You they and get rid of Clay held

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Speaker 3: Lintz want had banned the song girls from basketball game

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Speaker 3: for some reason, that the USA cheerleaders and just stupid

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Speaker 3: stuff like that that you can go in and there

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Speaker 3: was a lot of things that you could fix if

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Speaker 3: you come into a program that's sort of a dumpster fire,

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Speaker 3: if you know, there's a lot of there's a lot

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Speaker 3: of upside there, right, So I think the Athletic Department

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Speaker 3: could do that.

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Speaker 1: The problem is they had that white whale.

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Speaker 3: They had the they had the one thing that they

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Speaker 3: needed to do, which was getting rid of Clay Helton

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Speaker 3: and not realizing that Linz wanted to give them this

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Speaker 3: like fully guaranteed extension and all this stuff. But I

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Speaker 3: think they were very patient about it and being able

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Speaker 3: to go through and like you said, sort of build

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Speaker 3: that infrastructure that was needed. A lot of things needed

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Speaker 3: to happen, and I do think that they were betting

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Speaker 3: on themselves where it would be they lost a lot

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Speaker 3: of money.

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Speaker 1: I think there was a lot of fanatthy We.

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Speaker 3: Were talking about off people that were canceling season tickets

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Speaker 3: and they just re renovated the coliseum and people were

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Speaker 3: just out of it. We saw it, you know, on

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Speaker 3: our website there's just less people listening to our shows

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Speaker 3: or reading our articles, and that's changed completely. So I

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Speaker 3: feel like this was like they felt they felt there

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Speaker 3: was a lot of criticism coming their way for people

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Speaker 3: like us on the fans, and they sort of like,

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Speaker 3: but you know, we're biding their time. They did the

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Speaker 3: right things, They did their right way. Now if they

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Speaker 3: would have got like Luke Fickle or Matt Campbell or something,

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Speaker 3: it's still be great. Like this is the you know,

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Speaker 3: professional hire. You actually hired an experience head coach, and

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Speaker 3: then they went above and beyond and ended up getting

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Speaker 3: like a Lick and Riley, which no one even expected

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Speaker 3: was possible. So it was, you know, they bet on

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Speaker 3: themselves and I think it paid off.

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Speaker 2: You mentioned the remodeling and renovation of the coliseum. What

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Speaker 2: other resources have been poured into the program in terms

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Speaker 2: of facilities, in terms of you know, a recruiting department.

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Speaker 2: A lot has been written about how I think it

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Speaker 2: was Antonio Morales for the athletic talking about what USC

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Speaker 2: actually looks like inside the program compared to some other programs.

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Speaker 2: According to you know, the parents of recruits and people

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Speaker 2: who've been around a number of programs, How is USC

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Speaker 2: up that or planning on upping that to sort of

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Speaker 2: meet where I mean Ohio, State, Alabama, even on the

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Speaker 2: west coast Oregon, Like what is USC? What wheels are

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Speaker 2: in motion or have already been put in place to

387
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Speaker 2: more I guess professionalize the USC operation.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so they upgraded probably almost ten years ago now,

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Speaker 3: which is like an eternity. They built the John McKay Center,

390
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Speaker 3: which is an athletic center which closed off to everyone

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Speaker 3: but the athletes. They have like little thumb prints and

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Speaker 3: stuff to get in, which is really nice. They had

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Speaker 3: an indoor practice facility like for the first time, you know,

394
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Speaker 3: improved weight room and all that kind of stuff. But

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Speaker 3: it's not you know, right now, you need a football

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Speaker 3: only facility. And so one of the promises it was

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Speaker 3: made to Lincoln Riley, was that there was going to

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Speaker 3: be facility upgrades. We don't have any specifics on what

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Speaker 3: that's going to be. And it's an urban campus, you know,

400
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Speaker 3: there's just very limited real estate of what you're doing

401
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Speaker 3: when you're working at USC and so I'm not sure

402
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Speaker 3: what those players are going to be, but I feel

403
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Speaker 3: like the next step is going to be something as

404
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Speaker 3: far as physical buildings and stuff goes a football only

405
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Speaker 3: facility to try to keep up with some of the.

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Speaker 1: Other programs that are out there.

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Speaker 3: But they did invest a lot into the staff and

408
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Speaker 3: the infrastructure, you know, the video teams and all that stuff,

409
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Speaker 3: you know, social media. They were really doing it. You

410
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Speaker 3: know this kind of like half heartedly for a lot

411
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Speaker 3: of the stuff. We're like, oh, you can do this job,

412
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Speaker 3: and and you can make the Instagram posts and stuff too.

413
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Speaker 3: A lot of and you know Clemson or whatever you

414
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Speaker 3: have like teams of twenty thirty people doing all these things.

415
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Speaker 3: So they've up their game. I think of all that

416
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Speaker 3: stuff as far as outward presence on social media with

417
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Speaker 3: a lot of the you know, the prospects seem to

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Speaker 3: like producing videos and things like that, and then just

419
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Speaker 3: really hiring more support staff people. I think they when

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Speaker 3: you know, Clay Hilton was first around, they had a

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Speaker 3: couple of like recruiting assistants.

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Speaker 1: And now they've you know, they've uped that up.

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Speaker 3: They've gone out like the different programs and hired you know,

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Speaker 3: bigger name, you know, support staff people. So I think

425
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Speaker 3: they've done a pretty good job of all that, but

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Speaker 3: there's going to be some limitations as far as like

427
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Speaker 3: what do you have on campus. I remember back in

428
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Speaker 3: the day, you know, Pete Carroll when they first took over,

429
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Speaker 3: his strength coach was Chris Carlisle, and they had their

430
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Speaker 3: weight room was it was probably the worst in you know,

431
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Speaker 3: like the Power five. And I remember sitting in is

432
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Speaker 3: like literally the strict coach at USC. They're like winning

433
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Speaker 3: national championships in this really small, little like closet, like

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Speaker 3: and Reggie Bush is like doing bench presses right outside

435
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Speaker 3: of his room and he's telling me like, yeah, we

436
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Speaker 3: came in and like, hey, we need better facilities. And

437
00:19:17,080 --> 00:19:19,159
Speaker 3: they're like, well, go win a pac twelve championship. So

438
00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:21,840
Speaker 3: they did, and they're like, well, go win a national championship.

439
00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:22,240
Speaker 1: So they did.

440
00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:24,120
Speaker 3: And they're like, well, you're already one one. You don't

441
00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:27,239
Speaker 3: really need to upgrade facilities. But they eventually did, but

442
00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:28,320
Speaker 3: it was just sort of like that.

443
00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:29,119
Speaker 1: Battle that was going on.

444
00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:32,199
Speaker 3: It's like USC sort of like isolated in Los Angeles,

445
00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:34,680
Speaker 3: like you're on the West coast. There's no Georgia or

446
00:19:34,760 --> 00:19:37,480
Speaker 3: Florida or anyone down the street. And they were really good,

447
00:19:37,480 --> 00:19:39,080
Speaker 3: but they could kind of do it their own way.

448
00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:41,399
Speaker 3: College football is it's just so much bigger now, like

449
00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:43,600
Speaker 3: you can't just we're gonna keep doing it our way.

450
00:19:43,680 --> 00:19:46,600
Speaker 3: So we'll see what they do facility wise. But sorry,

451
00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:47,600
Speaker 3: long answer there, Dad.

452
00:19:48,359 --> 00:19:50,439
Speaker 2: And something I thought about, by the way, as you

453
00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:53,160
Speaker 2: mentioned USC being squarely in the middle of downtown LA,

454
00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:56,560
Speaker 2: it's a lot more expensive to pay support staffers in

455
00:19:56,720 --> 00:20:02,840
Speaker 2: LA than it is in Eugene, Columbus, Norman, any basically anywhere.

456
00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:05,000
Speaker 2: Maybe at Boston College might be expensive, but even that's

457
00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:08,800
Speaker 2: outside of Boston. Like the sixty k, the seventy k,

458
00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:11,600
Speaker 2: the fifty two k that you can pay a video

459
00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:15,119
Speaker 2: guy or whatever, it does not go particularly far in

460
00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:18,680
Speaker 2: LA and you're not living anywhere near the USC camp

461
00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:21,000
Speaker 2: is really for that type of money. And it's something

462
00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:23,640
Speaker 2: that right, it's it's the resource allocation. They're like, oh,

463
00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:26,040
Speaker 2: we need to put in this much more for the

464
00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:28,120
Speaker 2: same number of heads that other places have.

465
00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:32,520
Speaker 3: It's true and even with assistant coaches. So yeah, like

466
00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:35,680
Speaker 3: maybe you're a dB coach making like two hundred grand

467
00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:38,760
Speaker 3: a year or something like if you're living at ames Iowa,

468
00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:41,480
Speaker 3: like you probably have a mansion. You know, in La

469
00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:44,439
Speaker 3: you got a two bedroom apartment. So it's just and

470
00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:47,879
Speaker 3: depends where you're living. So it's definitely different and it's

471
00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:49,920
Speaker 3: a different feel, but you're selling I think they're doing

472
00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:52,320
Speaker 3: a pretty good job of selling that experience, like the

473
00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:55,360
Speaker 3: Hollywood thing and all that, and you know, they're now

474
00:20:55,400 --> 00:20:57,879
Speaker 3: bringing recruits over to Sofi Stadium, which is you know,

475
00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:00,159
Speaker 3: this cool thing. They put the video boards all that

476
00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:03,440
Speaker 3: stuff up there. So I think there's positives and negatives obviously,

477
00:21:03,440 --> 00:21:06,320
Speaker 3: but it's the resources you have to you're going to

478
00:21:06,359 --> 00:21:08,920
Speaker 3: be spending more money because it's not if you're bringing

479
00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:11,240
Speaker 3: a video guy in or even you know, grad assistants

480
00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:13,520
Speaker 3: that are trying to you know, get pied just basically

481
00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:17,360
Speaker 3: going to college. It's not it's not you know, inexpensive

482
00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:19,560
Speaker 3: to live there. So there's not a lot of big

483
00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:22,600
Speaker 3: city college campuses like that, you know Miami USC, you know,

484
00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:26,040
Speaker 3: UCLA another one. But yes, you don't put more resources

485
00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:27,560
Speaker 3: into it to get those guys in.

486
00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:30,960
Speaker 2: I want to talk human resources. What's on USC's roster

487
00:21:31,119 --> 00:21:33,240
Speaker 2: right now. I mean, this is a team that lost

488
00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:35,680
Speaker 2: what's six of seven, seven of eight to finish out

489
00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:38,479
Speaker 2: the year, and obviously there has been a mix of

490
00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:42,600
Speaker 2: kind of great on paper recruiting classes and super disappointing

491
00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:46,000
Speaker 2: recruiting classes. What is the state of the roster? Where

492
00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:48,760
Speaker 2: is it interesting? Where is it thin? What is Lincoln

493
00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:51,880
Speaker 2: Riley ahead of, you know, whoever he might bring in

494
00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:54,560
Speaker 2: the rest of the recruiting class and through the portal?

495
00:21:54,960 --> 00:21:56,200
Speaker 2: What is he dealing with right now?

496
00:21:56,760 --> 00:21:59,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's very influx and I think you're seeing that,

497
00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:02,720
Speaker 3: I mean across college football. But whenever you have a

498
00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:05,720
Speaker 3: coaching change, it's going to happen. And it's you know,

499
00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:08,120
Speaker 3: I think Lincoln Riley said, it's like signing day every

500
00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:10,639
Speaker 3: day when you're talking about the transfer portal, because guys

501
00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:13,119
Speaker 3: can come in, yeah, guys can go out. I think

502
00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:16,159
Speaker 3: they're going to hit it pretty hard. Dan. There's you know,

503
00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:18,760
Speaker 3: they they got you know, a handful of commitments and

504
00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:21,119
Speaker 3: they were able to like get a ray Leak Brown,

505
00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:24,000
Speaker 3: the five star running back to switch to USC.

506
00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:25,440
Speaker 1: They got a couple other guys.

507
00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:27,240
Speaker 3: That are on the hook for but it just wasn't

508
00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:30,320
Speaker 3: going to be a big high school class, so there's

509
00:22:30,359 --> 00:22:33,119
Speaker 3: going to be more guys going into the transfer portal.

510
00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:36,440
Speaker 3: Now we've seen some bigger name USC players go in

511
00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:39,120
Speaker 3: the transfer portal, like starting with Keton Slovas, the you know,

512
00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:44,120
Speaker 3: he's preseason All Pac twelve quarterback. Essentially, Jackson Dart sort

513
00:22:44,119 --> 00:22:45,359
Speaker 3: of surpassed him there.

514
00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:48,199
Speaker 2: I mean, what happened about Jack's by the way, what

515
00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:49,680
Speaker 2: happened with Keaton Slovas.

516
00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:53,399
Speaker 3: I mean, it's a great question because he was in

517
00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:55,280
Speaker 3: twenty nineteen an absolute stud.

518
00:22:55,359 --> 00:22:59,760
Speaker 1: Graham Harrow comes in. The offense looks unstoppable.

519
00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:01,760
Speaker 3: At times, and they you know, he had four different

520
00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:03,879
Speaker 3: games I think throwing for four hundred yards against UCLA,

521
00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:07,160
Speaker 3: he had four receivers going for four hundred yards. They

522
00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:10,320
Speaker 3: you know, losing three wide receivers essentially to the NFL

523
00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:11,960
Speaker 3: and having Drake London this year.

524
00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:13,520
Speaker 1: Drake London was an.

525
00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:15,440
Speaker 3: NFL guy, but you know, he's kind of by himself

526
00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:17,800
Speaker 3: out there. He ends up getting hurt in Game eight

527
00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:21,000
Speaker 3: and that didn't help. But I think overall, the offense

528
00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:24,000
Speaker 3: wasn't It was very simple, but it seemed like defense

529
00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:25,560
Speaker 3: is sort of caught up with it, like there was

530
00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:27,800
Speaker 3: just all this talk about hey, run the grass and

531
00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:30,680
Speaker 3: we'll throw you the ball. They weren't scheming guys open

532
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:32,560
Speaker 3: like Drake London. You know, he still led the Pac

533
00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:36,280
Speaker 3: twelve and receiving after you yeah, missing the last four games,

534
00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:38,200
Speaker 3: but he led the nation. I think he still does

535
00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:41,560
Speaker 3: in contested catches, and that's that's good that he can

536
00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:43,680
Speaker 3: do that, but it's probably not good that he has

537
00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:46,760
Speaker 3: to do that. Where you love college college offenses, like

538
00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:48,760
Speaker 3: everyone sort of runs this way, like the tight end

539
00:23:48,760 --> 00:23:49,800
Speaker 3: comes out that way and he's.

540
00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:50,960
Speaker 1: Wide open, you throw the ball.

541
00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:54,800
Speaker 3: You're not seeing that from USC, So it didn't seem

542
00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:57,719
Speaker 3: like offensively the scheme was helping King slow us all

543
00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:00,960
Speaker 3: that much. And you know, he got injured and he

544
00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:02,679
Speaker 3: was just kind of banged up a little bit. His

545
00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:04,760
Speaker 3: confidence I think got hurt. You now he's in the

546
00:24:04,760 --> 00:24:07,280
Speaker 3: trench Reportal, we'll see. He does love Graham Harrell. He

547
00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:11,119
Speaker 3: might end up wherever Graham Harrol ends up, but that

548
00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:13,000
Speaker 3: was where and they love Jackson Dart and they needed

549
00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:16,200
Speaker 3: some kind of He was a you know, freshman from Draper,

550
00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:18,360
Speaker 3: Utah who end up being the Gatorade Player of the year,

551
00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:20,679
Speaker 3: wasn't really recruit all that much as a junior and

552
00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:22,959
Speaker 3: one of the few West Coast guys it was actually

553
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:25,880
Speaker 3: able to play his senior season because Utah played college

554
00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:28,000
Speaker 3: I mean high school football, and then he blew up

555
00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:30,320
Speaker 3: and then you know, he became a fan favorite, and

556
00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:31,879
Speaker 3: so I think they wanted to get a little bit

557
00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:33,480
Speaker 3: of momentum for the end of the season. It didn't

558
00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:36,080
Speaker 3: really work because he got hurt earlier of the season too,

559
00:24:36,119 --> 00:24:37,760
Speaker 3: But yeah, that was a whole weird dynamic.

560
00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:42,080
Speaker 2: And this next what five six weeks ahead of that

561
00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:44,600
Speaker 2: full signing day or whatever, it's going to be crucial

562
00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:47,879
Speaker 2: both from a high school prospect and Lincoln Riley, you know,

563
00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:51,840
Speaker 2: scrambling to form relationships with a number of coaches and

564
00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:55,040
Speaker 2: prospects and parents and all that, and also guys in

565
00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:57,280
Speaker 2: the transfer portal, Right, that this is a USC team

566
00:24:57,320 --> 00:24:59,520
Speaker 2: that very much, as you mentioned, the roster's in flux,

567
00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:01,720
Speaker 2: Lincoln r trying to figure out who fits the best.

568
00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:04,280
Speaker 2: What do you anticipate over these next five six weeks

569
00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:08,040
Speaker 2: in terms of how USC closes and helps to sort

570
00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:10,960
Speaker 2: of our starts to form this roster for a new era.

571
00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:13,720
Speaker 3: So there's a few guys that will announce that the

572
00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:16,240
Speaker 3: sign you know, this week and announce at the All

573
00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:19,000
Speaker 3: Star Games. So there'll be a couple of guys like that.

574
00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:23,480
Speaker 3: There's there's actually some players that delayed until February, so

575
00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:26,560
Speaker 3: that's good whenever you know you have a coaching change.

576
00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:29,120
Speaker 3: But they're you know, recruiting against teams like Oregon who

577
00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:30,639
Speaker 3: also had a coaching change too, So it kind of

578
00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:33,800
Speaker 3: gives both schools a chance to sort of reset, hire

579
00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:35,840
Speaker 3: all the position coaches you need and then make that

580
00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:38,360
Speaker 3: push again. So I think there'll still be a few

581
00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:40,919
Speaker 3: more high school players added, but for the most part,

582
00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:42,520
Speaker 3: like you mentioned, Dan, it is probably going to be

583
00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:46,240
Speaker 3: from the transfer portal. They have to address some of

584
00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:49,240
Speaker 3: their needs on the offensive line. They brought They brought

585
00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:51,520
Speaker 3: in Clay McGuire to coach the offensive line last year.

586
00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:53,800
Speaker 3: Was was weird the first time they actually had a

587
00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:57,119
Speaker 3: like a spread offensive line coach to run, you know,

588
00:25:57,200 --> 00:25:59,240
Speaker 3: the air raid kind of scheme that that Graham Harroll

589
00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:02,200
Speaker 3: brought in. He's off to Washington State now, so we're

590
00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:04,520
Speaker 3: going to see who Lincoln Riley ends up bringing in

591
00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:05,880
Speaker 3: for the offensive line coach.

592
00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:08,159
Speaker 1: But they need some help there. There's just not a

593
00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:08,800
Speaker 1: ton of bodies.

594
00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:11,800
Speaker 3: They bring a couple guys back that are like super seniors,

595
00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:14,120
Speaker 3: like and Andrew Vorheez, and that's going to help out.

596
00:26:14,119 --> 00:26:15,760
Speaker 3: They got a lot of starts, but they're going to

597
00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:17,640
Speaker 3: need some depth on the offensive line. I think they're

598
00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:20,200
Speaker 3: going to go there and the defensive line too. Really,

599
00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:21,879
Speaker 3: they're going to need to hit the transfer portal. They

600
00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:24,800
Speaker 3: got Ismael Softshire from Alabama last year, but he's been

601
00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:27,480
Speaker 3: hurt the whole season, so I think a lot of

602
00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:29,359
Speaker 3: it's going to be Lincoln Riley coming in kind of

603
00:26:29,359 --> 00:26:31,600
Speaker 3: assessing what they have. There's probably going to be a

604
00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:35,800
Speaker 3: steady stream of current USC players going into the transfer portal.

605
00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:38,840
Speaker 3: They're they're starting the new weight. You know, you always

606
00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:40,720
Speaker 3: get a new strength, coach, new culture, all that kind

607
00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:42,560
Speaker 3: of stuff, but this is going to be a proven

608
00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:45,000
Speaker 3: culture that we've seen work at Oklahoma that us he's

609
00:26:45,040 --> 00:26:49,000
Speaker 3: going to try to install in Los Angeles where they've

610
00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:50,680
Speaker 3: had like this kind of broken culture.

611
00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:52,320
Speaker 1: Where no one was really kind of leading the way.

612
00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:55,520
Speaker 3: So I think when that happens, players that are sitting there,

613
00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:57,680
Speaker 3: like I kind of was recruited to this where it's

614
00:26:57,760 --> 00:26:59,920
Speaker 3: kind of more laid back, and I don't need to now.

615
00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:01,399
Speaker 3: I'm like, oh man, I got to be accountable for

616
00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:03,560
Speaker 3: this and accountable for that. So there's going to be

617
00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:05,879
Speaker 3: some more players. I think Dan going to the portal

618
00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:07,800
Speaker 3: and then you know, kind of fixing what you want

619
00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:09,520
Speaker 3: to do from there. He also cleaned out, like the

620
00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:12,240
Speaker 3: current recruiting class, most of the guys that were committed

621
00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:15,560
Speaker 3: to Clay Heldon Slash Dante Williams, Yeah, they were sort

622
00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:17,679
Speaker 3: of let go too, So he's really kind of starting

623
00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:20,440
Speaker 3: from you know, going down to the studs. But program

624
00:27:20,440 --> 00:27:22,080
Speaker 3: like USC the way they've been run for the last

625
00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:24,040
Speaker 3: six seven years, I think it's what they.

626
00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:27,280
Speaker 2: Needed fair enough, and it actually makes me think about

627
00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:29,800
Speaker 2: something that's I think it'd be interesting. I know you

628
00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:31,520
Speaker 2: don't have an accurate answer for this, so this is

629
00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,000
Speaker 2: probably just a hunch from you, but how is Lincoln

630
00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:37,159
Speaker 2: Riley selling USC right forever and ever? You have USC

631
00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:39,879
Speaker 2: guys going you know, it's an internal promotion. It's some

632
00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:42,760
Speaker 2: it's an assistant who are a coordinator with with Pete Carroll,

633
00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:45,000
Speaker 2: whether it's Sark, whether it's Laning whatever, and they're saying

634
00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:47,920
Speaker 2: we're going to get back to like the national glory

635
00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:49,879
Speaker 2: of USC football, right we're going to get back to

636
00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:52,760
Speaker 2: winning national championships, competing for the best. And now you

637
00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:56,000
Speaker 2: have Lincoln Riley recruiting kids who have no recollection of

638
00:27:56,040 --> 00:27:59,960
Speaker 2: that time, right, Like these kids were born during USC's heyday.

639
00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:01,440
Speaker 2: So it's not like you can go into a living

640
00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:03,159
Speaker 2: room and say you're going to be the next Reggie

641
00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:05,000
Speaker 2: Bush or the next Ray mal Luga, because they'll just

642
00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:06,800
Speaker 2: look at you like, I don't you know the guy

643
00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:11,200
Speaker 2: on Fox. Sure, So Lincoln Riley can now say, okay,

644
00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:13,080
Speaker 2: we can go back to this, or he can say

645
00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:15,000
Speaker 2: this is what we did at Oklahoma, now we're bringing

646
00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:17,240
Speaker 2: it to like the bright lights of la Is it

647
00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:19,199
Speaker 2: a combination of both of those things? Is it one

648
00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:21,439
Speaker 2: of those things? How is USC going to be sold

649
00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:22,240
Speaker 2: moving forward?

650
00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:24,520
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a good question. I think I think it's

651
00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:26,280
Speaker 3: going to be a combination of those things. The weird

652
00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:29,920
Speaker 3: thing though, Dan people still we still talk to recruits

653
00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:32,520
Speaker 3: to this day that talk about Reggie Bush like sure,

654
00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:35,440
Speaker 3: and I'm like on YouTube and like, for whatever reason,

655
00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:38,440
Speaker 3: I can see that, Yeah, it's so weird. He's just

656
00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:41,120
Speaker 3: been this player that's recruited for USC for so long

657
00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:44,880
Speaker 3: after he's been gone. But when we talked to Lincoln

658
00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:47,680
Speaker 3: Riley initially at the press conference. I mean he wanted

659
00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:50,600
Speaker 3: he said, this could be the mecod of college football

660
00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:52,960
Speaker 3: looking at the coliseum, and it felt like he sort.

661
00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:53,200
Speaker 1: Of got it.

662
00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:55,760
Speaker 3: Some of the nostalgia, some of the like what makes

663
00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:59,000
Speaker 3: USC unique. There's some different things about it, and there's

664
00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:01,680
Speaker 3: a lot of it, I think in advantages he seems

665
00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:04,480
Speaker 3: to be willing to sort of embrace. But I think

666
00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:06,080
Speaker 3: a lot of it's going to be too, Like the

667
00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:09,720
Speaker 3: proven what he was able to do at Oklahoma, I

668
00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:12,000
Speaker 3: mean getting you know, back to back Heisman winners and

669
00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:15,840
Speaker 3: another finalist and the college football playoff appearances. I think

670
00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:18,480
Speaker 3: that's the kind of stuff where USC had the sort

671
00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:20,800
Speaker 3: of like background of like, you know, this is a

672
00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:23,360
Speaker 3: blue blood type of program, but they've never been to

673
00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:25,120
Speaker 3: a college football playoff before. They have it, you know,

674
00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:27,320
Speaker 3: they haven't won a Heisman in quite a while. They haven't,

675
00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:28,640
Speaker 3: you know, I don't think the West Coast has had

676
00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:31,520
Speaker 3: a top ten Heisman finisher in like six seven years

677
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:34,040
Speaker 3: something like that. It's been crazy, and I feel like

678
00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:36,360
Speaker 3: that's the kind of combination you need to make with

679
00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:39,320
Speaker 3: the tradition and the you know, still putting guys in

680
00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:41,880
Speaker 3: the NFL and all that. But let's get back to winning.

681
00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:44,240
Speaker 3: Let's do what modern college football teams are doing, and

682
00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:47,040
Speaker 3: is making the college football Playoff, getting in the Heisman

683
00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:49,280
Speaker 3: ceremonies and things like that. So I think it's going

684
00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:51,080
Speaker 3: to be more of like a combination of that. But

685
00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:54,239
Speaker 3: he really did seem like he was embracing excuse me,

686
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:57,479
Speaker 3: he was I'm using too much hands embracing you know

687
00:29:57,960 --> 00:29:59,800
Speaker 3: what he was standing at at the top of the

688
00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:01,880
Speaker 3: colle I see him overlooking. You know, there's downtown LA

689
00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:04,160
Speaker 3: at the Hollywood side of the background, and you could

690
00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:07,040
Speaker 3: see just he was just like this is crazy, Like here,

691
00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:09,320
Speaker 3: I'm right here in Los Angeles. So it seemed like

692
00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:11,120
Speaker 3: that's what he was selling his assistant coaches on, and

693
00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:12,960
Speaker 3: he's going to sell the recruits on as well. But

694
00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:15,720
Speaker 3: also obviously his recent success at Oklahoma.

695
00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:18,760
Speaker 2: Why do you think the timing was what it was

696
00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:21,040
Speaker 2: in terms of Lincoln Riley coming to us. See, obviously

697
00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:23,040
Speaker 2: the job was open, so you know, you either take

698
00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:24,440
Speaker 2: an how or you never know when it's going to

699
00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:27,960
Speaker 2: come open again. Lincoln Riley was operating in Norman. You

700
00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:30,440
Speaker 2: look at the quarterbacks he was able to bring in

701
00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:33,560
Speaker 2: the number of conference championships, the playoff appearances, the Heisman,

702
00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:36,480
Speaker 2: the number one overall picks. There was this sense that,

703
00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:38,520
Speaker 2: like Oklahoma is a blue blood job, this is a

704
00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:41,960
Speaker 2: national championship caliber program over the course of decades and decades.

705
00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:45,040
Speaker 2: Why do you think and this is again you guessing, well,

706
00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:46,880
Speaker 2: what is the sense that you got where he said,

707
00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:48,800
Speaker 2: this is the time for me to make a move

708
00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:51,960
Speaker 2: away from this gigantic place to another huge place.

709
00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:54,800
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean there's something made of this was the

710
00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:58,360
Speaker 3: first year he didn't win the Big Twelve, but they

711
00:30:58,760 --> 00:31:01,520
Speaker 3: I mean, I feel like the momentum was still on

712
00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:04,760
Speaker 3: Oklahoma side. I mean, you're going to the SEC. Now,

713
00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:06,880
Speaker 3: that's going to make things harder. Obviously, there's a year

714
00:31:06,880 --> 00:31:09,240
Speaker 3: you go, You're going to this bigger pond with some

715
00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:10,400
Speaker 3: pretty big fish in there.

716
00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:12,560
Speaker 1: But he had, uh.

717
00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:14,280
Speaker 3: You know, one of the top twenty you know, twenty

718
00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:17,480
Speaker 3: twenty three recruiting classes already and was really recruiting the

719
00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:20,240
Speaker 3: heck out of southern California. So I feel like he

720
00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:24,680
Speaker 3: was still on some real positive momentum there. It just

721
00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:27,200
Speaker 3: seemed like this was an opportunity that he could go

722
00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:30,640
Speaker 3: someplace else, and you were taking a program over from

723
00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:32,480
Speaker 3: Bob Stoops, and you know, he did an amazing job

724
00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:35,040
Speaker 3: with it, taking to another level. But this would be

725
00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:36,640
Speaker 3: something where he can kind of build it from the

726
00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:38,760
Speaker 3: ground up. And it's like, well, I have this house.

727
00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:40,880
Speaker 3: I can renovate and I've done a really good job

728
00:31:40,920 --> 00:31:43,239
Speaker 3: with it, or I can just complete fixer up. I'm

729
00:31:43,240 --> 00:31:46,200
Speaker 3: going to tear it down and build it back up again.

730
00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:48,440
Speaker 3: It seemed like that was part of it. But also,

731
00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:50,520
Speaker 3: you know, with his family. They talked about his family

732
00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:52,680
Speaker 3: a lot, just like, hey, I'm bring my wife and kids.

733
00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:55,000
Speaker 3: They can be a Los Angeles like you know, hey, honey,

734
00:31:55,040 --> 00:31:56,800
Speaker 3: I'm working on the weekend, right, but you take the

735
00:31:56,840 --> 00:31:57,560
Speaker 3: kids to Disneyland.

736
00:31:57,600 --> 00:31:58,480
Speaker 1: You know, things like that.

737
00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:01,560
Speaker 3: It seemed like just an opportunity, not just for him,

738
00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:04,880
Speaker 3: but the family. Seemed like it was something that was worthwhile.

739
00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:07,080
Speaker 3: And the fact that he got the buy in from

740
00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:09,000
Speaker 3: Mike Bowen and Brandon Sast on what they would be

741
00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:12,120
Speaker 3: able to do, Yeah, it seemed to appeal to him.

742
00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:13,800
Speaker 3: I know that, like a lot of the Oklahoma fans

743
00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:16,600
Speaker 3: were really upset, and you know, it's breakups are hard,

744
00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:19,400
Speaker 3: but you know, this just seemed like a situation that

745
00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:21,120
Speaker 3: seemed going to work out for him, and that's why

746
00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:21,840
Speaker 3: he jumped on it.

747
00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:25,040
Speaker 2: One of the things that I've talked about when having

748
00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:28,920
Speaker 2: USC conversations and looking back at what made Pete Carroll

749
00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:31,680
Speaker 2: so successful all those years ago, was he had that

750
00:32:31,760 --> 00:32:34,120
Speaker 2: base in California recruiting. He had that base in southern

751
00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:36,880
Speaker 2: California recruiting, and obviously, I think the city section and

752
00:32:36,920 --> 00:32:39,120
Speaker 2: if you don't follow, was in a different place in

753
00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:41,760
Speaker 2: terms of where football was, and that was that's the

754
00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:45,760
Speaker 2: area in the backyard of USC, and it's just different now.

755
00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:48,880
Speaker 2: But what Pete Carroll did was he made us C

756
00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:54,040
Speaker 2: itself the destination and would go to New Jersey, Florida, Ohio, Texas, whatever,

757
00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:57,120
Speaker 2: and that's where he was able to find a number

758
00:32:57,120 --> 00:32:59,520
Speaker 2: of talents that really fit in with the USC program.

759
00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:04,160
Speaker 2: It became this national school. Whereas since then everybody looks

760
00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:06,200
Speaker 2: at USC, it's like you can win a national championship

761
00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:08,320
Speaker 2: with the kids in your backyard, which doesn't seem to

762
00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:10,440
Speaker 2: be the case. When you look at Lineman coming out

763
00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:12,600
Speaker 2: of or not coming out of southern California, in the

764
00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:15,560
Speaker 2: state of California and the West Coast, do you anticipate

765
00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:20,520
Speaker 2: Lincoln Riley having that goal of a national search and

766
00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:23,560
Speaker 2: not just relying on that local talent, which there's still great,

767
00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:26,480
Speaker 2: great kids in southern California on the West coast. But

768
00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:30,120
Speaker 2: do you anticipate him and USC spending in such a

769
00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:33,080
Speaker 2: way that says we're going to compete for blue chip

770
00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:36,680
Speaker 2: linemen in North Carolina and in Ohio and in Michigan whatever.

771
00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:39,200
Speaker 2: I mean, you can name. You'll take a number of

772
00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:41,800
Speaker 2: hands to name the top flight kids that came from

773
00:33:41,840 --> 00:33:44,640
Speaker 2: all over the country that succeeded at USC. Is that

774
00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:46,680
Speaker 2: something you see happening in the short term?

775
00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:49,240
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so. I think you do have to

776
00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:52,200
Speaker 3: recruit the local area. You know, just seeing guys like

777
00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:55,440
Speaker 3: you know, Bryce Young and c J. Stroud and you know,

778
00:33:55,560 --> 00:33:58,120
Speaker 3: Matt Carrat, like all these guys that are Southern California

779
00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:00,840
Speaker 3: guys having great success somewhere else.

780
00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:03,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a big you know, that's a big deal.

781
00:34:03,400 --> 00:34:05,440
Speaker 3: When you're not gonna you know, Bryce Young was a

782
00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:07,640
Speaker 3: USC commit, Matt carral was a USC commitate, both those

783
00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:10,279
Speaker 3: guys were, and they're having great seasons you know, in

784
00:34:10,320 --> 00:34:14,440
Speaker 3: the SEC. I feel like he has recruited Southern California

785
00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:16,840
Speaker 3: so well already and was able. I mean, Oklahoma a

786
00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:19,040
Speaker 3: tridition they go into like Fresno, like Bob Stoops would

787
00:34:19,040 --> 00:34:22,640
Speaker 3: go into Fresnew Central Valley and take guys. But Lincoln

788
00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:24,600
Speaker 3: Rally has really stepped it up with you know, his

789
00:34:24,680 --> 00:34:28,920
Speaker 3: southern California recruiting. So I feel like continuing that and

790
00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:30,600
Speaker 3: the one thing that Pete Carroll I think did it

791
00:34:30,640 --> 00:34:34,399
Speaker 3: wasn't just good for USC the Pac twelve, the West

792
00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:37,719
Speaker 3: Coast football is you know, it's just kind of become irrelevant.

793
00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:39,839
Speaker 3: You know, it's just not been you know, Oregon had

794
00:34:39,840 --> 00:34:41,719
Speaker 3: that run this year. They were like in the top

795
00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:43,400
Speaker 3: you know four for a while and we're in the

796
00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:47,600
Speaker 3: playoff and you know then that falls apart. But it

797
00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:50,239
Speaker 3: just hasn't been all that relevant. And I think when

798
00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:52,359
Speaker 3: Pete Carroll made it kind of cool to stay. If

799
00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:54,959
Speaker 3: you remember, like the late nineties, the best players from

800
00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:57,120
Speaker 3: like the different high schools in California they were going

801
00:34:57,160 --> 00:35:01,879
Speaker 3: to like Florida State or Miami, justin justin Fargas. Yeah,

802
00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:05,000
Speaker 3: like hands up back at USC. Yes, Yeah, the day

803
00:35:05,040 --> 00:35:07,799
Speaker 3: La Salle High School who was a DJ Williams. You

804
00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:10,000
Speaker 3: end up going there's a bunch of guys, you know,

805
00:35:10,520 --> 00:35:13,520
Speaker 3: quarterbacks when Pete Carroll came over and it was like, oh,

806
00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:15,200
Speaker 3: it's kind of cool to stay on the West coast,

807
00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:17,799
Speaker 3: which helped USC, but I think it also helped the

808
00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:19,799
Speaker 3: rest of the Pac twelve because then we're like, oh,

809
00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:21,480
Speaker 3: we can stay on the West coast and be relevant

810
00:35:21,719 --> 00:35:24,480
Speaker 3: you're playing USC or against USC or with them whatever.

811
00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:25,760
Speaker 1: I think that helped.

812
00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:28,440
Speaker 3: But he also, like you mentioned, you could get a

813
00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:31,000
Speaker 3: Brian Cushing from New Jersey or you get a Mike

814
00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:33,040
Speaker 3: Williams from Florida, and I think you can kind of

815
00:35:33,080 --> 00:35:36,200
Speaker 3: continue to build that. I feel like that's something that

816
00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:38,520
Speaker 3: that Lincoln Riley's gonna have to do, like came up,

817
00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:40,320
Speaker 3: you know, one of the greatest players in the country,

818
00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:43,080
Speaker 3: but there's not a ton of them. Where there might

819
00:35:43,080 --> 00:35:45,480
Speaker 3: be five of those guys in Louisiana on any given year.

820
00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:48,680
Speaker 3: You have to really kind of find them in southern

821
00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:50,799
Speaker 3: California on the Lineman side. And some of them are

822
00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:53,520
Speaker 3: just like later developing guys that maybe you know, they

823
00:35:53,560 --> 00:35:55,520
Speaker 3: work into it and they become you know, we've seen

824
00:35:55,640 --> 00:35:58,560
Speaker 3: Utah get the Devin Lloyd's of the world that are

825
00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:00,640
Speaker 3: like have one scholarship offer, you know, in the Power

826
00:36:00,719 --> 00:36:03,399
Speaker 3: five and then you'll become pactful defensive player of the year.

827
00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:05,399
Speaker 3: So there's some of that too. But if you want

828
00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:06,880
Speaker 3: to go out and get the like kind of ready

829
00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:10,719
Speaker 3: made a lineman that the skill, then you know, quickness

830
00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:13,520
Speaker 3: and the size and all that, you might have to

831
00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:15,480
Speaker 3: go outside of the footprint. So I think he's going

832
00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:17,400
Speaker 3: to try to do a combination of those things. But

833
00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:20,319
Speaker 3: step one is probably just keeping some of these guys home,

834
00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:23,400
Speaker 3: especially the quarterbacks that have just been going out in droves.

835
00:36:23,719 --> 00:36:26,759
Speaker 2: Now, I know, obviously fans don't necessarily have strong opinions

836
00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:29,560
Speaker 2: of position coach hires, but w what have been the

837
00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:33,279
Speaker 2: reactions to the staff that is still very much being

838
00:36:33,320 --> 00:36:36,879
Speaker 2: built And I'm not sure the status of Dante Williams

839
00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:39,719
Speaker 2: was the interim. Is he staying he's a terrific West

840
00:36:39,719 --> 00:36:42,000
Speaker 2: Coast recruiter? What has been the reaction and what do

841
00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:43,439
Speaker 2: you think of the staff thus far?

842
00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:46,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, I mean, you're bringing over a couple

843
00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:49,120
Speaker 3: guys from Oklahoma like you would expect. I think the

844
00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:51,440
Speaker 3: maybe the one that's talked about the most is the

845
00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:55,279
Speaker 3: Alex Grinch, the defensive coordinator. You know, had a good

846
00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:58,440
Speaker 3: year Ohio State, and they ends up getting hired at Oklahoma.

847
00:36:58,719 --> 00:37:00,960
Speaker 3: You know, the way the offense is, defenses kind of

848
00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:04,440
Speaker 3: have to work together. I mean, it's it's tough if

849
00:37:04,480 --> 00:37:07,920
Speaker 3: you're going to do you know, running offense, it's like,

850
00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:10,320
Speaker 3: you know, top four and scoring in the country or whatever,

851
00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:12,759
Speaker 3: and then expect your defense to keep a team to

852
00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:14,879
Speaker 3: fourteen points. Like it doesn't really happen all that much,

853
00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:16,399
Speaker 3: but he had. He had great success on the West

854
00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:20,799
Speaker 3: coast Washington State, kind of a quicker defensive front they had.

855
00:37:20,840 --> 00:37:23,919
Speaker 3: I mean, if you remember like Hercules Mantas from Yeah,

856
00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:25,879
Speaker 3: like guys like that. They were like that, not that big,

857
00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:28,319
Speaker 3: but he like he terrorized USC back in the day.

858
00:37:29,120 --> 00:37:30,960
Speaker 3: So I think that would maybe the most I don't

859
00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:33,919
Speaker 3: know controversy, but that's when they talk about the most.

860
00:37:33,920 --> 00:37:37,080
Speaker 3: But Dante Williams being retained. You know, we might get

861
00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:39,759
Speaker 3: official word of that, but that's what our sources have

862
00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:41,680
Speaker 3: been saying, that he's going to be staying on staff.

863
00:37:42,440 --> 00:37:44,120
Speaker 3: You know, he was one of the top recruiters in

864
00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:47,200
Speaker 3: the country, and he came down from Oregon and was

865
00:37:47,239 --> 00:37:49,640
Speaker 3: the interim head coach for a while. Thought that you know,

866
00:37:49,719 --> 00:37:51,920
Speaker 3: things had gone sour enough where they might not be

867
00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:53,600
Speaker 3: able to stay on staff. But it looks like that's

868
00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:55,919
Speaker 3: what they're going to do, and I think he'll help

869
00:37:56,280 --> 00:37:58,200
Speaker 3: you recruiting a lot of those players and maybe make

870
00:37:58,239 --> 00:38:01,040
Speaker 3: it an easier transition. There there at least be one

871
00:38:01,080 --> 00:38:03,560
Speaker 3: coach on staff that the current players could kind of

872
00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:05,960
Speaker 3: rely on, like, Hey, it's probably gonna be a lot

873
00:38:05,960 --> 00:38:07,279
Speaker 3: of like, hey, we used to do things this way.

874
00:38:07,320 --> 00:38:09,280
Speaker 3: They were like, yeah, we don't do things that way anymore.

875
00:38:09,760 --> 00:38:11,520
Speaker 3: But the big one I think they want to they

876
00:38:11,520 --> 00:38:13,640
Speaker 3: want to hear about is the offensive line coach and

877
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:16,400
Speaker 3: Bill Bateingbod. I believe you know, he's the one that

878
00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:18,719
Speaker 3: was at Oklahoma that looked like was going to come

879
00:38:18,760 --> 00:38:21,600
Speaker 3: over one of the top offensive line coaches in the country.

880
00:38:22,120 --> 00:38:25,480
Speaker 3: And I think they bring in you know what they

881
00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:28,120
Speaker 3: were going to do with Oklahoma and sold him on that,

882
00:38:28,280 --> 00:38:30,040
Speaker 3: and it seems like he's going to stay there now.

883
00:38:30,120 --> 00:38:32,719
Speaker 3: So US is probably going to scramble a little trying

884
00:38:32,719 --> 00:38:33,920
Speaker 3: to figure out what they want to do on the

885
00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:36,840
Speaker 3: offensive the offensive line. But it wasn't going to be

886
00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:38,359
Speaker 3: if they brought in Bean Bod, it would have been

887
00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:40,759
Speaker 3: like kind of an easy transition. Now you kind of

888
00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:42,640
Speaker 3: have to like sit back and figure out where they're

889
00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:43,960
Speaker 3: going to go from here. But for the most part,

890
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:45,960
Speaker 3: the staff is kind of filled out there. But I

891
00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:47,919
Speaker 3: think the offensive line part is the is the big

892
00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:48,719
Speaker 3: one we're waiting on.

893
00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:52,640
Speaker 2: Is this an eight to nine win program? Obviously the

894
00:38:52,719 --> 00:38:54,520
Speaker 2: roster has not been filled out, so you can't fully

895
00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:58,480
Speaker 2: accurately answer the question. But are the pieces there too

896
00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:03,520
Speaker 2: in the short term low, interesting, intriguing and have enough

897
00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:07,120
Speaker 2: players who can make winning plays or is the back

898
00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:10,920
Speaker 2: half of twenty twenty one indicative at least partially of

899
00:39:10,920 --> 00:39:13,040
Speaker 2: where this program might be next year.

900
00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:16,879
Speaker 3: Yeah, I thought they could be successful in twenty twenty one.

901
00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:19,200
Speaker 3: Now you fire a coach after two games and everything

902
00:39:19,360 --> 00:39:22,560
Speaker 3: just kind of spiraled out. But just having that kind

903
00:39:22,600 --> 00:39:25,680
Speaker 3: of better leadership. When USC's had problems, whatever it is,

904
00:39:25,719 --> 00:39:28,920
Speaker 3: the athletic department and the football team, it's usually about

905
00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:32,640
Speaker 3: the leadership, and now that should be fixed with Lincoln Riley.

906
00:39:32,719 --> 00:39:35,080
Speaker 3: There's going to be some roles in the roster, but

907
00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:37,000
Speaker 3: I think there's going to be a lot of them addressed.

908
00:39:37,040 --> 00:39:39,919
Speaker 3: With transfer portal guys, it doesn't always work. We saw

909
00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:42,000
Speaker 3: Utah bringing a lot of guys and they weren't great

910
00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:45,200
Speaker 3: early on, but then they really got it rolling later on.

911
00:39:45,239 --> 00:39:46,839
Speaker 3: I mean, like a Utah State they're going to play

912
00:39:46,840 --> 00:39:48,719
Speaker 3: in the LA Bowl, like they I think they brought

913
00:39:48,760 --> 00:39:50,759
Speaker 3: like forty transfers in and they yep, yeah, kind of

914
00:39:50,800 --> 00:39:52,759
Speaker 3: weird in the beginning of the season, and they're making

915
00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:55,960
Speaker 3: it work now. So it might be something where if

916
00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:57,560
Speaker 3: you bring in a lot of transfers, it takes a

917
00:39:57,560 --> 00:39:59,920
Speaker 3: little while for guys to gel. But I feel just

918
00:40:00,160 --> 00:40:03,520
Speaker 3: like that upgraded leadership. Their schedule came out this week,

919
00:40:03,719 --> 00:40:06,359
Speaker 3: you know, not super daunting. There's not anything crazy. There's

920
00:40:06,640 --> 00:40:10,080
Speaker 3: one weekday game, no back to back roads things like that.

921
00:40:11,080 --> 00:40:12,759
Speaker 3: I think George Klafkov is trying to do a good

922
00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:15,640
Speaker 3: job of making sure like the Oregons and the uscs

923
00:40:15,680 --> 00:40:18,520
Speaker 3: of the Pac twelve aren't doing these crazy schedule stuff that.

924
00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:21,239
Speaker 2: We were still remember, by the way, that Wazoo situation

925
00:40:21,719 --> 00:40:24,839
Speaker 2: was that twenty seventeen that's what cost them the playoff? Yes,

926
00:40:25,200 --> 00:40:27,640
Speaker 2: I think so, yeah, Sam Darnold, it was Wazoo. It

927
00:40:27,719 --> 00:40:31,440
Speaker 2: was short week on the road going to Pullman and

928
00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:33,920
Speaker 2: they lose that game. And I remember ahead of the

929
00:40:34,040 --> 00:40:37,000
Speaker 2: season looking at that and thinking, man, I don't know,

930
00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:39,440
Speaker 2: I don't know if this is the move to have

931
00:40:39,520 --> 00:40:43,480
Speaker 2: on your schedule like this. Not that USC deserves or

932
00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:45,920
Speaker 2: has earned the benefit of the doubt, but like nobody

933
00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:47,759
Speaker 2: should be on the I think they were at cal

934
00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:51,280
Speaker 2: or something shortly at Wazoo on a Friday.

935
00:40:51,520 --> 00:40:54,960
Speaker 3: That we've seen that with Oregon at Washington too, right,

936
00:40:55,160 --> 00:40:56,880
Speaker 3: Like every year, like if I forget it was like

937
00:40:56,960 --> 00:41:00,200
Speaker 3: Washington Oregon would happen like a bye week before. There's

938
00:41:00,239 --> 00:41:01,880
Speaker 3: just you know, there would always be away where Like

939
00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:04,279
Speaker 3: so this week Washington get screwed and the next week

940
00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:06,279
Speaker 3: will screw Oregon and then we'll screw you. Make sure

941
00:41:06,320 --> 00:41:10,000
Speaker 3: everyone gets screwed so there's good pay. Yeah, but it's

942
00:41:10,080 --> 00:41:13,040
Speaker 3: the schedule set up pretty well looking like next year.

943
00:41:13,040 --> 00:41:15,480
Speaker 3: I mean they have Rice and Friends. Now State, you know,

944
00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:17,960
Speaker 3: Freshman State's good, but they have a coaching change. They

945
00:41:18,000 --> 00:41:19,879
Speaker 3: played Notre Dame at the end of the season. They've

946
00:41:19,880 --> 00:41:22,960
Speaker 3: had a coaching change too. You know, we'll see how

947
00:41:22,960 --> 00:41:25,160
Speaker 3: it ends up. But I think they could win. If

948
00:41:25,160 --> 00:41:28,040
Speaker 3: they win eight or nine games, I wouldn't be shocked,

949
00:41:28,600 --> 00:41:30,480
Speaker 3: but it might take a little while for them to

950
00:41:30,640 --> 00:41:32,439
Speaker 3: you know, get going. We've seen sometime. You know, Pete

951
00:41:32,480 --> 00:41:35,600
Speaker 3: Carroll's first year, he was like six and six. It

952
00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:37,759
Speaker 3: could be a season like that, which would be an

953
00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:39,680
Speaker 3: improvement over for and hit what they were this year.

954
00:41:39,719 --> 00:41:41,560
Speaker 3: But if they go, you know, they win a game,

955
00:41:41,640 --> 00:41:43,440
Speaker 3: I think that would be a pretty good accomplishment. And

956
00:41:43,480 --> 00:41:46,120
Speaker 3: then you know, obviously you just want to build on that.

957
00:41:46,280 --> 00:41:47,880
Speaker 3: So as long as they're going in the right direction,

958
00:41:48,400 --> 00:41:50,920
Speaker 3: if you win seven, you win nine, I mean, that's whatever,

959
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:53,160
Speaker 3: but it's it's really to try to build those, you know,

960
00:41:53,280 --> 00:41:56,000
Speaker 3: the championship type of roster. So I think he'll get

961
00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:57,759
Speaker 3: a high school recruiting class in twenty twenty three that

962
00:41:57,800 --> 00:42:00,600
Speaker 3: will be better. This one will probably be some high

963
00:42:00,640 --> 00:42:02,719
Speaker 3: school and then some transfer portal guys to try to

964
00:42:02,719 --> 00:42:03,479
Speaker 3: fill out the roster.

965
00:42:03,760 --> 00:42:05,200
Speaker 2: Who are the names that are going to pop that

966
00:42:05,239 --> 00:42:07,880
Speaker 2: are on the roster right now? Obviously Drake London was

967
00:42:07,920 --> 00:42:10,720
Speaker 2: that guy even you know, in a losing effort last season.

968
00:42:10,719 --> 00:42:12,960
Speaker 2: For the most part, who are the guys on offense

969
00:42:13,000 --> 00:42:16,879
Speaker 2: on defense that are current building blocks? Because it wasn't

970
00:42:16,880 --> 00:42:19,759
Speaker 2: obvious in twenty twenty one. So who are those guys

971
00:42:19,760 --> 00:42:22,239
Speaker 2: that expected me because they're healthier, because the system is

972
00:42:22,239 --> 00:42:24,040
Speaker 2: a better fit. Who are the building blocks?

973
00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:27,800
Speaker 3: Start of the defensive side? I love Tully Tully Pilot.

974
00:42:28,120 --> 00:42:31,799
Speaker 3: His brother Marlin played at USC and just his name

975
00:42:31,840 --> 00:42:35,000
Speaker 3: would always come up. What might not get a ton

976
00:42:35,040 --> 00:42:37,720
Speaker 3: of stats, but on the defensive line, just super active,

977
00:42:38,239 --> 00:42:41,920
Speaker 3: always seems to be around the ball, making plays, helping

978
00:42:41,920 --> 00:42:45,600
Speaker 3: out his teammates. Just he's popularly or wildly popular on

979
00:42:45,640 --> 00:42:47,839
Speaker 3: the team. I think he's someone that you can kind

980
00:42:47,840 --> 00:42:51,160
Speaker 3: of build around. Corey Foreman was their shighest rated player

981
00:42:51,239 --> 00:42:54,520
Speaker 3: from last year. You know, a five star defensive end

982
00:42:54,560 --> 00:42:58,040
Speaker 3: that wasn't really it's what you know. Your best ability

983
00:42:58,080 --> 00:42:59,960
Speaker 3: is your availability. He didn't have a lot of avail

984
00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:03,759
Speaker 3: ability in twenty twenty one, and I think, you know,

985
00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:05,720
Speaker 3: some of it is just like figuring out the college

986
00:43:05,760 --> 00:43:07,720
Speaker 3: game and what you're going to do at that next level.

987
00:43:07,719 --> 00:43:10,000
Speaker 3: But I think he can be an elite pass rusher,

988
00:43:10,320 --> 00:43:12,759
Speaker 3: you know, in the mold of a guy like Keeveon Thibodeaux,

989
00:43:12,840 --> 00:43:15,520
Speaker 3: and he just wasn't on the field all that much.

990
00:43:15,880 --> 00:43:18,120
Speaker 3: I think as long as they don't get some weird

991
00:43:18,160 --> 00:43:20,560
Speaker 3: transfer on the offensive side, like a Caleb Williams comes

992
00:43:20,560 --> 00:43:23,920
Speaker 3: over from Oklahoma, that all bets are off. But I

993
00:43:23,920 --> 00:43:28,560
Speaker 3: think they really like the mobility, the arm strength of

994
00:43:28,600 --> 00:43:31,960
Speaker 3: the Jackson Dart we saw him in the Washington State

995
00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:34,640
Speaker 3: game when Keen Slows got hurt. Yeah, he unfortunately went

996
00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:37,160
Speaker 3: out with a monoscious injury and just didn't look the

997
00:43:37,200 --> 00:43:41,280
Speaker 3: same his mobility. To see a fully healthy Jackson Dart

998
00:43:41,719 --> 00:43:43,840
Speaker 3: in this kind of offense where we've seen guys that

999
00:43:44,239 --> 00:43:45,840
Speaker 3: you don't have to you know, be a Kyler Murray

1000
00:43:45,840 --> 00:43:47,960
Speaker 3: and you know run for a thousand yards, but if

1001
00:43:47,960 --> 00:43:50,600
Speaker 3: you can escape the pocket, you know, just pressure and

1002
00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:52,480
Speaker 3: be able to pick up a first down or just

1003
00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:54,960
Speaker 3: you know, get the ball downfield. I think someone like

1004
00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:57,480
Speaker 3: that is really intriguing. He's got such arm strength, he

1005
00:43:57,520 --> 00:43:59,080
Speaker 3: can put the ball anywhere. It's kind of a gun

1006
00:43:59,160 --> 00:44:01,279
Speaker 3: slicker guy that you know he's going to make some

1007
00:44:01,320 --> 00:44:04,400
Speaker 3: mistakes and throw some some picks, but you know, also

1008
00:44:04,520 --> 00:44:08,000
Speaker 3: make some some big plays. And they love Michael Trigg,

1009
00:44:08,360 --> 00:44:10,239
Speaker 3: who's a you know, true freshman last year. He ended

1010
00:44:10,280 --> 00:44:12,680
Speaker 3: up getting hurt this year, but just kind of a

1011
00:44:12,719 --> 00:44:15,200
Speaker 3: bigger body wide receiver like maybe in that Mike Williams

1012
00:44:15,239 --> 00:44:17,719
Speaker 3: from the Pete Carl Daves sort of mold like sort

1013
00:44:17,719 --> 00:44:20,440
Speaker 3: of a hybrid of a tight end wide receiver, and

1014
00:44:20,640 --> 00:44:23,240
Speaker 3: they need someone to step up and phil they've always

1015
00:44:23,239 --> 00:44:25,680
Speaker 3: had like these great receivers, who's that next great guy

1016
00:44:25,719 --> 00:44:28,520
Speaker 3: going to be? I think Trigg's kind of got that ability.

1017
00:44:28,840 --> 00:44:30,120
Speaker 3: So someone that they really.

1018
00:44:29,920 --> 00:44:33,759
Speaker 2: Like nice all right, Well, to come full circle, I'm

1019
00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:36,480
Speaker 2: more enthusiastic about USC football. I don't know if I'm

1020
00:44:36,520 --> 00:44:39,319
Speaker 2: optimistic in the short term, but I'm more enthusiastic about

1021
00:44:39,360 --> 00:44:42,000
Speaker 2: and I'm curious about what's going to happen, especially when

1022
00:44:42,040 --> 00:44:46,080
Speaker 2: the level of players keeps increasing with recruiting and transfer

1023
00:44:46,080 --> 00:44:49,840
Speaker 2: portal stuff. And I'll say this, if Lincoln Riley does

1024
00:44:49,920 --> 00:44:56,759
Speaker 2: bring that Redondo accent, I respect commitment to the bit

1025
00:44:57,719 --> 00:44:59,160
Speaker 2: and so I don't know if that makes me a

1026
00:44:59,280 --> 00:45:02,719
Speaker 2: USC fan, but that makes me a USC appreciator in

1027
00:45:02,760 --> 00:45:05,280
Speaker 2: a way that I haven't previously been. If he starts

1028
00:45:05,360 --> 00:45:09,439
Speaker 2: just dropping Gnarly's in press conferences, I'm gonna watch him.

1029
00:45:09,680 --> 00:45:12,040
Speaker 2: I'm gonna encourage it, and I'm gonna like it. So

1030
00:45:12,640 --> 00:45:16,680
Speaker 2: Ryan Abraham, everybody, even if you're remotely interested in Trojan

1031
00:45:16,680 --> 00:45:19,919
Speaker 2: football USC football dot com, check out the offerings. They're

1032
00:45:19,920 --> 00:45:22,320
Speaker 2: always deals. I always see these deals and they seem

1033
00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:25,520
Speaker 2: incredible to me. So check out USC football. Listen to

1034
00:45:25,960 --> 00:45:28,440
Speaker 2: the Paristyle podcast. He's been doing it forever. And ever

1035
00:45:28,440 --> 00:45:32,600
Speaker 2: and it's fantastic. And he leans on Tie for audio

1036
00:45:32,760 --> 00:45:35,480
Speaker 2: video or at least audio support, and it sounds amazing.

1037
00:45:35,520 --> 00:45:36,920
Speaker 2: If you're driving in your car and you've got an

1038
00:45:36,960 --> 00:45:41,279
Speaker 2: amazing system, Ryan and his co host sound terrific. So

1039
00:45:41,880 --> 00:45:42,640
Speaker 2: what are you gonna do?

1040
00:45:42,719 --> 00:45:42,960
Speaker 1: You get?

1041
00:45:43,080 --> 00:45:45,919
Speaker 2: Just this is a no brainer here, Ryan Abraham, enjoy

1042
00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:49,719
Speaker 2: the sunshine, enjoy the excitement around Trojan football. Thank you

1043
00:45:49,800 --> 00:45:51,320
Speaker 2: very much for joining the solid Verbal.

1044
00:45:51,840 --> 00:45:54,160
Speaker 3: Thank you so much, Dad. It's always a pleasure. And

1045
00:45:54,200 --> 00:45:55,960
Speaker 3: you can tell USC is relevant again. I'm on your

1046
00:45:55,960 --> 00:45:56,640
Speaker 3: show like you are.

1047
00:45:56,680 --> 00:45:59,680
Speaker 1: You're here. It's been a while, right, USC hasn't been relevant,

1048
00:45:59,719 --> 00:46:00,759
Speaker 1: so it's great to be back.

1049
00:46:00,840 --> 00:46:03,239
Speaker 2: We did a reaction video a little bit after the

1050
00:46:03,560 --> 00:46:07,080
Speaker 2: announcement came out of Lincoln Riley going to USC, and

1051
00:46:07,120 --> 00:46:10,160
Speaker 2: people were freaking out, and a lot of people watched

1052
00:46:10,200 --> 00:46:11,759
Speaker 2: it for us, and a lot of people listen to

1053
00:46:11,800 --> 00:46:14,560
Speaker 2: it for us, And so you know, I can only

1054
00:46:14,560 --> 00:46:16,680
Speaker 2: say I went to Oregon. I'm you know, I'm gonna lum.

1055
00:46:16,719 --> 00:46:19,759
Speaker 2: I love it. But if people care about Lincoln Riley,

1056
00:46:19,760 --> 00:46:21,560
Speaker 2: I'm just I'm going to talk about Lincoln Riley like

1057
00:46:21,640 --> 00:46:25,600
Speaker 2: I'm a businessman too. So here we are Ryan aid Rahm,

1058
00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:28,360
Speaker 2: thank you for bringing Lincoln Riley into my life.