Speaker 1: All right, hello and welcome.
Speaker 2: This is what we call on the solid verbal, a
Speaker 2: bit of an emergent pod in case you're listening, in
Speaker 2: case you're unaware of why we're doing a show on
Speaker 2: a Tuesday evening. No, it's not in lieu of any
Speaker 2: show on a Wednesday evening. It's because we've got major
Speaker 2: breaking news. I can play the sound later, but we
Speaker 2: should talk about what's transpired in the world of college football.
Speaker 2: The big news of the day, Dan, your boy Willie
Speaker 2: Taggert leaving Oregon after a seven and five season only
Speaker 2: three hundred and sixty one days on the job. He has,
Speaker 2: in fact decided to return to his home state of
Speaker 2: Florida and take over at Florida State.
Speaker 1: How are you feeling? A lot of things? Ty, are
Speaker 1: going going through my tiny little noodle. I feel okay.
Speaker 1: I feel there's a part of me because this has
Speaker 1: been in the works for a few days. It seems right.
Speaker 1: So I've been able to process things in the college
Speaker 1: football part of my brain. I think pretty well and
Speaker 1: sort of compartmentalize what I think of his extraordinary, extraordinarily
Speaker 1: short tenure in Eugene and what Oregon can and should
Speaker 1: do moving forward. And just the sort of bigger picture,
Speaker 1: like how I would have looked at something like this
Speaker 1: happening had I not been an Oregon fan.
Speaker 3: Sure.
Speaker 1: Sure, we sort of looked at with Lane Kiffin and
Speaker 1: Tennessee leaving a really big program to go to the
Speaker 1: quote dream job. Yeah, the dream jan Sure, the short
Speaker 1: idea of Todd Graham going to pit for a year
Speaker 1: and leaving for Arizona State in a very short amount
Speaker 1: of time, and so like thinking about how I looked
Speaker 1: at those instances and now sort of making peace with
Speaker 1: it happening at my school. It's been interesting.
Speaker 2: It's well, look, it's not a surprise, right, because we've
Speaker 2: heard rumors about this. This stems back to gosh, this
Speaker 2: goes back even before the Jimbo Fisher rumors. But Jimbo Fisher,
Speaker 2: this is sort of what brought it all on. Right,
Speaker 2: if he's still at Florida State, there's not an opening
Speaker 2: in Tallahassee. Jimbo Fisher was rumored to be interested in
Speaker 2: A and M. That's when we started hearing rumblings about, well,
Speaker 2: if in fact Jimbo leaves and takes some deal, maybe
Speaker 2: not as big as the one he took in college
Speaker 2: station which direction would Florida State look. The obvious answer
Speaker 2: that everyone seemed to gravitate towards was Willie Taggert. He's
Speaker 2: a Florida guy. He's done wonders at Western Kentucky at USF,
Speaker 2: He's familiar with the area. He seems like a natural
Speaker 2: fit for Florida State. If the position is open, perhaps
Speaker 2: that's the direction they would look.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: The one hurdle, at least logically, that seemed to stand
Speaker 2: in the way of that was the fact that he
Speaker 2: just got to Oregon and he was doing well at Oregon.
Speaker 2: He's a good coach, and though he's got a forty
Speaker 2: seven and fifty record as a head football coach, he
Speaker 2: is regarded around the college football ether as someone who
Speaker 2: could turn to turn things around quickly.
Speaker 1: Now here we are, the news has broken.
Speaker 2: Despite the fact that Willie tagger tweeted out late on
Speaker 2: I Guess Saturday night now that he was looking forward
Speaker 2: to getting back out there on the road and building
Speaker 2: towards twenty eighteen as an Oregon duck lo and behold,
Speaker 2: it's broken that he is going to jump back to Florida.
Speaker 2: He is going to take that Florida State job and
Speaker 2: a big part of the reason why we're doing this show,
Speaker 2: Dan is because even though we cover college football, we
Speaker 2: are fans at heart as well, and so I'm hoping
Speaker 2: that we can use however long this goes to not
Speaker 2: only help you process, but maybe a bit of a
Speaker 2: cathartic experience for you. We're going to have Jeff Schwartz
Speaker 2: on yeah a little bit. I know he's your texting
Speaker 2: buddy during some of these Oregon football games. We're going
Speaker 2: to get his response as well. So yeah, let's just
Speaker 2: use the space however we see fit. I care first
Speaker 2: and foremost about you, though, Daniel, I really think you,
Speaker 2: so I would back up to the start of this
Speaker 2: just in terms of how I'm thinking about it, because
Speaker 2: Willie Taggart came in with the reputation of a rebuilder,
Speaker 2: a restructurer, a reinvigorator, a recruiter, so all the res
Speaker 2: and so under the guise of that, he came into
Speaker 2: Oregon immediately filled out a recruiting class that was sort
Speaker 2: of decimated after Mark Helfrich was fired with kids from Florida,
Speaker 2: but also had and here's one of the things I
Speaker 2: think when you're a little bit angry and sad that
Speaker 2: your coach has left for another job.
Speaker 1: What looks to be a better job is that you
Speaker 1: maybe tend to gloss over the parts you didn't like
Speaker 1: and just think about the recruiting and how good Oregon
Speaker 1: looked when Justin Herbert was healthy and the general hope
Speaker 1: that Oregon had that they were back on their path
Speaker 1: to success. But the fact is when he arrived it
Speaker 1: was pretty rocky. His co offensive coordinator got a DUI
Speaker 1: pretty quickly into his time in Eugene and was let go.
Speaker 1: They lost another assistant who I think was also in
Speaker 1: that car to UCLA, and that was sort of I
Speaker 1: think he was sort of pushed out and then he
Speaker 1: had the rabdo thing with his strength coach, and that
Speaker 1: sort of poorly reflected it was. It was rocky at
Speaker 1: the beginning, wasn't it. It was rocky? Yeah, And he
Speaker 1: he as a figurehead, looked very raw dealing with public
Speaker 1: perception he had. You know, he got into the fight
Speaker 1: with Andrew Griefe. I think is how he has his
Speaker 1: last name, I always forget, the Oregonian beat writer, and
Speaker 1: he was saying I'm not going to talk to him anymore.
Speaker 1: He was It was a very raw beginning to his tenure,
Speaker 1: and that was a little unusual considering he had been
Speaker 1: a head coach before at USF and Western Kentucky and
Speaker 1: then hired super well. You know, that's sort of highlighted
Speaker 1: by Mario Christoval and Jim Levitt, who did a great job.
Speaker 1: Spring was fine. You know inherits a very promising young
Speaker 1: quarterback in justin Herbert summer. You know, recruiting is you know,
Speaker 1: you have excitement around Oregon, which is sort of how
Speaker 1: the program is structured that you have certain programs, you
Speaker 1: you know, Michigan, Notre Dame, Alabama who can sell tradition
Speaker 1: and this is what you know, these legends did at
Speaker 1: our program throughout the century of college football. And you
Speaker 1: go other places and it's like, here's the blue collar
Speaker 1: we have a lunch box on our sideline. Like Oregon
Speaker 1: marketed itself wisely so as sort of an outsider, as
Speaker 1: exciting and fresh and flashy whatever. And so Willie Taggart
Speaker 1: as a younger guy, somebody who's very active on social media,
Speaker 1: somebody who recruited very well, and there were hashtags, there
Speaker 1: were all sorts of pictures of him. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you ever saw those pictures of him holding up
Speaker 1: like half an O with one hand and a recruit
Speaker 1: holding up you know, half an O with the other hand,
Speaker 1: and they put it together in some sort of like
Speaker 1: Captain Planety type way. Yeah, but there were there were
Speaker 1: those things, you know, there were there. They were just
Speaker 1: very active in ways that you know, Mark Helfrich and
Speaker 1: Chip Kelly and Mike Bolatti certainly were not and that
Speaker 1: was great that. I think that was a refreshing thing
Speaker 1: for Oregon. So there is this sense that he is
Speaker 1: somebody who himself is excited about about being in Eugene
Speaker 1: and excited about building something towards the future. And when
Speaker 1: he leaves, you're sort of left with the like, we
Speaker 1: get it, but you feel a little bit played and
Speaker 1: how much of it was and he was doing it
Speaker 1: while negotiating or his agent was negotiating with Florida State,
Speaker 1: so it leaves you a little chapped, right.
Speaker 2: Well, there are so many Tailor Swift songs that we
Speaker 2: could apply to this. I think it goes without saying,
Speaker 2: and you can bring up a picture. I know it's
Speaker 2: a little bit off topic, but my favorite subplot in
Speaker 2: this whole Willy Taggart drama has been the constant reuse
Speaker 2: of a non Willy Taggart photo that apparently was mislabeled.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Michael Johnson, the wide receivers coach. That's been
Speaker 1: my favorite subplot. But you're right, and look, here's the thing.
Speaker 2: I haven't been there recently, but lord knows, we've covered
Speaker 2: plenty of these coaching searches and plenty of fan bases.
Speaker 2: In their reaction to these coaching searches, people tend to
Speaker 2: go a little bit out of their gourd because, yeah,
Speaker 2: there is this natural score, and there is this natural
Speaker 2: feeling of oh, we got play.
Speaker 1: I guess where I go next.
Speaker 2: Just as someone who maybe doesn't have a skin in
Speaker 2: this game, but I think where a lot of fans
Speaker 2: would go when a coach leaves to go to another
Speaker 2: position is, oh my god, are we now a stepping
Speaker 2: stone job?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: Okay, Oregon's done a really good job in the last
Speaker 2: decade building up that football program. But whenever you have
Speaker 2: a situation where a guy goes elsewhere to no doubt,
Speaker 2: a more traditional power in Florida State, I think that's
Speaker 2: a question that deep down, as a fan, you're asking yourself,
Speaker 2: is that something that you've thought.
Speaker 1: Of sort of not necessarily in the context of just
Speaker 1: the clean and cut stepping stone thing, but thinking about
Speaker 1: the challenges of succeeding at a place like Oregon that
Speaker 1: is far away from and even though the recruiting has
Speaker 1: gotten better, the talent has gotten better in the Pacific Northwest.
Speaker 1: One of the other issues is it's not necessarily always
Speaker 1: the playing talent, but it's the coaching talent. And you
Speaker 1: can attract coaches to the West Coast, I think in
Speaker 1: the short term if they're not from the West Coast,
Speaker 1: so if they're from the Midwest, from the south. I mean,
Speaker 1: Chip Kelly was unique because from the Northeast, and so
Speaker 1: there wasn't necessarily a tie to a major college football
Speaker 1: region because that upper part of the Northeast. You know,
Speaker 1: he's from New Hampshire, so like Vermont and Maine, and
Speaker 1: you know, apologies to Connecticut and New York, but they're
Speaker 1: not they're not hotbeds. They're not I have to return
Speaker 1: home and play in front of the adoring college football masses.
Speaker 1: So that was that seems like an exception. And so
Speaker 1: Mike Bollati is from I believe he's from California. Chris
Speaker 1: Peterson's from the West coast, Clay Helton is not. And
Speaker 1: you know, certainly now Chip Kelly has football routes on
Speaker 1: the West coast at UCLA, and rich Rod is not.
Speaker 1: But you know, came to Arizona on the sort of
Speaker 1: descending part of his star after Michigan, and I don't
Speaker 1: even know what to make of herm Edwards, So I'm
Speaker 1: not even gonna But like Kyle Whittingsham is local to Utah,
Speaker 1: So in bringing somebody like Willie Taggart across the country,
Speaker 1: even with his couple of years at Stanford, is a
Speaker 1: pretty calculated risk. So I don't think Oregon is a
Speaker 1: stepping stone job. But I think Oregon is a very
Speaker 1: good job, made very good by a very good specific coach.
Speaker 1: And I don't think it stands alone like Notre Dame, Michigan, Alabama, Auburn,
Speaker 1: Florida State, Florida, Miami. You know what I'm saying that
Speaker 1: it doesn't necessarily you can't say Oregon is a special
Speaker 1: job for anybody because it's still far away from where
Speaker 1: a lot of coaches come from. And I was thinking
Speaker 1: about and I went through all the Power five schools,
Speaker 1: like how many West people that grew up on the
Speaker 1: West Coast have gone east or to the south or
Speaker 1: midwest whatever to a big job actively currently and it's
Speaker 1: basically just Derek Mason at Vanderbilt, which not a big job.
Speaker 1: Apologies to the Doors and Tom Herman to Texas and
Speaker 1: that's it, right, yeah, right, And so that's just a challenge.
Speaker 1: I love the West Coast. I wish everybody loved the
Speaker 1: West Coast and had to have the ability to spend
Speaker 1: time there. But it is, you know, I hate the phrase,
Speaker 1: but that is what that is. So it's it's not
Speaker 1: a stepping stone job job, but it is a tricky
Speaker 1: job made great by the correct, great candidate coach. That's
Speaker 1: that's how I sort of feel about it, if that
Speaker 1: makes sense. Here's what I want you to do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I want you to remove the I guess normal
Speaker 2: guardrails that you and I put up when we do
Speaker 2: a podcast where we're familiar, intimately familiar with the fact
Speaker 2: that we've got different makes and models of fans listening
Speaker 2: to our show.
Speaker 1: I just want you to be an Oregon fan now.
Speaker 1: And I want you to vent. Yeah, I want you
Speaker 1: to vent.
Speaker 2: I want you to talk to me like you talk
Speaker 2: to people on text message. I want I want, I
Speaker 2: want the pure raw nerve here to come through, because
Speaker 2: again we are fans like this happens to our teams too.
Speaker 2: Just because it hasn't happened to Notre Dame doesn't mean
Speaker 2: it won't happen soon.
Speaker 1: Well, you've had Notre Dame emotions. I mean you've had emotions,
Speaker 1: but bad extensions, not in the coaching realm, and not recently.
Speaker 1: Not to say recently, but I mean I can bring
Speaker 1: up Charlie Weiss, I can bring up Ty Whittingham, I
Speaker 1: can bring up Bob Davey, and I think there's still
Speaker 1: open wounds there.
Speaker 2: Let me pull a Mark McGuire man. I'm not here
Speaker 2: to talk about the past. I'm here to talk about this.
Speaker 2: Let's talk organ What do.
Speaker 1: You want to talk about?
Speaker 2: I want you to be raw and unfettered here.
Speaker 1: So my general opinion is Oregon needs to hire somebody
Speaker 1: who fits. Doesn't have to be the Willie Mold in
Speaker 1: terms of being young and you know, crazy on social
Speaker 1: media and bringing in a top three, five seven class
Speaker 1: or whatever. But the Prospect and our pal Bruce Feldman
Speaker 1: tweeted this out of bringing in Jim McElwain or Mike
Speaker 1: Leach or I saw Jeff Hedford, all of them who
Speaker 1: have done good, interesting things relatively recently at schools of
Speaker 1: varying size. That's fine. But to me, if you are
Speaker 1: going to project yourself in that way Oregon, in Oregon's way,
Speaker 1: you have to bring in somebody or you know, maintain
Speaker 1: a relationship with somebody like Mario Cristobal that I think
Speaker 1: I'd be okay with, you know, Kevin, someone is out
Speaker 1: there and it doesn't excite me in a way that
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's impossible because like I'm still deeply
Speaker 1: in love with the Chip Kelly era and I can't
Speaker 1: tell you I'm not. So I need to be convinced, ty,
Speaker 1: I need to be wowed. I need to be showed
Speaker 1: the love that I want to that I want to feel.
Speaker 1: And it's just a girl in the world. He needs one,
Speaker 1: just a girl in the world. So No, here's honestly
Speaker 1: what I think is, Oregon needs to spend money. They
Speaker 1: need to give money to a head coach. They need
Speaker 1: to open the coffers for the assistant pool and they
Speaker 1: somehow and you know, the Oregon had the advance, all
Speaker 1: the advantages in the world in terms of continuity before
Speaker 1: and having you know, Mike Bloody and his staff, and
Speaker 1: that carried over with Chip Kelly and Mark Helfrich and
Speaker 1: they could sort of break about that, they could recruit
Speaker 1: to the fact that these guys aren't leaving, and now
Speaker 1: they've regressed to the mean they you know, having three
Speaker 1: head coaches. I suppose in a year right with uh
Speaker 1: with with hell Fritch, Taggart and whoever is going to
Speaker 1: come in or stay in Eugene. That's rough. You're gonna
Speaker 1: lose guys, and that sucks, and that sucks for and
Speaker 1: I honestly like the like people tweeting, man, how do
Speaker 1: you fault Mark? How do you excuse me? How do
Speaker 1: you fault Willy Taggart for going home? How do you
Speaker 1: fault to the job has only come open once in
Speaker 1: forty years. He's gonna make five million dollars to coach football. Like,
Speaker 1: let's not. I don't have Willy Taggart on my fantasy
Speaker 1: Happy four team. Like there are there are guys getting
Speaker 1: their heads bashed in because Willy Taggart told them to
Speaker 1: fly from Florida to Oregon to play for him. Oregon's
Speaker 1: very different from Florida, and so it sucks and I
Speaker 1: I have a lot of shortcomings. And when I think
Speaker 1: about it like that, like when I look back at
Speaker 1: how I felt about lanekiff and leaving Tennessee or Todd
Speaker 1: Graham leaving Pitt, I don't think we and I can
Speaker 1: only speak to myself spend enough time saying, Man, that
Speaker 1: sucks for those dudes on that team who wanted to
Speaker 1: play for Todd Grammer Lane Kiffin. That sucks that they're
Speaker 1: just left in the lurch again twice in a year.
Speaker 1: So that's what like to me, It's like, man, Willy
Speaker 1: Taggert abandoned a lot of dudes.
Speaker 2: I'm not an Oregon fan. I'm a college football fan.
Speaker 2: If my team ended up hiring Jeff Tedford, even though
Speaker 2: he's done a really good job at Fresno, yeah, I'd
Speaker 2: put my hand through the wall in front of course,
Speaker 2: I go right through. That just does not have the
Speaker 2: sex appeal. Mario Cristoball is a good coach. By all
Speaker 2: County's a good coach. He's the interim coach now for
Speaker 2: this Las Vegas ball that Oregan's got coming up against
Speaker 2: Boise Mary. Christoball doesn't have the sex appeal of a
Speaker 2: Willy Taggert. Might be a good hire, might end up
Speaker 2: working out if he's the guy, but you can't help
Speaker 2: but feel a little underwhelmed if he's the guy who's
Speaker 2: named you.
Speaker 1: Know, Christaball was let go, and you know, some people
Speaker 1: look at, you know, the relationship that Christaball had with
Speaker 1: the ad and said that, like Chrystaball is unfairly marred
Speaker 1: by the experience of what happened at FIU. I'm at
Speaker 1: the point where I just want to be able to
Speaker 1: look at the Willy Taggart era for what it was
Speaker 1: and then figure out what's best moving forward, because obviously
Speaker 1: what I think is so important. But no, I mean,
Speaker 1: at the same time of all of this, of being
Speaker 1: let down by you know, all of the like enthusiasm
Speaker 1: unknown to mankind and hashtag do something, and like all
Speaker 1: of these like platitudes that turned out to be very temporary.
Speaker 1: I would like to see, like Willy Taggart went seven
Speaker 1: and five, his starting quarterback got hurt, and Oregon was dreadful.
Speaker 1: They were very bad on offense. They really could not
Speaker 1: get it together. They beat Utah, otherwise they were really
Speaker 1: bad against some pretty average teams in Washington, who is
Speaker 1: very good most of the time. So I'm not This
Speaker 1: isn't losing Chip Kelly to Florida State. It's not losing
Speaker 1: Mike lottyt to UCLA when he interviewed but didn't go.
Speaker 1: So I want to be very careful about Like Willie Taggart,
Speaker 1: there was a lot of hope, there was a lot
Speaker 1: of good that we saw hopefully in the future, but
Speaker 1: it didn't accomplish a ton. So look, here's what we're
Speaker 1: gonna do.
Speaker 2: We're gonna call your texting buddy, Jeff Schwartz, former Oregon Duck,
Speaker 2: former offensive lineman in the NFL, and I just want
Speaker 2: to sit back.
Speaker 1: And listen to you too. Really have a few minutes
Speaker 1: if that's okay, Yeah, Jeff, just let me know what
Speaker 1: you're thinking right now, what is going through your head.
Speaker 3: I'm not that disappointed, considering this is basically the only
Speaker 3: job what I felt Taggart would lead by a way
Speaker 3: for it needs to be his dream job. I'm just
Speaker 3: more upset that Jim Levett might be done cheating and
Speaker 3: the recruiting class that he's built up he's also probably
Speaker 3: gonna leave. And I just never felt that organ would
Speaker 3: be a program to how to coach there one year
Speaker 3: and now we're another upheaval and I was really excited
Speaker 3: with the direction of the program. Now I don't know
Speaker 3: how to feel.
Speaker 1: And you never when you were at Oregon, there was
Speaker 1: never like a major major change. There was an assistant
Speaker 1: or coordinator swapping out. Chip Kelly came for your for
Speaker 1: your senior year. But what at this point, when there
Speaker 1: is like two changes in a year, what is what
Speaker 1: is it? What do you guess it's like around a program?
Speaker 3: Well, you have to start over. And that's why I
Speaker 3: think they're really going to hire from within, because they
Speaker 3: don't want to start over again. The cryst of Ball
Speaker 3: seems like a natural fit at least for now. Maybe
Speaker 3: he doesn't do well. Maybe he does. But you have
Speaker 3: to change everything about your program, even me head coach
Speaker 3: and me, he's just as simple as changing the slogan,
Speaker 3: right they went from when the they to do something,
Speaker 3: it's just totally everything. Everything is different. You have to
Speaker 3: change teams again, maybe have to recreat differently. In this way,
Speaker 3: if you hire from within, you don't do very much
Speaker 3: to change it.
Speaker 1: Is that your preference?
Speaker 3: I think at this point, I mean the names of
Speaker 3: the turnout already. Jess, Jeff Hedford pass on that Mike Leach.
Speaker 3: As much as I love Mike Lynch as far as
Speaker 3: him in the media and what he says, I don't
Speaker 3: think he's a sad all I'll ever see Rgan getting
Speaker 3: to part off with Mike leachester head coach novel. Just
Speaker 3: I would Memphis, yep, I just I think Wayne Chiffin's
Speaker 3: probably not gonna be hired by Oregan' a guy that
Speaker 3: go after. I saw will Cox possibly even well at
Speaker 3: Cal this year. But I don't know, really, no really
Speaker 3: excite me, all right?
Speaker 1: And so if if it is Christaball hypothetically, what is
Speaker 1: it about the makeup up and you've played for a
Speaker 1: lot a number of offensive line coaches, both college and
Speaker 1: in the pros, what is there specifically about an offensive
Speaker 1: line coach when he is an offensive coordinator, when he
Speaker 1: is a head coach. Is there something specific to that
Speaker 1: sort of makeup of a coach that either is good
Speaker 1: or are not so good? For a head coach.
Speaker 3: Well as an offensive line coach, at least from schematically,
Speaker 3: you have to know almost everything. I think people believe
Speaker 3: that we just have to know the run game and whatnot,
Speaker 3: But typically you have to know a lot more about
Speaker 3: the offense than the other posish coaches a wide receiver.
Speaker 3: Coaches don't know what what the officiat is doing. And
Speaker 3: this defense is well for almost a semantic point if
Speaker 3: you like it, as far as just some personality offensive lineman.
Speaker 3: And we have to work harder. Yet we are at
Speaker 3: certain points of our life, you know, we get along
Speaker 3: with this. Everybody we have that really that that work
Speaker 3: with attitude and you know, now you might be in
Speaker 3: the spotlight he's away being a head coach, but you know,
Speaker 3: spotlight for us is not that big of appeal, and
Speaker 3: so I having it be a great to keep him
Speaker 3: on and keep that greasingness, especially offensively. And if Leven leaves,
Speaker 3: hopefully you know, bring someone in or somebody.
Speaker 1: What is your what do you think your lasting opinion
Speaker 1: will be of Willie Taggart almost spending a year in Eugene,
Speaker 1: which you know obviously is a special place for you,
Speaker 1: is a special place for me. But the fact that
Speaker 1: he does leave after you know, eleven months and change
Speaker 1: for a dream job. But also you know, recruited kids
Speaker 1: from across the country and you know, didn't last a
Speaker 1: full cycle and really like made a lot of money
Speaker 1: to coach a huge team like his life would not
Speaker 1: have been terrible if he didn't take the Florida State job.
Speaker 1: What is your lasting impression you think?
Speaker 3: I think a lot of that depends on where the
Speaker 3: program goes. If the program takes a nose dog for
Speaker 3: three years, and I think it'll get a lot of
Speaker 3: blame for that. If the program continues to go back
Speaker 3: to where tickets can, then he probably won't be forgardfon
Speaker 3: anestly because he's only doing like you said, eleven months
Speaker 3: and maybe the guy that's not the program of new
Speaker 3: energy and the new life. But if thinking to win,
Speaker 3: people won't be upset. But you know, I'm worried about
Speaker 3: what's going to tank from many years now because we
Speaker 3: hire a wrong coach. I wasn't sure about Packard at first,
Speaker 3: but I heard about his attitude and they saw the
Speaker 3: changes run away. They were maybe this is the program
Speaker 3: and if so, how we hire someone else and that
Speaker 3: doesn't happen. There was will Well for a couple of years.
Speaker 3: I think a lot of fans will rightfully be upset
Speaker 3: with with Willy for leaving.
Speaker 1: Do you think Oregon is a Do you think Oregon
Speaker 1: is a great job? One of the things I said
Speaker 1: was Oregon is a great job with a great coach,
Speaker 1: but the challenges are still such that it's easy to
Speaker 1: screw up as well.
Speaker 3: I'm probably more on the side of it's not a
Speaker 3: great job. I mean, I think it's a maybe a
Speaker 3: fifteen to twenty job, maybe less twenty twenty five best job.
Speaker 3: I'm probably a little bit more skeptical of how great
Speaker 3: a job is the most organ fans. I think recruiting
Speaker 3: is very hard. Yeah, because there's no talent in Oregon.
Speaker 3: There's not much of the talent in Washington, and then
Speaker 3: you go to California. You have usc L to Kelly Stamford.
Speaker 3: Stafford's always going to recruve the best office delignment in
Speaker 3: the West Coast. Cal's gotten better, so really did a
Speaker 3: good job of getting kids from other states, and Chips
Speaker 3: started that as well, getting her from other states come in.
Speaker 3: But I just think it's a it's a recruiting challenge
Speaker 3: and a small school city. Now. They love football, and
Speaker 3: don't get me wrong, I mean Jene loves her football,
Speaker 3: the cheek the player as well, But I don't think
Speaker 3: it's a top fifteen jobs.
Speaker 1: Final question, what percent chance? Zero to one? Hundred do
Speaker 1: you give Oregon, you know, the the administration athletic director,
Speaker 1: whoever the boosters Phil Knight. What percent chance do you
Speaker 1: give them of hiring somebody great that sort of keeps
Speaker 1: the upward trajectory and what percent? I guess do you
Speaker 1: think that like they just bomb this higher the time?
Speaker 3: I mean, I mean, I think it's almost it almost
Speaker 3: fifty fifty. Right, you promoted chip Kelly, but it's fantastic.
Speaker 3: You know, they've always done a promotion, right, they promoted Balati,
Speaker 3: they promoted chip Kelly was all great, and promoted health
Speaker 3: it can go very well a lot of and Taget
Speaker 3: went well. So if they you know, they don't promote
Speaker 3: crystal Ball, I think it's fifty. Campon knows well. I
Speaker 3: think that they'll do it with the right attention. I
Speaker 3: don't think that the search process will be something that
Speaker 3: they don't do thoroughly. So I have faith they'll do
Speaker 3: a thorough process. But I think every head coaching hire
Speaker 3: is very unique, and I can't say with certainty they're
Speaker 3: going to head out a part of me. They might
Speaker 3: try to get a count of bring aas and those
Speaker 3: guys might say no. But I got to the coach.
Speaker 3: They might be a small time guy that you don't
Speaker 3: think he's good to start out and ends up being great.
Speaker 3: Might hire a big cat it is not very good.
Speaker 3: So I think it's really fifty to fifty.
Speaker 1: Is your early vote right now? Crystal Ball? Then for continuity, Yeah,
Speaker 1: unless Chris Peterson wants to come, unless Pete Charlestone with Seattle.
Speaker 3: I don't know who else realistically at this point in
Speaker 3: the year who would be good fit in organ I
Speaker 3: was Frost too, but you got a job in nebraskyar fair.
Speaker 1: All right, Jeff, thank you say hi to your kids
Speaker 1: for me. I will, all right, Dan, So there you go.
Speaker 1: That is Jeff Schwartz from the pit of Hell. Yeah wherever.
Speaker 1: I think he was picking up his kid at like
Speaker 1: a swimming glass or something. So that's the noise for
Speaker 1: Oregon fans out there who might be in the pit
Speaker 1: of hell right now learning of this news.
Speaker 2: Thank you for tuning into our broadcast. We are a
Speaker 2: college football show. We normally broadcast around this time of
Speaker 2: year every Wednesday and Sunday, talk about other relevant coaching
Speaker 2: news and bowl games. Now, everything that we've got coming
Speaker 2: up in the coaching circuit will put out a new
Speaker 2: show tomorrow in which I don't know. Maybe we'll announce
Speaker 2: a live show in Atlanta. Maybe we'll talk about other
Speaker 2: Bowl games and other coaching news and things of the like.
Speaker 1: Where should people keep their eyes so they can learn
Speaker 1: all of these things?
Speaker 2: People should keep their eyes peeled right here on the
Speaker 2: Facebook page where a lot of you are listening. Stay
Speaker 2: tuned to our Twitter account at Twitter dot com slash
Speaker 2: solid Verbal. We've also been pretty active this year on
Speaker 2: Instagram as well. You can find us in all the
Speaker 2: usual hotspots, as well as a subreddit that was created
Speaker 2: by our listeners for our listeners at reddit dot com
Speaker 2: slash are slash Solid Verbal. But the larger point here
Speaker 2: is I just wanted to give you a chance to vent,
Speaker 2: to get this all out. Willy Taggert has been announced
Speaker 2: as the new Florida State football coach. He is going home,
Speaker 2: so to speak. And this is one of my other
Speaker 2: favorite subplots. We saw it with Scott Frost, gonna see
Speaker 2: it now with Willy Taggert.
Speaker 1: But whenever, I mean, we've seen it all over I
Speaker 1: mean in previous years too. We see Paul Chris leave
Speaker 1: after what two or three years from Pitt back to
Speaker 1: back to Wisconsin. We said, we do see this.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, what I'm saying, and you're right, going
Speaker 2: back to the alma mater, going back to the home state.
Speaker 2: But what I'm talking about specifically is the welcome home hashtag,
Speaker 2: the welcome home banners, the welcome home memes that you
Speaker 2: see floating around the internet.
Speaker 1: You know what, if Oregon hires Justin Wilcox away from Cal,
Speaker 1: that's exactly what hard to have. You'll be flying the
Speaker 1: banner over Audson. There are pictures of Justin Wilcox playing
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving football with Justin Herbert when Herbert was like nine,
Speaker 1: apparently he and his family. God, could you imagine the
Speaker 1: fantasy that might be number one overall fantasy if if
Speaker 1: Justin Wilcox takes the Oregon job after just a year
Speaker 1: at Cal, just bringing everything full circle. Can I ask
Speaker 1: you a couple of names from the outside what you
Speaker 1: would think? Yeah, sure, if Oregon hired them. Okay, so
Speaker 1: we talked about Mario cristaball a bunch. Obviously, the other
Speaker 1: big name coordinator name with Oregon is is Jim Levit.
Speaker 1: Jim Levit. So if they were to hire Crystal Ball
Speaker 1: or Levitt, what would your reaction be, I'd be underwhelmed.
Speaker 2: And I know what Jeff said, Jeff knows a lot
Speaker 2: more about football than you and I. The continuity is important,
Speaker 2: whether it's through crystal Ball or Levitt crystal Ball short term,
Speaker 2: you know crystal Ball. Both of them have head coaching
Speaker 2: experience in the state of Florida, and it sounds like
Speaker 2: Jim Levitt may be headed with Willy Taggart down there
Speaker 2: to Florida State. So if it does end up being
Speaker 2: crystal Ball, look, he's a good coach. Can't help but
Speaker 2: feel a little bit underwhelmed coming from Chip Kelly a
Speaker 2: couple of years back and most recently Willy Taggart, who
Speaker 2: was you know, builds the next next great thing.
Speaker 1: If it were both chrystal Ball, say it head coach
Speaker 1: and a big race to Levitt at defensive coordinator. Again,
Speaker 1: you like the continuity.
Speaker 2: I think if you get both, you feel better about
Speaker 2: that that the program's not going to bottom out.
Speaker 1: But you know, I still think scorned a little bit more.
Speaker 2: By the departure of Willy Taggert, then I would be
Speaker 2: relieved at the continuity of keeping those guys around.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And the other thing is if Mario Christaval is
Speaker 1: awesome for two years, three years and who knows what
Speaker 1: job opens up South Carolina Georgia Tech certainly doesn't look
Speaker 1: like a job in Florida. A big job in Florida
Speaker 1: is opening up. But if a big job opens up
Speaker 1: in the southeast, would, I mean, you're going through it
Speaker 1: all over again. So there is that that calculated risk again.
Speaker 1: Mike Norvell just signed an extension, so it doesn't appear
Speaker 1: that he will be his stay in put yep and
Speaker 1: he like Weirdly, there were like rumblings of, you know,
Speaker 1: teams sort of growing cold on him when they did
Speaker 1: more vetting. Kevin Someone, Kevin Someone's interesting to me.
Speaker 2: Okay, I think he got a bit of a raw
Speaker 2: deal at A and M and I know the results
Speaker 2: weren't there on the field the way they wanted, But
Speaker 2: the SEC West is crazy hard. Sure, I still like
Speaker 2: what he did there. I know it went downhill a
Speaker 2: bit after Johnny Manziel left, but he's an exciting coach.
Speaker 1: He's a great recruiter.
Speaker 2: I don't know to what degree He's got a comfort
Speaker 2: zone in the Pacific Northwest, And though I don't think
Speaker 2: it's quite as excitable a hire as a Willie Taggart.
Speaker 1: I think that's a good option. Yeah, well, Willy Taggart
Speaker 1: is certainly more of an unknown from a Power five perspective.
Speaker 1: He's been a Power five coach for again eleven months. Sure,
Speaker 1: whereas we know more about Kevin Summer, we know more
Speaker 1: about his record, the ups and the downs in the
Speaker 1: in betweens, and who knows what tex A and M
Speaker 1: looks like if he and the coaching staff and everybody
Speaker 1: involved didn't screw up the Kyle Allen Kyler Murray thing. Sure,
Speaker 1: you go from two five star quarterbacks to no five
Speaker 1: star quarterbacks very quickly.
Speaker 2: I just and so you know, I mean, the thing
Speaker 2: with him is the SEC West, the SEC in general.
Speaker 2: People are driven crazy by the fact that Nick Saban
Speaker 2: is coaching in the same conference. Everybody wants to find
Speaker 2: the Nick Saban, and the second they realize that they
Speaker 2: don't have him, they're more inclined to just toss aside
Speaker 2: whoever is whoever is head football coach and going in
Speaker 2: a different direction. That may be true to some extent
Speaker 2: with someone at A and M. I still think he's
Speaker 2: a really good football coach, and if he is the guy,
Speaker 2: if he is someone that Oregon is interested in. They
Speaker 2: probably have the personnel to run that system.
Speaker 1: Sure, I don't think what Kevin someone has traditionally done.
Speaker 1: You know, he hasn't always been consistent in the way
Speaker 1: that he's run the ball, and so you know, he's
Speaker 1: a Mike Leech guy, I believe. Maybe, no, he's Yeah,
Speaker 1: he was at Oklahoma with him, I believe. But what
Speaker 1: he did at Houston setting records through the air with
Speaker 1: case Keenum and obviously what he did at Texas A
Speaker 1: and M and recruiting, and you have to assume that
Speaker 1: coming into a situation with Justin Herbert, who when healthy
Speaker 1: is you know, probably one of the best eight quarterbacks
Speaker 1: in the country, has to be very enticing to people
Speaker 1: because that will just make you look good. So that's
Speaker 1: interesting to me from a Kevin Somelin perspective, who you know,
Speaker 1: coached and played at Purdue, We coached in Minnesota and Wyoming, Oklahoma, Texas,
Speaker 1: so he's not necessarily as tied to a specific region
Speaker 1: as it seemed Taggert was. What about Brian Harson much
Speaker 1: more regional? Wow? Uh, who I believe interviewed or had
Speaker 1: conversations last year around this time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I like Brian Harrison, and I like him because
Speaker 2: for a long time it was believe that his dream
Speaker 2: job was Boise State. So if he could pluck someone
Speaker 2: away from their supposed dream job, maybe you're more inclined
Speaker 2: to keep someone around for a longer period of time.
Speaker 2: A Mountain West dream job, A Mountain West dream job. Sure,
Speaker 2: So yeah, I'm okay with that.
Speaker 1: Yeah. See, that's I think the general it peaks at okay.
Speaker 2: You're gonna feel okay with pretty much anyone at this point.
Speaker 1: I would needed somebody, somebody needed to What about buy
Speaker 1: a picture on the wall. What about Jim mcklewain, You know,
Speaker 1: from a seeing what he did and how that his
Speaker 1: tenure ended in Gamesville recently, it feels like way more
Speaker 1: of a downslope, way more of a dissension whatever than
Speaker 1: Kevin someone would be because even when they won the
Speaker 1: SEC East, it was just sort of like they were
Speaker 1: the best worst team in the SEC. I guess like
Speaker 1: that's all it really felt like. And it seemed like
Speaker 1: his interpersonal and public dealings would be a pretty big
Speaker 1: shift from Willie Tagger and even like Chip Kelly, they're
Speaker 1: like the Jim mcklewain thing does not at all excite me,
Speaker 1: and I don't think it would excite many Oregon fans.
Speaker 2: He wouldn't receive the bizarre, unsubstantiated threats, right Eugene that
Speaker 2: maybe got at Florida.
Speaker 1: I think we could say that.
Speaker 2: But the danger with him is he came in to
Speaker 2: Florida I think thought of as a bit of an
Speaker 2: offensive guru, a quarterback guru. He had some history with
Speaker 2: Nick Saban and did wonders at Colorado State in a
Speaker 2: very short period of time. He's a good football coach
Speaker 2: and he still has that to his credit.
Speaker 1: I would concerned that there were recruiting concerns about him
Speaker 1: in Gainesville, Sure, sure, and sort of porting that to Eugene.
Speaker 1: It's sort of troubling too well.
Speaker 2: And my larger point here is he has a quarterback
Speaker 2: at Oregon. If he ends up going there, if he
Speaker 2: steps into that job and the offense isn't any good,
Speaker 2: if the quarterback position is a dumpster fire, then all
Speaker 2: of a sudden you've got a crisis.
Speaker 1: And what we saw, I mean, Oregon has a blue
Speaker 1: chip quarterback committed right now I think from Arizona, and
Speaker 1: it looks like he's still gonna come, I have no idea.
Speaker 1: I don't pretend to know what recruits are thinking. But
Speaker 1: beyond Justin Herbert, as we saw this year, it is
Speaker 1: thin pickings. And you know, hey, good luck to Willy
Speaker 1: Taggert who last year Jimbo struggled with a backup quarterback.
Speaker 1: And now Willy Taggert goes there and we'll see what
Speaker 1: happens with the Florida state quarterback job. But you're not wrong,
Speaker 1: You're not at all wrong. Can I give you I'm
Speaker 1: trying to think of any more names. So like Justin Wilcox.
Speaker 1: Justin Wilcox would be promising moments at CAL. Yeah, local
Speaker 1: to Eugene. I would make moments you do like that movie?
Speaker 1: I would like that move. Yeah, I think you can
Speaker 1: spin it optimistically. I've spoken to somebody who has spent
Speaker 1: a bunch of time with him this season who sort
Speaker 1: of said, I don't know if Justin Wilcox would take
Speaker 1: that job. Don't well, I don't think Justin would leave
Speaker 1: after a year or something like that from what he's
Speaker 1: done at Cal. He hired well at Cal. He just
Speaker 1: lost his defensive line coach, Jerry Asinaro to UCLA and
Speaker 1: Chip Kelly. But I could be talked into it just
Speaker 1: seeing how he was able to recruit. But and I
Speaker 1: like the fact that he has coached at Tennessee and Boise,
Speaker 1: in Wisconsin and USC and Washington, like he's been all over.
Speaker 1: He has connections, you know, not just to recruiting, but
Speaker 1: to hiring assistance. So that to me is a positive thing.
Speaker 1: But it's not it's not electric, Tie, I gotta tell you,
Speaker 1: it's not electric. And I don't know if there is
Speaker 1: an electric option. Well, Greg Chiano is the electric option. Dan,
Speaker 1: you know that it's more like an electric fence. You
Speaker 1: What do you feel about Mike Leach. I feel that
Speaker 1: Mike Leach has a very fun public veneer in press conferences,
Speaker 1: in scrums, and is also sort of low key, kind
Speaker 1: of problematic and gets along with people in tricky ways
Speaker 1: or doesn't get along with people in tricky ways. So
Speaker 1: I think there's some interpersonal stuff that's to be desired.
Speaker 1: And when you sign up for Mike Leach, you sign
Speaker 1: up for a very specific system, rain or shine. And
Speaker 1: I don't know if I like the lack of adaptability.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I like that. And he's had
Speaker 1: a ton of success and he has beaten everybody. And
Speaker 1: at the same time, you know, the recruiting thing scares
Speaker 1: me a little bit that he's not going to be
Speaker 1: able to recruit in the way that Oregon envisions themselves
Speaker 1: as able to to Doeah, I just it would feel
Speaker 1: like be minus C plus.
Speaker 2: I always feel about Mike Leach, and I don't know
Speaker 2: if I've used this analogy on the show before. I
Speaker 2: feel about Mike Leach the same way I do Coldstone
Speaker 2: Creamery like I like it and there are times where
Speaker 2: I definitely have an appetite for it. Yeah, but it's
Speaker 2: not the go to every time I'm interested in ice cream.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was gonna say milkshakes. We've talked about milkshakes before,
Speaker 1: and that's how we became friends with Adam Amin. I
Speaker 1: have maybe one or two milkshakes a year.
Speaker 2: You could take it in doses and it's a lot
Speaker 2: of fun. It makes it better that you take it
Speaker 2: in doses and not all the time. But there's something
Speaker 2: about I think that system, that personality. I could see
Speaker 2: that wearing thin on you. If you're a fan and
Speaker 2: it's not consistently good. If that makes sense, No's that's
Speaker 2: totally right.
Speaker 1: I uh, you know, it's if you throw you like,
Speaker 1: you have a group of friends and everybody loves hanging
Speaker 1: out and this guy, this girl whatever, they make hanging
Speaker 1: out real fun. Do I want to be their roommate?
Speaker 1: I don't know. But do I like playing golden tea?
Speaker 1: Do I like, you know, going out and playing and
Speaker 1: like pick up basketball at them?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: They're great. I just every day every day with Phil.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: So any other options that you see, you know, as
Speaker 1: connected to the West Coast, because like in my like,
Speaker 1: there are big names out there. You know, Mike Gundy
Speaker 1: spoke with with Tennessee and then he got to raise
Speaker 1: at Oklahoma State and you know who I would have
Speaker 1: loved y because this is a timing thing. Sorry, sure,
Speaker 1: my dream, my dream of dreams, would have been like
Speaker 1: Bob Stoops still at Oklahoma and just nab Lincoln Riley
Speaker 1: after year two. I was thinking about that a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago when I was, you know, sitting through
Speaker 1: the end of the Mark Helfrich era and I was like,
Speaker 1: what Riley. He seems fun, he seems like he's young
Speaker 1: and can put up yards. Let's get him to Eugene.
Speaker 1: But alas he now is coaching in the playoffs.
Speaker 2: Ask you a very personal question always, are you at
Speaker 2: all active on Oregon message boards? Not necessarily as a poster,
Speaker 2: but maybe just as a lurker.
Speaker 1: I have. Yeah, I don't post a lot, and I
Speaker 1: actually I don't even post period, but I am familiar
Speaker 1: with conversations that happen.
Speaker 2: Who do you think is the most improbable candidate that
Speaker 2: someone on the message boards will trot out for the
Speaker 2: organ position?
Speaker 1: Improbable? I've seen Chris Peterson. Yeah, I don't think Peterson's
Speaker 1: going there is about Yeah, it's not like people say,
Speaker 1: like throw ten million dollars a year and like, no,
Speaker 1: I don't don't think it's a money thing.
Speaker 2: What kind of odds can I get? And you're going
Speaker 2: to have to police this. I don't know if this
Speaker 2: is going to be a thing or not. What kind
Speaker 2: of odds can I get on someone on an Oregon
Speaker 2: message boards trotting out Brian Kelly?
Speaker 1: Oh, zero point zero? I mean there's you would get
Speaker 1: ten thousand to one odds.
Speaker 2: And that I'll take twenty five to one odds and
Speaker 2: I'll make that bet with you. Well, so here's the
Speaker 2: complicated thing that came up when Chip was going to
Speaker 2: UCLA is Brian Kelly is now entrenched at a former
Speaker 2: Adidas current under armour school. I don't know if there's
Speaker 2: a push pull because I apparently this is the alleged
Speaker 2: thing that Phil Knight and Oregon sort of see Adidas
Speaker 2: as like, well, they've been around forever, and like, you know,
Speaker 2: we think we're a lot higher than Adidas, but you know,
Speaker 2: we acknowledge that they exist. The under armour thing is
Speaker 2: like this weird craw and that. I don't think it
Speaker 2: was an actual meaningful standing in the way situation at
Speaker 2: UCLA for Chip Kelly and his relationship. But I think
Speaker 2: Chip Kelly probably made a phone call and was like, listen,
Speaker 2: here's what's going on, Kevin. Someone's an Adidas you know,
Speaker 2: has been at an Adida school for a while. Brian Kelly.
Speaker 2: That under armour thing, I don't think it's going to happen.
Speaker 2: But that's another aspect of this this search. It's another aspect.
Speaker 2: I'm talking purely in the realm of the hypothetical. Don't
Speaker 2: take what will happen. Will happen twenty five to one
Speaker 2: odds is what I want. Will you make that bet
Speaker 2: with me? Twenty five to one? Yeah, twenty five to
Speaker 2: one people out there listening, police very quietly, your local
Speaker 2: Oregon message board. And if Brian Kelly's name pops up,
Speaker 2: let us know. Please don't be the one to do it.
Speaker 2: This is like a reverse don't be the one to
Speaker 2: do it.
Speaker 1: Where we're going with honesty? Here the honesty? What's what's
Speaker 1: the policy I'm going for? I'm I'm out of at
Speaker 1: the honor the honor code. Yeah, there it is, honor code.
Speaker 2: I will give you a singular dollar bill at our
Speaker 2: live show in Atlanta next month. If in fact, I'm
Speaker 2: assuming Oregon should have a coach by then, If in
Speaker 2: fact Brian Kelly's name does not appear.
Speaker 1: I assume Oregon. Well, signing day is what two weeks
Speaker 1: from tomorrow? I really hope. So all right, Well, well,
Speaker 1: I think we'll leave it at that. More to come
Speaker 1: on this story. We will cover it the way we
Speaker 1: do so many other coaching breaks that have gone on
Speaker 1: here in the early going of the college football postseason.
Speaker 1: Now on our Wednesday podcast, which you can find at
Speaker 1: soliverbal dot com. We're also on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, Stitcher,
Speaker 1: tune in, literally everywhere you could find a podcast you
Speaker 1: can find the solid verbal We are free. Will be
Speaker 1: twice a week until after the bowl season, at which
Speaker 1: point we still broadcast year round, but we'll start up
Speaker 1: on a once a week Wednesday schedule, talking college football
Speaker 1: the full year through.
Speaker 2: Daniel keep us posted. All right, we'll do for that
Speaker 2: gentleman over there morning, as Willy Taggart has gone on too,
Speaker 2: Florida State, Oregon now back in the throes of a
Speaker 2: head coaching search. His name is Dan Rubinstein. For myself,
Speaker 2: Ty Hilda Brand, thanks for tuning in to this special addition,
Speaker 2: Willie Taggert panic Pod, a merger pod, whatever you want
Speaker 2: to call it.
Speaker 1: Can we do it for Notre Dame someday?
Speaker 2: Oh my god, it will take on a much darker
Speaker 2: tone when it happens.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to be on the other end. We'll
Speaker 1: catch you all soon. Take care, peace,