WEBVTT - Hour 3 – Greg Sankey, Tim Kurkjian 0:00:00.720 --> 0:00:03.560 You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:05.359 Sports Radio Final. 0:00:05.080 --> 0:00:07.200 Hour in this Thursday Dan and the Dan That's Dan 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:10.640 Patrick Show. Glad to have you on board. SEC Commissioner 0:00:10.680 --> 0:00:13.480 Greg Sanke in the on deck circle and Tim Kirchin 0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:17.759 for the Mothership. It's baseball's opening day or reopening day 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:21.000 if you are a Dodger fan since they opened up, 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:25.480 and a Cubs fan as well, but Dodgers overwhelming favorites. 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:28.440 And my question for Tim Kirchen. Are the Dodgers good 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:32.279 for baseball? We know they're good for Los Angeles and 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:34.600 they're a hard team to not like because of the 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:37.760 personalities that they have Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman and 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:40.960 sho hey O Tani and Clayton Kershaw, Dave Roberts one 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:44.559 of the nice people in sports. And it's sort of 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:47.640 like the Yankees. They were called the Evil Empire, but 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:51.080 when George Steinbrenner was there, you could root against George Steinbrenner. 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:54.040 I don't know if you rooted against the Yankees the 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:56.520 personalities that they had. And I'm talking about the Core, 0:00:57.120 --> 0:00:59.920 the Core four. You know, if you had Pettitt and Burn, 0:01:00.640 --> 0:01:04.360 you know, Derrek Jucha. I mean they were a likable 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:08.240 group of people, but they people didn't like that they 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:10.560 were buying championships. And then all of a sudden, the 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:12.760 Red Socks go, oh, well, why don't we try to 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:16.959 buy you know, you just everybody's trying to take what's 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:19.640 the new model? And how how can we take advantage 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.720 of that? Well, now the Dodgers have said, we got 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:25.800 a lot of money, and we got a pipeline to Japan, 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:28.760 and who wouldn't want to play in Los Angeles? Yeah, 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:30.520 you think it's a real free pass. 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:33.279 During that era of the Yankees Evil Empire, and although 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:37.920 the spending, the Chicago Cubs had the like second or 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:40.280 third highest payroll, sometimes the first highest pay roll in 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:42.640 all of those years and did nothing. They were terrible 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:44.679 or at least didn't win any rate. 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:47.040 Well, you know, if you look back at the Yankees 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:51.400 when they had Jeter and Bernie yeah, Tino Martinez, like, 0:01:51.520 --> 0:01:56.240 they were really good at drafting players, but the difference 0:01:56.400 --> 0:01:59.120 was that they kept their players. I mean that's really 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:01.480 like if Pittsburgh could keep all their players, of the 0:02:01.520 --> 0:02:04.040 Reds could keep all their players, then they could build 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:07.200 something that's sustainable. It's just they haven't been able to 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:09.799 they can't. You know, the Big Red Machine wouldn't have 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:14.360 stayed together because they would have gone elsewhere. The Reds 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:17.000 couldn't have afforded all of those Hall of famers. But 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:21.360 the Yankees drafted, well, we have them, will re sign them, 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:24.320 and then you'll sprinkle in a couple other players. And 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:27.320 they did it better than anybody for a long period 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:30.000 of time. But Tim Kirkchim will join us coming up 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:32.079 a little bit later on. All right, so you have 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:38.880 basketball tonight, you have Bama. Wallely Zerbiak, who's part of 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:42.040 the coverage from March Badness, said, that's the game. He said, 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:44.480 that's the BYU is the team you want to watch. 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:49.960 Maryland against Florida, Arizona against Duke in Arkansas versus Texas 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:54.360 Tech are good. Buddy Russell Wilson junior third. He was 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:58.440 introduced yesterday to the New York media and nobody is 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:01.839 more positive than Russell Wilson coming here. 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:04.400 Obviously being in New York, it's an exciting place to play. 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:07.240 It's a place that wants to win. It's a place 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:08.960 that knows how to win and has one before. 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:13.280 And so for me, it's bringing everything I know, all 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:15.359 the experiences, all the touchdowns, all the wins, but. 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:17.840 Also all the love and passion for the game to 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:20.080 this locker room. And that's what I'm really excited for. 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:22.400 And it's going to be a special, special thing and 0:03:22.560 --> 0:03:24.520 we got to go go work for it every day 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:27.960 and go do it. Who's with me? The Giants are 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:32.400 going to win the division. If you've seen the movie, 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:36.640 the cartoon, the animated movie up Russell, Russell's a little 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:39.800 scout and it's I got balloons on the house. Yes. Yeah, 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:43.440 he's always in a good mood. He's always cheering up 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:47.920 the old man. That's Russell Wilson. He's always positive. But 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:51.480 he's been this way, but he had a mentor who 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:54.320 helped him think this way and it did work for 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:57.480 a long period of time. But now with the New 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:01.280 York Giants, and nobody's more positive out the Giants. Ben 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:05.360 Russell Wilson, he's the SEC commissioner. He's Greg sank Back 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:08.680 on the show, commissioner. Thanks for joining us. When did 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:12.320 the SEC first start to focus its resources maybe on 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:18.599 making the Conference of Basketball powerhouse. Was there a moment 0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:21.599 where you said, why don't we just take the headlines 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:22.680 in other months? 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:27.320 Well, Yeah, I can speak to when it became really 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:30.560 raw for me, and it was March of twenty sixteen. 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:34.000 That was the end of my first basketball season as 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:37.400 the SEC's commissioner, and we had three teams selected to 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:41.160 the NCAA Tournament on the men's side that dan. That 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:43.719 was the fourth time that had happened in the prior 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:45.359 to ten years. So it's not like we had a 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:48.599 great trend going. But when you're in the commissioner's share, 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:52.040 that moment was pretty raw and we had to do 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:55.320 some things differently from our end in the conference office. 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:57.960 Okay, but what was the plan that you put in place? 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:00.880 Yeah, A couple of things. One, we had had some 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:04.920 consulting relationships where we really weren't talking about the right things. 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:07.919 You remember the old RPI, which is now the NET. 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:10.520 We would spend in an ordinate amount of time trying 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:12.760 to figure out how to gain the RPI in scheduling. 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:16.039 We weren't talking about hiring the right people. We weren't 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:21.520 talking about facilities, we weren't talking about recruiting. The day 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:27.240 after that selection, Sunday, I transitioned away from one advisor 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:29.880 and I drought Mike Trangeesi in the next day, and 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:32.320 what Mike did is help us talk about the right things. 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:35.760 The other bonus with Trengeese and I grew up outside Syracuse, 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:38.320 New York, so watch the Big East form was like 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:41.360 when Mike said you're good at basketball to the media, 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:45.800 you were automatically good at basketball. But one of the 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:47.840 things he did was he talked to our ads as 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:50.520 they were going through the hiring of coaches, and not 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:53.719 tell them to to who to hire, but talk to 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:56.120 them about perhaps who not the hire, who may not 0:05:56.240 --> 0:06:00.280 be ready for the stage that we have. Those kind 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:04.839 of conversations became much more relevant. We had some other 0:06:04.960 --> 0:06:07.400 tweaks we needed to make, but that was a big 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:08.440 part of the conversation. 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:11.680 Did you take the same approach to football at any 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:15.320 point where you guys have been successful winning titles, but 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:18.560 now with more teams in the playoffs, and is there 0:06:18.640 --> 0:06:21.080 any a different shift in philosophy? 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:24.440 You know the reality of this job. And a long 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:26.919 time ago I was Southland Conference commissioner. I was like 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:29.920 way off Broadway. You never called me for an interview, 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:33.279 so I never had the opportunity. I made a decision 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:35.520 that every day in that role, you had to think 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:38.360 about football. One way or another. And I think the 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:42.560 reality of the Southeastern Conference is football is dominant on 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:45.720 a daily basis. We have twenty one other sports. But 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:51.120 we also have to recognize the conversation allocation, the time allocation, 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:54.760 so football is a bit more natural. Do we talk 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:58.680 about issues, Absolutely, We're talking about scheduling in the conference, 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:03.000 we talk about non conference scheduling, we talk about CFP impacts. 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:05.760 That's daily. We had to be a little bit more 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:08.800 intentional on the basketball front ten years. 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:14.560 Ago, are you in favor of more teams qualifying for 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:15.320 March Madness? 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:18.160 Yeah, I'm in favor of fully exploring that. I think 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:23.600 there's advantages to doing so, given there's more Division one 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:28.600 members right now, there's one less conference. But what we're 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:33.920 doing is excluding from participation some of the top fifty teams. 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:35.640 And I think when you look last year at North 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:38.400 Carolina State on eleven seed makes it to the Final four, 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:42.200 You've had two or three teams playing Dayton that have 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:44.440 made it to the Final four or made it into 0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:47.120 the Elite eight and Sweet sixteen. What that tells me 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:50.200 is there's a competitive balance at the high end, and 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:52.280 we have to think about providing access. 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:52.440 Now. 0:07:52.440 --> 0:07:55.600 I wouldn't just run to expand for the sake of expansion. 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:58.680 I've never put a number on it, I think, and 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:00.880 I've been clear that it needs to be fully explored. 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:04.520 I'm pleased at the NCAA leadership and the committees involved 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:05.680 they're doing so. 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:08.920 I'm talking to Greg Sanki, SEC Commissioner. I'm more concerned 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:14.080 about transfer portal and nil with college football or college basketball. 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:17.200 I think both are are relevant. You know, I watched 0:08:17.240 --> 0:08:20.040 the rhetoric right now, Dan, and I mean, we forget 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:23.600 that we've just seen coaches transfer, right We've seen head 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:29.120 coaches leave a program last week to go to another program. 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:31.520 I've had in my league. I've had it in my 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:36.439 league a year ago where a coach leaves Program A 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:39.359 and the SEC to go to Program B. That's reality. 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:44.200 The commentary about young people doing the same thing needs 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:47.200 to be in the context that the adults have that advantage. 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:47.880 Now. 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:50.080 There needs to be an orderly process. So when you 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:52.880 watch coaches move, it's a pretty tight time frame. There 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:56.000 are anomalies to that, and I think we need to 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:59.319 tighten up the time frame. Don't forget, like three or 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:02.199 four years ago the transfer portal was opened. Three hundred 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:04.680 and sixty five days a year. It's been narrowed, it's 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:07.199 been moved back a week. Plenty of opining that we 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:10.800 shouldn't have the transfer portal open during the NCAA tournament. 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:13.600 I'll give you that, but I also know there's a 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:16.560 lot of backroom conversations that take place, and at least 0:09:16.640 --> 0:09:20.080 right now with the portal open, everything's on the table. 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:21.920 If somebody is looking to leave, they go in the 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:25.319 portal and it's known and people can deal with that. 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:29.520 It makes it busy for sixteen teams, and I'm empathetic there, 0:09:30.760 --> 0:09:33.560 but we ought to just think contextually about what happens 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:37.600 big picture in the game quick the nil front we've got, 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:39.199 we're going to see in a week and a half 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:43.040 the outcome of a lawsuit settlement, and whether that provides 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:46.600 meaningful oversight of third party namemage and likeness activity, it 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:48.240 can be a much healthier environment. 0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:52.920 What if we cap the number of transfer portal players 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:55.480 that you can bring in or like I'm just trying 0:09:55.520 --> 0:09:58.040 to everybody you know says we have a problem. I 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:01.120 just haven't heard solutions here. How can we make this 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:03.240 better for all involved? 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:06.720 Yeah, we've talked about solutions. So I think some of 0:10:07.600 --> 0:10:10.440 you have to go back. There used to be an 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:14.000 NCAA limit on the number of entering team members in 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:17.880 a year or over two years. The basketball community really 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:20.800 ended up railing against that. Miles Brand was the president, 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:23.199 but that came in. We go right back to that 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:26.680 and create some continuity. I do think you have to 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:30.959 remember that we have had attorneys general in states file 0:10:31.080 --> 0:10:35.800 lawsuits over transfer policies, even common sense transfer policies. We 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:38.280 also have to remember the NCAA has a habit of 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:41.840 being asked for waivers and granting waivers, which I think 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:44.520 magnifies the problem. So if we came to a point 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:46.800 where he said, hey, the rules are the rules, here's 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:49.720 the timeframe you can engage in certain behavior, and there 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:52.360 are no waivers and there are no lawsuits out of 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:55.400 those waves, that'd be idyll it for us. Compared to 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:55.760 where we. 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:59.480 Are now twelve teams in the college football playoffs, when 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:00.480 do we go to fourteen? 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:05.880 We'll see not this season. It's a topic of conversation. 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:08.680 My view is it took us a heck of a 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:11.880 long time to just get to twelve. I think twelve 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:18.040 was a success by all accounts, you saw continuing interest 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:21.480 through the playoff. We actually took a deeper dive as 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:24.320 a CFT management committee. So that's like Gobbly Goook for 0:11:24.360 --> 0:11:27.480 the commissioners and the Notre Dame ad Looking at an 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:33.040 analysis of viewership throughout the playoff, a lot of positive stories. 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:36.280 You would hear this like year over year comparison of 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:39.480 a particular game being down that didn't tell the full story. 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:42.040 So I think it was the right time to expand. 0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:45.560 I think it worked well. I think we learned a lot. 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:47.840 We've got some work to do before the twenty five 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:52.240 season to make some adjustments. I think the bracketing where 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:54.600 we had these seeds that got moved into the top 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:57.080 four and people lost home games, I'd like to see 0:11:57.080 --> 0:12:01.240 that change. I think that's immediate. I do think there's 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:05.280 some relevance to thinking about expanding the number, whether it 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:08.679 stays at twelve or fourteen. I think even sixteen is 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:12.240 a relevant conversation in advance of the twenty sixth season. 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:15.840 That doesn't mean we just go there, but like that 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:18.520 NCAA tournament expansion, we should be looking at what are 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:20.400 the impacts and what are the opportunities. 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:23.880 Give me an alternative to these selection committees. 0:12:26.559 --> 0:12:29.320 Well, we had the old BCS computer or anchorings, remember 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:31.679 those days, and everybody said, you know, how can we 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:35.480 have computers making these decisions? We need people. And what 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:37.720 we have now is how can we let people make 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:41.800 these decisions? We need computers. So it's the full on 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:45.320 pendulum swing. Maybe there's something in the middle where the 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:50.240 combination of a committee and better informed data help support decisions. 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:54.040 What I do think is really important from a Southeastern 0:12:54.080 --> 0:12:59.000 Conference perspective is the number on the left hand side 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:01.480 of wins and loss is the most important or the 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:04.960 right hand side. And what happened last year and maybe 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:08.240 the last couple of years causes, at least among my 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:12.600 athletics directors, the question of we need to lose fewer games. 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:16.920 That creates thinking about non conference scheduling that kind of 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:19.199 dumbs it down. I don't think that's good for the game. 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:23.120 I don't think Nebraska canceling the Tennessee series is good 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:27.440 for college football. And the citation was that members of 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:30.400 the CFP selection committee said, well, it won't hurt you 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:34.400 that much for dropping the game. I think that's problematic. 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:37.640 I tend to think we should play nine conference games. 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:40.200 But to get there, we have to have more clarity 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:43.559 on the CFP selection process. So in answer to your 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:47.840 direct question, there's likely a balance that can be struck 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:55.319 between the human thought process and the analytics. We know 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:58.360 that people didn't like just analytics, and now they're trending 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:00.920 towards we just don't like humanity as much as we 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:04.480 thought we did. So where's the middle ground? Is another 0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:04.760 one of. 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:07.280 Those work Would you be in favor of a college 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:08.680 Football scheduling zar? 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:14.680 Some of these outside ideas have said that I'd welcome 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:18.920 a conference commissioner having more authority over just deciding conference 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:23.600 and non conference schedules. I don't think the culture of 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:27.480 college football lends itself to csurs. I probably said to you, 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:30.920 like the Russian czar thing didn't work out very well 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:34.200 over time, and remember, like the eighties, drugs are and 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:38.120 we still have problems. So I don't think just identifying 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:43.520 that one mechanism solves the problems. I'd welcome if people said, hey, 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:46.160 you go set my conference schedule, picked the number of 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:50.360 games in this league and our non conference opponents. I'd 0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:53.120 pursue that in a different way. But that's not something 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:55.680 that resonates within a room of athletics directors and had 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:57.680 football coach is quite the same way it does on 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:00.240 a zoom with you. 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:04.000 One other item, and this is off topic with football 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:07.240 and basketball, but it does relate to it. Can we 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:11.239 can you see where we separate college football college basketball, 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:14.600 and then you have these other sports that we don't 0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:18.240 want to lose. They're not revenue producing but softball and 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:22.040 lacrosse and soccer, and and we make them regional so 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:25.840 they're not flying. You know, Cal and Stanford aren't flying 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:30.880 cross country for wrestling or volleyball. That we make this regional. 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:34.960 So you know your budget is not at stake here 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:39.640 and you can still keep these smaller uh you know, sports, 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:41.000 Olympic sports. 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:44.280 Maybe I don't know what kind of awards you give 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:46.960 for genius decision making, but I think you just gave 0:15:47.000 --> 0:15:50.280 me a gold star because we are a regional conference. 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:53.880 And for example last week, well you guys are, yeah, 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:55.680 but college sports is not. 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:59.880 Well, that's because others made different decisions and that after 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:01.720 to live with those decisions. 0:16:02.080 --> 0:16:05.440 I'm running college sports to me, So it's why I'm 0:16:05.440 --> 0:16:08.960 asking you know that that's I'm making you the college 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:13.520 football not czar. You're you're running college sports, why don't 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:17.680 we let these other sports, smaller sports, non revenue producing, 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:21.160 stay regional while football and basketball, if you want them 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:23.040 going cross country, great. 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:26.640 Again, I'm gonna I'm gonna hold the Southeastern Conference up. 0:16:26.720 --> 0:16:29.920 Was the bright shining example of decision making. And here's 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:33.160 a why. I actually think I'm not gonna speak to 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:36.080 everybody else. They made their decisions for different reasons, but 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:38.240 I've made those decisions. I think you can look at 0:16:38.280 --> 0:16:41.560 what we've done and say, no, they wouldn't have done 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:45.040 the same thing. We had a pack stadium for LSU 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:48.360 at Texas last week in baseball packed, we had a 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:52.160 pack stadium for Auburn or Texas and softball. I think 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:55.800 those build on each other. I think those build on 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:59.240 each other. So your question kind of the foundation was 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:01.920 take football and basketball. I think if you're going to 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:04.040 do something in basketball, you're doing it for men's and 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:06.800 women's basketball. We have to acknowledge that. And I'm going 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:10.600 to have baseball programs first round draft picks. In baseball. 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:12.919 You say, wait a second, I play in front of 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:17.280 more people for conference baseball games, and my basketball team 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:20.520 plays in front And I'm going to sign an eight 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:24.720 figure contract with a signing bonus. That's enormous, right. Why 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:28.000 don't I deserve the same treatment as my basketball colleagues, 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:31.280 men or women. I think there are distinctions that can 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:33.040 be made, but I think some of that has to 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:35.960 play out in decision making. So for the Southeastern Conference, 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:38.879 I think what we do in football has great meaning 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:41.040 and what we do in basketball, and you saw it 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:44.400 with our environments in basketball this past year. I think 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:47.159 what we do in football and basketball plays out in 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:50.480 baseball and softball and meaningful ways. I think people want 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:52.639 to be in those environments. If you want to spend 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:57.400 your time preparing, learning and competing, not on airplanes, you're 0:17:57.400 --> 0:17:59.560 going to come and challenge yourself here at the highest 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:04.240 levels my recruiting pitch. Others may have to make different 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:07.639 decisions because I think you've seen with these coast to 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:11.159 coast conferences people opine about, hey, maybe we need a 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:14.560 central hub for competition so we're not flying all over 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:18.000 the place. I think they're probably all learning from this 0:18:18.119 --> 0:18:20.320 first year as they go. But I really like the 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:23.720 way we've configured ourselves because it meets the exact question 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:26.560 that you've asked me on a sport by sport basis. 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:29.960 He's the former great commissioner from the Southland Conference. He's 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:32.880 Greg SANKI great to talk to you again. Enjoy the 0:18:32.920 --> 0:18:35.600 rest of the tournament. Good to visit with you again. 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:37.520 I certainly hope I do. 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:41.800 Thank you Greg. All right, Tim Kirchin, it's a baseball 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:44.600 opening day. We'll talk to Timmy coming up here in 0:18:44.600 --> 0:18:46.600 a little bit. More of your phone calls as well. 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:49.560 We'll recap what we heard from the commissioner. 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:49.719 There. 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:51.760 We're back after this on the Dan Patrick Show. 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:54.800 Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:58.200 the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:02.240 dot com and within the the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:03.240 to listen live. 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:06.720 Hey, Steve Covino and I'm Rich David and together we're 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:09.560 Covino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You could catch 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:12.040 us weekdays from five to seven pm Eastern two to 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:14.560 four Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and of course the 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:17.720 iHeartRadio app. Why should you listen to Covino and Rich. 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:21.520 We talk about everything life, sports, relationships, what's going on 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:22.960 in the world. We have a lot of fun talking 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:24.960 about the stories behind the stories in the world of 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:28.920 sports and pop culture. Stories that well, other shows don't 0:19:28.920 --> 0:19:31.040 seem to have the time to discuss. And the fact 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:32.639 that we've been friends for the last twenty years and 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:34.600 still work together. I mean that says. 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:36.120 Something, right, So check us out. 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:39.240 We like to get you involved too, take your phone calls, 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:41.560 chop it up. As they say, I'd say, the most 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:44.680 interactive show on Fox Sports Radio, maybe the most interactive 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:46.680 show on planetar. Be sure to check out Covino and 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:49.280 Rich live on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:52.080 from five to seven pm Eastern two to four Pacific, 0:19:52.160 --> 0:19:53.840 And if you miss any of the live show, just 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:56.159 search Covino and Rich wherever you get your podcasts, and 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:59.080 of course on social media that's Covino and Rich. 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:03.320 One thing about Greg Zankee before we get to Tim Kirchin, 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:06.320 the commissioner of the SEC saying yes, they're going to 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:08.679 get to fourteen. I wouldn't be surprised if they go 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:11.800 right to sixteen, because he said we might eventually get 0:20:11.800 --> 0:20:14.480 to sixteen. I wouldn't wait. If you're going to go 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:17.240 to fourteen, just go to sixteen. And I think what 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:19.919 he wants to do is fix the seating. So a 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:22.480 school like Arizona State and Boise state don't get first 0:20:22.520 --> 0:20:25.720 round byes. That is going to be changed here, probably 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:29.119 a lot sooner than people think. Tim Kirchin, of the 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:32.720 Mothership and a Hall of Famer, he joins US opening 0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:35.600 day double dip with the Mothership Brewers, Yankees at three 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:39.520 Eastern Tigers and the Dodgers seven Eastern. Joe Buck will 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:41.880 be on the call for the game in New York, 0:20:42.160 --> 0:20:44.800 and you can catch Timmy on Baseball tonight following the 0:20:44.800 --> 0:20:47.000 Brewers and the Yankees. Let me hit you with a 0:20:47.000 --> 0:20:50.040 poll question. Are the Dodgers good for baseball? 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:52.120 Yeah? 0:20:52.160 --> 0:20:53.639 I think they are dan Now. 0:20:53.800 --> 0:20:57.800 The way they do business, as we know is completely legal, 0:20:58.080 --> 0:20:59.639 and if everyone else had the. 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:02.360 Same advantages of them, they would do the same thing. 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:05.920 I think they're great for baseball because wherever they go, 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:09.120 they're gonna draw a lot of people. I think every 0:21:09.160 --> 0:21:12.560 great drama needs a hero and a villain, and to 0:21:12.640 --> 0:21:14.919 some people, the Dodgers are the villain. 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:18.080