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Speaker 1: A lot of talk, a lot of talk out there.

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Speaker 1: Are things as good as they've ever been? Are they

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Speaker 1: as bad as they've ever been? Is there a great

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Speaker 1: b canyon between that? Well? As you know, we've been

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Speaker 1: on the road a lot, and so I bring you

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Speaker 1: some good news tonight, late kick High at Top Blacksburg, Virginia.

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Speaker 1: We're at Virginia Tech. We've been here all day. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna have Brent Pry on the show for a lengthy

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Speaker 1: conversation about a number of different things. It is Thursday,

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Speaker 1: March twenty eighth, the year of our Lord, twenty twenty four.

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Speaker 1: But I bring you a question tonight, how do you

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Speaker 1: think college football's faring right now? I know there's a

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Speaker 1: lot of doom and gloom type scenarios out there. I

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Speaker 1: know a lot of things are unsettled, and I know

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Speaker 1: some of you may be concerned about the sport that

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Speaker 1: you love the most, if you're anything like me. I'm

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Speaker 1: not saying don't be concerned. I'm going to tell you

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Speaker 1: things are probably not nearly as bad as some headlines

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Speaker 1: make them out to be. And I've done a fair

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Speaker 1: amount of digging on that front as I've been on

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Speaker 1: the roads. So I'm gonna talk to you about that.

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Speaker 1: I got a bunch of first year head coaches all

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Speaker 1: over the country, some in better position than others, and

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you which are which. And as I said,

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Speaker 1: we're gonna have Brent Prye on the show tonight, and

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Speaker 1: I think you're gonna really enjoy that conversation because I

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Speaker 1: don't think outside of maybe Virginia Tech, Penn State obviously,

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Speaker 1: and just acc circles, you know, enough about him. Really

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Speaker 1: interesting dude, really layered personality, and we're gonna introduce him

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Speaker 1: to you tonight. A lot of you, at least they're

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Speaker 1: watching us in Richmond, Virginia, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Valdosta, Georgia,

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Speaker 1: New Orleans, Louisiana. There has been a ton of behind

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Speaker 1: the scenes views, content, etc. Over on the Instagram channel

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Speaker 1: at Late Kick Josh, I don't have time to put

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Speaker 1: it in the show. That's where you can find it.

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Speaker 1: I got my handy dandy Rest in Peace PAC twelve

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Speaker 1: Paate Championship notebook here that I use on the road.

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Speaker 1: So let's dive into the show tonight. Brent pry in

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Speaker 1: about twenty twenty five minutes. So college football, right now

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Speaker 1: in college football's future, there's a lot of consternation and

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Speaker 1: debate out there about what state the sport is in.

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Speaker 1: And of course, when you can't see around the corner,

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Speaker 1: sometimes you have a proclivity to fear the worst. And

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Speaker 1: if I can't see around the corner, if it's foggy,

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Speaker 1: or in our case in college football, if conferences are realigning,

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Speaker 1: a couple of conferences seem to be dwarfing the others,

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Speaker 1: if nil and the portal seem really out of control,

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Speaker 1: and I'm uncomfortable as a fan, and these players feel

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Speaker 1: like mercenaries, and a lot of coaches move around. It

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Speaker 1: feels like a mercenary sport. Where's the tradition, where's the spirit? Well,

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Speaker 1: that's not a really fun way to think, although I

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Speaker 1: myself have been guilty of saying at least some of

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Speaker 1: those things lately. But I do want you to rest

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Speaker 1: assured tonight in the interest of having a very happy

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Speaker 1: show heading into a happy Easter weekend. Sports in a

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Speaker 1: pretty good spot, guys. It is not immune to maybe

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Speaker 1: some self inflicted damage, but the sport's in a really

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Speaker 1: good spot. But if you don't believe me, I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: give you my reasons.

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Speaker 2: Okay.

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Speaker 1: Number one, when we go on the road in the fall,

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Speaker 1: we meet a lot of people. When we go on

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Speaker 1: the road in the spring, we meet a ton more people.

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Speaker 1: It's a relaxed setting. You can get in town for

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Speaker 1: multiple days. You're talking not just to coaches and athletic directors,

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Speaker 1: but you're talking to people in communications departments, You're talking

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Speaker 1: to people high up in athletics departments, you're talking to

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Speaker 1: people on the broadcast side. Basically, what I'm saying is

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Speaker 1: it's a lot of people who have their hand on

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Speaker 1: the lever, a lot of people who are in either

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Speaker 1: highly influential or in some cases outright decision making roles.

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Speaker 1: You hear about the bad ones. There are a ton

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Speaker 1: of really good folks in college athletics, and maybe at

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Speaker 1: the beginning when things started to shift, they kind of

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Speaker 1: sat back and say, whoah, what's going on here? Let

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Speaker 1: me stay out of the way. Well then they realized

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Speaker 1: if they stay out of the way, someone else is

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Speaker 1: going to come in and grab the wheel, and that

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Speaker 1: someone else may not have any business around a college

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Speaker 1: football decision making role. So what I've experienced and what

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Speaker 1: has been echoed to me by a lot of pretty

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Speaker 1: powerful people in the sport is that time is coming

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Speaker 1: to an end, that time is kind of past, and

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Speaker 1: the folks who you and I candidly would have always

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Speaker 1: liked to be in the decision making positions have sort

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Speaker 1: of started to roll up their sleeves a little bit

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Speaker 1: and they've sort of gotten after it behind the scenes.

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Speaker 1: You will not see this bear fruit immediately, just like

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Speaker 1: you didn't see the fruit get poisoned immediately if you

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Speaker 1: don't like the way things are going currently. But there

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Speaker 1: is a lot of urgency coaches know it. There's a

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Speaker 1: lot of urgency. Administrators, commissioners in some cases presidents at

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Speaker 1: universities have a lot of urgency because we're not one

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Speaker 1: or two miles down a dead end road. You're several

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Speaker 1: miles down. Not too far, certainly not too far, but

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Speaker 1: it's a lot more than a couple of miles. And

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Speaker 1: you know, if you keep going a little bit further,

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Speaker 1: Number one, you could irreparably harm some things that we love.

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Speaker 1: But number two, and this is where I get into

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Speaker 1: the second bucket. If you don't believe the first bucket,

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Speaker 1: even if you believe in the heartless, soulless approach of

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Speaker 1: treating college athletics as the mere asset that they are,

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Speaker 1: and even if you believe that it's strictly a bottom

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Speaker 1: line business and let's suck the life out of it.

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Speaker 1: And that's essentially how a lot of you feel like

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Speaker 1: the television executive types think. And I'm not going to

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Speaker 1: tell you some of them don't, some of them do,

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Speaker 1: some of them don't. But I'm not here to defend

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Speaker 1: these people. I work for them, and I'm not here

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Speaker 1: to defend them. What I will tell you is I

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Speaker 1: talk to them, and some of them, although they would

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Speaker 1: never say I couldn't care less about the spirit of

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Speaker 1: college sports, let's just say for argument sake, they are

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Speaker 1: the devil reincarnate when it comes to college sports fans.

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Speaker 1: Let's say that's true. Here's what they say. What they

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Speaker 1: say is we can't damage the asset. We've paid too

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Speaker 1: much money for it. The asset is only worth the

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Speaker 1: billions of dollars that various media organizations are paying if

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Speaker 1: it maintains its maximum value. What does that mean? This

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Speaker 1: is where it gets really interesting for you guys in

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Speaker 1: Richmond or Valdosta or New Orleans. It means that they

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Speaker 1: need you. Did you notice how I phrase that, you

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Speaker 1: don't need them, they need you. Now. Maybe they didn't

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Speaker 1: always realize that, or maybe there was a hubrius in

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Speaker 1: sort of an arrogance. You'll always be here. You can't

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Speaker 1: give up football. You won't walk away from football. Where

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Speaker 1: you walked away from NASCAR, you kind of walked away

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Speaker 1: from pro wrestling. There's no entertainment source in this country

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Speaker 1: or in this world that is immune to bad decision making.

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Speaker 1: They know that. Here's the difference. It's not a lab

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Speaker 1: where you get to experiment with this. You don't experiment

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Speaker 1: with one point three billion dollars a year. Nobody does.

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Speaker 1: The richest people on the face of the earth don't

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Speaker 1: do that, and so media organizations don't either, especially when

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Speaker 1: you got folks you have to answer to at the

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Speaker 1: end of the day, they're called shareholders. You have to

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Speaker 1: answer to them. You cannot spend that kind of money

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Speaker 1: on an asset and then participate in activities that damage

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Speaker 1: the asset. So, whether you want to believe like I do,

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Speaker 1: and a lot of good people behind the scenes working

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Speaker 1: for the betterment of college football and college sports overall, again,

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Speaker 1: I believe in that. Whether you want to believe in

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Speaker 1: that or you want to believe that these people purchased

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Speaker 1: it and couldn't care less about it, just a P

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Speaker 1: and L line on a sheet to them. They have

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Speaker 1: to maintain the integrity of it, guys, because otherwise you

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Speaker 1: walk away. And if you walk away, it is bad,

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Speaker 1: bad news for them. So you give it a couple

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Speaker 1: of years. Give it a couple of years. And like

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Speaker 1: I've told you, I think a lot of folks in

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Speaker 1: college athletics right now are kind of holding their breath.

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Speaker 1: A lot of college fans probably holding their breath. You

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Speaker 1: can hold your breath for a little while, not indefinitely,

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Speaker 1: but a little while, hold your breath long enough. Saturdays

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Speaker 1: in the fall are still just as pristine as they've

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Speaker 1: always been. When it's Virginia Tech and it's third and

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Speaker 1: two and it's early fourth quarter and it's twenty three

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Speaker 1: all and you need to convert those moments feel like

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Speaker 1: they've always felt. No one's thinking about the portal or

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Speaker 1: nil in that moment. And so as long as we

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Speaker 1: got that, like I've always told you, we got college football,

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Speaker 1: we got a sport. Hold your breath, give it a

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Speaker 1: couple of years. It's gonna take a little while, folks,

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Speaker 1: are gonna have to get their hands dirty. But I

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Speaker 1: think those folks are ready to get their hands dirty,

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Speaker 1: and I've been ready. But what can I do. I'm

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Speaker 1: just talking in a microphone. Appreciate you guys being with us.

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Speaker 1: Make sure if you're here now, I know maybe some

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Speaker 1: Virginia tech fans are checking out the show for the

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Speaker 1: first time tonight. Make sure you do two things. They're

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Speaker 1: both free and there is no catch. There's no email

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Speaker 1: spam list. You get added to subscribe to the YouTube channel,

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Speaker 1: which if you're watching, you're on right now, and subscribe

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Speaker 1: to the podcast feed. Those are two different things, and

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Speaker 1: sometimes are there's unique content to those specific platforms. All right,

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Speaker 1: let's continue rolling these first year head coaches around college football.

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Speaker 1: Not every situation is the same. In fact, no two

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Speaker 1: situations are the same. I wanted to talk about new

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Speaker 1: head coaches, which ones are walking into really really good,

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Speaker 1: immediate situations, and which ones have their work cutout for them.

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Speaker 1: This is not a five year exploratory exercise where I

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Speaker 1: predict how they'll be in twenty twenty nine. We're talking

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Speaker 1: about twenty twenty four. Kaylin de Bor walked into a

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Speaker 1: really good situation at Alabama. Now that depends on your viewpoint.

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Speaker 1: You could have the viewpoint that no one wants to

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Speaker 1: follow a legend, and you're right, most don't. The guy

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Speaker 1: that it's wired properly does as long as when that

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Speaker 1: legend walked out, he did not salt the earth in

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Speaker 1: the process. Nick Saban didn't trust me, he didn't. They

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Speaker 1: still got a top ten talent roster there, top five

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Speaker 1: talent roster there places immaculate. Every resource you would need

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Speaker 1: to win is at Alabama. And I'm going to go

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Speaker 1: a step further. Now, this is a theory of mine

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Speaker 1: that we're going to have to test. I actually believe

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Speaker 1: Nick Saban being at Alabama meant they did not have

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Speaker 1: to realize their ultimate potential in terms of resource and

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Speaker 1: giving because Nick Saban was there, and so you got

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Speaker 1: the discount treatment on a lot of things. You got

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Speaker 1: benefit of that doubt on a lot of things. And

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Speaker 1: as a result, I think there's untapped potential in the

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Speaker 1: resource pool at Alabama. Now that's a theory of mine

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Speaker 1: that we're going to see tested. But you got an

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Speaker 1: a list head coach there. It is I think a

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Speaker 1: top fifteen staff that this time next year will be

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Speaker 1: a top five national staff, and there is a lot

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Speaker 1: of talent still to work with very first world problems

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Speaker 1: Alabama has. And keep in mind that's about to be April.

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Speaker 1: Portal's about to open up. I think they'll be on

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Speaker 1: the receiving end a whole lot more than the departing end.

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Speaker 1: Brent Brennan a name that garnered far less headlines than

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Speaker 1: Kaitlin de Boor when he came to Alabama. Brent Brennan

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Speaker 1: was at San Jose State. I don't think he ever

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Speaker 1: had more than seven wins at San Jose State. He

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Speaker 1: went to Arizona. Why are we talking about him, Well,

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Speaker 1: it's because they kept their elite talent. They got a

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Speaker 1: quarterback and a wide receiver out there each who will

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Speaker 1: garner our first round NFL draft consideration this time of

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Speaker 1: year from now. And they stayed. And everyone me included

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Speaker 1: thought that probably go off to Washington with Jetfish. They stayed.

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Speaker 1: They are nineteenth with those guys in preseason S and

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Speaker 1: p plus and they are a top fifty team in

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Speaker 1: returning production. And Arizona, as you know, is joining the

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Speaker 1: Big twelve along with Arizona State, along with Colorado, along

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Speaker 1: with Utah. Kind of a sneaky team out there. You

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Speaker 1: see the odds from FanDuel. If you're watching on YouTube

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Speaker 1: right now, you see the odds there on the side

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Speaker 1: of your screen to win. You see the over unders,

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Speaker 1: really sneaky team. Because that's a good coaching staff, and

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Speaker 1: it's an underrated coaching staff, very overlooked. Keep an eye

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Speaker 1: on them. Mike Elko at Texas A and M, I

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Speaker 1: think absolutely belongs on the positive end of this conversation.

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Speaker 1: Here's why I love Elko immediately at Texas A and M. Firstly,

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Speaker 1: he also inherits a top twenty caliber coaching He inherits

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Speaker 1: a top twenty roster. He gets Texas A and M,

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Speaker 1: which I'll get back to in just a second. He's

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Speaker 1: got a quarterback with a five star ceiling in Connor Wigman.

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Speaker 1: I think there's all the positives with very few of

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Speaker 1: the negatives because he gets all the positives of infinite

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Speaker 1: resources on his own, he gets a really good talent

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Speaker 1: roster and normally, like Kaylin de borwalks in sky high expectations.

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Speaker 1: Last Dude one half a dozen national championships. The role

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Speaker 1: Elko is inheriting was filled with a guy who frankly underachieved,

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Speaker 1: and that was Jimbo Fisher. So you got all the

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Speaker 1: toys you need to play with, and the previous guy

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Speaker 1: didn't get it done. And so now you've got a

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Speaker 1: guy who, instead of coaching at A and M, actually

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Speaker 1: gets A ANDM. And he's immersed himself in A and M.

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Speaker 1: He knows he was there before. He knows which eyes

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Speaker 1: need to be dotted, which teas need to be crossed.

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Speaker 1: So I love his entry point there. Now, as for Jedfish,

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Speaker 1: we just talked about Arizona a second ago. Well, Jedfish

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Speaker 1: left Arizona, he went to Washington. I'm not sure immediately

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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty four, I'm crazy about the prospect of

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Speaker 1: what Washington could be under Jed Fish. Now twenty twenty five,

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Speaker 1: we come back and talk to him, it may sound

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Speaker 1: a lot different. They lost, as you guys well know,

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Speaker 1: all of the starting offense. They lost twenty of twenty

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Speaker 1: two starters. Overall, they're one hundred and thirtieth in returning production.

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Speaker 1: Did they add some kids from the portal, Of course

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Speaker 1: they did. They're also joining the Big Ten this year.

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Speaker 1: So let's talk goals. If you're talking about competing for

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Speaker 1: the Big Ten, I don't think they'll do that. If

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Speaker 1: you're trying to make a bowl game. I don't think

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Speaker 1: that's the conversation Washington fans are having. Actually, you just

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Speaker 1: played in a national championship a few months ago, so

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Speaker 1: offense is entirely new. Everything's entirely new. Have realistic expectation

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Speaker 1: for them this year. I'm not saying they're falling off

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Speaker 1: a cliff record wise like TCU did after they played

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Speaker 1: in the title game, but it won't be the easiest

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Speaker 1: thing in the world this year for Jetfish down the

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Speaker 1: coast a little ways at UCLA, Deshaun Foster takes over

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Speaker 1: for Chip Kelly. I'm not quite sure I'm feeling the

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Speaker 1: vibe there in twenty twenty four, either their ninety first

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Speaker 1: in returning production and USC snatched their coordinator defensively across town.

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Speaker 1: So there's also this kind of weird nebulous like what

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Speaker 1: are we what's our identity? What is UCLA's place in

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Speaker 1: the Big Ten because they joined that conference too, And

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Speaker 1: what's the energy? I guess, like, how motivated are the

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Speaker 1: power players that deep pocketed people around the program, you know,

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Speaker 1: the ones who famously apparently couldn't stand Chip Kelly, how

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Speaker 1: motivated are they now? And Jonathan Smith, Now, we were

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Speaker 1: talking about this as a staff. I don't know if

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Speaker 1: I fully believe in putting Jonathan Smith on this list.

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Speaker 1: He's at Michigan's now. He brought over Aiden Childs, who

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Speaker 1: was a former high four star quarterback, and he was

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Speaker 1: with him in Oregon State last year and he comes

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Speaker 1: to Michigan State. I think it may have taken that

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Speaker 1: staff a little while and is still taking them a

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Speaker 1: little while to fully get their hands around the portal

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Speaker 1: and how to properly construct an NIL machine and strategy.

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Speaker 1: And that's not an overnight thing, but I think they're

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Speaker 1: committed to doing it. And Michigan State has way more

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Speaker 1: money than most of America realizes they have, but they're

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Speaker 1: overrun a win totals five and a half, and I

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Speaker 1: think there's probably a more than a year's worth of

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Speaker 1: rebuild that has to go on there. The reason that

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Speaker 1: I'm hesitant is because I've seen Jonathan Smith with an

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Speaker 1: undermanned roster before beating teams he has no business beating,

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Speaker 1: and he was probably not as good at quarterback with

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Speaker 1: those teams as he potentially could be with child So

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Speaker 1: I put him on the list. We'll see there's the veau.

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Speaker 1: If you're listening on podcasts. I grew up in the South.

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Speaker 1: Every introductory piece of b roll that you see of

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Speaker 1: a coach, he's walking around and it's sunny, maybe a

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Speaker 1: jacket on because it's normally January. Jonathan Smith walks out

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Speaker 1: in the Spartan Stadium, there's like half a foot of snow. Hey, coach,

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Speaker 1: welcome in. Then again, we were at an Oregon State

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Speaker 1: game last year and the weather was abysmal, so he's

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Speaker 1: probably used to it. The state of Oregon is where

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Speaker 1: I want to take you for just a second, and

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Speaker 1: then we're going to bring Brent Prye in, and I,

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Speaker 1: like I've told you with many other coaches on the

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Speaker 1: Peyt State Speaker series, think that you will thoroughly enjoy

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Speaker 1: him whether you're a Virginia Tech fan or an Oregon

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Speaker 1: State fan, because there is a lot of genuine overarching

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Speaker 1: football talk. Philosophically, ex'es knows like all that stuff, so

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Speaker 1: it's going to be really good. We've been taking the

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Speaker 1: mood Tracker on different fan bases, and that is basically

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Speaker 1: as we enter an exit spring, how is the middle

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Speaker 1: eighty percent feeling cut off the fringe ten? Either way,

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Speaker 1: how's the middle eighty percent feeling fans? I would classify

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Speaker 1: their mood as sort of a head table vibe on

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Speaker 1: two fronts. Number One, they're joining the Big ten, and

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Speaker 1: there's a lot of talk about where these new programs

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Speaker 1: and these new conferences enter. Are they the fourth best,

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Speaker 1: ninth best? Are they the best? Oregon State is a

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Speaker 1: whole lot or Organ's a whole lot closer to the

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Speaker 1: top than even the middle of the pack.

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Speaker 2: There.

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Speaker 1: They've got the second best odds to win the Big

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Speaker 1: Ten this year, according to our friends over at FanDuel.

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Speaker 1: So the mentality rightfully so should be immediately compete for

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Speaker 1: the Big ten, immediately certainly contend for an expanded playoff spot.

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Speaker 1: They were already thinking that way last year. But the

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Speaker 1: other part of that is Organ's not going to be

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Speaker 1: a hey, let's hope to make the playoff sort of

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Speaker 1: roster and sort of fan base. They're going to be

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Speaker 1: a we recruit all these guys, we portal in all

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Speaker 1: these guys. We should be making noise in the playoffs,

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Speaker 1: shouldn't we? And yes you should. Dan Lanning's got the

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Speaker 1: staff he wants Dan Lanning has got a very very

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Speaker 1: thorough and proven recruiting and portal strategy in place. They

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Speaker 1: have got a uniquely effective NIL strategy in place. So

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Speaker 1: I'm just going down this list, very very engaged and

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Speaker 1: passionate fan base. Probably the most unique branding of any

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Speaker 1: college program in America is just check check, check, check.

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Speaker 1: So on this list that it takes to win. Allegedly,

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Speaker 1: we got all of them checked. That's no different in

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Speaker 1: the Big Ten. In fact, Herd Landings say this a

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Speaker 1: couple of months ago, or at least I saw him

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Speaker 1: quoted as saying it. And even if it was fake,

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Speaker 1: the fake quote was real. He said something along the

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Speaker 1: lines of, yeah, we may have to adjust to the

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Speaker 1: Big ten. Big Ten's gonna have to adjust to us

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Speaker 1: as well. He's not wrong about that. And if you

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Speaker 1: even look at line of scrimmage talent, that's what separates

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Speaker 1: USC and Oregon at the outset of Big Ten inclusion.

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Speaker 1: You look at USC and no, they got little ways

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Speaker 1: to go in terms of personnel on the lines of scrimmage.

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Speaker 1: Oregon's there like Oregon can compete. They've got the versatility,

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Speaker 1: they got the size and athleticism, they have the depth,

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Speaker 1: specifically on defense to immediately compete in the Big Ten.

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Speaker 1: They just brought in a couple of high caliber quarterbacks

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Speaker 1: out of the portal. They filled needs very effectively, And

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Speaker 1: so why wouldn't you view yourself at the head table.

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Speaker 1: We talked about Texas the other day, the mood tracker

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Speaker 1: there time to eat. We could have used that. It

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Speaker 1: would have been copyright infringement. Texas folks would have gotten mad.

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Speaker 1: We could have used that same mood here. Same vibe

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Speaker 1: from Oregon is the one I get from Texas. Everything

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Speaker 1: you claim you need is in place. It's not a

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Speaker 1: first year staff or a second year staff even anymore

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Speaker 1: new conference for both of them are not time to eat,

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Speaker 1: had table. You can look at those odds on the

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Speaker 1: screen there, or if you're listening on podcast, I told

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Speaker 1: you Oregon's got the second best odds to win the

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Speaker 1: Big Ten. Well, we don't just make those numbers up.

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Speaker 1: Certainly I could, and we do in the fall, But

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Speaker 1: our friends at FanDuel power all of our odds market.

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Speaker 1: They deliver all of our odds to us, and they're

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Speaker 1: going to do a whole lot more than that this fall.

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Speaker 1: But if you're looking for anything, I don't care if

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Speaker 1: you're looking at beat the NCAA tournament, if you're just

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Speaker 1: curious and don't feel like betting a dime, or if

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Speaker 1: you want to go ahead and get down on some

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Speaker 1: futures in college football National Championships, conference predictions over under

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Speaker 1: odds to make or miss the playoff itself. Those are

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Speaker 1: all over at FanDuel right now. And like I told you,

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Speaker 1: you don't have to be laying down money every time

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Speaker 1: you go over there. I think it's a great resource

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Speaker 1: to just check out, and so I do it frequently obviously.

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Speaker 1: So we appreciate them being on board with us, and

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Speaker 1: that's a partnership that will sort of grow and grow

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Speaker 1: we've been at Virginia Tech all day. In fact, we've

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Speaker 1: been on the road. Feels like about five years now.

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Speaker 1: The payte State Speak series with full corporate wind in

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Speaker 1: our sales was going anywhere we want, and we wanted

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Speaker 1: to come to Blacksburg, Virginia today. Famously, I have never

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Speaker 1: been here, and I've complained relentlessly about having not been here. Well,

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Speaker 1: we changed all that today and not only did we

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Speaker 1: change that, the program is in a state of change

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Speaker 1: as well. I think for the better, but I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: let you judge. We sat down for an extended conversation

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Speaker 1: with Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry. Here it is, so,

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00:21:29,840 --> 00:21:33,360
Speaker 1: you're rolling into a new season here, just watched practice

429
00:21:33,359 --> 00:21:36,600
Speaker 1: earlier today in the middle of springball. You and I

430
00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:39,280
Speaker 1: were talking earlier about how when you inherit a job,

431
00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:41,560
Speaker 1: there's so much on your plate, there's so much noise,

432
00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:43,240
Speaker 1: and then you start one in three and then some

433
00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:45,840
Speaker 1: of the noises a little negative, and then you show

434
00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:48,240
Speaker 1: some promise, and then the preview magazines like you, and

435
00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:52,160
Speaker 1: then the noise is a little more positive. You've created. Look, look,

436
00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:55,359
Speaker 1: guilty is charged. So when I'm wrong, tell me I'm wrong.

437
00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:58,320
Speaker 1: But how do you how do you make sure guys

438
00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:00,840
Speaker 1: realize it's all it's all the same as all this noise,

439
00:22:00,880 --> 00:22:02,800
Speaker 1: like it doesn't impact what you do on third and

440
00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:03,680
Speaker 1: three on Saturday.

441
00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:06,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's about what you hear a lot

442
00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:08,679
Speaker 2: of coaches say, trusting a process and make sure that

443
00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:12,239
Speaker 2: we really do that. That's what we can control, is

444
00:22:12,240 --> 00:22:15,440
Speaker 2: what phase we're in, which for us winners phase one

445
00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:18,800
Speaker 2: we don't worry about anything else. But our winter program,

446
00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:22,960
Speaker 2: Spring is phase two. We don't worry about the winner,

447
00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:25,800
Speaker 2: we don't worry about Summer. Let's win phase two, and

448
00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:28,439
Speaker 2: this is how we got to do it. Summer's phase

449
00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:31,960
Speaker 2: three and pre season is phase four. So we break

450
00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:33,880
Speaker 2: it down in those phases and we just say, these

451
00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:37,199
Speaker 2: are the things that we have to do well to

452
00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:40,000
Speaker 2: win this phase. This is where our efforts go, this

453
00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:43,800
Speaker 2: is where our attention is. If we don't, you know,

454
00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:45,439
Speaker 2: it's hard to go on to the next phase and

455
00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:49,840
Speaker 2: feel good about it. So trusting the process, staying humble,

456
00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:54,520
Speaker 2: stay in hungry, reminding them how we got there, how

457
00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:58,800
Speaker 2: we move the needle and became a better team. That

458
00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:01,040
Speaker 2: we can't lose sight of that. And we've always been

459
00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:04,560
Speaker 2: grounded in fundamentals in one hundred level. So right after

460
00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:07,720
Speaker 2: the season it was hit the reset. We're going back

461
00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:10,760
Speaker 2: to the basics, guys, Winter and spring is about one

462
00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:13,080
Speaker 2: hundred level things that we have to be great at.

463
00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:17,520
Speaker 1: When I grew up, Virginia Tech was a national championship contender.

464
00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:22,159
Speaker 1: And I find sometimes in our college audience, maybe like

465
00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:24,680
Speaker 1: even the eighteen to thirty year old audience, you have

466
00:23:24,760 --> 00:23:28,240
Speaker 1: to remind people that is this place at its maximum

467
00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:32,680
Speaker 1: potential because they've seen it in their adolescent informative years. Differently,

468
00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:36,280
Speaker 1: when you're recruiting guys, how often do you have to

469
00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:39,160
Speaker 1: sort of press that button on them of no, no, no,

470
00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:41,480
Speaker 1: no no, when this place is right, take a look

471
00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:43,040
Speaker 1: at this, let me hit the rewind button. This has

472
00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:46,440
Speaker 1: happened here before. It's not just you know, sunshine and

473
00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:49,160
Speaker 1: unicorns and stuff. It's actually been real. And then how

474
00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:50,600
Speaker 1: do you sell them on the idea that we can

475
00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:51,200
Speaker 1: get back there?

476
00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:53,520
Speaker 2: Yeah? I think a couple things. It's a great question.

477
00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:58,840
Speaker 2: I tell recruits in families all the time that this

478
00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:06,000
Speaker 2: place was Clemson for Clemsons Clinton truly. Yeah. And in

479
00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:11,120
Speaker 2: the same breath, seven conference championships in about fifteen years.

480
00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:16,199
Speaker 2: Seven conference championships in fifteen years. Who does that sound like?

481
00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:21,160
Speaker 2: House State, Alabama? Like, who's winning those kind of league

482
00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:25,640
Speaker 2: championships that frequently, and that was Virginia Tech. And then

483
00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:29,840
Speaker 2: the second piece of it is I was here for

484
00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:32,639
Speaker 2: a Sugar Bowl championship. I was here for an Orange Bowl.

485
00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:36,280
Speaker 2: I was here for two conference championships. So were several

486
00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:39,639
Speaker 2: members of my staff. We know what it looks like

487
00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:44,000
Speaker 2: to win championships here. I would never have left Penn

488
00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:46,760
Speaker 2: State and James Franklin if I didn't believe we could

489
00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:52,159
Speaker 2: do it here, if alignment wasn't here, if administration and

490
00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:56,399
Speaker 2: the powers to be didn't recognize what I recognized about

491
00:24:56,560 --> 00:25:00,280
Speaker 2: things we needed to do to get this program back

492
00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:00,959
Speaker 2: the right direction.

493
00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:04,760
Speaker 1: You had opportunities. That's pretty well known in the industry

494
00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:06,720
Speaker 1: and publicly. I guess kind of well known. You were

495
00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:09,480
Speaker 1: at Penn State. You had opportunities both at the coordinator

496
00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:10,800
Speaker 1: and probably the head coach level.

497
00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:12,359
Speaker 2: You chose this one.

498
00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:14,240
Speaker 1: Why this was right for me?

499
00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:18,439
Speaker 2: I believe in Virginia Tech. I know what it's about.

500
00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:21,159
Speaker 2: I cut my teeth here. It was right for me.

501
00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:26,040
Speaker 2: This was this was the opportunity where I could be myself.

502
00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:29,959
Speaker 2: The values and trades that are important to me, I

503
00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:33,159
Speaker 2: believe are important for Virginia Tech's success, and I know

504
00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:35,760
Speaker 2: you find them here in our community on our campus

505
00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:39,960
Speaker 2: in athletics, and now you find them with our football team.

506
00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:44,199
Speaker 2: So a chance to be the head coach and not

507
00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:47,320
Speaker 2: have to be somebody you know that you're not pretend

508
00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:50,879
Speaker 2: to be somebody else or things that aren't important to

509
00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:53,000
Speaker 2: you need it to be. It's you know, this was

510
00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:59,639
Speaker 2: a great fit for me recruiting the state, having relationships here.

511
00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:03,119
Speaker 2: You know, I was excited about what I felt like

512
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:08,119
Speaker 2: we needed to do it Virginia Tech. So it was

513
00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:08,880
Speaker 2: just a great fit.

514
00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:11,840
Speaker 1: I was in your office earlier today and you kind of,

515
00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:13,080
Speaker 1: you know, you look out, you got one of the

516
00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:15,760
Speaker 1: greatest views in the sport, you got practice fields, you

517
00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:18,399
Speaker 1: got Lane Stadium in the background, and you said, you know,

518
00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:21,160
Speaker 1: that's kind of surreal, you know, being me, being how

519
00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:23,240
Speaker 1: I was brought up, being where I'm from, it's surreal

520
00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:26,240
Speaker 1: that I'm the actual head coach here. And then I

521
00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:27,720
Speaker 1: was telling you, well, hey, they pay me to talk

522
00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:29,840
Speaker 1: about college football. I never thought in a million years

523
00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:32,879
Speaker 1: that could be possible either. How often do you just

524
00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:34,359
Speaker 1: kind of find you stuff two or three minutes, just

525
00:26:34,440 --> 00:26:37,679
Speaker 1: drifting off and realizing WHOA, but actually it's real, Like

526
00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:38,520
Speaker 1: I'm not dreaming of it.

527
00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:38,840
Speaker 2: It's real.

528
00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:39,600
Speaker 1: It's really happening.

529
00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:42,359
Speaker 2: Honestly, I don't know if this schedule allows for that,

530
00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:45,600
Speaker 2: but I'm reminded every day I walk in my office

531
00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:48,720
Speaker 2: because it was Coach Beemer's office, and you know, the

532
00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:52,600
Speaker 2: respect and admiration that I have for him and the

533
00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:55,200
Speaker 2: job that he did here, the impact that he had

534
00:26:55,840 --> 00:26:59,040
Speaker 2: not just on this football program, but this athletic department,

535
00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:04,359
Speaker 2: this university, this community Southwest Virginia. So that smacks me

536
00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:07,280
Speaker 2: in the face every day, and that makes you, you know,

537
00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:12,359
Speaker 2: you feel an added responsibility, not just to make coach proud,

538
00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:16,760
Speaker 2: but everybody that's affiliated with our place. So many great

539
00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:21,520
Speaker 2: lettermen and great coaches, and you know the tradition and

540
00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:25,119
Speaker 2: the history that that exists now because of those people.

541
00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:28,720
Speaker 2: So but it's surreal for me. You know, I was

542
00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:31,320
Speaker 2: one of those guys. I didn't come up in the profession,

543
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:35,040
Speaker 2: you know, dreaming to be a head coach. You just

544
00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:39,439
Speaker 2: you know, came up, you know, directional schools and working

545
00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:42,280
Speaker 2: your way and living paycheck to paycheck, just like my

546
00:27:42,359 --> 00:27:46,399
Speaker 2: dad did for most of his career. So you know,

547
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:48,480
Speaker 2: in that sense, it's it's surreal as well.

548
00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:51,080
Speaker 1: When I was talking to guys around the building today.

549
00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:53,840
Speaker 1: They said, hey, you're talking to coach prior. Yeah, make

550
00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:55,560
Speaker 1: sure you ask him about the stuff on the wall.

551
00:27:56,080 --> 00:27:58,080
Speaker 1: Like everyone's got stuff on the wall, but ask him

552
00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:01,320
Speaker 1: about stuff on the wall. So right behind us necessary mentality?

553
00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:06,080
Speaker 2: What does it mean? So to me, you want to

554
00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:09,840
Speaker 2: be elite in some trait, like when we're recruiting, when

555
00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:13,480
Speaker 2: we're developing guys, what is the elite quality that this

556
00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:18,199
Speaker 2: individual has? And for me, I wasn't very fast, I

557
00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:23,800
Speaker 2: wasn't big, I wasn't strong. But the mentality piece, that's

558
00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:27,240
Speaker 2: like a skill, that's that's that's like how well do

559
00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:29,679
Speaker 2: you run? How strong are you? How well do you

560
00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:31,760
Speaker 2: catch the ball? How well do you throw the ball? Well?

561
00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:35,840
Speaker 2: How great is your mentality? It's a trait that can

562
00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:40,680
Speaker 2: contribute and impact what type of player you become. So

563
00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:44,800
Speaker 2: the necessary mentality, it's a skill that you can control

564
00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:48,040
Speaker 2: and be great at and it's not god given. We

565
00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:50,920
Speaker 2: can grow that and develop that and nurture that like

566
00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:54,760
Speaker 2: we do everything else, running, throw and catching, blocking, tackling.

567
00:28:56,080 --> 00:29:00,360
Speaker 2: So that is non negotiable. You know, I can't say

568
00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:03,080
Speaker 2: you have to run for four but I can say

569
00:29:03,120 --> 00:29:05,360
Speaker 2: your mentality has you know, it has to be what

570
00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:08,640
Speaker 2: it has to be right. That's that's non negotiable. So

571
00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:13,160
Speaker 2: it helped me. I think it's one of my better strengths,

572
00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:16,640
Speaker 2: or greater strengths. You know, I've certainly got my fair

573
00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:19,360
Speaker 2: share of weaknesses. But I think these guys would tell you,

574
00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:21,080
Speaker 2: the staff and these players, that I'm going to bring

575
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:25,720
Speaker 2: the necessary mentality every day and that can do a

576
00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:26,200
Speaker 2: lot of good.

577
00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:29,200
Speaker 1: You guys are nice enough to let us in team

578
00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:32,960
Speaker 1: meeting earlier this morning, and most of it is what

579
00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:35,440
Speaker 1: it is. One part that I do actually want to

580
00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:39,400
Speaker 1: talk about, though, is there is accountability. There are things

581
00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:41,720
Speaker 1: written on the wall, but then it's put in practice,

582
00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:44,600
Speaker 1: even in a team meeting this morning, where you've got

583
00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:47,440
Speaker 1: every position group and they're tracking every one of their guys,

584
00:29:47,520 --> 00:29:49,480
Speaker 1: and when you do something that you should be praised for,

585
00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:52,000
Speaker 1: you're gonna get praised for it. But those red ex's

586
00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:53,840
Speaker 1: are also on the board, and not as a group,

587
00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:56,000
Speaker 1: but as an individual, you're gonna get called out when

588
00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:59,640
Speaker 1: you don't basically exude this right here in necessary mentality.

589
00:30:00,200 --> 00:30:02,760
Speaker 1: It probably doesn't take too long for young guys to

590
00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:04,760
Speaker 1: get called out on that front before they realized this

591
00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:07,240
Speaker 1: is no fun at all. But is that something you've

592
00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:09,760
Speaker 1: always done, have you seen it done elsewhere? And what

593
00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:11,800
Speaker 1: kind of effect does that have on guys? Cause we

594
00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:13,280
Speaker 1: can't do that in the corporate world. That's called an

595
00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:15,600
Speaker 1: HR violence. We can't really do that in the corporate world.

596
00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:18,360
Speaker 2: So we did do it defensively at Penn Status. It

597
00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:21,840
Speaker 2: was something I started there and it grew when I

598
00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:23,040
Speaker 2: got here. I said, we're going to do it with

599
00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:27,920
Speaker 2: the entire team. When you hold guys accountable, or hold

600
00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:30,760
Speaker 2: people accountable in front of their peers, it's just that

601
00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:35,720
Speaker 2: much more meaningful, significant, And nobody wants to see those

602
00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:37,640
Speaker 2: red extras go up on that board in front of

603
00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:40,680
Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty people that you were late to

604
00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:44,040
Speaker 2: a lift or you got your car booted for parking

605
00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:46,400
Speaker 2: in a handicapped spot. You know, they want to see

606
00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:50,160
Speaker 2: extra miles for helping somebody shovel their driveway, or leading

607
00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:53,560
Speaker 2: a class discussion, or you know, helping a teammate out

608
00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:58,360
Speaker 2: or whatever it is. But you know, to me, everybody

609
00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:03,000
Speaker 2: always had talked about accountable and it was how do

610
00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:05,719
Speaker 2: how do we really put it into action and make

611
00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:10,440
Speaker 2: it more meaningful and tangible. So we spend the time

612
00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:13,480
Speaker 2: once a week in a team meeting setting, We're going

613
00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:16,200
Speaker 2: to go through each position, and then at the end

614
00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:20,160
Speaker 2: of the semester, the team with the most accountability points,

615
00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:23,920
Speaker 2: the unit with the most accountability points gets a really

616
00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:28,080
Speaker 2: cool piece of gear, tech hoodie or something, and somewhere

617
00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:30,800
Speaker 2: on it in big print, it's going to say count

618
00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:32,800
Speaker 2: on me, because that was the group that could be

619
00:31:32,840 --> 00:31:33,720
Speaker 2: counted on the most.

620
00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:38,080
Speaker 1: A lot of coaches, in fact, most head coaches say

621
00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:40,640
Speaker 1: there are pieces of being a head coach you can

622
00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:43,800
Speaker 1: never prepare for until you become a head coach and

623
00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:46,280
Speaker 1: you just nodded your head and you're a couple of

624
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:49,440
Speaker 1: years into this, Now, what were the things that are

625
00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:52,040
Speaker 1: on your plate now that you never could have prepared

626
00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:53,320
Speaker 1: for until you just dealt with it.

627
00:31:54,560 --> 00:31:57,680
Speaker 2: First, let me say I was very fortunate first year

628
00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:02,000
Speaker 2: head coach Ricky Bussel with him to Louisiana Lafayette and

629
00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:06,080
Speaker 2: kind of by his side through all the learning curve there,

630
00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:09,080
Speaker 2: and then to go to Georgia Southern with Jeff Monkett,

631
00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:12,320
Speaker 2: another first time head coach, and to be close to

632
00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:15,400
Speaker 2: Jeff and go through that experience with him, and then

633
00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:18,280
Speaker 2: obviously to go with coach Franklin with James to Vanderbilt

634
00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:22,280
Speaker 2: and then Penn State, and to be a close confidant

635
00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:26,760
Speaker 2: of his and to have the good fortune to learn

636
00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:30,760
Speaker 2: and grow with him, and you know, learn so much

637
00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:35,920
Speaker 2: from him. So there was a pretty good playbook for

638
00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:38,640
Speaker 2: me about how I wanted to do this and what

639
00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:41,960
Speaker 2: I wanted it to look like ni L and the

640
00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:45,080
Speaker 2: transfer portal wasn't part of the playbook. There was no

641
00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:48,960
Speaker 2: chapter in there about those things. So you know, there's

642
00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:52,960
Speaker 2: you know, with everything we do, we're genuine, we're transparent,

643
00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:56,800
Speaker 2: we hit it head on. We embraced hard conversations here,

644
00:32:57,160 --> 00:32:59,360
Speaker 2: and that's a lot in that world. Those things I'm

645
00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:03,040
Speaker 2: talking about, that's how we've handled it. And you know,

646
00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:06,240
Speaker 2: so far we've navigated it pretty good.

647
00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:10,640
Speaker 1: How much have you learned about the characteristics you have

648
00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:14,960
Speaker 1: to look for in other non football related departments. It

649
00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:17,800
Speaker 1: all bleeds back into football. But you grew up as

650
00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:20,200
Speaker 1: a football coach, coach in a position you probably didn't

651
00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:22,560
Speaker 1: worry a whole lot about sports science. You probably didn't

652
00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:25,600
Speaker 1: worry a whole lot about putting nutrition plans together and

653
00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:28,080
Speaker 1: putting those people in place. So on top of the

654
00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:31,320
Speaker 1: football pieces, the on the field grease board type pieces,

655
00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:34,600
Speaker 1: how much of a baptism by fire. Has it been

656
00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:37,440
Speaker 1: learning about all the other tentacles that extend outward from

657
00:33:37,480 --> 00:33:39,440
Speaker 1: a program, Yeah, there's.

658
00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:42,120
Speaker 2: Been some learning there. But you know, again, at Penn State,

659
00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:44,720
Speaker 2: James really pushed the envelope in all those areas. It

660
00:33:44,760 --> 00:33:48,280
Speaker 2: was very important to what we were doing, and you know,

661
00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:52,360
Speaker 2: so I had experience and had a blueprint of what

662
00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:55,080
Speaker 2: I felt like we needed to do in those spaces.

663
00:33:55,840 --> 00:33:58,840
Speaker 2: But you know, again, that's you have to rely on

664
00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:02,040
Speaker 2: your staff. You know, you have to rely on people

665
00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:05,240
Speaker 2: to give you information that not that that's going to

666
00:34:05,320 --> 00:34:08,000
Speaker 2: make your decision about what direction you go with something.

667
00:34:08,680 --> 00:34:11,040
Speaker 2: But we have a lot of different departments that bring

668
00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:13,480
Speaker 2: a lot of value and a lot of information and

669
00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:15,719
Speaker 2: it's up to me as a leader to take it

670
00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:17,880
Speaker 2: all in and then make decisions that I feel are

671
00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:20,640
Speaker 2: in the best interest of everybody. So, you know, we

672
00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:24,640
Speaker 2: are we got smart people on this staff that are

673
00:34:24,719 --> 00:34:27,640
Speaker 2: growing professionally and there's a lot of outreach, there's a

674
00:34:27,719 --> 00:34:31,719
Speaker 2: lot of professional development. So we're in those spaces, you know,

675
00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:35,760
Speaker 2: whether it's analytics, whether it's sports science, and we'll continue

676
00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:38,160
Speaker 2: to grow it here at Virginia Tech. It certainly wasn't

677
00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:41,239
Speaker 2: where it needed to be when I was hired. We

678
00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:45,880
Speaker 2: didn't have a sports science coordinator, didn't exist here. So

679
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:48,560
Speaker 2: we've you know, there's been seven or eight positions we've

680
00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:51,840
Speaker 2: added over two and a half years in those areas.

681
00:34:52,040 --> 00:34:55,359
Speaker 1: When you take over a program and it doesn't have

682
00:34:55,960 --> 00:34:59,600
Speaker 1: some of those blanks filled in, does it make you go, oh,

683
00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:02,440
Speaker 1: that's a or does it make you excited because you

684
00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:05,880
Speaker 1: know with those blanks filled in, I actually know that

685
00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:09,240
Speaker 1: this place could scale quickly. You guys had several sellouts

686
00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:12,640
Speaker 1: last year, I mean not in playoff contention, nothing like that,

687
00:35:12,719 --> 00:35:15,520
Speaker 1: and almost every game over here sold out. So then

688
00:35:15,560 --> 00:35:18,160
Speaker 1: you ask yourself, well, when we take those next steps,

689
00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:20,320
Speaker 1: what could it be? But when you inherited the job

690
00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:23,000
Speaker 1: and you look at it and there's so many incompletes

691
00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:26,799
Speaker 1: that you would write on your term sheet, what kind

692
00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:30,399
Speaker 1: of things? Does that make you feel immediately that you.

693
00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:33,000
Speaker 2: Can't do them all at once? You want to because

694
00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:36,640
Speaker 2: you see them, you recognize them, but that the support

695
00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:41,160
Speaker 2: from the administration is there, and it is. We're moving

696
00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:45,600
Speaker 2: in the right direction in a lot of spaces, maybe

697
00:35:45,640 --> 00:35:48,200
Speaker 2: not the total move we need to make, but we're

698
00:35:48,239 --> 00:35:51,279
Speaker 2: getting part way there. In a lot of areas and

699
00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:54,920
Speaker 2: it's making a difference. It's impacting our program already. So

700
00:35:55,480 --> 00:35:58,000
Speaker 2: you have a blueprint, you have a map of we

701
00:35:58,040 --> 00:35:59,840
Speaker 2: need to be here in sports science. We need to

702
00:35:59,880 --> 00:36:03,200
Speaker 2: be here with nutrition, whether it's budgetary, whether it's staffing,

703
00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:07,440
Speaker 2: whether it's you know, plan and model that we want,

704
00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:13,400
Speaker 2: whether it's facilities, and you know, so we think in

705
00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:15,880
Speaker 2: that space and we have an idea of where things

706
00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:18,879
Speaker 2: need to go. And then it's you know, support from

707
00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:22,839
Speaker 2: administration and and you know, you continue to sell out

708
00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:25,520
Speaker 2: the stadium and have people support you and believe in

709
00:36:25,560 --> 00:36:30,279
Speaker 2: what you're doing. We got tremendous support here and you know,

710
00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:33,000
Speaker 2: in the middle of a rebuild, not just from a

711
00:36:33,040 --> 00:36:36,760
Speaker 2: fan base that you know, provided five sellouts and twenty

712
00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:40,320
Speaker 2: five thousand sitting through a rainstorm in the Military Bowl,

713
00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:44,960
Speaker 2: but the administration, our donor base, our letterman group, this community.

714
00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:49,040
Speaker 2: You know, things are in place here for us to

715
00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:54,279
Speaker 2: move this needle. You know, just every year, just keep

716
00:36:54,320 --> 00:36:57,279
Speaker 2: moving in the right direction. We have to do our part,

717
00:36:57,480 --> 00:36:59,840
Speaker 2: and we've got to win enough games to keep people excited.

718
00:36:59,840 --> 00:37:03,680
Speaker 2: And I think it's also the relationships that we build

719
00:37:03,719 --> 00:37:08,640
Speaker 2: across the community, across campus it's the foundation of what

720
00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:12,480
Speaker 2: we do. We're invested in the state, which was a

721
00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:15,960
Speaker 2: really important piece to coach Beemer and their success. Virginia

722
00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:19,160
Speaker 2: was very good to them. And so.

723
00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:24,040
Speaker 1: Talking to some folks who cover recruiting, especially in the

724
00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:26,239
Speaker 1: Mid Atlantic region, and talking to some folks who have

725
00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:29,120
Speaker 1: recruited on other staffs, talk about once upon a time

726
00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:31,799
Speaker 1: how hard it was to come into Virginia and take

727
00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:33,320
Speaker 1: a kid, and if you got him, you knew you

728
00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:35,920
Speaker 1: had a fight on your hands. And then that kind

729
00:37:35,920 --> 00:37:38,319
Speaker 1: of weaned a little bit, and now you guys have

730
00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:40,440
Speaker 1: come back in the door, and so I know you

731
00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:43,800
Speaker 1: kind of just touched on it. But one more time

732
00:37:43,840 --> 00:37:49,440
Speaker 1: for me, this area kind of became a national recruiting

733
00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:52,680
Speaker 1: hotbed because of maybe the lack of in state schools

734
00:37:52,920 --> 00:37:56,360
Speaker 1: holding talent home. You came in with the philosophy of

735
00:37:56,400 --> 00:37:59,520
Speaker 1: taking care of home obviously, but how much traction have

736
00:37:59,600 --> 00:38:01,160
Speaker 1: you seen, you guys able to get.

737
00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:04,759
Speaker 2: On that front? Yeah, we've I think, you know, we've

738
00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:08,400
Speaker 2: invested in the state and the coaches and the communities

739
00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:12,040
Speaker 2: are recognizing that. You know, we're in the schools every cycle.

740
00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:15,680
Speaker 2: We're doing travel clinics for the coaches across the state.

741
00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:20,759
Speaker 2: We're hosting a clinic here for coaches. We're doing eight

742
00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:25,400
Speaker 2: or nine camps. We're you know, we don't recruit outside

743
00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:29,080
Speaker 2: of five or six hours unless we absolutely have to,

744
00:38:29,800 --> 00:38:35,080
Speaker 2: or there's a Virginia Tech connection that makes sense. We're

745
00:38:35,080 --> 00:38:38,000
Speaker 2: going to recruit our footprints, so it allows us to

746
00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:42,440
Speaker 2: really spend the time. Nobody should know more about a

747
00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:46,080
Speaker 2: kid in the state of Virginia than us. Nobody should

748
00:38:46,120 --> 00:38:49,239
Speaker 2: know more. We should start hearing and learning about these

749
00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:53,480
Speaker 2: recruits in eighth grade. And what allows us to be

750
00:38:53,560 --> 00:38:57,279
Speaker 2: in the conversation right now with Georgia or Penn State

751
00:38:57,360 --> 00:39:01,160
Speaker 2: or Ohio State is the relationship we have. That we

752
00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:03,840
Speaker 2: should have a better relationship than anybody, and that should

753
00:39:04,520 --> 00:39:07,239
Speaker 2: with enough guys, it'll keep us in it till the end.

754
00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:10,359
Speaker 2: And some of those guys have already elected to come

755
00:39:10,400 --> 00:39:14,480
Speaker 2: here over schools that maybe have are more notable right now.

756
00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:18,279
Speaker 1: If you were to go to your Wikipedia page, that

757
00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:20,520
Speaker 1: thing goes back a little ways. You're looking at your bio,

758
00:39:20,640 --> 00:39:23,520
Speaker 1: the places you've been, the high school level, the college level,

759
00:39:24,040 --> 00:39:28,000
Speaker 1: multiple positions and roles. Do you think back to maybe

760
00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:30,560
Speaker 1: like a few forks on the road or real turning

761
00:39:30,640 --> 00:39:33,839
Speaker 1: points in your career that you look at and say,

762
00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:37,280
Speaker 1: I'm here today because of this person or this moment.

763
00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:42,759
Speaker 2: So my father was a college and high school coach

764
00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:47,319
Speaker 2: for forty five years, kind of a journeyman coach. He

765
00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:49,600
Speaker 2: and I have the distinction we both coached in a

766
00:39:49,719 --> 00:39:54,200
Speaker 2: Rose Bowl and we both lost to USC, so we

767
00:39:54,280 --> 00:39:57,719
Speaker 2: got that famous photo up at the house. But so

768
00:39:57,800 --> 00:40:00,839
Speaker 2: obviously his influence and you know I grew up. He's

769
00:40:00,880 --> 00:40:04,319
Speaker 2: coaching small, small college ball in West Virginia the back

770
00:40:04,320 --> 00:40:07,879
Speaker 2: of ten hour bus rides going away games and it practices,

771
00:40:08,040 --> 00:40:12,560
Speaker 2: and so you know, that's been the most impactful in

772
00:40:12,560 --> 00:40:15,200
Speaker 2: my life. Obviously, my dad played at Marshall the year

773
00:40:15,239 --> 00:40:18,200
Speaker 2: after the crash, and just the passion for the game

774
00:40:18,280 --> 00:40:21,799
Speaker 2: and our family. Both my brothers played college ball and

775
00:40:22,600 --> 00:40:26,560
Speaker 2: so but then you know, the opportunity to be around

776
00:40:27,160 --> 00:40:32,920
Speaker 2: just great coaches that were doing it the right way

777
00:40:33,239 --> 00:40:37,320
Speaker 2: and treating people right, and they weren't putting the wins above,

778
00:40:38,640 --> 00:40:43,000
Speaker 2: you know, treating people right and doing things the right way.

779
00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:47,440
Speaker 2: Denny Dowd's at East Stroudsburg University. Then you know, I

780
00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:50,480
Speaker 2: have an opportunity to come here, and I've been very

781
00:40:50,520 --> 00:40:54,800
Speaker 2: fortunate that way. Bud Foster has been a huge influence

782
00:40:54,840 --> 00:40:59,640
Speaker 2: on me defensively as a coach, but also in development

783
00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:03,880
Speaker 2: and I identifying you know, strengths and weaknesses and personnel

784
00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:07,520
Speaker 2: and then mentality. A lot of that I learned from

785
00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:09,399
Speaker 2: Bud and saw the value it and what it did

786
00:41:09,400 --> 00:41:16,120
Speaker 2: for us here. But you know, situations and scenarios. I've

787
00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:19,320
Speaker 2: been fired twice in this profession, and I'm convinced that

788
00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:24,040
Speaker 2: how I handled that and the way I navigated that

789
00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:27,200
Speaker 2: was one of the you know, the two times where

790
00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:31,840
Speaker 2: I grew the most. The adversity that this game presents,

791
00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:35,680
Speaker 2: you have to navigate that well. You got to come

792
00:41:35,719 --> 00:41:40,040
Speaker 2: out the other side of adversity feeling good about it.

793
00:41:40,760 --> 00:41:44,520
Speaker 2: And whether it's hard conversations or hard situations. And certainly

794
00:41:44,520 --> 00:41:47,200
Speaker 2: when you're fired, and when you're fired with family, like

795
00:41:47,239 --> 00:41:50,759
Speaker 2: a lot of coaches, you know they've experienced that. You know,

796
00:41:50,840 --> 00:41:54,640
Speaker 2: you can play the blame game and all this, or

797
00:41:55,560 --> 00:41:57,080
Speaker 2: you know, you can just put your nose down and

798
00:41:57,719 --> 00:42:00,640
Speaker 2: work and be appreciative for the opportunity you have and

799
00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:03,279
Speaker 2: you work to the next one. And so you know,

800
00:42:03,320 --> 00:42:06,640
Speaker 2: there's all kinds of things that I think shape shape

801
00:42:06,719 --> 00:42:09,600
Speaker 2: us as coaches, and you know, they say, you know,

802
00:42:09,640 --> 00:42:11,600
Speaker 2: you're either a coach that's been fired or you're a

803
00:42:11,600 --> 00:42:14,759
Speaker 2: coach that's gonna be fired, So I can't. Hopefully I've

804
00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:17,160
Speaker 2: crossed that bridge twice now, so I know.

805
00:42:19,280 --> 00:42:21,160
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna say something here. I just want

806
00:42:21,200 --> 00:42:23,520
Speaker 1: you to react when I say it.

807
00:42:23,719 --> 00:42:26,640
Speaker 2: All my brothers, that's my band.

808
00:42:26,719 --> 00:42:28,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, those are your guys.

809
00:42:28,280 --> 00:42:31,400
Speaker 2: That's my guy. Yeah. I grew up on them in

810
00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:36,160
Speaker 2: high school and you know, listening in on my my

811
00:42:36,239 --> 00:42:41,400
Speaker 2: buddies parents albums and making cassette tapes off that stuff.

812
00:42:41,440 --> 00:42:43,640
Speaker 2: And then I got you know, I got into going

813
00:42:43,680 --> 00:42:47,520
Speaker 2: to see them, you know, in the summers and while

814
00:42:47,520 --> 00:42:50,160
Speaker 2: I was in college, we would travel and go see

815
00:42:50,160 --> 00:42:53,560
Speaker 2: those guys. And you know, once you get into a band,

816
00:42:53,600 --> 00:42:57,360
Speaker 2: you learn about their influences and the old school blues

817
00:42:57,480 --> 00:43:01,680
Speaker 2: and jazz and everything that. I believe. You've got to

818
00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:05,120
Speaker 2: have a balance in this business. It's too hard. I

819
00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:07,359
Speaker 2: can't be the coach I need to be every day

820
00:43:08,080 --> 00:43:10,440
Speaker 2: if I don't have some other things that take my

821
00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:13,040
Speaker 2: mind off of it. And that's one of them. My family.

822
00:43:13,800 --> 00:43:16,480
Speaker 2: I try and work out when I can, and my music.

823
00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:20,279
Speaker 2: I love going to live shows, and you just can

824
00:43:20,360 --> 00:43:23,799
Speaker 2: kind of leave everything else alone for a little bit

825
00:43:24,239 --> 00:43:26,839
Speaker 2: and have some fun, enjoy yourself, you know, get your

826
00:43:26,840 --> 00:43:29,600
Speaker 2: mind somewhere else, and then I feel like I'm ready

827
00:43:29,640 --> 00:43:34,279
Speaker 2: to go, you know, by that next day. So but yeah,

828
00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:37,040
Speaker 2: there's not a practice that goes by at Virginia Tech

829
00:43:37,040 --> 00:43:40,560
Speaker 2: where you don't hear an Almond Brothers song. That's not

830
00:43:40,680 --> 00:43:41,400
Speaker 2: my accident.

831
00:43:42,200 --> 00:43:46,360
Speaker 1: How many times have you had to maybe talk to players,

832
00:43:46,360 --> 00:43:49,480
Speaker 1: but definitely talk to staffers when they're doing everything they're

833
00:43:49,480 --> 00:43:51,719
Speaker 1: supposed to, like they're checking all the boxes, but you

834
00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:54,720
Speaker 1: look at them and you realize there is zero balance

835
00:43:54,719 --> 00:43:56,759
Speaker 1: in this guy's life. And he may be thirty one

836
00:43:56,880 --> 00:43:59,160
Speaker 1: right now, but he may pay for it when he's

837
00:43:59,160 --> 00:44:01,360
Speaker 1: fifty one. How often do you have to have that conversation?

838
00:44:01,520 --> 00:44:06,720
Speaker 2: A lot? We try, and you know, the culture we

839
00:44:06,719 --> 00:44:09,680
Speaker 2: we work at and and want for our staff is

840
00:44:09,719 --> 00:44:12,560
Speaker 2: as important as the one we established with our players,

841
00:44:13,320 --> 00:44:16,720
Speaker 2: and balance is part of that culture. We take half days,

842
00:44:17,680 --> 00:44:20,279
Speaker 2: you know, they know, they walk in my office they

843
00:44:20,280 --> 00:44:22,520
Speaker 2: want to you know, there's a brother graduating, there's a

844
00:44:22,600 --> 00:44:27,160
Speaker 2: grandmother's retirement, there's a baby being born, there's a sister's

845
00:44:28,080 --> 00:44:30,880
Speaker 2: signing days, whatever it is, I mean, you know, I'm

846
00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:32,880
Speaker 2: going to promote all of that. I want that, you know,

847
00:44:32,920 --> 00:44:36,000
Speaker 2: that's family, that's that's part of balance, part of quality

848
00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:38,880
Speaker 2: of life. And then we have fun as a staff.

849
00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:41,839
Speaker 2: You know, we we work, work, work when we need to,

850
00:44:42,640 --> 00:44:45,480
Speaker 2: and I'm going to make sure I would hope they

851
00:44:45,520 --> 00:44:48,279
Speaker 2: would say that coach is a pretty fun guy and

852
00:44:48,440 --> 00:44:51,719
Speaker 2: that you know, we're gonna do things together that are

853
00:44:51,760 --> 00:44:55,480
Speaker 2: fun and more relaxed because it's hard what we do.

854
00:44:55,800 --> 00:44:56,520
Speaker 2: Especially now.

855
00:44:57,360 --> 00:44:59,359
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you this because I always love

856
00:44:59,360 --> 00:45:03,759
Speaker 1: getting coaches. So everybody's got some weird part of this

857
00:45:03,880 --> 00:45:06,600
Speaker 1: game that fascinates them, Like I love when we go

858
00:45:06,640 --> 00:45:08,560
Speaker 1: on the road. I love checking out road locker rooms.

859
00:45:08,560 --> 00:45:10,480
Speaker 1: I was talking to Shane Beamer about this the other day,

860
00:45:10,560 --> 00:45:14,640
Speaker 1: and I love seeing how accommodating or unaccommodating those environments are.

861
00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:16,800
Speaker 1: So it may be that is something completely different for you.

862
00:45:16,920 --> 00:45:19,279
Speaker 1: But is there anything maybe from the perspective of a coach,

863
00:45:19,400 --> 00:45:21,680
Speaker 1: is different. Is there anything that you look at and

864
00:45:21,760 --> 00:45:23,680
Speaker 1: you say, wow, this is not in my day to

865
00:45:23,760 --> 00:45:26,879
Speaker 1: day line of work necessarily, But I'm fascinated by this

866
00:45:27,040 --> 00:45:30,799
Speaker 1: part of the sport.

867
00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:33,560
Speaker 2: You know, there's all kinds of little things that interest me,

868
00:45:33,680 --> 00:45:37,319
Speaker 2: you know, pregame warm ups, the differences that you see

869
00:45:37,400 --> 00:45:39,839
Speaker 2: position coaches doing. You know, you got a corner coach

870
00:45:39,880 --> 00:45:41,920
Speaker 2: on one team doing it this way, you got a

871
00:45:41,920 --> 00:45:45,919
Speaker 2: corner coach on another doing it this way. I love

872
00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:50,440
Speaker 2: walking in a stadium early and just looking around and

873
00:45:50,520 --> 00:45:53,680
Speaker 2: see what have they done here, Like what's been important

874
00:45:53,719 --> 00:45:59,280
Speaker 2: to them for their atmosphere, their environment in their stadium.

875
00:46:00,120 --> 00:46:03,799
Speaker 2: I love to come out prior to kick off, like

876
00:46:04,080 --> 00:46:06,160
Speaker 2: just prior to when we run out of that tunnel here,

877
00:46:06,880 --> 00:46:09,399
Speaker 2: and just kind of soak it up for just half

878
00:46:09,440 --> 00:46:12,760
Speaker 2: a minute, like, you know, I love to look around

879
00:46:12,840 --> 00:46:15,799
Speaker 2: and see the crowd, and you know, just I think

880
00:46:15,800 --> 00:46:20,839
Speaker 2: it helps get me excited and so just appreciate the opportunity.

881
00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:23,920
Speaker 2: So but every place is a little different, you know,

882
00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:28,160
Speaker 2: and everybody's biased about their own place. But I think

883
00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:29,080
Speaker 2: we got a great one here.

884
00:46:29,239 --> 00:46:33,120
Speaker 1: You got some memorable road places, coach all over the place.

885
00:46:33,360 --> 00:46:37,080
Speaker 1: You've got some memorable places that if you were writing

886
00:46:37,280 --> 00:46:40,839
Speaker 1: sort of the chapter of that in your book, this one,

887
00:46:40,920 --> 00:46:41,600
Speaker 1: this one, and this.

888
00:46:41,480 --> 00:46:46,359
Speaker 2: One those really stand out. Yeah. You know, obviously this

889
00:46:46,480 --> 00:46:50,600
Speaker 2: atmosphere and the entrance, you know, the two of those

890
00:46:50,600 --> 00:46:53,360
Speaker 2: things combined. You know, this is a group of fans

891
00:46:53,360 --> 00:46:55,479
Speaker 2: that stand on their feet the whole game and cheer,

892
00:46:55,520 --> 00:46:58,719
Speaker 2: and they got their sweatshirts on blue jeans, and you know,

893
00:46:58,760 --> 00:47:02,280
Speaker 2: they're very into the ball game. I think the entrance

894
00:47:02,320 --> 00:47:04,600
Speaker 2: helps do that. But you know, the white out of

895
00:47:04,680 --> 00:47:07,440
Speaker 2: Penn State was awesome. I always loved that experience. That's

896
00:47:07,480 --> 00:47:10,799
Speaker 2: a special one of coached at LSU at night. That's

897
00:47:10,960 --> 00:47:17,080
Speaker 2: that's pretty pretty cool too, you know, I think those

898
00:47:17,080 --> 00:47:18,640
Speaker 2: are the ones that stand out the most of me.

899
00:47:19,080 --> 00:47:21,480
Speaker 1: All Right, we're gonna be cautious with how we talk

900
00:47:21,520 --> 00:47:24,680
Speaker 1: about this, because yes, I have been sort of bullish

901
00:47:24,680 --> 00:47:28,280
Speaker 1: on the direction of the team. You're in spring right now,

902
00:47:28,800 --> 00:47:32,399
Speaker 1: So cautiously, what are you seeing that you like so far?

903
00:47:32,440 --> 00:47:34,880
Speaker 1: And then just knowing your roster and your guys like

904
00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:38,040
Speaker 1: you hope you do. What are some things that if

905
00:47:38,080 --> 00:47:40,080
Speaker 1: you take care of business, you can be pretty good

906
00:47:40,080 --> 00:47:40,640
Speaker 1: at this fall?

907
00:47:41,360 --> 00:47:47,279
Speaker 2: Whew. I think Kyrine's doing a really nice job. One

908
00:47:47,280 --> 00:47:50,080
Speaker 2: of the points of emphasis was just being able to

909
00:47:50,880 --> 00:47:55,080
Speaker 2: make accurate throws in tight coverage. We did a nice

910
00:47:55,160 --> 00:47:57,200
Speaker 2: job last year. There was a lot of open receivers.

911
00:47:57,560 --> 00:47:59,280
Speaker 2: You know, a lot of times he's out of the pocket,

912
00:47:59,360 --> 00:48:03,479
Speaker 2: and but you know, we realized that, you know, there's

913
00:48:03,480 --> 00:48:06,120
Speaker 2: going to be more challenges and tighter coverage and things.

914
00:48:06,160 --> 00:48:09,560
Speaker 2: And he's done a nice job. He's made some good

915
00:48:09,640 --> 00:48:14,040
Speaker 2: throws each and every practice that are contested catches. You know,

916
00:48:14,160 --> 00:48:16,400
Speaker 2: great job by the white Out, but he's putting that

917
00:48:16,480 --> 00:48:18,399
Speaker 2: thing where the dB can't get it and the white

918
00:48:18,400 --> 00:48:23,279
Speaker 2: Out can. And now that's growth. I think just you know,

919
00:48:23,320 --> 00:48:27,359
Speaker 2: our wide receiver room just continues to develop. Coach mind

920
00:48:27,400 --> 00:48:29,279
Speaker 2: has done a great job with that group from top

921
00:48:29,360 --> 00:48:33,040
Speaker 2: to bottom, the development, the recruitment to it, the mindset.

922
00:48:34,640 --> 00:48:37,640
Speaker 2: I think, you know what Coach Price has done with

923
00:48:37,680 --> 00:48:40,600
Speaker 2: our defensive line, going from one of the worst teams

924
00:48:40,600 --> 00:48:43,600
Speaker 2: in the league at rushing the quarterback to finish in

925
00:48:43,719 --> 00:48:49,880
Speaker 2: number two and top ten nationally. But we still we

926
00:48:50,080 --> 00:48:53,400
Speaker 2: still have room for improvement there to be the type

927
00:48:53,400 --> 00:48:55,560
Speaker 2: of defense that we need to be. At Virginia Tech

928
00:48:56,560 --> 00:48:58,560
Speaker 2: went I was here, we led the country in sacks.

929
00:49:00,120 --> 00:49:02,040
Speaker 2: Was at Penn State we led the country and sacks twice.

930
00:49:02,200 --> 00:49:06,279
Speaker 2: Like this this scheme and what we're about TFLs and

931
00:49:06,360 --> 00:49:09,840
Speaker 2: sacks and then we have to minimize explosives. That's an

932
00:49:09,880 --> 00:49:13,239
Speaker 2: area that hurt us defensively last year. We could make

933
00:49:13,239 --> 00:49:15,880
Speaker 2: the TfL the minors yardage placement and give up a

934
00:49:15,880 --> 00:49:18,880
Speaker 2: big one ron or throw. We've got to be better there.

935
00:49:19,840 --> 00:49:23,160
Speaker 2: So we're talking a lot about that, But probably the

936
00:49:23,200 --> 00:49:25,960
Speaker 2: biggest thing is we've got, you know, all these these

937
00:49:26,000 --> 00:49:30,960
Speaker 2: really good players that were productive starters that return, and

938
00:49:31,040 --> 00:49:33,520
Speaker 2: we have a bunch of guys come back that you

939
00:49:33,719 --> 00:49:35,680
Speaker 2: know what you're gonna get for the most part when

940
00:49:35,719 --> 00:49:37,680
Speaker 2: you put them out there. But then we have this

941
00:49:37,800 --> 00:49:41,640
Speaker 2: whole second run of guys, first and second year players

942
00:49:42,440 --> 00:49:46,719
Speaker 2: that are gonna contribute, whether they get you know, elevated

943
00:49:46,760 --> 00:49:50,120
Speaker 2: into a starting role, or they have significant snaps, or

944
00:49:50,120 --> 00:49:53,799
Speaker 2: they're own special teams. We're gonna need that group, and

945
00:49:53,880 --> 00:49:56,759
Speaker 2: that group, you know, this offseason is critical for them.

946
00:49:57,760 --> 00:49:59,920
Speaker 1: You mentioned sacks this a second ago, all right, So

947
00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:06,120
Speaker 1: so let me get a grizzled defensive veterans opinion on this. Tackles,

948
00:50:06,120 --> 00:50:09,680
Speaker 1: floss and sacks. Those are very very front facing stats.

949
00:50:10,320 --> 00:50:13,080
Speaker 1: My mom could track those. So then you get the

950
00:50:13,560 --> 00:50:15,799
Speaker 1: more advanced analytics crowd and a lot of coaches who

951
00:50:15,840 --> 00:50:18,160
Speaker 1: will say, well, sacks aren't all that important. And I

952
00:50:18,680 --> 00:50:20,680
Speaker 1: know what people are saying when they say that. However,

953
00:50:21,400 --> 00:50:24,080
Speaker 1: I've never seen a quarterback get sacked for positive yardage.

954
00:50:24,200 --> 00:50:26,319
Speaker 1: So it is very nice to get the quarterback on

955
00:50:26,320 --> 00:50:28,440
Speaker 1: the ground. Literally, nothing good's happening for that guy when

956
00:50:28,480 --> 00:50:30,920
Speaker 1: he's on the ground, and it is, while not the

957
00:50:31,000 --> 00:50:33,600
Speaker 1: end all be all, a great metric, the defense just

958
00:50:33,640 --> 00:50:35,960
Speaker 1: did something really well. It's great to pressure him, but

959
00:50:35,960 --> 00:50:37,520
Speaker 1: it's great to get him on the ground as well.

960
00:50:37,680 --> 00:50:38,719
Speaker 2: So when someone.

961
00:50:38,760 --> 00:50:41,400
Speaker 1: Talks about sacks, when you talk about sacks, are you

962
00:50:41,480 --> 00:50:45,400
Speaker 1: of the overrated stat or are you yeah, we want

963
00:50:45,440 --> 00:50:46,960
Speaker 1: as many of these as we can possibly get.

964
00:50:47,960 --> 00:50:52,120
Speaker 2: That's a great question. And sacks are important to me

965
00:50:52,160 --> 00:50:55,440
Speaker 2: because their minus yardage plays and their hits on the quarterback,

966
00:50:56,200 --> 00:50:57,799
Speaker 2: on the guy who's going to touch the ball. Every

967
00:50:57,840 --> 00:51:01,319
Speaker 2: snap you shacked a quarterback, you got a chance to

968
00:51:01,880 --> 00:51:04,799
Speaker 2: You know, you're messing him up right, you're banging him up,

969
00:51:04,840 --> 00:51:06,640
Speaker 2: You're getting good hits on him. You got a chance

970
00:51:06,680 --> 00:51:09,640
Speaker 2: for sack fumbles. I mean, that guy touches the ball

971
00:51:09,680 --> 00:51:11,759
Speaker 2: if you can get him rattled, if you can get

972
00:51:11,760 --> 00:51:18,240
Speaker 2: that decision maker, you're worried about that rush. But also,

973
00:51:18,640 --> 00:51:22,319
Speaker 2: I've been around games, and I've been around units that

974
00:51:22,400 --> 00:51:25,960
Speaker 2: did a tremendous job of pressuring the quarterback and getting

975
00:51:25,960 --> 00:51:29,239
Speaker 2: the ball out. Didn't have the sack numbers, but man,

976
00:51:29,280 --> 00:51:32,640
Speaker 2: you felt great about what they were able to accomplish

977
00:51:32,680 --> 00:51:35,640
Speaker 2: and how they affected the game. We had a first

978
00:51:35,719 --> 00:51:38,880
Speaker 2: round draft pick at Penn State, Jason o Way his

979
00:51:39,000 --> 00:51:41,000
Speaker 2: last year. He didn't have the sack numbers, but I

980
00:51:41,000 --> 00:51:44,960
Speaker 2: think he led the country and quarterback pressures, you know,

981
00:51:45,000 --> 00:51:47,239
Speaker 2: so those things are valuable to I just.

982
00:51:47,200 --> 00:51:48,680
Speaker 1: Wonder because I've gone all the way around the marry

983
00:51:48,760 --> 00:51:49,160
Speaker 1: around on that.

984
00:51:49,640 --> 00:51:52,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's more, what's honestly more important to me? Because

985
00:51:54,600 --> 00:51:57,480
Speaker 2: we were this way for a few years in my career.

986
00:51:58,160 --> 00:52:01,040
Speaker 2: We were getting sacks and TFLs, but we were giving

987
00:52:01,120 --> 00:52:04,359
Speaker 2: up plays, all big plays all the time. Somebody's band

988
00:52:04,440 --> 00:52:06,560
Speaker 2: was playing, and you're not going to be you know,

989
00:52:06,560 --> 00:52:09,360
Speaker 2: you're not going to sustain success or really be a

990
00:52:09,440 --> 00:52:12,719
Speaker 2: genuinely good defense that way. And so that's when we

991
00:52:12,760 --> 00:52:16,200
Speaker 2: started rolling in our explosive play goal. You know, we

992
00:52:16,280 --> 00:52:20,400
Speaker 2: want to be top ten in in fewest explosive plays

993
00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:25,080
Speaker 2: coupled with top ten in sacks or top ten in TFLs.

994
00:52:25,680 --> 00:52:28,839
Speaker 2: You do that, that's pretty good sign, all right.

995
00:52:28,880 --> 00:52:30,520
Speaker 1: So we talked about what could be good in this

996
00:52:30,600 --> 00:52:33,239
Speaker 1: fall kind of wrap it up with this. You know,

997
00:52:33,280 --> 00:52:36,160
Speaker 1: sometimes there's maybe one thing in bright red sharpie. We

998
00:52:36,200 --> 00:52:37,799
Speaker 1: know we got to get better at this or we're

999
00:52:37,800 --> 00:52:40,600
Speaker 1: going to sink completely. So it could be that or

1000
00:52:40,600 --> 00:52:42,520
Speaker 1: a number of things. And it could be for you

1001
00:52:42,600 --> 00:52:45,640
Speaker 1: personally or the team. But what has your focus, what

1002
00:52:45,719 --> 00:52:47,400
Speaker 1: keeps you up a little bit at night of we

1003
00:52:47,600 --> 00:52:49,279
Speaker 1: got to get better here, We've got to make sure

1004
00:52:49,320 --> 00:52:50,000
Speaker 1: we take care of this.

1005
00:52:51,640 --> 00:52:55,040
Speaker 2: I think it's depth, to be honest, that's the first

1006
00:52:55,080 --> 00:52:57,840
Speaker 2: thing that comes to mind. We've just we've signed a

1007
00:52:57,840 --> 00:53:00,000
Speaker 2: bunch of high school players over the last couple of years.

1008
00:53:00,400 --> 00:53:02,760
Speaker 2: We've only gone these last two years to the portal

1009
00:53:02,800 --> 00:53:06,799
Speaker 2: for twelve total players. So there's development and growth and

1010
00:53:06,920 --> 00:53:10,680
Speaker 2: first and checking your players that has to happen. There's

1011
00:53:10,760 --> 00:53:14,000
Speaker 2: going to be injuries. We're going to need reps from

1012
00:53:14,000 --> 00:53:18,360
Speaker 2: other guys besides this core group, So developing those guys,

1013
00:53:18,440 --> 00:53:22,120
Speaker 2: which thankfully it's still the spring, right and you got

1014
00:53:22,160 --> 00:53:23,920
Speaker 2: all the rest of the spring, you hat all summer,

1015
00:53:23,920 --> 00:53:26,239
Speaker 2: you got preseason camp. We got to make sure as

1016
00:53:26,280 --> 00:53:28,960
Speaker 2: coaches that the snaps and the reps are going where

1017
00:53:28,960 --> 00:53:32,560
Speaker 2: they need to for the most part to develop those guys.

1018
00:53:33,080 --> 00:53:36,880
Speaker 2: But the big thing for us and we try and

1019
00:53:36,920 --> 00:53:38,640
Speaker 2: we will here towards the end of spring. We'll do

1020
00:53:38,680 --> 00:53:41,640
Speaker 2: it in preseason camp. We have to play complimentary ball.

1021
00:53:42,520 --> 00:53:44,600
Speaker 2: We're not going to have an offense that is just

1022
00:53:44,640 --> 00:53:47,440
Speaker 2: going to beat the brakes off everybody every week. And

1023
00:53:47,960 --> 00:53:50,360
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter what defensive special teams do. We're not

1024
00:53:50,400 --> 00:53:52,719
Speaker 2: going to have a defense that just you know, has

1025
00:53:52,960 --> 00:53:56,680
Speaker 2: four shutouts and two yards of carry and we're not

1026
00:53:56,680 --> 00:53:59,680
Speaker 2: gonna have a kicking game with six returns. And you know,

1027
00:54:00,440 --> 00:54:04,160
Speaker 2: we are a complimentary group and that's kind of the

1028
00:54:04,280 --> 00:54:06,799
Speaker 2: formula for us right now, and I'm great with that,

1029
00:54:07,160 --> 00:54:08,600
Speaker 2: but we got to make sure we can do that.

1030
00:54:09,000 --> 00:54:11,600
Speaker 2: When we didn't last year, we weren't able to win

1031
00:54:11,640 --> 00:54:14,880
Speaker 2: the game. When we relied too much on one phase,

1032
00:54:15,480 --> 00:54:20,160
Speaker 2: we couldn't win the game. So we are a complimentary group,

1033
00:54:20,760 --> 00:54:23,840
Speaker 2: and uh, you know, so we're constantly talking and working

1034
00:54:23,880 --> 00:54:26,880
Speaker 2: at ways for our team to understand that that means

1035
00:54:26,960 --> 00:54:31,399
Speaker 2: responding when one unit may be struggling another unit can

1036
00:54:31,400 --> 00:54:34,640
Speaker 2: pick it up. It means that unit, you know, putting

1037
00:54:34,719 --> 00:54:38,360
Speaker 2: them in those situations where things maybe aren't going well,

1038
00:54:38,560 --> 00:54:42,479
Speaker 2: how do we get out of this? So complimentary ball,

1039
00:54:42,960 --> 00:54:45,480
Speaker 2: I think has always been a you know, part of

1040
00:54:45,520 --> 00:54:49,400
Speaker 2: it at Virginia Tech, and it feels like when you

1041
00:54:49,440 --> 00:54:52,319
Speaker 2: look back on last season, we were at our best

1042
00:54:52,360 --> 00:54:55,600
Speaker 2: when we were doing that. This has been a fun day, man, awesome, bro,

1043
00:54:56,080 --> 00:54:56,560
Speaker 2: you been here.

1044
00:54:56,600 --> 00:55:01,319
Speaker 1: Thank you for sure, big, big thanks to Brent Pry

1045
00:55:01,400 --> 00:55:03,719
Speaker 1: and the entire staff here at Virginia Tech. It's been

1046
00:55:03,760 --> 00:55:07,480
Speaker 1: basically home for us all day. The eggs, the eggs

1047
00:55:07,480 --> 00:55:10,600
Speaker 1: in the cafeteria or phenomenal. I'm getting like tacit agreement

1048
00:55:10,640 --> 00:55:13,080
Speaker 1: from just off camera. The pay State Speaker series has

1049
00:55:13,080 --> 00:55:14,480
Speaker 1: been on the road for a couple of weeks now.

1050
00:55:14,520 --> 00:55:17,360
Speaker 1: This was a first time stop North Carolina. Yesterday was

1051
00:55:17,400 --> 00:55:20,560
Speaker 1: a first time stop. These have been really great conversations

1052
00:55:20,600 --> 00:55:23,200
Speaker 1: we've been able to have on cam. The off camp

1053
00:55:23,280 --> 00:55:26,239
Speaker 1: stuff has been just as interesting. In time. I'll give you,

1054
00:55:26,320 --> 00:55:28,719
Speaker 1: guys whatever stories that I can give you. There's a

1055
00:55:28,800 --> 00:55:32,399
Speaker 1: lot of behind the scenes material over on the Instagram page,

1056
00:55:32,400 --> 00:55:34,799
Speaker 1: for example at late Kick Josh. Just make sure you're

1057
00:55:34,800 --> 00:55:37,280
Speaker 1: following on the platforms. We do not have a show Sunday,

1058
00:55:37,320 --> 00:55:41,000
Speaker 1: it is Easter. We will be live next Tuesday from

1059
00:55:41,040 --> 00:55:43,560
Speaker 1: a location that I'll reveal probably sometime in the next

1060
00:55:43,600 --> 00:55:45,879
Speaker 1: few days. We got three more big ones to knock

1061
00:55:45,920 --> 00:55:48,319
Speaker 1: down next week and we are very much looking forward

1062
00:55:48,360 --> 00:55:50,840
Speaker 1: to that. Until then, for our entire career here on

1063
00:55:50,880 --> 00:55:53,400
Speaker 1: the road, our crew making it possible technically down in

1064
00:55:53,440 --> 00:55:56,080
Speaker 1: Fort Lauderdale, I'm Josh Pate, take care, have a great

1065
00:55:56,120 --> 00:56:11,440
Speaker 1: Easter weekend, and God bless. Must be twenty one or

1066
00:56:11,480 --> 00:56:14,600
Speaker 1: over and present in select states. FanDuel is offering online

1067
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1068
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