Andy & Ari On3 - Can the Big 12 create national title contenders?

Episode Date: July 9, 2025

Andy and Ari are back at Big 12 media days, and they’re talking about how much has changed in two years.(0:00-1:39) Intro: Day 2 of Big 12 Media Days(1:40-8:38) How far has the Big 12 come in 2 years?(8:39-12:33) Overview of the conference entering 2025(12:34-15:27) BYU's Outlook(15:28-21:47) Other competitors in the Big 12(21:48-26:28) Big 12 in the CFP discussion(26:29-36:01) Texas Tech HC Joey McGuire joins(36:02-41:26) Colorado at Media Days(41:27-43:42) Conclusion: Ari & Pop-Tarts Two years ago, Texas and Oklahoma were leaving and Ari was asking Brett Yormark if this was about to become a Group of 5 league. Now the league feels strong and stable. But the next step is creating national title contenders. How does that happen, and which schools are the best candidates to become those kinds of programs? Later, the guys talk to Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire about the Red Raiders’ roster upgrades and a new focus on elite recruits.Watch our show LIVE, M-F at 9:30 am et! https://youtube.com/live/4RXNwmkWHoE Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Want to partner with the show? E-mail [e-mail]

Welcome to Annie and Ariane 3. We are back at Big 12B days in Frisco, Texas. This is the Cowboys practice facility, Ari. This is the star. So this is where where Dak runs through some things. This is nicer than most college and NFL stadiums, but this is just where they practice. Yeah, and I went with the jean shirt today to fit in with the cowboy thing. Well, there you go. Are you also overpaid and not really balanced in terms of roster? Because that's them too.

But also the jean shirt might play on an interview that we may be getting today. I don't want to promise anything. Oh yeah. I wanted to be careful. But I wanted to be there for today. Anyway, yeah, no, it was a really productive day here at Big 12 media day on Tuesday we're back Wednesday we're still waiting to see you know as we're here live whether or not Deon Sanders is gonna show up yeah yeah but I think we learned a lot and we have a pretty exciting few topics to go

through today oh yeah it's very interesting because you told me this after watching Brett Yormark talk on the stage yesterday, the commissioner of the Big 12, you reminded me of two years ago when when you were here and... In Arlington actually. Oh right, it was at Jerry World. Texas and Oklahoma were in there last year in the Big 12 and everybody was trying to make nice but also everybody was trying to figure out what is the league gonna be when they're gone and you asked Brett Yormark a pretty pointed question we actually have video of that question the folks at Heartland Sports actually captured video of Ari asking this question so let's let's hear that question and then we'll talk about how different things are two years later.

Check this up all about the ferry we do it for a while in this conference What challenges and opportunities you see there? I would be else those cop that put it I'm not sure they've carried recruitment But they haven't been in a championship game here for a couple of years now and all the other schools have done the incredible job So I'm not sure they didn't carry me with me. I mean, I love Texas and Oklahoma don't get me wrong And like I said before, I got great relationships with them, but our schools are doing an incredible job in recruitment. Look at TCU's run last year, 80% of our teams made the ballgames last year. So everyone's in a great place. That wasn't your question. Where was your question?

I am 99% sure that was my question. Oh, that was your question. Did you, did it sound like me? It didn't sound like you. What happened? Maybe I'm just nasally today. I didn't hear it. You were the one listening to it.

Did he say that he wasn't sure? That they were carrying recruiting? Yeah. Yeah, OK. That was the answer to my question. That was you. It must have been me. I should have known.

Well, here's the thing. It was a legitimate question because. The you were asking about recruiting and roster building and and here's the translation results and remember at that point, Texas hadn't won the Big 12 yet because they ended up winning the Big 12 that year. Obviously they'd won in the past, but they had won in a while and then TCU had just been in the national title game. So maybe maybe poor timing, but I think I want to take people back to Arlington

two years ago and try to recall how just awkward it was that Texas and Oklahoma were even there. Because at the time, everyone knew they were leaving. Yes. So they were like at a party that they weren't really a part of. Right. It's almost like going to your ex's wedding.

I don't know if that's what that because this is a celebration of the Big 12 as much as it is a preview. Exactly. And so I got up and like, here's the thing that you have to say about Brent Yormark. He is by far Andy, the best showman of the commissioners. Would you agree? Yes. Yes.

He's a very flashy, Gucci loafers. Right. You know, he was in the NBA before this. He has the partnerships with WWE. Like, I think he understands more than anything that marketability and reach is important, which is part of the reason why they were so gracious to us this week in terms of giving us the access that we've gotten. But when he was talking about how sturdy the Big 12 was, how bright the future looked, like while Texas and Oklahoma were carrying the banner, and when I say carrying the banner, not just from a Blue Blood standpoint, they were the only two

programs, and it was funny to say because TCU did make the national title right here before, but the only two programs that had a conceivable chance of ever winning one. Right, and they were recruiting at a level that you couldn't see them winning national titles, and obviously this is why we have Texas as our preseason number one this year because they're still doing that. And so basically I'm going to translate the question because the question is how can you make good on any of the promises that you just got done making for the last 45 minutes if none of your teams can recruit at a high enough level? Right. Like that was I mean

it's just like that was it and by the way you got to go back to NIL was just beginning. The way that we understood roster construction was changing to a certain degree. It hadn't flipped on its head the way it is now. So the thing that I think is interesting is had the rules stayed the same and nothing changed from an NIL perspective, I think this conference would have been cooked. This would be more similar to the American than to the SEC and the Big Ten. I remember making that point a few years ago, Andy. I was just saying like, yeah, dude, the Big 12 is power and name only. Yeah.

And it doesn't mean that's not a proud conference, that they don't play good football in this conference. But the thing that you have to acknowledge about college football and the way that it used to be constructed was when there was a Power Five. Every conference, including the Big 12, had tent pole programs that could step in and win a national title. Yes. You know, the Big Ten, Ohio State, that could step in and win a national title. Yes. You know, the Big 10, Ohio State, Michigan. Michigan State was very good. I don't know

if you would count them, but Penn State. Yeah. Well, and the Big 10 had Wisconsin winning, you know, 10, 11 games a year for a while. The Pack 12 had Oregon, Washington, USC. USC under Pete Carroll. Yeah. Teams with high sealings. And Big 12, I don't know, have to go through the whole ACC, Clemson. You get it. And the Big 12 was void don't know, I have to go through the whole ACC, Clemson, you get it. And the Big 12 was void of that, right? And now we're in a system where the sport, like your Mark has done a tremendous job too, by the way.

Like I think that he's done a great job as our commissioner. Do you agree with that? I think that's, I mean, that's really what I want to talk about because listening to him talk yesterday, it feels so different than two years ago, because two years ago, it felt like this is a guy, he just took this job,

he got dealt a pretty bad hand because you've got your two tent pole programs leaving, and you got to just say what you got to say. Well, here's what I wrote in the column, the actual way I described it. Two years ago felt more performative than substantive. This year, because he's a performer, he did it again.

He played a video. He bobbed his head. He did the whole thing. And as you're watching the video, it kind of put in perspective like, yeah, the Big 12 didn't advance in the playoff outside of the bye week that one of the teams got. But it did accomplish quite a bit last year

the Heisman winner was from this conference and well and also Arizona State probably should have beaten Texas so last year the big ball looking at I think we we probably don't give the credit for the win but we give them credit for being competitive against yeah a team that was very competitive in the playoff had Texas not converted that very long fourth down? It was fourth and 13. Maybe the entire discussion would be a little bit different, but the fact that Arizona State was in that position, Arizona State captured the attention of the entire country last year for four full quarters. But here's the thing though, we both agree that Yormark's done a good job, right?

In terms of like marketing, in terms of- I felt like yesterday was night and day different from two years ago. Because two years ago it was what are they gonna do now? And yesterday it was, there's a path here. But here's the thing. I keep asking you if we think Yormark's doing a good job. We both agree on that, but it's not what Yormark has done.

It's what has happened to the sport. Correct. The big 12 didn't change. The sport did. Yes. And like so now when you look around. You actually do. So the big 12 as as as it's constructed right now is a conglomerate of a bunch of teams that are all vying to be the best. Right. And and you have a case, if you look behind here of 16 teams that, you know, I think 14 of them,

or maybe 12 of them, have a real case. This year, yes. Yeah, well, or 12 of them at least have a case of saying, hey, we can run this conference. Yes. So the question about this isn't, cause here's what he said yesterday. Yeah.

Sorry if I'm stammering a little bit. Oh, we've got the video. You wanna hear it? Play the video, but I wanna set said yesterday. Yeah. Sorry if I'm stammering. We've got the video. You want to hear it? Play the video, but I want to set it up. Okay. How important- Mitch Harper. To not be the deepest conference

and how important is it to actually have two programs emerge that are national talking points annually? Okay, here's what he had to say about that. Mitch Harper, KSL Sports in Salt Lake. I'm curious, you mentioned that you believe this is the deepest conference football conference in America. How critical is it though for your league to have one or two brands that emerge annually as as playoff contenders in your viewpoint?

Critical. I like how you stated that. You know, I think parity matters. And I think ultimately over time, and it's hopefully sooner than later, there'll be a couple of our schools that'll emerge, you know, as elite schools that are always part of the conversations at the highest levels. And that's what we're working towards. But it starts with parity and being competitive top to bottom, and I think we're there. And I think we're the best in the conference, or in the country, when you think about how deep we are top to bottom

But I do believe that long term you need certain schools to emerge to the top and I think we're getting there But great question. Thank you It is a great question and he's right they do need We it's funny because as a viewer I love this. I love that I can look back at those helmets and say, there's maybe 10 different programs that can win the Big 12 title this year. For the league to be healthy long term, I probably need to look back there and be able to identify three or four every year. And that's where the SEC is that's where the Big Ten is and that's honestly how it has to work even though you know those of us who like the

anarchy would rather it be 10, 12 deep but they do need those those one two three four programs to emerge. About that Andy, at one point in the not so distant past the Big 12 did have Two tent pole programs that could conceivably won a national title. Mm-hmm, and it was still anarchy But yeah, I think two things can be true It was enough for it was it's what was crazy enough for your mark to say I'm not sure that's even true Even though everyone knew it was true Yeah, cuz you had Texas recruiting at an elite level but not developing an elite level, which they now do both

they now develop at an elite level as well and Oklahoma Maybe wasn't recruiting quite the same level as Texas and and your Alabama's and Georgia's in Ohio State's But they were recruiting at a really high level. But at least here's the difference though If a team went 10 and 1 or 10 and 2 or 11 and 1 in the big 12 and beat Oklahoma in Texas They got to absorb the legitimacy that they gained from winning that game, right? You don't have that if you don't have those teams in your conference, then you don't have a measure You got to go play them out of conference

You had Joey McGuire who you're gonna hear later in the show He yesterday during a roundtable session with the other coaches said hey, we'd love to do it home at home with LSU Let's go. Yeah, we'd love to play it home and home with LSU. Let's go. Yeah, we'd love to play LSU. And that's the sort of thing. They've all got to do that. So there's two different branches that we can go off from here, Andy, which is obviously, I think we both agree that they need two programs to emerge.

It's which ones do you think are most likely to do so? And when I say emerge, not just when the league consistently, consistently compete with other teams, right? You got to, you you gotta win those non-conference games when you play them, you gotta schedule those games or get in the playoff and win some of those games. All right, let's- Which of those helmets is scary to you? Okay, we've talked a lot about Texas Tech.

We've talked a lot about what they're doing, the money they're spending. That's obviously where you start because they just got a commitment from a five-star recruit on Friday. We just, our they just got a commitment from a five star recruit on Friday. We just, our company just issued a prediction that the number one player in the class of 27 we think is going to commit to them. So that has to be where it starts because what,

what do Mr. Stars matter? You know, what does Mr. Stars matter say? That's the only way. The thing that the thing about this conversation is that you can't, you have to start at who gets players. I mean, that's where it ends. Okay, well, then we have another one that just got a commitment from a five-star player, BYU. Right.

BYU, I have definitely, and I don't know if we wanna go into this, but I've changed my, I was in like drive 80 miles an hour on the highway mode, and I hit it in reverse right in the middle of it. Well, you had a nice chat with Kalani Satake yesterday. Yes. And I think that helped kind of crystallize

your views on BYU and what that job is and how to recruit that. And my stance on rich Mormon donors and the church revving up for NIL is still a pipe dream. The thing that I think I took lightly that I shouldn't have was the inability for people who are not of the faith to honor the honor code. Yeah, it's just not necessarily something they'd want when

there are other options or people who can for and I'm just gonna say it dude, like, I don't want to get fired. But like, it's okay, Andy. There are, it's just gonna say it dude, like I don't wanna get fired, but like. It's okay. Andy, there are, it's just not, it's hard not to do those things. 18 and 19 year olds tend to want to drink and have sex? Yeah, I think that happens. Thank you for saying it for me.

Yeah, I, but. Cause even when they arrive, the problem isn't just like signing up for it, the problem is living it. Yeah. You know, everybody can say, yeah, that's no problem. And like Kalani Satake said yesterday. Well, it's that you can go anywhere else

and that's considered a perfectly normal part of college life. Yeah. It's not there. So, if you're a five star recruit, you can go to all those other schools too. And I appreciated this about him. He said, listen, I understand the temptations

of being in school. I understand the temptations of being in school. I understand the temptations of being an athlete and being fond over. But if you want to play ball and you love ball, these are part of the sacrifices where you immerse yourself in ball. Right. And he said just because other people party at Utah and Arizona State and other places, some of the best players in the country's don't party there. He brought up Travis Hunter.

Travis Hunter doesn't party. Yeah. Travis Hunter fishes in streams. Yeah. He goes, those fishes in plays video games. People don't party. And I understand there are certain people who are so committed to the game of football that they don't do those things. But once a year, you might be bound to slip up. So it's once to have people come to your program, it's another to keep them, I mean, they just lost, we have to acknowledge, you just lost their best player.

We're 99% sure he's not gonna be back at BYU because of something that other people do quite frequently as normal. No news yet on Jake Retzliff, which I thought would we have some news, but it sounds like he's trying to kind of populate a list of candidates. That's another conversation we can have on another day when that shakes out. But as it pertains to teams that are going to scare

Michigan, I'm not sure BYU's on that list for me. Okay, Kansas State is consistently good, was consistently good under Bill Snyder, definitely still consistently good under Chris Kleiman. So I think there's a chance with them, but they have to get more top-level recruits. Now, Avery Johnson was one of those top-level recruits. He happened to be from the state of Kansas though. Yeah. And that's the that's not a huge number of people. Can they go outside the state and get that type of player? Yeah Kansas State is the type of team that has proven it can be a 9-10 win team consistently and a very good well-constructed team. This is this is like very Alvarez's AD Aero Wisconsin. I think that they are a perfect

Candidate to win the conference and they're definitely a quality win candidate I don't know if they're a go be right can it can they recruit at that? Okay, so i've got three i've got three on my list that I would pick as the front. Okay You go ahead standpoint. All right, the other one would be colorado. Okay. Yep in colorado Is on that list? Temporarily as long as d Dion is there, because Dion allows them and has proven that they can go out and get the caliber athlete.

I think that there is a second gear to hit. We don't have to relitigate that conversation for the 50th time. Speaking of Colorado, here come the Colorado players. Here they are. You'll be seeing them filtering in behind us. Yeah, so that is one of the other teams that I think can do it.

Because to me, Andy, you do have to get the players right. You have to get the players in order to do it. It is funny that they're standing right there as we're talking about them. But it's awesome. We have gold watches or diamond watches and stuff. I love that. Are you nervous? Are you nervous that you might say something wrong? No, no, I'm being complimentary. Yeah.

You know, that's the other team. And I think'm gonna try to get that watch on the show if we can figure out a way to do that. Oh yeah. I was thinking. So is that a diamond AP? I don't know. We'll have to find out. But it's Julian Lewis, right? 99%. It really looks like him, yeah. And he's at Media Day which is the most Colorado thing I've ever seen in my life other one would be Arizona State yeah Arizona State is a huge alumni base in a city that is clamoring for a winner yep they're excited right now cool uniforms Stadium Mountain I don't know I gave you the Arizona State sales pitch but if he can get the money flowing especially with a lot of people coming from California to Phoenix. Like the population, the location, the coolness of it. I think that has a potential

to be scary. And we saw it happen last year. I've got two more. Would TCU be one? Actually, maybe I got three more because TCU. We just saw TCU make it a national title game. The same things that are true of Texas Tech can be true of TCU. The same things that are true of Texas Tech can be true of TCU. The same things that are true of SMU and the ACC can be true of TCU. So I think TCU is one. Because Texas Tech fell out of the sky, Andy. I'm not familiar with the land man architecture or the land man family map. But I'm assuming that TCU has some very rich oil donors.

Oh, 100%. I don't know 100% 100% Yes, I don't know about like the financial situations of some of the other play. Let me give you let me give you two more Okay, Utah Okay, Utah is a place one. Okay. I've done all these geographic studies in my career. That is Julian Lewis Yeah, it's Julian Caden Salter and Julian Lewis are together by the way, they brought them both It's it's incredible. So we're gonna have to delve into that later today, too. But so Utah's one of one of the places one of the few places where there's a pocket of large human beings That tend to play football very well and and and we can there's a very good reason for that the LDS Church coming back

To we were talking about BYU with the LDS church, does a lot of mission work in the Pacific islands. So there's a lot of Polynesian people who moved to Salt Lake City because they are Mormon. And there are a lot of good defensive and offensive linemen that grow up in that area. They don't all go to Utah, like Penne Soule from there,

went to Oregon. But if they can get the best of the big guys that live around there to stay there, how do you compete with Georgia and Ohio State and schools like that? You get great on the line of scrims. And you know what Utah reminds me of? Utah at its height does remind me of second Barry Alvarez, Wisconsin reference. But here's the difference about this era. If you can still build your teams the way that those Wisconsin and Utah teams that were sturdy and tough builds.

Go get the skill with the money. And then go get three skill players. Because that's the thing. Covering all these Big Ten championships at Ohio State, they would play Wisconsin. And Wisconsin would beat them up a little bit in the first quarter and things would get good. And then all of a sudden it's like, oh wait, yeah, there's nobody can run that fast or exactly. There's nobody who can stop But you can get those two or three guys if you get those two or three guys on a corner and receiver

Because like even running back hasn't been an issue for those places Both of those places have had amazing running backs over the years Like you can unlock another level of athleticism that was impossible before UCF the other one So flip what we just said about Utah. UCF can get all the skill guys it needs. Is UCF in Arizona State similarly situated? I would say so. UCF is a very young school.

And that is UCF's biggest problem, is being a young school. They are generations behind in terms of donors. Like UCF is gonna have a lot of donors in 60 years, but right now, they're two generations behind all these other schools. Yeah, and like, but like the entire concept Andy of building a, you can't build the blue blood.

You can't, if you weren't relevant in 1950 or 60 and 70, you can't, you have, you can't go back in time and change that. Right. So I don't like saying new blue, blue blood. But can you build a new power? Like that concept seemed impossible in 2015. Yes, it seemed impossible in 2020. Is that concept to you? Oh, I think it's doable. It's doable. And I think if you look at the big 12, specifically, this is a conference that has enough pride enough money and big enough donor bases that you could conceivably Come up with one. Yeah, and I'm looking at you know, 16 teams here and like, you know, I went to Arizona

They've got their challenges somebody stole a helmet who what helmet guys stolen? That's a test test who's in the league let's see you who can get it first. It's Kansas. Oh, yeah. Somebody took the Kansas helmet. But yeah, so in terms of hope, there was hope that exists in this building at this event that was not prevalent or didn't exist at all two years ago. You found a tweet this morning that I thought was very interesting.

And I think River has that tweet that he can show. I didn't find it. The person yelled at me. Oh, the person yelled at me. Oh the person yelled at Ari. Okay hold on. Because I wrote a column about this exact conversation we're having and I'm happy to hear that you agree but. Okay this is unintentional grounding on Twitter. Ari please this is performative and not only that destructive acting like you're on the level of the Big Ten in SEC when you're obviously not is one thing and I get it but advocating for a playoff model where you'll get screwed nine of ten years is foolish and ego driven. Now this is a great point and I'm glad they brought this up because we talked to some people about

this yesterday. We've talked about this and by people we mean head coaches in the conference. I talked to an AD about it too. The position on the playoff, Remember the big 12 was the one that came out most forcefully for that 511 model. And then the ACC jumped on and then they actually turned the SEC coaches and the SEC coaches kind of turned the SEC ADs and SEC leadership toward that one too. What the big 10 wants with the automatic bids four for the Big 10, four for the SEC, two each for the ACC and the Big 12, probably would get more Big 12 teams in the playoff every year. But the Big 12 doesn't want that

because you have to essentially sign a piece of paper saying you're inferior. And we talked to several coaches about that. I talked to an AD about that. They are all in agreement that that's the only way they have to do the 5-11. They have to fight it out for themselves on the field. They cannot just take the two because as one person put it to me, what are they going to take away next time? Well, I vehemently disagree with that tweet. You know what I would disagree with is if he was pushing for there to be no automatic bids for the conference championship winners. Like if you just did 16 best let the committee do it. Yeah. I would have a hard time with that now 99.9% of the time. None of the coaches in any of the leagues want that. All the

coaches want a conference championship to matter. And what the big 12 needs to ensure is that at least it has one spot locked up no matter what happens that they're in. Yeah. And that's way you ensure that you have a seat at the table. I actually think it's admirable to want to win it on the field because there are very, very conceivable that you can have two top 16 or two top 12 teams in the big 12 at any given point. Oh, yeah. The thing that is not conceivable at this current moment is that one of those two teams would win the national title, right? Which is the discussion we just had. And that's what that's what they got to build for. And like, but the idea that they could have two top 12 teams is not crazy. No. Like Kansas State and Utah could both be top 12 teams this year. Right. Arizona State could be a top 12 team. And it's interesting you say Kansas State and Utah,

because those are the ones you feel like, because they are so good on the line of scrimmage typically, could actually do some damage in a playoff game. Yeah. And also too, like the Big 10 and the SEC always produce two or three teams each that could win the national title or superpowers, but the sixth best team in the Big Ten isn't always as good

as the second best team in the Big Twelve. I think that we need to acknowledge that. Also, too, if there's a 12 or 16 team spot, even if you give eight spots to the Big Ten and the SEC, not automatically, but just the way it shakes right they're going to have eight other spots For other conferences in the big 12 is more than capable of having two of those I again don't think they could beat those eight from those two conferences, but that's what they're building toward So from my standpoint if I'm Brett your mark, I'm not signing a piece of paper that says we're inferior I don't think you can I think on on principle, you can never do that.

Because you also send a message to your own league. It's even more insulting for the ACC that has multiple teams in it that can't win a national title. Right. Like the ACC is five steps ahead of the Big 12 in terms of branding. Yeah, because the ACC has, in terms of tent pole program.

Clemson right now. Miami, in Florida State. Yeah, we've seen Florida State do it recently, and then Miami. The ACC has blue bloods. They do, they do. It's clubs in a blue blood. They're not. I please don't. Okay. I don't know. Please don't get me yelled at. Hey, Andy. It's in a blue

blood. Here's why they're uh no. He said no. You heard that right? Yeah. I don't think they are. Yeah. Well, it's the history aspect of it. Okay. But we don't have to relitigate that. I mean Danny Ford was a great coach but still. I think that what the big 12 needs to do is try to find two teams in the next 15 years that can be on par with Miami and Florida State and they have 100 years of history to catch up on. But you can do it with consistent winning over a

two decade period. Ari, let's Clemson did. Yeah, Ari, let's talk to a coach who's trying to do that right now. Texas Tex, Joey Maguire. They're trying to recruit a level that might get them there. But this is the building stage. Here's Joey Maguire, they're trying to recruit at a level that might get them there. But this is the building stage. Here's Joey Maguire. We're here. This is tech coach Joey Maguire, Big 12 Media Days.

Joey, I know you can't name names at this point, but you guys have been in the news quite a bit recently. And we've talked about this in reference to your portal class this year, but it seems like you are trying to change the program trajectory through recruiting and is it different when you're recruiting a little bit different caliber of player or do you do it the same way? Well, I think you start by doing it the same way.

At the end of the day, whenever you're talking to parents and you're talking to these players, they got to know who they're coming to play for, you know, and what's important to them. But you know, the time, you know, give you an example, Sunday is usually the meeting that I have with the parents and everybody was in that meeting before. Now there are split meetings. There's going to be a parent meetings. There's gonna be a parent, there's gonna be a meeting with me and just the parents and the player and then

they're either have already gone to James Blanchard or they're going to James Blanchard after their separate meetings, you know, and we have an idea and a plan of what those meetings are gonna be about but they're they're literally, you know, you're ending it with what we literally, you know, uh, you're ending it with, with what we think. Um, you know, where we'll go your one in IO wise or revenue sharing now and, uh, go from there. The one thing that Andy failed to do when you sat down is mentioned that this is your favorite podcast, right? Oh, there's no doubt. I mean, we talked biscuits and gravy and, uh, you know, and, and that, that's, uh, 32nd diatribe that I went on in support of you

Joey and the reason why I wanted to bring that up is we can have lunch by the way yeah if you want to eat a lot of people with the cactus emoji oh yeah we're we're repeating that that I do think is interesting about your program is now in this new reality that you're living in, do you feel more confident as a recruiter that you're going to be able to close on some of these types of players? And does it like reinvigorate you to do your job every day? Man, I love my job. So I don't know if I mean, I can't imagine doing anything else.

But the one thing I do think and you said it, it there's some stuff that we have done that have equalized the field. We have the best facilities in the country. If you were recruiting against us and you say, Hey, our facilities are better, I think recruits going to laugh in your face or think you haven't been out there, you haven't seen it. So you're eliminating things. One thing that we also eliminated is we're sharing at the highest level. You know, and so now whenever you're talking about, hey, we're usually the first offer. We're usually if we're not the first offer, we're the first power for offer. It's absolutely amazing how many guys have never been graded. And then by the time they are graded out, they're, you know, four star or five star.

Zach was there at the beginning. Yeah. And we're in the beginning. We do that because we want to make those relationships. But now whenever somebody says, well, we're going to do this in ILYs, we're going to match it or we're going to be better. And that eliminates us losing some guys that we were in on from the beginning, had a great relationship with.

But this is real money guys. For people to be upset about this, this is life changing money. I had a conversation yesterday on the plane out here with Cole, my safety that transferred from North Coast states Take coast you realize that I'm making more money than my parents have ever made at their highest and You probably can add up the five years at different times of their life. And so it's loud Jerry G most so and that's the thing. I know people don't like that because they say well, I didn't get that and I get it Yeah, but I also think I told my wife this, I said, you think

about this, this NIL stuff, and I'm not talking about the big time guys, I'm talking about the guys that are making, you know, a good five figure number. Like if they get out of college, and they can put a down payment on a house, yes, it will change the trajectory of their entire life. Actually, during the current economic state, where Biodalist is harder for people of that age and I'm curious, because you talk about this where you're the first

team in a lot of times. Yeah. How tough were those phone calls? And I know you've gotten a lot of them of coach, I love you guys, but all these other guys have come in. I'm out. Yeah, it's tough. That could discourage you, but it also is like, guys, we're on the right track. You know what I'm saying? Just keep at it. Just keep doing what you're doing. Whenever this all gets sorted out, whenever it comes to NIO, when it comes to revenue sharing, then we're going to end up on the right of it. So let's talk about this year though.

This is a team that has very high hopes. Yeah. You brought Baron Morton, you brought Cole, you brought Romelo Hight and Dan from Georgia Tech. Nobody's talking about, by the way, that's the reason I'm talking about both your edges. Let's say I'm on the Esco. Romelo Hight and David Bailey.

So you get Romelo from Georgia Tech. Yeah. And David Bailey comes from Stanford later. How excited are you about what you can do in the pass rush? Yeah, I'm pretty excited. It's funny. James Blanchard, whenever David Bailey, whenever all this stuff happened at Stanford and it comes open, he comes to me and I'm like, well,

you know, I feel good where we're at and everything. And I said, what do you think? And he goes, what would the Philadelphia Eagles do? It just draft another defensive alignment. And he costs when he said that I started laughing. I said, they go get him. And that was my exact, this one didn't play for Georgia unlike the Eagles. Like literally I was sitting there when he said that and they're playing against the best quarterback in the world and they don't have to blitz and can still pressure in the Superbowl and it can do a lot of things for you defensively.

So I'm really excited because, you know, we have that edge guys. We got two really good edgy guys coming back from last year, Charles Esters, Phil Tillman, and then we add in the interior guys to where we have guys that we brought in Skylar Gill Howard, A.J. Holmes, Lee Hunter but due to Banks is back, Jane Colfield's back, Braylon Rigsby's back, like we have some real depth and some dudes in the D-line. Yeah, like I was saying, I saw height on the escalator and I just like ducked. I didn't want him to be hitting me. I got those. He's a great kid to me, man.

It is. And the body types are different. Yeah. That's the whole thing, Andy, for that. Right. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. And you guys have been recruiting that. Right. And now you're a landing that and now you're having fourth and fifth year versions of that. And that feels a little bit different. Yeah, it's exciting. And then what I do think is happening too, is now my guys that, let's say my year one full class. I mean, my year one, I've got great starters, Ben Roberts, Coy Aiken, Sheridan Wilson. I mean, we've got some really, really good guys and I'm probably Mo Horn, a corner force that played really well with us. Royal last year, um, if he didn't get her, we may win the TCU game.

Um, and do you got those guys? Then you turn around and now you've got your third year guys like Danny seal, who's just grown up in the offensive line. We've got some real length, um, of some redshirt freshmen that we've been recruiting out of high school. So you've got a mixture of those guys where we've gotten bigger as a team. And then those fourth and fifth year guys out of the portal. We had a conversation on the phone, Joey, about a month ago about how the.

And I L presence changes your job description. Yeah. You signed up for a job and obviously every coach signs up to one at the highest level, not discounting that at all, but your job has changed in terms of what is being demanded of you. Um, I wrote a column, hopefully the people listening read it, but if they didn't, I'm gonna ask how read it. Yeah.

That's on that's what I wrote. I do. Yeah. He doesn't even read it. Um, but I wanted to ask you on the show, how do you deal with like hearing? Well, if he doesn't do this, he's out. Or if he doesn't make it to the playoff, then we got to find somebody else when you've by all accounts, won as much as is Mike Leach.

It now how does how do you quantify that or deal with that in your own head going into a season like this? Oh, a couple of things. We created it. You know, we've upgraded the roster. And so I chose this, you know, we didn't choose to stay status quo. We chose to be extremely aggressive. So I chose it.

We talked about it when I was 31 years old and got my first head coach a job at Cedar Hill. The Dallas Morning News asked the question to the superintendent, why did you make a change? He said he didn't win enough games. That told me right there to keep my job. I've got to win. And at the end of the day, and I've said this all day, I would rather be where I'm at than be the program that's hoping that everything goes right to just become bowl. Old tread water, like just to be that I'd rather be on the other side that we

feel like we've got a great opportunity. McGuire is a man who shot. Yeah. And can't wait to see what happens. You got to know top five who pick and the who would you want to get lunch with draft. We should keep yours too. Yeah, down real weird. I'm in.

I'm in. Joey, I always appreciate you being here. Thank you guys. That is Texas Tech Coach Joey McGuire.. Ah, Ari has solved the the mystery of the the Colorado watch. Uh, it is on Julian Lewis's wrist. Julian Lewis and Kayden Salter are both here. So you have Kayden Salter, the senior transfer from Liberty, who is a three year starter there. And you have Julian Lewis, who is the high profile quarterback recruit who has committed to USC for a long time, flipped to Colorado during the recruiting process.

And what watch is that Ari? It's a Audemars Piguet. It's a very nice watch and there's a lot of diamonds on it. I don't know. I think that you do that aftermarket. I think you buy the watch and then a jeweler puts the diamonds on. I'm not sure I've never shopped a diamond watch like that. But yeah, it's the type of watch that somebody would get after 50 years of working. So I'm happy sure I've never shopped a diamond watch like that. But yeah, it's the type of watch that somebody would get

after 50 years of working. So I'm happy for him. Is this the first time, has a freshman ever been to a major conference media day? Like maybe it's happened, I don't even think it's happened in the Mountain West or the American. Like I don't ever remember a freshman coming to media day. Yeah, well that's the thing that is just interesting about Deon's program, Andy.

It's just like the things, the preconceived notions or the way things have always been done. Yeah, Deon Sanders might not even be familiar with them. You know what I mean? Like, well, and I'm glad because like, but like also, too, it's interesting because I think it's a statement and maybe I might write this today. Yeah, it's a statement about what Colorado is about Which is if you come here, we're gonna prop you up. Yeah, you know, it's a state We're gonna support you we're gonna build your brand. That's you know, and that's what you do Like, you know, it might be a little bit more difficult for a place like Georgia to do it when they bring in five of them You know here

Well, and the other the other problem is Georgia probably has, you know, a couple of first round draft picks who you were going to be first round draft picks next year. Yeah. Who you want to bring instead, but going out and getting a an elite level quarterback who can get that watch is the appeal of what Colorado was selling. So, um, and you know what? Also, I'm going to go to my computer. I'll be right back. Yeah. Here's the thing. Like, Oklahoma State has a like three, four man quarterback competition. They brought zero quarterbacks.

Yeah, they brought fewer players than anybody else. But you bring the you should. Colorado has these two guys. They may both play. They're both here. You should bring the people who represent your program regardless of your playing playing time, all that stuff. Yeah.

If there are who are people talking about when they're talking about Colorado? And that's who's here. Bring the people who will make people talk about your program. But he's good though. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay, so that's the secondary debate. How good does your punter have to be to come to media day? Did Iowa bring the punt god, Tory, when he was there? Also, that dude was the best interview ever. We had him at the senior bowl. That's a huge missed by Kirk Farrison company, not bringing him to media days every year.

If there's any kicker that wants to go to media day, it's Bert Auburn. Yeah. Maybe he'll go to ACC media days. Who knows? But no, I appreciate that. And also, too, you're building Julian's brand, but you're also showing perspective prospects of,

hey, here's- Can I be old guy yelling at Cloud? Yeah, he doesn't deserve the watch. But, I'm kidding. No, but he hasn't earned it yet. What happens if he's not good? You know what happens if he's not good? He doesn't come next year.

Then he's not good, right? It doesn't matter. Like- Yeah, then he doesn't come next year. There's a new five-star freshman with an AP on his wrist. Right. But I do love that, like, that's the token, too. It's almost like, um, it's like the Colorado letter

isn't for your jacket. It's just you get a nice diamond winged out watch. Well, wasn't the Julian Lewis sitting there while Shador hands him the keys, wasn't that the first handing him the keys recruiting photo we that the first handing him the keys, recruiting photo we saw? Now everybody does that.

Yeah, well, the handing the keys, handing the watch, I can't think of a more appealing thing for a 17-year-old kid who I would, would you rather have the keys? You realize that? I'd rather have the keys. You'd rather have the keys?

You think that watch is worth more or less than your truck? It's worth more than my truck. Yeah. But you know, I'm gonna sell it and buy another truck. You can sell the watch, buy the truck and then buy a bunch of lottery tickets. I mean, I don't know. Exactly. But now here's the other piece of that. If you're Caden Salter.

And everybody is paying attention to the freshman. That see, that doesn't bother me like Caden Salter's job, but his feelings, which is getting paid for, is to go win the starting job at Colorado. And if this bothers him, I don't know. I don't know if it does. We'll have to ask him later today, but I don't then okay beat him out. Yeah, beat him out. And guess what?

If you win a lot of games and you're really good at football, yeah, you will have plenty of money and plenty of admiration and Caden Salter has won a lot of games. Now he has to prove he can do it at this level. So I love this. I love this. I can't wait to go talk to these guys. Yeah, it's gonna be great. I'm happy to be here. And we're gonna get a lot of coaches today.

Our hope, guys, our hope at the moment is that we get Deion Sanders on the show. I don't know if that's gonna happen. And I'm sorry if I bit off more than I could chew there, but we're gonna try. We're gonna do the best we can. But that's what we're doing here. And I'm sorry if I bit off more than I could chew there. But we're going to try. We're going to do the best we can. But that's what we're doing here. And I'm going to try to write some stuff.

I'm sure Andy will, too. And thanks for being here. And I thought it was a good show. Oh, yeah. Here we go. The Bud Light commercials. Here we go. Well, there's a Pop Tarts Bowl stand over there.

I guess Pop Tarts is also sponsoring the game in Ireland, the farmageddon game between Kansas State and Iowa State. Yeah, let's ask the audience here. Is it bad form if they have pop tart boxes as a prop for advertising on open pop tart boxes? There's like 10 of them over there on the table. Open one of them and just eat a pop tart because I didn't eat the breakfast. Come on, let's walk. Walk with me. Oh shoot. I can't. I can't even being over there taking. Yeah like that's the thing there. People are taking pictures of it. I'm gonna turn the camera to where it is.

Okay. So. I'll go over there. Right there, go Ari. I'm zooming in. Ari's going. I wonder what flavor he's gonna pick. These are both frosted varieties.

I think you should. Can you bring me one? There's two in a pack, you know. There's two in the foil. Yeah, I'm going to need one of those. I mean, close the tab on the box. What are you, an animal? Were you raised in a barn?

Close the tab on the box. What are you an animal? We raised a barn. Oh Perfect perfect. All right, we're good Beautiful Ari's coming back over here. He's got the goods which flavors that buddy Roasted are you just said the roasted something or other? Oh No, this is oh this is tremendous I'm not sure. I'm not sure. is a non-toast one. Like, he's a just go right out of fact. Sorry, I don't have my mic. The outside of them where there's no icing? Not for me. If I could go like this and just take that? The non-frosted Pop Tarts are for savages. But like, you take the ends off because when it's not toasted there's no flavor to the outside of it. This is elite though. This is an excellent Pop Tart. I got the right one.

Alright, we're gonna eat some Pop tarts. We'll go talk some players Talk some coaches Maybe talk to a billionaire just throwing that out there. We'll talk to you tomorrow