Andy & Ari On3 - Does the College Football Playoff really NEED more automatic bids?

Episode Date: February 19, 2025

When it comes to making the best hamburgers around the basics matter and Wendy’s?... well they’ve really got those burger basics on lock and boy does it show. So what’s the secret to all those hot and juicy hamburgers? Simple. Wendy’s always crafts their hamburgers with that fresh, never frozen beef they’re famous for. The result? Hot and juicy beefy hamburger perfection - every time. No matter which hamburger you order from the Wendy’s menu, you already know that thanks to those Wendy’s burger basics, it’s gonna be exactly what you were craving. Fresh beef available in the contiguous U.S., Alaska and Canada; not available in Hawaii. This show is brought to you by Panini America, makers of the most collectible sports cards on the planet. The Prism football card series a vibrantly paralleled base and insert roster featuring college football’s brightest former and current superstars. Panini sets include NIL autographed cards from players including Arch Manning, Quinn Ewers, Cam Ward, Jalen Milroe, Dylan Raiola, DJ Lagway, and Luther Burden. To start collecting, visit PaniniAmerica.net. State and Liberty makes modern athletic fit clothing for men who want to look great and be comfortable at the same time. Whether you’re looking for an athletic fit suit or your new favorite hoodie, State and Liberty has what you need. New customers get 10 percent off when they use the code STAPLES, or you can visit this link: https://tidd.ly/3BY2Amh(0:00-0:49) Wendy's(0:50-2:05) Intro(2:06-16:12) Auto Bids?(16:13-18:10) PaniniAmerica.net(18:11-28:58) Formats for the new playoffs?(28:59-31:47) State & Liberty(31:48-52:33) D1 CEO Will Bartholomew Joins(52:34-54:53) Introducing Seinfeld Night at FAU(54:54-1:08:16) FAU Head Basketball Coach John Jakus Joins(1:08:17-1:09:01) Conclusion; Dear Andy & Ari tomorrow!As Big Ten and SEC athletic directors are set to meet to start deciding how everyone in college football will crown a national champion beyond 2026, Andy digs deeper into the question of automatic bids.Would fans rather have a tournament field that isn’t picked by a committee or one completely picked by a committee? Also, are conferences too big for the automatic bids to be fair? Later, former Tennessee fullback Will Bartholomew joins to explain to the youngsters what a fullback does and to explain how he built a massive company using what he learned as a football player. Next, Florida Atlantic basketball coach John Jakus joins Andy to talk Seinfeld Night in Del Boca Vista Phase Two, er, Boca Raton. Watch us on YouTube instead! https://youtube.com/live/s1k-m00Gx6MHosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

When it comes to making the best burgers around, the basics matter and Wendy's, well, they've got those burger basics on lock and boy does it show. What's the secret to all these hot and juicy burgers? Simple, Wendy's always crafts their burgers with that fresh, never frozen beef that they're famous for.

The result, hot and juicy, beefy hamburger perfection every single time, whether it's the Baconator, the Single, you name it. Memories, the Double Stack, consumed a lot of Double Stacks back in the day, but I'm more of a Baconator guy now. No matter which burger you choose for the Wendy's Minute, you already know that thanks to those Wendy's Burger Basics

is gonna be exactly what you were craving. Fresh beef available in the continuous US, Alaska and Canada not available in Hawaii. So go get you a fresh Wendy's burger today. Welcome to Andy and Ari on Free Dressing Andy today. Ari's already on vacation. I will be joining him shortly. Not together because that would be kind of weird, but I don't know. We'll get to tandem vacations eventually. But we got to talk a little more about what's happening in New Orleans. Big 10 athletic directors, SEC athletic directors meeting,

essentially hashing out the future of college football, because those two leagues are the ones in charge now. And I realize that bothers some people. I went on a radio show in New York this morning and I got asked to the Big Ten and the SEC deserve to have this much control. It doesn't matter what they deserve. They accumulated all the market share so whether they deserve it or not they got it. So now you got to deal with it. But I wanna talk about something that clearly touched a nerve

when we were talking about it yesterday. And I put up a little poll last night and I was really fascinated by the results. So I'm gonna send a screenshot to producer River because right now we've got the up to the minute results of this poll. And basically what I asked is how you feel Because right now we've got the up to the minute results of this poll. And basically what I asked is how you feel about automatic bids.

So the automatic bids situation is the one that is creating the most angst. And that's the one, it would be the biggest change if they end up making it. And I think they're kind of headed down that path. And basically what we laid out is what they're kicking around. Ross Dellinger wrote about this on Sunday. You've seen this in other places over the last few months. When Joel Klatt was on with us, he laid it out. And look, Joel works for Fox. They work closely with the conference executives. Trust me, this was all rolled out in a way to become digestible.

So basically, I did a poll and I said, what would you rather have for college football playoff selection? So they're talking about a 14 or 16 team field. I think they're going to expand it. So I think we can, I know people want to argue, oh, move it back to eight, go back to it. No, okay, that's not happening.

They're going to probably expand it. At the very least, it's going to stay at 12, but they're probably going to add two or four spots. So let's go assuming that it's going to be a 14 or 16 team format. A lot of automatic bids. So what they've talked about is four big 10 four SEC to ACC to big 12. The highest ranked champion of the other conferences, I'm not going to say group of five because the pack 12 is gonna be back. I don't know if it's gonna have 12 teams, but's going to be back. So that would be another spot. So if you have 14 spots, that's 13 of them taken up, you'd have one at large bid. If Notre Dame's in the top 14, they would be in. If it's a 16 team format, you would have three at large bids. If Notre Dame's in the top 16, it would get one of those, and then the other two would go to somebody else. The next option is status quo, but with more teams. So you've got, if you have 14 teams, then five automatic bids, the five highest ranked conference champs automatically get in. Now we can tweak the seating later. We can worry about the seating, and the seating

may actually get tweaked earlier. But the five highest ranked conference champs automatically get in. Now we can tweak the seating later. We can worry about the seating, and the seating may actually get tweaked earlier. But the five highest ranked conference champs get in, and then you'd have nine at-large spots. If you had a 16 team format, you'd have 11 at-large spots. The other option I threw out there is you just have at-large spots. You take the top 14 or the top 16. You just have at large spots. You take the top 14 or the top 16.

Most people want either all at larges or five automatic bids and mostly at larges. Only 18%. We had about 3,400 votes at this point. You can still go on my Twitter, Andy underscore staples and vote You've got about eleven and a half hours left to vote but The numbers have tracked pretty consistently since we started the poll Four-fifths of the audience more than four-fifths of the audience and and I get that these are probably more hardcore college football fans The the Fox and ESPN executives probably trying to reach the more casual ones. But I think this is a pretty good representative slice of people who really do watch the games,

who are the target audience. Four fifths of them hate this idea. Hate the idea of having all these at large bids. And I got to admit, I found it very interesting because that's not what I expected. I expected a more even split. And we talked about it yesterday with Ari and Ari made the point of keep college football weird. And one of the ways you keep college football weird is you do entrust a committee of 13 people with the selection of the postseason. Say, okay, Here you go.

You have some parameters, but it's not completely tied down. Go pick some teams. Which is weird and causes a lot of arguments. Gives us a lot to talk about. All the auto bids. Much more similar to the NFL. NFL has wild cards, but a very strict way

of populating the playoff. You either win your division, or you have one of the best records beneath that, and you get a wild card spot. And sometimes you get teams that you don't feel like should be in the playoff, because they have weak divisions some years. Sometimes you have exceptionally strong divisions, where most of the wild cards come from,

but it is pretty much set in stone and that's how it's going to be. And I was under the assumption before I did this little informal poll that there were a lot more of you guys who wanted a set parameter. That you wanted to know going into the season how many each league was going to get in. Like you wanted a more objective criteria. I think that's the phrase I heard the most over the years. Why is it so subjective? Why can't you have an objective criteria? Well, this would be objective criteria. Sort of. Not really. Josh Pate, who hosts a show as well, he responded to me. He said, the auto bids will receive the least amount

of votes, but given the expanded format, actually be the best solution. Which I thought there'd be more of you that agreed with Josh on this. And here's where Josh has come from. Now I'll tell you right now, this is probably bad YouTubeing, bad internetting, bad podcasting. I don't have a very strong opinion one way or another on this. I think I've

been beaten down. I think I used to have obviously very strong opinions on what the playoffs should look like. I think I've been beaten down and become very cynical. Like they're just going to do what they're going to do. and they don't care what we think anyway. So what does it matter? So I'm more looking at this more, almost like an anthropologist. Like, okay, if you chose this, here's what the pros and cons would be. And if you chose this, here's what the pros and cons would be.

Cause at this point I feel like they're going to do what they're going to do. They've already like the big 10 and the SEC have consolidated so much power They just don't care Raymond Josh is an SEC super homer I'm gonna explain why that's not really the opinion and SEC super homer would give in a second But Here's here's what would happen there and this is where Josh is coming from on this and I understand why he's thinking this way. The people who say that this would ruin the regular season further, that this would further

devalue the regular season, you're not thinking about how it actually works. If where you finish in your conference standings determines whether you make the playoff, well how does that happen? How do they determine where you're finishing the conference standings? A committee doesn't get in a room and decide we think Tennessee's the third best team in the SEC. They play some games. And Tennessee lands where they land. Alabama lands where they land. LSU lands where they land.

So. Wouldn't that make the regular season more relevant because your conference games would be the thing determining whether you got into the playoff, not somebody's opinion in room. would be the thing determining whether you got into the playoff, not somebody's opinion in a room. So that is a plus. For that now are you and I talked about this yesterday

and I always write about this. This makes your non conference games utterly meaningless. Now there's two ways to look at that. They can't hurt you. So you have no incentive to schedule easy there. You have extra incentive to schedule much harder. And that's one thing that these guys are talking about. The Big Ten and the SEC guys are going to be talking about, do they do a non-conference scheduling agreement where they they play each other they have teams that play each other every year When you obviously have the SEC teams that have their ACC in-state rivals that they're gonna still play So you got that piece of it But the negative piece of this is

The conferences are so big especially the SEC in the in the Big 10. But the schedules are equal like the difference with the NFL is everything in the NFL is designed. Take to maintain Perry. They have the draft. They have the salary cap. They they have a set schedule rotation that works a certain way when when. The only wiggle room they have is somebody who had a really bad year gets a little bit easier schedule the

next year and somebody who had a really good year gets a little bit harder schedule than it. But only a little bit. It's only a couple of games that they can play with. Indiana schedule and Oregon schedule, even though they played in the same league, were very different last year. In the SEC, Georgia's schedule and Missouri's schedule were very different. Georgia's playing each other. And it's not going to be a nefarious thing. It's going to happen at random. But it's still going to be an issue. They're going to be teams that by virtue of having an easy conference schedule have a better chance at the playoff than other teams who might be better but have a harder conference schedule. So there's a couple tweaks that they can make to work with that. We can talk about that in a second. But that's where this sort of falls and and that's

where I get where the folks who hate the idea are coming from because unless you can find a way to balance out the schedules, it's not really an objective criteria. It's more, there's a lot of luck involved. And I was thinking about this. If they had tried something like this in 2010, in 2010, I think everybody would have been on board. So let me read you the conference alignments in 2010. The ACC, Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest. The Big Ten, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern Ohio State, Penn State, Virginia, Virginia Tech Wake Forest. The Big Ten. Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan,

Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin. The Big 12. Baylor, Colorado, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech. The Pack Ten. Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington, Washington State. The SEC. Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Cal, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Washington, Washington State, the SEC, Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt. So if you had tried this in 2010 and said, we'll give two automatic bids to every conference, every power conference.

Now, I realized the Big East was still kind of hanging on as a power conference at this point, but that they sort of lost steam and that's why they were moving away from the. 6bcs conferences to the power 5, but if you suggested this idea, if you had a 12 team playoff or a 14 or 16 team playoff and so we're going to give two auto bids to every league. And then some at larges. It would work great. Like think about how much more evenly aligned all of those leagues are. Every one of them has between 10 and 12 members. In most years you play almost everybody in the conference.

There would be still be a little bit of randomness in terms of conference guests, but not really. And you could solve for that with conference championship games or play in games at the end of the year, however you wanted to do it. That would work great. These bloated conferences are the reason

this doesn't work now, or seems impossible, or looks terrible, or you can't figure out how you would want it to work. You're not supposed to have an 18 team conference. You're not really supposed to have a 16 team conference. So that's part of the reason and the problem is you're never going back to this. You're never going back to this. Producer River says the Big Ten commercial was never intended to go coast to coast. Yes, but I do like how I can overlay the Game of Thrones music to it and it looks perfect. But yes, you're right.

It wasn't. All of those conferences, similar in number, 10 to 12 12 and they're all regional like the ACC stretches along the Eastern seaboard but it doesn't like the westernmost school in that bunch I think is Wake Forest as way as crazy as that sounds like that's as far west as it went so That's as far west as it went. So it would have worked really well in that environment. I don't know that it works as well in this environment. When we come back, I'm gonna tell you about what tweaks they can make

to help this along a little bit, to change this, because if you go 16, it makes conference championship games irrelevant. So we'll talk a little bit about that. But first, I gotta tell you about Panini America, the most collectible sports cards on the planet. It's so cool now because you can collect college players in their college uniforms, your favorite NFL players,

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what's gonna be done, what can be done with the college football playoff. And I realized there's a lot of people who don't want anything to change. And we talked about this yesterday. We just got this 12 team thing. Like I don't like the idea of tinkering with it now. And the problem I have, I think more than anything is they're going to tinker with it for this new contract in 2026. And I feel like there's still going to be more conference movement that's going to change it again. I'm just getting used to this one.

Let me get used to this one first, but I don't think we're going to get to do that. So let's talk about what happens. How do you solve for the bloated conference and the auto bits? Cause I think no matter what we think that they're probably headed towards the auto bits, because I think no matter what we think, that they're probably headed towards the auto bits, because the SEC was the thing standing in the way of doing the auto bits, because you would hear Greg Sankey say,

well, why not just have all at larges? Like I think the SEC's feeling on this most of the way was the more at larges, the better it is for the SEC's feeling on this most of the way was the more at-large is the better it is for the SEC. That's, I was talking about, you know, somebody saying Josh Pate is a giant SEC homer because he says the auto bids are the better idea. No, no, no. The SEC homer idea, so Brad from Macon, the guy who goes on finebomb and yells at Ari, Brad from making would say, you want all at largest because that'll get you more sec teams and more likely than not more years than not. But I wonder how much last year affected that.

I had somebody from the sec tell me that they thought this was an overreaction to last year. Because, again, the SEC was very much behind the idea of more at-larges better. But now, it sounds like they're willing to talk about four SEC teams, four Big Ten teams, and then some at-larges. So Jason in the chat, very funny. SEC doesn't win the NADD again, so something must be wrong with the system, not the SEC. Jason, you're joking. That's exactly how they feel. You 100% nailed how they feel.

But I do think that they may be coming around on this idea. And, you know, I think part of it was, and Greg Sankey had talked about this in the past, he was worried about an antitrust challenge, but if you give the other leagues in the system enough, enough money, enough access, they're probably not going to sue you. The suit would come from somewhere else, but it'd be almost like having your own collective bargaining agreement where they're in on it, they're happy with it.

VP in the chat with an interesting point. I think the committee showed their hand in mostly weighing just wins and losses, but the SEC Big Ten schedules are much more difficult with three to four top 10 to 15 games every year for every team. That's true except Indiana got a better draw. And if Indiana had had the more difficult draw, would they have gotten into the playoff?

I don't know as Ari points out though. The SEC schools were getting probably one more game benefit of the doubt. They just happen to lose that third game because if it had out though, the SEC schools were getting probably one more game benefit of the doubt. They just happened to lose that third game because if it had come down to a 10 and two Alabama or 10 and two Ole Miss against an 11 and one Indiana, I think the 10 and two Alabama or Ole Miss would have been ranked higher. I do. But it does seem like the SEC is a little more on board with the idea of all these auto bids.

And if they are, I don't know that there's much to do to stop it. Because the way I would say, if you would like to fight against this, and again, I don't know if that's possible now, is you just whisper in your favorite SEC ADs ear, what are you scared of? Just do all at larges. You're gonna have better teams most years because that is how they've thought for years and years and years.

But I don't know that you're gonna get them, it's like calling Marty McFly chicken to get him to do what you want. I don't know if it'll work. I don't know if it'll work so if they go and do this if they do the the the big mostly at larges there's a couple different ways to do it if you have a 14 team tournament I still think if you're the big 10 in the SEC that you do a one versus two conference championship game the winner of that gets the buy because there's only be two buys those buys are gonna go to the big 10 in the SEC champ either

because they're number one and number two because the committee ranked them that way or because you wrote it into rules which they probably could do if they wanted to I don't think they should I think that would be a little bit over the line in terms of getting you sued. But who knows at this point? I mean, they really do have that much power. If they wanted to go 16, you got to get rid of conference championship games. Conference championship games are worthless in a 16 team playoff. So that's where you go to what you heard Joel Klatt talk about on our show. And the person who I first heard this from, or who I first heard of, you know, talking about this was Tony Petiti, the Big Ten commissioner, who's a former TV exec, by the way. So what Joel talked about, and I assume this is this is being

bandied about in the Big Ten office when Joel came on, is you do play-in games instead of matching number one versus number two, because in the Big Ten and the SEC, you're number one and number two are getting in anyway. So there's no sense in having them play. So you would have two play-in games, which this may somewhat solve for the randomness of the schedule, but maybe not. So the big 10 in the SEC, you're number one and number two,

they're getting in anyway. They've earned it in. They don't have to play again to get in. Number three plays number six number four plays number five on the Saturday that you would have had the championship game. Winners of those games go. This would be very I mean you think about. So the three three through five or excuse me three through six in the SEC this year, this is, the conversation is graphic we have is a little off because as we, when we plunge down the Reddit rabbit hole, we realize Ole Miss is actually the four seed. But, so you had a lot of teams at five and three.

I think South Carolina would have been above Missouri, although I don't, Texas A, actually Texas A and M beat them both. So I think it would have been Tennessee, Texas A and M would have been one game. Alabama, Ole Miss would have been the other game. Cause I think Ole Miss would have been four, Alabama would have been five.

If you go with the tiebreakers. So you had Tennessee A andM, Alabama Ole Miss. Big 10, you would have had Indiana, Iowa, which would have been interesting because I think Iowa would have been, I think Indiana would have beaten Iowa, but I'm not sure on that. And then Ohio State, Illinois, which Illinois was really good team this year,

I think would have given Ohio State a good game. And that would have been really interesting to play right after Ohio State lost to Michigan, because that would have happened a week after that game. Would Ohio State have rallied in time? Because, you know, we saw it happen when they had three weeks. They kicked the crap out of Tennessee. Would you have seen them do that to a good Illinois team, or would they have still been licking their wick?

That's where things could have been interesting. So that's what you do in the Big Ten in the SEC. In the Big 12 in the ACC, number one would play number four, number two would play number four number two, would play number three and the winners would go so big 12. You would have an Arizona State Colorado game in Tempe. I'm assuming this is in Tempe. You could maybe you could do a festival where everybody comes

to Jerry World and you play two two games back to back. But I think probably reward the team that had the better regular season. with a home game So I say you send Colorado to Tempe They play winter goes you send BYU to Ames and BYU plays Iowa State the winter goes like that would I'd watch it. I'd watch it ACC SMU Duke which would be a rematch of an incredible game Earlier in the year that SMU just squeaked out. Clemson Miami, which never happened in the regular season, which would have been really interesting,

and also would have given Miami a chance to make it, which I think if Miami gets in, they would have had probably a better chance against some of those teams in the playoff than SMU and Clemson did. But that's the deal. That's the deal. So that is what they're talking about. The all at larges would be all committee making decisions. It would be incredible for this show. Like

Ari and I would have a gold mine, we'd have stuff to talk about every day, every day from October through December. It would be incredible, incredible. But I don't think it's gonna happen, even though that's what most of you apparently want. And again, I'm sorry, I don't have a stronger opinion on this. I think I've been beaten down. I really do, because they keep changing everything.

And I said this a couple of times on the show, like just rip the bandaid off, get to the conference alignments you're gonna get to, tell me what this is gonna look like like and just stick with it for a while. But unfortunately, we're not going to get that yet. But that's okay. We're going to get there. Got a lot of fun the rest of the way. An interview that I've been waiting to do for a while, coming up with Will Bartholomew. So Tennessee fans know who Will Bartholomew is because he was a fullback

during some of the great age, the heart of the Philip Fulmer era. He was a freshman in 97 in Peyton's last year. He was on the 98 national championship team. He was the captain of that 2001 team, which I covered as a beat writer. And that was a just loaded team, loaded team, John Henderson, Albert Hainsworth, Jason Whitten, Dante Stallworth. Like it was an incredible group. So. Will has a great and very interesting story. And it's one I wanted to talk to him about because

he didn't play in the NFL. He got out of college and he opened a gym and that gym became D1 training, which is now one of the largest chains of training centers in the country. He's going to have almost 200 locations by the end of the year. And I just wanted to talk to him about what he learned from football, how that helped him as an entrepreneur. And I think it's just a fantastic story. And he's got some great advice. And also really fun talking to him because he's got,

he's got one kid playing football at Vanderbilt. He's got another son in high school who's a quarterback right now. And so Will has seen the recruiting process evolve over the last 30 years because he was recruiting himself 30 years ago. He's been training, you know, through his gyms, training future college football players for the past 25 years. And then he's got in his own house, these guys going through the much newer recruiting process in the transfer portal, NIL era. So really interesting conversation with Will.

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All right, now it's time to talk to former Tennessee fullback Will Bartholomew. Honored to be joined by a guy covered as a baby beat writer for the Chattanooga Times Free Press. Back when I covered the balls, 2002. The captain of the 2001 team, Will Bartholomew, also the CEO of D1 training. Look at those giant shoulder pads. Oh my gosh. That is awesome.

I don't know. There were pullbacks still. Yeah, those shoulder pads were we asked so I have connections. I have connections at Tennessee because Producer River, you know, recent Tennessee employee, Tennessee grad. And so we now I had to explain to him what a fullback was, but. Hey, we're a dying breed, but man, that breed, they're tough. They're tough. That's exactly.

You were plowing the way for Jamal Lewis and Travis Stevens. And but the thing I find the most amazing and why I wanted to bring you on because I've been fascinated by your career is you went from being a fullback where you, you know, you come as a freshman, you play with Peyton Manning. You're the captain of a team that has Jason Whitten and John Henderson on it. And, and, you know, you guys went down to beat Florida in 01 and then you finish up and you opened the first D1 training facility in Nashville. Now you are 25 years later sitting here planning to have 200 open by the end of the year.

Right. Yeah. It's been a fun ride. It's been a fun ride. It's been a fun ride. It's amazing. You know, you're showing those those pictures what the feelings that come back to me was my love for the weight room. Man, I just I fell in love with that environment that D one environment. being in there grinding with the grinding with my teammates, working really hard, having great strength coaches, and really improving my body. And so man, that was, that was something that I fell in love with. And I didn't realize when I started my business, you know, 20-something years ago that I would be still doing it. But I just, I fell in love with being around these athletes and helping them reach their dreams.

just I fell in love with being around these athletes and helping them reach their dreams. Well, I want to ask you this because, you know, you live, it was a very different era of college sports when you played. And I work with Grant Ferking now, who was a walk on receiver at Tennessee, who was actually running a business while he was a player at Tennessee and kind of bridged the non NIL and the NIL eras. And would have cleaned up in and I with with the entrepreneurial spirit that you've shown the rest of your life? Would you have cleaned up as a college football player? Because obviously you're on a team with massive stars like Peyton Manning, T Martin, Al Wilson, but I think I got a feeling you would have you would have done all right. That's a great question. I you know, um, think just all of my

career, and it served me really well. I have always been about helping others reach their goals. So to me, I feel like you know, if Jamal Lewis or Travis Henry been like, Hey, we'll help me out with this NIL stuff. I probably would have been like, Yeah, I'll do it. Um, so I don't know if I would have cleaned up, but I would have definitely been the guy of like, hey, how do we monetize this? How do we figure this out? How do we, you know, do something great together and help you reach your goals? And so I

don't know, it's that's a good question. Never been asked that one. Well, it's just it's amazing, because I think certain people are just sort of wired for it. And if you're an entrepreneur, you're an entrepreneur. And you probably had that in you all along because it's one thing if you had gone into the NFL, played 10 years, used some of the money you made to just invest and let somebody

else run the business. But you did it as a fresh college grad. That's the part that I'm amazed about, where how long did it take you before you realized you were sitting on something that could be potentially huge? You know, when I think back to those days, I wanted to create a business that was a lifestyle business.

And there's a big difference between a lifestyle business and doing something to make a lot of money. And so for me, when I came out, I was like, man, the best thing in the world to me, like my like utopia, like my heaven was like, if I'm in the weight room, listening to rap music, lifting and around, you know, athletes that are like reaching and trying to strive towards their goals.

And if I can be a part of that and help them, like that is a real like, and that like checks all my buttons. Like, man, I just want like to make other people better. And, and I love growth. I love development and growth. And so when I started the business, it was for the middle school, high school athlete, because I was a middle schooler who was, you know, looking for a strength coach and going, Man, I want somebody to tell me how to get to that level. I want somebody to show me what work ethic really is and what it takes and the mindset. And so, and that was why I started it. And I think that

propelled me for so many years of just like that, and still today, of just like my why, why I want to show up and why I want to be there and why I want to continue to help these athletes. How has that changed? Because you talk about, you know, being in the 90s, being a middle school kid, looking for a place to train. Youth sports has become this massive business. And I've kind of learned it as my kid has played a bunch of different things and how do you how do you manage that because I'm sure their parents have come to you that are just like, look, this is another place I got to write a check. You know what? And you're a parent yourself, you've got it, you've got a kid playing at Vanderbilt, you've got another one, your son Mac is a class of 27 quarterback recruit, like, how do you, how do you manage that?

You know, I think, um, so kind of two parts to this. When I, when I look at the business, I feel like we're really serving in need of like, there's so many athletes that need somewhere to go to have motivation and inspiration. They need to be around great coaches and great people because they do get beat up in this, you know, I'm going to call it, you know, kind of smoke and mirrors of like Instagram and what things look like. It's like, no, let's go build what sports provided me with like a place of like, Hey, if you go put in

the effort and go put in the work, you can become the best version of yourself. And so I feel like that's what D1 has become. And that's what we, when you have the overzealous parent or you have someone who comes in, you know, that's what we're able to communicate is go, Hey, we're not going to promise that you're going to get a D1 scholarship. We're going to promise you're going to have a D1 type of experience. The same things that happened at the University of Florida in Tennessee, that's what you're gonna get. You're gonna get a coach who's gonna meet you where you're at and wants to help you get to that next level. And so when you come to D1, that's what you're gonna experience.

Now, when you start talking about like as a parent, now I am in that different seat where I like sit and I not only own a business that helps athletes out, but I got kids that are aspiring to be that. What I really try to really impart to my kids is go hey sports is is setting a foundation for your life and the foundation is like hey if you work really hard you will you will have an opportunity to either get on the field or you know be the guy But you're not promised that. You're just given the opportunity.

But you gotta work really hard just to get the opportunity. And I think that just sets the stage for the rest of people's lives, which is like I look at, somebody asked me the other day, like, man, can you believe D1's this big? Doesn know, uh, you know, if it doesn't feel like yesterday, I was like, man, yeah, yeah, we're an overnight sensation, you know, 22 years, 24 years later, we're overnight, we're tired, you know, man, it takes so much hard work. And I can't tell you how many lonely mornings that I was unlocking the door at 430 AM for our 5 for our 5 a.m. workout and how many nights I've been in D1s locking the doors at 9 p.m. cleaning up, unclogging toilets, like doing like the gritty work. There have been so many

nights like that that have led to where we are today and so I just I think that work ethic that was instilled in me at the University of Tennessee and before that with my parents and all those other things, that's really served me well, because it's like, man, the one thing you'll find out about me is like, I just don't, I don't quit. I won't quit and I will continue to work hard and try to build something great

and something that's meaningful to people. How much is being a fullback play into that? Because I always, you know, as a former offensive lineman, I always talk to other offensive linemen about, you know, the qualities of what you have to be to be an offensive lineman. But a fullback is basically an offensive lineman who occasionally gets the reward of carrying the ball, but more frequently has a higher speed collision than the old lineman does. It's like the old video

of the two trains running into each other. Like I'm just imagining a young you running into Al Wilson at practice. I got some good Al Wilson stories, man. I think that psyche is, and that mindset you have to have, it's served me well my entire life. It's been, hey, it's not about will get in the glory. It's a lot of, I mean, most, every time somebody else was scoring the touchdown,

somebody else was doing the thing. It just showed me like, Hey, being a part of something great, maybe not being the guy who gets the name and the headlines is super important. And you're helping other people reach their goals, like tearing down the goalposts I'm seeing right there. I mean, like, you know, we're helping other people reach their goals. And so when I, when I think about the psyche of a fullback and everything, every fullback has to go through, because typically you're like a running back who's not fast enough so they move you to fullback, or you're a linebacker who really enjoys collision but doesn't move side to

side as well. I think it's kind of like, hey, these are my skill sets. This is what I'm really good at. This is what I need to go be at. And I think that I've done that in business. I've gone like, hey, what am I good at? Let's hire around that. Let's put people around me

and let's give other people the credit. And it's been all about helping others reach their dreams along the way. And that's when you look at this logo for those of you who are listening out there. I mean, when you show up at D1, my open dream is that we would always show up, people would show up there and it would be about them, not about us. It would always be about them and helping them reach their goals. And that's the foundation of the entire business. So you've also experienced, you've been able to watch the recruiting process evolve. I'm

fascinated to hear how it's when for you because 30 years ago, you're a recruit yourself. That's obviously a very different era, but you've had a ringside seat for it with the athletes who train at your facilities over the years, and then with your own children, where you're helping your sons through their recruiting process. You have one in college now, you have one who's in the, in the midst of the quarterback industrial complex

as a high schooler right now. How has the world changed for a recruit from 1996 to now? Yeah, it's pretty drastic. I mean, look, back when we were around, I literally drove in a car to five different colleges and took my VHS tape and walked into the coaches and shook their hands. My dad had me wear the tallest boots out there so I'd look taller. And I would go shake their hands and hand them my VHS tape. They would go in the other room and watch it and they would come back and tell you

if they were gonna offer you a scholarship or not. That's literally how that happened. Now you have all these great resources of huddle, where you're able to like post and share with coaches and those types of things. But I still think that in-person experience is so invaluable. So if you got any parents out there,

like I would just tell you, man, like pick the schools and maybe not always like the top schools, like pick a couple of those and a couple of the middle schools and a couple of the schools like, man, I feel like, you know, my son or kid could definitely play here and go get in front of these coaches because it's invaluable when you get in front of people, what it looks like in real person versus home video.

There's so many great tools out there, but you can't just rely on the Instagram hype machine coaches aren't gonna, you know, look at a Twitter clip, they might get them interested, but they're not going to offer scholarships and do, you know, have you there just because of a post on Twitter, you got to actually get in front of people. And so that's been my experience. So my son who's at Vanderbilt, you just showed some bandy stuff. He went to a camp and he ran a four, five, two laser time 40 and he's a 215 pound, six foot two linebacker. It's like, man, this kid, if we put some size on him, he could really contribute and play here. And so that's how we ended up there. And I am in the circus with a quarterback.

That's a whole different ball game, having a quarterback than other positions. And so it's fun going through the process and watching it change and watching it change. Well, we actually had this discussion on the show the other day, and I'm glad I have you on to help explain it because I was trying to with my co host

Ari Wasserman, I was trying to explain how different quarterback is than than these other positions. Even though they've all evolved, the recruiting process evolved for all of the quarterback when it seems to have evolved in a very different way. How does it work raising a quarterback now? Like if you have a player who you think might be a potential college quarterback, like when do you have to start all of the private training and get everything going in the recruiting machinery? Yeah, so, you know,

I'll start with a general premises of this is like, man, a lot of parents come and I always like to give the advice of like, man, if your kid is hyper passionate about it and is loves this and like wants it, then let's put the resources around to make them successful. And I just always wanna qualify that because it can't be a parent's desire. Like my kids, you know, I use my, my, uh, 16 year old right now. I mean, he gets up three times a week at 6 AM and goes and works out on his own.

And this isn't me prodding him. I don't get up and wake him up and he goes and does it. So, um, I do think that is like the permit. Once that happens where the kids like begging like, Hey, I need training. I need this. Then you can start looking in looking into things. I mean, from Max standpoint, he was never a baseball player.

So we had to get some more rotational sports and some throwing. So he started working with a quarterback coach in about sixth grade. He's been training at D1 since he was seven years old. So he has kind of that base foundational strength. And yeah, he's had a quarterback coach since sixth grade. He's a sophomore in high school now. He does multiple camps during the summer. And we're constantly looking at going, hey, we wanna be smart with his body and like

where he's at. And then we got to train not just the body, we also got to train the mental side too. So he's watching film and all those other things. But I do think a quarterback is different because if you look at colleges, you're only going to take kind of one per class. I mean, some bigger schools will take multiple, but really you're looking kind of one per class. I mean, some, some bigger schools will take multiple, but really you're looking at one kid per class and you're, you really want to get those game reps.

You want to get to a position where it's like, Hey, I can see myself getting on the field here. And so, uh, you know, I think it's, uh, you can't, you can't substitute live reps. So you just want to make sure you're getting on the field somewhere. Well, the part about it has to be their idea. That is the one thing I've learned as a parent, like with both my kids, whether it's sports or anything else, it has to either be their idea

or feel like it was their idea or they ain't doing it. So I'm glad you mentioned that. It's the rest of their life, right? So it's like when I say the rest of their life, it's like their life. Like you cannot do it for them. You can give them the tools if they want it. Archie Manning gave me a pass to Archie. We do the Manning Passing Academy every year. And you know, when my son, you know, started playing quarterback, I was like, hey, what's, you got any advice for a parent who's out there? And he said, he said, man, you're only in the wrong if you care more than the kid. If you, if they're out there and they're working their butt off and you're just

encouraging me, he goes, man, you just want to be up there and enjoy it. He's like, if you're sitting in the stands and you're, you care about winning the game more than they do, and you're just encouraging me. He goes, man, you just wanna be up there and enjoy it. He's like, if you're sitting in the stands and you care about winning the game more than they do, then you're in the wrong. And I was like, God, such good advice. And that is wrong, true for me, man. I try to sit back and just give them the tools, give them some wisdom, point them in the right direction

and then go, hey, it's up to you. You gotta go do the work. You gotta go do the work and I think for parents out there if you're looking in the recruiting thing is like man you can get some resources to help you get recruited, but You know really it's about the kid really wanting to do it So I'll use like the highlight film stuff like I have my kids after every game, they have to break down their own film, give me a report on how they you know, hey, go type up a report, tell me

how you did and create your highlight tape. And so that's that's helped them, you know, watch film, be critical of themselves. And then also they break themselves. And then you know, they're learning that skill, the same thing you had in college. It's like, you go watch the film, watch the tape, and then that helps you improve. And I think a lot of kids these days, such visual learners, and when you're watching tape and grading yourself,

it can help so much. And we do it in training. So we'll actually film guys when they're out running and whatnot. And when you just show that feedback back to them, it helps so much. It's so simple, but we don't do it enough. I'm stealing these ideas.

I'm taking notes by the way. Definitely the game reports are coming next football season for sure. But well, thank you so much for this. This has been so much fun watching you go from Tennessee football player to starting a business to seeing that business just blow up. And I cannot wait to see what you're doing next.

I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on. Look, building a business is similar to a football career. It's long, sometimes you get knocked on the ground, sometimes you have some wins, sometimes you get some recognition. And at the end of the day though, you have to just remember your why.

And that's why I always try to remind myself like why I'm here. And I'm here to help people reach their goals. I've been doing that for 20 something years and that's what I always try to remind myself like why I'm here and I'm here to help people reach their goals. I've been doing that for 20 something years and that's what I want to do. And I wake up every day. I get excited to do it. So I appreciate it. That is well worth all of you.

Former Tennessee fullback. I hope the young folks learn something about what a fullback does. We can't have that position be lost to history. We just can't. And I do appreciate the schools that still occasionally use a fullback and the NFL teams that still occasionally use a fullback because they are very valuable members of our society as you see from what Will has done post college. Let's talk a little basketball, little basketball. Two years ago, Florida Atlantic made the final four, huge run.

They captured our imagination by leaning into it. So they're in Boca, they get it. You watch Seinfeld, Del Boca Vista phase two. It's where Jerry's parents wound up. It's where Frank Costanza, George's dad, threatened to follow Morty Seinfeld onto the shuffleboard courts. My producer River, I can see him in the window. He just, none of this makes any sense to him. He was born like five months after the series finale aired. But I appreciate that FAU, when they play Wichita State on Thursday night, is going to host a Seinfeld night.

Fans can meet quote unquote Kramer, not actual Michael Richards, because we know how that went the last time he was in a crowd. Seinfeld poster. They're going to honor Florida Atlantic's Marine Biology School. Because you know, they're working to make sure that that no golf balls obstruct any air holes. Again, if you don't know what I'm talking about, you're far too young. But Seinfeld is streaming. Just watch. Like be be the master of your domain and watch. But we're joined now by Florida Atlantic host John Jacobs who took over a good situation because Florida Atlantic was

really good under Dusty May, but also a tough situation because this is 2025, 24 when he got the job. It's the NIL era. You gotta rebuild a roster and you gotta still be good. Here's John Jacobs as he prepares for Seinfeld night. Joined now by Florida Atlantic basketball coach, John Jacobs on Thursday, the Owls hosting Wichita State, ESPN2, big TV game, but it's also Seinfeld night at FAU. the first thing Wichita State, ESPN two big TV game but it's

also Seinfeld night at FAU for those who remember FAU's final four on a few years ago, they really leaned into the the we're in Boca Raton. This is Del Boca Vista phase two and uh now John you are you're in your first year there. So you you

inherited all of this but are you are you prepared for the full Del Boca Vista, Villas in Tuscany, Raincoats, Masters of Your Own Domain kind of stuff? I mean I don't know if I'm ready for it. They didn't even ask my opinion. I think they just went full in on it, which is fine with me, because there seems to be tradition around it. And then on top of that, I do like the show. So I've been asked a bunch if I had anything to do with it. And so I tell the truth, I don't,

but I'm thrilled that it's going on. And that was a big part of my childhood. And if it helps sell out the Ellie, then let's do that. And I think this area loves the show for sure. This was your dad's favorite show, right? So and, and you and I are about the same age. pre DVR, like you sit around and watch the show like, what were those Thursday nights like for you back in the day?

Oh, there's no messing around. You got done with basketball and you came home and you had dinner and you ate it in front of the television. My kids have no idea what that means. They stream all their television shows. We couldn't stream so you miss a show. It was a big deal. And I remember one year for Christmas we bought my dad every Seinfeld show on VHS and me and my brothers were so proud of that gift. My brother Pete led the way on that one and I don't think my kids could even tell you what a VHS is all together. So we're telling on each other when it comes to our age,

but it really was a huge deal and a huge memory in my home. And it turned in from my dad loved into something my whole family loved. And it's become this thing, this phenomenon at FAU where they have the cutouts of the characters and these kids at the school weren't even alive when the show was on. But it's amazing how much in the past few years, because obviously the program has been good, but you guys have one of the most just faithful fan bases in college hoops now. What is it like when that arena is really going?

No, it's great. It's one of the reasons you take a job is you can judge it based on how much people care. People around here care for sure. And we're gonna have our third tailgate in a row and the student section sold out the last couple games. The whole football team's coming, the whole softball team coming, the support across the athletic department is fantastic. But more than that, I mean we got a 12 year old holding up Kramer's face at every home game and I don't think

that 12 year old has any idea what he's doing. But when he makes somebody miss a free throw because he's waving the Kramer, you know, bobble head, big head in the stands and it causes a missed free throw. That 12-year-old feels like a hero and everybody cheers. So without people realizing it's kind of hidden within our culture everywhere, the fact that we get to put it on full display on Thursday is a fun thing. That is great. Ever had an apartment across from McKinney Rogers Roasters? that's a great question. That I don't know if it was the Wi-Fi thing. And I heard roasters and I didn't know where you were going with that. But no, I have not.

I have not lived across there. I was born in Chicago and was raised there. But no New York City coffee growing up, but obviously the reference is real. So this team, and so Dusty may obviously did a great job with this team and I've heard you talk about, there's two situations you can get into as a first year coach.

Either the last guy did a terrible job and got fired or the last guy did a great job and got hired away. And that's what happened with Dusty going to Michigan. But it's not the same thing where he just leaves behind a team anymore in the era of of NIL and the transfer portal. You had to go get 10 new players and you've now won five in a row. And you guys seem to be hitting your stride kind of at just the right time. Does it feel like it took a while to kind of figure out how this team played best together?

Yeah, I mean the reality is Dusty did a great job and it's normal now whether you take over a program or not to have to sign a bunch in the portal. Signing 10, 11 new guys with a walk on was definitely Yeoman's work. It's behind us. And then I think the other wrinkle to that is 10 of our first 15 were not at home. They were away or at neutral. And I think some of the settling in full time to being here happened as we got in the normal routine of conference play. And when you combine that routine with getting 20 games under our belts and us having a feel for how those 10 guys play best together, we have

gotten hot recently. I think we're gonna stay humble about that, but there certainly is a way that we figured out how to play both big and small switching non switching. We made a bunch of changes to our defensive coverages and then our offense has kind of come back in the last month or so. The average and already points a game is fun again. So we're getting there and what Dusty left for sure is a brand and that brand helped us recruit those 10 guys. So we're thankful for that. But every year might be a new year in college basketball.

So we're just gonna enjoy the presence of this one and hope that Thursday is a sellout and that combination of FAU and Seinfeld is a good time. Well, so if my producer, River, can show the Seinfeld poster that you guys are giving away again. So the guy who'd be the Kramer, I think, just on hair alone would be Trey Carroll, who probably has the best hair in College Hoops.

But he's been there. He is one of the people who you inherited, who's been at FAU, but was kind of a role player before and now has taken on a bigger role on the team. How has he emerged for you? Yeah, I think Trey and Kramer have one thing in common, maybe at times delusional. I don't think Trey thinks he's Kramer.

I think he thinks he's a man. So he's got his mindset on something else. But Trey only averaged like four minutes a game last year and he was certainly a fan favorite and somebody that was thrilled, everybody was thrilled that he stayed. But his player development lead to and stretches being our leading scorer and now starting at the five, he's our curveball we like to say. And if you go big he's our curve ball, we like to say. And if you go big, he's a mismatch. If you go small, he's a mismatch.

And his acceptance of playing the five, I think, has really separated him. And then his player development with Coach Fee and Coach Isaiah Austin, I just think the link of that has been really powerful. So we're incredibly proud of him. At times, he's our third point guard on the floor, him or baba and

They let us go in and out of small lineups in a way that I think has been beneficial for us recently. So But people love people love Trey Carroll So you mentioned Baba Miller and I'm curious about this because now he's a Florida State transfer So obviously he was in Tallahassee, but he is from Majorca, Spain. Is that one of those situations where when you're recruiting him, you go to your AD, Brian White and say, we're going to have to do like seven in home visits to get this guy. Unfortunately, he was in country trying to make the NBA.

He was in the NBA draft process. So his location was Dallas, Texas. And I would have been a liar. Uh, you know, in light of that though, I have been to Spain his locat and I would have been a li light of that though, I ha times and I love baba in had recruited another in that class who was in a s

we couldn't take both. So chance to go after baba, were really nervous. There who's been invited to the NBA combine who came back to school and chose FAU. I don't think there's one in our whole league, if we're being honest. So to risk that and then come through getting him is great. And he's up in points, rebound and assist.

His three point shooting percentage is up. And then his ball screen usage and efficiency in those ball screens are also up. So he's another guy who's, him calling Boca home and then his player development has been a real blessing. He's gone all in on that. So those two peaking in January and February is certainly a cause for our success. I think coaches can get blame and credit too much, but the players are the one that make

these things happen and Bob's growth has been awesome. So you took an unusual path into college coaching. You were actually coaching in Europe. And I've heard you say the goal was to be a head coach in the European leagues for a while. A situation with one of your children caused you to want to come back stateside, and you wound up working at Baylor and then at Gonz Gonzaga and so with Scott Drew and Mark Few, two of the best. But how much does that experience, having coached in Europe, help you when you're recruiting Europeans, when you're recruiting in Africa? Because I know that you're trying to do both now. Yeah, I mean, my time at Athletes in Action and my time overseas definitely teaches you what it's like to have a different team every year. There's also some negotiation and some of the process there that you didn't have in college

basketball prior. But when I came back to the States, it wasn't because I thought college basketball was going in the direction of NIL, we came back for my son Cal. We wanted to be in an English speaking environment only in the hopes that he could talk someday. That's 12 or 13 years ago behind us now and we were certainly upset. I had lost my dream for sure and we didn't know what direction we were going but Scott Drew and Mark Few completely saved my career and the only reason I'm here is because of the Baylor and Gonzaga coaching trees. So I'm incredibly thankful and without knowing it, those friendships overseas have really defined my process in the States also

because of the recruiting relationships that have been opened up. I was just on the phone with a friend from Europe that I've known for a while that's done nothing but helped me in the last few years. And those relationships are really meaningful, and they transcend all of this. And one of the reasons our team is half from overseas

is because of my life story, but the other is because Miami's a direct flight from Europe and it's really easy to get to, and people love the beach. So we're gonna try to be an international destination near the beach and continue to win some games long term and I'm incredibly blessed that I could lose a career in one direction and then end up here Down the road, so thankful for sure I've heard Gonzaga on the beach. I think that's probably a better a better one than then then Waco on the beach, but

I'd say either one works. Either one works. What they both have in common is they both have two decades in one location and it seemed like players and coaches can't sit anywhere for longer than one or two years nowadays. As a family man who was who's learned from Mark Few and Scott how to put your family first while also coaching, I think longevity is never a bad thing. So they are great coaches but the way they chose to stay still was certainly because they love the universities that they're at but it's also because they love their wives and children and you know my hope is that we can find some of that stability here.

That'd be a huge gift to Sarah and I but But Mark and Scott, they'll look back on their life and know that they're Hall of Fame coaches, but they'll also know that they were Hall of Fame dads. And that's hard to do in our profession. So if we can pull that off on the beach, I don't care if you call it Waco or Spokane, that's just gonna be a special thing to put my family first.

Well, good luck on Seinfeld night. I wanna, one question to see if you're gonna be and I'm going to be the family first. Well, good luck on Seinfeld night. I I want to one question to see if you're going to be a hall of fame son to the to the dad who has the entire VHS collection. Would you coach in a puffy

shirt? No, no. No. So, I know it's an NBC deal and I know it was worn out of today's show and I can tell you a lot about that episode but I don't even think my father would make me do that as a strong, authoritative man who was in the army. I think he would tell me not to wear the puffy shirt but that's a heck of a question so I appreciate taking a swing. Well listen, you know, the dress code has changed. It's not Rick Petino in a suit anymore.

I'm all in on the no suits. It's not. It's not Rick. Pateen in a suit anymore. I'm all in on the no suits. I just think the puppy shirt might be one step too far. Coach good luck. Thank you so much. Yeah, thanks for having me. Appreciate it. One thing I tell you,

State Liberty is not going to make a puppy shirt so you're not going to see one on me. Any of these episodes? But I had to ask had to ask. All right, Thursday show big one for you. We got dear Andy and dear Ari. We answer your questions. You guys had some great ones this week. Also a visit from new Wake Forest coach Jake Dickert.

He was a Washington State last year. Dave Claussen retires. Jake Dickert heads he was at Washington State last year. Dave Claussen retires. Jake Dickert heads the Wake Forest. We'll talk to him about what it's like to build up in the ACC after dealing with all of conference realignment at Washington State. We'll talk to you tomorrow.