Andy & Ari On3 - Dusty May LEAVES Michigan for the Dallas Mavericks: Wolverines turning to Mike Boynton Jr.

Episode Date: June 22, 2026

On Monday morning, a bombshell dropped as Michigan Wolverines basketball head coach Dusty May finalized a deal to become the next head coach of the Dallas Mavericks. After winning the national championship in his second year in Ann Arbor, Dusty May leaves the Wolverines at a weird time on the calendar. Watch as Andy & Ari discuss Mike Boynton Jr. filling the shoes of Dusty May here.   (0:00) On Today's Episode (0:45) Presenting Sponsor (2:15) Intro: Dusty May to Dallas (7:23) Translating May's move to football (11:50) Overall landscape jumping to the pros (18:21) Mike Boynton named interim (24:38) First Year HC (38:10) Florida (42:20) Nebraska Uniform Reveal (52:13) Thanks for watching!   Once the fellas wrap up the situation in Michigan, the guys dive into the notable first year head coaches who could have the most success in the 2026 season. Watch as Andy & Ari dive into a plethora of first year head coaches in college football.   To close, Andy & Ari analyze the new uniforms at Nebraska. Did the Huskers make the right call with their new look?   Our show is also presented by BetMGM!   If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code CFB and you will get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! Here’s how it works:   1. Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code CFB. 2. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game. 3. You will receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your bet loses! Just make sure you use bonus code CFB when you sign up!   Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary.   See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. This promotional offer is not available in DC, Mississippi, New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or 1-800-MY-RESET (Available in the US) . 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only (if applicable). Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel   Join On3 today! https://www.on3.com/join   Watch our show on YouTube!    Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari Wasserman Producer: River Bailey   Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today is Andy N-R-N-3 presented by BetMGM. Dusty May has just led Michigan to the national title in basketball. And now he is headed to Dallas to become the Dallas Mavericks head coach, which means there is an opening at one of the best basketball programs at the college level. What does Dusty May leaving for this job now mean? Who might possibly replace him at Michigan? We'll talk about all of that. That means there's going to be a first-year coach at Michigan in basketball.

We're also going to ask who is going to be the most successful first. year coach in college football in 2026. Plus, Nebraska's got some new uni's opinions. Well, they're not mixed on this one. We'll break it all down today on Andy and Arion 3 presented by BetmGM. This show is brought to you by BetmGM and no college football going on right now. But the world's biggest soccer tournament is here in the U.S. Games every single day.

It matches every single day. plenty of action on betmgm if you're not already signed up download the app now sign up using the bonus code CFB that CFB is in college football get up to $1,500 in bonus bets if you don't win your first bet sign up now and you can take advantage of all betmgm has to offer we'll get you ready for college football season as this comes because we got media days coming up we got all sorts of fun stuff and soccer. for the next few weeks as far as the eye can see. So sign up for BetMGM today. Make it legendary with BetMGM.

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Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in seven days in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Welcome to Andy and Ari on 3 presented by BetMGM. And Ari, we got a bombshell of news on Monday morning. We get back from vacation. We're like, oh, we'll just kind of talk about the stuff we miss when we're on vacation. No, no.

No. No. Dusty May is going to become the Dallas Mavericks head coach, Michigan, the defending national champion college basketball, now looking for a new head coach. This happened to Michigan the last time they won a national championship, too, where their coach went to the pros. I think that that's a wonderful tradeoff.

I'll take a national championship for the coach anytime, at any place, honestly. Andy, you want to hear some fun fact real quick before we get into this? when I graduated Arizona in 2009, I left the student newspaper and the student newspaper had a young kid who came in who was like a basketball beat writer and he worked at the student newspaper. He was like a really big analytical mind and like was like really smart. I didn't know him at all because I was on the way out when he was coming in. That person's name was Mike Schmidt and that's the general manager of the Dallas Mavericks now. And I realized that like six months ago. I was like, oh my God, this kid that came in like right when I left and covered Arizona basketball for a few years at the student newspaper and was like friends with a lot of the friends that I made in college is now the GM of the Dallas Mavericks.

So you can accomplish anything in life. And this is the person who hired Dusty May. So not Nico Harrison, who is the guy who traded Luca. And also let Jaylon Brunson walk in free agency, which I don't. Yeah, I don't think. You're really getting that quite a bit lately. too, but you know, I live here and people are MAVs fans. And he wasn't very popular man in this neck of the woods.

But Schmitz, I know we don't know each other, but we do have a similar pass that I'm rooting for you and I live in your city. So I'll take court side seats whenever you feel like it. This is a really interesting discussion, not only because Michigan lost their coach who just led them in the national championship, but it has us both thinking the same exact thing, which is do coaches, in college now, both in football, but probably more so in basketball where

rosters are smaller and star players can take you further, are they better candidates for the pros? And in a world, and this is a secondary thought that I think that is unique to me, where players are transactional in college and, you know, the coaches have to do this as a business spreadsheet more than a relationship developmental aspect is being the head coach of a college program less, I don't know, is the bond weaker in that regard the same way it might be with some of the players who come through the places that, you know, promote this. So I think there's a lot to, there's a lot to unpack here. But first, why don't we start with the major thing, which is, do you think this is going to become a trend where really good coaches who do quick turnarounds

or have shown proficiency in the portal and NIL budgets will be more likely to leave at a more frequent pace and college coaches did before. It's interesting, Ari, because remember, there are still general managers, and you just got done talking about the Mavericks general manager, still general managers at the pro level that exert more power usually than general managers do at the college level, where the coach has all of the power. Dusty May is going to walk into a situation where he does not have all the power. You know, the GM and the team president have quite a bit of power in the Mavericks organization.

So it's interesting because the skills you are showing at that level don't necessarily all translate, like the balancing the books sort of thing. And I know that Dusty May had people doing that in Michigan too. But what it does show you is that you can very quickly assemble a roster and make the pieces fit and make the pieces work together and get a new roster every year that you build around a couple of core pieces, which is what happens in the NBA. and it shows if you're good at that or not because I think we've learned Dusty May is very good at it. I mean, took Florida Atlantic to the final four in 2023. Then he takes over Michigan immediately makes them better and then wins a national title in year two at Michigan. We've seen it with Todd Golden at Florida, you know, who is very good at assembling a roster, making those pieces work together and fit right.

That's important now. It's probably more important than being able to develop the guys. We talk about Rick Petino and his ability to develop players and turn them into the best version of what they can be. I don't even know if that's necessarily the skill set you're looking for the top level of college basketball or definitely not in the NBA because that's already going to happen by the time you get to the NBA. Well, the thing that is really interesting about this,

and we have to turn this over to football because I think that, you know, I think that's more interesting. But I think that a lot of the teams that have won national championships during the core of my career for the 15-year period between 2010 and 2024, probably cut off at 21 or 22, depending on where you want to begin the NIL era. Those coaches did one thing really well, which was recruit talent. They brought talent in year-over-year, 25 to 30 players. They bolstered their rosters and they had a developmental aspect of it. where they took very good players, kept them on the roster for three to four years, sometimes in some cases five, and then we're able to assemble really good teams out of that many

players. But I don't know if that has ever been a good litmus test for how good you would be in the pros, because obviously rosters don't stick around that much and you have to, you know, adapt to deadline trades and offseason moves and free agency acts. acquisitions and that didn't that didn't really happen but Andy in college now as we look at the defending national champ and even if you go back to the Ohio state team that won a two years ago that has recruited really well and maintained their roster. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

They also. Quinn Sean Junkins was a transfer. Will Howard was a. I mean like they had guys come in at the 11th hour that helped them win the national championship. Will coaches who were so good at winning at a high level in. the recruiting era translate into what we're seeing now. Because if you look at even in football, the most recent national champion and the most recent runner up were very heavy in the portal and piecing those guys together.

Like his entire secondary came out of the portal. Both of those, Ohio State and Indiana, the coaches had the core of the team for most of the time. Because remember, Kurt Signetti coached the James Madison guys at James Madison. But going back to what May did, and I think that's what this is where I'm curious to see if the pro leagues are taking note of this and how much this matters. So we talked about maybe I'm wrong in what I was saying, you know, Patino is the guy who gets the best version out of you and develops it. But if you look at what May did, he got a better version of L.A. Kadoe than they had at North Carolina. We talked during the run about the difference between Ademara where he was and where he wound up.

So that's the part that I don't know. I mean, because he was at UCLA, but he wasn't this at UCLA. And so it's possible that Dusty May is the type of coach who can see exactly how you can be best used and utilize you that way. which, Ari, that sounds like an NBA coach more than a traditional college. And he did in a very short amount of time. Like the bulk of their team was during their first year at Michigan, if I remember correctly, right? Like four of the five starters, I believe were in their first year. And if we look at the team that just won the NBA in the Knicks, like Mike Brown comes in,

replaces Tom Tibido. Tom Tibido, what was the problem with him? He'd play his starters too long, never developed a bench, wore his players out. Well, Mike Brown came in and figured out exactly how those bench players worked together, how to do those rotations, how to play them in spots where you still had the strongest five you could put on the floor at the time. That's the game now. That is the game. But I think what is interesting, too, is, you know, if you are a college football fan, like I made the comment to Andy off air, like I'm surprised that Kurt Signetti isn't the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.

Well, the truth of the matter is, and I think you're right about this, that there are too many moving parts in football. even if you have your quarterback to guarantee sustained success in the same way that you would be. And let's not forget that Dusty May is like taking a job where like Cooper flag is the centerpiece of that organization is going to be there for a long time. So, you know, I don't know if errors if the NBA and the NFL are going to have a lot of parallels between those two things. But what I do know is is that if you are able to, you know, take all these moves and get these players in one off seat, and put them together, mesh them into a cohesive unit, and coach the hell out of them, then that makes you a really ideal candidate for the next level.

I think in both sports were probably more so in the NBA. All right, I do think this is probably more worrisome if you're an AD with a good college basketball coach than necessarily with a college football coach. Though, I will say, like, Marcus Freeman probably could have had the Steelers job this year and opted not to do it and not to say it Notre Dame. But I think in basketball, it's a little more translatable.

You just mentioned, you know, what Dusty May walks into, like you've got Cooper Flag. Like, Cooper Flagg gives you a higher floor than, say, Fernando Mendoza necessarily does with the, with the Raiders. Like, you could have Fernando Mendoza with the Raiders and he'd be good,

but that doesn't mean you're going to be great. Like, Cooper Flag means you're going to be okay, and then if you put the right pieces around him, you could win a type. There's a higher certainty of success, too. It's like, I think that even after like a rookie season. And I'm going to use Jaden Daniels as an example. Jaden Daniels had an incredible rookie year and led the Washington

commanders all the way to the NFC championship game. Cooper Flagg, obviously, I don't even think that the Mavs made the playoffs this year. But you saw what he did on the court. And you probably bet most people that Cooper Flag is more of a sure thing to have a great career than even Jane Daniels, who's an exceptional young quarterback. Like there's just too much, you know, know, variables, too many variables, football world where, like, injury happens and all these different things. And they've also got, yeah, they've also got Kyrie Irving who could be a health,

I believe, you know, was injured and now a healthy Kyrie Irving coming into the season plus Cooper Flag equals a playoff team for sure. And then beyond that, we'll see what happens. But this is not worked historically. You know, if you go back to the history of college coaches going to the NBA. We talked about Rick Petino already. John Beeline was the last Michigan coach to leave for the NBA. And that was an absolute disaster. Now,

probably was kind of set up for failure with the Cavs. But still, like, that was the case of great college coach, perfect coach for the old era of college basketball, walking into an NBA roster and being like, oh, God, what do I do? You know, I don't know how to deal with these

people. They don't know how to deal with me. And I think it's, also the perfect segue because there's so much like to break down about you know well but you know you know who did work or he was brad stevens he worked now he's a gm of the celtics now but he was good as the coach uh billy donovan i think we could say probably worked uh he didn't have the greatest situation with the thunder because the best players just like he gets there durant plays one year and leaves uh and then they had to rebuild but and obviously the bulls not great management but he was reasonably successful.

It wasn't like he was an utter disaster. Andy, I want to ask you something, though, because it's the number one thing that we've always discussed when it comes to pros versus amateurs, which is the personality aspect of it. Do you think, obviously, we talked a lot about, like, how a GM and the NBA might be the person who's in charge of the moves and crunching the numbers and making the pieces fit?

I do think that coaches should be and are typically, you know, in those conversations. too of can you make this work before things are done but to your point that's not his job in Dallas but do you think that while you're well he was molding michigan's basketball team last year and how much money these players that came in to mold were making that there is a different dynamic in the ability to manage the personality of the professional that was never never a deal when at any point in time in college sports history? Oh, yeah.

Like, yeah. Is Yaxel-Lindenborg harder to manage or different to manage last year as a result of his salary? And do you think that that is a good benchmark for understanding how to manage somebody with money? Different to manage. I wouldn't say harder. And I think with Yaxel specifically, at least what he said, he turned down money to go to go to Michigan. He could have gone to Kentucky for more money, according to him. But you're right. I mean, Yaxel Lindenborg was one of the most coveted players in the

transfer portal last year. He was making quite a bit of money. And yes, that is a different personality situation to manage than what you used to manage. Even with an older player like him, if it was an older player that had never really been paid, it was a different dynamic. Now you're coaching a guy who makes as much or more than you. And, you know, you've got to figure out how to make that work. And so I do think Dusty May, given what we've seen over the last few years, he seems to have that skill set in spades. And yeah, I mean, who's the biggest happens?

The highest profile flop in football from, from pro, from college to pros recently was urban Meyer. Right. And what I, we covered, we both covered him. like he ran with an, you know, an iron fist. We said his problem will be, like, if he fails in the NFL, it will be because he does not know how to deal with players who have agency, which that's exactly what happened. And guess what? I don't know that it would go very well for him in college right now either. Yeah, you don't get to not know someone's name anymore. You know what I mean?

It's like you have to, and I try to think about myself, like if I was making a million dollars, I might be less inclined to. get yelled out about something. You know, like it just, it's just not. You'd be less inclined to get yelled at in a certain way. I think if you're making a million dollars and you're, you know, you are a professional at that point. Like somebody who can make you better because it's interesting. You always hear the NFL coaches get interviewed, the ones who didn't play in the pros.

And people ask like, how do you earn the respect of the NFL players? And it is, the answer is always the same. It is you show them how you can make them better. You show them how they can keep their job today. You show them how they can keep getting paid and possibly get paid more later. Like that is how you earn their respect of a professional athlete. And clearly Dusty May can speak that language.

Yeah. It's obvious he can speak that language. So what happens next at Michigan, our Pete Naco said on three, reporting that Michigan is set to make Mike Boynton, the assistant to Dusty May, the interim head coach, and obviously Mike Boynton is an experience. head coach. He had Kate Cunningham at Oklahoma State. He's done this before. But this would be the

interim head coach for the entirety of this coming season. And then you give him a chance to win the job on his own. Or if you don't like what happens, then you can go and do a traditional coaching search. But this, this seemed like the most logical move when Dusty May to the Mavericks popped because you have a former high major head coach right there on the bench who helped recruit this roster, who knows this roster really well, who knows what Dusty May was doing there. It makes a lot of sense. So you're telling me that we have a 10-minute segment about Billy Donovan locked and loaded and ready to go, like that we could have done that.

We already had, I mean, we did that with North Carolina, but yeah, we could have done it again easily. Well, I mean, I think that the good thing, and I kind of felt like this with Ole Miss last year or two, when the Lane Kiff and stuff happened, like when you lose a coach or when something like this happens, especially when it's unexpected, obviously this is not as intense as what happened in the Ole Miss

because they were still in the middle of their season and a playoff run. But when you act quickly, the way that Michigan did, it kind of comes from a place of confidence and confidence to me. And I know that there are a lot of... Except Ari.

Remember the last time I had coach won the national title at Michigan and left and they promoted the other guy? Yeah. that didn't go so well I still think that the waffling would be bad and also again

unlike Sharon Moore who had off-field problems that bled onto the field Mike Pointin is not that that's not an issue also Sharon Moore was the biggest layup of all time like I mean like that was a court he was like the interim coach during

right he had served as the interim exactly so it made sense why they did it I think that situation in this situation are completely different and I wouldn't worry about what happened with that one in relation to this one. But this does allow you to keep the roster together. So for those who don't know, here's how the transfer portal works. So basically they'll name Boynton the interim coach.

There'll be a few days cooling off period where Boynton can talk to everybody. And then five days after they name the coach, a 15-day transfer portal window opens. Now, this is where we point out that Michigan is in the big 10. where they have a conference office written rev share agreement that we've seen in action already during the football transfer portal window because remember DeMond Williams was going to leave Washington, he was going to enter the transfer portal,

and then a few days later, they say, oh, never mind, I'm good. That's because the lawyers went over his rev share agreement and we're like, this is going to be incredibly expensive if you want to do this. So the players from Michigan already have their agreements signed mostly, they would be probably on the hook for quite a bit of money if they decided to leave.

I think this, the combination of that and making point in the interim probably ensures that you're going to have most of this roster together. Yeah. And I think that it would have been a fun thought exercise too with the fact that like I think it's harder to leave a place in general if you just won a national championship and going out and hiring a coach and then them being the reason, that person being the reason that your players leave makes less sense when you leave the national championship equity to go play for another coach that you don't really know.

It's kind of the same deal. Why leave? But I think that in terms of the sustained success of the program, you have important pieces back from last year's national championship run. You lost important ones too. But you have a pretty good core of people who played at the highest level and excelled on the highest stages like Elliott Kadoe, for instance. Like, I mean, you want that guy on your team next year.

And doing an interim situation, I think is really healthy because it's. allows somebody to have a real job interview, a long job interview. It keeps or, you know, we expect it to keep the roster together and intact. Michigan should still be very good next year. And then if it doesn't work out and things don't go the way that you plan, then you have a real full coach hiring search process. And you out and get somebody, especially considering the fact that at this point next year, maybe even, you know, months earlier after the season's over,

Michigan's still going to be viewed as probably one of the best jobs in college basketball, given what they just did last year. So I think this is all highly functional stuff. And what an opportunity for Mike Boynton. And again, we've seen him have some success at the high major level. He's the guy who recruited Kate Cunningham to Oklahoma State. And Kate Cunningham was excellent at Oklahoma State, goes into the draft,

has turned out to be as good or better than everybody thought in the NBA. So I think this is a guy who, who, given this opportunity has the tools to make the most of it. Yeah. So it'll be fun to watch. And I think that, you know, if a Michigan fan is upset right now, at least you have a familiar face that was a part of that run. And I think, too, that, you know, two years and a national championship is a,

as a successful hire, even if he's gone. So I think things went up. You know, Joanne Howard was coaching the team and, or two and a half years ago. and you were not even thinking about this. So, yeah, and this will be a very good roster that Michigan is going to have this year. So Boynton will get his chance. And if he succeeds, then great. If he doesn't, then you know you need to go get somebody else.

It'll be a fairly easy decision. And I don't think that head coaches are always just finished products either. You know, he already showed you that he has an eye for talent. But like learning from Dusty May and being on that staff and being a part of a national championship run, I would assume has made him a better all-around coach for this challenge. So we'll see how it goes, but I think this is a functional move. Yeah. So Michigan will have a first-year head coach in Mike Boynton.

Let's talk about some other first-year head coaches in the sport of football. That brings us to a question that our on three main account asked of the football fans over the weekend. And I thought there was a really good question. which first-year head coach will have the most year-one success in college football this year. So it's a pretty, this is a pretty big list, some pretty big-time programs on this list. Michigan, we just talked about with whoever is going to be the new basketball coach, Kyle Weddingham, first-year football coach there, obviously not, not his first year as a head coach. He's been a head coach for a long time.

But you've got Lane Kiffin at LSU. You have John Summerall taking over at Florida. James Franklin taking over at Virginia Tech, Bob Chesney at UCLA, Alice Golis at Auburn, Ryan Silverfield at Arkansas. It's a lot of people, a lot of new faces, new places. So when I saw this graphic, I was like, obviously, Lane Kiffin, like, is there a different answer? Like, that's the thing. It's like those are all interesting places. You know, James Franklin brings 11 players from Penn State to Virginia Tech, and they're in a conference that outside of Miami seems to be wide open.

Like, is it possible that Virginia Tech has more success than LSU because the expectations and the competition are easier? Like, I think that, like, this is kind of a tricky question because what LSU is going to find acceptable for this year is far different than what Florida is going to find. It's acceptable. So when you think about success, it's not which team you think is going to go the furthest. It's who's going to be most successful.

in comparison to what the expectations. Relative to the expectations that they inherit, which Lane Kiffin inherits the highest expectations, and I wanted to talk about your column, because you wrote this last week, Lane Kiffin went on Tyrone Matthews podcast, and basically said, I'm going to win a national title while I'm here at LSU,

which is exactly what everybody wanted to hear him say, and when he said, you know, shortly after taking the job, he's like, well, we're going to need some patience here. That's why everybody didn't like that. They wanted to hear him say what he said last week. And you basically said, you know, this is what everybody's been waiting for. Yeah. And I think that that's kind of the way that you go about it.

And I think that obviously patience will manifest because I do think that for as insane as college football fans are, they also understand that winning a national title is inherently difficult. And you and I both took part in a roundtable about LSU last week where one of the questions was, does LSU have the team to compete for national championship in year one? I responded yes. I think you did too. I do, yeah. So, like, even if LSU doesn't win the national championship,

if they're very good and they make the playoff and win a playoff game, like, I think that people understand, like, what the real, like, benchmark for success might be in year one in any situation. But I think that when you look at the list on the surface and you see Lane Kiffin as one of the four options you might automatically jump to, well, of course it's going to be Lane Kiffin. They spent the most money on their roster. They have the most, they have the most new exciting players. But I think actually if you like Galaxy brain this a little bit and you think about it, like I actually think that Lane Kiffin is probably the least likely to have the most success because

he is probably not going to exceed the expectations, which are at least a run in the playoff. and Chris Lowe on Monday did some contenders and dark horses and good bets for the playoffs in the SEC yeah in the SEC and I'm working on the Big 10 one as we speak and he listed LSU as a serious contender and not one of the best bets so like if that puts you in in a perspective of like if LSU makes the playoff at 10 and 2 and then loses in the first round like that is you know unquestionably a good season at 99% of the places but will he have had the most success of before on that list with that type of year, which is probably the most likely, probably not.

So like for me, I look at this, and I think that one of the answer, the answer is either Franklin or Summerall. Not winning. Well, I think that Wittingham is going to have a really good year. And I think that Michigan has a chance to make the playoffs. But I also don't think that Michigan is going to fall out of their chair if they do. Like if Florida wins 10 games this year, they will fall out of their chair. if Franklin makes the ACC championship game,

they will fall out of their chair. I think relative to the expectations at those two places at the bottom, because Michigan's expectations are still higher probably than Virginia Tech in Florida at the moment. Yes, very much. I think that Elaine Kiffin and Kyle Woodingham actually have a higher likelihood of not reaching those expectations in year one. Although they probably have the two better teams are at the top,

but we're talking about expectations here. And like I think that anything above and beyond a seven-win season for either of the bottom two coaches of the graphic, Franklin and Summerall is a widely successful impressive year. You're limiting yourself to the graphic. Why are you doing that? What about Matt Campbell?

What about Matt Campbell at Penn State? Look, what are his expectations? And we've talked about their schedule. Like, if he has a reasonably good season, he's going to make the playoff with that schedule. Yeah, yeah. So could he be the answer to this question? So do you have a guy?

Who do you think is the guy? I don't know if I had. I think Matt Campbell might be the answer. I think Matt Campbell is probably the answer because his runway schedule-wise is pretty good. But I like James Franklin. I think that James Franklin is a coach that gets piled on a lot. Virginia Tech just got a huge influx of capital into the president. program. Now that might not take into effect what they do this year because this happened after the

portal window. But I think that Virginia Tech's baseline level of talent is probably as high as it's been since Frank Beamer was the coach. Player. Yes. Agreed. And they're playing at a conference that doesn't have a ton of like, you know, I don't know, maybe Clemson will pop out of nowhere and be very good again or maybe Florida State will flare back up. I don't know. But on the surface, it seems like Virginia Tech's got the most, you know, easy schedule. Well, not even the schedule. It's It's just they should be better. And the thing that Franklin was doing at Penn State, if he does it at Virginia Tech, they'll be over the moon, at least for a little while. And the thing that I find really funny about James Franklin is that everybody makes fun of him for not getting over the hump.

Then Virginia Tech would just die to get into a game where there's a hump to get over. I think that that's like the thing, too. It's like even if James Franklin is exactly who you think he is, you cannot deny the fact that he made a career at Penn State, not losing games that they shouldn't lose. and assembling higher level rosters than they had before, winning 10 games. Now, they had some down years. I'm not going to act like the guy was infallible.

But in terms of what he did at his last two jobs, going back to Vanderbilt, winning 10 games and back-to-back seasons there, like it is an impossible thing to say that he's a bad coach or can't, like, get players up for a game. He's exactly what they need right now. He's a literal medicine to their ailment. Yes.

So, like, I still doubt at times, like, that Franklin will be able to beat Miami or that Franklin will get into the playoff and start knocking off teams that he couldn't beat at Penn State. I think that that's his cross the bear. But in terms of whether he can navigate the ACC schedule and beat Stanford and Cal and BC and, you know, SMU even. Like, I don't know, man. Like, SMU is going to be very good, but I don't think it's an unquestionable thing to think that Virginia Tech get back to their way into the AICC. championship game in year one. Yeah.

He's a good coach. Well, and that would be enough. They don't have to make the playoff to make everybody happy. You mentioned Summerall. He doesn't have to make the playoff to make everybody happy. If John Summerall wins eight games, year one at Florida, everybody's going to be happy because you look at the schedule, that means you beat somebody that you probably wouldn't have been able to beat under Billy Napier.

And this is also the reason why Matt Campbell's not the answer. because if Penn State goes 10 and two makes the playoff and loses in the first round, they'll just be like, oh, God, here we go again. You think they're going to be happy about that? I think that Penn State obviously understands that it's going to take some time to get back to where they were. They lost a lot of players. They lost a coach that was there for a very long time. And, you know, Matt Campbell, I think is maybe one, like James Franklin, Matt Campbell,

and Kyle Whittingham are the three most proven assets. I think you could even make the case that those guys are more proven at the highest level than Lane Kiffin is. Although Lane Kiffin had the best team recently, they've won more over the course of their careers at the highest level, winning conference championships and power leagues. So I'm looking at- A name that we haven't mentioned yet. Huh.

That we probably should. Pete Golding. Does he count for this? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. This is his first year's head coach at Ole Miss, full year. But he's got more playoff wins than anybody else.

that we're talking about. Yeah, and I bet you that his expectations are probably second right under LSU, right out of the gate, which like that's like a hard, like that's an objectively hard situation to, to, you know, hit. I think that obviously everything that he's done, I think that we know that there's a lot to like about Pete Golding. Again, you mentioned that they've won playoff games under his leadership,

but in terms of year one expectations, like Ole Miss is in a playoff bust mentality. Can you imagine, like if John Summerall was in a playoff or bust mentality right now or James Franklin? I think that the equation here, Andy, is most proven asset as coach over the long term at the place with the lowest expectations. And I think that that like James Franklin's the answer. I think that's going to be a fascinating competition to watch because other names that we don't like Will Stein at Kentucky. what's the expectation for Willstein? Like if Willstein makes a bowl game,

yeah, that's a huge step forward for them, right? Mm-hmm. Absolutely. And I think that he would probably be on the list higher than, than Lane Kiffin in terms of who's most likely to, I think the only thing that Lane Kiffin can do to have the most success out of anybody on this list is win a title.

And they might do it, man. Like, I don't know. They've got a really good team. Like, I've been reading a lot about L.S. She was, you know, they have a lot of good players. Yeah. And I honestly feel like if they were to miss the playoff, I wouldn't think that there would be a year one, you know,

building block. I would think that that would be a disaster, like if they missed the playoff this year. Well, it's not a disaster if they're close, but if they're not close, like these Brian Kelly seasons where it never felt like they were going to make it. Yeah, I don't know. That's a problem. That's not why you hired that guy. Yeah, nine and three.

I just, it's like a really bad look for him. Oh, yeah, but Will Stein's very interesting because he is exciting. He's from Kentucky. He's an offensive mind. They invested in the offensive line. They've got Kenny Menchie. I think that you can talk yourself into a seven or eight win season for them, maybe. And if they do that, then I think that he would be a kid.

Can I give you the guy who's probably going to engineer the biggest turnaround? Yeah. Let me throw you that name. Eric Morris going from North Texas to Oklahoma State. Oklahoma State was one of the worst. It was probably the worst program in the power. conferences last year. Right? That's not an exaggeration. No, I think that's that that's a fact. Yeah. So I think he's probably going to be able to win seven or eight year one, maybe even better than

that. Yeah. That's going to be the biggest turnaround in the sport. Yeah. And maybe, but I, the thing that's interesting is like, it's kind of like reminds me of a stock where like you know something's going to happen and it's priced into the, I mean, that that expectation is priced in. Yeah. Like they win eight games. Like that's exactly. Six, it's like, ah, we thought you're going to do better than that. Yeah, we're trying to, I'm trying to try to think that. Maybe, like, again, like Kurt Signetti is poisoning all of our brains, but like nobody saw what Kurt Signetti was, maybe one person, that guy that wrote into us at the offseason

before a year one at Indiana. Yeah. No, Jeff saw it all along. But, but right. And the other thing with Will, with, excuse me, with Eric Morris, there is that little bit of the organ game in week two. That's not going to be easy, but that'll be a nice measuring stick. You'll get a better idea of where, where they're.

As long as he doesn't go on the radio complaining about Oregon's salary structure, I think he should be okay. I don't think there is any chance in hell that he will do that. He will just say the nicest possible things about Dan landing the entire week. Yeah, and maybe some of Franklin's success is built into. Maybe I'm underestimating that a little bit. Maybe people in Virginia Tech are expecting nine wins. But here's the one, Andy, and you can speak to this really well.

I mentioned Chris Lowe's article that ran Monday about SEC playoff contenders. Do you know who is Dark Horses? The Mighty Gators. Florida. And I'm looking at their, obviously we know about their quarterback battle and how that plays out is probably going to have a large impact on their season from L. Jones or Aaron Filo. But when you think about Jaden Baugh, as we were playing the video game last week,

you scored with Eric Singleton, Jr. You know, they have guys on their team. Dejan Robinson. Dallas Wilson, Vernel Brown the third. Yeah, Miles Graham. Like, they've got guys, Dallas Wilson. Don't even get me started on him. I know you mentioned him. Five star receiver with a big frame.

Like, I mean, they do have, like, they do, like, I'm not doing it again because last year we got absolutely crushed by this team. But the hard part with Florida is we do not know what their offensive line is going to be. And until we know that, it is almost impossible. to make a prediction. Yeah.

But I think that if you wanted to be sick in the head like me, you could talk yourself into Florida being a dark horse playoff contender in year one. So maybe the answer is summer all. It could be. They do have premium level talent that he did a good job keeping. And that's what did coaches tell us about the Napier team last year, that they were as talented as any team out there. They just didn't play very well.

And I don't know if I'm just alone in this. The thing that scares me with Florida, and you can speak to this for me, is I was surprised they didn't try to make a bigger splash at quarterback. Are we going to get to week eight in the season and think to ourselves, why didn't they go make a move? They went and got the guy that was going to be the starter for the OC if he'd stay where he was. Is that a big enough splash for Florida to you? But I think that means Buster. Faulkner feels confident in Aaron Philo.

I agree with that. And Buster Falkner, it's not like Buster Falkner has been, you know, working in D3. Yeah, I mean, it might just be like, before that he was coaching quarterbacks at Georgia. So it might be a little bit of a hangover too because there was so much hype at the quarterback position last year for Florida. And like virtually none now. Yeah. That may be like it just feels odd.

But that Florida wasn't even in the mix. any of the top tier quarterback transfers. They knew what they wanted. They didn't even go for it. Yeah. They wanted Aaron Philo. I think they were pleasantly surprised

with Tremel Jones Jr. And that's why you have a real competition going on right now. Yeah. But they, this was the plan. Yeah. At least the Philo part of it was the plan.

I think the Jones part of it is, is the kind of bonus and you're going to get a real competition going into the. And all I'm saying is let's hope it's the right plan. Yeah. Because if it's not the right plan. But if it's wrong. it's year one. The difference is

he's not Lane Kiffin. He doesn't have to go to the playoff this year. Yeah. But they have a chance to maybe I mean like if these guys come into play, I mean they've got one of the best running backs, if not the best running back in college football. The receiver core

is going to be very good. Singleton's a proven asset. Dallas Wilson is somebody I think has a chance to start them. How's our defensive line? Is it still good? It's okay. It's again, it's not, Jaden Woods coming off the edge was a very important keep.

I've been watching him do 500 pounds, Zerchers squats on Instagram. Like, he could be a dude. But it's unclear how good that that route's going to be. So line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, we don't know yet. And I think that is what makes them very difficult to peg.

But, and that's why with LSU, we feel pretty good about the players they have coming back. Michigan, we feel very good about them throughout the roster. So, I think, and look, I think that's why we feel confident in Matt Campbell at Penn State. But yeah, you're right. This is hard, it's a hard question because it's a sliding scale based on what expectations you walked into. Ari, it would not be an offseason if we didn't have a segment where we break down some new uniforms.

probably a little too thoroughly. Nebraska unveiled its new Adidas uniforms this weekend, and the purists were not happy. Even though this is supposedly a nod to history with the stripes on the sleeves, if you're in podcast form, we're showing the new uniform on the video. You'll want to see this segment on YouTube. But you know I love shoulder yokes.

I don't know how much I love incomplete shoulder yokes. and this uniform has two incomplete shoulder heroes. They don't go all the way around, which they say it's a nod to Nebraska's history where they did have the shoulder stripes. If you look at like the 1958 Nebraska uniforms, the shoulder stripes went all the way around. It was more like the U.

Not quite like USC's exactly, but they were cool. This is not that. This looks like the alternate NC state uniforms for a few years ago. So where do we begin here, the fact that this is an Adidas uniform or the fact that people are probably just mad because they haven't won enough? With Nebraska, though, you've got really cool uniforms.

You've got cool historic uniforms that you won big in, or at least versions of them. They weren't like, and look, Nebraska hasn't been, they're not like Auburn or Penn State where they're terribly precious by their uniform and they don't change anything. but Nebraska has a great basic uniform that looks like the uniforms they wore in the 80s and 90s when they were awesome and the best program in college football are one of the best. I don't need that much change. I don't need much to be done with that.

It feels like the jersey, like I don't think it's ugly by any stretch. Like there have been some jerseys that I find offensive. I don't think that these are offensive. I think the pants where there are two incomplete lines, on the sides of the pants are a little bit funky, and it does feel NC-State to me. But in terms of, like, visually speaking,

I don't think that they're ugly. So that's good. The thing that I think is interesting is that Nebraska is at an intersection as a program where it's trying to break through and accomplish something that hasn't been done in decades, and things aren't going well, and then you change the uniform. And I think that it sends a message to fans,

whether this is correct or not, I think it does, illustrate that you're focused on the wrong things and that you need to win in the uniforms that you're wearing before you start getting all flashy and all these things. And this, I've been reading the message boards, Andy. No one's happy about this. There's a lot of people who are kind of, you know, like they changed their uniforms in the early 2000s and they had some pretty bad seasons.

And I think that they just wanted to be as basic and, you know, close to their historical viewpoint of what Nebraska's uniforms used to look like as possible. I don't know if people are sensitive. And I also know if they went to the playoff last year, no one would care. But I do think that there is an element of like, okay, why are we tinkering with our uniforms and we can't even figure out to win 10 games? You know, like, I think that that's, that's kind of been my main takeaway from this. But the thing about that is, look, tinkering with uniforms does not affect whether you win games or not. I know.

Different people are, like, I don't think Matt Ruhl spent a whole lot of time on this. I think Matt Ruhl probably, it came across his desk and he's probably like, okay, sounds good. Yeah. Adidas is spending a fortune on this, though. Like some designer at Adidas looked at the Nebraska uniforms and said, we got to fix this. And that's my problem. There was nothing to fix.

They looked awesome before. They did. And sometimes simple is good. And you know my rant, Andy, about every NFL rebrand. And if you go back and look at their 90s equivalent, that it's worse. Like, I think every team that has changed their uniforms from 1990 have the worst uniform they had a 90s. And the thing is, like, you go back to the 90s uniforms where the jury,

jerseys were bigger, the shoulder pads were bigger. The today's technology version of the 90s uniform is the best-looking version. Like the Miami Dolphins throwbacks is a prime example of this. They look better now than they did then when they used those logos. Nebraska is the same thing. Like I'm looking at, on my screen, I've got a Tommy Frazier picture up. And I'm watching Tommy Frazier run through the Gators in the Fiestaable. Now, that one, I think they were a plain white pant then.

I don't care if you put the stripe on the pants or not. That's not that big of a deal to me. But like the Tommy Fraser jersey has the big old sleeves and it's baggy because that's how jerseys fit back then. The version of that jersey that they were wearing the last few years in today's technology looks amazing. Looks great. Like you see that and you're like, that's Nebraska. if I see their uniform and I go, that kind of looks like NC State,

that ain't what I'm paying. I mean, it wouldn't be fair to, like, kind of like bagging on Nebraska, but it wouldn't be fair to also acknowledge the fact that Adidas has a pretty long history of doing this teams like in football. Yeah. Like, guys, it's not that hard.

Like, you make it harder than it needs to be. Yeah, just make a clean, crisp jersey in a classic style. That's all people care about and want. Yeah. Here are some of the main responses that message board genius. highlighted from the On 3 Husker Online message board.

Jimmy's and Joe's says, no wonder Nebraska football is a laughing stock. Then we have one from Ken Giffey Jr., which is an amazing name, by the way. Are these supposed to look good? Yikes. Then we got O underscore cornstalk, they are terrible with AI. I'm not sure how it's possible they did this bad.

And then CGRAS, FCF level, these pants suck. So like not a lot of, just a small portion. And I'll point out, what were they, what brand were they wearing in that festival when they killed Florida? Adidas.

Adidas. Yeah. Like, I don't know. You already know what they like. I think Adidas tries to do things that are so like different that, like they're trying to compete with Nike. And I understand like you want to do things that like set you apart or you want attention on your uniforms.

but a lot of times it just turns into this. So, you know, again, I've seen much uglier uniforms and I think that when they take the field, they'll look fine. But it just kind of reminds me of just like, what is your fan base really want? They don't care about the uniforms. They want you to win games. So, true, focus on that.

And they'll love these uniforms. Like, if you go 10 and two in these uniforms, they're going to love these uniforms. They're going to love these uniforms. Yeah, they're not ugly. Like, that's, I think the biggest takeaway with uniforms, are they ugly or not? They're not ugly.

They're just not Nebraska. Like, that's my problem. with it. I was like, I know what Nebraska looks like when they walk on the field and that's not Nebraska. It's just a further departure from, it's just another thing that's different from when they were great. Yeah, yeah. And I think if you have a great iconic uniform, you shouldn't do much with it. And I realize that Nebraska is one, that they will do some, some alternates that a little bit out there. We've seen Notre Dame do some alternates that are a little bit out there. And they're, obviously Notre Dame's regular uniforms are perfect.

I just don't, I don't know. I feel like when you've hit upon the right uniform combination, just don't mess with it. Andy, I think that the heart of the issue here, and I did a bad job explaining it, but I want to try again, is that when a team has a long history of success and memories, and you are no longer at that level,

changing something else that furthers the identity to when you used to be good is a hard thing for people to swallow. You mentioned if they win 10 games or make the playoff in these uniforms, people will like them because they can identify these uniforms with success. But it's just another change

that is away from the way things used to be. And I think that I understand why people would be upset about it. You want to cling back to that history. And now these doesn't even look like these uniforms don't look like the same team anymore. And the fact that they're not as good as they used to be is painful. Like I get, and if you're going to nod to their history,

then make them look like the old historic. uniforms. Don't make them look like a modern version of that. Like if you're going to say, well, this is, we're going to do this from as a tribute to when they had stripes on the sleeve on the shoulders, then make them look like the stripes on the shoulders did back then. Right. Don't make them look like that you went into your catalog and we're like, oh, we made

these for NC State a few years ago. Let's just rebrand those. You know, the cool thing about college football, though, is that it's this highly complicated, it's this highly complicated ecosystem of thoughts and context and debates and all these things. And when people get upset about things, you know, there's different reasons and roots for why. But there is always one universal cure in all of college football. Yeah.

Win football games in the fall. That's right. No matter what the problem is, just go win games. Yeah. And I think we'll end this segment the same way we end. every Nebraska second. No pressure mat rule. Yeah.

Good luck. We're pulling for you. Because it's not, yeah, you didn't have anything to do with this. And people are going to yell at you about it anyway. And I'm sorry. So are people going to buy these? I don't know. We'll see.

They win. Only if they win. Only if they win. Ari. Winner take all tonight. The 2020, 25, 26 academic year competition ends. Last national title handed out. for the 2025-26 academic year.

Oklahoma versus North Carolina, winner take-all in Omaha College World Series 7 p.m. Eastern Time. They're tied 1-1 in the championship series. The winner tonight is the winner, and then we turn the page to the 2006 and 27 seasons. Oh, boy, it's coming sooner rather than later.

But yes, this past school year. Was that a pun? I don't think so. I hope not. Okay. No, I'm not predicting an Oklahoma victory with that. I almost just like ran. You don't know who's going to win this game.

They're tied one, one, are we? Andy, I'm not a big college baseball guy. You know this about me. But any time you have an elimination event with a national championship game on the line, like just like one one game for the championship. Yep. It's highly compelling television, and I'm looking forward to watching this. I'm going to watch it.

That's right. Winner take all. Hey, umpires don't throw either head coach out in the first inning, please. I remember that. That happened a while back. It didn't go well. Yeah, I remember that. Especially not for something soft.

And that happens. But it is a college sport and there is a championship on the line. So there probably is a pretty high likelihood of grab ass in some regard tonight. There definitely is. So we may talk about that tomorrow. We will be visiting with Arkansas coach Ryan Silverfield. We talked about first year coaches. That's another one.

What's it like when you're the new head coach at Jerry Jones alma mater and then you meet Jerry? What does he say to you? We'll talk about it with Ryan Silverfield tomorrow.