Andy & Ari On3 - Has the Coaching Carousel FINALLY Stopped? | Tennessee v. NCAA | Can Florida get bowl eligible?

Episode Date: February 13, 2024

This show is sponsored by Fanduel, America’s No. 1 sports book. Visit fanduel.com/Staples to sign up. And right now, NEW customers get $150 in BONUS BETS with any winning $5 bet! The college football win totals for the 2024 season just dropped, so sign up today.(0:00-3:29) Intro - Bill Self Ejected in loss at Texas Tech(3:30-5:57) - DeShaun Foster Named Head Coach at UCLA(5:58-30:48) - Pete Nakos Joins to talk Portal, Coaching Changes(30:49-36:41) - Early Win Totals for 2024 Season(36:42-1:00:22) - Nick De La Torre Joins to talk all things Florida Gators and a brutal 2024 Schedule(1:00:23-1:03:45) Conclusion - Tennessee vs NCAA Hearing UpdateOn3’s Pete Nakos joins the show to discuss the end (knock on wood) of the 2024 coaching carousel cycle. Who made the best hire? Did anyone reach?Also, Pete helps preview the hearing as the attorneys general from Tennessee and Virginia take on the NCAA’s NIL rules in a federal courthouse in Knoxville on Tuesday. The judge in the case seems to have indicated how he’s going to rule, but could something surprising happen?Plus, Pete talks transfer portal. Only Michigan, Boston College and UCLA still have portal windows open. Does he expect much movement? Or will players wait until spring?As we mentioned, Fanduel recently dropped a huge batch of college football win totals. What are some of the numbers that we’ll need to take a deeper dive into in the coming weeks? Two that jump out: Miami at 9.5 and Oklahoma at 7.5.Next, Nick De La Torre of On3's Gators Online joins the show to talk about how and why Florida lost its recently hired strength coach to Boston College. What do Billy Napier and the Gators do now? Also, Florida’s season win total number has been set at 5.5. Andy and Nick break down the games to determine whether Florida can reach the over with one of the most difficult schedules in the country.Want to watch the show instead? Wake up with us and join us live at 8 AM ET, or watch here! https://youtube.com/live/9AGLZnsa8eIMust be 21+ and present in select states. FanDuel is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas StarCasino, LLC. First online real money wager only. $5 pregame moneyline wager required. First online real money wager only. $10 firstdeposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com.Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania,Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 in Arizona, 1-888-789-7777 or visitccpg.org/chat in Connecticut, 1-800-9-WITH-IT in Indiana, 1-800-522-4700 or visit ksgamblinghelp.com in Kansas, 1-877-770-STOP inLouisiana, visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland, visit 1800gambler.net in West Virginia, or call 1-800-522-4700 in Wyoming. Hope ishere. Visit GamblingHelpLineMA.org or call [phone] for 24/7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or textHOPENY in New York

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. We think the coaching carousel is over. We think we'll talk about that in a little bit with our friend Pete Nacos of on three. But first, let's talk about something that happened last night. On Monday night on Big Monday in college basketball, we've all been Bill Self. Every one of us has been Bill Self on Monday night. His team was playing a road big Monday game for the second consecutive week after playing a really good opponent the previous Saturday at home. Easiest thing in the world to predict they were going to lose. You knew they were going to probably be a little flat.

Their leading scorer is out. And it was exactly as you would have thought. Texas Tech was destroying Kansas. It was a 16-point game late in the second half. Hunter Dickinson picks up a foul, kind of banging underneath. It was away from the ball. Bill Self's just like, he's had it. And very quickly gets himself ejected for the first time since 1999 when he was the coach at Tulsa and they were playing a game at Wyoming. So they were at altitude. So maybe he had altitude sickness at that point, but another 25 years pass and he

finally gets ejected again. And it was one of those, I just don't want to be here anymore kind of things. And he said he didn't cuss. And he said, he said a magic word a couple of times. So I, now I want to know what the magic word was because we all have seen bull Durham. Well, us old people have seen bull Durham. So we know what that magic word is, but I think that's a cuss word. So what, what would the magic word be that bill self said? Cause he, he clearly was getting himself tossed. It was kind of like you see with the baseball managers and the umpires who make the deal before the game about, hey, if we get something controversial,

I'm going to come out. I'll kick some dirt on your shoes. Can you please just toss me? That was Bill Self. He's just got this grin as he's walking off the court. The Texas Tech mascot, giant, fluffy giant, fluffy Yosemite Sam looking dude is just waving him goodbye. It's not a Texas Tech football game, so he's not getting tortillas thrown at him.

But that's what would have happened in a football game. We've all been there. How many of us have not been at work one day when we knew it just wasn't going to go our way? Like when we woke up that morning, we knew it was going to go badly and said, you know what? If I can just dip out of here, get myself thrown out because it looks like I showed up and I tried. But then I got to go. I'm going to do it.

That was Bill Self. So, Bill, we've all been you. We feel your pain. 25 years between ejections is pretty good, but it's been one of those years of the Big 12. Like Scott Drew, the Baylor coach, first career ejection. Like he's been coaching a long time.

His first career ejection was earlier this month. So it's getting that time of the year. It's February. Road games in conference. Some days are just not going to be your day. And that's where Bill Self was at. But yeah, we're going to get a little more college hoops. Get some bracketology going.

We're actually talking to Nick Del Tori later in the show from Gators Online. We're talking about a lot of Florida football. But we'll throw a little Florida basketball in there too because we do need to brighten the news for the Gator fans just a tad. But in other news, the coaching carousel, we think, has come to a stop

because UCLA has replaced Chip Kelly. Deshaun Foster, your new coach at UCLA. Now, Deshaun Foster was on Chip Kelly's staff the last few years. He is obviously a former Bruins great. He's been the running backs coach, and he was one of several former Bruins that was discussed. Tony White from Nebraska was another one. But this is a situation where you can kind of continue with most of the existing staff. You don't have to fire those guys. And oh, by the way, if you look at UCLA's recent coaching news,

you see like three assistants just got new titles, like Tim Drevno, Jerry Neuheisel. They got new titles, which means they just got extensions and raises. So if the idea for Martin Jarman, the UCL athletic director was kind of keep this staff together. Don't pay a bunch of buyouts. Deshaun Foster is the way to go. I'm very interested to see the contract for Deshaun Foster. Cause I wonder if it is something close to what Zach Arnett got at Mississippi state. Remember we were telling you during the season last year with Zach Arnett, like this contract is not exactly ironclad on Zach Arnett's side. Like if they want to make a change, they can make a change.

And so I want to see what Deshaun Foster's contract looks like because he didn't have a ton of leverage. But here is Deshaun Foster getting introduced to the team by Martin Jarman. We want somebody that wants to be a Bruin. Well, we didn't get somebody that wants to be a Bruin. We got a Bruin. Come on out, coach. Your new head coach.

And, you know, that's one of those things with the transfer portal window now open for 30 days after Chip Kelly left. You do want to make sure that the existing roster wants to stay. We joined now by a guy who knows all about the transfer portal. He is on three's transfer portal. Guru Pete Nake goes, Pete, I have not seen any UCLA Nake hostifications in the last 24 hours. There haven't been, there haven't been no,

no UCLA players have gone in the transfer portal since Friday. It's been a very quiet weekend. Yeah. So, all right, let's see if I can get this right i i'm testing myself here the transfer portal windows that remain open are michigan boston college and ucla right correct yes and then there's like i think san jose state and a couple other small oh that's

right san jose state went to those arizona's in the next few days yeah and alabama's famously closed on saturday right as ryan grubb was being broken to uh to the seattle seahawks so yes uh funny how that works yep timely do we do we think this carousel is done? I mean, because this feels like the last change for football or football-adjacent reasons. Like now if somebody gets fired, it's because they knocked over a liquor store or something, right? Yeah.

I guess the one thing, like the wild card here, Andy, and I'm not saying that this is going to happen, but does Kalen DeBoer make a move somewhere to Ryan Dane taking a sitting head coach to be his offensive coordinator? Oh. I know we haven't. and I'm not saying that this is going to happen, but does calendar board make a move somewhere to Ryan Dane, taking a sitting head coach to be his offense coordinator? Oh, I know we haven't. He's already hired two sitting head coaches,

right? Like, so like it's happened at Alabama already. I'm not saying that there's the perfect fit, but man, after the last 10, 12, whatever we since been, I,

you kind of have to expect anything these days. It is. God, I, that did not even cross. And I should have because he did hire Kane Womack as his defensive coordinator, who was the South Alabama head coach. Mo Linguist as a position coach, who was the Buffalo head coach. So you're right. And I didn't, like when the news came out about Grubb,

I didn't sense an immediate fit outside. Maybe they could pull up Nick Sheridan, but I didn't sense an immediate fit. But you're right. It may be a situation where another Sunbelt coach who's experienced recruiting the South fills into the staff as a position coach or as a coordinator. Yeah.

I mean, I definitely will call it a wild card, but I definitely think it's something that we have to evaluate moving forward especially because like you mentioned right calendar board has hired these head coaches from uh buffalo and south alabama and just something to really watch i guess moving forward here well let me let me ask you this pete because this is a conversation i've had with agents over the last few years and their tone has certainly changed on this as time has gone on. But would you take a Mac or a Sunbelt head coaching job? If you were,

let's say you were a hot ACC coordinator, would you take a Mac or Sunbelt head coaching job? Or would you take an SEC position coach or coordinator job? Which one gets you to like a big time head coaching job faster i say the sec offense coordinator position job because i think that the climb to be good at that mac or sunbelt school is going to be much tougher and just i don't know from my vantage point andy like right you look at it i kind of feel like if you're at a mac or sunbelt the bar is you've got to win a conference championship

to get that SEC or ACC or Big 12 job. Yeah. It does seem like the bar is higher. Then if you're pretty good as the coordinator in the SEC or the Big 10 or even at the higher level ACC schools, you're in the pipeline already. That's really like the last five years but it's also because I mean you probably get paid more as as an SEC coordinator now too yeah I guess and the other thing I'm evaluating right

when I'm talking about that is like do I really want to try to build a roster that's just gonna get picked apart if we're good do I really really want to try to figure out how to raise money in, I don't know, Toledo or at Central Michigan or something? That doesn't sound appealing to me one bit. Yeah, because you don't have to do it. It's interesting because those are the things you do have to do once you get to the big school and other skills you might want to have but i don't know i at this point i don't think there's enough evidence that those guys are doing well enough to say don't do don't hire the coordinator uh the the hiring from within you know you look at at and then you know kirby smart was a

coordinator lincoln riley was a coordinator uh they're doing pretty well ryan day was a coordinator so yeah it's it's very interesting so i let's let's talk about this carousel because i i was thinking about this this goes so far this goes back into the season like when it really kicked off there were a couple moves early obviously the mel tucker thing was, but that wasn't necessarily football related. But it felt like Jimbo Fisher getting fired was what really kicked this into overdrive. That feels like five years ago. I would even say a decade. It has been wild. But yes, no.

I actually, before I helped on the show this morning, I went through the carousel and kind of made a list on my little notepad. Be like, man, how far back? And I'm like, wow, David Braun was elevated as Northwestern head coach a long time ago. Jonathan Smith took that Michigan State job a long time ago. Yeah, and then Nick Saban retiring sort of set off the second cycle of it. That was a month ago, Andy. Right, and thenim harbaugh goes

the nfl and all right so let us let's let's think about this what what was the most interesting search to you like what was the one that obviously there was not a tennessee following butch jones going into jeremy pruitt type search where people got fired over it and all that but well maybe okay i think i know where you're going with this i was thinking that i was going through this and i was like oh yeah mark stoops is almost the head coach at texas a&m and uh man that feels like a lifetime ago it does and that was a weird i was going to mention that too because i i think they i think they landed on the right guy in mike elko that mark stoops thing was crazy. So let's take everybody back through that.

Because that was going on. So the college football world that day was focusing on Ohio State and Michigan. That was, you know, Sharon Moore is acting head coach. Jim Harbaugh is still suspended. Obviously, all of that going on with Ohio State and Michigan winner's gonna win the Big Ten East and go to the Big Ten championship game and meanwhile there is this A&M coaching search going on Mark Stoops is his his agent is in talks with Texas A&M and it falls apart that Saturday while Mark Stoops is beating Louisville.

Yeah. I mean, I was thinking about it too, right? Like it's Thanksgiving weekend. Everyone's focused on like who wins that game. And then I remember really late. I think it was like Friday night or that Saturday night, right? Andy, like news kind of breaks that like he was like so close on the board of trustees. Basically, we're like to ross

bernard the the outgoing athletic director like hey we're just we're not going to do this like this is not going to happen at texas a now yeah and that's what that's what seemed like happened is you had the trustees looked at it and said to hire mark stoops who gets paid a lot of money at kentucky where he's he's almost at $9 million a year at Kentucky to hire him would require guaranteeing almost as much as they guaranteed Jimbo Fisher. And that's what they were trying to avoid. And so the Elko thing made, made a little more sense. And that's one of those that like you, you can pull the rip cord if you have to, but I also don't know that like my thing with Elko and Stoops, and this is, this is the kind of, maybe it's not fair to Stoops because with Elko, we just don't have as much

information, but I would say that Elko in his two years as the head coach at Duke seems more willing to let his offensive coordinator cook than Mark Stoops has seemed in in he has been at kentucky now for 12 seasons uh he has never seemed willing to just let his offensive coordinator yeah let it rip i guess the other thing too that that i think about is like um going back to the board of trustees like i think that there is a conversation there if like can we really sell mark stoops higher to this fan base right like we just paid this much money to get rid of jumbo fisher who was supposed to deliver the national title they proclaimed it at the press conference and then mark stoops like and that's not a shot at mark stoops what mark

stoops has done at kentucky has been extremely impressive um but i just think that they were looking for more of that home run hire who who was really going to rally the fan base and get the donors going and and i think the board of trustees said Mark Stoops is not that fit. Yeah. Yeah. And Elko so far has done everything and said everything right now. Obviously you got to win games, but I do think that he came in with the right and probably an understanding having just been at the place of how of how to negotiate that. Let's, so let's have an Alabama search because that was a case where Greg Byrne clearly knew who he was looking at. We don't yet know if,

if DeBoer was, was the first guy, first, first, first, or if maybe they talked to Mike Norvell a little bit, but it sure looks like they had a pretty tight circle of who they wanted to inquire about. And they had a coach within 44 hours. Yeah. Yeah. I right. Dan Lanning

comes up, uh, Mike Norvell comes up, but then I don't know. It kind of always feels like Caitlin DeBoer was the pick just because of how quickly it came together. And there wasn't like a lot of back and forth there. And, um, man, it's been a wild six, 10 weeks, whatever it's been now for Caleb DeBoer, right? He was like Isaiah Bond in the first like 48 hours as your head coach. And then like a week later, Caleb Downs and Caden Proctor go in.

And I think all eyes are going to be on him in the spring transfer portal window. I know he's done a really good job getting that commitment back from Ryan Hollywood-Williams and everything, but he has to be aggressive in the transfer portal. Aladam was going to be at the standard that everyone's been used to for the last decade. Well, and let's talk about that because you've mentioned this multiple times that you think the spring transfer portal window is going to be as wild as, as the previous one. And last year it wasn't. And I think a lot of it is that SEC rule that says SEC players can't go to other SEC schools

and play right away from the spring portal window. But in this case, you've got Alabama shopping from the SEC. You've got Auburn looking for a quarterback still. You've got Michigan in the Big Ten looking for a quarterback. There's not many places SEC players would want to go that are outside the SEC, but Michigan would be one of those places. Yeah, and I think the thing that you have to compare it to, right? So two years ago, you had the Jordan Addison sweepstakes in the spring transfer portal window.

And then last year, the coaching carousel this year is by far the longest and wildest one we may have ever seen, which then leads to all this angst entering into the spring transfer portal window. And that, I mean, at Alabama needs players. Michigan is surely going to lose players in the spring transfer portal window because the academic calendar has not been friendly to the athletes the last like two weeks or whatever. So I'm sure Sharon Moore is going to need some guys on top of getting a

quarterback. Right. And then like, there's some other ones I was like, rifling through as well. Like I'm sure Deion Sanders is not done in the transfer portal. I'm sure that USC still needs a couple wide receivers because USC was really hit hard in the portal in December. And then like Texas, Mike Elko,

he's done a fantastic job putting together a roster to see, try to get a couple other guys in the spring. Like I think there's a lot of programs who surely would like to get a couple more guys and the last time to do what's going to be in the spring. So here's one, because this is another place i think if you were an sec player you'd consider this place if they wanted you but so far we've not seen them be aggressive in the portal do you think clemson will try to get anybody else in the spring portal They did put some offers out, but it was not extensive in the last one. Right. I kind of feel like they should.

I think the big question is like how aggressive does Dabo get? That's the thing though. That's a really fun thing with the spring portal window, right? Like right now is the time when coaches do their national signing day press conferences and everything like that. And people are really excited about the fall. And then maybe that spring game doesn't go well, right, Andy? Like maybe player X or Y just like looks terrible for like 10 practices.

And the head coach is sitting with his GM in April, and they're like, man, we need to hit the portal hard. And that's what we might have, and I expect that to happen. And yeah, you're right. I definitely think Clemson would be a school to watch. So you mentioned GM, like the concept of a general manager. And we've had people who've held that title in college football going back probably 10 years. Austin Thomas, who's at LSU for like the ninth different time, I think was the first person I can remember being called a general manager.

But now it really feels almost more like an nfl general manager like what what are those guys doing right now the the the recruiting staff people who are focused on the portal like how are they handling the next few weeks as they get ready for this spring portal to open um i think a few things they're already starting to look at film because every everyone in that role will tell you that they don't have enough time to look at film during that two week window. And then I think the really crucial thing is really evaluating the entire roster and those 85 scholarship spots these next few weeks and,

and really picking apart who's going to leave, who's not going to leave. And I mean, this is just the easiest, easiest example, right? But like Ohio state has five quarterbacks right now. Like they're not going to be five quarterbacks in August.

I can almost guarantee you that. So then what happens is, right, you're going to have some scholarships open. And then all of a sudden, Mark Pantone, who has that GM role, is going to be looking to like, okay, like, do we need another offensive lineman? Do we need like scholarship positions will open? So, yeah, I think that's what a GM is doing at the moment. Yeah, they're going to be very busy guys and acting more like their pro counterparts than ever before.

And so that brings me to this next discussion because I do think we're going to see that position kind of meld with the NIL piece of it based on something that may happen later today. And that is, you've got the state of Tennessee and the Commonwealth of Virginia versus the NCAA in a federal courthouse in Greenville, Tennessee. That hearing gets going in about 39 minutes, Judge Clifton Corker's courtroom. And so what can we expect in terms of legal fireworks here? Yeah, so I think the few things to watch is, right,

this is a preliminary injunction hearing, right? It is not like the end-all, be-all hearing. So what you have here is Tennessee and Virginia arguing for this injunction that would hold forth for the entire lawsuit. Right. And what we're really going to be paying attention to is the irreparable harm, which was not what the judge ruled on. That's the reason why the TRO was not granted. Temporary restraining order.

Yeah, right. The temporary restraining order yeah right the temporary restraining order so josh heichel put together a very passionate declaration um this past weekend where he talked about how uh athletes only have four or five years and they don't play professional sports and they need to have access to all the nil possible and i think we'll hear a lot about that today um i think i the last thing i mentioned to andy is right like this hearing is today the judge could take anywhere from one to two weeks to issue an order. Right. And it's interesting because he's already kind of telegraphed what it's going to be. So unless the NCAA has something it can pull out of the hat, which given what we've seen, probably doesn't.

He has said the NCAA is probably not going to win this case. So there is a chance that that he gives the injunction. And I think if he does that, if he grants the injunction, I don't think you see those rules come back. And this is the NCAA's NIL recruiting rules, essentially. Yeah. I mean, all of a sudden, if the injunction goes to pass, right, then you have Tennessee and Virginia can easily talk to athletes before they commit.

And that includes the transfer portal. I know a lot of focus has been on high school, but it also includes the transfer portal. And then I think the other thing you have to watch, too, if this injunction is ordered, right? And they get that. I think a ton of states are going to join this lawsuit. Yeah, yeah. This is one of those that they kind of want to piggyback on that and the the transfer portal one or the transfer rule one was interesting because there were seven states and

the u.s department of justice joining and i i thought with that one the rules are actually somewhat reasonable that the ncaa was trying to defend and it didn't their arguments just got shredded in court so that that that's going to be an interesting new world so if if this injunction gets granted and the spring transfer portal window is when we'll kind of see it all happening it does it just kind of bring into the the open what schools have been doing the entire time yeah i mean exactly I think you put it exactly right. Obviously, the NCAA is investigating Tennessee for these NIL allegations, and obviously, Tennessee set the standard in the NIL era

with its $8 million deal with Nico Amaleva. So, yeah, I mean, everything has been happening the last two, three years in the background, and if this comes to pass, three years in, in the background. And, and if this comes to pass, then everything's going to be public. Um, and all of a sudden,

right. Like you had John Ruiz with Nigel pack, like two years ago, talk about like his 800 Miami, Kansas state to Miami basketball. Yeah. And like, people are like,

Oh my God. And like, that's going to be the norm guys. Like we're going to hear the contract numbers. It's going to be very public. Um, and from where I said, it's going to be the norm guys. Like we're going to hear the contract numbers. It's going to be very public. Um, and from where I said, it's going to be quite fun.

I, it will be interesting. And, and yeah, cause it's interesting how the NFL does it. Like they, the, the agent wants the,

the full amount of the contract out there, but the team one only wants the guarantee out. So all of that information eventually comes out. And I imagine you're going to get the same thing here but i think i was talking to somebody who who runs a collective recently and they were explaining that because they're trying not to violate the ncaa rules all of the stuff they're talking about is kind of verbal and can you imagine so you talked to, so let's say that you're talking to a player and this is a high school player who commits in July to sign in December, who won't be

on campus till January. So you're not actually allowed to have the period is in writing situation until January. So you're talking about a six month gap where you've said, well, we think it'll look like this when we give you the written version. Can you imagine all of the miscommunication, all of the misunderstandings, all of the angst that this causes on both sides? The funny thing, too, is that's been going on now, too, right? Like a lot of these deals right now are like a coach or a collective sitting down with a top recruit uh before uh they commit and they're like

hey we're gonna give you this much money but we're not gonna give it to you in a contract form until you get on campus so um i'm also also like what really jumps out to me and he's like are we gonna have agents trying to float numbers to like me or you to to make them public to to really start a bidding war for these athletes yes 100 because we're already we already have that yeah and like i i think a lot of the quarterback transfer market this past winter was some was a little bit of that yeah there there were those numbers were getting out there and you know matt rule was actually the one who put the the biggest kind of firmest number out there yeah but he wasn't wrong i mean based on the people we talked to no he was spot on yeah so i i do think we're going to see that and it's

really going to be up to the coaches and well the people running collectives to separate the truth from the bs and not get right. Basically not get treated like an athletic director who gets destroyed by a coach's agent. That's historically in this industry. They're not great at figuring that stuff out. No, they're not. They're not. No.

So, yeah, I do think that the folks running the collectives will have to be a little. A little more judicious and there will have to be times when you tell when you tell a player tell their representation hey look we don't believe you if you think if they're really offering you that you're gonna you you feel free to go take that yeah and then the other thing too right like tennessee just the easiest example here is right like nil is allowed in high school in tennessee so then you have collectives in tennessee actually signing contracts with high schoolers who are going to go to a state institution um before they enroll because they're really just going to say like to the ncaa come and get us this and this is what missouri can do right now based on the way their rules work so that yeah i think and it will i think probably wind up getting those state laws more standardized

yep because everybody's going to want to have the same advantages and the least number of disadvantages so yeah gonna be gonna be a very interesting next few months after this ruling comes down which should come down in a few weeks yeah i guess the last thing i want to mention too andy is like i know a lot of people have been like this is not going to be the end all be all the nc and i understand that like i'm not trying to like i don't think so either i don't i'm not trying to overhype this but at at the same time, this Big Ten SEC advisory group, in my personal opinion, things will get much more sped up if this goes through because all of a sudden you're going to have a governing body

that really can't oversee NIL. Yeah. This changes the relationship, and this forces them into something where you've got to figure out rules because you want rules. You do want structure, but you have to figure out something that can stand up to a court challenge. Totally. But conundrum in the chat, Missouri and Tennessee are ahead of the curve. I would agree with that.

I would also add Kansas to that list. Listen, Avery Johnson's at K-State in part because they did a really good job working within their state law to make sure they could keep that really good in-state prospect at home. And now you're going to get to see him start for them. Yeah, and then you have Texas and Oklahoma, too, that have the state laws where it's like the NCAA really can't come down with sanctions on institutions in that state. Yeah, and Oregon's talking about changing their rules for the same reason. like the NCAA really can't come down with sanctions on institutions in that state. Yeah. And Oregon's talking about changing their rules for the same, for the same reason. So we will see what happens, but Pete Nacos, thank you so much. And we'll be talking about what happened in the hearing on tomorrow's show. Sounds like a plan.

Thanks so much. Thanks Pete. All right. So we'll see what happens, but in the chat, Mike says, I'm finally happy with my Huskers coaching staff after a few years, again, go big red in the next years ahead. So this was Mike posted this when we were talking about all of the carousel stuff. And I do think, you know, if I were a Husker fan, I would have been a little concerned the last few days. Are we going to lose our defensive coordinator, Tony white to UCLA that didn't happen. So they're in really good shape

right now. And we'll see. Sandman23, Napier knows Kiffin is taking his job next year, right? I don't know that he knows that. And I don't know that Lane Kiffin is necessarily thinking outside of Ole Miss right now. I think he's got a pretty good team set up at Ole Miss. In fact, well, I think now's a good time to talk about our friends at FanDuel. So go to fanduel.com slash staples, get signed up. If you win a $5 bet, you get $150 in bonus bets. And this is the time to do it

if you want to put in a little on your team's win total for the 2024 season, FanDuel dropped a ton of win totals on us last week. And so Ole Miss, for example, nine and a half wins. There's quite a few nine and a half win teams out there. Miami, nine and a half wins. So big expectations there from the folks at FanDuel. And I am very interested to see how all of this comes together. We're going to talk to Nick Delatore from Gators Online in a few minutes about Florida's win total. It's five and a half. That's the same as last year, but the schedule's harder than last year. So Florida finished five and seven last year.

So they were right on it. And so head to FanDuel, download that app, FanDuel.com slash Staples, get yourself signed up. Take a look at some of these. Louisville, eight and a half. That's a NC State eight and a half. You know, I'm looking at all these and I'm going, guys, somebody's got to lose some of these games.

Somebody has to lose. And I feel like everybody's pretty optimistic right now. The one that jumped out at me, though, in terms of not as optimistic on FanDuel was Oklahoma. Oklahoma, seven and a half wins in the first year going to the SEC. And Texas is going to the SEC, their number is 10 and a half. They are tied with Georgia and Ohio State for the most in the country right now. That seven and a half is a crazy number to me because I feel like Oklahoma kind of got the ship righted.

Brent Venable's first year was not as good as it could have been, but they win 10 games last year. They beat Texas in the Cotton Bowl. Yes, they're going to the SEC. Yes, it's going to be a little bit harder, but Oklahoma has been historically good. You know, the blake era at the end of the 90s really the only time historically that they've not been consistently very good so i have a hard time buying that oklahoma will not be good even in the SEC, even as it gets harder.

And I think they've changed the roster to make it more of a fit for the SEC. Speaking of teams moving conferences, USC's number, seven and a half, also like Oklahoma. That one is intriguing as well, because I think the benefit of the doubt for Lincoln Riley has melted quite a bit I think going into last season with Caleb Williams coming back we're like okay if they can get the defense a little better they're going to be fine but the way last season unfolded the way they fell apart down the stretch I just don't think we're going to give Lincoln Riley the benefit of the doubt this year, especially because they go into a tougher conference.

Now, Deshaun Foster, his first year in the big 10, he's got a five and a half total. So you UCLA, not under as much pressure there, but I do think Deshaun Foster is going to probably get a little shorter leash than most coaches, as we talked about earlier. Is that contract going to look a lot like Zach Arnett's contract looked at Mississippi State, where if you wanted to pull the ripcord early, you could. I'll be curious about that. One more 10 and a half win team. Oregon is a 10 and a half win over under going into the 2024 season. So Oregon and Ohio state, those, those are your, your favorites in the big 10 Michigan's at nine and a half Texas and Georgia, your favorites in the sec at 10 and a half Alabama's at nine and a half LSU is at nine and a half, but there's a lot of nine and a half, eight and a half floating

out there. And I I'm curious to see who could live up to that because like the Miami nine and a half is such an interesting number. That's not what I would have said. Yes. The ACC is not as strong as, as the SEC, the big 10, but Miami and the Mario Cristobal era has not shown itself to be one of those programs where they win all the games they're supposed to win. Like this would require them to win all the games they're supposed to win to, to go over nine and a half so or to get to to even get to nine so that is a that is a wild one and we're going to talk about the hurricanes and their first game because our guy nick delatore from gators online pointed to that game as one that yeah we're florida miami season opener is all angst all the time the dynamics around that game are absolutely fascinating so we're gonna talk about that with nick we're

talking about florida losing his strength coach to boston college and can florida go over five and a half that is the number that fandueluel has placed on Florida for the 2024 season. So yeah, go to FanDuel.com slash Staples, sign up. You place a $5 bet. You get $150 in guaranteed bets if you win. Now, let us talk Gators with Nick Del Toro. Joined now by the great Nick Del Toro of Gators online. Nick did not rest on Super Bowl Sunday. He was not sitting around watching the game. He was breaking a story

about Florida's strength coach, Craig Fitzgerald, recently hired five weeks on the job leaving to become the Boston College strength coach. It's a tough headline. If you click the link, which I hope you did, and our bosses hope you did. Which a lot of your message boarders did not because they were jumping to conclusions before reading the story. Yeah, yeah. If you click the link, it makes a lot of sense. And it's kind of why I said before Mark Hockey was reassigned,

I didn't think Billy Napier would reassign or fire Mark Hockey. Strength coaches and head coaches are locked together. I truly believe if Urban Meyer came back and coached the New Mexico State Lobos, that Mickey Marotti would leave Ohio State and go coach with Urban Meyer at New Mexico State. That's what head coaches and strength coaches do. They're an integral to the head coach. Bill O'Brien and Fitz met in Maryland. When Bill O'Brien got the head coaching job at Penn state,

he plucked Fitz and brought him with them. When he left to go to Houston, he took Fitz brought him with him. So when Bill O'Brien goes to Boston college, the very first call he's going to make is going to be to Craig Fitzgerald. Unfortunately for Florida, Craig was only on the job five weeks. And unfortunately for Florida, Bill O'Brien wasn't at Alabama. And the headline now reads Boston College.

Yeah, and that's the thing. Bill O'Brien getting a head coaching job was not something even bill o'brien thought was going to happen five weeks ago and i think that that changes the dynamics of everything but it doesn't sting any less if you're if you're florida and you're billy napier and you're going into what feels like a make or break season and you thought you had a a really good accomplished strength coach which which is what Craig Fitzgerald is. And now you've got to, you've got to figure it out on the fly. So what are they doing for now? Yeah. So right now Florida starts their identity phase, which is as Billy Napier called it the most mentally and physically grueling portion of their offseason. So you have Mark Hockey still on campus in a role.

He knows what's going on. But from what I've been told, it's going to be Tyler Miles, who's the director of player athletic development. He joined the team last year. He was a guy that the players even lobbied for to get the job before Craig Fitzgerald was hired. And he will lead the team through this second phase of the offseason, what Billy Napier likes to call the identity phase.

And it remains to be seen. Does Florida just stick with the guys they have? Do they go and find somebody else? That relationship dynamic of strength coaches and head coaches still remains. And now you're less than a month away from spring football for a lot of these programs. Who, and as angry as Florida fans were at Craig Fitzgerald for leaving when he did, it's going to be probably hard for Billy to find another guy to poach who is qualified or or worthy to be florida's strength coach i was gonna say they're not i can't think of a lot of free agents out there right now or guys that are in flux because

of the nfl so it is a it is a really tough time to have to hire somebody and it sounds like they've got somebody who knows the players the players like so that that that does make sense why you would just go there and then kind of kind of ride it out but you know for billy napier it seems like yet another hit and and i haven't got a chance to talk to you on the show since this happened so billy napier he had a press conference last week on signing day you guys asked him a bunch of questions he had a very interesting interview i thought with sean kelly who was the voice of the Gators on Sean Kelly's podcast, where Sean asked some pretty pointed questions, which you're not expecting from the announcer. But one of the

questions he asked him was, please help me explain to the fans when I get asked why there isn't an on-field special teams coordinator. Andy answered that but basically uh there are other really good programs that do it this way and uh and so this is the way this is the way i've decided to do it and then the other question was about interject what billy can't say is sean the ncaa is not sending people to watch to make sure analysts aren't coaching on the sidelines and and when they start doing that around this around the country, we'll probably get an on-field guy but until then, we feel good with an analyst there. Okay.

Well, and I think what's going to happen more than likely is the coaches will threaten a class action lawsuit. The limits on the number of coaches will go away and then you can just have an on-field special teams coordinator along with whatever else you want to have. So that's, that's probably the more likely outcome. The question is,

you know, how long that is till, till that happens. But the other question, obviously that you guys asked multiple times and that Billy answered in that, in that interview, the in-house interview with an answer that I think, even though he didn't answer it directly, I think we know what he means.

It was, are you calling the plays this year? And I got the sense, yep. And he thinks the defense was more the issue last year. Offense is actually doing what it needs to do. Well, if you take Billy Napier, and I'm learning, you know, as you cover somebody on the beat and you interact with them a lot, you kind of learn them. I take Billy Napier at his word.

I think he's an honest man. So when he says we take stock and we do rigorous evaluations of our staff and of each other, of of ourselves after every year i know that billy napier who has been a head coach now six years had never fired an assistant football coach so when they took stock after 2023 shortly after the season two defensive coaches were fired the first coach is billy napier has fired as head coach. Nobody on offense has made or has been moved or changed. So that tells me Billy Napier thinks the problem was on defense. The problem was that we weren't strong enough, got a new strength coach.

The problem was, hey, we had some procedural issues on special teams that kept creeping up, got another guy for special teams. Clearly, the offense isn't the issue. And then I keep going back to the point if billy napier believes his job is not on the line in 2024 then why make a change on offense furthermore if he thinks his job is on the line why would i give up play calling and let some other play caller determine my fate and my future that's it right there and that's what as people have asked me about this that that's the explanation that makes the most sense is if you feel like you are in a hot seat situation your job's on the line why would you

not do the thing that you've done your entire career why why would you change and put it in the hands of somebody else instead of yourself, who you probably trust the most? And the other part of that, because there are situations where you might feel like, now Ryan Day's not in the hot seat, but clearly he feels very comfortable handing play calling to Chip Kelly, who taught him how to call plays. days. Right. The situation with Billy Napier is a little bit different, where if you are going to hire an offensive coordinator from the outside, that person is going to demand a a certain, you know, a surcharge, because you're in danger of getting fired, they're going to demand at least three years on a contract. So if you're Billy Napier, or if you're you're the administration at Florida, that

doesn't seem too appealing to you either. Because one, the best of the best aren't coming because they're worried they're going to get fired. And two, so now you're into the middle of the pack and they're going to demand more money. I think you could have gotten somebody depending on what the contract would have been, but maybe a young up and comer. I know, you know, Willie Corn's name was thrown out for a name Marion's name running through the rumor mill. But then you're asking, well,

are you also making wholesale changes in year three? Right. Or are you looking for somebody to run your stuff? Nothing like Billy Napier's way different. It was kind of like Will Muschamp, who I think was saddled with Charlie Weiss because they wanted somebody with head coaching experience. And then you make a move to Brent Pease. And then it's like, hey, man, no one's running this pro style thing. You've got to you've got to figure out how to do the spread.

You'd already spent four years recruiting guys to run your pro-style offense. Now, Kurt Roper gets here and goes, why are there 350-pound offensive linemen? We need 280, 260-pound offensive linemen. We need to spread out and run it around. It was just you're throwing one tiny duck floaty to a passenger on the Titanic. It just wasn't going to happen. Yeah, one of the great unanswered what-ifs in Florida football history is, what if Will Muschamp had arrived

with a more modern offensive philosophy and a different offensive coordinator? I think that tenure would have gone very differently had that happened. Now we are sitting here,'m counting uh three three coaches on from yeah yeah we're soon to be a full hand working on second hand um yes now andy there is another another scenario i think that could happen maybe billy i know that russ calloway got more responsibilities as last year went on. Maybe Billy wants to see how Russ does in the spring. Hey, when we go to team periods during the first two weeks,

we're going to let Russ call plays during our team periods. He'll diagram those. When we go to our first scrimmage of spring, Russ is going to call offense ones versus ones. I'll call them twos versus twos and see how he does. If Billy Napier sat up there on Wednesday of National Signing Day and told us, yeah, I'm giving the play calling to Russ Calloway, and then you went through spring and it just didn't look right, now you have to fire him. You can't then take away play calling.

So I don't know if I'm going to close the door and Billy Napier won't let Russ Calloway call plays or maybe even kind of a Brian Johnson, Dan Mullen situation where as much as I've said about Dan Mullen, Dan Mullen helped Brian Johnson get his job in the NFL. A quarterback, Dan Mullen's quarterback coach was not getting a job in the NFL. Dan Mullen's offensive coordinator for a good offense would and that could be something that billy would want to do with russ calloway but if you say it on wednesday there's no putting that toothpaste back in the tube if you get through 15 spring practices and it doesn't look or feel right well and it's interesting because i i've seen the discourse around the the play calling and and i'm i'm with you in terms of billy deciding he wants to keep calling the plays because this is do or die right now but in terms of whether it was the defense the the defense

definitely needed to be improved yeah but let's talk about the numbers for the offense they were number 47 in yards per play in the country so kind of middle of the pack six yards per play base 6.05 and number 59 in scoring and 20 with 28.4 points because that's what it felt like when people were arguing oh no the offense is fine they were cherry picking games and you can't cherry pick games like they all matter and they all count just because you're like, you're at Florida, Georgia's on your schedule. You got to find a way to score on them. So it took me about like two weeks, but going through when Billy neighbor was first hired,

going through and watching Louisiana film, watching their games, highlights, full games. I told Florida fans, I don't think you're going to like this offense. They could be very, very good. The team could have very good records. This isn't going to excite you. And when I look at Michigan, I think Billy Napier would watch Michigan in the national championship or in the playoff and go, that's our offense.

That's what we are. We just don't have the guys yet. And watching that game with the people on our message board, that's not ever going to excite Florida fans, especially Florida fans. I think winning will excite them. And the way, the way Michigan ran it, it was an explosive offense when it needed to be, and they could just mall you up front, but there's no excuse to get to that. There's no excuse. Well, you wait nine years to get to that. There's no excuse.

You can't in the transfer portal era say, I don't have my guys. Like, it's your fault you don't have your guys. So that's the problem that they run into. That doesn't become an excuse anymore. You can't say, well, this is a five-year process. No, not when we just watched Kalen DeBoer get Washington the national title game in year two. That doesn't work in this era. So let's talk about it.

We're going through some win totals this week, Nick. FanDuel, our friends, dropped a bunch of them on us. So all the power conferences, the core four, we got the win totals for them. And Florida's is at five and a half. And as weird as that sounds, that makes me think Vegas thinks Florida's better than last year because Florida's schedule is harder, but this is the same win total as last year. Yeah. I think Florida, I think this might be the best roster Florida has in terms of talent and depth of talent.

Um, but yeah, the schedule, uh, it last year, and it rings true again. Catch wins early because you're going to catch hands late. Like Georgia at Texas, you haven't beat LSU in I think three or four years. Ole Miss just spent a bunch of money to try to take their run at it this year. At Tennessee, Florida lost last time they were up there. And that first game, I think that you might as well call Florida versus Miami like the pink slip bowl. It's a referendum bowl. Whatever fan base loses that game

will light the pitchforks and run to their head coach's house. That Florida-Miami game, to me, those two coaches were hired the same year, have kind of had the same uh middling to less than to worse than they're getting some some highly touted high school prospects like the roster looks like it's it is gradually improving in both cases but the on-field results have not been satisfactory and you're exactly right only selling recruiting you're selling hope and if you lose that game as billy or mario good luck selling hope the next 11 12 weeks yeah because i i think the miami fan

base and the florida fan base will go into that game going well if we can't beat them who can we beat right and that's that's where now but let's let's put that schedule back up again because this is a fascinating schedule. First, well, before we even go any further, you've got Sanford, which dropped a 50-burger on Florida in Dan Mullen's penultimate game as head coach. And I just wanted to say penultimate there. But Sanford did score 50s last time in the swamp. But then the Texas A&M game in Gainesville is a fascinating one too because we have no

idea what that roster is gonna look like with Mike Elko coaching it. Yeah, same thing with Mississippi State new staff there. Jeff Levy CF UCF gets a quarterback who just beat Florida in the swamp last year with a coach who won't have KJ Jefferson throwing the ball 40 times. KJ Jefferson will run the ball 25 times with Gus Malzahn. And that's going to be a handful. Oh, actually, Nick, let me, I'm going to stop you while you're talking about UCF. Cause, and we'll, we'll talk, we'll delve into this one further. Cause I feel like it deserves its own segment at some point.

What do you think UCF's win total is on fanduel six and a half eight and a half eight and a half oh no oh no i called that up and i was like are you i'm looking at my phone like no that can't be right that uh that that might be including one of the florida ones but look at that ucf Gus, the powers of the Big 12 early on. That's right. If I look at it and I try to be objective, I think Miami is better on the lines. I think Florida has a better quarterback.

And who knows what Cameron Ward will be with that offense. You should be. We know Graham Mertz is going to be pretty good. I think Graham Mertz surprised some people last year. True. I look at that and you should beat Miami. You should beat Sanford. You should beat Texas A&M. Florida has been an absolute disaster away from the swamp, but I think you should beat a brand new Mississippi State coaching staff with with that roster. You should beat UCF at home. We're five and oh heading to to Knoxville here. Where you lost the last time you went and you haven't beat Kentucky since I don't even know where Kentucky.

The thing here's the thing, Nick, this, this schedule is so nasty. Even in that best case scenario of starting five and oh, you can still not wind up bowl eligible. That's what happened to Florida last year. Florida hit their five win total. I think before Georgia and then could not get one more win to get the over last year when they're over under was five and a half. You could theoretically get to five and oh and be feeling really good about that future over under that

you placed in in february um and there is absolutely a road to five and seven despite a five and oh start it is like when you see it up there that that last five games just because it's one thing to say it's a hard schedule, but to look at it like you've got Georgia and Jacksonville. You have to go to Austin. LSU comes to Gainesville. Ole Miss comes to Gainesville. You go to Tallahassee like that is brutal. That is absolutely brutal. And what will Florida State be?

They lost a ton. I mean, Ole Miss reloaded. Good luck in Austin. I'll be excited to be there. I've never been to the 40 acres. We'll be leaning on you for some recommendations for food while we're out there. So many places. But you're not going to beat Georgia.

I don't see beating Texas. I think Elaine Kiffin comes into the stadium. He probably wishes he was coaching at, if we're talking, you know, five years back. Well. A bunch of points as long as they're healthy. You say well as in Lane Kiffin comes in for a job interview there in November. But it's a really, really tough schedule.

And I don't know the biggest area for me when I look at Florida and really Napier, I don't know that the offensive line's ever been good. I think Osiris Torrance, who was a unanimous All-American, and then the six foot five created player, you had a quarterback, made the offensive line look really good and once you took just those pieces away the line was very average last year and uh zach and i kind of went up went back and forth on this on our gators online podcast he was saying the recruiting class was really good i said that's nice but none of those freshmen are going to help you and you really only got one starter uh who's a kid who played in the pac-12 last year or Mountain West. That's the hard part with the offensive line is you can

have a great recruiting class and it doesn't. That's where Miami's interesting this year because in year two of a recruiting when you had a pretty good offensive line recruiting class, then you really start to see some stuff. Texas is a great example of that from last year. Texas was two years out from having a great recruiting class, and that line was very good. And I would expect it to be even better this year. So that's the thing.

And if you're Billy Napier, you've got to hang on to try to get to that point. And so we'll see. But before I let you go, I do want to ask you a question or two that might make Florida fans actually smile. They haven't gotten to do that much lately. But Todd Golden's basketball Gators looking like a team that is very much in the NCAA tournament after beating Auburn. Yeah, I mean, especially the way Auburn came in and just blasted Bama. You come in and I think they were favorites, I think, on last Saturday, and Florida used that bye to their advantage.

The Gators play really, really well at home, and I think you just got to figure out a way to kind of steal a couple road games. They'll get LSU at home. That's a winnable game, and I think when you look at Florida's schedule at Georgia, it's always interesting when you play Mike White. At Alabama, it'll be tough. Luckily, you get Vanderbilt at home. That's a tough place to shoot at.

But you look at the rest of the schedule and you think, hey, this team could rally or rip off a couple more wins. And Florida, who's been flirting with the bubble in the last four in, the last four or the first four out, seem to have kind of gotten over that hump. And if you're listening to this and you're a Gator fan, find some wood. Don't blame me if I jinxed it by saying that. Riley Kugel, whose dad is like the most jacked man in the universe, 22 points against Auburn. But I like the way that Golden put this roster together. And look, basketball is a different animal it's football's becoming

like this where you you've got to really kind of build your roster every single year but basketball has been like that for a couple years and and golden this particular year seems to have put the pieces together pretty well portal god todd is what we call him at gators online uh he has he has no problem going in there uh i mean when you you look at their roster, they're full of them. Walter Clayton Jr. leading the team in scoring. Zion Pullen, Tyrese Samuel, Will Richard. A lot of really, really good additions through the portal. And I think it'll be interesting because it's a little bit of an older team based on that. And when you look at teams that get to the dance and teams that do well,

it's typically older teams or teams with, you know, really elite point guard play. And I think Florida is that, that older team. And they've got some guys who, when, when they're shooting it well,

I mean, Zion Pullen's been, Zion Pullen's been fantastic. And Walter Clayton jr. Not as quite as unconscious as Kenny Boyden, but not afraid to pull up from anywhere on the court. Kenny Boynton had no regard for humanity, and that didn't always work out very well for him.

But Walter Clayton, big headband guy, like the headbands. So, Nick, I'm glad we gave him something to be cheerful about. Hey, and Kevin O'Sullivan signed through 2033, so you got baseball too and and they probably got the number one pick in the baseball draft this year yeah there you go that's right nick delatory's not always negative i read you on the message boards i see i see what you're saying about nick nick thank you so much thanks andy much. Thanks, Andy. That is Nick Delatore and very funny watching some of the reactions in the chat to the schedule. Every time we posted the Florida schedule, people were like, whoa,

that is a hard schedule. Yes, it is. It is a very difficult schedule. But there's a few of those running around the SEC this year. That closing kick of Florida is especially nasty. Now, maybe some of those teams don't live up to the hype. We'll see. But it will be a tough one. One of the places that Florida has to go is Knoxville, which is not far from Greenville, Tennessee, which is where the hearing in the state of Tennessee slash Commonwealth of Virginia versus the NCAA is happening right now.

It has already started. Our Austin Price of all quests, he's there. Here's some video. Just outside the federal courthouse in Greenville and across the street, we have this flag. That is a giant Tennessee Power T flag hanging from a rental crane that someone parked across the street from the federal courthouse. Adam Sparks, the Knoxville News Sentinel beat writer, He took a photo of that and Adam had a funny line in his story that came out on a Monday night saying, you know, fans are talking about tailgating or maybe checkering the courtroom. That might actually help the NCAA's case because they're going to say,

it's going to be chaos if these rules are not allowed to continue. Well, that might help encourage the judge that it would be somewhat chaotic. But we don't exactly know what's going to happen. The judge has said he thinks that the NCAA is going to lose this case. He said it straight out in denying the temporary restraining order, which was a small victory for the NCAA. We will see if he grants the injunction, which would put aside the NIL rules regarding recruiting until the end of the trial where the judge thinks the NCAA is going to lose. So we'll see. With the temporary restraining order, the judge said that they couldn't prove, the plaintiffs, the state of Tennessee and Virginia

couldn't prove what they call irreparable harm. So basically what they're saying is if the recruits and transfers don't have the opportunity to talk NIL money before they sign, that even if it's not done until after the trial, it's not necessarily irreparable harm because they could always go back and sue the NCAA if the NCAA were to lose this case. But we'll see what the judge orders after this hearing. And if the injunction is granted, I would say you can probably say bye-bye to the NCAA NIL rules regarding recruiting and the world changes quite a bit. But we will discuss all of that on tomorrow's show when we know exactly what happened at the hearing. We'll also talk some

more wind totals because there are some very, very interesting ones. It allows us to take a nice deep dive into some 2024 schedules. It's a long time till football, but we are going to get you through this. We'll talk to you tomorrow.