Andy & Ari On3 - NEW details in Brendan Sorsby’s gambling situation: What’s next for the Texas Tech QB?

Episode Date: April 29, 2026

While the Brendan Sorsby gambling situation has dominated most of the discussion in college football this week, new details have emerged in this case. Early on Wednesday, On3’s Pete Nakos wrote a story that details how Sorsby placed over ten thousand wagers, averaging out to twenty bets a day. Will the former Cincinnati QB play another snap in college football? Watch here as Andy & Ari break it all down here.   (0:00) On Today’s Episode (1:00) Intro: Details in Brendan Sorsby (10:28) Private Investigator? (16:50) What’s next for Sorsby? (19:30) March Madness expanded? (34:01) Whittingham & Michigan (39:33) Kyle Whittingham’s Workout Streak (42:40) Tyran Stokes commits to Kansas (51:23) New Coke? (59:35) Conclusion: See you tomorrow!   After the Sorsby discussion, Andy & Ari switch gears to March Madness. On Tuesday, Pete Thamel reported the NCAA is nearing the final steps in expanding the men's and women's tournaments to 76 teams. Is this a bad idea?   While Michigan celebrated a national championship in men's basketball this past year, the fellas switch gears to the Michigan football team. As Kyle Whittingham enters his first year in Ann Arbor, has the Wolverine football team found its perfect match at head coach?   Closing out, 2026 5 Star SF Tyran Stokes committed to Kansas on Tuesday. Did this move blindside Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats? Watch here as Andy & Ari discuss.   Join On3 today! https://www.on3.com/join   Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtu.be/x2HnpzM72eU   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's Andy Nare on 3, it is a mega board Wednesday. And of course, we're hitting Red Raiders sports talking Brendan Soresby. What comes next? The Texas Tech quarterback in treatment for a gambling addiction being investigated by the NCAA. What is the newest news about Brendan Sorsby? And what does Texas Tech do from here on out? Plus, some angst from the message boards about the whole situation. Also, the NCAA tournament does seem to be heading toward expansion to 76 teams.

Blah! We'll talk about that. Plus, Kentucky loses a top recruit to Kansas in basketball. And of course, the KSR board is not happy. We will discuss what comes next for Mark Pope and the crew in Lexington. All on today's Andy Narian 3. Welcome to Andy Nari on 3 and Ari. It is a mega board Wednesday.

And of course, there is one message board in the On 3 network that has basically been pinging nonstop since Monday. And that's at Red Raider Sports. Of course, everybody wants to know about Brandon Sorsby. Everyone wants to know what the latest is. Our guy Pete Nacos has put out more stories about the situation. And it's just, well, let's go to the boards. Pete didn't ask me anything on the boards yesterday.

And the questions, oh my goodness. They were coming fast and furious. I will say that the Texas Tech fans are, they have a good sense of humor about this. Like somebody asked Pete how much he would bet that Brennan Sorsby will play this year. Pete said zero dollars, by the way. Very funny bet.

I don't know if that's, I think Pete's lying. too. I bet he would bet more. If that was a prop. I don't know, man. You saw the story that Pete put out on Wednesday morning before we recorded this. Yeah. I mean, I think the nicest way to put it is this is dire. And it feels to me that he will never take another snap in college football.

And it also feels to me that he might have a hard time getting a job in the NFL. That part of it too. And so everybody keeps saying, oh, they're doing all this. they're hiring these high-priced lawyers. He's going to treatment to play for Texas Tech. I'm not sure that's all of it. I think a lot of this is to try to give him a chance to play in the NFL, too, because he's going to have some issues, I think, with the NFL teams as well.

Because remember, none of the NFL teams had done their real deep dive into him. The scouts went to look at him at Cincinnati. They liked him at Cincinnati. But it became pretty clear as the fall went on last year. year that he was going to play college football again this year, whether it was at Cincinnati or somewhere else. And so the NFL teams did not do their deep dives. And they're going to get some help from this NCAA investigation.

They're going to learn some things. And what they're going to learn is something that they're going to be asking questions about as well. So in Pete's story, he writes, the sources who have reviewed the betting data told on through that dating back to 2002, sources be placed more than 10,000 wages and at one point average 20 bets per day. and he goes across multiple different apps. And so that in and of itself is something that the NFL teams are going to flag.

Like that's going to be a real issue for them. They, I'm sure, come across this every year doing their due diligence on draft eligible players. But when you have someone who at least based on what we know, because basically all the sources involved here have admitted that Britten Sorsby did place wagers on Indiana when he was on Indiana's team. Like that is, again, the test you can't fail, whether it's if you want to keep playing in college, and it's something you'll have to explain. Like if he does a supplemental draft, he's going to have to explain that in NFL teams in a way that convinces them it's okay to invest in him to be their quarterback. Yeah, we were talking on the phone about this this morning, Andy,

and I think that it's, you know, the amount obviously will come into play here. I will say as somebody who participates in the activity, 20 bets a day is a lot. I mean, like that's, okay, can we be in the trust tree here? Because you bet on sports a lot more than I do. I've done it. I've done it within the last year. but it is fairly infrequent. You, it is a bigger hobby for you.

So you understand how, you know, the rhythms of this a lot better than I would. What do these numbers mean? So I was actually trying to think about this because we were joking off the air. You know, I would understand this better than you. And I think I do. And I was thinking to myself, it says in Pete's story, Sorsby placed more than 10,000 wagers at one point average 20 bet. a day. Now, I think that's over a multi-year period, but I was trying to think to myself as somebody

who I think has a healthy relationship with it, who enjoys it, understands it for what it is, never puts himself in danger of losing money. He can't afford to lose. I think I gamble responsibly. I gamble frequently, but I think I gamble responsibly. And I was trying to think, well, how many bets do I think I've placed in the last five years? And I don't think it would be anywhere near 10,000. And certainly not 20 a day. Now, there are certain, you know, NFL Sunday. days and certain days of the week where or events during on the calendar where you know like on the Super Bowl for the NCAA basketball tournament you go to Vegas for the first weekend yeah I based I placed 100 bets that weekend because that was nonstop basketball all day right and I think

that that's just part of the activity and I think Super Bowl too you might put a bunch of props in you're betting on the anthem like that's part of the Super Bowl's entire existence now um these these seem very very I mean it seems like you would have to be constant activity for you to do 20 a day. Well, I, a good question from producer River in our chat. Like, have you, have you put anything on like an NBA game or an NHL game in the past week or so? Me?

Yeah. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Look, it's all every day. It's legal in this country. Like, I'm not talking out of school here. So.

Yeah. Yeah. No, every day. But, you know, I do it because that's, like, I go watch the game. and it makes me feel like I'm more engaged in the game and I like the futures and I you know it's my entertainment you know but the other thing about it too Andy is it doesn't matter if he bet a million bets 100 bets 20 a day five a day two a day like all these things depending on what the

amounts are like I mean if you're bet if you're betting on balls and strikes that could also bump up your average because each one of those things is an individual bet so like I don't I didn't look at the data myself and I don't want to to speculate. But here's the one thing, Andy. All those other figures, I think, might be more common than you might think because I think people who have the phone in their pocket, constantly looking at it, placing bets and some of them have online casinos. It's very easy to rack up the bets. He did the one thing that you cannot do. Right. And that's bet on the team that you're on. And it doesn't matter if the bet was 25 cents or 25,000. To me, the issue here

isn't so much do you like to gamble and isn't a problem for you? You have a have already illustrated a willingness to cross a line that you knew you were crossing. And that's the thing that I find interesting about Pete's asked me anything on the message board is there were people trying to argue with him, hey, you know, he's hired these really experienced high-price lawyers. Clearly, this is heading to court. I don't know that it's that clear that it's headed to court because it may be, they may want to take this to court and see if you can get an injunction that would allow them to play. But I want to point out,

like we've, and we've explained this to you guys with a lot of these different stories. The Owen Heineke one that just got granted. The Trinidad Shameless one, what made them different, why they got granted, whereas Joey Aguilar's didn't, and Charles Betty Akos didn't get extended.

Like, those were the NCAA handling situations unevenly, applying discipline unevenly. Now, perhaps they will find this, but I don't know that I've heard of it. I've never heard of somebody who was caught gambling on their own team just being suspended.

They've always been banned. Like Hunter Decker's, who was going to be the starting quarterback at Iowa State a few years ago. He got banned. And that's the part, they haven't applied the rule unevenly. So I'm not sure a judge is going to side with the plaintiff there.

I'm not sure a judge is going to say your case, I think probably will win on the merits, which is one of the reasons you would give an injunction. Because, again, they haven't applied it unevenly. And I don't know that there's anybody who disagrees with a rule by a sports governing body saying you can't bet on your own team. Sorosby's an NFL prospect, right? Yes, 100%.

What happens when you go to court? A lot of things come out in the open that maybe you didn't want to come out in the open. He might be in protect my potential to play in pro football mode right now. Yeah. Yep. I think that's it is a fair thing. Now, here's the other thing to understand about the NFL, though. Whatever you've done in your life, they're going to find it.

Well, I saw a tweet. And I think it's a, you know, Brooks Austin, who I debated on Crane and Cone. Yeah. A few weeks ago. The film guy tweeted this. And he goes, if I know, and I don't know how applicable it is, but I wanted to run this by you because I had the same thought. All right. If you know you are going to invest five plus million dollars into a player in the pool, do you hire a private investigator in October?

Do you, like, how far? can your due diligence go? You probably should be. And I would bet that schools that were kicking the tires on Brendan Sorsby did do some background work. But I will guarantee you it's not as thorough as what the NFL does. And the NFL's got a little different timeline. They have a whole year. They know who's on boards already for next year.

Yeah. As soon somebody flashes as a freshman in college, they're starting to dig into them. Yes. But they don't do the serious one until you're about to enter the draft. Or at the very least, my assumption without seeing his NIL deal with Texas Tech, I'm assuming there are provisions in the contract that will. Right. And almost every contract has a morals clause.

Almost every contract has some sort of like almost every contract in college sports has some sort of boilerplate language that says you must not violate NCAA rules. So I would be surprised if Texas Tech was out the entire contract. No, they are definitely not. I would suspect that if they want, there's probably something in the contract. Let's say he does get banned and he can't play. There's probably something in the contract that would allow them to claw back what they'd already paid if they wanted to, if they chose to do that. But it definitely would allow them to just stop paying.

Yeah, for sure. So like the private investigator thing would probably be more of protecting your asset and your season than it is about losing out on money if I had to guess. But I do think that it does call into question a bigger philosophical issue, which is the time frame in which you have to analyze these players in the portal when it's happening, how frantic you are. Frankly, some of you are even coaching and playing while this is. Yeah, that's the other piece of this that is. Because like when they're recruiting somebody at high school, they dig really deep on those people because they have a couple of years to do it. But when you're doing a, let's say even if it's a portal, and I'm not making any accusations here. This is purely hypothetical.

Let's say I am a coach. I know I want a quarterback for next year. It's October. And I start, I tell my GM, start identifying who might want to go in the portal. Who might we be in contention for come January? that's still only two months to get all that done and you're coaching and you're dealing with and you're in a time crunch against everybody else who probably wants that same person. Yeah.

I mean, it's like everything in college football, every problem, even something like this can bleed into a calendar debate and we do that enough. We don't have to do that now, but I do find, like, I can sympathize with the coaches and the people writing the NIL checks and like this is a frantic. A frantic sense, exactly. And it's a new problem. too. Like, yeah, we keep comparing it to the NFL, but the NFL has been doing this for decades. Yeah. It had decades to refine the process. This is entirely new for everybody.

And Andy, it's true. This isn't an isolated incident. I would be willing to say that this is probably, there are players in college football right now, maybe even some that are in higher status, that are looking at the story unfold and crapping their pants right now. Yes. Because there are a lot of people that have cell phones in their pocket and there are a lot of people who get their dopamine hits by playing online blackjack so like and it's like a more mainstream thing and you know on this show we promote it on every other show they promote it obviously if you have any idea of there are stadiums named after casinos there are casino logos painted on fields like it is everywhere and if you're if you're like including in the corner of the screen here and if if

If you're uncertain of it, too, why don't you go download one of the quarterly reports from any of the publicly traded gaming companies and go look at the amount of money they spent on advertising? Like, it was like the first four years of their existence. Now, we're getting into, you know, four or five, six years. But when draft kings and Fandul and BetMGM and all these companies were first launching, they had to make you aware. And how do you make the people who bet on sports aware by going to sports podcast by going on a course channel? acquisition is their most important thing still because they're kind of in their infancy as companies. For sure.

Because the rules just, it's interesting because we talk about the NIL rules and the transfer rules. The laws just changed, relatively speaking, on this stuff. Yeah, I mean, I was living in Ohio in 2020 and the apps didn't exist there yet. So we're talking about five, I don't even know when they got implicated. And they're everywhere in Ohio now. Like all of them are in Ohio in your pocket now. So when you go to Ohio, you can do it.

But when I lived there, as recently as 2020, that was not allowed. So, you know, they were just having debates about whether to put actual casinos in the cities. Like the one in Cincinnati that opened, Hollywood casino didn't even open until like I, to like 2016 or 17, I think. So like we're still very much early in the process, but it's very mainstream. And they've spent a lot of money making it mainstream. Right. And that's the, it was, it was more mainstream than people would think even beforehand, before it was legal. Yeah.

It's like marijuana. Like marijuana was very mainstream before marijuana was legal in all these states. I mean, everybody in my generation knows what bovada.net or whatever it is, is Bovada and Bodog was what it was called when I was in the offshore guys. Yeah. Sportsbook.com and all these old defunct websites that people used to do when we were in school. So, you know, I think that this is an unfortunate situation. And frankly speaking, Andy, I do feel for him a little bit. On one hand, I go, oh, my God, how could you be so good at football and have such a bright future?

It's the same as anything else. People get addicted to things. And this is the push-pull we have because, and we've been through this with multiple different things in the country. You know, the vice squad in the Miami Vice, Vice. Vice used to be a lot more things. And some vice things have been deregulated because we figured out you can't stop people from doing them. And I think, I mean, obviously the biggest historical example of this is they tried to ban alcohol.

And all it did was create this massive organized crime syndicates. It's... Boardwalk Empire, great show. It is. Yeah. Nucky Thompson. baby. But that is the same with marijuana. It's the same with gambling. This is how societies have to deal with this. And you have to deal with people who are, you have to be understanding that there are going to be

people who you give them this freedom and they can't necessarily handle it. It's not everybody. Most people can. But with all of these things, there are people who take it too far and you got to figure how to treat them and help them manage in a world where this stuff is every and what's and what's interesting is is that everybody's thing is different you know some people like booze some people like food some people like gambling some people like all three you know i it's just uh you know it's just a waste because if you think about how much money he is now probably going to forfeit for future career earnings both at texas tech and in the nfell the amount of money he's gambled or even or earned or attempted to earn in gambling probably as a drop in the bucket in comparison to that,

which is a sad story. Right. So again, we'll keep you updated as this goes forward. There's more information trickling out every day. But if he's in treatment, it may slow because like the NCAA probably, as Pete pointed out in this, this asked me anything, the NCAA would still have to interview him. There'd still have to be a ruling. We could still, we could be a month or two away.

from any sort of resolution here. And even then, that might not be a resolution because it might be something that they want to sue over. So we'll keep you posted on that. Let us head elsewhere on the On Three Message Boards. I want to go to the Wolverine. That's Michigan's our Michigan site.

The Fort is their message board. This was just hilarious because it is about news that affects everybody, but the Michigan folks have put their own twist on it. Marzano J. Post, interesting that the rules always seem to change

after we win a national title. And here's the post. In 1997, we win the national championship in football. Next year, the BCS starts. In 2023,

we win the national championship in football, and the playoff expands to 12 teams the next year. In 20206, we win the national championship in basketball, and now the field's going to expand

to 76. That's a pure coincidence, but it is a crazy coincidence. Yeah, I never even realized that. Yeah, I hope it's on an insinuation that an effort to not allow Michigan to win a basketball tournament again, they have to expand it. I mean, they did win another football when they just, it had to be. And actually, well, if the football one's going to change in the next two or three years, then congratulations.

We have to ensure that more teams have a chance to beat them. Yeah. So let's talk the basketball tournament first because Pete Thammel from ESPN reported on, Wednesday that, or on Tuesday that they're taking the, quote, final steps to enlarge the men's and women's basketball tournament to 76 teams. I'm going to do the fart noise right here. It's a terrible idea. I hate it. Everybody hates it. Nobody wants it, except coaches and schools, but they're going to do it anyway. Yeah. I mean, I think that there's probably a point in expansion where it's healthy and you need to do it and it makes sense to do it and most people

want it and every time something expands it always goes past that point into the excessive and the unwanted right and i don't know the perfect number for the basketball tournament was 64 teams which was not where it started still went 1632 then it's i think it was 54 then 64 teams was the perfect number it should be 64 teams it should have never gone to 68 it should not go to 76. If anything, they should contract it back to 64. They're not going to do that. Instead of the first four, now you're going to get the first 12.

So it's not what I said it should be, yes, thank you, everybody booing. Instead of what I said it should be where if you're going to do that, because we know who wants this, it's the power conferences that want to get their, you know, middle of the road, mad teams in, then that's all that should play in this first whatever. Like, conference champions of low majors should be automatically in the 64 team field. It should be power conference teams that are trying to earn a spot in the field because they were very mediocre during the season. Like, that's who should play in these games.

But that's not what it's going to be. There's going to be six games of automatic qualifier teams and six games of at-large teams. So half the games will be what I'm saying, it all needs to be. And then half of them will be teams that won their conference championship did the thing they need to do to get in the NCAA tournament. And they may or may not actually make the real field. Because you can tell me it's the real field all you want. The real field is 64. Everybody who's watching knows the real field is 64.

You will never be able to convince this otherwise. Andy, do you have a trivia question for you? Okay. Do you know the lowest seed to win a national championship in basketball since it, expanded to 64. Villanova, right? Yep. Do you know what it was?

They're an eight. The fact that you just know that makes me angry. We have to do it. Who is the week, by the way? We haven't done that yet. We're going to do who am I tomorrow. We got a good, I came up with a good one.

I already wrote the questions. It's great. Okay. What is the math? Because this is a bad at math podcast, but eight seeds, if eight was the lowest seed, eight times four is,

would that be 32? I've got a hot take. I know that you think that's 60. You want to contract it to 32? Let me ask you. And listen, I understand that the beauty of college basketball is the Cinderella run in the tournament. So you want to eliminate that completely?

Well, what if we find in 10 years that the new sport rules in NIL actually kill us in Cinderella? Well, then we can do something about it then. But it hasn't happened yet. If it does, this is a football question that I'm using basketball as an example for. Yeah. Do you think, and this is just like, I understand Cinderella's are fun.

I understand that. Do you think that college basketball season would be better if the tournament was 32? No. You don't think the regular season would be impacted at all? That's basketball. I don't know. I didn't watch college basketball at 1981, so I'm not aware of. how it was, but...

Listen, it's still, like, where it matters to people, it's still a huge deal. Like, go to Fogallon Fieldhouse on any big Monday in February. They're going nuts. There are people who... It's a huge deal. Or is looking for Hot Wheels cars, Andy. I know everybody has their own... But what I'm telling you is it's not going to be like that everywhere.

You could contract the tournament at 32. It would still be like that. The reason why I bring this up is that in the discussion with the football stuff, football is always about the acquisition or the retention of the borderline casual, right? Mm-hmm. Yep. Is there a number in basketball that is better than 64 that would make me a casual college basketball observer more keen to tune into a Wednesday night game in January?

You kill casuals if you kill Cinderella. You're going to lose casuals in the tournament. You're going to lose casuals in the conference championship week. Cinderella might be under a bridge right now. I know. Look, Cinderella might have a problem. Yeah. If the current changes in the landscape kill Cinderella,

I'm all for this conversation in a few years, but I'm going to want more data. But the reason why I'm talking about this is let's now go to the main thing, which is what people on the podcast are concerned with is, if the NCAA tournament is expanding to 76 and River is playing boo noises and you're making fart noises, what makes you make a fart noise for football? And are we flirting with that already?

I've made fart noises over 24 Yeah Every time we've talked about it Yeah Don't want it But do you think that the interaction Do you think that the interaction With football fans in the regular season

Is related to tournament size more than it is in basketball? Yes Yes Because again football Football's regular season is harder to kill Also than basketballs Because a lot of it is a ritual Yeah. Scarcity, ritual, all of that.

That said, I don't want to attempt to murder it. I don't want to see it, but I don't want to go to 24 and just see what happens. It reminds me, it's like, this is bulletproof class. Let's shoot bullets at it. You know, like, I don't want to do that. So, yeah, I just like, the basketball regular season is so boring to me because I don't feel like any of the games matter. Now, I think in the aggregate, they all matter. add them up at the end, but I never feel like I'm watching a basketball game. You never feel like this is a game that is critical.

Critical. And if they lose, they're done. But I also think that is a function of the number of games. And that might also be the case. 32 regular season. Well, regular season plus your conference tournament. Is there any regular season baseball game that makes you feel that way? Probably not. No, or NHL game or NBA game.

We just got through talking about how the NBA regular season was terrible. Like, I have thoroughly enjoyed the NBA playoffs so far this year. Yeah, what happened? I enjoyed it. Dude. Well, you got that. You've got the, the Celtics and Sixers, like the Sixers have taken two off the Celtics. Like, it's been fun.

But the regular season was real bad. Like, all the tanking and crazy things happening. Yeah. But yeah, I watched the, I watched the Lakers Rockets game last Friday night when LeBron had the steel and the three. And it was crazy. Did you watch the, you see the Allie Oop? To his son. To Brani, yeah.

Gotta dunk it. There were a lot of really funny memes about that. Yeah, but all of that's been fun. I'm not sure there's anything they could do with an 82 game regular season that will make it more relevant. Like they're swimming upstream on that. I think that the NBA actually has more casual or more dedicated fans who watch the Utah Jazz play the Rockets on Monday and Tuesday than college basketball has college fans watching random ranked games. I, what I think in college basketball is there are fan bases that are super locked in.

It's sort of like college baseball, where there are fan bases that are super locked in and some that just don't care. And those are the super locked in fan bases that would be locked in if the tournament was 16 or if the tournament was 100. Kansas fans, Duke fans, Kentucky fans, they are watching no matter what. Right. No matter what. But how do you get Arizona fans? who isn't that big of a basketball guy to want to watch those games on Monday night.

Arizona's a bad example. I think they have a pretty dedicated basketball fan base. It was a terrible example. I was just trying to say people like me. Texas fan, Ohio State fan. Those are the schools you really want because they have the huge fan bases. But there's not that locks in on basketball.

The biggest difference between basketball and football is if you're a Michigan fan and football, you're playing a game. Well, yeah, without question. But a Michigan fan also will watch Georgia. of Alabama because they like to see and watch other teams that are in the same pantheon because everything and it feels like to me like in in football more than any other there are more fan bases like that in football than there are in basketball because I feel like Duke fans Kentucky fan

like a Kentucky fan will watch Kansas play Texas Tech on big Monday because they're just interested in what the other really good teams in the sport are doing which is what tons of football fans do. I don't know that tons of basketball people do that. I don't like if you were if you're a Florida fan and I will say Florida fans are very passionate about their basketball team, but I don't think they really care what is happening in the big east. I don't think they're watching a lot of you go games. Well and here's the other thing about scarcity in the postseason that that that I think gets lost track and maybe this is the same thing as regular season. But in college football, the ecosystem of what the other conferences are doing

and what other teams with similar records are doing really matters to your team. Well, that was going to continue the Florida analogy. A Florida football fan is going to watch Ohio State or Michigan play. Yeah. If you're, I mean, listen, this past year, Notre Dame and Miami, I mean, I guess quasi play a lot of the same teams. But Notre Dame was watching Miami games,

hoping that they would lose and they're not in the same conference. right like if you're on the bubble with the same other it doesn't matter they all the bubble teams yeah new iu fans were watching everybody utah fans were watching everybody yeah and i think that like a dedicated football fan is more plugged in and more interested in games that have nothing to do with their team than any other sport i don't even know if that exists in the nfl now everybody watches every NFL game because people just like watching the NFL and maybe that just goes to your football point football's football but like if you're a indiana pacers fan i don't think you're right you're watching Cavs games hoping they'll lose.

Probably not. And also with the playoffs, shoot, in the Eastern Conference, the 8 might beat the one here. So it doesn't really even matter where you see it. Is that happen ever? Like, when's the last time? Yes. The first time it ever happened was the

nuggets beat, I want to say the Sonics. I can't remember who the one seed was, but all I remember is, because you know, this is the era when Sports Center would run five consecutive hours in the morning. And so you'd just leave the TV on and watch it. And it's that shot up to Kim Mabitumbo, laying on the floor, holding the basketball up and

and smiling. But that was when it was best three of five. That was back in the Arrow in Sports Center was 30 minutes and they just kept playing the same sports center over and over. But it was best three of five. You didn't have to win a best of seven. Yeah. So, but no, the heat came out of the play in and made the finals a couple of years ago.

I think they were the eight. I can't remember if they were the eight of the seven. Yeah. So, you know, I don't know that I'm a huge fan of the further expansion, but maybe the reason why no one cares about college basketball's regular season is an irreparable thing that isn't tied. I'm not sure they can fix that, but I don't think this fixes anything either. I just think it adds some slop.

And I know that there are mediocre SEC and Big Ten and ACC coaches and who think this is going to help them keep their job. It won't. Like, you're going to go to the first. 12, I guess is what they're going to call it? I don't know what they're going to call it. The first four is on. You're going to go to the first 12 and lose and you're still going to get your ass fire.

The first four has been going for quite some time now. Do people watch that? Because I don't ever, I mean, I watch it when it's on because it's the only thing that's on. But I don't feel like it's the NCAA tournament when I'm watching it. No. It doesn't feel like that. And like the Texas NC State game is really an entertaining game. ended on a shot right at the buzzer.

It was good, but I don't know how many people were. But it didn't hit with it's like having, you know, regular Sunday red Coke and Coke zero doesn't hit the same. I'm glad you mentioned that because we have another thread from the fort that I'm going to, we're going to get to at the end of the show. Okay. It's a little off topic,

but I went down a rabbit hole. But before we leave the fort for a minute, I do want to talk about something else. It's Michigan-related because our man, Chris Lowe, had a great story on Kyle Whittingham at Michigan that dropped at On 3 on Wednesday. And again, if you're not subscribed to On 3, this is your chance. You can an On3 national subscription for 1999 for your first year. On3.com slash join. You get My Stories, R.E. Stories.

Chris Lowe, Pete Naco, Brett McMurphy, you name it. So this story is great. Chris talked to Urban Meyer about it, which, remember, Kyle Whittingham was Urban Meyer's defensive coordinator at Utah, their buddies way back. And Meyer, you know, Wittingham calls him Meyer and he's like, I'm getting offered the Michigan job. And of course, Urban Meyer, former Ohio State coach is like, I'm a buck guy. My first thought was, what?

Yeah. This is a, it's a very interesting deal. You know, Wittingham got into his thoughts about this. I, you know, we're not going to hear Whittingham be completely open about what happened at Utah because he's getting paid and there's a non-disparagement clause. But it was interesting to hear him talk about that job and what was going through his mind as that process was going on. And he said there were a handful of schools. Literally, I could count them on one hand that I would have been excited to coach at this point in my career. the opportunity ever materialized.

Michigan was certainly on that list. I mean, this is incredible to be able to work with a whole new group of young athletes. It's been a very positive change. It's a blue blood university. The academics are out of the charts, the tradition, the history, the resources, everything. I would have always regretted it if I had not taken this job. This place has it all. And this is what Ari and I have been talking about.

Like, we've talked about this since he got there. He's so used to doing more with less. What's he going to do with more? Yeah. I mean, Wittingham is a very accomplished coach, and I think maybe, you know, as time has, you know, passed since he took this job, it just feels more and more like the perfect human. It's like you almost, if you played a game as a Michigan fan and everybody was available, and you said who would be the perfect guy to come in here and stabilize this place? like you might land on Kyle Whittingham in some cases in that game. Like the fact that he was available when he was available and under the circumstances that he was available is a pretty remarkable thing for them.

So like I think that the story of the season is learning what coaches who have routinely done, you know, more with less do with more. Like this is happening in state college too, right? Like Michigan's not unique in that. but I think if I were a Michigan fan, I would have some pretty high hopes for what is coming this year. Yeah, and you mentioned that, like, him being the perfect person, I think for this situation. And it sounds like he handled the situation.

So, you know, the way Sharon Moore got fired, the reason Sharon Moore got fired. Everything that happened after that, so strange. And how would Kyle Whittingham deal with that? How is that going to be addressed with the team? And now, thanks to Chris's story, we know how it was dressed the team. They talked about it for about 30 seconds, and Kyle Whittingham basically said, all of you have a clean slate with me.

Everything is new starting now. Which it sounds like the players, because Chris talked a few of the players about it, it sounds like they really appreciated that. Yeah. And I think that that's probably the right way that any coach walking into a building has to do it. You let everybody know, hey, we're on square one here. Everything you do from this point on will be analyzed and judged and evaluated. but I'm not going to look back at the way the things were before I got here because it's my evaluation.

And I remember, you know, what that sounds like, Andy. It sounds a lot like what Urban said to the Ohio State team when he took over in 2013. And I wonder how that happened. You know, like these two people are intertwined in their past. And Urban said they talked quite a bit through this process. So I imagine he probably asked Urban, do you have any advice? Because, you know, Urban, the Ohio State one's the best example because they had, been through the interim year with Luke Fickle. They had seen Jim Tressel get pushed out because of NCAA's

stuff. And so he had had to deal with all that when he came in. And obviously, like when he took over Florida, like Ronzo could have been fired. The players loved Ronzo. And he had to manage that situation. I mean, I have to write that column. I said, I was talking about this with you two weeks ago, but like Urban Meyer falling out of the sky for Ohio State when they were going through their worst time, this kind of feels the same way. I wonder if Kyle Whittingham is there Urban Meyer. Now, I I mean, it's hard, it's hard to say. But like, it's not out of the question to think that Kyle Winningham could win the national title with Bryce Underwood. What's different is Urban changed the whole Big Ten?

Yeah. I don't know that it's possible for Whittingham to do that because I think the changes that that happened because of, you know, what Urban Meyer did and then and then some of the realignment stuff. Like, it's, it's not right for big wholesale change like that anymore. Yeah. But could Calhouningham come in and win the Big Ten and compete for national titles in Michigan? Absolutely. Yes. Oh, by the way, Wittingham has lost track of his workout streak number.

So he doesn't count Sunday. Sundays, you know, Dave Russ. It's in the Bible. But more than 6,500 straight Monday through Saturday workouts. You can tell. That's an insane number. That's incredible. In fairness.

I think that a football coach maintaining their streak is probably easier when you're saying it's easier when you have a wait room in your office or near your office. Probably. It's fair. But there's plenty of people that work at companies that have a nice gym at the building that just take a day off every once in a while. Yeah. And he's probably on the road recruiting. So he has to find a hotel gym to work out in. So like he probably travels a lot too.

As someone who's ground amount of few Fairfield in gyms. Like, there's some days you really got to want it. How many coaches do you think work out on Saturdays for game day in the fall? I think it would probably depend on the coach's personality. Some of them probably require it of themselves, and some of them want no part of anything that isn't just getting ready for the game. Yeah. You know, Andy, I don't think that's a good comparison, though,

because, like, I think that, like, going to your office and wearing slacks in a polo or even a suit in some cases and then taking all that off and working out in the crappy gym that's in your office building and then finding a place to shower and then put all your nice clothes back on is a hell of a lot more intrusive,

I think, of a process than being in a football building or showering and working out and changing as like regular. It's just impressive. Stop trying to qualify it. It's super impressive. And he's jacked. Yeah.

I remember, you know, my wife has always been attracted to older men. I don't know what I'm saying that. Cliff it, River. But it's funny, like, when she was in high school, like when all of, like, her friends were obsessed with, like, Brad Pitt and all the movie stars, like, she liked Richard Gere. And I think that's really funny.

Like, she thought, like, Richard Gere was hot when she was 20. And I just, the reason why I bring this up is because the game where he showed up the college game day, this was two years ago or three years ago. And she's like, who the hell is that? I'm like, shut up. Relax, okay? It's a Utah coach. She's not interested.

And that's what you get when you're that age and you work out 6,500 days in a row. There you go. There you go. I'm very excited to see what he could do at Michigan. And if you get a chance, read that Chris Lowe's story on Kyle Weddingham. If you're not subscribed to On 3, now is your time to do it, 1999 for your first year, on3.com slash join. But it is, it's a fascinating story.

Really good stuff from Kyle Whittingham, from Urban Meyer, from Michigan, in players talking about what to expect and basically how this all came together. And it's fascinating. Ari, one more from the megaboard before we, well, there's a last message word topic that I want to get to, but very off topic. But first, this one's on topic. So Kentucky loses a top basketball recruit to Kansas. And, you know, I don't know, loses is maybe not the right word because obviously, Kansas, it sounds like for John Stokes was, or Tyron Stokes, was in it the entire time and was the leader the entire time.

And that Kentucky was not as in it as Kentucky coaches maybe thought they were. And been a firestorm on the KSR boards, Kentucky Sports Radio, for a lot of different. reasons. One, the Tyrant Stokes committed to Kansas, which happened on inside the NBA, by the way. So it's like with Ernie and Shaq and Kenny and Charles, and he's like, I'm going to Kansas. So the Kentucky fans that tuned in are just, you know, crestfallen. But obviously everybody's sort of dicking through the wreckage of the news. And Jacob Polichick, the reporter for KSR, included. something in his notes. And it was it was something that he had been, he had heard a little bit earlier,

but had not really been able to confirm with a second source. And it was that that Stokes had made a not a rev share deal, but another kind of NIL deal with Kansas earlier than the day he committed. And maybe even before he visited Kentucky. And so he didn't put, he didn't put this out there when he first heard it because he didn't have a second source and he wasn't wasn't confident in the first one and the kentucky fans got super mad about that saying you know how can you withhold that from us the paying customers blah blah blah and so i i give credit to matt jones and to tyler thompson and the people at ksr because they they've been trying to explain how how the process works but in the process of that there's been some interesting revelations uh and one thing matt jones

pointed out. Matt Jones is the founder of Kentucky Sports Radio that, you know, in a lot of cases, information flows back and forth between reporters and coaches during recruitment. It's very commonplace. That's just how the process works. Everybody has information. If I have something that you might find interesting, then you might tell me something that I might find interesting, that I can publish. And that's how this works. But according to Matt, the staff has cut itself off from everyone not within their room. And essentially that piece of information never really got passed along, which is something that would have been actionable information for the Kentucky staff.

Now, it's not something that you would report. And I guess here's where we explain like on our side of the business. If there is something that I've been told that I can very clearly verify, or I have multiple sources telling me that I trust. I'm going to put it out there. I'm either going to say it on the show or I'm going to write it in a story and I'm going to say,

if I can, where I got it. There are lots of things that are interesting that people tell me that I can't necessarily verify or I'm not going to run with just because that one person told me. And all of those, like, for example, somebody saying, hey, Sharon Moore might have some problems. okay if I can't prove that I can't say it on the show

I can't write it so that's I just I hope the folks are not mad at Jacob for trying to do his job responsibly because that's what he was doing yeah doing your job responsibly is important now the one thing that I don't know but you would but if you were gossiping

with a coach that you were talking to about other things you might say hey I heard this and see if it shakes anything loose That's part of the reporting job. Well, here's the thing that I don't know. If the coach, we'll talk to you, you can't say that. From a journalism perspective, because I respect doing things the right way and not putting information out there that isn't true because it's hearsay. But from a journalism standpoint, are there different thresholds between publishing a story and writing it for the front page of your website or posting, I heard this rumor on a message point?

I think it's a really good question. That's probably something we need to have a discussion about internally with our company. Yeah. And because I think probably every team site has different thresholds for that. Because you could make the case that publishing it on a message board is publishing it. Oh, I would 100% agree that it's publishing it. And so that, like, I have no problem being careful, but I would be more concerned if I were a Kentucky fan. And I think Kentucky fans are concerned about a lot of things in their basketball program that

the coaches have kind of shut themselves off. And it's not saying, hey, you need to talk to our site and feed our site information. That's not what I'm talking about. Part of the job of being a recruiter is gathering as much valuable, actionable intelligence as you can. Right. Just like part of the job of being a reporter is. And if you're shutting yourself off from that, then there are sort of things that you may not be aware of that you need to know about. because according to Matt Jones,

the Kentucky staff felt like they had a pretty good shot at this guy going in the announcement. And it sounds like maybe they didn't. It sounds like he was pretty well decided at that point. Yeah. And this is a big deal for these programs. So, you know, I think that there is a question of should you open up yourself to more back and forth communication

just to hear the hearsay? Because hearing the hearsay then allows you to at least address it. if you need to I would well football's football and basketball are fairly similar in this respect Ari I don't know about you every staff I've covered

there's somebody like when I was a beat writer there's somebody who wants to gossip on the staff always and they're going to pass that information along and they might pass something back to you

if you tell them something interesting rarely do you see a staff that's just closed off yeah sometimes they close ranks when they're about to get fired but this staff and maybe they maybe this is their last year we'll see the I mean just look if you should never be blindsided as the staff.

Yes. So like how however you want to rectify that I guess is up to Pope and his staff. But I don't think it's a good look to lose a recruit just because losing a crude sucks. But being blindsided when somebody who works at KSR has more info on it than you is it can't happen. So like, you know, this is a. This is, I think, Kentucky staff discussion even more than the way that KSR handled it. Like KSR, I don't, I would never, ever tell a reporter they're wrong for not putting something out there they're uncomfortable with. Exactly.

It's a much bigger problem if you just go with everything somebody tells them. But if somebody on the staff calls the reporter, reporter calls staff, it doesn't matter to Kentucky anywhere else. He might have said, hey, I hear Kansas is a little bit further along. That might not be provable. you might not report it, but then the staff at Kentucky could use that information to investigate it and get to the bottom of it and maybe not be so blindsided by it. And I also saw a really funny post on Twitter yesterday.

It was a Kentucky fan. There was like, I guess, a Kentucky beer that you can buy that funnels money into the NIL fund. And he just like posted a picture of a six pack of it. And he goes, how much of the shit do I have to drink the land of recruit? I just thought it was so funny. probably more probably and look i feel bad for kentucky fans right now because they're they're going through it transfer portal's not been easy for them the high school recruiting has not been easy so hang in there that's all i can say the good news is you do have that beer that funnels

money into nil and you also have all that delicious bourbon m bourbon oh Okay. While we're on the subject of beverages, one more thing from the message boards that I just, I read it and I was like, I know Ari wants to hear this too. Okay. So this is on the fort on the Michigan message. Remember, it's, it's April. The fort on fire today. Oh, yeah. It's April. So there's a few off topic posts floating around. And here's one. So Max runs 88. Off topic, your favorite conspiracy theory that you think is actually true. and this is one that I had never heard before,

but I am 100% ready to believe it. I don't know if it's true, but I'm all set to believe it. Are you ready? Yes. This is what Max Runs 88 wrote. I wasn't alive at the time, but my dad loves Coca-Cola and described New Coke as, quote,

the worst pop I've ever had. Now, I was alive when New Coke came out. I was a kid. New Coke was horrific. It was terrible. So this is Max Runs' 88's conspiracy theory that, again, I am 100% on board to believe. So I looked up New Coke, and the context behind its release is pretty fascinating. In 1980, Coca-Cola began experimenting with high-fructose corn syrup instead of cane sugar as the main sweetener for Coke.

By 1982, they utilize its 25%, 75% split with cane sugar still the primary ingredient. In November 1984, Coca-Cola released a 75% 25% 25% mix, so mostly high-frey. fructose corn syrup, which was met with major pushback. Coke at the time was by far the most popular softening in the country, but just five months after the new chemical-based formula was released, new Coke became the new formula entirely. It was universally spiced, even described as a slap in the face of the American consumer. Just 79 days later, the original Coke was back, but guess what? Zero natural cane sugar and 100% high fructose corn syrup. So what's the conspiracy? I believe Coca-Cola realized, as had been reported, they could save 88% of their raw product

cost on sweetener for Coke, but was having trouble formulating it correctly with the new high fructose corn syrup and the public notice too much. So they purposely pulled the most popular soft drink in the history of the country, replaced it with something they intended for the public to hate to buy themselves a few months to tinker with the formula and then have Coke make its glorious return while claiming, we listen to you, America, Coke is back. Yes, I buy that. I will tell you the first time I had a Coke classic again after a new Coke. I was like, oh, thank God. Because even as a kid, you know what is supposed to taste like. Like the real Coca-Cola, like a real Coca-Cola.

And that's why I love the Mexican cokes. We get that, like when I go eat barbecue, you get the bottle. Yeah. The hay show in Mexico Coke with the cane sugar. Like, you know how that taste is supposed to taste. I don't know if you know this about me, Andy. but I buy Coca-Cola stock every week. I'm a huge Coca-Cola person

because the thing that I love about Coca-Cola is that it doesn't matter what your political beliefs are, how bad your life is going, whether you agree with the other person. Everybody agrees that Coke is amazing and everybody drinks it. Right, because have you ever been to a restaurant and asked for Coke?

They don't say, no, we don't have Coke, we proudly serve Pepsi. They apologize to you. They say, I'm sorry, we only have Pepsi. Michigan fans and Ohio State fans drink Coke. Democrats and Republicans drink Coke. It doesn't matter how much you hate each other. Everybody agrees on that.

And the thing that I love about Coke. You have to find some executives from the 80s to tell us whether this is true or not. I have no idea. But the thing that I love about Coke and I didn't realize any of this is that they created a product 100 years ago. And they've served that product and haven't really changed much about. it because classic Coke is classic Coke and they never have to do anything. Just keep producing it. There's no innovation necessary and they've acquired other drinks and done things. I've become a Coke Zero guy just because I can't deal with that much real sugar in my old age.

You can wait rapidly if you do that. I'm exhibit A. Do you have a conspiracy theory though, Andy, that you think is true because I have one. Oh, what you got? I think that Walt, the Walt Disney Frozen thing, I think they created the movie Frozen in order to push all the Google results for people Googling about Walt Disney freezing himself down. That is brilliant. I have never heard that before. I'm also prepared to believe that. That seems like a very believable thing.

They could have named it anything. They could have named the movie Elsa. They could have it whatever. Yes, because you could have the same movie, Elsa on a all of that. You don't have to call it frozen, but yes, that will change all the Google results. And if you type in Walt Disney is frozen. The only thing that will come up are movie stuff now, especially because Frozen was a wild hit.

And every girl my daughter's age loves it. My daughter is in her frozen phase in the moment. So I truly believe that. And I don't know why they would want. I mean, was Walt Disney actually frozen? I don't know. Was he? Is that true?

I don't know. But what I do know is if I want to find out, it's going to be a lot more difficult than it would have otherwise been if they have never made that movie. That is awesome. That is awesome. But yeah, like for people who weren't, alive when new Coke came out. It was a jar. It was a shock. Like, we're reformulating Coke.

Here's new. Like, I'm trying to think of what it would be like now. I don't know that there's a product as established and beloved. I mean, other than actually, other than Coca-Cola, that you could say, we're changing this. Like, I guess if McDonald's suddenly said, we're, we're changing the Big Mac. We're going to. to have one patty instead of two? I mean, I don't, it's kind of just surprised. And the reason why I might buy into the theory is is because if something's perfect, you don't tinker with it.

I don't even know why they would have tinkered with it back then. I wasn't aware of this. The reason they're giving is probably a good one. If like 88% of your production costs, if you can save it, it's going to change your margins quite a bit. If you can somehow make it work. Did Coke? Did Coke taste differently when you were a kid than it does now?

if you get a crispy canned. No, no, not now. Like Coca-Cola Classic, which they came back with after New Coke. Now, maybe they, I don't, again, we'd have to have some Coke executives on to explain what's happened in the years since. But to my taste buds, like a regular Coke now doesn't taste any different than, say, the first Coke classic I had after they got rid of new Coke. As it shouldn't.

And if you're unaware of this, they crushed earnings on Monday. up like 7%. There you go. We're doing pretty good, yeah. But yeah, it's just a fascinating conspiracy theory. We have to add these to the off-season menu, by the way. Conspiracy theories that we're prepared to believe. Yeah, and I truly believe that the JFK assassination is like a really fishy situation.

I mean, yes, the murder of a president tends to be, but yes. No, I'm saying, like, in terms of who people think did it. There was a lot going on, yes. And my dad has read every single JFK book ever published and he's convinced. And I trust him because he did the research, man. Our entire office in the childhood home that I grew up in is just JFK books. And we always joke with him because I live in Dallas now. And like he's wanted to go to the JFK assassination site like three times.

I'm like, dad, like you saw it. You're not going to find an extra shell casing. Like you're not, you know, like it's. But, you know, that is a serious one, obviously. But I do like lighthearted conspiracy theories. the problem I hate is that society thinks everything is one now. Yeah, feel free to send yours in. If it's too serious, we're probably not going to read it.

But if you guys, send us a fun, all Disney frozen. Yeah, like the low-stakes conspiracy theories we can, we'll read on the show. Spub, but this is now a good time to do this. Friday, dear Andy, dear Ari, send in your questions. We've gotten a few already, but I could use a few more. Andy Staples, On3 at gmail.com, ari.wasterman at On3.com is where you send it. You can also hit us up on social media at Andy Staples at Ari Wasserman.

Also tomorrow, we've got a Who Am I? Plus, humiliated. A really good college running back. The Who Am I is not the really good college running back. The really good college running back is just going to come talk to us. How's that sound? Sounds great.

We'll talk to you tomorrow. You know,