Andy & Ari On3 - Rich Rodriguez CORRECTS his mistake

Episode Date: March 3, 2025

This show is brought to you by Panini America, makers of the most collectible sports cards on the planet. The Prism football card series a vibrantly paralleled base and insert roster featuring college football’s brightest former and current superstars. Panini sets include NIL autographed cards from players including Arch Manning, Quinn Ewers, Cam Ward, Jalen Milroe, Dylan Raiola, DJ Lagway, and Luther Burden. To start collecting, visit PaniniAmerica.net. Busy mornings, late nights, working through lunch—life doesn’t always leave room for a complete, balanced meal. That’s where Huel comes in. This podcast is sponsored by Huel, spelled H-U-E-L, The World’s #1 Complete Nutrition Brand. It’s a complete meal in seconds—just grab, sip, and go. No more skipped meals or unfulfilling snacks. Huel makes it easy with nutrition that fits into your life. And right now, you can try it for FIFTEEN PERCENT off your first purchase of $75 or more with the code STAPLES15 at HUEL.com. Fuel up the easy way with Huel today! huel.com/STAPLES15(0:00-3:22) PaniniAmerica.net(3:23-6:49) Intro(6:50-30:57) West Virginia Head Coach Rich Rodriguez joins the show(30:58-33:09) Wrapping up with Rich Rod(33:10-48:22) Deep Dive into West Virginia before 2025(48:23-49:04) Huel.com(49:05-51:22) Fuel your morning with Huel(51:23-1:01:46) North Carolina to be featured on Hard Knocks: Offseason(1:01:47-1:06:23) Ari vs the MAC, Discussion on Toledo(1:06:24-1:10:27) Ari goes to a Hockey Game(1:10:28-1:13:43) Tate Ratledge's Incredible 40 Yard Dash(1:13:44-1:15:10) Conclusion: Ari with a mullet?  State and Liberty makes modern athletic fit clothing for men who want to look great and be comfortable at the same time. Whether you’re looking for an athletic fit suit or your new favorite hoodie, State and Liberty has what you need. New customers get 10 percent off when they use the code ANDYARI, or you can visit this link: https://tidd.ly/4gVLuUE New (former?) West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez joins Andy and Ari to talk about returning to Morgantown after 17 years since he last coached there. His coaching odyssey took him to Michigan, Arizona, Oxford, Monroe, La., and Jacksonville, Ala., and brought him back on those country roads. Later, Andy and Ari discuss the NCAA college football rules committee’s proposal to try to curb faking injuries. Plus, Georgia offensive lineman Tate Ratledge ran what might be the greatest combine 40-yard dash of all time. Watch us on YouTube instead! https://youtube.com/live/VdlPgHBoPnA Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

This show is sponsored by Panini America. Makers are the most collectible sports cards on the planet. And Ari, I got a pack of Panini Prism draft picks right here in honor of the Combine last week. I don't know how much Combine you watch this weekend. I was watching offensive lineman run 40s and do drills on the field like deep into the night last night. So that's just how sick I am.

But I want to rip this this prison draft picks pack in honor of that. I gotta tell you Andy, if you're one of these people who sits down and like watches the combine all day, then you are you are a real one like that. I love it. I love the field drills. My son and I were watching them and oh it was it was tremendous. So I got I got a Jordan Addison. It's a it's a big USC day big USC day. I'm

on Ross Brown. Okay. Got a guy who was at the combine this weekend. Dylan Gabriel rated rookie in his Oklahoma uniform not his uh not his organ uniform. Nate Wiggins autograph. First round draft pick baby. Might want to hold on to that one.

Played very well as a rookie. Played very very well as a rookie. Here we go. Here we go. Little little brilliance. Randy Moss at Marshall. Oh, Frank Gore Jr. hype. That makes me feel old, by the way. Yeah, Frank. The juniors, yeah. Cooper Cup at Eastern Washington.

Oh, got a got a. A red. Cooper Cup at Eastern Washington. Oh gotta gotta. A red. West Welker as a Texas Tech Red Raider. Got another Nate Wiggins got a base card Nate Wiggins, but I like my my autograph better. And then we got Bucky Irving in his organ uni. Bucky Irving sells dude. Oh yeah, oh yeah. So visit, visit PaniniAmerica.net to start your collection, to get your own box of Prism so you can rip those packs

right along with us. We're gonna have to start doing some giveaways where, you know, if we pull a nuke, a random viewer gets the card. Well, I'm a random viewer. You're not random at all. Well, I mean, you aren. You're not random at all. Well, I mean, you are kind of random, but I mean, yeah, I, I, uh, you can do that with your cards. Uh, I'm not going to do that.

No, you, you won't even rip them on the show. You just, you just rip them right when you get it. I know we're supposed to rip them on the show. And I think that like, we should probably just like upload, like next time they send us stuff, let's like film all of it and like upload the unboxing of them to the channel or so people can see what it's like to do all of it at once. But I... We definitely should. Yeah, I mean you don't ship a person with an addiction the thing they're addicted to and expect them to just sit on it. It's just not the way that the world works. So, sorry if you... What are a few things that you,

that are that addictive that you can ship through the mail. So that's good. Yeah, unless it's the Silk Road, but this is a pretty good legal alternative to your fixes. So I've got every vice a human being can have and this is a fun, healthy one. Well, PaniniAmerica.net to start your own collection today. We got Rich Rodriguez on the show. Let's get it started. Welcome to Andy and Ariane three. Hey, take me home country roads. We are talking to

the once and future West Virginia football coach Rich Rodriguez, who's led a very interesting football life. Are you like, this is a. Who invented the zone read? I mean, I'm not exaggerating when I say that. At Glendale State, Rich Rodriguez, judge running, who was his quarterback at time, they invented the zone read the whole idea of the quarterback holding the ball in the belly of the back, reading the defense, reading an unblocked defender. They invented it like the basis of all modern college football offense.

Yeah. I mean, it's just like, there's just something nostalgic about his return there and we'll, we'll get into it in the conversation with him, Andy, but I'm like really looking forward to talking to you about West Virginia after the appearance, because you know, we do get accused sometimes of focusing on the biggest of big places, but like West Virginia is really interesting? Because we do get accused sometimes of focusing on the biggest of big places, but West Virginia is really interesting. And the question, I guess, I'll have people thinking as they listen to the interview, and then we'll come back to it,

is was West Virginia's success the first time around a product of being innovative in a way that people weren't ready for in combination with good players? Or is that something that Rich Rod can duplicate in a different way now that the sport has caught up to that in the what 15, 20 years since he's been there. So I am very curious because Rich Rod has has proven that he's done a very good job and he's made teams that were previously not very good, pretty good. Like I don't think that like whether he's a good coach or not is in question. It's whether or not he can recapture that, that mountaineer magic that they had

back in the mid 2000s. Yeah. Also harder conference. There's a lot of other things to talk about. And there's a lot of time that's passed and the game has changed and everybody's basically stolen his offense and created their own version of it. So it is going to be. It reminds me of like with Chip Kelly, like Chip Kelly was, you know, really, really, really good at Oregon. And it was because they were running 90 plays a game or

whatever it was. And it was just like, well, once the sport caught up to that, like, what is your edge, you know, and now talent accumulations a lot different. You know what I don't actually know the answer to, and I'm kind of embarrassed to admit it on the show, but this is a full transparency show. I don't know where like Steve Slayton and Pat White went to high school. Like are they from that area? Pat White's from Mobile, Alabama. Okay. And then where's Steve Slayton?

Or actually, I believe he's from, I believe Pat White is from the Eastern Shore. So Daphne or Fairhope, one of those. But yeah. Okay. So Steve Slate, I think is a Jersey guy. Hold on. I would have looked that one up. That's a, that's a great question.

Yeah. He's from the, he's apparently from Pennsylvania. Uh, Pennsylvania. Okay. And then, and then McAfee, uh, another famous rich rod player is from Pittsburgh. Uh, so like Western PA is a good recruiting ground for West Virginia, but. Yeah, it's like West Virginia. Let's get let's get to the interview

and then we'll talk about it. Yeah, yeah, let's talk about it because you mentioned Chip Kelly. There's a question I asked Rich Rodriguez because Chip Kelly is also a person who borrowed a lot from Rich Rodriguez. So here one of the more innovative minds in the history of college football,

Rich Rodriguez. We welcome new old new West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. How we doing coach? New sounds better than old Andy. So they are. Thank you for that. Yeah, that's good. I'm doing well. Thanks kind of uh back in the saddle at my alma I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not.

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I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. years. No, and it it been and been everywhere but out in the desert but down in the bayou but in the hills of Alabama, you know, and everywhere in between. And so it's it's it's really kind of surreal. And I've been so busy. I really haven't

really sat down and reflect and think about too much. But it's been it's been great. And again this is my alma mater. It's my home and come back. They've done a great job with the facilities. The fan this is my alma mater. It's my home and come back. They've done a great job with the facilities. The fan base is still very passionate. The game has changed a little bit, of course, with all this stuff going on, but I'm thrilled to be back. So you said, and I was, I was actually a

little surprised to hear you say this. When you got back there, you said, I made a mistake when I left. You left for the Michigan job and you obviously had the program in a really good spot when you left. When did you start to think that, hey, maybe I should have stayed? Yeah, I didn't think, I don't know, it was during the first year. And also we had a tough first year at Michigan. And I still think had the AD that hired me still been there after the third year, we'd have been okay and everything would have been great. Because all the guys that made all the plays in the fourth year in the Sugar Bowl and they won it were all the kids that we had recruited and what have you.

But at the same time, I was, you know, I've never been one for a lot of patience and you know, I was kind of impatient here. We were doing well and I won a few things uh for the staff and for the program and I didn't think they were unreasonable and and

and and it uh and it didn't work out and so I'm like heck this is you know, I want to win the national championships. I said, heck, I I know they'll have everything I need at Michigan and so that's we kind of we kind of made that move and it didn't work out but I didn't you know,

really once you're in a job and I think everybody says this, you gotta put everything you have into the job that you're at. So, you don't really have time to reflect either positive or negative and so it wasn't until several years after that. I start, okay, what was positive, what was negative?

And do I need to be more patient? Are the things I could do better to have success? And so that's where I said, I'm not the same coach I was back then. Hell, I better be smarter now. And I think we have done stuff to make sure we're better. Are you muted? It's so good. Maybe today's not my finest hour.

I just wanted to say, it feels right looking at you with that polo on back at West Virginia. Like my era, like on back at West Virginia like my era Like your teams at West Virginia like defined my childhood Like and I know you have a few of those guys on staff we had Pat white on the show when the video game came out like How do you recapture that magic that you had when West Virginia took the sport by storm you back in your first

then? Yeah, that's a good question. And I thought, you know, there are people wanting to, I said, I think even though they said, well, they brought you back because of what you did when you first at West Virginia, I think the main reason I was able to come back with this job is because what we were able to do the last few years at Jack State. Taking that program from one double way to winning conference USA and winning there. But that being said, I do know this program, this state, this area, but better than any other program in the country because I played here and coached here several times.

So I feel good about that, but I also know that the things have changed. You gotta keep learning and keep growing and you had to say, well, I'm not going to worry about that but I also know that the things have changed. You know, you you gotta keep learning and keep growing and and uh you know, you had to say, well, I'm going to win because what we did the last time we, you everybody talks about we had

some great players. That's first reason we won and we were doing some things that are a little bit different back then which was maybe contributed to that but also we're I'm I'm doing things we think a today and I know that sounds like coach speak, but that has really been the key to my career, I think, and it's gonna be the key to our success going forward. So I'm not sure how some of our younger viewers, listeners,

if they know how much of what they see in offensive football today comes from you. But I'll tell you a little story that I was interviewing Kevin Wilson a few years ago. Kevin was the head coach at Tulsa, but he also was the OC at Ohio State and Oklahoma. And he was telling me about when he was at Northwestern that he went down to Clemson for spring practice when you were the OC to watch your practice. And he's standing on the sideline and just talking to some guy and he introduces himself and the guy goes, yeah, Chip Kelly from New Hampshire. And how many of these guys took what you were doing and then just blew it out?

Yeah, they did. There was a lot of guys. I can remember the one year, it might've been the Sugar Bowl year that we beat Georgia. And we were always open with coaches visiting because I'm like, hey, we have 200 college coaches visiting, but we're gonna get stuff from them too, right? That was my thing. If you're gonna come and get some ideas from us, you gotta give us some of your

ideas. And so we were maybe too open. But a lot of guys also took some of our stuff and did a better job with it than we did. So, we're like, we gotta stay on top of, and that's what I'm talking about. Like I tell our coaches, like, there's some stuff that we still do from, that we did back then, and it's kind of the staple of who we are. Like we're gonna play with 11 guys all the time, and quarterback's gonna be active and everything.

But there's also some things that we have to continue to look at to get better. But I think you can do too much too. I find that with a lot of young coaches, they wanna always be the smartest guy in the room and have all these fancy plays and all that. And I said this almost ten times every day, it's not what you call, it's what you can execute. Now, if you have a wide variety of stuff that you can execute really well,

then that's when you're gonna be elite. And that's kind of what we're trying to get to. Rich, you alluded to this in the last question I asked, but times have changed quite a bit in college football. And part of the reason why your teams back in your first stint were so good is A, because of electric players, but B, because of an offensive innovation

that the sport wasn't ready for. In this go around at West Virginia with how much has changed and the way that accumulating talent has evolved, what do you think are some of the biggest challenges that you face in getting the type of guys that you need and what challenges has West Virginia posed that maybe it didn't have as an obstacle

the first time around? Yeah, I think there's different obstacles now than there was back then, but there's always gonna be obstacles. But I think when we did win because we had really, really talented players and we were doing something a little bit different that helped. But I think the secret sauce was how much passion that our guys played with. And all three phases on offense, defense, specials, how we practice. I always tell everybody the key to our success, I think, is how we practice and

how we work out and how we train and how we make our guys accountable, how hard they play. You get really good players that play really hard and play really smart, you're gonna win. And but you need all three of that and as many people talk about culture, but do they really have a type of culture that they have to be adhered to every day? And that's the thing that I've always been blessed with.

I've had really good players, but they played really, really hard. And they had a type of culture that everybody was held accountable. That's non-negotiable. I've said that from the start. As much as I like looking at new plays and doing different stuff, if we win, when we win, it's gonna be because of how hard we play and how disciplined we play, not because of the schemes.

So I heard you at your introductory press conference talking about finding Owen Schmidt, asking him to walk on. And for those who don't remember, Owen Schmidt was the fullback on those Pat White, Steve Slaton teams, and was kind of the heart and soul of your team. I'm curious, now, in this environment,

105 man roster cap, different situation, NIL, how do you find Owen Schmidt, and how do you get him to come play for you now? Yeah, that might be a little harder now. People say kids have changed. I said this a couple of times, 30 years ago, 25 years ago, you tell a kid, I run through the wall, he'll just run through the wall just cuz you told him. Now they're still doing it, but they wanna know why.

And if you don't give them the right answer, they'll Google and say, well, ain't what it says on Google. So they are a little bit different, but I'm not going to Google and say, well, I ain't what it says. I'm I'm Google. So, you know, they they are a little bit different but I also believe that that you you you can coach guys and help guys accountable. You know, the biggest problem we have, I

think I'm going on my soapbox here with you today is a sense of entitlement. There's no question that entitlement part is is is making things tougher for our young people to have success later on in life because they've not learned or earned success. They think they're entitled to it.

There will not be a sense of entitlement in this program. And we're gonna make sure that's been a message from day one from anybody, entitlement from myself, my staff, or certainly any of our players. Coach, back, and I hate to keep living in the past because I know this is about the future, but like the West Virginia logo, like when you saw that logo back flying WB, what did you think? Like, and you, you, you thought the one thing that was just the exciting,

sensational football and like in today's world, um, you know, I think logos carry a lot of weight as it pertains to transfer destinations as it pertains to to the way that people view in your program. Can you make and will you make West Virginia just cool again because it was just cool. We know what's so unique and I know a lot of people know this and maybe some don't. You know we're the only one the only power four team in the entire state. There's no professional team, no NBA, no NFL, no WNBA, no Major League Baseball. So any corner of the state you go to, you know, you go to see the everywhere and there's a lot of passion about it and people

really, really care and they'll follow you and if we win, they'll really follow you and that's I want everybody I want to I want to set the record for season tickets. I want this place to be sold out and I want to have a sense of pride that

every time they watch West Virginia football play that they can say that's my team, that's my state. And there's a lot of West Virginia people throughout the country, and I've been all across the country, and I've heard from a lot of them, over the last 20 years and over the last 30 years. And I know it's gonna be, you know, you get so immersed in your job,

you don't think about that external stuff. But at the same time, I also know when we do well and have great success, how much pride the West Virginia people will have. And that's that's I'm a cognitive that I'm cognizant of that. But I want our players to be cognizant of that as well. So the new era here, it's amazing to me, because I came and did a story on you in Tucson, on your first 48 hours as the Arizona head coach went, went house shopping with your wife and sat in on your first meeting with the staff and it was incredible. But I remember, you know,

getting to your house that night and meeting Rhett, your son, who was in high school. He's now your quarterbacks coach like he's the guy who's in the QB's ear because you said you're not allowed to be the one on the mic in the QB's ear. How is that, you know, that worked with, you know, he's kind of the younger version of you. You've got Pat White back working with the guys. You've got Noel Devine working with the guys. This new version. How different is it? It's really, and obviously, I know Rhett, what he had, who he is, what he brings to the table and all that.

So I hired him the same reason I hired Pat, is I think he can help us win. And he's a different type of personality. I'm kind of loud and out there I was in grade school and so obviously there's nobody that knows the system probably better than me as well as me that then does and then the other person who's a rock star

of my staff has been the last three or four years or four years is my my daughter Raquel and at Jack State, she did all of our social media and she became more than just a social media person. I mean, she was designing fields. She was helping and she's doing recruiting. She's doing everything. And so I'm really proud and I'm very blessed that both of my kids are

not only on the staff, but they're they're bringing a lot of value to the staff and they're going to help us win games. I was looking at, you know, everyone knows the big stops in your career when it comes to, you know, Arizona and Michigan and West Virginia the first time, but I was looking at your, your bio and I don't know that there's a coach, maybe there's, maybe there's a bunch, I don't know, but like that has been everywhere. The way that you have, I don't know. Like you're in the desert in Tucson, you're in the South and in New Orleans. And I looked up in Hawaii.

Tell me about the year in Hawaii. Yeah. I don't know where that got out there. Todd Graham, who's all my staff, is a friend of mine, was a coach in Hawaii, and he talked to me about coming out there and working with him, but I didn't. So, I don't know how I got out there, but I was in Monroe, Louisiana. Yeah.

And so... Hawaii and Monroe, Louisiana, very similar. I just was like, picturing you out in Hawaii Hawaii like wearing flip-flops in the meetings and so It's hard like my staff half my staff is with me You know, Zach allies with the corner was the decoy in Monroe and love the town love the people there But it was the the smallest budget by far in in the country At Louisiana Monroe and I was with my by far in in the year before but it was a bad

12. I mean it was it was without question the hardest job maybe that I've ever other than the first year at Glenville State College, my first my my second head coaching stint that my first year there was the hardest. The second hardest probably was Louisiana Monroe in in uh 2021, I guess. Well, let's talk about this most recent stop at Jacksonville State though, because it's fascinating because you start in the FCS, you move into the FBS while you're there,

you win Conference USA while you're there, But now you're in a situation where, because FBS coaches haven't had to worry about these equivalency scholarships, like giving a half scholarship or anything like that. It's always been either a full scholarship or not. But in the FCS, they have to split them up. And now you can split them up in the FBS. Do you feel like having that experience

gives you an advantage in terms of roster building now? I think a little bit of that also when I was at Glenville State, we were division two, we were in AI and then transition division two. They're all split up there. You had 35 scholarships and you were trying to get a roster of 90 or so in how to manage that. So I think I've had some experience doing that. But all coaches have so many people on their staff now and

there's so much information that you learn what you gotta do to build the roster. I think it's unique times and I think everybody's gonna learn a lot in the next couple years, especially with the rev share in July and still having the NIL opportunities for your guys outside of that. So it's kind of crazy, the goalposts keep moving every year. But when you're coaching at a smaller place, you learn to adapt to the goalposts moving. Sometimes if all you've been is division power five, division one, or

power four, division one, you get spoiled. You get everything at your disposal and and you never have to I don't want to say grind but you don't have to adapt to a lot of things and having my least my experiences have allowed me all the other places to learn to adapt a little bit so going back to West Virginia is not just like going back to a place you coach just going back to your home I'm wondering what was the reception like? How's it been just to, I always like think like, what would it be like to just go back

and live where I grew up? How's it been for you personally? Is that something that just enriches you? You feel whole? Like what's that experience been like for you? I said the surreal, it was a little surreal. I kind of expect, well, geez, I hadn't seen, shoot, I hadn't seen my brothers in five or six years. I said the surreal was a little surreal. I kind of expect what

I hadn't seen. Shoot. I hadn't seen my brothers in in five or six years. I hadn't seen it was 17 years since I had left Morgantown and I hadn't been back to Morgantown. So, it was, you know, there are a lot of folks that were still here

working here that I hadn't seen since then. So, it was kind of neat. I'm still trying to remember all their names of everybody that that that was here. You know, I went to high school an hour away from here, you know, my mom's still Living about an hour away from here. So it was really neat to see that part of it, but I've been so busy, you know and Doing the job in the last couple months. I probably haven't seen all the people I'm gonna see that I've missed over the years

But and you get as I said in this profession you guys know you just wherever you're going you're putting everything you can into where you're at you know so you can have success at your at your current job but this this this place is you know the the press conference was a little unique you know uh pat you know I had had the whole thing going on and there was the fire and all that kind of stuff and then there was, you know, the one Yahoo to stand up and yelled at me as soon as I got introduced or something like that and I expected some heckling but and hell that don't bother me. There's a lot more stuff more hurtful than that but it's uh you know my younger self maybe would have jumped off the stage, you know, challenge them a little bit but my older wiser self today, you know, we'll let

we'll let other people handle that. So, so when Pat McAfee was punting and kicking for you, you know, challenge them a little bit but my older wiser self today, you know, we'll let we'll let other people handle that. So, so when Pat McAfee was punting and kicking for you, did you have any idea he'd wind up the most powerful man in sports media? No, hell, I,

Pat, now, I tell everybody Pat was, now, he was a character and he's a character from day one but he was, he was one of the hardest workers we had. I'm talking about from, you know, from a football standpoint in the weight room.

I mean, Pat worked his ass off. And I think that's why he's had success in his career, cuz he works now. He works all the time. He puts a lot of pride into it. Now I've quit checking his curfew because I was afraid he'd keep missing curfew. So as long as he would make those kicks and be good at punting, I was fine with it. Because I'm sure he missed curfew a few times, but he was great to coach,

not good, but great. And he's been a great supporter ever since he's gotten into the meter world of myself and our programs. We need to ask this because it's kind of a, this is a college football podcast that's about food. Was there a restaurant or a dish or something that you were just like, I can't wait to get back to Morgantown to smash this meal. Oh heck, there's there's all kinds of them. You know, we got there's some really good Italian

restaurants, Oliverios and Morgantown Murials. Which is the one under the bowling alley? the one that you took in Morgantown Muriel's which is the one under the bowling alley. under the bowling alley. It might not be there anymore. Dana Holgerson took me there. It was amazing. It was. Yeah. Yeah. We're famous for

pepperoni rolls. Oh yeah. Pops. Pepperoni rolls down in Fairmont. They were they're really good and they're still they're going on and you know, we call it pepperoni rolls. If you all don't know that originated in in in West the whole thing. So, they're going on and you know, pepperon rolls. If you all don't know that originated in in in West

Virginia in Marion County just down the road for the coal miners. My dad was a coal miner. So, because you couldn't put regular bread and sandwiches down the mines. It wouldn't last. So, they would bake pepperoni and cheese and

bread and take that as their lunch for all the coal miners and so that's what they ate for lunch a lot of times was pepperoni rolls. So, I've known about people in Pennsylvania the or like group of five type of pepperonios. I want to give them that credit. That might be a vision too. before we let's pepperoni rolls up here in West Virginia before we let you go,

we we ask or at least we we are determined to ask everybody this we sometimes forget but I'm not forgetting today. What are your rules for life like in general, where you're just Rich Rodriguez is rules for life. Well, I mean, this is related to athletics and stuff, but I just, you know, I don't like to be around players or coaches that are not competitive. Now.

I don't expect everybody to be over the top like I am, you know, because you know, whether I'm playing pickleball or golfing or coaching, you know, just you know, whether I'm playing pickleball or golfing or coaching, you know, if they're keeping score **** you know, we're trying to you know, whip your tail, right? If a guy is not competitive on a

team, it doesn't make him a bad guy. I just don't want to be around him. You know what I mean? And that's kind of what all the best The people I know that they're very highly successful and Pat like Pat or friends of mine that are multi millionaires, whatever They got not because they inherited anything they got where they were at because of their work ethic and their competitiveness That's just kind of what we have all stuff. Love it One more question because you mentioned the budget at Louisiana Monroe the and be good. Because if they're going down a little bayou, if you fall in the water, and there's alligators. And they'll keep making it a lake somewhere

where you might have run into a little bass or something like bluegill. You fall in the water down in a real salmon hole, you might find an alligator chopping at your feet. So they're going to be really good, because they ain't falling down. That's exactly right. They would import those people from Germany and Austria, and they'd get there. This little bayou with a ramp. the into a tiger cage or something that would be that's kind of what it's like. Yeah, you learn how to do your job. Yeah, you would be very competitive.

You would meet Mitch Rich Rodriguez is one rule. Thank you coach. That is Rich Rodriguez. I do love the whole Louisiana Monroe water skiing team. It's true. You could get eaten by an alligator in that bite. Yeah, I was thinking a lot during the appearance. I was just down here. I was just like listening. And I'm just trying to think like how many places have stolen a food idea and made a better one? tons It's like that's the best actually the norm probably right yes That's what you see something you like and then you build on that or you you just rip it off entirely

I started reading the formula one book by the guys who did the one on the Premier League a few years ago. And that is all Formula One is. Somebody has an idea, all the other engineers rip it off, and then make it better. That's exactly how it works. Yeah, but because I always think, when I think pepperoni rolls, I always think of Pennsylvania. But they were made in West Virginia,

and I think we should go out there and do a taste test on which one's better. I know Tudor's Biscuit World in West Virginia has got some of the best biscuits I've ever had. Big fan. I've ever had. I don't know, you're the biscuit expert. Do they hold up nationally? Oh, they hold up tremendously,

but the pepperoni roll research is excellent. Plus, we were talking about this in our Mac discussion the other day, Bowling Green has the pepperoni roll, so we could get into Ohio too with that. Yeah, they're like pepperoni breadsticks, I think. I've never had those, and I lived in Ohio for 10 years. It's a major miscalculation of my time there. The pepperoni roll is a tremendous food item.

I don't know why it's not more mainstream because you're like, I guess Tortino's pizza rolls kind of miniaturize the idea. They're also elite. But there's no sauce on the pepperoni roll. It's not the same thing. Yeah. There's sauce in a pizza roll that you put in the oven, but there's no sauce on the pepperoni roll. It's not the same thing. Yeah. There's sauce in a pizza roll that you put in the oven, but there's no sauce on the pepperoni rolls that

you buy in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Right. It's just to eat as a lunch as a snack. The thing that's amazing is that you can buy them kind of like pre-made and they're not refrigerated and then just eat them without heating them up and they're also good that way too. and then just eat them without heating them up. And they're also good that way, too. I'm so hungry now. So hungry, but just tremendous. Rich Rodriguez is an interesting spot, because West Virginia is a hard job.

I do not think that Neil Brown was a bad coach. And I know the West Virginia fans are like, oh, he should have done better. It's a hard job. It's been a hard job since they moved to the Big 12. I will never forget walking out of that stadium when Holgersson was coaching or Dana Holgerson was coaching there and this was that Will Greer team where they had a lot

of good players on that team. David Long was on that team and they played Oklahoma in the last game. The regular season and the winner was going to go to the Big 12 championship game and they lost and I remember hearing people outside the stadium like wow well, you know, he's got to do better than that, or he's going to get run out of here. And he did just leave. Like he left the Holgersson left of his own accord because he knew that was the

best team he was going to have for a while and it was not going to satisfy them. Yeah. So I have a theory about West Virginia and I don't know if it's nonsense or if it's something that's worth talking about. But when West Virginia was in the old in the big 12, the big East, you mean? No, no, sorry, the big 12. They still are. But when they were in it with Texas and Oklahoma, okay, they were, I think you could make the

case maybe the most out of place geographical Power Four team in terms of like who they're playing against, where they're recruiting around was and where they're actually located. Obviously now that's completely different, but I'm wondering with the way that the world of talent accumulation has shifted and the fact that you have ACC teams on the West Coast

and you have big 10 teams on the West Coast and how, you know, West Virginia doesn't really quite seem geographically as out of place as they used to, if recruiting to the, are they in a impossible recruiting territory, or are they in a good one? Because they can dip into Western Pennsylvania,

they can dip into Ohio, I think that Morgantown's what, three and a half hours away from Columbus? It's actually not the worst, you can drive there from Charlotte up I-77. So it's not in a terrible location in terms of recruiting, especially if you're now back in the day when everybody had to come from within 200 miles. a lot of times circle around your campus for 200 miles in the direction. Yeah. Yeah. It was tough.

But if you give them 500, 800 miles, they got some players. They should be able to find them. Yeah. The difficult thing with West Virginia is that they don't have any players in their state, right? Right. Randy Moss isn't coming out of the West Virginia every other year. Um, so they have to dip into other states because you know,

he, it was interesting because he talked about how West Virginia is the only power team. And I don't know if that's, is that true? They're the only power team in a state that doesn't have a professional team to that may or may not be. I think that's true. Um, but either way, Oh yeah. Arkansas. Yeah. Arkansas is another one. You can't capture the fan aspect of it with the players you're recruiting. Like I'm sure in Arkansas, there are kids who grew up Razorback fans and there's more talent in Arkansas, even though that's probably one of the weaker

Southern States for just pure talent total. But the thing about Arkansas is there are kids from Dallas and their kids from Tulsa, like there's a lot of players in Tulsa. There's a lot of tons of players in Dallas, obviously they know Arkansas is good. And they also understand how Arkansas people feel about Arkansas football. Like it's not that far away from them. They they can't understand that the advantage that Ohio State has had and Alice you has had for a long time,

which is being a powerhouse program in a state where the entire state loves you but the the reason why. And maybe this is the entire difference between West Virginia or Ohio State and LSU is that there are a lot of really good players in those states so those players grow up loving the only game in town. And then when they get an opportunity to play for them,

they go there. Like with West Virginia, I think you have the same, you know, childhood connection to the Mountaineers, but there just aren't enough players to sustain that. And the second you cross state lines, you're no longer able to pull that like connection cord. So, you know, obviously, in 2025 and beyond, you know, a lot of this is going to be about how much are you able to pay the players that want to go there? And how are you able to even the playing field from a talent standpoint? And I know they've dipped out like Neil down, Neil Brown dipped into Florida a lot too, didn't he? they've dipped down, like Neil Brown dipped into Florida a lot too, didn't he? And Holgersson dipped into Florida a ton. Yeah.

And like maybe into the South to try to get some of those underappreciated players that you evaluate that are really, really fast, like a turn into a Pat White or a Steve Slayton, but like, do you think that because the sport has shifted as much as it has from a talent accumulation standpoint, a payment standpoint, all these things that being a misfit geographically in your own conference means less now than it did in 2020. Oh, it definitely means less now, especially because what's a misfit in the Big 12? Like the Big 12 stretches from Provo, Utah to

Orlando, Florida. And now they're not even the biggest misfit in their own conference geographically, right? I'm sure they're closer to tech. Is West Virginia closer to Texas than like Provo? I have to get the Google Maps out, but it's close. This is a bad geography podcast too. It's not just bad at math Andy. I'm very bad at geography. But no, they're not and the thing is with Cincinnati in there and UCF in there, it feels more natural now. It definitely feels more natural.

there feels more natural now. It definitely feels more natural. Producer River giving us some geographic help before realignment. West Virginia's closest conference rival was Texas. It was in Austin, so now it's Cincinnati. That's not far at all. That's crazy. That's crazy. The Texas thing, because I was thinking TCU is closer

because Dallas is North, but you know, again bad geography. Um, I think that's a good point. That's crazy. That's crazy. The Texas thing. Because I just think the TCU is closer because Dallas is north. But you know, again, bad geography. Yeah. Wow. Okay. So now the other question too is how hard is Morgantown to get to?

That's the other thing. It's like, what do you fly into? Do you fly into Cincinnati? You fly into Pittsburgh. You fly into Pittsburgh. It's like 45 minutes. Yeah, okay. That's not so bad. So that and that's the thing. Like it's funny because that's where the Louisville

people got all mad about when West Virginia got and this actually probably screwed West Virginia and Louisville. The Big 12 probably should have taken Louisville and the ACC should have taken West Virginia. So when the Big 12 was looking for a new member, they said, well, airport proximity is a big deal. Have you ever been to the University of Louisville's campus? I have. It is right next to the Louisville airport.

I didn't know where the airport was because I've never flown into Louisville, but yeah, the Louisville, right there in the trunk of town. Literally next door. Like it's the University of Louisville, Churchill Downs, the airport right there all together and they pick West Virginia where the closest major airport is Pittsburgh. Imagine a world where Pittsburgh or excuse excuse me, where Louisville goes to the Big 12 and West Virginia goes to the ACC. I actually think West Virginia probably has a more natural fit in the ACC. I'm just like wondering too, like is all this stuff antiquated now? Like is it even worth, like

what in your mind is going to be the difference maker between Rich Rod's success and failure there this time around? Like, because like conference footprint and how many players are in your own state and all the things that we used to discuss ad nauseam, like all of it feels less important now. Well, I'd say the conference is easier now than it was when Texas and Oklahoma were in there. It's hard because everybody's kind of good, but there's not a superpower big footing you like Oklahoma was for most of those years. So I think there's a chance to make this work. Like we're looking at the 2025 West Virginia schedule. Look, the big 12 schedule is going to be hard. They got Utah and BYU back to back. We don't know who the best teams in the big 12 are going to be. Ending with Arizona State and Texas Tech

seems pretty tough. That seems like a pretty tough way to end your conference season. But at the same time, Andy- There's no Texas no Oklahoma in here. Paying for the big 12 championship is not such a pipe dream the way that it used to be. If you're playing for the Big 12 championship, you are playing for a playoff berth. So let's get to the second part of the discussion then. Because like acquiring talent, I mean, like, I don't know,, back in the day, I used to say, Andy, like, the

most important thing or the hardest thing about being a head coach is having a clear and identifiable plan that you know works and being able to follow it. Like, I don't know if it's as cut and dry of like, what's your plan when you get hired? I don't, like, I don't know. Maybe I should have asked him this, like, what's the plan there, in terms of how to get players? But then at the same time, do you believe, how much do you believe West Virginia success, the first go around or the first stint was predicated on an innovative offense with really good players and what in an easy conference, in an easy conference, but like, what do you think, what do you think it is now? Like, what's the path to success for West Virginia now?

I think it's, it's the same thing. Continue to innovate on offense. Be tough, like he said. The West Virginia teams of that era played with an attitude. You want to play with that same attitude. And that's about it. I mean, like the Big 12 is going to be fairly evenly matched. If you can get your NIL budget in order and with revenue sharing, you should be able to.

Your athletic budgets are fairly similar across the league. Like you should be able to compete in that league. You're not going to like nobody's going to dominate it. But you've got to be able to get yours every few years That's the goal Yeah, I mean because the problem too is that like it doesn't feel like that long ago now But like recruits these days have no recollection of the West Virginia teams that were cool Like I don't even know if you can sell like hey remember when the first time around we're gonna do that again

Like they don't even know all the Viner on the staff now. So they're there and they can talk about it pretty, pretty vividly. What year was Pat White? No, all the vineyard was what year was well, no, all the vine was later. So Pat White was the Pat White. Steve Slayton best year was 2007. That was the year. Remember they lost a pit

in the backyard brawl and they would have played for the national championship if they'd beaten that. That was the year that they opened up the path to Ohio State and LSU, right? Because that was the year that there were multiple people on paper. Correct, it would have been West Virginia, Ohio State had West Virginia lost that game.

Yeah. Do you realize that most recruits were either not born yet or born that year that are like going out in your year right now? I know. It's it's wild. So yeah, there's a lot of history but the history doesn't necessarily mean anything.

So yeah, Rich Rod, but the thing is Rich Rod's been toiling away like it's funny because even though he's on his second stint as West Virginia's coach, he has been Michigan's coach in Arizona's coach. Like he's taking this job in a way similar to the way you normally take this job where he's coming from Jacksonville state. Yeah. Well, you, you come from Jacksonville state and you did a really good job there. By the way, watching them play offense was really fun. So they, like, he still has that, like, little flicker in his eye when it comes to watching him play. But I feel like I could draw, can you draw parallels to what he did in Arizona, to what he could do here? Because like Arizona was a fun, really good team for Arizona standards while he was coaching there. And it's like, do you think that there are parallels between like Tucson and Morgantown? I would say so. I think Tucson's probably a little easier to get to, but it's not, it's not really anybody's first choice.

And there's probably more players in the state in Arizona, but you and I have talked millions of times about how they never keep their good players in the state at Arizona or Arizona State. So yeah. Arizona is actually getting deeper now because people are living there now. Like when I was a kid, nobody was from there. Now people are from there and having kids. So like I could see like Arizona State, if they can continue this trajectory or even U of A to a certain extent like If they're able to figure out the secret sauce and how to keep them home It is but they're also very close to California and and to a certain extent, Texas to like, you know Texas is a big state there what and West Virginia West Virginia is gonna need to Get players from Pennsylvania and from Ohio get players from the DMV

like they're just gonna need to do that. And what West Virginia really needs to do is, uh, it needs to kind of try to steal. I think Kentucky's plan, which is if Ohio state offers them, leave them alone. But if they don't, or they don't have room for them because they take so many players from out of state, go get the second tier guys that can drive to Morgantown and are really good at football. Like that's what, that's why I mean, that's what Michigan State did for so many years when they propped up those Connor Cook teams that

were, you know, one that made the playoff. The Ohio Leftovers are really important, but you got five teams that are trying to get them. Cincinnati's trying to get them. Kentucky has done a really good job of getting them. But like I think West Virginia needs to be in that mix, and I think they've got to be a real player in Pittsburgh, because I do think that West Virginia could win head-to-head battles, theoretically, with the right sales pitch against Pitt for Western Pennsylvania.

Right. You're not going to beat Penn State for those players, but you might beat Pitt for them. Yeah, but Penn State hasn't been the, I mean, more recently, it's been better, but they're not the hallmark of keeping kids home either. But you're not going to win head to head in terms of like program stature at this point. But I'm trying to think like how many second tier teams have like landed on like Lind Bowden's of the world. Like that just, you know, were really, really good in college and came, came from Ohio and just like didn't have an Ohio State offer. Like I think that that's the secret

sauce. But, you know, yeah, I mean, if they play an exciting brand of offense to like becoming a really interesting transfer destination would be fun too. That's that's the other part of it. You know, they've got a pair of a fairly new team. Some people came back like Nico Marquill is back the quarterback like probably a left-handed quarterback either Nico Marquill or Jalen Henderson, the Texas A&M

transfer. So it's, it's gonna be an interesting year for them. That it's a fairly new roster, lots of turnover because, you know, one, the coach was fired, but two, that was they were fairly old anyway. So we'll find out. We'll find out. But Ari, we're gonna talk about Huel right now. I got the Huel Black Edition right here. 35 grams of protein, 27 vitamins and minerals. This is a complete meal and it's a beautiful thing

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And we will start with a buzzer beater because we love buzzer beaters. Tennessee beats Alabama on a buzzer beater. At Thompson Bowling or at Food City Thompson Bowling Arena. Jemima Ishak or Jemima Ishak, boom, from half court. Look at cinematic from VFL films that they sent us. This is beautiful. Now, what you can't see in that one is Tennessee coach Rick Barnes furiously trying to call time out and almost negating the buzzer beater that won in the game.

Here's Rick Barnes. To be honest with you, I was calling timeout. I didn't see the play. What, like how long do you think, what was the indication that he hit the shots? If you didn't see it, how long do you think it took to you knew he hit it? The, when the crowd went nuts, you know, and I'm looking up and like, don't call timeout, you know? Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good Ari.

Speaking of which, you know how we always talk about these tiebreakers in these crazy huge leagues? Cause the last tiebreaker is always like a coin flip or a random draw. Yeah. The SEC had a coin flip this weekend. Greg Sankey, the SEC commissioner, flipped a coin to decide who is going to be the number one seed of the women's

basketball tournament next week. So here is Greg Sankey flipping a coin in case you wanted to see what. Okay, here we go. And it will be South Carolina, the number one seed, Texas will be the two seed. So that is how they decided who the number one seed. Don't you think that if you're flipping for a conference seeding situation that they should flick it a little bit higher and let it hit the ground? I think the catching it and putting it on the hand thing is kind of Bush League personally. Well, I mean, we need

more rotations than that. Let's get Greg Sankey on the show and we'll ask him that because I do. Maybe this is the warm up in case he ever has to do this for football. Yeah. Yeah. Can you imagine if that ever got to that in football? I ran out of time in the feeling your morning the other news story I was going to read and but it's to start a new discussion because I'm fascinated by this one. So hard knocks off season. On HBO is going to focus on bill Belichick's North Carolina team because they could not find an NFL team to do it.

NFL team to do it? So this and the hard knocks off season is like last year when we got to watch the Giants just give away Saquon Barkley like is that correct? Correct and that is why no NFL team will do it because they had cameras in the room with the Giants GM Joe Shane when he

was like no we're not going to franchise Saquon and telling Saquon's agent now you're you're definitely going to give us another crack at him if a good offer comes along and the agent's like, sure. And then the next, you know, next episode the agent's calling back, he's signing with the Eagles.

And that move didn't turn out to matter for anyone, did it? No, no, no, that wasn't the biggest off season move in the NFL last year. Yeah. And I understand. Yeah. Yeah. If I were an NFL team, I would want this. So this is not the hard knocks you watch during training camp.

That's still going to be an NFL team, but this is the one that comes on. I think, I think it comes out in May or June. So this will be on, on Bill Belichick's North Carolina team. So we'll see him and Michael Lombardi as they put the roster together go through spring practice everything I guess we'll get the spring portal window, which you know, we'll see how wild that is But I am very interested to see the look behind the curtain because Bill Belichick didn't want anybody Looking at his New England Patriots operation, but you know, he was working with NFL films because he was doing a show with NFL films

during that year that he wasn't coaching. So he recruited these guys. Like he wants, now he wants people to take a peek behind the curtain. Well, the thing that'll be interesting is, is that like, if you could just like guess, like, or pick a team that you could have a look behind the curtain at in the off season,

wouldn't it be North Carolina? Because that's the biggest question mark. Like I feel like for college football fans, like that's probably gonna be the most revelatory of like, what are they doing there? Because like, I know that he hasn't moved the needle, Bill Belichick, as much as like Deion Sanders has in terms of like a typical or out of left field higher at a power program. But like I am still very genuinely curious like what they think their secret sauce is and what that's going to look like.

that's going to be. I do not know. And look, everything's changed. The roster's changed. But we need to have Sonny Dykes on the show because TCU opens with North Carolina. Like, I want to know what Sonny Dykes is thinking like coaching against Bill Belichick because Sonny Dykes is obviously he's played in a national championship game. What is it about teaching you having to open up against these coaches? He had to coach to open up against Colorado. That's right, he had Deon's first game. That's incredible. Colorado. That is amazing. But yeah, it's freaking Bill Belichick on the other sideline. That has to be somewhat intimidating for a coach, don't you think? Yeah, well, I mean, the thing that's interesting is that I think that Sonny Dykes would probably tell you in an honest moment that they did a terrible job

preparing TCU for the Colorado team that they faced two years ago. And I think part of that was just like not having much film, not knowing what to study and all that stuff. And they kind of got caught with their pants down. And that was the first game after the national championship run. So run to the national championship game.

So TCU was a really different team too. Yeah, they were different, but like I think that like they were 21 or 20 point favorite in that game and they ended up losing outright. So it'll be very interesting to see like what North Carolina looks like who they are and how they approach this off season because again, I don't think we've even talked enough about Bill Belichick. I mean, Bill Belichick is the coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels. I was like, it does not move the needle for some reason. And it's weird.

It is amazing to me. It still doesn't feel real. And maybe this HBO show will make it feel more real that he is the coach. He's going to be there. Because remember, he got the job and it was still, oh, what if, what if an NFL job open opens up? I mean, they basically made it where he wasn't gonna leave for an NFL job because it was a $10 million buyout before June 1st. So he wasn't going anywhere, but we still couldn't just wrap our brains around. This is the guy, but let's look at this schedule. Okay. North Carolina can be, well can have a good record in year one.

I don't even know if they have to be a good team to have a good record. TCU, Charlotte, Richmond, U.S., UCF, Clemson, Cal, Virginia, Syracuse, Stanford, Wake Forest, Duke, NC State. Like the Duke NC State ending is no fun. We'll see what Wake Forest is under Jake Dickard. I actually think Jake Dickard is gonna do a good job at Wake Forest.

We had him in the show a couple of weeks ago. I like what he's done. I like that he's brought essentially an offensive line from Washington State with him. But like, oh, this reminds me Ari. Another guy we need to have on the show is Scott Frost. Yeah. Scott Frost is back at UC.

Like, yeah, yeah. All these reunion tours. Um, I gotta say that's the softest collegiate schedule I've ever seen. It's pretty soft. That Clemson's not not soft. Yeah, you're saying they play one one team that they can't beat going into it. Well, can they beat Duke? Do we know they can beat Duke?

I don't know. Looks pretty good. Don't try to push back on this. That is weak. I know. I know. They they got a good draw from the ACC. There's no Miami.

There's no Louisville. There's no SMU. And you want to see the and it's not just an ACC thing. River, I don't know if you have this. No Georgia Tech. It's possible, but do you have Syracuse's schedule up there? He's getting it for us. Yeah. He's going to get it for us. Put it up here. This is another ACC schedule. And tell me what you think of this one when we get to it. Andy, do you know what Syracuse's schedule looks like?

I don't think I've looked at Syracuse. I know I looked at it last year and said frame Brown's gonna have a good first. Oh God. On the road. These two like these are not teams in the same league. They have to play Clemson, SMU, Miami and Notre Dame on the road next year and they open with Tennessee. And they also play Duke and they also play Georgia Tech. Oh, they play Georgia Tech away too. Tennessee's is listed as home on their schedule. I think they're playing Tennessee at a neutral site game. And I think it's in Nashville or something. Like I don't think that it's actually an away game. It's in Atlanta. It's in Atlanta.

It's in Atlanta. Okay, so it's an away game. Yeah. So like that's, that's two different teams in the same schedule or in the same league. Holy crap. And like Fran Brown isn't a very interesting, like we should have him on the show too. Cause he's a great talker.

I love Fran Brown. Yes. This is a pretty pivotal year for Syracuse to show that last year wasn't a flash in the pan and they got screwed like they The fact that they got to play their the four toughest games on their schedule Or for road. I mean all five if you consider Tennessee on the road I do well and Georgia Tech there six in really tough games away from home. Yeah Like Georgia Tech's gonna be one of the better teams in the ACC this year. Yeah, they they they didn't. They just Jim

Phillips does not like them or something. I don't know what happened here. This is like last year they had it. They had a schedule. Oh by the way, oh by the way, home opener against Yukon Yukon won nine games last year. I know this isn't. I don't know what their over under is for win total, but they're going to have a reallyon won nine games last year. I know, this isn't, I don't know what their over-under is for a win total, but they're gonna have a really tough goal of it next year. Oh my God.

We gotta do this. We need to have an episode where we just dive deep into every schedule and be like, here are the easy ones, here are the brutal ones, here are the brutal ones. Just so you know, let's let's do that later this week. Let's can we make that Friday show? Sure. Let's do that Friday. Let's let's get dive deep into schedules for Friday. Because Oh my God, Ari, it's conceivable that Syracuse if they were a better team could have a margin, like a, a drastically worse

season than they did last year. Like, I don't think that we're going to get to know how good Syracuse is or what their improvement is, because it's just not fair what they have to go through. Well, and we talked about, we, you know, we talked about Florida's schedule last week, and we talked about some of these other teams. But in terms of degree of difficulty versus where your team's supposed to be talent wise, that may be the hardest schedule in America next year. Yeah. Holy crap. Wow.

Okay. So we got Friday's show booked. Yeah, that's pretty good. We just, we, you know, we got to give producer river a heads up. So he knows which schedules to have ready, but yeah, we got to go producer river a heads up so he knows which schedules to have ready but Yeah, we got to go through that but we've got a few days. This is I Just I just want to call Fran Brown and console him Not that he would want it like Fran Brown's type person who would be like don't care

Play who you got. Let's go. But holy crap, that's tough schedule. Yeah, and I love that we just had all that all that ready for you. But it was my favorite to watch you. To watch you experience it for the first time, because I told you the best producer river is the best. He has everything ready. And like I you guys can't see this because because me and Ari are on the best. He has everything ready. And like, I, you guys can't see this because, because me and Ari are on the screen, but I can see producer River in the little window below

us. And as soon as Ari says Syracuse schedule, you see Rivers hand go up like, I'll have this for you in 10 seconds. And it is just is the greatest feeling in the world. So great job, River River. Speaking of River, I think River's gonna get a free shirt today and I'll tell you why. We got a text from one of our most dedicated listeners and I knew this was gonna happen.

I knew this was coming. I knew it was coming too when I was talking about it. We had this discussion the other day about coaching the Mac. This is when, so when Scott Leffler decided to take the Eagles QB coach job and leave Bowling Green, and it opened up the Bowling Green head coaching job. I had a feeling when Ari said

that all the back jobs were basically the same, and he compared Toledo to Kent State, that there was going to be some pushback from one of our most loyal listeners, and that is Toledo Athletic Director, Brian Blair, and this morning I get this text playing catch up on the episodes and listen to the 228 episode on my drive this morning. Damn near wrecked is what Brian Blair says.

And so he does not mean to disrespect Kent State in any way, but I will I will I will brag on Toledo. For him on his behalf, because I tried I tried to steer Ari away from this, anyway, but I will brag on Toledo for him on his behalf. Because I tried to steer Ari away from this, but I will brag on Toledo and Coach Jason Candle a little more. Most bowl appearances in bowl wins among Mac schools. Sixth longest bowl eligibility streak, second in the group of five only to Boise.

Top attendance fundraising ticket sales facilities in the Mac. Mac championship game appearance to the last three years Quinion Mitchell who you saw stayed became a first-round draft pick of the Eagles Darius Alexander the defensive tackle this year who is a Maybe first-round guy, but probably high or even if he isn't the first round probably early second round defensive tackle who stayed this year and Yeah, so very different just one of the probably early second round defensive tackle who stayed this year and yeah so very different just wanted to throw that out there Toledo getting it done yeah um I don't know maybe Toledo would have been a bad

was a bad example but I think that the it was a bad example yeah I think the point remain honestly like it's been a half a decade since I've lived in Ohio, but I've been to most of the campuses. I've been to Kent and I've been to Toledo. I've covered games at Toledo. I think the overarching point I would stand by. I think Toledo is different and we got into a little bit the other day. Jason Candles done such a great job there of recruiting and retaining talent like their routinely the number one recruiting class in the Mac. They keep guys like Quinian Mitchell and Darius Alexander that most group of five schools cannot keep. And so I think Harold Fanon.

It's not like it's true. But Harold Fanon, it's not like it's that's true. Unheard of. But Harold Fanon kind of Harold Fanon kind of blew up this year. Like if Harold Fanon had another year of college years ago, too, he could have he could have gone to a power school last year. I'm just thinking of the Penn State and Texas A&M games this year. So, yeah, but like, you know, again. I can't sit here and pretend like I know like how Toledo's

facilities match up against Kent's, and I don't even think it's a Toledo Kent thing. I just think it's Mac like the the boilerplate Mac program versus the boilerplate Mac program and maybe I made a mistake putting a label on it but it's really hard to do. I think it's very hard to differentiate the programs and you know if Toledo has all those things that you just said they're obviously doing the best job of it. So I didn't want to you know if Toledo has all those things that you just said, they're obviously doing the best job of it. So I didn't want to, you know, under change their accomplishments or shortchange a candle by any chance.

I think you get a Toledo shirt out of the deal. So I think I think we're doing all right. I want a Toledo shirt. They got a great logo. Send Brian your sizes. then Brian your sizes. See Brian is, Blair, one of my, listen, I were not supposed to play favorites, but he's one of my favorite ADs. Was a very undersized nose tackle at Lawford, got his law degree at South Carolina,

he's a South Carolina native, like smokes his own barbecue, like he's tremendous, just a tremendous human being. So we love Brian. Just wanted to let you know, I'm an XL. Would love some I would wear it like I so we got some tickets last night to the Dallas Stars game. I think I told you I told you this right, Andy. Oh, yeah. We were behind the glass on the glass like a person at Britt's office gave it to us. And by the

way, the best part, the parking spot was in the American Airlines parking lot. Like you got out of the car and five steps you were at the door. Like it was the best parking spot for the sporting event I've ever had. And there was a VIP lounge where you could go in between periods and just get, they had like crab closets.

Like these tickets were insane. But I struggled because I didn't have any Dallas stars gear. So I went and I got a Dallas stars windbreaker and like, I'm like, maybe I could just be like random sports clothes guy. Cause I've always, you know, I've always wanted to do is like buy or, you know, every time I go to an away game, like buy a dry fit shirt or buy a hoodie or buy something from all the colleges and like always wear them on the show. But I felt like that would be confusing for people of like he's wearing Michigan stuff. And if he says something, right. And we've

always been at places where you weren't allowed to wear any gear of any cause. So I, I would always buy the shirts of like the really nice college stuff like Michigan's gear like their Jordan stuff I would wear that. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Right. Well I'm gonna talk to our state liberty guys they need to they need to get into that that that space because um and and Robax another sponsor Robac has started doing actual license stuff so uh they've got the polos now where they have the mini logos of the school embedded in the polos. So it's- I mean, have you ever been to a,

I don't know if like Dallas is Southern, but it kind of like they've got the same Southern, every single bar on a Saturday or Sunday is just a bunch of 23 year old kids wearing the polo of the school they went to with khaki shorts and loafers. Like it's like, like that's the, that's the fashion in Dallas. So, uh, isn't that like every sec schools fashion too? Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I've had to go with the,

the schools with cool mascots slash logos that don't have FPS football teams. And that's, so I've got like a, I've got like a UC Irvine, A&Eater shirt with the, with the A&Eater surfing. But I think that like every program has an alternate or has a hoodie or has a throwback logo that has just great gear.

And I want to buy a piece of gear from every team. And like, just like, It's not a bad look. It's like, there used to be a thing on the internet where during summer concert festival, like festival concert season, they take pictures of random random guys would just guys would go wear random old NBA jerseys. Like, you'd roll up on some dude in an old and polynees Sonics jersey.

And just were worn very ironically. So that could be you. You could be old school college logo guy. My Vegas 20s Memorial Day weekend. I used to just buy obscure NBA jerseys from starter. Remember those old starter screen on? Oh yeah, yeah. And I would just wear those at the pool with a swimsuit.

Like that was the thing. I just like the Clemson purple uniforms are beautiful. They've got a beautiful, like, so anyway, I went and I had to go find Dallas stars stuff and I got a pretty cool windbreaker, like the throwback logo on it. I was like pretty pumped about it. Well, I'm very excited for you.

This is a whole new piece of your wardrobe, like your wardrobe is just gonna open up. The only thing thing I mean, I've only been to two hockey games in my entire life, including last night. And I got to say it's awesome. Like I think I could be a much better. Yeah.

Hockey, like I will say having been to a lot of college football games and watch a lot on TV, like the TV experience of college football is pretty awesome. Like they do a really good job translating it. Hockey does not translate to television. It is so awesome in person. And like we were at the plate, like we went with two other people, my wife and I,

and they put their drink on the thing in front of them and they got checked into over the drink. Explo, I mean like they check into you, like you are like, awesome. It was really cool. And I think I could be a hockey guy. I don't know. I could, I could be about Pock. But dude, when the playoffs playoff hockey is unreal, it's so good. So yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm very excited for you and your journey into hockey.

But we have one more thing. I told you I spent a lot of Sunday watching very large men run 40 yard dashes and do field drills. Let's show our guy Tate Ratledge running a 40 yard dash. That's our guy. This is from George's official Instagram feed. Look at this man run. Look at the business up front

and look at the party in the back. The greatest mullet in football just got better. It's just waving side to side as he motors down the track. Tate Ratledge ran a 4.96, 44.95, 4.94. It was a very fast 44.97. You know, sometimes I feel like being a scout or a person in the you know, personnel department of an NFL team would be the hardest job in the world. But this is such like you just look

at this guy and you know, that's a 10 year NFL veteran. Like there's no way that you're not gonna be good. This man is 6'6", 3'10". He's running so freaking fast. You know he's gonna be a starting offensive lineman in 2035, right? Yes. Yes. And here's the thing.

When you draft him, you realize he's already a better podcaster than Jason Kelsey. So if you haven't listened to Tate Ratledge's podcast, all the episodes are on your favorite podcast platform. It's called Real Talk. He was the best. He and Jared Ivy, Jared Ivy from Ole Miss, I think deserves her credit here too, but those two were the best player podcasters. Tate Ratledge is already better as a podcaster

than almost everybody who has a podcast, including us. So the fact that he's gonna start in the NFL for at least 10 years just makes him even more marketable. Yeah, and it was fun having him on our show a few years ago. But yeah, I think that that's a pretty clear indication. Just like, look at that guy. Like it's, what other evaluation do you need? So this one was soundtrack with Freebird.

I wasn't about to get a copyright strike here, but it's, it's during, toward the end of Freebird. So fly, fly, free bird. And his mall is waving from side to side. It's just, it's a beautiful thing. If he like ran a fraction of a second slower because of his hair, it would be worth, it's still worth it. If you were in a four and seven instead of a four nine two because of the hair,

well worth it, dude. If I were running a 40 yard dash, I would have shaved my head, my chest peels all the way down to my ball throw, like all the way, just bare, just to get all the way. You're not a swimmer, it's not swimming. You're running. I don't know, it's like if there's hair in the wind, I don't know, I don't know.

Well, congratulations to Tate Ratledge. By the way, that was not the fastest offensive line 40. Arman Membu from Missouri, who's a potential first round draft pick, ran a 4.91. It is terrifying how fast these large human beings are. Terrifying. John in the chat, are you needs to grow a mullet? Yes, you do. Your business up front is pretty spectacular already. I just want to see the party. Yeah.

So that would take a long time, right? Like for me to get the hair all the way down to here. Yeah, I would take at least, I mean, we're talking probably a year and a half. Yeah. It's worth trying, though. Yeah, I don't think it is worth my marriage. So maybe maybe in the next life. Just imagine your wife's response to.

To honey, I think I'm going to grow a mullet. No, she would like actually get mad, like it wouldn't even be like funny. I know she would. That's the best part. My wife would just laugh. Yeah, no, even be like funny. I know she would. That's the best part. My wife would just laugh. Yeah, no, no laughing. Oh, come on. Ari. Oh, you're all business. I'm gonna call you all business Ari until you grow mullet. Okay, well, go ahead. It's just never going to happen. It can't

happen. All business Ari and I will be back tomorrow. He had a great story about storylines to follow for the 2025 season. We're going to build on that. We're going to come up with 2000 with some dream seasons for your teams in 2025. Best case scenario dream seasons.

We'll talk to you tomorrow.