Andy & Ari On3 - The LATEST on Alabama's coaching search | Dan Lanning STAYING at Oregon

Episode Date: January 12, 2024

A day after Nick Saban retired, everyone's head is still spinning. Tim Watts from On3's BamaOnline joins Andy to discuss what the Crimson Tide do next. Today's show is sponsored by PrizePicks, the easiest way to play daily fantasy. All first time users that deposit and use the promo code ANDY will receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100. If you deposit $100, PrizePicks will give you $100. If you deposit $50, PrizePicks will give you $50.Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/ivHR/ANDYTo get the latest and most accurate news on the Alabama Crimson Tide head coaching search, head to Bama Online here: https://www.on3.com/teams/alabama-crimson-tide/(0:00-4:17) Intro - Florida State NCAA Situation(4:18-6:12) Dan Lanning Staying at Oregon(6:13-7:18) Coaching Search 101(7:19-46:13) Tim Watts from BamaOnline Joins to talk life in 2007, Nick Saban, and More(46:14-1:05:07) Pete Nakos Updates us on the Transfer Portal(1:05:08-1:06:27) ConclusionBut first, Andy discusses Dan Lanning staying at Oregon -- and turning the announcement into a recruiting video. Plus, Ross Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports reported Thursday night that Florida State offensive coordinator Alex Atkins will be the first coach to face NCAA sanctions for an NIL-related violation.That could complicate matters if Florida State coach Mike Norvell (who is not expected to be penalized) is a candidate for the Alabama job. And if Norvell did get the Alabama job, it could eliminate Atkins' chances of getting promoted to the Florida State head coaching job.Tim will provide the latest intel on the Alabama search. Andy also will present him with a series of things that hadn't been invented the last time Alabama had a coaching search.Later, On3's Pete Nakos catches us up on the transfer portal, which is still busy even though it's closed for most schools. The biggest news this week? Former UNLV QB Jayden Maiava committed to Georgia and then flipped to USC. Plus, Pete deciphers more cryptic Lane Kiffin tweets.Want to watch the show instead? Head on over to YouTube here! https://youtube.com/live/db87IdlsldA

Welcome to Andy Saples on three. The news does not stop ever. It's been a little more than 24 hours since Nick Saban retired. Everybody wants to know what is happening with the Alabama coaching search and we do too. And we're going to talk to Tim Watts from Bama online in about 15 minutes, catch you up on the latest on that one. One of the names we've heard in that Alabama coaching search is Mike Norvell from Florida state as a potential candidate. Kalen DeBoer from Washington's another one we've heard. Mike Loxley from Maryland, maybe Tommy Reese, the Alabama offensive coordinator. We've heard that one too, but the Norvell one's interesting because of the news that just came out on Thursday night. So Ross Dellinger of Yahoo reported, and Florida State and the NCAA have now announced,

that Florida State was hit with some NIL-related sanctions by the NCAA. And interesting the way it works. So Alex Atkins, the offensive coordinator, is the one who will get a show cause. He'll be suspended for three games this coming season. And it is for driving a prospect to an NIL-related event, to meet with a person about NIL. Basically, the rules don't allow for schools to arrange NIL payments. And what's interesting about this is right now at the NCAA convention, Charlie Baker, the president of the NCAA, is trying to push forward a plan that says schools can do this. So essentially, Alex Atkins being punished for something that may not be against the rules by the end of the year. But you wonder, does that affect anything here? Mike Norvell, not included in these. This is a

negotiated resolution between Florida State and the NCAA. I don't think you'll hear much complaining from Florida State. So basically, this is one where normally you think the school would kind of push back saying, hey, you're trying to make this within the rules. Why are you punishing us? But because they negotiated it, I don't think you're going to hear that from them. I don't know that I'd be thrilled if I were Alex Atkins. Now, Mike Norvell, does this affect whether Alabama would want to hire him? I don't know. My guess is because he's not named in this thing that it probably doesn't really affect it. What it would affect, though, is if Mike Norvell were to get the Alabama job and leave, Alex Atkins would have been a prime candidate to replace him at Florida State,

and that might make it a little bit tougher, but who knows? Who knows? Sharon Moore was suspended for the first game of the season for NCAA stuff. He's still a candidate we talk about if Jim Harbaugh leaves at Michigan to potentially replace him and was the acting coach at Michigan when Harbaugh was suspended for four games this season. So I just think we have to look at this stuff differently used to be if you got something like this you were not getting a better job you're not getting anything but it is very curious to see how this gets handled going forward because this is the first one of these we've seen the ncaa has not really done much related to nil they had something

with miami last year involving women's basketball players, but this is the first one we've seen with a football coach, football recruit. So we will see what happens with this one, but it does add a new wrinkle to the Alabama coaching search as well as to Florida State's situation in general. Now, Florida State, not the only school worrying, hey, is Alabama interested in our coach? We've got Kalen DeBoer at Washington, potentially. We've heard Mike Loxley at Maryland's name. You remember he was at Alabama as the offensive coordinator under Nick Saban.

He also is the one who nicknamed Nick Saban's analyst program the Nick Saban Witness Relocation Program. Tommy Reese, the offensive coordinator, mentioned him already. One name we're not mentioning in the Alabama coaching search, Oregon's Dan Lanning. He made it very clear that he is not leaving Oregon. Now, we don't know exactly if that means that Alabama said, hey, we're good, or if Dan Lanning got interest from Alabama and said, no, I'm good.

I am staying right where I am. Dan Lanning and Oregon put out a video on Thursday afternoon on the East Coast, Thursday morning on the West Coast, saying, hey, I'm here. They basically turned the announcement into a recruiting video, which you have to admire the dedication to the game. You have to admire the hustle by Dan Lanning to do that because they could have quietly put this out. His could have kind of, you know, his agent could have called some people or the folks at Oregon could have quietly called some people. But no, he made an announcement to the world.

Hey, I am staying at Oregon. It says if you're scared your coach is leaving, then come play for us. They made it a transfer portal recruiting announcement. The Ducks aren't going anywhere, it says. If you're watching on the YouTube version, you're seeing all this. And I'm not leaving. Little Jordan Belfort, and he's got the cigar. And that is Dan Lanning turning this into a moment where, again,

he can make more magic in the transfer portal possibly. Because remember, if your coach leaves, 30-day window, transfer portal open. We'll actually talk more about that with Pete Nacos of On3 later in the show. So much going on with all this stuff. One of the funnier moments was if you know what the site FlightAware is, and look, we're all dedicated college

football people here. We've tracked planes. We've definitely tracked planes before. FlightAware had some flight plans filed. Like if you put in the Tuscaloosa Airport on Thursday afternoon, you saw some potential arrivals from different cities. There was one from Athens, which I think was actually a real flight,

but I don't think it involved anybody from Georgia being a candidate for the Alabama job. One was a flight from Seattle and one was a flight from Eugene. Now, Dan Lanning had already made his announcement at this point, so I think we all knew he wasn't coming. But if you look at the tail number, if you Google the tail number of the flight from Eugene, a picture of the plane would pop up. It's Kid Rock's plane. It has a giant middle finger

on the tail. That's not a plane that was taking Dan Lanning anywhere. But there was also a report on Wednesday night that Dan Lanning was in Tuscaloosa, which again, we'll get to why that's just silly. But there was another flight that was listed as scheduled from Seattle to Tuscaloosa, which there's not usually a lot of flights there. And if you Google that tail number, there was an extra letter on it. But if you took that letter away, it was the tail number of a Cessna that crash landed in Portland two years ago. Everybody was okay, apparently.

So it's funny because we've reached the point in coaching searches and plane tracking where now everybody's having fun with the plane tracking. So, yes, I don't think Kid Rock was giving anybody a ride on Alabama's behalf, but it was a lot of fun. Now, so let's do a little coaching search one-on-one because we got to dispel some things. This will help you follow along with coaching searches. I think there's a few local TV reporters who probably need to hear this more than anybody else because they really don't seem to get this sometimes. It's always one of those that comes off with the so-and-so's wife was found looking at real estate in such and such college town college town well there was a

report on wednesday night that dan lanning was in tuscaloosa okay if dan lanning were actually up for the alabama job or were actually going to take the alabama job he would not go anywhere near tuscaloosa greg burn the alabama athletic director would not meet Dan Lanning in Tuscaloosa. If anything, he would go to Dan Lanning or they would meet in a neutral site. There are a lot of nondescript Sheridans and Hiltons and Marriotts next to DFW and the Atlanta airport and the Detroit airport and the St. Louis airport where they've had meetings with coaches. That's what they used to do. Now that they've got Zoom and other ways to connect via video, you don't even really have to do that anymore.

But if somebody says this coach is in the town of the place where they are hiring, they do not know what they were talking about. They do not understand how any of this stuff works. Feel free to laugh at them. That's not how it happens. So if they hire one of these guys that we're talking about, they probably will talk to them. That person is not making a site visit to Tuscaloosa. It ain't happening. It's not. So next time you see a report like that,

just remember that's not how it works. But I do appreciate whoever is making these FlightAware flight plans, whoever is filing these flight plans. plans, whoever's filing these flight plans. I don't know if that's illegal. I don't think it is, but I'm sure it's frowned upon, but it is funny as hell. Funny as hell. Keep it up. The Kid rock plane was a beautiful touch. It really was because you have to find the picture and you have to zoom in on the tail and you see the middle finger and you're like, oh, I get it now. I see what we're doing here. But that is the joy of coaching searches. So I'm going on pardon my take tomorrow. Little magic of podcasting. I've already recorded that segment.

So hopefully whatever I said isn't proven completely incorrect by something that happens between now and when the show drops. But I did tell a story is one of my favorite coaching search plane tracking stories. This is when I was covering Florida for the Tampa Tribune. The competition was Jeff Darlington of the Orlando Sentinel, who is a phenomenal reporter. You see him on ESPN now. He was a baby reporter at this point, but he was still awesome. And so there was a flight that he noticed going from Salt Lake City to Gainesville. Now, Urban Meyer was the leading candidate

for the Florida job. He was also looking at Notre Dame at the time. And flights from Salt Lake City to Gainesville do not happen very often directly. Like, it's just not something that happens. So needless to say, he inquires about this. Now, Florida had not hired Urban Meyer yet. I don't believe Notre Dame had their chance to

make their pitch to him. So I think that was what they were waiting on. And so Jeff goes to the airport and waits it out and the plane lands and he checks it out. It's not Urban Meyer. I call him up. I'm like, what was it? And he goes, it was a liver. So they were flying a liver from Salt Lake City to Gainesville to use to transplant into someone. So hopefully that person enjoyed their liver. And I don't know if they ever found out that everybody thought their liver was Urban Meyer for a few hours. But, yeah, it's unbelievable how crazy this stuff gets and especially because it's alabama it's alabama an alabama coaching search it's been so long since they had a coaching search nick saban's been so good and it's it's very hard

so stoopsofied in the chat says hearing sark to tuscaloosa hashtag lock uh i don't know why an oklahoma fan would want steve sarkisian to leave texas although alabama's conference rival now too so not sure what that means but yes steve sarkisian is one that it if you get on the bam online message board you don't see a lot of positive comments about any coaches. I think their number one choice is Nick Saban changes his mind and comes back. But Sark seems to have the most positive buzz of any of the people that might potentially get the job. Lane Kiffin has positive buzz as well, that's one I don't know that the Alabama

administration is is gonna be gung-ho about bringing Lane Kiffin back but the Sark one is interesting because my question on this one is with no Nick Saban in Alabama does Sark have a better job at Texas and that's my I because I go back and forth, like in the era of NIL, Texas has way more resources and a lot more rich people that like Texas that will help you with NIL. And let's say they bring NIL in-house, Texas still has more money than everybody else. So Sark's got it going now. He got him in the playoff. He beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa last year. I don't know. I just don't, I don't know. I don't see it. I don't see why he would leave at this point because it would be, it would be taking a job that's in a similar place,

but there's actually more pressure for the Alabama job right now. Now, if Sark ever wins a national title at Texas, then the pressure would be the same. It'd be basically, you're going to win the national title every year or else, but that's what it is right now at Alabama. That's not what it is right now at Texas. And you get all the money and you have all of the recruiting base and the population and all that. So it's just so much to digest. There's so much to talk about. We're about to bring on Tim Watts from Bama Online, who knows this stuff better than anybody, who covered the last coaching search that landed Nick Saban. But first, I got to tell you about PrizePix. The NFL playoffs are starting this weekend. I know you want to have a little more fun with the NFL playoffs. So here's

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But yes, you can decide if someone's going to have more or less kills on the first screen of a certain game. And then you can pick that square so it is truly amazing prize picks download it referral code andy they'll match you up to 100 bucks all right let us talk to tim watts hi tim hello andrew so, you're the publisher of Bama online. Your job is covering Alabama. You've been doing it for a long time. Uh, we we've actually made a handy list, Tim, of all the things that didn't exist the last time Alabama had a coaching search. Um, the iPhone did not exist, uh, the consumer led light bulb. you know you had to have the the light bulbs with a filament and and now you don't yep uh venmo didn't exist so you had to have cash to give to other people uh air fryers self-driving cars uh uber and airbnb all did not exist the last time

alabama had a coaching search I can tell you for sure that the iPhone didn't because I was a Blackberry guy starting off in this business. I actually loved it because the keyboard feel I could text like typing. It was a long time ago. Coaching has changed so much.

Back then, there was interviews and there was rumors and there were people sneaking around to meet visits and all. This one's just had a ton of excitement. I mean, it's been 24 hours since Dan Lanning was in Tuscaloosa, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's right. He wasn't.

Oh, wait. No, he wasn't actually. You know, the thing is hilarious to me because, you know, in hindsight, we found out late last night he was at home with his family watching a movie. So he's at home out in his business, probably put his phone up thinking, hey, it's the dead period. Not a lot's going to happen. He gets up to, you know, grab a, you know, grab a Coke or whatever. And he's got 718 messages saying, where are you? There's rumors you're in Tuscaloosa. I mean, that's probably pretty shocking to the guy, you know?

So I think to have that 24 hours ago, you know, to be at that mode and then to be where we are today. So the search is living up to everything we thought it would be. The drama, the rumors, the guy on Twitter with 72 followers who has the scoop. We're seeing a little bit of everything, and it's been fantastic. Well, I miss the groomers. I'm mad that John Gruden is not a candidate for the Alabama job because those were my favorites. John Gruden is at Calhoun's, which is the restaurant across the street from Neyland Stadium.

John Gruden's there right now. Those were my favorite. You want to know what my favorite groomer was, Tim? So somebody told me that John Gruden was in a private plane circling McGee-Tyson Airport. And that they would give them the signal, like they would call up to the pilot and say, OK, you can land it and take the job now. And I was like, what if they run out of gas? What if they wrecked plane around? You know what I mean? What if somebody crashed and they killed John? I mean, that would be would be terrible i mean i've seen a lot of great coaching searches his

was good you know the best rumor for me was that nick saban to texas i'm sure you remember that miss terry and austin looking at real estate it was awful for me i had an army all-american game i've got strip throats so bad i can't barely barely swallow. There's rumors that Nick Saban's in Texas looking for houses. And I'll never forget. I had somebody I know if I won't name, cause he's probably watching this in this business. Tell me that Terry Saban was shopping for houses and she was doing it incognito. Right. But she had the police escort.

She has a like, she's doing it lowkey incognito. Now, bear in mind, Texas has plenty of wealthy, middle-aged women that look smart and carry a save and throw on a hat and glasses. She could have walked in any place in the world because at the time, she's not as famous as she ended up now. We've seen a lot

more of her in this last five or six-year window. That was the key. It was like, hey, she's doing it incognito and but she has a uh police escort so yeah it was like and like an Alabama state trooper escort right yeah I mean it was uh it's I've seen some good ones that's a good one I mean I've covered so many at one stretch I needed a 17 year run of not covering them I mean I lost a coach driving to an aau basketball game in a text on a flip phone that said your coach got caught with a prostitute in panama city when i'm like i'm driving to texas like what does this say is that right you know back then you had to go

push three times to get to see so a text a text message took a lot of effort to send. So I'm reading it like that can't be right. So I've seen a lot. Shula, DuBose, I've seen a lot come and go. Franchoni not leaving and left. And even the way Saban came was as dramatic as it could. 37 days or whatever it was to name him. So I'm not surprised we've got a little bit of drama.

I'm not going to be the Alabama coach. And then, yeah. And then boom, he was, and then the Miami people attacking him and they ended up dolphins fans were livid. I would go on shows. They would get me on a show saying this is the radio in Miami. And I would have dolphin fans ripping me a new one. Like they were so mad. Like you did it. Well, they were so mad at me, and I was like, guys,

I have nothing to do with this. I didn't drive his car. I didn't pitch him a dollar. I didn't recruit him or anything. But it was the Dolphins fans that were the maddest, the NFL fans, very livid about it. Bama Moore, by the way, correcting your redneck Riviera geography. I believe Artie's Angels was in Pensacola and not Panama City. That's the panhandle.

It's LA, Tim, lower Alabama. Okay. I stand correct. Hey, I was driving to Houston. I mean, that happened. So I went there. By the time I got back, it was over. It's all happening on I-10.

That's all there is to it. But so let's talk about this search right now because we've heard a bunch of names, and I've thrown all of those names out on this show tonight. I've said, you know, Kalen DeBoer, Mike Norvell, Steve Sarkeesian, Mike Loxley, even Tommy Reese, the offensive coordinator. Where do you think Greg Byrne is going to go with this? I have a theory, and there's not a lot based around it other than the confidence he felt when he made his 72-hour announcement.

And there's a lot of confidence in that statement. He didn't really leave a lot of leeway that it might, you know, like we might know more in 72 hours. He felt pretty confident, so I feel like he knows who his man is. I think he has a guy he is going for full throttle. I think he's got an A guy he's going to go after, you know, deducing who it might be. I would suggest maybe Steve Sarkeesian would be the top candidate

connections to Alabama. Nick Saban is still going to be around the program, you know, help, you know, rejuvenate his career. Now, granted, I understand how great Texas is. I understand the program is great. They got a ton of money. They're in the playoffs. They're rocking and rolling.

Not taking any of that away from Texas. I understand the obstacle. But I think in this situation, you're placing Nick Saban. You got to take your shot. And I think he's as good a shot as any. Kirby Smart is another one. I think he's as good a shot as any Kirby Smart's another one I think you go straight for your shot and I do think even if he doesn't hit that shot he's got someone he has in mind so and again I think you got a couple guys lined up there's a lot of confidence in the fact he's going to get his guy so let me let me throw

this name out because this is one everybody asked me, and I would be skeptical to see him as Alabama's head coach. I somehow doubt the administration would be willing to bring him back, but it would be fun as hell if he did. Lane Kiffin. Yeah, that'd be fun for some. You know, I think that, like, you know, we've always heard that Bridges were burned when he left. Haven't really heard his name mentioned.

I will tell you, if you just take straight football coaching and what happens on the field, it's a natural, natural transgression. Not transgression. A transfer from Ole Miss to LSU. I think that was a Freudian slip, Tim. I probably was. I'm trying to mind my business tonight. But, yes, I do think that it would have been an easy transition

to go from Ole Miss and then back to Alabama. A job I think he covets. I mean, Lane Kiffin wants to be in the spotlight. Nothing against Ole Miss at all, but he wants to be at Texas, Alabama, Michigan, USC, Ohio State, the big-name schools. But I've always heard that it's just never going to happen. And I haven't heard anything in this coaching search to make me think it would happen. I've had people at Alabama tell me absolutely under no circumstances would it would ever,

would it would ever happen. So I haven't heard his name right now, but I mean, Lane has a lot of, a lot of fans. They're on Twitter. Mostly they love him. He's a, he's a Twitter. He's the only coach that'll troll're on Twitter mostly. They love him. He's on Twitter. He's the only coach that will troll you on Twitter. But he's also doing a good job where he's at,

and he seems to – they threw a lot of money in the NIL. You know, he got a whole team around him. So, you know, maybe he's happy there. Well, and that's the thing. He's in a good spot. He's bringing back a team that maybe preseason top five, probably definitely top ten. And it would be hard to leave right now anyway but um i was going through your message boards earlier today it seems like everybody is a little skeptical of everybody like they don't want

caitlin to bore because he doesn't know how to recruit the south they don't want Kalen DeBoer because he doesn't know how to recruit the South. They don't want Mike Norvell because of what happened in the Orange Bowl. It seems like the only person that they'd accept is Nick Saban changing his mind. They would take Kirby. Okay. I don't think Kirby's leaving his alma mater where he's won two national titles. They would make an allowance for Kirby, possibly Steve Sarkisian. I mean, you knew what it was going to be like replacing Nick Saban, right? Yeah.

You knew it was going to be impossible. It's like being married to the prettiest girl in the world and then getting a divorce. I mean, it's going to be hard to stack up there. We knew what was going to happen there for Alabama fans matching up. But then again, I think you're looking and have to kind of trust that Nick Saban is going to be part of this process. And college coaches, I mean, it's not as strong college coach-wise when you look at it as it was 10 or 15 years ago, probably.

It's probably going to get even weaker if these rules and this calendar don't change. I mean, the calendar, basically, Nick Saban said it just ran him out of football. So there's other coaches. I mean, imagine being a 45-year-old coach with two young kids, can't see any tee ball, no cheerleading, all that stuff. Go to the NFL. They leave – you get all six, seven months over there. So – Yeah.

But, yeah, they're going to poke holes in most guys. And there's flaws with everybody. I mean, obviously, Kalen did a terrific job with Washington. He's a heck of a coach and staff. The offense was fantastic. But he doesn't have any ties to the South. We don't know if he recruits. And you know how it is here. You know, in the Dirty Dirty, it's fantastic, but he doesn't have any ties to the South. We don't know if he recruits, and you know how it is here.

You know, in the Dirty Dirty, it's all about recruiting. But then again, you look and you think the head coach comes in, you get three or four guys, there will be plenty of assistants willing to get involved. He can help pave the way, pave the way. But there's definitely going to be warts to the Alabama fans on basically every candidate. Oh, yeah, because you're holding them up, comparing them to Nick Saban,

and that's the hardest part of it. And, you know, Steve Spurrier was talking about you never want to be the guy after the guy, which, you know, God bless Ron Zook. He set the table for Urban Vire very nicely in that particular situation. But it is very difficult, especially when the coach leaves in a good situation like spurrier left 2001 was one of his better teams it didn't end the way he wanted it

to because they lost in tennessee but when he left rex grossman's coming back and zook gets you know piled on with all these expectations and if you actually look back at his record it's like oh it wasn't that bad but i i'll go back to to alabama you know when barrett bryant retired the couple coaches they had afterward you know they just it seemed like they were raring to get out of there because there is so much pressure yeah and also i think you have to factor in, when it ends, it usually ends badly, right? It's usually on a decline. I mean, again, you use the Patriots right now.

That's not a testament to the coach, the career that Bill Belichick's had, but they're certainly on the decline. Pete Carroll's the same way with the Seahawks. They're much less than they were than their back-to-back Super Bowl teams. And you can see the coach having to pick up the pieces. Now, that's not Alabama. Alabama's got a loaded roster. They signed the number one class in the country last year in 2023.

They signed the number two class in 2024. Three-star offensive lineman coming back. Really good offensive lineman. They got a quarterback room that's loaded. They got extremely talented running back room. They got wide receivers. They got guys like Caleb Downs, a freshman All-American. Deontay Lawson decided to come back. I mean, they've got a lot of talent. And also Nick Saban's going to be in the building.

You know, I don't think he's going to be doing the nine to five Monday to Friday, but I do think he's going to be around. They said he was recruiting today. He's calling kids and all that kind of stuff. So I think it's easier transition at Alabama. And also a lot's changed because you've got the portal. This is not Ray Perkins and Bill Curry trying to replace Bear. But you're right about the portal. Now, if the players don't like the hire, the portal kills you. But if they feel like it's a good hire, absolutely. It's something that can help you quite a bit.

Also factor in the early signing period. Because usually in the past, a coach retired early January. These kids, they're taking visits. They are not signed. These, you know, 80, 90% of the top recruits in the country are signed already. I would guess 60 or, you know, Alabama had 16, 17 guys on campus already enrolled that had signed. So that's another window shut down. So that calendar works in your favor in these circumstances, while from a time standpoint, it certainly does not.

Yeah, and they had guys practicing. And that's the thing. Everybody's got guys practicing now. So they're probably not going anywhere. They've gotten a little taste of that, and they're like, ooh, I kind of like this. So this, this will be a very fascinating situation. So you mentioned Greg Burns, 72 hour statement, which would peg the hire at some time around Saturday afternoon, early Saturday evening. I, do you think he's going to be able to make that deadline? I mean, I would, if I said it's going to be 72 hours,

I would because I'm the kind of guy that would kill me if I wasn't. I imagine the guy that professional, that's why I said there has to be a lot of confidence in to say that window. I mean, 72 hours isn't a round number. That's not, that's not even just saying three days or a week or anything. That is literally saying in 72 hours. By the hour. Yeah.

Yeah, it's like that show with Kiefer Sutherland, 24 hours. You got 72 hours on the clock. You know, you just click the clock. You got 72 hours. He put himself under the pressure there. That tells me that man's pretty confident. You remember he brought, you know, Nate Oates. And, you know, one thing about it, like I've been, you know,

I love Alabama fans. My friend, you know, I have a ton it, I love Alabama fans. My friend, I have a ton of friends that are Alabama fans, but we're often quite delusional because when Nate Oates was hired, oh, yeah, I'm one of them. When Nate Oates was hired, dude, they were losing their mind. The dude from Buffalo, what's up with that accent? He can't recruit to South. What the hell is going on?

He was a high school coach in Detroit just like three years ago. What are we doing here? Yeah. If you ask those guys tonight, and I've been texting with them the last 24 hours, they're like, no. We knew Nate had promise. I said, he's a high school coach from Buff.

What are you talking about? You were yelling at me. Say we missed on, you know. And their wish list was who? Coach K, John Wood. Pat Riley was on the hot board. So I will say Greg Bynes got a little enough history there to make you feel like he has some confidence. And again, he put the clock on himself and he said it to a lot of people. And again, it could be 80 hours. It could be 70 hours.

He can announce it tomorrow at six o'clock, but there's definitely was some confidence there from his part. Yeah. And that's what i i feel like i and i've talked to greg about this over the years he understood this will be the biggest moment of his tenure as alabama's athletic director he always had a list in his head of who you call and and i'm i'm guessing that he probably had some inkling this might happen, but even if he didn't, when Nick Saban tells him, he's probably got four or five names that are like, okay, these are the guys that I'm going to check with their agents right now and see what we're doing here.

Yeah, I think he probably had a little bit of a practice run, complete speculation, but last year, maybe the year before, that he's like, hey, this guy could be getting tired. This guy could be retired. What about 2020, which was basically a dream season, right? You had all the first round picks. You had a Heisman winner, national championship and all SEC schedule. That's right off in the sunset. So I think he knew this was coming at some point. So I think like you said, mentally, he was prepared,

probably had a Rolodex Jimmy Saxon's obviously involved. So, I mean, you got all that, that work in there. So I don't think he just you said, mentally, he was prepared, probably had a Rolodex. Jimmy Sexton's obviously involved. So, I mean, you got all that work in there. So I don't think he just, Nick Saban said he's retiring and he said, oh, crap, and grabbed his phone and started looking for numbers. Well, that's, and the Jimmy Sexton part is really interesting. There was video of Jimmy Sexton walking into the complex and obviously he represents Nick Saban. So there's probably some paperwork that needs to be done there.

But he and Greg Byrne could just sit down because the names we've heard in this search are almost all Jimmy Sexton clients. Uh, Steve Sarkeesian, Kalen DeBoer, uh, Mike Norvell, Mike Loxley. Those are all Jimmy Sexton clients. Uh, Tommy Reese is not, he He's got a different agent. But it's interesting when Lane Kiffin, if they wanted to talk to him, like all of those guys, Greg Bergen can say, okay, how does Sark feel? How does Kalen feel? How does Mike feel? Oh, yeah. You can go in and kind of have a feel anyways of who's happy, who's getting raises, who wants more money, who's in a situation they like. You know, the one thing I've learned with coaching changes,

we've seen some insanity with coaching changes. Again, I don't know if there's ever been a bigger one for me than Nick Saban leaving the Dolphins. Fresh on the hill, Rich Rod being offered. Fresh on the hill saying I won't be the coach. I think if we went back and could go back in our DeLorean, throw in the plutonium and go back and see how wild that was. Now it feels like, no, I always knew he was coming. You know,

that reminds me of this time, everybody, I know 500 people starting yesterday after 4.00 PM, the new Nick Saban was retiring for months. They didn't tell me anything until after 4.00 PM. You didn't know that. And that's like, I was the same way. We were asking all the questions about, is this the last run? This is out at the Rose Bowl. And we were asking the players and we were asking the assistant coaches

and we asked Nick Saban. And I never got a sense that anybody saw this coming. He said today he was at 355. He said it was Reese Davis. Charlie Potter, our team guy, has been transcribed. 355, he's going back and forth, going in five minutes. I got to tell him something. He said it with Reese Davis, Charlie Potter, our team guy has been transcribed. Three 55. He's going back and forth going in five minutes. I got to tell him something.

Am I staying or I'm going? So he's decided, you know, almost sounds like the old mythical recruiting commitment. You know, I didn't know what I walked up to the podium, but I do believe Nick Saban. I just reached into a bag and grabbed the hat. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. You know, they, uh, so obviously I don't think he knew and everybody else knew and all that stuff I think that he was back and forth I think he told Greg Byrne that hey this is gonna happen this could happen talking to his wife figuring it out and you know the one thing

about it is she's probably unbelievably supportive because she's as much a football wife as he is a football coach right yeah oh yeah yeah she's in it as much as anybody. So he looked at peace today describing it and I think he will, it be at peace and that kind of guy's never going to go out. I mean, I don't think it's, Hey, when 20, you know, when another one and quit, I think if you want another one, he'd want enough. I think he would just keep wanting them. And eventually he had to walk away. So. Well, before I let you go, I do want to ask about one more name.

We talked about this guy last night, but it's come up a lot to me today. People keep asking, what about Dabo Sweeney? Obviously a former Alabama player, very accomplished head coach, a couple of national titles where, you know, where he beat Alabama, where would they stand with him? You know, it's hard to really put that in perspective because lived in Alabama a lot of his life. I grew up, like I said, I grew up with him. This guy's diehard Alabama fan growing up. I mean, Jersey, the whole nine yards, straight Alabama, rooting his butt off, upset when they lost, went to Alabama as a walk-on, you know, the whole nine yards, straight Alabama, rooting his butt off, upset when

they lost, went to Alabama as a walk-on, you know, the rest of the story, grad assistant, all that stuff. But he's been in Clemson a while, right? He's carved out an entire life. His children know nothing but Clemson, South Carolina, for the most part. That's their home. I think that factors in. I don't think that's the end-all be-all. What stands out to me is Dabo acts and says a lot of the same things that Nick Saban does. I think that he doesn't like the NIL. He doesn't like the transfer portal. He doesn't like a lot of those things. And he's an old school guy. And I just wonder, he's got the perfect scenario. I think he's probably pretty wrapped up there. i don't imagine

they would ever fire davo sweeney i think you leave that security and come here and risk you know getting in the fire but also i know he's a competitive son of a gun too i've seen that you know a lot of our you know in our in our youth and maybe he would be up to that challenge but i have not heard anything really mentioned in his name but part of me thinks if you haven't heard their name, maybe that's the guy. Yeah, maybe. I just think the guy who won't take transfers, you can't hire at a place that expects you to win the national title every year. Yeah, I agree. I mean, he's got standards and stuff he's going to stick to, like him or not. He is who he is. He's always been that way. he's always thought that way. Nothing's really changed with him.

And now you see him fighting against some of the stuff that you see the older coaches. Like I get why it would bother Nick Saban. I mean, you walk in and say, Hey, let's talk about next season or go NIL. I can see why a 72 year old man wants to lose his mind. Especially when you heard the stories about him working at a gas station and all the, you know, the old school stories, us old men have where we walked to school in the snow. So it's probably hard for him to imagine asking for more than six figs. You know, I make 85, but I need 170.

It's probably hard to hear. Adamo's got that mentality, although, you know, he's 20 years younger, 18 years younger than Nick Saban. So probably pretty happy where he's at. I don't think he'd be scared of the challenge, but I don't see it as a great fit right now. Five, six years ago, I think a poster, one of your guys just said that. I think probably maybe even after the 2020 season,

before all this opened up. But, you know, I've talked to people wondering, they wonder how much longer Dabo will coach, because it's got to be frustrating for him. You can see it. I see him being more like a Bob Stoops and Stoops retired at 56. Dabo's been the head coach at Clemson since he was 38 years old. It's amazing. Yeah, that's amazing. He's already based. And coach here, he's 65. You know what I mean?

Dabo's an entertainer. He could always do game day. He could always do, you know, game day. He could always do, you know, be on a stage and, you know, exactly like that photo. He could always do that. He's an entertaining speaker, engaging. So that would be something he would enjoy. So he could always walk away from that, be the athletic director, be around the program, almost what Nick Saban is. But I have not, oddly enough, and it's you, we discussed this for 13, 14 years,

whether it would be Dabo. And then the last three years, it's just tapered off, but yeah, that's surprising I haven't heard his name more. No, I think the transfer thing is a non-starter at this point. Cause the expect, like people have asked me, what will the expectations be for the new coach? And I said to be the same level of success as Saban. They won't be able to meet it, but that's going to be the expectation.

Yeah. And I've talked to people. I've talked so much about this recently where they're like, it's going to be so hard for the next coach to be successful. But I will point out Les Miles was really successful after Nick Saban left. I mean, very successful. And then Coach O won a national title after Les Miles. So it is, it is. Yeah, they had those back to back to back. So I think that, you know, talent's the tail. Recruiting's going to, you know, you know, the Jimmy's and Joe's kind of coach is going to be that guy,

put guys around you. And Hey, that assistant job, that's still big on your resume to say you're an assistant coach at Alabama. That's still a big school, and it's still going to mean something. And, again, Saban's still going to be around the program, which is massive. Yeah, he's going to have an office, right? Chris Lowe tweeted out that before Saban left, they've cleaned out his old office, he's going to have a new office. He hit a few golf balls in the golf facility and then hit the road. Well, I mean, that was the debate.

Nobody knew. Like, is he going to – part of me just expected, I think, Nick Saban to say, guys, I'm done. I appreciate you. I'm moving on. Y'all did great. Thanks so much. And to walk out and get in his car, Miss Terry's driving a convertible

and they drove off and we'd never see him again until he ended up on game day. I thought he'd ride out like that. But to find out he's in the office, dressed as normal, he's got his own office, he's talking to recruits, he's talking to players, you know, the classic, I can yell at you from my office just like I can on the field. That's about as dynamic and perfect a scenario as Alabama, the university, could hope for. Can you imagine if you're the next coach and you get the little knock on the door?

Hey, it's Nick. I had some ideas. I was thinking maybe you try this. I mean, part of the odds he can't, he's not going to have an opinion. You know, even funnier is thinking you're on that practice field goofing off and nobody's watching and having this dude around the corner screaming at you. You know what I mean? You know what I mean?

Like you're with your friends at school and your mom rolls up to the playground and lights you up. That's right. There's a lot of things there that's going to benefit Alabama. Coach Emeritus Nick Saban. Well, you mentioned the Jimmys and Joes a while back. The Jimmy that matters right now is Jimmy Sexton. So, Tim, I imagine you and I will be talking quite a bit in the next few days.

I'm enjoying this. I know the fans are frustrated, but, I mean, we waited a long time. This is maybe the biggest retirement in the history of college football. I'm enjoying it. I expect it to be what it is. And, you know, I've answered the same question until, you know, my fingers are numb, but we're here. might as well finish it that's exactly right tim watts from bam online thank you so much you got it andy anytime buddy we're gonna see a lot of tim because i think he's right i think

greg burn probably does not give you that 72 hour window unless he's pretty sure he knows what he wants to do. And again, the Jimmy Sexton of it all does keep it nice and contained. This is not a situation where you're dealing with a bunch of candidates represented by a bunch of different people, your back channel stuff. Cause part of this is you don't want to talk directly to the people until you're pretty sure you want to hire them or, you know, and then their schools don't want it getting out that they're talking to you. So if you've got one agent representing all of them, it makes that part easy. I always wonder, does it make it easy among the coaches that are potentially looking at this job if they're all

represented by the same guy? Because they think, wait wait does he favor that guy over me or how does that work so it is it's complex there there's a lot of moving parts here but i do think if you're greg burn it makes it easier to just go to jimmy sexton and say okay here are the guys that i think might be fits any of of them want it, how bad do they want it, and who should I talk to first? So I think that would be the way to do it, and then you can kind of get a gauge of where you are. So I do imagine because of that, it can happen fairly quickly. We shall see. Now, one thing we do know, Nick Saban's retirement has opened the transfer portal window at Alabama. That's how it works. When a coach leaves the window now opens for 30 days. So that means there could be more movement. They're probably waiting to see what happens with the

new coach, but we got to talk transfer portal. It's been a while. We're, we're all, you know, we have the national title game and the Knicks have been retired. We have not gotten to catch up with Pete Nacos in a while, and we are correcting that right now. Pete Nacos with some transfer portal Nacosifications for us. It has been a while since we got to talk to Pete Nacos. Much has changed in the transfer portal, and he is covering it all pete well i guess we start off with with a move that happened on thursday that everybody's celebrating but i don't know if it means anything mike norvell florida state coach tweeted about a big man joining the Noel family, and then later Florida State releases that Terrence Ferguson, Bama offensive lineman, has transferred to Florida State.

I mean, a target that Florida State had on its board like minutes after he won in the portal, just talked to some people in Tallahassee, and then Mike Morvell obviously welcomes him today and only uh sends up the hype train uh the speculation train about will he go to alabama or not oh yeah well the florida state fans were celebrating because that was the assumption that it meant he was not i don't know that that necessarily you keep recruiting until you take another job we don't know at this

point as we're recording this what they're doing yet alabama as far as we know hasn't offered anybody the job so we will find out later but hopefully there will not be as much flippage as there's been in the transfer portal of late uh one of the the more interesting stories of the the early week going to the national championship game was that georgia had gotten a commit from Jaden Maiava, who was UNLV's quarterback last year. He was a freshman. He was great in that go-go offense that they run.

But before I got a chance to talk to you, he flipped the USC. He did. He did. I spoke to Jaden Maiava's NIL representative late Monday night, early Tuesday morning. And he had flipped to Georgia. And I mean, he went from Georgia to USC, excuse me. And I mean, just what a crazy turn of events and just talking to someone about it. And I think being able to work under Lincoln Riley really had a lot to do with that decision to flip from Georgia to USC. He's obviously already a West Coast guy, though.

And there's no doubt that he can challenge Miller Moss for the starting job. And he has everything that USC is looking for in a quarterback right now. Well, and that's the thing so he's he's got three years of eligibility left and he can actually compete with miller moss for the job right now you can't compete with carson beck for the georgia job right now like that was going to be a competition with alice paglisi or gunner stockton or whoever it is after carson beck so yeah that's a that does seem like a good one he's a very good he was so much fun to watch this year. Yeah, I mean, right, Carson Beck came back to help his NFL draft stock.

He's not going to lose out to a transfer. And then, yeah, you're right. I mean, Mountain West freshman of the year did so well in Brendan Marion's offense out in Las Vegas. And, I mean, he has so much upside too, right? Like he accomplished so much as a freshman, but he's got the frame, he's got the athleticism. And all of a sudden Lincoln Riley has his quarterback of the future. Yeah. And that's the thing.

We were kind of wondering what USC was going to do there because they, you know, were they going to sign a 25 guy? Were they going to, you know, bring somebody else out of the portal who was more of a veteran, but this is kind of the, this is kind of the best of possible worlds in the portal where you get a guy who you know can play, and he has three years left. I mean, yeah, and there was a lot of skepticism too about like,

oh, what's going to happen? Malachi Nelson's gone. Juju Lewis isn't going to be in LA for a little bit. And Lincoln obviously did not stop recruiting Jaden once he committed to Georgia and I think it's going to pay off in the long run and obviously a lot more to build around this quarterback but it's definitely a step in the right direction for Lincoln Riley so Tackett Curtis who left USC he was a linebacker from Louisiana who was day one starter as a true freshman at USC this year he He's headed to Wisconsin.

Yeah, it's a really interesting one, too, because I was told about like a week ago that this was going to come down to Ohio State and Wisconsin and then talking to the Buckeyes and the Badgers earlier this week. Both were like, oh, yeah, we haven't we stopped talking to him himself. And I think that's really just a sign of how quiet tacky curtis and his family wanted to keep this um and obviously he's going to land in madison where um was arguably the number two spot uh during his recruitment yeah that's why because ohio state wisconsin both recruited him out of high school as well so that yet another three three-year eligibility guy who's played some uh yeah that one it seemed like everybody who recruited him out of high school jumped right back in as soon as he hit the portal um now here's a

here's another one we're back to tallahassee speaking of back to tallahassee but this this is one that happened on wednesday and got completely overshadowed by the nick saban news but they were celebrating tallahassee again because DJ Lundy, the linebacker, was going to transfer to Colorado and then changed his mind and decided to stay at Florida State. Yeah, you know, this was the one I don't think anyone really saw coming except Florida State obviously had communication with them and they did the favor of notifying Colorado before you withdrew from the portal.

I think there's a couple factors in this, but at the end of the day, DJ Lundy is a veteran linebacker who really has so much experience and upside that I think Florida State realized they weren't going to get someone like him in the transfer portal and kind of started to have that conversation again after he committed to Colorado and was like, hey, how about you come home? We can make sure that you continue to build on a starting role and we really want you uh here at Forge State yeah and and that's that's pretty important and we'll see we'll see what happens

but obviously the Mike Norvell stuff still up in the air with the Saban retirement that opens the transfer portal for Alabama players right for 30 more days correct so what are you hearing about I would imagine there's a lot of schools that would like to see these guys transfer but it seems like they're waiting to find out who's coming you know it's funny I've actually had schools reach out to me and been like who have you heard I'm like I have not heard anything I'm not going to get in this but yes the 30-day window is now open um and and obviously i think a lot of athletes kind of want to wait and see who they're going to bring into tuscaloosa there's kind of a rumor that a decision is going to be made quickly um and that greg burn might want someone announced by the end of the week

we'll see if that happens or not um but but i think some athletes are definitely waiting to see if they move quickly in tuscaloosa yeah it's an interesting dynamic and and i was thinking about that as i was you know going over what greg burn had said and you do kind of have to move fast in a situation like this because the portal's not open for anybody else it's just open for you right now i guess if jim harbaugh were to leave for the nfl then michigan you know guys but they're it's they're still a couple more days right before the michigan they have michigan and washington both have till saturday and i think the other really uh interesting part to me and i'm sure you'll agree right like classes started in alabama on wednesday the same

day they announced so like i i actually called the registrar office today and was like when is the last day to withdraw and that is january 17th so i mean that student athlete right academics might play a factor and and we bring this up because a lot of athletes will want to get on campus for spring ball and things like that and a lot of major major top 25 programs also started classes this week yeah that's what I guess you have to be an expert on the drop ad deadline for for all of these schools now because like the the DJ Lundy decisions kind of as soon as I saw that I was like oh he's got to be in class like he's got to he's got to know what he's doing so how many of decisions are we going to get here in the next week as guys have to make one if they want to be in class at their new place wrote a little story on that today and i was

kind of like thinking about it in my head i was like wow like all these dominoes are going to fall in the next seven days so these athletes can withdraw i mean drop classes properly and not have a withdrawal on their transcript and get to i don't know whether it be ohio state louisville michigan uh miami florida you name it but it's all gonna have to happen quickly um and then the other i mean you mentioned it right like michigan and washington right there's a domino effect here right so i don't know kaylin deborah mike norvell all of a sudden then you're gonna have a 30-day window at those schools and then oh who does michigan or ford state hire i mean it's just gonna so much for it all ending january 2nd yeah exactly it's it and when there's

other sites it's funny because i was talking to an agent about this and and they were agents love cycles they love it when stuff's moving around and there's a lot of moving pieces because they can slot their, you know, assistant coaches they represent into various staffs. And I had this agent say, man, I'd love another cycle. I texted back after Saban retired, said, looks like you got your cycle. So it is crazy.

But, you know, I'll ask you this. I've been asked this a bunch lately about the transfer portal. And obviously there's a lot of angst about it happens during the postseason. And it happens during this while schools are trying to sign their high school players. Could it be moved? Is there a way? Because obviously it's pegged around the semester break

that's the reason why it's where it is yeah i was another thing i was thinking about today i was like well what if you move it to july right but the flip side of that is that's like the one month of the year that coaches actually step away for a minute um yeah so i don't know if that would be green lit i don't know how you move it right Right. Like you brought it up. The, the, the, the main reason why it is where it is right now is because of how the academic calendar operates. Um, and it's going to be even crazier next year, right? The national title game is going to be on January 20th. Okay. Well it's January 11th today. Uh, and classes are started for spring semester. So what if you go to the national tight? I mean, so if you thought Malik Murphy's decision was tough this year,

I mean, just wait till next year. You might have opt outside of national title game. Well, here's the thing though. I was thinking about this as I was walking around on the field before the national title game and watching Dylan Morris warm up for Washington. Dylan Morris has already transferred to James Madison.

He's already decided, presumably already enrolled. With the way you can take online classes now, could it be possible that you could just leave it where it is, and in those situations, guys can decide where they're going to go, and if the coach is cool with it, they just keep playing on the team they were on? Yeah, I mean, that's definitely going to be viable and something we see a lot. I guess my personal takeaway, Andy,

is it just brings up the whole other conversation of is it time for college football to break away from the NCAA? Yeah, because you could actually have different rules about that. I still think you have to have a CBA before you can do that sort of player movement of player movement and and control it in that way otherwise you're just gonna get sued again but it is it is really interesting because you you may have to like the model that that oklahoma state you because gundy did this for the bowl game this year where if guys wanted to go on visits or play and still play for oklahoma state they could uh eli drinkwitz did it with Missouri for the Cotton Bowl

and said you you can you can visit other schools you can figure out your situation just this is when we need you back for practice and you're welcome to play with us I I think if coaches could do that and accept that then you probably could make it work yeah wouldn't just throwing this out there wouldn wouldn't something like, a lot of graduations late April, early May, what if you moved the portal to May and June and then you did your high school camps and then everyone could step away for a minute? I think they sue you again.

That's what I think. Because they're going to want to move and be in spring practice. So I just, that's, that's the problem at this point, post that Supreme court ruling, anything they do that is perceived as restricting the athletes movement is going to get you sued. And the only way to not be sued is a CBA or an antitrust exemption. They're not getting the antitrust exemption most likely the cba would be the the other solution but that requires a lot more a lot more changes so yeah that's a i i don't know i i think it's going to be something they're dealing with until they get to whatever the big changes

are and that's what what you were talking about the ncaa convention's going on this week not something we normally cover on this show because i know it puts a lot of the the viewers to sleep but this is this is the time when you know i i thought it was interesting and pete you cover nil they did fast track and say hey the stuff that the president charlie baker suggested maybe uh maybe the direct schools handling nil is something that can happen fairly soon. Yeah, I mean, it's definitely something that could happen soon. The D1 Council is going to start taking some measures. And it's just so, I mean, it's like the two sides are right.

And then on the same day, a couple of representatives on Capitol Hill announced another draft discussion. And they're going to have a legislative hearing next week and that would not allow for charlie baker's uh new uh subdivision of sports to to be allowed and then i mean you heard jim harbaugh on tuesday at the champions press conference he's pushing for unions i mean a real watershed moment i think you could say right now in college football yeah they they'll they'll have to figure it out i i think what you said about college football just being something separate from the ncaa is probably something that they're headed toward but they're just not it'll they're gonna be some fits and starts before they get there so you and i will be covering a probably very hectic transfer portal this time next year

yeah and this one isn't stopping anytime soon i know well that's the thing i mean it depending on what happens at alabama and michigan for like if alabama we're assuming they're going to hire a sitting power five coach i mean there's all like maybe they would promote tommy reese i mean that that's the one i can think of that would stop the the cycle but more than likely they they hire, and I said Power 5. I can't say that anymore. More than likely, they hire a Power Conference coach who's already a head coach. And then that will probably cause it like if it were Washington or if it were Florida State.

We don't know if it is, but that's something that another Power Conference head coach might want. So you just dominoes start going like crazy and transfer portal windows start opening. Yeah. You know, it's a little crazy too. And then you really start to have these conversations sort of like, is this, I mean, I don't want to go all preacher on you, but like, is it really the best thing for the athlete anymore? Right. Like if Mike Norvell takes the Alabama job, like DJ Uyelunga, like what it might actually

have to like rethink what he's going to do in 2024. Do you know how crazy that is to actually put out there? Crazy. Yeah, and he's already – this is his third school, and he's already gone through the decision-making process and gotten to here. But I'm sure – and this is the way I think about it. Like Mike Norvell didn't know that Nick Saban was going to retire Kalen DeBoer didn't know that Nick Saban was going to retire if one of them

winds up getting the job I mean it's really really hard to turn down Alabama so what are you going to do like yeah it's it's it's a wild world we live in right now it it sure is and I'm glad you are here to decipher it. Speaking of deciphering, Pete, I want to decipher some Lane Kiffin tweets with you. This has become a new feature with us. So Tyler Barron is an edge rusher from Tennessee who committed to Ole Miss.

Now, the add-drop date becomes a factor again. He's got some friends who played at Tennessee who were looking at Louisville. There was some smoke that maybe Tyler Barron was looking to flip to Louisville. So we got a tweet from Tyler Barron. It's the checkered flag, the finish line, and it says, from Oxford, Oxford Mississippi just bear that in mind now we got a tweet from Lane Kiffin you ready Pete yep it is Brad Pitt with the letter K from Moneyball what do we think this means at this time Lane Kiffin is pissed off and the athlete may not have talking to him for maybe 24 hours and lane is extremely confused what this is yesterday right decision is

yeah it it is yesterday what a time to be alive yes it seems like two years ago yeah uh yeah that was yesterday and so now we have another tweet from lane kiffin shortly after that another money ball tweet this is jonah hill celebrating and it's a and it's kiffin with laughing emojis location guys and all of a sudden lane kiffin realizes he got him he's on campus and tyler baron's gonna be a rebel can't make it up folks the only question is is lane kiffin gonna be the alabama coach i guess for viewers real quick tyler baron visited louisville last weekend yeah that was why there's speculation about where he's gonna go and wesley walker and tamari mcdonald took those visits with him yeah and they obviously are at Louisville now yeah well and Louisville is the other like really active portal like I would say Ole Miss and Louisville are kind of the portal portal champs

so far this offseason yes 100 percent um and if Lane somehow ends up at Alabama, then I think Louisville will outright have that title. Unbelievable. Because then the Ole Miss portal would open. God dang. It never stops. It never stops, Pete. Thank you so much. Walter Nolan would be back on the market.

Oh, no. Yeah. Put it back at number one in the transfer portal rankings. Thank you, Pete. So, thanks so much, Andy. Have a good one. Love catching up with Pete Niko, so we probably will do that again very soon.

But that is all for our shows for this week. And what a week it's been. We started out in Houston at the National Championship game. We watched Michigan win a national title. We heard Ward Manuel say he's prepared to lose Jim Harbaugh. Remember all that? Now we don't know what's going to happen

with Jim Harbaugh. He could stay. He could leave. Nick Saban retired. Bill Belichick got fired. The whole world, our pets' heads are falling off. It's crazy. Just crazy.

Our next show is Sunday night. We do this Sunday through Thursday, 8 p.m. Just crazy. Our next show is Sunday night. We do this Sunday through Thursday, 8 p.m. Eastern time. Subscribe to the On3 Sports YouTube channel. You can see the show. You'll get reminders when we go live. You can come heckle me. You can listen in podcast form. All your favorite podcast platforms as well.

So if you've got to take it on the go, we're there for you too. But we will talk to you again on Sunday night, unless Greg Byrne comes through with his 72-hour promise and Alabama has a new coach. Trust me, there will be an emergency show if Alabama hires a coach before Sunday night. We will talk to you then.