Andy & Ari On3 - What should Lane Kiffin do? Nick Saban talked to On3’s Chris Low about it | Florida State's Situation, Notre Dame Fans, and Josh Heupel at Tennessee

Episode Date: October 29, 2025

As the coaching carousel is about to be in full swing in college football, the hot commodity mentioned has been Lane Kiffin. Chris Low, On3's Senior college football reporter, dove deeper into this situation with Nick Saban. Watch here as Chris Low joins Andy & Ari to discuss Lane Kiffin's situation at Ole Miss and if the Rebels head coach would bolt for somewhere else. Where do you think Lane Kiffin will be coaching next year? Let us know in the comments! (0:00) On Today's Episode(1:14) BetMGM(2:59) Intro: Previewing Chris Low's story(5:55) Modelo(9:00) Chris Low joins(31:11) Florida State's Situation(35:58) Megaboard: Kingsbury to FSU?(43:11) Names you knew before the hire?(45:19) Josh Heupel at Tennessee(55:54) Gametime(56:40) Notre Dame fans are certainly laughing(1:04:41) Coach O Impression(1:06:16) Brent Venables & Facebook(1:12:12) Conclusion: Hot Seat Bowl & God Bless America It's a megaboard Wednesday and Chris Low got Andy & Ari thinking on Florida State, which leads to a post from On3's Warchant site: Would Florida State hire Kliff Kingsbury? Andy & Ari discuss Next, Andy & Ari head over to Rocky Top to ponder if the Tennessee Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel would leave the Big Orange for somewhere else? Watch here as Andy explains to Ari why Heupel is just fine in Knoxville. Later, Andy & Ari check in on South Bend to see how Notre Dame fans are feeling, and they are definitely laughing. Watch here as the fellas discuss why Notre Dame fans should feel good about where its program is. To close, Andy & Ari dive into the world of Facebook, and the post Andy found is unbelievable. Watch as Andy reads this post and closes out with a song. Our show is presented by BetMGM! If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code CFB and you will get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! Here’s how it works: 1. Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code CFB.2. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game.3. You will receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your bet loses! Just make sureyou use bonus code CFB when you sign up! Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary. See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. US promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US). Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only. Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. This show is also brought to you by Gametime! Take the guesswork out of buying college football tickets with Gametime.Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code STAPLES for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Swipe. Tap. Ticket. Go. Download the Gametime app today! Visit Gametime.co. This show is also sponsored by Modelo! Some things in life are just made for each other. Peanut Butter and jelly. Macaroni andcheese. Modelo and college football. If you’re watching this, it means you live and breathe football. All season long. You know what that makes you? A Full-Time Fan. Which means you deserve a Modelo. Because football wouldn’t be the same without you. Modelo is the official beer sponsor of The College Football Playoff.  Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtu.be/uhun0_meDpI Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today is Andy and R on 3 presented by BetMGM. We talk Lane Kiffin's choice, and we talk about it with Chris Lowe from On 3, who has talked to Nick Saban about what Lane Kiffin has to decide between, which is probably staying at Ole Miss or going to Florida or maybe even going to LSU. And Chris has a lot of insight on this because he's also talked to Lane Kiffin very recently about his situation at Ole Miss, about his career, about how he got. to this point. So very interesting discussion with Chris Lowe about Lane Kiffin, the LSU job, the Florida job, the Ole Miss job, what it all means. Also, it is a mega board Wednesday.

So we got message board posts guiding the conversation and, oh man, are there some doozies? We got one for more chant about a guy that at least a few Florida state fans would like to see as their next head coach if they make a change. We've also got one from the VolQuest message board where they saw an interesting name pop up on the LSU hot board and got one from the Notre Dame message board maybe a little bit of I told you so about Brian Kelly. We'll talk about all of that on today's Andy and Rion 3. We are presented by BedMGM. We use BedMGM lines and totals.

And you can join us by joining BedMGM. If you have not signed up for BedMGM yet, use the bonus code CFB as in college football. CFB, and you'll get up to a $1,500 first bet offer on your first wager with bed MGM. Here's how that works. Download the bed MGM app and sign on using a bonus code CFB. Deposit at least $10 to place your first wager on any game. You receive up to $1,500 in bonus bets if your bet loses. Just make sure you use the bonus code CFB when you're signing up.

So download the app, deposit at least $10, place your first wager. up to $1,500 if your first bet loses. Use the bonus code CFB when you sign up. Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary with BetMGM. See Betmgmgm.com for terms. 21 plus only U.S. promotional offers are not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem.

Call 1-800 gambler in the U.S. Call 8778 Hope N. or text Hope N.Y. 4-6-7-369 in New York. Call 1-800 next. step in Arizona. Call 1-800-327-50-50 in Massachusetts. Call 1-800 bets off in Iowa or 1-800-9-1-0-0-2-3 in Puerto Rico. First bet offer for new customers only, subject to eligibility requirements, rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in seven days in partnership with Kansas

Crossing Casino and Hotel. Don't forget, if you haven't signed up for bed at MGM yet, use the bonus code CFB and get your $1,500 first bet offer today. Welcome to Annie and Arion 3, Megaboard Wednesday, and oh my, are there so many megaboard posts. We're actually going to start with an On3 story that produced posts probably on boards across the network. And that's Chris Lowe's story, where he talked to Nick Saban about the LSU job, the Florida job, what Lane Kiffin should do, the choice. he has a head. It was incredible. Ari, I'm very much enjoying working with Chris because

he's the guy who's like, I wonder what Nick Saban thinks about this. Let's just call Nick Saban and Nick Saban will give me a very unfiltered opinion about all of this stuff. Yeah, I think we found out today that Nick Saban listens to our show. So, you know, we've been talking about this group. Or maybe we listen

to Nick Saban. I think it's probably the other way around. I kind of trust his opinions on things. You know, but it did kind of echo a lot of the things that we had been discussing on the show about job hierarchy and the illusion of, you know, what's a no doubt about it, reason to jump and what places actually are high ceiling places that aren't traditionally viewed that way. And yeah, it was a super interesting story. I think everybody should go read it. Anytime Nick Sabin opens his mouth and offers an opinion about college football, it's certainly worth, you know, giving heed to. Is that

the way to say that? Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I, uh, The LSU job is interesting because I feel like it stands above the rest for a variety of different reasons in a way that 90% of other jobs don't. Like every single... You mean all of the jobs, not the... In the entire 100. Yeah. If you do an off-season list in 2025, a 2020, 2015, 2010, 2005.

It doesn't matter what's happening in the state of college football. It doesn't matter who else is good. It doesn't matter anything. NIL, transfer portal, whatever you want to throw at it. LSU is a top three job in America on those lists unrelentingly and consistently no matter what. So like when you start getting into, and like I don't want to offend Florida fans because I do think that Florida is a great job. And I know that they have Lane Kiffin as the apple of their eye. And if it's not Lane, it's going to be a disappointment. But like LSU stands above Florida,

stands above Penn State. It probably stands, you know, shoulder to shoulder with Ohio State and Texas even as two of the best jobs or three of the best jobs in the entire sport. So, you know, I think this entire discourse about what LSU can offer as opposed to Ole Miss, what can LSU offer as opposed to Florida? Like, what is the sales pitch from Florida and at Ole Miss to try to outweigh what LSU can offer you. And it might just be, where do you think you'll be happiest? Because I don't know from a college football tactical standpoint what the answer to that

question is. You just mentioned Ohio State. And while we're talking about Ohio State, I do want to point out. You and I are going to Columbus this weekend with Medello. So grab yourself a Modelo. Stay game day radio all season long. Come grab a medello with us in Columbus. Saturday morning, we will be in the Panera lot off 300 West Lane Avenue at the

Medello activation. We're going to be doing a pregame show. So come say hi. Maybe we'll talk a little bit on the show. Maybe we'll get you on the show if you want to come by. But we will be there and we'll be hanging out. before the game, before Ohio State plays Penn State. So come see us with Medello.

Stay game day ready. We will be game day ready. We will be with Medello. So come see us at the Panera lot, 300 West Lane Avenue in Columbus. You know how many hours of my life were spent in that parking lot restaurant? I imagine a lot. I've been a beat writer who spent a lot of hours in the local Panera. So, and that panera is right next to Ohio State's campus, possibly the largest panera in the world.

I think it might be. It's a pretty large panera, and I have thought at the time, like, you're on Lane Avenue, which is literally the outskirt of the campus. I mean, you can walk from that restaurant to the stadium in four minutes, how much that real estate costs. But it also is the closest restaurant with a bunch of seating and reliable internet that's to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, which is where. interviews in Ohio State practices. So a large portion of the beat core

either goes there or the McDonald's on Olentangy River Road, which is in the other direction. I've spent many hours and gained many pounds at both of those. Well, Panera, I believe, does not serve alcohol, but they need to start sell a medello. Yeah. Can you imagine if you could get a medello at Panera?

Yeah, we're going to bring it in the parking lot. So I can't wait to, you know, have a discussion about that there. I talk about Ohio State to return to a city that I called home for a decade. I can't wait. It's going to be hopefully a good game

but either way we'll make it entertaining. We absolutely will to come see us Panar Lot 300 West Lane Avenue in Columbus on Saturday morning before the Penn State game.

All right. Let us talk about the joy of a bread bowl. Sorry. And well, nothing like a bread bowl on a core of this fall afternoon.

All right. What is the most American invention of all time? The bread bowl is one. Did we invent fake boobs? Maybe. I don't know that. That's something that maybe China could have done. They're always ahead of us technologically.

Well, I'm not sure. We did invent giant coaching buyouts. That's for temperature. And you just paid one, agreed to one with Brian Kelly. Florida just agreed to one with Billy Napier. So they need new coaches. They probably want the same guy. That guy's at Ole Miss.

Ole Miss wants to keep him. So let's talk to Chris Lowe, about Lane Kiffin, and Chris just talked to Nick Sabin about Lane Kiffin and the decision he faces, and it is a fascinating, fascinating discussion. Chris with a great story, as usual, we get a lot of those from Chris, but you talk to Nick Saban about the LSU job, about what Lane Kiffin has to choose from, which would be probably state will miss, go to Florida, maybe go to LSU. us you. And I found it very interesting, Chris, what Nick Saban had to say, because it wasn't

as cut and dried as it used to be. No, and Nick's never been one to sort of hold back on what he thinks, and, you know, having known him now for two decades. So I wasn't surprised. No one's adapted or evolved more than he has, and he understands what it takes now. I mean, I like it, but he understands what it takes now to win at the highest level, and he was pretty blunt. You better have money or people willing to point up a lot of money to build your roster.

And that's what it's about. And now, it's not the only thing, but as he said, it's the most important thing. And you look at some of the payrolls, I guess, can we call them payroll? That's what they are. Oh, yeah, 100%. This year and last

year, LSU wasn't necessarily toward the top. Neither were out. Alabama or Georgia. And I think that's, when you're a blue blood like that, you still have some built-in advantages. I went talking to Lane a few weeks ago, he pointed that out. They're always going to be those advantages at a place like on Ohio State or Georgia, even in Alabama.

But Ole Miss has stepped it up and spent a ton of money, certainly in the transfer portal the last couple of years. And I think that will weigh in. You know, the other scenario, someone pointed out this to me, just Andy, all right, as you guys asked me to come on, what if FSU fires Mike Norvell? There's another one, and I think that's sort of been floated out there. Listen, Lane was going to Florida State two years ago. I say he was going.

He was the top target two years ago. Had Norville taken the Alabama job, and they were ready to pounce, FSU was. Now, he had to say yes, he had to pull the trigger. He had not been able to do that the year before when Auburn came calling. But certainly he was right there. or would have been right there in the middle of it. I think, whatever my opinion's worth, that the FSU job, if you get it right, the right person,

you've probably got an easier pathway to the playoff than you do at LSU or Florida. The thing that always stands out to me about this discussion is, obviously how much money you can spend is important on your players, right? But having paid attention to this for, you know, the last three years and as it's evolved, isn't how much you've spent on your players kind of a moving target?

Like, what's true one year for one program isn't always true the following year for the same program. You've seen teams, you know, spend a lot more when they've, you know, how can you quantify that if you're a coaching candidate of like, here's X number of dollars I'm going to have, or is that kind of an unpredictable metric? Yeah, and, you know, I mean, look at Ole Miss. they spent last year somewhere around 14 million, maybe 15 million on its roster.

Great defensive talent. One of the best defenses in the country. You had a quarterback that they paid a ton of money to keep in Jackson, DART. And they didn't make the playoff. You know, this year, I don't know if they spent quite that much money, and they might make the playoffs. So it's not a guarantee. And I think other factors in talking to Nick yesterday, you know, he pointed them out that

when you're in a state like Louisiana, LSU, or Georgia or Florida, where the recruiting base is so fertile, there's not as much pressure year and year out to live in the portal. That's a tough existence, you know, every year to hit it just right in the portal. And, you know, you're not going to find a Trinidad Shameless every year in the portal from Fairstay. I mean, and give Lane and his staff, the Joe judges of the world,

Billy Glasgow, the guys you brought in there that are sort of part of that group that look and try to find guys that fit. Because it's not always maybe the highest rated guy, much like recruiting out of high school, but guys at key positions that fit. And, well, Ole Miss has been terrific at that the last few years. Walker Jones, who heads up their collective, been a big part of it. And I don't think you can diminish when you have it going like that, when you start to your question are about looking at jobs i'll say this though having covered

being a dinosaur and having covered this league for a long time there's something to be said when you're at a place like lSU and you can walk out on your porch front porch back porch your deck and you got all these great players you grow up in a state dying to play for lSU you are the flagship school there in that state those kids as one coach told me yesterday they're grown. You know, you got Florida and Georgia, Andy, you probably can speak to this. You got a lot of people moving into those states and they're a little bit older. You know, they don't

grow up necessarily wanting to be gators or Seminoles or bulldogs. And Louisiana, they do. And the high school coaches, Jacob Hester made a great point. I hadn't thought of this. But he said, there are some high schools in this day, Louisiana coaching, coaches. They won't

even let you in the gym or the football complex. If you don't have some type of tie to that state, state into LSU. So I think that means a lot. And it's why, I know, Andy, you rated LSU number one among the available jobs. You know, I've talked to a ton of people, I've been around it. I would be, it would be one of them.

If someone said, hey, who are the three jobs you would consider ranking number one? LSU would be one of those three for me. You're talking about out of all of them, not of all of them. All the jobs. I think Ohio State, LSU, and then we can sit here and argue a lot about Georgia and Alabama and Florida, Texas. Maybe Texas, but you know, you're fighting, again, that's not me saying it. You're in Texas, you're fighting tons and tons of schools for coming into Texas. A&M's there, Oklahoma's there, a lot of other schools will come in there.

Louisiana, you know, I went back and looked at some of the greatest players in school history at LSU. the large, large majority are from the state of Louisiana. And there are a few. Patrick Peterson was not from there. But you go back, guys, 40 years. And most of those guys, most of the big names are homegrown kids. And I think if you get the money, which they did step it up this year, which is so head scratching that they didn't play any better. I mean, they've spent around 18 million at the top transfer portal to the class,

which shows you they're willing to do it. I think it gets back to the person. Can that person, if it's lane, if it's anybody else, can they come in there and galvanize the money people? Can they give them the kind of confidence and the kind of trust? Hey, all right, I'm going to fork over $2, 3 million because I think this guy is a guy that can take the money, do the evaluations, get the right people in here,

and get us to a national championship. I think the third caveat is this. To me, seeing as believing, when you start talking about jobs and every coach, all three coaches before Brian Kelly won a national title at LSU. You know, two of them Hall of Famers,

Nick Saban, is Les, is Lest already in the Hall of Fame? I'm not sure he is or not. There was, they've just changed the record requirements so he may be able to get in now. He was in a point where the Kansas record was going to keep him out.

You're right. That's right. So, you know, and Lutz was a little quirky, as we all know, but certainly had a great run. And remember, he played for a second national title there. They still got a raw deal in 11. They go unbeat, and they beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Then they got to play them again in the rematch. I think if they play anybody but Alabama that year, they went another

one. And then, of course, that owes run in 2019 with one of the greatest seasons we've seen in the SEC. So again, scenes believe you've had three guys do it over the last two decades. To me, that counts for something. If you're Ole Miss and you want to pitch Lane Kiffin on why your job is better. Where do you start? I think the fact that they have stepped it up over the last few years, and they're all in. Again, you've got Mississippi State there in that state, but there's a lot of good football players. And if you keep 80% of the best players in that state and go out and really mine the portal, and they've proven they'll do that already, they'll go out and they'll spend tons of money for guys who are looking to cash in. They've proven they will do that. And he's

one you know he's proven he's won 10 games now what three different times go back and count how many times they've done that a little mess in the last 50 60 years so he's done things they've never been done there lane genuinely likes living there and i think that's something else they would sell him i was with lane for gosh an hour or so a couple weeks ago there in his office he likes his he likes his quality of life there he likes the fact that his family is around him he likes the way the people treated him. He is really grateful to Keith Carter. Lane will tell you, man, when he came in 20 there,

there weren't many people knock on his door to be a head coach when he left Florida Atlantic. Keith believed in him. Keith stuck his neck out. I think there were some people there very tied into that program who didn't want him. And Keith did and gave him a shot. And I think that's something that Lane has always remembered.

Now, none of this means he won't leave. And I want to be very clear on that. People are pinning me down. I know they are you guys too. Do you think he'll leave? I've had four text messages this morning from people who read Nick's comment. Well, that means he's not leaving. No, that doesn't mean that.

You know what it means? It means it be good to be Lane Kiffin right now. Yeah, exactly. Well, here's what Nick said to you. And I found it very interesting because I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Nick said jobs that weren't great jobs before are now. Lane is the first name up for Florida and the first name up for LSU,

but I think you can have a long debate on whether either of those jobs is actually better than the job he has now because he has some guys over there at Ole Miss that give him pretty much whatever he wants from a roster standpoint. Maybe you've got alumni who are passionate about football, but are they willing to invest

what you have to invest now to win because a lot of people don't believe in this shit. And Chris, I was thinking about that and not just in the context of they'll give Lane what he wants from a roster standpoint. Lane has a level of control at Ole Miss that I don't believe he would have at Florida or LSU and I think that's something you've got to consider.

Yeah, and I guess the unknown there, Andy, and it's your school, you would know Florida, the inner workings there better than I would. Does a guy like Lane Kippen, who is such a commodity right now, does he change that a little bit? Maybe. Does he change that a little bit at LSU? You know, the governor obviously very involved at LSU.

I had one 80, he said, hey, I think that's a good thing. Some people might, but if you've got a governor in your state and you're a one school state, essentially, like LSU is, you know, you're going to be able to get things done there because he is so passionate about football that you might not otherwise. I mean, you're in Alabama, then Auburn's going to say, well, hey, if they're getting this, we want. Yeah.

Mississippi State's, well, if Ole Miss is the same way, too. Yeah. So I don't know. And I guess that's none on all this. Would, you know, or LSU and Florida, so I shouldn't say desperate. But are they so, are they to the point now, they're like, listen, we got a chance to get a guy who's clearly a difference maker, a guy that is at the top of the food chain, so to speak, as far as available coaches, one of them, not maybe the, but certainly one of them, a guy who's made a difference everywhere he's been. Nick Saving, as much as Lane was a pain in Nick's ass when he was there, Nick will be the first one to tell you that he was a huge part of getting their offense

where they needed to get it to. You know, he goes to Florida Atlantic. Florida Atlantic hadn't done anything. He wins conference championships. He comes to Ole Miss. Now, they'd have some success under Houston Nutt, some success under Hugh Freeze, but certainly not to this degree. And he's just got that type of personality where people want to jump on.

board. They want to dive in. I don't know what you would call it. You know, Lane gives me a hard time because on the E-60 documentary, I said he was an acquired taste. Well, he is an acquired taste for a lot of people. You know, I happen to have known him for a long time and enjoy being around him, but I also know that sort of who he is. Some people don't ever really acquire that taste. But he is somebody that is, I think when you talk about, you guys tell me, 17, 18, 19, 20-year-old kids you know some people call it street cred they they want to be around a guy like that they want to play for a guy like that who's a bite back type of personality and and i think that permeates a little bit of your your money people and there may be some of the get off my lawn type crowd

and say well no we don't want that but i promise you if you want to win and most of these guys want to win you want somebody that you felt like all right if i'm going to pony up this kind of cash they're going to be able to go get players for difference makers. And I think Lane's going to do that. I've been dying to ask you this. I've kind of brought it up to Andy a little bit, but when you look at how much money LSU

is going to have to pay, you know, and buy out, I know it's still not 100% sure given what happens with Brian Kelly and where he ends up next, but it's a lot of money. Florida's paying up a lot of money. Do you feel like because of the bidding

and the bidding war that's going to have to happen, to either get or retain Lane Kiffin, that those two programs are making the correct financial decision in getting him if that means buyout money plus $15 million to a coach who may do it this year but has yet to win a power for a conference title. Yeah, well, and that's a fair question. I think Lane's contract is pretty friendly as far as what kind of bout he would have, if I'm not mistaken. You know, Alabama paid $4 million, I think.

What is it, Andy? I believe it's $4 million. Yeah. Bama paid $12. million to get Kalin DeBoer, which is, so that's three times as much as what LSU or Florida or anybody else would have to pay Lane. But no, to your question about not having won a championship or that type of thing, I think that is something as schools debate, hey, we just paid Billy 21 million, we just paid Kelly, whatever it is, 40, 50 million. I'm really going to pay

13 million, 12 million, whatever it's going to cost to get him. And let me add, I'm glad you asked that already. I don't, I've talked to land about this, had knowledge him over the last few years. The money thing, he's already making what, 9 or 10 million at Ole Miss. He really, I know he said this. He is not driven by money. That will not be a factor in his decision. But I do believe that it's fair to ask if you're a school, are we going to invest this much money in a coaching salary of a guy that hasn't won a national title. I mean, listen, and people like to gang up on Jimbo Fisher, I get it, you know,

but when Texas A&M paid him all that money, he'd won a national title at Florida State. You know, he was, he's won a few active coaches at that time who'd actually won a national title. And when A&M fired him, they didn't turn around and win the most expensive bidding war of an open market coach

maybe in the history of the sport either. Like, it's like, it's that and top of how expensive it's going to be to get late. Yeah, and remember, too, the other caveat there, the whole A&M deals, they were, it was done. They were going to hire Mark Stoops. And you had a revolt, whatever you want to call it, pushback among boosters.

No, we're not going to do that. And they turned to Mike Yolko. And I think Mike set on the tarmac there in his plane for, gosh, an hour or two. He didn't know what he was going to do. He was going to leave Duke to come to him. I think he had some real questions about it. So it's not as easy to hire a guy at these places where, if you don't win at the highest of highs that they're going to fire you in a couple of years.

Now, one source that I trust implicitly told me as I was writing the story, he did point out at Florida that they hung in there, no matter what you believe about Billy and Apier, they hung in there pretty good with Billy. And a lot of people thought, Andy, I know we were both at the Texas A&M game last year, that he was done after that loss. and he had some key people that saved him, and they gave him another shot.

He never lost his locker room. And they came back and they played really good football last year toward the end of the season. Now, that didn't translate over to this year. But they did, you know, a lot of schools at a lot of places he would have been gone. Jacob Hester, I don't know if you saw his quote in the story, he said, hey, we have three losing seasons around here.

They burned his place to the ground. And, you know, coaches, yeah, coaches, that is a part of, of coaches' mindsets. I'll say, Lane told me, he says, one thing that, he says, I hear that a lot, that, well, if you go there, they might fire you. The expectations are unrealistic.

He says, listen, he said, I would be miserable, way more miserable than any fan, early money guy, if I went somewhere and we weren't winning. You know, so that, that doesn't, I don't think that moves the needle at all with him. Because he's a confident, he's a confident dude. He just wants to win. He wants to win at the highest level.

He wants to win national championships. I do think the way he looks at jobs and life, you know, he's still Lane Kiffin. He's still going to be. There's a reason, and I remind him of this, there's a reason his mom called him an helicopter when he was little because he does like to stir it up everywhere he is. But he is as competitive as competitive gets.

And if he thinks that whether it's staying at Ole Miss or they're going to Florida or going to LSU, he's got a better chance, year in and year out to build a championship level roster, that I think that is going to be the most important component to him wherever he goes. And the family thing, he loves the fact that Chris, his brother and his family are there. He loves, you know, Layla, his ex-wife is back and, you know,

sort of co-raising Knox, who's playing high school football. But listen, there's no reason that all those people won't go with him or wouldn't go with him to Florida, LSU. In fact, I think they would. His daughter, Landry, will be a senior, or is a senior, I think, at Ole Miss. He's got about one year left. So I love, I love the interaction.

I love the debate and the fighting that's going on among the Ole Miss fan base, LSU fan base, the Florida fan base about what's a better job, why Lane would or wouldn't leave. You know who, you know who the only, the only person who knows that. that where he's leaning. And I really believe him when he tells me that he learned from what happened with the Auburn deal. And he is not looking ahead, that he owes it to this team and that fan base to coach this

team as hard and as well as he possibly can the rest of the year. I believe him. He was very passionate about that. We talked about it. But nobody knows what he's going to do. He might know. Jimmy Sexton might know. But other than that, anybody who says they know,

I've had about 20 people tell me they've got sources. Everybody's got a source, right? A source in administration and Ole Miss got a source at Florida. You know, I live down the street from Scott Strickland. I know somebody on the board of Supervisor. I actually do live down the street from Scott Strick. Well, there you go. Maybe you're the source.

Maybe you're that source that I keep hearing that from. Maybe. But nobody really knows. And I think that's the mystery here. What's going to make these next? What guys? four, five, six weeks. Pretty fascinating.

I will say this, timing stinks for these schools and the coaches, whoever it is. I don't think Marcus Freeman is going to leave Notre Dame, but, I mean, he'd be in the same boat, too. I think they've got a decent chance to get the playoff. First game is the 19th or 20th of December. When you look at the signing day, when the portal opens, I mean, it makes it really, really dicey. But I don't think it's a deal breaker either. In fact, I've talked to people who are close to a lot of these situations. It's not a deal breaker.

There's a way to make it happen. It won't be easy, it would be hard. Maybe it cost you a few players in that first year, but assistance have done it. Now, that's different than coaches. Kirby did it. Dan Lanning did it. Now I guess those were during the times when there was a 14 playout that didn't go as long. What's the championship game this year, November, or January the what?

21st. So you're going way in... I figure out that Monday is, yeah. You're going to wait. That would make it difficult, but I'll repeat. I don't think it's a deal breaker. Chris Lowe, you are the Nick Sabin and Lane Kiffin Whisper. We're blessed to have you.

Thank you so much. All right, guys. It's good to be with you. Ari, there's something that Chris said, and I've talked to him about this before. offline. I don't know that he's written this yet. I don't know that he's put this out here. So he may have been breaking a little news on our show that Lane Kiffin was the top target for Florida State if Mike Norvell had gotten the Alabama job. Because remember, when Nick Saban

retired, Greg Byrne went looking. And his two targets were Kaelin DeBore and Mike Norvelle. Now, Mike Norvelle agreed to a new contract very quickly. I don't know if DeBore or Norvelle was the first choice. They were the two top options. It may have been that DeBore was the guy all along, but Norvelle parlayed it into a very big contract. Had they lost Norville to Alabama,

it sounds like Florida State would have gone after Lane, and it sounds like he would have listened. And that is really interesting. It also sounds like Florida State could be in this sweepstakes. You know, I view Florida State like an SEC or a Big Ten job, even though it's in the ACC because I suspect it will be in one of those other leagues before all is said and done. Do you think that Florida State is a distant third between those two or distant fourth if you add Penn State into the mix? I think Penn State fits in with those jobs.

I think Flores State does too. But the thing is, and this is what Chris was talking about and what Nick Saban was talking about, the ceiling at Ole Miss is no different now. It's no different. You know, I think I wish I would have pinned them down a little bit more. Is there a way that you can accurately project how much money you will have on an annual basis

at your disposal when it comes to NIL? Or is it based on enthusiasm? Is it based on how well you're doing? No, I think you can, you'll be able to project it. It's, that will get more accurate and scientific as they go. And I think they're going to eventually figure this out. Like, you know, they keep hoping this bill will pass through Congress. It's not going to pass as currently written.

If it ever gets passed, it'll be a severely different version of it that doesn't give them the all the control they want. They're going to eventually have to collectively bargain this thing. with the athletes and then they'll have a real salary cap so like i don't think they're that far off we're probably talking about within the next 10 years you all know how much money you have yeah but the main crux of the issue here though for lane kiffin or anybody else who is going to be considering jobs is how much money am i going to have at my disposal in my window that i'm going to have to be successful successful in which is the next three years yeah and the thing is that i think they can they can give you a pretty accurate estimate of that and and lane

them like are they all relatively similar or does one team are going to be relatively similar that's right so then then it gets back to then when ranking jobs if they're all relatively similar in terms of the resources are willing to allocate to nil funds then you go back to old world thinking which is geography proximity to talent uh administrative buy in location conference affiliation history all the things that we used to look at when it it came to ranking jobs you know, if they're all equal there, then what makes, you know, Florida a better job than Florida State? What makes Florida, you know, and I think conference affiliation now means more than ever has. So. Well, right. And Florida being in the SEC and Florida State still being the ACC is a huge help for Florida. I do, like I said, I do suspect that Florida State's going to get into one of these or whatever it is next. Florida State will be part of whatever's next.

So if you feel good about that, though, are you Lane Kiffin, are you saying, well, We don't know how this year is going to end. Like, Ole Miss could win the SEC. This could be his first power for. He may stay at Ole Miss. I keep telling people that I know, like, Florida fans really don't want to hear that. And LSU fans don't want to hear that. He might stay at Ole Miss.

What if he go two and two in the next four games, which we don't think is going to happen, but not going to happen. Yeah. But I'm just saying, we have to, we have to at least exhaust all possibilities. Do you think that there is any part of him or any other coach in his position that would look at Florida State, and go, man, I would much rather play in the ACC for my own, like, health, my own happiness, my no, I don't think so. I think they, they would take the SEC of the Big Ten job, or one of the SEC or Big Ten jobs. So, but I do think if Florida State opens, it will be a very popular job among coaches. I think there will be a lot of coaches who want the job who will feel like

you can win a national title there, even when they're in the ACC, and also they will look to the future and think there's a brighter future. But I go to the war chant message, Court. King E-74 on the War Chant message board says, I'm putting it out there. Cliff Kingsbury for head coach. Now, remember, Mike Norvell still has a job, but they're already, the Florida State fans have already moved past that. They're not worried, they're thinking who's next. If Wake Forest comes in and wins on Saturday, the administration will probably be thinking who's next. And I would suspect, because if you're just watching what Florida did in the waning days of the Billy Napier tenure, you start working on that before you actually decide to fire the coach. So due diligence is probably being done.

So Cliff Kingsbury, we all remember Cliff. He is the offensive coordinator to Washington commanders now, former Arizona Cardinals head coach, former Texas Tech head coach, devastatingly handsome. Also, the guy who told me to watch peekie blinders. I'll forever love him for that. I still have never seen that, Joe. You're missing out. I say all that to say this. Because I love Cliff as a human being.

He might be mad after I say this, though. What are you thinking, King E-74? Do you not remember that Cliff Kingsbury was a college head coach? And what about his performance as a college? head coach makes you want to put him in charge of a team that you expect to win the national title. Like, Ari, I'm going to give you a little trivia question. What was Cliff Kingsbury's record as a head coach in college with Patrick freaking Mahomes as his quarterback? How many years was that? Was that over a two year period? Two plus. He took over at the end of the end of his

freshman season. Was he like 15 and 18 or something? 13 and 15. Yeah, okay. I'm bad at math. Patrick Mahomes as his quarterback with potentially, like, when all is said and done, Patrick Mahomes may be the greatest quarterback who ever played the sport. 13 and 15. Yeah.

I mean, I have nothing really to push back on other than like maybe Mahomes didn't find his greatness until he got to the NFL. Well, but even then. He threw for over 800 yards in a game they lost. He was also a first round pick, so it's not like he wasn't good. So I don't know. But the job of Cliff Kingsbury at Texas Tech, you know, secondarily to create first round picks, but primarily to win games.

And he didn't win a lot of them. I don't know, man. It was a different time. I don't know. Like, you know, I don't give it. This is, this is not just directed at King E-74 and the other. Because I will say, credit to the other folks on the war chant board, many of them responded very quickly with, ha, he didn't win at Texas Tech.

What makes you think he'd win here? But several of them did chime in like, oh, he could be pretty good, but does he want to leave the NFL? No, no, no, wrong question. And this is just a pet peeve of mine. Stop guessing people whose names you know just because you know them. Right. That's what it is.

being handsome help also i just want to say as we're talking about cliff kingsbury that picture that they posted the arizona cardinals official at his house in his living in a draft night during the draft is my peak human existence like honestly like at that point everything else that happens in his life is like you want so if you're mad at andy and you're listening to the show and that bothers you just look back at that picture and just love the fact that you got to exist in that world because I would love to. I still love you for introducing me to Tommy Shelby and the PKF and blind us.

But no, I just like, Florida State is a program that should expect to compete for national titles. I mean, in fairness, if the commanders are going to entrust him in the development and leadership of the most valuable asset potentially in the moment in the NFL, then he probably could try to be a coach in college again somewhere. I just don't know. He could, but there's this thing called defense.

Yeah. And they were allergic to it back then. I just don't understand why coaches can't hire a badass defensive coordinator and let them cook. I've always been confused by that. Like, why can't the big 12? That may have been the budget at Texas Tech at the time. I don't know. I don't know.

All I know is. The other theory about the Big 12 that I've been dying to share with you is that all the best athletes in Texas high school football are put on the offensive side of the ball. And the entire Big 12 uses Texas high school football. football as their main talent source. And I feel like the personality of the way that high school football is played in the state transcended up into the college. But are you talking about the big 12 of 2015? Like the big 12 now has good defenses.

We're talking about the Kingsbury of 2015 too, though. That's true. Well, and it's interesting because you know who around that time, I guess, before the scandal broke, said, we've got it all wrong here in Texas and we need to start taking some of these six two receivers and making them corners was Art Bryles. Yeah. When he was head coach at Baylor, I had this conversation with him. He's like, we keep making them receivers.

Like, if we just made a few of them corners, they might become first round picks. That's what everybody. Everybody wants a six two corner. Yeah. Also, I don't know when this happened, this trend in college football. I got a firsthand look at it like when I was covering Urban Meyer. I don't think, I don't know that he was the godfather of this, but he certainly engaged in it. Like in the 2010, 2012, 13, 14, era.

but there was a point in time where college coaches were just like, we're going to recruit the best freak athletes ever and then we'll find their spot when they get here. Oh, you're a quarterback in high school? I'm going to turn you in an outside linebacker and you're going to become. But that's always happened. Like the best athlete at every school gets, you know, plays quarterback in free safety and then they get to college and get moved somewhere else.

It's not like the athlete phenomenon. Everybody played quarterback. That wasn't the point. The point is that like you have a certain body type and this new body type started playing new positions. but yeah so but the text like the the the the cliff kingsbury thing at florist no no guys and and it's the same thing like you've heard of john gruden so you're like what about john gruden i was i spoke to the quarterback club in gainsville last night the group you spoke to a couple

weeks ago it was great great people but first question out of the gate what about dabbo sweeney for florida i was like have you watched his clemson team this year how do you think that would go at Florida and they're like but he won a national title I'm like okay so did Mac Brown I have to do this because it makes perfect sense with what we're talking about right now if you name the top 10

head coaches in college football right now how many would Florida fans or Florida state fans have heard of before they took the job as the head coach not many is it zero like Florida fans might have known who Dan Lanning was because he was

Georgia's defensive coordinator and they played George every year. Would not have come up at the quarterback club discussion? Would they have known Ryan Day before Ryan Day took over for Urban Meyer? I don't think so. Nobody knows who coordinators are outside of their conference or, you know, I don't know. I don't think on Ohio

State. I think everybody knew Kirby when he was Sabin's coordinator, at least after a period of time. Because they knew who Sabin was. But did anybody know who Mike Elko was? I just like, I don't sure people knew who Mike Elko was when he was Duke's head coach. Right. Now, the A&M fans did because he had been their coordinator, but like the, let's

say if you just said the average LSU fan on the day that Mike Elko got hired at Texas A&M, do you know who Mike Elko is? They might not have known. So maybe we should be focusing on letting the process play out and just like hope that whoever they hire you've never heard of. Because that's probably a better, if you think about all the retread hires that have happened in college football, like the Herm Edwards to ASU one is like the most prolific one to me. It's like, oh, we can hire Herm Edwards. Why? Because he's on TV and I know who he did. Well, the four state

fans would have heard of the guy who replaced Herm Edwards before he got the job, Kenny Dillingham, because he was their OC for a minute. Right. Right. And Oregon, too. Yeah, Memphis. But the, yeah, do you see what I'm saying, though? It's just like, yeah, I do. My Edwards. Oh, I've heard of him.

Just because you've heard of him does not mean that they're going to be good. And like the Davo thing. dabbo at one point was maybe the best coach in the sport but he's not right now like he's got to prove to Clemson that he can evolve if you have heard of them and they are available there is a reason why yeah i think that that's a great way to put it a great way to put it all right back to the megaboard and actually this is another person because when this person got hired in his first head coaching job, I was not even aware he wanted to be a head coach.

I knew of him. I knew him as an assistant. I obviously knew him as a player. But when he got hired, I was not even aware that he was trying to become a head coach. And now he's a head coach, very beloved where he is. Let's throw up this post from Volqua. It says LSU hotboard

Look who is on it There's an LSU hotboard floating around with Josh Heiple's name on it And Ari, I got to tell you, I got a phone call yesterday from somebody who was saying, you know, you should watch Josh Hepple for some of these openings

like Penn State or LSU or Florida. And this is not Josh Heppel's agent, by the way. Do you ever feel like a pawn and agent's scheme? Yes. Okay. Like I said, this was not Josh Heipel's agent. I would not be telling you. I wouldn't be saying this if it was Josh Heppel's agent.

I would be taking that very seriously. How many phone calls do you take a day from people who have a motive? Not as many as NACOS are low, but it's up there. Yeah. That's the hardest part of the job. But listen, let's... Yes, because you texted me this. Like, am I breaking the trust tree if I reveal what you texted?

to me and producer river this morning yeah no go go for it okay i i'm trying to find it uh because i just got very mad reading it on behalf of of vault twitter yeah i'm not trying to upset vault twitter um but it just i need to bring this up because this is already texting i hate to bring this up because of river rivers is our producer he's a ball for life but if hypo wins on saturday does he become a top candidate for ls u or why isn't he brought up more or Woodward likes to take big swings. Oh my God. Am I insane?

You're kicking the beehive. No, I know, but let's put it this way. No, you're not insane. Josh Hype is a really good coach, and yes, everyone should consider him. LSU was unable to make the college football playoff in four years of Brian Kelly. He's done it twice in Tennessee.

Maybe. Maybe. But Ball Twitter will disown you for this, as producer Rivers texting us right now, and I believe they will. Ari. You are treading dangerous ground here. Listen, I don't disagree with you on the quality of Josh Heppel as a head coach.

Oh, I'm a great head coach. You're a good coach. I haven't said you should go. Why would you get mad at me for like liking your coach? Well, here's my thing. It's interesting because I've watched the discourse between the Florida fans and Lane Kiffin over the last week or so. And all the, like, the Florida fans are just sending Lane Kiffin pictures of bought Hemingway next to pictures of the swamp. and, like, pictures of the empty student section

at Vaught Hemingway during a game. Like, no one can send those pictures to Josh Hepple. Like, the only pictures of Neeland Stadium they can send to Josh Hepple are, like, the one that's on screen now, like, full with fireworks exploding out of it. I love that we're talking about this as we're heading into an elimination game Saturday against Oklahoma. Dark mode is what they're calling it.

Yeah, I've never seen a game there. I've been outside of the stadium. I've been to Knoxville with you. Dylan Samson is a running back on my favorite NFL team. No, we dance with him last year. I've got a lot of great things to say about Tennessee. As you know, Vault Twitter. In the hierarchy discussion that we were having to begin the show with Chris Lowe and after,

we discuss what are good jobs. Nick Saban brought this up, right? What does that mean for Tennessee? Tennessee is a great freaking job. They'll give you whatever you need. Tennessee is a great job with an iconic stadium and a crazy, lovable fan base. They've already made the playoff last year when other teams that are looking for head coaches haven't. They might make it again.

I think you can make the case that they probably will make it again this year. Yeah. So you said I was going to make Tennessee fans mad, and I might. But if, let's get this out of the way first, he should be on the list, right? You agree with that that he should? Yes, I do agree with that. Just objectively performance-based

If you're taking a huge swing, yes. Any sane human being, Tennessee fan, maybe that's mutually exclusive, I don't know. You have a good coach. Can you just acknowledge that? That's all I want you to do. That's as far as I want you to go.

You've got a good coach that people shouldn't want. I don't know. I just reflexively got mad when you sent it to me for them because I think right now, if you are at Tennessee and you are getting the team to the playoff, Like you got them to the playoff last year. You might be able to get them to the playoff this year.

You're insane if you leave. Okay. Because they will give you what you need. Like what Nick Saban was talking about, like, are they going to give you what you need? Tennessee will give you what you need. Okay. So now we're going to get to the uncomfortable part of the question. Because I think in the aggregate, it's like, yeah, I agree with that, what you just said.

We're talking about LSU. Okay. And we're talking about a team that you have routinely and I have. routinely ranked in the top three of jobs in America. But you've already got Tennessee in the playoff. You're going to get what you need. I'm not saying go to Florida. I'm not saying go to Ole Miss.

If LSU calls you, offers you a raise and says we want you to be our head coach. A good faith discussion right now about whether or not you should do that. Maybe. Because like you're like I know like we want we want to. It's the same conversation as Lane. It really is. It's not different.

I think I would rather have the Tennessee job than the old miss jobs. So, like, in terms of, like, the hierarchy, you know, I think that Tennessee is very much, if, if Ole Miss. I think if you're already in the playoff at one of these, one or the other, like, yeah. Tennessee, LSU, Florida, like, if you're already in the playoff or you have, you have a program where it's set up that every year you're going to be competitive for the playoff, I don't think you leave. I think you're good where you are has a beautiful state. I think a more robust fan base. It's a larger university, if I'm not mistaken. And the stadium's insane.

The facilities are insane. I don't know. I think that they've got more talent in the state of Tennessee, though it's a more complicated place that may be recruit because of the length. It's getting more talented. It actually used to not be very talented, but it's getting more talented, but it's shockingly not as talented as the other surrounding states in the south either.

Mississippi's very talented. It's a smaller state and they don't have top 100 players of the same. Maybe per capita, but there's not a lot of population, so it doesn't really point. Correct. And Nashville is what Atlanta was in the 90s, where the population is just exploding. And the private school situation there is probably getting bigger. And like, I don't know.

But if Ole Miss can convince Lane Kiffin to not take the LSU job, then Tennessee certainly could convince Josh Hyplmont to. I'm not saying it's like a no doubt about it type scenario. But the only thing, if we're keeping track, ball Twitter, and if you want to turn on me, then I had a good run, is. One, you've got a really good and attractive coach that people should want, which I hope that you would want for yourself. And then two, I'm also just having the good faith discussion about the hierarchy of jobs in that LSU probably ranks higher on that hierarchy. And it's not probably, we can pull up our, we can pull up our off season.

It does. If you do the job rankings, it does, it does rank higher. Did you have 10 of your job rankings in this off season? I don't think you did. I didn't. Maybe I didn't. I don't think you did, but I know what you had in the top three. So it's not an insane notion.

I'm just surprised. I'm not saying he should go. I'm not saying he will go. I'm not even saying that they'll offer him the job. All I am saying is I'm surprised that Josh type of name has not come up more. I think it's been, and I think like what Nick Saban said, it's been compressed. Like, yeah, the difference between job one and job 20 has been compressed considerably. Yeah.

And like, listen, I think if you wanted to have a. head-to-head debate about whether Tennessee is a better job than Alabama or Alabama, Alabama, probably not, right? Because it's Alabama, but Michigan and Oklahoma in Penn State in Clemson and the other ones that are on our top 10, you can have a good faith discussion about that, right? Like, I think that you could put Tennessee number seven and nobody's going to go, what the hell. So like, it's not, it's a great job. And if you're winning there, you're going to be a hero, you brought the program back. There's a lot of reasons to stay. I understand that. But the real heart of the text that I sent you this

morning, and I'm sorry, River, who's wearing a false hoodie right now, is that are you surprised that his name has not organically, they might be trying to shove it out there now to get a raise, but not organically come up more? That's the only thing I thought. That's all, that's the whole text was. Yeah, I guess I am surprised, but it's also one of those that because he's in a place where he's beloved and they do give him what he needs, like it's, you don't put your name out there like that. Lincoln Riley and Brian Kelly did not publicly put their names out there before they left Oklahoma and Notre Dame respectively. They just left. They kept it quiet. And in fact, during the negotiations, the schools were told, you must keep this quiet. If any of this leaks, if you breathe

any of this deals off, they're just staying where they are. So that's, if Hypo was interested, and I have no idea if he is or not, if he was, it's the sort of thing you do. probably want to keep quiet. So I don't know. But it is a legitimate discussion. I'm kind of having fun with this because I know how Ball Twitter is going to feel and I'm wanting them to direct all the anger at you. And if the anger does come my way, what would the statement be that makes the anger come? What did I say that? How dare you think that he would leave us for them? That's it. Fair enough. That's it. By the way, if you'd like to see this, dark mode game in Knoxville this weekend. And that may be the best highest stakes game of the

weekend, Oklahoma at Tennessee. Download the game time app, redeem the code, Staples for $20 off your first purchase terms apply. You can get tickets at Neeland Stadium this weekend. They are there available. They are not the cheapest tickets in the world. You can get in for the low 200s. If you want to sit somewhere real, real nice, you're talking maybe in the 400s, but this is a big, big matchup between two teams that are fighting for a chance to stay alive in the college football playoff race.

Winner will still be alive. Loser probably will not be. Download the GameTime app for Dean of the Code Staples for $20 after your first purchase. Terms apply. Get you to the game. Swipe, tap, ticket, go with game time. All right, Ari.

Let's revisit the Mega Board. This is maybe my favorite. You suggested this yesterday, and you said, go find me something on the Notre Dame board about Brian Kelly and LSU. And I did the theme from blue and gold. We are all laughing at LSU. Now, I want to point out the date that this thread began because it was not when they fired Brian Kelly on Sunday night.

sorry, it was, nor was it when Texas A&M beat LSU on Saturday night. It was actually when Vanderbilt beat LSU last week. And it is just the Ron Burgundy Giff, we are laughing at you. Yeah, 49 pages deep, probably. Oh, it went for a while when it was posted, and then it sprang back to life during the LSU, Texas A&M game, and then rolled. So the reason I wanted you to find this, though, is because I read a really interesting story column, I should say, from our former colleague at the athletic, Pete Sampson, who does a great job covering Notre Dame. And it was more about like what happened at LSU and what it means for Notre Dame because it's so easy. And I feel like we get a lot of this too with Oklahoma fans directing their laughing at USC as their coach currently is trending.

treading pretty lightly in terms of maybe falling through back onto the hot seat is that like there is the schadenfreude that is a spirit of college football and that you always if your coach leaves you you want them to fail wherever they go i get that but i do think that there is a prevailing notion and pete wrote about this about what brian kelly did at notre dame and whether or not losing him was losing an asset that you could not afford to lose because your program was only accomplishing x as a result of of them. And if you think that Notre Dame was all because of Brian Kelly and the success and the two playoff appearances, you know, in general, now you can look and say, well, he went

to a place that has what we thought or what the college football world thought had more resources in a more advantageous geographical spot and a more competitive conference and not as nearly stringent, you know, academic standards to get in and did not make it through four years while the coach that replaced him made it to the playoff. And I think that the prevailing notion should be not that, you know, Brian Kelly sucks or whatever. Everybody can have their opinion on Brian Kelly, whatever it is, it is. But like I think that at least Notre Dame stands prevailing in a sense that the place was not holding him back.

No, Notre Dame was not the problem. Right. It was not as our friend Josh Pate wrote when Kelly got hired at LSU. he had not been trying to race the Daytona 500 in a Toyota Prius and credit to Josh he owned that one on his show

like he wore a clown nose and re-read the post. Yeah. And it was brilliant. A Prius is a highly offensive car to use in that analogy too. I, well Josh is very good with words and I think that was intentional. I would have gone with Civic if I was trying to make that point because at least you could soup up a civic. You can

really soup up a civic. But Notre Dame was not the issue as it turns out Brian Kelly was the thing holding Notre Dame back and Marcus Freeman comes in and unleashes a little more of the power of Notre Dame

they go to the national title game last year there's a reason Marcus Freeman's name came up when all of these jobs came open as this is the first phone call you make even though he's going to say no he's clearly doing a great job there I've got a secondary question that's part of this topic, but is something that I've just been thinking about.

Okay. Who's a more attractive coaching candidate right now, James Franklin or Brian Kelly, and why are there resumes? It's basically identical. Ooh. James Franklin. Because Brian Kelly went to the national title, or I mean, the college football playoff twice, but he also didn't play in the big

Penn, but if you go look at the record. James Franklin is more attractive and I'll tell you why. The stories that came out of Penn State when James Franklin was fired. versus the stories that came out of LSU and Brian Kelly was fired. Oh, you mean like this? I was on PMT on Wednesday and Big Cat was talking about this. Like, when James Franklin was fired, there's people coming out of the woodwork saying he donated to this, he helped me with this, he helped me get a job, like all of this stuff. Because James Franklin truly does care about his players and there's evidence that now he wasn't, he wasn't actively seeking credit for it, which is why you didn't hear a lot of that stuff until he got.

fired when people are like hey everybody's bagging on this guy but here's what he did for me none of that with brian kelly none of it an old ESPN article that and i can't remember who the head coach or the coaches in the NFL were but apparently they were old NFL coaches or NFL head coaches that used to work under Brian Kelly back in the day and they said that in the lead of the ESPN story was that he invited them over to a party and that they had the show you know what I'm talking about. Yes, yes. Didn't they also have to park cars or something like that?

They shoveled it all night and then they went home and they were like, I think they were grad assistants. I don't even remember what program it was. It might have been, you know, very early in his career in the Mac. Central Michigan or Grand Valley State or something. Yeah. I think it was central Michigan. And these two coaches who went on to be very successful and I wish I could remember who

they were were grad assistant roommates and they went home after that night and they said that they stood at the kitchen island and they told each other we will never treat people like this if we ever get to Brian Kelly's level. And I thought that was like a powerful, like, because there are a lot of things, and we're not going to discuss those other things that people say about Brian Kelly. But he doesn't strike me, like I think that the part of the reason why he hasn't been. It's Robert Salah and Matt LaFleur. So the current coach of the Green Bay Packers and the current defensive coordinator of the 49ers

who was the Jets head coach. Right. Thank you for looking that up. I think the part of the reason why Brian Kelly has not been an overly likable figure in the sport isn't only because he gets a red face on the sideline and because there's a certain personality trait that just tends to rug people the wrong way. I think there's a general understanding that people don't think he's a good dude. And I don't know if that, I don't know him.

So I'm not saying that he isn't. These aren't my stories. I'm just telling you, I saw the reaction that you just alluded to. and I wonder what that will mean for him and his quest to see what's next or if this is it for him. Like I don't know if he's going to get another job. Maybe he will.

I don't know if he wants to. We'll see. Well, I also wonder with Brian Kelly, and like Jimbo Fisher is actively seeking a job right now. What is the floor of the level of job that they would take? Because I do think there are schools that would hire them. I'm just not sure they are schools that they would want to work for. Would Brian Kelly take the Virginia Tech job or something?

I think he would. Would Jimbo Fisher? I do think he'd take that one, yeah. I've been told Jimbo Fisher would take like a high-level G5 job. So if Memphis or Shulane's open, he would be interested. Would Jimbo Fisher be interested in Oregon State? Probably not. I don't know.

Because it's not his part of the country. Yeah. But maybe. Maybe. I thought we were calling that Orgeron state. I thought that was Coach O's job. Yeah, Coach O's job's in Pat and Rouge, but I just don't know why you haven't started the groundswell.

Maybe because the AD who fired him is still working there. If I were at Orgeron, I'd be like, I don't, I can't do is I'm going to try to do the Cajun impression. Can I try? You can try. I mean, every single time, I can't do it. I can't do it. You try.

Oh, they get every single time. Like, remember when the sideline reporter did the coach O. impression. They got very bad about that. I don't, I'm not going to do that. I'm not, I just wanted to sound like him, not to mock him, but to sound like him so that you can hear him. You just get, you got to get some gravel in your voice. You got to say tagga. Every single time I talk about how many coaches back they used to work for the Tigers won national titles. My name comes up because I won national title. Here I am. Here I am. I'll take the job. What? See, you sound like a cross between Coach O and Steve Spurrier, which is fascinating. That's good. That's what I was going for.

would be kind of annoyed as I'm trying to imagine what that coach would be like joys of the LSU job and how the last three coaches before Brian Kelly were there won national titles and it's like quit using me as a prop I did it I'm not a candidate like leave me leave me out of it I would hate I would be bothered by that I'd be like just don't misspell my name yeah just you know yeah as as producer river reminds us via text they did fire coach O pretty quickly I want to say it was 20 20 or 21 months after the national title game he was fired it was probably a little quick quick on the trigger there i'm a very impressionable person and i get very moved by people i was moved by him when he was on our show and he like made me feel like he could do a good job anywhere and he made me feel like he loves football because i know that he does and like i think that the number one qualification that you should have for your head coach is just loving the game then i don't know if that's even a harder thing to find now because there's so much administrative spreadsheet

NIL. That's the thing. To be a head coach at the highest level, the game is such a secondary part of it. It's not about wearing your helmet at breakfast anymore. No, exactly. Exactly. One more, Ari, and this is not from the Mega Board. This is from Megabook. This one's from Facebook. Yeah. Man, I don't spend much time on Facebook. I don't even know you had a Facebook. I do. I don't know why. Maybe to see. if you know which high school classmates have gained a lot of weight that that's probably it but uh most of them but the smoke shows from my facebook the absolute dying pieces for my high school

85% of them are still tens i don't know what happened maybe just the area of the country i grew up in scottesdale baby that's got like i was like oh okay okay i i joke about my high school but i went to my 10-year reunion and I felt like the biggest failure because it was like doctor, doctor, lawyer, doctor, lawyer. So there were some very successful people. You know, my 20 years this year? My 30 years next year. My 20 years happening in Scottsdale on a college football Saturday this fall. Well, fire all of those people because that is no good. Yeah. So on Facebook, there's some pretty incredible stuff. I'm learning. This is something that was floating around Facebook this week.

This is the Brent Venables version. There's also a Ty Simpson version. So we've talked about the Brent Venables press conference after the Ole Miss game in light of what Lane Kiffin did, making fun of that because somebody asked him about Venable saying that Oklahoma was actually the better team, and Lane just rattles off all the times that he's beaten Ole Miss as either, or he's beaten Oklahoma as either the head coach or actually we've got that video let's play that

video laying a big win on the road against Oklahoma just curious your thoughts following the game coach Brent Venable said you felt like he he had the better team just your overall thoughts on that that's an interesting take that's a that's a hot take a better team I wouldn't have thought that people watching would say that you know I felt that one we won at their place and whether that as a defensive head coach you would normally you know wish for and one by eight points and and I think we left a lot out there I think we should have won by a couple scores so I don't know know how he evaluated that game that they were the better team I mean we'd way more yards 21 first downs to 14 and we played

what, 87 plays of offense and they had one sack and didn't force any turnovers. That's a interesting take. But what, whatever he needs to say. And also following up to road trips. Maybe they had the better team last year too when we beat them. Sorry.

Yes, sir. Following up on the road against Georgia. Maybe he had the better team in Oklahoma when we beat him 5519 in the, national championship maybe maybe you had the better team at clemson when we beat him 4540 um in the national championship at alabama next question my bad you got me on that if lane kiffin had known what facebook told me about this brett medables press conference and i i can't even imagine what our guys eddie rodosovitch and george stoia and kerry murdock were doing when this happened but

what really happened during the Ole Miss post-game press conference at Oklahoma for Brent Venables. So I'll read it at the Sooner State Legacy is who posted it. Breaking news, Brent Venables took a stand last night that no one saw coming, but no one will ever forget. Midway through his post-game press conference in Oklahoma as a handful of anti-American chance began outside the stadium. The Sooner's head coach didn't shout back. He didn't walk off. Instead, he stood tall, took the mic, and began softly singing, God Bless America. At first, it was just him, one voice, calm and steady. But within seconds, players, staff, and reporters joined in. Their voices swelling into a thunderous united chorus that echoed through the hallways. Flags waved, tears fell. The chance outside faded into silence. Oklahoma didn't just reclaim the moment. He reminded everyone what it means to lead with great. Race, not rage. Ari, this obviously never happened.

I was in that room at Oklahoma a few weeks ago. There's not a chance in hell you could hear anything that was going on outside the stadium. But your grandma believes this happened. Your dad, you're muted, Ari. You want to know why? Because I'm in the second story, and I've got a freaking tree with branches are really tall. And every single time a wind gust comes, it scrapes against. my window and it sounds awful and I don't want to ruin the podcast. Sorry. So instead you're

ruining it this way. Yes, but it's better than hearing it. Yes. So, but yes, our, well, my grandparents aren't alive anymore, but your grandparents' listeners and viewers believe this stuff. They believe this. I would love if it had happened. Like, can you imagine, like, imagine this, sorry. We've got the hot seat bowl this weekend. What if Hugh Freeze does lose to Kentucky? He should sing. And he's in his post-game press.

You, okay, you be the reporter, and I'll be Hugh Freeze. You ask me a question about losing to Kentucky. Hugh, you've mentioned throughout the course of the season that you felt as if Auburn was getting closer or was close to, you know, breaking through and winning a bunch of games. You've made some changes at the quarterback position. you've made some changes with schematic, you know, adjustments, but the result continues to say the same. Do you feel like you're fit to be the head coach of Auburn anymore? God bless America, land that I love, stand beside her and guide her through the night with a light from above.

from the mountains to the prairies to the oceans white with foam I'm crying God bless America my home sweet home God bless America

my home my home my home John Coe is not Not firing me after that. You are the songbird of your generation. You didn't think I'd sing the whole thing, did you? No.

You didn't think I knew the words, did you? No, I knew that. You would know everything. I'm a patriot, man. Love you guys. We'll talk to you on Thursday.