Andy & Ari On3 - Will a College Football coach FILL an NFL opening?

Episode Date: January 8, 2026

As the semifinals of the College Football Playoff begin tonight, there was some news throughout the football world during the day. The Miami Dolphins decided to fire Head Coach Mike McDaniel, making that 8 current NFL head coaching vacancies. On today's mailbag episode, Producer River asks if any of these soon-to-be hires will be a current college football head coach? Watch here as Andy & Ari dive into a mailbag episode to begin the CFP semifinals weekend. (0:00) On today's episode(1:04) Presenting Sponsor(3:09) Intro: CFP Semis start tonight(4:57) Will an NFL team hire a college coach?(16:50) Curt Cignetti - Mark Cuban's Donation(17:32) How the NFL translates to today's CFB(24:48) PaniniAmerica.net(27:32) DJ Lagway transfers to Baylor(31:50) Latest on Demond Williams and Washington(34:54) Sam Leavitt in the midst of Demond Williams news(38:47) The Rest of the Portal(39:30) Wrapping up Demond Williams discussion(45:01) Tipping point with expectations of coaches?(49:20) Pre-Season National Championship Picks(54:25) Conclusion: See you tonight after the Fiesta Bowl!  We’re also brought to you by Panini! Panini delivers the most collectible sports cards and memorabilia on the planet. Check out the new exclusive Arch Manning collection or the Panini Prizm Draft Picks College Football series. Visit PaniniAmerica.net to start your collection today. Our show is also 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. Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtube.com/live/F9CtFhmIR1o Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On today's Andy and Ari on three, the NFL coaching carousel is spinning. Will it affect college football? There are eight openings, a quarter of the league. And if you could pay an attention to the news in college football of late, you know some of these coaches have got to be fed up with this stuff. So could somebody make the jump? Would an NFL team hire any of the college coaches right now? It's a fascinating question.

We will discuss. Plus, an update on the DeMond Williams situation. The quarterback is leaving Washington, going to parts unknown. His agent fired him today, and he's lawyered up. So we've got a lot to talk about there. Plus, your questions. Great mailbag question about how long do you need to wait now to figure out if your new coaching hire is working? We'll answer that one.

Plus, talk a little playoffs. Let's start semifinals tonight. This first of two shows, we'll be here right after the Fiesta Bowl, too. and Ianorion 3, presented by BetMGM. We are presented by BetMGM. We use all BetMGM lines and totals on this here show. Here's how you can get connected and start playing with BetMGM. You download the app.

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Call 1-800-327-5-0-0-0-0 in Massachusetts. Call 1-800-off in Iowa or 1-800-9-1-0-2-3 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 BetMGM yet, use the bonus code CFB and get your $1,500 first bet offer today. Welcome to Annie and Ari on 3 presented by BetMGM. Happy semifinals, the college football playoff, semifinals start tonight with Miami and Ole Miss in the Fiesta Bowl. You can join us immediately after that game for an instant reaction show.

So as soon as that game ends, flip us on. You know how to do it. We'll be at the On3 sports YouTube page. Just make sure you subscribe to that. And you'll know whenever we go live. And also, all right people can subscribe to On 3 right now, 50% off the annual price. So $59.99 for one year of On 3, our transfer portal bundle, go get it now. All right, we got the playoff.

And we're going to talk a lot about that. but it is a mail-back. Oh, what? No, it's funny. It's the day of the playoff and it's the most important two games going into the most important game ever, but we've got other news that's going to. We have a whole show to talk about that and there are only four teams left. There's a lot of teams that are interested in what's not going on.

Yeah, no. And I'm not saying that you're doing anything wrong. Don't take it that way. I think it's funny because I feel like college football is kind of turning into the NBA a little bit where it's like the drama of the, the off season is more important than what actually happens. But like you said, there are more teams than the ones that are involved.

But, um, well, if we didn't have a show immediately after Ole Miss and Miami, I think we would, we would be doing this a little bit differently. But we will talk about that game and of course, about the Peach Bowl exclusively after that game. Because that's,

that's what that whole show is about. But it's a, it's a dear Andy, dear Ari Day. And we got a great question from our beloved, and produce a river. And I realize it's usually the viewers and the listeners, but River asked an incredible question. And I was, you know, taking a little break for my drive up to Atlanta today. And I saw the text message and I was like, we have to do this on the show. Here you go.

Dear Annie and Ari, eight open NFL head coaching vacancies now with the firing of Mike McDaniel in Miami. What are the odds? One of the eight hires is a current college football coach. So yes, a quarter of the jobs in the NFL are now open. You and I talk to college coaches quite a bit. I think we can safely say that most of them are fed up with how things work in college football right now. How many of them do you think are telling their agents, hey, I don't know if there's a shot, but could you maybe get me an interview? Yeah, it's an interesting dynamic because as we go into this new world of college football, you know, the lines are, blurrier between the separation between these two things, right?

Obviously, the NFL players are, in most cases, making more money and are better. But this is the professionalization of college football. And it's done in a way where recruiting still matters, but it's not the ultimate thing, which I think would be exhausting. It's like, I almost feel like recruiting is like, workout really hard and maybe at the end in a workout. You know, like, you may be a lose. It doesn't.

And you can, you have to re-recruit your roster constantly. And you can have, you can think you have your. roster re-recruited, and then somebody drops a bomb like DeMond Williams the other day on Jed Fish. Yeah. Like, could you imagine if like Patrick Mahomes could just move to Denver in the middle of the year? Sorry, Andy Reed. I'm leaving. Yeah, exactly. And I understand that. But the thing that is, and I even asked Ryan Davis at Cotton Bowl Media Day, and I'm going to probably write something at some point about it. But it's like, I feel like back in the day, the best college football coaches all had one very obvious thing in common.

It was not that they were just maniacal recruiters. It was that they enjoyed doing it and loved it. Because I do think that you have to love recruiting and being competitive enough to keep score in the off season to be driven to do it nonstop. And the people who are most maniacal about it, the people who sent the most text, who showed up the most, who loved it the most,

and were working at places that could conceivably win a national championship, there was a beginning, middle, and end of the work that eventually paid off in a better roster. And now all that work still remains. You still need to recruit your ass off year round with high school players. And then on top of it, you have to recruit the players on your team to stay. And then you've got to recruit players on other teams, all of which may be done for nothing because at the end of the road, a player may decide they just want more money, which I think would be exhausting and quite frankly frustrating.

So I think this is a really interesting discussion because it's a two-prong. I like saying that two-pronged discussion. One is our college coaches more want to go there more. Are they more willing to do that now than ever before because of the new college football system? And are they now more qualified to take those jobs than they were before because they have dealt with pro athletes now before? And you can say what you want, but these are pro athletes. Like Trinidad Chamblis is a pro athlete. Carson Beck's a pro athlete, whether you like it or not.

So, you know, and the other thing, do you think that they're more qualified? Do you think they're more likely to succeed at the next level as a result of dealing in the agent world now for a few years? I think the personnel stuff they're dealing with now is much more difficult than anything in the NFL head coach has to deal with. And what's interesting is, you know, at least before in college football, you could say, well, you know, they get to be kings of their own castle. They get to control personnel completely in college. We're in the NFL, you may, you may have a GM who kind of exists above you on the organizational chart, who's going to just tell you, here are your players deal with this. That's happening now in college football, too. Not everywhere, obviously. But it is one of those situations where if I were a college coach and I had the opportunity

to go, I would at least look into it because the job is so much harder. And look, I'm going to, I'll quote Kirby Smart here. No crying from the yacht. They make lots of money. There will be plenty of people who want the multi-million dollar college football coach jobs. But the ones who've been good at it like Kirby Smart, like I wouldn't begrudge them taking a look. And we've got Gator Swag 215 in the chat goes, Kirby to the Atlanta Falcons. Yes, all Florida fans and probably Auburn fans and everybody else just to play Georgia every year. Would love if Kirby left Georgia. Well, that's a funny one, though, Ari, because I think the Falcons would piss off a significant portion of their fan base if they hired Kirby Smart because what most Falcons fans are probably also Georgia fans. So they don't want the Falcons stealing their Georgia coach.

Yeah. You know what I? One thing that I thought was interesting in what you just said, Andy, is you brought up Kirby Smart. And whenever we bring up Kirby Smart, it's usually to highlight the best of coaches. and the no crying from the yacht thing is funny. But you know what I've, the vibe I've picked up from Kirby Smart the last three years as things have gotten more complicated. I feel like Kirby Smart has been invigorated by the changes and excited to see if he can

master the next thing. I think it's one thing to be willing to do it and to do it without complaining, but there are certain personality types who thrive in this type of environment. I think the types of coaches who are obsessed with competition and doing the best that they can do and adapting are actually well suited for this new environment. Now, there are some coaches that are resentful of it, and those might be the ones that you would leave or be wanting to leave for the NFL, and maybe that's better for you. But I do think that you could make the case that it is easier to be an NFL coach than it is to be a college coach. But on the other hand, what do we know about most college coaches? There are control freaks, right?

And as much as it is annoying to not be able to control your roster and it's turnover year over year, I can't imagine being a control freak who has no say on my roster. So like that to me would be a drain on them in a completely different way. And I don't know this. I know some coaches have taken a crack out of it. You know this stuff more than me. But how many head coaches in the NFL right now are actually either a major piece or the whole piece of the personnel department in the NFL? It's very few, isn't it?

I don't think it's anybody right now. Belichick was when he was the head coach of the Patriots. I think Jim Harbaugh has a lot of control. I think when he took the Chargers job, he demanded quite a bit of control, which makes sense because where was Jim Harbaugh before? He was in college. So he was used to that.

So, yeah, I think because, for example, they fired Mike McDaniel in Miami today. They had fired Chris Greer, their GM earlier in the season. who they posted an update before they hired fired Mike McDaniel they post an update like they're down to their final four GM candidates so I would imagine they're going to hire a GM and then that person is going to help hire the coach so like if you were a college coach interviewing in Miami it'd be like I don't know about this because I'm working for this guy and I'm used to everybody working for me yeah I do think it is kind of funny that a coach would want to leave college theoretically to the NFL because it's easier and you don't have to worry about roster turnover and recruiting the way that you do in college but then would not be comfortable in an environment where they don't get to choose their players it's kind of like pick and choose one or the other like do you want to do the problem is you get to choose your players

in college but choosing your players at college is hard as hell now so you have to decide how how much you want that. So the names that crossed my mind on this. We had the rumors floated about Steve Sarkesian during the season. And obviously he's worked in the NFL before. He was the offensive coordinator for the Falcons for a bit. He quickly tamped down those rumors. He had his agents release a statement. But then you had the Desmond Howard taking out his trash thing weeks later where he's like, oh, you know, Sark to the NFL is still a possibility. I don't know if that's what he wants to do but it does

feel like the Texas job's getting harder by the day especially every time Cody Campbell writes another check at Texas Tech and they seem to get whoever they want in transfer portal. You better be careful. Steve Sarkisian's going to scream at you in a press conference. That's fine. He can scream at me if you once.

Listen, I don't blame him because if he's really not leaving we're probably pretty annoying continuing to bring this up. But Yeah. I think the Texas, see, I've never been one who thought the Texas job was super easy. I have always thought it's actually more difficult than people think it is and that what Sark was doing there was pretty impressive. I don't think it's that easy to keep everybody moving in the same direction there. And he's done a fine job of that so far.

But it probably takes a lot of energy. And you look at this situation now, like this Parker Livingstone thing, we may never know exactly what happened. But Livingstone said the transfer was out of his control. Texas people very quickly said no, no, no, he got an offer. We wanted to keep him. And now he winds up at your arch rival Oklahoma, where if he winds up being good, Sark's going to get killed for that. Yeah. Well, I mean, he is good. I mean, I think that's an NFL player, right? Yeah, but I mean, if he winds up being like their wide receiver won and kills Texas in the cotton goal someday, like, it is going to be a nightmare for Sark. So that's what he's dealing with now. And I realize every, all these guys are

dealing with this but he would be in the position where he's shown as a play caller and remember the NFL being the primary play caller is not considered a bad thing there are a lot of coaches who are primary play callers in the NFL and it's not like in college where it's where you have so many other duties that it's hard to juggle those things so here's my root my because like with NFL I love watching it I love consuming it I play fantasy football I bet on it like I'm just a normal NFL consumer but my viewpoint of the NFL is that they're like what are the two number one things that you need to be able to do at a high level in the NFL I think one as as a coach you need to one connect with your players in a way that gets them to play because I think culture

is still I think culture might even be a bigger thing in the NFL than it is in college develop culture I think you know we've talked about that with Dan Campbell obviously they didn't make the playoffs this year, but he's done a remarkable job in Detroit. I think Nick Siriani's got a great culture in Philadelphia. Like, I feel like they can make a run in these playoffs. Yeah.

The other thing, Andy, you know what they do. The other thing to me is that you have to be a elite level X's and O's person. I think scheme, play calling, and coaching is more important in the NFL than it is in college. And I'll tell you why. I think that the players in college,

though parody is coming and it's becoming more and more rampant in our sport, the players in the NFL are very good on every team and anybody can beat anybody and I think that the games are actually one on the margins, which team turns the ball over the least, which one runs for more

yards and who calls the right plays at the right time. And I think that that's a real football dude. So like in college, if you like look at like Kurt Signetti, for instance, or who are the hottest coaches in college football? Curseignee is a great culture builder wins in the mark knows how to win in the margins yeah he's perfect now he's 64 he just got

to indiana he's just started to see i don't i don't think signetti would leave and also this this more recent news that mark cuban is now kicking in and his alma mater indiana like love that knowing you've got now you've you've got your sugar daddy in place like kurt signetti has a machine built that can last a while in college football and at 64 it doesn't have to last that long what but if you're an NFL executive looking to help find your coach one of these eight teams that has an opening what trait are you looking for the most in a college coach and do you think that the adaptation or the NFLization of college football is making these coaches more qualified because the truth is most college coaches that go up to the NFL suck like do you think that that's

going to be a continued trend, or do you think that the money involved in college football roster building is going to make them more equipped to handle the challenges of playing in the league? The skill sets are going to be more similar, aren't they? Aren't they going to become more similar? Because who were the best college coaches of the past 20 years? Now, look, Nick Saban was a great exes and those guys. I'm not saying that.

But the best college coaches in general were the best roster builders, the best talent accumulators, which has never been an issue in the NFL. That's because the system's not designed to. accumulate that level of talent advantage. You can have a good GM like Howie Rosen with the Eagles where you can get more talented than other other teams, but it's

still very marginal compared to the difference between like Urban Meyer, Ohio state talent and when they played Minnesota. Because what you, I agree 1,000% with what you said and I watched it, you know, you were a beat writer

during an era where I think rosters were lopsided because they've always been but during a time before the internet era of recruiting for the most part right or at the very beginning of it before the very beginning rosters got more lopsided like if you look

when I was a beat writer so my last year on the on as a beat writer was 2007 and if you look at rosters from that era from 2004 to 2005 like you still see a ton of guys from that from that school's state on the roster like

rosters were very you know, highly based on geography. It was Nick Saban in 2008 with that first class. Urban Meyer when he came back at Ohio State, although he started to do it at Florida too, where you saw them nationalize it more. Pete Carroll actually may have started this in L.A. Because Pete Carroll would get the best players in Southern California,

but he'd go wherever he needed to go to go to get good players. Like he'd go to Florida, he'd go to Georgia, he'd go to Louisiana. It didn't matter. I think that the player roster accumulation hogging was happening before the internet era, but there were no statistics to show it. So we have to use the internet era. And like I will tell you this, I covered Ohio State for two years before Urban Meyer's arrival and I covered it for the entirety of his seven year run there.

So I got a front row seat on what happened at Ohio State when he got there. And Urban Meyer was brilliant at Ohio State because he was. was a kick-ass recruiter who got better players than his team, other teams. But if you actually zoom out on Urban Meyer's tenure, and I'm, you know, Ohio State fans, you know, list it up. And you like look at the games that Ohio State played during that seven-year run where the teams, the opponent had equitable talent. And then you started tallying Urban Meyer's record in those games.

I think it would be fairly close to 500. Like, and like that, like, that, like, so what made Urban Meyer's record? Meyer, he's going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer in college football, right? Right. And it was not a good NFL special. Yeah. Urban Meyer was special because he knew how to coach in the middle of July better than most other people. He didn't know how to, I don't know that he was a better, I think you had actually make the case that he had some terrible assistant hires during his time and that Ohio

State didn't exploit the X's and O's enough to beat the crap out of the teams that they should be beating the crap out of because they overly relied on their talent, which I think would be the opposite of what you're looking for. And hiring Ryan Day, who had been in the NFL with Chip Kelly actually was what leveled them up a little bit. But now I feel like it's harder to tell who is a, like maybe if you have five more years of data in this college football,

the actual coaches that have the best records against other elite level teams that are commonly situated from a talent perspective would be a pretty good clue on who would be really good in the NFL. I feel like Dan Lanning would be an interesting one, but he's still, you know, he's been a pretty good talent accumulator. And so Signetti,

I've always said Matt Campbell would be somebody because he was always out punching his weight in terms of the talent he had versus the teams he was playing. Now we're going to see him at a place where he can get more talent. And also, if Matt Campbell were going to take an NFL job, I don't think he would have taken to Penn State job. So I think that we're going to find out, we're going to get a good sample size of him at Penn State

to see what he can do with more talent. But I want to pin you down. If you could hire one college coach right now to coach the Falcons, who would it be? Kurt Signetti. Okay. Yeah. I mean, that's hard to argue that.

I'm just like trying to think of him. He strikes me as the ultimate. can beat yours with his or could beat his with yours. Yeah. That's what you're looking for. And I think it's easier to spot that now. Yeah. I think Mario Cristobal would be a good NFL coach.

And I know people think that's crazy. Because I just think he's like a tough guy. And I think that like he kind of, I don't know, he kind of reminds me of Dan Campbell a little bit in a different type of way. And I also don't think that people see real Mario Cristobal on cameras. Like Mario Cristobal, when the cameras are off, is like an electric personality, I think.

And the thing is that works in recruiting, but that also works when you're dealing with grown-ass men, which is what those coaches have to be able to do. I could see grown-ass men responding to Mario Cristobal well. I could see them responding. And I think people are like, I saw in the chat here, like 64 is too old, the coach in the NFL. No, it isn't.

Yeah, it's fine. I think that the older, almost in the NFL, the better. I think it would be harder to get younger players and the pros to to and that's not true i mean some young guys have done it but it's like can you picture kenny dillingham and like the way that he is like working for the cardinals like maybe it would he's a he's a great coach but like i are our professional athletes going to respond to that type of charisma like i don't know i think it's perfect for the college game and i would hire him anywhere to be a college coach but you know and that's the other thing too it's like

Kenny Dillingham is situated to be Arizona State's coach right now for as long as he wants to be. And it's like, do you want to go be the head coach of the Cardinals and then get canned in two years if it doesn't work? The life cycle of a Cardinals coach is like the Mayfly. What's actually you don't get very long? Is the lifespan,

is the average lifespan of a college coach shorter or longer than an NFL coach? That is a great question that I think is evolving. And in fact, we have a mailbag question about that later in the show. But Ari, we have to get to some transfer portal updates. But before we do that, we've got to talk about our friends at Panini and our guy, Sailor Joe, with an update. So he got the Texas blaster boxes.

So these are Texas exclusive Panini products. So go to Panini America.net to start your collection of college and NFL stars a day. But he got a signed Anthony Hill card in his Panini, Texas blaster box. That's a good pool. It's a good pool. Heck yeah. Speaking of Texas, I got to sign Kelvin Banks yesterday. at a at a prism draft picks that's your uh that's your position andy i was happy to see that

you got that um we had a my desk is like a mess right now i'm trying to pull something that people would think is is interesting um how about chador sanders silver out of prism nice shoulder sanders probably going to get a shot to be the the brown starting quarterback i think i don't know we'll see if ryan day's their new head coach You like how I tied our whole show together right there? Yeah. Shemar Turner Gold to 10, if you're a Texas. Gold is always nice.

You know, I got some big ones over here. Here are my two big ones. These are the Jaden Daniels rookie card. And I don't know. What do you think of Jaden? He's about to get a new offensive coordinator. Okay. That's what blows my mind about this whole NFL coaching carousel.

You have people who cover the NFL, who are really informed on the NFL, who are saying that Cliff Kingsbury, is a head coaching candidate immediately after getting fired by the commanders as their OC. So I have no idea what any of these teams are going to do, but I think Jaden Daniels is going to be fine. I think some of the O.C. candidates we've heard, Brian Dable is one of the O.C. candidates we've heard for the commanders. I bet Brian Dable and Jaden Daniels could make some beautiful music together. From what I understand, the NFL has kind of the same type of scenario shortage as college. does in terms of like slam dunk candidates

but it'll be interesting. I had this one here Andy I put out to the side for us because he was on our show last year at the senior bowl, which we're going back to a purple Mason Taylor LSU rookie tight end. LSU titan Mason Taylor son of Miami Hurricanes assistant coach and former Dolphins great

Jason Taylor. Oh yeah. And I'm about to play in the Fiesta Bowl. 2025 Origins rookie card. There's Quinn Ewers in a Dolphins uniform. Your current Dolphins starting quarterback that's right i don't know if the new coach or gm will will continue that i probably won't but looked pretty good considering he won't a game was fine you want to start

visit pinini america dot net to collect your favorite college and NFL stars uh are another guy who has uh some pinini cards out there dj lagway former florida quarterback he has selected his new home he is going to be a baler bear so lagway's father Derek played for Baylor. And Baylor actually was one of the schools that continued to recruit DJ up until National Signing Day when he signed with Florida. So there's a reason why we mentioned Baylor the moment he entered the transfer portal as a potential destination.

He has visited some other schools, including Florida State and Virginia, but he has decided to be the new quarterback at Baylor. I think that's a very functional fit, Andy. And I don't know that there was a lot of other quarterbacks in college football that got piled on more than he did last year and maybe we're partly to blame for that maybe our excitement towards what we're definitely to blame for that we screwed it up badly but i also have not given up on his skill set now there are certain things that should be concerning i think the accuracy issues are are certainly something that could hold a player from

reaching their their ceiling back but going back to a place that recruited you and was familiar with you while you were in high school a place that you're a legacy a place that what is four hours away from where you grew up and a place that still plays big-time football and has really exciting offense. Like, I think that this could work. So if I'm Baylor, I'm taking that swing. What about you? What do you think of it?

Oh, I definitely think it's a good swing. And Jake Spavitol, the OC at Baylor, I think has the personality to work with DJ Lagway. He's done some reclamation before. He worked with Will Greer at West Virginia when he was coming out of the transfer from Florida. he worked with Johnny Mansell for his last year at Texas A&M. So he's dealt with big personalities and big names. And I'm excited to see what they can do there. Sawyer Robertson is, of course, headed to the NFL.

So that job is open. And DJ Lagway seems like a very competent person to fill it. He has got to get better. He's got to get more accurate. He's got to make better decisions. But the armed talent is that. there. So that's the thing. And if you're a coach, you're looking at that and going, I can work with that. Now, you can also watch him throw five interception. You can sell

us you and go, that might get me fired. So you have to, you have to work well with it to make it it work. But this is, this is one of those high ceiling, low floor situations. Yeah. And also makes Baylor a very interesting offseason discussion. And I'll be tuning in next year to watch him play. And what if he hits the ceiling that we thought existed for him last year at Baylor next year? Does that put them in the playoff? I mean, just look out Texas Tech, because Texas Tech's going to be the

favorite because they're going to have the best roster. Yeah, well, Andy. This is maybe a column, but certainly a discussion. Dave Iranda has been on and off the hot seat the last three years. Perhaps more than anyone. Yeah. More than anybody, right?

do you go after a high ceiling, low floor guy and like take one major hack at one pitch down the middle and try to hit a home run right now? This may be the plan. This says it actually sounds like the plan because probably if it doesn't work, that's it for Dave Miranda.

Yeah. So this gives you a chance. If this works, it's going to work really well. And if it doesn't work, you were getting fired anyway. So that's... pretty safe situation, I would think, for them. You know, given what DJ Lagway has been through, being coached by Dave Miranda might be the right place, too.

Like, I think Dave Miranda is sitting on a empire of talk you to sleep books. And I mean that as a compliment. Like, he has a soothing, comforting voice and presence. And I think that that could be helpful to a person who's kind of been through hell and back. So we'll see how it goes, but certainly think that it makes sense for both parties, and I hope it works out for both of them. We shall see.

Now, onto a far less neat and tidy quarterback situation, DeMond Williams, who has announced he's leaving Washington. We don't know where he's going yet. Washington has said, at least behind the scenes, that they intend to enforce the terms of his contract, which they feel like they could prove they've been significantly damaged. So there's probably going to be a buyout involved. Well, on Thursday, Ari, DeMond Williams agent, Doug Hendrickson, fired him.

I have made the decision to end my representation of DeMond Williams Jr. Effective immediately due to philosophical differences. Demand is an incredible talent, and we wish him and his family the best in their future endeavors. Doug, who works for the Wasserman agency, no relation to Ari Waserman, of course. You don't know that. I do know that. You wouldn't be working with me and you'd have a lot more money. I actually feel like if they were my cousins, they wouldn't give me a dime.

No, they wouldn't, but you might work for them. You might prove your worth. I could see you as an agent. You'd make a great agent. I've got a great last name for it, isn't it? You've got a great first name for it. That's right. Ari Gold, Ari Wasserman, let's go.

Well, Ari Gold is based on Ari Emanuel, a real life agent. So. Yeah. So, Lloyd! See, I mean, you'd be perfect. You'd be perfect. But the weird part about this is Doug Hendrickson also represents Jetfish, the Washington coach. So that should tell you about how this is gone.

I don't think Doug was made aware of any negotiations that were going on with other schools after DeMond Williams made the deal with Washington. And I think that's where the disconnect is here. I think that's why this split is happening. DeMond Williams also has lawyered up. He has hired Darren Heitner, the Florida-based attorney who has been he's been called in from the bullpen

on a lot of these NIL situations. He represented Xavier Lucas last year when he left Wisconsin and went to Miami. So the battle lines are being drawn here for this, which is going to get messier before it gets neater. I do think DeVan Williams is going to wind up at another school that isn't Washington

because at this point, Ari, I don't think he can go back, and I'm not sure, sure you can take him back if you are, Washington. Yeah, let me tell you one thing about me. If my wife tells me she's in love with another man and is leaving me, we're not getting back together. You're going to believe her. Yeah.

Yeah. And even if she said she changed her mind, that would be it for me. So I don't know. There are some people who can forgive and forget, and maybe that's more healthy. But like, I don't know, Washington is in a pretty unbelievably tough spot at the quarterback position, too. to maybe desperation in men's fences. I don't know.

But there seems to be a pattern of behavior here that's not conducive to loving relationships. Yeah, and it's not like DeMond Williams has announced a school that he's going to yet. We've named some schools that are potential targets, but we don't know where he winds up. We do know that Sam Levitt was on a visit to LSU and then promptly scheduled a visit to Tennessee

while still on the LSU visit. as the DeMond Williams news broke to the public. And Sam Leavitt, his date is going so well he thought he would extend it. Yes, he's in Knoxville right now, and according to Austin Price from WallQuest, extending his visit another day. So maybe there will be a union there between Sam Levitt and the Tennessee Vols. Who knows? I mean, if I'm Washington, I probably reached out to Sam Levitt's agent, too, because...

he's about all that's left in terms of accomplished now again sam levitt we talked about this yesterday coming off a foot injury where he had to have surgery you don't know necessarily about his health and that is probably one of the reasons why this is taking so long but yeah you know i were washington i might inquire about him just hey look just please come to seattle we've got some really good sushi just just come have a look and we can talk because you say a million You say $4 million not paying DeMond Williams. If you do get some money out of DeMond Williams, you can add that to the kitty. You know, in recruiting sometimes, it's funny.

When Jackson Dart was a senior in high school, I wrote a profile on him at the athletic because he was a late riser or a late bloomer in terms of like his rise and the recruiting rankings. and he didn't really start getting offers until pretty late and because he was the last good quarterback available he was also getting offers from places that might not have taken him otherwise and like the leverage of being the last man standing

can be a very powerful thing in high school football recruiting. Do you know who else? Who else had that situation? Who? Brock Purdy. So the first year of the early signing period Brock Purdy didn't have any offers going into that early signing day. Boise State offered him, I want to say, either the night before or two nights before signing day, he had not visited yet. So he told them, hey, I'd like to take a visit.

I don't want to sign without visiting. So I'm going to hold off. He holds off. All the other quarterbacks sign. So he looks at Boise State. Iowa State offers him at that point. He then is like, okay, well, let's just see what else is out there. Ends up getting offered by UCF, Alabama, and Texas A&M.

Sometimes being the last girl at the bar is better than being the prettiest one at the bar. If we go back to that class, also wound up being the prettiest. Yeah. Could you imagine being the last girl at the bar and also being a freaking 10? Like, that's a pretty good spot if you're trying to find somebody. Yeah, he and Trevor Lawrence are actually duking it out to see who's the priest in that class. Is there a,

and I guess you also have a gamble to take by holding out, but is there going to be one school or two schools every cycle that just get boned when it comes to their quarterback situation who will be willing to overpay out of desperation and does, it's like Sam Levitt taking his time

going to actually turn into more money for him? I don't know about that. Because it sounds like Kentucky was willing to throw a pretty big bag at him and then he decided now I'm going to go visit LSU so I don't know that that necessarily is going to raise what he would have made but we'll find out and

I also wonder will it be another one maybe not a quarterback maybe somebody to a different position somebody who has the transfer portal closes like jumps in right as the portal closes knowing the supply will be low to really gin up a market of desperate

teams I think that that would be smart if you were a player who is pretty good, but not great, doesn't want to be compared to Sam Levitt and some of the other guys in there, once those guys sign, if you see a team that needs you badly, hopping in at the 11th hour

and causing a desperation situation or a leverage play on your own school and then the school that might need one, you could get paid more than you're worth. See, I could work at Wasserman. You definitely could. You got the name for it and everything. I got the name for it.

I don't know about the goods. So we'll find out what happens with DeMond Williams. I don't know what the timetable is on this thing. And, you know, I'm guessing the musical chairs are going to flip around a little more. Look, it still seems Miami wants a quarterback. LSU still needs a quarterback. Tennessee is not, as far as we know right now, landed a quarterback. Those are three pretty big fish with pretty big.

big budgets yep but this is dramatic this is juicy I like it and wherever he goes I don't know that the fandom likes it I got some interesting emails

in our mailbag saying one in particular it was about yesterday's show which was very DeMond Williams heavy where the person said this about broke me as a fan like about the Washington fan no and that's

that's what makes it interesting because it's just okay it is naked greed it is it's tough yeah it's tough when you're used to watching the sport one way and it's completely flipped on you and i said what i said i said my piece and i've said this for years just collectively bargain with them you will have rules you will have contracts this won't have to keep happening but as long as they're not going to do that this is going to keep happening how long do you think it will be before we finally get some measure of of sanity back probably do it. They'll probably do it when they do the Super League, because that would be the

most logical and obvious place and way to do it. So your guess you could be in the early 2030s? Yeah, because then the Super League could be the employer. Because right now you have this issue where you've got a bunch of different universities and different states, most of the republic institutions. I mean, you have you have states where there are state laws that say employees of state institutions cannot collectively bargain. So you couldn't do that. It's a mess, yeah. If they're employees of the individual,

so there's a lot of logistics you'd have to jump through to get that. The most logical way to do it is if you suddenly had everything coalesce around one league, you make that league the employer you incorporate it in wherever you want to incorporate. Because you couldn't make the SEC, the Big 12, the ACC, and the Big 10 employers because then they would have. You could. Would they have conflicting competitive interests that would cause it to not work seamlessly? Oh, it wouldn't work seamlessly, no. That's the issue.

You would definitely have a lot of problems with the various. Because if the checks are coming from... If the checks are all coming from the same place, that's seamless. It'd be kind of like when each conference had its own separate signing day. Like, Barry Switzer used to love that the Southwest conference had a signing day earlier than the big eight. So, like... Texas and Baylor and Texas Tech and TCU had all signed their players. And then Barry'd be like, oh, I like you and you and you and you need you.

Come to Oklahoma. Yeah. That was when they were in the big eight. So for the young folks who don't remember a time when Texas and Oklahoma weren't in the same conference. You know, the thing that just kind of, you know, to borrow those from dumb and dumber, that chaps my ass is that it's not like DeMond Williams wasn't making a lot of money, you know. He's going to make $4 million. He's taking a lot of money at a place that's in a cool city in the major conference.

Like, I know there are certain things out there that are more attractive, right? Like maybe playing for another coach at a traditional power is slightly more attractive. It's not like the fucking national championship game. That's what I'm saying. It's like it's not like the guys leaving from a bottom feeder that has no chance to compete at a high level. Like, I mean, like nine games this year and they play in the big 10. you're getting more than fairly compensated for a single year of employment or work, sorry, he's LLC. But that's the thing that's annoying.

It's like they treated him well. He played early in his career. Jed Fish built the team around him. Like, what else do you want? Like, and but here's the other thing, too. And I'm not saying just about Demand, I don't know the guy. So I don't want to like put emotions in him that he doesn't have. But like, if the person who sent you the email is like,

The greed is taking over. I can't handle the greed. It's like, welcome to the world. Yeah, I don't think it's the greed so much as the backstabbing and the gotcha and all of that. It's just, there's no order to it. I think people are fine when there's order. Like, you mentioned NBA free agency and how much people love NBA player movement. Like, that's orderly, though.

NFL free agency is orderly. This is not orderly. This is just a mess. So I think that's the issue a lot of people have. What is it? What's the saying? There's no rules in love and war. That's right.

There's no rules and love and war on the transfer portal in college football. There's no rules in college football. Yeah. There just aren't any rules and there's no one in charge. And I think the most frustrating thing to people is that there are actually rules in place that are supposed to be used, but they can't enforce. Right. Well, because most of them are illegal. And that's a problem.

Yeah. Yeah, they do need to figure out how to make legal rules and then they could use them. And there is a way, we just talked about it. But again, it is logistically challenging to do that. So there's your DeMond Williams update. We will see what happens as we go forward. One question from Anthony, Ari, before we go and get ready for the Fiesta Bowl. Anthony said the subject line is SEC coach tipping point.

Looking at the new coaching tenure in the SEC, there have been nine new coaches hired in the last two years. With numerous schools looking for the next Kurt Signetti now going all in with funding their football programs, there isn't enough wins to satisfy everyone. I know Kurt Signetti is the outlier, but with everyone getting good players from the portal, most teams will be better, thus creating a more level playing field. If Kentucky and Florida go all in and it doesn't make, and they don't make the semifinals by year two, are their coaches going to be in the hot seat because Signetti did it with Indiana. I know you've said that all politics are local, but I feel there's going to be a tipping point sometime in the future

where fan bases have unrealistic expectations and an AD1, won't be able to afford big buyouts every two or three years. Will anything change? It's a great question. Because what have I said? What have I said over the last few weeks, Ari, if you don't have a better program by year two, you blew the coaching hire. And that's how John Somerall will be judged at Florida. It's how Will Stein will be judged at Kentucky. It's how Lane Kiffin will be judged at LSU. It will be very challenging because they will need to win immediately. And if they don't, they're going to want to bail.

I think what happens, and my hope for this is, is that if everybody expects a playoff run by year two and they invest commiserate with those expectations, that that should raise the bar of, like, how quality the games are. Like, my hope is that, like, you know, games and records might not be as pristine as they used to be, or sorry, records might not be as pristine as they used to be, but at least the product will be better. Because if everybody's committed to winning at a high, like, how many years that we go through the college football seasons

where only 10 teams really invested what it took to win at all. Like if everyone's doing it, yeah, there's not enough wins for everybody, but at least... And we're seeing the average margin of victory go down in the power conferences. So it is getting more competitive. Yeah. And you know what? If everybody is

nine and three at the end of the year, it might be harder to choose the playoff, but you might not... And I would argue that... If you get to that point might be different. All politics are still local. Like, Will Stein is not getting fired at Kentucky if he doesn't make the college football playoff semifinals by year two. Will Stein, if he can make the college football playoff at Kentucky, is going to be hailed as a hero.

That is going to solidify his job status for a significant amount of time. I think at this point with Florida, John Somerall is in the same boat. I think their expectations are probably generally higher than Kentucky's, but, right, I mean, they've never made the college football playoff at Florida. So I think making the college football playoff would be a huge deal. Elaine Kiffin is under more pressure, though. Like, Lane Kiffin needs to win a national title.

He needs to win a national title within four years or LSU people will think he's failed. Yeah. Yeah, I think that like winning the national title is, I mean, what you said I agree with. But I think like if he makes consistent runs in the playoff deep into it, like, and they show. As long as you're knocking on the door, as we always say.

I mean, if they have three playoff appearances in the next four years and they make it to the semi-final or title game once in that four-year period. And they're like, I think that it's, we boil it down to that because that's the chief goal. But I think that like, when you have it, you know it. You know what I mean? Like when you're looking at it, you're like, yeah, this is, this is working. This is functional. Exactly.

People will get mad when you lose. They'll always get mad when you lose. It doesn't matter who you are. People got mad when Nick Saban lost. But I think we know, I think we know when it's working. Ryan Day lost in the quarterfinals this year. it doesn't mean there's something wrong with Ohio State. Right.

Yeah. So that is, it's going to be tough, but it is still going to be kind of varied by school. Like what I said about Lane Kiffin applies to LSU and Lane Kiffin. It does not apply to Alice Golish at Auburn. What I said about John Somerall at Florida is probably more similar to Alex Golish at Auburn. I'd say those are pretty similar situations. They are coming out of the same thing and they expect the same thing. right so all right we got a game tonight miami old miss in the desert i cannot wait it's

going to be so much fun we get to watch trinidad shambliss we get to watch that incredible miami offensive and defensive line this is going to be a blast because it's a three and a half point spread nobody knows who's going to win nobody knows anything our our employers uh posted a graphic today with everybody's national championship picks from the preseason. Yeah. We're all dumb. Taylor LeWan, congratulations to Taylor LeWan, former Michigan and longtime NFL offensive tackle who co-hosts, Buston with the boys. He's the only one on this graphic still alive.

He picked Oregon to win the national title. Everybody else, all those Texases and Georges and Alabama's and Penn States and LSUs and Clemsons, they're out. Are you aware that Taylor LeWan chose Indeatianian? on his show today to win to be your game yep that's okay i don't mind him he can change that pick now he's earned it yeah i was very amused and i actually like started fighting with people and i that's what i do but like oh look at these dumb idiots that's what this is for that is why we put it out are we're here to entertain the people we're all stupid but we are i i enjoy uh the thought process that anybody at the beginning of the year would have picked somebody

definitely. The part that is funny and the part I think that you bristle at is when people say oh, you should lose your job because you pick this wrong. That's a person who doesn't understand what our job is. Our job is to put it on an entertaining show. Our job is to write informative columns.

It is not to correctly predict national champions. If we could do that, we wouldn't do this. Like if you say well, I could do your job because I picked the national champion closer than you did. Well, okay, but that's not my job. If you want to do my job, I'm going to hand you a microphone and say, okay, do a good show for an hour and see if anybody's still listening after five minutes. You know, the thing that I actually bristle with, if I can get on a soapbox

for 25 seconds, is the general person in America in 2025 into 2026 goes to the conclusion first and then uses information to fill that conclusion or that opinion or that viewpoint first. And I think that human logic should be, yes, and I think that human logic should be the opposite. Use the information at your disposal to do your best to create an opinion that is based on those things. And then you might be right or you might be wrong, but at least you use the, I don't understand the thought. I'm not going to lie to you. Yeah. Like when we do these preseason way too early top 25s and picking the national champ for next season, I'm going to take some wild freaking guesses this year.

I mean, I might as well. I mean, you might as well. there's I there is no there's no rhyme or reason to it so why bother I think Ari left I I pissed him off and he quit he just quit the show just like that there he is you should and I think that it's like actually healthy that for the first time in my entire life picking the national champion is harder than picking between seven teams like I wonder if you actually went back in time between 2005 and 2020 and looked at every national person's national championship prediction

I bet you like half of them would be right every year. So like going into this year all of these picks are picks that I consider there isn't anybody on that graphic that picked a team that you didn't have to consider based on the information that we have. If you had surveyed 100 people who identify themselves

as big college football fans most of their answers would have come from that group. You might have had somebody say Indiana who maybe really knew that roster well But in Oregon, I think you would have gotten some answers for. But I don't think you would have gotten Miami or Ole Miss. I think you might have got Ole Miss last year.

Ole Miss or Miami this year, you would have been right, but your analysis at the beginning of the year to arrive at that would have been wrong, which is like what bothers me. Well, no, it wouldn't have been wrong. And that's the thing. Like, nobody knows anything. Yeah. How do you pick your national champion at the time?

analysis on Miami like you could have said well I love their defensive line and their offensive line and I feel like great line play travels and that's a team that I feel like can win the national title like that's a very correct analysis then or now yeah yeah yeah and you wouldn't have known who malachi Tony was when you did it but it would not have yeah so I don't know he he was he was a legend he's baby Jesus yeah baby Jesus I mean there were a lot of people I mean he goes back to the old country so maybe you would but you know I I I think this was funny, but yeah, you should take swings, dude, because no one knows anything. And I think that we know now less than we've ever known before.

I thought we knew a lot. Prepare for your South Carolina National Championship, everybody. 2006, here we go. Now, let's settle the 2025 season first before we came to that. All right. Boil her up, baby. Miami and Ole Miss tonight in the Fiesta Bowl, we will be with you on the On3 Sports YouTube channel immediately following the end of the game. So as soon as the whistle blows, chime in, we'll be right here. Come join us. Live comments. Come heckle us. Help us with the show. We love you guys. We'll talk to you then.