Andy & Ari On3 - Will Washington and Jedd Fisch MAKE THE JUMP with QB Demond Williams returning? Is LSU the biggest spender? Florida State and Mike Norvell spring tour

Episode Date: February 25, 2026

Up in Seattle, Washington, Jedd Fisch enters his third season as Washington’s head coach. With QB Demond Williams set to return for the Huskies, just how good can UW be in the Big Ten this season? W...atch here as Jedd Fisch joins Andy & Ari to discuss the Demond Williams saga, expectations ahead, and the team build in 2026.   (0:00) On Today’s Episode (1:05) Presenting Sponsor (2:48) Intro: Previewing Jedd Fisch (5:25) Jedd Fisch joins the show: Demond Williams Story (13:28) Washington’s team build (15:42) Are the Huskies a top 12 program? (21:27) Washington’s Offensive Gameplan in 2026 (27:20) Jedd Fisch’s Team Outlook (30:24) Closing out with Coach Fisch (31:40) Recapping Fisch (34:51) On3’s Megaboard: Is LSU the most expensive roster? (50:20) Florida State cancels Spring Booster Tour (1:02:13) Kentucky with Mark Pope (1:07:57) Conclusion: See you tomorrow   It’s a Megaboard Wednesday, and after Jedd Fisch, the fellas take a look at the best threads so far this week. To begin, LSU fans seem to be fairly excited about the Lane Kiffin tenure as Pete Nakos writes a story on how LSU may be the biggest spender in college football this offseason. What should LSU fans expect in Kiffin’s first year in Baton Rouge?   Next up, the guys head over to Warchant, where the Seminole fans are discussing Florida State canceling its spring booster tour with Mike Norvell. Is this the right move? What can fix morale in Tallahassee? How do the Seminoles get back on track?   To close the Megaboard segment, Andy & Ari dive into the world of basketball, where Mark Pope has been fined for his comments following a close loss to Auburn this past Saturday. With a win at South Carolina and a big game coming up against Vanderbilt, how do Kentucky fans feel about Pope in his 2nd season in Lexington?   Thanks for watching!   For Dear Andy & Ari, send in your questions here:   andystapleson3@gmail.com ari.wasserman@on3.com   Our show is also presented by BetMGM!   If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code ON3 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 ON3. 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 sure you use bonus code ON3 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.   Join On3 today! https://www.on3.com/join   Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtu.be/Rx9_dPSF4Rc   Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari Wasserman Producer: River Bailey Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 On today's Andy Nari on 3 presented by BetMGM, Washington coach Jed Fish joins the show to talk about the intense 48 hours when it looked like DeMond Williams, the Huskies quarterback, might be entering the transfer portal. Plus, Jed talks about all of the guys coming back for Washington. This is going to be one of those teams that looks more like the old school recruit and develop teams, not transfer portal heavy. And Jedfish believes that is how they are going to. to succeed in the Big Ten. Plus, does LSU have the most expensive roster in America in the 2020s season? We dive into Pete Nacos' excellent inside the Transfer Portal story. Also, Florida State cancels the spring speaking tour for head coach Mike Norville. What does that exactly mean? Does it mean they don't want their coach talking? Does it mean their fans don't want to come
Starting point is 00:00:56 see there, coach, what's going on there? We talk about that and more on today's Andy Nauran 3 presented by BetMGM. This show is presented by BetMGM, and there's no better place to be during March matchups than Las Vegas. This year, college basketball fans can win a VIP trip to the Court of Legends event featuring the Cavender Twins. Simply place sports bets and your position on the leaderboard will determine if you win one of the 25 grand prize packages. Just sign into your BetMGM account, opt into the promotion, and start placing sports bets of at least 10. $10 to climb the leaderboard. Make this March 1 to remember, join the Court of Legends leaderboard and make it legendary.
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Starting point is 00:02:32 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 B&MGM yet, use the bonus code CFB and get your $1,500 first bet offer today. Welcome to Andy and Ari on 3 presented by BetMGM. One of our favorites joining the show today. Washington head coach Jed Fish, who is a listener slash viewer? You know what I love about it, too, is that, like, a lot of people say they're listeners, and I do think that, you know, some coaches or a lot of coaches listen from time to time, but, like, Jed brings receipts.
Starting point is 00:03:10 Like, he, like, references old shows. And he's, he also remembers very clearly when we said something that may have been negative. Yes, which is good. And I think that he understands that it's, you know, not just, you know, positive, positive, positive, all the time. If there's something negative to say, it's going to be said. And that's part of competition. and coaching, and I appreciate that he's a good sport about it.
Starting point is 00:03:34 So, yeah, it was really cool to have him on, Andy, and love him. We have real good friends of the program. We're working on some other coaches to get there, but I think, like, we could maybe make the case that Jed's the biggest friend. I don't know. He's up there. He's certainly up there. And he went through one of the most interesting situations this transfer portal season.
Starting point is 00:03:53 He didn't actually lose the person involved. But when DeMond Williams, their quarterback, throws out an Instagram post saying he's entering the transfer portal. And then all of everything blows up because it's, okay, who's trying to get him? Well, we think it's LSU. Who's, what are the circumstances here? He just signed a contract. What does that mean?
Starting point is 00:04:15 What's the contract say? And it was an intense period for Washington, for DeMond Williams, and they end up keeping him, which if you look at what DeMond Williams has done as a starting quarterback, in the one year he was the starting quarterback, and the ceiling he has, you had to keep that guy. You had to. You know, it's interesting, Andy, and I don't know if you realized this, but I realized this earlier this week.
Starting point is 00:04:42 You know, last week when we did biggest retention pieces, we didn't mention Demand. And he, like, was number three on the list and the written piece that I put up there because it was like, that was a pretty important retention there. I think it probably, it wasn't in my mind because there was that period where we thought he was leaving. So I think that may have been what was blocking that there. But yes, they kept them on Williams, and they kept a lot of that roster. They kept pretty much everybody they wanted from a team that was pretty good last year.
Starting point is 00:05:12 And they think it can be even better this year. Let's talk to Jed Fish about keeping his quarterback and keeping pretty much everybody else. We are joined now by a Washington coach, Jedfish, who can see an active volcano from his office window, we just learned. Are he still afraid of Mount St. Helens? Jedfish, no fear of Mount St. Helens whatsoever. I wouldn't, Jed. I'm doing great. I'm doing great.
Starting point is 00:05:34 It's been a couple of months since I've gotten to talk to you guys. But everything's been good. We're now getting ready for our first day of phase one of our off-season program. So I'm excited about today. I just said Mountaineer. Mountaineer. I didn't want to correct you there. I didn't want to ruin it for you.
Starting point is 00:05:53 Yeah. Always ruin it for me. Always correct. All right. So let's talk. We've not talked in a while. and you've had a very interesting off season, very interesting transfer portal.
Starting point is 00:06:07 For a guy who only took like nine transfers, I think it was probably a little more than that. You had a very, very interesting transfer portal season where your quarterback said, hey, I'm thinking of entering the transfer portal. There were, I believe, to use your words, 48 hours of heartfelt discussions, and everything worked out.
Starting point is 00:06:25 How has everything been in that month since DeMond Williams decided, I'm coming back. Everything's been good. It's been one of those, you know, it was a, it was a crazy time for a couple days. To be honest, though, it was one in which I think we're going to see more and more. And as I looked at it, and as I've talked to him, I talked to our team, I talked to our community, our donors. You know, there's a very, like most of these top quarterbacks switch schools.
Starting point is 00:06:54 Ours didn't. And you look at where all these quarterbacks have got. and where they went, you know, what's happening. And, you know, we had two days where we had to work through some things and figure out what was best. And a lot of people were, you know, trying to convince him to leave. And a lot of people, as we know, when you get recruited, it's hard not to at least pause for a minute. And that's what he did. And after about 48 hours, the pause was over.
Starting point is 00:07:22 And he's back. And he's having a fantastic first four weeks of the offseason for five weeks. Jedd, the way that college football is set up in the calendar, you know, we've had a lot of discussions about this. And I'm happy that you didn't have to deal with the alternative of him making a decision to leave. But if that happens to you and to your program, how damaging is it? And how anxious were you during that 48 hours? Because you might be left without a solution at that point. Like, what's the solution for you there?
Starting point is 00:07:55 Yeah, there's no question. I mean, when you're not expecting that to happen, you can't really prepare for that to happen. And without a second portal, you know, we're talking about that was like January 4th, I believe. And or maybe January, yeah, January 4th. So you're ready two days into the portal. You've already got players here. You've got, we didn't re, we resigned 63 players. So I didn't.
Starting point is 00:08:26 And we. 25 high school kids. So we did not go in the portal looking for a lot of players. So we didn't have many expectations to go find a guy, let alone our starting quarterback. So obviously, I'm glad that we didn't have to. But yeah, the calendars, I've seen on your shows different head coaches talking about the calendar issues and that it's the first thing that we need to solve. And I agree.
Starting point is 00:08:54 But that certainly would have been a big problem. if we had to go into the portal on that date and try to figure out what we were going to do. How much did the Big Ten contract help or have anything to do with him coming back? Because for those who don't know, or maybe fans of schools that are outside the Big Ten, you guys have a standardized contract in the Big Ten for these RevShare deals that is written by the conference office. The contract was amended after the Xavier Lucas situation with Wisconsin last year. how much did that have to do with at least knowing what you were dealing with during that 48-hour period? Yeah, I mean, it certainly helped with the initial part of the conversation of just kind of understanding what we're referring to and what happened and what's it looking like and, you know, what is it that you signed?
Starting point is 00:09:47 And then to be able to have a starting point with the conversation, I believe that either way, the mom was going to come back here. after we talked for that day or two. I think he needed to understand what our plan was. I think that he felt like there was a lot of teams that were making him feel really good at that moment in time about trying to join what they had going. You know, there's whatever tampering, if you want to call it that. I don't know if that exists anymore,
Starting point is 00:10:16 but that was happening. And, you know, the Big Ten contract allowed us to stay firm and stay strong. And, you know, we saw what happened at some other programs where they didn't have the backing of the conference. They didn't have the strong language in the contract. I mean, it was a contract that was executed three days prior. But on the same token, I don't believe that it was the contract that was the only thing
Starting point is 00:10:47 that brought them on back. I think it had to do with a five-year relationship. I think it had to do with the fact that we won nine games last year and its first year as a starter and the opportunity to win more. But I do certainly give credit to the Big Ten and, you know, our administration on, you know, having that type of contract written. Jed, we had Shane Beamer on the show a few weeks ago, and he had a player who entered the portal and decided to come back.
Starting point is 00:11:16 And he said that it's a case-by-case basis, but most of the time when a player decides to enter the portal, that that's usually the one-way path out. Did you fear or have any reservation about how demand would be received once he returned back or, you know, decided not to go? And how has the team, you know, welcomed him back as the quarterback? Yeah. I think, first of all, you know, you look at it and you said yourself,
Starting point is 00:11:47 every situation is different. I agree with Shane. comes to that. You watch the show. I love that. Yeah, I do. It's a good show. Thank you. And I think that, you know, in this situation, we didn't have anyone go in the portal and come back. We don't, I would say that I probably, I'm pretty adamant about,
Starting point is 00:12:11 you know, you make a decision if you want to leave, you leave. But it's also becoming more and more like professional football where there's times that players enter free agency and they then look and then come back and re-sign with their team. So it's not a rule that I have. It's just, you know, most of the time if you enter the portal, we don't really believe that, you know, you're going to come back. On the same token, in DeMond's case, he didn't enter the portal. There was a conversation or an Instagram post that indicated that he was considering entering the portal and that never happened. And so we didn't even have to worry about it. When he came back, he talked to our team and we had some great private conversations that will remain private.
Starting point is 00:13:03 But, you know, DeBond, as he said a couple weeks ago, he goes, I'm 19. I received some good advice. I received some bad advice. And in the end, the best advice was to return to University of Washington and lead this team for another year. And that's what we're most excited about. Well, you didn't have many guys enter the transfer portal at all. Because you mentioned earlier, you re-signed 63 players. And it strikes you.
Starting point is 00:13:28 I was just thinking about this. You are what an NFL team wants to have, where they've built mostly through the draft. You filled some spots that you needed to fill through the portal, through free agency. But for the most part, it's a homegrown team that, that, you're going to. you're trying to develop. Obviously, you've been in the NFL. You've done it both ways. You've done it a lot of different ways. Why did you decide this is the way to do it? Yeah, well, you know, I think you have to look at it a couple ways. Number one, what are your, what are your resources to go out and just handpick guys that you don't really know?
Starting point is 00:14:05 And traditionally, those guys come more expensive and not as productive. The second part of it is why would you spend all this time recruiting a player, and why would you spend all this time trying to get to know this player and talk to this player, did that all of a sudden turn around and say, after a year, you know, let someone else develop them? Like, invest in your own team. I felt like the best football teams that I've been a part of draft really well. We're in a city where John Schneider is touted for how well he drafts players,
Starting point is 00:14:40 and they go ahead and they win the Super Bowl this year. year. If you look at the Rams, how well they've drafted recently in the last couple years to allow them to be who they are. You know, the Patriots were always a big draft, not free agent program. That's kind of how I was brought up. And, you know, even my first job or second job with the Baltimore Ravens, if you look at the historical, you know, with Ozzie Newsom and Eric DeCosta, it was about drafting. Howie, it's about drafting. So we want to make our research. We want to make our recruitment the most important. And then we want to retain the most the best players on our team. And if we lose a couple of guys, which we always will, we want to replace those guys. We're not
Starting point is 00:15:24 going to go sit in the portal and just try to bag a bunch of guys to come here that we don't really know. Jed, the thing I like about you is, is that you, you know, you're a straight shooter, but you also, you know, play around a little bit. And I saw your Twitter and I knew, I don't know if you were expecting this to come today, but I have to ask you. Josh Pate, my current top 12 programs in the country, Washington's not listed. You retweet, got it. Tell me about your social media decisions and what did you, what were you going for there? I mean, it was, you know, it's like, okay, I got it. We're not one of the top 12 programs, so we got to become that. you know, I think it took a mind of its own, which is kind of funny.
Starting point is 00:16:09 But in the end, I look at it and said, all right, if that's how we're viewed by the outside world, then that's something that we got to take note of. And I took note of it. And it comes down to, you know, what are some of the things that we need to do to become one of those top programs? And, you know, it always starts with winning. So we've gotten to a spot now that we've, We're in our third year, and, you know, we have a good football team. And, you know, our goal is to be considered one of the top 12 programs.
Starting point is 00:16:43 And to do that, we've got to do a lot of work. So I got it. But what's interesting is in the old days, a team that went from, you know, that obviously was a rebuild after the Kailen's team making the national title game and all the starters are gone. You win, you know, win six, win nine. We would, you, in the old days, we would be hyping you. up beyond belief right now because that is how it always used to work. Now we're always like,
Starting point is 00:17:09 oh, well, who'd everybody get in the portal? And it's interesting how that works because you actually would be the kind of team that we would be penciling in for the big jump. But you've talked about this, the difference between going from six to nine and then nine to more than nine. How much harder is that second jump? Yeah, I mean, it's harder. You know, it's harder for sure to, I mean, When we were at Arizona, we went from one win to five win to ten wins. And then here we've gone from six wins to nine wins. And now it's our third year. So we've got to see how many more wins we can get.
Starting point is 00:17:43 You know, there's less chances from, you know, that leaves us four games or so. But three regular season games. But I also think sometimes you get all the hype for your, you know, who you sign in the portal. And we didn't need the sign guys in the portal. We have four returning offensive linemen from last year's team. And our fifth guy that's coming back could have started on most teams we had. And we also signed, you know, the number, I think, two ranked linemen in the country. And Cody Green.
Starting point is 00:18:19 And then we also went ahead and got in the portal, one of the top left tackles that were in the portal from Stephen F. Austin. I didn't feel the need to go and get four new linemen. Same thing that, you know, I tell our team, I tell our coaches, I said, if we're going to go make a commitment to go get a great player in high school, why would we not expect to play that player? Derek Coleman, Bruce is a great player. You know, we had to beat some of the best programs in the country for him to come to commit to us. To do that, my expectation is that we play them day one. You know, these guys got to be starters early. So I think that's why maybe we don't get the height, but that's okay.
Starting point is 00:19:00 We don't need the height. We just want to go out there and play good football, see what happens, see how good we can become, and get to a point where our program, you know, we're not in the PAC 12 anymore. We're in the Big Ten, and the Big Ten's got a bunch of beasts and got a bunch of big budgets and a bunch of money put into their portal. We don't have some of those same opportunities. We're a half share still. You know, we only get half the revenue that every other Big Ten team other than Oregon gets.
Starting point is 00:19:31 So, you know, we got to be aware of that and we got to just stay competitive. Jim, obviously you've had multiple stints in your coaching career where you've made these gradual jumps. You know, you mentioned what you did at Arizona. You know, you have this jump here for the first three years at Washington. Are there things that feel the same? Like, do you know that it's happening behind the scenes as the coach? Do you have a pulse or what are some of the indicators that things are on the right track outside of the losses? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:20:02 The brotherhood that gets formed, the fact that, you know, I don't believe, I think that this team I was looking at it the other day, I think like 85% of our team, I've been the only head coach they've ever had in college. When you get to that number, you start feeling like, okay, the cold. They know what to expect. And then all of the young guys, the 25 freshmen, now they're being trained by the juniors and the sophomores that have only been trained in our program. And I think that allows you to get closer,
Starting point is 00:20:42 to build more of a bond, to build a better trust. And I think the more guys that trust you, the better your team plays. And, you know, we have a ton of continuity on our staff. You know, we have our receiver coach has been with me six years, tight end coach six years, O line coach, six years. Running back coach six years, D line coach five years, D-B coach five years. GA's that have played for me, QCs that have played for me,
Starting point is 00:21:10 returning defensive coordinator, returning special teams coordinator. So that's when we made the big jump in year three at Arizona, and I hope that we can do the same. Now, I know you are looking for an offensive coordinator currently. and what are you looking for in that position? I'm not looking for an offensive coordinator. I'm going to. We know.
Starting point is 00:21:32 So we've promoted J.P. Lossman to be our quarterback coach. Okay. So that'll take care of our 10th spot there. You know, I've run the offense, you know, the last six years. I'll continue to do that. I'll continue to call the plays. We're going to bring in a senior assistant that could help with some of the roles of game planning to be. I wanted to bring someone in with some new ideas, someone that's not been a part of our program,
Starting point is 00:22:09 someone that could come in with some uniqueness to it. So I'm still working through that part. But, you know, other than that, you know, play calling's not going to change. Game planning is not going to change. and then the big change will be, I've had Jimmy for six years, five years as our quarterback coach, and now we're going to have JP take on that role. And I thought it was good to have a little bit of a change there and also to be able to provide for us an opportunity to bring in somebody with different thoughts, different ideas,
Starting point is 00:22:44 somebody that has done it a different way than I've done it. I kind of felt like I wanted to learn a little bit more about other ways of doing things. Well, Jake Lee Lawsman, dog at Tulane, absolute dog at Tulane. How does he work with them on? Because, I mean, they've been working together for a while. Yeah. Well, with JP, you know, I coached him in Seattle. He was a quarterback for me when I coached for the Seahawks in 2010.
Starting point is 00:23:13 And so I've known him for 15 years or so. And then after that, after his football career ended, he started working at Clemson and at Oklahoma. So not only is he a dog at Tulane, he was a dog in recruiting. He just loves recruiting, loves building relationships with people. So all of last year, he was able to build a really, really strong relationship with DeMond and with the rest of the quarterbacks. As I said to Demand, I said, you know, you now have an opportunity. JP was a first round pick. JP started, you know, 40-something games in the national football league.
Starting point is 00:23:46 take advantage of that, take advantage of that resource, take advantage of what did it take in college to get drafted in the first round, and then let him help guide you along the way. Whoever we bring in that senior assistant role will be a long time NFL coach. So I think that will be another way to really help train demand and help train some of our other pro prospects into what does it really look like. They don't just have to hear it from me all the time. Chedell, a pretty popular off-season discussion.
Starting point is 00:24:24 Usually it's louder when things aren't going well, which hasn't been the case with you, is offensive coordinating or calling plays while being the head coach. Have you had thoughts of ever not doing that? And where do you stand on that? Yeah. Currently, I don't stand anywhere other than I'm going to keep doing it. I do believe it's a challenge, and I do believe that you have to be able to balance out the other aspects of the program.
Starting point is 00:24:58 And that's why it was so important for me to go hire Ryan Walters, someone that's been a head coach to really run the defense. I think that that was a really important part of the process. You know, when it comes to the building itself, I have a guy named Matt Hayes, who I rely heavily on to really do the day-to-day of helping run the program outside of the football. Matt Doherty does a great job with me with personnel. He and I have been together in 2011 and 12 at Miami and 15 at Michigan, and then every year since I've been a head coach, so 10 years together now. But in terms of calling the game, I mean, I don't know. That's what I love to do. That's what I feel like we've been trained to do is coach football.
Starting point is 00:25:47 And I don't want to give that up. You know, I'm really proud of what our offense did from one year to the next. You know, I think we were 100 scoring offense to 16th in the country and top 10 in third down, top 10 in Red Zone, top 10 in explosive play. So we'll keep trying to build off of that. but if I felt like there was a time that we need to make a change, we'll do it. But right now I'm excited about going out there and calling the game for demand another year. They only get mad about it when it's not working.
Starting point is 00:26:18 So as long as it works, nobody's going to question you on it, other than Ari, of course. Yeah. I'm not questioning him. That's the problem, you know. It's not always going to work. So there's going to be an opportunity for them to get after you. You know, we got better in some games. You know, we just haven't played as well.
Starting point is 00:26:35 in some of the games that I felt like we should have. And, you know, we, we outscored our opponents by 250 points in our nine wins. And we got outscored by 50 points in our four losses. And that's where we got to clean it up. And we got to be able to score more points in some of those tough games. Well, I like the, I like these stats. I, this reminds me of a visit to Michigan State I had one year, where they actually were not coming off as good of the season as you were. They were coming off, I think, a seven and six season.
Starting point is 00:27:03 but they had a stat line similar to that, and it's like, oh, they're about to take the next step, and they won the Big Ten and played the Rose Bowl the next year. So it does feel like you're headed that way. How much does kind of getting back to your continuity, knowing what you have coming back, understanding how all these pieces fit together, how much does that help you as you try to make that next step?
Starting point is 00:27:27 Yeah, it's critical. Offensively, the biggest thing that we need to do is solidify, the offensive line. You know, my first year, we were all over the place on the offensive line. We only had, we had no returning starters from the national championship year that they competed in.
Starting point is 00:27:46 You know, they won the Joe Moore Award in 2003. And all, I think, 10 of the 12 scholarship offensive linemen were gone. But when I got here, and the only two that were still here, both had torn their ACL. So, and neither one started. So that was a little bit tricky. So we were, we had to bring in five guys to play offensive line in my first year from all over the place. This past year,
Starting point is 00:28:18 we had great continuity. One of our starting center played every game up until the Wisconsin game where he broke his hand the week before. So we lost him from the Wisconsin game on. Our right tackle played every game. Our right guard played every game. Our left guard played 10 of the 13 games. It was a freshman All-American and our left tackles at the Combine right now. And we've replaced him with a couple guys that I think are really good. But that's where it all starts. And then, you know, we've got to replace Denzel Boston. We've got to replace Jonah Coleman. Those are going to be huge, huge. And Adam Muhammad, Denzel and Jonah are both at the Combine, Adam decided to transfer. So the running back room, we got to make sure we get cleared up.
Starting point is 00:29:04 And then we went ahead and got a transfer running back and one transfer receiver. And the rest of the guys have been in the program and are now ready to take the next step. And the quarterback's back. And the quarterback is back. Well, I mean, just like how so? You know, it's not fun to have him. How good can he be? I think he can be really special.
Starting point is 00:29:30 I think if you look at what he's done, I mean, I believe he was first or second in the big 10 in total yardage. He, you know, had one of the most record-setting days or evenings against Rutgers, where he had over 400 yards passing, over 125 yards rushing. I think that, you know, you watch the way he's played in big games in the bowl games, both bowl games. He had nine touchdowns in the two bowl games he played in so far. But the biggest thing for him is his development's going to come against How does he play against Ohio State? How does he play against Michigan? How does he play against Penn State?
Starting point is 00:30:07 You know, those programs where they're big, they're old, they're strong, and they're fast. So his development will come in those games. And I think if we can get him to take that next step, which I believe we will, then he can have a fantastic season for us. Jed Fish, I would imagine you're very excited to have him back. He's been fun to watch so far. Thank you so much. And another 48 hours were rough.
Starting point is 00:30:37 But hey, we're going to have to have you back on. We're going to fix the calendar. We need to talk to you about your team first. So when you've got your calendar fix, you just let us know. And we'll pop you right back on. Sign me up for what Joey McGuire said. I liked what he said on your show. I don't know, Coach McGuire.
Starting point is 00:30:56 I've never met Coach McGuire, but what he said, what was it, August 23rd into January 1st, fantastic. I'm in. I'm in. Yeah. I actually, you're not going to be popular in your Big Ten coaches meeting saying that, but I, I'm glad you're going out, going out your own way. It doesn't really snow in Washington much, does it? No, we don't have snow. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:31:19 It's beautiful all year round. They don't have to worry about that. But it's not the same, the same problems that you would encounter in other places. but that's their problem. Screw them. Look at that. Look at that right there. Look at that picture right there.
Starting point is 00:31:31 It's actually legitimately terrifying. It looks like that every day. Thank you so much, Jed. Appreciate it. Thanks, coach. See ya. That is Jed Fish. Joey McGuire, you have allies in the Big Ten.
Starting point is 00:31:50 There you go. They're crowing. Maybe Joey McGuire will be the person who saves college football. Andy, I don't know if this is my toxic trait, but I always like buy into coaches and what they're saying after they're done talking to us. But like I actually think that like we have lost sight of the fact that Jedfish is clearly good at this. And like when you look out and like zoom out a little bit at what Washington does bring back and what they did last year, it was the quietest nine win season of all time for some reason.
Starting point is 00:32:18 But like if you bring back a large portion of your roster, including maybe one of the five best quarterbacks in college football, like why not, why is Washington not getting more offseason? buzz for playoff contention next year. They have a pretty rough schedule. You know, we do, you know, have to acknowledge the Big Ten. The hardest thing about being, like, one of the former Pac-12 teams is you maintain your big Pac-12 rivalry with Oregon, so you automatically have that tough game on your schedule every year. And then, you know, the Big Ten's tough.
Starting point is 00:32:48 And you have USC and Penn State should be much better than they were last year. Indiana is going to be good again. Like, it's going to be a tough go of it. But I think a 10-win season against that schedule will put you in the main. mix and that's one extra win with the guys that they're bringing back. And I think that like that's a possibility. Yeah. And it's really interesting.
Starting point is 00:33:05 I forget who he was talking about. I was watching his press conference from from a month ago. And he was talking about one of their starters from last year. And he was talking about the difference between going out and completely revamping your team through the transfer portal and doing what they did where they're really only patching glaring holes in the transfer portal. Everybody else is guys that have been there that they're developing. And he was talking about one of his starters, and he says, I know that guy's going to be better in 26 than he was in 25. I don't know if I get a guy to the transfer port, if he'll be better.
Starting point is 00:33:36 But I know this. I know my guy's going to be better because I know where he came from and I know what his baseline was. And I thought that was an interesting comment. And also, because Fish has been in the NFL and a lot, you know, it's not a cup of coffee in the NFL. Most of his career was in the NFL. I think he understands probably,
Starting point is 00:33:56 better than a lot of these guys. It is nice, this new toy of the transfer portal and free agency. But the NFL teams, which have had it for decades now, they don't build teams through three agency. Jed's former college roommate, Holly Roseman, one of the best drafters of all time. Like, the Eagles, the reason they won the Super Bowl a couple years ago wasn't because they were great in free agency.
Starting point is 00:34:22 It's because they were great to draft. George's defense. Yeah. Yeah. I kept picking Georgia defensive players. But I think it helps to have that knowledge and have some input from people who really understand how this process works,
Starting point is 00:34:39 even though they're at a different level of sport, but they understand the process because they've been through it more often than the college guys have. So it's pretty interesting to watch. But it is Megaboard Wednesday. So I want to hit the message boards here at on three.
Starting point is 00:34:57 And there's a story. I think there was a post about it on pretty much every team site board. This is one of those Pete NACO's stories that just gets buzz everywhere. But I especially wanted to see what they said about it at the Bingle Tiger. The Bingle Tigers are LSU site. And so DeBoot 1996 posted this thread, NACOS transfer portal spending. And it's got Pete NACOS's story, general managers and staffers break down the transfer portal NIL battles with Pete NACOS, which if you haven't read that, hit the QR code on the screen.
Starting point is 00:35:31 By the way, if you hit the QR code on the screen and it says, you're not a member of On3, well, we can fix that too. 1999 for the remainder of the year for a national subscription to On3, which gets you my stuff, Ari's stuff, Pete Naco's his stuff, Steve Wilfong stuff, everything for the national staff of On3 rivals and 1999 for an entire year, for your entire first year. So that'll take you all the way through
Starting point is 00:35:59 the transfer portal season next year. So on3.com slash join is where you go to get that. And you can read stories like this great Pete Naco story, which the LSU fans are enjoying this. Because in Pete's story, he suggests that LSU may have the most expensive roster in college football this year, that GMs from other power conference teams and NIL people from other power conference programs
Starting point is 00:36:26 pegging LSU spend at about $40 million. And I think it's interesting because I'm looking at the comments and not the band anon has the funniest one. Are the poor's mad at us? Where you are in the food chain, and I don't mean the how good your team is food chain, I mean the how much do you spend food chain, really depends on. how you view this because if I looked at the thread that they posted about this on the Bama online board and Alabama as Nick Saban pointed out probably not as capable of spending as big as some of these other programs like we've seen with Texas and we've seen with Texas
Starting point is 00:37:07 Tech and we've seen with Oregon and LSU has now entered that mix now I would say they were one of the bigger spenders last year too and that's probably why they fired Brian Kelly when they did is they were spending and they weren't getting results. So now they've hired Lane Kiffin and they've spent and now they expect results. Yeah, I do think, uh, are the poor's mad at us thing is really funny, Andy, because if you are one of the poors, you are mad. Like, that's what you have, of course. The comments that you see online are like, oh, you just watch your team. Like, that's, that's a poor person thing to say. Um, and I think that everybody is upset if they're one of the fours. And if you're one of the rich programs that is spending all the money, you're laughing.
Starting point is 00:37:52 And, but it's interesting, even the, even the rich ones, though, because one of the quotes in this is about Cam Coleman, the receiver who went from Auburn, to Texas. And it's a, it's a GM saying, hey, we had a blank check to recruit Cam Coleman. And he didn't pick us. He was, he was always going to Texas. But he got paid a ton. And I think the Texas fans took that to mean, oh, You're saying Texas just outbid everyone. I think what they're saying is he was going to go to Texas, but everybody else had a blank check and he used it to drive up the price on Texas. So you may not have taken the highest offer,
Starting point is 00:38:28 but the Texas fans in my mentions were so bad about that. And I'm like, guys, you got him. Don't be mad. Yeah. It's okay that you paid for him. I don't know how long it's going to take, but we will eventually get there where it's like a badge of honor to win a recruitment by.
Starting point is 00:38:46 spending the most. And I don't know. But they probably didn't spend the most. That's the funny part here. No, I know. They definitely spent more than $2 million, though. It's a lot of money for a receiver. So, you know, that's, I feel like, I don't know if you know this, but like Pete Nacos gets the, the Miami fans dislike Pete Nacos because their perception of him is that he reports how much money Miami is spending when they're not the only one spending and stuff. And it's like, I find that to be the most funny thing in the world because like Miami, why are you mad at him for him saying that you have it?
Starting point is 00:39:23 Like I just don't, I don't get the way. Yeah, it's not, you're not better just because somebody picked you out of the love for you. It doesn't matter why they pick you. They picked you. Yeah, they picked you. You won.
Starting point is 00:39:35 The LSU fans seem to get this. This is what I'm enjoying with the LSU fans because, look, they've been through it. They thought when they hired Brian Kelly, they had the guy that was going to take them national championships. and they know national championships because they've seen national championships recently. They had one in 2019. They had one in 2007.
Starting point is 00:39:55 They had one in 2003. So like LSU fans understand what it takes. And they didn't handle NIL right. And that was the round of stories this past off season. So a year ago right now, all the stories coming out at LSU were, okay, we're finally spending some money on the roster. and Brian Kelly admitting, hey, I screwed this up at first because we weren't spending.
Starting point is 00:40:19 Remember Brian Kelly two years ago? Are you going, we're not going to buy a player at LSU? And, you know, we're not going to just pay the highest price. And that was after spring practice. It was after they didn't get any defensive linemen in the spring port, which by the way, those defensive linemen were asking way too much money.
Starting point is 00:40:39 So I don't blame Brian Kelly for not spending that money. I just thought the messaging was bad. Wasn't that the year that their defense was terrible? It was year after their defense was terrible, yes. Which was not the right message considering what they just lived through. But I think that there was a period of time in the first few years of NIL, Andy, where saying the old school thing was like in style. And I think that now the further we get into this new world, the more, I feel like that comment is negligence.
Starting point is 00:41:11 You don't make that comment. Right. Right. Now you have Lane Kiffin saying, I'm not great with no. We're talking about trying to recruit Sam Levitt. You know, Andy, back in the day, I remember the first day I returned back from paternity leave four years ago when we had our daughter. Dan Mullen took the podium and said the thing about, we'll talk about recruiting when it's recruiting season. And it was the first day back. And I was like, all right, buddy, I'm back.
Starting point is 00:41:42 Welcome back. I feel like saying we're not going to spend or we're not going to engage in NIL is the same type of comment now. Maybe it's not as a group. Nobody even does that anymore, right? Yeah. That's done. It's not cool. It's,
Starting point is 00:41:56 it's, so, you know, Miami fans, rest assured, like if Pete Naco's reports that you spent a lot of money in the portal, that's a good thing. He's not making fun of you.
Starting point is 00:42:07 He's not trying to make you feel like you're doing something wrong. He is a business reporter. who is giving insight to the world about how much it costs to make a functional college football roster, and there's nothing to be bashful about. Like, could you imagine if somebody, like, went, I, like, went to the mall and some guy behind me, like, held up a sign that said, this guy's rich. Like, I wouldn't hate that guy. That's why I love the LSU fans.
Starting point is 00:42:30 Because the LSU fans, for the most part, they're not all, you know, some people are more old school, but for the most part, the LSU fans are like, whoo-hoo, this is why we got Lane Kiffin. let's go. The rules of the game have changed, but the game is still the game and you want to win the game. Period.
Starting point is 00:42:49 Yeah. And they've got Sam Levitt, they've got Jordan Seton, they got Prince Willow Manmielan, they got JT. Daughery. They got good players out of the transfer portal. And by the way,
Starting point is 00:43:02 they retained some really good players that were already on their roster. This wasn't as wholesale a flip as a lot of coaching changes you're seeing these days. Yeah, especially because he wasn't taking over at the complete dumpster fire. You can make the case that things were going awfully
Starting point is 00:43:19 and that's why Brian Kelly was fired, but it was never because they didn't have good players. So, yeah, the roster didn't stink. That's the difference. And he came in and made sure he got the guys that they needed to keep. Now, there's some interesting
Starting point is 00:43:34 transfer portal additions where you kind of wonder, you know, how this is going to go. Like Eugene Wilson from Florida is one of those. He showed flashes at Florida, but it never really fully blossomed. And I think you had a situation where if you put him with a really confident quarterback like Sam Levitt, he could be a really good SEC receiver. Yeah, I remember he made some plays last year that made you look twice, you know?
Starting point is 00:44:03 Yeah. So I think with Florida, they had their situation where they, if you're probably not going to be able to keep Dallas Wilson, Vernel Brown the 3rd, and Eugene Wilson. So you were going to lose one of those guys. And Eugene Wilson, I think, has a chance to really break out at LSU. Yeah. I think the expectation should be playoff this year, not that it's any different for LSU any other year, but realistically speaking, I think if you were to make a list, and I'm sure we'll do this as the summer goes on, of teams that are most likely or favorites to win their conference, like LSU should probably be in the, you know, two, if not number one in the SEC right now, right?
Starting point is 00:44:43 I would think so. I, you know, Georgia, I have a hard time not keeping up there as long as they keep winning the SEC and Kirby Smart keeps recruiting the way he does. I don't know where to put Alabama right now, but like with LSU, I know what Lane Kiffin does. I know how quickly he can install that offense. Like you go back to his first year at Ole Miss, 2020, they barely have time to practice. they've had all these restrictions,
Starting point is 00:45:11 so they didn't have a lot of time together. And I remember I actually had interviewed him right before the season, and I remember texting him after watching their first couple games and asking, how did you get those guys to get it that fast? Because they were operating the offense very quickly. They're moving into the correct formations, you know, within five, six seconds of the previous play ending. And it wasn't like they were running the same formation every time either.
Starting point is 00:45:38 And he said, it is an offense that players can learn quickly. And I was like, okay, that is true because we're watching it. So when you have a real full off season to install it, I'm really excited to see what it can be. Yeah. My anticipation is that they're going to be very good. Anytime you have the combination of quarterback receivers, I mean, Caden Durham's back. I mean, they've got guys. So add one of the best offensive linemen in the portal.
Starting point is 00:46:09 I mean, the pieces are there. Obviously, you want the defense to be good. That hasn't always been Ole Miss a strong suit underneath his leadership. But I think LSU has, you know, some pretty good players in that side of the ball, too. When they had really good players, they had really good defense. I mean, when they had their most talented defense, the, the 2024 Ole Miss defense was dominant. Yeah, it was awesome. So we got a front row seat of that.
Starting point is 00:46:32 And, you know, when they played Georgia when we went to that game in Oxford. So, yeah, but LSU opening the season at home with Clemson, that should be a win. By the way, we have to at some point talk about Clemson's quarterback situation. I know that the Chandler-Morris lawsuit thing just came on yesterday, and there was some smoke there. But LSU at Ole Miss, first week of the SEC season. It's so good. It's so good. Send us your juiciest games for next year.
Starting point is 00:47:04 We already know that's number one, right? And obviously LSU will miss. I'm not going to spoil anything, but it'd be hard for it not to be. Yeah. But I mean, this is a, this is a hard schedule. There's, in a fun schedule. I mean, you got Lane Kiffin going back to Knoxville. Mm-hmm.
Starting point is 00:47:22 I believe it's his first game back in Knoxville since the mustard bottle golf ball incident. So we'll be there. Maybe we'll be there. I'm making a promise. I'm going to be in Knoxville for a game this year. LSU Texas should be fun too. You know, they played in a non-conference series not long ago. But LSU Texas is one.
Starting point is 00:47:47 That's two programs that you want to see play each other. No, Bama. No Bama. They do play Bama. Do they? I missed it. Yeah. Oh, they play them every year.
Starting point is 00:47:57 I just didn't know if the new schedule thing, I get confused with timing. You know me. Well, everything's changed this year in the SEC with the schedule. So it's a little bit confusing. But yes, they do. play Bama this year. They're at Auburn. They still get the open date before Bama. So some traditions never die. But I'm excited to see what this roster can do. It is maybe the most expensive roster in college football. We'll never know. We don't get exact figures. It is one of them.
Starting point is 00:48:25 That doesn't guarantee anything. But they went out and got the coach they wanted. They went out and got a lot of what they want in the transfer portal. I think there's every reason to be excited. Our guy, J.D. Pekyll, you know, remember, he picked LSU to win the national title last year. He's still smarting from that one. But he and Zach Herb Street did a video this week where they talked about, you know, J.D. thinks 11 wins is a reasonable expectation for LSU. You know, LSU was in the middle of one of the most, one of the messiest divorces
Starting point is 00:48:59 in coaching Carousel history, right? no, it was entertaining for us and we were enjoying it, you know, obviously with the tweets and the, the testimonies or what's it called, the devotionals. And they have the, you know, all the things. I don't have to review it. You guys remember, you don't go through all that and then pay what had to have been close to, if not a record amount to get a coach and then not properly invest in the roster. Like those aren't just, it's not a one or the other thing. Like, you're doing both. And I think they.
Starting point is 00:49:29 Yeah, why would you do the first thing without being the second? It would be malpractice. Yeah. So, you know, that's an intriguing storyline. Obviously, anytime Lane Kiffin's involved in the mix, that's inherently there. But, you know, I think that they've done everything they can from a financial perspective and a roster perspective to be a highly competitive national championship contender. Now, the hard part, I wrote this earlier in the offseason, you know, the hard part is getting the results.
Starting point is 00:49:57 You know, so we'll see. But let's see if Lane Kiffing can go win his first conference championship. as a power head coach because he's never done it. It's also never coached the team in the playoff, even though he's gotten one to it. I'm going to give him a playoff win. It hasn't happened. I'm going to give him a playoff appearance.
Starting point is 00:50:16 He didn't coach in the playoff. The first game would have been a win too. Like, you know, he would have gotten it. But, you know, we'll see. All right. Also, on the megaboard, we go to Warchamp. That's our Florida State site. This was an interesting one.
Starting point is 00:50:34 I saw this pop up on Tuesday and thought to myself, uh-oh, this is going to be a thing. So from Knowles, 1975, 31103, seen another place. No Spring Booster Tour. So Chris Ney, who works for the 24-7 Florida State site, reported this on Tuesday. He does a good job covering Florida State that Mike Norville's spring speaking tour is not happening this year. And for those who don't know,
Starting point is 00:51:05 most schools send their coach out to select locations, to talk to the booster clubs in the bigger towns in their area. And it's usually just kind of a pep rally kind of thing. It's not actually a big fundraising thing because for the most part, the big booster deals, donor situations,
Starting point is 00:51:25 that all gets handled behind close doors. It's more of a goodwill, hearts and minds thing. And it's something that a lot of schools have been scaling back on in recent years. But this is interesting because usually you'd still, you'd still send Norville out to, you'd send them to Orlando and you'd send them to Miami and you'd send them to Tampa. And they'd have a thing and everybody'd cheer and everybody'd be happy. But this situation, obviously, is a little bit different because the fan base is
Starting point is 00:51:54 pretty negative right now. And so Warchant, Cuser 390 immediately after that was posted. Who would have gone to see that? And then FSU-TEP 7, we have to hide our coach. What a slogan. Do you think that that's why because people are down? I do. I'll give you an example of this, Ari.
Starting point is 00:52:20 So my first year covering Florida was 2004. The Tampa Tribune moves me to Gainesville to cover Florida in like March of that year. And so this is going into Ron Zook's final. season as the head coach. So the fan base is upset with Ron Zuck. Now, I think if you look in hindsight, they were being a little harsh compared to how things have been in the last 15 years or so. But they were upset because Ron Zook was not as good as Steve Spurrier and that bothered them. And so he does a speech in Tampa. I want to say May of that year. And I drive down to Tampa. I cover the speech.
Starting point is 00:52:58 And it's fine. He delivers the message fine. Everybody in the room is very nice. Afterward, this guy comes up to Zuck and just, he's there. He's signing an autographs. He's just hanging out as he's about to leave. And this guy just lights into him, just starts screaming at him. And Zuck, to his credit, handled it really well.
Starting point is 00:53:21 He was very patient with this person. For those who don't know, Ron Zook, well, Ron Zuck is not one you mess. with ever, especially not. You saw this in person? I was watching it, yeah. This guy's just yelling at him. What was he yelling at him? Just like about what he's doing wrong?
Starting point is 00:53:38 For losing for not being good enough, for not winning national championships. So it was like a Twitter interaction in real life. It was. Yeah, it was the keyboard warrior, except he was, he was brave enough to do it to the guy's face. For the guy, for at least, you know, doing it face to face. Now, he's lucky that Ron Zook's a decent human. being because otherwise that's a dude who will who will knock you out but that's so i get it because
Starting point is 00:54:08 if i'm florida state i would worry about what would come of that because you've got a bunch of people you can't control who who's using their phones they're mad so if it's an empty room that's bad if it's a full room and they're yelling at it if that's bad there's no good that can come of it which is we've talked about this a couple times. That's what makes this season and this off season so hard for them is it's impossible to message anything. It's impossible to say anything or do anything because you're just stuck in this situation. Yeah, I mean, like, I don't know. I've never seen anything like you described in person before.
Starting point is 00:54:51 That's because you covered Ohio State. They're always winning. I mean, there were some pretty dark times during that, you know, it wasn't as dire as it wasn't Florida State. but like if they went 10 and 2 when you felt like Florida State like it was the same sentiment um usually fans still show up and cheer for their coach and want to see their coach you know I get I mean like I'm that I'm like on the side of the Florida State fans in the thread of like wow we have a coach that we have to hide that sucks you know great slogan like I mean I believe I agree with that you know maybe also uh you know you can maybe use that time allocated to do
Starting point is 00:55:28 something more productive with your time, like call a recruit or something. Maybe that, maybe there's something there. I don't know. But listen, in terms of returning coaches, in terms of programs that have fallen, like, there is no program in the power five that I can think of that's in a more dire situation in Florida State. Like, is that a fair thought process? Like, who's in worse shape?
Starting point is 00:55:50 Like, I don't know who's in worse shape. And I don't know who's in a more critical season. But what I do know is it feels like, it feels like this is. it for him. I don't know. He's got to turn it around or they will write the check. And the check is massive. But what is turning around
Starting point is 00:56:08 in Florida State language mean? Because winning nine games would be a huge turnaround, but it's still a bad season for a team with that standard. Nine wins, nine wins would be fine. Nine wins be fine. I think eight wins, seven, I think seven wins would be fine. Remember, they've got Alabama in the non-conference. They've got Florida
Starting point is 00:56:24 in the non-conference. They are at Louisville. They are at Miami. This is not an easy schedule. No, it's not. SMU. They have SMU on Labor Day. SMU, Alabama, Virginia was very good last year. I don't know what it's going to be, but they were still a solid.
Starting point is 00:56:43 And Pitt at the end of the season was good. NC State at the end of the season was good. And they were playing C.J. Bailey. Programs and dire situations. We haven't even mentioned Clemson. They play Clemson at home next year. I don't know what they're supposed to be, but that is a stock that seems to be trending downward.
Starting point is 00:57:00 But yeah, not an easy schedule. But I just can't imagine being in a place where things got so bad at Florida State that you could say on a podcast that winning seven games would be fine. So producer River just asked us, what is the over-under on their win total? They're not.
Starting point is 00:57:18 The Bidgm has not set those yet. Here's another fun show that we can do in the next couple weeks. Let's help BEDMGM set the win totals. let's do it yeah because i i think that would be that would be really interesting and if you if you want you can help us help because you guys are are very finely tuned with your own teams obviously
Starting point is 00:57:41 so give us an honest win total that you think your team is going to reach can we just sort of state last they were confusing last year they might be even more confusing this year they're very confusing they're very confusing And the thing is, we just don't know. You know, Ashton Daniels, their new quarterback, actually looked pretty good when he took over at Auburn last year.
Starting point is 00:58:05 Yeah. But the situation was so bad at Auburn, it's hard to tell. I just, like, have a hard time with, like, this is my last crack at it. Here are the keys to my car. Ashton don't crash. It's just a wild thing to me. Yeah. But now you understand why the decision is made.
Starting point is 00:58:22 Because if you're Mike Norvell and you're standing up in front of all these people, what are you saying? Yeah. It's hard to be, I mean, I would be real if I were him. That would be a good start. I think he's been pretty real. Yeah. But the problem is real doesn't help either because real,
Starting point is 00:58:41 real is just depressing right now. Yeah. Real with a hint of optimism. Yeah. Which is what he's been. I think it's a no-win situation. So I don't blame them for this, but I get where the fans are coming from,
Starting point is 00:58:57 thinking, okay, is this how far we fall in here? That we have to tell our coach to stay home? The answer is yes, it is. It's exactly right. It's exactly. It's a tough situation that cannot be improved upon without winning actual football games. So I guess I guess I'm with the administration here
Starting point is 00:59:19 when I think about it because nothing actually helps but winning football games. Yeah. Well, next year they'll do a spring booster tour with somebody. It might not be him, but. It'll be somebody. And that's the thing, because in that state right now, you've got Mario Cristobal making all the rounds. Hey, remember seeing us in the national championship game?
Starting point is 00:59:40 Yeah, it was pretty cool, right? Yeah, that was awesome. And then John Summerall is undefeated in Florida, so he can talk all he wants. He's unneeded on this show. But, yeah, no, I guess, like, I wonder, like, how he feels about it. How Mike Norville feels about it? I feel like I'm frustrated and relieved. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:00:05 Because I sure as hell don't want to deal. Like, and I think that's the, the situation I talked to you about with Ronzoch, I think is the nightmare scenario if you are their administration. Because you can't, you can't, and I think Mike Norville would handle it fine because he's,
Starting point is 01:00:23 he's a decent person. But I wouldn't handle it fine. Like if I, even if I was in this situation, like he, was if somebody came at me and yelling at me i may come back at them well what was the uh what was the zook response you left it on a cliffhanger cliffhanger there well that's like i said he was ronzoq's good guy like he handled it really well he was very patient with the person
Starting point is 01:00:50 now he didn't back down but he didn't punch him either so i'd say that's a win yeah you you're quite interesting is zook got into it with with some frat boys who had gotten in a fight with his players during that season, and that became a whole thing. But in this particular instance, he didn't he just wasn't Steve Spurrier. He wasn't Steve Spurrier, and he did set the table for Urban Meyer. But yeah, it's Mike Norville wouldn't have, I don't think would have a problem comporting himself.
Starting point is 01:01:28 He's a professional. But I would have a problem if somebody came at me. And I think that's your nightmare scenario. If you have your fan coming at your coach in public and people have their phones out. Yeah, I mean, here's the thing with Florida State, guys. Either it's going to get better or you're going to have a new coach. Either way, this is going to be resolved this year. Yeah, I think they've accepted the fact that it's a massive check and they're going to have to write it.
Starting point is 01:01:54 They weren't prepared to write it last year. They know it's going to be a massive check. Like, whether you make the decision this year, next year, the year after that or the year after that even. It's still a massive check. So if it goes bad again, there's no sense in waiting any longer. Right. So it's up to Mike Norville, turn it around. Now we go to another coach who has not been given nearly as much time as Mike Norvell
Starting point is 01:02:22 and his fan base is all over the place. We speak, of course, of Kentucky coach Mark Pope. And on the mega board, we have a thread from, KSR from Kentucky Sports Radio, Coach Pope's future. Yeah, whoever's on that side can stay on that side. I love my over-carrying and emotional coach. So this poster who made this thread is actually on the other side of, it sounds like most of the KSR posters. So this is a, this is HQ 25-26 is a supporter of Mark Pope and loves the passion, which you've seen a lot of lately. the others don't necessarily like the results.
Starting point is 01:03:08 Part of the passion with Mark Pope is, you know, he's going to say what he thinks. But sometimes he says what he thinks when he's walking away from the microphone. And we didn't get into this Monday or Tuesday because nothing had happened as of the time we finished Tuesday's show. But after we finished Tuesday's show, the SEC fined Mark Pope for this incident after the Auburn game over the weekend. Producer River, please run the video. Two months are trying to find you to school. I do not say a word about how they cheated on. Two lessons here.
Starting point is 01:03:50 Every mic's a hot mic, kids. Every mic's a hot mic. And this is, okay, so Pope did get fine for this. On Tuesday, the SEC fined him. On Tuesday night, Kentucky beat South Carolina. So it bounced back from it. Denzel Aberdeen said he's not going to help
Starting point is 01:04:12 Mark Pope pay is fine. This is a soft fine, right? Like you can't find him for that. He wasn't on Mike when he said it. He even censored it. We didn't have to censor the video. He called them mother effers, not the other thing.
Starting point is 01:04:27 Come on. Did he say it knowing that people would still hear him? Yes, but he was saying it to his athletic director who was in the room. I don't know. I just, I feel like you can't find him for this. It feels, feels too much.
Starting point is 01:04:44 Like, the guy's got enough going on. Yeah, he'll be fine. Oh, he'll be fine. It's interesting because this, this is an NCAA tournament team.
Starting point is 01:04:54 Like, it's not like Kentucky's not going to make the tournament, but the schedule is hard from here on out. We're in the home stretch here. So next week's the final week of the men's regular season. And then we're in, conference tournament play. But they are,
Starting point is 01:05:08 the natives at KSR understandably restless. They have a different standard for the program than most basketball programs. So they are just, I think they're a little fed up. But in this case,
Starting point is 01:05:26 I'm with the original poster. Like, I want to take Mark Pope's side this week. I think it's fair to take his side because that's a little. cheap to give him the fine for that. Yeah, very funny though. Very funny. The funniest part is him censoring himself. Yeah, and they cheated us too. It's really funny. Yeah. I mean, I guess they cheated us. If that gets caught on Mike, you're probably going to find the guy. I get it. I mean,
Starting point is 01:05:57 like, that's like there's no, you know, usually when you criticize that, it's done with flowery language that could be, you know, heard or construed in any given way. That was pretty clear. But in case you think football fans are impatient, the megaboard today, when I went on On3.com this morning to look at the megaboard, three of the first four megaboard posts were threads from various team sites asking for the firing of the basketball coach who was in either year one or your too. I have a theory about that. It's insane. I have a theory about that. Yeah. When you play more
Starting point is 01:06:41 frequently and you're more frustrated more frequently, your emotions get the best of you more frequently. Probably true. Probably once a week. And there aren't like in football, you can have a team that's not very good, but like Alabama or Ohio State or a team that's not playing up to their standard often does play like a stretch of four games against overmatched opponents where people can calm down. Like in basketball, like you are playing every four days. And especially in the middle of conference play. Like if you have, you have a section of your schedule where you have two road games in a row and you drop them both. It doesn't mean the end of the world for your team. But the fan base is potentially going to go off the play. There are fewer games in college football
Starting point is 01:07:22 and longer stretches for the elite programs of schedule relaxation to allow people to calm down. That doesn't exist in college basketball. I think you may be right on that. Yeah. I think you may be right on that, but it was, it was particularly funny today to open the mega board. And they want to fire everybody. Everybody. That's always the solution to everything, Andy. Fire them.
Starting point is 01:07:43 Well, it doesn't always work. But sometimes it has to be done. We talked about LSU. They hired Lane Kiffin. They spent a bunch of money. Spent a much money in the roster. I think that's going to work for him. I think he's going to work for him. I do too. R.E., this was a blast.
Starting point is 01:08:01 big show tomorrow. Big show tomorrow. Our on three colleague Chris Lowe, one of the all-time greats, joins us. We got lots of things to talk about, including Kaelin to board Alabama, Kyle Whittingham at Michigan, and much, much more with Chris Lowe.
Starting point is 01:08:20 So tune in tomorrow. We'll talk to you.

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