Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - BOLD CLAIMS: ACC Heisman Finalists SURPRISE – Can Miami’s Roster DELIVER at Last?
Episode Date: April 17, 2026Bold ACC football predictions shake the landscape as Louisville, Clemson, Miami, and Florida State each face sky-high expectations—and possible reality checks. Can Isaac Brown and Darien Mensah both... crash the Heisman ceremony? Will Louisville truly run the ACC table, and does Miami finally break its conference title drought, or is history set to repeat itself? Alex Donno and Kenton Gibbs debate CBS Sports’ most controversial forecasts, spotlighting Deuce Robinson’s FBS receiving yard chase and the looming end of the Dabo Swinney era at Clemson. Contract drama intensifies as Duke extends Manny Diaz through 2031 despite a challenging roster outlook, while NC State eyes its first 10-win season since the Philip Rivers era. Virginia Tech’s bold 10-win projection sparks skepticism with lingering offensive questions. The conversation covers roster depth, schedule challenges, and which programs could redefine the ACC hierarchy. Which predictions will stand the test of gameday? Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Rugiet Get 15% off your treatment → https://rugiet.com/lockedonnhl Rugiet. Performance medicine for men. Rocket Money Let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join athttps://RocketMoney.com/LOCKEDON. Turbo Tax This year you’re getting a major upgrade — Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel.Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get two-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins.Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto get started — Play Your Game. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Some of these predictions on Louisville, Clemson, Miami, Florida State might be too bold.
You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.
He is Kenton Gibbs.
I am Alex Dono.
This is Locked on ACC on this loaded episode.
We'll talk about Manny Diaz getting a multi-year extension with the Duke Blue DeLew.
I think he's doing a heck of a job there.
We'll break that down.
But let's break down some bold predictions.
Now, Kenton, before we get into, and I find some of these to be downright controversial,
these bold predictions that CBS sports put out for the ACC in 2026.
I'll give you one.
I don't know if you have one prepared, but my bold prediction, I think Isaac Brown is going to make it to the Heisman ceremony.
I think he's going to make it to New York, the Louisville running back.
And I don't think he's going to be the only one.
I think Isaac Brown and Derry and Mensa will both be there.
And I think I'm going to be disappointed that Malachi Tony is not also there.
But I think the ACC is going to get two guys to the Heisman ceremony,
including Isaac Brown, who's not on a lot of people's big boards right now.
See, Alex Donnell understands the assignment, ladies gentlemen.
That's an actual bold prediction, okay?
And I don't want to spoil too much of the show.
but one of the other bold predictions was Tar Heels finished last in conference.
How is that bold?
That's just a prediction.
Based on what we saw last year, and Dono, you saw the off-season like I saw the
off-season.
Do you think that team got exponentially better?
I mean, maybe a new quarterback, Edwards or Dickens and with Bobby Petrino there,
the offense was their biggest problem.
I think they could get a little better, but still, finishing last in the ACC for them is not a bold prediction.
That's not bold to me.
That's not bold.
But saying the ACC will have not one but two guys at the Heisman ceremony, that's absolutely a bold prediction.
That's the type of stuff that, you know, some people may say you're crazy.
Some people may say it's ridiculous.
It is April, and we're talking football.
You're supposed to be saying ridiculous stuff right now.
It's a part of the gig, baby.
All right, so they're bold prediction for Miami.
I call it low-hanging fruit.
You don't even think this is bold, which I find disrespectful.
But the bold prediction for Miami is they're not going to win the ACC.
And it's like, I call it low-hanging fruit because, you know, Miami has never won the
ACC, but I feel pretty strongly that this is the year.
Based on Miami's roster versus everyone else's, I think this is going to be the year
they break the drought, but you don't even think that's bold.
Donno, compare Miami's the roster last year to everybody else's.
Whereas anybody else close in terms of roster?
Yeah, okay.
You might be right.
No.
I'm not, I'm not saying that Miami is definitely not winning the ACC.
I want to make that clear.
I'm not saying.
What I am saying is it's not bold to say,
Miami's going to have two games this year where you look up and scratch your head at the end
of it like, huh, how'd that happen?
And if they're in conference, what just happened to your chances of winning a conference championship?
Went right down the drain.
I did a thumbs down for those of you who are listening and not watching.
So the reality is I'm not saying that Miami is not going.
I'm saying it's not a bold prediction to say Miami would not do a thing that they have not done since they joined this conference.
How was that bold?
Yeah, like I think like you and I were talking about this off air,
like a bold prediction for Miami would be like Darian Mensa finishes outside the top 10 of ACC passes.
Yes, that's a bold prediction.
Yeah, something like Fletcher is going to have under 600 rushing yards this year and he won't be injured.
Like that's a bold prediction because now you're saying, well, why the hell would that happen?
Do you think another back is going to take his place?
Do you think they're just going to be that pass heavy?
What do you think is going to happen to make this thing that seems highly unlikely to happen?
Because Mark Fletcher has shown us that he was a heck of a back last year and he got better as the year went on.
And I'm hearing by all reports that he's slimmer and tremor than he was last year, which, I mean, the young man was just a bowling ball.
That was a massive mountain of man to bring down.
he's not skinny exactly these days.
So I would say, well, what do you know that I don't,
that Mark Fletcher is not going to get there.
But to say they won't win the ACC,
that's like, okay, water is wet.
I don't really, again, not to say that they have no shot,
it's to simply say it has not happened yet.
Now, you might be able to talk me out of my tinfoil hat on this,
but like after, and the person who wrote this story for CBS,
sports is Cody Nagel. I don't know who he roots for. I don't know who he used to cover.
Like I know nothing about his rooting interests. But after reading his prediction for Miami and then
reading his prediction for Florida State, I feel like he might be an FSU fan because of all the
predictions you could have made for Florida State. Like, you know, they're going to cancel their
program by October because their football team is so bad. Or Mike Norvell won't make it to week two.
like out of all the predictions you could have gone with,
their Florida state prediction is
Deuce Robinson leads the FBS in receiving,
like the entire country.
Now listen,
Deuce Robinson is a fine player.
I'm not denying that.
He's one of the better receivers in the conference,
but you're saying he's going to lead the ACC and receive,
or lead the nation in receiving.
My follow up would be who's his quarterback?
And is that really even a semi-realistic bold prediction?
That's a very,
And that's a very good question.
And the only reason I say that this is not a Florida State fan here is for this reason.
Donno, you tell me if any of these are bold takes for Florida State.
Mike Norvelle is no longer the coach by Halloween.
That's an easy take.
Mike Norvelle gets the largest buyout in all the college football next year.
That's an easy take.
You know what?
In fact, that that, that, that's going to happen.
Like, that's not even a prediction.
That is a future fact.
Florida State's defense finishes bottom three in the ACC.
Yeah, it's not bold.
Florida State finishes with four or less wins.
I think that's bold.
That's a little bold.
I'll give you that.
That's a little bold.
But you see how the depths we had to go to to get, like,
they're going to be four or less wins means that you're two whole,
games away from bowl eligibility.
Yeah.
I mean, leading FBS and receiving for a player with Ashton Daniels is your quarterback.
I mean, that's, I'll give it to him.
That's bold.
Even bolder would have been Mike Norvell saves his job and gets a contract extension.
Now, that's bold.
That would have been the boldest.
First of all, there's no way he's getting a contract extension.
There's no way he does that.
Even if he saved his job, even if Mike Roval wins 10 games next year.
He saves his job.
He's not getting them.
extension. They're like, you're good for now. You get to keep collecting checks from us for now.
But don't you get too comfortable in that seat whatsoever. So I think that when you look at Miami,
when you look at Florida State, anything positive about Miami, Miami wins their first ACC championship.
Is that a bold take? No, not bold.
Miami features two players at the Heisman trophy, you know, finalist this year.
Bold take? Not really. I mean, Tony,
in Mensa could both be there realistically.
Tony and Mensa,
barcading in,
uh,
Mensa and,
and,
and Fletcher,
it's a,
you could go with a,
a lot of combinations of guys that could end up there.
And we'd say,
huh,
well,
that's not that shocking,
is it?
So again,
just because of those two programs
of where they are,
it's like,
one of them,
you got to say something good
to get the wild factor.
One of them,
you got to say something bad.
That's true.
Well,
when we come back,
I want to break down their bold prediction for Clemson because I think this one is both bold and probably going to play out this way.
You want to keep it locked right here.
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I'm Alex Dono from Lockdown Caines.
He is Kenton Gibbs from Lockdown, Wolfpack.
Thank you for making Lockdown, ACC, your first listen.
All right, so Kenton, so this is one, and, you know,
even though a lot of people have this take right now,
I still think it's bold,
and I appreciated the way that Mr. Nagel from CBSSports.com worded it.
So he says, and I don't know if Clemson fans are going to like this or not,
um,
2026 will mark the end of the Dabo Sweeney era.
And I like how he doesn't say Dabo's going to get fired.
Yeah.
But that it's going to mark the end of his era.
Because Kenton, like, in my opinion,
I think Dabo has built up too much equity there for them to outright fire him.
But I think if they have another poor season,
he either takes it upon himself to say,
this is no longer working for me,
for them, for us, I need to step away, or, you know, maybe he gets nudged in that direction.
But I think Davo has done too much there for them to outright fire him, but I could still see
this being the last year. He either retires or he resigns with his dignity.
Yeah, that's deeply possible. I mean, when you look at Davoswini and what he's done there,
he has been the Grand Region Argole of the Clemson Empire, right? He was the one who told
them, the stars could be ours and look at him now, right? He showed that Clemson's
can be something different when he won more championships at Clemson than the entirety.
And this is a fact.
You can look it up.
The entirety of Clemson football history before him has less championships than he has since his arrival as the head coach.
So I really do look at this guy and say, hey, he's not, he's a Teflon in terms of being fired from that university.
but there comes a time and there's certain types of guys
that you just feel like there's a moment for them
where they're like, the game's passed me by.
It's time for me to go do something else.
And Dabo actually already said,
when players start getting paid,
I'll go do something else.
We've all been waiting for years.
He's finally going to give the haters,
the naysayers,
and the people who want to hold him to his word,
their wish coming up pretty soon.
I could see this is like taking that bold prediction.
a step farther.
When Dabo steps away from coaching,
I could see him becoming very active, like Nick Sabin is doing currently,
to try to lobby Congress, legislation, executive orders.
Like, I could see him getting into that.
And I'm not necessarily sure if that's a good thing,
because I feel like Dabo is going to want to try to turn it back to, like,
let's bring 2015 back, guys.
Like, do we really need to be paying players?
We really need to be allowing guys to,
transfer. I feel like he's going to try to turn it back to the old days. And then maybe if he can turn it back to
the old days, he'll go back to coaching after that. And here's the thing. This is why we all need to be
a little bit more well read because Dono, what is the thing about Pandora's box? What's the rule about
that box again? Yeah, you can't close it after you open it, right? You cannot close it. You cannot put the
contents back inside. Right. Once it's open, it's open. The stuff that spills out, spills out, but you're
right. I could see
that type of deal for
DaBow where he's like, all right, my new
job is to, you know, rail
against all of this free player movement
and whatnot. And here's the thing.
As unfortunate as it is, Davo would have
more of a right than anybody else, especially
with this Ferelli situation.
He would have a bigger
gripe than anybody else to say, I had a
young man on campus.
He was signed. He was going
to class. He was going to practice.
And then he gets a test.
$2 million. How about it?
Come get this check, brother.
And next thing you know, he was unenrolled.
He actually, he didn't unenroll.
He just stopped showing up.
He just skipped down.
He packed that little stick with the little knapsack on the back, and he got on out of time.
So I think he would have more variety of anybody else, but it'd be unfortunate to see it happen.
But you and I both know what's coming.
Rather, Dabo has success this year.
it goes on to coach for five more years, 10 more years before he retired.
You would not both know when he's done.
That's what he's going to do with his life.
Yeah, no doubt.
All right.
So what do you think about their bold prediction for Louisville?
And they seem pretty confident in this one.
The Cardinals go unbeaten in ACC play, unbeaten in conference play.
And here's their explanation for that.
There's a real case that Louisville should be favored in all nine of their ACC.
ACC games this season. They say credit Bud Elliott on the cover three podcast for spotting that
earlier this year. And yeah, Bud does a great job. But still like, so when I read that,
I'm like, let me refresh myself on Louisville schedule. I'm expecting to find something that's like
really, really easy. I don't, I don't feel like this ACC schedule is that easy. And again,
this is excluding their non-conference. Like they face Ole Miss out of conference. It can be
really tough game. So this is just their ACC games. So they're,
They're home against SMU, which I guess you could say because they're home, they might be favored, but that's a tough game.
I mean, SMU to you and me is probably the second best team in the ACC behind Miami.
You know, they're home against Wake Forest.
I know nobody respects Wake Forest, but they had the quietest nine win season of all time last year.
They're at NC State, which I think will be a very tough game.
They're home against Florida State, which, I don't, might be an easy game, might not be.
at Syracuse could be an easy game.
Home against Stanford should be an easy game.
At Georgia Tech, I don't think is easy.
At North Carolina, I don't know, maybe easy.
Home against Pittsburgh.
You play Pitt, home or away.
I think that's a difficult game this year.
So that's their ACC schedule.
So I guess, like, you could make the argument,
they could go undefeated in ACC play.
But I think you could make that argument about a handful of teams.
I don't have that much conviction for Louisville going 9-0 in
conference this year. Donno, this team lost four conference games last year. And I know,
everybody's going to say, but Kenton, three of them were by one possession. Two of those
games were in overtime and one was to Clemson. Was Clemson good last year? No, they went seven and six
last year. And you lost to one. If you beat Clemson, Clemson doesn't make a bowl game. But you notice,
You notice I said they lost four conference games,
and then that that was,
and I just talked about the three that were one possession games.
How bad do you think they lost that fourth game?
Oh, why is that not ringing a bell?
What was the, so they got, who they got blown out?
Oh, I can tell you, SMU rung the hell out of losing the bell last year.
That's right.
Okay, I remember that game.
And this is what I always say about Coach Brown.
And this is no disrespect to the man.
It is a feature of who he is,
just like a feature of his is winning really big games.
He will have one game every year where you look at his team and say,
who the hell was at?
I watch 60 minutes of football and I saw some things from your team that I had not seen
all season.
That's just who he is.
I told everybody after the Virginia loss.
I said, that's a really tough loss.
This is a good Louisville team.
But be warned, this was not the game where they forgot how to play football.
got at least one more coming they've still got at least one and lo and behold you know lots of louisville
fans even my man slam tanner that's in the comments all the time you know you're my boy but he came after me
and said oh that's not true the the the proof is in the put it so louisville growing nine and no to me
that's bold to the point where i'm almost like that feels a little click baby because it's a lot like
Miami. They've never done it. They've never done that. They've never run the table in the
ACC since they've been here. And now you're telling me that they're going to run the table
with Keenholz that quarterback. Yeah. Hey. All right. Sure.
How do you feel about their prediction for NC State, which is, I think it's both bold and
possibly doable this year. Double digit wins. But you guys haven't done that since 2002. Was that
Was that Philip Rivers or was that pre?
That was Philip Rivers.
Yes.
Do you think it happens this year?
Let me tell you something, man.
When I look at NC State football and I say, can they get this done?
Is it possible that they get done 10 wins this year?
I would say that that would be the most fortunate.
That would be the most fortuitous.
That would be the luckiest 10 wins that you would ever see.
Because what I know about this team right now,
offense is well ahead of the defense.
But the thing.
about that is this. The defense at some point in time is going to have to get stops when you
think about 10 wins. Now, can you luck up and backdoor your way into 10? We saw it with Wake
Forest a couple of years ago, I believe, when they played, what was it, Pitt in the ACC
championship. They backdoor their way into some wins just by having a ball last and Sam Hartman
doing his big one that year. It's possible. It's possible. But I, you know, I can't talk
about Miami's never done it. Louisville's never done it. And then say,
NC State, yippee, they're going to do something that Doran's never done.
If anything, I am consistent. I am honest.
And NC State getting 10 that they've never got before, this is why these are bold
predictions, but I'll tell you, this is a very bold one. This is the one, the last one
I said was bold borderline clickbait. This is the one I'll say it's bold borderline.
I think this is perfectly bold.
I don't think this is bold to the point of realistic
to where it's like, how bold is this?
I don't think this is bold to the point.
It's like, you're just saying stuff.
You're just putting words down on the paper
and hoping it sticks.
I think there's another one that's even more bold than that.
Like, I personally, I would give NC State a better chance
at 10 wins than I would give to Virginia Tech.
And another prediction, they said James Franklin in his first year,
gets to 10 wins.
I don't know, man.
Like, we're both big fans of James Franklin,
and I think he's going to turn that program around.
But I think some of the national analysts need to pump the brakes a little bit
on expecting him to just instantly transform what's been a really bad football team
the last couple of years.
And I know he brought in a bunch of his own guys from Penn State,
but still to me, it's going to take him, in my opinion,
and a couple years to really turn that culture around.
I'm kind of expecting maybe not quite this bad
because I think they'll be bowl eligible this year,
but I'm kind of expecting like the sort of transition for Franklin
being what Mario Cristobal had at Miami,
where it takes a couple years to really start turning the cruise ship in the right direction.
And we've gone over Virginia Tech schedule before Kenton.
Like it's not the toughest schedule in the world,
but I feel like I see more than two losses for a team that,
plays at Clemson this year, at Miami, at SMU, home against Pittsburgh, at Cal,
which is probably going to be at like 2 a.m. when they schedule games over there,
home against Georgia Tech.
So it's like I see more than two losses on that schedule.
I'm sorry.
There's the deal.
If they had, if they switched with their biggest rivals,
if they switch quarterback rooms with their biggest rivals,
I'd say this is borderline of realistic.
I would.
I would say this is bold, but this is possible.
Because I think that Perbula and Holstein, while neither one is great individually,
I think that they could rise each other's level like, hey, this is a real battle.
This is real competition.
We got to show out.
I think that would be great for them.
Unfortunately, that's not what they're doing.
They're trying out Kroomenhock.
No, Grunkmeier.
Oh, I'm sorry, Grunkmire, Kronkbeier.
All these long men.
Where did, I know that, where did Cromenhock play?
That was a former Florida State quarterback.
Yeah, yeah, there we go.
Yeah.
I don't know why I got the nose on the brain.
But I'm going to tell you, this is a moment where I look at their quarterback situation,
and I say, you're just putting words on the paper.
You're just putting words on the paper.
There is no way.
Donald, you tell me, who's Virginia Tech's best offensive weapon coming into the season?
Who do you look at for Virginia Tech?
You're like, oh, that boy, that man there puts the fear.
a god. What was the, the, the, the, the tight end that they got from, uh, from Penn State probably.
So you're telling me that a tight end from Penn State who was not the guy in that office,
because let's be clear about this. You had two running backs that are probably going to be
drafted in a couple of weeks coming up here. And you're telling me that a tight end is who's
supposed to be the guy that's got the ACC. Oh boy, I'm, I'm nervous. My hands getting a little shaky.
It's getting a little scary in here.
stop it.
Stop it.
Again, not for a 10-win team, Donald.
Not for a 10-win-tie.
The only way a tight-in can be the guy on a team that you're looking at 10 wins or so,
he's not just like a, oh, he might be a first-round pick.
He's coming into the year.
Hey, he's going to be a first-round pick.
The question is, is he generational or not?
And I don't think they have that.
I don't think there's anybody on that offense that defensive coordinators are going to be sitting
up there.
Man, we got to stop him.
he just throws from all these weird arm angles.
Man, we got to bring three to the ball.
You can't get that back down with one guy.
Man, this wide receiver, we're going to have to bracket them all day.
You know, we just, I don't think they have anybody like that.
I don't see how you get to 10 without that.
Yeah, well, coming up next, I know Duke is not expected to have a great year coming up.
You know, I think the team I cover may have something to do with that.
But,
Mani Diaz was given a multi-year contract extension by the Blue Devils.
I think he deserves it.
And I don't think that anything that can happen in 2026 would spoil that.
I don't think we can look at that year in a vacuum for Duke.
You want to keep it locked right here.
We're not done yet on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC.
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Thank you so much for making Lockdown ACC, your first listen.
If your next list, check out our other shows.
Kenton Gibbs and Grayson Boone host Lockdown Wolfpack talking all things NC State.
talk all things Miami unlocked on Cains, I'll be at Miami Spring game on Saturday,
so we'll bring you some bonus content about that.
All right, so Duke announced today that they have extended head coach Mani Diaz through the
2031 season.
Their athletic director says, actually this is their university president, says Mani Diaz is
exactly the right leader at exactly the right time for Duke University.
And so, listen, Kent, the last couple of years, you know, I know, I know it was,
Bumpy non-conference schedule last year, but Duke winning an ACC championship, I thought was probably even above, like, the realistic goals for their program last year.
So I think Manny Diaz, the last couple of years, like, he has earned the right to have a long-term extension with Duke because I think he's got that program trending in the right direction.
I think he's continued, you know, kind of laying the foundations that Mike Elko started to lay there.
and I think Diaz is a good torchbearer for what Elko did.
I also think that even if this season coming up,
having lost Dary and Mensa and Cooper Barcate,
essentially too late to really adequately replace them,
I think this upcoming season could be really bad for Duke,
and I don't think it should affect the way anyone perceives Manny Diaz's contract extension.
I just think you have to understand you're going to take your lumps in 2026,
and hope you bounce back better in 27 and beyond.
You know, let's expand our viewers' knowledge one more time, okay?
Lewis Carroll wrote a poem called Beware the Jabberwark, right?
Now, it was about fighting personal demons and all that, right?
But if you go to Alice in Wonderland, it appears in the beginning and the end of the trip, of the voyage.
Why?
Because people seem to forget the similar or same problems arise in.
life again and again and again.
And you have to be ready time and time again.
Don't get me wrong.
Was Manny Diaz probably going to get extended and probably rightfully so?
Yes.
Here's the problem.
You are watching a Florida State team that cannot get rid of their coach because they
can't afford to.
And your thought is, hmm.
I don't feel like he's making Mike Norvell money, though.
They don't, they don't, because Duke is private.
We don't know how much you're making.
Yeah, they don't have to tell.
Yeah, they don't have to tell.
But it's, it's, it just, it's, it just seems like one of those things where it's like,
extending him out to 2031, I mean, don't get me wrong, an ACC championship for Duke football,
big time, big time.
I'm not denying that.
I'm not not saying that that's nothing at all.
However, what I also know, extending him out to 2031 is like, what?
What are we, what are we actually doing here?
Again, they're private, so we don't know the money he's making.
Nobody knows.
You can just speculate.
But if it's anywhere in that Norville ballpark, even now, even with Duke knowing they're not going to have to fire a shire anytime soon or anything like that.
It's still just a, so wait, we're extending him till how long?
That's five more years.
I mean, yeah.
Five years is wild.
That's what I'm saying.
How different can it be in five years?
I'm not saying don't extend him at all.
I'm saying, don't extend him at all.
Throw a little two, three on there.
Throw a little, hey, we'll give you two with your option at the end
or whether or not you want to come back or you can leave
and you know, you won't have to pay a buyout.
You know what I mean?
Something like that.
But five out to get, that's a little tough.
And again, I am fully acknowledging an ACC championship
for Duke football, massive, massive.
Way to go.
I'm not going to say, oh, they only got in because of a technicality
in a bad time.
Don't matter.
They were there and they won.
Some that my school can't say, some that Donald's school can't say,
some that lots of schools in the ACC cannot say.
They got there and they did the job.
As much as we lawed SMU, SMU ain't got there and done the job.
So I get it.
I respect it.
But I'm not sure that that season, with the totality of all we know about what happened in it,
warrants a five-year extension.
That's fair enough.
I feel like coaches are getting signed to longer and longer deals.
and it only means bigger and bigger buyouts.
So a lot of schools are making that mistake that you warn against.
Seems to be a pretty common thing these days.
Everybody's signing like eight-year deals.
Nobody reads Lewis Carroll these days.
Nobody reads Lewis Carroll in that.
That's the problem.
We got all these audio books.
Nobody's reading anymore.
Getting that library, okay?
I get it.
We're a sports show.
Get in there.
Even back when books were a thing, I used to just go right to.
Do you remember it like Barnes & Noble?
Maybe they still do.
They would sell the Spartan.
Mark notes version.
Yeah.
Yeah, I would buy like, you think I'm going to read a tale of two cities?
It's like 800 pages.
I'm going to read the 20-page Sparknote version.
And I got the gist of it.
Exactly.
Exactly.
It's at the end of the day, this is a moment where we keep seeing these contracts,
keep getting bigger, bigger, bigger, and I get it.
You have to do it to be competitive.
It's just like with the players.
People can talk about, well, you really pay Darien Minza how much,
but the reality is if you didn't pay them, somebody else,
going to pay it. Somebody else is going to show up and pay that money. So I get it, but at the same
time it comes to a, it gets to a point where you got to look at the mirror and say, all right, hold on.
Let's, let's pump our break. If he goes off and wins elsewhere, we'll live with that regret,
but I'm not sure that I'd be comfortable signing some of these contracts to some of these coaches
that are being signed out. You make sense. Huge shout out to the everydayers. Thank you so much for
making Lockdown ACC your first listen.
Make sure you check Kenton out on Lockdown Wolfpack.
Follow him at TGIF underscore Kenton.
Follow me at Alex Dono.
Check me out on Lockdown Canes.
And we'll talk to you next time on another episode of Lockdown ACC.
We are part of the number one Lockdown Podcast Network.
Your team every day.
