Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - BOMBSHELL: Florida State's SHOCKING Downfall | Will Norvell's $58 MILLION Buyout SAVE His Job?

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Flores State Seminels haven't won an ACC game in over a calendar year, but Mike Norvell will not get fired unless this happens. You are Locked-on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Happy Monday and shout out to the everydayers. Thank you so much for making Locked-on-ACC your first listen. We're available free wherever you get your podcast. We're free on YouTube.

Starting point is 00:00:35 We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. He is Kenton Gibbs, former NC State Defense of Lyman and co-host of Lockdown Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono, host of Lockdown-Kaans, and today's episode is brought to you by Mazda. Like our players, we sweat every detail because when you make every move count, pulling off the unexpected is only the beginning. Stay tuned later for highlights in this week's moving the game forward. Mazda, move and be moved. We'll talk about AP Top 25 in two different sports because we got to. football and now we have basketball. We'll tell you where the ACC stands. We will recap a busy

Starting point is 00:01:11 and electric week seven in college football, specifically the Atlantic Coast Conference. But we want to talk about the future for Mike Norvell at Florida State. They've lost three straight games now, all in conference. Norvel is one in 10 now in his last 11 ACC games. So who better to chat with than Brian Smith, host of Locked on Seminoles? Now, Brian, despite you, we just saw James Franklin was fired at Penn State after three straight losses. That doesn't appear to be happening to Mike Norvell. So what would it take this season for Norville to get the axe? Well, the first opportunity is to lose to Stanford this weekend, which I'm going to call right now, is very realistic.

Starting point is 00:01:51 Really? Two reasons. Number one, nobody does well on the whole travel thing. Like, that's a long trip. That's part of it. And this is what I call a helmet game. Kitten, there were certain teams when you played, I bet you were more excited about playing again. than others. Do you think the Florida State players are excited about playing Stanford?

Starting point is 00:02:09 No, absolutely not. I mean, it's the Bay Area. They don't really take football that serious out there. It's not really going to be a ruckus environment. So if you stick it up in the first quarter and you give them hope, what happens then, Kitten? They get confident. Yeah, it is. There it is. If Florida State comes out, they get up 10-0 real quick, all as well. And I'm not saying they quit on the Pitt game or nothing like they just lost quarterback that Heinzsche kid he pretty good for pit by the way shout out to him but if things go sideways in that first quarter watch the body language watch the body language they've lost three in a row and as Alex accurately stated one in 10 in their last 11 ACC games they have no chance to make it at the ACC title game they have no chance to

Starting point is 00:02:56 make the playoff and everybody's down on this game I'm calling it right now it has a chance to be very close. Now, Florida State still has way more talent than Stanford. But how much effort are you going to get out of that 100% possibility? 70%, 80%. I'm calling it right now. The only other thing is they just struggle. If they play well enough to be in games, at some point, he just got a fire regardless. Right now, they're, they're if they're going to make a bowl because they're so banged up. Deuce Robinson's hurt. I know he didn't come out of the game. But Thomas Castellanis got popped on a play down by the goal line. He was limping around the rest of the game. When he came, he came. can't run that offense is not the same. He only had a handful of carries from the end of the

Starting point is 00:03:38 second quarter on because he was banged up. Gus's offense does not work with a stable, but, you know, somewhat mobile quarterback. And that's about what he is right now. That doesn't work. And then on top of it, look, the offensive line is they don't have, until it gets back, at least, Michael Pettis is out. This is a problem. They got a lot of injuries. I think Randy Pittman will be back for Stanford, but I don't know. They've kind of gotten the bug here lately telling you that first quarter goes sideways, it'll be interesting. It'll be very interesting because at some point,

Starting point is 00:04:11 the board of trustees has got to come up with the money. And for those who don't know, it's give or take $50 million. They're not going to call Kenton for that kind of chump change, I'm sure. But it's a lot of money, man. But Penn State doing it doesn't make Florida State look good because their contracts were almost identical. That's right. Let me tell you something. NC State and Cass Tech can't call me for that type of money.

Starting point is 00:04:32 If Florida State called me for that type of money, I would think I'm on punk. I'm going to be looking around for Ashton Coucher. But speaking of thinking you're on punk, how is the Florida State fan-based feeling going from undefeated, highest of the high, ACC champion to only beating Cal over the last season and a half, basically,

Starting point is 00:04:54 in terms of in conference? I've got to imagine this is an all-time demoralization of one of the more storage, one of the more story programs in all of college sports. You know, it's ironic. I've been doing mailbags lately, and the only thing I've had to do is go to the YouTube page for Locked-on Seminals.

Starting point is 00:05:12 If you need some entertainment, you got a free 10 minutes, pick any of them. Doesn't matter which one. One of them was over 400 comments in less than 24 hours. They weren't of the politically correct kind you'd show your mother. All right. This was a lot of Norbel,

Starting point is 00:05:29 blank, blank, blank, kind of conversations. And I can't sit there and say that I blame anybody for the people. They're spending money on parking, tickets, driving there and all that to see that? No, that's not how it works.

Starting point is 00:05:43 They just spent on that money on that renovation. Did a great job on the stadium, by the way. And you're showing this product in year six of your tenure. These are what you would call a whole bunch of negatives, and I'm not seeing any positives. Florida State fans,

Starting point is 00:05:57 from what I'm hearing, especially financially, are checked out. you're going to be fans that are not going to buy tickets to other events and everything else. This is a football school. All the other sports at Florida State will suffer because they're going to pull their money. If you're not winning to football, we're not donating. We're not going to baseball, blah, blah, blah, there's going to be a whole lot of that. The DOT is going to be in a tough spot because either you got the money to buy out Mike or you don't.

Starting point is 00:06:21 And they just signed Tony White. They just signed Gus Malton. And then you've got to go get a whole other staff. And it's a year where there's a ton of schools that are going to be firing people. They're still to get fired, et cetera. Is Oklahoma definitely not going to fight? I mean, there's all kinds of possibilities. This is not a good spot for Florida State.

Starting point is 00:06:39 There is nothing out of the sky you can pull out and say, well, here's where we got, not one. But they still may need to fire him because at some point, when do you just not care if you're a fan? I'm like, don't come back at all. They got to show the fans that we're here to win. I know they don't have the same cash that Penn State does, but the rubber's got to meet the road folks. Yeah, and on that the whole cash thing, and like you mentioned, like give or take 50 million for the buyout, I saw a stat supposedly it's $58.7 million is Mike Norvel's buyout. I'm not an expert on Florida States financials, but you mentioned stadium renovations. You know, they also had a pretty expensive

Starting point is 00:07:15 legal battle with the ACC. I mean, does all the millions of dollars they've already spent over the last couple of years, does that make it less likely Norville gets Axe this year? I think that if it was just the university, the decision's already made. And it's one that would cause, and I'm not trying to say this in a mean way, administrators, their parents, their families need to be careful driving around town because they're going to get people coming out. Why aren't you fine? It's going to get to that point. But it's this is a booster deal. University, with all that being a state school, that ain't going to happen. This is Big Daddy booster territory. Is there a guy like that? I don't know. For what I've heard, they don't have as many as some other schools like the Bull Gator

Starting point is 00:07:56 club at UF. That's a whole other deal. By the way, Billy's is under $20 million. So I'm pretty sure he's not going to make it through UF season. Probably not. But Norval is at a whole other stratosphere financial. It's three times as much.

Starting point is 00:08:11 So unless one of the boosters comes through, even if they lose to Stanford, it's not a lock. But I think he should be. If you lose to Stanford and you start the year 0 and 4 in the ACC, give me one reason, either one of you,

Starting point is 00:08:24 that Mike Norval should be retained. I can't come up with one. Well, and that's what I want to get into for a second. All three of these games that they lost, all one possession games, you lose to UVA by 8, you lose to Miami by 6, you lose to Pitt by 3. Is there a world where Norville writes the ship and saves his job, Smitty? Is that something that you see is like a, this is a serious possibility, or is that he's got to have a horseshoe in a very special secretive place that no. nobody can see in order to make that happen. What would you say would be the minimum?

Starting point is 00:09:02 Is it like, hey, he has to win clean out to save it? Is it if he wins for Hill? He's good. What does he have to do, in your opinion, to kind of cool that seat down to at least get him through the beginning of next season? Well, the bad trend is they're tacked. It's kind of like your wolfback. They can't tackle anybody.

Starting point is 00:09:20 Now all of a sudden, Florida State can't tackle anybody. Between the two, they play each other. Whatever you do, if you've got a young. child that's one in football, do not allow them to watch NC State versus Florida State. I was going to say you bet the old. That's where my mind goes. Donno is a sick man. He's a sick man.

Starting point is 00:09:37 But it's still. They can't tackle. They've gotten a lot worse. And this is a veteran defense. It's all junior, seniors, fifth year seniors and they can't tackle. Yeah. They're getting worse at it. Run Gat fits have gotten worse.

Starting point is 00:09:49 They're massive up front. I mean, they got they got dudes. Darrell Jackson still playing pretty well. but their linebacker group is atrocious. Sound familiar, getting it. But it's just one of those things where, yeah, you know exactly what I'm talking about. But it's just Florida State has gotten slowly worse

Starting point is 00:10:06 as the year went on instead of slowly better. Like look at A&M. They've gotten better. Like their defense was awful early this year, and they just won with their offense. Now their defense is good. Their national title contender. Florida State's trending in the opposite direction.

Starting point is 00:10:19 Yeah, Alabama getting a lot better since that opening game, Notre Dame. There are teams trending up, yeah. Don't let anybody, by the way, before you get out of here, Smith, I don't want anybody to forget. A team that is winless in the ACC beat a team that is at top the SEC right now

Starting point is 00:10:37 and undefeated in conference. Right. That is a great goal. That's a stat. It's a fast. I want to keep that in everybody's mind, you know. But anyway, I still think Stanford, don't be shocked.

Starting point is 00:10:50 Don't be shocked. Stanford runs the hell out of the ball, so it's possible. It's a possibility. And even the guys that you said, they're showing up big time. The play that sealed the game officially was Darrell Jackson Jr. jumping off sides. So even the guys that have made plays have made mental errors for Florida State that have been so consequential in moments where you just can't happen. That's fact.

Starting point is 00:11:15 Well said. By the way, Stanford are 17.5. Dogg. So Florida State favored by 17.5. a 10.30 p.m. game out there in Cali. I think Brian may have convinced me. He may have convinced me to lock in Stanford, plus 17 and a half. Take the points. There we go. Well, we appreciate Brian Smith. You can follow him on X at FB Scout underscore Florida. Watch he does two awesome shows on this network, Locked on Seminels and the Portal, which is just, portal is a national show,

Starting point is 00:11:44 just loaded with information. So check out both of those. We'll talk to Brian again soon. But Kenton and I will continue the conversation, because we got more week, results in the ACC plus. There's a lot of backtracking going on in Chapel Hill. After numerous reports, midweek and late week last week about Belichick may be working on looking at his own buyout and North Carolina holding meetings to give him the acts, suddenly they're holding hands and singing kumbaya. The Belichick era, I know Kenton is very upset to hear this, but the Belichick era will

Starting point is 00:12:17 continue in Chapel Hill. You want to keep it locked right here. we're only getting started on this brand new episode of Lockdown ACC. Folks, in this episode, we're brought to you by Mazda's moving the game forward. For those who believe it's not just about playing the game, it's about redefining it. There are moments that do more than just put points on the board. They move crowds, move culture, and keep moving the game forward. Listen, this week, guys, Des Reed, Mr. All-Purpose for the Pitt Panthers,

Starting point is 00:12:44 who had missed time due to injury, was back for Pitt against Florida State. Talk about moving the game forward. Eight receptions for 155 yards and two touchdowns. Seminoles defense did not have an answer for Des Reed. And as a result, Pittsburgh gets a win on the road against a ranked opponent, huge conference dub for the Pitt Panthers. And when you follow what moves you, the unexpected is only the beginning. Just like there's more to every highlight, there's more to a Mazda vehicle.

Starting point is 00:13:11 Mazda, move and be moved. Thank you for making Lockdown ACC your first listen. For your next list, at our other shows. Kenton Gibbs and Grayson Boone do an awesome job talking all things NC State on Locked on Wolfpack. I talk all things Miami on Locked on Canes. Miami had a byweek Kent and so did their upcoming opponent. Louisville, that's going to be a big matchup on Friday night this week. Some of the other results involving ACC teams this weekend, though. 13th ranked Georgia Tech did what they were supposed to do at home against Virginia Tech with a 35 to 20 win.

Starting point is 00:13:46 Haynes King, 20 for 24, 213 passing guards and a touchdown. And listen, I don't really know what to make of Virginia Tech. Their best game, unfortunately, was against your Wolfpack earlier this season. But overall, they've got an interim coach. They've not been playing well. We've talked about Georgia Tech having a relatively easy schedule in the ACC. But that team keeps freaking winning, Kenton. And Georgia Tech is definitely a team that could be in Charlotte in a couple months.

Starting point is 00:14:13 I mean, let's give credit to Georgia Tech. This isn't about, you know, what other teams didn't do. This is about them constantly showing up. The call for Georgia Tech this season, especially after their early season wins, who are you as the hunted instead of the hunter? Because now they're on team's radars. They've got the higher number by their name in every single game that Georgia Tech will play. From this point, up until they play Georgia, they will be either the only team with a number by their name.

Starting point is 00:14:43 As a matter of fact, Duke's not ranked this week. and they're the only team that has a shot at being ranked for the rest of the season, except maybe Pitt. So they may play one team outside of Georgia with a number next to their name. They are the hunted now. They have to show up every single week consistently and compete. Was this game perfect? No.

Starting point is 00:15:05 Was this game rocky at times where there's some moments where you're like, wait a minute, now what's going on? Not too many, but kind of toward the end of that third quarter, you started to get a little tight, get a little tense, but they showed up and did what they do. Georgia Tech deserves all the love in the world because they continue to show up, they continue to win. What more can you ask them?

Starting point is 00:15:24 Yeah, I mean, they're having, I mean, Brent Key, Brett Key is doing an awesome job there at Georgia Tech. And, like, you know, I gave him, you know, some praise in an ex post over the weekend. And I get a bunch of comments mostly from UGA fans who are like, who cares, they're beating JV teams, but like you realize what Brent Key has done with that program for, what is this now, his fourth year?

Starting point is 00:15:44 in charge there. I mean, listen, and also the UGA fans, they took you to eight overtimes last year, and they should have won that game. Are you all the JV team? Apparently. Just got to find out what the rules are. You know, when y'all lost their Alabama team that lost to a Florida state team, they won in conference. Are they a JV team? I mean, we're just trying to figure out the rules here at Locked on ACCC.

Starting point is 00:16:06 Right. Donald wants to know the rules. I want to know the rules. We want to know the rules, you know, because we know hypothetical games, the SEC always got it. But when you got to put the rubber to the road, when you got to put that ball down, things start to change. Yeah. All right. So another result of note, Clemson, who, you know, they've got two ACCC losses already.

Starting point is 00:16:24 So it's going to be, you know, very difficult to impossible for Dabo to get his guys back to the ACC championship game or the playoff this year. But they've looked a lot better, Kent, in the last two weeks, but not facing quality competition. They beat Boston College on the road 41 to 10. but again, they've played a lot better their last couple games. So, I mean, is Clemson, you know, trending towards writing the ship? Or do we just need more information because who they're beating the last couple weeks? There is no riding the ship for Clemson this year. I want to make that very clear.

Starting point is 00:16:58 Compared to their expectations, people were saying this is going to be our first ever 16 and 0. We're never going to see a 16 and 0 team again, you know, for a bit because of how great Clemson. there is no riding the ship to that. However, are they trending in the right direction? Yes. Yes. Because even if you say, UNC's terrible, so is Boston College. I'm not going to disagree with you on either front.

Starting point is 00:17:23 Are you telling me that Detroit Trojans are scary? They're a big scary team? Because it took a 16 or a 17 point comeback to beat Detroit Trojans. Now, at least they are coming out and putting belt to behind early. So am I saying that Clemson is who everyone thought they were coming into the season? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. They have the pieces, individual pieces, have shown flashes and shown up in moments for sure.

Starting point is 00:17:53 But am I going to sit up here and say, oh, yeah, this is the Clemson we were expecting to see? Oh, heavens, no, no, not at all. Let me see if I can pull up the AP top 25. I got the basketball one and the football one. make sure I pull up the right one for now. We'll look at both. But, all right, so Miami, Miami comes off a bye week. They stay at number two. I could have seen a scenario where if Oregon had beaten Indiana, Oregon might have moved back into number two and bounced Miami to number three,

Starting point is 00:18:26 but that didn't happen. I mean, the Hoosiers. I mean, Kurt Signet, he's doing an incredible job. He might have made himself the favorite for the open Penn State job, but he may not want to leave Indiana for Penn State is how good Indiana is doing. Indiana, yeah, yeah, so Ohio State won, Miami, two, Indiana three, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, round out the top five. Next for the ACC is Georgia Tech, who just moved up to 12. And Florida State drops out of the top 25, Virginia. Virginia stays in at number 18. So it's just Miami, Georgia Tech, and UVA now, Kenton.

Starting point is 00:19:04 And I feel like Louisville might have had a chance to move into the top 25 had they won against Pitt, but they didn't. Florida State losing drops them out. Duke, maybe in a couple weeks they can get in if they keep winning. But as for right now, it's just Miami at number two, Georgia Tech at number 12, Virginia at number 18. Listen, just let these games keep playing out. Just let these games keep playing out. Obviously, we can get into the biases and how certain teams on this list have multiple losses or how certain teams have looked. absolutely inept when playing any decent team, right?

Starting point is 00:19:37 Like Texas, how are you there? Yeah, you put off a big upset, but what have you actually done all season outside of one game against OU to even belong in this stratosphere? Oh, you played Ohio State close? Okay, well, I didn't see anybody moving Georgia Tech up last year for taking Georgia eight overtimes. And yet here we are saying, well, they played Ohio State close. They played number one close.

Starting point is 00:20:00 And, you know, they beat up on Oklahoma. Don't want to hear. Don't want to hear it. So obviously we can get into that. We can get into the biases to have some of these teams ranked where they are, including Nebraska as well, looking at them as well. I'm, man, what's going on there? But at the end of the day, it is what it is.

Starting point is 00:20:18 We're in the season. We're in the throes of it. Everybody's got the opportunity. Win your darn ball games. When your ball games, you got the chance to move up. Now, the basketball top 25 is a different story because nobody's tipped off yet, right? The only information we got is a secret scrimmage, a secret scrimmage. season everybody. All of these scores are coming out from secret scrimmages and fan bases are losing

Starting point is 00:20:40 their mind. How did we lose a secret squirmish to Wagner? Oh, shut up. Your starters were out by the first five minutes, okay? But again, that's what season it is in basketball. Football, you're getting the chance to put the ball down and show your merits. All right, before we get to the basketball preseason top 25, it sounds as though Bill Belichick is very, very happy in Chapel Hill, Carolina administration is very happy with Bill Belichick. Last week was a weird week, Kenton. I mean, we basically devoted, I don't know, two, three shows, if you include the squad last week, as we should. The squad is awesome. Talking a lot about, you know, reports, a lot of these from WRL News in North Carolina about, you know, I think it was on Wednesday, Tuesday or Wednesday,

Starting point is 00:21:27 the UNC Brass reportedly held a meeting where they were discussing an exit strategy from Bill Belichick. There were reports from a couple of different outlets later that day that Bill might have even been kind of looking into his own buyout. Like, hey, maybe if I get another job, I'll help you guys pay the buyout or whatever. And then by the end of the week, you get a bunch of statements in North Carolina, Bubba Cunningham, their athletic director, Bill Belichick himself put out a statement that all of this stuff was false. All of these reports about, you know, North Carolina looking from an exit ramp. None of this was true. We're happy to continue together. We're happy to keep building together. I'm sure the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle,

Starting point is 00:22:10 Kenton, that maybe there was some truth to those initial reports, but maybe they got a little bit blown out of proportion. But at the same time, and, you know, North Carolina also had a buy a week this past week after getting sheled by Clemson the week prior. They've got a game at Cal on the road this coming weekend. They better win that one, because they haven't been beaten a legitimate opponent yet this year. And if they lose again, we're going to be doing a lot of the same stuff next week. We're going to be having some of the same conversations we had last week about

Starting point is 00:22:40 Belichick's future. Well, I guess we're all Bill Murray and Groundhogs Day because we're going to be having that same conversation. But Donald, these statements that are being put out and everything being copacetic now, this is like that one family that, you know, there's always domestic disputes coming from their house. And then one day that the police have to show up. And then the next day, the husband and wife are on your porch like, hey, we wanted to invite you over to our party.

Starting point is 00:23:08 We're watching the game Sunday. If you wanted to come, everything's good. We're happy here. That's what's happening. That's all they see. This is then pretending like the cops didn't get called. What? What are you?

Starting point is 00:23:21 Oh, that was just a little disagreement. You know, that was nothing at all big here because this is foolishness. This is foolishness. This is objectively a situation. situation that again, how much worse can it get? I don't know. But I'm happy for him, Dono. I hope that they get many, many more years of Bill Belichick. If they're happy with this product, and they're saying, well, it takes time. It takes time. Well, yes, it does take time. But you know what else it takes, Dono? Effort. Yeah. During your by week, you know what all the other coaches do?

Starting point is 00:23:55 They go out and recruit or they watch extra film or they're doing what they do in the facility or in the homes of 16 to 18 year olds around America. Say, hey, we're going to make your son a better play. We're going to make a better man. You come to our school. We're going to do everything we can to make sure that he leaves here a better man. He got. I like the coach voice you put on there.

Starting point is 00:24:17 That was good. I appreciate it, man. I've probably been working on it for a while. You know what Bill Belichick was doing? Enjoying some crab cakes in Nantucket. I heard about that. Enjoying some good clam chowder. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:24:27 Hey, listen, there are an unsurious program. And, you know, oh, I'm sorry, he allegedly was in Nantucket. Let me make that clear. He was allegedly in Nantucket. Somebody who looked very much like him may or may not have been him. It was Will Wellichick. It might not have been Bill. It might have been Willowichick.

Starting point is 00:24:43 It looks a lot like him. But it doesn't seem to me like he's taking this job series. And again, you can tell by the staff. You can tell by the effort. You can tell by the lack of attention to detail or the attention of detail or lack thereof. You can tell that this is not something that Bill is taking serious. Because we've seen Bill when he's taking something serious. And this doesn't look like that.

Starting point is 00:25:05 This doesn't look like Bill ordaining himself to be special. And when every other coach is coming in and ACC Media Day is leading their team in, his players walk in by themselves and he comes in from the other side like he's the Pope or something. That's not real. That's not what this thing should be. That's not what it's ever been about. But he doesn't understand that. Based on a lot of the reporting, you know, the athletic had a big piece about this.

Starting point is 00:25:31 within the last few days and WRAL has had a lot of, you know, leaks allegedly coming from that program. Not taking it seriously is a great way to describe it. And I would also add a lot of arrogance from Belichick and from his general manager, Mike Lombardi, the two of them worked together quite a bit in the NFL as well. It sounds to me like they just thought, hey, we've done this at the highest level. You know, for Belichick, I've won six rings in the National Football League. I guess he's forgetting that a certain quarterback helped him do a lot of that. but I've won six rings.

Starting point is 00:26:02 I am the alleged goat in the NFL college. Like this is so easy. Like I'm going to be able to go in and just dominate the college game. I think, you know, Lombardi evaluating the talent there, it's been a lot of the same way. Like not really understanding, you know, the types of athletes and personalities you need to win at that level. And they laid off. I think they had to bring some people back that they fired. But they fired a ton of support staff when they first got that job.

Starting point is 00:26:30 and replace them with people that don't know how college works. Like, don't know how, hey, what's a recruiting violation? What's not? Like, when are we allowed to call players? When are we allowed to give sideline passes to parents? I think the answer to that is never, but they didn't seem to get that memo. So there was just a lot of arrogance with the way they ran.

Starting point is 00:26:49 And arrogance to the point where they were attached to multiple different documentaries, right? They were talking to hard knocks, and then they were supposed to have a thing with Hulu. It's like, that's not the Bill Belichick I remember. from the NFL. The Bill Belichick in the NFL wanted the cameras as far away as possible. So I think he just thought he could waltz into Chapel Hill and it would be so easy to win there after winning six rings in the NFL. Well, Dono, the ACC has a bunch of JV teams, don't you know?

Starting point is 00:27:16 Yeah, right. It's all the junior varsity teams and it looks like they can't beat freshmen out there. So unfortunate. But this is all in all, let this be a cautionary tale to everybody. Let this be a cautionary tale of, well, these things are similar enough. So you should be able to do them. Again, this is not a situation where the last time we saw Bill, he looked fantastic, but he just decided to leave the Patriots. You know, he's still arguing right now with the reporter from CBS as to whether or not he was fired or whether or not it was a mutual parting, which he can't seem to get right

Starting point is 00:27:52 in his mind, which craft is like, no, I fired her. I fired him. There's no, there's no mistake about this. the owner, I fired that guy. He would know. It was a mutual thing. We agreed to go outside. But this is a situation where, again,

Starting point is 00:28:09 last time we saw this guy, he was getting fired, he was not good enough. And people think, well, you can recapture the magic. You could just recapture the magic. And this is a lower level, so it should be easier. If anything, I would argue head coaching college football is exponentially harder than it is in the NFL right now. Because in the NFL, if I sign, I'm in Ross St. Brown for a four-year He stuck with me before you. He may get ANC at three and want to sit out of something like that, but that's one or two big

Starting point is 00:28:37 money guys. Your 50-second guy on the roster is not doing that. You know where they could do that in college? In college, that 50-second guy could say, I need to play more, I need to get paid more, I'm going. And you've got to figure out, okay, do we, what do we do? Is he worth it? Do we let him go?

Starting point is 00:28:55 What do we have happened here? So, again, this is objectively the hardest time. to ever be a college football coach. And you drop this man that is almost a decade older than the retirement age in the U.S. You drop that guy off in this environment and said, hey, buddy, figure it up. And as far as Michael Barty, what the hell has he ever done successfully in terms of football? Just rode some coattails is all he's ever done. And the other, like you gave some very valid reasons why like coaching college can be harder than coaching in the NFL.

Starting point is 00:29:30 Another part of that that you left out, but you might as well leave it out because Bill doesn't do it anyway, is recruiting. But clearly he's not doing it, right? When most head coaches and their staffs during the by week are out at high school games, you know, later in the year making in-home visits. Bill is doing none of that stuff, which again, the real shame here is UNC hiring this guy, probably knowing, oh, yeah, he's not going to go out on the trail the way that every other successful head coach does at this level. So UNC should have never made this move to begin with. But all right, let's talk something that UNC could be pretty good at this year is basketball. So we have the AP preseason top 25 is out.

Starting point is 00:30:11 We'll take a look right here on this brand new episode of Locked on ACC. You want to keep it locked. And I already know you're keeping it locked to Fanduel. The NFL season is here. Colleges in full swing. Fanduel has an offer you do not want to miss. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if you win. That's right. Pick a bet, put down five bucks, and if it hits, you'll unlock

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Starting point is 00:31:10 Fire TV led by Drake Toll, former college star Jesse Holly, former AP coach of the year, Gary Patterson. They preview all of the big games, college football kickoff every Thursday available on Fire TV with Amazon. All right. So, all right, let's take a look, Kenton, at the new AP top 25 for hoops that just dropped this weekend and where the ACC stands in that. Let me go through the full top 25 for the audio listeners, Purdue at number one, Houston, Florida coming off a national championship at number three, Yukon at four. You finally get number six. You've got the Duke Blue Devils. You've got the Louisville Cardinals at number 11. and the North Carolina tar heels at number 25.

Starting point is 00:32:00 I think those are the three ACC representatives in this preseason AP top 25. Who else do you expect, Kenton? I'm sure you're NC State Wolfpack and hopefully my Miami Hurricanes, both new coaches, some ambitions have something to say about this, but other ACC teams that could get into that top 25 once the actual basketball starts getting played.

Starting point is 00:32:22 Oh, you're muted. The Belichick lobby got you. I was about to say, the Belichick lobby. First they get WRA to retract, now they're coming after me. The reality is this. NC State was the team with the most votes who did not get in. Quite literally, I believe, four or five points behind UNC. Very interesting. But also, what other teams could get in here. I mean, after all, the ACC is making a comeback in basketball in a very meaningful way that I don't think most people expect to see coming. And so there are multiple teams. I mean, Steve Forbes, I mean, Steve Forbes, I'm.

Starting point is 00:32:57 out there in Winston-Salem. You always look up and you're always like, are they good? They're always right on the precipice of being good. And I wouldn't be surprised if this was one of the years where they finally figured it out. Clemson lost a ton of experience last year, but you've got to figure with the head coach

Starting point is 00:33:14 like theirs that's been there for forever in a day and he seemingly gets better and better and better each year. You've got to kind of figure that they're going to be a team to be reckoned with. Who could have thought, right? Clemson thinking of themselves as a basketball school this year. Yikes. What a what a nasty time.

Starting point is 00:33:29 But in all seriousness, there are multiple ACC schools that I would not be shocked at all to see like, hey, these guys are coming to play here. And like you said, your Miami Hurricanes have a new head coach. So does Florida. So does so many of these ACC schools coming in with brand new coaches, brand new slates. We're not sure how this thing is going to shake out. But there's a wide open world of opportunity for so many teams in the ACC this year. Yeah, no doubt. And, you know, I just, I'm so angry that the schedule gods, you know, the ACC Commissioner's Office, whoever, doesn't have Miami versus Duke in the regular season this year when, you know, Jay Lucas, former Top Duke assistant is now head coach at Miami.

Starting point is 00:34:11 I'm not loving the new scheduling format, but it is what it is when you got 18 teams as Hoops members, you know, include Notre Dame there. It's tough to get every matchup in that you want. I hope one day we can include Notre Dame into football, by the way. Huge thank you and shout out to everyone for making Locked on ACC your first listen. Make sure to smash that like button and subscribe. Make sure to follow Kenton at TGIF underscore Kenton and check him out on Lockdown Wolfpack. Check me out at Lockdown Canes and follow me at Alex Dono. And we'll talk to you again next time on another episode of Lockdown ACC.

Starting point is 00:34:46 We are part of the awesome Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day.

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