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Episode Date: February 19, 2026

UCLA Basketball implodes as Mick Cronin ejects his own player and clashes with media, sparking debate about his future. Is Cronin’s fiery approach wearing thin, and did UCLA make a costly mistake by extending his contract? Locked On Big Ten Squad tackles Cronin’s meltdown, comparing his antics with Tom Izzo and Matt Painter’s leadership styles, and questions whether postgame outbursts are damaging UCLA’s reputation. The conversation heats up as ESPN rumors swirl about Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State potentially leaving the Big Ten to cash in on their own alliances. Hosts weigh the risks, benefits, and scheduling headaches of a league without its top brands, while panelists analyze Pat Fitzgerald’s impact at Michigan State and debate whether his hiring truly deserves “worst of the cycle” status. Don’t miss candid insights on Big Ten football’s wild future and the turbulent coaching carousel. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, Mick Cronin. Hold on. Who's got Sirens going on in the background? I can hear it. Who's got it? It's not me. It's not me. I don't believe. It's Ryan. It's 100% Ryan. Yeah, it's always. Ryan, are you in Jacksonville?

Oh, it is Ryan. Okay. All right. All right. Well, editor just cut this out. Okay, here we go. Leave it in. Or leave it in. Three, two. Well, Mick Cronin has completely crashed out for UCLA basketball. Plus, could the top teams in the Big Ten really? leave the conference and the higher of Pat Fitzgerald wasn't that bad, right? We talk about all that

and more on today's Lockdown Big Ten Squad. You're talking ball with the Big Ten Squad. From USC to Ohio State from Michigan to Oregon, from Nebraska to Washington, it's the local experts of the Locked on podcast network bringing you scoops, breakdowns, and the most comprehensive preview of the upcoming Big Ten weekend. Know her feelings and thin skin allowed. Squad up, you're part of the Big Ten Squad. Welcome, and it is the Lockdown Big Ten Squad. We are on the Lockdown Podcast Network, the nation's number one sports podcasting network. So thank you so much for making that. So, and this isn't even a squad today. We've got a locked on Big Ten unit. Man, we've got all sorts of folks represented here. And Spencer McLaughlin is not here because he heard we were talking basketball

today, so he figured his presence was not needed. I'm Jacob Goans of Lockdown Hoosiers. Ryan Harings of locked on Badgers. Nick Arvin of Lockdown, Boilermakers is here. Roman Thomashoff locked on Huskies. Zach Anderson, Yoximer, he wasn't going to miss this one. Shades, L.A. traffic and all he is here of locked on, locked on UCLA. We have Zach Seiko of locked on Nittney Lions and Jay Stevens of locked on buck guys. Well, we do talk Pat Fitzgerald because somebody said he was not a good hire for Michigan State.

Seems a little harsh for me. We'll talk about that at the end of today's show. Plus, could the teams at the top of the conference really leave to make more money? But we start with what I think is the biggest story in the Big Ten, Zach Anderson, Yoxheimer. Your head coach had a total crash out the other night on the hardwood. Mick Cronin kicks out his own player, blast a reporter, and don't you dare yell at me when you tell me your response to this and how you took all of this. Are you raising your voice in me, Jacob?

You're not raising your voice in me, are you? I'm just trying to turn on sunset, first off. I'm excited about that, nothing else, except ejecting my own player, of course. Mick Cronin, he crashes out all the time. If you watched any UCLA basketball game, his antics are nothing new. The fact that he ejected his own player who had fouled out and gotten teed up on the flagrant, that was new. And then next thing you know, that was already going viral. Then you mix in the fact that he went crazy after a non-UCL reporter for the student section question was beyond me.

Mick Cronin, he's wearing out his welcome. He's gotten beat down by 30 for the last couple of times. teams and yeah until the until the the stink is gone i got to have the shades on stay far away from it and we'll see if mcronin's out soon the only problem is here's the dumber thing more than what mcronin's done UCLA extended mcron in the off season it'll cost them 22 and a half million to buy him out before april and an extra eight we take 18 million if they wait till after april this year so mick corn is not the dumb one here it's ucla for extended him before this season UCLA athletics making a boneheaded move?

I've never heard that one before. Not at all. I mean, they figured out football a little bit. Thank you, Sanko, for letting the crumbs of Bob Chesney come to UCLA. We're very happy about that. But I'm just saying they extended Cronin. He a week ago said, I'm the one who's coming back next year. Well, he's crashing out, and he's making it tough to let him stay an extra year.

They'll find a way to mess up Bob Chesney. I'll give it time. Wow. Is that a bold take already in February on Chesney? A whole take for losing to a winless UCLA team not too long ago. There's also. Who circled the wagons and it's not about how you start. It's about how you finish.

Penn State's got a bullet. I'll take my one win against top 10 at the time, Penn State. You take what you can get in Los Angeles, right? I want to take a poll of people. Ryan Herrings, we'll start with you, my friend. How do we feel about a coach basically ejecting his own player in the middle of the game, who, by the way, was just giving efforts and a 25 point blowout? your thoughts on that hearings i got no issues with that like i and he was given a little more than

effort like as a head coach man send a message if you don't like what you're seeing on the floor kick him out that's fine i'm good with that what i don't like and not to dovetail into it is the post game i hate i hate his response to that that question part of your job as a coach you make millions of dollars part of your job is to work with the media just is being adult and i'll give you really quick juxtaposition. Wisconsin beat the breaks off Michigan State. And you know what Tom Mizzow said post game? He said his media guy, his handler was next to him and said, okay, one more question for coach. And Tom Mizzo said, no, no, if we get beat like this, it's my job to sit up here and answer every question. You can ask me anyone. I'm not going anywhere. When we get

beat this bad, it's my responsibility to talk to the media and take every question. Being adult, you make millions of dollars. It's embarrassing. It's not new. Like, this isn't new. This isn't surprising, but people need to ask questions. That's their job. Being adult, treat them with respect. I didn't like that at all. But throwing the player out, kicking your own guy out, if you don't like it, or moving from the court, I'm fine with that part. But the other part, I thought was childish. Nick Arvin have locked on Boilermakers. Matt Painter's never kicked his own player off the floor, right, or said mean things in a press conference to upset somebody's feelings. I actually haven't seen this happen at all, even outside of Matt Painter. I was listening to what Izzo had to say about it last

nine. He said that he's never seen a coach kick their own player out of the game. So I'm sure that he has seen more things than I have. Still, insane for me. I guess if that's the precedent, you want to set all the credit to him, but you can't go after the game and say, are you raising your voice at me to a reporter? You have to have some social awareness there, especially with the reputation that Cronin already has. I thought it was a bad look. And then I watched Matt Painter last night who lost to Michigan. He still says, sat there. He answered every single question. Didn't raise his voice, wasn't disrespectful. I think that's the way it could. That's the way a coach should be. I don't think Cronin

necessarily represents that. Zach Secoe of locked on Nittany Lions and Roma Thomasoff of Locked on Locked on Huskies. This will go to both of you and you can find on who answers first because can your head coach embarrass themselves if the programs themselves are not all that right now in terms of basketball? The winning team and the last basketball game should get to go first there. I was hoping. Roman had to witness it in person. I was waiting for that.

You witnessed a Penn State men's basketball victory. Those are rare. Those are rare. And I'm glad you got to be a part of that, Roman. Why are you asking me? Why? The basketball, I don't. Because you showed up.

I don't know. You're here. I'm a participation award, I hope. I guess that's, I guess that's why I'm here because basketball, I don't know how many opinions I'm allowed to have. So I will talk trash to Roman because he, He lost to that Penn State team.

But yeah, as far as the coaching antics go, I kind of almost wait because it seems like this is a routine thing for Cronin. It seems like every time. And I heard about this before we even got together. Somebody, I go to wrestling media availability. And they're like, did you see what Mick Cronin said? I was like, which time? What, are we rehashing something or is it new? And go figure it's new.

So if UCLA wants to move on from him, okay, great. He just he is he is what he is he just he's uh he gets a little too fired up in uh post post game media availability it is what it is all right now that now that I can not have to suffer through watching that basketball game anymore yes uh don't trust me I know I've sat through many disgusting losses in you know basketball season already this year it's it's horrendous uh I'm gonna do something that I never thought I was going to do I'm be pro Mick Cronin for about 10 seconds here. Whoa.

I was pro kicking your player out of that game. It was just a really heated moment, especially since he was a former Michigan State student, the guy who did get kicked out. You don't want anything like extra to come with that. It was obviously just a very emotional time. And I feel like it's just safer for everybody for that to happen. However, everything else had happened after that with the media and everything. That's just ridiculous.

That is so stupid. I've sat in so many media rooms where I've been there after big wins, after terrible losses, Seiko, thanks again. And I've heard great questions ask. I've heard terrible questions asked. I've seen players crying mid-interview after losing the national championship because the last thing they wanted to do was sit there and talk to people. And they still handled every single question with grace and with respect.

And I've never seen, or I would say I've never seen anything like that. We saw Lincoln Riley do it during the football season as well. And it's just, it's ridiculous, man. All we're doing is our jobs. And even if you don't like the question, even if you don't agree with the question, you can stomach a 10 second answer. It's not going to kill you to do that. Yeah, to Ryan's point, you make millions of dollars to answer.

And answering questions is in your contract. It's not that big of a deal. Jay Stevens of Lockdown, Buck, guys, if you had one word to describe Mick Cronin as a, as a, I don't know, personal or a, I don't know, just a public figure. There we go, that's one other term I was looking for. One word to describe Mick Cronin as a public figure. What would it be? Oh, I can't do public figure because the word I was going to use doesn't fit the public figure.

Just in this description, his antics were annoying. And as I'm listening to everybody talk, I thought Doug Gottlieb's rant and blow up and pounding the table is going to be the worst coach thing we saw all week. It might be the worst. But Mick Cronin, what he did is right up there with being one of the dumbest things we've seen the coach do recently. I've never on board with the coach kicking his player out of the game unless you're like if you're getting in a fight that's completely different but I don't believe there was a fight in the situation to where that would warrant somebody going back to the locker room. That's very weird to me. He sounds like a, and I'm short myself. So what I'm saying is that I'm not like tall.

He sounds like a guy that has short man syndrome and just really feels like everyone's picking on him and looking down on him. And I know I get like that sometimes, but you can't allow that to impact your job. and he consistently let that happen. Craig Sheiman have locked on Big Ten is here. We'll wrap up this segment and move on to big teams leaving inside of the Big Ten coming up next. But Craig, is Mick Cronin the most annoying basketball coach in a conference that has Eric Musselman in it? Yeah. By the way, I'm 6'3 almost.

So I would look down on them. But if I were to use a word to describe it, I was just miserable. What a miserable human being. And we've got a couple of problems here. first of all with the hard file. I mean, yeah, it wasn't great, but on a scale of 1 to 10, maybe it's a two. I've seen a lot worse than that. I certainly wouldn't have thrown my kid out of the game like that and embarrassed them.

And the problem with the post game is it's on video and audio. We've all seen it. We've all heard it. Nobody was raising any voice to anybody except to maybe be heard above the other reporter that thought it was his turn at that point when Cronin reengaged the reporter. It's absolutely ridiculous. it's a horrible look. I don't think it's going to go away over the next 24 hours or so. I think it's going to linger for a little while.

He just looks like a miserable human being. I will say the most miserable person I'll say in college sports head coaching in Los Angeles is Lincoln Riley. If we all remember our group chat that we have with our squad, I threw out some shots towards a beloved member Mark Colkin of Lincoln Riley, who just three months ago in a similar press conference situation said to a reporter, that's the dumbest question I've ever been asked. You should feel embarrassed for asking that question.

That was Lincoln Riley's approach. I will say Cronin answered the question. He said, I don't care, which is an answer, a stupid answer, but he answered the question and then said, you've asked me the dumbest question. But is that the craziest response in the Los Angeles coach is given to a postgame presser in the last three months? I would say Lincoln Riley's is worse.

Now, Cronin did 10 dumb things to go along with it, so he's got to take the blame to go with what he did. I would expect nothing less from you, Zach Anderson, Yach Seimer. Look at you coming to the defense of your program. Nobody else will do it, but you will. That's why you host our UCLA-based show here at Lockdown. Well, we need to take a break and we'll come back. And folks at ESPN are saying that the top teams in the Big Ten could leave the conference altogether

and keep all the money for themselves. We talk about that next on the Lockdown Big Ten squad. I'm Kahlia Butler, host of Locked-on women's basketball. And this is Mazda's Women's Basketball Snapshot, celebrating the work no highlight reel can ever capture. Don Staley and South Carolina remain on top of the SEC standings after handing Tennessee their worst defeat in program history with a final score of 93 to 40. In the 43 point win, South Carolina shot 69% from the field. Tessa Johnson had a perfect shooting night scoring 24 points, shooting four for four from the floor, including two threes and made all four of her free throws. and UCLA remains undefeated in Big Ten play, topping Michigan 69 to 66, as player of the year contender, Lauren Fetz, put up a double double, scoring 16 points, collecting 16 rebounds and adding five assists and three blocks.

These moments are earned off the clock. Those long before the lights ever come on. The sweat, the fakes, the doubt, the scrapes, and coming back for more every time. Mazda puts the same drive into every detail. define the moment, putting in the work, that defines you. There's more to a Mazda because there's more to you. This episode of the Lockdown Big Ten Squad is brought to you by Fandle. Have you ever wanted to experience the NBA finals live and in person? Fandle is giving you the chance to turn that dream into reality with their NBA sweepstakes. Here's how it works. I use your NBA profit boost right now and in the NBA futures bet and you'll automatically be entered for a shot to win an NBA finals trip for two. That's right.

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to the NBA finals. Play your game with Fandul, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. All right, welcome back into the locked on Big Ten squad. We got a whole conglomer to people here on this Thursday, eight of us, in fact. And so it allows us to start talking a little football because we had some folks at ESPN on the college game day podcast. Reese Davis, the host of Game Day was on the podcast as well. And he brought up the idea that the teams at the top, supposedly, of the Big Ten could leave the conference altogether and keep all the money for themselves. He says Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan could ditch the conference, do their own thing, and keep the money for themselves.

Craig Scheman of Locked on Big Ten, I start with you, my friend. Is that something that could actually happen? And would it work out for the teams if they actually left? Well, it's interesting. They mentioned Michigan because if I recall, the first time such a story came out like in November when there was talk of the equity deal of a firm buying the Big Ten for billions of dollars. I think it was Michigan that stood up and says, whoa, we're not thinking down the future fart up. Yeah, we'd all love to put hundreds of millions of dollars in our back pocket right now. That'd be great.

But how much more are we going to be worth 10 years from now? So I think the regents of Michigan put the kibosh and all that because I think actually there were some serious talks going on with Tony Petiti at that time. So this conversation comes up again. I would say this, whether those teams need the conference or the conference needs those teams, look at the NFL model. Look, Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys, for example, could get more money than anybody else, but he realizes that the Green Bay Packers,

you know, all 32 pieces of the NBA or the NFL together are more valuable than any one team. So he's willing to take a little less, make sure Green Bay and their small market gets theirs and Seattle gets theirs. You got to realize you're part of a bigger product that's bigger than you that helps your value, I think, in the long run. I think it would be a tremendous mistake for anybody to leave and go on their own.

Plus, I spend an enormous amount of time railing on Notre Dame, telling them to get their rear ends in a conference like everybody else. If we all start going independent, you think football's crazy right now, wait until people start going out on their own. Yeah, and I want folks to kind of chime in with their thoughts, but I get to Jay Stevens of locked on buck guys. I mean, you guys just going to leave and do your own thing. And maybe even leave Penn State of Michigan out of it to Ohio State just does their own thing.

Maybe we should bring back the Longhorn Network, but instead, the Buckeye Network. That's what people at ESPN are talking about. Oh, you're muted, Jay. He's already doing his own thing. God, he's already doing it. He's talking to himself and doesn't even care about us. He just wants to talk to his people and his people. I muted myself during the ad read.

It didn't hit the button when we went all back on the screen. But I think the Buckeye Network would be great. But I personally think- I was joking. We're not doing that. It's not real. No, no, it's not real. It's not at all.

What isn't going to be real is Ohio State leaving the Big Ten? I think that it would be something that I think Ohio State is one of the brands, one of the rare brands in college football that could actually make this a reality and go out there and sell themselves and find a TV network to broadcast their home games. I think the issue is scheduling. Like the scheduling part is real. And a lot of teams right now are trying to go away from the big non-conference games. I mean, there's talks right now of the Ohio State, Alabama,

home and home series being canceled. because when the SEC goes to non-conference games, does Alabama want to play Ohio State in the non-conference schedule? Probably not. And so when those things are going away, we're going to talk about a big 10 that's stronger right now. If you go to an independent schedule, your schedule's going to be weaker.

And I don't think it's really a big benefit for the buck guys. I think it would hurt them in the long run. And there's too many benefits to being inside of a conference that I think of Ohio State went this way. I'll actually push you back and say, no, stay in the conference. It's a bigger benefit for you to be there than to be an independent. Zach Sakeo, the host of Vokton, Nittany Lions. How did Penn State get looped into this conversation?

I mean, as far as I know, didn't you guys just fire your coach, have to bring in somebody else because you're not winning enough games? How in the world of the Nitty Lions involved? It has nothing to do with it. It has to do with brand power and revenue generated. Ohio State and Michigan are top five brands. Penn State is a top 10 brand. So if those three were to,

and the reason this idea is floated is because those three would need to form an alliance together. Okay. One does not work without. the other. Ohio State would need Michigan. The game itself, the Ohio State Michigan game itself generates allegedly $200 million. One game has $200 million in terms of revenue generated and these schools are all getting an equal cut of give or take $75 million. So do we see the math here and why this idea at least is being floated, why it makes sense? The idea makes sense. But yes, it would compromise the Big Ten. Yes, there's,

I'm not advocating for Penn State to leave the conference and go, you need other elements here because part of that is getting Notre Dame to join that alliance. Because then Michigan versus Notre Dame, that would generate over $100 million. Penn State versus Notre Dame, Ohio State versus Notre Dame. And then how you do the rest of the scheduling, the idea is that those three iterations of those games alone would be enough to fund your schedule and then some. The TV networks would still want you? It's would everybody else want you?

Who's going to schedule non-conference games with you? I guess if you have all that extra money, you can pay schools to say, hey, we'll pay you $10 million just to play us. So in the math works. Even P4 teams though? Like, I mean, is Wisconsin going to take money to go play? Well, that's a or Purdue or something like that. I don't know.

That's the stand. That's the stand. And if you offer, say you offer $12 million to a school that absolutely needs it to stay competitive in their conference. I'm thinking somebody from the ACC or the Big 12 that just wants to compete, Hey, produce in this call, Nick, go ahead. I mean, I don't think we're going to be in that power conference, especially not for football.

Like, I think it would be catastrophic for the Big Ten at least. I understand what you guys are saying in terms of Michigan, Ohio State, being big enough brands, even Penn State and there to make it work on their own. But from a Big Ten perspective, I think that would be terrible. You talk about Oregon, UCLA, USC, all those teams coming over Washington as well, Roman. Yeah, I was getting to you. Didn't they lose to Penn State? Yeah.

They come over. They come over and then almost immediately in this scenario, Michigan, Ohio State leaves. What does that mean for them as they just moved? And it's easy to say that this would never happen or to have the perspective that this would never happen. But I feel like a lot of people would have also said that about Oklahoma and Texas leaving the Big 12. And they go to the SEC for a lot of money. Really anything could happen at this point in college football. as long as the money makes sense, that really feels like where this sport is headed and has been

headed for quite a while. I would absolutely hate it. I think it ruins the integrity of number one, the big 10, but also what are these programs going to do? You already have college football conversations about strength of schedule. How do you know that Ohio State or Michigan is going to be able to schedule 12 games that are good and not just Ball State, Ohio, Mac teams? You know, there's a lot that goes into it. I just don't think it's going to happen, though. Let me reiterate again. One game allegedly makes $200 million. Nine big 10 conference games and then maybe a postseason Big Ten championship pays out $78 million.

This is why this is being discussed. What would the TV deals look like though for that? Would it just be those four teams they get the same TV deal because you got Notre Dame on NBC? They would probably just have their own. It would be a mercenary thing. I don't think Notre Dame would agree, right? I mean, Notre Dame's got a monopoly on NBC and they wouldn't. They wouldn't want to play Michigan.

They wouldn't want the revenue from Michigan or Penn State or Ohio State. I mean, for me, man, I mean, we're all fans, right? We got into this because we're fans. It'd be heartbreaking for me as a fan. I'm a Big Ten fan. I grew up watching this. It would just be greed, pushing those schools out, and they're not the first school to succumb to greed.

So it's not unique, but it's really sad. There's a ton of money. And it is what it is, but it would be really sad. The other thing I would say is be careful what you wish for a little bit. I think scheduling could be a real bugaboo. I think individual networks might not work nearly as well as you think they are. You could lose a lot of the fan base and tradition that your fans love. Great, you make a little more money.

I don't know if that's going to be worth in the long run. There is a part of me, by the way, who I think of the Big Ten as a family. And there is a part of it that's like, oh, let's see, my family minus Ohio State who kicks the crap out of me every week. Michigan who cheats at everything and Penn State who quite frankly is a recent addition that every time I talk to Penn State, they're like, I don't really love the Big Ten. Like, okay, then leave. Like there's a part of me that's kind of like, let me kick out the three most toxic members of my family.

And I think skivings are going to be a lot better. So there's a part of me that's, if they want to do it, honestly, it stinks, it's greed. There's also a part of me that's like, fine, go do your thing. Whatever, we'll be fine. They'll be fine. It is what it is. Money drives everything. So that's kind of where I'm at.

it's a little dual-faced, I guess. Roman, what's your West Coast take before we move on to our final segment? Zach, sorry, you had your moment in the first segment, brother. We'll get back to you moment. You already chimed in on the greed conversation. We know your stance on this. So, Roman, your thoughts from the West Coast. Mine would be quite frankly, what the hell?

Like, as I look at this from, you know, the perspective of USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington, especially Oregon and Washington, who made this move to stay alive in just the grand scheme of college football. I feel like both those programs could stay afloat in some way, shape, or form if this move didn't happen. But the fact that they did this for a half share media rights deal, because of the Big Ten, because of the power that it holds, so much of that power does come from Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State. I feel like the Big Ten brand is big enough to still survive in some way, shape, or form. But if this were something that were to ever come to fruition, I feel like it would just very quickly dissipate so much of the, the just stranglehold that the Big Ten can have. have across the world of college football at this point in time, especially. A brand that's not included in this conversation is Michigan State,

who just recently hired Pat Fitzgerald, one reporter, one news writer, one journalist, whatever, they said it was the worst hire of this cycle. It may not be good, but seems a little harsh to me. We'll talk about that and wrap up the Lockdown Big Ten Squad Show right after this. Tax season does not have to take over your life. Okay, this year, TurboTax is making it easier than ever just to hand things off and move on with your day. With TurboTax full service,

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a five-hour energy shots available online at five-hourenergy.com or on Amazon. All right, final segment on today's episode of the Lockdown Big Ten Squad. And I found an article from a CBS sports writer who was grading the new hires around the Big Ten. And they graded Pat Fitzgerald pretty low, barely a passing grade, which, you know, D's get degrees and that's how I got mine. But they said Pat Fitzgerald was the worst. Isn't it C's get degrees? Not in my world. It's not. I want to go to your school. I mean, hey, it got the job done. But they said Pat Fitzgerald was the worst hire of the cycle in the big tent. Now, there's several new coaches that have joined our league. And I kind of want to zoom out on the college football as a whole. I don't personally think that Pat Fitzgerald's going to get Michigan State back to a college football playoff or anything.

But I don't think it's that bad of a hire, right? Somebody jump in here and tell me that I'm wrong. I think he's a good coach. Look, he won a lot of games at Northwestern. And I'm sure when Kurt Signetti got hired, a lot of people actually did Google him because they didn't know who he was, right? And look, look, he's better than Jonathan Smith. When the the, the, the annals of history go down and look at all the coaches at Michigan. Michigan State, Jonathan Smith's going to be a blip.

It was like he was barely there and he's better than Mel Tucker. I'll tell you that right now. So no, I think he's a good football coach. I'll keep it short and sweet. I think he's going to, I don't, I don't know Michigan State has the resources to get that program up to the top, but that's a good football coach right there, I think. He can be better than end of 10 year Chip Kelly in any part of Deshawn Foster, who is even less than a blip of Jonathan Smith.

Well, Zach Anderson, Yach Seimer, have locked on use. UCLA, funny, you chime in because you've got a new coach too. How would you grade your coach versus Fitzgerald in terms of hiring and what they can do at their new schools? Well, for me, UCLA was the longest in the running for a head coach. I think in this cycle, they got the early firing party started. UCLA got their dude. I'm not sure of Michigan State really timed it well. Michigan State was happy when they got Jonathan Smith.

UCLA really could have done that years ago. Now we fast forward a couple of years to where we are now. Jonathan Smith didn't work out. I think now that when these two schools were hiring again, UCLA got a much better fit for what they need because Michigan State just needs some stability, right? And hopefully Pat Fitzgerald can bring that, not just national credibility, it's the stability.

UCLA needs culture built. So what they're looking for are two different things. Fitzgerald could bring that to MSU. I'm just not sure that means Sparty's going to go in the CFP anytime soon. Yeah. I was going to say, I think Fitz, towards the end of that Northwestern tenure, it got pretty bad. I think people forget a little bit

because fair point, Northwestern, not the easiest place to win, obviously, and he had success early. Three of his last four years, he won one Big Ten game. I think he went one and eight, one and eight. Then he had a six-win Big Ten season. Then he went one and eight again. It was a really bad end to the Fitz tenure. And was that the COVID season?

I think the hire is a little overwhelming, to be completely frank. I think it's, I don't think it's a terrible hire. He is an adult. I think he can go in there and be an adult and stabilize things. I'll also really quickly. Is that the standard in Spartyland? He's an adult. You do need to stabilize.

I will point out, like, coaching higher grades can be, they're like draft grades. As a fan of a team who, when they made their last coaching hire, got all A's. Luke Fickle was a home run hire by every single grade. Who knows, right? I want to put too much stock in grades. But I do think Fits is a little bit of an overwhelming hire, to be completely honest. Nick Arvin, locked on Boilerm, would you take Pat Fitz trailed right now? are you guys doing okay over there on the football field?

We'll see. I think this year determines a lot. You get rid of Ryan Walters and say, Barry Odom, this is going to be the guy that turns the program around. You get two wins last year. If he does it again, I think Barry should be gone as well until you find someone that can actually do the job. In terms of the Pat Fitzgerald conversation,

I mean, I understand the end of the tenure didn't end out great at Northwestern. I think he's been gone for three years, hasn't been in a college game. So there are some questions. Can he get it going in the new era of college football? But what do you look at what he did at Northwestern, making it to 10 bowl games in 16 years? I would take that if I'm a Michigan State fan. Now, I wouldn't expect to get a Signetti-type turnaround

where you're almost immediately at the top of college football. That's not what I would expect if I'm a Michigan State fan. But if I'm looking for stability, I don't think that Fitzgerald is a bad move. Zach Caco of Locked on Nittany lines. We'll go to you and then finish with Roman Thomasoff, of locked on Huskies. I mean, Pat Fitzgerald's not in Happy Valley, but he is at Michigan State. Any concern with him or maybe can he turn it around up there? I mean, I think he's a good coach still and I wonder, okay, you have, you have the academics at Northwestern, which is kind of the

difficult part of that. So you can't really do as much as you would like to. So I wonder, okay, you combine, you know, a little more flexibility at Michigan State with somebody that, you know, just has time to reassess, take a break from things. I think that can help a lot. And so that's the question, can he handle the new era of college athletics? Why does Pat Fitzgerald have to manage all of that? Why isn't there? And I know there's a separation of powers. There's a general manager there. The guy, he actually used to work as a wide receivers coach for Matt Campbell. So that's how I know that. But he's going to focus on the football side and then let all the, you know, hey, financial, NIL, a little more scouting, why not separate some of that? Why not defer some of that?

Delegate some of it. And that's what he's doing. Let him lead the program truly and just get the right people in the right spot. So I think he can succeed. Yeah, Nick makes a great point. It's not going to be an Indiana turnaround. But could he be eight and four, nine and three and start to the battle is in Michigan. It starts in Michigan. If you're able to start to take some recruits back away from the Wolverines, that starts to sink their ship a little bit. And that's going to be a big deal, especially when there's not really a lot of stability there right now with them changing coaches too. A couple of things here.

First, Nick, thanks for Ryan Walters. Not, not, you know, talking about anything he did as a head coach. Awesome defensive coordinator. Appreciate that. But also two things on this. I feel like there are two separate trains of thought that can be true at the same time. one, that of the new coaches in the Big Ten, it might be considered the worst hire,

depending on how some people might feel about Bob Chesney or something like that. I feel like that's the only other one. Bob Chess, he's a A plus. See, and that's kind of what I think. I'm not saying he's a bad hire, but I'm not saying he's a bad hire by any such the imagination, but I feel like that's the only other one that people might compare to because, you know, you look at Michigan with Kyle Whittingham

and Penn State with Matt Campbell at the top and say, oh, okay, yeah, we really like these hires for reason X, reason why. And at the same point, Pat Fitzgerald for everything that Saco is saying, very clearly can get a program back on track. And for what Michigan State has been for the last handful of years, just very clearly been a disaster. I feel like that stability is a very nice floor to have. It might take a little bit to get going. But I think in terms of the toughness especially that we've seen that Pat Fitzgerald can still in a team, I feel like things can be just fine in East Lansing.

There's a lot going on around the big team. 10. And we do this every single week on the locked on big 10 squad. So however you found this show today, YouTube or audio or on social media, however you found it, go to that channel, subscribe to them on YouTube, follow us on your audio podcasting platforms. We do it every week, talking the biggest stories around the big 10. For Craig Schemean of Lockdown Big 10, Ryan Herings of Lockdown Badgers, Nick Arvin, a locked on boilermakers, our boy, Zach Anderson, Yoxhammer, I think he's still stuck in traffic in Los Angeles? I don't really know. Zach Sanko, host of Lockdown Nitney Lions, Roman Thomas Shop of Lockdown Huskies, Jay Stevens of Lockdown, of Lockdown Buck Guys was here too.

I'm your man Jacob Goads of Lockdown Hoosiers. For all Big Ten fans out there, stay safe and we'll talk to you later.