The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Are Teams Selecting QBs Too High In The NFL Draft? | Local Hour

Episode Date: April 30, 2026

"I found a rock-hard Starburst." Tony's day gets off to a tough start when Dan catches him flossing his teeth just before the show, and Zas admits he's scared of Q-tips. Also, with Ty Simpson going to the Los Angeles Rams earlier than expected, the show debates the merits of taking QBs early in the draft while your franchise QB is still around. Today's cast: Dan Le Batard, Jonathan Zaslow, Chris Cote, Jeremy Tache, Mike Ryan, Roy Bellamy, and Tony Calatayud. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Let's talk groceries, specifically your groceries. With Instacart, you want your groceries just the way you like them, right? Well, the Instacart app lets you do just that. They have a new preference picker that lets you pick how ripe or unripe you want your bananas. Shoppers can see your preferences up front, helping guide their choices. Instacart, get groceries just how you like. Zaislo, we have used you as a bit of an arbiter, a judge, an impartial person, and over the years here, you haven't been here when I have broken what the people here are telling me are acceptable public social norms in that I will put lotion on my body in front of people.

Are you good with that or are you not good with that? No, no, if you ask you, you got to do something about that. Okay, but in front of people, though, you've got to do something about it, but they've told me that's something you do in private. You do it in your bedroom. You do it in your bathroom. They've told me that also of Q-tips when I come out of the bathroom. Oh, no, that's no good. That's no good. It's no good. It's not good. It's just you're trying to have a sincere conversation with a gentleman

and he starts applying lotion on his own skin. That's a little strange. Don't okay with the lotion. I mean, you're not rubbing it on your belly in front of me. No, it's mostly my arms and my elbows, but it is sometimes my legs. I'm bringing all this up for a reason, okay, because Tony just did something that I think is more of a violation than what I've ever done because Tony, do you even know what you were doing? I know exactly what I was doing, and that was a quick thing, and I put it back there, and that was it. Okay, but to tell me... Not going to get defensive.

To tell the audience what you were doing. Too late for that. You're already there. I'm not defensive. Which is worse here, Zadzl. You have to pick among these three things, okay? And put it on the poll as well, Jujuat Lebitard show. Which is worse to do in public? Use a cue tip, put lotion on your arms, or floss.

Oh, Tloss? Tony, you floss just now? Okay, floss is strong. Foss is strong. What I had was a floss stick, right? Tiny thing. I had to get one thing and then I got it out and I put it there. What is the stick called or what stick?

Floss stick. You objected to the idea that you were flossing while using a flossing. Yes, because flossing insinuates that I have a long-ass string tied on my fingers and I'm going like this. That's not true. If you're flossing in public, you think you're better than me? You're not. Tony. You're picking you a little.

teeth in front of people. Did you see it? You were right there. You were hiding right there. Weren't you a toothpick guy? No. You never had a toothpick hanging out of your mouth? See, this is interesting, right? Because flossing is definitely disgusting, but the toothpick is readily available at the hostess desk at a restaurant implying it's okay to use this in public.

Thank you, Billy. I believe that Mike Ryan just confused Roy with 1985 Royal Shortstop UL.L. Washington who played with a toothpick in his mouth. Yes, he did. I also confused him with you, because you were big into that. Cinnamon toothpick. You were one of those with a cinnamon toothpick.

You were swaggerjack and Razor Ramon. Yep. So you're going to say that about me, knowing your back. Oh, I don't think the toothpick is as bad as flossing. I was using the toothpick end. There's a floss in and a toothpick end. I believe if I said it, it out to the audience and I said, which

are you more okay with? Somebody in public flossing or using a toothpick, that one's coming back in my favor, Tony. You're going to lose. It has, it literally has a toothpick at the end of it. That's not the part you were using. You were using the string and the string had remnants on it when you pulled it out of your mouth.

This is the Dan Levatore show with the Stugats podcast. Juju also put it on the poll, Are You Afraid of Q-Tips? Because Zazazzo, Aslo just whispered to me that he's afraid of Q-tips, and I will say there have been a handful of times while using Q-tips that I've been afraid of Q-Tips because they can hurt your ear, and they can certainly... What are you shaking your head about? No, they say a lot of things, Dan.

If you know what you're doing, if you're a sniper with it, if you're exactly where you need to be, you're fine. There's nothing wrong with it. I'm afraid of Q-Tips, but I'm not afraid of Q-Tips in the way that, like, the woman on Mori-Povich, they show her pickles and she runs out and she screams. I'm not afraid of Q-tips like that. I'm afraid of using Q-Tips. I don't think there's a more ridiculous thing you can be afraid of. That's where I stand. All right, put it on the poll as well.

Is there a more ridiculous thing to be afraid of than the Q-Tip? You don't want to do damage to your ear. Tony, though, when he says he's a sniper, he's showing the Q-tip the proper respect because I only get in trouble when I'm casual about it, when I forget that the Q-tip is not to be treated casually. It's like handling a... It's like Ron McGill.

You're handling a wild animal, right? You're handling a tiger, an elephant, a bear, whatever it is. You got to go in with a certain respect, right? You go in. Q-Tip, I know your power. Your power can leave me deaf. But what I'm going to do is go just around the rim right there, boom, I'm done. Hearing about it.

All right, put it on the pole. Dirty eye ears as well at Lebitard show. Q-tips aren't the only thing that you can clean your ear with. Should you approach a Q-tip the way you do a bear is he's just, because I think, Hey Bear, this is not the way. Ron McGill has told us, don't do it cautiously. Go in aggressively with your arms up in the air, yelling, hey, bear, and make yourself larger if you run away. Or if you're too cautious, the bear will smell your fear.

So that is not how to treat a cute. No, but it depends which color bear. Black and brown, you got to treat. Black, you do that. You try and scare it. Brown, you get down. No, I think, no, that's not right. It's not, although that's a good rhyme.

Brown, you get down. I think, well, playing dead is one. circumstance that you can do, but I believe the advice is for the same for all bears, which is you try at the front end to make yourself large first. And then if that doesn't work, you go to play dead. Like, if you don't successfully scare the bear and the bear keeps coming at you, then you have to go to play dead. I have a memory of my dad at one point in my life, cleaning his ear by, like, laying on the

couch and putting something like in his ear. He did like the candle. The wax. No, that thing worked. There's no way that way that way. I have no idea what it is, but just tell, like, what was that? I have some memory of that. I'm interested in that.

All right. So, first of all, please get me one of those nearby. I'd like Zaslo to do it before the end of the show today. One of what nearby? I'll tell you, it is an ear wax. There's fire involved with this. You have to set fire to something. And what it does is, without the Q-Tip and without the dangers of puncture,

it lifts from your ear all sorts of insanity. that you did not know was in your ear. That's not true. Okay. I've seen the videos. So hold on, you're going to tell me a lit candle to my ear. Not a lit candle. No, no, it's like wax paper.

You light some wax paper. It's like a cone or a tube of some sort. You light it and it pulls from your ear. Whatever the fire does, pulls from your ear. What I'm telling you is we need to go get a bunch of these and do it and compare. I want to compare it. Look, we are now showing our audience, the insides, the ugly insides. the ugly insides of this company.

On social media, either soon or it's already gone out, you will see our junk drawers. There are junk drawers are going out, and you're going to find out, like in the inner crevices of what makes a house a home, you're going to find how sloppy and gross this crew is with its junk drawer. What are you laughing about?

Why would the junk drawer be embedded? You're not going to find, like, dirty magazines in the junk drawer. If I'm porn, it's stuff that you need. Okay, but it can be... I found... It can be that you're gross. I found a rock hard starburst. It must have been in there for like seven years.

I found a Christmas ornament yesterday that made me feel the same. I'm like, why is this in here? It doesn't make any sense. Why is this here? I haven't seen this in seven years. It hasn't been on the tree. What is this doing in here? Put it on the poll at Lebitard show.

I want an over under here. Over under on number of items that would, surprise you to find in your own junk drawer. What are they're going to say ear? What is the number that I have to put that at in order to make that competitive? Five, four and a half? Where do I have to put the number, the over under number, on surprises? You're going to open your junk drawer and you haven't looked at it in a while.

I'm going to tell you what's in there. How much of it will surprise you? I think it's going to be higher in that. No? All right. We're going to do that. We're going to have kind of the same things, though, right? pens and clips and this and that

there's other things that are going to be totally wild. That and the other type of thing. Exactly right. Well, one of our employees stunned me when she opened her junk drawer and there was very clearly a young and shirtless Greg Cody. So while

Zaz says, while Zaz says I'm not going to find any porn in there, shirtless Greg Cody in somebody's junk drawer is Porn to someone. Suspicious. I'm just going to call it suspicious and leave it at that. But please, somebody out there at Metal Arc Media, before the end of the show today, find me the wax paper that we can do on air, hopefully live here, where we are

taking junk out of our ears and find out what's happening there. Did you guys have any reaction to the news yesterday that the dolphins are saying that Proctor is starting at Guard? Because I do have a natural aversion. I do. I really do. To guard play in this sport? Because I've watched football all my life, and I never noticed the guard. And there have been plenty of Hall of Fame guards. I'm not saying that the guard is not important. I'm just saying that when watching football, I generally don't notice what the guards are doing ever for any reason. There are also guards that develop into tackles. Well, that's what's going to happen here. Potentially, or you can be kept at guard. I know, look, you may hold that as a slight against. So Mauanoa was a pillar at right tackle for the

University of Miami. The Giants came out and said they're starting him at guard two. I'm just saying that when I think of benign positions in the NFL, I got this one wrong on safety because I generally wouldn't draft a safety in the top 10. And there are a couple of safeties that I would be wrong for all time in not doing so because Ed Reed and Palomal, who were wildly impactful players. But safety would be a distant second. Like outside of the kicking game and stuff in the kicking game, just I don't, who's the, Give me the best guard the Miami Dolphins have ever had. Go ahead.

Pete Sims. That was the first round. It was a first round guard. It's one they took in the first round. Like, you don't usually take many guards in the first round because of what it is that I'm saying. One of the things that I think that's interesting and happening in the draft, and Ty Simpson, I don't know whether you guys thought he was a reach. I thought that was a reach. But I think that I might be looking at what it is that McVeigh and some of the smarter coaches in the NFL who have to be ahead of the curve,

that they're noticing something that I'm not. I told you, I've said many times before, the disposable running back, that was me getting old on television in real time where I was making the argument on behalf of, you have to sign all the girlies of the world long term, the Dalvin Cooks, and the sport just blew past me in terms of how they were doing

where they find value. I think the same thing has happened the last couple of years quietly in the NFL, where the guys who are the quarterback whispers, whether they're taking JJ, McCarthy or Ty Simpson, they're willing to take the second best quarterback, even if he shouldn't be drafted in the top 15 because they want to take a gamble with the most valuable thing in the sport, which is, can I get a quarterback cheap? I'll reach on only that position because I think

I can get a quarterback cheap and there's no greater advantage that I can have than having a quarterback cheap. Don't even tell me he's good. Just give me the second best quarterback in the draft, even if he's not any good. Even if J.J. McCarthy has been here. hidden for an entire season by a Jim Harbaugh who's winning the championship by hiding his quarterback, that there's a new model in the NFL where the second best quarterback, whether he's any good or not, is going to get taken in the top 15. I'm not even sure it's a new model. It's scarcity at the position. We kind of had a similar discussion last year when Cam Ward went number one. Cam Ward last year was a number one

overall pick. If he entered the draft a year before with the same kind of hype surrounding him, he might have been the third or fourth quarterback taken off the board. Ty Simpson, in a week class was indeed by consensus, the second highest rated quarterback on the board, and usually they go in the first round, no matter what. Even when we had prior to rookie wage scales, it is the game's most important position. Dan, is this about ego for the coaches, right? We talked a couple of weeks ago about coaches in the NFL not wanting a guy who thinks too much. Run my offense, right? That's what we talked about. John Gruden, you're going to run these sets of plays and like this is what it's going to be. Is that not the hubris and the ego of Kevin O'Connell,

Sean McVeigh of guys like, hey, I know what my offense can do. If I can get a guy who can just do what I need him to do like J.J. McCarthy did for KOC. It was like, all right, let me get him. Let me plug him into my system. And now we're looking at Sam Darnal walking away for $100 million. J.J. McCarthy not being that guy. And now you got Kyler Murray.

It's like kind of the ego of Kevin O'Connell saying I can do anything. There is no doubt those coaches have ego. I mean, McVeigh, Stafford was a great player, came over there, became an MVP and a Super Bowl champion. but he proved that he could do it with golf. He turned golf's career around. But I'm not even so sure this was a Sean McVey call. Let's watch this footage from the NFL draft,

and let's see how excited Sean McVeigh was to even speak with I Simpson. I'm going to pass you to your new head coach, Sean McVeigh. Yes, sir. Hi. What's up, Coach? How are you? I'm great. How are you?

Good, man. Well, congratulations, man. Excited to get to work with you. It's going to be a lot of fun, buddy. Let's go make history, coach. Yeah, no, and hey, enjoy this night, man. You earned it. Have fun. Tell your family, we're excited to meet him. And can't wait to get going with you, buddy. Yes, sir. College, appreciate you. Okay. What history? That last look. You always want to hear, yeah, no, after you're telling somebody, let's make history. He had to overcorrect because after that call, he had the press conference, which a lot of people read into, because Sean McVeigh looked pissed about it. He is saying, he is. since softened his public perception of it a little bit.

Well, why did they lie about having never met? I'm not exactly sure. But what has come out since this happened was the relationship appears to be between Les Need and Ty Simpson's father, who was a football coach, came up the ranks knowing Ty Simpson's dad. I think they're like best friends, right? There was a pre-existing relationship there. And as I mentioned before, when Miami was talking to Ty Simpson, he was getting tons of

feedback from the NFL. If I had to pinpoint one team that pushed him into the NFL draft process, it was specifically the feedback that he got from the Rams, a well-respected front office. Hey, Roy, buddy. You know that energy shift when the game gets good, and everybody altogether, in unison, knows to stand up on their feet? Oh, absolutely, Mike. Yeah, you've been at many big-time sporting events. You know that moment quite well. That's what it's like when you take your first sip of Quervo. Oh, delicious. It's the signal. that says, we're not checking the time anymore, pal. It's when small talk turns into stories.

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Everybody's got takes flying. Nobody's watching just one thing, and we're all way more into it than we ever expected. It was one of those nights that you take a sip, you look around, and you think, yeah. This was the right move. That's why I reach for Miller Lite. It's clean, refreshing, easy to drink, root for taste with simple ingredients, just 96 calories and 3.2 carbs, the original light beer since 1975, and it still hits different. Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Light.

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When Zaz asked the question about lying, there are some questions around all of this that are curious. Because I did think he went way too high. I think he's too small. And I also think the idea of quarterback whisper is overstated, even though if you were to assign somebody the designation McVeigh would be the worthiest of those. Goff was consensus number one pick.

Like, Goff was... In a week class and also considered a project. But a gold, he was considered a bit of a golden child and... He was just really bad in terms of win-loss record in college, which scared a lot of people. He was also terrible when he started in the pros. and McVeigh did fix that, but this was a top of the first round talent by everybody who saw him play in college,

and he started slowly. You understand why I'm objecting to the idea of quarterback whisper. You guys think of O'Connell and J.J. McCarthy, maybe. It just takes a long time to learn the position, and I don't know that there are a ton of guys. Well, I do know there aren't a ton of guys who can do it well, because we've seen how hard it is, and not many are quarterback whispers. But when you ask about the lies, Simpson said after all of this that he had secret meetings with McVeigh,

and that doesn't appear to be true either. Like there are people questioning how much interest the Rams actually had. Because Ty Simpson, I think he went on with Amber, and he was saying about a meeting, and then they asked some follow-ups about a meeting, and he sort of started to backtrack because he realized he had said something that I think sounded like it might not be true. that all of this interest from the Rams wasn't what you might think it is, and I think it might just be, the combination of McVe's got an MVP of quarterback that the last couple of years, they've seemed like they're about to break up. Like Stafford was going to end up somewhere last year and then became MVP of the Rams.

You got an old quarterback, and I have no idea how much longer he's going to play. But when I think of violence done to the body in that sport and resiliently overcoming it, I think of Stafford very high on the list just because of how he played in Detroit. He's so tough. And how terrible it was to play in Detroit when they were bad around him and he was one of their few good players. But is McVe walking a line here between respecting the guy who's actually done something and being too excited getting on the phone with someone who's talking about making history? When McVe is thinking to himself, I've got the MVP.

He's the actual history maker. Well, another bit of context here, Dan, is Stafford was essentially traded to the New York Giants. And Stafford himself said no, and then he ended up having an MVP season. And by all accounts, we're at the end of Stafford's career here. This may very well be the last season. And so McVeigh is probably looking at it. He's got a team. They made an aggressive deal for McDuffie. They got a team that most people would handicap as one of the favorites inside the NFCs. I think they are the favorites. Ty Simpson's not going to help me capitalize and seize on this.

Stafford window. Super Bowls are hard to come by. I need someone to help me win a Super Bowl right now, and I think that that's probably where the disagreement between Sean and Les Need was. The Rams, I know we love using this phrase. A team is all in, as if many of them aren't all in on winning the Super Bowl that particular season. But the Rams are particularly all in on that because of how close they were last year and because of what they've done to correct what was it their weakness last year, which is what are we going to get from our corners when we've got pass rush or on the times that we don't have pass rush? They've short up their corners in a way that suggests they're playing for this year,

like that McVeigh's not looking beyond Stafford in any way. The Rams, according to Drafking Sportsbook, are the favorite to win the Super Bowl. The one thing that would signal that is a curious move that is not about this year is the drafting of Ty Simpson. it drew comparisons to when Aaron Rogers needed some help and they just kept, they drafted Jordan Love. This is not that. This is an aggressive front office that has shown

they can go out and build a team around its quarterback and be aggressive there. It's the one time that you've seen the Rams and been like, well, they're forward-thinking here. They're finally preparing for a post-Safford world. And the Rams are very much a team that likes veterans, right? Like you look at what they do. Sean McVeigh runs a complicated offense.

He runs a complicated system. Stafford, one of the most cerebral quarterbacks that we've ever seen. Putting a – I saw a report that said Malachi Lemon, Sadiq from Oregon, that they had a couple of options to go get a weapons for Stafford. And it's like, would those guys even see the field with Sean McVeigh trying to learn that offense in one offseason and then being ready to go? So it's like maybe what they did is hedge their best play for the future knowing that Stafford is done at the end of 27. Maybe don't have an offense so complicated that your players don't understand it. Well, make a verdict on this, though. if you had to guess because there are a lot of people having this reaction, right? And I don't know that it's happening necessarily anywhere else with any of the other traffic.

Everybody says they got the players they want. Everyone comes out and does all the hope trafficking. One coach, the guy regarded as the smartest in the sport, I think, or in the conversation, smartest in the sport, is not enthusiastic about it. And if you had to choose between the reasons, it doesn't have to be one. It can be both. But you had to choose between the reasons. He was doing that because he needs to.

respect his MVP quarterback or he's doing that because he's genuinely pissed. They didn't get him help for right now because every year is about what's our next game. What's our next game? Don't tell me about three years from now. I don't know who's going to be hurt. I don't know what our window is going to be. You have to choose between the two. Which one do you think is right? I just, I have a hard time believing. Stafford is that sensitive. I mean, two years ago, he was talking about retiring. Stafford is that sensitive. Wasn't Aaron Rogers that sensitive about it? Rogers was still winning an MVP after they drafted? to Jordan Love.

He did say in an interview, McVeigh, that he was doing that simply because he wanted to show respect to Stafford. I know, but he's that sensitive, Stafford? I mean, he was traded. He was traded to the Giants. He had to say no. I guess, like, that left him a little raw. You say that sensitive.

And yes, if I have to think of Matthew Stafford, he is somebody who has experienced the business. but at the center of what these immortals do on Sundays, like, including Mark Andrews, there is a human being. And how would you feel, Zaslow, with the delicate part of, we decide your future, you don't decide your future? I know Aaron Rogers was viewed as sensitive as a multi-time MVP who had a relationship with that city that's a lot longer than the one that Stafford has with his city. Because I think of Stafford still as a Detroit guy, and I don't know how much they're. that hurt, everything that, like, physically hurt or emotionally hurt, that in Detroit, they never won anything for him while he was pretty good, and he leaves there sort of broken and has to prove himself elsewhere. I'm curious, put that in front of the audience at Lebitard show. Do you think

of Stafford as a lion or a ram? Because that's where he won, right? Won a Super Bowl and an MVP as a man. I think it's a ram. That's funny that you guys say that. I just, I mean, played for three times as long in Detroit, so I think of him as a lion. I think of him as somebody, was it, 12 years. When I close my eyes and I think of one throw, it's in a Rams uniform in a Super Bowl. Paul, let me close my eyes. Yeah, I'm closing my eyes now.

I'm thinking Rams. Ooh, I just saw the bomb to Cooper Cup in Tampa. What a throw. Oh, my gosh. This is a fun game. The third throw is the interception that he definitely threw that was just dropped by San Francisco that would have rendered all these other moments useless. Give me another player.

Don't look at that one anymore. Give me another player. We can do that, but let me put it on the poll differently than I did. Tom Brady. When you close your eyes, when you close your eyes, when you close your eyes, and think about Matthew Stafford. Is he in a lion's uniform? Joe Montana.

Niner. Peyton Manning. Colt. Well, but he won the championship in Denver. Colt. But he also won a championship in Indianapolis. Colt. I mean, he made the ruling.

Kerry Collins. Rader. Ooh, he went to a Super Bowl as a giant. Cade McNaugnown. Brown. Cade McNabb. I don't know. How about this one?

I don't know. Ryan Fitzpatrick. Bill, all of them. He's wearing a multicolored AFC East jersey. Had some great years with the Jets, though, Chris. He's just, he's just, in my mind, when I close my eyes, Fitzpatrick is dropping back to pass,

and he's got a neutral jersey that just says AFC East on it. It's not like a beard. You know what's weird? Sam Darnold won a Super Bowl and had a huge comeback season with the Vikings, but I still think of him out indefinitely as a New York jet. Oh, yeah, for sure. Laryngitis or? All right, my eyes are open, now we'll play it again later.

No, it's mono, my bet, mono. No, Chris, we're not playing the game anymore with you because when he threw you... My eyes are open. No, but when he threw Kate McDonown, you got scared, you said, I don't know, and you said you didn't want to play the game anymore. I said it Brown. You're talking about Josh McCown? That's who I meant, McCown.

He got it wrong. No, Kaye McDonnell is a guy, but I meant Josh McCown. You're right. He's a guy. That's why I said what? Luke McCown. I don't want to play the game. You want to play McCown-Brown-Brother games?

I don't think of those guys even as quarterbacks. Never mind thinking of them as quarterbacks dropping back to pass in a uniform. Jeff Garcia. Niner. Your eyes aren't closed. Niner. You got to get the things right. Jeff Conine.

You got to get. Oriole. Jeff Conan, how many teams did Mr. Marlin play for? The Royals, Marlins, Dodgers, Phillies. He played for seven teams, I think. He played for the, the. The red, did he play for the Orioles twice? He played for the Orioles twice.

He was in the Mets? Yeah, he was on the Mets. He was a Philly at one point. He had the key to Bouges apartment just like you did for about six weeks when he played for the Mets. They got him for a pennant run. This episode is brought to you by FedEx.

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skills and their paycheck by enrolling in free skills training programs for in-demand fields, like software development and information technology. Learn more at aboutamazon.ca. Don Lebatard. I saw a post on Twitter yesterday how the Toronto Maple Leafs that they won the division. Guess what? It's been two years

and that's two years too long. Stugats. You can take that ass too? Oh, we're taking two asses. This is the Dan Levitar show with the Stugats. We've been talking the last couple of days about the University of Miami's open athletic director position. And it's an interesting time for the University of Miami. I don't know that at any point in the University of Miami's history,

I would call their athletic director job a good job just because of the things that all the ADs here have had to overcome about Miami being like a weird business town and it not being really a college town or in an area that is collegiate, right? Like it's in Coral Gables and the University of Miami has often felt a lack of support from its larger administration on understanding just how important the athletic program is to the University of Miami. But what a good job it looks like right now when you're talking about where the basketball team finds itself with a young coach and where it finds itself with a football coach who is committed. to the program is one of the few in the country that I don't think people will talk seriously about him leaving for another job, even if he's here several years doing what he's done. You've got someone who's got a real emotional connection to the program, so you're solid

in two places. Now, maybe Jay Lucas leaves, but you're solid in the two places that you want to be most solid. and I think it's a better job than Radakovich showed he can handle, honestly. Like, he leaves it in a good position, but I feel from talking to the University of Miami people the way that I've talked to him, they were wildly unimpressed by whatever was his leadership vision. They happened into the results, but I don't think they give the results to him based on some sort of merit. He did better work in getting that job with the qualifications before he got here than he did with that job before he treated it the way that I thought Laranaga was going to treat the last years of his career,

which is just mail it in, go to Miami. Radakovich came closer to doing that than Laranaga did from the people I've talked to. What Dan is saying is kind of right. I do want to celebrate some of the things that Dan Radikovych got right. Now, when you think about the athletic director position, most people assume he's hiring the coaches. That's not how it worked for Dan Radicovich down here at the University of Miami. Best I can tell, he hired the women's basketball coach after Katie Meyer retired.

and a soccer coach. He didn't make the Mario Cristobal higher. They kind of walked in the door at the same time. He did not make the Jay Lucas higher. He did not make the baseball higher. In fact, he was overruled on the baseball. Is that unusual, though? Typically, the athletic directors, like, you have influential boosters,

and certainly when it comes to football, there's a load of opinions at big-time programs. He didn't get to make that higher. But it is a little rare that this guy, as well-respected as he came in, he was very successful. Oh, it was celebrated when they hired him. Right. So that's what I think he did well. That's what he got right. There wasn't even a search, really, for the athletic director when Dan Radicovic came in.

He was very clearly because he had ties to the University of Miami, because he was well-respected in NCAA circles, Miami wanted to send a message both with its football coach hire and with its athletic director hire that the days of Blake James and the days of underachieving and us being a punchline, nationally. Those are from a bygone era. We are showing the world that we are serious, and that is exactly what the hiring of Dan Redikovych did. He was well respected. And what I actually think he did best. It wasn't the hiring coaches, obviously. He did get some buildings approved, and he always fancied himself a man that got facilities built. He did so at Clemson, and he did so here. Wasn't really the relationship with the boosters because he wasn't great in engaging the boosters. Fundraising wasn't really his MO. He didn't seem to have a huge. appetite for it, which is why I think many around Miami were happy to see some change there.

I think what he did best was navigate this whole ACC mess because I wanted someone way more aggressive. I hated our public stance on it. And I was wrong. I was totally wrong. I had that wrong. FSU spent all the money. FSU tarnished its reputation. Clemson even a little bit tornished its reputation. Meanwhile, Dan Redikovic, because of his pre-existing relationships inside the ACC, And a guy that is pretty careful, he actually navigated that really, really well. Miami did not burn bridges. Miami benefited from this rev share that saw them get so much revenue from the college football playoff, while FSU made themselves out to look like an undesirable partner to other conferences.

So I think that Dan Radicovic being careful and playing things by the book actually benefited Miami there. Roger Clemens. Yankee. What? Now Blue Jay, eh? I mean, not a Red Sox? Freddie Freeman. Ooh, brave.

Put it on the poll, please. Roger Clemens, Yankee, Red Sock, or Blue Jay, Roy. Astro, too, Dan. Him and Roy Oswald, back to back. Dude, he was really good. He was really good with Toronto. I'm not disputing that he was really good. He was traded for David Wells.

He was directed his career in Toronto. Let me on the record. He was pretty good on most teams he played for. Yeah, that's correct. That's a good point. Yeah. I think corrected. Let's get into the meat, though, of what it is that Mike Ryan is saying as to what that job is.

In the history of the program, I think Sam Jancovic is viewed as the best athletic director they had because he helped build the start of it and made it a desirable position and then went to the Patriots, was one of the few executives Miami has ever had who was able to go to what was that then, you know, the top of the pros right before Belichick got there and the Patriots became great. Dave Magger did some janitorial stuff. He was widely respected. Paul D. was there for a long time, but basically it was there just to be a lawyer because they had so many problems and they needed a lawyer in the position. But what Mike just said, what Mike just said about Radikovych wasn't good at fundraising, the people who criticize, the people who I talked to who say he wasn't as interested in doing the parts of the job that we needed done, I thought the job was fundraising now.

Like I was under the impression that while they like to have the power of hiring the coaches and what comes with that, that the business of that has gotten so big, strong, and important than fundraising is the most important part of the job now. I've been in those rooms when they try to raise funds. Yeah. I mean, I'm a booster and Dan's supposed to engage with the boosters. I barely spoke to Dan in that capacity. Like the people that are raising the funds are the collective. and I think that that's important.

Look, especially early on, when John Ruiz was plastered everywhere and Miami was getting back in the game and everyone just assumed Miami was doing this in a shady fashion, Miami was kept clean. And Dan Radikovic, yes, he was uncomfortable with this whole new world. But we navigated it and Miami was clean. And I think a lot of that has to do with, again, the relationships that Dan maintained and his approach to all of this.

And also the fact that we have a good collective, and Dan went outside of his comfort zone to trust it. Now, that position definitely needs more fundraising coming out of it, definitely needs to cultivate new partnerships. People want a track record of someone that has cultivated partnerships. But the big thing here is we're headed to a place where there's probably going to be more realignment, bigger TV deals. What helps one of the names that is mentioned right now, Michael Yormark, is what his brother did.

Boo, that man. Brett Yoramark. What Brett Yor Mark did. Oh, Roy, we haven't heard your opinions on the Yormarks. No, I gave it on Monday. I hate it. I hate it. But Brett Yormark, by most accounts, has done a good job in saving the Big 12 after Texas and Oklahoma went.

And so the thing that Michael Yormark probably has most going for him is who his brother is. Oh, for the love of God. I mean, I just think of Yormark as somebody who tricks people because he's, wearing a suit like he's just a suit he might as well be a dry cleaning bag he does he does present well and you wake up at 3 a.m. and go to the gym yeah he's a shit he convinces a lot of people I mentioned this yesterday he has this reputation I saw Gary Furman wrote something about it and he's like I think the title was the deal maker at Miami's door and it was a very pro Michael Yomar

column Furman and I don't know who this deal maker is. Again, I can't speak to who he was at Rock Nation or what he did there. I think if you lift the hood under Rock Nation, it's not as good as the reputation suggests. But the deal maker was not there 20 years ago when he was fully in charge of the floor. He was a failure with the Panthers. Huge failure. Let's bookmark it and talk with Samson about it because the York marks have gotten sports business power and I've just found their resilience to be a little bit confounding. But I'm going to ask David Samson about it. He's got more business

expertise than I do. Brad Lidge. Astro. I go Philly. Pitch clock will be later in the show today and among the things that Jeremy will tackle with Edna and Virk and others is

everything that's changing in management with the Red Sox where they had one of the managers who was said to have power, but what's happening in sports, this seems to be happening all over the place, less so in football, I guess. The front offices are taking over the middle management, and this has happened for a while in baseball with the managers, but Cora was supposed to be one of the guys who had actual power, and he just had the team sort of taken away from him in a fairly, I thought it was a

fairly shocking fashion, and I don't get shocked very much by management displacement. But when we talk about the importance of where it is, the University of Miami finds itself now, and Now, Mike was more positive on Radikovych than my information is. I've never met Radikovych. I only know about things from talking to people who probably aren't as close to the program. Your AD friends. As Mike is, just people involved with the school. Now's not the time for me to be negative.

Look, get a beer in me. I can tell you like his shortcomings, but he's retiring. We get a Miller Light, please? He's retiring. and I think that there have been plenty of people out there, especially recently with the Yormark thing, Dan, that have said negative things about Dan and his shortcomings. And I don't think it's a time for that right now. Well, it doesn't have to be the time for it for you. And I'm just framing it in what the job is today because my information is, not on Radikovych, but generally, my information on what the job is is what it has been. And I just think the job is changing so much now that you can put Andrew luck on top of your organization with no skill set other than he's the guy who can go get $50 million.

Like that the job right now is who's the guy who could go get the money, even if you have a collective, who can make the collective stronger because he's had the relationships with the boosters? That used to be the job. All it takes with you, one beer, you're letting out state secrets? That's it. One beer? I'm cautious to who I do, I do, you know?

Yapper. Should we bring in the beer and the earwax and do both at the same time? Do they still sell the earwax thing? Yes. Like, can you get that somewhere? I don't think it's the thing that you sell. I think it's like a self-made contraption. No, it's not a self-made contraption.

I'm just telling you, it's a cone of paper that you set fire to the top end of it. I don't think we're sent fire to paper. And then it burns down and it eventually is burning a year. Hey. Met. Yes. Really? Wow.

Not even Yankees? Wow. I mean, successful with the Blue Jays too. Put the picture up, please. ear candle so that people can see here. It's not an ear candle, but it sort of looks like a candle. And I'm telling you, it will be good television to, at the end of the live hour today, be able to take these out of our ears and shock the American public with what is in Roy's ear.

Roy, I'm accusing you of being someone who's got foul things in his ear. No! The other night I was staying in. At least, that was a plan. Then the text from my buddy Eagle Eye comes in. Mike, we've got the games on. I say, yeah? I grab a pack of Miller Light, and immediately my plan's gone.

Now it's playoff basketball. Every possession feels huge. Baseball's on another screen, and I somehow care about that too. Everybody's got takes flying. Nobody's watching just one thing, and we're all way more into it than we ever expected. It was one of those nights that you take a sip, you look around, and you think, yeah. This was the right move. That's why I reach for Miller Lite.

It's clean, refreshing, easy to drink, root for taste with simple ingredients, just 96 calories and 3.2 carbs, the original light beer since 1975, and it still hits different. Cheers to legendary moments with Miller Light. Great taste, 96 calories. Go to Miller Lite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Lite pretty much anywhere. They sell beer.

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