The Josh Innes Show - The Absurdity of National Signing Day

Episode Date: December 4, 2024

It is National Signing Day! Yayyyy. Today we get to see which high school kids will be entering the transfer portal in 2025. Part of me can't blame these guys for essentially holding programs hostage. On the other hand, no one in college athletics seems to value commitment. I have a fairly interesting thought about why Nick Saban left coaching. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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That's why we're here to help. When you pre-plan and pre-pay a celebration of life with us, every detail will be handled with simplicity and professionalism, giving you the peace of mind that you've done all you can today to remove any burden from your loved ones tomorrow. We are your local Dignity Memorial provider. Find us at DignityMemorial.ca. The Dignity Memorial brand name is used to identify a network of licensed funeral cremation and cemetery providers owned and operated by affiliates of Service Corporation International. Well, it is a big college football day.

It is National Signing Day, which means we get the opportunity to hear a bunch of high school kids tell us where they're going to play college for at least the next year until they hit the transfer portal for the first time. Out of two or three times, they will enter the transfer portal. Back in my day, growing up in Baton Rouge, and I lived there from the time I was about 10 years old to the time I was 23 years old. So I lived there for about 13 years of my life and I go back

there all the time. I love it. But growing up, it was always a big deal when they had one national signing day, and that was like February 3rd or whenever the hell signing day was. And they would have a big party. It was called the Bayou Bash is what it was called. And it was downtown at what used to be like this catfish town is what it used to be called at the atrium. The Bella Baton Rouge, I think is what it was called. And all these old dudes would all get together and wait for dudes to sign on the dotted line and celebrate which players were coming to LSU. And 20-something years ago, if you signed a kid, you felt pretty good that that kid

was going to be playing for you for at least the next couple of years because you had to play three years of college football to go to the NFL. And a lot of guys weren't transferring back then because the portal didn't exist, and being able to transfer wasn't like it is today. So if you signed a guy and you signed a big-time recruit on the dotted line, like one of the big sexy ones, like we got Jamarcus Russell, or we got Ryan Paraloo, who became nothing, but that was a huge get to get Ryan Paraloo.

Guys like that, you know, if you sign them, it was big because you felt, holy shit, I've got this guy, and he is ours, and let's go. Well, now I look at social media, and I'm scrolling through, and I'm seeing all these players that are signing at LSU, Texas, like yesterday some kid that originally was going to go to Texas, but then flipped to LSU and said, I'm coming to LSU, Texas, like yesterday, some kid that originally was going to go to Texas, but then flipped to LSU and said, I'm coming to LSU and then decided, oh no, I'm going to flip back to Texas because Texas probably gave him more money, which to a degree, I can't blame the guy. So

whatever. But like, you see these kinds of guys all over the internet, you see who's signing where, and all I look at when I see a dude sign, here's like Jim Smith a four-star inside linebacker from Reserve Christian Academy and like you see him sign you're like well how many years will that guy stay until he enters the portal like LSU for instance has signed the number one I think the number one running back in the state of Louisiana I believe believe is who they signed, a five-star running back. So if this five-star running back goes to LSU and doesn't get the playing time he thinks he should get in his first year, he gone. So I don't understand how people get super excited about who their college signs on signing day, especially now where these are dudes that are trying to get the most money they possibly can. It's basically pro sports. They'll probably be gone next year anyway.

Like seeing people get all worked up and excited over this is strange. And it just, I kind of feel nothing. And by that I mean, like, I love college football. I love LSU. I hate a lot of what college football currently is. And you could say college athletics overall, but I don't give a shit about college basketball. I used to.

I used to be a big college basketball guy. Early 2000s, I was really into Missouri Tiger basketball. It's coached by Quinn Snyder with Ricky Paulding and Trayvon Bryan and Arthur Johnson and Kareem Rush. And I love those teams, right? I love that. Then I really got into LSU basketball. I was into Glenn Big Baby Davis and Garrett Temple, who, by the way, still plays in the league.

That's incredible. Like guys like that and Taz Mitchell and Daryl Mitchell. And I loved them. John Brady was the coach. Brady ball. We went to the final four. I would go to every LSU basketball game when I was in high school. I loved it.

Now I couldn't give two shits about college basketball. And if my life depended on it, if there was a gun to my head and I had to name, and look, I'm being dead serious. If I had to name one college basketball player, there's a gun to my head. There's some guy who's got like a burlap sack over my head covering my face. His face is covered. Some guy's filming it. My legs are tied to a chair.

We're in some saw like dungeon somewhere and this guy is like you will live or die based on whether or not you can name one one college basketball player currently one that's all you get you have to name one and if you can do that you will live and not only will you live we will give you a million Turkish lira. How about that? You'll get a million Turkish lira and you'll live. And we'll let you get a blow job from the hottest chick on the planet. But all you've got to do is name one current college basketball player. One.

And I could not do it. Like last year, I knew one dude, Edie, the big tall dude from Purdue, and I only know about him now basically because he plays for the Memphis Grizzlies who are my basketball team. That's it. I could not tell you who any of these people are, and I don't care.

But I used to really be into college basketball, and I think college basketball used to be better and more exciting than it is now. Now it's a giant waste of time, but whatever it is, what it is. If I ever moved back to Baton Rouge, maybe I'd get back into college basketball because you need something to do to pass the time when football's not happening in Baton Rouge. So maybe I'd be into it. Maybe I wouldn't. I don't know. But all that said, I'm just disenchanted with the whole

process because like, let's go back to the quarterback that LSU lost a couple of weeks ago. It was a big story. They've had this this guy Bryce Underwood locked and loaded for like a year or something like that and every time it comes up he's like nope I'm committed to LSU LSU is my school I'm going let's go and then like last week oh turns out Michigan's got more money and now I'm going to play at Michigan and it's like like I get it that these are young dudes. And I get that it's probably really fun to be courted by people. Also probably kind of weird to have grown ass men fawning over you, calling you all the time, showing up at your house, taking you to dinners, courting you about like, it's weird. Like the whole process is weird.

There's a movie called Johnny be good, which is not a very good movie it's Anthony Michael Hall and the principal from Breakfast Club and he's like a football coach in high school and Johnny is the big star quarterback and all the people are trying to recruit him and he goes on all these recruiting trips

and the movie itself sucked but the premise of the movie was a good premise about guys and the absurdity of being recruited, these high school dudes being recruited by grown-ass men. It's very weird. I guess a better example of that would be like, he got game, right? Like the whole recruitment process. And that was a more accurate, fair depiction of it. Like Jesus Shuttlesworth fucking hoes at colleges and shit on trips like that. Like that was seemingly a bit more realistic and grimy than Anthony Michael Hall being

recruited, which was unbelievable anyway. But like Anthony Michael Hall being recruited as the number one quarterback and all this. So all that said, it's a gross process. The process of having to recruit high school dudes is gross. But what's even made it more gross now is the amount of leverage that the players have. So I'm not trying to feel bad for coaches, right? Like coaches have been job hopping forever and they move from place to place for more money, more prestige, chances to win college titles and all that. So like, like I'm not feeling sorry for them, but there is an element of like a guy gives

you a commitment for a year. And then at the last minute tells you to go fuck yourself. That ain't right. And I do think we're kind of creating a world where young people don't have to learn anything about the value of your word and being committed. Now, again, not that these college coaches do either. They sell you the moon to get you to the school, and then they don't play or they lie to you. Look, we've all dealt with it in business. I've had jobs where people have told me things were going to be one thing, and then they were totally different when I got there, and it fucking sucked.

I've also been in the situation where I had to, uh, when I left Nashville, I had to keep that conversation I was having with St. Louis secret because it wasn't in the window where I was allowed to talk with other radio stations. My contract had a thing in it that said I had to exclusively negotiate with I heart up until like the last certain number of weeks of my contract. and then it just kind of happened that St. Louis happened and I was talking to them and then I had to tell these people that I wasn't deliberately dicking them around really mine was more of a product of iHeart's ridiculous rules that didn't allow me to talk with other people inside a window like I should have been

allowed to talk with other people for six months instead of talking with other people inside of like two months or whatever it was. It was absurd. And that's more of a, their rule thing that kind of set them up to fail there. But point being in all of this is we're not teaching people the value of commitment in your word. And I know I sound like a pussy when I say this. And I know that if you're like a Texas fan today, you're like, who gives a fuck? We're signing everybody.

And here's a million for you and a car for you and I get all that and have fun with that and and maybe I'm saying this as bitter LSU guy although I think LSU will be fine maybe I'm saying this is bitter LSU guy because every story because people hate Brian Kelly is about how Brian Kelly keeps losing this guy keeps losing this guy keeps losing this guy keeps losing this guy this guy's gonna transfer this shit, keeps losing this guy, keeps losing this guy. This guy's going to transfer. This shit happens everywhere. Every school loses dudes to the transfer portal and every school loses recruits who flipped other places. That's reality. But something about it just feels even grimier and more disgusting. Like I, and maybe in my naive Pollyanna mindset, I'd like to think that dudes who are coming to

LSU, Texas, Texas A&M are doing so because they are committed to the idea of playing football at Texas, LSU, Texas A&M, Florida. But they're really not. Like I'm committed to LSU. I'm passionate about LSU. I went there for a couple of years before I got kicked out. I'm from Baton Rouge for the most part. I have a passion for Baton Rouge, for LSU, for the school, the football program, all that. I'm passionate about it. I'd like to believe that when someone signs on the dotted line to play at Louisiana State University, they're doing it because Tiger Stadium matters to them and 105,000 people matters. And it's Saturday night in Death Valley and the fans and the tailgating and the gumbos and the jambalayas and the chance to win championships and everything that goes into it, the history of it, the

Joe Burrows and the Jaden Daniels and the Billy Cannons. Like, I want to believe that these dudes are going there because they want to be part of that legacy. The reality, they are hired guns who are going there because this was the best place for them, whether it be financially or whatever. And the reality is, and I don't know what the data on this is. Maybe someone has done this data. I'd love to see it. I'd love to know the number of players. Like when we see everybody who signs on the dotted line here on the signing day today for all these colleges, each college will probably

or team will sign 20 something dudes. So every major college is signing 20-something dudes. So that's hundreds, I mean, thousands upon thousands of players who are signing across the country. I want to know the number of people who sign in this class who at this time, 365 days from now, are already in the transfer portal. I want to know how many of these people spend two years at the same college or three or four. And some of them do, but how many don't? I'm just fascinated by that. We've made it so easy for people to not have to accept like having to grow and learn and mature. And maybe I'm again, maybe I sound like an old hat. Maybe I sound like Nick

Saban. And I know that everybody likes to call Nick Saban a fraud, but can you blame Nick Saban for getting the fuck out of this? Here's what Nick Saban used to do. Show up at someone's house, do the Cupid shuffle, give them the old razzle-dazzle, slide a little money under the table, and Alabama's got a five-star guy. Now you're having to talk to boosters and NIL people, and Nick Saban's 77 years old, doesn't want to fucking deal with it. And I don't blame him. Imagine being Brian Kelly today for a year. You thought,

hey, this year sucks. We're eight and four. We just got walloped by Alabama, but hang out. Help is on its way because we've got Bryce Underwood coming and we've got like five star corners coming here, here. So while everything sucks now, things are about to change because we got Bryce Underwood coming. And you've thought this up until a week ago when Bryce Underwood calls and says, hey, tough shit going to Michigan, they gave me more money. And it's like, I'm not trying to feel bad for those guys, but it does fucking suck. So can you blame a Nick Saban for being like, nah, I'm out. This is bullshit. I don't want to deal with this shit. I have seven national titles.an for being like, nah, I'm out, this is bullshit, I don't wanna deal with this shit, I have seven national titles,

I already feel like an asshat having to go from place to place begging 18-year-olds who have no resume, no credentials, may fucking suck, I don't wanna go to their house and have to beg them to play already, now I certainly don't wanna deal with some big money boosters

and NIL people constantly with this shit either, why do I wanna deal with this, I've got the seven titles. The only thing that could happen to me now is the shine wears off of my legacy. So why the fuck would I want to stay in this and go eight and four in this weird NIL portal world when I can just go down as the greatest football coach that ever lived and people will never have to know if I would have failed in this. So why the fuck not? It's like Howard Stern. So Howard Stern got out of radio, and this is part of the, again, I don't think this is why he got out of terrestrial radio. There's money and a bunch of other factors.

But right around the time Howard Stern got out of terrestrial radio is when they changed the rating system, which used to be diaries, and some markets still are. But a diary is they'd hand you a booklet. It'd have every day part on it. You'd go, who do you listen to at seven in the morning? Who do you listen to at eight in the morning? So really the most important thing was word of mouth. If people knew a name, they'd put a name down. They may not even be listening to that show, but it's like, all right, you're Howard Stern. Fine. I listen to Howard Stern. I know who he is.

That's a name I know. And then they'd write that down. And that's how these guys became huge stars. Actually, I'll give you more stories. Like this kind of applies to the fact that I understand why Nick Saban got out. It's a roundabout way to get there. It's me talking about something I know to try to sell a point on something else. But let me play a couple of commercials here and then we'll continue. All right. If you're ready to win some real cash during the basketball playoffs, you got to check out Pick 6 from DraftKings. When it comes to basketball payouts, DraftKings Pick 6 posterizes the competition, including prize picks. It's a very simple concept. Hit all your picks and score higher minimum payouts on Pick 6, plus even more cash if you outscore the competition. Pick six is available in most states,

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Nick Saban, if he had to coach in this current NIL environment, I don't know that Nick Saban would be the Nick Saban he was and is. He probably wouldn't have been. Great football coach. And maybe he could have adjusted. But Nick Saban had the good fortune of coaching in a world where every dude wasn't jumping in the portal and you didn't have to negotiate NIL deals. The good old-fashioned college football world of under-the-table shit,

you had bigger boosters than everybody else, here's a car, here's a bullshit summer job that pays $100,000, that type of shit, and all Nick Saban had to do was show up, sell you, do the Cupid Shuffle in your living room, and life was fine. Nick Saban in this era of college football would not be Nick Saban of seven national titles, Nick Saban. I don't believe it. I don't believe it. I don't believe anybody's ever going to be that way. So how does that relate to this, like

the radio thing I was talking about? There were a lot of dudes who in the early 2000s, late 90s were in major markets and every market had a handful of dudes who are making like a million, million five a year. All right. You can go to Chicago where Steve Dahl, you know, he of the Disco Demolition Night, Steve Dahl was one of those million dollar jocks. The hosts at WEEI in Boston, the hosts in New York. I mean, the people in the major markets were making a million, a million five a year.

I mean, shit, my dude Tony Bruno was working at Fox and making like a million five a year. So like dudes were making big money in radio in the early 2000. And they were all beholden to this old school system, which was called the diary system. The diary system was again, you just write down who you listen to. Like you don't even know if no one knows for a fact that you did, but like you'd say, I listened to Howard Stern in the morning and word of mouth mattered. So like you needed people to know your name. That's why billboards were important. That's why making news was important because you needed people to know who you were. And if they just remembered your name to make their $5 to fill out this diary, they'd go, Oh, fuck it. Here's Howard Stern.

Cool. Well now in the early 2000s, somewhere around 2005, 2006, and by the way, all these people had big numbers. That's why they got these big deals. That's why the ratings were huge for these guys. So then the system changes and they developed this thing called the PPM. Shit, I don't even know what the acronym means. The personal people meters, purple people. I don't know. But it's the PPM. It's basically a little pager that people wear. And it can hear what you're listening to and then encode that. And it can show you a somewhat more accurate depiction of what you're listening to. At least it hears what you're listening to and it knows for a fact that you're listening to that.

Now, the system for determining how long you listen, blah, blah, blah, there's a bunch of flaws in it. But it gives you a more accurate depiction because it hears what you're listening to versus what you wrote down. And when that came about, a lot of radio people that were making a million dollars a year saw their salaries get chopped in half or they just got fired because their ratings plummeted. Dudes were going from being number one, huge numbers to like, they're dudes that were going from tens down to like twos, like their ratings tanked. And all these big name, big jocks in these areas saw their salary sliced and then they just got fired altogether. To the point that a guy like Steve Dahl, when he got fired in Chicago, I believe they had to pay out his entire contract. I think there were

multiple people in Chicago that had this. So there were dudes that were making like a million something dollars a year for years and years to just not work. Like it was wild. It was like the wild west kind of in the early 2000s for that business. But then it all changed. So like guys like Howard Stern, Howard conveniently got to satellite radio right at the right time. Because I bet even Stern, who had these big numbers in these markets, those numbers would have gone down and the shine would have come off of that. Because now we'll never know what Howard Stern would have to do in this PPM era of radio because he never did it. All we know is the diary Howard Stern. And that's kind of where you are

with Nick Saban. Nick Saban, for the most part, didn't have to live in the NIL absurd transfer portal. Dudes committed until the last minute. Then they're like, no, sorry, this school gave me more money. They've got better resources. Now, maybe he could have succeeded because it's Alabama and they have a ton of money and that's quite possible. But why do you think he got the fuck out he got the fuck out because he doesn't want to know that he could be steve doll or these old radio guys who had huge numbers in one system and then the system crashed and they put something else in and then they all went to hell and got fired would saban have gotten fired no but i think that's what you saw to Nick Saban there and that's why he was smart to do it the

way he did it he just said you know what peace out and that's why he did that and it's one thing if you're a coach who's come up in this system and I think that's why some of these younger guys are going to thrive because they don't really know the other system like Brian Kelly still knows the old recruiting system and at times I think this system is leaving him behind, although he's done well in the portal. For instance, Jaden Daniels came from the portal. LSU's two best quarterbacks ever, two Heisman Trophy winners, are from the portal. And that's another interesting thing. People get all worked up on National Signing Day about, oh, my God, we lost this five-star guy.

Guess what, dude? There's a dude that was a five-star last year who's in the fucking portal. And he's played college football, so you know what he is. Go get him. Like, I don't know the kid's name, but there's a dude that played at Florida. He's a freshman, got hurt this year, but he's played at Florida. He started some games for Florida. And he just entered the transfer portal. And apparently, LSU is all in on this guy in the portal. They're trying to get him.

He was recruited by a guy who's now coaching at LSU, all that stuff, right? So everybody's worked up that you lost this big five-star recruit to Texas. To me, if you can go find a guy in the portal who's already played college football and you know what you're getting out of him that's actually better in theory than a five-star guy who you have no data on other than he dominated a bunch of you know five foot five white dudes in college or in high school rather you know what i mean so it may not work out maybe this five-star guy be the greatest corner ever it's very possible but maybe this guy that's in the portal will get you what you need from that guy, and he'll be cheaper, and you already know what he is, and he's played college football,

so he's not learning on the fly. So there are things. Now, I'm not just trying to make excuses because my team lost a five-star guy. You never want to lose five-star guys. You want to sign all the five-star guys and hope they stay around forever. But in the current landscape of college sports,

signing the five-star guy when he's a freshman isn't the biggest thing. To me, it's you'd like to, but find a guy who's already experienced to go sign him and use your resources that way. There are other avenues to get to these places. This is the idea of giving a million and a half dollars to a guy that's never played college football. And it's one thing to take a guy from college to the pros, which is obviously a big jump. Imagine going from high school football to college. Like to me, that seems like a much larger jump than going from college to the pros because you're going to face some professional players in college. And yeah, you're going to face some college guys in high school, but I played high school sports.

You know who big basketball players had to play in high school? Me. You know who Big Baby Davis faced in high school? Josh Ennis. You know who Kendrick Perkins faced in high school? My old producer, Ben Nance, like six foot two white dude playing the post against Kendrick Perkins. So the jump from high school to college is a pretty big one. So you're just banking a lot on dudes who've never done it before.

And I also like, my God, you talk about, I don't know. It's the whole thing. The whole process of it is absurd to me, but what do I know? All that said, signing day. And I'd like to know how many of these dudes who signed today are in the portal one year from today. Someone do that. Maybe I'll do it. I got nothing to do. I'm going to make a copy of every player who signed today, and then I want to see who enters the fucking portal next year. All right, more to come.