The Kevin Sheehan Show - AP On McLaurin Contract Extension

Episode Date: April 1, 2025

Kevin opened up with Adam Peters talking at the NFL Owners Meetings about a possible Terry McLaurin contract extension, Javon Kinlaw's fit on defense, and why he traded for Laremy Tunsil. Kevin talked Final 4 and Kevin Willard's departure. Jeff Ermann/InsideMDSports jumped on with some of the possible candidates to replace Willard at Maryland.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. Window Nation is the presenting sponsor of this podcast. Call them at 86690 Nation or go towindonation.com if you need new windows. I'll get to the Maryland Kevin Willard situation in the next segment because it did become official over the weekend. Kevin Willard gone, the new head coach at Villanova.

Jeff Irman from Inside MD Sports will jump on with me in the final segment of the show. We'll get Jeff to give us who he thinks the leading candidates to replace Kevin Willard are. I open the show with this from Will. Will writes, It's a good thing Dan Snyder didn't listen to you back when you wanted to swing big and trade for Deshawn Watson. the Brown's crappy owner, Jimmy Haslam, admitted a few years after the fact that it was a big swing and a miss. Keep that smell test around because your record with QBs isn't very good. You got me, Will, you got me to read that email on the show, no matter how ridiculously stupid it is.

Although you did also get me to look to see what Jimmy Haslam said. meetings are going on in Palm Beach right now. And Jimmy Haslam was asked about three years ago, nearly to the day when the Browns sent three first rounders to Houston for Deshawn Watson and then signed Deshawn Watson to a $230 million contract that was fully guaranteed. Since joining the Browns, Deshawn Watson, has started just 19 football games. All right? So the 22, 23, and 24 seasons. So you've had a potential of, what would that be? 17 games each season, right? 51 regular season games. They also made the playoffs. Let's not forget after the 2023 season. He has started in just 19 of them because of suspension, which happened right when he got into Cleveland.

And then mostly injuries. He's posted one of the lowest total QBRs in the NFL and has suffered consecutive season-ending injuries the last two seasons, the most recent of which was a torn right Achilles tendon. That happened in October. And then he had to undergo a second operation two months ago after re-tearing the Achilles. The Browns are expecting him to miss a significant portion of the 2025 season. I think I mentioned when he re-tore the Achilles. I don't think he's ever going to play again. I don't think he wants to play again.

Anyway, the quote from Jimmy Haslam, the Brown's owner, as he was asked about the trade three years later, he said, quote, we took a big swing and miss with Deshawn. We thought we had the quarterback. We didn't. up a lot of draft picks to get them. So we've got to dig ourselves out of that hole. The trade was an entire organization decision and it ends with D, D is his wife and I, so hold us accountable. You know, when I read that, I was thinking, can you imagine Dan Snyder ever admitting publicly

to a mistake? You know, like Albert Hainsworth, or even RG3 to a certain degree, although RG3 had 2012. We'll always have 2012. But can you imagine him ever admitting to a mistake? Now, the Haslums have not been considered, you know, upper tier ownership in the NFL, but took accountability

today three years after the fact, and it looks done. You know, three years after a draft, three years after a trade, you can pretty much call it at that point. And this dude, after getting traded and being suspended, he hasn't had much

desire to play. You really wonder about the injuries, especially the re-tearing of the Achilles. You know, I will did want to trade for Deshawn Watson, but not in March of 2022. In fact, I was adamant that they could never do that once his legal troubles began. Once he had, you know, whatever it was, 25, 26, 30 women accuse him of sexual assault and inappropriate conduct during massage sessions. Of course I wasn't in favor of trading for him then. But you are correct. Prior to that, when he was a really good quarterback in Houston in those first few years in the league, when it became a possibility in 2020 that they might move on from his.

I was like, what's the deal here? And remember the story at the time was they had this guy in the organization that was a real problem. It had too much power. Jack, and I'm forgetting his name now, and there were a lot of Houston Texans that wanted to move on from Houston. And just like, you know, the possibility that Miles Garrett might be available or Trey Hendrickson. or any of the big, big trades that are very rare, Laramie Tunsell. It's so rare when a position like quarterback with a very good elite-level quarterback, it's very rare that that person or anybody in that class becomes available.

But after 2020, he was available. He wanted to get traded and Houston was entertaining the possibility of trading him. and everybody was like, what's going on here? And it was a dysfunctional organization, and he wanted out. He had just thrown, by the way, for nearly 5,000 yards, 33 touchdowns, and seven picks during the COVID year. Yeah, I was very interested in Deshawn Watson. I thought Deshawn Watson during his first four years in Houston was easily a top 10 quarterback, if not top six or seven. But no, after all of the stories broke about Deshawn Watson, all of the allegations were made.

No, I was not in favor of trading for him then. I mean, that's when Cleveland traded for him. They traded for him after all of that stuff, all of that news broke. And then gave him $230 million guaranteed. That was absurd. one of the worst trades and really one of the worst contracts in NFL history, because they knew what they were trading for. You know, he immediately got suspended for 11 games, if you recall that, in his first season.

And then, honestly, when he played this year against Washington, when they were here back in, what was that October, I remember coming in here on Monday and saying, this guy is so bad and this guy wants out so badly. That was one of the worst offensive teams. Washington crushed Cleveland that day, 3413 if you recall. But I mean, literally Cleveland was completely impotent offensively. You know, the funny thing about Dishon Watson is during his time in Cleveland when he was healthy enough to play, which wasn't very often. one of the games in which he actually played well was the New Year's Day,

2020, 23, 22-season game in Washington, when Washington needed to win to keep in solid playoff position. That was the game in which Ron didn't know that he could be eliminated at the end of the day after they lost to Cleveland. But if you recall, a lot of the complaining about that game was about Carson Wentz. And Carson Wentz was terrible in that game. But he led, and I'm looking it up right now, like this ridiculously long drive at the end of the first half to give Washington the lead. I mean, you just never see drives like this. 21 plays 96 yards, 11 minutes and 27 seconds. And Washington had a 7 to 3 lead. against a team in Cleveland that could not do anything offensively.

And then, in the second half, Deshawn Watson turned into kind of a dual threat quarterback, started to run a little bit, started to complete passes, and he led Cleveland on three straight drives for touchdowns. And they took a 24 to 10 lead and never looked back. a six-play 63-yard drive, a 12-play-84-yard drive, at a 9-play-75-yard drive. And I remember, I was like, he was not very good in the first half, but he was instrumental along with Nick Chub.

Remember, they couldn't stop Chubb in that game, and they got beat. And Deshawn Watson had one of his better games. He didn't play many. One of his better games as a Cleveland Brown. and that actually gave Cleveland fans, if you recall, because he hadn't played that much. You know, he had the 11-game suspension. So playing Washington was like his third or fourth or fifth game back, something like that.

And he was just getting, you know, his legs under him. And he finally played a decent game. I'm looking up his numbers right now. So 169 yards passing, basically all of it in half, three touchdowns, no picks, eight rushes for 31 yards. And they won the game. The next year, you know, he didn't have any really good games. There was one against Tennessee that they won where he had.

It looks like the highest QBR in a game since the trade in Cleveland. This year he was horrible before getting hurt in October a couple of weeks after Washington crush them. No. Yeah, I've gone through this before. with people like you will. Yeah, I don't think I got Jaden Daniels wrong. I'm pretty sure I got Carson Wentz right from the jump. Pretty sure I had Sam Hal and Taylor Heineke figured out,

and I wouldn't say figured out. But I certainly wasn't anywhere near on board with either one of those two guys being capable of being a high-level NFL starter. Pretty sure I got Kirk Cousins right. The ones that I got wrong, Actually, for me, like, I thought Justin Herbert was going to stink in the NFL. I had no interest, and I wanted Chase Young. I was all over Chase Young in that 2020 draft.

I didn't want Tua because of the injury, the hip injury and the concern over that, but I did not want Justin Herbert. I think of the bad QB calls, and we've all made them, and I've made several. I'm not saying that I haven't made some bad QB calls. I just think I've gotten it right more often than not when it comes to our. team in quarterbacks. But, oh, by the way, I loved RG3 that first year for that first half of the year. I mean, I was all in.

But I, in the 2020 NFL draft, I was convinced, convinced that Justin Herbert was going to go too high and he was going to be a massive disappointment for somebody. Yeah. I was dead wrong, and that's obviously who Washington should have selected. I've had callers to the radio show that I remember. And when they mention it, I remember that they were right that were telling me before that draft, we need to draft Justin Herbert. We don't need a defensive end as much as we need a quarterback. And we definitely needed a quarterback in 2020.

You know, the thing about the 2020 draft is that Ron Rivera wasn't going to draft a quarterback. He had an out. He had an easy out. because of the prospect that Chase Young was. But the other part of that was Dwayne Haskins. And what I believe still to this day was, you know, a handshake agreement in taking the gig from Snyder that he would do his very best to turn Dwayne Haskins into an NFL starter

and that he was going to give it a chance. and obviously in giving it a chance in 2020. By the way, I did not like Dwayne Haskins at all before the draft. And early on, I told Cooley this guy is being talked about as a first rounder. I don't think he's a first rounder. Cooley came back, watched film, and said he's barely even a day two pick. Once he played, though, I will admit that I was like, I want to see more. Because the one thing about Dwayne Haskins is the dude looked,

the part physically. You know, big, strong, could really throw it and was super confident. But there was a whole other aspect to Dwayne Haskins that we just didn't know about. Same thing with Chase Young. You know, all of the due diligence that good teams

do that produce information that steers them away from the players that aren't going to be players that are coachable or aren't going to love football and dedicate to football. But yeah, okay, thanks, Will. I just read that right before the show and got me a little fired up, so I thought I'd read it.

And yeah, the smell test over the weekend, 3 and 0, 2 and 0 on Friday night and 1 and 0 on Saturday. I did not have a pick yesterday. It's probably a good thing I didn't have a pick, although I liked both unders and both unders hit, and I actually played them. It didn't fit into a smell test scenario. But I kind of liked before the game, Tennessee. That would have been a big mistake. I'll mention the Sweet 16 in the next segment

because I love Houston the rest of the way. Love Houston. I think they're going to beat Duke. I think they're going to beat whomever they play in the final a week from tonight. So today, down at the league meetings, Adam Peters spoke. and here are some of the things that he addressed. First and foremost is Terry McLorn. He was asked about whether or not they intend to keep Terry McLaren around beyond next year,

the last year on his current deal, and we've talked a lot about this. Terry McLaren will sign a contract extension. I would almost, I'd bet anything that Terry McLorn is signed to a contract extension before the 2025 season begins. And Adam Peter said, quote, the short answer is, we want to make Terry a commander for a long time. So I was thinking about this in terms of Terry's contract. I know we've talked about it, but with some of the receivers that have signed here already, like Jamar Chase, where does Terry fit in? Terry's 29, but he'll be 30 at the beginning of the 2025 season.

And you'd figure on a contract extension, I'm just going to ballpark it at four years, you know, somewhere in that neighborhood. I think even though he'll play ages 30, well, 30 would be the last year in this deal. So say 31 through 34 years old on the extended part of his deal, if that's how they decide to do it. They may just may make it one big contract extension. I don't know how they'll figure it out, but he's got one year left on his deal, and they're not going to let him get to the point where unrestricted free agency becomes a possibility for him. This is a guy that is a true redskin, true WTFer, true commander, hate saying that. He is well on his way to becoming, you know, after Art Monk Charlie Taylor and Gary Clark,

and he may pass Clark and Taylor numbers wise by the time he's done here, but he is on his way to potentially being, you know, viewed as one of the greatest wide receivers in the history of the franchise. Art Monk's number one. I mean, that's not really debatable. I know some of you of a certain age would say Charlie Taylor, and Taylor played in a different era where, although Washington with Sonny Jorgensen and Charlie Taylor and Bobby Mitchell and Jerry Smith, they were throwing the football all over the park compared to, you know, a lot of teams in the 60s. But in terms of the money, I would think right now, and here is your top 10 average annual per year salaries.

Now, that's not as important as, you know, the total guaranteed of the deal. But Jamar Chase's deal basically now pays him just over $40 million a year. He's number one. Justin Jefferson at $35 million is number two. C.D. Lambs at $34 million. He's third. He's also just 26 years old. D.K. Metcalf, the deal that he signed with the Steelers, all right, is paying him $33 million a year.

He's 28 years old. A.J. Brown rounds out the top five at $32 million. Then the next five are Amon Ross St. Brown just over $30 million, Tyree Kill at $30 million, Brandon Ayuk at $30 million, T. Higgins in his New Deal at $28.75 million, and Jalen Waddle at $28.25 million. Those are your top 10 receiver average annual per year salaries. All right. The total guaranteed money, Actually, Jefferson and Chase basically got the same thing in total guarantees, right around $110 million. That's a lot more than any other receivers ever gotten in NFL history. Where does Terry rank right now? Well, after Waddle, it goes DJ Moore, Devonte Smith, Nico Collins, Debo Samuel, Michael Pittman Jr., and then you get to Terry at 16th. currently, at least according to overthecap.com, Terry has the 16th highest wide receiver average annual salary per year in the NFL.

So where will it have to get to? I would say it's got to get into the top 10, which means it's got to get to Jalen Waddles, 28.25. But I would say it's got to get higher than that. I think 30 million a year is the number. Terry is older than a lot of the receivers in front of them by about two years. The only receiver on this list of receivers that have bigger contracts in front of Terry, there's just one, and that's Tariq Hill.

All right, Hill's 31 going on 32. He makes $30 million a year. I would say that Terry's got to get to $30 million a year, putting him, you know, somewhere between six and nine in terms of the highest paid receivers in the game. If he were a little bit younger, we'd be talking not about a Chase or a Jefferson deal, but we'd certainly be talking about a CD Lamb deal. But I think at his age, probably somewhere in that top six to eight, which of course, within a couple of years, within about six months,

it'll be further down the list. But I would certainly expect that Terry McClureen's going to sign a massive contract extension before the year starts. I guess I could be surprised by Washington perhaps, you know, bargaining hard on this one because they're going to say the, you know, extended years beyond this year, you're 31 to 34 years old. You know, all of these guys that sign these massive deals in front of you are younger than you are with the exception of Taree Kill and that deal wasn't signed recently. I don't know. That's my guess. It's just a guess. but they need to do it because he is everything that you want. He is a true number one, even though there are several guys still, several guys still,

you know, that I would say are better number ones than Terry. I would. You know, he's not in the class of Chase or Jefferson. I don't think he is. And then there are others out there, including a lot of guys that make a lot less money than he does. but he is coming off this past season where for the first time in his career, he not only had a quarterback, but he had consistency of quarterback, and he had a really good offensive coordinator, etc.

He still hasn't had, you know, one of those massive sort of breakout, you know, 110 catch seasons, you know, with 14 touchdowns and, you know, 1,400 yards. He hasn't had that. He's obviously done incredibly well. with five consecutive seasons of 1,000 yards or more. But his best catch season was 87 catches, and that was all the way back in 2020, his second year in the league.

But the 13 touchdowns this year was by far and away, the best, and there's more to come. We're going to see him in the end zone a bunch. We're going to see, you know, somewhere between, I think, 80 and 95 catches, somewhere between 1,100 and 1,300 yards, and somewhere around 10 to 15 touchdowns. a year for the next few years with Jaden Daniels as a quarterback. All right.

Other things that Adam Peters spoke to down there. His comments about Javon Kinlaw, I think confirmed, if you will, Kinlaw's position when he gets into camp. He said about Kinlaw, he can play at any weight. 320 would be good for him based on how. how the team plans to use him inside and on the edge. And then he said his best football is in front of him. You know, that's the one trade.

I'm sorry, the one signing. I'll get to the Tunsel trade and what he said about that and also Debo in a moment. But the Javonkin Law signing was, of course, a signing that seemed like it was very pricey. based on where the pre-free agency people were saying he would come in at. But I think that they see versatility. The players actually played a bunch at end and tackle. He's actually played some nose. So I think his versatility and the fact that they know the player was important.

About Laramie Tunsell, Adam Peters said, where is that one? He said, we really wanted to bolster the offensive line. He is, in our opinion, one of the best. And he added that, you know, tackles of Tunsel's, you know, level and caliber. They just rarely become available. And they jumped on the opportunity. He also told Ben Standing that, you know, really the three big trades that they made, one of which was not very big in terms of compensation.

But when you look at Marshawn Latimore, Debo Samuel, and Laramie Tunsell. He said that, yeah, they're left with few picks, and he's still a big believer in the draft. But at the same time, you know, the positions in which they play, corner, you know, tackle, left tackle, and wide receiver are so valuable. And that quality of player, Latimore and Tunsel in particular, and they were the two that were the most costly,

you just have to go get. And I would say, yeah, that's the beauty of those two players, is that they went and got Latimore at the time that they got them because they were in contention. I will disagree with anybody that says otherwise. They paid what they paid for Tunsell right now because they've got a chance to win and contend for a Super Bowl this year. But it doesn't change the fact that both of those players were also traded for because they serve dual purposes. Lattimore, we're trying to win it this year. Tunsel, we're trying to win it this year, is in 25,

but they're also both under contract. Tunsel will probably get extended at some point, and in very valuable positions. Corner, hard to find, left tackle. You can also view it as we're also investing in the protection of our quarterback. He talked about knowing Debo and feeling really good about Debo and the fit that Debo. that Debo will have in the Cliff Kingsbury offense. One other thing Washington related today,

and I'll talk about this more with Tommy when quite honestly I learn more about it, but it was announced today that Washington was granted international marketing rights in the UAE, as in the United Arab Emirates, as part of the National Football League's Global Markets Program. This marks the commander's first entry into the global markets program, and the first year teams have been awarded rights in the UAE. There's a quote from Josh Harris that says, quote, the Washington commanders are excited to join the NFL's global markets program

and become one of the first teams to expand our marketing and fan engagement efforts into the UAE, an increasingly influential, financial, economic, and sports hub. Yes, you know, Dubai, those areas, there's just a little bit of money in those areas. He said this season our fan base returned with passion, and we were reminded of the power of sports to galvanize and unite our community. Whether in the DMV or around the world, we always strive to create unforgettable experiences and memories for our fans and look forward to being amongst the first to bring the passion and joy of NFL football to UAE.

My only guess about what this means is that they have some sort of, you know, exclusive or maybe with another team or two rights to market their team and the merchandise associated with their team in that country. And if a game ever gets played in that country, they would be the team I would imagine that would host it. I've never been to Dubai. I would love to go to Dubai. I've heard it is incredible. All right. I'll talk Kevin Willard's departure. Talked a lot about it. I know on Friday show. Got a lot of feedback from a lot of you. More on that and a little bit on the Sweet 16 games next after these words from a few of our sponsors.

Jones for Boom. There's that flex screen on the baseline. Off the deflection. Keep it moving for killing. Back for boom. God's right. In the last of the Elite 8 games last evening, that was Auburn Superstar Forward. Janai Broom. He had gone to the locker room injured. He came back almost Willis Reed style.

And on the very first offensive possession back in the game, he buried a three. And that one pretty much buried Michigan State. Auburn moves on along with three other number one seeds to next weekend's Final Four. This segment of the show is brought to you by MyBooky. If you want to bet the Final Four, I recommend MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.com. use my promo code, Kevin D.C. Duke currently a five-point favorite over Houston in the second of the two semifinal games. The first one, Florida, is a two and a half point favorite over Auburn. Four number ones into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2008,

and all of the betting that you want available at MyBooky, all of the prop bets, everything at My Bookie. I recommend it highly if you want to bet on sports. MyBooky.ag promo code, Kevin, D.C. So I'll work backwards and then we'll get to Kevin Willard. The Auburn, Michigan State game, it was never close enough to call it a memorable game or a great game. The Junae Broome shot is certainly a memorable shot.

The most memorable shot of the tournament so far is Derek Queen's game winner in the second round to lift Maryland to a win over Colorado State and into the Sweet 16. But God, this game between two. teams so well-coached, I thought was such a high-level basketball game that just came down to, honestly, Michigan State missed shots, and Auburn made more shots. It was well defended, it was well-executed offensively, there weren't a lot of turnovers. Izzo's always been one of my absolute favorites, and I was rooting for Michigan State as a Big Ten guy. I actually kind of liked

Michigan State in this game yesterday. Glad I didn't give it out. But Auburn was better. They were better. Broom was outstanding. Love the freshman point guard, Pedford. He's great. And they move on.

They were not playing well at the end of the season. They had lost three of their final four games, but they have put it together here over the last couple of games, beating Michigan and Michigan State in the regional in Atlanta. The other game earlier yesterday, Elite eight game. I don't know how you could be a better defensive team than Houston was in the first half against Tennessee yesterday, holding Tennessee to 15 points in the first half. You could say, well, Tennessee was just horrible from the three point line and they were over their first 14 in the

first half. Or you could say that these shots were defended and everything was a grind. And then when they had open looks. They couldn't believe they were open and they were too exhausted to shoot them and they basically pulled the string on all of them because they needed them so badly. Houston to me right now and watching them in this tournament looks like a group of men that are just more physically mature and more physically dominating. The question with Houston has been at various times, points in times this year, can they score enough? They can. They can shoot the three. They can score enough. I like Houston to beat Duke and to beat either Florida or Auburn in the NCAA title game. It reminds me of the way I thought about Baylor in 2021. I thought Baylor just looked physically imposing and Gonzaga had no prayer against them, even though Gonzaga was favored in that championship game. Houston is a five-point dog to. Duke right now. God, I love Houston. Love them. I can't imagine not giving Houston out on Saturday

as a smell test pick. And by the way, I think Duke is outstanding, and they pummeled Alabama. I'll tell you the one thing about Nate Oates, man. They're just never good defensively. Never good defensively. Alabama isn't. That game never in doubt. In the first game that day, Florida rallied to beat Texas Tech. Texas Tech really melted down, down the stretch. including missing two critical front ends of one-on-ones. And if Jinnai Broom at this point or Cooper Flag aren't the best players left in the tournament, then it's probably Walter Clayton Jr. Talked about him after Florida beat Maryland that Florida didn't even need Walter Clayton Jr.

To produce at a high level in their win in the Sweet 16 over Maryland. They needed it to come back against Texas Tech. He went for 30. There are a lot of comparisons you've probably heard if you've been paying attention to the tournament. A lot of people compare Clayton Jr. to Steph Curry with his super quick release. I think he looks a lot like Dame Lillard. He's more athletic, I think, than Curry. That's what I would say.

But he looks like a star at the next level. He had 30 on 7 of 14 shooting 13 to 14 from the line. He made three threes in Florida moved on in a tussle with Texas. that Texas Tech team really was outstanding. Real quickly, back to the Sweet 16 on Friday night because we had done the show and left at the point those games were played. I thought Purdue got screwed in their game against Houston. There was an obvious offensive foul on Houston's final possession

in which Houston then got possession of the ball underneath their own basket. Had a great play. Purdue really screwed it up. You got to guard the inbound passer. Often the inbound passer is. who the play is designed for. Great play by Kelvin Sampson to get the open look. They won the game 60260, inbounding underneath their own basket with 2.8 seconds left,

but they should have never had the ball. There was a clear extension right arm flailed out and knocked Purdue's defender off the ball. Purdue also had two possessions which were lost to bad calls on who touched the ball last before the final two minutes where they could go and review it. I thought Purdue did a great job in that game. I thought Houston was the better team throughout,

and I thought that it was very possible that they would do to Purdue what they did to Tennessee, but Purdue really, really hung in there. I think Braden Smith, who was the Big Ten player of the year, played all 40 minutes, didn't score, and I think they needed more scoring from him in this tournament, but I thought he was incredible against Houston's, halacious, physical, overpowering, trapping, aggressive defense. He had 15 assists against that defense. Yeah, and then the Friday night game also in which Ole Miss, you know, had a chance to beat Michigan State,

and we got the cover on the 30-footer at the buzzer that looked way off, but hit that back part of the rim and just sat there and then fell in, which gave me a huge cover getting the three and a half. All right. Kevin Wilder discussion. So, you know, when we did the show on Friday, it wasn't official. It certainly seemed like it was going to be official and pretty soon, but it wasn't at that point. And I talked a lot about it. And if you miss Friday show, I talked a lot about how, you know, I was kind of in glass half full mode. That first of, I was, of all, I thought the season was a wonderful season to watch and enjoy. It's a long journey. When you have a favorite team and you're passionate about that team and that team has a really

good season, you know, and you play a lot of games, you know, they played ultimately, what were they, 27 and 9, so 36 games. I enjoyed the season. So I wasn't going to deprive myself of like saying the end, you know, totally ruined the 35 games. games it came before it. And then I also said that it's very possible that Kevin Willard, through his exit, which was messy, of course, was leaving the next coach with a better job, that Maryland committed salary, committed rev share dollars, higher rev share dollars, committed, I think, to getting an athletic director that is, for the lack of a better description, maybe more enthused about basketball.

And so if they stick with what they've learned from this situation, then the next coach should find the job more appealing than the last two coaches did. So look, he left. It was messy. In my opinion, like I talked about on Friday, there's no easy way to leave in any departure as a coach in college sports these days. because if there had never been a mention of Villanova until he actually left for Villanova, the reaction would have been the exact same. It would have been vicious.

But his exit was marked with too much talking about if he gets these certain things and they aren't, you know, significant things, as he told me on my radio show last two Tuesday, that he would be the coach. And so that really makes his exit look, you know, bad. You know, look, the fans, they wanted him out in January, as I pointed out on Friday's show. I mean, there were threads saying fire him. He was the wrong hire. He can't win on the road. He can't win close games. Maryland was one in three. Then the fans would have called for his head had he lost to Colorado State. But taking that group out of the equation and looking at a more reasonable fan, and by the way, people in his industry, it's hard for even reasonably, you know, thoughtful people to say that he handled this the right way. And I think it tarnishes him in the process to a certain degree.

Bottom line, it just didn't appear when he said that if he got what he needed, he would stay, that he was being. totally truthful because Maryland did respond to his public outing of the athletic department of the school with support for him. And according to the school, and they announced this in their press release after it was official, and I told you this on Friday's show, everything I had learned is they had given him an increased salary, increased rev share. They were giving him everything he needed and everything he wanted so that the job was a better job than it had been. Now, In fairness, he did not know who his AD was going to be, but it was impossible to tell him who his AD was going to be. That's a longer search, and they want to get this right.

But they did tell him, we're going to find somebody that is more in tune in lockstep with this being a basketball first school. That doesn't mean that they would get the lion's share of revenue. No, that always goes to football. Football drives the revenue bus, even if your football team is irrelevant at the school. And Maryland is football is a part of the Big Ten. They're part of that TV contract. And so the significant majority, not to mention football is a bigger sport, you know, more costs, more players, et cetera.

They're going to get the lion's share. But they upped Kevin's RevShare number to where it was at the top of the Big Ten, I was told. You know, NIL money was, you know, a bit of a problem. It wasn't the worst in the Big Ten, but it was far from the best. They had some issues with NIL. and I think there were some promises made on that end to help on the NIL front. But he went anyway, which leads you to believe that this is really what he wanted all along. And by the way, it's very possible that there were other reasons for him, which included personal reasons.

Like I said from the very jump, if he doesn't want to be here and he wants to take the job at Villanova and move on, he has every right to do that. it's just that during the process of leaving, he essentially brought everything to everybody's attention, uh, attention going scorched earth with what I thought was, you know, trying to create leverage to make the job better for him, rather than to make the job better for someone else.

And it looks like even if he didn't do it intentionally, it may create a situation where it's a better job. But I will also say this, because more than one thing can be true. The exit was messy. But the other thing is this, and it's a look in the mirror moment for Maryland basketball. And I think they have looked in the mirror. And I think, by the way, others had been looking in the mirror for quite some time. They just couldn't convince necessarily the powers that be about what the basketball program should get and how it should be viewed if you really wanted to compete at the highest levels.

But yes, the exit was messy, and yes, it's a look in the mirror moment because two consecutive good basketball coaches didn't want to be here. They didn't want to be the coach at Maryland. You've got to look yourself in the mirror as Maryland and say, maybe it's us, too. Maybe we had something to do with this. And by the way, I think a lot of people out there recognize that there was plenty of blame to go around. Again, it doesn't change the fact that the exit could have been much different, even though I don't think the response would have been much different. But it should have been much different in terms of the way it was handled.

But at the same time, Maryland's now Maryland. You know, this isn't, we're not talking about a stepping stone program where coaches come to and then go to the a much bigger job, which, by the way, I guess you can argue, Villanova is a better job, but it's never been a stepping stone job, okay? It's been a final destination job. Lefty, Gary. Now, Bob Wade is mixed in there. Mark Turgeon, for whatever you think, and I know a lot of you don't think he was a good coach, I think you're wrong. He didn't win enough in March, true, but he was there for a long period of time. But you've had now, and you've got to consider this and you've got to look in the mirror and say, why? Why have we lost two coaches?

We didn't fire two coaches. We had two coaches who didn't want to be here anymore. And I think they started to come up with some of those answers because Kevin Willard brought them to their attention, although I think others out there have been trying to bring some of those issues to the attention of the school and the athletic department for a while now. But yeah, that's the situation. It's over. It's time to focus on what's next. You know, good businesses, adults, grown-ups, they're not on social media viciously attacking the former coach and talking about how thrilled they would be and how they'd go out and, and, and, and, and, boom from start to finish if Maryland can just please schedule Villanova.

Please schedule that game. I mean, this from a group of fans that, as I said on Friday, you know, scream and bitch a lot, but typically don't show up for the games unless it's a really big game. I guess that would be a reason to get people to a game, right? But, you know, grown-ups, people who aren't sitting there ripping people on social media and threatening people on social media that have actual accountability and responsibility, they got to come up with solutions.

You know, he's gone, done, it's over. Now, I don't know, maybe there was some tampering. I don't think that's even illegal in college sports. You know, maybe there was something there that was untoward that they could work on. But in terms of right now, that's over with. Smart people, good businesses, successful people, They move that to the side and they don't wallow in it.

They come up with solutions. And so it's time for them to have learned about why two coaches didn't want to be there anymore. Fix that and go get somebody who's going to be happy here three years, five years, ten years after taking the job. That's what they have to do. Who are those people? I don't know. I mentioned Chris Beard on the show. I'm sure his buyout is significant.

I would think big and swing big. There is an assistant coach at Yukon that is interesting. I don't necessarily know if that's a big swing. We could probably refer to it as something else. I love Dwayne Simpkins. I don't know that two years as a head coach makes a lot of sense for Maryland. I think you need a little bit more experience. I've seen the Steve Blake tweet and the Gravis Vasquez's of the world that want the job.

I mean, they haven't coached. They haven't been a head coach anywhere. I'm not against thinking outside the box. I mean, the Lakers hired JJ Reddick. I'm not into Buzz Williams at all, the Texas A&M coach. That dude is always looking for his next gig. I'm not impressed. I've never been impressed with Buzz Williams.

So I'm not a fan of that. Nate Oates ain't coming to Maryland. And to be honest with you, I'm not a massive Nate Oates fan, but the buyout would be significant. And Alabama's, you know, flush with cash. He'd have to take a major pay decrease to come here. You know, there's a Chris Collins at Northwestern. He's always respected Maryland from afar.

At least Tony Skin has been a head coach and a successful one at George Mason, you know, which is the Atlantic 10. It's not the Patriot League. And he was on the staff with. Kevin Willard and is a big-time recruiter. You know, I don't want to, I'm going to support anybody as a Maryland guy, but I would definitely look into a guy like Chris Beard, who I think is a phenomenal basketball coach.

I'd wonder whether or not Billy Donovan wants to come back to college. I'd consider, you know, a guy like Chris Mack, maybe he wants to be in the Big Ten rather than a conference that, you know, seems to be flailing a little bit. These are the names that I would think about. I wanted to mention something that I was told over the weekend. I thought it was interesting. And that is that the buyout for Kevin Willard was reportedly between a million and a half and $2 million.

And I was told by people in the know, and I'm talking about people in athletic departments, not Maryland's, that this has been a bit of a part of the conversation about Kevin Willard, that the buyout, was so low, ridiculously low, that it was a no-brainer for Villanova or anybody else that was interested to come and pluck them if they wanted to. And he wanted to. You know, apparently, four years left on a deal that pays nearly $4 million a year. Most buyouts are $4 to $5 million or more, which acts as a preventative of other teams coming in and snatching your coach. And I asked, well, How does that happen? Well, it gets negotiated as part of his buyout clause in the contract.

And he had a great agent and Jimmy Sexton, but you can't cut that deal as the school. You can't make it so that three years into a seven-year deal, the buyouts are mere a million and a half dollars, maybe two million. You can't do that. If that's not the industry standard or if that's not really commensurate with what other big-time basketball schools, do forcing teams to steer clear their coaches, that's malpractice. Now, I don't have the details, you know, but I was just told that this is a conversation among, you know, people in that industry, that how the hell was Kevin Willard's buyout so low? You know, I asked, is it the search firm? Is it the AD? Is it the associate AD?

Is it the CFO? Is it the CEO? Whose fault is it? I mean, apparently, every school somebody's responsible for making sure that the deal and the contract is, you know, a fair contract for both parties. And the buyout clauses are big deals in these contract negotiations. And Kevin Willard's apparently, according to the people that I've talked to, was low, like too low. Time to move forward. Sucks because I think Kevin Willard, like I thought Mark Turgeon, was. I think they were both good coaches. I think that there's probably a lot to this story from Kevin Zen that we don't know, and some of that might be personal. There's no doubt that Villanova in the Big East probably seems more like home to him than a big state public school like

Maryland. But the bottom line is that if the job had been a job that provided for the program what most top-tier programs provide, you know, and allowed Kevin to compete. And he did a good job, given that their NIL wasn't overly impressive, that the RevShare number wasn't overly high. It wasn't super low, but it wasn't at the highest levels until they came back to him last week. But he did a good job this year in the portal. And speaking of the portal, Rodney Rice and,

And Jacoby Gillespie put their names into the portal today. I'm hearing that Rice, there's a chance he might stay, but Gillespie's probably going to Tennessee. We'll see. All right. Jeff Herman will join us after these words from a few of our sponsors. This segment of the show is brought you by Window Nation. Window Nation's got an incredible offer for the month of April.

Four free windows with every four you buy. No money down, no payments, and no interest for two full years. Added bonus, window nation will give you a free entry door if you buy a house full of windows. Springs a good time to clean up and spruce up, replace those old drafty windows with the best insulated windows out there and pay nothing until the year 2027. All I'm asking is give them a shot to come out and give you a free estimate. call them now at 86690 Nation or head to windownation.com. Jumping on with me is Jeff Irman, who's been very busy over the last 8, 9, 10 days, whatever it's been right now.

Jeff is the founder of Inside MD Sports. You can read all of his stuff at 247Sports.com. You can follow Jeff for all of his stuff on X on Twitter at Jeff. underscore Erman. So look, I focused in the last segment on, you know, what's behind us now is behind us. And hopefully there's a learning ability in this process. And maybe whether he was intentionally doing it, which I don't think he was, or not, maybe Kevin's exit, which was messy, left the next guy with a better opportunity. so let's start there with kind of moving forward. Do you believe, like I do, that there was a bit of an awakening over the last week and a half,

and when I say awakening within the athletic department, within the university, and the next coach actually may have the best situation any coach at Maryland's had in a while? Yeah, I mean, it's definitely possible, Kevin. You know, you shine light on it, and people notice, you know, you have, big important alum, chiming in on it, on fixing things and fixing the culture, the fans, I think,

are the ones who didn't already realize kind of how the rot and decay that was taking place in the athletic department are starting to get it. And, you know, most importantly, you're going to have a new athletic director, so there's hope in that, because obviously the previous one,

just, you know, let things get to a point where, you know, is Kevin Willard thing? Obviously, Willard decided to do all these things, but you don't get to this point unless you have years of decay, like I said. So I do agree. It is a chance to start over, and you hope that they get the right people in place. Yeah, and I'm wondering if you think that the search committee that's, you know,

trying to identify and hire the new AD as well as the coach, which we will get to here in a moment, if you think that there's this belief now that they've got to hire an A.D., AD that for the lack of a better description is much more basketball friendly? Yeah, probably a little more basketball friendly, I would say for sure. Damon Evans was a football guy through and through. You know, he was played Georgia with the 80 there, obviously. That's his thing. I don't think he, you know, I think he understood the value of basketball.

And he was there long enough to know how passionate Maryland fans are. So I don't think it's all about just affinity for basketball. A lot of it is just about getting somebody better. somebody more conscientious, you know, more forward-thinking and innovative. You know, they really did not develop an NIL plan almost at all the past years. They let everybody pass them by on that. So, yeah, you might want to get somebody who's a little more basketball. And if you talk to somebody on the football side, they'll shout down anybody you mentioned

who has any basketball connections. If you say anybody with any sort of football background, the basketball people immediately shoot a dumbbell. But more than any of that, you just got to get somebody better. They have to hire the head coach at this point before the AD, right or wrong? Yeah, I think so it usually takes longer to get an AD. You know, with basketball, the transfer portal has already been underway for a week, so every day you don't have a coach, you're losing out on recruits.

And they have basically no players at this point. You know, Rodney Rice and Jacoby Gillespie entered the portal today. there are only two impact players left on the roster are gone, and two of their best reserves, Tafar Gapare and Jay Young both entered the portal. Wright could return. I have that on good authority. If he likes whatever higher they make, I think Alessfield be gone no matter what. So you've got to get somebody in there quickly because you've got to basically rebuild an entire roster for next year.

All right, let's talk about because I know you've been hit up for this over the last, you know, 24 to 48 hours. Jeff was actually the first one to have the official news that Kevin Willard was out and headed to Villanova. He was the one that broke it. So who are they going to hire? Good question. You tell me, I mean, they've got there some names that I know that they're interested in. You know, the first name that came out with a lot of buzz, no pun intended, was Buzz Williams from Texas A&M to the point where everybody was almost assuming he was getting the job. I think most of that was on his side of things.

It was coming from his side of things where he really wanted to get out of Texas A&M. The more I hear I don't think they'll go with him, which is probably a good choice. He's got some baggage. His best days, you know, results-wise were a while ago. I know that Luke Murray, the assistant coach, who is a big part of the back-to-back national championships at Yukon, both recruiting-wise and with their offensive system, is on the list. Chris Collins from Northwestern, Tony Skin from George Mason,

obviously local guy was an assistant at Maryland. He was the main guy behind the Derek Queen recruitment. He's a really good recruiter. The question is whether that's going to make up for the lack of experience at this level. People are obviously going to question that sort of higher when somebody's making that big of a jump. And then it's just pretty quiet on the others.

I think they've got some secret ones up their sleeve, I know David Cox, the associate head coach under Willard, has interviewed for the job. It might have been today, actually. But, you know, otherwise it's been pretty quiet. All right, let's talk about some of these names. I mentioned a couple of them in my last segment. I'm with you on Buzz Williams. I mean, it just seems like the dude's always looking for the next job.

I've crossed him off the list. The Luke Murray thing is very interesting. He, you know, that's one of those guesses, right? right? I think there are two types of swings here. Like there is a big swing and there's kind of an out-of-the-box swing. He'd be an out-of-the-box swing. Marilyn's never hired. I guess Bob Wade was an out-of-the-box swing many years ago.

He was a high school coach. But I'm into an out-of-the-box swing, but I also am into, you know, a big swing. And to me, a big swing would be somebody like Chris Beard, as an example. You know, a big swing to me would be just at least calling Brad Stevens or Billy Donovan. But an out-of-the-box swing would be Luke Murray. Are any of the big swings in play or are buyouts too expensive? I was told that there's a few that they're flirting with a little bit, but I don't, Maryland has never been able to pull off the big swing, right?

Remember the Sean Miller saga years ago, you know, everybody thought, thought they had that done, and it fell through, and you end up hiring Mark Turgeon. So they're not, you know, when you look at both the financial situation there and the organizational situation, which is all kind of become crumbling down lately, and you're also trying to hire somebody without knowing who the AD is, so anybody who's in a secure position right now, you know, they're not very likely to leave for somewhere with so much uncertainty. So if you can't take the big swing, which seems to be the case, then you might as well go for the out-of-the-box swing with the highest upside, right?

They've always been scared to kind of do that, but I think a young guy with huge upside, great recruiter, and star power, at least you have a chance of building something special. When you hire these guys who've been around and they've been solid but not spectacular and they're not going to become somebody new, like Mark Turgeon and Kevin Willard, for example, you know, you're just not going to, you're very unlikely to do big things that you haven't done before. So without the money and the security to get one of those big names, you know, Chris Beard or someone like that, I think you're right, it's time to go for a guy like Skin or Murray who have the upside. Well, that's not necessarily my preference.

I'm just curious as to, you know, which of the two you think or, you know, if there's a big swing in play. Yeah, I don't think the big swing is likely in play. You know, it hasn't been before. And this is the worst situation than it was before. so I think you almost have to go outside the box. Unless they view it as it's going to be an improved situation. You know, after, you know, because we both know that they did come to the table with a much better situation for Kevin Willard,

the one that he was looking for with the exception of the AD being known. Yeah, the problem with that is any big swing guy who's currently in a good situation is probably making $5, $6, $7 million. So you're going to have to pay $7, $8, $9 million to get somebody like that. And Maryland has never gone that big. I don't think they'll go that big this time. So, you know, I wouldn't be completely shocked if somebody like that pops up by Chris Beard. He's in the Under Armour family.

Maybe you can work that through Plank, but otherwise I think it's a long shot. What do you say to people who, you know, send you Steve Blake's tweet, Gravis Vasquez's tweets that talk about guys like Dwayne Simpkins, who obviously is an alum and for a certain age group. We're very fond of Dwayne, but he's only coached for two years at A.U.

In the Patriot League, what do you say to some of those names? I like Dwayne. I think he's a great guy, and I think I'm pretty sure Gary Williams has said that he has the most potential as a coach of anybody that he coached. But it's going to be hard for him overcome the fact that he's at American University and hasn't coached a high major. I think, you know, his name was thrown around early, but it doesn't, I'm not really hearing it as much, so I think that's the issue there.

Guys like Blake in Vasquez, every time there's a job opening, people just start randomly yelling out alumni names that they've heard this time. It wasn't random because Blake obviously tweeted that he would love the job, but to me that's ridiculous, you know, a guy who hasn't. I think Steve Blake has coached. It's been two years as an NBA system is his only coaching experience in the 20, plus years that he left Maryland.

Gravis hasn't coached at all. So, it's one thing in the NBA, like JJ Reds going from a need out to that

because you're dealing with NIL or, you know, scheduling or all these other things or revenue share. It's just the whole recruiting

in general. It's such a different deal. If you don't have any experience in that, you know, Steve Blake might be great exes and hosewise. He was definitely

the class guy and his playing days that you point to and say that guy's going to be a great coach down the road. But to me, hiring somebody just jumping off their couch straight to the sidelines would be a crazy move. All right. Just as of the afternoon of March 31st, just give me your best guess. That's really tough because the interviews are still ongoing.

I have a feeling there's a few names that I don't know about at this stage. I mean, I have not that much confidence in this, but if I just had to gun to my head guess, I would say Tony Skin, just because I know that they like him. I think he's a rising star, and such a big part of it is recruiting, and, you know, the guy is a recruiting magician,

but obviously you hire him. He's going to be a ton of questions about, you know, experience. But he's done a great job of George Mason. They won the 8-10 this year, you know. So that would be my guess, but it very well. could be somebody that we're not even talking about right now. Jeff, thanks for the time.

I know you're busy. I appreciate it. Talk soon. Anytime. Thanks, Ken. That's it for the day. Back tomorrow with Tommy.