The Kevin Sheehan Show - Kevin Willard Goes Off

Episode Date: March 21, 2025

Kevin opened with Maryland Basketball Coach Kevin Willard's comments yesterday about the state of the basketball program and current AD Damon Evans. Jeff Ermann/InsideMDSports.com jumped on with his reporting and thoughts on the Willard/Evans situation. Kevin finished up the show with thoughts on Deebo Samuels' introductory presser and the addition of former Cowboys' WR Michael Gallup.  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 Chean Show. Here's Kevin. I need to see fundamental changes done. I want this program to be great. I want it to be the best in the country. I want to win a national championship.

But there's things that need to change. Maryland basketball coach Kevin Willard yesterday. That was just a short snippet of what he said about the state of the basketball program in College Park. a program in which he currently is the head coach of. The show's presenting sponsor, as always, is Window Nation. 86690 Nation, Windonation.com if you need new windows. I'll play the entirety of Kevin Willard's comments and tell you what I thought of them coming up here in the opening segment. Smell test picks in this opening segment as well.

Jeff Irman, who writes for Inside MD Sports, he'll jump on in the next segment. We'll get Jeff's thoughts and Jeff's reporting on the Maryland situation. And then in the final segment of the show today, I'll give you some thoughts on Debo Samuel's introductory press conference yesterday, which was done via video conference call with the reporters on the beat. Congratulations to open the show to Ron Rivera. He was named as the general manager of the Cal Bears football program. Now, Ron, as most of you know, is an alum of Cal Berkeley, played at Cal, and he was named the general manager of the Cal Football Program. Ron really wants to stay in the sport.

There is no doubt about that. There were not any, it doesn't appear, coaching opportunities for him, even as an assistant, here the last couple of years. I say that. I don't know that for sure. Certainly a head coaching opportunity or a defensive coordinator opportunity was not available. And he did some broadcasting last year. I listened to a game or two that he called on radio. I thought he was pretty good, actually. But he has taken over a position which now most schools have, and that is the position of general manager of a college program where NIL money and rev share money, all of this needs to be managed. You know, identification of talent in the portal, the figuring out what that talent is worth and how

to procure it. That's Ron Rivera's job now out at Cal. I know what most of you are saying. It's like, that's not really what he did well in Washington. The GM hat was not an attractive hat was not a productive hat. But the good news out at Cal is you don't draft players. So he won't be in charge of anybody's draft, but he will be involved heavily, I would imagine, in recruiting. But anyway, Ron Rivera wants to stay in the sport. There's no doubt about that. And he gets to go back to a beautiful place and be a part of his alma mater. So good for him. The NCAA tournament first round on Thursday yesterday was kind of boring. I mean, we had one game out of the 16 that came down to the wire,

and that was a late night game last night between Michigan and UC San Diego. Michigan was killing UC San Diego early, but they came back, they took the lead, and then Michigan ended up holding on as UC San Diego missed a three-pointer with just about two seconds to go. They won the game 68 to 65. That was it in terms of last possession kind of a game. Clemson ended up getting beat by McNeese State, but that was a layup at the buzzer to cut a four-point deficit to two.

They almost pulled off what would have been an all-time comeback. They were down 22 with seven minutes to go. They were down 12 with 48 seconds to go. that was one of three lower-seeded teams knocking off higher-seeded teams. Drake beat Missouri, 11 over 6. And early in the day, Creighton a 9 blew out in that first game of the day, Louisville, in what was a home court environment for Louisville in Lexington. But overall, day one, 11 of the 16 games were decided by double-ditch.

There were two other games that were decided by nine points. And then there was a game decided by seven between Kansas and Arkansas, which actually was competitive coming down the stretch, although it was an awful basketball game to watch. And then we had the Clemson two-point difference, but that was not, you know, a two-point last possession game. And the Michigan winning by three. Just a boring day. And I mentioned this earlier on radio. You know, 10, 15 years ago, I don't know exactly when, but it's roughly in that time frame.

There were complaints from coaches that they rolled out brand new basketballs for the NCAA tournament games. And that's not what teams are used to playing with during the course of the regular season or even in their conference tournaments. They play with worn in, broken in, you know, basketballs, not brand new, hard, you know, not a lot. lot of feel basketballs. I don't know if they went back to that yesterday or if they're still doing it. I thought they had gone away from that. But I'm telling you, watching the games yesterday, ball handling was a problem, shooting was a problem. It was ugly all day long. And there was just no drama to speak of. Even the upsets, you know, most people thought Drake had a chance to beat Missouri. A lot of people thought McNee State coached by Will Wade, who's least

to go take the job at NC State, had a chance to beat Clemson. The other one was a nine over and eight. The Kansas Arkansas game was just flat out hideous at the end. I mean, Kansas is a bad basketball team, and Hunter Dickinson was just horrible yesterday. They turned the ball over on six of their final eight possessions and saw a three-point lead go to a seven-point loss. Kansas started the year, one in the country. They ended up losing 13 games and they are out in the first round. Last year, if you recall, they were out in the championship three years ago. But they did win the national championship three years ago, right? Didn't they beat North Carolina in the national championship three years ago? I think they did. So an ugly day in round one of the tournament. But there was action

to be had. I went three and three on my smell test picks. Started off great with Creighton and Purdue, but ended up going three and three against the number. I will have four picks coming up. I've already tweeted them out. Most of you aren't waiting for this podcast today for the smell test picks. Hopefully you either heard them on radio or you saw me tweet them out just a few moments ago.

but I'll have four picks coming up at the end of this segment. All right, I want to weigh in on Kevin Willard and what happened yesterday. So the day before your games, coaches and players hold press conferences. And this was about three questions in the Kevin Willard's press conference yesterday in Seattle. They play Grand Canyon today, 435 in a first round game. And there's been a lot of swirling, speculation and rumors about how Villanova has Kevin Willard at the top of their list or near the top of the list. So he was asked about it and listened to his answer.

Obviously, your name has come up as a candidate for various positions because Maryland has done so well this year. Have you felt compelled to address any of that with your team at all about your future at Maryland? Yeah, I've addressed it with them directly. You know, I'll say this. This is, Damon and I talked on Sunday night right before, right before Selection Sunday. He gave me a term sheet right before Selection Sunday. I really wasn't focused on it. Been focused on this team and this.

Damon's talked to my agent. I talked to Damon this morning at length about where we are. Obviously, it's difficult right now because I think we know his situation. he's probably going to SMU so it's kind of tough to negotiate with somebody that's maybe not here but I need to make fundamental changes to the program

that's what I'm focused on right now that's why probably a deal hasn't got done because I want to see I need to see fundamental changes done I want this program to be great I want to be the best in the country I want to win a national championship but there's things that need to change

when you're at a place for three years and you put your heart and soul into it, you kind of sit there and say, okay, wait a second, for us to be really successful, X, Y, and Z needs to change. And first and foremost, I need to make sure that we are where we are with NIL and RevShare is not where we've been with NIL

in the past two years. We've been one of the worst, if not lowest, in the NIL in the last two years. So that's first and foremost. I also have to make a fundamental change where I can do the things that I want to do with my program. I wanted to spend an extra night in New York this year to celebrate Christmas with my team,

and I was told that we can't do that because it's too expensive. So I don't know how we can be a top-tier program, and I can't spend one extra night in New York because it's too expensive. So there's fundamental things I'm fighting for for my team and my program. It's not so much about me. it seems to I want to make sure that whatever we do going forward we're successful and we're successful at the highest rate. So I'm confident that we'll get things done.

It's a little difficult right now. I'm not going to lie. But I'm confident that no matter who we're negotiating with at the end of the day, this program is going to be in a great spot. And that's really my focus is this tournament, this team, and this. program. Pretty remarkable comments from Kevin Willard yesterday. He could have very easily said, yeah, I'm not focused on any of that. We've got a game tomorrow, first round of the NCAA tournament. Grand Canyon is outstanding. Bryce Drew's a great coach. I love the team that I have. I'm super excited to get hopefully, you know, this, you know, postseason journey started. I'll be glad to answer any questions that are basketball related, because that's what I'm focused on right now.

But he didn't do that. He went, as the kids might say, he went gangster on the athletic director and on the administration. He essentially announced publicly something that was not public. It had been speculated on. There were certainly people that knew that it was a possibility, but he showed Damon Evans, the athletic director, the door, and said, don't let it hit you on the way out. Pretty amazing stuff. He announced even before it's been finalized that his athletic director's leaving. Because I think he probably desires that result, as the last coach did. Maryland's had issues with athletic directors, with administration, with what's perceived to be a basketball first school, it is, but doesn't necessarily inside that university get the attention that a basketball first school should get. Look, they're a Big Ten team, and the money that they get from the Big Ten is because of football. We all understand that. But Maryland is one of those few places.

Indiana's one in the conference in which basketball is more important to its fan base, to its alums, to its students. It just is. It has been. And I promise you, at least in the near future, it will continue to be. And he went public with his frustrations. And the reason he felt like he wanted to do it, I would imagine this is just me sort of trying to read what I watched yesterday, is that there is interest. And there's interest from a basketball first school clearly, because football at Villanova is way secondary, in a basketball first league. and they are flush with money.

Nova's got a ton of money. And so his opportunity to kind of air it out, first of all, as a, by the way, if I do leave, this is why, I got some of that out of it yesterday as well, but to also leverage the interest that a major school has that could potentially pay him a lot more than he's making now into. a better situation where he currently is. I hope he stays, man. I like Kevin Willard.

I think he's a good coach. I don't really get into those that are going to obsess about his March record. Not yet. This is year three at Maryland. I understand he's never been out of the first weekend at Seton Hall. I do. And I understood all of the frustrations related to Mark Turgeon not being able to consistently only one time.

Did he get out of the first weekend of the tournament? But I believe that I can identify a good basketball coach. Mark Turgeon was a good basketball coach, and I think Kevin Willard is a good basketball coach. And I'm not so sure that Maryland can do a lot better, especially given the challenges that coaches have had at Maryland. Sure, you could see. say, hey, why don't you, you know, win a couple of games in the tournament before talking about

what's wrong with the administration, what's wrong with the way things happen out there? Well, you know, it's chicken and egg, man. I mean, this is a new sport. This is a new environment, you know, to compete at the highest levels. You can't be near the bottom in NIL. You can't be near the bottom in RevShare. You've got to have the support of the administration of your athletic department. Damon Evans is a football guy, has been. And so I don't really have an issue with Kevin yesterday. I hate the timing of it because I'm pumped about a game today. A game I think they can win. I think they can win at least two in this tournament. And I'd love a shot at Florida in a Sweet 16 game next week. But I understand what he was doing, and I understand,

trust me, the frustrations of the basketball program and department now over, you know, a two-coach span. And, you know, I don't, I can't tell you what the solutions are. You know, it would be nice to have less, you know, issues administratively, athletic department-wise with the AD. Maryland's had, you know, a succession of ADs that certainly have not gotten along necessarily with the basketball coaches at a high level. And I'm not suggesting that Damon's relationship with Kevin is what it was with Mark. It was not good with Mark at all. That relationship was very, very difficult and very strained.

But I think some of the same challenges exist. I hope it works out. I hope Kevin Willard stays. And in the immediate, I hope Maryland makes a big run. And whomever comes in to replace Damon Evans is someone that is able to provide Kevin Willard or whomever the basketball coach is with the best opportunities to compete at the highest levels of the sport. All right, let's finish up this opening segment with the smell test. Kevin looks where the John Q public is putting their cash and does the opposite.

It's time for the smell test. The smell test, as always, is brought to you by MyBooky. MyBooky is your home for March Madness. All the games, all the totals, all the money lines, all the prop bet opportunities. Go to MyBooky.org. use my promo code Kevin D.C. You'll get a deposit bonus on your initial sign-up when you use my promo code, Kevin D.C. MyBooky's got everything you need for the NCAA tournament.

The $100,000 bracket contest is already closed out, but they'll have a Sweet 16 bracket contest next week. So sign up at mybooky.orgie.orgie and use my promo code Kevin, D.C. Three and three yesterday started off well with Creighton and Purdue, but had VCU, Drake, VCU, Missouri, excuse me, and Kansas as losers had Texas A&M along with Creighton and Purdue as winners. Four games today. Let me just mention real quickly, I think the unders, which were nine and seven yesterday, I like the unders today overall.

I'm not going to give out any specifically, but I bet you the unders come in at, at least nine and seven or better again. Favorites yesterday were 10 and 6 by my count. Four games. The biggest public play on the board is North Carolina. Lang 2 against Ole Miss after their big win in the first four, after their controversial inclusion in the field. I'll take Ole Miss plus two on just flat out principal contrarian handicapped.

principle. Ole Miss is the biggest anti-public play on the board today. The Terps, believe it or not, are an anti-public favorite laying 10 against Grand Canyon. Distractions, there are a plenty. I'm going to take Maryland and lay the 10 over Grand Canyon. Florida's perceived as maybe the best team in this tournament, if not the second best team. They're laying 28 and a half against Norfolk State or Norfolk State, if you're from down there. I'll take Norfolk State plus the 28 and a half. Nobody seems to be wanting to take the points in that one. And then finally, Arizona is one of those anti-public favorites.

They are favored by 14 and a half over the Mid-American conference champion, Akron Zips. Akron can really score. Public likes Akron in this one. I'll take Arizona minus 14. half. So, Ole Miss plus two, Maryland minus 10, Norfolk State, Norfolk State, however you want to say it, plus 28 and a half, and Arizona minus 14 and a half. Jeff Irman from Inside MD Sports will get his thoughts on the Maryland situation next. I introduced many of you to Goldbelly a few months back, and I want to keep talking about it today because Goldbelly has the most iconic, famous foods from restaurants, all across the United States, aggregated on one amazing site,

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Who knows what he'll say after the game? today. But joining me right now is Jeff Erman. Jeff's been covering Maryland sports forever. Jeff's reporting can be found at inside-m-d-sports.com. You can follow Jeff on X on Twitter at Jeff underscore Erman, E-R-M-A-N-N. So, Jeff, before we get to the Y of Kevin Willard's comments yesterday and really just the why and how of where we are right now with the Maryland Athletic Department and the men's basketball program in particular. Let's start with what you're reporting, you know, what you know about the futures of athletic director, Damon Evans, and the head coach Kevin Willard. Yeah, Kevin. So yesterday I, you know,

I became pretty clear early in the day from several sources that there was, it was more than just a rumor in terms of Damon Evans leaving for the job at SMU, so we reported that, and later in the day, Kevin Willard reported it too in a strange scene that I've never you know, as I wrote this morning

on this site, you know, it was just so bizarre to see a coach essentially shoving his boss out the door. But at his press conference, Kevin Willard, you know, he announced he was talking about his contract and, you know, raising his

issues with the funding for the program and NIL and things like that. And then he just mentioned that, you know, as many people saw, that he couldn't negotiate with Damon Evans because Damon Evans is leaving for SMU. Earlier in the... I had several sources. Tommy Willard met with the team and the players and told them that he'll be back next year. So, you know, it seems like the flirtation, if it even was a real flirtation and not a smokescreen of sorts with Villanova is over,

and, you know, I would think he'll be back, but there's a little bit of uncertainty there now because who do you get back to College Park and negotiate those concessions or the more funding and things like there's no AD now, essentially, it would seem. So there's a lot of uncertainty, but, you know, I would say him and his team are focused on the tournament at this point.

All right. So you believe you're reporting Damon Evans is going to take the job at SMU, the AD job at SMU, and he'll be exiting shortly? Yeah, unless it falls through everything I've gathered that has been done, I think, for, you know, I think it probably got done Wednesday night. So barring anything collapsing there, I think he'll be gone, and Maryland will have a new AD for the first time in about a decade. And just to confirm, as of now, you believe Kevin Willard will be coming back?

Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, for everything I've gathered is that out of that $20 million, allotted next year, or the first year of revenue sharing with the athletes, that $4 million was earmarked for basketball, which Willard didn't feel like enough, and that's understandable when you consider, you know, you look at the landscape, apron right now. His two top players expected to return next year, Rodney Rice and Jacoby Gillespie. You know, there should be two of the better guards in the

Big Ten. That's probably two million or more right there in salaries. So then you think about 4 million total, and you need two big men to replace Queen and Reese. You can quickly envision what Willard's concerns were. My only question now is, now that he's

one, what feels kind of like a power struggle source with Damon Evans, you know, Who do you even work with on that, you know? And a lot of times coaches don't want to be in uncertain situations where they don't know who the next AD is, but then again, in this case, he brought up on himself or expedited that situation. So it would be hard to stomach him saying I'm going here or there because there's no AD in place, and I don't know who I'm working for, things like that.

So it is a very unique situation. Probably not unique. Crazy things happen in college sports, but it's an unusual situation. So before we, again, get to kind of the why and the how, how serious do you think Villanova is about Kevin Willard? You get different things from different people, Kevin. You know, Jay Wright made some comments. He's still very involved with the program.

and kind of a de facto GM for them, and he made some comments. He didn't name Willard by name, but he answered John Orrin from the Sports Business Journal, who's a huge Maryland fan and alum, in a way that made it sound like they are interested in him potentially, and then some other reports have come out about them offering. I'm not sure offering him the job.

I'm not sure how much there is to that I heard yesterday that he isn't necessarily the top choice. And, you know, if you look at everything played out, maybe he might have had a little help from a few of these people, or his agent might have had some help anyways from a few of these people putting it out as him being a top candidate for them. But, you know, I wouldn't say they're out of the woods yet, but I do believe, you know, that he sincerely told his team he's staying. Of course, we know how the game works. You know, look at Will Wade, even coaching his team to win, everybody knowing he's leaving. so anything's possible, but I do think he'll be back.

Yeah, you know, the things about the Villanova job that might be attractive are things like, you know, they've got a lot of money, and you can add to that. It is, you know, only about basketball there. And, you know, he's an old Big East guy. You know, he's a Jersey guy and a Big East guy. So, yeah, I mean, add to that if you'd like. Yeah, he's an old school, Biggie-style guy. You know, he's a basketball school kind of guy,

and I think maybe just from connecting the dots, he hasn't spelled it out like this to anyone that I'm aware of, but connecting the dots, I think Maryland has talked about so much as a basketball school that when he arrived, he might have underestimated everything else going on that is not the full-fledged focus on basketball, like it is at Villanova or Seedon Hall where he was before. and, you know, a lot of funding had to go to football. I think he felt like Damon Evans, or I know he felt like Damon Evans was a football first AD,

which isn't surprising, given that he played at Georgia and was the AD at Georgia, you know, in football country. So, you know, that would be the boost of going to Villanova or anywhere like that, is that all the focus is on basketball. Most of the funding is basketball, and that's just at the center of everything in the culture there. And in terms of the money, you know, at a school like Maryland, yes, they are getting a ton of money from the Big Ten, but you have to put at least $12, $13, $14 million into the football payroll next year

and this first year of revenue sharing. Place like Villanova, you know, even if you don't have that $20 million to put into it, even if you only have $10 or $8 even, if that's all going into basketball, then that's still more than Maryland, you know, that's still significantly more than Maryland or most other Power Conference basketball programs will be getting for revenue sharing. You've started with that answer to touch on the, you know, how and why we got to where we've gotten to. But go ahead and give everybody sort of the recent history of, you know, Maryland basketball.

It's, you know, it's position in the athletic department. The relationships that multiple coaches have now had with the AD, go ahead. Yeah, you know, I would say, as you know, well, being a personal friend of it, Mark Turgeon, did not get along with Evans at all, Damon Evans at all. That ended very poorly, as we all saw. And in a way that, you know, it happened, obviously, eight games into that season, and everything fell through after he just received that extension from Damon Evans.

So, you know, mostly guaranteed extension. So I think this past year, Mark Turgeon, still, like, the third highest-paid employee in the state of Maryland because of that deal. So good for him on that. That sounds great. And then with Willard, I don't think it's quite as, you know, I think they've gotten along better. But he's still like the story he told the anecdote at his press conference about wanting to keep his team in New York for a lot. extra night for Christmas. He was told they didn't want to spend the money.

Little things like that were that built up over time. And I think, you know, Willard's take was that basketball is, you know, at center stage for University of Maryland or at least University of Maryland Athletics and that more money needed to be invested in the program. You know, they've lost some players because they weren't well-funded enough for NIL. I think Willard probably privately, I'd say, blamed some of last season on that, although he's admitted that, you know, the roster building, he didn't do a great job with that.

But, you know, after a while, you know, familiarity breeds contempt unless you're really winning at a high level. And, you know, Maryland hasn't been winning at a high level consistently for a while now. I think, you know, in terms of not just the coaches, but also, So the fan base, a lot of people had turned on Evans by now on a variety of different kind of things. And sometimes it's just time for a fresh start. And Kevin Willard sped up that process. Now, you know, it was kind of like the bold move.

Let's see how it works out for him, the kind of situation. Pretty incredible, right, yesterday? I mean, jaw-dropping some of those comments to air all of that out. Yeah, you don't see that. I mean, when I heard the words, Damon Evans is going to SMU come out of his mouth. I was shocked because that's not something usually you hear even, you don't really hear an AD say that about a coach.

You don't hear a coach say that about an AD about something that, you know, we had a report up on it. There was a little bit of chatter on Twitter, but that was it. There were no news reports. Neither Damon nor SMU had put out anything about it. So to me that was Willard's way of making sure there's no U-turn. like it's out there now, you know, you're not coming back. That's how it sounded to me highly unusual,

especially at the NCAA tournament of all places, to have that kind of discussion. But obviously it was, you know, it was all planned by Willard. I don't think he was just speaking off the top of his head. I think he and his agent pretty much executed their plan. And, you know, I think when the buzz came out about Villanova being interested, that put pressure on Evans to answer that and calm things down. So, you know, at the time they put out something through John Rothstein saying,

Maryland's working on a deal to do this and that, and it's just to kind of calm things down. And so it made sense yesterday when Evans, or excuse me, when Willard said that Evans had come to him with a term sheet on Sunday night, and he turned it down because he focused on the tournament. I think that was just basically kind of, have, that was kind of a finishing blow, I would say, and I don't know if Evans was already planning on going SMU, or was that point he had to offer in his hand at that point he realized

like, it's time to get out of here. So, just, you know, we've seen Maryland tends to do things in its own unique way, as we've seen over the years, not always for the best. And, you know, this one could turn out for the best, but in terms of the appearances, it's definitely a chaotic appearance to the public. How many years does Willard have left on his deal? It's four years left at about $4 million a year. I can understand the people that may have said after watching his two and a half minutes yesterday,

wow, to the lengths that he went to negotiate in public to try to hold the school hostage for a better deal because he's being sought after. after by another school. But I took him at his word, and I thought he was being pretty genuine in expressing frustration about the program as a whole and trying to say that his focus, he did say, that his focus is the team, the program, and trying to get it to a point where it can compete at the highest levels of college basketball. I thought that that was sincere.

What did you think? Yeah, no, I definitely don't think it was all about himself. You know, they've had a solid first season overachieved. Last year was a disaster. This season's gone really well, but, you know, it's not done yet. So I don't know if he's quite at the point to be getting, you know, a raise slash extension of significance until after this tournament, but I don't think that was really his focus.

His focus is, you know, that the program is not fun. well enough in his eyes to compete, you know, in this ridiculously monetized landscape of college sports now. And, you know, when you see three of you, you know, you're having this great season, but you're seeing it right around the corner, you're going to have three of your best players, most likely Julian Reese, Derek Queen, and Celt Miguel, all gone. So you're going to need to add, you know, those spots. And then also some complimentary guys, and then you start doing the math, looking at the shopping list and the budget, I think he saw some serious struggles around the corner.

So, no, I don't think it was really a self-serving thing in terms of salary, but, you know, he definitely was, it was definitely a well-orchestrated move to try to make sure that he has the resources he needs. Agreed. Where does his salary rank in the Big Ten? Do you know, at $4 million a year? It's somewhere, you know, nationally right now. It's 22nd high. I think in the Big Ten, it's somewhere in that five or six kind of range right now. Why isn't there a recognition within the athletic department, within the university, that basketball is more important at Maryland with the alums, with fans, with, you know, students maybe, I would assume, than football. Why isn't there – why doesn't there seem to be that recognition?

inside that university? I think somewhat because Big Ten is viewed as a football conference. So, you know, when you're moving in that crowd, you know, you want to be to catch yourself to the culture and the prestigious part, which is football and the Big Ten. So, you know, a lot of these fans will say, take all the money from football and give it to basketball. As a Big Ten school, you really can't do that.

But, you know, it is interesting because it felt like kind of a tug of war between basketball and football for a little while now with basketball and football. And people in football feeling like, you know, we football generates most of the money. You know, the contract obviously is massive, the TV contract. And most of that is because of football, you know, outside of the NCAA tournament, as we're seeing, like people are decreasingly watching regular season college basketball. basketball these days so it doesn't carry nearly as much weight. But yeah, that's an interesting question. You know, I feel it's almost become factions, I think, on both sides of it. And so we need to find an AD you can get in there and kind of gel everyone together

and make it so that everyone's, you know, happy and successful and winning, which has been a tall task, you know, especially since they joined the Big Ten. All right. Well, there's a game today, and this couldn't have happened at a lot of. a worse time. Before we get to the game today and hopefully the next few, let's hope, just wrapping up the Willard Evans situation, just give me your guess on what happens next. Well, you'll have to decide who's going to be the interim AD, first of all. I would think it'll be either Colleen Sorum, who was Damon's associate AD, you know, the next, I believe the next

highest person on the totem pole. She's been around, knows the program, so you could, you know, would seeming to be a smooth transition until you find a full-time AD because you're not typically going to hire somebody fast for that position. We've seen before what can happen when you hire the wrong AD. We've seen that repeatedly. So, you know, you figure out, that is it also could be Kirby Mills. He's the fundraiser who's been responsible for bringing in these big $10 million donations

that they've been getting recently. And then from there, you know, it's kind of hard to say what happens because it's such an unusual situation with the portal being right around the corner of the transfer portal opens on Monday. And if you don't really have an AD in place,

you know, you have to have someone to oversee that and budget and especially when the The whole reason or the main reason that a lot of this is happening is because of disagreement about how much money should be budgeted for basketball. And so the portal opens, but I don't know. I would assume G. Roy Simon, you know, the former Maryland Star is now the GM for all of the teams, not football or any team specifically for the whole department.

I assume he'll take the lead on that. But, yeah, it's uncharted territory, so it's going to be interesting to watch. and, you know, if you're Maryland or a fan, you're hoping that it doesn't hurt them in the transfer portal because that's the name of the game right now, and that's, you know, the reason why they're so good this year is because of what they were able to do in the portal last year, along with Derek Queen. All right, let's finish it up with basketball. What do you think? What happens today?

What happens hopefully beyond today? Grand Canyon does look a little bit tricky. They have a lot of experience, a ton of experience. They've got guys who've played in multiple teams. the tournaments, guys who were played for them last year when they knocked off St. Mary's, which I believe was a four-seed last year when they beat them. So that I think makes you a little nervous, but Maryland should be able to pound them inside. I don't think they have the bulk or the height to contend with Maryland for an entire 40 minutes in there.

They don't shoot the three really well either. They do play defense well. They have some lengths. I can see that, you know, bothering Maryland's guards. to Kobe Gillespie when he's, when they've lost, it's usually, you know, because he's had an off night, and when he's had an off night, a lot of times, it's been because he's being guarded by someone who can stay in front of him and has length to bother his shock.

He's obviously not that tall, but they should be able to win. You know, there's a reason the spread is 10. And, you know, as I wrote on the site, this morning, you know, it's a, everyone's on, I don't want to say everyone, I don't want to say everyone, I don't want to be grim, but a lot of people are on Willard's side after yesterday. he kind of fired people up with his many braveheart speech that he gave. And so if you were to lose today, you would be able to see the meltdown from outer space. But I think they'll get by on that one.

And then second round obviously gets tougher, whether it's Colorado State or Memphis. But, again, if you've had the kind of season you've had and you have the talent you have, and you're so overdue for at least, you know, to play into the second weekend for the second time in the past 20-plus years. You just need to get it done. I feel like 316 is somewhat of a baseline expectation. Thanks, Jeff. Appreciate it as always. Thanks for having me, Kevin.

Jeff Irman, everybody, insidemdsports.com. We'll finish up the show next with some of the things that Debo Samuel said yesterday in his introductory. press conference. That's next after these words from a few of our sponsors. So most of us wear underwear every day, but when was the last time you changed the type of underwear that you wear? I had someone tell me recently that they hadn't changed the brand of their underwear since shortly after college until they heard me talk about skims for men. Yeah, for those that haven't heard, skims now offers men's underwear, and I'm here to tell you it's worth the hype. whether it works sitting at your desk or at the gym working out.

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Let them know I sent you. After you place your order, select podcast in the survey, and select this show, the Kevin Sheehan show, in the drop-down menu that follows. Skims is the official underwear partner of the NBA, the WNBA, and USA Basketball. If you get an opportunity and you don't mind, rate and review the show, especially on Apple and Spotify, follow us as well. Just hit the plus button or the follow button. That's really good for us, too. All right, let's finish up the show with some Skins News. Debo Samuel yesterday held his introductory press conference via video conference call with all of the beat reporters.

He was acquired, as we know, from the 49ers for a fifth round pick. way, there was more information yesterday with respect to the contract that was guaranteed the other day and the incentives that were built in. Washington actually declined his option bonus of $15.4 million that would have allowed Washington to spread out his cap hit over two years by adding another year to his deal, but which would have been automatically voided. Instead, what did the other day is they guaranteed the last year, 2025 of his contract, none of which had been previously guaranteed. They added another $3 million in incentives, so he will count $17.55 million against the cap this year. One other quick piece of news before I get to what Debo said yesterday.

Washington signed former Cowboys wide receiver Michael Gallup to a one-year. year deal. He retired last year after signing with the Raiders shortly after being cut in Dallas. Michael Gallup, you know, he had a couple of moments in Dallas, a 6-1, 6-2-2-10-pound guy who can really run. His best season in Dallas was back in 2019. He cut 66 balls for 117 yards and six touchdowns. played six years with the Cowboys. I certainly would not pencil him onto this roster at this point. This is a flyer on let's see if Michael Gallup at 29 years old has anything left and any desire to continue to play. But they did do that yesterday.

But Debo Samuel said a couple of things. First of all, he said that he wants to repay Washington for believing in him. Quote, they put this much trust in me. I can't come in here and let them down. Closed quote. He also said, quote, they're getting a motivated, Debo. You get a dog out there. These young legs are still moving.

This body is still working pretty well. closed quote. And then he was asked about why Washington, and he said that he had given the 49ers a list of five teams that he desired to be traded to. And he was asked why Washington was on that list of five potential destinations. And he said, quote, I like winners, closed quote. That is, a sign of the times, everybody. Yeah. He also went on to say, they've already proven they can win.

I'm just coming to add my little dog mentality and contribute to the offense in any aspect they need me to. Closed, quote. He was also asked about the weight. Remember, there were reports that he played over weight last year, and he just said, quote, that don't move me. Closed quote.

So I think we're going to be getting, first of all, a talented player in a contract season year that will be highly motivated to have this contract season year pay off. You know, this isn't a player that they would have just gone out and done if they didn't have experience with the player, which of course Adam Peters does. but I think they're getting him at the right time. I'm excited to see what Cliff Kingsbury does with Debo Samuel in this offense. All right, that's it for the day. Enjoy the hoops this weekend.

Back on Monday.