The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1261 - TNF Recap, NFL Week 15 Preview/Picks, WVU Head Coach Rich Rodriguez, Christian Pulisic, Nick Saban, Owen Schmitt, WVU Athletic Director Wren Baker, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: December 13, 2024

On today’s show, Pat is LIVE from the West Virginia Coliseum ahead of Rich Rodriguez’s introductory press conference as Head Coach at West Virginia. They also cover last night’s Thursday Night Football snoozefest that saw the Rams outlast the 49ers 12-6, before turning to the week 15 slate and make their picks against the spread. Joining the progrum to chat about the future of West Virginia football, the decision to leave and return, what kind of players he’s looking for, what “hard edge” means, and what kind of players he’s looking for is the newest Head Coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers, Rich Rodriguez. Next, winger for AC Milan, Captain America, Christian Pulisic joins the progrum to chat about his new documentary on Paramount +, how close the US is to competing with other countries to win the World Cup, treatment of American players overseas, and his thoughts on the new US Men’s National Team Coach. Later, the GOAT, 7x National Champion, Nick Saban joins the show to chat about his role in helping West Virginia find their next Head Coach, his thoughts on the CFP and how weather will impact some of the games, and how much of a factor Dabo Swinney’s experience will be in their game against Texas. Lastly, Athletic Director for West Virginia, Wren Baker, to chat about the process of finding their new Head Coach, why he thinks he got the decision right, and how this will impact new NIL donors coming into the fold. Make sure to subscribe to youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow or watch on ESPN (12-2 EDT), ESPN’s Youtube (12-3 EDT), or ESPN+. We appreciate the hell out of all of you. We’ll see you tomorrow, cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Here we go the Pat McAfee show. I'm AJ Hawke sitting at Pat's desk. He and Con Man are down in Morgantown, West Virginia. There's some rumblings down there. Football! It is what's happening Pat, Con Man you guys just walked out we see the crowd going crazy. How's it going? What's the atmosphere like down there man? It is absolutely electrifying in Morgantown, West Virginia. This is for a press conference to announce that Rich Rodriguez is officially the head coach again for the West Virginia. Now, we drove in this morning obviously and outside the WVU Coliseum, which is absolutely

beautiful. If you haven't been, you need to get here. But there was people lined up since like 8.30 a.m. It was cold as hell. People couldn't wait to get in here, maybe buy some beers, maybe celebrate what the future is going to be and showcase to the world that West Virginia football, not only all the way back, but it is the present. These sports fans have been in hibernation for a bit. We're about to go get some championships and that's what today is all about.

Now the Mountaineers here got a good looking gun there. That thing fires off every time we score. There's gonna be a lot of gunshots ringing in a lot of Big 12 cities because what's about to happen to all the schools of that fantastic conference? Shout out to that guy just walking through the shot, doesn't care about a single thing. Iowa State, Arizona State. Arizona State was projected to have three and a half wins this year. Last in the entire Big 12, they go on to win that thing because they get a couple of dogs in the entire Big 12 they go on to win that thing because they get a couple of doves in the transfer portal. Well I think the people we're about to

bring into this team and the roster that we're about to keep here is about to win a Big 12 championship. And then with the way Rich Rodriguez coaches his team actually we have footage of his first team meeting from yesterday let's go ahead and run that thing just so you can get a nice little expectation of the type of team that is about to be calling Morgantown home. It's an honor to be here, to be back here. This is my home.

It was a tough decision to leave the team I left because they accomplished so much. But it was an easy decision to come to the place that I love so much. And it won't be easy. I promise you, you'll probably work hard and you better work in your life. You sometimes you hear coaches brag about, I got 25 years of experience, but if they never learned or never grew,

they got one year experience repeated 20 some times. And I'm a better coach now than I was a year ago. I'm a better coach now than I was 20 years ago. I'll be a better coach next week than I am today. People have asked me what's hard edge means. That means you're gonna be mentally and physically tougher than anybody and everybody that you go against. You'll be mentally and physically tougher than anybody you play or you won't be playing. Some of you are kind of loused down in your seat. If you're gonna be a loused down

in your seat, you're not gonna make it. If you're gonna sit up in your seat and you're eager to get after somebody's ass, you're gonna be just fine., you're not going to make it. If you're going to sit up in your seat and you're eager to get after somebody's ass, you're going to be just fine. If you're going to play fast, you better be in shape, right? We'll be in shape. Most of the time we'll go get after their ass. They didn't hire me because Rich Rodriguez played in West Virginia because Rich Rodriguez went to bowl games 20 years ago but whatever happened back then. I didn't get hired because of that. I got hired because they thought my staff and I would help take us to another level. Want to win? You'll be fine. So I appreciate you guys. It's an honor for me again to be back home, to be in the place that I love, and the place where I'm going to finish my career, and the place where I'm going to finish it right.

I'll finish it right with you all leading the way. Okay, appreciate it. See you guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good job, Rich. Good job, man.

And obviously we'll be hearing from Coach Rod on this particular program from the back here in a few minutes and he's gonna get introduced by Ren Baker when this press conference kicks off at 1.30 Eastern and we will carry that here live on ESPN and then carry it plus ESPN plus Disney plus but there's a couple quotes in there Boston Connor that I think need to be paid attention to.

They do, they do Pat. What do you think Ty man? I guess we have some technical technical difficulties there I don't know exactly what's happening. This is fun. We get to watch the boys scramble I started boys that they have to handle this they have to figure this thing out, but they will Digs you watch that you see that whole atmosphere the kids going crazy whatever can rich Rod actually Can he I guess can he the promises that are made for him you think you live up to it? Yeah, I absolutely do because I mean he has been a proven winner No matter where he's been whether it's been West Virginia you know and then he went to Michigan and I don't know if it was his

fault there or not in Michigan it didn't work out but he he wanted Arizona and he wanted he wanted Jacksonville State everywhere he's been he is one and then you get back to Morgantown and there's always been already been talk about you know certain Major League Baseball owners who are back in the fold for the fun. Who's that? What's it Ken? Ken Kendrick. Ken Kendrick of the Arizona. So he is a big WVU guy and he is a big supporter of Rich Rodriguez and we know he's back on board. Okay I think Pat might be back. Pat what's going on man? Yeah we're back I don't know what the hell just happened. Who's throttling ya? Technology. Sounds like the zoom disconnected but we're all the're back. I don't know what the hell just happened. Whoa! He's throttling you.

Technology. Sounds like the Zoom disconnected, but we're all the way back. AJ, they could hear you. Tone, they could hear you there even though you couldn't hear us. Ken Kendrick's obviously a big part of this. Arizona Diamondbacks owner. He is a West Virginia boy from Princeton. Obviously went on to do well. He and Rich Rod, I believe the term is, thick as thieves. So, whenever you've got a billionaire ready to get back on board with the program, he said it would have been anybody, but whenever

you've got some other people that are ready to get back on board, like my entire team, and then all the friends and family of Rich Rodriguez, who I don't think were able to come out and say that they were friends and family of Rich Rod. I don't think our team back in the day was ever allowed to celebrate because we lost one game that would have sent us to the national championship. But that one game to go to the national championship was earned. And the reason why we were in that game is because every single day we went to work, we won a lot of massive games. Obviously we won four straight bowl games, two BCS games.

We have massive, massive resume that we can hold up against any other team in the history of the country. But! Hell yeah! We lose that one game. Massive resume that we can hold up against any other team in the history of the country, but We lose that one game he ends up leaving the way it all goes we can't even talk about it You go over to the facility. I mean Pat whites a photo, but it's in the way back now It's like the glory days of West Virginia feel like we're gonna be all the way back the buzz of West Virginia is gonna be back and the team that is gonna be on the field is gonna be one that makes us all want To talk shit about because they are gonna be back and the team that is going to be on the field is going to be one that makes us all want to talk shit about because they are going to be dogs. And Con Man, whenever you see all those people that you get to meet back there, what is your

first thought? What is your first impression? And look at the people that filled up here just for a press conference. It's awesome. It's a football town. I think that's the biggest takeaway is like this is a place that wants to be good at football. And not every place is like that. And you know, we talk about NFL teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers

You know you want people to come back after they you know finish playing there And that this is a place that's like that and you know the reason this press conference is packed and because This is so much fun is because in a year from now when you know West Virginia's preparing for the college football playoff They'll remember you know buying beers and coming to a press conference and knowing that that's where this thing is headed with Rich Rodriguez. Yeah, it's a special time in college football because of the 12-team playoff. If you win the Big 12, you're in. If you put up a good record in the Big 12, you're probably gonna be in the college football playoff. And if Rich Rodriguez gets in the dance, and his

gritty-ass team, and his tough team plays against anybody in the country they're gonna have to feel it. AJ I know that you grew up in Ohio. AJ I know you're an Ohio State guy I see the O on your there but you grew up in the era when this West Virginia West Virginia team was buzzing. College football is better when this flying WV is at the top of conversations and I think we're getting right back into that time, AJ. Absolutely, I mean I've told you many times, I remember like the the glory days of West Virginia just watching from the outside as a fan and how like the the athletes and yeah Rich Rod, he's a personality, he's a character. I think he

wouldn't understand that he gets that like he is a dude, he's a polarizing figure that I think the people that ride with him ride with him forever. I think that's a great thing Yeah, you talked about polarizing there has been some obvious reaction in the state that haven't forgot about what happened After the 13-9 game and the way that whole thing ended and I know Rich Rod whenever come out and say all the behind-the-scenes Stuff that was happening Obviously there was a lot of drama. There was a lot of miscommunication. There was a lot of misunderstanding There's a lot of are you gonna support us to get to the spot where we want to go and inevitably not happening All rich has to do it. He knows this I think we all know this he puts a team out on the field that this state would be proud of

They're all the way back in board and I think the thing about coach Rod is and this is just strictly over Getting a chance to chat with him over the last couple weeks, it's unfinished business. He wants to make it right, you know, and he, he loves this state. He loves this team. And for me, and for all the guys that are on that team that have carried a heavy burden through these past two decades, because of what happened. He knows that if he goes and wins for this state, hopefully that'll all be kind of forgiven. And I think that's his motivation. I think that's his goal. And for me, I told him the day he was doing his interview with rent Baker, I said, listen, I need you to hear this before you

talk to red. I think about that game every single day of my life. It is a thing that I don't think I'll ever be able to get away from. I often wonder why it went the way it did. Why couldn't I make a kick in the first quarter? Why, why, why? I said the ability for me to come back and help and for you to lead the way would be nice for my conscience. It'd be nice for the weight that I carry around every day. So I am fully committed to making West Virginia win again.

Rich Rod's fully committed, Ken Kendricks is fully committed. And I know Bill Belichick, I know Bill Belichick down to UNC is certainly a sensational storyline and we're friends with Coach Belichick. We're friends with Lombardi who's the general manager down there. The best storyline in college football out of this hiring cycle is Rich Rodriguez coming home and making it right and I stand by that and that is why that is why we're here. Conmen the energy is palpable they've had some beer since 10 30 a.m. in here and the the country roads trust is raising money, people are donating money,

NIL's up, revenue's going to be up. It feels like this is a turning point for this particular institution. Well, and that's the thing with college football right now is when you have the support of everybody, that's what means the most. You know, you talk about NIL, West Virginia has the people, you listed a few of them, that want the football team to be good, the athletics to be good as a whole. And Ren Baker, I mean, sure, he nailed nailed it with Rich Rod but if you just look at his track record here I mean he's nailed it with the basketball coach, what? Nailed it with

the baseball coach, why? Nailed it with the soccer coach, why? Nailed it with the woman soccer coach, why? Volleyball coach is gonna get some wins here too, why? I mean like you got to just trust the entire thing that Ren is doing and to your point I mean there's there's something about a guy who has unfinished business, who has that chip on his shoulder, that wants to go and win for the state that he's from, for the college that he played for,

and the college that he used to coach for. I mean, it really is kind of the perfect recipe for success here at West Virginia right now. And you heard in that team meeting, he said, I'm a better coach now than I was last week. I'm a better coach now than I was 20 years ago. I think he has changed his coaching style. He's still in there though.

Oh yeah. Whenever he saw those dudes lounging, if you're a lounging guy, just lounging, okay? This might not be the place for you, okay? If you want to sit up and get eager to get after somebody's ass, this is the spot for you. If you want to win, this is the spot for you. So I would like to make a public declaration to all the dudes entering the transfer portal or all

the high school recruits and I didn't tell Rich I was going to do this or anybody and nobody really tells me what I can or can't do which is a pretty cool thing. It's awesome. That's a cool thing. It's sweet. I mean that's why we're here. It's pretty cool. Pretty cool thing to be able to do that. If you're a dog, okay, if you work your ass off, if you love ball, if you're gonna be able to stay eligible, okay, need to do the classes. A Rich Rodriguez team is the team for you. He's gonna ask more out of you,

the weight room's gonna be tough, the meetings are gonna be tough, the practices are gonna be tough, but the lessons that he's going to drop into your life are going to carry you forever. And I was watching that meeting yesterday and it's the attention to detail that has helped me when I became a pro in the NFL, helping whatever I started running my own business. I thought about the things that Rich Rodriguez told me whenever I was 18, 19, 20 years old. And maybe the lessons didn't hit at the time, but they went for the rest of my life.

I'd be honored if my kid chose to play for Coach Rod, and I think if you're a dog, and want to become the best version of you, I think you come right here to West Virginia. We got money. Oh yeah. We got money. We got a path to the college football playoff.

And we got an absolute dog as a head coach who wants to make it right. Now AJ, with all that being said, there was a massive game last night in the NFC West, San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Rams, the most boring game maybe ever televised. Nine to six, 15 total points. I'll have you know, the West Virginia Mountaineers are not gonna look like that with Rich Rodriguez

as the head coach. Hell yeah. have you know the West Virginia Mountaineers are not going to look like that with Rich Rodriguez's. Get ready for explosive plays, get ready for high-flying action, and for me as somebody that picked the Rams plus three and a half, look for the West Virginia Mountaineers to be a gambler's best friend as well. I think whenever I was, when I was here at West Virginia and obviously whenever I say I, I mean the teams that I was a part of Obviously we had the great pat white at quarterback who hopefully will be around town a lot more with Rich Rod coming back We had Steve Slayton at running back, which I hope we'll see a lot more around Morgantown with Rich being back

We had Owen Schmidt the runaway beer truck at full back. We had Reed Williams at linebacker. We had Dan Moses offensive line. We had Jello, Darius Raynot. We had stars everywhere but also in tone, you can correct me if I'm wrong because you were certainly an Italian for your entire life especially during those eras. I think we covered more than any school in the country as well. They always counted counted us out they always gave us favorable lines in West Virginia covered so now that gambling is you know a national thing I think this West Virginia team is gonna be beloved by everybody so I am

very very eager for this to get started let's talk about the game last night a little bit because the NFC West is certainly something. The Rams are hot, the Niners come off an absolute ass beating of the Chicago Bears and what they were able to do obviously against the Bears they were not able to do against the Rams. Rams defense gave up what 40 plus points to Josh Allen just a week before they shut it down on Thursday night. That NFC West now all of a sudden becomes a massive question mark. Who's gonna win it? Who's hot? Well, Geno Smith in the Seattle Seahawks. Another West Virginia legend is leading them. 58% playoff probability at this moment and remember Rams and Seahawks

are on a collision course to the last week of the season feels like this is a chance for the Seahawks to go and get a playoff spot at least win the division back there in studio the fact that the Seahawks are the team that we're talking about winning this particular division instead of the Niners instead of the Rams and even the Cardinals had an opportunity is vastly different than the convo before the season. And that's because Gino Smith is an absolute dog. The reason why we know he's a dog is because he survived Morgantown.

Okay. You survived Morgantown. That's better than a degree. And what Gino has been able to do and what that NFC West has done all season has been electrifying except for last night's game age. Yeah, I know the Seattle Seahawks fans sometimes I know get upset with the program if we don't give enough love to this team. So I mean, it's the whole West Coast thing.

That's gotta be part of it, I would imagine. But the Seahawks, they're legit. And as you said, Gino, I think Gino gives a team like that confidence that sometimes a Jameis Winston can do. And I'm not saying that they're playing the same or anything. I'm saying like the he feels like everything is under control. He's seen every single thing possible. Ty, when you watch Gino play, I guess did you expect him to be doing this at this age? I mean, I don't know if anyone expected him to be doing it at this age, but he's just consistent. I think that's the biggest thing. Like, yeah,

sometimes he's going to he's going to give a couple away. But like, I mean, just show that highlight of Jaxman Smith and Jigba. Like, he's a guy they drafted in the first round expecting a lot out of him. And with Gino, like, they've realized, like, hey, this is a dude. Like, so we have DK Metcalf, we have him. They have these great weapons. And I think with the Seahawks, it was always like, you know, they have this new regime coming in. So at what point is that culture kind of going to set set in because we talked about at the very start of the year

Hey, they painted over the Legion of Boom and all the great things they accomplished with Pete Carroll But I think everyone when talking about McDonald and his staff it was like hey This guy is this guy's a good coach and Ryan Grubb is great too granted He was you know coming from, had a little stop at Alabama. But once they actually kind of get a little time to get their culture in place, you have a guy like Gino who is, he's just consistent. He's rock solid. And you never hear him bitching or complaining about anything.

Like these last several years really since he's been a Seahawk, he's been one of the guys in this division and in the NFL as a whole that you can kind of hang your hat on and know like, hey, Gino's going to go out there and perform if he has to. And the thing about Gino, I think is much like this West Virginia team, you know, coming out of college, he signs with, we don't have to say that. No, no, we don't. No, we don't. Don't have to talk about that.

Uh-uh. It was a big deal at the time. Huge. It was a big deal at the time. Now, you know, obviously things are deal at the time. Huge. It was a big deal at the time now, you know, obviously things are coming to light potentially. Exactly, things always come full circle just like Richard coming back to West Virginia. Well that's what I'm saying. So Gino obviously coming out of college out of West Virginia, obviously massive story and he ends up in New York doesn't go as

well obviously we heard the stories. Has to bounce around the league, he has to have a couple trying times, has to hit a little bit of adversity, has to look himself in the mirror and see what type of person he is, and then all of a sudden he finds his opportunity in Seattle and becomes an absolute rock star. And that's what Rich Rodriguez is about to do coming back here to West Virginia. Coming out of West Virginia, obviously, clock of the walk, here we go. Then he has to bounce around a little bit. Has to look himself in the mirror, face some adversity, and then he comes back here, the best version of himself. Speaking of West Virginia people creating the best version of themselves,

who's the best team in the NBA right now? Oh, that'd be Joe Mazzullo's Boston Celtics. Oh! West Virginia, great, no big deal. No big deal. Love that guy. I didn't know that a West Virginia guy is leading the best team in the NFC West and also the best team in the NBA in Joe Mazzullo.

Yeah, it's no big deal. And when I look around this Coliseum, I actually think there's some room for him to maybe go up in one of these rafters. I could see Joe Mazzullo being up there very soon. Well you look up in these rafters and you see legends like Deshaun Butler obviously, you see Mike Gansy, you see Kevin Pitzdahl. Hell yeah. And obviously Johnny West and hugs and the entire squad. West Virginia has a lot of history, a lot of dogs and today is all about celebrating that. When we look at last night's game, you stayed awake for that thing? Yeah, I did. I was watching other TV shows with it on, but when it's that poopy of a football game, you just kind of have to find ways to stay awake. I mean, as someone who bet the over, I was pissed

off watching it the entire time. So it was kind of one of those hate watch situations. It's almost sad because the 49ers every year we go into it saying, Hey, this could be their year. This could be their year. And for their season to be over already does stink Matt Stafford, Pukinokua, weapons you gotta love them and at the end of the day when you think about these teams Gino's been a Seahawks and kind of the ones that are gonna you know edge out all these other people anyway so who cares yeah and I think Gino has a shot I think Matt Stafford getting as hot as he is and then getting as healthy as they are is obviously good

And the Niners thinking was not on the bingo. No, no, it wasn't or we're having players quit middle of the game Didn't see that coming at all AJ how do you feel about Campbell to say nah? I'm not playing you bring Ken law back give him all my snaps that he can't finish the game Even though he had nine tackles or whatever. No now you want to put me in I don't think so He tapped out of that game and actually just walked off the sideline and every person that's ever played football, whether it's in the NFL or just in general said, can't

do this. This is treasonous behavior. You even heard the Niners say that once again, can't stress this enough. That is not a Rich Rodriguez guy. No, if you are, if you are ever planning on walking off of the field in the middle of the game just because your feelings are hurt do not think about coming to West Virginia with Rich Rodriguez in this entire thing but what do you think about what happened there last night AJ would love to get your thought. Yeah I mean obviously I don't love it I know his teammates have already come out and they have to answer for it and they've you know I guess said how much they're how disappointed they are and how I've never really seen that happen

yeah you can't do this I mean you can't do it I understand the I understand wanting to do that or getting to that point to where you're that upset You're that frustrated or pissed off to where you want to do something like this maybe or flashes through your brain But you can't do it because you're pissed that you're not out there And then all of a sudden they want to put you out there and you say no i'm not going to play so it's like Okay, do you really want to play or not? I mean, I guess be who you can afford to be He was with the Packers, right? Yeah. Oh, yeah

Ty you guys like to make the Packers. He's trying to get out of there to get back What do you think he's trying to do here? What's the move? No, so a lot of people actually brought this up last night. So when he first got to the Packers I think they signed him off the Cardinals practice squad and kind of threw him a lifeline and then he ended up having an all Pro year and was great. And then the following year, not so much. They decided not to resign him. And towards the end of his run with the Packers, he went to social media

and started bashing the front office and and all that kind of the scheme, like making a bunch of excuses for why he didn't play as well as he did the year before. And then they did. The Niners signed him for I think it was a one yearyear five million dollar deal basically because they knew that Greenlaw you know it was gonna it was gonna take some time for him to get back and I think that's kind of some people were saying that is like hey that was that was kind of the thing all along is like when these guys got healthy like they were

gonna be put back in the lineup so it's weird especially last night given the situation and how close that game was like them still very much being in it and needing a win that he would just walk off like that. But a lot of people were saying, Hey, writing was kind of on the wall, especially if you look at the way he kind of exited with the Packers as well. Well, listen, if you're going to tap out, don't come to West Virginia. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, the founding father of hard edge back as the West Virginia Mountaineer head coach of the football team ladies and gentlemen he's in the back head coach Rich Rodriguez

coach hey coach hey I want to let you know it's an absolute honor to be out here knowing that you're the man that is manning the football team once again and I can't wait to make trips to Morgantown on a much more regular basis so let's just lead off with that. How is it? Yeah you need to. You need to bring your show, bring your crew, bring your teammates, bring AJ. In fact AJ I've heard you gave an endorsement for old coach Rod here. And so I really appreciate it. I'm going to get you some gear too, because I got some gear. It looks better than what you got on.

But anyway, I appreciate your shot. Yeah. But, but Matt, you're special and I am so proud for what what you're doing what you've done and And I told him I want to be on every week now You're gonna have billie check on there and erin rogers on there You need to have coach rod from west virginia on there every week now, so All right, sounds good. Hey, that sounds good to me if you'll come on and you'll chitchat with us every week, I would love that.

Obviously, it's been very nice catching up with you. Not only over the years, obviously, text back and forth every once in a while, but the last few weeks as this became a potential reality, it's been nice talking and catching up and seeing your growth and seeing how you're handling everything. How has it been to be back in Morgantown? Was that a surreal moment yesterday when you get off that plane? That is the perfect word surreal because it's been 17

years. I've been back in the state. Obviously, my family's here, my wife's family's from here and but I haven't back to the facility for 17 years and I kind of like what they've done with the place. You know, it's, it's really phenomenal what they've done facility wise. Certainly the support is there. I know the Montagnier Maniacs are still there. And we're still one of the top party schools in the country. That's a good thing, I guess.

So, but I am so blessed to have this opportunity. Really am. Okay, so we see you walk around the building yesterday. We see your team meeting, okay? And obviously the smiles and catching up. And I think there's one or two people that are still in the building from your era, if I'm not mistaken.

So it's probably nice. Yeah, there's a couple. Right, nice to see some familiar faces. I didn't know they were filming my meeting though. I would have, you know, my daughter Raquel told me afterwards, so you should always know the cameras are on, but I'm glad I didn't got to go off like I had had done before with at Pat McAfee or some of his teammates So if it means anything meeting

It was a great meeting. Uh, did you know you were gonna do that? How much do you prepare for that? And when you looked around that room I saw the one part that I saw and I told you about this whenever I saw you in the back before I came Out here whenever you told the guys if you're gonna lie lounge, I see a lot of guys lounging. And if you're a lounge guy, I don't know if this is the place for you because... Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. You know, kind of looking disengaged, but I kind of treated it kind of nicely yesterday because it was the first team meeting. I didn't want to come off too strong. So I was, and I was, I wasn't really hoping to see somebody lounging, but I was kind of hoping that I would see somebody lounging. You know what I mean? So I didn't, I didn't know, I didn't know their names.

So I didn't have to embarrass them by my name. And I'm glad I didn't because they, they, they weren't doing anything really that wrong, but it was just kind of a attention to detail that, that we're going to get started with from the jump. Yeah. So you got to set the precedent early. Obviously that's why it's called precedent, but I'll never forget one of my first meetings I'm sitting like this, you know casual just head back. I'm here. Okay. I'm on time and also you're 15 minutes early Okay, you're 10 minutes early. You're late your own time. You're late. You're 15 minutes early every every damn time, Pat McAfee, I'm like, you gotta coach, okay?

That's the type of stuff that you preach, I'll preach, and teach that I've carried into my life, I appreciate you for that. But one of those first meetings, I'm casual, sitting like this, you know? What's this guy gonna say? I can't wait to hear this, got a sweet accent, can't wait to hear what he has to say,

his intensity is gonna be awesome, and literally before you even start anything, sit your ass up, McAfee, and I was like, whoop what he has to say. His intensity is gonna be awesome. And literally before you even start anything, sit your ass up McAfee. And I was like, whoop, all right. We are in this thing. And then it was immediate like, hey, how you do anything is how you do everything. That is how you do it.

Yeah, it was the same kind of meeting. Remember the meeting we had when Derell Rivas returned that punt? Yeah. We were watching it as a whole team. I do remember that meeting. And I think you probably were a brunt of some of the discussion during that punt return. You had about five of your teammates.

I do remember that one. Yeah, but coach, you talked and you said you want a little easier there, but it seems like you're still the same coach. We're gonna be accountable. We're gonna be disciplined. We're gonna be passionate. We're gonna fly around. But seems like you're still the same coach. We're going to be accountable. We're going to be disciplined. We're going to be passionate. We're going to fly around.

But you said you're a different coach now than you were 17 years ago. What does that mean for you? And did coaching your son, Rhett change you? Is that something that potentially changed? It did. I think every year it's like, I've always said this, some coaches brag about, well, they got 25 years of experience and whatever, but if they never grew or learned or got better, they got one year experience repeated 25 times, right?

And what I've tried to do is be a better coach every year, whether it's schemes or methods or how you run your program, and that's what I feel the most proud about, that the coaches myself and the coaches that have been around me on our staffs have gotten better every year. I'm a better coach now than I was when I left, but I needed to be. And if I want my players to be better every year, I gotta be better every year. And that doesn't mean we don't make mistakes, but at the same time,

we got a great passion. I still have a great passion for football. I got a great passion to coach and I still think good players want to be coached. There's kind of a tendency today of players not getting coached and coaches not coaching players and the good players want to get coached They want to get better and that's our job. They make them better and that's not always easy Sometimes you got to be the bad guy as a coach But you there at the end of the day when you make them better

All right, you they'll appreciate you more as a coach in my opinion coach. I'll say this I've been lucky to be a part of college game day and I've got a chance to see like every single building. The teams that win, all coach. You know, the teams that kind of are in the middle, kind of let shit happen. You know, let the lounging happen. Let the, oh, I need more money in the middle of a season, I'm going to sit out like. I think that is why you are the perfect guy for this job in 2024, especially at this school. And last question for me before AJ and the boys

have some for you. When you looked around that room, and I know you said you were looking for somebody to lounge so you could point out the fact that, hey, in my meetings that it's not out, you're gonna be engaged. We're gonna want to get after somebody's ass. How many people do you legitimately expect to remain?

Because I've heard a lot of conversation about around a college football world that's like, Rich's gotta get in there, and he's gotta start recruiting these guys that are on the roster to make sure they stick around. I, and I know not everybody's gonna like this, we gotta do a clean sweep, I'm okay with it.

If we gotta get Rich Rod's guys in there, I am, I'm okay with it because I was on a group text last night and I told you this about, with a lot of my teammates, old teammates, and they were like, those dudes have no idea. Those dudes have no clue what it's about to, what's about with a lot of my teammates old teammates and they were like those dudes have no idea Those dudes have no clue what it's about to what's about to be asked of them When you look in that room and you talk to some of these guys Do you feel like there is some carryover that would be able to fit into a coach Rod culture?

And how do you feel about the roster? Yeah, you know, that's it. That's a great question I because I haven't I watched a little bit of practice this morning, but I haven't watched film. I haven't really watched their games I haven't really kind of studied their their talent so to speak but from that from that standpoint if they're a talented guy and they work hard and And they buy into the program. I want them around if they're soft or lazy If they if they don't want to to give their best effort then I don't want them around. I mean, it's pretty simple, right? It's like the two words, four letter words are soft and lazy.

And that to me has nothing to do with talent or what year they are. And that's coming from a state that I know very well. The people in the state of West Virginia work hard. They don't want to be soft. They don't want to be lazy. They don't want the people playing and representing them being soft or lazy.

I talked to you the other day about this and you said, you said, you know, the way my teams have always been described is tough. And I take that as a badge of honor because I'm from West Virginia. West Virginia, yeah, your tie's off. I mean, you're getting jacked up over there. You're jacked up over there in a suit.

The tie's getting all disheveled. Yeah, I get it, you know. You want to go get after somebody's ass right now, you wanna get these people, even better. But you said every position, I wanna be tough. Every single position, I want them to be tough. And we could feel that when we were in your locker room, and I think these guys will feel it as well.

AJ has a question for you from the Ohio State Buckeyes. Yeah, coach, I love that, the soft and lazy. I agree with you completely on that sentiment. But when you're going out and trying to recruit players that are not soft, not lazy, I guess, how do you know when they're a rich rod, a WVU guy? And how are you gonna locate them? And then ultimately, what are you gonna do with them once you bring them to campus? Yeah, I think the difference now with so much turnover in college football, and

we gotta face it, you've gotta build a program program but you're also building a team every year and you might have a bunch of new guys every year but if you bring in the right guys your culture would be consistent you know from that standpoint. You can't sacrifice, every coach talks about they have a culture, culture but they sacrifice their culture for one player or two players and you can't do that. The culture is the culture and then everybody comes in has to adapt to what you're doing, how you do things. And it's hard to do that because you don't really know the guys sometimes when

the transfer portal, sometimes you don't really know the guys in high school. So as coaches, we better really vet and think is this our type of guy? You could tell by the skill and the speed and all that, but is he our type of guy? Can he make it through a practice the speed and all that, but is he our type of guy? Can he make it through a practice? Will he buy into what we're trying to do? Does he want to be coached? And if they do all that, they're fine. But sometimes you evaluate wrong. I think one of the strengths that I've been blessed with, my staff has been blessed with, we can evaluate those guys that fit that part. They have the talent,

but they fit that hard edge. And we talk about that hard. Sometimes guys don't have it because they've never been taught to have it. Some guys have it naturally. But they all got to have it to be in this program. You got a good radar of hard edge, huh? Walk into a room, soft, soft, soft, soft, soft. I like that. That's a good thing to have in a football coach. I'll let you know that. Well, you know, I like when my kicker would knock the hell out of somebody when he's trying to take a make a return, you know, on a knee pad. I don't think you were jacked up when you were playing for me, but that's okay. I was strength and conditioning all American here at West Virginia,

actually, Hanklin in 365, like 10 times with a bar with speech which leads me to that When you said to the boys in the meeting if you want to play fast You're gonna have to be in shape and then you just matter of factly said we're gonna be in shape And that was the line that we all said these dudes Don't fully understand when does that start for you? Like when I don't think I understand the whole process here because they have a bowl game and then what probably a break and then after that a couple weeks and then they'll start in a winter conditioning program in January. I did ask too that that the law school hill was still available because

we're going to use that hill you know. I mean yeah and I guess they're still on it, so that's a good thing. I don't have to introduce it to them again. So they know where the hill is at. You'll be able to find some hills around here. You know, every time you land in here, it's so beautiful. Like I think I forget every time we fly in. It had been a long time since I came back the last time for the spring game and everything like that.

You fly in here, the foliage, the views, the people, the town, I mean it is ready to host, recruit, and win again. You know and I think that is, I think it's very evident, I think it's very evident coach. Yeah you could and I was going to mention it later but you can win a national championship in West Virginia. You can win a national championship at West Virginia. You can win a national championship at West Virginia. You can win a national championship at West Virginia. You can win a national championship at West Virginia. You can win a national championship at West Virginia. We are this close, which is why I'm happy that you're back.

And I know you're going to talk about it at your press conference, but that was a big thing I told you. I said, hey, I need you to go back there and do this so I can get this off of my conscience. And you said, you too, you've been thinking about this for a long time as well, right? Making it right. Yeah, well, to make it right. Let's make it right. How do you feel about that though? Like legitimately, what is the- Because for me, it shows up when I'm laying my head down at night. Okay? My head lays down at night,

and I think about what I got to do tomorrow, and then all of a sudden I think to myself, man, if I had a fucking national championship ring, this would be so much- But we're that close, you know? And then I put and then I go to sleep and then the next day I forget about it and then I'll have lunch and Somebody from LSU or somebody will talk and be like, hey you remember I'm like, yeah, I do remember So it's like with me every single day for you Have you been trying to bury it for a long time or is it been something with? It's always out there. But here's where, how do you get there?

You can't think like, okay, we're going to win a national championship. And then it magically appears. It's like, what do we got to do tomorrow to win? Every, every, every decision I make in this program, every decision that the coaching staff makes, every decision that the players make, does it help us win? If it doesn't help us win, it ain't the right decision. So that's kind of the mindset we're going to have from day one.

Hey, I can't wait to watch you make it right. Con man has a question for you coach. Yeah, coach friend of yours guy who actually coached for you Tony Gibson got hired down at Marshall and he brought up the idea of the friends of Cold Bowl coming back. Is that something you're interested in? Do you see that happening? And if you were to maybe play a rethink in like 63-0 in West Virginia? Or is it a respectful game where you kind of let off the gas a little bit? Yeah, well, Gibby is a great friend of mine, was a great staff member, and we're still very dear friends.

But I don't even think, you think I have spent one second thinking about Marshall, you're wrong. I could care less. It's blue and gold. Yeah you're damn right you're damn right this is the team of the state of West Virginia. Now there is a game there There is a game. Obviously Marshall, friends of Cold Bowl shout out to Governor Manchin at the time, then he became Senator Manchin, then he was Independent Manchin, then is he President Manchin? No, can't be. Whatever the case, still around. He created that Friends of Cold Bowl initiative. The

other rivalry, third week, September 13th, 913. Okay. That's going to be in West Virginia, in Morgantown. And I know you got games before that and how can we win right now? That's obviously the football gods putting something up on a tee potentially early in your first year. And how do you view the thought of that particular game? Well, I probably miss spoke misspoke a little bit earlier when I said the two words, four letter words were soft and lazy. I left out pit. Coach, Scott doesn't know I'm in the middle of a live show right now. Good to see you buddy.

I'm kind of doing something. I appreciate you. We'll take a photo in a matter of minutes. Thank you guys. No, no, no. I'm talking to this guy right here. That's literally right next to me. Trying to get a photo.

Good guy. This good guy right here. Looks good. You do know that that particular school literally wins nothing. They hang their hat on beating us in that one game. Legitimately. That's it. So let's make sure September 13th, that kind of all goes away. That's right. One last question here. One of my guys back in Indianapolis, Ty Schmidt, has a question for you, Coach Rod.

Yeah, Coach, just curious. Everyone,, you know when they talk about college football now It's hey the the transfer portal has changed everything or NIL has changed everything But in your opinion, how is the game itself changed from the first time you were at West Virginia to now? And do you think you can still emulate the team, you know upcoming this next year similar to the teams you had You know when Pat was there and you were so successful Yeah, that's a good question, you know back then this is 20 years ago or so There wasn't a lot of teams that that had spread formation shotgun and uptempo A lot of the time now

There's a whole lot of teams that do it and so teams are defending that kind of style of offense differently now than they did 20 years ago, So you have to adapt. We're not exactly the same as we were 20 years ago, but our core is the same. I still believe in tempo, I still believe in conditioning. I still believe you gotta be able to run the football first and be strong upfront. And I still believe in playing with 11. Our quarterbacks are gonna be part of the play,

whether it's a run or a pass all the time. So we still maintain that but it's a lot more creative Defenses that we're seeing nowadays and we have to learn that we've learned how to adapt to that All right coach. We can't wait to watch you this crowd can't wait to see you in about an hour or so You're the man. Thank you so much Thank you. Thanks. Appreciate it. Let's go! Out here! Let's go!

Out here! Man, it's going to be leading that. Rick Rodriguez, we appreciate it. Yeah, coach. I saw his brother backstage. Couldn't even tell they looked exactly like. They're twins. Twins.

He lives in a state. His family lives. Twins. He lives in the state. His family lives in the state. Mom lives in the state. Wife's mom lives in the state. His friends live in the state. Why? The business people in this state love him. Why?

I'm thankful Ren Baker made the decision. Now, whenever I say this, I mean this. I am a money guy here now, AJ. Big money guy. Yeah AJ big money guy yeah not no the big money guy is mr. Kendrick we're very thankful for that particular billionaire and we would like to say to mr. Kent if the pockets are open we're winning the whole damn thing we're winning the whole damn thing. Ken knows that. Ken knows that. But as a contributor to the program, I will say, you know, Ren Baker, I think he kind of

felt obligated to talk to me throughout this process and I tried my absolute best to be like, hey, just empower Ren. Because Ren, I believe it. I have faith in Ren. I like the way he rent. I like the way he operates I like the way he handles himself. I think he's young. I think he's he loves this state of West Virginia He's got a real nice house. Did you see oh my god the view out the back? Oh, holy shit. He's got a real nice house here So I think he's really loving being in West Virginia, but I tried my best to remain completely out I didn't want to put more pressure on he certainly knew where I

Wanted this whole thing to end up, but I didn't want to put any more pressure on him He left no stone unturned. He interviewed everybody literally everybody. It was the the broadest search I think maybe in the history of college football like the amount of all roads he said led to Rich Rodriguez in this particular coaching cycle and And it's like, if you just took the resumes, if you just took the resumes, and I talked to one of the money guys back in the back, sweet mulling. Fantastic. We're talking to some money guys back there.

Got a construction guy back there. He's got a lot of money. He's awesome. Builds a lot of stuff. A lot of stuff. They're just coming to the press. They want to see the press conference? Well, I think they were potentially a part of the whole process, but they're all very

excited that Rich Rod is back. They said, just take the resumes, take the name off the top and just put everything else down and then just go ahead and see who's the best coach. Not only for this particular job, but for any job right now that's open. And then obviously that's Rich Rodriguez's resume. And then if you think about the state of West Virginia and the fit and the culture, it's a guy that's from here. Now, there are some people that are a little bit indifferent. So I thought there was a chance that Ren Baker,

because he's young, because this is his place, you know he wants to kind of reinstate his own mindset, his own decisions, I thought there he would go a different way, legitimately. And I would have been, all right you got to do what you got to do. Wouldn't have been around as much but certainly will support the entire thing so the fact that Ren Baker put the pride aside I'm saying I this is my guy he didn't listen to any of the outside noise and he made his own decision because he thinks that this is the right decision to win like I'm incredibly proud of Ren and I hope it happens for

him that a baby Ren Baker. baby rim baby rim. Now ladies and gentlemen we go from Rich Rodriguez who will be out here for a press conference to some NFL conversation. No okay later never mind we will leave the NFL and we will go to soccer good sport. Fantastic. Good at it here. West Virginia soccer team, very good at the sport, men's and women's doing their thing. And kind of bummed out that this guy didn't go to West Virginia, but he decided to become pro. They call him Captain America. He has a documentary coming out on Paramount Plus, available now.

Yep. Ladies and gentlemen, Christian Polissen. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Well, uh, uh, uh. Can you hear me okay? Yeah, we're just kinda watching you figure out how to stand yourself on the screen there, you know. All right, yeah, I don't have much space there to work with, let me, all right, there we alright. No but spatial awareness is something you're great at. Christian let's talk about this. Obviously you are being tasked with Captain America carrying the United States of America soccer team into this next era, new coach and everything.

Documentary is going to be covering you playing overseas, being an American. How did it feel exposing yourself to the cameras and how do you think the world is going to react to what your life has been as an American soccer star playing in Europe? It was something new for me, for sure. I wasn't used to that, you know, that inside access, people, you know, follow me around at times, a lot of cameras. But I enjoyed the experience. I think people are going to get a pretty cool look into kind of, yeah, some of the difficulties I go through on a day-to-day basis, a lot of the stuff, what it's like being American over in Europe, trying to play at the highest level.

So I think it was a perfect time and I hope people enjoy the look into that. I can't wait. Obviously the United States has been trying to break into the international soccer scene. I grew up playing soccer. I think there was always dreams and aspirations of America getting on to everybody else's level. Does it feel like we're closer than ever because of you? Raina? Who's that goalie?

It looks like he's 12. He's a stone. Oh, my from Fairfield, Connecticut. Yes. Oh, my blanket on it. I should have looked at the side. I'm embarrassing. I'm sorry. I went to school with them. We're closer than we've ever been or think we're what do you think? How much can we talk shit about the United States soccer at this moment? Do you think? I mean, I definitely say we're closer than we ever have been. I think like you mentioned, there's so many top players now playing in Europe at the highest level, and we've just never had that before. So absolutely, I think fans can be excited.

But yeah, now it's on us to go out and show and prove why we can hang with the best and beat the best. Go ahead, AJ. Christian, when you were filming for this docu-series, obviously, was there ever a time when you forgot the cameras are there and you felt, you hear people back in the day for the real world, like, oh, after a day or two, you forget the cameras are there and you just go about your life.

Did that ever happen for you? Yeah, I think at times. My good friend Daniel has been working on this with me, so he kinda can be real low-key. And yeah, it definitely feels like sometimes they're not even there. So that's a good thing, though. I think that's how I want it to be. Uh, so that, that, that's a good thing though. I think that's how I want it to be.

I don't want any big crew following me around all the time, but, uh, yeah, there's definitely moments like that. First of all, what do we need to become? So, because it feels like the academies that they have in Europe, where as a kid, you kind of go to an academy and you spend your life playing soccer pretty much kind of forego high school, forego college. You kind of learn how to be a professional soccer player. What do you think the United States needs to do to catch up or is sending

the Americans over there our best path? Yeah, I think for me, it was definitely the best, the best thing to do to go over to Europe at the time, that first year in, uh, in Germany, when I, when I left home and, uh, it was a big sacrifice for me. I realized that these kids that I was competing with, they didn't want anything to do with me. They were thinking, you know what? This guy's coming to take my place.

That's not going to happen. There was a competitiveness at 15 years old in the academies that I had never experienced before. I think that's what it's going to take to get us to the next level, is that kind of competition every day and that fight I just I never saw it in the US quite at that level. But with that being said, I think the academies are have come a long way.

Connor has a question for you, Christian. Yeah, goalies Matt Turner. We all know that's our shout out Fairfield go stags. Christian, how has it been going from England to Italy? Obviously, you were with Chelsea for a little now You know, you're killing it with AC Milan before you got injured. How is that transition been? I've loved every second of it over here I think I think the Italian lifestyle and culture in general just fits me a lot better Well, maybe most people with the weather and the food and those kind of things

but also the club and the way that the way they've treated me and given me a lot of Trust and confidence and allowed me to kind of return to my best form I've just enjoyed the transition a lot. And yeah, I think it's going really well What do you know about coach Paul Chetina? Because I know that we're gonna win the World Cup whenever it's in the America Canada United States and in Mexico, we're gonna win the World Cup whenever it's in the America. Canada, United States, and in Mexico. We're gonna go to every game. I think Connor's actually gonna go to every single game in the city. He's gonna be on field reporting.

What do you know about coach Paunch and we're gonna win the World Cup? That's how we feel? I love the confidence. We need you guys, man, at those games and then hyping people up, getting everyone excited, get the country behind us. We'll come to practice if you need us. If he needs to practice, we'll come, whatever you need. All right.

Hey, that could work for sure. But yeah, you know, we've spent a little time with the coach so far. And yes, short stints, getting to know him a little bit and working with the team. He obviously has a lot of experience coaching at the highest level in Europe. So I think it's an exciting time and and we should definitely look forward to it Last question because I think a big part of the storyline is about how Americans get treated playing European soccer You know and I think I think we read something where one person compared it to what the Europeans are like in the NBA like 30 years ago in the 90s back whenever like who coach was getting a final shot instead of

Scotty Pippen and the reaction and everything like that. I think there's a lot of that chatter Do they view american soccer players still the same way they did 20 years ago? And if they did do you ever look at them and say what the hell have you created over here in Europe? You ever say that or or no Maybe not exactly that I think I think they may have they may have taken me Uh, you know taken that line and ran with it a little bit in some ways of that American bias. I think for sure you could see the English have that running joke that we can't play football, whatever. But I would say that I don't feel that way

anymore. I honestly think it's come a long way for sure. I don't look at myself as a victim or looked at it any way. I think anyone coming into a long way for sure. I don't look at myself as a victim or looked at it anyway I think anyone coming into Europe from anywhere else in the world it can be difficult So there's always challenges in that way But I think I think I'm well respected and I don't necessarily you know think that they're out to get me in any way like that Do you do you ever think about telling them that America is better than all of their countries combined? Do you ever think about that? Oh yeah, I think about it. I think about it. Maybe I don't say it, but I'll always think it.

Just at breakfast or lunch, looking at them, where are you from? Oh, that country sucks in comparison to mine. Just let them all know, okay? We want to let you know, you're doing us incredibly proud. Keep kicking ass over there and we can't wait for you to win the World Cup so we can act like American stooges all over the place. We appreciate you, man Yeah, I appreciate it. Appreciate you guys It's a football press conference Turn USA for soccer. We're all behind you. Ladies and gentlemen, he has a documentary available now on Paramount Plus,

Captain America from the soccer team, Christian, please. Yeah, Christian. It would be so much better if we just beat everybody in that sport, because you know how they say, it's the world's game, it's the most beautiful game. It'd be nice if we just, if people like this would just go in there and just smack them around and we'd win the World Cup Especially in America. Could you fathom we win the World Cup in America and we'd all be saying it's Tommy No, I wasn't that's bullshit hog. Shut up. You weren't singing Tom Jones's you were singing puffed All right, we are 37 minutes away from this press conference happening,

and I think this place is gonna be on fire, as people have filed in. I mean, this is pretty insane. I saw the North Carolina press conference yesterday. That was cute. Alamba, that was cute. Hey, Bamba, that was cute. Bill, that was cute.

Look at these beautiful Mountaineers showing up. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Country roads. Hey! To the place. I love West Virginia. Wow, it's beautiful. At Mama I love West Virginia I'm at Mama

Gate Me Home Country Roads Listen recruits, you want to be a part of this place, okay? And they got, you know, koozies That's what he was trying to shake my hand He was trying to give me one of these koozies, my man right here Absolute dog We're ready, We are excited.

Very sweet. That's a good one. I like that one. Give it a chance now. Reaching out, touching me, touching you. Touching me, touching you, sweet Caroline. Alright, so I just want to get one more in if we could. That is, that's every single conversation. Let's get back to the NFL.

Odell Beckham Jr. no longer a part of the Miami Dolphins. What? No way. That's a bummer. Yeah. To hell with Ron. He and the Dolphins. What? No way. That's a bummer. Yeah. Sorry, Gov. To hell with Ron. He and the Dolphins have elected to part ways.

I believe he was getting a $3 million salary. I think it was like a million with some upside. He obviously had done nothing for the Miami Dolphins thus far. We saw him whenever he played the Indianapolis Colts. He just did a conditioning period. He just ran sprints down the middle of the field. Obviously, at that point, they couldn't throw the football because two was out then he would go to the sideline he's in shape we can say that we've seen with our eyes

look for him to go back to like the Rams they're saying the Chargers need a weapon I assume he has a house in LA and then maybe even a Ravens what if the Ravens had another weapon I don't know if Gumpys microphone works back there or not company diehard dolphins fan how do you feel about the loss of oh jeez yikes nevermind that's what his thoughts are he just farted into a mic seemingly the Ravens kind of makes sense because he was there last year and actually performed pretty well with them last year and if Deontay Johnson's gonna not go into games you know oh duck bill right in so Odo Beckham jr. could be a massive free agent signing is that what we're

assuming here is there gonna be interest AJ Is that what we're assuming here? Is there going to be interest AJ? Is that what we're thinking? Yeah. I mean, I would assume he clears waivers obviously, but yeah, someone will bring him in for a nice little playoff push. What do you pay him? You only owe him what minimum

for whatever games he's there? Yeah. I would assume it'd be league men. Get a nice weapon in there. Maybe drop some plays for him to have success. When he was with McVay, obviously he had success with the Ravens. He had some success this year with the Dolphins. Hasn't been great following a knee injury, a knee surgery, I believe. So maybe he gets back into form somewhere. College football awards were last night. Congrats to Gentie winning, Maxwell and Doug Walker.

Congrats to Travis Hunter winning the Benerican and Walter Camp and Balitnikov. And congrats to Coach Cignetti winning the Coach of the Year. Now the reason why that's so important, he goes from JMU to the Big Ten. Brings like 13 of his guys, almost goes undefeated winning Coach of the Year. Look out for Jacksonville State's old coach to come back to West Virginia and do the same damn thing. Whoa. Hey ESPN Plus subscribers,

get even more of the sports and teams you love. You can now stream six months of SiriusXM on us for even more live games, sports talk, music, and podcasts, all at your fingertips, wherever you go. Score even more with ESPN Plus and get six months of the SiriusXM app today. You just need an active ESPN Plus subscription. Get all the details at ESPNPlus.com slash SiriusXM. Eligibility and offer details apply. From ESPN Podcast and Omaha Productions. Coach is a new groundbreaking educational football podcast hosted by NFL legends Bill Belichick,

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coach drop weekly listen wherever you get your podcast. It's what's happening at PatCon man what are you guys doing I see you guys some somewhat libations they call them you guys are pouring up. It's a celebration. Okay there's some beers being sold in the concession stand here to celebrate a press conference but also the country Roads Trust is the money making operation here for the sports. They have beer that's available here, they have whiskey here, they have this particular bottle here. Cheers beers and Mountaineers, that is real. They have this one here, you can't buy it. And I said, well, why do you have it if you can't buy it? I thought we were why do you have it if you can't buy it I thought we're trying to make money well a guy bought the entire barrel for

a lot of money that guy's right here the guy that gave me the this guy is a dog right he's got some new incredible boots on he's a he's an absolute beast so we're just doing a little mix in we're trying to stuff out and you know if you want to buy any of it to support West Virginia you certainly can but we are just a matter of moments away from another West Virginia man, Nick Saban joining us in about 10 minutes. And you hear the pop for him because it is very understood in this state that Nick Saban is a West Virginia guy.

Now obviously he would go elsewhere and have massive success, but throughout this entire coaching searching process for Wren Baker, Nick Saban was somebody that Wren was able to rely upon. I can't wait to talk to Coach Saban about why he thinks we got to Coach Rod coming back, but I also can't wait for Nick Saban to get a chance to experience these people. Just like he did whenever we were in Morgantown to kick off this season. I think he's reminded of how much he's beloved and how great of a football town this is. How do you feel one hour into this program, four hours into this day in Morgantown? How do you feel about the energy and the vibes? Oh the energy

and the vibes are fantastic. I mean to be honest I watched you pour that beautiful nectar of the gods into that Coke Zero and I very much want to try it but I think with Saban you know helping Ren Baker help in West Virginia it goes back to how much of a football state this is because he hasn't you know been really associated with the football program as closely he's a Bama boy you know obviously won a national championship at LSU but for a guy like that to you know give his time to Ren Baker to West Virginia I think it kind of goes to the point of like they love football here they want to win here and hiring a guy like Rich Rod from West Virginia. It just means more I think to the team, to the state, to the university. That's a guy like that.

Yeah. It's home digs. Obviously you're from a plum up the road from me. And I think you've had a few nights in Morgantown. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. I got kicked out of, uh, you know, the lazy lizard and club Z at the time, you know, those were good experiences. A lot of, yeah, I got kicked out of the Lazy Lizard and Club Z at the time. You know, those were good experiences. A lot of Plum Kids go down to Morgantown and then all of the friends follow because as Rich Rod said earlier, it was the number one party school in the country at the time. Yeah, at the time. At the time. I don't know.

What happened? Getting back there. So I think, and I don't want to talk out of pocket because I was not here during this time and I was not plugged in Sure, I think there was a time Where there's an idea that we need to potentially because remember whenever we left the Big East and we were trying to find a new conference the SEC said Academically, I don't think so The ACC said academically. I don't think so. The ACC said academically I don't think so.

Come on. The Big Ten said academically we don't think so. Now those are all excuses because they didn't want to get their asses whooped by the West Virginia Warriors. But I do believe if you look into stats and analytics it was potentially a thing. But that was a part of the charm of West Virginia. Like hey you go down to Morgantown the football team team is going to win, the basketball team is going to win, and you're going to win because you're going to have a great time. Now, a lot of the buildings that we're hosting those good times, maybe we're falling apart at the

seams. Well, maybe there's an area, you know, Grant Street, McLean, I grew up in that area, Sunnyside area, that is where my house was. Houses were... They, uh, we hosted some great team chemistry building cookouts there. Sure. Knot parties. Uh, the whole city would show up. Fire marshal would come through.

Cops would shut down the block. It was kind of understood what was going on. It kind of demolished that entire area, put up these big apartment complexes. So I think it's kind of taken away from that particular aspect. But you walk around Morgantown, it is beautiful. So whenever you talk about recruiting or bringing people in, you come into this Morgantown, you see tradition, history, and obviously Woodburn Hall and everything up there and mountain layer is beautiful.

And everything you could potentially want from an academic standpoint is available here. But there's also an energy of a good time here and I think coach Rod is very adamant to bring that back. I think that is something he's we're gonna win games and we're gonna celebrate them. That is how this is gonna go. That is what the fall semesters are gonna be like in Morgantown West Virginia and we're gonna get great degrees right? We're gonna get great degrees. We're gonna're gonna get great degrees. Some of the best. We're gonna go to school. We're gonna do our thing. Not quite as loud a cheer there.

We're gonna bring those. And maybe even someday I'll graduate. Yeah, why not? I mean, after all this money you're giving, you have to. They gotta give you one. I mean, maybe a doctorate. I mean, that'd be cool. Yeah, other guys would come back.

I know there's celebrities that get those. I wanna earn it. That's what West Virginia's all about. You know, I wanna earn it'd be cool. Yeah, other guys would come back. I know there's celebrities that get those. No, I want to earn it. That's what West Virginia's all about. I want to earn it. Hard edge. It's a hard edge. Yeah. And I think we are going back.

And I think, like I mentioned all those guys from back in my team's era, like they're all pumped to get back in and see how can we help. How can we help this thing get back to what it was? And that's what today is obviously a celebration about. Last night's game, Niners Rams, gotta talk about it. Obviously the only football game that took place this weekend.

Army, Navy's happening and- I believe that's it. Okay, that's good news. So the only game that has taken place or for us to chitchat about on this particular Friday is Niners Rams, Snooze Fest. AJ, your take on the game Thursday night football? Little bit of a snooze fest. Hey, Puka still doing Puka things, making unbelievable catches,

trapping under the dude's helmets. And that deep ball late in the game, I think, was huge for the Rams. But yeah, Matthew Stafford, he's a wizard, still doing it at this age. Yeah, Matthew Stafford was drafted in the same draft class as myself. And he got enough money as the number one overall pick then to buy the entire city of Detroit. Just like AJ. Just like AJ Hawk did as the number five overall pick.

So the fact that he still plays the way that he plays, Sean McVeigh had him doing quarterback sneaks. He did a boot, an empty boot on like a third and two or something like that. He was getting his ass beat last night and it was very visible. And I don't think Matthew Stafford cares. He just wants to win football which is why Matthew Stafford would have been a great Rich Rodriguez West Virginia Mound. All he wants to do is win ball and I think

that's like the big noble thing about Matt. He can spin it. Obviously he's been playing a long time. He is a tough dude and I think that was evident last night in this game and I think it's evident last night in this game. And I think it's been evident throughout his entire career, AJ. Well, I mean, there's, if anyone's seen any of the clips of Matthew Stafford, Mike Duffy, basically has a broken back and he's gotten demolished and he keeps coming back over and over and making plays. I think that's, that's his career. That's what he's done. If you guys just have a chug off on a Coke Zero and booze.

Oh, never. No, the issue here is floater. You see the hole in the can it's small. Yeah you got a small hole. Yeah. So when you're pouring this delightful 1863 West Virginia gold available now. Some of them. Buy some booze, support some sports. I mean that's not a bad thing. When you're trying to pour it in there it gets gets on the rim. These are on the rim. So every sip is basically a shot of whiskey. And then there is a little bit of Coke Zero. Delicious.

This is West Virginia gold. Yeah, it's fantastic. I mean, they're gonna have $50 million in NIL because of this shit. It's worth it. Listen, I know there's some whiskey drinkers out there. Ty, we need to get you some. Ty, I know you're hammering about a bottle a night. So we need to get you some I know you're hammering her about a bottle a night

so we need to get these 1863s tie yeah I haven't been able to take my eyes off that since it was first place on the desk I've kind of just been getting lost in it as we're looking at it and you guys reaction to it you know it seems to be going down smooth I do need to get myself a bottle or 50 of that 1863. Yeah, support the team. Support the team, Ty. Also would like to let you know, here in West Virginia,

not just about the good times and the good booze. Oh no. We're also innovative. There's a ball marker right in the top of the thing here. This is a ball marker. Oh wow. For golf. Pretty cool.

That's neat. Take it on a golf course. Get absolutely shithouse. And then, just on a golf course. Get absolutely shit-house. And then, start and spot and mark your ball on the green. We're thinking about everything here in West Virginia. Joining us now is an export of West Virginia. Born and raised here. Played football here.

Played baseball here. Then he went out into the college football world and became the greatest of all time. Ladies and gentlemen, Coach Nick Saban. Yeah, Coach! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! You're back in West Virginia, huh? That's right. We got a big press conference today announcing Rich Rodriguez as the head coach. Ren Baker's gonna be out here in a matter of moments, which leads me to my question for you. I don't think it's any secret now at this point, probably because of me.

That's all. You were a part of this coaching search process alongside Ren Baker. Why did you wanna help? And how did you go about doing that? Well, you know, West Virginia University has always been really important to me and I grew up there being a big time Mountaineer fan. Biggest thing that happened to me in a year was when my dad take me to one Mountaineer game

every fall and that never leaves you. You know, I remember when I was a kid watching Jerry West play basketball. I mean, it's it that never leaves you. So my heart's always been with West Virginia. I actually coached there for a couple of years and I love the people in the state. We have a lot of friends and relationships in the state. And I'm happy that Rich is back and I think he'll do a great job there. Him being a West Virginia person grew up about six or seven miles from where I grew up. And I'm glad that he came back and he had great success there in the past.

Obviously coaching great players like you helped him do that. But other than that, we're just excited for him. Okay, so let's talk about the process a little bit. Everything you do, you are very much deep in it. You're gonna be well versed while, well-researched for everything. I got to see that with College Game Day. It has been an honor to watch you work and work alongside of you.

Whenever Wren calls and asks for some assistance, what does that mean? Are you watching film? Are you talking to people? What was really your job in this entire process? Well, I think that it's probably the cumulative effect of a lot of years and experience that, A, I think that it's probably the cumulative effect of a lot of years and experience that, A, I have with working with a lot of good coaches, but also

watching coaches out there have success in terms of what their process is and what kind of principles and values that they try to instill in their organization, whether it's discipline, toughness, the way you compete in a game, whatever it is. And I've always had a tremendous amount of respect for Rich. And he came to visit us a couple of times at Alabama when I was coaching there. I was very helpful and beneficial to our staff. He's great mind. He was an innovator in the game.

I mean, everybody does zone reads and now like it's nothing, but he invented it. So I think this guy's, you know, great. And I guess I just talked to Ben a couple of times about who was the best fit. Who was the best fit for West Virginia? It's not just about coaching knowledge or what your record was in some other part of the country,

but how do you fit? How do you believe? How are you going to relate to the people? How are you going to be able to recruit the kind of players you need to compete against, you know, the competition and dominate the competition? And I think Rich is the right guy to do that. Hell yeah. AJ has a question for you coach. Coach, Rich Rod is gonna be up here doing this introductory press conference here very soon.

Whenever you addressed, you got a new job and you had a press conference, did you give much thought to it? Did you have a plan going in? Do you have a little speech written? I would assume the first impression I've had. I want to be a team that nobody wants to play. I wanted the people to understand that. I wanted the players in the program to understand that, the players that we're going to recruit in the future to understand that I wanted the players in the program to understand it the players that we're going to recruit in

the future to understand that so you know there's always a message and You know I think you know rich was at West, Virginia once before the advice that I would give him that his message needs to be that you know he made a huge mistake when he Left and the greatest thing that ever happened to him was having the opportunity to come back. Coach, how do you feel like this college football season has gone as we pivot away from this press conference and obviously as members of college game day we get a different view because we get to go to the biggest game every single week and in the future it feels like we're going to be taking a lot of stops in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Sorry, had to do it. Had to do it. You know, you've seen me operate, yeah. What do you think about this college football season? How would you describe how it's gone as far as we head into the college football playoff? Well, I think that the thing that has been most difficult for most teams, other than Oregon, is have you been able to play with consistency and have you been able to keep the same standard of excellence as you progress through the season and has your team improved so that you can play consistently and not only you know big games but also every game

that you play and be where your feet are and be focused on what you need to do. I think that's been the thing that's been most challenging, I think for most coaches. Maybe the circumstance that the players in is a little different now. So we all need to adapt and adjust to how do we figure out how we can get these guys to play at a high level on a more consistent basis because, A, it's not only the season, it creates value for them. I mean, when a player plays to his full potential, when he's not up and down in terms of what his performance is, and he's consistent in the way he goes about his work and taking care of business.

I mean, that creates value for him, which ultimately is what you wanna do as a coach. But I think it's more challenging now based on the environment that we're in, and I think it created some inconsistency in play for some teams this year. I think so too and coach if you were still the head coach at Alabama with three losses they're getting into playoff. No doubt. SMU's got no shot but hey SMU is very thankful that you retired as we all are at your part of college game day.

Con man's got a question for you. Yeah coach after West Virginia hiring Rich Rod, the second biggest hiring is definitely Bill Belichick down at UNC. What do you think about that whole plan for UNC? I don't know if you saw the Bill Belichick contract and things of that nature, but there's escalators and stuff like that, and there's an out possibly.

Why did you think he went to UNC? And do you see other guys from the NFL maybe making the jump to college because it is much more like the pro game now? Well, I look, I'm happy for Bill. I think he probably wanted a new challenge and this is certainly gonna be a great challenge for him. North Carolina is a great academic institution as well as they've got plenty of athletic tradition there and basketball, football, and Bill's a great coach.

I think the biggest difference, and I coached both. I coached in the NFL, was a coordinator as an assistant, as a head coach, and I coached in college, and all three of those responsibilities as well, is coaching the players is really not that different. You know, people always say, well, really hard to coach them guys in the NFL. I never thought that was a problem. You know, if you're a good coach and you create value for those guys, they love you because you're going to extend their career. They're going to make more money and they're happy.

The difference in college is how do you bring guys to the team? You know, it's different than drafting guys than it is to have to recruit them because recruiting is like a full-time relationship building 365 days a year in terms of not only evaluating the players that you want, but creating the relationships with them to get them. Now everybody says it's like the NFL because they're making money now, but it really still takes you to be able to sell them that you're gonna develop them.

And I think Bill will be able to do that, but I think the biggest thing that will be a challenge for him is the time that you have to spend recruiting, making phone calls, talking to parents, and all those types of things to get the kind of players that you need. You know, having the resources is important to be able to pay them.

And I'm glad that the players get paid. I'm not crazy about the system that they're getting paid in, but I hope we can get that fixed. But I do think this guy is gonna, Bill will do a great job there of getting good players, and he'll do a great job of developing those players. The biggest adjustment for him will be the time spent recruiting.

Okay, Coach, on that note, I think there's a lot of people, I mean, maybe myself included, and I have not been in your position or in the college football world long enough to think like this, but like people see what happened with Coach Prime or Coach Prime's not taking as many in-house visits.

He kind of does everything via FaceTime or Zoom. And then he's able to land, obviously because he's coach prime and everybody has faith and trust that he's gonna be able to get their boys to become successful men. How much do you think Bill Belichick will be able to cut out of that old school

having to recruit? How much can he just sell like, hey, you're basically coming to an NFL academy as opposed to the texting and calling and smoozing and winning and two-stepping, like you said, you're asked to, you know, with the families. How much of that is he able to potentially get away from or is that not possible in college ball still?

Well, I think it's not as important to the same degree. I think you still have to do it to some degree. But I do think, you know, one of the, you know, I was a defensive coordinator in Michigan State when George Perlis got the head coaching job. He hired me, you know, there to do that. And his presence, because he had been a coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers that won four Superbowls, his presence went a long way in recruiting with all these kids. I mean, they all want to play in the NFL and, you know, Bill can certainly sell them on the fact with all of his success in the NFL and the ways he's developed players and the

reputation he has as a coach, that he's going to be able to do that. And that's going to go a long way, you know, for these players because regardless of what they can make in college, it doesn't touch what they can make if they have successful careers in the NFL. So I do think that, you know, Bill is going to be able to use who he is as a coach, as a tremendous selling tool and be able to get great players because of it. Coach, I hope it works out for him because as I stare down a future retirement It'd be pretty cool to be a coach GM of a college team and not have to do any of the recruit It'd be sweet. That would be sweet. So hey, good luck down there long bow. Good luck down there. Michael Hope you guys win every game except for against the West Virginia Mountaineers. That's what I hope happens

Tone digs has a question for you back in the Thunderdome coach. Yeah coach I wanted to ask you about the the playoff coming up when the playoff first started four out of the first five years it was either you or Dabo in the national championship game and being the winner of that game and then being a 12 seed how much how much does it benefit them that Davos have so much experience in the college football playoff and are they a dangerous 12 seed because of all that experience that Davos does have I Don't think there's any question about the fact that If you have experience, you know, it's it's like, you know

We all kind of create new horizons for ourselves in terms of what we do So when you make the playoffs the first time, it's like a new experience. You're not sure what the practice schedule should be, where we should go. How much time off should we have for Christmas? I mean, you got all these factors that you gotta cause it's different than the normal routine of a regular, you know, week, uh, game during the season. So, and then how to handle the players, how to motivate the players, how to make sure that you get them back to top performance because you have some time off and how you manage the time off.

I think all those factors are a benefit when you have experience because you've created that horizon for yourself before so you experienced it and it's going to be beneficial to your players and the confidence that you have because you have been successful in those situations I think is important as well. But I still think that this competition now with the 12 teams that are in there and who you have to play, you're not going to play any bad teams. So you're not going to be able to make a lot of mental errors, turn the ball over, not score in the red zone, all the things that contribute to winning. That's still going to be what in the end creates winning and losing I think in these playoffs.

Coach, how do you think the weather may affect some of these early games where teams are hosting, say Ohio State's obviously hosting Tennessee. People are going on the road. I know Indiana, Notre Dame, they've all played in the elements before. But how do you think weather plays a factor in all this? I think it's a factor. I think, you know, cold weather, wind, you know, the ball's harder to catch, the ball's harder to hold on to, the ball's harder to throw. I don't think there's any question about the fact that it could have an impact on some of these

games depending on, you know, how can these teams from the south adapt to playing in the north? depending on how can these teams from the South adapt to playing in the North. No different than if you're a Northern team and you have to go play in the South in the end of August and it's 100 degrees. So I do think that it's going to be a factor to some degree. But your maturity as a competitor is an opportunity for you to show that maturity when you play in circumstances that aren't opportunity for you to show that maturity when you play in circumstances that aren't perfect for you. Because like I used to always tell our guys, you know, they would say, well, you know,

when I was at Michigan State, I don't want to come up here and play because it's cold. And I would say, what if you get drafted by the Green Bay Packers? You're going to have to play in the cold. So it's an opportunity for you to learn how to adapt and adjust and play in those circumstances and situations. And for a southern team to go north now it's an opportunity to them to prove that this is not going to affect who they are as a player. Coach I think Pat there you go, we back. Coach whenever you think about environments, whenever you look at this college football playoff and we obviously have a bracket for you here, obviously got Ohio State hosting, you got

Notre Dame hosting, you got Texas hosting, which game Penn State is hosting? I believe it's a noon game, so we won't get the full whiteout. Which game are you excited to kind of watch and see how the team handles the environment and how the school shows up? Well, I think the Ohio state Tennessee game is going to be interesting game. Um, you know, first of all, Tennessee has a little bit different kind of offense in terms of the spread. Uh, I think, you know, Ohio state, everybody thought their roster was one of the best in the country, which I still do, but losing a couple, you know,

tough games, especially the Michigan game is this is an opportunity for them to show who they are. You know, their fans are all upset because they lost to Michigan. They have a great opportunity to go win the national championship and that's what they should be focused on, you know, looking ahead to try to do that. And you know, let all naysayers know, you know, that old saying comes up again where we can prove we are the best team in the country and we have an opportunity to do it because we're in the playoffs and it starts with Tennessee.

So Tennessee being in the SEC, I have a lot of respect for them and the kind of team that they have. So it'll be interesting to see how that goes. All right, coach, we're going to get to this press conference here and continue this celebration back in your home state of West Virginia. I miss you this week man we're not doing dinner tonight I'm bummed out. I'm bummed out about it. Yeah I hear you but in the meantime I'm glad you're there with Rich Rod telling them I said hello and congratulate them and congratulate all those folks that are there for that press conference. They did a good thing here and they're going to

be successful because of it and we're going to be behind them all the way. Oh yeah, they love you coach. You're the best. I can't wait to see you next week. And cold ass, hey, bring your furs, bub. It's going to be cold. Your little ass is going to be doing one of these next week in Indiana. You're the best, ladies and gentlemen. The goat, coach David. Thank you, man. Goat, goat, goat. Goat, goat, goat. AJ, you obviously can't see it because we only have a camera facing this direction, but it's starting to fill up in this particular area here.

That only means one thing. I believe the proceedings are about to get started here in a matter of a few moments. Connor, I think there's gonna be any flubs. I think there's gonna be no flubs. I think there's gonna be no flubs in this entire press conference. No chance, no flubs at all from Rich Rod. I think it's gonna be 100 miles per hour on the gas,

on the corner, right down Broadway. I'm very pumped to hear what he has to say and what the future of this program's gonna look like. I tried to break the ice a little bit by swearing a couple times, just to let Coach Rod know, like, hey, if one slips out, you're okay. But I don't think he's gonna want to. I think he's gonna want to let these people know how thankful and grateful he is to be back.

And I think, you know, making it right is gonna be the big storyline. AJ, have you ever been in one of these? Have you ever been in one of these coaching pressers? I was trying to think back. I don't think I ever have. Your question for Nick was a good one, because obviously Miami Dolphins, LSU, then back at Alabama, he's had to talk numerous times to a fan base. This is a little different obviously, cuz he knows these people, but have you ever been in one of these things? No, I never have.

I was thinking of like Sirianni when we saw his first press conference. Your first impression can go a long way. We know that and he is, Sirianni is the man. We've seen that over the years. But I think the first, obviously, Rich Rod coming back home. It's a little bit different but yeah I mean this is his first time introducing himself to a lot of those young kids in there for sure.

Now they've all seen the highlights you know a lot of their older siblings or even parents celebrated a lot of nights. Maybe burnt some couches here in New York. That got banned. That got outlawed. Just like flag planting in Ohio. What's you guys got to make laws? That's not a thing. That's not a law.

You're going to plant flags on your field over there? That's not Ohio. I don't know anybody that supported that. I don't know anyone that supported that. Yeah. Well, just know this. You can tell that law man that if West Virginia plays Ohio State at the horseshoe in West Virginia gets a win

Rich Rodriguez will not let them plant a flag on anybody's field this will be a respectful team this will not be a team that tries to fight but if you want to fight us we will beat the shit out of you that was kind of the mindset for the team that I was lucky to be a part of. A lot of people wanted to fight our team. That's what it was. When we showed up, it was like when the Yankees showed up. People were getting their first sellouts.

People's donors were showing up. They were having concerts outside because we were coming to town. Oh, the West Virginia Mountaineers are coming to town. Let's make it a big ordeal. And they always try to like, you know, maybe get a little chirpy with us before the game and we were very much a team and you heard Rich Rod's meeting yesterday we are very much a team that like hey we're not going to start this but if you want to be about it we are certainly about it and I think that's what's about to get built in this beautiful state of West Virginia now

Without further ado, I do believe it is time to make this thing official. From the great city of Morgantown, West Virginia, live from the WVU Coliseum, the official press conference to announce Rich Rodriguez as the head coach will begin right now. Pat, Conman, change of location. You guys look great. How's it going there? It seemed like it was a bit, you know, there was a raucous crowd for a little bit. Yeah, to be clear, I don't think we had any idea what was going to happen. I don't think we fully prepared for the transition post press conference, what we were going to do, how we were going to get out, where we were gonna shoot.

So we literally just set up a laptop. We're in a corner of the courtside club. Beautiful place. It's gorgeous. Beautiful place. Now obviously these two TVs remain on because this isn't just about us. Let's go ahead and get a little extra view on ESPN,

which they love our show. I've been hearing. I've been hearing everybody else on ESPN loves our show and the things that get said on it. But today has been a celebration. It has been fantastic And I think the takeaway from that particular press conference con man is old buddy comes down Thinking he's gonna be star of the show. What was yelling? We couldn't hear. What was he yelling? So he was like

10 feet from me. I couldn't really hear everything He was saying I think he was saying go back to michigan and he was saying some other stuff He was filming the whole thing. I think he potentially thought that there was gonna be a bunch of people that were gonna join him. And instead, boy, he got his ass booed out of West Virginia. And I think the way Coach Rod handled that with any other pit fans out here wanna talk, do their entire thing.

But also, what he said there about how back in the day I would have tried to go down there and kind of see if he's about a hard edge or if he's just talking about it that is very real and I think that was a good little piece of evidence about how he's matured you know and that's been a big conversation for Rich I think since he's got through this is what I was back then isn't exactly what I am now I've matured I want to hopefully get be a better coach next week and we're all on board man it was electric in there the energy was palpable for a press

conference I've never seen anything like a lot of support too Like he mentioned like I don't know if any of these kids even know who I am But the fact that everyone was out there. I mean the place was packed I was surprised by how many damn people were there. It was pretty awesome And then of course them joining in like it almost created a great moment when that guy came and tried to stir shit up because All the people were like so much on Rich's side and then seeing how emotionally was about it. It's like Ren Baker got it right boys West Virginia's back Ren Baker

I think they should have gave him a prompter. Okay. I didn't like that. I didn't like that. He gave that incredible speech and You know every once in a while people were saying his tan looks fantastic That's what people were saying didn't get a chance to see his beautiful smile enough. I think of ren baker I don't think there was enough views of his beautiful smile But I think everything he's kind of pieced together here And I appreciate the fact that rich rod kind of doubled down on that all the work that rent put in for this process Was very very evident from anybody that was around or part of the conversations.

And I think I'm an easy man. And I think it's potentially because Tim McAfee is this way and then Rich Rod is obviously this way. If you have a good work ethic, I love you. And it's basically as easy as that as literally Rich just comes back in, Coach Rod, hey, we are live here on a computer right now. We're on a laptop right now. Coach.

Hey, hey, hey. Where is he? How are you feeling? Here, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, hey, we're live here on a computer right now. We're on a laptop right now. Coach. Hey, hey, hey. What is it? How are you feeling? Here, look, look, look, right here. Coach, coach, how do you think you did? Let's give a post. We're live right now. Let's give a post, press right now.

How'd you feel? Who the hell left the pit fan getting out? OK, yeah, we're gonna put it out. I don't know what you want from him. I thought you handled it very well. And then also, in your Q&A, you said, I'm gonna earn these people's trust. I'm gonna earn these people fun. I think you aced it out there.

Well, I appreciate, you know, we have great, well, you're kidding me, see all the people that were here? Yeah. And I know we were selling beer and all that kind of stuff, but shoot, that was, man, that's West Virginia. That's West Virginia athletics, West Virginia university, West Virginia football, so I'm fired up, and let's go!

You sound like you're ready. Let's go! That was a little bit too strong, okay, I'm 38. I don't need that. Are you jacking up? You have to cut these sleeves off yourself Can we not make some that are already pre-cut? No, the issue is my tailor and customization is better than what anybody else does, you know Cuz there's a certain fit for the way my body. But I'm gonna let you know coach. I couldn't pass a drug test right now

I'm gonna lie. I want a lot of science. But if you need it. You can be I couldn't pass a drug test right now It's good felt good today though, yeah, it did feel good You don't see some of the former players back and you know all the I mean I think I've gotten 500 text and 200 from former players guys that played with you that played here and They've always loved this place, but I want them to come back. I want them to come back because the facility is unbelievable. I don't know if you've seen it. I mean, 17 years, I love what they've done with the place, right? Yeah, I was at the spring game and I said the same thing. They have like a car wash for the players to walk through before the cold.

And they got the hydrogen tanks, like a salt bath. Oh, could you, plus all you specialists, then you spent all day in there, that can go out and kick for 15 minutes. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Not hard edge. Not a hard edge. Salt bath.

We have a two hour practice and the specialist had 15 minutes. No, no, no, I was working hard. I gotta tell you what happened. Here's how my day started out. I went to watch West Virginia practice. They're practicing the indoor and I'm standing on silence. Not paying attention.

And the punter, doink, hit me right square in the head with the ball. Get him out of here. Yeah, I'm going to find out. He's getting a portal tomorrow. Obviously, we hope it was a long punt. We hope they got hit hard. It must have been a shank. You hit me in the head.

No, no, no. He was putting it out of bounds. The guy's working. That's what it was. Hey, get an American punter, by the way. That boss is amazing. I had one at Jack State. Jack Dawson, oh, he was phenomenal. Ozzy?

Yeah, but he likes to drink a lot of Piero, too. Well, the Americans do, too. I mean, that's the way it is. Let's get it. Owen Schmidt, you showed us him, huh? It's about the pooch, Jack Scosch. That's right. Which you did numerous times.

Listen, Owen and the word pooch doesn't sound like anything. Owen has nothing to do with pooch in the But I do remember y'all know what the weight was on that power can I told that story? I never seen a human do that like it was like 200 like 75 pounds like a rep of 10 They do the last one over his head and the thing would bend around. Yeah, whenever he's not How many face masks did you drink? I mean collectively, you know, it was a bunch How about how many stitches on the helmet to the head that he would do? Super glue.

Owen and I and everybody, former players of yours have been catching up over the last couple of weeks. And then I- It is so cool. So whenever you said you want everybody to come back. I do. That was very kind of you to say like everybody, hey, we want everybody back. Coach Bowden, because those guys are over me.

The ones that play for Coach Bowden, Coach Signetti, and then Coach Neatham, my era, I'm hearing a bunch from my former teammates here, which is playing at your, coaching at your alma mater. Sometimes it's good and bad when all your former teammates like, coach, I want to be on the sidelines. I'm like, that's 400 teammates, I can't put- What about the space? But we had a great time here.

We had a great experience here. We went a lot of games, Coach Neatham's in the Hall of Fame and that's why it's you know, that's why it's different for me It's special. It's pretty number. It's all about the person was personal. It really is It always has been for me So me and Owen were just kind of ransacking this bar here, you know trying to find stuff And then we went in the back well as he took us in the back We got some ice and me and Owen looked at each other and was like it's nice that our guys back in Georgia are out here. You know it feels, doesn't it feel like more welcoming, it just immediately feels more

welcoming so you making that as one of your messages to be like hey if you ever played here we want you to come back I think it's a good thing all good programs do that. Yeah you know what in football and in the athletes a lot of people know they see you during the games but a lot of them don't understand how much work you put in before that, before you play. And what kind of sacrifice it is, because it is. And even if their guys are getting paid now, it's still a great sacrifice, what they go through, how you coach them, and what the work they have to put in. You don't live a normal life as a student athlete.

And so, I'm really, and I've been so blessed, but I can't say enough. I'm really, really appreciative to all the former players. I wouldn't have got this job if it wasn't for Jack State and the players at Jack State the last three years. I mean, those guys did something that people say, well, it's a lower level. Well, it's pretty good football now playing a bowl. We had South Carolina's ASB too. So our guys, our guys played really good football and

they deserve a lot of credit. Owen and I, we watched your team meeting. Yeah, it was kind of a calmer one though, wasn't it? Yeah, but you put some points out there. The message was direct, right? You decipher through the rest of it. Okay, there's gonna be some four letter words as we know, but not in the first one. Okay, you had a couple three letter words.

My question is, do any of those players understand what the hell's about? I don't think any of them. I don't know, that's a good question. I'm gonna find out. You know, I watched practice today and the energy was good and intensity was okay, but it wasn't no live going on. But the first like winter workout when you do the tour duty,

first tour duty and you'll find out like who's like, thinks they're going hard, but they ain't really going hard because their version of going hard Yep, and our version is going hard might be We'll find that out in a hurry. We're proud of you, man. Thank you brother. Good luck I'll be here for you whatever you need so all and yeah, you know, he's a football coach now. I heard that that's scary sing wing All right, appreciate you coach Hey, you know he's a football coach now. I heard that. That's scary. Just saying wing. Alright, appreciate you coach. Yeah, this has been crazy. It's like a reunion.

And look at him, that guy's ready to go. I said he was old too, he's an old ass. I don't know if he's still doing a Stairmaster. Cavs look fantastic, you know, kind of hiding in there, but I think he absolutely crushed it. Owen, I don't know if you know this, we got a good zoom in on your face. AJ, didn't he look absolutely jacked

whenever he was doing his thing? Yeah, he still looks jacked. What do you mean? I mean, that's who he is. Wade. Wade. What? Now, just, I've talked about it a lot.

It is cool to have our guy back. All seems right right now in Mountaineer World. And I have an immense respect for coach Rod obviously he gave me my opportunity my shot so that will he will always be my coach but I'm I'm friends with a lot of the you know years past guys as well and that's been a huge topic of concern and now I kind of feel like that tradition can be stamped back where it needs to be and that's here at home Oh, yeah. All right. We're gonna make some picks. I'll see you in a bit. We're gonna get a nice little

We might have a little happy hour dinner and some booze here in a little bit We're literally ransacking this bar I mean looking for ice looking for a drink and as we were looking at it was like it does feel like the glory days again You know and everybody over here is being real quiet because we're live. So let's make our picks. And I think it's time to have a great weekend, AJ Hawking. We're going to celebrate the hell out of life here

at West Virginia. Bangles, Titans, Titans getting five and a half at home in Nashville. Bangles, obviously. Joe Burroughs' house ransacked. We learned that maybe he has an assistant or? Yeah, she's on staff by Joe One of the two I don't think he's happy about any of that

No, I don't know so with that being said give me the bangles minus five and a half traveling to Nashville You like to pick? Yeah, absolutely AJ you like sick. Oh, yeah, I'm taking Cincinnati here as well on the road. I Like I like a mad Joe burrow, you know out of here as well on the road? I like I like a mad Joe burrow you know like a very frustrated short like you know my privacy what do you say my privacy was violated on many fronts. I mean multiple times, multiple in many different ways yeah all of a sudden everybody knows now that I know a swimsuit model okay don't love that also my entire bedroom ransacked millions of dollars worth of jewelry and

costumes underwear underwear think about all the costumes Okay, so that's one game let's let's keep it moving it's really uncomfortable in here Kansas City Kansas City favored by four going into Cleveland I like the Chiefs even though last week I took the Chargers I like the Chiefs here to cover for even though that it's not the Chiefs MO Yeah, seven straight. They haven't okay. They haven't you would you would think four. It's the Cleveland Browns Yeah, the Chiefs are gonna come I'm taking the Chiefs again. I'm being you know, I'm blinded by their Super Bowls Baltimore Ravens, New York Giants Ravens favored by 16 not enough remember the how pissed off Lamar Jackson was coming off of the loss

And remember what mama Jackson's yeah, I run the football Lamar Jackson plus 175 scored touchdown as well. That feels like a good move. Herm Edwards over our shoulder same with Barry doing their thing. I wonder if they're having the same type of show we're having just into a laptop in a corner of a room. But with that being said I like the Ravens minus 16 taking on them woeful giants. 16 is so many but I like the Ravens as well on this one Pat. Washington commanders, are they going to change their name? You know, West Virginia is going back to Ridge Rock. Yeah.

Is Washington about to go back to his own? There's a fellow in the front row that really was pushing hard today. Yeah, he had the raccoon skin. Yep. Pat, his name was Fish. He's a big fan of the program. He's a big fan of the program. By the way, the mountaineer we were talking, he's a little skinny.

We need to get some meat on that guy's bones. Living off the program. He's a big fan of the way the mountain here. We were talking He's a little skinny. We did get some meat on that guy's bones It's been some thin time You might have lost his hard edge to him Give me the Saints plus eight with Darren Riz leading this one. Jake Hayner first start ever What's his name is playing Washington commanders minus eight against the Caner. Lattimore is back.

Lattimore is getting his first game. The command. Yeah. Yeah. I'm taking the commanders as well here, Pat. I would take the commanders. We're kind of being a little bit boring here. Favorites across the board.

How about this one? Cowboys, Panthers, Panthers favored by three against the Cowboys. Yeah. Or better football. playing some good football Panthers are favored by three, you know what I'll take the Panthers here Pat Me too. Oh that feels Yeah, I'm taking them to dolphins Texans

give me the Miami Dolphins plus three going into Houston just because I need it for the Indianapolis Colts team that I Watch on a regular basis because I live in the city that they play in well I'm taking Houston at home here minus three you kid me. I mean they just got they just cut Odo Beckham jr. I don't know. It's gonna be tough to win the party ways It's all mutual reason. It's a mutual thing. I get it. Yes Jaguars Aaron Rodgers getting attacked on TV for attacking people who've been attacking him quite a battle of words there between ESPN and Aaron Rodgers, I will take the Jets minus three and a half down in Duval

Yeah, I'm gonna ride with you as well, too. I'm taking the Jets minus three and a half. They'veval. Yeah, I'm gonna ride with you as well too. I'm taking the Jets minus three and a half. They've been playing okay, just can't get a win. Okay, let's go Bucks Chargers. Give me the Chargers minus three at home against Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers. Ooh. Give me the Bucks plus three please. I'll take the Chargers.

Okay, Pittsburgh Steelers battle the Keystone State taking on the Philadelphia Eagles. Give me the Pittsburgh Steelers plus five and a half. I'll take this Philadelphia Eagles minus five and a half. Eagles might win that game, but five and a half feels like too many tone. How do you feel about that? My worry is that that coaching staff now Stikin was the OC. They've had the Steelers defensive number, but Stikin was where they're the last time

that they had the Steelers D number. So that worries me a bit., but you know, still boys are playing hard right now. So I feel pretty good actually. What's the stat about Tomlin when it's more than six as an underdog? He doesn't, he doesn't lose as a Daho. He's like undefeated. Okay. I'll take Steelers plus five and a half Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions only favored by two and a half,

but the Buffalo Beals team just had an absolute onslaught in a losing effort against the Los Angeles Rams who just beat the San Francisco 49ers Detroit Lions very thin in the front seven on defensive side. We said it a lot This is a shootout game it appears over under 54 and a half highest on the board AJ. Who do you like? I'm gonna take the Buffalo Beals on this one Pat. I know I think it will it will be a shootout, that fast track in Detroit, but give me the Beals. I love the Lions. I picked against them the last two weeks because I think they have too many injuries. They obviously told me to shut up last week.

Maybe the Beals are the ones to do it. Fox, are you okay? Yeah, we're gonna be okay. We're actually getting some guys back. Decker's back, McNeil's good to go. DJ Reed will be back, Pascal's back. So defense is getting a little bit better here. So we'll see, but I agree with your take. Shootout will definitely still be the case. That's the highest total

I've seen all year. Yes and that's in Detroit and highest ticket price in this for the season so far and the Lions are wearing their midnight Motor City muscle jerseys. Whoa So I'll take the bus a bus goes around all white I believe This weekend Give me the mercy muscle. I'll take the mercy muscle. Those are in all white, I believe. Oh, this weekend. Give me the Detroit light. I got the bills. All right, I'll take the lines. Colts Broncos.

Who do you got a drink? Give me them Broncos. Bo Nicks. Yeah, I wonder where you're going. Both off a buy. Don't let Sean Payton get a hold of you after a bye. You know that. They say that.

Come on, AR's been watching tape all week. Yeah, he didn't take one day off. It's true. He didn't even take the bye. I know, I know, I know. And that team works hard. Harder than ever. It was kind of, it's kind of how I felt when I was talking like about this West Virginia

team, what it's going to be versus what the West Virginia teams have been, you know, kind of, kind of a, kind of a similar feeling, you know, you know, like once the toothpaste is out of the tube, the tube, can you put it back in? Usually not. Give me the Colts plus four, uh, Patriots Cardinals Cardinals favored by six at home against Drake may, I don't know, you tell me. I'll take the Patriots plus six AJ who do you got? I'll take the Cardinals minus six here.

Come on man. Okay and Sunday Night Football Packers Hawks. This is an old school NFC playoff battle rivalry. Geno Smith of the West Virginia Maldonairs Took the long road to get to the top for the Seattle Seahawks and then the Green Bay Packers Is it this year that they're the team or is it maybe next year that they're the team Ty Schmidt? How should we be looking at this? Uh, I don't know if it if it's this year that they're the team But this is kind of a I mean although their playoff seeding can't really change much from here to the end of the season

Like I think this is kind of like a must-win they need to bounce back after everyone's saying hey you can't beat good teams you know they've only got I think two wins over teams with winning records this year that's not their fault but everyone thought they should have beat the Lions last week with how you know banged up they are I think it would go a long ways if they could you know go into Seattle and get a win on Sunday night and they are starting to get a little bit healthier as well they had a couple guys out against the Lions too, and several of those guys are at least potentially on track to play this week So I'm feeling pretty good about this game

Okay, AJ who you taking I'm taking the Packers here on the road all right, I'll take the Seahawks getting points at home and That does it boys I think the picks are over, the press conference is over. There's only one man that we need to talk to. And he's sitting right over there. He's got a sweet pair of Nike shoes. He's got a great suit on, good tie. I don't think people got to see his smile enough

because he's got a great smile, this guy. And he's got a great football brain. Ladies and gentlemen, to wrap up this phenomenal Feel Good Friday from the beautiful state of West Virginia, Athletic Director, and I think our president of something, Wren Baker. Yeah, Wren. Come on, man. Come on, man.

Listen, I tell you, Connor is my guy. I'm clapping for you. I'm clapping for you. I'm clapping for you. I'm clapping for you. Hey, listen. If Ty says anything he has to do in his Pete Thammo voice, so. So how does Pete Thammo feel about how today went and Rich Rodriguez being the head coach?

Well, Ren, listen, you know, you kind of, you know, you drummed up a lot of support. Obviously, you know, Coach Rod said you interviewed, I don't know, what, 10,000 guys and maybe 10,000 additional people on Zoom. I think it was a home run. Honestly, I really do early on, you know, my sources were saying, listen, there's no way this is gonna happen. Rich Rod's not going back to West Virginia. It's gonna be the likes of, you know,

Barry Odom or someone of that ilk. You kinda, you went back into the, you know, the tube and said, what do we need to do to kinda get back to who we're supposed to be at West Virginia? We need a hard edge. You found your hard edge and you found, hard edge and you found the right man. Good on you, Ren, very proud of you, great decision.

Pete, do you have any hard edge in your body? Well, you know, I don't like the hard edge to come out. I think you remember, you know, national championship last year, hotel lobby, dressed up like B-Rabbit from Eight Mile Bruce Brown of this show, got in my face, was yelling. And let's just say I damn near knocked him out. So yeah, there's a little bit of hard edge, don't like to use it, but if I have to use

it, guys like Bruce Brown typically, they incur the wrath of my hard edge. Okay, Pete, thank you. Before the celebrations really kick off here as we're kind of holding it up, how happy are you that this day is come and gone and, how pumped are you about the process being over? I'm glad it's over. They're all encompassing and you know, cuz you and I talked a few times, I did turn over every rock because when you make a hire like this, it's not just important for me, it's important for West Virginia,

it's important for our state. I mean, it is the brand of our state. And so I wanted to make sure if I, whatever conclusion I got to, that I felt like that there was no more for me to look through to get there. And so I'm married to a process and it's worked for me, but I'm really happy where it turned out.

I think fans and people are happy. We're gonna sell more tickets. We're gonna need to, after what you guys have done to the bar in here. That was not part of the deal. The Yeah, yeah, we would have to. That was not part of the deal. The bar, it was not open bar today. Listen, it's Coach Rod's era back.

I don't know what to tell you. Me and Owen might rate a bar too. But I left Connor in charge. It did not go well. Well, Connor was trying to figure out all the tech so we can listen to the press conference because we wanted to hear what you had to say. What's your biggest takeaway from the press conference out there?

Obviously, the energy is immense. Yeah, you know, I said this before. West Virginians love this program, and they love West Virginians, and they want West Virginians to do well. So I know there's a few people who have hard feelings about how things went down 17 years ago, but I think Coach nailed it when he said, I will earn your trust and your belief back.

And that right there I mean that's what people need to hear they want to believe that's kind of been his mantra this whole time Yeah, like since I've talked to him. I assumed you as well Yeah, both interviews first time we sit down with him just said hey, I mean I think one of the interviews He said my biggest professional mistake was leaving 17 years ago My biggest personal mistake was how I left and and I'm ready to go home and make it right Isn't it cool to that? It's very apparent that this isn't like a stepping stone job either.

Yeah. Like this is home for him and he's excited to build it. You can sense it. He tried to break my leg earlier. Whenever you remember that he hit my leg so horrible. Yeah, it was. It was like a variable check. It's like he feels it feels like he is very much energized for this task.

His fire is burning as hot as it ever was. And I didn't know him 20 years ago, but if it was burning hotter then than it is now, I would be shocked because he, that's a competitive, competitive guy. Yeah, certainly is. AJ has a question for you, Ren. Ren, when you were thinking about this whole process,

I guess, did you understand like the magnitude and how much a lot of people's lives rely on the choice that you made for this decision? My life is always talking about like me a lot of people though you know it affects like it's like We ask we ask Aaron Rodgers. Hey, do you know like how you play affects so many like the coaches their families like the trickle-down effect It's a big deal obviously hiring a coach and bringing rich back. I guess do you understand the magnitude going into it? I think when you're in these situations, it's like a player that's playing for a national championship or a golfer that's about to hit their big shot.

You try not to think about that. You just try and focus on the process, do the job the best that you can, make the best decision that you can. I'd be lying if I didn't say I don't understand. They tried to tell me before I took this job how important it was to people here. I told every candidate that we interviewed, I'm like, the day we announce you here, you're the most visible person in this state, period. And so it's something that you have to accept, and there's no anonymity.

So the responsibility that comes with that is important, and you have to understand if you're going to be here. But for this process, I tried to block that out. And Pat would know when he'd talk to me, he'd see me at home, he'd see me. I was just like, hey, I'm just working through the process. I'm trying not to listen to anybody opinions except for his and Coach Savin.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I, and I told you- He was very neutral and out. That's what I'm saying. I would like that to be on the record. Because I believe in you, and I think you are a very good athletic director So it was a tough bounce because I had all my ex teammates being like hey Pat. I think you have some say in this entire thing

Why don't you go ahead and put the wagon behind it's like I don't want to put that pressure on rent And I'm not in the interviews, so I don't know who the best person is I had nothing but faith that you would do it and the fact that it's Rod obviously a lot of us are excited I think a lot of the donors are excited too, which is obviously good news for the state that we're in. And you can tell the state's excited to serve the school. Connor has the last question for you here, right? Yeah, speaking of the donors, when this gets announced,

are there more NIL opportunities now? You know, are more people reaching out like, hey, congratulations, how do I help? Obviously we had the wonderful whiskey that is being sold to help the NIL. But did they tell you how much per drink that's gonna cost you? Uh, no. No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no former mustangs, former mountaineers, former colts you could say. But what does now go into the NIL now that the new coach has been hired, hey, let's go after this thing and let's compete with those college football playoff teams.

Yeah, I feel like the best way to raise money in an athletic program is to win. And so I tried to not let any potential money influence one way or another affect the process. But now that the process has landed here, I do think it's gonna open up more opportunities. And we know now in this world of college athletics, yes, helping people grow and retention, all that is for a lot of reasons.

That experience, that camaraderie, are you providing them opportunities to learn for life after football here? Those are all still important, but also what's important is have a competitive war chest. And so, Mountain Air Nation, I hope understands that. Big donors, I hope understand that. Yeah, there's been people already catch me today and say they're re-upping. You know, Pat owes me some money.

That's right. I was wondering where that money was going for a little bit. You know the donors figured it out, but I got a text from Ken. Did you do? Yeah, I got a text from Ken. He do did? Yeah, I got a text from Ken Kendrick during the show today. Said thank you for what you're doing. If you ever need me on a program, I could do a call in. I don't know if he knows what the show is. But I do appreciate that he is in.

But I think that is a massive deal. You got a lot of support. You got a lot of time. And I'm thankful for you, man. I think you've done a fantastic job, and I think you should be proud of yourself. And also, I think you should celebrate at some point. Yeah, I'm going to on a beach somewhere, some beach somewhere AJ.

That's right. There we go. Let's see it. Ladies and gentlemen, the best athletic director and what? What was the other title? Vice president, not president, vice president. Thanks for that shit on there, so you give him some more money I think.

Ladies and gentlemen, the best in the country, Wren Baker. He's getting ready to go back to wrestling. I'm predicting that. Don't be giving anything away, Wren. What's this guy's problem? I see these guns. I know what's about to happen. You might be right. That's Wren Baker football. That's Wren Baker football right there. Thank you, Wren. I see these guns. I know what's about to happen. You might be right. That's Rennbaker football. That's Rennbaker football right there. Thank you.

All right. We're gonna get the hell out of here because they're holding up the party for all of us in here. And I don't know if you could hear it kind of starting back up and then they felt like they had to get down. I never want to be associated with a guy that they go shh because Pat's here. So we're gonna let them go ahead and turn this thing up. AJ, thank you for traveling over to Indy today. Appreciate it. It's been fun, man. This is a, it was fun watching you guys in there. And now seeing you get to connect with your old guys, like that's the best part.

That's the best part about it. Anytime I get to go back and see guys I played with that I haven't seen forever, like it makes you a better person, I think. Love DoorDash, man. Who doesn't? Me too. We'll probably DoorDash from good times over here. You know, that's a, I love that Foxy's trying to slide these into it

because he knows we're probably getting out of here quick and we need to hit this DoorDash L-Wrap a couple different times. But if you don't know by now, DoorDash has everything you need. It is literally your tag team partner in life. Want some food, you need some medicine, need some clothes. Why? It's on PS5 yesterday. Yeah, you can get a PlayStation 5.

So we got a PS5 yesterday. Alcohol. What? You got booze? Yeah, I think you can get booze. I think they also have THC drinks on there. Oh, what? Yeah.

Wow. So, when they say DoorDash has it all, I mean they do. Get all your game day faves delivered. But not only on game day, get them every day. Order pizza and more from the best seats in the house. Your house, that's DoorDash. So shout out to DoorDash, shout out to you,

and shout out to this guy taking a trip over here to Morgantown with me. Shout out to Gumpy too. Look at Gumpy over here working. There you go, Goop. Oh, that place is awesome. That, Gumpy, is it calling? Is it calling? Look at this, this is the whole, everybody's just waiting on us. Yeah, you go goop. Oh that place is awesome that

They got a huge WV yeah, you can see it right there behind the bar We're trying to find a corner, but I don't think we're out of the way enough but from Us here in West Virginia to you guys in Indianapolis, I think today was a good day. I think today was a good day. Great day. I think today was Sonic and Knuckles too, hell yeah. I think, I think Ryan Clark and Aaron need to talk it out.

Yeah, I'd say. I think they need to have a, let's go shake their hunts. Think it'll happen. If they need to have, yeah. You tell me, AJ, what do you think? I don't know. I don't know how deep it goes, So let's go shake their hunts. Think it'll happen. The daily devil. Yeah. You tell me, AJ, what do you think? I don't know. I don't know how deep it goes, but yeah.

It's always good to talk, right? It's always good to chat. We also need to have Nick Mangold on the program. What's that? We need to have Nick Mangold. What about the UFOs? Yeah, he saw them. Yeah, he's been seeing them for a while.

The drones, you're saying? Yeah. Yeah, the drones. He lives in Jersey. Yeah. what? What are they and they're coming out of the ocean? They said their death brother. They are angels of death No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no Harvesters harvesters Man, this is I'm saying you got it. You got to be a little worried as we flying east, as we were flying east this morning,

Connor like, let's look out the windows, let's make sure we don't see anything. Cause some people are saying they're just playing. Hey, these people are idiots. These conspiracy theorists are just seeing planes for the first time in the sky. That's crazy. Okay. Well, then I get, then there's like people

that are legit saying they start out as this little like thing and then it transforms into look like a plane. Did you hear that? No, they're shape-shifting yeah I'm scared I'm scared if that's not to mention the shape-shifting dogs we saw a few months ago seriously but a lot of the people that normally don't take this type of thing serious AJ included in this entire thing have seen so much that they're like what the hell's going on so whenever they roll somebody out to a presser and go most of these have been planes some of them

helicopters obviously we saw that it's like i don't think that excuse just works anymore because i think there's too many people going like i don't know what's the governor talking about I don't know telling you boys load up on that five five six, okay, I Don't know if that matters brother. All I want to know is can I go shake their hands? I want to shake their hands whatever they are and I think we should talk to him think about this I thought about this theory this morning. What if you're not Christopher Columbus? You know Christopher Columbus was the first one allegedly to look over and say, well, he definitely was, I guess, but you know what I'm saying. Anyways, he was the first one to say like, I think the world's round. Fuck it.

I'm going. Okay. That's what he said. What if these little beings that have lived in our ocean for a long time had a young little Christopher Columbus one that said like, there's world outside of this that said like there's world outside of this water like there's world outside of this water and All of a sudden he takes one up there He's a holy shit You should see it

We're floating around out there and then he goes back to the lads back to the boys and they all start said Maybe they're just a bunch of little young aliens having a good time with something that they didn't know they were able to do That's very optimistic of you, Pat, but they are here for death. They will kill. Stay away from them. Don't go near, don't talk to them. This is like Rumspringa. Harvesters of evil, angels of death. I'd be worried. We need to send Christian Polisic over there. Thank him for stopping by.

Rich Rod, Ren Baker, Nick Saban. Hell of a Friday. All right, have a great weekend. We'll be back for Overreaction Monday. Army Navy is tomorrow. Heisman presentation tomorrow Saturday night main event for the WWE tomorrow night on

NBC then obviously a full NFL Sunday slate. We're so incredibly lucky that we get to do this We'll see on every action Monday. All right, be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life We're missing together even more so now than ever, especially if we got death merchants flying in the sky. Yeah, all said. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three.

Goodbye.