The Triple Option - Inside the College Sports Exec Order, Big Ten vs SEC Debate, and Who Owns Friday Nights?

Episode Date: April 8, 2026

Clear hearts, can't lose...does it work in college too? Coach Urban Meyer and Rob Stone discuss the Executive Order for college athletics, the first one expected to come from the White House. Urban takes us inside the reasoning for the five seasons in five years, the transfer rule, and the focus not just being on football and basketball. Ohio State's newest transfer from Alabama made a statement that the Big Ten is fast while the SEC is slow? *checks notes* Yup, that's right, Urban takes us back to his first year at Ohio State and the transition to get the Big Ten on the same level as the SEC. The guys wrap discussing Friday nights in Texas, where Texas Tech is upset they have a Friday night game. Who does Friday night belong to? 01:13 Executive Order to Fix College Sports 14:34 Big Ten vs SEC 20:53 Friday Night Lights New episodes of The Triple Option drop every Wednesday. Make sure you’re subscribed on YouTube and following on all podcast platforms. Also make sure you’re locked in on social @3XOptionShow on all platforms for highlight moments, bonus content, and to engage with the guys and the TO community. (⁠⁠⁠https://tripleoptionshow.com⁠⁠⁠)   The Triple Option is presented by Wendy’s. Try Wendy's® New crispier than ever Spicy Chicken Sandwich. https://m-wendys.app.link/gm-spicy-chicken-26-display-banner Thank you to or additional sponsors NHTSA: Put the Phone Away or Pay. Paid by NHTSA. www.nhtsa.gov/distraction   #CollegeFootball #CollegeFootballPlayoff #CFP #OhioStateBuckeyes #AlabamaCrimsonTide #TexasTechRedRaiders #BigTen #SEC #Big12 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How about the term faster associated with the Big Ten? That was the thick ankle comment for years about the Big Ten. The cancels. The canckel conversation is back. Light it. The Triple Option is presented by Wendy's. Wendy's invented the spicy chicken sandwich, and now we're reinventing it. Making it crisper than ever before, Wendy's spicy chicken, we're so back. Hey, welcome to another edition of the Triple Option.

He's Urban Meyer showing off the biceps this week because Mark Ingram isn't here, so coach has to pick up, yeah, coach got to pick up the slack. I'm Rob Stone, glad you're with us. Well, the biggest news in college football this week came courtesy of the White House, a commissioner and a major booster, having a bit of a duel over what should be happening on Friday nights in Texas in the fall and have the big tent and the SEC actually changed identities. Coach, you're going to have a fascinating take on this one. You've seen it firsthand.

As always, we love it when you can rate, subscribe. send us your questions. We can be found on social media at 3X option show. New episodes coming your way on YouTube wherever you get your podcast. All right. So the big news this week coach came courtesy of the White House. Friday late afternoon, the president signed an executive order that directs the NCAA to create rules that mandate college athletes can play for no more than a five-year period and allows them to transfer schools one time before they graduate. without a penalty. So without having to sit out a season. The rule changes scheduled to go into effect August 1st. That's an important date. We'll get to that in a second. And a school that

plays an athlete who does not meet these new limits could risk losing their federal funding. All right. So that's just the quick snapshot of everything that transpired. So let's start breaking it down, coach. Let's talk about five-year period. Why five years makes sense. Yeah, hey, Rob, let's first talk about timing. He, when I say he, President Trump released this and his staff on Friday 4 p.m. or something like that, if I remember. And that was right when, I mean, one of the biggest weekends of the year as far as viewership of college anything. And that's the final four. And by the way, what incredible final four.

But so the timing and then also just a quick refresher, we all had 50, I think it was 50 people met. I was fortunate to be one of them. We sat in the White House and had the commission group of people sitting there from all the conference commissioners. You had Marco Rubio, Speaker Johnson, Ted Cruz, Governor DeSantis, and other political figures, donors, former ADs, and a couple coaches were in there. And so we kind of knew this was coming. This was in executive orders in this, I don't, I'm not an expert at this, but executive orders are going to get challenged immediately legally. and they're lined up as we speak. And they knew that, right, Coach?

They knew that was coming. I think this was done to educate the world on what is the focus. If we do get things passed, which we can get two in a minute. It's all going to be about the antitrust exemption if that can happen so that you can set rules and enforce rules. If that doesn't happen, then this executive order will get litigated immediately. But back to your question about five years, I think there's a couple hot spots here. Eligibility is one of them.

It's very near consensus of the people I spoke to in that room that it should just be a five-for-five. The minute you enroll in a college, your clock starts, and the minute five years are up, you have to move on. Can you get a timeout real fast. Because the old school, like when I was playing soccer, Colgate, it was four years, right? That was just four years has always been the number. I got three kids who are going to be in college next year. They've been told you have four years to get out of college, right? So why is everybody comfortable now with five years?

I think it's been that way for a while, and I don't understand how that has not been passed. Because what's happened, Rob, when you hear the word redshirt, it's to give people that opportunity to mature. Because the reality is at that age, some are very ready. The Jeremiah Smith, there's no redshirt, go play. The Joe Burrow, Terry McLaurin, they had a red shirt. They just weren't quite ready, and that's part of it. But what happened is when I started coaching, it was four to play five to play four, to play

four, but then everything started changing. They could play four games, three games, 25% of the season, and that's just too chaotic. And again, if you have a rule, you have to enforce it five to five years to play five years and move on. And the only way you get your fifth year, which I believe is a great caveat, is that you have to graduate. So you get a degree, you get that fifth year. Bring the student back to student athlete.

Yeah, I like that. And that if you graduate as well, coach, that grants you. should you want it, another transfer opportunity without being penalized, right? Hot spot number two is the transfer portal where you get one free one, and then you get one when you graduate. So if you graduate college, you have two free opportunities. The free one after graduation, that was during my career, I remember one that was made. I think it's an excellent rule. I've seen so many players, even off our team. They weren't quite good enough, and they went down a level, and they had a great career, and they played. So I think that's a great rule.

the one that's not on there. If your coach leaves, you get another free one, that's going to be, once again, all this, I keep saying this, all this, you can just spin your fingers because it's not going to happen unless you get some antitrust exemption. Just to the coach thing, do you agree with that? Coach leaves, you should get an opportunity to have a free transfer? I kind of do. I have to think it through more.

Okay. I 100% do. And a lot of the pushback will be, well, it's still a free market out there for the coaches and the ADs and whatnot. You know, you brought up a hot spot. Okay, now let me throw this out at you. I wonder if there's a way. And our friend Jay Billis, who very intelligent guy who was on our show, he brought up a lot of things that are a lot different.

It's a different way of looking at it. But as he was talking, I was kind of making notes. And a lot of this would solve some problems. You know, in the NFL, you can't change jobs. You can't leave and say, I'm going to go coach another problem. Matter of fact, an assistant coach can't. I don't know if you knew that. You can't if you elevate.

But if I'm the offense coordinator of a professional football team, I can't leave and go to another job because I have something called a contract. I've always wondered why in college sports, and I did it, one, two, three, four, four different jobs I had. I broke the contract, and at some places, I think all of them had a little buyout and the school pays a buyout and you move on. I wonder if there's a way, again, if you get antitrust exemptions saying, yeah, that stops that stops it a coach cannot leave for another program unless he gets allowed to in his contract

that i can go which you talk about some serious negotiating going on that would solve a lot of problems too and i agreed with j billis on that the august first date this is when it's supposed to take effect two points let's start with the easy one is that enough time should it happen is that enough time for all these universities to understand and accept what it is going for forward. This is such great stuff. So I also had lunch with the height. I'm not going to say the name because I don't, but I spoke to this person about just the political process because this is very intriguing to me. He made the comment that after August, this all has to be done because you have the midterm elections coming and all focus of Congress will be if you're a congressman

or woman, you're trying to get reelected because it's only two-year terms. Some senators also have to be reelected. All focus will be on the midterm elections and you'll see a complete standstill in the political arena as far as getting things past. So that's why there's a huge push to get some acceleration on these things and have it done by August. If it is done by August, is that enough time for these universities, though, to pivot and understand what the new world order is? Yeah, I've said this all along. The complexity of this thing is not the rules. rules are pretty simple. I mean, you have to agree on them. And the other piece is you have to have student athlete engagement in this too. At some point, there's going to have to be a student athlete committee and another committee, and this is going to have to be cooperated. Or the chance of this likelihood passing and getting seven Democrats to agree with this to get to the 60 before August, I've heard is almost zero unless you have student athlete involvement. So why not get student-athlet involvement going right now, or is that one of the next steps?

I think that's going on as we speak. Okay. I'm not here to poke holes in it. So I'm curious, you know, maybe what are some of the concerns you have? Like, this one, this one's going to be tough. This one's going to be a battle and or what else needs to be kind of added to this, just to refine it, to sweeten it. Yeah, there's a whole slew of things that you can start talking about the scheduling that's when the season starts, you know, Do we start week zero?

Do we do that? I think personally, once you get past the NIL, the eliminate, which we did not cover, this, the elimination of the collectives and make it legitimate NIL opportunities for all student athletes. Once you hit the transfer portal and the eligibility piece,

I think everything else, you can press pause and you can slowly implement those along the journey. But the immediacy of them right now, eligibility transfer, and the collective, the NLI piece. If you get those done, then you can slowly start going through the rest of the items. What's the percentage chance that this executive order, as it's written and read right now, gets through and works?

That's a good question. That's something I'm not prepared to answer. I would say minimal because of litigation, but there's some experts out there that can answer that. So do you think there's enough time between here we are in early April into the beginning of August to, refine this and find a common ground and make it work? I do. And the last person I had lunch with who knows more than anyone was very optimistic, which shocked me because he wasn't in the 50,

in the White House. He was not. And he says, we've got some momentum right now. And there's a score act that's out there. And the score act is basically very similar to what was said with some other points in there by the executive order. That's out there right now. That's out there right now. that they're trying to get past. Last thing, so much of this conversation, in all college athletic conversations, right? It's kind of focused on the big boys, if you will, right? College football, men's and women's, basketball,

maybe a little baseball here and there. But a real focus of the president and a lot of people behind the scenes is not the big sports. It's the non-rev sports, right? It's the Olympic sports that they care about as well. And that's a huge priority of President Trump, but also everybody in the room.

And who would not say that? You know, you've done it, Rob. I'm trying to thank everybody I know. The majority of people I've come in contact in my life have impacted by team sport or college sports. Either them or their children. My two daughters played college volleyball. If I can't have any fight in that,

I can't not imagine that's not on the forefront. Not for nothing, coach. Kind of sounded like Senator Meyer during this conversation. No chance. Never say never. That was the fresh take of the week presented by Wendy's. Wendy's new spicy chicken sandwich is crisper, crunchier and more flavor-packed than ever.

Wendy's, we're so back. And when we come back, is the Big Ten faster than the SEC. Somebody says, I saw that. Yes. Light it. When Westcham first took flight in 1996, the vibes were bit different. People thought denim on denim was peak fashion, inline skates were everywhere, and two out of three women rocked, the Rachel. While those things stayed in the 90s,

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Well, here's some spring ball news coach, and this one caught our attention, right? Defensive tackle James Smith, one of the top transfers in the transfer portal cycle left Alabama for Ohio State. Here's what he had to stay. Here's the quote. The intensity is almost like everything is so much faster in the Big Ten. Right there alone, we could talk for an hour, but he goes on in the SEC. we're big and kind of slower here in the big 10. It's faster.

More speed. We're trying to wear and a potent down. The intensity is different. Everything's so intentional. Goodness gracious. Bama to Ohio State. And he's only been there for, you know, a handful of days or weeks. How about the term faster associated with a big 10 instead of the SEC?

And it said this, we're big and kind of slower. And that was the thick ache. ankle comment for years about the Big Ten, the big thick ankles. The Canckel conversations back. And I witnessed it. Man, that is really a transition. I mean, that is a power shift coming from a player that's experienced both. So I'm sure every Big Ten school has that placated on or put on a text message, email,

or whatever to recruits across the country right now. That's phenomenal because, because Rob, 2012. We took a job in Columbus, Ohio, and Shelley Meyer, and even myself, I remember the first practice. What in the world is this when you're starting to compare the speed and athleticism on the field compared to the FCC, and it was not even close. But the bowl games and playoffs this year kind of proved it. Iowa beat Vandy, Illinois, beat Tennessee, Indiana, throttled, Bama, Georgia and Ole Miss. Ole Miss beat Georgia, but then Miami beats Ole Miss and A-N-M.

S-AC, but Miami beat Ole Miss and A&M. And now here's where you keep going down the line. This would have never happened. Virginia beat Missouri, Houston, Houston, beat LSU, and the old Wake Forest team beat Mississippi State. Yeah, when you think speed, you think Wake Forest, right, coach, right? The Demon Deacon's just lightning. Can you imagine what happened, though?

But you can see it on film at times. too. You really can. So is it obvious to you? Do you agree with the assessment? I think every year is a different year, but I thought, you know, there was a time last year, mid-season. I remember obviously we had Mark Ingram on the show too, that I just, I just have so much respect. I lived that SEC world and I never seen bigger, stronger, faster human beings on the planet. It's transitioned. You've got to give a lot of credit to the investment in the programs in the Big Ten. And I'm going to tell you this. I might upset some people in 2012. That was not the case. It was not the stadiums.

not that difficult. The opponents, there are some great players, just not a lot of them, but you look at it right now, there's draft pick after draft pick after draft pick. And I'm just not talking about Ohio State, all of them. So what changed? Investment and competitive spirit. And I'd like to think we at Ohio State were a big part of that. We went from saying, let's compete in a Big Ten.

And I said that to our staff and everybody said we are no longer. We called it the chase. You know who we were chasing? Alabama. In 2012, we went undefeated, and I went down and watched Alabama just beat the mess out of Notre Dame. And I said that our team would get crushed by Alabama. And I challenged every player that night on the phone, every coach, and we quit recruiting. We recruited nationally from that point forward.

And so we're going to go get the best players, not just the local players. There's a lot of people out there, coach. that will say the chase changed when everything had to be on the up and up, if you know what I mean. Yeah. Right? I hear that too. There's a lot of conversations that there are certain institutions in certain parts of the country that were doing some of various activities. Do you think that's true, Rob, do you think that's true?

I think there's a big part of it. That's true. Yeah. You're a little bit closer to it than me, but I think. I don't know that for a fact. I don't want to be like the accusations because that's something. hard of, you know, but I mean, why else? Think about the, you know, I think investment is a big part of it.

100%. I agree. I think investment in coaching. The Big Ten's got some strong-ass coaches in that conference right now. You want to get to the NFL? Come to the Big Ten. Yeah. Yeah.

I remember those old days, coach, when you took over Ohio State and when the Big Ten was, as a whole, was slow and lethargic. And the grass always seemed to be thick. right and heavy and like whenever I looked at Purdue I was like well these guys just kind of lumbering through and and whenever the Big Ten got matched up with the SEC in a bowl game it was bad it was bad news man it was bad news and now we look at this list and it's not even just big 10 teams taking care I think about this Rob I was at Florida we played Ohio State in the NASCAR championship in 06 and Ohio State was favored to win that game I think over a touchdown favorite and on

video, you start watching and, I mean, obviously, when I started watching 40 days from it, I'm thinking, we can't beat this team. There's no chance. They have Teddy again. They have the phenomenal football team. Troy Smith, the Heismet, the Heisman Trophy winner, no chance. And then as you got closer and closer after watching that film after film, we were playing Tennessee, Georgia, Auburn, Alabama, LSU, and they weren't playing those teams.

And we were war-ready because we weather. that schedule. You can say that no longer. The Big Ten is we're ready now when they get to that final game. They've won the last three of them. It's a phenomenal. It really is. You know who also is getting a little bit faster, a little bit edgier, a little bit twitchier? The Big 12. Watch out for the Big 12. And coming up next, we're going to take you to Lubbock, Texas, where one of the nation's most notable donors is at odds coach with our friend, the Big 12 commissioner, Brett Yormark. Light it. Where are my gloves?

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Bud Meyer, Rob Stone back here with you this past week. Texas Tech Booster, Chairman of the Board of Regents, outspoken Cody Campbell. Coach, he took to social media, delivered a doozy. Here we go. Quote, Friday night lights are sacred in the great state of Texas. It is absolutely absurd that the Big 12 and Fox Sports would consider scheduling Texas Tech in Houston on a Friday night, October 18th.

I know that Brett Yormark, the commissioner of the Big 12, is not a native Texan, but he's been here long enough to know better. Come on, man. Wow. I met Cody Campbell in D.C. Obviously, I heard a bunch of around him. It seemed like a hell of a guy. Very interested, obviously. I think you said chairman of the board, right?

Yeah. I'll say this that. Border regents. Border regents. I will say this that I remember when that started. the Thursday, Friday, you know, Friday games, Thursday used to be a big opportunity

for schools when I was in the Mount West Conference. I'm telling you, University of Utah in 2004, I think we were at a great team, but the country wouldn't have seen our team because you weren't watching Utah on Saturday, at least nationally. The world saw Alex Smith and University of Utah, and that was when we got,

we would play anywhere, any time to get that. So I get it. And I, and, but I also. Also, because I'm a traditionalist, I believe, and I agree with Cody Campbell, saying, yeah, Fridays are for high school football. But I hate to say this, as the commissioner of, I think the SEC said it or some, oh no, the president of Alabama said it, or the AD said, the SEC championship game doesn't mean much anymore. Get rid of it. And your heart starts to hurt. So the world we knew where tradition, where some great events are going to change for money, period.

You can say whatever you want when I saw the number about the viewership with a big 12 conference, Rob, on a Friday night. I get it. You have to, you know, you have to finance these schools. Yeah, the heart hurts, but the heart also understands. You know, it's probably like when that great girlfriend of yours breaks up and you're like, yeah, I knew this was. coming. I knew this was coming. I put up a good fight. I hung in there as long as I could, but eventually we got to break up. So there was a time in the Big Ten conference when I was coached that came across that the, I think it was Fox or a network, it had to be Fox.

Sure, Friday night football. We have to get Friday night football. Yeah. And the state of Ohio said, we're not doing that. And I remember Gene Smith was her AD at the time and said, you know, we're going to do one a game, one game every five years or something like that. And I, you know, a lot of things to worry about, not that. So I moved on. But I remember letter after letter, the state high school association was pissed off. I get it. Thursday nights, you talked about how that helped you at Utah.

Remember the great success Greg Shiano and Rutgers had? You know, they built themselves up with those Thursday night games. And then the Friday night games were there for. Louisville, another really good one. You had some of those teams. Yeah, that was because you were not watching those teams back then on Saturdays. You weren't. When there's all that other competition for the eyeballs.

out there, right? So you've got these windows. So here's the commissioner's response. Brett, Your Mark. Quote, Cody Campbell does not run the Big 12. So he doesn't. Correct. We know that. He may run a lot of things, but he does not run the Big 12. We love Commissioner Your Mark. Our board and our ADs approved playing 12 games a year of Saturdays in an effort to raise the profile, narrative and viewership of Big 12 football. Texas Tech hosting a prize. time game on Friday night delivers that. Friday night, Big 12 football games outperform the conference's average rating by 64% in 2025. Conversation over. Correct. All of our schools are treated equally during the TV scheduling

process, and this game fits within our scheduling parameters. Game set match, Friday night football, Big 12. Numbers. Exposure. Eyeballs. Designated window where all the focus is on you. And not just you, your program, coach,

but you, your conference. Yeah, Thursday, I'm going back to just personal experience. Thursday night football was a big event for college. I remember Herb Street and Corso did our games. That's how big it was. And then something helping with that. You know what happened, right? NFL took over Thursdays.

So it went away with a games on Thursday evenings. They're not the big college football games anymore. But Friday, yeah, that's game set match Friday football. I like, I like high level foot college football on Thursdays and Fridays. I miss those days. I mean, there were some great Florida State games. Sure. When they were running it on Thursday nights. And I think there was like that loss at Virginia, everybody storm in the field. And again, some of that would have been lost if it was a noon game in Charlottesville. But if it's primetime Thursday night. Did someone talk to the NFL about not taking over?

Yeah. Imagine that conversation. Don't take over Thursday. See you. They're like, listen. So Tuesday, Wednesday is the only night, not really, because Monday is obviously a big night. Yeah. So the Mac has a lot of action there.

And the Mac used to be great on Thursdays and Fridays. And then they got kind of bumped to earlier in the week. Again, people are going to watch college football. You put it on. People are going to watch. And what we as a network do, we both work for Fox Sports, right? We want as many eyeballs as possible. Do we want Ohio State on our air, whether it's Friday or Saturday?

Hell to the, yeah. Absolutely, we do. USC had a big Friday night game. It was parents' weekend. The parents had to come in early for a Friday night game at USC last year. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for watching. We appreciate it.

So, yes, we know who runs the Big 12. That's you, Commissioner, Your Mark. I know who runs the triple option. That's you, Urban Meyer. That does it for the Triple Option. this week, follow, subscribe, rate us on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever it is, you get those podcasts. We're on social media 3x option show. And as always, thanks to our wonderful sponsors, NHTSA and Wendy's. And we'll see you again next week on the triple option.