The Triple Option - Texas Showdown, Alabama AD Greg Byrne Joins, Mike Leach's Hall of Fame Chances, and CFB 27 Cover

Episode Date: June 8, 2026

Who wins in a fight, a Longhorn or a Red Raider? Coach Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram II, and Rob Stone break down the back and forth between Texas and Texas Tech and whether there is a way to ensure more cross conference major matchups or if they are a thing of the past. Mike Leach is on the College Football Hall of Fame Ballot and Urban discusses their sleepover years ago...no there weren't any pillow fights. Alabama Athletic Director Greg Byrne joins the guys to discuss the extensions for Kalen DeBoer and Nate Oats, managing a championship factory like Alabama, and if conference championships still have a place in college football. Finally, we raise our glasses to the new faces of college football, or at least of CFB 2027 and Mark talks about what it was like to be on the cover after his Heisman season in 2012. Chapters 00:00 Show Start 1:41 Texas-Texas Tech Feud 14:50 Is Mike Leach a Hall of Famer 18:48 Urban Meyer - Arizona Head Coach? 23:00 Greg Byrne, Alabama Athletic Director 46:10 Your New CFB 2027 Cover Athletes Are... 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 Arkay - Arkay Zero Proof delivers the taste, aroma, and even the burn of real spirits — without alcohol, sugar, or carbs. Shop now at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.arkayzeroproof.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #CollegeFootball #CollegeFootballPlayoff #CFP #OhioStateBuckeyes #BigTen #ACC #SEC #Big12 #NCAA #Texas #Longhorns #TexasTech #RedRaiders #JoeyMcGuire #CodyCampbell #MikeLeach #Alabama #RollTide #CrimsonTide #NickSaban #Madden #EASports #VideoGames Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, Mark, how were you in that game, by the way? Like, when you got the ball, were you fast enough? Were you fast enough? Yeah, people still be like, I used to play with you, NCAA. I used to play with you in Madden. And they were like, I was like, was I really him? They said, yes, you were unstoppable. Playmaker flashing.

And I was like, yes. Like, like, I'm a humble guy. I think I'm just a guy, but what are you going to cover? You're like, yeah, I am that guy. 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 presented by Wendy's. We're going, brother. We're going. You already heard from Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram. I'm Rob Stone. Great to have you here with us. Today on the show, we're joined by Alabama Athletic Director Greg Byrne.

We discuss... Roll time. Well, we discuss Alabama's recent sporting success. Also, we talk about some of the unrest in the SEC this off season. We raise our glasses to the newest faces of college football. And a Texas rivalry has been reignited, kind of sort of, maybe not, but certainly off the field. It's been reignited. Please rate, subscribe, send us your questions.

We can be found on social media at 3X option show, new episodes. It's coming here on YouTube, wherever you get your podcast. All right, guys, let's go. We are only 81 days out until kickoff. of the 2026 college football season, and we will have games finally on any given Saturday. And will that season include a renewal of the Texas Tech rivalry? They have played 69 times in their history. Well, that conversation has been reignited at least off the field.

Let's give you guys a quick recap of the events because it's been a fun recap. It's been a fun couple of months between these two sparring partners. So we go to the SEC spring meetings. Texas head coach Steve Sarkesian says, quote, there's a team in our state, okay, that narrows it down, that plays in another conference. Oops, here we go. That has a schedule that I would argue if I played with our twos and our threes would go undefeated. And they'll probably make the college football playoff this year. All right.

So by clever deduction, it certainly feels like he was talking about Texas Tech. Texas Tech head football coach, our good friend, Joey McGuire, responded saying, man, I'd love to play Texas and see if their twos and threes can win in this conference. Then comes the big heavy hitter, Red Raider, mega advocate, board of regents, billionaire. Cody Campbell added that he would pay the buyouts for both Abilene Christian University and Texas State, which are the two teams on Texas and Texas Tech schedules, allowing the Red, Raiders to take on the longhorns. And that buy out.

Amen. Once again, we have no money. We have no money. We're buying you out. We're buying you out. You got money when you, the billionaire, the big bee. Bs on the table. Bs on the table.

Not M's. We're talking bees, my friend. So Mark, when you first heard about the spat going around and Campbell's saying, I'm buying out these games. Texas, if you want it, we're here. here for you. Line it up. Let's go.

That's what we want to see, man. We want to see these types of games. We want to see that in-state rivalry. We want to see the Red Raiders who was just in a college football playoff, in the Longhorns, who was just left out of the college football playoff. Let's put all the talk to the side. Big Cody Carroll said there's bees on the table. Buy them out.

He didn't say where the game would be, but I mean, you know, stick it right there in Jerry World. in Arlington, and that's sold out, man. That's easy. Bees on the table, coach. Bees on the table. All right, coach, what do you think about it? Yeah, when I first saw it, we've all done that as a coach and Mark as a player that people stick microphones in your face at media days and things come out that you probably go back afterwards and maybe your AD or your media guys says, I wish we wouldn't have said that. That was one of those moments, I bet Sark wish she had back. But, you know, we're looking at Texas tech schedule. You got Abilene Kitchen, Oregon State. You got Houston, Sam Houston, Colorado, Arizona State.

A good team, Cincinnati up and down, Arizona, who knows. Come on, man. West Virginia. They were down. Oak State. We're down, Baylor. And then you look at the SEC schedule. So Texas, Texas needs to worry about one thing. They don't need to start hyping up a billionaire. And we love McGuire. I wanted to get them on our show right after that. because he's a street fighter, and he knows that there's only one team that that would advantage to. Tech.

Texas, Texas, stay away from that one, man. You're not. It's a one. Because Texas, because Texas, you don't have to beat you. There's no win.

And they're not supposed to be. And they're not supposed to be. There's no win for Texas in playing that game. No. There's no win to Texas playing a game. But there is a win for their fan base, I would argue, right? Yeah.

Like, this is a competitive game. This is neighbors. Who cares about their fan base? Get to the playoffs. They want to be A&M. I don't like that, Urban. I don't like that, man, because we're getting away

from what makes college football great, these rivalry games, these driving down Lincoln Lane, and on one side are Longhorn flags, and another side are Red Raider flags, or TCU flags, or TCU and SMU broke up their longstanding rivalry, too. And that's not good for college athletics.

That's not good for college football. Notre Dame not playing USC. Correct. I know. I'm worried about, we're all worried about the future. Well, you know, You know who ain't scared to play? Belmont, Ohio State.

They ain't scared to line it up. They ain't scared to line it up. Bees on the table, Coach. Bees on the table. So, Mark, that brings up a cool point, right? So, yes, Alabama, Ohio State, right? Like, we got some mega powers. We got some brands that are playing in early on.

But, Coach, you know this. These schedules typically are booked years in advance. Understand. Again, that's the old way it worked. Who's to say that we can't just say, hey, you know what? Let's just kind of hold week one or week two. Everybody hold week one, week two till the off season. And let's look and say, hey, what do we really need?

What's good for our broadcast partners? What's good for our alumni base, our fan base? What's good for our football team? And maybe it's scheduling a Florida state. Maybe it's scheduling a Florida or an LSU or coming out west and U.S. I think that obviously would ignite the college football season with some bangers right off the bat. And it keeps things fresh, keeps those rivalries going, keeps games that matter right at the forefront. I don't agree with you're going to really hate what I'm going to say.

Say it. Indiana set the template. They don't care. They don't care. They're going to play three bad teams. They're going to try to win the conference and get to the playoff or form in a playoff. They don't care. I do not care.

You saw their off-season schedule last year. You had Old Dominion, Indiana State, and Kennesar, I mean, or something like that. So I agree with you. And my scheduling philosophy was always big dog, medium dog, little dog. That's what we always did. I think those days, and God bless Texas, I would be surprised if that continues. I know Alabama and Ohio State, you know, why would Ohio State play that game? Why would Bamu play the game?

Other than that is great. Other than it's great for family. Love it. Isn't that enough of a reason, right? That's what makes college football fantastic. It's not enough of a reason because Texas got left out of the college football playoff basically because they lost Ohio State in week one by a touchdown. Yeah.

But if they had to win versus Texas Tech, guess what? The resume looks a whole lot better. Guess what? You know what's on the table, Rob? You're living in some different world right now. Stone. I'm a man of the people. I'm with the fans.

I'm with our podcast partners. I want good games. No, I'm with the open. week. The little wild card, the little draw for. I'd like the wild card. A wild card. You call up Signetti and say, here's what I want you to. What's he going to say? He's going to say, uh, you worry about you. I got, I want you, you, you do you. Understood. He goes to say, I got money and I got a nutty. But. And I'm going to play old Dominion again. And you know what? That's their prerogative coach. That's fine. If that's the template that they want to

follow, have that. Knock yourself out with ODU. But if there's other programs out there say, hey man, we're ready to step up. Give us the chance. Like Florida State right now is a great example. They've been down a couple years, right? So if you scheduled Florida State five, six years out, you're saying, oh, wow, we got a banger. Now you're saying, Florida State isn't quite the same that they were.

However, Florida State's saying we now need those games to raise our national level up and have people have those expectations about us that we used to have. All right, let me throw this last question at you on this topic. Mark and then Urban. How about, and Mark, this is obviously for you at Alabama. Coach, it could be you at any one of your stops. What was a game that you wanted, that you would have said, hey, in the offseason, if I did had that free week, I want a piece of you.

Oh. Oh, oh, oh. Oh, I gotten both quiet. This is good. What game I wanted to play. I wasn't expecting this much silence. I honestly don't know, bro. But I do know I always wanted to play in the swamp

and I didn't get to. I got to play Florida. I got to play Florida though, but I'd never have to play in the swamp. So it was just I got to play one of the greatest teams ever, but like it just wasn't in that swamp. And me, I love going into a hostile place and playing because you make plays

and they get quiet. You know what I mean? And so I like that. I like that a lot. But I can't just put my finger on one team exactly because I felt like I played in some great games, but I wanted to play in the swamp when I didn't get to. Coach? There's two. When I was at Florida, I wanted Miami.

I just, you know, even though our schedule was really hard, we had the, we had our traditional rivalers with Tennessee, Tennessee, and Florida State, and Georgia, and you throw that damn Miami in there, that schedule is brutal, but I just felt we recruited

so well. Every kid you talked to when you were the head coach of Florida, Miami's recruiting that player. So it was all about recruiting. And I felt we, you know, we were really good back then that I kept trying to get Miami on that schedule. And when I was at, when I was at Ohio State, the one team, really any school I was at, because I was, you know, I coached there for several years. I remember at Utah, I tried to do it.

You know, obviously Florida, we weren't going to do it. But I wanted to go coach against Notre Dame. Yeah. Yeah. I love Notre Dame. I wanted to coach that for Notre Dame because, you know, I just loved the place. But, you know, to go into the hollow grounds of Notre Dame Stadium will play a game, that would have been really cool. But one of the games that I did enjoy was when we played Michigan State because, you know, I was in the Bulls game.

It was my last game in my college career. And, you know, they were kind of, I was like, they were like kind of right there in the running for me to, you know, get my commitment. And so for me to play them, it was just tap that thing and just waxed. that thing. It was like validation. You feel me? The highsman and the natty was already validation, but when we went tapped it, you feel me, it was just extra validation that I made the right decision. I love that story, Mark, because it takes me back to college basketball. College basketball scheduling is certainly different than college football, and they

are much more nimble. And obviously, they have a lot more games. But they do create these great matchups in the offseason to stoke the flames of their fan bases and of the viewing audiences and whatnot. I'm a big North Carolina basketball fan. And when Dean Smith was in charge. And again, when scheduling was a lot different, he would always make sure that there was a game on the schedule that was in, quote, unquote, the hometown of one of his kids. Right. So somebody that you recruited as a freshman that was a four-star, five-star, hey, man, at some point, I'm going to get a game close to your home. Yeah. And you get to play in front of your family and friends. And I always thought that was a really cool idea. Again,

a lot more flexibility in college basketball. But something like that, particularly if there was like a Tim Tebow type athlete. I know the parallel wasn't there, coach, because playing at Florida, he basically was kind of playing in front of his home audience. But, you know, if Tebow was from Pittsburgh and he was making, you know, these sensational moves and stories in Gainesville,

it would be really cool to schedule him in the Steel City his senior year. Stuff like that. I think that's great. It's just I don't think you'll see that in football. It's so rigid. You don't have that flexibility. You have too many players. Basketball, you have, like, you know.

Oh, for sure. Yeah, you can't accommodate everybody. I get it. 15 players, you know. I'm just talking to special people like you, Mark Enger. I was like Alabama up to Michigan. We didn't play. We played them in Florida in a bowl game, but yeah.

All right. So let's go back real quick to the Texas Tech, Texas part of this rivalry. One guy who knew that rivalry very well, the pirate, Mike Leach, right? Former head coach at Texas Tech. He is now on the ballot for the college football Hall of Fame. Interesting story. Remember, he fell short of the winning. percentage requirement, which was 60%.

You had to win 60% of your games. They lowered it just enough to 59.5 so he could sneak in and be one of the nominees for this year. He had 21 year career, 158 wins. His winning percentage, 0.596 as a head coach at Washington State and Mississippi State, of course, Texas Tech. Coach, Mike Leach, college football Hall of Famer, no-brainer? No-brainer.

And one of my dear, dear friends that we became very close on the Nike trips. We did that for, I want to say, a decade. And Mike and Sharon, they became Shelley and I have very, very good friends. We would hang out together. I remember the year he got fired at Texas Tech. I was at Florida. And we would talk football when he was so, it was so different than my beliefs, that his beliefs were, I mean, you're talking about two.

Two different cats. I mean, my gosh. I was as rigid as you getting as he's a nut job. And so, but we became very close. And so I said, when you come talk to our staff, he said, sure. So I fly him into Florida. Shelly loves him, by the way. And I said, don't get a hotel, just stay at my house.

I come rolling in pretty late, you know, after work, about 10 o'clock. It's in the spring. And I get home, and him and Shelley, and he's already having a couple of cocktails at the house. And him and Shelley's just laughing and laughing. I said, I hang out with him from him. I said, listen, we got to go to bed. You know, I'll get you up at 6 a.m. We have 7 a.m. staff meeting.

He looked at me and goes, what the hell are you talking about? I said, I'll get you up at 6. He said, coach, I'm not getting up at 6. I've got up in 6 in 20 years. And I said, or he goes, I've not seen 6 a.m. on that side of the clock. He's seen it on the other side of the clock. Being up all night. He's come in.

And I said, no, listen, we got the staff and get your ass. I'll get you up. So we go to bed. I'm up. I'm showered ready to go. Where is he? He's not, you know, so I open his door and I knock on his door and say, Mike, you know, we got to go and there's nothing, nothing. And finally I said, I got to open the door, open door.

And he's dead asleep. And I said, Mike, hey, I like threw something at him. And he like, oh, and I said, Mike, get your ass up. We got a staff meeting here. We're leaving 10 minutes, 15 minutes. And so I go back and do whatever I'm doing. I come back out. He's sitting again talking to Shelley having a cup of coffee.

I think he puts something in the coffee. Yeah, a little collo. His hair is like this. I mean, he didn't, I don't think there's no way he showered. And I said, you ready to go? And he goes, yeah, I'm ready to go. And so I took him and he met with our staff all day. One of the, a true legend, a very different.

You know, he's a jurist doctorate. Do you know he's in the attorney? He went to law school. I don't think I was aware of that. Yeah, he passed the bar, never played the game of football, had a very different way looking at things. And there was a genius behind the bizarre way he went about it. I love the man.

How do you feel about them adjusting the standard, though? Lowering the winner percentage. Yeah, I just think there's got to be the humanistic side of it, I guess. I don't know. Preach. No, you're right, Coach. I love my bleach. There's probably a ton of coaches out there.

It doesn't matter to the sport that haven't won 60% of their games, but have made a major impact on the sport and the lives of these student athletes and have done something incredible. Do you go down 20% then? No, no, no. for you. What's the next movement? Yeah, what's the next movement?

Somebody's going to be here for now. Fipi. What you're going to do? This is actually what I kind of like about college football lately is they'll run something and they'll go, you know what? It's not quite right. Let's just do a little tweak. The college football playoffs has done that the last couple years. Just minor little tweaks for the good of the game.

And I think we all need to think about the good of the game more than we have. You live in a different planet. No, man. You really do. Stone, you're living like Camelot. You like. Camel hot. You have the rose-colored glasses on, man. You look at everything. Is that unbelievable bark?

Come to the dark side, coach. You're going to be happy over here. There's no dark side with you. It's all bright side. That dark side. Mr. Bright side, baby. All good. All good over here. You are something, man. That was never cutting corners presented by Wendy's. Wendy's new spicy chicken sandwich is crispy or crunchier and more flavor pack than ever. Wendy's, we are. so back. Coming up next here on the triple option, we're going to be joined by Alabama Athletic Director Greg Byrne. Coach, you could not join the conversation. You were in Scotland.

And after Mark and I stopped the interview and the recording, he mentioned that when he was the AD in Tucson with Arizona, he took a big swing to try and get you to come to Arizona. You remember those conversations? Greg Byrne is great. so much respect for him. And he called me. This is the year I took off. I think it was 2011.

And he calls me up and said, hey, I want to come meet with you about the position at the head coaching job in Arizona. And I said, you know, Greg, I'm not going to do that. And he said, listen, I have a school, I have a boosters playing. Can I come see and take a swing?

My boosters want this to happen. And I said, he goes, I'm going to do it anyway. So let's pick a time. So I was playing in a golf event. at Doral in Miami. And he flies a play down there. And so I'm supposed to meet with him.

And this is a really sad part of the story. But my father had cancer. It was 86 years old. And my sister's called me as I was walking off the course and said, you got to get home. It doesn't look good. I was like, oh, God. So I looked on my calendar.

I'm supposed to meet with Greg Byrne. I call Greg and I said, I kept me with you. I got to get home. And he said, I'm sorry. And he said, where's your father? live and I said Cincinnati, Ohio. He said, jump on the plane. I'll take you home and then we'll do our interview on the plane.

That's how good a man the guy is. So I get on the plane, we do it. It was a real interview, but I mean, he sold Arizona, did his job. I love Arizona. Arizona's great place. I've been there one time, but I wasn't going to do that. And we spent two hours on the plane together,

gave me a big hug and I went to spend time with my father. That's a good stand-up. A great man. Stand-up guy. We're lucky to have them at Belma. We're thankful to have them at Belmont. Some people, coach, though, would have signed on the dotted line had somebody done that for them. I thought about it for a second.

Yeah, I bet. That went from probably 2% to 20%. You know, it's not always a school. You know, that's a long way from home. It's the people. Yes. And, you know, I'd work for Greg Byrne in a minute. That's how much respect I have for.

And coming up next, we are joined by that man, Alabama A.D. Greg Byrne on the Triple Option, presented by Wednesday. Roll down tight. Light it. Staples Preferred Business Membership, built for busy business owners because you've got bigger things to think about. With Staples Preferred,

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Welcome back to the triple option, presented by Wendy's, Mark Ingram the second, Rob Stone. Mark's got a special smile on his face right now because we're talking Bama. We bring in the Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne. Welcome, Greg. You guys are on a role in Tuscaloosa, man. By the way, do you own that sweatshirt that Mark has? I don't. I don't. You know, he can pull off the guns in it a little better than I can. But we're going to get you one, Greg. We're going to get you one. Real soon, I'm sending you one.

I'm working off. What size are you? X-L. Okay, I got you. I'll send you this one off my back. This is XL. There we go. No, man.

I love it, man. Hey, we appreciate your time. We know you're busy being the athletic director at the best university in the land. The University Alabama, Roll Tide, where legends are made. Roll Tide. Yes, sir. We got everywhere you look at it, all our sports, man. We spoke off camera.

You talked about Alabama. I'm going to make, you know, one of the top programs in the Directors' Cup, which is the success of all the athletic programs, you know, combined together. Football made the playoffs. Basketball is in the Final Four. We just had our girls competing to go to the Women's College World Series last night where you're in Oklahoma City right now. Our boys are currently, you know, in the playoffs in the tournament fighting. We just had a golfer, you know, runner up at Nationals.

We got track going. We got all this stuff going, man. What is it like in the day? in the life of the athletic director at the University of Alabama. It's awesome. You were around it. You saw on a daily basis what it's like to be around the football guys, but all the kids and how hard they work and how passionate they are about it.

And I really say this all the time. College athletics is one of the few things that brings everybody together. And we celebrate each other and we find ways to come together. I saw the video last night from Morgantown, West Virginia, where everybody's singing, you know, the John Denver song, you know, country roads. Yep. And how cool is that?

You know, when we sing Dixieland-Dy like at, you know, at Sabin Field at Bryant-Denny Stadium, right? So it's just a great way to celebrate and come together. And it's an honor to be a part of a place that is special as the University of Alabama. I'm a proud alumni, so I'm so glad to hear that, man, that all the sports are doing great. But I kind of want to focus on, you know, the two main sports there at Alabama that are generating the most revenue. And, you know, you extended coach Kalin-de-Boor and the men. men's basketball coach Nate Oates, who I'm a big fan of both of them. Are you extending them both on the same day?

What makes those two the present and the future at Alabama, especially with the two highest generated sports? What did you see in them and made you extend them so early? Well, we want our stability, first of all. We'll touch on Nate first. Nate has come in. We hired it from University of Buffalo, and he was coaching high school basketball

and teaching math classes seven years earlier. And I said to him, you know, I thought what he was doing was separating us from our competition, the way he approached the game both from an office and defensive philosophy. And he had a great reputation as a recruiter. And, you know, he's led us to heights we've never had before, right? Our first Final Four, like you talked about, multiple elite eights now. And, you know, I remember telling him when he got there, I said, our fans are not used to having to plan for March. You know, we go to the SEC tournament to go to hopefully watch us play through.

throughout and now people are planning their spring breaks in Alabama around our men's basketball program and our women's program's gotten a lot better too. And so to have that stability, I told to actually Rob Vaughn the same thing here and our baseball coach. I said, hey, our fans aren't used to being busy this time of year. So proud of that. Then from a football standpoint, you know, Kaelin has taken over historic transition, right? You know, you know what Coach Saving Meansore University and we will forever be grateful to him.

He's still actively engaged and just talked to him the other day. And he's doing a great job representing us in college football in the national stage in D.C. And at the same time, too, we knew at some point he was going to retire. And when we looked at that and saw as the world was changing to what we're dealing with today, with the Transfer Portal and the NIL and things that we should have been more progressive about as an industry, but we weren't and you know we're dealing with that right now. Kalem was I really felt have the demeanor, have the coaching chops and history to come and navigate this world.

I mean, it's marked from when you came. I mean, you were one of the guys that laid the foundation for where we are today. And so with that, though, as you, by the time you were in in your career at Alabama, we had built up depth, right? We had built up an incredible roster. that's a lot harder in today's world. And Haley and his staff are recruiting at a very high level and trying to find that right formula

to making sure you're recruiting high school kids, playing the transfer portal, retaining your roster, which is huge. I really felt like his approach to that in today's world, he was already showing some good signs. Now, where there's some things you've got to get better at? Absolutely. And at the same time, too,

we are still continuing to perform at a high level and we got to make sure we continue to tweak it to give us the best opportunity for long-term success. And we needed Kaelen to lead that, not have instability, not have our third head coach in four years. That's not good for anybody. And that's why we invested in Kailen like we did. That's awesome. You just mentioned, you know, we know there's things we need to get better at. What do you need to get better at?

Well, every day you've got to get better, right? You're either getting better or getting worse. But I think you have an opportunity. You know, there were a couple of games we didn't perform well, right? including the last one. When you have something like that happened, you better look at yourself and say, what do I need to do to get better?

That goes to me as the AD. What am I doing? What is our staff doing to make sure we're supporting Kaelin and his staff that we're supporting the guys on our team? And I will tell you, everybody talks about the offseason. Hey, we're winning the off season, all that.

At the same time, too, Mark knows where my offices. I walk right outside my office door across a little patio, and then I walk in the wait room. So I get to see it firsthand on a real estate. basis, man, they're getting flat after it. And it's really encouraging to see, you know, Dave Ballou, our head strength coach does such an incredible job of that mindset and the toughness that we need to have. And it's preached. You don't talk about toughness on game day. You talk about toughness every single

day of the year. And it's physical. It's good. We got some big bodies that we're excited about through our lines. And, you know, I think that was an area that we continued. And again, with being able to the roster, develop all the different things, we needed to continue to get some bigger bodies. And I think we're seeing some of that right now, too, which is encouraging. Greg, your father was the athletic director, right? He was, almost 30 years. He was in Oregon in the 80s when Phil Knight was building his little sneaker company. So he wasn't engaged like he is today, but I've known Phil since I was 15 years old.

And then he was at Nebraska in the 90s, and they were pretty good then. They won three national championships. He was fortunate to be a part of him. And then he finished his career at A&M. So, yeah, I grew up around it. As much as I thought I was the same level of athletes of Mark Ingram, I wasn't. And I played everything. I loved everything.

I was good at everything. I was great at none of it. And so I figured I'd had the opportunity to still be engaged and involved in this on following one of my dad's footsteps. But my dad made it real clear to me. He said, son, you're never working for me. You're going to have to figure it out on your own. Right.

And I think that actually helped me a lot to be able to learn. and grow and be where I am today. Man, that's a blessing, man. But I want to ask you, man, you talk about the successes of our entire athletic department, man. And on top of the successes of the basketball and the football team, the baseball, the softball we talked about. Like, how are you, like, juggling the dispersal of funds

and still find success in different areas? I know that's difficult, especially in this day and age. It is. Mark, you know coaches, man. You know, it, Rob, you've been around them a long time, too. And if they think that somebody has one, advantage over them, they, you know, they lose their mind, right? They can't have that. And in my office, I have a, where the coaches usually sit when I talk to them, I've got this roundtable

that we usually sit around. And, but where the coach sits, there's a quote from Teddy Roosevelt that's right in their eyesight that says, comparison is the thief of joy. And, and so listen, at Alabama, we invest in our kids as well as anybody in the country. If you're on a full-ride scholarship at Alabama, not counting one dollar in salaries, not counting one dollar in NIL, we spend over $200,000 a year on you. And there's a reason why, and you know this, Mark, there's a reason why NFL guys come back and spend time at our place in the off season. It's better than what they get in the NFL at a lot of places.

The amenities. Yeah, the nutrition, you know, having Andrewsports medicine and having the amenities that come along with it are top notch. And that's not just for our football, but across the board. So one of the things we say is we're going to be competitive, okay? You have not seen any crazy NIL stories come out of Alabama. We're trying to make sure we do things the right way within the framework so we don't drive our program into the ditch. We're trying to make sure we have a healthy locker room because back to comparisons to the Thief of Joy,

if one kid's making two or three times what everybody else says, that's not good for the locker room, right? And so what we try to do be slow and steady, make sure we're doing the right things by it. And at the same time, too, we do tell our recruits, I met with the football recruits on Saturday. If the only thing you care about is bottom line, if that's the only thing. thing that's going to make your decision. We understand it's important and we're not we're not denying that okay. But if it's the only thing that matters we may not be the place for you because hey if you're a quarterback you better have somebody to run the ball. If you're a running back you better have somebody to open a hole for you right. And so if it's only about you, that's not going to

be part of a team concept. And so it's that right balance finding that to make sure we're competitive, but at the same time too, finding those right dogs that want to be around it on a daily basis too and have a team and go after the brass ring. That's awesome. I want to dig into the football program in just a second, but first, here we are. We're early June. Greg, when was graduation in Tuscaloosa?

A couple weeks ago. A couple weeks ago. And yet you still have multiple sports going on and school is out and over. We make a lot of noise about the college football calendar, but what about the college athletic calendar here in the spring that is bleeding way through graduation and campuses are,

I mean, they're not empty, but they're certainly a lot more quiet than they used to be. So when I talk to my friends who work in the professional ranks and they talk about what they do and then they come into the college ranks and they're like, man, you don't get any time off. I said, yeah, we get a little bit in July. Our football staff gets a little bit in May. They get a little bit in July as well. But it's 21 teams and you're right. And their seasons are all different.

Football calendar we can talk a lot about. But at the same time, too, it's. If you're as a high-level athletics department, you understand that it is basically from the 1st of August until, if you're good in baseball, until the end of June, that you're going. And that's a good problem that you want to have and you sign up for it. It's a load for, it's easy for me. I'm not in the dirt every single day, even though I'm certainly happy to be. You know, you think about your facility staff, your academic staff, all the people that make this happen. And it's a lot of time and effort.

And it's a lot of time and effort for our kids, too. But they also sign up for it. You know, this isn't church league basketball. This is big time college sports. It's not perfect, but there's so much good of it, too, that you want to make sure that you continue to evolve with it. And the calendar is something you have to pay a lot of attention to to make sure, you know, because what I was talking about, I did the Fine Bomb show the other day.

And we were talking about the football calendar and all these different things. And I said, you know, you know what's kind of important to talk about, too? Academics. You know, at some point you want to talk about that on a college campus? Heaven forbid. And I'm really proud of the job that our academic staff, our kids, our coaches committed to it. We have one of the highest graduation rates in the country in all of our sports. Our GPA as a department is close to a 3-5. We're doing really, really well. And I'm proud of everybody to making that happen. All right. Let's get into football real quick. This offseason, man, in the SEC bickering. flashes of lack of unity for sure. And you know it as well. How is that addressed at the recent conference meetings in Florida?

Greg Sanky was pretty direct about it. And he just said, hey, we need to knock the garbage off. And we've tried to make sure we are hopefully trying to stay above that. And at the same time, too, I will tell you, there is a level of frustration. Not necessarily, I'm going to stay out of the interconference, you know, rivalries and all that because it's a big deal in the SEC, as we all know. So, you know, there's real concerns about the structure of what we're doing in college sports right now.

You know, this college football playoff structure, they list strength of schedule is the number one kind of foundational item. They're not saying it's in order necessarily, but it's the first one listed. But we have real concerns about how the decisions are made and who you schedule. You know, we've got a series against Ohio State on the books. You know, we want to play that game. at the same time too if that whoever loses that game is treated as that's the same loss as if you're playing you know some other school out there that maybe doesn't have the tree that Ohio State has

that needs to be recognized and and and so if I'm box sports if I'm ESPN I want to see those types of games being played I'll tell you as the AD at Alabama I want to see those games played I mean it's good for everybody you mean mark knows this you're I mean there's just a there's just a different feeling on game when games like that are played, especially when they're played on your campuses. And that's good for college football. Well, ultimately, coaches are judged. A.Ds are judged by if you get to the playoff or not. And so it has to be that right balance.

And we're still concerned about the college football playoff, really being able to articulate how strength of schedule fits into what we're doing. And because it is critical if you want to see good schedules, then if I'm, if I'm, involved with the game at all on whatever side. I want to see these types of games played. But you also need not to be penalized for it like you would. It was in another game that maybe. Like Texas was last year, kind of.

100%. Yeah. And the argument was, well, they played poorly against Florida. Man, you're going to have an off day. Yeah. It's going to happen. When you play 12 regular season games, you're going to have an off day. And maybe you're going to over the course of that, you may have two.

But if you're one of the top 12 teams currently in the playoffs, that needs to be recognized. And really because of the, and, you know, this level of football is good. But because of the group of five getting in, and I do think there is sensitivity, I'll say it this way, there's the perception, there's sensitivity to make sure, you know, conferences are represented, you know, beyond the SEC and the Big Ten. And I get that. But who are the best football teams?

Right, right. What is the role of the SEC championship game going forward? Does it stick around in your eyes looking into the crystal ball? Yeah, I made a lot of news a few weeks ago for saying that. I thought it was more of a throwaway comment. It was a funny story. I've been on the Ms. Basketball Committee for the NCAA last five years, and I'm in Indianapolis the day the story comes out.

And I'm in an elevator coming down, and some guy that I know gets on the elevator. He says, hey, man, you're all over the news. And I said, for a while. I had no idea. And he said, you said the SEC championship game, the ship has sailed. And I said, well, yeah, but I said, Kirby's talked about it a little bit. Lane's talked about it some.

Delcante, Texas has talked about it. And we get off the elevator at the Marriott, they're in Indy. And there's a bar right there, and they have all the TVs on and Colin Coward shows on. And my name's across every single television there. I'm like, well, I guess I am in the news. I had no idea. Listen, what I should have done a better job is saying, we've got to look at this holistically, because of the expanded playoff, because of how it's viewed,

the SEC championship game used to be a playing game to get to the final to make the college football playoff with four teams you were in, right? Now it's like, man, I don't know if playing that extra game win, maybe some other schools aren't. I think there were a lot of schools that didn't want to play in the game. That's not good for the health of the game itself. So as we look at where the playoff goes to, if we expand beyond 12, that needs to be part of the discussion to say,

okay, is the SEC championship game the one that makes most sense, or can we create other good matchups to give teams an opportunity to get in the playoff, and that needs to be part of the discussion as we're looking at the expansion, or the SEC championship game long term? Are the SEC's media rights undervalued? Yeah, they probably are. Greg has said that publicly, and Greg Sanky has, and again, that gives us some upside for the future.

We were the most watched football team in the regular season last year. Our brand carries a lot of weight. And when you have games that you can get there, yeah, he's reping it, man. And so when you get games that you can get 10, 12, 14 million people watching, you know, our team, that's very valuable. The SEC has done so many things very well. One of the things we probably, if you had a do-over again, it wouldn't have signed the longer-term deals that they did. it may have been shorter term deals. That's water under the bridge at this point.

You just have to deal with what you got. But I do think there is certainly some upside for the southeastern conference from a meteorite standpoint long term. One more point on that. You guys are essentially signed with one entity, right? ABC and ESPN, that is one entity. Where you look at the Big 12 and the Big 10, you know, they've got a lot of different outlets that are showing their games.

Does the SEC need to look at that format? Or are they saying, hey, we're pretty good just being nestled in with this one family? Well, I think it's from an exposure standpoint, it's working really well. All you do, you just look at our numbers, right? People know where to go to to watch Alabama play and the SEC games play. And that strategy has worked well. And I think at the same time, too, as this continues to evolve, ESPN will be sensitive to that, to what that looks like to make sure that we're able to capitalize on what we bring.

to the market. They've been really good partners, and we appreciate them, and they promote us well. And just like I know the Big Ten feels good about their partners. The one thing, and Mark knows this, you really have never lived until you sit across from Coach Saban, and he wants to make a point, and then he just stays quiet and he just stares at you, right? And you just sit there. Okay, all right. We got this guy Urban Meyer, who's usually with us. We know the feeling. I'm hurt that Urban's not here today. Yeah, man. We're a Meyer story today. He's a Scotland golfing, but, you know.

Oh, good for him. Yeah, good for him. I'm hurt that I didn't take priority over golfing to Scotland. I'm hurt. Me too. We all are hurt. That's right. So when Urban, or excuse me, when Coach Saban would be, we'd be talking about something,

and he'd look at you over his glass, you know, everybody's glasses. I can look over each of your glasses. He said, Greg, the dinosaurs didn't adapt. And he'd just stare at you. Period. Enough said. That's why they're not here. That's right.

Right, exactly. So with that, we're in a constant evolution right now. And we've got to continue to be open-minded and thoughtful of what we're doing. And that's at Alabama. That's in the Southeastern Conference. If I'm a television network right now, hey, kids are flocking to YouTube, right? You better have a YouTube strategy in what you're doing. That's reality.

We're looking at that. I've got a meeting about that later today. And so if you don't continue to evolve on what you're doing, And, you know, one of the things I tell our staff, I don't say my staff, it's our staff. We all work together. But I say, if I ever hear two things, one, that's not my job, you're going to get my, you're going to get my grumpy face. Okay.

We, not all of us are custodians. All of us are ticket sellers. We all have our jobs to do. But we also are going to work collaboratively together. And then the second thing is, well, that's just the way we've always done it. Okay. You better pay attention to your history and be respectful of that. think we do a really good job of that at the University of Alabama. At the same time, too,

if you just say, well, we're only going to do it this one way, then everybody else around us is going to be evolving and you're not, man, you're in deep, you're in deep trouble if that's the case. Right. What's it going to take to get a statue of Mark Ingram in Tuscaloosa? Well, hey, you're putting me on the spot on that one, man. There's only coaches, only national championship coaches. No, man, man, the players make the teams as well, man. Mark Ingraham, first Heisman trophy winner at Alabama. Where is that statue? He's the best.

And he is well recognized and will continue to be forever. We have historically what we've done is we've recognized our national championship coaches. We've not retired. Yeah, we have not retired jerseys except for one. We retired Wendell Hudson, who was the first African American student athlete in Alabama. We retired his number. And other than that, we haven't. But you always got to continue to evolve.

Yeah, dinosaurs are dead. Listen, you go to Alabama, you know what it is. There's no retires numbers except the one that he told you, and there's only statues of national championship coaches. You know, we got names in cement. We got all types of things to acknowledge us, but, man, it's all about the script A, man. That's what it's all about. And I love, not where I parked, but about out of, in the course of the year,

I probably walked by Marks Heisman and his big smile. and the nation remembers his speech. Yes. Right? Yes. I don't know if there's been a more genuine speech in a history of the Heism Trophy. I appreciate it.

We're so proud of him. Thank you. And I appreciate you for being on the podcast. I know you're in Oklahoma City. I know you got a lot on your plate. So we thank you for becoming a triple option and blessing us with your presence, my guy. Roll tied.

Roll tied. Love you, too, man. Mark, you can do better than just a roll tie. Give him the fool. Roll damn. I don't give a piss about none but the tide. It's the tide till I die. You know what's going on, man.

That's right. We love them. He's the best. Greg Byrne, Athletic Director at Alabama. Thanks so much for joining the Triple Option. Enjoy the offseason. We'll talk to you again in the fall. Thanks, guys.

Roll tide. Thank you. Roll tide, brother. Light it. From the pitch to the stands, to communities around the world. The beautiful game is coming to our beautiful country. uniting fans around a shared passion.

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What you mean? Real quick, we had a gathering at my house. We love it. And the guy saw that and he ripped it open and started a bunch of people drinking at my house. They did. They said it was fantastic. This is great. By the way, for those who are listening and watching this podcast, these guys have been

yelled at me for like the last 20 minutes to let's go, let's go. And then like, I started and they're like, hold on, Rob, here's some props. Let me tell you another story. All right, so the EA sports college football 27 covers. They just came out. One version's got Malachi, Tony, got Baby Jesus on there. Juan Lacey, Dante Moore. The deluxe version now has our good friend, Coach Signetti,

taking center stage. Mark, you were a cover boy for the 2012 version. Do you remember hearing about it and how they sold it to you and what you had to do? Yeah, man. You're the husband. So we need you on. You fear me. I mean, and I said,

damn, you want me on the year heard me? The NCAA? You won't be on there? So I obliged, of course. They flew me out to L.A., man. Photoshoot. Yeah. Great time with the fam.

Gave me a PlayStation with the graphic on the PlayStation. I got the PlayStation somewhere around here. I got to find it. But, man, it was just a great experience, man. You grow up your whole life playing these video games. You're playing mad and playing NCAA football, whatever the case may be. And the fact that you on the cover, like, that's super legendary.

It certified me as really being him. Were you worried about like a cover jinx at all? No. Okay. But I did get horse collared the Monday before the first game, and I had to have surgery on my knee. So maybe you don't want to be on the cover. Or maybe you just need smarter teammates. Somebody can block better.

Coach, Tim Tebow was on the cover when you were his head coach. Were you even aware of that? Yeah. I think Tim Tebow was a very unique story and because the other players would actually come to me. And everything was good, but Tim was such a polarizing figure. And I mean, deservedly so.

I think the best player in college football history. But he would say, you know, he's not the only good player on our team. Because it wasn't just that now. It was Sports Illustrated. It was every magazine. And I remember talking to our media people saying, I know the other coach,

I've talked to other coaches about that. let's spread the wealth here a little bit because we're all humans and so everybody you'd like everybody to get their chances to be on covers the guys that deserve that were you worried I guess I wouldn't be worried too much about Tim because of what we know about Tim

but were you worried at the moment about all these exposure and how it might affect him upstairs? No, not Tim at all. I worried about the other players on the team. I really did. You know, Tim like you said he was a very unique cat there was not much going to take his focus off being a great player but

I would have to talk to the other players a little bit, and I would kind of get after our media people and say, let's make sure we get these other guys some covered, you know, some deserved coverage as well. Hey, Mark, how were you in that game, by the way? Like when you got the ball, were you fast enough? Were you shifty enough? Yeah, people still be like,

I used to play with you, NCAA. I used to play with you in Madden. And they were like, I was like, was that really him? They said, yes, you were unstoppable. Playmaker flashing. And I was like, yes. Like, I'm a humble guy. I think I'm just a guy, but when you're going to cover?

You're like, yeah, I am that guy. Yeah, yeah, man. Hard to tuck that ego in the back pocket. It's dope, though, because people still come in a video game that I'm on the cover of. No, people still will come and bring me. They'll be like, can you sign this for me? Like, I'll be somewhere at an autograph signer on an appearance and somebody. Can you sign this for me?

It'll be the NCAA cover. I'm like, damn, you're a real one because that's almost ancient these days. What are you in 2026? What an awesome. That must just make your day and like hold it, stare at it again, digest it. Oh, you're a real fan. You're a fan fan. You're a real one.

All right, that does it. A blessing, though. A blessing. For the triple option, follow, subscribe ratings on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. As well as across social media, 3X option show. Thanks as always to our sponsors, Wendy's and RK Zero Proof. We are out. Hey, y'all. It's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair.

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