The Best of The Dan Patrick Show

00:00:00
Speaker 1: You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox Sports Radio.

00:00:04
Speaker 2: Sam hutchins he covers Old Miss football for Clarion Ledger, and he's had a lot to report on. Sam, Thanks for joining us. When did you start to think that Lane Kiffin was gone?

00:00:19
Speaker 3: You know, I'd like to say I was going back to Auckham's razor. I think that's what it is. Like the simplest explanation is probably the most reliable, right, And there were just one hundred small things that he would have done differently over the last you know, four weeks, six weeks if he were staying. So I think it was, at least for me, I'm not sure there was one moment. I think it was a slow drip of realization that man, like, why would you do that or why would you say that or why would you phrase something like that if you're gonna stay in Oxford? So it was more of a slow drip for me than I think a sudden.

00:01:00
Speaker 2: Realization trying to understand what happened in the meeting with the athletic director. Did he want to stay? Did he threaten to take coaches? Did he threaten to take players? Was was he trying to leverage this where he could still coach Old Miss in the playoffs.

00:01:16
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:01:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the College Football Playoff was throughout this whole process was definitely Old Miss's best carrot to dangle, right, and not only because Lane's never coached in one for but you sort of are setting him up to be the villain if he leaves the college football playoffs. So I think that Keith Carter and that realization had set in pretty firmly in Oxford even you know, after the Egg Bowl or we were waiting, you know, refreshing on Saturday for this whole coaching search before it even unfolded Sunday. But yeah, Lane, that was kind of the last sticking point. And I think maybe the Iron Bowl helped things up, right because if Auburn would have won, Old Miss would be playing in the SEC Championship. But yeah, Lane definitely won to coach in the College Football Playoff. And then in his statement it was pretty strongly worded, kind of going after Keith Carter, the athletic director a little bit. And then in his interview on the tarmac with Marty, I think he was a little more understanding of oh Miss the situation and his situation.

00:02:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know if he understands the gravity of all of this. It's like, hey, I tried, you know, you know, I just I gotta go. God told me to go to LSU. I mean it doesn't work that way. Yeah, And I said, maybe jokingly, I thought he was referring to Nick Saban when he said I spoke to God. Now he said he talked to Saban and he talked to God as well. He just I don't know. And I mentioned this before, Sam. He seems like a chaser, like there are certain coaches that are never ever satisfied. They're chasing, chasing, they don't even know what they're chasing. Because even if he wins a national title, he'll still chase. And I just thought that given that documentary on ESPN, that maybe found happiness, you know, with his family, his ex wife that program. I guess that's this surprising part of it. And it felt like he was trying to play a little bit of a victim there at the very end that I wanted to coach him, but they wouldn't let me. What do you make of all to that?

00:03:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, I thought this was truly it was so fascinating, you know, not even because of the documentary that was certainly super super notable, but just because of the general you know, I guess pr campaign might not be the right phrasing, but how he turned his life around. I actually I love your.

00:03:35
Speaker 5: Interviews that you've done with with Lane.

00:03:36
Speaker 3: Dan, and you talked to him when he's at Florida Atlantic and you know, all these different spots, and that's what's been, you know, so beneficial about the six years he's been in Oxford for both sides. Ole miss missed four straight Bowl games before he got here. Look where they are, and and Lane was a little radioactive he you know, at times at Florida Atlantic, he was pretty wanted. But Lane has never become a hotter commodity on on the coaching market until now. So this, this has been such a beneficial relationship for both sides. But I guess Dan, you'd remember more than me. But I was thinking about this last night. If it if it goes south in Baton Rouge, you know, not that I think it will. I think Lane's a great coach, but I guess Brian Kelly probably didn't either.

00:04:23
Speaker 5: But if it.

00:04:24
Speaker 3: Goes south, like where will the biggest risk to me is where will Lane? Where will his name be up in the Ring of Honor one day at at Florida Atlantic Like he doesn't. He's giving up his his home right now, and certainly I think he's going to do well in Baton Rouge.

00:04:41
Speaker 5: They all think he's going to do well, and.

00:04:42
Speaker 3: I think he You know, if if you go into the Hall of Fame, like the MLB debate, he may one day have like the tiger on his hat, right, But if it goes poorly, I just wonder for Lane, like do you regret giving up your home? Giving up a place you were loved? Six years in Oxford is the longest of any stopping his coaching journey.

00:05:05
Speaker 2: Talking to Sam hutchins Old, miss Beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger, if the players voted, and I said this last Wednesday, I know he's going to want to stay. But if the players won him, if they took a vote and they wanted him to coach, then I would certainly factor that in. If they had taken that vote, what do you think the results would have been.

00:05:27
Speaker 5: I don't think it would.

00:05:29
Speaker 3: Have been unanimous, right, And of course, like on a roster of one hundred plus players, of course it's not. But I think generally it had gotten to the point where players would have said go. And one aspect of this is they love Pete Golding. The guy they promoted is kind of the perfect stability guy. I had to call him, come out. He's kind of the anti Lane Kiffin. Then all Pete Golding tweets out as shark emoji. He's like his last forty eight tweets, I think forty seven I've been just a single shark emoji. But he'll come in a root me as a Southern accent, and he fires everyone up. So he's sort of the perfect like foil to Lane to turn to if you just want to stabilize the roster before your most important game in program history in twenty years. But I was at the Manning Center yesterday kind of talking to Frankly, any any of the players who who who would chat on the way out, And maybe it was just a small boost, a temporary boost, because Pete and Keith gave him a great speech, But it sort of seemed to me like they were they were relieved that it was over.

00:06:37
Speaker 5: And here's the deal.

00:06:38
Speaker 3: Their window to transfer will open at the end of the season, so they can still go to LSU if they want, and I'm sure Lane would love to have Keewan Lacy the running back, Trinidad Chamblis the quarterback.

00:06:49
Speaker 5: So so the players.

00:06:51
Speaker 3: I think are the biggest winner in this situation, perhaps because they can still go if they want, but now they can focus on, you know, potentially hosting a game in Oxford here and nineteen or twenty days and.

00:07:02
Speaker 2: I'm guessing maybe a year from now in November, LSU comes to Ole Miss.

00:07:09
Speaker 5: Correct, that's right, They're coming here next year.

00:07:15
Speaker 3: The Mustard models will be flying off the shelves at the walmart here.

00:07:20
Speaker 2: Last question, what does the committee do to Old Miss if anything, since they're losing their head coach.

00:07:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, that'll be That's kind of the next fascinating thing. The short answer is, I don't think they dropped them out of a playoff spot. Maybe it's the home playoff spot, maybe it's the last home playoff spot. But people have been bringing up the Florida State situation when Jordan Travis got hurt.

00:07:47
Speaker 5: But I think the.

00:07:49
Speaker 3: Thing that some folks miss is that Florida State situation. There was a data point of Travis losing or of losing Travis, and then they looked really bad in the next game, so I thought, Hey, there's an argument if you're old Miss, you don't want to go to the SEC Championship game because if you lose Lane and then get boat raced by Georgia, that would maybe give the committee more of an excuse to drop you. But you know, frankly, we have no idea what this team looks like without Lane, what this team looks like without its coordinators. So I think that would be a tough sell for the committee to drop them out of a home playoff spot.

00:08:25
Speaker 2: You're not going downsu with Lane Kiffin, are you?

00:08:28
Speaker 5: No?

00:08:29
Speaker 4: No?

00:08:29
Speaker 3: He was so fun to cover Dan, and I did bought yoga with him and he was so fun. But there were times last year over my time on the beat that I wished I covered a normal coach, you know, who wasn't tweeting when.

00:08:41
Speaker 5: I was at the golf course or at the Walmart or something.

00:08:46
Speaker 2: Good stuff. Sam, thanks for joining.

00:08:48
Speaker 5: Us anytime, Dan, appreciate you.

00:08:51
Speaker 2: Sam Hutchins, old Missbeat reporter for The Clarion Ledger. He was good.

00:08:55
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00:09:06
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00:09:10
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00:09:20
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00:09:21
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00:09:26
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00:09:36
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame coach Bill Cower NFL Today on CBS Studio Analyst. You grew up in the Pittsburgh area, But I was curious about the added pressure of coaching your team that you grew up with and not wanting. You know. So there's enough pressure there, but now you're gonna coach the Steelers. How much added pressure was there with that job title?

00:10:00
Speaker 4: Well, I mean, I think when I first got the job, I told you, damn. I first thought when I went back to Kansas City after I was offered a job, and I laid in bed that first night and I said, Wow, if I don't screw this up, I can go back to my twentieth high school class reunion as the head coaching So my first goal was not to get fired in those first three years. The pointing back there during the course of that time and just seeing what Chuck had done with that team and how that the renaissance of the seventies uplifted that whole city. It was almost a responsibility I had. But it's also like a connection that you had with the people that were there. And you know, I identified with the heart, the lunch pale, hard working people, the blue collar element of it. I worked in steel mills, I always had a summertime job in Pittsburgh, so I understood what they were looking for. They're a very passionate fans, very knowledgeable fans about football, and so through the course of time, it was more of a responsibility. I felt like I had to represent that city.

00:11:05
Speaker 2: What do you make of the fire Mike Tomlin chance that we heard yesterday towards the tail end of that performance.

00:11:12
Speaker 4: Well, I mean, like I said, they're very passionate fans, and you know, and I think it's uh, you know, listen where they are right now. They're they're six and six. They've not played very good football. These last you know what, two and five in the last seven games. So it's it's it's a scenario. But the fact of the matter is, we know with five games ago, they still have a chance to win their division. They're not trending in the right way. I thought, I think on either side of the ball, and going up against Baltimore ravens now and they got them two more times. They got still played the Detroit Lions, the Cleveland Browns, and Nelson still got play the Miami Dolphins. So we'll see what happens. I think again, you know, the results will speak for themselves. But I think from Mike's standpoint, I know one thing, He's not gonna let the outside noise influence or how he's gonna his approach to this next game. He knows it's a lot on stake. They're not playing great football right now. He's got to find a way to rally that group and get them to believe that they still have a chance to win this division.

00:12:12
Speaker 2: Did you get fire chance when you were there in Pittsburgh.

00:12:16
Speaker 4: Ilder, I got a fire chance, But I think that I was you know, there were some people that when you when you had a losing year and you walk past them, people start to whisper before they say, hey, coach, great to see him. When they start. When I start whispering, Dan, you know, it's probably not a good thing. So when you walk by and people are whispering, that's probably a good sign if things are not going that well. When they walk by and it's going well, they going, hey, coach, great job, good luck. Hey love what you're doing. Hey might want to throw the ball a little bit more. Okay, gotcha. You know you're right on. So I got to the point. Actually, I said, you know, my point is when we won, I had no problems stopping the way home from gas. You're getting gas. When we lost, I waited, t was dark, it was ten thirty eleven. I was yes, and I didn't want to hear about it. Honestly, in the morning on the way to work, like you know, I didn't want to hear about anyone because everybody would pull up right next to me. They would be act like they're pulling up their their their gas tank was absolutely full. They woun't even put the nozzle. They would stand there in front of their cars and tell me everything that I should be doing. We're not running the football enough, you're too conservative. You like we have no wins rushing the quarterback, and like you need to make some changes on that team and even with their coaching staff. Now that we go yes, yes, yes, and yes, you're probably right, I need to reevaluate.

00:13:35
Speaker 2: What kind of job offers or feelers did you get when you were with the Steelers. How often does that happen on an NFL level?

00:13:44
Speaker 4: Oh, I I never even entertained. I don't think it doesn't. It doesn't happen at all. I think once you're with when you're with a team like that, you're trying. You're just trying to win year to year. You know, my my, my fear of failure far exceeded my desire to win. I did not want to fail and get fired. I mean I that was always over top of my head. And I just knew results oriented business and if you didn't produce, you're gonna be asked to move on because that's just the nature of that profession. So I understood that getting into that profession. But you know, you never think about the next job, at least I didn't from my standpoint. I again, I've been in one place for a long period of time, Dan, I was in Pittsburgh for fifteen years. I've been in the CBS for nineteen years. I'm not the kind of guy it's looking for the grassby and greener on the other side, I like to be appreciated and if I appreciated you and get the very best of me. And you know what, I appreciate being able to go to work where I am appreciated.

00:14:40
Speaker 2: But it's standard procedure in college football. Now, why is that?

00:14:46
Speaker 4: I don't know. I go back. I think it's due. I think it's the lack of structure that the NCAAA has right now in terms of these timetables, in terms of the pool, the transfer portal that takes place, allowing coaches to leave before the end of or contracts to go to other places. It doesn't happen in the NFL. There's a very there's a very discipline structure that we have. There's a salary cap, there is a time from free agency that happens afterwards. You know, head coaches aren't going to be able to go from one team to another because you're not even talking to another team.

00:15:17
Speaker 2: Now.

00:15:18
Speaker 4: The biggest thing in the NFL to me, the problem that you have if you indeed it is, and I didn't think it was was your assistance because at the end of the season and you're in the playoffs, the assistants have an opportunity to talk to other teams. But I always looked at that as a feather in your cap. And I always thought to him because I know when I was getting interviewed at times that you know what, my resume is being put on that table with that playoff game. So I was more inspired to do well in that playoff game as opposed to thinking about putting your staff together, thinking about you know what you're going to do and your mind isn't on the game. I don't think that's the case. So I don't think we have that in the National Football League. I think the NCAA is really it's the wild, wild West. I've said that out there. I said it yesterday, went on a little bit of a rant. It's just a problem from me is that the people that get lost in this are the are the players, and the message we're sending to them, the lack of trust that they're going to start having it in our institutions, in our systems, because you know what, that's what we're going to lose if you're telling them one thing and you're doing another thing, and any other part of that is the entitlement that we now are doing with young players. When a quarterback is making four million dollars a year and the alignment is up there has got a four year scholarship, is getting paid nothing? Okay, but because you know what, one percent of the people in college are going to play pro teaching life lessons about what business is like, what going into the next level of life is about responsibility, having a job, working for someone and having the fs mAbs two to a boss and work your way up the ladder. You know, sometimes you're not gonna get entitled to something because you think you decide a part of it. You may have to work for a long period of time to get that opportunity. There's nothing wrong with a good work ethic, a degree of saying, you know what, I'm going to compete for what I need to compete for, because you know what, that will serve you better in life than being entitled and being handed. Something that really to me is they're too young to be given that kind of money.

00:17:11
Speaker 2: If you were the old miss Athletic director and Lane Kiffin said to you, Hey, I want to coach this team in the playoffs.

00:17:18
Speaker 4: You would have said, you decided to go to LSU, thank you and goodbye? What to Let you come here? Let you come here for the next month to talk about how great LSU is over Mississippi. You kidd me seriously, to even ask for that question is like, that's an arrogance. You know that that's arrogance. I think what happened there is a disgrace to the coaching profession because I will just say this, the coaching profession is about developing young men. It's not about chasing the green or grass to somewhere else and be an ambulance chaser and go, oh, I can fix you. And then when you fix that, let me go here and fix that. It's about developing young men. It's about trying to create tradition, pageantry for the institution that you work for. We had rivalry weekend. We just came off of what's a robbery anymore? What's the conference anymore? I'm telling you we're losing some of the very core fiber of things that we have grown up loving about college football, and we're watching it the tier right right before our eyes.

00:18:17
Speaker 2: Talking to Bill Cower, the Hall of Famer and Super Bowl champ with the Steelers. You know, some of these teams we rode off back in September, maybe in October, like the Texans, the Dolphins, the Niners with their injuries.

00:18:34
Speaker 4: How about the Cowboys?

00:18:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, well, I mean they're dangerous. I don't know if they have enough time, but you know, you beat the Chiefs and the Eagles over a span of four days, you have to get everybody's attention there.

00:18:48
Speaker 4: Coach, I would think so on the job that Brian Schottenheimer's done through the course of everything that they've dealt with down there, you know, and hey, I would love to see the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys in the playoffs, okay, because I want to know for once and for arm because they met once and it was a time. Who was right, Michaeh Parsons or Jerry Jones. So to get me into the playoffs where we can't end this thing in a time?

00:19:13
Speaker 2: Do you think they both won? I do?

00:19:18
Speaker 4: I do. I think. You know, we sat there and criticized Jerry all this time for what he did, but I think going on getting Quentin Williams Overshewn came back, you know, and and Wilson came in and all of a sudden, Now these last three games, this defense has taken on a different identity. Matt Eberflus say, Jerry stayed with them, Brian has stayed with him. I think Brian has called an amazing offensive games weekend and week out. The offense is playing at a very high level. I think they're playing with a lot of confidence. And I think the question is, as you stated, Dan, is that did they dig themselves too big of a hole. I don't know, but I know there's still five games left for these guys, and anything can happen, because I think that it's really truck right now. The National Football League, that parody has never been greater. Every team that you think is on top. We saw the Rams get beat by Carolina. We saw last night the Denver Broncos get taken the overtime by the Washington Commanders. And who knows what's gonna happen to night with New England and the New York Giants. So I think the NFL was in a tremendous place from the standpoint that it's going to go down to the final weeks, and I think for the first time we may have a seventh seed and maybe two seven seeds that could win in the wildcard round.

00:20:29
Speaker 2: Was it tough as a coach tougher to understand your quarterback or the wide receivers that you had.

00:20:37
Speaker 4: They go, they go hand in hand. I think the wide receivers, you know, I think the quarterback is going to touch the ball every game, every play. The wide receivers you got kind of like you got to massage them a little bit because you want them to block for you, You want them to do the dirty work, but you better give them the ball a little bit too. So like trying to be able to keep people happy is like the job that I think of a coordinator to duke and a guy involved early for the quarterback to do to make sure he can massage all the egos that's in there in that huddle that he's got because a lot everybody wants to have the ball at the end of the game, and really the only one is gonna have the ball to begin every play is going to be that is going to be that uh that that quarterback. So I just think the quarterback is becomes a reflection of the head coach at some point, and I think.

00:21:23
Speaker 2: Ben, are your wide receivers, Well.

00:21:27
Speaker 4: I didn't let the wide receiver. They didn't bother me. Ben drove me crazier because I hated me because he had to be a reflection of me. Dan. So that's what I'm saying. I didn't worry about I didn't worry about the wide receivers. Like they're gonna, they're gonna be mad, they're gonna they're gonna say all these things. That's wine. I get it. They know they want the ball, they want it for all the right reasons. But the quarterback, like you guys, you gotta think like me, so that like and so it's like that's the one and at times I gotta let them be them too. So that's that little fine line, a give and take, you know. And that's so that's that's the guy that's gotta be reflecting you. I think there's no great example that. And you're seeing bow Nicks and Sean Payton that I think they they are working hand in hand and Sean appreciates Boa and but I'm sure Sean wants to stay on bow to try to get him to be able to be that you know, toughling guy that's gonna be really good in the tough situations. And so it's, uh, it's kind of fun to watch these young quarterbacks evolve with these with the with their coaches.

00:22:25
Speaker 2: I thought it was funny you told the story where Ben acted look like he couldn't hear you when you were calling.

00:22:30
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He starts bounding. He starts, and I'm thinking, you know, I know he can hear it. I know he can hear us. So I said, grab that, and he goes, I said, grab that. Helme as soon as he comes off that field, and he says, They go, it's working now, And I go, Ben, it's working. He goes, I must have just came back on.

00:22:54
Speaker 2: Well he was good enough that he could still do that.

00:22:58
Speaker 4: Yeah, yes, he like he would. We would have the banter back and forth, and it was respectful banters. He always knew where I stood, and I always appreciated where he was at. Didn't always agree with it at times, but you know what, you earned the right to have that ability, to have that input, to have that respect. The one thing I knew about Ben Roethlisberger that when the game was on the line and it was in the fourth quarter. He wanted to bow in his hands, and you know what, there was probably no other player that I would have wanted to have the ball in hands than him.

00:23:29
Speaker 2: When was the last time you didn't have a mustache?

00:23:32
Speaker 4: Ah? Good question? You know. I shaved it. I ship went down the bolt Head Island one time, like my fourth year, and I said, you know what, everyone's recognizing me down here. So I shaved it. And I'm telling you it was the best thing in the world. I'd be walking by and they're like, you know, I mean hey, like like you go, hey, hey, you know the coach Kler's on this, on this on this island. I go, really, where's he at? I go? So it was, you know, so it was. It was. It's been a while, it's been a while. It's not a good looks it's for me right now. It's just it's not a good look.

00:24:08
Speaker 2: But did you did you have bust approval for the Hall of Fame for your mustache?

00:24:14
Speaker 4: Yeah? I wow. That wasn't even an option. I mean, it had had had to be that, because how.

00:24:19
Speaker 2: Would you show it to you before?

00:24:22
Speaker 4: Yes, there was that, and they kind of excepted, you know, I think they sentuated the chan a little bit. I don't think it's that bad, but they which was I don't know if I agree with that that portrait of it, but that's fine.

00:24:38
Speaker 2: Did your wife have a say in this?

00:24:41
Speaker 4: Yeah? I think when I shaved it, the first thing she said, please don't shave again. So in other words, how long is it going to take the grow back? So I think that got That was my first uh sign that you know what, Okay, maybe it's not a good look.

00:24:54
Speaker 2: It's not leaving, not leaving great to talk to you. And we played nice today, but I know, I know.

00:25:01
Speaker 4: You know, well you know what I think coming off coming off the what happened yesterday. But let me ask you, did you have a nice Thanksgiving?

00:25:09
Speaker 2: It's still going on, coach, it's on a day. It's really a spirit that I have.

00:25:14
Speaker 4: Yeah. Well, so let me ask you what do you think was the best game? What do you think was the best game with Thanksgiving weekend? With with the NFL Green Bay, Detroit, Dallas, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Joe Burrow, Baltimore, or Eagles and Bears.

00:25:31
Speaker 2: I would say Dallas and Kansas City because that's that's a heavyweight fight, and you know, the hype involved with that and it lived up to it. And Dallas winning that game I thought made for great content. I think Joe Burrow coming back and doing what he did against the Ravens, that's pretty big. And now you've got Steelers and the Ravens coming up this next weekend.

00:25:53
Speaker 4: Can you imagine if the four and eight Bengals get Joe Burrow back, they can still win the division? They really can't. Yeah, now you got to go to Buffalo this next week, so we'll see. The NFL has never been so much intrigued, so many storylines. It's never been better. So let's let's talk again in about a month and see who's doing it.

00:26:16
Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah, I'll make it a date.

00:26:19
Speaker 4: Okay, that sounds good. I'm glad you keep the spirit going because you were really good today. You didn't even like you're even like you were actually trying to get me, asked some really good questions. It was really good.

00:26:29
Speaker 2: Yeah. I wasn't gonna do that. I was gonna be nice. I was gonna play nice. But I can't guarantee in a month from now.

00:26:34
Speaker 4: No, I I I expect that I never come on with the expectation of you being nice. I prepare myself in the morning.

00:26:44
Speaker 2: I'll bet you do you psych yourself up to come on? Stare at yourself in the mirror.

00:26:50
Speaker 4: I look like I look at you like like like a like a divisional opponent. I make it personal.

00:26:56
Speaker 2: Would you want to hit me, like tackle me?

00:26:58
Speaker 4: No? No, I respect you.

00:27:01
Speaker 2: No, I got fore arm shiver.

00:27:03
Speaker 4: Oh no, es. I would probably bump you if I passed you, okay, yeah, if you got like if like we were walking down the same one, would you turn? Would you would you like be the one that gets out of the way for coming down the same path like I I most of the time, I would. I think I would get out of the way of you because I respect you. But if you mumbled something on the way past, men as you start whispering, because I know if you're whispering, you're saying something.

00:27:33
Speaker 2: Thank you coach, all right, thanks Dan, thank you. It's Bill Kaller.

00:27:37
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00:27:48
Speaker 2: Andy Staples was at Ohio State Michigan on Saturday. Will be in Nashville this weekend and then he'll be attending a first round college football Playoff game. Andy covers college football for on three Sports. All Right, we had a lot of conversation, we had a lot of build up, and then we had the end result with Lane Kiffin leaving to go to LSU. Does anybody win here?

00:28:15
Speaker 4: Oh?

00:28:15
Speaker 7: I think LSU feels like they won. They certainly got the guy they wanted. They got the guy everybody wanted, because remember Florida wanted him to Ole Miss wanted to keep him, and LSU probably will wind up having the same defensive staff, which they're very excited about that. Lane kiffn probably retains those guys. He then comes in and fixes the offense, and all of a sudden, you got a team that should be competitive every year to potentially make the College football Playoff, to potentially win a national title. Now here's the catch. Lane Kiffin had to leave a team that is actually in the College football Playoff and that is the rub like you leave for a conference rival. And remember LSU is a bitter rival of a Little Miss. There are some Ole Miss fans who think LSU's a bigger rival misissip State. Ole Miss is never going to let the LSU coach work for ole Miss, even for a month.

00:29:07
Speaker 2: Well, there are certainly people. There's certainly an analyst that I saw this weekend who thought, hey, why don't you let him coach? And I don't think I would not have him coach my team. If I'm the athletic director at ole Miss, I'd say, nope, you made your decision. Go and don't act like you're the victim here. You can't use leverage that you're going to take coaches in players if you don't let him coach this team in the playoffs, as has been reported, I'd say, hey, see you keep your tray in an upright lock position when you fly out on that private jet.

00:29:42
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:29:42
Speaker 7: And then the middle fingers saluting him on the way out were told you the story, Yeah, Ole Miss and could not let him hold them hostage. That was not gonna work. It was a non starter. There are other situations where coaches are leaving schools like John Summral at Tulane, Eric Morris at North Texas worse to go in to Oaklham State, Summer's going to Florida. The winner of their game Friday is playing in the playoff and the guy who coaches that team will coach them in the playoff. But it's different when you're going from North Texas, Oklahoma State, or Too Laye to Florida. When you're going from Ole Miss LSU, you can't do it. And I found it hilarious that Nick Saban kept saying, let him coach. Nick Saban fired Lane Kiffin after the twenty sixteen season. Lane Kiffin takes the Florida Atlantic head coaching job. He's the Alabama offensive coordinator. He coaches the Peach Bowl, and between the Peach Bowl and the National title game, Nick Saban fired his ass. And now Nick Saban's like, sure, just let him coach. What could possibly go wrong? Like, of all the people, you know, what can happen?

00:30:46
Speaker 2: Why were all these analysts? It feels like carrying water for Lane Kiffin that day he should be able to coach. I understand that I don't want this to hurt our seating in the college football playoffs. You know, we ding teams for losing their quarterbacks. That would be the only reason why I would say, all right, we'll let you coach, but only because we don't want we want to host a playoff game.

00:31:10
Speaker 7: I can't tell you why the game day disc all did that.

00:31:14
Speaker 2: I can't.

00:31:14
Speaker 7: I mean, my guess is personal relationships with Lane Kiffin, and they want to cultivate those and keep those healthy. Obviously, it's a different for Nick Saban since they used to work together, but for the other guys that look, lane Kiffin's the most entertaining, polarizing, interesting figure in college football, and if you work on college football's biggest show, you want to maintain a good relationship. I suppose that's the only excuse I can think of, because if they talk to any athletic directors, and we did, there's not one who would have let him coach All Miss through the playoff. All right, what's Penn State doing? That is a great question. All I could think of is the judge smail as well. We're waiting as all the other dominoes were falling. The only thing I can think of is they've got somebody in mind who's maybe coaching in a conference championship game this week and doesn't want to do anything until after that happens. That's the only thing I can think of, and that leads you to a few names. So Bob Chesney is the James Madison coach. And he's a name that I've been saying for about a month because if you look at Chesney's job history, Northeast guy went D three, D two FCS, FBS, successful everywhere. It's kind of the Kurt Signetti path, and you'd have thought, okay, from James Madison, his next logical step is like Syracuse or Boston College. But why would you have to wait for him to coach Syracuse or Boston College for two years? He would have ended up at Penn State anyway, Like, just get him now. The other one I thought of, and it's kind of a wild here, but he's a really good coach, and I think people just assume he's not movable. Is Colonie Sataki at BYU. He's at his alma mater, and maybe he's not movable. Maybe he's just really happy there. But a chance to coach at at an elite of elite programs, that's one. I would certainly talk to him if I were Penn State because I think he's an excellent coach. But that's the only other one in the Championship games I can think of, other than maybe Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline, who kind of the Urban Meyer path. He was the receivers coach. He's the OC now, but not really a play caller in his history, but receivers coach slash ace recruiter and maybe one of the best recruits in the country and definitely the best receivers coach in the country. I can see him being ready to move up to head coaching job. I didn't know if the jump that big would work, but he's one I would have talked to as well. What's the NCAA do with this hiring window? How do they kind of prevent this? Well, there's an easy fix, but the coaches don't want it. See that's the thing. The coaches like to blame the NCAA for this stuff. The nc DOUBLEA and well, the committees that come up with these ideas, they've already come up with an idea that would work. You bring high school signing Day back to February where it was just have one there. You eliminate spring practice. You create an OTA type system that starts in May in the first summer term. You move the transfer portal window into the spring, and players can leave in April or whatever. The coaches didn't want that the coaches, like, I want my team fixed by January. The coaches want to move between December and January. The players want to move between December and January two because that's the semester break. And by the way, the NCAA is not changing that because you'd have to move Christmas. And I don't think they're that powerful. So if the coaches ever want to come around on it, that's fine. But if they insist that they want their team by January, then they get to be the villains in this. They don't get to blame the NCAA for it.

00:34:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, but the current messy system is great for coverage, it's great for contest.

00:34:57
Speaker 7: It's not though, Dan as someone who this year round. I listen Ian Rappaport, Hey, you're yelling all the guy ye Ian used to be a college football writer, so he understands my plight. I'm like, I'm like rap sheet. You guys have the best calendar because you have the playoffs, the super Bowl, the coaching carousel, free agency, OTAs like it never stops. It's perfect. We have all the interesting stuff packed into December. I had a show yesterday, Dan that would have filled a month's worth of offseason shows. I had to do it an hour and.

00:35:32
Speaker 4: A half.

00:35:34
Speaker 2: Talking. Andy Staples covers college football for on three Sports. Make a case for Texas making the playoffs.

00:35:42
Speaker 7: It's tough because they're so far down right now, and I think, really they're they're ast out. But of the nine and three teams, they would have the best case. And here's why. Look at ten and two Vanderbilt. If you're gonna consider ten and two Vanderbilt, consider nine and three Texas, which beat Vanderbilt head to head, which has a better best win Texas A and M. And also can make the complaint that if you don't pick them, you are discouraging scheduling tough non conference games. Because their marque non conference game was at Ohio State, which they lost fourteen to seven. Vanderbilt's marque non conference game was at Virginia Tech, which they won. If Texas had gone to Blacksburg, they also would have won. So or Texas had just scheduled Rice or somebody like that, they would have won. So if you were to pick the other team that didn't schedule as hard, then you are discouraging that. And I don't want that to be discouraged. And I don't think anybody else does. I want a Texas Ohio State game to start the season, so if it came to that, I would hope they would pick Texas. I think Texas and Vandy unfortunately are kind of boxed out at this point, so I don't know if it even comes to that.

00:36:52
Speaker 2: If Arch would come out, do you think he'd be the number one quarterback taken?

00:36:57
Speaker 7: No? No, I don't. He's got work to do now. He can grow into what would be an effective NFL quarterback. He can grow into be a very high draft pick, but he needs to get better if you want. Even the A and M game where he played pretty well, he misses a lot of easy throws still, and those are throws that NFL quarterbacks don't miss. Those are throws that Fernando Mendoza Indiana doesn't miss. And Fernando Mendoza is one that I think the NFL people are going to be very excited about. He has the prototypical size, and you've seen him in crunch time like at Penn State where he's making unbelievable throws. That's what they're looking for. Arch can be that. I'm just not sure he's there yet, and I imagine his support system is telling him, Hey, more starts in college can get you there.

00:37:44
Speaker 2: Great to talk to you is always We'll talk to you soon. Thank you, Andy, Thanks Dan. It's Andy Staples.