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A Conversation with Florida Coach Jon Sumrall · Tigs Bits Podcast

0:00
When somebody did mention the LSU job, like to my wife and I
0:04
wasn't even involved. She was like, Hey, what's are
0:07
you involved in this job? And I'm like, what are you
0:09
talking about? She's like, well, she got she
0:12
she said she's like, well, if you take the job, can we just,
0:15
can we just stay in New Orleans and you just commute to to work
0:20
and I'm like, well, yeah, we'll do that.
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Sure that happens. You don't have to move kids,
0:24
don't have to change schools, but all those scenarios are
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always funny. On this episode of Tigs Bits,
0:39
coach John Sumrall returns after going from Troy to Tulane to now
0:46
leading the Florida Gators. I can't believe I'm doing this.
0:51
Welcome, coach. Thanks for joining us and it's
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good. It's good to see you again.
0:56
Good, good. Good to be seen, man.
0:58
A little bit has changed since the last time you and I and
1:02
Blasey and Jr. did this. When you were riding in your
1:06
car, going to media days for the Sunbelt Conference.
1:10
Then you went to Tulane, of course, and now you're with the
1:14
Florida Gators. Walk us through all that.
1:17
Has that even sunk in yet? Yeah, it's been a whirlwind, to
1:20
say the least. But yeah, it's sunk in.
1:22
I mean, you know, but going back to that time I was riding the
1:26
car headed from a golf tournament, I think, to New
1:29
Orleans for media days, going to our second year at Troy, you
1:34
know, at the end of that year, too, at Troy, we finished that
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year 11 and 2 and won the second conference title in a row.
1:40
And I think overall was 23 and 4 in those two years and got to
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the end of that time and just thought, man, ready for a new
1:47
challenge. Tulane presented itself.
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Thought, man, what, what better step to take?
1:55
You know, I think sometimes people they they want to like,
1:58
maybe advance so fast that they try to go, all right, I want to
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go from Troy to Florida, right? Well, for me, I really, I really
2:07
felt inclined to take a step in between going from Troy to maybe
2:12
one of these jobs to to see, OK, a little more resourcing, a
2:17
little bit different type of school academically or maybe
2:22
demographically or socially, like you're in an urban
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environment versus rural environment and a different type
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of task in hand. And then after the two year run,
2:35
there just felt like, man, OK, I'm ready, I'm ready for one of
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these. Like this is this is time.
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And so when this thing presented, it was, it was a no
2:43
brainer and, you know, fired up to be here and what an awesome
2:47
place and great resources. And you know, I've said this a
2:50
lot, but we can get we can get just about anybody's attention
2:53
at the University of Florida. We want recruiting.
2:56
So it's been fun to see kind of what the what the logo means.
3:00
Before the Florida job came open, your name was your name.
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Let's just just we'll just say it.
3:05
Your name was tied to a lot of jobs kind of over the you know,
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the rumor mill starts in December and and all of that.
3:12
Of course, there's rumors all the time.
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LS us talking to you, Ole misses talking to you, all that stuff.
3:19
Was there ever any truth to that?
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Or is that just spin media spin? Over the years, I've we've had
3:25
enough success and that's got a little bit to do with maybe me,
3:30
but a lot to do with a lot of people that have been around me,
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whether it be players or staff or whatever.
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And so I've been exposed to the coaching carousel, if you will,
3:41
every year as a head coach. I mean, I going back to my first
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year at Troy, you know, we went from 5:00 and 7:00 to 12:00 and
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2:00 and people called and they typically with a work through
3:53
your agent, I don't feel very many phone calls.
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Most of them go through him and then some of them get to me and
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then I kind of go yes, no or maybe.
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And in the past there's been a whole lot more Nos for me than
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even maybes. And then so I've been a couple
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of yeses. And so we, you go through the
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process, a lot of phone calls go to the agent and he calls and
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says, Hey, what do you think about this or this or this?
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And, and you, you, you listen to all of it.
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But really the biggest thing as a coach, the reason you have an
4:30
agent, so you can be focused on the task at hand and give your
4:33
team your best to try to help them maximize what they can
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achieve and become. And so I never really get caught
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up. Look on the other side of any of
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it. I've always been really focused
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right where my feet are, never been distracted at all.
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Quite honest. I can, I can, I can say I've
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never gone to a a game or a game week distracted because of some
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speculation about a job. And so all that stuff's got some
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some truth to it. Some of it may.
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I don't read everything that's out there, so maybe plenty of
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speculation that's not true, but there's probably some that is
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accurate. Well, I'll be honest with you,
5:12
coach. Whenever your name was thrown
5:14
around a little with the LSU job, I was over here, like, come
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on, come on, that must be amazing.
5:20
Come on, Coach. But hey, it's all good.
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And the good thing for me, we don't play you this year, so
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even better. That's right.
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That's right. We're not, not, not on the
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schedule this year. That's right.
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We'll see you down the road, coach.
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We'll see you down the road, maybe in the playoffs.
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When somebody did mention the LSU job, like to my wife and I
5:37
wasn't even involved. She was like, hey, what's what
5:40
are you involved in this job? And I'm like, what are you
5:42
talking about? She's like, well, she got she
5:45
she said she's like, well, if you take the job, can we just,
5:48
can we just stay in New Orleans and you just commute to to work
5:53
And I'm like, well, yeah, we'll do that.
5:55
Sure, that happens. You don't have to move kids
5:58
don't have to change schools. But all those scenarios are
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always funny. It is dude.
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It is. I can only imagine being a coach
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and, and, and everything that it involves with that, especially
6:09
with the family and having to move and go to new schools, all
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of that stuff. What is one thing that you've
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been able to do y'all, as a family with making those moves
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from Troy to New Orleans now to to Gainesville?
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How do you keep everybody intact and on the same page?
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I guess you could say the. Head coach at home, all right.
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And so like I, I very rarely have a whole lot to do with
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maybe where we live. I usually she gets it narrowed
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down to like 2 houses and I walk in to help her pick out which
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one school she runs point all that, you know.
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So she's, she's a champ. She handles all that really,
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really well. And I just try to show up and
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make sure I don't screw it up. Understood.
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I get that. I think you speak for most of us
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out there as husbands out there that you got to let the boss run
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the show a little bit with some of that stuff.
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Wise words, coach, wise words. Yeah, no doubt.
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Stay in my lane. Well, everybody talks about the
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pressure that comes with being the head coach of a Florida
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Gators, being a head coach in the SEC, period.
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What makes you embrace that? Yeah, look, I've always applied
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more pressure to myself to do a good job than anybody externally
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could ever apply to me. And and you know, I think if
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you're prepared and you're giving your absolute best
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effort, you're doing everything in your power to to make it go
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right, then that alleviates the pressure because you're giving
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your best effort. All you can do is give
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everything you got and let the chips fall where they may.
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And we cover everything we can cover from a coaching
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perspective, scenario wise, roster wise, to be prepared.
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And so, yeah, like, like I said, I put more pressure on myself
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than anybody externally could ever.
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Put on me, if you can please yourself, I guess in some kind
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of a way, then that you're doing something right because you're
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holding yourself to a standard that's higher than even fans or
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anybody else would would do you. Know, and our number one job,
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like, yeah, the, the school board has electricity and we
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need to win games, But my biggest focus is how do I serve
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and develop our players? If I'm serving and developing
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our players, the wins, they happen that things go the right
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way over time. You're going to, you're going to
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get it right. And so hopefully get it right as
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fast as possible. But but yeah, you just have to
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stay the course and have a have a really good plan, work the
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plan and and focus on man, everything you do is player
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driven. What's in the best interest of
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your players? How is spring gone for you guys?
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Have you been pleased or are you, are you moving in the
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direction that you're wanting to move in?
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Yeah, I think so. There's been some progress.
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There's been a lot of positive developments.
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We still have a long way to go. We wrapped up our spring game
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was April the 11th, the orange and blue game.
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There's certain areas of our team that I would say are maybe
9:09
more stable or solidified positionally.
9:12
There's certain areas that are still very much a work in
9:15
progress, but really they're all a work in progress.
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We we have a long way to go and we got a lot of improvement
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that's needed between now and football season to make sure we
9:25
we take care of things right in front of us to to be capable and
9:29
prepared for what's going to come.
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What do you want a John Summerall football team to look
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like at Florida? I want it, I want it to look
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like a winner. You know I want to win.
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For sure. But, but, but, you know, it's
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not just what you do, it's how you do it, right?
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I want our guys to play with an energy and an edge and an
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enthusiasm and a passion, a chip on their shoulder, you know,
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with an aggressive attacking mindset, a play style.
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It's got a little swagger about it.
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Yeah. When you think of Florida
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football, man, that's what you think of.
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It's like, man, let's let's do this with a little bit of a
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bravado, right? So we we've got to do that and
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you can't ever our our effort and our intensity should never
10:10
be questioned. When we talked last, the foot,
10:13
the playoff expansion had just started NIL and and the transfer
10:17
portal and all that was really just starting to blossom.
10:20
There's two or three years ago, What do you think, and you said
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it then, that you think that authenticity is one of the
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biggest things, one of the biggest factors that you can
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have as a coach because players can spot fake quick.
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Do you still feel that way? Do you still feel that that is
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the most and one of the most important things in this NIL
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era? Yeah, look, there's no doubt
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that player movement or player acquisition or roster building
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money matters. Like there's no like, you know,
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you may get a discount, but there's no free.
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Like it takes what it takes to build a good roster financially.
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But I do think players still care about their own growth and
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their development and real, authentic, genuine
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relationships. And so if you could show, hey,
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we've got a really good plan for how to develop you, this is what
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the place is like. And you're going to have real
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relationships here that are built on trust, loyalty and
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respect then, and I'm going to have your back.
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I'm going to give you the best I have every day to help you
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become your best that I think you start to really foster an
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environment where guys want to be a part of it.
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Do you think that players enter and exit the transfer portal way
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too quickly now instead of fighting through some adversity
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that they may get? Do you think that it's become
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kind of a quick out, if you will?
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I don't like this school so I'm going to go here.
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I think there's so many different types of processes
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that happen with each young man's decision.
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And so, you know, you don't ever really know what all's at play.
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Sometimes it could be a family situation.
12:02
It could be a need to get closer to home.
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There are certain parts of this where it's like, hey, we maybe
12:10
we're encouraging too much of hey, it doesn't just happen for
12:13
you immediately just leave. And so there, there there's a
12:16
developmental component to this sport that takes time sometimes
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for players, everybody's timeline for development's not
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the same, you know, no two people's trajectory or timeline
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looks identical. And so there's a lot to that
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that I think you have to consider and figure out.
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But I I do think sometimes you see guys making maybe too quick
12:39
of moves, but they each guy has to do what they flex in their
12:44
own best interest. Do you feel that you spend more
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time having now like like when you first started you were at
12:50
Kentucky and all of that, that you have to spend more time
12:53
managing a roster than actually XS and OS on the field?
12:57
Yeah, your time is definitely pulled in more directions.
13:00
You know, I'm very blessed here to have a support staff on the
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front office side led by Dave Caldwell and Nick Polk and Drew
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Hughes and those guys. Cole Hurd, who works for us,
13:11
does a great job. Like that group on that side.
13:14
Really, they orchestrate so much of the roster stuff for me that
13:19
like I'm not watching 1000 kids to sign 25.
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I'm watching, you know, a few 100, but it the list is paired
13:29
down and therefore I'm able to spend more time with our team
13:35
and worry about our football and the roster construction part
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still very much a part of it. But I think the way we've
13:45
staffed it here, it allows me to I'm very involved in every
13:50
decision we make on our roster. I'm not like but it but they
13:53
they help maybe alleviate some of the time constraints for me
13:59
to help get the list whittle down if you will.
14:02
When we were talking last time, I don't know if your opinion has
14:05
changed on this, but we talked about the Group of Five schools
14:08
deserving a fair shot in the College Football Playoff.
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Do you still feel that same way now that you're in the SEC?
14:15
Yeah, I still think there should be 1G5G6 team, if you will, that
14:19
that's allowed access to to get into the tournament for sure.
14:22
I agree, it just makes things fun.
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You know 'cause one of. These days it makes entertaining
14:26
and gives you something to play for and I think, I think it's I
14:30
think it's good for the game. If you were Commissioner for one
14:33
day, what's the first thing you would change about college
14:37
football? Our.
14:38
Calendar I I would move the season up and then I would move
14:41
the end of the season up as well.
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I think you know forever college football we we were a really a
14:47
fall into the December month early January sport.
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Now we've spilled into championship game is late
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January and most of your semesters for school start
14:59
earlier. So I think trying to get us back
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to fall, January 1st end date would be to me priority number
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one. And then priority #2 I think
15:09
would be just transparency on this spending on rosters because
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you got some teams, you know, spending, you know, single digit
15:19
millions maybe at the G5 level all the way to some teams in
15:23
this league or other conferences.
15:26
But the numbers that are thrown around, you're like blown away
15:29
with we're, we're not poorly resourced here, but we're not
15:33
that top tier. I think it'd be nice if there's
15:36
some transparency. On that, I think everybody can
15:38
agree with that. It's kind of still the wild,
15:40
Wild West. Out.
15:43
There of course here on Tigs Bits we love to talk about food,
15:48
especially Louisiana food. And, and one thing, Blasey and I
15:53
were talking about this kind of prepping before he got thrown
15:56
off and not able to join us, but we were beyond impressed that
16:02
not only did you move back to Louisiana, but instead of
16:06
letting the food get to you, you actually got more and more
16:09
ripped. Dude, you look amazing.
16:12
How the heck did you do that? Because we know number one, it
16:16
just proves that you don't repeat the same mistakes twice.
16:19
And but how the hell did you not gain weight living back here in
16:23
in Louisiana? Although I did for a little
16:26
while, So my first stint in New Orleans, I've added a ton of
16:29
weight and my second step, I started to revert back to the
16:33
old habits. And then I looked in the mirror
16:35
and I'm like, I got to get back in better shape.
16:36
So I started lifting with Rusty Wit, my string coach and, and
16:41
maybe making better, better decisions of my diet And, but,
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and I've always, I've always stayed active running.
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I like to run around. I ran 4 miles this morning.
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But I really, I really, I think getting back in that weight
16:55
room's helped. Now that you're in Florida,
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what's a Louisiana food you think you'll miss the most?
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Well, the food. I love jambalaya, like and and
17:04
then I love crawfish. But the restaurant will probably
17:08
be Desi Vegas or Mr. John's Steakhouse.
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Desi's a dear. Desi's a dear friend.
17:15
I'll miss Desi's, I'll miss Katie's, I'll miss Drago's.
17:19
I'll miss all those places. What's the best meal of all the
17:23
places that you just lay and you just name some incredible
17:25
places. What's your, what's your #1 best
17:28
meal you ever had in New Orleans?
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Well, I got it. I look, I got to go.
17:32
Desi's cowboy rib eye and the lobster Mac and cheese.
17:37
It's hard to top. Tomatoes and gumbo, yay or nay?
17:42
Yeah, I'm good with that. I'm not mad at that.
17:45
So. It seems to really drive people
17:47
up the wall here. It's crazy.
17:49
It's just the little things, you know?
17:51
I don't have a problem with it either, but I'm from North
17:54
Louisiana so I'm a Yankee in the eyes of them down.
17:57
There, you know how. That is, this is going to put
18:00
you on the spot, little coach. Which place has better food
18:04
overall, Alabama, Louisiana, or Florida?
18:09
Man, that's a challenge. I'd say it's different.
18:11
Like just judging by the weight I put on my first stent when I
18:15
was in New Orleans, like Louisiana is hard to say no to
18:18
because I put on 40 lbs. The other thing I like about
18:22
Florida so far is like I feel like I could eat a little bit
18:26
cleaner naturally here, which has been good for me.
18:28
Like, like, you know, in in Louisiana, I feel like they put
18:32
sauce and then more sauce on top of the fish.
18:37
We're here. You can get like some red fish
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and it's cooked like pretty clean and I don't feel 20 lbs
18:43
heavier after the meal. So probably for my health I'd
18:46
say Florida, but but for the appetite man, Louisiana is hard
18:51
to beat. When we talked a little bit
18:53
about music last time and you you love the old school Tyler
18:57
Childers and and Chris Stapleton.
18:59
Has your playlist changed at all since we last spoke?
19:02
What? What are you rocking right now?
19:04
You know what? I still I'm still Chris
19:07
Stapleton fan. Well, that will never change.
19:10
I'm going to see him here in a few weeks live.
19:16
Still love, still love Tyler Childers.
19:19
You know, Morgan Wallen's coming here here in a couple weeks.
19:22
That'll be entertaining. I've really gotten into some of
19:26
these younger country guys. Like it's this kid.
19:28
Vincent Mason came through here a few weeks ago and he hung out
19:32
in our football office. I went and saw him live.
19:34
Sam Barber. There's a lot of these young
19:38
like up and coming guys. Gavin Adcock, I kind.
19:40
Of like. There's some, there's some young
19:43
guys that sort of I think are are bring it Back saw Zach top
19:48
last spring. Oh yeah.
19:50
Really, really like Zach Top. So yeah, there's some guys,
19:53
there's some guys, some young guys that are hitting the scene
19:56
that I like. You going just a little insider
19:58
here. You're going to get to do the
19:59
walk out with Morgan Wallin and and Ben Hilgren.
20:02
Yeah, I don't know. Buddy unplug it coach plug it
20:04
coach burn or somebody there. Sure, sure.
20:08
I mean, it was, it was awesome seeing Saban do that.
20:11
I love that. I love that they're putting
20:13
these concerts in, in these big stadiums again, kind of like
20:17
they used to do in the 70s, you know, and they've do, they're
20:20
doing it here at LSU, doing it there at Florida.
20:23
They did it at Bryant Denny this weekend.
20:25
You know, it's, it's fun. I went to see Widespread Panic
20:29
in Birmingham in the in a torrential downpour on Saturday
20:33
night, but wouldn't change a thing in the world.
20:34
It was amazing. Do you like panic?
20:37
I love Panic. Yeah.
20:38
So I was trying to go to Saint Augustine Beach to watch Panic a
20:41
few weeks ago. They couldn't make it.
20:43
But yeah, I'm a big Panic fan for sure.
20:46
I've been to a bunch. Bunch of shows I went went to
20:51
went to Jazz Fest New Orleans and saw them a couple years ago.
20:54
Even took my even took my kids. But yeah, love love widespread.
20:58
I did the same. That's one of the few shows you
21:00
can you can take your kids to that one.
21:03
Yeah, You know what I mean? Yeah.
21:07
Last question for you, Coach. I know you're short on time.
21:10
We'll we'll let you go. If you could book one concert in
21:14
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, what would it be?
21:18
I'd say it's got to be Stapleton.
21:20
Yeah. I look, that's like bread and
21:23
butter, man. But hey, I'd also say Morgan
21:28
Wallace because he's here in about a month.
21:29
So so I'll, I'm pretty, I'm pretty fired about that one.
21:32
But yeah, we there. But Stapleton's he, he sort of
21:36
sets the bar for me, and a lot of it.
21:38
Well, coach, I'm going to let you go, man.
21:41
I sure do appreciate you coming on.
21:43
I hate that Blasey couldn't be here to be a part of it.
21:45
He, you know, he was excited. It just means hopefully we can
21:49
get you back on down the road, see what's happened after this
21:53
first season at Florida and and and play a little catch up and
21:56
bring Jr. on too. We also maybe, maybe we can get
22:00
Justin Moore to play Ben Hill. Griffin Stadium, no doubt.
22:03
Let's go. Come on.
22:05
I like that idea. Let's go.
22:07
Yes, Sir. Well, coach, thank you so much.
22:09
Awesome, see you bro.