Latest / Run After Cast: The College Football Podcast / What Coaches are on the Hot Seat Headed into the 2026 CFB Season?

Transcript

What Coaches are on the Hot Seat Headed into the 2026 CFB Season? · Run After Cast: The College Football Podcast

• RAC Chandler: me see if I can get this. you that bad. RY4N: Ready, sorry. No, what'd you do? RAC Aaron: No, that's fine. RAC Chandler: My mic arm is gonna be floating in the stands. Is that gonna be a problem? RAC Aaron: That's fine. RAC Chandler: it. There's no way to fix it. Why is it like this? RAC Aaron: You can it it so if you set the center stand down lower and then angle it up from the low ⁓ use the arm to angle up. RAC Chandler: ⁓ RAC Aaron: And if we're bad at spelling, this is the part I leave. He's trying to keep the mic arm from looking 'cause it clips out the side where we have the video extended. RY4N: What's the issue? RAC Chandler: Okay, that's like not as bad. RAC Aaron: That's fine. Yeah, that'll be all right. RAC Chandler: It's a lot, it was like coming like right here. So my audio sounds okay? RAC Aaron: Sounds good to me. RY4N: Looks good too. RAC Chandler: All right, do this. RAC Aaron: Make sure you're not too loud. RAC Chandler: You're like a ninja now. RAC Aaron: Mm-hmm. RY4N: Why do you keep singing that? RAC Aaron: Now you might be a l you might be a little loud. RAC Chandler: Good. I need to be heard. RAC Aaron: Slide just slide it to ⁓ that side of the screen. Mm. That might be all right. I I just need to make sure you're not clipping. RY4N: ⁓ RAC Chandler: I turned it down a little bit. Hold on. I'll turn down. How about that? RAC Aaron: That should be right. All right. RY4N: Is mine okay? RAC Chandler: Okay, just mute yours. RAC Aaron: Yeah, yours is fine. RY4N: I never touch it. RAC Aaron: No, we gotta talk about Auburn for forty minutes at some point. So all right. This will be the mark. Welcome back to Rack. ⁓ nope, that's the wrong way to do it. ⁓ Welcome back to Run After Cast, the college football podcast. I'm Aaron, joined as usual by Ryan and Chandler. RY4N: Hey guys. RAC Chandler: gentlemen. RAC Aaron: Well, after our disaster of a Jeopardy game last week that broke me and Chandler, though a lot of fun. Looking back on some of the clips, I was like, this this was entertaining for me. But we had coaches in the hot seat that we didn't get to due to being so derailed. However, this week we're coming back. We got each a coach that we think May not survive the season. They don't pull it together. I I didn't need to throw that on. But before we get into that coaching, we need to check in with our Rack News Desk or the R with the Raction News team because it seems like we got some stories this week. RAC Chandler: Yeah, so ⁓ we're gonna tag team this one. and I, I'm beat off the first one and then Ryan's got a whole presentation and I think it's like a Ted talk essentially of what he's gonna talk about for the second one. So stay tuned for that one. But we'll get the boring one out of the way first because I'm the one presenting it. we had... So... RY4N: It's not boring, it's still good. RAC Chandler: There's a lot of talks going around with the SEC, specifically Kirby Smart. He's been very vocal about his frustrations with the NCAA as a whole and more specifically, the lack of rules associated around NIL, ⁓ the transfer portal, Wild West situation, and then more importantly, the playoffs. So this upcoming season, they have the nine conference games their SEC is required to play. And that was a change that was supposed to be instated on top of the playoffs getting expanded to a 16-team playoff, which the SEC wanted. So, since that has not happened, and now they have an extra conference game and it's still 12, the SEC is very fed up about the whole situation. And I guess you can blame it a little bit on the Big Ten. The Big Ten wanted a 24-team playoff, so they must have been talking to Aaron a good bit about that. RAC Aaron: Yeah. RAC Chandler: And then obviously the SEC won the 16-team playoff. So that agreement never came to fruition. SEC stuck with nine conference games on a 12-team playoff, so it would be harder for them to get through their gauntlet of SEC schedules and still make postseason runs. So we'll see how that all shakes out. But I'm curious to get y'all's opinion on it with my two amazing SEC co-hosts. So what do you guys think? RY4N: love the SEC. I'm kinda sad to hear that they were trying to get rid of the SEC Championship 'cause I've always loved that game. It's always meant a lot to me my whole life to watch that. You know? But I don't know. Kirby, I kinda get where he's coming from. I've heard him talk about contracts in the past, trying to get players to not leave. But then we've even had people like ⁓ Darien Minsa break his contract at Duke and people like that. So like that's not even really reliable. And then I'm Not a huge fan of even sixteen teams. I know we talked about expanding to twenty-four. I think twelve's kind of the weird middle ground where people aren't happy because it's really ten. I know it's really ten, the two G fives, Notre Dame. So it's really nine. And I like that you mentioned ⁓ G or the SEC Gauntlet, you know, it is a hard schedule. I feel like it's hard for us to get in. We look right now. Notre Dame, Oregon, already in. Ohio State's in 'cause they're the best of the country. You know, you're getting those big ten teams in there, like like Oregon that plays one game a year and is a one loss. RAC Chandler: And I like how you brought up the conference championship, I forgot to mention that. If they expand to 24 teams What was getting thrown around was conference title games being taken away completely? So that was what stemmed from Ryan's conversation there. I think Conference championships always need to be a thing now. I understand the side of there's 2014 playoff. That's a lot more games. Anyways, why would you have a? What unquote meaningless free postseason game that would only really help for seating but if you're still playing a 14 bracket, then how much help is it really going to give you? ⁓ I don't know. Like Ryan said, SEC championships of all or private championships in general have always been a big part of college football. And that's what people, you know, cut their teeth on your day in and day out throughout their weeks of the season. And it used to be they if you drop a game, you might still be able to make it. If you can claw your way back in, you can have some good wins. You drop two games. The shot's gone. So there used to be a lot higher of a pedestal on those conference games in general. So I think it's just, it keeps slipping down and slipping down. Like this past year with Alabama losing it and they still get a good seed in the playoffs. I just, think the overall... feeling of the conference championships and nostalgicness of it is just dwindling and I don't like that. RAC Aaron: I agree. I agree here. And listen, as somebody who proposed the 2014 playoff as a ridiculous option, but it could work if we restructured a lot of things, because I'm also in the same train. If it is a postseason that is just for the conference championship, then eight teams is a good amount. After that, we're in the silly here's a participation trophy for postseason. But I do think Because now it looks like we are going for the 2014 playoff. We need to reconsider the structure of the postseason. If they are really going to do that. And I think to make this middle ground a better reality is conference championships. When we talk about seeding, conference champions should be the first round. Two teams from each conference go in. If 24, we got room. We can throw in a couple people and then after those is straight down the line rankings. However, they want to do that. But then that first round, we aren't going, you know, number one's playing number 24. We can have the conference games. They still mean something. It's postseason. So it's doesn't affect the rankings. It's not an extra game for teams playing it. And then it is something where if we have in the case of Notre Dame, we have extra teams that aren't participating in the conference championships that are being split off traditional seed style. That I think makes it ⁓ go ahead. RAC Chandler: ⁓ sorry, the only thing I think if you straight seed through after that, and I know I said this last week, I thought about it more and there could almost be a situation where you have a punishment of like, hey, I was the fourth seed and now I'm playing the fifth seed. Why would I want to be a one loss or undefeated team and work my tail off the whole entire season to get that seeding? And then I get punished by playing a team just as caliber-esque as I am. Whereas it used to be, one would play, or I guess it is now, one would play 12 or whatever it is. So, but I think like, to your point, 1-24 is a lot bigger of a jump than 1-12, and I think it's just a nonsense game. Like if you're at the 12 slot, there might be some competitiveness to it still, if you're not counting a G5 in that slot. But if you drop all the way to 24, then yeah, the competitiveness is gone. RAC Aaron: And that's where if you do bracket it as conference championships, then you know we have the top two teams in the conference going against each other. And then everybody else, if we are doing straight seed, we no longer do four goes against 24, we do four goes against five, and you pair off. So it's a hard game for that first week. And that kind of gives everybody a more equal playing field. And You know, if Notre Dame's in there at number three, doesn't have a conference game, then they're playing whoever's next down on the list. So I think it's just the way that it could make it work. You you make some of those things matter. After that, you start making the high end bowl games that we have really lost the fervor for that next round, where it's like, okay, we can start going to the if we want to do neutral sites for bowl games at that point. That's okay, the way they want to do it. RY4N: It it RAC Aaron: ⁓ I s I think if we're doing that many, I like home games. I want the environment. ⁓ the factor of that seeding helps a little bit, especially if they're hard games. So there's a way that this works, but it's gonna take reevaluating the postseason because it does look like that's where we're heading. Like we're ⁓ I think twenty four teams is where the money is for broadcasts, and I think that's where this negotiation's at. As we mentioned, Kirby vocalizing it. I think I I don't think he was being Out of pocket with it. I think he was I think he clarified it on the other end of like this was some backroom dealings that we changed the schedule. It's a fair I mean, you look at SEC schedules, they're tough this year, they're brutal schedules. Then you look at it as we talked about with Oregon, where there's you know a couple, there's a there's a trap game, maybe. So it's a huge change. Now I do want to say. My favorite part of that was that Kirby Smart's like maybe the SEC just goes off and does its own thing. breaking away from the college football entirely, I want to have a conversation really soon about what that could mean if we did a relegation-style gameplay. But ⁓ I do also want to point out that for Kirby historically, whenever the South breaks away to do their own thing, it hasn't worked out well for them. RY4N: Is my camera w not working? Is it working right now? RAC Aaron: It did stop for a second, yeah. No. There he is. Now we see him. RY4N: Okay. Yeah, and I think you brought up a good point too. I think the street seeding, like one versus twenty-four, would kind of just be a massacre for like half the games. So I actually do think they would do something like you're talking about where have the top guys play the top guys and lower guys play the lower guys because it would give the illusion that the games are more competitive and the playoffs more competitive than before. And like you talked about with the Convert Championship games. I think people are actually kind of at a detriment for playing in the conference championship. I think Alabama was kind of in a detriment for playing last year. They kind of were in a position to get kicked out. They didn't give their self a position to get anything better. It was only bad. So you look at teams like Miami that didn't play a conference championship, got in last year. You look at team two years ago, Ohio State, didn't play in their conference championship, and they went and won the national championship. So these guys are actually kind of thriving. And getting better seeds almost from not playing the Commerce Championship. But I love the SEC championship. But if you're looking at it from your team's welfare point of view, you're not gonna want to play that game if it doesn't mean that much to you. And I think they have lost meaning. I think some of the bowl games have lost meaning. You used to look at the Rose Bowl and you're ⁓ the Rose Bowl's so great, but now it's just like a quarter final game, it's like not that big a deal anymore. You know? So I think, ⁓ Yeah, they could totally do the twenty four. They could give the illusion that it's hard. I think the SEC would kind of be better off doing their own thing or s kinda having some sort of having their own people and getting a different way of getting ⁓ in the playoff. I think that's just too hard of a gauntlet to have twenty four guys in a thing. Yeah. RAC Aaron: Yeah. That's why I think if you make the first round of the playoffs include the conference championships, so it does mean a lot then too, because not only winner lose, you continue on, you still get the big game, but it doesn't punish anybody for participating in. RY4N: Mm-hmm. RAC Chandler: think if the SEC does, in a crazy situation, break off from the NCAA and they have their own independent identity and independent conference, the NCAA is not going to let them back into the playoffs no matter what happens. The bridge is going be burned, so they're going to have their own little mini tournament, I guess, if that were to happen. And I don't think... the SEC wants that either because that's a lot less revenue gone. So I think they're just kind of like putting up a big bad fight. Yeah. RAC Aaron: No. No, I think it's a I think it's a power play. Yeah. I think it's saying that like we could, and I don't think anybody in the SEC wants to do that either. I think it's just saying we thought we had this worked out, it's not working out, and if we can't get it together, if we can't make this in a level playing field for everyone, then they're not gonna back out. That's a lot of money lost. And if they don't make it back in, yeah. RAC Chandler: And John Somerall and Missouri's coach publicly noted, according to Bleacher Report, that in the SEC spring meetings, they agreed to a nine game format in the conference play under the impression that the Big Ten would vote to expand it to a 16 team playoff. And like you said, the backroom deal happened. They agreed. And then they only instated one of the two. RY4N: Yeah, they're just messing around. RAC Chandler: So I mean, I understand the frustration. RAC Aaron: And I I honestly I think it's just more that it's stalling out. I think some of this is to put pressure. I don't think it this is at that coaching room. I think this comes down to broadcasting rights. I think this is a Fox ESPN battle in the back room where ESPN wants the exclusivity, Fox wants to cut in, and you know, I'm sure Peacock's is floating in the background somewhere trying to get one of them. ⁓ give us the 24 seed game. No, but RAC Chandler: ⁓ yeah, TV deals, yep. RAC Aaron: I think that's what's happening with it because I think if we talked a sixteen seed and a twenty-four seed playoff, what's the difference for the SEC in that c capacity? Like it's it essentially works out the same. Yeah. So at that point it is just the SEC in the Big Ten hanging out and we'll let in a couple other people that we feel should be here. But no, I mean it it really RAC Chandler: Yeah, the whole SEC is getting in regardless. Yeah. RAC Aaron: If they're gonna do it, we're gonna have to do some major restructuring. I I don't think there's any way they could have this out by this season. I I they might. I don't but it'll be crazy. Yeah. RAC Chandler: No, it won't be. It's already said that there's 12 teams. Yeah, that's already locked in. RY4N: And ⁓ a good little thing since today we're doing coaches in the hot seat, the twenty four team would kind of give coaches here a little bit more security that it's almost like the full top twenty five ranked, except for the twenty fifth team. Kind instead of being like I was ranked every year, I made the playoffs every year. And it's like them and the fan base and everybody wants to be in the playoffs so bad, even though they know there's zero chance of them winning. But that's just an extra little trophy that I made it in the playoffs. This sounds good for the next few years until they realize that means nothing. RAC Aaron: Yeah. Well, and I I think that is part of the restructuring. It's gotta include the bowl games, the championships. And at that point, it's just something where it's like the postseason isn't just about the conference title. The playoff is the end for the championship. But along the way, there's these other little games that they get to participate in, hand a trophy out and say, Hey, you won the tax layer gator bowl. Congratulations. And then they take that home to the end of the season for both teams and they say, We participated in the playoffs. RY4N: Mm-hmm. RAC Aaron: But I mean that's that's it. That's what twenty-four means. There's just no other way around it. It can't just be for one big game at the end. RY4N: Yeah, it might make some bowl games mean more though. 'Cause used to be an eight nine one team and go to a bowl game. Yeah. 'Cause everyone just opts out now. Yeah. RAC Aaron: It would. I I mean, if it is in there, yeah. You're not gonna have somebody sitting out. Your seniors are not gonna skip it. It the the bowl games could be more exciting if we include them in the playoff bracket. RY4N: Yeah, that is a good point, but that's probably the only good point about twenty four. RAC Aaron: Yeah. RY4N: All Chamber, do you have another piece of news? RAC Chandler: you take it away RY4N: Alright, ⁓ before I get to my other thing I was gonna spiel about, Texas and Texas Tech have been feuding a little bit. That Steve Kar Sarkeesian has called out Texas Tech and said that there was a team in his state that he thinks he could beat with a second and third star or second third star second and third string players. And the Texas Tech coach came out and he called the first team on their schedule this year and asked them if they would play Texas's first team. In a stunt to show Steve Kar Sarkesian that he is not scared and that he wants to play him week one. Do you all think this could happen? Wouldn't it be really funny though? RAC Aaron: No it RAC Chandler: The Texas Tech coach knows that they are not beating Tech, especially with a quarterback that is going to be in a rehab center and not capable of playing. RY4N: I know I think he knows he can't get out. Yeah, I think he knows he can't get out of the first game. So he's doing all this to be like, ⁓ I've I was gonna play ⁓ You can't get out of your contract, bud, you know? RAC Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It this is like, you know, NCAA, hold me back. and it no, I think Dark took the chance to take a pot shot that he knew the other fighter wasn't ready for. Like this was one that he's like, there's no clap back that's gonna happen for me. That's gonna I'm gonna be I'm gonna win this one. And I think when we have Texas Tech out here going, We'll play you, it's it's like, yeah, you won't. RY4N: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. RAC Aaron: If they had Soresby, I would say maybe they're willing to throw hands. But I think in the in the position, I think this is kind of like trying to take a little bit of the spotlight because it does seem like the Soresby case is something that kind of every week since it's been out pops up its way into the feed because there's not much else going on. So I think this was just Sark was riding the waves that Kiffin was surfing and wanted some wanted some of the action. RY4N: Yeah. But who knows? He could have not even talked about Texas Tech, he could have been talking about North Texas. We never know. So RAC Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. I'm I'm sure it could have been any other team in Texas than the one like you basically pointed at him and said what he said. RY4N: Yeah. Okay, for the next piece of news, I kind of have ⁓ a little bit of a explanation here before we get to it. A lot of stuff to preface, if y'all don't mind. So I apologize for that. There is a tennis RAC Chandler: Okay, we'll timestamp it for everybody and then they can skip to the good part in description. RY4N: Yeah, so y'all can skip this good. So Tennessee hired a new strength coach and they posted something on Instagram that said their whole team gained eight hundred and sixty-seven pounds of muscle while losing two hundred and eighteen pounds of fat in a fourteen week training p period with their new strength training coach. In that they have listed that thirty-three players have reportedly gained 11 pounds or more of muscle mass alone. So the issue here is the situation is super interesting because this isn't that one player gained a ton of weight or even that one player gained eleven pounds. What's interesting is just the scale and the synchronization of the whole reported change across the entire roster. So the first thing to understand, they use DEXA scans. I call them DEXA scams, because they do not directly RAC Aaron: Yeah. RY4N: measure muscle tissue. The DEXA scan, as me and Greg Ducet call them, ⁓ he's the only one that's says that. It's pretty good. It's actually really good for measuring bone density, but it's only a like reasonably good estimate for body composition. So when it says that a DEXA scan showed they had elect 11 more pounds of muscle, that's not literally what the machine measured, but it's gaining it's measuring lean mass and RAC Aaron: Yeah. RY4N: And lean mass includes muscle, glycogen, water, connective tissue, and other non fat tissues. So if a player increases their glycogen, takes creatine, improves their hydration, starts eating significantly more carbs, the DEXA thinks that they're making significant gains in lean mass when they're really actually ⁓ their muscle growth might have been smaller. So the first argument I have against Tennessee's numbers is the gains are probably being overstated here because the limitations of the DEXA scam. However Yeah. Yeah, yeah. RAC Aaron: ⁓ I mean, let's say historically, teams budging the numbers for the, you know, how many quarterbacks have we seen where it's like on the stat sheet as they're playing in college, six two, and then it's like combine five, nine and a half. Like, you know, and we see those those they'll squeeze a couple extra bits of height, some weight. ⁓ that's all very normal. But RY4N: Mm-hmm. RAC Chandler: They must be in partner with Olive Oil Spray, fudging those numbers too. RAC Aaron: Yeah. RY4N: Yeah, I know, because it's not zero calories, like a thousand calories. Yeah. But ⁓ yeah, so the issue is here that even if we assume the DEXA scan numbers are inflated, the question becomes, why are so many players moving the same direction at the same time? It's too weird, 'cause in biological systems, responses are usually pretty messy. Some players respond super well and some don't. Some will gain weight, some will stay the same, some will get hurt. RAC Aaron: Ha ha. RY4N: But when dozens of these athletes are all appearing to improve drastically over this really same short period of time, it suggests a strong program wide factor influencing everyone at the same time. So the obvious explanation would be like, ⁓ well, the new strength coach and nutrition staff changed the training and like the feeding approach. But the other possibility is that all of them are taking performance enhancing drugs. So I'm gonna go on a little spiel here and say why I might think they are. RAC Aaron: Ha ha. RY4N: The strongest argument ⁓ sorry yeah. RAC Aaron: We'll preface this first with everything we're about to say is speculative and alleged by us. It is not factually based on anything. RY4N: Yes. It is ⁓ yes. RAC Chandler: Yes, the Tennessee team is probably not on drugs, but Ryan will prove otherwise. Speculation. RAC Aaron: Yes. But we have theories. RY4N: They're probably not. I'm just saying why I'm I'm just having fun here, saying what could happen. You know. So the strongest argument for PEDs isn't actually the decks and numbers themselves. But the strongest argument is that many of these athletes are not true freshmen. There are twenty eight true freshmen on Tennessee's roster, but when you look at it, you're like, ⁓ they have fifty two. Twenty four of them are red shirts. So out of those thirty three, you could be like, Okay RAC Aaron: Yes. RY4N: Every single one of the true freshmen could have just came in and had a huge transformation. Cause Tennessee roster also includes these returning players, the Redford freshmen, the upper class and transfers, but true freshmen's are expected to make these huge gains because they're entering a majored college football program for the first time. They're being introduced to well training, ⁓ well structured training, to a nutrition plan. And the players have already spent a year or more in the strength training and nutrition programs. And they should not typically be making these like freshman level gains. They are not new lifters. These are elite athletes. Yeah. So the adaptation's gonna slow over time. And these redshirt guys, that even the guys that are freshmen that are redshirts are have already been eating more and training more and making these types of gains in the last year. So the closer the athlete gets to their ceiling, the harder it is gonna be to add muscle and lose fat simultaneously. But when you're looking at it, RAC Aaron: Yeah, explosive gains. Yeah. RY4N: Like their changes are so crazy because if the DEXA numbers were literally accurate and there was no air, this would mean that if they really gained eleven pounds of contractile tissue and also lost fat in fourteen weeks, 'cause when I look at it, their whole team gained muscle and their whole team lost fat. So they're getting leaner and bigger in fourteen weeks. So it would literally be impossible. RAC Aaron: That that I'm right there with you in terms of when we first talked about this, is this has been kind of our gym convo for a little bit, and we've all been in the gym for a good amount of time for years. You do get explosive gains early on when you first start lifting. If we grabbed somebody from the local waffle, threw them in this program, because they would get huge. I mean, they would they blow up to that kind of size. RY4N: Mm-hmm. Yeah. RAC Aaron: Because they've, you know, you they're eating, they're doing everything the way it should be done right away. That's a huge change from not doing anything. As you said, these are college athletes. These are people that are in this system. ⁓ the strength and conditioning coach that came in doesn't have a secret curl method that doubles bicep size in 14 weeks. You just don't see a huge change in 14 weeks. You'll see change. They'll if you are if they came in and made a bunch, there's there. I just think there's room to have the discussion that there could be something else going on for that consistent growth across the team. RY4N: Yeah, 'cause that's why I mentioned the DEX set at the beginning, 'cause it totally could be that. But if that was a hundred percent accurate, it would be impossible naturally, especially among the returning players, 'cause these people are yeah, they're elite athletes. They're not just a bunch of untrained individuals. So these kind of changes are more commonly seen in people that are on their first steroid cycle in like an off season training block. Typical thing bodybuilders say is they gain fifteen pounds of muscle in their first twelve week. testosterone cycle, but they're doing like strict bodybuilding hypertrophy work. And most of these football pra plans include some of that, but it's a lot of strength training that revolves around compounds and Olympic lifts, some explosive plios and stuff. And it's almost ⁓ the hypertrophy training is almost an accessory to these things. So some of these people would question this and we don't have supporting performance data. Tennessee doesn't publicly release the Team improvements in the squat bench, power clean, their sprints, all this time's kind of stuff. So if the body composition changes were accompanied with like huge strength and power increases, it would be like much easier to be like, Yeah, it's super steroids, but the DEXA numbers kinda are could be manipulated through hydration, glycogen, with like carb loading and these things as we mentioned before. But historically, there have been a few steroid things in college football. One of the most famous ones was the University of South Carolina. They had a steroid scandal in the late 1980s. And in that case, coaches were ultimately implicated in distributing steroids to players, and federal chargers followed that. There have also been investigations by the Associated Press or our beloved AP, as we frequently call them. They they investigated into steroid use in major college football, but these investigations found that steroids were relatively easy for players to get, and the NCA testing had significant limitations. Anti-doping experts interviewed during those following investigations and they argued that low positive test rates should not automatically be interpreted as low usage rates. It actually just brings up another point that the NCA testing Is not equivalent to like the Olympic style anti-doping, like Wada, the World Anti-Doping Agency. Athletes are not necessarily subjected to the same level of year-round monitoring as these other types of athletes in an international sport. But historically, experts have kind of argued that the testing programs often struggle to to catch every single person that's on it, especially if the athletes know about the timing and detection windows of the substances and their their testing. So another thing that makes people more mis suspicious is how previous college football scandals have worked in the past. That historically when organized PED use has been uncovered, it usually wasn't a case of like dozens of athletes independently arriving to the same decision at the same time that I'm gonna get on stuff. There was kind of often some level of involvement, some awareness, encouragement and stuff by the facilities and by people around the program. So in the South Carolina scandal For example, the allegations just showed that it extended beyond the individual players and it reached out to the coaches themselves. That doesn't mean the same thing happened here, but it shows there's like usually organized involvement by staff members without precedent in college football. So there are also a lot of ⁓ other times in sports where like a steroid dealer or training assistant will come out and admit to supplying drugs and tells them how to pass drugs tests and things of this sort. So for the most part, testing seems to be very infrequent in college football. And some players don't even get tested at all. I've heard things before that like in the NFL, they were gonna test Saquon, for example, when he did the backwards hurdle. But this shows that it might be even be something that they're not gonna test randomly. They're only gonna test if something's super plausible, that they have like a reason that they think someone's on something. And that would just help more people get away with it, even if it's like a bunch of people want to get tested. But like it's the off season right now. So like they're probably not gonna test them as much. So there's a synchronized effect in this whole thing that becomes kind of important again because it's not like a couple guys went rogue and decided to take stuff. It's a huge chunk of the roster. If dozens of them truly were making this types of gains at the same time, people start asking, you know, is it a common factor influencing the roster? The common factor could be like super legitimate, such as like the new trend coach or nutrition. philosophy or improved recovery, better sleep, more calories, all that kind of stuff. Better supplementation. But they're like already doing all this stuff. 'Cause you gotta point out that like they've already been doing these kind of patterns, like, over time, even with other coaches and things. I don't know what kind of drastic change is. RAC Aaron: Yeah, and I I think we could have that this could be a discussion to have if this was like a you know, G five school. Somewhere that's like, okay, we we really weren't putting a lot of effort into that strength and conditioning program. Just ⁓ an outlier. This is Tennessee. I mean, Tennessee has been a competitive team for years. ⁓ they they've been a high level performing school. So a and like I said, it could be RY4N: Yeah. RAC Aaron: To me, it just kind of comes off as either the numbers are inflated. They they did enough to push the scan. Cause I remember when I would get like body comp tested in high school for wrestling, like my coach the day before would be like, make sure you're drinking tons of water. Barb up water because you wanna you wanna get the glycogen restored. You want the water, you will got you're drinking salt, everything like that. Because it wasn't so much about ⁓ RY4N: Okay. RAC Aaron: ⁓ you know, we were looking for the shred look. It was more of reduce your body fat and bump up your weight. But that's something where I think here, if that's the case, makes a lot of sense. Otherwise, it comes off as a red flag. Doesn't mean anything, but it is suspicious. RY4N: I do have one more point here and then I'll I'll wrap up. I apologize. The last factor that I'm gonna mention is I think the primary performance ⁓ benefit they get here is not necessarily just them getting bigger, but the whole sport and all their training philosophies are just super built around like repeated high intensity training and recovery. So the ability for them to Recover faster and tolerate more training volume and just stay healthier through these like super demanding workouts would be super valuable, like as they're also like adding muscle mass. So just as we say they train a lot, because we talked to Will and he was like, Yeah, we train all the time, we never sleep. So, like, why wouldn't teams try to find another way to increase recovery somehow? So that's like kind of why I think when we just would talk about DDs in football, it's often not only like the focus isn't only on the size and the strength, but it's also on the recovery and their training capacity. So they could be stuff on like like GH, you know? That help you recover, it'd make you hold water, the DEX would go crazy. But as a whole, it's probably just the DEXA scam being terrible because they're very huge tolerance. Everything manipulates them. So yeah, if they did like I'm just gonna get everyone on a bunch of carbs, I'm gonna get you on this stuff to make you super hydrated, even if they're transfers and stuff. That's what seems so weird to me though, is because the guys that's already been there for a year, like the freshmen from last year coming in as sophomores, they're not gonna make like that huge difference. Like something really had to change. It could have just been their feeding protocols and stuff. So the whole thing probably was the DEXA scan. But it's very interesting to think. But anyways So the coach is either lying about their metrics, 'cause he is a Dexascan, or his team's on steroids. So that's my that's kind of my whole whole thing there. RAC Aaron: I I do wonder if this is one of those things that it like wasn't necessarily meant to go out. Like if this was something like they got the report and then the PR person saw it and was like, this would be great. This is a great stat, and maybe not as deep in the strength and conditioning world. Because it it is like it it is something that I think at that level, it's like more of a red flag than it is like, ⁓ yeah, he's definitely. RY4N: Mm-hmm. Yeah. RAC Aaron: Turn the Tennessee program around in fourteen weeks. It's that which would be crazy. That'd be a wild statement. RY4N: Yeah, but it's like you said, yeah, you're not gonna teach them how to curl a little different and they gain a bunch of muscle. Like something significant had to change. But they are so DEXA skins are so easy to manipulate. Like, same with in bodies. If they they say they use DEXA, but if they even use an in body, those are even worse. They have like an eight percent to twelve percent tolerance. Yeah, so they could have been RAC Aaron: ⁓ yeah. I mean it it was like it was like the caliper test, which is how we got it back when I was a kid, where they'd you know, they just grab the fat under your arm and the fat on your belly and say this is how fat you are. ⁓ and it that's that's as good. I mean a text is far more reliable than that metric used to be. But yeah, I I yeah I completely agree that you can you can change your body in ⁓ in short term to make that bigger. So it doesn't necessarily mean anything. I just think it's funny because it all the things that it could mean tend towards the bad side of things and not necessarily like they're just very, very good at working out. RY4N: Yeah, but I hope Yeah, I hope for the players' sake they're not on anything 'cause it's very dangerous. But it is very funny to think about and it is very kinda weird that you're getting huger and leaner at the same time as an elite athlete. So it is it is weird. RAC Aaron: Yeah. And ⁓ we we can round this off with ⁓ we or we can cap this off with I do think a lot of people think the sport is absolutely riddled with PED use. ⁓ from a lot of athlete reports, a lot of athletes I've talked to, a lot of people in that world would say you'd be surprised at how there isn't as much as you think. It's just some of these dudes are given the option to eat the way they should be eating and they're working. That they are growing, but they're not turning into freaks. They're they're staying in a growth pattern. But I is there does it exist? Absolutely. Are there people every season juicing on some whether it's an oral, whether they're on test, whether they're running DECA or anything like that? Absolutely. ⁓ that I think at any high level performing sport that we're gonna see that. So RY4N: Mm-hmm. RAC Aaron: I I just think it's something where some people will blanket and say, like, the only way to do it is for people to be on PEDs. And that's not true. But RY4N: Yeah, it it would be crazy though, 'cause there could be they make all their shakes, all their food, all their supplements. They could have no idea. They could polygraph the player and they would actually have like zero clue that they're even on stuff and they'd pass. Stuff like that. That's crazy to think about. RAC Aaron: Well, I mean, this is this is when we first talked about in the gym. If I were to throw an alleged speculation on what could do it, they may have run a short wind stroll cycle and as a as a pill that they just throw in. If a team wanted to do that and throw in get the high strength gains, get the growth, get all of that, but we wouldn't know unless we're seeing all the athletes and seeing the development. This is the that would t the thing that's the big part is the loss of fat while putting on the huge amounts of muscle. Because that part where it's like if you're in a huge surplus, you tend to put on fat as well as muscle. There there's no lean bulk, main gaining style thing to do. You can do it very slowly over time, not necessarily over a big 14 week eleven pounds while losing an equal amount on the other side. RY4N: Mm-hmm. Yeah, 'cause it's not even like their body fat was getting less their body fat percentage was getting less, 'cause you could just gain muscle and keep the same amount of fat. So your percentage should go down. But they were losing fat tissue and muscle tissue apparently. But it's one of those things the DEXA measures compartments. It measures the tissue lean tissue compartment and the fat tissue compartment. So it literally could've just messed it up, which probably is what happened. But it's hilarious to think about. I actually think they need to implement better testing. When I was doing research for this, it just shows how bad the testing is. And I think they need better testing for these players. RAC Aaron: I mean, it doesn't matter if they whether they if they have the metric. I mean, the strength and conditioning coach is gonna see the metric in the performance. You're gonna see strength going up, you're gonna see the weights moving, you're gonna see speed, you're gonna see flexibility. whether or not the press release says, Check out how big our dudes got, that's that's what a DEXA scan's giving you. RY4N: Mm, mm. Are we bringing out the Game Boy today or are we going on to the next segment? Maybe Game Boy at the end? No RAC Chandler: No. We're already 43 minutes in. RAC Aaron: We're yeah, we're forty three minutes in. RAC Chandler: We had a science lesson for 25 minutes. RY4N: How how long is it gonna take, Game Boy? I'm so sorry. I told you this is gonna have it in the RAC Chandler: No doubt, let's do it, coaches. RAC Aaron: Yeah, we'll have Game Boy next week. Well, I'm sure there's more going on in the world of college football this week, but I'm sure it'll also be going on next week. So we'll come back to cover the news in our next episode. So it's time for us to switch over to coaches in the hot seat. So we each brought in a coach this week that we wanted to talk about. Who wants to kick it off here? RY4N: I can go if you want me to. Alright. Okay, go channel. Yeah yeah yeah. I'm so sorry, yeah. I would talk too much, sorry. RAC Aaron: Let's have Chandler go, actually. Let's ⁓ because we just had our Tennessee talk for twenty minutes. RAC Chandler: So mine, I'm going to the ACC. I'm going Mike Norvell. And I know national media has them. I know Josh Pate's talked about it. I know all kinds of people on the national scale have talked about this. ⁓ Started off 3-0 last season, beat Alabama, and then was riding an all-time high, and then dropped off a cliff. I mean... RY4N: Ooh. RAC Aaron: Ahmed it. RAC Chandler: They lost their first four ACC games. They missed another bowl game for the second year in a row. They finished, five and seven. ⁓ They were seven and 17 for the past two years. Now the biggest factor is the buyout. Just like many coaches and teams that want to do this coaching carousel, buyout's always going be an issue. Like I know Auburn's paying for 46 coaches at one time, since they're just a revolving door. So... That's what FSU does not want to do. And I think that's why he stayed around after last year as well. I think the buyout right now is like $51 million and it drops to like 42 and a half after this year and then 34 after the year after that. So I think they would have to go on a tremendous skid, especially like they did this year to have him be gone mid season. But if they miss a bowl game into the year, I would put my chips in him leaving. RAC Aaron: Yeah. I'd say Norvell kind of feels like the free space on the bingo card for coaches that are struggling right now. And it's hard to say that though, in terms of like or I'd say it's painful to say it as somebody who had a playoff potential run a few years ago into a new program and then it w just a nosedive. And I felt like that season post playoff, like there was just bad vibes that they could not get rid of. And that might have been it. And I was like, we'll see if they bounce back that next year. And then when they didn't, when that first three games you're like, yep, it was vibes. Like they're coming back. And then that free fall was hard to watch. That was that was hard to see them go through. RAC Chandler: the The other interesting thing is their roster is estimated to be about $20 million, which is significantly less than the national average on the top end teams of between like 30 and 40 million, which of course is not public data, but it's been highly speculated. So they're already setting themselves at a disadvantage unless they think they're just like the biggest bad news bears, Sandlot-esque team that's just going to come out and run the show. So, I mean, they have Ashton Daniels from Auburn coming in with Contravian Weisner in Texas. So, you know, it'll be an interesting watch. We'll see. But I think the pressure is definitely on. RY4N: I kinda hoping we got Contraven Weisner or CJ Baxter, either one. I'm kinda disappointed by that. Ashton Daniels would probably do okay there. Cause he's played in the ACC before, he played at Stanford. So I it I mean, winning five games in the ACC is pretty bad because you never even play anybody anyway. One of those to Alabama though. Good job, guys. ⁓ the Gus Bus knew what to do that week. So that was good. But ⁓ yeah, like Aaron was saying, I think you picked the worst coach probably to Do which I guess was the job this week, so great job there. ⁓ RAC Aaron: Yeah, I mean, i if we didn't talk about it, we'd be frauds. Like they're there like you have to. RAC Chandler: i i thought the conversation was coaches on the hot seat i think his seat is lava RY4N: Yeah. RAC Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. I now I also want to say I don't know how much of that is Norvell. If he gets fired from SFU, I would not be surprised if he goes to another school and does a complete 180 of their program. Because yeah. RY4N: Yeah, I he has the hottest seat for sure. RAC Chandler: I agree. see it's a double edged sword though. If you have the coaching staff that's like the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator is the problem. Well, you're in charge of hiring those people too. RY4N: Hay RAC Aaron: Well, but it's how much of that's on field and how much of it is in the financial side in the backroom. Florida, or I should say, FSU has a history of not supporting the program with the money that's being asked for. I mean, that's why Jimbo Fisher left. He asked for facility upgrades. He asked for an investment into the program. And FSU said, nah, we're good. And he was like, Well, I'm gone. That I think when you j you pointed out, they have about half, but or they potentially have half the salary room. And as Norvell's playing in competitive games at that lower level, that's a hard that's a hard world to play in. Now you could pick out, you know, some great players, but I think even players that might not be in the spotlight that are true talent players. They have agents that know how to get that money for them. And that part I could see. So part of me goes out, it feels for Norvell here to say, like, I don't know which which angle he's in charge of. Is it is it the the coaching or is it the staff at the higher level? RY4N: And Aaron, and Aaron, to further your point on the money thing, actually that is a huge deal. ⁓ the both y'all talked about, I saw the thing last year that said the FSU as a school, like as a whole, was four hundred million dollars in debt last year. And they're out here spending all this money on football and stuff, and they're paying by ⁓ Norville all this money. So maybe they're only paying twenty million dollars for the roster because they're trying to lower his buyout. Because you really don't get anything. for not spending all your money. Even last year with Golush and Auburn, we're talking about why aren't you spending all of your money? You know, you're not getting any benefit giving the boosters any of it back. They're just gonna be mad that you didn't win. Use the the resource they gave you. So maybe they're trying to ration some resources to get rid of ⁓ get somebody out. RAC Aaron: Well, and I mean, until that buyout comes down, I mean, it seems like it's more expensive to get rid of them to keep them. So we'll see. Yeah. And I mean, now I do think as we're gonna keep talking about this, I do think one of the issues in the game is coaches' buyouts have gotten so inflated that it it's almost more of a risk to have a coach come in. I mean, the Brian Kelly situation, Jim O Fisher. We're talking about ten years and a lot of times worth of salary. RY4N: Yeah. Yeah, they're trying to save money right now so they can get rid of ⁓ pay ⁓ later. RAC Aaron: ⁓ and ⁓ sl slightly less than that for Jimbo Fisher, where it's like he came in for five years, not a lot happened, he's out, and now the school's out 90 million. And that's on the school for making that deal with them. I'm not saying a coach shouldn't ask for as much money as possible, but maybe that's something that they could look at at the organizational level to put a cap on for buyouts to say, like, hey, there's no huge reason that. A coach can go in and get fired after three years because they didn't put up anything. RY4N: I think the schools need to start making better contracts for that type of stuff. Give them incentive based contracts. RAC Aaron: I I I agree. I agree. I I think there has to be something in there to protect the coaches from getting done over because another coach came in. I think you have to give some security for it. But ninety million was a lot of money. You know, when we're in the Brian Kelly sixty million, that stuff's crazy. Yeah. RY4N: Yeah, give ⁓ security in years. Yeah, give ⁓ security in years, not necessarily in money. RAC Aaron: So Ryan, who'd you bring in? Who's your hot seat? RY4N: Mine's actually not a head coach. ⁓ mine's an offensive coordinator. I think Ryan Grubb from Alabama is on the hot seat. ⁓ I mean, he came over with Caitlin De Boer from Washington. Even there, they couldn't really run the ball, and they had Michael Penix, and now we have ⁓ Derrick Henry two point ⁓ over here at Alabama, and they can't even run the ball with him. Their run schemes seem to be very predictable, and then RAC Aaron: Absolutely. RY4N: It kind of opens up like long passing downs are super obvious. It's a lot easier to guard the guys, you know, when they're throwing. So he even said in the interview, you know, I've tried to pass to open the run, I tried to run over the pass, he's tried everything, he can't get it done. I think if he doesn't show more production this year, the he should probably be fired. For Auburn's sake, keep him, 'cause we doubled their stats last year, the Iron Bowl. But for Alabama's sake, I think he is at a huge risk of getting fired. I think Kayla Boars, not though. RAC Chandler: think an even crazier stat is the fact that they went, when he was in Seattle, he had Charbonne and Kenneth Walker. And the year or two later, he's a Super Bowl champion. RAC Aaron: Get your camera shifted to the side. RY4N: Kenneth Walker. Yeah, couldn't get it done. RAC Chandler: It's crazy that everywhere he went, was Washington, was Seattle, and now Alabama. I mean, it's not good. Not good. you can't, you can't get it done. RAC Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. RY4N: Yeah, he just Yeah, he just can't run the ball. Every level, every conference can't do it. RAC Aaron: And I I completely agree. I mean, we've heard from sources close to us that when he was at Washington, he was the top fifteen percent running efficiency, right? ⁓ but no, it is something that it's like i that is an obvious issue. ⁓ and the other parts of Alabama are firing, but if that run game is not going to get better. RAC Chandler: Shout out RAC Aaron: They are gonna stagnate. There's just no way in the SEC to be competitive without a run game. And credit to the rest of the program for being competitive in the in the last couple of years. They've still been on the upper level and the SEC rankings, despite the fact that the ball did not cross that line of scrimmage that often in the hands of the RB. RY4N: Yeah, and it's just not like a talent issue. You know, you have red zone problems, you have running issues. It's not not the guys, it's a total scheming thing. You even saw at Ohio State with Chip Kelly. He was super good at running the ball. Had these huge dynamic plays, and then Brian Hartline, who's never really been an offensive coordinator, he knows the wide receiver roles, he couldn't run the ball as good. You also ran the ball pretty good 'cause you had Bo Jackson. But the schemes are very predictable. Short Down yard is just not as good, you know, when you really need to do it. RAC Aaron: And to round off our coaching discussion here, I brought in Dabo Sweeney. I think that's not a shocker to a lot of people, but it is a shocker for me to say. I feel like it's one of those where it's like a national championship, multiple national championship winning coach. ⁓ Not that outside of history, you know, this is within a decade. Maybe a little more than a decade at this point. Well, about yeah, within the decade. And now you're looking at it and it's like there hasn't been changes that have created this. This is just one of those moments where it's like the landscape of Charlotte college football is evolving. It just feels like Clemson is not part of it. They are just sitting back, kind of old man yelling at the sky. It is not nothing's happening for them. And the I think the thing that's crazy about it is they have the talent. They've had and you can plug at or you can point at, you know, various positions at quarterback, anything like that, and say, like, well, it wasn't where it should have been. But I think when you're looking at the defensive talent, when you're looking at some of the guys that have been drafted after these classes, they've been there. I've I mean, one that I on the defensive side that like you kept seeing come up was Wood as. Over the last couple of years. Like he was just all over the place. He was playing high level. And then it's just like ⁓ Clemson's ending a season at like six wins, seven wins, and you're like, I don't know what's happening because the ACC, other than Miami, have gotten in trouble for saying the ACC has not been in a good place, but they haven't. ⁓ you know, Miami is a contender right now. But who else in the ACC? Clemson was Was in there, but it's just like it feels like the last four or five years, it's just been a subtle and slow decline. RAC Chandler: And I wonder... if Dabo's kind of getting that feeling that the pressure's kind of closing in on him, because this was the first year, I could be wrong, but I think this is the first year that they've really dove into the transfer portal since it's been a real big factor in college sports. They went pretty heavy into it this year. ⁓ exactly. RAC Aaron: They did, w compared to like their one or two they had gotten like ⁓ over the last couple of years. RAC Chandler: So maybe he is trying to, you know, eat his words a bit and utilize the transfer portal and kind of start evolving with college football because I like him as a person and I like him as a coach. He's always been a great public figure coach. ⁓ And I think he has the tools to get it done, but without using the transfer portal and not spending the money and getting out there and getting players you need and the coaching staff and the schemes surrounding that. It's hard to stay with the times, like you said, Aaron. So I think it'll be interesting to see if he can creep into that playoff contention realm this year with kind of diving more into the transfer portal and taking the postseason and the offseason going into this upcoming season more seriously. RAC Aaron: And okay for sorry, you run. RY4N: Yeah, and it ⁓ sorry. And it is kind of sad to see. I was gonna say the same thing kind of as you, Chandler, but it is kind of sad to think that Dabbo Selene would be on that hot seat. Because when I think of Clemson football, I really only think of Dabbo Selene. He's just been there so long that he kind of like is the heart and soul of that program. But yeah, now that you bring it up, I'm surprised he hasn't kind of been in a situation in the past where he'd kind of be in a position to get fired. Because once the NIL and transfer portal stuff started happening, Yeah, he just didn't adapt at all. He loves getting guys out of high school. He loves starting freshman quarterbacks for some reason. You know, he has those weird little things that he does over there. And it just didn't work. So it is interesting to see that he was really trying in the transfer portal this year. But after the way he didn't adapt so hard to the modern era of football, I'm kinda surprised that he's been there that long. But yeah, it's starting to get to a point where they're gonna kinda be fed up over there in the fake death valley. That they need to win more games, they need to get to a championship. 'Cause even like two years ago they're in they almost went to the playoffs. They went to the playoffs, they like weren't that great. They just kinda got a charity bid, you know. RAC Aaron: And I just think it it's a program that has a lot of these elements that could be at that level. But as we pointed out, that refusal to take part in the changes, I could see a year or two. But I also think the I I'm a little confused at Dabo's playbook here in terms of like how he handled it. Because being against the NIL transfer state of things, completely understandable. RY4N: Mm-hmm. RAC Aaron: If you're a coach and it they change the thing you love to do, I could see being like, well, maybe a year or two where you're like, let's see if I can still work the magic and keep it going. But when it doesn't, I'm surprised he didn't step back and say, like, maybe I'm retiring. He's been there for so long. You I you'd hate to see a firing there. And I hope if this is a hot seat moment, if this is something where it's just obvious they can't do it. I do hope the program talks to them and says basically like we're gonna let you ride out the season and we want you to step back and they come to a to a a mutual agreement on that. Cause you don't want to see historic program coaches fired. I I just think that's a bad taste in any program, whether you like them or not. I I think it just it does sour the sport a bit. RY4N: Yeah, and it's weird to think I mean, it's kind of a similar situation to Nick Saban that you think of Alabama, you think of Nick Saban, and he was kind of in the same thing. He was one of those hard nosed traditional coaches, gets the great recruits out of high school, produces them really well, and you see him go to somewhere like the NFL where he has to pay guys, or you see him in this NIL transfer era, like he just didn't do as good. They're not gonna listen to you as much. It's gonna be harder to get him to come to your school. They they want the easiest, most money, most success they can get immediately. So they're not gonna wanna have to fight first spots. It's kinda the same thing over there with Dabo that you think of Clemson, you think of Dabo, and he is just too stubborn in his way. He's more stubborn in his way. It's not that he couldn't make it work, but he didn't even wanna try to make an effort to make it work. Yeah, I'm surprised he didn't try it sooner. I'm surprised it took six years or something for him to try it once. But that's a that's a good pull. RAC Aaron: And yeah, it it isn't it isn't a slight at the Clemson fan. I'm not the world's biggest Clemson fan, but it is something that is it is hard to have that discussion in the modern era, but things have changed. And I can absolutely see saying like the thing I love isn't the thing that I love anymore. But to me, after this much, it just feels weird that he hasn't either stepped back or if this is the final year, I think we get to that decision point. Maybe not at the program, but maybe a personal decision on it. But like I said, I'd I'd I wouldn't want to see him fired. I'd prefer to see him ⁓ agreeably leave the program. If if this year does not pan out again. But it just feels like those six years they've really struggled. The ACC's been in a place that it's like, well, Wake Forest could be an up and comer in the ACC. And it's like, well, no, not really. It's not like a not a crazy RY4N: Mm-hmm. RAC Aaron: operating program. And that's that's somebody who's played them in bowl games as a Mississippi State fan for many years in a row. it just is something that it's like at the ACC where they've been hasn't been one of the strongest conferences. RY4N: Wake Force did have ⁓ Robbie Ashford though. RAC Aaron: ⁓ they've had they've had some talent. I just mean you throw ⁓ into the overall system. RY4N: I don't know I'd call him down. They had somebody. Like him as a guy. RAC Aaron: They yeah, they they had you know Yeah. But I also, as a honorable mention here, or should we say dishonorable mention for our coaches in the hot seat, I wanna we've we've briefly talked about this when we did our Vegas odds breakdown episode. I think there's a dark horse pick here to say Lincoln Riley. And I wanted to gauge y'all's opinion on that. RY4N: I think ⁓ I think he's a pretty good coach. ⁓ I think they'll keep around for a little bit. RAC Chandler: think he is... very similarly to Dabo. I think he's a great recruiter. I think he has a tremendous talent recognition eye that head coaches and programs need to be able to get these guys out of high school, get them in the program, retain them, make them into NFL athletes, and send them on to the next level. The problem is... They have fallen short so many times, especially in the modern NIL era, where they've put so much money into these recruiting classes, they've put so much money into their rosters and their coaching staff and their facilities and all these different things. To where at some point they have to draw the line of, like maybe you're the reason we're not getting this done. Like I appreciate your job and recruiting and all that kind of stuff, but there can't be a consistent disconnect of we're just short of playoffs or We're just short of the Big Ten Championship or the Pac, what was it, Pac-12 before that. I think if they were to fire him, kind like the Edo situation, I would like to see him stay on staff as a recruiter or some kind of analyst role on staff because he is great at that level. But I definitely would agree that he is going to be on hot seat, especially after this year if they fall short because they I think had a top three class, not top one, one, two, it was definitely top three class in the transfer portal and then recruiting class in 2026. They were up there as well. RAC Aaron: Yeah. And it it just feels like this is kind of that culmination of like, okay, we've built, we've built, we've built, and it's ⁓ you know, next year everything's gonna click together. And I agree. I I just think that if this does not come together by the end of the year, if this is just another one. And Ryan, as you said, I think Lincoln Right I think Lincoln Riley is a pretty good coach. I just don't know if USC is gonna be on the same page of we're not paying for pretty good. We're paying the amount to say we're the best. And if you we're not even sniffing the playoffs, if we're not getting in that, are they gonna, are they gonna cut the cord? And because I think if you take Lincoln Riley and you put them in a school in that Mississippi State category or any any other program that has investment that they want to do, but maybe not necessarily blue chip level ⁓ production, recruiting, all of that at this point, that he can then take a program like that and get as much success at out of that program that can be achieved at that time. I think that's the case. I just think when you're throwing money at a program and you're just saying he writing checks, I think we're seeing it with Texas Tech as well. We've mentioned that before that you can throw as much money, but if it doesn't come together, you're not going to go all the way. RY4N: Yeah, I just think it's sad. Yeah, 'cause my my first thing, yeah, I think he is a good coach. But it is just sad that I feel like they are so close. They have been so close for so many times. But yeah, that that kind of is unacceptable to be so close. 'Cause like you gotta make those couple changes. You gotta be the difference maker to separate you from being a good to great team. You gotta be the separate yourself from being a good to great coach by doing those things to make your program great as a As an entire thing, so that is a good point. I think he a is actually at risk for getting fired. It's just sad to think about. RAC Aaron: Yeah. Yeah, it does feel like we have a few coaches this year that beyond even what we talked about, where it's like the sport is expecting more results. And I think it not even in the NIL transfer portal era, colleges have gotten less patient with coaches where it's like, you get three years. Get us something in three years. We won a conference title or a championship. And for a lot of programs, it's not happening. I mean, there's a lot of programs that have even sniffed that level before. And to bring in somebody from a G five school or from a corner position, throw them in there and say in three years, you need to be one of the top performing members of your profession. That's very difficult. And we've seen people do it. It's not impossible. But I think when you see that turnaround, we've entered the carousel world. I don't know if we're getting off of it anytime soon, but I think FSU might be that first one that's kind of really showing us the repercussions of it of, ⁓ well, this is expensive now. We might not have the money to pay for all this stuff. RY4N: Yeah, especially with the US C being in the big ten two. Now they definitely have like a lot harder of a schedule. It's a lot less likely for ⁓ to make a conference championship and stuff. So they're putting a little bit more stress on ⁓ too. But if you're gonna be a great coach, you're gonna do great things anywhere you go. You know, hopefully he can get a job in the A C C make a championship there every year. You should not beating Ohio State and Indiana for a while, so RAC Aaron: Yeah. Y'all got anything else, or are we good to take it out here? All right, what do we got cooking for next? RAC Chandler: think we're good. RY4N: How long is your vocab gonna take? Ten minutes? RAC Chandler: I'd rather have that be in the beginning of the episode. RAC Aaron: Yeah, yeah, we'll save it for next week. ⁓ RY4N: Okay. You don't want people to skip it? RAC Aaron: yeah, people be like, whoop. ⁓ that's why you just put all the stuff like, make sure you subscribe to the end. ⁓ what do we have for next week's episode? RAC Chandler: go through the top 10 quarterback list that are we going to go through the one that like on three put out or like whoever did or are we going to make our own RAC Aaron: ⁓ yeah yeah yeah yeah. RY4N: I think we should go through the on three. And then, like, cause that one's the entire conference, right? Or the entire ⁓ nation. I think that one would be fun. And then there's that hot or the not the ⁓ the cold tub guy who does the terrible ones that he does the SEC in the Big Ten. We could do that as a fun RAC Chandler: Yeah, okay, so we'll do the top 10 ⁓ starting off. We'll see how long that takes us through. And then we can have the two conference specific Big Ten SEC if we need to extend time at all. We can have those in the back burner as well and kind of break it down that way. RAC Aaron: Yeah. And then we can do some reactions. RY4N: Okay, okay. 'Cause this is gonna be fun to ev 'cause that's even more guys you can yeah. RAC Aaron: Yeah. RAC Chandler: Yeah. RAC Aaron: So we're doing top ten. Is it ⁓ conference restricted? So countrywide. Okay, top ten quarterbacks. ⁓ okay. And let's say we'll say top ten quarterbacks as we feel, for any reason, any however we want to rank ⁓ we put ⁓ there. Because I feel like RAC Chandler: Countrywide, countrywide, yep. Yep, at the D1 collegial level, yep. No, no, this is, this is an already established ranking. This is like a published on three ranking. We can give, we can give our adjustments and edits to it and move people around or add people that weren't there, but yeah, what does react and go through it as we think. Yep. Yep. RAC Aaron: ⁓ so we're not cut w ⁓ meant like for our list. Okay, so we're just we're just gonna go, we're reacting to it. Okay, we're not generating a top ten list each of us. Okay, awesome. RY4N: Yeah, I thought we were gonna talk about it and then say how we would make it better. Okay, okay. RAC Chandler: Yeah, like we can say, ⁓ this guy needs to be there. This guy should not even be on the list. Yeah. Like that. like my stuff. RAC Aaron: I mean we have to I guess we perfect. RY4N: Yeah. RAC Aaron: Okay. So the on three quarterback rankings. Okay. ⁓ we're gonna break down some popular quarterback ranking list. Gotcha. All right. RAC Chandler: I don't know who it is, just say like... RY4N: Some quarterback rankings. Yeah. RAC Chandler: Yeah. RAC Aaron: Mark here. Well, that's gonna wrap up our hot seat discussion today. Like I said, there's more. There's definitely coaches out there that I feel like fan bases feel that's part of it, rivals feel that it's part of it. Sure, we'll talk about some more of them as we go on. But next week we're gonna come back to you. Probably have a visit from the trivia. If the news isn't ⁓ 40 minutes long ⁓ next week, but in that case. We will be covering our reactions to some popular quarterback ranking lists throughout the country. So we wanted to come in, weigh it out, see how we felt, see if we agreed or disagreed with some of the popular choices. So you'll have to tune in, check that out, see if it's for you. Y'all have anything for the end of the episode that you want to toss out there, or we're ready to close it out. But With that, well, thank you all for tuning in this week. We appreciate you all out there for listening. Thank you all for who have gone out, interacted with the short form content that we've released, whether it's on TikTok, YouTube, or Instagram. That is growing each day. It's very fun to see. Love to see the comments in there, no matter how ⁓ small head, large shouldered they may be centered. Or how expensive you think podcasting equipment should be to keep takes like ours off the air. They are great. They they are fun. We have a good time talking about them every day, good and bad. Also, thank you all for who have reviewed the show. That's a huge help. It's helping us get that out there. We appreciate it. Feel free if you got any suggestions for the show, you got any comments, critiques, hate mail you want to send us, you can either do it in the con comment section of the video, shoot us over an email in our link tree. Check it all out. It's in the description of the episode. But thank you as always. We'll catch you again next week.