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3 Guys Before The Game - A Change At The Top (Episode 598) · 3 Guys Before The Game

0:12
Speaker 1: Alrighty and away we go back to back shows in
0:17
Speaker 1: as many days. All Right, we cheated you last week,
0:20
Speaker 1: only gave you one last week. I guess we're gonna
0:24
Speaker 1: catch back up this week. This is three Guys Before
0:27
Speaker 1: the Game a change at the top of Mountaineer Football,
0:32
Speaker 1: as Neil Brown is no longer the Mountaineer head coach
0:36
Speaker 1: and the search has begun for his successor three Guys
0:42
Speaker 1: Before the Game. He is brought to us by Comac's
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1:04
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Speaker 1: beyond numbers. Do you have numbers on?
1:24
Speaker 2: I don't know that.
1:24
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1:28
Speaker 3: do that.
1:28
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do hobby I'm gonna do Conley's CPA. Are
1:31
Speaker 1: you I'm gonna do spreads on stats?
1:33
Speaker 3: Really? Yeah? Okay, yeah, I got it to that.
1:36
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1:39
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Speaker 1: Now you can actually you can purchase, you can lease,
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Speaker 1: you can brad they do different things.
2:21
Speaker 3: Have any do I have any? Oh?
2:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, history, I didn't want to bring it up. Three
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2:29
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2:33
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2:39
Speaker 1: didn't see any pontoons in the Bahamas, did we, Brad.
2:41
Speaker 2: Saw some big boats.
2:43
Speaker 1: We want to tell you. We want to tell you
2:44
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2:48
Speaker 1: As I said, the Avalon boats made right here in
2:50
Speaker 1: the United States and now I'm in Michigan have been
2:52
Speaker 1: doing that since the nineteen seventies. That's what Lou Wendell sells.
2:55
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3:00
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3:04
Speaker 3: Real quick.
3:04
Speaker 1: Little yeah, visit Lou Wendell Marine Sales in Saint oh Buts.
3:07
Speaker 1: Here's a quick little boat story. So we were at
3:09
Speaker 1: Atlantis last week for the basketball thing, and there's boats.
3:13
Speaker 1: I mean, we're talking about some of the biggest yachts
3:16
Speaker 1: in the world. Literally up to ship status even, I
3:19
Speaker 1: mean just massive. And the Senator over here found out
3:23
Speaker 1: I said, look at that one right there. It was
3:25
Speaker 1: just parked really close to the resort.
3:28
Speaker 2: I got it from somebody else. I did not know
3:29
Speaker 2: the research.
3:29
Speaker 1: So you had the info though you know what the
3:31
Speaker 1: docking fee per night is.
3:34
Speaker 3: No on this yacht. No, I would have no guests.
3:37
Speaker 1: Thirty thousand dollars a night docking.
3:39
Speaker 3: Excuse me? Uh huh wow.
3:42
Speaker 1: Guy told me today, Senator, some of those boats fuel
3:46
Speaker 1: wise put ninety thousand dollars in to fill it with fuel.
3:50
Speaker 3: I believe it. Now, what if you get to go
3:52
Speaker 3: go more discount.
3:53
Speaker 1: On that, well, you imagine running that thing through. I
3:55
Speaker 1: mean those people at Flato was to go wait a second,
3:57
Speaker 1: guy just spent ninety grand on Yeah, it could happen.
4:01
Speaker 1: We'll talk about Gomart later. All right, So we're back
4:04
Speaker 1: in because the decision has been made in regard to
4:09
Speaker 1: Mountaineer football and Neil Brown's future. And kind of knew
4:15
Speaker 1: that a couple of things. One that he would be evaluated,
4:18
Speaker 1: the program would be evaluated at season's end, and on
4:22
Speaker 1: a smaller level, really, that last game of the season
4:26
Speaker 1: was going to have a massive impact on what ultimately
4:30
Speaker 1: the decision was going to be the West Virginia wins.
4:33
Speaker 1: Neil Brown's the head coach today. They finished seven to
4:36
Speaker 1: five in the regular season. He's the coach, and there
4:38
Speaker 1: was a good chance that if they were right there
4:41
Speaker 1: to the very very whisker of an end, they were
4:46
Speaker 1: going to keep Neil Brown and say, Okay, let's retool,
4:49
Speaker 1: let's make some significant changes staff wise and on you
4:54
Speaker 1: go to year number seven. But doesn't happen quarter number
5:00
Speaker 1: two of that game twenty nine and nothing. Texas Tech
5:02
Speaker 1: outscores West Virginia. The game's over at halftime, and the
5:05
Speaker 1: decision made Sunday afternoon kind of played out as we
5:13
Speaker 1: thought that it potentially could.
5:16
Speaker 3: I think this. You know, we're all trying to piece
5:19
Speaker 3: together some information and about this. I suspect the decision
5:23
Speaker 3: was made not long after halftime of that game by
5:26
Speaker 3: Rin Baker because of the scenario you just laid out,
5:29
Speaker 3: first of all, and then of course everything took place yesterday.
5:33
Speaker 3: But second of all, you know, Tony Mike cliche is
5:36
Speaker 3: every change is an opportunity to improve. So you have
5:38
Speaker 3: a chance to improve, and you wouldn't be making a
5:40
Speaker 3: change if you didn't expect to improve. But that change,
5:43
Speaker 3: to me starts with what did we have? What did
5:46
Speaker 3: West Virginia have, Brad that you that you wanted to
5:49
Speaker 3: take forward, that you wanted to go forward with in
5:52
Speaker 3: the next person, that is what did Neil Brown bring?
5:54
Speaker 3: Brought high character, brought tremendous work, ethic, I thought, brought
5:58
Speaker 3: a good offensive mind to the table, and brought an
6:02
Speaker 3: understanding and embracing of the mountaineer culture in West Virginia culture.
6:06
Speaker 3: He did all those things as well as anybody who's
6:08
Speaker 3: ever been here. So in the coaching search, you start there.
6:12
Speaker 3: Here are the things that have been established that you
6:14
Speaker 3: want to continue. So Neil Brown, I don't know how
6:19
Speaker 3: it's going to be remembered, but I think that's a
6:21
Speaker 3: part of his legacy that should be valued going forward.
6:23
Speaker 3: Number one. Number two is, like you said, Tony, you
6:27
Speaker 3: could feel this coming, and Brad and I talked about
6:29
Speaker 3: this on my public affairs program. If you started this,
6:31
Speaker 3: if you started the season with scale, and the scale
6:34
Speaker 3: was pretty close to even that Penn State game, there
6:37
Speaker 3: was so much build up, and then that that led
6:39
Speaker 3: to a massive disappointment. So now it starts, it till
6:41
Speaker 3: a little bit. The pit game was massive, and now
6:43
Speaker 3: it tilts more. The coal rush thing. Then now it
6:46
Speaker 3: tilts more, and then that really really abysmal performance in
6:51
Speaker 3: the last game of the season. So it just tilted.
6:53
Speaker 3: The decision almost made itself by the by the end
6:56
Speaker 3: of the year. And so now Chad Scott, that's going
7:00
Speaker 3: to be the interim going forward. You still have to
7:02
Speaker 3: worry about recruits on Wednesday. I don't know how that's
7:05
Speaker 3: going to look. You got to prepare for a Bowl game.
7:08
Speaker 3: No idea how that's going to look or what the
7:09
Speaker 3: interest level of that's going to be. And for min Baker,
7:12
Speaker 3: got to find a coach, got to do it fast.
7:15
Speaker 2: I will have a lot of respect for Neil for
7:18
Speaker 2: how he went about this job. I thought he'd you
7:22
Speaker 2: said that correctly. I think he did as good a
7:24
Speaker 2: job as anybody's done a long time, maybe since Bill Stewart,
7:27
Speaker 2: of integrating himself and his family into this community. And
7:30
Speaker 2: I'll have a lot of respect for how he and
7:32
Speaker 2: his family did that and handled their business and how
7:34
Speaker 2: he worked every day, which should be a given in
7:37
Speaker 2: those positions, but it's not always a given in those positions.
7:40
Speaker 2: And so I appreciate how he went about his business.
7:43
Speaker 2: I appreciate how forthright he was in press conferences with
7:47
Speaker 2: information and explaining decisions, even if he didn't agree with
7:50
Speaker 2: the decision, explaining that. So I did like how he
7:52
Speaker 2: went about it. I think moving forward, that's one of
7:55
Speaker 2: the questions I think you have in today's current landscape
7:58
Speaker 2: is does fit matter? I've been a guy as long
8:01
Speaker 2: as we've been doing the show, I always talk about fit,
8:03
Speaker 2: and I've always thought it mattered, and I thought you
8:05
Speaker 2: needed a fit in somebody that understood the culture and
8:08
Speaker 2: did those things. Does it matter anymore like it once did?
8:12
Speaker 3: Should?
8:13
Speaker 2: Where should fit rank on the characteristics that you're looking for?
8:17
Speaker 2: Where should the ability to engage with people fit on
8:20
Speaker 2: the meter of what you're looking for? I don't know
8:22
Speaker 2: that it does, Guys. I think it's clear more than ever,
8:26
Speaker 2: it's wins and losses. And if you win, I think
8:28
Speaker 2: you have a fan base that comes along with you.
8:30
Speaker 2: And if you don't win enough and there's always a
8:32
Speaker 2: debate on what's enough, and we can debate expectations, and
8:35
Speaker 2: if you don't win, I don't think any of that
8:37
Speaker 2: other stuff matters. And I think we've seen that. So
8:39
Speaker 2: I find that an interesting side note as Ren begins
8:43
Speaker 2: this process of going through things of what that checklist
8:47
Speaker 2: of what you're looking for looks like?
8:48
Speaker 3: So then I'm wrong in suggesting that Wren Baker should
8:53
Speaker 3: look at these qualities that Neil brown hen said, Well,
8:55
Speaker 3: we want to make sure we have these things as
8:57
Speaker 3: well as somebody who wins more games.
8:59
Speaker 2: I'm asking the question, why does fit matter? Well, maybe
9:02
Speaker 2: it does because because when Nick Saban took the Alabama job,
9:05
Speaker 2: was that necessarily considered a great fit? I don't know.
9:08
Speaker 2: But did it matter by the end? Just was was
9:11
Speaker 2: winning enough that that comes with it? We can name
9:14
Speaker 2: some other examples. We can name examples of it. That
9:17
Speaker 2: person doesn't seem like a fit there, but they win
9:19
Speaker 2: a ton of games, and suddenly that makes you a
9:20
Speaker 2: fit because you're winning the games.
9:22
Speaker 3: It's a really good point. That's a really good point.
9:24
Speaker 2: So regionality, I don't know that matters a tie to
9:27
Speaker 2: the school. I don't know that matters like it once did.
9:29
Speaker 2: And I think I've changed my opinion on that. I
9:31
Speaker 2: don't know that I would have said this same thing
9:33
Speaker 2: ten years ago, even five or seven years ago. But
9:36
Speaker 2: I think maybe now, if you're the ad and you're
9:38
Speaker 2: looking for this, you don't necessarily have to have somebody
9:41
Speaker 2: from this region that's an exact fit.
9:42
Speaker 3: Do you.
9:43
Speaker 2: If you feel that that person's the best at winning
9:45
Speaker 2: football games, I.
9:46
Speaker 1: Don't think it matter, you go get that person.
9:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that's disagreat hob No, No, no, I don't
9:52
Speaker 3: know I don't. Unfortunately I don't. Unfortunately I don't because
9:56
Speaker 3: I still think, I guess I'm a throwback. I still
9:59
Speaker 3: think character matter.
10:01
Speaker 2: I'm not saying character doesn't matter. I'm just saying some
10:03
Speaker 2: of the external being from a region, being from having
10:07
Speaker 2: some sort of tie to the school. You coach there,
10:09
Speaker 2: went there, your spouse is from that area, all those
10:12
Speaker 2: things we've talked about historically. Integration into the community. You
10:16
Speaker 2: want people out being good stewards of the community and
10:18
Speaker 2: participating in charity events. I don't know that that has
10:21
Speaker 2: the same place at once.
10:21
Speaker 3: Guy, I don't think you need to be from here
10:24
Speaker 3: or have the connection here, because Neil Brown didn't really
10:27
Speaker 3: have that. But but he did understand because this is
10:30
Speaker 3: a passionate fan base. That's one of the attractions of
10:33
Speaker 3: the job, right, passionate fan base. So he did understand
10:36
Speaker 3: the significance of the fan base and and catered to that.
10:41
Speaker 3: So but at the.
10:42
Speaker 2: End of the day, that didn't matter. That didn't matter.
10:44
Speaker 2: It's simple, And I'm saying, if you have a coach
10:46
Speaker 2: that's winning at a really high level, the fan base
10:49
Speaker 2: will come along with.
10:50
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, okay, yeah, that's the thought. No, I hear
10:57
Speaker 3: you that that nine ten wins takes care of all that.
11:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, sure takes care of pretty much everything takes care
11:06
Speaker 2: of all that stuff, because that's one of the things.
11:08
Speaker 2: And listen, this is the stuff that some of the
11:12
Speaker 2: things that Neil did internally, like the Chambers program was
11:15
Speaker 2: super beneficial for some of those guys. Some of those
11:18
Speaker 2: players that went through that program were better prepared for
11:21
Speaker 2: life and certainly took advantage of a great opportunity. Are
11:25
Speaker 2: those things that matter like they once did? You know,
11:28
Speaker 2: one of the things he did a few years ago
11:30
Speaker 2: and I went to academics. When was the last time
11:32
Speaker 2: we talked about academics.
11:34
Speaker 3: We well, we just we should have abolished the term
11:37
Speaker 3: student athlete. I mean, just forget about that. You know.
11:39
Speaker 3: One of the things he did which really impressed me,
11:42
Speaker 3: this was a few years ago, is that he brought
11:45
Speaker 3: in David Freisen, who's a friend of mine, who is
11:47
Speaker 3: very knowledgeable about the black history of West Virginia, and
11:50
Speaker 3: he had all this he got all the players together
11:52
Speaker 3: and Freiston gave this really intriguing lecture about the history
11:56
Speaker 3: of black folks in West Virginia, which is it has
11:59
Speaker 3: a deep history in this state. So that the African
12:03
Speaker 3: American players would feel like they had more of a
12:06
Speaker 3: connection to the state. Now that is above and beyond. Okay,
12:09
Speaker 3: that is above and beyond what you would expect from
12:13
Speaker 3: a coach. Those are the kind of things I thought
12:15
Speaker 3: brought real value and meaning to the program. But again,
12:19
Speaker 3: I guess you're right, Brad, that in the end doesn't
12:23
Speaker 3: matter much. Yeah.
12:24
Speaker 2: So I'll just be interested to see as Ren compiles
12:26
Speaker 2: his list and starts the interview process. That truly is
12:30
Speaker 2: a national search. And I don't think you should have
12:32
Speaker 2: to be tied to regionality or connections or ties in
12:36
Speaker 2: any way. Go get the best football coach that you
12:38
Speaker 2: feel most certain can win games at a high level
12:42
Speaker 2: and put you in a position to compete for a
12:43
Speaker 2: Big twelve title. Yeah, the other stuff comes will follow
12:47
Speaker 2: with it if that happens.
12:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, when I look back on it, I don't know
12:54
Speaker 1: exactly why it didn't work.
12:57
Speaker 3: Work.
12:57
Speaker 1: I think it was really super close to working. I
13:00
Speaker 1: truly believe had West Virginia beaten pitt in the two
13:06
Speaker 1: last games in Pittsburgh and got either Iowa State or
13:10
Speaker 1: Kansas State this year, that he's still the coach.
13:15
Speaker 3: But I get it.
13:15
Speaker 1: I mean, I understand, and as I look back on it,
13:20
Speaker 1: I think a couple different things, and again not one reason,
13:23
Speaker 1: but just things that didn't help, things that didn't help
13:26
Speaker 1: along the way. You know, everyone had to deal with COVID,
13:32
Speaker 1: but that one absolute dilution of the roster that spring
13:38
Speaker 1: on defense with Mesador and all those others that took
13:43
Speaker 1: off sent them back. Certainly, the vic Coning situation was
13:48
Speaker 1: a setback, and so that hurts you. West Virginia's inability
13:55
Speaker 1: to early on grasp or embrace the NIL space, which
14:03
Speaker 1: eventually cost Shane Lyons's job, right, I mean, Shane was
14:07
Speaker 1: moved out because those that wanted to really go hard
14:13
Speaker 1: after the NIL space and the collective they didn't feel
14:17
Speaker 1: he was doing that, and as a result, that was
14:21
Speaker 1: why that move was made, and that put West Virginia
14:24
Speaker 1: back personnel wise. And I get Shane's thought process on
14:28
Speaker 1: that time. He came from following the rules, and to
14:32
Speaker 1: be quite honest with you, I don't think he could
14:34
Speaker 1: fully grasp that what was going on was going to
14:38
Speaker 1: be allowed to go on, and that slowed West Virginia
14:42
Speaker 1: down in the NIL space. And then we've talked about
14:45
Speaker 1: this a whole bunch, just the overscheduling, and you go
14:49
Speaker 1: back and if you keep old tapes of my stuff,
14:51
Speaker 1: I said the day they were announcing these games, said,
14:54
Speaker 1: you're overscheduled. This was back when Oliver Luck was here,
14:57
Speaker 1: because they had the BCS thing going on. West Virginia
15:00
Speaker 1: is going to play for a national championship. You have
15:02
Speaker 1: to make your non conference schedule more difficult so that
15:05
Speaker 1: you don't get passed over.
15:07
Speaker 3: Well, that didn't work well.
15:09
Speaker 1: West Virginia opens the year four consecutive years against Power
15:14
Speaker 1: four teams, three of those on the road. It was
15:17
Speaker 1: bad scheduling. So you could take four or five more
15:20
Speaker 1: wins that Neil would get against a mid major team,
15:23
Speaker 1: you'd put those on there, but not making excuses, just
15:27
Speaker 1: simply saying those are all little reasons why it didn't
15:29
Speaker 1: work at the level that it needed to work.
15:32
Speaker 3: And then you ended up with this. This is on
15:36
Speaker 3: the whole program, This is on players, and this is
15:38
Speaker 3: on coaches that this season just you were so inconsistent.
15:43
Speaker 3: You just could not you put it together. You put
15:45
Speaker 3: it all together maybe twice, Yeah in this right Welkaoma
15:48
Speaker 3: State and u CEF and just could not could not
15:50
Speaker 3: get every all the pieces going in the same direction.
15:53
Speaker 3: And we love Garrett Green. I mean Garrett Green has
15:57
Speaker 3: I mean he is mountaineer tough. Garrett did not have
16:00
Speaker 3: the kind of season he had last year. And Brad,
16:03
Speaker 3: when your quarterback is he did a lot of great things.
16:07
Speaker 3: When he's not performing at the highest level, it's going
16:10
Speaker 3: to hurt.
16:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I think you can expand that out too.
16:13
Speaker 2: There were some you know, I don't know that the
16:15
Speaker 2: transfer portal was as kind to you this year right
16:17
Speaker 2: as it maybe was last year. And so did you
16:20
Speaker 2: just misevaluate did guys just turn out to not be
16:23
Speaker 2: the performers you thought they were. Injuries played a role
16:25
Speaker 2: in some of those as well. So yeah, as you
16:28
Speaker 2: look at all of those different things, that was certainly
16:30
Speaker 2: certainly one as well. And those are, guys, the things
16:33
Speaker 2: some of you just mentioned there, those are still things
16:35
Speaker 2: moving forward. What's your schedule going to look like in
16:37
Speaker 2: the coming years if I'm a new coach or an
16:39
Speaker 2: agent for a new coach, I'm asking that right near
16:41
Speaker 2: the top of the questions I have for rend Breaker.
16:44
Speaker 2: What's your NIL situation? How does that change when it
16:46
Speaker 2: moves in house? Is that going to be fully funded?
16:49
Speaker 2: What's that fully fund look like is there money outside
16:52
Speaker 2: of that as well? So those are questions moving forward
16:54
Speaker 2: having a handle on what you're doing there, which it
16:57
Speaker 2: felt like West Virginia had come a long way in
16:59
Speaker 2: that area. You know, retained most of the guys last
17:02
Speaker 2: year that you wanted to retain, so it felt like
17:04
Speaker 2: they did have a handle on where the nil and
17:06
Speaker 2: the portal was going. But that's certainly massive moving forward,
17:08
Speaker 2: and guys, that's going to be a huge part of it.
17:10
Speaker 2: Over the next couple of years. You're going to have
17:12
Speaker 2: what is likely a historic rate of replacing guys that
17:16
Speaker 2: have left in terms of numbers. So the two sides
17:19
Speaker 2: of that coin are there's never been a time in
17:20
Speaker 2: history where it's easier to get better quickly because you
17:24
Speaker 2: can go out and add so many players. But that
17:26
Speaker 2: also means you've got to have a pretty high hit
17:29
Speaker 2: rate or you're going to have to look at a
17:30
Speaker 2: couple years of rolling through some big numbers. So that's
17:33
Speaker 2: certainly obviously something to watch is the success in the
17:36
Speaker 2: portal with the next coach.
17:37
Speaker 3: And as Steve Dunlapp, former assistant coach, like to say
17:40
Speaker 3: many many times on our coverage brand, it's hard on
17:43
Speaker 3: some of those positions like offensive line and defensive backfield
17:46
Speaker 3: to integrate a bunch of new guys because there's so.
17:49
Speaker 2: Much going on it is, and that's why I do
17:51
Speaker 2: think moving forward, this still has to have a fairly
17:54
Speaker 2: significant era or area of development within this program. I
17:59
Speaker 2: think again the next couple are going to be portal
18:00
Speaker 2: heavy because I think you're gonna have big numbers to fill,
18:02
Speaker 2: but you've got to still be able to develop. And
18:05
Speaker 2: we saw that with offensive line in particular over the
18:08
Speaker 2: last few years, starting with Zach moving into Wyatt Remac
18:11
Speaker 2: all those young guys that are behind them, that was
18:13
Speaker 2: an area where you were still developing that you weren't
18:16
Speaker 2: necessarily going to the portal. Those were used as areas
18:18
Speaker 2: to fill in. Now you're going to have to keep
18:20
Speaker 2: that here at West Virginia. I think there's no way around.
18:23
Speaker 2: This has to continue to be have some important element
18:26
Speaker 2: of development with it.
18:27
Speaker 3: And Neil Brown had gotten to the point where the
18:29
Speaker 3: retention was pretty good last couple of years, and you
18:32
Speaker 3: saw all the social media traffic from those players once
18:34
Speaker 3: they learned that Neil Brown had been fired. How many
18:37
Speaker 3: of those players bred were reaching out and expressing their support,
18:41
Speaker 3: their affection. You're outright love for Neil Brown. Sure, no question?
18:45
Speaker 1: All right, So where do we go? How long does
18:49
Speaker 1: it take? Signing day on Wednesday? Talk to a guy today,
18:55
Speaker 1: He said, the easy thing to do is to make
18:59
Speaker 1: the fire. The hard thing to do is to make
19:03
Speaker 1: the higher right.
19:06
Speaker 2: It's always the case in college athletics.
19:08
Speaker 1: Always always the case. And in just a moment in
19:12
Speaker 1: my debut of spreads on stats, what now? Yeah, I
19:17
Speaker 1: mean I'm gonna do spreads on stats. You are, Yeah,
19:19
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do.
19:20
Speaker 3: It because spreads on SATs. I mean, he goes pretty deep.
19:24
Speaker 3: He'll be fine, He'll be fine.
19:25
Speaker 1: Okay, I mean I won't go to I don't know
19:28
Speaker 1: if there's any analytics on this stuff, but I'm gonna take.
19:31
Speaker 3: A stat You got a pff some pff references?
19:33
Speaker 1: No, no, no, but I have some numbers that are
19:37
Speaker 1: kind of interesting that I think you're finding this books
19:39
Speaker 1: for today, we're recording on a Monday, which means on
19:42
Speaker 1: Tuesdays at Go Mart's across the state of West Virginia
19:45
Speaker 1: and beyond, those are called triple point Tuesdays. Here in
19:49
Speaker 1: this month of December, all the way to the thirty first,
19:51
Speaker 1: that means anything you get at Gomart on Tuesdays and
19:54
Speaker 1: use your rewards card. They don't go once, they don't
19:58
Speaker 1: go twice, but they triple the points. So you get
20:02
Speaker 1: fifty points to get one hundred and fifty one hundred
20:05
Speaker 1: points to get three hundred. Follow what I'm doing, twenty five,
20:07
Speaker 1: get your seventy five one twenty five. You just do
20:11
Speaker 1: the math triple point Tuesdays at all gomarts with your
20:14
Speaker 1: rewards card. So get that rewards card by downloading it,
20:18
Speaker 1: go to the app whatever you want to do gomart
20:21
Speaker 1: dot com. And they also have that Mary Madness token
20:25
Speaker 1: thing going on through the thirty first It's all kinds
20:28
Speaker 1: of stuff. I mean, Brad at this point in the year,
20:30
Speaker 1: big candy front and center at at go.
20:35
Speaker 2: Mart any I always they're always front and center.
20:38
Speaker 1: I thought, let me also throw this out and hope
20:40
Speaker 1: I don't get criticized for this.
20:41
Speaker 3: Might be jumping ahead a little bit careful.
20:43
Speaker 1: Major announcement about our beer here we go, Connection three
20:47
Speaker 1: oh four coming in the next few weeks.
20:50
Speaker 3: Is that all you're going to say?
20:53
Speaker 2: Right, I'm good, Right, I don't know, I don't know
20:55
Speaker 2: what the announcement is. You're looking at me like I
20:56
Speaker 2: know what the announcement is.
20:58
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know if you're good or not,
20:59
Speaker 3: or if you just promise, which is like that. I
21:01
Speaker 3: saw Groover yesterday. He didn't say anything about it.
21:04
Speaker 1: Groover gets around. Had a conference call with him. He
21:06
Speaker 1: was in New York today at the airport.
21:08
Speaker 3: He was at the Botanic Garden yesterday with his dog.
21:11
Speaker 1: Now he was in LaGuardia this morning when I had
21:13
Speaker 1: a zoom call with him.
21:14
Speaker 3: Huh he gets around, Yeah he does. Did you know
21:17
Speaker 3: he had a dog?
21:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, I call him Michael Vick.
21:23
Speaker 3: I wonder how he has a dog when he's traveled.
21:25
Speaker 1: He watched the dog. He's never holt whatever. The home
21:28
Speaker 1: watches the dog. You got people to watch the Dresch
21:31
Speaker 1: dog watchers out there. Three guys brought to us by Tutors,
21:34
Speaker 1: Biscuit World. Deer Honey still going on, that might meet.
21:38
Speaker 1: You might need a Camo mug like Hoppy totes around
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Speaker 1: with him all of the time. That's right, that camo
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Speaker 1: and for fifteen dollars and ninety nine cents American money.
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Speaker 3: You keep it.
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Speaker 1: It's great, it's camo, it's neat. And every time you
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Speaker 1: go into Way Tutors Biscuit World, all you do is
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Speaker 1: all twenty four ounces, and all it costs is a
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Speaker 1: small coffee. I mean, what the hell more do you
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Speaker 1: want in life?
22:11
Speaker 3: Keeps cold things cold and hot things hot, Tony, But
22:15
Speaker 3: how does it know exactly?
22:18
Speaker 1: All right, I got to update some of my numbers
22:20
Speaker 1: for spreads on Stats.
22:22
Speaker 3: What do you mean right? Well, the show's on, you can't.
22:24
Speaker 1: I know it's going to be a little bit difficult.
22:26
Speaker 2: All right, Well, update, I'll give you a couple.
22:28
Speaker 3: There we go.
22:29
Speaker 2: Since you ask for numbers and you talked about pipe,
22:31
Speaker 2: let's get.
22:31
Speaker 3: Place way away.
22:32
Speaker 1: Time about time out, time out.
22:33
Speaker 3: Let me do this. Let me do this because we're
22:35
Speaker 3: going to get Conley CPA group in here, right, So
22:37
Speaker 3: I checked the numbers. Check the numbers. We'll just go
22:39
Speaker 3: right to the numbers. Let's do that.
22:42
Speaker 1: Just jump into the analytics.
22:44
Speaker 3: Worship of the show Ready.
22:51
Speaker 1: Spreads on Stats is brought to us by Connolly CPA Group.
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Speaker 1: They do provide so much value beyond numbers. Complete serve
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Speaker 1: were you coming and you were laying low on the numbers?
23:28
Speaker 1: You did have numbers.
23:30
Speaker 2: I'm just looking through these. I just find these interesting.
23:32
Speaker 2: And again, as I often say with my disclaimer on
23:35
Speaker 2: this stuff, this is just one resource. On the analytics side,
23:39
Speaker 2: there's a bunch you can go to. I like to
23:40
Speaker 2: use this just as a frame of reference opsy how
23:42
Speaker 2: it backs up what we've seen. I think this first
23:45
Speaker 2: couple of numbers, let's go through some just seasoned grades
23:47
Speaker 2: real quick on how they saw the mountaineer season in
23:50
Speaker 2: some of these areas. But what it does show you
23:52
Speaker 2: is sometimes wins don't follow the analytic performance. So like
23:57
Speaker 2: the if you look at overall grades for the Big Twelve,
24:01
Speaker 2: Kansas comes out as the fourth overall highest grade at
24:04
Speaker 2: five and seven. And I think if you saw them
24:06
Speaker 2: playing late right, you can understand that they got their
24:09
Speaker 2: stuff together, stopped turning it over as much, and you
24:12
Speaker 2: could see why that was a team people thought highly
24:14
Speaker 2: of in the preseason. West Virginia comes in at tenth
24:18
Speaker 2: in the league overall, kind of about right where it
24:20
Speaker 2: finished finished ninth in the league standing, so that had
24:23
Speaker 2: that overall offensively for West Virginia the fifth best grade
24:27
Speaker 2: in the Big Twelve according to PFF. Here's one that
24:30
Speaker 2: was a question before the season that I think played
24:33
Speaker 2: out kind of how a lot of people hypothesize the
24:36
Speaker 2: run offense for West Virginia last year was so dominant
24:39
Speaker 2: and good. It was still very good this year, but
24:41
Speaker 2: ninth in the league, and I think that's a number
24:43
Speaker 2: that bears out kind of what you saw. It was good,
24:46
Speaker 2: but didn't have the dominant nature that you saw last season,
24:49
Speaker 2: which last season's dominant run game led to the success
24:52
Speaker 2: of the pass game as well, and this year that
24:54
Speaker 2: took a step back, which should have been, should have
24:57
Speaker 2: seen coming, given you lost a generational player at SI
25:00
Speaker 2: then another pro in Doug Nester. Defensively, that's where we
25:05
Speaker 2: know a lot of the struggles were for West Virginia
25:09
Speaker 2: this year. They finished twelfth in the league in overall
25:12
Speaker 2: run or overall defensive grade, and a lot of that
25:15
Speaker 2: is helped by the run defensive grade, which was fourth
25:17
Speaker 2: in the league, and that was in start contrast to
25:20
Speaker 2: the coverage grade hop which, as you would imagine, finished
25:23
Speaker 2: sixteenth in the league in terms of grade down with
25:27
Speaker 2: Texas Tech. So those are just some numbers that jump out,
25:31
Speaker 2: probably back up what you saw West Virginia team that
25:34
Speaker 2: was kind of all over the map, consistent for a
25:37
Speaker 2: couple game stretch, but couldn't string it together more than that.
25:39
Speaker 2: And really the story of the season more than anything,
25:42
Speaker 2: just the inconsistency and the struggle to cover and stop
25:45
Speaker 2: the pass is ultimately what Digien this year.
25:48
Speaker 1: All Right, you ready for mine?
25:51
Speaker 3: Yeah?
25:54
Speaker 1: I said earlier that the easy part is to fire
25:57
Speaker 1: a coach. The hard part is to hire a coach
26:01
Speaker 1: that's going to produce what you want. So I went
26:04
Speaker 1: back to twenty nineteen, the year that Neil Brown was hired,
26:10
Speaker 1: and in that year twenty six, I've got twenty six
26:16
Speaker 1: FBS hires the same year that Neil Brown got hired. Okay,
26:22
Speaker 1: twenty six of them. I think there was twenty seven.
26:25
Speaker 1: I think the outlier I don't have is Lane Kiffen
26:30
Speaker 1: if I remember correctly, so I think there may have
26:33
Speaker 1: been twenty seven.
26:35
Speaker 3: Nevertheless, he might have been at two jobs that year.
26:37
Speaker 1: So here's here's the deal. In among the twenty six
26:42
Speaker 1: that we have only one, two, three, four, five, six,
26:48
Speaker 1: Only six as of today are still in their job. Really,
26:53
Speaker 1: only six out of the twenty six. Mike Locksley at
26:57
Speaker 1: Maryland might not be that long, Ryan Day at a
27:00
Speaker 1: Highest State, Tyson Helton at Western Kentucky, Chris Climbing at
27:04
Speaker 1: k State, Thomas Hammock at University of Northern Illinois, and
27:10
Speaker 1: Scott Loffler at Bowling Green Okay, those are the only
27:13
Speaker 1: ones that.
27:13
Speaker 3: Are still there.
27:17
Speaker 1: Locksley Loxley has a losing record right now at.
27:26
Speaker 3: Maryland.
27:27
Speaker 1: Loxley comes in with a thirty two and thirty six record.
27:32
Speaker 1: Thomas Hammock at Northern Illinois is thirty one and thirty eight.
27:36
Speaker 1: He's seven under five hundred. Scott Loffler at Bowling Green
27:40
Speaker 1: is thirteen games under five hundred. He's twenty seven and
27:43
Speaker 1: forty now doing extremely well with the exception of this
27:46
Speaker 1: weekend and against Michigan is Ryan Day.
27:50
Speaker 3: But he's lost the biggest fide.
27:52
Speaker 1: I'm just telling you, Chris Cleman has done extremely well
27:57
Speaker 1: replacing a legend at Kansas State.
27:59
Speaker 3: But that that's it.
28:00
Speaker 1: Those are the guys. Locksley Day, Helton, Climb, and Hammock left.
28:03
Speaker 1: Loeffler are the six coaches that are still on their
28:07
Speaker 1: job that were hired in nineteen. Now four coaches left
28:12
Speaker 1: to other jobs since nineteen Scott Sadderfield went from Lewisville
28:18
Speaker 1: to Cincinnata, but.
28:21
Speaker 3: Was probably going to get fired before he took that.
28:24
Speaker 1: John Eli Drinkwitz left for Missouri, worked out well for him.
28:31
Speaker 1: Hubert Freeze went from Liberty to Auburn, and Jeremy Chadwell
28:39
Speaker 1: went from Coastal Carolina. James Johns I say, Jamie, I'm sorry.
28:43
Speaker 1: Jamie Chadwell left from Coast Carolina left for Liberty. Now,
28:48
Speaker 1: so fifteen percent of those hired in nineteen left, Okay. Now,
28:56
Speaker 1: the number of coaches that were fired in that class
29:00
Speaker 1: of twenty six one, two, three, four, five, six seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, Wow,
29:10
Speaker 1: have been fired. So twenty three percent are still there,
29:14
Speaker 1: fifteen percent left, sixty one percent got fired, sixty one percent, which, no,
29:23
Speaker 1: this is anecdotal, not.
29:25
Speaker 3: What do you say scientific anycdotal not scientific.
29:27
Speaker 1: But basically that's what I kind of thought. The number
29:29
Speaker 1: in my head was, you have a forty sixty cent
29:32
Speaker 1: You have a forty sixty chance of hiring the right guy.
29:36
Speaker 1: I had that number of Matt, I thought it was
29:38
Speaker 1: forty five percent. I wasn't gonna say you got a
29:40
Speaker 1: fifty to fifty chance that it's gonna work. I think
29:43
Speaker 1: this is more. It's less than fifty percent that you're gonna.
29:46
Speaker 3: Have, which it's it's even Those are fascinating numbers to
29:49
Speaker 3: any it's in one respect it's even less because if
29:52
Speaker 3: the coach leaves, it's to take another job. It's a
29:55
Speaker 3: set back. So really, with twenty three percent, you only
29:57
Speaker 3: have a one in four chance, yeah, of hiring somebody
30:01
Speaker 3: who's still there and running a successful program all some
30:04
Speaker 3: years that you.
30:05
Speaker 2: Got to redefine successful. You just listed some of those
30:07
Speaker 2: guys that are still there that are below five hundred. Yeah,
30:10
Speaker 2: so one's it's less than forty percent.
30:13
Speaker 1: Right, Three of three of them, Bryan Day, Chris Climbing,
30:18
Speaker 1: and Tyson Helton are the only three that have winning
30:21
Speaker 1: records that are still there. The other three have losing records.
30:23
Speaker 2: Are still and how many FBS, So Tyson Hilton is
30:27
Speaker 2: not I'm sorry not FBS power.
30:29
Speaker 1: Four of the Power four, Ryan Day and Chris Climbing.
30:33
Speaker 3: That's it.
30:34
Speaker 2: Two two out of the twenty six.
30:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, are still there or have a winning record that
30:39
Speaker 1: are still there.
30:39
Speaker 3: Let me divide that at equals, So that's it. That's
30:43
Speaker 3: an eight percent chance. Yeah, an eight eight only eight percent. Now,
30:48
Speaker 3: let me tell you who got fired? Okay, in this group,
30:51
Speaker 3: am I doing all right on this year? Like this
30:53
Speaker 3: doing fantastic? Because he very interevating, I might be like
30:56
Speaker 3: pinch hitter sometimes maybe it's very relevant.
30:59
Speaker 1: Sixty one percent. Some of these dudes got fired. Mac Brown,
31:04
Speaker 1: Jim mcelwaine at Central Michigan. He quote unquote retired.
31:09
Speaker 3: He got fired.
31:10
Speaker 1: He was thirty three and thirty six. He retired and
31:12
Speaker 1: then immediately got a job the next year as an assistant.
31:15
Speaker 1: Will Healey fired at Charlotte Neil Here Gary Anderson Utah State,
31:21
Speaker 1: Jeff Collins Georgia Tech, Mike Houston East Carolina, Melvin Tucker
31:26
Speaker 1: at Colorado, Matt Wells at Texas Tech, Dana Holgerson at Houston,
31:32
Speaker 1: Manny Diaz at Miami, Lester Miles at Kansas, Jake Spavatall
31:39
Speaker 1: at Texas State, Chip Lindsay at Troy, Walt Bell at UMass,
31:44
Speaker 1: Tom Arth at Akron.
31:46
Speaker 2: So, I think there's only one trying to do that.
31:48
Speaker 2: As you were going down, Manny Diaz the only one
31:50
Speaker 2: that got another head coaching job there, I think.
31:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, as far as head coaching coaching.
31:56
Speaker 3: Job, he's back at Duke.
31:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, after taking his stint as coordinator, he's back at
32:00
Speaker 2: a head job. I think that's the only one there.
32:03
Speaker 3: That's Should that be qualified? Should there be a variance
32:08
Speaker 3: there of programs that are just bad programs? No?
32:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean you could do that.
32:14
Speaker 3: You could.
32:14
Speaker 1: You could hyper the thing down. I'm just saying, and
32:17
Speaker 1: it would be worth if we had like jumping Jack
32:20
Speaker 1: our intern.
32:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, we could get him one, then we could.
32:23
Speaker 1: I'd like to take a look. Let's do it over
32:25
Speaker 1: the last Let's let's do not only this year, which
32:27
Speaker 1: was nineteen Let's do it for like a bunch of years.
32:30
Speaker 1: Let's do it for five or six years and see
32:32
Speaker 1: where the thing goes.
32:34
Speaker 3: That's a that's those are really those are compelling statistics, Tony.
32:38
Speaker 1: I just wanted to look at it because I wanted
32:39
Speaker 1: to see because again, you know we're talking about you
32:42
Speaker 1: guys were talking earlier. Does it matter if it's a fit. No,
32:47
Speaker 1: I think it could be a block of salt. It
32:51
Speaker 1: could be a block of salt if you just push
32:53
Speaker 1: the block of salt out out of the sideline. On
32:55
Speaker 1: when as I say, yep, that's why that's the head
32:57
Speaker 1: coach and we're gonna win that, people say, man, that's great.
33:00
Speaker 3: Just win.
33:01
Speaker 1: That's where we are.
33:03
Speaker 3: Just win.
33:03
Speaker 1: Doesn't matter if you're a nice guy, doesn't matter if
33:05
Speaker 1: you're a bad guy. For the most part, go ahead,
33:09
Speaker 1: if you can win. That's all you want to do.
33:11
Speaker 3: Just win.
33:11
Speaker 2: I think the biggest challenge and those numbers back that up.
33:14
Speaker 2: The biggest challenge when it comes to football. It's such
33:16
Speaker 2: a massive organization you're trying to run and manage that.
33:20
Speaker 2: It's that's the thing, right, the hit rate. You can
33:23
Speaker 2: get a list of guys that you think can X
33:25
Speaker 2: and O pretty well, but then trying to draw out
33:27
Speaker 2: that management that's so much different in football than other sports.
33:30
Speaker 2: And I think that's the biggest challenge with this job.
33:32
Speaker 2: I think you can go down the list and find
33:34
Speaker 2: a bunch of guys that can X and O really well.
33:36
Speaker 2: It's just their ability to translate that on an X
33:39
Speaker 2: and O job into man's It's really not, especially at
33:42
Speaker 2: this level with the staff size the way it is,
33:44
Speaker 2: and the other responsible.
33:45
Speaker 3: Dana is an excellent.
33:46
Speaker 1: Ana's a great X and O guy. Dena's going to
33:49
Speaker 1: do fine if you just if he wants to settle
33:51
Speaker 1: in at Nebraska and be an X and O guy,
33:54
Speaker 1: But chances are he just wants to get his brand
33:58
Speaker 1: back up and become a head coach again. Head coaches
34:01
Speaker 1: in college football they are CEOs, and a lot of
34:05
Speaker 1: times those guys miss the actual X and O aspect.
34:09
Speaker 1: If your strength is more of management than chances are
34:13
Speaker 1: you will be a better head coach.
34:15
Speaker 3: All right, So what do you want? So what does
34:17
Speaker 3: West Virginia want? A winner? All your stands? One do
34:21
Speaker 3: you want? Do you want somebody who has proven X
34:23
Speaker 3: and o's particularly offensively? Brad?
34:28
Speaker 2: This is this is a critical question.
34:29
Speaker 3: Is it.
34:30
Speaker 2: You've gone offense on each of the last two hires.
34:34
Speaker 2: Do you do you swing the other way and look
34:36
Speaker 2: for defense in this that's that's been a less popular
34:39
Speaker 2: route to hire over the last few years. Defense the
34:42
Speaker 2: rules have shifted more to the offensive side of things,
34:45
Speaker 2: so you haven't seen many do that. It's a great
34:48
Speaker 2: question because I think in basketball, and I think you're
34:50
Speaker 2: seeing this at West Virginia, Darren's an excellent X and
34:53
Speaker 2: O coach, and I think you can still do that
34:55
Speaker 2: more on the basketball side than you can on the
34:57
Speaker 2: football side.
34:58
Speaker 1: Mm hmm, yeah, can because in basketball you're not managing
35:03
Speaker 1: like there's literally, like, isn't there seventy people on the
35:05
Speaker 1: football staff if not more, Yeah, there's like seventy plus
35:09
Speaker 1: people doing some form of work on your I mean
35:12
Speaker 1: you're managing ultimately, you're managing those people. And so to me,
35:18
Speaker 1: I don't care if it's an offensive person, a defensive person,
35:21
Speaker 1: a special teams person. Tell me a person that can
35:24
Speaker 1: communicate and can manage, right, They're not going to get
35:29
Speaker 1: to this level unless unless they know x's and o's
35:32
Speaker 1: and they surround themselves with people that are smarter than
35:34
Speaker 1: they are. In those particular areas you're gonna be fine.
35:37
Speaker 2: But it's why when you look at the profile of
35:39
Speaker 2: who you're going to go talk to. I think this
35:41
Speaker 2: is where it gets really interesting because there will be
35:43
Speaker 2: some coordinators that Ren will talk to right as you
35:46
Speaker 2: would offense and defensive side of things. You're taking a
35:49
Speaker 2: gamble there. You'm not seeing those folks manage at this level.
35:52
Speaker 2: That's hard to see around the corner with those usually.
35:56
Speaker 2: So that's one group you're going to see another group
35:58
Speaker 2: of the Neil Brown type of resume. But what I
36:01
Speaker 2: think is interesting, I don't think they'll have as good
36:02
Speaker 2: a resume is what Neil Brown came in with three
36:05
Speaker 2: straight eleven win seasons. I'm not sure as anybody out
36:07
Speaker 2: there that has that kind of resume. So again, you're
36:09
Speaker 2: trying to see around the corner a little bit and
36:11
Speaker 2: your elevation up to the power flour. Then there's going
36:14
Speaker 2: to be the third bucket of coaches that have done
36:16
Speaker 2: it at the power flour level but didn't necessarily have
36:19
Speaker 2: the success that you would want, or they would still
36:22
Speaker 2: be in those jobs, but maybe they've gained extra perspective,
36:26
Speaker 2: be it out of coaching for a while and seeing
36:28
Speaker 2: things differently, having some time to digest how you would
36:31
Speaker 2: do it differently, or dropping down to a smaller school
36:34
Speaker 2: and having success and seeing it so on those you're
36:37
Speaker 2: trying to project, Okay, it didn't go like you wanted
36:39
Speaker 2: it to at your last power four stop. Are you
36:42
Speaker 2: a better coach now? Can you do things better now
36:44
Speaker 2: than you did before? What got you fired at the
36:47
Speaker 2: last job?
36:47
Speaker 3: And are those.
36:48
Speaker 2: Fixable things that you can do here? That's why this
36:51
Speaker 2: is such a tough process to hire.
36:52
Speaker 3: Yes, So.
36:55
Speaker 1: Don Nielan fit support. That's a category. Don Nielan was
36:59
Speaker 1: a head coach and they squeezed him at Bowling Green.
37:04
Speaker 1: He's in there literally teaching classes. His staff was teaching classes.
37:07
Speaker 1: He couldn't get what he needed and they expected more,
37:11
Speaker 1: and so they fired don Neelon. They fired Donneeling and
37:14
Speaker 1: he goes to Michigan and he gets that big perspective
37:18
Speaker 1: picture of how bo Schembeckler was doing things, and then
37:21
Speaker 1: he gets that next opportunity and he goes just like
37:23
Speaker 1: you said, like he got that new institute, that new
37:26
Speaker 1: intellectual property, comes here and says, basically, we're gonna be Michigan.
37:29
Speaker 1: This is what we're gonna do in uniforms almost look
37:30
Speaker 1: exactly like Michigan was gonna do that. A little stripe
37:32
Speaker 1: here and there, We're all good. I'm gonna do this
37:35
Speaker 1: thing like Bo did and Duyt Perry who who we
37:38
Speaker 1: learned for?
37:38
Speaker 3: Right?
37:39
Speaker 1: And so you have those guys or uh, you know
37:43
Speaker 1: you want to you could put your mark out there,
37:46
Speaker 1: maybe a displaced coach whose conference has suddenly blown up
37:51
Speaker 1: around them that goes like, this isn't the league I
37:55
Speaker 1: thought I was coaching in anymore. I might want to,
37:58
Speaker 1: you know, make that move. Who's been successful? You mentioned
38:02
Speaker 1: guys that are out right now. You see Dan Mullen
38:06
Speaker 1: on TV each weekend, like he might be all going like,
38:10
Speaker 1: I want to do this again, And okay, I'm kind
38:14
Speaker 1: of sitting back her hold and holding if I get
38:16
Speaker 1: a chance again. If I get a chance, there's what
38:18
Speaker 1: I do different is what I'm gonna do.
38:20
Speaker 2: I I think that can there can be some learning
38:23
Speaker 2: that comes from that process. I think one of the
38:24
Speaker 2: other things that I would be looking for is somebody
38:27
Speaker 2: that has done it at a similar school. So while
38:30
Speaker 2: I don't I don't believe in fit like I once did,
38:33
Speaker 2: I do believe that I don't know that you can
38:36
Speaker 2: just take a guy that's only been at really high
38:38
Speaker 2: level places that got the best players and work with that.
38:41
Speaker 2: I think it has to be somebody that understands the
38:43
Speaker 2: challenges here, either having been an assistant at something that
38:47
Speaker 2: a place that looks like West Virginia does and what
38:49
Speaker 2: its challenges are, or has been a head coach at
38:51
Speaker 2: those places. I think that part of fit does still matter.
38:55
Speaker 2: I think you have to be able to recognize what
38:57
Speaker 2: the challenges are here, in meaning you're gonna have to
39:00
Speaker 2: go to other states to recruit the bulkier players. The
39:03
Speaker 2: NIL money is not going to be what it is
39:05
Speaker 2: at a top tier SEC program. Can you have you
39:08
Speaker 2: shown success in those type of situations before? I do
39:11
Speaker 2: think that that matters in particular.
39:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, So if you can find someone that's had to
39:16
Speaker 1: do it the hard way. Darren Devrees is another example,
39:19
Speaker 1: Like Drake is not a basketball factory with great tradition,
39:22
Speaker 1: so he went he did it hard, right, he did
39:24
Speaker 1: it hard. I'll give you a name, Jeff Monkin, who's
39:27
Speaker 1: the coach at Army. You think there might be a
39:29
Speaker 1: harder place to recruit than Army, Like guys like that,
39:34
Speaker 1: guys where it's always hard. So you don't get here
39:37
Speaker 1: and start complaining instantly go like there's no players in
39:40
Speaker 1: the state. Well, yeah, you got to go out. This
39:43
Speaker 1: is a good job. This is a really really hard job.
39:46
Speaker 1: And if you don't think this is a really really
39:47
Speaker 1: hard job, you're wrong. And any coach that's been here
39:50
Speaker 1: from Don Niel and on, and you can go back
39:51
Speaker 1: to Frank Signetti as well, they'd say like, it's a
39:54
Speaker 1: good job. Fans care, there's passionate fans, but it's a
39:57
Speaker 1: hard job. If you come in and think like it's
39:59
Speaker 1: not hard, you will be. You will be really really
40:03
Speaker 1: disappointed because it's hard. You know, that Texas tech job.
40:06
Speaker 1: They have like eighty players from Texas. Dude, they got
40:10
Speaker 1: more fricking money than they know what to do with.
40:13
Speaker 1: They got I mean, I'm talking to those guys there Saturday.
40:15
Speaker 3: They got money.
40:16
Speaker 1: They got money, dude, oil money, like big oil money.
40:23
Speaker 1: They just finished their end zones two hundred and forty dollars.
40:28
Speaker 3: Wow.
40:29
Speaker 1: And they just put people's names on it, like there's
40:32
Speaker 1: Hoppy Kurds for that. That's a big thing in Texas.
40:35
Speaker 3: Man.
40:35
Speaker 1: TCU did it. They had their founders, everyone put it in.
40:39
Speaker 1: They had it built before they had it, paid for
40:40
Speaker 1: it before they built it. Oil money is real, real
40:47
Speaker 1: and the guys that give it Texas Tech are young guys.
40:50
Speaker 2: They're not old.
40:51
Speaker 1: Their guy like Cody Campbell, he played there, his name's
40:55
Speaker 1: on the stadium. He's a young guy that hit it.
40:58
Speaker 3: So so given that and given where we are now
41:01
Speaker 3: in the current environment, so can West Virginia not be
41:03
Speaker 3: on a Texas Tech level?
41:05
Speaker 1: Yeah they can, Yeah, you can.
41:08
Speaker 3: You can.
41:09
Speaker 1: West Virginia got beat by one team this year that
41:11
Speaker 1: spent less money in nil Iowa state. Yeah, one team
41:17
Speaker 1: beat them, that's spent less. Texas Tech got big money
41:20
Speaker 1: and that's nil. But that doesn't concern me as much
41:24
Speaker 1: as it used to because I think as the collective
41:28
Speaker 1: comes inside and I think the university as a whole
41:31
Speaker 1: understands and gets it. In this new world of revenue sharing,
41:34
Speaker 1: I think West Virginia will be okay, I truly do.
41:38
Speaker 1: I don't think it's going to be.
41:41
Speaker 2: I do think that that's a major that's a major
41:43
Speaker 2: factor moving forward. Having having the institution's resources at your
41:48
Speaker 2: at your ready, having the ability to pool those resources,
41:53
Speaker 2: I think does provide an advantage moving forward, and especially
41:56
Speaker 2: in this League where you're competing with. Yeah, I know
42:00
Speaker 2: there's individual donors at a lot of these places that
42:02
Speaker 2: are different, but collectively your budgets are in a similar spot.
42:06
Speaker 3: Yes, and Rin Baker going to the Board of governors,
42:12
Speaker 3: going to the academic side, saying we need help that
42:16
Speaker 3: football and basketball are the face of this university nationally.
42:22
Speaker 3: They are a recruitment tool for the university, and we
42:28
Speaker 3: need some help. We need some help, whether it's on
42:31
Speaker 3: the scholarships or the rent they pay for the college,
42:35
Speaker 3: whatever they do. They're going to be looking for some
42:37
Speaker 3: help from that side.
42:38
Speaker 1: And I think the university gets it. They know what,
42:40
Speaker 1: they realize it for all the reasons you just said.
42:44
Speaker 1: I saw a stat out there today. The last decade,
42:46
Speaker 1: Clemson's applications to its school have increased ninety percent. Yeah,
42:51
Speaker 1: because as its football program became a brand, and Gordon.
42:54
Speaker 3: Gee gets it. I understand. I know that Gordon Gee
42:56
Speaker 3: gets it. But Gordon Gee's going to Beround for seven
42:58
Speaker 3: more months. So the next hire is pretty critical on
43:02
Speaker 3: that front. TiO.
43:03
Speaker 1: It is, but I think the board of governors who
43:05
Speaker 1: make that hire also know it, and I think the
43:07
Speaker 1: next president will also have to have those that understanding.
43:10
Speaker 1: If you don't, he's probably not. That person's probably not
43:13
Speaker 1: the president you got to be if you want to
43:16
Speaker 1: play in this league. Right right, all right, we've done
43:20
Speaker 1: enough damage shows.
43:22
Speaker 3: Just keep on coming. Another one to spread.
43:24
Speaker 1: Now, Listen, I'm gonna seed my spreads on stats that
43:28
Speaker 1: status for Thursday. Now, do you think you'll be able
43:30
Speaker 1: to come up with some numbers on Thursday? For those
43:32
Speaker 1: Georgetown hoyas.
43:33
Speaker 3: I'll have a couple. Boy, that was really good there, Tony.
43:35
Speaker 3: I enjoyed then. That was that was very relevant. Just
43:38
Speaker 3: like I'll hire another coach, Go get another coach, easy, Brad,
43:41
Speaker 3: it's hard, Frond, somebody, it's hard. It's hard. It's hard.
43:45
Speaker 1: Hopefully it works, we'll find out. Three guys has been
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Speaker 1: CPA Group providing value beyond numbers. That will conclude this
44:24
Speaker 1: portion of three guys before the game. We're back on
44:27
Speaker 1: Thursday to preview Georgetown and obviously we might have a
44:30
Speaker 1: trickle or too. Well, we'll know what recruiting does, we'll
44:32
Speaker 1: see what the signing classes on Wednesday.
44:37
Speaker 3: Here we go, We're out. See you