Jason, how are you good? Rocket? You son good?
So I am fond of saying Jason that there's really only two storylines in college football. One is who's gonna make the college football playoff? And number two is which coaches are getting fired, who's getting hired, where are they going?
Who's getting hired? And two of you who's getting fired? H yeah, yeah, I combined that into one.
But that that has dominated the news cycle certainly this weekend with you know, Lane Kiffin, is he gonna go?
Is he gonna stay?
He eventually goes in a very very messy way here locally, Mark Stoops was just fired the head coach of Kentucky for the last thirteen years. That guy's a good coach man, very good coach. Penn State's still looking for a coach. They're the first ones to fire their coach and they
still don't have one, which is interesting. But to discuss all this, I want to bring on someone who I think does a great job following all this stuff, and I know has an opinion on the one, the only Richard Skinner from Local twelve, Skinny, how are you good?
Guys? How are you?
Thanks? Good?
First, let's get your thoughts on Kiffin. Yeah, there's two ways of looking at it. Number one is it's the system, right, and the system is what makes allows a coach to be able to switch schools before the season is over. And if he wants to get the job, and you got to recruit the kids, he's got to give them the job.
Now.
The other side is, God, you're already a team that is going to play for the College Football Playoff. What was your thoughts on the exit of Kiffin.
Yeah, listen, there somehow has to be a way to change the calendar for all this, to change the calendar of the portal, to change the calendar the coaching situations that like, you can't make a higher until change until until your team is eliminated, whatever, until a team you're looking for the coach is eliminated, and then the portal
calendar doesn't start until after the college Football Playoff. I know you can argue you're trying to get some kids maybe in school for a second semester which starts in January, but really you're getting a kid for the next season, and the next season doesn't start until after that next semester. It doesn't start until the August semester. Again. I know
they're early enrollies anymore. I mean, kids graduate high school, try to graduate high school early in December to be able to go and roll and get to a spring practice. Enough of that, just change. Changing the calendar can't be that hard. It just can't be.
I agree.
But the question is I always go back to, then, why hasn't changed you, I Jason, everybody says this system is broken, how come no one will fix it?
That's a great question. It's the same thing with I mean, bowl games have been rendered so meaningless. I mean, listen as a as a Kentucky graduate, and I know we're gonna talk Mark stops in a dead and a Kentucky football fan. Them making a Bowl has always been a big deal to me, because that's about the best you're gonna do, right, I mean, you're not gonna compete for national so maybe you do one day. Indiana is certainly doing it now, but that was always a big deal.
In the last couple of times they've done it, they started like a fifth string quarterback one year because the injuries and guys who opted out, And now you see that across the board, all these bowl games of guys opting out because they're entering the transfer portal. And I don't blame the kids. I don't want to this sound like that. This is not a blame on them. You're trying to get a head start to your next payday.
I get all that, We're all we've all been there from a job standpoint on listen, I want my next best payday. We all do. But you can fix this by changing the calendar on this. I don't know why it's that hard, Like, let's wait until literally the day after the National Championship game, which is you know, middish January. Why is that so hard? And yes, I know, kids,
then probably can enroll for the winner semester. Too bad, you can roll in for the next August or whatever and still can go through summer practice.
No, I agree.
And then you throw on top of the broken brokenness of all this, guys, is that just these crazy buyouts? I mean, Mark Stoop's a getting thirty seven thirty seven million dollars in a buyout hockey coach, Yep, yep. When you really dig down into that part of it, too, you're just like this is like some alt reality here, like you you're able to just whack a guy and you just write him a check. I mean for thirty seven million dollars would they pay James Franklin fire him
in the middle of the season. What there was r Kelly was fifty Hell that's what I'm thinking of. And it's just like and they just do it. It's find the money. Yeah, it's hard to get your arms around about how just where to even start to fix all this?
Yeah, a little bit. The only difference for Brian or for James Franklin was there is offset language where he got hired at Virginia Tech. So whatever he makes in Virginia Tech does come off to buy out from Penn State Mark soops doesn't have that language. They literally and that's what was negotiated. I don't know the negotiation where it wound up, but he was literally due thirty seven million dollars in a lump sum sixty days after his termination.
They discussed last night. I have not seen the details of this yet. I don't even know what's been reported. I'm guessing they've found a way to do that installments, which is an easier way to go to your boosters and go, yeah, I don't need thirty seven million.
Now they did, I think it was reported.
Do you agree to like take it in installments instead of yeah, yeah, could have taken on in the next thirty days or something.
Correct, Yeah, no, city, Well he could have, but it was sixty days. Was the determination you had to pay him that amount. And that's support to me that I don't understand. You know, there's no coach valuable enough to where, man, we can't lose him, and we got to put this big But coach, I don't want to say their diamond does. And that's not fair, that's not right. It's not but coaching. There's a lot of competent coaches in this world who give him in the chance can do a really good job.
Just because you have a guy that you believe in doesn't mean you go, well, gosh, if he leaves, we're done. No, you're probably not. I mean, this is not the days of Bear Bryant, where the old saying was he can take his in and beat urine, and he can take yurin and beat his And it's not that way. It's the Jimmy's and the Joe's. It's it's a I l anymore. I think Ryan Day is a great football coach. Anybody thinks other wies it's crazy. But Ryan Day has a
roster that's been paid for. It's not a knock, it's the day. It's where we are. That's where the money should go. And listen, if a coach wants to leave because of that or you have to fire him, you shouldn't be beholding the pay these buyouts. You simply just say, here's your contract, man, and in the last year of your contract, before you are last year, if we want to renegotiate it, re up it, we'll do it. But the buyout is this and it's minimum. And if you
don't like it, go walk. I mean, Kentucky was so scared about Mark Stoops going to Texas A and M they negotiated this ridiculous spot. You know what, Kentucky football is gonna win anywhere from five to nine games, and he won ten twice. And kudos to him because he's the only coach in school history ever win ten games twice in his career. And again he deserves all the credit in the world for that. Although he didn't catch the end, that's part of the sec and a downcycle
live here there. He won ten games twice. He deserves all the credits for that. But you know what if he'd left for Texas A and m okay, go to the next guy, it's not that hard.
Yeah, But again it makes you wonder why these ads and presidents are so scared and scare of the power of these agents, of the of the Jimmy sexons in the world that say, no, you're gonna you're gonna agree to this long term buyout clause or our guy isn't coming. It's gonna take some strong person, some strong ad, to say if that's the case, then then then go fly a kite.
We'll hire the next guy.
Something's got to be done to break that that that barrier down of the buyos, because that system is not sustainable.
You can't be paying you.
Know, ten twenty thirty forty million dollars every three or four years to buy out a coach's contract.
You can't. You just can't do it.
I mean, I mean look real quickly, I mean look at Lane Kiffin for example. And I think Lane's a good coach. I think anybody that's reasonable thinks Lane's a good coach. What's Lane won? I mean, he won a national championship? Did he win anything in the NFL, and I know he was saddled to Marcus Ross so on his fall. So you're taking a guy who's not a complete proving like big time winner and and winning with that. I like Brian Kelly, what is Brian Kelly? Wont he
got to a national championship? Okay? Great? And what does he want? And yet LSU went out on a complete lim for him with a giant buyout and you I just your most I don't understand how anybody. I can't understand how bord of trustees sign off all means either like you're holding to this deal and oh well we're on the hook for it. Yeah we gotta pay this. No, you don't stop doing it.
I think what it is skinny is as much as we like to say this system isn't sustainable, it is. And how colleges operate, they operate under a totally unrealistic set of parameters.
Usually there's a bottom line.
And here's your budget, here's how much money you have, and there's no like golden parachute out there. But these colleges that they know in the back of their mind, these board of trustees, these ads, they know, you know, what if it really came down to it. We can call Jason Williams and John Williams and Richard Skinner and say, look, man, we need five we need five million bucks.
And they give it to them. And so they always know in the back.
Of their head there's that bailout form. So that's why they of these things up front. And it's completely ruining the whole deal.
It is totally.
The other thing, too, is in on the on the flip side of this, you've got you've got U see and you look at a place like you see that is being patient with the guy. You know, you had Michigan State which pulled the pulled the plug out in their coach after two seasons.
It says.
The whole thing is really I don't envy in any athletic director or whatever school they're at in FBS football, because you know, you try to balance like, you know, the just how patient should you be versus you know,
it's a whole it's a total judgment call. And then you throw in the money and I don't know, but then you got all this pressure of you know, the social media world that doesn't really maybe influence the money, but it's it's a it's a trendy thing right now to pull the plug on your coach really quickly and when you're not doing it, well, what's wrong with you? And I feel like that's probably what's going on at U see right now.
Yeah. No, I mean if it used to be coaches, you know, would get the five year contract, right, you want to get a whole recruiting class through, including like they'd red shirt guys along the way. So and that was always pretty fair, right, You get yourself your first class and you get to see them through and if you don't get it done by then, well then you
just didn't get it done. But now it's literally the chass point John Smith Michigan State, who took over for the disgrace Mel Tucker, who they got lucky to get out from under the guaranteed Remember they were guaranteeing him I think seventy five mil. And somehow they got out of it because they got a chance of fireing with for cause they were lucky in that regard. And then they get John Smith. He did really good things up up in Oregon State and didn't do quite enough fast
enough at Michigan State. And how he goes it's the cycles crazy.
It's crazy and I feel like every school, and I guess good for you.
You always think that you can win it, but the reality is there's probably like one hundred and twenty eight schools that are never gonna win it. They're never gonna win it. All right, it's gonna come down to about ten. And I always wonder this too, guys, like, at what point does the school go, Okay, we got we got to pay a buy out to a coach, we got to pay the new coach, we got to raise twenty million dollars in and I'll.
Pay a roster.
At what point does even if you win a national title, at what point is it not worth it? What point does it cost you money and it's not actually worth it on a bottom line, on a on a spreadsheet to win a national title?
Great, great question, that great question.
Yeah, it really is a great question. Hey, listen, I'll go back to the whole, this whole and I the whole Jimmy's and Joe things is a big deal. I think Signetty's great. He'll tell you he's great, right, Yeah, just go google me. I win. But Mark Cuban's got money in that program. Mark Cuban's got a lot of money. Right again, this is not a not I don't want this to sound like a knock. This is where we are today, Texas Tech. I think Jillian McGuire is a
great coach, he's got great culture. They play the game the right way. I love watching them play. Actually, they do everything I really need afactor. Yeah correct, I mean that's just it. I mean you can look to it those and go, oh yeah, there's the money train right there. Okay, thanks, Yeah, we're good. I mean that's that's what it is. Go build your loster and I'll get Joe Schmow to go coach you.
Yeah.
There's so many issues with college football, and it's amazing how popular it is, and there's such drama, there's such interest in it. You wonder, at what point does do people say, come on, we got a coach. A coach on a playoff team is leaving his We always, we always did.
Play the hypothetic.
What happens if there's a player that decides to opt out of a out out of a playoff game because he wants to go to the NFL.
Well, we haven't seen that yet, but we've seen a coach do it.
It's wild but everybody that the problem is. I don't know if you agree, but you know, everybody has their own. There's like too many chiefs. There's not one singular chief and head of college football. If you're Greg Sanke and you're in charge of the SEC, you're the commissioner. You only care about the SEC. You don't care about the viability of the Big Ten. You don't care at all.
But sometimes if you look back at the history of like the NFL AFL merger, it was the acquis it was the act weesk Eno of you know what, let's do what's best for your greater NFL instead of what you get and what you get. But until some of these powerful people are are able to be kind of put in their place and say, look, you might have to take a depth. It might not be exactly best for the SEC, but it's best for all of college football, and so you can somehow make that happen.
I think we're going to be having these kinds of conversations.
Yeah, I'll leave you with this. I mean back to your point about what where's the breaking point? I guess I'm not there either, Because boys, I got up early Saturday morning and it was cold outside, and my front yard is I got two oak trees. I got leaves all over the place. I spent three hours raking leaves so I could come in at noon to watch the Kentucky game and to watch the Ohio State game. And I laid on my couch watching football until almost midnight, breaking for a.
Meal at one point to go to the bathroom too.
I did, I did, I got it. I got up a couple of times. Do that maybe make a drink or two? But yes, I mean I just was like, okay, the news were over. Now the street thorties, oh cool, got down comes Alabama Auburn. It's just house football.
The sickness, it is absolutely all three of us have its. Yeah, agreed, Well, Skinny, this has been great man. I really appreciate you. Well, I'm sure maybe we'll talk to you get on Friday. But the great stuff. And if folks want to find out, you know, any anything you have going on Local twelve, where can I tune in at?
Yeah, just go to Local twelve dot com, slash sports, or you can hit me up on the expers at at Local twill skiing.
You got your best, Skinny. Thanks, thanks Bob.
Thanks yep.
All right, So yeah, there you go, and we'll continue to talk about this throughout the show. But right now, let's go ahead and check some traffic and weather.
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