It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thorntons on Sports Talk seven nine day. Now here's Nick coffee.
All right, as we get the four o'clock hours started, I will let you know some news that you may are already be aware of, if not plan accordingly, The Governor's Cup game next week when the Cats host Louisville, hopefully the streak comes to an end. But I mean, I don't have the energy to really even talk about that matchup today. I mean I could if I really, you know, tried, but you know, I don't want to
think about that game. Although the way in which you lost to Stanford makes it to where like hard to imagine something making you feel worse than that, But you know, the rivalry that's different. That's a loss or a win where the emotional impact you get rather a be negative or positive, is a little bit stronger than most games. But anyways, it's gonna kick off at now no surprise, not exactly a big time game for any network. So
noon in Lexington next Saturday. Louisville against pitt this Saturday, their final home game of the season, Senior Day.
That'll kick off at four o'clock.
So we'll have you covered for both of those games, of course, like we always do. So at three o'clock we'll get our pregame show started, of course against Pittsburgh, presented by Pellow Windows and Doors of Central Kentucky and Jefferson Animal Hospital, and then as soon as it ends, we'll react to whatever it is that happens coming up here on Saturday in the Louisville Football Post Games show for said a by Alex Rwright Lawyers, Sue Distracted Driver dot Com.
So realcoie.
Before we dive back in here, I asked earlier, you know, I think I might have just mentioned earlier when it comes to like the worst upsets of all time, we ran through the worst losses that they've had as far as where they were favored by a lot of points and lost outright, this is the fifth worst upset when it comes to that kind of stuff. And I said, look, it really just depends on I mean, there's no way to prove what is in fact the worst loss of
all time. That's all dependent upon each individual and how they see it. But somebody did send in a picture on the text line of the visitors side at Stanford, and it looks almost like a home game. I mean, it doesn't really look like a home game because you know it would be beat I mean, if if that's what a home crowd looked like at Stanford and there were that many people there but still be really bad.
But like there were seemingly a lot more Lowiwville fans at that game, then maybe some of the other road games they've been on this year, because obviously, you know, going to that part of the country it's I mean, you can make that a real fun trip. And I mean, look, if you're going to this game, you were there Saturday and you're from like around here, I would imagine the reason you picked that one is more than anything because of the destination, right, Like, maybe you love that area
of the country. You think it's beautiful, there's certainly a lot to do. Maybe it's a place you've never been before and you wanted to experience it, and you also get to watch your football team play. But one of the factors that you decided or one of the factors that led to you deciding to make the road trip to this game was probably because you didn't have to worry about a loss maybe impacting your experience on that trip.
To California. Well, you were wrong, and that sucks. So this person who texted in that picture said, even if he did not go to the game, he probably would have said that was the worst loss he's ever watched for Louisville just because of the way it ended.
And yeah, I mean the.
Specific errors that were made at the end of that game that led to Stanford being able to win that game on a last second field goal in regulation. Again, just think about how it played out. I mean, I don't believe for a second that anybody was out there trying to give them the game. And I don't think I need to like defend my I don't think I need to clarify, like just so you know, don't take
me serious, because like I would never say that. But again, if you think about what could happen for Stanford to win that way, where that kicker gets the opportunity to come out there and end it on his senior day, I mean, every little thing the end that Louisville did, either on offense or on defense with those silly penalties, I mean, that's that's how it that's how you get that result. So a punch to the gut, no doubt
all right again, it's coffee and company. We are feel about the Worton's here on Sports Talk seven to ninety. Appreciate you guys hanging out with us. As you could expect a lot of phone calls in the three o'clock hour. We're going to get back to the phone lines coming up here before too long. So if you did not get a chance to get in, we will let you do that. Five way two, five seven, one seventy nine hundred is the number. But I do want to kind
of just pick up where we left off. There were a couple of callers towards the end of the end of the three o'clock hour that I agree with some of the things they said. I also wanted to kind of react to some of the things they said. So for those of you just now joining us, when it
comes to the I'll start with the staff. We'll start with the most recent call and work our way back because Jerry, I believe it was, Yeah, Jerry called in and you know, talked about having Jeff's back, still thinking he's the guy for the job, and you know he wants to be here and that matters to Louisville fans. But then saying that he needs to not just look at Ron English, but look at some other members of his staff, including his offensive coordinator, which as you know,
is his little brother Brian. And then Greg is the chief of staff, Like I think that's his actual title. So maybe he's not the director of ops, but yeah, you know, he's not somebody that is actually a staffer in regards to like position a specific unit rather be special teams offense, defense. I think his title is just chief of staff. He had that same role I believe at Purdue. And I'll just say this, I'm friends with
with Greg. I know Greg more than I know Brian or Jeff, and I've known him longer than I've known any of those. And it's not like I'm hanging out with all the broms and we're all, you know, getting wings and beer and best buddies. But like, you know, I don't I hear what Jerry's saying as far as Jeff having Greg in his ear during some of those
big decisions. And what we'll never know is what is said right Like it is Jeff, you know, hearing good advice from people on the sideline, including his brother, but he just is like, yeah, you know, I know more than you.
I'm gonna do what I want to do.
We don't know, and we'll never know, like what exactly has said, like whenever he gets input from his staff, regardless of who it is, as far as what decision they're about to make, I mean, unless you're on that headset or unless you're on the sideline, we're never going to know. But given the fact that Jeff runs the offense, his OC is his younger brother Brian, And to be honest, Brian has made mention of this before. And I don't think he did it to like I mean, I mean,
I think he was just being honest. It wasn't really something he went out of his way to say. But I picked up on it that when it comes to like what kind of influence that he has as the offensive coordinator when clearly Jeff Brohm is calling the plays, you know, he kind of made it, you know, pretty clear that he doesn't have much input, you know, because Jeff's gonna do what he wants to do. So like you if you if you're worried about that, because here's what I think has played out this year.
Jeff.
I think the decisions he made against Clemson to take field goals was a sign that he may have learned the hard way when he was you know, not taken three and going forward on fourth earlier this year and not getting it, which let's be honest, that's one of many factors that kept you from winning some of those games.
So like, maybe he learned the hard way that he made that decision, and now he's not going to be as risky, or at least, you know, he's gonna be a little more selective when he decides to go forward on fourth down. Or maybe it's his staff that's telling him like, hey, we told you so, or maybe they're saying, look, I know this is what you want to do, but let's consider how things have played out, and maybe he
listened to him. Like we'll never really know, but I think because it is family members, you know, you have people are just and look, people know these guys, right, Like I don't want to act like everybody in town can just pull out their cell phone and call the brom family, but like we all know that there's a lot of people in this area that have familiarity with them on personal level, some of them, So you know, I think it's not really saying that that's a reason
for Louisville being a six and fourteen. That's underwhelming, that's undisciplined. But like I can see why some fans when you have a loss that plays out the way it did on Saturday and a six and fourteen that should be better, you start to think, like, hey, are these guys maybe giving him advice, But because they're the brothers, he doesn't.
Listen to them.
And again, I don't think that's a crazy theory for a fan to have, but like we'll never know the answer. And I'll just say this about Bram himself. If you gon't have Jeff Bram making decisions and calling plays, what I mean not to say he's only good for that, but like that's why Jeff Bram is respected so much as a football coach, because he's a phenomenal play caller. Now,
he's not perfect. He's clearly made some bad calls earlier this year, He's made some bad decisions, but you know what, like not to defend and I know today's not the day to defend him. Like, you know, we aren't just coming off one of the worst losses ever here, but there are times where Jeff took a risk and it didn't work out.
It burned him.
But sometimes like he'll he does that and the call like the design worked but like a god dropped a pass, or you got to the spot and the ref didn't review, you know, if you actually got to the first down marker. So again, I'm not trying to act like those all were great decisions, but I'm just saying, like I have no worries about Bram being good enough to call the place, like the offense is not the problem here. Let's be real, like the offense has not been a problem for you
this year really at all. And that's not to say that they've been they've been perfect, but nobody is like when it comes to statistics, like, lol, his offense is fine, So you know, I don't I don't know if he'll like here. Here's what I'll say about the whole coordinators situation. I'll get to ron English in a second, But when it comes to Brian, I've always felt like Brian wouldn't be here that long because let's be honest, he's in
oc he's been in that position. I mean, he joined Jeff's staff at w KU, and I don't remember if he joined us the quarterbacks coach or if he ended up joining as the OC. But he's in OC, but he hasn't really had the chance to run an offense call the plays because again, Louisville's one of those teams and there's a lot of teams out there like that where their coach is the OC because that's what he does,
and that's Jeff. So like if Brian got an opportunity to go be an OC elsewhere and call plays, and maybe he takes the OC job at a program that is not Louisville's caliber, some would say, geez, what are
you doing. Well, that's probably people who don't realize, yeah, he's now he's going to go get a chance to actually call plays and really kind of, you know, show what he can do when it comes to that, because let's be honest, like when Jeff was the OC at Western Kentucky when Bobby was there, and when he was the OC whenever Bobby.
Was at Louisville.
Like we all love Jeff and clearly he already had a great, great reputation in football when it comes to his time in the NFL, he did consulting all that kind of stuff. So like he's a smart football mine offensively, everybody knows that. But like he wasn't getting a whole lot of credit for Louisville's dynamic offense. He's he probably was a factor in it to some extent, but everybody knew Boby calls to play.
It's the same thing with Jeff.
So, like, you know, if Brian was to get an opportunity, like I think they'd be great for him, and maybe it would eventually then be good for Jeff as well, because he could go hire somebody that, you know, who knows maybe he isn't going to be half the play caller and the OC that his brother Brian is. We'll never know, you know, until a situation like this's played out and you had time to, you know, to revisit
it and see results. But I'm just saying, like, because it's his brother, it might make it to where if it's a proven OC that is in his little brother, then maybe he would be a little bit more receptive to guidance on stuff. But again, I just I don't want a lie to you guys and say that, Like, I think one of the problems and one of the reasons why Louisville is in the situation they're in this year is because Jeff is is, you know, not being
challenged by his staff to make difference. Say, like, I know some people disagree, and that's totally fine, Like I understand it, but like I'm willing to like I'm willing to live with him being risky at certain times now and if it doesn't work, then, hey, it didn't work, and you know that was in hindsight you can say, well, that was a bad decision because it was a risk and you took the calculated risk and you didn't get
it done. So I hear what you're saying when it comes to like maybe he shouldn't lean on family so much like with Greg, I mean, he's everywhere and he
looks phenomenal on TV. You see him getting off the bus when they show when they show the team of ribin places like, he's usually right there next to Jeff and at times you do see him right next to him talking to him, but like without knowing at all what he's saying and what their conversations are or if he's taking advice from him or he's not, like for
all we know. And again I'm not saying that I believe this, but I'm just saying, like, for all we know, it could be like any decision that was made that ended up, you know, being one that led to it not working out right, like a risk that you took and it burns you.
Maybe Greg's the one yelling at him what do you do?
And this is we can't do this, and maybe Jeff just decides, hey, I'm going to make the decisions because it's it's my job.
I'm the head coach. Like we don't know.
So again I get why people bring that up, but like I can't tell you that I think that's like a huge issue here because again, even if you were even if you were upset with with you know, Bron being the Jeff's Jeff's brother Brian a legend here as well being the OC, there's not results that you can point to to say, well, this isn't working. They need to make a change. Now on the defensive side, yes, you need to make a change. And as far as who that is and what that looks like, I mean,
I don't know. But to one of our callers earlier, who I thought made a good point, I mean, Jeff's never really had a defensive coordinator that was super successful you know. I mean Jeff's success at Purdue and at Western was was based mostly off of offense, where they just found themselves in shootouts and sometimes they got it done. Now, clearly their defense was a big enough issue to where
they couldn't they couldn't. I mean, look, they won some pretty big games at Purdue, and when you're doing that against good teams like Ohio State and you know, Iowa in their top ten, I mean you're you're doing it with the defense on.
The field as well.
Like they didn't just decide, they didn't just let the offenses go back and forth. I mean that you know, you got you got to play defense, so you know, But yes, I think Ron English followed Jeff to Purdue because Jeff at that point, at that time, timing's really important with this kind of stuff. He found somebody that gave him better results defensively than he'd ever has it he's ever had as a head coach. So I think
it makes sense to bring him along to Louisville. And last year the defense was phenomenal early on, I mean they were good. That's why Louisville was good early last year. Their offense wasn't terrible, but man like. It wasn't it wasn't special, it wasn't what we thought we were getting, you know, when when Jeff was hired and now this you know, But but it all fell apart late last year, and I think there were a variety of reasons for that.
The summer, you had Ron English telling folks after one of the first practices of camp, or maybe it was after spring practice I remember, which I think it might have been earlier. It might have been earlier in fall camp where he said, if you want to point fingers and find somebody to blame, and I'm paraphrasing here that he said, blame me, blame Ron English. Well, this was his chance to do better this year, and you know
it's so clearly just to not. And I'm not saying he's a terrible DC to where like, how would anybody employ him? This guy's terrible because I'll be honest with you, I've never been embedded into a college football staff to where I know exactly like you know, I can't tell you what it is about Ron English that makes the results not be good, but I can tell you this, the results aren't good.
And that's the job.
You got to get results and it'd be different if you inherited or you had a roster defensively that like you just knew these guys were trying really hard, but man, what are you gonna do? And LO almost had teams like that too before, by the way, I mean, I mean, I think some Louisville defenses at times, like the defense that Charlie Strong inherited, like that defense was pretty productive.
That defense was pretty reliable. I don't think they had half the talent that this defense has, so it doesn't really matter why it's not working, but it's not working. And the way in which you know they've been undisciplined really all year at times, and nothing looks worse on a DC, in my opinion, than when nobody seems to know what the hell's going on, and that the defense really looked like that, more so early on this year than they have as of late. But like guys running
in not knowing what they're doing. I mean, I remember, I mean, I'll never forget it. It was against SMU. I believe you got a guy running out there with his hands in the air, like I don't think I'm supposed to be doing this, but I don't know, so I'm just gonna run on the field when they're about to snap it like it was embarrassing, and that's that's that's on your DC. That's that's the guy. So you know,
I just don't see a scenario where he's back. But again, that's just maybe that's maybe maybe I'm wrong, Maybe Jeff is really comfortable working with Ron English. But here's the thing. If Jeff decided to bring back Ron English, I think there'd be fans that would just turn their energy being anti Ron English to maybe not being anti Jeff Brohm,
because that doesn't sound possible. But like at that point, you're still choosing to keep a guy around that is clearly not doing a good enough job, Like that's on you, and look, it is on him.
At the end of the day.
Jeff is responsible for everything, and he says that every chance he gets, anytime you hear from him on a pro game press conference, a weekly press conference, his coaches show he knows when they struggle and they lose and there's things they need to be fixed, it falls on him. And that's all you can do in that position, and a lot of coaches don't do that. But I'm glad
that he does. But you know, even though he says that, I'm sure he's probably not looking around at his entire staff and thinking, hey, you guys are the best and you know I'm failing you.
Now, maybe he does. I don't know.
But as far as who would replace Ron English, I mean, your guess is as good as mine. I mean, there's been some names floated out there by Louisville fans. Not to say that like it's in the works, but like that who they would prefer. We can certainly get into that on the other side. But I mean, look here here's another thing that, like, I don't it's hard to envision this being the scenario, but like, what if the defense comes out against Pittsburgh and Kentucky and they're phenomenal
and like you win those games because of defense. Again, I'm not saying that it would happen, but like it also isn't the craziest thing ever, because I've never really felt like the defense lacked the personnel to be able to go out and get stops consistently get off the field on third down. Because again we're talking about things
that aren't necessarily talent related. It's okay, can you just avoid making a silly mental mistake like what we saw play out the other day at the end of the game, or you know, why did you just why did you take your foot off the guests? Like where's the urgency? You were tackling really well early. Now you're arm tackling and guys are carrying you five yards.
Like it's just like they're not well led, they're not well run, and that's the issue.
But if they come out and play well, I mean maybe I don't know, Like there's two games left, and let's be real, if the defense looks great and Ron English is a guy that we're praising after the the Kentucky game, then you know, maybe fans are advocating for him to stay because you know that win would mean a lot. But really, from start to finish this year, well, let me back up, not start to finish, because the first two games, I mean, it's hard to really know
what I mean. They were making some silly mistakes and silly penalties in those games, but you didn't know what to make of it because look of who they're playing. But really, from from the Georgia Tech game on the defense, you know they've they've been timely at times and they've made plays to where you know, you get the ball back. Hey, we're down seven. Now we got the ball back. Let's go see what we can do. Like they they've not been terrible, but they just should be better. And again
that falls on English. And if I was Jeff prom I would I would make the move at the end of this season.
And and there's certain.
Things I would really focus on as far as what I'm looking for in that role. But you know what, Jeff brom knows a lot more than me, and that's a reason why he's making millions of dollars to coach this program and make those tough decisions. All right, quick break, we'll come back on the other side, and uh, get back to the fold on Fibo. Two seventy nine hundred is the number if you guys want to give us a call again fab Oo two five seventy nine hundred. And I also want to get to the text line.
I've neglected some of you guys today, so keep them coming. Fibo two sixty five three zero seven ninety is the ln N Federal Credit Union text line. As we roll along here again Coffee and Company. Philbeth Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Now back to coffee and company, fueled my Thorntens on Sports Talk seven nine day.
Well, it's back to work obviously. You know we've got work to do and in ways, plenty of things we need to improve on, and that's what this week needs to be about, is making sure we correct mistakes, become a better football team, get ready, compete and try to find a win our last home game here at our field. So I think our guys will practice hard this week.
We know that, you know, every game matters, and we want to show improvement and go out there and do all the small things correctly and come out and play well. It'll be a tough opponent we play. They play very good football. You're a long, very very good on defense, very aggressive, get sacks, get tackles for loss. Their offense is played better this year as well, which has helped them get to seven wins. And we will have our hands full, so we're gonna have to play good football.
All three segments, play together, play efficient if we want to come out with a win.
That was Jeff Brom earlier today discussing the Pittsburgh matchup. Obviously that's the next game, and it is the last home game. I'm hopeful that there's a good crowd out there. I don't know what to expect. I never really know what to expect when it comes to, you know, crowds for these kind of games, especially when you're coming off that loss, which does really I mean, let's let's be real. The momentum that you felt from Clemson is gone.
You still.
I mean, that's still a big time victory for Louisville that needed to happen in a major way. But you know, the good feeling that you got is from that game, At least for me and from everybody I've talked to, it kind of dwindled away with just how badly you performed and the result that you had, just everything that came with Saturday against Stanford. But it is your last
chance to go see this group in action. I mean, when it comes to Tyler Shuck, I mean, he's the last time you'll get to see him at Cardinal Stadium and that's a bummer.
But you know, he's been good.
So the weather, I'm not gonna go looking at the weather right now because I don't want to get sidetracked. But I know last week, at one point they were talking about the upcoming weekend where we could get some you know, some cold temperatures that might lead to like a snowy mix, which you know that's that's not gonna help attendance. I wouldn't think, but I'm hopeful that there's a good crowd out there, and obviously hope lot will ends.
I mean, I wouldn't be shocked if they went out, wouldn't be shocked if they lose both of these games. That's kind of where we are. Usually ten games in, you have a pretty good idea of who you are. Louisville has shown us who they are, but I think it's led to just really not knowing what you're gonna get now. I think the Clemson game was just proof that they can play pretty clean football and win and
beat good teams. And you know, there's other examples out there where you know, they've they've been in games with good teams where they had chances to win despite some mistakes, but they you know, they don't get it done. So I think pitt is probably gonna end up being the probably the fourth best team, let me back up, fifth best team you play this year, So it'll be a challenge Kentucky. I don't really know where you'd put them.
And again, we'll get to and by the way, real quick, I know that everybody's like, I don't care, just be Kentucky because you're not gonna there's no chance for the ACC championship obviously, no playoff Bowl games. Who knows what the hell those are gonna look like this year. So I get why there's so many fans that are like, all right, whatever, I'm numb, just please go be Kentucky. They're not good this year, and just go win that one and we'll reset and you know, talk about next
year when we when we you know, when we beat Kentucky. Like, it seems like there's a lot of people that kind of have that belief. And I shouldn't say belief, you just have that mindset. Now, if you believe that Louisville can beat them, then I'm with you. I think they can, But just expecting them to do it is just it's a different conversation, to be honest with you. So you know, I'm not avoiding talking about Kentucky because I'm you know,
not wanting to go there. I mean, maybe that's part of it, but like without having a postgame show Saturday. Like I just I've yet to turn the page, and I will at some point, probably tomorrow. But yeah, Saturday sucked. But many texts on the text line, which, by the way, if you guys want to text in, you can five O two six five three zero seven ninety. It's the ellen n Federal Credit Union text line. Members get more at Ellenn Federal Credit Union. You can learn more and
open your account today at LNFCU dot com. We have phone lines open as well if you want to jump in. Been a very caller driven show today, which makes sense given what happens, so if you want to call it, even if you want to call in, you can do that as well. Five X two five seven one seventy
nine hundred. Now, the one of the texts that came in here recently as far as the Kentucky game, was just you know a concern from somebody saying that if we don't get pressure, and English doesn't have pressure coming at brock Fandergrift, then he's going to be able to sit back there and pick apart our secondary with guys like Dane Key and Barry and Brown. And yeah, I hadn't had that thought yet, but you know, I don't.
I mean again, I could see that happening. I don't want it to happen, but like I could, I could see that happening for sure. And by the way, there was I was scrolling through on Saturday, trying to win a bet at the end of the night to like make me feel not as dead, and it you know,
didn't work. But I was scrolling through looking at games, and sure enough they already had some lines out there for next week, and Louisville was I believe a one point favorite, and that line has been there here and there. I'm not sure if it's there right now. I'm going to go look here at DraftKings to see if they have the spread.
For that game.
Looks like yeah, as of now, they don't have anything other than games that are you know, coming up this weekend, but I'm sure it'll be something similar to that depending upon what happens this week. You know, louisells at home against pitt They're eight point favorites. I think it started close to ten and a half, which I guess doesn't really surprise me. But you know, again, like expecting them to cover, it's hard for me to say. I expect it with the most recent result that we got. But again,
if they do, I can't say it's a surprise. Now Kentucky they're taking on Texas, that is a let's see here, what time is that game? And this is this is I'm not complaining about it because I love having endless amounts to games to bet on, because it's fun. I enjoy giving and donating my money to different sports books. It's a lot of fun. In all seriousness, it does
enhance the experience of watching sports. But here it is, I it's hard for me to find some of these matchups, you know, whenever I'm scrolling through seemingly an endless list of matchups. But yes, Kentucky and Texas at three thirty and Kentucky is twenty and a half point underdogs there, so I would say, you know, right now, it's probably gonna be close to a Pickham, And then I would say, whatever happens this week, we'll send it in one of the two directions, but probably not at like a big
probably not a whole lot of movement. Right, It'll probably be whoever's favorite. It probably won't be by a whole lot. That would be my guess.
All right.
So somebody texted in earlier and said is it a like basically asking is it a real thing to bring back Clint Hurt? And I don't know what you mean by is it a real thing? Like are you saying like if you're asking me, is it a real thing? Like it's happening and people are talking about it like it's going on behind the scenes. I would say that's not real. I don't think there's any compan No, that's
not real. Now, is it like a real thing to where like maybe he would be a good candidate to come back to Louisville and be the DC if Jeff decides to move on from Ron English. That's different conversations. So for those that aren't, I mean, gosh, I hate to say this, but like there's probably people listening that
like don't really know who Clint Hurt is. You know, he hasn't been here in over ten years, but he was the defensive line coach and the and the basically the lead recruit of the recruiting coordinator for Charlie Strong when he got the job back in twenty ten. So Clint Hurt is somebody that ended up after leaving Louisville. He went straight to the NFL and was well, he
got a show calls. That was part of it, but like you know, that was one that's already Actually I don't know, because he hasn't coached in college since then, do you I think you still have to consider the fact. And again, we don't need to go there because this guy may never I mean Clint may never be somebody that is considered for the job. They may not even make a change. But it has been discussed by you know, enough Louisville fans and look, he was good in the NFL.
But I do think like you would have to still do the whole process of like you're hiring somebody that got a show cause because Louisville, I believe was prepared to keep him. Tom George was prepared to keep Clint Hurt despite the show cause. But Clint Hurt decided to move on to the NFL, and when he did that, he actually had some success to where he was in the NFL for a really long time. He's still there right now. So he's with the Bears and he was
their defensive line coach. He coached outside linebackers for two seasons after that, so he's with the Bears for three years, and then he got the job as the assistant head coach and the defensive line coach with the Seattle Seahawks. He did that for four years, had success, and then Pete Carroll made him the defensive coordinator in two thousand and two and two thousand and three, well, Pete Carroll retired and that led to Clint needing to find work elsewhere.
So now he's the defensive line coach with the Philadelphia Eagles. So what I will tell you is that I've always been told by former players of his that he would love to come back to college in some capacity. Got to keep in mind, he was never a coordinator in college.
He was only a line coach.
So he was a coordinator in the NFL, and you know, it was successful, I believe with the Seahawks. At least, you know, he didn't get canned. It was a situation where Pete Carroll tired and they hired somebody who brought in his own staff. So you know, if he'd be interested, I mean, that's that's a name to consider. But really, when you're making that decision to go hire a coordinator, you know, I think what you really focused on years
ago is so different now. The things that really really mattered ten years ago they still matter, but maybe not as much because you know, what is your best recruiter, your bank account, money and iol like, that's not the only reason that that guys go to certain schools, so you need to have so again, it was all about recruiting and being able to establish relationships. Relationships is so
important in life, every aspect of it. Well, it's a big part of recruiting, right, establishing relationships with players their families. I mean, it's networking, and it's you know, it's being able to sell, right, you're selling a program and are
they going to buy by coming to your school? So you still need to be able to do that, but that doesn't matter as much now because now a factor in the decision as to where you're going to go, rather it be the portal or the fresh the kids that are coming out of high school as freshmen, money's
going to be a factor too. So like, if your money is in a good spot, which it has to be, you can go get a coordinator that I don't know that I would say like because it used to be so important to where it was like the ultimate thing, like Hey, Like, let me give you an example, and it's gonna be you know, this is gonna be mean, but it's just the truth. Like, I'm not sure Vince Marrow's headset is ever on when he's coaching on the
sideline at Kentucky. But you know what, he's a phenomenal recruiter. He has been able to bring some really good players to Kentucky for Mark Stoops that nobody else has ever even probably been able to get on the phone, and he's done it in the portal and he's done it and especially with incoming freshmen. So you know, like that that's value. That's why he's making over a million dollars. That's why he's a made man in Lexington. So he
has that relationship ability. But you know what, if Kentucky didn't have good money to go along with it, it would fall flat. Not to say he wouldn't get anybody, but like both things matter now, and I guess, you know, balancing which one matters most. It just comes down to
I guess the recruit. But like I'm if Louisville does open up that spot, the defensive coordinator position and they're out there looking for somebody, I'm not as much worried about the recruiting aspect of it, as far as somebody that man he brought in a top ten or top twenty class to this school.
He held.
You know, again, it's not like I'm telling you that it doesn't matter at all and that it's worthless.
It just doesn't.
It doesn't have it doesn't mean as much as it used to when you're looking to fill that.
Kind of a position.
In fact, you know, we'll get into this in the five o'clock hour because I'm gonna have to eat some crow one because Deon Sanders. You know, I was very critical and everything I said was true about how poorly Year one went for him in Colorado. And I still think, again, this is just a matter of opinion. I thought he was I thought he sounded foolish, acting as if they just won a national championship when quite literally they were
very very disappointing last year. Right now they may go win their league and that would be a big step up. I still think he'll probably be gone after his son leaves, but we'll see. I think he'll probably go to the NFL, just my guess. But maybe I'm way wrong either way. When I say, eat crow, I'm gonna have to cite or I'm gonna have to use sound from a Deon Sanders press conference that I used to just play to make fun of how arrogant he was. Now I'm gonna have to play it and let you guys hear it
so I can say this guy's absolutely right. Like the days of bragging about rankings in the high school recruiting is worthless because if you got a five, if you got a top ten class, what are the chances that that top ten class that you delivered is ever going to all play together? Half of them are probably gonna go to the portal. So, like, you know, you still at the end of the day, you got to bring in young talent, and that's just now the nature of
the beast. You're gonna have a lot more turnover. But like, recruiting rankings have never actually mattered when it comes to it giving you anything. Now, get you know what I mean by that is, yeah, you go look at the best teams in college football every year, they pretty much are in the top in the rankings and recruiting classes. So yes, they do matter in that aspect, But like it's what you do with it. Right, just by having a class that came in number five in the country.
I mean, if they don't do anything, is it worth having it time? I mean, in fact, it makes it even worse because not only did you not get a whole lot, you probably you know, felt like you were you know that. I mean you were probably expecting a lot because of where they were ranked, and they ended
up being terrible or whatever. So you know, I'm not if a guy can can can get it done, get results, and he's a respected coach when it comes to you know, running a defense, calling the plays, you know, that kind of stuff like that. That's always mattered, but I think it actually matters more now than it used to because you don't have to have somebody out there that's recruiting the high school level the same way you did many years ago because of two things. The portal makes it
to where it's just different. But also money nil matters to where that's going to be a bigger factor. And you know, you don't need to be a bad relationships guy, which I don't even know how you be in the business in the industry doing that job if that was
the case. But you know, that would be what I would think is the most important thing when you're out there looking for a new coordinator, somebody who has proven, somebody that you know, maybe maybe a guy that has been a really good DC, but yet his head coach is kind of the DC. Let me give you an example. Tyler's uh, let me pull it up here. Tyler Santucci, I think is the name. Yeah, he's a guy who was the defensive coordinator for Duke when Mike Elko was there.
Duke's defense was great, right, But like Tyler Santucci, you know, is he getting any credit? Is he really running the defense? Probably not, because that's what Mike Elko does. Well, Mike Elko goes to Texas A and m Tyler Santuci gets to run his own defense now for Georgia Tech, and I haven't checked the numbers recently, but at one point
their defense was substantially better. That's a guy who really learned from somebody that was really good at what he did, so much so that he got the Texas A and M job, and now he's got a chance to kind of run his defense. He's young, he's relatable, and he's he knows what he's doing. So something like that, I don't know who that guy is, meaning like, who could be the next Tyler Santucci. But that's the kind of scenario. I would be happy if that's how it played out
as far as making a change. All right, quick break, we'll come back for a quick segment and then we'll finish strong here in the five o'clock hour. Don't go anywhere, keep it locked right here. It's coffee and Company. Philbouth Thornton's on Sports Talk seven Idi