The Group Chat Episode 29: Demo Day

instantly it rings once. Hey, Caroline, that was what he said to me. We then put a group chat spin on what all Matt Rule has ahead of him as he hires a staff and gets ready for the seasons. Jim and Joanna we're telling him about the Browns estate, and like before they keeven finished talking, Matt was like, no, I'm not interested. So they quickly move on to the other two choices. We have that and so much more, including a huge announcement right off the top. So welcome

to this week's the group Chat. You've been added to the group chat with your friends Caroline, can Max Senson, and Will Brian. I'm back guys. Number one, thank you for doing a group chat without me just kidding. It hurt a little. I was wondering, what, how did you feel about it? Well, I didn't even know that you guys were doing it. It came. It came to get it very quickly. Yes, thanks for letting me. I don't think you were accessible at that time. No, I wasn't,

and I understand that. But the way that I found out about the group chat even happenings when I got on the app and there was the group chat was there? I know when I fake cry, I actually get tears in my eyes. My eyes, But no, that was such a cool episode. How I actually found out about it, It was such a whirld one on our trip that we will get to in just a second. But Parks actually pointed out, he was, hey, they did a group

chat today. He's a big, big groupie. And I was like, wait what and he was like, yeah, they did a group chat with a guy that broke the news about rule and I was like, and then I opened up my app and there it was. Got I got a thorn and our bone to pay whatever we want to say with you, you and you pointing to all and actually d L. You were probably in here too, so I've got a problem with d L as well. It's mostly him though, yeah, it's always mad. It's always mad.

It's always producer mad. Spot That's okay. Whatever, it was strange, it wasn't the same without you. How you opened it like this is this is weird? That was cool though, it was really really cool. Another cool piece that I'm going to say is even more cool than that particular episode is that it's a new year. Things change, we set goals for ourselves. It is Thursday. That's another thing, but that's not where I'm getting. Let's see, here's the

thing though, it's it's Thursday. You're messing up her rhythm here. She's trying to I was going to lead into it trying to remember because usually because usually we do this on Tuesdays, so on Thursdays we're lifting the rules on this ding ning ning. For those of you're listening, there are actually two puns for my lack of a pun, but you went a little early. No one got the other pun went too early on it. But baby steps.

At least you now know what a pun is correctly use it so much so that you put two puns on, but no one got the other pun. So of course the one pun is rule. We will be using that too much. Probably the second one is left because guys, we're sponsored. Who who put all? Right? We didn't time And I actually just heard a quote that I would like to share with everyone. We did not say this. This is from the outside. This is this is podcast in radio standards here. Okay, apparently it is a good

show informs and entertains. But a great show is sponsored. So I'm not I mean, I didn't say it. We didn't say it, but apparently we're great. So congratulations to us. Big year for us. We got a new head coach and we got a sponsor, and it's Lift Off and Run lift Us, lift Us Fund and provides us with a big chance to use it as puns, to use it as segments. We'll be doing a lot of who's in the driver's seat? Yeah, Yeah, We're gonna rate people based on their you know, the way that we like them.

But also as a driver and a passenger on lift you can get a rating, which is very important. I do know someone that cannot use another company that is a share ride company because they have such a terrible rating. They can't use it anymore and they can't get it back up, so they're they what do they do? I didn't ask, that's the follow up questions. I didn't want to take a lift. Yeah, I didn't take a lift.

Didn't take a lift. That was problem number one. They were probably in such a bad mood when they got in that car because the lift. They were probably yeah wow, I mean, thank god. They now have to make the right decision every single time. Their spirits will be lifted. Okay, man, okay, all right. Yeah, we're gonna have a really good good time with this, but we are. We have an official sponsor, so we're gonna be talking about them because well they pay our bills, and we love to pay bills, so

we will be talking about Lift. I hope you guys are excited for us, because this is a big step for us. We said when we started a podcast, one of the things is we wanted to be able to put some money behind this and make it bigger and more grand. And that's what happens when you get a sponsor and I like ours. It's Lift, and it's pink. I'm a girl and I like that. I'll let the cars a little, a little lift things in the front.

I agree, they're very easy to see exactly. And there's a brick and mortar lift in Charlotte on South Boulevard. What happens there? I have no idea we should go. That's like um from the forty year Old Virgin, where she has like the eBay store and wait what I just want? You have to go on eBay? Can't I just pay for these and take them out of the store. Oh man, so many great things like what you just

heard right there coming for you. But let's first get to the entire reason why the group chat happened without me. Because it's a good reason. It's a crazy reason because none of us were expecting it on Tuesday. I know what. I woke up on Tuesday morning of this week. I did not think to myself, go ahead and pack a bag, because you may be going to Texas. Pretty crazy. But I am thankful that. I will say. Some mornings, I think to myself, I'm not going to be on camera today,

so I won't do my hair. I'll put on very minimal makeup, just enough to walk out of the house and feel pretty. But thankfully that morning I just woke up and got completely ready, said I'm just going to be camera ready because of this coaching search. And we were so wishy washy if it could happen, it could not happen. We were thinking a different, you know, stretch of days where it might happen. So I did. I just got up and got completely ready and thank goodness

because we had no time. Yeah, what was that like? I mean that morning when all of a sudden you find out and it's like, hey, well but even you get to wake Oh yeah, it actually starts before I ever officially knew that we were going to wake O. I walked in, I just knew something was happening. There was a different vibe in the building people. It was not panicked by any means, but there was just a certain tension in the air where people were like, I think everything I had on my to do list to

do today has gone out the window. And that that was the feeling of, well, things have changed, now what are we doing? So I'm kind of walking around in office is knowing that we have this idea of us going to wherever this coach is to get some stuff on the front end. So I'm kind of walking around like, hey, you know what's going on? Do we think anything's gonna

happen today? And and the answer I got was they're supposed to leave for another interview later this afternoon, but there's a chance that they never do that because of who they interviewed yesterday it went so well and they want him, so depending on how this goes, just kind of be on standby until lunch. I was like, okay,

we don't make it to lunch. At eleven o'clock we find out that we're going to wake but not so much that we're going that there's the possibility that this is who we are hiring, and if we can, we would like to go to Waco. That was at eleven am. By one o'clock we are taking off for Austin, Texas. So we're sitting in the office kind of looking like, hey, here's our options. You could get into Waco is a very small airport if you haven't figured that out, of

how small wacoes. So there was a connection to get there even from an American hub of Charlotte. So we're looking and like, well, you could get in at at five would be the earliest in to Waco, or you could get in later around nine, but we wanted to get there as early as possible. And someone just said, there's a one o'clock flight. What are the chances you think you could get on it? Well, I think that we could do that. I think yeah. And this was that,

like this was the building. Yeah it was, Yeah, it was. It was rather and we did not get t S a pre check because in all of the madness of booking these flights, they did not have mind known traveler number. So when we get there, we don't have t S a pre check. But you know, working out great and mean, it was a Tuesday, the holiday, the holiday was over, so you know, staying in the normal security line was okay. So we we got through, got on the plane, took off.

There was three of us, Brandon out of photographer, Carson Smucker, videographer, and then myself. We're on the very last row of this plane, and in front of us was a child. I can't tell you the age of this child, in my personal opinion, a bit old to still be in diapers. But I'm not a parent, so I will eat my words in a couple of years when I get to

that stage in my life. A bit too old but my feeling on kids and diapers, if you can tell them and they understand, try to hold it until you get off the plane, or you're not going to be changed until we get off the plane. I feel like they're a bit too old. That conversation was happening between this mother and this child. He didn't wait. So not only were we right near the restroom, we also had a kid in front of us who used the restroom. It was a lot, and and it was a three

hour of flight. That would be fine. Three hour flights are great when you know you're going on them, but when you wake up that day and you're like, no, I mean, just not prepared for that type of trial. I didn't have my headphones, I didn't bring a book. We did get the WiFi to work, so we were kind of following along as the news was breaking, but we weren't partaking in any of it because we didn't.

You know, as the official site, you can't really say anything until the burbage is correct in all of this. It was a lot, but we get there. It was an amazing uh trip. We get there and get the car. We didn't take a lift, which is really sad, but we We rent a car and we take off for Waco, which is about an hour and forty minutes away from Austin. This is my favorite part. So I've never met Matt Rule up until this point. I have to call him and set up, Hey, we would love to come to

your house. That's my first interaction. You don't normally say that to a stranger when you meet them for the first time. It goes a lot more casual of just But he didn't know you guys were coming, right. He did know that we were in Texas, like or is a group of people that are going to be and he he didn't know that. But still he did not know that we were coming to his house, and that was our ask. So when I you know, I'm like, I'm in the car, I'm like, guys, I'm nervous, you know,

all right? And I have my phone connected to the speaker phone in the car and we can't figure out how to unplug. All of our phones were dead. My phone was on four percent, Carson's was on four percent, and Randon's was dead. It gives me anxiety. So Brandon had been out of the loop for hours. Our our phone is both on four so I don't want to unplug my phone and then have the phone die in the middle of this important conversation with him for the first time. So it's on speaker phone in the car.

So I'm like, guys, hush, here we go call him. Instantly it rings once. Hey Caroline, that was what he said to me. Hey, he already had my numbers. Say he's a details guy night when I was reading all about him. He's big on the details. He wants to make sure that everything is in place and that he's prepared in the process. Is there. Well, he did it because he had already obviously he had my number, had

saved it, knew that I would be calling. But for him to pick up the phone after one ring, Hey Caroline, how his phone will never experience a day like it had yesterday? Yeah? Yeah, it was crazy. So he instantly knows my name. We talk, He's like, what are you guys looking for? Like you know, or we're kind of joking. First. I was like, so, how's your day? And he laughed, you know, like this has been a crazy day, and so we kind of joke about that. I was like, yeah,

I can't say that. I woke up this morning thinking I would be in Texas, so we joked about that. Then he was like, what are you guys looking for? And I know you're you know, what do you need from me as a coach? We would love to come to your home. It doesn't matter what it's like, and know it's probably been a crazy day. We just want to start introducing our fans to you and your family, and we would love to do that in your home.

He was like, that sounds great. I'll text you my address and you guys can just, you know, come straight here. I was like, great, we'll probably be around five thirty. So that's awesome. Hang up the phone. And we immediately hang up the phone and I say at a Carson and right now I was like, oh, we get to keep him like he's ours. We get to keep him. He's so great. Was so just gracious and kind of not what I was expecting. It has been the longest day.

He's having to balance so many things of telling Baylor he's leaving, saying yes to Dave Pepper, and then Panthers having to call the Giant say I'm not coming there. He has local news stations knocking on his door at one o'clock in the afternoon and then we're coming knocking at five thirty. It was a lot, so we end up getting there. Him and his wife Julia are extremely

welcoming and gracious and super casual. I just in my mind I was expecting, you know, he would be ready, he would be just you know, in his nice shirt. Maybe he had been doing press all day. No, he was super chill, and I loved it. He answered the door in his like short sleeve hoodie from bail It was Bailer, that's what he has. He has his Baylor hoodie on athletic shorts. His wife is in this cute like sweat pants sweatshirt combo um. You know, it looks like she had done her hair that morning to go

to the interview. But then was like, well, we're not going anywhere, so I just kind of had thrown it up. The kids were in the backyard playing basketball with their dogs. It was just really it was such a livable home and like this is it's been a long day. Welcome guys. It's five thirty at night and we're tired. They had just poured a glass of wine to kind of mellow out, and then here we come rolling in with cameras and yeah, no we did not get a glass. No, we we

let them do that. But Julie was great. She walked us around their home and was like, just pick a spot that you would like to do this interview, which was awesome. You don't normally get that. So we're walking around, we pick a spot that, you know. The guy started setting up cameras and how they wanted to look, and I'm just filling a little bit of like, Okay, how before interviews you like to do it? You need to talk to them and see like what's ther level of

comfort about talking about this, talking about that. Just build a rapport with him before the cameras come on. So that's what I'm doing with him and his wife. It's very cool, very awesome. He's constantly on his phone. His phone is just blowing up. He can't sit still. He sits down in the chairs for the interview, and we kind of mentioned like, okach is probably gonna be about ten minutes until we get this. Here's all right, I gotta get up, and he gets up. He gets up

and just kind of paces around on his phone. Um, he tells this hilarious story about when he was getting ready to leave to go interview with the Giants. He gets the phone call. He has everything on but his jacket. Julie is like putting on her dress to go get They get the call, he sits down. He doesn't move for four hours, just phone call after phone call after phone call of calling the president of Baylor and then the athletic director and calling all these people. He didn't

move until eleven. Yeah, I'm just laying there. And then finally he's like, well, I guess I can change out of these clothes now and get a little bit more comfortable. He did the Baylor the local Waco to Texas media in the sweatshirt that we saw him in. It was just very I loved that about him. That the first thing that he he wore in an interview with us was essentially a zip up hoodie and he and he asked,

he said, this is fine, I said, coach, that's great. Yeah, I love this, And this is this is who you are where in your home, you're relaxed, you feel really good about the decision. You're not trying to be anyone like if that's who you are, that's that's what I want. So he was awesome him and his wife are great. I just loved that his kids. His kids are outside

playing basketball just with the dogs. They have two dogs, two puppies they decided to get in season, which Julie, his wife, said, I'm not sure what we were thinking that, but they have a Jack Roulse, a six month old Jack Russell, and a three month old German Shop So it's a crazy household that they're so great. And then we said we get done. We probably spent about two hours there with them. I was like, what time are you guys leaving in the morning and they were like, ah,

we don't know. Do you know do you have do you have the itinerary? We haven't even gotten to that part yet. So we kind of walked him through what the next day would be like and they said anything, anything you guys want in the morning. So we were back at their house at six in the morning, Miking coach Op again putting a mic on him walking him out the house. That the cat ran out the door and they were trying to get the cat back inside.

It was all black cat, to which they said, oh, it's like one of his little daughters, Like, oh, it's like like a panther. Um so that. It was just it was very cool to see such a such a real and down to earth family load up to go watch, you know, their husband and dad be introduced as the head coach at the Carolina Panthers. It was very cool and we appreciate them so much for letting us in on such a really intimate family moment where their lives

are changing. And they allowed cameras there and allowed us to be nosy and to literally follow them from hours after making the decision up and really until this point we've been following them with cameras. So we we we go to the airport with them. Uh, you know, three kids walking out on their the fifteen is the oldest. Then they have a four and a six year old little girl. So there I mean private planes, and they're kind of looking around like, wow, this is so cool.

They get a great family photo and then they you know, they get on the plane and I will say, I don't think it was their first time on a private plane. I think I think they kind of knew what they were doing, but it was still it was it was

just a very cool moment. And then they get on the plane, coach turns around, shakes our hands, and said, you know, our photographer was getting on the plane with them, but Carson and I said, guys, well seeing Carolina, you know, checks your hand, says thank you very much and gets on the plane. And it was awesome. And then we we kind of finished up and we had to race back and get on a get back to Austin and get on a plane. We landed as the press conference

was going on. You're gonna have to pick up from here. Maxieville. If we we last time we saw him, we shok his hand and said have a great day. Yeah. I think when Matt got to Charlotte he seemed a little shell shot. Yeah, it was a lot that had just transpired. And he was great going through the car wash here

because of course we put him through a lot. I mean there was a photo station here and you had to read these scripts for radio, and he be and everybody there, and then we were going to do a sit to an interview and oh, here's DJ Morens, Shack Thompson in the locker room. Why don't you go talk to them a little bit. It's just one thing after another, and he was super gracious with his time to do that.

But you could tell that his head was spinning a little bit um and of course that's that's natural in a situation like this, but he can turn when he turns it on though, Like and as we all saw the intro press conference, the man is it's a charismatic man and he's a great public speaker. Um and there's an infectious energy to him when he really gets rolling. That I think is what everybody immediately kind of took

away from him. I don't know if will you would agree, but you just sort of hear him speak and it's just like, oh okay, like I'm I know, a bunch of fans are like, okay, I'm ready to run through a brick wall now. You know. It's he's got that charisma to him. Fans and like national media people were all watching it. I mean, and I didn't get as much exposure and time with him that you two did.

And even I felt like I'm already one of his best friends, you know, Like I literally just kind of like said hello and in passing throughout the day because we were I was doing something else and just watching and listening and reading and hearing him all day. Yeah, I mean, you feel like we're all a part of this and we're all connected to him. He makes everyone feel connected and so immediately, and I think that's a

really rare quality. He's He's got a lot of just regular guy vibes to him, which I think makes him extremely relatable. I mean, like you're talking about at his home, Caroline, he just kind of sounds like, you know, a Texas high school football coach and a lot of ways honestly, and getting a little bit like Eric Taylor vibe for the head coaching position. But yeah, just kind of like a normal guy um who also happens to be a brilliant football mind and one of the better coaches in America.

I mean, he's um. There's a humble There's a humble nature to him, I think, And I think that's what something Dave Tepper was telling me about kind of why he felt Matt and him got off so great was just guys didn't who didn't come from a whole lot kind of had to scratch and claw their way to the top, you know, Like Matt was not like sitting behind somebody at a blue bread program and got to

take it over. Like he went to Temple which was in disarray and then he went to Baylor, which was an even more disarray, and everybody thought he was crazy for taking those jobs. And I have ever reason to think he was crazy. I mean, who wins at those places? Who wins? Who's going to turn Baylor around after it was in such a toxic turmoil following art Ryle's tenure there. But I mean it's it just shows what kind of program builder he is to do what he did at

those places. Um, And that that takes a certain amount of fortitude and to use Matt's favorite word, toughness, that comes in a lot of different forms. And I think that's what Matt Real brings in addition to a lot of energy. And I think that's what this place really needs right now. And I think it's what he's providing is a ton of energy and he's preaching the good word a Carolina Panthers football. I mean, everybody was watching that. The son of a minister, clearly he knows how to

commander room in that way. Um, And I think it's just it's an exciting start to the next chapter of this team's history with a guy like him taking the reins. Well, I think it's to your point, Well, there is this Okay, now we have someone to rally behind, and not that in years past here that has been missing, or even when Ron Rivera was here earlier in the year, it's not that that was missing. But towards the end of Ron's tenure here, we were struggling a little bit of

of like who's you know. We knew that something was coming, we knew that turmoil was happening, we knew change was coming. And so it's been a couple of months of who is what what and who is the future of the Carolina Panthers. And I think that was a big question that was looming for a long time is I would say, I mean as soon as Dave Depper took over as owner, that has been the question what is the future for this franchise? And your head coach is a huge part

of that. And so now he is the future of this franchise for six years, which is crazy. That's not a normal contract year. The money is not normal of what coaches are getting. So they've re you know, rewritten some of the rules and standards of what head coaches

are going to get around this league. So I think that's what you're saying is and just who the person of Matt Rules is he He is this relatable, has a ton of energy, can can communicate and command a room, which is a huge deal when you're talking about an NFL locker room. He's he has been in and in NFL locker room before, but he's never commanded one like

he's going to be asked to do. But I think watching him throughout this entire process and seeing how gracious he has not only with his time, but you know, he made a point that he's going to ask a lot of his players, but he's going to ask a lot of himself first. And I think he showed that with this process of of him showing up doing everything that you know, is asked of him, and and going above and beyond what was asked of him and giving us access. Some people may say that doesn't have anything

to do with coaching football. I think it does. I think just the way that he handled himself of yeah, we're gonna set the tone correctly off the top here that you know, I want people to get to know me and my family were going to be a part of this community. That's what him and Julie both said that they want to be involved here. So I think them allowing cameras and allowing us to introduce you all out there to them is a big deal for the type of of really next six years or who knows

how long Matt gets it. He gets it, you know, he just understands what what what comes with the territory. Um. Obviously it's it's a part of the gig. And I think to what you were saying, Caroline about the commitment the Panthers made to him, They're given him the time and plenty of resources. As Day've made clear to say, there's a certain owner of this team who's got some resources available to him. Um, they're going to give him everything he needs to build a winner here and it

might take some time. Um, but I think that's kind of what that contract really shows is they're they're committed to Matt rule. And this is a guy who who's not a quick fixed type. This is a guy who come in assess what a program needs, put a plan in place, and then just watch him work. And three or four years from now, if if history is any indication of what happened at Baylor and a Temple, um,

things here should be looking a whole lot different. And there are some people out there that said, like, you know, Okay, good for him, he won the press conference. Anyone can win the press conference. But I think there is a sense of that was what he was supposed to do yesterday. You can't win a game yesterday. You you can't do all these things yesterday. Yesterday the goal was win the press conference or be the best at doing that. And I think that's that speaks to his philosophy of the

process the processes. Be the best at parking your car, park your car the right way, walk to the practice field the right way, do every single day the right way, and then there aren't any throwaway days, is what he said. Man Will I but I'm with you. I think to the people saying, well, how could you not win an opening press conference I'm talking about compared to any other new head coach press conference that we've had this season, go watch them, and I I think that Matt Rule

did the best. I know we're in house. You're not gonna believe us, and you're gonna say, yeah, you're saying that because you work for the man. No. I think just go go be objective. Go watch any other press conference from this year with a new head coach higher and I think Matt rule you could get points for press conferences. Lead right now be in the setup. Can we just give the Panthers pr It looked good inside that Atrium dome. It looks good, So good job Panthers

all day yesterday. But now the work for Matt Rule really begins in the way that we're going to do this in group chat style and fashion. We're not just gonna lay out what all he has to do. There's a particular tie to Baylor, to Waco, Texas and now to really us and we have this same type of relationship. I believe that that Matt Rule probably does with Chip and Joanna Gates. I don't know if anyone watches fix Er Upper, but this is in waker because if you

don't stop listening, we don't even want you. If if you're a groupie and you do not watch Fixer Upper, get out. Even if you don't watch in your own home, you've ever been in a medical office waiting room, you have watched your nails done, so we've not seen it, and that get out. I mean, really like, just don't say anything, Just sit, just sit and don't say anything, honestly, Now,

that's actually the first legitimate mute we've ever gotten. The deal just like flipped it on around the channels here. We could probably get it on right now. We absolutely on HDTV. Well actually now it's not on HDTV as much because they have their own networks. Were like, we're good with this, We're gonna go be Oprah and have our own network. So they actually have their own network. But Fixer Upper is such a fantastic show. And if you love Ship Lap, you even if you even know

about Ship Lap, it's because of Joanna Gains. So what happened yesterday is a Panthers fan reached out to Chip Gains on Twitter and just said, Hey, we haven't really watched Baylor football that much soup, will you please let us know what type of coach are we getting in Matt Rule, because Chips a big bailorship. Chip. Yes, Chip and Joan are both huge. It's you know it is

they even in the show. They've gone to Baylor. They did the they redid the house of the equipment manager of the football team and Baylor, so very ingrained in Baylor. So we're reaching out to him saying, hey, who are we getting? And Chip's response was just he's great. Not to mention such a great man's the best not to mention a great man is something that he would along those lines. So I retweet this. I do have to give a little shout out to Zach Goin's are one

of our writers. He pointed it out to me. And Zach always likes social media clout. He tries. He's trying to get every retweet, every I mean, he he is. He wants it. He wants it, which you know, well, now he has a shout out on the group chat. So now really he's growing. So everyone you can go out there and follow him. That would really make his day. But he points it out to me, So then I go and look, I'm like, this is perfect. I'm going

to retweet this and then quote tweet it. So I say, you know, Fixer Upper fans out there, so everyone except for apparently Matt Hogan, everyone out there. Um, you know, here's what Chip Gains had to say about our new coach. If you're not on board, you are now all this. Well he liked it, Chip Gains. Chip Gains liked the tweet. Chip. If you're listening, we'd love to get you on the show. Whenever your So he liked that one. He also liked one where a person replied and said, is he a

Panthers fan? So that I replied, I said, no, Baylor in the in princies, but give us time, we'll convert him that one. Yeah, if he's if he's boys and Matt Ruled, then yeah. So I now if we can get Chip Gains on this podcast, yeah, Caroline, work your magic, no, get him here. He likes so yeah, um, he liked the link to the story I wrote Matt, which, of course, as a huge Fixer Upper fan, Uh, that was very good about And I learned a Caroline and she told

me that he in fact liked her tweets. So yeah, Chip, we know man, you're you're you're into the content we're producing here. We just need to be a part of the show, a part of it. But in this, in this sense of Fixer Upper, of all the things that Matt Rule has ahead of him, we're going to do

this in the framework of Fixer Upper. If you have not seen a show, you're gonna be lost for just a little while, but it will still be entertaining and I hope that will actually make you want to watch fixer upper and then you can say, oh my gosh, that was a group chat reference instead of being exactly. So that's what we're going for here. So thirty minutes into this podcast, we're getting to the good part, getting

into the good part. So Matt Rule, what he has ahead of him now is a mountain he he is getting the wonderful opportunity. Actually, you're better at this, Max is better. So here's a sex is better. So the show pretty much the premise at the beginning of every show, Caroline Craft me if I'm wrong, is they usually take you to like three houses and it's like, Okay, we're going to show you the three houses and then we'll you decide which one you want to renovate and that'll

be your home. And you've got a budget here in Carolina. The budget with Dave Tepper would probably say what unlimited? How much are you working with your chip? And Joanna would be like, okay, okay, we got a lot to work with here. They we're gonna have a lot of fun with this one. So the houses that Matt Rule and his family were looking at were a state Cleveland Browns, a State New York Giants, and the state Carolina Panthers.

Chip and Joanna were telling him about the Browns estate and like before they Keven finished talking, Matt was like, now I'm not interested. So they quickly move on to the other two choices. Um, the New York Giants. One is a house that Matt has lived in before. He was there for a year, so he has experience living under that road foundation. He knows maybe where some of the issues lie, what they didn't get around to fixing

when he was there last time. That still needs some work done on, so he's got some intimate knowledge of it. There's a certain individual, Dave Gettleman, who lives in that house. You may or may not want to live with. Dave. I love you your time here, but just run with this joke here for us if you will. Um. And so there's some work to be done. You've got some nice foundational pieces though, say Kwan Daniel Jones, there's some

attractive things about the Giants and Matt. You know, growing up in that northeast area in New York City and then playing at Penn State. You could see so the Giants look clearly that was something he was thinking about. But I think that's maybe the last house they want to go to since he knows a lot of Yeah, they didn't. They didn't get to that one because on the way to go see the Giants estate, they stopped by.

So everybody thought that option number three was going to be the one for him, But everyone forgot about the Carolina Panthers estate, which was this beautiful home that look needs some remodeling. I mean there's no doubt about that, right, I mean there again, there are some nice foundational pieces here, Christian McCaffrey. I mean, you're talking about a nice part of town. The people here are great, friendly neighborhood. You're

gonna love this community. Yeah. All they looked at that house and saw all those things, and again, with the resources available to really do a remodeling job, the rules looked at that, said Chip in Joanna, we're in. We're in for house number two. We want the Carolina Panthers estate. So then the question becomes Caroline like, how you know the big the big part of that show that I love is demo Day. Right, That's where Chips favorite, Chip just goes at it with this house. They start breaking

down walls and he's smashing into things. How big a demolition job this Chip and Matt Rule have on their hands here, versus more of a Joanna job, which is like maybe just kind of like yeah, just like some of the details, We just need to fix some some things here and there, and then this house is going

to be completely transformed. Well, I think what Matt Rule loves about this Carolina State is that there is demo to be done to the fact that what demo does and allows him is then the freedom to build what he wants. So I think he's definitely coming in with Chip.

They're going to be able to knock out some things that you know, he's already got his his some of his right hand men with him in here, so they're already getting to work on you know, what's the schedule going to look like for these next couple of weeks as we build the staff. But you know, then the head trainer also moved on from the Carolina State so he can build up that staff the way that he wants.

He talked about that in his press conference. Um, and then his wife is actually a registered dietitian, so there's something to be said for the way that he wants his athletes to be fueled. So he's gonna be able to maybe maybe demo the kitchen and do what, you know, what do we want to do in there to really make it an open space wherever it feels welcome and

wants to be in there. I think something else that could possibly happen as well with this, and what was probably attractive to him is you're actually gonna get to redo this and then move to a nicer, completely finished all you could want out of a facility, and you're actually gonna get to work with Temper to build this facility. So they're just doing this fixer upper for at the time being. They're going to get the right people in, but they're gonna say, hey, everyone, come to this house

that we're redoing this Carolina estate. We're actually gonna then move you to this other amazing big house that we're building that's really the big fix her upper that we've been waiting. Yeah, you get two houses for the price of well, damn, Temper gets two houses for the price of two houses. That rule gets two houses for really the price of one here, So it was a it was a no brainer for his family and actually his wife years ago a nutrition company that she used to

work for. They were based out of Atlanta, but they had a office here in Charlotte, and so she had been to Charlotte background two thousand, two thousand one, and she was telling me this while we were there. I said, have you been back since No, you know, it's been a while. I said, just prepare yourself. Charlotte has completely changed. But they're familiar with the street, They're familiar with the area. It was a no brainer. Carolina State is what they got.

Just felt at home, they knew it. And Demo day is going to It's going to be a little bit uncomfortable maybe for the next couple of weeks while we while we wait and see what are the change How are they going to change this place? I mean, and I think that's one of the big questions here. Everyone wants to know Matt, like, what do you think of

this roster? And you can really answer that question at his intro press conference, because you know, he'd been studying a lot of teams rosters in preparation for interviews, and he hasn't really had a chance to dive into it. Look, we know Christian McCaffrey, Luke Keikley. Beyond that, there's a lot of question marks I mean, of course, the investments in the early round draft picks the past couple of years, they're going to be a big part of things going forward.

But there's a lot still that's left unknown, and I think a lot of the players feel that way too, Like even talking to k K Short on Locker Clean at days, like, look, if you're not Christian or Luke, all of us don't really know what the future holds. I mean, there's gonna be a lot of evaluation to take place looking back at practice tape, all the game tape, and Matt Rule has to figure out which guys are right for he and his staff, and that's not going to be everybody. I mean, we know the nature of

this league. The roster turnover is extreme every season, this one especially, you'd think with a whole new staff and a new set of eyes, Um, demolition sounds like a pretty bad word in this case, but to run with our theme, yeah, I mean, I think we could see a lot of a lot of changes, uh, in the way this this team looks, and and not just this offseason, but going forward. What does a panther look like to Matt Rule, we don't know yet. Yeah, I think it

is going to be different. I think maybe the Joanna piece is actually coming in more. This is where Joanna comes in after the demo is done and she puts the design together. She's working with Chip who then switch us from demo mode to build mode, and he's he's building the inside of this home and sometimes outside too, of what is this going to look like moving forward? What's the flow of the house going to be? What's

what is this team going to be? Well? What what is that We don't know His coordinators, if you will, designing the plan for both the offense and defense side of the ball. I'm very curious to see the coordinators are going to be Um. Obviously, he's got the Baylor coaching staff, which he thinks very highly of. We'll see how many guys would maybe come over from the Bears program.

But his offensive coordinator, I mean, those are those are big question marks hanging out there because we know what Matt's going to do as a kind of guy on hop of the program, overseeing the whole thing. But those guys who are building the game plans offensively and defensively calling the plays, that's gonna be a big part of the success or failure of this, and he said he didn't necessarily want to bring in someone that's you know,

has to be an older veteran of the NFL. I mean he said that essentially, if you can coach, you can coach. If you can teach, you can teach, you can be older, you can be younger. If you have those kind of intangibles. I think, I mean you it's written all over everything he says. It's about intangibles. Intangibles.

I think the interesting thing will be you know what Jake Delome said on that podcast several weeks ago was that when John Fox came in a decade and a half ago, he looked at how the team finished off the year before, and he looked at those players and which ones were competing and putting themselves out there when it didn't matter, you know, these last four games and we're all kind of like, you know, it's interim coach, you know, out of the playoffs, like the guys that

were out there. I guarantee you he looks at that tape and those intangibles of those players, those staffords, you know, who were still competing. Because if there's anybody who knows what it's like to go out on the field and lose for months straight. It's Matt Rule, Like, Yeah, Matt was having a lot of fun when his Baylor team won eleven games, and he was having a lot of fun when he won ten games back to back at Temple. But he's been through one and eleven, he's been through

two and ten. We know how much dread there is when you go eight weeks that winning football game, right, I mean, we've just we just experienced that. So Matt Rule knows what that looks like and what that feels like, and he wants guys that can get through that and then turned around, you know. And I think so he has a keyn eye for evaluating what to places here in Caroline because he's lived in as a coach. He's been through locker rooms and teams that have had to

go through those type of stretches. Well, I think when we were at his home, he has this office space that has different memorabilia around it and and we'll have some content coming out of that in the next couple of weeks. He walked us through a couple of pieces of memorabilia and there were two photos stood out that he spent a little bit of time on and one was the first win that he ever got at Temple, which came in the middle of the season, and it

was an emotional photo. It was him and his wife hugging with you know, their little one of their little girls, and Hand's son was being lifted up by the entire team. It was such a family investment to get this win. And he made the comment, he said, we weren't winning much. It had been a long time since this program had felt a win, and we found one here, and then it would take us a while to get to where we wanted to be. The other one was at Baylor.

It was the game that put them into the Bowl game. Um, and it was him and his player jumping up and and this the happiness on their face. You'll see some of that coming, Um, really in that couple of days, some of that content. So I think that is what we're getting to. That's what this fixer upper process is going to be. It's not always you know, it's going to be. He didn't have any photos in there from

when they lost. You don't want those, but all of those moments he said, those teams, I said, we were you surprised when that Temple team became six us when he said no, not really, because even when we were losing, I felt like we had the right mindset and the right attitude and the right guys in the locker room.

We just had to fix a couple of things and we did that and that took a little bit of time, but then we started winning and I love I mean, it is rough to hear as a Temple fan, but I'm not so I think it's kind of I was gonna say I'm not, but Carson Smuckers rubbing off on me, our videographer, went to Temple, worked there for a while. He's a big Temple guy. Steve Smith. Steve Smith's like, who wins it? Temple? It's like it kind of hurts, but I mean it makes sense. It is a little

bit of yeah, you're right. He made Temple relevant. Think about how much self belief you have to have to go through a season like one, eleven, two, and ten and then still feel like, Okay, I'm just trust me, We're gonna it's gonna get better. You know how hard that must be to like have all the players looking at you and administrators looking at you and being like, really, what are we doing? We've lost ten games in a row,

you still believe in this thing. And and at two places where they do not win historic lee he did that. So I don't know how it's gonna go on the field here in Carolina. Nobody does all these things with with coaches coming from college to pro. Well, we'll find out soon enough, But you can't look at what he did at the college level and be anything but oppressed with the turnaround job he did at those two places, and Dave Tepper wants him to do it here at

this level. Well, the big finale of the Fixer Uppers when they put the billboard up in front of the newly renovated house and they have the couple stand there, and then Chip and Joanna pull that billboard apart and there's a new house. That's not gonna happen for the Carolina Panthers until the beginning of the season. So this demo, this is gonna be a really long demo and rebuild here over this offseason, rebuilding this roster, seeing what it takes to be a Carolina Panther, and how Matt Rule

is going to build this program. I would even say that they're going to get multiple houses out of this. We said that they're going to get to so even as revealed day happens at it may not be the perfect house for everyone, but it's the house that you're gonna live in and you're gonna keep building it and you're gonna make it better because the process has begun. We heard that from from David Tepper from the very

beginning about this. He wants to coach that will put the process in place to make sure that this organization gets back to their championship ways. So I hope you enjoyed this podcast. New sponsor Lift, thank you for giving us a Lift for making us feel good about our

our content here that we've put out here. We're excited to bring you more and more from If you like to anything about this, please leave a review, let us know we try and peel about the curtain and let you know how we found out and all the things that we did to make sure that we introduced Matt Rule to you in a way that would make you proud, make us proud, and make this Rule family have the best introduction to the Carolina Panthers and the fan base

that we could. So thank you so much for joining us, and we will talk to you again next week,