What's your favorite Office episode?
Oh man, that sounds like picking your favorite kid. That's I am Josh Brooks, the Jay Reed Parker, director Athletics at the University of Georgia and Office super fan.
Hi there, everybody, We're back. You're back. We're all here.
This is Off the Beat, and I am your host, Brian Baumgartner. I'm so stoked for our guest today. He's a pretty big deal to me, and he should be
to anyone who loves college sports. Josh Brooks happens to be the athletic director of my childhood love, the University of Georgia Bulldogs, and over the last three years, he has helped lead their athletic program to unprecedented heights in softball, volleyball, soccer, track and field, and of course their football team back to back national championships the last two years and one more if I have my way this year, go Dogs. In this conversation, you're going to hear how I met Josh.
Let's just say it was a viral moment. To be sure, Josh is a fan of the Office, So yes, we're going to talk a little Office today. But now the truth is, I'm about as big a fan of his work as he is of mine. He's just about the best in the business in college athletics.
He's up for awards.
But here's the thing, he's even nicer than he is accomplished. So I can't wait for you to get to know him. Today he talks frankly about a multitude of topics, ripping through the headlines of college sports, controversy at Michigan, pressures of nil, and of course the transfer portal. You're not gonna want to miss this. And Josh, guess what, I'm going to release this to the public, just like you sent us viral a few years ago. Yeah, this thing right here, this is going to be on the intranet.
Here he is my buddy, Josh Brooks.
Bubble and squeak. I love it, bubble and squeak on bubble and squeak, I could.
Get every mole lift over from the nine.
Before Go Dogs, Go Dogs.
Got the hat on, love.
It Go Dogs. Of course I have the hat on. I'm excited. I'm ready to go. How you doing, I'm great.
We're what forty nine hours await and kick off.
Forty nine hours as we're recording this podcast from the SEC championship game. I'm so excited about this game. I think it's going to be the proverbial game of the century that happens every year.
How are you feeling about it?
You know, I'm always I'm nervous, but I'm I'm nervous for every game, whether it's a we have a women's basketball game tonight or men's basketball game last night. I'm I live in a state of nervousness for every game. But thankfully I don't have to do anything but just show up.
So how many games do you go to over the course of a week. Are you going to awake game?
I never miss a football away game. I tried to make a few away games of other sports if I can, when the travel works out. If it's instabl a tournament, I try to go so but there's a conflict, Like our volleyball team is playing in Provo, Utah tomorrow night, but that game is six thirty Eastern time in Utah and there's no way I can make it back.
So I won't make that.
But last year we were playing in Austin, Texas volleyball and I went to blab blah match front in Texas, flew back, got into Atlanta, you know, two o'clock in the morning and made it back to the city champion game. So I'll try to get you know, it's a lot of travel, you know, just this week alone. Men were on the road. Last night in Florida State women played Duke tonight at home. Men basketball have Mercier Friday night, women blulleyball first round Ares of State at Utah, and
then football Saturday. So it's twenty one sports. It's NonStop. But it's fun, you know.
I mean it sounds very fun. It sounds like a good job to me. But yes, being on the road that much is a lot. I learned a lot about you, and I mean I knew about you, but I've learned a lot about you in preparing to talk to you. It's fascinating stuff. First off, I want to I want to mention how we got connected, you and you and I take us through the because we haven't fully talked about it. I don't know exactly how it happened.
Yeah, but it was when you got the position as the athletic director of Georgia. Tell me what happened.
So it all starts.
I've got a good group of buddies Clark, Will Brad and Tanner. We have a group text, and it's one of those group texts that's been going on for ten plus years, and it's always full of you know, office memes or this and that, where you know, it's NonStop this and that, and Clark is Clark and I debate
over who's the bigger Office fan. We even had a bet at the end of the series that he thought Jim and Pam were going to break up and he had to buy me dinner when they did not, because I'm more of an optimist and Clark's more of a realistic. Clark's like, they're going to break He was so set that they were going to break up that he saw it coming. So we've been Office diehearts a long as time. We knew you had a connection to Georgia, and so
Clark being the diehard fan he was. The day that I got the eight job, he did the cameo with you Yeah, and he shows up at my house. He's and he's just like, hey, I need to show you something. Now.
I'm thinking, oh god, three days in the job, there's a problem. What's wrong.
He's like, I got to show you this, and he goes he connects my TV with his phone and he streams it and you pop up and I was like, oh my god, this is the creazy And then and then you went above and beyond, which was great because it wasn't just a normal like you just you. You made it so much better and it was And then I think I posted it or shared it. Yes, and then it went viral, and I wonder if he's even gonna see this?
It went, it went viral, So from my perspective, you know, I get requests to send people messages and I saw this request and I'm like, well, this is fun.
Here's the new guy.
And I think I went crazy and said a bunch of go dogs type things. Of course, the wolf wolf. I don't think much about it. And then suddenly Yahoo Sports ESPs like suddenly this thing is like living on and on.
It was really fun. It was.
And that's funny because sometimes in our world we think so small, we're like, does he is he even gonna see this? He even gonna realize that this thing's going viral?
You made sure, No, you made sure that I was gonna see it. I mean, it went it went everywhere, which was very very fun.
Yeah, they got me some cool points. But people were like, how did you pull that off? Like, well, Clark, it was a great president from Clark.
Oh boy, Well we'll talk a little bit more about the office in a bit. You grew up in Louisiana, Hammond, Louisiana. I understand you played high school football. What position did you play?
Linebacker?
You were a linebacker?
Oh?
Were you tough or no?
Toughnes?
Yeah, that's probably the only attribute you could give me credit for is being at least being tough.
I could. I will claim that, not fast, not.
Slow and tough.
Yeah, slow and sough. I would I would make the tackle. It wasn't pretty right. My coach would often yell at me about the way I would tackle. But I was results oriented is how I would tackle. That's the best way to describe myself.
But very average.
Okay, And now I don't know if these things normally go together. They seemed not to me, But what do I know? So you played a high school football and then you also threw the javelin.
Yeah, that's a random one.
That was one that my older brother's friend threw it in high school and he got a scholarship LSU and his dad sort of helped me out, and it was a basically like a moneyball way for me to find an event that no one else was doing. And with a bad arm but good technique, you could make up for a lot of you know, you could make up a lot of ground. So just because I had a really good technique, I could beat a lot of people.
But what happened was in high school, the coach knew I was so good at the technique and he had no idea how to throw it. That he'd often bring like the kid with the strongest arm out to practice. Say hey, Josh, teach this kid how to throw, And a week later he's still kicking my button. I'm like, why did I even show this guy?
Killing me?
So I inevitably trained everybody to be better than me and javelin. I guess that's what I thought. I'd be a good coach at that point, because when you can't do something, you coach it as best you can.
When was the last time you threw a javelin? Do you go show your students?
Now?
Well, my son he wants to be at the athlete. He's training for to be a Catholic. Right now, javelin's one of his events. So I've been working with him on that and I've taught him how to throw, but my track team did not know. Most of the majority of my track team had no idea. I threw the javelin in high school and we had a staff to kathlon a year ago or so, and I missed the
first part of it. And I walked out to the kathalan late where the staff was all competing and ninety percent of staff could barely throw javelin.
And I showed up in a tie, slacks and dress shoes.
I took my dress shoes off, with the tie still on, slack still on, grabbed the javelin and beat everybody on the staff.
And to throw it.
It was that became that video off the texta to you. It became a little viral because it just looks so funny. Some guy barefooted in a tie slinging a javelin.
Well, you know what, that reminds me of another guy in a sport coat and a tie and dress shoes shooting hoops.
Oh yeah, yeah. That No one saw.
Come that's with that, and no one saw.
I watched that episode, uh just the two days ago. Thanks a matter of fact, if.
You need somebody to come and teach your guys and gals there how to shoot.
Shoot for throws if nothing else.
Yeah, you got it's by the way, that's fifteen that's free throw line extended. That's an that's a fifteen foot arc around that I was hitting. And that was one take. Josh really and no edits on the DVD. There's thirteen in a row. They are you serious? Greg Daniels called me and said, I'm really sorry. We couldn't use six minutes of the episode. You just shoot in free throws. We had We had to out edit it down a little bit. Uh you went to LSU, did you always?
Being from Louisiana? Was that where you always wanted to go?
Yeah, when you grow up in South Louisiana, that becomes the home based school you root for and the place you care about. And uh so that was my childhood dream to to go to LSU. And and you know, my dream in high school was to be the head wall coach there one day and and win national championships. That was always that in my mind in high school, That's what I was going to do.
And people thought it.
And look, people thought I was crazy, but they I knew that dream at an early age, and people made fun of me about it at early age, which is funny now because now my mom will run into somebody from my hometown and like, they always knew you were going to do big things. I'm like, no, they didn't. Don't make fun of me all the time.
You know, I don't hear that.
So, so you initially you wanted to be a coach.
Oh yeah, yeah.
But when I left LSU after being a student assistant and I worked for jimbo Fisher, he was the office coordinat quarterbacks coach LSU Samean was a head coach. I left to go to Louisianman Road to be a GA and I coached there for two years, and then after two years of being a GA there, my head coach offered me a job as football ops. He's like, look, I don't I don't really hire people that didn't play colshawal, but you're really good at computers, you're organized.
I think you have a career path in this and I didn't see it.
I didn't understand it, but I'm so glad he did that for me because I've enjoyed this pathway although there's always that little pool in your heartstrings of like, man, what if I was, you know, still coaching into it, you know, but obviously I can't complain.
So that's how that's that's what put you on the path.
Yeah, is that that change where I literally got out of coaching and went into administration. That but I was, you know, twenty three, twenty four years old, off for my first full time job, making twenty thousand dollars a year. I thought I was rich and made it and I was ready to start my career.
Well, by the way you just rolled through some names, I'm gonna I'm gonna roll through a few more. You're at LSU. Saban is the coach. Jimbo Fisher is there as the OC if I'm if I'm not mistaken, Freddy Kitchens is there, Adam Gate, Adam Gase is there, Will must Him mus Him is there.
I mean, this is Sarah Dooley.
Stan Hickson is there. At the same time, Derek Dooley was coaching tight ends recruiting coordinator. Stan Hickson a longtime great coach, worked with Michael Haywood who was eventually you know, coached the places.
Say it was a this is the tree. I mean this is literally the tree.
Yeah, it was insanity to think to be in just to be as a student assistant charting and being on the headset listening to Coach Fisher and and all those guys talk and be witness to that was just unbelievable. What a great experience at twenty one years old to see and hear those things.
As you mentioned, you end up going to Louisiana Monroe. But I got to ask you a question. If LSU called and said, come be the athletic director here, do you go?
No?
I mean honestly, people ask me that question all the time.
So it was a bad question. No, No, what I want. I want the answer.
I like to be a public about it because it's no disrespect to LSU. It's a great place, great people. Obviously, I've got a ton of family back there. But when you go from LSU and you work at Louisiana in row so many years, you lose the tie to the to your institution, and it because more about people you work with. So I don't even root for LSU. I just root for people I've worked with more than anything else. And then I've been at Georgia now fourteen years my
children were born here. You know, this is my home, this is my place, this is this is where I want to spend the rest of my life.
And it's no, and I don't mean.
That that's where you want to spend the rest of your life. Yeah, I mean you're on the record right now.
Yeah.
My dream is to work here until I can retire, and then I'd love to live here after that. I mean, if you look at the track record of people, whether it's football coaches or other coaches that or administrators that have worked here and then retire stay here, it's just a great mean. I'm not trying to be, you know, over the top about my love of Athens, but it's just it's just a really great place to live. And if they'll have me, I'll stay as long as as long as I can.
I do have to ask you about your time. I love this. At Louisiana Monroe. You're a graduate assistant and I read the story that the budget was very low
to the athletic department there. That is a fair assessment, and the school could not afford snacks for the football players for the football players after summer workouts, So you went to a local store and you struck a deal to get peanut butter and jelly and a local bakery to give bread, and you and other graduate assistants would make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the football players.
True or false, That is true. That's that's some good research right there. That's a impressive.
We've got a cracked team here. Gosh, we didn't have. I found out a lot I won't talk about.
No, that's this.
This was before the days of the resources that you can now provide without any cost, you know, to student athletes. And we didn't have a lot of money back then at Monroe. So we're very resourceful. And I went to the local grocery shore they would give us gift cards a week exchange for peb and j and then the local bakery would give me like two day old bread. So me and the student systems would make sandwiches NonStop, put them, wrap them up, put them in the refrigerator,
and the kids would come by all summer. And that's how we kept our team. You know, they had meal plans and stuff, but this was their way to get all the extra stuff instead of the shakes and smoothies and things like that, this was hard. Something's a little that's a low fridge and it helped feed me a couple of days a week.
Yeah, there you go.
Maybe it's just like yesterday for you, but but it's been so long. Two thousand and seven. You're there, you're the director of football operations at Louisiana Monroe and you play a game in Tuscaloosa. And now this is Saban's first year with the Tide. He's gone to Alabama and Louisiana Monroe wins in Tuscaloosa twenty one to fourteen?
Were you there?
I was for bops there. Yeah, I was there.
Yeah, but you were in the stadium.
I was on the sideline.
You were on the sidelines. Yeah.
Yeah.
Is that where your hatred for Alabama started? Not hatred your rivalry?
Is that?
Like?
And Saban is there and you had worked under him at LSU, Like, how special was that game for you personally?
That was special for me honestly, because you know, I felt there was an tunity that I had to that I was interviewed for a job. The one thing I to tell about when I was at Monroe. After my first year at Monroe, coach Fisher called me back up and said there was a job opportunity for it to be a g A at l s U. Yeah, and I interviewed and didn't get it. That's a whole nother story. But so there was a little bit of a resentment
towards Jelish. That's where a little bit of my resentment started towards Jellis shoes that I didn't get that job. They won a national championship the next year while I was still at Monroe, So there was a little bit of a you know, not a rabbit free but you know, me wanting to beat him.
But at the same time, you know it's you. You have to I have to be.
Thankful for coach Saban and everything else, for I wouldn't be where I am today without all those coaches in the experience. So it's a mixed emotion of yeah, I wanted to beat him, you want to beat everybody. But that's where it started a little bit for me. And I always loved to give Kirby a hard time about that because he was at A at Bama that year too, So whenever he makes a jab at me, I always remind him that he was on the side the other sidelines of that game when I let we took them down.
But the funny thing about that story, and this is not me, this was one of the coaches in our staff. So when you're a school like Louisiana Monroe and you play Alabama normally, when you lose that game and you're shaking hands with the other coaches, one of the common comments that the big school tells a small school. And I've been on the other end of this a million times, Hey, good luck and conference. It's kind of a way of saying like, yeah, we beat you, but we're gonna hope
you'll do all in your conference. One of our coaches went right up to one of the BAMA coaches and the strip said, good luck a conference.
Oh that's so good.
I don't I don't take one thing I've learned in this like I don't take victory laps. I don't do. You know, I've always tried to and all victories stay humble because you know, when you come up through Monroe and when you come up that end, you've been on it. I've been on both sides of it. So I've learned in this profession you better stay humble or you will
quickly be humbled. So I don't take victory laps. I'm when we beat someone, I go to my counterpart and I'm like, I was like just hugging them and giving him a nice handshake and just saying could get you know, I've never before I celebrate. I try to at least be.
Yeah, glad, you're a nice guy.
I am a nice I've tried to be at least.
Briefly.
You go to Georgia twenty eight to fourteen for the first time, your football ops. There, you are getting your masters at the same time, right that you become an associate athletic director. There are you just working your ass off?
And I think so that was in like twelve through fourteen, so I had I had twin three year old and a one year old at the time, so my wife appreciated the uh, maybe I can't help with the kids.
I got to study for this mid.
Yeah, where she's going to heaven for sure she's the saying yeah.
So I knew.
It's not the case in every situation, but in a lot of situations, when they post an a d job, they say there's a requirement of a master's degree, or at least say master's degree. For so I was like, I need to check this box just to not if any reason that someone couldn't interview me God or any reason. But you know, so I went into it with the mindset of I need to check this box. But actually I went to grad school Georgia and it was great
for two things. One it made me think in different ways that I hadn't before from a textbook standpoint in sports management. And two, it brought me a deeper connection with Georgia because now it's prideful to say, like I'm a Georgia grad, I'm not a lum, and that that means something to me. That the fact that I want to be in the rest of my life that I can say I'm not just a you know, person worked
to have a person who actually graduate career. So that's helped deepen my connection and makes it makes it a little more special for me.
Of course, you get that degree and immediately get an athletic director job Millsaps College there in Jackson, Mississippi. This was my fun fact about this time. You were one of the first athletic directors and a young athletic director, a newly minted athletic director, in college sports to introduce on site beer gardens at the game, and you had a little pushback.
On this is that right?
Talk to me about the decision that, like, why did you make the decision? Why did you feel like it was a good thing.
So I felt at a place like Millsaps, you can take chances, I thought, And it's a place where I could take a chance to do something different. And I knew that organically you weren't going to have a lot of people just show up at millsapsotball games in Jacksonsissippi, So we had to do something different to excite the local families and people to come out to games. So when I went on the interview at Millsaps, I said, I'm going to be myself to the full play it
all out there. I've had a few ideas, one of them will being the beer guarden. But there was a handful of ideas I pitched, and I said, they're there gonna like me, or they're gonna hire me, or they're not gonna like me, and they're not gonna hire me, and it wouldn't be meant to be. So I pitched all my ideas like that and a few other ones.
Similar to that, and they loved them. And I get there and I get hired in July, and the football season obviously starts to September, and I thought, okay, I'm gonna wait till a year in and start the beer guarden. You don't come in and throw all your crazy ideas out there. And then a couple of weeks in people were like, hey, man, what's up this beer guarden?
You told us about an interview.
I was like, okay, I guess we're doing this so so. And you know, we had a Methodist affiliation at Millsaps. And it's interesting because not to get too into deep into the rigionport, but there was a debate amongst some different Methodists entities basically arguing John Wesley's feelings on alcohol. Some felt it was none and some felt that it was in moderation. And I felt that this was a good way to moderate drinking in a way people could do it safely because people weren't getting.
You know, they weren't.
We were controlling it, and it was a way to do it responsibly. But you know, the the hate mail I got was actually from people who weren't even affiliated with most steps. It was just random people from other faiths that were sending me letters. And it got a little nasty there for a little bit, but it with all things that passed and and they still have it today. And what's funny, and this is funny, but not funny. The beer garden is right next to the kid zone.
We created a kid zone too, And that sounds funny, but it works out great because the parents want to drop their kids off at the kids zone, yeah, and at the beer garden and let little Johnny and Susie run around. And so it was about making making it more than just a game. And I said that with all due respect to the student athletes, but we had to do something bigger. So we we we created a
kid zone, a beer garden. We took the student section and we would do fun things like we did a phone party one time during a game where we literally had a big phone pit and just let the students have fun. So it was it was a place where you could try things, make mistakes.
Learn and grow.
And it was just a phenomenal place for me to get to cut my teeth and trust some things.
After a couple more years at Louisiana Monroe, you go back to Georgia. Now, when you go back to Georgia in twenty sixteen to take an associate athletic directory job, do you see that as your path? Do you think I'm going to be there forever?
Yeah?
Yeah, that was the I left in fourteen to go to Millsaps And you'll limp to get outside of my comfort zone. If you can imagine at Georgia, I'd come up through the ranks and then I was associated, but I was in just a couple of areas of responsibility and I had to step out of that to get experience in fundraising and marketing and ticket sales and everything else. And so when I came back to Georgia, it was a all due respect to everyone in the building, but I'm coming back to take that next step.
And I was.
Gonna be patient on it because I didn't know if i'd get I knew Greg, my previous boss, was he had a few left, he was going to retire at some point. But I was okay with Okay, if I get it, I get it. If I don't, I don't, I'll be ready to take a job somewhere else. And this is now going to cap off my experience and I'll be ready to interview for whatever's next.
But it worked out, and.
I'm you know, luck timing just merged at the right time and it worked out. But you know, I came back with the thought of I'm either going to be at Georgia, be the number two or three the rest of my career, or hopefully there's an opportunity here somewhere else.
Since twenty twenty one, the Athletic Director of Georgia. I've got to give you a bunch of fun facts here. Twenty twenty three Sports Bureau Journal Athletic Director of the Year finalist Georgia highest ranking in eighteen years, ranked seventh in the lear Field Director's Cup, basically excellence in sports athletics.
This stat is insane.
Josh, Georgia has twenty one sports seventeen finished with a top twenty ranking and nine ended up in the top ten of twenty twenty three. Is that the best stat for you? Is that the stat you're most proud of?
Yeah, and you know it's it's you can never take anything away from a national championship in any sport, and obviously football is just amazing. But I do take a lot of pride and I want to be good in every I'm a competitor. I love to compete, and I want to be good in every all twenty one sports. I always make the joke that if we started a bad minton team tomorrow, I'd want to have the best bad mint team in the country. I just I'm a competitor and that's why I love the shop so much.
But yeah, there's a lot of pride in that because especially when you can you can make a change in a program, bringing a new coach and see it grow like what our soccer program has done the last two years. That's a lot of fun when you see it. Okay, we weren't even making the SEC tournament and then we made the insula term that we won the SEC. That's just that's really fun and that's one of the big pride points for me.
In addition to football, obviously you just mentioned soccer, volleyball, track and field softball all making huge strides being very successful, and you have ten head coaching hires there. Now, what is important for you when you're looking to hire a new head coach in any sport?
You know, it's it's different sport to sport because the opportunities and challenges are different in every single sport, and not to sound cliches, but it's in the world we live in today. I've got to make sure first and foremost that I've got someone that I can trust with my young men and women that were there's too much going on in the world that the deal breaker for me is I've got to trust and know that I can trust that they're going to do right by the
young men and women. That's where it starts for me. Then it's about development and recruiting, and recruiting is a big piece for me. You better have a plan, you better enjoy recruiting. You got to be really active because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter how good of a coach you are. You better have these student athletes and the players. And it's not just about their ability, it's about their their mindset, their ability to develop, the their they be able to make it here academically.
You know, so you have your your standard things you're looking for.
But then it then it comes down to fit and gut and like when I meet someone, does my gut tingle when I meet them, because hopefully, if I've narrowed it down in three or four they all meet the the qualifications I want, and then when I meet them, it's gotta I just trust my gut and go, this is somebody I believe in. This is somebody that I that I want to leave my program.
God, I love that, Like really good for you, and obviously it's working out well for you. But I don't want to get on a soapbox here. But you know, I mean there's so much talk these days in sports about analytics, and I'm not saying analytics are not important, but you also, well you have.
To let's you have to have a good I've got a good gut.
But yeah, but but I love that that and that you're and that you're transparent about it, like you've got to have somebody or you've got to have a feeling about this person that's more than just intellectual.
Yeah.
I've just been always been a big gut person and believe it. And I think, Look, I'll be honest with you. I am not super talented. Look I've bet I told you I was average football player, average athlete. Everybody in my department that leads leads a unit, they do it better than I could ever do it. Like my CFO I could never be a better CFO than her. My person that runs development, the person runs to every single categorical item in this department. They all do it way
better than I could ever imagine do it. So I don't have a true talent for any of these things. I think my best talent is doing what I'm doing. You know, I don't know to explain that, but and I just got to go with my gut because at the end of the day, if they make my gut tingle, then then hopefully that means they're going to make recruits and others feel the same way, and they'll be able to get people here, and they'll get people to buy
in and believe and know what we're doing. So and look, it's not going to be nothing ever is going to be full proof, and unfortunately in this business, it's a mathematical certainty. At some point I'm going to have to probably fire someone I hired, and that day will be terrible,
but hopefully not. I really enjoy the people I work with, and obviously the people I've hired I believe in, and then I think my part of my responsibility with that is to give them every resource they need to be successful and remove the roadblocks, give them the resources to where they can do what we've brought them here to do well.
In addition to recruiting, setting a record for fundraising in twenty twenty three, as well also record breaking academic year in twenty twenty three, setting a new school high mark for cumulative GPA. I mean, you're on a good run here, Josh. And in addition to everything else, let's just say the highest profile sports, college football, you are the first and only team to go back to back in the college
Football Playoff. The last team to go back to back in an undisputed way was Alabama in twenty eleven and twenty twelve. It's been eleven years since that. You have a chance to go for three. What happens on Saturday? Like, how are you viewing the game right now? Your comfort level?
You know, I think it's going to Like you said, it's been one of those classic matchups, two really good football teams, two great coaching staffs. For me, I always say the games are one in the trenches, who controls a lot of scrimmage and then and then it could come down to a crazy thing happening, a turnover here, turnover there. This feels like a game where it's going
to be important. The winner of the game is probably going to win the turnover battle, and unless something crazy happens on special teams, I really feel like the turnover battle is going to be the deciding point of this game. But you know, this is excitement. It's you know that there's nerves to go into a game like this, but it's also excitement because this is why we do it, you know, so you can't shy away from these moments.
We work, We work to have these opportunities. So you're ready to just tee it up and let's let's go, and let's see what happens.
You know, this morning in my car, I was listening to Greg McElroy, obviously Alabama quarterback, Greg talking very confidently about how Alabama matches up against Georgia. Alabama should not matter. What happened last week at Auburn is maybe the greatest travesty I have ever seen on a football field, because here's the thing. The kick six that happens, this is a crazy, unexpected play. This is this is crazy fourth and thirty one when you have everyone back in the
end zone. This is this is something that should should not happen. I said on the record, I know you can't say it. Everybody at Auburn gone got goodbye, kick them out of the conference. You're feeling watching the game last.
Year at this point in that game, you nothing surprised you anymore. It's and I'm gonna tell you Auburn is well, it's a crazy place to play where those fans they do a great job.
You know.
What's funny about the SEC is like so you you know, after going to LSU and they're working at Monroe and playing Auburn a bunch and now being at Georgia, Auburn has been a team I've played throughout the twenty five years of my career all the time, and it's a team that you you know, it's a rival. You can't stand them in the Senate. Then you meet the people that work there and you just love They've got some of the great greatest administrators there. Hey d he's a
great guy there. And it's like, I want to hate you, man, like y'all are so nice and such good people, like you're supposed to hate Auburn. But and that's the same thing with like Tennessee and Florida to other places like, I want to hate you so much, but there's just so many good people in this profession that it's funny that people don't see the behind the scenes side of that of so many good people.
Yeah. I know you're being nice, but that was just I mean you, I like, that's pretty good. Yeah, you know, I did hear you. I did hear you in an interview. I found this fascinating. You just alluded to it right now. You talked about how the SEC Athletic directors work.
Really more, We've done more research than anybody I've ever interview.
This is there that there is a there is a camaraderie, there is a you all are helping each other.
It is this is this is true, very correct.
You know, we we're our own little therapy group to some degree some points in time when we get together because we are some of the only people that know what each other are going through, uh, whether we're dealing with fans or student athletes, or coaches or staff or
et cetera. Because it's these chairs can be lonely sometimes so being able to talk to the ad at Auburn or Florida or Tennessee or whoever and talk through issues and really talk about best practices and we and look, we understand that as the SEC goes, we all go. The more successful they see is the better we're all going to be across the ward. So there is a
common interest in our league doing well. And you know, we want to get as many teams in the playoffs, so we want to get as many teams in the instantly tournament in baseball and basketball, et cetera. So there's pride there, and there is great camaraderie and I really enjoy We meet in person a few times a year and we zoom every couple of weeks and it's a fun group and we lean on each other pretty well.
I love hearing that too, and it and it makes a lot of sense. I have to ask you about Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan program and what is alleged right now is the decision that was made to suspend him for three games. Do you think that was the right decision?
You know, I don't know.
We've we I've tended to always stay stay in our own lane and not judge other people, because judge not unless you be judged.
But unless we could come right back. I got you right, Yes, No, I understand.
You know, I've been in those trenches before, and I've been on other sides of the table on any situation like that, and you never want to judge because you know that things can be reported one way and then they're the deep. The facts of a situation may not be what's being reported out. So you try to hold back judgment in any situation like that because you just you don't know what you know. Unless you're there, you don't know what the truth is. So I have my own challenges every day, so I.
Tend not to you stand your own lane. Well, here's the thing that to me is fascinating. Big time college sports is a business, and now at this moment where we sit right now, the only chance for a big team, big ten team to get into the college football playoffs.
Is if it's Michigan.
And if Michigan doesn't get in, they're costing themselves and their own institutions a lot of money. So the the oversight is all to me very confusing.
That's a good that's an interesting way.
I mean, yeah, because it's a conflicted feeling of pride in the conference and revenue opportunities for the conference. So I would that'd be interesting to see how they all feel about watching that Big Ten championship game. But but yeah, I know, and look, I know fans were probably some would probably scoff at me saying this, But we we do. We root, we root for us to see for them to do well.
You know, we do, I think most fans do. I mean, at a certain it's a.
Point of pride.
It is a point of pridm because you can look back on it and say and say, look at our history, Look how well our conference has done the playoffs. And that's a good bragging point to say, this is the conference that has the best track record right in the playoffs.
So I think that's I think that's true.
I mean, I certainly hear a lot of SEC specifically SEC chants from fans at certain games, you know, particularly when you get into like you know, the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament bracket, Like there's a there's like, well, they beat us, and they're better than us this year, but them being better makes us better somehow.
And then and then even when like someone beats an SEC team and they tweet or chant, oh, it just means more like messing with us. It's like well, you're actually proving our point when you when you trouble us with that, that means that that hashtags work pretty well and it's caught on so you're using it, so obviously it's pretty pretty strong state, you know.
So Yeah, if Georgia does what I hope they do and beats Alabama this weekend, it appears all but likely that Alabama will not be in the College Football Playoff. If somehow it's fourth and thirty one.
I'm walking out the building. I'm just walking.
You're just gonna walk out.
Yeah, if somehow Georgia loses, Georgia, should they still be uh in the college football Playoff?
You know, Look, I'm always gonna advocate for our team, but we're a you know how we're wired here, Uh with coach marsh leadership, We're focused on one thing and one thing only that's that's winning Saturday. That's got to be the focus because any minute we spent worrying about alternative scenarios is a minute wasted. So we've got to be focused on the task in hand. And uh.
And then I actually like that because I I've spent a lot of time worrying about the others.
Yeah, you can't. I mean, it's a wasted wasted.
No, you're no, You're right, it is. It is a total waste of time.
I do think there was an important statement that was made that I would always fall back to, as this said, it is the best four team. So that's all I have four teams, that's all I ask for. However, that dice, however that shakes out best four team and the best four teams, and if and if everyone in the committee does that in their art and wherever it falls, it falls.
But you know, you know, you know who's the smartest about that about picking the best four teams?
Vegas, Vegas. Just go to Vegas.
They've got they've got true motives to pick the right.
For well yeah, exactly.
Uh basketball team, A highly touted new recruit coming to Georgia. Talk to me a little bit about in il good.
I think there's good and bad, right, I think it's here. We I'm a I'm an optimist. I focus on the
positives of it. The positives of it are student athletes now have the ability to make money off their name, image, likeness, which is great because you know, you see a guy like last year, like stets invented and others are now other young men on the team and women we have in other sports who have an opportunity to go do ads and commercials to help some that can just put money away from the future, some that can help their
family right now in need. And that's a great thing that because there were some really silly restrictions before, like what not let a kid if a kid wants to get a local tire dealership to sponsor and why you know, so that's open some really good avenues for kids can make money, and I think that it's helping some kids decide to stay in school for another year.
Now.
The bad side of that is tampering and inducements trying to get people to transfer. We've experienced the firsthand. And people always think it's just football and basketball. It's it's widespread across many sports. So you know, there's some bad parts to it that hopefully through congressional work and through
the work we're doing with INSUBLA. I serve on one of the NIL subcommittees in Stable A. I'm actually going to Indianapolis in December for a meeting that we're trying to put some guardrails around some of these around collectives and trying to make sense of it.
It's not easy.
I promise to that people that are far smarter than I that have tried to work through how these guardrails will work. And there's some anti trust issues and other things. But you know, with any of that, I think there's good and bad. I'm optimist. I focus on the positives of it, and I think it's here to stay in some form or fashion. Just have to keep it evolving and doing the best our best with it to make it, to make it the best it can be.
Yeah, that's kind of my question, Like we're not done with the current system.
You think we're still gonna No.
I think it's a yeah, it's a current evolution, and hopefully through that we're learning and finding better practices and ways.
That we can.
You know, we want the nil, We want the opportunities to athletes. What we want to do is put guardrails to eliminate the tampering and inducement portion of it, because what we don't want is what I don't want is anyone using as inducement for a reason to go to a school. Now you go to school, you have success, then the world's your oyster. Go you know, and we will help you within the rules. Every way we can
provide anil opportunities for you, make connections with you. We have we work in partnership with the Classic City Collective here in Athos. It does a phenomenal job and they do a great job of finding the big deals, the small deals and everything in between. But I don't like it as an inducement. I think you should choose your college destination best based on the other reasons, the education, the coach you believe in, that's the place you want
to live, and all those things. And then then I al should be a bonus part of it, not the reason, because you know, you know this money comes to money goes, but your experiences and all that the four years you have here every way more important than any money you can make in your early ages, you know.
Yeah, I mean, look, I absolutely think that these student athletes should have the opportunity to do those things. I think, particularly as a fan viewing this from the outside is sort of the combination of the NIL and you know the other thing that's been around for a long time. It's just getting talked about much more now, which is
the transfer portal. And so now what it feels like, is there's a free flowing market in between schools where people are getting induced to go to different schools, and this it just becomes it becomes difficult to root for the players. And I think that's the thing about college sports is, you know, much more than professional sports.
It's about this. It's about the institution.
You're rooting for the school, but you obviously want the players to be a part of that. And you know, how do you feel you know, what is your feeling about about the transport portal and how that's sort of working. It feels like in connection with the NIL right now.
I think even though a student may want up somewhere and get an NIL deal after they get there or whatever may be, you know, it still comes down to when you start playing with a group of guys or gals and you're on a common mission, you forget about all the NIL stuff and you want to go play and win. How you know, we're talking about five hundred and fifty plus todent athletes who are driven to compete
and win. And yeah, the N I was a part, but I can'tarantine you in the cultures we try to build here, it's about the team first and if you can go out and get this opportunities, great, But when we suit it up, we're between the lines or on the court or the field. That's the biggest thing right there, is being a good teammate and trying to compete and win. You're not thinking about an NL deal.
Yeah, game, you know.
Yeah, it's it's a tricky thing.
I mean your you you mentioned specifically kids having that connection to someone that you hired, a coach that they feel like is you know, is going to best prepare them either in their sport or in their life.
Yeah, and that's one of the big things our baseball coach Wes Johnson and n Kirby and Mike White and coach a lot of our coach you talk about it's you got to believe in us that we're going to suit you up better for life. So we don't think about the short term benefits now because West Johnson baseball coach talks by all the time. You go to school and get fifty grand, one hundred grand for one year, but I'm going to try to get you in the first second round of the baseball Draft, which will lead
to a much bigger deal. So you've got to see the big picture, and that's why development is such a big piece of this and that that's one of the reasons that excited me about Wes and bringing him here coach our baseball team is because the work he did with Paul Skeens at LSU and other guys and showing that hey, you come here. You may not get a figure and il deal to come here, but you work here, develop, We're going to lead you into a better situation than the draft down the road.
That's right.
It feels as though right now with the athletic prowess dominance I don't know that George is having right now, you're not feeling the same pressure in situation. But obviously coach Elco just committed to go to Texas A and M and shocker alert the next day they're fantastic quarterback Leonard enters a transfer Porthal. So now here's a situation where let's just assume what I don't know, which is that he chose to go to do because of the coach.
Now the coach is leaving.
How do you feel about a situation where if you have a kid who's bought into a coach, a situation wanting to be with that coach and then the coach leaves.
Yeah, we've had that. I had a coach leave.
I won't name the sport, but a couple of years ago I had a coach leave, and then two or three days later, I had two or three of the kids asked on the portal, A couple followed them to their new school, and you know, one, one or two more went to different schools, and at that point, you and that's why I'm kind of okay with the one time transfer, because I think in life, people could be you know, hey, I want to go back home, or
there's another reason, right. I don't like the multiple transfers, But at that point, those kids, you know, they don't they don't owe us, they don't owe me anything. They if you know, they came here under one thought and a coach is leaving. I don't begrudge them that. And
I'm not going to hold anybody hostage here. And if they want to go somewhere else, then so be it, and we'll find someone else that wants to be here, because I don't want whether we're talking about a student athlete to staff and or coach, whatever it is, I don't want anybody here that doesn't want to be here. This is a phenomenal place, and I say that as
humbly as I can. But George is awesome. And if if you're not bought in, and then we're not going to beg you to believe in something that you don't believe in. So if it's not in the card for you, and again I say this politely as again will there are other young men and women and other staf people that want to be here, and we'll go recruit them to be here in your place.
No, I get it. I mean that makes again, that makes tons of sense to me. You want to you want you want student athletes who are as excited about the place where you are as most of the people are.
Because this is hard these Being a student athlete is not easy. Being a staff member in athletic person easy. Being a coach it's not easy. So you've got to make sure that everything in your life is aligned and you want to be here. And if you came under one coaching style and whatever else you or you just feel like I don't want this change. I want to see and so be it.
You know, Yeah, college football playoff expanding next season?
Is that good? You know?
I think again, I'm talking out of both sides of my mouth. It's good and you know there's good and they're bad to it. I think I saw a good point about how you know, that Michigan Ohio State game, you know, it felt really big because it felt like the winner had a chance to be in the loser would not. And now if you fast forward to next year that same game eleven and zero versus eleven oh if like both teams are getting in, they're just playing for potentially a buye. So those big, big games won't
feel quite so intense. But go pass one through six, seven through eighteen, seventh through nineteen sevent through twenty, there's gonna be more games that are gonna be more impactful. Where now, if if eight versus fifteen are playing people like ah, it doesn't really matter much. They're not getting the top four. Where now there'll be more of those matchups across the board that people are fighting for spot ten, eleven, twelve.
So I think it's.
Better for more for more schools to be in that mix. And it's gonna be interesting to see the logistics of how it's gonna work with the you know, five through twelve playing and then you know, go to the quarter or some So there's a lot of to work through that. It's gonna be new but exciting nonetheless, and it'll be here next year, so.
We will we will see soon enough.
How do you think it affects the SEC?
You know, look, I'm again, I'm an SEC homer, So it affects us because we're trying to We're all gonna be in favor of trying to get as many SEC teams and those slots as possible. Interesting to look at the rankings right now and how many teams, especially when you look at the future SEC with Texas and Oklahoma, we we're you know, we've got a lot of teams that mix to be fighting for those top theoretical eleven spots because twelve could be absorbed by the fifth conference champion.
You're fighting for those top eleven spots. So hopefully, you know, the goal for US is set up a schedule, set up per formats can help us get as many teams in there as possible.
Right, what's your favorite office episode?
Oh man, that sounds like picking your favorite kid. That's oh god, you know you gotta go for me, goly, you know, I got to go back to the first season where it was really edgy. The Human Resources Day episode, it was just thanks, Yes, you couldn't do like.
Things you watch Diversity Day.
Yeah that you couldn't get away with those things today, and it was so great. But I did you did your prep for this? I did my prep as well, and I did my five favorite Kevin lines all time, and I try to go not too obvious, right because everybody will points to the chili scene or else. So okay, I wanted to do top five, but I had to do a runner up that didn't make it cut. It was right there, so the runner up. This is what
I use all the time. Anytime you have ten thousand and one os you always take it.
Always take it.
Because if John Mellencamp ever wins an oscar, I amn't going to be a very rich dude.
So I've been tracking that.
I'm like, if John, I'm just thinking, at some point John Mellencamp is going to be an indie movie that's gonna win, and it's gonna be like The Simpsons projecting the future. The Office knew the whole time that Mellencamp was gonna do something like that.
So that was a runner up.
Okay, that's a runner up. That's like, uh, that's like Auburn last weekend. You gotta take you gotta take those on.
Bet. So number five is the CPR scene call it. That's that's a classic number four. I thought Roger Ganda was a boy's name.
Okay, that's an obscure one. Okay, it's very good. Uh, I'll tell you a little. I'll tell you give you a little about that Roger and Ganda. I have had people ask me to write that quote. I get when people have asked me to write quote and it inevitably turns into a three to four minute Google session me trying to figure out how to spell it because I don't I don't remember.
Well, yes, yeah, that's a good that that's a good Uh. I bet Clark Williams my buddy. I bet he knows how to I guarantee you number three, Oscar. I'm now prone to surges.
Yes, there you go.
That's a good number two, as has Kevin.
Pause, and then.
She goes to enough school, Yes, there you go.
And then my number one, which I think now I'm starting to blend what was in it wasn't in because this was a I think this was an eleited scene.
Okay, I know where you're going.
Yeah, you can ask me directly if she wants a brother? Is that right? Don't quote that right?
That line that was?
How was that line cut?
That was? I know, I know the way you delivered it too. Thank you.
I love the Clark and I always go on these deep subreddit tweet thought you know like these form whole you know about? Was Kevin secretly a genius the whole time? Is my favorite theory, like he was just screwed with everybody the whole time to get out of work and just skate by.
I love that, I've I've I have been asked about that a lot. Unfortunately, I don't I don't think it's true.
I don't.
I don't think. I don't take fun, don't. It's fun to think about, but I don't think it's true.
Uh.
The last time in college football all back to back to back three in a row eighty seven years ago. Minnesota did it in nineteen thirty four to nineteen thirty six.
Is it going to happen this year? You know?
I again, I don't know.
I just I've kept the attitude the whole time of never prognosticating, predicting, just taking one time because people messed with me. I mean the number one question I got. We won a Nation championship my first year's ad, and people kept screwing me the whole time. You won a NASH championship my first year, What are you going to do after that? And I was like, I'm just I'm just retiring after that. And then we then we somehow
pulled off a second. But now I'm just like, man, I just literally count my blessings and just appreciate it for you know, all the people here that you know, Kirby and other people. We obviously get credit or thanks for it that you know so many people and these student athletes. It's been a special ride and you never want to take one moment of it for granted.
But it has been a fun ride.
Let me let me tell you you're a good guy. The people around you, everyone that I've met has been fantastic. Uh, it's so fun And I don't know, maybe this is just my perception, but I feel like, uh, at least right now, it may change depending on what happens this year.
But you got a lot of people who are rooting.
For Georgia over the the evil Empire across state lines. So we'll we'll see if that if that goodwill holds up, or hopefully we.
Meet like all the office fans behind us, or you know.
That's right exactly just for this, for this one uh, for this one game, for these two.
I maybe I.
Love Greg Byrne, but I would challenge Greg Burn to an office quote, you know, any contest office trivia.
I don't know.
I'll have to ask them what is trivia knowledge?
Maybe that's maybe, maybe that's maybe that's the next thing is we get you and the athletic director at Alabama to do an office trivia contest. We'll see, we'll see what happens. Josh, thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for your candor your insight. When you're listening to this, the game's already happened. I know you've got a busy weekend, which is why we're recording it today.
Have a great, great weekend.
And best of luck in not just football, but the rest of.
Your twenty one sports the rest of the year.
Appreciate it. Go Dogs, Go Dogs.
Thanks Josh, Josh.
Thanks for coming on. I know you're busy.
Good luck the rest of the year and go dogs, sick'em.
Woof, woof, woof. Yep, that's what we say. Thanks for listening, listeners.
You're gonna find me here again next week with a very very special guest.
How can I tease this one? If you were alive in the.
Eighties in the nineties, you're you're a fan of this guy, I promise, so we'll.
See you next week.
Off the Beat is hosted and executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner, alongside our executive producer Lang Lee. Our senior producer is Diego Tapia. Our producers are Liz Hayes, Hannah Harris, and Emily Carr. Our talent producer is Ryan Papa Zachary, and our intern is Ali Amir Sahem. Our theme song Bubble and Squeak, performed by the one and only Creed Brack