Will Washington and Jedd Fisch MAKE THE JUMP with QB Demond Williams returning? Is LSU the biggest spender? Florida State and Mike Norvell spring tour

On today's Andy and Ari on three presented by bet MGM, Washington coach Jed Fish joins the show to talk about the intense 48 hours. When it looked like DeMond Williams, the Huskies quarterback might be entering the transfer portal. Plus Jed talks about all of the guys coming back for Washington. This is going to be one of those teams that looks more like the old school recruit and develop teams, not transfer portal heavy. and Jetfish believes that is how they are going to succeed in the Big Ten. Plus, does LSU have the most expensive roster in America in the 2026 season? We dive into Pete Nacos' excellent Inside the Transfer Portal story. Also, Florida State cancels the spring speaking tour for head coach Mike Norvell. What does that exactly mean? Does it mean they don't want their coach talking? Does it mean their fans don't want to come see their coach? What's going on there? We talk about that and more on today's Andy Narian 3 presented by BetMGM. 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Call 1-800-GAMBLER in the U.S. Call 877-8-HOPE-NY or text HOPE-NY 467369 in New York. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP in Arizona. call 1-800-327-5050 in Massachusetts, call 1-800-BETS-OFF in Iowa, or 1-800-981-0023 in Puerto Rico. First bet offer for new customers only, subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in seven days in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Don't forget, if you haven't signed up for BetMGM yet, use the bonus code CFB and get your $1,500 first bet offer today. Welcome to Andy and Ari on 3 presented by MGM. One of our favorites joining the show today, Washington head coach Jed Fish, who is a listener slash viewer. You know what I love about it too is that like a lot of people say they're listeners and I do think that, you know, some coaches or a lot of coaches listen from time to time, but like Jed brings receipts like he like references old shows. and he also remembers very clearly when we said something that may have been negative. Yes, which is good. And I think that he understands that it's, you know, not just, you know, positive, positive, positive, positive all the time. If there's something negative to say, it's going to be said. And that's part of competition and coaching. And I appreciate that he's a good sport about it. So, yeah, it was really cool to have him on, Andy, and love him. We have real good friends at the program. We're working on some other coaches to get there, but I think we could maybe make the case that Jed's the biggest friend. I don't know. He's up there. He's certainly up there. And he went through one of the most interesting situations this transfer portal season. He didn't actually lose the person involved. But when DeMond Williams, their quarterback, throws out an Instagram post saying he's entering the transfer portal, and then all of everything blows up because it's, okay, who's trying to get him? Well, we think it's LSU. uh who's what are the circumstances here he just signed a contract what does that mean what's the contract say and it was an intense period for Washington for for DeMond Williams and they end up keeping him which if you look at what DeMond Williams has done as a starting quarterback in the one year he was the starting quarterback and the ceiling he has you had to keep that guy you had to you know it's interesting Andy and I don't know if you realized this but I realized this earlier this week you know last week when we did biggest retention pieces um we didn't mention demand and he like was number three on the list in the written piece that I put up there because it was like that was a pretty important retention uh there I think it probably it wasn't in my mind because yeah there was that period where we thought he was leaving so I think that that may have been what was was blocking that there but yes they kept him on williams and they kept a lot of that roster they kept pretty much everybody they wanted from a team that was pretty good last year and they think can be even better this year let's talk to jed fish about keeping his quarterback and keeping pretty much everybody else we are joined now by a washington coach jed fish who can see an active volcano from his office window we just learned are he still afraid of mount st helens jet fish no fear of mount st helens whatsoever i wouldn't jed i'm doing great i'm doing great it's been a couple months since i've gotten to talk to you guys uh but everything's been good we're now getting ready for our first day of um uh phase one of our off season program so i'm excited about today i just said mount i meant mount rainier mount's already i didn't want to correct you that i didn't want to ruin it for you yeah always ruin it for me always correct All right. So let's talk. We've not talked in a while. And you've had a very interesting offseason, very interesting transfer portal for a guy who only took like nine transfers. I think it's probably a little more than that. You had a very, very interesting transfer portal season where your quarterback said, hey, I'm thinking of entering the transfer portal. There were, I believe, to use your words, 48 hours of heartfelt discussions and and everything worked out. how has everything been in that month since demon williams decided i'm coming back everything's been good um it's been one of those you know it was a it was a crazy time for a couple days uh to be honest so it was one in which i think we're going to see more and more and as i looked at it and as i've talked to him i talked to our team i talked to our community our donors um you know there's a like most of these top quarterbacks switched schools. Ours didn't. And you look at where all these quarterbacks have gone and where they went, you know, what's happening. And, you know, we had two days where we had to work through some things and figure out what was best. And a lot of people were, you know, trying to convince them to leave. And a lot of people, as we know, when you get recruited, it's hard not to at least pause for a minute. And that's what he did. And after about 48 hours, the pause was over and he's back. And he's having a fantastic first four weeks of the offseason for five weeks. Jed, the way that college football is set up in the calendar, you know, we've had a lot of discussions about this. And I'm happy that you didn't have to deal with the alternative of him making a decision to leave. But if that happens to you and to your program, how damaging is it and how anxious were you during that 48 hours? Because you might be left without a solution at that point. Like, what's the solution for you there? Yeah, there's no question. I mean, when you're not expecting that to happen, you can't really prepare for that to happen. And without a second portal, you know, we're talking about that was like January 4th, I believe. and um or maybe january yeah january 4th so you're ready two days into the portal you've already got players here you've got we we didn't re uh we re-signed 63 players so i didn't and we signed 25 high school kids so we did not go in the portal looking for a lot of players so we didn't have many expectations to go find a guy let alone our starting quarterback so obviously I'm glad that we didn't have to but yeah the calendars I've seen on your shows different head coaches talking about the calendar issues and that it's the first thing that we need to solve and I agree but that certainly would have been a big problem if we had to go into the portal on that date and try to figure out what we were going to do how much did the Big Ten contract help or have anything to do with him coming back? Because for those who don't know, or maybe fans of schools that are outside the Big Ten, you guys have a standardized contract in the Big Ten for these rev share deals that is written by the conference office. The contract was amended after the Xavier Lucas situation with Wisconsin last year. How much did that have to do with at least knowing what you were dealing with during that 48-hour period? Yeah. I mean, it certainly helped with the initial part of the conversation of just kind of understanding what we're referring to and what happened and what's it looking like. And, you know, what is it that you signed? And then to be able to have a starting point with with the conversation. I believe that either way, the mom was going to come back here after we talked for those that day or two. I think he needed to understand what our plan was. I think that he felt like there was a lot of teams that were making him feel really good at that moment in time about trying to join what they had going. You know, there's whatever tampering, if you want to call it that. I don't know if that exists anymore, but that that was happening. And, you know, the Big Ten contract allowed us to stay firm and stay strong. And, you know, we saw what happened at some other programs where they didn't have the backing of the conference. They didn't have the strong language in the contract. I mean, it was a contract that was executed three days prior. But on the same token, I don't believe that it was the contract that was the only thing that brought them on back. I think it had to do with a five year relationship. I think it had to do with the fact that we won nine games last year in his first year as a starter and the opportunity to win more. But I do certainly give credit to the Big Ten and, you know, our administration on, you know, having that type of contract written. Jed, we had Shane Beamer on the show a few weeks ago, and he had a player who entered the portal and decided to come back. And he said that it's a case-by-case basis, but most of the time when a player decides to enter the portal, that that's usually the one-way path out. Did you fear or have any reservation about how DeMond would be received once he returned back or, you know, decided not to go? And how has the team, you know, welcomed him back as the quarterback? Yeah, I think first of all, you know, you look at it and you say to yourself, every situation is different. And I agree with Shane when it comes to that. You watch the show. I love that. Yeah, I do. It's a good show. Thank you. And I think that, you know, in this situation, we didn't have anyone go in the portal and come back. We don't. I would say that I probably am pretty adamant about, you know, you make a decision. If you want to leave, you leave. But it's also becoming more and more like professional football, where there's times that players enter free agency and they then look and then come back and resign with their team. So it's not it's not a rule that I have. It's just, you know, most of the time, if you enter the portal, we don't really believe that, you know, you're going to come back. on the same token in devon's case he didn't enter the portal there was a conversation or a instagram post that indicated that he was considering uh entering the portal and um that never happened and so we didn't even have to worry about it when he came back uh he talked to our team and we had some great private conversations that will remain private but um you know devon as he said a couple weeks ago. He goes, I'm 19. I received some good advice. I received some bad advice. And in the end, the best advice was to return to University of Washington and lead this team for another year. And that's what we're most excited about. Well, you didn't have many guys enter the transfer portal at all. Because you mentioned earlier, you re-signed 63 players. And it strikes me, I was just thinking about this. You are what an NFL team wants to have, where they've built mostly through the draft. You filled some spots that you needed to fill through the portal through free agency, but for the most part, it's a homegrown team that you're trying to develop. Obviously, you've been in the NFL. You've done it both ways. You've done it a lot of different ways. Why did you decide this is the way to do it? Yeah, well, you know, I think you have to look at it a couple ways. Number one, what are your resources to go out and just handpick guys that you don't really know. And traditionally, those guys come more expensive and not as productive. The second part of it is, why would you spend all this time recruiting a player? And why would you spend all this time trying to get to know this player and talk to this player to then all of a sudden turn around and say, after a year, let someone else develop them like invest in your own team uh i felt like the best football teams that i've been a part of draft really well um we're gonna we're in a city where john schneider is touted for how well he drafts players and they go ahead and they win the super bowl this year if you look at the rams how well they've drafted recently in the last couple years to allow them to be who they are But, you know, the Patriots were always a big draft, not free agent program. That's kind of how I was brought up. And, you know, even my first job or second job with the Baltimore Ravens, if you look at the historical, you know, with Ozzie Newsome and Eric DaCosta, it was about drafting. Howie, it's about drafting. So we want to make our recruitment the most important, and then we want to retain the best players on our team. and if we lose a couple guys, which we always will, we want to replace those guys. We're not going to go sit in the portal and just try to beg a bunch of guys to come here that we don't really know. Jed, the thing I like about you is that you're a straight shooter, but you also play around a little bit. And I saw your Twitter, and I don't know if you were expecting this to come today, but I have to ask you. Josh Pate, my current top 12 programs in the country, Washington's not listed. You retweet, got it. Tell me about your social media decisions and what did you – what were you going for there? I mean, it was – you know, it's like, okay, I got it. We're not one of the top 12 programs, so we got to become that. You know, I think it took a mind of its own, which is kind of funny. But in the end, I look at it and said, all right, if that's how we're viewed by the outside world, then that's something that we got to take note of. And I took note of it. And it comes down to, you know, what are some of the things that we need to do to become one of those top programs? And, you know, it always starts with winning. So we've gotten to a spot now that we're in our third year. And, you know, we have a good football team. And, you know, our goal is to be considered one of the top 12 programs. And to do that, we've got to do a lot of work. So I got it. But what's interesting is in the old days, a team that went from, you know, that obviously was a rebuild after the Kalen's team making the national title game and all the starters are gone. You win, you know, win six, win nine. We would you in the old days we would be hyping you up beyond belief right now because that is how it always used to work Now we always like oh well who everybody get in the portal And it interesting how that works because you actually would be the kind of team that we would be penciling in for the big jump. But you've talked about this, the difference between going from six to nine and then nine to more than nine. How much harder is that second jump? Yeah, I mean, it's harder. You know, it's harder for sure to, I mean, when we were at Arizona, we went from one win to five win to 10 wins. And then here we've gone from six wins to nine wins. And now it's our third year. So we've got to see how many more wins we can get. You know, there's less chances from, you know, and you got to, that's at least four games or so, but three regular season games. But I also think sometimes you get all the hype for your, you know, who you sign in the portal and you, we didn't need to sign guys in the portal, We have four returning offensive linemen from last year's team. And our fifth guy that's coming back could have started on most teams we had. And we also signed, you know, the number, I think, two ranked linemen in the country in Cody Green. And then we also went ahead and got in the portal, one of the top left tackles that were in the portal from Stephen F. Austin. I didn't feel the need to go and get four new linemen. um same thing that you know i tell our team i tell our coaches i said if we're going to go make a commitment to go get a great player in high school why would we not expect to play that player um derrick coleman bruce is a is a great player you know we had to beat some of the best programs in the country for him to come to commit to us to do that uh my expectation is that we play him day one you know these guys got to be starters early so i think that's why maybe we don't get the hype but that's okay we don't need the hype um we just want to go out there and play good football see what happens see how good we can become and get to a point where our program um you know we're not in the pack 12 anymore we're in the big 10 and the big 10's got a bunch of beasts and uh got a bunch of big budgets and a bunch of money put into their portal we don't have some of those same opportunities. We're a half share still. You know, we only get half the revenue that every other Big 10 team other than Oregon gets. So, you know, we got to be aware of that and we got to just stay competitive. Jed, obviously you've had multiple stints in your coaching career where you've made these gradual jumps. You know, you mentioned what you did at Arizona. You know, you have this jump here for the first three years at Washington. Are there things that feel the same? Like, do you know that it's happening behind the scenes as the coach? Do you have a pulse? Or what are some of the indicators that things are on the right track outside of the wins and losses? Yeah, the brotherhood that gets formed. The fact that, you know, I don't believe – I think that this team, I was looking at it the other day, I think like 85% of our team, I've been the only head coach they've ever had in college. when you get to that number you start feeling like okay the culture's in place they know what to expect and then all of the young guys the 25 freshmen now they're being trained by the the juniors and the sophomores that have only been trained in our program and I think that allows you to get closer to build more of a bond to build a better trust And I think the more guys that trust you, the better your team plays. And, you know, we have a ton of continuity on our staff. You know, we have our receiver coach has been with me six years, tight end coach six years, O-line coach six years, running back coach six years, D-line coach five years, DB coach five years, GAs that have played for me, QCs that have played for me, returning defensive coordinator, returning special teams coordinator. So that's when we made the big jump in year three at Arizona. And I hope that we can do the same. Now, I know you are looking for an offensive coordinator currently. And what are you looking for in that position? I'm not looking for an offensive coordinator. I'm going to. We know. Yeah. So we've we've promoted JP Lassman to be our quarterback coach. OK, so that'll take care of our 10th spot there. You know, I've run the offense, you know, the last six years. I'll continue to do that. I'll continue to call the plays. We're going to bring in a senior assistant that could help with some of the roles of game planning. I wanted to bring someone in with some new ideas, someone that's not been a part of our program, someone that could come in with some uniqueness to it. So I'm still working through that part. But, you know, other than that, you know, play calling is not going to change. Game planning is not going to change. And then the real the big change will be I've had Jimmy for six years as our five years as our quarterback coach. And now we're going to have JP take on that role. And I thought it was good to have a little bit of a change there and also to be able to provide for us an opportunity to bring in somebody with, you know, different thoughts, different ideas, somebody that has done it a different way than I've done it. I kind of felt like I wanted to learn a little bit more about other ways of doing things. Well, J.P. Lossman, dog at Tulane. Absolute dog at Tulane. How does he work with DeMond? Because, I mean, they've been working together for a while. Yeah. Well, with J.P., you know, I coached him in Seattle. He was a quarterback for me when I coached for the Seahawks in 2010. And so I've known him for 15 years or so. And then after that, after his football career ended, he started working at Clemson and at Oklahoma. So not only is he a dog at Tulane, he was a dog in recruiting. He just loves recruiting, loves building relationships with people. So all of last year, he was able to build a really, really strong relationship with DeMond and with the rest of the quarterbacks. As I said to DeMond, I said, you know, you now have an opportunity. JP was a first round pick. JP started, you know, 40 something games in the National Football League. Take advantage of that. Take advantage of that resource. Take advantage of what it would take in college to get drafted in the first round. And then, you know, let him help guide you along the way. And whoever we bring in in that senior assistant role will be a long time NFL coach. so I think that'll be another way to really help train DeMond and help train some of our other pro prospects into what does it really look like and they don't just have to hear it from me all the time. Jed, a pretty popular off-season discussion, usually it's louder when things aren't going well, which hasn't been the case with you, is offensive coordinating or calling plays while being the head coach. Have you had thoughts of ever not doing that? And where do you stand on that? Yeah, currently I don't stand anywhere other than I'm going to keep doing it. I think that I do believe it's a challenge. And I do believe that you have to be able to balance out the other aspects of the program. And that's why it was so important for me to go hire Ryan Walters, someone that's been a head coach to really run the defense. I think that that was a really important part of the process. You know, when it comes to the building itself, I have a guy named Matt Hayes who I rely heavily on to really do the day-to-day of helping run the program outside of the football. Matt Doherty does a great job with me with personnel. He and I have been together in 2011 and 12 at Miami and 15 at Michigan. And then every year since I've been a head coach. So 10 years together now. But in terms of calling the game, I mean, I don't know. That's what I love to do. That's what I feel like we've been trained to do is coach football. And I don't want to give that up. You know, I'm really proud of what our offense did from one year to the next. You know, I think we were 100 scoring offense to 16th in the country and top 10 and third down top 10 in red zone top 10 in explosive play. So we'll keep trying to build off of that. But if I felt like there was a time that we need to make a change, we'll do it. But right now I'm kind of I'm excited about going out there and calling the game for demand another year. They only get mad about it when it's not working. So as long as it works, nobody, nobody's going to question you on it. Other than Ari, of course. Yeah. I'm not questioning him. It's not always going to work. That's the problem, you know. It's not always going to work. So there's always going to be an opportunity for them to get after you. We got better in some games. We just haven't played as well in some of the games that I felt like we should have. And, you know, we outscored our opponents by 250 points in our nine wins. And we got outscored by 50 points in our four losses. And that's where we got to clean it up. And we got to be able to score more points in some of those tough games. I like these stats. This reminds me of a visit to Michigan State I had one year where they actually were not coming off as good of a season as you were. They were coming off, I think, a 7-6 season, but they had a stat line similar to that, and it's like, oh, they're about to take the next step, and they won the Big Ten and play the Rose Bowl the next year. So it does feel like you're headed that way. How much does kind of getting back to your continuity, knowing what you have coming back, understanding how all these pieces fit together, how much does that help you as you try to make that next step? Yeah, it's critical. Offensively, the biggest thing that we need to do is solidify the offensive line. You know, my first year, we were all over the place on the offensive line. We had no returning starters from the national championship year that they competed in. You know, they won the Joe Moore Award in 2023. and all, I think, 10 of the 12 scholarship offensive linemen were gone when I got here. And the only two that were still here both had torn their ACL. So, and neither one started. So that was a little bit tricky. So we had to bring in five guys to play offensive line in my first year from all over the place. This past year, we had great continuity. One of our starting center played every game up until the Wisconsin game where he broke his hand the week before. So we lost him from the Wisconsin game on. Our right tackle played every game. Our right guard played every game. Our left guard played 10 of the 13 games. It was the freshman All-American. And our left tackle is at the combine right now. And we've replaced him with a couple guys that I think are really good. But that's where it all starts. And then, you know, we've got to replace Denzel Boston. We've got to replace Jonah Coleman. Those are going to be huge, huge. And Adam Muhammad. Denzel and Jonah are both at the combine. Adam decided to transfer. So the running back room, we've got to make sure we get cleared, cleaned up. And then we went ahead and got a transfer running back and one transfer receiver. And the rest of the guys have been in the program and are now ready to take the next step. And the quarterback's back. And the quarterback is back. And – Well, I mean, it's like – How good can he be? It's fun to have him. How good can he be? I think he can be really special. I think if you look at what he's done, I mean, I believe he was first or second in the Big Ten in total yardage. He, you know, had one of the most record-setting days or evenings against Rutgers where he had over 400 yards passing, over 125 yards rushing. I think that you watch the way he's played in big games, in the bowl games, both bowl games. He had nine touchdowns in the two bowl games he played in so far. But the biggest thing for him is his development is going to come against how does he play against Ohio State? How does he play against Michigan? How does he play against Penn State? Those programs where they're big, they're old, they're strong, and they're fast. So his development will come in those games. And I think if we can get him to take that next step, which I believe we will, then he can have a fantastic season for us. Jed Fish, I would imagine you're very excited to have him back. He's been fun to watch so far. Thank you so much. And another 48 hours were rough. But, hey, we're going to have to have you back on. We're going to fix the calendar. We need to talk to you about your team first. So when you've got your calendar fix, you just let us know and we'll pop you right back on. Sign me up for what Joey McGuire said. I liked what he said on your show. I don't know Coach McGuire. I've never met Coach McGuire. But what he said, what was it, August 23rd into January 1? Fantastic. I'm in. I'm in. Actually, you're not going to be popular in your Big Ten Coaches meeting saying that. But I'm glad you're going out your own way. It doesn't really snow in Washington much, does it? No, we don't have snow. Yeah. It's beautiful all year round. They don't have to worry about that. It's not the same problems that you would encounter in other places, but that's their problem. Screw them. Look at that. Look at that. Look at that right there. Look at that. Look at that picture right there. It's actually legitimately terrifying. It looks like that every day. Thank you so much, Jed. Appreciate it. Thanks, Coach. See you. That is Jed Fish. Joey McGuire, you have allies in the Big Ten. There you go. They're growing. Maybe Joey McGuire will be the person who saves college football. Andy, I don't know if this is my toxic trait, but I always buy into coaches and what they're saying after they're done talking to us. But I actually think that we have lost sight of the fact that Jed Fish is clearly good at this. And like when you look out and like zoom out a little bit at what Washington does bring back and what they did last year, it was the quietest nine win season of all time for some reason. But like if you bring back a large portion of your roster, including maybe one of the five best quarterbacks in college football, like why not? Why is Washington not getting more offseason buzz for playoff contention next year? They have a pretty rough schedule. You know, we do have to acknowledge the Big Ten. And the hardest thing about being like one of the former Pac-12 teams is you maintain your big Pac-12 rivalry with Oregon, so you automatically have that tough game on your schedule every year. And then, you know, the Big Ten's tough, and you have USC, and Penn State should be much better than they were last year. Indiana's going to be good again. Like, it's going to be a tough go of it, but I think a 10-win season against that schedule puts you in the mix, and that's one extra win with the guys that they're bringing back. And I think that, like, that's a possibility. Yeah, and it's really interesting. I forget who he was talking about. I was watching his press conference from a month ago, and he was talking about one of their starters from last year, and he was talking about the difference between going out and completely revamping your team through the transfer portal and doing what they did where they're really only patching glaring holes in the transfer portal. Everybody else is guys that have been there that they're developing. He was talking about one of his starters, and he says, I know that guy is going to be better in 26 than he was in 25. I don't know if I get a guy to the transfer portal, if he'll be better. But I know this. I know my guy is going to be better because I know where he came from and I know what his baseline was. And I thought that was an interesting comment. And also, because Fish has been in the NFL, and it's not a cup of coffee in the NFL. Most of his career was in the NFL. I think he understands probably better than a lot of these guys it is nice, this new toy of the transfer portal and free agency, but the NFL teams, which have had it for decades now, they don't build teams through free agency. You know, Jed's former college roommate, Howie Roseman, one of the best drafters of all time Like the Eagles the reason they won the Super Bowl a couple of years ago wasn because they were great in free agency It because they were great in draft Because they drafted Georgia defense yeah Yeah, they just kept picking Georgia defensive players. But that's, I think it helps to have that knowledge and have some input from people who really understand how this process works, even though they're at a different level of the sport, but they understand the process because they've been through it more often than the college guys have. So it's pretty interesting to watch. But it is Megaboard Wednesday. So I want to hit the message boards here at On3. And there's a story. I think there was a post about it on pretty much every team site board. This is one of those Pete Nako stories that just gets buzz everywhere. But I especially wanted to see what they said about it at the Bengal Tiger. The Bengal Tigers are LSU site. And so Deboot1996 posted this thread, NACOS, Transfer Portal Spending. And it's got Pete NACOS' story, general managers and staffers break down the Transfer Portal NIL battles with Pete NACOS, which if you haven't read that, hit the QR code on the screen. By the way, if you hit the QR code on the screen and it says you're not a member of ON3, well, we can fix that too. $19.99 for the remainder of the year for a national subscription to On3, which gets you my stuff, Ari's stuff, Pete Nako's stuff, Steve Wilfong's stuff, everything for the national staff of On3 and Rivals. And $19.99 for an entire year, for your entire first year. So that'll take you all the way through the transfer portal season next year. So on3.com slash join is where you go to get that. And you can read stories like this great Pete Nako story, which the LSU fans are enjoying this because in Pete's story, he suggested LSU may have the most expensive roster in college football this year, that GMs from other power conference teams and NIL people from other power conference programs pegging LSU spend at about $40 million. And I think it's interesting because I'm looking at the comments and not the band Anon has the funniest one. Are the poors mad at us? Where you are in the food chain, and I don't mean how good your team is food chain, I mean the how much do you spend food chain, really depends on how you view this. Because I looked at the thread that they posted about this on the Bama Online board, and Alabama, as Nick Saban pointed out, probably not as capable of spending as big as some of these other programs like we've seen with Texas and we've seen with Texas Tech and we've seen with Oregon. And LSU has now entered that mix. Now, I would say they were one of the bigger spenders last year too, and that's probably why they fired Brian Kelly when they did is they were spending and they weren't getting results. So now they've hired Lane Kiffin, and they've spent, and now they expect results. Yeah, I do think are the poor mad at us thing is really funny, Andy, because if you are one of the poors, you are mad. Of course. The comments that you see online are like, oh, you just bought your team. That's a poor person thing to say. And I think that everybody is upset if they're one of the poors. And if you're one of the rich programs that is spending all the money, you're laughing. But it's interesting because even the rich ones, though, because one of the quotes in this is about Cam Coleman, the receiver who went from Auburn to Texas. and it's a GM saying, hey, we had a blank check to recruit Cam Coleman, and he didn't pick us. He was always going to Texas, but he got paid a ton. And I think the Texas fans took that to mean, oh, you're saying Texas just outbid everyone. I think what they're saying is he was going to go to Texas, but everybody else had a blank check and he used it to drive up the price on Texas. So he may not have taken the highest offer, but you know what but the Texas fans in my mentions were so bad about that and I'm like guys you got him don't be mad yeah it's okay that you paid for him I don't know how long it's going to take but we will eventually get there where it's like um a badge of honor to win a recruitment by spending the most and I don't know but they probably didn't spend the most that's the funny part here no I know uh they definitely spent more than two million though it's a lot of money for a receiver so uh you know that's i i feel like i don't know if you know this but like pete nakos gets uh the the miami fans dislike pete nakos because their perception of him is that he reports how much money miami is spending when they're not the only one spending and stuff and it's like i find that to be the most funny thing in the world because like miami why are you mad him for him saying that you have it like i i just don't i don't get yeah it's it's not you're not better just because somebody picked you out of the love for you it doesn't matter why they pick you they picked yeah they picked you you won the lsu fans seem to get this this this is what i i'm enjoying with the lsu fans because look they've been through it they thought when they hired brian kelly they had the guy that was going to take them national championships and they know national championships because they've seen national championships recently. They had one in 2019. They had one in 2007. They had one in 2003. So like LSU fans understand what it takes. And they didn't handle NIL right. And that was the round of stories this past offseason. So a year ago right now, all the stories coming out of LSU were, okay, we're finally spending some money on the roster. and Brian Kelly admitting, hey, I screwed this up at first because we weren't spending it. Remember Brian Kelly two years ago already going, we're not going to buy a player at LSU, and we're not going to just pay the highest price. That was after spring practice. That was after they didn't get any defensive linemen in the springboard, which, by the way, those defensive linemen were asking way too much money, so I don't blame Brian Kelly for not spending that money. I just thought the messaging was bad. wasn't that the year that their defense was terrible? It was the year after their defense was terrible, yes. Which was not the right message, considering what they just lived through. But I think that there was a period of time in the first few years of NIL, Andy, where saying the old school thing was like in style. And I think that now the further we get into this new world, the more I feel like that comment is negligence. You don't make that comment. Right. Now you have Lane Kiffin saying, I'm not great with no. He's talking about trying to recruit Sam Levitt. You know, Andy, back in the day, I remember the first day I returned back from paternity leave four years ago when we had our daughter. Dan Mullen took the podium and said the thing about we'll talk about recruiting when it's recruiting season. And it was the first day back. And I was like, all right, buddy, I'm back. I was like, welcome back. I feel like saying we're not going to spend or we're not going to engage in NIL is the same type of comment now. Maybe it's not as a great. Nobody even does that anymore, right? Yeah, that's not cool. It's so, you know, Miami fans, rest assured, like if Pete Naco's reports that you spent a lot of money in the portal, that's a good thing. He's not making fun of you. He's not trying to make you feel like you're doing something wrong. He is a business reporter who is giving insight to the world about how much it costs to make a functional college football roster. And there's nothing to be bashful about. Like, could you imagine if somebody like when I like went to the mall and some guy behind me, like held up a sign that said, this guy's rich. Like, I wouldn't hate that guy. That's why I love the LSU fans, because the LSU fans, for the most part, they're not all, you know, some people are more old school, but for the most part, the LSU fans are like, woohoo! This is why we got Lane Kiffin. Let's go. The rules of the game have changed, but the game is still the game, and you want to win the game. Period. Yeah, and they've got Sam Levitt. They've got Jordan Seton. They got Prince Willow Man Mielin. They got JT Daughtery. They got good players out of the transfer portal. And by the way, they retained some really good players that were already on the roster. This wasn't as wholesale a flip as a lot of coaching changes you're seeing these days. Yeah, especially because he wasn't taking over at the complete dumpster fire. You can make the case that things were going awfully, and that's why Brian Kelly was fired, but it was never because they didn't have good players. Yeah, the roster didn't stink. That's the difference. And he came in and made sure he got the guys that they needed to keep. Now, there's some interesting transfer portal additions where you kind of wonder how this is going to go. Eugene Wilson from Florida is one of those. He showed flashes at Florida, but it never really fully blossomed. And I think you had a situation where if you put him with a really confident quarterback like Sam Levitt, he could be a really good SEC receiver. Yeah, I remember he made some plays last year that made you look twice, you know? Yeah, and I think with Florida, they had their situation where you're probably not going to be able to keep Dallas Wilson, Vernell Brown III, and Eugene Wilson. So you were going to lose one of those guys. And Eugene Wilson, I think, has a chance to really break out at LSU. Yeah. I think the expectation should be playoff this year. Not that it's any different for LSU any other year. but realistically speaking, I think if you were to make a list, and I'm sure we'll do this as the summer goes on, of teams that are most likely or favorites to win their conference, like LSU should probably be in the top two, if not number one in the SEC right now, right? I would think so. Georgia, I have a hard time not keeping up there as long as they keep winning the SEC and Kirby Smart keeps recruiting the way he does. I don't know where to where to put Alabama right now but like with LSU I know what Lane Kiffin does I know how quickly he can install that offense like you go back to his first year at Ole Miss 2020 they barely have time to practice they've had all these restrictions so they didn't have a lot of time together and I remember I actually had interviewed him right before the season and I I remember texting him after watching their first couple games thing and asking, how did you get those guys to get it that fast? Because they were operating the offense very quickly. They're moving into the correct formations, you know, within five, six seconds of the, of the previous play ending. And it was, it wasn't like they were running the same formation every time either. And he said, he said, it is a, it is an offense that players can learn quickly. And I was like, okay, That is true because we're watching it. So when you have a real full offseason to install it, I'm really excited to see what it can be. Yeah. My anticipation is that they're going to be very good. Anytime you have the combination of quarterback, receivers, I mean, Caden Durham's back. I mean, they've got guys. So add one of the best offensive linemen in the portal. I mean, the pieces are there. Obviously, you want the defense to be good. That hasn't always been Ole Miss' strong suit underneath his leadership. leadership but I think LSU has you know some pretty good players on that side of the ball too obviously when they had really good players they had really good defense I mean when when they had their most talented defense the the 2024 Ole Miss defense was dominant yeah so we got a front front row seat of that and uh you know when they played Georgia when we went to that game in Oxford so um yeah but LSU opening the season at home with Clemson that should be a win uh by the way we have to at some point talk about Clemson's quarterback situation uh I know that the Chandler Morris lawsuit thing just came up yesterday and there was some some smoke there but uh LSU at Ole Miss week first week of the SEC season it's so good it's send us your juiciest games for next year that's you already know that's number one right like that obviously LSU Ole Miss yeah I I'm not gonna spoil anything but it's it'd be hard for it not to be yeah but I mean, this is a hard schedule. And a fun schedule. I mean, you got Lane Kiffin going back to Knoxville. I believe it's his first game back in Knoxville since the mustard bottle golf ball incident. Maybe we'll be there. Maybe we'll be there. I'm making a promise. I'm going to be in Knoxville for a game this year. LSU-Texas should be fun, too. You know, they played in a non-conference series not long ago. But LSU-Texas is one. That's two programs that you want to see play each other. No Bama. They do play Bama. Do they? I missed it. Oh, they play them every year. I just didn't know if the new schedule thing. I get confused with timing. You know me. Well, everything's changed this year in the SEC with the schedule, so it's a little bit confusing. But yes, they do play Bama this year. they're at Auburn. They still get the open date before Bama. So some traditions never die. But I'm excited to see what this roster can do. It is maybe the most expensive roster in college football. We'll never know. We don't get exact figures. It is one of them. That doesn't guarantee anything. But they went out and got the coach they wanted. They went out and got a lot of what they wanted in the transfer portal. I think there's every reason to be excited. Our guy J.D. Piquel, you know, remember he picked LSU to win the national title last year. He's still smarting from that one. But he and Zach Herbstreet did a video this week where they talked about, you know, J.D. thinks 11 wins is a reasonable expectation for LSU. You know, LSU was in the middle of one of the most, one of the messiest divorces in coaching carousel history, right? no it was entertaining for us and we were enjoying it you know obviously with the the tweets and the the testimonies or what's it called the devotionals and they have the you know all the things i don't have to review it you guys remember you don't go through all that and then pay what had to have been close to if not a record amount to get a coach and then not properly invest in the roster like those aren't just it's not a one or the other thing like you're doing both and i think Why would you do the first thing without being the second? It would be malpractice. Yeah. So, you know, that's an intriguing storyline. Obviously, anytime Lane Kiffin's involved in the mix, that's inherently there. But, you know, I think that they've done everything they can from a financial perspective and a roster perspective to be a highly competitive national championship contender. Now, the hard part, I wrote this earlier in the offseason, you know, the hard part is getting the results, you know. So we'll see. but let's see if Lane Kiffin can go win his first conference championship as a power head coach because he's never done it. He's also never coached the team in the playoff, even though he's gotten one to it. I'm going to give him a playoff win. It hasn't happened yet. I'm going to give him a playoff appearance. He didn't coach in the playoff. The first game would have been a win, too. He would have gotten it, but we'll see. All right. But also on the megaboard, we go to WarChant. That's our Florida State site. This was an interesting one. I saw this pop up on Tuesday and thought to myself, uh-oh, this is going to be a thing. So from Knowles197531103, seen another place, no spring booster tour. So Chris Nee, who works for the 24-7 Florida State site, reported this on Tuesday. he does a good job covering florida state that mike norvell's spring speaking tour is not happening this year and for those who don't know most schools send their coach out to to select locations to talk to uh the booster clubs in the in the bigger towns in their area and it's usually just kind of a pep rally kind of thing it's not actually a big fundraising thing because for the most part the big booster deals donor situations that all gets handled behind closed doors It more of a goodwill hearts and minds thing And it something that a lot of schools have been scaling back on in recent years But this is interesting because usually you'd still send Norvell out. You'd send him to Orlando and you'd send him to Miami and you'd send him to Tampa. And they'd have a thing and everybody'd cheer and everybody'd be happy. But this situation obviously is a little bit different because the fan base is pretty negative right now. And so, Warchant user 390 immediately after that was posted. Who would have gone to see that? And then FSU TEP 7, we have to hide our coach. What a slogan. Do you think that that's why? Because people are down? I do. I'll give you an example of this, Ari. So my first year covering Florida was 2004. The Tampa Tribune moves me to Gainesville to cover Florida in like March of that year. And so this is going into Ron Zook's final season as the head coach. So the fan base is upset with Ron Zook. Now, I think if you look in hindsight, they were being a little harsh compared to how things have been in the last 15 years or so. But they were upset because Ron Zook was not as good as Steve Spurrier, and that bothered them. And so he does a speech in Tampa. I want to say May of that year. And I drive down to Tampa. I cover the speech. And it's fine. He delivers the message fine. Everybody in the room is very nice. Afterward, this guy comes up to Zook. Zook's there. He's signing autographs. He's just hanging out as he's about to leave. And this guy just lights into him, just starts screaming at him. and Zook, to his credit, handled it really well. He was very patient with this person. For those who don't know, Ron Zook is not one you mess with, ever, especially not in that way. You saw this in person? I was watching it, yeah. These guys just yelled at him. What was he yelling at him, just like about what he's doing wrong? For losing, for not being good enough, for not winning national championships. so it was like a twitter interaction in real life it was it was yeah it was it was the keyboard warrior except he was he was brave enough to do it to the guy's face and that guy for at least you know doing it face to face now he's lucky that ron zook's a decent human being because otherwise like that's a dude who will who will knock you out uh but that's so i i get it because if i'm florida state i would worry about what would come of that because you've got a bunch of people you can't control who's using their phones they're mad so if it's an empty room that's bad if it's a full room and they're yelling at him that's bad there's no good that can come of it which is we've talked about this a couple times that's what makes this season in this off season so hard for them is it's impossible to message anything. It's impossible to say anything or do anything because you're just stuck in this situation. Yeah. I mean, like, I don't know. I've never seen anything like you described in person before. That's because you covered Ohio state. They're always winning. I mean, there were some pretty dark times during that. You know, it might, it wasn't as dire as it was at Florida state, but like if they went 10 and two, one year it felt like Florida state, like it was the same sentiment. um usually fans still show up and cheer for their coach and want to see their coach you know i i get i mean like i'm that i'm like on the side of the florida state fans in the thread of like wow we have a coach that we have to hide that sucks you know great slogan like i mean i believe i agree with that um you know maybe also uh you know you can maybe use that time allocated to do something more productive with your time like call a recruit or something maybe that maybe there's something there. I don't know. But listen, in terms of returning coaches, in terms of programs that have fallen, like there is no program in the power five that I can think of that's in a more dire situation in Florida state. Like, is that a fair thought process? Like who's in, I think it's very fair. Like, I don't know who's in worse shape and I don't know who's in a more critical season, but what I do know is it feels like, it feels like this is it for him. I don't know. He's got to he's got to turn it around or they will write the check and the check is massive but what does turn it around in Florida State language mean because like winning nine games would be a huge turnaround but it's still a bad season for a team with that standard I nine nine wins would be fine nine wins be fine I think eight wins seven I think seven wins would be fine remember they've got Alabama in the non-conference they've got Florida in the non-conference they are at Louisville They're at Miami. This is not an easy schedule. No, it's not. SMU. They have SMU on Labor Day. SMU, Alabama. Virginia was very good last year. I don't know what it's going to be, but they were still a solid. And Pitt at the end of the season was good. NC State at the end of the season was good. And they retained CJ Bailey. Programs in dire situations. We haven't even mentioned Clemson. They play Clemson at home next year. I don't know what they're supposed to be, but that. That is a stock that seems to be trending downward. But yeah, not an easy schedule. But I just can't imagine being in a place where things got so bad at Florida State that you could say on a podcast that winning seven games would be fine. So Producer River just asked us, what is the over-under on their win total? And obviously BetMGM has not set those yet. Here's another fun show that we can do in the next couple weeks. Let's help BetMGM set the win totals. let's do it let's yeah because i i think that would be that would be really interesting and if you if you want you can help us help because you guys are very finely tuned with your own teams obviously so give us an honest win total that you think your team is going to reach can we just sort of say last they were confusing last year they might be even more confusing this year they're very confusing they're very confusing and the thing is like we just don't know you know ashton daniels their their new quarterback actually looked pretty good when he took over at auburn last year yeah but the situation was so bad at auburn it's hard to tell i just like have a hard time with like this is my last crack at it here are the keys to my car ashton don't crash it's just a wild thing to me yeah and it's just but now you understand why the decision's made because if if you're mike norvell and you're standing up in front of all these people what are you saying yeah it's hard to be i mean i would be real if i were him that would be a good start i think he's been pretty real yeah but but the problem is real doesn't help either because real real is just depressing right now yeah real with a set with with a hint of optimism yeah which is what he's been i think it's a no-win situation so i i don't blame them for this but i get where the fans are coming from thinking okay is is this is this how far we fall in here that we have to tell our coach to stay home the answer is yes it is it's exactly right it's exactly is it it's a tough situation that that cannot be improved upon without winning actual football games. So I guess I'm with the administration here when I think about it. Because nothing actually helps but winning football games. Yeah. Well, next year they'll do a spring booster tour with somebody. It might not be him, but... It'll be somebody. And that's the thing. Because in that state right now, you've got Mario Cristobal making all the rounds. Hey, remember seeing us in the national championship game? Yeah, it was pretty cool, right? Yeah, that was awesome. And then John Summerall is undefeated in Florida, so he can talk all he wants. He's undefeated. Including on this show. But yeah, no, I guess. Like, I wonder how he feels about it. How Mike Norvell feels about it? I feel like I'm probably frustrated and relieved. Yeah. Because I sure as hell don't want to deal. And I think that's the situation I talked to you about with Ron Zook. I think is the nightmare scenario if you are their administration. Because you can't, and I think Mike Norvell would handle it fine because he's a decent person. But I wouldn't handle it fine. Even if I was in this situation like he was, if somebody came at me and yelled at me, I may come back at them. Well, what was the Zook response? You left it on a cliffhanger there. like I said, he was, Ron's a good guy. Like, he handled it really well. He was very patient with the person. Now, he didn't back down, but he didn't punch him either. So, I'd say that's a win. Yeah. You're quite the fan. What's interesting is, Zook got into it with some frat boys who had gotten in a fight with his players during that season, and that became a whole thing. Mm-hmm. but in this particular instance he didn't he just wasn't he just wasn't steve spurrier he wasn't steve spurrier and he did set the table for urban meyer but yeah it's mike norvell wouldn't have i don't think would have a problem comporting himself he's a professional but i would have a problem if somebody came at me and i think i think that's your nightmare scenario is if you have your fan coming at your coach in public and people have their phones out. Yeah, I mean, here's the thing with Florida State, guys. Either it's going to get better or you're going to have a new coach. Either way, this is going to be resolved this year. Yeah, I think they've accepted the fact that it's a massive check and they're going to have to write it. They weren't prepared to write it last year. They know it's going to be a massive check. Whether you make the decision this year, next year, the year after that, or the year after that even, it's still a massive check. So if it goes bad again, there's no sense in waiting any longer. Right. So it's up to Mike Norvell to turn around. Now we go to another coach who has not been given nearly as much time as Mike Norvell, and his fan base is all over the place. We speak, of course, of Kentucky coach Mark Pope, and on the megaboard. We have a thread from KSR, from Kentucky Sports Radio, Coach Pope's future. Yeah, whoever's on that side can stay on that side. I love my over-caring and emotional coach. So this poster, who made this thread, is actually on the other side of, it sounds like, most of the KSR posters. So this is a, this is JQ2526, is a supporter of Mark Pope and loves the passion, which you've seen a lot of lately. The others don't necessarily like the results. Part of the passion with Mark Pope is, you know, he's going to say what he thinks. But sometimes he says what he thinks when he's walking away from the microphone. And we didn't get into this Monday or Tuesday because nothing had happened as of the time we finished Tuesday's show. But after we finished Tuesday's show, the SEC fined Mark Pope for this incident after the Auburn game over the weekend. Producer River, please run the video. Two lessons here. Every mic's a hot mic, kids. Every mic's a hot mic. and this is okay so pope did get fined for this he did this on tuesday the sec fined him uh on tuesday night kentucky beat south carolina so it bounced back from it denzel aberdeen said he's not going to help mark pope pay his fine this is a soft fine right like you can't find him for that he wasn't on mike when he said it he even censored it like we didn't have to censor the video he called them mother effers not the other thing come on he did he say it knowing that people would still hear him uh yes but he was saying it to his athletic director who was in the room i don't know i just i feel like you can't find him for this that feels feels too much like the guy's got enough going on yeah uh he'll be fine oh he'll be fine it's interesting because this this is an NCAA tournament team. It's not like Kentucky's not going to make the tournament, but the schedule is hard from here on out. We're in the home stretch here. So next week's the final week of the men's regular season, and then we're in a conference tournament play. But the natives at KSR understandably restless. They have a different standard for the program than most basketball programs. So they are just I think they're a little fed up, but in this case, I'm with the original poster. I want to take Mark Pope's side this week. I think it's fair to take his side because that's a little cheap to give him the fine for that. Yeah. Very funny, though. Very funny. The funniest part is him censoring himself. Yeah, and they cheated us, too. It's really funny. yeah i mean i guess they cheated us if if that gets caught on mic you're probably gonna find the guy i get it i mean like that's like there's no you know usually when you criticize that it's it's done with flowery language that could be you know uh heard or construed in any given way that was pretty clear but in case in case you think football fans are impatient the megaboard today when I when I went on on three.com this morning to look at the megaboard three of the first four megaboard posts were threads from various team sites asking for the firing of the basketball coach who was in either year one or year two it's insane I have a theory about that yeah when you play more frequently and you're more frustrated more frequently your emotions get the best of you more frequently probably true probably once a week and there aren't like in football you can have a team that's not very good but like alabama or ohio state or a team that's not playing up to their standard often does play like a stretch of four games against overmatched opponents where people can calm down like in basketball like you are playing every four days and especially in the middle of conference play like if you have yeah you have a section of your schedule where you have two road games in a row and you drop them both. It doesn't mean the end of the world for your team, but the fan base is potentially going to go off the cliff. There are fewer games in college football and longer stretches for the elite programs of schedule relaxation to allow people to calm down that doesn't exist in college basketball. I think you may be right on that. I think you may be right on that, but it was particularly funny today to open the megaboard and like, oh my God, they want to fire everybody. Everybody. That's always the solution to everything, Andy. Fire them. well, it doesn't always work. But sometimes it has to be done. We talked about LSU. They hired Lane Kiffin. They spent a bunch of money. Spent a bunch of money in the roster. I think that's going to work for them. I think it's going to work for them. I do too. Ari, this was a blast. Big show tomorrow. Big show tomorrow. Our on three colleague, Chris Lowe, one of the all-time greats, joins us. We got lots of things to talk about, including Kalen DeBoer at Alabama, Kyle Whittingham at Michigan, and much, much more with Chris Lowe. So tune in tomorrow. We'll talk to you then.