It's the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. fans of your team, and you can even jump into the national chats and talk about whatever's happening across the league. Tap the Everydayer Club link in the show notes to learn more. Is LSU the new evil empire? And do we care? Let's talk about it. Locked on LSU. Here we go. you are locked on LSU your daily podcast on the LSU Tigers part of the locked on podcast network your team every day okay let's get it it is locked on LSU your team every day I'm your host Matt Moscona thanks so much for making us your first listen we're free available wherever you get great podcasts, of course, on YouTube as well. So please subscribe. And as always, one of the fastest ways to help us grow is by leaving your comments below. So thank you sincerely for that. Thank you for helping make the Locked On Podcast Network the number one sports podcast network. Have your cake and drink it too. Birthday cake flavor is back. No fork needed. Vanilla e cakey flavor, caffeinated kick and no sugar. It's party time. Order now at five hour energy.com or on Amazon. Had a chance to visit with my buddy, Dari Noka. You know, Dari, of course, from the SEC network, also very proud Oklahoma sooner does radio daily in Oklahoma, but I had Dari on to talk a little bit about an SEC spring football preview. Talk to him on my radio show after further review weekdays in Baton Rouge, from 3 to 6 p.m. Central and all over Louisiana. Shout out. But I had Dari on to talk about it. Naturally, incidentally, Missouri starts spring ball this week and some others are close. But our conversation sort of evolved into talking about Ole Miss without Kiffin. And then we talked about LSU with Lane Kiffin. And I asked Dari, a guy who's covered the SEC since the inception of the SEC network. I mean, this has been his job is covering this league now for a dozen years at the SEC network. And that's what I thought Lane Kiffin was going to do in year one. Probably pretty well. I mean, that's the thing is people can say whatever they want about him. You know, I mean, he's made LSU public enemy number one, right? So like on a daily basis, you now get to cover the evil empire. Yes. You know, around the SEC, which probably comes with, you know, a little bit of fun. But he's going to be, they're going to be fine. They've got a great quarterback. He'll institute his offense incredibly quickly. I would suspect there's no shortage of talent. He's done well in the portal. They'll be good. They'll be, they'll be, frankly, they'll be as good as they probably should have been the last two or three years with Brian Kelly. And I would expect them to be near the top of that league. When, when we get into November. Okay. The end of that, when he talks about how good they should have been the last couple of years with Brian Kelly, I, I understand for many LSU fans right now, water under the bridge, ancient history, looking through the through the windshield instead of the rear view. But I do want to talk about that in just a quick second. We're going to get to that here at a mix. That's Dari about Brian Kelly. We'll get to that here in a second. But, you know, it's so interesting when Dari referred to LSU as the evil empire, public enemy number one. And you kind of heard me in that clip kind of like, yeah. And I was only partly joking because here's what I believe. And you tell me if I'm wrong. I understand that there are people watching or listening to this show right now who are fans of other schools, and I say it all the time. I love and respect that. There's so many Ole Miss people and Florida people who have found this show as a result of the Kippen recruitment and saga and courtship and all that stuff. And I welcome you every day. I'm glad you're here, whether we agree or disagree. but most of the people here watching are LSU fans. And I think that the way LSU fans view this is they love being the villain. And really, I don't know necessarily if it's that you want to be vilified because I look at two instances in recent LSU history that are polar opposite with the way LSU is perceived. One is 2019 LSU football, and the other is the Will Wade era in basketball. So follow me here, okay? 2019 LSU is largely and roundly considered the greatest college football team ever. There are some conversations about 95 Nebraska. Some people will bring up 2001 Miami. I have done long debates on this, and quite honestly, 0-1 Miami and 95 Nebraska don't even come close to holding 2019 LSU's jock. And we can even just start with who would you take at quarterback? Ken Dorsey or Joe Burrow? You realize who the number two receiver on 0-1 Miami was after Andre Johnson? It was a guy named Ethnic Sands. You know who the number two was at LSU? Justin Jefferson. And you can do this over and over and over and over again. The bottom line is 2019 LSU would have beat the mess out of 2001 Miami. And so LSU fans pound their chest about 2019 LSU being the greatest. It's adored. It's revered. There's adulation. And that's one extreme, right? There just aren't many programs in the history or teams in the history of college football that even have a right to stake a claim, even make an argument to being the greatest ever. But LSU has that with 2019 LSU. And the other end of the spectrum is the Will Wade era in basketball, where LSU was college basketball's villain. Will Wade was caught on a federal wiretap talking about a damn strong offer. And people like Pat Forty and others used their platforms to vilify LSU because Will Wade was defiant and LSU was defiant. and LSU fans didn't, they didn't recoil. Oh, abhorrent that our coach would cheat like this. It was, hey man, everybody, the mentality was, hey man, everybody's cheating. Why are you picking on our guy? We got his back. That was the approach. That was the mentality It wasn this deference or this apologetic mentality It was we going to bat for our guy because you know what Y'all are cheating too. Everybody's cheating. Why y'all picking on us? That was the mentality. And I think LSU embraced being the villain. I remember, man, Will Wade's coaching that game. I think it was a Saturday game against Vanderbilt at the PMAC. And, boy, the LSU fans are booing Joe Oliva. talking about fire the rat and all this sort of stuff you know vulgar chance award aliva cheering will wade i mean they rallied behind their guy and embraced being the villain and i see a little bit of that here with lane kiffin so i'm not saying you'd prefer to be the villain i just think you don't want to be irrelevant So as to say, you know what sucks? Being Kansas sucks. Being Iowa State sucks. Being Rutgers or UC Santa Barbara. You know what I mean? Someone that nobody cares or talks about. Nobody, no Wake Forest. You just don't have an opinion on them. They just don't matter. So what you want is to be relevant. And whether that's 2019 LSU or Will Wade at LSU, or in this case, Lane Kiffin being vilified for the way it all ended at Ole Miss, I don't think LSU fans really care. LSU just wants to be a big brand. It's front and center. That's recognized. And Lane Kiffin has brought that undeniably. And regardless of what national media members, And by the way, I don't think Dari was being insulting or dismissive. I just think it was a statement of fact. I mean, I do think that LSU has largely been vilified throughout all this. I think it's more just being relevant and being a team that people publicly talk about. And clearly, with the way LSU was able to sign this portal class, the greatest portal class ever, it ain't like the players look at LSU being a villain as some negative. They all flocked to it to be a part of it, be it because they wanted to play under Lane Kiffin or because they wanted the money that was there, whatever. The reason was, the bottom line is they were here, and they continue to be, and I think will continue to be, as much as for certain. Whether they're the hero or the villain, protagonist, antagonist, you pick your role, whatever they're going to be, all you want to be is relevant. And undeniably, LSU is that. Now, the other thing that Dari said there, you heard, was saying that maybe what Lane Kiffin will be in year one is what they should have been the last couple of years under Brian Kelly. I want to talk about that as we continue. It's Locked on LSU, your team every day. I'm Kalia Butler, host of Locked on Women's Basketball. And this is Mazda's Women's Basketball Snapshot, celebrating the work no highlight reel can ever capture. South Carolina rolled past Ole Miss 85-48 to clinch a share of the SEC regular season title and locked down the number one seed in the conference tournament. The Gamecocks extended their win streak over Ole Miss to 21 straight. UCLA dominated Wisconsin 80-60 to secure its first outright Big Ten regular season championship in program history. The Bruins improved to 27-1 overall and remain unbeaten in conference play. And number 12 TCU stormed back from a 13-point fourth quarter deficit to beat Iowa State 80-73. 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So I asked Dari if he knew Brian Kelly, because look, Dari's worked at the SEC Network since its inception in 2014. And sometimes the guys that work at the network maybe have a closer relationship with some of these coaches, be it, you know, they're coming to the SEC network studios or, um, SEC media days. If they're covering games, they're on the SEC network. I mean, Brian Kelly would do a weekly hit, um, on the fine bomb show on Mondays during his entire time at LSU over those four years. So it's interesting sometimes just what those relationships are. So I asked Dari, you know, what, you know, if he kind of had a feeling about Brian Kelly, Like, he had that relationship. And what he thought Brian Kelly would do again? Because quite honestly, my question was, if he thought BK would even coach again. I think, though, Matt, that's not going to be how he wants to end it. You know, he's very, very, very, very prideful. Like, Stoops stepped out in a great place, right? I mean, he always wanted to win more than one national title, and I think most people thought he would. But he left something in a way that he wanted to leave it, as he would say, in a good way, right? I think Brian Kelly hasn done that And I would suspect that he will get an opportunity Somebody will give him an opportunity to coach And I don think he done Okay So the reason I think this is relevant again, let me not go any further with this opinion before I explain why I think you should care about this. Because again, I think a lot of LSU fans are looking through the windshield, not the rear view. People are so excited about what's ahead in this Lane Kiffin era that You don't even want to conceptualize, think about, remember what was. It's like if you have a messy breakup and then you get into a new relationship that you're just on fire in love, you don't want to think about what went wrong in your previous relationship. You want to be wholly present in the thing happening. So I think that's a very human condition. But here's why I think this is relevant, okay? Remember, LSU agreed to pay Brian Kelly a $54 million buyout of his contract. Well, there's a mitigation clause whereby if Brian Kelly gets a new job, his buyout is offset by his salary at his new job. So if you're an LSU fan, certainly if you're an LSU booster administrator, you want Brian Kelly to work again because it's going to lessen your financial burden that you owe Brian Kelly. because right now, not only are you paying Lane Kiffin his salary of $91 million and every other staff member, you're paying Brian Kelly $54 million in monthly installments now through 2030. So yeah, you want Brian Kelly to work again. You want Dari Noka to be right that Brian Kelly isn't going to want to go out this way and that he is going to want to coach again. Now, here's my thought on it, however. I disagree with Dari. I certainly think that Brian Kelly doesn't want his career to end this way. I mean, this is a guy who coached at every different level, right? He was at Grand Valley State in Division II. He was at Central Michigan, and he was at Cincinnati. He was at Notre Dame, and then at LSU. He had never been fired. Head coach for 35 years, he had never been fired until he was at LSU. So I believe that Brian Kelly doesn't want it to end this way. But so often we don't get to choose the way it ends. I mean, there's a lot of athletes who want to play forever. But Father Time is the one that dictates when their career ends. It's rare that Calvin Johnson retires on top of the game or Terrell Davis or Barry Sanders or John Elway going out with back-to-back Super Bowl wins. That's the exception. That's not the rule. The rule is guys fade away and they get cut. And they don't have a roster spot anymore because they're past their prime. Now, that doesn't always happen with coaches, but it does sometimes. And I look at Brian Kelly. And I look at Brian Kelly as a guy who, listen, I got a tremendous amount of respect for Brian Kelly. Okay? Everybody can think and say what they want about him. I professionally had a great relationship with working relationship with Brian Kelly. I thought he was awesome. He was forthright. He was respectful of our time and the job we had to do as media covering the team. He was transparent. He gave us access. All the things that recognize, I understand you have a job to do covering our team, and I'm going to help you do that job to the best of your ability. I thought that was great. So, Brian Kelly, you're not going to hear me say a bad word about him as far as professionally how we handle things. Now, you want to complain about the offense or some of the hires and the results, all that is fair game. And, of course, like I say it all the time, criticize where warranted, but give credit when it's due. It has to be both ways. And just like Brian Kelly went and recruited Jaden Daniels, who became a Heisman winner, he deserves praise for that. Well, so, too, does he deserve criticism for not recognizing Matt House was a disaster. so like it's both of those things right he was really trying to continue building the roster the way that he had throughout his entire career through the high school ranks and supplement the portal didn't work at the end he tried to go ham and 25 in the portal and he just missed on some guys so anyway credit where warranted criticism when it's due as well but i look at brian kelly is a guy in his 60s who won for more than three decades building a program and a roster in college football a certain way and that's not college football anymore I mean he said when he was asked this past year about his relationship with Austin Thomas he kind of joked and said that's why I never took any of those NFL jobs he didn't want a GM and he was only partly joking but I believe he's true it's why he didn't he wanted to build a roster where he could develop and coach up talent well That's not college football anymore. You recruit and sign high school guys, and then they leave. For, you know, if they're not playing, they leave for the bigger payday, the better opportunity, the chance to get on the field. So I'm not so sure Brian Kelly wants to coach again in this environment. It's not that he doesn't want to coach again. I don't think he wants to coach again in this environment. I think you're more likely to see Brian Kelly on TV and a media job than you are on a sideline. And the other part of it is, you heard Dari say it, someone's going to give him an opportunity. Who? I have no doubt there's a program somewhere that would hire him. But would a premier Power 4 program capable of winning a national championship hire Brian Kelly? That, I'm not so sure. And Brian Kelly's not going to get back in if he doesn't have the resources to win a national championship. It's the only thing he hasn't done. He's won games. He's won conference titles. He's been to the playoff. He just hasn't won a national championship. It's literally why he left Notre Dame for LSU. Why would you get back in to go coach at Idaho? Why would you get back in to coach at San Diego State? Why would you get back in to coach at Virginia? A place where you're not going to win a national championship. The only way he gets back in is if he's going to a place that has the resources to win the final game of the year. And I don't think those programs are at a point where they're going to hire Brian Kelly, which makes the mitigation component of his contract very relevant to LSU. Could LSU potentially seek damages against Brian Kelly for not actively and honestly seeking a new coaching job? I don't know. I'm throwing that out there to say I think that part of this conversation is far from over. We can all look through the windshield with Lane Kiffin and be very excited about the future and what's at hand. But I also think what has happened and is potentially going to continue happening with Brian Kelly is a big part of LSU story moving forward All right it is Locked on LSU your team every day Quick recap the Basketball Tigers had another rough go It is Locked on LSU your team every day Quick recap the Basketball Tigers another rough go It is Locked on LSU your team every day Today's episode is brought to you by our friends over at Game Time. Y'all, this past weekend, I went to UFC Fight Night in Houston. And you better believe, when I snagged my tickets, I pulled up the Game Time app, just like I encourage you to do all the time. Game time is the easiest way to get tickets to whatever your favorite sporting event is. The biggest stretch of college basketball season is almost here. Buzzer beaters, bracket busters, those unforgettable moments that everyone's talking about the next day. Be in there live for something like that. That's bucket list stuff, y'all. 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The flavors are ready. I got my number one pick for the 5-Hour Energy flavor draft. You can get yours as well. And I've told you before, I love extra strength grape. But how about strawberry watermelon? It's sweet and tart. It's got a candy-like flavor. It's the ultimate flavor duo. Some flavors are just made to go together, like lamb and tuna fish. You get the reference if you're my age. And add strawberry and watermelon to that list of delicious pairings. So find your new favorite flavor of five hour energy shots available online at five hour energy dot com or at Amazon. That's five hour energy dot com or at Amazon. Not going to lie. I was waiting up for LSU and Ole Miss basketball to finish. And they're going to double overtime. So I was going to finish this episode because it's really late. Talk to Josh Edwards from CBS Sports. He's up at Indy at the Combine. and our conversation went a couple of different ways. I did ask him his thoughts on Garrett Nussmeier. I love Garrett Nussmeier. This season played out, unfortunately, for him. I think he was dealing with some injuries, and I think you saw that play out on the field. But similar to Simpson, he's highly intelligent. He's a coach's son. He kind of knows what defenses are trying to do against him. Just a little bit more limited, I think. But if you're talking about an NFL team and just being confident in his ability to step in, either in a single game situation or potentially being a low-level starter. I think he's somebody that I would absolutely take a chance on as opposed to some of these other players that maybe are taller or have a little bit more athleticism, but they just simply have not shown the ability to process and play the position at a high level. So for me, Simpson and Garrett Nussmeier have kind of separated themselves in that tier two for the quarterback position. and I think the accuracy really stands out when you're talking about Nussmeier. When he's truly on his game, he's in rhythm. He's just operating within the offense. I think you've seen that over the course of his career. So if you've seen it before, there's a good chance you're able to tap into that again for his professional career. Drew Fabianich from the Senior Bowl said it best. You can't unsee what you saw in 2024. It's there for Garrett Nussmeier. can he answer a lot of the questions that persist after what happened in 2025 great opportunity at the medical and the interviews at the combine to do just that and Edwards also mentioned two LSU receivers Barry and Brown and Chris Hilton who have an opportunity to really elevate their draft stock because of how they are going to run at the combine well I think just the way they've been deployed throughout their collegiate careers and Barry on is interesting because I've tracked him all the way back to his high school career. He's somebody that ran track. He's incredibly talented, somebody that SEC teams were tracking all the way back to his high school days. So both of those guys are electric with the ball in their hands. I think Berion showed a little bit more in terms of his pass-catching ability, maybe his route-running ability there at the Senior Bowl to suggest that maybe there's a larger role or workload for him there. So I think he's probably the one that teams would be a little bit more excited about. But he's also been more inconsistent throughout his career. So when you look at Chris Hilton, just the speed that he brings, what he can do with the ball in his hands, I do wonder if at some point a team looks at him and says, we just kind of know what we're getting from that player and we have a clear vision for him. If we can just get him the football, he's somebody that can take the distance for us. A lot of guys, 11 former LSU Tigers in Indy this week at the Combine. And as often as said, it's cliche, but the biggest job interview of their life is they get ready for the NFL draft. Wish them all luck. And as we start to get some of the results of the 40 times, the bench press, the shuttle, and all that sort of stuff, we'll pass it along to you here as we talk about it on Locked on LSU. Hey, thanks so much for being with us here every single day. I want to remind you that you can subscribe and follow Locked on LSU so you get all the latest podcasts. And if you never miss an episode, the Every Day or Club is built for you. You can get Locked on LSU ad-free, plus members-only Discord access, so much more as well. So head to the link in the show notes if you want to join the Every Day or Club. And for those on video, we're going to send you to the first ever 24-7 National Locked on Podcast Network YouTube channel on audio. Make sure you make your second listen, Locked on College Basketball or whatever your favorite Locked On podcast may be. Until next time, it is Locked On LSU, your team every day. Choose. We craft cars for those who choose to do more than simply move. You know who you are. Mazda. Move and be moved.
