Coaching Carousel: Most Impactful Coordinator Hires | Cover 3 College Football

Summary

Cover 3 College Football — "Coaching Carousel: Most Impactful Coordinator Hires"

Date: February 11, 2026
Hosts: Chip Patterson, Tom Fornelli, Danny Kanell, Bud Elliott

---

Episode Overview

In this episode, the Cover 3 crew breaks down the most impactful and intriguing coordinator hires across college football for the upcoming 2026 season. The discussion includes both major conference shakeups and under-the-radar moves, with particular focus on why these changes matter for program trajectories and playoff potential. The team also touches on realignment news, reflects on historical coaching cycles, and debates the potential fan impact of North Dakota State’s impending move to the FBS level.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. North Dakota State’s Move to the Mountain West and Bowl/CFP Eligibility

• Summary:
  The episode opens with news about North Dakota State planning to join the Mountain West and petitioning for immediate postseason access.
• Key Insights:
  • The team discusses the precedent set by James Madison’s prior denial and whether immediate eligibility should become standard practice.
  • Danny Kanell (03:36): “Now that they've got it in place where you have to pay to join the league...I think they should be eligible right away.”
  • The new structure focuses on the highest-ranked G5 team rather than conference champions, which the crew generally supports.
  • They agree that fans will benefit from more competitive games — North Dakota State’s dominance was leading to fan boredom.
  • Bud Elliott (07:17): “Fans were bored of blowing out teams…they want to see more competitive games.”

---

2. Reflections on the Coaching Carousel: Nebraska & Scott Frost

• Summary:
  The team dives into revelations from Bill Moos's memoir about failed attempts to move Nebraska out of the Big Ten, the Scott Frost hiring process, and broader thoughts on pressure-fueled hirings.
• Key Insights:
  • Moos did not prefer Frost but felt pressured to hire him due to fan and media expectations.
  • Bud Elliott (11:11): Shares a story from Frost about the uncertainty of being ready for big programs: “I said, do you think you're ready for that next big step? And he said, I don't know.”
  • The hosts discuss the changing landscape, with earlier signing periods and end of traditional recruiting pipelines impacting new coaches’ success.
  • Several notable hires from that coaching cycle have since failed or moved on, illustrating the volatility of the profession.

---

3. Conference-by-Conference Breakdown: Most Impactful Coordinator Hires

Big Ten

• Highlights:
  • Chip Kelly to Northwestern as OC
    • Seen as a fascinating culture clash and a potentially transformative hire for an offensively stagnant program.
    • Danny Kanell (18:20): “Northwestern is going to look a lot different than you're typically used to seeing Northwestern look.”
  • Arthur Smith to Ohio State (OC):
    • Hosts are bullish, noting Smith’s NFL pedigree and that OSU has the talent to execute his system.
    • Brian Hartline’s play calling previously came under intense scrutiny.
  • Michigan’s Overhaul:
    • Jason Beck (OC) and J. Hill (DC) seen as major upgrades — possibly the biggest staff improvement in the league.
    • Chip Patterson (20:04): “I don't think any team upgraded their coordinators more than Michigan did this offseason.”
  • D’Anton Lynn to Penn State (DC):
    • Lynn arrives from USC, bringing toughness and a shift from the 3-3-5 scheme, but may have adjustment challenges.
  • Gary Patterson at USC (DC):
    • Notable hire, but losing key defensive personnel could limit immediate impact.
    • Tom Fornelli (29:26): “All of Gary's X's and O's…you might need that. This might be a little bit of a bridge or a pivot year.”

SEC

• Highlights:
  • Will Muschamp to Texas (DC):
    • Hired to inject energy and culture; Texas seeks to move from good to elite on defense as it prepares for SEC play.
    • Chip Patterson (32:05): “I think it’s probably energy. Culture.”
    • The crew debates the impact of facing Georgia and the importance of securing a top 10 defense.
  • Buster Faulkner to Georgia Tech (OC):
    • Regarded as the top creative run-game mind available.
    • Bud Elliott (37:05): “This probably might be the best hire of all of them.”
  • Lane Kiffin’s (Ole Miss) Internal Continuity:
    • Offensive changes are not expected to be significant.
  • Jim Knowles to Tennessee (DC):
    • Knowles’ reputation is strong, but Penn State’s defensive struggles last year give pause.

ACC

• Highlights:
  • Chad Morris to Clemson (OC):
    • The band is back together, but questions persist about his ability to bring fresh ideas.
    • The hosts debate if this move can truly return Clemson’s offense to form.
    • Tom Fornelli on the hire story (47:36): “Chad Morris wanted this job bad…He willed himself into this job.”
  • Bobby Petrino to North Carolina (OC):
    • A significant upgrade after years of offensive woes. His potential to drastically improve the Tar Heels’ attack is recognized.
    • Danny Kanell (54:11): “I don't think you can argue that North Carolina hasn't made a tremendous upgrade at offensive coordinator going from Freddy Kitchens to Bobby Petrino.”
  • Brent Pry to Penn State (DC):
    • Considered a strong (if awkward) hire, reuniting with James Franklin.

Big 12 & Group of 5

• Highlights:
  • Brennan Marion to Colorado (OC):
    • Known for his “Go-Go” offense, expected to bring innovation.
  • Kevin McGiven to Utah (OC):
    • Internal promotion, expecting continuity from programs built on physical identity.
  • Other Notables:
    • BYU’s internal promotion at DC; USF’s OC Brian Hartline — will finally see his offense outside the Ryan Day system.
    • TCU hiring Gordon Sammis (ex-UConn OC) signals a potential shift towards more tight end–centric schemes.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Quote | Speaker | |-----------|-------|---------| | 03:36 | "I think they should be eligible right away." | Danny Kanell | | 07:17 | "Fans were bored of blowing out teams…they want to see more competitive games." | Bud Elliott | | 11:11 | "He said, do you think you're ready for that next big step? ... I'll figure it out." | Bud Elliott (on Scott Frost) | | 18:20 | "Northwestern is going to look a lot different than you're typically used to seeing Northwestern look." | Danny Kanell | | 20:04 | "I don't think any team upgraded their coordinators more than Michigan did this offseason." | Chip Patterson | | 29:26 | "All of Gary's X's and O's…you might need that. This might be a little bit of a bridge or a pivot year." | Tom Fornelli | | 32:05 | "I think it's probably energy. Culture." | Chip Patterson (on Will Muschamp at Texas) | | 37:05 | "This probably might be the best hire of all of them." | Bud Elliott (on Buster Faulkner at Georgia Tech) | | 47:36 | "Chad Morris wanted this job bad…He willed himself into this job." | Tom Fornelli | | 54:11 | "I don't think you can argue that North Carolina hasn't made a tremendous upgrade at offensive coordinator going from Freddy Kitchens to Bobby Petrino." | Danny Kanell |

---

Detailed Timestamps for Key Segments

• 03:09–08:23:
  North Dakota State’s FBS move and playoff eligibility debate.

• 08:45–14:31:
  Scott Frost/Nebraska hiring backstory & coaching carousel effects.

• 16:39–29:21:
  Big Ten coordinator hires (focus on Chip Kelly, Ohio State, Michigan, USC).

• 32:05–35:38:
  SEC spotlight: Will Muschamp at Texas and defensive philosophy shifts.

• 37:05–39:12:
  Georgia Tech, Ole Miss, A&M — standout SEC staff changes.

• 43:44–44:46:
  Jim Knowles’ impact at Tennessee; volatility in defensive performance.

• 46:13–53:13:
  ACC coordinator carousel (Chad Morris at Clemson; Bobby Petrino at UNC).

• 57:05–58:51:
  Notable Big 12 and Group of 5 coordinator moves (Colorado, Utah, TCU).

---

Tone and Style

Conversational, analytical, and humorous, the hosts blend deep-dive football strategy with banter and industry anecdotes. Their approach is accessible but also detailed and well-informed, genuinely aiming to dig into not just “who” was hired, but “why” programs made these choices — and how it might change the college football landscape in 2026 and beyond.

---

Conclusion

This episode is an essential listen (or read!) for fans wanting both the “inside baseball” on this season’s coaching carousel and context for how next season’s conference and playoff races may be shaped by behind-the-scenes coordinator shifts. The hosts deliver a thorough, honest look at the nation’s top programs and the critical coaching moves likely to define their fates.

Transcript

[Ad Host]

Are you interested in effortlessly growing your Bitcoin portfolio? I sure am. The Gemini credit card earns you Bitcoin back on every purchase. Use it like any credit card. Buy lunch, gas or your weekly groceries and you'll earn up to 4% back instantly in Bitcoin or one of over 50 other cryptos straight to your account. All that with no annual fee. It's the easiest way to start building your Bitcoin stack. Go to gemini.com card to learn more. Terms apply. See the link in the description for more information regarding rates and fees issued by Webbank. Some exclusions to instant rewards apply. This is not investment advice and trading crypto involves. Check Gemini's website for more details on rates and fees.

[Chip Patterson]

Welcome Back to the COVID 3 podcast with your hosts Chip Patterson, Tom Fernelli.

[Danny Cannell]

Danny Cannell and Bud Elliott. It's your call for the best college.

[Chip Patterson]

Football coverage from national signing day to the national championship and everything in between. CBS Sports presents the COVID 3 podcast.

[Tom Fernelli]

And welcome back to the COVID 3 podcast here on C. That's Tom Fernelli, that's Bud Elliott, that's Danny Cannell. I'm Chip Patterson. Come to you [e-mail] cover3 and everywhere. Get your podcast on demand. Thanks for hanging out. Smash that subscribe, smash that like and come and join us in the chat. Aka the COVID 3 tailgate where on a day where our our big conversation is going to be identifying, you know, the top, most impactful, the most notable, interesting coordinator hires. I think that there's just continuing to be a lot of love for Mike Bobo. I mean it would not be the COVID 3 tailgate if we were not talking about Mike Bobo just being dirty dogs jumping in. Mike Bobo could be the most impactful offensive coordinator higher in college football. That's why someone, anyone he says should come and hire him from uga. Just a perhaps the most discussed coordinator here, but I don't know if he's going to be here as he is not one of the most impactful quarterback hires. Not a ton unless I missed something. Not a a ton of newsy pieces to to hit before we jump into the conversation. Except for this one note from our colleague Brandon Marcelo, which I I guess I just am It's a. Is it a thing? Is it not a thing? And what do we think is going to happen? And going for a little prediction here DK North Dakota State. We already discussed on Monday's show about joining the Mountain west where they would fit into the Mountain west as it's going to be made up in 2026, they are planning to petition for immediate bowl and college Football playoff access. You did mention on Monday's show they are probably selling on the recruiting trail. You know, hey, if, if JMU can get there, we could run through here and have the type of season that could get us in the College Football Playoff competing for national championships. I guess, man, it feels like there's no rules in college football anymore. But where do you stand on this one?

[Bud Elliott]

I mean, I say petition away, why not? But do we, don't we have a precedent from James Madison who was turned down that opportunity playing a bowl game? So, like, I don't know how it's gonna bode for them, but I would absolutely try. You know, like, why not? I mean, everybody else is suing and trying to push for things to happen, so I would be campaigning for it. But I do wonder if they actually get it.

[Danny Cannell]

I 1 million percent think they will.

[Tom Fernelli]

Think they'll get it.

[Danny Cannell]

I think it's different. I think part of the reason that they weren't doing it before was because they didn't want to have a bunch of teams just jumping up to the FBS level, getting it and then going back down now that they've got it in place where you have to pay to join the league. Like they're paying the NCAA to jump up. They're paying the Mountain west to join the Mountain West. I think they should be eligible right away.

[Bud Elliott]

Good.

[Tom Fernelli]

You got, you gotta feel or a, A strong, A strong feeling or a thought one way or the other.

[Chip Patterson]

I mean, I don't really know why. I, I think the reason why they did this, like, why the rules in place originally was to prevent some team from the fcs, like thought they were really loaded from jumping up and playing for one year and then moving back down. But like, practically that doesn't really seem like an option given probably the buyouts involved.

[Tom Fernelli]

Right.

[Chip Patterson]

Like, if you're going to do this, you're not going to do it for just a single year. Now, the interesting thing is they still wouldn't be eligible to win the conference. Right. But under the new structure, it's not.

[Danny Cannell]

It's.

[Chip Patterson]

Right. It's the highest ranked G5 team that gets selected for the playoff. It's not the highest ranked G5 conference champion, which I think is kind of a good rule, because do we really want Bid Thief in to be the G5 rep? You know, if there's clearly a better team that just had a stumble or, you know, maybe like, what, what if, you know, what if Boise did Not have the ability to, you know, to do it. Oh, yeah, I should switch my microphone to the microphone and not that.

[Bud Elliott]

In stereo.

[Chip Patterson]

So, like, you know, what if you had a really stud team whose quarterback got nicked up in week 13 and they lost the conference championship game, but, like, he's clearly coming back. You do want to kind of have the best playoff possible. And if they're still the best team with the best resume, they should not be DQ because they didn't win a conference.

[Tom Fernelli]

Right. I'm, I'm glad you brought that up. That's probably something we should continue. Any college football playoff prediction projection, any group of six discussion should remind fans that it is not the highest rated group of champions group. It's not the highest rated conference champions at all. It is specifically the Big Ten champion, the SEC champion, the ACC champion, the Big 12 champion, and then the highest rated team or highest ranked team from the group of six could be anybody. So will be interesting to follow. I am, I am finding it tough to muster a lot of emotion on the issue. If I was a JMU fan, I might be ticked off that we were 11 and 3 right. In the year that they weren't even allowed to play for a bowl, you know, and they, they weren't. They. They weren't permitted. The, the whole Sunbelt race was sort of thrown into a wrinkle. They weren't able to compete for that championship either. But there's a, There's a lot of times where I'm sure players are sitting around saying, well, I wish I got a sixth year of eligibility. I mean, the sport is changing so rapidly. We can't, we can't adjust everything for the present because of the past. So, yeah, I'm, I'm off. I say petition away. And if they do end up getting the access, I'm not going to. Not going to go crazy over it. Okay? So, because I have learned my lesson, I will not declare any cycle complete.

[Chip Patterson]

It is like. And I know this is already touched on a little bit, but, like, are we sure this is good for the fans?

[Tom Fernelli]

For North Dakota State fans?

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. Are you still going to play your, your traditional rivals?

[Bud Elliott]

Oh, so no. But I did talk to a guy from. I forget the newspaper. We had him on the radio show. He's been covering North Dakota State for 35 years. He said fans were bored of blowing out teams. He said they were bored of winning. I mean, seriously, he's like, the Fargo Dome. He said people are leaving at halftime to go like, you know, eat and drink at Buffalo Wild Wings. Because the game's already over.

[Tom Fernelli]

Like they'd rather go watch the rest of a Saturday, college football Saturday somewhere.

[Bud Elliott]

Yes. So, I mean, it's, it's a, it's a case of be careful what you wish for. But I do think that the fans win in this one because they want to see more competitive games.

[Danny Cannell]

So, like, they're gonna be more excited by an 8 and 4 team this year. They'd be like, hell yeah, we got our ass kicked. It was great.

[Bud Elliott]

Loved it.

[Tom Fernelli]

Every second.

[Bud Elliott]

I don't think they're getting their ass kicked.

[Danny Cannell]

I don't think.

[Tom Fernelli]

I don't think they will.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, I think they're gonna be towards the top of the league.

[Tom Fernelli]

I think they will start the month of November in the top tier of the Mountain West.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah. But they're going to lose more games than they're used to. That's for sure.

[Tom Fernelli]

Yeah. And just, just like everybody else. Be careful, Oklahoma. Be careful what you wish for. You ran the Big 12, now you step in the SEC. Life's gotten a little bit tougher.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

No, I, I mean, if you look at the power ratings, they're pretty clearly close to the top of the Mountain West.

[Tom Fernelli]

Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

Speaking of being careful what you wish for, did you guys see the bombshells from Bill Moose's memoir?

[Tom Fernelli]

Yep.

[Danny Cannell]

There was some interesting stuff in there that got spread on social media. For our listeners who don't know Bill Moose, the former Nebraska athletic director, at least that's where his latest stop was. He has released a memoir called the Crab Creek Chronicles, from the Wheat Fields to the Ball Fields and Beyond, which goes over his life in college and athletics and is an administrator and a player. But anyways, the more interesting parts that you should take away from this are he tried to get Nebraska out of the Big Ten and back into the Big 12 before Texas and Oklahoma left for the SEC. And interestingly enough, one of the reasons Oklahoma ended up leaving for the SEC is in 2021 when they had that non conference game against Nebraska, they were pissed that Fox was playing it at 11am local time and not putting it in prime time. So they were angry with Fox, which is one of the reasons that they left for the sec. Although I suspect the other reason is money. Who knows? And then another interesting aspect of the book is Moose says he did not want to hire Scott Frost.

[Tom Fernelli]

He said that you wanted Chip Kelly, Right?

[Danny Cannell]

I. I don't remember that. I didn't.

[Bud Elliott]

That cycle was Chip Kelly. Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

But he felt like he said he had. He had Frost in for the interview and Frost brought in somebody else with him. He insisted beyond him with the interview, which Moose didn't like. But he also had one of his assistants in there. And he says now, and you know, science studies have shown that our memories aren't quite as accurate as we believe them to be years later. But he said that after the interview he told his assistant that we can't hire him. He's not ready for this. He's too. And she said that he's too immature. And he agreed with him. But he felt the pressure that he had to hire him because it was Scott Frost and everybody was saying Nebraska had to hire him. And he was also worried what would happen if, if he didn't hire him and then Florida or Tennessee did and then Florida and Tennessee went on to have success, he would end up getting fired. But now as we know in hindsight, Scott Frost has said since he was fired by Nebraska, he shouldn't have taken that job either. So neither of them wanted to. Neither of them wanted Scott Frost to be the coach at Nebraska. Yeah, Florida and Tennessee were never really all that interested in Scott Frost apparently. And Scott Frost was hired at Nebraska and it went very well for all involved.

[Bud Elliott]

I, I think I've told you guys the story before. Scott Frost was the head coach at ucf. I was calling a game between them and Maryland and in the production meeting his name was starting to circulate. I said, do you think you're ready for that next big step? And he said, I don't think. He said, I don't know. He said, but I wasn't ready for UCF either. I'll figure it out. That was like his comment, like, I'll figure it out. And I think now experience is a very important teacher in life.

[Tom Fernelli]

You make it is what a 22 year old says at their entry level job, not what you say when you take over a power conference.

[Bud Elliott]

I wonder if he said the same thing to them. Like I wonder if that was his go to line in the interview. Yeah, I wasn't ready for ucf. We just ran the table and won a national championship. Like I wasn't ready for that. I'll figure it out. And that's probably where. Because I was kind of surprised by the answer. I bet they were surprised by the answer too. If that's in fact what he said in the interview is that big arranged.

[Tom Fernelli]

Marriage vibes where like neither of the the couple involved or really all that into it. But there's so much pressure around them to be able to make it happen that just got to go through with it. Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

I mean, I would like to think that if I was ever an athletic director and I was in that position, even though I knew, like, the pressure from outside of fans wanting it and everybody, including us, saying it makes all the sense in the world. Like, if it was my decision and I'm sitting there and I interview a guy and I'm just sitting there like, yeah, no, I'd like to think that I would have the courage to just be like, no, I'm gonna hire somebody else, but I don't know that I would.

[Bud Elliott]

It is. It's your job at stake too. You know, you play it safe. You know, I would. I probably would have played it safe, too. You want to keep your fans happy, especially when you're asking them for money.

[Chip Patterson]

You know that that was also, like, such a weird. Like, there were. I wrote about this at Expedition back in the day, and I'm trying to remember all the factors, but, like, very quickly the sport was changing, like, so much. Every single hire, I think, in that cycle has already been fired, I believe.

[Danny Cannell]

Right. Yeah.

[Tom Fernelli]

Because that would be Brian.

[Chip Patterson]

No, Crystal ball left for. For Miami, so he didn't get fired.

[Tom Fernelli]

And would that be Lincoln going to usc?

[Chip Patterson]

No, I think that was. I think that was later. Okay. Yeah. I mean, just. And then Hypo left for Tennessee, but, like, I mean, just almost universally here at some pretty decent jobs. I mean, Frost Mullen, Jimbo Tagger, Pruitt, Morehead, Chad Morris at Arkansas, Herm Edwards, Kevin Sumlin, Matt Luke going through another P5s here. Chip Kelly, Mario, as we already mentioned, Jonathan Smith actually got promoted out. Well, not, I guess, fired now, but different school. Sonny Dykes to smu. It didn't last very long. You know, Josh Hyple already mentioned there was a lot of weird stuff going on. I think that's like, right close to when the transfer portal opened. You had some real changes, I think, as far as the sign. Oh, no. Early signing period.

[Tom Fernelli]

2017 is early signing period.

[Chip Patterson]

Right. And so back then, it was like, shoot, like, you're taking over a class. You're still expected to sign like your entire class early. There was no transfer portal, at least not in the 2018 cycle. And I think none in 19. Right. So it really kneecaps, like, you couldn't really put together a big, like a big time class early enough. And so the washout rate from those classes that had to be assembled with very few, if any prior relationships and almost really no time to do it, like universally Those guys first classes, they just completely bombed.

[Tom Fernelli]

Yeah, I, I think. I think I was mixing up my 2021 and 2017, 2018 coaching carousels. They're easy to do and a lot of the jobs flipped in both of those for the reasons we just described in. In. In that case. All right, speaking of jobs coming up on the other side, let's roll through. Take stock of some of the most impactful coordinator hires from the recent coaching cycle. What does it mean for these programs? What does it mean on a conference by conference level? We'll get into all that and more next.

[Ad Host 2]

Residence. Day savings are happening now at the Home Depot with up to 40% off select appliances. Looking to upgrade your fridge? Check out LG's newest model serving up ice in all kinds of styles. Cube crushed craft ice and now new mini craft ice. Straight from the dispenser. From cold brew to fizzy favorites, these refrigerators will have you entertaining like a pro. Shop president's day savings and get up to 40% off plus free delivery on select appliances like LG at the home Depot. Free delivery on appliance purchases of $1,498 or more offer valid February 5th through the 25th US only. See store online for details.

[Danny Cannell]

My day kicks off with a refreshing Celsius energy drink. Then straight to the gym, pre K pickup back home to meal prep. Time for my fire station shift. One more Celsius. Gotta keep the lights on when the three alarm hits. I'm ready. Celsius live fit.

[Tom Fernelli]

Go grab a cold refreshing Celsius at.

[Danny Cannell]

Your local retailer or locate [e-mail].

[Tom Fernelli]

Back here on the COVID 3 podcast. I've learned my lesson. I'm not going to declare the conclusion of any cycle ever. But I do enjoy to see Mel Tucker on a carousel. So let's take a spin. All right, we will begin going conference by conference here in the Big Ten. A couple of big headliners, of course, as we've mentioned a lot of these along the way. Arthur Smith getting hired as Ohio State's offensive coordinator. Chip Kelly taking over at Northwestern, very, you know, interesting hire there. Gary Patterson is back in the game. He will be USC's defensive coordinator. A lot of that because Danton Lynn, now he's heading back to Penn State. He'll be the defensive coordinator for Matt Campbell in Happy Valley. We get a very, very interesting staff for Kyle Whittingham at Michigan. That includes Jason Beck coming with him over from Utah, but then J. Hill leaving byu. A few other promotions internally, including what we've got at Oregon. Illinois just introduced its new defensive coordinator, Tom, obviously Bobby Hawk, aggressive attacking, he's saying all the words that any Illinois fan wants to hear. But on this list, when you're looking at the Big Ten, what jumps out to you as some of the impactful or interesting. Where would you like to, to start this conversation?

[Danny Cannell]

I mean, Chip Kelly, Northwestern is just, it's a while. I mean you think of the career path that Chip Kelly has been on these last few years where it was, you know, the head coach at ucla. We had our million dollar meal table jokes for all those times. But then you know, he leaves to become the offensive coordinator at Ohio State and it's like, wow, guys at a sitting Big Ten school is leaving his head coaching gig to go be an OC somewhere. Wins the national title, tries to give the NFL another shot, gets fired during the season, so he doesn't even last a full season. And now he's coming back to be the OC at Northwestern where if you think of what Northwestern football has been for so long and then you think of what Chip Kelly has been known as for so long as far as an offensive coordinator, the two don't really mix up. So I think, I don't know if it's going to work or not. I just think it's a fascinating pairing because Northwestern is going to look a lot different than you're typically used to seeing Northwestern look.

[Tom Fernelli]

Aiden Chiles is our quarterback too.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Okay, interesting.

[Tom Fernelli]

Very interesting. Is, but, but is that one of our mean median deviations? Do we have a range of outcomes there that can sort of like. Yeah, the entire probability spectrum.

[Chip Patterson]

Interesting fit. I mean not a whole lot of drop back stuff from Chip Kelly. Guys got some mobility I guess. We'll see, we'll see how that works there. I think Charles probably needed a change of scenery certainly. And you know, I, I, I, I, I could see it working. I think I'm gonna go Michigan here like just the Jason Beck and J. Hill. I don't think any team upgraded their coordinators more than Michigan did this off season.

[Tom Fernelli]

We'll add head coach there. Like if you're gonna say like just whoa.

[Chip Patterson]

I mean, who's close? I don't, yeah, right.

[Tom Fernelli]

So okay, maybe Virginia Tech because the head coach is now the defensive coordinator where he should be and you got James Franklin in his head coach. Not to send a stray at a team we'll talk about a little later in the show. But you know, but yes, your point here especially impactful, meaning the impact on the Big Ten title race, impact on the College Football Playoff race. Bryce Underwood, everything. Yes, 100%.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, I think that's, that's probably the one you really got to be, Got to be happy with. Just because I, I thought they were kind of lacking at the coordinator spots last year as well, a little bit. Like, I don't think the hires they made were quite what they had in prior years, and now I think they're, they're back and close to that level. The other one, I guess I would say Oregon. I'm interested offensively. Like, losing Stein and going to Meringer is. I don't really know what to think there. You know, I know we're expected to, like, come with takes.

[Danny Cannell]

I just.

[Chip Patterson]

That's kind of a wait and see for me. Hampton, I, I think I like that internal promotion. It would not shock me if they improve there, honestly.

[Tom Fernelli]

Wow. Well, hold on, hold on, hold on. So Hampton came from Tulane, right? Where he did a very good job. He is, I agree with you, based on what I can tell, very respected as a defensive coach within the industry. Do you. Is that a criticism of now head coach Tosh Lupoi?

[Chip Patterson]

I mean, I don't think it's a criticism. You just have to recognize what people's strengths are. I think Tosh's strengths are probably more, you know, getting players, culture, that kind of thing. Not to say he's a bad defensive coach, certainly, like, he's been around a lot of really good ones, but, you know, I was kind of like, all right, Saban didn't let him call it. Right. You know, I, I, again, I'm not saying Hampton will be an upgrade. I don't think this is real hot take. Yeah, just. It would not shock me if he was.

[Bud Elliott]

Arthur Smith. Excited to see that one. See what? You know, the going to the NFL for the defensive coordinator hire seemed to work pretty well for Ohio State. Arthur Smith's got a ton of talent to work with. I think he's going to be really good for them. And you talk about one of the more scrutinized positions. I mean, Ryan Day was taking heat once. Brian Hartline. I don't even think Brian Hartline was calling the plays that much this season, but because he took them back and because they lost a lot of eyeballs and criticism came on Ryan Day. This will be probably one that we talk about throughout the season, maybe more than any of these, potentially.

[Danny Cannell]

I think another interesting one in the Big Ten is DE Anton Lynn at Penn State, because it's interesting. You know, Chip, you mentioned by joking about Illinois's new defensive coordinator. And like, one of the reasons Bulma was bringing in Hawk is because he said that, you know, with the 3, 3, 5 Illinois defense has been kind of copied by other programs in the, in the league from a few years ago. He's like, so we weren't really a tough, you know, prep anymore. We weren't different. He wanted to bring in a 335 because not nearly as many schools, especially in the Big Ten, are running it. Well, the 335 is what Matt Campbell and John Haycock were running at Iowa State for years. Now he's taking over at Penn State and he's bringing in D. Anton Lynn, who's coming to his alma mater but does not run the 335. So I think it's a very interesting. He's going to still be running that typical Penn State defense. I wonder if there will be an adjustment period there for Matt Campbell because they did bring a lot of players from Iowa State in the transfer portal who are used to playing in a different defense than they'll probably be playing in next year. So that could be an interesting one to keep an eye on.

[Tom Fernelli]

Yeah. Lynn's impact at usc, sort of the way that I've got it written was a little bit of getting them to be a, a tougher group. Right. I don't, I don't know if there was a, a huge change in terms of the schematics of what they were doing. They had a, they had some, some talent. They've had talented players on that side of the ball. They were just performing at a level that was a little bit closer to their talent. Some of that I'm going to put on coaching as well. I, I don't know if the Penn State defense is going to have as much talent as the USC defense did last year.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, I think that's a fair point. I mean, like, I don't know, but it's not like clear to me that.

[Tom Fernelli]

That I, I, I, I, I've said I don't know. Like, let's be clear this, the words were I don't know if.

[Chip Patterson]

Right.

[Tom Fernelli]

So it, it could, it'll be interesting to see. No what ends up happening there, how they end up playing that. But I do think that in terms of The Matt Campbell 2 year, 3 year, 4 year outlook, Lynn's a great hire. You know, like, that's, that's one that I think you've got to be really encouraged and excited about.

[Chip Patterson]

They also got Tyson Veid back, who was Senti's DC who was prior pretty important defensive coach on Campbell's staff at Iowa State. So he's going to coach backers there.

[Danny Cannell]

So you're.

[Chip Patterson]

You're plucking like a sitting P5DC to come to your backers coach before we.

[Tom Fernelli]

Pivot out of the big.

[Chip Patterson]

Which tells me like people defensive coaches probably love working for Matt Campbell. You know, like you're getting two active power five DCs to come be your DC or to come be coached on your defensive staff.

[Tom Fernelli]

Hey, well, listen, be careful, okay? Kaylin DeBoer hired like nine active defensive coordinators for his first defensive staff at Alabama. I could never figure out how many cooks were in that kitchen. You know, who was end up calling what plays would be. You still, still got to be able to fall in line. But to your point, they, they wouldn't do it if it. If, if Campbell wasn't there.

[Chip Patterson]

I love, I love Tom stoking the tailgate into thinking we're only talking big tense.

[Tom Fernelli]

What if scroll all Big Ten, just.

[Danny Cannell]

Somebody shows up and we're talking big Ten. He thinks, is that all we're talking about is the Big Ten? It's like the show literally just started. Idiot.

[Bud Elliott]

Do we Bobby Hawk. Did you see his comments when he went scorched earth on everything coaching and what changed? A couple million bucks?

[Danny Cannell]

Nothing changed. Go. What he's. Go, go. Read what he said. All he talked about was being a head coach. Yeah. He didn't say I'm retiring from coaching. He just said being a head coach. I'm tired of being a head coach.

[Tom Fernelli]

But it's like the. To. To fire off a criticism of the modern landscape nil transfer portal and the like.

[Bud Elliott]

Dealing with agents.

[Tom Fernelli]

Dealing with agents.

[Danny Cannell]

And guess what he's not dealing with at Illinois.

[Bud Elliott]

That. Do you think there was a deal in place? Yes, he could. You do?

[Danny Cannell]

Yes. Oh, yes.

[Tom Fernelli]

Because. Because Bielema identified when they were going to announce the hire like a week ago. Right, Tom?

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah. He said it was going to be the day after the super bowl, which caused people to think it was going to be somebody on one of the super bowl staffs. Like I was digging through the seat because he said, he mentioned there was going to be a scheme change and then he said it was going to be after the Super Bowl. So everybody, you know, Mike McDonald's defense, that whole the 245, whatever the hell you want to call it, everybody's going nuts. So I was going through all that.

[Chip Patterson]

I got.

[Danny Cannell]

There was a lot of smoke. It was gonna be Chris Partridge? Nope. Bobby Hawk the whole time.

[Tom Fernelli]

It'S which, which says to me that it's like a processing hiring thing, that whether it was the old job or the new job, we just had to wait for a date to pass or for something to go through to be able to get there. But yes, Bobby Hawk there before we pivot out of the Big Ten or stay in the Big Ten for the next 25 minutes. But I, I do think, did Dan Lanning make the right decision? Is going to be a fascinating point in my analysis of Dan Laning as a head coach. You know, like this, this. You've got Dante Moore back. Right. So. And I don't think Dante Moore comes back if he's not excited about the opportunity to be able to keep things moving in the right direction with Drew Meringer. But, you know, you are Oregon. You have resources. You had Dante Moore, could he have walked to the open market and been able to attract a superstar rock star kind of offensive coordinator higher? Probably. But he decided to keep it in house. If it works, it's just another check mark and Dan Lanning being one of the top coaches in the country. And if it doesn't work out, then maybe we start to, hey, that might have been a miss. It's going to have a long coaching history. It's going to be a lot of ups and downs. But for a team that is going to be competing for a national championship, the decision to keep it in house, I think is going to be an interesting wrinkle in that story.

[Danny Cannell]

Should we read anything into the fact that the four of us are having a discussion about the notable coordinator hires in the Big Ten and the Big Ten only, no other conferences. And we discussed pretty much everybody. And we haven't mentioned the fact that Gary Patterson was hired by us.

[Bud Elliott]

How do we overlook that one?

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, I think because we talked about it. It was a late hire. We. We did like a whole segment on the show, you know.

[Tom Fernelli]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

But it is.

[Bud Elliott]

That is one of the most intriguing ones out there, for sure.

[Tom Fernelli]

I am to talk about the, to. To be. You know, I need to go through and, you know, make sure that I've reset all my notes here. But there are a lot of my favorite players off that USC defense that are not going to be back for 20, 26.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah.

[Tom Fernelli]

So. And they've got the number one recruiting class, but not all those freshmen are not all going to be able to come in and have an impact on USC's efforts to try to go make the College Football Playoff. So all of Gary's X's and O's. Scheme them up, you know, cause all the problems and headaches for opposing quarterbacks and offensive coordinators. You might need that. You know, this, this might be a little bit of a bridge or a pivot year again. I'll, I'll. Before we start getting into, you know, the full win totals and all that, I'll make sure that I'm up to date. But just as a some of my favorite players from the USC defense are not going to be back, so it'll be interesting to see what the change is there. I, I think Gary Patterson's interesting. You know, it'll be very, very interesting replacement there for Danton Lynn. Coming up on the other side, we turn our attention to the Southeastern Conference, where Jim Knowles is, is on his third program in three years. Florida gets an offensive coordinator. That is a name we've talked about a lot. Should be very excited for the first year of the John Summerall era. And then from, From a rising star to a name from yesteryear, we are breaking the whiteboard in the locker room once again. And more nukes.

[Chip Patterson]

We heard you.

[Tom Fernelli]

Nine years of bring back the snack.

[Danny Cannell]

Wrap and you've won.

[Chip Patterson]

But maybe you should have asked for more.

[Bud Elliott]

Say hello to the Hot honey Snack wrap.

[Tom Fernelli]

Now you've really won. Go to McDonald's and get it while you can. Back here on the COVID 3 podcast. Most impactful coordinator hires Turning our attention to the Southeastern Conference. What's the what what's the advantage of bringing Will Musk champion? Like, what's what in 2026? Where's. Where's the value add of Will Mush? Is that just somebody who calls it great? Somebody who's a great game planner? The recruiting operation at Texas, I'm not going to call it outright turnkey. It takes work you're recruiting for against some of the other top dogs in the industry. What's the what attracts Steve Sarkeesian to the hire of Will Must chant?

[Chip Patterson]

I think it's probably energy.

[Tom Fernelli]

Oh, culture.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, I think so.

[Tom Fernelli]

Like, if you're half assing it, Will Must like Coach Boom ain't gonna let you half ass it when you, when you're out there, like, you know, running the drills, they ain't gonna be cushy with Coach Boom out there leading the way.

[Chip Patterson]

This is nothing nefarious. I just, I don't want to say something on the air that's not true. But like, I was trying to, like, look back through my notes and texts around the time when they hired Pete. There and my impression was like, was he going to keep coaching? Did he have to be convinced to like to come BDC? I again, like, I'm not saying like that's 100 fact, but like if that was true, then maybe a change of scenery and some new energy in there would, would make some sense. He had a pretty good run honestly. Like, like Texas defense has been, has been quite good. Like it really wasn't the issue for the most part this year. I, I know like the Pennix team that was led by DeBoer for Washington, they ripped him up pretty good in the playoff the one year. But like they've been, they've been a good defense under Pete, so maybe new energy potentially.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, I would say last year they were good. Like I don't think their defense was the problem, but they weren't great. Like they weren't an elite defense. Statistically, if you look at it, they were like more of a top 35 defense than they were like a top 10 defense. And I think that in the SEC, if you're gonna be at the top of that league and if you're gonna make a deep run into the playoff, you probably need to be a top 10 defense these days. So maybe the thought process is just a new voice in the room, new energy, kind of get things going. Or also maybe, you know, they just didn't feel like they were aggressive enough or at least impactful enough when they were aggressive. Because if you look, they blitzed plenty. But their pressure per blitz rate, their havoc rate, all that kind of stuff was kind of well below average. And especially in past defense, they were not a very good team if you look at it from an EPA standpoint. They ranked 56 nationally. Maybe they're just hoping that like a change can help, you know, and change the overall vibe.

[Chip Patterson]

And they played some pretty crappy passing offenses too, if you think about it. I mean like they got, they played Kentucky, they played Mississippi State, they played two nobodies in the non or three nobodies in the non con and Ohio.

[Danny Cannell]

State.

[Chip Patterson]

And did a nice job against Ohio State to be fair. Florida, which did not throw the ball well last year, A M, which was a decent passing offense even if I don't like Marcel Reed. Like they didn't suck. What Oklahoma with Mater coming off the thumb surgery. There's a game I'm missing in here, I'm sure. Did they get Arkansas?

[Danny Cannell]

Yes.

[Chip Patterson]

Didn't Arkansas score on them? And they just scored a million on Arkansas. Okay.

[Ad Host 2]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

I don't know. Like, I feel like I'm forgetting some of last year's games. Like usually I can remember like every game each P5 team played or close to it.

[Tom Fernelli]

But.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, that makes sense though.

[Danny Cannell]

Tom, what's kind of, I mean, getting off the subject a little bit here, but like, because they were elite, like as far as the run defense goes, I'm looking at it right now, like as far as EPA per rush allowed, I don't know, maybe there's some correlation here. The top five teams in EPA per rush allowed were all playoff teams. Texas Tech, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Indiana, Georgia, as was the seventh team, James Madison, Texas was sixth. So of the top seven, six made the playoffs. Of course, where you start to wonder is that after that it's Auburn, Pitt, ecu, Toledo, Old Dominion, South Carolina, Washington, blah, blah. But yeah, I don't know, maybe. Maybe Sark just feels like I wish we were better against the pass and not so great against the run.

[Chip Patterson]

What do you think about the idea that Georgia has punked them a couple times in a row and bringing in a guy knows how to shut down.

[Danny Cannell]

Your offense, that could certainly be part of it too.

[Tom Fernelli]

So I was going to bring up that. I remember Will being very comfortable during those CO DC years. Like Glenn Schumann, for example. At the College Football Playoff media days, they put Glenn Schumann up on the podium and Will just got to kind of hang out over at the side and you could just go up and you just, you know, talk to him. He was just sort of like standing off, but very clearly he had a role. And the two years that Will Muschamp was a co defensive coordinator were the two national championship seasons for the Dogs. Now, is it easier to coach a defense when you've got Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter, Nicoby Dean, Nolan Smith and you know, the rest of that group like, yes, 100%. But I don't think it's a not nothing in terms of. Well, what is Will Muschamp worth as a defensive coordinator in the modern era? Well, yeah, just a few years ago he's winning titles as a co defensive coordinator again with the Dogs. Super talented defense, but still something that I think shows he still got his fastball from. From a defensive coaching perspective, what else in the SEC stands out?

[Bud Elliott]

You mentioned the Buster Faulkner. That's a great hire. The fact that he's bringing Philo with him I think helps. But the thing I'd probably be most excited about, I think John Sumrall wants to be physical and Brent Key wanted a physical offensive run game. Buster Faulkner is very creative in the run game. I think this probably might be the best hire of all of them.

[Tom Fernelli]

Oh, I mean, I like that.

[Chip Patterson]

Like, I had heard Summerall wanted Faulkner at Tulane before last. No, no. Back when Faulkner was still an analyst on Georgia staff.

[Tom Fernelli]

Oh.

[Chip Patterson]

So obviously he's not going to take an OC job at Tulane if you'd be the OC at Georgia Tech and.

[Tom Fernelli]

You got Jaden Ball back, you know, like, you've, like the run. You've. You've got the gifted players to be able to build. Super interesting run game. What do we make of. So Pete Golding had that hybrid Frankenstein staff for the College Football Playoff run. What do we make of what the Rebels are going to look like? A team that we talked about last week when it comes to, you know, realistic versus unrealistic expectations. John David Baker coming over from ecu. Patrick Tony, a name that's been floating around the SEC for a while. What do we think about what the Rebs coordinator hires look like?

[Chip Patterson]

Am I crazy to think I don't think they're going to look that much different?

[Danny Cannell]

No.

[Tom Fernelli]

Well, John David Baker was at Ole Miss before, Right.

[Chip Patterson]

It feels like continuity. Hiring the defense, I assume, will still be something very similar to what Pete Golding wants to run Now. I think it is hard to replace Kiffin Weiss as far as the offensive coaching chops there, and I don't think it's a shot at Baker. I just, I don't know enough about him as a play caller at this level to say like, yeah, he's for sure got that kind of ability or he doesn't, but I think that's a pretty attractive job. So my guess here is that Golding had to have some, like, real belief in him, having worked with him in order to get him to stay and to do it.

[Tom Fernelli]

Another decision to promote internally Jay Bateman out. So we're, we're going to be promoting Lyle hemphill to the D.C. job and Colin Klein, of course, taking over as the new head coach at Kansas State. He'll be replaced with another internal promotion for Holman Wiggins. What's, what's our book say here? I mean, Mike Elko, defensive coach, you're not gonna think that you're straying too far from where we were at. What about offensively?

[Chip Patterson]

I mean, I think they had to know they were going to lose Colin Klein, right. So I mean to somewhere. And then the way I heard it was that Kleiman kind of got win, that Klein might take a different job and climbing knew he was probably going to retire anyway and so he hurried up and was like, hey, like, if you want this one, let's go. So my point is, A and M probably should have been preparing on this the entire time, like, realizing that client is on the short list to be. To be gone. I think he and Elko have the same agent, too. So, like, clearly, like, there would probably be some communication as far as, like, hey, dude, you realize this guy's probably not long for College Station. I. I don't know. Like, Wiggins has been around the block. I don't know anything about him as a play caller.

[Tom Fernelli]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

And I don't know that he actually has ever been a play caller. Look at this. I mean, he was running backs coach at Tulsa, receivers coach at Memphis, 2012 to 2015, you know, which was what, under Fuente, I think it was. Yeah. Because then he went with Fuente to the Hokies, and then he was Bama's receiver coach in 19 and 20. Not a bad group of receivers to coach there at Alabama, by the way, during that time. If you guys recall, that was what the waddle. Devonte and shoot. Who's the third? Judy and Judy, Right? Yeah. Crazy. And then was Rugs on that team, too?

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah.

[Tom Fernelli]

So you.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah.

[Tom Fernelli]

Remember, Devonte was the holdover for 20. The 20 team did not have the full superstars, but still had John Mechi, remember, who had also kind of emerged as another one of those speedster type options on that team, if I'm correct.

[Chip Patterson]

I would say all the. All the things we just applied to Dan Lanning also apply to my Calco here.

[Tom Fernelli]

Like, this will be a test.

[Chip Patterson]

It's a program with a ton of resources. You can probably go out and get within reason, anybody you want who's kind of available. You decided to go internal. You'll probably be judged for it. Right. In a way that the guys who go external are. Are not judged for it quite as much. Fair or unfair.

[Danny Cannell]

Danny, Martin Wiggins, though. I just love the name.

[Chip Patterson]

Perfect.

[Tom Fernelli]

Great name. Danny, what's our thought on Marcel Reed for 2026? He'll be back. And so you again, kind of like the Oregon situation. We've got the continuity. We know that's going to be the quarterback, knows who the coach is, and. And that's able to, at least you would think, be able to continue to build moving forward. What are the reasonable sort of expectations of the outlook for a quarterback who we've now seen for a couple years now in the sec? Kind of. He's giving us a little bit of everything.

[Bud Elliott]

I think what you Want is consistency. Like you want to know. Like, the South Carolina game kind of encompasses the Marcel Reed experience, where he looked like one of the worst quarterbacks in college football in the first half, and in the second half, he looks like potentially the best player in college football. You would much rather have a nice, smooth ride, maybe give up a little bit on the top end just to get some consistency, but I think he'll continue to improve. I think he was better overall as a passer. He did take a step forward, and I would expect him to do the same.

[Tom Fernelli]

You know, I'd agree with that. And then before we pivot out to the acc, or am I missing any other ones, by the way, in terms of, like, notable SEC coordinator, I mean, Jim Knowles is the one I wanted to make sure that we hit. Just because we've. We've talked about him as a big, big dog in this sport. I, I can't tell if he. If he's like two weeks away from hanging it up and saying it's been a good, great career or if he's sponsored by a moving truck. Like, I just, I don't. I don't know where to look at him. In terms of the outlook, though, Tennessee fans wanted to change on the defensive side. This looks like, hey, we're Tennessee. Hey, we have resources. There's pressure on me as a head coach to make a change defensively. Let's walk into the market and let's go get one of the best names available. What do we think?

[Danny Cannell]

It's interesting because obviously the name, but you look at the. Again, kind of like Chip Kelly going from being the coordinator of a national title team at Ohio State to the big deal made of him leaving Ohio State for Penn State. What a coup that was for James Franklin at Penn State last year, and then everything that happened at Penn State. And if you look statistically like that defense wasn't very good last year. They got. They were. They were great at putting pressure on quarterbacks, but everything else, they were kind of mid. So it'll be interesting to see now. You know, going to Tennessee like, that was a problem for the Vols last year. Their defense wasn't very good, so. Or at least it was good. It just wasn't as good as it had been two years ago. So you're trying to find that, get that back a little bit to once again compete at the top of the league, compete for playoff spots. Like, I don't think Jim Knowles has forgotten how to coach a defense. I do think there's a good chance that what happened to his defense last year was more a result of what was happening within the program overall. And it'll be interesting to see if he can get back to the kind of level he was at before, because he was. There's a reason Ohio State hired him to begin with.

[Tom Fernelli]

I remember Tennessee being a very volatile defense last year, right. Because you mentioned the pressure that they were applying on quarterbacks was they interceptions were really high. You know, force and turnover. I know that turnovers, you know, there's always a little bit of is it a skill, is it coachable or not? But turnovers, defensive touchdowns, sacks, like all those things were going really well. But giving up explosive plays was also happening. The consistency was a very middle of the road. So we'll see if Jim Knowles can be able to provide some consistency right there. To the Atlantic Coast Conference where I, I didn't have a huge, a long list of headliners. But buddy, there's a, there's a big one or maybe even a couple big ones right at the top. Because Bill Belichick, after leading a team that had one of the worst offenses in all of the power conference and really outside of the top 100 or 110 in the country, you need somebody who's just going to go and almost guarantee points. We talked about Arkansas scoring on Texas's defense earlier. That's because they had Bobby Petrino as the offensive coordinator. Bobby P. Coming in as the new offensive coordinator at North Carolina, got Chad Morris taking over at Clemson. And then we mentioned the Brent Pryor move earlier. What's Tom, which one of these Sort of. Or another one, if I missed one. Which one stands out to you?

[Danny Cannell]

The going back to the Chad Morris? Well, like is, we've talked about Dabo and everything that's been going on at Clemson these last few years. And it's just how it feels like the game is. I mean, I don't know, the game is passing him by like the way that the sport is working. And Dabo is trying to rely on just doing what he's always done and he's been very recalcitrant and stubborn about adapting to the way things work. And then you start to see Clemson kind of begin that process, start using the transfer portal more to bring in guys to fill holes. But then you immediately follow that up by bringing back in Chad Morris, who was, listen when he was at Clemson the first time as the offensive coordinator, pretty damn successful. Like, you know, he was the, like he was one of the first million dollar coordinators that we talked about. At the time. And he has left and has not had nearly the same level of success at other stops, whether as a head coach or a coordinator since. So now that he's coming back to Clemson, can they rekindle that relationship and get going with the magic that they had before? Or is this just going to be another situation where Clemson's still trying to hit that square peg into the round hole for 12 games?

[Tom Fernelli]

Have. Oh, go ahead, bud.

[Chip Patterson]

No, I. I just. Man, does Chad Morris feel like fresh ideas?

[Danny Cannell]

No.

[Tom Fernelli]

Oh. So listen, this is a funny one. I thought about this. I am not calling Dabo Sweeney Nick Saban. Okay? I am not calling Dabo Sweeney Nick Saban. But getting the band back together was what Nick Saban did right before he hung it up. You know, you just get. I just need to get people in here know what I want to do. Right. However, have you heard Chad Morris describe how the hire went down? No. Okay. So as Chad tells it, Dabo called him to say, oh, Dabo called him to say, hey, I want to pick your brain about offensive coordinator options and offensive coordinator hires. And near the beginning of the phone conversation, Chad says, well, your list should be one name. And it's me. And Dabo at first was like, you wasn't even thinking about it as an option. Chad says they talked for about an hour, and then Dabo at the end is like, well, you know, I forgot whether I feel. I apologize. Chad, I know You're a huge Cover 3 podcast fan, but his. His wife's name. Because he's telling the story. He's mentioning these mentioned. Dabo is mentioning Kathleen, Dabo's wife. And he says, put your, you know, put your wife on the phone. Is she okay with you, you know, getting back into working? And she says, we would crawl back to Clemson. So there is a while. I made that first reference to the Nick Saban piece. There is a whole. Chad Morris wanted this job bad. You know, Chad Morris kind of willed himself into this job. So if there is a thought about how bad Chad Morris wants to be at Clemson and wants to work to try to help them turn this thing around offensively, there certainly seems to be a lot of motivation for this to not just be a show up and cash the check. They. He could be on the beach. Yeah, I think the way that he told the story was like, we were on the beach in Destin talking to Dabo on the phone. This, that, or the other. He could have easily been retired. That Arkansas buyout money is sweet. He got. He got fired before the End of his second season. You know how much buyout money that is? Like, he, he could be fine, but he wants it bad. The question is, when it comes to impact, does Clemson have an offense that scares anybody?

[Chip Patterson]

I mean, they have some receivers. I think so much of this really depends on the Xena.

[Tom Fernelli]

Like, yeah, 100%.

[Chip Patterson]

It is Vezina, a guy that we don't know about. Like, like, I don't mean like like a person we don't know about, but like he. Is he a guy? Is he a dude that all of a sudden that Clemson saw enough in, in practice that they, they did not decide to go out and get a.

[Tom Fernelli]

Portal guy and can they run the football again?

[Danny Cannell]

They have any actual running backs on the roster this year?

[Tom Fernelli]

Yeah, I mean, we can't Adam Randall this thing anymore. Like, we need one of those young pups to step up. They have been recruiting at a top fit, like somewhere in that, you know, 10 to 15 level consistently. We just lost a whole bunch of former four star and five stars that everybody thought when they had nine first round draft picks on all the mock drafts going into the year. All those guys are gone. Now it's time for some, for some young kiddies to step up and become big tigers with a roar this year that. It's very tough for me to think that Clemson has a. I don't. It's very tough for me to think Clemson's a top five team in the ACC and that it's going to be a little jarring going into the year. But they got to go out there and prove it because there's a lot of unproven around that program, in my opinion.

[Chip Patterson]

You want to get Chad Morris Story?

[Tom Fernelli]

Yes, of course.

[Chip Patterson]

So this had to be like 2019 at one of these like Nike Coach of the year clinics, which are pretty fun to go to, to be honest. I feel like I learn a lot. So he's talking about when he first got to. Where did he come from before Arkansas? Was it smu.

[Danny Cannell]

Right. Okay.

[Chip Patterson]

So I think it's when he first got to smu, but it might have been when he first got to Arkansas and he was like, man, this was like so disorganized. Like, holy cow. Like, we have so much work to do. And they were trying to inspire some confidence in these guys. Like, hey look, we. We got to find like, like something we could. We can kind of like hang our hat on and celebrate every day. Like, like find some accomplishment for every day. He's like, all right, our first one is going to be Everybody's helmet is facing the same way during stretch period. All right. Like, we had to work on this thing all week, really. Until finally one day, the strength coach gives me the thumbs up. Coach, we got it. Everybody got their helmet facing the same direction and stretch so we can be as one as a team. I was like, that's wow.

[Tom Fernelli]

I thought you were going to say tie in your shoes, but that ain't far from it in terms of, like, everybody, everybody. We're gonna face the east end zone. When we're stretching, everybody's helmet going in the same direction.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

And it's corny, but I get it.

[Tom Fernelli]

Yeah, I know, I know, I know.

[Danny Cannell]

It's stuck.

[Chip Patterson]

And it's like, wow. I'm not trying to remember what program it was. It might have been smu, but it. He was like, guys, we were a mess.

[Tom Fernelli]

I do think SMU was a little bit of a mess when he took it over. I mean, Arkansas. No, because Arkansas was post Bielema, right? Yes, around then. I don't know. But still, great story.

[Chip Patterson]

Arkansas was post Belema. Let's reverse engineer this. So Morris was there for two years and got fired. Right. So he was there 18, 19, and then out. Who was Arkansas's coach in 20?

[Tom Fernelli]

Pittman.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, it wasn't Belema.

[Chip Patterson]

Right. It was Pittman. Yeah. Because Bielema first. When did Bielma get to Illinois?

[Danny Cannell]

Three years ago.

[Chip Patterson]

So, yeah, it was to the Patriots, right?

[Danny Cannell]

Correct.

[Chip Patterson]

Okay. Yeah, because it was Pittman. You're right.

[Tom Fernelli]

Danny, what do we. What do we think about Bobby P. Speaking?

[Bud Elliott]

Oh, I can't wait. I can't wait. I can't wait. I have no idea if it's gonna work, but I do think he is a great offensive mind. I wish he could bring Taylor Green with him, because that's my big question mark is who the heck is he going to be working with? You know, I think Billy Edwards is.

[Tom Fernelli]

An upgrade on Geo Lopez.

[Bud Elliott]

Yes, I do agree with that, but I just. The personalities with him and Belichick feels like it could be combustible, but they can't get much worse. Offensively, I think it's a pretty good hire.

[Danny Cannell]

Do Bill and Jordan show up to the first day of camp in, like, a bike in a sidecar?

[Bud Elliott]

Maybe she'll wear a neck brace for sure. I mean, she's the troll of all trolls.

[Tom Fernelli]

Yes, exactly.

[Bud Elliott]

She's going to troll him climbing the power rankings.

[Danny Cannell]

I think. Like, listen, say all the stuff you want to say about Bobby off the field and the problems that he had while at Arkansas. But I don't think you can argue that North Carolina hasn't made a tremendous upgraded offensive coordinator going from Freddy Kitchens to Bobby Petrino, like undeniably, yeah, wherever Petrino has been, it's hard to find a year where the offense sucked. So I, I definitely think the North Carolina offense is going to improve and I do think that North Carolina overall will improve because of it. Although again, yeah, like Danny mentioned, the quarterback is going to be a key thing. Billy Edwards was pretty good for Maryland a few years ago. Never really had a chance at Wisconsin last year because of the injury, so we haven't seen him in a while, but depending on how, you know, healthy he stays, I don't, I don't think he's going to be like an all ACC candidate, but I think he's good enough to actually keep that, you know, offense on schedule and make the plays that Bobby Petrino is going to ask of him.

[Tom Fernelli]

They also added the wide receiver that Tom, you sent me a note that you liked from Wisconsin. You've got a little bit of, you know, compatibility there.

[Danny Cannell]

Very good vertical threat for you.

[Tom Fernelli]

They've. They resigned Demon June, who I thought was a, you know, at times kind of a nice piece at the running back position and Jordan Ship as well. I mean look, they lost like 29 players to the portal, brought in 28 players in the portal, signed a 40 player freshman class. I mean it is from a roster perspective it is year one, part two. They're just starting from scratch all over again. But I think they are starting from scratch with a better quarterback and a better offensive coordinator. So you at least are not going to be so hamstrung offensively. It we'll just see how the rest of the whether we get everyone's favorite complimentary football playing out in Chapel Hill against the schedule which by the way is a lot tougher than it was last year.

[Chip Patterson]

I still think they're going to like even with the schedule strength increase. I think they're pretty good chance to see what they did last year win total was sure.

[Tom Fernelli]

Yeah, I mean we thought it was like 7 and 5, 8 and 4. They finished 4 and 8, right?

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Tom Fernelli]

So you know, if we can level set those things then perhaps we get there. One, one last one from the acc. I think Brent Prize, defensive coordinator for James Franklin's a great hire. Awkward. Great hire.

[Bud Elliott]

As long as he can get past it.

[Danny Cannell]

The, the most awkward thing will be how many times does Brent Pry accidentally walk into James Franklin's office thinking it's his. Oh Whoops, I'm down the hall now.

[Tom Fernelli]

That's awkward. But I think it's. You know, he's a. It was a. It was a good defensive coordinator. He was.

[Danny Cannell]

That's why he got the Virginia Tech job.

[Tom Fernelli]

So that one will be another interesting one in the Big 12. I did not have a laundry list here. Brennan Marion at Colorado, you know, go, go offense. He literally wrote a book go, go offense. And so now he takes over for. He takes over at Colorado. Utah obviously has to replace Jason Beck. They're going to be going with Kevin mcgiving there. What. What are some of the. Any. Am I missing anyone that jumped out to anybody in the Big 12.

[Danny Cannell]

Do we want to count Andy Kotelniki, who is not technically the coordinator at Kansas? I think he's the assistant head coach, but he had been the offensive coordinator at Kansas and now he's back in Lawrence after leaving Penn State.

[Chip Patterson]

I mean, I think you can kind of count like him as an addition to the staff, you know.

[Danny Cannell]

Sorry.

[Chip Patterson]

I got the long guy going.

[Tom Fernelli]

Grass ain't dormant. Oh, Florida. Yeah. Actually gotta still have the. The crew.

[Chip Patterson]

A lot of it actually is all of the leaves from all the plants that died during the freeze.

[Tom Fernelli]

Oh, iguanas dry.

[Chip Patterson]

Every plant on the patio, despite laying down the blankets, is nuked.

[Danny Cannell]

So.

[Tom Fernelli]

Another addition here.

[Danny Cannell]

My hearty plants, they all survived the.

[Tom Fernelli]

Winter Max in the tailgate and also college football tradition on YouTube. Jumped in Gordon Samus. Right? Samus.

[Danny Cannell]

Yep.

[Ad Host]

Okay.

[Tom Fernelli]

Gordon Samus, the former UConn offensive coordinator heading to TCU to replace Kendall Briles. I mean, Yukon's offense, UConn won a whole bunch of games. UConn's offense was humming last year.

[Chip Patterson]

They were creative. I would expect more tight end use. I mean, granted, like, you got to fit like the TCU's personnel, but that's a pretty decent scheme change for sure from what Browse is running.

[Tom Fernelli]

What about at Utah?

[Danny Cannell]

I don't think you're going to look much different than you have looked. I mean, like, when you promote Scally from D.C. to head coach, I think that he understands what has worked very well for them there. So I. I assume it's going to look similar. It's just somebody in a position who hasn't been in the position before.

[Chip Patterson]

If you go back and do the research, like heavy QB run game, physical stuff. Yeah. Like it's. It's two expectation.

[Danny Cannell]

Mm. I mean, you still have dampier, so you still kind of have to cater it to that.

[Tom Fernelli]

What are any. Any others that across the board either big 12 or even at the group of six level that. That stood out in terms of, you know, like, oh, this, this will be interesting. This could be potentially impactful. Just any ones that cast a pretty big. Pretty big net here, especially in a coordinator conversation. Any. Any other ones that stood out.

[Danny Cannell]

I'm going to be honest and vulnerable with you guys. I can't say I've paid a whole lot of attention to the coordinator hires at the G6 level this off season, so I don't have any strong opinions on any of it.

[Chip Patterson]

I'm curious to see what heartline runs at usf. Like, are we actually going to get to see what his offense actually looks like independent of, you know, Ryan Day? I guess we'll see.

[Tom Fernelli]

BYU loses J. Hill. But isn't topinga is internal?

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tom Fernelli]

That's internal promotion. So I. I am not expecting a huge stray from, you know, kind of where we were at there. Like, not a massive scheme change or anything like that. You're losing a super talented coach, but I don't know what the impact is going to be right there.

[Chip Patterson]

Agreed. I don't know what to think about. Like, I mean, I. I don't think it's a. I think it's crazy not to think it's a possibility of a downgrade because I think Jay Hill's an awesome defensive coordinator, but I don't know, like, if it's a major downgrade, like, maybe Ping is awesome.

[Tom Fernelli]

And also if. If BYU is able to be continually put fielding a roster that is going to be near the top of the Big 12, you know, you just. You just got to go out there and get it done at that point.

[Chip Patterson]

Dinner. Are you getting. You're getting frozen iguanas falling down there?

[Bud Elliott]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

We.

[Chip Patterson]

We had a couple up here.

[Bud Elliott]

Yeah, I got some videos. I wanted to have iguana tacos the other night for dinner, but my wife refused to do it. At one of the local markets, they have like, a thing with iguana meat. They got all from the frozen iguanas that they put.

[Tom Fernelli]

Oh. Oh.

[Chip Patterson]

I never had iguana.

[Tom Fernelli]

I thought this was mostly.

[Danny Cannell]

It's good. It tastes like chicken. It's just a lot chewier.

[Tom Fernelli]

I thought this was going to be Danny cleaning and cooking in iguana. Yeah, I've got some videos of that, you know, like.

[Bud Elliott]

No.

[Tom Fernelli]

Come here, Brady. Put your hands right there. Watch out.

[Bud Elliott]

No chance.

[Danny Cannell]

Have you ever had gator?

[Chip Patterson]

How many iguanas do you think it takes, like, to get.

[Danny Cannell]

It tastes pretty similar to gator Yeah.

[Bud Elliott]

I mean there's a lot of Guatemalans down here. Like that population loves iguana. Like they are hunting them, they want them to eat.

[Tom Fernelli]

Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

It tastes similar to gator, I would say.

[Tom Fernelli]

Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

Not as gamey, but very similar.

[Tom Fernelli]

Yep. If, if there's any aspect or questions or follow ups from here, the coordinator conversation, there's going to be an opportunity for you to pose a question to us. That's right. Coming up on Thursday at 11:00am Eastern Time, it's time to get interactive. That means we've got questions from the big old bag of mail, but we also want you to come and hang out with us live. Jump in the tailgate, drop a question. We'll be able to see those before we get started. Definitely factor those into the show. A mailbag Thursday, one of the best times of the week when we get to talk with you about this sport that we love so much. And you can follow him on Twitter at Tom Fenell. You can follow him@bud elliot3. You can follow him at Danny Canel. Follow me at Chip Patterson. Gentlemen, thank you very much.

[Danny Cannell]

Thank you.

[Chip Patterson]

See ya.

[Bud Elliott]

See ya.

[Danny Cannell]

At Pluto tv we're celebrating Black History Month with award winning films like Dreamgirls and Selma. We must make a massive demonstration and full seasons of hit shows like Power. I got you. Brilliant. Black entertainment is on Pluto TV stream now pay never.