Deion Sanders Joins $10M Club As Colorado Doubles Down On The Coach Prime Era | Cover 3

Summary

Cover 3 College Football Podcast

Episode: Deion Sanders Joins $10M Club As Colorado Doubles Down On The Coach Prime Era
Date: March 31, 2025
Hosts: Chip Patterson, Tom Fornelli, Danny Kanell

Episode Overview

This episode breaks down two major stories in college football:

1. Deion Sanders’ massive contract extension at Colorado, pushing him above $10M annually and what it signals for both the Buffs and the Big 12.
2. Stanford’s surprising hire of Frank Reich as interim coach—an ex-NFL head coach stepping in for a year as the Cardinal plans a broader search.
   The hosts also tackle mailbag questions about the future of college football governance, the shifting landscape with NIL and revenue sharing, and how middle-tier programs can compete going forward.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The SEC’s Basketball Culture Bleeds Into Football Banter (01:37–04:33)

• Lighthearted banter on SEC schools rooting for rivals in the postseason, and the culture of conference pride.
• Notable stat from Tom:
  "The SEC has lost 12 tournament games. The Big 12 and the ACC combined have only lost nine... Their football team and their basketball team went 8 and 18 (Oklahoma), and they're sitting here riding so hard for a conference that has beaten the out of them since they joined it." (03:28)

2. Final Four Brief & Fun Facts (04:33–05:02)

• Noted this is only the second time all four No. 1 seeds have made the Final Four.
• Location trivia: The last time was San Antonio as well.

3. Breaking News: Frank Reich to Stanford (05:02–13:31)

Announcement & Immediate Reactions

• Former Colts and Panthers head coach Frank Reich is stepping in as Stanford's interim coach for 2025, after Andrew Luck (now overseeing football operations) fired Troy Taylor.
• The deal is explicitly a one-year arrangement, with both parties open about a forthcoming national search for 2026 and beyond.

Analysis:

• Tom: "You're not in a very good spot... getting Frank Reich... probably as good as you were going to get." (06:55)
• Danny: "This feels very similar to when Jim Grobe took over Baylor... I think Frank Reich brings you some gravitas. So you're Stanford, right? You've got a former NFL coach right there, kind of hold the fort down. But I also wonder if Frank Reich is curious what he looks like in the college game." (07:52)
• Acknowledgment that announcing a one-year gig poses unique locker room and program challenges, especially if the season starts poorly.

Institutional Insight:

• Chip: "This now just drives at home. This is like Andrew Luck, athletic director, right?" (12:50)
• The team discusses the unusual way Stanford's athletics are run, with Andrew Luck possibly functioning as a ‘football AD.’

4. Main Story: Deion Sanders’ $10M+ Extension at Colorado (14:58–24:48)

Deal Details
– Five-year, $54 million extension through 2029, with a jump to $10M/year immediately, escalating to $12M by contract’s end. – Makes Sanders the highest-paid Big 12 coach and among college football’s top earners.

Analysis & Significance:

• Danny: "Worth every penny is the way I look at it... He has resuscitated Colorado's football program." (16:15)
• Tom: "This is a smart move on Colorado’s part... Colorado is the only TV draw in that league... He’s putting Colorado in a position where it will be in demand by the new whatever the hell this sport looks like in a few years. So $54 million – that’s nothing." (17:45)
• The value is both in visibility and program revitalization, not just wins and losses.
• Colorado’s TV presence is unmatched in the Big 12, and the contract gives the school security should the NFL come calling.

Notable Quotes:

• Tom: "Nobody cared when Mark Stoops got paid over $9 million a year... But Deion does, and who’s accomplished more in two years than you could argue they have, draws a big, big angry response." (19:57)
• Chip: "If you are Deion Sanders, you have this whole university in the palm of your hand... That’s not a bad [thing]... it's working." (20:50)

Expectations & Buyout Implications:

• Elevated expectations: Sanders should have Colorado contending for Big 12 and, by extension, College Football Playoff berths.
• The NFL scenario: Buyout clauses are significant for any pro team interested in poaching Sanders, adding contractual security for CU.

Will Deion Ever Coach in the NFL? (24:15–25:56)

• Both Danny and Tom agree the new deal doesn’t close off that path, especially if Jerry Jones calls, given his financial firepower.
• There’s discussion on Sanders’ stated preference for coaching college-age players:
  Danny: "I think he prefers players who will listen to him and look up to him... That’s where he probably feels a sweet spot." (25:09)
• Tom: "Like you’re getting paid in college, but there’s still a certain naivete among a 19-year-old compared to a 26-year-old who’s been in the NFL for three years now." (25:41)

5. Wider College Sports Business & Cultural Changes

5.1. The Shifting Role of Athletic Directors (29:09–31:29)

• Maryland’s AD search, Big Ten/Big East dynamics, NIL impact, coaches’ increasing demands, and the need for business or legal expertise in modern AD roles.

5.2. The "Domino Effect": How Did We Get Here? (33:45–39:18)

• Listeners challenge the panel to identify the turning point for college football’s arms race.
• Tom identifies the Supreme Court decision (1984) in NCAA v. Oklahoma/Georgia as the "small domino" that set TV rights free.
• Chip and Danny highlight the creation of the Big Ten Network and Longhorn Network as tipping points for conference realignment/arms race.
• There’s joking blame (and appreciation) for TV voices and writers who advocated for playoff evolution.

5.3. Envisioning the College Football of the Future (38:19–41:03)

• Consensus: The sport moves toward two "super leagues" of 40-48 teams – Big Ten and SEC equivalents – driven by TV and NIL money.
• Tom: "I just... wish we could hurry the hell up and get these guys to being employees so that way we can sign them to contracts." (39:53)
• Danny: "I think there are going to be two super conferences, super leagues... and then there's a bunch of others left behind, which sucks." (39:19)

6. "Best Final Fours" in CFB Playoff & BCS Eras (41:03–47:16)

• A mailbag segment ranks the best CFB playoff fields; 2019 (LSU, Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma) stands out as the highest-quality “Final Four.”
• Tom: "LSU, which might have been the best college football team of all time, undefeated Ohio State, undefeated Clemson, undefeated in Oklahoma at 12 and 1." (42:02)

7. How Can Mid-Tier Programs Stay Competitive? (48:47–55:06)

• Fans from programs like Michigan State ask how to avoid being left out as the sport changes.
• Danny: "With this new NIL era... it shouldn’t feel as helpless... just keep chopping wood, keep going to work." (49:27)
• Tom: "I think that most Big Ten programs are in a position where you’re just hoping to be the fifth best team and then hopefully you have a year like Indiana... Everything is about retaining – get old and keep them." (50:03, 55:01)

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Notable Quotes & Moments by Timestamp

• "The SEC has lost 12 tournament games. The Big 12 and the ACC combined have only lost nine."
  – Tom Fornelli (03:28)

• "This feels very similar to when Jim Grobe took over Baylor... I think Frank Reich brings you some gravitas."
  – Danny Kanell (07:52)

• "If you are Deion Sanders, you have this whole university in the palm of your hand... it's working."
  – Chip Patterson (20:50)

• "Nobody cared when Mark Stoops got paid over $9 million a year... But Deion does."
  – Tom Fornelli (19:57)

• "Worth every penny is the way I look at it... he has resuscitated Colorado's football program."
  – Danny Kanell (16:15)

• "I just... wish we could hurry the hell up and get these guys to being employees so that way we can sign them to contracts."
  – Tom Fornelli (39:53)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• 05:02 — News breaks on Frank Reich’s Stanford hire and analysis
• 14:58 — Deion Sanders’ Colorado contract extension deep dive
• 24:15 — Will Deion ever coach in the NFL?
• 33:45 — The small domino: Turning points in college football's economic transformation
• 38:19 — Where does college football go from here? Super leagues and employee status for players
• 41:03 — The best “Final Four” in CFB history
• 48:47 — How can middle programs like Michigan State compete?

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Episode Tone and Style

• The conversation mixes knowledgeable analysis with humor, rooted in the hosts’ deep connections to the sport and their playful ribbing of each other and their audience.
• The focus remains on the intersection of college football as both cultural institution and big business—with insight on media, administration, and on-field consequences alike.

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Summary: Why Listen?

This episode is essential for fans curious about the tectonic shifts in college sports. The panel breaks down (in real-world dollars and locker room impact) how big moves like Deion Sanders’ new contract and Stanford’s surprise hire reflect broader trends. They connect the dots from Supreme Court decisions to modern NIL chaos, all the while showing how every decision reverberates far beyond wins and losses. Whether you're a fan of a blue blood or a program feeling "stuck in the middle," this episode delivers both the headlines and the big-picture context.

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Transcript

[Chip Patterson]

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[Tom Fornelli]

Welcome Back to the COVID 3 podcast with your hosts Chip Patterson, Tom Fernelli, Danny Cannell and Bud Elliott.

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[Tom Fornelli]

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

[Chip Patterson]

And welcome back to the COVID 3 podcast here on CBS Sports. That's Tom Fornelli, that's Danny Cannell. I'm Chip Patterson coming to you [e-mail] cover3 and everywhere you 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 at 8:25am Eastern Time Ian was so fired up to get me the first one into the parking lot, pull open, get his spot and say I need to know what Danny's immediate tweet will be if Duke wins at all while beating an SEC team. That's right, because the left side of your 2025 Final Four bracket will feature Auburn against Florida. Then you've got Duke against Houston. So if Duke does make it to last Monday night of the season, they will be playing a team from the Southeastern Conference. What are the drafts look like Danny?

[Danny Cannell]

You'll have to wait and find out. I never like rooting or celebrating before something happens, so we'll see how it goes, but I'm curious. No, Ian, with his Georgia logo, who's he rooting? Like, is he just got the pom poms out for Florida or Auburn? Like, which team is your favorite now? Because that's what you have to do. You have to be rooting for those Gators, I guess, or the Auburn. Like, that's your choice. And I guess, do you. Do you celebrate as much? Like, is it as much of a party when Auburn of Florida could win the title? Is that how it works?

[Chip Patterson]

And that is how it works in football with the rest of the conference celebrating? Anytime an SEC team gets to a national championship game, it appears as though the entire conference is, you know, donning whatever colors they may be. Recently in football, it has been red and black. Ian, maybe o's some rooting interest back to Florida fans, you know, back to other fans that have been. That have been supporting the Dogs during their recent title runs.

[Tom Fornelli]

First, I'll start with a fact. All right? The SEC has lost 12 tournament games. The Big 12 and the ACC combined have only lost nine. So. Combined, I mean, that's just. What the hell. No, my favorite thing is I have been tracking, like, the conference records, right? And after every day of the tournament, I tweet and updated of the conference records, and there's this one Oklahoma fan who's like, responding to all of them, talking crap about all the other conferences, talking crap about the Big Ten and, like, riding so hard for the sec like an Oklahoma fan. They've only been in the league for a year and combined in conference play, their football team and their basketball team went 8 and 18, and they're sitting here riding so hard for a conference that has beaten the out of them since they joined it. Like, what is your deal, bro?

[Chip Patterson]

But anyways, relationship that is toxic, bro.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, you got to the tournament and got booted right away. Your football team went 2 and 6. Why are you riding so hard for the SEC? It's. It is strange.

[Chip Patterson]

So it's a lifestyle. Look, congratulations to all four of our number one seeds. I didn't. I don't think a lot of people know this. Did you know this is only the second time ever we've gotten all four number one seeds to the final four?

[Tom Fornelli]

You know what another fun fact is?

[Chip Patterson]

What?

[Tom Fornelli]

The last time it happened.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

San Antonio.

[Chip Patterson]

What?

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Wow. Whoa. Wow. Wow. Well, lots of breaking news here.

[Tom Fornelli]

Something about that Riverwalk. And we want draws the best.

[Chip Patterson]

This is why you tune into the COVID 3 podcast again. ION college basketball podcast. Got you covered with everything. Jumped on the Saturday night reaction show. Felt felt like throwing on some some an old comfy pair of pants. It was Saturday night. It was 11:30. We were reacting to what we just saw but enjoyed doing that. They will have much more getting you set for the that San Antonio based Final Four. But we have a little bit of breaking news here on a Monday morning. We discussed the outlook for Stanford after Andrew Luck fired Troy Taylor. And if you need to know anything more about who's calling the shots here, let's look at who was just named the acting and interim coach for the Stanford cardinal in the 2025 season. It is former Indianapolis Colts. He was head coach, right? Or just offensive coordinator. Yeah. Former Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich will be the acting coach now according to ESPN's Pete Thamel and others. I know our Matt Zenitz was on it as well. This is not a tryout. This is a we'll do one year and we'll see the way that both parties are approaching this Stanford and Frank Reich is we are just doing this for the 2025 season and a national search will be conducted to find out who will be the permanent replacement for 2026 and beyond. Tom, what what do you think about this move? You've got a poor you do not have a good hand. You are Stanford football. You you were already dealing with a win total of about like three and a half and that was with a head coach who had been working on building this roster up for year three. Now is is Frank Reich. I I think it's pretty good. Like considering everything that we've got. Like I don't know who was going to name it, but at least you've got somebody who's bringing in a little bit of expertise and maybe going to be able to keep that locker room together.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, I don't think you'd like you're not in a very good spot and you get, you're getting Frank Reich who like you managed. He was the head coach the Panthers. He was the head coach of the Colts and he'd won a Super bowl as the offensive coordinator with the Eagles. Like he's been a respected offensive coach in the NFL for a few years now. So when you look at that kind of resume to get him to come in, I think you could argue is probably as good as you were going to get. The odd part of the situation is and what I want to see how it plays out is like when you're announcing this, you're announcing he's only going to be there for one year. And I know that in the way the college sports work now, more so in basketball than football, but everything is so like transactional that rosters change in one season. But I do wonder how it's going to work in that locker room. Like if they get off to a slow start and everybody on that team knows he ain't back next year anyway. Like I, I do wonder how that could impact them during the season.

[Danny Cannell]

How did this name not get connected when they had all like the Andrew Luck ties? I never saw Frank Reich did you guys? It was like Pep Hamilton, it was David Sh. Jobs. Like all these connections and then nobody looked at who was his quarterback coach and when he was in Indy early in his NFL career. And I believe there was an article written about how he would when he retired, he was going back and he kept all these relationships with, you know, former people that he had been close to. This feels very similar to when Jim Grob took over Baylor. Remember that? It was like a one year deal and. But I do think there's one difference. I think Grove was very much like it was not a trial to see if he could be the head coach for the future. It was like no one wanted it. He's like, I'll step up. I have character, like all these types of things. I think Frank Reich brings you some gravitas. So you're Stanford, right? You've got a former NFL coach right there, kind of hold the fort down. But I also wonder if Frank Reich is curious what he looks like in the college game. You know, like maybe this is one where both sides are kind of feeling it out and by releasing out that, hey, it's only a one year run, it takes some pressure off, leaves open the door in case it doesn't work and it is as bad as we probably all think it will be, then it's like, hey, this doesn't really tarnish Frank Reich's reputation as a coach. It's like it just, it was, you know, I helped him out but I think if he does, you know, if he's surprised to the upside, which I think making a bowl would be a massive accomplishment, you know, if he gets to five wins, something like that and it works and he gets along with Andrew Luck and they have good working relationship, I wouldn't be shocked if he has a chance at parlaying this into the head coaching job.

[Tom Fornelli]

I, I don't know if he wants it. I, I feel like Frank Reich wants an NFL gig and this is to help an old friend and get like, do some Coaching while you wait for an NFL gig to come open. I, maybe he does. I don't know. I just, I know this joke's been used, but I do think it's funny that there will be an ACC game between North Carolina coach Bill Belichick and Stanford coach Frank Reich this season.

[Chip Patterson]

Incredible.

[Danny Cannell]

That is wild.

[Chip Patterson]

He's an ACC legend. Former Maryland.

[Tom Fornelli]

Maryland. Maybe he could coach. Maybe he's just killing time until basketball season when he takes over the basketball program.

[Chip Patterson]

He will also be, you know, making traversing around ACC country where he was, he was a Carolina Panthers quarterback, you know, even before he was the Carolina Panthers one year head coach. I know he's got family in the either Greensboro or Charlotte area as well, but he'll be in Palo Alto, you know, most of the time here. I am curious about the. What there is a positivity that he could bring to this Stanford team in terms of just the, the overall coaching acumen. Right. I mean he's a, he's a good ball coach. This is, this is a Stanford team that lost a coach in Troy Taylor, who is a little bit more offensive leaning in terms of his own expertise, who was trying to construct an offense that was going to be effective. He'd gotten, you know, Elijah Brown and a couple other quarterbacks that we discussed before. I, the Jim Grob thing was like, we just need an overseer, you know, I think that Frank Reich at least gives them the potential to be a coach so that they can go out there and be competitive. The, the bottom. The ACC right now is built like this. There's four teams at the very, very top. Then there's like 10 teams that you can't figure out one from another. And right now Stanford's down there in the bottom. And I would say that hiring Frank Reich at least gives them a chance to pick off one of those 10 teams that are all just in the muddy middle. Hiring Frank Reich ain't going to get you a win against one of those teams at the top of the conference, but at least bring some coaching competency that allows this to not necessarily be a foregone conclusion that this team is going to go 1 in 11 or 2 and 10, 0 and 8 and ACC play. That's still my prediction, but I, I would still say that this at least gives you a better chance than that. I've got a Tom. I've got him beaten.

[Tom Fornelli]

Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. You're selling it. You're hiding like, listen, he's not going to beat the best teams. But having Frank Reich, that'll help you win some of the mid tier games. By the way, I still have him going on H.

[Chip Patterson]

I just, this gives me more confidence in the coin flip game against San Jose State that I gave to the Cardinal when they made me put my name to it and write down every win and every loss for every ACC team. I had them coachless beating Hawaii and San Jose State. Now I say they can, they, they, hey, they, they could rivalry, throw it out the window. They could beat Cal. Frank Wright can get him a win over the Bears. What? All right, so again, like I sort of intro this, this, this now just drives at home. This is, this is like Andrew Luck, athletic director, right?

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Is he gonna make the hire too?

[Tom Fornelli]

I assume so. I mean, I mean if he's inside.

[Danny Cannell]

The fire, if he's deciding to fire Troy Taylor, he's deciding to hire Frank Reich. I'm assuming he's the one deciding to hire who the next head coach long term is going to be.

[Tom Fornelli]

We talked, we touched on it a little bit last week. Like Stanford treats its athletic department very differently than all these other schools. The athletic director at Stanford might be like, I don't have time to dedicate 90% of my time to the football team. I'm hiring Andrew Luck to run the football team. That is his job. I think he's responsible. I think he had pressure to fire Troy Taylor, but I think he's 100% responsible for hiring his replacement.

[Chip Patterson]

Interesting. Again, this news breaking on Monday morning. Frank Reich will be the acting head coach for the Stanford Cardinal. Well, from a coach who is agreeing to a one year, you know, we'll, I'll go out there and give it my best shot, boys. To a coach who just signed a new contract extension that is packed with expectations what to make Deion Sanders being College football's latest $10 million man. All that and more next.

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[Chip Patterson]

Back here on the COVID 3 podcast. Well, Friday afternoon news came down as head coach Deion Sanders and Colorado have agreed to a contract extension, a five year, $54 million extension that will run through the 2029 season. His base salary will increase to $10 million for the 2025 season. He is now the highest paid coach in the Big 12. And really, we don't know all the private school details here, but he is believed to be among the 10 or so highest paid coaches on an average annual value moving forward. The if he stays for the entire length of the deal, by 2029 he will be making $12 million. This more than doubles his salary two years into his tenure. And as I mentioned, it kind of set some expectations in terms of, you know, what should be happening on the field. And now that we no longer have Shador Sanders, we no longer have Travis Hunter and of course we no longer have Shiloh Danny. Like, how do what was, what was the lens that you used to look at this news in terms of, you know, what, what stood out as being sort of significant or important, worth every.

[Danny Cannell]

Penny is the way I look at it. Like I think it's money well spent if you're Colorado. I talked to Jeremy Bloom a year ago, the former Olympic skier and also Colorado wideout. And he was talking and I've talked to Joel Klatt, talked to a lot of former Colorado people. He has resuscitated Colorado's football program. I mean, this was a place when I was in high school. This was a national champion, co national champion. This was a perennial powerhouse in college football and they had been an afterthought, irrelevant, empty stadiums. I remember a very prominent writer who I can't stand, so I won't say his name, had said when Deion was hired was being like, these pothead liberals are not going to relate to Deion Sanders. Like he's not going to be able to. He's not going to bring any energy into this program. And he could not have been more wrong. He's done exactly that. And I think and by the way, when I talked to Jeremy Bloom, it was during the 4 and 8 season and he was like they were talking about giving him a messy deal, like give him some of the, you know, royalties and, and really incorporating some way to keep them there. I think it's great. It's great for College football pumped. I don't think it means anything as far as, like, on the field this year. It's going to raise those expectations, though, Chip. That's the one thing I think is going to be really interesting. But as far as a, like, I think it's worth every penny. I think it's money well spent. He's, he's earned it, too.

[Tom Fornelli]

Like, I, I wrote a column on this on Friday and I said pretty much the same thing. Like, this is, it's well deserved and it's a smart move on Colorado's part because for everything you just mentioned, like, we're talking about Colorado right now and what's. And obviously anything with Dion is going to draw a reaction. And that's part of the whole situation. Like, I write this column, I put it out, you know, Facebook, social media, everything. And all the responses are either exactly or hell no, this is stupid, he ain't worth it, blah, blah, blah. And that's exactly the kind of reaction that he always gets. But if you look at it Colorado, like, I don't have the list of the teams in Big Noon Saturday, but if you look at Big Noon Kickoff, in the two years since Deion has been at Colorado, Big Noon Kickoff has been at a Big 12 game 12 times. Colorado was playing in seven of them. Colorado is the only TV draw, if you think about it realistically in that league. Like if Kansas State and Iowa State are both ranked in the top 15 and playing late in the season, they might get that big Newton kick because it's got playoff implications. But Colorado is the only team in that league that is drawing eyes regardless of the record. And we saw that in his first year when they went 4 and 8. And they didn't carry him as much late in the season, but they carried him a whole hell of a lot for the first half of that year. And the ratings were doing fantastic. And you look at that situation like that helps Colorado, that helps the Big 12. And if you look at the future, if Deion is still there when the great culling comes or the next round of, you know, conference consolidation, he makes Colorado attractive because they get eyes on television, they get attention. So he's putting Colorado in a position to where it will be in, in demand by the new whatever the hell this sport looks like in a few years. So 54 million, that's nothing. And then people got upset because he's getting 10 million a year, which puts him in the top 10. Well, know who the ninth highest paid coach was last year? This is. He's not in the top 10 anymore because Belichick and Dion have passed him up. He's now 11th of the salaries. We know Mark Stoops. Was anybody super angry when Mark Stoops got paid over 9 million a year? And I'm not saying he doesn't deserve it.

[Chip Patterson]

Right.

[Tom Fornelli]

Nobody cared he hadn't won the conference. He hasn't won. He's won 10 games once. He doesn't have these huge accomplishments. He hasn't had anybody on his team win a Heisman. Nobody cared when Mark Stoops got 9 million. No, nobody cares that Eli Drinkwitz is getting 9 million. Nobody cares that Josh Hypo is getting 9 million. And they're all up near the top 10. But Dion does. And who's accomplished more in two years than you could argue they have draws a big, big angry response.

[Chip Patterson]

It is a little bit surreal, I think, to read official university releases where the university president and the athletic director are calling him Coach Prime.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yes. That part is still weird and will always be weird.

[Chip Patterson]

It was, it was, it was in the graphic. It was in the first paragraph, the fourth paragraph, the sixth paragraph.

[Tom Fornelli]

Like this in the headline of my column.

[Chip Patterson]

Like you, you really have, if you are Deion Sanders, you have this whole university in the palm of your hand, you know, like this. And that's not a bad. I'm not saying he's taking advantage of it because again, it's working. Their, their ticket sales, the attention, like the points about the TV slots and the TV draw. And since media value is everything in, in the modern college sports world, he is doing all of that. And he took over a program that went 1 in 11. He had them tied for first place in the Big 12 standings. Being a legitimate college football playoff contender coming down the stretch in just two years, I think that, I think the expectations are okay, you are the highest paid coach in the Big 12. You should have a Big 12 title contender almost every single season. Because being a Big 12 title contender means you're a college football playoff contender. I think that being among the list of coaches that are up there, you know, obviously at the top, you've got coaches who've won national championships. But even your, you know, your Steve Sarkeesian is sort of around there. Kaylin DeBoer, you know, is kind of around there. And Bill Belichick's the weird one, too, also being big, it's like, oh, Bill Belichick's getting $10 million. Deion Sanders, absolutely, yes. Should get $10 million. Here's the other piece of this that stands out financial security for coach and university. If Jerry Jones does pick up the phone and says, I want Dion, I ain't gonna circumcise a mosquito. But I do want Dion, he's gonna have to pay a whole bunch of money to Colorado to get Deion Sanders or anybody else for that matter. Any NFL team. The buyout that would go to Colorado if Deion Sanders were to get plucked away by the NFL is, is going to be significant. And also if for some reason things go south, or Rick George, the athletic director of the university president, who love Coach prime, if they leave and somebody else comes in now, Deion Sanders has some financial stability as well. I, I kind of feel like it's a, a sensible deal. It is not one I saw coming. I didn't have murmurs of it. I wasn't trying to report out the Dion contract extension, but it arrived. We did some breaking news HQ on it and I sat back and I thought about it and I was like, okay, you know what? I think that this is a, this is a really good deal for both coach and university.

[Tom Fornelli]

I also think there's an aspect of this too, that I think often gets overlooked just based on the name of the coach and the money. It's a lot like NFL quarterbacks. Like, if you look at the list of the highest paid NFL quarterbacks, it's not exactly Patrick Mahomes at number one. It was never Tom Brady at number one. It was always the quarterback who just got the deal. You know, lately, and you see a lot of that with college coaches. Like, the next coach who signs a contract extension is probably going to get 10 million a year. That just seems to be the going rate right now for being a college head coach in one of the power conferences. If you want to be taken seriously, you kind of have to pay your coach about 10 million a year.

[Chip Patterson]

Yep, I'd agree with that. From the tailgate before we got started, Jerry B. Congrats to Coach prime in Colorado. A move many people laughed at is paying off big time. And not just for Dion. Danny. That speaks to the unnamed media member who, who decided to, to. To set himself up to get freezing cold takes. And then this one, as we were having the discussion. KC3, does this put the nail in the coffin for Dion coaching in the NFL?

[Danny Cannell]

No, no, because Jerry Jones, I, I was looking at the details. In a couple years, it's 12 million. After. If it's in 25, the buyout, it's 10 million and 26. Then it drops to 6 million and 27. But even if it was in two years and it was 10 million, Jerry Jones could write that check. I don't think he even has to move anything around to make sure it clears.

[Tom Fornelli]

And if he keeps having success, especially post Shador and Travis, like, he's still going to be a very, you know, hot commodity on the market. Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Do you believe him when he has talked about, I know on 60 Minutes and elsewhere about the makeup of coaching an NFL player versus coaching college kids, his desire? You believe it like he, There's a huge difference.

[Tom Fornelli]

Danny, I think you can speak.

[Chip Patterson]

Do you believe Deion Sanders that he prefers coaching college kids?

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, I think he prefers players. I think he prefers players who will listen to him and look up to him as somebody that, you know, has been there and done that. And I, I think we're, we're kind of, we're starting to blur the lines between professional and amateur, clearly. But I still think there is a difference between an NFL player and a college player. And there's a difference in age. You know, when you're 18 to 22, you're looking up for a role model, somebody. And I do think that's where he probably does feel a sweet spot. I still don't think it means he's not going back, but I do take him at his word.

[Tom Fornelli]

Like you're getting paid in college, but there's still a certain naivete among a 19 year old compared to a 26 year old who's been in the NFL for three years now.

[Chip Patterson]

I mean, you're just, you're going to be a little bit, you, you're not going to try to fight back, right?

[Danny Cannell]

Well, you're still the highest paid. Like he's still making 10. What's his highest paid players? Probably making two. Maybe, maybe if he took the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys and he was making 10, his quarterback would be making 6x what he's making.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, that power dynamic helping him out in, in a really big way. So fun time for, for Colorado football Coach prime. They say he's teaching. You know, I was looking at that, looking at the, the release.

[Tom Fornelli]

He's, Yeah, I can't remember what class he was teaching.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, he's, he's got a great gig. Yeah, I mean he's got, and he's set it up where he probably, I mean, and I, I know he's giving Coach Bowden credit, but he probably watched the way Coach Bowden did it when he was at Florida State. He delegates. Now. The difference is, you know, he doesn't travel the way Coach Bowden is. But he doesn't have to. There is some truth. And I don't have to go to your living room. You come to mine. And the way we talked about this with the portal, they are more business transaction. It is more when was the last time you signed NFL coach? Go to some player's house. You don't see it, they just come. They want to see your facilities, they want to talk to you in person. And then you either sign with them or you don't. So he's got, he's got his TV show, he's got hall of Famers on his staff. He's got a pretty good setup.

[Chip Patterson]

Would Florida State hire him if they made a move on Mike Norvell?

[Danny Cannell]

Well, that's a good end. The buyout details come a little bit more interesting there too because that becomes a little bit cost prohibitive.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. Because you would have to pay the Mike Norvell buyout then also contribute to the Colorado one as well. Will be very interesting. Coming up on the other side, diving into some of your questions including the future of Maryland athletics. All that and more nukes.

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[Chip Patterson]

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[Chip Patterson]

Back here on the COVID 3 podcast, before we got going, our friend Bluxton at around 9:11am Eastern Time jumped in and said terps fan here in this era of nil rev share and transfer portal, what would you guys be looking for if you were in charge of hiring Maryland's new athletic director?

[Tom Fornelli]

I didn't. I don't know why Kevin Willard calls himself Bluxton, 46. Online I. I don't know. I. I think Maryland is in an interesting spot in that it's still. I think it's ACC roots, and I think we saw it kind of in. Reflected in what's happened this spring. I think Maryland is still a basketball school at heart that is trying to make that transition to being what you kind of need to be financially in the modern game. So if I'm looking for a new athletic director, I might be trying to hire somebody who doesn't have ties to the school, who might come in with a fresh look on things that maybe you're not used to. But it also depends what Maryland wants to be. Like, do you want to be a basketball school that you just hope gets to a bowl game in football, or do you want to actually try to compete in football to make sure you're still around in a few years? Foreign.

[Danny Cannell]

It'S an interesting question. I do think the whole role of AD is shifting, you know, like, because we're seeing, you know, Andrew Luck is in this unique type of role, but even with that, is he in charge? Is there like a football AD in his role? Like, is he overseeing? He's just over football. Right. And then there's Bernard Muir is over him. He's the CEO. I think you want somebody who's got more of a business background. I think that's probably the biggest difference.

[Tom Fornelli]

Or a lawyer.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, exactly.

[Chip Patterson]

These coaches are going to be fighting with each other. I mean, it's like you've got to be a mediator to be able to keep all these coaches and programs happy. I mean, that's the. I don't think Kevin Willard was complaining about Maryland basketball nil. I think he was talking about the funding for his staff, the funding for the program, and he was like, preparing for war of what's going to happen when the decisions have to be made with revenue sharing moving forward. I think that a factor of him taking the Villanova job is Villanova doesn't have a football program. And just like, you know, the Big east And the Atlantic 10, like, that rev share money is going to be pumped into basketball and along with resources and everything else that have always been there for the Big East. I think that that's, you know, I mean, he came from Seton hall, right. He's.

[Tom Fornelli]

He's a basketball coach. He wants to be in a basketball league.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

And also, like, one thing, this is something that the Big Ten has to deal with, and I don't think it'll be the last Big Ten school that's got this Kind of situation. You're in the Big east. You're not traveling across the country to play games in the Big Ten. You're Maryland. You've got to fly to la, Seattle or, you know, Oregon for games in conference. That's not everybody's going to enjoy doing that, especially when you're on the farther East Coast.

[Chip Patterson]

You have to make one trek to.

[Tom Fornelli]

Omaha, somewhere in middle America, and that feels like forever compared to most of your other trips, which are just short little bus rides. For the most part.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. No, it's a. Like when Mike Loxley was asked about it and he comes out and he's like, I really wish they wouldn't. He wouldn't air the dirty laundry. Or, you know, something along those lines. I'm paraphrasing. I was like, sounds like someone who's got the upper hand in this negotiation. The football coach being like, hey, yeah, that's right. Because we drive the bus around here. All right. We enjoy this time of year being able to make things a little bit interactive, getting to hear from you. So let's hop in the elevator and go on down to the mail room. This next question. Here we go. This question came from Andrew. Andrew says, great show. Love tuning in when commuting and working around the house. My question for you is about. All right, you guys know the domino meme, right? The small domino and then the big domino. My question for all you is about the fit of college football within the domino meme. Seems like we're headed to a future where college football is entirely separated from the ncaa. Conferences may cease to exist, teams may be affiliated, but not part of universities. Who knows? What do you think is the one seminal event that set us on this path? Parentheses, the small domino. And where do you think we end up? The large domino. He offers a few events that come to mind. Are SMU getting the death penalty, maybe Northwestern or Dartmouth's athlete unionization efforts and more.

[Tom Fornelli]

I mean, I think there are a lot of things responsible for this. What was the one year Auburn finished undefeated and didn't get to the BCS title game?

[Chip Patterson]

22,004.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

No, because this was pre BCS. I'm talking like the Cadillac Williams, Ronnie Brown teams.

[Danny Cannell]

No, that was 04. I think that was because there were two BCS and they didn't get into the team then.

[Tom Fornelli]

Who was it in before the BCS that finished undefeated and it was third.

[Chip Patterson]

In the polls like in the 90s.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Was that a 97 year? That's a split national.

[Tom Fornelli]

Either way, it was some team Getting left out of a national title poll that caused everybody to say we have to have a playoff. Al, you know what? It's Dan Wetzel's fault. Dan Wetzel, who wrote Death to the BCS along with it, was Jeff Passon. I think somebody else was in that book with him, too. I cannot remember Dan Wetzel wrote that book. And now Arizona's in the Big 12 and Oregon's in the Big 10. Thanks, Dan. Thanks. And then you just. You just left Patton Ross high and dry. Wow. Come on, Dan. I'm kidding.

[Chip Patterson]

I've got one. The Big Ten Network or maybe the Longhorn Network.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

Which one was first? The Big Time was the first conference network.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. Because the very first game is App State, Michigan.

[Danny Cannell]

I got one good one.

[Tom Fornelli]

Who invented the television?

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, yeah. No, but like to me, the. The 1984 Supreme Court decision for Oklahoma and Georgia, you know, against the ncaa, where no longer the NCAA controls your television rights. It. To me, the. The start of all of these. When we're talking about the small domino, it's not necessarily the SMU death penalty or anything to do specifically with paying players as much as it is the idea that television, running college football and running college sports has to start with something tied to television. And that's what I think. That's why the. The NCAA versus Oklahoma Supreme Court decision could be your small domino. I liked the Longhorn Network aspect of it, too, because you could say that that was the beginning of, like, conference realignment. You know, like the. The way that the Big 12 had the internal fighting around the Longhorn Network and what it led to in terms of, you know, disruption within that conference, the way it's been picked apart, the way that the different pieces on the board, Texas and Oklahoma included, and for the Big Ten Network. I would only throw that in there just because it would be the moment that you really saw the Big Ten jump into the forefront of being one of the powers. Right. That the Big Ten was able to create an infrastructure around these huge universities with a cable package and a premium network that we're going to be able to have cost certainty and guarantee money for all of its member institutions. And then that became something that every other conference did emulate in one way or another. So, yeah, maybe small one is the. The Oklahoma Supreme Court decision, but I think it's got to be something television related.

[Tom Fornelli]

What about the related, though NCAA versus Oklahoma was going to court to. Because the NCAA was picking the games that could be televised, right?

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. I'm saying any one of those things. I would take there. But the Ed o' Bannon case, that's.

[Danny Cannell]

Huge with the nil aspect of players.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, that doesn't happen without TV first. Because where did the money come from?

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, because Ed o' Bannon's argument was like, look how much value players are bringing to the university. And even though in the case we were talking about EA Sports, it was also the larger discussion of, you know, your image and likeness, I mean name, image and likeness, that you were giving that up. And the university was profiting at a way and at a level that had been, that had gotten unfair based on the way things had exploded.

[Tom Fornelli]

So you know what? I take it back. It is not Dan Wetzel's fault. Dan, you are forgiven. It is Keith Jackson's fault. That syrupy delightful voice just lured in so many television viewers to college football team, made them fall in love with his folksy little, you know what you McCall, it's. And now here we are. Rutgers is in the Big Ten.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. Big Ten network is why Maryland and Rutgers go to the Big Ten. Cable boxes, baby. When cable boxes mattered over, over everything. What about the big domino? Where do you think it's headed?

[Tom Fornelli]

Two leagues, two 20ish team leagues, 40 schools total, maybe a little more. But I just don't, I don't know how long it's going to take to get there. But I just think that as television starts really going further here, you're going to consolidate because there's only so much inventory you're going to want. There's only so much inventory that's going to be worth it to you after a while because you're kind of making a lot of these schools obsolete as it is. Then you toss in the fact that with the revenue sharing in the nil for some of these schools, it is going to be start becoming even more cost prohibitive to even kind of Field Division 1 FBS football teams. And they might make those decisions, decisions to get rid of it. And plus, if you just look at the education overall in this country right now, who the hell knows what colleges are even going to look like in 20 years. A lot of them might just be getting rid of football departments or just disappearing.

[Chip Patterson]

What do you think, Danny?

[Danny Cannell]

I think it is. I think there is going to be, you know, two super conferences, super leagues. I do wonder, you know, is it going to be this one overarching body? I think it's going to look even more like the NFL. But apart from that, I have no idea what it's going to look like as far as how they're affiliated with the schools, with other athletic departments. There's so much that's on the table that I. That has to be figured out. I really don't have a clue there. But I do think you will see, like Tom said, 40, 48 teams that are kind of in this illustrious higher level. And then there's a whole bunch of others that are left behind, which sucks.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah. Like, I think it could look like the original NFL, which was the NFL and the afl, and then the super bowl was created when the champs of both leagues face each other. I think the Big Ten in the SEC would kind of fill that NFL and AFL role. And then obviously the playoff format would be different than what the NFL went with. But I don't know, man. I just. As a fan, putting everything else aside, I would just really wish we could hurry the hell up and get these guys to being employees so that way we can sign them to contracts. So like, just so like you're looking at the college basketball off season now or. It's like we talked about it before the show, like the crowd starts tonight. It's a bunch of teams whose half their teams are in the portal. As soon as teams are getting knocked out of the tournament, their players are entering the portal. Like every single year a college basketball team is a completely new roster. You see, it's. You're starting to see it go more and more that way in football too. I would just like for the sake of the sport, as a fan, to actually keep those threads that you kind of had with your team. That wasn't just the school, it was the players themselves. Make them employees. Just figure it out, get it done, cut through all the red tape you have to do, get it done, sign them to contracts and let's move on so the sport can just get to the next level where it needs to go.

[Chip Patterson]

One more here. This one was a live question. And this is since we were running back through old college football playoffs or trying to come up with the the matchups of what they would be. Coach K33 jumped in a little after 9 o' clock and said that Ken Palm ranks this upcoming men's basketball Final Four as the best ever. What is the best group of four teams in the College Football Playoff era? He also offers up a group of if what would be the best Final Four if we did it in the BCS era as well. Feel like that's a lot harder for us to figure out with our simple public school brains right here. I think that let's if we go. In the 10 years of the four team era, which of the 10 years had the highest quality? The 2025 final four of the college Football Playoff era. Which year do you think it would be?

[Tom Fornelli]

This is gonna be weird because there's one school that's not in here that you would think would be in here. But I would argue the 2019 season when you had, you know, LSU, which might have been the best college football team of all time, undefeated Ohio State, undefeated Clemson, undefeated in Oklahoma at 12 and 1. I would argue that if you're looking for the best foursome, that was probably the season. And I mentioned it's weird because you would think Alabama is going to be in it. But I just think that when you look, go through the list, that to me is the year that stands out as being like, oh yeah, those were four really good teams. And then LSU dog walked.

[Chip Patterson]

And to your point about that, the Oklahoma team in there, the, the like sore thumb, the odd team out. That was Jalen Hurts, that was Lamb. And their only loss was 48, 41 at Kansas State in Manhattan. Like, no, that was a model of consistency.

[Tom Fornelli]

Jalen or was that Kyler?

[Chip Patterson]

That was jalen. Kyler was 18.

[Tom Fornelli]

All right, you're right. Yep.

[Danny Cannell]

Kyler was against Bama, right?

[Tom Fornelli]

Yep.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. Jalen Hurts CD Lamb. You know, you had Grant Calcatera, Creed Humphrey, Kenneth Murray. So it's a good, really, really good team. Only lost being by seven points in Manhattan. That's absolutely excusable. I like, I like that shout right there with the, especially the three undefeated teams. Clemson show was that Clemson showing up to the playoff on like a 29 game winning streak too. Yeah, because then they beat Ohio State in that crazy Fiesta Bowl. Does that sound right?

[Tom Fornelli]

They won it the year before, right?

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, Clemson had won it in 2018.

[Tom Fornelli]

So then that was, that was. I haven't lost in like seven years. Clemson team. Yep.

[Chip Patterson]

Okay, so 20 Lawrence teams. 2019 is a good one.

[Tom Fornelli]

All right.

[Chip Patterson]

Any, any others that you would, you would show to Danny, it looks like you're scanning.

[Danny Cannell]

I was the first one with. I mean, Florida State got housed by Oregon, but it was Jameis. There were a ton of NFL players. Florida State was coming off the 2313 national title.

[Tom Fornelli]

Then you had Marcus Mariota the second, not the national title team. The first year right off that team was overrated.

[Chip Patterson]

But the other one, remember, they played with their food against everybody and then we just have all these miraculous. Jameis keeps leading all these miraculous comebacks against teams they should have stuffed in a Locker. Yeah, it's hard to keep that thing going. 20s.

[Tom Fornelli]

The difference is the average age of this year's Auburn roster is like 32. So what you mean like, say like none of these football teams are full of 30 year olds like Auburn's basketball team?

[Chip Patterson]

That's true. Let. Let BYU get there. Maybe we can have it.

[Tom Fornelli]

I saw the stat. Like, Auburn's average starting five age is older than like eight NBA teams average starting five.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, it's insane how old they are. Their average age is almost the same as the Oklahoma City Thunder. They're like only six months apart. Like in Oklahoma City is older, but it's not by much.

[Tom Fornelli]

Like, I. If you'd put the Washington Wizards into the sweet 16 by average age, they, I think they would have ranked 11th or 12th.

[Chip Patterson]

Wow. Wow. In terms of team quality, does 23 have an argument here? That would be 13 and oh, Michigan 13 and oh, Washington 12 and 1. Texas 12 and 1. Alabama.

[Tom Fornelli]

There's an argument. Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

I fall short there because that wasn't even an awesome Alabama team.

[Tom Fornelli]

And I just come back to what would 2019 LSU have done to 2023 Michigan?

[Chip Patterson]

What would 2019 LSU have done?

[Tom Fornelli]

Probably would have beat him by 20.

[Chip Patterson]

Georgia was probably the best team in the SEC that year. Just happened to lose in the SEC championship game.

[Tom Fornelli]

Also that Florida State team that got left out. I don't know if you remember them.

[Chip Patterson]

Well, you know, it's. It's about who you don't want to play. Right? You know that's right. That's what, that's what we asked. You know, it's who. Who don't you want to play the 22. Those. This is a mention in the tailgate. Talked about 22 semifinals were good. Like the, the games themselves. I don't think that the team quality is. Would be in like a Ken Palm power ratings type thing. I don't know if the 22 playoff would go down as having an argument as one of the best ever. That would be Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, ecu, Ohio State. So Georgia, Ohio State, Georgia, Ohio State and TCU Michigan were both incredible games. Like the national semifinal night of that New Year's Eve was fantastic. But I don't, I don't think that from a power rating standpoint, which is kind of what we're doing here, more or less, if we're referencing Ken Palm, I don't think that they would be able to touch the, that 2019 playoff. All right, let's go.

[Tom Fornelli]

If you, if you take the two semis from 2022, the average point total for the four teams in those games was the same as the deficit in the title game.

[Danny Cannell]

Hey, you want to remind everybody what.

[Chip Patterson]

The deficit in the title game is?

[Tom Fornelli]

It was 65 to 7. So no, that can't be true because that's, that's 58 points and nobody scored 58 points in the semis. But the joke still works in my opinion.

[Chip Patterson]

And it was a record setting postseason game until the very next season when we had another record setting postseason game. You know that that record was only able to stand for, for about what, 350 some odd days. Hate it. Hate it. You forgot. Tom, did you forget?

[Tom Fornelli]

What was the record?

[Chip Patterson]

The, the record happened when a team won by 60. Final score 63. 3.

[Tom Fornelli]

In the playoff.

[Chip Patterson]

No, no, in the postseason.

[Tom Fornelli]

Oh, okay, okay. Never mind. Sorry, boy.

[Danny Cannell]

We're just buds out. We only have one signal here. My goodness.

[Chip Patterson]

Jesus. No. All right, because Bud wouldn't even care.

[Tom Fornelli]

But we just been.

[Chip Patterson]

Let's go back to. Let's go back to the big old bag of mail. This one comes from Spartan in Chicago. Greetings, gentlemen, from Thailand. I don't live here. Just visiting on my honeymoon.

[Tom Fornelli]

I don't live here. I'm just on my honeymoon. And sending in a question to the COVID 3 podcast.

[Chip Patterson]

I love it. I love it. On my long flight over here, I was catching up on the podcast and thinking about the future of the sport. My question is, what can programs like Michigan State that are stuck in the middle do to remain respectable and not get left out from whatever changes come next? Also, any advice for a newlywed?

[Tom Fornelli]

Go spend your honeymoon with your wife.

[Danny Cannell]

Maybe go watch a little white lotus together since it's in Thailand, you know.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, it'll definitely make you feel good about your resort.

[Danny Cannell]

Exactly. Is Michigan State. I mean, I feel like there's more now than there has been, especially with this new Nil era that we're in where it shouldn't feel as helpless. I mean, we just had Indiana make the College Football Playoff. I'm like, man, Michigan State, it was not that long ago you were going to Rose bowls and rattling off double digit win seasons. Give your coach, give Jonathan Smith some support, give him backing. They do have some boosters that have some pretty good money. Just keep chopping wood, keep going to work.

[Tom Fornelli]

You know, I was having this conversation actually yesterday with a friend who's also a Big Ten alum. I, I think that most Big Ten programs are in a position where you're just hoping to be the fifth best team and then hopefully you have like a year like Indiana where you can sneak into the top four because one of the top four programs has a down season. And I think you will see more of those teams having down seasons because the way things are working right now, there's like the whole reload thing where teams load up with seniors and then those guys all graduate and then they might come back down to earth a little bit because the schedules are more difficult. But I do think that once you get to that 4, 4, 2, 2, 1, 1, hut. Whatever model that they're going to do, like that's going to be the goal for most teams like Oregon, Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan should be at the top of the league pretty much every year. You've just kind of got to hope you can cycle up one of those years to sneak in. I think that's just going to be the reality even with an il, because everybody's going to have the money to spend. But those are still the schools that are recruiting at a level that's going to keep them in the picture, whereas these other schools can't really recruit at that level.

[Chip Patterson]

I think that you have to, have to have the, like, you've got to overcompensate with your evaluation and sort of like on onboarding process. You've got to be able to find players that are going to fit exactly what you want to do. I don't think that if you are quote unquote stuck in the middle because like, even in basketball, I don't think Michigan State has a top end nil war chest. I think they can. I. I don't think they're broke.

[Tom Fornelli]

I think that's more the coach then it's the operation. I think Tom Izzo doesn't want to go out and be like, I'm just gonna go buy the best I'm go buy.

[Chip Patterson]

I'm gonna go put together the Arkansas roster.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah. Izzo still wants to develop those kids. He wants to keep them around. So I don't think that's. I don't think that's a booster problem. I think. I don't even think it's a problem. I just think that's the coach philosophy.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, yeah, I.

[Danny Cannell]

Did you see the stat on the Sweet 16 teams? Of how many of the starting five, how many teams in the Sweet 16 starting five started at the school? Only one had all five started at one school. It was Purdue. Two of them, Michigan State and Duke, had four out of five stars started there. And that then it was, then it was good luck trying to figure out what team was the graphic because they just had the logos and they were all four and five different schools.

[Tom Fornelli]

Auburn's lineup started before colleges even existed. They were like coming from like coal mines.

[Chip Patterson]

You find. You see all the different FAU logos in there. You see all the different Belmont logos in there. Like, these teams are amazing. Like, Jonathan Smith has to be able. Jonathan Smith has to be able to find really good defensive linemen that are not demanding top dollar. Jonathan Smith needs to be able to go and recruit players and retain players that maybe were a little bit slept on. He is not going to win. He's not going to go toe to toe with the top teams in the conference and certainly not even like the larger picture. He's not going down into Georgia and beating out the dogs for a team that. For a player that Kirby Smart wants. So if you're stuck in the middle, I think it kind of responsibility is going to come back to the head coach, the coaching staff, and sort of everything that you're building around it. The good news for Michigan State is that all of us seem to believe, based on what he did at Oregon State, that Jonathan Smith is a good head coach and that hopefully he would be able to do that, to not only prepare a team, prepare a quarterback, prepare an offense to go win on Saturday, but to be able to do the things that are going to put together a roster that is competitive. They won what, like nine games, Oregon, I mean, Oregon State last couple years before he ended up leaving for Michigan State. It's one of the top 30 programs, top 30 teams in the sport. So he's shown the ability to do that in Corvallis, you know, can you do that in East Lansing as well? So any program that feels like they're, quote, unquote, stuck in the middle, I think that's where you've got to put a lot of faith in and whoever you've got leading the program. How did Indiana go from being stuck at the bottom to being in the College Football Playoff? They hired Kurt Signetti.

[Tom Fornelli]

They bought a winning scratch off ticket because so many of their transfers hit. And that's really hard to do. Like we saw it with Florida State. And then you see, it's like when you have really. You're really reliant on the portal. If all of them hit, you're going to have a really good season. It's just hard for all of them to hit.

[Chip Patterson]

Now. He had an evaluation edge, literally bringing players from James Madison, but some of the other pieces that were added as well, I think don't you give the Indiana staff credit for that success? I mean, it's not all luck. It's not all.

[Tom Fornelli]

But there's, there's no great team is great without a little bit of luck, Chip. And if you don't have that overall talent that you need more luck than the rest.

[Chip Patterson]

Yep.

[Tom Fornelli]

All right.

[Chip Patterson]

Any other recommendations for these teams? Stuck in the middle.

[Tom Fornelli]

Retain, retain, retain.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, can't lose players.

[Tom Fornelli]

Get old and keep them.

[Chip Patterson]

Yep. We will be back on Wednesday, 11:00am Eastern Time. Hey, hey, look, we actually got some, got some spring games coming up this weekend. We'll tell you who's playing where, what we might be keeping our eye on for those teams that, that still do observe the great college football tradition of the spring scrimmage and so much more. Get in your questions for Thursday's edition of the Big Bag of Mail and you can follow him on Twitter at Tom Fernell. You can follow him at Danny Canal. Follow me at Chip underscore Patterson. Gentlemen, thank you very much.

[Tom Fornelli]

Move aside Final four. We got spring games now Streaming.

[Chip Patterson]

Hi again, TV's quirkiest crime solver.

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[Chip Patterson]

It's on the case.

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[Chip Patterson]

Go toe to toe show with a cavalcade of guest stars.

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[Chip Patterson]

Don't miss a moment of the critically acclaimed hit Elsbeth. All episodes now streaming on Paramount plus and return CBS fall.

[Tom Fornelli]

That sounds like fun. Obviously, murder's not fun.