Grading Last Year’s New Hires After Year 1: Bill Belichick, Rich Rod, Scott Frost’s Reboot & More!

Summary

Cover 3 College Football – "Grading Last Year’s New Hires After Year 1"

Original Air Date: February 18, 2026
Hosts: Chip Patterson, Tom Fornelli, Danny Kanell, Bud Elliott

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Episode Overview

In this episode, the Cover 3 crew provides an in-depth analysis and grading of major college football head coach hires from the 2024-2025 cycle, focusing on their year-one performance. Discussion spans from high-profile power conference hires like Bill Belichick, Rich Rodriguez, and Scott Frost, to notable moves in the Group of Five and lower-profile programs. The hosts bring their signature blend of sharp analysis, humor, and candid takes as they break down what worked, what didn’t, and what might come next for these programs.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Coaching Carousel: Opening Thoughts

• The show begins with the breaking news of Thomas Hammock leaving Northern Illinois for the NFL and broader reflections on the continually shifting coaching carousel.
• Discussion touches on the challenges programs face with conference realignment, changing financial realities, NIL/transfer portal impacts, and the overall unpredictability of college football’s coaching landscape.
• Timestamps:
  • [01:51] – Thomas Hammock’s move from NIU to Seattle Seahawks and its implications.
  • [04:48] – The financial and logistical pressures driving MAC and G5 coaches’ decisions.

Notable Quote

“He has been somebody that's been pretty consistent who doesn’t love the way the game has gone...he sees an opportunity...he’s getting a raise to go to the NFL because he was not making a ton of money as the head coach at Northern Illinois.”
— Danny Kanell [03:32]

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Maryland’s New OC & QB Situation

• Quick reaction to Maryland hiring Clint Trickett as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach.
• Discussion around coaching fit, previous offensive struggles, and Trickett’s potential.
• Timestamps:
  • [08:57] – Assessment of Trickett’s background, offensive philosophy, and situation at Maryland.
  • [10:45] – Collaborative expectations between Trickett and Mike Locksley.

Notable Quote

“If I’m a Maryland fan, I’m not...taking last year as the source of truth on what you’re gonna run. I don't think you have Malik Washington and some promising young receivers...and then run a total spread option system.”
— Tom Fornelli [10:23]

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Power Conference Year-One Coach Grades

Bill Belichick at UNC

• Universally seen as a disappointment, attributed to high pre-season expectations, off-field distractions, and underwhelming on-field performance.
• Discussion covers issues of luck, coaching decisiveness in close games, and opportunity cost (not hiring someone else).
• Consensus grade: D
• Timestamps:
  • [15:00] – Initial grades and rationale.
  • [16:14] – Missed coaching alternatives & roster turnover impact.

Notable Quotes

“It’s a D or F. I don’t know how you make a case for anything better.”
— Danny Kanell [15:00]
“For every time we’ve seen a program make a move and be successful in their first year in a new conference, there’s probably three examples where it doesn’t happen.”
— Chip Patterson [06:49]

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Jake Dickert at Wake Forest

• Surprise success story: vastly exceeded expectations given resource limits and roster turnover.
• Consensus grade: A / A+
• Timestamps:
  • [21:40] – Breakdown of Wake’s over-achievement and coaching impact.

Notable Quotes

“I gave him an A. They were...like, one of the luckiest teams in the entire country to get to 8 and 4 regular season. But...that’s still really, really impressive.”
— Tom Fornelli [21:40]
“That was one of the best coaching jobs this year, like flying under the radar.”
— Danny Kanell [22:36]

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Rich Rodriguez at West Virginia (Rich Rod 2.0)

• Mixed bag: notable win (Backyard Brawl), but marred by injuries and inconsistent results.
• Consensus grade: C / Pass
• Timestamps:
  • [25:30] – Analysis of context and future outlook.

Notable Quote

“He pretty much imported a lot of Jacksonville State with him...But I would give him a C for last year.”
— Danny Kanell [25:58]

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Scott Frost at UCF (Reboot)

• Mixed, inconsistent season. Team looked “very Big 12” but failed to meet offensive expectations associated with Frost.
• Consensus grade: C / C+
• Timestamps:
  • [28:46] – Specific games that defined the season and offensive struggles.

Notable Quote

“I did not think they were dynamic, impressive or overly productive...did not at all meet my expectations of Scott Frost at UCF.”
— Chip Patterson [30:23]

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Barry Odom at Purdue

• Statistically poor season (2-10), but consensus is that the team was more competitive than before—a rebuilding year under a very tough schedule.
• Grades ranged from C+ to C-, with recognition that Odom has long-term potential.
• Timestamps:
  • [36:33] – Grading Purdue’s season in context.
  • [38:43] – Discussion of future expectations relative to previous coaches.

Notable Quotes

“If you watched Purdue this year compared to Purdue last year, completely different football team. At least they were competitive.”
— Danny Kanell [36:33]
“Season didn’t go well. It was not a failure. I think it’s much more on the C/C- side of things than I’m ready to go for B.”
— Chip Patterson [37:47]

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Group of Five & "Off-the-Radar" Coaches – Surprise High Performers

Dan Mullen (UNLV)

• Praised for maximizing a transfer-heavy roster and winning 10 games.
• Grade: A
• Timestamps:
  • [44:37] – Mullen’s adaptability and roster management.

Jason Eck (New Mexico)

• Massive overachievement: 9-win season with a roster expected to win only 3-4 games.
• Grade: A
• Timestamps:
  • [45:57] – Eck’s turnaround and coaching creativity.

Jerry Mack (Kennesaw State) / Willie Simmons (FIU)

• Both highlighted for impressive first-year turnarounds and exceeding historical program standards.
• Grades: A
• Timestamps:
  • [47:08] – Simmons at FIU.
  • [47:16] – Mack at Kennesaw State.

Notable Quotes

“I’m gonna go Jason Eck...they went 9 and 4 at New Mexico on a 3.5 season win total. That’s crazy.”
— Tom Fornelli [45:57]
“Willie Simmons at FIU...that’s a program that had won 13 games in five seasons before last year...It’s a pretty good start.”
— Danny Kanell [47:08]

Matt Ince (Fresno State)

• Quiet but solid first year, another 9-win turnaround.
• Timestamps:
  • [44:43] – Brief praise for steady performance.

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Other Noteworthy Segments

• [48:43] – Blake Carroll (ECU) credited with exceeding historical standards in a tough American conference.
• Mixed results for other first-year coaches across the G5. For example, Phil Longo at Sam Houston State: “not as great,” and Brian Smith at Ohio: “F.”
• Coaches like Charles Huff (Southern Miss) and Jimmy Rogers (Washington State) already on to new jobs after brief stints.

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Memorable Moments & Fun Quotes

• The crew’s recurring tongue-in-cheek grading scale:

  “It is protocol that every single hire gets a C+ or seems like a great hire. We’ll see if it works out.”
  — Chip Patterson [13:11]

• Lively, unscripted moments about coaching styles:

  “Mick Cronin is a tiny man who has a lot of tiny man energy. All the way back to the days at Cincinnati, he’s been barking at 6-foot, 10-foot power forwards and emasculating them in front of 22,000 people. This guy was born to do this.”
  — Chip Patterson [33:56]

• Philosophical on college football’s rapid changes:

  “For every time we’ve seen a program make a move and be successful in their first year in a new conference, there’s probably three examples where it doesn’t happen.”
  — Chip Patterson [06:49]

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• 01:51 – Thomas Hammock’s exit, coaching landscape volatility
• 08:57 – Maryland hires Clint Trickett as OC
• 15:00 – Power conference grading begins: Belichick at UNC
• 21:40 – Dickert’s “A” at Wake Forest
• 25:30 – RichRod’s “C” at West Virginia
• 28:46 – Frost’s “C” at UCF
• 36:33 – Odom’s rebuild at Purdue
• 44:37 – G5 first-year overachievers: Mullen (UNLV), Eck (New Mexico), Mack, Simmons
• 47:08 – Conference USA standouts
• 52:35 – NFL free agency interlude + wrap-up

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Language and Tone

• Analytical but relaxed and conversational – plenty of friendly jabs, sports bar banter, and “real talk” about the college game’s realities.
• Willingness to be blunt about underperformers and to heap praise on well-done turnaround jobs.
• Balanced mix of stats-based and “eye test” evaluations.
• Trade-mark wit and well-timed humor, e.g., the sunglasses-wearing, money-mentioning references on coaches’ motivations.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode delivers a comprehensive, candid appraisal of last year’s marquee (and not-so-marquee) college football hires. The panel doesn’t hold back in its criticisms for big names that flopped (Bill Belichick, Rich Rodriguez, Scott Frost), but also shines a spotlight on relative unknowns who overdelivered (Jake Dickert, Jason Eck, Jerry Mack, Willie Simmons). The overall theme highlights how—regardless of school size or coach pedigree—the intersection of roster turnover, new league challenges, and institutional support creates enormous volatility. "Year one" is rarely definitive, but it's always revealing.

Transcript

[Chip Patterson]

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[Tom Fornelli]

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[DK]

Hank.

[Chip Patterson]

What's going on?

[DK]

We haven't worked a case in years.

[Tom Fornelli]

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[Danny Cannell]

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[Chip Patterson]

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[Chip Patterson]

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[Tom Fornelli]

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

[Danny Cannell]

Danny Cannel, Bud Elliott. It's your call for the best college.

[Tom Fornelli]

Football coverage from national signing day to the national championship and everything in between.

[Danny Cannell]

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 Bud Elliott. That's Danny Cannell. I'm Chip Patterson coming 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 it breaks my heart. 9:14am Eastern Time. Ryan. Everybody's familiar with Ryan. He's got his own parking space. Did Chip close the coaching carousel too soon?

[Danny Cannell]

He did.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yep.

[Chip Patterson]

It's back. It's. I. I just. I'm. I am so disappointed. Yeah, actually, you know what? I'll get Mel. All right, buckle up, boys. 59 minutes coming your way on Northern Illinois head coaching candidates. Thomas Hammock, who delivered one of the most impactful wins of the last two seasons for Northern Illinois and, you know, sort of rode a wave of fame with some of his, you know, comments, public appearances. A former Northern Illinois running back, you know, a star, somebody who came to his alma material on February 18th. I guess we found out maybe late last night or it was this morning we find out Thomas Hammock is leaving Northern Illinois to go take a job on the coaching staff of the super bowl champion Seattle Seahawks. There's a. I mean, Danny is some of it. As Northern Illinois prepares to leave the Mac and go to the Mountain West. I mean, is, is there a little bit of a human side where you're like a. I would too. Yes. Mike McDonald's got a great staff, an operation that's running well. Thomas Hammick was a, a, a successful and, you know, running backs coach in the NFL before he came back to niu.

[DK]

Do you know how many times I've played back Thomas Hammock? Like, sound bites on the radio show and my morning show. Because I love his old school mindset. Like, I love. He's all about, you know, the game and he's, he's been very public about. I see players make mistakes all the time because they just want to secure the bag. We've lost, you know, we've lost the, the meaning of college football where we want to get degrees. Like, he has been somebody that's been pretty consistent who doesn't love the way the game has gone. And so I think he sees an opportunity. I mean, it was interesting. There were a couple things that were interesting. One, there were multiple teams in the market for him in the NFL, which to me says he probably floated his name out. Like, let me see what is out there. And then the other thing is that according to some, he's the highest paid running backs coach in the NFL, which probably means he's getting a raise to go to the NFL because he was not making a ton of money as the head coach, Northern Illinois. So now he goes and he actually gets to coach true pros where he knows who his roster is going to look like. So I think it's about everything about. I think it's about the transition of north Northern Illinois to the Mac or to the Mountain west, which doesn't make a lot of sense. It's his frustration with the system and he's found a place that'll play him, more money that he can probably, you know, contend for a Super Bowl. I think that's what it's all about.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah. And remember, he came from the NFL to niu, right. He was running. He was a running backs at Ravens.

[Chip Patterson]

Okay.

[DK]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

I mean, you know, like that, that's. He's had a taste of the NFL. He knows what it's like. I, I fully agree with Danny. I mean, like, only the player hit the game, right? Players can move, coaches can move. Like everybody's entitled to, you know, do what they think is best for themselves and their family. So, like, you know, hit it.

[Danny Cannell]

Do you know who was a coach on the Ravens alongside him while he was there?

[Chip Patterson]

Mike McDonald.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, I mean, he was making, according to USA Today, he was making 630 grand at Northern, which is on the lower end of max schools, honestly. And so, yeah, I wouldn't be shocked at all if he's being paid more by Seattle. But it's just, yeah, it's, it's a combination of factors, but I definitely think one of the bigger factors is Northern Illinois moving to the Mountain West. Like, it's now you're going to be playing in the new league. You're going to be traveling much further than you have been at your time in Northern Illinois. So you've got to deal with that. You combine that with just the landscape of the way things are working in the Mac and these other G5 leagues where we talk about like, if you're, if you're an all conference G5 teamer, you're gone, you're moving up to P4 somewhere. You're going to have a job somewhere else. So you have to really rebuild your roster every season. And also, like, just as far as unintended consequences of Northern Illinois, like, this is, this isn't that big of a shock, regardless of all that, because of the move you're making. And one of the interesting things to me is I just mentioned that he was making 630 grand at NIU, which is on the lower end of the Mac. There isn't. The lowest paid coach in the Mountain west is 750 grand. Last year that was Timmy Chang. Everybody else is making at least seven figures. So now Northern Illinois is losing their coach moving to a different league. And if they're going to be competitive as far as the salaries they're paying their coaches, they're going to have to give the next guy a braze over the guy that they were paying just now. But I don't know how much more money they're really going to be getting from the Mountain west than they were in the back. I don't know, it's just, it's, it's just a really messed up situation all around. And congrats to Thomas on his new gig with a very good team in.

[Chip Patterson]

The NFL 3 and 9 last year. You know, so the on field results last season, not spectacular, but yes, I'm, I agree. I mean, it's, if you're Thomas, you're like, yes, this seems like a good career move for me right now and all the pieces of it. So where Northern Illinois goes from here, we'll, we'll see. And there's a, as you mentioned, there's a daunting challenge as they make the move. Because for every time we've seen a program make a move and be successful in their first year in a new conference, there's probably three examples where it doesn't happen. And you know, we've got a couple that we've seen recently in the power conferences for sure. And now we will potentially see it as NIU has to make a coaching hire with spring practice coming up in just a couple weeks and and try to find a way to go be competitive in a brand new league against even a shifting landscape that they've got there in the Mountain West. One more bit of coaching that I hadn't really put to on the the front of the agenda. But you know, we've got a question in the tailgate and I want to always respect our our fans, especially the ones that show up early. Brian says as the lone Maryland fan here, Brian, I will tell you there are more than just one turtle here in the tailgate. But as the lone Maryland fan here, I would love your thoughts on the Terps hiring Clinton Trickett. That's right. News made official this morning. Clint Trickett hired as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. You will remember Pep Hamilton was the offensive coordinator. He will remain with the program but he moves into an off field special assistant to the head coach role for Mike Loxley. What do we make of Clint Trickett addition? He obviously has a super talented quarterback that Maryland was very, it was very important for Maryland's 2026 that they held on to Malik Washington, their their prized quarterback. He will be going into his sophomore season. What's the outlook there? What's the potential impact that we've got with Trickett joining that staff?

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, I think you could do okay. I've seen some folks there in the tailgate saying hey, they were 122nd passing offense and 105th and rushing offense at Jacksonville State. And that's factual but also requiring context.

[Chip Patterson]

An amazing running back, so why not let him eat.

[Tom Fornelli]

They were also coming off running the rich Rod like spread option system at Jack State. Didn't exactly have a whole lot of like receivers past protecting offensive linemen, that type of stuff. Also Tricket is the son of Rick Trickett who was the longtime, you know, O line coach with Rich Rodriguez. So it just kind of made sense for that staff last year under Charles Kelly who's a defensive coach to keep running what they had been running and running it successfully. You probably weren't going to get like a passing quarterback, actual receivers and pass protecting offensive linemen there to Jack State in one off season. If you go back and look, Georgia Southern passed the ball like crazy when he was their passing game coordinator in what, 24 before he left to go, you know, coach with his dad at Jax. Prior to that, I'm pretty sure Marshall threw it around a lot. Clint was a passing quarterback himself at Ford State and then also. Yeah, I think he did end up there. And then he was also. Shoot, he was on Lane Kiffin staff at fau.

[Danny Cannell]

At fau, he was like the CO CQB coach. Yep.

[Tom Fornelli]

If I'm a Maryland fan, I'm not. I would not take last year as like the source of truth on what you're going to run. I don't think you have Malik Washington and some promising young receivers. Offensive line still kind of questionable there Maryland, but okay. I don't think you go and be like, yeah, that's the guy and we want him to run a total spread option system. You know.

[Danny Cannell]

I have his dad's book right behind me on the bookshelf over there. Yeah, I mean, we'll see. Like, Mike Loxley was a pretty good play caller in his day too, before he became the head coach. So it's like it's not. It's probably going to be more of a collaborative effort, but I wouldn't. Yeah, like what Bud said, I wouldn't really worry too much about the Jacksonville State offense is what your offense is going to look like. It's probably going to look a lot more like what Lane Kiffin runs.

[DK]

He's been around the game a long time, his entire life. You know, as a son of a coach, he played quarterback. I think those are two things. Regardless of what the resume thinks. I mean, you do see that trend kind of unfold at every level. You know, you see some of these coaching stories. He's a young offensive mind, played the position. I always think that makes it more relatable for a young quarterback to kind of listen to, to a coach that actually played and has been in that spot. So I think it's a good hire. See how it works out.

[Chip Patterson]

10:02 From Maryland athletics Locksley finalizes 2026 coaching staff. 10:25 Maryland receives $2.5 million gift so hey, let's go. Good morning in College park for all the Maryland fans out there. Again, will be very interesting to see what the sophomore season looks like for Malik Washington. Well, speaking of coaches, that's the big topic for today. So coming up on the other side, the coaching carousel cycle of 2024, 2025 did not produce a lot of winning. So how do we grade it? What does it look like moving forward? We'll get into all that and more.

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[DK]

I mean, I think I graded this after the season with HQ one time. I think I gave it a D and I felt like I was a teacher, was a little bit lean, you know, a little bit lenient. I think you could easily say it was an F based on the expectations, based on what happened the off season, like the embarrassment. No offense to Jordan, but it just has not been a great look. And then you combine that story with the lack of results on the field. I mean, it's a DNR F. I don't know how you make a case for anything better.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, I had a D plus. They were what, oh, and four in. In like one score games.

[Chip Patterson]

Right.

[Tom Fornelli]

So we know that's mostly luck. You know, I don't know.

[Chip Patterson]

I think they got. Yeah, I, I think they got out coached by Manny Diaz and Duke. That's fair. Yeah. And then like the Wake Forest game was there for the taking. That's another one where I think that Jake Dickert, the one actual successful coach, kind of pants them. Coach circles around them. There's a, there's. There were some spots there where I think that you can point to the, the criticisms that you have for the coaching staff. Absolutely. Showed up on the field and one score losses.

[Tom Fornelli]

There's also an opportunity cost factor. You have to take in with Carolina and Belichick and I do think they have some things moving in the right direction now. Like I think the, the amount of Lombardi going on there was, was a problem and I think they have more people there now who maybe kind of help tone that down a little bit. But I mean, we'll see. But the opportunity cost as far as in some ways a wasted first year. Right. Also that could have been Summeralls wasted first year because that's who I think Carolina was going to hire before the board got, you know, got all involved and made him hire Bill Belichick. Right. Like that wasn't the ads higher? I think it's pretty well known in our industry that he didn't want him. So like, man, you could, we could be talking about them going into year two with summer all. Would summer all have done better than 4 and 8? I don't know that, but I think that, yeah, I think he probably would have done better than 4 and 8. So yeah, I'll stick with the D.

[Danny Cannell]

D. I mean, nobody died. Danny was asking like how. Why wouldn't you get an app? Nobody died. There you go. Like, you just. You sucked at football. You were worse than expected. But I would also say, like, the. I can't blame Belichick for the hype that was put around him coming to North Carolina. Like the fact that everybody kind of overestimated how good that the team was going to be because it was Bill Belichick coaching. Now, I could put some of the blame on maybe Mike Lombardi for doing the whole we're going to be the NFL's 33rd team kind of crap, but I mean, what were your realistic expectations for North Carolina coming in? Like, what was the win total? Seven and a half.

[Tom Fornelli]

Seven and a half. And Tom, because the schedule was so easy.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, but it's just like it wasn't. It was a brand new team. The schedule was supposed to be easy. Like, they. They definitely underperformed. That's why I'm giving them a D. But if they'd have gone like O and 12 or 1 and 11, then I would give them an F.

[Chip Patterson]

You know, at the University of North Carolina, I found myself begging for C minuses at one point, you know, because a C minus would actually give you credit towards graduation. Anything lower than that doesn't actually help you get towards a degree. And there were some professors that said, I'm sorry, Chip, that's great that you did all of this work and turned it in at the end of the semester, but it was due when the original due dates were. So North Carolina, I'm sorry that you did all this work. And look, you're. You're right back where you started. You talked about, we got 70 new players. You got to give us some time. Well, do you know what you have going into 20, 26? 70 new players, 40 true freshmen and another 29 player transfer portal class. So it's not a building block of a year one. It was a year zero and now we've got a year one now. So. Yeah, just. Just like that. That 200level.com professor said, I'm sorry, Chip, but your ass is going to be here in summer school this summer. You. I do not give the C minus to the Tar Heels on this one. I'll agree with y'.

[Danny Cannell]

All.

[Chip Patterson]

It's a. It isn't is a D here. Moving forward though, the higher Bobby Petrino addresses the biggest flaw with this team, right?

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah. And they got rid of the quarterback.

[Chip Patterson]

Geo couldn't play at the power conference level.

[Danny Cannell]

Very fun Sunbelt quarterback.

[Chip Patterson]

Right.

[Danny Cannell]

Not a fun ACC quarterback.

[Chip Patterson]

And criticism for the evaluation process. That you just looked and saw that he was competent against lsu and that's all you heard. How do you think Gio's going to translate? Well, he had a great game and a loss to lsu. Okay, you think lsu, you think LSU really had it dialed up for South Alabama?

[Danny Cannell]

Yes.

[Chip Patterson]

You know, you think they were throwing the mixed coverages at him?

[Danny Cannell]

That's a rivalry game. Like the distance between, between Baton Rouge and Mobile in that. That's a rivalry. That's a derby.

[DK]

The kid they just signed from Western Carolina, 38 touchdowns, two interceptions. He had a game where he was 53 of 56 in one game. It's pretty exciting. I mean, I think should be interesting. I mean, I'm sure he'll compete for the job, but I think like the, the track record is there. Playing pretty good at the FCS level. We'll see if he can make that jump.

[Tom Fornelli]

The freshman is really, really good.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

Travis towards acl.

[Chip Patterson]

Right.

[Tom Fornelli]

So I don't expect much out of him this fall, I wouldn't think.

[Danny Cannell]

Correct.

[Tom Fornelli]

But like year two of him could be, could be really good. Like he has real upside. Travis Burgess.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, Travis Burgess is super talented. I looked at the addition of the Western quarterback as a little bit of a Billy Edwards insurance policy. Gotta think Billy Edwards is gonna, you would hope, you know, with at least some power conference experience. And the other piece of the Western, Carolina. Western Carolina, of course, had Cade Bell, remember as, as offensive coordinator before he ended up leaving to go to Pitt a couple years ago. So that offense has been wildly productive. He brings in, Brings in a good little resume. He's keeping it in the acc. Bud. How did Jake Dickert put this thing together? What is, you know, does he say built in the darkness? Yeah, like owning the black and the black and gold. He had a win total of four and a half. And he was the only one of these power conference coaches that, that was able to get anything done. 9 and 4 for the demon Deacons. So how do you, how do you read that one?

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, I, I gave him an A. Right. Like, I, I don't know how you could. I mean, they were what, eight and four regular season. Their win total was, was four and a half. They were 40 in single score game. So like, even if you split that, they're six and six, which is still a win and a half clear of what their preseason total was. Or were they four and a half? Were they three and a half Put.

[Danny Cannell]

My sheet might have been three.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, they were four and a half. I mean, so like. Yes, they were, like, one of the luckiest teams in the entire country to get to 8 and 4 regular season. But, like, even if you split those. And we just talked about. He did a nice job coaching against Carolina, and that was one of them, I believe, if I recall. I mean, ultimately, that's still really, really impressive. Like, Wake does not have a lot of resources. He didn't have a lot of time to put that thing together. So, yeah, I think he did a fantastic job. Like, I don't know how you don't give this guy an A.

[DK]

A plus.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, let's go.

[DK]

That was phenomenal. I mean. I mean, I just remember hearing Clawson, you know, just saying how hard it was to win. And maybe they did give Jake Dicker a little bit more resources. He had a benefit from the rev share money coming in from tv. But Wake has been a really place. Tough place to win recently. Or that was maybe one of the best coaching jobs this year, like flying under the radar. And remember, they beat Georgia Tech. I mean, they had that offsides call that was not called, or else they could have kneeled on the ball and just close it out. Instead, they lose the game. Like, it was a really, really good season.

[Chip Patterson]

They also got, like, run through by Florida State, you know, I mean, who doesn't?

[Danny Cannell]

Alabama, Wake Forest. It's a long list.

[Chip Patterson]

It's. It's like the small margins that you were working with with Wake Forest.

[Danny Cannell]

Right.

[Chip Patterson]

You know, you could spin. What was it? The Kennesaw State game was 10 to 9 at the beginning of the season. Yeah, there was that. That.

[Danny Cannell]

History suggests that that. Wasn't that as bad as it might have looked.

[Chip Patterson]

100. We'll get to Jerry Mack at the tin Win. Jerry Mack in a little bit, but for sure. How'd you read it?

[Danny Cannell]

I'm. I'm gonna give him a B just to keep him hungry. Can't just be giving him straight A's here, bro.

[Chip Patterson]

Like, I like Grant in the tailgate. They did all that with Robbie Ashford at quarterback. April.

[Danny Cannell]

They did. I know. I mean, it's an A. It's. It's an A, but I got to keep him hungry. It's a B.

[Chip Patterson]

The. To be able to take a roster that lost a handful of its best players to power conference teams through the transfer portal to come in with not a ton of familiarity in the area. I mean, Jake Dickert's own sort of like, coaching resume way out there in that part of the country. Not just the Washington State, but even, you know, some of the work that he did at the FCS level as well. So to be able to come in there, ingratiate yourself to that Winston Salem community where you can pull some levers. I mean, you don't have as many levers to pull, but you do have some levers that you can pull to really be able to activate that fan base and that. That support system. Just.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Tremendous job all the way around. Unfortunately. I was doing their transfer portal analysis a little while ago.

[DK]

They.

[Chip Patterson]

They lost a lot of good guys again and then they had some guys that they lost eligibility as well. They're. We'll see. Jake Dickard is going to be tasked with the same kind of challenge of trying to exceed expectations because. And hopefully the internal like. But I don't know if you've. Have you given Wake a look on your spreadsheet? But it's. It seems like we're sort of restarting again. He needs to find that magic in year two to be able to. Indeed.

[Tom Fornelli]

They also had the third or third easiest schedule the Power five. Carolina was one, Cal was two, Wake was three. So unlikely that happens again this year.

[Chip Patterson]

Yep. What, what do we think about Rich Rod had that moment right. He had the win, the Backyard Brawl win. Then his whole team fell apart. Do we put that on Rich Rod? Is there forgiveness? Mountaineers go four and eight in the rich rod 2.0 year one. How do you. How do you sort of wrestle that plus C plus?

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

I mean it was a complete roster overhaul. He pretty much imported a lot of Jacksonville State with him. You mentioned the injuries. Like they did get the Backyard Brawl win, which I think is worth some extra points when you're putting the grade together because that's a huge win. But I did, I wrote a story this week about like bowl possibilities for the team, the P4 teams that missed out on a bowl. And it had me looking at like West Virginia's schedule. They. They better get to a bowl this year because as far as Big 12 schedules go and all that kind of stuff, they've got a lot of home games and they're set up to win a lot more games in 2026. So it'll be interesting. But I would give him a C for last year.

[Tom Fornelli]

I was exact same as Tom. Yeah, I, I think like they overhauled the roster pretty hard. The team generally played hard.

[Danny Cannell]

They.

[Tom Fornelli]

A couple blowouts. They're what, one and two in single score? So the preseason win total was five and a half. I think it's like, like you, you know, you, you go two and one instead of one. And two in close games. You're kind of right on it there. I, I agree. I don't think they had top end talent. Like, I think they had some nice pieces obviously. Like, it's hard not to have some nice pieces when you bring in that many new players. But I don't think they had the talent to hang with with the Big 12. I mean their schedule strength was top 35. Like Carolina's was 80th, like the worst in the P5. So like to me that 4 and 8 is not the same as, as that 4 and 8. You know, like if you give the level at which the West Ranger team played Carolina schedule, they're probably like a win, two wins better.

[DK]

In the spirit of pass fail grades that you sometimes give first year coaches. I know we were a little harder on Bill Belichick. I think that was. I give it a pass. Like, I think you kind of like you got what you expected. You made it through the first year. Now I think the, the grade becomes more crucial and you want to see that step forward. But I don't think there was any like cause for concern. Like, oh no, we made a big mistake and you saw some flashes there. So you give it a passing grade.

[Chip Patterson]

Pulled things together to win at Houston late in the year. Played Arizona State, competitive, you know, got a win against Colorado. Yeah, I can, I can roll with that. I, I just can't shake his beef with tick tock and ice cream machines. The, the, the rich Rodriguez mind being blown by the amenities that are offered to power conference football players in 2025 and 2026. You know, it's, it's fascinating, but yeah, I like that. It's, it's definitely within that context. All right, what about the other reboot in the Big 12? That would be Scott Frost at UCF1 against North Carolina in the non con, things got a little bit tougher. It's kind of tough to watch that team that mean.

[Danny Cannell]

I mean I, I would give them a C. Like if you look at it, they were pretty good at home. When they went on the road, they were, they were dog do for the most part. Like so I don't know. They, they were a Big 12 football team to me. Like kind of middle of the road. They probably, you look at their losses. They had the close loss at home to Houston, which was a good Houston team. They had. I mean that was really their only close loss though. So I don't know. They had some blowout wins. They had a few too many blowout losses. They were just Kind of week to week, you didn't really know what you were going to get. But they did beat the crap out of North Carolina.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

Wait, I. I had him as one in three in single score games.

[Danny Cannell]

Let me see. Oh, and one. Oh, and two. One and two.

[Tom Fornelli]

A one and two. Okay. I mean, so they're basically the exact same grade as West Virginia.

[Chip Patterson]

Right?

[Tom Fornelli]

Like if you strip the team names off. Right. Like they both, they both got blown out some. They both had a preseason win total of five and a half. They both, you know.

[DK]

Well, I mean, a roster turnover. Yeah. All right, so I put in the same category. I think it's the same.

[Tom Fornelli]

I'll give him a C plus.

[Danny Cannell]

I. I will say like the things that are hard to defend is the fact that you only beat Oklahoma State by three at home. And that was like at the end of the year, an Oklahoma State team that would have been dead for months and then also getting absolutely blown out on the road at Baylor. Like Baylor was not that good last year.

[Tom Fornelli]

So.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, just some weird, some weird kind of Scott Frosty and things.

[Chip Patterson]

I understand that they didn't have McKenzie Milton, you know, and like they, they didn't have the same skill players as the Scott Frost heyday. But the reason why I say hard to watch is that it was very difficult for me to wrestle the expectations of what a Scott Frost coach. UCF team was versus what that team was because I did not think they were dynamic, impressive or product like overly productive. Now we talk about West Virginia. They hung 45 on the Mountaineers, like it was one of the better wins of the season that they had. But to me, it did not at all meet my expectations of Scott Frost at ucf because I did not think they were awesome offensively this season.

[Tom Fornelli]

No, far from it. I mean, they, they were one of the worst teams in the Big 12, but I think that's kind of what they're expected to be.

[DK]

Yeah, I mean, didn't have four quarterbacks competing for the job and it was a little bit of a mess.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

I think the biggest mistake Frost made was he waited too long to go to Cam Fancher. And then when he did put Cam Fancher in there, they didn't use enough of Cam's patented slide late to get the targeting penalty offense, which he like was incredible at @fau. He was the best. He's the best to ever do it.

[Tom Fornelli]

Maybe like once Cam Fancher's gone and graduates, like maybe that's when they make the guys employees because they're okay with Playing, like, paying long term disability. Like, maybe Fancher is the reason why they're like, no, no contractor status.

[DK]

Guys, he's Michigan State, right?

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, he is. Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

Is he their starter?

[DK]

Possibly.

[Danny Cannell]

Possibly.

[Tom Fornelli]

Who's the backup? Wait, no, no.

[Danny Cannell]

They've got Miller. They got Alessio. Millivolt Yoga.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, I was gonna say there's no way he's gonna start for Michigan.

[Chip Patterson]

Okay.

[Danny Cannell]

Like, he's got an Italian first name and a Serbian last name.

[Tom Fornelli]

Michigan State already thinks I hate them for some reason. They're fans and I don't. But, like, if you had gone inside Camp Venture to be your starter, then.

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, no, no, no. I. I know why they hate you. You know why? It's because you believe that Pat Fitzgerald is an honest compared to, like, the rest. And especially because anybody who's blowing smoke up their ass telling you that Pat Fitzgerald is, like, an awesome hire for Michigan State, you therefore are standing against everything that they are being told and the wind at their sails when you. I listen, I just know teams he.

[Tom Fornelli]

Talked to, and they did not hear a whole lot of new ideas. All right, Maybe he came up with some by the time he talked to Michigan State, or maybe that's just who they were dead set on hiring. We'll see.

[Chip Patterson]

And listen, you've done some capital J journalism of presenting Pat Fitzgerald's own argument that he has made on his PR tour to tell you about how much he's learned. But I get. I. I understand totally why Michigan State fans are after you.

[Danny Cannell]

I. I call Bud Mick Cronin, because Bud doesn't give a about the what Michigan State students think right now.

[Tom Fornelli]

Dude, this guy's great. Like, tune in the final couple minutes. Do you do halftime interviews, too? They do have to interviews college basketball. Yeah. Is he just as surly in those?

[Danny Cannell]

Oh, yeah, yeah, he's a surly. Like, I will say college basketball is kind of like, Dan Hurley was really the only one for a while there. Like, because you'd seen, like, the older guard had kind of moved on. We're getting back to the college coaches just kind of being irascible and angry.

[DK]

All the time, complaining, careful, my kids are fired for. Cause if you do careful, I tell.

[Chip Patterson]

You what, that's like. Mick Cronin has 22 and a half million dollars on his buyout, and he carries himself like somebody who has 22 and a half million dollars on his buyout.

[DK]

In the middle of a reporter's defense. I don't think it's that crazy to ask about the hostile environment like, no, it was not the worst question in the history of no reporting.

[Chip Patterson]

No, no, no. But this is the other piece of it, is that Mick Cronin is a tiny man who has a lot of tiny man energy. And all the way back to the days at Cincinnati, he's been barking at 6 foot, 10 foot power forwards and, like, emasculating them in front of 22, 000 people. This guy was born to do this.

[Tom Fornelli]

Was the quote the other day about, like, I want, like, like the. The meanest, nastiest, biggest, biggest, like, vodka drinking Eastern European. Was that real?

[Chip Patterson]

Yes.

[Tom Fornelli]

Okay.

[Danny Cannell]

He was. He was clearly watching Illinois tape with that.

[Chip Patterson]

Get ready for Saturday.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, I want to see Norvell have it. Like, Norvell's owed more than him. I want to see Norvell, like, start doing that.

[Danny Cannell]

You know, he ejected his own player from the game last night.

[Tom Fornelli]

Did he really?

[Chip Patterson]

Yes. Player.

[Danny Cannell]

Like a committed, like a hard foul. Like, I mean, it's the kind of file that most coaches would be like, we don't give up easy buckets. And I would think Mick Cronin would be very much in line with it. So he guys, he follows the guy from behind as he's going up for a dunking. I don't think it was dirty. I think it was just a hard foul. And Cronin eject, like, threw him out. Told the.

[Chip Patterson]

Go all the way to the locker.

[Danny Cannell]

Room without, like 25 at the time.

[DK]

So Izzo was great after the game. He's like, I've never seen a coach upgrade it to a flagrant two before. He said complain about it and Izzo.

[Danny Cannell]

Would be the one I thought would do it.

[Chip Patterson]

Like, yes.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah. Was the guy like, like, late or lazy to get back and like that? That's why the dude had a breakaway.

[DK]

It wasn't that bad. There was the brawl. You think that had something to do with it?

[Chip Patterson]

The brawl? Yeah, they just got. They got Big Boyd from early in that game. Yeah. Yeah. Here's a. The Island College basketball podcast was live at 10am this morning. Our friends Carrie Parish and Matt Norlander got you there. But, yeah, the UCLA's only road win outside of the Pacific time zone was against Penn State, which Penn State plays basketball.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

Not well.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, not well. So, yeah, UCLA outside of the Pacific time zone. That's a little principle for you to be able to throw in your back.

[Danny Cannell]

Pocket if you want to make an argument against nil and college sports. Watch, like a Penn State, Maryland basketball game this year. It'd be like, these kids are Getting paid.

[Tom Fornelli]

Maryland's bad now.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, I know. Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

I feel like Maryland should be good.

[Chip Patterson]

Like they were good last year.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

Okay.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. Then they're code.

[Tom Fornelli]

They were really good back like. Like late 90s.

[Chip Patterson]

You are correct. But it's like Joe Smith.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

All right. Barry Odom. 2 and 10. Year one at Purdue. An uphill battle in. In any era.

[Danny Cannell]

I'm going C plus. Maybe it's controversial. I mean, I know they only improved by one win, but if you watched Purdue this year compared to Purdue last year, completely different football team. At least they were competitive in most of their games that last year under Ryan Walters, that looked like a high school team just getting its doors blown off by everybody. So, I mean, I don't know what your expectations were for year one, but I felt like more of a year zero where. Let's just be respectable out here, boys.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, it was better. I'll. I'll give it like a. Like, I think this Purdue team beats. Beats the 24 Purdue team by a lot.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Boy, we are grading on a curve here.

[Danny Cannell]

So are you going with giving him an F?

[Chip Patterson]

No, no, no, no, no. I'm just. I'm acknowledging they did get better.

[Tom Fornelli]

We should grade on curve.

[DK]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

2 and 10.

[Tom Fornelli]

I'll give him a B. I don't have any expectations for them. Like, the Walters thing was a disaster.

[DK]

Somebody's got to get a check.

[Chip Patterson]

Right.

[Danny Cannell]

That's going to be a professor in the Ivy League soon with grades like that.

[Chip Patterson]

I think that there are two conversations between grading the season and speaking to Purdue and saying, I think you've got a good coach. Season didn't go well. It was not a failure. I think it's much more on the CC minus side of things then I'm ready to go for B. Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

I was kid. I was kidding.

[Chip Patterson]

Oh, okay.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, sorry.

[Chip Patterson]

But again, like, speaking to Purdue fans. Boiler up. I do if there's a coach who I would want to have in my corner trying to get this thing going in the right direction because clearly, like Jeff. That's the problem is Jeff Brahm either broke expectations or showed you what could be done. And I don't know which fork in the road that leads to. But Barry Odom is a coach that I think can be turning out better seasons the way that Jeff Braum did. So I think you've got the right coach. I don't think that last year went awesome, but I'll agree that they would have beaten 20, 24.

[Tom Fornelli]

Two more things on that, like just eyeballing their Schedule. They had the fourth toughest schedule in the country. I mean who in the Big Ten who's any good did they miss?

[Danny Cannell]

Nobody.

[Tom Fornelli]

Usc, Illinois, at Minnesota, at Northwestern. So even your winnable ones like Minnesota, Northwestern are, you know, tougher. You get Rutgers at home, that's one you probably needed to get and you didn't like at Michigan, host Ohio State. But you can play them on the moon. You'd still lose at Washington and then Indiana at home. So like oh, and then, and then another game in the non con.

[Danny Cannell]

I mean I. Where was Greg Sankey saying Purdue should be in the playoff?

[Tom Fornelli]

Right. I mean let's respect strength of schedule, guys. There's also a little bit of. We got to remember Jeff Brahm played his entire career in the division era of the Big Ten.

[Chip Patterson]

Agree.

[Tom Fornelli]

And I think, I mean I think most of the west teams would tell you like now it's probably what, half to a three quarter loss more difficult in conference now.

[Chip Patterson]

I don't know, just UCLA cycle on.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, but you're, you're getting teams like mathematically you would have never drawn what Ohio State and Michigan. And like I, I think it's a lot harder. Like I don't think Jeff Braum would be Jeff Braum in the divisionless Big Ten era. I don't, I don't think Jeff Rom would take Purdue to bowls consistently.

[Danny Cannell]

I mean, yeah, you're throwing Oregon, Washington.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, usc and you're having to play the best teams from the east a lot more often.

[Danny Cannell]

And then you toss in like this current nil era and Purdue's really not on the same financial foot ground that most of the other Big Ten teams are.

[Tom Fornelli]

And even if they were, they like the allocation they also spend on basketball.

[Danny Cannell]

Like giant seven foot guys from nowhere.

[Tom Fornelli]

I think we would get more engagement if we didn't talk Purdue for nine minutes on a Wednesday.

[Danny Cannell]

But you know, trying to get on some fake lists.

[Chip Patterson]

I don't think we've been talking, I don't think we've been talking about Purdue for nine minutes. They did beat top five Michigan State from the East. They did throw some haymakers against some of the big best teams.

[Tom Fornelli]

Urban Meyer team, Right.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, that was before Braum, wasn't it? Or no wait, that was Ron Dale Moore. So that was.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, I mean big, big game. Brahm had his boys up ready to go. And I think that if you're Purdue, that's what you want. Right? Not like him. You are correct to say Braum got him to a Big Ten title. Like that's ridiculous. Because that was winning the division and.

[Danny Cannell]

Getting into the Illinois got Purdue to a Big Ten title game that year. Illinois down the stretch.

[Tom Fornelli]

I mean they, they had, they won the west one time there but other than that their, their best finish was tied for second.

[Chip Patterson]

I I think to expect bowl teams as a peak is fair.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Right.

[DK]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

The expectation of the peak if Brahm was it was at current Purdue would be a bowl.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

I don't think expecting both teams every.

[Chip Patterson]

Year seven you get up to eight if you get it a favorable bowl draw and catch South Carolina crap in their pants and you know the Outback bowl.

[Tom Fornelli]

Does the Big Ten require Big Ten does require a Power 5 non conference game, right?

[Danny Cannell]

No. No. Okay.

[Tom Fornelli]

So you, you could still reigning national.

[Chip Patterson]

Champion Indiana which yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

I was trying to think going forward. There's kind of a bit of like Wisconsin thing going on here too with that. You know like you could acknowledge Wisconsin was a good team for a long time but also like very favorable schedule and played nobody in the non con in many of the years in which they had a really nice record. And like now Wisconsin's had a really hard schedule a couple times. Not this year though.

[Chip Patterson]

Wisconsin also had more pros.

[Tom Fornelli]

Oh for sure. Yeah. I'm just saying like as far as like the the step down or the step up in competition.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

I do like that Wisconsin schedule for this year though.

[Chip Patterson]

By the way like the video if you want to hear more Purdue talk. Coming up on the other side. You thought you thought we had you with Purdue. We talk about UNLV in Utah State. We dive in to some positive grades. Some real success for Mountain west slash PAC 12 coaches, some conference championships and Conference USA and more nukes. The new LinkedIn hiring pro can't undo your last hire. The empty seat who is actually just that an empty chair in your office.

[Danny Cannell]

Because you, you couldn't find someone to fill it.

[Chip Patterson]

So it just sat there costing you money with all its fancy ergonomic features. But LinkedIn Hiring Pro can make it easy to fill that seat with the right candidate. With nearly 60% of businesses finding someone to interview in the first week alone, hire right the first time with LinkedIn Hiring Pro. Post your first job today and get $100 [e-mail] Pandora offer terms and conditions.

[Danny Cannell]

App.

[Chip Patterson]

Back here on the COVID 3 podcast. So a little from here as we go through some of these group of six year ones, we're going to group some of these together. But I wanted to start with you know, Mountain west slash PAC12. That's of course, some of these schools are going to be moving to the PAC 12. Dan Mullen goes 10 and 4 in year one at UNLV. They'll stay in the Mountain West. Bronco Mendenhall, 6 and 7 at Utah State. But then, wow. Jason Ek, New Mexico. We celebrated the Lobo success a lot here on the COVID 3 podcast, 9 and 4 for Jason Ek. And then maybe not as celebrated, but certainly something that in all of, you know, my postseason review, I continue to turn up. Solid job by Matt Ince getting Fresno State to 9 and 4. Kind of open table there. DK, which one of those really stands out to you?

[DK]

I'll go with Dan Mullen. I give Dan Mullen an A for his first year. You know, I think they probably want to be in the mix more for the College Football Playoff, but I think they got exactly what they thought they were going to get in. Dan Mullen maximizes quarterback play. You know, he's losing them. Anthony Calandria is gone. But I thought you got exactly what you wanted, so I'll give him an A. I think it was a solid first year and you were able to keep them another year.

[Chip Patterson]

I mean, in terms of coaching, the guy had, like, the most amazing collection of names on that roster pulled from all over the place and got them all in one season to pull together and go win 10 games. I mean, we. We sort of acknowledge and talk about Dan Mullen like he's just a good ball coach, you know, somebody who just give him anybody. He'll draw it up and figure out a way to get there. I mean, there's also the extra sort of vibes factor of making sure that they don't all quit. Right? I mean, because some of those names had bounced around. You know, some of those names carried with them some tales, some stories, some. Some red flags, you would say. But he. He got them to pull together in a way that I think is encouraging about what Dan Mullen can do, even in the current landscape, current environment, where things can be really transient.

[Tom Fornelli]

I'm gonna go Jason Ek. I mean, their win total was three and a half. I know UCLA was a bit of a dumpster fire, but, like, they went in there, they. They housed them. I mean, this guy is a really good coach, I think, and also entertaining, I think. I mean, I. I would hire him. I understand why Wisconsin didn't move on from fickle, even though if. I don't know if I agree with or not. But, like, imagine if Wisconsin had hired act, right? Then he gets to have a nice year. One there would with this, with this schedule to potentially build off and get momentum. Maybe get some more nil donations coming in and, and start to do that and you know, now he's, he's obviously back and you know, I like. They went nine and four at New Mexico on a three and a half season win total. That's crazy. Like they're really creative. They're. They're like physical too.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Tom Fornelli]

You know, like they play with some nastiness and like I, I was, I was just super impressed. Like those guys exceeded all expectations by a ton. And I know that they were, I mean good record in close score games. But if you're gonna go nine and Fort New Mexico, you're gonna need to.

[Danny Cannell]

Outside of guys you've already mentioned that I agree with. I will go with Jerry Mack at Kennesaw State winning Conference usa. Pretty damn good season. And another one, I think Willie Simmons at fiu. That's an A, like that's a program that had won 13 games in the five seasons before last year. Hadn't had a winning record in conference play since like 2019. He goes 7 and 6 in his first year, 5 and 3 in Conference USA. It's a pretty good start. A.

[DK]

He did a phenomenal job. Totally agree on the A. He was, he was at Florida A M prior to fiu. So I used to see him up there and talk to the Tallahassee quarterback club. Always loved what he did. I think he's going to be, if he has another decent year, he's probably on track to be a, you know, a power four head coach here, sooner rather than later. He's done a phenomenal job.

[Chip Patterson]

We mentioned his name earlier. Charles Kelly was right there in the Conference USA title game opposite Jerry Mack. So I think that you've got to say really, really solid season there. Both of the coaches in the Conference USA title game, both in their first year and both, you know, dealing with a roster that's very much been sort of turned over. So great job for, for both of them. Of course fiu. Conference USA as well. So a lot of good. Not as great for Phil Longo at Sam Houston State. If I'm going to be, you know, fully transparent about all the first year coaches in Conference usa but good, a good top of the line. Do I included this name? Does Blake Carroll get first year coach or. Because he was like interim.

[Danny Cannell]

I would give him first year.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, I mean, great. Nine wins for the Pirates. You know, another, another bowl win at the end of the year against an ACC team. But he's losing offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, starting quarterback, big challenge ahead. Unless they're able to get that Mr. Beast buys you practice NFL practice squad team plan, which we're obviously still, still petitioning, you know, Mr. To, to be able to jump in there. Any other. Where are the other coaches you'd like to spotlight?

[Tom Fornelli]

Do we put Pete Golding on this list? Do we want to save him for next year?

[Chip Patterson]

Next year. Okay.

[DK]

I mean he gets a plus for interim head coach right. Of the year.

[Chip Patterson]

Right.

[DK]

But next year is how he'll be.

[Chip Patterson]

Judged next, next year with the, his staff and you know, him running all the preparation because the, the run to the College Football Playoff semifinals definitely plants a great seed for what they can do. But you know, lots going to lot's going to happen between now and then to be able to, to determine what our grade would be.

[Danny Cannell]

I'll give Scott Abel at Rice a solid B. Improving the team's win total while kind of moving them to an option offense. So like that's not an easy undertaking in one off season and to improve your win total when you do it, just solid and also, you know, just. Thank you for bringing another option offense to college football. I miss them. I enjoy them. They're fun.

[Chip Patterson]

What about Tim Albin at Charlotte? Sticking in the American. Tough first season 49ers. Not great.

[Tom Fornelli]

Not a great.

[Danny Cannell]

Not an easy place to win though.

[Chip Patterson]

No. Brian Smith gets an F at Ohio.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

I think he gets a, he gets a 180 proof.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah. It's not. Not great. How about two coaches that are already gone? Charles Huff, Southern Miss. It's a pretty fine season, but now he's, he got that call from FedEx and he's off Memphis.

[Danny Cannell]

I give him a B minus because that team was 50 in conference play and then lost their last three games of the season to blow their chance to win the Sun Belt. And then they lost. So they finished on a four game losing streak and you have to wonder.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

If maybe their coach was slightly distracted.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, that's. I, I probably agree with that one. Who was the other one, Chip? Trying to think.

[Chip Patterson]

Jimmy Rogers who was at Wazoo, goes seven and six with the Cougars. But then after Matt Campbell gets hired away that's Iowa State comes calling and now he'll be, he'll be taken over as the, the new head coach of the Cyclones before. Hold on. Wait a second. Am I mixing this up? Was Rogers South Dakota State before that?

[Danny Cannell]

He was one of those Dakotas.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah, he was out of Dakota. I'm trying to think which school.

[DK]

Yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

So, I mean, clearly there's respect.

[Danny Cannell]

Dakota State.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, clearly there is respect for. For where Rogers is going to be, but really hard for me to feel like I wrapped my arms around his coaching job at Washington State last year. We'll have a lot better of an idea when he's taken over an Iowa State team where a lot of Iowa State is now off at Penn State. So tough, tough uphill battle for the Cyclones and Jimmy Rogers. But it wasn't like things were easy at Washington State. So, yeah, Charles Huff and Jimmy Rogers part of that coaching carousel group as well. They are already off two different jobs. Dash in the tailgate, San Diego State. Are we talk about Sean Lewis a lot. This was year two for our guy, so he doesn't qualify as the first year. Yeah, good, good, good stuff there. All right, DK, what are we breaking down on CBS Sports HQ?

[DK]

Pete Pisco. Pete Prisco's top 100 free agents available in NFL free agency. I think we're doing like a full hour on it, too. We're doing a deep dive. Let's go.

[Tom Fornelli]

So, like, who. Who do you really disagree with in that, like, 72, like, 94 range?

[DK]

No, that's where I'm like, we're taking. We highlighted one from every 10. Like, so every 10, you get the top 10. Who jumps out to you? Producer Jack better take it easy on me today. That's all.

[Tom Fornelli]

It's Prisco. So you know he slipped a couple in, right? Like what?

[DK]

Oh, yeah.

[Chip Patterson]

Okay.

[Tom Fornelli]

Yeah.

[Danny Cannell]

I can tell you what Prisco's answer to each one will be. Who cares? Running backs don't matter. Just sign anybody. Dudes on the line.

[DK]

That is one of the topics will be the running backs available.

[Chip Patterson]

Who are the running backs available?

[DK]

Breeze hall or Kenneth Walker iii.

[Tom Fornelli]

What about Travis etn?

[DK]

What's that?

[Tom Fornelli]

Isn't Travis ATN available as well?

[Chip Patterson]

I don't know.

[DK]

I didn't see him on the list. I would imagine if he was on there, he'd be one of the tops available. We're actually starting off with backup running backs available on the free agent market. So, Rashad White, which one do you like?

[Danny Cannell]

Who was the first one?

[DK]

Tyler Algier.

[Danny Cannell]

Yeah, give me Algier over Rashad White. Yeah, he's. He's there, you know, like, he did.

[DK]

Have a thousand yards as a rookie on the notes.

[Chip Patterson]

Let's go.

[Danny Cannell]

I mean, he's stuck behind Bijan, so he's not going to get those carries. So you can't blame him for that. Whereas Rashad who's this competition? Bucky, like, yeah, you should be getting more. If you can't, you can't get more. Carries behind. Bucky. Come on, come on.

[DK]

Right?

[Danny Cannell]

All year, all day.

[Chip Patterson]

Higher ceiling. Let's go. Absolutely. We got it. We're at it for you. Hey, so.

[Danny Cannell]

Oh, Danny, you know what? Here's your line. Rashad White. More like Rashad. Why? Bam, bam. We're going.

[Chip Patterson]

If you start hurling puns in this one hour free agency, we'll contribute five bucks per pun. You come back with video evidence.

[Tom Fornelli]

I'm gonna put it on the screen.

[Chip Patterson]

Yeah, yeah, let's. Let's go. Let's open it up. All right, so Thursday, I don't think NFL free agency will be a topic of conversation unless you want it to be, because on Thursdays, that's when we get interactive. You show up to the tailgate. YouTube.com cover3 get your question in. We will tackle it throughout the episode. We will also be getting questions from the big old bag of mail, including, and I'll go ahead and just drop this one. What schools could have been better off long term if they went or stayed independent? Often, you know, with Notre Dame, there is always a conversation of what other programs could survive or could thrive as an independent at the FBS level. How many schools are there? Is the answer zero? And is that answer zero, including Notre Dame? I don't think so. But what do you think we'll hear from the guys as well. That should be a fun one. Again, big old bag of mail as well as questions from the tailgate. Yes.

[Tom Fornelli]

Since I won't be here because I got to go to img, can I suggest, like, an addendum to that question?

[Chip Patterson]

Always.

[Tom Fornelli]

How would the sport be different if Penn State had joined the Big East?

[Chip Patterson]

Sure. Well, I mean, like, Florida State was independent, right?

[Tom Fornelli]

You know, yeah, they're independent in the Dixie Conference and then the acc.

[Chip Patterson]

Miami was independent. So I think that the, the thought exercise includes, like, the ones who were independent. Could they still survive as independents? And then other programs that aren't necessarily there, like usc, Michigan, Ohio State, you know, are those programs that could survive. But, you know, we'll. We'll dive into that a lot more as we get into it on Thursday. So come and hang out. YouTube.com cover 3:11am Eastern time. And you can follow him on Twitter at Tom Fenelli. You can follow him at Buddha3. You can follow me at Chip Underscore Patterson. Gentlemen, thank you very much.

[Danny Cannell]

Thank you.

[Tom Fornelli]

See y'.

[Chip Patterson]

All.

[Tom Fornelli]

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[DK]

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[Tom Fornelli]

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[Chip Patterson]

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[DK]

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[Danny Cannell]

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[Tom Fornelli]

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[Danny Cannell]

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