Um, naturally he came back because that's how things are done in Louisiana, but just let's talk about him, uh, his roster, what he had to say, a- and what that says about where we are with college basketball and college athletics.

Yeah, he was a little peevish, a little cranky when I was asking, uh, player-by-player, uh, questions about who was actually going to be on the roster, because there's still a great deal of uncertainty about it.

And, you know, I, I think if LSU had been a little more upfront about its roster situation before this week, we wouldn't necessarily have to ask those questions.

But that's where we were, and, uh, he started yelling at me about asking gotcha questions.

Um, all I wanted was some information about who's gonna play for LSU.

I would imagine their fans are curious.

Um, but this is, yeah, this is where many, many teams are in college basketball, waiting and wondering who's going to be eligible, who they can put in uniform, who's got a court order that allows them to play, and who doesn't.

Not to get you to turn into, uh, Make This Court TV, but from where you sat, how would you describe this moment in time between the Southeastern Conference 15 schools and Louisiana State University?

What's your take on that finally getting at least through that one body? You know,

I have to give the bill sponsors credit.

I really didn't think they could get this far.

You know, I thought they were fighting uphill the whole way, and they kept fighting.

and kept fighting, and it was a four-month process.

I remember I was at SEC spring meetings, Pat, in Destin, and suddenly I'm getting calls, can you get on the phone with Ted Cruz? I'm like, well, sure, but I'm used to talking to 80s and coaches, but he explains the whole bill to me, and that's late May, And then I thought, well, we'll check back in around Labor Day.

And sure enough, okay, a month after Labor Day, we've got a bill.

Let me ask you, going back to the Protect College Sports Act, Are you in favor of what the bill is right now? I mean, I know that everybody wants to get a grip on this whole thing, and we need guardrails, there's no question about it, but do you like what right now would be the bill that we go through?

it

hurt, Tony.

I said that at the time because this was just...

this raging cauldron of emotion from people who take their football so incredibly seriously and invest so heavily in what it means to them.

And here was this coach who had done this minor miracle at Ole Miss by making them a national championship contender who chose to leave them in the middle of the playoffs and go to a rival.

And now he's back, and how are they going to deal with it? And...

So the anticipation was massive.

You said in your piece that that's the most people you've ever seen in Oxford, Mississippi, like all night long, or not all night long, but I mean, what was that like? Yeah,

Right.

No, perhaps not, as your son-in-law or your dinner guest or anything else.

You know, he was not humble afterwards.

He did basically take credit for the atmosphere there.

But he did acknowledge.

He said, you know, this was actually an emotional return.

Six years there, and it hit him maybe a little more than he thought it would.

I mean, what do you see? How does this story play the rest of the year?

The statement press release that the MAC put out, what was the goal for the MAC statement after the ending, controversial ending in Ann Arbor?

I suspect, Dan, that the MAC got a little bit of blowback perhaps from its own membership about not going to bat more significantly for Western Michigan to begin with.

If you remember, you know, we had the, the after midnight statement Saturday night.

Sunday morning, the Big Ten says, "Well, this is what happened." And the MAC says, "Yeah, sure, fine.

Cool.

We don't care if our team got screwed.

We're, we're good with that explanation." And I think there was a, uh, kind of a, a feeling after that like, you know, maybe we should...

Did Lane Kiffin have a good week?

The statement press release that the MAC put out, what was the goal for the MAC statement after the ending, controversial ending in Ann Arbor?

I suspect, Dan, that the MAC got a little bit of blowback perhaps from its own membership about not going to bat more significantly for Western Michigan to begin with.

If you remember, you know, we had the, the after midnight statement Saturday night, Sunday morning.

The Big Ten says, "Well, this is what happened," and the MAC says, "Yeah, sure.

Fine.

Cool.

We don't care if our team got screwed.

Did Lane Kiffin have a good week?

But what do you make of all that?

Yeah, it was a great win for Colorado.

Just a great hang tough, find a way kind of win.

Similar a little bit, really, to Belichick's win in their opener.

They didn't play great, but they found enough plays to win the game.

And for the way Colorado looked last year, especially at the end of the season, they were awful.

And so to turn around and win a road game against a team that won, I think, 10 games last year is a great start.

What is your thought on where this is going in the immediate future, by immediate tomorrow night's game against Clemson, and in the near future, like in a month, in six weeks?

Your reaction to what they did, and, uh, where is the rest of college football?

Yeah, I think it's been an impressive summer for Tony Petitti in terms of, uh, taking action and, uh, uh, kind of putting himself at the, at the forefront of what's going on.

I, uh, the, I think the, uh, the move here to basically ban NFL players from coming back to the conference and establishing really strong deterrence from doing so, uh, is an attention-getter for sure while the SEC is working its way through a here and now mess with LSU.

And other conferences, I think, are considering following suit.

I think re- really this goes back to, I think, the Big 12 drawing a line with Texas Tech and Brendan Sorsby.

And I think conferences now are saying, "Hey, the NCAA is losing in court.

Let's take care of this business ourselves." And I think we're seeing kind of a, an evolution here of who's policing the block where and how.

How do you think that's gonna play in, uh, in this already, uh, transfer portal directed locker room of Lane Kiffin?

How about Sark down there in Texas, Pat, with Arch at quarterback, and how much pressure, how intriguing is that storyline when you're looking at it from a coaching perspective?

Yeah, hugely.

From the coaching perspective, from the quarterback perspective, Texas, I don't know about how much, who spent the most or anything like that.

I think Texas won the portal more than any other school.

I mean, we'll see when they put it on the field, but in terms of on paper and addressing absolute needs, you know, they got studs at receiver.

They got studs at running back.

They got an underrated stud at linebacker Rasheem Biles from Pitt.

Why is he number one on your top 25 most intriguing coaches list?

Good reason.

I, I, I just, you know, am so completely blown away still by what Indiana has done and become.

Uh, and if you go back even just the first year to go 11 and 2 was incredible, but then followed up 16 and 0, and there were a couple close calls, but it was a pretty dominant 16 and 0, and just stomping two opponents in the, uh, playoff, ne- never trailing in three playoff games, uh, at Indiana.

Uh, Fernando Mendoza I thought was a really good portal pickup.

I didn't know he was gonna be the number one pick, the Heisman Trophy winner, and lead a team to an undefeated season.

He, he's all of those things.

They did an incredible job with him.

How about, um, a couple bold predictions? W- Can Mensah take the Cam Ward leap and go top five in the draft and lead a awesome Miami team and score a ton of points?

Could you give an insight as to what this bill is supposed to do?

Yeah.

[laughs] I mean, it, it, it's a lot.

It is way too big a bill.

It's a fat bill as opposed to a skinny bill.

It is trying to appease all people with all things, and that's where a lot of the issues have arisen here.

Um, but in terms of the SEC and Big 10, uh, getting on board with it, antithetically to a degree was because they held out for a hard salary cap.

But that hegemony, they are dug in on that.

And it just seems like the SEC can't get out of its own way right now.

Yeah, right.

Because any sort of argument you're going to try to mount is going to ring hollow until you start playing some games and winning some.

So, you know, if the argument suddenly becomes, well, we have more balance.

We have more depth.

It's just tougher every week.

We're beaten up by the time we get to the playoffs.

I mean, there's an endless stream of guys that are capable.

But, you know, Greg Sankey, you know, the nuance, you know, the context like where what does all this mean?

I'll believe it when I see it.

I do not think we are having a succession.

He answered a direct question in a way that confirmed that, yes, there have been real talk about potentially going and doing your own thing when it comes to rules, possibly competition.

But...

I still fail to believe that Greg Sankey who has spent his entire adult life working on college sports in college sports is going to be the guy that destroys college sports and his conference with him.

And we just say, we're pulling out and the whole thing, the underpinning all collapses.

The championship game is probably going to go away at some point, but it's now about what happens after that.

Yep.

And, you know, he, he signed off on Sherrone.

He was, he was fully supportive there.

Uh, it came out in this $12 million internal, uh, review of the athletic department that there were certainly warning signs, if not outright knowledge, that Sherrone Moore was having an improper relationship with his staffer, and that didn't really get acted on.

And so that was kind of the last straw, a- after many other straws had fallen.

Um, the, the other thing there, Tony, like you said, you win those two championships, you could probably be AD for life except for this: the NCAA sanctions from the Harbaugh era could total as much as $30 million, and the internal review I mentioned was $12 million.

That's $42 million that your department has given away due to not running itself properly.

Yeah

con-Can Dabo now, he, uh, this isn't like tinkering with it and, "Okay, I'll add a couple transfers." Like, this needs a whole reboot after a collapse like that, and, and the loss of, of a lot of talent that, that left, um, for the NFL.

Yeah, I, I think it's very hard to get things back to, certainly to the level it was.

They-- That was th- for quite a while, Clemson was absolutely stride for stride with Alabama.

It's the, by far the two best programs in the country, and that has changed.

And the, the, the fall off, it's not just last year, it's not just the year before.

This has been, they've been in, in decline for about four or five years here at Clemson.

And you can say, "Oh, uh, Dabo kind of needed to get more modernized," and with the times in terms of transfers and that sort of thing, and they've kind of grudgingly taken steps toward that.

Um, I will be curious just to see how it looks, 'cause boy, it feels like they're starting over.

Yeah.

Confederate Army regiment from Louisiana.

So if, if Lane's gonna say, you know, that, that LSU is free and clear of any sort of racial baggage, might need to look up the history of the nickname of the school there.

I agree with you, Ryan.

This was-- I don't know whether it was below the belt, but it was, it was personal.

This was getting into an area, first of all, that Lane, uh, never acknowledged when he was the actual coach at Mississippi.

It was more when he had left, and now it was time to perhaps turn the tables from a recruiting standpoint and say, "Well, you know, you need to give LSU the far more enlightened, uh, location in the Deep South as opposed to Ole Miss, uh, with Dixie and the flag and everything else." Um, no, this, th- that was, that assured...

Go ahead, Pat.

I don't know if the pros are going to just suddenly start hiring a bunch of college guys.

I think it's to be determined, Dan.

I think Dusty May is really well suited to coach professional basketball.

He is very good, I think, at putting together a roster, projecting how people would play together.

And he's a very good tactician.

He has a mentality, a personality that would work really well, I think, A, not being the biggest light in the room at all times, to handling the ups and downs of an 82-game season, to being able to tolerate some games when you're on a back-to-back where your team sucks.

Like Danny Hurley, that's where Danny Hurley would combust for multiple reasons, in my opinion.

Is that generally the ethos of what you were writing?

Yeah

... those expansions.

Um, you know, Texas and Oklahoma obviously in the SEC, and then USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, and they bruised a lot of feelings in the process.

Uh, especially I think the Big 10 and the, the killing off of the, of the Pac-12

Pac-12Maria Cantwell represents a lot of, uh, Washington State constituents in her state.

They're one of the, I think, schools that, that were hardest hit by expansion.

Uh, and so I think this is a indication that a lot of people have not only not forgotten what happened five or six years ago, four or five years ago, uh, but also haven't forgiven what happened.

Potential savings will vary.

But at the same time, I mean, does the NCAA even matter anywar- anymore? Does anybody take them seriously at all anymore? And if not, what is the answer? Is it federal intervention? Is it something else? Where does this leave us with the NCAA?

Yeah, this was not for lack of trying, as you said, Jim.

This was, uh, you know, they went aggressively after this.

They said, "You're permanently ineligible." And that's when Soaresby, uh, went to Jeffrey Kessler and they ran to court and they tried the end around and somehow they got it.

And that's been the problem with NCAA enforcement, is every time a school has an eligibility situation that they think they can work around in the courts, they do that.

And you can get a local ruling that all of a sudden is in your favor a- and you've subverted the process.

That's what the NCAA's been fighting against.

... i- is it time to revisit the Triple Crown and spread these three races out once and for all, or will the blue bloods just stick to this notion that it waters down the accomplishment if you do?

we were talking to Pat Forty Pat to your point that the NCAA couldn't handle it hey look I'm not here to defend the NCAA I don't think anybody is at this point but they did try they tried and then it didn't work but at the same time I mean Does the NCAA even matter anymore? Does anybody take them seriously at all anymore? And if not, what is the answer? Is it federal intervention? Is it something else? Where does this leave us with the NCAA?

Yeah, this was not for lack of trying.

As you said, Jim, this was you know, they went aggressively after this.

They said you're permanently ineligible.

And that's when Sorsby went to Jeffrey Kessler and they ran to court and they tried the end around and somehow they got it.

And that's been the problem with NCAA enforcement is every time a school has an eligibility situation that they think they can.

work around in the courts, they do that, and you can get a local ruling that all of a sudden is in your favor, and you've subverted the process.

Is it time to revisit the Triple Crown and spread these three races out once and for all? Or will the Blue Bloods just stick to this notion that it waters down the accomplishment if you do?

How wounded are they, do you think?

Um, I, you know, I think they're, they're wounded.

Um, there's a lot of pride and ego involved.

They...

You know, it's amazing any time I go to Texas, the, the one-upmanship and the, the water cooler bravado and the desire to get over on your in-state rivals is overpowering there.

Uh, it's stronger than anywhere else.

And, uh, with that, Texas Tech is like, "Hey, it's our chance.

Yes, yes

What can they do based on what you read and the people with whom you speak?

Well, you know, the meeting that I believe is transpiring right now between Big 12 presidents and chancellors, the full executive board, is probably to go over some of those options.

And from what I have gathered, you know, the initial knee-jerk We're not going to play them.

We're going to kick them out of the league.

That's not realistic.

Those things are not going to happen with Texas Tech.

But what could be at their disposal is the option to invalidate Texas Tech victories.

Hmm,

How do you view this? Give us your thousand foot view on this bill.

Boy, you know, I think it's a good effort.

Whether good effort translates into actual legislation, I don't know.

Certainly not probably in the form that it's written now.

That's just the nature of how things work in Washington.

You put something out there and then everybody takes a whack at it and you revise and revise and revise and it comes out looking like something else.

But the important things that I think are, A, it's bipartisan, and so you've got Republican and Democratic support.

Not many other people Tony Patini doesn't have support from right now to get to 24.

Now that it's been out, people have had a chance to take a look at it, go through it, how do you view this? Give us your 1,000-foot view on this bill.

Boy, uh, you know, it's, it's...

I think it's a good effort.

Uh, whether, whether good effort translates into actual legislation, I don't know.

Certainly not probably in the form that it's written now.

That's just the nature of how things work in Washington.

You, you put something out there, and then everybody takes a whack at it, and you revise and revise and revise, and it comes out looking like something else.

Feels like there's n- not many other people he, Tony Pettini doesn't have support from right now to get to 24.

Right.

Football, this, this would, I think, be a much bigger breaking point.

And this is-It's greed, it's, you know, participation trophy mentality.

It's trying to convince fans that you've had a great season just because they've turned the CarQuest Bowl into a first round playoff game.

And oh, boy, now we're doing that.

No, fans aren't stupid.

They'll see through this.

Yes.