Kiffin Strikes Again, UNC Touts Malone As Development Guru, AD ‘Hot Board’ | Others Receiving Votes

All right.

Welcome to the show.

Others receiving votes, I'm Pat 40 joined again by my Sports Illustrated colleagues, Brian Fisher and Kevin Sweeney.

And we're kind of officially into that offseason time, but college sports never sleeps, so there's plenty to talk about.

We're going to go over some regrettable social media posts, uh, the constant humming of the college basketball transfer portal.

Uh, AD change at Wisconsin and which other ADs maybe looking for an exit strategy?

And some NCAA issues, including a 5 for 5 eligibility possibility, and Iowa having to vacate games and turning it into a 4-year federal case.

Uh, gentlemen, let's start off the top with the, uh, the regrettable social media post from the weekend.

And no, I am not referring to Doctor Donald Trump healing the sick.

We're sticking to sports here.

So let's get to that and uh.

First thing 1st, 7:36 p.m. on Saturday.

North Carolina basketball, Twitter account, X account, whatever, it'll always be Twitter to me.

Uh, in the height of portal recruitment season , either retaining players or trying to attract others.

Carolina put out new basketball coach Michael Malone's.

Quote unquote, player development skills in a post.

Uh, the post suggests.

Given the pantheon of players surrounding a picture of Michael Malone, that he developed , among others.

LeBron James, Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, Chris Paul, and DeMarcus Cousins.

Just to list a few.

The graphic says.

So, clearly, I didn't know this at the time, but Michael Malone was the greatest developer of talent in the history of basketball.

I, I, this was great information for me.

I learned a lot from that.

Uh, gentlemen, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go through these, and you tell me, you tell me who you think our man, Michael Malone, maybe really developed.

Uh, start with, let's start with the big one, LeBron.

He's claiming LeBron, he was an assistant for 5 years with the Cavaliers.

However, the year before he came, LBJ was already averaging 27.7 and 7.

He was pretty developed, I would say.

Chris Paul was in the league for five years before Michael Malone became an assistant with the Pelicans for a season.

Chris Paul was a 1919.

11 assist guy uh when he got there.

Steph Curry had only played two years in the NBA, but he was a 19.6 assist guy.

Uh, Klay Thompson was better after his time, after, I should say, post Malone, if you will, uh, as was Draymond Green.

Uh, DeMarcus Cousins was a double-double guy before Michael Malone became the very short tenured assistant coach or head coach at Sacramento.

I'm willing to give Michael Malone, uh, Uh, Nikola Jokic, although I think we all could have done pretty well coaching Nikola Jokic, but he did, he did have him for the entirety of his career until Malone was fired after 2025 season.

Which one, guys, who owes their career to Michael Malone?

Kevin, you got any thoughts here?

I mean, this is almost as bad as there was like a Rutgers basketball graphic that gave Um, gave Rutgers, it wasn't even just Pikel, they gave Rutgers credit for Ray Allen, uh, timer, so this is, this is right up there.

Uh, I believe Ronald Nore, who's the new head coach of Butler, uh, was granted credit for his development of Tony Parker.

Uh, I believe Tony Parker is older than Ronald Nored, which adds an electric element to this, but yeah, this is, this is not a new strategy.

It, it, it went mega viral because Mr.

Malone is, uh, is has covered some ground in his NBA life, and I'm sure that will be the sell, but I think the real test, I don't know if anyone's seen these, but like, they say, oh , you gotta FaceTime the most famous contact in your phone and see if they pick up.

That's the test for Malone.

We gotta go through this graphic one by one and make him FaceTime them all and see if LeBron takes the call.

If LeBron takes the call, he gets on the sheet.

If he doesn't take the call, sorry, Mike.

You know what, that would be a great podcast episode.

We get Michael Malone with his phone, and we do that.

I, I'm all in for that.

I, I, I don't want to sign up for that.

Uh, I, I, I shudder to think who, who would actually pick up if it were amongst just us three.

Uh, in terms of our contact list, uh, you know, kudos, uh, to you, Pat.

I mean, you, you called him Michael Malone and instead of Mike.

I, I hear that as a, a point of differentiation that he does want to make out there, that he is not Mike Malone, he is Michael Malone.

So for all the Tar Heels fans that are furiously posting on message boards about this post, uh, FYI on that about your new head coach, I, I, I think he only gets credit for Jokic and, and maybe Jamal Murray.

I, I think we can safely assume those two, and that's a pretty good list between the two of them.

Everybody else, we can safely skip over and, uh, you know, I, I'm, I'm kind of curious like who, who's this aimed for?

Obviously, you know, it's uh recruiting, but I, I, this is on X, recruits aren't really on, on , on X anymore, so like I, I'm gonna say this is this is uh playing up to the fan base and trying to, you know, continually sell this hire because I think there was definitely like some initial like question marks around Michael Malone being hired, and then there's like some , all right, maybe it could work out.

I think this is more North Carolina is continually trying to Uh, sell to the fan base.

Hey, we not only did we get our guy, but our guy has, has done some things in the NBA and we're, we're bringing that to Chapel Hill.

We'll, we'll see if that ends up being the case, but, um, you know, kudos to the marketing department.

At least they are, uh, working on the weekends there at 6:30 and not, uh, not watching the Masters like the rest of us.

Yeah, I mean, just the timing of it, uh, alone was, was very interesting.

And yes, if it's, if it's designed to Give the uh the fan base a rallying point, go for it.

Uh, in that case, though, I, I, I actually feel like they might have sold it short.

Because His dad, Brendan Malone, was a longtime NBA assistant and a short-time head coach.

He coached Patrick Ewing, Isaiah Thomas with the Bad Boys Pistons.

Michael was a teenager, but surely he had some influence on them.

Surely he was around and maybe, you know, stopped in and said, hey, Patrick, your jump hook, we need to, you know, you need to, to get a little more vertical with the right arm or something.

Isaiah, the crossover, it needs to be a little quicker.

I think they sold Michael Malone short in terms of what he could actually uh sell himself with.

Uh, Kevin, tell me this, I, I, they, they hired Kim English as an assistant coach.

Been the head coach at Providence, been the head coach at George Mason, uh, a very experienced guy for still being a young guy, and they're keeping Jan Stevenson.

Uh, there's been a lot of activity there in North Carolina.

How is Michael Malone doing so far in terms of player , uh, roster, staff, roster, stashing, and staffing?

Yeah, I, I think we will know more in probably the next 48 to 72 hours, um.

They are swinging big and swinging hard on Duke Harris, the transfer from Wake Forest.

Um, Duke was seen sort of as a Michigan lean.

He was at their parade, and all of a sudden, now there's rumors that Carolina has come with, uh, quite the, quite the offer that will make, make him reconsider that.

So, um, yeah, they need a big swing.

Um.

It seems as though, uh, it was a bit of a mutual parting with, with Dylan Mingo, arguably the number one guard in the 2026 class.

That is one that will get a lot of negative attention if things go well for Mingo somewhere else or bad for Carolina in year one, but that seems to be their decision.

Making and thinking, um, they took Nioli Avdala, who is a, uh, on draft board at the beginning of the year, went to Virginia Tech, had a rough year, uh, I think shot 35% from the field in ACC play, but he's 6'8 and can handle the ball and make tough shots and look like Luca at times and, uh, looked like a, uh, look like a benchwarmer at others.

So, um, that's the first big piece.

There's more to certainly come.

You mentioned Stevenson's back.

The rest of the roster seems largely gone, although the one that I think everybody is waiting on is Henry Vasar, who's a Look, he's an incredible talent, he's one of the best bigs in the country.

If you bring him back, I feel pretty good that they'll be pretty good in year one, and if you don't, like, like they'll find enough in the portal outside of that to to be pretty competitive.

If they don't bring him back, like, there's, there's a lot of pressure on the nail these, these portal gets.

What's the competition for VSR?

I don't think it's as much portal as it is NBA.

Uh, I think North Carolina can get to a point financially where it'd be hard to, to turn, to, to go somewhere else.

Doesn't mean that, you know, options aren't open, but I don't think there will be a better situation for him out there.

So I think it's more a question of it, and the NBA thing is a fascinating conversation.

There's a ton of guys, even guys you wouldn't expect that are seriously considering staying in college, um.

But like someone has to get drafted, right?

Like someone has to be a first round pick, and someone is going to take advantage of the fact that no one seems to want to jump into the NBA right now and say, hey, I'm ready to be the twenty-eighth pick, right?

And Vasar would certainly qualify for that.

Well, we're dealing with that on the NFL side too with, with the NFL draft.

I think you, you talked with a lot of folks on the NFL side in terms of the depth of this year's draft coming up in a couple of weeks in Pittsburgh.

Everybody says, you know, those later rounds are, are just not there because guys came back to school and now they're more 1st, 2nd, 3rd round picks, which is great for a development standpoint, but also puts a, you know, a premium on those early picks and the, the same is happening in the NBA.

And I, I do want to circle back around to Kim English.

I, I do, I really like that hires as an assistant.

I, I'm just thinking like, Mike Malone needs a kind of veteran guy, somebody with gray hair that doesn't, has been in college basketball for, for a long time.

I don't know why Mark Adams' name comes up in terms of the picture of the old guy on the, on the end of the bench that needs to be, be there next to him, you know, providing sage wisdom, if you will.

But I feel like as a newbie, if you will, I, I know he did coach back in 200.

001, uh, back in college, but, you know, he does seem that that's the only missing element I think is who's that veteran presence that can tell you, all right, I've been doing this a long time, Michael, and here's how you, you connect with kids.

Here's how you do this in the portal.

Here's how you do that.

Like that, that's the only thing to, to me that is the, the biggest red flag, at least in these first couple of weeks of his tenure is, who's that veteran guy providing advice?

Cause, cause he's gonna need it.

Whether it's now.

In, in, in the immediate term, or, or certainly long term in terms of how you build this program, how you get practice schedules, how you deal with just teaching guys, you know, in the limited amount of time that they're gonna have, like that's gonna be an entirely new concept to him, like, what do you mean, you mean guys aren't coming in over the summer to to work out with me?

Like, how how how does that do?

You know, how, how do you do installs and stuff like that.

So , that to me is the other thing that that I'm gonna keep an eye on there in Chapel Hill.

Yeah, I, I, Kim English, again, he's young, but he's been around.

He's been the head coach, you know, two different places, and, uh, you know, and, and, I mean, if you want, somebody who has obviously very immediately been in the college game and may have a little better touch with that landscape, he may be able to fill that, that spot.

But, uh, I, I think we're gonna be watching North Carolina very closely for The next several weeks and then months, and of course throughout next season, so stay tuned, but That was not the only regrettable social media post of the weekend in college sports.

This one was regrettable enough it got taken down, and it was from our man Lane Kiffin.

It was also on Saturday.

And Lane once again got busy on Twitter.

To kind of set the uh the backdrop here.

Uh, LSU is playing a baseball series at Mississippi.

The series was not going well for LSU.

This particular game certainly was not going well for LSU, and there was a video post from a a guy who's a friend of Kiffin's, and a Mississippi booster guy named Matt Bowers, and he posted a video that showed the fan being escorted, apparently escorted out of the stands by security during the game.

Uh, this guy was getting showered first with booze, but then with a drink.

Somebody threw a drink on the guy or sprayed one or something.

And, uh, let's just say security didn't exactly nail down the situation.

The guy just went around, security went over and blasted an Ole Miss fan in the face with a left hook, put him on the ground, not even sure it was the guy that sprayed him, but he was the one that caught the fist.

Uh, and that led to criminal charges, according to the Jackson Clarion Ledger.

And as I said, the video of the confrontation was posted by Matt Bowers, and Kiffin responded, because Kiffin can't help himself.

And uh he said that basically said LSU fans can and presumably will beat up Ole Miss fans.

Uh, the quote, he said, one thing you all people know, Matt.

LSU fans aren't gonna ever lose a fight to Ole Miss fans ever.

#FAFO .

Speaking of FAFO, September 19th, will be here probably before we know it, but Kiffin later deleted the post.

Um, then by Monday, he was back to his, his precious, uh, you know, life wisdom stuff on Twitter, posted a, a, you know, a series of, of, like, things to do in April to make your life good, including stay humble, avoid drama.

Can't, do we have that, uh, that these pearls of wisdom we can, we can put up there?

There we go.

Lane Kiffin's plan for April, which he deviated from, I would say here.

Ended up that he obviously deleted the post.

Uh, of the, the FAFO post, Brian.

If they're fighting in the stands at an LSU Ole Miss baseball game, how toxic is it gonna be when the football teams play in Oxford, September 19th, and why is Lane Kiffin not avoiding drama and egging it on?

Well, number one, Lane, uh, it, it is far too early in the depths of the offseason to be doing SEC Fight Club rankings, all right?

Like we, we need to push that, that's more of a June topic that I'm sure we'll get to on the pod in terms of where these, uh, SEC fan bases stack up and, uh, in terms of their productivity in, in the ring, but Uh, it, it, it's gonna be toxic, and the thing about this is both sides have some experience in this.

Obviously, a couple of years ago when Lane Kiffin went back to Tennessee, there was the golf ball, the mustard, all the stuff being thrown at him.

Like that was a scene there in Nayland when he went back there for the first time when he was there at Ole Miss.

Um, one of the more crazy environments, it's gonna be like that x 10.

I, I think they're in Oxford.

And look, Ole Miss fans are, are, are used to this.

Those that are old enough, remember, uh, a certain senator from the state of Alabama now.

When he was, uh, said he was gonna carried out in pine box.

It was, it was not the immediate season right after, but two years later, he went back to Oxford, uh, Tommy Tuberville.

He was loudly, you know, loudly booed.

Uh, you know, they were, they were, they were showering insults on, on him.

I think it was a record crowd there at Vaughn Hemingway.

So like, this is going to be quite the experience there in September.

I think maybe the game that everybody is looking forward to, I'm sure Game Day has already reserved their hotel rooms there.

I'm sure, uh, like every, every media member in the, in the national media corps is, is going to be there.

It is going to be an event, and I, I, I'm gonna be very curious, how much restraint, how much restraint will those Rebels fans show.

I like, I, I'm not convinced they will show any of it at, at this point, like from the moment that he arrives, like I, I can imagine the wake-up calls, um, to his team, to his room at the hotels, like I don't know if they're gonna be staying in Memphis or staying in, you know, across state lines at this point.

It, it is going to be one of the wildest scenes I think college football has seen, um, probably since Lane Kiffin went back to Tennessee.

Yeah, I mean, it's, I I can't decide who needs to win the game more, because like, I mean if if Lane gets punked a little bit in that building, it's gonna get scary for him , but if he's winning that game.

I mean, it might get scarier for him, because like he is gonna egg it on, and he is gonna make sure everybody knows how he feels, and I mean it's, look, it's going to be, as you said, a, a scene, uh, a scene and a half really, um, and I mean, I, I, I can't wait for it, but yeah, look, I think the, the challenge is is you can't trust Lane not to, not to, to drive it, like.

I don't feel like, and I think about some of the basketball reunions, like, I don't know, when Ed Cooley went back to Providence, like Ed Cooley wasn't like playing to the crowd, like Lane's gonna play to the crowd, and that's, that's what I worry about.

It's like, what happens if things start going well for Lane.

In that building and he can start to really lay it on him.

How, how messy does it get?

The governor's gonna have to take away his phone that week.

Like, it's gonna have to be the governor and like laying hand over your phone like that.

That's, it's not gonna be Berge Osberry, the AD.

It's gonna be the governor himself.

Give me your phone, lay it.

I'm, I'm not sure the governor is of that mindset.

I think the governor would actually give him two phones and say go double time.

Uh, I, I'm actually, I am legitimately concerned.

I really am.

Like, if I were an LSU fan, I don't care if you're rich enough to afford the ticket.

I don't care how zealous you are to want to see your team play.

I would not go.

I would not go to Vau Hemingway Stadium.

It is gonna be the most toxic atmosphere.

Of the year and of many years, I think, and there is gonna be violence, hopefully not super scary violence, you know, but still, it's uh the the chances of there not being fistfights at that game are 0.0. Well, question for you, Pat.

If you're the SEC office, do you put this game at 11:00 a.m. central time, or do you put this game in prime time?

Cause you know that prime time, you know, ESPN will be pushing to have this game in prime time from a viewership standpoint.

But if you're the SEC office, knowing all of that, knowing how the grove gets after a full day of tailgating, are, are you pushing this back or pushing it up?

It's a good question.

I, I don't think the SEC office has much say in it.

I think ESPN is gonna put it where they put it.

And it's probably going prime time.

If not, then it's going 3:30, but uh I, I think it's gonna be, I, I mean, seriously, if I, if like, if I were an LSU fan, no way I'm going, and then if I'm an Ole Miss fan, heaven help me, I better find some restraint somewhere, especially cause Lane is doing this stuff now.

And here's what's gonna happen when they play that week.

Lane's gonna start his press conference and say, look , I have nothing but respect for Ole Miss, you know, and I just want this to be a good game, and let's put the focus on the players, and, you know, let's, let's have a good atmosphere, but nothing da da da da da.

Yeah, bullshit, man, you've already started this back in April, all right?

You started it back when you left, so, that's, he's gonna try to play that card then, and it's gonna be a very, very difficult card to play.

I think that it's gonna be.

Tough to walk back everything that's happened and say, let's just keep it, have good sportsmanship between the lines.

So, uh, can't wait to see it.

Again, hope it's not actual violence, but Be ready, beware.

We'll be talking about this for all the next, I don't know, 5 months or so.

Um , all right, guys, as previously noted, the portal is humming in college basketball, including reports that we have a, a 3 point per game player asking for a million dollars, according to Jeff Goodman from an anonymous coach, uh, to which, you know, the answer is no.

You're, you're allowed to say no to those players.

Uh, but Kevin, I'm gonna hit you with a few different categories, and you, uh, we'll weigh in here, but you tell me where things are, where things are headed.

Which high major program has done the best work so far?

I mean, Louisville got the best player in the portal and one of the better, I, I would argue because the high school class is weak, you, he could be the best player to change hands all offseason.

Uh, in Flori Baunga from Kansas, packaged in with Jackson Shelstad, some savvy agenting work, uh, by, by, by their camp to, to drive up the price for both as a package deal.

Um, that that that ticket, I believe in like the 9 to $9.5 million dollar range for the pair, which is certainly steep, um.

You know, I think you have to feel pretty good if you're Louisville about getting that done, but you also now have a real responsibility to not only put a good team around them, which might not be that easy now that you've already spent, you know, $9.5 million or $9 million but also, like, There's gonna be real pressure to win now.

Like, like, this is year 3 for Pat Kelsey.

It was great year 1 that, like, we got back to relevance, we don't suck anymore, we're not an embarrassment, and then year 2 was supposed to be better than it was, and they lost a lot of big games against the best teams , and, you know, he cleaned house, he didn't bring back Sinanda Frew, he didn't bring back some of the guys that he could have brought back and wanted to push the chips in on someone like Flori Baunga, now he's done it.

We'll see where the results follow, but I think the expectation has to be second weekends and beyond.

Brian, what do you think?

Well, you know, at a, at a minimum there for the Cardinals, you know, not only given what they're spending, but just, uh, I, I think, you know, Kevin, you hit the nail on the head, just that, that fan base, you know, I, I, I think that especially the, the way it was so disappointing last year with everything going around with Michael Brown and like, you know, will he play, won't he play, and all that, that, that just weighs on the fan base.

Like you, you, you get your hopes up and you're saying, all right, he's gonna be back for the tournament, doesn't come back for the tournament, like all the issues surrounding that, um, really, I, I think cast a negative light on, on the season and You know, it, it, it all is all relative, you know, for, for that fan base, given how bad the depths were there in the Kenny Payne era, but let's face it, you know, it's a what have you done for me lately, uh, you know, type, type of, type of school, you know, in in terms of, you gotta produce results.

And now that the money is flowing, uh, to the program right now, um, you know, I, I think it is, uh, kind of, I don't necessarily say hot seat territory for Pat Kelsey, but he understands that the temperature of that fan base and certainly, Pat, you, you know that better than anybody.

It, it, it.

It's gonna be on, uh, for, for next season.

And especially when you look at the rest of the ACC, um, you know, look, you expect Duke to maybe take a little bit of a step back.

You expect North Carolina, given the flux there to, to be, um, you know, a winnable game, if you will, if you, if you have this, this type of front court, uh , players, if you have these type of high-priced, um, you know, additions to your starting, starting lineup.

I, I, I, I think that definitely the, uh, Louisville has done good work in the portal, but it, it is all going to come back around to the court next season and how, how all this gels.

Yeah, this is, uh, the 3rd straight year now with Kelsey that they have taken huge swings in landing players and, and, and landed them, right?

They, they got Chuckie Hepburn, who was fantastic his 1st year, among other people, in a total roster rebuild.

Uh, they got Mike Brown, which was a huge coup, and Not necessarily everything they envisioned , but they got him.

And now they've spent, as Kevin said, $9.5 million for two guys, and they're in the, they're in the ring trying to get more.

So, there is money that people are willing to put in Louisville basketball.

That is a guarantee.

They wanted, like, Louisville basketball sees itself as a blue blood.

They've won 2 national championships, they've been to a lot of Final Fours.

You bring up the word blue blood and you don't include them, they get angry.

So they want to spend that way and be seen that way, and try to get back to winning championships.

And yeah, Kelsey, year 3, all right?

Going to the tournament is the floor.

Going to the championship is the ceiling, uh, they'd like to be somewhere mid-level or better, that's for sure.

We're gonna see how it works out, see who else is on the roster.

All right, Kevin, which high major program is notably hurting in the uh portal?

Um, you know , I, I think right now there's a lot of tension at Kentucky, partially because Louisville makes a big splash, right?

And, and look, especially after the year that they had, I think there was a feeling of like, is Mark Pope ready for the challenge?

Can he get done what he needs to get done in recruiting?

Is he the right guy to build the roster?

And I was expecting maybe a more, a more immediate splash than what they've done.

I think, again, they're a team that watched them very closely in the next 24, 48, 72 hours.

Um, you know, I know they're very involved with Rob Wright from BYU, that would be an impactful addition.

Um, you know, Donovan Freeman from Syracuse is a name you hear a lot.

Um, they got the Tyronne Stokes visit again this week.

I still would expect him to go to Kansas when it's all said and done.

Um, so I think.

Not necessarily hurting, but, but a lot of tension there, uh, as, as we head into week two of the portal.

Yeah, I, I would say so, that, um, you know, and then, and as you said, just the, the nature of the rivalry ratchets up the, the stakes and the urgency and like every minute goes by that Kentucky doesn't get a super touted guy, becomes a, a statewide crisis.

So, uh, that's kind of what they are laboring under, and again, It doesn't mean they're not gonna end up with 3 or 4 guys who are really good, and it's all gonna work out fine, but at the moment, there is, uh, there is some angst in the, in the Commonwealth.

All right, Kevin, which program has overspent?

Am I allowed to say everybody?

Yeah, yes, you are.

I mean, look, I, I, I, I know there was a report today from Evan Miyakawa, who's a big, uh, analytics guy.

He runs a front office suite that schools pay for, so he basically gets data on the back end, and he said the market's up 65% from last year .

I think it's a little lower than that if for, from my pulse of things, but, um, you know, look, it, it's, it, it's certainly up, it's certainly up a lot, and I think, again, I, I think we talked about this probably in February, like, The real concern that I would have is, there are a lot of schools prepping to spend like there's no tomorrow, and probably not get any better results.

Like, South Carolina is gonna be well north of $10 million I believe, on a basketball roster.

I don't think any, I mean, look, let's give Lamont Parris 10 days to cook here, let's see what he comes up with.

I'll be surprised if at the end of it, I look at South Carolina Carolina's roster and say, yep, NCAA tournament team, definitely, you know, so, there's been a lot of, there's been, there's, there's a lot of money going around, um, so I think, look, it's, it's really the lower budget high majors that are trying to be higher budget, high majors that are probably feeling the pain right now because at the end of the day, they still don't, they like, they're still that team in the grand scheme of things.

Like, you're gonna have to overpay.

If South Carolina and Indiana are battling for a player.

Indiana is getting the player unless the money is so overwhelmingly South Carolina's side.

So there's a lot of teams in that case, and I don't mean to single out South Carolina, I apologize to to Lamont and Coe, but that's, that's the reality of the situation right now is that there's a lot of people who thought their dollar would go a lot further than it is, and now they're, they're panicking, and, and the real question is, can the agents then from there, like, really twist their arm and, and sell them some snake oil, and that, that's where it gets really dicey in a hurry.

Well, I think there's two other things, like, number one, the overall talent level.

I, I think going into next season in terms of the basketball, just from the high school ranks and the transfer ranks, it's not as what, you know, what we were accustomed to not only this past season, but really the past two years, like, you know, you, you're fighting over, uh, you know, a more limited playing pool, especially if you're, you're a high major school.

So there's, there's that kind of competition over over who's there and then Um, you know, I think the other thing to, to keep in mind too is that because there's been changes to the transfer portal, you know, there, there's not the pressure from, from football programs to say, you know, there, there used to be a spring transfer portal, right?

All right.

Well, there's a lot of football programs and a lot of football coaches pressuring their boosters, pressuring their ADs to say, hey, well, we need an extra 1 million or 2 million or whatever, you know, to go back into get a left tackle or or a right guard or a defensive end.

That tension, I guess you could say between football and basketball isn't quite here, but there's, it's , it's coming back around because now that, you know, the basketball programs are spending that amount at places like South Carolina, at Louisville.

All right, well, now the football coaches are a little bit, um, uh, miffed if you would say, uh, and, and I think that's a sentiment widely shared by a number of football staffs like, wait a minute, I, I, I thought we were, we were promised this and, and yet basket.

While spending this.

And then on top of that, you can layer in that, uh, all the, the stuff that's going on with the CSC and they're involved in some lawsuits and some arbitration hearings.

So it's like, actually, how is this money going to get through to the players?

There, there's that hanging over everything.

So it, it, it's a fascinating market on the outside and I, I can't wait to see how it all shakes out because somebody is going to be left disappointed and extremely disappointed going into next season.

Yeah, I, I think a level of, um, Communication and understanding between your football GM and your basketball GM and your AD is fairly important here because like football needs to start spending the money on the 2027 class.

Basketball is spending right now for 2026, so it's kind of two different pools, but it's still the same fan base that you're asking for the money from.

And to Kevin's point, if everyone basically says, We're spending more, you know, we're we're going to our boosters, we ask for more, we are providing more resources.

Guess what?

The same number of teams still win, and the same number of teams still lose.

So, your money is not necessarily going to buy you winning.

I, I mean, it's gonna help, but you have to get the right guys, and you have to coach them well.

You have to have that Dusty May knack for finding the person that's going to take your team, who, who, who was good and is gonna be better, and make your team better.

Uh, last, Kevin, who's the anonymous 3 point per game score that wants a million dollars?

I mean, there's probably multiple is the big, is the craziest part.

Uh, like I got a call yesterday morning from a coach that I actually think is like really smart, and he asked me, should I pay, and I'm not gonna name the name, should I pay this player $650,000?

This player played 5 minutes a game last year, like, any big, like.

The big man market is, has so lost the plot, it is unfathomable, and, again, there's, there's no, there's no harm in asking, because at the end of the day, there's a lot of people with money and somebody's gonna be the sucker.

And agents have gotten really good at finding the sucker.

Uh, you hope not to be that guy, but like, I'm, I'm.

Everyone would be astonished at some of the asking prices for like very average bigs.

Like, if you are a passable big man at the high major level, you are well north of a million dollars, well north of a million dollars.

Has it spilled over to the international market?

I'm curious because, you know, that was a big talking point obviously at the Final Four, you know, I, I wrote about it in terms of the, the success that programs like Arizona and Illinois have had going overseas.

Is that filtering over at all there?

It is, you know, I think the, the thing right now is like , all the international agents are licking their chops, realizing there's gonna be a lot of people left without the, the, the, the spots they need filled.

Uh, and I know Mishko Rosnetovich, who's the, uh, uh, the man behind Illinois, if you will, the guy who reps all the, uh, all the mega guys and all the, all the.

Balkan kids, uh, he, he got a couple of deals done during the Final Four.

He sent a kid to Syracuse who's pretty good.

He sent a guy to Butler, uh, he sent a couple of his portal guys to, uh, to UCLA, um, but there's a bunch of agents like Mishko that are sitting there going, somebody's about to be real desperate, and we can, we not only can we convince them to spend money on guys like.

The, the, the, the international agents lick their chops when it's guys who don't know the international market that are already, all of a sudden recruiting internationally, because you can sell a bill of goods like no tomorrow.

Well, this guy averaged 11 points per game in, in Germany.

Well, did you look at which division in Germany he played in?

Well, he was on the roster for the top division team, but those stats I'm referring to are from the 3rd division.

Oh, very good.

But the ball's already rolling, and, and again, you, you think it's easy to make stuff up about transfer portal players, it's even easier to make stuff up about internationals.

Sure, absolutely.

Oh, there's, there's been a, a long history of, of players from Europe, from Africa, whatever, who were billed as, you know, absolute can't miss who Couldn't even start, you know, the, the, the, I wonder about my man Slavko Durich, if he's back in the game.

He was a, uh, Canadian importer-exporter, so to speak, who was involved in some, uh, some stuff, had some NCAA people uh interested in his business for a while.

This was 1015 years ago.

And I think he was, Either trying to be in the uh Nikola Jokic gravy train or was early and then wasn't, because he wasn't really supposed to be in there, cause he wasn't really doing anything.

I need to get, I need to get back with my man Slavko and see where he's at uh in all of this.

I'd imagine he's he's he's at least trying.

He was not easily discouraged, let's, let's put it that way.

Uh, all right, guys, uh, the, the administrative portal is humming as well.

Wisconsin AD Chris McIntosh, finding an exit ramp out of Madison down to Chicago to the Big 10 office to quote, advise the commissioner and lead overall strategy development for the conference.

In an assuredly unrelated development, McIntosh, Wisconsin have very controversially given football coach Lu Fluke Fickle a 4th season.

And his basketball coach, Greg Guard, has gone 8 straight NCAA tournaments without reaching the second weekend, and most recently was a 1st-round punch-out against High Point.

This is part of the turnover that happens at the administrative level.

I, I looked it all up, I did all the math past 5 years, more than 50% of the Power conference AD jobs have or soon will turn over .

Uh, so, what does it take to survive and thrive in that position in 2026 and beyond?

I don't know, but I think it takes obviously a A more business attuned, a more pro-attuned mentality.

I think it takes a willingness to expand staff even more, or at least reallocate staff, and find positions for people that can do two things, raise money and figure out how to cut costs.

So, more revenue, less expense, and I think you're going to see more of that going on.

Uh, It's just, it's such a different job in the lifetime campus guys are less and less, uh, seemingly in control and in demand there.

Um, you guys, any thoughts on that, Brian?

Well, I, I, I will say it's uh notable, you know, we're talking about Kevin Warren, you know, last episode, and, uh, Pat, I, I think the one biggest issue, you know, that, that he had in terms of how he ran the Big 10 was not listening to the ADs, and I think this might, maybe this is a sign of acknowledgement from Tony Petitti, that not only is he, he, he developed a really good relationship with the, the ADs across the league, but like, now he's hiring one of their own, you know, to go to go to the conference office and We'll we'll see what this nebulous director of strategy or however they're, they're actually titling it is for Christ McIntosh and and what he's actually doing from a day to day basis, but I, I think it is an acknowledgement that Um, you know, for, for as big picture as you want some of these jobs to be, whether it's on campus or whether it's in the conference office, uh, you, you gotta have that connection that, uh, of information both ways.

You gotta have that relationship both ways.

So I think this might be a nice positive step forward there, um, you know, in, in Rosemont to, to developing that and, and fostering that amongst our 18, uh, ADs that are all very, very different in terms of how they approach the job and all that.

And I, and I think that's, that's the, the, the biggest thing like when, when in AD is hired and they have like a compliance background or or a media background, like that is almost eye-raising at this point, you know, it's always, um, you talk with people at the search firms, they always say, you know, you want to get into one of those, uh, senior roles that touch money, you know, and I think that's still the case nowadays, but, um, it, it is, it is interesting to note that, uh, for a lot of these roles, I, I mean, it's either you're an intern guy that that gets promoted, you're, you're part of the department, you understand you're Kind of groomed, if you will, to kind of be the successor and and that's how things are handed over, or you're going completely out of left field in terms of, all right, maybe it's an alum, maybe it's somebody from the business world, you know, those types are coming in and that's definitely a, a big influx influx of, of folks.

And, and the nature of the job has not only changed the last couple of years, but I think it's gonna continue to change depending on how these schools are set up, how they are dealing with things on more of a local level.

I mean, You talk about Wisconsin with, with Chris McIntosh.

I, I, honestly, when I first heard that, uh, you know, last week when, when this was a possibility, I kind of thought, well, he's, he's getting out while they're getting is good.

Number one, with the Badgers.

He, there's, you know, a lot of higher ed issues there at Wisconsin, um, that have come to the forefront , interim president, the chancellor's left.

So there's dealing with that, facing a potential football change depending on how things go with Luke Fickle, which was his handpicked guy.

Um, you know, there's, there's been issues in terms of money and development.

Camp Randall's undergoing some transformation, so like the, the, the job itself is really like 10 jobs in one, and you're, you're essentially a point person nowadays, and I think that's difficult for some people to handle, others people handle it just fine, but, um, I, I think it does kind of go back.

To how, how, how much college sports is evolving and, uh, some people are gonna get left in the dust, others are, are happy to evolve with it and, uh, take some of these jobs, but it, it's never easy and we're gonna keep going, uh, with a lot of these type of moves that you kind of, kind of scratch your head initially, but then you can kind of come back around and, and understand it more moving forward.

Yeah, it strikes me that There was a wave of ADs probably in like the 22 to maybe even 2024 range of people who were conservative on the changes to the landscape in terms of NIL and weren't aggressive enough.

And I think they thought at the time, like, if we push our chips in and we don't do this right, or we break rules or whatever, that's how I'm getting fired.

And it turned out their conservative nature is what got them, got them gone.

And I said, so I, I, I think.

You know, I think Brian's certainly more of an expert than me in terms of the job and everything that comes with it, but it strikes me more than anything that right now, um, what's, what, what, what schools want, uh, and, and what, yeah, I, I think boosters and everyone who's funding this thing wants are people who are forward thinking and aggressive, and maybe you'll get fired for pushing the wrong buttons, but it's better to be pushing buttons and not pushing any at all.

No doubt about it.

I mean, I've had ADs tell me before that if you, if you don't have a crane, this was, this was before NIL, but if you don't have a crane in the ground, digging and making some new facility, you're, you're hurting your own.

Uh, sustainability.

You gotta always have a next big project, you gotta have a, you know, a big swing on a coach, you've gotta have something going on to, I guess, to, to kind of ride the wave, because fans don't care where the money comes from.

They just want the money to be there so that their teams are good.

Eventually , they care when they come and ask them for the money, but for the most part, they just, they, they want you to do whatever it takes to be good.

But the, uh, the funny thing, and, and to Brian's point, just the, the impermanence of, of not just, we talk about coaches, but 80s, but then presidents as well.

The turnover is ridiculous.

Uh, it's a quote from Jennifer Nan , I'm not sure I'm pronouncing that correctly.

She was the chancellor slash president at Wisconsin.

This was in January, talking about keeping Chris McIntosh as the AD when things were not necessarily going great.

Uh, we've had some bumps.

This is a wild ride in college athletics right now.

More has changed over the last couple of years than it really, than really in decades.

It's very much a flux, so, you know, it's not altogether surprising that we'll have these bumps in the road.

What we need is somebody passionate, committed, and strategic, who will be accountable for the program's success.

I have every faith that Mac is going to execute on that successfully.

He's gone, she's gone.

She's the president in waiting at Columbia University.

She undoubtedly got to step up.

Wisconsin's a very good school , but you're now, you're, you're gonna go be the president of an Ivy League school.

But the, the commitment.

Uh, is, is kind of, it, it's all talk.

It's not necessarily action in a lot of these situations.

So, I think that also goes back to, you know, who, who's making the decisions regarding athletics on the, on the campus level because there's been so much turnover with the presidents in the 80s, like it really is, you know, the boosters in the regions like that, that, that's who.

Continues to stick around, continues to open their wallets, and they are, I, I think, in, you know, influencing decisions on, on, on an athletic level, and especially in football and basketball, probably more than they ever have been.

Like there used to be more of a firewall between those, uh, with the athletic department kind of being the middleman.

That's less and less the case, I think, moving forward.

Yeah, well, it's, that's it.

They, they, they, they, they, everybody is close to being on the hot seat in that job, and toward that end, I have compiled a hot board, for lack of a better term, 10 ADs who could be in situations where they're looking for a new job next, whether it's a jump or a push, uh, and I'll say as a disclaimer, I know all these people, I like all of these people, I hope you all keep your jobs.

But we're looking at this like we look at the coaching situation.

Sometimes things get bumpy.

So, I'm gonna give you guys, I'm gonna read these 10, and you all tell me, give me, give me one person each who's, uh, who's needs, really needs to have a good year.

Uh, Scott Strickland of Florida, men's basketball is rolling, they won the championship last year, they were #1 seed this year.

Football, clearly, has to get better immediately.

They have John Summerall coming in, I think there's a good chance it will, but it has to.

Martin Jarman, UCLA just won a women's basketball championship.

His men's basketball is in pretty good shape.

Football, total rebuild.

There's a little less urgency at UCLA, but still, come on.

I had the basically disaster, uh, the last hire this time, uh, they've got to do better with Bob Chesney.

Ward Manuel, Michigan, he just won a men's basketball championship, so that's great.

But football is iffy, and off-field in football has been a complete disaster.

I think Sharon Moore gets sentenced today, and I, I don't think he's gonna get uh jail time, but, but we'll see what comes out of that.

Uh, Michael Alford at Florida State, there's trouble everywhere, they're bad at football, they don't have a lot of money.

Men's basketball showed some signs of life late in the season under Luke Laws in his first year, but Things are not good.

John Cohen at Auburn, same as above, not good in football.

Basketball transition to Steven Pearl, some signs of hope at the end.

They, uh, they won the NIT.

They kept Tahad Pettiford.

Mike Babinski at Purdue, thank God he's got Matt Painter, cause football still is a trial.

Blake James of Boston College, can anyone win there in anything?

They're gonna give Luke Murray a chance to try in uh basketball, could have a chance.

Mark Harlan, Utah, rough football transition, men's basketball is brutal.

Boo Corrigan at NC State, they got played by Will Wade, and he's still wedded to Dave Doran, and then Desiree Reed-Francois, Arizona.

Tommy Lloyd, not her biggest fan, but football is doing well.

What do you think, Brian?

You got somebody there, uh, who you think really needs a good season?

Well, that, that's, that's a pretty comprehensive list of, of some heavy hitters that definitely in the industry.

Uh, I will say, you know, Scott Strickland, there is a bit of an expiration date, uh, involving his , his tenure.

I think it's 2030 where he's gonna semi-retire, step away, and look, there's, there's a lot going on above his head there at Florida in terms of Presidential succession and how, how all that's going.

It's like that's, that's gonna get, get dealt with first before any, uh, true, uh, referendum on, on his job.

And I think you're right.

You know, I think the, the John Summerall hire has gone down much better with the fan base as time has aged.

So, yeah, that with basketball.

I, I, I think he's fine.

Martin Jarman, I'm not sure UCLA would have the money to, uh, necessarily buy him out at this point.

And, and I, I think they're, uh , certainly coasting off of everything going on with, uh, that women's basketball title.

And I think there's some.

Momentum there in Westwood, uh, around the football program with the Bob Chesney hire.

So, um, the, the ones that I would identify, um, certainly Mike Bobinski, he, he might be able, he's kind of on that verge of retirement age.

So I, I would circle that one as, as a potential one there.

Um, Michael Alford, he, he's a money raiser, and I think as difficult as the situation there is at Florida State with their football coach going on to perhaps the hottest of hot seats, uh, going into the football season with Mike Norvell, they, they're gonna have to raise a lot of money.

To to buy him out.

And I think that's going to be key to his tenure and remaining there in Tallahassee.

Um, as far as the others, I, I think the most tenuous is, is probably Desiree Reed, Francois, as you mentioned at Arizona, just the, the relationship, uh, with, with their, their primary sport there in, in men's basketball and Tommy Lloyd, that new contract.

Yes, football is, is, is going better, but that was not necessarily her guy, um, you know, in terms of , uh, Brett Brennan.

So, um, that, that's the one that I would probably circle as, as the most tenuous.

Of, of that group that you mentioned, but, um, you know, the, the thing is, like we just saw with, with Chris McIntosh, some of these people could take other jobs, uh , move, move in parallel jobs, uh, find other, uh, you know, assistant associate AD type of jobs, go to conference office.

Like, I, I'm not ruling out of that for, for a number of these, these people because I, I think they are pretty well respected in the industry and that could be an exit route, you know, in terms of getting ahead of, uh, of that, uh, pink slip before, uh, that ultimately comes down from some of these schools.

It, it seems to me that Michael Alford is leading sort of a Sixers level process with Florida State, trying to raise, trying to save some money and raise some money to eventually push the chips back in.

Uh, it seems like they went a little cheaper on the roster.

They obviously stuck with Norvell.

Their basketball search last year with Luke Lau, it seemed that the, uh, most important qualification.

Uh, for that gig was, I really want to be the head coach at Florida State, and I will go raise some money myself, which Luke has done and done a very nice job, and they're, they're headed in the right direction, it seems.

But it does feel like there has, this, this has been as much an athletic department tanking as you can do.

And unfortunately, for a lot of places, the guy who starts the tank doesn't get to see the end result of it.

So I worry that perhaps Uh, there might be bigger administrative changes at Florida State before, uh, the, the plan comes to fruition.

Yeah, I, I'm with you there, I think on Alford.

I just think, you know, they, they are really leveraged and, you know, just had to bite the bullet because they couldn't find the money to get rid of Norvell, and I just am not convinced Norvell can turn it around, and if he doesn't, then, I think it's a, it's a multi-position change, and Luke Laus can continue raising his own money, cause he'll have a new AD.

So, we'll see, we'll be monitoring all those situations throughout the year.

Uh, real quick here, a couple other things, and, uh, and then we'll, we'll wrap here.

But, um, Uh, I'm actually, I'm gonna skip the 5 and 5, discussion.

We'll, we'll get to that next, next episode.

I did want to hit on the Iowa football penalties that were announced today, Tuesday.

They, uh, this is a case that started in 2022 when the violations happened.

It's resolved in 2026, and nothing says NCAA justice like that.

Even though they've made all these efforts to speed things up, the problem is, you are still at the mercy of the school, and the school never wants to speed things up because they want to fight everything.

In this case, Kirk Ference and one of his assistants tampered with Cayden McNamara when he was the basketball or the football quarterback at Michigan.

Brought him on board, um, really kind of, I, I feel bad for Kate.

He didn't put his name in the portal cause he didn't want to make a big deal during Michigan's undefeated season in which he was on the bench and injured.

So he didn't go in the portal.

So they tampered with him before he went in the portal, they got him, uh, they've had to vacate now 4 games from 2023 when McNamara was quote unquote, ineligible.

Why Iowa fought this for as long as it did over 4 vacated games.

I don't know, unless they were worried that Ference wasn't going to coach in 2025, and there was gonna be some question whether he would get the NCAA or I'm sorry, the Big 10 victory record victory total and surpass Woody Hayes.

He did that, he's now well past it.

He can take the 4-game hit, he's still the winningest coach in Big 10 history, so congrats to him, but Uh, this just goes to show, first of all, we're dealing with a tampering case that is so archaic and quaint compared to what's going on now.

And secondly, even when the NCAA tries to speed things up, they can't really do it, because the schools don't really want to do it, and the process is so wonky.

Uh , any thoughts there, guys?

I think if we, we circle the, uh, programs that are really bad at tampering, we can put Iowa firmly atop the list, not only because of this, this case, but you remember that Kayden Proctor, uh, tampering issue too that was, I think it was a year later than this like there's, there's, there's some issues there in terms of how we actually do this, and I think that might speaks to.

To Kirk Ference and how he goes about things certainly in, in the program, which is you're a bad crook, nice and upstanding.

I, I, I get it , but, uh, that's not necessarily the way that everybody else is doing business.

I'm, I'm sure this will, will draw, draw a few chuckles from some opposing football staffs including in his own conference, um, but yeah, I mean.

The, the vacation of, of, of, of wins thing is , is the thing that obviously I think Iowa kind of has expressly said this is why we were fighting it, uh, pretty hard and like, I get it, like those games happen, like we, we still understand that that's not a reasonable deterrent in in this day and age where every game is on television, every fan understands it, and more than anything, it just makes things a , a, a pain in the butt for sports information staffs, for us to calculate, uh, in terms of Well, how many wins does he really have?

We got to go back.

We got, which number is it gonna be?

Like that, that's, it's just a, a, a pain in the butt penalty.

And, and that's the, the only thing that, that has the tooth in it.

So I, I, I get by with, and there has been actually talk in broader NCAA levels in terms of should we still have this around?

Should this still be, uh, a worthy punishment.

I'm kinda curious if this maybe picks up that conversation a little bit as we get going because it's definitely, um, uh, a bit of a chuckler in, in terms of these actual infraction cases and, and, and especially the tampering violations.

Yeah, it, it strikes me that at the end of the day, we need to overhaul what tampering actually is because I think right now we have such a Such a standard that is impossible for anyone to not do at this point.

Like, if, if you actually did not tamper at all, you would not have players on your team.

Like it, like, it, it would be impossible, it is impossible not to tamper and do the job at the level that's expected at this point.

You'd actually accidentally tamper through agent conversations and the like.

So I think, big picture, and obviously this, this, this is, as Pat said, a, a violation from a different time, um, big picture, we need.

We need to, we need to get some rules around tampering that make a lot of sense, and then we have to try our darndest to enforce them.

Because the, the wild west of this and the way that some schools have just thrown caution to the wind and just said, screw it, like, if people are gonna be gangster, we're gonna be super gangster.

Like, that can't, like that can't stand.

Like the way that some people have operated, and we did, we did the Clemson Ole Miss saga, that was certainly, uh, as aggressive as it comes, there have been some.

Really downright dirty things that I've heard in the basketball side of things over the last several weeks and months, like, we need to, we need to get some semblance of control over this thing, but it's impossible to have control when everyone's breaking the rules in some, some form.

Like, you can't really call and turn somebody in when you've been on the phone with every agent and trying to see what, what's going on and what's what with, with certain guys.

Yeah, this is absolutely a case where The speed limit is 65 and 5000 cars are going 80.

And you just kind of try to maybe catch one, well, what good is that?

So, they're gonna have to adjust.

and there is, there is a big push, I think, to adjust the whole infractions process, but specifically tampering how it's addressed, how it's penalized.

Uh, good luck to the NCAA and their many committees in trying to figure out how that's going to work.

All right, gentlemen, uh, we're gonna close with a couple of things here.

First off, Uh, this is gonna make your heart swell with patriotic fervor.

This was the national anthem for a recent Baltimore Orioles baseball game.

If I ever write an autobiography, I won't.

Uh, it would be entitled 1 Million National Anthems, cause I feel like I've listened to that many.

And, uh, this was, this was that anthem.

Producer Kent, can you, can you play us a snippet?

How about that?

A whistled national anthem.

Uh , and in terms of baseball whistlers, this guy's better than the Vandy whistler, I think everyone will agree.

This guy actually has talent.

I didn't know you could have that kind of whistling talent, frankly.

I've been to a million swim meets and I have listened to coaches whistle and whistle and whistle, but this is an artistic whistle.

Uh, is this guy, is this guy in a musical savant?

Or is he just a weirdo?

Your thoughts, Kevin?

I think he's definitely a weirdo, but the thing I want to give him credit for.

I was very concerned when I first saw this, that the microphones and the whistle would not stand together, you know, that that would be a tricky technological thing to get over the hump with.

I could see this working on a small scale, but we, we, we try to bring this to stadiums, and it's big trouble.

I was, I was impressed by how, how crisp that sounded through the mic.

I wonder if there were test runs, there had to be a handful, because, yeah, I mean, we, we can barely handle talking into a microphone, let alone other forms of, uh, of vocal talent.

That was, that was some incredible control, you know, in terms of the pitch and everything, so you, it's definitely a professional out there and like my kids would have loved this, you know, like that's, that's the other thing it's like it is different, it is memorable, like, I mean, like, you know, like you said, Pat, I mean we've heard thousands of national anthems , millions, uh, through all the sporting events that we go to, like this would actually stick out in your mind.

Mind, like, uh, oh yeah, that's new, that's different, you know, it's, you'd be into it, you'd pay, pay more attention instead of looking down at your laptop and in terms of seeing what, what, what, what other things are going on, but, um, you know, kudos to him.

The only thing that could have made it different if he, if he's doing the like the whistling where you put your fingers in your mouth and you do it like that, that's the only thing that you probably could have added to this.

Yeah, I, he's, he's, he's a very talented man.

I give him credit.

I, again, I don't really wanna know what all went into becoming that good of a whistler, but he did do the most important thing to me, as again, a a listener to many, many, many anthems.

He got it done in under 90 seconds.

So, brevity is the soul of patriot, patriotic artistry, and uh he pulled that off, so good for him.

All right, one more story.

Had to spring this one on you guys.

We, we gotta go people's court here, put on your justice robes, and we're gonna have to make a ruling.

Morgan County, Alabama.

WAFF TV station reporting this.

A former Morgan County jail officer is facing 7 felony extortion charges related to.

Taking honey buns from inmates.

He was extorting honey buns, allegedly, supposedly, from the inmates.

Uh, he says he didn't do it.

He says that he is wounded by the fact that he's plastered all over the world, that I am this and I am that and I am not that.

This is.

Uh, Jarvis Moore, he was fired from his position in September, something unrelated.

Oh wait, the officers told him the termination was for taking honey buns and store items for inmates.

He thinks it's retaliation for something else.

We're not going to go into all that because it's too complicated, uh, but uh there's video of, of former officer Morgan here.

Let's just say he looks like a man who could do some damage with some honey buns.

Uh, he is, he is a, a, a big man, uh, but he says he didn't do it, he says he's type 2 diabetic, couldn't do it if he wanted to.

Uh, gentlemen, if you're a prison guard.

Would power go to your head to the point where you would actually take the honey buns from the prisoners, and either keep them for yourselves or resell them, and this guy, he, he's not a reseller, I think he's an eater.

Uh, Justice Fisher, what would you do if you were?

The prison guard, and secondly, then what do we do with the prison guard?

Let's assume he's guilty.

This is like the ultimate power move, right?

You know, like it's, you know, like I feel like smoking has declined so much and, and probably the same is true in, in jails, you know, if if we're growing that general population, so this has gotta be like the, the currency there, uh, in, in the state of Alabama, and, uh, so this, this is a power move, like I, I, I'm almost like awed by it a little bit, but also like kind of rep reprehensible, uh, you know, it's just, uh.

Throw, throw the book at him.

Like, I mean this is a total power move like, and being a diabetic, this does not , it does not get you out of this by, by any means.

Not only like do I think he was sneaking a few off to the side, but like this is like the, the ultimate power move if you're one of those guards.

So I, I, I say throw the book at him.

Wow, hanging judge.

The, the diabetic defense is really intriguing to me, um.

You know, I, I, I'm trying to think of a parallel to this, like, like what, what type of health, health issue you could have that would acquit you from a crime, quite like extortion via honey bun.

Um, I, I mean, we, we, we were just covering the amputee, so like there's all bets are off.

Oh, we're gonna get back to him next episode, but anyway, yeah, no, it's, it's an intriguing world, no question.

Uh, I, I would love to know what you get in exchange for a honey bun.

Like what, what do you, what, what, what, what were you playing at in exchange and why, I mean.

Honey buns are not in short supply outside the prison walls.

That's, that's what I'm trying to figure out.

Why didn't we just buy them and keep them in our car like a Costco membership?

Costco trip could have, could have solved.

But if you can take them, why pay for them?

If you can, if you can remove them from the uh belongings of, of the inmates, because you have power over them, yeah, you're right, maybe this is, you know, the old, yes, it was currency with cigarettes, and now it's not, now, you know, it's honey buns.

I'm not really a honey bun guy, I think they're way too sweet.

They just, I, I, I, you know, that's, that is, that is like sugar shock right away.

But, you know, I can understand you're working in jail there in Madison County.

Or Morgan County, Alabama, you know, you want a honey bun, so you take them, and then you take one, then yes, the power goes to your head, and you become a rampant honey bun thief slash bully, um.

I'm gonna let him off until we get to hear the whole full diabetic defense, because I think that that is, that's creative enough.

It's like, again, if you were stealing cigarettes, he said, but I have lung cancer, so I, I can't be smoking them.

Uh, I, I wanna hear more on this.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna table.

The, uh, the ruling until a later episode.

I'm sure we will keep following this one.

This will be an ongoing saga for sure.

We'll keep you updated on the honey buns.

We'll keep you updated on any whistlers, Lane Kiffin, anything else stupid happening out there.

Uh, that's the show.

Thank you all for watching.

Have a great week.

We'll talk to you later.