October 30, 2025 • 35 mins
Buyouts, buyouts, buyouts.
The NCAA football landscape looks a bit different than it did when the season kicked off in August, especially after three head coaches of AP Preseason Top 25 teams were fired for underperformance. But they aren’t walking away empty-handed: All three are owed tens of millions of dollars from their respective schools.
On today’s episode of The GIST of It, co-hosts Ellen Hyslop and Steph Rotz set the scene for the college football coaching carousel before examining the ripple effects of letting a good-but-not-great coach go. Hut hut, here they go.
A big thank you to BMO for sponsoring today’s pod! BMO has been committed to growing the beautiful game in North America for two decades. Today, BMO supports the NWSL’s Angel City FC and is the official bank of the Northern Super League. Learn more by visiting our Soccer Help Desk today.
Show notes:
More on The GIST:
☎️ Leave us a voicemail! Call us at 1-437-564-5579 or hold down on this link
🎧 Subscribe: thegistsports.com/subscribepod
✉️ Email: pod@thegistsports.com
📷 Instagram: @thegistca @thegistusa
🐦 X: @thegistpod
The NCAA football landscape looks a bit different than it did when the season kicked off in August, especially after three head coaches of AP Preseason Top 25 teams were fired for underperformance. But they aren’t walking away empty-handed: All three are owed tens of millions of dollars from their respective schools.
On today’s episode of The GIST of It, co-hosts Ellen Hyslop and Steph Rotz set the scene for the college football coaching carousel before examining the ripple effects of letting a good-but-not-great coach go. Hut hut, here they go.
A big thank you to BMO for sponsoring today’s pod! BMO has been committed to growing the beautiful game in North America for two decades. Today, BMO supports the NWSL’s Angel City FC and is the official bank of the Northern Super League. Learn more by visiting our Soccer Help Desk today.
Show notes:
More on The GIST:
☎️ Leave us a voicemail! Call us at 1-437-564-5579 or hold down on this link
🎧 Subscribe: thegistsports.com/subscribepod
✉️ Email: pod@thegistsports.com
📷 Instagram: @thegistca @thegistusa
🐦 X: @thegistpod
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
What's up, y'all?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Welcome or welcome back to another episode of The Gist
of It. Today is Thursday, October thirtieth. We're your co hosts.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
I'm Ellen Hyslop and I'm Steph Rot's Steph.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Do you have plans for Halloween?
Speaker 3 (00:20):
I'm going to give out candy for the first time
ever as an adult.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Oh my gosh, do you know how many kids you're
expected to get at your house?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
No, I have no idea. So I'm gonna overshoot with candy,
and whatever I don't give out, it's mine.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
What type of candy are you planning?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Are you a chocolate house or your sweet house or
your savory house?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
What's the vibe?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
I was gonna get my favorite candy. So they come
in different boxes, right of like sweets of types of
candies and brands of candy, And so I was going
to get the one that includes the Reese's peanut butter
cup because I forgot about peanut allergies. And then your
friend and now my friend has a peanut allergy in
and so now I'm wondering if I should shift to
get a peanut free box for the children.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Can I tell you something that we had to do
in our household growing up that maybe will make you
feel better. Yes, So my sister very very allergic to
peanuts always has been still, Oh yes, very very allergic.
Me not allergic. My dad and I absolute assholes. Turns
out we ate peanut butter in front of her entire life,
(01:20):
like we were playing with fire, and we really didn't
realize it, and looking back, I go, oh, my god,
so sorry, Leah. But my dad and I love peanuts
and peanut butter, and so at the end of the night, Steph,
what we would do, because I was such a good
older sister who didn't want my little sister to die,
is we would both dump out our candy from whatever
(01:42):
bag we had, and we would sort it into different groups.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
And then Leah and I.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Would negotiate what I would take for her from the
peanut butter side, and then what she would be able
to get from mine. So there's always going to be
a way that the peanut butter gets eaten, is what
I'm saying, so that you can have it later.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Wow, your negotiating skills go way back. They negotiator by
the way, folks, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Thank you so much. You always have to negotiate.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Whenever people give prices, I go, m I think there's
a few dollars that you can shave off. You always
have to negotiate, so maybe I'd say, though there's maybe
peanut allergies are more prevalent, So if you did only
one or two boxes of those or stuff, just.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Get your just get a box for yourself and.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Then give away you know, the the Mars bars, the
non peanut things instead.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Yeah. I think I'm gonna do one little bag of
peanut free items and then a big box of what
what I want.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
And other kids choose to choose.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah, yeah, because they probably want to eat some stuff
at home that they can't bring into school either. I
love the sour patch kids, the cherry blasters, the fuzzy peaches.
That's where I live right now, and so I think
that's what I'm going to get all.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Of these kids.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Have you had any cravings?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
No, I've had a lot of aversions, a lot of things.
I don't like anything I make.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
I hate it, So I've stopped making food.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
I love meal, prepping salads, I love making salads. I
haven't touched salad since about week ten unless it's made
by somebody else, and I.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Love that for me.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Actually, what are you doing on Halloween.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Giving out candy? For sure?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
But you know what, I loved the post not to
tutor own tutor, but I really loved our post on
social outlining how you could dress up for Halloween as
a sports fan. And the Asia Wilson dress up was
amazing with the long pink wig and the Asia outfit
and the one leg legging.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
I thought that that was genius.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
And I'm really excited to see how many Asia Wilson's
are out there this Halloween.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
So you're not going to dress up as Rihanna at
the super Bowl halftime, or you're not going to capitalize
on any of those iconic moments.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Let me get back to you.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Okay, nowhere to be, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
What I mean? The only place I'll have to be
is watching Game six of the World Series. Because we
are now guaranteed Game six of the World Series. Steph
and I are recording at the very beginning of Game five,
so we don't know of La or Toronto one. So everyone,
as we like to say, google it, and actually you
shouldn't even need to google it. Watch the game and
just see what happens because the World Series has been
(04:27):
absolutely electric, So I think, Steph, that's the hard part
is I'll dress up as a baseball player.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Yeah, You're not gonna dress up as is the Lorax,
that orange character with the big belly. Yes, yeah, I
saw one pregnant person on Taka Do that.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
That's iconic. Yeah, that would be the type that I
would go for.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Yeah, of course.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
So there's a lot going on in the World Series
that unfortunately we can't get to. But there's also so
much going on in the world of college football. And
we talk about college football once in a while here,
we talk about it a lot more in our newsletters,
So if you're college football fan, go and subscribe to
our newsletter at the jirsports dot com.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
But one thing that I've really.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Been following this season, Steph, is the coaching chaos. And
a part of the reason why I've been following the
coaching chaos is because, as we talked about, I love
negotiating every single dollar matters. I'm very frugal, and right now,
the way that these coaches are getting paid for not
coaching because of the way their contracts are being terminated
(05:28):
is absolute mayhem and madness to me, and the coaching
carousel will not stop, and we need to talk about it.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Hm.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
I'm so excited to dig into all of that and
how it's shaping college football and potentially going to continue
to shape college football for a couple of seasons in
the next few years.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, it's wild.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
We think about teams in college football in the top
twenty five or the AP Top twenty kind of things,
and then that's who kind of ultimately makes it to
the college Football Playoff based off of all these different
rankings that we've talked about on the podcast before.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
It has to be. It's a little bit tough in
college football, right because there's so.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Many teams, they all play in different conferences, but ultimately
only a handful of teams actually make it to the
college football Playoff. What's wild, stuph is that three coaches
in the AP preseason Top twenty five teams were acts
in recent weeks. So something is in the water and
some of these top teams are not winning anymore. So
maybe that also means some parody in college football. But
(06:30):
before we get started, I know that you want to
call an audible because it's talking about one of your
favorite things, and that's labor in sports.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Yeah, and negotiations, that's your favorite thing. Oh my god,
something that that would be terrible at. So we do
need to give you guys an update about the WNBA
CBA negotiations because if you know where we're at, we're
talking about Halloween. So October thirty versus is fast approaching,
and that is the deadline.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Li early Friday, literally tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Literally tomorrow, and they will not reach an agreement by
their October thirty first deadline date. So a lot has
happened and a lot has not happened. The league has
offered the players a thirty day extension to continue negotiations,
and in terms of why they haven't reached a deal yet,
sources believe that the league and the players are still
at an impasse when it comes to a new revenue
(07:19):
sharing model, and that's really what the players want. So
they are seeking a revenue sharing model where their salaries
are linked to a percentage of revenue made by the league,
similar to the NBA, but the league's not meeting them
in that regard, so they are rebuttling or negotiating with
a difference.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
I love rebuttaling. That's a new one and stuff I'm into.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
That the league wants to retain the current system as
it stands, where there's a black salary cap plus revenue sharing,
but only if revenue hit certain targets. So, as per
reporting by the Athletic, the league responded by proposing a
new supermax contract of eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars,
whereas the current super MA is just Shive two fifty thousand.
(08:03):
So that is their counter to the revenue sharing, but
they are not budgeting per se on the revenue sharing
at this point.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
And I just want to give a little bit of
context on that revenue sharing stuff. So the NBA players
receive about fifty percent of the league's basketball related income
right now, players receive less than ten percent on the
WNBA side. Per the Athletic, again, who's done just some
incredible reporting on all of this. The current WNBA CBA
has a revenue sharing provision that potentially gives players seventeen
(08:34):
and a half percent of surplus revenue, but that surplus
revenue has never been achieved, and that's because of what
you were talking about in terms of there has to
be that threshold that the league itself can make, and
I think that Steph, I am really curious on the
player side, because I do think that they want the
w to thrive. I do think that they want to
(08:55):
continue to see its growth and that they understand the
business side of the NBA is not the WNBA, and
the way the CBA is set up should probably mimic
potentially more of that of the NWSL. I still think
that there's probably some flexibility on is there is it
on the profit side versus revenue side, and maybe there's
(09:16):
no cap. If it's on the profit side, maybe it's
a higher revenue or sorry, maybe it's a higher percentage
because it's based off of profit versus revenue.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
I don't really know.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I think what's hard to for so many of these
supermax contracts stuff is that there's only a certain percentage
of players that will get that supermax contract throughout the league,
and especially when we're looking at rookies in the WNBA.
Right now, you're looking at Page Beckers, You're looking at
(09:47):
people who just finish their sophomore season. In Caitlin Clark
and Angel Reese and Camilla Cardoso, they are making about
eighty thousand dollars and driving millions and millions and millions
of dollars to the w NBA, and so I think
what folks like a Stewie or a no Fista Collier
are saying is that, yeah, maybe that works for them
(10:08):
Steph as tenured veterans in the WNBA, but they're also
thinking about that generation coming in that's also bringing in
so much fandom from college and the brands that they've created,
that they're thinking about that more fulsomely from a business side,
I think than any other group of players before, because
it is different now because of social media and everything.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Yeah, that's a really good point. The leadership in the
Players Association is really sticking to the fact that it
is unfair that these rookies are bringing in a lot
of profit for the WNBA, bringing in a lot of
viewership and money, and they're not seeing any of that.
So that is why they are really sticking to the
revenue sharing model. And it's really awesome of them to
not just take the eight hundred and fifty Supermax and
(10:52):
move on, and they are really looking out for the
next generation of the WNBA.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
It's so tough that this always comes on to the players.
It feels like very similar stuff to the conversation with
the PWHL needing to be formed, and what the current
group of women's hockey players had to do and sacrifice
in order for the next generations too. I think all
to say, so many people have been messaging us of
is there going to be a lockout?
Speaker 1 (11:16):
What's happening? Do I think? I don't know? This is
a hot take.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Do I think that something's actually going to be done
over the next thirty days and that we're going to
one hundred percent have a confirmed WNBA season next year.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
I'm not bullish on it.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
I think that it's going to take more than this
thirty day extension. At the same time, I don't think
that there's going to be a lockout. The season doesn't
start until May.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
What I could actually see, Stef, is that we have
a CBA signed, sealed and delivered by December thirty first,
as opposed to November thirtieth.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
So if I was a betting woman, which actually I am,
that's what I would be betting on.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
I agree with you, and just for some contexts do
in the past, negotiations for the twenty twenty CBA took
until mid January into that thousand and three negotiations weren't
finalized until April, so there is truly plenty of time
before May. And I also agree, I don't think that
there's going to be a lockout. That's not saying that
we're not supporting that if it comes to that, but
just in terms of how much runway there is and
(12:14):
before season start, hoping that something can get settled before
the end of the year and if not, before the
season starts.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
This episode is supported by BIMO. NWSL Decision Day is
this Sunday, November two. It's the final day of the
regular season with all fourteen clubs in action fighting for
the remaining playoff spots.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
You know who else is coming in clutch when accounts,
that's BIMO.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
BIMO has committed to growing soccer in North America for
over twenty years, which is why they're founding partner of
Angel City FC. Learn more about how BIMO helps generations
of football listas shoot and score at our Soccer helped Usk,
which you can find in the show notes. One more time,
head over to the show notes, click on that Soccer
help Us link and go learn more about how BIMO
(12:57):
has helped generations of football listas.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
As we mentioned off the hop our one big story
is all about college football, and for good reason, it's
been one of the wackiest seasons in recent memory. Of course,
I'm sure someone could dig up in the history books
a more wackier season, But we're gonna go off of
our brains and what we're thinking right now. And today
we're chatting about the coaching carousel that simply will not
(13:29):
stop spinning as of today. So we're recording.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Wait, sorry, I do you just need to stop you.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
I am loving the lines that you have today off
of our brains rebuttaling, but not like there's been a few.
We're here today, it's a Wednesday, but maybe it feels
like a Friday in our brains, and so we're just
going off our Friday brains right now.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
It feels like a Friday.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Yeah, in our memory, in our generation, it feels wacky,
and it feels like we have to talk about it.
I also would say, Steff, part of the reason why
I feel so wacky coaching carousel. There's coaching carousels all
the time, right at the end of seasons. When we
think about the WNBA, we think about the NBA, when
we think about football, there's a lot of it's called
(14:11):
black Monday or like whatever it is. After the playoffs
are done or after the regular season, you see all
these NFL coaches get kicked out, all these pro league
coaches get kicked out.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
We're literally just at.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Halfway through the college football season and we're seeing all
of these college coaches get kicked out. And then the
second thing is, and another reason why I agree with
you on the wackiness is the scale of wackiness has
increased because these coaches are getting paid tens of millions
of dollars, and so they've always made good money, but
they are making great money. And I would say that
(14:44):
great money has kind of come in over the last
ten years and especially over the last five years. And
so when you're seeing contracts that are guaranteed and men
sitting there not working, but making fifty million dollars for
the next five years, that to me is what what
are we doing?
Speaker 1 (15:00):
What are we doing?
Speaker 3 (15:02):
So your thesis is it is wacky in our current
time and generation, but perhaps of all time because of
the fact that school is in session, classes are in session,
it's mid season, and the fact that there is so
much money on the line.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yes, and that's because it's been so frequent.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
It's been so frequent yet because as of today October
twenty ninth, twelve coaches have been fired, and there is
rumor that there are even more firings to come.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Yeah, So part of the reason why so many coaches
have been fired, at least what we think, is that
there has been so much parody in football this year stuff,
and this is I feel like we could have seen
this coming a little bit, but not to the full
extent that's happened, especially thinking about last season and where
(15:49):
things ended up in the SEC. So the Southeastern Conference
non football school stuff like Indiana and Vanderbilt are ascending
into College for ball playoffs, so that handful of teams
that make it at the national level to play at
the end of the season, they're potentially making it into
the college football Playoff, while perennial powerhouses like LSU and Florida,
(16:13):
which are huge schools in the SEC, have floundered.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
I want to stop there.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
I think we talked about this maybe in the last podcast,
but there's been so many I can't recall. Have you
watched I think it's called any Given Saturday on Netflix. No, okay, everyone,
please put that open up your notepad on your phone
right now, write down any given Saturday. If you are
new to college football, if you are trying to get
(16:39):
an understanding, if you're wondering why are we talking about
coaches as opposed to players, please go watch this on Netflix.
It was basically all about last season with college football,
dug into essentially all of most of these teams that
we are talking about today, dug into what the coaches
are like, what their philosophy is, how they're working with
(17:00):
all of these kids, the pressure, YadA, YadA, YadA, and
it's a really interesting look into the lives of a
college football coach.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
So please, any given Saturday. Is that what you said?
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Yeah, and I think that's right you wrote down. I
think that's right.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
I mean if I google it, I'm sure i'll come. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Netflix, Yeah, exactly, Netflix SEC Football, You'll be able to
find it.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
So, yeah, thank you for that intel there. She's always
got a doc to recommend, folks. That's what we know
and love her for. So let's zoom in and do
a quick case study on one of those traditionally non
football schools that are doing well. So let's talk about Indiana.
They hired Kurt Signetti in twenty twenty three. This guy
is from Virginia and literally nobody knew who he was,
(17:45):
and then the joke was on all of us. Though
he was coach of the Year last season, engineering one
of the best first year turnarounds in college football history.
One year later, they are undefeated, ranked number two in
the country, and have a clear path to a second
straight CALLG Football Playoff.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah, so, Indiana is a great example of climbing up
the ranks, and now they're number two in the AP.
So this is a feel good news story if you
back Indiana or if you're like, okay, I love a
feel good story. But for everyone else, with Indiana and
other teams doing so well, this has resulted in utter
(18:21):
pandemonium and what else say? With college football stuff and
the way that the rankings work, and especially in the
SEC and all that sort of stuff, you basically can
only lose one to two games in a season, even
two games, you're it's really going to be so hard
to make it to the college football Playoff.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
And that's why it's causing so much pandemonium.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Is that you better be damn well perfect if you
want to guarantee a place in the college football playoff,
and even then, because there's this whole ranking system and
people kind of evaluating team to team across conferences, you
still don't know if you're going to get in. Basically like,
nothing is guaranteed. So even if you're if one or
two teams are shaking it up, that means other teams
(19:01):
are losing an extra game than what they thought. Maybe
they go from losing one game to two games or
two games to three games, there goes their season.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
That's a lot of pressure.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
It's a lot of.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Pressure, and so we're seeing the season going earlier than
what we ever had before. And so there's all of
this parody. And I think part of the reason stuff
why I feel like we could kind of see it
coming is because of NIL. The recruiting methods are totally changing.
Players are going to schools that have way more money.
(19:31):
The other thing is.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Back in the day, back in the good old days.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
The transfer portal, if you transferred, you had to I
think it was wait a year until you could fully play,
and you had I think it was a limit of
two transfers while you were a college student, so you
weren't bouncing around every year.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Now you don't have that so.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Athletes are able to basically say, I like that coach,
I like that teammate, I think that this team is
going in the dumps, and they're saying, I'm actually leaving
Florida and going.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
To Indiana, no problem, and they'll go to do that.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
And then when I'm saying handful of teams for the college
football playoffs, there's eight teams now that made it, that
make it that changed last year, and so it does
keep teams in contention for longer as opposed to the
four gate, as opposed to the four team. So with
that a team, though, these these coaches are being fired
because they're they feel like they have there might be
(20:26):
a shot to correct things, even though I personally don't
think so.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Yeah, a mid a mid season amid so wild, that's
just so wild. But of course, all of this means
it's quite exciting for the schools, for the for the
fans of these these teams in these schools, but it's
coming at the expense of the perennial powerhouses, and it
is truly shaking up the college landscape, and as a result,
(20:51):
the coaching leashes are becoming shorter and shorter, particularly for
blue blood programs, and these powerhouses are investing tens of
millions of dollars in want to win now, but of
course the parody is making harder to do so because
they need to win now because of what everything Ellen
just said in terms of how much a loss counts
here or hurts here.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Yeah, it's it's brutal out there, to quote Olivia Rodrigo,
so a fun fact. And then I want to get
into this landscape kind of post firings. Over the last
two years of college football, the coaching carousel has chosen
absolute chaos for some SATs. A total of sixty one programs,
so that's a total of forty four point nine percent
(21:31):
of FBS teams have made coaches have made coaching changes
during that time. That's why bananas. Yeah almost, So that's
that's like kind of some context and where we're at.
And so now let's talk about these this landscape post firing.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
I think the firing that.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Is one of the biggest ones. Stef is Brian Kelly.
He was featured in this Netflix documentary. He was just
fired from LSU. He left Notre Dame for this massive
ten year contract with the Tigers. While the Notre Dame
fighting Irish were like still doing so well and he
is owed set so much in biot money And this
(22:15):
is what I really wanted to get into. So the
landscape post firings just include so much buyout or payout
money that these coaches still have left on the table,
that these schools still need to pay. So three coaches,
Brian Kelly, James Franklin, and Billy Napier account for almost
seventy five percent of the one hundred and sixty eight
(22:39):
million in buyout money. So Kelly fifty four million, Franklin
forty nine million, Billy twenty one million, and Brian Kelly,
Brian and Billy. Brian and Bill were first name basis
after watching any given Saturday.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
They were featured in the Netflix Hockey.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
See my Canadian brain is just blown, Like these are
schools just like great period, like no, like these are
schools paying for this, but like who's paying for this?
Who's footing the.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Bill of these buyers? This is wild to me, so.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Wild, right, Like it's the it's the NC double A system.
There's there's fan there's so the NC double A like
sports generates so much money for all of these schools,
right and then alumni donate so much money to these
schools because they want their team to win. Then there's
merch there's like nil collectives, all that sort of stuff,
(23:37):
like it is its own economy, essentially college sports and
in particular college football. And before I mean, who knows
what's gonna happen in terms of actually paying these athletes money,
But like the coaches are and were getting paid millions
and millions of dollars while these athletes weren't getting paid anything.
Jimbo Fisher stuff received more than seventy six million after
(23:57):
being fired by Texas A and M in twenty twenty six.
And so now I'm like, if I'm Brian Kelly, I
got fired from one of the toughest jobs in college football,
coaching for LSU, and you're telling me that I can
set my ass on a couch, put my feed up,
watch college football, watch the NFL, and get paid fifty
(24:19):
four million dollars for it.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Literally, sign me up, Sign me up, sign me up,
sign me up. Every single day of the week. What
is happening? Okay?
Speaker 3 (24:29):
I have found out that reportedly a single private donor
is paying the line share of Kelly's buy own So
there's also that that's wild to me, But they make.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Their donor to the school, right like, Still, ultimately it's yeah,
it might be this one massive donor who potentially had
sway in hiring Kelly, who knows what's happening there, But
it is ultimately the donor is to the school who
is choosing to pay these coaches so much money because stuff,
when they're winning programs, it's a cycle and that gets
(24:57):
more money.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Why would they be giving out these eight or ten
year contracts with giant sums of guaranteed money.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
They shouldn't.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
I really, they also are so happy and eager to
fire them.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
I think what's really hard is that the college landscape
is changing so fast. I also think that the coaching
landscape in general is changing so fast when we look
at Sorry, I'm going on.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
A total rant right now. This is what I think
the answer is.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
When we look at pro sports, and when we also
look at college sports, stuff players go to and are
recruited to schools because they love that coach. We look
at Don Staley, we look at Gino Aiama on the
women's basketball side of things. We look at coach k
on the men's basketball side of things. They have all
(25:44):
been coaching in their schools or coached in the case
of coach k for at least a decade, some of
them two decades, some of them three decades, and so
players go there because they love that coach coach, they
love their commitment to that school, and they are building
this brand in this case, and in college when you
(26:07):
only get them for four years and when you're growing
as an athlete but also as a person, you want
to be surrounded by that coach.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
And so the same thing sEH was happening in.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
College football, where people were going because they wanted to
play for Nick Saban, they wanted to play for Jimbo Fisher,
and they felt like that that they were going to
be there for four years, for five years, for six years,
whatever it is. Now, because of how much money these
coaches are making, but also because of NIL, because of
(26:38):
the transfer portal, all that sort of stuff, it's so
much harder for these coaches to hang on to their
jobs and hang on to their players. But the coaches
contracts were signed before all this NIL came in, before
these transfer portal rules came in, So we're almost dealing
with like old contracts and guaranteed money in the old
(26:58):
way college football used to work, while all of these
new things that completely changed the face of college sports
has come in since then. So it's this weird timing situation.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
I think the thing to like, the thing that I
get stuck on is firing doesn't necessarily feel like the
right solution to me. Obviously, I don't know these dudes,
and I don't know their performance, and I don't know
the intimate inner workings of these teams in these schools,
but hiring a new capable coach, especially mid season, has
to be difficult. The athletic did say that there are
(27:31):
far more college football jobs on the market than quality
coaches that are available to fill them. To me, it's
just such a wild position.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
To put yourself in.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
I don't know. But again, I'm very risk adverse.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Yeah, you and me wouldn't be college coaches in the
first Well, now I'm reconsidering it.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Now I can say I think you might have accrued.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Let's go out there like.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
I'm ready to be an defensive coordinator, maybe not the
head coach, but if I could pocket a few million,
maybe that's maybe That's what I'm doing after this stuff.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
I don't know, After this pot. Okay, so I'm.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Gonna be opening up ar Alan, Yeah exactly, hire me,
dm me.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
But I think.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
Is there a winner here, like there is there a
positive spin on this or is there anyone who's coming
out on top because of all of this meths?
Speaker 1 (28:16):
I personally actually don't think so.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
I think some might say, oh, Bill Belichick, because he
left the NFL, he's back in college. He had a
really shitty start all this dramas happening, but now his
team is like back in the mix of college football
with the UNC tar Heels. I personally don't think anyone wins.
I think what needs to happen is for any new
contracts as we're thinking about coaches, there needs to not
(28:41):
be that guaranteed some of money. There needs to be
a reset on how coaches are being paid so that
it actually does line up with how the college landscape
has changed altogether. It's just it's this weird time, I think,
and I think that that's gonna be hard to wrap
your heads around, because there are gonna be coaches that
do stay with their schools for a really long time
(29:02):
and are fantastic, but it's just not the way the world.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
They think anymore.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
It's time for our personal training sessh. This is the
last segment of the podcast, and this is where we
answer your heart hitting questions about anything, and we mean
anything in the sports world, and alternatively, where we showcase
a hot take or an opinion of yourself that you
want to share with the world, or one of your opinions.
I can't talk today, folks.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Sorry, it's okay. You're too excited for the Jay's game.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
So we had a hot take on Tuesday. Fast forward
to Thursday, we have another hot take, and this hot
take is in response to the other hot take, which
A I love it when justters are able to connect
through the podcast, but also B I don't know if
you all heard, but we launched this little thing called
the Just Plus, which is a safe space and community
for gisters like yourself to be able to connect on
(29:58):
discord and through content have access to all of these perks,
and I feel like this is exactly the conversation that
we were hoping for and looking for would happen with
the Just Plus and on this discord. So if you're
looking to become a member, go to the justsports dot com,
click on the Just Plus and learn more.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
I'd love to see you over there. I'm obsessed with
the discord.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Anyway, Today we had Molly dms on Instagram with her
own hot take following our discussion about classy athletes on
the last podcast. So, Steph, do you want to share
what Molly said?
Speaker 3 (30:32):
Okay, so Molly said quote ooh, okay, hockey being the
classiest sport. I think hockey is just the most Canadian sport.
I think there are parallels here with Canadian culture appearing
wholesome and classy, slush polite on the surface, but if
you pull back the curtain, it can be super toxic.
And then in parentheses residential schools sixty scoop which refers
to a terrible thing that the government did. If you
(30:54):
haven't heard about that, please google going back to her quote, etc.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Etc.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
On the Canada side, locker room culture on the hockey side,
and parentheses. Tbh. I love hockey a lot, but coming
on the heels of Connects fan favorite Ryan Kessler being
charged with fourth degree criminal sexual conduct not a ton
of details, but what has been revealed our sickening. I
have a really hard time describing hockey as classy with
so many examples of hockey boys specifically being the worst people.
(31:19):
End quote.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
I love that we're starting discussions. I think that this
is so much fun.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
I feel like I'm in a university class discussing tutory things. Yeah,
I think that there's also I think what's hard in
all of this too, is like classy as an adjective,
and what that means to everybody, what we're thinking about
on ice versus off ice, what we can see as fans,
what we don't see as fans, and what that all
(31:46):
means to each person we're saying.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Yeah, I think that word itself classy can be really
charged to historically with all of the various intersections of
one's personality and one's personhood. So I think that that
itself too, you can't really ignore the hit historical context,
so it's really hard to always use and choose the
best words. As you guys know, I've been fumbling over
my words today when we're talking about sportsmanship and all
(32:10):
that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
So I do.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
I do think it is an important part of this
discussion and why I had such a hard time speaking
highly of hockey players on our Tuesday podcast because because
of all of this toxic masculinity that happens in the background.
It's really really, really hard for me to ever really
root for male hockey players, which is why I'm so
glad that the p WHL exists, and which is why
(32:32):
I'm so getting into so many other sports like football
and well basketball and baseball. Anyway. Yeah, it's really, really, really,
really tough when you look about the historical context of
how hockey has been used in nation building for Canada,
and of course not all the athletes in the NHL
are Canadian, but it's a very Canadian sport.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Mm hmm hmm. I really don't have much, Chad, Sorry, no, no,
I think it's I think it's good. Thank you, Evan,
Thank you Mollie. Yeah, thank you for both of your
hot takes. We love it. We love this discussion.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
If you want to be featured on a future episode,
Hot take, question, comment, concern, call us, leave us a voicemail.
You all have beautiful voices one four three seven five
six four five five seven nine Email us at pod
at sports dot com, message me and stuff on Instagram.
I'm Ellen at the Gist, not Alan Ellen, and Steph
is at Stephanie Rotts also too. If you haven't heard
(33:31):
yourself yet, but you've submitted one.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Don't worry.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
We just have a log that we're going through and
want to make sure that different things are timely for
discussions as well. But I think that mark Sana today's episode.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Thank you so much for tuning in. We'll be back
in your feed with the new podcast on Tuesday. We're
not taking another break, I promise. In the meantime, if
you enjoyed today's episode, we would absolutely love if you
could rate, review, and subscribe.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
This episode was edited by Savanna Howeld and produced by
Lisa Manttilo, Aleisandra Puccio, and Katie Keijo Foster.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
Again, I'm in his lap
Speaker 3 (34:01):
And I'm sef Rots, and we will be in your
feed on Tuesday.
What's up, y'all?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Welcome or welcome back to another episode of The Gist
of It. Today is Thursday, October thirtieth. We're your co hosts.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
I'm Ellen Hyslop and I'm Steph Rot's Steph.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Do you have plans for Halloween?
Speaker 3 (00:20):
I'm going to give out candy for the first time
ever as an adult.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Oh my gosh, do you know how many kids you're
expected to get at your house?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
No, I have no idea. So I'm gonna overshoot with candy,
and whatever I don't give out, it's mine.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
What type of candy are you planning?
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Are you a chocolate house or your sweet house or
your savory house?
Speaker 1 (00:36):
What's the vibe?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
I was gonna get my favorite candy. So they come
in different boxes, right of like sweets of types of
candies and brands of candy, And so I was going
to get the one that includes the Reese's peanut butter
cup because I forgot about peanut allergies. And then your
friend and now my friend has a peanut allergy in
and so now I'm wondering if I should shift to
get a peanut free box for the children.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Can I tell you something that we had to do
in our household growing up that maybe will make you
feel better. Yes, So my sister very very allergic to
peanuts always has been still, Oh yes, very very allergic.
Me not allergic. My dad and I absolute assholes. Turns
out we ate peanut butter in front of her entire life,
(01:20):
like we were playing with fire, and we really didn't
realize it, and looking back, I go, oh, my god,
so sorry, Leah. But my dad and I love peanuts
and peanut butter, and so at the end of the night, Steph,
what we would do, because I was such a good
older sister who didn't want my little sister to die,
is we would both dump out our candy from whatever
(01:42):
bag we had, and we would sort it into different groups.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
And then Leah and I.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Would negotiate what I would take for her from the
peanut butter side, and then what she would be able
to get from mine. So there's always going to be
a way that the peanut butter gets eaten, is what
I'm saying, so that you can have it later.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Wow, your negotiating skills go way back. They negotiator by
the way, folks, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Thank you so much. You always have to negotiate.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Whenever people give prices, I go, m I think there's
a few dollars that you can shave off. You always
have to negotiate, so maybe I'd say, though there's maybe
peanut allergies are more prevalent, So if you did only
one or two boxes of those or stuff, just.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Get your just get a box for yourself and.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Then give away you know, the the Mars bars, the
non peanut things instead.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Yeah. I think I'm gonna do one little bag of
peanut free items and then a big box of what
what I want.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
And other kids choose to choose.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah, yeah, because they probably want to eat some stuff
at home that they can't bring into school either. I
love the sour patch kids, the cherry blasters, the fuzzy peaches.
That's where I live right now, and so I think
that's what I'm going to get all.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Of these kids.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Have you had any cravings?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
No, I've had a lot of aversions, a lot of things.
I don't like anything I make.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
I hate it, So I've stopped making food.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
I love meal, prepping salads, I love making salads. I
haven't touched salad since about week ten unless it's made
by somebody else, and I.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Love that for me.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Actually, what are you doing on Halloween.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Giving out candy? For sure?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
But you know what, I loved the post not to
tutor own tutor, but I really loved our post on
social outlining how you could dress up for Halloween as
a sports fan. And the Asia Wilson dress up was
amazing with the long pink wig and the Asia outfit
and the one leg legging.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
I thought that that was genius.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
And I'm really excited to see how many Asia Wilson's
are out there this Halloween.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
So you're not going to dress up as Rihanna at
the super Bowl halftime, or you're not going to capitalize
on any of those iconic moments.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Let me get back to you.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Okay, nowhere to be, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
What I mean? The only place I'll have to be
is watching Game six of the World Series. Because we
are now guaranteed Game six of the World Series. Steph
and I are recording at the very beginning of Game five,
so we don't know of La or Toronto one. So everyone,
as we like to say, google it, and actually you
shouldn't even need to google it. Watch the game and
just see what happens because the World Series has been
(04:27):
absolutely electric, So I think, Steph, that's the hard part
is I'll dress up as a baseball player.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Yeah, You're not gonna dress up as is the Lorax,
that orange character with the big belly. Yes, yeah, I
saw one pregnant person on Taka Do that.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
That's iconic. Yeah, that would be the type that I
would go for.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Yeah, of course.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
So there's a lot going on in the World Series
that unfortunately we can't get to. But there's also so
much going on in the world of college football. And
we talk about college football once in a while here,
we talk about it a lot more in our newsletters,
So if you're college football fan, go and subscribe to
our newsletter at the jirsports dot com.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
But one thing that I've really.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Been following this season, Steph, is the coaching chaos. And
a part of the reason why I've been following the
coaching chaos is because, as we talked about, I love
negotiating every single dollar matters. I'm very frugal, and right now,
the way that these coaches are getting paid for not
coaching because of the way their contracts are being terminated
(05:28):
is absolute mayhem and madness to me, and the coaching
carousel will not stop, and we need to talk about it.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Hm.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
I'm so excited to dig into all of that and
how it's shaping college football and potentially going to continue
to shape college football for a couple of seasons in
the next few years.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yeah, it's wild.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
We think about teams in college football in the top
twenty five or the AP Top twenty kind of things,
and then that's who kind of ultimately makes it to
the college Football Playoff based off of all these different
rankings that we've talked about on the podcast before.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
It has to be. It's a little bit tough in
college football, right because there's so.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Many teams, they all play in different conferences, but ultimately
only a handful of teams actually make it to the
college football Playoff. What's wild, stuph is that three coaches
in the AP preseason Top twenty five teams were acts
in recent weeks. So something is in the water and
some of these top teams are not winning anymore. So
maybe that also means some parody in college football. But
(06:30):
before we get started, I know that you want to
call an audible because it's talking about one of your
favorite things, and that's labor in sports.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Yeah, and negotiations, that's your favorite thing. Oh my god,
something that that would be terrible at. So we do
need to give you guys an update about the WNBA
CBA negotiations because if you know where we're at, we're
talking about Halloween. So October thirty versus is fast approaching,
and that is the deadline.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Li early Friday, literally tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Literally tomorrow, and they will not reach an agreement by
their October thirty first deadline date. So a lot has
happened and a lot has not happened. The league has
offered the players a thirty day extension to continue negotiations,
and in terms of why they haven't reached a deal yet,
sources believe that the league and the players are still
at an impasse when it comes to a new revenue
(07:19):
sharing model, and that's really what the players want. So
they are seeking a revenue sharing model where their salaries
are linked to a percentage of revenue made by the league,
similar to the NBA, but the league's not meeting them
in that regard, so they are rebuttling or negotiating with
a difference.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
I love rebuttaling. That's a new one and stuff I'm into.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
That the league wants to retain the current system as
it stands, where there's a black salary cap plus revenue sharing,
but only if revenue hit certain targets. So, as per
reporting by the Athletic, the league responded by proposing a
new supermax contract of eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars,
whereas the current super MA is just Shive two fifty thousand.
(08:03):
So that is their counter to the revenue sharing, but
they are not budgeting per se on the revenue sharing
at this point.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
And I just want to give a little bit of
context on that revenue sharing stuff. So the NBA players
receive about fifty percent of the league's basketball related income
right now, players receive less than ten percent on the
WNBA side. Per the Athletic, again, who's done just some
incredible reporting on all of this. The current WNBA CBA
has a revenue sharing provision that potentially gives players seventeen
(08:34):
and a half percent of surplus revenue, but that surplus
revenue has never been achieved, and that's because of what
you were talking about in terms of there has to
be that threshold that the league itself can make, and
I think that Steph, I am really curious on the
player side, because I do think that they want the
w to thrive. I do think that they want to
(08:55):
continue to see its growth and that they understand the
business side of the NBA is not the WNBA, and
the way the CBA is set up should probably mimic
potentially more of that of the NWSL. I still think
that there's probably some flexibility on is there is it
on the profit side versus revenue side, and maybe there's
(09:16):
no cap. If it's on the profit side, maybe it's
a higher revenue or sorry, maybe it's a higher percentage
because it's based off of profit versus revenue.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
I don't really know.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I think what's hard to for so many of these
supermax contracts stuff is that there's only a certain percentage
of players that will get that supermax contract throughout the league,
and especially when we're looking at rookies in the WNBA.
Right now, you're looking at Page Beckers, You're looking at
(09:47):
people who just finish their sophomore season. In Caitlin Clark
and Angel Reese and Camilla Cardoso, they are making about
eighty thousand dollars and driving millions and millions and millions
of dollars to the w NBA, and so I think
what folks like a Stewie or a no Fista Collier
are saying is that, yeah, maybe that works for them
(10:08):
Steph as tenured veterans in the WNBA, but they're also
thinking about that generation coming in that's also bringing in
so much fandom from college and the brands that they've created,
that they're thinking about that more fulsomely from a business side,
I think than any other group of players before, because
it is different now because of social media and everything.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Yeah, that's a really good point. The leadership in the
Players Association is really sticking to the fact that it
is unfair that these rookies are bringing in a lot
of profit for the WNBA, bringing in a lot of
viewership and money, and they're not seeing any of that.
So that is why they are really sticking to the
revenue sharing model. And it's really awesome of them to
not just take the eight hundred and fifty Supermax and
(10:52):
move on, and they are really looking out for the
next generation of the WNBA.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
It's so tough that this always comes on to the players.
It feels like very similar stuff to the conversation with
the PWHL needing to be formed, and what the current
group of women's hockey players had to do and sacrifice
in order for the next generations too. I think all
to say, so many people have been messaging us of
is there going to be a lockout?
Speaker 1 (11:16):
What's happening? Do I think? I don't know? This is
a hot take.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Do I think that something's actually going to be done
over the next thirty days and that we're going to
one hundred percent have a confirmed WNBA season next year.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
I'm not bullish on it.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
I think that it's going to take more than this
thirty day extension. At the same time, I don't think
that there's going to be a lockout. The season doesn't
start until May.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
What I could actually see, Stef, is that we have
a CBA signed, sealed and delivered by December thirty first,
as opposed to November thirtieth.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
So if I was a betting woman, which actually I am,
that's what I would be betting on.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
I agree with you, and just for some contexts do
in the past, negotiations for the twenty twenty CBA took
until mid January into that thousand and three negotiations weren't
finalized until April, so there is truly plenty of time
before May. And I also agree, I don't think that
there's going to be a lockout. That's not saying that
we're not supporting that if it comes to that, but
just in terms of how much runway there is and
(12:14):
before season start, hoping that something can get settled before
the end of the year and if not, before the
season starts.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
This episode is supported by BIMO. NWSL Decision Day is
this Sunday, November two. It's the final day of the
regular season with all fourteen clubs in action fighting for
the remaining playoff spots.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
You know who else is coming in clutch when accounts,
that's BIMO.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
BIMO has committed to growing soccer in North America for
over twenty years, which is why they're founding partner of
Angel City FC. Learn more about how BIMO helps generations
of football listas shoot and score at our Soccer helped Usk,
which you can find in the show notes. One more time,
head over to the show notes, click on that Soccer
help Us link and go learn more about how BIMO
(12:57):
has helped generations of football listas.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
As we mentioned off the hop our one big story
is all about college football, and for good reason, it's
been one of the wackiest seasons in recent memory. Of course,
I'm sure someone could dig up in the history books
a more wackier season, But we're gonna go off of
our brains and what we're thinking right now. And today
we're chatting about the coaching carousel that simply will not
(13:29):
stop spinning as of today. So we're recording.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Wait, sorry, I do you just need to stop you.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
I am loving the lines that you have today off
of our brains rebuttaling, but not like there's been a few.
We're here today, it's a Wednesday, but maybe it feels
like a Friday in our brains, and so we're just
going off our Friday brains right now.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
It feels like a Friday.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Yeah, in our memory, in our generation, it feels wacky,
and it feels like we have to talk about it.
I also would say, Steff, part of the reason why
I feel so wacky coaching carousel. There's coaching carousels all
the time, right at the end of seasons. When we
think about the WNBA, we think about the NBA, when
we think about football, there's a lot of it's called
(14:11):
black Monday or like whatever it is. After the playoffs
are done or after the regular season, you see all
these NFL coaches get kicked out, all these pro league
coaches get kicked out.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
We're literally just at.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Halfway through the college football season and we're seeing all
of these college coaches get kicked out. And then the
second thing is, and another reason why I agree with
you on the wackiness is the scale of wackiness has
increased because these coaches are getting paid tens of millions
of dollars, and so they've always made good money, but
they are making great money. And I would say that
(14:44):
great money has kind of come in over the last
ten years and especially over the last five years. And
so when you're seeing contracts that are guaranteed and men
sitting there not working, but making fifty million dollars for
the next five years, that to me is what what
are we doing?
Speaker 1 (15:00):
What are we doing?
Speaker 3 (15:02):
So your thesis is it is wacky in our current
time and generation, but perhaps of all time because of
the fact that school is in session, classes are in session,
it's mid season, and the fact that there is so
much money on the line.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yes, and that's because it's been so frequent.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
It's been so frequent yet because as of today October
twenty ninth, twelve coaches have been fired, and there is
rumor that there are even more firings to come.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
Yeah, So part of the reason why so many coaches
have been fired, at least what we think, is that
there has been so much parody in football this year stuff,
and this is I feel like we could have seen
this coming a little bit, but not to the full
extent that's happened, especially thinking about last season and where
(15:49):
things ended up in the SEC. So the Southeastern Conference
non football school stuff like Indiana and Vanderbilt are ascending
into College for ball playoffs, so that handful of teams
that make it at the national level to play at
the end of the season, they're potentially making it into
the college football Playoff, while perennial powerhouses like LSU and Florida,
(16:13):
which are huge schools in the SEC, have floundered.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
I want to stop there.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
I think we talked about this maybe in the last podcast,
but there's been so many I can't recall. Have you
watched I think it's called any Given Saturday on Netflix. No, okay, everyone,
please put that open up your notepad on your phone
right now, write down any given Saturday. If you are
new to college football, if you are trying to get
(16:39):
an understanding, if you're wondering why are we talking about
coaches as opposed to players, please go watch this on Netflix.
It was basically all about last season with college football,
dug into essentially all of most of these teams that
we are talking about today, dug into what the coaches
are like, what their philosophy is, how they're working with
(17:00):
all of these kids, the pressure, YadA, YadA, YadA, and
it's a really interesting look into the lives of a
college football coach.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
So please, any given Saturday. Is that what you said?
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Yeah, and I think that's right you wrote down. I
think that's right.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
I mean if I google it, I'm sure i'll come. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Netflix, Yeah, exactly, Netflix SEC Football, You'll be able to
find it.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
So, yeah, thank you for that intel there. She's always
got a doc to recommend, folks. That's what we know
and love her for. So let's zoom in and do
a quick case study on one of those traditionally non
football schools that are doing well. So let's talk about Indiana.
They hired Kurt Signetti in twenty twenty three. This guy
is from Virginia and literally nobody knew who he was,
(17:45):
and then the joke was on all of us. Though
he was coach of the Year last season, engineering one
of the best first year turnarounds in college football history.
One year later, they are undefeated, ranked number two in
the country, and have a clear path to a second
straight CALLG Football Playoff.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Yeah, so, Indiana is a great example of climbing up
the ranks, and now they're number two in the AP.
So this is a feel good news story if you
back Indiana or if you're like, okay, I love a
feel good story. But for everyone else, with Indiana and
other teams doing so well, this has resulted in utter
(18:21):
pandemonium and what else say? With college football stuff and
the way that the rankings work, and especially in the
SEC and all that sort of stuff, you basically can
only lose one to two games in a season, even
two games, you're it's really going to be so hard
to make it to the college football Playoff.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
And that's why it's causing so much pandemonium.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Is that you better be damn well perfect if you
want to guarantee a place in the college football playoff,
and even then, because there's this whole ranking system and
people kind of evaluating team to team across conferences, you
still don't know if you're going to get in. Basically like,
nothing is guaranteed. So even if you're if one or
two teams are shaking it up, that means other teams
(19:01):
are losing an extra game than what they thought. Maybe
they go from losing one game to two games or
two games to three games, there goes their season.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
That's a lot of pressure.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
It's a lot of.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Pressure, and so we're seeing the season going earlier than
what we ever had before. And so there's all of
this parody. And I think part of the reason stuff
why I feel like we could kind of see it
coming is because of NIL. The recruiting methods are totally changing.
Players are going to schools that have way more money.
(19:31):
The other thing is.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Back in the day, back in the good old days.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
The transfer portal, if you transferred, you had to I
think it was wait a year until you could fully play,
and you had I think it was a limit of
two transfers while you were a college student, so you
weren't bouncing around every year.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Now you don't have that so.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Athletes are able to basically say, I like that coach,
I like that teammate, I think that this team is
going in the dumps, and they're saying, I'm actually leaving
Florida and going.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
To Indiana, no problem, and they'll go to do that.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
And then when I'm saying handful of teams for the college
football playoffs, there's eight teams now that made it, that
make it that changed last year, and so it does
keep teams in contention for longer as opposed to the
four gate, as opposed to the four team. So with
that a team, though, these these coaches are being fired
because they're they feel like they have there might be
(20:26):
a shot to correct things, even though I personally don't
think so.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Yeah, a mid a mid season amid so wild, that's
just so wild. But of course, all of this means
it's quite exciting for the schools, for the for the
fans of these these teams in these schools, but it's
coming at the expense of the perennial powerhouses, and it
is truly shaking up the college landscape, and as a result,
(20:51):
the coaching leashes are becoming shorter and shorter, particularly for
blue blood programs, and these powerhouses are investing tens of
millions of dollars in want to win now, but of
course the parody is making harder to do so because
they need to win now because of what everything Ellen
just said in terms of how much a loss counts
here or hurts here.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Yeah, it's it's brutal out there, to quote Olivia Rodrigo,
so a fun fact. And then I want to get
into this landscape kind of post firings. Over the last
two years of college football, the coaching carousel has chosen
absolute chaos for some SATs. A total of sixty one programs,
so that's a total of forty four point nine percent
(21:31):
of FBS teams have made coaches have made coaching changes
during that time. That's why bananas. Yeah almost, So that's
that's like kind of some context and where we're at.
And so now let's talk about these this landscape post firing.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
I think the firing that.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Is one of the biggest ones. Stef is Brian Kelly.
He was featured in this Netflix documentary. He was just
fired from LSU. He left Notre Dame for this massive
ten year contract with the Tigers. While the Notre Dame
fighting Irish were like still doing so well and he
is owed set so much in biot money And this
(22:15):
is what I really wanted to get into. So the
landscape post firings just include so much buyout or payout
money that these coaches still have left on the table,
that these schools still need to pay. So three coaches,
Brian Kelly, James Franklin, and Billy Napier account for almost
seventy five percent of the one hundred and sixty eight
(22:39):
million in buyout money. So Kelly fifty four million, Franklin
forty nine million, Billy twenty one million, and Brian Kelly,
Brian and Billy. Brian and Bill were first name basis
after watching any given Saturday.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
They were featured in the Netflix Hockey.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
See my Canadian brain is just blown, Like these are
schools just like great period, like no, like these are
schools paying for this, but like who's paying for this?
Who's footing the.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Bill of these buyers? This is wild to me, so.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Wild, right, Like it's the it's the NC double A system.
There's there's fan there's so the NC double A like
sports generates so much money for all of these schools,
right and then alumni donate so much money to these
schools because they want their team to win. Then there's
merch there's like nil collectives, all that sort of stuff,
(23:37):
like it is its own economy, essentially college sports and
in particular college football. And before I mean, who knows
what's gonna happen in terms of actually paying these athletes money,
But like the coaches are and were getting paid millions
and millions of dollars while these athletes weren't getting paid anything.
Jimbo Fisher stuff received more than seventy six million after
(23:57):
being fired by Texas A and M in twenty twenty six.
And so now I'm like, if I'm Brian Kelly, I
got fired from one of the toughest jobs in college football,
coaching for LSU, and you're telling me that I can
set my ass on a couch, put my feed up,
watch college football, watch the NFL, and get paid fifty
(24:19):
four million dollars for it.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Literally, sign me up, Sign me up, sign me up,
sign me up. Every single day of the week. What
is happening? Okay?
Speaker 3 (24:29):
I have found out that reportedly a single private donor
is paying the line share of Kelly's buy own So
there's also that that's wild to me, But they make.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Their donor to the school, right like, Still, ultimately it's yeah,
it might be this one massive donor who potentially had
sway in hiring Kelly, who knows what's happening there, But
it is ultimately the donor is to the school who
is choosing to pay these coaches so much money because stuff,
when they're winning programs, it's a cycle and that gets
(24:57):
more money.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
Why would they be giving out these eight or ten
year contracts with giant sums of guaranteed money.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
They shouldn't.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
I really, they also are so happy and eager to
fire them.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
I think what's really hard is that the college landscape
is changing so fast. I also think that the coaching
landscape in general is changing so fast when we look
at Sorry, I'm going on.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
A total rant right now. This is what I think
the answer is.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
When we look at pro sports, and when we also
look at college sports, stuff players go to and are
recruited to schools because they love that coach. We look
at Don Staley, we look at Gino Aiama on the
women's basketball side of things. We look at coach k
on the men's basketball side of things. They have all
(25:44):
been coaching in their schools or coached in the case
of coach k for at least a decade, some of
them two decades, some of them three decades, and so
players go there because they love that coach coach, they
love their commitment to that school, and they are building
this brand in this case, and in college when you
(26:07):
only get them for four years and when you're growing
as an athlete but also as a person, you want
to be surrounded by that coach.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
And so the same thing sEH was happening in.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
College football, where people were going because they wanted to
play for Nick Saban, they wanted to play for Jimbo Fisher,
and they felt like that that they were going to
be there for four years, for five years, for six years,
whatever it is. Now, because of how much money these
coaches are making, but also because of NIL, because of
(26:38):
the transfer portal, all that sort of stuff, it's so
much harder for these coaches to hang on to their
jobs and hang on to their players. But the coaches
contracts were signed before all this NIL came in, before
these transfer portal rules came in, So we're almost dealing
with like old contracts and guaranteed money in the old
(26:58):
way college football used to work, while all of these
new things that completely changed the face of college sports
has come in since then. So it's this weird timing situation.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
I think the thing to like, the thing that I
get stuck on is firing doesn't necessarily feel like the
right solution to me. Obviously, I don't know these dudes,
and I don't know their performance, and I don't know
the intimate inner workings of these teams in these schools,
but hiring a new capable coach, especially mid season, has
to be difficult. The athletic did say that there are
(27:31):
far more college football jobs on the market than quality
coaches that are available to fill them. To me, it's
just such a wild position.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
To put yourself in.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
I don't know. But again, I'm very risk adverse.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Yeah, you and me wouldn't be college coaches in the
first Well, now I'm reconsidering it.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Now I can say I think you might have accrued.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Let's go out there like.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
I'm ready to be an defensive coordinator, maybe not the
head coach, but if I could pocket a few million,
maybe that's maybe That's what I'm doing after this stuff.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
I don't know, After this pot. Okay, so I'm.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Gonna be opening up ar Alan, Yeah exactly, hire me,
dm me.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
But I think.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
Is there a winner here, like there is there a
positive spin on this or is there anyone who's coming
out on top because of all of this meths?
Speaker 1 (28:16):
I personally actually don't think so.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
I think some might say, oh, Bill Belichick, because he
left the NFL, he's back in college. He had a
really shitty start all this dramas happening, but now his
team is like back in the mix of college football
with the UNC tar Heels. I personally don't think anyone wins.
I think what needs to happen is for any new
contracts as we're thinking about coaches, there needs to not
(28:41):
be that guaranteed some of money. There needs to be
a reset on how coaches are being paid so that
it actually does line up with how the college landscape
has changed altogether. It's just it's this weird time, I think,
and I think that that's gonna be hard to wrap
your heads around, because there are gonna be coaches that
do stay with their schools for a really long time
(29:02):
and are fantastic, but it's just not the way the world.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
They think anymore.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
It's time for our personal training sessh. This is the
last segment of the podcast, and this is where we
answer your heart hitting questions about anything, and we mean
anything in the sports world, and alternatively, where we showcase
a hot take or an opinion of yourself that you
want to share with the world, or one of your opinions.
I can't talk today, folks.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Sorry, it's okay. You're too excited for the Jay's game.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
So we had a hot take on Tuesday. Fast forward
to Thursday, we have another hot take, and this hot
take is in response to the other hot take, which
A I love it when justters are able to connect
through the podcast, but also B I don't know if
you all heard, but we launched this little thing called
the Just Plus, which is a safe space and community
for gisters like yourself to be able to connect on
(29:58):
discord and through content have access to all of these perks,
and I feel like this is exactly the conversation that
we were hoping for and looking for would happen with
the Just Plus and on this discord. So if you're
looking to become a member, go to the justsports dot com,
click on the Just Plus and learn more.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
I'd love to see you over there. I'm obsessed with
the discord.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Anyway, Today we had Molly dms on Instagram with her
own hot take following our discussion about classy athletes on
the last podcast. So, Steph, do you want to share
what Molly said?
Speaker 3 (30:32):
Okay, so Molly said quote ooh, okay, hockey being the
classiest sport. I think hockey is just the most Canadian sport.
I think there are parallels here with Canadian culture appearing
wholesome and classy, slush polite on the surface, but if
you pull back the curtain, it can be super toxic.
And then in parentheses residential schools sixty scoop which refers
to a terrible thing that the government did. If you
(30:54):
haven't heard about that, please google going back to her quote, etc.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Etc.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
On the Canada side, locker room culture on the hockey side,
and parentheses. Tbh. I love hockey a lot, but coming
on the heels of Connects fan favorite Ryan Kessler being
charged with fourth degree criminal sexual conduct not a ton
of details, but what has been revealed our sickening. I
have a really hard time describing hockey as classy with
so many examples of hockey boys specifically being the worst people.
(31:19):
End quote.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
I love that we're starting discussions. I think that this
is so much fun.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
I feel like I'm in a university class discussing tutory things. Yeah,
I think that there's also I think what's hard in
all of this too, is like classy as an adjective,
and what that means to everybody, what we're thinking about
on ice versus off ice, what we can see as fans,
what we don't see as fans, and what that all
(31:46):
means to each person we're saying.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
Yeah, I think that word itself classy can be really
charged to historically with all of the various intersections of
one's personality and one's personhood. So I think that that
itself too, you can't really ignore the hit historical context,
so it's really hard to always use and choose the
best words. As you guys know, I've been fumbling over
my words today when we're talking about sportsmanship and all
(32:10):
that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
So I do.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
I do think it is an important part of this
discussion and why I had such a hard time speaking
highly of hockey players on our Tuesday podcast because because
of all of this toxic masculinity that happens in the background.
It's really really, really hard for me to ever really
root for male hockey players, which is why I'm so
glad that the p WHL exists, and which is why
(32:32):
I'm so getting into so many other sports like football
and well basketball and baseball. Anyway. Yeah, it's really, really, really,
really tough when you look about the historical context of
how hockey has been used in nation building for Canada,
and of course not all the athletes in the NHL
are Canadian, but it's a very Canadian sport.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Mm hmm hmm. I really don't have much, Chad, Sorry, no, no,
I think it's I think it's good. Thank you, Evan,
Thank you Mollie. Yeah, thank you for both of your
hot takes. We love it. We love this discussion.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
If you want to be featured on a future episode,
Hot take, question, comment, concern, call us, leave us a voicemail.
You all have beautiful voices one four three seven five
six four five five seven nine Email us at pod
at sports dot com, message me and stuff on Instagram.
I'm Ellen at the Gist, not Alan Ellen, and Steph
is at Stephanie Rotts also too. If you haven't heard
(33:31):
yourself yet, but you've submitted one.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Don't worry.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
We just have a log that we're going through and
want to make sure that different things are timely for
discussions as well. But I think that mark Sana today's episode.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Thank you so much for tuning in. We'll be back
in your feed with the new podcast on Tuesday. We're
not taking another break, I promise. In the meantime, if
you enjoyed today's episode, we would absolutely love if you
could rate, review, and subscribe.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
This episode was edited by Savanna Howeld and produced by
Lisa Manttilo, Aleisandra Puccio, and Katie Keijo Foster.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
Again, I'm in his lap
Speaker 3 (34:01):
And I'm sef Rots, and we will be in your
feed on Tuesday.
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