January 20, 2021 • 38 mins
Clay Travis recaps the morning's top stories and asks the crew about China and the NBA after news of China's classification was released. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey joins Outkick and has an honest conversation with Clay about the trials and tribulations of the crazy COVID season that just wrapped up. Clay also asks Sankey his thoughts about college basketball and more. Plus, breaking news as Philip Rivers announces his retirement
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
OutKick the Coverage with Clay Travis live every weekday morning
from six to nine a m. E Stern three to
six am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local
station for OutKick the Coverage at Fox Sports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every morning on the I Heart
Radio app by searching fs are you're listening to Fox
(00:23):
Sports Radio? Getting ready? The commissioner at the Southeastern Conference,
Greg sank He's gonna join us next thanks to Shannon Spake.
Encourage you guys to be using the OutKick hashtag to
react to the show. A lot of you weighing in
their hashtag OutKick again, Uh and uh and pop let
(00:43):
us know where you're listening and how many texts it
would take. And Danny g you guys just had a
police chase end outside the main studio there in Sherman Oaks, California. Yeah,
you know, one of the things l A is famous
for our police chases, and one just ended in Sherman Oaks, California.
Here right outside at our studios, you can see all
the sirens. And we had a gentleman walk into our
(01:04):
studio a couple of minutes ago and he told us, hey, Uh,
the guy that comes in to to run the Dan
Patrick Show might be late because you can't access your
building right now. Just heads up. So, yeah, we're don't
have all the details, but the chase ended right here
outside the studios. Yeah, that's pretty Uh, that's pretty wacky.
That's pretty wild. So speaking of wacky and wild, um
(01:24):
positive story for the a f C Championship game. If
you have not heard Dr David Chow, who is our
medical expert, usually we have him on the show Friday,
and I think that's probably when we're gonna have him
on again. Uh. We had him on Monday of this
week though, in the wake of the Patrick Mahomes injury,
the potential concussion that took him out of the Divisional
(01:45):
round playoff game against the Browns Our Doc Doctor David
Chow says Patrick Mahome is gonna be good to go,
and he questions whether he had a concussion at all
based on all the evidence that is out there, and
feels good, very good about him being able to play
on Sunday against the Bills. So that is very positive news. Uh.
(02:05):
A lot of people out there continuing to say him
and Haw back and forth, Well, we don't really know,
assuming patrick Mahomes plays well, the odds market is also
reflecting that Mahomes is pretty much a certainty to go.
This is an intriguing storyline to follow. If Mahomes were
not playing, there's about a seven point line swing that
(02:26):
would happen between Patrick Mahomes as the starting quarterback and
between Chad Henney as the starting quarterback. So to put
that into perspective for you, if Mahomes is healthy and
good to go, the Chiefs are around a four point
favorite in this game against the Buffalo Bills right now. Uh,
(02:47):
they are right now a three point favorite. But if
Mahomes were not playing at all, and if Chad Henny
we're playing, then the line would go all the way
to a to a three point eiver it for the Bills.
And so that's a pretty substantial swing. And for those
of you out there who may not have been keeping
(03:07):
tabs on on everything, that is a storyline that is
worth paying attention to. And so the line is telling
us a story here, and the story is pretty straightforward,
and that is that Patrick Mahomes will be playing. But
that is also what Dr David Chow is telling us.
He wrote an article about it. It's up on the
top of the page at out kick. I encourage all
(03:28):
of you to go check that out. So that's at
OutKick dot com. Also other storylines that are out there,
we've been reacting to the New York Mets GM who
lost his job over four year old text that were
he sent sixty texts in a row, including nude photos,
to a reporter who he had met uh covering his team.
(03:50):
At the time, it was the Chicago Cubs that he
was working for. Now he has been the Mets GM
for a very short period of time and now has
lost his job. That storyline has been much discussed, a
lot of you reacting to it at the OutKick hashtag.
And also we have been talking about the University of
(04:11):
Tennessee investigation that allegedly uncovered improper behavior on perhaps on
behalf of the recruiting practices at the University of Tennessee.
Jeremy Prue it has been fired. What sort of job
opportunity is that going to be? Who might they hire
for athletic director. All of that has been our primary
(04:31):
point of discussion so far in the first two hours
of the program. As I mentioned before, we are scheduled
to be joined by Greg Sanky, the commissioner of the
SEC coming up in about fifteen minutes. We've got a
lot to dive into with him and look forward to
hanging out with him. By the way, a couple of
different storylines that are out there that I wanted to
(04:53):
update you on. Yesterday, we talked with Petro's Papadakis and Uh,
I said, Okay, what day would do you like to
have the Bachelor Report? And a lot of you are
up in arms over the idea of Petro's giving us
a Bachelor Report. Some of you are excited about it,
but Wednesday was the overwhelming vote, so we will probably
be moving uh Petros Papadakis to Wednesday during Bachelor's season
(05:16):
to allow him to break all of that down for you. Also,
I put up a poll question the other day that
I forgot to give you guys the results for and
I thought it was intriguing, and I am scrolling through
right now, uh to make sure that that I find it.
And Uh, I wanted to tell you like I asked
you of the four teams that are available right now
(05:37):
in the playoffs, who do you think is going to
end up winning the super Bowl? And it was a
massive favorite for the Green Bay Packers. And I'm scrolling
through UH to find that poll, and here it is
who wins the Super Bowl. I asked you this a
day ago. Uh, thirty three thousand of you voted, and
(05:57):
the Packers just absolutely ran a a with this thing.
Forty percent of you said that you thought the Green
Bay Packers would win the Super Bowl. Said the Chiefs
went with the Bills and cent went with the Bucks.
So that is, UH, that is where we are trending
in that respect. One other storyline that I wanted to
(06:21):
make sure that I hit here this morning, UH, particularly
you know it's inauguration day, and I hope, as as
I've always said, I root for the president to do well.
Why would I root against the president, whether it's Joe Biden,
Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, all
of those guys. I think I just hit to the
last five presidents or so in a row. But one
(06:43):
thing is there are a lot of politics infiltrating the
world of sports now and today. At the inauguration, they're
going to have Sarah Fuller, who was the Vanderbilt kicker
involved in that uh, in that inauguration and UH and
We've talked a lot about that story in general. But
(07:03):
another big story that impacts the world of sports that
happened yesterday that a lot in sports media are not
going to discuss in any way is how about the
United States government? The State Department officially has a labeled
China as a genocidal country over their treatment of Muslim
minority weaker's inside of their borders in China. How many
(07:29):
NBA players or coaches, all the NBA players and coaches
have gotten super political over the last four years, how
many players or coaches do you think will mention anything
negative about China. They're making billions of dollars. The NBA
is from China, and they want to rip and criticize
(07:49):
and ridicule United States political issues all the time. Over
under point five, how many NBA players or coaches conde
him China for being modern day Nazis and now being
labeled as a genocidal country. I'll start with you, Danny
g Over or under a half, Will any NBA player
(08:13):
or coach say anything negative about China at all being
a genocidal country? Uh? I mean, I'm a lifelong NBA
fan and we talked about this a couple of years
ago when this first came up, and I said then
that I like Lebron as a player, but personally, if
he was a friend of mine, I would tell him, dude,
(08:33):
bring your shoe operation over here to the States and
stop allowing your shoes to be made from slave labor
in China, which, by the way, is going on according
to many investigations. They have Muslim weaker minorities inside of
concentration camps. They are sterilizing women, by the way, bragging
about it on Twitter, of course, which does nothing to
(08:53):
to stop that Chinese propaganda. But I've been arguing for
a long time. If Lebron James wanted to truly make
a difference, he could to Nike and say hey, I
want my factory in Acron, Ohio, and I want to
employ American workers to make my shoes. The profit margin
on Lebron shoes would go down because American workers require
(09:14):
more pay than than Muslim concentration camp labor, which is
what Lebron James is doing now. Of course, he's basically
using slave labor to make himself more money. And but
that would be the right thing to do, and he
won't say a word. He won't say anything. None of
them were criticized China in anyway, and I just think
it's amazing the blatant hypocrisy. And again, I would love
(09:35):
to see it. I would love if more manufacturing we're
coming back to America, especially from guys who are hundred
millionaires like Lebron James and talk a big game all
the time. He could employ thousands of of people who
may not have jobs in Akron, Ohio and make his
shoes right here in America, and I would love to
see that. Unfortunately, they're in a hard spot because it
(09:58):
would kind of be like us putting a sponsor on Blast.
I realized that they're in a tough position, but I
wish the leadership of the NBA would step in and
do what is right. Well, there's not really that similar.
I mean, if China came to us and they said, hey,
we want to advertise China on your show, but you
can never say anything negative about China ever again on
your show, but we'll pay you millions of dollars, I
(10:20):
would say no. And I'm a capitalist. I understand people
out there who are like, oh, you should just take
the money and shut up. I wouldn't do it. I've
never taken the money in exchange for not saying exactly
what I believe. But there are more than just the
NBA as far as American companies working with China. Oh,
I think all those companies deserve to be ripped. I
(10:41):
think Apple should bring their phone out of China. I
think they should make it here by men. Yeah. I
you know, we can't just pick on the NBA. I
would I would like to see all these companies that
have these relationships sever the ties right now. Yeah, I
think they should all be put on blast. The difference
is the n b A is directly profiting billions of
(11:03):
dollars off of China, and all these players claim that
they want to be on the right side of history,
and they're basically taking money from nazis, right, Like, I
don't see Apple executives making the same kind of statement.
Like they didn't say to Darryl Moray when he said, Hey,
I'm in favor of Hong Kong democracy. Lebron James didn't.
(11:24):
I haven't seen Tim Cook come out and say, well,
that's the bad thing about the First Amendment in America,
like what Lebron James did. I just think it's It's
amazing how so many NBA players will say, oh, we're
more than athletes, We're not gonna just shut up and dribble,
But when their actual money is in danger, they do
just shut up and dribble, and they bow down to
(11:44):
chairman Z and everybody in China. And I think this
is a big, big deal that we've now labeled China
as literally a genocidal country. And Adam Silver, Greg Popovich,
Steve Kerr, Lebron James, all these guys who want to
be super woke and want to be super social justice warriors,
(12:05):
they won't say a word over under a half dub
of a player or coach or owner that will call
out China over being now labeled a country sponsoring genocide. Well,
it's an obvious under but I want to propose a
new proposition, what's the over under half of a person
in the media that will ask even work people. Then
(12:29):
there's not only will they not comment on it, but
they won't even get asked about it. That's a great point.
That's a great point. There's so many water uh ball
wash carriers, whatever you want to say for the NBA
that this media, all these journalists out there who consider
themselves like so powerful and oh we're going to speak
truth to power and everything else. They won't even ask
(12:51):
these players or coaches or owners about China. And I
get kind of laugh about this, Like Mark Cuban used
to slide into my mentions all the time in our
you with me, and I was like, Hey, you know,
you can come on the radio show. And all those
guys turtle up and curl up in the fetal position
as soon as I tell them, Hey, if you want
to make your argument to the nation, you can come
talk on one of the biggest sports talk radio shows
(13:13):
in the entire country, live on the air. You come
on with us, you make your case, will debate it.
They all turn and run and hide. I just it's
it's it's amazing to me, Eddie when you see I mean,
you do updates for a living. When you see all
of the clap trap, regular right side of history talk,
social justice, warrior woke arguments made by NBA players and coaches,
(13:37):
which I'm sure you have the option sometimes to turn
into new stories if you wanted to. How unbelievable is
the silence from a hypocritical perspective on China and just
the refusal of the media to cover it, and also
the refusal and players, coaches, and owners to even address it. Well,
first of all, kudos to you for using clap trap.
That was a great vocabulary. Well, I I've heard you
(14:00):
were a lawyer at one time. I don't know if
it's true or not, but no, it is. It's it's
amazing and not not only are the players going to
be silent on this, but I mean in the past
we saw when this whole thing blew up with Darryl Morey,
not only were they not silent, they were pro China.
Remember James hard And getting in front of microphones saying
we love China, we love China. But yes, and and
the media as well. You. I mean, look, I as
(14:22):
someone who tries to gather news too, to update people
on what's going on in sports, I visit a lot
of different websites to see what stories I might be missing,
And it's amazing how many of these websites, uh, every
day have new stories about you know, woke this and
woke that. But I didn't ever see anything about what's
going on with Yeah. I mean, it's absolutely ridiculous on
(14:44):
all facets, in every different direction, all right when we
come back, we are going to be joined by the
Commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, Greg Sanky. The season is
now over, Alabama's been crowned the champion. UH, What went
into making that season happen? How difficult was the season
to to get through? What's gonna happen with college basketball
and with potentially college baseball in the Southeastern Conference. We
(15:06):
will discuss that as well as the situation going on
with the University of Tennessee. Be sure to catch live
editions about kicked the coverage with Clay Travis weekdays at
six am Eastern, three am Pacific, joined now by SEC
Commissioner Greg Sanky. Appreciate you getting up early with us UH,
and congratulations on getting through the college football season. Did
(15:30):
you ever think you'd be able to hear that sentence delivered?
And also that you'd only missed two games Vanderbilt Georgia,
and I believe old miss UH and Texas A and
M is the entirety of the games that were scheduled.
You guys didn't get played. It's quite an accomplishment. Those
are the two. And UH, I think we we hoped
(15:51):
and we had a plan, because hope is not a
plan to get to the finish line. But you know,
going back to what last mark, she realized how much
was really out of your control. So too to get
to the end, to have a conference championship, and to
play two thirds of the bowl games we had scheduled
(16:14):
and the National championship game. I have a team in
the National Championship Game. I would define that as a
successful season. Not only a successful season. I mean, I
think for college football to get played at all in
Crown a champion is a remarkable achievement. Now that you've
had a little bit of time to sit back and
think about what went down, When you look back all
(16:36):
the way from March up to the game kicking off
between Alabama and Ohio State, it's one of the most
remarkable eight or nine months stretches in the history of football.
Not only did you guys play almost an entirety of
your schedule, but you did it with fans present. You
did it without creating any major health conditions. I believe
for any players or coaches given the circumstances, it really
(16:59):
could not have gone on hardly any better than it did.
I mean, I think that's probably fair to say, isn't it.
But yeah, from an evaluation standpoint, I took the position
that you had to do. People are gonna do a
two part evaluation. The first is that when we made
the decision, which was in late July early August, a
(17:19):
lot of pressure to not play, a lot of commentary
about shouldn't play. And really what I said on August tenth,
that was the Monday when everyone was stopping, was we
were going to continue forward, work with our medical professionals,
keep trying to learn and put plans in place, and
(17:40):
if you think about success, I think we made the
right decision based on the information available at that time.
Delayed our season, lengthened the time to begin, and then Clay,
I think one of the really remarkable things looking back
was our first three weeks where we had no disruptions
and that didn't happen I think in any other sport.
(18:01):
I think that's true even as we're seeing what's happening
in the NBA and the NHL right now. And then
you fast forward to the second point of the judgment,
which was going to be at the end of the
season looking back, and we had to stop because of
positive COVID tests. Again, to my knowledge, we didn't have
any spread as you said within the game. Um, you know,
people were able to receive treatment, and you have to
(18:25):
compare that to the alternative which gets lost, which is
you just stop and send everybody home. You go back
to the summertime when we brought young people back on campus,
we learned that they had either tested positive upon return
or had the nibodies and it had COVID at some
point but hadn't known, which is its own public health problem.
So you know, we we provided health care, we provided oversight,
(18:49):
we writed test and writed treatment, provided a lot of
education and argue, there's no group of young people it's
ever known anymore about a virus and they know right now.
And allowed us to compete not only in football in
the fall, but we named the soccer champion, cross country champions,
and played volleyball as well. How close For people out
(19:10):
there who are listening, did college as you just mentioned,
not just college football, but fall sports on college campuses
in general come to not happening. See, that's a hard
one for me right now if I sat here, so
I'm doing the interview from home before I head to
the office on my front porch and trying to sort
(19:31):
through things, and yeah, there were moments. In fact, one
of the more memorable moments for me was I called
one of our university presidents and it was kind of
a tough time in mid late July where you just
didn't have great clarity, and I said, look, I don't
I don't know if if we can play. I said,
I can't imagine the answer. In fact, I can't even
(19:57):
figure out how to ask the question about not playing
football in the fall in the Southeastern Conference. And it
was it was an admission of honesty that we were
in a completely uncertain circumstance. And fast forward. One of
the lessons I learned was actually a promo a podcast
by a guy named in the Stanley that in times
of uncertainty, to the extent you can provide clarity that
(20:20):
needs to be the focus. That I actually went from
that in early August and trying to figure out, well,
where can we communicate some level of clarity, Where can
we say we're not the laying star were yea, we're
not the laying the start, We're setting a new start day,
We've got a new format. Here's our finished line. And
even when people pressured us to move the penish line.
(20:41):
Now let's keep you know, we can adjust, let's get
all these games, and we said, no, here's the finished line.
And I think those were really really wise decisions in retrospect.
Were you surprised by the negativity from many media covering
sports in general, but college football in particular, about the
amount of people who were basically saying it's impossible to play.
(21:02):
Did that surprise you And how impactful was that in
terms of providing a difficult launching point because everybody's hearing
that noise in the media of we can't do this,
we can't do this, which had to filter through to
some of the players, some of the parents, some of
the coaches, and some of your school presidents and chancellors
as well. One of the harder parts, so the was
(21:25):
I surprised by that? No, because there's there's a bit
of a dwelling on the negative side, um, And it's
easy to say, don't. I think we did the harder thing, um,
which was to try and to admit, you know, there
are no guarantees, uh, to have honest and candid conversations
(21:47):
with student athletes, some of which ended up on a
taped conversation published by the Washington Post, and those weren't easy. Um.
But if we're looking for the easy way out, we
could have just stopped. And so I would suggest it
was easy to just point the finger and say don't.
It was harder to do things, and so you had
(22:09):
to you had to block that out, not be inattentive
to criticisms. I think you have to use that to
inform your thinking a bit. But just that was not
going to be my my deciding factors. I do think
it influenced people, um. And so some of the questions
we'd have asked of us were clearly generated from media.
(22:30):
And if you go back to early August, we had
a conversation UM with our full group of presidents and
Chances about the kind of public sentiment like could you play.
Our athletics directors had that same conversation. It was really
interesting is when the young people who comprised our teams
finally stood up and said we want to play. The
(22:52):
whole sentiment changed. And that wasn't a creation by anyone
and an administrative or coaching capacity. Those young people who
are competitors, we want to compete, and we'd offered the
opportunity to opt out. We did that in early mid July.
But then a credit to young people for standing up
and saying I want the opportunity. Alante Taylor at Tennessee
(23:13):
remember vividly on a call saying I'll be swabbed every
day and we don't even know what that meant at
that time. You can stick to swab up my nose
every day if I get to play on Saturday, and
into his credit, he did. We're talking to Greg Sanky,
commissioner of the SEC. Got the season in football and
all the other fall sports completed. Where do you feel
right now about college basketball? How optimistic are you about that?
(23:37):
Obviously missing the n C Double A tournament last year,
A lot of people out there I want to know.
I know the n C Double A came out with
their schedule and when games would be played, and what
are you hearing thinking about college baseball and other sports
out there? As you continue in now the spring semester,
we learned a lot in the fall again, soccer, volleyball,
(24:02):
having cross country meets football, golf, tennis, were two and
a half months into swimming, which is operated without disruption.
That's an indoor sport. Presumably Chlarine must help somehow but
I said that with a smile on my face. We're
not competing body on body like you do posting up basketball.
So there's a lot of activity that has taken place.
(24:24):
Gymnastics is taking place right now every Friday night in
the league. But we we anticipated the likely the disruption
in basketball. UM. I was open to say we can't
build enough room into our basketball schedule because we played
twice a week to make up games like we did
(24:46):
in football, where we had that space built in that
got us to the games. And so I think on
the men's side, we're down a net five games scheduled,
so we moved on to play earlier. We've we've had
to postpone some we can keep moving forward. I do
think when you bring people UH together for the n
(25:07):
c A tournament UH, that that's going to be its
own challenge. UM. And what you learn there's New York
Times article last Thursday, I think about the mental strain
of the NBA bubble and why they're not in a
bubble again. They're saying with the NHL. So when you
bring people together for a long period of time and
kind of go into this lockdown mode, that's its own challenge.
(25:30):
Beyond COVID. It's a mental strength. How do you compete?
But I think we've shown we can play play. It's
the ability to continue and to do so UM in
what I would define as a complete way, and that's
where the question marks have to be acknowledged. We're talking
to SEC Commissioner Greg Sanky. Story that came out earlier
(25:50):
this week about the University of Tennessee. They've fired Jeremy Pruett,
a lot of other different UH employees of that football program.
In particular, they've had press conference there in the process
of hiring a new a d and a new coach.
What do you know about that? Their reports, the n
c double A has been involved, Has the Southeastern Conference
(26:11):
been involved? What is your interaction or involvement in that story?
If at all? We're not investigators, and I think Chancellor
Plowman UH communicated very well on Monday the nature or
the source of information. I think that came directly to them,
(26:32):
and that our institutions have a responsibility to inform the
Conference Office, and we recommend the n c A as
information has developed. You want to do that in any
UH circumstances where there are a lot of questions so
I credit her leadership UM in this work and others
on campus. And I don't know the details. I know
(26:55):
the general set of circumstances. The reality is, I say
my my commentary on those for later, because in an
investigating situation you don't know the final details and it's
appropriate to let those be developed. Obviously, UM an important
UM decision made on that campus, one that does lead
(27:19):
them into their next chapter, and UH, I'll support her
leadership and as they move forward as a general rule.
I know you've worked on the Committee on Infractions. Can
you kind of explain to me when the n C
double A into our audience, When the n C double
A is involved early on in an investigation into alleged
violation of rules, how has that looked upon compared to
(27:42):
the n C double A not being involved as much
and or sometimes being stonewalled like we've seen, for instance,
at Southern California over the years. How does that typically
play out? Not in this individual circumstances Tennessee, because a
lot of the facts are still out there, but in
your experiences as a Committee on Infractions member, the n
C double A being involved versus the n C double
(28:04):
A being kept at arm's length. What's the impact there?
It's probably one of your long form podcast to explain
that fact. There might be like three episodes, because every
one of these circumstances is unique. A university as a
responsibility to investigate, to self evaluate. You know, you hear
(28:26):
about institutional control and so digging into information is that
institutional control responsibility? UM? When I when I was on
the committee and I'm not now, I always thought it
was important to see how did the institution react and
act as it received information. UM. The n c enforcement
(28:49):
staff is determined is charged with determining whether there's what
they call exemplary cooperation. Every school is expected to cooperate
on where that doesn't have and that is as a
negative for the school. So the fact i'll just give
praise the fact that the university has has gotten on
top of this has been diligent as I understand and
(29:12):
digging in the information. As I watched the public release
of information on Monday, Uh, it's clear they've taken this seriously.
And the responsibility now for the n c A, and
I've written about this. In fact, pat Ford, you've got
ahold of the letter. The n c A have to
move this along, you've seen a university move swiftly. I
think one of the problems at the n c A
(29:33):
levels it takes years to bring these matters to conclusion,
and that can't happen here. In fact, it shouldn't happen
in any circumstance. You know, the phrase justice delayed is
justice denied. Doesn't UH come from an n t A setting,
but it's true. And the fact that whether it's USC
(29:54):
or Syracuse that had a case that took like nine
years to bring to the finish line, that can't have
And I think that the leadership UH in Knoxville is
shawn a willingness to move rapidly, to move thoroughly in
the n c A has to move in that same way.
We're talking to SEC Commissioner Greg Sanky. As a part
of open jobs that have existed at Auburn in Tennessee,
(30:16):
in particular UH in South Carolina to a certain extent,
to people like me who sit around and talk about
who might get jobs, that's a part of the discussion
in the world of sports. Hugh Freeze's name has come
up several times. I know he had issues at Old Miss.
He's now at Liberty. Could he get a head coaching
job in the SEC or is he now not eligible
(30:37):
to to get that job. That's a question that fans
have been debating a lot. Well, I give a few
credit for his work at Liberty and and uh it
was fun to watch their bowl game scene with his
family at the end of the game with a smile
on his face, and good for him and how he's
turned the page. Our schools make their own hiring decisions.
(30:57):
I think we've been clear that the conference membership established
a rule that each school is responsible that a head
coach position or assistant coach position to fully evaluate the
background of individuals. Um they do that through our office.
We share information that's publicly available. Uh, and then they
(31:18):
make decisions. So are going to make those decisions, but
they have to proceed carefully, and particularly when there's an
issue of concern like has arisen this week, extra caution
has to be exercised. But there's no ban in particular.
Everybody has to go through the process. But the SEC
hasn't put out because that's one of the topics of
(31:38):
conversation is people say, oh, Greg Sanky has let it
be known that q Frees can't be a head coach
in the SEC, there's not that prohibition out there. Well,
I won't speak to any individual. I get blamed for
a lot you may see on social media, so I'll
take the blame. We expect our universities and they expect
(31:59):
each other to be responsible and their their personnel decisions,
and they have that responsibility, but ultimately our campuses make
those decisions. Uh, let's go to football. Coming back. When
you look towards are we be talking about in your
mind hopefully full stadiums again come September? Kickoff in the SEC?
(32:20):
What a spring practice? What does spring games look like? Uh,
you're obviously dealing with a lot of different sports right now,
but what is for college football look like from your perspective?
You know one of the missed narratives and this is
we were going to announce the schedule last April, so
that was produced and when we stopped in March, we
(32:43):
actually had to think about do we make this announcement
for one and obviously it didn't happen, and so we
were just reconfirming dates right now. My view is we
need to put out our schedule as it's been planned,
our traditional format with nonconference games. I think we saw
(33:04):
the importance of nonconference games and postseason decision making this year.
It will be nice to see those again. I'd like
to do that sooner rather than later. Clay, I think
somebody my my Twitter accounts trying to make wedding plans,
and so that's an additional pressure. Well, now, look, I
was gonna I was gonna read that. I was going
to read that to you here. Uh. I said that
I would ask a direct question from the anonymous mail bag,
(33:26):
which I know you have swung through sometimes. My brother
and his fiancee are planning to get married sometime this year.
He and I are die hard Florida fans. Uh. And
she says they want to have the game, the wedding
in New Orleans on Friday, and then the Florida LSU
game the next day on Saturday. Right now, they have
it scheduled for the week of October, weekend of October
(33:49):
sixte Uh. She wrote in and said, can you ask
SEC Commissioner Greg Sanky when that game will be played?
And if we're looking good for New Orleans. So there's
already a lot of people out there at weddings, and
so when's the schedule. There's actually the one I was
referring to a separate from that. I didn't hop about
that one. That was this week, That was tuesday, that
(34:10):
went up yesterday, So I said, I was going to
ask her for you. It just means more man. That's
that's the slogan right there. Tell them that if they
can just hold on for a few more weeks. I
don't I actually don't know the date, so I couldn't
give it away if if I wanted to, at which
I wouldn't. But I think we'll get to a conclusion.
And then if you back up, you know we've practiced,
(34:33):
We've we've gone through preseason practice, bowl practice, in season practice,
so you look at spring practice as being able to happen.
I've not had in my mind now that we'd be
in disruption of that activity, and so you can go
back into preparation at this point. Now something changes around
the pandemic. What I've said is I'd like to announce
(34:56):
our schedule and then we'll go back to the mantra
I had all last summer, which is we're going to
prepare to play the season as scheduled, but the circumstances
around the virus will dictate our way forward and uh,
we'll get back to that uh kind of normal thought
and then back to that communication point with the idea
that if we can continue along a healthy path in
(35:19):
the country, we could get back to something close to
what we're what we're accustomed to. Good stuff. As always,
appreciate you coming on. Congratulations on finishing the season, and
we look forward to next season, but certainly the n
C Double A Tournament. Moore as well. Thanks, Thanks fine,
take care of Fox Sports Radio has the best sports
talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows
(35:41):
at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the I
Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live.
Eddie Garcia, what you got for me? News is out
there on Philip Rivers, but I'll let you break it well.
Thank you. Yes, breaking news. The San Diego Union Tribune
is reporting that Philip Rivers is retiring after seventeen seasons,
(36:02):
sixteen with the Chargers, won last year with the Colts.
He ranks fifth all time in NFL history and passing
yards with sixty two thousand forward and forty and touchdowns
passing with four hundred and twenty one. Again, the San
Diego Unions reporting Philip Rivers retiring after seventeen seasons as
a quarterback. In the NFL news in Major League Baseball,
Toronto Blue Jayson freeing outfielder George Springer reportedly agreeing on
(36:23):
a six year, hundred and fifty million dollar contract. It
would be the largest contract ever given out by the
Blue Jays Springers. A three time All Star, was the
World Series MVP with the Astros in seventeen. Just two
games in the NBA, Nuggets over the Thunder one nineteen
to one oh one, and the Jazz beat the Pelicans
one eight teen to one oh two. College basketball wins
for number three Villanova, number seven Michigan, but one upset
(36:44):
in the top ten as number six Tennessee loses to
Florida nine. We'll be back to out kick the carbage
in the second. First award from Farmers, Call one eight
Farmers and you could save on your auto insurance. It's
better than using your phone to see if your post
got any likes. Again, call one eight eight Farmers to
get a quote. We are Farmers under written by Farmer
Scercifiing Trance and changes are Philip Parks and available on
(37:06):
every state not Activeliy Travis and the Farmers OutKick the
coverage studios quotes from Philip Rivers. It's just time he saw,
he told the San Diego Union Tribune Tribune. It's just right.
I'm reading from their article right now. I can sit
here and say I can still throw it. I love
to play, but that's always going to be there. I'm
(37:26):
excited to go coach high school football. This is Philip
Rivers retiring after seventeen years. What has helped me come
to this decision is the growing desire to coach high
school football. That's what I've always wanted to do. It's
been growing. I can't wait. Uh. Rivers father was his
own coach. UH. And by the way, Philip Rivers is
going to be coaching at St. Michael Catholic High School
(37:49):
in Fair Hope, Alabama. That's down close to the UH,
down close to the coast there in Alabama. Uh. Philip
Rivers said of his rear it was awesome. I'm reading
from the San Diego Union Tribute and this news just breaking.
A young kid from northern Alabama who grew up wanting
to play pro ball, I got to do it. He said.
(38:10):
He's a at piece with his decision, says he'll miss
the locker room Uh and also says Uh that this
is the first year I felt like the ending was real.
We talked about it other years, but we knew we
weren't doing it. This year felt different. It just seemed right.
That is Philip Rivers announcing his retirement. My thanks to
(38:31):
Greg Sanky Uh. Philip Rivers riding off into the sunset
and headed to coach high school football. This is OutKick
on Fox Sports Radio. This is Outkicked the coverage with
Clay Travis
OutKick the Coverage with Clay Travis live every weekday morning
from six to nine a m. E Stern three to
six am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local
station for OutKick the Coverage at Fox Sports Radio dot com,
or stream us live every morning on the I Heart
Radio app by searching fs are you're listening to Fox
(00:23):
Sports Radio? Getting ready? The commissioner at the Southeastern Conference,
Greg sank He's gonna join us next thanks to Shannon Spake.
Encourage you guys to be using the OutKick hashtag to
react to the show. A lot of you weighing in
their hashtag OutKick again, Uh and uh and pop let
(00:43):
us know where you're listening and how many texts it
would take. And Danny g you guys just had a
police chase end outside the main studio there in Sherman Oaks, California. Yeah,
you know, one of the things l A is famous
for our police chases, and one just ended in Sherman Oaks, California.
Here right outside at our studios, you can see all
the sirens. And we had a gentleman walk into our
(01:04):
studio a couple of minutes ago and he told us, hey, Uh,
the guy that comes in to to run the Dan
Patrick Show might be late because you can't access your
building right now. Just heads up. So, yeah, we're don't
have all the details, but the chase ended right here
outside the studios. Yeah, that's pretty Uh, that's pretty wacky.
That's pretty wild. So speaking of wacky and wild, um
(01:24):
positive story for the a f C Championship game. If
you have not heard Dr David Chow, who is our
medical expert, usually we have him on the show Friday,
and I think that's probably when we're gonna have him
on again. Uh. We had him on Monday of this
week though, in the wake of the Patrick Mahomes injury,
the potential concussion that took him out of the Divisional
(01:45):
round playoff game against the Browns Our Doc Doctor David
Chow says Patrick Mahome is gonna be good to go,
and he questions whether he had a concussion at all
based on all the evidence that is out there, and
feels good, very good about him being able to play
on Sunday against the Bills. So that is very positive news. Uh.
(02:05):
A lot of people out there continuing to say him
and Haw back and forth, Well, we don't really know,
assuming patrick Mahomes plays well, the odds market is also
reflecting that Mahomes is pretty much a certainty to go.
This is an intriguing storyline to follow. If Mahomes were
not playing, there's about a seven point line swing that
(02:26):
would happen between Patrick Mahomes as the starting quarterback and
between Chad Henney as the starting quarterback. So to put
that into perspective for you, if Mahomes is healthy and
good to go, the Chiefs are around a four point
favorite in this game against the Buffalo Bills right now. Uh,
(02:47):
they are right now a three point favorite. But if
Mahomes were not playing at all, and if Chad Henny
we're playing, then the line would go all the way
to a to a three point eiver it for the Bills.
And so that's a pretty substantial swing. And for those
of you out there who may not have been keeping
(03:07):
tabs on on everything, that is a storyline that is
worth paying attention to. And so the line is telling
us a story here, and the story is pretty straightforward,
and that is that Patrick Mahomes will be playing. But
that is also what Dr David Chow is telling us.
He wrote an article about it. It's up on the
top of the page at out kick. I encourage all
(03:28):
of you to go check that out. So that's at
OutKick dot com. Also other storylines that are out there,
we've been reacting to the New York Mets GM who
lost his job over four year old text that were
he sent sixty texts in a row, including nude photos,
to a reporter who he had met uh covering his team.
(03:50):
At the time, it was the Chicago Cubs that he
was working for. Now he has been the Mets GM
for a very short period of time and now has
lost his job. That storyline has been much discussed, a
lot of you reacting to it at the OutKick hashtag.
And also we have been talking about the University of
(04:11):
Tennessee investigation that allegedly uncovered improper behavior on perhaps on
behalf of the recruiting practices at the University of Tennessee.
Jeremy Prue it has been fired. What sort of job
opportunity is that going to be? Who might they hire
for athletic director. All of that has been our primary
(04:31):
point of discussion so far in the first two hours
of the program. As I mentioned before, we are scheduled
to be joined by Greg Sanky, the commissioner of the
SEC coming up in about fifteen minutes. We've got a
lot to dive into with him and look forward to
hanging out with him. By the way, a couple of
different storylines that are out there that I wanted to
(04:53):
update you on. Yesterday, we talked with Petro's Papadakis and Uh,
I said, Okay, what day would do you like to
have the Bachelor Report? And a lot of you are
up in arms over the idea of Petro's giving us
a Bachelor Report. Some of you are excited about it,
but Wednesday was the overwhelming vote, so we will probably
be moving uh Petros Papadakis to Wednesday during Bachelor's season
(05:16):
to allow him to break all of that down for you. Also,
I put up a poll question the other day that
I forgot to give you guys the results for and
I thought it was intriguing, and I am scrolling through
right now, uh to make sure that that I find it.
And Uh, I wanted to tell you like I asked
you of the four teams that are available right now
(05:37):
in the playoffs, who do you think is going to
end up winning the super Bowl? And it was a
massive favorite for the Green Bay Packers. And I'm scrolling
through UH to find that poll, and here it is
who wins the Super Bowl. I asked you this a
day ago. Uh, thirty three thousand of you voted, and
(05:57):
the Packers just absolutely ran a a with this thing.
Forty percent of you said that you thought the Green
Bay Packers would win the Super Bowl. Said the Chiefs
went with the Bills and cent went with the Bucks.
So that is, UH, that is where we are trending
in that respect. One other storyline that I wanted to
(06:21):
make sure that I hit here this morning, UH, particularly
you know it's inauguration day, and I hope, as as
I've always said, I root for the president to do well.
Why would I root against the president, whether it's Joe Biden,
Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, all
of those guys. I think I just hit to the
last five presidents or so in a row. But one
(06:43):
thing is there are a lot of politics infiltrating the
world of sports now and today. At the inauguration, they're
going to have Sarah Fuller, who was the Vanderbilt kicker
involved in that uh, in that inauguration and UH and
We've talked a lot about that story in general. But
(07:03):
another big story that impacts the world of sports that
happened yesterday that a lot in sports media are not
going to discuss in any way is how about the
United States government? The State Department officially has a labeled
China as a genocidal country over their treatment of Muslim
minority weaker's inside of their borders in China. How many
(07:29):
NBA players or coaches, all the NBA players and coaches
have gotten super political over the last four years, how
many players or coaches do you think will mention anything
negative about China. They're making billions of dollars. The NBA
is from China, and they want to rip and criticize
(07:49):
and ridicule United States political issues all the time. Over
under point five, how many NBA players or coaches conde
him China for being modern day Nazis and now being
labeled as a genocidal country. I'll start with you, Danny
g Over or under a half, Will any NBA player
(08:13):
or coach say anything negative about China at all being
a genocidal country? Uh? I mean, I'm a lifelong NBA
fan and we talked about this a couple of years
ago when this first came up, and I said then
that I like Lebron as a player, but personally, if
he was a friend of mine, I would tell him, dude,
(08:33):
bring your shoe operation over here to the States and
stop allowing your shoes to be made from slave labor
in China, which, by the way, is going on according
to many investigations. They have Muslim weaker minorities inside of
concentration camps. They are sterilizing women, by the way, bragging
about it on Twitter, of course, which does nothing to
(08:53):
to stop that Chinese propaganda. But I've been arguing for
a long time. If Lebron James wanted to truly make
a difference, he could to Nike and say hey, I
want my factory in Acron, Ohio, and I want to
employ American workers to make my shoes. The profit margin
on Lebron shoes would go down because American workers require
(09:14):
more pay than than Muslim concentration camp labor, which is
what Lebron James is doing now. Of course, he's basically
using slave labor to make himself more money. And but
that would be the right thing to do, and he
won't say a word. He won't say anything. None of
them were criticized China in anyway, and I just think
it's amazing the blatant hypocrisy. And again, I would love
(09:35):
to see it. I would love if more manufacturing we're
coming back to America, especially from guys who are hundred
millionaires like Lebron James and talk a big game all
the time. He could employ thousands of of people who
may not have jobs in Akron, Ohio and make his
shoes right here in America, and I would love to
see that. Unfortunately, they're in a hard spot because it
(09:58):
would kind of be like us putting a sponsor on Blast.
I realized that they're in a tough position, but I
wish the leadership of the NBA would step in and
do what is right. Well, there's not really that similar.
I mean, if China came to us and they said, hey,
we want to advertise China on your show, but you
can never say anything negative about China ever again on
your show, but we'll pay you millions of dollars, I
(10:20):
would say no. And I'm a capitalist. I understand people
out there who are like, oh, you should just take
the money and shut up. I wouldn't do it. I've
never taken the money in exchange for not saying exactly
what I believe. But there are more than just the
NBA as far as American companies working with China. Oh,
I think all those companies deserve to be ripped. I
(10:41):
think Apple should bring their phone out of China. I
think they should make it here by men. Yeah. I
you know, we can't just pick on the NBA. I
would I would like to see all these companies that
have these relationships sever the ties right now. Yeah, I
think they should all be put on blast. The difference
is the n b A is directly profiting billions of
(11:03):
dollars off of China, and all these players claim that
they want to be on the right side of history,
and they're basically taking money from nazis, right, Like, I
don't see Apple executives making the same kind of statement.
Like they didn't say to Darryl Moray when he said, Hey,
I'm in favor of Hong Kong democracy. Lebron James didn't.
(11:24):
I haven't seen Tim Cook come out and say, well,
that's the bad thing about the First Amendment in America,
like what Lebron James did. I just think it's It's
amazing how so many NBA players will say, oh, we're
more than athletes, We're not gonna just shut up and dribble,
But when their actual money is in danger, they do
just shut up and dribble, and they bow down to
(11:44):
chairman Z and everybody in China. And I think this
is a big, big deal that we've now labeled China
as literally a genocidal country. And Adam Silver, Greg Popovich,
Steve Kerr, Lebron James, all these guys who want to
be super woke and want to be super social justice warriors,
(12:05):
they won't say a word over under a half dub
of a player or coach or owner that will call
out China over being now labeled a country sponsoring genocide. Well,
it's an obvious under but I want to propose a
new proposition, what's the over under half of a person
in the media that will ask even work people. Then
(12:29):
there's not only will they not comment on it, but
they won't even get asked about it. That's a great point.
That's a great point. There's so many water uh ball
wash carriers, whatever you want to say for the NBA
that this media, all these journalists out there who consider
themselves like so powerful and oh we're going to speak
truth to power and everything else. They won't even ask
(12:51):
these players or coaches or owners about China. And I
get kind of laugh about this, Like Mark Cuban used
to slide into my mentions all the time in our
you with me, and I was like, Hey, you know,
you can come on the radio show. And all those
guys turtle up and curl up in the fetal position
as soon as I tell them, Hey, if you want
to make your argument to the nation, you can come
talk on one of the biggest sports talk radio shows
(13:13):
in the entire country, live on the air. You come
on with us, you make your case, will debate it.
They all turn and run and hide. I just it's
it's it's amazing to me, Eddie when you see I mean,
you do updates for a living. When you see all
of the clap trap, regular right side of history talk,
social justice, warrior woke arguments made by NBA players and coaches,
(13:37):
which I'm sure you have the option sometimes to turn
into new stories if you wanted to. How unbelievable is
the silence from a hypocritical perspective on China and just
the refusal of the media to cover it, and also
the refusal and players, coaches, and owners to even address it. Well,
first of all, kudos to you for using clap trap.
That was a great vocabulary. Well, I I've heard you
(14:00):
were a lawyer at one time. I don't know if
it's true or not, but no, it is. It's it's
amazing and not not only are the players going to
be silent on this, but I mean in the past
we saw when this whole thing blew up with Darryl Morey,
not only were they not silent, they were pro China.
Remember James hard And getting in front of microphones saying
we love China, we love China. But yes, and and
the media as well. You. I mean, look, I as
(14:22):
someone who tries to gather news too, to update people
on what's going on in sports, I visit a lot
of different websites to see what stories I might be missing,
And it's amazing how many of these websites, uh, every
day have new stories about you know, woke this and
woke that. But I didn't ever see anything about what's
going on with Yeah. I mean, it's absolutely ridiculous on
(14:44):
all facets, in every different direction, all right when we
come back, we are going to be joined by the
Commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, Greg Sanky. The season is
now over, Alabama's been crowned the champion. UH, What went
into making that season happen? How difficult was the season
to to get through? What's gonna happen with college basketball
and with potentially college baseball in the Southeastern Conference. We
(15:06):
will discuss that as well as the situation going on
with the University of Tennessee. Be sure to catch live
editions about kicked the coverage with Clay Travis weekdays at
six am Eastern, three am Pacific, joined now by SEC
Commissioner Greg Sanky. Appreciate you getting up early with us UH,
and congratulations on getting through the college football season. Did
(15:30):
you ever think you'd be able to hear that sentence delivered?
And also that you'd only missed two games Vanderbilt Georgia,
and I believe old miss UH and Texas A and
M is the entirety of the games that were scheduled.
You guys didn't get played. It's quite an accomplishment. Those
are the two. And UH, I think we we hoped
(15:51):
and we had a plan, because hope is not a
plan to get to the finish line. But you know,
going back to what last mark, she realized how much
was really out of your control. So too to get
to the end, to have a conference championship, and to
play two thirds of the bowl games we had scheduled
(16:14):
and the National championship game. I have a team in
the National Championship Game. I would define that as a
successful season. Not only a successful season. I mean, I
think for college football to get played at all in
Crown a champion is a remarkable achievement. Now that you've
had a little bit of time to sit back and
think about what went down, When you look back all
(16:36):
the way from March up to the game kicking off
between Alabama and Ohio State, it's one of the most
remarkable eight or nine months stretches in the history of football.
Not only did you guys play almost an entirety of
your schedule, but you did it with fans present. You
did it without creating any major health conditions. I believe
for any players or coaches given the circumstances, it really
(16:59):
could not have gone on hardly any better than it did.
I mean, I think that's probably fair to say, isn't it.
But yeah, from an evaluation standpoint, I took the position
that you had to do. People are gonna do a
two part evaluation. The first is that when we made
the decision, which was in late July early August, a
(17:19):
lot of pressure to not play, a lot of commentary
about shouldn't play. And really what I said on August tenth,
that was the Monday when everyone was stopping, was we
were going to continue forward, work with our medical professionals,
keep trying to learn and put plans in place, and
(17:40):
if you think about success, I think we made the
right decision based on the information available at that time.
Delayed our season, lengthened the time to begin, and then Clay,
I think one of the really remarkable things looking back
was our first three weeks where we had no disruptions
and that didn't happen I think in any other sport.
(18:01):
I think that's true even as we're seeing what's happening
in the NBA and the NHL right now. And then
you fast forward to the second point of the judgment,
which was going to be at the end of the
season looking back, and we had to stop because of
positive COVID tests. Again, to my knowledge, we didn't have
any spread as you said within the game. Um, you know,
people were able to receive treatment, and you have to
(18:25):
compare that to the alternative which gets lost, which is
you just stop and send everybody home. You go back
to the summertime when we brought young people back on campus,
we learned that they had either tested positive upon return
or had the nibodies and it had COVID at some
point but hadn't known, which is its own public health problem.
So you know, we we provided health care, we provided oversight,
(18:49):
we writed test and writed treatment, provided a lot of
education and argue, there's no group of young people it's
ever known anymore about a virus and they know right now.
And allowed us to compete not only in football in
the fall, but we named the soccer champion, cross country champions,
and played volleyball as well. How close For people out
(19:10):
there who are listening, did college as you just mentioned,
not just college football, but fall sports on college campuses
in general come to not happening. See, that's a hard
one for me right now if I sat here, so
I'm doing the interview from home before I head to
the office on my front porch and trying to sort
(19:31):
through things, and yeah, there were moments. In fact, one
of the more memorable moments for me was I called
one of our university presidents and it was kind of
a tough time in mid late July where you just
didn't have great clarity, and I said, look, I don't
I don't know if if we can play. I said,
I can't imagine the answer. In fact, I can't even
(19:57):
figure out how to ask the question about not playing
football in the fall in the Southeastern Conference. And it
was it was an admission of honesty that we were
in a completely uncertain circumstance. And fast forward. One of
the lessons I learned was actually a promo a podcast
by a guy named in the Stanley that in times
of uncertainty, to the extent you can provide clarity that
(20:20):
needs to be the focus. That I actually went from
that in early August and trying to figure out, well,
where can we communicate some level of clarity, Where can
we say we're not the laying star were yea, we're
not the laying the start, We're setting a new start day,
We've got a new format. Here's our finished line. And
even when people pressured us to move the penish line.
(20:41):
Now let's keep you know, we can adjust, let's get
all these games, and we said, no, here's the finished line.
And I think those were really really wise decisions in retrospect.
Were you surprised by the negativity from many media covering
sports in general, but college football in particular, about the
amount of people who were basically saying it's impossible to play.
(21:02):
Did that surprise you And how impactful was that in
terms of providing a difficult launching point because everybody's hearing
that noise in the media of we can't do this,
we can't do this, which had to filter through to
some of the players, some of the parents, some of
the coaches, and some of your school presidents and chancellors
as well. One of the harder parts, so the was
(21:25):
I surprised by that? No, because there's there's a bit
of a dwelling on the negative side, um, And it's
easy to say, don't. I think we did the harder thing, um,
which was to try and to admit, you know, there
are no guarantees, uh, to have honest and candid conversations
(21:47):
with student athletes, some of which ended up on a
taped conversation published by the Washington Post, and those weren't easy. Um.
But if we're looking for the easy way out, we
could have just stopped. And so I would suggest it
was easy to just point the finger and say don't.
It was harder to do things, and so you had
(22:09):
to you had to block that out, not be inattentive
to criticisms. I think you have to use that to
inform your thinking a bit. But just that was not
going to be my my deciding factors. I do think
it influenced people, um. And so some of the questions
we'd have asked of us were clearly generated from media.
(22:30):
And if you go back to early August, we had
a conversation UM with our full group of presidents and
Chances about the kind of public sentiment like could you play.
Our athletics directors had that same conversation. It was really
interesting is when the young people who comprised our teams
finally stood up and said we want to play. The
(22:52):
whole sentiment changed. And that wasn't a creation by anyone
and an administrative or coaching capacity. Those young people who
are competitors, we want to compete, and we'd offered the
opportunity to opt out. We did that in early mid July.
But then a credit to young people for standing up
and saying I want the opportunity. Alante Taylor at Tennessee
(23:13):
remember vividly on a call saying I'll be swabbed every
day and we don't even know what that meant at
that time. You can stick to swab up my nose
every day if I get to play on Saturday, and
into his credit, he did. We're talking to Greg Sanky,
commissioner of the SEC. Got the season in football and
all the other fall sports completed. Where do you feel
right now about college basketball? How optimistic are you about that?
(23:37):
Obviously missing the n C Double A tournament last year,
A lot of people out there I want to know.
I know the n C Double A came out with
their schedule and when games would be played, and what
are you hearing thinking about college baseball and other sports
out there? As you continue in now the spring semester,
we learned a lot in the fall again, soccer, volleyball,
(24:02):
having cross country meets football, golf, tennis, were two and
a half months into swimming, which is operated without disruption.
That's an indoor sport. Presumably Chlarine must help somehow but
I said that with a smile on my face. We're
not competing body on body like you do posting up basketball.
So there's a lot of activity that has taken place.
(24:24):
Gymnastics is taking place right now every Friday night in
the league. But we we anticipated the likely the disruption
in basketball. UM. I was open to say we can't
build enough room into our basketball schedule because we played
twice a week to make up games like we did
(24:46):
in football, where we had that space built in that
got us to the games. And so I think on
the men's side, we're down a net five games scheduled,
so we moved on to play earlier. We've we've had
to postpone some we can keep moving forward. I do
think when you bring people UH together for the n
(25:07):
c A tournament UH, that that's going to be its
own challenge. UM. And what you learn there's New York
Times article last Thursday, I think about the mental strain
of the NBA bubble and why they're not in a
bubble again. They're saying with the NHL. So when you
bring people together for a long period of time and
kind of go into this lockdown mode, that's its own challenge.
(25:30):
Beyond COVID. It's a mental strength. How do you compete?
But I think we've shown we can play play. It's
the ability to continue and to do so UM in
what I would define as a complete way, and that's
where the question marks have to be acknowledged. We're talking
to SEC Commissioner Greg Sanky. Story that came out earlier
(25:50):
this week about the University of Tennessee. They've fired Jeremy Pruett,
a lot of other different UH employees of that football program.
In particular, they've had press conference there in the process
of hiring a new a d and a new coach.
What do you know about that? Their reports, the n
c double A has been involved, Has the Southeastern Conference
(26:11):
been involved? What is your interaction or involvement in that story?
If at all? We're not investigators, and I think Chancellor
Plowman UH communicated very well on Monday the nature or
the source of information. I think that came directly to them,
(26:32):
and that our institutions have a responsibility to inform the
Conference Office, and we recommend the n c A as
information has developed. You want to do that in any
UH circumstances where there are a lot of questions so
I credit her leadership UM in this work and others
on campus. And I don't know the details. I know
(26:55):
the general set of circumstances. The reality is, I say
my my commentary on those for later, because in an
investigating situation you don't know the final details and it's
appropriate to let those be developed. Obviously, UM an important
UM decision made on that campus, one that does lead
(27:19):
them into their next chapter, and UH, I'll support her
leadership and as they move forward as a general rule.
I know you've worked on the Committee on Infractions. Can
you kind of explain to me when the n C
double A into our audience, When the n C double
A is involved early on in an investigation into alleged
violation of rules, how has that looked upon compared to
(27:42):
the n C double A not being involved as much
and or sometimes being stonewalled like we've seen, for instance,
at Southern California over the years. How does that typically
play out? Not in this individual circumstances Tennessee, because a
lot of the facts are still out there, but in
your experiences as a Committee on Infractions member, the n
C double A being involved versus the n C double
(28:04):
A being kept at arm's length. What's the impact there?
It's probably one of your long form podcast to explain
that fact. There might be like three episodes, because every
one of these circumstances is unique. A university as a
responsibility to investigate, to self evaluate. You know, you hear
(28:26):
about institutional control and so digging into information is that
institutional control responsibility? UM? When I when I was on
the committee and I'm not now, I always thought it
was important to see how did the institution react and
act as it received information. UM. The n c enforcement
(28:49):
staff is determined is charged with determining whether there's what
they call exemplary cooperation. Every school is expected to cooperate
on where that doesn't have and that is as a
negative for the school. So the fact i'll just give
praise the fact that the university has has gotten on
top of this has been diligent as I understand and
(29:12):
digging in the information. As I watched the public release
of information on Monday, Uh, it's clear they've taken this seriously.
And the responsibility now for the n c A, and
I've written about this. In fact, pat Ford, you've got
ahold of the letter. The n c A have to
move this along, you've seen a university move swiftly. I
think one of the problems at the n c A
(29:33):
levels it takes years to bring these matters to conclusion,
and that can't happen here. In fact, it shouldn't happen
in any circumstance. You know, the phrase justice delayed is
justice denied. Doesn't UH come from an n t A setting,
but it's true. And the fact that whether it's USC
(29:54):
or Syracuse that had a case that took like nine
years to bring to the finish line, that can't have
And I think that the leadership UH in Knoxville is
shawn a willingness to move rapidly, to move thoroughly in
the n c A has to move in that same way.
We're talking to SEC Commissioner Greg Sanky. As a part
of open jobs that have existed at Auburn in Tennessee,
(30:16):
in particular UH in South Carolina to a certain extent,
to people like me who sit around and talk about
who might get jobs, that's a part of the discussion
in the world of sports. Hugh Freeze's name has come
up several times. I know he had issues at Old Miss.
He's now at Liberty. Could he get a head coaching
job in the SEC or is he now not eligible
(30:37):
to to get that job. That's a question that fans
have been debating a lot. Well, I give a few
credit for his work at Liberty and and uh it
was fun to watch their bowl game scene with his
family at the end of the game with a smile
on his face, and good for him and how he's
turned the page. Our schools make their own hiring decisions.
(30:57):
I think we've been clear that the conference membership established
a rule that each school is responsible that a head
coach position or assistant coach position to fully evaluate the
background of individuals. Um they do that through our office.
We share information that's publicly available. Uh, and then they
(31:18):
make decisions. So are going to make those decisions, but
they have to proceed carefully, and particularly when there's an
issue of concern like has arisen this week, extra caution
has to be exercised. But there's no ban in particular.
Everybody has to go through the process. But the SEC
hasn't put out because that's one of the topics of
(31:38):
conversation is people say, oh, Greg Sanky has let it
be known that q Frees can't be a head coach
in the SEC, there's not that prohibition out there. Well,
I won't speak to any individual. I get blamed for
a lot you may see on social media, so I'll
take the blame. We expect our universities and they expect
(31:59):
each other to be responsible and their their personnel decisions,
and they have that responsibility, but ultimately our campuses make
those decisions. Uh, let's go to football. Coming back. When
you look towards are we be talking about in your
mind hopefully full stadiums again come September? Kickoff in the SEC?
(32:20):
What a spring practice? What does spring games look like? Uh,
you're obviously dealing with a lot of different sports right now,
but what is for college football look like from your perspective?
You know one of the missed narratives and this is
we were going to announce the schedule last April, so
that was produced and when we stopped in March, we
(32:43):
actually had to think about do we make this announcement
for one and obviously it didn't happen, and so we
were just reconfirming dates right now. My view is we
need to put out our schedule as it's been planned,
our traditional format with nonconference games. I think we saw
(33:04):
the importance of nonconference games and postseason decision making this year.
It will be nice to see those again. I'd like
to do that sooner rather than later. Clay, I think
somebody my my Twitter accounts trying to make wedding plans,
and so that's an additional pressure. Well, now, look, I
was gonna I was gonna read that. I was going
to read that to you here. Uh. I said that
I would ask a direct question from the anonymous mail bag,
(33:26):
which I know you have swung through sometimes. My brother
and his fiancee are planning to get married sometime this year.
He and I are die hard Florida fans. Uh. And
she says they want to have the game, the wedding
in New Orleans on Friday, and then the Florida LSU
game the next day on Saturday. Right now, they have
it scheduled for the week of October, weekend of October
(33:49):
sixte Uh. She wrote in and said, can you ask
SEC Commissioner Greg Sanky when that game will be played?
And if we're looking good for New Orleans. So there's
already a lot of people out there at weddings, and
so when's the schedule. There's actually the one I was
referring to a separate from that. I didn't hop about
that one. That was this week, That was tuesday, that
(34:10):
went up yesterday, So I said, I was going to
ask her for you. It just means more man. That's
that's the slogan right there. Tell them that if they
can just hold on for a few more weeks. I
don't I actually don't know the date, so I couldn't
give it away if if I wanted to, at which
I wouldn't. But I think we'll get to a conclusion.
And then if you back up, you know we've practiced,
(34:33):
We've we've gone through preseason practice, bowl practice, in season practice,
so you look at spring practice as being able to happen.
I've not had in my mind now that we'd be
in disruption of that activity, and so you can go
back into preparation at this point. Now something changes around
the pandemic. What I've said is I'd like to announce
(34:56):
our schedule and then we'll go back to the mantra
I had all last summer, which is we're going to
prepare to play the season as scheduled, but the circumstances
around the virus will dictate our way forward and uh,
we'll get back to that uh kind of normal thought
and then back to that communication point with the idea
that if we can continue along a healthy path in
(35:19):
the country, we could get back to something close to
what we're what we're accustomed to. Good stuff. As always,
appreciate you coming on. Congratulations on finishing the season, and
we look forward to next season, but certainly the n
C Double A Tournament. Moore as well. Thanks, Thanks fine,
take care of Fox Sports Radio has the best sports
talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows
(35:41):
at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within the I
Heart Radio app search f s R to listen live.
Eddie Garcia, what you got for me? News is out
there on Philip Rivers, but I'll let you break it well.
Thank you. Yes, breaking news. The San Diego Union Tribune
is reporting that Philip Rivers is retiring after seventeen seasons,
(36:02):
sixteen with the Chargers, won last year with the Colts.
He ranks fifth all time in NFL history and passing
yards with sixty two thousand forward and forty and touchdowns
passing with four hundred and twenty one. Again, the San
Diego Unions reporting Philip Rivers retiring after seventeen seasons as
a quarterback. In the NFL news in Major League Baseball,
Toronto Blue Jayson freeing outfielder George Springer reportedly agreeing on
(36:23):
a six year, hundred and fifty million dollar contract. It
would be the largest contract ever given out by the
Blue Jays Springers. A three time All Star, was the
World Series MVP with the Astros in seventeen. Just two
games in the NBA, Nuggets over the Thunder one nineteen
to one oh one, and the Jazz beat the Pelicans
one eight teen to one oh two. College basketball wins
for number three Villanova, number seven Michigan, but one upset
(36:44):
in the top ten as number six Tennessee loses to
Florida nine. We'll be back to out kick the carbage
in the second. First award from Farmers, Call one eight
Farmers and you could save on your auto insurance. It's
better than using your phone to see if your post
got any likes. Again, call one eight eight Farmers to
get a quote. We are Farmers under written by Farmer
Scercifiing Trance and changes are Philip Parks and available on
(37:06):
every state not Activeliy Travis and the Farmers OutKick the
coverage studios quotes from Philip Rivers. It's just time he saw,
he told the San Diego Union Tribune Tribune. It's just right.
I'm reading from their article right now. I can sit
here and say I can still throw it. I love
to play, but that's always going to be there. I'm
(37:26):
excited to go coach high school football. This is Philip
Rivers retiring after seventeen years. What has helped me come
to this decision is the growing desire to coach high
school football. That's what I've always wanted to do. It's
been growing. I can't wait. Uh. Rivers father was his
own coach. UH. And by the way, Philip Rivers is
going to be coaching at St. Michael Catholic High School
(37:49):
in Fair Hope, Alabama. That's down close to the UH,
down close to the coast there in Alabama. Uh. Philip
Rivers said of his rear it was awesome. I'm reading
from the San Diego Union Tribute and this news just breaking.
A young kid from northern Alabama who grew up wanting
to play pro ball, I got to do it. He said.
(38:10):
He's a at piece with his decision, says he'll miss
the locker room Uh and also says Uh that this
is the first year I felt like the ending was real.
We talked about it other years, but we knew we
weren't doing it. This year felt different. It just seemed right.
That is Philip Rivers announcing his retirement. My thanks to
(38:31):
Greg Sanky Uh. Philip Rivers riding off into the sunset
and headed to coach high school football. This is OutKick
on Fox Sports Radio. This is Outkicked the coverage with
Clay Travis
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Brady Quinn
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