July 16, 2025 • 9 mins
Looking back on a phenomenal tenure as a national scout for the NFL specifically for the Dallas Cowboys and recently becoming the new executive Senior Director for the Senior Bowl, Drew Fabianich joins Sean and Dan sharing a few gems from his career scouting and developing talent at both the highest levels collegiately and professionally. Recently obtaining his new role as Senior Director, Drew goes on to share a few things he looks forward to regarding this years Senior Bowl and the ones to come in the later years.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sean Salisbury show here on a Western Wednesday. Dan Matthews
here live in Atlanta at SEC Media Days. Sean and
TRIPOLEI back in studio, but right now pleasures to be
joined by the new director of the Senior Bowl. He
is Drew Fabianitch and Drew has been all over the
place eighteen years with the Cowboys before the Senior Bowl.
(00:21):
Your last stop was GM at West Virginia. Correct, all right,
and now you take over the job with Jim Naggy
moving on and going into college, so kind of crossing paths,
Like was it almost kind of like, you know, you're
going into the office. He say, you know, here's this,
here's that. I'm gonna go do what you've been doing.
Now you get to do what I've been doing.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I warned him about certain things, and he was all
in on it. I mean, I think, you know, once
you made a decision to you know, to move on
to a different job, I think you kind of put
your eyes, you know, and blinders on and just roll
with it, you know. I asked him some of the
things that I needed to understand and know about the job,
because it's not just about picking the players. I mean,
it's a it's a civic, community based, you know game
(01:03):
that the Senior Bowl charities are involved in a lot
of different things down there, and we got functions and
events going on almost every single month throughout the year,
and they're quite involved with high school sports, uh, with
community incentives. And now it's you said the Senior Bowl. Yes,
it's the Panini Senior Bowl now. And Panini the trading
card company has jumped in as our title sponsor, which
(01:26):
I think is fantastic because I like the idea of
having a sports company involved in any football game.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Drew, what was the biggest race I don't mean to interrupt.
I'm sorry, I'm no, that's okay. What was the biggest
piece of advice? Because you've been involved in running programs
and being a part of that the decisions and the
planning that goes into But what was the biggest piece
of advice Jim gave you for this job?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Try to be patient with the agents and try to
be more of an educator than talking to them and
talking at them, because I think that they're an incredible
piece that you have to actually sell for their clients
to actually understand the value of the game. And Sean,
I mean The perfect example to me was, you know,
(02:12):
I mean with the Cowboys was DeMarcus Ware. I mean,
we were sold as soon as he stood up and
you know, got in a wide nine and went off
to right, went off in a two point right, and
Parcels is sitting there going, okay, I'm good, you know.
And you know last year when the Zabel kid came
from North Dakota State and the league had him as
a high three and he ends up going eighteen. Well,
(02:34):
if you look at the four year contract, that's twelve
point seven million dollars a difference. And if agents and
players don't understand the value that they could gain by
playing in the premier bounty, well, I'm not a good
I'm not a very good salesman, you know what I mean.
So that's kind of Jim's you know, main advice was
make sure you sell the agent, make sure you sell
(02:56):
the player. But I'm also going to have a lot
of backup just in case. You know, again, we're gonna
have a vertical board that hey, if one goes, we
got to be ready to have the other one coming.
And I'm also going to tell agents that I kind
of know are playing it, playing me that we need
to not come to the game or play it all
the way to the three days before and then back out.
(03:18):
I'd rather have somebody I know it's going to be
down there for practicing games, just you know, tell me
they're coming. Does that make sense?
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Perfect, sure, Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
And Drew Fabian's new director of the Senior Bowl and
he's joined us here at SEC media Days, and you know,
talked about it too. I mean your time with the
Cowboys eighteen years and you obviously went to this event
quite a bit of being in the scouting department there.
What did you think you knew about this job before
(03:47):
you took it and what did you only learn once
you took it.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I thought it was just about the game. I did
not know that the Senior Bowl Charities is involved in
so many you know, civic minded pieces, whether it's you know,
donating you know, five thousand dollars to each high school,
you know for equipment each year, you know, doing a
leadership conference in July with mobile, I mean Mobile in
Baldwin County, the Hall of Fame, you know, Senior Bowl
(04:14):
Hall of Fame, the charity golf tournament, the draft party,
the kickoff party, the weak function that go on that again,
I never saw because I always left on a Thursday. Well,
there's a huge concert in one of the squares, you know,
on Friday night after the Marti Gross parade for the players.
I didn't know about all these pieces until I actually
(04:36):
went down and interviewed for the job. I was going like, okay,
I can you know, I can handle picking the players
and dealing with the agents and you know, doing all this,
and then all of a sudden, now I'm you know,
on every single radio station, every single TV spot, you know,
going national. You know, I'm the face of it. But
it's also about the Senior Bowl charities, and I thought
it was just about the game. I had no idea
(04:56):
and being down there for eighteen years straight, you know,
Like I told my wife, he was like, oh, you
never went to this place. I was like, hun, I
was like, I never had time, right. It was like,
I'm always going to practice, going to lunch real quick,
going to practice, going to interviews every single night. And
by the time I got done with interviews, I was like,
I'm good. I'm not going anywhere I'm going. I'm gonna
kick it out. I'm gonna go to sleep, I'm gonna
(05:17):
be ready for the next morning. And so you know, again,
I'm trying to change some things that make it more
player friendly, make it more personnel friendly and coach friendly,
because Sean, you'll remember that this used to be the
because Senior Bowl used to be kind of the unofficial
NFL coaches conventions exactly what it was, yep. And when
they started doing the formal interviews at night, those coaches
(05:40):
didn't want to come anymore because they couldn't network with
their boys, they couldn't hang out, they couldn't you know,
look for jobs and everything else. Well, that's one change
I am making. The Monday night's gonna be the only
night that they'll actually interview, and all the interviews will
be in the morning, and then all the evenings will
be free for the coaches, the players, right, and the
personnel people.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Just do it for everybody to win. Yeah, yes, and.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
You know, and the thing is, is it again, I
want it to be a pleasurable experience, more so for
the players, right, Because when I did those interviews from
seven to ten every night, I mean I was so
beat down by the end. I was like, this got
to be bad.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
You hated football? By the end of the week.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Right, yah, yeah, and you can And I can't imagine
what those guys thought they were going, like, Okay, I
just got to ask the same question twenty eight times
in the last you know, three hours. You know, why
do I got to keep doing this?
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Right?
Speaker 2 (06:31):
You know? Well, you know again, I want to make
it pleasurable. So they're going to be the ambassadors back
at campus for me, you know, for the next you know,
four or five years when they go back to work
the strength coach or go back over the summer and
they say, hey, you know, if you get an invite,
it's big, it's enormous. It's it's it's huge, it's valuable,
but it's also a great time.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Drew, we got about two minutes, two minutes left with you.
I want to take you and I are sitting at
at your house, in my house, we're having a beer
and we're watching college football, and you're you're to move
yourself from the job. You and I are just fans.
You've seen the NFL side, this college side, and with
all the building you got to.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Do for this and make it conducive. What are you
as a fan? What bothers you? I know, all the
good stuff.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
What bothers you about the college football game right now
with all the nil and money? What bothers you about
all this? Or do you love the state of the game.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I don't love the state of the game. I'm old school,
and again, I like that the players are actually getting,
you know, their fair share, But I think it's so
far off the rails and it's so ungoverned and it's
so unregulated that the haves are still going to be
the haves and the have nots are always going to
be the have nots. If it continues down this road,
(07:41):
it's got to go to Congress. It's got to go
to an employee base, it's got to go to a
two years, it's got to go to CBA. I mean,
it's got to become almost a minor league for the
NFL because this is gonna this model is not going
to work any longer. I mean, it's just they're going
to run out of cash and it's going to hurt
all the other Olympic sports and all the other sports
in the university. So that was kind of long winded, John, Sorry,
(08:04):
but I mean.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Not long winding at all.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Bro.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
I'll blow through the break I love this because I
am You're we're sitting in the same church pew with that,
with that opinion, I'm glad I agreed with you. If
you were having that beer, which I'd like to have sometime,
that'd be great.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah. I just I hope that something's done and I
don't know who is going to be that person, but
you have to have this regulated because again, just like
when the nca says, oh, we're gonna have Deloitte, you
know handle you know whether this is a you know,
whether that's market value. They don't know that, and then
(08:38):
as soon as somebody says it's not market value, then
they're gonna get sued. And then guess what, the NCAA
is gonna do nothing about it. Nothing. So again that's
the state of this game needs to be changed, and
it needs to be you know, as equitable as possible,
which is gonna be hard, it really is.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Drew Fabianisch, again the new Senior Ball Director. Join us
here at CEC Media Days. Drew, really appreciate your time
and best of luck and look forward to catching up
with you again another time.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Drew, Great stuff, buddy, good to talk to you man.
Thank you great insight, appreciate your brother, You too.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Buddy, awesome, Appreciate it. And we'll continue on here from
SEC Media Days in Atlanta as don't forget. In about
twenty minutes we're going to talk with SEC Commissioner Greg Sankee.
It is the Sean Salisbury Show here on a Western Wednesday,
Sports Talk seven ninety
Sean Salisbury show here on a Western Wednesday. Dan Matthews
here live in Atlanta at SEC Media Days. Sean and
TRIPOLEI back in studio, but right now pleasures to be
joined by the new director of the Senior Bowl. He
is Drew Fabianitch and Drew has been all over the
place eighteen years with the Cowboys before the Senior Bowl.
(00:21):
Your last stop was GM at West Virginia. Correct, all right,
and now you take over the job with Jim Naggy
moving on and going into college, so kind of crossing paths,
Like was it almost kind of like, you know, you're
going into the office. He say, you know, here's this,
here's that. I'm gonna go do what you've been doing.
Now you get to do what I've been doing.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I warned him about certain things, and he was all
in on it. I mean, I think, you know, once
you made a decision to you know, to move on
to a different job, I think you kind of put
your eyes, you know, and blinders on and just roll
with it, you know. I asked him some of the
things that I needed to understand and know about the job,
because it's not just about picking the players. I mean,
it's a it's a civic, community based, you know game
(01:03):
that the Senior Bowl charities are involved in a lot
of different things down there, and we got functions and
events going on almost every single month throughout the year,
and they're quite involved with high school sports, uh, with
community incentives. And now it's you said the Senior Bowl. Yes,
it's the Panini Senior Bowl now. And Panini the trading
card company has jumped in as our title sponsor, which
(01:26):
I think is fantastic because I like the idea of
having a sports company involved in any football game.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Drew, what was the biggest race I don't mean to interrupt.
I'm sorry, I'm no, that's okay. What was the biggest
piece of advice? Because you've been involved in running programs
and being a part of that the decisions and the
planning that goes into But what was the biggest piece
of advice Jim gave you for this job?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Try to be patient with the agents and try to
be more of an educator than talking to them and
talking at them, because I think that they're an incredible
piece that you have to actually sell for their clients
to actually understand the value of the game. And Sean,
I mean The perfect example to me was, you know,
(02:12):
I mean with the Cowboys was DeMarcus Ware. I mean,
we were sold as soon as he stood up and
you know, got in a wide nine and went off
to right, went off in a two point right, and
Parcels is sitting there going, okay, I'm good, you know.
And you know last year when the Zabel kid came
from North Dakota State and the league had him as
a high three and he ends up going eighteen. Well,
(02:34):
if you look at the four year contract, that's twelve
point seven million dollars a difference. And if agents and
players don't understand the value that they could gain by
playing in the premier bounty, well, I'm not a good
I'm not a very good salesman, you know what I mean.
So that's kind of Jim's you know, main advice was
make sure you sell the agent, make sure you sell
(02:56):
the player. But I'm also going to have a lot
of backup just in case. You know, again, we're gonna
have a vertical board that hey, if one goes, we
got to be ready to have the other one coming.
And I'm also going to tell agents that I kind
of know are playing it, playing me that we need
to not come to the game or play it all
the way to the three days before and then back out.
(03:18):
I'd rather have somebody I know it's going to be
down there for practicing games, just you know, tell me
they're coming. Does that make sense?
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Perfect, sure, Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
And Drew Fabian's new director of the Senior Bowl and
he's joined us here at SEC media Days, and you know,
talked about it too. I mean your time with the
Cowboys eighteen years and you obviously went to this event
quite a bit of being in the scouting department there.
What did you think you knew about this job before
(03:47):
you took it and what did you only learn once
you took it.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I thought it was just about the game. I did
not know that the Senior Bowl Charities is involved in
so many you know, civic minded pieces, whether it's you know,
donating you know, five thousand dollars to each high school,
you know for equipment each year, you know, doing a
leadership conference in July with mobile, I mean Mobile in
Baldwin County, the Hall of Fame, you know, Senior Bowl
(04:14):
Hall of Fame, the charity golf tournament, the draft party,
the kickoff party, the weak function that go on that again,
I never saw because I always left on a Thursday. Well,
there's a huge concert in one of the squares, you know,
on Friday night after the Marti Gross parade for the players.
I didn't know about all these pieces until I actually
(04:36):
went down and interviewed for the job. I was going like, okay,
I can you know, I can handle picking the players
and dealing with the agents and you know, doing all this,
and then all of a sudden, now I'm you know,
on every single radio station, every single TV spot, you know,
going national. You know, I'm the face of it. But
it's also about the Senior Bowl charities, and I thought
it was just about the game. I had no idea
(04:56):
and being down there for eighteen years straight, you know,
Like I told my wife, he was like, oh, you
never went to this place. I was like, hun, I
was like, I never had time, right. It was like,
I'm always going to practice, going to lunch real quick,
going to practice, going to interviews every single night. And
by the time I got done with interviews, I was like,
I'm good. I'm not going anywhere I'm going. I'm gonna
kick it out. I'm gonna go to sleep, I'm gonna
(05:17):
be ready for the next morning. And so you know, again,
I'm trying to change some things that make it more
player friendly, make it more personnel friendly and coach friendly,
because Sean, you'll remember that this used to be the
because Senior Bowl used to be kind of the unofficial
NFL coaches conventions exactly what it was, yep. And when
they started doing the formal interviews at night, those coaches
(05:40):
didn't want to come anymore because they couldn't network with
their boys, they couldn't hang out, they couldn't you know,
look for jobs and everything else. Well, that's one change
I am making. The Monday night's gonna be the only
night that they'll actually interview, and all the interviews will
be in the morning, and then all the evenings will
be free for the coaches, the players, right, and the
personnel people.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Just do it for everybody to win. Yeah, yes, and.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
You know, and the thing is, is it again, I
want it to be a pleasurable experience, more so for
the players, right, Because when I did those interviews from
seven to ten every night, I mean I was so
beat down by the end. I was like, this got
to be bad.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
You hated football? By the end of the week.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Right, yah, yeah, and you can And I can't imagine
what those guys thought they were going, like, Okay, I
just got to ask the same question twenty eight times
in the last you know, three hours. You know, why
do I got to keep doing this?
Speaker 4 (06:30):
Right?
Speaker 2 (06:31):
You know? Well, you know again, I want to make
it pleasurable. So they're going to be the ambassadors back
at campus for me, you know, for the next you know,
four or five years when they go back to work
the strength coach or go back over the summer and
they say, hey, you know, if you get an invite,
it's big, it's enormous. It's it's it's huge, it's valuable,
but it's also a great time.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Drew, we got about two minutes, two minutes left with you.
I want to take you and I are sitting at
at your house, in my house, we're having a beer
and we're watching college football, and you're you're to move
yourself from the job. You and I are just fans.
You've seen the NFL side, this college side, and with
all the building you got to.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Do for this and make it conducive. What are you
as a fan? What bothers you? I know, all the
good stuff.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
What bothers you about the college football game right now
with all the nil and money? What bothers you about
all this? Or do you love the state of the game.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I don't love the state of the game. I'm old school,
and again, I like that the players are actually getting,
you know, their fair share, But I think it's so
far off the rails and it's so ungoverned and it's
so unregulated that the haves are still going to be
the haves and the have nots are always going to
be the have nots. If it continues down this road,
(07:41):
it's got to go to Congress. It's got to go
to an employee base, it's got to go to a
two years, it's got to go to CBA. I mean,
it's got to become almost a minor league for the
NFL because this is gonna this model is not going
to work any longer. I mean, it's just they're going
to run out of cash and it's going to hurt
all the other Olympic sports and all the other sports
in the university. So that was kind of long winded, John, Sorry,
(08:04):
but I mean.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Not long winding at all.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Bro.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
I'll blow through the break I love this because I
am You're we're sitting in the same church pew with that,
with that opinion, I'm glad I agreed with you. If
you were having that beer, which I'd like to have sometime,
that'd be great.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah. I just I hope that something's done and I
don't know who is going to be that person, but
you have to have this regulated because again, just like
when the nca says, oh, we're gonna have Deloitte, you
know handle you know whether this is a you know,
whether that's market value. They don't know that, and then
(08:38):
as soon as somebody says it's not market value, then
they're gonna get sued. And then guess what, the NCAA
is gonna do nothing about it. Nothing. So again that's
the state of this game needs to be changed, and
it needs to be you know, as equitable as possible,
which is gonna be hard, it really is.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Drew Fabianisch, again the new Senior Ball Director. Join us
here at CEC Media Days. Drew, really appreciate your time
and best of luck and look forward to catching up
with you again another time.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Drew, Great stuff, buddy, good to talk to you man.
Thank you great insight, appreciate your brother, You too.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Buddy, awesome, Appreciate it. And we'll continue on here from
SEC Media Days in Atlanta as don't forget. In about
twenty minutes we're going to talk with SEC Commissioner Greg Sankee.
It is the Sean Salisbury Show here on a Western Wednesday,
Sports Talk seven ninety
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