The "Gathering at the Paw" Edition

ACC's New Safety Policy Puts Spotlight on Clemson's "Gathering at the Paw".

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's time or Clipson Sports Talk with Lawton Swann.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Now, finally, Clemson Sports Talk has come back to drive time. Hell,

(00:51):
everybody low and Swan back in the saddle once again.
It is the show that shakes the south Land. Clemson
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(01:12):
The website. Put the dot com on it, dog gonet
that's Clemson Sports tal dot com A O three four
five O zero zero eighty six. Don't forget the show.
The Shakes ofa South lamb brought to you in part
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(01:37):
That's the website as well. But with the ACC kickoff
getting underway up in Charlotte today, Commissioner Jim Phillips met
with the media and outlined a couple of policies and
I want to start the show with the number one
policy that he brought up, and that was a change
to safety for players involving fans after games. Now why

(02:01):
this is significant to Clemson. We wrote an article about
it on our website clemsonsports talk dot com because of
the gathering at the Pall. Here's what Commissioner Phillips had
to say. Our conference has elevated its expectations around court
and field safety. Members are required to continue developing event
security plans, which will now include a review by a

(02:22):
third party independently to ensure that only participants, coaches, officials,
and authorized personnel are allowed in the competition area before, during,
and at the conclusion of any competition. The plan may
allow spectators to access the competition area following a contest,
much like Clemson's gathering at the Pall, but only after

(02:45):
and this is key, after the visiting team and officials
have safely exited the area. With the elevated safety expectations,
now I can go further into it, but the fine
structure is fifty thousand for a four defense, one thousand
excu to be one hundred thousand for a second offense,
and two hundred thousand for a third offense, and he

(03:09):
didn't specifically in the time that I saw of his
commissioners forum addressed further like is there some elevated status
after the two hundred thousand dollar offense? But for Clemson
Tiger fans and look over the years, the gathering of
the pall has been an institution that you all love
going out on the field, throwing the football around with
your kids. I remember it from when I was a kid,

(03:29):
getting a pair of gloves from Clemson Tiger players, etc.
And the Tigers have delayed it after the goal posts
were torn down. One year, Clemson put in some new
goalposts that dipped down and went to the ground. For
years they did that. That changed. I don't believe they
still lower. They do now have a policy though in
places after the game the gathering at the pall, where

(03:51):
I think there was like a twenty five or thirty
second countdown for people to wait. But if Clemson won
a huge game and the last second, even as good
as a ben, fans were gonna rush field and go
gather the pall. But even in losses, and this is
what's important, this is an important distinction. Even in losses,
Clemson fans gather at the pall, not to the same magnitude,

(04:11):
but rarely in the sport of college football can you
go down on the field and throw football and get
autographs and do the things that you can do with Clemson.
So what are your thoughts on the Atlantic Coast Conference
and what is the potential impact in your mind for Clemson?
And is the gathering of the pall at not just
some level of risk, but maybe even on the verge

(04:33):
of extinction. Could Clemson get rid of it? Let us
know what you think in the comments if you're watching
on TikTok. Now, for me, I understand and recognize that
safety is always going to come first. What I think
fans are going to have to resign themselves to doing

(04:54):
is just being a little bit more patient, because I
do think that if there is patience from the fan base,
I do think that the gathering of the paul can
continue to exist. But if Clemson fans, following a game

(05:21):
against Troy week two of the season, bum rush the
field without allowing Troy and the officials to leave the field,
and Clemson gets fined for that, I certainly think that
Graham nef who I hope to speak to about this

(05:42):
at the ACC kickoff. If not sooner, I think that
the athletic department will have to consider what changes will
be made and if they just need to eliminate it
all together. Now, as a person that's followed Clemson football
my entire life and certainly cover them for twenty plus years,
here's the suggestion that I would make to the Clemson

(06:05):
University Athletic department and the fans. Normally, what happens is
at the end of the game, the clock counts down,
people run onto the field, but opposing players are out there,
and then the band strikes up and plays the Clemson
alma mater. And it is unique that fans and students
are on the field with the Clemson players singing that

(06:28):
in unison. But I think you can clear this up
and still allow the gathering of the pall if you
do this one simple change, make it a priority that
the football team and fans sing the alma mater from
outside of the venue, meaning fans. Here's what would happen.

(06:52):
Game ends. Clemson football players go and shake hands with
the opponent. The opponent and it has an opportunity to
leave the field while the band strikes up the alma
mater from that moment, then as the alma mater ends.

(07:12):
I believe at that point, if you put that policy
in place, you could then justify that you have given
plenty of time for the opposing team and the officials
to leave the field and then fans can gather at
the pall. I think that's a plan that's pretty easy
to implement. I think that you can get fans on

(07:35):
board with it. I know you want to see the
players go and shake hands with the opponents, say hey,
good game, but maybe there would be a way to
sort of get the players kind of like you do
in a road game, to go over to the student
section and sing with them. There's got to be a solution.

(07:57):
But at this point that would be the most logical
because of the length of the alma mater. It's not
it's not some five minutes you know, it's not November
rain some seven minutes song. But it does I think
justify if there was a player from the opposing team
that stayed on the field, that that's not an issue.

(08:19):
That would be a finable offense, right because sometimes these
guys want to talk with their buddies from high school, etc.
I really think this is talking about the majority of people,
but do the alma mater from the stands and then say, fans, Okay,
now you can go on to the field for the
gathering of the pall. You can't get too angry about it.

(08:41):
I want to say this too, you can't get too
angry about it if you're a Tiger fan, because you
can't say that when Clemson beats a team that they
are expected to beat, Presbyterian and the fans go out
on the field, you can't defend it when people go,
that's not we're not rushing the field because we beat Presbyterian.

(09:03):
We're gathering at the Paul. But then not say that
you can have a little bit of a restraint in
an adjustment in order to keep said tradition alive. Anyway,
That's the first major change. The other change that the
ACC is going to be enacting. And I do like

(09:25):
this because I feel like over the years, Dabo Sweeney
has fairly consistently stopped giving out information about injury reports,
but the Atlantic Coast Conference will now require injury reports

(09:47):
for conference games. ACC teams will be required to release
an injury report in the days prior to conference football
games moving forward, Jim Phillips announced that during his forum
today up in Charlotte, not only will the injury reports
need to be issued two days before games, Phillips also

(10:12):
added that the day before the game and then two
hours prior to kickoff. And I'll let you hear Jim
Phillips talk about that in full throat here momentarily, but
we'll jump into the forum up in Charlotte right now
on the show that Shakes the south Land. This is

(10:33):
Commissioner Jim Phillips talking about the end of the legal
disputes between Clipson in Florida State and the ACC.

Speaker 3 (10:42):
The legal disputes within the conference were brought to resolution
at the beginning of March. The ACEC Board of Directors
was amazing and its leadership, dedication and patients through a
challenging process, the settlement provides long term stability for the
league with the potential for all men members to benefit
from additional revenue opportunities. Leading in the distribution of revenue

(11:07):
based on success and now with an additional revenue distribution
model that is based on viewership. The ACC has been
innovative in its approach to conference revenues as part of
the modernization of College Athletics. These new models allow us
to maintain distributions for all ACC members that are above

(11:27):
most other conferences, while also providing flexibility for competition at
the highest level of revenue. On the playing fields and
in the classrooms. Our student athletes and programs continued to shine.
The ACC won six NCAA titles this past year and
has a mass twenty nine in the last four years.

(11:48):
In that span, no conference has won more NCAA titles
in league sponsored sports.

Speaker 2 (11:54):
Jim Phillips say are talking about some of the accolades
from the Atlantic Coast Conference. He also dove into the
ever changing landscape of college sports nationally.

Speaker 3 (12:04):
The ACC continues to play a vital and leading role
in this transformational moment for college sports. There remains strong
ongoing collaboration among the powerful commissioners as we work together
to build a better and more sustainable future. There's not
a day that I'm not engaged in discussions on the
College Sports Commission, federal legislation efforts, the NCAAA, or the

(12:25):
College Football Playoff. As you know, after years of uncertainty
and legal challenges, the formal approval of the settlement in
June was a major step forward in modernizing college athletics.
The new system provides a sustainable framework that allows more
benefits to student athletes while continuing the broad based programming
that produced so many Olympic medalists last summer. The ability

(12:50):
for schools to provide scholarships to more student athletes does
not get the positive attention it deserves. From the very
beginning and throughout the negotiations, anticipated resolution, preparations for approval,
and now to full implementation, the ACC has been at
the forefront of these discussions. The College Sports Commission, with

(13:14):
Brian Seeley as its CEO, has already begun its tireless
work ensuring compliance with the new rules around revenue sharing,
student athlete NIL deals, and roster limits. Brian begins his
tenure about a month ago, and I continue to be
impressed with him, with his credentials speaking for themselves.

Speaker 1 (13:35):
As we move forward.

Speaker 3 (13:37):
And continue to meet this true reset moment, we must
remember that everything will not be perfect immediately. We know
we must get this right, which we take very seriously.
We're being thoughtful about every detail and are committed to
progress through learning, adapting, and strengthening the model to support
and protect college sports for generations. To come, and the

(14:00):
obligation to get this right is one the entire industry shares.
From me and my fellow commissioners to university presidents, athletic directors,
and coaches.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
We have to commit to.

Speaker 3 (14:11):
Structure, exercise restraint, and be intentional about resetting the culture
of college athletics. Without question, there's still significant work to
be done, but we must acknowledge that collectively we are
truly in a better place and we have a responsibility
to make it work in the future. With that said,

(14:35):
we also need Congress to act. We will continue to
push for federal legislation that will support our efforts to
ensure a uniform, stable, and legally sound future. Recently, a
bipartisan group of Congress members sponsored the Score Act, designed
to address issues that threaten college sports but cannot be
solved in the legal settlement. In June, created a national

(14:59):
standard as opposed to state by state differences, codifies the
student athletes right to earn money for their nil and
his paramount importance in ensuring that all institutions are operating
under the same law.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
So Phillips, they are calling on Congress to put together
some sort of universal package that goes across the country
so that it's basically a level playing field no matter
what league you're in, no matter what state you're in.
He also talked about the influence and the impact on
the education process and the elimination of what he called

(15:36):
one off eligibility issues where players are suing to maintain
their eligibility, and he made some great points about why
that's not good for the sport or sports.

Speaker 3 (15:48):
The Act also clarifies rulemaking authority around the central tenants
important for the continued integration of college sports in the
higher education setting. An example of the threats to system
faces college sports cannot withstand repeated one off legal challenges
to eligibility rules that further separate athletic participation from the

(16:10):
institutional academic mission. Not only is it philosophically contrary to
the educational mission of our institutions, but continued extensions of
eligibility threatn the opportunities for the next generation of college
student athletes. As you know, there are many issues addressed
in this comprehensive bill, and I applaud the engagement of

(16:33):
our national leaders and look forward to our continued progress.

Speaker 2 (16:38):
Jim Phillips also talked about the structure of the College
Football Playoff, which I know is a hot button issue
for so many people.

Speaker 3 (16:44):
At this point, following an incredibly successful first year that
expanded college football Playoff, we are looking forward to the
future of this premier event. Earlier this spring, we adjusted
the seating and buy policies for the upcoming season, which
were absolutely and the best interest of college football. The
decisions were important to guarantee the five highest rank conference

(17:07):
champions a place in the playoff, while also recognizing performance
on the field during the entire regular season via straight seating.
Conversations regarding the CFP structure beyond the upcoming year are ongoing,
and I sincerely appreciate the collaborative spirit in which we
are moving forward. We may not always agree, and at

(17:30):
certain points we have had some strong disagreements, but we
all recognize the importance of coming together to find a
solution that is truly best for all of college football.
Fairness and access are paramount, just as they are in
all other college sports postseasons.

Speaker 2 (17:49):
Here are phillips comments on the two policies that we mentioned,
the issue with field storming, court storming, etc. And also
the issue that he brought up about how to give
out injury reports.

Speaker 3 (18:06):
In the sports of football and men's and women's basketball,
our conference has elevated its expectations around court and field safety.
Members are required to continue developing events security plans, which
will now include a review by a third party independently,
and to ensure that only participants, coaches, officials, and authorized

(18:29):
personnel are allowed in the competitionary before, during, and at
the conclusion of any competition. The plan may allowed spectators
to access the competition area following a contest, but only
after the visiting team and officials have safely exited the area.
With the elevated safety expectations, it's critical there's critical importance

(18:53):
to ensure that adequate time for all members of the
visiting team to safely leave the field of play. In
addition to these elevated expectations, there is a corresponding fine
structure in place should a school have a breach in
this new policy. Similarly, in the sports of football, men's

(19:13):
and women's basketball, as well as baseball, the ACC will
implement a player availability reporting policy for each conference game.
In football, an institution will submit an availability report two
days before each league game, with updates one day before
and on game day. All submitted reports will be publicly

(19:34):
available on the ACC dot com. This decision is directly
connected to our ongoing commitment to best protect our student
athletes and our multifaceted approach to addressing the effects of
sports wagering.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
There you go. Some comments from Jim Phillips here on
the show The Shakes the South Leen Quick Great. We'll
come out more on a Tuesday afternoon Rocket and Rolling
along clips of the sports Stall the ACC kickoff underway
up in Charlotte. We will give you some more audio
from that coming up over the next few days. I'll
be up there tomorrow. Clemson arrives on Thursday. Full coverage
not only on the show on iHeartRadio, also on our

(20:09):
website clemsonsports Talk dot com. We don't forget about our
friends at Alumni Hall on the corner of campus on
College Avenue of downtown Clemson, just the stones throw away
from historic Riggs Field. Go check them out today. It's
Alumni Hall where Tiger fans shop. Also check them out
online at Alumni Hall dot com. So Clemson got a
new defensive coordinator in the off season, Tom Allen, after
a year at Penn State. Previously what seven eight years

(20:33):
at Indiana as the head coach. Sounds a lot like
Brent Vinables. Kind of the only person that sounds more
like Brent Vinables at Clemson right now is Tyler Vinibles
than Tom Allen. But here's Tom Allen from his time
with the media last week up in Tigertown talking about
the summer focus for this Clemson Tiger football team, or
I should say this Clemson Tiger defense.

Speaker 4 (20:53):
The first phase is always you know, the supring football
piece when you get here and you get to a
new place and you're trying to establish things. And then
once that concludes, and you got to set out your
goals for the remainder of the summer and into training camp.
So I think I had an opportunity of all of
our players again after the spring game individually which is

(21:14):
sometimes put a lot of stocky in and and just
to be able to continue to develop the guys individually.

Speaker 2 (21:21):
So that was the major goals.

Speaker 4 (21:22):
Once you get to know them and get the chance
to see them on the field in spring ball, you
get evaluate where they're at, and then you set goals
for them, you know, in certain areas and have individual
position coaches do that as well. And I focus more
on mindset and daily habits. Really really emphasize that over
the summer because that's the time when they really have

(21:44):
the best opportunity to really develop those and build on
those because so much of it is away from the
coaches more than it is during the springtime, where in
fall camp.

Speaker 2 (21:54):
That's clips of deep as a coordinator, Tom Allen, he
was also asked about his decision to choose to come
down from Penn State and my family.

Speaker 4 (22:04):
And that was pretty clear about that from the beginning,
and that's just proven to be an amazing opportunity here
being still close to our two daughters and our son
who's with us here. But uh, family is really important
to me, My faith really important to me. The culture
that that Dabo has built here is uh, you know,
it was pretty well established and and uh, you know,

(22:27):
well known in regarding to the kind of environment you
would be in here as a coach, and so all
those things just continued to be reinforced, uh, and the
decision that we made, and obviously it was a part
of a great place and and working for a great
head coach and great people, and I really appreciate that,
and it was an awesome time and and but for me,
it was about my family, and uh, you know, it's
it's proven to be an awesome thing to be able

(22:48):
to get a lot of time together with them, way
more than we ever would have have we lived in
a different place, and and those things matter to me.

Speaker 2 (22:55):
So Tom Allen there talking about relocating to Clemson, the
benefits of his family, having his daughters here, bringing his
son along with him as well, and really to have
everybody within what forty five minutes to two hours I
guess depending on location. I think one daughter maybe lives
in Greenville, the other I want to say maybe Charlotte.
Not one hundred percent sure on that. Tom Allen was

(23:16):
also asked about TJ Parker, star defensive end. He'll be
at the ACC kickoff coming up on Thursday, one of
the defensive representatives of the Clips of Tigers, along with
Peter Woods. But Tom Allen was asked to kind of compare,
I guess, or comparing TJ Parker to Abdul Carter when

(23:38):
he was playing at Penn State.

Speaker 4 (23:40):
The today is can you get to the quarterback?

Speaker 1 (23:43):
You know?

Speaker 4 (23:43):
And obviously TJ has shown the ability to do that
in the past, and so that gets you a lot
of excitement, you know, obviously, and those guys had similar
numbers you know, a year ago. And I think just
he has a knack to be able to position himself.
He's a great use of his hands, great leverage on
on offensive blockers and tackles and whoever took chooses to

(24:05):
block him. I think that's that that pops out to me,
his relentless effort to get to the quarterback. There's another
thing that sticks out on film. He's work ethic, you know.
I just love how he works. Those are all key
things that matter. I think his technique has continued to
get better and better all the time. He's got great
coaching staff around him up front and a lot of
NFL experienced.

Speaker 1 (24:25):
There to work with him and getting ready.

Speaker 4 (24:26):
To play at the highest level. So I think TJ.
Parker has worked extremely hard. H needs to have a
great training camp like they all do. And obviously it's
like everybody else, it's about what you do on game day,
you know. And so he had a great, you know campaign.

Speaker 1 (24:40):
A year ago.

Speaker 4 (24:40):
But he's got to be able to elevate his game
and keep getting better. And that's what I expect him
to do, just like you know, I duel was able
to have his best season of his career in his
final year this past season, and that's what I expect
TJ to do this year.

Speaker 2 (24:51):
Final thing from Tom Allen. He was also asked about
Ben Bullwaer and I think some people ask some questions
about Bullwear, you know, stepping into that role as the
new linebackers coach at Clemson, even though he's a great linebacker. Certainly,
when you know, you watch some of the film of
those old games when Ben bullars out there on the
field basically coaching in that Brentvinnibles defense and making reads

(25:14):
before the balls even snapped. Here's Tom Allen giving some
insight into the job that been bull Wear has done
thus far.

Speaker 4 (25:21):
Yeah, he's another one. I mean to use that word
bold ar man. He's just he's a relentless guy.

Speaker 1 (25:25):
Man.

Speaker 4 (25:26):
He's so passionate about football life, holding his players to
a high level of accountability, the way he held himself,
how hard he played, you know, how how well he
prepared and studied, you know, to be able to anticipate
and bark out, you know, things, and call out plays
and and anticipate what the offense is going to do,
and and just being demanding. You know, I just I

(25:46):
love the way he coaches his guys. I mean, he's
he's tough on him now, but you can hold people
to a high level accountability, and you can be really
tough on him when they know you care about him,
when they know you genuinely love him more as a
person as a player. I believe in that. I think
that's critical to relationshiability, to coaching to get the most
out of guys. And I see those qualities in him.

(26:07):
You know, I've said before, I've recruiting when he was
a high school player and just loved the way he
played the game, and it just it stuck out to me.
The way he finished plays, the way he tackled, how
hard he played the effort piece. I love that about him.
I mean, you know, he's not the biggest guy.

Speaker 1 (26:23):
He knows that.

Speaker 4 (26:23):
We joke about that quite a bit, but man, he
wasn't the fastest guy. But man, he was extremely extremely effective.
He was a great leader, he's a great football player
and obviously led them here to national championship.

Speaker 1 (26:35):
So just being able to.

Speaker 4 (26:37):
You know, have a guy in that room that the
room that I fink kind of drives all that you know,
those linebackers, to me, they set the tone for our
whole defense, and he sets the tone for that in
that room, and so having him in there is massive
for us.

Speaker 1 (26:49):
It's huge for me.

Speaker 4 (26:49):
I know when I first talked to Coach about coming here,
that was one of the things we talked about, was
was been coach at linebackers And so just feel like
that it's a critical position for us. I'm obviously going
to be and all those meetings as well, and because
that's that's where.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
My eyes go.

Speaker 4 (27:04):
That's the position I played, That's a position I coach
and and that's what my heart is. But I also
know that's that's the group that drives the defense, you know.
So so he's the leader of that group and he's
doing a phenomenal job.

Speaker 1 (27:15):
Hold him to the standard of clintch defense.

Speaker 2 (27:18):
So some commentis for Tom Outen here now and the
more when we come back head over to the SEC
Media Days where Greg Sankey, commissioner of the conference, made
the media last week. Stay with us back at it
on a Tuesday afternoon again in the ACC Kickoff in
full force. We heard from Commissioner Jim Phillips earlier in
the program, but did not get a chance, and obviously,

(27:40):
going to the ACC Kickoff tomorrow, I will be loaded
down with content from there, and it'll be tough. It'll
be really tough to circle back to a whole lot
out of the SEC Media Days or the SEC Kickoff,
if you will. Looks like that might be what they call,

(28:01):
at least it said SEC Kickoff behind Commissioner Greg Sankie
as he took to the podium and plus hour number two,
we'll talk with Mike Eva, We'll hear some from Shane
Beemer and Leonor Sellers some of the comments that they
had to make or they made last week as well.
Just trying to knock some of that out for you
here on the program. But here's Greg Sankie highlighting the

(28:24):
ever shifting landscape in the world of college football.

Speaker 5 (28:29):
Now any room that I occupy, I don't have to
educate you that there is a lot going on in.

Speaker 1 (28:38):
And around college sports.

Speaker 5 (28:40):
In fact, I usually began writing out at least an
outline of my remarks in early June, and had I
attempted an early June to write out this full set
of remarks, it literally would have changed.

Speaker 1 (28:55):
On a daily basis.

Speaker 5 (28:57):
Because it seems as if one wakes up and there's
a new story, a new opinion, a new piece of commentary,
or a new direction that's been suggested. But let's take
an inventory of all that's happening around college sports and
college football right now. We have congressional activity. We wonder

(29:17):
what might be the next state law to be introduced
or the next lawsuit. We're interested in litigation that has
resulted in individuals being eligible to participate in college sports
well into their mid twenties.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
That starts to remove.

Speaker 5 (29:35):
Opportunities for aspiring high school athletes. There are opinions around
collective bargaining, opinions around the size of.

Speaker 1 (29:44):
The NCAA basketball tournament.

Speaker 5 (29:47):
There are outcomes from what's called the NCAA Division One
Decision Making Working Group.

Speaker 1 (29:54):
There are proposed changes.

Speaker 5 (29:56):
To the NCAA policy that for years has prohibited gambling
on college or excuse me, college athletes and college coaches
from gambling on professional sports. Or considerations and commentary related
to the future of the NCAA. I've already mentioned the
college football Playoff as it relates to our work. Should

(30:18):
it be at twelve or fourteen or sixteen, or if
you wait long enough, somebody will introduced another number for consideration.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
The issues around the.

Speaker 5 (30:28):
College football playoff selection committee protocol and process were noted
by ME at press conferences in DestinE what's the future
of the SEC football schedule?

Speaker 1 (30:40):
Is it going to be eight or nine games? What
do we do.

Speaker 5 (30:44):
About our future bowl relationships? How do we implement terms
of the house settlement? And what's the impact of that
settlement upon non revenue sports, on participation opportunities across all
Division one and the sponsorship's decisions around sports offered on
each campus. I think the most frequent question I'm asked

(31:05):
one on one, including in airports as late as yesterday,
is what are you going to do about the transfer portal?
There's continuing evaluation by many about the role of outside
financing and college sports, often referred to quickly as private equity.
There's a bit of sudden expertism, as I call it,
around us, where somebody is certain to have the next

(31:28):
great idea, And as I've shared a few times, there's
no easy button for dealing with the complexities that we face.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
And I think that's a great point, Like, I know
that's a lot to digest, but these are very complex issues.
These aren't easy things to fix and change, especially if
you're trying to hold on to the collegiate aspect of
it all, which I think so many of you want,
and I think the coaches want that as well. Greg

(31:56):
sank You was asked about the House versus the NCAA
settlement and how the SEC went about handling that.

Speaker 5 (32:03):
The fact that change was coming. I think it was
well presented. The elements the change that would be central
to a settlement, I think that was well presented. It
is the intricacies of implementation where we are running rapidly
in the midst of the race to make sure we
provide the most relevant and most current information, and some

(32:25):
of that's kind of time bound by working through a
process with the plaintiffs and with the court.

Speaker 2 (32:33):
Sank You was also asked about the College Sports Commission
and rules and how his kind of thoughts on how
it's all established thus far.

Speaker 5 (32:43):
Well, we from the College Sports Commission think that we're
operating consistent with the settlement terms. We'll have the right
kind of communication with the authors of the letter and
communicate and educate on why we think we had the
right perspective to begin with one of.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
The other and final thing we'll hear from Greg sanky
Is on the hot button issue of scheduling and the
number of conference games for the twenty twenty sixth season
in the Southeastern Conference. Here's what he had to say
about that timeline.

Speaker 5 (33:13):
First of all, I spent a long weekend in Charleston
a few weeks ago, and it was my first time
to walk around downtown, visit Fort Sumter, played in Bulls Bay,
in experienced Foley Beach, so I didn't buy a newspaper.

Speaker 1 (33:26):
I was there, that was four days away, So I
owe you. I've been careful about giving dates.

Speaker 5 (33:33):
I've said repeatedly. I learned during COVID that you want
to use your time. It won't linger terribly much longer.
We have to make decisions about the twenty sixth season
and adjust if we're going to go to nine games
and there have to be games removed or rescheduled, and
if we stay at AID, probably a little bit easier

(33:55):
on that part of the logistics, where once we make
a decision in the conferen office, we're pretty ready to go.
If you go back to when we made our last decision,
we were in Destin, I think two weeks later, had
opponents out and shortly thereafter we were prepared with dates
and site sort of thing.

Speaker 2 (34:11):
So there you go. That's Greg Sankee from the SEC
the commissioner, talking about the league and their preparation for
the future if they do go to nine games. Now,
final thing here now at number one. I do want
to come back because he was asked about the model
of the future of the college Football Playoff, and I
think the question he was asked was phrased as if

(34:33):
the model was undoubtedly going to sixteen and so he
kind of walks the question back a little bit to
focus more on where we kind of are right now
with the college football Playoff. But I do want you
to hear what Greg Sankie had to say about his
thoughts on the college football on the future of the
college football Playoff right here on the show The Shakes

(34:56):
of south Land our quick Break. We'll come back with
those comments right after this segment of our number one
the show, The Shakesta south Land. One final thing from Sankie,
because I think it's important. He was asked about the
Coast Football Playoff format and what would be the bullet
points that he would want kind of out there for it.

Speaker 1 (35:13):
Well, you're binding me to a sixteen team playoff. But
I'm going to mic walk you back. So I'm on record.

Speaker 5 (35:20):
Of participating in a decision process that twelve was the
right direction, and that took years, plenty of ups and downs.
As I said, the middle is MESSI in a marathon.
It was messy. In that consideration, I think it worked well.
Like some of the changes happening around us that may
create some competitive balance.

Speaker 1 (35:42):
Raise the question of expanding. I've always been always been.

Speaker 5 (35:49):
A fan of there are no allocations like take the
top eight.

Speaker 1 (35:55):
Back in twenty nineteen.

Speaker 5 (35:57):
When people were talking about expanding, take the top two,
I was an advocate for that.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
In fact went back.

Speaker 5 (36:02):
Through with colleagues this spring, I could take the top fourteen,
top sixteen. We have agreed, and I think last week
there was some misunderstanding communicated about a memorandum of understanding.

Speaker 1 (36:18):
So in that memor memorandum of.

Speaker 5 (36:20):
Understanding, the top five conference champions have a role. So
that's unless you're going to go tear up the MoU,
which maybe some other people want to do because of
their concerns about the decision making authority. Very clearly in
that memoranda understanding is granted to the combination of the
SEC and Big ten. Ultimately, we have to use that

(36:40):
authority with great wisdom and discretion. But unless people want
to tear it up, we're going to have five plus seven,
five plus nine, five plus eleven.

Speaker 1 (36:53):
As I understand, you know, doubling down. So that was
one of the phrases last week.

Speaker 5 (36:59):
That's part of a gambling experience, as I understand, And.

Speaker 1 (37:03):
You always want to have a really good set of
a good set of cards.

Speaker 5 (37:06):
You want to have a good hand to play, right,
and I think we have the best hand to play.
So we're going to operate consistent with the MoU. There's
an allocation of those five spots, and I guess we'll
continue to debate whether expansion beyond twelve is appropriate for
the college football playoffs.

Speaker 2 (37:23):
So it's very much I would say, up in the
air about what the future looks like, although I think
the majority of people. And two, if I understand the
way Greg Sankie was phrasing that, it sounds a lot
like the five plus eleven model for the future where

(37:53):
and again I may not have understood him quite right,
but five conference champions the power for conference champions. I
don't know how the PAC twelve will fit into all
this eventually, but the addition of the highest ranked group
of five team and then everybody else sort of ranked.

(38:18):
And what we've said about it here on this program
and what I think is best and most of the
guests we've talked to about it, it feels like in
that scenario, and this was I felt like good to
hear from Greg SANKI, you're not blocking off four spots
for one league just for the sake of those four

(38:41):
spots going to one league, because to me, that is
more likely over the long haul. And I don't really
know this, but it feels like that would more likely
place some teams in from the Southeastern Conference and the
Big Ten that may not really deserve to be there. Now,

(39:06):
that doesn't mean that there won't still be some teams
at some point along the way in the other model
that you might say don't deserve to be there. But
one thing you don't argue about with the NCAA basketball tournament,
and I think this is where we have to get
as fans of college football, is that the winner of
the conference championship, it could be a team that went

(39:28):
zero for sixteen in the league, but everybody knows that
if you win your conference championship in basketball, which is
a little more because you're playing potentially multiple games, et cetera.
But even if you did not win a game in
the regular season, then you win your conference tournament and
you go to the NCUBLEA tournament because you're the conference champ.
People would say, man, hard to believe they made it,

(39:49):
but they made it, So we can't. We can't worry
about a team that finishes second in their league and
wins their conference title. They're in. And yes, there could
and still be some people or some teams that are
maybe further out than you expect in your mind of
what the top other programs would be, but at least

(40:10):
you're not digging well past the number. And that's what
I think the guaranteed spots could present. Not every year,
maybe not even often, but the shame it would be
if a team like Kansas State had a really good

(40:30):
season and finished fourteenth in the country, and somehow Oregon
was not great but good enough to be fourth, good
enough to be fourth in the Big Ten, and was
well behind twenty seventh in the polls was even ranked,
and then got to bump and jump up just because

(40:52):
the Big Ten basically has called for reservations. That I
think is the thing that we just as sports fans,
you would never accept that as a viable option over
the long haul, and that I think is what we
have to avoid. Sure, there are some discrepancies here and

(41:14):
there with like maybe a team that's second place in
a certain division in Major League Baseball and this would
have been years ago, right, and somebody in another division
that's a lot worse team, but they're in the playoffs
because they won their division. But those things were even
recognized at the professional level, and rectify by creating play
in games and things of that nature to at least

(41:38):
present the opportunity maybe for some better teams to eliminate
other competition, et cetera. Depending on sport. You know, there's
probably no perfect way to do it, but I do
think the best way is to acknowledge the conference champions
and then from there rank out the remaining teams and

(42:00):
pop them into the college football playoff because just preserving
or excuse me, reserving a spot for a team because
they're in a certain conference doesn't make a lot of
sense to me. Mike, you'vea joins us around the band.
Keep it locked each time for clips and sports talk
with Lawton Schwan. It is our number two. That's drivetime

(42:59):
right here on the Show that Shakes the south Land
Clemson Sports Load. Swane wud Be A, Mike Ubagamecoccentral dot
Com joining us around the bend here on a Tuesday afternoon,
and of course, the Show That Shakes the south Land
brought you in part by our good friends over at
METS Plumbing seven three two drip, drip, drip, drip. You
know the jingles seven three to two drip. That's mets Plumbing,

(43:21):
mets Plumbing dot com. That's the website as well. All right,
Mike Youva, fresh off of the heels of SEC Media Days,
joins the program. Mike, welcome in, buddy. How are you?

Speaker 6 (43:34):
I'm doing well, Swanny, how you doing?

Speaker 2 (43:35):
I'm good. So, you know, there's a lot I think
to digest, especially with the SEC Media Days concluding a
week ago. But I want to start with something I
mentioned out of the gates here on the program in
the first hour, and that was the fact that Leonor Sellers,
who you and I have talked about quite a bit,
was voted as the first team quarterback in the SEC

(43:59):
in a league like with guys like Garrett Nussmeyer, who
will open the season at Clemson, with guys who have
big names out there like Arch Manning and many more
in that conference. What was your kind of initial reaction
to I guess I would call it the acknowledgment that
a guy like Leonora Sellers is getting from the members

(44:19):
of the media.

Speaker 6 (44:21):
I think that's the big word that you just said,
the acknowledgment factor. I mean, what we saw this past
season from him. And look, I know there's gonna be
some Clemson fans that will have fun at his expense
and that he's just a running quarterback, but certainly when
he's able to get outside the pocket and make some throws,
I mean, he's got a cannon for an arm. I
mean this goes back to when he had an opportunity
as a true freshman when he read shirted that year

(44:44):
unlimited action. He made some big time throws and he
did that last year as well. So I think the
big thing, again is just the acknowledgment factor. And I've
said this many times this past week to Gamecock fans
on the message board, which is this isn't the same
little old game Cock story where people are going to

(45:06):
overlook you, you know, not even just from a Leonora's factor.
And I'm sure we'll talk about the team and where
the media put them as well, but they saw something
in Lenoris last year and they're saying, hey, like this guy,
you know, And again it shouldn't surprise people because to
likely be on some preseason Heisman watch list. But I

(45:26):
think again, just the fact that people like you mentioned,
I mean, you mentioned the arch Mannings, you mentioned, you
mentioned the QB for LSU. I mean, these are guys
that I think people are looking at saying, Okay, those
are guys that are on some pretty good teams. Do
we expect South Carolina to be in the mix when
you're talking about the Mannings of the world, in the

(45:46):
nus Myers of the world.

Speaker 2 (45:47):
Mike You was on Twitter at Mike Underscore UVA and
Mike You mentioned it the rankings of where South Carolina
is projected in the Southeastern Conference and for them to
sit not just in the upper tier of a larger SEC,
but inside the top five or at the top five again,

(46:09):
just speaks volumes about the expectations that I think the
media has around that ball club.

Speaker 6 (46:16):
Expectations. It shows progress, and it also shows too that
you're right there. You're right there right now. It's funny
because I had a conversation on Monday with someone over
at South Carolina, and the interesting thing is when we
look at this, what you would assume, unless good forbid,

(46:36):
someone throws up all over himself in non conference play,
but you would assume that there's probably going to be
four teams from the SEC that will be in the
mix to make the College Football Playoff. I know we
have small sample sizes just last year, but that's kind
of the feeling that you expect for SEC teams to
make it. And I know that's not a given, but
the fact that South Carolina is sitting right there in

(46:57):
the eyes of the media from the SEC, and the
team right ahead of them is Alabama, there's an opportunity
for us, at least from the way that people are
perceiving them. And look, obviously, at the end of the day,
you got to go out there and you've got to
go compete. I think it was what thirteenth last year
is where South Carolina was projected to finish, and certainly

(47:19):
they finished much better than that. And so I bring
this up though, because again going back to what we
mentioned about Lenora Sellers, people aren't going to look at
South Carolina the same exact way, which is all right.
You know, this is the same South Carolina that we
saw for a period of time, certainly throughout the majority
of the five year tenure of the Will mush Champ

(47:40):
error and even during some of Shane Beemer's last couple
of years. I mean, there's been some good seasons, no
question about it. But when you have the combination of
what they did last year, despite the fact of losing
so much, especially on the defensive side of the ball,
but the fact that you bring back a quarterback that's
bringing in so much hype, I think people a working
at South Carolina and saying, hey, they can figure out xyz.

(48:02):
This is a team that could certainly be in the
mix heading down the stretch, and not just the SEC,
but in terms of making the college football playoffs.

Speaker 2 (48:09):
And again for people that did not see the Southeastern
Conference media poll, the Texas Longhorns, the team that not
Clemson now the College Football Playoff a year ago, finished
pick number one, I guess I should say in the league,
followed by Georgia two, Alabama three, LSU who opens at
Clemson is number four, and then South Carolina, meaning Clympson's
schedule is bookended by two of what are projected to

(48:30):
be the top five teams in the Southeastern Conference. Now,
you don't see that on everybody's schedule in the country,
and who knows what those teams will look like by
the end of the year. But that's the way it
all shakes out. Now. The other thing I would ask
you is looking at it. You know, when Texas and
Oklahoma come into the league a year ago, Mike like,
there's always this I think this belief and it's okay.

(48:54):
The Southeastern Conference went out and proved it year after
year after year, winning national championships during the latter stages
of the BCS era. They were pretty consistent in doing so,
and that built this level of credibility and conversation about
how good they are. What does it say to you
that Texas checks in this season at number one and

(49:17):
not that is that an indicator of who these other
teams are?

Speaker 1 (49:20):
Right?

Speaker 2 (49:20):
But I mean it does feel somewhat significant that the
team that would have been projected to win the Big
Twelve this year if they were still over there is
projected to be the best team in the Southeastern Conference.

Speaker 6 (49:31):
Well, I mean, I think there's certainly something to be
said about the SEC for multiple reasons, right. I mean,
you look at the amount of money they generate in
comparison to any other conference, and it's certainly at the
top as far as the talent goes. And I think
one of the biggest things I just feel like I've noticed,
especially in this transfer portal error nil era, is that

(49:54):
the parody not just within the SEC, which I feel
like this year more than ever, especially being able to
now have a couple of years with the transfer portal
and nil have a major impact. I think that's one
of the reasons why it's going to be so open
this year, and that's why the competition of who could
be those two teams in Georgia Now, I say that
to go back to your original question, which is about Texas.

(50:16):
I say that because I think that's one of the
reasons why we're seeing the opportunities throughout college football the
way that they are. I think Texas, certainly, you combine
the facts of having that SEC brand, now you're in
the SEC, the money's coming in a little bit more
than it's ever had before. Texas. Certainly they're one of
those those teams that people like to joke about saying,
all right, it is Texas football back, is Texas football back.

(50:38):
We know what Texas what football means in that state.
That's not to say that it doesn't mean anything in
South Carolina, because it certainly does regardless of what team
you chair for. But I think when you combine all
those things, Swanny, this is a program that has the money,
they have the resources, they have the passion from the
fan base. You bring in some extra excitement going into

(51:00):
the SEC, and you combine that with the fact that
the talent is spread out now. And I feel like
the reason why you're seeing that is because maybe there
were some guys that went to SEC schools and they
don't want to wait. They don't want to wait, they
don't want to trust the process, if you will. And
other schools outside of the SEC, whether it be ACC programs,

(51:22):
whether it be be Big ten programs. We've even seen
some other Group of five schools because of the opportunity.
If they have the money to they're going to go
jump ship and they're gonna go there. So I think
that's one of the good things I guess you could
say it's spreading out the talent. But when you combine
all that perfect time for texts to come on.

Speaker 2 (51:41):
In, Mike, you've again. Gamecoccentral dot Com is the website
on Twitter at Mike underscore UVA gamecock fans go follow
him today. All right, Mike, what about Shane Beemer and
his comments at the podium. What was maybe your signature
takeaway from his time with the media.

Speaker 6 (51:59):
Yeah, I'm going to say two things because I want
to make sure I mentioned the second one. I think
the first thing is just his demeanor. He was very calm, right,
and it seemed like he was in a very good mood.
And I bring those things up because I don't know
about you, Swanny, but when you cover a guy and
even going back to the mush champ era, because those
are the two guys I've covered during I getting into

(52:20):
my tenth year of covering the game Cocks, he can
pick up little things in terms of how they are.
And certainly Beamer, he's always been good with the media, right.
I mean, he's he's a bubble, He's got a bubbly personality.
But seeing how he answered certain questions is not necessarily
what he said, but how he answered it, it tells
me that he feels good about his team, and like,

(52:40):
those are the little things I always pay attention to.
You can kind of get a feel for how a
coach truly fails about his team with how he answers
questions right. So I think that's the first Maybe there's
some things right defense, And you know that's not to
say that he has no worries about Okay, got to
replace four guys that had opportunities go play in the NFL,
you know, two draft picks at the tackle, you know,

(53:02):
the middle. No, he understands they still have to go
out there and prove it. But I think he saw
something in the spring that makes him feel better about XYZ.
So that's the first thing. The second thing, and this
was very interesting because I think it's a tough spot
to be when you answer this question, but I thought
he answered it in a way that his fan base

(53:23):
will support him, which is, if the SEC goes to
nine games, what is in the best interest of South Carolina?
And I think that was the big thing. Do you
move on from playing a team? Mike Clempson and for
a guy like Biemer, he says, look, that's an important
game for our state. And he didn't go into all
the reasons, but he understands, he's talked about in the past,
that game isn't just a rivalry that's three hundred and

(53:46):
sixty five days. That's a game that impacts so many
people from an economic standpoint as well. So he understands
how big that game is and certainly he doesn't want
that game to go away. But he also brought up
at the end, he's like, look, he's like, we have
to do it in the best interest of USC and
I think that's something certainly to pay attention to over

(54:08):
the next year two years. If they do get to
that point, I think we can all agree we don't
want that game to go away by any means. But
it's difficult because, look, you know South Carolina already they're
playing eight games, and then you play Clemson. I mean
from a talent standpoint, and I know games got fans
don't want to say this, but from a talent standpoint,

(54:28):
Clemson could hit right into the SEC. So I mean
they're already playing in here quotes nine SEC games as is,
you throw another one in there, and you're talking about
some of the schedules, and we don't have a true
indicator of how the committee's going to always vote in
the College Football Playoff. But you're really putting yourself behind
the eight ball if you're a team like South Carolina.
And I think that's the way he kind of maneuvered

(54:50):
answering that question.

Speaker 2 (54:52):
Mike, let me ask you you mentioned Will Muschamp either
his name was brought up at the SEC media days
as well. You know, he got of has worked his
way into now just an analyst role from being a
code defensive coordinator, et cetera. Maybe taking some steps back
from what I read due to, like you know, just
family and involvement with his son, who I guess is
playing up at at Vanderbilt. But I had a buddy

(55:15):
of mine who actually ran into him here in the
Midlands the other day at a local grocery store, and
that's what kind of piqued my interest on it. I
think he had a good relationship with him when he
was the head coach in Columbia. What can you give
not only the gamecock listeners here on our program, but
also the Tiger listeners, just some thoughts on you know,
where he is and what he's up to Yeah.

Speaker 6 (55:34):
I mean, look, I think the thing with Will was,
you know, and I saw him about I'd say, I
don't know, but maybe it was just over a year
ago when he was back in town because he still
has that gorgeous flake house, unlike Murray, which you know,
you make some of the money that he made between
getting fired at South Carolina and Florida, Florida, you're going
to be able to obviously pay for multiple places. So

(55:56):
that's certainly he's no, certainly no short of change, right.
I think the big thing is as he told me,
and I'm trying to be careful with some of the
things he told me off record, but I think the
big thing is in this era with the with the
way there's ni l and I'll bring in a broader

(56:17):
a paint a broader picture so it don't seem like
I'm just throwing out everything he told me, but it
will kind of connect, you know, he can connect dots
here of what he was basically telling me, which is
in this era, coaches are going into living rooms and
they're still recruiting, right, but now money gets involved and
for some of these coaches they don't want to deal
with that. I think that's why you're seeing some coaches

(56:40):
jump into the NFL. I think back to a couple
of years ago, the head coach of Boston College, what
did he do? Jump ship went into the NFL worked
at the Packers because they don't want to deal with
the nil side of it. They don't want it to
deal talking with money. And when you combine that with
the fact that just the hours that go into recruiting

(57:02):
as is, and you feel like none of that really
matters at the end of the day. And again I'm
not putting words into Will Mushroom's mouth, but these are
conversations I've had with other coaches. It's frustrating now more
than ever because you're already away from your family. Yes,
I know people don't want to probably have that sympathy
for the coaches. Oh, they're getting paid a lot, We
get that, we understand that, but just imagine all the

(57:24):
work that you do really means nothing if you're going
on the road recruiting, or you feel like that's the
case because a player gets offer an X amount of
dollars from one school and it doesn't matter what you
say to them. All they're looking at is the amount
of money that they're gonna be making so I think
for some coaches, and I know that was part of

(57:44):
something that bothered him, comboun with the fact that he
wanted to be able to see his son Quit play
over at Vanderbilt. This has allowed him, that's freed him
up to be able to go over there because he's
not there on Saturdays at the games for Georgia. I
think this is something that you got to continue to
pay attention to because there's been coaches throughout I mean

(58:05):
Health Carolina staff as well, but I've seen coaches who
have took a back seat and have gone into an
analyst role and they're happier now more than ever because
they don't have to go out and deal with the
recruiting side of it, at least on the road.

Speaker 2 (58:16):
No, look, it's a fair point. And again with the
money that these guys are now making, you know, it's taken.
I think when we were growing up, right and you
were watching and I know I'm a good bit older
than you, but you were watching college football. It was
both Shimbckler, he'd been at Michigan for twenty years, you know, whatever,

(58:37):
so on and so forth, and you could go around
the country, right and name these coaches who were established
and had to stick around almost regardless of wins and losses.
It didn't seem to be quite as significant. I mean,
you could be a middle of the road coach and
be at a program per year after year after year.
But now it's this microwave mentality, and I think a

(58:57):
part of that has come from the escalation of salaries
and because of that. Good gracious man, if Mike, if
a program, if a power forward program offered me a
job right now to be the head coach, you'd be
dumb not to take it, because regardless of the outcome,
like you said, you're and you I'm not trying to
put words in your mouth, but you're pretty much set

(59:19):
for life.

Speaker 6 (59:21):
Yeah, let me preface this. I think you understand what
I'm saying. I think the majority of the people that
are listening to this understand what I'm saying, but there
could be some that you know, are misconstruting what I'm saying.
So I just want to make sure I set the
record straight here. This doesn't mean these coaches, the ones
that I've spoke with at least are against nil. What
they're what they're frustrated by is that they can go

(59:44):
do the groundwork right, do the leg work, fly across
the country, go to these games on a Friday night,
do everything that they've done from a recruiting standpoint. But
all it takes at the eleventh hour. And this is
what has happened with a lot of these coaches I've
spoken with. At the eleventh hour, a program comes in
and they say, well, we're gonna offer you more money.

(01:00:05):
And I know some people listening to this bit, well
they should get their money up. Yeah, But if you're
in a business that you enjoy coaching and now, just
like anything alike, that it evolves, but you feel it's
to a point where it's out of your control. It
doesn't matter what you do in terms of showing your
your commitment to a player right flying across the country,

(01:00:25):
sitting down in his living room talking to his family.
You might even have an nil deal where you had
to put your neck on the line a little bit
by trying to get more money from talking to the
head coach, who obviously talks to the collectives and all.
Obviously things continue to change these days these last couple
of months, But you may have put your neck on
the line and then what happens the kid decides, you

(01:00:46):
know what, I'm gonna go elsewhere because they're gonna throw
more money at it. I could see where that would
be a big turn off for a lot of these coaches.

Speaker 2 (01:00:54):
Final thing, Mike, I know the game Cat's got a
big commit over the weekend from Land and Duck. Where
what forced our quarterback? Give us some insight into what
they're landing there.

Speaker 6 (01:01:03):
Yeah, this is a guy that two years ago originally
committed to South Carolina, comes from the state of Alabama,
and he decommitted, but South Carolina continued to stay on.
I mean, look, I said this to Gamecock fans before.
You can never have enough talent in that quarterback room.
If any program knows that, it should be South Carolina
with what they experienced between the Jake Bentley err and
certainly until they were able to get Spencer Rattler. But

(01:01:26):
even look at Clemson, right, that wasn't a bad problem
to have. Even if guys are going to transfer out
like a Kelly Bryant here and there. Right, if those
things happen, that means there's good competition in the room.
So bring that in there. Got to give credit, certainly
to Shane Beemer, Mike Chula, and just the entire recruiting
staff for just staying committed to want this guy to
get here in South Carolina was able to bring him

(01:01:47):
back in again.

Speaker 2 (01:01:48):
Follow him on Twitter at Mike Underscore, UVA Gamecockcentral dot Com.
Party on three Network, My buddy, we'll talk to you
next week.

Speaker 6 (01:01:55):
Sounds good, so I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
There you go, Mike, you'va all right, quick break, we'll
come back. We'll hear some from Shane Beemer's time with
the media at the SEC Media Days as we roll
along here on a Tuesday afternoon, rocking and rolling along
with you on a Tuesday afternoon, Clemson Sports Talk again.
Talking season officially underway up in Charlotte, the ACC kickoff
getting underway today. But last week Shane Beemer about a

(01:02:20):
week ago. As a matter of fact, I guess he
was on maybe Monday. Not one hundred percent sure I
was on vacation, but I think it was about a
week ago. Anyway, Shane Beemer in the South Carolina game
Cock spend time at the SEC Media Days and of
course with Mike, You've coming on on a Tuesday. I
know for our game cap listeners who hang out with

(01:02:43):
us every day talking college football, talking about South Carolina
and Clemson. Certainly appreciate the chance to peek over the
fence and be a part of this program.

Speaker 6 (01:02:56):
But you could continue to peek over the fence at
the best.

Speaker 2 (01:02:59):
Radio showing the late great Cleveland Man there dropping that
dime many moons ago on the Game Cocks. I think
he was dropping that dime on Elliott. I'll never forget Elliott.
If you're still out there, my man, hit us up
because you helped create one of the great segments in
this program's history when Cleveland Man called for his retort

(01:03:21):
here on the program. And really miss Cleveland Man for sure,
one of the one of the great listeners to this
program all time. But Seane Beemer met with the media
last week up in over in Atlanta. I think that's
where the SEC Media Days were being held. And here's
some of his opening comments from the podium.

Speaker 1 (01:03:41):
Thank you, Commissioner Sankie.

Speaker 7 (01:03:43):
Great to be back here at SEC Media Day for
my fifth season and excited to be here for day
one and kick off the week. I say it every
year and I'll never stop. I'm so grateful for the
position that I'm in as a head football coach.

Speaker 1 (01:03:58):
In the South Southeast Etern Conference.

Speaker 7 (01:04:02):
This league is the standard across all of college athletics,
and I'm so blessed to be a part of it
as well. You see that every year on the field,
and you see that every April in the NFL Draft
as well. Players want to play in this league, coaches
want to coach in this league. All you have to
do is look at the Netflix special that I know

(01:04:24):
is coming out later this year.

Speaker 1 (01:04:26):
They chose this league.

Speaker 7 (01:04:29):
To showcase as well, and obviously had other conferences that
would have loved to have been a part of it,
they wanted us, and I think that speaks volumes about
the power of this league.

Speaker 1 (01:04:38):
Thankful for Commissioner Sankee.

Speaker 7 (01:04:40):
Admired him from AFAR before I got into this conference
and the role that I'm in right now, and admiring
even more now that I've been in this league five years.

Speaker 1 (01:04:49):
Always will be grateful for his leadership.

Speaker 7 (01:04:51):
Back in twenty twenty that allowed us to have a
college football season, and very glad that he is leading
us in this new era of college athletics.

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
Those are some opening comments from Shane Biemer. He was
also asked about the college football Playoff I think the
question included like the importance of expansion of the playoffs,
the potential that the Southeastern Conference could go to nine games,
the impact that could have on Clemson to South Carolina
in that matchup. Here's what Biemer had to say.

Speaker 7 (01:05:23):
Yeah, I'm all for expansion to give more teams opportunities.
I want to make sure we have the greatest regular
season in any sport in college athletics, in my opinion,
because every regular season game means something, So you want
to make sure that the regular season doesn't lose meaning
and confident that it won't. If we expand, it'll still

(01:05:44):
make a lot more games meaningful than the month of
November in my mind, and then gives more teams opportunities
to go compete for a championship, which is what anybody,
anybody wants. I mean, we went into the last weekend
last year against Clemson thanks Giving weekend, and not just us,
but there were a lot of teams across the country
that felt they still had an opportunity to get into

(01:06:06):
that twelve team playoff.

Speaker 1 (01:06:07):
So I'm all. I'm all for it.

Speaker 7 (01:06:10):
In regards to the eight and the nine game, competition
is a core value of our program. So I'm never
going to shy away from competition. I just said that
we have a schedule that we get to play, but
we also get to play Clemson every season as well,
and that's a non conference rival that we have that

(01:06:30):
not every school in this league has. Florida plays a
non conference rival from another conference. Georgia does as well,
and then Kentucky does, but I think we're the only ones.

Speaker 1 (01:06:42):
And I know everyone is going.

Speaker 7 (01:06:43):
To play power four, power five, whatever it's called now
team in the regular season typically, but in my mind,
we're already playing nine conference games, and then if we
go to nine, we're now playing ten conference games. And
then we've also got future schedules with Miami on it,
Virginia Tech this year in North Carolina, North Carolina State.
So I'm all for a competition, but I want to

(01:07:04):
make sure that the other teams in this league aren't
playing nine SEC games and then playing three whatever you
want to call them, games that they should win, because
that's not very smart, as the head coach of South
Carolina to be doing that. If that's what the other
teams in this league aren't doing.

Speaker 2 (01:07:21):
I'll say the word cupcake games, I think is what
Shane Bieber wanted to say at the microphone there at
the SEC media Days, but solid answer from him obviously,
when you think about the Southeastern Conference and if it
does expand to nine games, the impact that that has
for a team like South Carolina with a heavy hitter

(01:07:43):
in college football like Clemson on their schedule, is its
significant for Shane Beamer for sure and the game Cocks.
Shane Beemer was also asked about the College Sports Commission
and you know what his thoughts were on, like what
he would like to see the governments of college sports
become in this new.

Speaker 7 (01:08:04):
Era that what we say is going to happen, and
what we say is going to be enforced is going
to happen and be enforced. Because for all the talk
out there about what's new stuff and this and that,
if there's no teeth to it, it doesn't matter.

Speaker 1 (01:08:22):
It's just going to continue to be.

Speaker 7 (01:08:23):
And what has been implemented with rev Share and the
Clearinghouse and all that, I see other conferences talking about
the negatives about it already, like let's give this same
time the work and develop and let's see what it
is and not all of a sudden say well it's
not going to work.

Speaker 1 (01:08:40):
And this and that.

Speaker 7 (01:08:41):
And I was in DC earlier this year talking about
the need for national legislation. So I've been talking a
lot about this, but something uniform that has some teeth
to it, where it is what it's supposed to be
and if somebody is not doing what they're supposed to
be doing, it's going to be enforced and there's going

(01:09:02):
to be repercussions and if you have that, and not
trying to take anything away from the players, but let's
just let this thing be what it's supposed to be
and see what happens.

Speaker 1 (01:09:11):
If that makes sense.

Speaker 2 (01:09:13):
There you go some of Shane Beemer's comments at the
SEC Media Days, and we'll come back and react to
someone he just had to say there. Some of what
he just had to say there about the College Sports
Commission and the future of college football and enforcement more
than anything I think at this level. All right, quick break,
we'll come back with more. Keep it a lot right

(01:09:34):
here on Fox Sports Radio fourteen underd the Midlands and
of course around the world on the iHeartRadio app Clemson
Sports South the show that Shakes to south Land again
our number two here on a Tuesday, kind of kicking
into a little bit of South Carolina before the break.
Obviously with Mike, you've an our two. Wanted to play
a little bit from Shane Beemer would love to get
our game Cock listeners and our Tiger listeners a little
bit from the North sellers. We'll try to do that

(01:09:56):
before we wrap up our number two. But I want
to go back to what Shane Biember was talking about
in the sense of the College Football Commission or the
College Sports Commission, excuse me, and like I do think
that one of the biggest issues that the NCAA seemed

(01:10:20):
to have from the outside looking in was enforcement and
even maybe even more so, the ability to investigate and
solve issues like it was it was almost to the
point of where it was it seemed like a snail's pace, right,

(01:10:44):
and so what would happen is and I think this
is where a lot of people just lost lost faith
in that system. School X is cheating. Now we launched
an investigation, and School EX goes on to win the
national title, and the investigation concludes two or three years

(01:11:08):
down the road, and players Y and Z who maybe
weren't even on the roster or certainly weren't like the
lead dogs on those teams were then smacked on the
wrist with consequences, and so what began to happen is

(01:11:29):
you had this two sided argument that makes a lot
of sense. I think it was like, well, why are
we punishing these players who didn't do anything because something
happened during another person's watch, so to speak, right, And

(01:11:53):
people would say, well, the coach was in charge, so
you got to punish the coach. And I think I've
always been fine with that, Like I think, deep at
my core, if you told me, hey, Swany, here's what
we're gonna do. We're gonna punish the coaches and coaches
are gonna have to sit out for a year for violations.
I could almost get behind that, Like I could almost say, okay, fine,

(01:12:17):
punish the coaches. Find the coaches run it that way.
But what would happen indirectly would be that the coaches
were the ones that kind of got off scot free,
and their programs were punished for players, or better yet,

(01:12:39):
players were punished who did not break any rules, and
that became an issue where the NCAA would say, hey,
we're gonna punish you guys, We're gonna give you a
postseason band, and people would be like, these guys on
the team didn't do anything. So the teeth of the consequence,

(01:13:00):
I think, in a couple of respects, needs to end
up at the at the head of or on the
shoulders of the coach. That's number one, or even more so,
the enforcement of the rules needs to take place immediately
you find out somebody's cheating, quick investigation, hammer players, kicked

(01:13:24):
off the team, whatever it is. But it's not always
as black and white. And that's the problem that we
have is that it's not always as black and white
as oh, well he failed a drug test, like that's
pretty that's pretty clear. Right, you do the test, you
get the result, bam consequence. But just like with raising children,

(01:13:46):
a delayed consequence has little to no effect. There is
also very little meaning for the individual to not break
the rule. Well, I can break this rule, and it's
not going to come back to hurt me, right, It's
going to come back to hurt other people, but those

(01:14:07):
that's not me. And even if those guys are maybe
your teammates, guess what, it's not me. That's the other thing.
The enforcement has to happen rather quickly, and I think
the sooner that we can get some sort of collective
bargaining agreement done, some sort of salary cap done. I

(01:14:31):
think that the personally, I think that NIL collectives are
complete farce that need to be done with. They would
not be allowed to exist at the professional level. As
we've noted here, you can't pay players outside of the
realm of the sport. In the NFL. You could say, well, yeah,
but you can get a deal with AT and T.

(01:14:52):
That's right, you can. But if AT and T owned
a team, AT and T couldn't pay this our quarterback
peanuts to play football and an exorbitant amount to represent
the brand, that's against the collective bargaining And I think
with whatever they come up with, NIL needs to get
out of the way, go back to the fans funding

(01:15:15):
things like iptay to a large degree, and those things
can be for the folly and the fun of the
players at the university and the enhancement of the facility
for the player. But to continue down this path that
we are currently on seems of the long haul unsustainable,

(01:15:35):
and I think you are beginning to see coaches saying, hey,
we got to rain this in. We don't have to
go back to players aren't getting paid. Nobody's saying that.
But we have to rain this in and the people
that break the rules, and this is very important in
my opinion. Consequences have to be doled out very quickly,

(01:16:00):
and I almost think that consequences need to be doled
out airing on the side of the now, meaning if
there's reasonable you know, if it's reasonable that you have

(01:16:21):
broken a rule, instead of dragging out the consequence, have
it up front. This consequence. No college football playoff is
this year because of these misgivings, and teams could certainly
have the right to defend themselves, but this post after
the fact consequence is not a consequence for anybody of

(01:16:44):
significance except for players that maybe didn't have anything to
do with it. And that's what we have to enforce
these things as quickly as possible, in my opinion, And
it's a little bit different than the NFL because there
aren't these long contracts. Guys are only there a couple
of years. As a matter of fact, some of them
are just there for one year and move on. Is

(01:17:05):
a tough situation, but I hope that the College Sports
Commission can wrap their hands around it. Final segment on
the flip side, keep it locked.

Speaker 1 (01:17:15):
What have you done for me lately?

Speaker 8 (01:17:18):
It's a fair question. Just don't lose sight of the
bigger picture, don't forget history. Lucky for us at Clemson,
the answer to the questions what have you done for
me lately? And what have you done?

Speaker 1 (01:17:34):
Always are the same. We win.

Speaker 2 (01:18:28):
Final segment on a Tuesday afternoon, the back end loaded
with some South Carolina coverage from Shane Beemer Mike Eva. Also,
we talked about the college football, the college football I
keep saying college football, the College Sports Commission. It does
feel like college football is kind of the driving force,
so I guess behind it anyway, I do want to

(01:18:48):
get to a couple of comments from Lenora Sellers. Again,
he was selected, if you did not know, as the
top quarterback in the Southeastern Conference by the media, and
he was as much like I'm sure Kate Klebn is
going to be asked on Thursday up at the ACC
kickoff about, you know, sort of handling the high expectations
that Leonora Sellers has. And as we've documented here on

(01:19:10):
the program, both of these guys are projected to be
top polight quarterbacks in college football and potentially very early
draft picks in the NFL at this point. Here's Leonora
Sellers at the SEC media days last week sort of
talking about what it takes to not only step up
his leadership but also to live under the high expectations

(01:19:34):
that he has.

Speaker 9 (01:19:35):
Yeah, just build a chemistry with those guys, the younger guys,
the receivers we had last year.

Speaker 1 (01:19:40):
Just make sure we're all.

Speaker 9 (01:19:40):
Good offensive line as well. Didn't have a lot of
time then they got out there in January. So just
doing it as fast as we could so we get
the summer, start working out on all that. And then
for your second question, I think really just taking it
day by day, really not getting caught up in it
too much, but still came my hand down and still
working because I know how to how much work I

(01:20:02):
had to put in to get there, but I could
also lose it quick.

Speaker 2 (01:20:04):
So Sellers was also asked about the story that came
out where his father and I think commented on the
fact that you know some schools that offered them eight
million for two years, so basically four million a year
to transfer and what it was that kind of made
him decide to stay in an era where so many guys.

Speaker 9 (01:20:25):
Just move everything I needed was in South Carolina, like
I grew up there with my family's there. Anything I
needed was an hour and file up the road for me.
School pretty much take care of, like rent and all that.
So it's not like you really need too much, like
you know what I'm saying. So everything I need to
Su Carolina is no point to be going somewhere to

(01:20:45):
start over.

Speaker 2 (01:20:47):
And I think this is a great point that Leonora
Sellers makes, like these guys don't have a ton of expenses,
all right, so let's let's just walk through it. Your
your life, my life. However much you're making, doesn't really
I mean, I guess it does matter. If you're making
a million dollars a year, maybe you don't care what

(01:21:08):
I have to say on this front. But let's give
you a reasonable salary, pretty high end, eighty five to
one hundred grand. I think most people will be pretty
satisfied with that. Maybe you're not. Maybe you make a
lot more if you were making that and you did
not have a mortgage, and you did not have a
light bill and the power bill and the things that

(01:21:31):
can come along with being the beneficiary of being a
college football player, and you don't have to pay for
a ton of dinners. You don't have to pay for
your kids to play, travel, soccer and all the things
that come with life. If you're just making that, you're
doing really well. Eighty five hundred thousand dollars. You don't

(01:21:52):
have a ton of expenses. You go eat at the
football facility, and maybe you're paying one thousand dollars a
month for your car if you wanted to get something
super or fancy. Even still you're clearing sixty grand. Like
I think, Sellers makes a great point. Yes you can
go somewhere else. Yes you could make oodles some money,
but it and again, the number I was talking about

(01:22:15):
is like eighty five to one hundred thousand. You know
he's making way more than that as the quarterback in
the Southeastern Conference. How much is enough? How much do
you really need in this capacity? And I really appreciate
the fact that he said, why do I I don't
know the exact phrase that he ended with right now,
but something something along the lines of, well, I don't

(01:22:36):
want to go and restart somewhere else. And it is
a valid, valid point, all right, final thing from Sellers
and we'll get you out here. His brother is on
the South Carolina roster as a wide receiver, and we
talked with Mike. You've about that earlier this summer, maybe
late winter. Either way, Sellers will ask a great question

(01:22:58):
by Rick Henry from wis here in the Midlands, and
he asked him. He said, you know, when you guys
were growing up in the backyard, were you the quarterback
throwing the game winning touchdown? Or was your brother the
quarterback throw the game winning touchdown? Here's how Sellers handled
that one.

Speaker 9 (01:23:11):
Yeah, they super started playing with him because we played.
I think the last time played together is my senior year,
which was three years ago. So yeah, like you said,
I was always the quarterback. He played pretty much everywhere.
And Rickley he played running back, played receiver, he played dB.
I think once he played that up until last year
senior in high school. I think he's fully receiver now.
But that's all we used to do, just throw deep

(01:23:33):
yew to run and catch it.

Speaker 2 (01:23:34):
So there you go. Seller's talking about playing football with
his brother who's now on the team in Colombia as well.
So I hope for our game cap listeners you had
a chance to hear some of maybe some of the
content that you didn't hear last week obviously we were
off the air. I hope for our Tiger listeners you
got to take away a couple of talking points from
both Shane Beemer and Leonora Sellers and plus now number

(01:23:56):
one on the back end, we gave you a little
bit from Southeast during conference Commissioner Greg Sankey as well,
just to try to you know, what your pal what
your palette. You know, we're gonna have some content from
the Atlantic Coast Conference coming up, obviously with the ACC
kickoff today. Plus we'll be up in Charlotte on Wednesday
and Thursday as well, and we'll get a chance to

(01:24:16):
talk with Dabo Sweeney, uh Kate Klubnik and the other
Tigers that'll be there on Thursday as well. So it
should be a lot of fun. All right, we gotta
get out of here until tomorrow is always. You'll take
care now and go Tigers.