April 16, 2024 • 21 mins
Jon Wilner of San Jose Mercury News and the Wilner Hotline joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to talk about Oregon State running back Damien Martinez, UW's finances after a good 2023 year, Michigan and Arizona State's transgressions, the media rights agreements for WSU and OSU, the Super League concept, and OJ Simpson’s death.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
It's time for a weekly PAC twelveconversation with Senjose Mercury News reporter John will
Not brought to you by Simply Seattle. Our friends at simply Seattle dot com
have the most amazing collection of allthings Seattle, Seahawks Gear, UW.
Hatson, the largest selection of Sunnisgear anywhere in the world. Learn more
at simply Seattle dot com. Hey, big thanks to our friends at simply
(00:22):
Seattle dot com. And again,do not forget. Always remember whatever you
got your eye on the website CrackingGear, marin Er Gear, Husky Gear,
Seahawk Gear, what EM's always usedcode KJR fifteen to check out for
fifteen percent of anything anytime baby atsimply Sattle dot com. We're continuing live
from Lime and Kirkland inside the RosehillPlaza until four thirty. It's Taco Tuesday,
(00:47):
Dick. You can get train tacosfor ten bucks. By the way,
here at the Lime in Kirkland,traditional tacos are one dollar street taking
bucks, I can afford that unbelievable. Well, a guy who might you
know, who knows, maybe VenmoWest some money and maybe buy us a
few tacos. Our buddy Johnny Wilnerfrom the San Jose Mercury News. John,
how are you man, I'm good. Thanks. Just to make sure
(01:08):
I was fully prepared for our conversation. I've been checking the transfer portal about
every fifteen minutes. Okay, letme ask you a question, because when
I want to check the portal,I just go to two four seven's website.
Is there like a super secret websiteaddress that you have that we should
be aware of, by the way, No, I do the exact same
thing. I do think that therethere is a super secret access, but
(01:33):
I don't have it, and Ithink it's mostly for the twenty four to
seven reporters. No, I justI hit refreshing. Frankly. I've been
doing it for football and basketball thelast few days because it's crazy for both.
It was a big time offensive linemanthat SMU had that is rumored to
potentially go to Washington. And thenalso Damie Martinez. He is Jamie Martinez,
(01:57):
the biggest Pac twelve name in portalright now from Oregon State, probably
as of right now, but thatyou know, that could certainly change in
an instant. Colorado. Colorado's losinga lot of guys to the portal these
days. I think Martinez to meis just he's just a tremendous back,
right, I mean he could hecan play anywhere in the SEC or Big
(02:21):
ten, he's so good. SoI would say probably, And I think
that there's there's gonna be more offensivelineman. I know the guy from SMU
is high on Washington's list and wouldbe a good addition, But there are
a lot of linemen in that portal, and there's a lot of good players
that only are carrying three star,you know, ratings, but they're better
(02:43):
than that. I think Washington's gonnabe fine. Well, the Damien Martinez
thing to me is interesting because Igotta tell you, guys, I don't
know if they're outside of Caleb Williamsat USC and Dick. You were at
that game with me in La.Yeah, I don't know if a Husky
opponent player impressed me more than DamienMartinez. That's fair. I mean he
was a beast in that game.My god, was he hard to bring
down. So is Damien Martinez justlooking for a better deal potentially from Oregon
(03:07):
State or is he looking for maybea bigger spotlight before he goes to the
NFL. I think it's both.Uh, he is clearly thinking about the
NFL and you know, playing againsttop competition and playing on TV so he
can be visible. I think it'sa whole bunch of factors. And those
(03:27):
are similar issues that both Oregon Stateand Washington State are facing, not only
in football but also in men's basketball, just the unfortunate reality that they're in.
John, you wrote about campuses inthe PAC twelve. This year's subsidizing
a quarter of a billion dollars totheir athletic departments this last year. Is
that a normal number or is thatinflated because we were still kind of coming
(03:52):
out of COVID, And do youthink that'll continue. I think it's on
the high end of normal. Youknow, it was the the latest official
numbers are for the twenty two totwenty three school year, right, and
the twenty two football season was thefirst without COVID restrictions. But they it
was still you know, kind ofbuilding backsteam building steam back up across the
(04:16):
West coast. So I think itwas a little bit impacted by you know,
delayed impact by COVID. But schoolsget subsidized heavily across the country by
by their central campus, right,because athletic departments have eighteen to twenty sports
that are losing money, two sportsthat are making money, and are you
(04:38):
know, the goal is to havefootball, men's basketball pay for everything else,
but that's not realistic. So yousee a lot of subsidies and and
you know, you can make thecase that it's not wrong. Washington basically
sent ten million bucks to athletics.Is that wrong? They're sending money to
all departments across campus, and athleticsdoes more for Washington's visibility than chemistry or
(05:03):
engineering does. Yeah. Absolutely,And that ten million dollars that they were
in the red without the support ofthe upper campus, that's actually relatively great
compared to the rest of the conference. Right, didn't you dub do very
very well this last year? YouDUBB did do well. When you include
the subsidy, Washington basically ended upmaking a profit of like one point six
(05:28):
million. Washington had the highest revenueof any school in the PAC twelve.
I believe the Huskies were over onehundred and fifty million in total revenue for
fly twenty three, and I thinkthat's the first time they've ever been over
one point fifty I would expect it'llbe even higher for Fly twenty four because
that will include the football season thatjust happened. But yeah, they they
(05:49):
actually came out. Well, you'vegot schools like ASU, Arizona, Couse,
UCLA that are that are plowing thirtyforty million from campus in athletics.
Yeah. Well, John Wilner iswith us, and John, I gotta
tell you about eleven days ago,we were in Phoenix at the Final Four
and we had Danny Sprinkle join uson the radio show down there, and
(06:12):
I asked him, how far awayare we from hearing about your coaching staff?
And he said to me on thatday, he said about a week
to ten days. Well, tendays was yesterday. Yesterday was also the
day that Tony Bland's show cause fromthe nc doable A expired, all right,
And there's a lot of rumors anda lot of reports out there that
Tony Bland is coming to join DannySprinkle on Montlake as an assistant coach.
(06:33):
And when you type in his nameon Google, the first thing you see
is arrested in twenty seventeen by theFBI. So how should Washington fans feel
about the idea of Tony Bland comingto Montlake. Uh, you know,
I'm not sure. I think probablya little bit mixed, right. I
mean, he clearly was part ofthat thing, and we talked about weeks
(06:58):
ago before the hack Sprinkley, youasked me, should the hear Will Wade?
Right? And you know I wasagainst Will Will Wade. I'm less
against Tony Bland because he's not theface of your basketball program, which is
an important piece of your university's publicpersona. You know, guys are getting
(07:19):
hired who have been accused of NCAAviolations left and right. Because a lot
of those violations are no longer violations. You know, he would help their
program. I would. If I'ma Washington fan, I'd probably have some
mixed feelings about that. But Ican see why people would be in favor
of it. The guy can recruit, he knows la Speaking of violations,
(07:42):
So Michigan has received three years probationof fine and recruiting restrictions for their COVID
ERA recruiting violations. Is that fairand just punishment for Jim Harbaugh's former team.
I think it probably is. It'sinteresting, though Jimbo's got no problems,
right, he did face suspensions lastyear, but he's off to the
(08:05):
NFL, you know, and doesn'thave to deal with it. This is
part of the issue that the NCAAhas with their enforcement process, is that
coaches can escape by leaving for thepros, you know. I think Michigan
certainly has been through a lot.To me, the spygate was a much
(08:28):
bigger deal than the COVID issues,and I'll be interested to see if there's
anything more from spygate. I doubtthere will be. Harbot had three game
suspension, but to me, thatwas much worse. Yeah, apparently his
his deal with the NCAA is separate, right from this thing, John,
that was announced today. Is thatcorrect? Yes, I believe that's right,
(08:50):
gotcha, John, We're waiting.The other thing is we're waiting on
asu ASU's COVID you know, theirtransgressions for COVID and propriety. That happens
a year and a half before theMichigan stuff ever surfaced, and issue still
hasn't heard from the NCAA. Right, Hey, John Wilner with us again.
Courtesy is simply Seattle and John.For some reason, I ended up
(09:13):
on the Oregon State Athletics email distributionlist, and they just sent out an
email about twenty minutes ago with amessage to Beaver Nation from Scott Barnes,
the ad down there in Corvallis,and says, look, we've received multiple
gut punches. You can either packetin or keep fighting, right, trying
to get the Beaver Nation all firedup, and says a football media rights
agreement will be announced soon. Whatis he getting at and what does that
(09:37):
potentially look like for Oregon State andeven Wazoo. Well, I think it
will look very similar for both.I think that it's gonna it's not gonna
be a ton of money, right, yeah, I mean it's they have
thirteen combined home games next season.The Beavers have seven and the Cougars have
six. You know, I'm guessingthat they're gonna get a million or two
(10:00):
million bucks per game. It's notgonna be you know, trajectory changing money.
But what it is gonna be isis visibility, because I think they're
gonna end up with pretty with youknow, not being relegated to streaming.
They're gonna be on you know,network and or broadcast television. And I
think that they're gonna have pretty goodTV windows as well, they're not gonna
(10:24):
be playing all their home games atseven thirty at night, So I suspect
it's gonna be pretty good for thoseschools for visibility, because the key for
them is they can't get forgotten.Right. Being seen is more important than
the money when it comes to theirfootball media deal. Next year and the
year after, Well, John,we might have a lifeboat for the Oregon
(10:46):
States and the Washington States of theworld. What do you what are you
hearing about this CFT super League?Because I always thought the Super League was
gonna be any six thirty two teams, and I'm hearing maybe seventy teams and
you could put the old Pac tenback together in a Western division, that's
what they're talking about. I don'tthink that's gonna work. Seventy teams doesn't
(11:07):
make sense to me. And it'sactually like eighty teams. It's seventy permanent
members and then you've got ten floatingmembers with relegation and promotion like European soccer,
and there's a Western wing that hasthe packed ten schools with you know,
Utah and Colorado or in a differentdivision. I just don't think seventy
(11:28):
works. Why would ESPN or Foxpay for some of those games. Right,
if there's gonna be a super league, in my opinion, it's gonna
be twenty four or thirty two,maybe forty teams. Washington's in it,
Oregon's in it, USC's in it. I don't know who else from the
(11:50):
pack old Pack twelve would be init. But financially it's inefficient for there
to be a seventy or eighty teamleague. Well as a guy that's covered
the West Coast and college football,college basketball, Pac ten, PAC twelve,
Hell, maybe you're an old Packeight guy for all I know a
lot of different responses to the passingof OJ Simpson last week, Right,
(12:13):
a lot of people wanted just morein the football player. A lot of
people want to talk about what wasobviously a much bigger story off the field.
So how do you remember Oj SimpsonAnd what was your reaction when you
heard that news? Well, soa couple things. One of my initial
reactions was he's still he died withhaving a Heisman trophy and Reggie Bush does
(12:37):
not have a Heisman trophy. That'sright, just insane, absolutely insane.
The other thing, and it's alittle bit personal, you know, with
such big news. My kids wereasking about it, right, they're sixteen
and twelve, and so my wifeand I were telling them that they could
not imagine what a big deal thewhole thing was, starting with the Bronco
(13:01):
chase and the trial, and there'snothing that I can remember that has come
close to meaning that terms of grippingthe nation, you know, for a
long period of time. And sowe actually watched the first three or four
episodes of that, uh, thatdocumentary, you know, the Trial of
(13:22):
the Century, you know, Crimeof the Century is really good with Cooba
Gooding Junior. It's very good.We're we're three or four episodes in and
we're going to finish it. Butit's it's great for you know, for
my kids who are seeing it andjust now understanding what that whole thing was
like thirty years ago. No question. Hey, John, I want to
(13:43):
go back to watch that whole thing. I watched the Yeah, I watched
it during COVID. Yeah, amongyou know, among the other million series
that I watched during COVID. Johnwell done, it really really was.
I loved for botha yes, yeshe was. He was fabulous in that.
John, You know, I wantto go back to this restructuring,
and let's say the Super Conference doesn'twork, and let's say we're back to
(14:05):
this PAC two situation for a while. What makes the Pack two enticing to
join or is it a place forteams just to kind of fall into if
the ACC collapses. Well, Ithink it's certainly somebody to fall into if
the ACC collapses for Stanford and colRight, But to me, what is
(14:26):
enticing? If you are a topfour six team in the Mountain West,
you know there is more value playingunder the banner of the PAC twelve than
there is playing as a Mountain West. If you're boys Ofer San Diego,
Fresno, the playing in the PACtwelve means something. And they could also
(14:46):
I don't think it's just if theyreform the conference. It won't just be
with Mountain West schools. I don'tthink they're gonna try to expand the footprint.
You know, Rice, Memphis toLane. You know there'res schools that
would have a little bit of valueand would really help fortify the league.
I think that we're gonna see something. I don't know when it's gonna be
(15:09):
exactly, but by the end ofthe decade, there will be a pack
eight, anywhere from a pack ofeight to a pack sixteen. I think,
wow. Well, John Wilner againwith us. We're at the Lime
in Kirkland. Taco Tuesday one dollartraditional Tacos two dollars Street Taco stop on
By and CEUs and the Rosehill Plazaright here in Kirkland. Crack and pregame
coming next obviously with Winnipeg. ButJohn, I gotta ask you because Jedfish
(15:33):
just announced on social media a fewminutes ago that the Spring Game honorary coaches
are gonna be Lincoln Kennedy, LawyerMaloy, Danny Shelton, and Jake Locker.
They're doing this on a Friday night. It's gonna be on May the
third, So two weeks from thisFriday is the Spring Game. And you
know, Dick and I were talkingyesterday about Jedfish obviously has aspirations for the
(15:54):
NFL. I mean, you're gonnabe a moron to not see that he's
running an NFL style systems, bringingin Bill Belichick, John Lynch, you
know a bunch of X players andcoaches have all been at practice so far.
He's got a you know, hankeringto be in the NFL, And
who can blame the guy? Whatdoes he need to do to be attractive
(16:14):
to the National Football League as ahead coach? How many wins? How
long does he need to stay herefor? What does he need to do
with Washington to really show off tothe NFL? You think, oh,
good question. I mean, everybodyknows what Washington's roster was like when he
took over. He ends up winningeight or nine games and competing in the
(16:40):
Big Ten. I think he couldbe attractive next winter, and I wouldn't
put it just limited just the NFL. I think he would have interest in
his alma mater, Florida, ifthere's a vacancy there. But he is
any Husky fan who thinks that he'sgoing to provide long term stability, I
think that is a misguided approach.And I don't blame Fish at all.
(17:03):
But you know if he if hewins, he's only going to be there
for two or three years. Yeah, I agree with you, John.
They should have known that when theyhired him, and I think they did
know that. They didn't care.They didn't care, Yeah, they didn't
care. So then you know that'sthe consequences of making that move and you
just have to. You hope hewins, and then you hope your programs
(17:27):
in good shape when he leaves,and you hire somebody who continues that well
as Troy Dannon made the higher,and I agree with the higher. I
don't like Dann, but I agreewith a higher. I have no problem
with Fish being here. I'm totallywith you. I think Dix on board
as well. This is a shortterm deal for Jetfish. I mean,
god, if he's here for fiveyears, then, oh my god,
that's going to feel like one hundredyears for trying out loud. But yep,
(17:48):
did they do the wrong thing?Should they have gone after somebody who
maybe would give them a little morestability in your opinion? Well, I
don't know the extent to which theywent after, say Lansley pulled from Kansas
or let's claim Chris claiming from KansasState or some other guys. Uh,
they may have put out feelers.I don't know if Fish was their number
one choice all along, yeah,uh, but they were certainly it was
(18:12):
a you know, it was alittle bit of a tough spot given given
the timing of divorce departure in theoffseason cycle. But I go back you
know, and your listeners may notwant to hear this. I go back
to the first Oregon game. Whywas there not a contract on Debor's desk
(18:33):
the next morning? Eight years,eight nine million a year? Why did
they not try to lock him upthen instead of instead of letting him gain
all the leverage into November and December. That's the answer I would love to
know from Hono Maury cowsat john Withall the eyeballs on women's basketball recently,
(18:56):
the PAC twelve now no longer hasthe winningest coach in basketball history. Your
thoughts of Tara Vanderveer of Stanford leavingand is there even a close second to
the best program of the Big threesports men's basketball, women's basketball, and
football in the pack era? Oof? Oh boy, good question. Probably
(19:19):
not because USC football did not sustainthe way Stamford women's basketball did, you
know. I think I have alittle bit of a nuanced view of vander
vere I think she gets a littlebit too much credit for what she did
for her first, say, twentyyears at Stanford, and not enough credit
for what she's done the last fiveor ten. She had enormous advantages when
(19:42):
there was no WNBA and if you'rethe best women's basketball player in the country,
of course you go into Stanford becauseyou don't have you're not getting a
pro contract. You got to goto get an education to get a job,
right, So she had a hugeadvantage, but lately that advantage has
flipped, and it's a disadvantage ina lot of ways, with Stanford's policies
(20:04):
on transfer n nil and the WNBAleveling the playing field. And she has
still produced a really top tier program. So I think she deserves a lot
of credit for that. John,You know why I can't be the man
because you're the man. No,I refuse to believe that. I believe
that you are the man. Allright, listen, have a good week
(20:26):
and we'll talk next Tuesday. Buddy, appreciate this pal. Thanks a lot,
guys, all right, John Wilnerwith us. That'll do it for
us. From Lime in Kirkland,Rose Hill Plaza. Here, great spot.
One dollar traditional tacos, two dollarssoft tacos on Taco Tuesday, and
somebody just dropped off a big oldplate of taco. Perfect timing for me
and Dick. We're got a break, we got cracking, and we got
(20:48):
the Jets the penultimate game of theyear. Two more to go, one
tonight, one Thursday, and theBoys are done for the season. Cracking
pregame with Winnipeg coming next right hereon ninety three three k j R F
M S Y
It's time for a weekly PAC twelveconversation with Senjose Mercury News reporter John will
Not brought to you by Simply Seattle. Our friends at simply Seattle dot com
have the most amazing collection of allthings Seattle, Seahawks Gear, UW.
Hatson, the largest selection of Sunnisgear anywhere in the world. Learn more
at simply Seattle dot com. Hey, big thanks to our friends at simply
(00:22):
Seattle dot com. And again,do not forget. Always remember whatever you
got your eye on the website CrackingGear, marin Er Gear, Husky Gear,
Seahawk Gear, what EM's always usedcode KJR fifteen to check out for
fifteen percent of anything anytime baby atsimply Sattle dot com. We're continuing live
from Lime and Kirkland inside the RosehillPlaza until four thirty. It's Taco Tuesday,
(00:47):
Dick. You can get train tacosfor ten bucks. By the way,
here at the Lime in Kirkland,traditional tacos are one dollar street taking
bucks, I can afford that unbelievable. Well, a guy who might you
know, who knows, maybe VenmoWest some money and maybe buy us a
few tacos. Our buddy Johnny Wilnerfrom the San Jose Mercury News. John,
how are you man, I'm good. Thanks. Just to make sure
(01:08):
I was fully prepared for our conversation. I've been checking the transfer portal about
every fifteen minutes. Okay, letme ask you a question, because when
I want to check the portal,I just go to two four seven's website.
Is there like a super secret websiteaddress that you have that we should
be aware of, by the way, No, I do the exact same
thing. I do think that therethere is a super secret access, but
(01:33):
I don't have it, and Ithink it's mostly for the twenty four to
seven reporters. No, I justI hit refreshing. Frankly. I've been
doing it for football and basketball thelast few days because it's crazy for both.
It was a big time offensive linemanthat SMU had that is rumored to
potentially go to Washington. And thenalso Damie Martinez. He is Jamie Martinez,
(01:57):
the biggest Pac twelve name in portalright now from Oregon State, probably
as of right now, but thatyou know, that could certainly change in
an instant. Colorado. Colorado's losinga lot of guys to the portal these
days. I think Martinez to meis just he's just a tremendous back,
right, I mean he could hecan play anywhere in the SEC or Big
(02:21):
ten, he's so good. SoI would say probably, And I think
that there's there's gonna be more offensivelineman. I know the guy from SMU
is high on Washington's list and wouldbe a good addition, But there are
a lot of linemen in that portal, and there's a lot of good players
that only are carrying three star,you know, ratings, but they're better
(02:43):
than that. I think Washington's gonnabe fine. Well, the Damien Martinez
thing to me is interesting because Igotta tell you, guys, I don't
know if they're outside of Caleb Williamsat USC and Dick. You were at
that game with me in La.Yeah, I don't know if a Husky
opponent player impressed me more than DamienMartinez. That's fair. I mean he
was a beast in that game.My god, was he hard to bring
down. So is Damien Martinez justlooking for a better deal potentially from Oregon
(03:07):
State or is he looking for maybea bigger spotlight before he goes to the
NFL. I think it's both.Uh, he is clearly thinking about the
NFL and you know, playing againsttop competition and playing on TV so he
can be visible. I think it'sa whole bunch of factors. And those
(03:27):
are similar issues that both Oregon Stateand Washington State are facing, not only
in football but also in men's basketball, just the unfortunate reality that they're in.
John, you wrote about campuses inthe PAC twelve. This year's subsidizing
a quarter of a billion dollars totheir athletic departments this last year. Is
that a normal number or is thatinflated because we were still kind of coming
(03:52):
out of COVID, And do youthink that'll continue. I think it's on
the high end of normal. Youknow, it was the the latest official
numbers are for the twenty two totwenty three school year, right, and
the twenty two football season was thefirst without COVID restrictions. But they it
was still you know, kind ofbuilding backsteam building steam back up across the
(04:16):
West coast. So I think itwas a little bit impacted by you know,
delayed impact by COVID. But schoolsget subsidized heavily across the country by
by their central campus, right,because athletic departments have eighteen to twenty sports
that are losing money, two sportsthat are making money, and are you
(04:38):
know, the goal is to havefootball, men's basketball pay for everything else,
but that's not realistic. So yousee a lot of subsidies and and
you know, you can make thecase that it's not wrong. Washington basically
sent ten million bucks to athletics.Is that wrong? They're sending money to
all departments across campus, and athleticsdoes more for Washington's visibility than chemistry or
(05:03):
engineering does. Yeah. Absolutely,And that ten million dollars that they were
in the red without the support ofthe upper campus, that's actually relatively great
compared to the rest of the conference. Right, didn't you dub do very
very well this last year? YouDUBB did do well. When you include
the subsidy, Washington basically ended upmaking a profit of like one point six
(05:28):
million. Washington had the highest revenueof any school in the PAC twelve.
I believe the Huskies were over onehundred and fifty million in total revenue for
fly twenty three, and I thinkthat's the first time they've ever been over
one point fifty I would expect it'llbe even higher for Fly twenty four because
that will include the football season thatjust happened. But yeah, they they
(05:49):
actually came out. Well, you'vegot schools like ASU, Arizona, Couse,
UCLA that are that are plowing thirtyforty million from campus in athletics.
Yeah. Well, John Wilner iswith us, and John, I gotta
tell you about eleven days ago,we were in Phoenix at the Final Four
and we had Danny Sprinkle join uson the radio show down there, and
(06:12):
I asked him, how far awayare we from hearing about your coaching staff?
And he said to me on thatday, he said about a week
to ten days. Well, tendays was yesterday. Yesterday was also the
day that Tony Bland's show cause fromthe nc doable A expired, all right,
And there's a lot of rumors anda lot of reports out there that
Tony Bland is coming to join DannySprinkle on Montlake as an assistant coach.
(06:33):
And when you type in his nameon Google, the first thing you see
is arrested in twenty seventeen by theFBI. So how should Washington fans feel
about the idea of Tony Bland comingto Montlake. Uh, you know,
I'm not sure. I think probablya little bit mixed, right. I
mean, he clearly was part ofthat thing, and we talked about weeks
(06:58):
ago before the hack Sprinkley, youasked me, should the hear Will Wade?
Right? And you know I wasagainst Will Will Wade. I'm less
against Tony Bland because he's not theface of your basketball program, which is
an important piece of your university's publicpersona. You know, guys are getting
(07:19):
hired who have been accused of NCAAviolations left and right. Because a lot
of those violations are no longer violations. You know, he would help their
program. I would. If I'ma Washington fan, I'd probably have some
mixed feelings about that. But Ican see why people would be in favor
of it. The guy can recruit, he knows la Speaking of violations,
(07:42):
So Michigan has received three years probationof fine and recruiting restrictions for their COVID
ERA recruiting violations. Is that fairand just punishment for Jim Harbaugh's former team.
I think it probably is. It'sinteresting, though Jimbo's got no problems,
right, he did face suspensions lastyear, but he's off to the
(08:05):
NFL, you know, and doesn'thave to deal with it. This is
part of the issue that the NCAAhas with their enforcement process, is that
coaches can escape by leaving for thepros, you know. I think Michigan
certainly has been through a lot.To me, the spygate was a much
(08:28):
bigger deal than the COVID issues,and I'll be interested to see if there's
anything more from spygate. I doubtthere will be. Harbot had three game
suspension, but to me, thatwas much worse. Yeah, apparently his
his deal with the NCAA is separate, right from this thing, John,
that was announced today. Is thatcorrect? Yes, I believe that's right,
(08:50):
gotcha, John, We're waiting.The other thing is we're waiting on
asu ASU's COVID you know, theirtransgressions for COVID and propriety. That happens
a year and a half before theMichigan stuff ever surfaced, and issue still
hasn't heard from the NCAA. Right, Hey, John Wilner with us again.
Courtesy is simply Seattle and John.For some reason, I ended up
(09:13):
on the Oregon State Athletics email distributionlist, and they just sent out an
email about twenty minutes ago with amessage to Beaver Nation from Scott Barnes,
the ad down there in Corvallis,and says, look, we've received multiple
gut punches. You can either packetin or keep fighting, right, trying
to get the Beaver Nation all firedup, and says a football media rights
agreement will be announced soon. Whatis he getting at and what does that
(09:37):
potentially look like for Oregon State andeven Wazoo. Well, I think it
will look very similar for both.I think that it's gonna it's not gonna
be a ton of money, right, yeah, I mean it's they have
thirteen combined home games next season.The Beavers have seven and the Cougars have
six. You know, I'm guessingthat they're gonna get a million or two
(10:00):
million bucks per game. It's notgonna be you know, trajectory changing money.
But what it is gonna be isis visibility, because I think they're
gonna end up with pretty with youknow, not being relegated to streaming.
They're gonna be on you know,network and or broadcast television. And I
think that they're gonna have pretty goodTV windows as well, they're not gonna
(10:24):
be playing all their home games atseven thirty at night, So I suspect
it's gonna be pretty good for thoseschools for visibility, because the key for
them is they can't get forgotten.Right. Being seen is more important than
the money when it comes to theirfootball media deal. Next year and the
year after, Well, John,we might have a lifeboat for the Oregon
(10:46):
States and the Washington States of theworld. What do you what are you
hearing about this CFT super League?Because I always thought the Super League was
gonna be any six thirty two teams, and I'm hearing maybe seventy teams and
you could put the old Pac tenback together in a Western division, that's
what they're talking about. I don'tthink that's gonna work. Seventy teams doesn't
(11:07):
make sense to me. And it'sactually like eighty teams. It's seventy permanent
members and then you've got ten floatingmembers with relegation and promotion like European soccer,
and there's a Western wing that hasthe packed ten schools with you know,
Utah and Colorado or in a differentdivision. I just don't think seventy
(11:28):
works. Why would ESPN or Foxpay for some of those games. Right,
if there's gonna be a super league, in my opinion, it's gonna
be twenty four or thirty two,maybe forty teams. Washington's in it,
Oregon's in it, USC's in it. I don't know who else from the
(11:50):
pack old Pack twelve would be init. But financially it's inefficient for there
to be a seventy or eighty teamleague. Well as a guy that's covered
the West Coast and college football,college basketball, Pac ten, PAC twelve,
Hell, maybe you're an old Packeight guy for all I know a
lot of different responses to the passingof OJ Simpson last week, Right,
(12:13):
a lot of people wanted just morein the football player. A lot of
people want to talk about what wasobviously a much bigger story off the field.
So how do you remember Oj SimpsonAnd what was your reaction when you
heard that news? Well, soa couple things. One of my initial
reactions was he's still he died withhaving a Heisman trophy and Reggie Bush does
(12:37):
not have a Heisman trophy. That'sright, just insane, absolutely insane.
The other thing, and it's alittle bit personal, you know, with
such big news. My kids wereasking about it, right, they're sixteen
and twelve, and so my wifeand I were telling them that they could
not imagine what a big deal thewhole thing was, starting with the Bronco
(13:01):
chase and the trial, and there'snothing that I can remember that has come
close to meaning that terms of grippingthe nation, you know, for a
long period of time. And sowe actually watched the first three or four
episodes of that, uh, thatdocumentary, you know, the Trial of
(13:22):
the Century, you know, Crimeof the Century is really good with Cooba
Gooding Junior. It's very good.We're we're three or four episodes in and
we're going to finish it. Butit's it's great for you know, for
my kids who are seeing it andjust now understanding what that whole thing was
like thirty years ago. No question. Hey, John, I want to
(13:43):
go back to watch that whole thing. I watched the Yeah, I watched
it during COVID. Yeah, amongyou know, among the other million series
that I watched during COVID. Johnwell done, it really really was.
I loved for botha yes, yeshe was. He was fabulous in that.
John, You know, I wantto go back to this restructuring,
and let's say the Super Conference doesn'twork, and let's say we're back to
(14:05):
this PAC two situation for a while. What makes the Pack two enticing to
join or is it a place forteams just to kind of fall into if
the ACC collapses. Well, Ithink it's certainly somebody to fall into if
the ACC collapses for Stanford and colRight, But to me, what is
(14:26):
enticing? If you are a topfour six team in the Mountain West,
you know there is more value playingunder the banner of the PAC twelve than
there is playing as a Mountain West. If you're boys Ofer San Diego,
Fresno, the playing in the PACtwelve means something. And they could also
(14:46):
I don't think it's just if theyreform the conference. It won't just be
with Mountain West schools. I don'tthink they're gonna try to expand the footprint.
You know, Rice, Memphis toLane. You know there'res schools that
would have a little bit of valueand would really help fortify the league.
I think that we're gonna see something. I don't know when it's gonna be
(15:09):
exactly, but by the end ofthe decade, there will be a pack
eight, anywhere from a pack ofeight to a pack sixteen. I think,
wow. Well, John Wilner againwith us. We're at the Lime
in Kirkland. Taco Tuesday one dollartraditional Tacos two dollars Street Taco stop on
By and CEUs and the Rosehill Plazaright here in Kirkland. Crack and pregame
coming next obviously with Winnipeg. ButJohn, I gotta ask you because Jedfish
(15:33):
just announced on social media a fewminutes ago that the Spring Game honorary coaches
are gonna be Lincoln Kennedy, LawyerMaloy, Danny Shelton, and Jake Locker.
They're doing this on a Friday night. It's gonna be on May the
third, So two weeks from thisFriday is the Spring Game. And you
know, Dick and I were talkingyesterday about Jedfish obviously has aspirations for the
(15:54):
NFL. I mean, you're gonnabe a moron to not see that he's
running an NFL style systems, bringingin Bill Belichick, John Lynch, you
know a bunch of X players andcoaches have all been at practice so far.
He's got a you know, hankeringto be in the NFL, And
who can blame the guy? Whatdoes he need to do to be attractive
(16:14):
to the National Football League as ahead coach? How many wins? How
long does he need to stay herefor? What does he need to do
with Washington to really show off tothe NFL? You think, oh,
good question. I mean, everybodyknows what Washington's roster was like when he
took over. He ends up winningeight or nine games and competing in the
(16:40):
Big Ten. I think he couldbe attractive next winter, and I wouldn't
put it just limited just the NFL. I think he would have interest in
his alma mater, Florida, ifthere's a vacancy there. But he is
any Husky fan who thinks that he'sgoing to provide long term stability, I
think that is a misguided approach.And I don't blame Fish at all.
(17:03):
But you know if he if hewins, he's only going to be there
for two or three years. Yeah, I agree with you, John.
They should have known that when theyhired him, and I think they did
know that. They didn't care.They didn't care, Yeah, they didn't
care. So then you know that'sthe consequences of making that move and you
just have to. You hope hewins, and then you hope your programs
(17:27):
in good shape when he leaves,and you hire somebody who continues that well
as Troy Dannon made the higher,and I agree with the higher. I
don't like Dann, but I agreewith a higher. I have no problem
with Fish being here. I'm totallywith you. I think Dix on board
as well. This is a shortterm deal for Jetfish. I mean,
god, if he's here for fiveyears, then, oh my god,
that's going to feel like one hundredyears for trying out loud. But yep,
(17:48):
did they do the wrong thing?Should they have gone after somebody who
maybe would give them a little morestability in your opinion? Well, I
don't know the extent to which theywent after, say Lansley pulled from Kansas
or let's claim Chris claiming from KansasState or some other guys. Uh,
they may have put out feelers.I don't know if Fish was their number
one choice all along, yeah,uh, but they were certainly it was
(18:12):
a you know, it was alittle bit of a tough spot given given
the timing of divorce departure in theoffseason cycle. But I go back you
know, and your listeners may notwant to hear this. I go back
to the first Oregon game. Whywas there not a contract on Debor's desk
(18:33):
the next morning? Eight years,eight nine million a year? Why did
they not try to lock him upthen instead of instead of letting him gain
all the leverage into November and December. That's the answer I would love to
know from Hono Maury cowsat john Withall the eyeballs on women's basketball recently,
(18:56):
the PAC twelve now no longer hasthe winningest coach in basketball history. Your
thoughts of Tara Vanderveer of Stanford leavingand is there even a close second to
the best program of the Big threesports men's basketball, women's basketball, and
football in the pack era? Oof? Oh boy, good question. Probably
(19:19):
not because USC football did not sustainthe way Stamford women's basketball did, you
know. I think I have alittle bit of a nuanced view of vander
vere I think she gets a littlebit too much credit for what she did
for her first, say, twentyyears at Stanford, and not enough credit
for what she's done the last fiveor ten. She had enormous advantages when
(19:42):
there was no WNBA and if you'rethe best women's basketball player in the country,
of course you go into Stanford becauseyou don't have you're not getting a
pro contract. You got to goto get an education to get a job,
right, So she had a hugeadvantage, but lately that advantage has
flipped, and it's a disadvantage ina lot of ways, with Stanford's policies
(20:04):
on transfer n nil and the WNBAleveling the playing field. And she has
still produced a really top tier program. So I think she deserves a lot
of credit for that. John,You know why I can't be the man
because you're the man. No,I refuse to believe that. I believe
that you are the man. Allright, listen, have a good week
(20:26):
and we'll talk next Tuesday. Buddy, appreciate this pal. Thanks a lot,
guys, all right, John Wilnerwith us. That'll do it for
us. From Lime in Kirkland,Rose Hill Plaza. Here, great spot.
One dollar traditional tacos, two dollarssoft tacos on Taco Tuesday, and
somebody just dropped off a big oldplate of taco. Perfect timing for me
and Dick. We're got a break, we got cracking, and we got
(20:48):
the Jets the penultimate game of theyear. Two more to go, one
tonight, one Thursday, and theBoys are done for the season. Cracking
pregame with Winnipeg coming next right hereon ninety three three k j R F
M S Y
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