*Bob Tripi, The Drive's Director of Research

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jack Kebling here with my good friend Matt Sloan. A
graph of Okeemists. Big summer here, Matt.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
That's right, Jack.

Speaker 3 (00:05):
We got the summer savings going on right now at
Graft Nissan and Graft Chevy of Okamists. Great deals. We're
offering zero percent financing and select vehicles up to sixty months.
If you're a Casto member. We got extra rebates for that.
We're getting fresh inventory every day. It's been a great summer.
We got great deals for you.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Zero percent. Can't get much lower than that. That's exactly right, Papacy.
Matt in the gang here on West Grand riverd Okamiz.
They're making friends.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Do you want a day.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Welcome back? It is a drive with Jack Spotlight a
radio network. Jack Ebling here with my producer Boston Rob Rob.
Let's go right out to our guest line. Very happy
to welcome in our director of research, longtime State of
Michigan sports writer Bob Trippy. Bob, I thought you might

(01:01):
be covering more baseball this week, but not to be.
We got a lot of football to talk about too.
But let's start with the Tigers and what happened Friday night,
fifteen innings at Team Mobile. Is that as good a
baseball game as you've seen?

Speaker 2 (01:24):
How you define as good a baseball game as you've seen.
I mean it surely had a lot of drama because
there were times there where you thought the Tigers were
going to pull it out. When you get guys on base, yeah, well,
when your your core hitters go oh for thirty three,
you kind of, you know, lose confidence of the Tigers

(01:44):
are going to win this game. And they had that game.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
If you were writing on deadline, you could have written
eight different stories. And as bad as the hitting was,
and it was pretty bad for Seattle two, I mean
both teams finished with eight hits in fifteen innings. I
thought it was some tremendous pitching, clutch pitching, and some

(02:12):
big time fielding plays in that game, you know, double plays,
working out a jam. So if you're a fan of
offensive baseball, you probably didn't enjoy it very much. But
if you're a baseball curist, there was some great baseball.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Yeah. I mean you look at both sides and all that.
Obviously each two want to win the game, and they
were doing whatever they possibly could. I mean, when you
start digging into you know, your starters you know, coming
into the game in the late innings to you know,
potentially save you know, in case you get a lead
or whatever, or stop the other team from scoring. It

(02:50):
just was one of those games where you're just sitting
on the edge of your seat saying, Okay, who's going
to be the one here? It's going to end up
scoring a run and you know, go on to play Toronto.
And then, you know, my line of thinking was, and uh,
you know, as this game is going on, I'm thinking,
whoever wins, it's probably gonna be a huge underdog going

(03:11):
to Toronto because you're playing so darn late. Then he's
gonna fly at Boss Country to Toronto celebration. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then what happens last night, Seattle goes and wins
the first game. I mean, it's just so you know,
counter to what everything I was thinking that you know,
I thought the team would be exhausted from the travel

(03:33):
and you know, the time change and all that. But
that was not the case last night, as we saw
with the Seattle winning three to one. And yeah, you
know it was it was a very interesting season for
the for the Tigers and Effer. We had Scott Harris.
Uh you know, kind of wrap things up with a J. Hinch.
You know, the big news was was that they've signed

(03:55):
a J. Hinch to a contract extension, which you know,
they did a couple of weeks ago. So going forward,
he's he's the guy still. But one of the interesting
things that came out of it all today was the
fact that, you know, he was asked, point blank, you know,
are you considering trading Trek's school? Now obviously he's not

(04:17):
going to say whether he's doing it or not, but
it was just what was just kind of funny in
his response was the fact that he didn't he didn't say,
we really hope that you know, Tarek is going to
be with this team, you know, for a number of
years and all that. His response was just basically, we
don't talk about people we're going to trade or pending

(04:38):
free agents or anything like that. So I'm just going
to leave it at that. So he didn't exactly give
a glowing uh, you know, the hope for Tiger fans
who were wandering with school, we're going to be here.
But you know, interestingly enough, you know, the talk around
town isn't so much is school going to be signed.

(04:58):
It's like a lot of people want him traded so
they can get value back before he does leave, because
he wants four hundred million dollars supposedly him and Scott Boris,
his agent, you know, have been hinting that is the
going rate, and the Tigers we're not going to pay
that right right. So you know, if you if you

(05:20):
can find a team that you know has a nice
uh bunch of prospects or you know, willing to give
up a hitter or whatever, you know, look a look
at Milwaukee. They give up Colbyn Burns to Baltimore and
they got I think they got three players out of it. Well, no,
they got two players plus a draft pick in twenty

(05:42):
twenty four, and uh look where they are. I mean,
they were able to survive without him, and they had
I believe they had the best record in baseball, didn't
they If an I'm mistaken.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
They did. We know that Tigers gave up a lot
of young talent for Miguel Cabrera. And Dave Dombrowski told
me when I did the book Tails, when Troy Tigers
dugout get the best player in the trade.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah, oh yeah, absolutely. You know, here's the thing, you
never know what's gonna happen with trades, what happened with
the Tigers and uh and Justin Erlander. Out of the
three players they got back, only one is still in
the majors and that's Jake Rogers and jaks.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
Great the last month of the year exactly, and.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
A lot of people wanted him to be on Detroit's
team because he probably would have helped him. I mean,
you look at who they got, Charlie Morton and uh,
you know Paddock. I mean who would have helped more?
Probably Berlander would have helped more the way he ended
the season. So you know, there's there's there's a lot
of question marks in terms of, you know, what's going

(06:53):
to happen uh in the off season, and that was
kind of brought out today, uh in the press conference
in terms of you know, well, you know where where
do you said? Where are you heading and all that.
There's going to have to be a lot of discussions.
There's you know, the other thing too, is you've got
a lot of free agents that you're going to have
to figure out, you know, who do you want to

(07:14):
bring back, who do you want to let go? And
that's you know, you're going to sort that all out.
I mean, if if you look at some of the names, uh,
you know, do you bring back Fitt again? I don't
know if you do. You know, he's really they're really
caught in a situation where they, you know, have to

(07:34):
figure out who still fits in with this ball club,
and that, I mean the starters are going to have
to go out and get another starter, you know, because
right now you're not You're not going to have Jackson
Joel all of next year and then you know, is
Jack claird You're going to end up, you know, doing
the player's option or not.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
So I'm told that he wants to stay. So if
they want him, they would have him. I'm not a
Jack Flaerity guy, but they would have Flarity, they'd have Mice.
They're going to have results in back. Still need another starter,
But I'm curious if Scott Harris has realized now that

(08:14):
there are windows. You know, he denied that before. He
didn't believe in windows. To me, that's what it's all about.
It's about this opportunity. And that's the only reason you
would ever trade Terren Scooble is because you don't think
you can fit through the window. And you know, If
you're just going to sit there and watch through the

(08:35):
window as your best prospect, you know, gets in a
cab and goes to another team, then you're really going
to be out of luck. But I would expect Detroit
to try to do something in the offseason, and probably
probably some moves like labor Torres. I don't think they're
necessarily going to go after a second basement, but that

(08:56):
kind of a deal. Tigers are never going to be
into Wan Soto sweepstakes. They can't even pay to keep
their own stars, or they can, but they won't. Let's
say that.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
Well, I think the thing that they need to really
take a look at is they need some veteran players.
At one point or another, they need veteran players. This
is still a very young team, and you know, you
need to play discipline of going up there and knowing
how to hit, you know, when one to swing and
all that. And Scott Harris kind of hinted it that

(09:28):
today is you know, that was one of the takeaways,
is the fact that you know, they need to look
at you know, why why did we see this drop
off after having the best record between August the twenty
twenty four. In August of twenty twenty five. What changed why,
you know, what happened there and what can they do

(09:49):
to you know, maybe ease that going into into the future,
because again, there are a lot of young guys and
you know what, there's a lot of young guys that
are sitting in the minors right now. You know, is
Kevin McDonald who you know, everybody is excited and everybody
thought he would be he would have been called up.
But you know, it's like I told people said, he's
an eerie. He's not even gone to Triple A baseball.

(10:10):
You're expecting to come up to the majors and make
an impact. I mean, that's that's quite a jump, you know.
So I think it's going to be an off season
We're all going to be keeping a close eye on
see how much money they're willing to pay. You know,
does Bregman end up exercising the player option and you know,
leaving Boston and you know, is he may be a

(10:31):
fill in at third base? I mean, he would be
an outstanding.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
Addictions leaving Boston, Robert, what have you doing that? I
don't think he's leaving.

Speaker 4 (10:39):
He seen me there, wouldn't leave the way he succeeds
in that ballpark offensively. I mean, there has been rulings
that he could, but I mean I would I'd be
I'd say probably if I had to guess seventy thirty

(11:00):
of him.

Speaker 1 (11:02):
Any reason why he would leave none unless he doesn't
like fish.

Speaker 2 (11:08):
Or it could be the money too, It could be
could be yeah, I mean, what.

Speaker 4 (11:16):
Do you always say?

Speaker 1 (11:18):
All the money?

Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (11:19):
Now, Boston gave him that nice paycheck, but someone else
might be willing to do that, give him a little
bit more. And they did give him the opt out
option after.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
One year, so maybe Boston'll match it. Maybe Boston has
to appreciate what he has done. Maybe he exceeded expectations
to some degree. He did miss significant stretchy not getting
any younger. But I would think that Bregman is going
to be part of that team for a long time.
And he already said no did Detroit once. I don't

(11:47):
think Detroit's going to come back and double its offer.
So I want to talk to you about football, Bob,
and uh, let's start with the National Football League. We
have lots of college football to talk about, but let's
start with the National Football League. And what did you
make of one the Lion's performance at Kansas City and
two the continued immaturity. Now this is eight times. Okay,

(12:11):
I get it. Some players play on the edge. It's
what makes them great. But Brian Branch needs some help here.
This is eight times now that he's been in trouble
and last night was a he said, you know, he
was wrong. Dan Campbell used another term today called inexcusable.

(12:31):
But I would like to see Dan Campbell do something
that he's not going to do. And I have a
lot of respect for Dan Campbell, I really do. It's
one of my favorite coaches. I would like him to
suspend Brian Branch before the NFL does.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah, you know, that's a great point there, and I
wouldn't be surprised if it does occur. And I'll tell
you why, because the owner of the team is very
in tune with having players that are respectable on the
field and off the field, and that's a very big

(13:10):
thing with Sheila hemp Ford and uh and you know
the mother and all that Sheila Ford, and so I
would not I would not be surprised if that happens,
because you know, they don't want to bring a bad
look to the Detroit Lions.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
So you were making it very better what you will
and will not tolerate. And then it's up to Brian
Branch to respond.

Speaker 2 (13:40):
Yeah, and you know what, Uh, will it be one game?
Will it be two games? One game? It might work
out okay, because you know Tampa Bay coming in Monday
night is going to be missing some of their key
receivers and all that. You might be able to get
away with that. But the way Tampa Bay's been playing,
it doesn't really matter. They look pretty darn good. It's
that's gonna be a very good game last night. Overall

(14:03):
the game, I kind of figured that Kansas City was
gonna win that game because Detroit went and they're banged
up with their secondary. I thought that, you know, Patrick
Mahomes was going to basically tear them apart one way
or another, and the offense kind of did what they
wanted to do. I thought offensively for the Lions, they

(14:24):
weren't able to get going like we've seen in previous
weeks where they score over thirty points a game. So
I was not shocked at the outcome. I was kind
of surprised with just how they played. I expected a
lot more of them playing better. I thought they'd get
more pressure on Mahomes and cast some issues there. And

(14:44):
I thought offensively, is that you know Jamior Gibbs and
Aman Ross, Saint Brown and Laporte and all those guys
that they I kind of figured this would be one
of those games where you and I'd be talking about
what did you think of the fireworks last night? Five
thirty four or something like that. I didn't expect it
to be. You know, the way it ended is Kansas

(15:07):
City back. I'm not willing to say Kansas City's back yet,
but you know, I think the next couple of weeks
we're going to find out because you've got to play Denver,
they play the Raiders, and then they go to Buffalo,
and I think that's what we're really going to find
out over these next three weeks. You know, are they
back or is you know, they're getting received rice back
so that that should help them with the passing game.

(15:28):
But we'll see, we'll see the home table of.

Speaker 1 (15:32):
Doing he was. He was a dominant figure on the
field last night. But I'm not even worried about winning
or losing a game, and wouldn't be a f I
word alliance that's what I'm thinking about. Yes, Okay, one
game in October is not that consequential. Even if you
lose back to back games for the first time in

(15:53):
three years. Lions. It's amazing they have not lost back
to back games since October twentieth of twenty twenty two.
But if that happens, so be it. To me. It's
all about what you stand for as an organization. And
if you're saying, Okay, well, we're gonna just let this
go and it's not like it. We haven't had problems

(16:15):
before last night, the Lions were not the team they
can be. Aiden Hutchinson had a very costly penalty. You
saw what happened at the end of the game. And
if you want to have your franchise have a certain character,
a certain personality, and you want to make that very clear.
If I'm Dan Campbell again, I'm calling Brian Branch into

(16:39):
the office to say, you know what, you're a great
football player. I love you like a son, and I
want what's going to be best for you in this franchise.
And right now you have some work to do and
we're going to let you do it from street close,
because you cannot be selfish and that's what you were
last night.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
Well, yeah, I mean, do they think they're going to
become the bad boys of football and all that? I mean,
I mean, it doesn't work in the NFL like it
does in the NBA or used to work in the NBA.
And you know, the NFL will not end up putting
up with it, you know, they just won't. I think

(17:18):
that we're probably gonna hear from the NFL NFL here
very soon. I mean, the guy's been fined enough times
this year and now on national TV for everybody to see. Uh,
you don't. You don't go taking a swing at somebody
like that and causing what you did at the end
of the game. So that's another reason I.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
Do what I just said, Bob, Because if the NFL
is likely to do it anyway, do you want it
coming from the league or do you want to be
the one who sets the rules?

Speaker 2 (17:45):
Well, I think to me, I would think that Campbell
would do that because you want to let other players
know who's who's in charge of what the expectation is. Uh,
you know, with.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
How many times have we heard them say the standard
is that the standard for the Lions?

Speaker 2 (18:05):
Well, the standard should be you know, you go out there,
you represent this team in a good way, and you know,
regardless you walk away, things may not go your way.
And you don't start taking a swing at somebody.

Speaker 1 (18:18):
And all that I know sc very estimated. I get it.
The cornerbacks are out, Kirbye, Joseph is hobbling around. You know,
they could wind up with none of their defensive projected
starters in the back end playing against a guy who
could be the NFL MVP. I really don't care. I

(18:41):
think back to a college situation. It was very close
to this, and you might remember this game. I don't
think Rob is old enough to remember it. But Lou
Holtz was coaching Arkansas. He was going up against Oklahoma
and the Orange Bowl, and Arkansas was an underdog in

(19:02):
that game, big underdog, and he had some players who
weren't doing what they were supposed to do. They got
in trouble and they were made. They were key players
for Arkansas, and he sent them home, read them the
Riot Act, and sent him home. Now the line went out,
I mean it was a you know, I said, oh
my god, Arkansas, why are they even bothering to show up?

(19:22):
And Arkansas won the game, and I don't care if
the Lions win or lose this game against Tampa Bay.
I think there's something, there's a point that needs to
be made here, and if the NFL is going to
make it for you, you might as well get out
in front of it.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
Oh absolutely, I've in total agreement with that. You know,
so it's my team, even if it's Buffalo and you know,
one of the players crossed the line, so to speak.
I'm sorry. I would I would support suspending the person
because you know what, once SI stuff starts, uh, then
he thinks he can get away with this over and
over and over and then then did kind of as

(20:01):
like the snowball going down the hill where it gets
worse and worse as you go on. And we don't
need that. You don't need that in pro football. This
is enough craziness, skill on the field and all that.

Speaker 1 (20:12):
And you know, Tua Taoloa today in Miami.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
To hear what he said, you know, I cautious the
end of it and everything, and it sounds like he's
going to be benched for the next game.

Speaker 1 (20:25):
Well, he called out his entire team, and I don't
know if he's gonna be welcome back in the locker
room or not. But he said this can't continue. He said,
we got guys who are late for meetings. We've got
guys who don't show up. We got guys who are
so they don't put the team first. All this stuff,
and you know, these are high priced brands now is

(20:48):
in front of these lockers. They don't want to be criticized.
Half of them have never been criticized. And so I
imagine as a leader, he's either going to make some
fundamental change with the Miami Dolphins or he's not going
to be in Miami Dolphin very long.

Speaker 2 (21:03):
Well, the interesting thing, McDaniel, the head coach, Mike McDaniel,
came out and said that was the wrong form for
him to be going to and spouting off everything. And so, yeah,
I wonder what the fallout is going to be from
that whole thing. I have a funny feeling we're going
to hear somebody else leading the team next Sunday, because

(21:24):
right now the Dolphins are in a free fall.

Speaker 1 (21:26):
So yeah, you might see someone else leading the Dolphins
next year too.

Speaker 2 (21:31):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (21:34):
I want to talk to you about college football and
especially especially Michigan State and Jonathan Smith. We played his
press conference today. I wish you could have been there
to hear it. But he was asked some pointed questions
and he gave the predictable answers. You know, he didn't lie,

(21:56):
didn't put the blame on anyone else, said, you know,
we have to do better. Well, no kidding, you know
that happens. You know, at least you'd say, yeah, we're
really satisfied with our effort. You know, he didn't say that.
But you have some amazing numbers about the Jonathan Smith
era and where we are with it, and do you

(22:19):
want to share what we've seen the last two years
at Michigan State.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
Well, if you look at a just conference play, you know,
since Jonathan Smith has taken over the three and nine
in conference play and have been outscored in those games
four hundred and one to two hundred and twenty eight.

Speaker 1 (22:37):
Wow, yeah, yeah, seventy three points, one hundred and seventy
three points.

Speaker 2 (22:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
So you know you figure it out. I mean with wins.
With the three wins, that means you're going to be
at least one point to the good. So one hundred
and seventy two, make it one hundred and seven in
the nine losses. That means they've lost these games by
nearly twenty points per game. Bob.

Speaker 2 (23:08):
We oh, yeah, absolutely absolutely, And you know you look
at it this way. Here's here's an interesting thing. I
went out and I was looking at the NCAA stats.
I wanted to see just where they sit. And Jack,
I'm sure you probably looked at him too. Scoring defense,
they're one hundred and twenty first out of one hundred
and thirty four teams. They allow thirty one point eight

(23:29):
points per game. And you know, but then you look
at the offense. When the offense is scoring only twenty
nine point five, I mean the offense to me, you know,
I expected a lot more. And obviously there've been some
things going on with Aiden Childs. The last couple of games.
They're ninety seventh and passing offense ninety seventh and rushing offense,

(23:51):
and overall for offense, the one hundred and tenth out
of one hundred and thirty four teams. So's you know,
there's only twenty four teams that are worse than college
football than Michigan State. And it shouldn't happen. It should
not half balance, Bob.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
You know, every coach I wass we want to have
a balanced attack. If you're ninety seventh in the nation
in rushing and ninety seventh in the nation in passing,
how much more balance can you be?

Speaker 2 (24:17):
Well, you know, and Jack, I sent to you that
other the stat earlier that in the last two MSU games,
Michigan State has had ninety six yards of offense in
the first half of each game. I mean, they're really
getting clobbered in that first half, you know, especially especially
like what happened this past week. They give up two
hundred and fifty four yards to UCLA in the first half,

(24:41):
and you're in a hole. You're truly in a hole.

Speaker 1 (24:45):
Three hundred and fifty five in the first half to
USC three five five, and this ninety six yards in
the first half. Bob, we were sitting there watching them
go the length of the field on the first drive
and after that, how many yards did they have? A thirty?

Speaker 2 (25:02):
What? Yeah, it wasn't very much. I mean you and
I were kind of chatting about that, and then then I,
you know, I was saying, how you know they were
getting into a hole, and then you know, I did
some crunching of the numbers, and in those twelve games.
Let's let's include the UCLA game. In the twelve games
we just talked about with Smith as the coach, they

(25:25):
have been outscored in every single Well, they have not
outscored an opponent in the second half in any of
the games the Big Ten games that Jonathan Smith has
been the coach in. So you know, out of the
twelve games, they have gone twelve games where they've not
outscored the opponent in the second half.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
Wow, so that's been even.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
Yeah, yeah, there are a few of those, but they.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
Don't want the second half yet in twelve.

Speaker 2 (25:55):
Games, no non Big ten games, you know. And now
look where you're going. You're going to India, which could
potentially be the best team into Big Ten. We don't
know yet, but you know we're going to find out
here in a few weeks. Going there. Then you come
home to Michigan, and you know, Michigan isn't exactly great

(26:17):
this year. I mean, they're going through their struggles too.
But you know, we talked about in the press box
the fact that the state is probably not going to
be favored in any game the remainder of the season,
which begs the question of, well, if they're not favored.
And if that's the case, are we looking at a
three to nine season? And you know, where do you

(26:38):
go from here? As you know, as an athletic department,
I mean, do you do you just accept that and say, okay,
well we'll give them a third year. I'm of the
opinion to give it.

Speaker 1 (26:53):
Who's going to donate to this program? I mean you
need money now, you need money for name, image and
like this. You know, they don't have a money tree
sitting out in front of Jennison. They need alumni boosters,
friends of the university to come forward and write big checks.
How are you going to get that money?

Speaker 2 (27:14):
Well, maybe take out a loan from Nike or something
like that, you know. I mean, if you look at this,
you know, with James Franklin getting fired yesterday, just before
he went on the air, I was telling Rob that
I went through all the college coaches that have been
let go so far this year this season, in the season,
there's seven of them. And if you total it all up,

(27:37):
roughly ninety three point three million dollars in buyouts so far.
And the expectation is is they're going to be close
to six, no, two hundred million could potentially be buyouts
now here. It is. You got all these schools that
are crying that they don't have enough money, but yet
you got enough money to spend forty nine point seven

(27:57):
million to buy out James Franklin and fifteen for Mike
Gundy at Oklahoma State. And what if? What if? The
what if Clemson gets rid of David Sweeney. You know, uh,
he's old, sixty million dollars, yeah, you know, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:13):
Championships there, He's got a longer shelf life. You know,
people are unhappy because they got spoiled. They expected to
do that.

Speaker 2 (28:21):
This is nowadays. Nowadays it's all about the money, you know.
And you know they, like you said, they want the
nil money, the TV contracts and everything like that. And uh,
you know, if if you're winning, everybody's happy. As soon
as you start losing, you all of a sudden, the
seat gets very hot. And then James Franklin's case, he

(28:44):
had a lot going against him. You know, when you
can't end up beating uh Northwestern, you know at home,
and you you're considered a national title contender before the
season even starts, I mean, it puts the hell of
a burden on you. You better perform, and you can't not.

Speaker 1 (29:01):
Allow to have a bad year anymore. That's one thing.
And you can say, oh, James Franklin is a disappointment
because he hasn't been Ryan Day. But I can tell
you that he had as many eleven win seasons in
twelve years as Mark D'Antonio did in thirteen. And last
year he was one play away from the national championship game.
They lost that semi final to Notre Dame. And one

(29:24):
play goes differently, and there were several that could have
and drew Allers through that horrible interception. One of those
plays comes out different. You've got Ohio State Penn State
for the national title. It didn't happen. But I'm wondering now, Bob,
how many coaching changes we're going to have in the
Big ten. We know we're going to have one at UCLA,

(29:46):
we know we're going to have one at Penn State.
Do you think Jonathan Smith or Luke Fickele are going
to be back next year?

Speaker 2 (29:55):
I think Luke Fickle will be I'll be surprised at
that one. You know. The question The question I have
is this, if you end up, you know, with with
Jonathan Smith, I believe it's about thirty three million dollars
to buy him out. And I don't know if if
that's the case, and I don't know, well, I do
know this that I don't believe that Jonathan Smith is

(30:18):
you know, the I don't want to put this. I
gotta be careful how I say this. I don't know
if he's the choice of the current athletic administration, you know,
if he's their guy. And that's what we don't know.

Speaker 1 (30:35):
And I know that that his guy. It isn't the personality.
It's not that he likes the way Brett key uh
parts you know, parts of air or anything. It's it's
he likes someone who's winning, right and right now they're
not winning and winning, So that makes a decision for you.
It's like Tom Izzo says, you know, I don't bench you.

(30:56):
You benched yourself. Yeah, So that's kind of like what
it is. Coaches don't get fired most of the time.
Most of the time they fire themselves through lack of performance.
But if you can say that Fickle and Smith certainly
more likely to be gone than to be back, that's four.
And then you look around the league and you can

(31:18):
see other guys. You know PJ. Fleck, people are getting
tired of his act at Minnesota. I don't know, he
has a lot to work with, doesn't have the name,
image and likeness money that a lot of other schools have.
But you know they've seen this before. They're tired of it.
You can look at shar Own Moore and I had
a Michigan fan last night very unhappy saying that you

(31:41):
know this guy, now, he was eight and five last year,
he's two and two this year. In the games he
was there, and so you're talking about ten and seven
and there's a good chance that Michigan's going to lose
again before they play Ohio State. They could lose this
week to Washington.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
Yes, yeah, I agree that they was a bowl.

Speaker 1 (32:02):
Game and they wind up with five losses again, say
they go eight and five. Eight and five at eight
and five will get you fired.

Speaker 2 (32:10):
At Michigan, Yeah, especially nowadays with the playoffs and all that.
It's all about getting to the playoffs, you know, and
you know you have all these these top recruits and
then well, why aren't why aren't they developing? Why aren't
they performing like like you wanted? Maybe you got the
wrong people in charge. So yeah, I think the next

(32:31):
three four weeks are going to tell a lot about
the direction that we're going to see in terms of
you know, this this football program and other ones in
the Big Ten. I really do.

Speaker 1 (32:44):
I'm going to go out on the limb here, okay,
and you reel me back in if you think that
I'm walking drunk here. Okay, I think the loser of
the Michigan Michigan State game, that coach is gone.

Speaker 2 (32:59):
Yeah, yeah, I would be willing to agree with that
because at that point, it's it's not gonna be nice.
It's not gonna be pretty, you know, any which way
you look at it. Because if Michigan loses, I think
that might be the nail and the coffin for for
Thar and Moore. If Jonathan Smith loses, well guess what

(33:23):
that's lost number five on the season. And uh, it
could be ugly. It could really be ugly. And you know,
you got to start turning a corner because the other
schools are firing coaches, they're starting to line up, get
their list ready of Okay, here's what I want to interview.
Here's what I want is my coach, you know, going forward,

(33:43):
and that you know basically the head start you know,
in terms of winding up your candidate. So I don't
disagree with that, Jack, I don't at all. I think
that that is a very possible scenario happening.

Speaker 1 (33:58):
Bob, thanks so much for joining us. Always appreciated, great work,
and you got a little more free time this week
than I thought you were going to have.

Speaker 2 (34:06):
Thank God.

Speaker 1 (34:09):
Game Day in East Lansing just got taste here. One
North Kitchen the Bar is your go to for unbeatable
tailgate packages, perfect for fueling up before kickoff. Sink your
teeth into juicy burgers, hearty wraps, or warm up with
our famous One North Chili, a fan favorite on crisp
fall days by the Red Seater. Ordering is a snap
Just called David at five, one, seven and nine hundred

(34:31):
four MSU to get your crew game ready. Open at
ten am on weekends so you can grab your spread
and go. One North Kitchen and Bar. We're great food
and spartan spirit. Callide go green.

Speaker 5 (34:48):
Dean Transportation is looking for compassionate people to join our
team of school bus drivers and attendants. Visit Dean jobs
dot com to see all openings. Dean Transportation provides paid
training to obtain a commercial driver's license, Increased starting pay,
comprehensive benefits, and flexible schedules with no weekend shifts, no

(35:09):
experience needed. Apply today at dean jobs dot com and
train for back to school season. That's da n jobs
dot Com.

Speaker 6 (35:19):
So it's been a while since you've had your jewelry
clean and inspected?

Speaker 4 (35:23):
Right?

Speaker 6 (35:24):
Where will you go and who will you trust with
your most valuable and treasured heirlooms At meadow Ar Jewelers
for locations in Lansing, Ocamists Jackson and Portage. Jewelry isn't
just our job, it's our passion. Each and every piece
entrusted in our care is thoroughly inspected by our trained
staff against damage or normal wear, and we offer you,

(35:46):
our customer, the highest level of quality on repairs and
custom designs. Whether it's worn out throngs, channels or shanks,
it's all handled with incredible care. Meadow Our Jewelers and
Lansing Ocamist Jackson I want to help you preserve your
memories and offer you options on creating new ones. Coming
today for the cleaning and inspection of your jewelry. We

(36:09):
continue to work hard every day to earn your confidence
and trust and why jewelers.

Speaker 1 (36:18):
Jack Gamblin here with my good friend Matt Sloan a
graph of ochemists. Big summer here, Matt.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
That's right, Jack.

Speaker 3 (36:24):
We got the summer savings going on right now at
Graph Nissan and Graph Chevy of Okyemists. Great deals. We're
offering zero percent financing on select vehicles up to sixty months.
If you're a CASTO member. We got extra rebates for that.
We're getting fresh inventory every day. It's been a great summer.
We got great deals for.

Speaker 1 (36:42):
You zero percent. Can't get my flower than that. That's
exactly right, Dopacy Matt in the gang here on West
Grand River, okamtz. They're making friends.

Speaker 7 (36:51):
Are you passionate about college sports? Foster Swift Sports Talk
is your go to podcast dedicated to addressing the hottest
topics in college athletics, including recruiting practices, nil, the trade,
portal collectives, and revenue generation.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
Join us as we bring you insights from student athletes,
college head coaches, administrators, and other industry leaders as they
share their experiences in this rapidly changing arena.

Speaker 7 (37:13):
Our mission is to share information and help educate student athletes, parents, coaches,
and other stakeholders with the knowledge, resources, and strategies they
need to make informed decisions and maximize each college athlete's
potential for long term success. Check out our latest episode
where we're joined by Cole Moore, the general manager for
Michigan State Football, to discuss revenue sharing NIL in the

(37:34):
upcoming season. Like and subscribe to our YouTube and Facebook
pages to watch all of our episodes, or you can
give us a listen on any of your favorite podcasting
platforms by simply searching Foster Swift Sports Talk. Until next time,
I'm your host, Dave Russell