Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Season One Spring Wrap-Up
40 Plays1 year ago
In today's episode, the guys talk about how spring sports went, Rich Rod's extension, the future of the podcast, and more!!!
Recommended
Transcript
Podcast Return and Future Plans
00:00:02
Speaker
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of the 700 Pelham Road podcast.
00:00:07
Speaker
We are finally back after a long hiatus.
00:00:11
Speaker
It's been a while.
00:00:13
Speaker
It's been almost two months since we've been able to push out an episode.
00:00:19
Speaker
But we are back and we are going to be back hopefully for good.
Historic Bowling Championship
00:00:25
Speaker
To be honest, there's not too much to talk about this week.
00:00:31
Speaker
Mostly just finish up spring sports.
00:00:33
Speaker
But we got one, well, really two big things to really talk about.
00:00:37
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:00:39
Speaker
I guess we'll go ahead and get it out of the way.
00:00:42
Speaker
We put another national championship in the trophy case.
00:00:46
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:00:46
Speaker
First one as an FBS school.
00:00:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:00:52
Speaker
And no, it did not come from any of the big four.
00:00:55
Speaker
It did not come from what many people consider a traditional sport, but our women's bowling team.
00:01:03
Speaker
I mean, from the jump, they went out week after week and just kicked butt.
00:01:11
Speaker
And they wrapped up the season with an NCAA championship.
00:01:16
Speaker
So, I mean, you can't.
00:01:20
Speaker
Can't get much better than that.
00:01:25
Speaker
They turned around, I think, like a week later and went to the ITC, the Intercollegiate Team Championships or whatever it's called.
00:01:32
Speaker
They ended up getting runner-up, but, I mean, they still are, you know, NCAA national champions, and that is –
00:01:42
Speaker
absolutely amazing to come in year one.
00:01:46
Speaker
Obviously, you know, already an established, amazing head coach.
00:01:50
Speaker
And, you know, she brought a lot of the women with her from McKendree.
00:01:53
Speaker
But I mean, still, to make that move and to be in a conference with, you know, some of the top bowling teams in the country and to come out not only on top in the conference, but, you know, to win the NCAA, that's huge.
00:02:10
Speaker
Yeah, it absolutely
Investing in Bowling Success
00:02:11
Speaker
is.
00:02:11
Speaker
And, you know, we've talked about it over and over again.
00:02:15
Speaker
You know, it all starts up front with the fact that Greg Seitz went out and was willing to put money down on a program that didn't exist and go out and hire the best coach in the country.
JSU Sports Achievements
00:02:31
Speaker
And now we see the fruits of spending that money is we win a title.
00:02:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:40
Speaker
And now we can say we're national champions.
00:02:44
Speaker
And I think the last program to win a national championship was Cornell, if I'm correct.
00:02:53
Speaker
And I don't even know if that's technically a program or if that's a club sport.
00:03:00
Speaker
If we go back to what we're sure of, I'm pretty sure it was football D2.
Challenges of Conference Transition
00:03:08
Speaker
Yeah, back in, what, 92?
00:03:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:12
Speaker
Or maybe I could be – actually, I could be wrong.
00:03:15
Speaker
I think maybe Rifle has had some championships since then.
00:03:19
Speaker
I know we have a really good Rifle team.
00:03:24
Speaker
Got to be honest, my bad.
00:03:26
Speaker
I don't keep up with them.
00:03:28
Speaker
So maybe they have had a national championship since then.
00:03:31
Speaker
But I think – I don't know if Cornhole counts as a program or if it's a club.
00:03:36
Speaker
But –
00:03:39
Speaker
If we're being like, for sure, for sure, you got to go all the way back to the D2 football national championship.
00:03:47
Speaker
So either way, you know, to have this NCAA championship, which I know the Cornhole wasn't, Cornhole's ACL, to have this NCAA national championship is just absolutely crazy.
00:04:02
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:04:06
Speaker
You know, going forward, I'll admit I don't really know how to keep up with bowling, recruiting, or anything like that.
00:04:15
Speaker
But, you know, it'll be interesting to look at the turnover of the roster.
00:04:21
Speaker
I don't know, but I watched the first session of the championship season.
00:04:30
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:04:31
Speaker
Yeah, I tried to watch.
00:04:32
Speaker
I think I was working during it, but pretty much every chance I had, you know, I had my phone up, you know, just kind of peeking at it.
00:04:40
Speaker
And it was insane.
00:04:41
Speaker
I mean, there were some periods where it was like we were down and it was, you know, a pretty solid deficit.
00:04:48
Speaker
And you're thinking, OK, you know, they're going to take
Bowling Program's Bright Future
00:04:50
Speaker
it.
00:04:50
Speaker
It's whatever.
00:04:50
Speaker
And our women just did not give up.
00:04:54
Speaker
They kept fighting, kept fighting, kept fighting.
00:04:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:59
Speaker
And, you know, they just showed who they were, you know, who they had been the whole season.
00:05:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:05
Speaker
And ultimately came out on top.
00:05:10
Speaker
You know, I'm really looking forward to kind of seeing, you know, what the future holds for the program.
00:05:16
Speaker
Because obviously, you know, roster turnover aside, when you have a good coach, generally, even if you maybe lose talent, you know,
00:05:26
Speaker
Obviously, coaching can develop players, but it'll be really fun to see where the program goes from here.
00:05:35
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:05:36
Speaker
I mean, like you said, anytime you lose talent, it always hurts, but I mean –
00:05:42
Speaker
for a coach with, you know, the resume and the respect and just the accolades that she has, you know, for a woman coming out of high school or even, you know, looking to transfer, this is a dream destination.
00:05:57
Speaker
So, you know, not only do I trust her to be able to,
00:06:01
Speaker
Not only do I trust Coach O'Keefe to be able to develop somebody as a freshman, but I also know she's just going to have that draw.
00:06:09
Speaker
She's going to have that pull for transfers, those high-level recruits coming out of high school.
00:06:17
Speaker
And like you said, we don't necessarily – this is –
00:06:20
Speaker
totally new game for us so we're not necessarily you know up to speed on how to keep up with bowling recruits and whatnot but i have no doubt that we you know we're going to get the best of the best just simply because of being able to do what we did in year one and having the coach that we have yeah absolutely so all right well moving on to the other spring sports um
00:06:45
Speaker
We covered the end of basketball, which obviously neither program really had a great year.
00:06:53
Speaker
Baseball and softball.
00:06:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:56
Speaker
Baseball and softball also did not have as great of a year as they look like.
00:07:00
Speaker
You know, baseball, new coach coming in to replace Coach Case.
00:07:06
Speaker
Tough job to do because he is the program's all-time winning coach.
00:07:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:14
Speaker
A lot of roster turnover.
00:07:16
Speaker
Just tough season altogether.
00:07:19
Speaker
New conference as well, which I'm not making excuses, but I feel like they're – I mean, it was – We can accept them.
00:07:26
Speaker
It was a much tougher conference.
00:07:29
Speaker
Yeah, and Conference USA is a good baseball conference.
00:07:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:33
Speaker
A lot of good – I mean, all around for our spring sports, I think –
00:07:39
Speaker
The biggest difference because with our spring sports moving up to FBS didn't really change much the way spring sports work.
00:07:48
Speaker
FCS FBS there really is no distinct line, so to speak.
00:07:54
Speaker
It all kind of meshes together.
00:07:57
Speaker
Um,
00:07:59
Speaker
But I think with us moving up and just being in a tougher conference all around, it was kind of a rough – I wouldn't necessarily call it a wake-up call because we knew moving up we're going to play tougher opponents.
Patience with Coaches and Teams
00:08:13
Speaker
I just think it was a rough adjustment period just going – because, I mean,
00:08:20
Speaker
other than baseball, a lot of our teams didn't have super high turnover.
00:08:23
Speaker
So just going from being used to, well, basketball did, sorry.
00:08:29
Speaker
But just going from being used to playing the FCS schools and playing that level and then jumping up, you're playing guys that are looking to either submit themselves in COSA or even try and get a shot at the Power Five schools.
00:08:48
Speaker
So I mean,
00:08:51
Speaker
It was just a tough adjustment period.
00:08:53
Speaker
And it's one of those where I fully trust all of our coaches to, you know, right now is the off season for them.
00:09:01
Speaker
They're about to start getting into the nitty gritty.
00:09:04
Speaker
I trust all of them to, you know, be sitting there hitting the notebooks, hitting the film, you know, hitting the recruiting trails, figuring out what works best for them, who's going to fit that scheme,
00:09:18
Speaker
and just trying to figure out the overall success for the program and the university going forward.
00:09:24
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:09:25
Speaker
You know, one of the things with baseball and softball, and I think, you know, you know, it's about being big baseball fans.
00:09:35
Speaker
You know, I mean, it's a tough sport under the best of circumstances.
00:09:41
Speaker
You know, I live by the phrase, the hardest thing in sports to do is to hit a fastball.
00:09:47
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:09:49
Speaker
The second hardest thing to do is to hit a rise ball in softball.
00:09:53
Speaker
So, you know, you're going to have some tough years.
00:10:00
Speaker
Maybe we as JSU fans are used to it because we've seen this squad go to the final game of a regional against the eventual national champions, right?
00:10:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:11
Speaker
We've gone to Oxford and nearly won the regional.
00:10:14
Speaker
Um, yeah, but at the same time, you know, you, you, you hate to look at it and say, Oh, well, we've done it in the past, so we should do it now.
00:10:24
Speaker
Um, but it's easy to slip into that mindset.
00:10:26
Speaker
But at the same time, I trust, uh, I trust coach Beezer.
00:10:30
Speaker
I think he's a, he's a good coach.
00:10:32
Speaker
There's a reason that he was at an SEC school before this.
00:10:36
Speaker
He had earned it beforehand.
00:10:38
Speaker
Um,
00:10:40
Speaker
I think he's another diamond in the rough where maybe he's a good coach, just a tough situation in Missouri.
00:10:45
Speaker
But, you know, obviously we've got a new year coming up, and I'm all for giving people passes.
00:10:55
Speaker
And Coach McGinnis, as I'm sure everyone is aware, Coach McGinnis has afforded herself about as many passes as one can have.
00:11:07
Speaker
I mean, stadium and the street named after you,
00:11:10
Speaker
She's good.
00:11:11
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:11:13
Speaker
She's there.
00:11:13
Speaker
She ain't going nowhere.
00:11:16
Speaker
So, but no, it'll be all good.
00:11:17
Speaker
I think – I think what's all said and done, the program's going to be in good shape.
00:11:21
Speaker
I think you just – you know, to have that adjustment year, not everyone is going to go nine and three and win a – you know, and show the people that they're already at that level when they join a new conference.
00:11:35
Speaker
Yeah, I –
00:11:38
Speaker
At least from what it seems like, JSU fans are not hitting the panic button on our spring sports yet.
00:11:43
Speaker
And I hope they don't because what we did in football was an anomaly.
00:11:49
Speaker
Being your very first year in FBS and then, you know, going nine and three and then winning the bowl game on top of that.
00:11:59
Speaker
Yep.
00:12:01
Speaker
It does not happen.
00:12:03
Speaker
We were not even guaranteed a bowl game.
00:12:05
Speaker
We were the first program to ever win a bowl game in their first full year at FBS.
00:12:11
Speaker
So, you know,
00:12:13
Speaker
I'm glad they're not hitting the panic button on spring sports because what we did in football is not the norm.
00:12:20
Speaker
And you know how our spring sports went is not necessarily like super, super bad.
00:12:27
Speaker
Do we have built in higher expectations just because of what our past success has been?
00:12:32
Speaker
Yes, but we also have to be realistic and acknowledge that we're playing tougher competition and it's just going to take some time.
00:12:43
Speaker
And I hope our fans understand that.
00:12:45
Speaker
Obviously, you know, we completely trust sites.
00:12:48
Speaker
He knows that he's not going to jump the gun.
00:12:50
Speaker
He's not going to do anything rash.
00:12:53
Speaker
Because these coaches, they need time.
00:12:55
Speaker
Now that, you know, they're working with a totally different pool as far as recruits go, as far as transfers go.
00:13:03
Speaker
They're
00:13:05
Speaker
pretty much everything they knew as coaching, especially because other than baseball, all these coaches were here for FCS.
00:13:11
Speaker
Pretty much everything they knew as coaching and, you know, their strategies and what to work with, they've completely changed.
00:13:16
Speaker
Well, maybe not completely changed, but they've changed a good bit considering now that we're FBS.
00:13:25
Speaker
And just, you know, people are naturally going to want to –
00:13:29
Speaker
be more inclined to come here now as opposed to when we were our lower school.
00:13:34
Speaker
So, you know, just give it time.
00:13:36
Speaker
Let these coaches work their magic.
00:13:39
Speaker
If they were good at working, you know, doing more with less, just imagine, you know, what happens when the dust settles and, you know, they're doing, they, you know, get,
00:13:49
Speaker
even more talent, even more riches.
00:13:53
Speaker
So any JSU fans out there worried about our spring sports, just wait.
00:13:56
Speaker
Give it a year.
00:13:57
Speaker
Give it two years.
00:14:00
Speaker
Next year may not be completely fixed either.
00:14:03
Speaker
Just be patient.
00:14:05
Speaker
Sit back.
00:14:08
Speaker
We're not dealing with the prime Nick Saban.
00:14:14
Speaker
I think the Nick Saban effect has...
00:14:18
Speaker
tainted not only a lot of administrations, but a lot of fans.
00:14:22
Speaker
They just expect immediate success when a coach steps in.
00:14:27
Speaker
So, yeah, we just really have to be realistic.
00:14:31
Speaker
We have to sit back.
00:14:32
Speaker
We have to watch the progress, even if it's slower than what we want.
Host Personal Milestones
00:14:37
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:14:38
Speaker
And, you know, I think, you know, fortunately for, you know, being the school that we are,
00:14:46
Speaker
as my wife exits the room.
00:14:50
Speaker
You said the W word.
00:14:53
Speaker
I said the W word.
00:14:54
Speaker
Still somewhat getting used to it.
00:14:56
Speaker
Hey, it's okay.
00:14:57
Speaker
Every now and then I slip up and almost say girlfriend, but I have a fiance now.
00:15:02
Speaker
Yes, you do.
00:15:03
Speaker
You have a fiance.
00:15:05
Speaker
Which we'll get to in a minute.
00:15:08
Speaker
But no.
Rich Rod's Impact on JSU Football
00:15:11
Speaker
Fortunately, us being Jacksonville State, you don't have
00:15:16
Speaker
those bandwagon casual fans that are here only, you know, when we're on national TV and winning, you know, virtually every JSU fan is either a graduate or a family member or a graduate.
00:15:31
Speaker
Or a townie.
00:15:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:33
Speaker
Or, or they're just a resident.
00:15:37
Speaker
But, you know, so, so,
00:15:40
Speaker
We've all seen the highs and lows of every program over the years.
00:15:44
Speaker
I mean, even in the time that you and I have been in school, we've gone from, you know, going to Frisco to the national championship against North Dakota State to winning five games in football just three years ago before Rich Rod got here.
00:15:57
Speaker
So, you know, we've seen every program at its best and at its worst.
00:16:01
Speaker
So, you know, the good news is I think most of our fans will afford both Coach Beezer and Coach McGinnis as much patience as they need.
00:16:10
Speaker
to get the job done.
00:16:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:13
Speaker
And I mean, Coach Harper has taken us to the big games twice.
00:16:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:16
Speaker
One time you can put an asterisk next to it if you want, whatever.
00:16:19
Speaker
He's taken us twice.
00:16:21
Speaker
You can't help but trust the man.
00:16:25
Speaker
Coach Petrie is one of the most determined, most passionate, most fiery coaches I've ever seen.
00:16:31
Speaker
If there's anybody that's going to turn that women's program around, it's him.
00:16:35
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:16:36
Speaker
So, I mean, I am not worried about spring sports one bit.
00:16:42
Speaker
We very well could be, you know, coming back here on the podcast next year talking about, you know, all four being in the conference tournament and, you know, being contenders.
00:16:54
Speaker
Or we could come back and talk about how they made some progress, but, you know, maybe not exactly where we wanted to be.
00:16:59
Speaker
You never know.
00:17:01
Speaker
All four absolutely phenomenal coaches.
00:17:05
Speaker
Um,
00:17:06
Speaker
And only time will tell.
00:17:08
Speaker
Yep, for sure.
00:17:11
Speaker
Now, speaking of when Rich Rod got here a couple years ago, obviously we all saw the news a little less than a month ago.
00:17:22
Speaker
Rich Rod has been extended, I believe, through 2030.
00:17:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:29
Speaker
Now, the details of the extension have not been released.
00:17:32
Speaker
We don't know the exact details.
00:17:34
Speaker
numbers, whether or not he was raised or not.
00:17:36
Speaker
I imagine he was raised at least a couple hundred thousand dollars from the million.
00:17:41
Speaker
With the nine and three season in the bowl win, he got a raise.
00:17:45
Speaker
Yeah, because with bonuses, he was at a million.
00:17:49
Speaker
So I'm sure that his base salary is up close to a million now.
00:17:54
Speaker
But we've got Rich Rod locked up for...
00:17:57
Speaker
we'll see it's 2024.
00:17:58
Speaker
So now seven, the next seven seasons he is on, he's on contract.
00:18:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:05
Speaker
For everybody out there saying a contract only means so much.
00:18:11
Speaker
If a P5 comes school comes calling, they can buy him out of it.
00:18:14
Speaker
Yes, we know we are not stupid.
00:18:18
Speaker
We're not, you know, super ignorant to, you know, the business that is NCAA football.
00:18:26
Speaker
Um,
00:18:27
Speaker
Obviously, if a P5 comes calling and he wants an opportunity, he's gone.
00:18:33
Speaker
More power to him.
00:18:34
Speaker
He's more than earned another shot somewhere big if he wants it.
00:18:41
Speaker
But yeah, we're not ignorant to the fact that we can't keep him if somebody else comes calling.
00:18:47
Speaker
We know it, but we are enjoying the fact that he has pretty much put pen to paper and
00:18:54
Speaker
done on paper officially what he said in his introductory press conference that he's here for the long haul.
00:19:03
Speaker
So, you know, we're just excited to see that play out in an official manner, whether or not that actually is the case going forward.
00:19:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:13
Speaker
And, you know, when I look at, I'm a big,
00:19:17
Speaker
When it comes to sports, I love the analytical side of it.
00:19:20
Speaker
Contracts to me are huge.
00:19:22
Speaker
Love looking into them.
00:19:23
Speaker
Looking at a contract for a guy at a school of this level to be extended, I'm not sure when his contract was originally going to end.
00:19:35
Speaker
I think it was next season.
00:19:37
Speaker
I think he had either a four or five year contract originally.
00:19:42
Speaker
I think this might be a five year extension.
00:19:45
Speaker
Okay, so five-year extension at a school of this level where we have one of the lowest operating budgets at the FBS level and you extend a coach of this magnitude, a guy who has coached at Michigan, a guy who turned down the Alabama job before Nick Saban was offered.
00:20:08
Speaker
I mean, that's how high Rich Rod was in the coaching stratosphere 15 years ago.
00:20:18
Speaker
You know, I mean, it's big for one of two things.
00:20:19
Speaker
One, we have our coach locked up.
00:20:22
Speaker
He is clearly a winner.
00:20:24
Speaker
He's won a conference title and a bowl game in his first two seasons.
00:20:30
Speaker
And he's locked up for the next seven seasons.
00:20:32
Speaker
But also, like you said, if an FBS team comes calling, we get all of that contract money back because the school inevitably that hires him will pay it.
00:20:44
Speaker
And with that money, you go hire another coach.
00:20:47
Speaker
Who knows who it will be.
00:20:49
Speaker
And honestly, depending on how, you know, the rest of the seasons go that we do have with him, he could make Jacksonville State a very attractive and desirable spot for, you know, a coach trying to rehabilitate, you know,
00:21:06
Speaker
their resume, their look, whatever it is, especially if the case for him is going back to a P5 school, because then at that point, he will have rehabilitated and revamped what people think of him and how people view him.
00:21:21
Speaker
Because I mean, before this, he was an assistant coach at ULM.
00:21:25
Speaker
So it's not like he came from a head coaching spot and took this job.
00:21:30
Speaker
He was an assistant.
00:21:32
Speaker
at a G5 school, went down to an FCS school that was making the transition, and has pretty much catapulted us to a level where nobody expected us to even be from the beginning.
00:21:48
Speaker
So in the world where he were to leave, assuming in order for him to leave, he has to make us look super good.
00:21:58
Speaker
We have to be looking amazing.
00:22:03
Speaker
And all that to say he was already named and some had coaching searches for, you know, lower P5 schools.
00:22:13
Speaker
If we turn around again and go 10-2, 11-1 undefeated bowl game win, of course, schools are going to come calling again, say he leaves.
00:22:25
Speaker
Just doing that in his first two seasons makes us look so good and will –
00:22:31
Speaker
we will have so many solid coaching candidates, you know, wind up out the door just waiting to get their chance to say, hey, I continued or even, you know, took this program to the next level of success.
00:22:48
Speaker
So, yeah, I mean, it's really this this contract extension is a win win for us in the sense that we either get our guy until 2030 or, you know, we parlay.
00:23:00
Speaker
Him, you know, building this foundation into, you know, just next coach, next coach, next coach.
00:23:07
Speaker
And, you know, who knows where we go from there.
00:23:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:10
Speaker
And, you know, when he was – when it was first reported that he was taking the job, you know, two and a half years ago, the names that got thrown out for his assistants, you know, like him, they were –
00:23:26
Speaker
former Power Five head coaches, we saw Kevin Sumlin's name floated for offensive coordinator.
00:23:32
Speaker
We saw Kevin Steele's name thrown out there for defensive coordinator.
00:23:35
Speaker
These were guys that have been head coaches and coordinators at the Power Five level and done really, really well at it.
00:23:41
Speaker
I mean, obviously Kevin Sumlin is responsible for Johnny Manziel, right?
00:23:46
Speaker
Kevin Steele, Auburn's defensive coordinator, Alabama's defensive coordinator, just a stud of a defensive mind.
00:23:54
Speaker
So even, you know, just in the 24 hours from when he was offered to when he accepted the job, the program became immediately way more desirable.
00:24:05
Speaker
Now, yes, it helps.
00:24:06
Speaker
Now we're an FBS program.
00:24:08
Speaker
You would have never gotten these hires if we weren't moving up.
00:24:11
Speaker
But at the same time, you also wouldn't be getting those hires if we were already a G5 that was in bad shape.
00:24:23
Speaker
If we were like a San Jose State, and I don't want to crack on San Jose State because they're a solid team, but think of a G5 that has not won a lot of games, four or five games a year, just kind of stragging along.
00:24:41
Speaker
If we were in that shape, we wouldn't be getting the high residers.
00:24:43
Speaker
That tells you already where our program was even before he took the job.
00:24:47
Speaker
People knew that they could win here.
00:24:50
Speaker
It was just a matter of having the right guy to set the right foundation.
00:24:53
Speaker
So, yeah, you know, to piggyback off of you, I mean, if he leaves, who knows who we'll get.
00:25:00
Speaker
I mean, we could get – I mean, there are guys right now who have coached and won at Power 5 schools that aren't even – they're not working right now, right?
00:25:12
Speaker
They're still making buyout money.
00:25:15
Speaker
I'm not going to float the redacted name.
00:25:19
Speaker
Oh, don't even.
00:25:20
Speaker
Because you said buyout money, and I immediately was like, don't you dare.
00:25:24
Speaker
I'm not fooling that man because I would never wish that evil on anyone.
00:25:28
Speaker
Please, no.
00:25:29
Speaker
But, you know, there's a guy like – no.
00:25:33
Speaker
But there's a guy like Dana Holgerson who's sitting out there.
00:25:37
Speaker
He was fired from Houston, and, I mean, he's just making buyout money.
00:25:43
Speaker
He's not a coordinator.
00:25:45
Speaker
He's not a QB coach.
00:25:46
Speaker
He's not even coaching high school ball, right?
00:25:48
Speaker
He's out there.
00:25:49
Speaker
You know, there's – there are a handful of guys coaching UFL who I'm sure would not mind the jump in, you know, from UFL spring ball to Division I FBS college football.
00:26:07
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:26:09
Speaker
Now, with that being said, I'm not saying I want Rick Tron to leave.
00:26:11
Speaker
I don't think anyone is.
00:26:12
Speaker
But I – I recognize –
00:26:16
Speaker
There is a future if he does.
JSU in College Football Video Game
00:26:19
Speaker
And this extension is the reason for it.
00:26:21
Speaker
So I guess the next big news, and it kind of folds into what we were just talking about and where our program is, CFB 25 comes out in almost exactly two months.
00:26:38
Speaker
And for the first time ever, you do not have to create a team to have Jacksonville State in the game.
00:26:47
Speaker
Well, I won't say first time ever because there was one of the NCAAs where FCS teams were in there.
00:26:56
Speaker
But there are no FCS teams in this game.
00:27:01
Speaker
But Jacksonville State is in the game because we are FBS.
00:27:07
Speaker
Of course, I will be pre-ordering.
00:27:10
Speaker
I'm still trying to decide if I want to do deluxe or if I want to get the MVP bundle.
00:27:16
Speaker
I'm not quite sure.
00:27:17
Speaker
I need to figure out if we can import rosters from CFB to Madden.
00:27:25
Speaker
Yeah, that's the only reason it's worth it.
00:27:28
Speaker
But...
00:27:30
Speaker
I'm at least getting deluxe.
00:27:32
Speaker
I hate the deluxe is digital only because that cover goes so hard.
00:27:38
Speaker
I really wish I could get my hands on a physical copy of that, which honestly later on down the line, I may just buy it.
00:27:46
Speaker
If they ever have a deluxe physical copy, I may just buy it just to have it.
00:27:53
Speaker
But yeah, JSU is in the game.
00:27:55
Speaker
You don't have to,
00:27:56
Speaker
Create anything.
00:27:57
Speaker
You don't have to do anything.
00:28:01
Speaker
Whenever you load that bad boy up, whether you pre-order and you get it three days early or you get it the day of or you get it later on down the line, you just fire that bad boy up and scroll through, go to the Jays.
00:28:14
Speaker
We'll be right there.
00:28:18
Speaker
I can't wait.
00:28:20
Speaker
Not only are we in the game, but now there will no longer be
00:28:27
Speaker
QB number 10 at 6'1".
00:28:34
Speaker
Now, well, I say QB number 10.
00:28:37
Speaker
I can't even remember what number Logan wears.
00:28:39
Speaker
Whatever number Logan Smothers wears, you will be actually looking at Logan Smothers on the field in red and white, for which, obviously, if you're not three years old, you know, sorry, if you weren't three years old when 14 came out,
00:28:54
Speaker
You know that's a big deal.
00:28:55
Speaker
And I stand by what I'm about to say, and it might qualify as bullying.
00:29:01
Speaker
But I think that anyone who didn't buy 14 when it came out, they should be required to put the entire roster in by hand the way we did.
00:29:13
Speaker
Oh, God.
00:29:14
Speaker
They should be required to know what we went through.
00:29:16
Speaker
Honestly, having to do that back then, like if you wanted to see your guy's name
00:29:25
Speaker
you had to go through, hand type everything.
00:29:30
Speaker
If the attributes weren't right, you had to go and change every single thing.
00:29:36
Speaker
It was an absolute pain.
00:29:38
Speaker
Luckily for us, EA Sports was shady, and all of the players looked like the player it was supposed to be.
00:29:47
Speaker
They just didn't have the name attributed to them.
00:29:53
Speaker
But yeah, no...
00:29:55
Speaker
just being able to fire up the game.
00:29:57
Speaker
And we're just assuming Logan Smothers opted in because judging on the numbers of return, I'm pretty sure pretty much everybody except for Arch Manning, pretty much everybody opted in.
00:30:13
Speaker
So I'm assuming, you know, pretty much the entire JSU roster, when you fire it up, you'll see names, um,
00:30:21
Speaker
I know coaches are not included in this first one.
00:30:24
Speaker
So whenever you go to play, Rich Rod will not look like Rich Rod.
00:30:32
Speaker
I think they're somewhere negotiating.
00:30:34
Speaker
They have to do with the coaches association or whatever it is.
00:30:39
Speaker
So it may not be until next year.
00:30:41
Speaker
I don't know if they're releasing every year or every other year or what.
00:30:45
Speaker
But whenever the next game drops, it might not be until then that we see official coaches on the sidelines.
00:30:52
Speaker
But, yeah, I mean, I can't wait.
00:30:54
Speaker
I'm so excited.
00:30:57
Speaker
It's going to be insane.
00:30:58
Speaker
And obviously –
00:31:01
Speaker
I'm sure everyone watching this has seen the trailer.
00:31:04
Speaker
So you know that the trailer is engine footage, not gameplay footage.
00:31:08
Speaker
But looking at the graphics, looking at a stadium, even as small as App State's, I'm really excited to see what Bird Snow looks like in this game, especially with, you know, I don't know if they sent in like the updated renderings of what the away stadiums are going to look like or if they or if EA took pictures of the old stadiums.
00:31:28
Speaker
But either way, we're going to be playing in birds of snow.
00:31:33
Speaker
And hopefully we'll have the AKC uniforms.
00:31:36
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:31:38
Speaker
And like I said, hopefully you'll have Logan Smothers dropping the dines.
00:31:42
Speaker
Dude, if they don't have the AKC uniforms, I am – I'm driving down the floor.
00:31:48
Speaker
If they don't have AKC uniforms, I'm writing to somebody.
00:31:57
Speaker
Yeah, that would be an all-time travesty on EA's part.
00:32:01
Speaker
But either way, this game is going to be phenomenal.
00:32:07
Speaker
I am fully prepared for the amount of money I'm going to have to spend to get a console and get just that one game.
00:32:13
Speaker
I'm fully prepared for that.
00:32:16
Speaker
Luckily, I have a PS5 sitting right across from me, so I just have to drop the ungodly amount of money to get the game itself.
00:32:27
Speaker
Yeah, I don't have that.
00:32:29
Speaker
I have to be on good behavior until then.
00:32:33
Speaker
That way when the game drops, I can put in an obscene amount of time.
00:32:40
Speaker
Just absolutely going crazy because I'm going to tell you right now.
00:32:44
Speaker
And once I pre-order in those three days early access, I will take JSU to a championship within those three days.
00:32:52
Speaker
That's how many hours I'm about to put in on this game.
00:32:57
Speaker
Yeah, you're going to have to have your brownie points in so that you get a little free time.
00:33:05
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:33:06
Speaker
And speaking of brownie points, Jalen is engaged and I am married.
00:33:13
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:33:15
Speaker
Part of the reason that we have not recorded since March 6th is that I got married and Jaylen got engaged.
00:33:28
Speaker
I know most guys don't have an engagement ring, but I do.
00:33:32
Speaker
I also got this very cool watch.
00:33:36
Speaker
This man over here, he got married.
00:33:43
Speaker
went off, did not touch earth again for the next two weeks.
00:33:51
Speaker
And then turn around, I think a week after you got back, I got engaged.
00:33:57
Speaker
And we have just been going, going, going, living life, going crazy.
00:34:05
Speaker
So of course we apologize for not being around, but also sometimes life is just,
00:34:12
Speaker
We don't have any contractual obligations as far as this podcast goes.
00:34:17
Speaker
It's really just for fun.
00:34:19
Speaker
So sometimes if life comes up, we just kind of roll with it.
00:34:24
Speaker
And obviously those are two very big milestones where we truly just kind of wanted to disconnect and enjoy it.
00:34:32
Speaker
Luckily, we were both able to be there for each other's huge milestone.
00:34:36
Speaker
So that was
Podcast Expansion and Collaborations
00:34:37
Speaker
really nice.
00:34:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:39
Speaker
But yeah, just absolutely amazing moments and milestones for both of us within this time that we've been gone.
00:34:50
Speaker
Yeah, it's been, you know, I mentioned it off screen before we started recording that we may not even
00:35:02
Speaker
have our sponsorship anymore just because we took so long off, which is our, you know, life happens.
00:35:09
Speaker
But either way, we're still, we're still grinding.
00:35:13
Speaker
We're still trying to give you all as much content as we can.
00:35:18
Speaker
Um, but we're certainly glad to be in the position we are because of the loved ones around us, including my wife, who was just throwing things at me, um, which is why I kept looking over to my left.
00:35:31
Speaker
But, um,
00:35:33
Speaker
Well, I guess we better preview the future of the podcast for the summer and then get into fall.
00:35:39
Speaker
We can't release any names yet because we're still working on nailing down dates.
00:35:46
Speaker
We already know who it is.
00:35:50
Speaker
We already have confirmation that they agreed to be on the show.
00:35:54
Speaker
We just have to get dates nailed down.
00:35:56
Speaker
And we're not going to tell you until we have dates nailed down.
00:35:59
Speaker
So y'all can just sit in limbo.
00:36:01
Speaker
How about that?
00:36:02
Speaker
Yeah, you're going to have to struggle and scratch and claw your way to try and figure it out.
00:36:09
Speaker
But we do know, like Jalen said, we know that they said yes.
00:36:12
Speaker
We have confirmation from all three big-time guests.
00:36:14
Speaker
They're big names.
00:36:16
Speaker
JSU fans, you will know all three of them, and you will be excited.
00:36:22
Speaker
You'll get your chance to send in questions and whatnot.
00:36:25
Speaker
You'll want to send in questions.
00:36:27
Speaker
Just know that.
00:36:30
Speaker
And also, just keep in mind how small the operation is on this podcast.
00:36:35
Speaker
Not only do we make no money, but we're both sitting here with a laptop and who knows how little money into our microphone equipment.
00:36:47
Speaker
Hoping that our internet doesn't crap out.
00:36:50
Speaker
but these guests are big time.
00:36:52
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:36:53
Speaker
But, um, so it's, it's really exciting.
00:36:55
Speaker
Um, and we, I, I think the plan is once we have them nailed down, we will release one a month, um, so that we have plenty of time to get in questions, get ready for the fall and winter and spring.
00:37:11
Speaker
Uh, we're going to continue to work on more, uh, big name guests in the Jack state community.
00:37:17
Speaker
Um,
00:37:19
Speaker
uh one god see what y'all know those in due time um another one um should do we announce or do we wait we can announce all right um he's not on it on this episode it might not be on the next depending on when we record yeah we're figuring out the exact timeline when he starts but we do have a third member of
00:37:43
Speaker
joining 700 Pelham Road Podcast.
00:37:45
Speaker
And his name is Kevin Lunsford, good buddy of ours from school.
00:37:51
Speaker
Some of you may know him.
00:37:53
Speaker
Many of you won't, but you'll meet him here soon enough once he gets everything figured out with work and everything.
00:38:02
Speaker
But we will have a new full-time co-host coming on to join us, which will be huge because one of the big issues for Jalen and I is when one of us
00:38:13
Speaker
can't record, we have to decide if we want to do a solo episode or not.
00:38:18
Speaker
And more often than not, that answer has been no.
00:38:20
Speaker
Well, now one of us can't, the other two can still record.
00:38:24
Speaker
So we can keep pumping out episodes, get content in left and right, and really plan this podcast a little bit better.
00:38:33
Speaker
Hopefully, you know, through this fall, really turn it into a full-time operation for us that we can
00:38:39
Speaker
turn some great content for y'all.
00:38:41
Speaker
So yeah, I know this fall we are also trying to build off of the momentum we got from getting the media passes for the bowl game.
00:38:51
Speaker
We want to try and get some press box passes, some media passes for home games, try our luck for any of the away games we travel to.
00:39:03
Speaker
And of course, when we go to a bowl game again, we'll try our best to be there.
00:39:07
Speaker
And then, you know, depending on what life is looking like come spring, it should be a little bit more chill this time around.
00:39:15
Speaker
Depending on what life looks like in the spring, you know, possibly trying to get, you know, some press credentials for some spring sports too.
00:39:25
Speaker
So, yeah, we're really trying to, you know, dive into this thing.
00:39:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:31
Speaker
And just actually give the fans as much insight and as much of a viewpoint behind the scenes as we can.
00:39:43
Speaker
Because we acknowledge that it's pretty cool for us to be able to have an opportunity like we did for the bowl game.
00:39:49
Speaker
And we want to do nothing less than share it with all of you.
00:39:53
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:39:56
Speaker
Now, getting into the fall,
00:39:59
Speaker
Season two will start officially season two of 700 Pelham Road podcast.
00:40:03
Speaker
We'll start in August around the time that we started recording last year.
00:40:08
Speaker
Got to nail down the date on exactly when we want the season to officially start, but generally probably about a month before the football season will start.
00:40:19
Speaker
We'll start to preview football season, start to look into basketball a little bit and really get ready for that.
00:40:27
Speaker
But,
00:40:28
Speaker
The future is definitely bright for the podcast.
00:40:32
Speaker
And kind of like Jalen said, you know, we started it for fun, really on a whim.
00:40:39
Speaker
And it's taken on a whole life of its own.
00:40:42
Speaker
And I assure you, we never thought that we, within four months of starting this, would have press controls for the Superdome and be, you know, recognized, you know, by a few players, be recognized by our athletic director,
00:40:58
Speaker
by coaches even, kind of having a good idea of who we are.
00:41:04
Speaker
So we're certainly, we're blessed to be here.
00:41:08
Speaker
And hopefully this next year will bring you all even more good content.
00:41:13
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:41:14
Speaker
And speaking of the fall, be on the lookout.
00:41:17
Speaker
Leading in the football season, we will be teaming up with
00:41:21
Speaker
any of the fellows CUSA football, uh, podcasts.
00:41:27
Speaker
Um, I don't think there's one for every team, but any of the teams that have a football podcast and CUSA we're teaming up, we're doing a round table, um, with all of those podcasts, whenever we get dates and details nailed down, it will be all over the Twitter page.
00:41:42
Speaker
Um, I know for sure they want to do a season preview and I know they talked about, you know, doing, uh,
00:41:49
Speaker
you know, doing a roundtable episode periodically during the season two.
00:41:53
Speaker
So that'll be something cool to look forward to.
00:41:56
Speaker
You'll get to hear our perspective as well as, you know, a lot of the other,
00:42:01
Speaker
amazing people that we interact with on Twitter.
00:42:03
Speaker
If you see us, you know, interacting with other fan bases, you know, Twitter pages and whatnot, a lot of those guys, you'll be able to, you know, hear them or see them depending on whatever, uh, method we use for that round table.
00:42:16
Speaker
But yeah, it'll be, it'll be awesome just to, you know, talk some smack, but also just try and grow CUSA as a whole.
00:42:25
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:42:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:25
Speaker
It's going to be fun.
00:42:26
Speaker
Um,
00:42:28
Speaker
I think one of the nice things is getting to connect with some of these other guys who really just love their school and want to talk about it.
00:42:36
Speaker
I think that's the brilliance of being in a smaller conference like this is those of us who cover these schools, we're not doing it because they're big schools.
00:42:46
Speaker
We're not covering it because it's Ohio State.
00:42:48
Speaker
We went to these schools.
00:42:49
Speaker
We're graduates, and we want them to do well.
00:42:55
Speaker
and everything.
00:42:55
Speaker
So yeah, definitely going to be fun.
00:42:57
Speaker
I'm looking forward to that a lot, especially if some of the guys that we've spoken to already in the past are going to be on it.
00:43:03
Speaker
So, Oh yeah.
00:43:05
Speaker
So, all right.
00:43:06
Speaker
Well, with that, you got anything else for this one?
00:43:11
Speaker
I don't think so.
00:43:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:43:13
Speaker
I don't think I do either.
00:43:16
Speaker
In that case, from the 700 Pelham Road podcast, we can officially say we have wrapped up.
00:43:22
Speaker
spring sports and we are moving on into the summer.
00:43:28
Speaker
So from the boys here at the podcast, from the Sidelines Jack State account, we are signing off and we will see you all here in hopefully just a few weeks.
00:43:37
Speaker
See you.