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The NCAA Report scandal in the BIG Ten
97 Plays1 year ago
Don Glenn and Russ Robinson talk about The Northwestern hazing scandal, outlooks for the BIG Ten the SEC, Missouri, and Illinois. plus thoughts on NIL and the transfer portal.
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Transcript
Introduction to Gateway City Sports Network
00:00:00
Speaker
This is Gateway City Sports. From Talking Sports on the Bleachers, it's the NCAA report with me, Don Glenn, and my partner, Russ Robinson, a proud part of the Gateway City Sports Network.
00:00:21
Speaker
At Gateway City Sports, you're going to find articles and content from my co-host, Russ Robinson, Brian Swope, Gene Bond, and you and I check an article out of time or two. There's other podcasts, a team of rivals with Ron Nuddle, Pete Geddes, and Elliot Dewey. But that's a winner with Brian Jenkins and Josh Brown. The two for three with the Mighty Moose, Mike Stevenson, and The Derrick King Sports Show with Derrick King. Check us out at GatewayCitySports.com.
Don's Storm Damage
00:01:01
Speaker
Well, hello again, folks. It's time for the NCAA report. And as always, I have my partner in crime with all the SEC news of the day, Russ Robinson. How you doing there, Russ? I'm doing fine, Don. Everything going okay with you? So far, so good. Still trying to come up with, fix some of the damage we've got to the house after that storm a couple of weeks ago, but yeah, we kind of got some guttering messed up and
00:01:32
Speaker
Got a window busted. We didn't notice until the other day, got a big old crack in it and some siding needs to be replaced, but you know, pretty much minor stuff compared to what it could have been with the size of that tree that fell. I'll tell you. Well, that tree was almost 19 years old. Really? It had some, it had some flies on it then. It was a pretty good size tree when it fell, but it just, it just kind of laid it right up against the house. And I said, okay, I'll take that.
00:02:01
Speaker
What was really concerned is, is that we had, uh, we just had solar panels put on the roof. And I was afraid those got damaged, but they, they came out and said, no, those are all fine. So we're good. That was good. So, but yeah.
Northwestern Hazing Scandal Overview
00:02:15
Speaker
Uh, well, I mean, there's a, there's some, there are some things to talk about in the, in the NC double. And I think the first and foremost is, um, I don't know if you were shocked.
00:02:28
Speaker
But the news that came out of Northwestern. Well, with Pat, yes, I was. I was surprised. You figure someone Pat Fitzgerald, you just at Northwestern, you just didn't really see something like that coming out. And if I remember the story right, Don, is he said at first he said he didn't know anything about the hazing. Right. When you read the descriptions,
00:02:54
Speaker
And you just think, you know, how could he not know? Coaches should know what's going on in their own program, stuff like that. I mean, he really should. And whether he knew it and he was tolerating it or he honestly didn't know, neither look is very good for him. It was very good for him. And I would imagine that's why Northwestern fell off the head to make a move. What was really interesting about the move
00:03:22
Speaker
from the timeline that I saw was they suspended him on, I guess the report, the investigation started right after the football season was over. And then they suspended him on a Friday. They would give him a two week suspension after the report was published. The president of the university gave him a two week suspension.
00:03:47
Speaker
And then the next day the school paper came out and published a lot of the report.
Northwestern's Administrative Response
00:03:53
Speaker
And then two days later, the president fires him. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So it was kind of like, uh, was he trying to just, was he hoping the report wouldn't get out and he'd just kind of give him the suspension. So I don't know if the administration and they're named in at least a, at least two lawsuits that I've seen already.
00:04:13
Speaker
The administration himself is named in it, along with Fitzgerald and a couple other coaches. Yeah. Well, I'm sure with his history there at Northwestern, his success, and I guess Fitzgerald was almost a legend, had become a legend there because he'd coached there for so long and had sustained success for so long. I'm sure they wanted to try to save his job that they could. I'm sure they were really trying to work with it.
00:04:41
Speaker
He's a former All-American out of, out of Northwestern. I mean, he was, uh, the 94, I think it was, or something like that. Uh, yeah, next 94 All-American and 95, uh, he played in the 95 Rose Bowl. So, okay. Okay. So, I mean, so he, yeah, he, he was pretty much a legend there at Northwestern cause he was there for a few years. Uh, a couple of years before he got the job when the, um,
00:05:08
Speaker
former when the head coach in front of him passed away. Well, actually, I think one that the guy went to Colorado. He went to Colorado first, spent a couple of years. I think he spent another year at Northwest Iowa or someplace like that. Oh, did he? Yeah. He got all his grad assistant and minor assistant coaching stuff out of the way at those other programs. Oh, I see. And then he was hired on as the linebacker coach.
00:05:39
Speaker
And I think defensive core assistant defensive coordinator at Northwestern. He was there for doing that for six years and then got promoted when the, when the coach passed away. Um, and I guess it's not all over at Northwestern either. Um, they're, I mean, they, of course, they fired the baseball coach for not hazing practices, but I guess he was, um, trying to force players to come back early from injury. He was, he had a.
00:06:09
Speaker
from what some described, and I don't want to make it sound worse than it is, but there were some allegations of racial preferencing going on.
Further Northwestern Controversies
00:06:24
Speaker
He supposedly made inappropriate comments to a female staffer, and he'd only been there a year. And the thing is, all these allegations and the investigation to him started before the baseball season started.
00:06:39
Speaker
Okay, and the report came out and from what I read and I wrote about it in the articles up on gave me city sports That The human resources Department Northwestern Said that they needed some remedial Remedial action needed to be taken and This is before again before the baseball season started Northwestern chose not to do it and
00:07:09
Speaker
And then they fire him after they fired Fitzgerald. Now, some reports said that they were going to fire him anyway, but why would you wait so long after the season was over before you fire him for next year? Right. Right. You know, I don't know if the, I don't know if the, if the football scandal brought more of the baseball delight, but now there's also talk from one of the civil rights attorneys that's been hired that, uh,
00:07:35
Speaker
He's gotten kids from wrestling, from the softball program, that are claiming the same kind of hazing issues. I don't know what, like I said earlier in our pre-show, University of Northwestern has now hired former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch. She's gonna lead a review of the,
00:08:04
Speaker
the hazing that was going on, and in the quote it says, the Lynch will be reviewing the processes and accountability mechanisms in place at the university to detect, report, and respond to potential misconduct in his athletic programs, including hazing, bullying, discrimination of any kind. The school said the results of the review will be made public.
00:08:28
Speaker
So there is that. According to the President University, Michael Schill, hazing has no place at Northwestern period. I am determined that with the help of Attorney General Lynch, we will become a leader in combating the practice of hazing in intercollegiate athletics as a model for other universities. We will provide all our students the resources and support they need and do whatever is necessary to protect their safety and to ensure
Minnesota's Toxic Environment Allegations
00:08:58
Speaker
that our athletics program remains one we can all be proud of. So I don't know where that's going to go. Like I said, I've already fired two coats now. The other interesting thing, I don't get your take on this. The interim coaches they named are both first year assistant coaches. They didn't take anybody that had been there long term on the staff. What do you make of that?
00:09:27
Speaker
Well, I think that's understandable. I'm not as tuned in with the Northwestern situation as you are, but just from what you're telling me and from what I've heard, you don't want someone who's too ingrained in what was going on there. Things should come up in this investigation if they've hired a former attorney general to conduct it. Other heads could be flying soon. And you want someone who's just been there a year who probably isn't as tainted by it.
00:09:57
Speaker
gives them a chance to give a better reboot. I'm sure whoever, I don't know who the Northwestern, I mean, I heard, but I've forgotten who they've hired. I'm sure next year they'll be doing a, they'll be doing a job search for a new head coach and someone coming out. Yeah, I mean, of course, depending on what happens, you know, with this new guy, and I'll get his name for you in just a second here as we talk about it. But,
00:10:28
Speaker
Uh, David Braun is the new head is the interim coach. And, um, he, I guess he made this statement that, uh, you know, they were asking him about that. And he said, uh, about the hazing. He said he did, wouldn't, would not comment on it, obviously. Um, and, but said that they, he was going to ensure that, uh, you know, the program was one was going to be run correctly. And that, um, uh,
00:10:57
Speaker
He was proud of the way the team has come together since the firing to try and change the culture, if you will. Sure. Sure. So there is that. Another program that's under a little bit of a, I don't want to call it a fire because there's been nothing, no concrete, nothing, and nobody's really blowing a whole lot of horns about it. But there was a report that came out of Minnesota.
00:11:27
Speaker
PJ Fleck. He's been there six years now as the head coach. Some former players went to an outlet called the Front Office Sports and it's an online magazine like anybody else. But they said they interviewed several former players and staff members even that said they described the environment fraught with intimidation and toxicity
00:11:55
Speaker
and referenced what they called the FLEC bank, which is a system that allowed players with enough coins to get away with positive drug tests and other violations. Now, this FLEC bank is actually kind of neat, though, really. I mean, it's very innovative if you think about it, because what it says is it tracks community service, including visiting patients at the medical center,
00:12:24
Speaker
Uh, and you know, helping out with schools, other things like that, studying habits, um, and things of that nature that all positive that you, you, you get positive, uh, coins, I guess in this bank. Um, now how they're using those coins in the bank may be a little, a little, uh, freaky, you know, but, uh, so I don't know what's going to have happened with all that. Um, one player said I had a teammate who was supposed to gain weight.
00:12:54
Speaker
and he would have to drink three protein shakes a day, or excuse me, three protein shakes in front of Nickel, which is one of the coaches and the staff before he could leave. He said he started defecating pink liquid later. You know, other former players said the athletic trainers did a lot of things because Fleck forced their hand in the medical room. Fourth player said that whenever we would be getting guys back early,
00:13:23
Speaker
They should have been minimizing the seriousness for injuries, or they did minimize seriousness of injuries. He said, maybe that shouldn't have been done.
Nebraska's Coaching Challenges
00:13:35
Speaker
But now the university, of course, they are not coming out against anything, against Fleck at all. They're kind of backing Fleck because of his overall positive image with getting the players involved in the community and whatnot.
00:13:49
Speaker
So we'll see what happens with that one too. I'll have to keep an eye out for that down the road. Yeah. Yeah. You know, cause, cause like I said, he, he, and cause Black has actually turned that program around in six years.
00:14:01
Speaker
Well, he, uh, he inherited from Jerry kill. Yeah. He started the turnaround there. Flick, uh, Flick has sustained it. So he's been, he's been good. He's been good from Minnesota. Um, Northwest or Northwestern, um, got them on the brain. Nebraska's, uh, Matt rule. He's, he's, uh, he's not promising the world, but he
00:14:28
Speaker
He's promising to have to try and get rid of some of the mistakes that had that were happening under frost. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we'll have a good background. So we'll see how that works out. It's been tough for Nebraska coaches. It's been kind of gradually on a downward spot and it didn't happen overnight. You know, ever since Dr. Tom Osborne retired, you know, I've got how many years ago that's been over 20 years. He retired.
00:14:54
Speaker
every coach that since then has gradually it's gone down and they went to the big 10 expecting to be one of the dominant schools and they're kind of middling schools at best is what they turned out to be. So I guess the big 10 media days were held, not a whole lot of real groundbreaking news or anything like that. Other than Illinois hired Jim Leonard now as a senior football analyst.
00:15:22
Speaker
He was the former head coach, I think, at Buffalo. Was it? Okay. I can't remember 100% where he was actually from, but he was one of the ones that was rumored to be, that was up for the job when Bilema got hired. Oh, okay. He was supposedly one of the guys in the mix. Questions are going to be around Ohio State without CJ Stroud at quarterback, although I think
00:15:50
Speaker
And we've seen over the years with Ohio State, it doesn't matter who's a quarterback. They always seem to find somebody that's going to go in there and just light the world on fire. Yeah. Um, because, and they still have a good receiving group and they've got Marvin Harrison Jr. still there. Uh, you make a UBUCA is still there. Uh, now their offensive line is going to take some rework that costs lost a couple of tackles to the NFL. So we'll see how that fix it, fits into their plans. Um,
00:16:21
Speaker
Michigan, there's another one there. I don't know who gets more pressed, the Michigan team or Harbaugh? Well, Harbaugh, Harbaugh for some reason is a controversial figure. I mean, he's been that way wherever he was. When he was with Stanford, he trashed, talked, he was the USC coach there that was so successful at the Seahawks.
00:16:47
Speaker
I can't remember names now, but he's a Seattle Seahawks head coach now. But he was the one who beat him and got away with trash talk to him a little bit. Then he went to the San Francisco 49ers. I mean, it was always, you know, eventually,
00:17:05
Speaker
A lot of times he wears out his welcome and some people thought that he might be wearing out his welcome at Michigan, but the last couple of years he's done pretty well. There's been talk about the last couple of years him being up for various NFL head jobs. I'm sure people will come after him. As long as you're good no matter how
00:17:23
Speaker
controversial you are, you're going to get a chance, as long as you win. And, you know, that's the thing. Well, the one thing he's going to have at Michigan, he's going to have his running back group still in, in, in, in, in house with Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards. And so, and the quarterback McCarthy, he's going to have his complete backfield back again this year.
00:17:50
Speaker
Uh, so they, I mean, they, I, I expect them to be very good. Um, a lot of people are talking about how Penn state and I, I, I don't know. I mean, they've been good.
Big Ten Team Dynamics
00:18:03
Speaker
Uh, can they stay good? Yeah. They're, they're, they're kind of get, they kind of get the, the, the, the redhead is step, stepchild treatment. Uh, you know, last year they were, they were ranked pretty much in the top 25 most of the year, but nobody gave them credit for anything really.
00:18:20
Speaker
Uh, but then again, when you're, when you're in the same division as Ohio state and Michigan, how are you supposed to get any credit? Right. It's hard. It's hard. You know, this is definitely hard, but I look for them to maybe make a little bit of a, in that, in that Eastern division, uh, make some, um, make some noise. The Western division, I think, believe it or not. And now some people, now, yes, I know I'm an Illinois fan, so I got a little bit of a bias in here.
00:18:49
Speaker
But I think there's, with the exception of maybe in Nebraska and Northwestern, anybody in that Eastern Western division to win, can win the division, I think. I mean, Illinois with Altmeyer now at quarterback, they've got, I mean, they lost Chase Brown, but they got a couple of really good kids coming up in the backfield with McCray, Reggie Love III.
00:19:11
Speaker
They've still got Isaiah Williams at the receiving core. They made some replacements for Witherspoon and Sydney Brown. So I think they're in good shape. But I don't think you can overlook, as we were talking about earlier, with Minnesota. I mean, there's still a team that's going to have to be reckoned with. I think when you look at Iowa, they were one of the best defenses in the Big 10 last year.
00:19:40
Speaker
They had a better defense than Ohio State and Michigan as far as when you took a points against and stuff like that. So I think they're always going to be tough. Indiana showed that they've got a little bit and I don't, I'm not as up to date on what they were able to bring in as far as recruiting wise as I should be, but I know they did have a nice recruiting year. So, you know, there's, you know, there's four, those four teams, any one of those four teams and in Purdue is always going to be in the mix somehow.
00:20:08
Speaker
And it's going to be interesting this year with Beelama and Ryan Walters for that Purdue, Illinois game. That's going to be fun. If Illinois Purdue wasn't a rivalry before, it is now. Well, I would say so. And that was an interesting hire about Purdue.
00:20:30
Speaker
usually they go for offensive coaches and they hired a defensive specialist. So I mean, that will be interesting. But he's a young guy who's coming up and comer. So yeah, well, yeah, and I think I think it was part of I think, you know, a lot of these schools now, you're seeing so much so many of the older coaches, you know, leaving the game or just and especially in basketball is it's
Trend of Younger Coaches in College Football
00:20:55
Speaker
happening too. But
00:20:56
Speaker
You're seeing a lot of these older coaches leaving the game or just not interested in leaving a program they've been at for a while. And so I think a lot of these school, I mean, Dion Sanders of Colorado, you know, I mean, he's not necessarily a young guy, but he's an up and coming coach. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You know, so I think when you're seeing something like that, I think a lot of these, you're going to see probably a lot more over the next couple of years, a lot more of these
00:21:21
Speaker
coaches that are assistants or that have been, you know, coordinators for a long time, we're going to start getting their, going to start getting their, their, their, their just deserves, if you will. Right. Right. Right.
00:21:36
Speaker
So season starts up in the, uh, uh, uh, well, every day we can usually, which is usually the end of August 1st. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, a couple of them by the minute of the monthly was should have some games to report on. So what's going on? The FCC, I've heard, uh, I saw something on Facebook the end of the day and I don't know where the discussion started cause I couldn't track it down, but they were talking to, of course, the Colorado, I guess it's coming back into the big 12. Mm-hmm.
00:22:06
Speaker
And somebody made the comment that Missouri should do the same. Missouri's not going back. I wouldn't think so. It's one thing. Yeah, Colorado's running back to the Big 12 because the Pac-12 is kind of falling apart. Oh, yeah. You're losing USC and USC and UCLA. UCLA. And they're PV contracts up in turmoil. They don't know what to do about it.
00:22:36
Speaker
They don't know what school's going to stick around. And the Big 12 has put together a decent TV package, even with Oklahoma and Texas leaving. But there's no way Missouri would go back to the Big 12. I mean, the TV contract, the monthly revenue situation, I mean, it's just a whole lot better.
00:22:56
Speaker
They'd be really stupid if they did that. It would be financial suicide for universities. Yes, because the big 10 and the big 12, I mean the SEC have the best PD packages and the best revenue situation in any other conference and everybody would like to come.
Missouri's SEC Decision
00:23:13
Speaker
into their conference. That's why Texas and Oklahoma came willing to the SEC and accept their deal in the same way with USC and UCLA. So I mean, there's no run going back. I saw that too, Don, but that's not going to happen.
00:23:34
Speaker
I mean, I had to laugh when I saw that. I'm like, are you somebody seriously considering this? Oh yeah. Saying this. Are you kidding me? I mean, I get it. I get what they're saying. If you go, if, if, you know, with the way things are going, if they go back to the big 12, they can actually rule the big 12 and football pretty much. I think, I mean, yeah, they were doing pretty well before they left. And of course, the SEC is a bigger, tougher conference in football.
00:24:00
Speaker
Um, but you know, they're not going to go back. I mean, they're, they're just not going to do it with all the money they're spending on facilities and everything. They can't afford to take a pay cut, you know, be like, yeah, no, if you bought a, if you bought a $500,000 house when you decided, no, I'm going to, I'm going to take a job that pays cut, cut my pay in half. You're just not going to do that. You know, well, and actually Missouri hasn't done that bad football in the SEC.
00:24:30
Speaker
No, they've been, they've won two division championships. Right. They're six and six the last three, four years, three years, four years in the regular season. So no, they're not a disaster there. They need to take a step forward. But, you know, no, I mean, they're fine. They're not leaving. Yeah. It's not like they're at the bottom of the division every year. And, you know, wondering what the hell they're doing there, you know. No, no, they're mid pack.
00:24:59
Speaker
So, yeah, the SEC meetings, the thing that dominated it was one thing, the conference realignment, the scheduling issue, Don. They've got Oklahoma and Texas is coming in and how they're going to handle that with the scheduling.
00:25:20
Speaker
up a schedule where every team would have three permanent opponents and nine rotating appointments. I said that wrong, Don. Three permanent opponents and six rotating opponents, nine conference games. They have eight now. They came out of it with, they're going to stay 20, 24 with eight opponents, but work in Oklahoma and Nebraska.
SEC's Expansion and NIL Debates
00:25:49
Speaker
And the conference schedule is already set for 2024 and who you're going to play and everything. So that will be interesting. They basically will probably go to nine games. They're just not ready to have anybody convinced to do it yet. It depends. Try to keep robberies in place and everything like that. And so it'll eventually happen. But that was one of the things. The other thing they took on that was kind of controversial done was NILs.
00:26:19
Speaker
The state of Missouri came in and some of the other states did, too. I forgot the other states. I think maybe let me pull it up here, Don. I had it. I think it's Nebraska. Well, anyway, I had it pulled up, but Missouri has a new NIL state law to support the schools. So whether they can legally go out
00:26:42
Speaker
And players can get paid on these advertisers. And the school can actually help them manage it, you know, before the schools had to keep an arm's length. And so some of the schools have already some of the states have already done it. Missouri, I think Alabama did it. And I'm thinking maybe Arkansas. And I might have those those other two states wrong. But the SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey wasn't happy about that. He wants
00:27:12
Speaker
He and some of the other conference commissioners won a national – where Congress comes in and sets up the rules and standards of it, and everybody plays by the same rules. But Missouri stepped – won the states that stepped forward and took care of it, and it's kind of unusual. Missouri's usually not leading the pack, and there are one of the states leading the pack, and it's really –
00:27:32
Speaker
it's set up to help Mizzou in their recruiting and helping them with NIOs. So that was one of the big things that came out and I didn't pay a lot of attention to what the other schools were doing. I mean I read some of the stuff but basically Eli Drinkwood usually comes to these meetings he likes to take shots at other teams and coaches sometimes and he kind of behaved himself and stayed
00:27:59
Speaker
didn't draw too much attention to himself. So anyway, so the big thing was scheduling and the NIL issues. That's the things that came up. Yeah. I'll get back to, you mentioned the SEC schedule. Actually, the big pin came out with theirs in June and how they're going to handle USC and UCLA coming in. It's kind of going with what you're talking about with the SEC, where it's a
00:28:26
Speaker
three protected rivalries and then six rotators. But the one thing as we'd all tried to figure out what was going to happen, I guess there says that they were they are eliminating the divisions in the Big Ten. So it's just going to be one big old conference. Well, this year, the SEC's playing divisions will be built last year in 2024. They're going to eliminate divisions.
00:28:49
Speaker
Yeah, that's going to be that's going to be fun. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you won't be playing your conference and Mizzou's had some breaks that they got to play Vanderbilt every year. You're right. And, you know, they've done well against South Carolina. They've done well against.
00:29:12
Speaker
Florida. They haven't done that bad against Florida. So some of the SEC East schools, they've been an advantage to them to be in the East. And I haven't looked at the schedule lately for 2024, but they will be playing Oklahoma. And now probably when they go to three permanent rivals,
00:29:33
Speaker
when they go to the nine games, Oklahoma will probably be one of theirs because of their history back in the days of the old big eight and the big 12. They played, you know, they used to play quite a bit. So I suspect Missouri will be in that playing Oklahoma every year. Anyway. I'm looking at, I'm kind of looking at the schedule. They've got the permanent rivals in italics on this schedule. And so far for Illinois, Illinois only has two permanent rivals in Purdue and Northwestern. I would have thought
00:30:04
Speaker
uh, either Indiana or, uh, Iowa would have been one, but I don't, uh, I don't see them showing up as a rival anywhere. Of course we, you know, we don't, well, we don't play Iowa until 20, until probably 26. So maybe, maybe I was in 26. I don't know. Um, but yeah, I mean, that's going to be interesting. I, I, I've kind of been hoping they would do something like that where they would have
00:30:31
Speaker
You know, set rivals, especially in football, especially in basketball, you're definitely playing a home, a home against at least three teams all the time. Um, because I don't like the way, and that's the only problem you got with these super conferences is when you've got, uh, you know, 12, 15 teams. Now you're only playing half the teams part of the time, and maybe you're not getting the team this year. You got to play them. I know I've, I've, I'm kind of.
00:31:00
Speaker
I'm kind of old-school. You should play at least everybody in your conference once, at least in basketball to me. So we'll see how all that plays out down the road for that. So what's Missouri going to be looking like this year? Well, a lot of it depends. The big issue will be their quarterback situation. Brittany Cook is the returning starter, but it's an open competition because he's got his
00:31:29
Speaker
is a four-star quarterback named Sam Horne who didn't get to play that much, didn't blow his red shirt. So he'll be he'll be in contention and they've got a guy named Jake Garcia that they got a transfer out of Miami. Really the one that a lot of people are excited about.
00:31:49
Speaker
And so drink, which is going with a quarterback competition in this and I'll be the one to get all the attention in the media. They got a new offensive coordinator, new offensive line coach drink, which is not going to be calling plays anymore. He's his offensive coordinator. Well, and so it's just a different, you know, a little different, uh, could be a little different experience and it's probably good for the program because the way head coaching is now you gotta be a chairman of the board. You can't have your hands.
00:32:18
Speaker
on the details too much with too many things. I mean, drink, which is not only to worry about recruiting now, but we know how the transfer portal is. And you've got to be on top of the transfer portal and you've got to be on top of this NIL situation. So being a head coach, you know, you can't really put the headphones on anymore, I don't think, and survive in this environment. I think you've got to have you let your coordinators put the headphones on and call the plays and things like that. Yeah, no doubt. No doubt.
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Speaker
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00:34:07
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00:35:03
Speaker
Save 20% off anything you were that way. So see what hydration multiplication can do for you. Try liquid IV. OK. Illinois. All right. Now, of course, Beelam is second year and third year. Excuse me. He's had two good one so so campaign or one good successful campaign.
00:35:27
Speaker
Um, and I think, uh, he's had to use the transfer portal a lot in terms of quarterbacks for sure.
Illinois Football's Season Prospects
00:35:39
Speaker
Uh, getting DeVito last year and I'm picking up, uh, Luke Altmeyer, uh, this year. Um, and I, but there was one benefit to picking up Altma Altmeyer. I have found out is that there was a high school kid. They were recruiting from Altmeyer's hometown.
00:35:55
Speaker
And after a visit to Illinois, he said, if it's good enough for Luke, it's good enough for me. So he's going to be coming in. They picked up some pretty nice recruits. Not a lot of big four-star names. About the biggest name they've gotten is Malik Izzie. LZ, excuse me. I was looking at the wrong way.
00:36:25
Speaker
He's a four-star kid out of Chicago, Simeon, wide receiver. Said he's got some great speed, good hands. They picked up a kid locally here, just a few miles down the road from me, and Arthur, Cadence Fiegen, projected as an athlete, probably gonna be a linebacker, and they're really high on him. And they picked up a few other kids here and there. Transfer-wise, besides Altmaier, they picked up
00:36:56
Speaker
I got to find him here. Where'd he go? He was here just a minute ago. Demetrius Hill, he's another three-star kid. A lot of these are kids with three stars, but they've got some really impressive credentials. I was talking with Kedrick Prince, a local guy that does the recruiting thing around here, and he's really high on a couple of these guys. Of course, Altmaier, but Hill was one he was pretty high on.
00:37:26
Speaker
Of course, Elsie. We'll see how this goes. Jim Leonard is now the senior football analyst. One thing somebody pointed out when they announced Leonard hiring was that if you look at what Beelam has been doing, he's not just putting together a staff at Illinois.
00:37:48
Speaker
he's putting together a group of top flight coaches. When you talk about, um, uh, Leonard or, or, you know, the, when we talked about, um, uh, Ryan Walt, Ryan Walters, who, who left and, you know, some, some, some of these other guys that he's brought in, um, very loony Jr. I mean, he's bringing in guys, the coaches that they've got a pedigree with them, you know, just guys that are, have been an assistant here or an assistant there.
00:38:17
Speaker
They've got a pedigree with them. So I think that's going to turn this culture around more than anything else. And of course, winning eight games last year didn't hurt their recruiting efforts. And then getting four guys to go in the pros in the first five rounds, that kind of bodes well for kids that want to come here and make a name for themselves. So I think we were eight wins last year. I can see eight wins this year. I can see maybe 10 if the ball bounces right a couple of times.
00:38:47
Speaker
So I think, I guess what I say, I think we're going to be in challenge for, for that, uh, that, uh, Western conference title be the last West last Western conference, uh, title in the big 10. Uh, we've, we've got a shot at it. I think, uh, I guess the biggest hurdles we're going to have to come overcome is going to be probably, I think Purdue and Iowa. A lot of people are still thinking Wisconsin is going to have a resurgence. I'm not so sure about the Wisconsin thing. Um,
00:39:15
Speaker
I mean, they did kind of come back after a disaster start last year, but we'll see how that goes. So it'll be interesting, but I think he's got some kids in place. And the good thing about Altmeyer is at least we won't have to go for a quarterback in the transfer portal for at least another couple of years. Cause he's got three years left. So that I think was one of the big things that he wanted to get a quarterback. I mean, he's got some good freshmen right there on the team, but you know,
00:39:44
Speaker
They didn't get a chance to play much last year, the redshirt freshmen I'm saying. And he's got the true freshmen coming in. I don't know the last time a big 10 school turned the program over to a true freshman, the start of the season. I'd have to go back and research that. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, so I think Illinois is going to be in pretty good shape. Like I said, we'll just see how the season all plays out.
00:40:12
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, it'll be interesting, especially since the last year of divisions. I know Missouri, some of the thought is if Missouri is going to win another division championship, this has to be it. But I've looked at the scheduled dime for Mizzou and they
00:40:32
Speaker
You know, they're they really need to do better than six and six and not, you know, hopefully there's eight wins on the schedule. It's always hard to tell. A lot of it will depend on how well they do the non conference. They've got a place. They'll play South Dakota open up. They'll play middle Tennessee State, Kansas State and then. Memphis that open the season and then they go right then they go to Nashville play Vanderbilt, so they have a chance.
00:41:01
Speaker
to be possibly 5-0, 4-1, before they hit the meat of their schedule. So that's, you know, and Drinkwood really needs to get the team over to the 6-6 hump this year. He really does. And he got an extension at the end of last year in December, November, December. The athletic director gave him an extension, but it's not prohibitive for Mizzou to get out of. In other words,
00:41:36
Speaker
This is the fourth year. This is the turning point. I guess the pivot to see where he needs to go. So he needs to show, you know, I'd say eight and four would say this would certainly give him. Yeah. Mizzou would go forward with him at that. But seven and five, I'm not sure, but would just have to see. Right, right.
00:42:04
Speaker
See, I'm trying to think, oh, there it is. Illinois, I mean, we've got two out of the three. The big thing, the big non-conference game everybody's pointing at is Illinois, Kansas on September 8th.
Illinois vs. Kansas Game Anticipation
00:42:21
Speaker
Yeah. And that, I mean, there's a lot of people, and that's going to be, I think that's at Kansas, if I'm not mistaken. Yes, that's at Kansas.
00:42:30
Speaker
That'll be an interesting game. The game is a resurgent team. A resurgent, it seems to be a resurgent program. Yes, they are. If he can keep it going there. Yeah. And then we got, of course, we got Toledo in front of that. And then we go into the Big Ten schedule. And then we got Florida with Penn State. Then we got Florida Atlantic. Like I said, we don't play. We don't play any of the big boys this year. We don't get Ohio State. We don't get Michigan. We don't get...
00:43:00
Speaker
Maryland, oh, you know, we do get Maryland. I'm sorry. We don't get Indiana this year I think that's the one that got kicked off. No one in here. Oh, well Anyway, don't Michigan State's the one that got kicked off this. That's right. We don't get Michigan State So we you know, there's three we don't have to really worry about messing with But like I said, we've got all the others and I think probably the two games are going to trip us up Big Ten schedule wise that we that we could stand a good chance at losing. I think definitely
00:43:28
Speaker
The at Purdue, we never play well at West Lafayette. I think I went to one game one year where they beat Purdue at their homecoming. I don't think we won since, to tell you the truth. And then I think the Illinois, where'd it go here? I just had it. I think Illinois, Minnesota. That one, I think, could be a stumbling block for us. Because like we say, Black's got those guys playing pretty good. They're on the move up.
00:43:59
Speaker
after kind of falling short last year and the last, I think they want to make, they want to make this year a little bit better. So I think that's going to be a game that's going to be tough for Illinois. So, you know, uh, so, um, you were, you were mentioning NIL earlier, um, with all of this has been going
Future of NIL and Transfer Portal Regulation
00:44:21
Speaker
on. How do you see the NIL playing out as we keep going with this? I think eventually that the, uh,
00:44:31
Speaker
Congress will intervene and set up some rules, ground rules, for nationwide, for all this, so everybody can get on the same page. I think, you know, having 50 different set of rules all over the country is really, would be a disaster. It could be a disaster happening. They've got to get a grip on it. Don, I think on the NILC, the recruiting, I mean, the transfer reporter, I'd like to see them get
00:45:01
Speaker
get better control of that again. I don't know if they will. But the NIL is something that really can be, it can be destructive if it's not handled right. Well, I think the transfer report, I'm agree with you, NIL, but I think the transfer portal, I think it's going to take care of itself once we finally get out of all the COVID players. All those players that have that extra year because of COVID.
00:45:25
Speaker
I think once we finally get out of all those guys, I think then you may see that transfer port, or at least I hope you see the transfer port will start slowing down. Because I'm like you, when you've got, what was it this last year, over 1,000 kids entered in the football, in football and like 900 in basketball. I mean, that's crazy. I don't know if it does the fans any good.
00:45:53
Speaker
because you get a kid coming in and you think, all right, great. And next thing you know, he's transferring back out to somewhere else. I mean, now they have put some rules on that too of like saying you only get one immediate play transfer. So you transfer one, your eligible to play immediately. If you transfer again, you have to sit out a year unless you apply for a waiver.
00:46:20
Speaker
So at least they've, at least they've done something for that. That may curb some of it. Uh, but I don't think it's going to, like I said, as long as the NIL is in place and as long as we've got these kids running six years now, um, you know, you're, I think that it's going to stay high, but hopefully that'll get under control. But I agree with you. I think as far as the NIL goes, they are going to have to somehow.
00:46:43
Speaker
Either the NCAA is going to have to institute a policy, which I don't think they've got the organization has the teeth anymore to do that. I think we've seen what that is. I mean, the institutions have more control over the NCAA than the NCAA has over the institutions. But I think it is going to have to come down to a congressional thing where it's like, okay, here's the rule for kind of like what they did with Title IX.
00:47:07
Speaker
They're going to do the same thing with an NILI. Right. Yeah, I think so. And I don't see it going on like it has been, but until it's kind of wild right now. And like I said, with certain states setting up NIL rules and making it permissible, certain states haven't addressed it yet, it just really is going to be a mess, trying to figure it out. So yeah, I hope they get it straight down. Yeah, me too.
00:47:36
Speaker
Well, I think that's about all we got for this week or this month. I guess the next month we'll have some football camps, training camps have been going on. So we'll have a better idea of what our teams are going to do football wise. Right. And maybe some more, more information on certain things going on within the world of college sports. So let everybody know where they can find you when you're not talking with me.
00:48:02
Speaker
Well, I'm doing a Mizzou Mizzou Musings column at Gateway City Sports. I haven't done anything since the end of the basketball season, but I plan to get a couple of things out in August on the football season coming up on the zoo. Probably talking about some of the things we talked about tonight.
00:48:22
Speaker
So and also do some blogging about the Cardinals at Redbird Ranch. So you can find me there too. So anyway, probably be trying to get something out about the trends about the free agent. Yeah, I got a great deadline thing. Yeah, I got to work on something like I've been doing I've been lately I've been hitting me on certain players. I did a thing on Gorman and I've done one on when I think I'm going to look at
00:48:52
Speaker
Couple others here down and see what do some just some player profiles, you know Because right now there's not much to talk about when you're talking about the Cardinals. So Other than a good player here. Yeah You want to highlight? Yeah So well for my partner Russ Robinson, this is Don Glenn. We want to thank our other sponsors Sean Wiley and the Wiley group and
00:49:19
Speaker
We want to give them a shout out. You would contact them at 636-764-6294 for all your insurance needs or you can go to seanwylie at allstate.com and remember you're in good hands with Allstate. Also want to pass out our kudos to Fifth Street Motors who takes the stress out of car buying. They are located at 2044 Rose Lane in Pacific Missouri and you can call them.
00:49:47
Speaker
call Don or Brandon at 573-259-1306. Tell them Don Glenn's been talking sports on the bleachers. And Russ Robinson from the NCAA report sent you. So alright, so for my partner Russ Robinson, this is Don Glenn. You guys have fun, stay safe, and we will see you again. Goodbye everybody.
00:50:23
Speaker
so