The Eleven Warriors Show: Portal Madness and Ohio State Introduces New AD Ross Bjork

On this episode of The Eleven Warriors Show, Jason and Chris handicap Ohio State’s chances to land Alabama safety Caleb Downs and Crimson Tide offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor, go deep on the Ross Bjork hire as Gene Smith’s successor as Ohio State athletic director, and marvel at Jim Harbaugh’s leverage despite an ongoing NCAA investigation.

02:09 Caleb Downs Has a Second Chance to Become a Buckeye
08:55 Kadyn Proctor Might be Homesick, but NIL Money Goes a Long Way
15:32 Ohio State Welcomes Ross Bjork
22:36 Highlights from Bjork’s Introductory Presser
32:39 Bjork’s Thoughts on Ryan Day
38:20 Chris Holtmann Runs into His Nemesis: The Month of January
45:57 C.J. Stroud Cooked the Browns – Sleep with One Eye Open, Ravens Fans
48:26 Jim Harbaugh Has All of the Leverage in Ann Arbor

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#GoBucks

Welcome to the 11 Warriors show Jason Priestess Chris lauderback coming at you on this cold Thursday morning January 18th 2024 I had to catch myself I wanted to say 23 no one writes checks anymore I don’t at least do you write checks uh very few but yeah I wrote one today and

Did it correctly did you yeah I mean that was the old thing right I keep writing the old date on the checks I can’t remember the last time I wrote a check so I don’t don’t worry they’ll cash it so yeah they will they it’s so much uh that it’s uh

You know just making sure you get the date right on on reads like this but it’s it’s 2024 man here we are 23 years ago today Jim Trestle way back in 2001 uh on the floor of a shottenstein center gave one of the greatest speeches in Ohio State history proud of our young

People in the class room in the community and most especially in 310 days in an Arbor Michigan on the football field that was pretty great huh yeah yeah what a moment I actually was there not anything you were expecting but yeah hanging out way up in the 300 level but

Uh but yeah it waset it was one of those last minute deals and then boom you know that was that was the highlight I don’t even remember the game but I I remember that fans anded proud of our young people you’re like where’s he going yeah

Yeah fans needed to hear that man Ian been a while oh yeah and he delivered man credit to Jim for delivering I wonder if Ryan day is going to show up at the shot here in the next week or two and uh have Holman kind of hand him the

Mic Holman be glad to hand anyone the mic right now you know hand it to Ryan day and he give something similar and get back on track but uh yeah 23 years ago already that’s uh nothing like that to make you feel pretty old right yeah I

Mean it yeah turned the tide in the Rivalry up until just the last couple years been you know been riding that wave that that he started in that moment yeah it sure have uh a lot of news to get into on this show uh we’re going to

Start real quick just get into it Alabama players in the portal man a little over a week ago Nick Savin retired and although tried you know the tide moved quickly to get a new coach brought in Kaylin dbor from Washington and you know credit to how quickly they

Did that they got a good coach I believe and you have to now because that 30-day transfer window portal window opening brought someone in quickly but still there’s some leakage man some guys leave that Alabama roster and you know there are two of them in particular probably pretty interesting to Buckeye fans one

Player of special interest to Ohio State fan safety Caleb DS according to 247 Sports Steve Wilfong DS will enter the portal as soon as today hopes to make a decision within 48 hours if you remember uh ahead of the 2023 Signing Day Ohio State finished second Alabama for down

Services he’s the number one won safety in the 2023 class and boy did he ever live up to the hype as a freshman started every game as a true freshman running from the with the ones basically from Fall Camp all the way through the season won the Sean Alexander freshman

Of the Year award is the best freshman all of college football SEC freshman of the Year second team AP All-American LED Alabama with 107 tackles two picks four pbus even returned a punt for a touchdown this is a dude man and he would look great in the scarlet and gray

Slide right in for the departing Josh Proctor at free safety um you know in clear a path for you know maybe Sunny styles to pop over to will linebacker something like that so would definitely be a boon for the Ohio State Defense G

To be tough to get the guy man he’s uh a Georgia native grew up about 33 miles from Athens and his position coach at Alabama traverus Robinson was just hired by Georgia as code DC and safety coach so little bit of an uphill climb but man Ohio State little bit little bit everything

He rattled off there was like okay that doesn’t seem favorable forio state that doesn’t seem favorable forio State the two-day thing and you let off with the you know he wants to make a decision in 48 hours or whatever I’m like well they’re dead in the water but but to

Your I mean he has been you know he has been to Columbus and and that whole thing but gosh man I I I think maybe uh you know the biggest deal is that his uh position coach at Alabama as you mentioned Travaris Robinson is you know

At Georgia now I don’t know man you know no no inside scoop here but gosh I’m you know my typical pessimist Vibe I think it’s going to play well in this moment I’m gonna say yeah okay cool that’ll be hitting the lottery if they can get uh

You know if they can get this kid but my gosh a talent I mean he is an elite safety already yeah he’s uh he’s legit man he would plug and play right away would upgrade the back end of the defense immediately again gives Ohio State some

Options man you want to move Sunny to linebacker you can do that you know all of a sudden with a move like this I hope Tim Walton is hanging out in uh the northeastern ex herbs of Atlanta right now and kind of kind of prowling around

And and you know do do your thing Tim Walton we’re all hoping you pull this out because this dude man what a monster that is a good point that you know maybe Ohio State certainly High State’s best recruiter of late I mean obviously he and heartline are both you know both

Dogs when it comes to that but um yeah at least he’s in that you know in that position group where that Walton would be the guy going after him so yeah hopefully you know hopefully High state good news but it feels like that’s definitely one re swing for the fences

And you know it’s it’s going to you know we’ll see how it shakes out but man I’m okay trying to Geto excited about him in this backfield it is it is a tough Hill but like my favorite team didn’t have him last month you know so they don’t

Have him next month you know what’s the difference but at the same time you got a shot you got a shot even if it’s a small shot you got a shot you didn’t have that shot 10 days ago how how crazy you think it is like like I mean you

Said Kaylin deor was hired pretty quickly but it still feels like a little bit like this you know did this whole you know Sav and retiring thing sneak up on b a little bit feels like they could have even been more you know even more

Prepared um to try to keep some of this I I guess I just didn’t picture that at bamb I know Sabin is Alabama but I just even when he announced I didn’t you know expect maybe this Mass Exodus you know some guys are going to move on but I

Don’t know it caught me off guard maybe I’m just naive but I just felt like man Sabin would just be able to keep guys within that program knowing that it’s not like he’s not GNA be around ever yeah he’s not the guy he’s not the coach

But still the the you know the roots of the program and that kind of thing there’s it’s not going to immediately not be you know his footprint is still all over that place yeah I mean it I think it caught all of us off guard when Sabin announced

His retirement and um kids go there to play for Sabin especially defensive players because he’s a defensive guy I get it how would you like to be Georgia LSU Texas some of these schools down there now that are going to unless Caitlin dear dbar gets it cranked up

They’re going to Feast man like if he doesn’t get it going quickly you know and retaining guys and bringing in the same types of classes that Nick let’s face it he’s not going to he if he comes close I think that’s a win you know getting classes you know close to what

Sabin Once Upon a Time had sabin’s one of a kind man you’re not going to be able to just put a new guy in there and expect to get all the same kinds of players just immediately because of the Alabama name which still is a big name

And counts for a lot but Nick sabin’s Nick Sabin man I mean oh yeah no doubt and I I think dor is a hell of a coach I do man but at the same time like it’s just not going to be the same I mean

You’re going to come going to hope to do about you know 90% of what Sabin did recruiting and then call that a win but if he doesn’t if he stumbles and doesn’t start getting guys and you know he’s a great coach who is how is his recruiter

Man not the world’s best recruiter at Washington didn’t have a beast class put together even as well as they were playing this year their class is kind of mediocre um I don’t know man like if I’m Georgia and LSU particularly I’m really really happy right now I think someone

Needs to do something someone needs to hire Kirby get him out of there too get kby in the NFL frame Kirby for like a violent crime or something like get him out of get him out of AES CU they’re going to be a problem you know with with saving God

They’re going to be a problem oh yeah no doubt no doubt I mean it’s already a problem I mean they already took you know their best position coach probably an ace recruiter and you know could bring Caleb Downs to them um yeah it’s interesting because dor himself is not a

Huge name and a lot of these U coordinators that he’s bringing in are you know guys I think are respected for X’s and O’s and that kind of thing but we’ll have to see what kind of recruiting shop uh you know they have because you’re not

Really bringing in you know sa could at least bring in even on these rehab tours they were names that kids know right and maybe had NFL pedigree or you know high level Elite College they weren’t at Indiana they weren’t at you know South Alabama you know or some of these places

Right again take nothing away from those guys but you kind of have to prove yourself a little bit first like you know like Trestle did another guy entered the portal yesterday from Alabama offensive tackle Kaden Proctor 67 360b Beast started all 14 games for the tide as a true freshman in 2023 it’s

Hard to start on that offensive line in Alabama as a true freshman and you can say maybe they weren’t as as good yeah anywhere maybe they weren’t as good this year as they have been in the past you know 15 years and maybe that’s true but

Still a lot of talent there a lot of depth a lot of coaching uh to start all 14 games for them was the number one offensive tackle in the 2023 class top 10 player nationally in the class Buckeyes would love to have the guy yeah they could they could you know

Desperately use him I think a tackle in the portal remains a you know goal obviously if they you know can get Proctor hey that’s a great thing if they can’t then they’re going to have to continue that search um but you know 67 360 like you said I mean a fresh I mean

How many times High state that that happened right I mean Pace I’m I’m trying to think of you know any others right it’s just a a rare rare thing to do and I saw his PF at PFF grades I mean they were not awesome he clearly was got

Better I think as the season went along but he had some bumps and bruises as you said maybe some of that was yeah he’s got Elite Talent but he also started a little bit out of necessity that probably isn’t the normal you know B formula I mean most programs you just

Can’t offensive line it just takes a minute right I mean it’s it’s no disrespect to the player it’s just a little easier maybe to Plug and Play at some other positions besides left tackle for God’s sake so um yeah gosh he would be a huge huge get for the program and

Uh yeah I guess it’s going to you know come down to was he with was he you know High state was on on him before he selected B right yeah wasn’t a fan wasn’t a finalist the Buckey weren’t a finalist for the guy he’s from De Mo

Iowa yeah and right now the Hawkeyes are the front runner to bring him home uh there’s some talk that he might have been a little homesick in Alabama and what a get for Kirk fance we can bring him home because like I know they produced great offensive lineman really

Good pedigree of O at that school too so they’ve got a good pitch but you know can Ohio State’s nil make a difference does that not matter um you know they pump o out in the NFL Iowa does offensive lineman and tight ends that’s like their gig right but I mean that

Offense the last couple years like if you’re you know I get it you play line but you still probably want to score some points when your team has games right right yeah it’s I mean I get the whole homesick card for sure but gosh if you go to Bama you’re thinking yeah I

Want to get developed but you’re also planning to win while you’re there um right maybe his priorities have changed I don’t know I mean I guess you could say you know I was Big 10 West but I you know that that’s gone I was not getting anywhere near any of that stuff anymore

Right not with no divisions and four you know teams better than Iowa pretty much coming in yeah yeah we’ll see what shakes out so the two Bama players High State’s got maybe a small shot uh probably a bigger shot with uh Downs than than Proctor at

The moment but uh both you know probably not you know high probability guys for Ohio State but never counted out man thing crazier things have happened and you know High State’s got got to make the call right got to got to make the pitch and say we’d love to have you here

And let’s see what happens and and maybe they catch a break here uh sabin’s retirement led to this do we discussed it last week man the domino effect that was going to take place because you know coaches leave the transfer portal window opens for that team for 30 days so it’s

Already affected three FBS programs Alabama is when Sabin left Washington when dbor went to Alabama and now Arizona when jetfish left Arizona to go to Washington huskys decim man their entire starting offensive lines basically in the portal plus five others from their to deep on offense uh last night news

Came in that nine Arizona players entered the portal in 30 minutes uh you know maybe they joined fish at at Washington chance that happening who knows uh if Michigan opens that’s another roster that becomes available and and just imagine maybe it’s a a long shot or maybe it’s a small chance of

Happening but if Michigan hires like someone like Brian Kelly to replace Jim Harbaugh if Harbaugh goes to the NFL LSU’s roster open all of a sudden someone takes the LSU job so I mean we might see a situation in which like eight really good rosters open up this

Off season for coaches and other programs like Kirby’s loving this man Kirby the guys that have really you know Ryan Day the guys that are kind of have like stable programs are just loving this yeah yeah it’s 2024 college football man um you you know recruiting you know recruiting never stops anyway

But this it almost introduces you know a different cycle every time one of these dominoes Falls and yeah Arizona I mean the nine you mentioned I think he’s taken just about all of his staff I think to Washington so I would imagine that yeah a lot of those nine could be

Could be on their way to you dub yeah and as guys in the business of content and sports content and things like that want to thank these rule changes because this is the type of year you know time of the year when things typically start

To taper off a little bit you have some basketball you got some spring football some mat drills but nope there’s there’s just Madness happening right now something else I thought of Chris want to get your take on this does this create leverage that portal opening create leverage for like coaches on the

Fence of getting fired maybe coaches on a warm seat you know a little slightly Hot Seat do they get a longer opportunity now because the administration might Fear The Fallout of losing their roster um I they certainly could I think if you’re a mediocre coach I’d wonder

How stocked your roster is um so so there’s that piece of it but you know obviously would just depend on a Case by casee there’s teams with talent that don’t win for you know for other reasons but you know I I guess the the flip of

That too could be is that I mean there’s a chance to make your roster better um you know by the fact that okay here comes another you know 85 guys potentially that might be looking for a new home where do you know where do you

Have holes kind of thing so um I I don’t think it hurts that’s for sure but um you know like I said if you’re a mediocre program to begin with it already feels like okay how how attractive you know might you be but I mean what’s your you you pose the

Question I’m curious your your thoughts on it I mean at first I thought yes but like you’re right I mean if you’re if you’re six and six and you’re oh should we give this guy one more year you’re probably not have a loaded roster but like I mean every team’s got a couple

Dudes like Auburn went six and six Auburn went play right away right like if you’re six and six that means somebody could transfer there and play Outlets maybe block somewhere else like a let’s just say Boston College right I mean half’s there obviously but yeah a lot of these guys that are backup

Corners at Ohio State may start there and be upgrades over the guys that they have now and maybe that does get you a couple more wins yeah yeah have to see how it plays out over time uh we talked about how the portal and the coaching changes and all this nil’s just Madness

Right now so big that Ohio State hired their ninth ever athletic director this week and it’s like the second item we’re going to talk about on the show man we’re talking about like two kids that are leaving Alabama that Ohio state would love to pry loose uh but yeah man

Ross Bor welcome to Ohio State the hiring was announced Tuesday afternoon takes over for Jean Smith on July 1st uh yesterday on Wednesday there was a press conference we’ll get more into that in a second but 5 51 years old fourth stop is an ad uh is at Texas A&M since

2019 2012 to 2019 at Old Miss 2010 to 2012 at Western Kentucky uh hired at age 37 was the youngest athletic director in the business uh at the time when he got to Western Kentucky a lot of experience in development uh athletic departments at UCLA Miami Florida uh Missouri he’s

From Dodge City Kansas played fullback for Mighty Emporia State from 1991 to 1994 uh does have Ohio ties and the release from Ohio State took uh went to Great Lengths to kind of point that out in the release that hey this guy’s got someone in his family from Ohio because

They know how important it is to people right I mean Jean Smith’s a Cleveland guy you got you gotta have that evidently his mother is from Williamstown Ohio which is about 15 miles south of Finley uh and remains an Ardent supporter of tobido for the release um York yesterday speaking at

The press conference said his mom posts more about Ohio State on Facebook then he does then she does about Texas A&M so shout out mom for uh keeping the Buckeye fan in you even though your son has a pretty high job at another Power five School uh again known as a development

Guy uh nearly doubled athletic department Revenue Old Miss from 57 million to7 million by the time he left uh helped lead efforts for Jimbo Fisher to sign that monster 2022 recruiting class at Texas A&M featured eight five stars the highest ranked of any class in the modern era of course the class you

Know kind of disintegrated in in the following years I think uh nine of the top 20 players from that class have since transferred or currently currently in the portal um you know so he’s a money guy he’s you know we’ll talk more about the presser in a minute but really

Smooth really smart guy really sharp on his feet uh some criticisms though everyone’s got criticisms uh 10year $95 million contract extension to Jimbo Fisher in 2021 that was fully guaranteed and uh the moment that came out everyone’s like that’s kind of a dumb contract because jimo was all right w a

Natty at Florida State but like wasn’t cooking too hard at Texas A&M and to just fully guarantee the thing was kind of insane so fiser in November was fired from A&M got to just take home $57 million which is like you can fire me

Every day of my life if you’re give me a $57 million check you can fire me on national TV and I’ll take questions you know like you can roast me you can drop me in a dunk tank I mean for $57 million there’s not a lot of things I won’t do

Right yeah I mean he yeah he he made out just fine he’s living a living a good life now um yeah I I felt like he at least you know hit that kind of head-on right as far as what what goes into those types of decisions and who all

Contributes to that decision I kind of got like a vibe that and there’s probably some of that at Ohio State too but I kind of got a Vibe of like like you know the the ad at Texas A&M’s kind of like the NFL commissioner what you

Know you’ll get to you’ll get to make some decisions but really you’re going to be the guy out in front and we’re going to tell you what to do sometimes that way if they don’t go right you know you know you’re going to be the one that

Falls on the sword yeah a lot of oil money making moves down there uh fiser of course went 19 and 15 at A&M after that extension so kudos to fiser for uh you know getting the bag in the most uh underwhelming way possible but again hats off the Fisher there uh some other

Criticisms Texas A&M slid in the director’s Cup standings under bork’s tenure pretty much every year they went down and you know I love the director’s cup it’s a it’s a big deal of you know a big point of bragging for athletic departments but I’ll also tell you

Something else is that I love football more than all the other sports combined so if you get a guy and you slide let’s just gameplay this out hypothetically Ohio State slides in the director’s cup some of the other sports don’t do as well but football becomes a monster are you okay with

That yeah I mean no disrespect to the other sports but I I want to see what I want to see is that he can help Elevate football even though it’s obviously Upper Crust right now and then I want to see you know an ad that you know is

Going to peripherally make me feel like they take winning with men’s basketball more seriously those are the two things that I want I don’t want these other sports to be disbanded and I hope they all win national titles but I’m not going to sit here and lie and say I

Really care that much like I hope pistol wins a national title but I probably only know because I read it on 11 Warriors not because I was following their schedule or or any of that right again no no disrespect but I mean that’s the reality for 90% of fans I think so

Yeah I think Ohio State’s got the resources to sustain those other sports and be good but yeah if they’re not top top in the director’s cup I me personally I’m not I’m not really going to notice it too much yep yep absolutely uh same way man he uh you know get

Football humming keep football humming make it a top three program every year and then you know don’t let the other sports slide and I think he’s done a great job and then I feel like if you’re continuing to make that money in football right like you know the big the

TV contract and that kind of stuff but you win natties you stack more of those things there’s even more money to be made if you’re a champion for football breaking off there’s going to be more money for schools like Ohio state that are in that Upper Crust that that can only to

Me do good things for those you know those non-rev Sports uh under his watch Old Miss uh was hit with a two-year bull ban had to vacate 33 wins you know we’ll talk about his presser in a minute but he talked about some external forces uh

Kind of kind of doing their thing he defended Hugh frees maybe you could make a case that he defended him when he shouldn’t have been defended um this is new OSU president Ted Carter’s first higher uh presumably with a ton of input from Jean Smith uh

In fact bork will start at Ohio State on March 1 as senior adviser to Jean Smith and then again take over his first day will be July 1st so four months to kind of learn on the job not bad not a bad gig see what he’s getting paid for those

175 Grand a month I think I saw a month a month yeah $175,000 just I can’t even wrap my head around that kind of money $175,000 a month uh his contract once he takes over full-time two million a year for five years uh good gig a lot of

Pressure a lot of work uh he will definitely earn it uh that presser man again he’s sharp speaks well great on his feet let off with an O which uh you know smart of him to prepare that kept saying the Ohio State the whole time he

Missed the you know he’s got to add the board University in there get it right but uh we’ll let it slide he’s new he’s uh he’s trying to fit in um let’s listen to a few things he had to say in that presser first up was his vision for Ohio

State athletics Be not Afraid Embrace high expectations win at the highest level I get it I know what we say the school up north I totally will get it in every single day we will be ready and prepared I loved it man when he said he

Gets it about that school up north man laid out a pretty good Vision but you know said what he had to say because you know that’s what matters here right yeah yeah no doubt I mean you know he’s going to figure out ways to weave that in just

Like the O um but yeah embracing the high expectations talking about you know the school up north and I get it you know those are things you definitely want to hear he said it in a few other spots too but I like the whole Be not

Afraid like he just seems like he’s got a kind of a bold you know hey let’s not be afraid to you know let’s not be afraid to win must not be afraid to swing for the fences kind of thing which I liked and even kind of predating that

I think is relevant to this Vision piece when he talked about what an athletic director does like what does the ad do he talked a lot about resource acquisition it wasn’t just talking about nil he was talking about corporate you know funding and those things and I know it’s something you’ve talked about

Before if maybe that’s a place where Ohio State could you know maybe they’ve got an opportunity to lean in a little bit harder um so you know when you think about he wasn’t talking about nil he said resource acquisition and I liked how he kind of spelled that out and I

Think you need that to happen to really feed into that Vision yeah that’s a great point and I I’ll point out he’s the first gen x Athletic Director at Ohio State so he’s going to have some swag some confidence uh maybe a new way of doing some things he also discussed a

New model for college sports and his vision for where he kind of sees things going there’s a lot of change out there going on right now and here’s what he had to say about that we need to deconstruct and recreate the Antiquated NCAA governance and divisional structure

At a minimum there needs to be consolidation of the highest resource programs around a new financial and governance model we either take action now or action will continue to be taken upon us enough conversations enough lobbying enough legal battles it’s time that we make a plan as an Enterprise and

I look forward to locking arms with commissioner petiti I loved his comments there he called the NCAA Antiquated which uh you know 10 years ago Ohio state would have never said that or anyone in Ohio State that’d fear like an investigation they would have not not dare say anything

Like that he said you know we can take action now or action will continue to be taken against us and that’s so key to recognize that because a lot of the decisions the rush into nil some of the other stuff has been because of court cases that the NCAA did not prepare for

W ready to have happen have gone against them so I love hearing that yeah yeah I I I like that as well his whole slogan like you said take action or you know or suffer more action against us I thought was smart but the other thing

I really like there that I really hadn’t thought about until the presser and not that he can do this himself but you know SEC Big 10 you feel like it’s more rivalry than it’s partnership and when you talk about these you know higher highest resource programs that that’s

The Big 10 and that’s the SEC so if you are going to break away or you are going to you know change some things uh and remove silos he talked about that a lot right like you know kind of conferences just looking out for themselves and that

Kind of thing if you are going to build a bridge that that that has to happen if you’re going to be able to come to some sort of of truly different you know truly unique model that’s not what today looks like uh you’re going to need those

Two conferences to be in lockstep and and again he’s not going to do that by himself he’s an ad not a president not a commissioner but knowing he’s got kind of that SEC background he was complimentary of sanki and then now he’s in the Big T could that’ be something

That just you know kind of a piece of the puzzle when you think about trying to bring those two together because you know if there’s going to be a super conference yeah there’ll be other teams outside of SEC and Big 10 but those are the two conferences that are really

Making conf you know college football go now that’s a great point maybe at some point too we get a big 10 guy to go down there and take over the Alabama or Florida job then you get some cross more cross talk guys that know each other can

Work together instead of what we’ve seen the last 25 years where it’s two conferences both in their Each corner kind of talking about each other and and going about on their own um I his vision man the NCAA being Antiquated wanting to be of action instead of

Action against I honestly think that was a big consideration for this job I think Jean and and and President Carter realized that we’re at a very you know tumultuous time in college athletics with a lot of moving parts and wheels and and changes of foot and then they

Needed someone who maybe had some vision and maybe could navigate through this because you know there are a lot of guys Mark emmer NCAA some of the guys that ran the Pack 12 the last five six years just weren’t those guys and you need you

Know doesn’t have to be a guy could be anyone but you need a man or a woman that can do that now yeah yeah I don’t think there’s any doubt I mean we’ll see you know if he’s the guy here or not but I but I do think what he’s talking all

Makes sense as far as you know just again the silos and the you know those two conferences coming together and some different things it’s all it’s all the right stuff but you know that stuff’s all easier said than done too because you got egos you got money you get you

Know you got all kinds of stuff involved that are are even much higher than the athletic director level here here’s what he had to say about Jimbo Fischer and Hugh FES and some of the things some of the criticisms that he’s uh had to face uh you know especially since news broke

It was hiring as we went through whatever it was at Old Miss whatever it’s been at Texas A&M you own those decisions if they happened on your watch maybe you were responsible and maybe you weren’t but at the end of the day it’s the Harry Truman quote the buck stops

Here I’m the ad if anybody wants to blame anybody blame me I love that you know he’s going right to the Harry Truman quote the buck stops here um you know Truman a guy from you know hereabouts Kansas uh a little bit over one state over but uh had to go go

Historical and I appreciate that um you know for the the Jimbo thing he kind of alluded to it was an Institutional thing and you touched on this earlier where maybe there are some forces outside the athletic department that have a lot of power and a lot of influence especially

A school like Texas A&M in a part of the country where there’s a lot of oil money um that wanted what they thought was a high high caliber coach to sustain a really high caliber program and wanted to get some of that locked down for a

Long time yeah well you you know at that point what I think they were 9 and one something like that when that that was going you felt like there was some momentum that you know they ended up signing a great class like you said it disintegrated but they were they were

Doing some good things there yeah and to me like I’m not in position to you know defend or crush this dude because I just don’t know enough about him yet and I want to see him in this environment kind of thing right but yeah I think between

The Fisher and the Hugh free stuff I’m a little more you know icky about the Hugh free stuff than I am Jimbo because I just feel like at Texas A&M they hadn’t been relevant forever they got a chance where you know that they’re they’re think they’re going to knock on the door

And do that and you know in a situation where they they hadn’t been a lot and yeah the shot callers down there I don’t think are the ad so um but he still said the buck stops here blame me that kind of stuff so I thought that was all good

The the Hugh freeze stuff you know he talked about going on facts and that freeze had been complying up to that point and that you know freeze had a personal failure but I like I said that one to me just felt like you know getting in bed with him to begin with

Never didn’t really you know didn’t really feel that great so I’m hoping between those two things if there was something to learn he learn more from that one than the than the Jimbo experience because I don’t think that’s quite as similar as what he might you know what he might encounter at Ohio

State uh here’s what he had to say he was ask about evaluating coaches here’s what we had to say there you know people always look at it like well he you know that’s not your coach or you didn’t it’s the institution that comes first so I’m

Going to lean in on Jean over these next five to six months I’m going to understand the Dynamics and the culture the the number one thing that I can do is get to know the people because that teaches you about the culture before you come in with some wild game plan or I’ve

Got this and this is going to be a Magic Bullet for whatever it might be it doesn’t work that way you have to get to know the people you get to know the place which teaches you the culture so I’ll learn a lot from Jean and then eventually it’s me I’ll formulate my

Decisions and there’s lots of ways to evaluate coaches what I’ll do first is get to know them are there any barriers to success what are the challenges right now is there momentum in the program in whatever categories you know those might be that’s an interesting answer because

Kind of like threw something out there to the maybe some Ohio State coaches that are probably worried a little bit right now with a new ad coming in and they’re losing the guy that maybe protected them for a little bit and said he didn’t care about a guy or a woman

Not being his hire tion came first I thought that was a nice little Olive Branch and you know and he basically in my eyes what he’s saying is to people that you know maybe a certain coach who’s you know under achieves in January and and a lot of fans want him out of

Here right now is saying turn it around and make it happen you keep your job I don’t care you’re not my guy it’s not that’s not important to me I just want what’s best for the institution um first he says he’s going to get to know the

The coaches and and find out their barriers to success is there momentum in the program momentum in the program is another interesting one for someone like Chris Holman yeah that one stuck out to me is is their momentum because he’s basically saying like you said hey I’m not coming with any preconceived notions

I’m not coming in thinking hey you’re not my guy or gal so therefore that’s going to be a problem I want to get to know the people understand how it translates to the culture hey what are what are barriers right what are things that I can do to help you succeed but at

The same time yeah you’ve got to then boil it down to say are you winning or you’re losing and if you are trending in the wrong direction okay what is causing that um because that that backward momentum is not what we’re you know not what we’re about here so yeah I

Appreciated the the sentiments there I’m sure we’ll talk about it later but yeah you definitely felt like the way he talked about day was one thing and then you know the the the Hoops program was a little bit different animal yeah and here’s what he had to say about day

Coach day and I spent uh about an hour together on uh on Monday as part of the the meeting process uh to finalize everything obviously I I didn’t know him personally but know a lot of people we have a lot of similarities in terms of crossover a brilliant mind in the game

Of football highlevel leader knows what championship football looks like knows how to put all of those pieces together pretty glowing pretty glowing stuff said he spent an hour with day on Monday before he was announced as the as the hire uh called him a brilliant mind in the game of football highlevel leader

Knows what championship football looks like it but also said we get it the game matters and you know that’s basically my assessment to day I love him I think he’s a great coach but the game matters right yeah yeah game matters and it SS like he’s confident that yeah that that

What matters in that game the outcome is going to turn around because he said you know he’s going to get it done we’re going to win championships and all those kinds of things definitely felt like you know pro day which is easy to do right now because I don’t care who the

Athletic director is fans can think whatever they want to think Ryan day is not going anywhere until at least after you see how next season shakes out period and with him coming in right now for this presser with momentum that’s happened over the last couple weeks you

Know I don’t know what else you would say I think he believes everything that he said don’t get me wrong but it’s you know I think rational fans know that you know kicking day out is not going to be job one on you know Ross bjork’s agenda

Yeah yeah certainly won’t be and they probably hit it off and uh you know like you said he’s got a full season at least and and whatever beyond that and and Ohio State figures to have a really really good football team this year so it’s setting up for day to make a really

Good first impression but yeah bork starts again his first day officially his 80s July 1 he will be here March 1 as a senior adviser to Gan Smith and uh I love the transition man I think it’s such a good idea uh you see it a lot you

Don’t see it a lot I mean it’s it’s great when you can do it a lot of times circumstances with big jobs they don’t allow that but sometimes CEOs will have transitionary periods where the new CEO will work alongside and if you can do it

Do it man because there’s so much I mean just think of the people Jean can introduce York to in the next few months yeah well absolutely yeah no it’s it’s smart everything they’re doing you know is smart again we’ll see you just a lot of the rhetoric is oh this guy’s not

Going to work can’t believe this A&M’s celebrating this is one of those jobs I don’t know who you’re going to hire where people are just unanimously going to be you know on board so me I’m kind of neither right now I liked what I saw today don’t get me wrong but I’m also

Like hey you know let’s see what happens when the rubber hits the road here but I don’t think there was anything from today that you well there could be some things but I think he stacked more W’s than he stacked L’s today right as he even as we reflected on Jimbo and and

Hugh free and all that kind of stuff so um you know seems to me like someone who does think differently about this stuff like you said being a Gen X and and all that kind of thing could play in his favor and yeah having some time where he

Can work with Jean alongside Jean and kind of be on the along for the ride for a little while I mean helps I don’t care what job you’re doing that that’s a huge help when you’re you know working with someone who’s been around here for 18

Years or whatever it is you know in this role um so yeah I feel like you know hoping he’s the right guy for sure but I feel like the plan to try to execute to help him be the right guy is is spoton and don’t forget man there’s a long

Stretch where Ohio State fans hated Jean Smith thought that Trestle took the fall for Jean somehow that was my favorite conspiracy theory around it you know to me it’s hard to evaluate athletic director’s work you have the public hires and and who they put in the key roles to lead your football your

Basketball your Marquee programs but you know a lot of the jobs behind the scenes too man development meeting with uh you know people around town uh building your department nil fundraising like so much of it’s behind the scenes and you’re in that job for that long you’re going to

Make some decisions that don’t work out you you are not going to bat a thousand it’s impossible there’s too many big decisions that will come down the pike in a three-year span let alone a like I said a near 20-year span so as someone who is pro Gene and thinks he definitely

Stacked more W and stacked L’s as I was saying earlier I mean there you know there’s still L’s right like there’s still some out there but on par is the University better than when he got here I think that I feel like that answer is yes um and we’ll see you know what

Happens with uh with bork as we move forward yeah and and I’m glad you said that because like you are going to have some decisions that aren’t great I mean with any job with anything that long with any type of job that comes with a lot of big decisions I also think too

It’s we live in an era where it’s hard to launch new brand names new products to make hires because like being a hater plays you know just being negative and and hating things and and the outrage and all that stuff it just you know it plays more than like could you imagine

Like some some famous name brands if they came out today people would clown the heck out of them you know it’s just harder to do that now so if you’re going to hire an athletic director 1982 is probably the best time to have done it you know when you have like the next

Day’s newspaper writing a couple graphs on what was said in the presser and that’s it then you move on your life and you go home and you watch like family ties or whatever but like today man people can just sit there and roast it forever yeah yeah you’re dissecting all

Of it like you said I mean it’s a it’s a 24-hour news cycle So you you’re looking at every single decision some of those would have never even made the paper made the news back in the day yeah column with uh requirements you have so

Many words you can fit into print uh but everyone’s got takes man it’s a it’s a wild era we live in right now where you know pretty much every on the planet can shout at every other at the same time and uh let’s get through it as humans and figure it out

But uh uh speaking of some some dicey stuff uh some turmoil Chris Holtman man um is running into January yet again and as the Ohio State Hoops coach uh bucks made it three straight losses with a 7365 l and Ann Arbor on MLK day that’s to the uh bottom feeding Michigan

Wolverines a really bad team it’s lost they’ve already lost like two or three buy games this season they’re like really bad uh bucks only had four turnovers just shot 12% from three three of 25 from three you’re not going to win many games doing that um you know wolver

Mar went on a 13 to4 run to close it out and and fans are pretty rightfully upset after that one and he’s so lucky he coaches the basketball program and not the football program because like he would have been gone like two or three years ago if he coached the football

Program what what do you say yeah yeah I don’t think there’s any doubt about that I I tell you what I give him credit he’s he’s a fighter like after the game he he knew like he knew what writers are going to he’s like I

Know you guys are going to write about a three- game losing streak like yeah absolutely cuz you know here it happens again kind of thing it’s January and you can’t win a game but you know hey the story’s not over hey you know there’s you know the coaches believe I believe

Still a lot of players in that locker room that believe so saying a lot of you know a lot of the right things but it’s just so tough I mean this team can just not close games they got on that 160 run to get back in the game and take the

Lead and then turn right around and give up a 13-4 run to close the game uh to close the game out and lose um but making shots has been a huge problem I will say I don’t if it’s in his defense or not I feel like they gotten some

Decent looks but Bruce Thorton and Rody Gil are just not they are just not shooting worth the damn and when that’s happening Ohio State clearly is not going to win a bunch of games Thorton three of 24 from three over his last three games um Rody Gale who you know

Lights up West Virginia for 32 he’s shooting 26% from the field overall in the four games since then and is just you know been a turnover machine most of the year but it’s also been pronounced during that you know that four game stretch that’s just amazing where I do

Put some of that at Holman’s foot like you’re talking about individual development here missing shots is one thing but constantly turning it over and some of these other things are another where you just can’t get Buckets late um so yeah pretty pretty painful stretch to

End up being what tied for 11th in the Big 10 standings with Michigan uh you know right now and you know after that that loss on uh Martin Luther King day um dropped Ohio State to the first like they’re still in the first four in like

They’re in the last four in basically in uh Bracketology and in uh Jerry Palm so hey better better start winning here pretty soon get to go see him play in Dayton to start the NCAA tournament they keep this pace up but like I mean this

Is a team I was joking you know what one way to not lose to a one or two seed in the second round is to you know be an 11 seed play play a good team early you can’t you won’t play him in the second

Round I this is a team that was like fourth in the Big 10 10 days ago 11 days ago and they’re 11th tied for 11th in the Big 10 right now uh 14 games left in the regular season you know Penn State Saturday who just beat you know a good

Ranked Wisconsin team at nebras on Tuesday they’re 12- one at home I’m sure that’ll be easy for hen’s dudes he’s 25 and 28 at OSU in the month of January and that’s like his knock you know they have like a really good preseason you know get some hopes up and then big 10pl

Hits you can’t weather the storm yeah it’s it’s amazing I mean just and you know when it slips to January it’s not as much as January what that really means is Big 10 play has started now you’re playing tougher teams night after night that you know probably have

Film on you know a lot more film on you from previous year and and all that kind of stuff and it it catches up to him in that regard and that 25 and 28 Mark you mentioned in the month of January since Holman’s been here if you take away his

First year he’s 17 and 27 in January uh in you know in every year after his first when he really leaned on a lot of thads guys were here now I got a lot more out of kbd op no doubt about it because kbd was healthy but kbd Jan Tate

Uh Caleb Wesson those were the guys on that first team that went eight and one in his first year in January so yeah if you throw that out which you can’t but just for perspective 17 and 27 in the month yeah um sorry we talked about bork

Earlier and he had some maybe some lukewarm comments he was very ecstatic about Ryan Day love clearly likes the guy but like with Holman he says you know he seems like a great guy seems like he’s doing a great job little shoulder shrug or too um didn’t like

Losing the game Monday that was more of a nod to play the Michigan stuff anything else but uh you know I said you got to win championships not for the faint of heart expects Championship how warm is his seat in your opinion yeah I mean I I think it’s warm

I think a lot of folks you know are hoping that this hiring of an ad is like well okay cool that means he can you know hman can be fired um because you don’t think Jean’s going to do it kind of thing but you know I also think I

Think jardy might even been the one that asked him asked the question but you know the question to President Carter was what some degree of like you know how would bork factor in any kind of decision-making kind of stuff and I feel like Carter was pretty Point Blank that

Jean is the athletic director until June 30th um we talked about what bork will do kind of riding alongside and we’ll see how those lines could maybe get blurred or or whatever but um I don’t think it’s as cut and dry as people think that when March you know comes

Around that necessarily they’ll do that now if they if Jean wants to do that I think the good thing is that Bor could be part of that process because you know you can always say you know like you said I want what’s best for the institution it doesn’t matter if it’s

Not you know my hire or whatever but everybody wants to get hired by who their boss is going to be for a good while right I mean even the the prospective coach you might go get I don’t think wants to be hired by Jean if that happened they want to be hired by

Bork because that’s who’s going to be their boss so I I don’t think it rules anything in or out I just yeah hoping you better get winning or it’s you’re gon to rev up that conversation a lot a lot deeper yeah I mean the fact that he’s a senior adviser for four months

Starting March 1st Bor is it it just introduces a new variable because like you know previously if he’s just coming on Fresh July 1st and just taking over Jee without that lead in time as a senior adviser then yeah maybe Holman survives longer cuz G doesn’t want to

Hire someone when the new guy’s going to be here but like if he’s working alongside him for four months and they’re in office talking every day you come out and say we you know we both thought it was the best move and you know he’s taking over he likes the move

I I thought it was time and then that’s that right yeah oh 100% I’m just saying I don’t think it’s 100% death sentence like a lot of folks are hoping it will be because they’re just over the Chris Holman experience which I totally get I’m I’m pretty much over it myself um

But there are 14 games left in the regular season evidence history says there’s no reason to think they’re going to get hot but he’s not going to get fired in the middle of the season so let’s you know let’s see what let’s see what happens here over this over these

Next couple months I mean let let him do his like sweet 16 run first let’s get that cooking and then and then you know make a decision um I I you know it’s the second best job in town behind the baseball coach which I still think is

The single best job in the city of Columbus as Ohio State’s baseball coach like you can go 500 every year make $400,000 and keep a job for 20 years like it’s the best job in town cuz fans like B go to any Buckeye fan in the

Office today walk up to someone and ask him what Ohio State baseball’s record was last season and no one in your entire workplace will be able to tell you what it was just impossible hell most of them don’t care about Major League Baseball anymore so they’re definitely not going to care about

College ball especially it’s hard to compete yeah yeah just different I mean that’s that’s what I want to eventually become as the Ohio State baseball coach so Jean if you’re listening uh Ross if you’re listening I would love that gig I don’t anything about baseball I mean but

I would still like the job uh a couple things to get to before we get out of here today uh CJ strad cooked the Browns over the weekend guy had 274 three touchdowns zero picks 45 to 14 win over the Browns numbers could have even been better man only threw like five passes

In the second half did not play their last two drives of the game uh just picked on Ronnie Hickman all day and it seemed to work out it’s funny cuz it’s like a guy he knew from PR’s like I know this guy he can’t cover you know let’s

Let’s go at it and sure he knew that guy and it was uh you know we know a lot of Browns fans half the you know mostly 11 Warriors staff as Browns fans and it was a good season for him man they kind of got to where they didn’t think they

Would with the quarterback situation you guys getting injured Nick chub leaving for the season and had a heck of a defense but hats off to CJ stra youngest starting quarterback to ever win in an NFL playoff game 22 years 102 days old led the NFL with 273.5 pass passing yards per game this

Season uh tough one for him in Baltimore this week but like who wants to bet against CJ Stroud right now like we talked a lot when we were on the radio and some of the other stuff we’ve done about how he was the best pure Pastor in

Ohio State history and it wasn’t close you’re just like that that guy throws balls that no one else here has ever accurate and he’s doing it in Houston now he’s he’s the real deal yeah imagine like you’re to me that’s right imagine you’re like a Texans fan and you’re like

Oh okay we got two really good draft picks this year Willie Anderson TJ strad and you’re like oh probably two three years away all of a sudden you’re in the second round of the playoffs man you’re playing about to play the number one team in the AFC at their place and you

Got a shot I mean Baltimore will probably win this game but like Houston has a shot absolutely has a shot with that guy throwing the ball yeah oh yeah like you said I mean it’s house money at this point and it’s if nothing else it’s just more experience for Stout as they

Look forward because this you know this franchise definitely looks like it has a bright future as someone who’s you know not an 11 more staff member who’s a Browns fan I I mean I I thought it was awesome all the way around Browns had a nice season for everything that happened

To them no doubt about it but yeah you touched on it man I mean stra just cooked Hickman a few times he looks like a 10year vet out there I mean he almost had a perfect rating I saw Jordan love ended up having a a perfect rating but

Yeah just a awesome awesome performance by CJ and uh yeah I wouldn’t count him out this weekend one of my favorite weekends of the Year man you got four just really really good games in the NFL and I’ll I’ll try to watch all of them

It’ll be it’s going to be cold I’ll be in I’m going to get some food and and do my best to watch them all other news Jim Harbaugh has interviewed with the Chargers and the Falcons already and it’s is this a new thing or did this

Happen recently I just one team are like we’ve interviewed so and so I felt like he used to be hush hush now they’re like bragging about we yeah he came by we interviewed him you know he he got some candy out of the candy jar on the I

Don’t feel like it’s it’s something you used to hear about used to be more hush and now they’re bragging about who they’re interviewing um you know I guess there’s some Rooney Rule stuff at play you want to probably publicize those interviews yeah got to keep score a

Little bit Yeah and keep your fan base engaged but does it also set you up for like if you’re the Chargers and those fans probably badly won Harbo and you brag about interviewing them and then you hire someone else I mean doesn’t not set you up to be like clowned on by your

Own fan base maybe the loss of some season ticket sales yeah I mean potentially yeah I do think it’s it’s odd how I’d never noticed it before either and now you got these you know like they’re they’re not just tweets or like social media Graphics it looks like you know AIO

State’s graphic team put something together like harball you know like theyve interviewed him and yeah if you do all that and end up hire some retread that’s been a coach at 10 other places and never done squat bring Jerry GL yeah yeah then it’s like okay yeah

Thanks for that that tweet about you know a guy that maybe the fan base was excited about but um but yeah he’s he’s going out there and uh you know doing what he always does every year he’s doing that and he’s also um supposedly negotiating with Michigan which is like

I love this because the Michigan like die hards they’re insiders who are just like massive Homer have been like he’s ready to sign this contract any minute now and it’s been going on like probably 3 months he’s supposed to sign this extension at least according to a report

From Yahoo sports he’s seeking language in this extension that gives him immunity from being fired for any result of ongoing in investigations and like I mean who wouldn’t want a deal like that I would like to have a deal in my workplace where I can’t get fired for

Breaking the rules like that I mean who wouldn’t want something like that he also evidently hates Ward Manuel the ad up there and had long stretches without talking he wants the ability uh you know he wants to neuter his ability to fire him he didn’t want the ad80 to be able

To fire him once it’s like a three-person committee decide any termination down the road he’s got a lot of Leverage man he just won The Natty they went 15 and0 he’s built a pretty good program and obviously he’s interviewing with NFL team so could not possibly have more leverage than he even

With the two suspensions and the lingering NCAA investigation he’s some has a massive amount of Leverage how’s that work yeah it’s not one you know didn’t even mention the 11 and half million a year that you know that they’re dying to offer them on top of you know trying to figure out these

Other things great yeah yeah yeah the immunity thing is so good because it’s like it’s just as fans you’ll believe either side of that coin that you want to believe right for Michigan it’s like for their fans it’s like well yeah it’s because enca is out to get him so he needs that

For when they railroad him or you know whatever you know other fans like high State fans are like yeah it’s something in normal you know person that proclaims their innocence all the time yeah they would definitely want immunity cont so yeah pick pick one of those ends of the

Spectrum depending on your your fan Allegiance and that’s how you justify it to yourself yeah I mean it’s almost like a Stockholm syndrome or like some like a battered spouse syndrome is’s like he only beats me when I’m misbehaved you know or something like that you’re like

Just he’s he’s who he is but again all this leverage w a Natty um incredible be fun to watch I do think he’s gone McCarthy Corum both announced are leaving uh it’s a team that will be a without you know a lot of talent next year compared to this year a lot of

Graduating uh seniors in depth on that team uh probably go 11 be suspended for eight games though and the whole fan base would still be like that’s okay they let them come ginna they would let him come pee on their couch and then try to get his autograph like they like can

Do no wrong up there and credit to him for creating that environment because uh it wasn’t that way four years ago and he’s kind of flipped it and uh you know like I said credit to him last thing uh spring game announced for April 13th you getting you’re uh getting excited for

That one this year oh yeah it’s always so exciting to watch it I mean build up great the build up is great watch this last year would have been good but you know Brown was hurt so that you know kind you’re like hoping to see a little bit of a quarterback duel

And it didn’t pan out no spring game’s fine it’s um easy to you know easy to hate on it because the thud like you don’t really see much football but knowing you’re going to get a look at Quinn Johan you’re GNA look at will Howard you’re a look at you know

Jeremiah Smith yeah it’d be exciting for sure right especially as you feel like the program is you know kind of you feel like rebounding from a couple punches of the face in the season yeah absolutely thank you so much for joining us making us a part of your morning uh we got a

Lot of big things coming still at some point we’re going to have some artwork done we can we can like expand the show and turn into a podcast and get some RSS feeds um that’s uh taking taking longer than we’d like uh we should just get Ms

Paint out and just just draw it you know and just just run with something but that’s coming soon um you know bear with us we’re getting there and uh but we’re having a lot of fun it’s nice to be able to get on here and say some bad words we

Could no couldn’t say on the radio and and absolutely and and and the other nice thing is you know we screw up say something dumb we can just edit it out because we’re not quite doing this live yet so did not have that luxury either

On the radio had to really watch what we said at every moment but uh thanks for making us a part of your morning uh stay warm um you know take care of each other