Volquest chats Tennessee basketball roster needs, transfer portal & revenue sharing chatter I GBO

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We thank you all for watching on YouTube and we certainly hope that you will become part of HQ with Grant Remy and Rob Lewis. I'm Brent's hub this Tuesday morning and guys, let's talk a little bit about

roster

building and talk about the chat challenges and where Rick Barnes and us are. I think we'll address this in general terms because it affects all sports, but Tennessee isn't bringing the Hammond kid on an official visit. um, I asked you two this question last week. Is it possible that this is not a complete list for Rick Barnes and not necessarily because he chooses it, but because of where you are trying to build your list, like if Chaz Lanir came here.

Grant, you know exactly what his role is, he knows what his role is. to be right, I mean it's an easy sell outside of that, what is Tennessee's sell to anyone else in the

transfer

portal

? Well I mean it's all up to Chaz lir like if T has been all in on Chaz they'll stay. everything with Chaz until they get some kind of answer, some kind of timeline or whatever, um, you have to get it at this point because you have three open spaces here in whatever the six seventh is, that is, the 23% of your scholarship list is empty and you need Chaz to step in and be that guy who takes the connection role and grades it for you.

The question is the other two places and I don't know if you'll find those types of guys on the

portal

. I thought maybe they left one spot open and another spot was going to be like a Ben Hammond who was a four-star or a four-star point guard in the 2024 class, but it's more of a development type, you know, hiding it.

roster

and he's not an option for you as a point guard going forward and for whatever reason that doesn't happen and that visit doesn't end up happening so I don't think you can get in a season, I don't think you should with two scholarship spots open , it makes sense to me to leave one open for the summer, Rob, as we've seen them do that before, um, but obviously it'll all depend on Chaz and then you have to figure out if you get Chaz what. you want to do it with one of those two spots I guess you want to fill at least one of those yeah I would I mean you definitely want to film needless to say you know all the chips in the middle of the table for Chaz. going, but I almost wonder, Grant, if this kind of sign of the times, if it's not going to be more difficult, you know, bringing in a kid that you know has no chance of playing as a freshman, just you know and you don't know, just because It's so easy to move around as a player, I mean, do you want to do it?

I mean, I guess I'm not saying that every kid you know will be like that, but I think a lot of kids, as you know, will want to go somewhere and play. as a freshman, knowing that they can, they can change or improve their situation, but you know again. I don't think it's widespread, but I do think you know we'll be sitting. here in April and May, you know that at some point it will be normal to have two or three scholarship spots open, not six or seven, but you know there will be a couple of guys who just want to wait, but, to your point, I mean, yeah I'm Tennessee, you know my experience with Aden Tobay and AD Zakai, and you know, late July or August, I think holding on to one makes a lot of sense and I mean, if you think about those two guys.

I'd like to know, or maybe we'll have Eric Kane look this up while he's at the beach this week, like how many programs have really jumped on kids like that late, who do you know helped you win games as a freshman? not only did he come in and be a done deal, but he really helped you win games as, by the way, tournament team. I mean, I'm sure Tennessee isn't alone in the sense that there are a ton of teams in college

basketball

, but I bet it's pretty uncommon. just pick up kids that time of year this summer, stick them on your roster and immediately zakai played probably 15-20 minutes a game on a really good incid tournament team.

I mean, zakai had been established in November when Tennessee went to Connecticut. and he played in that tournament and played at North Carolina and scored like 17 off the bench. I mean, that's how quickly he did it and that's how quickly it had an impact and I've heard Rick say this before and I think this is a line. you try to walk to where you want to fill spots but you don't want to just give someone a scholarship to give someone a scholarship you don't want to bring someone in unless you think they're going to help you in the future because If that person gets some kind of scholarship and that person is here for several seasons, so it's kind of wasted space if you don't think that guy is going to help you, then there's a very fine line between what you want to feel and what you want to have. the right amount of personnel like these two spots, in my opinion, will be development guys anyway if you get Chaz and then have two spots open, so they're not going to impact next season's team much. a lot, besides what you have on Scout team and practice and all that, maybe something you know, the last guy off the bench, so it's something you have to juggle and I think it becomes more difficult in the era of

transfer

s when It's easier for guys to move to where they want to feel in the place, but they don't want to just feel the place to fill the place and not be happy with how it looks.

I think they definitely need to think about leaving spots open and maybe give yourself a chance if you find something you like later in the cycle and how hard it is to fill a spot in the TR of the transfer portal and I think football looks at this from the running back's point of view like Well, I think this is a transfer portal question, not a Rick Barnes

basketball

program question, but if you're a coach, how hard is it to go out and convince a guy in the portal to be part of your program when you can?

I'm not offering that guy to look at the depth chart and say, "You know what, yeah, you're going to go there if I transfer there, maybe I'll get eight minutes a game, six minutes a game. Maybe I'll get, you know, eight carries a game." , but then, if I succeed." ignored by someone you know he thinks he's a younger player who's going to be better, you know what I'm saying. I like that it's easy to go all in on Chaz laner, right? I mean, Chaz laner would know it's pretty easy. to sell him what his role on the team would be, but if you're not offering, if you don't have that type of role, regardless of the sport, how difficult is it to go out and recruit someone from the transfer portal and get him? boy, well, I think it's a big thing, just huge, I mean, it was, you know, to a certain extent, I mean, we saw it last year with Tennessee trying, you know, at recruiting quarterbacks, ya You know, if you had met two scholarship guys on the list and I, you know, good looking.

You know, I bet it won't be the last time it happens to Tennessee or someone else you know at this level. I and yeah, I mean it's a fascinating aspect of your coaching that you didn't even exist twice. or three years ago, you know you didn't even have to worry about that and I think your point is a good one. I don't think a lot of fans you know necessarily think about it, it's not just about adding the best guy you know. Could it be adding the best guy you know, or is it not necessarily going to upset the apple cart?

I mean, it has to be clearly better and have a clearly defined role, you know that in most cases, or you know you run the risk of creating problems in the locker room and You know, on the basketball side, I think Tennessee probably I'm in a better place than most because I think they're very direct with the staff with their players about what their roles are, what their minutes are, what do you know. We're bringing this guy in and if we get him, this is what his role would be. You know, player X, you will compete with him and you know it.

So, you know, I'm not saying that. that basketball staff is perfect about it, but I think I'd be willing to bet that they avoid a lot of the Pratt Falls that other staff members fall into because they don't know, they play with kids, they know what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, The roles are going to be or what their minutes will be or what the competition will be like. I mean, when centers were asking that question, my mind went to Nico at the quarterback position and you need depth, there you want depth. there, but you know it's easier said than done to get quality depth at that position and it's the same thing, I think in Tennessee with Zaki Zigler, I mean, when Minnesota Elijah Hawkins came into the portal, Tennessee was on the list of 16 17. teams that approached him and he had really good numbers last year, a really good player, ends up at Texas Tech, but I mean, he's too good not to contact him, but also what realistic chance do you have of him coming here. and split the minutes at best with zakai or play two or change positions or whatever, that's the difficulty when you have a guy like zakai as a point guard St and a guy like Nico as a quarterback that you know will be the guy Do you have some guys here to be that depth piece?

It's like Rob talked about the new Chan, a new wrinkle, uh, a new one I don't know, you have to adapt and change and figure out how to make it work. this New Age guy, well, I think the other challenge is also because I would say, go ahead, Rob, go ahead, Rob, well, I was going to say that, um, what's your opinion, but I think unless there's a tie extreme as with the assistant coach. or you, your hometown school didn't recruit you when you got out of high school, you never come back. I think even by zero.

I think the first thing any kid looks at in any sport is the depth chart, it's the roster that is now going to be zero. one factor, you know what I mean, but it's you know the first thing and to Grant's point about the guy from Minnesota, the first thing he does is look at Tennessee's roster, oh, all the SEC point guards, no, you know, move on fine, but because you're Realistically, I'm going to get zero treatment wherever you go, it's not like it's not the only and the only really good opportunity you have is a school that has depth in front of you. , so at some point the null things I don't want to say cancel it, that cancels out, but it becomes pretty equal across the board.

I mean, no one is going to be drastically better off financially in a void deal than everyone else at their school; There will be two or three schools inside. the zip code is the same stage where you are in a void agreement and then it goes back to your relationship and your debt picture as a transfer, but those transfers don't want to settle, you know, I think the other interesting balance with this is? you? and it's not about disrupting the apple cart from a financial point of view, but about disrupting the apple cart from the point of view of youth and its development, I mean, if you have a young player coming in and he comes to your campus signed, locked up, and then all of a sudden If you bring someone in his position out of the portal, how much does that affect that guy's future in your program?

So now you're balancing that part as well and we're talking about Freddy Deon Rob. You've mentioned this several times, Freddy Deon knew everyone was coming back when he arrived in Tennessee in January. Freddy Deon wouldn't have signed with Tennessee, not because he didn't like Tennessee, not because anything wasn't good, it just wasn't like that. It wouldn't have made sense for him to come back here with everything he was coming back to, so how do you balance it and these coaches how do you balance immediately helping the young player's stunt development to the point that you could send? young player packing that's another level of this that I think is a pretty fascinating element of how to deal with roster management in all sports, obviously basketball at this time of year with all the chaos that's been going on.

No I just don't move on. I'll be real quick Grant, I want your opinion too because no I don't think it's just roster management, well I understand this maybe falls under the umbrella of reckless management, but it's also how you recruit, because Rick and his staff. I built this program with Admiral Scof Fields Grant Williams Kyle Alexanders, you know? I don't think you can do that anymore. I mean, if I just think about the development aspect and I and I, I hate it for this staff because I think they're great at it, I'm not saying it's going to go away, it's never going to go away, I think it's been greatly downplayed.

I think you can develop it on those guys if you mix in impact transfers as welland you don't say adult and log in every time you go to the portal, but someone who is going to come in and produce and be a great contributor and part of your starting five, your rotation, whatever and I think there are multiple categories for because I think the bishop Boswell is something that plays into this whole Ben Hammond situation because I agree that Tennessee was late with Bishop Boswell, they cover, they gained a lot of ground in that draft to get him and sign him in November.

He is one of the best. Hunter Prospect, a four-star kid from North Carolina, uh, and then Ben Hammond is also a point guard and you're bringing him into the process and he gets involved here, it's May, and maybe that makes you wonder what it is. going on there or I guess it makes you think from Bishop's point of view, what's going on here, why are they looking at this guy, he plays the same position, they already got me in November, something like that, so I think there's to balance that, um. I think what I mean is you look at a guy like Kade Tyson.

Teny was fully involved in Kade Tyson for a while. I also think if once Tennessee knew they were going to get Eigor Milic, if you bring in Kade Tyson and you're hindering someone. The growth of another person who is OB is already on the list, someone like a cam car who has a lot of advantages who the staff loves, who they think is G to play big minutes for them, uh, in the future and be a great part of the program, so I think you. I have to look at it from both a preparation perspective and a current roster perspective and then I think there are different categories for these guys that are in the portal like an Elijah Hawkins who is several years old and wants to go to somewhere and since Rob said he's going to look at the debt chart, he wants to be the guy somewhere.

I think there are other guys that maybe have a year left to play and haven't won a ton that want to go somewhere and maybe their roles diminish a little bit. a little bit, but they're part of a winning program that gives them a chance in the NCAA tournament to get through the early rounds and be a part of one of those races, so, these guys, these college coaches, they're earning their paychecks. pay with all the different irons in the fire and trying to adapt to whatever this new kind of chaos is, it's total chaos and it's fascinating to see all the different levels because it's not just so simple and so black and white Whatever it is and I think Rick Barnes has done it for an older coach, a veteran coach.

I think he has adapted as well as anyone in that age group at that level. He has adapted. There are other guys who just quit the game. I just walked away and said, I've had enough and Rick Barnes hasn't done that with the portal. He is EMB. The portal. The question is what is the next step to accept. You have to know? Rick Barnes is about. Hey, you have to earn it. to earn our trust you have to earn it to get on the court you have to play against younger players now if you're the basketball coach you have to do it I'm not saying guarantee them minutes you have to be willing to put guys there at an earlier stage, particularly if They come out with this rule that says you can transfer him midterm, how much do you have to adapt to that kind of thing and look, Rick Martin is not going to compromise the core values ​​of who he is but but where's the challenge with that?

I mean, you have a lot of time that Rob invested in tobay aaka right and and tobay left because he just didn't think the minutes were going to be there, right? I mean, that's it. a big part of why he left is not like that, yeah, I mean, that's the most important part, yeah, I mean, and I and for this staff, I mean, I hate, I mean, I just repeat that the aspect of the Development is not going to disappear. Not that it's never going to go away, but you just know, I don't know how many more guys at this level you're going to see like Kyle Alexander, who came in and you know he was a shadow, a flash of what he became, you know, four years later and he stayed and worked and, you know, so I think the key thing you said there about this particular show is that he wouldn't commit, I mean, he wouldn't leave, you know?

I've gotten to the point where the only way to play AES is to guarantee it 25 minutes per game. You know something of that nature and you know I don't see it getting to that point here, but you know I don't. I have something to add more than accumulate, I mean to his credit. I never thought he would get to this point where you know, he's not just okay with it. I swear, man, I think he likes it, but I think. He really likes, you know, the front office aspect, being able to plug holes and you know you know how to build your team and/or not really about Create, but you really grow your team in a significant way in a very short period of time. of time, you know, and I think it's great on the recruiting side, it's great on an official visit, you know, it's great on a home visit.

I think at this point in his career what he doesn't like is maybe going and sitting in a high school gym, you know, on Wednesday afternoon at two o'clock and then having to fly back and You know, he coached his own team in practice. I'm not saying he's not good at it, I'm saying he tried, you know? Knox watches film, but you know, when it's just the kid, the parents, the mom, the high school coach, the kid, I mean, he's as good as he gets and I think you know that's part of what you know he maximizes, you know his talents the way.

You know the transport portal, the way he's so hyper-compressed into two or three weeks of activity. I think he's put in the time to not feel like sitting in a gym on a Wednesday after, yeah, let me force myself to do that. It's clear he's been to a lot of gyms in 37 years or whatever his coaching career has been. I think he's adapted in terms of what he said and said it publicly, like you bring a guy in and he doesn't come back. to help you in the first two years, it's better that you don't bring him because he's not going to sit around waiting for two years and I think they've recognized that a little bit more and I think they've adapted in the portal like: are we going to bring this guy in?

Does this guy feel a blatant need or is this guy so redundant? Does it hinder the growth of anyone on the roster right now? I think that's adapting, but I agree with Rob I I think he likes the kind of uh, portal recruiting is like just parachuting in and doing it so fast and compressed, and they're not multi-year relationships, you earn , show up, you know, spend time on all that kind of It's a very compressed thing of two weeks, three weeks, whatever a month, uh, try to get you on campus, try to close the deal and see if you can get into this program and help and build this list that way, so okay, go ahead.

Last two things here, but before we move on to updating some other things and a couple more topics here, what's the number, what's the number in basketball, what do you think the number is in terms of how many guys you'd like to catch. because in the portal I don't know if you want five every year what is that number what is what do you think is the optimal number if you are a basketball coach if you were a basketball coach and secondly, the Portal evaluations are easier than that High School assessments are harder than high school EV assessments when you're talking about the cultural factor and all that kind of stuff when you only have two weeks to figure out who they are, instead of several years to have them on campus to see if they fit in. , I think it's easier, I mean, for this staff, I think it's easier for a reason, the character stuff, the behind-the-scenes stuff, I mean, college basketball coaching is a small community once you you get into it, so I'm not saying Tennessee is unique in that way, but I would say the connections that this staff has thanks to Rick Barnes and Greg Binsky, you know how long they've been in this game.

What I mean is that I think you can find out a lot about a kid in a hurry, or you know someone from his school or you know several people at his conference who have coached him against him, prepared against him, heard all about him over the past few years. two or three years and I think the Network level of intelligence that is available not only to Tennessee but to all the coaches for that type of things. I think it's hard to overestimate the amount of information they can gather and from people they've known for a long time, from people they have relationships with, and from me.

I think it's nice to have something on tape where you can see these guys against other great competitors. I think that part is much easier, don't you personally agree? It's going to be limited, especially if it's like a Northern Colorado D connection. You're going to have limited games against the Power Five, but at least you have some kind of film. I think that would be easier now at the same time that Rick has excelled like Rob talked about before in finding a zaka eagler and finding a Tob aaka and finding a Grant Williams who I believe was tied to the Ivy League the day before he committed to Tennessee , so I think you have more hard evidence on tape and how Rob is talking to other coaches and finding out who they are.

The guys are, but I think the staff has also excelled at finding some guys and finding out how good those guys can really be and how overlooked they were and doing a good job of identifying them and evaluating them in Recruiting Path Three. is three, your number would be three, it would be the maximum number that you would ideally like to have. I mean, I think it will obviously change from year to year, but I wouldn't want to bring more than three. or you know it has to be some unusual circumstances and we may be different, but I have awarded Grant the same.

I mean, I appreciate that culture is important in W as a factor in earning a lot more than before this old guy got here I mean I I I and and but for that reason I mean, I don't think you want to bring in that much new blood every year, but I think having some continuity with your standards and with your expectations is important, I think you're probably losing a couple of seniors every year, you're probably bringing in a couple of prep guys that you've signed to the Trail, so That's kind of a wash, so I think two or three would be nice. of Ideal because once it gets to be more than that, you're losing a lot through the portal, there's a lot of churn that's not going to be great year after year.

I think two or three is a good number, well, and I think the question is if you get Beyond two or three, are you really updating or are you just filling in the blanks correctly? I mean, you can look at two or three and you can upgrade or you can create a push, but when you get Beyond that, you'll go deeper into the portal. Are you going to get the quality of player to improve on what you lost, whether it's through senior through transfer or whatever, that's where I think you want to be besides the culture. look in your locker room you have to be careful that it's not that kind of rotation because I don't know if you can get the quality you know it's more about quantity than quality when you get to that level of transfer volume so Fascinating things among fascinating with the basketball front.

I think it carries over to other sports, as we also mentioned. The balancing act of everything that is happening for coaches in the transfer portal. Football is obviously focused on winter basketball right now and the chaos that has been, we will continue to follow if Tennessee brings in anyone else. We will do our best to update you on Chaz laner and what that looks like now that he couldn't go to the NBA. Combine, does that speed up the process? Do any of you think in terms of Chaz doing visits and doing a DEC mission? I mean, I think so, but that's just speculation on my part and I would say yes.

There's going to be a lot of speculation from everyone over the next two or three weeks, you know, what surprised me and what made me think that this might be a little bit of a different month of May than maybe I expected. I didn't even get an invite to the G League camp, which is, I think, 44 players out of the 78 that are invited to the NBA draft combine, so maybe that could change a perspective that, at least For me, it was pretty much yes. could get him into a way to really get into the recruiting aspect and eliminate the idea of ​​him potentially staying in the draft if he's not necessarily a factor with any of those D connect gets the Invite guys, it feels like he has a chance to being in the top 10, pretty established, not that he's there yet, but it's very realistic that he's a top 10 player in this draft, do you think that's what it feels like for you? he has a real chance to make it, I mean, and you know, I don't know, the combine will have an impact and I've read about the draft and I've studied it, but there are so many international guys. that they're in the mix that you don't know well, I mean, all I know is that I see their names on everyone, you know all the drafts and you know they're all over the place, but there's a you know how it's going to be resolved that's going to affect D, but man, he would be a top 10 pick for me, I mean, I mean, a lotGuys may say this, but man, you would really benefit from it. slide, I mean, you know that doesn't sound good, but he's a guy that could help a good team now, I mean, if he could come into a good situation and be, you know, be a rotational scorer for a good team in this moment, so you know if he ends up slipping and I think there's a chance that just because of his age and how people will distinguish him, you know, rightly or wrongly, I don't know.

I don't necessarily agree with that, but if he slides a little bit, I think he could be some kind of instant impact for a playoff team, there's actually tangible evidence that he's viewed as a top-10 team because of that roster. They released something that I didn't know about before because I never had to worry about it, but NBA teams released a list of the top 10 players in the draft based on rankings and scouting consensus and evaluations, and there are three levels and there are plus, the reason this is being posted is because there is additional information for these players, these 10 players have medical history, all that and just like the top tier players, he goes to the first 10 teams in the draft, the second level players. it goes to the first 15, I think, and the third tier goes from number one to 25 and Dalton Connect was in that third tier as one of the top 10 prospects in this draft as viewed by the NBA team, so I mean, it seems He is sure to be chosen in the lottery, which means he will be in the top 14.

Tessy hasn't had one of those in a long time. I'll tell you what I'm betting on. I don't pretend to know other people's games. As much as you know, we know him just from seeing him up close, he would be for me one of the safest photos, yeah, in this draft, for me, like I, I don't think you're really speculating, I think you're going to get a Rock solid guy who can score at the NBA level. He is older. He is older. He has matured. He's going to crush the interview parts and the work ethic and all that.

The training and all those things that people are going to see. Think about what Tennessee saw in him over the last three years last year and he's going to be a very good player for someone, well, a big month for him, obviously, a big month for Tennessee basketball as they try to close out their roster for the next season 2425. when we come back to the other side, a little update on football recruiting and a little update on the chaos that is the world of college athletics, including college football, when it comes to

sharing

revolutions and all the debates and discussions that exist with that.

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If you have roofing

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be sure to call them for a free estimate at 8655243074. Tennessee had an official visitor in town this past weekend an interior offensive lineman whose name I'm going to spoil but let's give it a try anyway it's Anthony uh ogore or ogoro excuse me, he's a guy who was in town last weekend, I think he had a great visit, he's a guard, I think things went very well for him and his family is important to him and I think That visit went particularly well for Tennessee, so we'll see what happens with that in the future, but that was the only official visitor to date for Tennessee.

He's crazy, we're talking about official visits. You might see the um of him, everything about him. He is originally from or is from England. Oklahoma, the Sooners are there. Kansas State is there, but I think Tennessee. They did a great job with that visit and put themselves in a very good position since he didn't say they were going to get him, but I think the visit catapulted Tennessee near the top of their list with Oklahoma and Kansas State, so "We'll see what happens with that, but he was in town last weekend and we'll see if he comes back to town for an unofficial visit or where he stands with his timeline moving forward as Tennessee not only works on tackles but also .working, too, the interior offensive lineman, this is a guard on the interior and of course we've talked about tackles forever and it starts with David Sanders, will he be here for 865 live We'll see how much Ohio State Lo. that emerges in that recruiting is that Tennessee's toughest battle for him, uh, of all those things, we'll talk about it on vquest and continue to update you on everything that's going on in the world of college football recruiting, as June is the new January and So we'll see what June looks like with all these official visits and obviously starting with the Memorial Day event. 865 live Tennessee baseball teams.

W number one in the country according to one of the 87 polls in college baseball Tony Vatello. You couldn't care one bit where your baseball team is ranked right now, but they are putting themselves in position to have a chance to win the regular-season SEC title as things continue to go well all spring. Sports at the University of Tennessee. Life is good. for Danny White right now, I mean, you're in the top 10 and basically everything that's happening this spring, you're building things like crazy, I think $400 million, almost $500 million worth of projects, uh, you've got going. We're talking about an entertainment district that you have going on, you're completely redoing your ballpark with the next phase happening for Danny White.

Life is going pretty well right now, but there are obviously concerns out there. Danny White expresses some of those um and some of his frustrations, I think that's probably a better way to put it in regards to where things are developing in the world of college athletics, we're seeing a lot about

revenue

sharing

, we're hearing a lot about the rev sharing agreement and what that might or might not look like um as they try to resolve, you know, this case before it goes to court in January, what's realistic, I mean, what, what, I mean we're throwing out all kinds of stuff right I mean 1.82 billion and share rev uh potentially allow scholarships to be filled out um we talked about it in the basketball guys maybe they can transfer it midterm proposals that basically unlimited staff and football if you want, you'll be able to designate different people to go on the road if you want, where an assistant coach, if he's not a good recruiter, doesn't have to go on the road, but you can put someone else on the road.

How stressful if you are an ad right now, life is the same. Although you are earning a lot of things, how stressful is it if you are an advertisement right now? I mean, I guess it depends on you knowing you know a lot of different factors, but man, there are a lot of moving parts. I mean, I just want to say that the bunch of things that you recited there are things that we didn't even think were possible, you know, 20 years ago. I don't know, possible, maybe that's not the right word, but you know, it's not something anyone was thinking about.

I was talking, I mean, you just know things that didn't even exist, I mean, I said 20 years ago, I mean, 10 years ago, eight years ago, you know, five years ago, yeah, for some of that, I mean, The landscape is just I mean. changing at the speed of light, I mean, for many different factors, I mean, none, you know, certainly, one of them, the lawsuit that you mentioned, another conference realignment, I mean, television contracts, there are, I want I mean, there's a lot going on, and I'm not talking about this. to put anyone down, I'm just saying, you know, you called athletic directors, you've known CEOs for a long time and that's not even an ironic thing anymore, it hasn't been for a while, I mean, you have I guess what I'm saying. it's just you know, the days when the old football coach retired and you know the office changes are long behind us and again, that's not to denigrate anyone at all.

I'm just saying it's just a different job, it's a different job now, it just requires a different skill set. I think what you need to know about Danny is that everyone asked him at the Big Orange Caravan in Nashville about the SEC football schedule and about eight games or nine games. and he basically said he hadn't even thought about that because we had a lot of other things to think about and 10 years ago, if there was a change to the SEC football schedule on the table or the possibility or whatever, that's from everything we would talk about. day after day until there was some kind of resolution, especially in May at the beginning of the summer, I mean, that would be the first thing you would ask the ad, that would be the first thing the ad would talk about that they would want. going to One Direction or the other one and the fact that Danny says I haven't even thought about that because we have more pressing problems because you're talking about

revenue

sharing, you're talking about unlimited transfers, I mean hubs, the things we're talking about of a basketball player potentially playing for one team before Christmas and another team after Christmas.

I mean, the world is upside down and anything can be described as realistic at that moment because of the craziness we are experiencing. Like I'm waiting right now, yeah, I mean, and again, Danny White's stress level isn't as high as other ads because Tennessee is where Tennessee is right now. I mean, financially they're very strong, they have a passionate fan base. ahead of the curve at zero in many ways and I think now that you're allowed to have that relationship, I think Tennessee's relationship with Spire has morphed and become more of a marriage, so you have someone who is competent in the collective side doing business the right way, there's nothing like fly by night with that deal, um, all of that, I think you know, goes in the direction of taking some stress off of you, but man, when you start talking about2 million and then you will have to pay part of the settlement, the schools will have to pay part of the settlement, so the NCAA will retain a couple of million dollars a year in its revenue distribution for you, um, the possibility that you can become and and Your participation in the revolutions lets you know that all baseball scholarships are full.

I mean, everyone in baseball could have a full scholarship. How does Title Nine influence that? I mean, there are so many different levels of that, that's crazy that it keeps me thinking. is the end of all this, the reality that you have to have a collective bargaining agreement and that student athletes have to be employees, I mean, let's put a band-aid on it, yeah? We're trying to do some kind of revenue sharing model where we incorporate still zero and all these fronts, and you know, Danny talked at the SEC or at the big ARS Caravan about stop, let's stop the mosaic, let's stop the sple and let's stop Trying to plug a hole here and there and go fix things is the solution, a collective bargaining agreement is that realistic, that's where this is going in everyone's opinion.

I mean, I don't pretend to know the answer, but hello. I agree with Danny, I mean, it has to be something big like that. I I mean, the phrase I agree with is mosaic. I mean, I think that's what has to stop. You know you're just, you're like you stay. your fingers and you know, and plugging, plugging, you know, a different hole in the, it has to be something big, whether it's a collective bargaining agreement, you know, I don't know, I mean, does it, does it include all the sports, only includes football? only includes American football, basketball.

I don't pretend to know the answers, but I totally agree with your point with what Danny says, it has to be something big, you can't just keep fixing the next little thing that you know, you'll get there eventually. You have to fix the roof, the whole roof, you know? That is necessarily a bad thing. I think people hear that and think it's going to become the NFL and they're going to lose what college football is. I think you can preserve what college football is because the players already get paid. You know, like us. We're talking before that the changes between five years ago and now are drastic crazy and wouldn't it be incredible to go back to 2019 and try to describe what 2024 would be like.

You have to go to yourself. We have to follow that model that if you don't want unlimited transfers you better have contracts and multi-year contracts and these guys better be employees and if they're going to be employees they better have a union and they better have a union representative. better to have an Upshaw gan and a collective agreement and you know, revenue sharing, you know what it isIt's great to talk about it, but it's going to be, you know how hard it's going to be to work out all those details and figure out what it is that you want. to seem like, I mean, when I look at college football specifically, I mean you look at the power conferences, it's almost like you go ahead and separate yourself from the power conferences and, uh, whatever the non-power conferences are. power, I don't know. what's the label for those that advance, but and somehow make it more of a geographic region, almost like conferences like the National Football League because you're moving toward a 12-playoff, whatever the team, no matter how many there are In the future, you better start modeling yourself after the NFL and try to keep college football being a part of that, uh, and something like that.

Follow that model because right now it's going to be kind of pure chaos until you know that all those things in the future are resolved and you figure out what that alignment would look like. Well, I think it's interesting because college football can split up, the NCAA is going to do everything it can to keep the basketball side under its umbrella because of the finances involved there to pay for other sports championships, so they're going to fight like crazy to hold on. to basketball, but how much do they fight to keep football? And you steal? Are you right?

Or does everything have to be general and I think the first step for us to perhaps see a separation, no matter how small, is that I read an article over the weekend, no one in the Big 10 thinks that non-profit driving is secondary. . You know, outside of basketball, outside of basketball and football, they're necessarily going to be long-term members of the conference, like if they didn't think that USC and UCLA would travel to play baseball and softball in the Big 10 they would. This is crazy because we could play well with the banana slugs and we can play with the matadors and we can play at UC Irvines and all the schools in California that are frankly, better baseball schools than the big 10 schools and it's a lot cheaper for us to do that and the big 10 will say okay if that's what you want to do, if we get to that point and Rob, you have I've talked about this a lot about the bike, it doesn't make sense, right, if we get to that point, The first step in a real separation is that they are not all in one conference and they are not all sports. it's not the same, so to speak, I mean, for me it would be, I want to say that and it's just common sense and again, you, you, to me, it's like beating a dead horse a little bit because I've talked about it, but already You know, send the soft, you know, Maryland.

The softball team goes to UCLA for a series, you know, it's not the same as the football team going there, you know, like they're used to it, you know everything, everything you know, which is normal, so That part doesn't make sense, I mean. I'm really encouraged that you read and hear things like that and it makes a lot of sense, I mean the coaches, the players, the players' families, that's hugely affected, you know? I don't know how many people are thinking about that, I mean, how much do you know, how much of the decisions of these kids, you know, these secondary sports, about where to go to school, so that their families can watch them play, you know, you know, get the car. and I drive to watch him play like, you know, and that's, you know, he's been thrown out the window, so I really hope that he moves in that direction, it seems like it would make a lot of sense for him to move in that direction and I think.

There is already a basis for separation, but based on the playoffs because the NCAA has nothing to do with the football postseason, they don't have, you know, you don't, you don't see the NCAA logo on the field for the bowl games, for the playoff games, um. It's not the NCAA tournament, uh, I don't know why the NCAA would want to start football because of the headache that it presents and I don't know, I don't know what kind of money it makes them, I mean what Hub said. It's true that they need to be fully involved in basketball because it's the NCAA tournament, it's March manhood, you have copyright, you have an NCAA logo on every floor, every game in the tournament you're handing out the trophy, the NCAA tournament championship trophy, has the NCAA. written on it like football already has its own postseason.

That's the basis for separation, that's the only basis for separation you need because that's the only thing that matters, that's what you really hold on to, like that tournament , the basketball tournament makes the NCAA money, the football postseason does nothing for the Inc style, if you can, if you can survive that long with a separate postseason for football. I think football can separate itself and do its own thing well and you have to have the NCAA basketball tournament in to have wrestling championships and track and field championships and the College World Series and the Softball World Series because if that goes away, then those championships as we know them are in danger of what they could become.

Here's a thought someone put into me and the NFL. He got into my head over the weekend and we're going to close with this. What would life be like if you reached a collective bargaining agreement? Let's use football, for example, if you go to a collective bargaining agreement in football and you're signing contracts with guys and you're making them employees, what would the life of a coach be, how much easier would the life of a coach be? if, within that collective bargaining agreement, you did what the NFL did and ripped up the contracts. kids out of high school this is your limit this is what we will pay this is what you will pay in your void agreement in the first year, okay and then we will review it after the first year to see if there is a renegotiation type agreement, TRUE?

If you've done it and you're worthy of more, then you can do it or you can become a free agent, but how much better would a coach's life be if recruiting wasn't limitless for everyone to have everyone? some equality in terms of the salary deal because, to me, I look at a guy like James Pierce, James Pierce is what you think is supposed to be right, he probably had a little effort to get him and then he makes it big and he got more for what he's done on the field, which is what the NFL said after the Sam Bradford disaster, right where he got hurt a million dollars, it didn't matter at the time, then they go to the rookie tryouts, they go to contracts at a level level, how much easier would a college coach's life be if you're on a collective bargaining agreement and you're recruiting?

You were limited in terms of what you could do to get someone to come to your school. Yes, I think I think. You probably have about a 100% signup rate, you know, everyone's interested in that, right? I'm crawling, I'm crawling over broken glass to get it, because what we've learned in the null area is that these kids are going to ask. for crazy things like they are going to ask for a huge number now they may not get it, but they are going to ask for it and at some point they are going to expect a crazy number, I mean some from the university.

The basketball numbers the last month have been crazy, so for a coach it's out of your hands, so he's out of your control, like I want you at my school. I can only give you x amount of money according to the rules, it makes my life so much easier. and I think it makes your life easier in the locker room because the guys that just got here are not the highest paid guys in the building and you are, I mean, and the way things are now. It means a kid takes a shot at the NCW tournament, his agent, his agent will come for more money from that school in the future or we'll try the portal on the free agency market.

I think the coaches would love that. Well, I'll tell you something else that would eliminate displacement, we talk about this a lot, it would eliminate the you know, the whole common plan of, you know, a representative of some children who tells you, you know a school, you know, this is the number that have. I got it from B school, you know, if you can't get to that number, then that's where we're going, I mean, that would take that trick off the table or, I don't know, maybe you're still like school one says I'm a level one guy.

The school also says I'm a level two kid, but I still think it would simplify things immensely well and I think it's more for the high school kid. coming in because, oh yeah, 100% because you're paying, you know some places are paying a lot for a potential deal, you know a lot of money on what someone could be versus what they are, I mean, you haven't shown it yet, whereas the NFL with the rookie contract, you have to prove it well. I mean, now I understand that first round guys make more money than third round guys, so I'm not saying it's exactly the same, but there's a level of testing now in the NFL where right now.

In college sports there is no level of testing before arriving. I mean, everything about the NFL is getting to the second contract. The NBA has rookie deals. I mean, you have to get to the second contract. That's where you arrive. You and Max get to those things. I wonder if that's a point where a collective bargaining agreement could get you somewhere there to balance out the chaos and the rollercoaster because all it takes is for one school to overpay, whatever it's worth. You're right, I mean, if a kid asks for something and a school is willing to pay for it, there you go, whereas if you're in some kind of structured system maybe it makes things more manageable.

I don't know, I don't think that's the case. We're a million billion miles away from being there, but four and a half years ago I didn't think we were a billion miles away. I thought we were 10 billion miles away from where we are now. But it's wild, there's a lot of stuff going on even though it's the offseason, we have basketball stuff, there's all this talk about rev sharing, what that looks like, what it turns into, what it doesn't turn into. , um, while they're trying to get to some kind of, I mean, their meetings early next year. week in the SEC and Grant, you're right, Danny's right, they're not going to put these announcements in the meetings, they're not going to talk about the calendar, I mean, it's at the end of the agenda, right, it's Z, it's Z and it whether you got from Z because from a to until you get to Z is much more important than whether you're playing eight games or nine games, which was the hottest topic you knew three years ago when the SEC announced that Texas and Oklahoma would get in and not It's a -The factor thing is now in college football, but the announcements will be at the SEC office, they're actually there this week, doing some meetings, we'll see if some Whispers come out of that before we go to Destiny Florida at final. of the month a lot of things happen, um, we're going to talk about all this on vquest, we're going to talk about it here on the podcast, like we do each and every week, we'll have the mailbag podcast coming up. on Thursday, a lot of football stuff is going on right now, baseball is obviously chasing Chaz Laner and everything else that's going on in the world of college football or college basketball right now.

I hope you enjoyed this conversation a little differently today on a couple of topics I hope you enjoyed just some of the debates and discussions about chaos and how coaches have to handle chaos and some thoughts on everything that will be done in this edition from the volquest.com podcast hosted by our good friends at Exterior Home Solutions this is Grant Remy and Rob Lewis thanks for your time guys we appreciate it thanks for subscribing thanks for listening thanks for liking and thanks for being a part of volquest.com who is going to do it For this edition everyone have a great day.