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It's time for a weekly PAC twelve conversation with Sen Jose Mercury News reporter John

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Wilner, brought to you by Simply Seattle. Our friends at simply Seattle dot

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fifteen for fifteen percent off anything at simply Seattle dot com. Here he is

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the outgoing pope of the pack, the incoming baron of the Big ten.

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I'd like to apologize to John Wilner Dick on behalf of not having any topics

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to discuss here on the radio program. Our friend John Wilner from the San

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Jose Mercury News. Johnny, how are you man? My head is spinning?

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Have you guys ours too? Yeah? Uh, in a good way

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though. Now. I mean, it's amazing things have turned for Washington and

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why don't we just kind of start there. I mean six days ago we

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were talking about Troy Dannon taking off for Nebraska, and within the next week

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you got a new basketball coach and Danny Sprinkle and a brand new AD in

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Pat Schun. How would you say anamara cause and you dub rebounded from the

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exit of Troy Dannon. I'd give him an a plus. Now, you

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know, Sprinkle I think is a good hire. The sample size is still

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a little bit on the small side, but you know, I certainly no

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qumbs with that higher the Chun hire today. To me, that is a

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home run for the Huskies. He is very, very good, very well

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respected in the industry. He you know, he's got every box checked for

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an AD, fundraising, chops, track record of good hires, and men's

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basketball and football, understanding of the college sports landscape which is changing dramatically by

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the month. He was on the NCAA Transformation Committee with SEC Commissioner Greg Sank.

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You know, he obviously he knows the Pacific Northwest. He's not gonna

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have the Troy Dannon culture shock issue, right, I mean, I can

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see Seun staying there for ten, fifteen, twenty years. I just there's

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no they should have hired him, you know, five months ago, right,

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that really, But I don't know why they didn't. I think they tried to. They tried to. He woned the Ohio State job. Oh,

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that's true. Ohio State was still open at that point, and he

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was waiting for that. That's yeah, No, that's a good point.

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But he would have been the home run higher for them back then and he

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is now and his you know, his understanding of the Big ten landscape is

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huge, right. He worked for Jeene Smith, Ohio State. He went to Ohio State, he's from Ohio, he's you know, they now now

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have a leader of their department who will be very comfortable dealing with Big ten

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issues. John, and and Softy, I want you to weigh in on this too. Do you guys think that we can now see this as the

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Huskies got their number one guy? They just had an interim for five months

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before the number one guy was available to come. Yeah, John, how

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about you? Yeah? Absolutely? It was like Dannon was the bridge to

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get to to get to Chun right that he wasn't available, so they hired

3:31

somebody else. They made a bad hire, didn't work out, and they

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ended up in a better place. I mean They're a way better place,

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there's no question about. It's crazy how things work out. And if you're

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Pat schun right, not getting the Ohio State job was a gut punch,

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right, That's that was his dream job. But you know this is I

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would have to imagine if you asked him, all right, you're not going

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to get Ohio State, give what's your other top choice? Washington might have

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been at the top. Yeah, I'm looking at the timeline for this.

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And by the way, to answer your question, Dick, yes, I agree. I would have been cool with hiring patchun back in October when they

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announced that Troy dan And was getting the job. And it's almost like,

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you know, look when they hired Troy dan And, the culture changed and

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for the worst inside that department. I mean, I'm getting the same is

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it a meme or a jiff for a gift, whatever it is, I'm

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getting the same thing back from people at you dub today that I got from

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them six days ago when Troy Dannon quit, and that is elation. They

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were happy when Troy Dannon quit and they were happy when Pat Chuhn was hired.

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So a lot of people inside the department whatever that means for people are

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thrilled with the hire. But I'm looking at the timeline. So ross Bjork

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was approved back in February of this year as the new ad of Ohio State.

4:47

So when Dan was hired in October, it certainly is possible guys at

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that point in time that Pat Schun thought he was in the mix for the

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Buckeye job, and that's why he's not here at Washington. But I want

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you to talk more job and again, John Wilner is with us courtesy of SIMP with Seattle. I want you to talk more about why you think this

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guy's the right fit for this job right now. Well, I think that

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the culture piece is huge, And to get back to your point, Softy

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about being a well received hire within the athletic department. Part of the reason

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for that is because everybody who knows who works in the athletic department knows that

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Jen Cohen and Pat Sewn are very close correct and see they see eye to

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eye on how you run a department, the culture that you want to build,

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the type of people that you want to hire, and the delegation of

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responsibility and accountability. They everybody in there knows what Jen thought of pat and

5:45

so I'm sure that's part of the reason why they're so they're so happy,

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And that's also part of the reason why I think he's the right higher for

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them, right. I mean, Washington, the state and the university is

5:58

different than most of the rest of the country. Right. You cross the

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Rockies and it gets different. You cross the Cascades and it's even a bigger

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culture change. And now you've got somebody who has been living in Washington for

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six six years, has spent a lot of time in Seattle, a lot

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of time on Yes, absolutely, so in that regard it works well.

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But also the biggest thing to me, and he's not going to have to

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hire a football or men's basketball coach. You will at least any time soon.

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Maybe can I not get it. We'll not get into the Florida thing

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with fish. But the biggest thing for me is that he understands the landscape.

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He understands the way things are moving, with the lawsuits against the stable

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A, with players becoming employees, with the media changes in media, with

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the college football playoff changes. He has a very good handle on all that

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stuff. And you need an ad who was one step ahead and not one

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step behind on all of these issues. College sports is changing, the evolution

7:10

is happening in real time. For real time, really, you need an

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ad who is going to see around the corner and not get caught unaware.

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And Chun is very very smart and those big picture landscape issues. Dick,

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let me just add one thing to what John said about the gen Co infactor,

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because I don't know if you'll ever be able to get her on record

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saying this. I don't know if I will either, but I can guarantee

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you this that when Troy Dannen took over the department and the stories began to

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kind of get out about what was going on behind the scenes, nobody was

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more crushed than her because she thought she was leaving that place in a pretty

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good spot, right and then when she finds out what's happening behind the scenes,

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she's crissfallen. I also can guarantee you this that Pat Sun would have

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been one of her if she had the ability to do it, hand picks

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the accessors to come to Seattle to take over this job. So when you

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say there's people in that department that know about the relationship between Jen Cohen and

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Pat Seohn, You're exactly right. That's why I think for him, guys,

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it's gonna be a lot easier than it would Troy Dannen to get things

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going in the right direction, because he's already got a lot of respect before

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John he even steps foot in that building, he's got respect. Oh,

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he's gonna be hailed as a conquering hero, no doubt what the folks that

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there have been through for the last five and a half months. There's no

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doubt about that. And you know we should. We'd be remiss if we

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didn't talk about Anna Marie cause, and certainly I have been plenty critical of

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her over the years on this show, and you know my columns, but

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you do have to give her credit here. Now. I don't know exactly

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what happened with Parker, right They hired Parker Executive Search to find them Troy

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Dannen, and that obviously went wrong. My sense is that Parker probably did

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this the extent to which they had to redo with Search here in the last

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week. Parker probably did a pro bono. But you do have to give

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Cows credit for recognizing that there was an obvious choice, you know, a

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few hundred miles to the East. Why wasn't he given the OSU job.

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He seemed like the perfect fit. He was the OSU guy. Why do

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you think that he didn't get that job? Because I'm sure some people are

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saying right now, probably Cougar fans, right, Well, if he's such

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a great ad for you, you dub, why didn't he go to OSU

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like we all thought he was. Well, that's it's an interesting story,

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right. So for many years there were three ads. Ohio State is considered

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the number one job in the country for an athletic director, because you know,

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you've got one hundred thousand season tickets and you got thirty six sports and

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you've got ridiculous amounts of money. Anyhow, So Jeane Smith, who's been

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the ad there for a long time, very well respected. He had three people who looked as were viewed to success, Pat Chun, Martin Jarman who's

10:01

at UCLA and also worked for Smith, and Heatherlikey who's at Pittsburgh and also

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worked for Smith. So his three former lieutenants were viewed as the favorites.

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But then this new president comes into Ohio State and makes a U turn and

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doesn't hire someone who's been at Ohio State under Jean Smith. He hires ross

10:22

Byorke from Texas A and m ross b Yorke, the architect of the disasters

10:26

Jimbo Fisher contract and hire ross Byorke, who has had a lot of questionable

10:33

moves in terms of NC double A rules with when he was at Mississippi,

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Mississippi State, I think it was one of the Mississippi schools. So it

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was a very surprising move when Ohio State did not hire a former Jean Smith

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Lieutenant Chun I have to think was crushed by it. That had been his

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dream job. And you know that happened the course of the winter, and

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then he was you know, at this point he knew he wasn't gonna get

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that. He's not OWSU alum obviously. I mean, fans want the fans

11:09

are fans forever, right, so they want their coaches and their ads to

11:13

be at the schools forever. But it doesn't work like that, right,

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And if you're not an alum, and you put in six years of blood

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and sweat like Pat Shunn had or even like Jen Cohen had at you dubbed

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for how long was she there in total? Like fifteen years, seventeen years

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and she went to Pou by the way, Oh that's right. So,

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but they're not a lums. It's a little different. You can't ask your

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ad or your head coach to be there forever, and fans sometimes forget that.

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John. I want to read you a tweet here, and I'll read it and then i'll tell you who wrote it after I'm done, okay,

11:46

and get your response to it. I think Dick knows who this came from.

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Some jobs you just don't take. But now I understand and believe the

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rumblings from inside the athletic department regarding his poor relationships, greasy move by Pat

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Chun, probably some celebrating going on inside the football office, and Bowler Jim

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with his departure hashtag go Koob's. That was written by Ian Furness, who

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does the show before Dick and I one to three every day on this radio

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station. What do you say to Ian about those comments he made on Twitter

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this afternoon. Well, again, I mean, I think, right,

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you can't if you're an alum, you cannot expect your ad to be there

12:28

forever, especially if it's not an alumnus. I think it's it'd be hard

12:33

for any Cougar fan to say Pat Chun didn't do a good job, right,

12:39

I mean, he's He's hired Kyle Smith, he got through the Rollo

12:43

itch fiasco with COVID, and you know their program. If you remove if

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you just focus on the things that were within Chun's control, which is not

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the collapse of the Pac twelve, they are in a much better spot.

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He did a good job there, and it's a tough job. I could

13:01

understand Cougar fans being upsets, especially going to the rival, especially after what

13:07

happened on August fourth, with what Washington did, right, I mean why

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it has been a tough slog for Washington State given the impact that Washington's decisions

13:16

have had on the Cougars. But I don't think you can blame Patch on

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at all. So now we get the Cougar's in the situation the Huskies were

13:24

in not long ago. They have no basketball coach, they have no athletic

13:28

director. Is is Kyle Smith the right fit at Stanford? And you surprise

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he went there? No? I thought that was the obvious. The only

13:35

surprise is that Stamford made the obvious move. I thought he was a clear,

13:39

the clear candidate for them. He wasn't going to want to coach in

13:43

the WCC again. He had been at San Francisco for three years and Washington

13:48

State's playing in the WCC next year. Right, to me, the main

13:52

reason that he fits thought Stanford is he spent six years at Columbia. Right.

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He won twenty games two different times at Columbia, so he is he

14:00

is used to recruiting with a highly selective admissions process, right, and that's

14:05

crucial for Stanford. I think he will do as well as anybody they could

14:09

have hired, given that they don't have much leeway with the transfer portal.

14:16

I mean, they're kind of playing with one hand tied behind their back in

14:18

football and men's basketball with the portal situation. I don't think that's going to

14:24

change just because Kyle Smith's in there. But to me, that was he's

14:28

as good as hire as they could have made. All Right, We got

14:31

to get to the PJ Carlismo comments. We do we kind of bear like

14:35

Pat Shun folks. It forced us to bury the lead here, John.

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I mean, if not for that story, we'd be knee deep in this

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already. So I don't even know how to get to this by the way,

14:45

you just play it. We had PJ. Carlismo on the radio show

14:48

yesterday, right, he's the former Sonic head coach. He lives in Seattle,

14:52

Seaton Hall. Does you know a lot of radio work for Westwood One,

14:56

So whenever John, we need somebody on talking college basketball or NBA.

15:03

You know, Pj's kind of one of our guys. And so I think

15:05

you Dick asked about the Zags and he just went off on this tangent about

15:11

a certain writer from the Bay Area that's drawn his ire, the guy who

15:16

allegedly covers the PAC twelve. It's the Bay Area guy that for some reason,

15:22

the Seattle newspaper puts him in all the time. All he wants to write about his coaches on the hot seat and second guest the PAC twelve.

15:28

After the fact, he didn't support you know, he was saying they were

15:31

only going to get two teams in. He didn't support Colorado. He never

15:35

thought Oregon had a chance. He didn't think they were going to do as

15:39

well in the tournament as they have. And now you know today it's after

15:41

the fact, winners and losers, and like Tommy Lloyd didn't know what he

15:46

was doing. He got, you know, his team to the Round of sixteen two years ago with Danny. He and Danny were in the same place

15:52

at San Diego State when Tommy won two games. It really bothers me that

15:56

Seattle newspaper has got to bring some guy from the Bay Area it doesn't know

16:00

anything about basketball, and he writes all these gossip columns and to cover basketball.

16:07

But I read his stuff on the PAC twelve and it disappoints me.

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I don't think he defended the conference enough. He second guessed it after the

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fact. And I know he doesn't know anything about basketball from what he's written

16:18

about the coaches. And wow, he loves to do coaches on the hot

16:22

seat, which I hate some guy from the Bay Area who knows nothing about

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basketball. Wow. But I read his columns. I do read him on

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a daily basis, though. I mean, John, we got to give

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you a chance to defend yourself here. Powell, Well, I mean that

16:37

was the first thing he trashes me. And yet he says he's reading the

16:41

columns, so you're a winner. But he's he's the thing is I mean,

16:47

he's right. I have been critical of the PAC twelve because the Pack twelve is very good, and the data supports that. Right, they wouldn't

16:53

have gotten four teams in the tournament if Oregon hadn't won the won the PAC

16:59

twelve automatic bid. Right, Coaches on the hot seat? Yeah, guess

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what, they're firing coaches left and right in the conference because the coaching wasn't

17:08

any good. I would say this to PJ if he thinks the product is

17:12

so great. Why was the PAC twelve three and twenty four against ap top

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twenty five teams? Why was it against other Power six teams? I should

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say, why was it one and six against the Mount West? Why did

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it have a losing record head to head against the WCC? Why are the

17:34

team seeded seven and ten and ten? Because it wasn't very good and it

17:40

wasn't very good because a lot of the coaching wasn't very good. And now

17:44

those coaches are getting fired and so the I mean, the proof to me

17:48

is in the results on the court. And Johnny Lowe, I totally agree

17:52

with you, Carlo get your tickets to the time. Yeah, I mean,

17:56

I love PJ, but on this, on this instance, I totally

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agree with you because we're getting the same thing in the ACC now, right,

18:03

all these ACC fans are coming. See the ACC was a great conference

18:07

this year. No, it wasn't. It was a bad conference that just

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happened to get a couple of good matchups and play a couple of good games

18:14

in March. That doesn't validate what they did the last four months, right,

18:18

John, That absolutely. And the thing is the pekwuov only has one

18:22

team in the Sweet sixteen, right, I mean, getting your teams in

18:26

the second round is a power conference. That's like the bare minimum. I

18:30

mean, you know, it's not like these Colorado and Oregon are in the

18:36

final four. And I would also say that they those two teams, they

18:41

had better personnel than their seasons suggest. They underperformed. Now, injuries played

18:47

a little bit of a role, but I'd argue that Colorado and Oregon had

18:49

better personnel than ten seeds. Yes, So look, I love PGA two.

18:55

I think he's terrific. And when he comes on the NBR down here,

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I think he's great. And I remember him coaching Terry Gahare at Seaton

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Hall. That's right, right, and Eton beatn to Arizona in the second

19:06

Sweet sixteen decades ago. I love PJ and I'm I thank him for reading

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my college. All right, point Wilner, we'll get We'll get PJ back

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on and get that. All right, man, listen, great stuff,

19:21

just absolute chaos, amazing how much is going on right now in college athletics.

19:25

And you know, I just I'll just kind of leave you with this that there's a lot of fans that are just kind of disenfranchised right now.

19:30

Right Like, I'm friends with a lot of Cougar fans that are like,

19:33

the hell with all this college football is broken? Blah blah blah, and

19:37

all this movement, you know, is just kind of really wearing on people.

19:41

You know, we went through this dick with Debor went through it with

19:44

Troy Dan, and you know, it's all gonna work out, I think with the ad and the basketball coach. But what do you say to college

19:48

basketball fans and football fans, just college fans out there that are just kind

19:52

of pissed off at the whole thing right now? Well, Unfortunately, the

19:57

thing I say is it's only going to get more chaotic because all the changes

20:03

that are happening the last year or two, it's only gonna get worse.

20:08

The transformation of college sports in the next two or three years is gonna make

20:15

the last year or two look like amateur hour, and that's It's unfortunate in

20:19

a lot of ways, but that's the direction the industry is headed, and

20:22

I totally get it. And the fact is, it is hard to be

20:26

to root for your players because they're changing every year, right And in some

20:32

ways women's basketball is in a much better position than men's basketball on the college

20:37

level because there's not as much player turnover and you can get behind them for

20:41

multiple years. The same players in your team's you know, wereant. Men's

20:45

college basketball has got a big problem with that, and I don't know how

20:48

it's gonna get solved because the transfer situation is just gonna get worse, no

20:53

doubt. The guy who allegedly covers the PAC twelve, Oh man, John

20:59

will elected? Is that going in his open? Now my life had been

21:02

alleged? Hey what not? The guy who allegedly covers the PAC twelve?

21:07

You know what? That should be on your tombstone, by the way, it's going in the open. The guy who allegedly covers the PAC twelve,

21:14

All right, John, great stuff, man, don't let it beat it

21:17

down. I love you. We're talking a week. I'll see you then. Thanks a lot, guys. All right, John Wilner with us.

21:22

We've got a break man. How about that? The big news of the

21:25

day, Pat Shun the new ad at Washington. How do Cougar fans feel

21:30

about it? Four nine four five one. Hit us up now on ninety

21:33

three to three kJ RFM. The guy who allegedly covers the Pac twelve