Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, the baseball coaching search is officially underway. We have kickoff times for the first three games and my thoughts on the playoff expansion. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:56] Okay.
[00:00:58] Welcome to episode 391 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. Hope you all are having a great week at Gamecocks. A short week with Memorial Day being this past Monday. Hope everyone had a safe and fun and as dry as it could be. Memorial Day weekend, I mean, insane. Just. Of course, it's beautiful for weeks leading up to it, and then you get to Memorial Day and you can't even be by a body of water because it's just so gross and rainy. But nonetheless, hope we are enjoying a short week here and are ready for a good weekend ahead. Got a few things going on in Gamecock Nation that I wanted to dive into and then going to take a step back towards the end of the episode and talk a little bit about what's going on with the, you know, just this conjecture and this rhetoric that we're seeing around the College Football Playoff. It is a slow news time of year, so figured, why not opine? That's a great SAT word for you all. Why not opine on this? That impacts us all as fans of college football and part of this greater wheel that we are in. But let's dive into Gamecock news and notes first. I alluded to it last episode, but I think it became like, officially official last Friday, so after the episode dropped. But it. I mean, the writing was on the wall, but Monty Lee and the entire coaching staff have been fired.
[00:02:39] And thus an official search has begun at University of South Carolina for our next baseball coach.
[00:02:47] So it's a very interesting time.
[00:02:51] Everything that you read and everything that you see is that it still is a very well respected program to be the coach of. Everything that we're seeing is that there's going to be even more resources put towards the baseball program, which was already towards the top of the country.
[00:03:10] I think we were maybe top 10 in spending, which is incredibly ironic. That could be totally false, too. But we put a lot of nil resources towards baseball the last season with minimal results. But this is Jeremiah Donati putting his chips forward and saying, I understand the importance of this program and we're going to do everything right now to make it even more attractive, and I'm going to give the future coach every reason to succeed.
[00:03:43] And I've talked about it before. But it's an incredibly interesting position that we find ourselves in where, you know, when Monary was hired, the general feeling in the fan base was that the team wasn't all that bad. Like, you were coming off of. You had been in the regionals, you know, you had done some success in the postseason. It was just not the level of success you wanted.
[00:04:08] Now the. The team is not very good. Like, the team has not performed well at all for, for two years. And so whoever takes this job needs to be prepared to build something essentially from the ground up. Like, yes, you're going to have some name recognition in your brand.
[00:04:27] You're going to have nil resources that you can put out there to fill some gaps immediately. But whoever the next coach is needs to have a plan for three, four and five years as to how do I get recruiting back on track in the state A, in the region B, how can I better use the resources that we have in the facility?
[00:04:53] You know, what are other teams doing to success with the portal that we can emulate? What are some things that teams are not doing well in the portal that we can avoid? And what have I done in my past role that I can carry over here, culture wise, assistant wise, can you bring any of your players? And things like that? And so it all begs the question of, like, what are you looking for, for in the next coach?
[00:05:19] I touched on it a little bit last episode, but I've been thinking about this more over the last week and like, it's a little different with, with football coaches and things like that.
[00:05:33] But like, I think a name that everybody wants or at least is expecting to be in the conversation is Schnall Schnauzer at Coastal. And I think he's a good ball coach, but you look at what his resume is, and it's a very short stint as head coach at Coastal.
[00:05:55] Coastal had been built a winner by his predecessor. And granted, he was on staff there, probably learning a lot, but it does beg the question of is there? And again, I'm not saying this is the case, but you can make a good argument that he was handed the keys to the Ferrari and he brought some new energy, a new voice, and the guys responded and they went to the College World Series Right.
[00:06:23] This year a little bit lesser of results. My understanding is they've had to deal with some injuries, but they're still in the postseason. Right. So you have back to back postseason appearances right off the bat as head coach.
[00:06:37] But is that the guy right now that South Carolina needs someone with two years of head coaching experience who inherited a really good ball club.
[00:06:48] How is he going to handle the adversity that is South Carolina baseball right now?
[00:06:55] Now, don't get me wrong, if we hire Schnaul, I'm going to be excited just because of what he did in such a short time. And I think he brings the attitude that this program needs.
[00:07:07] But then there's a couple of other names out there that have been floated on hot boards and, you know, the Twitter sphere and things like that. And it kind of gets you thinking, you know, one name that's intriguing to me and again, I didn't know anything about this guy until like a couple of weeks ago is Dan Fitzgerald at Kansas. He has a really strong winning percentage there. But what I like about it is he's been the head coach since 2023. So you have a little bit more of a proof of concept, for lack of a better term. Right. Like, I, I know it's not by much, but you have, you have a little bit more time to say, like, okay, this is what this guy was all about. Right. And he had been a assistant head coach prior to that. So, you know, the, the fact is there are other names out there that I expect. Jeremiah, Don, call. Right. And I don't necessarily think this is. You're going to cast like the widest net possible. I think he's probably going to say, hey, I can put together a list of five names and we're going to get one of these guys because of everything that we have to offer. But remember, like, Donati is not from the sec.
[00:08:19] Donati is not from South Carolina. Right.
[00:08:23] He is going to say we can maybe take a little bit of a different perspective on this.
[00:08:29] And I would not, I would not be surprised if someone who makes it far into the process or gets hired is from, you know, a Big 12 school or something like that. Right. I think Donati is going to say, we need a winner. We need someone who has proven that they can do this. We need someone that, who we believe can build this thing up the right way.
[00:08:52] And if that's Kevin Schnall, fantastic. I'm all for it. He has ties to the state, recruiting wise. There are certainly guys that Coastal who would probably love to come and play for South Carolina. I think that is someone who in the short term, like, maybe there is some things he can bring, but I would not be surprised if it's not that. And I think a lot of our fans have zeroed in on Schnaul and all. I'm Saying is I think there are certainly coaches out there who would fit the bill and maybe have a longer Runway. But nonetheless, it's a very important hire. I'm excited to see what becomes of this. Rumors are bound to happen in the next week or two. I know there's the postseason and all that to be considered, and that's going to make things very interesting. I think you'll get a good idea from that. Like if Coastal, for example, like, you know, were to make a big run or one of these other teams that there's rumors about and you're not hearing anything like maybe that's the coach we're we're talking to. So going to be very interesting to follow along. Of course, I will bring you all up to speed with any news that comes about between now and then the next few episodes.
[00:10:02] But shifting gears here a little bit, I saw a very interesting piece of news and it was that we are a hundred days away from kickoff and I just cannot believe it. Like, it's crazy to say because, like, it's just feels like it's been so long, but at the same time it feels like we just wrapped up that season there. But 100 days, probably by the time you're listening to this, it's under 100 days until South Carolina football is back. And we got a little bit more clarity into what next year is going to look like as the first three games, kickoff times have been announced.
[00:10:42] My understanding is that the windows, the kickoff windows will be released at some point next month. So if you remember correctly with the TV deals now, it's a little easier for the SEC to plan ahead. And so you'll know soon that, for example, the Kentucky game is going to be like in that early afternoon window or you know, the Tennessee game will be at night and some of this other games will be mid afternoon. So you'll have an idea of what noon games we have, what after, you know, mid afternoon games we have and what night games we have. But right now we have the first game, the opener, September 5th against Kent State, kicking off at 12:45.
[00:11:29] Early kick for the opener.
[00:11:31] And you better start hydrating now if you're planning on attending that game because it is going to be cooking in Williams Bryce. But that's how it goes. You know, you look across the country, teams play at noon every Saturday. Teams in the SEC play at noon every Saturday. It's going to be hot.
[00:11:52] The guys will stay hydrated, they'll be shaded and maybe we get blessed with a shady breezy day.
[00:11:57] Second game against Towson is the first night game at Willie B. 7 o' clock kickoff, that's going to be electric. I mean, first night game, you know, hopefully you're starting, you know, aiming for that 20 start that should be just a party by the third quarter. And then the third game, September 19th, is the SEC opener against Mississippi Bulldogs. Excuse me, the Mississippi State Bulldogs. And that's at 415.
[00:12:26] So that's, I mean that's probably my favorite like time, right? Like I, I love that four, four o' clock kick. Like, don't get me wrong, if I'm going to a night game, like 100%, like that is so sick. But that 4:15, because you get that fourth quarter that's maybe like it's dusk. And especially later in the year, that 4 o' clock kickoff when the second half is pretty much at night, like that always makes for a really fun transition. And it, it, it made me look at the schedule again. All of this and you're starting your first three games here at Williams Bryce, the first two, you would like to think we could be on the right side of this one. So you could very much be 2 and O with a lot of momentum staying home against Mississippi State, a team that improved marketably last year, but still not the best record wise. I don't really know what they've been up to down in Starkville, but that feels like a game that should be one that you hope can get on the, you could have a great chance to be on the right side of it. So it's, it's a very interesting start to the season. It's a very exciting potential there. I think it's pretty good times. You know, we're not looking at the like, what was it like 7:45. We had some kickoffs like for the SE State game, and then that game ended up at like one in the morning because of the weather delay and it was just a whole headache. So I think it's a pretty good break everything considering with these three games. But it's crazy because with the three games at Williams Bryce, there's only, let's see here, there's only one, two, three, four games after that after Mississippi State that are home.
[00:14:05] So it's great that you start with the potential to have a lot of momentum at the start of the year being home. But it's crazy because you think about your travel plans and whatnot. And there's only a few selections after that and it begs the question like, yeah, we have Towson at 7 o' clock. But what other games here the rest of the year at Williams Bryce would be great for a night game? I'm looking at two in particular.
[00:14:31] Give me Tennessee off the bye week, October 24th. Give me that under the lights. Because if memory serves, the last time Tennessee came to Williams Bryce was when we put 63 on their ass and at night and ran out of fireworks. So that would be an electric time for that game. And then you look at November 21st against Georgia, that being at night, to have that game, that rivalry renewed would just be absolutely incredible. So I am waiting with bated breath for the remaining windows to be addressed, to start planning my travel, what games I want to go to.
[00:15:13] And it's just. The countdown has begun. It's crazy. Under a hundred days. It's gonna be here before we know it. You don't want to wish summer away. I feel like I say this every year. Like, summer's fun, you know, you get to be outside, hang out, do whatever, go on vacation. Work tends to be a little bit more lax. There's no school, but damn, do I love the fall and do I love me some Gamecock football? So, like, as much fun as this summer might be, get me to September. Just wake me up when It's September at 12:45 at Williams Price.
[00:15:48] But with the last few minutes here. Yeah. I wanted to touch on some of this conjecture that we've been seeing about the playoffs. I mean, it's. It's talking season, right? Like, ultimately, like, that's what's going on. But, you know, the movers and shakers of college football have been talking for a while now, and they are looking at media rights deals, expirations. They're looking at their own agreements, expirations. They're looking at all of these things that are going on in college football, and they're trying to think of what to do next.
[00:16:17] And I'm going to say this off the rip. This is not a unique take. Plenty of people say it, but the powers that be, like, the decision makers of expanding the playoff and all that jazz, like, as Josh Pate likes to say, the people that run college football hate college football.
[00:16:37] And this constant change is doing nobody any good.
[00:16:42] And I hate this argument that we're seeing out of the Big Ten of accessibility, that we want to expand the playoff to give people more access to it. That's B.S. okay, that is absolutely B.S. it's dollars and cents. And I think this all speaks to, like, not to get on a soapbox here, but just, like, a lot of like the society that we live in, that just enough is not enough anymore. Like, we got the four team playoff. That was a radical change that, that bucked decades, right?
[00:17:17] You got the four team.
[00:17:18] It had warts and all, but we had it. And I think people were like, all right, this is interesting. But in reality, like if we expanded it a little bit, like we could actually have like a pretty competitive playoff and maybe get like an underdog team to make a run.
[00:17:33] You got to the 12, which again is far from perfect.
[00:17:38] Sark at Texas was saying the other day that it's not really 12, it's more like 10 when you add the G5 and some of the automatic qualifiers. But nonetheless, you know, I sit here and like when it was 12, I didn't buy the argument of it ruins the regular season. I still don't buy it.
[00:18:00] I think 16, you're on the border of it devalues the regular season. It certainly devalues those last two weeks. That's without a doubt. You can have, you can have a, you know, a 10 and one Ohio State and a 10 and one Michigan and they face off the losers probably still going to go in. Right.
[00:18:23] You could even have, you know, a nine win team in that last week, you know, potentially lose and still be in. But you know, whatever.
[00:18:33] 24 changes the concept of the sport. 24, you might as well cancel every single bowl game because it's all going to be about playoffs or bust. Like that's.
[00:18:44] That changes the mindset of college football, which, you know, was always like every single Saturday matters because your entire season can change on a dime.
[00:18:54] And especially with 12 teams. Like, yeah, like you could get hot at the regular at, you know, the back half of the year and make up for some early losses a la South Carolina that one year, right. Two, two years ago and be in the conversation. The whole idea was to give a little bit of wiggle room, give a little bit of margin of error.
[00:19:15] So that way if you're a really good team and you stumble once, you're okay. Because the BCS system, it wasn't always the best team. Right. You know, I mean, a lot of times it might have been, but you could be, you could lose once in the first week or two and then run the table and you would not have the same result as a team that ran the table but then lost in the second to last week. You know, I'm saying the four team accounted for that.
[00:19:44] The 12 team certainly does. And yeah, there's always going to be teams that are Left out, looking in, right? If you do 24 team, right, the team that's ranked 25th at the end of the year is going to say, well, what the hell is the purpose of having the top 25 teams ranked? Because it doesn't even get you into the playoff.
[00:20:03] So I'm of the mindset that we need to let this thing breathe.
[00:20:07] I think we can tinker with the 12 team selection process. We can tinker with some of the criteria.
[00:20:14] I don't want to see conference championship games be devalued. I think what you. Because if you move to 24, you certainly do that. 16, I think you run the risk of doing that because when are you going to have these games?
[00:20:29] And at a certain point you do have to think of the players health and safety.
[00:20:33] It's a dramatically long season. It's already longer now.
[00:20:37] Right.
[00:20:39] So nonetheless, here, I don't want to go on a complete rant here, but I'm seeing this and as a fan of the sport, it's bothering me because I don't think the sport needs to be about can you cast such a big net that you can just have teams at 8 and 4, you know, 7 and 5, like, you know, like making the playoffs?
[00:21:03] Because it's not the NFL, it's not the NBA, it's college football. It's a different sport with different criteria to be in the national championship game. It needs to be hard. And I think the 12 team playoff allows you to do that. And you can tinker with the criteria if you want to move to 16 with this notion of, you know, a G6 team is an automatic qualifier. Like, okay, so now we're talking 15 teams, top 15 teams in the country. Like, okay, like I can maybe get behind that and I get behind as a South Carolina fan because I think we can certainly be in that conversation.
[00:21:38] But as a fan of the sport, I don't want to see it be devalued to the point of just, you already know what's going to happen, right? Like, okay, you get an upset here or there, but in reality it's going to be the top 10 teams that are like legitimately competing for that championship. You know what I'm saying?
[00:21:54] That's my diatribe went a lot longer, a little more passionately than I originally anticipated. But with that, y', all, it wraps up this episode. Please follow me on social media, Twitter or X is Cox Gamecox. Instagram is just the name of the show. Cox Talking Gamecocks. And please like subscribe and review the podcast. I appreciate all y'. All go, Cox.
