Mike Elko // ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips

This is the best of the Adam Gold Show Podcast brought to you by Coach Pete at Capital Financial Advisory Group.

Visit us at Capital Financial USA.com. This is the Adam Gold Show ACC football kickoff with Duke head coach Mike Elko. Welcome first one feels like you've paid your coaching dues. Yeah, it's it's been a great journey for me. I've been in a lot of different levels. You know, I tell recruits this all the time.

You know, you tell me the guy that started at the Merchant Marine Academy and wound up at Texas A&M and became the head coach at Duke, right? So it's been a unique journey for sure. Learned a lot of things along the way. Met a lot of great people along the way and excited to be here for this opportunity. You've worked for some super head coaches to coming from working with Jimbo Fisher, Brian Kelly.

I mean, we have incredible respect for him. For Dave Clausen as a tactician, somebody who's created something really cool at Wake Forest. You were there.

You spent a lot of time with it. What do you take from each of them? Yeah, I think, you know, each of them have their own strengths and weaknesses. I think that, you know, Dave obviously taught me so much.

I was with him for so long. I think he's probably the one that are most modeled after from an organization standpoint, how we do things. But then, you know, you learn from Brian kind of how to how to run a high level program at a school like Notre Dame and everything that that entails. And then you go down and spend four years with Jimbo competing against the best of the best in that league and that division. And, you know, you kind of take away what it's like competing every single day and recruiting on the field. And, you know, and so you take little pieces from all of them and you try to mold that into who you are and your philosophy.

Two questions. First is, did Dave Clausen turn you into a talking heads fan? No, no. He would share with you very quickly that from a from a culture personality standpoint, we probably couldn't be more apart. Well, when I found out that he was into the talking heads, I'm like that.

I just can't. I like to talking heads. And what's your music? He'd be talking heads. I'd be Jay-Z, right?

I think that's how we would go. It goes well on the recruiting trail. And at Texas A&M, did you ever have to pet or watch Reveille, the dog? I never did.

I never did. Although my daughter spent a lot of time trying to get around her. Yeah, my dog's daughter's a big dog fan. So we are. We all are in my house.

I want you and I might have that. I might have asked you this question when we first spoke at right after you got the job. But when David Cukla took over, I called I called it a startup.

There was really nothing there. It seems like there's the bones of a solid program there. Give me a sense of the state of the program as you take over. Yeah, I think if you look at the infrastructure, I think there's a much stronger foundation in place for me than there has been for any Duke head coach before me. I think what we were able to do under Coach Cut facilities wise and just trying to get this thing to some level that was competitive in this conference.

I think they did some amazing things, put it together. And now our mantra is just kind of like let's finish the job. We put a big investment in. We got this thing off the ground. We were able to show some proof of concept through a six, seven year stretch where we were very successful.

Here's some little things where maybe we came up short and let's plug those holes and let's figure out how to really finish what we started when he got there. What kind of support have you gotten from the community? I know before Coach Cut Cliff took over, there was a huge push by former players to make drastic changes in how things were done. So is that support obvious to you?

Are you getting that from past players in the basically the surrounding community? Yeah, I think we're trying to attack those areas for support. So I don't know like the history of it or where it comes from, but we know Durham is huge for us. If we want to be able to put people in the stands, we have 7,000 students on campus.

We got a 40,000 seat stadium. You do the math and we're going to need Durham to be a big piece of who we are. Our former players are the soul of our program. They've put so much blood and sweat equity into Duke and have seen it through some lean years, some good years. They have stuck around and been part of it and so you'd love to unite them together as we try to build this thing forward.

And so I think we've just gone out and attacked those two groups and I think obviously they're supportive because we're making an effort to go out and be around them. Adam Golden Studio with my man Coach Pete DeRutter with the Capital Financial Advisory Group. We are talking retirement. Coach, let's say I have more than a million dollar balance in my 401k. Congratulations.

Thank you very much. How can that actually come back and bite me? Well, because, and this is a thing that we, it's a mirage. We see mirage.

I've written in the desert before. You see what's water ahead, but it's not there. Well, your financial mirage is thinking that that total balance in your 401k or your IRA is yours. We have two people that want to get ahold of it. Two uncles.

Uncle North Carolina and Uncle Sam. Both of them are going to do some damage to that balance depending on what kind of other income you have. You could lose 40% of your value.

So if you're looking at a million dollar IRA, maybe it's only worth $600,000 to you. So how do we get around this? Well, you don't get around it because you end up in jail if you try to do that. But you can do tax planning to minimize the effect of taxation into the future. The tax train is coming. Adam, we need to make sure to minimize the effect of the derailment of our financial accounts. And for the next 10 people, we'll do it at no cost or obligation.

Put together your very own tax and retirement plan. 800-661-7383 or text ADAM to 21000 for coach Pete DeRuta. The foundation for any good football team is on both lines of scrimmage. Offensive line. I don't know if it's more important.

They're equally as important. Where is your program right now on both lines of scrimmage? Yeah, I'm excited to watch us in fall camp. You know, we have made some tremendous gains in the strength and conditioning area this summer.

I think we've done some really nice things. I think our offensive lines got some experience. We've got some guys coming back. You know, we've got two that have played a lot of football. Jacob Monk and Graham Barton defensively. We've got Dwayne Carter down here with us today and he's played a lot of football.

But I think we've become a bigger, stronger group and so be excited to watch where we've gotten to this fall. I'm going to talk to Jacob Monk is interesting is that I was very good friends with his uncle. Okay. Um, Quincy, this is going to make you laugh and I'm glad I hope it does.

I used to work out with Quincy Monk. Sure. So I can see it.

Oh, you paid me. Never mind. Yeah. So I'm curious just to sit down and spend some time with him. Quarterback.

That has been kind of the weird. Duke has had some really good quarterbacks of late. Daniel Jones in the NFL. Where is the quarterback position? Are you up in the air with choice? We've got two young kids who have a lot of talent.

Um, who I think got thrown into the fire in the spring. You know, learning a new system, learning a new way that we wanted to play football. Um, and so now I think, you know, we've got to see some growth and we've got to see some consistency in fall camp and, and I think the guy that can provide the most consistency, you know, is the guy that becomes the starter. I think Riley Leonard has shown signs that he can do it. I think Jordan Moore has shown signs that he can do it, but, you know, we just got to get to be a little bit more consistent player day in day out. Can you see yourself using two quarterbacks? Uh, I think that's a possibility.

I do. I think, I think, you know, they both bring some different skill sets to the table, right? You know, I think every coach's dream is that one guy comes out in fall camp and just takes it and runs right and clearly becomes the guy. And if that happens, great. And we'll figure out how to make that work.

And if that's not how it plays out, then we'll figure out how to make that work too. Mike Elko, Duke head coach is joining us here at ACC football kickoff. Two more things. One, uh, the area of your team that you are the most confident in is what? Yeah, I think probably the offensive line. I think that's the group, you know, I think we've got a good nucleus coming back.

I think we added three solid pieces out of the transfer portal. Um, you know, that's got to be the heart and soul of who we are. We've got to be able to take the pressure off the young quarterback, uh, with some protection with the run game. You know, we've got to be able to do those things to make it easier, you know, for a first time starter back there. And so I think that's the group, uh, I'm cautiously optimistic.

I can help with that. And now there's two things that have really taken over college sports, not just football. One is you just mentioned the transfer portal and name, image and likeness. So has the transfer portal been a positive for you? And what has been the impact of NIL? Yeah, I mean, I think the transfer portal is just what it is.

There's no reason to even think about good, bad, positive, negative. It's just a piece of what we're doing now, right? And so we've got to do a great job in our own program of building a culture. That people want to be part of so you can retain players, right? And we've got to be active and aware of who's out there that can fit us. I think when you're trying to, to improve quickly, obviously having that as an option, um, bringing in a senior who's played four years of college football, you know, that's a, that's a good opportunity, right? And so it, it certainly has helped us this year. Um, NIL, you know, it's, it's interesting, right? Because you certainly have felt for years that our players deserve to get a piece of this big pocket.

Right? There's this enormous pie out there and it never felt right that they didn't have a piece of it. Um, you know, you'd love there to be a little bit of regulation. You're the love there to be a little bit of a industry standard to how we do it.

Um, you know, and it's just not there right now. And, and that's okay. And we'll figure out how to navigate it, but we're certainly going to do what we can to do to get our kids the opportunities that they deserve. So, uh, on the drive back, uh, what's playing on the stereo or the, or the kids wearing headphones and you're listening to what they want. Uh, so we do country as just kind of like the catch all.

Really? Yeah. So, so it's, it's, I got a lot of wide versed in music, so we can go country. We can go Broadway.

We can go game day. Yeah. We can do a lot of different things in the, in the Elko household. All right.

To dream the impossible dream. There you go. Uh, thank you very much, Mike Elko head coach at Duke. Appreciate it. Appreciate that.

I think the show tunes thing caught me a little bit by surprise. All right. When we come back, it's time to sit down with the commissioner of the Atlantic coast conference, Jim Phillips. We will do that on opera from operation kickoff. Next, we would be talking about getting rid of divisions and all of that. And then last month, the world ends Southern Cal UCLA make the move. What was the first thing you thought about when you heard that news? Maybe what is the next move? What should we be thinking about?

What could add value to the ACC? Um, I also felt badly for the Pac 12 because we went through it a year ago with what happened with two big 12 schools. Um, and then just really started to go to work. Honestly, I just landed to see my family.

17 days, uh, just all work related and was going to enjoy some time around July 4th. And then I had a, a little league trip with my son, um, to Louisville for a week. And, uh, and then, uh, the third was going to be going to, um, Dublin, Ireland for Kevin white, the former Duke's, uh, athletic director. He had, uh, his 50th wedding anniversary and retirement part where there was a surprise.

Of those that had worked with him before. So I, so I went over three, all of them were canceled. No, no, July 4th, no little league.

So my son got his, his mom to take them to the father, son, little league trip. And then, um, and then Kevin, I called Kevin just said, you know, after the fact, I just said, I hope you know how it was supposed to be that he did. And, uh, just have bunkered in and started to work on, on, you know, what would be right for the ACC as we move forward. We talked a lot about everything is on the table. So when you say that, I mean, it's hard to look at the landscape and say, well, this school would be good for the league because maybe they're in a different time zone. Um, so are we talking about the potential for expansion or, I mean, I'll let you kind of elaborate where you can and what that means. You have to be open to all avenues if it has a chance to create value, um, which at the end of the day seems to be what's driving these, these other decisions and what we all need resource wise for our schools. And so you have to look at those types of options, but then I think you also have the ability to think differently, uh, as other options and to flush those out, you have a wonderful asset we do in the ACC with our network. And so how do we bring additional value to, uh, to the network, right?

Are there, are there games, are there events, are there scheduling partnerships that may take you and allow you to get to some markets you haven't been in and to, again, monetize the network off of that. So you're looking at a variety of ways to move forward from an Atlantic Coast Conference perspective. Our board's been fantastic and they've been engaged.

Our ADs have been, again, fantastic and they've been engaged and we're putting together and charting, you know, options and potential possibilities for us to consider. What was the mood in the room when all of this stuff happened? Obviously, you didn't, you weren't in there. There wasn't a room and everybody heard the news at the same time. But was anger, uh, did they feel like, well, why didn't this happen for us? But can you, can you kind of explain the mindset of some of these people in the room, especially the schools that are looking maybe in their area and they feel like they might be getting left behind? Yeah, I don't think there's a variety of motions when you first hear it. Is that really, is that accurate?

Is that true? And then, you know, why? And are there other options? Are there other kind of moves that are going to make? So I think you process what's occurred and then you quickly go to what should we do? What should we be doing? And what's the right path forward for us? And having all of us experience it this summer before, I think everybody turned the page pretty quickly and thought about, you know, what's next for us? I think last summer with Texas and Oklahoma jumping to the SEC, it caused you to get in an alliance, I think you guys called it an alliance, with Kevin Warren, George Cleockhoff at the Pac-12. Did that ultimately, just, there's no other way to, did that backfire? I don't think so at all. Here's what I would say. During those 12 months, I think we got a lot done.

I really do, in a short period of time. We got some NCAA issues and legislation passed, whether it was, you know, the dissemination of the, or the destruction of the conference divisions. We got legislation passed for additional days of spring and fall, competition for football as far as practice, not competition but practice. We did some really good stuff in the social justice area, including the trip last weekend to Montgomery and Selma, which was terrific to find out about, you know, just voting and voting rights in our country and what happened in Selma back in 65.

On, you know, culminated at the Pettis Bridge. We did some mental health things with our student athletes and some leadership development. So there were things that we really had, I think, done a good job on and some scheduling, some football and basketball scheduling in the years to come. But at the end of the day, I think we all understand that conferences have to do what they feel is best and it's business, it is so that took place and and you know you move on from that.

I'm kind of channeling a scene from Godfather. At this point, it's just, it's just business. The grant of rights and you talked about it today, and that you use the example of Texas and Oklahoma haven't tried to get out early.

Southern Cal and UCLA haven't at this point tried to get out early. So the grant of rights must be binding you must be pretty confident that because the television contract. It doesn't have just a few more years left on it, it has 14 more years left on it. So you must be pretty confident that the grant of rights is binding.

Otherwise, I would imagine there'd be a lot more panic in the room No. That's part of it. But also, I also believe listening and talking with all of our schools. They love the ACC, they believe in the ACC. They believe that it has, you know, tremendous value not only in the past but moving forward. I think they're all committed together with trying to find whatever the best solution is for us to close some of that revenue gap that you know we're, we're facing and feel we we do have over the next several years. Some really good revenue projections, based on the distribution of Comcast and and what we're able to do so. So I don't I don't look at it as a fractured group. I look at it a group that understands what's occurred and wants to act and and move forward in the best way possible. Is there trust among conference commissioners, based on everything that's happened.

I understand why there might not be because of like last year. I think Greg Sankey and Bob Bowlsby were in the same meeting room. While there were negotiations with Texas and Oklahoma. So, from the outside. The perception is that how can you trust these people.

Can you walk me through that. We got to work through that. We just have to write me a lot more stake than our, you know, some of our personal feelings on this. We're supposed to be leading the enterprise and so we'll have to have some more discussions like we did last year. And I'm sure we will with with what occurred this past year, and we're going to have to come together in order to effectively lead and and develop some of the or execute on some of the expectations that that are placed on our shoulders so it's a tough period right after what we've just experienced and people are going to feel the way that they want to feel on the matter.

But in the end, you have to try to do the best you can to not take it personally, as, as it sounds easier said than done but try not to, and try to focus on that you have a responsibility, we all have a responsibility to move the enterprise forward and harboring feelings and emotions and stuff may not be the best way to do that. Let's talk about ESPN real quick. They certainly have an interest in the success of the ACC. So is there an appeal, or has ESPN initiated conversations with you about how do we help you get to where you need to be. Has there been any discussions like that with ESPN ESPN has been, they've been terrific and we're partners right we're partners in this network right so they want us to do well, and obviously we want them to do well, because it's mutually beneficial. So we've been engaged with conversations with them and we'll continue to do that. And we'll, we'll, again, try to come together with some of these options and to see what may have the best value for us to consider going forward. So you're an AD in the big 10 at Northwestern, and I'm just going to try to use random figures here so the ACC distributes $35 million per school just again round figure, probably a little bit more. The, the big 10 this just go round was probably between 1555 but that number is going to go up.

If you were an AD at Northwestern, what would you do with $80 million that you couldn't really do with, let's just say $40 million. I'm not sure. I really, I would, I would say, I'm just wondering. At some point.

That should be enough. Yeah. I'm just, I'm, I'm literally I'm very curious about that, because they've made it, they made do Clemson has made do with whatever they're getting paid right now.

I'm just, I'm, I'm curious what would you do with the extra money No, you get me, you'll get me on with the next time and I'll have a better answer than this this time. I mean, I was just talking about this. Almost every big time college program has a better locker room than every NFL team. That seems weird to me. Like you don't really need that but we have it because that's like why does why does my kid have two controllers, he's only one person. I want to ask you about headquarters. My idea. My idea, and Greensboro Charlotte, Orlando, fine. An RV, a Madden cruiser if you will, and headquarters is wherever you wake up in the morning.

Yeah, like that. Maybe I should bring that to the board. I don't know what I'm gonna do with the staff. I don't know how many we can fit in the RV. Everybody work from home we have good internet, but then my mind goes to the RV and breaking bad and that's not a good, that's not a good visual for me with with Walt back there, you know, doing whatever Walt does in the back of the RV.

But I hadn't heard that before. And the Madden Cruiser is another one that that was just epic and what a wonderful person and legend, John Madden was and and still today is in our eyes and a guy that didn't like to fly right, but he never missed an event got to all the games and was so happy when he was in the Madden Cruiser. Yeah, yeah. So, because my great way to live life, no offense to anybody who works in the Greensboro office, but maybe plenty of room for for Amy on the, on the RV. Yeah, maybe could drive the RC.

That's what we should have her driving. So, I've just so I've never wondered what the big deal was with headquarters because other than you know the office nothing you don't play games there. Right, we don't play games at the head at HQ. Personally, I think it's a good idea.

Do it, it would be, it would be great. What a scene, where is the ACC headquarters today. Right, that make great content by the way, it would you just be driving around from from campus to campus headquarters today is in Coral Gables. Next week, find out where headquarters will be. We're in Chestnut Hill. We're in Winston Salem. Now we're, we're on Franklin Street parked out in front of Sutton's. Why not? Why not? Let's get an RV. That'll be our conference, conference HQ.