Wes Durham, ACC Network, where the state of the ACC is currently

Right here is Wes Durham.

If you are watching on the live stream, I hope you are, but Wes Durham is here. I always joke with you. How many years we've been doing this? A long time.

A long time. We're getting old, aren't we? I am.

I am too. You look younger than you've ever looked. Well, God bless you. I always joke with you that you are the voice of the ACC and the reason why the conference turns a profit and that is like the traditional way that we start these. And I start laughing.

And you laugh. But I am right. You literally are the voice of the Atlantic Coast Conference. I thought that this announcement was going to come during the Commissioner's Forum. And I had the tweet ready to go and I was going to take a video of you coming up and getting your flowers on stage. And I don't know, it didn't happen then. Nor was I on stage. Right, nor were you on stage.

That's right. I was looking for you. I was over there talking to you.

And I said, where's Wes? But they just announced it to the world. So you are taking over as the lead voice. Congratulations, man. Thank you. Overnight success. 30 some odd years in the making.

Thank you. I am incredibly humbled when the opportunity was offered to me. And you know this. I mean, you know as well as anybody who I work with in this business that, look, the league takes some hits sometimes. But this is the league I grew up in. It's the league that I have spent a majority of my professional career in, sans three years at Radford, one year at Marshall, and three years at Vanderbilt. Right. You know, to borrow a phrase from our friends in Birmingham, it means a little more to me.

So I'm excited. I was fortunate last year to work with Tim Hasselback on a couple of games. And one was Pitt at Louisville.

The other one was Pitt at Carolina. Right. And I had a great time with Tim. I will miss my friend Roddy Jones.

Yes. And hopefully one day down the road, we'll get to do that again. But I am thrilled that he's going to get also promoted through this, which is also great. But at the end of the day, I am incredibly honored that ACC Network and the conference have entrusted me with this role for football.

Look, you're, to me, and I told you this yesterday, a good friend of mine wondered why you weren't the voice. And this is no offense to Dave O'Brien. Right. But because you are ingrained in this league. Yeah. And for somebody on the ACC Network, it's important to have that kind of history with the league. College football is, I mean, it's part of the of the lore. Yeah.

Is everything that happened in the past. That's the that's the connection to the present and the future. Yeah, I am. Well, I appreciate it.

And I'm excited about that part of it. And it's funny because I told you this a moment ago, Alex Farmer Tino is going to be our producer. He and I actually worked together at Raycom.

Okay. And we did as close to a perfect broadcast as I've ever been a part of with Corey Alexander at the ACC semifinals and basketball in Charlotte, ironically, down the street, Duke Carolina in 2019. I mean, we had a broadcast. That was a great game.

That always helps. And we happen to have our fastball that night. And I'm delighted to be with Alex. Nobody I trust more, nobody whose leadership's more viable, I think, in a production like this. And he's really good. And I'm excited.

Tyler Tannenbaum is going to be with us, too. She is excited. She's nervous. She's all these things.

She should be. And it coincides, Adam, at the same time with the network. And I think we all agree here, the network, and it's now fifth years, you're getting ready to start our fifth year as a network. We are now doing the things that we kind of had all hoped would happen earlier. And that's the huddle on site every week. That's ACC PM on a Friday, those kinds of things.

And so I'm happy to be part of that bigger package, too. This is Wes Dermie is the voice of the ACC. And that is not a joke at this point.

It is reality. All right, let's talk about Lee. Let's let's start on the field. And then we'll we'll fold it back into what the Commissioner Jim Phillips had to say earlier today.

We're sitting here talking with Eric McLean an hour ago. He's very bullish on the Clemson Tigers are good played there. I understand.

But he ought to be bullish if the total number of good players that you have is any indication. They're good Clemson might have more good players than anybody else. Well, but here's the other thing too. And I want to I want to expand this conversation because I know where it's going to go the next couple days with Florida State and then obviously Clemson on the last day. I want you to take into account that Clemson has been doing this for a decade. Okay, I mean, not completely a decade, but pretty damn close, right? Yeah.

Okay. They've won two national titles. They built a war chest. When they lose two games, it's national news, right? So when Alabama loses two games, it's national news. But Clemson in relationship to where Florida State is. I don't want to say this is the 1997 Carolina Florida State conversation, but it's close because here's the thing. And coach Brown, if you're listening or some of those guys, Oscar Davenport, any of those guys that played on that team. Remember Florida State in the 90s had 44. They had too deep at every position. Absolutely. I don't know that Clemson has too deep at every position, but Clemson's got a lot more Jimmy's and Joe's than the other guy.

Right? And so to me, that's what Florida State now has to get to right. That Florida State has to help their depth. Mike Norville has taken criticism for this, but I don't think it's criticism. I think he's just playing the game the way the cards have been dealt.

He's built his depth through the portal. You get key on Coleman to come in from Michigan State as a player, you still got Johnny Wilson on the perimeter. You now have two running backs. You've got four back in the offensive line and the guy you're replacing Dylan Gibbons. You're replacing with a guy who played some football. Jaheim Bell from South Carolina is that guy.

Jordan Travis is a playmaker. So it's a lot closer, but I still think Clemson's got more ammo to win that game in late September. The question is this, can Florida State beat LSU?

Right. And if Florida State can beat LSU, I'm willing to tell you win or lose against Clemson. They're still in it because of the way we have taken down division roles. You'll get another crack at Clemson question. You may get another crack at Clemson. And if Clemson loses, then all of a sudden you're playing at a level. And really what we need in December and November is two or three teams. Yeah. Let's get to the end of the game here.

We're talking about how big the early season is and it is big. But at the end, we need two or three teams. No, two. Definitely. We need three to help.

Three would be really good. If we can get into the beginning of November and there is a legitimate path forward. Right. Right. Then, you know, for a North Carolina or whoever else, uh, by honestly, based on the schedule for Louisville.

Yep. I mean, they don't play Florida State or Clemson or North Carolina, North Carolina, arguably the three best teams going into the season in the entire league. And I'll caution you about the cards. And my man, Mark Packer and I had a long discussion about this yesterday. When you think of the cards, no Clemson, no Florida State, no Carolina, but also this too. Brahms done it before.

Sure. He's flipped the switch in one year. He did it at Western Kentucky. He did it at Purdue. He knows how to do this.

He knows you build momentum. I, we're going to get caught up in North Carolina, South Carolina. We're going to get caught up in other week one games.

There may be no bigger game of the others in the ACC than Georgia Tech Louisville on Friday night in Atlanta, Mercedes-Benz. Affleck kickoff kickoff. We talked to Gary Stokken and Gary Stokken. Former Wolfpack guard. Uh-huh.

Uh, he and, uh, Garth Knutson of Affleck. Absolutely. We had quacking ducks here. Well, again, they took the ducks away though. They saw the ducks because Victoria was here. See, took the ducks.

I was very upset about that. West Durham is here. No, it's my fault. The, um, is Cade Klubnick good enough at quarterback for that offense to be as dynamic as it's going to need to be if they're better on the perimeter. Okay. Do we have guys besides Antonio Williams who are going to make plays? I mean, Adam Randall stays healthy.

Yes. I think Clemson has got more under the hood than people realize, but realistically the two guys I'm most excited about for Cade Klubnick are Phil Moffa and Will Shipley. I think this is a great running game.

All right. If the offensive line is good, they should have a great running guy. Look, Will Shipley is, I mean, we, we were quick with the McCaffrey analogy.

I had the Louisville game last year where he hurtled two cats on the way to the end zone. That was McCaffrey ish, right? I mean, I think that I I'm excited about where Clemson is, but I'm also cautious because I think they still have to prove some things. They've been pretty inadequate at quarterback for two years. I mean, statistically alone, but decision-making is not being great and they got to be better in the offensive line. I mean, even Trevor Lawrence's last year, they didn't run it very well. They only ran it well when he ran it.

Right. They, they did, they did well out of the backfield, throwing it to Travis Etienne. They didn't do well running it until Lawrence was part of the running game and DJ couldn't get his running game on track. And I don't even think he was really that type of player, despite his size, Lawrence was much better at, you know, the quarterback kid, all those draws and those, those options, he was much better at it, but they haven't had a running game. I'm sure Mac talked to you a little bit about this club in the orange bowl got taken apart in part because of the drops.

There were drops, including the last drive that K club Nick. Yeah. I mean, guys make catches. Sure. It might be a different ball game, but that all being said, Higgins ain't walking through that door. No, not walking through that door. Thanks coach.

Patino. Well done. All right. Let me ask you about, about what the commissioner had to say today. Um, we knew he wasn't going to talk about Northwestern.

He had the legal cover to do that. Fine. Um, there will be time.

Look, there's going to probably be more lawsuits. There will be time, uh, for that in the future, but I'll, I'll, I'll, I'm not going to editorialize it yet. Your thoughts on what the commissioner had to say.

Uh, I thought Jim, uh, chronicled the athletic season gone by of 22, 23. Uh, I think that people need to realize those of us who love the games and love the tradition of the games and the landscape of the games. I think we need to realize that for the first time in really major college athletic history, we are asking the government to intervene.

I can't, I don't know. We are seeking the government, the federal government to intervene in the operations of college athletics. Uh, I am of the belief, now this is just my opinion that the NCAA is become a useless model for major college athletics. I mean, you know, I went to Elon, I still think the NCAA has some degree of effectiveness when it comes to FCS and lower division one schools, be it basketball, whatever, but for major college athletics, I think that ship has sailed.

Okay. Um, but we are asking the federal government to participate. Now we're not just asking to participate in NIL. We have people that have decided that student athletes in this country need to be employees of those institutions. I don't think that the fan or the supporter understands that there's a consequence to the scholarship, which at last report was still the reason we do this.

Right. At least the core reason. The second part is the taxation. That's going to go into this.

Give me an example. I don't think fans realize or parents of student athletes realize the minute they become employees, they're going to be taxed on the price of the complimentary ticket. Even though the ticket is free, you're going to have to pay the taxes on the value of that ticket. Whereas you get a complimentary ticket, let's say your team goes to the CFP, you get a $600 ticket for free, right? Well, if your son or daughter is an employee of that institution, you're going to be taxed on that ticket. That's just one wrinkle of this.

How about all the other things that happened that taxation would come into play if there's federal government or we want to create a collectively bargained event. That's scary because here's the other thing that everybody says, well, it's closer and closer to pro sports. Yeah. And you know, this, you talk about every day, they all have salary caps. Not all of them.

Well, luxury taxes, whatever. Right. Right.

Right. So if they don't have a fair play in, uh, in, in ACC football and I'll, I'll say this, and this is close to home for you and close to home for this league. When Bubba Cunningham talks, when Boo Kargan talks with Dan Riddick, over to Graham now for these people talk, Heather, like at Pitt, listen to them. Don't listen to all these other people because they are boots on the ground dealing with it day to day. And they understand the bigger picture.

Nina King of being the same. Oh, John Curry, the ACC athletic director is having to do the checks and balances on the economics and also have an understanding of what the implications are going to be long after some of them are gone. All right. Uh, one more thing before we let West Durham go, uh, because I get to work overtime today.

You do. All right. I apologize to, uh, for keeping Victoria breaking stuff here to first ACC kickoff. Uh, you know, she's breaking plates.

I didn't realize, uh, the, uh, the baklava took a bite. So the, um, you, cause you talked about seeking help for the federal government. Sure. Greg Sankey talked about the NCAA can't fix it, blah, blah, blah.

Only, only Congress can fix it. Right. Here's my response to that. If the NCAA got rid of the violation for a financial inducement in recruiting. Sure. You're talking about Tennessee or whoever. Right. Right. But Tennessee is the latest.

Get rid of the, get rid of that. Right. If that, because it's been happening for as long as we've had recruiting correct under the table. Now that compensation in the form of NIL is the law of the land, right? It's the NCAA said we want to, we still don't want that to happen, but you can't stop it from happening. So why not just go, all right, then it's happening anyway. Now the NCAA is on a completely level playing field.

We don't need any state law. It is what it is. If a school wants to pay a player to go, there you go.

I don't think it'll change. Who's good. Yeah. I, you know, here's the thing.

I worry about all the spoons getting ready to be in this suit. And this is where I get really angry with the NCAA because you could have stopped all this a long time ago. Oh, you chose in 2019, 2020, when this was bubbling, you chose to turn your back on it. And, and, you know, I'm going to tell you this too, not only the NCAA, but the NCAA message trickled down to other institutions in the membership to where the membership thought, well, this will just be a passing fad. It only applies to bigger schools. Right. Right. And it's not. And now every school through division one has to have some semblance of this on their campus. If they're going to survive.

Sure. The other part about this is there's nothing cheaper about this whole operation every year. It gets more expensive to do, but that that's concerning. We're still awarding the same scholarships, but the scholarship value changes.

Why? Because the cost of higher education just grows magically every year. You and I both know that. Yep. I mean, we've had kids graduate from college. It was fortunate. We were fortunate. The first one, right?

We, uh, we, we, we covered that there were no, uh, there were no loans to potentially be forgiven down the road. Yeah. And the other one is just going right to, uh, Arsenal's Academy. Wow. Premier league Arlo Arlo white will be a voice on this show before it's over. Oh yes. He wants to play for AFC Richmond. He's a big Roy Kent fan. He's my favorite player.

Oh my gosh, he is amazing. All right. Uh, yeah, at least we talked about some games or at least the team. September's important in this league. Clemson at Duke first hurdle, the fabled horseshoe on the west campus on labor day night. Look, I'm going to tell you be a big old crowd now. Oh yeah.

There'll be a big old crowd that night. Second best quarterback in the ACC might be there. And he won't be playing for Clemson.

That is right. I'm a, I am bullish on Riley. And I will tell you what, if people want to get a look at a pro, a lockdown pro in here, they're going to see two for sure. And here at quarterback this week, Ollie Leonard, Drake makes, um, no question about dark walking right here. Day looks healthy for the first time. He looks great.

That would be nice for Miami to have good quarterback play. Be helpful. They won't like to welcome them back. All right, man. I appreciate it.

Next time I want a Victoria MMA and speed metal segment. Okay. Oh, we could do that. We could do that. Let's go. You're on. We will.

We will make that happen. That's West Durham. He is the voice of the post game tonight. That's right. Oh yes.

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