NCCU football will be nationally televised this week!

So a national TV performance coming up for NC Central 6 and 1 on the season.

Unbeaten, 1 and 0, in the MEAC and they will take on South Carolina State coming up tomorrow night on ESPNU at 7.30. The last time we spoke, Coach Oliver, you talked about we're always on national TV as a league. The MEAC always is on national. What does this mean for your program to be showcased on ESPNU?

It's a great recruiting tool, but anytime you can showcase your university, your football program, and your conference on national stage, it's a big thing. And that's why I'm so appreciative of being in the MEAC and our conference and our commissioner still does an outstanding job with getting us on ESPN Network. So here's the thing, we seem like we're more than halfway through the season everywhere else, but because the MEAC is small as a league, your season has almost just begun. Is there a different mindset once conference play really begins? We try to treat every game the same. We did have a very tough non-conference schedule, but now we're in conference play, there's only six of us in here and six teams in the league. So you can't lose a game. You have to stay locked in and stay focused because if you lose one, you could be out of the championship talk. So what do you got to stay in and work to be 1-0 every week.

And South Carolina State is tied for first with you as well. What did the game, I think the last time we spoke, it was before the UCLA game. What did that experience do for your guys? It was a great experience to be able to, you know, go out to LA, to Pasadena and play in the Rose bowl.

You know, I had never been there myself either. So, you know, it was a great trip and the guys, you know, got an opportunity to see a lot of things when they were out there. But unfortunately UCLA is a very, very good thing. And that didn't go nowhere near the way we wanted it to go, but it was a good trip. It was a good trip. Then we came back and went to Indianapolis and played in Lucas oil stadium against Mississippi Valley.

So we've been around all across the country. You guys have built, you guys are starting to build a brand 10th ranked in the FCS standings or in the FCS rankings. Does that in the grand scheme of things, does that matter?

Does that help you in recruiting? Because you guys are playing for different, I mean, you guys are playing for the celebration bowl and all that. What, what does being ranked 10th mean? It means we've won a lot of games and people are noticing out, you know, people are starting to notice, you know, our product and we have a really good program here. We don't get too caught up in the rankings because you know, you lose one and you're going to drop out of it. So, you know, we just try to stay in the moment.

We don't get caught up in all of that stuff. But, but I'm appreciative that, that the coaches across the country in FCS realize that we, that we have a great program here in the top 10 program in the country. Coach Trey Oliver is joining us here.

Centro will take on South Carolina State coming up on Thursday night, tomorrow night, for those of you scoring at home on ESPNU at 730. Is there a different vibe for a night game than it is for a Saturday afternoon? It's a little different. You know, you kind of waiting around all day to play. I don't like night games. I'd rather, you know, play at one o'clock, one 30. But you know, you kind of, the quiet before the storm, I guess you could say.

You sitting around waiting all day and then 730 hits. But it is a different vibe in O'Kelly Riddick. In the nest at night time, you know, you can feel it. It's definitely a different vibe in the stadium. What about your players? Did the players kind of grab these moments? These guys just want to play. They just so excited whenever we get an opportunity to put the ball down and compete. So Thursday night, Saturday night, Saturday morning, doesn't matter with these guys. They're just excited to go out there and put on the show for our crowd.

Trey Oliver is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show. Let me ask you just a big picture question about just college football. It's not about college athletics because I think college football is really the head of the spear, if you will, for all of college athletics. When you look at the landscape of the sport, I mean, are you happy where it is or are we kind of losing sight of what college football is all really all about? I think definitely we're losing sight of it. And I think it's, NCAA is losing a grip on it. You know, the one thing that the NLL obviously is a concern. I think they needed to figure out a way to put a cap on it. But obviously that's way out of our league.

But the transfer portal is one that kind of irritates me. The old rule was you couldn't transfer up from division two to FCS or from FCS to major division one without sitting out. And now, you know, these division one schools just sit back and look at all confidence with all American lives and come try to get your best players. So, you know, we're daily trying to recruit our own team, our current guys on the team and love on them and all those guys up so that, you know, they'll stay locked in with us. But, you know, I've lost a couple guys to major D ones and they're up there starting now. And, you know, when they came out of high school, we were the only college, you know, scholarship offer they had. And, you know, you get them in here and develop them.

And three years later, they transfer and go to another division one school. So that's kind of encouraging. But the game is still the game.

You know, still a great game. But I think we've got to get things under control a little bit. Right. Well, you and I will fundamentally disagree on the NIL stuff. Right. And especially like, I don't know how what is even available in NIL to players in the MEAC.

I assume that there is a fair amount, but maybe not what we see at the higher levels of college football. I just feel like we could we shouldn't put caps on anything. Just let the market work. Because I understand your point of view. I always I always do understand the coach's point of view because it makes you maybe you say you have to recruit your own, re-recruit your own players, although that was more about the transfer portal. And I respect how much more difficult that makes your job.

How much time do you devote to it? It's a daily thing. You know, when you walk past guys in the hallway and just your interactions and you're dealing with them, your relationship that you have with the players and their families. And, you know, sometimes the grass might be greener on the other side, but it might be on top of the septic tank, if you know what I mean.

Yes, I do. The grass is actually incredibly green around our I guess it's called a leach field where we live. Trey Oliver is joining us. There's a book, actually, of the grass is always greener over the septic tank.

I never read it, but I know the name of the book. Trey Oliver is joining us here on the Adam Gold show. Real quick, have any of you guys paid attention to what, what Tez has done last few games over at UNC? I have not spoken to our guys about that. I know he had a great game against Miami.

Yeah. And, you know, I texted him and congratulated him, but I'm glad to see that he's doing well and, you know, the NCAA let him play, but he's a great young man. And obviously I sure wish he'd stayed over here, but I'm really happy to see and pleased to see that he's doing well over there at Carolina. And isn't that, you know, we made fun of Mike Krzyzewski for saying this a long time ago. Coach K, after losing a national championship game, and I realized some of this is self-medication, that he said, you don't coach for championships, you coach for relationships.

Isn't that still the same in college sports? Um, I would say definitely, you know, you have to have relationships with these young men and, you know, you can, your staff, uh, w we had a very close knit group, uh, where our support staff, the trainers, equipment and our players. So, and our program, we talk about everybody counts, everybody matters.

And, you know, we can't function without them. So, um, I think the relationship will get you past, you know, those tough times. And when you all face adversity, uh, when we were locked in and we're a team and we're a family, you know, you can get through those tough times a lot better, but, you know, it's partly cloudy with a chance of rain in the, in the, in the, uh, in your building, you know, when adversity hits, you know, everything, the walls come crumbling down.

I think it does though, just to, just to bring it back to the stuff that you're kind of fearful of. And I, again, I, I definitely respect why you would be, um, it really does put an emphasis on making sure that your guys are, uh, taken care of and happy, but how do you balance the, I need to get the most out of you because you need to get the most out of this experience. And some, some guys don't handle tough love very well. Well, I think that comes in with recruiting, you know, knowing the type of guys you're bringing into the program, um, knowing, you know, how they were coached and, and understanding their family and how they operate. Uh, like you said, a lot of guys can't, you know, handle tough coaching and all that stuff. So I think the more, you know, on the front end, when you recruit a young man into your program, you know, you know, w w what type guy he is and, and, um, uh, how to handle him and how to deal with them. I w I would say, but, uh, I think you got to know who you're dealing with.

It's like a relationship with, you know, with your wife. Uh, yes. You better know what you get. You, you, yes. You, you know where you, you know, you know where to tread lightly.

Uh, that's not a, that's not a tumor's gold. I'm just saying in general. Oh man. Trey Oliver is joining us here.

All right. Before I let you go, what one more thing, uh, and again, central and South Carolina state tomorrow night on ESPN, you at seven 30, what would help not specifically you at central, what would help coaches at your level? Uh, whether it's Miak, whether it's FCS or like anybody really below the power, what would, what should the NCAA do to help you guys thrive? Like I said, I think the first thing is put out in the transfer for, you know, when, when a division one team can come in here and offer somebody, you know, $50,000, your best player, uh, you know, what's hard for that young man, you know, just stay locked in with you. And thank God I've had a couple of guys that have been offered deals that, you know, decided to stay in Oklahoma central and wanted to be a part of what we were building here. But, um, I think that's the biggest thing is just slowing down the, the, the transferring up.

Um, that's the biggest thing. Trey Oliver, I wish you the best tomorrow night. And we'll talk to you, uh, hopefully down the road as you get ready for whatever comes your way in the post season. I do appreciate it. I thank you very much. And we'll talk again. Always fun, Adam. Have a good one. You too. Take care.