LeVelle Moton is about to make HBCU history

Hey guys, it is Ryan. I'm not sure if you know this about me, but I'm a bit of a fun fanatic when I can. I like to work, but I like fun too.

It's a thing, and now the truth is out there. I can tell you about my favorite place to have fun. Chumba Casino. They have hundreds of social casino-style games to choose from, with new games released each week. You can play for free anytime, anywhere, and each day brings a new chance to collect daily bonuses.

So join me and the fun. Sign up now at ChumbaCasino.com. Chris Lee WRAL-TV5 Sports.

Also, the Panthers Playbook Podcast. Do you have a wrestling event, by the way, this weekend? I do not have any wrestling at all this weekend, but I am looking forward to the future Adam Gold Bowl. It would be cool.

Yes, the payout for the Adam Gold Bowl will be a record low payout. It would be fun, and it would be in an exotic location. It would be in Asheville, North Carolina. Love it. It's absolutely fitting. I love Asheville.

Why not? I think all bowl games should be in places that I really would like to go there. I would put a bowl game in Charleston. I would put a bowl game in Asheville. I would put one in Savannah. I would put one in Wilmington, because I love all of those places. I love other places, too.

We don't have to list off all of my favorite cities. But let me start with our friend Lavelle Moten, who is on the precipice of HBCU men's basketball history. I saw the note put out by Central yesterday. He's going to come on with us on Monday.

Can't do it today, obviously. They're preparing for the game tonight. If he becomes, I guess it's the all-time winningest HBCU coach, as he moves higher up that list, what sticks out to you about the Lavelle Moten story? I love the fact that it has so much of a local tie there as well. Just a kid who went to Kenlow High School and grew up in the Raleigh area and then came and played at North Carolina Central. And then coming back to that same school to do the work that he's done. But I also think it's indicative of what happens to great coaches on the HBCU level. Right now, Deion Sanders is the only one to leave HBCU school and get a major job that we can think of on top of our heads.

I'm sure there have been others who maybe had certain jobs or whatever, but not those big high profile types of jobs. And I would argue that a Lavelle Moten could certainly go to a Power Five school and have a similar level of success at some of those areas. So I think it shows that there is great coaching on HBCU level, whether it's D1 or D2, and that those coaches probably also deserve higher opportunities elsewhere as well. Now, I'm not trying to push him out the door. I don't want to see him go anywhere selfishly. He's great for the area with all of his philanthropic work and stuff around the area and also great for North Carolina Central.

But it also would be cool to see a local guy who came from the Raleigh area, went to Central, coached in Central, get a good opportunity at a larger school as well at some point. So you covered all of it. You covered all of it there.

I had a long conversation. But the stuff about not getting the opportunity to coach at a bigger school is, to me, it's a failure of leadership at other places. And it's a lack of respect that somebody who has, look, he took Central from Division Two to Division One basketball. And it's not like they don't play good basketball in the MEAC or the SWAC, right, in the HBCU conferences. It doesn't help that some of these leagues have seen good teams leave for greener pastures.

Most of that is about football. But it hasn't helped because, what, there were six teams in the MEAC for football this year, right? Which is, it's just silly that that league is disintegrated the way it has. But it's a lack of respect for those leagues. And the fact that people can't see that somebody like Lavelle has built a program over time.

And, granted, it's been built a lot on transfers. But isn't that the way sports is going? Isn't that the way college sports is going? Like, no offense to Damon Stoudemire at Georgia Tech or Josh Pastner before him. But I argued that, my gosh, why isn't Georgia Tech looking at Lavelle Moten? And it's a glaring, I mean, it's a dereliction of duty at so many universities.

They don't even consider them. I 100% agree with you because, you know, it's not even just the building of the program and the wins that's come his way and going to the NCAA tournament as many times as they have because they've won the MEAC. But also, like, his connections and his Rolodex is pretty deep, right? Like, and because of him, Central's been featured so many different times on a national level. He's raised their profile. And, you know, when you think about the history, you know, 20, 30 years now, when we're thinking about the legacy of North Carolina Central and basketball, you're right.

When you think about the D1 era, it's really all about Lavelle Moten. At some point, he needs to have a building over there named after him. They might need to play in Moten Arena or something like that on that campus, but he could absolutely do the same for another university if given the opportunity. He'd have so many different supporters behind him and, you know, and guys to help him, you know, do a good job and raise the profile of whatever school he decides to go to.

But if it's going to be here at Central for forever, then we'd absolutely love that here for us locally. But for him and his career and his legacy, I would absolutely love to see him get an opportunity elsewhere for sure. And this other stuff you mentioned, what he has done for his community, man, every major university would want to sell that as, you know, somebody who cares about where he is. And yes, this is where he was from, is from. So the fact, and I was down there at the dedication of Lavelle Moten Park, and I'm telling you, man, the outpouring of love and what he has done for his community and Raleigh. And look, he coaches in Durham, but he is from Raleigh. It's just an incredible, incredible story.

All right. So State got themselves a quarterback. And now the the Wolfpack fans have already declared next year the year they win the league. Hey, guys, it is Ryan. I'm not sure if you know this about me, but I'm a bit of a fun fanatic when I can. I like to work, but I like fun, too. It's a thing.

And now the truth is out there. I can tell you about my favorite place to have fun. Chumba Casino. They have hundreds of social casino style games to choose from with new games released each week. You can play for free anytime, anywhere. And each day brings a new chance to collect daily bonuses. So join me in the fun.

Sign up now at Chumba casino dot com. Why are you laughing? Why are you laughing? You're not an NC State fan if you don't feel like you can do that every single week. Oh, man, that's such a great finish to the season. I don't I am not throwing any shade on anybody having that kind of a feel. No, listen, that's not shade at all.

That's not shade at all. I really admire how loyal they are because there's a lot of other fan bases and I won't name any that will jump off at the first sight of any type of adversity. NC State is loyal, for sure. Oh, yeah. There is no doubt.

But I've seen the other side of that, too. And I think all fan base I think all fan bases are a lot more similar than they want to give themselves credit. What is what is your view of we talked with Tim Donnelly yesterday about Bryce Young. What is your view of where Bryce is? And I contend they would be better served by letting Andy Dalton finish the season.

Darren Gant told us yesterday that it would be a bad it would be a bad look for Bryce if he didn't finish if they had Andy Dalton finish and Bryce was still healthy. But, man, I just don't think they're growing him at all at this point in the year. It's hard to see where there's growth because we're not in his head. We don't see what he sees out of his eyes. But you'd have to think that, you know, the exposure to the different teams, the different defenses he's seen has to at some point pay dividends.

It may not pay dividends this year. You know, you can pretty much throw this this year away. And also speaking of fan bases that jump off at the first sight of adversity. But, you know, that's one of those that's one of those things where we're not going to be able to see that. And but I think it's hard to evaluate him with when we think about what quarterbacks are able to do and how effective they are. I think we we automatically have some assumptions in mind. We assume the coaching staff is together and locked in sync. Right.

They step with each other. We assume that the offensive line is at least serviceable to keep them upright. We assume that he has at least a few wide receivers who can run the right routes and catch the ball that is thrown right on their numbers. We assume that they are in a scheme that works with their skill set.

I'm not sure he has any of those four that I just named. So it's not even I don't even know how to evaluate him or to see if he's growing, because, like, you know, you can't you literally can't build a house if there's no foundation. And we're looking at the roof and the windows wondering if they look good and they're done.

And, you know, and all that. But the foundation is sinking. And so that's not the partner we need to really worry about right now. So I'm just not sure what we can evaluate from Bryce Young from this season. Maybe after these experiences, if certain things are better in place for the Carolina Panthers over the next couple years, and we see that stuff, then we'll be in better position to talk about that part. But I just I'm just not sure what he can do.

And I wouldn't be with you. I've said just because this is going to be your guy's future and he's on pace to be sacked 60 times this year. Why put him in harm's way? I mean, he's he's he's dealt with it, man. It's funny.

I remember the beginning of the year or in the draft process. You can't draft him. He's too small. He'll break. Yeah, the two big guys are hurt.

Again, I'm not I'm not knocking anything. I'm just saying that anybody can get hurt. Cam Newton's as big a quarterback as we've seen. And Cam Newton got busted in half. You know, he had his shoulder destroyed with, you know, two injuries. So no matter how big you are, you can get hurt.

I mean, offensive and defensive linemen get hurt, too. So I understand different positions. Chris Lee, I appreciate your time, man. Have a have a great weekend.

I'll talk to you down the road and you have a happy holidays if I don't get a chance to speak to you. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. You, too. Thank you. All right, man. No purchase necessary.