Colorado To Bolt Pac-12 For Big 12 (Hour 4)

Alrighty, Zach Yelp shows CBS Sports Radio our number four of our radio program. So Colorado not that long ago used to be in the Big 12. Then they went to the Pac-12. Now reportedly they're going back to the Big 12 in the never ending carousel of college football teams in terms of what conference they're going to be in. There's been a lot of changes throughout the years but in the last few years you had Texas and Oklahoma announced that they are leaving the Big 12 to go to the SEC. Then out of nowhere, remember the thought was Lincoln Riley left Oklahoma and ended up going to USC because maybe he was fearful of eventually Oklahoma going to the SEC. And he thought there was just a limit of how far he could take the Oklahoma program and then he could go do what Oklahoma did for all those years with USC in the Pac-12. Then USC and UCLA announced we're going to the Big 10.

Okay, and there's been other movement, right? The Big 12, which we all thought was going to be dead, did a nice job after losing Texas and Oklahoma or eventually losing Texas and Oklahoma. I know that you're never going to replace those schools but you go to the American Athletic Conference, you get Houston, you get Cincinnati, you get UCF, you also put BYU in that conference. So you did a good job providing immediate stability where the conference is not going to fold. Well, the Pac-12 really hasn't done that, where we're waiting to see what else the Pac-12 is going to do.

And there's a big thought, right? Oregon will eventually leave. There's been rumors. Washington may leave as well. There's been conversation about other Pac-12 schools leaving. Well, I wasn't expecting, Hickey, to read that Colorado was going to be that next domino to fall in the Pac-12. Because according to Brett McMurphy, Colorado is leaving the Pac-12 to return to the Big 12 in 2024. That is what sources told Brett McMurphy. Colorado received the full Big 12 share, 31.7 million from the ESPN and Fox Media deal. The Buffs left because of Big 12's stability and Pac-12's uncertainty.

That is what sources said. And if you're, like, let's get the immediate reaction from Colorado. If you're Colorado, you don't know how long you're going to have Deion Sanders there. Because if Deion Sanders is successful, he'll go get a bigger job. But as long as Deion Sanders is there, there's an opportunity for you to make a whole lot more money than what you would have made in the past. Just look at the spring game this past year. They used to, those spring game tickets used to be free, and then no one would go, and this year you had a packed house for the Colorado spring game. Because people are buying in, deservedly so, what Deion Sanders is selling. Because not only was he an all-time great football player, but he was also an all-time great personality. And that's a big part of being a college coach, is the entertainment, the personality, and selling your program.

And you know Deion Sanders could sell like no other. So, I don't think you'll wait to see what's going to happen in the Pac-12, where it wouldn't surprise me right if we woke up tomorrow, just out of nowhere, and I was like, Oregon's leaving. And if Oregon leaves, what kind of conference do you have?

So, others are going to follow, but Hickey, I think it's fascinating because we've been talking about these conference changes for so many years. And when the Big 12, it was announced that Texas and Oklahoma were leaving, I was like, Big 12's dead. And the Big 12, I don't know how long they're going to survive. I don't know how long they're going to remain a conference, but the Big 12 for now isn't going anywhere, and it looks as if any conference is going to fold. It's in some capacity going to be the Pac-12, because now you have three schools leaving the Pac-12, which is kind of crazy, which everyone said is going to be the Big 12 that goes away. Then the Big 12's like, all right, we made some savvy moves, even though it's a bunch of programs that we're not like oohing and ahhing over, right? There's no Texas or Oklahoma there or USC or UCLA, but you've got four programs that are pretty stable right now joining, and now a fifth program coming in with a major, major, major personality in Deion Sanders. Good job of the Big 12. Better job by Colorado, like you said, to capitalize right now on the short fire they have where either Deion stinks and he's out in three years or he's great and he's gone in three years to a better job and Colorado is kind of left, you hope, in a better spot than where they are. But again, if they can't continue the momentum back where they just were, so they were able to capitalize on that and get a bigger payday and get off the sinking ship right now that is the Pac-12, and it's only a matter of time.

Probably weeks, maybe months before Oregon and Washington jump ship as well. I think the one that makes the most sense is the Big 10. Follow USC and UCLA.

You can now create basically a West Coast division. So there's a lot of, there's a lot of thoughts and a lot of worries about USC and UCLA, not just football, all sports, traveling to the East Coast. You got Rutgers, you got Maryland, all the way on the other Eastern seaboard, a lot of travel for interconference games. Now that you can cut down on the travel with two conference games or three conference games, you keep Oregon and Washington in the Big 10 as well. Let me just ask you this, and I'm going to throw a conference at you and then a school at you. If you're, let's say, Washington, or if you're, let's say, Oregon and you go, okay, the Pac-12 is in a rough spot, the Pac-12 may die soon.

Let me be like Colorado and be proactive. And now the Big 12, right, just added five teams, so maybe you don't want to go to the Big 12. I hear what you're saying where most people are throwing out the Big 10 here. Would you at all go to the ACC and think about the ACC if you're Washington or if you're Oregon? Because you look at the ACC right now, and I know these decisions aren't only about football, but football is the cash cow.

Football is what drives the train, and most of these decisions are made with football right at the tip of the cabeza, right at the top of the mine. And I'm just wondering, like, you look at the ACC, Clemson had their run, right? I know they won the ACC championship last year, but are they going to be able to get back to a college football playoff anytime soon?

Sure. Florida State has been a program that a lot of people are optimistic about heading into this season. But the ACC, you do have UNC with Drake May there for another year, but the ACC is not this football powerhouse.

Do you maybe try to go to the ACC where you could maybe, if like a school like Oregon, dominate the ACC with not a lot of competition in there, outside of year in and year out Clemson for the most part in the last decade being a team that has been really, really good? Here's why I say no. Money talks, and money is the only motivator in moving, right? They're not going to move, no team is moving conferences to win more games. Colorado is not going to the Big 12 to win the Big 12 more than the Pac-12.

No, you get the best of both worlds. The money is given to them, and the ACC is nowhere close money-wise to the Big 10. Nowhere close. If you have both conferences on the phone calling you to come to their conference, Big 10 is basically doubling what the ACC is bringing in. But is the Big 10 going to be calling? Because this has been thrown out there for a while. Maybe Oregon will go to the Big 10 and people are like, oh, maybe the Big 10 doesn't even want Oregon. As that has been talked about through the last year, year and a half.

Impossible. I don't know why you wouldn't want them. That would just only up your standing, only up your brand. Those are two massive brands. Oregon backed by Nike and Washington's also a really big brand as well in the Pacific Northwest. If you're the Big 10, again, and also you can help your now two incoming schools in USC and UCLA by cutting down on their travel and make them, I'm sure, a little happier to join the conference. Not that they're not happy because, again, there's millions of reasons why they are excited to join this conference.

I think it's just, to me, it makes too much sense. It makes too much sense for the Big 10 not to expand to this point and bring in two more. Well, I'm just going, this was from a year ago, this was August of 2022, where there was all this speculation that maybe teams would be moving. And it was like the Big 10 was reportedly evaluating the worthinesses from Bleacher Report of adding a quartet of Pac-12 teams, Oregon, Cal, Stanford and Washington into the conference.

But Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports reported that entrance has since cooled down after the anxiety caused last week regarding further Big 10 expansion. Industry sources have indicated the Big 10 is no longer as interested in adding California, Oregon, Stanford and Washington. Right holders were balking up paying the same amount for those schools as the 16 Big 10 schools going forward, 80 million to 100 million. So it was also talked about maybe the Big 10 waits for Notre Dame.

And that's the other part of this. Does Notre Dame, right, they have the affiliation with the ACC, but not a full time member for football. Do they eventually go to the ACC or you look at the Big 10?

I know Notre Dame likes to be an independent because how much money they make with their own TV contract with NBC. But I wonder then if Notre Dame is the next domino for the Big 10 to add schools because they would love to add Notre Dame if you're the Big 10. And then that will open the door to add other Pac-12 schools.

This is where I think it's going at the end. I think we're going to have one breakaway where the SEC is loading up on schools. They're going to have 16 next year. The Big 10 is going to have 16 next year. Pac-12 next year is going to have 15 schools.

I think it's inevitable. We're going to see 60, 65, maybe 70 schools break away and form their own basically football conference. You can split them up however you want and obviously get divisions and maybe make the NFL where you have 4 or 5 teams per division. But at this point it's too fractured to think that this is just going to be the Big 10 and the SEC gobbling schools up. Because eventually if that's the case then it's going to be 25 schools in the Big 10, 25 schools in the SEC break away and just form one huge college football division and go from there. How many teams though in that one huge... 65, 70, basically power 5, break them away and invite a few group of 5 schools in there as well. But get everyone on a level playing field in the sense of finances, in the sense of competition and create a product that is better for fans everywhere. Instead of the constant shuffling, constant moving, money grabs, undermining one conference to help another conference.

Yeah, you don't care about the little guy. That's what you're basically just saying. This is the Penn State football big bad elitist that you are. Just throw 65 schools in one conference and everyone else go pound sand and screw off. Look, I respect Toledo. I have no problem with Kent State. I'm just saying let's be real here.

The finances are so vast. It's not embarrassing but it's frustrating that you have two schools in Alabama and Kent State that are worlds apart in terms of competition, facilities, money, motivation. Maybe not motivation but in terms of expectations and they are under the same roof in terms of the rules for Division 1.

It doesn't make any sense. But you have no problem playing them. You have no Penn State. There's no problem playing Delaware or playing UMass. I don't like those games. I've been on the record for that many a time. You're going to those games.

What are you talking about? I was going to go to Delaware because my girlfriend and all her friends went there. I'm not going because I'm excited to watch Penn State take on the Blue Hens. No disrespect to Joe Flacco's alma mater.

I have no interest in that game. I have no interest in UMass. I hope these little schools open up a can of whip ass on you this year because you're a big bad football elitist right now in college football. I wouldn't be shocked though, to be fair, if it does end up going to one big conference and it's the haves and have-nots. But I kind of feel as if this is going to either three or four conferences. And what I mean by that is the SEC will always be there.

The Big Ten will always be there. And then if you want to just have whoever doesn't join as the reject conference be the third or maybe eventually the Big 12, the Pac-12, the ACC formed together doesn't leave to form that third conference and then it's everybody else. That's just what I'm deciding in terms of will this eventually be three or four conferences at the end of the day. That will be determined how many of the Big 12, ACC, Pac-12 schools eventually move over to the SEC and the Big Ten. That will ultimately determine if it's three or four conferences.

And right now, like a year ago, I probably would lean that it's going to three. I would say it will probably end up being four where it will be Big Ten, SEC, all the other remaining Power Five schools that will truncate into one conference. And then the little guys that will be annoyed will be sitting there saying, you know, we're part of the Core Four. They'll do some slogan like that.

Like, remember the American had the Power Six or whatever they were calling themselves for a while. I couldn't just see a Core Four if there's three other conferences and then making it seem like they belong. I hope not.

You could be right. I hope not just because conferences were supposed to be like you played basically these teams every year. You build rivalries. The SEC with the way they rotate the eight games that they play anyway, you barely get Georgia and Alabama.

It's like once every eight years they make visits to each other's home stadiums. So you are in a conference and barely see the other team as it is. And now we're talking about 16 teams in the Big Ten and the SEC. I'm excited for USC and UCLA to come to the Big Ten.

But it's also the same time. Like you're going to see some of these schools like once every five years. It's like at what point are we going to like having a big conference doesn't really do anything.

It isn't like the Big Ten future schedule. Like you get four opponents or three opponents always. And like then you rotate through everybody else. You're going to see those confusing graphics.

Up to three permanent opponents per team. Which I will every time I see one of those graphics, I just get a headache and say I need to take an aspirin. And there's there's going to be more movement. Like, I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm not saying I'm right. There's going to continue to be other schools moving to other conferences.

And then it's just what is the end goal going to be? And you could sit here. Right. And you're very knowledgeable when it comes to college football. And you can give me your thoughts on knowledge when it comes college football.

I give me my thoughts. But as we've seen just in the last year and a half, two years, everyone thought the Big 12 was donezo. And now the Big 12 does have some life where there are schools that want to join the Big 12 and five have joined the Big 12. And people thought the Pac-12 wasn't going to go anywhere.

And now it looks like the Pac-12 is on life support. So we really we have no clue what's going to happen because all it takes is Notre Dame to go join here. Or Clemson say I'm going to leave. Or Miami going to go there. Or Florida State going to go there. Or Washington moves. And Oregon moves in the middle of the night.

And then what we may be saying today, Hickey, could be totally different coming up like next week or tomorrow. It's frustrating. It's confusing. One conference break away and let's stop with all this headaches and movement. And what school are they in? And they're the Pac-12. You know, they have like five schools in the Big 10, although they have 16.

Like, let's drop all the nonsense. And by the way, I would say to all the conferences, the Power Five conferences right now, you should be paying attention to what's going on in North Broad Street with my Temple Owls. We got E.J. Warner. You want Kurt Warner to come to your game and come to your campus to watch E.J. Warner and the Owls? ACC, Big 12.

We're interested in Temple. We beat Penn State. We beat Vanderbilt. We have beat some of these Power Five schools and beat them down pretty well. Now, forget what's happened ever since like Matt Ruellet and all that other stuff.

And, you know, Manny Diaz was there for like 13 seconds. People have been… I won't use that light on the air. I was just going to get myself in some trouble there when using a certain analogy. But anyway, I'm just saying. A Rick Pitino analogy? No, no, no. It wasn't a Rick Pit… But very close, being in and out of a certain sexy time home, you know?

I don't know what was quicker. Someone going in and out of a whorehouse, let's just say? All right, I'll say it. Trying to cheat on their wife for Manny Diaz's time at Temple before he went back to Miami.

I'm just… I'm throwing it out there. But if you're interested, we have the six most wins in NCAA history for basketball and we got E.J. Warner. You want Kurt Warner on your campus visiting?

Join the Owl Party. E.J. is not going to be there by the time some of these moves are made.

Shut up! And now we're going to have Kurt Warner go what? Kurt Warner is going to go tour Clemson University if they go to the ACC?

This year or next year, baby! Holy cow. No, I'm obviously being facetious.

I'm obviously kidding. But Kurt, start dialing, Kurt. Kurt, get on the phone. But Kurt, who did reach out to me when his son was on campus and was asking about the Owls. You want to go down to the link this year?

I'll hook you up with the Temple Temperers. I'll hook you up with the best tailgate scene at Lincoln Financial Field. No doubt about that. But yeah, I can see why schools or conferences aren't interested in my alma mater. I fully understand that. Alrighty, closing bell next. Brent Pray will join us from Virginia Tech in about 20 minutes.

Only on the Zach Gelb Show. I never thought I'd be saying this, but Aaron Rodgers is taking a $35 million pay cut to play for the Jets for the next two seasons. How about that? We all know Rodgers got traded as a Jet, but now he's saying, I'm really all in and I'm going to take a $35 million reduction in salary so you could go do everything you need to go get the Jets a Super Bowl. Now, I don't think the Jets are going to win a Super Bowl, but Rodgers leaving no stone unturned and also sticking it to the Packers trying to tell you, hey, you should have done it my way.

I don't condone that part of it. But Rodgers taking $35 million off the Jets hands is commendable, so give him a stock up. Talking about contracts. Andrew Thomas of the New York Football Giants. Well, he got paid five years, one hundred and seventeen and a half million dollars extension today. Give him a stock up. Chicago Bears tight end Cole Kamet. He signed a four year extension worth $50 million. Not a bad time to be Cole Kamet.

Give him a stock up. Alrighty, we will keep it moving here and we will go back into the NFL waters. Bryce Young. Hecky, I thought he was already named QB one, but today I saw that he was officially named QB one. Was it just he was going to be first on the depth chart and get the the snaps and training camp or that was the plan? And then after one day of training camp, they go, all right, let's stop this game of just jackassery and foolishness. And we're just going to say that he's actually the starting quarterback.

But I already thought this was a thing. I'm with you. I thought being elevated could be one of the depth chart just came with the assumption that, oh, yeah, he's going to be the starter. But I guess good for Frank for not doing what the Steelers did, for doing what the Bears did with respectfully Justin Fields and Kenny Pickett.

Right away, no competition. Sorry, Andy Dalton, the future Hall of Famer. This is Bryce Young's team. I love how you always just find a way to give a compliment to your guy, Frank Reich. I don't think there is anyone in the history of the sports media world, not even Boomer Esiason, who was roommates with Frank Reich in college that loves Frank Reich more than you do. How many shows did you crush Matt Nagy for this fake quarterback competition and or ruining Justin Fields for not playing him? I'm a thousand percent in agreement with you. I think Mike Tomlin is a heck of a coach. It was stupid last year to throw Mitch Trubusky to the walls of the first few games.

They should have just played Kenny Pickett. But I just love how all of a sudden it's all, look at Frank Reich. He's a genius. He's great. He's wonderful.

He's spectacular. When you don't even love the idea of playing the quarterback right away from conversations that we've had in the past. Well, I will say I have softened my stance. You've accused me of not changing my mind. That is an error. I will admit, looking back and seeing even how things play out, I am wrong in the sense that sometimes coddling the quarterback is not the best way to go about. So I've changed my ways on that. And all I'm doing is just, it could have been any head coach had done this today.

Happened to be Frank Reich. I'm giving him, I think, the praise in this specific situation on this one decision that I think he deserves. That's all. That's all. I'm not going crazy here.

I'm not being unfairly positive. Can we get a water company to sponsor? A what? A water company. A water company to sponsor.

Some high quality H20, certain company. Can they sponsor you on this show? Because you love to carry the water for one Frank Reich. No one carries the water for Frank Reich like you. The guy was outscored the first half of football games last year.

118 to 42 didn't win one first half. And he's like, oh, it's ridiculous that they fired him. The guy shouldn't have been fired.

You love Frank Reich. I think they should have fired at that point. But my point was, last year especially, the problem was not the head coach first and foremost. Frank was a problem, but I would say the quarterback turnovers, the office line not blocking, two bigger problems than just the head coaches being. You know how tough it is not to win one first half in the NFL? Like how many times do we see upsets in the NFL? How many first halves does Frank Reich win this year?

I would love to know that. You know when Matt Ryan catches the ball and gives it away as soon as he crosses the 50 yard line or Quinn Nelson doesn't want to block anybody. Well all of a sudden Matt Ryan sucks when Frank Reich starts coaching. You're a guy who's been basically a long time swing tackle, 7th man on the roster, 7th tackle on the roster being your starting left tackle for a statue.

That's what happens. Jeff Saturday won his first first half as a member of the Indianapolis Coastal head coach. 23-10. I'm just going to say it was against the Raiders. That's basically a triple A team. You don't think the Colts had some of the triple A teams before that with Frank Reich when he's getting his head slammed in 1 18th to 42 in the first half?

He did something that very few coaches did last year. Beat the Chiefs. Outscored. Aggregate score. Chiefs-Eagles. Outscored. No one carries the water for Frank Reich like hot take Hickey. Did I give the stock up to Bryce Young?

I don't even know if we played the sound effect, but congratulations to him. The NFL top 100 list. I'm not going to pay attention to this until it gives us something for content. I'm not going to say we're not going to talk about it, but I'm sure they'll do something stupid that will set me off. But after what just transpired today, I'm like done talking about this until the next time I see something get retweeted on my timeline. Because you have Justin Fields ranked ahead of Trevor Lawrence.

Yeah, I don't get that one. So give a stock down to the start of this NFL top 100 list. Let's listen up. This is last night. Orioles radio broadcaster Jeff Arnold criticizes Bryce Harper right before Bryce Harper goes on to hit a home run. This is courtesy of the Orioles radio network.

1-0. Harper dribbles one off the end of the bat foul. It's that same recognizable violent uppercut swing by Bryce Harper.

But it's not the same quality of contact. Foul out to third and a weak ground out to second. He's just not barreling up balls.

This is 1-1. Harper barrels this one up to right, deep and gone. Right on cue, Bryce Harper ties it with just his fifth home run of the season.

No matter what the numbers say, the danger zone always exists when you throw to Bryce Harper. So Hickey, this says that was Orioles radio broadcaster Jeff Arnold? You sure that wasn't you?

Crushing someone and then right away the opposite happens? I thought that was you. It sounded like Brian Hickey right there. That was not me. I was not doing two jobs that weren't working this show and also calling Orioles games on the radio.

You worked last night? I don't remember seeing you here. I'm like Jim Harbaugh now. I'm misremembering things. Or Roger Clemens.

I'm misremembering things. I don't remember you being here. I thought they had some short and competent fella running the board for us last night. Man, that's poor Orioles broadcaster, man. I thought Jack Stern was running the board for me last night. It was you? Really? I saw Jack Stern last night.

Thank you. It was me. I was here. You sure? I don't remember talking to you. I'm not a jinx. I'm not a mush. Yes, you are.

No, I am. It's just a rough coincidence for like a two month span where things would happen just coincidentally a few minutes. It's more than a two month span, buddy.

Days after I would say something the opposite. Hey, Manny. Manny Rodriguez is here. Do me a favor real quickly. Well, first, give the broadcaster a stock down.

It's not the end of the world, but it is funny. Just real quickly, when you think of hot take, what's the first word that comes to mind? Idiot.

Wow, that's not nice. Give a stock down to Manny Rodriguez. I was looking for you to say mush, my friend. Let's do this again. When you think of hot take, what's the first word that comes to mind? A mush. Idiot. Make it a rejoin.

I absolutely love that. Alrighty, Saquon Barkley. He didn't get what he wanted and then took some like bullcrap incentives that really doesn't even give him that much more money. And then today, Andrew Thomas, you get paid.

Man, what a job by Joe Shane. You get Saquon Barkley taken care of and then you pay your franchise offensive tackle. But a stock down to Saquon Barkley.

And finally, Tyreek Hill saying today that when he goes into the Hall of Fame, he's going to want to go in as a member of the Miami Dolphins. This isn't baseball where you wear a cap. You get a bronze statue. That's it. It's not as if you go in as a member of a team. It's no, oh, you're wearing a Chiefs hat or a Dolphins hat. It's not baseball. So I don't even get the comment by Tyreek Hill.

Give him a stock down. Alrighty, that is the closing bell. It is the Zach Gelb show on CBS Sports Radio.

We had to bump that up a little bit because we will take a time out. And when we come on back, we will do a little college football fix and we'll be tapping into the ACC. The head coach of the Virginia Tech Hokies, Brent Pry, is going to join us on the other side.

You're listening to The Zach Gelb Show. We miss college football. We can't wait for the 2023 season. And we're counting down the days to kick off. Are we there yet? No. Are we there yet? We said no. Are we there yet?

What's wrong with your ears? Here is your college football fix only on The Zach Gelb Show. 38 days away for Virginia Tech until they kick off its football season up against Old Dominion on September 2nd. Let's head out to the guest line right now. Welcome in the second year head coach of the Hokies.

And that, of course, is Brent Pry. Coach, appreciate the time. How are you? Hey, happy to do it, man. Happy to do it.

Well, thanks so much for coming on. I want to take you back to November of 2021. And you've been in the college game for a long time. You finally get that opportunity to become a head coach. And we know how much Virginia Tech means to you before you became the HC. But what did that moment mean to you when you had a second to just think and gather all your thoughts that you're going to be the head coach of this program?

You know, honestly, before the excitement, it's just, you know, you're you're so blessed and you feel so humbled and fortunate. I mean, I've always revered Virginia Tech and the job that Coach Beamer and his staff did in Blacksburg. So an opportunity to sit at his desk and to take the reins of a program that he built.

Opportunity of a lifetime. When you look back at your days as a graduate assistant at Virginia Tech under Frank Beamer, what do you recall from that time? Just the way Coach treated people, you know, from players to staff, people in the community.

That's how this place was built. And that stands out the most. Just the level of character and care and concern that he and the staff displayed and treated everybody. So your dad was a coach.

He also played at Marshall. Obviously, Dad could teach you a lot. But what are the things that you really look back at that Dad did really teach you to shape the kind of man and then also football coach at JR right now?

Well, listen, my pop did it for a long time. And obviously, you go to Marshall the year after the plane crash, you know, you're going to have a great passion for the game. And what Coach Lingle and that experience meant to him. Growing up in West Virginia and he's a small college coach, he's a high school coach. And, you know, being on the back of those buses and being in practices and the relationships that he had with those players and those coaches and what that meant to him and what it meant to them. You know, I knew there was nothing else I wanted to do.

Awesome stuff. Senior head coach at Virginia Tech, Brent Pray here with us on CBS Sports Radio. Clearly you want more wins than what you had last year, but how do you kind of look back year one as a head coach and what you guys were able to do? You know, obviously, everybody, you know, there's never enough wins unless you're undefeated. And to be honest, you know, we were disappointed, but we were also very proud of the things we were able to accomplish. You know, perseverance, you know, sticking together, continuing to fight, winning a good game at the end in a team effort. You know, our culture is in a really good place. And a lot of that has to do with how we handled the adversity from last season.

The guys were very excited heading into the winter. And, you know, that's a testament to the way we came through the fall. When you talk about your culture of your program, how do you describe it? What is the culture right now at Virginia Tech? Yeah, we're a hardworking group that's invested in one another. We're team oriented, you know, very selfless, very accountable. We embrace hard conversations. We recognize mentality and how important it is. So, you know, we're doing things the right way.

We're staying the course. We're trusting the process. So, Coach, you know this, it's been in the news around college football in multiple spots, making sure that the culture is run the right way and things aren't going on poorly in the locker room.

Everything that you just said sounds pretty good. But how do you make sure that you know everything that is going on when you have so many kids and make sure that nothing goes the wrong way? Well, I'm going to tell you, one of our fundamentals is communication. And, you know, I've been mentoring these guys from day one that you can't be afraid of tough talk. You can't be afraid or stiff arm hard conversations.

You've got to want to have them. There's going to be adversity. There's going to be issues.

There's going to be things that happen. And what's important is that you get it addressed, that you don't bury it, you don't complain about it in the locker room. You see your teammate, you have a talk about it, you see your position coach, you see the head coach. You have the hard conversations necessary to work through it. I mean, most conversations that are tough, you usually come out better on the other side.

It's just, you know, even adults, they have trouble doing that. And we're fostering an environment where, you know, issues and concerns are dealt with and they're discussed. And you may not always like the answer coming out the other side, but you're going to feel better about having to talk about it. Talking to Brent Pryor right now, the head coach at Virginia Tech. When you look back at last year, I know we talked about it briefly, but this is, I know you've been in the game forever, but that was your first time being a head coach.

Just what did you learn about yourself individually last year? You got to stay confident, you know, you make mistakes and you got to trust people around you and trust the process and stay the course. And, you know, positivity is a great cure for a lot of things, you know, your attitude and approach. And I'm very proud of our staff and our team, the way we persevered. And, you know, the foundation's laid.

I'm a believer in our principles and our values. And I think the investment and sacrifice that everybody's making in those areas, it's beginning to pay off. I remember, coach, when I was at Temple, the first year Matt Rule was there, they only had two wins, but they were a competitive football team. And you saw signs that they were headed in the right direction. The next year after that, they took a jump to six wins. The next year after that, they really did take off and eventually in year four they won the conference.

What kind of growth are you really looking for this year in the jump from year one to year two with your program? Honestly, I think it's about the improvement, right, that it's evident, you know, that we're able to run the ball, that we're able to find open receivers, that we're able to win more one-on-ones and play tighter coverage and, you know, be a more competitive group than we were in 2022, that we look more like the team we need to be. We're not going to be there yet. You know, we're still probably a cycle away from having a chance to be closer to who we need to be to compete in this league. But we're certainly in the right track and I think we'll see an improved football team.

You know, how many wins or losses that equates to, I don't know. But if we go have the camp that's necessary this August, you know, we should certainly be an improved team. Does right now, does it look totally different from where it was last year to where it is right now? Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of new faces. You know, we turned over the roster pretty good. A couple of coaching changes, a couple of personnel moves. You know, I don't know if it looks completely different, but we've certainly, you know, done some things that are pretty aggressive and probably necessary to get the roster right and to get some things moving a little more quickly in the right direction. And I think we'll find out right away, because this is no disrespect to Ricky Ronnie. You guys know you're supposed to beat Old Dominion. It didn't go your way last year, but you get them right out of the gate 38 days from now.

I think that'll be a good test right out of the gate to see how much growth there was from a year ago. I have a ton of respect for Ricky. You know, we spent a lot of years together at Vanderbilt and Penn State and he's doing a great job at Old Dominion. And we'll see where things go. I mean, our concern right now is, you know, just having the best egg on camp we can have so that we're the best football team we can be when we take the field.

You know, for the opener. I know you could probably spend a long time on this and I know you can't lock it down to one thing, but you discussed your time with Ricky and obviously your time with James Franklin. When you look back at those experiences with Coach Franklin, just what are the things from afar that you really did pull from him and things that you still carry with you today?

Well, absolutely. The thing that comes to mind first is just, you know, James is a great person. Him and his wife fill me in very close to us and very dear to me. I consider him like a brother. He played quarterback for my dad in college.

He's been like family for a long time. So, you know, just the trust and the relationship is so important to me. But, you know, the ability to recruit at a high level and what that really looks like, you know, I certainly took that from our experience at Vanderbilt and Penn State. And what was necessary, you know, to land the right guys, to land the high profile guys, the difference makers, the investment that has to be made in recruiting, the attention to detail in that space, all of it. You know, James does a great job of that and we did some really good things at both places on the recruiting front. And, you know, it just so happens that that's a big necessary right now at Virginia Tech and winning our state back and being strong in our footprint and recruiting at a very high level like Tech has done in years past. You know, the expectations are high this year for Penn State and you were there from 2014 to 2021. I know football coach Brent Pray wrapped it up with the Virginia Tech second year head coach is all about relationships. I know you had your own job to focus on last year, but how much did you see maybe on a Saturday night after game was over, you checking out what Penn State did with your relationships there? Yeah, like I said, James is near and dear to me as are a bunch of those guys. We were together a long time and, you know, so I'm always pulling for those guys. You know, I want success and happiness for them and I know how much that James has poured into that program. I know the challenge that it was when we took it over, in some ways more challenging than Vanderbilt. So, you know, I'm very happy for the success they're having.

They're lining up against the Hokies, they're recruiting against the Hokies, I'm pulling for them. Well, last thing I'll ask you, I have to end the conversation with food. You played some college football in Buffalo, so we know wings are big at Penn State. Gray-Marie and then they also have that wonderful establishment, Are You Hungry?

What kind of food guy with all these stops that you've been on is Coach Brent Pray? Listen, I'm pretty easy, man. I like some wings and pizza. I like a good steak. I'm a pretty easy guy when it comes to that. You know, my wife's a Cajun, so I like a good etouffee, I like a good gumbo, a little Cajun fried turkey.

So, we try a little bit of everything in my house. Well, Coach, we appreciate it. Good luck here. You're number two at Virginia Tech. Appreciate you taking a few minutes for us.

Hey, man, appreciate what you do. Alrighty, there he is, the head football coach at Virginia Tech in Brent Pray. And that is actually all the time that we do have for you today on the Zach Gilb Show on CBS Sports Radio.

Big thanks to each and every one of you for tuning in. Also my producer extraordinaire in Hot Take Kiki and our other two guests in the Hall of Famer TMAC, Tracy McGrady. And a man that's entering his second season as an offensive lineman for the Los Angeles Chargers.

Just wrapped up a very successful rookie year in Zion Johnson. And that is it for me for the rest of the week. I'm going on a little vacation to the Jersey Shore. So, I will be back on Monday and tomorrow you have Hot Take Kiki filling in.

And then on Friday, Bart Winkler and Ryan Hickey will be entertaining you across all of our great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, and that free Odyssey app. So, have a great rest of the week and I'll talk to you Monday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific. Alrighty, be safe everybody. Thanks for listening. We out. Bye-bye. Peace!