Cooled Off (Hour 1)

Live from the police show, yet not overly ostentatious, studios of CBS Sports Radio here in beautiful New York City, sitting on top of the 10th floor, 345 Hudson Street. Welcome on in to a Tuesday edition of the Zach Gelb show across all the great local CBS Sports Radio affiliates, Sirius XM, Channel 158, and that free Odyssey app. You can always get at me on Instagram, where I'm straight flexing, or via the good ol' cesspool of Twitter, at Zach Gelb.

That's Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. Loaded guest list today coming up hour 20 from now. We'll do a little QB carousel featuring the Atlanta Falcons, a former team wide receiver, and Brian Finneran. And then in the 8 p.m. Eastern time hour, 5 p.m. Pacific, Scott Drew will stop by the 2021 National Championship coach at Baylor at the top of the hour. And then 40 minutes from there, Jerome Tang, who was also on that staff, and now is in year number one with Kansas State.

They were picked to finish dead last in the Big 12 before the start of the season. And now they are dancing in the Sweet 16, and they will be at Madison Square Garden in New York coming up on Thursday night to do battle with the Michigan State basketball team, the Sparty party. And then at 9 20 p.m. Eastern, 6 20 p.m. Pacific, outside of Gonzaga, U-C-L-A, the two games this weekend that are going to be the heavyweight fights, it's going to be Houston, Miami, and Gonzaga, U-C-L-A. And the ACC player of the year in Isaiah Wong of the Miami Hurricanes, he's going to stop by in the final hour of the show. And Hickey, it's kind of tough to figure out which game is a bigger game, because we all know the history with what happened a few years ago with Gonzaga and U-C-L-A.

And you can't really go wrong in either game, but I think the game I'm most excited for is actually Houston and Miami. And we all know the Marcus Sasser injury I guess was overplayed and overhyped with the groin injury because he looked pretty damn good in their game up against Auburn with what he did on the basketball court. But this is a Houston team that is trying to get to Houston, right, stay at home for the Final Four, and you need two more victories for that to happen. And then you got this Miami squad, even though there's different names, not entirely, but some different names from the team a year ago. This is a group that last year was a ten seed, and they went all the way to the lead eight before losing to Kansas. And you look at Miami, they did have a scare going up against Drake, and I feel like almost every team outside of that Baylor team that won the championship in 2021, you need a little bit of a scare before you go on your run or you win it all, and then there's always that moment you look back and you go, oh, the run was almost over there. That could have happened in that first round with that close game up against Drake, and then you saw the response up against Indiana where it was an absolute party for Isaiah Wong, who's going to join us later, and the Hurricanes. But this Houston-Miami matchup in the Sweet 16, it kind of feels like an Elite Eight or Final Four matchup because these two teams, with what Lara Nega has done for the sport, and we know what Kelvin Sampson has done at Houston and other stops, that is a tremendous fight and a tremendous battle that's going to be coming up later on in the week on Friday. And especially, too, when you look at how both teams are coming off their last game, where I know it was the first half that was pretty poor for Houston, but second half was tremendous, and Miami played their best game in a long time.

They just were on fire against Indiana, never stopped. So you have two teams at least coming off really strong finishes. It's going to be, I think, a really, really good game. Now, we'll get to the Lamar Jackson stuff in just a second, but if you just had to do quick predictions to see who's going to get to the Elite Eight. Alabama-San Diego State, it feels like no one's talking about San Diego State, who they had that victory up against Charleston, then they beat Furman.

Brandon Miller, I just think, is going to be too much. I take Alabama going to the Elite Eight, and in Creighton and Princeton, the size of Creighton concerns me for Princeton, and you could have said the same thing with their matchup about Arizona, and they found a way to get the job done. Princeton's going to have to be on from three. I feel like momentum gets taken away here when you've had to wait now, where you go from the round to 64 right into the round to 32, and Princeton just dominated Missouri.

I don't like to pick against Princeton, but I'm going to do so in this spot with Creighton. Just the team we thought they could be before the year, then they struggled. They were 6-0, then they lose six straight.

At one point, they were also 9-8 after those back-to-back losses right after losing six in a row. I think Creighton is going to advance to the Elite Eight, and we'll have Alabama and Creighton in the south matchup for the Elite Eight. Do you agree with that, or are you going to go a little upset here? No, I agree. I agree with that.

Okay, good. I'm actually happy that we both agree on that, because then we'll be wrong on one of those games, and I hope that we are wrong. No offense to our friends at Creighton, but I hope we're wrong. I would like to see, personally, Princeton advance to the Elite Eight. FAU Tennessee.

We talked to FAU's coach yesterday, a tremendous story with Dusty May. Tennessee, they sent a message to Duke with their physicality, especially early on in that game. A lot of people thought that Duke was going to be a shoo-in to the Final Four.

I will take Tennessee advancing to the Elite Eight at Madison Square Garden. And in Kansas State, Michigan State, it's so tough to pick against Tom Izzo this time of the year, but I'm going to do that. This Kansas State team, it's been one of the more impressive stories I've ever seen in college basketball. You just wonder how far they could take it, and it seems like even though they were a three-seater and they got their respect heading into this NCAA tournament, that a lot of people were sleeping on Kansas State. Like when you looked at this region, people were going with Purdue to get to the Final Four, Duke to get to the Final Four, some even saying Kentucky and Marquette. I'm not going to bet against Kansas State in this spot with what Jerome Tang has done in year number one. I'm going to take Tennessee, Kansas State coming up on Saturday night at the world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden, for the Elite Eight. Where do you go, FAU, Tennessee, Kansas State, Michigan State? I will go the Vols of Tennessee, moving on, and I do think Tom Izzo has got another little bit more magic left in him, takes down K-State in what's been a great story, and Sparty moves on. I think the toughest game to pick this weekend, or this week, is Houston, Miami.

I don't have a feel on it yet. Xavier, Texas, I like Texas in that spot, and Sean Miller, if he finds a way to get to the Elite Eight, you know he's going to be sweating through his shirt. Right now, as we sit here on a Tuesday, I will lean Houston over Miami, but I don't feel good about it.

If Sasser was legitimately hurt, or the injury, I'm not saying the scoring wasn't legitimate, but if it was playing an impact on his game, I would think differently about this. Miami has the experience, Miami has a heck of a team, I love La Renega, but I will go Houston and Texas, meeting in the Elite Eight, and what a matchup that would be. I'm assuming you're riding with Texas, maybe I'm wrong on that, but where do you go, Houston, Miami, and then Xavier and Texas? I will take Texas to win, and I think Miami's pulling off the upset, they're taking down Houston.

I can't call you crazy on that one. I really feel like right now that's a flip of the coin type of game. And then Arkansas, UConn, Gonzaga, UCLA, I'll let you go first on this one. Zags are taking down UCLA. Oh, you like the Zags to win it all, right?

Yes, that's right. They will take down the Bruins, and look, I like Eric Musselman a lot, and I like the way Arkansas is playing, right now UConn is peaking at the right time. I agree with that. They are playing some really, really good basketball, I'll take the Huskies to move on. I will take UConn to advance the Elite Eight, and I'm going UCLA. I'm taking UCLA to advance the Elite Eight, we'll have that matchup up against UConn. I know everyone was freaking out, including yours truly, and it kind of made me sour a little bit about UCLA heading into this tournament with the Clark injury. They've been clearly able to survive that. I know the Northwestern game was a little bit closer than what people expected, but that first round game up against UNC Asheville, I know it's 2-15, but we've seen three times in a row, 15 beat at two.

They didn't have to break a sweat in that one. I know both these teams right there, the definition of experience. Drew Timmy, what has he been at at Gonzaga for 17 years, it feels like?

He reminds me of Perry Ellis a little bit with how long he's been there. Perry Ellis is at Kansas, and you just know obviously what UCLA has with Campbell and then Juzang as well, and just how good they've both been and how long they've been at UCLA. That is going to be, if there's one game when you look at this weekend that there's no doubt in my mind, or this week on Thursday and Friday, that it's going to be close. I know I just said Houston-Miami feels like a 50-50 game, but I would think Gonzaga-UCLA is going to be the closest game of the showdowns in the Sweet 16 hickey coming up on Thursday and Friday. I think that's going to be another nail-biter right down to the wire, and who knows how it's going to end, because the last time these two teams met in the NCAA tournament, you had Jalen Suggs with that ridiculous shot to send Gonzaga to the national championship game.

And that I think Kansas State-Michigan State will rival it in terms of down to the wire, last possession maybe wins the game, I think that's another kind of rock fight, physical, tough, exciting game. Okay, let's get to this Mike Florio report. So, per multiple sources, a representative for Lamar Jackson has contacted more than one team in an effort to spark negotiations aimed at a possible offer sheet. The representative is not certified by the NFL Players Association, you may ask why that's a big deal, because Florio points out, clubs are reminded that under Article 48 of the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement, blah blah blah, that players' contracts may only be negotiated with the player if he's acting on his own behalf or with the player's NFL PA certified agent. And that was the memo that was issued and reminded the teams back in August of 2022 when you did have Roquan Smith doing the same type of thing with his representative that was not certified by the NFL Players Association.

The ironic part I guess here is Roquan Smith eventually did get traded to the Ravens and they ended up getting that deal done. Lamar Jackson still has to wait. So Florio then also goes on to say, as one source explained it, the person has said that Jackson does not want a fully guaranteed contract. Some regard this as a possible exercise in semantics, with Jackson still wanting a very significant amount of money fully guaranteed up to $200 million or more with one more non-guaranteed year at the back end. Another source said that the representative is telling other teams that Lamar is ready to move on from the Ravens.

So two things that stand out to me there, actually three. Someone is starting to do the homework here where you got to get in a weird way the name of Lamar Jackson out there to these teams. Everyone knows Lamar Jackson is available right now, but it's a game of chicken for whatever the reasons are in terms of teams don't want to do the Ravens work and negotiating a deal that the Ravens are going to match if they feel this way. Teams operating on their own or together to not want to see a quarterback get back to back years guaranteed fully year deals or if teams just flat out aren't interested in Lamar Jackson right now. As we've stated through this process, I would think that this really starts to pick up in intensity after the draft. Because even though Lamar Jackson shouldn't be a team's last resort, I do think some teams right now that have already made the decision in free agency or out have made their decisions via trade or out, assuming the Jets deal does go through for Aaron Rodgers. And then you have the draft as a last resort. And if you miss out on a quarterback in the draft, then I do believe you will have a team or two that's going to say, OK, I know the league doesn't want us to give out a fully guaranteed deal, but let's talk to Lamar and see what the opportunities are and what the possibilities are.

So that's one takeaway. The other is that something that we've both stated here, even if he doesn't get the fully guaranteed deal and you don't want to give him a fully guaranteed deal. We know that Kyler Murray got one one hundred and eighty nine point five million dollars in guaranteed money. So Lamar Jackson and I said this from the start, if I'm a team that's interested in Lamar, I think there's no harm in giving up an offer sheet of five years, two hundred and thirty two hundred and thirty five million dollars, let's say, and then guaranteed two hundred million dollars. So if that's true and who knows what's true or not, but Florio is a trusted person that covers the NFL.

We have a lot of respect for Mike Florio. If he's saying that the way that a source explained it to him, it's up to two hundred million dollars or more and he's not looking for a fully guaranteed deal, I think it's a no brainer for some teams. And who knows what Lamar is exactly asking for, because we really haven't got much clarity or you can't really trust the Ravens and you can't really trust what Lamar is saying or we haven't really got much clarity from the more outside of one hundred and thirty three million dollar guaranteed tweet that was still very ambiguous to us.

And I think the biggest part of this is that the other source said that the representative is telling other teams that Lamar is ready to move on for the Ravens. So, Hickey, if you're a team like, I don't know, Atlanta, if you're a team like Indianapolis, teams that don't have quarterbacks right now and you could look at some teams in the draft as well. Maybe you're going to wait until after the draft because you could be a team. Not that I think your team is going to get in.

They should. But let's just say the Colts wanted to pick someone else at four and they get the sense that nothing's going to go down before the draft. You may want to pick someone at four that's not a quarterback and then the two first round picks that you're going to have to give up would be for next year.

Now, you run the risk. Now, if you get Lamar, obviously, you don't think you're to get the number one overall pick. But if you're a team that, let's say, is not ready to win, you don't know then where that pick's going to be next year. And who knows if Lamar gets hurt?

You may come back to regret that. But if you believe in Lamar and you need a quarterback, I don't say you have to do it right now. But when you feel like the market is going to pick up and I guess this is what that representative is not certified by the NFL Players Association is trying to do as he should.

Because so far it's been a stalemate. We haven't really heard anything and it seems like nothing is moving. I think it's the right move, whether the NFL likes it or not, where maybe that representative reaching out gets someone to directly call Lamar and maybe you get an offer sooner than what we think. I still do believe, and this is all pure speculation on my behalf, if a deal gets done, I think it will happen after the draft, at the absolute earliest, maybe the week leading into the draft. Because the draft could make a deadline at the Ravens. Maybe if they know they're not going to match it, maybe they're going to tell other teams, hey go get a deal in it. Another team doesn't have to do this because who cares what the Ravens say.

If you don't want to match it, you don't have to match it. We'll get our picks when we get our picks. But maybe the week before, the week during the draft, it picks up an intensity where a team is fine moving on with the draft pick that they have. But if that's all it's going to take and you got to get through the structure of a deal is probably like a five year deal.

Let's say 230, 240 and you guarantee 200. There's a lot of teams that we should be looking at or at least a few teams that we should be looking at that need to start having those conversations. And then the moment when you hear another team is ready to give them an offer, that's when you got to kind of pounce.

It's still in a bizarre waiting period, Hickey. But I do think we're starting to hear signs now from the Jackson camp. That's my biggest takeaway from this. That Lamar, even though it's a little semantics, he's looking for like $200 million guaranteed, maybe a little bit more than that.

And you could kind of navigate your way through that. So it's not a fully guaranteed deal. And also the biggest thing, whatever you want to take it for what it's worth, is that that representative is telling other teams that Lamar is ready to move on from the Ravens. And that's something, just with how vague Lamar's been, how annoyed he was with the draft pick last year and trading, and more importantly, trading with Marquis Hollywood-Brown, which I don't get.

I didn't want to be there. So why are you annoyed with the Ravens? And they catch in the loop. I think it's been clear now for a year that Lamar is on his way out in Baltimore. It just comes down to when is he going to be on his way out? And all it takes is one team to submit that offer and Lamar likes that offer. And then it could be a domino effect from here.

Well, this is what makes it so tricky. Lamar could want out, and good for him, but the issue is the Ravens still control his rights to where if they want to keep him and match the offer, he's not going anywhere. And I don't really know how you're going to force your way out if you're Lamar after they just sign you to a $200 million guaranteed deal if you're the Ravens and they just match whatever offer that's given to you. So it's a start. At least someone's representing him and doing the dirty work.

That's what we talked about yesterday. The reason why there's no leaks from Lamar's side is because that comes from agents. The agents are the ones doing the dirty work and trying to create a narrative or create some sort of make their client look good. And for Lamar Jackson to represent yourself, you're not reaching out to teams directly and no one is really making that PR push for you. So at least there's somebody doing the work for Lamar Jackson.

Again, I'm with you. I think it's going to be after the draft if anything is going to happen. So we're still like another month away, but at least it's a start of being in the right direction of someone taking control of Lamar's future. I do think this, even though it's moving very slowly right now, the moment one team that you hear is talking to Lamar Jackson, all we know is right now it's just, according to Mike Florio, that a representative of Jackson has contacted more than one team. But that's different than if we hear, let's say, just drawing out a team, the Patriots talk to him or the Colts talk to him.

When we get that team by name, and if that's just more than just a conversation, there's an offer made, that's when the dominoes really start to fall. And that's when I think we'll see this pick up in intensity, because right now it seems like it's a game of chicken going on in the NFL where no one wants to negotiate with Lamar Jackson right now because I feel like a lot of these teams want to wait and wait and wait so he can get it out of his mind on a fully guaranteed deal. But according to this report, and how much of it is semantics or not, that he is not right now looking for a fully guaranteed deal. Now, let's just say if it's $230 million and he wants $210 or $200 million of it guaranteed, it's practically fully guaranteed anyway, so it's pretty damn close. So I wonder how far off the fully guaranteed deal is he willing to go down? I guess we'll eventually find out, but like I said, at this point, any team interested, they're quarterback needy, obviously they're in the top half of the draft.

And so I think you should, by the way, wait if, let's just say, craziness unfolds and if you like C.J. Stroud or Bryce Young and they start to fall, or you love Anthony Richardson, and now you're sitting there at 7 or 8 and they start to fall, I think that's, again, why teams are holding out right now just to see what the draft order is in terms of quarterbacks off the board. Then, a few days after the draft, I think that's when we'll really get some chaos going with Lamar Jackson and his market picking up.

And here's also the biggest question, too. It says another source said the representative's telling other teams that Lamar is ready to move on from the Ravens. That's right now because they're not paying him what he wants. If he gets a deal, let's say, with the Colts agreed upon, and then the Ravens come back at match it, I wonder if those feelings get washed away because the Ravens, right?

Your SOL, you have to go back to the Ravens, but I wonder how thrilled Lamar will be about going back to the Ravens if you have to get that offer from someone else and then the Ravens elect to match it. That, to me, is a fascinating part of this conversation. I mean, if the frustration's about money, you should be pretty happy then. Right?

Like, if they eventually give you what you want, yeah, it's ridiculous that they made you go through this, but you eventually got close to what you want or what you wanted, which, what you seeked out to do, and I would think that would solve most of the wounds, but who knows when you talk about feelings between him and the Ravens. And this thing has been very, very ugly. It is the Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. We'll take a break. When we come on back, Cam is back in the news. What does it mean? We'll discuss. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show.

But then the two people involved. So Jeff Goodman, who is a longtime college basketball reporter, is getting into it with El Presidente, Dave Portnoy, over at Barstool Sports. Hickey, I will read you the tweets in just a second, but have you seen this let's go kerfuffle that's going on right now? Oh yeah, in real time it's happening. This is awesome. Fireworks.

This is explosive. So Jeff Goodman tweeted out just an FYI. This was not directed to anyone. She just tweeted out, not tagged anyone. Ed Cooley did not leave Georgetown for the money.

Sure, he's making more with the Hoyas, but and now hold on one second. My phone just died on me. That's not good right there.

I have my Twitter up right here so I could get it up, but Hickey. You did make mention of that to me the other day that I do live dangerously with my cell phone life. Yeah, I don't know why. I mean, I get down to like 45 percent. I'll go back on the charger. Here we go.

I never get it down to 10, but you live at like 3 percent all the time. Yeah, so let me pull up here. Do you have the original tweet here from Jeff Goodman? Just wondering. Yes.

OK, read me the tweet as my phone just died on me. So he said, FYI, Ed Cooley did not leave Providence for the money. Sure, he's making more with the Hoyas, but the average is about $5 million per year, according to a source he has. So the contract for Ed Cooley at Georgetown, seven years, $35 million per source.

This is Jeff Goodman. Providence is paying somewhere around $4.5 million per year. So a $500,000 increase, at least according to Jeff Goodman's sources, is what Ed Cooley got leaving Providence and going to Georgetown.

Gotcha. And then Portnoy retweeted this and quote tweet and said, why is he leaving just to stab everybody in the back and spare me. He went after John Fanta, who I know he likes a lot and we like a lot to spare me the John Fanta speech about being too popular in Providence, which is arguably the dumbest thing I've ever heard. So off of that, Jeff Goodman then responded, saying, stab everybody in the back.

What the hell are you talking about? The guy was there for 12 years and left for a better job. Just because they've been awful lately doesn't mean Georgetown can't go to the Final Four again. Patrick Ewing was the wrong hire.

Then Portnoy responds to that response, saying, let me clarify it for you moron. One, said Providence College was a dream job last weekend, signed two lifetime contracts for more money, put house on the market in the middle of the season, knew he was leaving. Three, recruited for Georgetown while being paid by Providence College. Four, first Big East coach to jump to conference rival ever.

So this is really getting pretty pretty picked up in intensity here. If that ain't stabbing your school in the back, what is? Portnoy then said. And then Goodman said, there's OK, dumbass. There's no such thing as a lifetime contract. Two, who cares if he went within the conference?

I didn't realize there was a rule in place. Three, it's a better job. Four, you should be focused on helping Michigan. Remember, Portnoy is a Michigan man.

And I know now Hickey loves this because he hates Michigan with its NIL so he can get back into the NCAA tourney. And then I guess that Portnoy respond after that at all. Have any good tweets there? Yes. So he still has a lot. He still has a lot. Can you read me like the best one or two since my phone died?

Sure. He said in a different tweet, I never understand morons like at Goodman who don't understand why they have jobs. And then in parentheses, albeit in his case, prob low paying its cause of fans not understanding why a passionate fan base is incensed. When their beloved coach lies to them and bolts for a rival is bananas. And then he also said Ed Cooley can do whatever he wants.

But to carry water is what he is claiming Jeff Goodman is doing for Ed Cooley. And saying Providence College fans have no right to hate his guts is insane. He deserves all the hate Friar fans can muster. And then I see Goodman respond, did I get why fans are incensed but I'm not buying.

He stabbed everyone in the back like you said. Maybe he wanted to go summary and felt like he had a better chance to go into the Final Four. For the third time, Georgetown's a better job, higher upside. And then Portnoy said, do you ever consider, do you consider recruiting for another school while you're being paid by Providence College?

Stabbing them in the back or saying you plan on staying for life a few months before leaving or telling your players on Zoom you were gone. And why is Georgetown better? One coach has won with them. So there you go in that little fight. And there's nothing else since then or is there more to this?

No, that's the last of it, at least what I've seen so far in real time. Here's the interesting thing. With how much clout Portnoy has on Twitter, what do you think Jeff Goodman's trying to accomplish here? Is this just because he likes Ed Cooley a lot and you have a big voice like Portnoy going after Ed Cooley? Who we yesterday said, and this is maybe Hickey and Gelb just mushing him, is the coolest coach maybe. Or one of the coolest coaches in college basketball in Ed Cooley. I kind of get both sides here.

I get the Portnoy side of it more, why he's mad. Because you have a coach for a school that you like and he leaves to go within conference. And that's always a tough pill to swallow. I remember, for example, when Chris Beard left Texas Tech. We all knew Texas was a better job.

It had more resources. But that is tough when you're leaving in conference. If a coach is going to leave, number one you want the coach to find the school better than where you found it.

Obviously, Ed Cooley has done that. But it is kind of a tough pill to swallow if you're a Providence fan. And you're a P1 kind of Providence fan that your coach leaves the school in conference. And there really hasn't been much of an explanation. Now, we've seen coaches leave and there's all different motivations and reasons why coaches leave.

It is though weird a little bit, and I get more Portnoy's stance on this. Why no one's really giving him a great explanation. And if the only explanation Goodman could really come up with is that, Oh, we'll have a better chance to go to the Final Four. Fine, but why couldn't we just get there right away instead of having all this fight that we didn't thoroughly enjoy on Twitter.

Why couldn't we just get that right out of the gate? Well, if that's the case, I think the main point that at least Jeff Goodman is missing is the fact that fans have a right and are upset. And you telling them X is a better job, Georgetown is a better job than Providence. Most fans are not, like, no one is okay with that. It's your school that you root for. You had this great coach that took you to Heights and you thought was going to be there for a while. And now he not only leaves, goes to rival school, there's no explanation, no matter what it is, that you could say, Oh, that's okay, coach, go, you know, good luck. No, the thing Jeff Goodman does not understand is why Providence fans are upset at Ed Cooley. Providence fans have absolutely have a right to be upset at Ed Cooley. If I was Providence, I'd be pissed at Ed Cooley, wish he lost every single game in his Georgetown career, because that's how fans are. They are fanatics. They want their team to win and they root for the school, not the player, not the coach.

And as soon as you're gone, you are dead to about 95% of them. And don't get me wrong, if he was leaving, let's say Providence, to go to Duke or to go to UNC, like let's say in the last two years, or if he went to, I don't know, like Oklahoma, somewhere that is totally out of the biggies, you know, goes to a big 12 school, a big 10 school, you know, an ACC school, whatever it is, okay, he was there for a long time. He did wonderful things for the university.

I would wish him well, no problem. But the fact that he leaves in conference, and I don't think anyone's going to tell you that Georgetown isn't a better job. Like it is a better job, even though they haven't been good for a while. But to leave in conference, I said that when Beard left. I understand why you go to Texas, but when you leave Texas Tech and it's in conference, that always does rub me the wrong way. You're allowed to do what you want.

You're allowed to pick wherever you want to go. If another school wants to hire you, there's really nothing that you could do about it. So when you're leaving in conference, that always rubs me the wrong way when you look at things. And also, too, is being brought up here is the fact that I guess Ed Cooley a few months ago in an interview basically said, you know, he's not going to leave Providence ever. This is the job that he wants for the rest of his life, which again.

Nick Saban also said he was never going to coach Alabama. If you are going to say that, I understand why, again, fans want to be upset that four months later you say that and then now you're running out the door as fast as you can. Again, it's not saying like he's a bad guy, but it's more just the fact that fans absolutely have a right to be upset. And you also got to remember, I would say a lot of the fans now of Providence basketball, and obviously you have people that have rooted for the program for a while, but people that have really been won over by what this team has been able to do recently, they don't know or they don't care about the history of Georgetown with what Georgetown did in the 80s, right? Like they weren't alive for it.

Like people our age, I understand the history. I get the history of that, but it doesn't mean anything to someone that's in their 20s, like just graduated from Providence or is in their early 30s, let's say, because they weren't around for that and they probably don't care. They just look at it as, OK, we've been Providence, we've been a whole lot better. You go to Georgetown and you leave in conference, yeah, you do feel like you're getting stabbed in the back. The whole part about him saying he's not leaving, I can't really crush him for that because every coach says that. None of these coaches ever give a truthful answer in the moment when you get asked about that.

What if he said he was leaving? It's a no win. You're right on that. You're 100% right on that.

He's getting killed now. I would respect it more, though, because it would be different. Now let me ask you, Act, because obviously you're a little bit older. You know about the history of Georgetown and obviously how great they were. When you look at him leaving Providence for Georgetown, do you understand it or do you go, I don't love when a coach leaves in conference?

No, I totally understand it. Look, 12 years at a school is an eternity and he's the longest tenured coach at Providence since Joe Mullaney from 55 to 69. So that's why we brought an act right there. Now I understand why fans are disappointed and look, you never like being the one that's rejected.

And I totally get that. But look, the guy gave you 12 good years, five straight tournament appearances, unprecedented in Providence history. He went to the tournament seven of them in the last nine years. The team was booed mid-season. You know, the guy stays and they have a couple of down years. You know, Ed Cooley can find himself out of a job. Now he would get another one, whether it's coaching or TV.

Here's what I also wonder about this. Now we all know what Patino did at Providence. I don't know when they knew, but since this happened this week and it kind of seemed to catch a lot of people by surprise, would they have maybe been able to go get a deal done with Patino? It seems like Patino to St. John's was destiny, but it's just something to throw out there when you see Patino go to a biggie school like St. John's.

I don't know if that was ever talked about, but I think it's on the table. I mean, I mentioned it on WFAN in one of the updates before Patino was actually hired at St. John's and Providence had the actual opening. You know, I mean, Providence is a better job than St. John's with all due respect to St. John's in New York City. Providence has more history.

They have a better facility, tougher recruiting base. But, you know, I'd say at this point, you know, Providence has a little more to it than St. John's does. You're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. I will say, though, Hickey, going back to this Goodman-Portnoy feud, when you and this goes for all sports, when you get these insiders that usually aren't used to getting in these arguments like these and these fights, they never know how to just kind of let the argument end and they always go back to one line like, oh, you don't know what you're talking about.

And that's what Jeff Goodman just did. He tweeted to Portnoy, please don't act like you have any clue about college hoops. Stay in your lane. And then Portnoy responds brilliantly, saying that is what somebody who has lost an argument says.

If you haven't noticed in the last 20 years, I decide what lane is mine and then I drive people off the road like what I just did to you. So this all goes back to Portnoy being annoyed that Ed Cooley is leaving Providence for Georgetown and Goodman, I guess, is carrying the water for Ed Cooley and all Portnoy is just basically trying to say is that fans, the reason why you have a job and right and all of us have jobs is because the fans, they're going to be annoyed with Ed Cooley because if he was leaving somewhere else, OK, you'll have people be upset. But it's not in conference. The fact that he leaves in conference for a place that Ed Cooley talked about so glowingly, it does rub a lot of people the wrong way.

So I understand Portnoy here more than Goodman. This is such a stupid argument. Like really think about it. Both sides are true. Ed Cooley left for a better job, leaving Providence for Georgetown. Also, with that said, Providence fans have every right to be upset and every right to hate Ed Cooley. And now it's like basically we're arguing about if Providence fans have the right to be upset or not. They don't care if it's a better job. They don't care with the money. You had your coach there for 12 years and he just left to go to a rival in your conference. You could say whatever you want to justify the move and you could argue and I would agree it is a better job. With that said, nothing you say is going to make make Providence fans feel better.

And there's really nothing you should try to say to justify it. They have a right to be upset and also Ed Cooley's right to go get a better job if he wants to leave. And maybe he's tired of seeing you for 12 years. I don't know what the hell he wants.

If he wants easier recruiting, whatever it is, he also has earned that right to leave if he wants to leave. Remember last week when my douchey friend started texting me and I brought it up on the air? He was like, oh, noticing that you're making up for all the college basketball you didn't watch in March with your tweets now. And it was just such like a loser line because I do watch some college basketball throughout the years.

I don't, you know, throughout the year. I don't pretend to be an insider and tell you more than I know. And I thought it was a real douchey comment from my friend. Well, that same friend texted me today about you, Hickey. He brought you up about me. What a what?

What do I have to do? He said, by the way, tell your boy hot take. I love people just call, you know, hot take. I don't even say hot take Hickey, but they said, tell your boy hot take. He had the dumbest take I've ever heard.

Wow. The dumbest take I've ever heard. Once it is not my words, my historical. Let's hear which take was this.

I mean, there's I guess a few here that could fall into this category that Matt Painter should be fired at Purdue. That's what he said. Care to respond? That's Mr. College Basketball. Let's say that. Interesting. Yeah, but just the funny thing is, I would not call this person Mr. College Basketball. He claims to be Mr. College Basketball. He claims to be an expert about a lot of things. Interesting. And you met this person, by the way, at the Super Bowl. I introduced you to him. Huh? He doesn't even tweet me, doesn't even say it to my face.

Yeah, that's the thing. Guy likes to talk a lot of crap behind the scenes. He could have tweeted you. We follow each other on Twitter for the same guy I'm thinking about, so he easily could have. Well, actually, the funniest part about this is this guy needed a room at the Super Bowl, and the way our company books it and the NFL makes you book it, you have to book the rooms through Monday. Hickey left the Super Bowl on Friday, so this guy actually took your room and you were being kind to him.

Wow. And this person texted me today basically saying you are the dumbest person on the planet when it comes to talking about Matt Painter. Well, considering this is the same guy that said, again, way to make up for your lack of college basketball tweets, I feel pretty good about my stance about firing Matt Painter if he disagrees. So, actually, that makes you feel even better about my stance. And, Perdue, if you were listening to me, you were in good hands. I can promise you that.

Well, I don't know if we go that far because I did disagree with you yesterday. I don't think Matt Painter should be fired. I don't know who you're going to bring in. But I will say this. If you do get your wish, which you're not going to get your wish, I actually think it would be awesome if Micah Shrewsbury does what Ed Cooley just did. No, it would not be awesome. You're leaving Providence to go to Georgetown in conference and you have Micah Shrewsbury leave Penn State and goes in conference to Perdue, which is a better job.

No. Again, people want to talk about them having Micah Shrewsbury be, there's no reason to hate him. I would hate him. I'll tell you right now, if Micah Shrewsbury leaves Penn State for Perdue, leaves Penn State for Notre Dame, I hate you. You just wanted to name the Bryce Shorten Center, but the Shrewsbury Stadium. The Shrews... Shrews Center.

Shrew Center. Yes, whatever you want to do to keep him there. But again, if you want to leave, that's your right. I'm not all of a sudden congratulating you. Pat, you're in the behind as you go. We're saying thank you, coach. I'm saying a few expletives towards your way and you're ditching us. Either you're with us or against us. You won't hate him, though, if he goes to Notre Dame. Yes, I will. Really?

Yes. He's made Penn State relevant. He has actually for the first time had Penn State win meaningful basketball games. You go to Notre Dame, I'm not going to be happy seeing you walk out the door. I'm not going to be rooting for your success. I hope you lose every game after that.

And I'm not going to be happy if anyone tries to come at me and say, you should be happy for him. No. And Shrewsbury is a painter guy. Was that Perdue? Hopefully he has some loyalty if they fire him at a painter who says, that's my guy, I'm not going to take his job. That guy, to me, Michael Shrewsbury, nothing screams more than loyal. Shrewsbury, go to Perdue, baby.

And it's not going to open up anyway. We talk Cam Newton next.