Hour 2: NIL/Transfer Portal Reform Debate, plus ESPN’s Jesse Palmer Talks CFP

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0:31Rich Eisen:Every soda's got something to say Colas brag Probiotics give TED Talks Then there's Mr. Pibb No pitch, no promises Just bold cherry bringing the flavor Bold kick of cherry Hey yo Mr. Pibb This is the Rich Eisen Show Hey everybody Can't get enough of the Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck You can find us everywhere Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus From noon to 3 Eastern Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. The one and only Rich Eisen.

1:19Rich Eisen:John Harbaugh here on the Rich Eisen Show. I think everybody's coaching for their job. Everybody's playing for their job. That's the nature of the National Football League. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Earlier on the show, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. Coming up, pro football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner. ESPN college football analyst Jesse Palmer. Actor Sean William Scott. And now, Rich Eisen. All right, everybody. Hour number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. What a first hour. Mike Tomlin first segment. We don't usually do that sort of thing, but it's Mike Tomlin. and it's Pittsburgh Steelers and the Houston Texans week on the finale of Wild Card Weekend.

2:03Rich Eisen:Of course, we unpacked John Harbaugh's firing in Baltimore in our number one before Kurt Warner joined us on this program. 844-204-RICH is the number to dial. We'll get the phone lines in a second. Jesse Palmer is going to join us to talk about college football free agency, which is what's happening right now. We'll talk about that. And Sean Williams Scott, one of our favorite guests over the years of this program, is coming back again. I think it's his third or his fourth visit. I think it's the fourth. What is the bit we've been doing with him? Is it sports movies turn horror? Oh, sports movies turn horror movie.

2:36Rich Eisen:Yeah, that's pretty funny. You know, like Rudy comes around the end and suddenly, you know, the calls are coming from within the house. And then he gets graphic and silly. I don't know why we do that. I don't either, but it's so fun. He does kind of like doing this. Do we go down that well for a third time? Maybe we can just like, you know. I don't know. Brush on it real quick. At any rate, he's joining us. Look at that evil on me, Ricky Bobby. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. I guess before we go to the phone line, do you want to play that Tomlin drop one more time since it was a Mike Tomlin day here?

3:07Rich Eisen:I can't give you all the ingredients to the hot dog. You might not like it. Stay by the phone. I may need you. That's okay. I mean, there's so many. Stay by the phone, man. I may need you. There you go. Very good. And we've got to specify it, Tom. That's right. Tyler in New Jersey. Let's take his phone call. What's up, Tyler? How you doing, Rich? First off, go blue. And second off, I just want to talk about John Harbaugh. You know, as a Giants fan, I think he would be a good fit for the Giants. He'd bring a winning culture, and he's a proven winner. But also, like you said before, Kevin Stefanski, he is also a winner.

3:40He won with Baker Mayfield in his first year 2020 in Cleveland. So it makes you think, who would be a better fit, Harbaugh or Stefanski? I mean, like I said before, he did well with Baker. Jackson Dart has a little bit of Baker in him. So I just want to get your guys' opinion on who you think would be a better fit.

3:56Rich Eisen:Well, how about this? Am I thinking about it as a fan, or am I thinking about it as a general manager, or am I thinking about it as the owner of the Giants? Who am I thinking? What am I? I would say kind of your view as a fan, but then also as a general manager in Joe Shane's perspective, because this decision really just depends on his future. Joe Shane would be all over John Harbaugh, Unless John wants to bring his own general manager. Then all of a sudden it's like, hey, Kevin Stefanski, you want another dessert? That's right. And our dinner? Nightcap. Hey. We open another bottle? Oh, yeah, let's open another bottle.

4:33Rich Eisen:It's on the Marist. It's on the Underhills. You know what I mean? You know what I'm saying, Tyler? What does John Harbaugh want? Because I will tell you, every other coach that's in the mix right now, that's on the carousel right now doesn't have that question asked of him. It's all about what's your plan for me? But this is the one coaching candidate now suddenly thrust, and thanks for the call, Tyler, thrust into the coaching market where it's like, what do you want, John? Because he has that amount of control. There's the headline, TJ, you were referring to in our number one. Here's Johnny, because you bet Giants coaching search takes stunning twist as Ravens acts Harbaugh being the headline of the New York Post.

5:28Rich Eisen:You bet it's a stunning twist. One hundred percent. And the only other coach who could have that on the market, if he enters the market, would be the guy in the first hour. What do you want, Mike Tomlin? and the only other one I guess from college would be Signetti who I don't believe I mentioned to start our number one of show one of this week I said hey if I'm the Raiders if I'm the Giants I 100 % reach out to Kurt Signetti and say are you interested but everybody else has got to come with a PowerPoint and explain to me what they're going to do for me. Honestly. Yeah, it seems like the other college coaches are not really available.

6:16Marcus Freeman has said he's staying in Notre Dame. Dan Lanning seems like he's really entrenched there with Oregon. Kalen DeBoer is kind of an interesting one to me. He was a hot Michigan rumor. It seems like the Alabama fans don't really love him or have embraced him. He'd be an interesting one if I was a team

6:34Rich Eisen:in the NFL, right? Yeah, for the NFL. Okay. I mean, that would be of interest, but not somebody with 18 years of experience saying, I can get you to the playoffs two-thirds of the time. No, to answer the caller's question, if I'm a Giants ownership, yeah, John Harbaugh I think is number one. Stability, the respectability that you haven't really seen in your coaching staff since Tom Coughlin probably. But if you're the fans, I think maybe Stefanski is a little bit more interesting and comes with the offensive upside. Right. Because it's results. It's not the accolades, really. And in that regard, this is wild.

7:13Rich Eisen:It's kind of like a did you know, but I don't want to. Sure. Give me the sports center. It's kind of like a did you know with the coaching. Did you know? Back in 2018, Matt Nagy was coach of the year for the Chicago Bears. You probably knew that, right? Yeah, Mitch Trubisky. And you probably knew that he was fired in 2021. You could take the music. After the double doink. Right. in 2021 he's fired um 2019 you know his coach of the year john harbaugh oh yeah he as we all know was fired yesterday lamar won mvp that 2020 you know the coach of the year was that year he's also the coach of the year in 2023 kevin svansky he was fired monday monday so two-time coach of the year fired Monday.

8:04Rich Eisen:2021 Coach of the Year. Do you know who he was? His name's Mike Vrabel. Mike Vrabel, as we all know, was fired by the team for which he won Coach of the Year two seasons later. The 2022 Coach of the Year, Brian Dable, was fired in the middle of this season. Wow. Yeah. So, did you know that the coach last year who won Coach of the Year, Kevin O 'Connell, is the only guy since 2018 to win the award and still currently hold his job? He hasn't been fired yet, has he? Nope. Okay, good. Jeez. Prior to this run, the last coach of the year who still has his job was Sean McVay in 2017. Until last year.

8:58Rich Eisen:So, it doesn't matter if you have a great run or a great year. The results eventually are going to get played on you. Unforgiving business. It sure as heck is. Not for long, TJ. I just found that wild. Yeah. That reigning coach of the year, Kevin O 'Connell, is the only guy since 2017 to win the award and still have his job. Didn't the Eagles build a Doug Peterson statue and then fired him two years later? They built a statue for the play, not for him. He's just involved. He's the one who told Nick Foles, good idea. Run that, run that. You know? She's really downplaying. I'm not downplaying it.

9:45Rich Eisen:I'm not saying they built a statue for Doug Peterson. I'm trying to get Lent some perspective on it. Of Doug Peterson, not for of. Let me just say this one last thing here, too. Let me just say this directly to my fellow Michigan Wolverine fans who I'm already seeing and hearing, you know, and this is also a dear friend of mine as well. So I but he's already heard this from me. OK, John Harbaugh was never walking through the door at Schembechler Hall ever. OK, and I heard his name floated when we were in the depths of our. Only fans despair, OK? We were deep in it, wondering how are we going to get out of this morass.

10:28Rich Eisen:And thank goodness Kyle Whittingham became available. But I just can't believe – John Harbaugh is a professional football coach, which is why, you know, I think it's going to be closing in on, what, a dozen teams that are going to kick the tires on this guy? Some that just don't tell anybody that we're making this call. but coming from a block number between you and me between you and me you know we already have a head coach but would you would you consider coming what do you think about miami so all of that he's a professional head coach he's not going into the world of free agency every year for everybody on the team he's not going into the world where you know he's gotta be concerned about about somebody maybe entering free agency next year out of the blue because a name image and likeness deal blew up on him or somebody actually competed harder than the kid and earned a job that pisses off the kid who now wants to go into free agency the next year why would he enter that world why would he do it and why would he take the job that his brother used to hold and the only answer for you to measure success is to do what your brother did and anything less means you're not as good as your brother like you know a brother he beat in the super bowl i understand that that's a little brother at that no i i understand that but why would why would he do it it makes no sense and let's just let's be happy with who we have instead of like oh if we'd only waited two more weeks if you only waited two more weeks then all the kids that are staying put right now would already have been gone somewhere else in the portal yeah your quarterback might be you know and while we're on the subject of the portal here too um the new york times the athletic had a fascinating article that popped out yesterday i guess they they went into the portal and they're They went around and they asked all their sources and they're talking to schools and they're talking to programs and they figure it out.

12:46Rich Eisen:I don't know how you can't talk to all the agents because some agents basically are sitting at home right now blogging, maybe not to say that this bad to blog. I'm just saying that you could basically say I have a friend who's a running back at this school and I'm now an agent and you need to deal with me, you know, top notch head coach in the profession. You need to take my call coach who would never take my call ever. But my friend is making me their proxy. In this world where, again, everybody's a free agent every year. And please understand what I'm about to show you. I'm not saying the kids don't deserve this money because the money exists.

13:32Rich Eisen:The money exists because of the success of the sport that is based on players like them. I just think it's crazy that we are now entering a part of the college football world in which every single player every single year is up for grabs. Because they could just basically say, I don't like the way you treated me in week nine. I thought I was going to get this NIL deal by week four. I thought I was going to have this job. And even though I'm not as good as the kid that just took the job because you're a head coach and you're trying to build a program based on competition, I am somebody who was promised this.

14:12Rich Eisen:I'm out of here. Or in the case of, I don't know what's going on with the Washington quarterback right now, but there's now a lawsuit being threatened about him having signed a deal to stay with the Huskies. And now he's entered the portal. and all of this stuff. You're looking at your feed, and this makes the NFL free agency frenzy or the NBA's first two, three days of July look like a walk in the park. But apparently, in the portal right now, if you want a quarterback to come to your team, it'll cost you somewhere between$1 to$4 million. And that's on the low end. trust me uh i i imagine the the kid that in bryce underwood has been here in this studio um uh larry ellison is probably two three x of that all right allegedly um the offensive tackle market cracks on average just over seven figures the running back market on average comes close to seven figures the wide receiver market does crack it just take a look at the numbers on the screen the edge rusher interestingly enough is the second most expensive market does this and the safety market is less than the cornerback market the interior defensive lineman market is just less than the edge rush market does this pay structure mimic anything to you does this look familiar to you about which positions are valued more than others and are thus paid in a manner does any of this look familiar to the to you uh-huh it looks like professional football although the numbers don't yeah a little well around the number no love for kickers yeah i was gonna say that well i mean i'm sure there's a i mean listen we were joking in our in our michigan text chain um that michigan signed a long snapper oh what's he getting i don't even know but listen this is professional this is a professional structure right here the bones of it i just i just and i don't mind the kids getting it i mind that you can't build a program now the flip side could be how can you build a program when coaches can go whenever the hell they want because they can get bought out by somebody and then you know identifying the talent and then coaching them up.

16:46Rich Eisen:That's what is the secret sauce, I think, of Signetti, right? Correct? Identify the talent, coach them up, getting them in the portal as well, which they've been terrific at. You look at the four teams remaining, they were terrific in the portal in the college football playoffs, right? There's portal kids all over the place. And Indiana's been great. And you've been wondering, like, where did this come from? And then you find out from front office sports as to who the secret sauce is of the portal program in Indiana. And looky here. Indiana graduate Mark Cuban is taking part. Telling front office sports he gave, quote unquote, a big number to the Hoosiers last year.

17:32Rich Eisen:And quote unquote, let's just say they are happier this year than last year. I bet. So college football is basically find yourself some rich alums. And this all used to be, I guess, what, under the table? Right? Oh, yeah. It's not like this is a new story. Friends of the program. Brown paper bags. I get it. I understand what's happening. What are the rules, though? What are the rules? And shouldn't there be, my opinion, at least a two-year commitment from a player? Two years. when you come to a school and you sign that NIL deal, it's two years at least. So you're building a program. You have to at least know you're getting the kid for two years and you don't have to re-recruit everybody on your team.

18:26Rich Eisen:What do you do with senior transfers? I don't know. Listen, man, I understand that there's so many. I'm just trying to be basic on this front. But on the flip side, I want to make sure the coach doesn't go anywhere too. no more buyouts in coaches contracts none zero you cannot be bought out that's it you want to go somewhere else you quit your job you resign and you leave the money on the table end of story it's not like i want to go somewhere else and some other rich alum is putting all this money on the table and my buyout's only a few million bucks which is chump change to somebody and then all of a sudden the program gets upended no more buyouts that's it you want to go somewhere else you break your contract you resign you quit and then there's got to be some sort of compensation to the other school this is just crazy man what's happening and and some kids are leaving programs battling for the national championship hitting the portal because of the schedules all screwy so john harbaugh was going to join this instead of working with adults finding out from Steve Bishotti we're done now and 10 NFL teams are falling all over themselves to see if he's interested okay that's the way it works let's take a break Jesse Palmer is going to join us next right here on the Rich Eisen Show it's been too long since we chatted with Jesse that ends in a moment the Rich Eisen Show podcast

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22:08Rich Eisen:Here on the Rich Eisenhower radio audience just returned. Great Clips is bringing Jesse Palmer to us today. Again, there's a nationwide$9.99 haircut coupon ahead of the college football playoff national championship game. And of course, Jesse's the host of The Bachelorette, which premieres season 22, March 22nd on the Disney family of networks. It is great to see you, man. I really love watching you do what you do and listening to you call these games wide open. Right. Anybody remaining can win it all. Correct, Jesse? Or is it Indiana's to win? I feel like Indiana is the best team right now. It's funny, man.

22:44It's so weird. This is the first time in the college football playoff era that Alabama or Georgia or Ohio State or Clemson are not in the college football playoff. We're not used to seeing this. So there's been a lot of new blood. Indiana has been sensational all year long. Whether you watch the Rose Bowl and you watch them demolish Alabama or if you've seen them throughout the regular season, you know just how good you are. It's how good they are. It's not just that guy there, their quarterback. Fernando Mendoza, Signetti as a head coach has just done a remarkable job. Miami is an exciting team to watch right now.

23:16I think Miami can go, it can win it all. Just the way they're dominating right now in the trenches, running the football with Mark Fletcher, their ability getting after quarterbacks. They've got 12 sacks through two playoff games going into this thing. And that matchup with Ole Miss and Trinidad Chambliss, you know, that feels like a coin flip right now too, especially the way after watching Chambliss play this season, we call their playoff game against Tulane in the first round, but his performance late in the game against Georgia, against that defense, I thought was absolutely sensational. And then I just saw Oregon in person a few weeks back at the Orange Bowl.

23:49Their defense was absolutely fantastic, phenomenal. They're playing with a ton of confidence and a ton of swagger right now. And that's a rematch with Indiana, a game that was close in the fourth quarter for a couple of interceptions by Dante Moore. So, yeah, this is going to go right down to the wire, and it does feel like it's anybody's. I think Indiana's the team people should be focused on. And I think Miami's playing maybe the best of anybody right now, but four fantastic football teams right now.

24:17Rich Eisen:Well, you've known me, Jesse, for a long time. You know, I'm not one of those guys on the air that gets surprised that nobody agrees with my takes, you know. But I did say after the Rose Bowl coming on last Friday that Indiana's the bullies of college football. They are bullying people. And then the pushback that I did see from that did surprise me. I didn't think I was saying anything, you know, on a ledge here. but they're bullying people, man. They're crushing people, and they're seemingly schemed up better, and they're executing better. And we've got to get over the fact that Indiana has been, you know, I don't want to call it substandard, but they just haven't been a blue blood for decades, and we've just got to get over that right now.

25:05We do. Yeah. Well, Indiana was an example of that. They have been the last two years. Texas Tech this year. I mean, they went to the portal. They had a lot of big splashes, a lot of guys hit, especially on that defensive line. That completely changed their outcome as well. The NIL era, the portal era, is changing rosters and talent on teams so, so quickly now. This Indiana team is not your grandfather's Indiana team. It's not a basketball school anymore. I mean, they're becoming a dominant football program. And it starts with Frank Signetti and his staff. You're absolutely right. I mean, watching them play this year from a scheme standpoint, they're as laced up, as buttoned up, as prepared every single week.

25:58They never get outcoached. He has done an outstanding job. And then beyond that, they've gone to the portal and they've brought in a lot of talent on both sides of the ball as well. and rich to me they don't look like they have any weaknesses they can run the ball obviously they can throw it with mendoza they're really good on the line their defense can stop the run and they get after you rushing the passer i mean there's just there's not a lot of holes in this team and honestly a microcosm of just how dominant they are was that rose bowl game against alabama i guess if you had said to me at the start of the year hey they're they're gonna play alabama and they're gonna beat them in the rose bowl they're gonna beat them jesse i would have said okay, sure.

26:36I could see a big physical contest going down to the fourth quarter. I like that. I never saw that coming. I mean, that was all three phases. And it was, I mean, they just ruined Alabama. And so if you're Indiana right now, you've got to be playing with tons of confidence. You're going to have a, this is going to be a war against Oregon. I'm sure of that. And they're going to earn it. If they go all the way and they win and they beat Oregon, they beat Miami, Ole Miss, whoever they beat, they'll have earned it. But this is as impressive of a team um i've seen in in several years now they look really it was a battle in in eugene

27:10Rich Eisen:earlier this year it was a 10 point indiana victory um and then there's there's the old miss um situation i don't know that's such a i guess a a staid phrase here that we say in the business that just you could throw everything into it but part of me roots for because of what happened and with Lane Kiffin. And part of me wants them to prove that they didn't need Lane because I think that that might be what is being utilized right now. Part of me also looks at Miami and says, this is a team that many thought didn't deserve to be in at all, right? And I guess they would be, these are the two Cinderella teams, What did you say?

28:00Rich Eisen:Because one had a coach leave them and another one, it's a 10 seed. Like this is what the college football playoff committee looks for is a Cinderella story. Right, Jesse? Yeah, Ole Miss is interesting. You know, being around that team when the playoff was beginning and they were getting ready to play two lane at home, there was definitely sort of this feeling that they weren't necessarily saying it outwardly, But you could sense they wanted to prove that they were a really good team, even if Lane Kiffin wasn't on the sidelines. They've got a lot of talent. And Lane Kiffin, you know, with this situation, people do have to remember, Lane Kiffin's the architect of it.

28:42He's the one who the roster, he went to the portal, he assembled his staff. That's his team. But they didn't want to just identify as that. They wanted to prove people, okay, he goes to LSU with Pete Golding as our new head coach. We've got what it takes. We've got the staff. We've got the schemes. We've got the players to go all the way. And I've been really impressed. They're a physical team, and they can run the ball. And Trinidad Chambliss, late in that game against Georgia. He's on fire. On fire. Man on fire. Absolutely out of his mind. Yep. Absolutely out of his mind. And I remember watching that and thinking like, God, like he might not get another year of college football if his waiver for eligibility to come back next year doesn't go through.

29:28But after this game, he might be a second round pick anyway. Based on how he's playing, like he's playing out of his mind. He made so much money in that game for himself and his future. And they're just playing with a massive, massive chip on their shoulder. And then you mentioned Miami, too. And I remember, you know, being with Joe Tessitore and we were doing a game late in the year. I forget what it was. I think it was the Big 12 championship game. And the whole thing was, is it Miami? Is it Notre Dame? And we went back and forth on that. And we both we both thought Miami deserved to get in.

29:57And so many people got upset that they weren't deserving to get in. But this just this has been in another example and just goes to show you for the record, I think both Miami and Notre Dame should have got in. I don't like two group of five teams being in. I think Notre Dame should have been in front of JMU. But, I mean, when you're hot and you're playing the way Miami is right now, man, and you're peaking at the right time, they at times look unbeatable too. Is it fair to say – oh, sorry.

30:23Rich Eisen:Is it fair to say that – well, Golding in that game, the de facto SEC championship game, right, last week, he kicked two 55-yard field goals. You think Lane would have done that? Because those – they win by five. If they go for it and don't get either of them, right, I'm just wondering if Golding brings a different sensibility to the sideline than actually dialed it down at the right time that actually wound him dialing it up against Georgia. Jesse? It's a good point, Rich. It's a good question, too. And I do know that Pete Golding is different that way versus Lane Kiffing in those critical moments in games where head coaches have to make those critical decisions to go forward on fourth down, to kick field goals, to punt.