The season opener, the latest with Heather Lyke and more on the Panther-Lair Show | 8/28/2024

all right says we're live so I'm going to take uh take the computer's word for that I'm going to trust streamyard that we actually are live we're going to get this started here on a Wednesday night with a live Panther laer show as we do every Wednesday and it's I guess technically our first live stream of the Season P will open the 2024 regular season on Saturday against Kent State at acore stadium so I mean this is really the first live stream of the season last year was the last live stream the final live stream of the uh um final live stream of training camp oh oh good my mic is already set I had to double check I remember that uh you know sometimes I'm just talking through the microphone of my headphones even though I have this prop mic in front of me but now the prop mic is actually turned on and I'm talking through it so hopefully that sounds just marvelous to you I've definitely used this microphone a lot today recording tomorrow's morning pit then recording a new intro for tomorrow's morning pit a little bit of a teaser there it's like a super long morning it so if you're into uh like if your commute is 35 minutes tomorrow you're going to be set if your commute is usually only about 20 minutes and you listen to the morning pit you're going to have to drive around for another 15 minutes because it's super long as you might imagine we had a lot to talk about we have a lot to talk about here tonight on the live show I mean I figured we would have a lot to talk about anyway there's a quarterback competition it's going to play out on the field start of the regular season Kent State going to be a lot to talk about oh that game there's going to be a ton and then we just had to go and have a bit of an athletic director or director of Athletics controversy either like being courted for or interviewing for uh and potentially a finalist for the athletic director job at Northwestern and then um in a matter of hours after I finished recording a long podcast about her being a uh candidate for the Northwestern job she ends up not getting the Northwestern job and it went to Mark Jackson Villanova athletic director where does that leave p where does that leave Heather like where does that leave this whole big hill of beans I don't know it's going to be very interesting to see what happens going forward but certainly creates uh an interesting situation potentially an awkward situation as uh Heather Lake comes back to Pittsburgh and reintegrates into life uh in Oakland and um it's gonna be there's a game on there's a football game on Saturday Heather Lake after a very public uh flirtation uh no a public Di with Northwestern is uh presumably going to be out in public at acore Stadium you know I think usually they have a donor or a fan dot the eye right which is totally unique concept that no school has ever done before but they have a donor or fan like dot the eye when they spell out the script pit uh before the game and I usually Heather like is standing out there with them so could be an interesting re re uh reaction from the fan base I I don't know could be could be be very interesting to see uh what happens there with the uh the pit fan base when Heather lake is uh in public maybe they'll all uh celebrate her return you know glad you didn't leave big round of applause from the thousands in attendance or maybe there'll be the other way of like hey you know this is like the fifth time you've tried to get a different job what like what gives and and we're not entirely sure about your uh your motivations or your performance here what give what gives it'll be curious to see what kind of reaction there is I feel like in 2013 it might have been the Florida State game when they retired Larry Fitzgerald's number I feel like Steve Peterson got booed in that instance I I forget exactly I I'd have to think back I I know people who would definitely remember if that happened um but I feel like that happened I I it would be unfortunate for that to happen on Saturday uh to have any kind of uh extreme negative reaction like that but it's also it's also possible right I mean I think a lot has been revealed this week or a lot has been sort of uncovered and become public not just this uh you know Heather like interviewing for the Northwestern job but uh maybe some different things about her tenure here at pit and what this era has been and that's um you know not all of it favorable and I think it definitely uh uh good our friend will Z says uh Steve Peterson definitely got booed in that game so thanks for remembering that that will I mean that that stinks first game in the ACC you got a big uh you know big game against a big opponent you're retiring the number of one of the all-time greats and uh you get the athletic director gets booed that's that's a real shame but anyway uh let's jump into it we'll bring Jim here in in a minute we already got got a lot of people tuned in for the live stream I figured it would be a lively one tonight remember if you want to be part of the conversation you can go in the chat screen right there on the right side post your comments and your questions we'll read as many as we can there's already a bunch that are in there um if you want to make sure we read your comment or answer your question you can always be a super chatter down there at the bottom is that little dollar sign click that thing uh kick a couple bucks to the podcast we appreciate your support and we will definitely read your comment and answer your question uh the best that we can um so yeah do that in the meantime like this video subscribe to the YouTube channel youtube.com/ pancom so you never miss any of our stuff the 35 minute morning pit video we've got coming for you tomorrow morning these live streams uh 20 minute interview with Kade Bell that we put up yesterday which was pretty uh interesting and lightening and of course the live streams after the game we got our first postgame show of the season coming up after the Kent State game on Saturday I'm really looking forward to that uh I don't drink whiskey often uh but that's gonna change here in a couple of days and I'm really I'm excited about it I think it's going to be uh fun I I always like those live those postgame shows I think everybody tends to have a good time on those so we look forward to it you can make sure you don't miss it if you subscribe to the YouTube channel youtube.com Panther lcom all right Jim has been uh waiting patiently while I ramble on Jim uh do you remember that Florida State game in 2013 yeah yeah I was there okay you not in a professional capacity in the stands or were you were you working for someone uh no I was in the stands um it was was like jamus Winston with what like 27 of 29 I believe something along those yeah it was absurd I think he only had maybe one pass hit the ground cuz like even his incomplete passes were like caught out of bounds so I mean it was and that was the start of his I mean his Heisman C his Heisman Trophy candidacy really started that night and he never let up but he was he was damn near perfect that night and it was funny that game was kind of like the Notre Dame game in 2005 Dave wste said's first game we pick out the ball and they March right down the field and you're like all right here we go this is gonna be a game and that it never was close again that they went right down the field on Florida State I mean I think Tyler Boyd had a sweep or two manessa Garner caught a touchdown pass it was like all right it's going to be competitive here we go and then it just uh went the wrong way quickly yeah but yeah do you remember being do you remember booing uh do do you remember hearing booze uh during the uh the Jersey retirement I don't um but I I don't know is that like kind of like a like anytime like Gary bman shows his face in public like around NHL like you just get booed like you're Steve Peterson like you're the guy you did Pittsburgh instead of pit like you're always going to get booed yeah I I mean and that's one of many things that uh that that led to the booing but yeah you're right I mean he he really didn't put himself even out there as much as Heather Lake does let's let's start with that question of Heather Lake Heather Lake goes out there let's say she goes out to dot the eye with a donor before the game what's the what's the fan re is there is there any fan reaction positive or negative um spurred by her presence I don't know I mean I don't think cuz I mean like at the end of the day you're going to like Boo like some like big pit donor and like they do like photo ops throughout the game like you're not going to boo like she's going to take a picture with like a a you know a make a wish kid like those are the type of like photo ops she does on game day so like it's it's not going to be like uh she's out there by herself and it's obvious to boo but I don't know I don't know I I really don't know how I'd make of this whole situation because it's really just kind of sprung up in the past like what 48 72 hours like we started catching rumors and I started becoming more public and you know there's been a lot of threads on the message boards and there's been mixed reactions it's like yeah she's really good but yeah she didn't do this and so I don't know it kind of feels like there's not like one voice among the pit fan base uh to have an opinion on her I think everyone kind of has different opinions about her tenure about her as a person about her kind of exploring these jobs so I don't know if that's going to Warrant like a big part of the crowd booing on Saturday yeah I and and I think there's also I I you know everybody likes to talk about approval ratings these days I suspect the approval rating among the pit fan base is still rather High I think on our message board where we've gotten into some topics and some discussions and maybe you know re-evaluations of the last seven years in the pit athletic department and kind of the course it has gone on I think some of that tone has shifted when it first came out that you was interviewing for Northwestern it was all holy cow pits gotot a stop this pit is going to screw it up if she leaves pit has clearly shown they don't care about Athletics anymore you know or or again you know and I think that was going to be the narrative if she got the Northwestern job that was going to be the the public narrative people who very rarely write about pit or talk about pit in the local newspapers or on the local radio stations would go strong with the pit doesn't care about Athletics because if they cared they would pony up to keep Heather like um and that was the tone on our message board now yesterday I put up a pretty long thread and it's still going strong uh let me just uh check as of 841 tonight that thread has 262 replies uh and 8,000 views and I posted it at right around three o'clock yesterday afternoon so that's what 28 29 hours that's pretty good for I mean our board is pretty active but 260 replies to a thread that was posted 28 hours ago is you I'll take that 10 that's only like 10 replies an hour but that's includes overnight so that's you know anyway a lot of the stuff we talked about in there about maybe some of the areas where Heather likes athletic department has fallen short I think it changed some of the perception at least you know I think the general tone of that thread was different from what the initial reaction was but that's a small percentage of the fan base you know if if the message boards as a whole represent a minority of the fan base the the vocal percentage that actually posts on the boards far more people read the boards than post and those that post are like a minority within a minority so even if that tone has changed it wouldn't be a lot of people that it's not enough to create a loud stir I guess is what I would say at the stadium but I wonder if people are miffed about the fact that okay this was Northwestern you know before that was USC you know there was Washington there was Michigan State there was Ohio state you know am I forgetting one am I you know I think she jobs she was linked to um like I I I wonder if it's at a certain point people get a little bit you know tired of it you know what I mean if if people get a little worn out by like all right like this is enough come on now like what are we what what are we doing here you want the job you have the job stay with the job um don't you know I'm sorry I'm getting text messages as I talk here uh if this is the job you want then why are you interviewing so many times you know and I think that's fair do you think fans will be a little bit worn out by it at this point particularly when it was as public as it was this time you know I feel like this was even more public than like maybe the Michigan State or USC situations were yeah I mean I kind of go back to like all those years where Jamie Dixon like anytime a Pack 12 job would open up like he would immediately be linked to it just because he was from California I believe so like for a while I mean like but at the same time he never wanted to Le pit like those were obviously like okay I could probably squeeze a little bit more get another extension do that like with this I mean I I don't really know if she was like pressing to get more out of pit I mean I think we're kind of at a point where yeah I mean I think some people are saying like yeah she might sign a new contract and I don't know I mean I like the way this went down in the past couple days it doesn't tell me that she's going to be here all that long I mean I she's probably going to sign a contract because she has to because she needs a job and she's not gonna not give herself a contract but at a at a certain point I don't think and I I think you even touched on this in the message boards it's not like pit went out of their way to make sure she got everything she wanted I think she just didn't get the Northwestern job and I think it's as simple as that and I think the next job that comes along or the next opportunity that comes along she might be looking at and other schools are going to look at her because I mean she is pretty good I mean like there's a reason she's linked to these jobs and so yeah I I don't know if whatever happened in the past three four days uh necessarily means that oh yeah she's staying at pit for the Long Haul I don't really get that sense yeah I agree and and I think what it came down to you talking about like contract extensions I think she wanted a certain amount I think pit was willing to offer her less and I think that was where there was maybe an impass and and and maybe a bit of a stalemate uh leading up to or even as part of this process this week when the Northwestern jaw became so there's a couple things because I think it's going to be interesting to see what the narrative is about how this went down did Pit this the conversation on the message boards right now did Pit Pony up to keep Heather like at at at pit and and sway her away from taking the nor Northwestern job or did Ne Northwestern find another candidate they like more the Villanova ad Mark Jackson inclined to think it's the ladder I'm inclined to think that as with all those other jobs we just mentioned she didn't get it uh and and then you're in a situation where okay you wanted a bigger contract extension you went looking for another job either a to get that other job or B to sort of force a contract the contract extension you wanted you didn't get either one of those things and you're probably going to end up just signing whatever pit offered you in the first place and it might be like a one-year deal a two-year deal or something like that there's a bigger conversation to have and this is the bulk of what the morning pit is about tomorrow is about why pit and Joan Gable the chancellor were less inclined to give Heather like a longer extension and I think that's something that is is you know it's something that probably for a lot of fans feels like yeah this doesn't make any sense you know under Heather likes watch I wrote down some of the accomplishments volleyball has been a smashing success you know both soccer programs totally On The Rise last two years of men's basketball great with a coach that she hired there's an ACC championship for football there's all these facilities upgrades and she gets accolades you know what I mean her resume is is glorious and sparkling with things that have been accomplished at pit and so why would pit not want to push to keeper why would there be this you know hesitation to give her whatever contract she wants um and I think think something I I've tried to touch on the last couple days is well maybe there's some holes in there like when you look at the onfield onc court on Turf whatever success right who hired Dan fiser the volleyball coach do you know uh Peterson I think so Steve Peterson soccer she hired Randy waldram that's good but Jay vidovich I'm pretty sure was a Randy juwel hire Nardi obviously was a Randy juel hire which I mean he was interim you know acting ad after Scott Barnes left he was ultimately it was a Patrick Gallagher hire men's basketball they've won the last two years but if not for a rather uh sizable buyout those last two years never would have happened because Jeff capable probably would have been fired after the the fourth year you know so it was like it wasn't through patience and and wisdom and vision that Jeff was kept around for the last two years you know what I mean like the first four I I think if not for the buyout or if someone would have agreed to pay the buyout I think Heather like probably would have gone for it and and fired Jeff cable so you know you get through these things and you're like all right um okay maybe now you have to be the athletic director you have to support those programs you have to have the resources to support those programs and that's a big part of it for sure but for an athletic director to give those programs the resources they need that athletic director needs someone above them to say okay right like the athletic director has latitude but the athletic director needs approval from as they say lower campus right and and I think Heather like has had more support from the Chancellor's office than a whole bunch of her predecessors have had uh you know with Patrick Galler primarily and so even then it's it's it's like okay you were the ad when these good things happened and so you get to put them on your resume but what was the actual direct influence you know hiring cable yes but then being prevented from firing him you know what I mean and so you start to question some of these things about and then you get into The Hires right so she's hired like a dozen coaches what would you say have been the most successful coaches she's hired um trying to think because I mean what we're already on a second women's basketball coach baseball has not been good at all I think they're on a second softball coach maybe uh I think they're still on the first softball coach but that was kind of a disaster I mean like that was a uh not well handled removal of Holly aial back when that happened in baseball like I think baseball has they've had their moments you know I I don't know if theyve necessarily exceeded where Joe jordano had the program um but they've had their moments but they haven't been able to sustain and there's a question about where the ceiling is with that program uh she's actually hired two gymnastics coaches also so gymnastics and women's basketball she's hired fired and rehired um I'm still waiting for the successes Jim come on you got it there's three coaches I could think of the she is H that I would say have had successful I mean waldrum has to be yes yes he's he's he's the one that I I don't think you can take anything away there maybe there's a backstory about how she ended up hiring him just like you know whatever but no absolutely I think that's that's a success Randy waldram women's soccer for sure what else you got I got two more you got two more one we just talked about I mean I I is it is building the women's lacrosse program is that does that count no that doesn't count no I like I like that program I think it's cool that they built that program I hope they have a chance to succeed I think it sucks that they were told they were going to have a facility they don't have a facility and it doesn't look like they're going to get a facility and the the only problem I really really have with the women's lacrosse program is that it came after the tennis program was asked and there was never really any reason that I could understand why the tennis program got killed they didn't have a facility Well build them a facility you like you like find some more for them to play uh I never understood why that program got killed but that's you know beside the point um cable I mean I think cable has been a success based on the last two years you know what I mean I I like I'm going to give plus I mean he was able to go out and recruit amsal delich and so I think that alone makes him a successful hire so that's two all right women's soccer and and uh and cable for successful hires are we calling Keith Gavin a success so that's the other one that came to mind I mean I think wrestling I I think there's a higher ceiling for the wrestling program I think they've been good but not great but they've been good and I mean if you compare the wrestling program to baseball women's basketball gymnastics softball I mean I think that the wrestling progam success exceeds those other programs but of course even that has the backstory of they seemingly had pat pat Santoro four-time All-American at pit National Champion two-time national champion at pit pretty much lined up to be the coach and somehow that went sideways and I don't want to say they ended up with Keith Gavin I mean he's proud Pitman himself uh but they kind of ended up with him when they had probably a better candidate or you know yeah a better candidate with a longer resume more experience as a head coach lined up so even that sort of comes with like a caveat so we're looking at seven years for someone who proudly proclaimed and I'll never forget this and it was on the record so I I I repeat it at Jeff Cable's introductory press conference we interviewed her uh in a little scrum and I could still see it as clear as day she said you know I'm good at hiring head coaches that's what I do and I was like wow okay like I know you're riding high right now because this is a big hire but like that's quite a boast I'm good at hiring head coaches like wow that's okay let's see well a dozen or so hires in we're kind of struggling to come up with three successful ones yeah you know what I mean like that so where do we get off on how how do we get off on this uh oh talking about pits maybe reluctance on on the longer term deal and that doesn't even get into all the different things about finances and and things like that um I don't know what do you what do you think does everything just go back to normal here I mean like you know she gets a couple years and they just uh resume business as usual I mean you can't really afford to have some sort of strife right like this is not the time to have disruptions and personal disagreements and a lack of shared Vision I mean everybody has to be on the same page at this point in the college landscape right yeah I mean I think with this whole thing first started on Monday morning I mean I think we kind of got the sense that uh at least from likes camp or people around likes camp we making it seem like pit is not taking Athletics seriously Joan Gable doesn't care about sports and the more we've kind of talked about this is I don't think that's the case I think they're just curious about her handling of some money and um I mean it's a weird thing we kind of talk about it with football from time to time it's like the entire sport changed after pit won the ACC championship in football like it the the entire sport changed and like but like College athletics change right when Heather Lake decides to go through with this ambitious uh you know three or four new venues for the athletic teams and like this huge overhaul Victory Heights it it also happened like during this seismic shift of college sports it's like okay we kind of need the revenue share with these players and that's probably more important than getting a new track facility I mean we've survived Forever Without a track facility why are we building one now when we're falling behind in football so I it's weird I mean I I think some of the timing for her's been off but I can see why Administration a new set of eyes a new Chancellor might not buy into that same Victory Heights Vision might you know think there's better ways to allocate These funds so I don't know I mean I I think it kind of you know when we talk about coaches and say if pit did replace a new athletic director then Jeff cable and Pat Nardi would have a new boss all of a sudden well Heather lake has a new boss all of a sudden and so there's always going to be those clashing heads you always kind of want to hire your own people well Heather lake is not one of Joan Gable's people right now so they're just trying to you know kind of figure out some ways to work together so I don't no I mean like I said at the top it could be like a point of no return like she might find another you know you know life raft and kind of cling to that but I mean they're not going to make a move now there can't be Strife like you said um they're going to get through this school year I mean as we know like an athletic director hire takes even way longer than a coaching hire so like yeah I mean I think for right now she is the athletic director for the entire school year coming up there's that that's that's uh that's always good um Josh nework wants to know Jimmer you a Steve Peterson apologist since he uh brought the dino cat to Pittsburgh uh you know deep down inside I mean he really had a vision for a great logo and um yeah I'm still I'm still waiting on throwback dinocat night I did create the dinocat uniforms on NCA football so I have implemented those so yeah I mean nice work yeah we're we're Steve wasn't all that who are you starting at quarterback Jim Eli Holstein are you how are you wow how's that working out he's a good player we got a lot to talk about in that regard I want to get a few through a few of these uh comments here um on the Heather like topic before we jump into the football side this a work out like half hour on this stuff half hour on football it should be pretty even trr says pit has been respectable in the Sears trophy is that like the litfield cup Sears trophy rankings uh after being years at the bottom it was embarrassing but so is pits leadership I I feel like what we saw last year was like in the fall yeah in the fall they were pretty good but then in the spring it sort of maybe didn't drop to the levels it's been at in the past but it kind of leveled out a little bit does that sound about right yeah I I want to say at some point is it like some point last year like pit was or no that was two years ago I was going to say like pit was the only school that had like a football both soccer and volleyball ranked at once but that wasn't this past year that was two years ago nope definitely not football was that last year um so I mean it's it's getting there I I mean I think like it's again I mean we talk about the soccer programs where they're at the volleyball program where it's at I mean some of these some of these Olympic sports are elevating and and that's great but like it's hard to not look at things with sort of some cold hard cynicism and be like that's great that is such a feel-good story I love it when the volleyball team is succeeding it's great to watch it's a lot of fun it's exciting I like seeing what the soccer programs have done and all this stuff but like bro where's the money like what's what's making money and because those programs are getting paid for by football Revenue you know what I mean like that that that's where that money is coming from and like and like I I hate it I want it to be about something more than that I want it to be about like you know competition and athletic Endeavors and and pride for the University and and and all that I want it to be about that but it's just not like this world of college sports is not and it hasn't been for a while but year after year month after month day after day it just keeps getting more and more boiled down to everything that happens every decision that's made every action that's taken is is the it there's one question and one question alone that decides whether or not it happens does it make somebody money and everything that's been done in college sports for the past I mean for a long time but just I think it's increased in the last 105 years it's what decision can we make that is made that will help us make more money I I mean like to the they're at the point where like the Rose Bowl it doesn't mean anything anymore you know I mean like like part of the beauty of of college sports is stuff that like exists just for the reason of its own existence like the Rose Bowl like what other sport had something like what the rose bow was like look we don't care what else is happening in the world winner of this conference and the win of this conference are gonna play here and that's just always gonna happen that's and like why we don't know it's just what we're going to do but that doesn't make anybody money I mean it makes people plenty of money but there are ways to use it to make even more money and so they're so know casting aside tradition this is why I've I've always said like as pretentious as Notre Dame is as uh cocky as they are as high and mighty as they are like I appreciate Notre Dame's refusal to join a conference because well yeah it's going to turn into a pretty big payday for them for the longest time it was a decision that was made not because it made them the most money but for some like weird reason above that and even if that reason was like arrogance at least it's something other than money you know it was like the one decision being made in college sports that wasn't just about money um you know because it was often pointed out like ACC teams made more in their TV deal than Notre Dame made in their NBC deal it was just like Notre Dame did that and has remained independent because they just believe they're better than everybody else and like screw them for being arrogant but shout out to them for not just chasing the money and and I appreciate that maybe that'll be the moment when Sports finally Falls when Notre Dame joins a conference so they can get paid more you know what I mean yeah definitely and I I mean like you kind of talk about money and making money and all that things and I mean I think you could go back to some you know some criticisms people have of like it's that pit did not really jump into the nil world right away I think there was some reluctancy I still think there's some reluctancy and um I I think that's a big factor in this I mean if if you're going to make money you need good teams so I think yeah you got to take care of football and you got to take care of basketball so I I think in some regards you know whenever you talk about yeah there's there's spending money on this new stadium and new Arena and all that but at the same time it's like when you have money you got to make sure you're using it correctly and I think keep taking care of football taking care of basketball are ultimately the job of any athletic director it's nice to have some banners and some ACC championships and other sports but everything needs to be focused around those two sport so I mean I I think if there's another criticism of her and I mean you could go back and forth with that but it's I I think kind of you know pit didn't really jump into the nil world right away yeah I I agree I agree and and and to the point about Victory Heights too some of it was just like bad luck you know I think you kind of touched on that I mean it was just they I think they announced that plan in 201 like 19 um moved forward with it like basically did it right before all this changed you know it's just like oh that stinks I I've I've long felt like boy covid and the pandemic sort of offered them a chance to walk away you know and maybe cut their losses and not go forward with the project just take a little re hit the reset button uh but they didn't they power through and now here they are uh Mark Shu says uh our friends at pittsb Pittsburgh sports now are reporting that Heather like signed a multiple year deal to stay at pit on Twitter any truth to this um I as of an hour or two ago I I was told that she had not there was no like signed deal my best guess of what has happened is once the Northwestern JW became not an option anymore she agreed to whatever terms pit had initially offered her now that that's just a a guess and speculation on my part I don't think anything has been signed um I mean part partially because she's been in freaking Illinois for the past two days so I I think that makes it a little bit tougher um my guess is the ultimate resolution here will be like like you know she ends up signing like a two-year extension uh she probably wanted like five and we'll end up signing two probably ultimately whatever pit was originally offering like coming back to the table and taking what the original offer but that's speculation uh I'm on my part is that what you you would imagine will happen here that that's kind of the sense I'm kind of reading into right now yeah uh let's see here scrolling uh through here uh a lot of I just just read a couple comments here will Z says the main Heather likee deal is she wants to bring up the non-revenue generating bring the non-revenue generating teams up which racks up the department debt the focus of the modern nilad needs to be NL in your money-making programs football and basketball look there there's something to be said too I think when you look across college sports who's getting hired for athletic director jobs a lot of them are sitting athletic directors like Ohio State I think hired someone with a background in business right it kind of went um that direction and I think that's where a lot of because it's it's not like we're past the days of get somebody who can glad hand and you know shake hands and kiss babies and and give good speech like you need to be able to do the fundraising first and foremost you need to be able to mobilize and and and motivate the fan base but you also need to be really really good with management with managing resources um you know now now more than ever as you're you know trying to find ways to chip $20 million out of your budget or add 20 million to the budget of of what you have to spend every year in the revenue sharing uh the reality is with Heather like her background's in compliance and and to you know you mentioned about dragging your feed on on nil I think that's part of the reason and I think a lot of the people a lot of her top advisers and executive team are you know they have backgrounds in compliance and I think for people who have come up in compliance there's very much a like it's a challenge to stomach the idea of nil because it's what they've been against for their entire professional careers uh this this runs completely you know opposite to what they've always believed and so I think that created some of that reluctance well now you fell behind and your operation is you know your your your War chest your nil War chest your nil budget is one of the lowest in the ACC um as a result as a result of a number of things but the reluct by the athletic department to get involved that's a big part of it you know to to what you were saying earlier you know yeah definitely and I I remember like that maybe you know last year they like pit started kind of advertising for Alliance 4 run two or at least kind of like showing that partnership but I don't know I mean you can make the argument that was 12 months too late because other schools like the second it was like okay you're good to do this there were schools like promoting it like this this was part of the athletic department this is part of The Jug fund we're pushing forward with this and it took pit like a year to kind of do the same thing yeah the panther says Heather Lake brought back the pit script uniform I'll forever be grateful for that but other than that I think she's about a C+ student I I mean it's great they got the colors the script but I mean as I've said a million times before they had a perfect uniform and it was the Retros they wore in 2016 17 and 18 perfect uniform right there you needed to do literally nothing to those uniforms they were Flawless and so any change and I understand it was Nike I I assume Heather Lake had some input on it I'm sure if she had gone to Nike and said we want these things for all the time they would have done it I I assume I don't think they would have forced her hand to do all the cathedral stripes and Cathedral fonts and all that stuff but like just give the people what they want and what they wanted were those well everybody except for you Jim wanted those retro uniforms they were flawless I mean they were the best uniforms I've ever seen yeah those were pretty cool and I think the basketball team that year they had some pretty sweet like Bas like like the all yellow ones with the script those are really cool too but I mean yeah just to you know that point right there that comment is yeah she changed the whole athletic department like and it was an obvious move and like you have to wonder why there was you know a few ads ahead of her that just never like okay like let's just make these people happy and give them this like blue and yellow script uniform like that's all they really want and so yeah I mean there were some obvious moves that she made but like she still get credit for them I mean like yeah this is what people wanton and you delivered so yeah that's at least one feather in her cap for that one yeah she got the colors and the the script but not the I remember 2016 2016 they rolled out the Retros for that Georgia Tech game and I was like oh my God these are beautiful this is amazing it can't get better than this and then the next year rolled out the road versions of the Retros and I was like n they got better this is amazing this is this is the best uniform I've ever seen I I mean it really was like it was perfect it it was it was just perfect but you know you can't have Perfection you can't be you can't fly too close to the Sun JY you know like you you fly too close to the sun your wings Start to melt uh so you gota you got to be slightly less than perfect you got to have a cathedral font which is fine I've come around on it I don't care but you see some of the photos of like James Connor you know running in that uniform or Nathan Peterman you're like oh yeah this was this this is what they need to have and should have had all along all right um let's see a lot of comments a lot of people chiming in here talking about stadiums and uh yeah Will Z agrees as the 2019 throwback that they wore at Penn State yeah they wore in 2017 also they wore those uh I think they wore them at Penn State and yeah I don't think 2019 was the first year they wore the the Roose throwback I think they had it in 17 it was 17 and it was kind of like they didn't like you remember they used to do the uniform reveal every every Thursday they didn't do one that that was a surprise that was the big surprise God that was so those things were so beautiful so beautiful all right um let's see here all right there was a super chat came in very early our good friend Brock uh wants to talk a little football and I think that's fair says who will be the most impactful transfer who transferred into pit after spring camp and then out of the three pit basketball targets Dixon Dennis and Evans who is pit likely to land uh let's see transfers they got after the spring Jim that would be Anthony Johnson Chief borders and Jeremiah angland right yeah is that it who do you think's most impactful out of that Johnson I think so I think it's Anthony Johnson I've kind of been high on him just because he's he kind of presents something different than the other defensive tackles like I kind of think they need that big kind of strong space eater good against the run and it might not even reflect in stats but like I think that's going to be one of those elements where they help you know kind of get back to being a good run defense yeah I think uh I mean I don't know how good he'll be early on but I think Francis Brew brings some of that too I mean just with the the strength I I think those guys are going to be some real power inside uh what do you think about the basketball recruits you have any any thoughts there and Dennis well we're still waiting on the Isaiah Dennis official visit that's coming up but we know Dixon visited we know Amari Evans visited I mean I I I would of that group I would leave lean with Amari Evans I think they did really well on that visit obviously he's a Pittsburgh kid I think he started high school at Bishop canovan so he's I I think that's probably the most likely and it seemed for a long time they were on Dixon but I I know North Carolina sniffing around I think Arizon know like his final six all of a sudden got really good so I mean pits in that final six but it's hard to say with a position of confidence that they're going to win that battle so I would guess Evans right now but I think we have what two official visits coming up this weekend for basball another one on October uh the interesting thing is I think I look there's like six or seven official visitors either have happened or going to happen they're all guards they're all they're all 64 to 67 kind of they're all they all kind of like B so I I guess they're just going to try to find the next Pub Carrington in this class right right I I guess that speaks to their confidence about having another how much more do they have of Cam corn one year two years I think they have two seasons of him two years of him at least one more of guo right or two more of guo potentially and then papanti and you know uh you know I guess they they probably feel like they're going to be able to hold on to enough of those guys to um you know get through that maybe they don't need to is it weird that they don't have any commitments yet for the 25 class you think that's strange um I mean I think this is kind of like because like we always like Focus so much in on football in June like that's the big recruiting month it does feel like late August early September like this is where things are going to happen so I don't know if they're going to try to push for any commitments on these visits um but at the same time they're also kind of swimming in a little bit higher Waters than usual I mean they're these are all like top 100 level players and the competition's high and obviously nil makes things even a little bit more murky so I don't know I mean a little concerning but at the same time like given who they're in on I kind of get it too yeah um real quick I want to tell everybody tonight's Show sponsored by the online Fitness training camp presented by Chris Gates fitness as you guys know training camps an online fitness Community designed specifically for sports fans to help you get results with your health and fitness without cutting out everything you love like drinking beer and tailgating for football games in the fall in training camp run by Chris Gates huge pit fan you get the support you need to build muscle burn fat and stay consistent with your workouts and at the same time you'll instantly join a community of like-minded people doing the same thing with Chris as your coach you're going to get top-notch guidance in addition to being a massive pit football fan Chris has been coaching people online since 2018 and his clients consistently get results by implementing a flexible approach to diet and exercise so if you're interested in getting brand new workout programs every month so you can achieve your health and fitness goals if you're interested in fitness challenges every month to help you push to develop uh healthy habits if you're interested in little challenges within the training camp Community like weekly football pick them game uh where you get to compete with other members and score awesome prizes if you want to get access to live q&as where you can get direct personalized support from Chris with your health and fitness if you want the support of a community of people there to encourage you every step of the way visit Chris Gates fitness.com trining Camp use the promo code Panther layer right now to get a discount on your first month of training camp and here's the thing training camp signups end on Saturday it ends at the end of the month so if you want to check out Chris Gates fitness and what Chris has to offer for his training camp program which I highly recommend sign ups end at the end of the month so use that promo code Panther Lair and check out what's going on there it's uh I highly recommend it Chris has supported the show for a long time he's a big pit fan if you want to get your health and fitness goals in line uh go check it out Chris Gates fitness.com trining Camp promo code Panther Lair uh Mark Shu says is the way pateri handles the weekly depth chart unique when he uses all the ores and multiple starters or to other coaches do similar tactics as well everybody screws with the J the depth chart right Jim I mean like none of these coaches take it seriously none of them actually use it to reflect what's going on with the team uh all of them are a loose list of 50 players who usually are actually on the roster right I mean yeah um I want to say this week Dabo Sweeney did not put one out because Georgia didn't want put one out first so like if you want to know like how like crazy and weird college coaches are like they're all the same like everyone thinks Pat ardui is unique he's more alike these guys than different like they're all the same way than like I don't know I started watching the the Netflix thing uh the the Conor stallions a little bit of that and I'm like I kind of get why these guys are insane because like we have like elaborate sign stealing things and I don't know but yeah so like it was uh Jeff Collins like back to the depth chart he used above the line the line yeah I was I was just going to say that it was and it was just a list of like guys who probably will play not really like ordered in any way I don't even know if it listed the positions it was just like here's 50 guys who probably will play on Saturday they were they were above the line at Atlanta which just makes him an extra door did he start the 404 the culture too I think because 404 is the area code down there 404 the culture he's a weirdo and now like Brent key you know less than two years later is uh I mean he's got one really really big win uh on another continent so shout out to him but yeah I mean they're all weird about it didn't you uh you retweeted um is it like some high percentage of the ACC like has like they haven't named a starting quarterback yet yeah I think I think David hail the ACC for ESPN like he he rattled off like seven ACC teams he's like all right so this team didn't name a starter Dabba is not releasing the depth chart pit didn't name a starter blah like it was like yeah like seven or eight teams don't have a defined starting quarterback and it is Wednesday before the first game yeah well speaking of that uh this quarterback situation continues uh well here before we get to that comment I last week we speculated a lot about what we thought this quarterback situation would be for pit hen heading into week one did we both agree that we thought it would be jarnell or Eli Holstein on the uh the two deep did we agree about that or was that just me thinking it in my head I think so and I I think we kind of guessed the order would be Nate then Eli uh but they would both play they would both play yeah right so more or less is panned out the way we expected or way we thought the says uh seems like Nate Yarnell lost the job but for some reason Pat newy just won't make the move do you so I mean I I last week and I've used this a couple times I came up with it out of nowhere last week on the live stream that the sort of metaphor of the race cars right that you know One race cars here the other one catches up doesn't necessarily mean this one slowed down it might slow down a little bit but there's certainly one that has momentum and has accelerated at a higher rate than the other and in that metaphor uh Eli holstein's the second race car Eli Hol is the one that's that has caught up um which means to me he's had a better Camp if he's been able to pull even with Nate Arnell do you think first of all do you think they really are dead even heading into this game and the game will just decide it do you think one guy is actually ahead of the other and if one guy is actually ahead of the other why do you think they approach it this way like what's your theory on it I don't kind of my theory is that you know kind of going back to the race cards that Eli just played really well and he was healthy and he wasn't in the spring so he gave them a lot to think about but I also think Nate jarnell didn't really do anything to lose the job like he it's not like he fell behind or got lapped by Eli I mean he he's just being Nate yarell he's not turning the ball over he's steady Edy he's going to do what he does and I think they're just overly intrigued by the fourstar top 100 freshman that went to Alabama last year and his mobility and just his overall game is like I think that really stood out in Camp they're like okay this guy has a lot of talent um probably more so than Nate but Nate's still Nate like he's still going to be solid he's going to do what he does so I think that's kind of where things are right now so I I don't know if that means I'm kind of ducking the answer and saying who's ahead right now I just kind of think that's exactly what it is so I don't know I the one thing that struck me when narduzzi spoke on Monday is that he's like I want to get this figured out soon like I this isn't going to be like multi-week thing like I think they kind of want to kind of have a Defined answer by the end of the game Saturday yeah I agree about that uh will will Z points out and I did notice this uh that there is a post on our message board that Eli holstein's going to be the starter um Pat he said that would be decided during the week uh based on practices I don't know if he'll tell us that when we talk to him tomorrow or not um I think I probably expected Nate yell Yarnell to hold on to it I had heard some some rumors that maybe Eli whole team would start I think It ultimately I'm less interested in who starts than I am in who how they play you know I mean and who plays better on Saturday you know whether you know whether jarnell takes the first snap or Hol does it doesn't matter to me who plays better so I mean you know Paul Sebastian asked what you know how will the quarterback situation play out one half each alternating series um so Kate Bell we talked to him today I don't know if you got a chance to check out that interview we were talking about when he was a quarterback was he ever in one of these sort of position battles he said yeah when he's a red shirt freshman um I think he was like the backup and they went like every other quarter I I think they split quarters so one guy did the first quarter I think Cade Bell did the second quarter and the fourth quarter and by the end of that he had he had won the job and so I asked him knowing full well he was never going to answer I I said are you g to do something similar are you g to use that kind of approach I knew he would never give any kind of detail and he didn't but I think they will have some sort of structure to it my guess just because it's what Nardi and Jim Cheney did in 2015 they'll go two drives each that I think you know if Holstein starts he'll get two drives and then Nate Arnell will get two drives and they'll go back and forth would be my guess um but I think they'll have some sort of structure and maybe stick with it through the game maybe by the second half just be committed to one guy and then it'll be that guy for the rest of the season the bigger question probably Jim and I think we probably joked about this last week even if on Sunday Arnell or Nardi and Kade Bell are like yep it's this guy we know it's this guy will Nardi tell us that on Monday or will he try to keep Cincinnati guessing knowing him I think he would try to keep Cincinnati guessing yes I I think so too I think so too like because 2015 when they did that with boy Tak and Peterman um you know I think they went into the akan game Peterman leted a touchdown drive at the end of the first half played the whole rest of the second half and I don't think he said it after the game but I think on the following Monday he was like Nate peterman's going to be our starter so he wasn't trying to play games with Iowa but Peterman had played the entire second half so you kind of knew you could tell what was up you know what I mean like it was it was clear that he had become the man it's also clear of course that HomeField is the place for pit gear I think everybody knows this by now they're probably sick of hearing me talk about it well too bad because guess what they're sponsoring us for the whole season HomeField apparel has the best pit gear you are going to find I was rushing around trying to cover head Alik stuff so I don't have a HomeField shirt on right now but I wore one on the morning pit yesterday if you want to check that out it's just they're great designs they're instantly recognizable as pit they've got a vintage feel but they're modernized and and it's just it's great there's some of the coolest designs you're going to find people pit people pit fans complain constantly about you know pit gear that they get from the official official pit shop or wherever it may be home field has legitimately cool designs and they put them on some of the highest quality materials you're going to find t-shirts sweatshirts jackets they have awesome jackets they have these two coaches jackets that are coming out they're incredible hats Koozies all kinds of stuff joggers you know what a jogger is Jim sweatpants sweatpants uh I don't know why they call them joggers but they're I I've tried to jog in joggers it's not comfortable uh but I really just like to jogging shorts anyway so but nevertheless they look awesome and they're super soft they're like great sweatpants they call them joggers and you could call them a jogger it makes you feel more athletic you're like dude are you just sitting around your sweatpants no man I'm chilling in my joggers like wow you must be a real athlete either way they look awesome they're super soft and that's what you get all the stuff at HomeField go to HomeField apparel.com remember use the promo code pit4 to get 15% off your first order at HomeField apparel.com that's HomeField apparel.com promo code pit 24 all right um let's uh get a couple more comments in here before we go um voodo IPA says in 1999 Walt Harris played John Turman and David Priestley All Season Let It Go play both All Season that is not gonna happen unless somebody gets hurt right yeah so you're uh was it over under uh was it Nate Yarnell is it games played or was it starts starts three and a half feeling bad about taking uh the over on that one Jim yeah maybe a little I think everybody should be over on that I think everybody took the over was the vibe like a week and a half ago I kept saying I was like I don't know guys you guys are all going over over on this I'm not so sure about it but boy look at me now uh man if I get a Victory lap on that and I get a Victory lap on omsa delich being a Darkhorse ACC Player of the Year candidate you guys are never going to hear the end of it because those guys down there the other media guys they're they're not on board with the delich hype train you know this like they think you and I are really weird for being so hyped about delich like the other day I was talking to somebody uh I forgot who I was talking to it was probably like Chris Carter and Stephen Thompson the Post Gazette guys and they were talking about who's gonna be like the top scorers behind Jaylen low or something I'm like well you're saying behind jayen because you know the delich is going to be ahead of jayen right like and and they were like why why are you in Jim so high on this guy I was like what it is I actually made the comment the other day that I think I'm salich is gonna be so good that pick gets a third year out of Jaylen low he's just gonna want to stay around no no he's just gonna it's because gon be overshadowed he's going to be overshadowed J Jaylen low is gonna only average like nine points per game because delich is a gonna average like 18 and 12 assists like delich and jayen low will both average double digit assist this year while delich averages like 18 points per game it's going to be insane like people have no idea what's coming this year and they make fun of me about it but I don't care because every time they make fun of me for overhyping the six7 Bosnian Wing who can shoot you know what I do I double down on overhyping the 67 Bosnian Wing that can shoot so I think this latest one came up because uh uh our good friend um what's he call himself on Twitter why how could I forget this uh Panther for Life Jedi Jedi Master 868 did you see this he had who wins this pickup game it was like low Damen Dunn Zack Austin Jorge and cam Corin against Cummings Cummings legged delich GMO and papanti and I said if you like me believe that papan or that delich is a Darkhorse ACC Player of the Year candidate then you got to pick you got to pick Team B right I mean with Brandon Cummings and ishmail legot delich and guo H I'll take that starting four geez you might give you might lose like the five like with papanti versus cam Corin but I'll take those first four would you would you take low dun Austin and Jorge over Cummings leg at delich and garmo I I mean I I I voted in the poll when I took Team B mainly because Del was on because of delich yeah I was like this guy's awesome he's going to make he's going to shoot like 43% for three he's so oh he is he's gonna shoot just as well as Blake but he's also going to average like nine assists per game so oh God I love it I like I you know I like overhyping things you know I like getting uh excited about some of these things and and hey the the whole SC Yarnell thing that's uh that one's working out pretty funny that's going to be interesting to see but anyway uh let's see what else we come up with here um know you guys are just the panther is just talking about how he's concerned about p offense this year because when he plays the college football video game it seems like the offense is really easy to defend and man there's a lot of reasons to feel good or bad about pits offense this year I just don't think the video game and your skills at playing it are uh adequate for analysis I would say have you found that pits offense is easy to defend in the game Jim uh no I I I use the heck out of Desmond Reed and he is fast so there's a a a movement on the message or a growing theme on the message board is that apparently if you run like four verticals with Chay wuko it's just like it's like it's it's a cheat code basically have you found this to be the case yeah you can do that if you do this little pass in the flat to read or get like Kenny Johnson across the middle like I I don't even throw the ball to mfield I think he has like six catches on the season like I I use the other guys I Ed the fast little guys from West Western Carolina see it's gonna all play out is Poppy Williams doing for you Jim yeah he's he's in the rotation all right all right sounds good all right we're at 9:30 everybody thanks for tuning in tonight it was a fun conversation as always don't forget we'll have the live show after the game on Saturday night I can't wait for that it's a noon game I'm guessing we'll be live around 7 7:30 unless thunderstorms cause a delay we'll see what happens there but um I I know I look man as long as it doesn't rain while I'm walking to or from my car that's the only thing I mean I don't want to delay I don't want to get stuck in the Press Box for a long time but like I just don't want it to rain on me when I'm walking two or four on my car Josh nework says Shay will buo won the Heisman trophy for I love it I love it all right uh tune in for the live stream after the game it'll be a lot of fun if you want to make sure you don't miss it subscribe to the YouTube channel youtube.com/ pan.com and turn on notifications so you can uh get an alert every time we go live check out the morning pit tomorrow morning it's is very long and uh talks about a lot of the things we touched on tonight Dives more into the nil Revenue sharing thing uh but yeah I think you'll want to check that out for sure Jim thanks for your time thanks everybody for tuning in and uh with the comments and questions like this video subscribe to youtube.com/ pancom and stay tuned to pan.com for all of the pit coverage have a great Wednesday night we'll see you in the morning for the morning pit and then uh don't forget the live show after the game on Saturday night right here youtube.com pancom