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#UNC football general manager Michael Lombardi press conference
Feb 11, 2025
#UNC football general manager Michael Lombardi press conference
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did you have something here we're not
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ready for questions yet but we could
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start with all right you know uh I want
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to thank everybody for coming out today
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and and really this has been uh since
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coach belich and I arrived December 11th
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this has been an incredible incredible
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60 days with a lot of support and a lot
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of help from the Carolina Community
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starting with everybody in the academic
0:21
office with Bubba and Rick and of course
0:23
Lee Roberts our Chancellor so there's a
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lot of people that have gone into the
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work that we've been able to do in the
0:29
last 60 days that really are go
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unnoticed and we appreciate every effort
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we still have a lot of work to do but
0:35
we're looking forward to it um I think
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the main focus for what you know we want
0:42
to deal with is our program is really
0:44
based on Player Development you know I
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think coach belich often said character
0:50
sets the floor I mean excuse me Talent
0:52
sets the floor character determines the
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ceiling and so every player that we
0:56
bring in it's really about us developing
1:00
and that development comes from their
1:02
ability to grasp into the system I was
1:04
fortunate enough to work for Coach walls
1:06
for many years and he used to say the
1:08
first year will'll teach you the system
1:10
the second year will'll develop you the
1:11
skills of the system Player Development
1:13
is really important so of all the
1:15
players that we signed going back to
1:18
before we got here and to where we are
1:20
today it's really about integrating it
1:22
into a team and developing Talent so
1:24
that's the journey that lies ahead of us
1:26
from this point forward and and I know
1:29
everybody's going to ask what the
1:31
expectations are our expectations are
1:34
we're going to get better every day
1:35
that's what we have to do that's what
1:36
we're prepared to do and that's all we
1:38
can control so with that I'll open up to
1:41
questions Aaron Aaron beard for the
1:44
Associated Press hello Aon you you
1:46
mentioned there's a lot of work ahead
1:47
you've gone through recruiting and
1:48
hiring positions but there was a lot of
1:50
descriptions in December about almost
1:52
like a mini NFL model in terms of what
1:54
you want to build with a program so I'm
1:56
curious how much do you think you guys
1:57
have accomplished in terms of
1:58
infrastructure and those things and how
2:00
much more is or what is the next focus
2:02
in that regard well the hardest part was
2:04
getting all the people together I mean
2:06
it took a while to to hire the right
2:08
people and put them in the right
2:09
positions the coaching staff which is
2:11
still ongoing and we'll have an
2:13
announcement about that later but the
2:15
reality of it is is building a Personnel
2:17
Department you know hiring people are
2:19
great but then those people have to buy
2:21
into what you're doing and what you
2:22
believe in and how they're going to
2:23
evaluate so that's what it's ongoing and
2:26
we're learning more about the people
2:28
that we've hired they're learning more
2:29
about what we're looking for in terms of
2:31
talent and so like I said everybody's
2:33
trying to get better but to set up the
2:35
pro department to get it to work
2:37
seamlessly is going to take a lot of
2:39
time and a lot of effort on our part CH
2:43
chip just uh a GM in college you've
2:48
obviously been at the NFL and now you're
2:50
in college in what ways do your role
2:52
here similar or what it was what
2:57
exactly well I had an academic meeting
2:59
meeting today so I wouldn't have had
3:01
that in the
3:02
NFL but I would have had a different
3:04
meeting I probably would had a security
3:05
meeting uh and so I don't think there's
3:08
a whole lot of difference in it in the
3:10
sense that there's a lot of moving Parts
3:13
there's way more names that I'm dealing
3:15
with you know when you work at the
3:16
general manager in the NFL you're
3:17
dealing with one draft class you're
3:19
dealing with one free agent class and
3:22
you can prepare for that and now you're
3:25
dealing with the 26 class the 27th class
3:28
the 28 class so there's a a lot more
3:30
names to deal with so there's more
3:33
volume than it would be in pro football
3:35
but the job is very similar you have to
3:38
accurately predict the future of players
3:41
talent and their character and then
3:43
you've got to assign a dollar sign to it
3:45
and you've got to be able to to have in
3:47
concert the ability to develop the
3:49
talent from within so you know I think
3:52
what we learned watching the Super Bowl
3:54
is the same thing we've learned before
3:56
watching the Super Bowl that teams that
3:57
can control the offensive and defensive
3:59
line win games and so from a team
4:01
building standpoint that's what we said
4:03
we were going to do in December we're
4:04
going to build a team inside out and
4:06
that's what we're going to continue to
4:07
do and so part of my job is to maintain
4:09
that
4:13
philosophy hey Michael Adam Smith with
4:15
inside Carolina hi Adam um wanted to ask
4:18
you about uh like strength and
4:21
conditioning offseason strength and
4:22
conditioning and obviously it's a vital
4:25
piece of of what you're doing and what
4:27
that looks like maybe the changes you
4:29
all want to make what does a a pro
4:32
strength and conditioning offseason
4:34
program look like as opposed to maybe
4:36
what these guys have been doing around
4:37
here the last couple years everything we
4:39
do here is predicated on building a pro
4:41
team we are we consider ourselves the 33
4:44
because everybody's involved with our
4:46
program has had some form of aspect in
4:48
pro football and Moses our strength
4:50
coach spent a lot of time third 14 years
4:52
in New England you know training is
4:55
different for football than it is for
4:57
other sports you know you need lower
4:59
body body strength you need lower body
5:01
power you need to be able to to handle
5:04
the physical grind of the season and so
5:07
our training is is conducive to what
5:09
happens on the field you know you have
5:11
to be able to play with power in your
5:13
lower body so you have to train your
5:14
lower body and you've got to be able to
5:16
have the right balance of rest hydration
5:20
and nutrition which we've been very
5:22
fortunate to come in here our
5:23
nutritionist Amber she's been
5:25
outstanding you know she was here before
5:27
we got here she's been outstanding in
5:29
terms of helping the players understand
5:31
what lies ahead of them so our program
5:33
will be what one thing that's always
5:35
been important to coach belich is what
5:38
happens on the field has to happen in
5:39
the practice field you know practice
5:42
execution becomes Game reality is a sign
5:44
that used to hang in the Patriots
5:46
facility and that's the same thing in
5:47
the strength room we're going to we're
5:49
going to do things that are going to
5:50
translate to the
5:52
field Andrew Jones tar Illustrated
5:55
couple prompts of the question here with
5:57
respect to recruiting and scouting high
5:59
school players but the footprint looks
6:02
like it's pretty much everywhere for you
6:03
guys a lot of offers in California got
6:05
some commitments from there New Jersey
6:07
going up even there's a couple kids from
6:09
Massachusetts your room which is a much
6:12
larger room than it was previously how
6:14
do you guys what is the process in
6:16
scouting kids all over the place and
6:18
when you say Player Development you're
6:20
offering a lot of kids that maybe
6:23
haven't gotten as much attention from
6:24
other schools so what is the vetting
6:27
process that get you to California some
6:28
of these other places is offering kids
6:30
that previously W knowing of the radar
6:33
well the the first part of your question
6:35
about uh We've offered kids that didn't
6:36
have I think we believe in our eyes you
6:39
know red arbach has a great saying we
6:41
get our information from looking not
6:42
from talking and so I think if you trust
6:46
your eyes and you evaluate players it
6:48
doesn't really matter if some other
6:49
school wants them I I all I know is from
6:52
my 35 years or more in the National
6:54
Football League I've I've drafted
6:55
players that weren't recruited out of
6:57
high school I've drafted players that
6:59
had no scholarship offers coming out of
7:01
high school so there's always going to
7:04
be a lot of guys that get missed and I
7:06
think you have to trust your instincts
7:07
and trust your eyes uh our footprint we
7:10
work I'm fortunate I work for a great
7:13
University I mean this is one of the top
7:16
universities in America it's harder to
7:18
get in the school for an out ofate
7:20
person than it is to get into Yale or
7:22
Harvard they don't take very many that
7:24
the enrollment is small so we have a
7:27
great brand I mean we have this UNCC
7:29
logo is worldwide so we shouldn't limit
7:32
ourselves you know I think that we can
7:35
we can walk into any school and say
7:37
we're North Carolina we have the
7:39
greatest coach in the history of
7:41
football and we have a great University
7:43
come play for us I think it's a powerful
7:45
message and so why should we limit
7:47
ourselves to just a a smaller footprint
7:50
and it allows you to look all over the
7:51
country for the players to fit you so
7:53
we're we're going to be World we're
7:55
going to be a national program and we're
7:56
not going to back down to some other
7:59
program because we're in North Carolina
8:01
we we'll stand on any firm ground
8:03
against
8:06
anyone P from out here um how did you
8:11
guys go about assembling the group of
8:12
quarterbacks that you have right now and
8:15
you think that the week one starter is
8:17
currently on the roster work I I can't
8:20
even imagine week one I'm trying to get
8:22
through week five of the off season I I
8:25
look I think you you know everything
8:27
comes down to everything matters right
8:30
so how we lift weights matters how we
8:32
prepare matters uh how we go to class
8:35
matters how we handle our nutrition
8:38
matters so to understand how that all
8:41
comes to fruition really won't happen
8:42
until we start cumulating all the things
8:45
that matter and guess what everything
8:47
matters so you know I think we've got
8:49
some really good players that are
8:50
working hard uh that we've brought in
8:53
some of them aren't here yet some of are
8:54
injured and everybody's going to get a
8:56
fair opportunity coach belich and I have
8:59
always belied believed in going back to
9:00
the Bill Walsh Theory it doesn't matter
9:02
where you get picked it matters how you
9:04
play it really matters how you play at
9:06
the end of the day that's all that
9:12
matters Brian froml as well right here
9:15
um how much do you envision yourself
9:18
being the spokesperson for this program
9:21
as compared to coach Bel doing pregame
9:23
postgame you know week of interviews or
9:26
or do you think that's going to be a
9:27
role that you handle or someone else
9:28
handles this well I think look I think
9:30
this program is built on the vision and
9:33
the identity of the greatest coach of
9:34
all time and so you know I'm fortunate
9:38
enough to have worked for him for a long
9:39
time but philosophically we come from
9:42
the same school and that school is about
9:45
building a team inside out that school
9:48
is about physical and mental toughness
9:50
that school is about dependable and
9:52
hardworking players so who's doing the
9:54
messaging is really it's his message and
9:57
I think he's going to handle a lot of
9:59
that obviously he's going to meet with
10:01
with you guys on a regular basis I'm
10:03
sure whatever the schedule is during the
10:05
season but you know my job is to just
10:07
adhere to what the program believes in
10:09
I'm not the spokesman I'm represent what
10:12
we need to
10:14
do yeah you mentioned the first 60 or
10:17
some odd days you guys have been here be
10:19
it recruiting be it the academic side be
10:22
it whatever it is what has been the most
10:24
surprising part of this whole process
10:26
for you the
10:28
coach um uh first of all I think the
10:30
people in Chapel Hill are incredibly
10:33
friendly and I don't say that slightly I
10:35
know I'm a New Jersey guy and we're used
10:37
to being treated rudely but uh you know
10:41
uh you know and I nobody's honked a horn
10:44
at me which is
10:46
rare uh so I I think to me it's just
10:49
been the gracious the the really the the
10:51
openness that they people have showed
10:53
here not that that's surprising it's
10:55
just really kind of humbling and I think
10:57
that there's a lot of pride this program
11:00
and there's a lot of pride in this
11:01
University and I think our job is to
11:03
bring it out and I think what we have to
11:06
do is we have to honor those who've come
11:08
before us these screens here that talk
11:10
about the former players that have been
11:11
here that's not enough you know they
11:14
deserve more than a screen they deserve
11:16
way more than that because we've had so
11:17
many great players here so I think we're
11:20
going to have to pay pay really more
11:23
respect to the greatness of this program
11:25
from a football standpoint we haven't
11:27
won a ACC since 1980 all aware of that
11:30
but man we've had a lot of good players
11:31
and they deserve their they deserve to
11:33
be in this hallway they deserve to have
11:34
the spotlight so I think in terms of
11:36
what's been the hardest part is trying
11:38
to bring out those alumni bring them
11:40
back it's a beautiful facility but it's
11:43
not a home for the older
11:46
players hey Michel Michael wchl chap.com
11:50
another College GM that I spoke to
11:52
recently said that a lot of their job is
11:55
reaching out to fans reaching out to
11:57
members of the community facilitating
11:58
conversations them to build support from
12:00
the ground up is that part of the the
12:04
process for you in these first 60 days
12:05
and if so what is that process look like
12:08
well look I think leadership's about the
12:09
first rule of leadership is called
12:11
management of attention that means you
12:12
have a plan and the only way you can
12:14
have a plan is the only way you can lead
12:17
people is to explain the plan that's the
12:19
job of any football team right you know
12:22
I grew up in outside of Philadelphia I
12:24
hate the process despise it with a
12:26
passion thought it was the most
12:28
ridiculous thing I've ever heard of in
12:29
my life we're going to Lose to Win it
12:31
didn't work out by the way I just want
12:33
to be on record of saying that but what
12:35
I learned from that was as stupid as it
12:38
was that people bought into it because
12:40
they explained it and so part of our job
12:42
is to explain who we are and what we're
12:44
doing that's what the fans want to know
12:47
and they want to know what their program
12:49
is because they want to stand next to
12:51
somebody and say they're building this
12:52
in North Carolina and they want to say
12:54
it with authority and so that's my job
12:56
that's coach that's coach belich che's
12:58
job is to keep echoing those comments
13:01
and I think once you get people to buy
13:03
into your plan and you explain it the
13:05
second area of leadership is called
13:07
management of meaning you get people to
13:09
follow
13:10
you Michael rodley fa Observer have you
13:14
guys mapped out a spring schedule yet as
13:17
far as a spring game and then walk me
13:20
through a typical date for you uh we
13:23
we've kind of looked at a spring
13:25
schedule a lot of it going to be
13:26
determined on recruiting I mean we'll
13:28
eventually make an announce ment on the
13:29
spring what we're going to do springwise
13:32
but a lot of it'll be tied to we want
13:34
players to come visit our campus when
13:35
we're practicing because I think we have
13:37
a unique way of practicing and of course
13:39
they can watch a coaching staff that's
13:42
filled with a lot of pro coaches but
13:43
also watch a guy who's won eight Super
13:45
Bowls coach a team around them so I mean
13:49
my day is spent really on player
13:52
evaluation uh understanding right now
13:55
we're building a I call it a draft board
13:57
cuz my brains locked that way way but
13:59
building a board so that we can identify
14:03
uh who we want to who we want to sign
14:05
who we want to go after and then a lot
14:07
of it is too is is part of it is we have
14:09
to get everybody in unison you're
14:11
dealing with a lot of players a lot of
14:12
names and who's contacting the players I
14:15
think the other part of this or this
14:17
University that's been remarkable is
14:19
because you're talking to somebody who's
14:20
never been in college football since
14:22
1981 so compliance has been incredibly
14:25
valuable to me because I I am a walking
14:28
disaster if I don't have compliance
14:30
right and so they've been very helpful
14:32
and they've been very good at telling me
14:34
what we can and can't do because we're
14:36
not going to violate any rules but we
14:37
got to know what they are so my day is
14:40
pretty much spent like it was in the NFL
14:42
get here early watch tape study players
14:45
write
14:47
reports sh SW with the Rel Observer
14:50
obviously you guys had a very short
14:53
runway for the past transfer portal
14:56
window how important do you see this
14:58
upcoming spring portal window 4 you pass
15:00
in terms of building roster well I think
15:02
every time you can acquire more Talent
15:04
is an important window I think we have
15:06
obviously more time to prepare for it
15:08
you know because we we wouldn't have
15:10
just gotten thrown right into it so I
15:12
think a lot of scouting is preparation
15:14
you know we won't know the names who are
15:16
in the portal but we'll have a better
15:17
idea about what it takes to be in the
15:19
portal and and who who could possibly
15:23
enter and then have an ability to
15:24
evaluate them and really get thing the
15:26
way you want to run a program isn't to
15:28
be re active Al Davis used to say this
15:30
all the time to me the secret to all
15:32
organization is to the secret to any
15:35
great organization lies in the ability
15:36
to anticipate problems not react and I
15:39
think when we got in here we were
15:40
reacting to the portal and now we can
15:42
anticipate the portal which certainly
15:44
will help
15:46
us Michael Tom naide
15:49
Carolina obviously heavy on recruiting
15:52
and talent what has it been like with
15:54
the current players um mention doing the
15:57
draft work with the recr
15:59
you guys started from scats with who's
16:01
already here yeah I think to me that's
16:04
been the that's been the most rewarding
16:06
thing is to get players to come in and
16:08
buy into the system right because we are
16:10
you know we talk about who we've signed
16:12
but we are one team it's not like this
16:15
signing class and some others we're all
16:17
one team and I think we have to really
16:18
do a good job of showing our players
16:20
kind of what to expect and how to how to
16:22
how the program is going to be different
16:24
than it was in the past and again it's
16:27
every program's different when you make
16:28
a coaching change so the players have
16:30
been really receptive I think that
16:32
they've been great at at at taking the
16:35
information in and when coach is able to
16:37
get in front of them at our team
16:38
meetings and talk about football and
16:40
what it takes and what we expect from
16:41
them I think they've been really good
16:43
and I think they've responded our
16:44
offseason workouts have been good the
16:46
people are the players want to be
16:48
coached I think one thing you learn
16:49
about players whether it's high school
16:52
college or Pro players want to improve
16:55
and your job as a coach whether you're
16:57
18 years old as a coach or whether 85
16:59
like Tom Moore is if you can make the
17:01
player better players will listen so our
17:04
job is to make them
17:05
better hereos from the daily t as you've
17:09
gotten kind of accustomed to this job
17:11
and demands of what this program means
17:13
what has been revealed to you about why
17:14
was important to have
17:17
G well I mean you know I mean you're
17:20
asking me to justify why they hired me I
17:22
don't know you know I mean I think I
17:24
think look it's the football's a
17:26
challenging you know for one person I
17:29
think coach belich would be better to
17:31
speak about this but you know there's a
17:33
lot of things that go into building a
17:35
team and there goes a lot of areas and
17:38
sometimes when when you when money's
17:40
involved because let's be honest money's
17:42
involved now you have to have a
17:44
subjective way of
17:45
determining how to handle the money and
17:48
how to place a value on it and you have
17:50
to remove bias right you know I think
17:53
that's the biggest challenge in pro
17:55
football is there's bias built in
17:57
internally in terms of chy I want this
17:59
player I want that player and somebody
18:01
has to be the voice of saying well we
18:03
can find an alternative here and maybe
18:06
we can't so I think team building
18:09
requires more than just one person in
18:11
the day when I first started in the
18:12
league it didn't because we didn't have
18:14
much player movement much volatility now
18:16
there is in all
18:20
levels Jeremiah with inide Carolina nice
18:23
to meet you uh one question that I have
18:25
for you you talked earlier about uh
18:27
bringing in know coaches and and have
18:29
them kind of buy into what what belich
18:32
is trying to um you know establish as
18:36
far as the culture I want to ask about
18:37
like the specific assigning the roles
18:40
and kind of you know communicating that
18:42
to some of the players as far as which
18:44
coaches you know along with you know
18:46
certain positions just what is the the
18:48
process of delegating you know specific
18:51
I guess roles on staff you know to those
18:53
guys is it more based on their previous
18:55
experiences and based on just how how
18:57
did you guys go about
18:59
I mean we're a head coach run program
19:01
and I I don't mean that in any
19:03
disrespect to our assistant coaches but
19:05
our head coach is the philosophy of the
19:07
organization that's the way it was when
19:10
he came to Cleveland in 1991 and when he
19:12
was into England I mean we are always
19:14
going to be built on a philosophical
19:16
belief and people that work within that
19:18
philosophy execute that program and
19:20
execute that plan in their own style and
19:22
their own way you know Charlie Weiss was
19:24
different than Josh McDaniels Romeo
19:26
crenell is different than Matt Patricia
19:28
you know Nick Sabin was different than
19:30
some other coaches we had on the staff
19:32
but everybody that works on those staffs
19:35
that we've had have all philosophically
19:37
believed in what bill was wanted the
19:39
team to look like because at the end of
19:41
the day football teams are who you want
19:43
them to look like right if you want to
19:45
be a tall team you draft tall players
19:47
you want to be a fat team you draft fat
19:48
players you know it just goes that way
19:50
so that that comes from the head coach
19:52
and so it's the all our jobs is to
19:55
execute the plan and so your question is
19:58
is they will have their the coaches will
20:00
have their ability to influence it but
20:02
it'll all be driven off of a philosophy
20:04
that's that's been set in
20:08
stone Le go hills.com Micha you talked
20:12
about the philosophy of building a
20:14
program from inside out what's the
20:16
backstory on how that philosophy came
20:19
about how has that manifested itself
20:21
what done together for so many years you
20:25
know the great thing about football is
20:26
you you can study winning on any level
20:30
and there's a formula for why teams win
20:32
and why teams lose and if you pay close
20:34
attention to it it's not that difficult
20:37
football going back to when Lombardi
20:40
coached the Packers in the 60s to when
20:43
you know Bill coached the Giants or Bill
20:45
Walsh coach the 49ers it's about who
20:47
wins the line who controls the game you
20:50
know there's always two elements in a
20:51
football game who's in the lead and
20:53
who's in control on Sunday it was pretty
20:56
clear the Eagles were in the lead and in
20:58
control there was really no dispute but
21:00
if you go back to the 28-3 game against
21:02
Atlanta Atlanta was in the lead but not
21:05
necessarily in control so the only way
21:07
you can get in control of the game is
21:09
through the offensive and defensive
21:10
lines and so if you believe that
21:13
philosophy that's that's building the
21:15
team inside out from the lines to the
21:17
receivers and I've been influenced
21:19
before I met coach bellich by coach
21:21
Walsh when we when we traded for Jerry
21:24
Rice we had the 28th pick in the draft
21:27
and we had just won a Super Bowl Freddy
21:28
Solomon was our best receiver on the
21:31
team nobody remembers poor Freddy passed
21:33
away but was a great receiver along with
21:35
d Clark and coach Walsh walked in and
21:38
told me to write a project he asked me
21:40
to write a report on three players uh
21:43
Alune Eddie Brown and Jerry Rice and he
21:46
said to me when he asked me to write
21:48
that report he said we are now finally
21:50
in a position to go get a big- Time
21:52
receiver because the team's really good
21:53
around him and I asked him I said what
21:55
do you mean by that and he said well we
21:57
can get the ball to a great player now
21:59
because we're good in both lines and
22:01
that's been that's impacted me my whole
22:03
life and so when every time you now
22:05
we're in the mock draft season and on TV
22:07
you'll see 42 receivers going in the
22:09
first round as if everybody forgot about
22:11
how the Eagles won the Super
22:13
Bowl last three let's go
22:21
art I apologize you might have asked
22:24
this question before I walked in minute
22:26
late what is the biggest
22:29
unknown between developing recruiting
22:34
college
22:35
players
22:38
uh and high school players play that's
22:42
the same thing it's the same thing it's
22:45
the character of the
22:48
player if if the player has the
22:50
character and the will to want to be a
22:52
great player he'll become he'll reach
22:54
his level you know one of the things
22:57
that the Navy has always we's done is
22:59
they've spent over a half a billion
23:01
dollars trying to find out who can make
23:03
the Navy Seal program they spent a half
23:05
a billion dollars on it they end up with
23:08
175 candidates to join Buds and they end
23:11
up with 30 at the end of the time maybe
23:13
25 what they can't figure out and we
23:16
spent a lot of time talking to Navy SEAL
23:17
what they can't figure out is who can
23:19
hit who can do it every day who can do
23:21
the volume every day they'll tell you at
23:23
the Navy Seals program who's ever first
23:26
in line the first day never makes it
23:28
whoever runs the fastest never makes it
23:31
it's the one who kind of pay and can do
23:33
it every day and it's the same thing in
23:35
recruiting we can never really get a
23:37
true accurate portrayal of the heart and
23:41
the character of how much how important
23:43
it is to the player and that's the
23:45
variable that we're always trying to
23:47
find out that's what we're always trying
23:48
to ask questions that's why we're always
23:50
looking at the player and asking you
23:52
know what's what's the most important
23:54
thing what obstacles have they overcome
23:56
to get to where they have to go because
23:58
we can't determine who can handle the
24:00
volume you can watch five Clips on a
24:02
player and say that guy's great but we
24:04
have to make him better than he is and
24:05
does he have the will to be better
24:07
that's the hard thing to judge whether
24:08
it's pro football or or
24:13
college you mentioned summer times money
24:15
how are you handling you know a the
24:17
facto salary cap are you allocating
24:19
based on sort of NFL percentages and how
24:21
do you know how much money you actually
24:23
have to work with well I mean we we kind
24:26
of have a we have a collective we know
24:28
what's in the collective but in any
24:31
system you have to have any any monetary
24:33
value you have to have a system right
24:35
and so if you're a starter on the team
24:37
there's going to be a certain value
24:39
placed on what level of starter you are
24:41
that's why you have to have a grading
24:42
system you just can't arbitrarily say I
24:45
like this guy I like that guy we're not
24:46
picking fruit here you got to have a you
24:48
have to have a grading system and so
24:51
when the grade reflects what you pay
24:54
it's the amazing thing everybody says
24:55
this guy's a first rounder or this guy's
24:58
a second rounder well that doesn't
25:00
that's insignificant a first rounder
25:01
makes X and a second rounder makes y so
25:04
what you're doing is valuing the player
25:07
right when you use those terms when they
25:08
do it on television they don't value the
25:10
player because it's not their money but
25:12
when you're picking in real life you're
25:14
saying I'm going to give this guy a
25:15
guaranteed contract for five years he's
25:17
worth X is that talent worth that it's
25:19
the same thing you're doing in high
25:20
school on a lower level so you have to
25:22
be able to do that you have to say this
25:24
guy so if a starter he starts for three
25:26
years on your program he's going to make
25:28
significant money if a guy starts one
25:30
year he's going to make a little bit the
25:32
next year he's got to prove himself
25:33
again because every year these every
25:36
player could
25:37
leave and so you have to have some kind
25:40
of way or else you have Anarchy you
25:41
don't have any
25:42
system that's why you have to have a
25:44
grading system that's why you have to
25:46
grade your players every single day you
25:48
have to grade every player so you know
25:50
what you're losing and what you have to
25:52
expect to get
25:54
back Aaron be the again that leads right
25:57
into what I wanted to ask you
25:58
a lot of what you're talking about like
26:00
your eye trust your eyes and all these
26:01
things carry over no matter what level
26:03
of football you're at you dealt with
26:05
collective bargaining and salary caps at
26:07
unfl that was far more structured than
26:09
what college has been sort of this
26:11
there's Revenue sharing coming but
26:13
everything has just sort of been kind of
26:14
fly by the seed of the pants across
26:17
college is is it is it really comparable
26:20
or is it significantly different that a
26:22
part of the equation you're dealing with
26:23
money in such a weird environment so I I
26:26
think this what what we're dealing with
26:28
now it reminds me of a time when we had
26:30
this thing in the NFL probably before
26:32
most of you we had thing called Plan B I
26:34
don't know what plan a was but it was
26:36
called Plan B and you could you froze 37
26:39
players off your
26:41
roster and then everybody else on your
26:43
roster was a free agent and so there's
26:46
an element of the portal that's like
26:48
Plan B it was kind of chaotic there was
26:50
a long time in the NFL where nobody was
26:52
sharing information it was against the
26:54
CBA you couldn't do it today you can go
26:57
on NFL Oregon you can see everybody's
26:59
contracts the agents have it and all
27:00
that so it was a little bit Wilder time
27:03
back then and I'm old enough to remember
27:05
that so I think it's similar to that so
27:07
there's an element of Plan B that's in
27:09
the portal and there's an element of
27:10
just true free agency that's in the
27:12
portal you know does the guy really have
27:14
this offer doesn't he not have the offer
27:15
and you got to make it but again it
27:17
comes back to the philosophy right if
27:19
you believe in something and you want to
27:21
improve in that area you're going to put
27:23
your money where your mouth is it won't
27:25
be hard to figure out where we want to
27:27
put I mean you could you know we're
27:28
going to sign defensive and offensive
27:29
linan I mean we're going to put our
27:30
money where I'm MTH
27:32
this thanks everybody thank you