Speaker 1: The biggest team sport known to man, where modern day
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Speaker 2: I let's talk some college football on Cougar Sports with Penkred.
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Speaker 3: Today, let's get out to the hotline. Welcome in, Schehn
j Rajah.
Speaker 1: National football writer for CBS Sports colleg Football inside of
Shay hot How are you.
Speaker 2: I'm doing great, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 3: Hey, always a pleasure talking ball with you.
Speaker 1: Were you like to see the chronology of this Kilani
Satake saga play out? Wasn't it all surprising to you
that Kilani was flirtatious and received an offer from not
only Penn State. I've heard there was multiple schools that
had been interested in Kilani, but the Penn State offer
was the biggest, the biggest offer on the table. Give
me your synopsis of what you've seen over the last
week or so regarding the chronology of this.
Speaker 2: Well, first, I think it's very smart that a lot
of other programs took their shot, because I think Kilani
Sataki is one of the best coaches in college football.
I mean, obviously I don't need to tell you guys,
but twenty one and three over the past two years,
the success that he's had, the ten win seasons, and
certainly at BYU, you know you have some I'll call
them complication you have to work around in terms of,
you know, academics and recruiting and all this stuff. So
I think that he's done a tremendous job. But you know,
by the same token, you know, it's it's definitely an
experience to get outside of that tree, right if you
are Kilanie, because you know, for most of his career
he's been at BYU and Utah kind of in that
same environment, in that same place. He's never coached east
of the state of Utah, So it definitely was interesting
to me that Penn State kind of came at him
with everything that they had. Now, look, I think that
if you're coach Tataki, like you have to evaluate these
offers and take them seriously. It is a serious amount
of money, it's a serious opportunity. It's a chance to
coach at one of the great programs in college football.
But you know, I think that also he said before
he wants to be like a Lavelle Edwards at BYU,
and I think that he's well on his way to
being that. So obviously at this point it sounds like
he's staying puts and I'm very excited for BYU. And
for him, and I'm certainly hopeful for his sake that
he managed to get some long term aid when it
comes to obviously his own salary, but also investment in
the program.
Speaker 1: So the amount of investment is robust, it's aggressive, nine
to nine and a half million and ten to fifteen
million in nil.
Speaker 3: On top of.
Speaker 1: That, they're gonna rev rev you know, distribution from the
TV money.
Speaker 3: That seems like a pretty competitive offer.
Speaker 1: Where does that stand comparative to the other power for conferences,
would you say, or power for head coaching jobs that
are out there on the market.
Speaker 2: No, it's very competitive. And obviously, you know, it's it's
always hard a little bit to parse through what the
roster money stuff looks like past repsure because you know,
technically none of it is quote unquote on the table
in that in that way. But I mean that's very competitive, right,
I mean, when you're talking about, you know, at more
than ten billion dollars in additional money on top of
of course what's coming through revsher, that's pretty significant. That's
that's huge. And when you talk about the investment in salary,
I mean this makes coach Tataki one of the highest
paid coaches in the Big Twelve. He's nearing that ten
million dollar number. You know, we'll kind of have to
wait and see what. You know, what they release about
staff salary pools as well, but you'd imagine that that
would also be something that increases so they can ensure
to keep some of the great coordinators and assistant coaches
that they've had around. So I think that it's it's big,
it's wholesale, it's it's competitive with anybody. I mean in
the Big twelve. I think that BYU and Texas Tech
right now are moving to kind of a different level
than almost everybody else. And again, when you see the results,
you see why.
Speaker 1: San Jier Rise's CBS Sports coll Football Insider discussing the
recent news that Kalate Satake will be retained. He's keeping
his talents in provo. He will not be going to
Penn State. What's the status right now of Penn State? Like,
are they just in dire straits? I mean, Craft swung
for the Fencers with Kilane, it seemed like it was
a done deal by you at the last second, was
able to produce an offering that retains him.
Speaker 3: But they have to be after this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is honestly in a pretty bleak place because
you know, you obviously invest a lot in this offer
with coach Ottake, you obviously, you know, kind of missed
that first wave of hires. Be it, of course, some
of the ones who go to the SEC, be it
getting into something like the Land Kampton sweepsakes though he
was likely always going to pick an SEC school, especially
was likely to pick LSU. But now you're kind of
sitting here on December second, after not having a coach
for the better part of two months, without an obvious
direction to go. Now we've heard that Louisville coach Jeff
bram could be one who is part of the conversation.
Brian Did, the former head coach of the Buffalo Bills
and former Alabama offensive coordinator, is one that we've heard
a little bit. But they're kind of starting from square
zero after missing on a candidate like this, So it
is a messy search and certainly, I mean we felt
at the time that they might be a little optimistic
to think that they can clearly improve on James Franklin.
It's looking pretty dire right now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's unfortunate, right but they also made this bet
and they got a sleep in it. Like, we talked
about the good guys of the industry a lot. Scott
Frost after the loss versus BYU, stated as much. He said, Look,
I'm really happy for Kalane. I think he's one of
the good guys. I asked him to elaborate on that.
He said, he's just genuine. I like being around him.
I think he does it the right way. And I
felt the same way about James Franklin, one of the
good guys, one of the guys that still was an
advocate for his players in the new you know this
new transfer portal anil world. He wasn't transactional, he was transformational,
unlike maybe some others out there, Lane Kiffin and others.
And so when I evaluate this, I felt like James
was in that same realm. Obviously couldn't win the top
ten matchups, but that's hard to.
Speaker 3: Do as well. Would you say James is one of
those good guys?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know one thing that's interesting, right, So first
I would say that maybe nobody's Kalani Sataki. He is
kind of one on one, which is why I think
the YU fan should be so excited about keeping him.
But what I'll say is this is that I think
that James Franklin, especially in the industry among his players,
is really really well liked. Like he is somebody who
again you see the players who kind of flipped, you know,
from Penn State to Virginia Tech. You look at the
quality of people who are following him. You talk about
the coaches who want to be a part of his staff.
I mean, he is. He is definitely one of those
people who I think has that kind of reputation. Somebody
that you want to work for. Is somebody that you
want to play for, is somebody that builds strong relationships
in the building. Now, I will say this, I will
say this, I don't think that he is very well liked, certainly.
I don't know that he's somebody though, who is necessarily
as visible in the community as some of these other coaches.
He's somebody who maybe you know, again, like one of
the reasons that I think Penn State fit him is, yes,
you have a lot of attention, but you're kind of
left alone. It's not like being in the SEC or.
You're kind of under a microscope at every single moment,
and you have to be a politician at every single moment.
So that is one thing that I have heard for now. Again,
everybody after a coach is fired certainly changes their opinion
just a little bit about them as well. But that
is definitely something that I think, you know, going to
Virginia Tech, it's going to be really interesting. I think
that James Franklin certainly will be somebody who comes in
and immediately builds a lot of great relationships with the
people in the building and the important people and the
donors and boosters and all that sort of stuff. But
it'll be interesting to kind of see, hey, this is
a moment where you really need to go to the
community and help them lock in. I think that's going
to be an interesting challenge for him.
Speaker 3: Where do you think BYU goes from here? Now that
they have their guy.
Speaker 1: I think the hope is that they retain the rest
of their staff and they don't get tempted and offered
something too lucrative to to turn down guys like a
Rod and Jay Hill and and Brady or excuse me,
Kelly Pepingga. These are their coordinators. They've done great things.
They are the ultimate complimentary college football team. What's the
potential that BYU has right now in the near future
and in the the next few years. Now that Kilani's
sticking around, they got a top twenty class coming into
the twenty twenty six signing class.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, one thing to really pay attention to
is that, I mean, when you look at stuff like
the two poor seven talent composite, when you look at
things like obviously their recruiting ranking the past couple of years,
they have not been an especially elite recruiting program. They've
been a very good recruiting program. They've done a great
job of finding guys who fit them, who develop at
a high level. But they aren't necessarily a program that's
been in that elite group of recruiting. They've mostly been
in the forties and fifties when you look at high
school classes since they joined the Big twelve until this
twenty twenty six classes course, I mean the fact that
they're about to start getting some real, real recruiting talents
on campus, that's pretty scary to think about. When you're
talking about them competing in the Big twelve. I mean,
like you said, number twenty class right now, I mean
what they're looking at five or six top two four
seven kids, A couple of other blue chip level kids. Obviously,
Rider Lions, the quarterback, the headliner. Like, it is really
really intriguing to see what they've built there. I mean
when you look at their record over the past few years.
I mentioned, of course twenty one to three at this
point or twenty two and three. I guess actually they
won last week. This is an elite program that's only
on the upswing. And by the way, it's not going
to hurt you whatsoever. That when you go into any
living room in America, you get to say, Penn State
came after me with everything they had, and I chose
to stay at BYU. You should do the same. I mean,
I think that there is so much excitement for the
next couple of years, and I expect BYU to not
only maintain this level of success, but maybe even continue
to build on it.
Speaker 3: Love that perspective.
Speaker 1: Cheyanji Raja here on ESPN the fan chan, what have
you been working on over that CBS Sports that we
could peruse on your platform?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, obviously our team has had a lots
going on with the coaching search world. You know, We've
got a couple of stories up in the past couple
of days on BYU and how this search has gone,
hoping to put something together now after you obviously coach
Taki State put We've got a lot also from the
Lane Kiffin search. We've got a lot leading up to
the conference championship game. So it's about as hectical week
as it's ever been. Overd cdsports dot com.
Speaker 3: Love that.
Speaker 1: Let me get a prognostication of prediction, maybe a little
scouting report on the Big twelve championship game BYU versus
Texas Tech. Texas Tech handled BYU pretty pretty pretty easily.
They're in loving There was some you know, wind that
maybe contributed to it. I mean, Lubbock was very loud.
I think they were even injecting some sound into that stadium.
Speaker 3: It was rock as it was wild man.
Speaker 1: They definitely had a competitive vitage by you you know,
they lost by twenty two, but that was the closest
game minus the SU game, right that Texas Tech had
experienced all season long. So I'm wondering what happens in
this game in Arlington, neutral setting, and I hope BYU
fans show up obviously, but how do you see this
game playing out?
Speaker 2: Well, first, I'll challenge BYU fans listening right now. I
want to see the first sellout in sure the Big
FOL title game at AT and T. I think that
Texas Tech versus VYU is going to be an incredible scene. Obviously,
tons of fans about those programs in Texas in the Metroplex.
It's also, by the way, the first appearance for both
of these teams in the Big FOL title game. Tech
Tech hasn't won an outright conference championship since nineteen fifty five.
You know, BYU obviously hasn't played for very many major
conference championships and has been independent for a lot of
their history. So like this is this is big time.
This is a big, big, big deal, and you know,
so when I look at this matchup, the biggest thing
that I say is that I think that BYU and
their coaching staff really needs to look up and say
we are an underdog. We are not supposed to win
this game, and for that reason, we have to play aggressive.
I think that in that last game against Texas Tech,
you saw these moments of trying to manage the game,
trying to handle the game. Well, I don't think that
you can get away with that against the defense of
the quality of Texas Tech. They need to be more aggressive.
I think downfield in the passing game that they need
to give their offense chances to make big plays because
the reality is is you're not going to beat that
front seven in the box. You're just not. I mean, honestly,
no team in college football maybe is beating Texas Texas
defense in the box. You have to get outside, you
have to get downfield, you have to give yourself a chance.
I think that actually the defense played really well in
the first matchup, and I actually think too, I thought
that beer Bachmeyer played really well for the most part.
But everybody needs to step up. Everybody needs to have
their best day instead of their worst like what happened.
In many cases. You can't give up special teams points
like you did in the last one as well. But
I think there's a pathway to this game being a
lot closer, though I still definitely lean Texas Tech to
pull the sweep this year.
Speaker 1: Let's take a look at the spread really quick. Do
you think b WHYU covers in this game?
Speaker 3: Right now?
Speaker 1: It's a twelve and a half point favorite, and I
can't remember. I think at home, I want to say
it was like ten and a half I think it
was ten and a half when there at home, So
I mean, look, twelve and a half maybe not to
be too far off. Obviously Tech obviously Baily did not
cover Lasco around they lost by twenty two.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is needless to say. I mean a really
interesting line, Like I think that for me, I think
that they're going to be right at that number. I
think this game is going to be close into the
fourth quarter. I think it's going to be a one
to four game in the fourth quarter. I do think
that Texas Tech has a late touchdown to cover. I
think that it may be is a seven point game
or something like that midway through the fourth quarter and
you get that big play from Texas Tech to kind
of put it away. So I think that I think
it's a good number. I think that certainly BYU is
going to be flirting with covering that, but I think
that Texas Tech will create one more explosive play and
ultimately cover.
Speaker 3: Love that breakdown.
Speaker 1: Shay On jar Raja talks some college football, getting this
prep getting for for that BUYU Texas Tech Red Raiders matchup.
Now that Kilani is staying in Provo. Provo, Utah was
able to retain him through you know, I'm sure nil's
donor corporate sponsorship support in this day and age right now,
there's it's multifactorial. Obviously, you have your own your your
your own salary that you're negotiating, right Shahan. In Kalani's case,
I think sometimes he negotiates the salary for and advocates
for his coaching staff. But the other component of all
this is, hey, how much are you going to to
allocate to this NIL offering and REV share offering.
Speaker 3: This is all part of that conversation.
Speaker 1: Even Lane Kiffin I think went off on it in
his uh in his in his press conference. He didn't
know what his funds were. He knew what the NIL
funds would be.
Speaker 2: Though, yeah, it's a huge part of the equation. And again,
especially at this moment, we don't have a whole lot
of clarity over what anybody's paying, what anybody's doing. You know,
there's supposed to be more reports coming out from anil
GO that hasn't really happened to this point. Like again,
we're we're I think that as a coach right now,
it's almost never been more complicated to try to figure
out how exactly to balance all that stuff. We've seen
some great brand partnerships. I mean again, you can make
a pretty good case that, uh that d YU was
one of the originators right with sort of the built
bar and and you know them funding all these extra
scholarships and stuff like that. You know, I think that
the programs that are aggressive, the programs that are forward thinking,
the programs that are smart, I think have a really
good chance to have a lot of success. And DYU
has been that. And you know, just if if anybody's
listening at the same time, I think that a great
anil deal would be to drop some Crumble cookies in
the press box in Arlington.
Speaker 3: That would be a good deal. Have you tried the
Crumble cookies before?
Speaker 2: Of course, of course we've got We've got one close
to my parents house, so my mom every so often
will bring them over to us. It's good stuff. It's
good stuff.
Speaker 3: Yes, indeed it is.
Speaker 1: Sheon Jerroajah, Ladies and gentlemen talking college football and Kalani
Satake here on your Utah ESPN Radio network. Schean what's
the next domino to fall in the college football world?
Speaker 3: Coaching world? Who's the next hire to be announced? Do
you think.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a good question.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: Obviously we're kind of still sitting here and waiting on
Penn State. I think that that could be something that
has some long reaching implications, especially by the way, if
they hire a sitting head coach. Now again we're waiting
on Bob Chesney, the head coach of James Madison, to
likely announce that he's going to UCLA. That hasn't happened
at this point, but from everything that we've heard that
that's done. And then I think that one of the
other dynamics who's going to be interesting to watch is
is potentially the next wave of coaches that comes even
for these group of five opportunities, because I'll tell you what,
there are some really really good jobs that are open
right now because of these moves. I mean Tulane in
South Florida and Memphis like those are just to be frank,
those are power conference level jobs and maybe even ahead
of a couple of Power conferences or Power conference jobs
as well. I think I won't say maybe, I mean
John Summral said it today. Tulane is a job that's
probably on the better end of jobs in college football,
including the Power conferences. So I'm really interested to see
what kind of directions they go, whether they go younger,
whether they go retreat. We've kind of heard that North
Texas might be heading in the direction of hiring Neil Brown,
the former West Virginia coach who had a lot of
success at Troy. So I think that sort of these
dominoes are going to be really interesting to watch.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you one last question here, Shehan before
we let you go, because you know your time's presious.
Both appreciate your commentary and inside and knowledge. Here, I'm
looking at the Colonisotockic chronology here and look October twelfth,
I think is when James Franklin was let go. I
know Penn State had their short list. How many times
do you think they missed before they got to a
lot of stock?
Speaker 3: Was he the third candidate? Was he the fourth candidate?
Where would you put Kilani? Yeah?
Speaker 2: It's interesting, right because I think that when you start
a search, you kind of have your list of candidates
that maybe you're all approaching at a similar time, right,
and you have your reach candidates let's call them, and
then you have maybe some of you know, again, like
you know, there's been a lot of smoke around again,
Lane Kippen was one who was a reach candidate for
a lot of people. There's been you know, some light
smoke around Lincoln Riley for example. But I think that
when you kind of realize, Okay, you know, we're not
hitting on Kurt Signetti, We're not going to get Matt
ruled this year, then I think that Klonie Sataki became
sort of an early target. Like I don't think that
this was a we we went all the way down
the list and got and identified him. I think that
he was somebody that they've been engaged with, you know,
not necessarily for a long time calendar wise, but at
least been a high priority for them since they put
together their search. I mean, again for Penn State. Penn
State's a fascinating opening because when you look at Penn States,
they have hired three coaches in the last sixty five
years or whoever it is, right, Like, you're talking about
Joe Paterno as an internal hire, You're talking about Bill
O'Brien coming as a caretaker from the NFL for a
short moment, and then you talk about James Franklin being
the head coach of for fourteen years so there really
is no game plan for hiring a coach at Penn State.
You really do have to be out there and creative.
So I think that Klanie Sataki was definitely high on
their list right from the start. Again, there are candidates
that they're going to go after now that I think
we're lower priority than him. And again I don't think
that you Again we don't have obviously official offers or
things like that, we don't know for sure, but like
we've heard that his offer was in excess of eleven
million dollars. That's putting him in Lane Kiffen range. Like
that is prioritizing a candidate. And I think that again,
when when Kolonie Sataki, you know, comes back and again
gets to have more press conferences and go back recruiting,
I'll tell you what, I don't think that anybody will
be able to claim that you wasn't a huge priority
for Ben States.
Speaker 1: Yeah, It's it's intriguing to me, right, It's like I
look at the sequencing and the chronology of it. I
want to say, I mean, they at least missed out
on two or three of their priority candidates, and then
Kilani was there, and they're like, hey, this guy's a
good fit. I know he's more West Coast, he's in
the Rocky Mountains, etcetera. He's Polynesian, but man, he could
fit here and this would be a good hire. My
question is, did the retention offer for Killin he needed
to come at the eleventh hour?
Speaker 3: How how does this typically work? What's the dequorum here?
Speaker 1: Did did we get to the point where, you know,
did we have to get to the point I guess
where Penn State offer was on the table before by.
Speaker 3: You decided, you know what, we really love Kolani.
Speaker 1: We need to retain him, we need to extend him,
we need to pay him his fair market rate for
his resume.
Speaker 2: No, it's a great question, man. You know, one thing
that I've I've talked to a couple of people about
and you know, obviously we're not on on the inside
of all of this, but like, you know, one thing
that we kind of heard is like, you know, it
wasn't necessarily a secret that he was talking with Penn State,
but I think that there was a thought at least
from the Byu side, that again, like one that he
probably isn't seriously going to consider leaving. And two that
that Penn State wouldn't prioritize them the way that they did.
So I think that I think that ultimately, you know,
when you're in a position where where again there's a
real offer and you're a real priority. And also, by
the way, the fact that this leaked as well, I
think that that is huge for BYU, that it ended
up leaking over the weekend and that they had an
opportunity to at least try to make a best, final
offer that ultimately proved successful. Like, I think that all
this stuff matters. And and I think that you know, again,
when when the rumors started picking up that that Kalani
Sutaki was a candidate, a serious candidate at Penn State.
To be honest, I don't know how seriously I took it.
I think that BYU probably felt the same way until
it was time to act.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's maybe they just were in disbelief. They didn't
think it was happening. They thought that Kilani wasn't going anywhere,
and so they needed to see the tangible physical evidence
and have the fear injected into their hearts before they
moved and became fleet to foot.
Speaker 3: Shehan best wait to support you what you do how
you do it? Brother?
Speaker 2: Yeah, check out all my workover at cbsports dot com.
Follow me on all social media platforms at shahanj Raja,
and make sure and check out our coverage from this
weekend at the Big Tel Title Game.
Speaker 3: Love it, Shehan, Appreciate you. I love you man. Thanks
for hopping on great inside and knowledge.
Speaker 2: As always, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1: Yes, indeed, make sure you're following Shehan and reading all
his content there at CBS Sports and does great work
over there.
Speaker 3: Guys. That segment was brought to you by Utah Advocates.
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Speaker 3: Let's go to break, don't go anywhere.
Speaker 1: Jared Bledsoe coming up next, former BYU wide receiver to
discuss the news that kallanis stay and put in provo.
This is Cougar Sports on one of three nine ninety
eight point three