Drew Brees has had his post-retirement plans set for some time now, but we now know specifically what the former New Orleans Saints quarterback will be doing for NBC.
According to Tyler James of the South Bend Tribune, Brees will replace Tony Dungy as the analyst for Notre Dame’s home football games on NBC. Brees will work alongside Mike Tirico in that role. In addition, Brees will be part of the network’s “Football Night in America” studio show, and will also contribute to coverage of the Olympics and Super Bowl LVI.
Dungy will remain with NBC and return to a full-time NFL studio role.
Brees has had his NBC career lined up for quite a while. It’s not clear if NBC will keep adding to his responsibilities once he has a year or two of work under his belt.
Brees has no connection to Notre Dame, though he did attend nearby Purdue. Notably, the two schools are slated to play each other on Sept. 18.
Lane Kiffin had some fun with his former boss this weekend.
Kiffin, who is known for being a master troll, was it again. He shared a photo on Twitter Saturday that showed an Alabama Crimson Tide license plate that said “THX NS” on it. The plates were a reference to Nick Saban, the highly successful head football coach at Alabama.
Kiffin joked that the license plate was his new one and that it was “rat poison” for Saban.
“Rat poison” is what Saban terms any sort of hype he believes can distract his team from its mission of winning national championships.
Kiffin enjoys teasing Saban, especially on social media. But underneath all of that is great respect that Kiffin has for his former boss.
Kiffin was Saban’s offensive coordinator at Alabama from 2014-2016. He is now the head coach at Ole Miss and aiming to beat his former boss.
Ole Miss fans! It’s time to jump aboard the Lane Train! This Lane Train shirt is a perfect gift for you or a friend – you can buy it here.
H/T Crabman
Nebraska fans aren’t terribly happy after learning that the school tried to back out of a scheduled rivalry game with Oklahoma in 2021.
Under the terms of a deal agreed in 2012, the Cornhuskers are slated to travel to Norman to reignite their football rivalry against Oklahoma. The two schools have not played since the 2010 Big 12 Championship, the final game Nebraska played in the conference before moving to the Big Ten. However, reports surfaced that Nebraska was looking at ways to get out of playing the game in order to schedule another home game instead.
In a statement, Nebraska athletic director Bill Moos confirmed the reports, and tried to defend the efforts by citing pandemic-related revenue losses. Moos ultimately committed to playing the game in the statement.
“Ultimately, the decision was made to move forward with our game at Oklahoma in 2021,” Moos said in the statement. “We have the utmost respect for the University of Oklahoma, and this storied rivalry, and I know our fans have been excited about this series for a long time.”
Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione had previously weighed in on the reports by noting that the Sooners were very enthusiastic about playing the game, essentially making clear that any reservations were solely on Nebraska’s end.
It doesn’t really matter how legitimate or understandable Nebraska’s reasoning is. Their fans have been looking forward to this game for a decade. This is a rivalry that dates back a century and was once one of the most heated in the sport. The fans want to see it happen.
Nebraska’s coach talked about silencing the doubters in 2021. Maybe the team still will, but this isn’t really a great start from a PR perspective.
Mack Brown and Vince Young traded some cool tweets on Wednesday night reminiscing about good times and their relationship.
The National Football Foundation shared a photo on Wednesday of Brown and Young together at an event in Dec. 2019.
Young responded to the photo and shouted out his “guy,” Brown.
Brown recalled the night as “special” and then called Young possibly the best college football quarterback ever.
Brown was the head coach at Texas from 1998 to 2013. Young was his quarterback from 2003-2005 and led the team to the national championship in his junior season. Young was a star that season and true dual-threat QB. He passed for 3,036 yards and 26 touchdowns, while rushing for 1,050 yards and 12 touchdowns in the junior season. He recently returned to a role with the school’s athletic department. Brown is entering his third season as North Carolina’s head coach.
Deion Sanders has been making noise at Jackson State ever since taking over the program. His Tigers are 2-0 so far this spring season, which is Sanders’ first as a head coach. The program also received a visit from a former NFL head coach this week.
Rex Ryan was at JSU on Monday and Tuesday, according to The Clarion Ledger. Two of Jackson State’s defensive coaches, defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman and defensive line coach Jeff Weeks, were coaches on Ryan’s staff previously.
Ryan and Sanders also have a good relationship from when Deion played for the Ravens when Rex was their defensive coordinator.
“It’s just a friend visiting a friend that’s all,” Sanders said, via The Clarion Ledger. “He coached me when I was in Baltimore, and I loved him. He was so candid, honest and straightforward. He’s a darn Ryan. What do you think you’re going to get from Rex?”
Sanders showed his support for Rex last year when he said the Falcons should hire Ryan as their head coach. Atlanta ended up hiring Arthur Smith as their head coach.
In addition to Ryan, Sanders is getting some support from other well-known NFL figures.
Kansas parted ways with athletic director Jeff Long on Wednesday, and one of the school’s most iconic athletes has interest in taking over the position.
Former Jayhawks basketball star Danny Manning told C.J. Moore of The Athletic that he has interest in the school’s athletic director position.
Manning would be a nice feel-good story for Kansas, but it’s debatable whether he’s the right choice at the moment. The Jayhawks are in turmoil following the circumstances of Les Miles’ departure as football coach. The new athletic director may be tasked with hiring a new permanent coach, in addition to steadying the football program. While Manning has ample experience coaching college basketball, he has never taken on a role like this.
Manning’s last position was a six-year stint as Wake Forest’s head coach, which saw him go 78-111.
Nick Saban is notorious for not dwelling on his triumphs, but even those who know that might be surprised by how quickly he moves on after big wins.
The Alabama head coach told “All Things Covered” with Patrick Peterson and Bryant McFadden that he feels the need to immediately meet with his juniors after a title win, citing an event that took place at LSU in 2003.
“The No. 1 thing is you wanna get together with the juniors that you have on your team that could go out for the draft,” Saban said, via Charlie Potter of 247Sports. “When I was at LSU — I won’t mention any names. I didn’t use to do this in the locker room after the game where I talked to everybody, and a guy went out and signed with an agent after we won the national championship in 2003. And then the guy really didn’t wanna go out.
“He was like a third-round draft pick or something. He had no choice, but he said he thought signed a different kind of agreement that really wasn’t an agreement to represent him. But we lost the guy over that. So I said, ‘Hey, I need to talk to these guys leading up the game, and then the first thing I need to do after the game is get them all in a room and say, hey, until we sit down and talk when we go home the next day, nobody’s doing anything with an agent.'”
Saban also said that the process of replacing coaches who are hired by other programs begins immediately. He admitted that he takes his downtime during the summer, once recruiting has died down and everyone who is leaving the program or going pro has done so.
“When I have vacation, I go to our lake house for a couple, three weeks, and that’s when I enjoy it. Maybe take a week off for spring break,” Saban added. “But if you think when the season’s over that’s the time to chill out, have a good time and not worry about things for a week or two, you’re gonna be upside down faster than you know it.”
Saban absolutely enjoys it when his teams win, and it certainly means a lot to him as well. That said, he knows better than most how much effort it takes to maintain that level of success. Every coach knows the importance of the offseason, but Saban, notorious for his work ethic, takes it further than most.
Michigan gave Jim Harbaugh a contract extension at a time when many thought his job was in question.
Harbaugh was coming off a disappointing 9-4 season and then went 2-4 last season in the COVID-shortened year.
Instead of finding a replacement, Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel stuck by Harbaugh. He gave the coach a four-year contract extension, although it is for reduced pay.
Manuel said Tuesday that he still believes in Harbaugh long term.
“Given the contract, obviously, I am willing to be patient, but he and I understand that we need to win,” Manuel said Tuesday, via the Detroit Free Press. “This is Michigan. Nobody wants to win more than Jim in football and me overall. We want success. And so did I put a number to his first year? The answer is no. I want him to move forward and build this and continue to drive us to have success in football.”
This story has to be just what Ohio State fans wanted to hear. But prior to last season, Harbaugh had a generally strong record at Michigan, with three double-digit win seasons in five years. I would give him two more years to get things together. If he doesn’t bounce back and continues the downward trend, then it will be time to let him go. At least he was willing to take a pay cut more in line with his recent performance in order to prove his value to Michigan.
Nick Chubb responded on Twitter Monday to an allegation that he received $180,000 to return to Georgia for his senior season in 2017.
Chubb called the allegation “fake news” and said he would have turned pro if he needed money.
The allegation came from what Valdosta High School football coach Rush Propst supposedly said on a recording. Propst allegedly said that Chubb was given three $60,000 payments to return to Georgia for his senior year. Propst also alleged that Georgia and Alabama were paying players thousands of dollars.
Propst allegedly made the comments to Valdosta Touchdown Club director Michael Nelson. Propst is accused of using Touchdown Club funds improperly and is now under investigation over allegations made by Nelson in a deposition as part of a wrongful termination lawsuit brought on by a former Valdosta coach.
Chubb rushed for 4,769 yards and 44 touchdowns in his Georgia career and was known for making some incredible runs like this one.
Chubb was a second-round pick by the Browns in 2018 and has made two Pro Bowls in three seasons.
Les Miles is no longer the football coach at the University of Kansas.
KU announced the news on Monday night, saying they have mutually agreed to part ways with Miles. The two sides reached an agreement resulting in Miles’ departure. The Jayhawks will begin a search for a new coach, while Mike DeBord will serve as the interim head coach.
“I am extremely disappointed for our university, fans and everyone involved with our football program. There is a lot of young talent on this football team, and I have no doubt we will identify the right individual to lead this program. We will begin the search for a new head coach immediately with an outside firm to assist in this process. We need to win football games, and that is exactly what we’re going to do,” athletic director Jeff Long said in a statement.
Miles’ tenure as Kansas’ head coach lasted two seasons. He went 3-9 in 2019 but then had a brutal 2020 where the team went 0-9 and was blown out in many games.
Miles recently came under scrutiny after a report detailed some poor behavior the coach was accused of displaying while at LSU. The report, which made public some accusations for the first time, showed that Miles was banned in 2013 from contacting female students at LSU.
The 67-year-old had a difficult time finding a new job after his LSU tenure. His head coaching career may be over following this report and Kansas’ decision.
