LSU Athletics Associate Athletic Director & Chief Financial Officer Matthew LaBorde gives insight on fundraising and football scheduling in Baton Rouge. LSU Baseball coach Jay Johnson breaks down the shocking arrival of second-round MLB Draft pick and top signee Logan Schmidt.
Here is the complete transcript of the show from YouTube. Tiger Rag apologizes for any AI generated mistakes:
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Welcome back to Tiger Rag Radio. Glenn Gilbo here, Tiger Rag editor with Tiger Rag executive editor Todd Horn and Tiger Rag writer Case Kishnik
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filling in for Jeff Polalmo who’s on vacation. We are joined now by uh LSU Associate AD and Chief Financial Officer Matthew Labour. Matthew, how are you?
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I’m doing great, Glenn. Thank you all for having me.
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Sure. Thanks for joining us. Matthew is in his uh 15th year at LSU. Um, Matthew, what uh what can you tell us in general
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about the uh the the summit going on at the governor’s mansion and and what do you think uh will be happening uh tomorrow?
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Well, obviously they they had their meeting last night and another one tomorrow night. But um you know for that I’m going leave it to those who are
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leading the that charge for us with uh President Roose and others who are leading those efforts and obviously
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everybody’s highly interested um and what’s going on and what’s out there but there’s going to be a time and place to
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discuss that further. So you know for now we’re going to let them lead that and uh put us in the position to be successful.
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And that’s that’s been worked on since I think February, right? they’ve been working leading up to those meetings. Is that correct?
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That there has been discussions, but in re in reality, there’s been discussions for the last several years uh with
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not just LSU, but you know, you look across college athletics, everybody knows the financial landscape has changed. And so it’s it’s our duty to
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listen to everything that’s out there, the creative financial options, just different things that will put us into position to be successful.
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Hey Matt, this is Todd. How are you doing? Doing excellent.
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Good. Good. Um, you you’ve been the at LSU for 15 years as Glenn said, but you’ve also been the CFO in of the
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athletic department since 2021. and that that’s when the transfer portal and NIL actually started. So you’ve you’ve been
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there at a at a rapidly changing time and I I kind of my question is kind of
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more esoteric I guess but like when fans hear about you know a billion dollar valuation of athletic departments and
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they you know that say LSU is the billiond dollar brand from your perspective as a CFO
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what actually creates long-term value for LSU athletics?
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So the where how we position ourselves is you know we look at LSU as one of the premier brands uh in the country. We
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don’t we don’t consider ourselves second to anyone and for us it’s it’s how do we elevate our brand uh across all the
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sports. Obviously, football is the big driver as it is for any power institution and you want to be successful in football, but getting
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exposure from our other sports, competing for championships, being in the marquee games, playing deep in the postseason, that drives the brand for
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LSU and holds us at a high level. So, we we try to have success across the board.
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Obviously, you can’t do it year in and year out, but our goal is to put all of our teams in a position that they can compete at the highest level. So one of
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the other questions I have is kind of related to that may not seem related but it’s how important in your calculations
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in your forecast and your you know your planning is is how important is premium seating and premium experiences and
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future facility development to LSU’s financial future?
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Uh critically important. Um we we’ve got to put product on the field that gets our fans excited so that they continue
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to renew those tickets. They continue to uh want the premium seating, premium experience. And you know, you look
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across at professional sports and they do a great job of that of adding that premium experience and elevated elevated
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atmosphere. And so we we try to model that and find ways to bring value, but we know that’s that’s also not for not
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for everybody. and we want to make sure that we can cater to all of our fans and everybody’s able to still come and enjoy and support the Tigers as they’ve done forever.
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As much as it the model has transitioned or changed in your last five years,
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do you think it’ll change even more in the next five years?
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Yes. And the the also the answer is it’s such a volatile time that you know you talked a lot about the forecasting and
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planning and if I go back 10 years we used to map out 3 to 5 years and have a pretty good indication of where we’d be.
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Now when I put those same scenarios together where we’re one lawsuit one NCA rule away from absolutely flipping
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everything on the head on on its head to where those projections those models you got to rip it up and start again. So, we’re we’re constantly trying one to be
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flexible, but also be proactive, do our best to predict where are things heading so that we can be ahead of our competition.
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Talking to Matt Labour, uh LSU associate athletic director and uh CFO, chief financial officer, and you also work
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with uh football scheduling, which is relatively new in in your job. Verge Osprey used to do it when he was deputy
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athletic director. What are some of your your goals and and what’s interesting about uh working with the football scheduling?
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Yeah, as you said, Verge has done that since I’ve been at LSU and has done a great job putting our teams in position to be successful and so trying to
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continue that, but you know, now we have I’d say we have a few anchors that we work around. We’re we’re always going to try to have seven home games to make
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sure we have value for our ticket holders. We’re always going to put our teams uh in position to hopefully be
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successful. Um make sure that they can win and compete on the field and get into postseason play. And we’re working through right now. It’s the the
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landscape’s a little different. As you know, SEC is switching to those nine games instead of the eight that we’ve been at uh in the modern era. So, that’s
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changed how we looked at things. Uh as well as we’re now required to have another powerful opponent. So when you look at it, we’re playing nine SEC games
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plus a power four opponent. That really only leaves us two of those what’s traditionally called those buy games. So we’re trying to evolve with that and
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adjust and make sure that we’re in a position to be successful.
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How how long is the our SEC teams going to have to continue to schedule one powerful opponent? Has there been
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discussion to excuse me eliminate that because of the you know new nineame schedule?
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There’s always discussions to make sure it’s it’s the best model to get us as many teams as we can into postseason play. So while I believe obviously
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that’s there for this year. I believe it’ll be there for next year. But I think it’s going to be a moving target as the college football playoff. You know everybody talks about the
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expansion. We’re still at 12 teams and that’s what we’re working off of now. If that expands to 1624,
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that may make the ACC SEC take another look and see if, hey, does that power four, does that give us the best opportunity to get the most teams in?
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Because obviously the Big 10, they don’t they don’t have that uh they don’t try to play a power four because that that’s why their schedules are so much easier. Right.
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Right. They’ve they’ve had the nine games for a few years, but you know, we look at it if you look the last three national championship national
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champions, obviously out of the Big 10 with Indiana, Ohio State, and Michigan.
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In each of those years, not one of them played a power four opponent outside of their nine conference games. So,
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different ways to do it, different ways to have success. You know, sometimes that power big marquee matchup, you win that, that might be the game that gets
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you into the playoffs. So, it’s it’s not one sizefits-all, but it’s uh certainly trending in a way that we’ve got to be flexible.
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Hey, so Matt, not not to geek out because I I have a tendency to do that.
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I I mean, I could I could geek out on this. We could probably talk about this for four years if you wanted to. Um but when you’re when you’re doing the
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scheduling and the future scheduling, how much of it is data driven? I mean, are you looking at like modeling playoff pro profit, you know, probabilities or
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are you modeling tele television value of those particular games that you’re scheduling or or revenue before agreeing
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to a game? I mean, are you looking at all those factors? How do you do that?
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No, all all those factors come into play and if you know when Verge was doing it forever and you would see us have games
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scheduled 8 to 10 years in advance. Uh I I don’t see that being the case right now going forward because to your point,
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you’re you’re trying to make sure your team matches up and is able to have success. And the hard part with that is right now is if I schedule a game four
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years in advance, well, that team could look completely different in four years, much less they might look completely different next year just based on the
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transfer portal and all the movement within college football that it is hard to predict where that team is going to be in next year or two years from now.
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So, you’re not going to see those games being scheduled so far out in advance, I don’t think, moving forward.
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Yeah. So, the first thing that came to mind was you uh you guys cancelling the series with Arizona State recently. And maybe that had something to do with that. Maybe it didn’t. Maybe it was
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totally unrelated, but I’m I was just curious how much input Lane Kein has in your scheduling decisions, if any.
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He is he he’ll have he’ll have a lot of input in it. So for for this upcoming season, obviously those games were scheduled a couple years ago. So we’re
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we are where we are with the current schedule, but we’ve been talking with members of his staff trying to understand how does he view things? What
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is what is his philosophy? So that as we try to fill those by games and that as of now that mandated power four game,
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making sure it aligns with how he prepares his team and how he sees his team being able to progress through a season.
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Who are the power four teams after Clemson coming up?
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So, right now we will have uh Clemson Clemson here this year finishing off the home and home with them and then we were
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we were scheduled with SMU uh home and home with them. The the game with them has been moved to Jerry World in Dallas
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when we go play them. That’s our next one. And then we’re after that, we’re still evaluating, looking at options because as you mentioned, the Arizona
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State game, we mutually agreed with Arizona State to pull that one off the schedule. And so we’re we’re looking at future opponents now.
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Uh hey Matt, this is Case. Um with that Arizona State announcement kind of soon after, uh y’all also scheduled a few new
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in-state opponents uh in the coming years. Some of those games, at least as it stands right now, would be week zero
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matchups. Does that reflect a consideration that the the college football schedule as a whole might get moved up? And also, what does it mean to schedule those instate schools?
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Yeah, so the in-state schools we scheduled we scheduled four uh that just recently came out and I I think you’ll see us continuing to do that. Uh a lot
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of lot of reasons behind that, but you know, we want to these buy games. just a lot of money you pay to these opposing schools. And if if we can keep that
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within our Louisiana footprint and help our help our schools within the state, that’s what we want to do. It it obviously gets some fan interest. It
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helps with travel, build some excitement. So, I think you’re going to continue to see see those games get
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scheduled. And then um as well, it’s the week zero piece is yes, that is new starting next year. We’re able to play
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those games in week zero. And so there’s a lot of strategy that we’re working through on that because it’s going to open up in most years to have the double
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buy. And so how do you how do you position yourself to have those buys set up at opportune times in the season because there are certain weeks where
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it’s it’s an SEC game. You you can have a buy, but there is some opportunities and flexibility in there to try to be
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strategic. But the week zero pushes that season up and and spreads it out a little bit for us. talking to Matthew Labour, associate athletic director [clears throat] at LSU.
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Just a minute or so left. Matthew, you were [clears throat] working at LSU when Will Wade first came to the Tigers as
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men’s basketball coach in 2017. What do you remember about those early years working with Wade?
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Will when he got here, you could you could tell right away that uh this wasn’t your normal coach. he was he was
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going to put us in position to be successful right out the gate. Uh I think one of the things, you know, he said when he got here in 2017 and even
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when he got here recently is we’re not trying to be second to anybody. And what that means is he’s ready to compete at
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the highest level. And so I think he really challenged and myself at that time a younger administrator, he challenged me to find, hey, what are the
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competitive edges? What are those advantages we can get on other opponents? like we’re not going to just sit still and do things the way we’ve always done. He was always pushing and
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trying to trying to put us in position to be at the top. Be considered one of those blueb bloods of college basketball. And so he had that in 2017 and he’s still got it today.
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Hey Matt, we’re running out of time really quick, but I did want to ask you one more question uh and go back to football and scheduling for that one. Uh
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if if you could change one thing about college football scheduling nationally, what what would it be? You personally, what would it be?
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I think that would it would be some evaluation on who gets into the college football playoff. Uh I I think you’ve seen in
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strength of schedule. Strength of schedule. You talking, right?
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Yeah. Some of those teams you get penalized for losing a top five matchup uh where somebody’s got to lose a game
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and you get penalized for that and other teams are not playing near the strength of schedule and it feels like we’ve there’s too much of a focus on the loss
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column in some of these games. Obviously at some point you can’t lose a certain number of games. what that number is.
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You don’t know. But there’s been too much of an emphasis on losing those high power games where it’s like, man, would I have been better better off just
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getting a cupcake win and put myself in the playoffs.
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Exactly. That’s what Lane Kein’s been saying. [laughter] Appreciate your time, Matt. Good luck with the scheduling and uh and uh thanks
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again. Really enjoyed it. And uh we will be back with more Tiger Rag Radio right after this.
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I’m Richard Fontno, president of the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation.
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This is Tiger Rag Radio.
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Welcome back to Tiger Rag Radio. Glenn Gilbo from Tiger Rag editor with Todd Horn. Todd Tiger executive editor and
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Tiger Rag uh versatile uh writer, broadcaster, producer case, fresh out of
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Louisiana Tech. You ready for the Louisiana Tech LSU game, man? Well, according to the guy that scheduled it,
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it’s a buy game. So, [laughter] I guess we’ll kind of let that one Oh, man. sail by.
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In case we’re gonna have to talk about etiquette whenever [laughter] Well, we’re going to have uh Jay Johnson on at about 7:30 after one more break.
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Um uh Todd, you want to continue with what Matthew was talking about or we got free time here? Yeah, I mean I I thought
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Matthew was a a extremely interesting conversation. Uh I can’t imagine
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being the CFO of a billion dollar valued athletic department during the last four or five years the
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way he has and endured all the change had to adapt to all the changes he’s had to go through. as he said, you know,
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it’s like they throw everything out the window if there’s a NCA violation, which I’m thinking was probably referring to Will Wade or or something else or
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lawsuits or anything, you know, it just and that was the you’re exactly right.
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That was the most interesting thing he said. You know, when Verge was doing the scheduling because he did it for years. Yeah. You know, they used to schedule 8 10 years
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out and they said, “You can’t do that anymore. You [clears throat] can’t do that at all.” No. and and you know they they got to get rid of the power four game. I mean
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it just make it doesn’t make any sense and and especially if you go to nine games. That was really bad planning by Greg Sanki. You don’t go to nine. They
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[snorts] his plan was to not go to nine games until they went to 16. Well, he went to nine and then they decided not to go to 16. So, he got hoodwinkedked.
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And oh, by the way, they also passed I don’t know why they passed the uh the um power for game. I mean, you didn’t you
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didn’t need that because you’re already playing a tough schedule. So, it’s it’s smarter when you have a 12 team playoff.
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It’s smarter to have an easier schedule. That’s just how it is.
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And I think it it all goes back to what Matt was talking about and what Lane talked about at SEC media days, and that
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is what is wrong with you guys that are figuring out who’s going to get the playoff invites if you’re not considering strength of sketch,
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right? I I understand that. I understand that. But it still makes more sense not to try to stress strength of
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schedule and just play easier teams because your league’s tough anyway. And you know what? It also helps with with injuries and playing backups.
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No, no. I completely agree. I understand all that. But but but it’s unfair right now.
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Well, it’s unfair to be in the SEC right now.
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Right. Right. And part of that’s the SEC as well. It’d be much better. It’d be much better to be Notre Dame and and Independent and have a fluff schedule
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or and Indiana’s got a fluff schedule, you know, but but still they beat the hell out of people at the end of the year and and having an easier schedule
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helps. And and just because you have a better schedule doesn’t mean you’re better than a team that has an easier schedule, right?
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But the team with an easier schedule has has a better chance. You know, I mean, when Alabama beat the hell out of Miami in the 1992 national championship game,
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Miami had a much tougher schedule. But when it came down to it, Alabama was much better and Indiana was much better than everybody they played.
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And you don’t have to go much further than LSU last year. I mean, that everybody thought that was a top 10
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after a week one win over Clemson, a top five supposedly Clemson team. Everybody thought LSU was a top five team. Two bad teams.
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Those were two bad teams. bad teams, you know, and LSU still finished seven and
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five in the regular season and they weren’t a good team at all.
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No. No. Uh-uh. Uh-uh. And and um you know, I think that’s what that’s what they got to do. Um, even even if they
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don’t uh even if they start weighing strength of schedule, I think it still behooves the SEC not to have that power
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four game because they’re still going to win strength of schedule arguments and numbers just by playing SEC teams, especially if you’re playing another one.
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But it’s all perception wise. There’s no standard. There’s no way to really evaluate it. And I think that’s the point. Yeah. as far as that because they’ve got to really, you know, I don’t
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know if they’re talking about going back to computers to evaluate strength of schedule or what, but there there’s got to be a standard. There’s got to be a
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standard. Notre Dame, if Notre Dame only loses one game this year and makes the playoffs, they don’t play anybody this year.
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Yeah, they play nobody.
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And you know it, look at LSU’s schedule this year. Alabama’s just another game this year. You got Texas at at home. You
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got Texas A&M at home. You’re going to miss. You’re going to Auburn. You’re going to Tennessee.
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Uh you don’t need to be playing Clemson.
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They ought to be playing MC in this first game. And oh yeah, this is a much better TV game when you play Clemson, but this team needs an exhibition game in particular.
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Yeah. And and uh you know, they’ll probably beat Clemson, but it’s a it’s a dangerous game.
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All right, we’re going to take uh another break and we’ll be back with the man of the hour, Jay Johnson, LSU
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How you doing? This is Snow Dog Tiger Rag. Tiger Rag Radio. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, you are tuned in.
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Talk LSU sports interviews, opinions, and newer calls around the Tiger Nation.
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Batt Road was a life for me, home of LSU Tigers. Now, more Tiger Rag Radio.
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We love to score and get highlights and championships and play to win. Tiger Rag Radio.
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Welcome back to Tiger Rag Radio. This is Glenn Gilbo, Tiger Rag editor with Tiger Egg executive editor Todd Horn, and Tiger Egg writer and radio star case.
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We’re now joined by Jay Johnson, LSU baseball coach. Jay, how are you? Doing great. How are you guys?
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Great. Great. Thanks, man. All right, Jay, I’m not going to ask you what your rotation is this summer, this spring, like I usually do. Not going to ask
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that. I I do want to talk to you about Logan Schmidt a little bit. Um, of course, the second round pick from the Guardians who was kind of a surprise to
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come to LSU um and not go pro. Jay, let me ask you, like that happened late.
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He’s he’s the last guy that you know you’re getting on the roster. So, chances are since he was kind of a
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surprise, you could have might have been out of money. You know, how did that how did that break down? I’m not asking you how much you paid him, but like is that
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kind of a dangerous game when you get a a stud like that late when you’ve already settled what the NIL payments
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and so forth are for the rest of the roster?
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Yeah, I think we’re very excited to have Logan. I think it’s uh left-handed pitching, left-handed hitting, as I’ve
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told you guys before. That’s uh something I took from Auggie Gerrio, you know, the great, you know, Texas Cal State Fullerton
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coach. And, you know, I’ll be honest, like I thought there was a 0.1% chance that Logan was going to end up in in
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college at LSU. So, we feel fortunate to get him and um you know, found a pathway
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to be able to do that. Some of it wasn’t even our doing. Some of it was, you know, the draft strategy by the team
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that selected him that didn’t work out in their favor and worked out in ours.
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And uh was a a place we didn’t feel like we would be, but certainly happy that that’s what happened. and and really
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excited at him and and uh you know what I would call uh good problems is what you’re referring to.
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Okay. Okay. Right. Uh and what does he what does he give you as far as options,
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you know, as you’re deciding who’s who’s pitching for you and and and when and uh you know, as you formulate your your
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roster during fall ball and going into the season.
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Well, he’s got tremendous stuff. I think my favorite quality is it just it’s strike after strike after strike. He
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really fills up the strike zone. Uh exceptional fast ball command. Uh he’s a pitcher, not a thrower. I mean, he has
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25 minutes, 50 seconds
very loud stuff, but he is a pitcher uh by trade. And you know, you think of, you know, what like in since Kate
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Anderson for us or Anthony did for us, those guys are true pitchers. um you know they could blow you away with fast
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balls, but uh has the ability to feel, you know, speed the hitter up, slow him down, different shapes, pitch to both
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26 minutes, 14 seconds
sides of the plate, up and down. So, he he brings a lot to the table. Um you know, very young, uh just turned 18
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26 minutes, 22 seconds
years old, but very mature from a baseball standpoint. He’s been coached really really well and um excited to uh
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put him in a a role that’s going to help the Tigers.
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26 minutes, 34 seconds
And and Jay, his his other decision could have been junior college where he could go into the draft next year,
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whereas with his birthday, you know, he can’t go into the draft until after three seasons with you or in or in college. How how did you get over that?
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Uh you know, cuz he he had to stay for three years. Was was that a difficult finesse situation? You know, Miseroski uh went right away from junior college.
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Uh that actually helped us in [clears throat] this situation because yes, the the guy you mentioned is, you know, top five pitcher on the planet,
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but I think he gave up like five hits for his entire junior college season and signed just for a little over $2
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million. So, the logic was you have to almost be perfect, Logan, to get a
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little bit more than what you’re offered um now out of a junior college. But, you
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know, recent LSU history suggests, you know, when you had the number one pick, the number two pick, the number three pick, the number five pick, the number
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six pick over five years, that that’s going to be time well spent, not just from a money standpoint and potential,
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but uh development, life opportunity, playing meaningful baseball, education.
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There was a lot that that tipped the scales in our favor. and he he’s a sharp kid, good people around him and um you know, we really just laid all that out.
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So Jay, w with this recruiting class, I mean, you built a foundation uh you know, obviously it’s a transient sport
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these days, but that’s a great recruiting class and and you I’m sure you’ll retain who you need to retain
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moving forward. But when you combine that with what you did in the transfer portal, how is this team gonna just
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characteristically be different uh and perhaps noticeably different even in this in the spring?
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Yeah, I think um I always look at the the what and the how. You know, where do we need to be better? Need to be better on the mound. Need to throw more
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strikes. I think uh some of the pitchers that were there last year, the ones that are returning, they will be
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significantly better. And that’s just me believing in them. Um believing in our development as a staff, believing in
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29 minutes
time with experience. And you know, it’s not just, you know, Kase Evans, William Schmidt. It’s I believe a guy like Danny
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29 minutes, 7 seconds
Lackener is going to be better. A guy like Ethan Plog is going to be better. A guy like Reagan Ricken is going to be better. Zion, Theopoulos, Cooper
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Williams. I think we have a a number of candidates that are more than capable of outperforming 2026.
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So then you add a bunch of talent, you know, with uh the guys we did in the portal and the high school pitchers. So
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I feel like that side of the ball is going to be significantly improved. Then uh we need to play better defense.
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And when you look at, you know, retaining uh Steven coming back, that was a surprise. So, we all
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love how he played shortstop. You know, adding uh Dawson Park, who’s an elite defensive player. Uh Kate Kurland’s
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probably played more games at second base than any player um you know, in college baseball going into next year.
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You know, and we got a really good freshman shortstop named Parker Low that’s an exceptional defensive player.
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So, I feel like we’re better there. Uh, defensively a catcher, we need to be better. You know, again, I believe Omar and and Kade have a lot of talent and
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they got a lot of experience and so, you know, usually when talented players get experience, they improve. So, feel like
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a lot of areas we need to be better in that that we’re going to be better in. And so, I feel feel excited about that. Optimistic maybe a better word.
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Right. whi which of the returning players whether it’s Steven Mollm or Kate or whoever which one of them has taken the biggest step as a leader right now.
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Yeah, it’s a good question. I think uh you know I I we’ll go hats off to Stephen right now like as we were going
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through this process last week with Logan I mean who’s texting me frequently like what do you need me to do? Do you
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31 minutes
want me to reach out to him? Can I reach out to him? And ironically, I was having a conversation with uh Logan’s mom after
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his decision had been made that Stephen had reached out to him uh immediately after it was was public. And I’m proud
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31 minutes, 14 seconds
of him for that. He’s a very reserved guy, but has really grown as a person, you know, at LSU. And I think that’s
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been reflective in in that uh in that example right there.
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All right. Well, that’s that’s great news, man. Looks like you got a really good team. When when do y’all start uh fall ball fall practice?
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Well, we’ll start uh individual workouts right away uh in the rate weight room right away. So, essentially first day of
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school, I think um might be off by a day or two, but think we’re going to start our full 45day team segment like October
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8th and then we’ll run that right up until the the last weekend of Thanksgiving. and got some good fall
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32 minutes
games on tap. Excited about that and ready to get back to work.
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Yeah. You’re going to be playing a a baseball game in Alex Box during the Alabama game, football game week, right?
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Yes. And so my my thought is, you know, Coach Keifin will have everybody in a great mood that morning. And I was like, hey, let’s go out and check out some
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baseball or uh you know, if if we don’t, then hopefully we can play well and give people something to be excited about,
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you know, come spring. Either way, it’s a win-win. Who was that against that day? Uh that’s against Troy College. Okay. Oh, yeah. Excited about that.
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Wow. That’s awesome. All right, Jay.
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Well, thanks a lot, man. Appreciate your time. I know you’re a busy man and enjoy whatever time off you may have. Uh but thanks for joining us.
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All right, guys. Have a good night.
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32 minutes, 49 seconds
All right. Thank you. All right. We’ll be back with a couple more segments of Tiger Rag Radio right after this.
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And we’re back with Tiger Rag Radio.
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33 minutes, 5 seconds
Hello. Welcome back to Tiger Rag Radio.
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33 minutes, 8 seconds
Glenn Gilbo and Todd Horn here and Case Kishnik. Uh continuing what we were just talking about off the air. Uh Jay said
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he felt like he had 0.1% [snorts] of getting Logan Schmidt. So So let’s
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33 minutes, 22 seconds
say his his money is all doowled out for for the roster when they decide, oh, we got a chance for Logan. You know, one of
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33 minutes, 30 seconds
the things they could do is uh like he could go to a donor. He could go to somebody and say or go to Verge and say, “Hey, look, uh, I realize that
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33 minutes, 38 seconds
everything’s in right now for this roster, but we got a chance to get a great player. Can we do something? Can I borrow against my roster limit next year
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and and go extra this year, you know, or something? Hey, we got to get something together for this kid because he’s thinking about coming to us instead of
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taking 1.7 with the Guardians.” Yeah. So, I think what that really comes down to, and I have no idea how much money they they had to pay Logan Schmidt
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or anyone else for that matter, uh, and I don’t think we will ever really know because we don’t get the records. But,
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um, I mean, obviously, like you said, it was late, so late in the game. Um, they didn’t think they were going to get him
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anyway because he was a second round pick and that’s usually settled. I think any variable money that Jay was able to come up with came via NIL.
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Yeah.
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Because the revenue share you couldn’t borrow from next year like you suggested. So that had to be evaporated.
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Now maybe they made some roster changes in anticipation or preparation for it and we’re able to free up some of that money. Uh, but I doubt it. I think most
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of it was probably, you know, well, let’s see what we can go fishing in the NIL arena and see if we can dig up a package that’s good enough to to get him here.
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Yeah. And you know, the other thing too about baseball, a lot of the baseball players, just the the way it is, they come from wellto-do families anyway.
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It’s a little different than football and basketball, speaking in in general terms. So, you know, he might not have
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35 minutes, 13 seconds
been talking big- time money. You know, he he may have looked at the Guardian because they didn’t they never came to an agreement. The Guardians didn’t come
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to an agreement with him before the draft, which is usually how it’s done.
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And Jay referenced that. So, he might have just, you know, wanted to see, you know, well, if they pay me, you know, shoot real high and if they don’t give
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me that, well, then I’ll just go to college. And he he may have wanted to go to college from the very beginning cuz he’s seen skins. He’s seen Kate Anderson.
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Well, and to that point, I mean, I think what Jay said that, you know, when you brought up Miseroski going
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to junior college and then going to to but only getting picked in the second round and only getting $2 million. Yeah.
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Where he’s able to point to Curiel, he’s able to point to a bunch of other Paul Ske Anderson bunch. Yeah. And just say, “Look, look at them, you know, six
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million, seven million, what? Nine million, 12 million.” And the kids going, “Yeah, if I if I can uh, you
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know, make a decent income, play college ball, and and increase my
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future value over the next three years by that much, that’s a really good investment for for your time, energy, and effort.”
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36 minutes, 24 seconds
Yeah. And when when they put together like a a a film package or just a a stat sheet of of what Paul Sch did and and
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Kate Anderson, that that’s going to blow kids away. And you know, it’s amazing when I was just looking at the at the guys who got traded yesterday, the LSU
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36 minutes, 41 seconds
players. Josh Smith got traded from the from the Rangers. Uh Anthony got traded from the uh Red Sox to the Orioles
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organization. I was uh and there was another one. Um, uh, oh, uh, Kevin Gosman. And I was looking at where those
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kids were drafted in high school and then they dramatically went so much higher after they went to LSU. Like, they were all first rounders, you know.
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So, you know, that that’s hard to argue with. Plus, those kids have so much more fun playing college baseball than they
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do in single A and rookie ball. Of course, now they go up much faster now.
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37 minutes, 19 seconds
You know, Cade’s about to go in. I is probably going to be in there. next year. But still, I I think players more
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and more now know how cool it is to play in college baseball for a couple years.
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Well, I Yeah, I can’t imagine it even being a comparison. I can’t imagine even really considering junior college. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
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You know, to to LSU. I mean, I understand the practicality of it if you really think you want to be drafted next year and you don’t want to have to wait
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three years, but whenever you’re presented with the the evidence of what
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your value is likely to do over the next three years and you get to play at LSU. Yeah.
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38 minutes
Or Tennessee or, you know, anywhere, but especially LSU.
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Yeah. And even even the guys who who went and had big major league careers and pitched in World Series and
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38 minutes, 11 seconds
postseason like Mike Saraka and and Chad OJ, both of them told me at at reunions that
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38 minutes, 19 seconds
they felt like when they got to the postseason in Major League Baseball, they were more prepared than than some of their teammates because they had
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38 minutes, 26 seconds
pitched in such pressure situations, not only in Omaha, but in Alex Box, too.
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38 minutes, 31 seconds
Good points. You know what else? Um, and and this is a completely different subject in a lot of ways, but we kind of
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touched on it there at the end a little bit with with Jay. This recruiting class of this this year that Logan Schmidt’s a
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38 minutes, 48 seconds
part of, and I’m just mentioning him because he’s the latest name added to it.
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38 minutes, 52 seconds
That’s a foundational class for the next two to three years for this LSU program. I don’t think
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38 minutes, 59 seconds
you’re going to see any more years like this in the near future like just happened this past [music] year.
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39 minutes, 5 seconds
Yeah, it’s it’s a great class and we said last year’s was was too, but uh I I I’m going to say it again. I mean, I I I really think this is an Omaha team.
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39 minutes, 14 seconds
There’s no no question about it, even though it’s too early to say that. But we’ll be back with more Tiger Rag right after this.
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39 minutes, 20 seconds
Now, more Tiger Rag Radio.
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39 minutes, 29 seconds
Hello, welcome back to Tiger Rag Radio.
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39 minutes, 31 seconds
Our final segment. It’s been a been a pretty interesting show. Matthew Labour, the uh associate AD, CFO, uh very
39:40
39 minutes, 40 seconds
interesting uh as he spelled out some of the reasons behind uh scheduling and Jay
39:47
39 minutes, 47 seconds
Johnson uh giving us some insidefo and uh his surprise at getting Logan
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39 minutes, 53 seconds
Schmidt. and our first guest Preston Guy talking about uh football practice. Uh what what what is the first day of
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40 minutes, 1 second
football practice like for a for a player, Todd? Like what do you remember about your first practice you were at for LSU?
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40 minutes, 9 seconds
Well, I was as nervous as I’ll get out.
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40 minutes, 12 seconds
I probably threw up about six times before we made it to the field. I’ve heard that from other guys, too.
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40 minutes, 17 seconds
Yeah, I was always I mean, especially as a freshman, especially back then. um because you
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40 minutes, 25 seconds
you you were just LSU was so big. I mean, compared to to high school and and
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40 minutes, 32 seconds
I don’t think that the I think it’s a little bit different now, but you still you want to perform. And uh I I I we
40:40
40 minutes, 40 seconds
weren’t as in shape as they are now because you weren’t training year round uh at the level that they do now with
40:48
40 minutes, 48 seconds
the intensity that they do now, with the consistency that they do now, and you didn’t meet with your team on a regular
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40 minutes, 55 seconds
basis during the off season. So it was all new. You know, that first day of fall practice was really the first day.
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41 minutes, 4 seconds
You know, you were seeing people, meeting people a lot for the first time, or it was only the second or third time you’d ever met them. So there was a lot
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41 minutes, 13 seconds
of change, a lot of transition, and it was nerve-wracking. Uh it’s not like that anymore. I mean, Sam Levit’s been
41:20
41 minutes, 20 seconds
leading practices, player leon only practices for at least the last month or so. You know, that’s why one of the
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41 minutes, 28 seconds
reasons why Lane said he didn’t bring Sam Levit to SEC media days is he wanted him back leading player practices. We
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41 minutes, 36 seconds
didn’t have that stuff. So, it’s it’s different now. So, they’re more oriented. They’re more uh
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41 minutes, 43 seconds
into it already. So there it’s not as nerve-wracking, I would think, as it was, but you still you still have that
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41 minutes, 51 seconds
that nervousness that you want to perform. And now the clock’s ticking, you know, because they’re looking at you
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41 minutes, 57 seconds
right now, starting tomorrow, every single rep matters. Every single rep
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42 minutes, 4 seconds
matters to what especially if you’re not, you know, Jordan Seat and you know that you’re going to be the left tackle.
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42 minutes, 13 seconds
How much is it a difference like these first few days compared to the first day of contact?
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42 minutes, 20 seconds
See, I’m trying to for us it was different because you would go three or four days in
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42 minutes, 29 seconds
shorts, then maybe shoulder pads and helmets only. And then you would go into full pads. And once you went into full
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42 minutes, 37 seconds
pads, you’re in full pads for the rest of the time.
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42 minutes, 39 seconds
Twice a day sometimes. except for except for, you know, Fridays of game week or what have you or Thursdays of game week.
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42 minutes, 46 seconds
Um, it’s different for them now. I mean, look at look at what they’re doing this week. They’re starting out tomorrow morning at 10:00 or 9:00 on the practice
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field and then they don’t practice again until the next day at 6:30 at night.
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43 minutes
I think that I think that’s pretty smart. I think that’s cool.
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43 minutes, 2 seconds
Gives them time to recover and be and be better. Yeah, exactly.
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43 minutes, 6 seconds
And and it’s cooler at night. you know, not much, but it’s still cooler at night. It But that’s totally different, so I can’t relate to that.
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43 minutes, 14 seconds
All right. Well, we’ll have it all for you next week, [music] the first week of football practice. That concludes it the show tonight. Thanks for joining us on Tiger Radio.
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43 minutes, 24 seconds
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43 minutes, 27 seconds
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