The HD Experience
Hunter Dawkins, owner and publisher of The Gazebo Gazette, covers Mississippi high school and college sports like no one else. Join Hunter and his special guests as they bring the best in what's happening in sports on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
The HD Experience
The HD Experience Episode 38: Integration of Basket Weaving
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The HD Experience Episode 38: Integration of Basket Weaving
HOST: Hunter Dawkins - Owner/Publisher of the award-winning newspaper - The Gazebo Gazette, Sports Correspondent SuperTalk Mississippi News, Gulfport High Radio Host G96.7, Member of the Football Writer Association of America (FWAA, Heisman Voter), Member of the Associated Press Sports & Editors (APSE)
PRODUCER: Jeff Clark - Award-Winning Journalist, Multimedia/Podcast Host, South Alabama Beat Writer, Director for the Harrison County Senior Services
GUESTS:
- Matt "Stats" Toth - Mississippi Gulf Coast High School Sports Analyst, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Broadcast
- Raymond Partsch III - Program Director for ESPN Radio SW Louisiana, Former President of Louisiana Sports Writers Association, Member of FWAA
- Michael Katz - Sportswriter for NE Mississippi Daily Journal, Ole Miss Beat Writer
- David Schultz - Host of Locked On SunBelt Podcast
- Mitch Gibbs - WGSO 990AM New Orleans Radio Host, "In the Zone" & "Breakfast with Bayou Bengals"
Mississippi has three teams in the College Baseball Playoffs!
What happens next?!
Welcome to the HD Experience, your source for sports on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Here's your host, Hunter Dawkins.
SPEAKER_02Good afternoon. My name is Hunter Dawkins, and I am the host of the HD Experience. This is the 38th episode of It is a Mississippi Gulf Coast Sports Podcast. Sponsored by the Gazebo Gazette, Harrison County's independent newspaper, the Bo Revive Resort and Casino in Beluxi. Nine Toes, brewing company, Pashers Hand, O Dwyer Realty Agent, Stephanie Megwitz, Joseph Kelly, attorney at law, Coast Cash, Pastor's Hand, the Rotary Club, the Rotary Club of Pastor's Hands Paddle of the Bay fundraiser, the insurance barn and golf court, Gulf Coast Veterans Association carry the load, honoring Memorial Day on Wednesday, May the 20th, and we're always in the U.S. Marine Inc. studio. I'm here with my wonderful producer of the show and somebody I know who's ready to get going with this one, Jeff Clark. Jeff is a well-accomplished award-winning journalist, South Alabama beat writer, director of the Harrison County Senior Services, and Jeff, the theme of the day, as if you're a follower of college athletics, the integration of basket weaving and basket weaving, of course, an integration all about the olmus, the eastern Mississippi area, and my friend the opine, the floor is yours.
SPEAKER_16Well, first and foremost, I I find it laughable that Lane Kiffin is talking about recruiting, right? Because everyone knows Lane Kiffin isn't out watching kids play football on Friday nights. Look, I I covered sports up in that area. You know who I would see out on Friday nights? Nick Sabin, Nick Saban's people, um uh who who's the coach at Mississippi State that that was went to Florida? What's his name? Oh, Dan Dan Mullen. Dan Mullen. You know, the the like those dudes are out literally recruiting. So like I never, you know, Lane, of course, wasn't coaching up there then, but like everyone knows that Lane Kiffen is not a recruiter. He calls himself the portal king. You know, he likes to spend money in the portals and stuff like that. So it's laughable for him to have any kind of opinion on uh on high school recruiting because it's not his thing. Um, you know, look, man, the this stuff is uh locker room material is as old as the sport. I mean, Steve uh Steve Spurrier was a genius at it, you know, but like I I do think for Lane Kiffen to go out and uh you know say talk about the diversity at Ole Miss and that being a barrier for him, you know. I don't I I I I don't think there's a university in the in the United States, especially in the South, that's gone to greater lengths to distance itself from its past than uh Ole Miss, the University of Mississippi. Um, I think that was a very calculated move. You know, let's just be honest. Um Lane Kiffin, you know, had USC, Raiders, Tennessee Vols, all of that just up in flames, fired, quits, all that stuff. Goes to Alabama, goes through the Nick Saban program, you know, sort of redeems himself to a point until he gets mad at Saban. You know, Saban gets upset with him, you know, because of a sports illustrated article when they're getting getting ready for a national championship and he's riding around, you know, looking for houses in Florida because he's taking a job at Florida Atlantic. But uh, you know, Ole Miss saved that dude's career, right? And like, look, you can watch there's a billion podcasts that are way more well-spoken and eloquent about it. Uh, Stephen Willis locked on Ole Miss, does a great job of like talking about this stuff every day. But, you know, there there would be no LSU if there wasn't Ole Miss, right? Like he had to go to Ole Miss, and it's not like he was super successful in Ole Miss right out the gate. Um, this guy left a team in the lurch when when they could have been playing, possibly playing for a national championship. Um, so you know, it's it it it's all laughable. It it is uh highly offensive, though, that that he would take Ole Miss to task on on their past. All these schools in the South have past. Um, you know, Steve Spurry or uh Steve Sarkeesian rather fired some shots at Ole Miss at Texas. You know, Steve Sarkeesian, know it or not, they either get in the playoffs and make it to at least the quarterfinals, or he's in the hot seat. Texas spends a gazillion dollars for their, you know, to buy these national championships. Uh Sarkeesian hasn't produced one yet. So, you know, locker room material. Let's just get to September and let it all take place on the field. Thank you for my time.
SPEAKER_02Jeff, I'll tell you this is a lifetime Mississippi resident. And I'm the only one in my family that is a lifetime Mississippi resident. This is a disturbing explanation provided by two high-end SEC coaches that are using their platforms to attack Ole Miss at its core and challenge uh the systematic decency as a whole. And guess what? Do you think LSU in Texas did not have these segregation problems or these academic problems? I can sure as heck bet you they were above the rest of all of them having you know human decency problems during the 1960s. And I'm sure you know everyone is aware of that. Uh, you know, I could I completely agree, Jeff, that uh we as a state have to acknowledge the struggles that we've been through, and we continue to go through. But as a high-paying college coaching, you know, person, this this is nowhere to to shape the frame of your discussion with what it should be. And the the University of Mississippi has gone beyond, and you and I know this, they've gone beyond the the human decency element, and that that's just absolutely 100% false of making that recruitment.
SPEAKER_16I I agree 100%. Like, look, you know, you can say, hey, uh LSU's a much cooler town than Oxford. Come to our town, we party harder, you know, like you know, create those narratives, right? But to make Ole Miss out to be this racist cotton plantation thing, you know, it's just and again, Lane Kiffin is a narcissist at the highest level. He knows what he's doing, it's all calculated. He says this stuff in flames and incenses everyone, then walks it back with a half a apology, you know, but uh it's offensive, you know. My wife has a master's of education from Ole Miss, she has a a master's of arch or master's of architecture from Tulane and a doctorate from from USN. So, you know, we're we're invested in Ole Miss. My my niece currently attends Ole Miss. Um, you know, there's a lot of things Lane Kiffin could have said about Oxford. Hey, maybe there's not a lot of places to eat after midnight or or things like that, but to go out and say that he's having trouble recruiting uh athletes be because of Ole Miss's past or the University of Mississippi's past is just ludicrous. It's it's ridiculous.
SPEAKER_02Well, hey, we'll talk a little bit more, Dan, my friend, and let's get on to guests.
SPEAKER_16You got it, man. Let's go on and get into our first commercial break, and we'll come right back with our first guest.
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SPEAKER_02Would love to introduce my friend and one of the experts in high school football across the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Follow through Twitter and Facebook. Mad Stats, how are you, my friend?
SPEAKER_09Oh, it's great uh to be on uh the HD podcast and uh spring balls just getting over. It's like uh just getting that one French fry before that big meal coming in August. So it's great here in May to talk football as it is every day.
SPEAKER_02Well, making the perfect segue with that, let's talk about the spring games. What have you seen and what have you heard and who specifically has been highlighted?
SPEAKER_09Yes, there's there was a lot of them uh there, Hunter, starting, you know, last week at USM, they had a plethora of games there, including some coast teams, Stone, you know, versus West Harrison. A lot of these, you know, I don't have a lot of scores. They haven't posted them. Uh but just some players, you know, Aiden Green from Stone, 50-yard touchdown run, West Harrison, you know, junior running back. Of course, Stapleton is at Golf Coast, but Julian Chung, you know, that's a name to remember uh there from West Harrison. You move the PRC and Mennon Hall. I don't have necessarily any stats, but I know they tied at eight each. So there, D'Iberville, you know, versus South Pike. Uh D'Iverville, John Laurie, the quarterback, you know, threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to Asen Ladner. You know, Ladner with two touchdowns uh on the night there for D'Iverville. Um, I did not get any score from St. Stanislaus versus uh uh Collins or uh Kapaya Academy, uh, who they played. Pas Christian uh did beat Poplarville 21-14. The big standout there, you know, is at 6-4 Mario Burks, you know, at a 45-yard touchdown pass from Perry Trivillon, the great quarterback who's gotten several offers. Uh, who and also uh Marion Burks, you know, three touchdowns, 175 yards, and a bunch of tackles is what was written down from what I saw.
SPEAKER_02Let me interrupt you real quick. Yeah. Now I heard this from the past high coaching staff that at that game, because there were a few scouts out there to recruit the Popperville defensive lineman, Sam Lejeune. Yes they walked down on the field a few of these, I believe it was Florida State and Cal. I'm not sure you know this better than I do because you follow these. They walked down on the field and offered Burks right on the spot. Did you hear that?
SPEAKER_09Yes, they did. They tagged me in the in a post, uh, several of the fans, which hey, um certainly appreciated. I'm a fan of the sport, so I need the fans out there, which there's a great fans here on the coast. They did tag me in it, and I did a graphic for Mario Burks. You know, he did get that offer Florida State and Cal, uh, the two D1 offers. He's just a junior, and I was told, you know, his backstory, and I'm I'm not in a place here to say his backstory, but he has, you know, maybe you could do a story on how his situation is growing up where anybody in his position might call it quits, but he has stayed with it. He's a he's a great all-around athlete. I don't know him personally. I just know he, you know, from his post and two, you know, two D1 offers there for Mario Burks. That's uh a name certainly, you know, that will stand out this year uh for the pirates.
SPEAKER_02Mario is definitely somebody we'll talk about in the future, and you know, he uh he had some tough struggles recently with his family, and but yeah, I'll talk about that in a bit.
SPEAKER_09So yes, and uh on the other side, Popperville, you know, Ty Keys is is in baseball mode right now, as he should be. His team's there and going to play for state. And uh, but don't don't forget about uh Caden Bradford. They call him Speedy, and he he did a great job on offensive, defensive. You know, Popperville just has that running back committee. And so, yes, they do have Ty Keys committed to the University of Miami, uh, but they also have several other running backs. Uh Balexi went over to Baker. Uh, once again, they beat them 7-3. That is Baker, Alabama. Golfport went over and beat uh the Trojans over at Daphne, Alabama, 28-6. Pick Eun. I didn't have a final against Purvis. Long Beach, George County. Long Beach wins for the second season in a row, 14-7. You know, you had a couple uh players there. Uh, what is that? Fence Jr. and Miles Eluteris, both had a touchdown each. Uh, they had a couple other massey, had two sacks and a fumble recovery. Uh, Tim West, you know, Brody Peel, uh Foxworth also to be mentioned there in that game, Long Beach.
SPEAKER_02And then finishing not too far around from the oyster bowl, Matt, the Long Beach Pascan game. We'll we'll be talking about that in the future, but yeah, to let you know. I mean, uh, we want to have you at the breakfast this year.
SPEAKER_09So yes, yes. That uh is great, you know, the oyster bowl between Long Beach and Pascristian. I know they split the last two games, so we'll see what happens here in the third game. Uh last two games, yes. So we'll see what happens here this season. Um, also, speaking about George, you know, Long Beach beating George County, we do want to give a shout out to the flag football championship, you know, that they did win. George County defeated the defending state champions in St. Martin 12-6. I posted that play with time expired. They threw, I don't know, a 20-yard pass play, caught it amongst the two defenders and ran it in for a touchdown. That is George County. They are the flag football state champions there, uh defeating the defending state champions. And then uh Bay Tigers played Summerall, Hancock at Robertsdale. They played at PRCC. I don't have any finals there. East Central played LaFleur at Moss Point, and Moss Point played, you know, East Central. I don't have any finals there. Uh Hattiesburg had an inner, I mean, sorry, Hairston Central had an intersquad game. OSHA Springs did go over to play the MGM Vikings in same uh Siemens, Alabama. So that was there. I mean, spring football, you know, there as you see, we just, you know, Mario Burch got the D1 offer. So there is something good for spring football, but spring football is just like practice with a crowd. I mean, you know, it's it's not uh I don't have a lot of scores because they don't post a lot of scores, and they play half a quarter of games, so there's just not much uh much there uh in in the spring football. Then I'll jump over to uh JUCO football here, but I'll let you jump in and ask me what you want to ask me before I keep blabbering.
SPEAKER_02Well, that's what that's another thing I was guessing. You said there's some uh all oof offensive and defensive line camps on the uh on the horizon.
SPEAKER_09Yes, yes, with the the the JUCO they are and those cost $50 each, but June 1st on Monday to offensive defensive line camps. They are at Perk and uh Gulf Coast, and then Skills Camp the next day at June 2nd, and they're having a youth camp uh uh there June 3rd, right after that. Then PRC is having a prospect camp June 4th, uh June 10th, they're having a seven-on-seven tournament. They do have a number to call. It's on my Facebook page uh because they didn't list any price, and I'm assuming there may be a price for that PRCC camp. A free camp, uh, if you remember uh Last Chance U with Ronald Ollie that played for EMCC, got drafted by the Raiders. He's having a free camp there up uh July 11th. Again, that information is on the website there. And speaking about football in general, for JUCO football, uh, Hunter, there's been a change this year because I actually had to change my days off for work. They are in the past, they went with the two two teams in the south and two teams in the north. There's four, seven, fourteen total teams in the in the state of Mississippi for junior college football, JUCO football. The top teams, four teams in each division make the playoffs. They are doing away with that this year, at least, and maybe in the future, but there's only going to be one playoff, and that's gonna be for the state championship, which kind of threw me for a loop because I had I had a schedule and then they came out with a new schedule. I said, wait a minute, there's 10 straight games. So, yes, there is no bye week. They had a bye week installed a couple years ago. No bye week, you go 10 straight weeks, and the division games, region games, whatever you want to call them, the seven games will count for the who makes the playoffs. But then if there is a tie, it will go to the overall record. So, unlike high school football, where the non-region games has no effect on if your team makes the playoffs, it will and has always been a factor in JUCO football. So that will be uh be interesting there. So that's a different uh format there with just one, just two teams, the best of the north and the top team from the south will play each other. And the first game there, of course, is August 27th for Golf Coast. They'll host Kahoma there at home, and I'll be calling that on the uh on the radio there. But a lot of football going on here in this uh month of May, and summer workouts are certainly coming in June and July.
SPEAKER_02Well, we look forward to hearing from you again, my friend. Tell everybody how they can contact you.
SPEAKER_09Yeah, just uh go in on Facebook, Golf Coast High School Football, powered by Matt Stats. And if you want all the other sports, go Golf Coast High School Sports and at that Facebook page. I'm a one-stop you know location for everybody. I'm just a fan, just like everybody else. I'm no special than anybody else, but I certainly appreciate the follow and being on the HD experience. So look forward to the next time I'm on, uh, Hunter, and have a great May as football gets closer. About 15 weeks away, if somebody's counting. Yeah, you're right for regular season.
SPEAKER_02That's right. We'll make sure to have you on a long before that again. I appreciate you, Matt.
SPEAKER_09All right, hunter. Stats out.
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SPEAKER_02And my next guest is Raymond Parsh the Third. He is the sports cast director for ESPN 103.7 out of Lafayette and Lake Charles. Raymond, as we're you know, going on the theme of as I I told you before. The integration of basket weaving. This being said, you know. Talk to me about what avenue is Lane Kiffin trying to make, or was he trying to make with these racism comments?
SPEAKER_07It's Lane being lame. Like I it's he can't help himself, right? Like it's every place he's ever been, it's ended poorly, and some of the times it's because of what he's done, some of the times it's because he hasn't lived up to the expectations. But nowhere, with the exception of his tenure at Florida Atlantic, has it ended well, right? So that's a big part of it. And look, Lane is a troll. And this is who he is. I made the comment, he is the social media version of Steve's Furrier, where any opportunity he has to throw shade at someone, whether it's another team in the conference, whether it's just another coach or a situation, he's gonna do so. And this is who he is. And push aside the fact that, you know, he credited his time at Ole Miss for saving his life and getting him reconnected with his kids and getting him reconnected with his ex-wife, and that that's where he got sober, and there was all these great things, so forth and so forth. Now that he's out the door, he's gonna try to burn it to the ground. And that's what he's doing. Like you've heard the interviews that the interviewer has given since the article was published in Vanity Fair, saying that that kind of stuff wasn't even brought up. Like Lane just in a four-hour conversation just drifted over into that and never mentioned that. We never heard any mention of Lane mentioning that being an issue with recruiting his entire time that he was in Oxford. But he mentions it now, months later, after leaving Ole Miss to take the LSU job. And it's just unnecessary, right? It's unnecessary to have this negative publicity. It's unnecessary to do this to your former team. It's unnecessary. It's a distraction, but this is who he is. Like if you think this guy is gonna be the straight and arrow kind of guy that's not gonna say anything, that's gonna rile up the fan base or piss off another fan base or disparage somebody else, then you know, uh, look, I got I got I got bad news for you. Like, that's not who he is. It is this is par for the course for Lane Kiffin.
SPEAKER_02Isn't this a little awkward for an LSU school, a Southeastern school, that may have the same historical problems, not as much nationally recognized as Ole Miss, but you know, historical problems with racial diversity.
SPEAKER_07Well, every school in the Southeastern Conference has skeletons in their closet about race relations. It had it has issues, well-documented issues, on how it dealt with things during the Jim Crow era, how it dealt with segregation, or how it tried to prevent itself from being segregated, you know, uh during the the segregation era. There's enough skeletons in everybody's closet for every team in the SEC, period, point blank. Okay. So, you know, trying to point it out that you know it's just an old miss thing is ridiculous. Now, is there a little truth to the thing where it wasn't that long ago where they still had the Colonel Rep mascot on the sidelines and then they banned them, and then the you know the student section started renting out the uniform, the costume, and had them at the games and they were embarrassed that they did the whole land shark thing or whatever? Yes. Yes. Is their name rebels? Yes. Um, true. That's all true. But I don't think that impacts recruiting in this modern era, and it didn't impact Lane Giffen getting great recruiting class after great recruiting class, both in high school and in the NCAA transfer portal the entire time he was there. It did not prevent him from putting together a team that made the college football playoff and went all the way to the semifinals. So it's it's it's making an issue out of something that's not a modern issue right now. Was it an issue 20 years ago, 15, 20 years ago? Sure. Was it an issue 30, 40, 50 years ago? Absolutely. Is it an issue right now in 2026? I do not believe so. So once again, he's just making something out of nothing.
SPEAKER_02On three recently predicted that ULL, University of Louisiana LaFit, obviously in your territory, is going to be the Western division winner in the Sunbelt. I haven't really heard much about that, about the recruiting domination, other than them bringing back uh their quarterback. I believe his name's Lunchbox or something as such. Other than them bringing him back, do you see any move forward with them this year?
SPEAKER_07I think the expectation is for them to compete for the Sunbelt West Division title. Yes. And a big part of that is that they finally have some consistency at the quarterback position for the first time under Coach Des because he has been plagued by injuries to his quarterbacks over and over again, even last year when Lunch finally got the chance. I mean, Lunch was the third-team quarterback. And Walker Howard, who began his career at LSU, then went to Ole Miss and then came to UL and finally looked like he was going to be uh playing college football. Well, he suffers an injury in game one. They go to the backup, he wasn't very good. So then they go to Lunch Winfield, and his dynamic ability to be able to run and to be able to take a broken play and make it into a positive gave them a spark and helped them kind of end the season strong. And now they have a whole offseason with him. You know, the big challenge for him is, you know, when you talk to the coaches, they're like, well, he he didn't practice great. That's why he was a third-string quarterback. But when the lights come on, he turns it on, right? So the I think the whole initiative has been they're working on him this offseason to make him better, to make him uh, you know, a better practice player, better prepared, and everything like that. They do return a lot of players from last year's team. And, you know, other teams that are, you know, you know, Texas State has now left, they've gone to the Pac-12, you know, other teams in their division have lost more players. So the early indicator with is the majority of the people coming back, including your starting quarterback that you had at the end of the season, they think this could be a big bounce back here for the Raging Cajuns, as it was a couple years ago when they got to 10 wins and then suffered a couple injuries and lost the conference championship game at home to that great Marshall team, um, that Charles Huff coach now, who obviously has gone on to greener pastures.
SPEAKER_02Give me your brief thoughts about the 2026 New Orleans Sandy schedule that was recently announced, positives and negatives.
SPEAKER_07Um, I like the fact that they have four division games in the final five weeks. Right? So no matter how things go and maybe the middle part of the season, they'll still have something to play for because they have those important divisional games at the tail end, and they'll wrap up at home in their regular season finale. Now, they have to start off tough, right? Like going, you know, everyone has kind of split on Detroit. Is Detroit going to be back or has the window drastically closed on them? I don't know. We do know in the last four to five years that offenses start so slow, and that's why we see so many good teams to be sluggish in the first like month of the season, because it's essentially still the preseason, right? So maybe you're getting Detroit at a good time, but then you have to go in week number two and have to go play at Baltimore. Now, Baltimore has a whole new coaching staff, so are they going to utilize Lamar Jackson the same way? What are going to be the new wrinkles? You're not going to know that really based off a one week a game film. So it's kind of an unknown. There's some tough games on there, but I've always taken the approach about this. When we look at schedules, we all love to go, okay, well, based on the schedule, this should be a 10-11-win team because the strength of schedule based on what the teams did last year. But what the NFL has shown us over and over again is you can't do that because every year we have three teams on average that make the postseason that didn't make it the year before, and teams that look like contenders going into the season end up being in the top five or the top ten of the NFL draft, right? Because the NFL has so much parity. So I don't do the whole schedule thing in predicting. What I will say is that they do have some tough stretch, uh tough stretches of the schedule, but you really like what this team has done in the offseason with the draft and with free agency. And, you know, you're gonna have to start off strong. You don't want to put yourself in a hole. Even with a division that's in flux, it feels like Tampa has taken a is taking a step back. It feels like Atlanta is in rebuild mode yet again, and then Carolina, who did win the division, but did they do enough in the offseason to improve that, or could they maybe slide back? I feel more inclined to say they may slide back. So it feels like New Orleans could be set up to be a nine or ten win team and win that division, but you can't start off going 0-2 on the season. Uh, you have to at least get a split there in those first two games at Detroit and at Baltimore.
SPEAKER_02Raymond, you take care of yourself, my friend.
SPEAKER_07Thank you for making the time, brother. Enjoy the rest of your day.
SPEAKER_02Take care.
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SPEAKER_02My next guest is an accomplished guest and a regular on the ESPN's The Paul Feinbaum Show. But Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reporter Michael Katz gets his money on the pen and pad. Mike, since you know Lane, this is Coach Kiff, and you know pretty well, based on any other media that I'd know, and based on your past media stops, Ole Miss USC, and the rest, do you have any real reason why he said this? Was this drawing bore material, or what do we got?
SPEAKER_05Uh, you know, it's I I learned a long time ago it's it's it's uh it's not a good exercise to try to get inside uh Lane Kiffin's brain because it it can be a little uh it's dangerous to try to understand where he's coming from sometimes. He he thinks differently than uh than I do and then than a lot of people do. He's uh he's a hell of a football coach, but he sometimes does things that uh make you shrug your shoulders a little bit. Uh I think that I I if nothing else, and and I I think this has come out a lot over the last week or so, uh, this really seems to be uh related uh to his discontent with with not being able to coach in the playoff. And I know that those two topics don't seem uh necessarily correlated, but uh I think that you know when when you are uh in a position that that he is, and uh you have an opportunity to tell your side of the story uh and you are upset at the other party, uh I think you're trying to do whatever you can to bring them down, uh whether it's correct, whether it's incorrect, whether it's fair or not. Uh so it it it seemed like a little bit of um it's it's you know, uh I know that he has said uh in a lot of situations that he has uh you know, he he loved his tongue at all Miss and all these things, but uh when you look at the way that his ending here happened, and uh really uh a lot that's happened uh since he's been at LSU, uh a lot of his his ire has been uh directed at all Miss, whether it's um uh uh about this topic or or other things. Uh and I do think part of that goes back to the fact that he wanted his he wanted to have his cake and eat it too, which uh, if we're being honest, was never really an option, but uh in his head that's what was supposed to happen, and I I feel like this is all sort of a result of that.
SPEAKER_02Well, and Mike, you see, that's also you can almost kind of see where this was going when it was the the announcement was gonna be made after the egg bowl, and he goes in saying, you know, Mississippi State had some guys stealing some Jersey stuff and all this, that, and the other. It was almost like he was trying to direct something away from his own deeds, and you know, uh I mean, what's up with the vendetta? I mean, they Ole Miss practically gave him everything he wanted.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I think that from the the Ole Miss side of things, um, well, listen, it was uh every situation that he has been in, uh listen, he's a great coach. There's no question about it. He's won a lot of games in a lot of different places on a lot of different levels, but it usually doesn't end pretty. Um, you know, when he was with the Rangers. We all remember the, or some of us remember him getting fired via PowerPoint from Al Davis uh when he was at Tennessee. He left after a year uh to go to USC, and there were like riots in the streets, got fired on the tarmac at USC. Uh Nick Saban fired him before the national championship game because he didn't like him trying to work both his future Florida Atlantic job and the offensive coordinator job uh at Bama. So I I think that this sort of uh ending was inevitable, but I think at the same time, even by those standards, uh I think Ole Miss feels like uh like you said, they really did give him everything that he asked for. I mean, money wasn't the issue. Um the the money was gonna be even for his salary, for the resources, uh all those sorts of things. Uh I that was I never felt like that was gonna be part of the problem. I I think that um because he didn't get to end it the way that he wanted, I think he was upset and decided to kind of go scorched earth, and uh, you know, whether right or wrong, that's that's that's the route he took. And it's kind of a shame really, um, you know, because uh listen, when you know, when when he comes back on September 19th, uh, I mean it's gonna be uh it's gonna be treacherous. Uh but it had an opportunity to at least have some sentiment, uh positive sentiment in it, uh, in terms of, you know, look, this program rose to heights that uh hadn't been since the you know the 60s. Uh again, they were uh a national title contender the last few years, uh first-round picks, all those sorts of things. Everything that you could want from a program, uh, but I feel like the everything that's happened since really the egg bowl has kind of destroyed all that goodwill. And uh it it's it's gonna make September 19th pretty uh about as toxic of an environment as I can possibly imagine.
SPEAKER_02Why would Steve Sarkeesian get involved like the way that he did? I mean, as far as discussing, I know he and Lane were pretty tight, at least not only at USC, but at Bama. And yet he's trying, I mean, what what's the deal with this? Texas has had enough problems with their past history, not not let alone last year with their football team. Uh do you think, I mean, what's what's going on? Is he on the hot seat? Is that why he's trying to throw eggs on the fire? What's going on with that?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that one kind of caught me off guard uh a little bit. Uh I I was not I was not expecting uh to see basket weaving uh on my Twitter uh that morning, and then it happened. And uh, you know, a lot of weird things have happened to me on this beat, but uh those those consecutive days or three days uh between between Lane's comments and Sarks were uh we're kind of up there. But uh yeah, I mean they are close. That's been well documented that they've got a positive relationship again. They they go back to um you know Pete Carroll's staff uh at USC uh way back when. Um but I I I do think that when you get these one-on-one interviews, sometimes coaches say things that uh they probably want back. Um I you know, I don't I don't think there was like a design campaign by both of them uh to go after Ole Miss. Again, I I I I don't know, but that would seem like a very strange uh strategy for either of them, especially Shark, because he doesn't really have a dog in the fight, um, in in in this case, uh, and they play each other next year, so um it doesn't really make a ton of sense from that perspective, but uh, you know, uh Ole Miss has been, you know, largely because of Lane, has been very polarizing uh the last few years, and yeah, I know he's gone, but uh sometimes people take the easy targets, uh whether that's fair or not.
SPEAKER_02Is from I know it's kind of early on, but from what you've noticed, has this had any you know Twitter effect as far as recruiting goes or anything like that? Is you know, Pete really kind of Pete Golden kind of calm the the situation. Just just talk to me about that.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I think that Pete um, you know, I I think he understood when he took the job that there were probably going to be a few moments, uh especially early, where he was probably gonna draw some fire uh for from Lane. And uh again, you know, yeah, it's it's it's your former boss, but it's also a guy who is now at a rival school who's trying to uh make sure that you don't, you know, win games and may make you uh uh you know stay on the bottom. So I think Pete understood that. I uh but I also think that you know Pete's not the type who is going to take things uh online or do an interview or uh do things like that to draw attention to himself on a sish on an issue. Uh, you know, uh Pete's definitely a a guy's guy, but uh he's he he's definitely not one that is going to uh put himself out there in the way uh that Lane Kiffin does. So uh I I you know I I don't know if if if Lane's comments really did anything on on the recruiting trail. I don't know if anyone bought it or if anyone rethought the way that uh you know things were uh you know, the way they perceived things. Uh, but I do know that Pete is a people person and he's a uh and a hell of a recruiter. Um so I I feel like if anyone was going to be able to navigate this, uh it was probably him. It was just probably something that uh he he he definitely didn't want to have to deal with.
SPEAKER_02Final question for you. Do you think, under your watching at least of uh SEC baseball and all this this year, but do you believe that there will be three Mississippi universities posting college baseball regionals in a couple weeks?
SPEAKER_05I think two, probably. Uh I think Southern Miss by most metrics seems fairly safe. Uh, you know, Ole Miss is uh they're interesting because I think that when Ole Miss is right, uh with their pitching, you know, their their three-headed monster of Hunter Elliott, Kate Townsend, and Taylor Rabe, they are dangerous. Uh they are a threat. Like the most teams don't have that sort of rotation. But when they're good, they're good, and when they're bad, they're bad, and that goes to the hitters too. So uh, you know, if they had if they had taken the series uh this this last weekend, um I I think that they would be a no-brainer host. Uh I think State is is is feels pretty good, and they don't necessarily have the best metrics. Um, but uh again, they're uh uh an over 500 team in The SEC is a brand name. So I think they're probably feeling pretty good. I think Ole Miss has some work to do in the SEC tournament. Listen, Missouri in the opener isn't helping one way or the other. Now you do get Mississippi State if you win in that second round. If you win that game, it'd be your first win over state this year. And then you go on, and I believe they would have to play Georgia if they advanced. And you know, if if you get that one, then I think that's a conversation. But as of right now, uh they feel like an incredibly dangerous two seed.
SPEAKER_02Okay, my friend, tell everybody how they can contact you.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so you can uh read my work at djournal.com and you can find me on Twitter slash X at Michael L Katz K-A-T-Z. And uh yeah.
SPEAKER_02Hey my friend, good to talk to you. You take care of yourself. Appreciate you. The Gazebo Gazette is Harrison County's only independent newspaper, publishing news from Gulfport to Bay St. Louis every Friday. Hi, this is Hunter Dawkins, owner of the Gazebo Gazette. If you're looking for local news without the hassle of sorting through story after digital story, log on to thegazeboGazette.com. Add your name to the digital audience of 250,000 plus coast residents who already know where to find the stories that matter to them. I would like to introduce one of the guys that's the hardest workers in the media world, David Schultz. David is the host of one of the best college football programs in the media, Locked on Sunbelt, the podcast. David, after the regular season's over with the Sunbelt Conference, can you explain the bracket to me, to the listeners in Montgomery? I know it might be a little bit lengthy, but we'll we're waiting on to hear what you got to say.
SPEAKER_08All right, well, let me get it in front of me. So Southern Miss, uh, they won it outright, right? Uh they they're 14. Uh they went 14 and 1 in the last 15, Coastal went eight and seven.
SPEAKER_02So Louisiana beat Coastal, which pretty much gave Southern Miss the sit alone first place, correct?
SPEAKER_08Uh yes, that's correct. All right. Um and so and what what is the question? What what what don't we understand, I guess.
SPEAKER_02So so just if you wouldn't you wouldn't mind explaining the bracket who's uh who's playing in the first round is on Tuesday, I believe, and then where it's going from there in Montgomery.
SPEAKER_08Okay, so in the first round, uh you do have the Cajuns taking on Marshall, all right. And then uh um then you have ODU and um Georgia State. Sorry about that. Uh and so unfortunately for the Cajuns, uh despite winning a uh despite winning the series against Coastal Carolina, they uh lose its tiebreaker with Texas State because it was a two-way tiebreaker instead of three-way because JMU beat ODU. If ODU, the Cajuns, and Texas State all win, I think the Cajuns win that series because they're uh they got a better record versus common opponents than these other two teams. There's no head-to-head involved. And so they would not have been in the first four. Instead, Texas State won the head-to-head with the Cajuns. They are uh they're sixth. So the Cajuns are taking on uh Marshall first. I feel like that's a game that they have to win to get into the N-C tournament. And then um, and then Georgia State uh takes on ODU. And all of a sudden, ODU is playing uh good baseball, right? They took they took down Coastal Carolina last week, um, couldn't quite finish off the sweep with JMU uh this week, but they they've turned their season around uh as well.
SPEAKER_02If the Cajuns win that single elimination, yeah, they play in the next the next match.
SPEAKER_08Then they get coastal.
SPEAKER_02Wow.
SPEAKER_08And then so the winner of uh, yeah, they'll play coastal again. They just beat Luke Jones, it'll probably be Luke Jones again, I'm guessing. Um, I don't think Kevin Stallm changed anything last year going forward. Like Jacob Morrison pitched the first game of the Summer Conference Tournament last year.
SPEAKER_02So Suller would play the winner of Old Dominion, Georgia State.
SPEAKER_08And Georgia State, that's right.
SPEAKER_02Yep. Okay, big deal. And then if both of those teams, uh, I mean, let's say the first two seeds, they win their first round on Wednesday. What happens then after that?
SPEAKER_08So, all right, so I let me see if I can find find a bracket here.
SPEAKER_02I'm sorry, I didn't mean to put you under the under the bottom.
SPEAKER_08No, that's all right. It's just easier to see it because it is a little confusing. So the Sunbelt does um they go from single elimination to double elimination to single elimination again. All right, so the first four is single elimination. All the way to the championship after that is double elimination, and then the championship game is single elimination. You get that, Hunter? Make your head right now.
SPEAKER_02I got you. I got you. Good deal. Appreciate it.
SPEAKER_08So on uh the Southern Myths side, Southern Mist would get the winner of South Alabama and Troy. Should they win? Coastal Carolina gets the winner. Uh, should they win? They get the winner of App State and Texas State.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so and then from there it's just double elimination until Sunday.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_08Correct. That game's uh that game's on national TV. I believe it's on ESPN, Sunday at 1 p.m.
SPEAKER_02Interesting, interesting. Okay. Well, um who has the chance to not only host regionals but make the tournament based on RPI or whatever it is uh that that is gonna give them the ability to make the NCAA playoffs?
SPEAKER_08So right now, Southern Miss uh not only has a good shot of hosting, but has a pretty good shot of being a national seed. Uh if they they win the regular, they won the regular season. If they win the conference tournament, which I think they will, uh they got as good a shot as any to be a national seed. Uh Coastal Carolina looks like they're headed to the NC tournament. They got a solid RPI, although it's it's fallen a little bit after that. Uh they're down around uh in the mid-20s, 20 uh 25 or so. And then you got the Cajuns who are at 40, and then I think Troy's at 43 and Texas State's at 45, or those two teams could be uh the other way. Uh so you do have three teams that are right on the cusp of that. What did I say? Troy is 45 and Texas State is 43, like I said the other way. So uh you do have three teams that probably need a couple of wins in the Sun Belt Conference tournament. Uh I mean the good thing for the Texas State side is that, you know, they if they beat App State, they'll get Coastal Carolina. And same thing on the other side, like Troy, if they beat South Alabama, they'll get Southern Miss. So their RPIs will go up. That's why the Cajuns really need to beat Marshall because their RPI is going to fall anyways, because Marshall's like 179. So they need to beat Marshall, and then they would take on coastal. And, you know, who knows what happens there?
SPEAKER_02Do you think either South Alabama or AP State would have to win the tournament to get in the one?
SPEAKER_08Yeah, everybody else has to win the tournament. South Alabama, uh, you know, they needed to sweep the rest of their ballgames. And I just think for for people understanding, uh, I'm a big believer that that 40 uh RPI is where the Sunbelt has to be. I think there are some power four teams that have higher RPIs than that that should not get into the tournament. I don't think Kentucky should go to the NCAA tournament. I don't think NC State should go to the NCAA tournament. They're actually in the 40s. Um, but yes, if if if anybody from the Sunbelt, from the Cajuns to uh Troy and Texas State have a top 40 RPI, then uh I think they should belong in the uh NCAA tournament. All right. Um South Alabama's sitting at 58, so that seems a little bit high, even if they you know beat Troy and then beat Southern Miss, and even beat Southern Miss again. That would be they may be close to 40. I'm not sure they'd be top 40.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Um final question for you, my friend. Yeah. After the latest on-three release this last week, uh JMU and Louisiana were picked to finish the top of their division in college football uh for the um do you have any and Georgia State and USM were projected to finish the lowest part of their divisions in the Sunbelt. Do you have any thoughts about this as far as predictions and anything else goes?
SPEAKER_08No, I mean they may be picking uh the Cajuns because of Launch Winfield. You know, they kind of they have their quarterback compared to maybe everybody else. Um, you know, Southern misses, you know, things, you know, everything turned over, right? They got a new coach, um, they got you know a whole new team. All the guys who transferred in for Marshall are basically gone. Uh so you know, Coach Anderson will have them ready, but it is a whole new uh deal compared to what um you know the previous coach brought in. Um Georgia State always seems to struggle. Uh, you know, this will be year three for that coach. And, you know, we need to see some progress. Uh, you know, that's the thing about you know building a program, no matter what the other team, no matter what the other guy did, you don't have four or five years to build a program anymore. You can build a team in one or two years. And you need to see some progress. You may not have to win championships in that fast, but unless you're you know LSU, you know, you need to see some progress fast. You know, no, no one's got more pressure on themselves than Lane Kiffin, and he keeps on putting it on himself. Um but I usually, you know, for you know, I don't know what on three knows, but uh, you know, generally speaking, the Cajun's got a lot to replace. They almost the whole back that, you know, the offensive backfield is gone. They got to replace a bunch of offensive linemen. Um, you know, Mike Desimo does a good job, but you know, we'll see how many receivers came back. I think the Cajuns are probably up there because of Lunch Winfield more than anything else. And then you know it'll be interesting. I think, you know, uh Billy Napier's got his work cut out for them. I think JMU is doing it out of reputation because that's basically a transfer portal, right? They then they lose their, they lost. I think every starter either transferred out or graduated from the twelve from the top 22. So on offense and defense. So Billy Napier is starting fresh over uh in Harrisonburg as well. Probably not a surprise that those two teams are picked. Um, but we'll see how it works out this year.
SPEAKER_02Well, thank you, my friend. Uh tell everybody how to get in contact with you.
SPEAKER_08You can uh find me uh everywhere on uh it's just uh Schultz, uh Twitter, Facebook. Well, Facebook is my own name, uh, but Instagram, threads, blue sky, all of it. Uh and of course, you can go over to subscribe to uh Lockdown Sunbelt over on YouTube, and you can find that on Apple and Spotify as well. It's a big help. Thanks, Hunter.
SPEAKER_02We look forward to seeing you in your world, Dave.
SPEAKER_08All right.
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SPEAKER_02And the next guest is someone that I talk to virtually every week. The WGSO 990 AM radio host of In the for In the Red Zone and Breakfast with the Bayou Bengals, Mitch Gibbs. Mitch, based on your history of coming to Mississippi and seeing football games, do you really believe this Lane Kiffin statement?
SPEAKER_03Which one which one are we referring to?
SPEAKER_02As far as from hard level recruiting in. Oh, oh yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um no, because you know, I I I talk to um, you know, LSU guys every week, even though we're kind of off season, um, although college and pro football is kind of 24-7, 365. And uh even the guys who who disagree with me in terms of who was the right guy for LSU to bring in as a head football coach, think Kippen talks way too much. I mean, and and and it doesn't make any sense either because the way he left, um, even though they did have a good result because they they got to the the semifinals um and lost a tight win there. Uh, why fan the flames like that? You um are going to face LSU pretty probably every year, I would think, being border states and rivals. I know you played them next year, and they've got the better quarterback uh in in uh Trinidad Chamblas. And I think Ole Miss is going to be a dangerous team this year in college football. And why would you give them more bullets in board material talking about, well, you know, I had problems recruiting because the history of Ole Miss. And somebody pointed out there was a really good article I read about the fact that it's been uh many, many years since they used the rebel mascot and they played with with the Dixie uh theme and all that kind of stuff. Um, and then you know, the even the thing about the um, you know, that he was followed to the airport, which the uh the uh patrol that was was uh protecting him did not uh uh conclude, uh did not affirm. Um I'm just saying it's a it's a natural rival, and you left on you know kind of so so terms, and they're gonna be good in the next few years, and you gotta play them. It made no sense to me.
SPEAKER_02Other than what has been documented on national television with in the 1960s uh about Ole Miss, do you really feel that LSU is that much more diverse among the campus than Ole Miss?
SPEAKER_03I mean, I I don't uh you know, when I go to LSU Games now, I you know, I'm just there like briefly for the tailgate and go right in the stadium. And I've never done like a research project on that, but I would think they're comparable. You know, I I'm just floored about uh tuition now, uh, because a good friend of mine is talking about the difference between Alabama Omis and LSU tuition, how much cheaper it is if you're in state, although it's not not what it was when I was there, it was a lot cheaper when I was there. Um, so uh, and you need to have diversity in college football, obviously. Um, you know, Bear Bryant banded in in and acquiesced there and a lot of coaches years ago and realized, hey, you know, if we want to win national championships in the modern era, we've we've got to, you know, we've got to be sensible about that. And everybody says sports is like the great equalizer in terms of it should be colorblind. So um, you know, that that so I I would say probably not. Uh, you know, I I would guess all uh Mississippi and LSU are comparable in terms of their demographics. So I would say they they were I don't think one has the uh cultural uh diversity advantage over the other.
SPEAKER_02According to your previous feelings, and you've told me this many times, Trinidad Chamblis is easily the best college football quarterback under your your feelings. Why would uh coach Sark make these comments about old miss when he's trying when he is trying to build up a quarterback with Arch Manning in Texas and somebody that you've seen personally in high school coach with Arch Manning? What the where is what is trying to happen here?
SPEAKER_03I mean, I I I don't know if I think Trent Shambles is is I'm I think he's the best quarterback in college football from what I've seen um going into this year. There's there's it's close, of course, but but Arch Manning ain't the guy right now unless he improves dramatically and he's got one more year to do it. I think he made progress. Um, but you gotta see it in big games. And uh, you know, that's what I've said about Tyler Shuck, too. And I I'm not in the I've even talked to Saints, some Saints executives that agree with me that hey, let's slow down. It took Drew Brees a while to get where he was, and that's not a fair comparison anyway. But uh, I do think Trinidad Chambles is a very talented guy. And if you told me right now who you would rather have as your starting quarterback, uh between him and Arch Main, there's no there's a question. I'm going Trinidad Chambles, he's a better athlete, he throws the ball just as well or better. Um, and uh he's a winner, and he's really a winner. He almost won that Miami game, and who knows what happened beyond that. So I don't understand what these coaches, the coaches talk too much, and uh maybe they're just kind of you know, hey, I'm my guy is the guy. Uh, and maybe there's a little regret. We don't we we couldn't. I mean, whoever found Trinidad Channels, I don't know whether it was Lane Kiffett or was I think it was somebody else on the staff, he's gonna get tremendous credit because that's like a you know diamond in the rough. It was Joe Judge, the the uh yeah, but uh that was brilliant because he is the guy I saw him play against Tulane in the regular season, even before the LSU game. Remember, that was a week before, and I was like, this this guy reminded me of like Anthony Davis a little bit in a different sport. When I saw Anthony Davis play LSU at Kentucky, I was like, this guy is gonna be one of the greats. And I I was right that time.
SPEAKER_02Do you think that if Sark doesn't make the playoffs this year, it's hot seat?
SPEAKER_03Um no, because I think that uh Texas, I think, has generally been somewhat patient with coaches, and um and I guess, you know, um maybe that he's tied a little bit to uh to uh Arch Manning, but I'm sure they they probably owe him a lot of money. I don't know what the details of the bio would be. But you know, they were a couple of years ago in the mix and they were so close. You know, you think about the end of that Ohio State game, they had a chance. Um and and so yeah, I think that um unless it's a disaster, which I don't think it's gonna be, uh I think I'll be but I know the expectations are like this is the last year we got Arch Manning, this is our year when we really got to make a push. Uh, and we're giving you all the resources because nobody's got more money than Texas and Texas AM anyway, probably for NIL. So uh I I would think there'd be some grumblings. I'm not the biggest SARC guy either. I think that this thing about him being an offensive genius is is very presumptuous and premature, uh, but until he's until the results are shown. I mean, I love these guys on the ESPN telling you what a genius he is on offense, and then you watch some of the especially in that Ohio State game in the first game of the season, play calling was not good at all. So um I'm I'm not the biggest Sark fan. So uh I wouldn't have a problem if Texas said, you know what, it's time to move on. Um, so I'm not a bit I'm on the I'm not on the Sark train, and I think there would be some grumblings, but as long as they you know they have a good season, you know, I think I think he's coming back. I don't think there's any hot seat issue with it.
SPEAKER_02Oh, one thing I know about you is you're not a big USC person because Lane Kiffin and Stark were both at USC. I'll play and call and plays, and neither one has won a big game in the SEC, which I know you say all the time, but you know, we'll move on from there. Talk to me about the 2026 New Orleans Saints schedule, the positives and negatives so far from what you see.
SPEAKER_03Well, I would say the positives of the division, like I said, you you really had to watch the uh the uh offseason in terms of free agency in the draft. I didn't think uh Tampa Bay and Carolina or Atlanta got really any better during free agency. I think Atlanta got worse because they brought two in. If two was a starter, I would predict Atlanta's last place in the division. I think they all drafted okay. Uh I you know, I wasn't real thrilled about the Saints draft either, but you know, the Saints is gonna get so that's the neg the positive, the division. The negative is the Saints do not have that easy of a schedule. We talked about the fact that if they would have won that Atlanta game, they would have moved from a fourth place or last place to a third place schedule, which would have made it even more difficult. But they I think they're the underdogs or projected to be underdogs in two-thirds or three-quarters of their games this year. And so um, you you got to think about that. If you're you know, I like to do that when we start the season doing the in the red zone show, making a projection before the regular season, what their record's gonna be. And you know, right now, if you ask me, I'm kind of you know, right in the middle there, uh eight, nine, nine, eight kind of thing. Maybe that's good enough to win the division. But uh, I think the Saints are gonna have to beat if if if that holds up, I think they're gonna have to beat some teams that they're maybe slight underdogs to, but nobody in the in in the NFL is unbeatable. Uh, you saw Seattle lost some key players, and so um, you know, they're not gonna play anybody. They can't be, but um, but again, it is telling that they are um going to be an underdog in over like 75% of their games this year.
SPEAKER_02What do you think so far about the international game of Saints schedule to Paris?
SPEAKER_03Well, I mean, I'm thinking about trying to go. I think um, you know, uh, I think the Saints have won these international games. I know they're tied into us being connected, of course, with the Fran France because we're a French city, and Paris is a beautiful place, obviously. I don't know how the Steelers are going to react to coming all the way over there. I'm not a big fan of overseas games. I know some of the players don't like because it's so much travel time, but you're trying to grow the game internationally. And what is the most important thing about the NFL? There's no question about it, is how much money can we make. It's all about money with the NFL. And so they're thinking, um, we're not worried about players having to go overseas. We're not worried about jet lag. We're not worried about um, you know, having all the games in the United States. We're trying to grow the game, which basically means we're trying to make as much money as possible. So people all over the world will buy NFL merchandise. That's what it's all about. It's all been all about the money. I love when people started to talk to me about well, the NFL's too political. They ain't political, they are capitalists at the at the highest level. All they care about is making as much money as possible.
SPEAKER_02Well, tell uh what's your early prediction for the season? You said eight and nine, nine and eight.
SPEAKER_03I'm gonna have to do it again because like I'll probably make it in. We're gonna start the show in August, and I'm gonna make an initial predict uh prediction, but then you gotta, you know, you gotta see how training cam goes and you know, see if there's any injuries and who's on the roster, you know, across the board, across the league. Then you kind of look at the schedule a little closer because you're looking at other teams, and um, and and it to me it comes down to the division. If the Saints can go four and two, five and one, that probably puts them because you think they're gonna win at least three or four other games outside the division. If they go five and one, you think they're winning nine and ten games, and you would think likely they win the division because it seems lately in the NFC South, you win nine games, it uh you're in really you're pretty good shape. If you win ten, you're winning the division. So uh I would say right now I would go eight and nine, and that's subject to change. I could go lower, I could go higher. I mean, I'm not gonna be able to tell a lot about Tyler Shuck and Breeze. I I'm not a big training camp guy. I know guys talk about that. Oh, you can, and and I'm one of those things people that say what about training camp? I know it's supposed to be position battles and who makes the 53-man roster, but to me, the bottom line is if you're just trying to get guys back in football shape and you don't want injuries, and that's the most important thing about training camp. Not oh, this guy looks unbelievable in training camp. That doesn't mean anything to me. So I say health, trying to be healthy in training camp. And then, like I said, the obvious thing is you got to see who you're gonna keep on the roster and who's gonna be your starters, who's gonna be your backups.
SPEAKER_02All right, my friend. Tell everybody how they can reach you.
SPEAKER_03All right, so we're uh we're still rolling with uh New Orleans today, covering sports, non-sports. We're talking a lot of NBA playoffs. I've got some great guests. We talk hockey playoffs because I'm still pining to try to get a hockey team in uh New Orleans. I'd love to see that happen. I don't know how realistic that is. So we're on every Saturday morning, 9 to 11. We're over on Canal Street now, which is pretty cool because I get to do the show at Metropolitan Health, and we're looking out at Canal Street and seeing all the beautiful streetcars go by on Canal. And we'll be doing that through June, and then we'll probably take a little break in July and then get ready for uh LSU football, SEC football in August, and uh of course Saints uh New Orleans Saints football in August as well.
SPEAKER_02Going to any two-lane games this year?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean, I I think when it comes to two-lane, um, you know, I think that I would have gone in a different direction in terms of the head coach. I still think they should have uh uh hired um I was Napier, Billy Napier was the right guy, and they decided not to do that. So I just think they're not gonna be, I think your expectations, if you're a big two-lane fan, should not be as high as they've been the last few years. Uh although, again, if you ask me the pros of it, their their conference is not great in football, so they should be okay. I just I don't expect them to be in the college football playoff like they were last year, but I think they'll be in a bowl game. I think they'll win, you know, seven games, seven, seven and five, something like the eight and four, I would think.
SPEAKER_02After the SEC meetings in a uh few weeks, do you think it's gonna come out as 16 or 24?
SPEAKER_03Um, I mean, I hope it's just six. I don't I think we should just have eight. I know they said, oh, well, but look at what's happened in the last you know, a couple we've had some non-competitive games. We uh although the the wrinkle in the whole thing is the by teams have really struggled the first couple of years, which might be a fluke or aberration. But no, you get you, you know, this ain't basketball where you can play in two days. You can't you got you can't play for a week or so. Um, and and as long as they're gonna keep the conference championships, which you know they're gonna do because of the money, there's so much money, but a lot of people feel like they're they they hurt teams and they they become somewhat irrelevant, but they ain't gonna change just because of the money part of it. Um I don't think it's realistic to have that many games. So I'm thinking um hopefully there'll be sanity here. And uh in believe me, I think there should be eight, but no more than 16. Then it gets to be two real. I don't like the system now because I don't I know the buy teams have lost almost all of them the first couple of years, but I still think nobody should get a buy. And then we wouldn't have to worry about buy teams versus non-buy teams. You take care, my friend.
SPEAKER_11Thank you. The following is a paid advertisement by O'Doire Realty agent Stephanie Mankowitz. Call Stephanie today at 228-563-0471 for all your Realty needs.
SPEAKER_02And here we are talking about Realty again with our O'Dwyer Realtor Agent sponsor, Stephanie Mankowitz. Let's talk about the tips this week from Stephanie about what realtors should be doing for you.
SPEAKER_13Thank you, Hunter. As always, it's a pleasure to review realtor topics and uh hopefully it helps people, right? So, what should we do we be doing for you, the buyer or the seller? First thing I would say is, and it's in the actual disclosure everybody signs when they work with an agent, is ensure all parties are represented fairly and honestly. It's called fair and honest dealings. And if I'm helping you or anyone out before I can even show you a house, you know, you sign that disclosure. And it's not even a contract, it protects you as a person. And I'm supposed to explain that for him to you and say, hey, before we do anything real estate, I am licensed, I am liable, I am here to help you, give you fair and honest dealings, get the most I can for your house, confidentiality. I'm not gonna, if you're a seller, I'm not gonna tell people your bottom line. That's a secret. So, um, so we'll start with that. The first thing is that we are fair. And sometimes realtors get a bad rap, and sometimes there's realtors that have caused that. But uh, I know I'm one of the realtors that considers myself pretty by the book and just trying to solve the problem. I just want to be part of the solution, right? So if you're selling a puppy or Avon, whatever it is, there's liabilities when you're selling a house, times three, times ten. Okay. Alright, well, I would say uh another thing we do, we we make sure that the people who maybe they were they've never sold a home before, or they've never bought a home before. We make sure that we we through the shaky buyers or the sellers, buyers that maybe aren't a good idea to deal with, we can see problems coming before they start when a realtor's been doing this 10 years. And if it is a buyer, we're also looking for sellers that might be a problem. You know, if we're putting in a really healthy offer and it's like full price or near full price, and then we hear there's a multiple offer situation, it doesn't mean you panic. You know, sometimes you leave your offer right where it is, even though there's other offers. So we're making we're weeding through the shakiness and the things that come up that seem unpredictable. And one of the other unpredictable things, like for sellers, is you know, they get an offer and it's got 10 contingencies on it, and the price looks great, and they say they're cash, but there's all these contingencies. So um, you know, you're not you're not really aware how much we help you until you actually deal with a good realtor. That's one thing I would say, and and we want to help them determine the value that's correct if they're selling.
SPEAKER_02What are some of the things that determine the value?
SPEAKER_13Oh, okay, that's a good one. Let's start with location. You know the old saying, location, location, location. All right. Uh let's start with what are things selling for around you? If you're in a nice neighborhood and and you think your house is a castle, we all kind of feel like that when we love our home. Doesn't mean it's worth three times what the market says. Uh so people will hear realtors say, Well, the market says your house is worth this. And some sellers don't want to accept that. No, no, it's it's got to be worth more. I've got a double granite countertop, I've got a fountain that shoots out gold in the backyard, and I've got three kittens with it. So I think I should get a hundred thousand more. And we have to rein people in and say, I love your kittens, I love your granite. And the last year in your neighborhood, people have paid this amount. And though, and that's where we start thinking like an appraiser. So we're like, okay, wait, we can go out two miles and look at the last sales in the last year within two miles of this property, and we can see what people have been paying. And we also look at the square footage, and that's really important, Hunter, because if your house is 2,000 square feet and you saw one sell for a million and it had 3,000 square feet, and you're like, Well, mine's worth that too. You're a thousand square feet smaller, so I can't even count that house as a comparable sale, right? When we determine the value is the critical, probably the most critical thing we do as your listing agent, because that price is the first thing they see, just like the pictures. And if we priced you so high that you seem ridiculous, they're not coming. And then guess who you don't like? Me, the realtor. You don't like me anymore. So I'm kind of an upfront realtor. I think a lot of us are after we've been in a while. And we say, look, in all honesty, right now, this is what the market says your house is worth. Other things we're gonna help you with is um determining what is the inside of the house worth. Um appraisals are gonna change next year uh across the country, and there will be different data inputs into determining what your house is worth. So we're gonna be on top of that. Um, and so if you're trying to sell on your own, you know, we can be really helpful and deal with all these unexpected things that happen when you try to uh sell on your own. Um and you know, we talked about sellers a lot, so okay, I'm just gonna put this out there. If you're thinking of selling on your own, the some of the things we're doing for you, the seller, to make it easier is photos, professional photos. We pay for those. A lot of our photographers have drones. We're taking the calls because it's our number on the sign. So if it's a looky loo, it's not an ideal buyer. We've got our radar out there, so we're taking that hassle, you know, out of it.
SPEAKER_02If you are thinking about selling on your own, maybe ask Steph. If you would like to talk to Stephanie to help determine your next steps, call today at 228-563-0471. Or call her at the office and ask for Steph at 228-452-4242. Steph has the latest information to help you get through the process with reasonable expectations. Again, that's 228-563-0471 to speak directly with Stephanie. We gratefully appreciate you listening to this podcast, and we thank you again, Jeff. It was a great show, and I think it's only going to get better, but we definitely had some good uh good guests talking about the uh the uh theme, and obviously that was good.
SPEAKER_16Yeah, man, it was it was a great show. A lot of uh, a lot of great things said, a lot of great information. Uh Dave brought a lot of knowledge to the to the Sunbelt Conference uh bracket. That that was good to hear firsthand. So a lot of good stuff. Uh, you know, Hunter, you always ask our guests how they can get in touch with you, with them. How can how can people get in touch with you?
SPEAKER_02Well, of course, uh Jeff, you know, being the fact that I uh I'm the head man of the hot show, but I'm also the head janitor too here at the gazebo gazette, you can uh reach out to me uh on email or on telephone. Um email being editor at thegazeboazette.com or thegazebozette at gmail.com or my supertalk email address, which is hdawkins at supertalk.fm, or you can send it to my personal email. But I will tell you, I don't I don't still check my personal that much, but it's at hunt h unt67 at gmail.com. But also you can reach me on my cell phone whenever you want. I can't guarantee that I'm an answer, but I will call you back. It's dairy code 228-224-6781. And definitely we thank you and appreciate you, Jeff, for all the uh that you're doing for us.
SPEAKER_16So absolutely. You can uh you can follow me on uh Instagram at the Jeff Clark. Uh I was able to, you know, been on Instagram for quite a few years, was able to secure that many, many years ago. I'm on Facebook. You can also check out my podcast, which is Clark Cast Podcast. Um, it's on Apple and Spotify, all the spots. Got a really good episode with uh Robert St. John coming up this week, so check that out.
SPEAKER_02And tell him I said hello too, Jeff. But I also heard your uh the last one with the River Dance uh lady. That was great. Absolutely fantastic.
SPEAKER_16Thanks, man. I had a really great time doing that. You know, it's uh it's been a lot of fun doing that podcast. Uh, you know, those non-sports, non-politics, just talk to people about the things that motivate them and uh mutual interest that we have. So I I'm certainly enjoying doing it. Uh I've got uh set I got Robert St. John coming up. I've got my friend Lawrence Gallon, who's uh been the lead singer of the band Sticks for 25, almost 30 years now. So a lot of good stuff coming up this summer.
SPEAKER_02Well, I'm sure Charlie will want to meet him too as well, or at least talk to him for a while.
SPEAKER_16Absolutely, it's his favorite band. Um The HD experience is available on Spotify, Apple, uh uh Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, all the podcast spots.
SPEAKER_02That's right, Jeff. And we also always want to thank all of our sponsors, including the Beau Revage and Casino in Biloxi, Nine Toes Brewery, Pasker Shan, O'Dwyer Realty Agent, Stephanie Mankowitz, Joseph Kelly, Attorney of Law, Coast Casual in Pasker Shan, the Pasker Shan Rotary Club's Paddle the Bay Fundraiser, the insurance barn in Gulfport, Gulf Coast Veteran Association's carry the load on May the 20th, and the U.S. Marine Inc. And we make sure you follow us on the gazeboazette.com, where the podcast will be posted next week, as well as on facebook.com backslash the real gazebo gazette or on X at Gazebo Gazette as the handle. The HD available, as Jeff said, is on all podcasts, including Apple, Spotify, iHeart, and Amazon music. And make sure you download, make sure you download, leave some good comments for us, or just leave comments in general. We always check, and it's under the HD Experience tag. Sign again. This is Hunter Dawkins as the host of the HD Experience. We'll catch you all in the 50s.