Everything Sean Lewis Said on San Diego State’s National Signing Day

SDSU HC Sean Lewis speaking to the media after his second official National Signing Day.

Great to circle up. Good to have everyone here. Obviously we’re here for a pretty special day for a great group of young men that have put pen to paper or I guess done their electronic Adobe signatures. Now that’s how this thing rolls. We no longer circle around the FedEx or fax machine. But before we get to to that I’d be remiss if I didn’t say a few things about the season and obviously how special that was and obviously with an opportunity still we’re waiting to figure out what we’re going to play. 

The next opportunity to go get win number 10. Just incredibly proud of the players incredibly proud of the staff incredibly proud of the work that everyone did putting all this together and the work that was done day in and day out. Can’t thank the community enough for their support and the way that they encouraged us, supported us competed with us, and can’t wait for them to continue to elevate with us as we go forward into the future and pack Snapdragon Stadium and create an environment that is a true competitive advantage for us each and every single time we step on that field. And very very proud of the work that our kids did and the way that they were resilient in the way that they responded week in and week out. 

Obviously we came up a little bit short. We need to play better. I need to coach better. We need to learn how to win in those championship moments and that’s part of building a championship program. But extremely extremely proud of all that we have done all that we have accomplished and eagerly awaiting where the next opportunity is to go get a double digit win. And there’s going to be very few teams in the country that are going to be able to say that and excited to see where then ultimately right everything settles in where we can kind of put a bow on this season. 

Eager to do the work over the next seven weeks to reconstruct the roster as we go forward into the future because the talent acquisition process is the bloodline to our program through this championship program that we are building. That starts today with the high school signees. As we sit here right now we have 10 offensive signees in. We have 11 defensive signees in. I’m eagerly awaiting some more information here that should be coming hopefully within the next half hour if not sooner. And we’ll see where that goes. But I think it’s going to be good for the Aztecs as we continue to trend. 

But a tremendous group of young men. It’s our highest rated class that we have put together. It’s our first Pac-12 class. And so that’s exciting with the future and the direction of the program. We beat out multiple power four programs for a lot of our signees. The majority of these players held other offers from our future conference foes. So winning head-to-head recruiting battles is crucial. 

Twelve of these signees will be mid-year enrollee’s. Seventeen of them played multi-sports which is huge for us. And then it’s going to be when all said and done again if a couple of these last few loose ends that we’re trying to tie up go the right way we should be a top 60 class in the country ahead of other power four institutions as we continue to elevate and to get our program to that level consistently year in and year out. Not just to compete with those teams and be happy to share in the field but as we showed this year against CAL, have dominant victories against them as we go forward. 

So it’s a it’s a strong class numerous state championships. We still have one signee in in Tainoa Lave who’s going to be competing for another state championship this weekend which is great. It’s the highest cumulative GPA of a class that we have signed. They’re tremendous leaders in their communities. Men of great character and guys as I know that we talk more about them as they make their way to the Mesa and our community gets to know them not just as players but as young men that they’ll fall in love with them the same way that we have as well. So apologize for being long-winded. Where do you guys want to take the conversation? 

How did the moment of of this year’s season shape the conversations you have with the signings compared to like a year ago? 

Yeah it was huge right? The the first couple signing classes from when we first got hired and then a year ago right we’re talking about a vision and a belief for something that we’re going to create and now we have a proof proof of concept right? It’s there’s evidence that our process works and that’s a big deal right to high school kids if they’re entrusting you to their career and all the work and all the sacrifice that they’ve put into it right? They want to see some evidence. It’s one thing to talk about hope. But it’s something completely different to have again that proof of concept that evidence and to be able to show them our tape and how it’s successful and the role that they’re going to fill and then the developmental plan that we have for them not just as a player but as a young man and the opportunities that we have here in our city that are very very unique when it comes to networking and internships and all the other things that help round out a young man during this time in his life. 

What do you look for in specific in multi-sport athletes?

Yeah I mean just generally speaking overall athleticism right? Like you want guys that are traded up. You want guys with size length speed horsepower that you can then as a coach right develop and train. You want guys that have a lot of those abilities across multiple arenas. And if you’re a competitive dude you’re going to find ways to step into the competitive arena. Whether it’s the grid iron in the fall it’s the wrestling mat or it’s the rugby field or it’s the basketball arena and whether it’s the track whether it’s baseball like you’re going to be hyper competitive and you want to compete year round. So that’s important for us. 

Question on two of the unique kids out of Texas. Can you comment on the wide receiver Stevenson and the running back? 

Yeah I mean Derek was a guy that we identified early on. Has a lot of position flexibility where he can play inside he can play outside. Believe he finished third in the state in the 100 meter. Obviously some legit speed comes out of that state year in and year out. So believe he was a 10.5 flat kid. And again we put a premium on speed. We put a premium on length. He’s shown good development in his craftsmanship. As a as a wide receiver and looking forward to getting him here to to begin his process to learning our system and how he can be an impactful player. 

And then Josiah is obviously a well-rounded back that we feel like can do all things really really well. Again he’s a guy that pound-for-pound in his high school program which has developed some dudes over the years. He’s he’s set some strength records. He’s he’s moving some real weight. Again he’s got some real horsepower. He shows great change of direction on his on his tape. He’s got some make you miss-ability and again is a man of great character that we’re excited to to pour into. 

Coach can you talk about Carson Deal from La Jolla? He was here in June signs three days makes the commitment three days later. Can you just talk about him and what do you see in him and what do you predict? 

Yeah I mean I think he’s the best two-way player here locally right? He played wide receiver he played DB. We’ve got a chance to get a ton of live evals on him because La Jolla comes to our passing tournament each and every single year right? So you get a chance to see him compete right? Like you get to have him in a competitive setting on your campus competing against some of the best teams not just in Southern California but we have schools that come over from Vegas and Arizona to compete in that as well. And to see his competitive nature his leadership traits and then again his his physical tools of his size his length, it’s really really impressive. So excited to to keep him home and we want to keep all of our hometown heroes home. And he was one that very early on we identified going all the way back to last summer. The staff did a great job of pinpointing him. He really flashed and being able to track on him and see his continued growth his continued development and still think he has a very very high ceiling that we’re going to get to pour into to help him become a difference-maker for us. 

Was it good seeing him come here instead of committing to Colorado State? 

Hell yeah. Absolutely. Is water wet? Yes sir. 

Can you talk about QB Brady Campbell? 

Yeah I mean good quarterback good developmental piece. Adding some young depth into that room and looking forward to pouring into him. 

What do you look for in a quarterback in your recruiting? What traits do you look for? 

Yeah I mean leadership competitiveness ability to process hand talent mobility and then again a high ceiling. We want a guy that we can pour into that we can develop. A lot of these guys it seems like they come out of the womb and they got a private quarterback coach from the time that they can walk or crawl and they’re really really good at playing drills right? But then it’s like when it actually comes to playing quarterback right? Like they get very robotic. So we want guys that are instinctual that can process the game and that are gym rats when they come to to working at it right? So it’s it’s a real position that we dive very very deeply into the intangibles the makeup. And obviously there’s got to be a certain level of physical traits that are there as well. But that’s one of the positions that you can just look at again whether it’s draft picks or five-star prospects and all these things like if the if the wiring is not right in between their ears you’re not going to be able to unlock the the potential of all their physical talent. 

Coach you touched on the season earlier. I asked you further about it now. Have you taken I know it’s easy to kind of get wrapped up in a college football season. Your guys isn’t over yet but have you taken a moment to kind of step back and just reflect on what this season has meant to you and the success that you’ve had? 

No I mean we’re still in the midst of it taking some time obviously to be very proud of what we’ve done but to zoom all the way out and take a deep breath like we’re not there yet right? There’s still work to be done and we need to get up off the mat. We need to dust ourselves off. We need to get back to work. We’ve given the boys some time this week obviously with the way that we finished with six in a row that was pretty demanding as we went. So kind of getting off them a little bit from being on the field but we’ll figure out what the next opportunity is on Sunday and we’re going to attack that to go get 10 wins. And then when that’s all said and done we’ll go through again the autopsy not good not bad not ugly but just the process of evaluating right and how can we do it better and where do we were we efficient? Where were some things that we did good? Where were some things that we did poor? We’ve started that process a little bit with having this time off this week and having some conversations with the guys and just while it’s fresh in their mind what are some things that we did good and what are some things that we can improve upon from their vantage point to get their feedback because the players know best. They’re the ones that are living it. But to to say hey like I’ve I’ve taken a moment to soak it all in or to digest it all. Like no I’m not there yet. There’s still again work to be done. 

You have more work to be done. Obviously your guys’ bowl game missing out on a conference championship can sometimes sink a team but having a high level bowl game in your guys’ near future. How do you kind of keep the team pushing towards that? 

Yeah I mean you said it right. There’s an opportunity to go play. There’s an opportunity to go do it on a big time stage and depending on where we end up or anywhere that we end up. I think there’s going to be a marquee matchup that is going to excite our fan base and excite college football. I mean we got one of the best defenses in the country with some of the best defensive players in the country. We got an exciting brand of football when it comes to special teams and what we do offensively and our ability to generate explosive plays. So there’s an opportunity to go play. We got guys that love to go play and there’s an opportunity to go get 10 wins. I mean again in the history of this proud program there’s not very many teams that got to 10 right? And so that’s a big that’s a big deal. We sat in here and we talked about kind of hey six to seven you’re a good team right? Eight to nine you’re a great team. You get to double digits I mean that’s that’s an elite level that that not many teams will get to year in and year out. So we’d be really really proud of that to to walk away with hey okay we went plus seven in the win loss column from year one to year two. So that gives us all the juice that we need to to go play again. 

JD Wicker on Twitter made a comment about your guys’ season. What is his support? What has it meant to you during the season but also now as you guys go for a bowl game? 

Yeah I mean it’s huge right? Like you got to have alignment from the top down right? I mean from the university president to your athletic director to the vision that the head coach has and that being a two-way street and being able to have open lines of communication and transparency and we have that here. So yeah having him in our corner and knowing that there’s a commitment and a level of investment from the university to football specifically is critically important for the continued growth and success because as good as this season was, the cost of winning is not going down and we got to continue to compete at a really really high level and we need to double down on our investments. We need to double down our our our efforts to level up as we go to the Pac-12 and that really excites me and JD is excited to lock arms with that and President De la Torre gets that as well and that’s why we’re making the move that we are and we’re going there to to dominate not just participate and I’m really excited about the opportunity that we have to do that. And again every single opportunity that we go out that we have this bowl game is another opportunity to show how we’re taking another step forward because the climb never ends. Like, yeah we got to finish the climb this year for this team and this season right? But then we’re going to go forward and we’re going to turn the page and it’s going to be 2026 and you start back at sea level and you go again right? You set a new course and you got to reach a new summit and that team’s going to be uniquely different than this team. That’s the beauty of what we get to do and that’s the beauty of what college football is right now. Like yeah there is an aspect of program building but I mean these rosters are turning over in a hurry and ours isn’t going to be any different. Like that’s just the nature of what it is. So how quickly can you reassemble as a team and get rocking and rolling again? 

How has the Signing class philosophy changed in recent years given the advent of the transfer pool?

Yeah I mean I I still believe in building it mostly through high school recruiting right? But you’re always looking to acquire the best talent that you can for your club and wherever that comes from. Right? Today it’s the high school ranks and we work very very diligently at that. As we move through the next seven weeks here six and a half weeks right? Like there’s going to be an evaluation of the guys that are on our roster and as we go forward and there’s going to be guys who go into the portal here starting on January 2nd and you only have 85 scholarships and you only have 105 roster spots and you need to maximize each and every single one of those. So our guys know that we’re very transparent about it and it’s our job to take care of the program to take care of the University and to assemble the best roster that can go win a pack 12 championship and that’s what I intend on doing. 

Are there certain positions you you’d rather kind of look for out of high school like developing linemen or something or does it? 

It kind of depends on where the position groups are right? Like where the class distribution is for some of our like take for example corners. We turn the page right? Like we had two of the best corners on the in the conference. One was obviously the defensive player of the year and Bryce is going to be in an NFL camp as well and probably drafted also right? And so to retain those guys this past year right there was a cost associated with that and we had signed some high school kids but now as they graduate and the way that guys are matriculating through our program where we we signed one corner and hopefully we can close on another one here by the end of the day. But we’re going to have to go get some older guys as well as the young guys continue to develop in our program. So it’s really you would like to say hey philosophically you these positions but it’s really again imperfect hans that are evaluating imperfect hans and where are they in their trajectory and how are they developing within the program and who’s ready to go win a championship and who can perform at that level consistently versus where are there some holes that we got to go fill through the portal right? But again I still think the analogy of high school recruiting and what we did throughout the whole year and beyond today is going to be the core and the backbone of what your roster is. That’s like the NFL draft right? And then you utilize the portal as free agency to know hey where are the holes as we’ve round out the signing class and we get a feel for what the stabilization of our roster and retention is going to be as other people are still actively trying to steal away our really really good players. So we need the community to help us finish the climb and make sure that we have the resources to retain our players because they’re not going to stay here for free. And then as we sort through all that and as we get into January we’ll continue to do the work. Like the work that we’re going to do over the next six and a half weeks is going to determine the success that we have in 2026. Everyone thinks like hey the ball’s done and hey let’s assess the season. Like no. Like we’re on to the next thing. We’re on to roster reconstruction right now and it’s an everyday thing that we need to do at an elite level. 

What’s the biggest challenge when you’re out scouting and trying to project what somebody’s going to be? 

I think the biggest challenge is what they’re going to act like and who they’re going to be when they get away from home. Like they’re hans right? Like take all the physical skill set take away the mental aptitude competitive nature all those things. Like when you take them away from mommy and daddy how are they going to react? What level of adversity have they had in their life? Because now when they go into a locker room that’s full of all everything right? Like every single guy that’s in our locker room is either all CIF all state all conference all-American. Like so you’re one of the alls. That isn’t all. So like you’re used to being the alpha dog in your locker room and you always been that and you’ve been this big fish in a small pond—relative. Well now you get in that competitive environment and you get some real adversity in a space that you’ve always dominated. Like how are you going to respond? And how are you going to manage your time? And how are you going to move and shake and not be distracted but yet stay focused on your purposeful intent of why you’re here to get your degree, to grow as a young man and become the best player and version of yourself that you can be. 

How do you test what it’s like to be away from mommy and daddy? 

Yeah. You get them away from mommy and daddy while they’re here on the visit. And then you get a feel for what mommy and daddy value. And I shouldn’t just say mom and dad but the people who raised them right? Like if core beliefs of the family are similar they don’t need to be identical with the core beliefs of your program. Well then there’s going to be some good consistency of how they’re going to move and shake when they get to campus. But if there’s different priorities that don’t align with who we are culturally then you got to have the courage as good of a player as they are to walk away and know that’s not going to be a cultural fit and know that you’re probably going to have to deal with them one day out of the year. But you’d rather do that than have to deal with them 365 days out of the year and it not be a good fit for your culture and for your locker room. 

Mentioned potential of a 10-win season on top of the move to the Pac-12. What’s then the significance of on top of that a successful recruiting class and what that could signal to the outside world. 

I think it’s that our process works right? And that if you’re on the fence about if you should support this club and support this program like stop wavering come on board buy tickets help us finish the climb and help support these great young men because we’re San Diego’s team right? And so everything about our university from the research that we’re doing, the work that’s being done within the community by our young men and our students and then what we’re doing here in the football space in between the white lines is all ascending right? 

And so what a time to be an Aztec. What a time to be here. What a part what a time to lock arms with us and to join us in this climb so that we can go to new heights because again like if we think what we did this year is going to be enough to to continue to elevate like it’s not. Our our peers are leveling up and we need to continue to level up and we have to roll up our sleeves and be competitive together in all spaces and man that excites me and I hope it excites our community. I mean shoot I hope our community and was looking at that game on on Black Friday and realized and saw the impact and effect of 30,000 fans down there in Albuquerque had on that game. Like what would Snapdragon look like if every single weekend we had 30000 fans there that were dying to cheer for the Aztecs and as passionate enthused that when we won a big ass game that they rushed the field like how damn cool would that be? Like let’s create that. So come on get on board. What else we waiting for? 

How exciting is the vision of going to the Mountain West Conference? New look Mountain West. But everybody the Pac-12 you’re coming off a phenomenal season. Going to the Pac-12. Yes. Yeah. Going to the Pack 12 is going to be awesome right? Like all the teams that are going there are the top tier of the league. Excited about that opportunity excited to compete excited to again create something new. It’s been really exciting like when we get together as head coaches and the administrators get together and the presidents get together as we reshape a really really strong league right? Like how we get to create and cultivate it and make it our own. And so it’s neat how I say everyone has tremendous pride in their programs and their universities right? But as we lock arms as head coaches and ads and presidents to do something special as we go to the Pac-12 like it’s really neat to be at the epicenter of that and to create something new. 

And the fact CFP playoff is available next year if you’re the team that finishes first. How exciting is that? 

Yeah I mean it’s been available to us right? And it was available to us this year and we stumbled right? But there’s a clear path that is there’s 12 teams and it’s been expanded and as talk of continued expansion happens right? Like yeah it’s great to be at a place where that there’s a path to where you can go compete for national championships and be a part of the CFP. That’s awesome. 

Do you have any hunch at what Sunday could bring? 

I don’t. Another opportunity. I don’t I’m excited to see what it is. Kind of learning a little bit more about the pecking order of how teams get selected. It’s my understanding I think that Hawaii will probably play in the Hawaii Bowl and that New Mexico will play in the New Mexico Bowl and that the LA Bowl typically and traditionally takes the the winner of the championship game. But beyond that like there’s a lot of great teams from our league that are that are eligible. And I trust that there’s going to be a pretty fun matchup that we’re going to get to partake in. And I’m really excited for our guys to figure out what that is because the majority of our team hasn’t been to a bowl game right? So I’m excited to take them through that phase right and of postseason play and teach them how to work really really hard but then go to a new place that probably a lot of our guys haven’t been and balance a little bit of fun with the work that needs to get done. And have it be part reward, yet business trip right? 

But again like it’s a really cool time that these guys have earned and created more time together right? We talk a lot about time and how precious is and what a finite resource it is and how cool is it for this special group of guys to have created more time that when we first got together and training camp started like we wouldn’t know if we were sitting here talking about how we have another opportunity how we have a 13th opportunity to play. So selfishly that’s really exciting for me just more time around this special group of guys because then once that game is done like I’ve done this enough time you you call them up one last time in that in that postseason or postgame locker room after the last opportunity and that group of individuals that had such a special season like you break it down one last time on family and then like guys clean out their lockers and guys start their lives and guys go to the NFL and guys go pro in something other than sport. And it’s then you randomly get a text from one of your former players talking about “Hey coach I’m getting married in April and I hope that you can make it.” And maybe like I’m really excited. Like that’s awesome that that dude’s getting married. That that’s great. I’m glad he found the love of his life right? But like I’m kind of excited. Hopefully that works my calendar to go be back around some of those guys but it ain’t going to be the whole team that I got to coach six years ago. So just having more time around these guys is really special. 

Sean, is it tough to counterbalance nine and three and the turnaround success versus getting punched in the gut losing New Mexico getting snuck by the conference? How do you do that? 

I don’t know. I’m still processing through all that. So yeah it’s tough. But again that goes to have you had enough time in distance to reflect and zoom out? Like I haven’t had enough time to process it. So I don’t have a real good answer for you. Just trying to do the best I can. And for me that’s doing the next thing the right way. So luckily there was a great class to put together and refine this class and still work to be done with that as we go. But I’ve I’ve always enjoyed the work. I’ve always enjoyed it’s always helped me process to again get off the mat dust off recalibrate head back down range. Like you got to get up and you got to go and you got to go back to work? So like I struggled with like should we practice this week? Should we not like like I want to go back out on the field and luckily I got a great staff and they’re like “Hey coach like the boys need a little time like relax.” And I’m like “Come on like let’s relax take it easy.”? So does three and n make you a better coach. You learn from adversity yourself in terms of structure what you should not have done. 

I think every experience hopefully makes me a better coach. I hope that every experience that all of our guys have and that we have as hans makes us a better person. Quite frankly like otherwise we’re just wander-less aimlessly wandering through life right? Like so I I hope the successes I can look back and reflect upon and say “All right hey that was successful because of XYZ so that we can replicate that process right? And I hope the shortcomings I can look back upon as well and be proud of those scars someday right? Like the wounds still fresh from New Mexico and tip of the cap to coach Eck and his staff and the year that they had man that that was tremendous right? But like man I look at that tape and there’s a lot of things that we can control and again like great win by them great job by them but I mean there’s a half dozen plays that if we align properly if we communicate better if I take a timeout to save us and do my job better like damn like what’s that look like? So as that thing scars over like I’ll carry that scar with pride. The way that I carry all my scars with pride.

Coach you talked about you processing it. What about the locker room itself as a whole? Do you think that the guys in that locker room have have kind of gone through and they’re doing working it through on their own timeline? 

Yeah I mean I think we’re probably all in a different place in a different space a little bit right? I don’t think anyone I don’t think you ever get over that. At least I hope you don’t right? Like I hope you learn from it and I hope you don’t forget it. But I mean like we got back together on Monday. We had something scheduled on Sunday and obviously the news came down and so hey just position coaches did a great job and I sent a message out to the whole team and touched base with some guys like that obviously we don’t have an opportunity this week right so let’s we’ll circle it tomorrow morning right and so we got together on Monday and like that was a fine line right knowing that everyone’s still very emotional but you kind of got to speak factually right like any relationship right like I if I if I’m worked up and I’m emotional am my wife’s trying to talk to me very factually. I’m like I don’t, I can’t apply logic right now right? Like I don’t want to apply logic and vice versa right? Like you got to be able to if you want to have an emotional conversation because we’re emotional. We can we can do that right? But like just helping the guys again process it move through it and here’s what we do know. Here’s what we can control and not be the victims for any reason because that’s a big piece of who we are right? We’re not going to blame complain or defend our bad behavior. Like we put ourselves in that spot. If we didn’t want to be in that spot we didn’t want to be in this spot. We should have played better. We should have prepared better. Point blank period right? So yeah we’re all in a different place with it right now. But again I think the opportunity to play again needs to sharpen our focus. It needs to be fuel to the fire and can’t wait to find out who the next who the next opponent is when it is because again I think we’re all just a little bit better with some purpose and some intent and knowing what that next thing is right? Like the unknown a little bit right now is not helping us move forward because we’re kind of stuck in in place. So we’re still working through it. 

The tie-breaking process how does that sit with you your understanding with that obviously kind of an unorthodox way of to a degree deciding who gets to play what more. 

The only thing I know about that is that we shouldn’t have put ourselves in that spot. Nothing else matters. There’s no right or wrong way to decide a four-way tie. So you don’t want to put yourself in a four-way tie. Figure out a way to win. Coach better. Like so I don’t I don’t have an opinion about the process. The process is what the process is. Should have played better so that we’re not in that spot. 

Sean can I ask you about two players? Sure. Red shirt freshman quarterback JP Mialoveski. Talk about his what this learning curve season’s been for him. 

Yeah he’s done a great job. As our scout team quarterback Kim him Andrew and and Dre have done a good job in that role. So these bowl practices will be critically important for him and we’ll have a better idea of where he’s at and how that growth curve has played out. 

And how severe was the injury to Nate? Is it ligament? Is it meniscus? Is it dislocation? 

Yeah I mean that’s his business right? Like I’m not going to get into all that. Sever severe enough that he didn’t play the rest of the year right? So but I’m not going to get into the specifics of what it is. That’s not fair to him. 

Play next year. 

Yeah next year. Yeah absolutely. Yep. 

You have a favorite bowl memory? 

I got a smoothie bath in the Tropical Smoothie Bowl. That was that was fun. That was cool. Yeah that was neat. I wasn’t the Gatorade. I was expecting the the Kale smoothie dump was unexpected and quite chilly. So didn’t come out of the beard real easily. 

Yeah we had a nice win against Auburn when they were loaded and sent coach Alvarez out the right way. Yeah that was fun. 

Who was on that Auburn team? 

Who was on that Auburn team? That was when it was Cadillac Brown. I believe Cal Williams excuse me. Yeah. That one and we beat Arkansas as well when it was Darren McFadden Peyton Hillis like that was a fun Big 10 SEC. Who’s better? Like even back then the Big 10 was better. Still is today. Check the records. 

I’ll ask there’s always discussions about the playoffs whenever the playoffs rolls around. Second year of the 12 team there’s been thoughts about expansion. Do you have any expansion which could benefit group of five or teams outside the power four maybe another slot? Do you have any feelings you spend any time thinking about the possibilities where it’s at now where it could go? 

There’s a path for us to get there now. I don’t spend a whole lot of time about that and talking about that. Again like there’s a path for us to get there now. So we’ll obsess about what we can do to get there. And if it expands cool. If not all right whatever. 

If you just look at it as a fan what do you do? You think there’s a certain best number? 

You got to quantify what best is. 

One thing is every conference got a representative. Is every conference worthy of a representative? Like when we get past the point of just like giving all participation because you’re a part of it like you get to get in 

It like gets representation that helps those conferences maybe better rather than just lock. 

If we’re truly trying to decide the national champion in any sport the best teams regardless of conference wherever regardless of where they’re coming from it should be the best teams. It should be the top teams that get entry into the tournament whatever that tournament is playoff format. Like if we’re truly working to determine the best then let’s have the best play the best. Let’s find some sort of structure to where everyone’s conference is the same size. That’d be neat. Let’s play sure that everyone’s playing the same number of conference games and create again some stability in particularly our sport right now that has a whole lot of instability. 

March Madness works pretty well. 

It’s also a completely different sport. 

Coach Leach thought tournament. 

Coach Leech had a lot of cool ideas. I regret that me and coach Leech maybe couldn’t had a conversation about like Santa and his reindeers and thought what he what he thought about Blitzen compared to Rudolph and Donner. Which one was his favorites? That’s one of my I I wish I could have spent a little bit more time with Coach Leech. So where is that line for the best teams? Is it 12? Is it 24? Before we get into that debate I would love to have the conversation about the calendar as a whole and how we can shift the season. And I think coach Joey McGuire had a great point to where let’s slab this whole thing up and start sooner so that our sport is in the first semester of the academic calendar so that we can finish our national championship on or near the first so that then the portal could open on the second. Like to me there’s a there’s a way that we can structure the calendar that is more of a priority than the number of teams that are playing and competing for the national championship so that there’s some continuity whether you’re on semesters or trimesters and when coaches have to make decisions about where they’re going to be coaching so that kids can make decisions about where they’re going to go play and it doesn’t impact and affect all the hard work that teams and players and coaches have done. If we could create some stability to that that’d be pretty cool. 

The new Pac-12 champion will have a guaranteed spot. Correct? 

I have no idea. I think so. Whole lot of guarantees right now. I’m very careful about saying always and never and guarantee anything. I believe we do. I believe we do. I believe the quality of the league should put us in a position that in 2026 the winner of the league will be represented in the CFB. That’s what I believe. That doesn’t make it right. But that’s what I believe.