https://panthersfanz.com/board/ Mon, 18 May 2026 13:07:39 +0000 MyBB https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=2275 Tue, 20 Jan 2026 08:03:20 -0600 Ladypanther]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=2275 What a game.  Mendoza likely a Raider.  What a tough dude.]]> What a game.  Mendoza likely a Raider.  What a tough dude.]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=2248 Sun, 04 Jan 2026 13:27:52 -0600 Ladypanther]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=2248 https://utahutes.com/news/2026/1/3/footb...nsive-line

Utah alumnus Jordan Gross has been tabbed to coach the team's offensive line, joining Morgan Scalley's staff in January 2026. Gross lettered with the Utes from 1999-2002 and has spent the last four seasons as head coach at Fruitland High School in Idaho.]]> https://utahutes.com/news/2026/1/3/footb...nsive-line

Utah alumnus Jordan Gross has been tabbed to coach the team's offensive line, joining Morgan Scalley's staff in January 2026. Gross lettered with the Utes from 1999-2002 and has spent the last four seasons as head coach at Fruitland High School in Idaho.]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=2194 Thu, 13 Nov 2025 21:31:16 -0600 Hobbit99]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=2194
AL and NL MVP awards (multiple times). He's a pitcher -- AND a designated hitter.!! Playing for the Dodgers right now. Previously in the AL with the Angels. Three MVP awards in three back-to-back seasons. One with the Angels then the last two years with the Dodgers. 50 HRs two years ago, 55 HRs this past year. Two consecutive World Series titles. All while playing as a pitcher.!! First player to win multiple UNANIMOUS MVP awards. First player to have 50 HRs and 50 stolen bases. Led the Dodgers this past year in the World Series. In game 4 he pitched 6 shutout innings with 10 strikeouts AND hit 3 HRs. The Dodgers went on to win the Series of course...

CANNOT believe this guy.... SMDH.!!

Shohei Ohtani NL MVP -- AGAIN]]>
AL and NL MVP awards (multiple times). He's a pitcher -- AND a designated hitter.!! Playing for the Dodgers right now. Previously in the AL with the Angels. Three MVP awards in three back-to-back seasons. One with the Angels then the last two years with the Dodgers. 50 HRs two years ago, 55 HRs this past year. Two consecutive World Series titles. All while playing as a pitcher.!! First player to win multiple UNANIMOUS MVP awards. First player to have 50 HRs and 50 stolen bases. Led the Dodgers this past year in the World Series. In game 4 he pitched 6 shutout innings with 10 strikeouts AND hit 3 HRs. The Dodgers went on to win the Series of course...

CANNOT believe this guy.... SMDH.!!

Shohei Ohtani NL MVP -- AGAIN]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=2094 Thu, 21 Aug 2025 10:32:27 -0500 Ladypanther]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=2094 Going to miss his guy.  Here is the entire Athletic article:

The best stories from Lee Corso’s legendary run on ‘College GameDay’: ‘It’s entertainment, sweetheart’
Christopher Kamrani and Justin Williams

Aug. 21, 2025 5:00 am EDT
56

Kirk Herbstreit sat directly to Lee Corso’s left in 1996 when “Coach” donned a mascot head on ESPN’s “College GameDay” for the first time.

“He did the Queen Elizabeth wave with the Brutus Buckeye head on, and I just remember watching him and thinking how silly it looked,” said Herbstreit, Corso’s longtime GameDay sidekick. “It was crazy and funny, but I figured it was a one-and-done. I didn’t think it would ever become a thing.”

Thirty years later, it’s still a thing. The headgear picks are an iconic piece of college football lore, a moment synonymous with Saturday mornings in the fall. And the same goes for the man with Bucky Badger, the Sooner Schooner or the Oregon Duck atop his head, wagging his No. 2 pencil and warning, “Not so fast, my friend!”

On Saturday, Aug. 30, at age 90, after 38-plus seasons on the desk and 430 headgear selections, Corso will retire from television and “College GameDay.” ESPN’s Week 1 episode in Columbus, Ohio, for Texas versus Ohio State will be his last, a chance for the living legend to bid farewell to the show — and sport — he helped elevate.

A former college football player and coach, Corso joined ESPN in 1987 as an analyst for the new and first-of-its-kind college football preview show. Over the next four decades, GameDay evolved into a traveling paragon of sports television, barnstorming its way across college campuses each week, with Corso serving as master of ceremonies. Despite suffering a stroke in 2009 that impacted his speech, he’s remained a beloved Saturday staple.

Before Corso takes a final bow — and makes a final headgear pick — The Athletic asked his GameDay co-workers, past and present, on screen and off it, for their favorite stories about the “Grandfather of College Football.”

Play: Video

Rece Davis, “College GameDay” host: What separates him? You mean other than a fully grown adult man putting on a mascot head every week?

Chris “Bear” Fallica, former “College GameDay” researcher: He’s a creature of habit.

Jim Gaiero, “College GameDay” producer: Coach calls me every Monday morning at 9:30. Tuesday at 9:30. Wednesday at 9:30.

David Pollack, former “College GameDay” analyst: He barely knows how to use his cell phone, which is a flip phone.

Fallica: Monday morning, I’m getting into work my first season there (in 1996), and I get a voicemail: “Chris Fallica, this is Lee Corso. I’m looking for the following information for the show this week.” He would rattle off his list of notes and stats, things he wanted. That same message came every Monday or Tuesday morning from 1996 until 2022.

Davis: Coming downstairs in the hotel on Friday morning, seeing LC with his briefcase and coffee cup and him saying, “Hey, sweetheart, how we doing?”

Fallica: He had his blue, black and red Sharpies. And of course, the Dixon Ticonderoga No. 2 pencil.

Pollack: The first thing he does every trip he goes on is he finds the local church.

Fallica: That was a big responsibility for our operations people: to find the nearest Catholic church and what time the mass was.

Gene Wojciechowski, former ESPN reporter and “College GameDay” contributor: On Friday after the production meeting he would do his fly-by on the snacks tables.

Derek Volner, ESPN Director of Communications: He is legendary for bringing what we call “the production food” back to his hotel room.

Maria Taylor, former “College GameDay” contributor: Always grabbing something, walking back and forth to it. He never met a snack table he didn’t like.

Kirk Herbstreit, “College GameDay” analyst: He has this old-ass satchel.

Pollack: Black leather, worn all over the place.

Herbstreit: And he goes right down the snack table they have set up: Mr. Goodbar, Hershey, Snickers, he’ll grab three of those, he’ll get four bags of chips — Doritos, Lays, BBQ. All of it goes into his bag.

Wojciechowski: Like a farmer with the fall harvest.

Pollack: It wasn’t like taking one or two. The 1920s briefcase is wide open, arm scraping across the table, shoveling it into the briefcase.

Chris Fowler, former “College GameDay” host: So he doesn’t have to buy dinner.

Herbstreit: Then he goes to the refrigerator and he’ll grab a Mountain Dew, Dr Pepper, Root Beer, Sprite and a Coke.

Desmond Howard, “College GameDay” analyst: It’s like an SNL skit.

Pollack: Then he’s back in the hotel at 4 p.m., and he’s in his PJs and ready for bed.

Tim Brando, former “College GameDay” host: The one thing Lee would almost never do was come out on Friday night for dinner.

Herbstreit: He would say, “Sweetheart, I’m not going to dinner. It’s game night. I gotta get ready for the show.” One time I had to drop something off in his room and sure enough: white T-shirt, blue pajama pants, footies, and all those drinks and snacks are lined up on his window, a huge sub sandwich.

Craig James, former “College GameDay” analyst: One time in the early days we were on the road, and we were actually sharing a hotel room. Lee always claimed that he liked to wear a robe before bed, smoke a cigar and take a shot of NyQuil and go to sleep. So he’s sitting on his bed smoking a cigar, finishes it up, slams down the NyQuil and looks over at me and says, “Goodnight, sweetheart.” I almost peed my pants.

After Corso started the headgear tradition nearly a decade into the show’s run, every episode of “College GameDay” builds to the climactic final moment: Which headgear will Corso wear? That decision signals his pick for winner of the marquee matchup from where the show broadcasts each week. Corso’s all-time record entering his final GameDay is 286-144. He has picked Ohio State a record 45 times over his tenure.

“Stanford” Steve Coughlin, “College GameDay” contributor: College football is Lee Corso putting on the headgear at the end of GameDay.

Patrick Abrahams, former “College GameDay” producer: It was guaranteed that my phone would ring at 11:02 a.m. every Sunday, with coach Corso telling me who he was going to pick that week. He knew right away.

Pollack: During the Friday production meetings, he’s pacing back and forth until the headgear gets there. Then he’s cool, then he’s good.

Abrahams: It’s what he lived for.

Davis: You can’t kick off college football on Saturday until LC puts the headgear on.

Marisa Dowling, “College GameDay” researcher: The crowd is locked on everything that he’s doing.

Taylor: If he raises his hand to his ear, everyone goes wild. The whole crowd melts at his feet.

Fowler: The entertainers we had on as guest pickers knew who they were playing with. They had a great time with it.

Howard: We had Bill Murray on the show, and Bill Murray body slammed Corso on our set. Corso was laughing and giggling, and I asked Lee afterward if Bill told him he was going to do that, and Lee was like, “Hell no!”

Play: Video

Howard: The Katy Perry one is legendary. She snatched that mascot head (Alabama’s Big Al elephant) off of him and messed his nose up.

Fowler: It cut his nose. Those things are not made to be yanked off. Blood was drawn that morning.

Abrahams: We’re doing pictures after the show, but Coach didn’t want to make her feel like she did anything wrong — he loved that moment. So he’s shooing the makeup person away because he didn’t want to make Katy feel as if she didn’t belong or had done anything wrong.

Play: Video

Gaiero: He was never afraid to say what was on his mind.

Herbstreit: We were in Miami, late 1990s or early 2000s. He said something that really upset the Miami fan base, I don’t remember, but they showed up at the set and were booing the whole show. We had about a 200-foot walk from the set to the cars that were going to take us to the airport. They tried to line up security to almost make a human tunnel to the car, and the crowd is yelling things and throwing things. Fowler is in front of me, Corso is behind me, and we’re all holding hands and crouching down trying to get through. And someone must have grabbed Corso, because I feel him let go of my hand, and I turn around and Corso is squaring up, Jack Dempsey-style, saying, “Which one of you sons of b—-es grabbed me? Which one?” He was ready to fight.

Pollack: He’s such a trip. I’ve never seen anyone like him.

One of Corso’s most memorable headgear moments came on Nov. 19, 2011, for a game in Houston between SMU and the undefeated hometown Cougars.

Herbstreit: We get to the picks and (guest picker, Olympian and Houston alum) Carl Lewis makes his pick, I make mine — Houston was the huge favorite, there was no shock. But Corso loves to wind up the crowd before he makes a pick, so he grabs the SMU megaphone.

Fowler: His “fake-left, go-right” plan (to stir up the fans) wasn’t really going to work.

Herbstreit: Usually, people boo when he does something like that, and in his head, he’s like, I gotcha, then he pulls out the Houston Cougar head and everyone loves him. But no one reacted. So in the middle of not getting a reaction, he just throws the megaphone and says, “Ahhh, f— it.”

Fowler: Like, f— it, I’m going to pick Houston.

Fallica: I immediately look over at Kirk on set and start mouthing, “Did he just say…?” Kirk’s eyes get big; he’s staring right at me.

Herbstreit: I think I threw my pen up. I’m looking inside the (Houston Cougar) head like, “I can’t believe you just said that.”

Play: Video

Howard: The funniest part was the apology. They have this apology cue card, and when you do something on air like that, you have to read the apology on air.

Herbstreit: He has a huge smile.

Fowler: Can I say a s–t-eating grin?

Herbstreit: Like he’s selling a Home Depot product.

Howard: He’s laughing and smiling, and they had to stop him and make him do it again. They were like, “Lee, you have to read this like you’re really apologizing.”

Herbstreit: Just a piece of work.

Fallica: I was traveling with Kirk to the ABC prime-time game that he was calling (at Oregon) that night. We finally get to Autzen Stadium, and as soon as (then-Oregon coach) Chip Kelly sees Kirk on the field, Chip makes a beeline to Kirk and says, “Can you believe what Corso said (this morning in Houston)? God, I love that guy.”

Brando: He’s a national treasure! The man can say whatever he wants.

Fallica: Lee Corso, the only man who could drop an F-bomb on national television and not only live to tell about it, but become more beloved in the process.

Corso’s energetic blend of irreverence and showmanship broke the mold among college football commentators.

Abrahams: Coach is the ultimate entertainer.

Brando: We were walking out of our first show (in 1987), and we were all very excited and thought it had gone well, and Corso says to me, “Hey, sweetheart, I’m gonna be the Dick Vitale of college football.” Holy s—! One show, and we had already created a monster.

Herbstreit: My first impression was: “This guy is nuts.” That’s the part I wish younger people realized. He was the Pat McAfee of his time. He would do things that no one else would do.

Abrahams: He would always say, “It’s entertainment, sweetheart. Football is just a vehicle.”

Davis: His mantra.

Pollack: He’s always waiting for a “Not so fast!”

Fowler: He taught me to take your work seriously, take your job seriously, but don’t take yourself seriously all the time.

Gaiero: We went to Penn State, and Penn State has this great tradition where the students will grab the mascot and crowd surf the Nittany Lion during the game. So we decided to have Corso crowd surf on GameDay.

Abrahams: Coach would say yes to everything.

Davis: Security was worried, and we told them, “If you guys feel like you can’t get him back to the set, just scrap it.” The Lion was still going to crowd surf. So about a minute before air, production says we’re not doing this.

Gaiero: Our director hears from security that it’s not safe.

Davis: I have them patch me into LC, and I told him security is worried the fans won’t put him down. “They might crowd-surf you all the way to the creamery, they love you so much. Just come back up to set and we’ll play it straight.” And Lee goes, “Hell no, sweetheart, we’re doing this.”

Play: Video

Abrahams: One year, we were opening in Sundance Square in Fort Worth, Texas, (for Alabama versus Wisconsin) and Coach wanted an elephant. A live elephant.

Gaiero: The crazier the idea, the more he was into doing it.

Abrahams: So I contacted a circus that was a couple of states over, and we got the elephant transported to Fort Worth. The show was going to end with Coach riding an elephant down the middle of the main street with the Alabama headgear. We start getting calls from PETA and Disney, and we ended up shutting it down. From that point, Lee was always like, “We tell no one.”

Fowler: You should see the promos we shot in the summer. I don’t know if people would get high and come up with ideas of how to sell GameDay, but let’s put Corso in a 1920s striped swimsuit and floating on a duck in a swimming pool at USC.

Jen Lada, “College GameDay” reporter: He’ll dress up as James Madison or the Statue of Liberty. That’s such a good lesson for people who get into this industry or any industry.

James: His personality is so unique, and not just the headgear, but being witty and sharp.

Pollack: Everything was just, “Tell me what to do.” If you told Coach to get in a pair of Whitey Tighties and sit on stage and eat a Twinkie, he would do it.

Brando: Corso embodies finding the fun in the sport.

Davis: Even as he got a little older — had the stroke, missed some shows a couple years ago — he was so competitive. He wanted to be part of everything.

Pete Thamel, “College GameDay” insider: When the definitive history of college football is written, there may not be a more important person in helping popularize the game than Lee Corso.

Taylor: College football is a religion, and he’s the patron saint. I don’t know what Saturdays will be like without him, but I know they won’t be the same.

Davis: He’s the favorite uncle. Your grandfather. The guy you wanted to share your Saturday with and watch the game with. That’s the beauty and magic of Lee Corso.

Herbstreit: At the end of the day, when you bring up Lee Corso and you’re starting to tell someone a story, everyone starts to smile. That’s what he did for all of us. He made us smile.

(Illustration: Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic; Icon Sportswire / Getty, Ric Tapia / Getty, Ted Warren / AP, Rogelio Solis / Getty)]]> Going to miss his guy.  Here is the entire Athletic article:

The best stories from Lee Corso’s legendary run on ‘College GameDay’: ‘It’s entertainment, sweetheart’
Christopher Kamrani and Justin Williams

Aug. 21, 2025 5:00 am EDT
56

Kirk Herbstreit sat directly to Lee Corso’s left in 1996 when “Coach” donned a mascot head on ESPN’s “College GameDay” for the first time.

“He did the Queen Elizabeth wave with the Brutus Buckeye head on, and I just remember watching him and thinking how silly it looked,” said Herbstreit, Corso’s longtime GameDay sidekick. “It was crazy and funny, but I figured it was a one-and-done. I didn’t think it would ever become a thing.”

Thirty years later, it’s still a thing. The headgear picks are an iconic piece of college football lore, a moment synonymous with Saturday mornings in the fall. And the same goes for the man with Bucky Badger, the Sooner Schooner or the Oregon Duck atop his head, wagging his No. 2 pencil and warning, “Not so fast, my friend!”

On Saturday, Aug. 30, at age 90, after 38-plus seasons on the desk and 430 headgear selections, Corso will retire from television and “College GameDay.” ESPN’s Week 1 episode in Columbus, Ohio, for Texas versus Ohio State will be his last, a chance for the living legend to bid farewell to the show — and sport — he helped elevate.

A former college football player and coach, Corso joined ESPN in 1987 as an analyst for the new and first-of-its-kind college football preview show. Over the next four decades, GameDay evolved into a traveling paragon of sports television, barnstorming its way across college campuses each week, with Corso serving as master of ceremonies. Despite suffering a stroke in 2009 that impacted his speech, he’s remained a beloved Saturday staple.

Before Corso takes a final bow — and makes a final headgear pick — The Athletic asked his GameDay co-workers, past and present, on screen and off it, for their favorite stories about the “Grandfather of College Football.”

Play: Video

Rece Davis, “College GameDay” host: What separates him? You mean other than a fully grown adult man putting on a mascot head every week?

Chris “Bear” Fallica, former “College GameDay” researcher: He’s a creature of habit.

Jim Gaiero, “College GameDay” producer: Coach calls me every Monday morning at 9:30. Tuesday at 9:30. Wednesday at 9:30.

David Pollack, former “College GameDay” analyst: He barely knows how to use his cell phone, which is a flip phone.

Fallica: Monday morning, I’m getting into work my first season there (in 1996), and I get a voicemail: “Chris Fallica, this is Lee Corso. I’m looking for the following information for the show this week.” He would rattle off his list of notes and stats, things he wanted. That same message came every Monday or Tuesday morning from 1996 until 2022.

Davis: Coming downstairs in the hotel on Friday morning, seeing LC with his briefcase and coffee cup and him saying, “Hey, sweetheart, how we doing?”

Fallica: He had his blue, black and red Sharpies. And of course, the Dixon Ticonderoga No. 2 pencil.

Pollack: The first thing he does every trip he goes on is he finds the local church.

Fallica: That was a big responsibility for our operations people: to find the nearest Catholic church and what time the mass was.

Gene Wojciechowski, former ESPN reporter and “College GameDay” contributor: On Friday after the production meeting he would do his fly-by on the snacks tables.

Derek Volner, ESPN Director of Communications: He is legendary for bringing what we call “the production food” back to his hotel room.

Maria Taylor, former “College GameDay” contributor: Always grabbing something, walking back and forth to it. He never met a snack table he didn’t like.

Kirk Herbstreit, “College GameDay” analyst: He has this old-ass satchel.

Pollack: Black leather, worn all over the place.

Herbstreit: And he goes right down the snack table they have set up: Mr. Goodbar, Hershey, Snickers, he’ll grab three of those, he’ll get four bags of chips — Doritos, Lays, BBQ. All of it goes into his bag.

Wojciechowski: Like a farmer with the fall harvest.

Pollack: It wasn’t like taking one or two. The 1920s briefcase is wide open, arm scraping across the table, shoveling it into the briefcase.

Chris Fowler, former “College GameDay” host: So he doesn’t have to buy dinner.

Herbstreit: Then he goes to the refrigerator and he’ll grab a Mountain Dew, Dr Pepper, Root Beer, Sprite and a Coke.

Desmond Howard, “College GameDay” analyst: It’s like an SNL skit.

Pollack: Then he’s back in the hotel at 4 p.m., and he’s in his PJs and ready for bed.

Tim Brando, former “College GameDay” host: The one thing Lee would almost never do was come out on Friday night for dinner.

Herbstreit: He would say, “Sweetheart, I’m not going to dinner. It’s game night. I gotta get ready for the show.” One time I had to drop something off in his room and sure enough: white T-shirt, blue pajama pants, footies, and all those drinks and snacks are lined up on his window, a huge sub sandwich.

Craig James, former “College GameDay” analyst: One time in the early days we were on the road, and we were actually sharing a hotel room. Lee always claimed that he liked to wear a robe before bed, smoke a cigar and take a shot of NyQuil and go to sleep. So he’s sitting on his bed smoking a cigar, finishes it up, slams down the NyQuil and looks over at me and says, “Goodnight, sweetheart.” I almost peed my pants.

After Corso started the headgear tradition nearly a decade into the show’s run, every episode of “College GameDay” builds to the climactic final moment: Which headgear will Corso wear? That decision signals his pick for winner of the marquee matchup from where the show broadcasts each week. Corso’s all-time record entering his final GameDay is 286-144. He has picked Ohio State a record 45 times over his tenure.

“Stanford” Steve Coughlin, “College GameDay” contributor: College football is Lee Corso putting on the headgear at the end of GameDay.

Patrick Abrahams, former “College GameDay” producer: It was guaranteed that my phone would ring at 11:02 a.m. every Sunday, with coach Corso telling me who he was going to pick that week. He knew right away.

Pollack: During the Friday production meetings, he’s pacing back and forth until the headgear gets there. Then he’s cool, then he’s good.

Abrahams: It’s what he lived for.

Davis: You can’t kick off college football on Saturday until LC puts the headgear on.

Marisa Dowling, “College GameDay” researcher: The crowd is locked on everything that he’s doing.

Taylor: If he raises his hand to his ear, everyone goes wild. The whole crowd melts at his feet.

Fowler: The entertainers we had on as guest pickers knew who they were playing with. They had a great time with it.

Howard: We had Bill Murray on the show, and Bill Murray body slammed Corso on our set. Corso was laughing and giggling, and I asked Lee afterward if Bill told him he was going to do that, and Lee was like, “Hell no!”

Play: Video

Howard: The Katy Perry one is legendary. She snatched that mascot head (Alabama’s Big Al elephant) off of him and messed his nose up.

Fowler: It cut his nose. Those things are not made to be yanked off. Blood was drawn that morning.

Abrahams: We’re doing pictures after the show, but Coach didn’t want to make her feel like she did anything wrong — he loved that moment. So he’s shooing the makeup person away because he didn’t want to make Katy feel as if she didn’t belong or had done anything wrong.

Play: Video

Gaiero: He was never afraid to say what was on his mind.

Herbstreit: We were in Miami, late 1990s or early 2000s. He said something that really upset the Miami fan base, I don’t remember, but they showed up at the set and were booing the whole show. We had about a 200-foot walk from the set to the cars that were going to take us to the airport. They tried to line up security to almost make a human tunnel to the car, and the crowd is yelling things and throwing things. Fowler is in front of me, Corso is behind me, and we’re all holding hands and crouching down trying to get through. And someone must have grabbed Corso, because I feel him let go of my hand, and I turn around and Corso is squaring up, Jack Dempsey-style, saying, “Which one of you sons of b—-es grabbed me? Which one?” He was ready to fight.

Pollack: He’s such a trip. I’ve never seen anyone like him.

One of Corso’s most memorable headgear moments came on Nov. 19, 2011, for a game in Houston between SMU and the undefeated hometown Cougars.

Herbstreit: We get to the picks and (guest picker, Olympian and Houston alum) Carl Lewis makes his pick, I make mine — Houston was the huge favorite, there was no shock. But Corso loves to wind up the crowd before he makes a pick, so he grabs the SMU megaphone.

Fowler: His “fake-left, go-right” plan (to stir up the fans) wasn’t really going to work.

Herbstreit: Usually, people boo when he does something like that, and in his head, he’s like, I gotcha, then he pulls out the Houston Cougar head and everyone loves him. But no one reacted. So in the middle of not getting a reaction, he just throws the megaphone and says, “Ahhh, f— it.”

Fowler: Like, f— it, I’m going to pick Houston.

Fallica: I immediately look over at Kirk on set and start mouthing, “Did he just say…?” Kirk’s eyes get big; he’s staring right at me.

Herbstreit: I think I threw my pen up. I’m looking inside the (Houston Cougar) head like, “I can’t believe you just said that.”

Play: Video

Howard: The funniest part was the apology. They have this apology cue card, and when you do something on air like that, you have to read the apology on air.

Herbstreit: He has a huge smile.

Fowler: Can I say a s–t-eating grin?

Herbstreit: Like he’s selling a Home Depot product.

Howard: He’s laughing and smiling, and they had to stop him and make him do it again. They were like, “Lee, you have to read this like you’re really apologizing.”

Herbstreit: Just a piece of work.

Fallica: I was traveling with Kirk to the ABC prime-time game that he was calling (at Oregon) that night. We finally get to Autzen Stadium, and as soon as (then-Oregon coach) Chip Kelly sees Kirk on the field, Chip makes a beeline to Kirk and says, “Can you believe what Corso said (this morning in Houston)? God, I love that guy.”

Brando: He’s a national treasure! The man can say whatever he wants.

Fallica: Lee Corso, the only man who could drop an F-bomb on national television and not only live to tell about it, but become more beloved in the process.

Corso’s energetic blend of irreverence and showmanship broke the mold among college football commentators.

Abrahams: Coach is the ultimate entertainer.

Brando: We were walking out of our first show (in 1987), and we were all very excited and thought it had gone well, and Corso says to me, “Hey, sweetheart, I’m gonna be the Dick Vitale of college football.” Holy s—! One show, and we had already created a monster.

Herbstreit: My first impression was: “This guy is nuts.” That’s the part I wish younger people realized. He was the Pat McAfee of his time. He would do things that no one else would do.

Abrahams: He would always say, “It’s entertainment, sweetheart. Football is just a vehicle.”

Davis: His mantra.

Pollack: He’s always waiting for a “Not so fast!”

Fowler: He taught me to take your work seriously, take your job seriously, but don’t take yourself seriously all the time.

Gaiero: We went to Penn State, and Penn State has this great tradition where the students will grab the mascot and crowd surf the Nittany Lion during the game. So we decided to have Corso crowd surf on GameDay.

Abrahams: Coach would say yes to everything.

Davis: Security was worried, and we told them, “If you guys feel like you can’t get him back to the set, just scrap it.” The Lion was still going to crowd surf. So about a minute before air, production says we’re not doing this.

Gaiero: Our director hears from security that it’s not safe.

Davis: I have them patch me into LC, and I told him security is worried the fans won’t put him down. “They might crowd-surf you all the way to the creamery, they love you so much. Just come back up to set and we’ll play it straight.” And Lee goes, “Hell no, sweetheart, we’re doing this.”

Play: Video

Abrahams: One year, we were opening in Sundance Square in Fort Worth, Texas, (for Alabama versus Wisconsin) and Coach wanted an elephant. A live elephant.

Gaiero: The crazier the idea, the more he was into doing it.

Abrahams: So I contacted a circus that was a couple of states over, and we got the elephant transported to Fort Worth. The show was going to end with Coach riding an elephant down the middle of the main street with the Alabama headgear. We start getting calls from PETA and Disney, and we ended up shutting it down. From that point, Lee was always like, “We tell no one.”

Fowler: You should see the promos we shot in the summer. I don’t know if people would get high and come up with ideas of how to sell GameDay, but let’s put Corso in a 1920s striped swimsuit and floating on a duck in a swimming pool at USC.

Jen Lada, “College GameDay” reporter: He’ll dress up as James Madison or the Statue of Liberty. That’s such a good lesson for people who get into this industry or any industry.

James: His personality is so unique, and not just the headgear, but being witty and sharp.

Pollack: Everything was just, “Tell me what to do.” If you told Coach to get in a pair of Whitey Tighties and sit on stage and eat a Twinkie, he would do it.

Brando: Corso embodies finding the fun in the sport.

Davis: Even as he got a little older — had the stroke, missed some shows a couple years ago — he was so competitive. He wanted to be part of everything.

Pete Thamel, “College GameDay” insider: When the definitive history of college football is written, there may not be a more important person in helping popularize the game than Lee Corso.

Taylor: College football is a religion, and he’s the patron saint. I don’t know what Saturdays will be like without him, but I know they won’t be the same.

Davis: He’s the favorite uncle. Your grandfather. The guy you wanted to share your Saturday with and watch the game with. That’s the beauty and magic of Lee Corso.

Herbstreit: At the end of the day, when you bring up Lee Corso and you’re starting to tell someone a story, everyone starts to smile. That’s what he did for all of us. He made us smile.

(Illustration: Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic; Icon Sportswire / Getty, Ric Tapia / Getty, Ted Warren / AP, Rogelio Solis / Getty)]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=1932 Thu, 17 Apr 2025 13:26:01 -0500 Ladypanther]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=1932
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5867913...Id=2919085

After nearly four decades and more than 400 mascot heads, Lee Corso is stepping down.

Corso, 89, is retiring from ESPN’s “College GameDay” after Week 1 of the 2025 college football season, the network announced Thursday. Corso will make his final headgear selection — a Saturday morning staple since 1996 — on Aug. 30. (Bound to be some tears on that show)

Corso has been a “College GameDay” analyst since the show’s inception in 1987, when it began in a studio in Bristol, Conn. He departs as its longest-reigning member and last remaining original on-air personality. Corso became a staple of the program alongside host Tim Brando and analyst Beano Cook, and remained so for 38 seasons, now sharing a set with Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and Nick Saban. He has been a mainstay on the broadcast even through health issues, though he has no longer been on set for the full three-hour broadcast in recent years.

The annual headgear selections, in which he predicts the victor of the “GameDay” matchup by donning the school’s mascot head, ingrained and endeared him with fans nationwide.

“College GameDay” left the studio and hit the road in 1993. Corso’s signature move wasn’t far behind.

On Oct. 5, 1996, “GameDay” traveled to Columbus, Ohio — the site of Ohio State’s campus — for what would be a 38-7 Buckeyes’ demolition of Penn State. There, for the first time, Corso didn’t tell viewers his prediction. He showed them.

“I like Ohio State, 24-13,” said Herbstreit, in his first appearance as a “GameDay” analyst.

“Ay, good pick. I’ll tell you one thing,” Corso said. He then reached for the head of Brutus Buckeye, the Ohio State mascot, under the desk and put it on.

“Buckeyes!”

The Ohio State crowd went nuts (pun intended), and a cornerstone of college football culture was born. Since, Corso has handled dogs, chickens and even reptiles on air while shaking Alabama mascot Big Al’s trunk, dressing as the USC Trojan and walking through a makeshift duck pond while twinning with the Oregon Duck — all in pursuit of delivering the perfect Saturday selection.

To date, Corso has picked more than 400 games.

Tracking Corso’s mascot picks even became a hobby. Cole Reagan, a fan whose website includes a searchable database of headgear picks, has Corso at 287-144 all time, meaning he’s been right 66.6 percent of the time.

Corso has worked 16 seasons since he had a stroke in May 2009. He sustained no permanent brain damage, though his speech was impacted, and he worked his way back for the beginning of the 2009 football season. He continued week after week, developing great chemistry with Herbstreit — who he thanked Thursday for his “friendship and encouragement” — to his left and making a habit of ribbing the weekly guest picker to his right.

“Not so fast, my friend,” became a Corso catchphrase when he disagreed with the pick before him.

In the 2018 interview with The Athletic, Corso reflected on how much fun his job was — and how hard it would be to leave.

“Let me tell you something: On Thursday morning I get up, I get on a first-class plane and fly to a place and stay in a nice hotel and get a lot of great meals,” he said. “First class! Then I go and talk football for a couple hours, I see the best game of the year and I get on a plane (in) first class and I go home.

“And they pay me! Why the hell would you ever think about retiring? It’s like stealing. It’s like stealing. Why would you ever think about retiring? I’m gonna be like that vaudeville act — the guy’s out there talking and talking and they get a hook and they try to hook him and bring him off the stage.”

Corso arrived at ESPN with 28 years of coaching experience — 17 as a head coach — at both the college and professional levels. He coached Louisville from 1969 to 1972, leading the Cardinals to the 1970 Pasadena Bowl and ending the team’s bowl drought of 12 years. He repeated history at Indiana, helping the team to its first bowl win in 75 years: a 38-37 victory over then-unbeaten BYU in the 1979 Holiday Bowl. He later spent a year at Northern Illinois and with the USFL’s Orlando Renegades.

Raised in Miami, Corso played at Florida State from 1953 to 1956, where he was roommates with the late actor Burt Reynolds. Corso played on both sides of the ball and led the Seminoles in interceptions in 1954, rushing yards in 1955, and passing yards and punt returns in 1956. He held FSU’s career interception record (14) for more than two decades and still ranks third on the school’s list.

“I did everything. I was pretty good. Look it up,” Corso told The Athletic in 2018.

When ESPN hired Saban, 73, as an on-air analyst last February, there was a lot of speculation as to what that meant for Corso, who turns 90 in August. At the time, the network was adamant it would allow Corso to leave the show he helped build on his own terms.

The time has come. The terms seem to have been made. And fans get one final headgear selection, as Corso’s pick remains the show’s centerpiece and is synonymous with college football Saturdays.]]>
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5867913...Id=2919085

After nearly four decades and more than 400 mascot heads, Lee Corso is stepping down.

Corso, 89, is retiring from ESPN’s “College GameDay” after Week 1 of the 2025 college football season, the network announced Thursday. Corso will make his final headgear selection — a Saturday morning staple since 1996 — on Aug. 30. (Bound to be some tears on that show)

Corso has been a “College GameDay” analyst since the show’s inception in 1987, when it began in a studio in Bristol, Conn. He departs as its longest-reigning member and last remaining original on-air personality. Corso became a staple of the program alongside host Tim Brando and analyst Beano Cook, and remained so for 38 seasons, now sharing a set with Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee and Nick Saban. He has been a mainstay on the broadcast even through health issues, though he has no longer been on set for the full three-hour broadcast in recent years.

The annual headgear selections, in which he predicts the victor of the “GameDay” matchup by donning the school’s mascot head, ingrained and endeared him with fans nationwide.

“College GameDay” left the studio and hit the road in 1993. Corso’s signature move wasn’t far behind.

On Oct. 5, 1996, “GameDay” traveled to Columbus, Ohio — the site of Ohio State’s campus — for what would be a 38-7 Buckeyes’ demolition of Penn State. There, for the first time, Corso didn’t tell viewers his prediction. He showed them.

“I like Ohio State, 24-13,” said Herbstreit, in his first appearance as a “GameDay” analyst.

“Ay, good pick. I’ll tell you one thing,” Corso said. He then reached for the head of Brutus Buckeye, the Ohio State mascot, under the desk and put it on.

“Buckeyes!”

The Ohio State crowd went nuts (pun intended), and a cornerstone of college football culture was born. Since, Corso has handled dogs, chickens and even reptiles on air while shaking Alabama mascot Big Al’s trunk, dressing as the USC Trojan and walking through a makeshift duck pond while twinning with the Oregon Duck — all in pursuit of delivering the perfect Saturday selection.

To date, Corso has picked more than 400 games.

Tracking Corso’s mascot picks even became a hobby. Cole Reagan, a fan whose website includes a searchable database of headgear picks, has Corso at 287-144 all time, meaning he’s been right 66.6 percent of the time.

Corso has worked 16 seasons since he had a stroke in May 2009. He sustained no permanent brain damage, though his speech was impacted, and he worked his way back for the beginning of the 2009 football season. He continued week after week, developing great chemistry with Herbstreit — who he thanked Thursday for his “friendship and encouragement” — to his left and making a habit of ribbing the weekly guest picker to his right.

“Not so fast, my friend,” became a Corso catchphrase when he disagreed with the pick before him.

In the 2018 interview with The Athletic, Corso reflected on how much fun his job was — and how hard it would be to leave.

“Let me tell you something: On Thursday morning I get up, I get on a first-class plane and fly to a place and stay in a nice hotel and get a lot of great meals,” he said. “First class! Then I go and talk football for a couple hours, I see the best game of the year and I get on a plane (in) first class and I go home.

“And they pay me! Why the hell would you ever think about retiring? It’s like stealing. It’s like stealing. Why would you ever think about retiring? I’m gonna be like that vaudeville act — the guy’s out there talking and talking and they get a hook and they try to hook him and bring him off the stage.”

Corso arrived at ESPN with 28 years of coaching experience — 17 as a head coach — at both the college and professional levels. He coached Louisville from 1969 to 1972, leading the Cardinals to the 1970 Pasadena Bowl and ending the team’s bowl drought of 12 years. He repeated history at Indiana, helping the team to its first bowl win in 75 years: a 38-37 victory over then-unbeaten BYU in the 1979 Holiday Bowl. He later spent a year at Northern Illinois and with the USFL’s Orlando Renegades.

Raised in Miami, Corso played at Florida State from 1953 to 1956, where he was roommates with the late actor Burt Reynolds. Corso played on both sides of the ball and led the Seminoles in interceptions in 1954, rushing yards in 1955, and passing yards and punt returns in 1956. He held FSU’s career interception record (14) for more than two decades and still ranks third on the school’s list.

“I did everything. I was pretty good. Look it up,” Corso told The Athletic in 2018.

When ESPN hired Saban, 73, as an on-air analyst last February, there was a lot of speculation as to what that meant for Corso, who turns 90 in August. At the time, the network was adamant it would allow Corso to leave the show he helped build on his own terms.

The time has come. The terms seem to have been made. And fans get one final headgear selection, as Corso’s pick remains the show’s centerpiece and is synonymous with college football Saturdays.]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=1919 Sat, 05 Apr 2025 12:05:54 -0500 Ladypanther]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=1919 I am not from NC.    NC natives do not like me for this but I am both a Duke and UNC fan.

This is a good read from the Athletic.  I will copy most of it since I know not everyone has a subscription:



Before breakfast, a quick stop at the driving range.

It may seem trivial that hitting a bucket of balls was Jon Scheyer’s priority on the last morning of Cooper Flagg’s official visit to Duke — Oct. 22, 2023. But the coach wanted one final one-on-one window with the nation’s No. 1 recruit, and he’d come to learn how much the Newport, Maine, native appreciated golf. In fact, amid Flagg’s meteoric rise to becoming arguably the top NBA prospect in America, the high schooler often found reprieve in playing 18 at Fogg Brook Resort, the local course near his childhood home.

Scheyer came to know nearly everything about Flagg and his family during the recruiting process. From the first time he saw Flagg play live, courtside at a grassroots game, Scheyer was convinced the 6-foot-9 forward was the type of generational talent worth building a roster around. The type that has Duke and Flagg, who has emerged as college basketball’s best player, two games from a national title as the Final Four begins Saturday in San Antonio.

So Scheyer went all in on building the relationship necessary to land such a transcendent recruit. But with Flagg on campus, the coach needed to nail his final impression.

As they hit balls behind the Washington Duke Inn, Scheyer secretly hoped that Flagg might tip his hand. Instead, the teenager kept quiet. After about half an hour, they dropped their clubs and walked to a private dining room. Flagg’s parents, Kelly and Ralph, plus Duke general manager Rachel Baker, were already there waiting at a table for five.

Then, midway through breakfast, Flagg dropped the bomb: Actually, he had decided.

He was coming to Duke.

“I cried,” Scheyer told The Athletic, thinking back on the morning that changed the trajectory of his program. “I’m not ashamed to admit it.”

It was long ago accepted that he'd be the best player in college basketball this season. But could he be the best freshman ever?
Hoopla ensued. More tears. Celebratory screams. Eventually, Scheyer busted Flagg for keeping his cards so close to his vest: “I’m like, dude, I was just with you for 30 minutes, and you didn’t say anything!”

Flagg’s connection with Scheyer ultimately sold him. Eighteen months later, it’s that same tie between the Blue Devils’ two leading men that has the program approaching college hoops history, starting with fellow No. 1 seed Houston in the Alamodome.

“(Cooper) knew that moment,” Kelly said. “He knew, and he’s never looked back. He’s been so sure of his decision from day one, and he and Jon are in this together. They really are.”


Duke coach Jon Scheyer and star freshman Cooper Flagg formed a connection that could lead Duke to another national title. (C. Morgan Engel / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
A few months ago, scrolling through some old photos, Kelly stumbled upon her son’s Christmas wishlist from when he was in the fourth grade.

With the gift of hindsight, it couldn’t be more on the nose: A Jayson Tatum jersey, a Duke blanket, a Duke necktie and Duke socks.

Like mother, like son.

“He was a Duke fan because I was,” Kelly added, “and so he didn’t really have a choice in the matter.”

But that Duke predisposition did not guarantee he would become a Blue Devils star. It was still up to Scheyer — amid his transition from assistant coach to Mike Krzyzewski’s successor — to convince Flagg and his family that Duke was the program that would best prepare him for the NBA and squeeze everything out of his one year in college.

Scheyer first saw Flagg play at Nike’s Peach Jam in 2022, upon a recommendation from longtime Boston Celtics center Brian Scalabrine, who had watched a 13-year-old Flagg dominate college players in an open gym setting. “I remember watching him and saying, Scal was right,” Scheyer said. “Took me about 90 seconds (to realize it).”

NCAA rules prohibit how early college coaches can contact prospective recruits, though, so Scheyer started to build his relationship with Flagg indirectly — through Kelly. Because Flagg’s mother was one of his Maine United coaches, college coaches were permitted to contact Kelly before they ever got close to her son. “We started building a relationship,” Kelly said, “and that foundation, I think, really helped so that when he was able to start having conversations with Cooper, he was a little more comfortable.”

On the first night college coaches were permitted to reach out to players, during the summer between Flagg’s freshman and sophomore seasons, Kelly and Ralph remember the high-profile names they saw pop up on their phones: Bill Self, John Calipari.

“But Jon’s call,” Kelly said, “was definitely one that I was hoping for.”

"Ultimately, I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn’t follow my instincts and do what had to be done,” Scheyer said.
There were two differences between Scheyer and some of those other coaches. The first was that, according to Flagg, Scheyer didn’t flatly praise his game.

“Something that stuck out to me the whole time was his honesty,” Flagg said. “Coach was always really honest with me with his vision, what he saw — I mean, he’d even critique some of my games that he came and watched. That’s the sort of thing I looked for.”

And secondly? Scheyer had “walked this road” before, in Kelly’s words. The 37-year-old hadn’t just played at Duke; he’d taken the Blue Devils where Flagg hoped to lead his future school: a national championship.

To that point, Scheyer will become just the eighth man ever to play and coach in a Final Four, joining Dean Smith, Bob Knight, Billy Donovan, Hubert Davis, Vic Bubas, Bones McKinney and Dick Harp. And should Duke cut down the nets on Monday night, he’d be the first to win it all as a player and coach at his alma mater.

Throughout his recruitment, Flagg rarely told his parents what he was thinking, one way or another. Kelly remembers Scheyer telling her he’d talked to Flagg a week ago, wondering if he’d said anything about their conversation.

Nada.

“Cooper’s pretty tight-lipped about all that stuff,” Kelly said. “I did some interference as far as scheduling times with coaches when I knew he’d be available, but he very maturely spoke with them himself and vetted who he liked or didn’t.”

Eventually, Flagg narrowed his finalists to two: Duke and UConn, the reigning national champs.

Flagg and his family visited UConn first before traveling to Durham in October 2023. They attended the program’s preseason event, Countdown to Craziness, on Friday night before settling in for the rest of the weekend.

And while breakfast on Sunday was when Flagg officially gave his verbal commitment, his parents say there was another previously unreported moment on Saturday when they had a feeling that might be coming.

During a meeting with Krzyzewski, in the Hall of Fame coach’s sixth-floor office overlooking Cameron Indoor Stadium, Flagg turned to Kelly and Ralph … and winked.

“He said something that really resonated with Cooper in his heart,” Kelly said, without revealing the specifics. “That was kind of the moment, the nail in the coffin, where I’m pretty sure he made up his mind.”

After Duke lost to NC State in the Elite Eight last postseason, Scheyer knew he needed to make serious roster changes to get his program over the hump. The exodus came in the form of seven Blue Devils transferring out. Four were former five-star recruits, and two had been every-game starters.

In their absence, Scheyer rebuilt his team around the talents of his incoming 17-year-old star.

“Look, you know Cooper is going to be a big-time, impact player,” Scheyer said. “Do you know he’s going to be national player of the year? You hope — but you don’t know. So our team had to change.”

In perhaps the strongest show of Scheyer’s faith in Flagg, Duke’s third-year coach rebuilt his rotation around Flagg and even consulted with his family.

“He told us where he was looking and who he was thinking about, and even asked our thoughts on it at times,” Ralph said. “We never really doubted Jon one bit that way, I don’t think. He was always honest.”


[The NBA hasn’t drafted a Maine native in 40 years. This high schooler from Newport could be the 2025 No. 1 pick.]

That honesty has carried over onto the court, despite Flagg’s spectacular freshman season that has seen him gobble up nearly every national award and Duke lose only once since Thanksgiving (despite some early lumps in nonconference losses to Kentucky and Kansas). He’s leading Duke in all five major statistical categories — the first freshman to do so while leading his team to the NCAA Tournament. He poured in 30 points in a complete performance against Arizona in the Sweet 16. He’s only the second player ever — joining former Duke legend Grant Hill, arguably the best player the school has ever produced — to average 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists in the postseason entering the Final Four.

And yet, Scheyer doesn’t treat the soon-to-be No. 1 pick any differently than he does the last man on the bench.

The proof? Rewind the tape on Duke’s Elite Eight victory over No. 2 Alabama, in which Flagg struggled more than usual. Yes, he scored 16 points … but on 16 shots; he also had more turnovers (four) than he’s had in nearly two months. Per KenPom, it was Flagg’s worst full-game offensive rating all season. Which is why during one second-half timeout, after Flagg settled for an elbow jumper (and missed) instead of driving to the cup, Scheyer lit into him: “I need you to be tougher,” he barked, looking Flagg directly in the eyes.

“You get all over him, and he takes it,” Scheyer said. “He’s been amazing to coach because he’s not above anything. And I think with him, he’s as loyal of a person as you’ll ever be around. So once you’re in with him, you’re in.”

Scheyer is.

Earlier this season, a grade-schooler whose father works in printing attended a game at Cameron Indoor and gifted Kelly two custom shirts featuring pictures of her son. One of them, in black, Kelly wore to the Elite Eight. But the other, in white, she had re-gifted to Scheyer’s wife, Marcelle — only for Scheyer’s middle child, Jett, to claim it as his own. So despite it being 10 sizes too large, there Jett was in Newark, N.J., drowning in his Cooper Flagg shirt, waving to the Blue Devils — and Flagg, especially — as they departed their hotel for the arena.

At most, Scheyer and Flagg have two games left together. Eighty minutes, tops. Scheyer did his star freshman a favor last weekend in Newark, finally throwing cold water on the delusional hypothetical that Flagg might do anything but declare for the NBA Draft at season’s end: “That’s going to happen, as it should.”

For Scheyer, landing Flagg has been an identity-confirmer. It cemented him as more than just Krzyzewski’s successor but one of the best coaches in the sport. And for Flagg, committing to Scheyer has been what he needed: a coach who would hold him accountable and help him improve.

There’s no better stage than the Final Four — and only the second time all four No. 1 seeds made the final weekend — for Scheyer and Flagg to show off the fruits of their relationship. Like he did against Arizona, when he almost single-handedly shoved the Blue Devils into the Elite Eight, Flagg has shown the capability to carry Duke in a crucible. Good thing, because that’s what it will take to defeat two top seeds in San Antonio and hang the program’s sixth national championship banner.

Duke is on the precipice of doing just that, like Flagg and Scheyer dreamed about many months ago.

Well worth a grown man’s tears, don’t you think?]]> I am not from NC.    NC natives do not like me for this but I am both a Duke and UNC fan.

This is a good read from the Athletic.  I will copy most of it since I know not everyone has a subscription:



Before breakfast, a quick stop at the driving range.

It may seem trivial that hitting a bucket of balls was Jon Scheyer’s priority on the last morning of Cooper Flagg’s official visit to Duke — Oct. 22, 2023. But the coach wanted one final one-on-one window with the nation’s No. 1 recruit, and he’d come to learn how much the Newport, Maine, native appreciated golf. In fact, amid Flagg’s meteoric rise to becoming arguably the top NBA prospect in America, the high schooler often found reprieve in playing 18 at Fogg Brook Resort, the local course near his childhood home.

Scheyer came to know nearly everything about Flagg and his family during the recruiting process. From the first time he saw Flagg play live, courtside at a grassroots game, Scheyer was convinced the 6-foot-9 forward was the type of generational talent worth building a roster around. The type that has Duke and Flagg, who has emerged as college basketball’s best player, two games from a national title as the Final Four begins Saturday in San Antonio.

So Scheyer went all in on building the relationship necessary to land such a transcendent recruit. But with Flagg on campus, the coach needed to nail his final impression.

As they hit balls behind the Washington Duke Inn, Scheyer secretly hoped that Flagg might tip his hand. Instead, the teenager kept quiet. After about half an hour, they dropped their clubs and walked to a private dining room. Flagg’s parents, Kelly and Ralph, plus Duke general manager Rachel Baker, were already there waiting at a table for five.

Then, midway through breakfast, Flagg dropped the bomb: Actually, he had decided.

He was coming to Duke.

“I cried,” Scheyer told The Athletic, thinking back on the morning that changed the trajectory of his program. “I’m not ashamed to admit it.”

It was long ago accepted that he'd be the best player in college basketball this season. But could he be the best freshman ever?
Hoopla ensued. More tears. Celebratory screams. Eventually, Scheyer busted Flagg for keeping his cards so close to his vest: “I’m like, dude, I was just with you for 30 minutes, and you didn’t say anything!”

Flagg’s connection with Scheyer ultimately sold him. Eighteen months later, it’s that same tie between the Blue Devils’ two leading men that has the program approaching college hoops history, starting with fellow No. 1 seed Houston in the Alamodome.

“(Cooper) knew that moment,” Kelly said. “He knew, and he’s never looked back. He’s been so sure of his decision from day one, and he and Jon are in this together. They really are.”


Duke coach Jon Scheyer and star freshman Cooper Flagg formed a connection that could lead Duke to another national title. (C. Morgan Engel / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
A few months ago, scrolling through some old photos, Kelly stumbled upon her son’s Christmas wishlist from when he was in the fourth grade.

With the gift of hindsight, it couldn’t be more on the nose: A Jayson Tatum jersey, a Duke blanket, a Duke necktie and Duke socks.

Like mother, like son.

“He was a Duke fan because I was,” Kelly added, “and so he didn’t really have a choice in the matter.”

But that Duke predisposition did not guarantee he would become a Blue Devils star. It was still up to Scheyer — amid his transition from assistant coach to Mike Krzyzewski’s successor — to convince Flagg and his family that Duke was the program that would best prepare him for the NBA and squeeze everything out of his one year in college.

Scheyer first saw Flagg play at Nike’s Peach Jam in 2022, upon a recommendation from longtime Boston Celtics center Brian Scalabrine, who had watched a 13-year-old Flagg dominate college players in an open gym setting. “I remember watching him and saying, Scal was right,” Scheyer said. “Took me about 90 seconds (to realize it).”

NCAA rules prohibit how early college coaches can contact prospective recruits, though, so Scheyer started to build his relationship with Flagg indirectly — through Kelly. Because Flagg’s mother was one of his Maine United coaches, college coaches were permitted to contact Kelly before they ever got close to her son. “We started building a relationship,” Kelly said, “and that foundation, I think, really helped so that when he was able to start having conversations with Cooper, he was a little more comfortable.”

On the first night college coaches were permitted to reach out to players, during the summer between Flagg’s freshman and sophomore seasons, Kelly and Ralph remember the high-profile names they saw pop up on their phones: Bill Self, John Calipari.

“But Jon’s call,” Kelly said, “was definitely one that I was hoping for.”

"Ultimately, I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn’t follow my instincts and do what had to be done,” Scheyer said.
There were two differences between Scheyer and some of those other coaches. The first was that, according to Flagg, Scheyer didn’t flatly praise his game.

“Something that stuck out to me the whole time was his honesty,” Flagg said. “Coach was always really honest with me with his vision, what he saw — I mean, he’d even critique some of my games that he came and watched. That’s the sort of thing I looked for.”

And secondly? Scheyer had “walked this road” before, in Kelly’s words. The 37-year-old hadn’t just played at Duke; he’d taken the Blue Devils where Flagg hoped to lead his future school: a national championship.

To that point, Scheyer will become just the eighth man ever to play and coach in a Final Four, joining Dean Smith, Bob Knight, Billy Donovan, Hubert Davis, Vic Bubas, Bones McKinney and Dick Harp. And should Duke cut down the nets on Monday night, he’d be the first to win it all as a player and coach at his alma mater.

Throughout his recruitment, Flagg rarely told his parents what he was thinking, one way or another. Kelly remembers Scheyer telling her he’d talked to Flagg a week ago, wondering if he’d said anything about their conversation.

Nada.

“Cooper’s pretty tight-lipped about all that stuff,” Kelly said. “I did some interference as far as scheduling times with coaches when I knew he’d be available, but he very maturely spoke with them himself and vetted who he liked or didn’t.”

Eventually, Flagg narrowed his finalists to two: Duke and UConn, the reigning national champs.

Flagg and his family visited UConn first before traveling to Durham in October 2023. They attended the program’s preseason event, Countdown to Craziness, on Friday night before settling in for the rest of the weekend.

And while breakfast on Sunday was when Flagg officially gave his verbal commitment, his parents say there was another previously unreported moment on Saturday when they had a feeling that might be coming.

During a meeting with Krzyzewski, in the Hall of Fame coach’s sixth-floor office overlooking Cameron Indoor Stadium, Flagg turned to Kelly and Ralph … and winked.

“He said something that really resonated with Cooper in his heart,” Kelly said, without revealing the specifics. “That was kind of the moment, the nail in the coffin, where I’m pretty sure he made up his mind.”

After Duke lost to NC State in the Elite Eight last postseason, Scheyer knew he needed to make serious roster changes to get his program over the hump. The exodus came in the form of seven Blue Devils transferring out. Four were former five-star recruits, and two had been every-game starters.

In their absence, Scheyer rebuilt his team around the talents of his incoming 17-year-old star.

“Look, you know Cooper is going to be a big-time, impact player,” Scheyer said. “Do you know he’s going to be national player of the year? You hope — but you don’t know. So our team had to change.”

In perhaps the strongest show of Scheyer’s faith in Flagg, Duke’s third-year coach rebuilt his rotation around Flagg and even consulted with his family.

“He told us where he was looking and who he was thinking about, and even asked our thoughts on it at times,” Ralph said. “We never really doubted Jon one bit that way, I don’t think. He was always honest.”


[The NBA hasn’t drafted a Maine native in 40 years. This high schooler from Newport could be the 2025 No. 1 pick.]

That honesty has carried over onto the court, despite Flagg’s spectacular freshman season that has seen him gobble up nearly every national award and Duke lose only once since Thanksgiving (despite some early lumps in nonconference losses to Kentucky and Kansas). He’s leading Duke in all five major statistical categories — the first freshman to do so while leading his team to the NCAA Tournament. He poured in 30 points in a complete performance against Arizona in the Sweet 16. He’s only the second player ever — joining former Duke legend Grant Hill, arguably the best player the school has ever produced — to average 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists in the postseason entering the Final Four.

And yet, Scheyer doesn’t treat the soon-to-be No. 1 pick any differently than he does the last man on the bench.

The proof? Rewind the tape on Duke’s Elite Eight victory over No. 2 Alabama, in which Flagg struggled more than usual. Yes, he scored 16 points … but on 16 shots; he also had more turnovers (four) than he’s had in nearly two months. Per KenPom, it was Flagg’s worst full-game offensive rating all season. Which is why during one second-half timeout, after Flagg settled for an elbow jumper (and missed) instead of driving to the cup, Scheyer lit into him: “I need you to be tougher,” he barked, looking Flagg directly in the eyes.

“You get all over him, and he takes it,” Scheyer said. “He’s been amazing to coach because he’s not above anything. And I think with him, he’s as loyal of a person as you’ll ever be around. So once you’re in with him, you’re in.”

Scheyer is.

Earlier this season, a grade-schooler whose father works in printing attended a game at Cameron Indoor and gifted Kelly two custom shirts featuring pictures of her son. One of them, in black, Kelly wore to the Elite Eight. But the other, in white, she had re-gifted to Scheyer’s wife, Marcelle — only for Scheyer’s middle child, Jett, to claim it as his own. So despite it being 10 sizes too large, there Jett was in Newark, N.J., drowning in his Cooper Flagg shirt, waving to the Blue Devils — and Flagg, especially — as they departed their hotel for the arena.

At most, Scheyer and Flagg have two games left together. Eighty minutes, tops. Scheyer did his star freshman a favor last weekend in Newark, finally throwing cold water on the delusional hypothetical that Flagg might do anything but declare for the NBA Draft at season’s end: “That’s going to happen, as it should.”

For Scheyer, landing Flagg has been an identity-confirmer. It cemented him as more than just Krzyzewski’s successor but one of the best coaches in the sport. And for Flagg, committing to Scheyer has been what he needed: a coach who would hold him accountable and help him improve.

There’s no better stage than the Final Four — and only the second time all four No. 1 seeds made the final weekend — for Scheyer and Flagg to show off the fruits of their relationship. Like he did against Arizona, when he almost single-handedly shoved the Blue Devils into the Elite Eight, Flagg has shown the capability to carry Duke in a crucible. Good thing, because that’s what it will take to defeat two top seeds in San Antonio and hang the program’s sixth national championship banner.

Duke is on the precipice of doing just that, like Flagg and Scheyer dreamed about many months ago.

Well worth a grown man’s tears, don’t you think?]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=1888 Fri, 14 Mar 2025 09:03:42 -0500 Ladypanther]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=1888 We lost a good one.


John Feinstein, a Washington Post sportswriter who became the best-selling author of more than 40 books, including “A Season on the Brink,” an inside look at volatile Indiana University men’s basketball coach Bob Knight, died March 13 at his brother’s home in McLean, Virginia. He was 69.

His brother, Robert Feinstein, confirmed the death and said the cause may have been a heart attack.

Mr. Feinstein (pronounced Fine-steen) joined The Post in 1977 as a night police reporter but soon distinguished himself on the sports beat. He covered a wide range of subjects and developed a talent for deep sourcing that fed personality-driven and dramatic narratives about athletes, coaches and management. One of the most popular sports authors of his era, he also became a frequent commentator on NPR, ESPN and the Golf Channel and had radio programs on Sirius XM.

He wrote books about baseball, football, tennis, golf and the Olympics, as well as novels for young readers, but he was perhaps best known for his coverage of college basketball. With an indefatigable work ethic, Mr. Feinstein filed a day before his death a column for The Post on Michigan State men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo.

In 1985, Mr. Feinstein took a leave of absence from The Post to follow the Indiana Hoosiers and their coach, Knight, for the season. Knight, who had already won the first two of his three national championships, was at the height of his career.

When “A Season on the Brink” appeared in 1986, it was immediately recognized as a breakthrough in sports writing. Instead of deifying a successful coach, Mr. Feinstein portrayed Knight in all his complexities, which combined a sensitivity toward his players with a violent, uncontrollable temper often marked by obscenity-laced tirades.

“Knight was an almost Shakespearean character: brilliant, thoughtful and tragically flawed,” Mr. Feinstein wrote in a 2023 column after Knight’s death.

The book, often cited among a pantheon of unblinkered sports books such as Jim Bouton’s irreverent “Ball Four,” spent 17 weeks as a No. 1 bestseller and was later made into a TV movie starring Brian Dennehy.

Mr. Feinstein seldom wrote about superstars, preferring to explore the struggles of obscure, even marginal athletes. In 1995’s “A Good Walk Spoiled” — the title comes from Mark Twain’s description of golf — Mr. Feinstein alluded to such top golfers as Greg Norman, Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus, but his primary focus was on little-known players trying to maintain their places on the PGA Tour.

In “The Last Amateurs” (2000), “Where Nobody Knows Your Name” (2014) and “The Ancient Eight” (2024), he told the stories of, respectively, college basketball players, baseball bush leaguers and Ivy League football players who were devoted to their sports, despite having little chance of becoming stars.

“I’ve always been … someone who thinks that the unknown fighting for his life is a better story than the millionaire fighting for his next million,” Mr. Feinstein wrote in his introduction to “A Good Walk Spoiled.” “I’ve always been fascinated by the struggle of sports.”

Mr. Feinstein helped his high school swim team win the New York City championship, and he competed in swimming at Duke University as a freshman. After breaking his foot, he decided to join the school newspaper. Eventually he became sports editor and contributed stories on college basketball to The Post, which named him an intern after graduating in 1977.

He impressed the sports editor but, because there was no job opening in the section, he was hired to cover police and courts in Prince George’s County. Bob Woodward, who helped unravel the Watergate conspiracy and was then an editor in the Metro section, became his mentor.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituarie...ator-dies/]]> We lost a good one.


John Feinstein, a Washington Post sportswriter who became the best-selling author of more than 40 books, including “A Season on the Brink,” an inside look at volatile Indiana University men’s basketball coach Bob Knight, died March 13 at his brother’s home in McLean, Virginia. He was 69.

His brother, Robert Feinstein, confirmed the death and said the cause may have been a heart attack.

Mr. Feinstein (pronounced Fine-steen) joined The Post in 1977 as a night police reporter but soon distinguished himself on the sports beat. He covered a wide range of subjects and developed a talent for deep sourcing that fed personality-driven and dramatic narratives about athletes, coaches and management. One of the most popular sports authors of his era, he also became a frequent commentator on NPR, ESPN and the Golf Channel and had radio programs on Sirius XM.

He wrote books about baseball, football, tennis, golf and the Olympics, as well as novels for young readers, but he was perhaps best known for his coverage of college basketball. With an indefatigable work ethic, Mr. Feinstein filed a day before his death a column for The Post on Michigan State men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo.

In 1985, Mr. Feinstein took a leave of absence from The Post to follow the Indiana Hoosiers and their coach, Knight, for the season. Knight, who had already won the first two of his three national championships, was at the height of his career.

When “A Season on the Brink” appeared in 1986, it was immediately recognized as a breakthrough in sports writing. Instead of deifying a successful coach, Mr. Feinstein portrayed Knight in all his complexities, which combined a sensitivity toward his players with a violent, uncontrollable temper often marked by obscenity-laced tirades.

“Knight was an almost Shakespearean character: brilliant, thoughtful and tragically flawed,” Mr. Feinstein wrote in a 2023 column after Knight’s death.

The book, often cited among a pantheon of unblinkered sports books such as Jim Bouton’s irreverent “Ball Four,” spent 17 weeks as a No. 1 bestseller and was later made into a TV movie starring Brian Dennehy.

Mr. Feinstein seldom wrote about superstars, preferring to explore the struggles of obscure, even marginal athletes. In 1995’s “A Good Walk Spoiled” — the title comes from Mark Twain’s description of golf — Mr. Feinstein alluded to such top golfers as Greg Norman, Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus, but his primary focus was on little-known players trying to maintain their places on the PGA Tour.

In “The Last Amateurs” (2000), “Where Nobody Knows Your Name” (2014) and “The Ancient Eight” (2024), he told the stories of, respectively, college basketball players, baseball bush leaguers and Ivy League football players who were devoted to their sports, despite having little chance of becoming stars.

“I’ve always been … someone who thinks that the unknown fighting for his life is a better story than the millionaire fighting for his next million,” Mr. Feinstein wrote in his introduction to “A Good Walk Spoiled.” “I’ve always been fascinated by the struggle of sports.”

Mr. Feinstein helped his high school swim team win the New York City championship, and he competed in swimming at Duke University as a freshman. After breaking his foot, he decided to join the school newspaper. Eventually he became sports editor and contributed stories on college basketball to The Post, which named him an intern after graduating in 1977.

He impressed the sports editor but, because there was no job opening in the section, he was hired to cover police and courts in Prince George’s County. Bob Woodward, who helped unravel the Watergate conspiracy and was then an editor in the Metro section, became his mentor.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituarie...ator-dies/]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=1860 Tue, 04 Mar 2025 21:16:03 -0600 Ladypanther]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=1860 Game Day in Chapel Hill for the March 8 game.  There is not a belter rivalry in sports.  Best part of living in NC.




https://promo.espn.com/collegegameday/mens/]]> Game Day in Chapel Hill for the March 8 game.  There is not a belter rivalry in sports.  Best part of living in NC.




https://promo.espn.com/collegegameday/mens/]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=1852 Fri, 21 Feb 2025 23:03:41 -0600 Ladypanther]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=1852 https://www.espn.com/college-football/st...ars-stolen
New Miami quarterback Carson Beck and his girlfriend, Miami basketball player Hanna Cavinder, had their cars stolen during a home burglary Thursday night.

According to multiple media outlets, the Miami-Dade Sherriff's Office arrested Tykwon Deandre Anderson and charged him with burglary of an occupied dwelling while wearing a mask, grand theft and grand theft of a vehicle.

In the arrest report cited by multiple media outlets, Beck told deputies he and Cavinder were asleep when the theft happened. Beck had a Mercedes and Lamborghini stolen, and Cavinder had her Range Rover stolen.


He will be a 2026 draft prospect. Seems to be a bit too flashy and full of himself. Buyer beware..]]> https://www.espn.com/college-football/st...ars-stolen
New Miami quarterback Carson Beck and his girlfriend, Miami basketball player Hanna Cavinder, had their cars stolen during a home burglary Thursday night.

According to multiple media outlets, the Miami-Dade Sherriff's Office arrested Tykwon Deandre Anderson and charged him with burglary of an occupied dwelling while wearing a mask, grand theft and grand theft of a vehicle.

In the arrest report cited by multiple media outlets, Beck told deputies he and Cavinder were asleep when the theft happened. Beck had a Mercedes and Lamborghini stolen, and Cavinder had her Range Rover stolen.


He will be a 2026 draft prospect. Seems to be a bit too flashy and full of himself. Buyer beware..]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=1786 Tue, 17 Dec 2024 19:03:43 -0600 Hobbit99]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=1786

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/m...d21a&ei=11

I am totally at a loss for words.....  And THAT is unusual..!!
]]>

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/m...d21a&ei=11

I am totally at a loss for words.....  And THAT is unusual..!!
]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=1780 Wed, 11 Dec 2024 22:19:27 -0600 Ladypanther]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=1780 This should be interesting.  Control Bill relating to college guys? This will either be a vg hire or a dumb move. Hoping for the best but it will certainly interesting to watch]]> This should be interesting.  Control Bill relating to college guys? This will either be a vg hire or a dumb move. Hoping for the best but it will certainly interesting to watch]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=1766 Sat, 30 Nov 2024 13:43:32 -0600 Ladypanther]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=1766 I would think the Univ of Nebraska is embarrassed by the classless acts of their football HC.  Might be looking for that out clause in his contract.

https://www.si.com/college-football/iowa...disrespect

Iowa Players Call Out Nebraska, Matt Rhule for Pregame Disrespect After Win

Iowa linebackers Jay Higgins and Nick Jackson had a lot to say about Matt Rhule and his team after the Hawkeyes beat the Cornhuskers on a last-second field goal.

The beef started before the game when Rhule walked through Iowa's pregame warmups, according to Higgins.

"Our guys are warming up, doing our pregame and their head coach walked through the warmup," Higgins explained to reporters after Iowa's 13-10 win Friday. "So we immediately knew what type of game this was."

Higgins was right, as the Nebraska-sparked tension boiled over into the pregame coin toss. As Iowa's captains extended their arms for a traditional pregame handshake, the Huskers' captains refused to return the favor, collectively looking down or blankly ahead.

Then, on Iowa's first defensive series, Higgins said he got close to Rhule on Nebraska's sideline and brought up the Huskers' captains refusing his handshake.

"It probably wasn't a good idea to not shake our hands," Higgins said he told Rhule during the game.

To which, as Higgins says, Rhule replied: "Who are you?"

The early drama initially played into Nebraska's favor, as they took a 10-0 lead into halftime. Iowa then scored 13 unanswered points in the second half, including a game-winning 53-yard field goal as time expired from kicker Drew Stevens.

Higgins made sure someone shook his hand after the game, seeking out Rhule and running up with his arm extended.

"After the game, because they didn't want to shake our hands before the game, I went up to their head coach and shook his hand," Higgins told the media after the game. "And told him good game."

As they digested the disrespect they received from Nebraska, Harris and Jackson exchanged on whether their head coach, Kirk Ferentz, would do something similar.

"No, no, no, never," the two repeated before they ended their thoughts with a pitch for their program. "Come to Iowa and be a Hawk, see the difference."]]> I would think the Univ of Nebraska is embarrassed by the classless acts of their football HC.  Might be looking for that out clause in his contract.

https://www.si.com/college-football/iowa...disrespect

Iowa Players Call Out Nebraska, Matt Rhule for Pregame Disrespect After Win

Iowa linebackers Jay Higgins and Nick Jackson had a lot to say about Matt Rhule and his team after the Hawkeyes beat the Cornhuskers on a last-second field goal.

The beef started before the game when Rhule walked through Iowa's pregame warmups, according to Higgins.

"Our guys are warming up, doing our pregame and their head coach walked through the warmup," Higgins explained to reporters after Iowa's 13-10 win Friday. "So we immediately knew what type of game this was."

Higgins was right, as the Nebraska-sparked tension boiled over into the pregame coin toss. As Iowa's captains extended their arms for a traditional pregame handshake, the Huskers' captains refused to return the favor, collectively looking down or blankly ahead.

Then, on Iowa's first defensive series, Higgins said he got close to Rhule on Nebraska's sideline and brought up the Huskers' captains refusing his handshake.

"It probably wasn't a good idea to not shake our hands," Higgins said he told Rhule during the game.

To which, as Higgins says, Rhule replied: "Who are you?"

The early drama initially played into Nebraska's favor, as they took a 10-0 lead into halftime. Iowa then scored 13 unanswered points in the second half, including a game-winning 53-yard field goal as time expired from kicker Drew Stevens.

Higgins made sure someone shook his hand after the game, seeking out Rhule and running up with his arm extended.

"After the game, because they didn't want to shake our hands before the game, I went up to their head coach and shook his hand," Higgins told the media after the game. "And told him good game."

As they digested the disrespect they received from Nebraska, Harris and Jackson exchanged on whether their head coach, Kirk Ferentz, would do something similar.

"No, no, no, never," the two repeated before they ended their thoughts with a pitch for their program. "Come to Iowa and be a Hawk, see the difference."]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=1738 Sun, 03 Nov 2024 09:20:24 -0600 Ladypanther]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=1738 Did any college QB's help their stock Sat?  Beck and Allar had problems.]]> Did any college QB's help their stock Sat?  Beck and Allar had problems.]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=1717 Sat, 05 Oct 2024 19:01:17 -0500 Ladypanther]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=1717 Wow.  Could only follow by updates on my phone but it looked like Vandy had a great drive at the end toseal the deal.  Congrats Commodores!]]> Wow.  Could only follow by updates on my phone but it looked like Vandy had a great drive at the end toseal the deal.  Congrats Commodores!]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=1634 Thu, 29 Aug 2024 20:28:48 -0500 Ladypanther]]> https://panthersfanz.com/board/showthread.php?tid=1634 UNC vs Minn

GO HEELS]]> UNC vs Minn

GO HEELS]]>