Stories Inside the Man Cave
Stories Inside the Man Cave
Ep 389: The Pass Rush with Stevie Lee & Taylor McHargue, Balancing Careers: From College QB to CBS & ESPN college football analyst
What if you could balance a thriving career in commercial real estate while becoming a sportscaster for ESPN? Our special guest, former Rice University dual-threat QB Taylor McHargue, reveals how he managed to do just that. Taylor takes us through his unforgettable journey from leading the Owls to consecutive bowl games to his seamless transition into the world of sports broadcasting, sharing behind-the-scenes anecdotes and career-defining moments along the way.
This episode also tackles the seismic shifts in college football, particularly the University of Texas's upcoming season in the SEC and the promising trajectory of the Rice Owls under Coach Blumgren. We reminisce about Coach Bailiff’s impactful tenure at Rice, his remarkable recruiting prowess, and the Owls' standout 2013 season. We also delve into the broader landscape changes, from NIL deals to the impact of the Transfer Portal, and how these elements are reshaping the sport and the challenges coaches face in retaining top talent.
To round out our conversation, we discuss the resilience required in college football amidst evolving challenges like concussions and player compensation. We dive into the excitement of Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC and what it means for fans and teams alike. On a personal note, we touch on Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian's current struggles and how they may affect his coaching. The episode wraps up with some light-hearted banter, nostalgic memories, and an emphasis on the importance of friendship and gratitude. Don't miss this episode packed with valuable insights, heartfelt stories, and a celebration of the sport we all love.
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Thank you for watching this episode of Stories Inside the man Cave Podcast. Now, episode 389 is another installment of the Pass Rush with Stevie Lee, and we have a plus one. This guy was raised in the Austin area. He was a dual threat quarterback back then and he took his talents to Rice University and some refer to him as the best QB ever in Rice Owls history. He led them to back-to-back bowl bursts. He won a lot of games too as a Rice Owl and we're going to get his perspective because he has a day job. But he's always wanted to become a sportscaster or a sports analyst and he's doing it on the side and we're going to get his valuable input on college football and the ever-changing landscape of college athletics. The Pass Rush with Stevie Lee let's rock. Thank you, stevie. Cheers to you, brother.
Speaker 2:Cheers to you too, man. Bro, I'm so sorry, my contact just fell out. Just fell out, man. I'm so sorry. Hey, be sure to like each of our social media platforms.
Speaker 1:There's so many, man. I'm so sorry. Hey, be sure to like each of our social media platforms. There's so many now I've lost count of how many there are the platforms, how many exist, but we're on there, like them, Even our new VIP guest. We just connected and I know you are as well, Stevie Lee. But one thing, the big part, is we're a part of the Hargrove Roofing family and, Stevie Lee being the talent that he is, you do their slogan the best out of any human on this planet.
Speaker 2:Hargrove Roofing know who's on your roof.
Speaker 1:That's right. And you do know, Stevie, before we get going, you know we're only five Saturdays away from college football starting. I mean, when I tell you that, what are you feeling? I see it.
Speaker 2:I can read you like a book. Listen, man. I'm so happy to be coming around this time. You know we finished off on a high note last year and I just wanted to build off of what we did last year and going into this year. I'm so excited about the new conference. I'm so excited about new faces on the team as well as the old faces growing.
Speaker 1:It's going to be a fun, fun, fun year at the University of Texas going to be a fun, fun, fun year at the University of Texas, yeah, and a great year for the new league, the SEC. We have great programs in the state of Texas FBS, fcs and a couple of the FBS schools that I take that are going to win more. I think North Texas is going to be one of those SMU going to the ACC and I do believe the Rice Owls are going to take a leap and that's where we want to bring in our new VIP. He will be a VIP alumni, but I want to show you who this guy is. He was a former quarterback for the Rice Owls from the Leander ISD district, played at Vista Ridge and Cedar Park and is one of the best quarterbacks that Rice has ever known to play the game and first QB in Rice history to lead the program to back-to-back bowl games. And enough of me talking about it. Here he is Taylor McCark. Welcome to the man Cave. How are you guys doing?
Speaker 3:Thanks for having me on You'reark.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the man Cave. How are you guys doing? Thanks for having me on. You're more than welcome. I don't know what happened and why this graphic. Just there we go, let's go back. That was odd, Are?
Speaker 3:you a guy that likes to look back at your own numbers and have that put in your face. That large a font? No, no, not traditionally. Actually, some of this stuff I don't even think I knew. No, I hadn't thought about some of this stuff in a while.
Speaker 1:Am I off base with Coach Blumgren and Rice taking a big step this year?
Speaker 3:No Well, look, I'm as big a fan as Rice has, I think, so I'll try to not be too big of a homer. We actually just got back from American Conference Media Days. There were a lot of people that shared the same sentiment that you just shared On paper. This should be the best team that Rice has had in a long time. They've got depth and did a really nice job in the portal this year. I think that's something that Rice has done. In this modern era. You guys will know it better than anybody. With the University of Texas, a place like Rice, it's a lot harder to get people to come there in the portal and they've really leaned into it and I've done a really nice job. Ej Warner, kurt Warner's son, transferred in from Temple at quarterback and really good player. I've called a couple of his games and they've got almost everybody back on their defense and a pretty favorable schedule. So I say all that you know, hopefully they don't lay an egg, but on paper they should have a really good season.
Speaker 1:Stevie, you got to play Rice back in the day. What do you remember about those teams, even though they're, I mean they've to me? Rice is one of those programs that has a really good team every four or five years.
Speaker 2:And now they're more consistent at going to bowl games. In that opening I was hugged up with a cheerleader who is now my wife. That was after the Rice game in Reliance Stadium. So I remember playing Rice. I remember it was a fun game. But what I remember the most about it is the student body wore these Rice Blue shirts that said let's see, let me get it straight Tuck Fexes on the shirt. They said Tuck Fexis. On the shirt they said Tuck Fexis. We're on the bus and we see all these people. They're booing us while we're on the bus looking at them. They have these blue shirts on with burnt orange letters on it saying Tuck Fexis.
Speaker 2:We looked around at each other and that fueled us. That fueled our fire. We went out there and kicked ass. If we go back and look at those stats, man, I don't think they and you know Rice is a rushing team. They were back then. They were. It was the wing T or whatever formation they were running. We shut them down just because of that. So be careful when you call the dogs off the porch because they might come.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't ill-advised. I don't, I do not recommend doing that, especially to those Texas teams.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it was, it was fun, man, I enjoyed it. I always enjoyed playing Texas teams. Yeah, but it was fun, man, I enjoyed it. I always enjoyed playing Texas teams, man, because you know a lot of my teammates. I didn't play in Texas, I'm from Louisiana but a lot of my teammates played against those guys and whenever they, they always got up for playing against someone that they played with or against in high school. It was always fun playing Texas teams.
Speaker 1:Well, taylor, I was going to ask you, you know, since the big release of EA Sports College Football the guy on the right, the right picture what would be your rating in that game if it existed then?
Speaker 3:You know it's funny. The last time that game came out was NCAA 14. I was on the game, so it had been quite a while, and I don't remember what my rating was. I know by the time the last version of it came out, I wasn't horrible. I want to say I had like a low 80s ranking, which I thought was about right. But before that, every year that game would come out, these middle school and high school boys would tweet at me and be like I just started Dynasty Mode with Rice and you freaking suck on this game. I had to restart my season because you're so trash on this game and I'd be like every year like clockwork. I'd just get this barrage of tweets and be like okay, I don't need to buy the game.
Speaker 1:I need to mute Twitter for a while and be like okay, I don't need to buy the game, I need to mute.
Speaker 4:Twitter for a while In the basement from their mom's home.
Speaker 1:That's where it always starts. That's right. Obviously you have fond memories of this. It will always remain a part of you. You were coached by David Bailiff, who was at Texas State as a special assistant at GJ Kinney. What do you remember most about Coach Bailiff, who is at Texas State as a special assistant at GJ Kinney? What do you remember most about Coach Bailiff? Because I love the guy. Great storyteller. I thought he got the most out of his players wherever he was.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I still keep up with Coach Bailiff. I actually talked to him this week. The piece that I remember when I got to Rice was they went through and his staff did a phenomenal job in recruiting for a four or five-year period, and I think that's where you saw that run up and, sean, you said it, I think you hit it the nail on the head. We had this ramp up to that 2013 season where we won 10 games, won Conference USA, and it's kind of cyclical at Rice, and so I remember the first thing, being really aware that Bailiff and his staff had done a really good job in recruiting, because we put a lot of guys in the NFL in a pretty short period of time, which typically does not happen at Rice.
Speaker 3:And then the other thing he was a player's coach. I mean he wanted his guys to like him, but you had to. You knew not to cross the line and you he demanded respect, but you also. He was approachable. You could go into his office. The door was always open. It was not somebody that you were afraid of, but he did command respect and I think you know because of that. I've seen him at a few different teammates. You know he's come to their weddings. He came to my wedding. He's still, like I said, I talk to him during the season probably once every couple weeks and in the offseason once a month or so, and I know he's still any time. There's been a couple times that teammates have been in trouble teammates of mine and he's called me and said, hey, y'all need to rally around whatever teammate for whatever reason of mine. And he's called me and said, hey, you need to, y'all need to rally around whatever you know teammate for whatever reason. And so he's still. He's still that kind of guy for taylor's story.
Speaker 1:I mean he so he goes from qb1 to the corporate world and into real estate, so you and stevie kind of share the same space. This is what you're doing now, and I found this article. It's in the Austin Business Journal. It's called Moonlighting a lifelong passion. I mean, so you're, are you still juggling both, and how do you make it work? And how did you get started with the CBS network of the family networks?
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely still doing both. So I'm with Aquila Commercial in Austin and we're a boutique commercial real estate firm, so my day job is tenant representation. So I represent users on their office space, and so that could be anything from a law firm needs to find their space to lease, or somebody needs to buy a building or anything on the user end. That's what our team specializes in and, stevie, you'll understand this and kind of resonate with this, but we get paid by commission. I don't have PTO, I don't have office hours, and so I think that's part of what's benefited my ability to do the announcing stuff, because you travel a lot. In the fall for it, you leave every Thursday or Friday and so you do miss some time. But I've got a team that I do lean on and I think just try to be real good at communicating, never drop the ball on something that may happen on a Friday, and make sure we have coverage. We partner up on every deal, and so there's never been a time that we just completely dropped something where a client needed something on a Friday, and so there's never been a time that you just completely drop something where a client needed something on a Friday. So that's the first part of it, kind of juggling both.
Speaker 3:And then how did I get into calling games? I was doing? I don't know if you guys know Indy Kalou. He played at Rice in the 90s and he played a long time in the NFL. He was doing a radio show in Houston and I would go on as a guest every now and then and talk college football and I just enjoyed the prep and started reaching out to guys that I had uh, that had covered rice from when I was there, and one thing led to another and I my first shot at calling games was actually for the SWAT conference and it was in a remote booth in Houston and it was with Butch Alcindor and um that I had got three games with them and I got one with the Southland conference in 2018 and from there, every year after that I just tried to pick up a few more games here and there and started doing stuff with Rice, and it's similar to trying to get recruited.
Speaker 3:You put together your highlight reel and send it to whoever you can get a hold of at CBS and ESPN and got a lot of unanswered emails, but then slowly started to get on people's radar and 2022 was my first contract with ESPN. I was calling the American Conference and had something similar last year, but started working in games with CBS and then this year, you know, got a really solid offer from CBS that I was excited about, and so most of my work will be with CBS this year. I still have some with ESPN, but most is with CBS, covering the Mountain West and then a little bit of Conference USA also.
Speaker 1:That's great, and where's your first game?
Speaker 3:this year First game. I've got two on week one. I've got Kansas on Thursday night and then I've got Oklahoma State on Saturday. I still haven't figured out if I'm going to make that drive from Lawrence Kansas to Stillwater or if I'll fly. It's not that far, but we'll have two in week one.
Speaker 1:That's not a bad drive. I remember making that drive through the Kansas turnpike yeah, kansas City down, taylor, you know from well. Both of you know the game has made. I mean, it's been changing gradually, let's say since 91, when Arkansas left the Southwest Conference to go to the SEC, and then there were minor changes to now. There's changes every three months it seems, and, taylor, you noticed it as a player. We saw things coming probably about 2010. Then you've got a guy like Mack Brown, who at ACC Media Days here recently he was asked about that and I can't wait to hear from you both because, stevie, this was your head coach at Texas and he's had to adapt to a lot of change for a guy who was at his stage of his career.
Speaker 4:And then I was at Texas when we were down to hours that I thought Oklahoma, oklahoma State, texas and Texas Tech were going to the Pac-12. And all of that was going to change because it changed your recruiting areas. It changed the travel for your teams, it changed the travel for the parents, it changed the travel for the parents, it changed the expense for the parents. So when you start looking at what's happened to this league now in us really a third change. I guess. We had the, the change with a lot of different dynamics with teams coming in. Then we had Notre Dame's addition and and now we've had three new teams. It makes it exciting for our players to go to a Cal or a Stanford or a Dallas that maybe they haven't been to before, makes it fun for fans. But at the same time you have to think about what does it change in recruiting, what does it change for your academic schedule and how much more difficult is it for the parents to get to see their sons play? So, taylor you.
Speaker 1:You've been in this. I mean, you were a part of the generation of college athletes who started to see it, maybe feel it a little bit and experience it, even at rice, to what matt mentioned. Now you're dealing with it from the broadcasting side. I know it's hard to keep up. My head is spinning, like so many others. What's your take on all that?
Speaker 3:to tie into what Coach Brown said yeah well, first thing, I mean we could probably sit here for an hour straight and just hammer this one topic and there's so many layers to it that it's hard to be succinct because it goes in so many different areas. But what I would say is I did notice it. The first time that it really grabbed my attention was when we played Texas A&M, when Johnny was suspended for the first half. He'd signed the autographs. That summer the NCAA gave him a one-half suspension to kind of make it go away. And when we got on campus at Kyle Field he had won the Heisman the year before. They were ranked in the top ten. And you get on campus and it's number two jerseys everywhere. I mean everywhere Little kids, women, men, it didn't matter, everybody had on number two jerseys.
Speaker 3:I remember on the bus thinking he should have made some money off of this. Legally, he made some money, he should have made a lot of money. That was the it. That was the first time that I really that was the first example that I could really wrap my arms around and say, uh, he is worth a lot more than just his scholarship to texas a&m. And if you look at the improvements they've made to that stadium that was built by johnny and and mike evans. Um, that's true. Now, the problem now is the NCAA had their head in their sand for so long and then they take their hand off the scales and now it's just turned into a free for all. And so you went from one direction where it was really punitive to the athletes, where guys use Texas again as an example, that national championship team. Every single one of those scholarship players would have made money and should have made money during their time there. And then you swing back the other direction to how it is now, where it is a true pay for play model.
Speaker 3:And all of these guys I shouldn't say all, but if they hit the portal, a lot of them are just hired guns. The first question they ask when they're in the portal and for high school recruits is to ask about their NIL, whatever school you're going to. What does that look like? What does the starting quarterback right now make? What does the starting left guard make? And that's the biggest problem for existing coaches is they're having to re-recruit their own players. It's not going out and getting new guys. It's hey, my tight end is making $75,000, and he caught six balls last year and really wasn't very good, and now he wants a raise. If we cut him, we've got to go hit the portal and pay somebody else, but if we pay him, I've got to go find boosters that are going to pay this kid that didn't have a very good season. It's exhausting and it never ends.
Speaker 3:I think that's where you're starting to see and I admit that I am not fully up to speed on the legislation that is in the process right now but at some point you're going to have Congress step in, you're going to have legislation that puts some guardrails around this, because the model right now, where these kids just go out to the free market and it's this collective where you just dump a bunch of cash in a fund and then they just pay these kids astronomical money, I don't think that's going to last much longer.
Speaker 3:The coaches don't like it. Most of the kids don't even like it, except for the ones that are at the very top of the portal. So I do think change is going to come and I think that pendulum will swing back towards some sort of equilibrium. But for now, the last thing I'll say on it. It comes up in every staff meeting, every coach that we talk to when they start talking about the portal. It comes up in almost every conversation and these coaches are exhausted by it because it is significantly harder right now to be a college football coach, in my opinion, than in the NFL, because there is no offseason. The NFL guys in the offseason they have office hours, they're grinding still Don't get me wrong but in college these guys are getting worn down to the bone and something needs to change, and I do think something will change.
Speaker 2:I got a little bit of a different take on it, just a little bit. I totally get what you're saying. It's a lot going on in college football with Coach Brown's talking about, with the new travel schedules and playing from the East Coast all the way over to the West Coast and all that stuff too, and then also coming into the NIL and the transfer portal. I don't feel sorry for the coaches. I don't. I absolutely do not. You got Steve Sharkeesian pulling in. What is it? Almost $10 million a year. Yeah, it is what it is for them. When you had, you know, bo Davis here. He coaches, two people on the field, two the interior tackles. Sometimes there's only one guy on the field and he's almost at a million dollars a year or over a million dollars a year. I don't feel sorry for him. You got to figure it out. You got to adapt. I'm adapting in my business right now with the NAR lawsuit. We got to adapt in our businesses. You adapt in your business.
Speaker 2:I am still on the side. Even though I missed out on a lot of money. I think I would have made some money. I am still on the side of these players. Get as much as they can because the school is going to get as much as they can, because the school is going to get much as they can out of you, you know. You know I wake up with arthritis in my neck. I didn't get paid for that. You know. I got a pin in my foot. I didn't get paid for that. You know what I mean. No matter, no telling what's going on in here. You know I did not get paid for that, you know. So I want these kids to get as much as they can, but you know it is the wild, wild west.
Speaker 2:I do think there needs to be some kind of rules and regulations, but I don't think that we can stifle these kids from going anywhere they want to go, because these coaches go anywhere they want to go, and and so I. There needs to be something in there to Like market value scales. You know what I mean. So just scale down, you know, starting here the second team, here you're, you know, and then kind of scale back the money that way. Here they scale back their money that way. Then there needs to be education around these kids getting a lot of money with no education on what to do with that money. That needs to be sanctioned by the NCAA. There needs to be a class, a money management class, before they start camp. I believe it's a lot of things going on and a lot of things changing, but it's a multi-billion dollar industry. They can figure it out.
Speaker 3:We're on the same page these kids as much money as they can make in this period of their life. They need to be able to make it, because most kids don't go play in the NFL and there's a lot of them that would make several hundred thousand dollars and graduate at 22 debt-free with some money in the bank that they're not going to go make any money in the NFL. The only thing that I would push back on that I would change tomorrow if I could, because players don't like it either is and I agree that kids should be able to transfer. But we've got to figure out a solution that allows kids to stay through bowl season and then transfer, because right now there were a couple of guys from Texas that had to transfer because they knew if I leave I will go make money right now. If I wait until after the sugar bowl I'm going to lose money. So I have to go right now.
Speaker 3:The only reason that happens is the transfer portal window is so tight after the season, so that these kids can be eligible in the spring semester. They would stay for these larger bowl games. I promise you almost to a man, at bigger bowl games especially these kids would stay, they'd take the trip, they'd play. But when you tell them, hey, if you wait and play in the bowl game and then potentially in the national championship, all these spots in the portal are going to be filled and that money is going to dry up, well of course they're going to skip out on their bowl game, even if it's the college football playoff, if they're a backup and they know they're going to transfer.
Speaker 2:And I think that's uh, we talked about that as well. I um, you're exactly right there, but that's also having to do on the academic side because, right, sometimes this, the sugar bowl, or something like that, the big bowl, start after this what spring semester starts. I'm at this school and I have to go and go. We do need to figure that out. That's the hard part to figure out. Because are we pushing back the spring semester start? Are we pushing up the national championship game?
Speaker 3:If anything, it's getting pushed farther back with the playoff they're gonna start playing the national championship when they play the super bowl, the way things are going to say do we now?
Speaker 2:we have these super conferences and so we have to have long seasons, conference seasons. Do we break up the conference even more and have a shorter conference and have longer, uh, playoffs? I don't know. I mean it's, it is, and that's why I don't get a mil of what, what? 10 million dollars a year to figure that out. So they do, they'll figure it out they need to figure it out.
Speaker 1:You know the scholarships have increased across the table, which is a good thing, but I want to get to this topic now. I know you cover jeff trailerlor at UT, san Antonio. I love the guy. He's been on this podcast a couple of times. He's very real. He was asked at the Texas High School Coach Association School last week about football being under attack. There were 18,000 coaches at the coaches school in San Antonio and, in typical Jeff Traylor form, he was very real about the point how this game will continue to evolve and it'll be better because of all this.
Speaker 6:I don't think our game's under attack anymore than it's ever been. It's coached by tough people and they're freaking tough guys out there. Guess what. We ain't so tough no more, right? This country's gotten pretty damn soft, honestly. So we're going to be under attack because we're tough people. And what do tough people do? They do tough things right. So we're going to figure it out. We're going to all be just fine. Hell, it was no pass, no play back in the 80s. That was going to ruin our game. Well, guess what we started doing? Yeah, we started passing our classes, right. Well then it was damn concussions. Everyone take your game out because of concussions. Well, now we got these little girly pads we put on our head out there, you know.
Speaker 6:So they don't talk about concussions, no more. Well, now it's Transfer Portal and now it's NIL and I'm telling you, craig, being in charge up there at AFCA, he's a man's man. You talk about tough guy. And we got Joe, we got Glenn, our organization. They're tough people, they're in their battle, what we need to battle. Our day is going to be fine. Is it a pain in the ass? Yeah, it's a pain in the ass right now but we're going to all figure it out. So under attack.
Speaker 4:Yeah, if we uh what does that?
Speaker 6:what does it say? The devil? The devil don't mess with the resisting army. The devil only messes with an army that's moving forwards, and our game's moving forward. We're going to be all right, craig.
Speaker 1:I don't disagree, and that's what we need more of. I mean to each their own, but we need more, to the point, real talk. Change is inevitable in college football, college athletics, don't you guys agree? And there's going to be more change on the way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's actually correct. His delivery is a little brass, but he's in a room full of coaches. That's fine. But he's absolutely correct, it's going to change. We are going to be fine. We just need to figure out what those changes are going to be.
Speaker 2:Adjust and football is going to live forever. It's just going to be some changing going on to it and negotiating and, taylor, you know this, negotiating is about win-win, right? So we need to win on. Someone needs to feel like they won on one side, someone need to feel like they won on the other side, and that's all it is. We're going to negotiate what's going to happen, how these kids are going to actually get paid, keeping the kids getting paid and reining in on, you know, crossing the line and doing anything you know out of the. You know there are some things that I've been hearing. So don't do anything illegal, you know, but still getting these kids money that they need and deserve. You know it's just going to be negotiated, right, it's going to be we're in good hands. I believe the game is going to still stay the same. It's going to be. We're in good hands, I believe the game is going to still stay the same.
Speaker 3:Yeah, my boss likes to say if neither side's happy at the end of a deal, it was probably a good deal. So I guess that's a different way of saying a win-win yeah. But I think it's change is the right word. Stevie, you said it and Coach said it in that sound bite. Two-a-days are not the same. From Stevie when you played to when I played to now, and if you go back to the Junction Boys in the 60s or 50s, whatever that was, it looks a lot different. In some ways you could say that it's gotten softer. But I promise you go stand on the sideline at a Division I football game and these collisions aren't any softer. In fact, these kids are bigger, faster, stronger. It is still a very violent sport. It's played by violent men and there's no way to get around that. And so when you get on the field and I say college, go to a high school game, stand on a high school field and listen to a collision at a 5A high school game and you will weed out.
Speaker 3:There will always be kids that go play middle school football and decide this is not for me and that's fine. There are plenty of other sports, but the game there is still. Go, go, look at follow Texas this year and see how excited everybody is for their involvement in the SEC and being in the SEC. Now there's a thirst for good football and we have a ton of that right now in college and in the NFL. I don't think the sport's going anywhere right now.
Speaker 3:I think the piece that we've got to continue to grow the game at a youth level because there is a lot of fear from parents, that's absolutely there, but that was always there Teaching good, sound tackling and fundamentals and keeping kids healthy, that's always going to be important. As long as you have youth involvement, which we still do, you'll have middle school football, you'll have high school football and you'll have talent to go play in college and then in the nfl. So I I agree with what coach said. I wouldn't say exactly how he did, but um, he's not worried about how I would say it.
Speaker 1:So but, tether, you made. You made the segue, so let's, let's jump to it. Thanks for watching guys. So you're going to be throughout the country for CBS ESPN networks. You're an analyst, you see a lot of venues, you see a lot of good football, regardless of what level of Division I, it is G5, power 4, whatever we're calling it now. But what are your thoughts on this new SEC?
Speaker 3:For Texas and Oklahoma. This is as exciting as it gets. I mean, go down the schedule for texas, the down weeks, so to speak, on texas schedule. Or mississippi state and florida. I mean a year ago, two years ago, on texas schedule, if you had florida coming to austin, that would have been the one of the biggest games on the schedule, even if it's a bad florida team, and I think from a fan's perspective it's as good as it gets. I mean, they are in the best conference and my CBS bosses will hit me on the side of the head for saying that, but it's the best conference and you've got the fanfare in these venues. When you go to Ole Miss or you go to Knoxville or you go even to South Carolina, the Swamp pretty much everywhere except for Vandy. This is as good as it gets, and so from a fan's perspective it's great. I think the benefit for the rest of college football is the expanded playoff will still allow.
Speaker 3:There's still a seat at the table for everybody else at the P4 level and then there's still going to be one group of five team, and so I think the big 10 and the SEC will have several members every year between their conference champions and then probably at least two at-larges from each of those conferences.
Speaker 3:I would guess sometimes maybe a fourth, and then you'll have obviously the big 12 and the ACC, but it will be a. For Texas, this year will be really interesting because you play at Michigan, oklahoma, georgia and Texas A&M on the same schedule, and so there's not this need to feel like you have to be perfect this year because a two-loss Texas team this year almost certainly still gets into the playoff with that record or with that schedule. And I think that's another thing. That's going to be a little different is, if you know years past you lose week one to Michigan. Already you're worried about is this team, do they have any shot at the playoff now? Now you don't. There's not the same concern and, and the last thing I'll say just in general, I think there's going to be so much more meaningful college football played in the month of November across the board, which is going to be really exciting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I'm right there with you, man.
Speaker 1:So back to. You mentioned Texas. Know that you want to avoid any off-season adversity, any off-season issues, because in the summertime it's very easy to happen. But when you have something like this pop up, that your head coach is going through a divorce, I didn't see this. But now that I really think about it I don't well, I'm not going to say anything. All I did was meet the people. I really don't know, but you see this right before camp and you hate to see it. You hate to see any relationship, much less a marriage L'Oreal and Sark mutually filing for divorce. Stevie, you're a part of the Longhorn family. What was your reaction when you first saw this?
Speaker 2:Man, it was tough. They looked great together when they first got off the plane to get hired here at the University of Texas. Man, if you guys will allow me to be 100% honest which I always am, because you're a positive guy, I'm a positive guy, this one it hits a little bit different, right? You know, you want someone's personal life to be stable and things like that. And when this comes out, you realize, oh, it wasn't as stable as we wanted it to be. When you come and look at his professional life, right, you know, steve got some stuff in his closet. You know, and we all know what happened at USC and things like that.
Speaker 2:And we at the University of Texas and the fans and the other players we was like L'Oreal holds this guy down and keep him in place. Sometimes we need that woman behind us to side of us to keep us in place. That is not a worry, but that's a concern. The University of Texas just dumped a lot of money in this man's lap. Who, we think is the rock that's holding him on this straight and narrow, is not there anymore. He has to dig deeper into his sobriety and dig deeper into his personal life when we're about to start one of the most important seasons in Texas football history.
Speaker 2:So I saw this post that they put out and I felt for them on a personal level and then I started thinking about his professional life and I'm a little bit selfish in that and I probably shouldn't be, but you know, it's like I said, this is one of the most important years. The next few weeks is the most important weeks in Texas football history, Going into a new conference in a new big time conference. I'm just hoping that he's OK. I'm just hoping that he's okay. He's going to be okay and surround himself around with people that's going to hold him accountable and keep him all together. And I think that his staff is there for him. His staff loves him. When I talk to some of the assistant coaches, they absolutely love Steve. They don't want to go anywhere else. If another team comes to them, they go to him and go to the CDC and they're like Coach, I don't want you to beat their pay, just match their pay, because I want to stay here with you.
Speaker 1:Taylor, do you think this is a, or can this be a distraction? Your opinion from one who covers college football?
Speaker 3:Of course it could be. My take on it is it's pretty well documented what Coach Sarkeesian has gone through in his life and I would say he deserves the benefit of the doubt until something happens. And I don't have a relationship with Coach Sarkeesian. I don't know anything beyond what you could go find on the internet about his struggles at Washington and USC and to me seems like a guy that has really done a good job on finding focus in his life and getting sober after a period a very public sort of downfall after he left USC, to then climb back up and get back to the top of college football.
Speaker 3:Again, I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt and after having gone through a lot of adversity already in his life, I would imagine he's got that support system around him that you know. It's probably, honestly, from a human perspective, best case scenario that they're about to launch into camp because he's going to, I have to imagine, pour himself into coaching football and getting this team right, because he's not going to have a lot of time to do anything else once they hit fall camp. Obviously it's terrible. Any divorce is awful. I hate that for him. Again, I just keep saying I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt. I assume and imagine you're going to look back after this season and it will not have been a distraction at all.
Speaker 1:I'll put a cap it off by saying this I hate it. You know, they looked perfect to Stevie's point. It was great to see an interracial couple part of the UT athletic family, but they were. It was just. It was bigger than that in my opinion. But you hate it for all the reasons we mentioned, but we also. It's just wow. I'm worried for him, but I have faith that he will do well. I really do All right. Olympic time. We got our favorite rap artist who is transcendent the Olympics in Paris Snoop Dogg. He said man, I did something today. We'll start with you, taylor. What would you cap? What would you cap today? Oh my God.
Speaker 3:Oh man, I have no idea. I'm so bad at games like this. I did see him celebrating with the 4x1 team when they won gold. He was in there with all the wives. I'm like he's got the best job in the world. I have no idea. I have no caption for this.
Speaker 1:I'm awful at stuff like this. I'll tell you this I got something for you to light and burn.
Speaker 2:That's a good one. You know what. You know what he's thinking in his head. He's like wait a minute, this ain't my blunt, that's it. The bubble by his side is like wait a minute, this ain't my blunt.
Speaker 1:What year were you born? Taylor, 91, 1991. Okay, if you were three years old, you remember this.
Speaker 4:Sanic with nowhere to go. Ball in the air.
Speaker 6:Watkins has it Ball three on the goal line and let's see Texas up in the backside hit. The ball went flying. Norman Watkins recovers his own bumblebee.
Speaker 1:Our good friend Norman Watkins in the sun ball against Matt Brown, and the first time he was at North Carolina he picks it off but then he fumbles it before he goes into the end zone. I don't remember that game. Carolina. He picks it up, but then he fumbles it before he goes into the end zone.
Speaker 3:That's when the preseason I don't remember that game. Oh my God, I don't remember that game.
Speaker 1:You were probably on your dad's lap watching it, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, my first football memory is the last Cowboys Super Bowl that they won. Oh my God, my first. Oh my goodness one. Oh, that's the my god, my first. Goodness, that's my first. That's my first football memory, and I wish I didn't remember it, because now it's like I think we're about to talk cowboys in a minute, but my god, it's like can we remember it?
Speaker 1:there's no way. Did it really happen? Did? It really hey, you get to see your guy up there on the top right acting, pay tribute to Hargrove Roofing. And on the other side of this break, as Taylor mentioned, dallas Cowboys. I don't think they're America's team anymore.
Speaker 7:Here at Hargrove Roofing we try to think outside the box, to kind of get the creative juices flowing. So I brought in my friend Stevie Lee, former defensive tackle for the Texas Longhorns. He's going to help the team strategize, really motivate them. Light a fire.
Speaker 2:This guy's going to block down. This guy's going to block down. You put your butt into the guard, and that way, my Mike, linebacker gets free to do what.
Speaker 7:Not only are they going to learn a thing or two, but they're going to also leave with a great attitude and a bunch of smiles on their faces.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:What does this have to do with roofing exactly? Get out Right now. I said get out.
Speaker 7:For me, that's what it's all about. It's just having fun making our employees have a great time. Hargrove Roofing know who's on your roof is resolved, and that was, of course, very sensitive with my family and it was very sensitive with the unique publicity that's involved.
Speaker 1:Okay, it's hard to watch Misty that's in Bob. Okay, it's hard to watch Jerry Jones, very like this. A lot of ahs, very scattered. The second fraternity suit was it ended in Texarkana the day before training camp started or the evening and there was a warm embrace with the young girl and the mother. They won this. They got the settlement. In my opinion, they won, they received money. But, taylor, I know you cover college athletics, but but the optics of that, does it surprise you that Jerry Jones and the Cowboys I mean they always find a way in the daily news cycle?
Speaker 3:No, it doesn't surprise me. The good news is they're professionals. None of this stuff matters to the people that are actually going to be on the field, those coaches and players. They don't care about this stuff. For Cowboys fans, everybody's used to it. I mean, it feels like there's always something going on with Jerry Jones. I don't think this will matter at all on the field. If anything, just from a fan of the Cowboys glad that this is resolved so that you just stop seeing it on the news. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Stevie real quick.
Speaker 2:Dude, the way he was back culling and couldn't get it out. It was cringy, very cringy, but you're right, nobody on the field cares. Let's just put this behind us. Let's move forward and keep um, keep practicing and and um. There was one clip. I saw how many times he said we're going all in, we're going all in, we're all in, we're all in. Just go all in with your team, man and he also used that same day.
Speaker 1:He was talking about doppelganger and I was like not doppelganger dang. And I was like not doppelganger dangling participle. And I was like that is not the day you mentioned dangling participle. I don't want to use it. I don't want to use it.
Speaker 1:Hey, just for FYI Cowboys Training Camp. Our guy, michael Coleman, who has worked in Austin, east Texas, kansas City, new York City TV markets, he's back in East Texas covering his 29th Dallas Cowboys training camp he and I. He'll have another episode with him on Monday camping with the Cowboys, with MC in Oxnard Both of you guys. They're one of the best Longhorns ever to play defensive tackle. He's going to be inducted to the Football Hall of Fame I think it's next week and at Schultz's Beer Garden this happened on Saturday.
Speaker 5:He dies next to John. He still gave him a little bit more. Gabriel, come here.
Speaker 1:Steve McMichael. It's really hard In 2021,. He was diagnosed with ALS. He was a mountain of a man, part of that great 1985 Chicago Bears defense which didn't let even spit get by. They were that good. The rumor is, or the latest I heard when I was there, was he's hanging on until this ceremony concludes. He was on. They had him on FaceTime from his home Longhorn's greats from the 70s all the way up to modern day, where they're including Lamar Houston, from your time, stevie. Oh no, no, that's a little bit past you.
Speaker 1:That was during your turn, Taylor. Do you remember Lamar Houston?
Speaker 3:I do my Longhorn story. I probably should have told this at the beginning. My first game, my first start, was against texas at nrg. Oh wow, it was right after it was the game, after they had lost alabama in the national championship. And so it's the garrett gilbert is back at quarterback and um, they brought back 10 of 11 on that defense and I I know that was a tough couple years for Texas football and I know on offense they weren't great, but that defense had everybody back and it was my first start. And, um, I got picked off by Kenan Robinson on a ball that he had no business ever getting to and that was my welcome to college football and that was, yeah, that was my, that was welcome to college football. It was like every one of these dudes. I was like I think every one of them at least made a roster in the NFL off of that defense they were pretty good.
Speaker 1:That was tough to watch because they were on the field the entire time, throughout the season. It was hard to watch hey TikToking in the man cave. You know there's a lot of questionable things that surface on TikTok. A lot of it's humorous. But we all know about the Hawk Tua girl, but we also that's made its way around the country to people of all ages and even the animals. Now this one. I was thoroughly entertained. I mean, I'm 51 now and I've watched this three times. Spit on that thing.
Speaker 1:Easily entertained. I need to grow up, I know it. Is there anything you could say to critique that TikToking in the man cave choice Not as good? Do you all have TikTok? I do, but I haven't been on until for two and a half weeks.
Speaker 3:I don't even have it. I feel such a boomer. I'm like scared of it. I'm like intimidated by the platform. I'm like I'll just stick to twitter or x, or whatever we call it.
Speaker 2:I feel safe there stay on myspace oh my god hey man tell me something good we gotta start with our guy.
Speaker 1:Uh, a new member of the Stories Inside the man Cave podcast, fraternity, taylor McCarg. You got to watch CBS Sports on all their family of networks this year on college football digitally, all the platforms on air. Tell me something inspiring, or maybe positive, you want to pass along to the viewers and listeners you know, this is by far this has gone announcing.
Speaker 3:It's gone so much better than I thought it would. And to tell you something, good, I guess we're calling the segment um, this is by far the best contract that I've had so far. And um, I'm I I feel really fortunate because, again, I did not. If you'd asked me five years ago, when I started doing this, if this would be where I was at, I would not have believed that. And so, um, I'm really looking forward to this college football season and, uh, I love doing this stuff. I want to, as far as it'll take me, I want to keep doing it. Um, and so, from a college football perspective, going into this season, really, really excited about, about my contract and about this season well, we're excited for you, man, really proud for you too, it's uh, I've watched you from afar and uh.
Speaker 1:So, when I arrived in 20 2012, who was your head coach at Vista Ridge?
Speaker 3:Bill Wilder and then Rodney Vincent came after me Right.
Speaker 1:I just threw the coaching circle. Your name came up. And then when I saw you on CBS and I knew about you when you were quarterback at Rice you know that's pretty easy. But when I saw you get into broadcast I was like wait a minute, you know that guy, he doesn't know me.
Speaker 3:You were a great MC, by the way, at that gala earlier this year it was near campus, I forget which one it was, but you were an MC for a gala I was at. You did a great job.
Speaker 1:I appreciate that, thank you. The Partnership for Children that's right. That's awesome, man. That's right. You and I talked. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Oh my God.
Speaker 1:Taylor, oh my God, because you and I talked about this.
Speaker 3:Well, you talked to everybody that night. You were a busy man that night.
Speaker 2:Aren't you the emcee at the RBI event as well?
Speaker 1:I haven't done that in four years.
Speaker 2:The year before last I was there. You were doing some announcing.
Speaker 1:I was the voice of God. You're not supposed to speak, god.
Speaker 2:I was the voice of God. You're not supposed to speak, god. Everyone loves to hear your voice over the loudspeakers. Man, man, tell me something. Good, dude.
Speaker 2:This is the last push of summer. My kids are going back to school in the next couple of weeks. Y'all know, I ripped my shoulder out, my rotator cuff, this spring break. I'm going back to the scene of the crime this Friday, out to Horseshoe Bay. I'm not getting on a jet ski again, so don't worry. But we're going back out there with a bunch of family and friends that are coming in for just kind of a family reunion and friends that are coming in for just kind of a like a friendly family reunion is what we're calling it, man. And so we're going to go out there and take all of our kids to hang out. And this is the last push of summer and getting into the fall, y'all just enjoy Austin, enjoy the water, enjoy the lakes and just and just enjoy Austin and enjoy each other. Man, this is a very, very volatile time in our society right now, but enjoy the person in front of you, put the phones down, put the social media down and enjoy the people in front of you, cause I enjoy these two guys.
Speaker 1:I have, and I've been doing this, even though even your contact falling out, uh, you know, you know, just for taylor, and I feel like this has been long overdue, just making it happen and follow this guy. This is where you want to follow him on x. There it is tmc mccard.
Speaker 3:I appreciate it yeah, this is a lot of fun, guys. This was uh and I'll. Yeah, anytime you guys want to go get lunch, let's do it.
Speaker 1:Let's do it so for Taylor McCard and the family of CBS Networks, the home of Hargrove Roofing in Shreveport, louisiana, which is the home of Stevie Lee and his family, and the OG man Cave Boys, that being Harbaugh Hards, big Mike and the Coach Moe. What do we tell them, stevie Lee?
Speaker 2:We out.