Dan Dickau answers reader questions on the latest episode of the Gonzaga Nation podcast
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00:00 Hey, everybody, it's Christian Pedersen joined by Dan Dickow.
00:05 You're back for another episode of the Gonzaga Nation podcast.
00:07 Thank you, everyone, for tuning in.
00:09 We've got a mailbag edition right now where we're going to send the questions
00:13 that you guys submit to us for Dan to answer.
00:16 Dan, the first one we got kind of from every corner of the Internet right now.
00:21 Last week plus, there's been a lot of conference realignment news.
00:25 People want to know your thoughts.
00:27 Yeah, I mean, we did cover it earlier this week a little bit more in depth,
00:32 but it's a question that continues to come up.
00:34 There's been lots of great articles written after first Colorado
00:38 going to the Big 12 and then a few days later,
00:40 you know, leading into this past weekend, the news of UW and Oregon
00:44 going to the Big Ten and then almost simultaneously
00:48 announced Arizona, Arizona State, Utah going to the Big 12.
00:52 And it leaves 12 schools down to four
00:56 in the Pac-12.
00:57 So, you know, obviously, then that leads the question
01:01 for people listening to this with their Gonzaga interest is
01:05 what does that leave Gonzaga? What does it do?
01:07 You know, and I think it's one of those things where, again,
01:10 Gonzaga fans just have to be patient, understand that, you know,
01:13 Mike Roth before and now Chris Standford and Mark Few have always made solid,
01:18 terrific decisions leading the athletic department and in particular,
01:22 you know, the basketball program.
01:25 And that goes to, you know, Coach Few staying.
01:27 That goes to building McCarthy Athletic Center, the practice facility.
01:31 You know, they've had hardly any missteps
01:35 in building the foundation of the program
01:38 and building the athletic department up to the level that it is.
01:41 You know, now there's an opportunity where they've
01:45 they're going to have to make a decision soon.
01:48 What those are, we don't know yet, but we know that they've flirted
01:51 with the Mountain West in the past.
01:53 We know that there's been conversations over the past few months
01:56 with the Big 12 and or the Pac-12 that people maybe didn't know about.
02:00 But I think, you know, there's going to be I would imagine
02:04 there's going to be some more solid news in regards to Gonzaga
02:07 and the WCC, I would think, in the near future.
02:10 Another question we got submitted to us, Dan, was what's next for Washington State?
02:15 Yeah, I know, you know, being from this side of the state,
02:19 a lot of people are Gonzaga fans and WSU fans.
02:24 And so they're kind of, you know, kind of dip their toes
02:26 into both fan bases, kind of following them.
02:29 And that's a tough one. That's a difficult one.
02:31 I don't like the fact that you and WSU are not going to be
02:34 in the same conference anymore.
02:37 I just I don't like that.
02:39 I understand why you would do it.
02:41 I do remember a few months back there was a
02:44 a quote partnership that was said that, hey, if you and WSU
02:51 are going to move conferences, they're going to do it together.
02:53 Well, the almighty dollar spoke for you, Dub,
02:56 and it pushed them to the Big Ten.
02:58 It didn't speak for Washington State.
03:00 So it's kind of putting them in limbo, trying to figure out exactly where they're
03:04 where they're going to be in the next couple of years.
03:06 Does that mean the DEPAC 12 expands, adding some teams?
03:10 Does it mean there's a merger with the Mountain West?
03:12 Does that mean that maybe Washington State and probably Oregon State,
03:15 which both kind of fit geographically was as far as college towns
03:20 and size of universities with those schools fit in the Mountain West.
03:24 It's hard to say.
03:26 I do know that, you know, it's going to be
03:29 an interesting, difficult pill to swallow, I'm sure, for a lot of fans
03:34 in the state of Washington, whether you're a Husky or a Coug,
03:37 that the Apple Cup is going to be changed in many ways.
03:41 It might be something where I know the athletic departments
03:43 right now are saying they're going to keep the series going.
03:45 But with conferences expanding and having so many
03:50 quote guaranteed games, they have to play in league.
03:52 It's not going to open up many,
03:55 you know, opportunities for rivalry games.
03:58 So that being the case, I hope both schools
04:02 definitely keep that a priority in scheduling moving forward,
04:05 because, you know, it's something that I, you know, I know a lot of people
04:09 look forward to every single year in whatever sport it is that they follow.
04:12 Final question, we got Dan a reminder, if you guys want your questions
04:16 answered by Dan, make sure you tag us on social media,
04:20 Fandation Zags, or you can subscribe to us
04:22 wherever you get your podcast by searching in Zag Nation. Dan.
04:25 So much talk, so much hyperbole, like this has become a little bit
04:30 of a soap opera and melodrama about where is everybody going?
04:33 Who's realigning with what? Where's everyone going to wind up?
04:35 Do you think the players care about it nearly as much as the fans do?
04:39 Or is this something that is juicy and delightful for us to talk about?
04:42 But, you know, ballers going to ball and they just want to play.
04:46 Yeah, I think for the players that are in college right now,
04:49 I don't think it really is much of a thought to them.
04:53 They've committed to the school and or program or the NIL program
04:58 that they feel is best for them leading into this college season.
05:02 You know, I think, you know, what it might do at the end of this year
05:05 when you see all these Pac-12 teams realigning to different leagues,
05:08 you might see some players being like, no, that doesn't fit me.
05:12 I didn't play much at this at this level.
05:15 We're going to to change conferences, and I don't think I'm going to work there.
05:19 I need to go find a different opportunity.
05:22 So I think there's going to be a little bit of that.
05:24 I think there's going to be a little bit of, you know, disappointment
05:28 for some of the players that have already played in a rivalry.
05:31 I mean, you know, for someone who might have played in the USC,
05:33 you UCLA rivalry in a particular sport.
05:35 It's not going to change much because you're going to stay in the Big Ten together.
05:40 But, you know, as kind of alluded to in the previous question,
05:44 the Apple Cup, UW and WSU, what if these two schools don't play together
05:48 against each other every year?
05:50 You know, that's something that a lot of players, if you're going to a state
05:54 school or regional school that you kind of grew up
05:57 aspiring to be a part of, and now all of a sudden some of these rivalry games
06:01 that you grew up maybe watching aren't, you know,
06:03 maybe as big a part of the the seasonal schedule
06:08 or not as big a part of the calendar.
06:10 Yes, it's going to change some things.
06:13 So I think it might change.
06:16 It's not going to change for players too soon now, but I think the.
06:20 Recruitable athletes, if they're not keeping an eye on what league
06:26 their schools are recruiting them in are currently in and or maybe moving to,
06:32 you know, they could be in for a disappointment.
06:36 You know, for example, say you were, you know, being recruited,
06:40 you know, to say, let's just use Oregon State as an example.
06:43 And you are ready to go to Oregon State and you are excited to play
06:47 USC, UCLA this year as a freshman and you're Arizona and all these
06:51 different schools and all of a sudden you look up and you see you're
06:55 in the Mountain West and there's nothing against a Wyoming, a Colorado state,
06:58 but a Colorado, there's nothing against those schools.
07:03 But now all of a sudden you look and you're playing against,
07:05 you know, Mountain West opponents as opposed to Pac-12 or on the flip side.
07:09 Say, you know, you're in Colorado and you go to the Big 12.
07:12 Now, all of a sudden, you know, you're playing against Kansas.
07:15 You're playing against Texas Tech.
07:16 You're playing against Baylor.
07:18 You know, I think you got to be really.
07:21 Eyes wide open right now as a recruitable athlete
07:24 about where your true level lies as to where you can have success
07:28 and maybe not be recruited over every single year,
07:32 because many times the higher level you go, you have more of an opportunity
07:36 to be recruited over every year as opposed to being the guy.
07:39 So you got to figure out what's important to you.
07:41 Playing time, rivalry games, where what league you play in to go
07:46 experience playing in different places, making it to the NCA tournament,
07:50 because that's something we haven't even touched on is the college football
07:53 championship series for football.
07:55 We haven't touched on the NCAA tournament and how bids will suddenly be allotted
08:00 because each school that gets.
08:02 Into the NCAA tournament and wins, you get a bid share
08:06 and that money is then dispersed amongst all teams in the league.
08:10 And that's a big part that people don't realize is driving this, too, is
08:14 is if you are in a league that creates a final four team or a team
08:18 that gets in in the national football game championship, you're you're spreading.
08:24 You're getting a piece of a pretty large chunk of money.
08:26 So that's a big piece as well that I think student athletes have to look at
08:31 is where where the conferences.
08:35 Where is the school in the conference that they're in,
08:38 the experiences and the ability to play and have success going to lead them to
08:41 more complicated layers to be a college kid now than just so many.
08:46 I want to be part of the Apple Cup.
08:48 Yeah, well, then what's the other thing is, you know, some of these
08:51 higher level programs in big leagues have great NILs.
08:56 But don't forget, if you go to a big school, if you're a recruitable athlete
09:01 and you're not a priority, you're not going to get a big chunk of NIL
09:06 where maybe for you, that's important to you.
09:08 You could go be a absolute standout in a college town.
09:13 And I'll just use Montana State for an example.
09:15 You know, Bozeman's great.
09:17 You can go to Montana State and be a standout, maybe start for three years
09:22 all league and you get NIL money for three years.
09:24 Now, I don't know what the NIL situation is there, but I would imagine
09:28 if you're a standout at that level, you might be making a lot more money in NIL
09:33 than you would as a third or fourth string in a power conference.
09:37 So there's lots of different things you have to look at and consider right now
09:41 as a recruitable athlete.
09:42 Worst spot to be at.
09:43 And this joke or commentary only applies to probably like you, me
09:47 and five people listening.
09:48 But the worst spot to be at in college athletics is to be a recruited athlete.
09:52 That's not a guaranteed starter.
09:54 It's it's 24/7, 365 stress.
09:57 Like either be like you and be an all American untouchable.
10:01 You're like, no, Dan's not Dan's not in danger on this roster
10:03 or be the walk on that.
10:06 They're like, yeah, we have three of them.
10:08 Just we don't know their names, but they're the Star Trek registered extras
10:11 that if someone gets killed off on this episode, it's them.
10:13 But like they're not we're not we're not paying them to be here.
10:16 So great.
10:16 Don't be in that middle ground.
10:18 Don't be a recruited athlete who's sitting second or third string
10:21 or something like that.
10:22 It's an awful, awful hellish landscape.
10:23 Yes. But yeah, those are our questions for this week's mailbag.
10:27 Make sure you guys send them in to Foundation Zags out on all your social.
10:30 You get a hold of Dan at DanDickout21.
10:33 We'll be back next week with more Gonzaga Nation podcasts.
10:36 Make sure you subscribe to us wherever you get your your shows.