The No Show-Cause Show
Former Industry Professional in College Athletics, Lifetime Fan of College Sports, and Bar Conversation Historian giving perspective, historical recounts, and commentary on the state of college athletics and the competitions occurring at the moment.
147: Power 4 Commissioner Stepping Down, College Basketball Begins, and is the CFP Being More Transparent?
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Of course we have a week 9 recap in store for today's episode, and of course there were some pertinent rules items from the weekend. The Big 12 issues another officiating "my bad" statement, and we learn all about illegal onside kick penalties that ended an upset bid of the #1 team.
We also talk about the news that the Big 12 will need a new commissioner in January. A short look back at Yormark's short tenure.
College Basketball is rolling on its way today with a plethora of games, can last year's r...
146: Deceptive PCSA Polls, Big Ten Goes for a Cap, and the Week Before the Week 9 Preview
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The final Thursday in October has us running numbers for the latest attempt to deceive everyone about the PCSA. Randy Levine has issued a formal letter with questionable grammar to the House of Representatives urging them to pass the PCSA. He references that 3/4 of Americans support the bill. I took a look on the "poll" this bit of information this is based on and to say it uses Mickey Mouse math would be a disservice to the rodent.
We also talk about the Big Ten getting ahead of the PCSA and...
145: Bounce House Rules Blitz, Missing Injury Reports, and Cincy's Revenge - Week 8 College Football Recap
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Another weekend in College Football where ranked teams fall, many to unranked underdogs. We highlight the insanity at the end of BYU-UCF with strategy decisions, and yes Big 12 rules misses and misfires. We also wonder if Indiana breached Big Ten protocol by not listing their QB on the injury report prior to their drag out OT win at Michigan.
Cincinnati got a measure of revenge on the Sorsby saga by beating Texas Tech at home. A bunch of other teams fell prey to the "game after the game". We talk about w...
144: App Smack Talk, Maryland Mishaps, and Recalibrating Our Brains - Week 8 College Football Preview
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We may be in the professional Fall Sports Equinox, but in college sports the main focus right now is football. We do have some College Basketball news, however, as a great injunction just got 22 men's players from the class of 2022 eligible for the upcoming season. Also in the world of college basketball, a report from CBS Sports takes a guesstimate at what power conference teams are spending on their rosters for the coming year.
In College Football, the App State AD takes a shot at the soon to be departing from...
143: The Wildest Saturday in College Football History, and is There An Officiating Epidemic? - Week 7 Recap
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So much to say and hyperbole cannot apply to the Saturday we saw in College Football this past Saturday. We go over all the top 10 upsets and cover as many of the other games as we can.
Two of those games spotlight the rough officiating we have had thus far in the college football season. Notre Dame's late game attempt should have had at least one more play and the Big 12 has admitted as much. And a heroic heave from underdog Florida State was called back before a phantom hold and...
142: Volleyball Air Miles, James Madison Goes American, and Some Teams Are Asking Themselves 'Then What?' In Our Week 7 Preview
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We start today's episode with the breaking news that we have finally crossed the 24-team Rubicon in the CFP. It's nice that ESPN and the SEC settled things before they could move forward. It's what no fans want, but it is inevitable given the current stakeholders and situation.
We also look at how many air miles a power 4 team has their volleyball team traveling just so their football team can still be in the power 4.
Also James Madison is making the move to another group of 6 conference. It's a s...
141: Will Stein is Our 'Go for 2' Champion, Big Ten Admits Another Officiating Error, Missed PI In Bama - Week 6 College Football Recap
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An amazing group of games for the 6th week of College Football (already!), was full of more storylines and yes, plenty of rules items to discuss. Oregon struggled mightily against UCLA but their 2-point bid to tie the game had penalty yardage incorrectly applied, the Big Ten said.
Speaking of 2-point conversations, once again Will Stein is the champion of our cause as he scores back to back going for 2 in the 1st OT wins in the SEC. This time it was over Lane Kiffin, who was second-guessing himself on 4th a...
140: Stock Up or Stock Down; Where Do Certain Teams Stand Going Into Week 6 in College Football?
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Money never sleeps, they say, but talking about money in college football never stops. While op-eds are being written to chastise college programs from not being more like their professional counterparts, I continue to say that is a good thing.
Also while there are cries of no rules, and no one is in charge, the NCAA is still making working to streamline their legislative process and governance. Work is still being done, and it's in an effort to make things better. I take a look at the latest from the D1...
139: Always Go For 2, Batted Balls, and Mid-game Firings - Week 5 College Football Recap
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When is a batted ball the worst decision? Well we found out. How about some freakin laser beams on top of the uprights? Or we could just trust the official looking up. When should you go for 2 to win the game instead of playing for a prolonged overtime? Always.
Week 5 in College Football gave us some dominated performances, some surprises, and even a mid-game firing of a defensive coordinator. We talk about what caught our eye from the weekend.
Also, early season ratings are down, but it's a match-up p...
138: We are NOT Anti-Fall Weddings, What Does Michigan Want in a Compliance Staffer? Plus, Week 5 College Football Preview
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It's October, Fall is in the air and it's a great time to celebrate love. I'm off to a Fall Saturday wedding this weekend and while some on the internet have opined how unfair it is for a couple to choose to say their vows while college football is being played, I will not rail against the practice. On the contrary, with technology being what it is now, and have the perspective of the years behind me, I won't be sulking in a corner during the wedding. The college football world will go...
137: Vicious Targeting, Simulating "Using the Restroom", Drop-Kick Onside Kicks, Clocks Again In Ann Arbor: A Wild Week 4 by the Rules Recap
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So many rules items on the field to talk about in Week 4 of College Football. We let those moments be our guide for recapping what transpired.
In LA, a blatant targeting hit on Dante Moore caused a response from just about everyone, but it was the actions after the hit that drew most of the ire.
We have botched replay review in Bloomington Friday night, and an intentional grounding that led to a 4th and 45(!) with the game on the line.
Iowa needed an amazing string of p...
136: College Football Does Not Live in a Bubble, It's Also Doing Okay. Plus, Week 4 Preview
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Week 4 is on the way, and it brings a great slate of games. Before the previewing, I get to pontificating about the state of college football. It's not all sunshine and roses for some programs out there (see: Fayetteville, AR), and while there is more opportunity to compete and win, and turn things around quickly, when college football is bad somewhere, there is a tendency to say "this is the state of things."
Certainly, teams like Mississippi State are not thinking negatively about their current situation, but when paper bags go...
135: NC State Fails the Safety Dance, and Ole Miss Gets Revenge
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College Football Week 3! What a wild weekend it was, it had everything that makes college sports great. "Protect" college sports you say? The only thing it needs protection from are those trying to "save" it.
The rules of a safety in football are quite clear, especially when you are trying to intentionally take one. There is only one pathway to the other team taking the lead, and that is turning the ball over to them. The ending of the NC State-Vanderbilt game will be discussed for years to come. We talk...
134: The Biggest Game Stands Alone in Week 3 of College Football
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It's the Thursday before week 3 and everything points to Oxford this Saturday for the most emotionally-charged college football game in quite awhile.
Lane Kiffin can downplay it all he wants, his team is the favorite and the environment will be insane.
We talk about that game and preview the rest of the match-ups that have our attention starting tonight and through Saturday.
We also hit on the PCSA, as it does move initially through the Senate with more to come.
Texas has not been covering it...
133: Beware the Pushers of the Protect College Sports Act, and the Week 2 College Football Recap
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It's time to talk about the Protect College Sports Act....again. Not my desire but with the latest tactic of full on commercials from (paid?) spokesmen Saban and Sanders, along with Gameday allowing Ted Cruz to talk for 10 minutes on Gameday while getting booed and chanted at, it left me little choice. With the bill now up to 230 pages in length and the desperate way in which the rhetoric of those wanting it passed has become, it's time to know just how damaging and limiting it would be to college sports as a...
132: Welcome to the College Football Zone: Chaos Thrives on the Field, in the Courtroom, and in the Booth as We Head to Week 2
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The College Football season is just beginning and yet it feels like time and space are slipping away from us. Can we get back to reality with a wonderful new slate of games for week 2, highlighted by Ohio State and Texas. Can Michigan pull themselves together against Oklahoma? Is Alabama really a contender in the SEC? Can the ACC get a solid win against another power 4 conference?
These questions and more will be explored in today's episode. We must of course revisit the Western Michigan clock issue, since the MAC Conference d...
131: Week 1 College Football Recap: The Featured Rules Item is The Big Ten's Hidden Clock!
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Week 1 is all but in the books (1 game left tonight), but the action on the field did not disappoint, but of course the rules of the game execution did disappoint. Right off the bat in this college football season we had a controversy, then an explanation which left the fallout of who is looking at one game clock and why is the game clock the replay officials is looking at different from the one everyone else can see? We get into the crazy ending in Ann Arbor which left Western Michigan on the...
130: Week 1 College Football Preview in Which a Team is Described as "Pythonic"
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Welcome back, our first College Football Preview show of the 2026 season. Are all the games blockbusters? Absolutely not but that doesn't mean we are without intriguing match-ups that will have some effect on teams down the line.
We get a lot of first looks at new coaches, new QBs, and renewed seasons of hope. Of course the big match-up will be Saturday night in Death Valley, that will have fallout from a court decision later today. It's always something with that coach, that school, and even Dabo couldn't resist taking a...
129: Week 0 Recap, and the NCAA is Issued a Show Cause Order!
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We have our first college football games of the season in the books and wouldn't you know it, we have a surprise off the bat. North Carolina survives in Dublin to pull off the upset. We review that game and the other week 0 games.
Also, the Spike Under the Lights went well going by attendance figures. So well they plan another one for next year.
The NCAA gets a show cause order while usually they are dishing them out. The legal battle over professional athletes returning to college continues t...
128: New College Football Rules, Plus Our Season Preview!
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It's college football season, and it could not have gotten here soon enough. More news in the eligibility court cases and a twist with power conferences trying on self-governance to attempt to block schools from bringing back professional athletes dominate the off-the-field headlines. LSU is once again at the center of the controversy, and we look at how from their coaches to their data-center loving AD, to the governor of the state, they are seemingly at a race to the bottom.
Then, we finally get back to the sport side of...
127: College Football Team Previews, North Carolina and the Broken Frosty Machine
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It's the final of our college football previews where we look at the season ahead and the state of the athletic department for a specific program. Today, we have Colin Hoggard, program director and host at WFNZ sports radio in Charlotte joining to discuss all thing Tar Heels. The football on the field prospects are not great for the upcoming season, and the issues off the field are not enjoyable even, but not for a lack of salacious stories about the regime. Colin gives us the straight talk from a dedicated fan.
<...126: College Football Team Previews with Tony in Arkansas!
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College Football preseason rolls on as we take a look into the SEC, but not the boring teams ranked at the top, we discuss a team looking to find its way back. Arkansas lost 10 games last year, many by just one score, and they return this year with a new coach and a new vision for success. Our esteemed returning guest Tony takes on *trotters* on the ground in Fayetteville to talk about the team's upcoming year. There is some reason for optimism among a difficult schedule.
We also discuss the...
125: Come on Feel the Boise
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We continue on with our season team previews, this time highlighting Boise St as they enter the new Pac-12. While the move and the strains of modern college football have put the Boise athletic department at a deficit, the move could prove to pay dividends down the line.
We also make a correction on women's soccer for the start of the college sports 26-27 year. Plus, we discuss the preseason college football rankings and how one P4 coach thinks too much credence is given to what people think before games have...
124: Almost Heaven - Two Virginias
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Was that John Denver full of it? Another song inspired college football preview. This time we look at West Virginia and Virginia Tech, two schools in the power 4 trying to reclaim old glory in the new system. They've brought in revenue, hired coaches who have won big before, and have fans eager to see them regain their foothold in the college football world. It may not happen for them this year, but they've given themselves a chance and some early non-conference games will loom big to start their year.
We also...
123: PCSA on Hold and Team Previews - 'Especially in Michigan' Version
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Another Monday that gets us closer to the Fall season. We first explore how the PCSA is on hold at least until September as the votes and even the bill itself could reach agreement in the Senate. One member even used interesting anatomical term in the conversation.
Our upcoming season previews for state of the football team combined with athletic department outlook begins with Michigan. Two athletic programs diverged in a yellow...(maize?) wood and we travel both- looking at Michigan and Michigan State. What does this year hold for these p...
122: Railing Against the Protect College Sports Act (Yet Again)
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It's a thunderstorming day here while record and I guess it matches our mood toward the resurrected Protect College Sports Act. As of now we still don't know if it will even be voted on but once again we are at a point of no return with college sports. We have something in the works that alters college sports, but it does not fix it, nor does it protect it. The political machinations alone make it an ominous document, that has bloated to more than 170 pages. The few fixes I do agree with...
Show-Cause Conversations: Tom Henske
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Today's guest is Tom Henske, Tom is a Certified Financial Planner, University of Virginia professor of personal finance, and founder of Total Cents and Total Cents University. His upcoming TEDx talk on Sudden Wealth Syndrome and NIL has brought national attention to why financial literacy for young athletes has never been more urgent.
He also has experience as a collegiate athlete, as he was a two time All-American and three time NCAA Division I Soccer Champion at the University of Virginia.
Tom brings the facts and enthusiasm about preparing t...
121: The Big Ten Preens and the NCAA is Back to Their Old Tricks
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**Special Alert** Please consider donating to friend of the show Adam Drake's efforts in the Pan-Mass Challenge which 100% of what you donate goes to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Donate here.
On today's show we stormed ahead with little prep to touch on the prevailing college sports stories to close out the week:
Big Ten media days, the trophy is on the table and the chins are held high as the conference pushes the talking point about the league winning the last three CFP titles. Bret Beilema also join...
Show-Cause Conversations: Adam Drake Part 4th, Talking to Our Avatar for the Casual College Sports Fan
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Adam Drake returns yet again for another off the wall discussion of random topics interwoven with attempts at covering a few college sports topics.
**SPECIAL EPISODE NOTE** Adam is riding in the Pan-Mass Challenge, a bike challenge that raises more money for charity than any other single athletic fundraising event in the country. Always held the first weekend in August, the PMC raises funds for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a world leader in adult and pediatric cancer treatment and research. Please consider donating to Adam's efforts.
Also on today's episode...
120: It's Not Just What You Say About College Sports, It's How You Say It
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On today's show, we start off with the *breaking news* that North Carolina has placed GM Michael Lombardi has been placed on paid leave. Details still ongoing there.
We then discuss the anticipated lawsuits that came with the 5 for 5 rule being implemented. Our FRI discusses how it could affect rosters right before the season begins for some schools, and whether we could see a broad federal case injunction be granted.
Our main topic is what messages some stakeholders of college athletics are delivering and how they are conveying them...
119: From Justin to Kelly, the SEC talks Breakaway and Tampering.
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A lot to gather from SEC Football Media Days that have taken place this week. The biggest headline may be from Commissioner Greg Sankey again mentioning a 'Breakaway by the SEC' which of course reminds me of a Kelly Clarkson song from long ago. We have no problem aging ourselves with the early catalogue of Mrs. Clarkson.
Sankey clarifies his comments but is it indicative of the angst the SEC is feeling after the last three years of the CFP? It felt a lot like last year when the SEC made...
118: Michigan Will Move on From Manuel, And the ACC Revamps Its Tiebreaker
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Fortunately we did not record to early and were able to get the news out of Michigan before we began recording. The down side of course, is we were not able to fully digest whatever findings the internal investigation uncovered or the big picture of losing an AD that has a tenure of 10 years and a championship track record on the field. We do our best to connect the dots of how we got to an initially defiant administrator that eventually was forced to step down and what was the worst of what...
Show-Cause Conversations: Coach Marty Richter
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Extremely honored to have Marty Richter join the show. He is the Head Men's Basketball Coach at USC Upstate, and about to enter his third year on the job.
Marty and I go way back to our days working together at Florida Gulf Coast. While I toiled away in the Compliance Office, he was helping lead the team on the historic Dunk City run. We chat about the magical 2013 Sweet Sixteen experience, and also his other stops along the way that took him from D3 to Junior College, Drake and now...
117: Can a Video Game Revolt Teach College Sports a Lesson? Plus, Cincinnati Gets a Letter From the NCAA
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We are back on a Monday in mid-July, and that means we are talking EA's College Football '27 issue and World Cup VAR problems, but fear not, we relate them back to College Sports, as always.
Cincinnati gets a letter of inquiry from the NCAA regarding Sorsby, and Kansas inks a jersey patch deal that makes the Monster Energy Big 12 football season announcement seem like a smaller can to swallow.
116: A Monster Deal for the Big 12?
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On today's show, we go straight in on how the Big 12 kicked off their football media days.
We wonder if this is the start of a big push by the Big 12 to be the most relevant conference in terms of coporate deals or if this is jsut a carnaval show that will fall flat as time goes on.
We also examine how the bending of the rules in the World Cup may have affected the US team's dismal performance in the round of 16, and the perception of the rules of...
115: Conference Realignment Takes Effect (Again), and A Look at a Power 4 School's Self-Reported Violations
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July 1 occurred last week and with it, a new wave of conference realignment. The Pac-12 is back, albeit in an altered form. We have schools moving back to previous conferences, moving because their conference fell apart, and even some schools dropping out of Division I. We will do our best to cover all the new landing spots.
We again check in with the World Cup because again, the parallels to college sports just keep coming. Also significant is while drawing comparisons to targeting for the US red card problem, the news...
Show-Cause Conversations: Mark Majewski Joins Us Again
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Fresh off his round at Whistling Straits Mark Majewski, Director, Creative for the Boston Bruins and TD Garden joins us once again to discuss a varied number of topics in college sports.
We firstly get his boots on the ground, beer in the glass take on Boston hosting the World Cup and how it has been a mostly positive experience that draws parallels to college sports in some ways.
Aside from lending us his expertise in his field, which includes years in creative ventures and sports communications at various...
114: The Best Performing Athletic Programs, CSC Scores a Rare Win, and A Laughable Op-Ed From a P4 President
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What is it that makes a successful year for an athletic department? We look at the final Director's Cup Standings to see what schools and conferences scored the best.
Congrats again are in order to billable hours, as we look at how much money the NCAA has thrown away....I mean spent on legal bills and settlements over recent years. And along with that we get a glimpse of a rare win for the CSC in court. Will it do anything to prevent athletes from taking action to get paid their w...
113: The Academic Year Concludes, Congressional Bill is DOA, and Which Program will Adopt the Norwegian World Cup Row?
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On today's show, we officially turn the page on the 2025-26 Academic Year. Baseball has finished, with Oklahoma completing their underdog journey. Baseball, perhaps more than any other collegiate sport is facing the NIL era with roster building questions, but also opportunity as exhibited by the CWS field.
The Protect College Sports Act may have made it out of committee but the discord it is sowing among collegiate contingents, most notably the SEC and Big Ten gives it little chance of getting through Congress. The one notable element that may come fr...
112: Catching Up with Texas Tech Outflanked and the Longhorns Capturing the Director's Cup
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We are baaack, and trying to pace ourselves with taking on all the developments from our week away. Of course, the biggest development was Brendan Sorsby forgoing his fight against the NCAA and the Big 12 and choosing to enter the NFL Supplemental Draft.
Untimely move by the Big 12 in terms of our Show-Cause Conversation we posted last Monday with a sports lawyer, but we bring everything up to speed and ultimately, how we feel releived with the outcome, definitely not with the process.
We also touch on the final N...
