Welcome to the Skull Session.
Can I interest anyone in Master Teague highlights?
Truth: @MasterTeagueIII had some memorable TD runs. #TouchdownTuesday x @OhioStateFB pic.twitter.com/Ge7WbHafBW
— Ohio State on BTN (@OhioStateOnBTN) May 30, 2023
Glorious.
Let's have a good Wednesday, shall we?
MORE THAN COACH SPEAK. Look out, folks. Ohio State men's basketball head coach Chris Holtmann has entered The Podcast Game™ with a brand-new show called "More Than Coach Speak," where he and Terence Dials, a former Buckeye hoops star and the program's current director of professional development, discuss the art of coaching with college coaches.
More than Coach Speak is a podcast where @TDIALS34 and I talk to Coaches about Coaching.
— Chris Holtmann (@ChrisHoltmann) May 30, 2023
1st episode is with Coach Day and will be out this week wherever you find your podcasts.
Here Ryan talks about what he looks for in recruiting. pic.twitter.com/helr8Vx7su
While details about the podcast's release are undisclosed, Eleven Warriors beat reporter Griffin Strom will have coverage of the first episode once it's released to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio and wherever else podcasts are found.
I'm sure many will share this sentiment, but personally, I can't wait to hear what Holtmann, Dials and Day discussed in the first episode. Both Holtmann and Day have plenty of experience in the coaching realm, and they are charismatic, fun and intelligent –characteristics or qualities that will be fully displayed in that kind of environment.
Make sure to listen and visit our website whenever Holtmann and Dials release this episode (and future episodes). There will be much to discuss.
MIYAN WILLIAMS, EVERYONE. Whenever Miyan Williams carries the football, he runs like his hair is on fire. It must be the Miyan Williams Way, the Cincinnati Way, the Winton Woods Way – I don't know. Whatever it is, Williams is one of the hardest running back in college football for defenders to take down.
In fact, according to a Twitter account called Football Insights, Williams is the hardest running back in college football for defenders to take down.
Missed tackles forced/touch & yards after contact/carry, P-5 RBs since 2014
— Football Insights (@fball_insights) May 27, 2023
Inspired by @QBLRyan https://t.co/oul5QSTYnF pic.twitter.com/WNTRrSahw0
Mmhmm. You read that correctly. Based on statistics like missed tackles forced and yards after contact dating back to 2014, Williams is harder to bring to the turf than Bijan Robinson, Roschon Johnson, Javonte Williams, Kenneth Walker III, Travis Etienne, Alvin Kamara, Dalvin Cook, Jonathan Taylor, Miles Sanders, Joe Mixon, David Montgomery and several other notable players.
That's ridiculous.
However, it doesn't surprise me all that much. Take this video via Reese's Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy from Ohio State's season opener with Notre Dame in 2022. It shows exactly how hard Williams is to tackle in open space.
Early favorite for hardest guy to get on the ground in CFB next fall is @OhioStateFB RB Miyan Williams. Fun tape. #TheDraftStartsInMOBILE pic.twitter.com/dY6OW76gt1
— Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) May 15, 2023
With this information in mind, will Williams be Ohio State's RB1 in 2023? I am still hopeful that TreVeyon Henderson will return to the level of play we saw from him as a freshman in 2021. Still, if Williams is the first running back to stand next to Kyle McCord and Devin Brown this fall, metrics like the one featured above make that outcome equally as exciting.
THE NEXT USC AD. Former USC athletic director Mike Bohn resigned on May 19, one day after The Los Angeles Times asked him and the university about internal criticism of his management in the role, namely that Bohn made inappropriate comments about the physical appearance of female colleagues that made them uncomfortable. Very cool.
"They gave the keys to an idiot again, and hes not even their idiot. USC had another AD hire blow up in its face, and its just the latest embarrassment from a school that just can't get out of its own way. Reporting w/ @Williams_Justin & @NicoleAuerbach: https://t.co/dnUXSAmSav
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) May 25, 2023
As USC's leaders look for someone to replace Bohn, several candidates have been reported by national news outlets, including The Athletic and its college football writers Nicole Auerbach and Bruce Feldman.
This week, Auerbach and Feldman named 13 sports administration executives as people with the potential to fill the vacancy. Two from the Gene Smith athletic director tree: Pat Chun of Washington State and Heather Lyke of Pittsburgh. Here is what The Athletic wrote about those candidates:
Pat Chun, Washington State athletic director
Chun is one of many in the AD world who learned under venerated Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith. Chun is also probably one of many in that same group holding out hope that he could be the one to replace Smith when he retires. (That will be quite an AD sweepstakes when the day comes.)
Chun is well respected inside college athletics, and he knows both the Pac-12 and the Big Ten. He’s served on national NCAA committees, including the D-I Transformation Committee and the D-I Council, and he helped found the AAPI Athletics Alliance, which works to help AAPI administrators find support and empowerment. When Chun was at FAU, he made the bold decision to give Lane Kiffin a second chance as a head coach, a move that paid off well for the Owls. At Wazzu, he’s helped multiple programs (including women’s soccer and women’s basketball) to their best-ever seasons, and he’s done an impressive job navigating recent turbulence around the football program.
Chun is working in an athletic department that is in trouble financially, so now could be a good time to make a move.
Heather Lyke, Pittsburgh athletic director
A former Michigan softball star, Lyke worked under Smith at Ohio State and spent 15 years with the Buckeyes before becoming an AD herself for the first time at Eastern Michigan. She has ties to the Midwest with intimate knowledge of the Big Ten, which would help as the Trojans make their move.
She is an excellent fundraiser who is highly regarded in the industry and serves in prominent leadership positions on a variety of boards and committees, including the Division I Council. She is the current chair of the D-I Football Oversight Committee and the president of the Women Leaders in College Sports board of directors.
Now, it's important to remember that Chun and Lyke are two of the 13 candidates Auerbach and Feldman listed in their article, so either becoming the next athletic director at USC is not guaranteed. However, if one of them does become the next AD, it would be a massive win for Ohio State, considering what Smith said about the additions of USC and UCLA to the Big Ten last summer.
"For Ohio State, it frankly provides two other schools in an unbelievable market that can, frankly, carry some weight,” Smith said at a press conference with then-Ohio State University President Kristina M. Johnson. “At the end of the day, Ohio State over the years is a program that, for the Big Ten, has been at the top of the pyramid and carries a significant amount of weight in the value of the Big Ten. ...Now we have two others that can contribute to that weight, and we’re really excited about that. So this is no disparagement to any other school — it’s just reality."
What better way to have a school help carry some weight than with a familiar face in the athletic department, specifically the department leader? Therefore, I'd love it if Chun or Lyke were hired to replace Bohn. Make it happen, USC.
HOTEL TRIVAGO? IDAHO? In Monday's Skull Session (which none of you read because it was a holiday – and good for you), I wrote about how Ohio State prepares its athletes well for life after sports. However, that doesn't mean those athletes need to wait until retirement to start their career endeavors.
Former Ohio State defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins is the most recent example of this idea, as the 10-year NFL veteran for the New York Giants, Indianapolis Colts, Las Vegas Raiders and Dallas Cowboys broke ground on a Wyndham Hotel in Blackfoot, Idaho, on Memorial Day, May 28.
Hankins appeared in 138 games and made 120 starts from 2013-22, in which he recorded 376 tackles, 37 tackles for loss, 14.5 sacks, 47 quarterback hits, three forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and 10 pass deflections.
In that span, Hankins also accumulated over $46 million from six separate contracts and will make an additional $1.16 million from the Cowboys in 2023. By opening a Wyndham Hotel, it's clear that cash flow will remain steady in the future. Cheers to Hankins for this endeavor. If you are ever in Blackstone, Idaho, you know where to kick your boots up.
SONG OF THE DAY. "What's Your Country Song" by Thomas Rhett.
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