SEC Media Days : my highlights
GEORGE SOMERVILLE – THE TOUCHDOWN SEC CORRESPONDENT
With SEC football within touching distance I’m now writing my thoughts from SEC media days which is still giving me plenty to write and talk about! I hope you have enjoyed my reflections so far, it has been a lot of fun to write about.
But I have to admit, while I write about SEC football all through the season, this piece – my highlights from media days – is my favourite. Yes, I admit to some self indulgence and I am lucky that my editorial team indulge me, but the next few paragraphs bring more than a few smiles to me when I am writing them. These are my highlights from the week in Dallas. And just when I thought that Nashville couldn’t be improved upon, Dallas said ‘anything Nashville can do, we can do better!’
George's highlights from the week in Dallas
Sankey shout out!
It was at Media Days in Nashville, that I found out that SEC Commissioner, Greg Sankey is a regular listener to the College Chaps podcast. That in itself was enough to make my week but since then the Commissioner has not only been a guest on the pod but has also referenced the Chaps in various social media posts and even a press conference during last season.
However, in contrast to Nashville ’23 my trip to Dallas got off to a slow start. Connecting in London on my way to Austin, the plane I was travelling on developed a few engineering “issues”. I won’t bore you with the details but one issue seemed to lead to another one and a short delay soon became a much longer and unexpected delay.
Meantime I was calming my nerves (it was beginning to feel a lot like the flight might be cancelled) by listening to Marty & McGee and taking my written frustrations out on social media and X in particular.
While responses to my post ranged from “calm down” to “hang on in there!” the Commissioner wrote,
“16 teams’ head coaches and players…ESPN and SEC Network talent…all kinds of media friends…tell the airline to get a new tug so we can welcome you to Dallas and @SEC Football Media Days!”
Well my flight did take off, albeit somewhat delayed but I did land in Texas and made it to SEC Media Days! What I didn’t think would happen is that my travel shenanigans would make their way into the Commissioner’s opening remarks……
The Commissioner opened the week with this,
“Good morning. I’m going to go off script, which will make my staff nervous. Three points of recognition this morning. I’ve often thought we should have a media hustle award, but I’m not really confident in what behavior that may encourage.
So I want to give my first shout-out to George Somerville, who I was interacting with on Twitter, College Football Chaps podcast, getting here from London”.
The Commissioner shared with me later that because of the unscripted nature of his comments, he thought that he had misquoted the pod as the “College Football Chaps podcast” which he was a little apologetic for until I let him know that this is our official name on Apple podcasts! Diplomatic incident, averted!
So that’s quite the start to the week……
meeting old friends, making new ones
I am clearly no expert but, with two appearances at Media Days, I at least have a comparison. Last year I got the strong sense that it was an event where people met up at the start of the season and got to catch up with one another. It really was a “kick off event” and being in Nashville, the social game was strong!
Dallas wasn’t vastly different except the mix of media was a little different from the previous year. While some are in residence for the week, beat writers typically might come in for the day that their team is on the podium. Given the distance and cost from the more eastern parts of the conference, certain members of the media didn’t travel to Dallas. Meaning people I met last year weren’t present. The upside being it was a great opportunity to meet new friends!
But first, those who have been strong supporters of what we do in the UK from the beginning. Last year Laura Rutledge was enjoying being a new mum to her baby boy, Jack. This year, with the little lad on his feet there was no such reason for the host of SEC Nation not to be on set and running the show. Much of the cheerleading for the Chaps podcast comes from the US, especially Laura, so it was great to catch up in person, rather than her usual spot on the podcast!
The other person who really deserves a shoutout, is one half of Marty & McGee and an exceptional writer in his own right, Ryan McGee. Like Laura, Ryan has been a champion of ours for some time and again it was great to catch up with him, like Laura, in a relaxed environment.
But of course there are lots of opportunities to meet those who have become friends via the podcast or just by chance. I shared a bus with Peter Burns, Jordan Rodgers and Chris Doering on the way to an ESPN event. I bumped into Dari Nowkah on the ESPN set and had the chance to have a long overdue catch up with him.
But with the event being held in Texas, there was a heavy media presence from Texas and Oklahoma. And to be honest the welcome from Texas was warm and very welcoming. The Texas media all seem to have Scottish ancestry so I was welcomed with open arms. I will remember for a long time how helpful and warm they were to me.
appearing on Radio Row
While the focus, certainly from a TV viewing perspective, is in the main room, there is so much happening elsewhere. There is an electronic media room where coaches and players visit giving interviews in a more relaxed setting. ESPN has a separate location, including the Marty & McGee set. Sirius XM has another location away from Radio Row. But in all honesty, Radio Row is where the action is at. The buzz starts anytime from 7am as radio shows broadcast live from the event and by 9am the noise is quite something with hundreds of talking heads giving their opinions.
Add in SEC This Morning (hosted by Peter Burns and Chris Doering) who this year chose to set up in the epicentre of radio row along with the ESPN set for morning shows such as Get Up and Sportscenter and it’s like trying to get through Oxford Circus at rush hour.
But there is something very thrilling about it, especially when the schools are working radio row. It’s not uncommon to see Kirby Smart sitting with one radio station while Shane Beamer is sitting next to him speaking with someone else. Sometimes surprise guests “work” the row and this year I saw Todd Gurley and Danny Wuerffel giving their expert opinions.
This year I made my Radio Row debut with a station based in Nashville. I met the host of KCOU Sports, Billy Jones last year at the lunch table. We met again this year and Billy asked me to join him for a chat. Which was pretty awesome to get to sit on radio row and talk about SEC football!
There was also too many sports podcasts to mention scattered throughout the event. I was asked to go speak with Rob Browne on the Sidelines SEC Live show. Rob’s show is complete mayhem and he is such an infectious character to be around. A native of Alabama, Rob is as spirited an Auburn sympathiser as I have come across. Add in his Scots/Irish heritage and there is a lot of enthusiasm coming from one man. It was a brilliant experience.
Which sums up the event to be honest. It’s not all about ESPN and CBS – everyone has a part to play from the smallest podcast and radio show to the big guns. It really is such an inclusive event and I am so glad to have played a small part in it!
The Paul Finebaum Show
Without doubt, when anyone speaks about football in the South, it’s hard to mention anyone without talking about Paul Finebaum.
Finebaum really is the godfather of the South, and his daily TV show is akin to a religious experience for football fans in the South. It is unmissable TV.
I will digress for a moment. I have watched & listened to the Finebaum show for years. Back in 2019 I was one of a very few hardy souls who stood in the dark and some nasty weather to watch the great man live from his show, which he was broadcasting from the UGA campus in Athens. I loved every minute of it despite the terrible weather (well I am Scottish…).
Last year it was awesome just to be in the same room as Paul. At one point, I was in the ESPN green room speaking with Ryan McGee and Amanda Brooks when I noticed Paul out of the corner of my eye – the conversation stopped for a moment as I was genuinely starstruck.
This year, while I had seen Paul around, the opportunity to speak with him just hadn’t come up. Then completely out of the blue I received a message from the producer of the show. “Would I like to come on the show and speak to Paul?”…… I couldn’t respond quick enough. But soon after the reality of the situation set in. Live TV with Finebaum, sheesh.
But I needn’t have worried. It was exactly the experience I hoped it would be. Paul and I had touched base a few years ago to see if he would come speak to us on the College Chaps podcast. During that interaction Paul shared that his grandfather was a Londoner. So on the show this was a natural place for him to go. He is clearly very attached to his UK ancestry so it was nice to speak with him, while a few million people watched our chit chat! You can watch the full interiew below. It will be very hard to top this going forward, to be honest. Maybe impossible.
Brian Kelly & the LSU tigers
I have already written a separate piece about this given the importance of the news to the UK and Ireland college football fan base. But in case you missed it, this definitely falls into one of my highlights of the week.
Last year I got the chance to ask then Alabama head coach Nick Saban a question in the main room. This year, with LSU rumoured to be in discussions to play a game in Ireland, the opportunity to speak with Tigers head coach, Brian Kelly and ask him about his thoughts on it was too good to miss. And so I did. It was Coach Kelly’s answer which was a ringing endorsement that the Tigers will be in Dublin sooner rather than later.
I feel that I am principally there to let everyone back home know what is going on during the biggest and best football conference media days. But, if there is a secondary mission, if you like, it is to let those in the US know of the growing fandom of college football outside of the 50 states.
Getting the opportunity to ask some of the biggest names in football about UK and European interest is what it’s all about. I did last year with Nick Saban when asking about global recruitment.
However with reports that LSU is in discussions about coming to Ireland to play in the College Football classic, the opportunity was too good to miss. So I asked Brian Kelly about his desire to come across to Ireland.
“Well, as a Irish Catholic and somebody that loves to go to Ireland, not to just be at the Temple Bar, but to be in Ireland and the history and the culture of Ireland, I just think from our brand, we’ve done such a good job with the LSU brand throughout the country. I think the next step for us is international.
I’ve felt the travel there is so clean and easy. Ireland has been such a great destination for other football programs to go and play. Aviva, Cork stadium, both great venues to play in.
I just think it sets up so easy from my perspective for American football to go over there and be received first of all, and then getting the matchup there. So I’m a huge proponent. I’ve been pushing our administration and hopefully we’re able to see that come to fruition”.
Footnote:
Since that question was put to Kelly and subsequent radio interviews I have done, another D1 head coach has reached out directly to me to say that his school would love to come across to London to play in a game. So maybe the momentum is growing faster than we think!
GEORGE SOMERVILLE
COLLEGE FOOTBALL WRITER
GEORGE IS A LONG STANDING FANATIC OF LIFE AND FOOTBALL IN THE DEEP SOUTH AND WRITES HIS WEEKLY COLUMN CALLED “IT’S ONLY SEC” FOR THE TOUCHDOWN. HE IS ALSO CO-HOST AND ONE THIRD OF THE COLLEGE CHAPS PODCAST, THE UK’S FIRST PODCAST DEDICATED TO THE COLLEGE GAME.