No, I’m not doing a podcast or anything. Rivals Radio has a couple interviews, though, you might want to give a listen.

This one with Coach Dave Wannstedt (Windows Media), is decent. It’s about 10:40 in length. Some of it is stuff already read or heard elsewhere like how this team is really Palko and Blades’s. He had a lot of praise for Blades in the interview.

On the discussion of the offseason, it was asked how you know you have had a good offseason beyond what the strength and conditioning coach tells you. Wannstedt talked about issues of leadership from the seniors and who/how many are showing up for the workouts and voluntary stuff.

There was a little talk about Greg Lee leaving school early, and my impression was that Coach Wannstedt all but said, “I tried to warn him.” Encouraged, prompted by the host, Coach Wannstedt stressed that he knows what it takes for NFL people to consider drafting someone. That he knows what it takes to get a player to the next level and whether the player is ready yet. Definitely part of the recruiting pitch.

There is also an interview with Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese that runs a little over 12 minutes. Most of it was pretty standard stuff well-repeated from various media sources about no plans to expand and how the conference is improving in football.

The only part that was interesting to me was near the end when the conversation turned to basketball and how some coaches wanted to expand the NCAA Tournament. Since Syracuse’s Boeheim was one of the most vocal supporters of it, and his status, I figured Tranghese might hedge. Instead, while not directly addressing Boeheim — simply saying, “I know some of the coaches in our conference support it” — he dismissed it. He said — quite correctly — that coaches want the expansion for their own selfish reasons.