Sam Webb with a rare interview of Warde.

Some of it is dry.

But when Sam asked Warde to respond to claims that we were slow out of the gate with NIL, the conversation got very interesting in my opinion.

Warde mentioned two primary causes for that and the first one was eye opening to me because I had never considered it.

My summary of his response, far from direct quotes, for those go ahead and find the interview and listen for yourself.

- When NIL really got moving, in 2021, we were already under NCAA investigation. The rules of course weren't clear and being aggressive like people wanted required pushing the envelope and going into a lot of gray area to aggressively pay players. At a time when we were under already investigation for breaking the rules, we were uniquely NOT positioned to push the envelope and potentially break rules on the very new and vague NIL rules. If only Connor Stallions had been so wise....(my editorial)
- Paying players and having donors ready to pay players hasn't been part of our culture like it has been at other places. In fact here, the culture was strongly against paying players and that culture had to change and it is changing and has changed....

Interesting stuff. I recommend listening.


He was also quite impassioned on his feelings on Jim. Particularly how overwhelming the sentiment was to get rid of him in 2020 - some from his closest of friends and HIS teammates saying it was time for him to go. Expressed his clearly intimate awareness of Jim's always present NFL dreams and is supportive of those dreams and him despite our loss. Clearly said claims of him not wanting him here are ludicrous. They agreed on a lot and didn't agree on some things as is the case in the real world between employees and their bosses but he is and always has been a supporter of Jim and wanted him here.