Dr. Jon Steinbrecher: How Two Unsynced Clocks Cost Western Michigan a Win

0:00Well, the spotlight continuing to be shined upon the mid American conference. A lot of unbelievable moments over the weekend, the UMass demolition of Rutgers. I don't know what was better. The win or the memes of Brian Kelly when he takes over the Rutgers job because that was outstanding. Also Florida State, you see that one too? I saw that one as well. So did I. Yeah. So did all of us. And for 60 minutes of football, as far as my clock and NBC's clock was concerned, the incredible victory that Western Michigan pulled off over Michigan only to have one second. Be put back on the clock and then another set of prayers were answered as the Hill Mary went down in history and the NCAA. Today saying that'll never happen again to talk about that and so much more joining us

1:01on our Wyseheart, right? We make it right. Call Kyle Wright, hotline Dr. John Steinbrecker. Mid American conference commissioner. We check in with him. Sometimes often now we'll say early in the football season, Dr. John, welcome to the show. Good morning. Good to be with you. Well, great to be with you. And so let's get down to it. I think the Mid American conference not only acquitted itself so well with the football, but also the class that had been demonstrated from top on down. And I see America. America is on your side, Dr. John. So if you could comment about obviously a change in direction from the night of that victory, what I will call a victory over Michigan to the statement that was put out yesterday by you and your office. Well, in the immediate aftermath of the game, you're seeking information. And hey, we're proper procedures followed, what occurred?

2:05Boom. And every indication I saw was that, yeah, things were handled per protocol that's been laid out for this. Okay, so you get through all that. The next day, you have a chance to step back and take time and ask more questions. Okay, why did this even occur? How did it occur? What's happening here? And this is where it starts to get complicated. And to a large extent, this was all an issue around technology. And we have some technology evolving probably quicker than we've had policy for. And it starts with the fact that the big 10 is put in place, a replace system that's unique. I think it's the only one of its kind being used right now. The other nine are using it different. And it's a very good system. I mean, it gives them some capabilities that are exceptional in terms of angles and so on.

3:05One of the things that has is it has a clock feed. Now understand this. And this is where it gets even more convoluted. The clock feed comes from the stadium. There's a single camera in the stadium that gives the clock feed to the production truck. And so now you have the feed that goes one wire feeds into the game production truck, the TV truck. The other feed feeds into the big 10's command center where the reply stuff is. Right? So you've got two feeds. As it turns out, feeds can get unsynchronized. And we've had a protocol for, I don't know how long, that speaks to the fact when you're dealing with end of half timing issues in a replace situation, the feed that is to be used is the game feed from the production truck. In this case, the decision got made based on the game feed that was showing on their

4:07replay system. And the two feed weren't synced. They were off a little bit. And that's where you go. So if this is an issue of integrity or anything else, it was not utilizing the protocol that we had in place. Well, you're not saying anything nasty about them. You're saying they just didn't follow what they were supposed to do, which I think is a fair thing to accuse them of. The only time I've ever seen anything actually turn into a forefit has been illegal players, ineligible players. You see it. You see a lot in high school football in this state. Well, not a lot, but usually once or twice a year, you see it. What do you think will be the results of all this within the NCAA? I am unaware of any prior situation in which a game result has been overturned as a result

5:08of a protest on an officiating issue. By the same token, you don't put the putt in the hole unless you get the ball to the hole, right? You got to ask the question. And so that's in part why we did what we did. And second, I want to keep in the mind of the DSP selection committee what Western Michigan accomplished on Saturday night. And that if Western Michigan has an exceptional season and we get to the end of the year and they're in line for consideration for the college football playoff or high rankings or high rankings or high rankings. How close of contact have you been in with the officials of Western Michigan University about all this? We've had any number of conversations and exchanges and I think if people have seen, they've

6:11managed this in a way that's exemplary. I think they have raised the level of discourse for how people when they're dealing with that adversity, whether it's in athletics or others should deal with it. You have a couple choices. You can jump up on the table and start banging your fists and screaming and shouting or you can step back, look at the information and then react. And this, we talk at Nazim. You hear coaches talk about it. You hear others talk about athletics, skills, character, teachers, how to deal with adversity, et cetera. Well, deal with adversity. How do you deal with it? That's a real life demonstration of how to deal with it. And I really applaud the president director of athletics coach. You want to talk about life lessons. They're living it right now.

7:12Dr. John Steinbrecker, Mid-American Conference Commissioner on the hotline right now, when it comes to recourses for you, we saw the NCAA come out and say they couldn't give you guys victory, overturn the outcome. The speaking of protocols, they say that protocol is not in place. This for the SEC, we know damn well, lawyers would get involved and judges would get involved. Was there any thought at all to at least consider that at this point to try to find a judge or at least find someone to make an argument that the NCAA did not follow protocol here. If they won't reverse this, can we get at least pursue litigation? We're not aware of any legal course of action that you could pursue here. I'm not sure that's the right thing. I think we've done the things we can do to draw attention, do a wonderful performance by

8:12Western Michigan, to draw attention to what I would say was a miss on an application or delivery of the protocol. We're all going to get better across all of FBS because of this. Dr. John Steinbrecker joining us here, Matt Commissioner. I also find you in an enviable position where you really have to fight for all your teams. There's a lot of movement going on, a lot of conferences trying to poach. You do have to stand up there. You've handled this well, but you do have to stand up there and fight for your programs. Do you not? Well, you do, but you go where the facts take you is what I would say. I'm going to be a strong, strong, strong, incredible advocate for all of our member institutions,

9:12but I also need to be an arbiter of the game itself. As we got information, we were able to then attack the issue and point out where there were flaws and continue to emphasize a tremendous performance by Western Michigan. It must have been a meaningful game because they stormed the field. The biggest game for many of those kids, apparently. I know. That's the glorious sports, right? You talk about two sides of a coin in any of these games. Great joy and great sorrow. There's also economics involved. You can fact check me here. Is it four million? The conference would get being a non-power for if a team were to advance and get in the playoffs. That would be that sounds correct. That would be distributed. There's also finances here.

10:14Let me forget about the people that bet on the game. I know you guys don't like to talk about that. You know what's interesting. I have not even thought about that and maybe shame on me. That thought never even came to my mind. Other than the fact that I don't want this game to impinge in any way on Western's ability to make the CFP. There are economics involved in everything we do. Yeah. That's what I want to know. What kind of conversation they had yesterday. When they denied the appeal so quickly, it almost seems like they didn't even think about it. They didn't even give it much time from the moment you wrote the statement to the time the NCAA came through. Then the NCAA came through a little bit later and said, this can't happen again. The way that Michigan won the game will never happen again under their protocols established. To me, it validates your argument completely. I don't think Michigan has a like to stand on at that point. But I'll get back to the fact what apparently has been said is they just don't have authority

11:21to step in. So there we are. And also, Commissioner John Steinbacher joining us right now. The fact that in a way, I don't know if you perceive it this way. I know you have great relationships with the Big Ten and these other power conferences. Do you consider yourself partners with the way the payouts work, the way that they help fund the athletic departments in your conference that these games can certainly help from an economic standpoint that you want to be. You want to have good relationships with these people. You don't want to have to go to court. You don't want to have to try to get the NCAA to intervene. Yeah, you know what? Yeah, well, exactly. But we didn't take action or not take action out of any fear of retribution. Can I be any clearer than that? We took the actions we felt were appropriate based on the information we have, period. Dr. John Steinbacher joining us on the show.

12:21So while we have you, all right, what do you think about the contest to let the guy call the plays who wins the offensive coordinator for a drive thing that Akron has right now? What did you think of that? I thought it was brilliant. I just recently had a social media report done and you cannot believe the amount of attention that generated. I thought it was brilliant. What a clever idea to draw attention to your program. I probably can't prove it, but I know their ticket sales have increased significantly. You know, I harken back kind of a bill, that kind of thing, right? And good for them. Well, I didn't like it until I talked to Joe Morehead about it on this show because he kind of, I was like, what was your initial thoughts? He said he hated it.

13:21And then he said if he wasn't the one calling plays, he never would agree to it. You know, do you guys, does this open up a conversation with you and your athletic directors and even university presidents about, you know, what is, what is okay, what might be a little bit too far when it comes to something like this? Yeah, no, I think where you're going with it is, where do you draw the line? When does it, I have great confidence in the administration as well as a football staff down there that they would have managed that appropriately. And I think they did. So yeah, you know what, it gave a fan a chance to spend a little time consulting with coach. I imagine coach could probably direct the play calls pretty much where he wanted them to. Don't know that for a fact. That was in the conversation. But what, what a neat opportunity to let someone or give people, a lot of people chance

14:22to think they might have an opportunity to kind of touch a program. We need to do more of that. I think the more our programs can personalize themselves, I think the better, I think that will help them grow attendance and build their fan base and help make our programs distinctive in ways that perhaps others won't or can't. We can't be standoffish. We need to invite you into the house and make you part of the team. Dr. We thank you very much for the time. All the best of you in yours. You've been very gracious with your time and we hope that the season goes well for you guys. Hey, thank you so much. Wish you guys the very best. Thank you. Dr. John Steinbrecker. On the Wise Heart Write, we make a write call call write hotline. I wish they could overturn it. Well, no, no, no, I can't say that. I can't say that. I'm glad there's a precedent set. I can't say I wish they overturn it.

15:24I know that it feels like you got the boots put to you. It was still a 40 plus yard pass, whatever the hell it was. You can knock it down. I hate that it happened. I really do. In the base of the game and how it went, it's not fair and square, but it's as fair and square as a terrible mistake is going to be by the referees in the game. I'm glad that something good of it has seemed to have happened where they're going to change all this and the NCAA. Yes. What they lined it? Well, they knocked down their appeal, basically admitted that they were wrong with their changes and how they go about this. See, that was the thing that I thought that was very important there. I just end that he's not, he's not going to be pursuing legal action. No, again, but there'd be a judge in Baton Rouge that would have already granted a motion to try to overturn that outcome of me. It would have happened by the end of the celebration at midfield by those loser kids. Many robes, many get, well, I don't know if they're losers or they were losers.

16:24Wouldn't happen at Ohio State. I can guarantee that. It wouldn't happen at Ohio State. I can't tell you. I got a real football school. I'll tell you that. He's got you there. I can't disagree with him there. It would not have an at Ohio State. I think there'd be a lot of nasty things said to Ryan Day on the way back into the tunnel that you're even close to Western Michigan. I do not think you'd be rushing the field, but you are right. If we were in Louisiana doing this and in New Orleans, there would be lots of robes and lots of gavils being pounded right now to overturn whatever. But the beauty of the playoff is that it's it is in the court of public opinion. There's no way you can forget about this later on in the year. Like when you're considering Western Michigan, say they do pull it off. They be one out. If they want out, that means they beat Boise State. That's quality program. Maricopa will be pulling for them. It's so hard. I mean, if you're a 12 and one with a big 10 with the Mac championship game, if you're a 12 and one team, it's like your number 12 getting into the postseason because all this because I they're America's sweet hearts here of the last 48 hours to 1647 for to below 92. A problem that I don't know if you'll ever going to get over that coming up at 945 on

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