Episode Details

The final day of ACC Kickoff features new UNC AD Steve Newmark on the future of Tar Heel sports, Manny Diaz on Duke’s championship defense, Jake Dickert's effort to not let last season's surprise 9-win season change who they are, and much more...

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro
04:00 - UNC AD Steve Newmark
32:00 - Belichick still isn't "normal"
36:40 - Housekeeping
42:00 - UNC's Jordan Shipp
56:00 - UNC's Melkart Abou-Jaoude
1:06:30 - Duke's Manny Diaz
1:17:00 - Duke's Nate Sheppard
1:25:30 - Wake's Jake Dickert
1:36:00 - Wake's Gio Lopez
1:49:00 - Cal's Tosh Lupoi
2:01:00 - Hey Joe

The curtains are coming down on "Talking Season" in the Queen City, but the final day of the 2026 ACC Kickoff provided a little spice for the podcast. Joe Ovies and Joe Giglio lead off with wide-ranging interview welcoming brand-new North Carolina Athletic Director Steve Newmark to the table. Fresh off completing a year-long transition with Bubba Cunningham, Newmark outlines the immense strategic reality of taking over the big chair full-time. He dives into the high-profile expectations greeting Bill Belichick's second year leading Tar Heel football, and details how he's balancing the intense "local politics" of a proud university while thinking outside the box on institutional projects like Carolina North and the dawn of Michael Malone’s men's basketball era. Most importantly, Newmark maps out how he plans to aggressively position the Carolina brand to survive and thrive through the lawless, revenue-sharing future of college athletics.

Sticking with the Tar Heels, standout wide receiver Jordan Shipp stops by the microphones to deliver a raw, candid perspective on the locker room culture. Shipp explains how the sting of last season's missed opportunities is actively driving him and his teammates to fundamentally flip the script on the program's narrative. Then, the reigning kings of the conference pull up a chair. Duke head coach Manny Diaz steps to the mic radiating massive "us against the world" energy. Coming off a historic ACC Championship, Diaz clears the air and turns the page on quarterback Darian Mensah's high-profile, late-summer transfer portal jump to Miami. Manny makes it explicitly clear: he loves the fact that the national media is already counting the Blue Devils out, and his roster is primed to shatter expectations yet again.

Wake Forest head coach Jake Dickert also crashes radio row to break down his heavy, rapid-fire indoctrination into the unique dynamics of North Carolina's Big Four football landscape during his debut season in Winston-Salem. Dickert discusses how he is maintaining the Demon Deacons' core "built in the dark" mantra following a spectacular 9-win campaign capped off by an authoritative Mayo Bowl victory over SEC competition. His QB, Gio Lopez, follows up with discussing the reset button he hit to land with his old coordinator and getting back to enjoying football after a rough season with UNC. Finally, new California head coach Tosh Lupoi sits down for a fascinating look at the logistical reality of managing a West Coast program adjusting to the permanent, cross-country realities of the ACC.

OG x BreakingT: https://breakingt.com/collections/the-ovies-giglio-collection?rfsn=7630833.c3bd9f7
OG Secret Stash: http://theog.shop/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@OGTriangleMedia
OG Membership Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1Qpevj6hElebdWc2SSGkWw/join

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.