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Y-Option: College Football with Yogi Roth

Y-Option: College Football with Yogi Roth

By: Yogi Roth
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A college football podcast through the lens of the West Coast. Yogi Roth brings a uniquely expert, curious, and western take on the game we love. Facts first, opinions second.

www.y-option.comYogi Roth
Episodes
  • Greg Schiano: Chop the Moment

    Greg Schiano: Chop the Moment
    Jul 21 2026
    There’s a quote in psychology I keep coming back to: the core of optimism is resilience. I’ve thought about that quote for years, and this week, sitting across from Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano, I had a hunch that that very quote would resonate with him. So I did the only thing I do in these Y-Option podcasts: ask questions I don’t know the answer to.I’ve known Coach Schiano for over 20 years. First as a wideout at Pitt, then these last couple years covering Big Ten football. This conversation, though, was different because I was embedded within the Scarlet Knights program for the day and what a day it was.I got to sit in on his team meeting, watch Coach Schiano look his players in the eyes and bridge a football lesson to a life lesson in the same breath. And at the end of an epic day with the team, staff and program he and I sat down, and Coach Schiano took me all the way back to where his leadership began: his kitchen table. And that is where today’s Y-Option podcast, fueled by our founding sponsor 76, keeping you on the GO GO GO, begins.Coach Schiano grew up in an Italian household in Paterson, New Jersey, where his parents taught him and his three siblings one thing above all: you get up, you go to work, and some days it isn’t pleasant but you keep showing up. The standard, even before it was ever spoken, was simple — no matter what, protect your family.That’s not a throwaway line for him. It’s the whole building now. “Family is everything to me in this building,” he said. And he means it literally, as he’s now recruiting the sons of players he coached at Rutgers when they were in the Big East while currently coaching with his own three sons on this year’s staff. Full circle doesn’t begin to cover it.This is the line that stuck with me most: “You can have a goal and at the same time have a purpose.” Greg’s goal is a national championship at Rutgers. His purpose is different.He is driven to make sure that the young men who walk into the Rutgers program leave as grown men. Husbands. Fathers. People who can figure it out when nobody’s telling them what to do next. In this era of players getting paid, transferring and being told things from others that may not be accurate I have to say that watching Coach Schiano teach his players the realities of LIFE and how football can teach all of us how to navigate life was one of the most refreshing parts of my off-season.He didn’t plan on coaching, by the way. He got cut playing in the CFL, came home, signed up for the LSAT, and was on his way to law school when his high school coach — practically a second father to him — talked him into helping out on the sideline instead. That coach later “fired” him, on purpose, so Greg would go be a graduate assistant and learn the business the right way. That GA year? 1989. At Rutgers. Where he told me, without blinking, that even back then, he was building his coaching staff for this program in his head.Chop.If you’ve followed this program at all, you know the word. Here’s where it actually comes from: 1999, Miami, a sports psychologist named Dr. Kevin Elko telling the staff a story about a guy in the woods with nothing but an axe. It sat dormant for six years. Then in 2005, Rutgers blew a 28-7 fourth quarter lead at Illinois and lost in overtime. Greg couldn’t sleep on the flight home. He remembered the story, upon landing he sent a GA to Home Depot for an axe, had it painted red, and walked it into the team meeting still wet with paint. We’re all in the woods. We can lay down, or we pick a tree and chop until it falls. Rutgers went on a run and made a bowl game. The axe, and the word, never left.Finally, Rutgers has both hands free.For most of his 18 years split across two stints as head coach, Coach Schiano described competing “with one arm tied behind his back.” That’s changing. He talked about vertical alignment: from president to athletic director to head coach, all pointed at the same goal, for the first time in his tenure. It’s showing up in real terms: Rutgers retained all three of their must-keep players this offseason, including a receiver who very nearly left before Greg reminded him who he was and where he was from. “You’re a difference maker. You’re gonna leave a legacy,” he told him. He stayed. That conversation with KJ Duff is coming up later this week so be sure to subscribe to our YouTube page.We also talked about his three coaching trees and biggest influences: Joe Paterno at Penn State, Dave Wannstedt and Butch Davis out of the Jimmy Johnson lineage at Miami and Chicago, Dick Anderson at Rutgers. We talked about Pete Carroll and impact of our book, Win Forever, and the sabbatical Greg took in 2014 that reshaped how he leads now. Demanding, but flexible enough to let a coach leave for four hours for his daughter’s recital. And we talked about his three sons, all working in the building, all grinding it out the long way.He just ...
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    47 mins
  • THE WAY | Kirby Moore

    THE WAY | Kirby Moore
    Jul 19 2026

    Kirby Moore may be living a real-life Hollywood script.

    The first-year Washington State head coach grew up two hours away from Pullman, would visit spring practice with his Dad as a child and opens up his head coaching career in the Apple Cup on NBC. Talk about a dream script!

    He joined today’s episode of THE DAWN, a limited series highlighting the re-imagined Pac-12 in a collaboration between Y-Option and the league.

    What’s clear in our conversation is how proud he is to be leading the Cougs, has an incredible understanding of the standard at WSU, and has hit the ground running since taking over this proud program.

    He shared insights from mentors like Chris Petersen, Kalen DeBoer, Jeff Tedford and others, let alone what it was like growing up in the same home as the current Saints head coach, Kellen Moore.

    I’ve visited the Cougs in Pullman since he took over and can attest that his attention to detail, alignment on campus and the players’ focus will have the Cougs prepared for the 2026 season that kicks off on NBC.

    Much love and stay steady,

    Yogi

    Y-Option: College Football with Yogi Roth is a reader-supported publication. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

    THE DAWN debuted July 1 across the Pac-12’s YouTube and Pac-12 Insider, the league’s 24/7 FAST channel. The series culminates with a finale featuring never-before-seen behind-the-scenes content from the building of this new league. It drops in August, right before the season kicks off.



    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.y-option.com/subscribe
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    14 mins
  • SUPERHERO ENERGY | GJ Kinne

    SUPERHERO ENERGY | GJ Kinne
    Jul 16 2026

    This week on THE DAWN, we caught up with Texas State head coach GJ Kinne as the Bobcats enter their first season in the Pac-12.

    I’ve been tracking Coach Kinne since his recruiting days as a big-time QB prospect, and he’s been on a rocket ship in the coaching profession from the moment he traded his cleats for a whistle.

    After sitting down with him it's clear he has an ‘It Factor’ that's translated straight into coaching, and that comes through during our conversation in the limited series, THE DAWN, presented by the Pac-12 and Y-Option.

    Coach Kinne inherited a program that had never reached a bowl game, never beaten rival UTSA, and never notched a Power Four win. He got all three done in year one, and he credits it to instilling confidence and an aggressive, swing for the fences mindset from the start.

    Coaching runs in GJ’s blood. His father spent decades as a Texas high school coach, and GJ played and worked under a run of respected names including Todd Graham, Gus Malzahn, Chad Morris, Mike Norvell, Chip Kelly, Ryan Day, Bill Musgrave, and Jeff Stoutland. But it was Super Bowl winning coach Doug Pederson who gave him advice early on that stuck: just be yourself.

    That philosophy has carried him through head coaching stops at UIW and now Texas State as they enter the reimagined Pac-12.

    Watching Coach Kinne build this thing from the ground up, I keep coming back to the same thought: the rocket ship isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

    Y-Option: College Football with Yogi Roth is a reader-supported publication. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel for more.

    THE DAWN debuted July 1 across the Pac-12’s YouTube and Pac-12 Insider, the league’s 24/7 FAST channel. The series culminates with a finale featuring never-before-seen behind-the-scenes content from the building of this new league. It drops in August, right before the season kicks off.



    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.y-option.com/subscribe
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    15 mins
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