Phantom Island

In Part Two of the Holiday Single Wing, football is put to the side as Steven Godfrey answers questions from our subscribers about negotiating the terms of holiday travel, divulging the truth about Santa, his offseason pop culture plans, and being a parent in a world that doesn't always feel like a great place to be raising a child.

This is a preview of the full episode, which is available to paid subscribers – go to phantomisland.show to sign up today. Phantom Island is presented by Homefield and produced by Michael Surber.

For players in the US and Canada, the road to the NHL used to be divided into two primary paths: play in the Canadian Hockey League or for an NCAA men's hockey team. But thanks to recent rule changes, CHL players can now jump to college hockey. Ryan Nanni walks Steven Godfrey through what that means for both groups, the impact on college rosters, the other leagues that stand to lose out in this new arrangement, and how this change is prying open the door, at least a little, for some former professionals to get NCAA eligibility. Phantom Island is presented by Homefield and produced by Michael Surber.

Because Steven Godfrey and Ryan Nanni are fools, they believed the coaching carousel for 2025 to be largely complete. Then Sherrone Moore was fired for cause and arrested, and the Wolverines spent about two weeks rumoredly attached to several candidates before hiring Kyle Whittingham. With the dust settled (for now), we sat down to discuss how Utah-lifer Whittingham even became available, what expectations look like for his tenure, and whether a larger accounting for the problems inside the athletic department at Michigan will happen.

This is a preview of the full episode, which is available to paid subscribers – go to phantomisland.show to sign up today. Phantom Island is presented by Homefield and produced by Michael Surber.

Part One of this Holiday Single Wing has Steven Godfrey taking football questions from subscribers on topics ranging from why Curt Cignetti has done more at Indiana than Lance Leipold has at Kansas, an early assessment of Pete Golding, the balance of football power in the state of Florida, and what it really looks like to survive as an independent program in the playoff era.

This is a preview of the full episode, which is available to paid subscribers – go to phantomisland.show to sign up today. Phantom Island is presented by Homefield and produced by Michael Surber.

On November 14, 2025, Phantom Island held its first live show in Athens, Georgia, and we picked a topic suitable for the location: was the SEC's proclaimed speed advantage real? (And, if so, what happened to it?) Part trivia contest, part guy remembering, and part amateur data analysis, this episode walks through the concept of SEC Speed as both discussion point and measurable trait. Phantom Island is presented by Homefield and produced by Michael Surber.

Even before the 2025 college football season really got under way, Tulane's Jon Sumrall was being floated as a top name for a number of theoretical SEC openings. On this episode, Ryan Nanni asks Steven Godfrey what exactly made Sumrall an attractive target - and eventual hire at Florida - to get a better sense of what the market values from up-and-coming head coaches. This is a preview of the full episode, which is available to paid subscribers – go to phantomisland.show to sign up today. Phantom Island is presented by Homefield and produced by Michael Surber.

David Covucci, founder of FOIAball.com, joins Ryan Nanni to discuss how journalists use open records laws, the art of crafting a good FOIA request, what the job of a FOIA response officer is like, the challenges of navigating open records systems in different states, and why this all means dozens of colleges had to tell David how much they spent on elaborate balloon displays. Phantom Island is presented by Homefield and produced by Michael Surber.

At three different points during his introductory press conference in Baton Rouge, Lane Kiffin claimed an angry Ole Miss fan had tried to run him off the road while he was driving to the airport to leave Mississippi. One problem: when Mississippi Today dug into that story, they couldn't find any police records to back it up. Steven Godfrey and Ryan Nanni discuss Lane joining an interesting set of coaches who have previously alleged that they were threatened or harassed by fans, only to have those stories look doubtful upon closer examination. Phantom Island is presented by Homefield and produced by Michael Surber.

As the coaching carousel creaks to a stop (hopefully), Steven Godfrey and Ryan Nanni pause to discuss the changes UCLA and Michigan State made, the ones Wisconsin and Maryland didn't, very different decisions by Tulane and USF, the plight of Southern Miss, the risk-reward move Kansas State is embracing, Jason Candle finally getting poached, and plenty more.

This is a preview of the full episode, which is available to paid subscribers – go to phantomisland.show to sign up today. Phantom Island is presented by Homefield and produced by Michael Surber.

Matt Rh-, no wait, Kalani Sita-, hmm, no, ah yes, here it is. Matt Campbell has accepted the Penn State job, so Steven Godfrey and Ryan Nanni sit down to recap how this search played out over many, many weeks. What fissures within the Penn State fanbase does Campbell have to navigate? Why did other candidates get close to the finish line before bowing out? And does the messy process actually matter for the long-term success of the Nittany Lions?

This is a preview of the full episode, which is available to paid subscribers – go to phantomisland.show to sign up today. Phantom Island is presented by Homefield and produced by Michael Surber.