Sports

Barstool’s Dan ‘Big Cat’ Katz among 10 finalists for Akron honorary OC raffle

Economy World


Ten finalists were selected and revealed Wednesday for Akron football’s honorary “offensive coordinator of the game” promotion.

The idea, dreamed up by Akron athletic director Andrew Goodrich on a flight back from March Madness basketball, went viral for allowing a fan to call the shots for the football team, even if only for the first drive of Akron’s 2026 home opener against Robert Morris on Saturday, Sept. 12, at InfoCision Stadium.

It was meant to inspire joy at a time when Goodrich felt college sports desperately needed some.

“College football hasn’t been a ton of fun over the past six months,” Goodrich told The Athletic. “There’s lawyers and Congress and bills and the transfer portal. A lot of negativity.”

The finalists were announced as follows. The winner will be announced Aug. 25.

  • Brandon Wigen of Bellevue, Neb.
  • Dan “Big Cat” Katz of Barstool Sports
  • Jack Rooney of Long Island, N.Y.
  • James Bordeaux of Kentucky
  • Martin Alan Whims II of Akron, a former UA student
  • Mike Beck Jr., a longtime Zips football season-ticket holder
  • Sean Struncius of Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., now based in Kansas City, Mo.
  • Steve Moyer, a 1989 UA graduate and longtime Zips football season-ticket holder
  • Tim Sharfman of Austin, Texas
  • A 10th candidate was selected but withdrew from the contest, according to the school

Notable among the names is Katz, better known as “Big Cat,” a popular college football podcaster for Barstool Sports under CEO Dave Portnoy. Katz has 1.8 million followers on X and is the host of Barstool’s “Pardon My Take” podcast, which has 1.1 million followers on X and is viewable on Netflix.

He posted his response to a user on X who said some might feel the drawing was rigged if a famous college football talking head like Katz were to win. Goodrich said he “never thought the people outside of our own little family were going to know about” the drawing.

“Yes,” Katz wrote. “I don’t care. I ended up buying 18 season tickets. I want to see shark wheel (a popular play in EA Sports’ “College Football” video game) right in Robert Morris’s face.”

Also notable among the finalists is James Bordeaux. Bordeaux is a popular YouTuber and TikToker who posts videos of his gameplay of EA Sports’ “College Football,” among other sports video games. He’s amassed 598,000 subscribers on YouTube and 578,000 on TikTok.

Bordeaux, from Kentucky, garnered fame ahead of the release of EA Sports College Football 25 in the summer of 2024, the first game in the franchise since 2013.

He published a series of videos on various social media sites asking fans to narrow down which school he would use in his first Dynasty mode rebuild on the game. It gained enough attention that programs actually reached out to offer gear and graphics. His ensuing video rebuilding Nebraska football has garnered 1.2 million views to date.

“It shows how deep people’s love for their team is that they were so interested in what a random guy on the internet was going to do, because it could be their team,” Bordeaux told The Athletic’s Chris Vannini in 2025.

According to the school, the Akron College of Business’ accounting department handled the balloting and selection process. They accessed athletics ticketing systems to “conduct the ticket data analysis, and do an independent selection to ensure a randomized selection for this drawing.” The athletics department was not involved in the selection process.

All season-ticket holders were entered and eligible for selection in the raffle.

The winner will join meetings alongside Akron head coach and playcaller Joe Moorhead in the days leading up to the game, suggesting and working through an opening game plan that Moorhead will call on their behalf.

In just under a week, one lucky fan — or perhaps a more famous individual — will get a shot to rise from armchair quarterbacking and test their knowledge in the line of fire.