Streaming live on the iHeartRadio WAPP. This is I on the Ball with Steve
Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Heay, welcome back to
Ie the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve, He's Jay.
Now we have chemical breaking news. This is Eye on the Ball breaking
news on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. All right, so we do have some
You have a ton of breaking news on this Monday, gentlemen. So obviously
we touched on earlier. Noah Flafida and t Maac are back for next year.
They announced Saturday during the Arizona men's basketball game. I thought it was
pretty interesting. We saw some speculation on social media about how they were getting
attention from big schools like Alabama, just some dark horse candidates that we all
obviously assumed at first when they were unsure whether or not they're going to come
back. Where they were going, we assumed they might be Washington, but
no, they were getting interest from other schools. We also have other players
returning, such as our tight ends uh Kean Burnett and Dorian Thomas. We
also have some lineman returning as well as Jopah Jonah Savonea wendel Mo running back
Rayshawn Luke and Jacob Manu, the linebacker, are also returning for next year.
Again, Jay, to your point, core guys, right, core
guys that don't kind of transition into a good spot. And then one guy
who is not coming back is Jonah Coleman, who officially committed to Washington.
He's gonna follow running backs coach as well as head coach Jed Fish and the
quarterback. You have the quarterback there too, Yes, four star quarterback Demon
Williams and our transfer from Indiana corner Jordan Shaw are heading to Washington. So
you texted me Saturday, Well you know what you had heard too. I
had heard the quarterback. He really wanted the quarterback to go with him.
The Williams. Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, actually that he preferred
him over Noah. Yeah, with future right, the future. But you
know, and and I can't remember who made it, who made a point
of this talking about you know, oh it was Michael le f Michael V's
call him about how Jed really really, I mean, even though he was
starting for FEEDA, he really really never single amount and said this is my
quarterback. He was hanging on to Jade and DeLaura because I remember towards the
end of the year, maybe it was maybe it was the when they released
the Alimoble depth chart and it listed Fafita and DeLaura as as cole really starters.
Really yeah, if we have one around here, I'll try and find
him. I'll look for it. But Noel Fafieda was never listed as number
one on the depth chart by himself. He was never and Jed never said
he's my starting quarterback. He's just said, you know, and and it
was kind of like he never really put Noah out there as his guy,
so to speak. Gut I never really noticed that, Well guess what his
guy got him seven point seven million dollars. Well and exactly, and and
and that's the thing that people are saying, like, Jed, you know,
it was purely by accident that that you got this job. Because if
de Lord doesn't get hurt, you're not ten and three, you know.
Uh. I listened to Wilner and Canzano, you know, last week on
their pod and and you know they were breaking down, you know, the
the trickle down of what happened, you know, which and then and then
and and wilnerm came out, and so he said, let's not forget Jed.
Fish would not be at Washington if Jaden Delaurd doesn't get hurt. We
talked about that, and and so and why he never gave no FAFE to
credit because and and you saw that, you saw the you know, the
several quotes that Mike lev put, you know, in his story, just
saying how he just never acknowledged how good he was, how good he was
doing what he was doing for you know, for the seasons I had an
undying relationship or undying relationship or as we say, he's got you know,
or we used to say, he's got some pictures of Jed doing some things
that probably not very complimentary. Well, they they loved him, even when
he was going on I don't want to go there. I don't leave that.
Jay said that, FCC or whoever complains that, I just say no,
I'm not going to say it. Did I say it? I'm no,
don't I want to say it. Don't see you've already said enough on
this show. If you have to ask, if you should say it twice,
maybe take one more beat. I don't know, Kevin Ken, go
ahead and say it off air. All right, we'll have to wait for
that, insiders only. We do have some more breaking news. We mentioned
it earlier. Benedict Mathrine and the Pacers were in the building on Saturday as
Mathron got inducted into their So let me say this, and I'm saying this
with all apologies to you, that was kind of quick and kind of simple.
They traveled all this way to get and that shaved my legs for that.
Wow. But but also too, I made the point that you know,
if you're Ben Mather and you're going in the Ring of Fame, don't
you come dressed in something other than sweatpants and a sweatshirt? So I guess
both both. Yeah, both. It's kind of It's like it didn't seem
like all that important to either side, because remember Jason Terry came in and
we had the whole family and he was in suit, right, and it
was a big That's what I'm saying. Didn't the game like a jersey frame?
Yeah, Ben looked like he just rolled out of bed. It does
seem to me though, that it was kind of a situation where your birthday
happens to fall on Christmas. You know what, I mean, he came
in on a night to be honored, where also the football team just announced
that it was staying and that was the big news of the day. But
he didn't know that going in and that was the big production of the day
too, that you didn't have a maybe they did give him to a ball.
I thought the game of jersey and kind of like a frame jersey and
a he's already got a frame jersey from Oh he didn't. Oh he didn't
have a senior night? Did he senior night? No? To me,
maybe I'm wrong, but that's just what I thought in terms of shears something
that says that's all it was. I do. I do like the trend
I'm seeing of NBA teams traveling with their teammate and that yeah, okay,
T should have run out on the floor during So he gave a little,
you know, heartfelt thing. Nine years already in the NBA. Does it
seem like nine years? I thought maybe six or seven, but it's nine
years. And who would have ever thought nine years from t J McConnell,
and he's one of the better players. We didn't even think one year for
TJ McConnell. When when when Sean Miller was talking about he's gonna be the
league. People are like, what are you thinking? You think nine years
removed and very wealthy man, had a good dude, had a good dude,
a guy you want to say, Wow, good for you. He's
the one that he's the one that deserves to be up there and see it.
Tell me I'm wrong, Jay, And just my end, isn't he
the most personable personal guy for sewn on Seawn's time? But the guy you
actually feel that you know, yeah, of any of one guy, of
any of them, right, absolutely percent, Because we don't know any of
Sean's We don't. We don't, We didn't get to know any of them.
But yeah, no, I agree, we do have some well,
we don't really live in the world of the mock. As Tommy Lloyd said
earlier this year, I really love that I've been I've been repeating that often.
But Arizona has been up and down. But they're back to nine in
this week's In this week's eight people for I give the update there. We
don't have to do too much on that. Arizona women's basketball drop both games
this weekend, won by another single possession, almost another heartbreaker. Situation.
Uh, And the one on Sunday was a lot less. I got blamed
for that one. We were watching the football game and went to halftime,
so we put the we put the The women's came on, and they were
down two. By the time we turned the channel back to the football game,
they were down eighteen. That's tough. I won't tell you who I
bet this weekend, but I did well. So I mean, you didn't
either play those games or you must have played the games the opposite of me,
because you're thank you, thank you, so you gave me the wins.
I'm okay with that. I had the Bills money line. Nope,
that's one game I didn't touch. You didn't touch it. I didn't like
any either way. I didn't want to I had. I had the other
two. I had two of the other games I had. I had the
Niners and I had the who played yesterday morning Detroit. I had to try,
but then I had. I had a three three leg money line,
and I needed the Bills to close it out for me over under fifty two.
It was right there. Didn't cover well that field. You ever seard
a word the field goals all like that. He was going right, and
then it took it. It just stay right, yeah, yeah, the
Buffalo gods. Just how many times have those birds that they just said about,
oh I just need Buffalo money line that said, right, you know
what I think? I said this, Steve before the playoff started, I
said, watch out for Buffalo. I really thought, I really thought this
was that, this was it. They were not just you know, advanced,
but I just really thought they were playing well enough and that they were
going to win the Super Bowl one. Because I don't believe in Lamar Jackson.
I do now because I had Houston. I took the points with Houston.
I took the ten with Houston. It was ten ten at the half.
I'm like, I felt good about that. Take you again, all
right. So we were touching on the NFL. We do have some more
NFL news. Arizona alum Antonio Pierce is the new head coach officially of the
Las Vegas Raiders. So one of the luckiest guys. All falling forward,
big time, forward, yep, falling forward, big time. And then
we have some other coordinator news. The Bears are hiring Seattle's offensive coordinator Shane
Waldron to run their offense, hoping that maybe it will look a little bit
different next year, maybe with a different quarterback, well a different quarterback.
And that's sort of the follow up to we were hearing last week that that
Cliff Kingsbury was a candidate for that job, and you you, you rolled
your eyes and another fall forward guy. I wish I was better looking.
I'd fall forward far instead. Hey, you want to wash the dishes today?
And then we have we have two little a little more shocking. Uh,
we're surprising would be a better word. Uh. Coordinator options being sent
out there. Ron Rivera is interviewing for the Eagles defensive coordinator job after a
lot of people would assume he would just be done with coaching in the NFL's
the most incestuous league there is. And then I say that because they all
eat them, they'll always go from place to place. You know you're not
good here? Come here? Yeah, that is true. That's true.
One man's trash, another man's treasure. And then and then Jay brought up
in between breaks that Chip Kelly, it's just rumors that he's, as they
said, drawing interest from the NFL teams as an offensive coordinator. Man,
what time would be? What timing that would be. You know though,
if you're Jed and you're saying Jed Washington or U C l A, you
gotta take Washington. ULA is not gonna pay him seven point seventy five million
dollars. But no, buddy, and they're not any good. Well there's
well, yeah, no, I I what do you think that UL would
pay him six and a half six? Maybe going back to U C l
A l A. Yeah, I haven't being UCLA in the Big ten versus
being Washington in the Big ten. I think he's got a like where he's
at much better if it's between him on the phone, the one that the
one. Well, okay, here's the Let me just say this. Let
me just say this, because you know, there's a lot of information gets
better around and I think this is this is also pretty pretty reliable. Washington
was not the only job that Jedfish interviewed for. I didn't hear this.
I did. You're gonna say, huh, you're gonna say the team.
No, but no, because it's soft enough that I don't want to say
the team, but it's strong enough that I'm willing to say that told you
this. Yeah, Okay, he hold it. He did interview for at
least one more job, A good one. Yes. I'll have to do
is go back and see what jobs were open, and you've given Steve a
mission from middle tonight. I'll say it this way, another big ten job.
Okay, I'll get it. We're a potential one. No, it
was a big ten. It was open. It was a big ten,
so it couldn't be a mission all right, So some hints were dropped there.
But we do have some more free agency stuff. The Lions are signing
veteran tight end Zach Ertz to try to fill some injury holes they've had over
the past couple of weeks. But something more important in my opinion, Tara
Vanderveer Oh yeah, has now officially become the most winningest coach in college basketball
history. All of college basketball, college basketball and women and everybody in between.
All of it runs the whole good for her incredible career. Do you
see her quote? No, she said her parents. Her parents told her
something like, uh, you know something along the lines of I don't know
why you're continuing this basketball thing. It's never going to do anything for you.
And she said, I send them. I send them cards from every
country that I go to It's pretty I'll look up the quote, and then
while Jay looks that up, I want to mention this before we get to
our last one. DePaul has made the first men's basketball coaching change with the
entire season, firing their head coach I believe his name is Doublefield after a
three and fifteen start, and she went twenty eight and fifty four overall in
his two plus seasons. It's amazing that here where I'm talking from Tucson,
Arizona in Southwest, that DePaul has had such a hard time finding basketball successful
there. You know, back when we were kids, you know, DuPaul
was the stuff. Now not so much. That hasn't been forever. Yeah,
and they're a pretty good spot for recruiting, as you mentioned, so
you think that would be a maybe not a super high quality job, but
it's a desirable Two good guys locally, three good guys locally, boob,
but no. And then to round us out, there was some incredible news
out of the golfing world that I know Jay wanted to mention a little bit.
Alabama golfer Nick Dunlap has become the first amateur golfer since Phil Mickelson to
do something. Jay what did? What was a sophomore out of Alabama,
so twenty years old, and he won a PGA tournament yesterday. He won
the I forget what it's called, but it was the tournament out at the
Lakinta at PGA West being a good field. He shot sixty on Saturday,
playing in the same group with Justin Thomas and as Kevin said, first amateur
to win a PGA tournaments and film since Phil Mxson did it in nineteen ninety
one at the Tucson Open. And it's just his fourth tour event in general.
Yeah, so now he gets two years of exemptions to play in the
in the tour, he does not get the one and a half million dollar
prize that goes to the second place guy. And he's obviously being asked,
so, are you just going to turn pro now? He just said,
I've got to think about it, but yeah, And he went and won,
and he had to make a six footer on the last hole to win
by one, and he hit it and he was great. He was in
tears and the whole bit. It's cool. All right, let's take our
break. We're going to come back. Yogi rof come in and join us
for some recap of all that's happened in the last week or so in what's
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This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez soun Fox
Sports fourteen to fifteen. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app just
Surgeon I on the Ball. Hey, welcome back to und of the Ball.
You know, Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. I'm Steve, He's Jake.
Now on the phone. We have Yogi Rock from the Pac twelve networks.
Yogi, how you doing. I'm doing well. How are you guys?
We're doing well. A long season, huh. And you took it to
the last game. How was the last game for you? Oh? It
was awesome. I mean it was what a what a gift to follow a
team like Washington all year and you know it as you're around these teams for
twenty years. I've been around the plague now, oh, you guys have
been around it for longer. You know the talent, and then when you
just get to see a team earn their way out of the biggest of stages,
it's celebratory. It's a bomber in terms of they played their worst game
of the season and the biggest game. I don't but you know, at
the end of the day, uh, it it kind of feels like that
was like a year ago, to be honest with you, with all the
changes in college football, but it was. It was a gift. I'm
glad my colleagues and I you know, we carried the flag as long as
we could right until the very end, and we committed to doing that to
start the season, even though there was a season of change right and within
it I think I'm really proud of the job that we did. Well,
you guys as always you guys, did you know, did a great job
keeping everybody you know, up to speed on everything. And it was great
for the you know, great for the PAC twelve, do you know,
push it all the way to the very end and you know, being the
last game, you know. But then as you as you said right after
that, man, all hell broke loose, you know, starting with the
Nick Saban retirement, and then the trickle down that went has actually gone all
the way down to San Jose State. And that's just the way things are
now. You know, when something like that happens, it's a there's a
lot of effects to it. What's what's been your reaction to all of that?
Well, I think we have to just accept reality now, Like within
this sport is that you know, there was always chaos and things you couldn't
predict, like coaching changes or players departing. Right. It used to be
like players out there onda Bowl games is the biggest surprise, right, and
now it's you know, Pete Carroll and Bill Belichick no longer coach in the
NFL, or an excabit or retiring and you know, I just think we
saw a domino effect that I don't know if we'll see anything like that moving
forward with Giants and Titans in the industry, But I do think the aftermath
of all of that we should get used to. You know, whenever there's
a coaching change, there's going to be influx on a roster that we've never
seen before, just based on the rules and the way that the portal works
in NIL. So it's been It's been a lot. I think everybody at
every institution impacted, right in Alabama to Washington to Arizona to San Jose State.
I mean, it's just whoa what is going on? Like so much
has happened so quickly, everybody's trying to wrap their heads around it. But
I think when the dust settles, like all the schools that have a change
head coaches based on save it or retiring at least on the West coach and
I find themselves I think in a really healthy position. Right right off here,
you're talking about you knowing Brennan. What do you know of him and
what do you like about him? Oh, I've known Brenton for her coach
Brennan for man. I want to say fifteen years or so twenty years.
I mean, if you follow Let's Goos football, you knew about him as
a young coach when he was a you know, either Arizona the GA or
at Cal Poly coach in wideouts. And then of course Oregon State is really
where he made his mark. If you look at all those receivers there,
they went I want to say eight straight years something like that with the first
team All conference wide out. It's not a second team All league. So
from Marcus Wheaton to Brennan Cooks, I mean, he just was coach in
that position at a really high level. I always felt like he had the
stuff to be a head coach. You know, he and I used to
go for jogs around Corvallis Fridays after we finished with our head coach and coordinator
production meeting. Then we just talk about life. Guys. You know who
he is as a five and a husband. He's awesome. And then the
more and more a relationship developed, you learn about you know, what makes
him chink and as philosophical approach. And when he got the job with San
Jose State, I visited him a bunch of times up there. He'd let
me come in and be around the team and the program and sitting on meetings,
and I just think as a culture builder, Brent Brennan like that's his
superpower. You know, football document is as good as you'd imagine for somebody
who spent their life in the sport, But in terms of a building team
and connecting with players, that's where he drives. And a mid chaos,
right, that's what's needed. Right, It's needed in Seattle at you dove,
it's needed in Alabama and Tuscaloosa, needed in Tucson, can be needed
in San Jose and Brit awesome at that. And I love getting to know
him, and I also know that this has been a dream job for him.
I mean, this is a guy who you know, he's he was
up for a lot of head jobs. Every idea I've ever talked to in
the last couple of years who's asked to put a head coach, they've always
asked about Brent Brennan at every single stop. And I just think that,
you know, will some of those jobs he didn't get necessarily, but God
should he land in the perfect position in the most unique circumstances in terms of
how it happened. But I know he and his wife and his kids are
just thrilled, thrilled to be in Tucsons. Well, let me ask you
that, because you know, as you say, he's in a better position
with the job he's getting now here in Arizona than had he gotten it three
years ago. But you know, like a lot of us, I mean,
did you think Arizona made a mistake last time? And look, we
all know how Jed Fish turned out. It was great, he turned the
program around. People are happy about that piece of it. Did you think
Arizona had made a huge mistake when they didn't hire Brendan last time around?
No, not at all. No. I mean I think this thing is
like it's kind of like when we were talking about quarterbacks in the draft,
like who would you take one or two? CJ. Strat or Bryce Young?
Yeah, you know, to me when we were talking about Jedfish,
I knew Jed as well as anybody, right. I went on your show
the day he was hired and talked about how much I loved and respected him
and knew the vision he would bring it to the program. Every single thing
I've said, And I think it's the dust settles a little bit. I
think Arizona. Fish should be really proud of what he did there, and
I imagine they are. I saw something and I think no Fafidas, someone
in his family put out on social media of like, let's ne forget who
got him there? Right? Who is the only Power five offer? And
I was identified by Jed Fish. So I'm not in the world of lighting
a guy up when he leaves. Nobody's happy when the coach leaves, and
in any instance, that's just what reality is. And the timing was brutal
for everybody involved, including the players in Seattle at Washington. But no,
I think that they they would have been great either way, both of those
guys who we have built it up and Jed did it extremely efficiently with the
pro model. They got people in Tucson that probably had never been to Tucson,
you know, like Sean McVay and Zach Taylor, Bill Belichick, Pete
Carroll, like people come into town to see Jed and Arizona not coming to
town because they're coaching a team. So I think fans in that community,
I get it they're angry at teams, but I'd be really proud of you
got the place to a extremely healthy position. I think you're a favorite to
win the Big Twelve next year. And the best players on the team recognized
that it was Tucson that they fell in love with. They came because of
jet Let's not forget that he came to Arizona because of Jet Fish. But
he's staying because of what Arizona stands for and what he fell in love with.
And I think that's kind of getting lost in all this, and it's
become Jed versus Brent Brandan, And that's to me just that that is not
the way that I would think about this thing. And I know it may
not be the popular to be happy. You're too you're too uh pragmatic,
you're not emotional like the rest of us over here. That's that's a great
way to say, you're right, you're spout off. And for Fetus,
Dad's who I read that very he's very poignant, very good. I was
wondering when you were a player, did you have to deal with something like
this? No, we never lost a coach. For our coach, Wald
Harris is always up for other jobs. He turned out Ohio State to stay
at TIT, which kind of would have been like je turned out Washington but
I think when you're a player. Back then, when I was playing,
you didn't really know the magnitude of jobs, Like I didn't know how big
Ohio state of a job that was. I thought Pitt was the biggest thing
in the world when I was there. I think it's different now. You
know, in terms of players and the CFP and the players in this era,
you know more about media rights than probably any player in the history of
football ever will. So no, I never had to deal with that,
thankfully, I guess. Yeah. So getting back to back to Brent Brennan
and said, you know you you jogged with him, so you must know
something about him. What do you think the fans in Tucson are going to
like about him the most? Well, that's a great question. I think
at the end of the day, they want to win. So they got
a winner, a guy who knows how to win. He's gonna have an
aggressive mentality. He's not gonna lay low in terms of tight games. He's
going to go for it. In recruiting, he's going to go for it.
I think though, honestly, the thing that they will love the most,
and in ten years when we're talking about you know, he might still
be there in ten years. But if he's not ten to fifteen years,
where you're talking about how he poured it into the community, they're going to
everybody's gonna get to know him. You know, he's so accessible as a
personality. I think he's a He's an extrovert. He loves being around people.
He loves selling a vision that he believes in his core, similar to
Jed. Like I think that Jed really laid a nice foundation and now Brett's
gonna take it in his own direction. But it's going to be a similar
vibe of like the communities get involved. I mean you go back to San
Jose State and before he got there, football players did not go to softball
games or volleyball games, and in San Jose State they're about everything. I'd
say the same thing in Tucson, right, I mean remember when the women's
basketball team made a run for it and Jed and his team that they can't
fill practice to watch the game and cheer on the team. It's gonna be
very similar. So yeah, and answer the question, I think players are
gonna or fans are gonna love getting to know BRT Brennan. He'll pour into
that community as you guys know, his wife went there. It's really a
place that is special in his heart, and I think he wouldn't mind me
sharing that among all the places that he's been coveted by, or the jobs
that he's been up for, this has always been the one he's wanted.
And I think it's so rare in this profession that you actually get an opportunity
to have a shot at that job and then actually get it. I mean,
it's less than one percent in terms of the job. When you're a
young coach and you circle on the whiteboard, because I did it, you'd
write in the whiteboard like what are your top five jobs? You could be
a head coach somewhere, And for Brent, number one has always been this
institution that he's at now, and I think that's what makes this so special.
And it kind of feels like he's been there for a while. I
gain it tendn't even been a week. But for me, I'm like,
of course, Brent Brennan is the head coach Arizona. I thought it was
always gonna happen at some point, you just didn't know when, and none
of us could have predicted the timeliness that this happened, and so so I
think people in Tucson to go back to this. The sky was following a
week ago today, but it's it's recovered. It got a group of players,
ex players or current players now that are coming back. What was your
thought on that or is your thought on that because they have some talent coming
back? Yeah, well I think this. I think number one, you
take the emotion out and you say what is best for everybody. Right for
Jonah Coleman, it's different than for no Facita, true McMillan, and I
got a ton of respect for that. So that's number one for me.
Is like each guy has to make their decisions. But I will say this,
and I said this many times and instead of years ago when Jordan Addison
became the first real portal guy who left my Ala Mater pit to go to
USC with only six months left in his playing career, and I've always felt
that, you know, one point six percent of college athletes make it to
the NFL on average, and as the Wall Street Journal staff from an arc
I read recently, So with that said, everybody thinks they're going, but
the reality is you're not. And the reality is that when it's all over.
You're going to lean on an alumni base. So what alumni base are
you going to call yours? And what alumni base are is it going to
call you a part of them? And I think that's the part that gets
forgotten in all this. So I love that those individuals who chose to come
on back to Tucson decided that, and I hope they played for fifteen years
a piece, but the likelihood is that's not going to happen, right,
And now I think that they have a community and supporters and alumni. Of
course they're going to buy them a beer or a burger every time they come
back to town for the rest of their lives. But more importantly, when
they need a job, when they're looking for a sponsor for their company,
when they're looking for a partner in a business, that network's going to be
there. And I think if you leave to go to a school for just
six months, I think you lose a lot of that. And that might
just be where we are. But for somebody who talks to a lot of
locker rooms, I always say the same thing I asked them all. I
say, who's building a logo for your personal brand? Right? Now,
and a lot of hands go up, and I said, I'd urge you
to stop pause and leverage the logo that you're wearing on your helmet or on
your jersey or on your hoodie right now, because it's going to be much
stronger than the one you create on your website. And the example is Tom
Brady. He's not bigger than the Michigan logo, but he can leverage that
thing forever. So I love the players that chose to stay. I hope
they get to leverage it. The ones that left, I hope they pour
into their new place outside of just the football and the exus and os and
playing, because they've got a strong alumni database there as well. And what
I'm fearful of, honestly, is that in this portal era, not only
going to lose the academic side of it, but it's really the connection side
of it to alumni, and I worry about that and players just becoming a
jersey number and a helmet versus becoming a young man who's growing into a real
one. You know, it's funny because of all the people we've interviewed about
this type of thing, nobody's ever said that I thought it was really yeah,
you know, I mean I've thought that a lot. I'm from here,
right, and I see the guys like Ricky Huntley and Lamont Hunley and
Chuck Cecil and you know, Corey Williams and all these guys who have stuck
around Tucson from other places, some of them very far. How they have
leveraged that, and you know, you think about that when guys do lead,
you know, and you think even Steve Kerr, you know, he's
you know, he continues to be connected to this community. So that's a
great insight on that, Yogi, because nobody's ever said that on the other
side, on the other side of this call, even though, like I
said, I've thought about it all the time, and that's a really important
thing that guys need to think about. Well, you know, it's interesting
you say that, Like, I just got an interviewed by the Pittsburgh Post
Gazette because they're doing a story on former players and what they're up to.
And my stat line is nowhere near you know, dozens and dozens of players
that have played a pit in the last twenty years and I haven't been back
more than once, maybe twice, since I played for twenty years, I've
been back to Pittsford maybe twice. Because of my job right I'm working in
college football, So every weekend I've got something going on, or is going
to the homecoming game or the spring game. But point is that because when
I was there, I tried to get three business cards every Tuesday and Wednesday,
and I built a community in a network that still cares about you twenty
years later to write a feature about you, to ask you, hey,
to come back and zoom with a couple of players, and I can call
anybody in the pit alumni database now and I'm connected with them. And I
was a walk on or we're in a scholarship, and caught fifteen passes in
his career. So I just say that for the guys like no On TMAC
lean into that, and then for even some of the lesser known players and
the guys that maybe are just going to play in college, it's a great
opportunity to leverage this school that loves you and can get to know you beyond
just being a student athlete, but being a three hundred and sixty degree human
being. No good stuff, really good stuff you'll get, by the way,
tell the Pittsburgh Post to get is that that Shaun Miller's that Xavier?
You got it? I appreciate it, thanks, Yoge appreciating good stuff,
A very good stuff. That was great. The A that's you know what,
I'm gonna use that because you have to use that, Yeah, because
it does sell better. Right. You know you spent this time here,
right, do you invest in this time here? Why not make the most
of that investment. Yeah? No, See, that's great. That was
awesome. That was very awesome. Okay, Hey, thanks, Yogi,
appreciate it. We'll hopefully we'll see you around soon. All right. That'
said, we're gonna take our last break. We're gonna come back. Take
your calls on anything that's happened over the weekend. A couple of things going
on, right, Dave, Yeah, So give us a call. Five
zero four one six seventy four forty don't believe, Let just fla. Don't
believe, Let just fla. Don't believe. Just win. Believe, just
win. Okay, if you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you know it's
been successful for nearly forty years. Now, take a look back at the
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Steve Raverera and Jacob Salis they have their eye on the ball on Tucson Sports
Stage chet Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. Hey, welcome back to O about here
on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. I'm Steve Rivera. You or Jigins also came
in with us today. We've got about twelve minutes. If you'd like to
reach out to us, please do five to zero four one four forty.
Good to talk to Yogi. He was great. I loved I loved what
he had to say about about You know, you come here, you're here
for our however many years you're here. It's an investment, you know,
in your time, your career. But you know, make the most of
that investment because there's something there for you. Yeah, and you're talking about
all these guys from other places who have stuck around here, right, And
it's about networking, right, The right people know people, I think,
and we're gonna have them worked here here tomorrow. That's gonna be a lot
of our conversation. A guy like him get to know the right people are
right people, the Corey Williams with the Cody's Cody Ritchie's of the world,
the Jim Clicks, and there's people here to help you, you know,
Bert kinnerk, Jim Klick, all these guys who help you know, enjoy
the relationships with these athletes and they'll help you down the road. Well,
back in the day, our was uh then you saw one in one rate.
It's the uh and we would have found it a long time ago.
Where you you have a job to cut the grass and it's or turn on
the sprinklers and it's all automatic. And those shine shakes that we do.
No, you get paid. You can do that. Do that. You
know you can go see you know our uh uh. You know Humberto Lopez
and he's you know he's retired now, but you know his businesses. You
know, he's a real estate developer and that's why he made his bones here
in Tucson. He's got connections. You know, he'll he'll he'll help you
and you can make you can stay here and have a lucrative career doing things
here in Tucson, Arizona. And that's that's the cool thing about what I
think. Guys like you know what, No, if a FIDA has done
team yeah, yeah, maybe they'll go off and play professional football. Even
if they do, they can come back here after that. And as he
said, never have to buy their own burger or their own beer. So
uh, those things are those things are important. All right. Hey,
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Draft Kings Backloce. Yes, yeah, you got any ideas what you're gonna
do this weekend? Steve's I know it's only Monday. Well my ticket,
my tickets. I only have two tickets left that are supplying. It's uh,
it's the Ravens from I've got them in August, the Ravens and the
Chiefs. Okay, well, you're gonna have a team in the super Bowl.
That's fine. I have an eleven to one team and a four to
one team. I think it was final one. The Ravens eleven to one.
Yeah, I kind of like that one better. I like the I
mean Lamar Jackson, Man, I've been, I've been Lamar Jackson, Dowter.
I'm like, he's only so far he can take you. But dang,
he's doing really well. Yeah, so I'm hoping I'm going to be
pulling for the Baltimore. Yeah. But then again, man Mahomes and his
voice, they just keep finding a way, right, they just keep finding
a way. Mahomes was so good he even got MBS to catch a couple.
Yeah. Yeah, oh yeah. Here's the fun with some of my
son, who you know, is a huge Raiders fan or forty nine Ers
fan, and my godson, Danny Martinez. The two of them are basically
best friends. They've known each other since they were bored. Danny's a huge
Lions fan, Adam a huge forty nine Ers fan. So this is going
to be a very interesting to watch it together. No, Adam's not even
gonna come and watch it at my house, he said. He said,
Dad, I'm not because we usually do, you know, Sunday dinner at
our house. He said, I'm not coming Sunday. And this is why
this is funny. He came over to our house to watch the Packers game,
and he left. When he left or the Packers, and when he
left, the forty nine Ers were losing. Because he had to go home
and he had go take get his son down for a nap. Then the
forty nine Ers came in. When he said, Dad, I said,
Adam, you came here and you watched it and they won. He said,
when I left, they were losing. He's still believing in the death,
so he's not coming up. I think that's gonna be a great game,
outstanding games. I think even the Lions could put up a better fight
than a lot of people. Yeah, I'm not I'm not going to be
disappointed in either whoever wins that game, because you know, I want the
Niners to win. I want my son to be happy. They call him
Sadam when they lose. You know, see these fans, I don't get
it. I used to be that a long time ago, now anymore.
But I enjoyed the game. But you know the Lions in the Super Bowl,
that's never happened. Well, you had a stat who was the stat
with the Cowboys in the in the other one. Oh, there's only two
teams that haven't made two teams in the n FC that have not been NFC
Championship game this century. It is the Washington Commanders and the Dallas Cowboys.
So so if we're talking blue bloods, Dallas is blue. Is not as
blue as it used to be. Yeah, it's just not. It's just
not. And we'll talking about there was one and we won't go there,
but it's enough. This year's are this this year? How many this year's?
I mean this this year seemed to be the collapse, you know center.
I thought that's not very long. It's twenty three years. Man,
they haven't been since thirty five, ninety six one one. Yeah, not
that I want to rag on Cowboy Fence and Miguel I'm sorry, like fat
mic Yeah yep, but no, I you know, it's uh but I
like them. I like the matchups this weekend. I think they're both gonna
be fun games. And I mean, you know, the Ravens just look
they look unbeatable, don't they they really? I thought the Texans were gonna
cover they were getting ten. I thought they were going to cover that,
and it was ten ten. I was about to say it looked good to
start too. It was tied at the half, and I'm like, okay,
I got this. It was it was going on during the during the
UFA basketball game. The game ends, I'm like, it's thirty one to
ten. What the hell happened? Yeah, So I made a bet.
I picked them to win. Spread was like nine, I think it was.
So I said, I went on and got my X amount of money
on there and I said I saw some of the show and the kind of
commitment to go six and a half at halftime and they had a ten to
three league and think, okay, good. So then I went to go
cash and I never pulled the trigger on the halftime. It was great because
I said, I thought I hit the punch bart I didn't, so it
was good. I only bet the Ravens, So yeah, now this would
be fun. I think that I think Sunday will be the Chiefs Ravens is
the early game, one o'clock our time, and then you got the lines
in forty nine ers at four thirty Chiefs Chiefs Ravens being the early game is
a crime. You have to end the night on that on that game.
No, you can't play that game at night in Baltimore, man, No
way, that's true. That's true. You know the forty nine ers at
night didn't in San Francisco. I think, you know, I could hate.
I hate when the weather is at such a such a huge impact on
the game. So I'd rather that be just clean daytime, get some sun
and play the game and made the best man win. So I'm looking forward
to that. Should be a lot of fun. Should be a lot of
fun. A fan of when everything is equal, all things equal, you
want you just want to clean. Yeah, the best team wins, team
wins. Okay, do you still think that? I still think this.
That's why I'm gonna bring it up. There's still a lot of mistaque in
the case. Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa,
whoa whoa. University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins announced today a transition
in the leadership of the Department of Athletics, with Vice President and Director of
Athletics Steve he concluding his nearly seven year tenure on February second. Robbins is
appointed legendary Wildcat's former head coach Mike Andrea as the interim director, penning approval
by the Arizona Border Regents. WHOA what did you get? Tell? It's
un newsually sent out by the U of A news. It's not, it's
not it's not a sports Uh, it's out of the University of Arizona.
University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins announced today a transition in the leadership
of the Department of Athletics, with Vice President and Director of Athletics Dave Heickey
concluding his nearly seven year tenure on February second, which is two weeks from
today. Yeah, Robbins has appointed legendary Wildcat's former head softball coach Mike Candrea
as the interim director, pending approval by the Arizona Board of Reaching. Huge
huge news. Holy hell, let me see this. Let me say this.
Hickey was at the at the press conference on Wednesday, right when he
had he announced that doctor Robbins was sick. Yes, right, he has
not been involved in any of these hiring He was has you been around the
last time today? The apparently he was sick that we've taken for his word
and what do we say? What do we say to each other? And
I said this to Greg Dave looked tired, tired. He didn't. He
looked tired at that press conference. I even told Greg that I think there's
something going on with Heikey's family that happened. I won't say what it was
because I don't know, but that this this this sits on the shock of
maybe a one or two. I mean in uh, it's it's shocking.
Yeah, but not all We ten, okay, to to make sure the
point is h with Candre it's intern Yeah, okay, yeah. Uh.
Robins goes on to say, I'm confident Mike and Dave will ensure a smooth
transition as we immediately begin a national search for new director of athletics. With
our transition to the Big twelve, success in our high profile programs, the
passion fan base, an institutional alignment, I'm confident that we'll be able to
attract the tremendous new leader or athletics. This is huge, it's mecca.
Yeah, it's and it's mega for Brent Brennan, right, you just got
hired and now he's gonna have a new boss. People hate they hate that,
well, of course they hate that. Now for Brett, you know,
maybe Brandon be fine with it. You know, he'll be okay,
you know, win and you're all right right right, but jang, wow,
Well, there's not a lot of good things going out of that that
you eith Dr Robbins, Well, Doctor Robins, he got a he got
a vote of no confidence from the from the fact Union saying that they they
recommend that he be Yeah, so this came out of this came out of
not out of the out of the athletic Department, out of out of the
u A News, the news. Still, I'm glad I saw that before
we hit the road man breaking, I mean literally breaking nine minutes. We'll
find out more about this tomorrow. We have a big show tomorrow. In
fact, we have we have a Humberto Lopez going to join us talk about
well we'll ask him this too. Okay, what do you think about you
having a U A D. But Bert Lope is a philanthropist, you have
a athletics uh supporter and uh, you know, just all around you know,
pretty good guy work from Frank Bush. He will be on the show
as well, a lot of things going on with him with Ni all right,
should be an interesting show tomorrow, So be sure to come back tomorrow.