It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine
day. Now here's Nick coffee. All right, we do have some breaking
news here to get the four o'clock hour started. Probably not surprising news,
but it is official that Reach Shepherd will in fact come back to Knumpkin.
He's going to go pro and he's going to forego his remaining college eligibility,
which means this is a full go, fully jumping in here, because you
used to be able to close the door by essentially hiring an agent. Now
you can actually have an agent and go through the process. So Reach Shepherd
moving on to the next level. And I'm happy about that because you know,
I don't want to play in Kentucky, but this is what he should
do. I mean, he is a hell of a player. He'll be
probably a top five pick, to be honest with you. You know things
can change, you never know. The draft is still months away. But
I think he's gonna be a star in the league. I really do.
I remember watching him in high school a few times, and I would be
a fool to try to tell you that I knew he'd be as good as
he was at Kentucky. But I knew he would be really good, and
I knew that he would be not your typical white kid from out in the
state of Kentucky that grew up a fan and everybody in his area and everybody
in the state loves him. He could play. He's a different I mean,
he's one of the best players to come out of the state of Kentucky
in a long long time as far as just his ability. And he showed
that in one year in Lexington. And now he's gonna go pro and who
knows where he ends up getting drafted. At one point and this was you
know, this was long ago, he was viewed as a potential number one
pick. So you think John Kella Perry's gonna sit with him at the draft,
you know, it wouldn't surprise me. Yeah, I mean, and
I guess like he probably should, right, I mean, I mean,
it is his player, Yeah, I mean, it's the guy he recruited.
Now again, I think, honestly, Mark Pope could have been there
a year ago, and he still would have He still would have ended up
going to Kentucky because of the obvious connection. So right now at NBA draft
dot Net, which that has let's see has been updated within the last week.
They've got him going number four overall, with a foreign player I'm not
familiar with at number one, Cody Williams from Colorado number two, and then
Dalton connect at number three from Tennessee. So good for Reed Shepherd because that
would have made like, that would have been the ultimate win for Mark Pope,
right, that would have gotten the entire fan base way more horned up
than they needed to be about it. Yeah, and it would have been
wild just given the fact that he'd be coming back to play for a guy
that he's known for a long time because his dad played with Mark Pope at
Kentucky. They won a championship together. So and here's here's what I would
imagine that Reed Shepherd and his dad probably wanted to do is to go ahead
and get that out there that way people weren't just hanging around and want And
you know, because if he didn't make it public for a few weeks,
no matter what Mark Pope is going to be doing here as far as making
a staff, getting players, if he ends up getting some, which I
assume he will, uh, the people would still just want to know what's
redoing. So he's gonna go pro, and I think he'll be a really
really good pro. This is going to sound like a crazy, crazy comparison,
and yes, I'm going to compare him to another white guy. But
what can Luca do that Reed Shepherd can't do. Now, Luca's bigger,
there's no doubt about that. I mean, they're not the same player.
Reed Shepherd's not, you know, built like Luca, but reads a better
athlete. I think he's a really good passer, maybe not as good as
Luca. Can shoot the hell out of the ball, can play off,
can play off ball, can run your team. And I think he's going
to be a really really good player in the NBA. And I'm happy he
only played one year at Kentucky and it resulted and then no tournament wins for
Kentucky. That's the way it should be, all right. It is Coffee
and Company. We are feel about Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Appreciate you hanging out with us if you are just now joining us. It
sounds like Louisville could be getting a commitment here soon from Ali Khalifa, the
kid from BYU, which will get into his background and whatnot. You know
here shortly, we've already done it throughout the week as we knew he was
somebody that was going to be visiting. But I'm already seeing Louisville fans not
melt down or anything like that. But they at three o'clock we found out
that Dante Maddox, who was considering Louisville Xavier in Illinois. He visited all
three. Louisville got the first visit and Xavier the last visit is the one
who ends up getting him. So that was a really good player. That
would have really given you a nice boost. It would have given you,
I think, three really highly thought of guys in the portal in a great,
you know, great starting spot right there. In fact, you could
probably I mean they wouldn't want to do it, but if you landed Maddox,
you could probably put a starting five together. That is the five guys
they have on the team. They wouldn't be great, but like you know,
you got rain Smith, who's your shooter. You got your two guards
that would have been Maddox along with with Edwards Scott, the big guy who
transferred from Charleston, and then I think you could actually play Hadley at the
at the four if you wanted to. So what I'll say about this though
real quick, because if Khalifa's numbers just are not are not really impressive and
not you know, I mean for those who don't follow anything other than occasionally
checking social media or reading one of the websites here locally that covers it,
and you see Louisville Lands BYU Transfer, your first reaction is going to be
wow, they got one of Mark Pope's guys before you could even visit Exton.
Then you'll look at the numbers and think, okay, like what what
you know? What? Why did we why did we get this guy?
So what I will remind you of Louisville is in a very rare spot as
far as the portal. They don't just need three, four or maybe five
guys to really give him that final punch to put them over the edge to
where they feel like on paper they've got a team that could really do something
special. They need an entire team that includes guys that are willing to come
here and be clearly role players at best, and Khalifa was a role player
at BYU. So if he does commit to Louisville, which that's the expectation.
I'm sure he thinks. I'm sure he's gonna have a similar role.
But I'm also not going to walk back what I said earlier in the week,
because again, his stat line is just it's crazy, it really is.
I mean, I'll read it once more before we get to the phone
lines here, But in nineteen minutes, he averaged four points, three rebounds,
shot thirty eight percent from the field. Everything about that is lousy.
But then he averaged four assists, and that is you know, that's I'm
sorry, he averaged five points, not four, but he averaged four assist
a game in nineteen minutes as a seven foot center. So watching some highlights,
I mean, he's just a big, big dude that roams around the
three point line. And he didn't shoot it at a high level as far
as percentage, but it looks like he is known to be a guy that
can knock down open threes. But he's a seven foot like positionless guy,
and I think passing and potentially making threes is where you're going to see him
make an impact. Which, hey, if that's a guy that is impacting
the game in eleven minutes per game or you know, even less than that
then, you know, so be it. But I'm curious to see what
the reaction is if, in fact, he does make the decision. All
right, five two, five seventy nine hundred is the number. If you
guys want to jump in and give us a call, Let's go back to
the phone lines. Welcome in, mister Lou Lou. How are you?
What you say? Nick? How are you doing? Brother good? I
just wanted to correct you on the football coaches wearing suits. Okay, well,
the guy that basically found at our university did that coach? Yeah,
a lot of I mean a lot of people did that forever. I'm just
I just mean, like in the modern day of college football, it's very
rare to see a coach wearing a suit or a tie. I mean it
used to be. It used to be the uniform for coaches back in the
day. It is. And I've seen coach snellen Burger catch Aaron passes in
a game. Nice reach up there with that suit on, flipping the press.
Incredible. One other old school guy, I'll just give it a little
political history lesson. President Reagan would not remove his jacket in the Oval office,
you know, for those guys of that age. That's just the way
they respected the office or the way coach Snellenberger respected the game of college football,
and interesting if we could use a little bit more of that these days.
I'll make a couple more comments. Ree Shefford reminds me a lot of
another UK player, Tyler Heat. I think he could have a similar Yeah,
that's not bad, I think did. I think Tyler is a little
bit bigger, but obviously Read is more of a guy who can kind of
run it team, be your point guard. One of the things Read didn't
really get to show off this year that I mean, he did at times,
but he is a really really good passer and I think that's where he'll
stand out in the NBA. One more point before I hang up. The
last guy that called Jerry, Yeah, you know what a jaded view of
life this guy must have. I mean he's talking about everybody's cutthroat and there's
you know, whatever business you're in, you'll do anything to get to the
top. I mean, that's a horrible way to look at life. While
it is true there are a lot of cutthrow people out there, there are
some people of integrity that are not going to you know, stoop down to
cutting somebody's throat to move up themselves in life. So, Jerry, I
don't know who you're hanging around with, you know, find some more people
that are positively influenced in your life, because not everybody is a snake in
the grass. Well, said Lou. I appreciate it, man. Yeah,
so let's back up here. And he mentioned the suits is because John
made a good observation that Pat Kelsey reminds him of PJ. Fleck, the
head coach at Minnesota, and I kind of laughed it off, like what
are you talking about? And you aren't disrespectful? Yeah, but I had
a visual in my head of what PJ. Fleck looked like and it was
a different guy. I don't know who the guy was not sure if he's
if he's an Ai an ai person that was created in my brain, but
he is right. They do look alike. But then on on Jerry's call
about cut, you know, just hearing those two completely different views of things,
here here's my takeaway. I think there are certain jobs where you will
not succeed at the level you are expected to succeed in that role if you
aren't somebody that is a little bit cutthroat, and that is willing to be
the guy to can somebody, and it won't be it won't It'll be just
another day for you. It'll be one of the twenty things you do and
you won't think about it for a second after you do it. I'm not
That's not me. I couldn't do that. I could never. I mean,
I guess I could if I had to, Like you know, I'll
do whatever have to do to make a living and support my family. But
I would not be a good boss at all. I just it wouldn't be.
It's not my it's not my personality, it's not my character. I
could do it, but I don't think I would be good at it.
So Jerry's right in regards to like the high level stakes of college basketball and
maybe the corporate world that he's talking about. And look, I've experienced that
and seen that too, even even in this business I'm in now, Like
you know, you can just get whacked and it'll be another day for the
higher ups because that's just the nature of what they how they operate, and
really some you know, it's you never believe it if it happens to you,
But it isn't personal. Most of the time, you know what I
mean, they don't know who you are. So but yeah, I know
there's a lot. You know, I tend to be more on the loose
side just as far as my nature. I understand what Jerry was saying.
But you know, for me, if I had to, if I knew
I had to be that cutthroat to you know, succeed in a certain level,
then I probably wouldn't be as good as uh, you know, is
I need to be in certain you know, roles. Again, it all
depends on what you're like, what line of work you're in. You know,
college basketball, which we were talking about. You know, it's high
level stakes. It's it's I mean, you've you know, you've got to
be I mean, I was gonna say cheating, but like it's not really
cheating now because at this point, I'm not kidding you knew whatever you want,
Like, I don't really know what is and what is not allowed right
now when it comes to college athletics. I mean, their rules kind of
but like nobody's enforcing them because the nsaa's never had less power than they have
right now. I mean transfers, You've got people transfer in every year and
there's no ability to stop it. Speaking of that, Hayley van Lyth she
has found her new school and that is going to be TCU, which I'm
not sure how that came about, but she is going to transfer to uh
to TCU and uh oh let's see here, wait a second, we have
an update. So one of the Cavendar twins, you know who that is,
right? Yeah? I saw a photo of some sort of Miami uniform.
Yeah, so one of the Cavender twins. They are two very attractive
blonds that are super popular on Instagram TikTok, I assume, and they became,
you know, like viral stars. They played at Miami and then they
took a year off of college basketball to like I think they did like WWE
stuff. I'm not kidding. I think they like were in w There's something
like that. So now they are coming back to college basketball. And one
of them was going back to Miami and then the other one was going to
be going to TCU. Well, right after Haley van Lyth committed to TCU,
Hailey Cavender has decided to leave TCU and join her sister back in Miami.
I don't have a clue what it's about but like l keeps taking ls
and she was one of the most popular players. Yeah that I feel like,
nah, you don't think so, I mean, you know better than
just to us that and that's and that's why I'm referring to Louisville fans.
Well, yeah, but that was while we talked about it. Whenever she
got roasted in the National Championship game. She she was one of those players
that, like you kind of deep down you don't want to think about it.
You want to talk about it because she's your she's on your team,
but you knew if you were really forced to answer the question, you would
really not like her if she was on any other team than yours. Right,
she was ours. So we embrace it, love it, love that
she's hated by people. And then she goes to LSU and like you're seeing
in her different lens and you're like, man, like she's she's kind of
a villain, and I really don't know why, because you know she's not.
To me. She doesn't come off as like a bad person with a
terrible attitude. I mean, she's kind of cocky, but like nothing crazy,
but I mean she's just it's just you know, I feel like most
of the of the the disdain excuse me, is because a lot of people
just thought that she hadn't made here louvill which she did. Yeah, but
it really came down to I guess nil stuff that was more abundant in LSU
at the time. Yeah. And I don't and I've never met her,
don't know anything about her other than she played at Louisville and she was pretty
good when she was here. But you know, if she was moving to
TCU to try to team up with one of those Cavender twins, then I
would say that, you know, it would be another sign that she was
more so just looking to be a part of like this, not the circus,
but like she went to LSUT obviously try to get a ring to make
some money, but also to be a part of the most followed team in
the country. You know, obviously Kaylyn Clarkson most followed player in women's college
basketball last year, but LSU for all the Dynamics there with Angel Reese and
their coach who's her own you know, different story. But anyways, let's
go back to the thone lines five W two five seven one seventy nine hundred
is the number if you'd like to to give us a call, Let's go
to Mike. Mike here on Sportstock seven ninety. How are you, hey
man? Good well, doing well? So a lot of a lot of
emotions today with the Reed Shepherd deal. I mean, obviously I wanted him
to come back as a Kentucky fan from a you know, selfish standpoint as
far as he you know, how great he was. Uh, but you
know, you realize if it was your own son, you know, yes,
you make the same decision type of things. So I wish him the
best of luck. But you know, my my comparison for the NBA is
NBA is an older guard of Kevin Johnson for the Phoenix Sons, a dude
who did it all and uh, you know, about the same height wise,
and was just a really really good NBA player. So uh, that's
my comparison on that, And I'm curious of what your thoughts are on does
he does him leaving help our recruiting are hurt Kentucky's recruiting. He can only
help. Yeah, him leaving opens up spots for people to come in that
they were thinking. Uh, And that's what I felt. And then the
other thing, I'll come on and is a Khalifa kid? I mean when
he first announced that he was transferring, he listed BYU Louisville and Kentucky,
and I thought this is a troll move because he's following Pope to Kentucky.
But now it's like it's an ultimate troll move by Hey, were you not
really wanted to come to Kentucky? So you're going to list their biggest rival
and go to their biggest rival. So it's interesting to see how that plays
out. Yeah, no, that thanks for the call, Mike, I
appreciate it. Yeah. With with Khalifa, I mean I think he was
somebody that people actually just him. Listing BYU is why he was just I'm
sorry, listening Kentucky is why he was mentioned as a potential guy to land
to Kentucky. But whenever they're in you know, there's all kinds of folks
reporting on Kentucky that I don't follow and keep up with. But whenever there
was discussion about which BYU players would potentially follow Mark Pope, he wasn't one
of them, despite being in the portal. And you know, some of
the guys at b YU probably won't leave BYU because they're not there for Mark
Pope. They're there because BYU it's a rare situation that the school itself and
the type of institution that it is like, that's why they're there. So
anyways, all right, so we've had some folks asking if there's any kind
of an update on the Jaden quaintance visit which is going on right now,
And I mean, do we ever get updates on a visit. I think
there's more, there's much more attention and focus on this because this is the
number eight player in America, five star phenom, the guy that could potentially
be the number one pick in the draft in a couple of years. But
we're not gonna get an update. I mean in the update that we would
get would be he said his visit went great. Like That's just how this
works. There's no updates. In fact, if you get like a notable
update, it's probably that it wasn't good. So I would be shocked if
he doesn't end up taking other visits as well, probably to Arkansas next.
And by all accounts, everybody who follows, you know, everybody who covers
recruiting still thinks that the safest bet is for a quaintance to end up following
cal to Arkansas, which you know that'll probably be what he that'll probably end
up what happens, but who knows. I mean again, Pat Kelsey is
a good salesman, and I would imagine he's got some big time nil money
to use here for a quaintance. And again, this is a little bit
of a different situation than most five star freshmen because his age keeps makes it
to where he can't He can't go pro like he cannot go to the NBA
Draft until twenty twenty six, so he's a two year guy essentially. All
right, let's let's do this. Let's go ahead and take our first break
here. We'll come back on the other side, get back to your phone
calls, and then we will also bring in the one the only miss can't
Spencer coming up here shortly, so stick with us. It is Coffee and
Company were we are fueled bouth Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
All right, let's keep it rolling along here. It is Coffee and Company,
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com or download the app today. Let's go back to the phone lines five
W two five seventy nine hundred is the number. Let's go to JP JP.
How are you, sir? I'm good, Nick. I just want
to ask a real quick question about I know, can Lucky and Saint John's
are now going to have a home and home because of the whole Patino probe
thing, But I got to I mean, what are your thoughts or could
it even happen with Kelsey entertain the idea of also having a home and home
with Saint John's and kind of Lowell and Kentucky both kind of honor and Rick
before he retires. That's a great question, and JP, I appreciate the
call. Man I would say that, and I don't you know, we'll
learn more about Pat Kelsey as far as how he wants to schedule. You
know, his scheduling at the low mid at the mid major level at Winthrop
and Charleston was probably he's looking for any any power program to play him because
it gives his chance a team to pull off an upset. And you know,
I mean, I guess the dream scenario for schools of that caliber are
to not need to win your tournament to get in. And he won his
tournament a lot, so he never really had to worry about it. But
you know, I can't see why he would not want to play Patino and
Saint John's. I mean, I guess I could see, you know,
it would be maybe a love fest because Patino has a way of you know,
holding court and just having people just eating right out of the palm of
his hand. So maybe maybe that's why pat wouldn't want to do it.
But if he did want to do it and embrace it, it wouldn't really
shock me. And honestly, that's something we're still kind of learning about him
as a coach and how he's going to operate to where it's almost impossible for
me to know which way he would want to go. But with Rick,
I could see him not wanting to play that game. I could be wrong,
but I could see him not wanting anything to do with a series against
Louisville, not because of Pat Kelsey, but just because he still feels a
certain way about how things ended. I think he knows that the people in
charge now are not the ones that had anything to do with that. But
the sound we played yesterday from Richard Patino discussing Louisville reaching out to him during
their search and his dad kind of being, you know, bothered by even
the thought of Richard considering the job if he was offered, that kind of
confirms that, you know, I don't know if Rick has anybody specifically around
here right now to be mad at, but he's still bitter about that whole
situation, and that really isn't that surprising in the grand scheme of things.
All Right, let's bring in the one the only he is, Kent Spencer
from w h A s eleven? Can how are we doing on this beautiful
Thursday afternoon, sir man can't couldn't be better, beautiful, beautiful day outside,
no doubt about that. And I'll just start pick up where we just
left off there. Do you think Rick Bettino if if Louisville was to initiate,
you know, a series and say, hey, we'll play a home
at home. Do you want to do it? My gut tells me he'd
say no. What do you think I think? I think right now,
I think he would still say thanks, but no thanks. It would not
be probably, you know, a harsh no, but I think we are
right now. I would imagine that it would be a thanks for no thanks.
Yeah. And I'd say, if there's ever a day where Rick is
like back at Louisville to be honored or something like that, I think it'd
be really far down the line, you know, to where he's not coaching
anymore. But then again, like I don't think Rick will ever not coach
unless he physically just cannot do it. No. And you know, Richard
was on a podcast this week to say, you know, some of that,
like while he was intrigued it was going to be you know, an
interesting deal because his dad still covered you know, negative feelings about how everything
went down, you know, here at Louisville. So clearly Rick still feels
some sort of way about about the school and everything. All right, let's
switch gears here to the new head coach at the University of Kentucky. Last
time we talked, I think everybody was under the impression that it was likely
going to be Scott Drew. I was, most people certainly were, but
he decided to stay at Baylor, and then it quickly shifted to Mark Pope.
They got it done quickly, as soon as he became I guess the
top candidate. Just you know, your early impressions here. Obviously, he's
a successful coach. He's done well at BYU, did well at Utah Valley
State. But what makes this, you know, the fact that he's a
former Kentucky player that played in an era that really helped Kentucky establish themselves as
one of the biggest brands in the sport. I mean, I just I
think Kentucky fans didn't really know what that that was going to feel like until
he showed up and talked to them, and it probably you know, hit
him in a way they didn't expect. You know, think think about this,
Nick, you know, when the news broke, I want to say,
Thursday night, Yeah, it was about as negative a reaction as you
could possibly have on on a higher you know, especially with the names that
that had kind of been been thrown out there. By the time we got
to Sunday afternoon, it was absolutely completely flipped, you know, in the
other direction. And then the introductory news conference and all of this stuff,
and so there's there's a lot of I think good vibes in their fan base
about you know, him being hired, him getting the job, him understanding
things that he wants to get done, you know. And and when you
first hear about the hire, you're like, well, what, well,
what what? Then you kind of starting to digging into it, and you're
like, oh, he's he is a pretty good coach. He is a
pretty good recruiter. But ultimately, like this all comes down to whether we're
talking about Mark Popek Kentucky, whether we're talking about Pat Kelsey at Louisville.
You know, those guys have been have proven that they can coach, can
you get players, and can you win at this level that you know,
for all of that, I think it remains remains to be seen. But
I will say this because whether you're Louisville fans who want big names, whether
you're Kentucky fans who want big names, you know, to take over your
job. I was kind of doing a kind of a deep dive and just
really giving this some thought. And I was trying to think about the last
two coaches at established prominent programs that we would think that are really good basketball
programs that made a move to a high powered, you know, Top ten
program. And I got to kind of thinking about this, and I was
like, you know, the last one that I could kind of recall is
Cali Perry when he went from Memphis to Kentucky. And then I got to
think, and I was like, and then before that, it's probably Roy
Williams from Kansas to North Carolina. But he just was going home, you
know, North Carolina was home. SCEO. Kansas would lose their coach.
Yeah, it doesn't happen like often at all. I mean you could say,
maybe, like, you know, I can listen to the argument of
Bill self when he went from Illinois to Kansas, but you know, he
had really done much before he made that move, so like this, this
stuff just doesn't happen. I mean you look about the blue bloods and who
they replaced and stuff like that. It's it's it's lower tier, lower named
folks that that have to prove it once they get in that seat. I
mean, four years ago, Danny Hurley was not the greatest coach in college
basketball. He is now, but he wasn't even three years ago. So
you know, it's about getting the opportunity and then could you seize it and
what you do from it from there. I think both fan bases as of
now are very excited about the new era that each of them have and the
fresh start, and both are coming off of very different situations. Meaning Louisville
was really really bad for two years. In Kentucky, you know, they've
been good. It's just it was quite clear that the Caliperi, you know,
I don't want to call it an experiment, because he had a great
run there, but it had kind of just run its course, and just
the thought of kind of running it back and doing it again, I think
their fans would have still bought in and believed because that's what they do.
And I don't say that as a criticism, that's just I mean, what
are you gonna do you're a fan. But I think one of the reasons
why, you see, because let's be real, we all know that most
Louisville fans and most Kentucky fans did not name Pat Kelcey and Mark Pope Is
guys that they really wanted to see take the job once he became clear they
were gonna be looking for a coach. But I think these guys not only
being able to really you know, talk, I mean, these guys were
both impressive, but I think it's such a drastic difference than what both fan
bases were used to with previous coach. With Kenny, it was just,
you know, kind of a lifeless program that didn't win a lot. With
Cal I mean, it was clear he just wasn't happy. He would vaguely
take shots at fans at times and things like that. I think one of
the early reasons why these fan bases just seem to be so all in is
because not only are they excited because it's new, but it's just it's something
they haven't experienced, right. I Mean, Pat Kelsey's way different than aybody
that's coaching this program that I could think of and with Mark Pope. I
mean, to me, he just seems like the polar opposite of John cal
Perry. Yeah, no, I mean, like, look, Pat Kelsey
is energy plus Kenny Payne. You know, I don't know if you would
describe him in such a manner, you know, And so but then you
look at like Mark Pope and you listen to some of the things that he
said in that that press conference. You know, Cali Perry was dead set
against you know, playing in the Maui Invitational, Mark Pope. How about
how about Kentucky goes back to Maui, Mark Pope. It's not just about
banners. It's also about SEC panners. John Calipari, I don't care about
the SEC tournament. I mean, are those those were coincidences? No,
those were not coincidences. And so it's it's all about, you know,
understanding where it is and Okay, where does our fan base, how does
our fan base need to heal? And to this point, both guys have
done a great job of you know, getting getting some wound, helping us
heal. I mean, I'm a lofa fan myself. I mean, that's
what that's that's what it's happening right now, and it was needed in a
major way. Yep, what do you think about you know, Caliperry at
Arkansas as far as I mean like this thing, I just don't see a
scenario where it'll ever be you know, like super cordial, right, Like
I think you know, I don't. I don't think you're going to see
anybody fist fight. And then I don't think you know you're gonna see Cali
Perry, you know, turn into like a w W E heel and start
cutting promos. But like he's gonna not only because he's just a competitor,
but I think he's gonna want to stick it to Kentucky in every way right
under guess what only natural? I mean, the reason why he makes the
move is because you know, he felt like the situation at Kentucky was no
longer fixable and it was didn't be fault Yeah, and so you know that's
why that's why you make the move. And so in order to do that,
and you're if you're going to stay in the same conference, yeah,
you want to stick it to him? Only natural? Only natural. Look,
I know that he's still going to get players like that's like he is
still the best recruiter in the game, and so he's gonna get dudes.
But you know, I know this, he took a lot of the same
staff that you know struggled in the last couple of years, and so you
know, he really didn't change much of that, if at all. And
so that'll be interesting to see how how they handle that and how you know,
if a fire is re lit and fail. Bill all right, I
want to switch gears here real quick to football. Leisl football has their spring
game tomorrow and like every other coach in the country, Jeff Brohm and his
whole staff monitoring the transfer portal. What do you make of these guys that
show up mid year, after the winter semester and some of them, I'm
sure all of them are getting some level of nil, some probably a pretty
lucrative level, depending on who they are. I just think, you know,
as much as the players have all the power, and you know,
it's made things weird the fact that I show up after their season ends only
to go through you know, really half a semester, play spring ball and
then leave like that, Just like that. That's the ultimate like example I
think of how this is just too chaotic. There needs to be some level
of like regulation and rule. I go, I go back to the same
thing. Athletic departments need to handle the money. Yeah, contracts, Contracts
need to be signed. Like it's all broken and it's all really really shady
and dirty. It is really broken. I mean it's so broken and so
and and make no mistake about it. I am. I've always been for
you know, the players and the athletes getting compensated. I've always been for
that. But the way that this whole thing is now, it's just it's
trash, well said, and it's I mean, it's it's a shame too
because the because of the n C double A just wanting for so long to
continue with the archaic amateurism model, and then Congress gets involved. It led
to this thing, you know, kind of positioning to where the if you
want to if you if you want to get good players, you know you're
gonna have to have nil in place, and you're gonna have to have the
resources to do that. But you know, you're just throwing money away potentially,
right because technically, because you're not paying them to play, it's not
a contract. It's coming from you know, an outside source. You know,
you're just paying these people to be these people right, to just exist.
There's nothing about being a basketball player. It's just in agreement because you
know their name, image and likeness, which we know that's not why they're
doing it, but it makes it to where these guys could get millions and
leave and like, no, there's nothing you can do about it. Like
the players have no and no responsibility and it's the and and you know they're
there. There lies the problem. I think it's it is that's why it's
a total sham, right, Like n I L. It's still like it's
still run by the programs. Yeah, I mean it's it's not, but
it is exactly you know what I mean. Like and it's not even n
I L. Like we're it's just pay for play. Yeah, like maybe
every now I mean we call it in I L. But like that's not
at all what it is. Nobody is like nobody's making investments in regards to
a potential return on set investment for your for your company. It's it's it's
buying players. Oh and and and all these collectives are still attached to the
schools. I mean they still have if there's still plenty of involvement there.
It's just like I said, the whole thing is and and you know,
I'm all about, like, can we can we quit with the charade?
Can we just let the athletic departments handle the funds? And then they and
then players signed contracts and you agree to terms and this is what you're going
to make for the next year or two years or however long you want to
sign that contract and then it's it's binding and let's go to work. And
so, you know, I just feel like there's just you know, I
used to feel like I needed to take a shower when I go to AAU
stuff. Now when we're dealing with you know, contract, you know,
nil and all that stuff. Man, I feel like I need to take
two showers. Yeah, And it's it. It it's changed really everything.
I mean when you think when you know, when I watch college football,
in college basketball, for the most part, I don't notice. I mean
maybe seeing a guy that I realized, oh wow, that guy played for
a different school for three years. I didn't realize he transfer. But other
than that, between the lines, you know, the product I think is
still is still pretty good and it hasn't been impacted as far as just a
visual standpoint, but when you think of everything outside of it, it is
it's a different world compared to what it was just three years ago. And
it's just seems as if, you know, I don't know, some's got
to give. But then again, you know that would mean like the NC
doublea making some kind of a swift move here, but and I just don't
see that happening. I mean, Petty Bood went through three weeks of practice,
you got paid too. I mean, like what my man didn't even
make it to the spring game. Yeah, I mean it's again the whole
even mid year. As I mentioned that, that just to me, like
that just that's it's got to make coaches think like what am I doing here?
Like because coaches obviously, I mean, they know they got to have
players be compensated to get them to come there and whatnot, but they really
can't have direct involvement. And and also like if nil resources end up not
being what they thought, like, you know, they can't control that,
right, So I think that you'll see more and more coaches kind of walk
away over time unless something changes, and it's probably not just because the job
is changed. It'll be because they literally have no ability. Right, if
they could pay out of their own pocket and they had the money, they
could, but you know they're not allowed to do that. It's just it's
an absolute mess. In fact, i'll use the word you used, it's
trash. I think that's the best way to describe the current situation with Portal
Free Agency. It's it's it's entertaining for you know, for shows like this,
but as far as just I mean this point, keeping up with it
is is impossible. If if I was a coach and I and I felt
like I had made enough money, dude, I bounce like I don't.
I don't blame Jay, right, I don't blame Nick Saban, Mike Kruszewski,
certain coaches like it's just man, it's it's rough out there. Yeah,
it's uh, it's wild, no doubt. Keep I appreciate the time.
Go ahead. And by the way, it's also like as is right
now, it's I don't think it's sustainable like you. I think you are
literally living year to year. Yeah, I'm with you. At some point
those funds they dry up a little bit. Well, and then if you
do it for three four years and you know, these people have thrown all
this money and there really isn't a big result for it, Like they're going
to realize what am I doing? You know what I mean? And that's
yeah, something's got to give, there's no doubt about it. But can't
appreciate the time as always, my man, enjoy the conversation and enjoy this
beautiful weather. We'll talk to you soon. Brother. All right, that's
Kin Spencer from WHS eleven. Always appreciate his time. Quick break, we'll
come back on the other side of wrap up the four o'clock hour. Keep
this thing rolling along again. It is Coffee and Company. Fil Beth Thorton's
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the five o'clock hour, because there's a lot to reset, a pretty busy
afternoon thus far, and we'll do all that. Let you guys get back
involved on the phone lines and keep this thing rolling along, but really quickly.
One of the things I did want to mention before we get to the
top of the hour here for those who you know, for those who I
guess have missed the majority of the show, the revenue for each this is
make sure I get mixed. Yeah, so this is from a guy named
Jeff Fuller who is a data stats contributor for the Four Letter Network, and
he has the grand total athletic revenue. I suppose this is from the twenty
twenty three year, but I'll get specifics. Yeah, it says here this
is twenty twenty two. I'm sorry, And this is the revenue that each
I guess FBS school made. So this is really just the football schools as
far as the Division one level, because obviously there's three hundred and three hundred
and sixty something Division one teams in basketball, but when it comes to FBS
and football, it's more like one is it? One thirty or something like
that. John that's pretty close twenty one to thirty something around there. But
Texas was number one with two hundred and sixty one million, followed by Ohio
State, Notre Dame, USC, Georgia, Michigan, Kansas, Kansas has
got to be basketball, right with football a little bit here and there,
Penn State, LSU, and then Nebraska, and then eleven through twenty is
Texas, A and M Auburn, Tennessee, Alabama, Wisconsin, Oklahoma,
Stanford, Florida, Arkansas, and Florida State. So I'm pretty sure the
first non big ten SEC school that you see other than Notre Dame who's independent
is Florida State, right, I mean, yeah, I'm sorry Stanford was
Stanford's in there and there of course PAC twelve now acc moving forward, but
Kentucky came in at number twenty two with one hundred and sixty six million dollars,
Louisville at number twenty let's see twenty five at one hundred and fifty five
million dollars, and then Indiana is at thirty one with one hundred and forty
three million dollars, Which what that tells me is that Indiana would be a
monster as far as athletic revenue, if football like had life, Yeah,
I've heard people say they're a sleeping giant I mean for revenue, yeah,
because they do really well and it really has not much. I mean,
they get a big revenue share from the Big Ten obviously, but they they
don't probably have I mean, their money from like season ticket sales is probably
just throw away money for them, because it's just not a huge chunk.
All right, quick break, we'll come back. Keep this thing rolling along
again. Our number three is next. On Sports Talk seven to ninety