This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports
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R two SAD at iHeartRadio Station. Hey, welcome to Iron the Ball here
on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve, here's Jay, and we're late.
Sorry, Welcome to the show. Hey, it's Monday, and I
expect goofy things because we have no interns in today except for Juan trying to
learn the system with us. Welcome everybody to Monday. A lot of things
going on here on Monday. We have a couple of good, well one
good guests for sure, and then in the first hour, what are we
gonna do. We're gonna play the Brent Brannan press conference from the uh post
spring game press conference. You know, he had some interesting things to say,
uh just how it went, how he does things. Uh, some
comments about North Flafida. Uh, some injury stuff not talking about because if
we about injuries, but just guys will be ready, YadA, YadA,
YadA. But we thought we'd just going ahead play the whole thing because we
don't have a guest for that first, uh for this first hour, so
we'll give you all his thoughts on on the spring game. I was impressed,
more more impressed by the crowd than anything more. Yeah, I think
that was probably the most impressive thing there was. I think I think if
you were impressed, I was okay with it because I really didn't kind of
observe things. Uh, there's people out there who thought it was kind of
boring that I saw on the internet. And the offense was okay, but
they're not gonna show everything obviously, and what for, right, And a
lot of the guys sat out. Yeah, well and here's the thing.
To me, it looked like football, yeah right, yeah, And and
I know, I know, I always go back back to the Kevin Someonlin
spring games and and you know, and uh fish fall fall practice, you
know, the Kevin someone ones that looked like you knew Arizona was in big
trouble because he was he was unengaged. Yeah, there was no energy on
the field. Uh, there were a lot of people that looked like they
didn't want to be there. And and I thought that at the time,
not you know, it's not after the fact. I remember going to the
first spring game and thinking this doesn't look like you know, not, it
just doesn't look like it has any energy. And it turned out it didn't
didn't. So you know, the crowd was great. Uh you know,
seven eight thousand somebody said maybe as many as ten. Yeah, I can
conservatively seven day there was at least some excitement, uh bottom the bottle was
full. The excitement there. And it didn't need it didn't have the bells
and whistles like wronk throwing water ballots into the crowd and whatnot. But you
know, the fans were, you know, we're there and I think they
saw that it still looks like football. Sure, I'm glad it doesn't the
football, Steve. I mean, you know sometimes it doesn't well like you
said, in some time. Uh no, no, so we'll talk about
that. Do you when we when we got on the field, did you
hold your impression of the team size wise? Smallish? They always look small.
I you know, I remember when I first started covering football. I
I was surprised that you know the size. I mean, yes, there's
some big linemen and stuff, but most most of mostly they're not huge guys.
They don't get huge till junior seniors or you know because they do.
I remember I had I had an opportunity because I was invited for something to
be on the sideline of a Cardinals gate and they're playing the red Skins,
and I remember walking around those guys. They were massive. They looked so
much bigger. I'm like, Okay, these guys do not look like guys
you know out of that you used to seeing, you know, the running
backs, the quarterback, the linemeness of it. They there was a big
difference. There's some of those guys on a college team, but most of
the guys are not big guys. Although I will say I walked by by
by McMillan. He was he was sitting under that overhang on the on the
at the north end zone. He's putting the cast, but he was standing
up and as I walked by him got bigger. Yeah, big. He's
taller. He's taller than I remember. They're listening him at six five now,
which I think last year was listened at sixty four, so I don't
know if he's still, but he looks basketball tall right. I couldn't believe
how tall he was. Well that's how he gets the balls, you know.
And him and some other guys out there. I'm wondering how it's gonna
if they look small or feel small, how that's going to translate because to
the Big twelve, because we haven't really seen that regularly, right, and
the PAC ten PAC twelve has been more of a stealthy type of conference rather
than big type of conference. Yeah, I mean, I I kind of
agree. I think, you know, we we like to uh convince ourselves
that these these other conferences are all so much bigger, you know, SEC
guys. I remember all the way, all the way back to the that
the eighty five Georgia Arizona Sun Bowl, being on the sidelines of that,
and I was, I went, I was on the Georgia sideline for a
while and thinking those guys were huge. And then you know, catching a
festival with Tennessee in it, and I thought, Okay, Arizona doesn't have
those guys. But the Big twelve outn't know, you know, it's not
the SEC. So I think size wise, as far as that goes,
Arizona will be fine. Uh, I don't know. Yeah, we'll see.
Yeah, we won't know until we know exactly, you know. I
mean, look, we saw Arizona got pushed around by Washington in the game
last year, right, I mean, Amzona was it wasn't right off,
I mean, and it was a seven point game, But Arizona was never
gonna in that game. They got they got pushed around. I thought they
got pushed around a bit by Oklahoma, right, But let's remember those are
top teams in those leagues. Oklahoma was, you know, one of the
best teams in the in the in the Big twelve. Washington was the best
team in the Pac twelve. So I don't expect it to be as much
of a factor or so obvious as Arizona heads into the Big twelve. Like
I think they'll be able to, you know, to uh hold their own
as far as all that goes. Okay, well, we'll see in time.
Only time will tell, right, And now we won't see these guys
for a while now, because they'll come back in June. Is That's what
no one said, right, right, And then work out on the summer,
and then get ready for the fall here in early August, and then
until the first game August thirty first at New Mexico. Yeah, you know,
and again you and I did not get to see a bunch of the
practice and stuff like that. I mean I made the comment when we were
we were up in the press box and it just no, Fafita just throws
a great ball. You know, he's he's decisive, he's you know,
he makes good throws. He can throw, you know, he can throw
the long ball. I don't know. I don't think anybody thinks he's got
the strongest arm around. But he's got a good enough arm. He can
make the sideline throws. You can tell that he's a quarterback that's unlike most
quarterbacks at Arizona, has gone into the season with So let me ask you,
because you mentioned this earlier, what were your impressions of him coming into
the locker room? Well, you know, which is the press company?
Well in the press conference, you know, and we had it was the
car the tight end was there, Yeah, and Malie Riley, the Riccardo,
Yeah, Ricardo Mendoza that his name, and then Malchi Ridley were in
there answering questions. It was okay, you know, we're they were talking.
No Feeto walks in the room and I thought the room changed, you
know. He was about four or five minutes yeah later, Yeah, he
didn't know that he was supposed to be in there. Why did you think
that this is gonna sound really corny? And he's a what nineteen year old,
twenty year old dude. He has a presence, He's got a presence.
He walked in the room and he sat down at the table, and
the table was different. Contest Stanford game to me. Yeah, I know
you keep throwing that out, but the room was different. You could see
it. He walked in and there's the there's a thing that some people just
have and some people don't. I'm not comparing him to Loot, but I'm
talking about the kind of thing when Lout walked in a room, the room
is different. There have been guys like that, you know, there have
been coaches who don't have that. Well, dead fish doesn't have that,
right, Yeah, No, and her, Yeah, he came in the
room and there was just a different buzz to the room. Yeah no,
I hear you. I felt it too, to a degree. I felt
that in his presence and his his not his presence, put his voice because
he had this hmmm. He's a very bright kid, a very bright kid
because he says all the right things right, and I don't think it's rehearsed.
I think it's just how he feels, right, And then you see
him on you see people read tweet or whatever he does on Facebook, and
and and and on Twitter that this guy is thoughtful, thoughtful, And now
he thinks there's a confidence, right, he's sure of himself, which needs
me to believe. And I wasn't gonna I didn't write, yes, trying
to write from the game, but he wasn't really feeling it. But I'm
thinking makes you wonder what a Jed? What did Jed not see or is
refusing to see him playing in playing De Laura before? I don't know,
you know what I'm saying, Yeah, because you think if this guy has
that, I mean, why did he wait that night show that right?
And if it was so, if it's so obvious to us, how did
he not see it? Or what was it that? What was his loyalty
to great De Laura? You know, even three games after no Ifa had
gone on the field and shown what he could do. I just, uh,
I'll never I don't think I'll ever understand that, Steve, because I
think that he just for some reason, he just felt like he was loyal
to yeah, and maybe to a fault, to a fault. And again
I've said before, I understand that, you know, without Jade and de
Laura, you don't get no Ah Alfida. So you were given Jayden Dolaura
every benefit of the doubt. But there came a time when that's it.
You can't, you know, there's no decision to be made anymore. Now,
Ultimately, no Ah Flfieda forced his hand and made him played so well
that Jed could do nothing but leave him in there. You know, he
would have he would have emptied the stadium if you'd have gone back to DeLaura
as the starter. So he saw what he had to do and he and
he did it. But it, you know, it took a little more.
So I don't know, I don't know who was what he wasn't seeing
that that everybody else sees. Now why I'm here. Did you watch a
lot of football last year? Were you? Yeah? And what were your
impressions of just the conversation we've had from DeLaura to Frafida And did you have
the same impressions as the student Oh, all of a stead, all of
the students diad we knew that Faffido was going to be the guy at the
end of the season. And it was just a matter of time, of
formalities and him proving himself. Even so, I work at the rec center
at the U A right t mac Fafita. They all come in during the
summer to play volleyball, whatever they want to do, and you could see
it. He was the leader of that group. So when when he got
the chance, I was excited. And when he started to show what I
thought he could do, it was like, all right, so when is
he going to be named the starter? So when is he going to be
that guy? So, Jay, it's not so I think my observations were
correct back in Stamford. I think your observations are correct here because it's almost
too obvious. Yeah, I mean, to Want's point, it's like it's
like, Okay, you're right. He was the leader of these guys,
and all of a sudden he walked on the field. That's what these guys
were waiting for, right exactly, And then all of a sudden it was
there. And it's like, you're right, Steve, because remember I kind
of disagreed and was it then with a little month disagreed. He didn't he
didn't agree with players don't do that? What do they do that? Or
there's there's something there. Does that make sense? Yeah, No, there
can be. And that's what I saw in Stanford. Some it's like when
your star pitcher comes in the game, all of a sudden, you're gonna
play a little bit better defense because you know you have confidence in the guy
on the mound and you feel like you need to be ready. There's also
to the opposite of that, when your star pitcher comes in or starting,
you don't play. You don't play maybe as well as you should because your
starter, he's your starter, He's gonna be fantastic. You don't have to
be that Many times you say the starters is gonna play and they lose,
and you how did that happen? Because you know some starters don't get the
run the red production that they should, right right. I think even your
guy the left for the Dodgers wasn't what was his name? Krisha suffers that
a lot. Yeah, and then how does that happen? It's unexplainable what
happens. But you know, I feel like seeing this now and seeing more
of and what he's become, you kind of get I get it, I
get why you why you you saw that? And now that I think about
it. You know, they were a different team when he was on the
shore, whether they didn't like Delora or they liked him, and just different.
It happens. You stand up more straight, you performed better, right,
you die for the ball, you respect the he out of the eye.
You know, you know, maybe Team Act you know, jumps an
inch or two higher because you know, you know, going after the ball,
right, because yeah, And whether whether you think that's fair or right
or what, it's more about human nature than about well, I don't like
Jade DeLaura, so I'm not going to try its hard. It's not that,
it's just that you know, you know knows my guy, and I'm
gonna I'm gonna take that extra step, you know, do that one extra
thing that maybe I didn't before he goes mile, So I better right,
exactly right, because you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean
you've talked about how you know, the guys didn't want to disappoint Steve Kerr
exactly exactly another algy and that that's kind of what he is. No,
that's it. We'll talk more about that, because much more to talk about
what's all this? All right, We're gonna come back, We're gonna play
the entire al, said Tommy Lloyd, the entire Brandon press conference post spring
game. He had some interesting stuff to say about how, what, and
then how they go on from here, So stick around for all that.
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evaluation. Today. Streaming live on the iHeartRadio app, This is I on
the Ball with Steve Ravera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteenth fifty. Hey,
welcome back to in the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm
Steve, He's Jay. Now we're going to hear some Coach Brennan. Yep,
Coach Brennan at his postgame post spring game press conference. We'll play it
in its entirety and you can we'll talk about it afterward listening what you think.
Here's coach Brent. Overall, though, how do you look back on
the last five weeks and where you're all get done. It's been great,
it's been awesome, really excited about the process and the development of some of
the players. You know, as you go through spring you get guys like
dinged up and you know, some of that stuff, and so it gives
like like Noah saying, other guys an opportunity to play and practice and get
meaningful reps. And so you know, that's when you see some guys do
some really good stuff. And I think you know this. The spring game
is always such an interesting thing because you're the biggest thing is you just want
to come out of its healthy and safe, right, So you're trying to
but you also want to play a little bit and you want to put on
a show for the fans, and you know, I thought the guy settled
in and it was fun, you know, sort towards the end there where
we started to trade a little bit of punches. But it's a The spring
game is always a complicated thing for coaches grand someone. Most of it was
blocker last year, and you guys kind of open things up for him in
a big way this spring. What do you know about him coming in and
what have you seen out of him? Actually he was a little bit of
an unknown coming in outside of the film we watch. You know, I
do think that Matt Atkins is one of the best tight end coaches in the
country. We consistently had all conference tight ends at San Jose State. It's
a it's a position that's important to us and so and it's a it's a
position that we utilize a lot. And and also, you know, Kean
was a little bit dinged up, and so that gave Berto a chance to
get more reps. And you know, we all get better with practice,
at least I hope we are. So, you know, that was it's
good to see him start to do some stuff. Do you bring exit interviews
since you're not going to be seeing guys for a little while at least on
the theater. The coaches will yeah, yeah, all of the assistant coaches
will meet with the players. This is a little bit tricky one because I'm
this is a really small window. I don't know that it'd be really fair
for me to do the kind of evaluation I do with players normally it's like
an annual thing, right, and so it takes into consideration the seasons spring
practice, their academics, their process, you know, how they handle their
business, and so it would be a little bit different. So we went
back and forth on it as a staff. But the coaches are going to
make sure all the players know where they stand and what they need to do
to improve and the things that they've done well. Also with the would stay
of personnel and rosters affordably, they're still being open having open spot. Maybe
you expect it kind of really no road. That's an awesome question, and
if you know the answer, to go ahead and tell me. You know,
I think that's that's just the world we're living in now, right and
everyone's trying to find the best way to navigate it. It's definitely complicated,
you know, And and I know the NCAA and and and all the conferences
and all the coaches. Everyone's trying to figure out the best calendar and how
it, you know, can serve the players and serve the game of football.
And you know, I don't think we figured that out yet. You
haven't. You didn't coach those guys at Arizona. But what what? How
is it? How important is it to have NFL draft picks into shoot?
I think it's huge, you know, I think it's critical because every player
that you recruit, his dream is to play in the NFL. And you
want to be able to demonstrate that you can develop players and put them into
or they can come to the U of A and and get to the next
level. And so I think it's critical. And and that was awesome to
see those guys. I've had a chance to meet all those guys, and
you know, and I'm sure I haven't heard yet because of the game,
but I'm sure we had a handful of others signed free agent deals. So
it seems like a lot of Wildcats are gonna get a chance to chase that
NFL dream and it's gonna be fun to watch. Is there anything anyone that
sit out to you in real time? That's always so hard to say,
you know, I thought, you know, we had a couple of nice
catches out there at the end, you know, and uh By, you
know, Brandon Phelps and and Devin Hyatt was really nice and Rex made that
nice grab. I thought the tight ends made some nice plays over the middle
of the field, you know, ripped off a couple of nice runs.
I've been really impressed with where our defense is at. You know, I
think there's been just real continuity there over spring with the with coach of Kina
being here and some of the other coaches on that side of the ball,
and so that's given you know, I think it's important in spring practice that
you essentially trade punches right offense versus defense. It can't if it's really lopsided,
You're gonna have a problem in the fall. And so, you know,
I thought that was really good. Just you know, I'm so impressed
with a lot of players on our defense, and I think they're the staff's
doing a great job coaching them. And so, you know, continue to
be impressed with all the guys in the secondary right to Carrio, you know,
Gunner Stukes, I mean, Dalton really really impressive with those guys.
Those guys are doing. And then up front, I think we're really excited
about a couple of those guys and so you know, Ti Tigh and you
know tray Smiss done some really good stuff. Isaiah. It's it's a it's
awesome and it's good for me because I've coached with you know, most of
the staff before and so there's a lot of trust there. And I really
believe in the in the men that that are coaching these players and their ability
to develop them into great players. And I'm excited for that process to continue.
I'm kind of bummed springs over. I guess it's just a long answer.
I just gave you. It's all over the place with it. But
I'm bumming spring practice is over because now we don't really get to get out
on the field with them for three months. You know, I told you
that easier to day ve mon name and coach a Keta coaching up some of
the young future Wildcats on the field. It's awesome. You know. I
think that you know that that next level flag football program is such a cool
thing to see. It's you know, what happens. I'm kind of in
the winter time here and they they practice in the indoor and you know,
in the Davis indoor, and they they play on the you know in Arizona
Stadium. They play the games there, and it's just awesome. There's young
people running all over playing football. It's like a safe, fun environment.
Our players do an incredible job of coaching it. Brandon Sanders does a great
job of organizing it and the structure of it. So it's a it's a
cool it's a really cool program. And and I think that's one of the
things that's special about this city is just how connected it is with the university
and our players feel that. And so that's why our players put so much
into that next level flag football thing. Like that's why you saw Noah and
Kevin Green and those guys run out there and start coaching those guys. It's
just a lot of fun. Now, questions went on the offense. Did
you expect that the running back? You think? I think so, I
think so. Yeah. And Tristan Dats I noticed he was playing inside six
six seventy five or so. Is that because you need him there or is
that like a long term maybe that. I think what you'll find with coach
Sam Alo is that those guys will play all the spots, and more players
will play there than you're used to. He's big on them being fresh and
them being able to play really hard. I mean, redline all the way.
And so he's gonna that's gonna have a little bit different look. I
think you'll see more guys get opportunities to play. You're coaching all the last
season, did you what you know about it? Did you see a level
of amp with this spring that you hope to see? What did you see
from? Didn't know where? Oh? Shoot? The beauty of it is
how he attacks practice. I just like, I've been doing this a long
time now, and the best players are incredible practice players, Like I've never
I've never had a player who sucked at practice and was dominant on Saturday.
I've never seen it. And so you know, and the thing's so beautiful
about Noah is he's always trying to learn. He's always trying to improve.
He's always in there with coach Babers, He's always in the facility. He's
always asking me in between series like, hey, what do you see?
And he's just he wants to be coached all the time, and he just
absorbs information at an incredible rate, and that was something that was really fun
because there was a little bit of scheme variation right with kind of marrying some
of the Verbigion concepts that they were that the players were comfortable with with what
we had done in the past, and he just did a great job with
that last question. Well, I hope any player that comes around, I
really hope anybody that comes around our program can feel that it's a great place
to be, that it's a fun place to be, and it's an exciting
place to be and where like the people really care about each other. And
I think everybody says that. Everybody says family or whatever, and I don't
think it's real at most places, but it's real here and we're going to
double down on that. And to the credit of these players, they had
that when I came in and so, but that's always been something that's been
a huge part of the programs I've been associated with, and that's something that
we're going to double down on. And I want everyone to feel that.
I want you all to feel that with our players, I want the fans
to feel that. I want everyone to feel great about when they're here,
when they're around our players when they're in this building. I want them to
feel great about how it feels that we're having a great time playing college football
and we're going to love every minute of it. Well, and there you
have it. Interesting stuff. Another thing from him. He's very a very
candidate in what he says, and not in a crazy way, right,
he just says how he feels. Well, he's not rehearsed at all.
Right, And and you know, I think not salesmany and that's not it's
not not anybody, right, not a criticism, but Jed was a salesman.
You know. Sean Miller was very you know, this is what he
was gonna say, no matter what the question was, whether you answer the
question or not right, and and so uh and and and and Brendan,
you know he kind of sits back in his seat and just chats with you
that that's that's that's kind of what I know is in fact, I want
to tell me, can you leap forward into the microphone so we can make
sure trying to tell him that right, we're hearing you, but you know
you need to be in the microphone for the for the for the for the
audio. But you know he's he's he's relaxed. He's just he's just having
a conversation. He's not I don't feel like he comes in there with I
got to get these points across. Sure, right, you get a question,
you get an answer. I think Jed came in, he had notes,
things he wanted to say. He always had an introducing in an introductory
statement of comment. You know, I didn't play, but Brandon walked in
said okay, what do you got? And then and the press conference was
on. You know, so I think you know, did a different style.
For short, not saying that one style is better or worse than the
other, I just saying that he's a different guy. I do think we
kind of knew him back in the day, right back early ninety nine and
whatever it was two thousand. We knew him from then, you and I,
and we know him just as much today. We really don't know him
more that much. I think he's going to be I think I think the
program's in good hands, right And I think because and I'm gonna ask you
a question now, I really don't have an answer to that. He has
the people around him like Jed who will help facilitate the process. If that
makes any sense because Jed was a good CEO. I think that's undeniable.
And to tell you truth, I don't know how good of a coaching three
years in. I don't. I don't because what do we know? He
had good people around him. Maybe you feel differently. I think his offense
was really good. Okay, he was calling the offense right. It took
it took a couple of years. Yeah, but I think his offense was
really good. And you know they won ten games. Okay, to that
point, I was just gonna ask you a question, even for basketball,
for at this level, at this level, and even the NBA or put
an NFL, what's the job of a coach? Is there to teach or
there to manage? Manage? Because it's not the coach. The coaches on
the field CoA coach, right, the head coach should manage. Now,
Jed was a little bit more of a coach and a manager, you know
he But I think I think he let his defensive coaches just do whatever.
Just said, just give me a good defense, give me a good enough
defense. I don't have to score forty points a game, sure, right.
My impression is that that's how he ran his program and in that sense.
He was sort of a CEO and said, go do your work right
and if it's not any good, I'll let you know, okay, And
then he ran the offense. I think he was hands on, maybe even
a maybe my micro manager has a bad connotation because you feel like at somebody
put del who's Delvidian stuff that you know, you let the other guys do.
But he was something like that. But he was something like that.
He was not maybe not a micro manager, but maybe just a notch less
than that. Sure, because he was running the offense. He was running,
he was calling the plays. He wanted to know what he had and
if he didn't have something, he wanted to see how am I gonna get
that? That's your impression and kind of my impression too. But we don't
know. We haven't asked any of the assistants how truly was he with them,
but that I do know that, I do know that he was.
I think I say this publicly, be careful that he was a little pushy
or very pushy when it came to getting money from the locals because he needed
the money to have to pay the kids, right, you know, so
he was over the top with them. Yeah, I don't know if you
heard the same thing. Yeah, you know, kind of like get this
stuff done. Ye, no, I hear you. You know, I
I've heard little bits and pieces from It's like second hand information from the assistant
coaches, some of whom liked his style and some of whom. And you're
not gonna win everybody over the right and no matter who you have. And
when you got a staff of as many many people as sure as these college
football staffs, you know, you get guys from different places, maybe guys
that you have history with, maybe some guys you don't have a history with,
and you bring them in and you try and mix them up. Yeah,
you're gonna have You're gonna have different impressions of of you know, from
from different people. So I you know, I think Jed was a good
coach. I think he's been a good coach. I think he grew into
being a pretty good coach. I don't know if he's good enough to be
the coach at Washington yet. We'll find out, but he certainly along the
way has grown into his He was a much better coach by the time he
left than he was when he got. Sure, you saw the growth process
even in him. Well we also said that you become a better coach with
better players. Well that's true, but guess who had something to do that
he did by helping get those better. All right, let's take our second
break. We're gonn come back. Would love to take your costs. Tell
us what you thought of the spring game. If you went, you know,
was it was it exciting? Did you? Was it kind of eh?
I thought it was a good crowd. They stuck around, you know,
nobody left early. It was short, which was nice. People got
to go on a Saturday night and wherever they went afterwards. So just give
us your thoughts on the spring games. That will take it costs five to
two zero four one, six, seventy four forty we'll break back. If
you're an Arizona Man's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for nearly forty
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dot com. That's the Centurions dot com. This is I on the Ball
with Steve Rivera and Jagin z Soun Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Subscribe now to
the podcast on the iHeartRadio app just Surgery I on the Ball. Hey,
welcome back to I on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm
Steve, He's Jay. Have one in with us today our new apprentice,
hopefully I want to talk to about one thing. You know whose name we
have not heard after the draft has been done. Jen Dolores, I google
him just now, not because you have a contractor to this point. So
I was gonna ask you, do you think its career is over given the
circumstances of what's that I do? I thought I thought it was. I
thought it was over when Texas State wouldn't let him in, right right,
right, because he's he's not He's not a level of talent that you could
have baggage, right right right. I think that's the way to put it.
No, you can't. You can't have skeletons in your closet. I
mean, if you're a great player, you know, people will overlook him,
sure, But if you're not, it's like if there's another guy like
you who doesn't have your baggage one to one. You're a student on campus,
you're an older student on campus. You saw probably what happened in Texas
State when he left. Was there any was there any not thought or whatever,
because you probably just cage the community at the campus of why is he
still on the team when this broke? Yeah, there's definitely a lot of
talk about that. There's a lot of people upset that he was on the
team because you see nowadays, when something like that comes out, they're immediately
off the team, even if there's any doubt. So it was just kind
of a lot of questioning of why he was still on the team. At
the end of the day, all of us just wanted a football team that
won. Yeah, and there it is, right, you you make exceptions
to to the quarterback. And I think we talked about this, and I
know I think that ad the beginning, if he wasn't the quarterback, he
probably would have been. I think we said that quite a bit back back
then, especially with no emerge and and and and the Lord became expendable,
which brings into question, say, Okay, if he was expendable, then
why was he there in the first place, right if if if again as
to the loyalty of Jed, Right, but but again, think about it,
Steve, If Jed and the team did not know about this before he
got here, then they didn't do their own due diligence on him before they
brought him in. Yeah, I know they said they did. But how
could you not know? You know, how could you? How could you
not have somebody call you and say, hey, wait, this guy you're
talking to he's got this, you know. So I don't buy that they
didn't know. I really don't. I never did. I think we accepted
it because that's what they said, and who are we to say? But
but I I don't know that I ever really believed that they did not.
They these guys know usually know everything that they need to know, and they
needed and and you know what, in the end, uh, he served
a purpose. Yeah, uh you know he Uh he attracted other guys.
He created hope for this program. And I'll give him that. But you
know, you make a mistake like that, you know in your youth,
it can it can go on for let's take let's take this call. Hi,
You're on the Aaron, I am the ball afternoon your guys. This
is Gabe. How are you guys doing. We're good, Gabe, how
are you doing. I'm good. Just enjoying my birthday day. So your
birthday, Gabe. Happy birthday. Thank you Jay, Thank you Steve.
I really appreciate you guys. I hope everything is going well for you,
Gab. Gabe, real quick, it makes sense now. I'm a tourist
and you're a tourist. No wonder you always upset? What do you mean?
What do you mean by taurus? So what do you got in your
mind today? Gabe? I know it's that Arizona Arizona men's basketball got age
for out of Tennessee and also I and then yesterday and today Arizona football got
a online U from Oregon and they and Arizona football gone up its transfer from
the University of Utah. I think it was a linebacker or cornerback. He's
an edge rushers. The edge rusher. Yes, Okay, well anyway,
I'm not gonna complaining. I'm not one of those dumbasses on Facebook questioning both
Tommy Lloyds and Brent Brennan's recruiting. So good for you, good for you.
I fully trust book coaches smart. Yeah, no, you know,
and and again you know, because of the way it all is now,
you have to just wait for coaches to get their get their rosters finished.
And it's gonna take as long as the portals open. There's still movement available.
It's open I think till day after tomorrow at least of football. Yeah,
I totally agree. Hey, one more scene. Did you see the
Jordan Washington, a commit from Arizona did He basically tweeted a University of Washington
umbrella umbrellas the spring game. There were four purple umbrellas in the tweet and
here's the here's the rub though he was up the game. Yes, he's
in the transfer portal. So I just kind of, what are you doing?
Kid? If I know re Brenda is a very nice person, but
if I was bredfreend, Hey, kid a Jordan Washington, if you don't
want to be here, then transfer out. We don't want We don't want
you to tweet that kind of Mediocurt saying crew Arizona, I'd rather just be
at Washington. Well he was at he was. I don't want you,
we don't want If you know, committed to us, then then we don't
want you. What's your opinion, Jake, Well, I think I think
I think some of that has has had to change, because you know,
if if a guy goes in the portal and you still want me to come
back, because going in the portal doesn't mean one hundred percent that they're leaving.
Now, granted it usually does, but guys have gone in the portal
and we're waiting on to Cario Davis here, who's been in the portal,
and and he's been he's been playing in practice and stuff, and I know
Brent Brandon would like to have him back. But so I think it some
of that has had to change just because of the nature of all of this.
But now Ta Carrio Davis did not tweet four purple umbrellas to Caario Davis.
You know, he was a practice, He's been a practice, he's
been participating. Jordan Washington tweets this, that gives an indication he's headed for
Washington, yet he's still out of out there on the field. I thought
I was a little low on his part for sure. Yeah, just like
efesions talk when he was selling his jerseys and that sasco. Even Jacob Goodaka,
who is just basically committed to the team on North. He didn't say
like he didn't and like put Arizona's name in the muddy. He's just basically,
Hey, I'm just going to the school out north. Sorry if we
kind of don't agree with that, and you know my opinion about those kind
of people, but anyway, I'm not gonna call them my favorite kind of
work. Yeah, we appreciate that. We gab all right, Gabe,
Hey, thanks a bunch man, appreciate it. Happy birthday. Yeah.
You know what coaches have to do more than go out get people in the
portal. They have to recruit the guys already have. Well, that's just
a tough state, that thing, you know, And and it's again it's
different now. You can't you can't. You can't crap on a player when
they say I'm jumping in the port because they might be just jumping in the
portal to see if there's another opportunity. Sure, and you have to respect
that to a degree. But again, don't jump into portal. Say I'm
at Arizona and I'm tweeting, you know, washing husky stuff. But this
is the worst time to be a coach. We've talked about the number of
time so so the thing is, it's because the it's like you're owning a
business and it's your employees that run the show, right, because right now
the kids are running the show. They are they have all the power and
it ain't gonna change until it changes. It changes. They have the power
because they can be because of the ability to go anywhere they want to go.
You know, it's all at any time. It's all up to them.
So yeah, no, it's a and that's just that's just the way
it is. And I hate the fact that we've got to get used to
it. But we've got to get used to it. And it's going to
be like this from now until somebody changes the rules, right or even that
implies there are there are no rules until somebody makes up some rules. Sure
make it more at least at least direct, Yes, because and I think
the next step and we Corey talks about it the best. They become employees.
And then you get to get it back. Sign contract, sign contracts.
Sorry to tell you, Jay, you're just not performing. You got
to look elsewhere. Yeah, and your paycheck and your paycheck that ends next
week. Yeah, Well, but the contract is a contract. Let's say
you got a contract with the u of A for two for two years.
Well, even if you suck, you know, maybe you don't play.
But whether it's guaranteed money or whatever, as long as you're reading whatever expectations
are in the contract, grades wise and all that kind of stuff, you're
gonna you're gonna be able to stay on the team that you might not play.
We got a call, uh, we got take Cahi. You're on
the air and I on the ball. Hey, Hi, guys, Hello,
who's this Kevin? You haven't are you? Your background is covering your
voice up? Yeah, very loud. Yeah, I'm good. Hey,
Just a couple of things about the Spring game quick. Personally, I had
a great time because I met kids that I had as football players years ago.
I was a head resident for four years before I became a dean of
students, and so we had a great time swapping stories. But the game
number when it was in the game, but they played music incessantly through it,
which was disturbing. It just to me, it would have been nicer
to have more of a game atmosphere, because, let's face it, football
coaches and programs are in the entertainment business, and I think we could have
done that a little different. But I love this coaching staff. I think
our team is going to be very good, and I would urge everybody to
get tickets and be a part of it. You're talking about former players.
You're talking about some of the veteran players, right that you So, yeah,
I'm talking about guys that have more aches in their body than you can
say you pick at. It was I bet who We had some great stories
about, not only the players, but the coaches, and uh, you
know, later I became the disciplinarian university. So if a football player or
a basketball player had a problem of their coaches felt very close to me and
sent me those kids their way, and I straightened out a few of them.
My fight, What what years? What years were these? What were
you? What years? Well? The kids, the kids that I took
pictures of up in the Sands club where it's like justin Lenae and uh and
uh, they were freshmen in nineteen sixty nine, So we're talking about all
guys. They've been around this university, they've supported it. And I got
to hung out and hang out with h hammer Schmid for quite a while and
had a great time with him. Yea good for you. Good for you.
Thanks thanks Kevin perfect and having Hey, thanks about man. I appreciate
it. Yeah, I love you guys, do a great job for it.
Thank you, Thank you. Kevin has been there forever. I was
gonna ask him our guy eighty nine, eighty eight, eighty nine, Uh
skate country. Oh, Melvin Smith, how would you would have handled that?
Because I thought maybe he was there during that Yeah, but no,
no, yeah, and we all know that that Dick Tomy was a little
more lean. He was. He was you know, well and he was
here, as you said, your ceo. You want to talk about a
guy who was a consonate ceo. He I mean, you know, watching
him at a practice, he was just letting me walk around, walking around,
walking around, and if he saw something right, he jumped in.
Yeah, but he was he was really really do took on there, that
ceo. How would you describe I only got a minute and this maybe two.
How would you describe that era of his? The late eighties early nine,
even because you've been here all you left no revision's history. No,
I mean you felt like the team was always solid, but not you know,
I mean they had that they had the great season in ninety three.
You just felt like, you felt like they were always close. They were
always competitive. They didn't have losing seasons, but they weren't. Yeah,
but they weren't quite getting there, and and sometimes it was bad breaks.
Sometimes it was you know, mistakes, coaching mistakes. You just felt like
they were always on the edge of it and just never took that last step.
So how would you good old days? I mean to me, it
was because, you know what, because you liked the team. You liked
his team, because you liked his players the team, and you liked the
coaching staff, and I just felt like it was a it was a great
fun time. Frustrating though, because you felt like it just didn't quite get
right. And eventually this was kind of fire. Yeah, all right,
let's take our break. We're gonna come back. We're gonna breaking news,
and then we'll have our Saul Bookman talking about the Phoenix Sun stick around.