Greta City. Welcome, Welcome to another Space City Saturday on Sports Talk seven
ninety Dan Matthews Live and Local h Town breakdown of the world that matters to
you, the Houston sports world, all these great Houston fans here. We
love you all. So finish up on that to do list, flute up
the cooler, because you can't drink in talk sports all day if you don't
start now. This is Space City Saturdaysay, here's seven nineties Dan Matthews Sports
Talks seven nineties Space City Saturday. Doesn't it seem like I just talked to
you not too long ago? What was it, Josh C? Josh C
behind the glass today? It was like twelve hours. I was gonna say,
yeah, it just seemed like I went home, took a nap,
and got right back up here. But who am I talking to? I
mean, you know, a quick turnaround on a back to back for you.
I mean, everybody's looking to the rockets of saying tomorrow night. You
know, they play the Lakers. Then they got to get on an airplane,
which they're getting on a charter jet. I mean, you know,
it's a little bit of different travel accommodations. They're not, you know,
having enough schlep like you know, me and you and the common folk have
to of going through TSA and doing all of that, and then the d
planing and the people from the back of the plane who feel like they've got
to get off the plane so quickly as Doug Pike exits stage rights. Always
good to hang out with Doug, But no, you know, it's just
one of those things that sometimes the job just calls for you to be able
to pull some shorter hours. So Josh c. You are putting in yeoman's
work, no doubt about it. But always great to be able to catch
up with all of you right here on these couple of hours. Last week,
if you caught this show, you know, it's one of those things
I've told you before. Show of honesty here, that's what we are.
We are the show of honesty. And last week the show was in the
can if you will. And for those of you that don't know radio parlances,
that's it was a recorded show because well I was getting engaged, so
appreciate all the well wishes from that. Appreciate everybody reaching out to congratulate to
me and my beautiful fiance Megan as we are excited about the next phase of
our life. But today I am live. I am right here, and
that means you can hop in as well if you would like to. Always
love it when you jump in the car at some one three two one two
five seven ninety Texans obviously going to be part of the conversation today. Also
to the Rockets last night, I get that the ending was pretty disappointing.
I get that, trust me, it was. It was not fun to
see them go cold from the field there and then also to the ending especially
was not very fun, especially for who was the one that did the Rockets
in because you know, it's not only that. And then I think as
we get into that conversation as well, I'm going to call out a guy
who probably should know better, Sam Amy. If you saw his tweets on
Twitter, It's like, come on, man, you know better than this,
and you are better than this than to do something like that. You've
been covering the league long enough to know what the issue was with James Harden
and the Rockets. So anyway, we will jump into that as well.
It is a college football Saturday, and as I've said before, look,
I get it, and for those of you that know me. Here's the
thing that cracks me up is you know, whenever I bring this up,
it immediately is either met on Twitter or maybe even a phone call or something
like I remembered once you know Josh, as those of you might know,
I am in Josh's spot during the week with the A team and a guy
called in once and says, hey, I know you're not from around here,
and I am stopped him. I said, whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa. Before you even continue, I said, I just
haven't been here for the last ten years. First twenty seven years of my
life, I was from here, born and raised Saint Luke's Hospital right there
in the med center Buddy, and grew up in bel Air, went to
Saint Thomas High School. Eagle fight never dies, by the way, too.
Congrats to coach McGuire and the undefeated Saint Thomas Eagles. They are continuing
on down the path in the TAPS State playoffs as they take down Bishop Lynch
last night. Always great to beat those guys from Dallas. That is always
a lot of fun. So congrats again to coach McGuire and the crew over
there. At forty five hundred memorial. There's a special place. Eagle fight
never dies. Men of Saint Thomas stand for all to see, honor,
truth and understanding. Our model will always be these days. We spend together
well, cherish till we die, and the world must know that we are
the Men of Saint Thomas High. So I'm sure all the Jebbi's out there
and all the Saint Pias Panthers and everybody as such probably like a right,
I'm gonna go listen to somebody else now. Now you know what, Hey,
you're still welcome here. I like you. I don't love you.
I like you, all right, there's a major difference there. But also
to you know, where I was going with this was it's a college football
Saturday. And look, you know it's funny. I was talking with my
dad about this this morning because he was like, oh, what are you
going to talk about on the show. You're gonna talk some college football?
Said yeah, we're gonna sprinkle it in. But I mean, we're a
pro town here, and we're especially a pro town when the team off Kirby
is good and the team off Kirby is good, So don't worry that is
going to be a good amount of the show. I know when the Astros
were in season, I had put percentages to how much Astros talk we were
going to have, and I think as low as I got during the season
was like seventy five percent Astros. Well, in this case right here,
less than twenty five percent today because there will be some Astros conversation, and
there is also going to be the conversation that Joe Espota had with TK Todd
Kallis and also spar Steve Sparks as part of astroline. If you're able to
catch that on Thursday night, you heard the conversation. If you did not,
bottom of next hour is when you're going to get a little bit of
that conversation with the new skipper of the Stros, Joe Espada. And uh
you know, also too, like I said, some college football conversation coming
up here in less than ten minutes, my good buddy Mark Passwaters from Aggie
Yell dot com. He is going to hop in. And also too,
you know, I do want to get into a little bit of the Michigan
stuff because I have said from the beginning, this is a case study of
the alternate universe of what happened to the Astros. If it were somebody else,
and I'm talking about the blue bloods out there, and it's one of
those things that when it happened in twenty twenty, the Drellic article, the
Ken Rosenthal, all of those different types of things, And of course,
when the news broke and immediately, as we do as a society, we
pick narrative. We run with the narrative. We look around to make sure
a crowd is around us, just so they can see just how you know,
outwardly just disgusted we are by people. And it's so easy just to
fit into that crowd, right, because crowds are easy. If you're part
of it, nobody's gonna turn on you. If you're against the crowd,
then you know, you got to be John Snow, you got to be
the gift on on social media, pulling out the sword when when everybody on
the horseback is coming at you. That's the way Astros fans have been.
But again, I think this is a case study for what would have happened
if indeed it were say the Yankees, are the Dodgers, or the Red
Sox or the Cubs or anybody else that's universally supposedly loved by you know,
the national crowd out there, because you know, if you're a Johnny come
lately, you know, everybody wants to see you drop off so they can
say, all right, you know you've had your fun, that's enough,
get out of here, and you know you go go away, or explain
why our legacy teams aren't as good anymore. Exactly. That's a huge part
of it. Good point by you, Josh Gosh see again, but also
too, I mean, you know the agg he's looking for a head coach,
you know, and I know too that especially right now with just the
way the season has gone for the UH Cougars. I thought something interesting was
said yesterday by a D. Chris Pesman that our good buddy Adam Wexler was
able to get from the groundbreaking ceremony that they had over there at UH yesterday
for the new Memorial Herman Football Complex, which man, I mean the renderings
of that thing, it looks awesome. But I just you know, I
have I have a question that his audio I think is going to play into
and I think a lot of Cougar fans want to ask of Chris Peesman and
renew Kature and the leadership over there at U of age about the program that
probably should matter the most over there off Colin Boulevard. So we'll touch on
that a little bit too. As the show goes along, tons of CJ.
Stroud talk that's gonna happen, get into a little bit of Rockets talk
as well. Like I said, you know, I know last night was
pretty frustrating, pretty annoying. I mean, especially to the way that it
was running along there. I mean, you know, even in the closing
minutes of the fourth quarter, where you're just kind of like, all right,
seven straight, this is gonna be awesome, like seven to three,
Yes, let's go. And then, of course, like I said,
the offense started to falter a little bit, started to have Kawhi Leonard and
others start to make some shots for LA. It was frustrating. It was
annoying. But you know it's also too I think there was something that I
saw in that game that really encourages me for the immediate future of this team.
Because I've said it numerous times on social media, this team's exciting to
watch. They're fun to watch. That's not the take. The take is
I even think that better things are ahead in the immediate future. For this
team, because I think the team we're watching right now, when we turn
to February March, when you're trying to make that push to at least make
the play in tournament, maybe be one of the top six teams that don't
have to battle it out for those final two spots. I think this team
is squarely in that spot. And just like we're kind of surprised of what
Demiko Ryans and the crew over off Kirby you are doing right now, I
think the same thing could be said about Emaadoka and other Rockets right now in
what they've been able to do. So we will touch on all of that,
but as we get into the conversation, like I said, we will
talk a little bit about the Texas A ANDDOM coaches search, because coming up
next we'll get a glimpse of what could be ahead for the Aggies in said
search. For a man from a man in the know. His name is
Mark Passwaters. He writes for the arrival site that covers the Aggies aggiel dot
com. He's gonna join us right here Space City Saturday as we roll along
until noon right here on your home of the Astros and the Rockets Sports Talk
seven to ninety. Space City Saturday continues on Sports Talk seven nineties. It
is indeed Space City Saturday. Dan Matthews here with you until noon and with
an eleven am kickoff coming up, this man needs to get back to work,
so let's bring him right in. He is Mark Passwaters. Aggiel dot
Com is where you can find his work. Mark. Great to talk with
you, buddy, I mean, I know we've hung out off the air,
but it's nice to finally have you on the air with me here as
come back to the city. Yeah. Absolutely, I'm glad that you're back,
and it's good to hear your voice somewhere in this area. You go,
Yeah, for sure. Man, it's always great to be able to
catch up with you, and especially too, I mean, you know,
for people like you, for those here in the area who don't necessarily follow
the nuts and bolts of college football. Mark, I mean you can tell
people as well as anybody, these are the best times for sites like yours,
right. I mean it's either the team is really good or if they're
going through a coaching search. That's when it seems like everybody is, hey,
what's happened with the program over there? That's not wrong, right,
Oh no, I mean you take a look at the numbers they hit.
Totals they skyrocketed six days ago. I mean you could sit there and if
you put the word coaching search in a thread, I mean you could say
it's delayed due to bad weather, and you'll get five thousand kits I mean
within a couple of hours. So yeah, I mean for us, it's
you know, certainly a lot more of a lot more activity. But conversely,
it also means very long nights. Yeah, no doubt about it,
especially too. I mean, you know, flight aware, you got to
do all that kind of stuff, talk to agents, talk to coaching search
people. I mean, there's all those different types of elements at play.
You can follow Mark on Twitter at MBP Rivals is where you can find Mark.
And let's just go ahead and start just with the initial of what we
know. I mean, what do we know? I know that there was
a report a couple of days ago Jeff Trailer from UTSA. They've reached out
to him, they talked with him. What else do you know in terms
of where they are with search? Well, anybody who thinks it's just happened
to Trailer and Milco are just play wrong. I think the trailer might actually
be doing it himself a bit of a disservice because his side won't stop talking
about his interest in the job and what's going on with you know, they've
talked to him and this and that and the other thing. I think that
might be counterproductive for them. But I can tell you right now, A
and M has talked to quite a number of people, just going from coordinators
to coaches that had their teams either in the CFP or on the cusp of
it. I mean, it's been a very wide search and there have been
names that have been mentioned that you would not believe, because frankly, I
don't believe them. But you know, this thing is moving at a rapid
rate because they wanted to, because they want somebody in place before the sent
er fourth. But I don't think that they've really narrowed it down. They
had one guy they really wanted that was Dan Lannington Morgan, and that,
you know, thanks to Nike's just not feasible. So outside of that,
it's just a real wide net that they have cast. And it's a distinct
difference from twenty seventeen when we knew it was Jimbo Fisher in early November.
Yeah, and you know, and for those of you that don't know,
again, you know, December fourth, that's the portal opens. If I'm
not mistaken, right, Mark, That's that's when that right, Yeah,
Okay, so the portal opens. And then of course close to Christmas that's
the early signing period. So you want somebody in place to be able to
try to keep together a class as much as possible. I mean, because
that is the true signing day. Now if anybody's signing in Februs where it's
mostly just clean up or guys that were trying to get their boards in order
to be able to come and play at said school at that time. So
that's definitely what makes all of this so timely. You know. Here's the
other thing as well, is the question becomes money. And you know,
from anybody that's talked about this coaching search and the buyout with Jimbo and everything
of the such, I've been told money is no issue. Is that necessarily
going to play out? I mean, could they be in the market to
say, I mean, you know this morning I saw Lane Kiffin thrown out
on college game day. I mean, and you would have to believe that
he's going to say, if I'm leaving Ole miss, I got to be
making the Jimbo money. You need to be paying me about nine and a
half nine million dollars to be able to come over there. Well, you
know, for starters, if A and M ends up hiring Lane Kiffin,
it's because they struck out on a lot of guys because you know, simply
put, Aggie's hate his guts, so you know, he's not really what
I would consider a top run candidate. But yeah, I think you're right.
Money. Originally this was supposed to be, Oh, they'll end up
with Trailer, They'll end up with Elco because you know, they've got to
pay the buy out and therefore they're going cheap. No, there are people
out there who have you know, quite a few digits to their last name
before the decimal point, who are willing to kind of check to buy someone
out if that's the right guy. And you know, I think that if
they find someone that they think is just head and shoulders above everyone else,
and this is something that ross Bjork said after the press conference on Sunday,
if they find the guy and they have to pay a premium to do it,
then they're going to do it. And I think they that message got
out a little bit more than people realize, because certainly there have been some
names that, having had their representatives inquire, that would absolutely blow your mind.
Well, I mean, and that actually leads into my next question here
Mark again, Mark passwatersaggieyel dot com. You can find him on Twitter at
MBP rivals is I mean, everybody I've talked with about this job says,
look, I mean transfer portal. Assuming that doesn't play out, which you
have to believe, there will be quite a few guys that hop into the
portal just because of the uncertainty of what's ahead for the next head coach.
But also too, the schedule next year is another thing that I think probably
makes this job attractive for somebody out there. Am I wrong? Oh?
No, I think that it's a very favorable schedule. You have to you
open with Notre Dame, which is no walk in the park, clearly,
But you have Alabama at A and M. You have LSU at A and
M, you have Ole miss at A and M. You know, all
the big name opponents or the ones that you would consider to be big name
opponents, including Texas are all playing at A and M, So that certainly
makes things a lot more favorable than you know, even say this year where
you had to go on the road and play some of these guys. Actually,
I think I got it wrong. Alabama would be at Tuscaloosa. Guy.
Outside of that, you're going to have the name, the big name
programs are going to becoming cute, and you know in the SEC we can
see that. I mean, you know, look at Tennessee is a great
test case. You play them at Rocky Top. They're a totally different team
than when they go on the road. You know, they're very they're very
good when they're at home. They're very bad when they're on the road.
So it can you know, the home field advantage shouldn't be overlooked when it
comes to a schedule and when you go out there and have what should be
a veteran team, if they can get the right guy in there to stop
you know, problems with the portal, then they should be in pretty darn
good shape for next year. A couple more for Mark Passwaters join us here
on Space City Saturday. Dan Matthews hanging out with you all until noon and
let's just take you know, go back to the beginning of all of this.
I mean with Jimbo. You know, I know that me and you
had talked about a little bit off air, and you know, of course
there was the report that you know, they want to try to get him
through next season. I mean, you know, we've talked about the timing
of all of this. But what was finally the breaking point, like what
finally got those in charge and those with the money to say, yeah,
uh this this isn't working. We got to move. I think it was
two things. One A j Ross Byork went to him and said, Okay,
what are your plans for the off season and going into twenty twenty four
didn't light the answer he got And I think that was because Jimbo just was
not a big advocate of the portal. He wanted to do make incremental changes,
you know, let's say, for lack of a better term, he
wanted to make changes around the edges. But he really wanted to go and
get his guys through recruiting. But that in this day and age, that
means that you're perpetually young. It's just one of those unavoidable aspects of it.
That was Part one. Part two was ye lost Elane gipp and again,
and that is you know, that is just a no no. You
know, people hate him. He relishes mocking Jimbo. He relishes mocking a
and m and to lose to him is just it's brutal. So I think
that was probably and the way that it happened, it was probably just Pecuteri
group and I mean the final one for you here, Mark. I mean,
and this is more in the media because it was pretty well known that
Jimbo was not the warmest when it came to, you know, meeting with
the press. I mean, I know, I don't know if you know
Mike Craven of Dave Campbell's Texas Football, but he threw out on Twitter the
other day that Jimbo would continuously blow off that magazine in terms of you know,
being part of the preseason you know publication that they put out every single
year, which being in this state, just seems beyond mind blowingly dumb to
do that, especially when you factor in the legacy that that publication has.
I mean, did that feed into it as well, where he just kind
of came off as I have all the answers, you're all the dumb ones.
I don't have to talk to you. Yeah, it's interesting because the
folks that covered him on a day to day basis, like me, the
guys from the Chronigle, Techaggs, you know, the Brian Collins station,
you're actually pretty good with us. I mean, you would not consider him
to be access friendly for lack of a better term, but you know,
he sit there and talk to you about regular stuff when the camera was off,
you know, any time. I mean, especially if you wanted to
talk baseball, he was there. But he also one of those guys where
you could see this not just with things like Dave Campbell or things like the
Texas High School Football Coaches Association, but you can see it, you know,
just with his offense, for lack of a better example, if he
didn't want to do it, you a wasn't going to do it, and
that obstinacy I think, you know, and he just goes beyond dealing with
the media. The obstinacy of not changing the offense, the obstinacy of not
hiring a special teams coach. Those things directly impacted his job standing. You
know, you take a look at it, especially at special teams. He
had five kicks blocked three kicks return for touchdowns. The last play of the
Old miss game was a block kick you lost. The first play of the
Mississippi Stick Game was a kickoff return for a touchdown. And he would not
hire a special teams coach. So I think those are just examples of a
guy who, did you talk to him one on one, is a very
nice, very personal guy if you talk to Timbo, But if you talk
to coach Fisher, then he could be very opposite, you know, and
just very stuck in his ways, and if he'd want to do it,
he just wasn't going to do it. Yeah, I mean, sometimes you
can't help people get out of their own way, and it kind of sounds
like that towards the end. Is what got him Mark Passwaters again aggieyel dot
com. Find him on Twitter at MBP Rivals is how you can find him.
Mark. Appreciate it, buddy. In addition to keeping an eye on
a coaching search, I know you're a huge ASTROS guy, so I'm sure
you're probably waiting to see a trade or to come through the old notifications there
to see who they've gotten this offseason. So you know, we know that
you're listening to the station as well, so we'll keep you updated there and
it's always great to catch up with you, buddy. All right, Pat,
thanks man, I appreciate you having me on. You're the man Mark
Passwaters again, and I mean, you know, I just think there's a
lot of different things at play here with the coaching search for A and M.
And you know something that I said on Twitter the other day that I
actually want to get into just a little bit when we come back. We
will do that in addition to talking about the flowers we've all been waiting for
here in Houston. Boy, they're here and they smell great. I'll explain
that a little bit more next as well, as we continue on until noon.
Right here, this is Space City Saturday. I'm Dan Matthews here on
your Home of the Astros and the Rockets Sports Talk seven ninety. It's Space
City Saturday on Sports Talk seven ninety. Yeah, we're big timers around here
on Sports Talk seven ninety. I sold it well, I really think I
did. Dan Matthews here, Josh c over there, as we continue on
here on your Home of the Astros and the Rockets, Sports Talk seven ninety.
And you know, a couple of other names to consider for the A
and M coach's search. Just saw a report a few seconds ago. Bud
Kilmer from West Canaan High School, or as well, you could add Eric
Taylor from Dylan High School. You know, I mean, hey, both
outstanding high school coaches in their own right. Kilmer, though, I mean
rumors of a little bit of a locker room mutiny before the end of the
game. And star quarterback Lance Harbor who went down with the torn acl He
was the acting head coach at the end of that game. That Jonathan Moxon
and Tweeter and Billy Bob with the oop to you, they were able to
win that at the end of the game. For those of you you have
no idea what I'm talking about. It's a joke, all right. They'd
be some flashy names. They'd be some very flashy names. I mean Kilmer,
he's a little rough around the edges. Maybe that's what the Aggies need.
And Eric Taylor. I think sometimes Coach Taylor tries to be you know,
edgy and tries to be the disciplinarian, but in his own way,
his tough love is good love. You know. It really worked out for
Tim Riggins and for for you know, for Landry and I'm trying to think
Matt Sarason. There you go. It was only when J. D.
McCoy came in that things got ruined there for the Dylan Panthers. But no,
of course, of course, for those of you who don't know what
I'm talking about, those are the coaches from Varsity Blues and also to coach
Eric Taylor from the TV show Friday Night Lights, not the Billy Bob Thornton
characterization of what was the film adaptation of the book Friday Night Lights, of
course about the Odessa permean Panthers, as that of course was made into a
film that Billy Bob Thornton played, I believe was it Gary Gaines? Was
he the coach there? I'm sure some of somebody out there can probably tell
me on Gaines, sound right. I don't know about the first name.
Yeah, I mean it was Billy Bob Thornton that played them. But anyway,
whatever, it doesn't matter. But you know, just to kind of
put a bow on it before we get into my flowers topic here, that
will make sense here in just a second. I threw it on Twitter the
other night, which, by the way follow me on Twitter at Dan Matthews
Hou Josh. I mean, in addition to stellar playlists for astros broadcasts,
what else can people find from you on the Twitter sphere with your handle?
Please? Probably me just reacting to sports. It's about all I do on
there anymore. Okay, Yeah, and we can find you at JTS six
nine three. There you go, Josh c find my man. Follow them.
You will not be disappointed. But with the Aggies, I mean,
you know, I threw this out where I said, don't you know,
don't don't get caught up in the name brand here, and I think that
that's been something that going back to when they moved off of rc SLOCOM and
brought in Dennis FRANCIONI, that's when it really kind of got going for them
in this direction where they took kind of a detour away from it. And
look, I use the example of everybody hated the Mike Sherman higher at the
time because it was like, wait a minute, hadn't coached college in years.
I think at the time the Aggies, which believe Greg Byrne or not
Greg Burn, trying to remember which ad was the ad at the time,
it's Greg Burn's Dad was the AD at the time, but he hired Mike
Sherman, and I think that what they were kind of trying to channel,
because here's the thing too in coaching searches that I think some people pay attention
to and maybe others won't pay as close attention to, is that everybody tries
to find the next guy. And at the time when A and M was
hiring, they were hiring during the impressive USC run. So I think that
a lot of people out there during the time were saying, all right,
who are NFL coaches that had college ties? And Pete Carroll was that guy
because Pete Carroll going to college. When he got hired at USC, it
was, oh, come on, man, a guy who flamed out in
the NFL with the Patriots and then you know, I think he barely even
had the job with the Jets before or they moved on to somebody else.
I think what was it wasn't that Belichick, I guess was there for a
little bit, but that's besides the point. So that I think was kind
of what they were going for of saying, hey, look a guy with
NFL experience, a guy with NFL success. When he was with the packers,
he can recruit, he can develop, he can do all of those
different types of things because kind of like what Notre Dame did with Charlie Weiss.
And I'm trying to think al grow I guess was another guy too as
well. I know that Chan Gaily had had some success at Georgia Tech as
well. I mean getting Calvin Johnson and that crew of players to come through
the flats there in midtown Atlanta to play for Georgia Tech. And then of
course Paul Johnson took over and they went to a BCS Bowl game during his
time as the head coach there. So that was kind of the trend at
the time. Now it's more of let's find the next Kirby Smart, and
that's why you heard from Mark Passwaters there, of trying to find the next
up and comer. I have talked about it numerous times, and I've been
shut down at every single turn whenever I bring this guy up. As I've
said, I would think long and hard about Glenn Schuman, the co defensive
coordinator at Georgia because of these reasons, outstanding recruiter, his positions that he
coaches, his position singular in this case is inside linebackers. And if you've
paid attention to that Georgia defense these last few years, who's been a really
good group in that Georgia defense inside linebackers. You got a bunch of them
in the NFL right now, Na Kobe Dean before him, Rokwan Smith,
the guys that are there right now, Smile London and Jamon Doumas, Pop
Johnson, They're gonna be NFL players. Channing Tendall, I mean he has
had a ton of players from that group go to the NFL and make meaningful
contributions in the NFL. I mean, Rokwan Smith's one of the best inside
linebackers in the game right now. And also too, he's got Texas Ties
DFW. That's where he went to high school. I believe he went to
high school in Plano. If any of Glenn's family is listening out there,
I apologize for getting that wrong, but he's from here. He recruits the
area. Georgia since Kirby Smart took over, really started to focus on the
lone Star state and have started to get a lot of really good players,
especially players from here in the area that they've gotten and are still getting.
This is a class that they have for twenty twenty four is going to have
a ton of guys here from this area. So what I'm getting at is
if A and EM is looking for their next coach because they want their next
coach to be able to come in and take the program to the next level.
That's a given. We already know that that's baked in. But I
think that probably more than anything is they want sustained success, and I think
a guy like that can deliver that to you because he's learned from one of
the best. As a matter of fact, he's learned from two of the
best because he was an analyst as a student at Alabama with Nick Saban and
Kirby Smart and oh, by the way, there are coaches meetings, and
Nick Saban would have almost kind of individual coaches meetings because you know how much
of a defensive stalwart he is that he definitely wanted to be involved in the
defensive game plan. With Kirby Smart, you know who would be in on
those small meetings. Glenn Schuman would be in on those small meetings. That
shows you the trust that both of those guys had in this guy. And
at twenty six years old, he was hired on as one of the first
full time on field assistants by Kirby Smart when he took over the job in
twenty sixteen, I mean twenty six years old. We're thinking, what is
this guy really gonna do? Oh, that's what he's gonna do. Okay,
And some people will look at his age and say, ah, too
young. Follow that out the window. That's ridiculous. If you know the
game, you know the game. If you can lead players, you can
lead players. He's proven that he has both of those qualities and again that
he's an outstanding recruiter and somebody that has a very bright future in this game.
So you could do a lot worse. And you know, it's been
again where I think that the Aggies. For the longest time I thought about
this example last night, the Aggies have been the sucker who walks into the
casino. Let's all kind of you know, get in that mindset right now,
we walk through the doors. If it's Vegas, you don't have to
show your ID. But if you're in Louisiana or anybody else, you gotta
go buy the security stand right there. You gotta pull the ID out,
you gotta show it to them. Make sure it's not a fake. Maybe
they got to scan it. All of those different types of things. What's
the first thing you see when you walk into a casino, the big spinning
wheel with the cash on it. That is the largest suckers game to play.
And of course the aggies have been going to the big spinning wheel with
the cash on it for the longest time of thinking, oh man, look
at that. I mean, they're just begging me to take money. No,
they're begging you to think that you can take the money, which for
the most part, any of us that go into a casino, we all
think we're gonna be winners. I mean, you're not going in there if
you don't think you're gonna win. And most of us don't win. That's
why the buildings, not only in Vegas are huge, but also in Tunica
like Charles wherever else. That's why those builds buildings are so huge and they're
so nice, is because people like us go in there. But then after
that too, they lose a little bit of money over there. Then they
go over to the blackjack table and they bust out over at the blackjack table.
Doesn't work out, so then you have to do the dreaded go to
the ATM, which I got to tell people all the time. The number
one rule one visit to the ATM on the entire trip one. That's what
you're allowed. That's what you should be allowed. Don't be Clark Griswold in
Vegas vacation year. If you are tapped out on the cash, go back
once. But always have a plan there, folks. And that's been the
Aggies. That's been what they've been. They've been walking into the casino thinking,
man, I'm gonna take this place for everything that's worth. I'm gonna
absolutely be able to run away with this thing, and they haven't been able
to. And now they're going back to the ATM again. And in this
case right here, you better hope that this bankroll is the right one because
you have been stuck in this position where you've been able to take a couple
of steps forward over the last twenty plus years of when RC Slocum was finally
shown the door there in College Station. I mean, maybe you had a
decent enough year. You beat Texas a couple of years in a row.
The second year, I remember, immediately after that game, Dennis Rancioni at
the podium saying, yeah, that was my final game coach here at Texas
A and M. And then you went with Mike Sherman. Then you went
with Kevin Someone. It looked like with Kevin Someone, I mean, you
thought the Johnny Manziel year, that's it. We're taking off. We are
ahead of schedule. Now we are good. Next year is gonna be amazing.
The following year was a mitigated disaster that was probably baked in for the
offseason that we saw with Johnny Manziel getting kicked out of the Manning Passing Academy
and just everything else. I mean, you know him hammered, drunk,
slamming a bottle of champagne on an inflatable swan in some pool somewhere. I
mean, all of those different types of things, and you bring in Jimbo
Fisher and you're thinking yourself, especially after the COVID twenty twenty season, all
right, we got this thing. I mean, look at these recruiting classes
and then you had people coming at them and saying, oh, yeah,
you bought all those players, and these players have not necessarily fit well,
some of them have left. It's just not been good. And I mean
when Jimbo got there, they were like, oh, we got one of
the few national championship winning coaches that's out there. We're gonna we're on the
right track. Jimbo was about to get run out of Florida State. It
was very on edge of him being fired. Josh, thank you very much,
because that's the thing too that I think the fools play again walking into
the casino, that people were just so blinded of. He won a national
championship in twenty thirteen, what did he do after that? He was,
by that standard, pedestrian at best. It never got any better. After
Jamis Winston fell backwards and somehow lost the ball up in the air for an
Oregon player to be able to catch it and run it back for a touchdown
at the Rose Bowl. It never really got back on track. They had
nine and three seasons. I mean, remember the one year they played in
the Chick fil A Peach Bowl against Tom Herman and U of H. I
mean, but for the most part they were a pretty pedestrian program, and
it was Hey, this guy's winning with a lot of really good talent,
Jamis Winston, Kelvin Benjamin as well as Dalvin Cook. At the time,
Devonte Freeman, but after that it never really got better. So I would
just say focus on the coach in terms of what their overall body of work
has been, because that's the other thing as well. Oh he's not good
enough to coach here? The hell are you to say that he's not good
enough to coach here? I mean that, seriously, is my question to
you, Aggie's and you're welcome the way in as well if we want to
continue this conversation at seven one three two one two five seven ninety, because
what I've seen, you don't have the standards that you think you have there
in College Station right now, at least, I think I would give it
to somebody to be able to recalibrate those expectations and be able to put this
program back on track. And I would kind of hope in a way that
the hire is a little underwhelming for some people, because those are the guys
that necessarily do well. Me and Josh we were talking about this yesterday of
you know, my buddy Dave bar two of College Football Matrix follow him on
Twitter at CFB Matrix. It's the time of year two when Dave's very busy
because ads do count on him for his analytical work. But aside from Saban
and aside from urban Meyer, the home run HighRes have not worked out because
the expectations are already so built in they're almost too tough to meet. And
Josh to your point as well, they gave him a blank national championship trophy
in college station, which I'm not kidding. Go back and look it up
for those of you that don't know what I'm talking about. They gave Jimbo
Fisher a blank national championship trophy to just put in the year that didn't necessarily
get reached, didn't a right the Flowers conversation. We're gonna do that next
because we will get into that as I just ran a little bit longer on
the Aggie conversation here, So we'll do that to close out the ten o'clock
cour Then once we get to eleven, I'm gonna lose Josh because Josh is
gonna be deeply enthralled with that huge Alabama Chattanooga matchup today. As you know,
it's gonna be a tough one there in TuS Lewis. Oh Man,
we'll see really nervous. Yeah, I was gonna say, I mean,
you know, Crimson Tides playoff hopes really on the line there. But the
eleven o'clock games in college football about to get going. The Aggie's that we've
been talking about taking on Abilene Christian and everybody else to get going here on
a college football Saturday. But we will get into some Texans conversation and much
more here as the show rolls along until or until noon. Dan Matthews here,
Space City Saturday on Sports Talk seven ninety Space City Saturday on Sports Talk
seven ninety. Oh, we'll play Josh. We'll play Josh. See.
I'm telling you, folks, I mean, in addition to running a great
ASTROS broadcast, my man right here, I mean Josh. For those that
don't know, I mean, you do the playlist for rejoins over on the
ASTROS Radio network. I mean, and it's a thing too, Like if
you don't have the playlist posted, like, people get at you pretty quick,
right, They're like, Yo, where's the music dude? Oh yeah.
And then half the time if I try and think of something, I
have to legitimately get in early and start going through make sure it's all clean,
if it's not insists all that. Yeah, it's a process. It
is it is, but well played there, especially with the topic talking about
the flowers folks are CJ. Shroud and the Texans because CJ is who we
have wished for. And by the way, Dan Matthews here with you if
you just tuning in Space City Saturday when you're home of the Astros and Rockets
Sports Talk seven ninety. Because we we thought we got our flowers a few
years ago when Deshaun Watson took over as the quarterback of the Texans. Boy
did we learn pretty quickly that was not the case. And when the Texans
drafted c J. Stroud there was probably the same reaction that I think a
lot of people had. It was almost kind of like the reaction that people
had had to JJ Watt. Now was it outward booing at the draft party
like it was? And you know who you are out there, Ryan Moon,
if you're out there, good buddy of mine. He was on the
ABC thirteen story about when the Texans drafted JJ Watt. So you know,
we always remind him of that. We always find that video and especially to
my good buddy Tony played it the weekend that they retired JJ Watt. He
goes, Hey Moon, remember this so there you go, Buddy, shout
out for you. But I mean I think that probably it was a well
we lost out on Bryce Young, all right, I guess we'll see.
I mean, he did some good thing at Ohio State. Probably his best
game was the final game he played there, so you know he's got that
going for him. I don't think any of us saw this coming. I
mean, I think if nothing else, we were worried that what Carolina is
going through right now with Bryce Young was going to be him patchwork offensive line,
Larrymy Tunsel out for a good amount of the time. You've got Kenyon
Green done for the year. I mean, how is this thing gonna look?
And you're putting a rookie quarterback back there, and then also too on
top of it all, I mean, this receivers group, Nico Collins,
You're really expecting much out of that guy. I mean, the selling point
for possible offensive success this year was, hey, we signed Dalton Schultz.
Oh you signed Dalton Schultz. That's great, that's awesome. That's really gonna
be great for this team. And he is somebody that at the beginning of
the season he really was kind of a non factor and lately it's been Dalton
Schultz really starting to become even more a part of this offense. But I
mean you throw all of that in along with a very mediocre running attack,
which again that has been the part of the Texans offense that has been really
kind of stemied by not the greatest offensive line play at times. But it's
also to the awareness of CJ. Stroud. We've played the audio numerous times
from him, and I go back to that game he had against Jacksonville and
I think that that was the time for me where I said, this guy's
going to be okay. This guy is going to be okay if he is
already having that much awareness to be able to show what he can do on
the field, but also know what he can do in terms of being able
to help out this offense. Where he talked about, Hey, those guys
up front, they helped me out the offensive line, so I want to
help them out. I want to get the ball out fast. I want
to make sure I'm not holding on to the football here. So then everybody
starts to say, gosh, this offensive line terrible. See sacked again,
And he's been a guy that's you know, I mentioned JJ Watt, he
talked about all the Pack McAfee show. He said, as quickly as he
gets the football out, that's a defensive players nightmare because you see him lined
up, maybe you're able to bull rush the right or left tackle and you're
getting close and you're like, yeah, I'm gonna get him. Oh god,
he got rid of the football. I gotta peel off. I can't
hit him. If I do, that's fifteen yards. And that's been something
that as a rookie to be able to have that type of awareness and to
not only have that, but it's also too off the field seemingly being able
to get it. I mean where he's talked to Texans fans of you deserve
to feel special, you deserve to feel great. And then on top of
it all, you had the Tom Brady the other day where they made a
bet, of course, about Michigan and Ohio State, where Brady said,
I'll tell you what Ohio State wins, you get one of my Super Bowl
rings, and CJ. Stroud went complete, I forget who the quarterback was
in the movie Draft Day. And some of you out there might be like,
come on, man, you're really making a Draft Day example. But
remember it was the one hundred dollars bill at the end of the press at
the of the playbook, and he said, keep it for when we win
a super Bowl or something like that, to really kind of show like,
hey, I read the playbook. And he told Tom Brady that exact thing.
He said, you know what, I appreciate the gesture, but keep
your ring. I want to win one of my own. This guy's for
real, man, and I think that it's only going to get better because
these next couple of years are going to be great for this team in terms
of being able to add pieces around him. This is now where you can
strike while the iron's hot if you're the Texans, in terms of building up
this roster because you've got a rookie quarterback and for the next couple of years
you don't have to worry about that extension and having that part of your salary
cap eaten up by the quarterback. And that's the time when you go out
and get the toys. But for right now, I mean the way that
the playoff picture is looking for the Texans. We'll talk about this a little
bit more in the eleven o'clock hour. I mean, Joe Burrow injury now
Deshaun Watson going down. Suddenly, the path to get to January football for
this team is becoming much more clear. And remember it goes back to last
week what I said this team was hoping going into that win against Cincinnati.
I said, if they win that game, they could believe that the playoffs
are definitely a foot. And folks, the playoffs are definitely a foot.
All right, let's flip it over to the eleven o'clock hour. We'll get
into some astros talk because coming up next, if moves are made, it'll
be of a different variety for the Astros. I'll explain next right here,
Space City Saturday on your home of the Astros in the Rockets, Sports Talk
seven ninety graded Graded City. Welcome to another Space City Saturday on Sports Talk
seven ninety Dan Matthews Live and local h Town breakdown of the world that matters
to you, Houston Sports World. All these great Houston fans here, we
love you all. So finish up on that to do list. Flute up
the jeweler, because you can't drink in talk sports all day if you don't
start. Now. This is Face City Saturday. It's insane. Here's seven
nineties Dan Matthews. Everything that voice guy just said is true. I mean,
settling, it's a college football Saturday. But Dan, it's not that
great of a college football slate. All right. I don't know who you
are who just walked into this room and just said that, but that is
incredibly not true. There is no chance that could ever be true. There's
a T shirt company and they actually sent me a shirt. So for this
example right now, I apologize for not getting the name rights, although I
probably just saved myself from a Plugola, Paola, all those different types of
things. But they have a shirt that they would make in every school's colors.
You only get so many Saturdays. And that's the thing. Me and
Josh C were talking before the show, and you know, I said,
Hey, you know the people out there that's not that great of a college
football Saturday, Well, you know what, you can be begging it for
saturdays like this when we hit February in March and it's oh, okay,
you know, maybe they're at college basketball on today. I guess you know,
they're on the West coast swing of the PGA tour. I can watch
that, oh, spring training baseball, I can watch that, which,
of course you can listen to as well right here on your home of the
Astro Sports Talk seven ninety. But look, folks, when these Saturdays are
gone and we have to wait during the vast abyss in wasteland that is the
college football offseason, which now with the transfer portal and everything else, has
kind of shortened a little bit, but still it's one of those things that
once it hits September, you're in God's country that in that regard, and
then once you get to December and January, the reality starts to weigh in
and we'll actually be the center of the college football world at the end of
the season, where it'll be great. The build up is always awesome,
and then if you cover the game or you're there, and if you're a
fan and your team wins, you're just basking in the glory of hey,
we just won the national title. But then shortly thereafter, it's kind of
you know, as the clock strikes midnight for December twenty sixth, oh,
it's a day after Christmas, I have to wait an entire year to get
this feeling yet again. And I'm telling you that's the way it is in
college football. So at this point of the season. This late in the
season, it always gets kind of crazy, especially rivalry games. Even if
it's not the main one, people are still don't like each other. I
can almost guarantee that there's going to be either un upset or a game where
a very very good team struggles to get out of the road, you know,
tough road environment. Yeah, no, all of those things true.
By the way, too, we've got Pat McAfee with his shirt off on
College Game Day College Football Saturday now has fully commenced. As we'll have a
college football action here for you as well on seven ninety tonight. I believe
that we're gonna have the LSU game over here, and I think the Texas
game gonna be on kPr C. I'll look that up here in just a
second. I believe it's Kate tr H And then you have Ages on KPRC.
Okay, yeah, yeah, so there you go. So, as
a matter of fact, shortly after I get off the air with you all,
I will be heading over to td ECU. You are right, sir,
as we will have those games coming up for you here on our family
of stations at iHeart Houston. All right, So coming up here in a
little over twenty minutes, so we're gonna hear Joe Aspota's visit on Astro Line
with Todd Kallis and Steve Sparks. But the Astros now in the rest of
baseball are in the free agency period, trades are starting to become effect.
I mean, my god, you know it seems like the Braves have traded
almost their entire roster at this point as they have freed up much of their
forty man roster. The Braves now have thirty active players on their forty man
rosters, so a lot of room to be able to build on that part
of their team. But as now we look at what is ahead for the
Astros, Dana Brown kind of gave us a little bit of a glimpse of
what could be ahead for this team. And I want you to listen very
closely to some phrasing because it's going to come back to what I said a
couple of weeks ago when I was on with you guys talking about what could
be ahead for the Astros as they build up this roster heading into the twenty
twenty four season, as he was on with the Sean Salisbury Show, and
he used a particular word when talking about how they're going to approach the offseason.
We're going to be creative, right and so if here's an opportunity to
go get that other starter and really strengthen that rotation, we're gonna do it.
We're having meetings every day right now, trying to get creative. Okay,
what can we do here? What can we do here? Can we
make a trade here? We're anticipating something happening, right, and so we're
ready to go. We're you know, we're we've got hands up where we're
on fire. I mean, I wouldn't say that, Dan, but you
know we're on fire, looking trying to get that next move, knowing that
we came one game short. All right. So there you hear that word
creative. And I get back to again the example, because let's be honest
here, we don't know what Diana Brown is as an executive in terms of
trades, free agent signings. How do they handle such situations, Like for
free agent signings, when you get that done right off the bat, you're
signing somebody that's a free agent and you sign them for the amount of time
that you want to sign them for. And we saw that last off season
with Josea Bray you and with a guy that was a free agent in your
own organization and Rob fiel Montero. I know that that probably brings up some
bad memories and some you know, feelings from Astro fans that you're really not
a huge fan of having. But the phrase that he used was something that
again I go back to my experience working in Atlanta of something that Alexanthopolis would
use. Alexanthopolis, just like the flagship station here of the Astros that I
work at Sports Talk seven ninety I worked for the flagship station of the Braves
there in Atlanta, so we would have Alex on quite a bit. He
used to always use the word flexibility. He was really huge on the word
flexibility. You know, we want to be flexible. We want to be
flexible, We want to be able to, you know, make some moves,
leave ourselves some money. So if we want to add at the trade
deadline, we can do that, which the Braves have done for the better
part of the last few years that Alexanthopolis has been the chief executive over there
in Atlanta. And I think that Dana is probably going to be chipping off
of that tree because again to kind of set the table for all of this.
The Braves have not necessarily been a huge player in free agency. Their
free agent signings have been one year one with an option, and you go
from there. I mean, it goes back to the twenty nineteen season.
They bring in Josh Donaldson one year deal. Donaldson then goes to the Minnesota
Twins, gets a nice, huge deal. The Braves said, hey,
it's time for Austin Reiley to take over that spot, and he did and
he's been the everyday third baseman ever since. And it also gets back to
how well are you developing, how well are you situated to be able to
say when it comes to that time, Hey, Josh Donaldson, it's been
great, but find success somewhere else, and they were able to do that.
This passed offseason for the Braves. The same deal Braves fans across the
board where we signed Dansby Swanson, bring back Dansby Swanson. The Braves said,
look, we'll do our best, but if somebody else wants to come
in and offer him a ton of money, then we going to be comfortable
enough going with either Von Grissom or going with Orlando Arcia at shortstop and they
were rewarded in terms of Arcia. He was an All Star this year and
they signed him to an extension and they allowed for Dansby Swanson to get the
bag from the Chicago Cubs, and the Astros are kind of facing that same
situation right now. This is an off season that they're heading into where you
know, you had the Bob Nightingale report the other day of you know,
there's extensions of foot I mean for not only Kyle Tucker, the one that
people are focused on the most because he's heading into his second year of arbitration.
He's got one more year than he hits full on free agency. In
the thought process, which I'm very much in this camp, is that if
you don't get something done this offseason, then you're going to be entering into
a territory where I believe Scott Boris is his agent, It doesn't matter,
but where his agent is going to tell him, look, just stick and
stay and wait until free agency, because that's where you're paying is going to
be your best opportunity is right now to be able to lock him down because
you probably don't have as high of a price tag as you would have at
that time where his agent would tell him, hey, just wait it out.
You'll get the eight year deal from somebody else to twenty whatever it is,
You'll be able to get that from somebody else. And the Braves went
through that with Freddie Freeman, and when it got to a point where they
said, we're not going to be in a situation where oh man, now
we have to go find a third baseman, go get Anthony Rizzo. Now,
the Braves as soon as the lockout ended, said, look, we
don't want to enter and play that game. So let's call the Oakland A's
and let's get Matt Olson. And what I think is going to be interesting
from the creativity side of all of this with Dana Brown is I would expect
if a huge trade has made this offseason, that's going to already be built
in with them talking to the representation of said players and saying, let's talk
extension. Because I think that Dana does want to live in that world where
if we're making trades, I want controllability. I want to be able to
know that we're not bringing in a guy and hoping that we can keep him.
That if we're spending a lot of capital, we know we're going to
keep them, and I think that that's going to be a part of all
of this as well. Is that again, I know there's tons of free
agents out there. People have said, oh, Aaron Nola, Oh yeah,
no, he's definitely he's definitely a great fit here. That would be
free agency, and I just don't see them going that route. I think
that if they are going to bring in somebody, you're looking at the trade
market. And another thing to also keep in mind as well. I know
Inosarus had retweeted this on Twitter the other day. I can't remember who had
the report, but they were talking about teams that are dealing with the regional
sports network deals with Bally Sports, Diamond Sports Group, and of course they're
bankruptcy. We've already seen some teams have to be rescued by Major League Baseball
for their TV deals. I believe it was the Diamondbacks from the Padres,
so a lot of those organizations. And their point was Chris Antonetti, who
is the GM for the Cleveland Guardians, talking about why they dfade Cal Quantrill
the other day, and he was like, there's uncertainty with the cable deal.
That is a huge part of what goes into the revenue of these teams,
and I think that you're going to see teams that are in that position
right now. We already have heard from the Minnesota Twins they're gonna shed salary
is because they're not sure of what the future looks like. And that probably
means that in that same vein that Sonny Gray is somewhere else next year,
which I think a lot of people expected to be the case. So that's
another thing as well as there are a lot of players on teams that are
in that situation right now. Corbyn Burns seems like that rep that that relationship
in Milwaukee has been frayed. You know, same deal with Tyler Glass.
Now in Tampa, there's thought that probably they believe they're not gonna be able
to keep him. And Tampa has been a team that has been notorious for
winning trades. I said it the other day on the A team. I
said, if the Tampa bay Rays call you and say, hey, we
want to make a trade, you can have Tyler Glasnow I look long and
hard about making that deal because if they're asking about somebody in your farm system,
chances are their scouting department has seen something in them. Because I mean
let's go back to the Chris Archer deal years ago. That's how Tyler Glass
now is there is you know, they make the trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates
and people are thinking, all right, hey, you know you aren't going
to resign them. That's fine. He moves on. Boy, Tampa won
that deal hand over fist. I think Austin Meadows was part of that deal.
I mean, it was an outstanding deal for Tampa to be able to
make. So again, I'm telling you right now, if you're expecting a
huge deal this offseason, it's going to come from the trade variety. And
then I would expect that in addition, because again I go back to the
Matt Olsen deal. The first thing when I was at that press conference that
Alexanthopolis said was it wasn't hey, we're here to announce the acquisition. He
immediately said, we're pleased to announce that Matt has agreed to a long term
EXCE extension. And I think that probably you'd be hearing Dana saying the same
thing. Whoever they get of you know, maybe a quick mention of hey,
we're here to announce the acquisition, and also too, so and so
has agreed to a long term extension. I think that's probably what you're looking
at, that same playbook being played out here in Houston, and we'll see
how it all shakes out as the offseason rolls along. All right, coming
up next, let's get in some Rockets conversation. We will do that,
then we will dip back into the Astros conversation coming up bottom of this hour.
Because last night I think the Rockets proved even more that they are who
we hoped they were. We'll talk about that right here Space City Saturday.
I'm Dan Matthews. I'm your home of the Astros in the Rockets Sports Talk
seven ninety. We now return to Space City Saturday. Sports Talk seven ninety.
Yeah, if we come around every Saturday, Space City Saturday. Right
here, Sports Talk seven ninety, your home of the and the Rockets.
As it's a college football Saturday. We've been talking a little bit of that,
just got into some Astros conversation. We'll do that here in about ten
minutes when we let you hear the conversation that new Astros manager Joe spot Ahead
with Todd Kellis and also with Steve Sparks. See signor love Sparky. I
mean how can you not love Sparky. He's the best. That's That's one
of those things, you know, It's it's a huge thing in radio listened
to sports if I even set that up right. But you know, we
draw such connections to the broadcasters and this is a huge thing too. You
know that an SEC country where I was. I mean, you know,
people and SEC Network did a really good piece on it a few years ago
as part of their SEC storied of you know, just the connection that fan
bases have with their radio teams. I mean, Josh, I know you're
an Alabama Crimson Todd guy. He's still there, Eli Gold touchdown Alabama any
time I'm around my dad and I'll be able to scores a touchdown at least
one point in the game. Is touchdern awa bla. There he is,
He's got and I love it too. How you know. The college part
of it as well, is we is so much in the conversation of their
calls and it's always the best. But I mean, you know, especially
here too. I mean we've gotten to really love and enjoy Robert Ford and
Steve Sparks as well. That's gonna be the interesting thing too. I wonder
if Joe spot is going to continue the thank you Robert Ford that Dusty would
do. I always love that at the end of it. It was always
fun. They had a good working relationship. But we will let you hear
from Todd Kallis and Steve Sparks with Joe Spotta here coming up in just a
few minutes. Last night, the Rockets they lose to the La Clippers out
in La one oh six one hundred. It was a fourth quarter that got
away from them a little bit as the Rockets went cold, getting outscored there
in the fourth and final period at twenty seven, at twenty three, as
they dropped to at six and four on the season. But all I could
think about watching that game last night was they're here. They're good. And
I know I threw it out the other day on social media after they beat
the Denver Nuggets because that was a win for them, that I said,
that shows you this team is for real. If they were able to go
toe to toe and not only go toe to toe. You see sometimes that
teams when they're in a situation like that, that the situation is too large
for them, that they faltered down the stretch. And this was a team
that when it started to look like, uh oh, this is starting to
get away from them. I mean, what josh, they were up by
like ten with like a minute and a half to go, and you have
the Jokis three pointer. I think that it got within like three and about
a minute min a half of hill right, and I think Reggie Jackson made
a three, and you're just like, oh boy, this is starting to
get a little hairy. But then you get the inbound pass that's stolen by
jay Sean Tate, and then of course two you get the huge free throws
made at least one made by Fred van Vliet there at the end of the
game, and also to Jeff Green able to knock down some huge shots.
And while last night did not necessarily go their way, there was never a
time during that game that I looked and said overmatched. Just not going to
be their night for them, and not only not going to be their night,
but they ain't ready for this. Is even at a loss. I
watched that team and I said, they're built for this. They're good,
and they're even better part of all of it, folks, They're going to
get better. Like if you think that this is a finished product, right
now with this team, You're incredibly wrong. Jalen Green still has not played
a ton of NBA basketball teams. He's got good experience, but he's not
played a ton. And you see the promise in him. I mean,
you saw some of the plays that he was able to make last night.
And Alprin Shingoon. The world is starting to know about Alprin Shingoon. And
I was talking with somebody the other day about him going up against Jokich,
and I said, he held his own against Jokich, Like even to the
point now where kind of like the national heads are starting to talk about c.
J. Stroud, You're starting to get kind of similar, kind of
similar rhetoric coming out about Alprin Shingoon and what he's been able to do.
And we saw good things out of him these last few years. But last
night, twenty three points for him. I mentioned Jalen Green, twenty points
out of him, nineteen from Fred Van Vlietz. But it wasn't the greatest
shooting night for the Rockets, and they were still in position to be able
to try to win that game. They finished up shooting forty three point two
percent from the field. They were ten of thirty one from three. They
went really cold there in the second third quarter from three, and you started
to have some Van Vliet makes. You started to have I think even Dylan
Brooks might have even had one as well. I mean you had the poster
dunks from Alprin, Shingoon and Tarry Easton. I mean what Tarry Easton has
meant off the bench this year for this team. That's another part of it
as well. Is that a good NBA team? Yes, they're starting five,
It's fantastic. How good is your bench? And the Rockets right now
have been pretty much rolling a bench of four guys off the bench, a
pretty tight rotation of nine, although Jacques Landeal able to get a little bit
more extra time out there last night seven minutes from him. But that's the
other part of it as well, is it shows you the offseason moves that
rape Elstone was able to make with probably the direction of Ima Udoka of saying
these are the type of guys that I want on this team. When I
saw the signings of Van Vliet and Dylan Brooks this offseason, I said,
oh yeah, I know what type of guys that Hemadoka wants for this team.
He wants guys with some edge to him. He wants dogs, that's
it. He wants guys that'll get into you. And teams that we've seen
win the NBA title these last few years, they've had those guys. I
mean, you know, the Miami Heat have been a team known for toughness,
for grit, for a team that will lock you down defensively, and
when you play them, you feel it. I mean, you know,
the Milwaukee Bucks when they won that NBA title, they were another team that
showed that to you with Pat Connaton and the crew. Because everybody focuses on
Jonnas and uh and and for right reasons that people focus on Giannis because he's
one of the best players in the NBA. But that's how you win down
the stretch is toughness wins. And that's what he Mayodoka said. He said,
I want toughness. I want guys that show these young guys how to
play in this league. And one of the hardest things to do in the
NBA is to be able to convince a group of young guys, hey,
toughness defense, that's what good complimentary basketball is. And I think that's come
from ima Udoka. I mean, if you heard my conversation with Tarry Easton
last night on Rockets launch Pad. I mean, you know, it's been
something that's just been a benchmark for this team. And I'm not talking about
this team being able to compete for Lario O'Brien Trophy this season. If they
did, boy wouldn't that be awesome. But in terms of thinking that this
team is going to be mired in the same slump that they've been these last
few years, you are blind if you think that that's the case with this
team. It's a playoff basketball team right now. I truly believe it.
At worst, it's a play in playoff basketball team. And probably honestly too,
I know some people, if they were in the play in tournament would
probably say that's disappointing. Disappointing based off what have you been watching the last
few years of this team. You've put in like forty games over six years
exactly, and the fact that you'd be able to make that jump and to
be able to give this young group a chance to be able to play late
April early May basketball to know oh, this is what this is. Oh
that's what it takes to be able to get to that next point, the
Rockets are on that path, and all of a sudden, for not only
them, but also to the Texans, we thought, yeah, you know,
I mean, you know, it's kind of like all was talking about
the end of the college football season, just you know, the reality starts
to set in. That's the off season. And it was kind of that
way with the Astros when they lost to the Rangers. It was, you
know, all right, it's you know, until February when pitchers and catchers
meet. Boy, all of a sudden, it's now, all right,
pitchers and catchers. That'll be cool. But I got stuff to watch in
the meantime, and in this case for us, we got stuff to listen
to in the meantime because this Rockets team, they are exciting, They are
fun. Matt Thomas on the call, always love MT on the call,
and of course to Adam Clinton and Adam Wexler here either back in studio or
over at Toyota Center, basketball is fun again. Me and claim were talking
about this last night, is that it's fun to watch the team. And
it's not just because oh they're actually have a winning record right now. I
mean last year it felt like Jalen Green out for and Shagun who your cornerstones.
They would have moments of good defense, but it was never consistent.
Now it seems like consistent efforts. So even when the shots aren't falling,
you see something You're like, all right, I can appreciate that. I
appreciate their hustle. I appreciate them trying to make the right play each time.
And honestly, last night, I'm not one to do the whole ref
thing, but they had a turnover with I think fifty seconds left, maybe
Jalen Green got hacked the hell out of it and didn't get a call,
and an all game it just felt like every little touch the Rockets died,
Clippers would get the foul call and it was a foul, but then on
the other it didn't seem to go that way. It's just like that's the
type of things. If your toughness you keep going through that, you don't
just start whining and shut down and complaining. And that's it. They kept
fighting even through all the you know, adversity. I'll put it to deal
with. They play that game later on the season, they're winning that game.
I truly because I saw a team also too. I mean, they
had the camera shot of Shingoon coming off the floor. Just you could tell
just disappointed of for a young team like this. You let that burn.
You say, all right, look, next time we're in this situation,
we're winning that game. And I think that's the mentality this team has no
doubt about it. All right, Coming up next, your new Astros major
Joe Aspota. He speaks, You're gonna hear from him right here, Space
City Saturday on Sports Talk seven ninety. Space City Saturday continues fine, Sports
Talk seven ninety. All right, so we'll get the conversation with Joe Aspota
started up here in just a second. Dan Matthews here, Space City Saturday.
You're home of the astros in the Rockets, Sports Talks seven ninety.
A little programming notes for not only us here on Sports Talks seven to ninety.
But you're looking for the Cougar game today football in that case, not
basketball. Football. You'll be able to find the UH Cougar is taking on
Oklahoma State over on KPRC nine fifty. That's gonna start at two as it's
gonna be Matt Thomas on the call. You didn't hear that wrong, Matt
coming back from La to call the game, then heading back out there for
the Rockets and Lakers tomorrow night. Psycho yep, I mean, he is
a man who puts in his work, There's no doubt about it. So
Matt and David Klingler on the call of the Cougars today. Coming up at
five right here on Sports Talk seven ninety, you are going to get LSU
taking on Georgia State, and over on news radio seven to forty ktrh that
is where the University of Texas game against Iowa State is going to be found.
All right, Let's get to the conversation that our new Astros manager Joe
Spota had on Astro Line with Todd Kallis and Steve Sparks. It's been it's
been an awesome ride, I can't complain. And and just getting through the
finished line and getting the opportunity to be the next managers for these incredible franchise
and and you know, being able to lead this great team for for you
know, for for this season. It's just a special moment and I'm grateful,
joyful, there's so much, so many emotions going through my my my
head and and but it's just a great moment for me and my family,
Joe. We we see a lot of guys and they're great coaches, and
we see you out on the field and you're coaching. It looks like that's
where your heart is. As a manager, do you think you have to
change what you do best or you're just going to be a delegator, you
know, that's who I am. I'm gonna be me. I think when
you transition from being a player to being a coach, you become a server.
And I'm here to serve our players, right. My job is to
make sure that the process is a solid process, the information gets to the
players. Let's prepare our players to be the best versus on himself every time
to step on the field. That's who I am. That has worked for
me through the years, and I intend to be the same type of bench
coach that was be the same you know, same style as a manager.
Yeah, that's an interesting question and concept though, because you do put in
so many hours to help you. You know, a few years ago,
Carlos care wins a Platinum Glove and then he leaves and Jeremy Peney wins the
Gold Glove his rookie year. Last year, Mauricio Dubon or this year,
Marcia Dubon, you are Omar Lopez others putting a lot of time into that.
With your role now as a manager, is that still going to be
the same. Do you have that same amount of time to dedicate to the
infield. No. I will delegate those responsibilities, for sure, but I
will work closely with whoever we tap to be the the infield coach. But
our players know the culture, they know how important defense is for us as
in an organization. Pitcheon and defense allow us to be allow us to help
us through these great run right. So whoever I tap to do that job,
I will delegate responsibilities and I'll keep an eye on it. Of course,
I can't completely like go oh, but I will. I will definitely
will trust that person to do the job, Joe. Every time that the
Astros play another team, it seems like we get a sense of what their
identity is, whether it's sloppy or not. That you know, a lot
of teams are known for their speed. What do you want your team to
be known for? I want us to be a good baseball team. And
what I mean with is let's just go back to doing the little things in
a big league game that matters the most. I think those little things that
at time we miss and we lack off during the season, meaning running the
bas is smart right, our pitching, executing pitches, holding base runners,
so stre things that we have done well in the past. Offensively, you
know, staying in the zone right, that that passing the baton you know,
kind of attitude. Those are the things that I have made us a
successful team. And there was time through the season where you saw it,
but then you didn't see them for a couple of days. So now it's
about discipline, consistency, how we prepare our guys right, our messaging.
We got to make sure that we are on point, we stay on our
guys and and I think that's a few things that we lacked on last year.
And I want to, you know, we start. I'm want to
start working on those things tonight through communication. Right. We can't wait to
spring training to work on these things. It starts, it starts right now.
You had a lot of opportunities, uh with interviews for other managerial jobs.
How much did those processes help you this time around? And do you
feel as prepared and that this was your time? Yes, I do feel
I feel prepared that this is my time and I'll look at it this way,
tik. You know, for me is there's a lot of times where
we want to get to the finish line and and and sometimes God is saying
hold on you not You're not ready yet. Right, there's still things that
you need to learn. I need you to be next to Dusty for four
more years. You know, you're still not a finished product. So it's
the attitude that you have while you wait that once you get that opportunity,
he makes it so much greater. And I'm just ecstatic to the fact that
he's here with this team, this city, this fans and every one of
you. Joe, what did you learn from Dusty Baker? And how will
you differentiate from uh? Maybe the way he managed you know what? I
learned a ton from Dusty. I had front row seats to a Hall of
Fame manager, got to go to the World Series with him twice. This
guy was brought in in a very tough situation and the way he handled it.
I taped my hat to him. I thought that he was the right
guy for the job, and he did a great job. And I'm just
happy that I got to experience that. You know, the way he just
connected with players, how much he cares about winning, and how he allows
us to do our job as coaches. I value that immensely. I'm always
be grateful for Dussy for for letting me do that. Last five years.
The worst season the Houston ass have had is getting the game seven of the
ALCS. It's remarkable, right, and Dana Brown became the third general manager
during this incredible run. You now become the third manager during this incredible run.
Expectations are way up there, do you do you kind of enjoy that
challenge? Absolutely? Absolutely? The bar is said really high. You know,
Jim says it all the time, and he has equipped us. He
has done everything his power to give us all the tools needed for us to
have a winning product on the baseball field. And as a manager, that's
all you could ask for. Now. My job is to use those tools
and deliver the you know, the work on the baseball field, Motivate our
players, get our players ready to play. But you know, this is
the place you this is the place you come to win. Uh, this
is where you want to win. Our guys love to win, our fans
expect us to win. Our community wants the best out of us, and
my job is to do everything in my power to help this team win.
You know, Joe, Whenever I've talked to managers about what the most challenging
part of a manager's job is, they'll usually say one of two things.
Dealing with the media is one of them, and the other is to run
a really efficient bullpen. Uh, what do you feel like might be your
biggest challenge? You know what? Those two are up there? For me,
I think there is there is that that that's true to that for me
is very important is communication. It's it's being outside of your office, you
know, interating with your players. You gotta you gotta talk to this guy.
You got to let them know your thought process, right, you know,
once you do your work in the office, go out there and talk
to the guys. What is it that I'm thinking? This is why,
This is why I decided to go that way, even though if it's an
uncomfortable communication, uncomfortable conversation, but you need to have it with players,
especially with a winning team like you. You got it. You have to
break those balls and get out there and make yourself available to the players.
And I think that is very important. For you, for us to maintain
our success. It's just letting everyone know, this is your role, this
is what we expect from you, and I'm going to give you every opportunity
for you to be the best you can be. And with that communication line,
how much have you heard in this process and now that it's become official,
how much have you heard from your guys in the last few days.
I have over two hundred and something text messages and I got to call them
back. Some of our players, you know, I know Hosey is going
to Venezuela here in the next few days, so my plan is to meet
him on my way out of here and sit down with him and you know,
kind of talk about what you know, our future before he goes to
Venezuela. Is going to be there for for for a few weeks. So
but yeah, connecting, let's talk about spring training, our goals, our
plan. You know, I got a message from your air Diaz. I
got to call him to I'm excited about seeing him play every day. So
you know, there's so many things that I uh that I got to do,
but I'm just gonna start with enjoying this moment with my family, with
your family. And you talked in the press conference when you were introduced,
Joe, and you get a little emotional when you talk about your mom and
your girls. I mean, they're a part of it. They are they
are they they They're in this. They're in it with us, you know.
They they I come home and I'm tired, and and they're in They're
in bed, right and I get up at six thirty you take them to
school even though I'm tired, I'm sleeping. I want to sleep, but
I have to get out of that bed and walk home to school that I
need to make that sacrifice because they're making U sacrifices for me. So they
Today is about them, Tomorrow's about them, every day is about them.
But I'm really gonna make sure that take time and get to hang out with
them and my parents. All right, Good stuff from Joe Aspota with TK
and Sparky over on astro line. If you miss any of that Sports Talk
seven ninety dot com a good place to be able to catch that conversation.
All right, Coming up next, one last thoughts on the Texans, maybe
even get into a little bit of the Michigan stuff here for just a second.
But on the local side college wise, is this local organization showing that
they're serious? Well, they did something yesterday that would show you. But
how serious are they? We will touch on that as we close out this
edition of a Space City Saturday on your home with the Astros in the Rockets.
Sports Talk seven Welcome back to Space City Saturday on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Sports Talk seven ninety. Dann Matthews here for another few minutes. As
so, we just heard from jo Aspota there. If you missed that conversation
as part of Astroline which we had here on the station on Thursday night,
Sports Talk seven ninety dot com is your place to be able to catch that
full conversation with TK and Sparky from the show the day that Jospota was named
the manager you of Aged Football. As I mentioned, they're gonna be over
on KPRC nine point fifty today two o'clock is the coverage starting of them against
Oklahoma State and a lot of people right now wondering what is the immediate future
of the program, and I think I'm going to try to clear that up
for you here in just a second, because yesterday you of H having a
press conference ground breaking for their new Memorial Herman football facility that they're going to
have meeting rooms, also new locker room, I believe, also new weight
room, all of that kind of stuff, recruiting lounge, all the things
that you see that are added to football stadiums to be able to further the
improvement of the stadium and also to the nice things for programs, because that's
the newest arms race is being able to have your standalone, own nice football
facility, to be able to show off to recruits and be able to have
your players in the program take pride in and say yeah, it's here.
So that to me shows me that the leadership over at u of H is
serious about making what should be their most successful program having their best chances to
succeed. Then the next elem meet in the equation is Dana Holgerson. And
I know that that is a cuss word for Cougar fans out there right now,
because a lot of people want to see Dana Holgerson moved along. They've
had enough. They just don't think that he is going to be the guy
that leads them to success for this program. I talked about it earlier on
in the season after they lost to TCU. How I thought it was pretty
ridiculous his line that he had about, hey, we're in the Big twelve
now it's Power five football. Takes time to build this up. And my
response was, you've been there five years. What you been doing? I
mean, you couldn't recruit guys to get them ready for this, to say,
hey, stick around next year or the year after that, we're playing
in Power five football and you're going to be a part of that. You're
going to be a huge part of this. I mean that's recruiting, that's
development, that's all of those things to be able to get to that point.
And for people who think, oh, this has to be the end
for Dana, right, I mean this just isn't working. It's time to
move on. I want to play this piece of audio that our own Adam
Wesler was able to get yesterday from koug's athletic director Chris Pesman, who had
this to say about the stay of the football program. One thing I'm positive
of having been at a lot of places, now in the Big twelve,
we're a lot closer being really good than the other. There's nothing out there
seeing teams compete, seeing their physicality, seeing the way they play that makes
me say, oh my god, what are we going to do? We're
okay, we got a chance to compete and win. I'm more convinced now
than I ever have been, having been through the league now kind of once,
that we can compete at a really high level. This is important to
giving us the ability to do that. But I know that, and I
don't say that lightly. I know we're it's all here for us, And
I mean that goes along with I believe for Tita was quoted yesterday as well
talking about expectations of the first year in the Big Twelve, and you know
how he thinks they have met to us set expectations. But in this case
right here, what hearing that tells me Dana Holgerson ain't going anywhere, and
he's going to have an opportunity to be able to pay off on those words
that he said of Hey, it takes time to be able to build this
thing up, and they're saying, all right, we're gonna give you that
time. And I think that it has at least bought himself another year and
an opportunity to be able to do said thing for the U of H football
program. But I mean as a fan base as a whole, and I've
got a family full of Cougars Coog fans. I guess I need to be
able to make sure it's a good correction there, because let's make sure it's
in it's in context here. But I got a family full of kog fans,
and the fan base right now, at least the tenor that I see
and I hear, it's apathy. That ain't good to have from your fan
base. You want either excitement or you want hope for the future, and
I guess it's up to Dana to be able to deliver on the hope for
the future because as of right now, I just don't see it because the
recruiting has been pedestrian at best. The development we've seen guys go the league,
so that's been I guess good. But in terms of thinking there's going
to be this remarkable jump in the Big twelve to be able to not only
win the league but put yourself in position to make the College Football Playoff.
And now it's gonna help to with the new expanded field to twelve in the
College Football Playoff. But I just haven't seen anything that necessarily leads me to
believe that that's a foot And I don't know. I mean kind of like
what we talked about earlier with Mark Passwaters Avaggiyel dot com of what you know
Jimbo Fisher delivered to ross By Orke of what the future of A and M
football was. Maybe Dana has been able to deliver that to Chris Pesman and
renew couture over at University of Houston. Because that's the question for me that
I want to ask, is how serious are you about winning? Because I
think that the current guy that's there isn't the guy that that's going to deliver
that for you. And I understand too as well. You know, there's
money involved, there's all those different types of things of trying to build up
and and you know, you know, try to pay for what's ahead for
them in terms of being able to try to pete for all of those things.
But I don't know, we'll see. Texans tomorrow is a huge one.
I think that this is one. You know, they've proven this year
that bad teams have been a bugaboo for them. I think you got to
have that one tomorrow in order to be able to calm some of those concerns
that's gonna do it for Space City Saturday. I'm Dan Matthews. It's been
a lot of fun hanging out with you thanks to Josh C. Enjoy the
college football Saturday. We will talk to you next Saturday.