This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez. Sound Fox
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Surger I on the Ball. Hey, welcome back to I on the Ball
here Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve, he's Jay. Now we have
analyst with breaking news. Oh, this is I on the Ball Breaking news
on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. All right, so we got a lot of
stuff happening today with Arizona men's basketball. The NBA released their early draft,
their NBA Draft early entrance, and Jaden Bradley was on the list. Caleb
Love was not, which was Coir, which is interesting because he made him
send a message saying he was going to maintain his eligibility, but check out
the draft and he was not on the list of the early entrance. So
it turns out there was some big mix up and he didn't officially declare,
but apparently his agent said that he was is definitely declaring, still maintaining his
eligibility, but he wasn't on the list. I think we should appreciately call
this the Dal and Terry early entry. Trying to see where you feet are
with because I'm not sure at this time two years and two years ago he
jumps in with think, no, he'll be back, he's not ready,
and then again and then he went out and he shined. But at least
Dylan Terry he started for Arizona. Jaden Bradley didn't even start. I mean,
he clearly proved to be a good player. But I don't think who's
being ready Jayden Bradley or yeah, right, the three of those guys,
but it probably goes kJ Lewis, Caleb Love and then Jada Brown. There
all these guys. You know, it's it's it's information gathering, right,
it's you know, you got you go through the experience so that you know
what to expect the next time you get you actually get information. People tell
you that, you know, this is what you need to do with your
game to get you know, there's nothing, absolutely zero wrong with these guys
doing this right as long as they can, you know, keep their school
work together so that if they you know, they stay eligible and they can
come back. Well, that's the funny thing about it. Caleb has been
in Chicago's working out all this time. He hasn't been here. He hasn't
been here, but I guess we all these guys classes are online and stuff.
You know, the equals a degree, buddy, the equals degree,
just like I saw him in class. No, I don't blame these guys
for doing that at all, not even a little bit. Even Jade Bradley,
who Jayde Bradley is not going to the NBA, but he does want
to go find out right, all right? And then again, you know,
you never know, You just never know what somebody sees you like,
I think of three of those guys, well, let's go for let's throw
the fourth one just in your list, your little list, Okay, give
me your list is above Jayde and Bradley. Well, what I was going
to say is that of those three, of the three, who are you
know? Pel is gone, he's not coming back. Keishah Johnson's gone,
he's not coming back. Of the three that can come back, I think
kJ Lewis is the one that has the best chance of not coming back.
Of those three, I think he's the one that can go there because of
his just his his physical attributes, his physical attributes. Somebody could see something
in that. Caleb Love, It's all can you shoot or not right,
and so it was looking like no, well, it was looking like yes
for a while, then it became no. Yeah, So I don't I
don't disagree with that because kJ, he's got the most NBA upside, whether
it's this year, next year, the NBA body, the NBA you know,
I mean, is he is he a great shooter and all that stuff.
No, but you know what NBA guys think. They can make you
into anything they want to make you into. What they can't teach is how
tall you are, how long your arms are, right, and then if
you're hustling and doing all the things that come with being a good basketball player,
then they'll take a chance on you. So well, if those two
dudes that could use the extra year, it's both kJ and Bradley sure and
love if he's if he's a player, they'll play him. If he's not,
he's not right because this time I don't see him being able to grow
very much in one more year in college, right, and you're gonna go
through those streaks to the ones that he had were very obvious. Yeah,
he would just have to come back and have a better year. I mean,
he's as good as he's gonna about as good as he's gonna get.
He's really good. It's just he had a terrible you know, last six
games of the year. If he had had if he had gone off and
you know, and and played well and scored and the Arizona had gone into
the Elite eight or whatever, he'd be a draft pick. But people saw
how his game went south in the last you know, the last few couple
of weeks of the Season's kind of like, Okay, he's out of the
picture. Yeah, yeah, And it will be interesting to see what Paula
does if they see something in him. I don't see him being an NBA
player. He's he's good, but he's gonna make a ton of money.
So well, hell is a diamond dozen Yeah, yeah, right, there's
a lot of guys like Pala Larson. He doesn't do anything that stands out.
You got to stand out to be in the NBA. If he was
a pure shooter, he'd be fantastic. Yeah, tall guy, but he's
not right. What are what if these guys do really well and you're thinking
Tommy had all these dudes and then they got yeah, sweet sixteen is not
good enough that now, Well, it'll be interesting to see what happens with
all that. Yeah, speaking of Arizona basketball, to transfer. The two
transfers that were in the that committed Arizona but is now official today trade Townsend
of University of Oakland. He has one more year left of eligibility, so
that will be spent to Arizona. He started all four years, average fourteen
point one points per game. He is in the record books at University of
Oakland and he was the twenty twenty four Horizon League of the Year, So
it seems like he really made his mark there and it will be interesting to
see how he fits into the mix. Two good gets, two good gets.
Two years ago they had give me the names that kind of like the
party Raimi and uh yeah Henderson only better. Only two dudes o better,
right, sense? Well, those two guys regards, these you guys are
physical, two guys that come in and just you feel like can make an
immediate impact. Yeah. These two guys, look, you know, extremely
physical guys that you know, the types of guys that Arizona is gonna,
you know, really wants to. Yeah. And Toby o'waka. He comes
from the University of Tennessee. He played for two seasons there, So we
have two more years of eligibility, played in sixty nine games, average averaging
four point two points in those sixty nine games, and they're both officially signed.
Right, So part of the part of the killer love story that you
you had, nor Lander did the story. He said that Tommy's not gonna
chase anybody until love makes his decisions. Then they'll find a replacement. Yeah,
so that will be interesting. But I think it's good they're getting someone,
this guy from Tennessee coming from the sec A more physical conference Arizona.
He used that part going into the time. Yeah, because I see Henry
Visa getting kicked around a little bit. Oh yeah, right, I like
him. I like him. What happens, he's he's you know, if
you if you characterize physical versus finesse, he's a finesse. That's why you
have Creasa or creos. You see Crisas. They're saying he could go to
five different places maybe, Yeah, where did I see he's somewhere? No,
No, he's not yet. Yeah, so we'll see he's been down.
I'm sure you've seen him. I saw him like all week general beds.
I was like, I was, I'm like, is that KIRKSA,
Right, he's been here. Yeah. I was like whatever, See they
always come back, Steve place to be you never left, man, where
you love you go? Yeah, General Bens is the place. Yeah.
I was really. I was like huh. I thought I was like hallucinating
at THEIRS and I was like, nope, that's okay, all right,
here we go. He didn't buy any beers, right, I'm sure he's
got bunny. I'm sure I don't know any mo. Yeah. Yeah,
he was like something with n I l here. Yeah, yeah, it's
some money illegally Anyways, the new a D does we read France. While
her son Jackson's Prince Will committed to Arizona basketball. He played for two years
at Missoo, where she was previously the athletic director, not much playing time.
Seems like he preferred, you know, hey, come here and you
contribute, you know, I mean, walk ons have a purpose one.
You know, they got to be good enough to be able to compete and
practice stuff like that too. And the main thing is they helped the g
p A is not what I thought. There was a while back that it
was Remember it was a Sean who who who brought a shooter from Phoenix.
What was the name Hispanic kid? Okay, and he brought his friend with
him, and his friend was flunking out and he walked on and his friend
was flunking out of school. It's like, no, no, that's not
that's not you're you're here to get good grades and bring our GPR get the
hell out of here. And he got kicked off almost immediately because he was
a He was a he was a bad student, and it's like, no,
if you walk on, one of the things you gotta do is you
got to have good grades and help our gp A. Yes, when I
have Andy Brown on, he's always I was the gp A guy. Yeah,
there are gp A guys well. I also thought it was interesting his
Twitter bio is I bring energy. Okay, he brings energy. I wanted
to talk about the Lakers quickly because I know we were mentioning it early.
You kind of hinted at this earlier, Steve that Lebron said in the press
conference after their lost to the Nuggets last night that retirement something along the lines
of this, that retirement is coming and how much more can I really give
here? What is I think he kind of said to me, like what's
the point anymore if I can't give it. Yeah. Well, one of
my points was, I guess somebody asked him, are you comfortable moving forward
with the roster you have? He says no, because this team didn't do
it, and I don't want to be in this position again. I want
to win. So you got to get better, dudes. Well, Magic
Johnson said, I think on TV or in a tweet or something, that
the Lakers have to improve their roster to compete with these younger, more athletic,
more talented teams in the West. Well, you know, like Jay,
you got Phoenix Sons with the same situation, the Lakers with the same
situation, all these aging teams with younger guys like kJ you know the guys,
it's a it's a young man's game. You look at the Clippers,
right, I mean again, you know you got you got Kawhi, Leonard,
you got Westbrook over there, you got the other guy who's course George.
Yeah. I mean it's like, and who are they losing to?
They're losing to you know, the Denver's and the Celtics and and all those
teams. So it's yeah, yeah, And then I also saw something that
the Laker said they will consider Bronnie James, you know, to fulfill the
Bron's stream of playing with his son. What do you guys think of?
Here's what I want. Here's what I want to because I'm I'm not kind
of a jerk. I want wait, wait, write that down he said
it. I want that clip. I want Brownie James to declare, okay,
and then I want somebody else to draft it. But that is so
unfair. You should not be drafted. I thought he was going to.
I thought he already committed to du Kane. But he could could be wrong.
Well, he's got to do what you like, to declare them.
Isn't the deadline to declare past or No? He can he can declare.
I think he did. I'll check to declare for the NBA. No,
no, no, to go and go into the draft. No, he
can go to the Kane. I'm saying, to declare for them to be
in the next NBA draft. I think that deadline. Okay, So yeah
he can't. So he's not going to the NBA this year. Well,
I think they were talking maybe next year, you know, maybe if it
proves. I truly believe that. If I'm drafting like one spot ahead of
the Lakers. I would take him just too. And then then when I
do this, Okay, you want to play with your kid, come over
here. He hasn't committed. He hasn't committed to he's don't you think that's
a strategy. Though, that's a strategy. But I don't think you know
you're then you're messing with Lebron at that point, and hey, Lebron,
come on over. I don't know, Yeah, come on over. We're
gonna give you the league. I think. I don't know. I don't
like this whole thing that he's like. I just want to play with my
son. Like you know, it's sports. It's not about family, friend.
Yeah, it's not about you want you personally want to fulfill your emotional
See that's why I don't worry about it. This is something completely different.
So I don't know. I do know that I want to talk to you
the rest of the day. Had to throw that in there. Okay,
Okay, what time is it? Who we've got to get out of We
gotta get out here pretty soon. Anything else? I know, Jay,
you want me to bring this up at Angels, Mike Trout needs knee surgery,
Yes, torn meniscus. Uh, no timetable for his return, but
it's not going to be season ending. But nonetheless he's going to miss some
time again another year. I mean he was injured, was it. I
think it was a shoulder last year or I think had some sort of an
arm injury that he was out A wrist injury. All right, wait to
go, Ryan, thank you. Uh, wrist injury just from a swing,
right, remember that when he took a swing and just hurt his wrists.
So he's going to miss some more time. And you know, you
just got to talk about it. I mean, an uber talent that has
just not been able to get much of anything out of it in terms of
no playoffs, no World Series, no nothing. He just stuck with this
team that doesn't you know, doesn't win enough, and then injury after injury
now and he's a it's a drag. And hey, Bill Counts, he's
a good guy. I mean, yeah, you hate to see like that.
It does. Yeah, it does suck to that. All right,
Okay, that's segment. We when to come back. Ken hackemy form,
well not formally still the baseball coach at Pima, but now the athletic director
at Pima Clean Shaven. We found out he's got no hair on his head
that you couldn't tell from under his cap, and he'll be joining us to
talk about his new his new job. That's why we don't have real jobs.
We'd have to I'd have to shave and cut my hair. Yeah,
I'd have to shave more than once a week. All right, we'll be
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Steve Rivera and Jacob Salaz they have their eye on the ball on Tucson's
sports station SAT Fox Sports Bortol. Guy. Hey, welcome back to the
ball here at Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve. He's Jay you're in
Lise. Yeah, you're running and now we're just looking for kid. Not
the pol guy. I told you he was going to be too busy.
He's doing two jobs to a joke about that, but doing talk to Sir
Raymon and said that he can call any moment now, so I know he
has his practices at this time and so he could do it. So that
was the pool guy to me and myself. The there was he's a cool
guy right before cool guys like what I'm calling into the show today. You
got a good price for me. I had a good pool guy. Yeah,
so okay, well one more note, and I should have I should
have mentioned the see while we're waiting for Ken Hawk me to call, did
you see Bruno Fina jumped in the transfer port. Yes, like two days
after his brother got offered in Arizona. That would be who who tweeted that?
Did he? Bruno? Yeah? Okay, not not the dad.
No, okay, that's interesting. Yeah I could be good. Yeah,
it couldn't be bad. Yeah, I think I know. Let me let
me look again. I don't know Bruno tweeted it or some or is Ben
Boltchi tweeted it, but yeah, you know for those of you who kind
of jumped in the middle of Bruno Fina starting starting left tackle U c l
A last year, John FINA's son. Uh No, it doesn't look like
brun know tweeted it, but it's been tweeted multiple times by a bunch of
folks that he's he's jumping into the portal. So that would be a fantastic
get Yeah if that happens. Yeah, so uh, as long as it
doesn't go to Washington, that won't happen. Oh no, But Matt Zennetz,
who he's the he's a national college football writer for two four seven Sports
and CBS, says that he's heading into the portal. So interesting. Oh
oh. This is another rival site that says he's entered the portal. So
sounds like sounds like he's in there. Steve. Yeah, there's so many
changes, you know, you uc always going to their change with a new
coach, the running back, former running back Foster, I want to say
Foster the coach. Ye. So there's so many changes. Yeah, and
it'll happened for a long time. Yeah. In fact, in fact,
another I posted that Bradley was leaving and they were says this is the way
of the world. And it's going to be for a while, like we
talked about, until they get it fixed. Yeah, until it gets until
it gets fixed. Who knows when that's gonna happen, right, But uh,
you know here hearing good things about Sean Foster, you know again,
a guy who you know, just sort of a you know, kind of
a native son, you know, guy to play there, kind of a
nice guy. You know, maybe be a little bit a little soon for
him to be the head coach at u c l A. But because of
the time that that Chip Kelly left, you know, they almost had no
you know, their options were limited in terms of who they were going to
get as a coach. But you know, you hear that it could be
good. And he's a u c l A guy, And he's u c
l A guy. Here's the really good. Here's the problem though, Jay,
and you've seen it most recently, when you get a u c l
A guy, you can Arizona guy or girl and they do don't do well,
it's what do you do? It's hard, it's difficult. Look at
what happened in Michigan, right, Uh, Georgetown, Patrick Ewing. It's
just if they don't if it doesn't work, how do you make that exit
because the player, the coach doesn't want to go no, and the administrator
needs him to go right right, but more than anything, see, they
got him cheap. Uh yeah, and a guy who because Kelly didn't Kelly
didn't there, Yeah, he didn't want to. Well I'm guessing no if
Kelly left on his own, so he's not getting he's not getting any kind
of a payout. So sure, because Kelly's probably making more money than him,
but not really because you know, he gave, he gave it up
to go to. Kelly made plenty of money anyway, so he doesn't need
to be you know, collecting from But anyways, all right, so I
haven't looked at the story, but apparently a story has come out in the
Athletic that they went out and interviewed all the players who got run from the
Colorado football program last year. Have you seen the story? But i'd it
sounds bad. I mean, of course these guys are all none of them
is going to say a nice thing about lebron Is the year he got there.
Yes, yeah, so after the people the players that were kind of
run out of the program during his first well you know when he got there
and they're all they're all coming out of the woodwork. We'll talk about it.
Just said what a big giant piece of stuff he was to them.
I mean just talking about how guys not so much that they were asked to
leave, but how were they how they were kind of treated to be made
to leave, like like like a guy who was he didn't know he was
supposed to be off the team, and like he got a taken off the
position group chat and that's how we found out that they didn't want him on
the team anymore. Well, that's that's a be a sense a bunch of
bs. But I was going to tell the kids here, the kids don't
call them. It's the real world. Honestly, We've had bosses or situations
where they make life miserable for you, but you have no choice but to
say I can't take this anymore. Yeah, yeah, no. And with
Dion, you could see that it was very artist from the first day.
Well that's interesting because you never think about it from that perspective because it was
like, oh, he's coming in to turn around this program and use the
transfer portal to his advantage, But you don't think about what other people are
giving up to. Yeah, well it's happening now, just after the spring
game this weekend. One of the best wide receivers. Yeah, Kevin Green.
No, no, no, you're not here. Colorado. Colorado did
the same thing. He just left like last year. That's how Arizona got
the uh Loamonia Limonious Craig. Yeah, the wide receiver Montana Limonious Greg got
it. Yeah, it's just crazy, that's just crazy. He would never
get that. What's your first name? Like a month to learn mine?
Ryan, Ryan took me a while to I don't know. That's a hard
one. Yeah, he's only been emailing Jimmy or Ja. I'm sorry,
all right, still waiting on Wait, can't me? I don't know.
Yeah, Look, he's got important things to do, right, he's trying
to coach a team that's trying to get into the n C Double A Junior
College of Playoffs. Okay, I got my pool guy texted me. The
pool guy's about to call into the show. We need him. Jay can't
get his phone numbers, can't get his phone numbers. You call it,
we'll see what happens. Because Raymond knows we can just go through this section
here and then get him on the other side of the commercial. If that's
going to be the case. Oh, that's right. I was gonna say,
this is our last segment. We're leaving after this. No we're not.
We're not okay anything else. At least you want to take your something
else that I was looking at that, I, oh, look at this
Brian Howell, who covers Colorado coming on and defending uh uh Dion. Oh,
because we've had him on the show all the time, right, he's
one of our favorite guys. Yeah, what's he saying? Saying? Basically
saying that you know why, why do they need to do it? So
you knew that if guys had been run from the program that they would come
out and say bad things. It's kind of like, no brainer. Yeah,
you're fired to anytime a coach leaves, you're gonna find players, or
a coach comes, a new coach comes in and does this, You're gonna
find players who can rip on the coach said, which is true, but
it still makes good stuff. My whole my whole thing with him and that
situation was that it was a nice honeymoon for like a month, and it
was a great story for a month nationally and then it kind of got old
and they went one for eight I think the rest of the way, and
especially from that Stanford game when they had a twenty some point lead and they
lost the game, and that's was when it went down. And one of
the things that I mentioned too, was that the whole the whole persona and
the TV cameras everywhere at all times in their team meetings and this and the
like, what the hell are we doing? You know, I mean I
don't you know, I don't want a camera in my face. I put
them just at that when I'm just at a position meeting or something like that.
But you know, I mean, Deon went in there with a strategy
to get some visibility for the program, and he got it. He was
as successful in doing that. He got a lot of run. They sat
twenty thousand that their people are saying, well, you know, it's gone
downhill because they didn't sell out their their their spring game like they did last
year. Of course they didn't. It was cold because he was raining and
cool. Twenty thousand people still there's like, that's way more than Arizona got.
Yeah, and it was Arizona or you didn't go, but Itzona was
kind of impressive. Yeah, no, I was impressed with that, with
the with the crowd they got so Yeah, there were a lot of people
there or eight ten thousands maybe, Yeah, Yeah, to see a scrimmage,
not a scrimmage, to see a practice. Yeah, and it was
just a practice which was kind of a drag. Have you have you spoken
to Noah Flafida just randomly? I have not because we came off really impressed
with him. We've been impressed with him, but he spoke at a press
conference off the Yeah, and we rarely hear him anyway, but he's very
impressive in a weird way, you a, you know, beyond his year's
way. Yeah, does it make sense? It would make sense. I
could see that for him. I could see him being more mature and wise,
especially having to go ahead behind someone, go ahead and ask the athlete
in the room about the presence like my wow, Steve and another one of
it's sort of it's sort of a theory, but you know, his his
take was that when took took the field against Stan, they were down there,
they're they're losing and they were going to lose that game. The game
you saw the game Okay, that Fafia takes the field, he comes on
and he starts playing, and that Steve said, the players started playing better,
that there was more bounce in their skin, they seemed more enthusiastic and
more engaged, engaged, and that it had to do with maybe because they
knew. Maybe because they knew it was almost like he was getting robbed of
playing time. Well, is does it exist? Does that stuff exist?
Do you play? Do you play harder? Yeah, that's better, or
sort of a leader on your total? Well I said that, and we
had a form of players, so that doesn't exist. Okay, so I
think that exists and you experienced it. People get hyped up when someone who's
maybe you know, is good, but they weren't starting, they weren't getting
there playing time, or even if it's just like your friend comes in the
game, they get subbed out. You're down, Jed Fish didn't have any
other options. No, you're in that would fire that can totally fire you
up. Perfect, Because that's what I said. And then fast forward to
Saturday and he walks into he walks in and my the way I said it
was he he has a presence. He walked in the room and the room
was different when he yeah, yeah, like and that not to a level
of Loot Olsen who walked in the room and it you know, but a
certain uh, you know, there's a certain different feeling in the room.
And he just again, Adam had this presence. He walked in, he
had the big lay over you know, thing over his shoulders, and but
you know, and and he sat at the table and questions started getting asked,
and he was different from the other guys and you could tell that the
room felt different because he was in it. Yeah, which is kind of
and that was to my point where you can see that they respect him a
lot. They don't want to disappoint him, so they played harder, they
won the game. I think that's super important to have on a team,
to someone who's in that position where you're commanding the field. And that's different
than Dolaura being on the field because he wasn't doing much, and he hadn't
done much and he was well. I think I think there was a feeling
too with with with with Delora that what we all said about him was that
he, you know, he was too much of a gun slinger, taking
too many risks, and maybe guys were saying, you know, I need
somebody who's more steady, and in that game he did exactly that, right,
that's what he was. Yeah, you know when you when you see
what happened in the Mississippi State game, Uh, you know a couple of
games the year before where you know he was good, but sometimes he was
he thought he was better than he was and was trying to do things that
he really wasn't capable of doing. And guys may might have been frustrated with
that and say I need somebody who's got a good head on their shoulders,
and there is going to be taking the chances that this guy's take. Flafida
definitely played with a chip on his shoulder and you could see that, yeah,
that he wasn't arrogant. Well, to me, it was more about
just that he he was good. He knew he was good. He had
done the homework and done all the work to want to be able to walk
into the game and play well. Yeah. So I don't know there was
so much about it being a chip on his shoulder, just more of a
I want to show people what I can do because I know I'm pretty good.
Yeah. Confidence, Yeah, let's particular break to have how can be
ready for us. We'll take our commercials and have them called about three thirty
nine, four thirty nine. Yeah, okay, let's do that. Sounds
good. Okay, we'll take a break. We'll be right back, and
this time we will have Ken hackmet you athlet director of PIMA. If you're
an Arizona men's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for nearly forty years.
Now take a look back at the Ludolsen era in my new book,
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a teamsecurity dot net. Steve Ravera and Jake and Saliz They have their eye
on the ball on Tucson's Sports Stage. Chef Fox Sports fourteen to fifty streaming
live. I mean I heard radio apps. Hey, welcome back to whying
the ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Roverta. He's Jakinsaus
Now I phone. We have Ken Hockey the new a d at Pimuth.
How you doing, Ken, I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.
Sure, No, welcome back? Wow man with two hats. Now.
In fact, I'm curious have you do you see our logos when we put
our guests and your pictures? Do you see those? I don't think so.
So. So you had your ad, you had your press conference today,
and we're thinking, who is that dude with the mic? Well,
it's totally different than the guy we have featuring. You're in a baseball hat
with us, and in a beard and the whole bit. And now we
look at you man, you know what, I had to clean myself up
a little bit and uh, you know, and no hat on and and
and shave and you know, do some things that I need to do.
No, that's cool, that's cool, all right, So Ken, the
first thing we need to ask is what are you thinking? You know,
you got a great job, you're doing it. You're You've got in probably
a very time consuming job coaching baseball. Now you're the athletic director too.
How how is ken? Howck am you going to manage all of that?
Well? Fortunately, I'll have people in place with my with my coaching staff,
who understand our system, and we put a system in six years ago,
and we we believe in that system. Our players understand it, our
coaches understand it. And so with that being said, it will take a
little bit off of my plate because I trust my assistant coaches UH and their
ability to help, you know, run the system that we put in place.
And then on the other side, you know, there's there's people that
are already there, Todd pold House and Dan Befell, people that are working
within the athletic department UH as we speak, who are are going to be
there for me to to lean on when needed. So I feel good about
the support that I have on both sides. And with that being said,
I feel like I can handle both jobs. I think, didn't you go
to school to study to become an administrator as well? I got my master's
degree in educational leadership, So yeah, I did. Okay, So is
this kind of like what you were hoping to do eventually, I think so.
I mean, it's something that has crossed my mind throughout my coaching career.
Who lost you. I love coaching, and I love being on the
field with our players and and helping those kids move along and get to the
next level and helping helping them develop. But you know, in the back
of my mind, I've always thought, you know, what what would be
like for me to be an administrator and trying to help you know, not
just thirty thirty student athletes, but three hundred, four hundred student athletes.
So that's that's what I'm gonna work hard on and is trying to help these
student athletes with what they need. Being that you're a coach and an athletic
director, Now, how will being a coach an active coach help you to
be an athletic director. Have you thought about that at all or you know,
is there an answer to that question? Well, I think as a
as a coach, you understand the needs in your and you know some things
that could help you and your program get better. So with that being said,
I know that when I'm thinking that, they at team of college that
are thinking the same thing, you know, And so I feel like now
I want to just help provide opportunities for success at this in different sports,
at different levels. And you know, we're we're all in in it for
the same reason for the student athletes and trying to help them, guide them,
develop them so they can continue on and move on to the next level.
So, you know, just being a coach I think helps me understand
that. And uh and and now I get to do a different part of
that job and and try and and give back and with some of the needs
that other coaches may have. Yeah, no question, I could be wrong.
I think I don't think that we enjoy talking to Monica a lot throughout
the year and years. Uh. He fell into a nice spot because Pima
is kind of like the sleeping giant that is here now, a giant of
doing a lot of things in athletics. Where do you think you've landed with
this, because it's I think you're in a good situation. I'm in a
great situation. Our athletic department is in really good shape right now. We
have unbelievably unbelievable coaches. Uh. Our programs win, they win championships,
they go to post season. We're unbelievable in the classroom, we graduate our
students and move them on to the next level. So, uh, you
know, it's I couldn't be I couldn't be more happy landing this job because
I know we're in a great position right now. So it'll be a challenge
for me to continue the growth of this department because we're doing really well right
now. We're talking to Ken Hawk, me the new athletic director at Pema
College, also still the baseball coach, so you know, feeding off of
that a little bit. I mean, you're stepping into this job, do
you already have a good a good sense of what your main challenges are in
terms of, you know, all the things that are going on in athletics,
whether it's you know, nil at the you know at the at the
four year schools, whether it's you know, recruiting, budgets, all those
things that you're tackling. Now you know, you're having to look at it
as more than a baseball coach. Now you're the athletic director. What's on
your mind in terms of where you have your the I don't know if you
want to call them priorities. Were the biggest challenges for for your new job.
Well, I think I think right now, I mean always, you're
always as an administrator, you're always concerned about budget issues, so we need
to look at that. I feel good about where we're at right now.
I think Pema College has done a great job supporting the athletic program, and
I think we're in good shape. We feel good about where we're at.
There's always challenges with you know, just with graduation and you know, grades
and you know, keeping kids eligible and supporting them as much as we can,
so you know, those are challenges. But again, like we're in
pretty good shape right now, and so I'm feel good about where we're at,
you know, but there will be things that come up and we move
forward that we'll have to attack and and and get right and make sure that
we're in good shape because uh, you know, again, it's about the
kids. It's about the student athletes, and we've got to make sure they
have what they need. So that will always be a challenge to make sure
that if they have what they need to be successful in the classroom, out
on the field, on the court and things like that, so we can
we can move them on. So I'm hoping I'm not speaking out of line
for this question. But I think you're in good shape baseball wise too,
because, right, you have the playoffs coming up soon. We do.
We we host the first round against Arizona Western this weekend. So we played
Thursday Friday Saturday. Hopefully we play Thursday Friday. We don't have to play
Saturday. But it's a three game series. You know. I like where
we're at. I like our teams. You know, we finished forty two
and fourteen. We won forty games two years in a row. We're ranked
thirteen I think in the country. So I feel good about where we're at,
and I look forward to this weekend. All right, So if you
don't do well, you're not going to fire yourself or anything like that,
are you? I probably not. I don't think that. I think forty
one should be able to keep my job at least for another year. You
probably liked your boss, Yeah, your boss is probably maybe you like him
sometimes, right, So Monicaeo Monco had been thinking about retirement for a while.
I'm sure it kind of leaked out there too. Did you kind of
have an idea? Okay, I'm ready for this job, maybe a few
months ago. Well, I mean, you know, he knew he was
going to retire. I mean, everybody kind of knew, you know,
a couple of months back that he was going to call it a career.
And so when that when when he made that announcement to to us our staff,
I jumped in and tried to help out as much as I could and
learn as much as I could, because I thought, you know what,
this might be a situation where I want to get into administration and maybe uh
pursue that athletic director job. So I jumped in and just tried to learn
do as much as I could. I went to a couple of athletic director
meetings and Prescott and you know, kind of got my feet wet to see,
you know, what it was all about. So, you know,
I feel going in like I have a pretty good idea where we're at and
uh and a pretty good understanding of what what what's what's expected. Yeah,
well, coach, congrats, good luck this weekend. Maybe we'll talk to
you down the road if you guys continue to win. Thank you guys,
I appreciate you as always. Yeah we will. Then we'll get a new
monk shut of you. Thanks. I have a good one. He looks
totally different, totally different. You think you got a bigger office. I
don't know, that's a good question. Does he have an outfits? Well
yeah, I mean well yeah, I mean is his baseball office like over
in the athletic complex so there? Now? Does he went in the gym
or in the building or somewhere? So how would you if you saw him
like now you know little graphics. Yeah, he's got a beer salt pepper
kind of maybe has hair that then you see him on that's not the guy.
That's not the guy saw here's the line up though. Yeah, and
you know if he shows up like we're gonna think there are two different guys,
right, there's gonna be a hairy guy at the you know, baseball
with a cap on and then him you know, with a tie on and
the whole bit. So, but congratulations to him, you know if it
sounds like it's something he's wanted to do. You know, when you when
you get a job like that that you've been you know, you feel like
you're ready for him. Something that's gotta be a good feeling. And again
they've got a great program, you know, and yeah, every every sport
you know, is it you know, is it. Does it become a
thing where wait, wait, we didn't. We didn't do the jinx on
him for this weekend because no, because we called him about his job,
not about the baseball. I mean he talked about the babout that. Did
you hear about that? Last Pima Softball had won twenty six games in a
row going into last week? And what did you guys do? And we
well, we had we had the coach Beckos on the show on Monday.
They lost four straight since then. You're not shocked, You're not shocked.
It was about right. They kiss the death they kiss. She may never
come back on the show. Yeah, and I wouldn't, and I'm pretty
good friends with her dad. I'm afraid next time I see him he's gonna
like bludgeon me or something good. Punch. Yeah, well, maybe you
can just go along with your theory that hey moment, I'm just last forever.
There's no such thing. It was bound to die. I'm not close
to him, he is, he's gonna for straight. They got swept in
two double headers last week out. It's the kiss of the k D k
Okay, so this is your last show with us. I know. I'm
sad. This is the peak of your career. You know what. That's
crap. That's just crap. Thank you so much. Turns off to some
great things already. You're gonna do well, you know that. Don't don't
go chick the big bite of the apple right away. I mean, you
have to sometimes take that smaller job to get the bigger job. And I'm
not trying to be fine, serious and without without feeling like you gotta you
know, I don't know, make Steven, I forget. What have you
liked about doing this? I've loved this doing this. I feel like it's
a fun way for me to kind of, you know, do what I've
been doing all four years being on air doing journalism, but in a more
in the most fun way I've done it all this time. It's relaxed.
It's relaxed, it's you know, you guys are fun to be around.
It's lighthearted, and it's just been fun. Like I genuinely think it's fun.
I was talking about it with Sammy and I was like, you know,
you're still learning on the ball, Like because you know he's a grad
student, you know, it's different for him. I'm like, why are
you still doing like I was just wondering. I was like, you've been
doing it for so long. Like He's like, I just like it,
And I was like, me too, I just like doing it. Cool.
Yeah, Well, I will say there's been uh, a lot of
good reaction to you. You know, the people that I talked to who
tell us about the show, they really like you. You've got a great
voice. You've got a radio that yeah she's a TV girl. Well but
even you know, but you have a good voice for broadcast. Let's just
say let's say that, uh, you know, good strong voice. And
you know, we've had a couple of in terms that we had to say,
you know, lean into this thing, and you know, yeah,
you know, and and and who was it our first intern who thought the
best Mexican food was Taco Bell. Oh gosh, Jason, Noah, it
wasn't It was Jason, Jess Jason. You wouldn't know who he was,
Jason something you know, quiet, yeah, uite. So, but you
know you've had a good voice, you know, Ryan here, Ryan hearing
this that. You know, Bryan, if you're gonna be on the mic
at some point, be strong, be strong, you know, you know,
lean lean into it, give it back. To Steve, Ja will
be on your side sometimes, Steve never don't mean that. But well,
we appreciate the work you've done here. You've done a great I want to
thank you guys. It's been awesome to do this. Did your mom listen
to us every now and again? She does listen. I send the podcast
and Dad love us. Yeah, Mom, we appreciate you. Thanks,
thanks for sending her over here. But I will say, do you the
Lakers still suck. I'm just gonna can't. You can't argue with that.
What am I supposed to say? The sun sucked? The Lakers suck,
suck, the Lakers suck. Yeah, Roster, then Brownie James is gonna
be coming as soon as you know. We're gonna suck. You get the
picture. That's a momentum. Oh god, that you believe in that kind
of momentum going down down. Well again, it's been great having you and
uh you best of luck to you man, Thank you guys. Updated,
keep us updated on where you're going, you know, we like to know.
And and yes, he will send you a reference. I'll send you
a reference. And then you know, it depends on who that goes to,
right Steve. If they know us. Yeah, all right, Well
it's been great having you here, so thank you for that. All right,
it's been fun. Tomorrow, talk some tennis tomorrow. I am out
Tomorrow. I'm gonna go up and catch the Dodger game in in Phoenix.
Good pitching matchup, the the Arizona's ace. Dude, he won the cy
Young Award last year. Right, uh oh oh god darn it. Okay,
anyways, and then that and then the Japanese guy, that young motive
that that the doctor signed for late. Uh. Yeah, he started opening
day, but he was he's not uh he's not technically the number. Uh.
Okay a Gallon, Zach Gallon. That's it. That's it. Yeah,
he's coming back from he's had some he's had some issues, but he's
he's making a start tomorrow. So I'll be alone with Sammy. I have
two good guests tomorrow. A guy been wanting to get tom Ton of Cliff
will be with us tomorrow. I'm gonna miss that. I'm bummed about Smith.
I've been trying to I've got some questions. Yeah, leave him for
me because I use Okay, I'll send you something. I never saw Hi
play, but I hear a great thing. He was cool, he was
fine. All right, we're out here. I'll be back Thursday. Steve
will be here tomorrow, so be sure to come back. Thank you for listening.