This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports
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z R two SAD and iHeartRadio Station. Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to
Eye on the Ball Hero Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, He's
jagin Zaalaz. Got a guy Kevin in today fifteen minutes to we'd like to
give us a quick call before we take our first break and interview. Welcome
to Tuesday's show, Another day closer to a lot of things. Yeah,
it think its gonna be fun though. We got a couple of couple of
guys that we have We have fun with. Bud Withers, one of the
old guard sports writers, you know he was he had been around a while
when we came around. Yeah. Yeah, so I reached out to this
morning after, you know, trying to get others. Don't tell him that
to ask him, you know who who's turning around in their graves now that
he covered right about today's situation, because as you know, well, how
do you think Tomy would take this? I'm talking about I'm talking about players
getting players getting paid, transfer portal all that stuff. I actually think he
would be happy that players are finally getting their share. I do. I
don't know how he would like dealing with all of it, right, dealing
with uh you go egos, transfer portals, making decisions as to who gets
paid and who gets how much and that kind of stuff. But I think
in the end he would be happy that that that players are getting this because
he knows how he knew. He always recognized how hard they work. And
he had guys that, like like Tommy Lakeson were dogs, right, guys
who just came here, blue collar guys worked their butts off. Guys like
Teddy Bruski and the and Chuck Season, those guys who well, well he
called she'son for a year, but you know, who just worked their butts
off, and maybe he's like, Okay, they need to get their share.
I think in that regard he'd be happy about it. All the mechanics
of it. I don't know, it's hard to say, right. I
know Louke probably would have hated it. Yeah, probably, I would lead
him that way. Yeah, you know he's probably okay, yeah, but
you know, don't give him too much exactly. You know, we still
need them to work hard. Yeah. Yeah, and not that they wouldn't,
but we don't know, partly because you know, Luke was working with
you know, had a different kind of athlete, right, they had these
elite basketball athletes. Yeah that and he didn't have one hundred and five of
them, you know, or eighty five of them or whatever the number one.
Sure, So yeah, it'll be interesting to talk to Aboud, talk
to him about basketball. He knows Tommy Lloyd, so we'll go there too.
Uh. And then and then we got Tim Kish the same question.
Yeah, same question with with with Keish And you know, I think he's
he has said he wouldn't like any of this. But now it's kind of
like, okay, the pain these players, it looks like it's going to
be in the hands of the athletic departments as opposed to a kid going to
an nil for an opportunity, not but to a collective and saying, Okay,
you know, sell some shirts for me so I can make this money.
Now you're talking about deciding who gets money who doesn't. A coach doesn't
want after you. Yeah, it's so complicated. Now I'm older, now
I get it. Pay him. What do I care? But he can
effect how good a team can be because you're not paying this guy this,
and he knows he can get paid that there. He's gonna go there like
you're doing now. Well, look at you. You look at you.
You came in into the office about half hour ago, right and you asked,
quo would you ask me if we had talked? We talked about their
house state quarterback and what was the reason. Why would a guy like that
and the and the Oklahoma guy leave a place like Oklahoma or Ohio State for
another girl, for another place unless it's you hated the coach, didn't like
playing there, or you're gonna get a better opportunity. You're at Oklahoma and
Ohio State. What kind of better opportunity is there? Exactly? I mean,
it's if it's not a bag. It's inconceivable to me that you fulfill
a lifelong dream probably be the starting quarterback at Ohio State as a sophomore as
a sophomore, and you say, not good enough, I gotta go find
something else. I mean, what the hell is going on, Steve?
I don't know. I think now there's more opportunity to I think maybe I
think we're seeing the true intentions of these players now. I think if you,
like Steve said, are going for a bag versus going for on the
field success. But I think we're also seeing more and more players just trying
to find the right fit with a coaching staff. Right. So maybe if
you don't think you have the highest ceiling with with Ryan Day and the coaches
at Ohio State, maybe you think you could do better at Oregon with Dan
Landing or whatever. I think you're I think you see a lot of players
looking for fit and the bag, like you should should, but also you
take the risk, take the risk of trying to find a better fit.
It turns out to be not a better fit. The grass is not always
right, well, not always well. Jet Fish, you know, talked
about that yesterday saying, you know, guys, he said, if you're
making the decision, are based on money, money, right, You're you're
probably making a bad decision or that's not the way to make the decision.
I'm curious, and I don't know if this is public. It's probably not
public, but how much did Singer actually get I don't think anybody ever knew
them, but they just assumed it was Okay, let's assume for seconds a
quarter of a million dollars. Was that good enough? That will tell you
what? Let me just say this, okay, let me let me just
say you put two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in the hands of a nineteen
or twenty year old you put in front of me, it's it's not life
changing money, right, Yes, it changes your life for now. But
how fast are you going to go through that? Because you're the big man
on campus making six figures. How you know you're gonna go buy a car,
You're gonna go live in a fancy apartment in LA You're gonna you know,
you're gonna buy yourself you know, some bling, and that stuff's gonna
be gone, right, and then you got what? Now I'm in a
place. I'm not playing, I'm not catching balls, I'm not getting the
attention I need to get to the NFL, and and I don't know that.
I don't know how many nineteen twenty twenty one year old are gonna think
it through that far, like like you and I are. Yeah, I'm
taking the two fifty Well, you know what I'm saying, no, because
my thought is if I'm if I'm Dorian Singer, Okay, and I don't
think I've got a future in the NFL. But I can go make the
two fifty us. I'm gonna take that because that's the most I'm gonna make
playing football. Yeah, so you're doing you're not thinking that? But does
not he went there to get himself into the NFL, right right? And
who's who's the thing that he's not gonna make it? Still? I mean
and I say that, I say that he'll be fine because he's good.
Uh, and I saw opportunities, but he might not. But but the
funny thing about it yesterday and because Jed did kind of throw a back door
into this, well, we have examples now. Either you want to touch
to the guys who have transferred in and see how they like it, and
the guys have gone somewhere before you start looking somewhere else. You know this
girl, she's a good cook too. Why would you want to leave?
Yeah? And I think today's point when he was saying about nineteen and twenty
year olds getting the bag and then kind of blowing the bag away, we
saw that in the NBA. In the early days of the NBA, the
too much, too soon era. Yeah, where the guy the money blew
up increased and all of a sudden everybody was broke when they were retired.
Yeah, kind of evens out after after a little bit of time, Like
the older guys kind of appreciate the younger guys like, Hey, I made
the same mistakes. I went to UCLA and blow my money, right,
don't do that. I think, I think these these things will get ironed
out with time. But right now we're in the beginning, and it's a
lot of mistakes being made right there. There are as it was in the
NBA during that time, there are guys in college getting money that they've never
seen before. I could never imagine that, and probably a lot of maturity
to not screw that up. And we've seen we've seen guys through, you
know, in the in the NBA get you know, NFL baseball, whatever,
you know, made fifteen twenty million dollars and they come out of there
and they have none of it left. Yeah, people take it from them,
they spend it. Any wide variety of reasons as to why it's gone.
It usually ends up gone. So you just gotta be careful. You
should not be careful, but you know, let's see. I I but
again I can. I'm just fascinated by what's going on. Not fascinating,
I'm like, I mean, it bothers me. But on the other hand,
it's kind of like, man, this is what a time we're in.
No, it's it's crazy, and now it's all above board at a
time before where it was wink wink, right under the table, under the
table. Yeah yeah, and what's to say it's not going on under the
table still there's always something going on to the table rights, And really it's
probably a lot harder before you just say, Okay, he's driving a harmer,
he's getting something. Well, everybody's got a hammer now. Yeah.
Did you know we went to the press covers last week? Did you go
to the press comvers last week? And did you walk? Were you parked
this week? And I parked the same area, so we were walking and
did you see a big truck, like a big truck on stilts or whatever.
DJ Williams truck. It had to be because it had Williams in the
back and it was like a big truck from somewhere else. Holy crap,
this truck you could run over you and you never know when you've got run
over. You know, you're just walking to hit you in the head.
I mean, just these things are do you see them? And before you
say, oh, the guy's driving that, you know, before you see
this guy's driving that, you know, I go all the way back.
I remember when Chris Mills got it was a Too eighty Z which was just
testing about a really fancy sports car at the time, you know. And
he gets he gets here after that whole Kentucky Kentucky incident with money falling out
of a FedEx envelope, and he gets here and he's driving the nice you
know, one of the nicest cars on campus. Yeah, you know,
and then again remember h Lewis Holmes, you know, had ad when he
got here, which was of course money not gone to for the right reason
exactly because somebody over paid for that r look for the light because I just
sent a phone number. But you know, it's uh, it's it's just
stunning to to see what we're in the middle of now, and and god,
you know, and it it it keeps escalating as we go along.
Well, you're talking about this before, and we'll get the call. Let's
get this call. How you're on the air and I on the ball.
We're good, We're good. What's up the Chris Mills? You know that
fed X convelope that kind of somehow got opened. But I think it's kind
of like you guys are all saying, you know, we're in this this
trial period where the biggest dogs are going to win in n I L right,
you think you would think that, Yes, well you know, but
I I kind of believe, and I was talking with you guys as well
as friends, like on the crease of deal. You know, I I
believe that Tommy had to come to Jesus with him and said, you're you're
really not going to be starting. But but I can't. I can't.
I don't so as a wildcat. He's not a wildcat. He's not a
wildcat for life. No way for the kid and his family, go get
it. No, you're you're you're I mean, you're a hundred percent correct.
It just changes everything. Guys are guys are a while as long as
they're making the money that they want to make, right Yeah, I mean
I add everybody but a bunch of them, certainly, you know. Sure.
My big my biggest concern would be can we hang on to Tommy and
just this right, that's that's what I think, and I think that's what
people want to see, right, you know, because yeah, if if
you trust the coaches, then if they lose a player, because he's going
to go make more money somewhere else, like these three guys who went to
USC sure it didn't hurt him, right, Well, you remember in the
story of DIFFERENTCT if you remember, and tell me you said this publicly,
he's not you know, Okay, they're here to get paid in I l
but that's not the reason they're going to come. He's not. He doesn't
want those guys coming here just to be paid. It's the basketball, right,
the basketball. Well, yeah, and look at Caleb Love. Look
at Caleb Love. Tommy was very succinct when he said, I told him,
you know, you're not going to score twenty five a game, but
he's gonna make him a better player, you know. You know, he's
been pretty much a dog on defense, don't you think doing. And he's
giving the ball away too with the cysts, which I can't jack up those
three so so often. But I always appreciate you that, well, thank
you, thank you actually call you know you're right, and you know,
coaches are going to kind of hang on to that, and you know,
some coaches are going to make their decisions based on this is want to be
here. He's coming here for true money. And if he's coming here for
the money, then I'm not sure that it wanted him to be here.
No, exactly, exactly. You don't want those guys anyway. Yeah,
But the problem with that is some of the very good ones or these guys,
well no, no, but back in the day they were either problem
kids, the problem kids, and then the coaches took him thinking I'll make
him not a problem kid, right, and that doesn't that doesn't happen.
You couldn't. You couldn't. Yeah, and we we've bet a few of
those here. What there happened? I mean, Sean Miller had a bunch
of them when he first got here, remember that, right. The guys
are just you know, they were the five star guy all the name just
were not good, right, players are not good? Team? Sure?
Sure? Okay, uh no, good good first quarter here. We're going
to talk to to mister Withers here on the second half of this the breath
of the breakick. But it's always an interesting guy with you know, his
basketball knowledge and stuff and again knowledge of the Pac twelve and just knowledge of
all basketball. So it would be fun to talk to, so stick around
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Dreamy Live, Honey, iHeartRadio Act. This is Eye on the Ball
with Steve Bravera and Jacobzale on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. Hey, welcome back
to Iying the Ball here on Fox Sports forteen fifty. I'm Steve, Roberta
Pee jacins Awas. Now on the phone, we have Bud Withers, longtime
sports columnists in Seattle, author all that good stuff you've been around, Bud,
I hate to tell you that you've been around. But better to be
around than not around you, you know. But we were talking about the
fact that we were both pretty young when we met you, and now we're
both really old. So what does that say. I'm old now and I
was alda. They're trying to say, but you look great. I didn't
say it that way, but yes, but you look great when you were
younger. Older guy back then. Hey, hey, so so you were
around for a long time in the pack eight PAC ten now PAC twelve.
Who who would be going crazy in the coaches you covered back in the day
or remember from those days to say, here's the PAC twelve is gone,
a PAC ten is gone and now the kids are getting paid. Who would
have freaked out? Oh my god? Well, you know, one of
the one of the first guys I could think of as Marv Harshman, you
know, the old the old Washington State going way back and then Washington coach
into the eighties. Uh, you know, Marv was definitely an old school
guy. You know, a guy like George Rampling, whom you guys know,
well, you know George, George at least thought of himself I think
as as somebody with a lot of old school values and and you know just
I mean I remember, God, I remember in I think nineteen eighty six
when they implemented the three point shot, you know, the NCAA rules committee.
I remember getting all the George and him talking about that makes no sense.
I mean, are they going to start are they going to start giving
three points for degree of difficulty shots? And you know why do that?
And you know, George is very much an old school guy. And of
course then you know a guy that I covered for years at Oregon State,
Ralph Miller. I mean, my god, he he didn't he didn't like
things like the bounce pass. So, oh my god, I can only
I can what you would think of that? I l and that is nuts.
And you know, but even some of the you know guys who are
you know, newer guys. You know, guy's been around the last you
know, ten years. You can you know that they that they would be
hating this. And you know, we're gonna talk to guys afternoon. Tim
Kisher was an assistant here at Arizona, also at Oklahoma. I think we've
had the conversation. He wouldn't hated doing this. Andy Lopez has said he
would have hated doing this. And it's crazy that that you know what these
coaches are dealing with right now? Yeah, exactly, you know, And
I think, Jay, what uh What's always struck me about this, this
kind of new new regime, this new way of doing things, is that
you know, the pro to me, the programs that are entrenched and well
established have it that much easy year now. I mean, I'm sure it's
not a lot of fun to try to not monitor all this stuff. But
I mean, if you were trying to, uh pull a program up by
the grassroots, uh, it would be really difficult. Now, I would
think, because you know, the the programs that are that are winning and
winning league titles and going to the NCAA tournament, making deep deeper runs and
so forth, they're naturally going to be the the programs that you know,
the enjoy the the fruits of of what's going on. I mean, you
look at a program like, you know, the one that I'm really familiar
with up here in Gonzaga, and I mean, if if there's no way
Gonzaga would have would have made you know, built at brick brib brick like
they did, you know, or come up by the build themselves up by
the bootstraps like like they did under the current the current rules and just it,
it wouldn't have happened because they wouldn't have been able to attract any anybody
through the transfer portal. True. True, So you covered two schools up
there to Oregon State and Washington State. Uh, and and now look they
have no place to go except the Mountain West pretty much. I mean you
were talking about the also rans. They kind of are the also rans now
by default bault no fault of their own really, yeah, no doubt.
I mean they as you guys know, they just hooked up with with a
deal with the Mountain West and both in football and and and in basketball,
I believe, and and uh so so now they're going to be playing a
lot of Colorado State and Boise State and and whatnot, and and uh you
know it, it's really hard to tell how it's going to work out.
But you could make the case that if you can stay afloat and and remain
competitive, and you know, even even beyond obviously you want to be more
than competitive. You want to you want to win, but you know you
can. You can make the case that if you could do well in that
league and dominate it as much as Boise State did there for for a good
long stretch, a lot of good things could come to you. But it's
not necessarily going to be easy to do that. I mean, you know,
a school like San Diego States has obviously a lot of population and geography
and a lot of things going for it that the Washington State doesn't have.
Even though Washington State has been in the in the PAC twelve, so you
know, it could work out a couple different ways. But I don't know
that it's necessarily desperate. But it's just just the associations that they had with
the PAC twelve for all those years and before that the PAC ten and eight.
That's that's what's really kind of got everybody, uh really with a sour
taste in their mouth, you know. But you know, Steve and I
are both a couple of you know, get off my lawn kind of guys
in a lot of in a lot of areas, you know, in particular,
and stuff like this. You know, and there's probably, however,
many million different opinions on this, but you know, in your mind,
is what's happening gonna end up? You know, maybe at some point it's
got to settle right where Okay, now payers, players are getting paid,
and this is how it works, you know in I l whether it goes
away or not, you know, players are gonna get you know, coaches
salaries or what they are. You know, you're gonna have to you might
have to, you know, cut some cut some programs and cut some sports
to pay for all this. When the dust all settles, if it ever
settles, Are we gonna end up in a better place, a pretty good
place, or worse place. What's your opinion on that, Well, I
think I think the way a lot of people the way it's going is that
we're going to be at some point you're going to be just flat out paying
paying athletes, and they're going to be employees of the of the school,
or maybe they'll be sort of like an auxiliary wing of the school, so
to speak. Uh. I mean, you could you could even have a
situation where where guys aren't going to class and stuff, but that they sort
of represent the University of Arizona or or Utah or whatever you know. Uh,
but it's it's uh, I mean to be able to say whether it's
a good bead or whatever. You know. The on one hand, the
nil thing is is positive in the we we've we've pretty much known for years
and decades that that athletes somehow needed to be needed to have some sort of
compensation over just the scholarship, whether it was you know, a small stipend
for a month or whatever, or or thousands of dollars out they're getting.
Now. I mean, we we knew there was there was some some basis
for that. But uh, now we now the stuff has come at us
with with just such a rush that it's uh, it's uh, it blows
your mind and and and what what what it really tells me is that Mark
Emmert, when he was president, was in the NCAA you know structure that
the administration they were so held bent on fighting the fighting athletes in court and
fighting court cases and and trying to stand firm, you know, when they
could have been when they could have been trying to come up with a reasonable
structure for all this stuff and then maybe implementing some guardrails for for ni L.
But instead we you know, we got none of that. And uh,
it's it's just the classic Wild West. You were talking earlier about Oregon
State and Washington State going into the Mountain West. Let's throw this at you
because we talk about this coint often now with Arizona, Arizona State and you
know the other schools going to the Big Twelve. At least where we sit,
that Arizona has a chance now to possibly or a better chance now to
win a conference title in football. Before with USC and Oregon and Washington and
some of these these tougher schools in the way that almost made it impossible.
Now in the Big Twelve, there's a chance because even next year with Arizona
coming, you know, playing fairly well and doing well, there's a chance.
Do you what do you see with that? You know, basketball's basketball,
because Arizona's basketball is not comparable to Kansas but pretty close. Yeah,
yeah, well, uh yeah, I mean I think if you can obviously
Jed Fish has done an unbelievable job down there, and it's it's the old
story at a school that's traditionally not a power. If you can if you
can keep that that coach around and and uh and and and make him happy
and and uh invest in in his staff and so forth, I mean,
you're going to have a chance, definitely, And in that league I think,
you know, especially with with Texas and Oklahoma going off to the SEC
and so yeah. I mean now, now the other thing you've always got
to deal with, at least until Kyle Whittingham is there as Utah. I
mean, the the job, the job he's done is is uh beyond belief
really from from where they were when when they entered the Pac twelve back in
twenty eleven, so uh yeah, but I mean and and and in that
regard, you know, if if if Arizona can can can keep fish and
keep building and growing and whatnot, I mean, yeah, you could,
you could, you could win that league. And and and with a new
twelve team playoffs, I mean that Arizona fans could get pretty excited about all
this stuff. So so let me let's go to the Oregon, well to
specifically to Oregon and going to the Big Ten, because you know, there's
a you know, the Big Ten has this reputation like it's a great conference,
but really what it is it's Michigan and Iowa State, a little throw
a little Penn State in there maybe once a while in Wisconsin. Where do
you think Oregon falls, particularly to Oregon, and then maybe even USC and
Washington are going to fall in the hierarchy of of football over there? You
know, do do Ohio State and Michigan get exposed a little bit for the
fact that they're con they haven't had to do you know, they both get
to the end of season undefeated because the rest of the league sucks, or
you know, do Oregon, Washington and the USC get exposed a little bit
because when they go to the Big Ten and now maybe they're not as physical
or whatever, you know, because the whole reputation of being you know,
finesse teams and stuff like that. Which where do you where's your mind on
that? It's gonna be really interesting, Jay. I think I think the
travel is gonna is going to be a big deal both both ways. I
mean, I think what you're going to see is I agree with you that
that. I think I think the Big Ten is largely a bunch of fluff.
The majority of those current whatever whatever it is fourteen teams now you know,
I mean the Purdues in Indiana's Rutgers and Marylands and whatnot. I but
I think I think those teams kind of a bunch of those that I named,
I think they'll give schools like an Oregon or Washington problems when when the
when Oregon or Washington has to to travel twenty five hundred miles to go play
them. And by the same token, I think, you know, I
think that the schools out here, the four that are the four that are
going uh. I'm mean, I think if you're playing one of those real
heavyweights, the you know, the Michigan or Ohio State or Penn State,
and you've got to go back there, I think, I mean, it's
gonna be a pretty decisive edge, I think, both in style of play
and and travel and whatnot. But but on the other end, you know,
those those schools got to come out here, and uh, you know,
Washington is a pretty good track record of of bothering uh big ten schools
like like a Michigan that come out here to play. So it's gonna be
interesting to see how it works out. And of course, the the real
thing that nobody has done a very good job of explaining it is how all
the non revenue sports are going to deal with with with all that travel and
stuff. You know, how does the how does the women's volleyball team uh
manage? And you know, how does uh how does the basketball teams do?
I mean, just logistically, do you you go back there for a
for like a three school road trip. You know, maybe you're gone a
week and you play you know, Minnesota, Purdue and Wisconsin in in a
week. I don't know that that's that's to be determined, but that's going
to take a real toll. So let's talk real quick about a couple of
minutes. We have about basketball. Men's basketball, Arizona finds himself at number
one. Uh, your thoughts on Tommy. I know we talked a little
about Tommy last time you were on. But probably no surprise to you that
he has this team doing well. Yeah, absolutely not, Steve. You
know, he he's a guy that, as you guys have probably seen,
he's got enough connections that he can he can recruit and he can be an
effective recruiter. And at the same time, I think he he he's a
he's a darn good coach. So I mean, that's that's that's the two
things you got to have. Now, I'm sure there were rough edges and
whatnot when he when he in the first couple of years when he took over.
I guess not the least of it is losing losing to Princeton and last
spring in the NCAA tournament. But you know, that stuff that happens to
the best of them. I mean it happened. It happened to coach k
a couple of times, and in the NCAA tournament over the years, you
know, losing to like a fourteen or fifteen seed. So yeah, I
guess I am surprised that they that they've risen to number one so quickly.
But god, you go back to Duke and uh and get a win back
there and then you know, take care of business with with the rest of
them, like against Michigan State, and you've you've certainly earned it. So
they're they're gonna, they're gonna bear watching, no doubt as a as A
as A championship contender this year. Yeah, okay, but thanks a bunch
for joining us. Appreciate you absolutely, guys anytime have a good one down
here. Try not to wear yourself out in retirement over there. But I
know it's I know it's kind of tough. Maybe just one last ten second,
twelve second. We won't even get into the suction committee situation. But
who's gonna win the title? The and the football you're talking about? Yes,
uh, god, I suppose, I suppose I cast my lot with
Alabama just just because of the coach. But who knows. I mean,
Washington keeps surprising people, so until they get beat, they got a shot.
Nobody seems to be able to beat them, right right right? Okay,
thanks bad thanks bud. Okay, guys, Yeah, yeah, you
know he makes a point. Is the same your point. You like Washington.
I like Alabama because Alabama with time is pretty down good. And yeah
and they I mean they're You can argue that they've got the best players.
Yeah, yeah, physical can do a lot of things. All right,
man, let's take our break. When to come back, we'll take your
costs five zero four one six four. Man. You 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 Loudolsen era. In my new book, Lessons
from Loot. It was a labor of love through the eyes of twenty five
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at a teamsecurity dot Net, breaking down all the excess at all. It's
Steve Rivera and Jacin Salvis this Eye on the Ball on Fox Sports fourteenth.
Hey, welcome back to Winning the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty on
Steve. He's Jay got Kevin with us today fifteen minutes. If you want
to give us a call five two o four one six seventy four forty.
We'd love to hear from you. What's going on football, basketball? In
interesting stuff from Bud, you know, just talking about those coaches that would
have just lost them and he's right, I mean those are really old school
dudes. Those are really older school. But that's what I'm saying. There's
some newer school guys who also, would you know, losing their minds.
Well, well, you're right. You mentioned we've talked about a thousand times
with Kendrea and and you know that uh uh Rubio left for one of these
reasons, Andy Lopez. Yeah, they just you know, I'll hate that.
Hey, tag, you're it man. You go to a guy like
Mike Stoops, right, who didn't like a lot of the head coaching stuff.
Anyway, then you pott this stuff on top of all that, right,
well, you fish, I think I think you you were there,
so I think I'm correct. So he is, I got to do all
these things, right, recruit, blah blah blah, hic. He didn't
say say shake hands, key spaces. But he's chasing down money for his
place, right, you know he's he's not just the coach, right,
And then he says, and by the way, I have to come up
with plays. Yeah, at the same time to beat Oklahoma, I have
a game plan. I think he does get paid pretty well though to do
yeah, I mean things, making enough money to handle it, to do
a lot. The truth is that the market is such things. Oh yeah,
he's one of the lower paid coaches around, right. Well, that's
the whole thing, Jay, It's it's we've we we talked during COVID.
Okay, they're gonna be in defenitives, right and maybe not too except they're
in. But they were forty five million dollars in debt right at the time
when they got out of it or whatever. Uh, and you're thinking,
are they gonna make this up or whatever? And then then you got to
pay the coaches, where's that gonna come from? Now? The players,
where is that going to come from? Where's this money coming from? Well,
and that that's the thing, you know. Uh, you know one
of the one of the podcasts I was listening, they're saying, Okay,
they're talking about how they they're gonna have to come up with all this money
to pay players and do all these things. But you know, coaches salaries
aren't going to drive exactly right. They're not going to stop building facilities,
right, you know, they're going to keep doing all these spending all this
money that they've been spending. So where what are they gonna go get new
money? Where's the new money? Right? Well, you were talking this
before we started, Kevin with the facilities. Yeah, we were talking about
how every new facility, it seems like almost any school, no matter what
they're standing is within their sport, is getting a brand new facility that's two
hundred and fifty plus million dollars with all the new all the new technology and
all this new stuff. Because you're trying to keep up with the Joneses,
right, yeah, because these guys that then you got to pay them a
whole bunch of money too, well mention that once you talked about yeah,
it was it was it was USF that had like three hundred and forty million
dollar facility coming in northwesterns is like up, you were talking to the Clipper.
Yeah, the Clippers has uh what was it in the billions of dollars
you were talking in Northwestern? Yeah about Northwestern USF for college football. But
yeah, there's just a lot of money being flushed into these new facilities for
teams that may not be able to fill up these these Uh do people not
nowhere in almost the recess whatever we are. We're not in a recession,
but we're in something actively. I don't think they know. And it seems
like it seemed like hob athlete Athletics doesn't really care. No, they don't
care. They don't care. And it's no, it's tough, it's it's
it's it's it's keeping up with the Joneses because you have to have people coming
in to attend your school and be part of it. Yeah, no,
yeah, I mean it's uh, could you could you imagine and you're I'm
talking you could talk to me about when it was like in the seventies and
he went to school at you a, Okay, I showed up here in
eighty five. I was, you know this this small town dude covering from
New Mexico just to visit Arizona Ducson, and I thought the campus was fantastic.
They had just done revenging the nerds. You're kind of just saying,
wow, this is pretty cool. Uh, but you know the attractions on
the campus blah blah blah. And then this is not the campus I remember
from then. How about the campus that you saw back then? Oh?
Well, you know it's funny say that because we were on it on Sunday
taking going to my daughter's graduation pictures and we're walking, we're walking around the
campus. I'm like, yeah, I went, you know, I had
classes in this bien lamplight wa waiting. That building wasn't there, but I
don't know what was there, right, And it's one right on the mall.
It's between it's over by kind of uh west of bear Down, And
I'm like, I know that building wasn't here, but I couldn't tell you
what was there. And then it was with the photographer Arise, you know
Fred, he said that was a parking lot, and you know they then
now they're just building that that's there, you know the campus. Yeah,
it's it's totally incredibly different, right, well, look at just the housing.
The housing. Yeah it was oh that whole corner parking, parking,
speedway was crazy. But but it's it is so diff you know, there's
so many it's filled in so much, and it doesn't even look like our
campus. I mean in every couple of years. I mean even as someone
who's actively going to the school. I was walking out of the library with
my friends the other day and he was like, where are we on campus
right now? Because he was standing in the new Students Success District, which
is attached to the library. It has a big over arching thing. Maybe
it just confused because no one ever goes to the library. I saw that
sign. I said that this used to be the student place to hide district.
But you know, that's literally what I told him. He was like,
this is a new area, and I was like, yeah. The
money that's being you know, invested into the campus is year after year just
crazier. And again because like athletics, the you know, the university as
a whole is out there having to compete sure, you know, to get
students and what's and what's the front porch of the university. Sorry to say,
but it's athletics. There's going to be number one. I'm sure helps
a lot. There was on this football program that I was fourteen, but
you would have I mean, I don't know if you actually did those stories,
but there were a bunch of stories that came out after the ninety seven
National championship about how enrollment, yeah or changed and how more people were you
know, we're applying to come to the u of A because of that.
That's that's why I'm here and not some other place where with less of a
history of of success in sports, because I like, obviously I want to
do sports journalism the whole thing. But you don't want to go to a
school that has no history of sports. You want to go to sport that
has a rich history and you have a chance to be a part of history
in the making the success. Yeah, so of the time, because you've
been here four years, five years, whatever years of the basketball games of
football games, and I'm assuming those are the primary sports, primary and baseball
year, ninety percent of the games you've attended or how many what's some percentage?
Basketball is really high I don't miss a lot of home basketball games football.
We talked about this throughout the season. They didn't. They weren't really
giving fans a reason to show up for a long time. So I would
say like once the Jetfish era started, there was a little bit of uncertainty
of like, Okay, who is this guy? What's going on? But
in my opinion, once he started showing us reasons that indicators of improvement,
I was I was more willing to go to these games. But you're you
are exactly exactly the UA fan, not today, many years ago and today
because that's it. Well let's see, well, let's see Jay, Yeah,
that's there's so many people waiting to see. It's gonna be interesting to
see, you know when you see what you know. Bobby Robbins said that,
you know, ticket prices are gonna go up twenty five percent, Well,
how many people are gonna say, well, I'm not throwing another twenty
five percent? Correctly, No, I am, no matter how good,
no matter how good they are, right I am. Yeah, But I
know that that there's gonna be a you know, where's the you know,
where's the balance that you have there? How many people are you gonna lose
versus how many people are gonna stay with Well, let me ask you.
And I don't know if this well, I know, I go to the
detailgates. I don't think that's an indication of the people in the building though,
how many how many normal people are in that building, in the in
the stadium football? Yeah, does that make sense? Normal people are kind
of like me and you and and you know what I'm saying, not the
corporate people, not the people that oh, I mean that the average thing,
Joe, the Joe's Yeah, yeah, well sitting where we said,
it's most of them. But you know, but you know what I'm saying,
Yeah, it's not a cheap ticket. No, it's not a cheap
ticket, but it's it's it hasn't price itself out yet. But I think
that uh, you know, nobody likes to see prices go up, all
right, for for anything. And you're gonna say, well, you know,
we need this to you know, in particularly in the u of a
situation, people are saying, you guys, screwed this up, and why
are we paying? I was gonna go there, right, but there's no
other way. I don't think. I don't know there isn't. I mean,
they're gonna have to be that. And and so you know, somebody
like me is gonna say, Okay, you know, I'll do my part
of this, but you'll put but part of it too is you know put
I went to school there, put my kids through school there. I'm supporting
this. Snow, you have some skin in the game. I do have
a lot of skin in the game, more skin than you would ever know.
But yes, I don't want to know. Uh, but you know,
well, and you're gonna be a grad eventually. And will you come
back, will you spend money giving back? Well, I mean you could
easily say yes now, but yeah, I think so. I mean in
terms of like what Jay's talking about with the football program, I'm not the
biggest football dude. I like, I enjoy football. Basketball is my thing,
right, So if if we're going to say that, I think for
me, the basketball program, like I I will be there for one and
whatever you'll pay, you pay, you'll pay for basketball doesn't matter to me.
But you're not going to do it for football. Yea, as long
as we have someone on the on at the end of the bench that I
believe can lead us to success. And I'm not going to watch a clown
show. Let's go to that game, right, And that's that's where I'm
at with Jed. Jed is a good coach, and I believe in Jed,
so I will support the team. But I you know, you know
how we don't have a lot of time to waste these days, you know
you don't. And that's the other thing you don't. And then that that's
why you you know, you hire and fire, you know, Kevin someone
him in three years and send him off with seven million dollars in his his
pocket or Jimbo Fisher with seventy seven million dollars in his pocket. And right,
you know, well, I think that that he said the best.
We can't we can't afford not to fire him, right because it would continue
the same rule would be today if they don't fire him on that day exactly
exactly fifty six to zero. Yeah, that still hurts. It hurts.
Well, here we are you guess doing? Okay? Are we talk about
this this era being a lot like the mid nineties when it was very very
good. They're number one in the country and they're number fourteen in football.
All you needed for a kind of tra effect. That would be the the
women's basketball team to kind of pick it up a little bit, maybe the
baseball team to reach the church. Yeah, and the stopball to come back.
Yeah yeah, and then you're back to be all those things are good.
That everybody's happy in this town. Yeah. And I guess what the
wallet or the purse exactly just yeah, well whatever whatever it can be.
You know mine has dusted it. So that's a fatogly wald. I don't
know where you keep that problems? Do you guys? Do you guys think
that the fans football fans specifically, uh next year with the ticket price increase,
do you think we'll see like some their attendance or do you think the
intendants will increase despite the ticket increase take a price football or basketball football.
I don't know. I think more people will come, I do. I.
Part of it's gonna be, you know, you know, can you
still get It's it's gonna be about getting the ticket in your price. Do
we know the schedule for next year with the with the back we know who
they play, okay, but we don't know where. We know well,
well, you know we know who they're playing where, we just don't know
what days okay, but what does the schedule look like at home? Were
in the Big Twelve? We got to cut one. Yeah, so we'll
say right now, would you go to the game? I gotta be the
game. Yeah yeah, and we'll kind of just kind of see maybe some
college will call in at the other hour. Would you go to this game?
Yeah? Okay, let me see if I if we have it here,
uh okay. Arizona's Big Twelve schedule home games next year are as U
Colorado, Texas Tech, Houston, West Virginia. Mm hmm. People will
comes to that Colorado game because if you're gonna you're gonna say that. But
you gotta understand Washington, Washington, Oregon and USC and U s l A
aren't in the conference. No, no, don't tell me. I know,
I get it, all right, get it or not? We take
no, no, we can't take that. Call us on the other side.
So that's it. That's it. That's it. That that fashion show
is not very good. It'll be different. And and I think to me,
the attraction of this is the difference. I mean, the Arizona can
win all those games and maybe win a championship and and and get into the
playoffs. Go down the line of we don't know when the time, give
me the schedule, talk to about first game, second game is no,
no, it's they're just listed. Who we play? Give me Arizona play
go slowly again? West Virginia Okay, West Virginia, Houston Okay, Texas
Tech Okay, Colorado Okay, come on, don't Colorado? And in the
issue the other games, what are you doing? But you know on the
on the road, you've got b y u Utah TCU in Central Florida.
When you flip that over in b y u Utah and TCU come here,
that's a little more attractive skit. It is, but it's it will depend
on you're going. You going, well, I go next next year.
We'll just give the the what you switch? You know now, I know
you won't be here, but no, yeah, I did want to see
this. It'll be news, Steve, It'll be new that's I think that's
now, that's what the newness where you're true? Right, Okay, let's
take our break. We got top of the hour. Uh, Kevin,
wake back here with some breaking news and we'll we'll cover all that. Lots
of stuff again, big stuff in the n C double a let's stick around