David, Welcome back to our Zoovia show. How you doing not bad?
Guys? You all today. It's been too long man, good to hear
your voice, and certainly a lot has changed since we last talked. Let's
start with, obviously, what has been front and center with this very successful
athletic program, and that is Don Staley. What she has built there.
Man, they ran the table. What a season it was and women's basketball
in general with the emergence of you know, Angel Reeson, then Caitlin Clark,
but at the end of the day, it was Don Staley and that's
very talented, very I would say, together team that got it done.
You chronicled this team. How amazing was that season? Oh? It was
incredible. I mean, going into the year, you knew that they had
some talent, because it's not like they were just destitute of the ladies that
left. They knew that they had a lot of McDonald's All Americas to depend
on, but and a lot of them had played. It's just you don't
lose your entire starting five and not feel it in some way. So you
know, I was there around on some of those preseason workouts. I heard
a lot of what was going on and it was just like, oh man,
this could be really rough at the beginning until everything jails. And I
even wrote it and said, look, you know, you lose the start
and starting five that mostly had been together for four straight years and could finish
each other's sentences, You're going to look a little rough, especially against this
non conference schedule. You know, they're probably gonna get their butts kicked a
few times to go thirty eight. Oh, I mean, it's just incredible
with a new starting five to beat everybody you play and then beat the shining
beacon of the sport in Katelyn Clark in the national championship game when that was
the only team that beat them last year. I don't think you could write
anything anything believable that would be better than that. I mean, it was
truly a storybook season. And all credit to Don Stealey, who, you
know, somehow, despite sixteen years here still finds a way to keep getting
better. Part of believe, sixteen years that makes me feel old. Dave,
I know you agree, Tra I know you agree. And Dawn,
you know, look she was very emotional and understandably so after another championship.
How if you could go inside the mind of Donner, if you ever talked
to her about this when you have that pressure cooker. We saw the Patriots
go through this a few years ago, undefeated, undefeated. Was there a
mounting pressure to keep that going or was it a little bit different with this
team knowing that I was on the prize for the championship? How did they
maintain their poison focus? Did that ever come up in the press conferences?
Just your perspective on that. Anytime it would come up in the press conference,
she just kind of brushed aside. And to the players, they honestly
did not care about being undefeated. That was never a goal. It was
never a goal of last year's team. It was just a case of go
win the next game you play. So I think the youngsters on this team
took that to heart and said, don't talk about being undefeated, because there
were some veterans on that team who said, yeah, it's true a special
until you're not anymore. So just worry about winning the next game. So
the players were fine and dawn. Of course throughout thirty eight games it was
like, yeah, we don't talk about that, that doesn't matter. You
know, all the stuff you're supposed to say. But sixteen years. I've
been covering her, guys, sixteen years. I've never seen her cry never,
but as soon as the horns sounded on that game, she was crying.
And of course she asked about it afterwards, she said, yeah,
because I was feeling all that pressure of saying, this team has taken you
to another undefeated season and now it's for the national title against the only team
you couldn't be last year, and she's feeling all that pressure, like I've
got to get this done for them. So when they finally did, all
that weight was lifted and she just broke down, and it was quite frankly
amazing to see one because of how shocking it was, and too because it's
like I knew it because all the time you said no, no, I
don't think about going on to of course she thought about it. Oh good,
She would never ever ever say it, but I always got the feeling
like she wouldn't have minded if they'd lost a couple of those Yeah, you
know, Dave, you've heard coaches talk about this before. Some have even
said, hey, we got that loss out of the way, now we
can relax and go play. I'm a firm believer that you got to win
in front of you go get it. And I love the fact that don
Staley has such great command and such a great presence with her team. To
that end, David and I have to ask this very hack radio question,
but I'm going to try to do it in a professional and a thoughtful way.
I think, Dawn, and Look, this is no slight on any
NBA coach. She has that type of command where she transcends and you've seen
this shift. Anyway, she could coach an NBA team as well as just
about any coach on this planet, I do believe, because the respect factor
she has universally. But I'm assuming from what I understand, she has no
interest in leaving Columbia. Well, that's that's correct. Now she has interviewed
for NBA one NBA head coaching job, She's had some contact about some other
ones. I think he's very happy here. She's very established here. She
has said very clearly she has no interest in coaching men's college basketball the NBA
for the chance of breaking that glass feeling of being a woman to be an
NBA head coach, I'm sure that's appealing, but it also has to be
a perfect situation and Dawn knows that, you know, you can recruit your
uster in college, you can't do that in the pros. She's also smart
enough to know that how much control do you actually have as an NBA head
coach? I mean we're talking right now, Brownie James is going to get
drafted so he can play with his dad. I'm like, I mean,
how does a GM and a coach put up with that? Like? Well,
because they have no control. She was interviewing with the Blazers a few
years back, soone's like, do you think she'd take it? I'm like,
listen, it's great she got an interview, but there's a big difference
between interviewing and being offered. One, I don't think they're going to offer,
and two, I don't think she'd take it if they did. Because
what's the most thankless task in America besides being a sports writer, being an
NBA head coachy? Thing got to listen to you, you know, I
think that she could do it and do it well. She would get them
to but it's it would be tough taking over a bad team to make it
competitive. Yeah. I often think about the Hornets that they just got coach
Lee from Boston I think Don made a business decision on a lot of fronts
to say, you know what, it's appealing. I could make history and
and and break that ceiling. But I've got a good thing going here,
and I agree with you. To go to men's college hoops would not be
a good idea because the women's game was so amazing this year. Look and
look, I'm coming from a place of somebody who generally just tuned stuff out,
not because it's men or women's soccer, hockey sometimes women's basketballs and men's
college basketball. But I was compelled so much by Cardoso in this team down
the stretch all you know what happened here right in our backyard at Von Sicor's
with that wild melee and some of the key shots that were made. They
really captivated. But let's not forget David Klneger, a posting caurer. How
about La mont Paris. I know they lost the first round, but man,
they had a hell of a season in the SEC and they're set up
for success, I think for a pretty good while here. What a great
season it was for the men's program. Oh, it's absolutely terrific. Man,
another one that came out of nowhere. I mean, of course you
in me talking to assistant coaches and other people around the team after last year,
when you knew that it was just going to be bad because they had
no talent. I said, well, you know, what are we looking
at this year? And they said, man, we're so much more athletic,
We're going to be so much better. And I said, you want
eleven games last year? Wouldn't you have to be right? What are you
talking about here? Like fifteen games? I mean, what what do you
what? Yes, So you had to look at it and see that when
you build from the transfer portal, it's always you know, kind of the
crapshoot. Yes, you can get talent, but all those guys can get
along with each other. And he found the right mix of guys. Two
guys who had played in state ball here in South Carolina, Talon Cooper who
was from here, and then BJ Mack who had played at Watford. And
they came in and said, we just want to get to the tournament.
That's what we want to do. And you had enough holdovers and some really
good freshman talent also from in state and Calinmary Boyles. It said okay,
let's do this, and they got a few wins under their belt, they
avoided any of the bad non conference losses. Always heem dogged this program under
Frank Martin and all of a sudden it's like, hey, they're winn an
SEC game. So it was tremendous year, tremendous accomplishment. I mean,
I would say he did the best coaching job of anybody around here at dulnot
Doll thirty eight. Yeah, it was so much fun back in Colonial Life
Arena again to have that excitement back for men's basketball. And now comes the
next challenge. You got to make it consistent. You gotta have consistent success,
because that's what eluded Frank, That's what eluded a lot of coaches around
here after Frank maguire of just trying to get a consistent good basketball teams.
New look team this year. But he's been getting a lot more talent in
here. So we'll see how I go. Yeah, doing all the things
he needs to do. Dave, I've always said South Carolina is a basketball
state. Here we are with Clemson and the game Cocks on the women's side
and men's side just dominating, and the football side look disappointing season overall for
the game Cocks. I think when we analyze this team coming into last season,
we had you on the show. If I'm not mistaken, you're a
pretty pragmatic guy. We looked at this pretty realistically and said, there's going
to be not necessarily a linear jump from year one of year two. There
will be some growing pains. Spencer Ratler I thought had some good moments and
as a product of that, he and his wide receiver mate Xavier Logett were
drafted. Let's talk about these two guys first. First of all, Xavier
Logette what he brings to an NFL team. I talked to Shane Beemer last
week and of course he's saying his praises. And the first time you heard
Xavier Logett speak, you never told us that about this David. I found
this out when he was drafted by the Panthers. He's a charming man.
Well, yeah, he's terrific. And I spent a couple of years down
in the PB region when I first got out of college, working for the
Morning News newspaper in Florence, South Carolina. So have such you covered Mullin's
school in their community. So when I heard him talk the first time,
I'm like, man, that's Mullin's right there. You didn't tell it.
It's not there. The Kloniger radar went off. That is Mullin to the
core. So I was used to it. Of course, you know,
everybody just flipped over it. But I just saw seventeen out there catching nine
routes and you know, bowling people over like Deebo Junior. And all of
a sudden he comes in and I cover the Panthers. So is as much
shocking to be their draft night. I'm on the zoom call around midnight,
and uh, I get the first question in and I asked him about Hey,
coach, Beamber says, you know your physical presence much like Deebo.
What do you think you bring to just a stupid question, the radio guys
asked, And that voice, and I can't even clown it. It's just
dulcit. I could go to sleep with that voice. Man. I put
it in. It's my rint on at night Man's And he's a trinsic kid,
yes, you know it comes from Really it could have been a very
different result for him, because you know, he came up rough. Both
his parents passed on he was still in high school. They never got to
see him play in college, and you know, for four years here at
USC he was basically anonymous. He did catch the game winning touchdowns against Vanderbilt
for Shane Beemer's first SEC win, and that was notable, but other than
that, I was like, Eh, this guy's always potential and no production.
But after he caught two touchdowns in the Gator Bowl to end the twenty
two season, he was saying, Hey, this is just the start.
You know, it's a bowl game. I'm like, yeah, sure,
I hear that a lot, but there's eight months to go before you can
actually prove it. I damned if he didn't. He came out there and
he said, just throw the ball up, I'll go get it. And
he had one of the best seasons ever by a wide receiver around here.
And once the Panthers traded up into the first round, I was like,
they're gonna take him because I know from talking with Panthers Fokes and I was
like, he really is impressive. And I said, yeah, they need
help all over the field. That's one way to address it right there.
So guy that can go up and get it, he runs Chris Brown.
He can be over the middle of a field receiver if you don't want to
send him down Tod. So He's a guy that I think has set up
for a lot of success and he deserves it, you know. Just a
fantastic young man, fantastic kid. You know, I'm I'm a forty nine
Ers fan, so i can't cheer for another team, but I'm certainly hoping
that Xavior Lygid does well well. Breaking news. Do you know who your
first opponent is this season? Have you seen the schedule? I do,
indeed, And you know all those Jets fans, and I know a few
of them, I've just said, come get a taste. Come on,
Aaron Rodgers. It's gonna be a bad homecoming. We're gonna put you in
the darkness. David Connegher noted forty nine Ers fan, How did we not
know that? And of course he just broke the news here in front of
us here it's going to be Jets forty nine ers to open the seasont in
San Francisco. How about the uh? And yeah, Javon Kinlaw, former
South Carolina, a South Carolina in state guy is with the Jets now.
He got picked up with the Jets this year, So hey, who knows?
I was kind of looking forward to saying, John, see Aaron Rodgers
go to it, but now he's playing. Thank you. Well, you
know, Aaron, Let's hope he stays healthy enough for seventy five seconds.
And that was a rough start to last year. Hey, Spencer Radler,
here's the thing about Lagett and Radler together. When I watched these games last
year, David Cloneger's our guests from the posting Courier covers the game, cocks
the offensive line, we understand the issues, and Coach Bamber and I even
had some conversations about this on the air a couple of weeks ago. And
what made things all the more impressive, I think, for not only Radler
but Lagett at twenty yards to catch nearly at times, it's the fact that
there was so little protection, so little time for to settle in. I
guess by the grace and mercy of his legs he was able to extend now
and get you in trouble, but just Rattler on his own. I think
dal Loggins and Beemer agreed with this, and I think he was being sincere
helped his progression in terms of being able to see the NFL game. Now,
I don't know what you think about that, but that's sort of what
scouts have told me that he benefited from that he goes to the Saints,
I believe fifth round. What to make of Spencer Ratler here, Dave,
Well, it's frankly amazing that Spencer had the season that he did, considering
the game Cocks had no running game and not much protection in front of him.
It really is amazing the production he was able to do. But it
was one of those that where Dowell worked with him and said, I realized
you got that mental clock ticking down in your head when you take the snap
and say okay, three two one, do something and get rid of it.
But he want scramble to keep him play alive. He would hang in
there to say, just give me another half second and I can get this
ball off, and he does some hard hits and still kept getting back up.
So that by itself was a testament to what he can do. You
know, with me, I said, well, at the NFL level,
I suppose I'd like to see him a couple of inches taller, but that's
not gonna you know, that's not gonna happen. You just got to do
with what you got. But he can make all the throws. His football
i Q is off the charts. He knows what he's doing. As for
the reason why I slipped to the slipt to the fifth round, I know
a lot of people have some some uh I guess talking police real quick.
Rappaport came out with that that report, and Beamer was fuming, and I
have to say, look, I know I don't take sides here. I
covered both programs here in the state. I found that to be just really
unnecessary. I really found it. I mean, the fact is, it's
just a simple fact. I'm sure that Rapp was just going by what somebody
told him. I'm like, God, let's look at it here. He
was never gonna be one of the first qbs taken, and that's fine.
But after you take those first four or five qbs, it's like, now
you have teams have established quarterbacks and you don't have anybody who's going in with
a succession plan like it was with Brett Farb and Aaron Rodgers, right and
such. So it was that's why, And it's like, you need other
guys before you take a quarterback, so that's what you go get. That's
was a simple reason it's like, look, we like you, but you
can only play one quarterback at a time, So we really need a defensive
lineman, we really need a tight end, we really need whatever. And
those teams had to take those for the Saints that okay, now we can
maybe get some backup in here. I mean I thought that he'd probably go
to Denver. I know they liked him and that that was really basically an
open competition down there. But going to New Orleans you can kind of sort
of say the same thing. I mean, they're pretty set with their starter,
and you've always got taysoon Hill. It's kind of your backup guy's always
around. He's a guy that will make the roster, and you know,
if he's got to be that third string guy, hey that's fine, hold
a clipboard for a couple of years. Look, I think he can be
a starter in this league. And we've seen guys emerge like Brock Purdy and
others. We've seen Kirk Cousins come from later rounds and they all have different
traits. But you guys I talked to around say, look that there was
a bad hand dealt in terms of the offensive line of protection, the run
game. As you mentioned, and honestly, you just get him in a
new system. You're indoors, you're in a dome. You can let that
rocket fly out there with that arm. Let's see how long mister Carr lasted
quarterback and you mentioned Taysom Hill. Hey, quickly before I let you go,
you've been very kind. David kaloneger to take about twenty minutes with us
year, a couple of minutes if you can, on the state of the
game Cox football program with a changing quarterback obviously coming up a lot of changes
on the offensive, Adissa defensive side of the ball, and Shane Beemer.
I don't want to use the word hot seat, but you know every year
is important and they need to start turning the corner. Yeah, well,
first of all, hot seat. In no way, there's no way he's
on the hot seat after this year. He overchieved so much in his first
two years. Last year was disappointing, but I think it was understood as
a result of injury and just some other circumstances. So he's fine this year
unless it's just a complete zero to twelve something like that. That's for squashing
that nonsense, because I've been hearing it NonStop. It's the main thing this
year is that there's a lot more for Dowell Loggins to work with. He
came in last year, knew he had a fantastic quarterback, but a young
line and no running game. He knew that, So it's going to be
basically kind of the opposite this year. You know, you've got a running
game, even though Rocket Sanders wasn't able to participate in spring ball. You
just hope the guy stays healthy and you've got guys behind him. That part
is settled. Offensive line, you just hope it stays healthy, you know.
I mean, it's gonna have some injuries, but USC had twenty linemen
last year and eleven of them got hurt. So it can't be that bad,
you know. I mean just law of averages says it can be that
bad. So you are breaking in a new quarterback and that's always a little
nervous. But they really like Lenora Sellers. They like what he can do,
very athletic, very mobile, and that can also help out the running.
So defense, of course, bad first two months, great last months.
You have to hope they can find that right mix being great all the
time. Uh, you know, this year, so another murderous schedule.
You know, you lose Georgia and Florida and Tennessee off of it, but
you add at Alabama and at Oklahoma. Oh yeah, and if you like
iron iron, my friend, that's how it works in the what is still
the SEC for now, and we'll see where we go over the next ten
years. Uh, it's going to be a fascinating time. David Kloneger posting
Courier follow us work there. David, you've been too kind to take some
time. It's always a pleasure to catch up with you my men. No
problem, guys, thanks for having me