This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jagon Zalaz sound Fox Sports
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R two SA and iHeartRadio Station. Yet. Hey, good afternoon, everybody.
Welcome to Eye on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm
Steve Rivera, He's Jagan Zaws got Kevin in the house with us. Glad
to see both of you guys have not entered the transfer portal that are with
me today. That's a slow news day, but not really a slow news
day because a lot of stuff is happening. Where do we start, right?
It was a weekend to remember. First, the Cats basketball team stunk
it up in Pullman, which was a another shocker. Yeah, you know
not, you know, the more I thought about Steve, not sho how
because go ahead, you're gonna you're gonna lose games, and the way he
didn't, I mean didn't when Arizona last week. The whole top ten lost
last oh yeah yeah, including Histon twice. Right, so you know,
when when you put it on in context, you know, not not super
shocked. I mean, yeah, I think do I think they should have
won the game. It happens. Do I think they're better than Washington State?
Yeah, but you know, as we always say, Arizona is always
getting everybody's best shot. They go to a place like Washington State, a
terrible place to have to go in the winter time. Sure, and they
didn't play well. And if you don't play well, well, that's part
of the problem. You know, somebody can beat you. That's part of
the problem. And I think that's the scare of everybody who follows them.
Me. You know, I've seen them happen, go up there and get
beat with two people in the gym. That's how they usually, like you
usually lose when there's nobody in the gym. But this is a team that
that should be playing better now and and kind of always, they're not.
And they're not. That's the concern. They're just not. Let's let's go
to the subject that. Let's change that. We'll come back to that later.
Big news over the weekend, obviously, Jedfish is gone. And it
happened in a moment of a few hours and maybe not in his timeline because
maybe stuff Johnson Baseball Johnson, Jay Johnson, we don't know the full context
of what happened there, But it seems a lot like it We want you
you want in Okay, Yeah, I mean it happened quickly. It cuts
you a little bit surprise because we were at each other. It did because
for a lot of reasons. There's so many layers to this. But where
where I where my where my brain was on whether or not he was gonna
take the job, was thinking he's leaving at some point in fact, you
know, with what's happening at Florida, I'm thinking he's leaving after next year.
He's gonna you know, he's gonna coach another year here. They're gonna
have a really good season. The Florida job is gonna clear because Billy Napier's
on the hot seat. You know, he's done. He's done a terrible
job over there. They're not winning enough. It's his alma mater. He's
gonna wait for that job, and there's no reason for him to jump to
another job when he's got so much going on here and he can he can
get seven or eight million, nine million at Florida if he just waits a
year. And what's wrong with waiting a year when you're making three and a
half million dollars. That was my very logical thinking of what I thought was
gonna happen. Logical, But you're not jet but I'm not. I'm not
jet fishing. Oh no. I was just gonna add to what Jay was
saying about how not only is it a logical it's a logical decision from a
financial standpoint, but also the team is good. The rosters are turning a
lot of good players, and I are going to a Washington Husky's roster that's
kind of gutted from what it was like. It's gutted, but but he
can take everybody with him, and that's what might happen. So so my
whole thing was money situation here. Obviously he's gonna make a tunnel with their
seven point seventy five here, he would have made it at least at the
most close to five maybe maybe. How much do you think that the financial
situation? I didn't write about it yesterday in my column because I didn't think
it played a big part in it. But zero you're saying zero zero because
and I went on so I went on on on on Twitter yesterday because so
many people were saying, oh, if they would have gotten the contract.
Shut the hell up. That means nothing. It had nothing to do with
the contract. Thing that frush would be frustrated to be the most, Shane
is exactly what you did and I did yesterday and probty Kevin, all this,
all this bs on Twitter and Facebook with Joe Blow going on and this
and this. No, no, no, let the professionals handle this.
Yeah. Yeah, that's what frustrates me the most. No, it was
the contract had nothing to do with it, you know, I do,
I don't know, but I'm talking about the overall, the overall yeah,
you know, people calling them a scumbag and you know, so many things.
I'm like, you know, look, was I angry at some point?
Yes? Am I still disappointed? Yes, but he brought you a
lot of joy, right, I'm not And you know what, I'm not
disappointed. I guess I'm not disappointed in so much in Jed Fish as I'm
disappointed that, as you know, we're gonna have Anthony to Jemino on you
know later and what he said in his clumsy Arizona can never have nice things.
I'm disappointed about that. You talk about that, Yeah, I'm disappointed
about that, about the fact that here we were unexpectedly had this great season,
looking forward to potentially another great season, and now that the rug's been
pulled out. So I've got disappointment. I'm frustrated at and this is a
conversation I've had with a bunch of people. I'm frustrated at what college football,
in college sports, mainly college football college basketball, have become right that
not only do you lose your coach in a heartbeat, but you can lose
your entire team with a heartbeat, and they can take everything from you by
taking just taking your coach. Let me ask you this, I'm gonna give
you. I'm gonna sit you back thirty seven years maybe more. How did
Smith do this? I'm sure it hasn't really been. It's different now but
the same. There are some similarities, and I thought about that immediately,
immediately thought about that. But you know, as as Greg Hands reminded us
on Friday, when we're talking about Arry Smith, the difference there was one
while it was USC but a big difference was but because of state law,
Larry Smith could not get more than a one year contract in USC was offering
him five. I think, why wouldn't you take that of course you're going
to take that. Well, same with same with j You know in dead
now you know he could get a five year contract. He was gonna get
five million. I think the reporting five point one million a year over five
years. There's plenty of money. The thing about it is is that.
And that's the reason I thought, you know, he would stay, because
he's going to get enough money to be here at least for one more.
Right, the question is why would he jump at this job if I still
don't think Washington is his endgame? No, of course, not right,
dude, If he has you could, I think the NFL is his end
game. I think eventually the NFL will be the end game after he's if
he does well here, after he goes to Florida, I think he's gonna
have to go spend a couple of years. Well May and maybe and maybe
he goes and spends three years at Washington and now and they do. But
the thing of it is Washington is a rebuild. Well, here here's your
thing. We don't This is maybe a naive of me to say this,
but we don't know how good of a football coach he actually is. Wow,
And I was just reading Michae Lev's column that just went up a little
bit ago. Washington has taking a huge risk because how many times have I
said I'm worried about next year at Arizona, that that that that that that
everything will come crash into the ground, because it always does at Arizona.
We don't know how good a coach he is. Was he was he what
Arizona needed? Yes? Was he? You know what? Was he able
to pull things together at Arizona quickly? Yes? Right? But Washington's a
whole different beast. I thought that too. And he's gonna have a hard
type. He had hard type here and more part to him because he did
a great job. Uh, he's gonna be and we're gonna have Jim Moore
from the radio, an old fan of ours mine. He's from a radio
station up there. He's gonna be third or fourth fiddle, huge market.
Well, yeah, I see. I disagreed with the one thing that Michael
Lev said that Washington football is top dog over there. No, it's not.
It is not. The Seahawks are are much bigger Seahawks. The Mariners
are pretty big deal after being pretty good. The soccer situation up there is
pretty good. Uh, there's a lot of there's a lot of stuff.
You know, is Washington you know in play, Sure it is, But
I disagree with Michael. The Seahawks are way bigger deal than we'll talk to.
But you know, you know, getting back to what I think you're
you know you're talking about, is that you know, this is a It's
a completely different thing. He jed Fish was under zero pressure to win here.
He had all the time in the world, sure to start winning.
The fact that he did it, you know, as quickly as he did
next year, was there gonna be pressure on it more than this year,
But not what he's going to face it. They were just in the National
Championship Game, and I get I know people are smart enough up there to
understand, you lose your whole roster. We don't expect you to be in
the National Championship Game, but we don't expect you being finished eighth place in
the Big ten either. He's going to be under a lot of pressure,
and how he handles that remains to be seen. Well, seven point seven
five million dollars will use that pressure for a year or two or three will
and we'll see what happens. Do you think and this is a dumb question,
maybe a naive question. Again, it was a money grab, Okay,
I would I would think it would have to be. Well, let
me take it back ninety eight percent. The other two percent is he he
this he might have come to come to the decision that this is a quicker
path to where he wants to get to and getting paid to do it right
and get and I think it's mostly a money grab. Which when I talk
about the part about when I was angry about this, that you know what
what people are saying say. Okay, so if you if you knew you
were going to leave at some point somewhere for bigger money and a bigger program,
then why were you coming in here selling family loyalty? Yeah, that
was the say, you know, don't sell that if you're not gonna if
you're not gonna stick to it. You know, we've been in this business
a long time, Jake. They say stuff just to get you away and
then change your mind. A week later he said something's to rom and somethings
to to New Highslan whatever. On a Monday Tuesday, it was totally different.
That's just I love you. One day, Yeah, I met somebody
better I gotta to get out of it. But the problem with that Steve
that I see and he you know, he came in here. You know,
I love the community. You know, I'm want to be a big
part is this. If he understood the community, he would understand he would
have understood that selling that this community was guloble to that. You know,
did we believe all along that at some point he was going to leave after
sure? That was my whole column yesterday, right, we all believe at
some point, but this community did not believe he was gonna leave like this.
No, and and and that's the part that that's the part that stings
to this community. You're missing We got four minute stuff on this on this
moment segment here. But let me tell you so you saw the departure,
correct, Yeah? How did that's it? That was going to ask you
to if what you guys made of the video and the I don't know,
but it wasn't kosher. It wasn't good. See. And that's the thing.
You know, people, you know, people remember as much as they
loved him two weeks ago, they hate him that much now he he crapped
on this community. And this community does not like to be crapped on.
No community likes to be crapped on, but especially as it relates to its
football run. It's basketball. He crapped on us, and give some context.
Please, Look, you know this this community is its no no,
no, no no. Andalking about the video, well the video, well
you know the the you know, having the having the signing, the signing
of the contract. You know in here, you know, the Washington guy
rings the doorbell with an a logo next to the doorbell, walks in Jed's
all smiles. They signed the contract. How long ago did this contract get
done? Right? And and then you know, for the Washington guy to
come here, you know, him to take a video of himself at the
airport in front of the private private plane that he's he's jumping on to get
the hell out of here, all of that stuff. You know what,
I get it. You're left, you got your money, You're going have
a little respect for the community that helped you get to hear right, I
get it. That's it. And what did you guys think about the the
what the three minute meeting with the with the players. Yeah, I don't
know how normally those things go, but that's in context. That's not good
either. See and that and that that. That was one of things that
was said to me was if you're going to do this to these guys who
you asked to trust you, to come here to a place that they could
have gone to better places and to put up with two years of crap before
they you know, found the the glory of it in this last year,
then damn it, go to that meeting and stand there and answer all the
damn questions. Okay, so you know this, and you're you're a player
who's played for him three four years whatever, three years and and and gone
through a lot. Now and you went through this three minute thing, and
you've seen the videos. Do you go? Do you leave this place and
go with him? Knowing what you know? Well, yeah, I don't
blame well, I don't know. I don't blame anybody that does. But
also don't blame anybody that doesn't. It says, wait a minute, this
guy's not who I thought he was. Right, that's a very fair assessment.
I think it's I think it's totally individual, case by case basis and
what they think will be best for them in their future. But I think
you cannot be upset with them if they do go, because yeah, I
mean the two guys that are sticking out on this right now are are are
north of Fida and and Tatoo McMillan. Those guys I know, but but
so those are the two that you know coleman Manu, all those guys are
kind of like you know, the price that the guy the visible, the
highly visible guys that put the program, the people's the marquee guys. Are
those two guys you know? For them, you know, you go to
Washington because the path that they're trying to be on is better from there.
But the question is, and maybe they go because they know Alli got is
another year or two that he's got to stick around. So I'm good.
I don't know, I don't know what they'll do, but that you know,
we'll we'll obviously be finding that the next So let's take the break.
We'll get a whold little Jim Moore from Seattle, see what the perception is
up there, and carry on with this conversation. It's a it's a yeah,
it's a lot of fascinating aspects to it. So yeah, we'll have
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to azypest dot com. I'm to schedule your free evaluation today Steve Rivera and
Jay Gonzalez. They have their eye on the ball on Tucson Sports Big yet
Fox Sports fourteen to fifty streaming live. I mean I hid radio. Wapp
Hey, welcome back tooinning the ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm
Steve Rivera, you're Jigginsaws. Now on the phone, we have Jim Moore
from Seattle. Jim, how you doing doing great? Steve? How are
you? Thank you? What's going on in Seattle? Seattle Seahawks? You
but your bunch of Steelers up there? What the hell? Jim? A?
Yeah, boy, A lot of a lot going on last week.
I mean, the Huskies lose the National Championship, and then Kayla de bor
goes to Alabama, and then Jed Fish hired all in one week, and
then Pete Carroll they reave him of his duties. I guess I'm giving you
a news Jordy know about. But yeah, it's been pretty active in Seattle,
for sure. What can what can Jetfish expect from the from the media
up there? What can you expect from the media? What is he going
to be treated nicely? Fairly? Gonna is he gonna have a tough time
with the media. What is it? Come on, come on, Steve,
You remember me, right? That was always nice and fair, wasn't
I that's for another day. Well, actually, actually I'm writing a column
that's going to be in the Tacoma paper here shortly basically saying that, hey,
Husky fans enjoyed Jetfish while he's here because he's probably gonna go to Florida
next year. We just talked about that. We were just saying that.
We were just talking about that, Jim and and so, I mean,
how much do they know about Jetfish or do we do? You know how
much they know about jet Fish? What's the perception right now of all of
that? Well, you know, I'm not sure. And you're talking to
a crude man. I mean, so it's not a Husky point of view
here. I mean, I want complete chaos over there if I have my
way. But I think most people are feeling like it's a good higher.
They like what Fish did. And Tucson this year, I mean, you
guys with I mean, the Wildcats go ten and three, bear down and
beat Oklahoma, and I just I mean to me, I'm just going,
God, why would you want to leave Tucson to come to rainy Seattle.
Is that really a move up? I guess, but it doesn't seem like
that great a one to me. And maybe Husky fans haven't checked out his
Wikipedia page like others of us have. I mean, crush almighty. I
mean that thing goes on forever. All the jobs he's had, so what
Tucson is the longest he's been anywhere. And you look at Billy Napier and
what he's doing in Florida. He's had two losing seasons in a row.
If he loses again this season, I mean, good fish is going to
be at the top of their list down there. And I'm sure he would
take it because we all well, you know anyway, and I'm just finding
this out. He went to Florida, he loves Florida. New Jersey kid,
he went down to Florida, loves Steve Spurrier, and you know,
I was leaving notes on his windshield and everything, and so like what he's
gonna tell everybody at this press conference in Seattle tomorrow about boy, what what
opportunity of a lifetime to come here, you know on purple and gold and
go dogs and bow down and all that stuff. And then I'm gonna be
thinking, well, wait a minute, man, next year at this time,
you're probably gonna be down in Florida wearing an orange tow instead of a
purple one. Well, and I guess that's that's what what Steve was was
asking about, in terms of how the media is going to take all this,
knowing that, for instance, in all the jobs he's had as a
coach, the longest he stayed at a place, somebody did the math one
point five three years, you know, so you're right, he stayed here
twice as long as he stayed at anywhere else. Will he get called on
that or will he get asked about that? Will that be the kind of
image that's created about him? I hope so. But I mean I include
myself in this. We're typically soft the Seattle media. There really aren't too
many tough questions asked. You know, tomorrow, I suspect it'll be like,
hey, you know, we're going to have a reset here and we
think that Jedfish is the guy to lead us. You know, I thought
sure that they were going to hire Ryan Grebb. I thought that would have
been a better hire the offensive coordinator, so you'd have some continuity. I
mean, so many feelings hurt by Kayln de Borer leaving. I mean,
some people understanding, boy, he had to take it. It's Alabama,
and others of us are going, hey, come on, man, really,
you could win a national championship at Washington. And to me, again
being a Koog, I'd rather beat the king rather than be the king,
you know what I'm saying. I mean, I just would rather be the
underdog who knocks off the guy that's always been on top. And I just
don't understand why that's just so attractive to people to do that. And I
don't think Caylen Debor is going to be a huge success down there. And
I have no idea what Fish is going to be. What he was there
for three years in Tucson, he had two bad seasons and then one good
one, and it's just you know, what have you done for me lately?
And I guess you get hired off of that. And I just feel
the other thing I hate is the thought of I mean, you guys probably
love Forfeita and what he did down there. I just think it's so wrong
if that kid ends up going to Washington, and he probably will. I
mean, I don't know what you guys are hearing about that. But Will
Rogers transferred in from Mississippi State to Washington and then he transferred out as soon
as the border went to Alabama, and so his status is up in the
air. So I'm sure. I mean, there's a position open for fefeed
if he wanted here in Seattle. Yeah, we were talking about this before
you came on as well. Okay, in the landscape of sports in Seattle,
where does Washington football land? You know, Steve, I was just
talking to my co host about that, and it's mostly Seahawks now. It
used to just be a huge Husky town and now it's Seahawks, Seahawks,
Seahawks all the time. The station I used to work at, we probably
talked about the Seahawks eighty percent of the time because I mean, the NFL
is just so huge that you just go with that. But I still think,
you know, the Huskies, especially in light of what they did this
season, it's a big deal too in town. Okay, who are the
Mariners and the rest of it below he's laughing, He's laughing really hard.
No, I mean, the Mariners, the only team in Major League Baseball
had never been to a World Series, and then the off season that they've
had with bringing in you know, a bunch of no namers, you know,
and everybody's like, well, wait a minute. You guys said you're
going to make a big splash in free agency and in the trading market and
you and these are the guys you're bringing in. So yeah, I mean,
everybody's into the Mariners and keep thinking, Okay, this will be the
year, this will be the year. But they've been saying that since nineteen
seventy seven and it hasn't been the year yet. Okay, good enough?
Have you heard one way or another? What? Uh? You know?
Were there other guys ahead of Fish in line like Lance Leipold, the guy
had got Kansas? Anybody else? Uh? You know? What was jetfish
down the line? Or was he the guy from the from the get go?
I you know, I don't know the answer to that, but I
would assume that he was the guy from the get go. I think they
like what he did this year. They like his his recruiting ability, He's
got West Coast connections, and he just seems to me like he was the
guy they were targeting all along. So wouldn't you see your jet and you're
doing this interview. Well, who's the who's the ad? The new guy?
He's only been there like five months? Well at Troy Dannon d You
know, if I get this job, I'm going to bring a pretty good
quarterback, a putty good receiver, and some other guys that are pretty good.
You know, he's saying this. Oh he had to be oh probably.
You know. It's just I don't know if it's just me being old
and burned out or whatever. I think younger people are upset with it too.
Everything that's going on in college football. It just kind of sickens me,
you know. I I just you know, Caitlin de Born up here,
you know, talking about love for each other and togetherness and loyalty and
commitment, and then he bails. And then what I heard that Fish talk
to his players for three minutes or something, and he was probably saying all
the same crap. And then and then I heard that he was on Jim
Rome's show and saying, boy, you know, we're working out this contract
extension. Want to be here for a long time. Nowhere else I'd rather
be. It's just all a bunch of crap. Steve, I just you
know, I mean, I really hope, like, Okay, go ahead
and take the job, Jed, you know, if you want. I
don't know how you guys feel about him coming to Washington, but okay,
go ahead and take that job, but leave leave the players behind. He
just has some decency about you. And I know this doesn't work that way.
Come on, man, it's a business. Don't be naive. You're
listening to probably saying that, who's this idiot you have on the air from
Seattle doesn't even know how this works? Yeah, I know how it works,
but I don't like it. Right. Well, that's the thing.
Jay talked about this just a week ago. Two weeks ago, Jetfish was
adored in this town. Now, I don't know if they have too many
people who like him because of all that, because of all that say this
and then well it's the same with Debor here, and you know what the
reason is, Steve, Like if it was a guy like New Hive or
something like that, where you kind of go, hey, he's got some
slipperiness to him. I mean, Caylen de Boor seemed like salt of the
earth, man. I mean, he just seemed like just a well grounded
guy. And every time he said something. You thought, man, I'd
like my kid to play for him, and now you find out that he's
like all the rest, and you just go you throw up your arms and
you go, okay, well, you know, I don't know what to
say about that anymore, but you're the same thing here, though. Kaylen
de Bor was like, are you kidding me? They were, you know,
one game away from winning the national championship, and so everybody adored him
here in Seattle, and then two days later they're going, what a sellout
he's going to Alabama. Well, and I think that's what you know was
going on here. Look, you know, Arizona's got both in flipball and
basketball. You got lude Olsen who came here. Could have gone a million
places the whole time he was here, and he never did. Dick told
me the same thing. Had opportunities, and people thought they possibly had a
guy like that in Jed Fish. Steve and I were saying, don't think
that, because he's not guy. You know, he's the i'll use the
word carpetbagger, and that's what he's been his entire career. And he turned
out to be exactly who we thought he was when he got here despite what
people were hoping he was going to be that he was going to be the
guy that kind of, as you say, assault of the Earth guy who
was going to stay here and and and you know, do this. Instead
he be he ended up being who he was, who we thought he was
when they hired him, and people were upset when he got hired. To
your point of your column, right, well, pretty much, you know,
I can't wait for this news conference tomorrow because it's gonna be just you
know, one of those where you're sticking your finger down your throat basically,
because everything that comes out of this guy's mouth tomorrow will probably be bs.
It'll be something his agent or PR people tell him to make sure, you
know, he'll say something like, you know, you guys were one game
away from the national championship this year. We're going to get past that hurdle.
You know. That's the thing we're gonna work on. We're going to
bring a national championship to Seattle. And then next year he'll be in Gainesville
saying the same thing. And what an honor it is for him to be
the coach at is Alma Modern. I hate to be so cynical, but
it just it's a hanging curveball, isn't it. Yeah, it's hard not
to be cynical right now. Yeah, we've got to see it before.
It's like you say, the way of the world. It's hard not to
be in this profession. Yeah, I don't know what happened to be along
the way, because I still you know, I'm a fan. I love
my school, Washington State. But like people, you know, I saw
some rumors on Twitter going that Jake Dickert might be a candidate at Arizona,
and then you've got a bunch of people going, Oh, no, that
won't happen. That's not gonna happen. Dickert just donated fifty thousand dollars to
the Cougar Athletic Fund. He's not leaving. And I'm going, really,
you really think that our coach isn't going to go somewhere like at Tucson calls
and goes, hey, come on down here and we'll have an interview with
you. You don't think that's possible. I mean, he was probably.
I think he was after we beat Wisconsin this year. I think he was
a hot name in the coaching market, and there were rumors that Michigan State
was looking at him rather than Jonathan Smith at that point. Then we you
know the good thing about losing seven in a row your coaches in a candidate.
That's true, That's true. J Jen was nowhere to be found three
months ago. Let me ask you real quick, because Arizona is going through
a financial crisis, as you know, the university wide and in the It's
like I was reading to Callum today from somebody maybe the Times, that Washington
is going through some issues too financially. Yeah, they are, and Steve,
I don't know the details on all of that, but it's not like
they're flush with cash either. They they wanted to get rid of Mike Hopkins,
the basketball coach for a while now, but felt like they couldn't afford
it. It was more about they understood that the performance wasn't there from their
coach, but they were like, well, we can't really afford to get
rid of him. So it's an issue. But they still manage. I
mean, they were going to give the board like nine point four million a
year for seven years, and I think they're given what fish like seven and
a half and seven five. It's they might not be fresh with cash but
they've got enough to throw around at some of these coaches anyway. Yeah no,
yeah, you know, and and that and again you know, getting
bad back down to the brass tacks of it. This is from here on
out and in at least in college football, major college football and and you
know basketball, this is always going to be about money. Always, money's
going to rule. And and right now the Big Ten and the SEC have
the most money, and you know they're the big dogs, and this is
gonna this is you know what a situation that you know, Arizona is in
situation that Washington State's going to be in as whatever develops there with you know,
with them in Oregon State. I mean, it's always gonna be about
the money. And if you're not in the Big ten and one of the
top teams in the Big Ten, you don't have the money. Now You're
you're absolutely right, But you know, I have a hard time understanding that
just because I mean, Steve, I mean, I was a sports writer
for thirty years, you know, and I never was driven by money.
I I mean, if I was driven by money, I wouldn't have been
a sports writer. I mean I was making five figures for thirty years,
you know, and so I just and you know, people when I go
well, you know, if Sports Illustrated called or Washington Post or the New
York Times, you would have gone there in a heartbeat. And I'm going,
eh, you know what, I was perfectly fine at the Seattle Post
Intelligencer. I didn't need to keep climbing the ladder. I was high enough
up on that damn ladder that I didn't want to sacrifice you know, quality
and living to go to the East coast. Right. No, we have
all been there, been there, done that, Jim as usual. Thank
you very much. Good luck up there. Well, we'll take a look
at your call him once you're press punch right there for you know. Okay,
okay, thanks for having me. Guys, good dear your voice.
See you take care, Jim Moore. It's funny. I mean, he's
right where we are. Yeah, he's thinking all the same things that we
are. You know, from their standpoint, you know, losing the boor
you know, yes they yes they got jet fish and there you know there
but you know, as he said, and as we said that, you
know, fish is a huge risk for them. Sure he really is.
Sure. Okay, all right, let's take our break, take a last
take some calls in the last second zero four one six four forty. We
really want to hear what you've got to say about Top of the Holway.
You get a lot of breaking news, with a lot of developments already.
Yeah, right, correct, correct, breaking moon. If you're an Arizona
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iHeart Radio. Wow. This is Eye on the Ball with Steve Rivera
and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. Hey, welcome back to I'm
the Ball Hero Fox Sports fourteen to fifty. I'm Steve Vera, He's Jacobs
as good Kevin in the room with us to may men on the board.
If you want to call us, please do five two oho four one six
seventy four forty. Let me we don't have any judkins. Let me ask
you questions. I asked you about jet Fish. What do you know about
Jetfish? What comes to mind? Well, I I we obviously don't know
what we thought we knew. But what did you know before or before did
they hired? What were your impressions of it before all? This good guy?
Yeah, seem it seemed good guy, straightforward guy, kind of a
guy who really was was doing a good job of kind of understanding what was
important to this community and to the program and the players and the fans and
whatnot. That the guy who you felt got it about what Arizona is,
all right, and and and he was using that to you know, to
try and build a you know, a successful program. And he did a
really good job. But when it comes to me, I'm just gonna say
because I don't, I guess that. But my thing is that he was
a good CEO. CEO. Yeah, that's how he ran it. I
don't know how good of a coach he is. I really don't, because
he had some pretty good people running the show too. Yeah, but you
know what he became. I think he became a really good play caller.
I think he ran really good offense, right, I do have I do
I do question question his talent evaluation because he was going to the mat with
Jaden DeLaura. Yeah, and had he stuck with that, he wouldn't be
at Washington, right. No, that's the funny part of it. He
kind of got lucky. He got very lucky with somebody. He got lucky
like rich Rod got lucky with with with little Ta you know, brand Brandon
Brandon Dawkins got hurt in a game, A little take came in and that
was that. Yeah, got a call. Let's take this call. How
you're on the air and I on the ball. Hey, how's it going
today? Good? How are you man? What's up? Well, it's
not a big surprise. I mean it's surprised in the sense it wasn't next
year or not this instead of this year? Is bright? Wait, Brian,
you sound weird? Is that you Are you sick too? Oh?
No, either that or you on a better phone that they might be that
were you really depressed? No? No, I mean it's just it's just
the nature of the job now, that's all it is. Yeah, you
do you fault him? Do you not? Where do you sit? I
don't fault him. I maybe maybe, because uh, just the way football
is now, and it's just the system what it is, that's all it
is. And we have to understand the next person we get here, no
matter we go young or we go old or whatever. Weird just a stepping
stone to the next position. You know, this is not a top tier
program like everybody seems to when I think it is. We are just a
average, middle of the road football program. Did I talk about that with
you, Jay, and you will agree with you. Brian, Did you
think that? Have you thought that for a long time? Oh? Yeah,
okay, are you real? Yeah? I mean it's just that we
didn't think he'd leave after three years. You know, anybody may need you
buying Nick Saban for all this well was starting the domino. But you also
didn't think that he'd go ten and three the third year, right, No,
I didn't. I thought he'd want to. I'm more of a thought
like you thought, said that he was looking to the Florida job, and
I thought maybe he'd need one more year to really prove himself because he's going
to have a tough time. I mean, even if he takes half the
football team with him, he's going to have a tough time in Washington.
It's not going to be easy because he's that that program's got it too,
and going into the Big ten next year is not going to be easy for
him. Yeah. That well, yeah, and as we were saying earlier,
you know the expectations there. He has no idea what that's going to
be like because it wasn't the same as the year right, right, It's
gonna be much harder for him up there, even though he got the nice,
cushy seven year contract. There's a lot more pressure on him there than
there ever would be here. Yeah, without question, that, without question.
Yeah, yeah, okay, thanks Brian, no problem. It's a
get well but you you're fine, So thank you, but I appreciate it.
Ye. Yeah, anybody else want to call, please do fight two
O four one six seventy four forty. We'll take your call. We got
about ten minutes. How do you think Gabe's taking this? Oh man?
Yeah, oh Scott, watch your language you call if you call in uh
but okay, So that's what your impressions of Jed Well, yeah, yeah,
I mean again, I I just thought he was he he seemed trying
to think he was really genuine and what he was saying. I was having
a hard time believing he was that genuine. But I was thinking, like,
he's not showing anything other than he's showing. You know, what we
see seems genuine. But then it turns out we all, like I said,
we all, I think we all got taken for a ride. Yeah,
and I think my I think my perception of it was similar to that
of Jay's, where I feel like he did. I thought he did want
to build something within the community before moving on to his next location. It
didn't seem like he was always destined maybe for a different location than here,
but maybe not so soon. But you'd have to think that because that's who
he is. Let me put it this way, Steve, he touched.
He touched all our soft spots, right he you know, he he figured
out this community pretty quickly. Well, I think, and then and and
he and he poked at all of those things to get this, you know,
this affair going for him, and then he turned out to be again
who he thought he was coming. Great segue for my question to you guys.
So you you find this girl, I'm very attractive, you date her
for three three years or whatever, and she said, if, if,
if you're gonna have this great time for three years and this wonderful time,
you fall in love and then she breaks your heart, would you do it
again? You damn right, you're gonna do it again. And he he,
he found this place and I'm not defending him. He found this place
at the bottom, at the bottom bottom and put you guys through a pretty
good ride. Would you do it again? Well, yeah, so there's
gonna be but but but the thing is, the thing is though now this
this fan base is gonna be skeptical of the next guy, right if,
if, if, whoever it is, Brent Brennan or the guy from Texas
tore whoever comes in and tries to sell the I'm here for the long haul
people are gonna say, I don't want to hear that. It's gonna be
the first question you say. I want you to tell me that if you
do a great job, you know, nothing's off the table. I bet
you ten bucks. Whatever the bucks in the first six five questions, five
six questions that that question is going to be brought up. Do you plan
on being here a while because you have to? That's a question that needs
to be asked and what he should say it, what whoever it is should
say is and what Jed should have said to Jim Rome when two weeks ago
he said, you know, I have no you know, I don't want
to be anywhere else to say, Look, this is a business like any
other business. Guess what. Guess who asked I'm gonna give you little props
in the back two and a half months ago, whatever months ago it was,
you asked him, your name is coming up? And what did he
say? Well, when you do well your name, that happens, and
that's all. That's all. He would have just kept saying that, people
wouldn't be so upset with him. I was about to call you, Adam
Stee. If he would have just kept saying that, right, people wouldn't
be so upset right now. I was going to but he two weeks ago
he said, I'm here to stay, and that's why people are upset.
How much of the anger do you too think is on social media? Because
of the way in which it happened. It happened so fast. He had
he built a lot of trust in the community, and I think I have
a lot of fans finally had bought in. Look, there's never a good
way to leave when in this kind of a situation, and in fact,
it's almost better. It's like, okay, just just you know, cut
my hand off and bandage it up and let's go. You know, it's
like, just just hit me hard so I can get past it. And
so you know, if this would have stretched for a week or yeah,
four days, people would I think it would have been worse. But going
back to Stee's point, and I guess, and you know we've gone in
circles around this, but if you just would have kept saying, look,
you know, my name's going to keep coming up. And even if he
said, look, I owe it to my family to always check things out,
wouldn't you put it back on us. Didn't every one of you in
this room, you know, if it's media or whatever, every one of
you in this room, if somebody, if some much better job came came
looking for you, wouldn't you at least look at it. I think people
would have respected that. In fact, he did the opposite. He did
the opposite. He said, I'm not going anywhere. I can't move again.
I move. I'm not going anywhere. You know, I owe it
to my family and my kids to stay here because they've moved all over the
place with me. Well you obviously through the finger of your family too,
you know, I mean that that that and that's what's got people upset.
To me, if from the time that they started winning games and his name
started popping up for jobs, if he would have just gone with the look,
you know what, I'm just not going to even talk about it or
deal with it. And so what if people say, oh, he's looking,
so what he's looking? Who who? Who would think he didn't have
the right It's part of the job, and it's part of the job.
And if you do well, guess what it's gonna happen, right and and
and again, you know from Stephen, we've been saying that, you know
how many times that you know, Arizona is what what did Jim Moore saying,
Arizona's not a destination? Well not, it's for oh bright, Arizona's
not a destination. It never will be a destination for football ever, ever,
ever, ever, ever, even if j even if jed It's take
a special kind of person for it to be a destination for like a Dick
Tomy. And I think people really wanted Jet Jed to be the next Dick
Tomy here and and you know what, you looked a history that was never
gonna happen to happen. Well, you know, I think you were in
the room when Greg came into town and became the a D. And he
had all these projects blah blah blah, And we asked he was the guy
who was a climber. Yeah, it was very apparent. And who set
all this up? Talking about another guy who took another hit in this town.
That's not his fault. His coach retired and you got to do your
job. He had, he had to go get the best guy that he
needed. Look, and I don't blame any of those guys. Do I
blame the Washington a D for this is a non blame even with Jed.
You you can't blame Jed for doing this, taking the job. It's just
the way it the way it came out, the way it came about,
that's what's That's what Gods people, I'm not upset that he left. I'm
upset that the part of me that's upset about this is upset because of it.
You know, you don't come and sell us something and then do something
else. And that's the and part of that is the window of saying that
you're not This is the window of saying, yesterday you said you loved me.
Well, you know it said that about you, it's about me,
you know whatever? Whatever, No, I I you know, look,
we can we can keep going going around in circle. I'll tell you who
this is taking the pressure off of Tommy here. I will talk about that
more next hour. Because the basketball team has its own issues, which and
of course for me or may not see some change. Just hey, why
not stir it up a little because right now you're seeing a mediocre team.
Yeah, and well, and as Tommy Light said, we're average. So
this is He said this in the postgame radio at least, And we talked
about this last week because I asked him about this with with with Caleb,
not Caleb, but with Boswell, you know, wasn't it glad to see
him come out? He says, well, listen, guys, he's only
eighteen. And then we said, I said to you the same question.
I said, he's no longer eighteen. He's eighteen, but he's got forty
some games behind it. There's eighteen year olds and there's forty game eighteen year
olds and now he's back to and he called him out that he needs to
figure out. So either he is or he's not, or he's not.
And that's from the coach's mouth. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
that was that. That was a frustrating game to watch. And again one
of those games too where you know, pretty early on in the first before
the first media time out, I thought, oh no, this is looking
like one of those games. Yeah, just the way, just the way
it looked physically, the way it looks this is this is a game that
they could lose, they could do so and and and they did, and
they did and then the DIA Barnes didn't have a good weekend either, you
know, close but close, but well that that game against Oregon State that
they butchered the hell out of that. You know, if they'd gotten and
gotten split up there, that would have been incredible for them. They butchered
the first We have a minute left, so we'll talk about this later on
the other side. But just the state of the program now, we'll talk
more about that, because it was pretty good. I had. I had
some say it's in disarret, we'll go there, and I try to say
it's not really, but okay, I can see why you think that means.
Right, take the break and we'll come back and talk about that.
Yes, yea, So stick around, and we've got we do have Anthony
Gimino, uh from Phoenix Sports coming in, uh long time beat right for
football, so we'll get his take on off the jet fish stuffs. So
stick around.