This is Eye on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports
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R two SA and iHeartRadio Station. Hey, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome
to Eye on the Ball hero Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Roberta.
He's Jagins as gotta guys sit in today, Welcome to Thursday show. A
lot of things going on at you of a I consider pretty good movement.
Jay. Yeah, you know, it's like they it's like they decided to
get the band back together. Right, A bunch of the nineteen not a
bunch of the key some of the key people from that nineteen ninety eight coaching
staff. Dino Babers is back a great Hi. I think that's a great
you know, he's been a head coach and he's been a good head coach.
Lbraht Syracuse, smart guy from Hawaii too, right, uh, tol
right lines and then and then as the offensive coordinator, they've got Dwayne na
Keen as a defensive coordinator. U. These are guys that were here when
back when Brent Brannan was here. So there's some familiarity there, some connection
to the to the program. So yeah, I mean I certainly I would,
at least from a fan standpoint, a lot to like, a lot
to like Yeah right, yeah, no, No, that's great, that's
great. We'll see how it translates onto the field that we'll see. Obviously
we don't see for a while, but I think fans should be very optimistic
or what's coming out. I related this to this to some of other people.
Oh, Jed's leaving, know nothing, we can't do this again.
There's always another bus, there's always another girl. She'll leave you. If
someone leaves you, there's always a pretty girl around the corner. Yeah,
for good looking guys like me, you know, you go sit you you
probably suffer the same problems I have. Ja's married, so you know we
won't go there. Wow, Steve, No, but I think it's it's
a great thing. And everybody two weeks ago, oh well, what are
we gonna do? You know? Yeah, you can be fine. Yeah,
there's a new excitement. Now, new excitement. And I was telling
Jay, I think that if we were coaches with the talent coming back,
some more came back. I'm sure you saw for breaking news that maybe we
could probably even help, not help, maybe not screw this up. Yeah,
but then you'd have two fat guys on the radio telling you that you
don't know how to call plays and you know why is why is? Why
is norf of feet and not starting and all that stuff. So as long
as those chicks cash, maybe tell me whatever you want to. No,
but I was mistaken. Duyne Kenan was on the staff in that night.
He was a defensive uh, defensive backs coach during that time. Rich Ellerson
was That was the I believe the was that. That's not correct. Rich
Wasn't Rich Ellerson in the with the ninety eight ninety three king? Yeah,
yeah, he was not here, and that I think he's already gone.
Okay, that's sure. Yeah, I think there's some uh, some screw
up here on on on my page. But but none. Nonetheless, Dwayne
Nickena was on that staff. Uh uh And but and Dino Babers was the
was the offensive coordinator for the for arguably the best team in Arizona football history.
So walking it back, he's older, right old, he's got you
know, he's got twenty five years since then. But nonetheless, you know
he's had a lot of experience. He's you know, he's he's been a
head coach and now he's he's back here and again. You know, I
think one of the things is that these guys will be able to come in
here and sell not I hate to use that word anymore because of what Jed
Fish has done to it, but be able to you know, to talk
about what it's like to be here at Arizona, not just you know,
at some program mm hmmm. And a lot of the guys on the staff
have head coaching experience, so when you build a program, these guys know
how to do it too, right right, right, yeah, and recruit
That will be the next thing did they start to do. They've already started
to recruit a lot of the it's back uh and and who's who knows,
maybe they'll get another player or two from the transport portal that's still open for
now, Michigan uh. And still Washington right and still Alabama still Alabama open
there open, Yeah, thirty days to be. They'll all be open until
you know what, end of February. Can I believe in the spring it
will reopen yeah, And then and then of course San Jose State go for
for I think some some other defensive players have already been visiting Arizona as well.
Yeah. Plus the plus the portal opens for everybody again, you know,
after spring practice, so so there'll be some more guys that that'll you
know, that'll go in there. So yeah, no, I think,
uh, you know, I I just think that it's it's a good look
for Arizona. I think I think, uh, you know, fans should
you know, should be happy with that. We'll see, as you said,
let's see how translates on the field, right, Okay, So a
game tonight there's no men's basketball plays at Oregon State to eighteen point favorites eighteen
eighteen on the road on the road. Yeah, that's scary in it,
you know, based on Arizona has been the last uh you know, a
few games. I don't know that I'd be all over the No, I
wouldn't. I wouldn't either. You kind of played safe and see if they
win first. Yeah, okay, help see what well looks play. I
mean, if you're you're, if you're smart, which none none of us
are, you might not want to touch that. And and just see how
they come out, see how they play, see if if uh, you
know this Batman and Robin thing that we talked about, if somebody steps up
and you know, you know, in particularly kind of boswall and it flips
up a notch, you know, we'll see it's it's uh look, and
it's never easy to win at Oregon State, no matter how bad they are.
No. I remember when Jay John took over the program. Remember uh,
this had to be two thousand and something and there was no one.
Took a very good team up there, and j John was kind of starting
the program. There was the two thousand people in the stadium, and there
was the heat beat Loot and which didn't really and I think he may have
been the first guy, first former coach to ever beat Loot. And you're
thinking, how in the world did this happen? All this talent and j
John beat him? There was only didn't show up. Yeah, and it
happens all the time. I think that was the you covered Loot when he
kicked the ball into the stadium. It was an Oregon No it was though,
yeah, my last year covering him with the final four. Oh,
okay, it was org it was against Oregon State. Well that's it was
in the on the orgon trip that he yes, he kicked the football.
They were they were listening, they were acting like fools and blah blah blahas
and he kicks it for emphasis, for emphasis. He kicked it in the
States, you know, the stately guy. So we'll see what happens tonight.
We'll see what happens tonight. Yeah, and then and then a huge
game against Oregon on Saturday. So uh, you know, this is a
big weekend for a Arizona today. You know, let's let's let's be the
fan in the room, right, Let's say they go sweep this there,
this, this this weekend. I don't see it happening, but let's say
they do. All of a sudden, you know, this whole town feels
better. Yeah. Yeah, but I wouldn't. I wouldn't. I would
reserve judgment. I mean, honestly, we already seen what happened. Is
what's to say they can't happen again? Yeah? I don't know, And
that's just me. You gotta take a game back game at this, there's
no question I used. Nobody wants to take it game by game, of
course, but I said all the time, every game is the season,
every game is the season. You take this season and hope to get better
and get better, because look, when Arizona went last year to play Princeton
in Sacramento, you're thinking, you're feeling good. Yeah, you're feeling very
good. You felt so good you drove up there. Yeah, yes,
I did to drive right back the next day, but it was it was
you're feeling good. You're you're thinking, Okay, this is a good team
and has all the elements. Uh. And then for for a stretch of
twelve minutes there they tank, they tank or fell apart, and we drive
back. So yeah, you drove back back. Luckily there was a trip
to trip. Take a left. Now, Cricket, you were very unhappy,
weren't you. It was well, it was thirteen hours there, thirteen
hours back for forty eight hours. That's twenty six hours covered the hotel room,
having to carry the five you know whatever. You know, So we'll
see, we'll see this year. That's why this year's trips are going to
be Salt Lake in Spokane. I think it's Spokane. So that's the West.
If they're lucky, you have to stay in the West. Yeah,
I hope they don't. Uh yeah, for my purpose, I hope they
don't tank so much that it's they got to get on they got to get
on a bit of a roll. And and like and why I mean a
roll. Like I almost feel like they need to win the rest of their
games to get a number one seed. If they lose another one, I
don't know how. Oh yeah, I don't know how they can get a
number one. Well depends what else happens in Yeah, but even so,
you know Kansas lose last night last night. Yeah, someone got upset us
again. They lost a couple of days ago. No, no, that
was last week. I saw a score. Well, yeah, they lost
on the weekend. Uh, just basketball, they Yeah, what the hell
are they doing? Yeah, I saw a score. I could be wrong.
I know Yukon's one right now? Right? Still they have yeah they
have no. I know they lost you a few days ago to West Virginia.
Yeah, maybe it's maybe it's a women's see tomorrow. Yeah yeah,
uh okay, that's just not good radio. No yeah, yeah, no,
no, no, okay, Yeah, they know they beat Cincinnati on
Monday, and right and now they don't. They don't play again until uh
they play Iowa State on Saturdays. Auburn did lose last night, though Aburnsabama
and Kentucky lost earlier than the weeks two days ago. This whole teams are
losing. Yeah. But the thing is, though, that those teams that
are losing aren't playing in a conference that's regarded like the PAC twel They could
be a problem, right, that's the problem. I almost feel like your
Arizona is already a point where it's gonna be hard, real hard to get
a number one seed. If they're staying at number two. They're still among
the better teams in the country. I mean, I think they're one of
the top eight teams. Yeah, well have you seen the other seven?
Yeah, they're all good too, A couple of you seen ten of them
Because there's some good teams. There are some good teams behind them as well.
But that's that's just the way it is. Okay, and the women
play tomorrow, I guess here. Yeah, they're here against cal I believe
tomorrow. Uh, and then Stanford on Sunday. That should be an interesting
game with Stanford won't be interesting calm well, well, with the all time
winning this coach coming into town and interesting in that regard, I don't know,
they'll be a good game. Well, well, I don't know.
You know, they play well, upset them a time or two. Here,
they played well. At home, they played they played well. Okay,
well we have said here he'll have some Well, there's a lot of
breaking news going on, a lot of if it's a lot of player development,
blah blah blah, the coaches. It's all over Twitter and Facebook.
Uh so there's that. Great, it's funny. So as soon as as
soon as the news hit that, well you missed it, you weren't here.
John Jim Harbaugh named the head coach at the head coach at the Charges.
We snunt that in right before the end of the show, and no
sooner does that happened. Facebook is all over they were and you know what
these are all these are These are trolls, you know, but I was
I was just gonna say, because another one just popped up all kinds of
social media, you know, fake social media with people putting saying that Jed
Fish is the only candidate for the job, and YadA, YadA, YadA.
You know, at this point in time, I don't see how they
do anything other than, you know, promote from within, because where you're
going to go get a coach. It's especially a coach at the level you
need to coach at Michigan, right, and the players will most likely stay
if he's Yeah, so you know, they're they're not going to go get
a Lane Kiffin or you know, one of those guys. They're they're you
know, they're they're probably just gonna have to hand it over to the offensive
coordinator. Won six games as as an interim college and if they don't do
if they knew guy came in and didn't win, well, what's the worst
thing. They say? It's not a Michigan guy. Yeah, exactly,
they did. Rich Rod. Did you ever read that book about on rich
Rod? I read it, and I mean, of course it was one
sided, but you know, you know, all this stuff, a lot
of this stuff went on. I know there's another side to that story too.
But he never had a chance, you know, he just never had
a chance. There was a guy, you know, a couple of guys
there that just said he's not the guy we want. And they did everything
they could, you know, to the money, the money talkers the money.
Yeah yeah, and and former and a former coach. So it was
like, man, so I don't know, it's you gotta be careful at
Michigan. I mean, they're coming off the National Championship. Expectations are super
high. What do you you know, what are you going to do to
back that up? Now, new new teams in the conference as well,
which will only make it harder. Yeah, it is. It'll be a
little harder. I think it'll be harder for the Pack twelve teams that are
coming in, but you know, because they're not gonna be used to having
to play really good teams weekend week out. Uh uh. By by that,
I mean elite teams. You know, the guys that went over there
were the elite teams in the Pac twelve. And now you got you got
to go over there. You got to play Michigan, you gotta play Ohouse
State, you gotta play Penn State. That's gonna be that's gonna be hard
on them as opposed to be playing Oregon State and Washington State and oh yeah
whatever. So I don't know anyways, Fun Show today, Yeah, Ryan
Ratke, who's who calls NFL games throughout the season. He's the the Sunday
night guy on Westwood one Sports, good friend of the good Friend of the
program. Former broadcaster here in Tucson. Uh, he's not working any of
the NFL games this weekend, so we thought would get him and come in
here and get you know, just give us some of his impressions from you
know, what he saw of these teams during the course of the season and
get get us ready for the championship games on Sunday. Yeah, looking forward
to that. I was turning on I'm on the radio, or listen to
the radio, share his voice, that's Ryan he's doing. He does news
updates too. Yeah. And he's really good. Yeah, he's I enjoy
I mean I enjoyed listening to him. You know what I'm saying. Uh,
there's some radio guys that you just said, just tell me what's going
on? You know, Ryan, Ryan is really good. He's he's he's
energetic, he's enthusiastic, and more than anything, you can tell he's very
well prepared with Yeah that he is. Study is unlike us, We are
totally unprepared. Yes, and then well the second half we're gonna have Matt
Marino yeah here and talking about what's going on. Yeah, all the players,
player movement, prayer movement, what's going on? How does it look
for maybe potential other kids coming in. He's all over that, so we'll
find out more. So match it give us a feel for, you know,
how he thinks Arizon has ended up. We saw that there was another
player, a key player that's come back. So yeah, so we'll we'll
have Matt Boin on. He'll talk about all the recruiting stuff. So all
right, so we thank thank you for joining us today. Stick around and
we'll have Ryan Wrecky coming right up. Make the right choice for your home
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is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez Son Fox Sports fourteen
to fifty. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app just Surgery.
I on the Ball. Hey, welcome back to Whining the Ball here on
Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, He's Jagan Zels Now on the
phone. We have Ryan Radkey from Westwood one Sports. Ryan, how you
doing? What's up? Boys? How we doing? We're doing well.
We're doing well. So upon for the review for you a long season as
we end the year almost Who are the better teams in the NFL? Well,
I think they're playing right now. I think the right teams are where
they are they're supposed to be. I don't think anybody is terribly surprised with
the matchups for conference championship weekend and should be a couple of good games on
Sunday, So you know, I'm thinking about this coming in. Is Patrick
Mahomes headed towards that place where, you know, we always to say,
you know, when the playoffs would start, don't bet against Brady, don't
bet against Brady, you know. I mean, I don't know how much
was expected of the Chiefs when they because they didn't. They weren't the Chiefs
that we've come to know. But yet there they are in the NFC champion
in the NFC Championship. Is he getting to that where you say, Patrick
Mahomes in the playoffs, you know, get out of the way. Yeah,
I mean, I don't think anybody ever wants to see him in the
playoffs. I think what was interesting about the Chiefs this year is I think
we tended to look at them and say, well, they're just not as
good of a team. I don't know if that was accurate. They were
not as good of an offense, that's for sure, but their defense really
stepped up and kind of paved the way for them to get here. And
I just wonder as I looked back at them throughout the year, and I
was certainly guilty of this throughout the year, saying well, they're not as
good as they've been in the past, they're not as good offensively. The
receivers had their problems with drops. Obviously, Travis Kelsey is getting older and
maybe wasn't quite the same as he's been over the years before. That defense
really helped them through those times when the offense wasn't what they normally were to
help them get to this point. But to go back to the original question
about Mahomes, I mean, the guy is just he's one of the best.
He's a guy that's probably gonna end up in Canton when his career is
done, and I don't think that anybody is excited about playing him in the
playoffs. Well, you know, how many times did you see him this
year? I only had the Chiefs one time this year, I believe,
and that was early in New York against the Jets, a game where everybody
bought the Chiefs were gonna win, you know, forty one to three.
The Jets were scoffling, obviously, and you know, we were still at
that point of thinking Kansas City was still Kansas City offensively, and it turned
out to the back of a game. Kansas City jumped on him early.
You know, the Jets came back, made it a game and had to
say he had to get a defensive stop late to win. So I only
saw him personally once this year saw him a lot on tape watching teams throughout
the season getting ready for games. So I think I still saw him a
fair amount, but not as much in person as that. So let me
ask you. That's why I ask you, is is he different for us
normal people who watch it on TV compared to you where you see him live
is different. I just think you expect so much of him that when he
does things, you just find yourself saying, like, yep, that's what
he does. He's capable of doing those things. It's almost hard to be
surprised by things that he does because he's so good and just has talent that
others lack, and you know, he can do things that people can't do,
that normal humans can't do, and so it's just always amazing. You're
always kind of wondering what they're going to come up with and what rabbit he
might pull out of his at So let's let's go to the other side of
the other side of the other sideline. I should say, Yeah, Lamar
Jackson over there, who you know hasn't gotten to where people expected him to
get right. They were a number one seed a few years ago and flamed
out it, you know, in their first game. Here he is.
Now it's Mahomes that's in the way. What do we think about Lamar Jackson
and what you know, what's going to take for him, you know,
to get over that hump and just get past Mahomes. Well, I mean,
I think if they just keep doing what they've been doing, they're going
to be fine. You know, count me among the people at the beginning
of the season that really had some doubt and wanted to see how this was
all going to work with Todd Monkin coming in and taking over the offense and
what that offense was going to look like. And I can tell you even
up till the end of the year, I was kind of wondering, all
right, what is Baltimore? Who is Baltimore exactly? And I saw him
in the back to back weeks I'm a Sunday Night in Jacksonville where they completely
took apart the Jaguars, but it was a struggling Jaguars team, And I
came out of that game saying, you know, Baltimore's good, that that's
a good team. Six days later. I had them in San Francisco on
Christmas Night, but they completely took apart the forty nine ers, and I
walked out of the booth that night saying that seems special. They are capable
of getting to another level because they had every reason to lose that game,
and not only do they not lose, they dominated the forty nine ers on
their home field, which is not an easy thing to do. I just
think Baltimore has you know, Lamar's playing at a high level. They run
the ball, even with all the injuries they've had, they run it and
he's certainly a big part of that. And that defense is phenomenal. What
Mike McDonald has done. The linebackers they have, it's probably the best linebacking
court in the NFL. Kyle Hamilton's been amazing at safety this year. That's
a really good team and they're going to be hard for anybody to beat the
Chiefs on Sunday, and if Baltimore wins, they're going to be hard to
beat in the Super Bowl. Yeah. So I agree with you. The
four teams that you thought would be here, especially San Francisco, because no
one had San Francisco in August September and they've turned into this team even with
Rock Party, which of course continues to get to continues to get criticism,
yet he's here. Yeah, I don't really get the criticism of Party.
I mean, I think there are some things that there are some flaws that
have showed up in his game, But unless you're Mahomes, who doesn't have
flaws in their game, I mean, he's still finding ways to win.
He's still quarterbacking a really, really good team. And even though they didn't
play great in the Packer game last week and I was there for it,
they still found a way to win the game. And he still made some
big time throws when he had to at the end of that game to put
them in position to score for McCaffrey to take it in for a touchdown.
So I don't really get the criticism of Party. If the criticism is he
isn't Mahomes, well then we can put him in the club with about twenty
eight other quarterbacks in the NFL exactly. So I don't really I don't really
get that part. That's a good team, so is Detroit. I think
it's going to be a heck of a game on Sunday, I'm really looking
forward to watching him. Tell me if I'm full of you know what,
because you know, I see old clips of Joe Montana running around, and
you know, he wasn't an incredible athlete. He just made plays, He
made throws. He was a smart guy. They almost have like the same
body and the same look and the same movements and those kinds of things.
And I'm not saying brock Perty's Joe Montana, but he certainly, of all
the quarterbacks they've had since then, reminds you more of Montana than the other
guys, than Steve Young did, than Kaepernick did, than you know,
any of the other guys, and just in terms of what he does and
how he looks doing it. Yeah, I mean, I think there's some
similarities. I mean, you know the way he runs that system. He's
an incredibly calm guy. You never really see him get too high or get
too low. He just seems like he goes out and plays. He has
the right demeanor to be in these type of games, and when he has
to make big throws he does. Like I talked about in that last drive
the other night, he was not having a great game, but was he
six or six or six or seven on that that last drive, and you
know, made some really important throws to get them in position. So h
He's a guy that that I think fits really well. If people want to
call him, he's a system quarterback, he's this, he's that. Look
he's in the right system, that's for sure. And they're winning a bunch
of games, and so I would be I would be fine as the forty
nine ers having fought thirty as my quarterback. I would not be complaining about
it. Yeah, that's how you talked a little about Detroit. Would let's
go to a team. I heard you. I think you were at a
Dallas game not too long ago. I used to be a fan when I
was a kid. I'm no longer because I realized they just suck. But
it's been thirty thirty years and Arizona's you know, Dallas is America's team.
Now that tays you how bad America is right in what state of America we're
in. But but what the hell? What the hell? They had a
pretty good season and then the playoffs come and they're allergic to the playoffs.
Look, you could say, I mean people were saying the same thing about
Baltimore, right I mean, and Jay reference that they were number one seed
a couple of years ago when they flamed out. Until you do it in
the postseason, people aren't going to believe exactly you can do it in the
postseason. And that's where Dallas is. They had a great year. They
were a really good team. They had a lot of good pieces. But
I did that game against the Packers. We talked about it going in.
Until you win this game, there's going to be questions and there's going to
be doubts, and they did not play well and frankly got embarrassed on their
home field by Green Bay. And so the exact same questions are gonna hover
over them going the next year, which is can they win twelve games?
Yeah, we've seen that great. Can they win in the postseason? Can
they win the big playoff games? They have not proven they can do that
yet, and until they do, until they actually do it, people are
gonna ask questions about Dak Prescott. People are gonna ask questions about Mike McCarthy
as the head coach, and I think those questions are fair until we see
any differently, because they have not proven that we're all wrong. They have
not shut other people up and that's what they're going to have to do.
So right, I know your transitioning into college basketball here soon, So let
me piss off a jay real quick. So if you just inserted Arizona basketball
with the Cowboys, you're not You're only judged in the tournament. March is
when you're judged. Am I not correct? Oh? One hundred percent.
When we talked about this during the Packers Cowboys game, which is it's unfair,
but it's reality. When you are the Dallas Cowboys, when you are
the New York Yankees, when you are the Duke Basketball, and you can
put Arizona in this category. It does getting to the playoffs. Being in
the tournament, as unfair as it is, it doesn't matter what happens when
you get there. That's how you will ultimately be remembered. And so that's
just the reality of when you are an elite program, you get judged on
what happens at the end of the season. Steve and I are about to
get in a fistfight. But the thing about it, Jao, you know
exactly. I mean, that's you know, it's look, look, you
know, if you're if you're ugly, you know, you're ugly. You're
okay with that until somebody tells you you're ugly, and that's that. That's
the problem I happened. I want to really real quick go back to the
plass because we want we got a couple of minutes, but just one quick
thing on the Lions. I think people forget Jared Goff is a Super Bowl
quarterback. He played in the Super Bowl. Yeah, I mean he's he's
been there. He's he's been on that stage. Obviously didn't play very well
when he got there, but he's been there. Look, I think what
he's done has been remarkable because I was one of the many people and that
trade was made that that looked at Jared Goff as just a salary piece in
that deal and and where were the Lions gonna go next? And instead he
has turned into a really really good fit for that team. They've put good
pieces around him. I think what Dan Campbell has done as the head coach
of that team has been absolutely remarkable. Uh. And that is a it's
a phenomenal story that not only did they get in, but here they are
playing in the NFC Championship and they're one went away from going to a super
Bowl for the first time. It's just awesome. It's been it's been amazing
to watch what those guys have done throughout the course of the year. All
Right, with all your knowledge and everything that you've gathered during the season,
Who's in the Super Bowl? Good question? I mean, I would go
with Baltimore. I just think the way they're playing, the way they've played
all season long. I just I like them. I like what they've done.
I don't know where to go with Detroit san Francisco. I still feel
like the forty nine ers have been the best team in the NFC all year
long. I love the way Detroit's playing, and like I said, it's
an amazing story. I'd probably still lean towards San Francisco being at home.
They've been in these type of situations before, although the playoffs have really not
bothered Detroit to this point. But if I had to make a pick,
I'd probably go with San Francisco against Baltimore, Which means you should immediately run
down and put all your money on it being the Chiefs versus the Lions in
the Super Bowl, because that's what happens. No, No, in fact,
in facted last time when we had you on and you joked about this
back in November or whatever after thankscusing because everyone thinks you're an expert. I
mean everyone's asking you who's gonna win, who's gonna win, and you're saying,
what the hell, I don't know, I'm coming again. I'm just
calling the game. That's right. I mean, that's basically what it is.
I mean, if if I had that kind of knowledge, I'd be
retired living on an island. And I'm still if you do. If that
happens, don't take any calls. Don't take any calls. They're just bothering
you exactly, all right, real quick that you you said, I said
you're gonna be starting work, your work on the college basketball side coming up.
What do you make of the season so far? And what the hell
is going on with all these teams getting you know, just we always talked
about the parody and stuff, but it seems even more pronounced this year than
previous years. Yeah, I think that's just the way it's going, guys.
I think you know, we've been talking about this for it feels like
a long time, and it feels like every year we're just getting more and
more and more, which is probably a good thing for the sport. It's
probably a good thing to go into March thinking there's fifteen teams that could win
the national championship instead of well, it's going to be one of these four
teams that wins. I think it keeps a lot more people involved. And
look the way players are moving around today and the way the landscape of the
sport has changed. It's just different than it was ten years ago. So
as many negatives as there are, there's probably some positives as well. And
I mean I agree, you know, throw ranking rankings mean absolutely nothing because
it does really feel like one of those anybody can be beaten on any given
night, and that's what makes it fun, especially when you get to the
tournament and it's a one and done situation, so we run out of time.
Can I have a cool question? You're U a grad, right,
You're you a grad, A high profile grad. Now. I'm sure people
ask you where are you from? How do you feel being the UA grad
now? Given the situation academically, athletically, especially because it's out there in
the football world of what's going on now, money, coaches jumping stuff like
that. Well, I don't like to see what's happened to the finances on
everything. That's that's unfortunate, you know it was. It was tough to
see jet Fish leave after what he had done kind of resurrecting the football program.
But look, I'm always I'm always proud of where I went. I
have no qualms in telling everybody that that I went to Arizona, and you
know I I will always, I will always have a special place in my
heart for the U of A. That's that's never gonna change. No matter
what we needed to Quitney Houston song, I will always love you that once
we leave you, thank you, Ay right, we'll catch We'll catch you
on the Hey real quick, are you doing the Pacuff Tournament this year?
The last rodeo? I am. I will be there for the last rodeo.
I'll see you guys. We will be there all right, right right,
thanks, A whole bunch is always appreciate it. All right, fellas,
we'll see you all right. Does Ryan Ratky, a local guy,
does the NFL games now on the college basketball side, and he'll he'll be
doing the Paccrouff Tournament for west Wood One Sports. So all right, stick
around. We got more to come get we'll take your cost five ten,
zero, four, one, six, seventy four, forty We'll be right
back. If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you know it's been successful
for nearly forty years. Now. Take a look back at the Ludolsen era
in my new book, Lessons from Loot. It was a labor of love
through the eyes of twenty five former players, coaches, and friends to give
insight to the coach and the man who led them, competed against them,
and inspired them. Twenty five chapters for his twenty five years as Arizona's beloved
coach. Lessons from Lout is an insight to how he built the program into
a national powerhouse. Want one Email me at Steve dot RIVERA ninety five at
gmail dot com. Hi, this is former wild get Lemanhunely with Arizona Health.
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The A Team apply online today at a teamsecurity dot net. Steve Rabera and
Jacin Salis they have their eye on the ball on Tucson's sports stage Chat Fox
Sports fourteen fifteen. Hey, welcome back to I'm the Mall Hero Fox Sports
fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rover. Are here, Jenkins? Also, we've
got our guys sit in today with us, He said. I asked Ryan
this about you know, being a U a grad. You're not a grad
yet, but m's sense of being a U A student at this time of
year with us everything going on, it's definitely unique for sure, looking into
the academic state, and it's the sports athletics, but for me. Right
now, I think what's what I felt the most is, uh, the
amount of people that are engaged with sports now at the university. It seemed
like before maybe when I first got here, it wasn't as like the football
games, there wasn't as many people involved. But now it seems like there's
more buying. But when you think of the academics, I think that right
now it won't impact maybe many many students that are currently here, but in
the future, I think it's really going to impact it. Yeah, the
financial situation I could, you know, yeah, well in terms of you
know, just uh, you know the appeal classes available and you know,
whether you'll have all the resources that you need, uh, you know when
you're going to that. That's that's the part that can be uh, you
know, a little dicey for what's going on right now. They got to
figure out how to you know, it's like there's this you know, millions
and millions of dollars that that that are you know, people don't know where
went, but you know, the feeling being that you know, they've still
they've got to maintain a level, a certain level of the quality of the
education. They can't lose any of where they are and let this financial stuff
impact that. And that's the problem. Yeah, Like I said, luckily,
I am at a point where this is my my last semester here.
But if I was, if I was graduating high school right now, it
would be something that I would definitely consider. Yeah, that's that. And
that's the thing, right. You know, if you're a parent, right
and you're looking for a great place for your kid to go to school,
you know the stuff going on in Arizona, not not not the athletics at
all, just you know, the finances of it and the chaos of all
of it, You're gonna think twice. Now. You may still send your
kid there, but you're gonna you might have some reservations about it. Now.
Look, if I'm if look, I'm thinking if I had a kid
graduated from high school this year and they said they wanted to go to the
u A, I would say, great, I would have no problem with
it. But you know, I'm from here. You know I've got history
there. If you're from New Mexico, right, you're saying, I don't
know, I don't know. I know if you as the place, because
we're in the business and I kind of don't. I shouldn't saybody, will
you have a kid who wants to be a sportswriter, that wants to be
a journalist, and they want to come here, go to issue for concat
or whatever. What do you say. I'm saying, find something else to
do. I mean, I'm being serious, yes, oh yeah, And
that's why I was over serious. I'm not encouraging my kids to go to
go into journalism. I may encourage him to go into some sort of a
communication field, but not specifically journalism, right and and and you know you
can argue that, but to of my two of my three kids did that.
You know, Adam is a communication major, and and he's you know,
he's in communications, but he's in he's on the other side of me.
He's in public relations. He's in in media communications at the College of
Science. My daughter, Rachel is is in graphic design sort of not communications
the way we think of it. But she's in the you know, the
marketing communication piece of sure of business. But not she's not she's not a
journalist. My son is doing the same thing at the University of Maryland.
So there are jobs out there, obviously, yeah, but not jobs in
the sports world right given what's going on right and you're finding that out as
well. Now yep, yeah, definitely. But yeah, it's such a
strange time that what's going on with the academics, because the athletics here obviously
growing so fast that combine that with what's going on academic. If if that
problem wasn't going on, I assume the enrollment would would go up big time.
But now a lot of people are gonna have to consider that and compare
it to Arizona State. Obviously, the kids from out of state, maybe
the California kids want to come to Arizona, you know, considering Arizona State
or Arizona it's gonna play a factor in that. Yeah, okay, I'm
not sure why I went there, but it's it's just the state of the
world right now, and especially the university where this town is is kind of
like the owns it or or it's they're so married together, you know,
they're married and one does well, the other does well, and the city
backs it pretty heavily. Yeah, it's uh yeah, I mean it's uh.
Look, the bottom line is you don't want to be in the situation
they're in right now. No, no, no, And I was gonna
ask. I don't know who I was gonna ask, maybe maybe Leve yesterday
because the border regions, I think we're gonna have a meeting today. They
haven't heard what's out I have in front of me. But not that's I'll
save it for breaking news because it doesn't involve Heki or anything like that involves
other things that that Okay, eventually, Jay, you buy this car,
you buy this nice Mercedes, and it may or may not be in your
price range, but you really like it. And it's one hundred thousand.
I don't even know what a Mercedes cost. And you think, okay,
maybe I have a we're spending it's gonna cost me twelve hundred dollars a month
to pay for it. How long is it gonna take? You do pay
that? So if they have two hundred and forty million, how long will
that be? It can take forever? It's like a student load for kids
today. It could be like a thirty year mortgage. Yeah no, yeah,
no, there's no easy there's no easy climb out of that. Yeah.
And three years ago we were talking this with Dave, and Dave's been
very God, I'm missing the word very transparent, transparent with forty five million
was the number three years ago, and they were trying to figure out a
way. Obviously one of the ways was to borrow money against the school.
But how quickly would that have been paid? And now you're just yeah,
no, and it's gotten worse. It's got worse, you know, And
you know we're sitting here thinking because remember every time they they you know,
they redid you know, the football facility, did this, they did that
with that. Wait a minute, we thought they didn't have any money.
Sure well they didn't. Sure, sure they do. No, No,
Jay, you assigned me to do story on he uh pre you know,
doing a feature story and he mentioned talking about that that wing, that area
where sixth Street is, that corner right area where they wanted to have this
great they want to build and entertainment and yes, right, that ain't happening.
Well the u A is not doing it right right, so they have
all these plans. Now we all have to be put on hold. Everything's
on hold. They said, after the what do they do? Uh?
What are they working on right now? He said that the west side,
not that they're they're not doing the west side. What do they I can't
remember they're wrapping up something, but they're saying, you know, there'll be
well, there's a there's a project that's like coming to you and once that's
done, everything else is on hold. Well, there's and it's likely that
the next person up, well, it's not likely Forteki will be with the
president. It'll be on the next guy right right, right, And that's
and that you know that that may impact whether or not, you know,
the the quality of of of t Todate Arizona gets for its athletic director.
You ever, you ever meet a guy of that statue of the president,
whoever it is, or then a d or a football coach not have the
ego to say I can pull this off. They're there. Yeah, there
they do. They do watch me and watch me yeah, why yeah,
wow? Watch the other guy said they've tried it, yeah, and good
luck to you. Well, and it's gonna take a person with that kind
of mentality, right, a person who can say this is doable, I'm
capable of doing it, and this is how and this is the place that
I would wouldn't mind going to do that. It's gonna take it. You
know, they're not gonna go get the athletic director at Michigan and or stand.
But you know they might go get you know, the Nevada A d
or the U t s A A d uh. You know, these people
say that the Baylor and Utah eds, you know, Mark Colin and Utar
are probably out of reach. Okay, So you go get the next person
who's got the competencies and it's ready for a step up, and who has
the confidence to be able to come over here and say, okay, I
can do this. I'm willing to take my shot at it. And then
they do and and you know, I mean think things weren't great when Cedric
Dempsey got here, Well we have three minutes. I wasn't here at the
time. Tell me, well, Fred Fred Snowden had just been fired.
The the you know, Arizona was in the whack. You know, Ben
Lindsay had been hired. And it took the program to a death that nobody
and to a depth that I don't think anything. I mean, you thought
it was bad with Kevin Sumlan and John mcavack. Holy hell, you should
have seen the Ben Lindsay. You know, the programer was really really a
baby brother, barely a baby brother to to a s U. You know,
it wasn't it wasn't you know, it didn't feel good about itself.
Dave Strack had done a decent job, but you know, the Arizona had
gotten into the UH, into the into the UH, you know, Pac
ten and it wasn't going great. Larry Smith was doing okay, but things
were tough and it was it was kind of this cloud. And Cedric Dempsey
came in here, and you know, and it took charge and you know,
turned the thing into you know, and really, I mean, I
think it was in the in the eighties. You can largely argue that Arizona,
you know, you know, lapped a s U when it came to
to athletics. You know, all of its athletics became you know past a
SU. SU found saying, oh, well we went to two rose balls.
Okay, yes you did. But you know, outside of that,
outside of those two seasons, you can argue that Arizona has had a better
football program since then, clearly a better basketball program and they and arguably a
better athletic program since then. And Cedric Dempsey came in and did that and
then he ran off to be the n cua A right with no fault.
And then the gym comes in. Yeah, and everyone has their own personality.
Jim was Jim. I did a great job in the nineties to some
maybe not, but did did what he did h for a long time,
fourteen years, I think it was. And then he moved on, obviously,
and then Greg came in and it was totally different. It was very
It was totally different, I think in my mind. And I know we
have a minute a half in my mind, Jay, maybe you agree with
me or not. Things changed at UVA how they handled things in McHale.
And I'm not gonna say it was a bad thing. I'll say it was
more bad than good because it became less family, right, that's the thing.
Less family, less cozy less. You know you need a hug,
I'll give you a hug. It was more corporate. Yeah, And that
doesn't mean it's bad. But it wasn't any good. It wasn't. It
was way different from what Jim living good and Demon Song's not that Gun two
so's not that Yeah, and well, I think, but people loved like
Greg Byrne as a as a person. He was a personal guy. Everybody
liked him. You know, somebody mentioned him would Greg Burn come back to
Arizona, I said, And I said, Arizona would not take him,
you know, because the place was there were a lot of things that went
wrong while he was Circumstances were not good. But but even then, they
need somebody to give it a hug. It needs a hug. It needs
a hug. It does needs a hug. And it lost that. Yeah,
and Dave Hekey was a huggy kind of guy, but at a time
where there was so much chaos, and you know that he came. Yeah,
he did. I think he did the best he could. Right,
That's that's a hard job. And it's still a hard job. It's gonna
get Yeah, you're not gonna get any easier. But I was just wondering
if you felt the same way in those transitions from Greg. Yeah, I
think you. I think you hit it on the nose. Okay, all
right, let's take a break. We're at the top of the hour.
We're gonna come back, and said it's gonna have breaking news, let's stick
around. Totally hit a smash