This is I On the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jacin Salis on Fox Sports
fourteen fifteen powered by Nova Insurance Services. Hey sure, your most prized possessions,
katz R two Sock and iHeart Radio Station. Hey, good afternoon,
everybody. Welcome to on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm
Steve Rivera. He's Jakin's as got a guy Jason in today. Welcome to
Tuesday. Sorry for yesterday's absence. I know you guys are waiting for us.
Who else to do you geeks? I'm plaguing in my head, your
geeks. You tell we've been God, thanks for listening to everybody. I
know you guys were concerned and all that. Yeah, that's my dad.
No, it's good, We're good. We're good. No, it's funny.
Can everybody me being a dork and not wanting to learn these damn buttons?
Jason, We're getting a real job. Yeah, yeah, what's up
with that? I got to pay my bills? Do you mean to tell
us you mean the fact that we don't pay you as a problem. No,
a little bit. You know, he'd be coming a star, Jason.
Sometimes you don't need to pay the bills to be the star. You
get your free drinks somewhere. No, we do appreciate everybody who didn't snarl
too much at us for for for the late cancelation of our show. Um,
but today today's will be good. Unforeseen circumstances, but it's all cleared
up now and so here we are today. It'll be the same guests we
had planned yesterday. So I'm looking forward to it in a fun, fun
way. Obviously, we have Mike Gonzalez coming in and d of Nick Gonzalez.
You know, a dad that I always wanted to be, right that
the dad of a kid in the Major League, as he is acting like
it. Yesterday when I was talking to him, he sent me his photo
and you posted today in yesterday saying that he hasn't stopped smiling. You know
his while he's got to be you said he wasn't even a man. He's
a young dude. He looks young for sure. Yeah, we're just old
because this next generation. Look, he could be my kid. And that
just kind of got to be about your dad's what forty something? Yeah he's
not, he's forty two. Wish maybe there. Yeah, So I think
that's what we will ask him. Yeah, so that should be a fun,
exciting time. He saw his son over the weekend in Phoenix. We're
gonna really pick his brain about what this feels like, h of course in
the major leagues. And that was and not only is Nick Gonzalez, he's
out of Sienaga, went to New Mexico State, UM number one draft pick
of the of the Pirates. He's really good. He's off a great doctor,
a great start. They played the Dodgers, so I got to see
him a few times. And you know, there's some guys that look like
Major League baseball players, and even some guys in the major leagues who don't
look like he looks like major He looks like him infielder. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, okay, And then the second hour, we're gonna have Elijah
Rush Ye, Elijah Rush I'm sorry right the the we we spent a good
good amount of last week talking about him being a five star recruit, decided
to stay in town go to Arizona at a South Point Catholic UM. I
was even listening to um the Dan Wetzel Pad forty uh podcast. They spent
a good five minutes talking about Arizona's recruiting and Elijah Rushing and you know the
things that Jed Fish is doing down here recruiting wise, that you know,
they're of the belief that Arizona is gonna get that quarterback who decommitted from Mississippi.
A lot of people are saying that as well, just really praising jet
Fish for the work he's doing here, not just from a recruiting standpoint,
but you know what he's done in a couple of years, because they did
talk about this program was really really bad. When Jed Fish got oh we
know that. I mean they're national guys and they're uh, they're I don't
like to say, um uh absentee landlords. Right, they're here once a
year. Yeah, we hear every day. Right, we see the cracks
on the wall. Right, we know exactly what's going on. They see
it, and it gives more weak because they're not because because it's it's people
from outside noticing. I think that's right, seem right. So so they's
been a good amount of time talking about that. But Elijah Rushing, you
know, will pick his brain. I mean he's luck. He's been on
all the radio shows. Ours is kind of the last one. So things
kind of hopefully settled for him. So we'll see what's on his what's on
his mind now, see what the impact has been for him. Yeah,
so that should be a lot of fun. Good to have everybody back give
out of the heat obviously. Um, what's the first agenda? There's a
lot of stuff going on, man, Steve, you know, I really
wanted to be on the show. Yes, I would do the show because
there's so much went on over the weekend. But it's still going on.
Still stuff still breaking. Uh. You got the Northwestern issue, the hazing
stuff. Um. Pat Fitzgerald got fired yesterday, the long time head coach.
He was a player, he was on the Rose Bowl team back in
back in the nineties. Yeah, I'm just a hero there. And they
acted him. Um do you think that they had I thought they had no
choice given And I don't know the facts. I don't know the complete facts.
They should say. Uh, and they messed up that. I want
to say, blunder or whatever. On Friday when they give him two weeks
from two weeks to firing, what's the that's a good reading when I've been
reading, including the report that came out of the Northwest. Uh, the
student paper other stuff that's followed up. ESPN had had a piece alluding to
some uh stuff that was on a white board that kind of corroborated the stuff
that was being said about about the hazing. Um Northwestern screwed this up from
the get to administration did administration and by that meaning that they thought if they
dumped the announcement that that Fitzgerald was getting suspended on a Friday afternoon it sent
out the two page executive summary of their investigation, that that would be the
end of it and it would go away. But they didn't anticipate was that
the Northwestern University student paper with this. Northwestern is one of the top journalism
schools programs in the country. In the country, I mean tons of tons
of ESPN and National Media Sports Illustrated guys. They all come, they come
out of there, they come out of Missouri, and they thought it was
going to end there. Well, Northwestern paper goes out, does get some
morti hold of two athletes who corroborated everything and gave them details, and that
got out and after six months of the investigation. You mean to tell me
that the administration or the investigators right the point, it seems like and this
is where Northwestern is getting called on the carpet that they knew and they had
all of that thought it wasn't going to get out, and said if we
suspended for two weeks, it'll go away, and then it comes out.
It has to all that stuff has to be in the report. Yeah.
Now nobody has seen the report because nobody's been able to get their hands on
it. But the reports, you know, the report has to have said
all of this. If that's what this football player said to the school paper,
I'm sure he said it to the investigators. So Jay, let me
ask you, and I'll as this to you Jackson as well. You can
answer it however you want. Do you think that this stuff is a one
off or do you think that this happens could be so often at places?
I think there's coaches all over the country going, holy hell, we gotta
knock this crap off, no question, Jason. Yeah, I think it
happens. You know, I undercover people, you know, just this just
came to the light, you know, the culture. Culture. Yeah,
No, I think this goes on everywhere, not everywhere, a lot of
places, and I think coaches know about it. And if you don't know,
again then your parts Fitzgerald and she fired. Anyway, this is reminding
you of a basketball coacher exactly. I mean, what do we say about
Sean Miller all that time? We thought he had to know what Book Richardson
was doing. Right, How could he not know? I mean I thought
that and you, I mean we talked that, We talked about knowing what
we know. He's a control guy, right, he had to know so
and if you didn't know, and if you didn't know, then he should
have. That's what they're st screwed. You're screwed either way. So now
and here's the here's the here's what's Here's where the blunder was is that somebody
who was advising the administration said this will never get out. Just do This's
a huge mistake. In this day and time, nothing's a secret. If
more than one person knows, the likelihood of it getting out is very high.
And so for anybody, and particularly smart people who you think maybe are
people who work for Northwestern or at Northwestern. If anybody over there said,
you know what, we can keep this under wraps. It's not going to
get out, so let's just do this, it couldn't have been more wrong.
So aren't thinking they must have really pissed off that player. They really
did, that's what it sounds like to get this ball. And then and
then a statement from the quote unquote entire football team gets sent out that says
everything is overblown and this never happens. And it's sent on the email of
a former a staff assistant instead of one of the football players. What the
hell is that to tell me? Explain that to me again? The whin
there's a statement that was said, saw that it didn't come The email got
sent to I guess the either the news media or the administration, but not
from a football player. It was sent to I think my my understand was
a former staff member, a former stuff. Yeah, Now did that staff
member make this up and send it or did it really come from the football
team? Right right? It should have been coming from the captain of the
captain of the football team or the designated spokesperson of the football team. Maybe
they even should have held a press conference. Now you got that, and
now you know, all this gets out there and now they fire him.
Yeah, now here's the kicker, and this this just came out The administration
says, Okay, Pat Fitzgerald is fired, Well, we're keeping the rest
of this? What the hell you fired Pats Pat Fitzgerald for either knowing and
not doing anything about it or not knowing, saying he should have known?
Well shouldn't he's a The coaches have known also or did they know? Also?
How are you keeping the rest of us? Here's the problem. Northwestern
didn't want to get to this point in the first place, so they have
no choice. But they can't just clear the house and bringing new staff in
under the timing we got him. We got three weeks or two weeks whatever
is before they start. This is gonna implode it either way, no matter
what. But how do you keep how do you keep these guys when they
should have known him too? Yeah, I think that the ads and some
of the administrators are going to be gone too from this. Wow. And
there's a lot of people want who want the president to be him and him
too, and you know, he's the guy they're just left from Oregon just
last year two Okay, but man, yeah, no, it's it's not
my whole thing is this is this is not a one off. I mean,
it just can't be U and the culture of football. Football look at
and New Mexico State. Same thing happened, Same thing happened basketball, five
ten guys, three guys, two knuckle heads or three knuckle heads doing this
and and coaches knowing And was it because of that? No, well,
actually this came out six months ago. They six months ago when they started
mistigating. But now Joe athlete at Wherever University, he says, well,
God, that's going on over there. I'm you know, now I can
say something, Well, who's next? Is kind of my question. Yeah,
that's a good question. That's a good question, not a good point.
We'll soon see. We'll soon see, um because guess what those questions
are gonna be asked atlas everywhere. You can't do these things. There was
a time where you could do some of these things. There was never a
time he could do these things. Yeah, you could do things like,
you know, make make a guy, make a freshman sing at the team
dinner, or makes them carry the athletic bags or whatever. And everybody did
that my baseball team when you know, you know, the freshman had to
carry the equipment to the bus. And it wasn't a it wasn't a punishment
thing. It wasn't a hazy thing. We just said, you know when
when we you know, we just say a freshman carry the equipment. Jay,
we don't live in the time of my three sons. And I love
Lucy anymore right now, you know, but you can't do the things.
Look, there was a case a number of years ago toa Only I know
about this because my brother was an attorney on this case. Um No Galas
baseball team. I don't know if you know about this. This This would
have been in the mid eighties, I think, um, And there was
some haze. No Galas had played a game of Phoenix baseball and there was
on the way back to No Gallas on the bus there was some hazing going
on in the back of the bus and it got out and the coaching staff,
the three coach the three coaches on the bus got charged criminally with sexual
abuse. They were gonna be if they had been found guilty, they were
gonna be sex offenders. And then because they allowed right and they could have
gone to prison because it was mandatory prison time for for what they were what
they were charged with. Now it went to trial, the jury found them
not guilty, just saying, look, you guys screwed up, but you're
not criminals and you don't deserve to go to But it was a case where
these guys got criminally charged. In that regard, Pat Fitzgerald and the coaching
staff could get criminally charged if if if let's say, a enthusiastic prosecutor decided
he wanted to do that, because it's their responsibility. Now, the difference
is these guys on the bus were miners that they got they got charged with
sexual conduct involving a miner or something like that, and that might be a
big difference. But nonetheless, they were trying, you know, the prosecutor's
office here was trying to hold the coaches responsible for what was going on in
the back of the bus. That these coaches said they didn't know what's going
on in the back of the bus, right, But I don't know how
Pat Fitzgerald can say I had no idea. Well here you are, so
okay, that's one of them and the one there was the other one with
Huggins situation where he wants his job. We only had a minute before a
break. We got to talk about Bob Huggins, because holy hell, is
that another mess it's been created over there, right, and you wonder what's
going to happen from that. Well okay, well, well we'll break out
that conversation. Um, maybe after the break. Okay, all right,
we've got Mike Gonzalez. Uh. He's the father of Nick Gonzalez, the
scenic baseball player who's made it to the majors in three short years after being
in his third season, I should say, after being a number one draft
pick. He's up with the Pittsburgh Pirates. So we'll talk to Mike about
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This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports
fourteen fifteen. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio ahip Just surgeony I
on the ball. Hey, welcome back to our the Ball here on Fox
Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Ronero. He's jakenz Awesome. Now on the
phone, we have Mike Gonzalez, the father of Nick Gonzalez with the Pittsburgh
Pirates, and are you still on Cloud nine after the weekend? Yes,
sir, I'm still pretty pretty happy. I guess I saw some photos of
the family or the group you had att Phoenix with the games with the Dodgers
and the Pirates. How many people were up there supporting Wow, I would
say there's probably there was probably. I mean, I don't know. It
was well over a couple I just kept running into, you know, different
people. There was people there that I didn't, you know, expect to
be there, that didn't tell me they were coming, but they definitely came
out in full forced for Nick. It was pretty cool. That's awesome.
Well, we were talking about the fact that you and I both spell our
last names the same way with anst on the end. Don't give him any
money, he's gone. We just know how many of us there are out
there, Mike, So it's not surprising that you he was looking to see
if he was okay, if it's a long lost cousin, so don't well,
you know, if if if Nick's looking for like a pr guy or
something like that or whatever, you know, we got I got time.
Hey, So Mike, you know, the thing that Steve and I have
talked about is what what does this feel like? We'll get into the Mike's
journey, I mean Nick's journey, but what does this feel like for a
dad? How? I don't every dad who has a boy and who plays
a little baseball, somewhere in the back of their brain they think, I'd
love to see my kid be a major league baseball player. What's it like
to actually see that? Yeah? I mean I've had a friend tell me
that I'm living every little league father's dream, and I know I actually am,
and it is. It's been unbelievable. But you know, for me,
as a father, your goal is for your children to be better than
you. Yeah, and and my boys and my daughter, my kids.
I've you know, I'm blessed with just amazing children, and it's been amazing
this whole time. But you know, Nick playing professional baseball has been uh,
you know, his journey has been kind of rough. You know,
he's you know, he's always undersized, he's not big enough, he's you
know, there's always been you know, since the I would say probably high
school, he's always been questioned if he was good enough, and he just
keeps proving them wrong. So it's been amazing, that's for sure. We'll
get to that in a second, but first for you, give me some
of your back room. Did you play ball maybe at to what level or
whatever? Because this just doesn't happen with him. You have to be a
dad, like we're we're fathers of sons who played sports who you know,
have to push them and all that stuff. But did he get some from
you that you were pushing him and you had some ability? Yeah, I
was a pretty good athlete. Obviously I wasn't as good as an athlete as
my kids, but um I was a terrible student. It was a pretty
good you know, and you know, I'm I'm just honest about you know,
my situation. And you know, I have friends that I played with
younger that would say, hey, your dad was better than me, but
I was. You know, I kept playing your dad didn't. But everything
happens for a reason. You know, I made mistakes as a child that
I wasn't going to allow my kids to make. And you know, my
older Mick's older brother was a college football player. He played at the Naval
Academy defensive captain his senior year. I mean, just we've been beyond blessed
with all our children. Okay, So at some point um, as Nick
is growing up, he became a pretty good baseball player. I've always talked
about how, you know, you go see little leaguers or whatever, very
young kids, and some of them stand out. And there's some kids that
played in our neighborhood that that you know, stick out like that. Rodney
pet was one who as a twelve year old litter league player. He said,
that guy is special, right those kids? Yeah, there was a
kid that played. He was a football play He ended up playing for the
Buffalo Bills. You see those guys as twelve year olds say they've got a
special talent, but other guys work at it. Where or when did you
think Nick? I could call him Mike? Nick had this in him.
So when Nick was two years old, I was coaching his older brother in
Little league, and I mean, I'm not gonna lie I was. I
was a little hard on both my kids. So I had a woman came
up and hollering at me that I was. She couldn't believe I'd do that
for my kids, you know, what kind of the person would do that?
And I'm just like thinking, I was like, what did I do?
What did I say to Daniel? And that's the older one, and
I thought she was talking about Daniel, and then she's like, look at
him over there, you're making him hit in that cage. He's two years
old. He's hitting balls off the key and he'd go pick him up and
put him in the bucket. And he just kept doing that while we're playing
our game, and I just started laughing. I said, ma'am, that's
not me, that's what he wants to do. And he's been like that
for, you know, since he was two years old. And I've even
told family members, you know, because they would tell me, well,
who's a better athlete, you know, and I'm like, well, I
don't know which one of them is a better athlete. But as far as
Nick on the baseball field, he's just different. You know, Baseball is
a tough game, and if you're not mentally tough, it just destroys you
and That's one thing I even struggled with when Nick was younger. I didn't
think he chaired. I thought he would just you know, just played.
And you know, he never really had a ton of emotion. You never
knew of Nick was four for four or over four. And I struggled with
that because I I just thought he didn't care. But that's just how he
handled it, right, right, So all of a sudden, he plays
really well at Senega and he had to walk on in your Mexico State or
did he get a SCULSIU? He walked on? So come on, how
does this happen? He's I went to New Mexico State. That's a decent
program. But I think he played under their former coach, right, who's
now at North Carolina State. Coach Green is at Wichita State. Yeah,
which, okay, so he there's this connection and then he then he knocks
that out of the park. Literally. Well, I mean, if you
asked me, I'm just gonna tell you that everyone missed because it wasn't.
It didn't come out of left field. He you know, as a youth,
you talk about the kids that you knew that were good. I mean
you talked, I mean you'd probably talk to anybody that played with him or
against them, and they'll all say the same thing. We're not surprised where
Nick is today. But you know, his whole life, he's just been
proving people wrong because he was just a little kid. He was so small
and you know, he didn't pass you know, the eye tests, and
you talk, you talk about his work ethic. I mean, at a
point, was it in high school? Was it in little league that that
that work ethic established and just got stronger as he went along. I mean,
when did you see that the work ethic was going to get him there?
Well, I mean I never thought it was going to get him where
he's at today. I mean if I if I told anybody that I thought
he'd be where he was today, I'd be you know, that's a lie
because that's just a tough club. You know, to be a major league
baseball player is pretty rare. But he's always worked hard. We had you
know, social media is kind of crazy, but when he was like eleven
or twelve years old, somebody had posted in social media that he's cheating.
He used a legal bats because he was so small, but the kid could
hit, and he could he was always a real good hitter, and somebody
had posted on social media that his bat was loaded or so even remember what
it was. And you know, right away I'm upset. I'm getting ready
to fire off. You know, probably not a very good response. And
then my older son, no, Dad, don't don't do anything. I'll
do it. I'll and he puts on there. He's like, you know,
do any of you see him work at five am before he goes to
school where he's hitting in the in the garage. Does anybody see him after
school when he's hitting, Because I mean that was the thing. Nick just
wanted to hit all the time. I tell you know, there's another story
I tell people that you know, I used to be the one to throw
in batting practice, all the batting practice, all the time. You know,
after work, I'd get home and he's like, all right, let's
go hit, and he would ask me. I would never be the one
to say, hey, Nick, you better hit today. It was always
him telling me that he wanted to go hit. There was times where I'd
call my wife and say, hey, my arm is killing me. I
can't come home. I'm gonna stay at work late today because I can't throw
today. And That's just that's what it was like for us because he always
you know, Sienega, he's had great coaches, that's another thing. But
at Sienega, they gave him the light coach. We would be there pretty
much year round, you know, just hit me and him, and then
he'd started inviting friends, which wasn't the best for my arm, but that's
just what we did. So I was gonna ask a quick question about um
hitting. It's a it's a game of repetition, fielding the ball, fielding
the ball, feeling the ball, hitting, hitting, hitting, And did
he at any point along the way when he was young, I'm going to
be a pro baseball players. That was his dream. Well, obviously that's
every every kid's dream, but he never voiced that. You know, you
never told us that's was but we know that obviously that was his dream.
Yeah, but he just went along. So I, you know, as
you were talking about the you know, having to throw to him all the
time and all that, all I could think of was Benny the Jet Rodriguez
right from the sand lot. Just the kid who kept saying I need to
keep getting better, you need to keep helping me get better, and just
just makes it sound like that, but I mean it is that journey,
right, yep. And that was just how he was. I mean,
there was like if he had a bad game, it was right away he'd
go home and he'd hit, and then he'd have to hit more, and
which he's he's evolved where he doesn't need to He mentally he doesn't need to
hit as much as he used to because he knows, you know, your
body can only do so much and it's gonna start breaking down. There's no
way, I mean, he would swing, you know, just hundreds and
hundreds of swings a day. And I can't remember. Who's a gentleman that
told him, look, you can't do that. I can't remember his name.
He's a local coach, professional, has a couple of kids that were
pro ball players. It'll come to me in a minute, but I just
can't remember right now. But just kind of thought that he might wear out
his body or what. Yeah, that's exactly what he told him. He's
like, you should hit until you feel comfortable. He said, if that's
one swing, two swings, ten swings, whatever it is, as soon
as you feel comfortable, you got to shut it down because you're just gonna
put additional wear on your body that you don't need to do. So.
At some point that a new Mexico state, people started talking about him,
you know, being a high draft pick, and then it became he's going
to be a first round draft pick. You know, what were the things
that you guys talked about in terms of you know, sort of keep you
know, staying the course, keeping an eye on things, and continuing to
do the work. What did you guys have conversations about all that? What
didn't have to that was just Nick. He continued to work. You know,
he was a COVID his junior year. That's when COVID happened, and
they pretty much, you know, once the season ended, a lot of
kids would go different directions. You know. There was even a kid I
saw that they interviewed that was drafted higher than Nick, and they talked to
him and he's like, well, I'm just doing nothing and just waiting,
you know, and he had nothing, and Nick was just fabricating stuff making,
you know, had a net in the garage that we were hanging from
corner to corner. He found a guy in Los Cruises that he worked out
at his facility. He never stopped so yeah, I never had to get
involved. That was just him. Even the day of the draft. You
go back, he went to local bn L, which is a local club
team here. He went to their practice just to talk to the kids.
And then after that he went to the gym and hit and worked out the
day of the draft. So let me ask you along those lines that Jay
asked you. So here's a kid who went to high school college, so
that was to play baseball or to go to school. That must have been
a family just a great time. So he goes to Crusis and becomes an
All American. That must have been a great time. And then he gets
drafted. That must have been a great time. And then he gets the
major leagues. There's been a lot of parties in the Gonzales family. How
has that been? Because you have to celebrate a lot of things. I'll
tell you what it's been. It's been amazing. I don't even have the
words to describe it. I mean, it's a dream, it's it's it's
his dream. But I'm lucky enough to be part of the ride. So
okay, you got you. You can't lie to us about this. Do
you have tears in your eyes when he when he came out on the field
for the first time as a pirate. Honestly, I cried for like two
weeks. Okay, it's so hard, you know, like even just a
minute ago when I started talking, you get choked up just because you're so
proud, and you know, you just you just want your kids to be
successful, right And and he's done that, He's done everything he wants that,
he's asked for her, he's done. It's just been it's been amazing.
When after I first found out, the day I found out, I
had to call my boss tell him, hey, look, I'm not coming
to work tomorrow, and he didn't answer, and then I called him again.
He didn't text or didn't answer some Finally I texted him and I said,
you know, call me. I've got something important. Just call me.
We get a chance. And he ended up calling like ten fifteen minutes
later, and then I told him what was going on, and he's like,
oh, that's great, you know, you know, just congratulating me.
And I was like, Darren, I'm glad you didn't answer the fault
because I don't know if I could have talked when I called you, because
I was pretty emotional. No, that's super. And of course you have
your family there as well, your your wife, who you know, we
could be talking to saying how does she feel and how does the family feel?
Everybody, I mean, we are all on cloud nine. Yeah,
my wife is probably the one that people should talk to. She doesn't get
noticed as much obviously because I'm you know, always around, but she's the
one that kept everything together. I beat the boys down, and she picked
him up and raised a couple of great young men. Okay, so who's
got the baseball from his first homer? That's a good question. That's a
great question. Did you guys get pretty much everything Nick has had, you
know, his first home run, literally home run, his rings, I
have almost all that stuff. But he's recently bought a house and he's got
a his own little study, so I imagine he's gonna put that stuff in
his in his collection. But he's got it somewhere, right, He's got
it. He's got them both right now. First home run and his first
hit. He's got them both. Awesome, very nice, and it looks
like he's gonna stay for a while up there. Man. He's doing well
on top of everything else, right, he's doing well up there. He
is doing very well. It's nice to see him comfortable, and you know
he had a rough time in Arizona. But you know, you don't I
don't really think about it. I just I see him playing and I just
expect him to do well. And you don't even think about how much pressure
he's under, you know, with the hundreds of people that are there just
to see him. I know my phone was blown up, so I couldn't
even imagine what his phone's doing. Yeah, yeah, no question, that's
awesome. It's it's cool. It's cool to hear about all of this stuff.
So is he living in Pittsburgh? Is where you got his house?
Or is here? So he bought a house in Texas. He owns a
couple of houses in Florida. He's pretty smart financially. He's got a couple
of rental properties, so he's and hopefully he'll buy something in Pittsburgh eventually.
Okay, all right, cool, Well, congrats again, Yeah, thanks
for joining us, appreciate it very much. Alrighty, thank you very much
for having me. Thanks a bunch of Mike all the best of your kid
already, thank you. I'll be well. Michael Zos nix. That's cool.
Yeah, you know, very cool. I'm getting choked out. No,
it's good. I understand. I mean, you know, I'm sure
you know. I mean, as you said, what dad whose kid was
playing baseball didn't at some point say I'd love to see my kida or any
sport or any sport anybody, And then you know, you live out the
dream and it's it's it's not as much of a dream come true for a
dad, but it's pretty damn close to the actual kid that gets up.
Well, I think you you as your dad, you wanted them to be
healthy, right, you wanted them to be happy, and as you said,
you want them to do better than you, no question. That's that's
that's very cool. Okay, that's fine. Ye all right, let's take
our next break. We're gonna be back. We'll take your cause we're gonna
talk a little bit about the Bob hugging stuff. If you got some thoughts
on that, we'd love to hear what you have to say. Or if
you got some thoughts on the Northwestern football stuff, call us on that.
Two zero seventy four forty we'll bright back. If you're an Arizona men's basketball
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have their I on the fall on two Sons Sports station Fox Sports Sport teen
fifty. They welcome back to win the Ball here on Fox Sports Spoteen fifty.
I'm Steve. He's Jake Jason with us today, got thirteen minutes.
If you just want to give us a quick call, please do. Let
us know what's going on in your lives or whatever. Northwestern Gonzales, Gonzals.
Hey, there's the Gonzalez with an Essa major league. God. Thought
you were going to say, be adopted by I'm local, I'm not Nay,
I'm not warming cuddly anymore anymore. To beat him, let's take this
call. Hey, you're on the air and I on the ball. Hey,
this is Bill. Hey Bill, how's it going. I just want
you to know I'm glad you know that Jay's bone is working because I text
him every day for two months. It's on the diamondbacksman in first place and
the actually que and you never heard a word in the minute the minute the
Dodgers type first place. I get a text from Jay that says I'm a
loser. What can I tell you? But what you say is not a
lie. I'll just I'll admit that you know what he said Bill to me,
just knowing you probably heard. He's not warm and fuzzy anymore. Don't
you have to be at some point, I was like, I came out
with a lot of hero when I was the baby cuddling. I'll let you
go. I want to hear you talk about Huggins. I just wanted to
get that in there because I'm I'm relieved to know that his phone does work.
I'm good, I'm good Bill, and uh, next time I'll respond,
but it'll be probably be rude, so I know what to tell you.
Thanks, Budge. Oh my gosh, Bob Huggins. Yeah, that's
a bizarre situation, but not a surprise, a complete surprise. Well,
if you if you know, if if you had an impression of Bob Huggins,
then my impression was he's a grumpy old part. So he's He's right
exactly, He's doing exactly what you would have expected him to do. For
those of you who may or may not have been following this, you know
Bob Huggins, you know he did the he did the thing the Homo four
which slurs on the radio. Then he got busted with an extreme DUI.
He was in he was in Pennsylvania and didn't even know he was in Pennsylvania.
He uh he uh quote unquote resigned a few days later. Um,
and then a couple of days ago came back and said, I never resigned.
I want my job back. I still consider myself the coach of West
Virginia basketball, and I want to I want my job back. The chances
this is a question for both, The chances of him getting his job back
are zero. Yes, not even slim to none. Zero, there's zero.
Um he has said. He said that he never really resigned, UM
that the resignation came from his wife's text message and email address. He never
really submitted the proper paperwork that, according to his employment agreement, was required
to resign. Joe does his contract. Okay, Okay, Bill Huggins,
Bubb, you're fire fired fort and you're not getting your money anyway, the
story, and you're not getting your money anyway. So he's just prolonging this.
Yeah, So anyways, I just I just looked at it. The
letter that West Virginia University sent back to Huggins m reminded him about about the
ten times that he said he resigned and now he's saying he's not, including
there was a text message from his wife's phone account. Then when they reached
out to him and said we need more than this we need a letter from
you. A letter was sent to the university from his written by his lawyer
through his wife's email account, all because he doesn't use email. He told
the team he was quitting, he told the assistant of the athletic director he
was quitting, he cleaned out his office, and now he's saying he didn't
resign, And so the university is saying, no, matter what you think
about whether or not, you had to send us a certified letter that you
resigned. You resigned, and we consider you resigned. And that's it.
There's nothing else to say, right, which is exactly what West Virginia University
should have said. What right? No? What this does? This kind
of throw the whole team again into a loop, although they've already established that
the guy's been moved up. Ye're moving on, you know it. This
is just a bunch of political They're not getting it. He's not coming back.
Now. Does the team kind of fall apart because of this? You
know, you got guys who love him and say, sure, we want
him back, other guys who say let's move on. You know, does
the locker room kind of fall apart because of this? I think that's how
can I say this because I would. I understand it. Sports mumble jumble
and over analyzing. Kids are pretty smart and resilient. Once the divorces happened,
they've moved on to the next. Have we got our coach, Stepdad
know exactly, coach, we love you, but we gotta go. Yeah,
yeah, no, I sure hope. So because this is ridiculous,
It's totally ridiculous. And if you whose advising, I guess nobody's probably advising
Bob Huggins. Otherwise this wouldn't be happening. Jay, Jay, So you've
been on the side of the thing. You know people I know, I've
covered a lot of coaches. I don't know too many people I know doctors.
You know doctors you dealt with big administrator. I don't know anybody with
bigger egos and coaches. You're right, I've seen them. I mean some
doctors maybe, but sure they save lives. Maybe. Some lawyers yeah yeah,
good point, good lawyers. But you understand what I'm saying. They
can solve the world's problems. Just give me the job and I'll do it.
Uh. If you see this is this is this is that situation where
you can't fire me. You can't you know, I'm Bob Huggins. Yeah,
guess what you're here. And the thing about Huggins is that he did
what he did, but there was still room for people to say, you
know, poor Bob, you know, he blew his career because of this
stuff. Even with the homophobic stuff, there was still room for him and
say, look, he was still a good guy for the most part.
He's still a Hall of Fame kind of guy for whatever hall of fames he
might be eligible for. This rex all of that, it's Bob Huggins was
a spoiled, egotistical turn and now, you know, let me wash my
hands of him and get him the hell out of here. And he's he's
not gonna get He's not gonna get any honors from West Virginia University because of
all of this. And if if his ego needed all that, well that's
too bad. He's not gonna get it anymore. Yeah, yeah, well,
we'll see what happens. It's likely I agree with both you, Slim,
the nun zero whatever, it's all zero at the end of the day.
Yeah, and they'll be fine. I would not be surprised though,
that he will get land a job somewhere else in the next year. You
think he will Yeah, yeah, at this right, I don't think no,
I don't think he will anyone. I think this recks that. No,
he's gonna want to bring this guy. Dave Bliss got a job,
Patito's got a job. All these guys have gotten jobs. This is a
this is a don't drink anymore. Okay, you're right. I would never
hire I would I wouldn't. I wouldn't hire this guy at minimum wage.
Totally get totally get it. But he'll end up somewhere, whether it's a
small or d one. I mean, I wouldn't let this guy flip burgers.
Okay, but he's a good coach, he's the way, his approach
is different. But he'll he'll find a job. He'll find a job somewhere.
The thing is, he screwed up at his alma mater, right,
he was a graduate of West Virginia. Yeah, he did great since then,
so you know he was born there. I mean didn't grow up there,
but he was born there. Yeah. My bet right now is that
he'll find a job. Think yeah, time wise, Yeah, you're so.
You think it out one year and then he'll get a job. Wow.
Yeah, yeah, you gotta question any administration that does that, of
course, but they're out there. If these guys, if these other guys
could get a job that they're looking you want to win. You know,
the price of the price will win is is a cost leap and this is
just part of the car Yeah. Hey, look at Northwestern. They want
to keep their coach, so look what they did. Yeah, yeah,
it's just the way. You know, some of the smartest people on the
planet are involved in this stuff right right in Northwestern. No, but you
would assume that stuff. Like the smartest guys in the room, they're missing
some things, right, they're missing little pieces of common sense, mostly that
that causes stuff like this too. That happened not in this case, not
in West Virginia's cause West Virginia is one hundred percent in the right saying,
look, you resigned a hundred times the hell out of here. You know.
But Huggins, who probably thinks he's a pretty smart guy, and his
lawyers, who probably think they're pretty smart guys, are just screwing this up
in more ways than one, which is crazy. Yeah, no, I
get it. It happens all the time. Yeah, to me, it's
not funny because there's been some some tweets, people posting stuff on Twitter at
social media talking about how nothing happens in the summer, and then listing all
the stuff that's happened in the summer over the last several summers. It happens,
right, It happens all the time. This going on. Now.
You had USC UCLA leaving the pac twelve last year. You had Oklahoma and
Texas the year before. You had COVID stuff the year before that. That's
another thing. I know. You get to work back in school pretty soon,
right, You're gonna be busy, your assistant sports editor, yes,
and then some other things that you're gonna go, Jason, You're gonna be
You're gonna be busy because it's a lot of crops gonna hit the fan.
Maybe not in the next week before deadline, but it's more. You can
see the blat everywhere. And it's been I remember a year ago because it
happened right now, right, and we made the bet September one, which
is which was thank got it was a premature bet by you. But here
we are and there's another crap thing on. We still have nothing from you
still have you still have nothing, nothing from the and everybody still worries about
it. If you you might wait some more time. This is a pregnancy
that's gone long. Yeah, this baby's overcooked. It's just the way it
is. I mean, just gotta you know, about fourteen pounds now and
still in the womb. As they say in Spanish, yapa. You know,
come on, let's go. What's the point now now? But eventually
that will happen. There's a lot of things going on. You have a
couple of weeks before football starts. Yeah, they go to the PAC twelve
media day first, which we're probably gonna have Yogi Roth on twenty first is
next Friday week from Friday. Yogi Roth from pactwelve Networks has promised to come
on during the week to kind of preview some of that stuff, and so
we'll have a chat with him about you know, he went to all the
spring games and reported on all the teams and stuff, so get him into
talk about some stuff. Right. I still think that we haven't heard who
they're going to take to the petro of media day, right, but I'm
assuming I know, but I can't tell you. Okay, then don't don't
worry about. But Dolora, I'm assuming Delora is one of them. He
has to go. He has to go, otherwise it would look bad.
Yeah, I think, uh, but I'm not the pr guy, ye,
But if I were the b other guy, I'd say he's got to
go. Well, we've talked about you know, they should probably do something
ahead of that so that they don't have to deal with it there without question,
right, without questions. We had that a long time ago. Sure,
sure, sure, no question. He's gonna have to deal with it,
but it'll be less, right, it'll be less Yeah, there's still
be a few leftover questions, but he could get the meat of it done.
And this would make the locals happy, right because they get first crack
exactly. And you know this. We're locals, but we know how the
nationals work, and we get pissed off when the Nationals come in and they
get the stuff that we can't get. Correct. I go, I know
I've been pissed off about that didn't come on showing on all these talk shows
that we can't get it. Perfect point perfect Sean Miller talking to whomember all
his buddies nationally and guess who screwed him in the end. The nationally it
was the national guys, be careful what you dance with exactly, okay,
because you might do bad things to you. You might find somebody else to
dance with. Okay, let's go. Can you tell her we're a little
bitter, yeah, a little bit, yeah, feeling a little a little
you know, betrayed. Right, We're glad that little radio show to talked
about it. What we got to. It's what we do. All right,
We're gonna be back. There's there's still some other breaking news going on,
so stuff including stuff with the All Star Game tonight, and then we're
gonna have Elijah Rushing, the five star recruit coming out of South Point Catholic
that committed Arizona last week. We'll get his, uh, his thoughts on
where things are today as he's made the big announcement to now uh just seen
as the second coming right at Arizona. So we'll be back in a little
bit. H