This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jagan Zala sound Fox Sports
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R two SA at iHeartRadio Station. Hey, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome
to I on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera,
He's jaygan zawas in with us today and Elise and intern possibly in turning
training intern train. We have three still far that's probably good enough right for
the summer. Well, I will see you and I will be gone day.
But it depends on how much time you and are going to be spending
away from the microphone. We're already counting up the days, right. Well,
Ryan's in with us today. Good to see everybody. Another day.
A lot of bricky news there, at least. I'm sure you're wearing a
lot of stuff going on to your Lakers. I know, I know.
Are you crying? No? Not really? I was expected. How can
you get excited on a team like that, for a team like that,
Well, I think it's the hometown team obviously, because let me because we
have hearts. You have a heart. Still, we love our teams,
right, It's like I don't even know how to answer that. It's like
I just do it's my team because he doesn't. He doesn't, he doesn't
have one, and he doesn't do that. I don't know have a heart
like no, like that question, grumpy guy who doesn't care about any teams.
How's how's that heart working out for you? You know what? As
through all the heartbreak that I've gone through, still Azora, I still have
it. And it's not black like yours. Oh no, it's black.
It's getting dark because it's it's it's not good. It's not healthy because you
know, eat through through like I mean, I'm sure you don't give up
on your teams, right, never give up on your teams as bad as
it do you. I don't have one. He doesn't he has he doesn't
have any don't have anyone. There's no recent to I like to sleep on
ourselves. I'm not a graduate. I don't know nothing. He used to
be. I don't care if the exactly you're a journalists. Of course you're
just supposed to be like this. You're supposed to And he used to be
a Cowboys fan and a Red fan. And he's not a fan of you.
You just stopped being a fan because they don't win. You get out?
Wait wait you epitome of a bandwagon. Then when I jumped off,
and I haven't gotten back on, And you know why he hasn't gotten back
on because there has been a reason to get that fun for you? Oh
yeah, yeah, I sleep better. I don't care about who wins.
I mean, the Lakers aren't keeping me up, the Dodgers or Arizona.
What go back to? No, No, because it doesn't. I realized
a long time ago that it doesn't really matter. Chip for them, no
chip for them for a good game. Here's here's a question. So,
and I've asked the kids that we have on and some of the guys that
we see in the press pressure conferences, they're mostly you have a grads,
they're younger and Juligrat's true. Yes and how yes, and you've been there,
How do you change or decipher who are you going to be? Your
bias or own bias. He had to get out because he was not going
to be well. It was it got too hard for me. But I
was during the time that I was covering Arizona, I thought I was very
impartial and didn't really care. If they want now, I'll tell you the
one time I know that I cared, and I've told you this before.
I cared when Arizona was in the was in the Lait eight against North Carolina,
but not because I wanted the Arizona to win. For Arizona's sake.
I wanted to cover a Final four. That's why I get there. And
that's a long time ago. But you understand what I'm saying. Those people
in the rooms, and you've heard the questions, there is almost apologetic sometimes
you know this, You've been there. Yeah, I do you think now
that you point that out, I think it's interesting that sometimes they are sympathizing
with the coaches after a loss. Yeah. Oh, and there are certain
reporters that are on a bad should lead fans of the teams that they cover.
I should understand what I'm saying, Understand what you're saying, and I'm
not. I'm not you a grant, so I have no skin in the
game. Do I want them to to win? Sure? Because it's easier
to cover a winning team than a losing team. I think I've been able
to do both though cover and obviously I'm a fan, I'm a student.
I think I've been able to completely do both write unbiased articles, make unbiased
packages, and completely cover the athletic department as a student unbiasedly. Yeah,
and that's I think lots of people can do that, And that right there
is the definition of being a professional. You're a professional about this. I
thought I was very professional about because I went from I mean I went from
a blood in the water guy fan Arizona fan to just and with air Zona
football, I'm covering them all of a sudden, and now I got to
just cover them and be very impartial about it. And and I was,
you can separate it, right I did. I did separate it, but
I got tired of it. I wanted to go back and a fan,
and that's why I got out of it after the time that I did.
But but my point is that through all of that, Okay, I'm a
Dodger fan. I've always been a Dodger fan. You know, Steve was
a Reds fan. I think you can do be where we are covering the
sports that we cover, covering Arizona, covering you know, high schools,
covering people, all that stuff, and be a fan of you know,
a fan of a pro team and be open about it. I'm a fan
of the Dodgers. Steve has given up on the team that he was a
fan of growing up because he's He's like, what's the point? There's no
point for my end, But I think there's a point. There's not a
point. I think no, there isn't a point other than to have something
to kind of watch a good game, that's all. But it's fun when
you have saying it, when you when you like the players, when you
have a deeper reason to watch the games. These kids, I don't really
care. Steve, you're the outlier of this. Are you are the outline?
This will be like you go to those to go to those media guys
that we're talking about right now and separate Arizona, Say do they are they
fans of teams? They are because because they're normal people like you. No,
No, you know, just In Spears is a you know, a
fan of the Lakers and Chargers. Hey, there's no, I'm not a
wrong answer, and they're not a wrong answer. Wrong answer because just because
you feel that like momentum, Oh god, it always comes back to this
every single week in my mind, how does this have anything to do with
what we were talking about. It always does. We always get back to
show. That's right, you know what, give it to him. It's
your last show. You know, you know you can. You can kick
them under the table if you want. That would work for me to Steve.
I think you're the outlier on this one, okay, because people who
people who are fans of sports. I'm going to make a general statement.
You can say it's I say it's a fact, you can say it's an
opinion. People generally who are fans of sports, love football, love basketball,
whatever. They're fans of a team somewhere along the line. But they're
not journalists. I mean there's a difference. There's a difference journalists too.
Maybe, okay, maybe, but not me, not anymore. I know,
I know you're not. At the end of the day, it means
nothing. It means nothing. I don't think it means nothing. I mean,
why do you think, why do you think there's teams and all this
money pumped into sports because people care because it means something, because it means
something, means something bigger. But it means nothing to me. I know
That's what I'm saying. You're the outlier. You're money to go. The
one that doesn't make you're the only one. You're the one that doesn't make
anything. Change the channels. I'm okay, good point. Okay, let's
come back on track. All right, Let's get back to where we were.
Where we were, that's it. We're talking about lakers there hours we
started the show. Here's here. Okay, perfect, perfect thing. Okay,
I'm gonna continue the conversation. You knew, you know, she cares,
and that's why you brought it up. Okay, So it does matter.
It doesn't matter to her, that's why Astra. Yeah, okay,
so asked her and you and you find did you hear the Lebron's question to
a or answer to a question about my breaking news? Actually about it next
year? Then I'll leave it alone. Yeah, I'll leave it alone because
he's right, all right, he's right. Okay. The tennis people are
wondering when we're gonna start talking about them tennis. You tell them, all
right, we're gonna be talking tennis the whole second and third segments of this
this hour three fifteen. Clancy shields breaking all I don't know if you call
it breaking all kinds of records setting a new standard, I would say for
for men's tennis at Arizona, three straight pack twelve record season championships and now
the first PAC twelve Tournament championship over the weekend. They're a number nine seed
in the NC Double A tournament coming up starting this weekend, So he's going
to join us at about three three twenty, let's say. And then we've
also brought in Ryan Stotland. He's the women's coach, and they are in
the tournament, in the NC Double A tournament for the first time since twenty
fourteen. So we're going to talk about some tennis with both of them over
the the last two segments of this hour, and then in the second second
hour, right, Ken, how can we you know? Did you see
his photo? Did you see his most recent photo? Did he have a
press commerce today? Oh? I didn't see that today. We've better changes.
We got to clean it up. Well, I went, I must
have been befo. Well, obviously I put his picture up before the press
conference because I didn't see that. So he's got his baseball picture. What
did you see it? You'll see, Oh, man, he's a little
bit basically they made him shave right in his noise. He's like, well,
I saw a pass picture of him and didn't realize he didn't have any
hair. He probably appreciated the photo back of the day. That's pretty funny.
Yeah, so we'll get to that. That's exciting. He became the
new a d recently. He had a press conversation. How I just that
doesn't even look I know exactly exactly. He looks like Michael lev good luck.
But I'm a fan of Mike. So you are a fan of someone,
all right, Well, we're gonna have to shoot a picture of him
for we'll get a from. He had a tie on and every from So
that's a big deal. That's a cool deal for him. And we'll talk
about that in the second hour and know how he's going to do both jobs.
I have a question for you, Steve. Are you a fan of
any individual players? Uh? Are you root for any players? I follow
Steve Kerr obviously because we covered him back and he's a good dude, good
dude. But no, just follow, just follow. No, but you
don't root for the Warriors because no, like pretty much. That's why I
root for them. I root for them. I don't care if they win
to lose. But I'd like to see them. If he bets on them,
you root for them, but you don't care if they want right,
no, if they lose. She's looking at you like she's like throwing baggers
across the table here in time if she stays in this business show, totally
understand what I'm talking about. You want? Jay doesn't understand. I don't
care. Look at your time. I think I have to take that a
little bit. I really do. You're that's your exhibit? I wind?
Oh my god, Okay, okay, So could do a study on this,
Yes, you could journalists cover more year. There's your thesis getting masters
Ye, perfect, see your dick semester. Why do you think so far?
Ryan? What the hell am I doing in this room? This is
kind of the discussions. Should have seen this when we were talking about Blue
blod basketball team. Oh yeah, you know that. Let's not go there.
No, No, it's not today. Okay, cool, cool.
So it should be a lot of the stuff Ricky news. A lot of
discussion with the tennis obviously. Uh and I don't know about you who.
We talked about this with coaches and you used to play a volleyball. You
kind of still do what mind you kind of well, you're gonna still do
well, that's what I do. What makes a good coach a good coach?
And we're talking in the let's frame them in the context of what you
would call a players coach versus somebody who's kind of stands away from the team,
right, you know, can you you know Steve's the comments Steve made
and we talked about this quite a bit yesterday. What Steve said, you
can't be a good guy to the players and win championships, that's what That's
what he said. I kind of agree with that. Yeah, that's what
you were kind of saying about John Shire, right, he doesn't enough something.
Yeah, of course, I think at a high level that's true.
At what's your level? What's the high level like in Division one? Know,
call it b Yeah, right, because after they were talking about Vogel
with Phoenix, he's a good guy. I mean the first thing you say,
he's a good guy, but he doesn't doesn't get across to the guys
because he doesn't have that bain in the ass. Yeah, I think at
a high level, when you're dealing with players that have an ego, you
have to you have to put the hammer down. Yeah. I don't know,
if you've had this kind of experience with coach and stuff, would you
say, we're interviewing her right, you know, did you feel you were
did you prefer or did you feel better or play better for a coach that
was really nice to you or a coach that maybe was a little hard on
you you're a little afraid of them, Maybe didn't. I would go with
the second one. Yeah, my high school coach, she was an Olympian
from Alley. While she was an Olympian, she won a bronze medal eye
thing. So she was tough, like she pushed you pushed us. Yeah,
but also she was funny and like off the court, we had a
good relationship relationship, but in practice, I knew there was no messing around.
You come to practice to work to play. It's game time, you
know. But you wanted to play hard for her because of that. Yeah,
and I respected her obviously she had a bronze medal for us. Sure,
and that's kind of what we talked about. Hey, you know,
and at least you know how you doing. It's hard to play for people
like that, even though you were even if you respect them. Yeah,
I think off the court though, you have to be able to you kind
of have to like them. Yeah right, you can't. Yeah, yeah,
you can't hate your coach, but you might not like the way they
treat you on the court or something like that. But you if you don't
hate them, then you're likely to, you know, respond to that.
Right. Being club, we only got ten seconds? What do you have
in club? Do you have a like the coaches? They kind of I
felt like we're almost didn't care that much, you know, would and I
didn't like them. I don't know if I should say this. A lot
of our team didn't really like them off the court and felt like they actually
don't care about getting to know us on a personal level, and so kind
of hard because and I also don't respond. I don't think for college club
sports like punishing people like you have to run if you mess this up.
I don't think that that does not work, right, Yeah, I don't
think punishments really work at this age. Like I'm twenty two, you're not
that much older than me, and you're making me run because I you know,
but you did it, did something wrong, of course, just like
you kind of put your head down and do it here we gotta go.
All right, let's let's take a break. We're going to be again talking
to tennis the rest of the the rest of the hour. First up,
Clancy Shields, head head coach of the men's tennis team, to talk about
their appearance in the NC douable A starting this weekend. So stick around.
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Rivera and Jagen Salvias. This is I on the Park on Fox Sports fourteenth
fifty. Hey, welcome back to Eying the Ball Hero Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
I'm Steve Rivera. He's Jagan Sauce. Now on the phone. We
have Classy Shields. The best coach on campus Arizona Men's tennis. He really
means that, he really means that. Clancy, You've said it a lot
bunch of times for this might be the luckiest coach on campus. Well,
you've done it consistently, so that doesn't happen by accident. So hey,
congrats. We had you maybe a month ago, no like two weeks,
two weeks ago. Yeah, congrats. First time to have a PAC twelve
Championship, tournament championship, tournament championship leave the state of California. Yeah,
really a surreal moment for a program. I mean, the last PAC twelve
championship, the last time in Ohi, California. I mean there were about
a thousand people there and yeah, that was our main goal in the year,
was to win this title that has been eluding us for forever. And
we were able to get done and to be and many coaches, I was
the top five team of Stanford and who's had you know, twenty national championships.
I mean, it was an unbelievable mind just super proud of our guys.
I mean, to do it for zero and commanding fashion was really a
statement. Well, well, let's talk about that, because I mean,
did you sense that your team on that kind of a role or did it
just materialize? I mean, I don't know if you can tell that you're
playing, you know, at the top of your game like that, to
be able to do something like that against such a good team, I mean,
did you see it coming at all? You never know? We every
day I wake up, you never know, Yeah, but you know we
You know, we won our first round against usc They had won the championship
four years in a row and we barely beat them four two, and I
kind of jumped on the guys after the match, like we need if we're
going to win this tournament, we got to bring something special, and I
think it kind of woke them up, and they played lights out the next
two days and it's probably some of the best I've seen them play all year.
So we're definitely peaking at the right time and that's exciting as you go
into the NCAA tournament. How many times have you had to do that jump
on your team to get them motivated? Because I have a question as we
get deep into this tournament, So how many times you have you had to
do that? Yes, probably four or five times this year. And I
think it just get them to refocus. And but they, I will say,
some teams don't respond to that. Our team responds incredibly well when I
kind of get on them a little bit, and I don't want to say
yelling at them, but it kind of a wake up of hey, guys,
if you want to do something special, we have to We've got to
do things a little bit better and execute better, and come together as a
team better and have great energy as a group. And certainly, maybe I
told you last time, you get to do it four or five times a
year, I might be at my max. But we used We used it
at the right time, and I think it helped our team to get over
the top. So in full transparency here, I really want to see these
sideline reporters ask players or coaches or whatever right after the game, what does
this mean to you? Well, obviously means a lot because you know you're
playing for a championship whatever. I'm gonna ask you what does this mean for
your program? Because you've been winning, and you've been winning for a while,
but this is a step you hadn't taken. So what does it mean
and what kind of mileage can you get out of this going forward? Yes,
you know, my brother texts me going into the tournament and this jokingly
said, Oh, you're only a regular season champion coach, you can't win.
Wow, not like I mean, yeah, I hear you, but
that is true. We haven't won in the tournament. And you know,
I think we win regular seasons because we're a consistent team and we show up.
But then in the tournament, you know, the better team kind of
wins. And in the past few years, you know, the talented teams
from SC and UCLA and Stanford, who in some respects have been more talented,
have have been able to put it together in the tournament. And this
year there wasn't that talent cap they You know, our team has come a
long way and getting better each and every year and to be able to do
that, so I was proud of that. But for our program, I
mean, it's eight years of hard work from so many individuals, to get
to this point, and especially our senior crew. I mean, those guys
have given everything to this program, and you know, it was fitting for
it to come down to our fifth year senior to clinch our match and to
do it in that fashion. I mean, it was just really special for
me and special for our program. And now you know we're one of the
elite teams in the country and that elevates, that elevates you to be able
to do a lot of things and to try to take this next step towards
competing for a national championship. So Clancy, when you first arrived here a
few years back, did you I'm sure you would hope this would happen,
but did you see this happening? And maybe at a point, I don't
know, five ten years whatever, of course, you know, I think
when I walked in the room the first year here, I told the team,
we're going to win when this conference one day, and I think everyone
in that room just rolled their eyes back to me, and for a good
reason, we lost. I lost my first nineteen matches in the PAC twelve.
The first two years I was here, I never won a match in
the PAC twelve. And you know, and then we just we just kept
doubling down on recruiting the right kids and working hard and finding our identity.
And our identity is you know, and it showed in our final match against
Stanford. Those guys are just talented beyond belief, and our team is just
tougher than no And anytime that they tried to open up the match, our
guys were right there to fight it off. And and I think, you
know, it was one of the best compliments you can get from your opponents
when the coach tells you you were just tougher than us, and it's like,
that is the greatest compliment anyone can hear from an opposing coach, And
hey, you were tougher than us. When you think back to those first
two years, though, I mean, how how dark was it and when
did you feel like you were seeing the light? Well? I can remember
at the end of my second year, we lost a heartbreaker to Washington for
three and there were three or four guys crying after the match and they were
like, is this ever gonna happen for us? Coach, Like, we're
working so hard, we're doing everything right, We're doing everything you've asked of
us, and that's just in sports and in life, like don't give up.
I just I think I just told the team just don't give up on
me, you know, don't give up on yourself. And I think that's
part of like the words that we use in our program, don't give up
on me, don't give up on this program, I need you. We
talk about like, you know, if I if someone tells you, hey,
I need you, this team is like, Okay, I got you.
You know. I think those are some of the words that we used
early on in this process, was don't give up on me, trust in
this, in this, belief in this process, and I need you guys,
you know, and they've been able to respond to that. I'm curious,
because you've been here a while now, did you get a lot of
texts and calls after after winning it from your past players say I knew I
believed in you. Yeah, it was really special. I mean one of
our things as well in this program is to be in the moment. And
I just told our team, you know, as much as we can,
like put your phones down, let's just be here together and share this moment.
And then the next day, Yeah, I mean it was kind of
you know, I can't imagine what a football or basketball coach deals with.
But yeah, I had about, you know, two hundred and fifty messages
of former players and colleagues and people who are recognizing you know what it is,
because yeah, these are long nights. There's a lot of things that
go into winning a championship that no one's ever going to see. And you
know, I think that was really nice for that to be acknowledged. But
at the end of the day, the most special thing was to hear from
our former players. We're talking to Clancy Shields, head coach of the PAC
twelve champion men's tennis team. So Clancy, now you got to put this
behind you. And you've got NCAA tournament you're hosting this weekend. Uh.
You've got Boise State, uh coming in at one o'clock on Saturday. You
said, Saturday Friday, one o'clock Friday. Uh. You got Boise State,
Pepperdine and Auburn play earlier in the day. But okay, how do
you how do you, you know, get past this huge moment for you
and your program and your players and move on to the next thing. And
yes, that's a great question. We haven't done a great job of that.
You know, in the past years we've had you know, we've won
the regular season and then we've immediately had a letdown and and you know,
that's that's totally normal in sports. And I think we've the experience that we
have in this locker room is that we've learned from having these immense highs and
then like having a really bad low. And I think that's our team knows
that they have to be able to refocus. And we all talked in California
after the tournament, let's celebrate this success without Santa's. You know, success
without celebration is a sin. We're going to celebrate this this weekend and come
Monday morning, we are not going to discuss it. We're not going to
talk about it, or we're just going forward to the NCAA tournament. And
we had a great practice eight am Monday morning and everyone was dialed in.
So I'm feeling very confident. And I'm sure you want to beat your brother
at school. Yeah, yeah, I mean this is two years in a
row that we're going to have to play them, and we have a ton
of respect for their program. But he certainly he texted me during the tournament
or called me and I stepped out and he said, I hope you have
your war paint ready, and I was like, all right, let's go.
Yeah, So tell us a little bit about what the fans can expect
to see who come out and see you play on Saturday. And you know
your opponent. I mean, yes, I think we have the toughest number
four seed in the NCAA tournament. I mean, this team has won back
to back conference championships. They you know, I speak with my brother every
day about our team. He knows our players inside and out. Their players
will be very well accustomed to the heat here and the you know, the
noise our crowd brings, and I think they're going to be really ready to
give us a strong test. And you know, I just I just told
our team, guys, get the bulldozer out and let's let's let's let's get
it doesn't matter who we're playing, we got to get through everybody. And
if we're if we're fortunate to get through that first round, then we're going
to play quite possibly the two seeds, which is Auburn and they beat us
last year in the finals of the Blue Gray Classic. And I'll promise you.
Their team is the same team and our team is the same team,
and we all remember how much they were celebrating in front of us after that
loss, and so we I think our guys would be very motivated. This
is kind of a weird technical question. So how do you how do you
what do you know about the other team before you play? I mean,
how do you scout? Do you scout or how do you scout? You
know, we know basketball coaches you know what, and football coaches watch all
kinds of film. How do you figure out how to play these guys?
Well, it starts when you're in the recruiting process. Every one of those
kids at those universities we have recruited, We've watched and we've been watching them
since they were fifteen sixteen years old, and so you kind of get a
little framework of what they do. And then you know, throughout the course
of the years, you just keep notes on everybody and so that when you
get into these matches, you have a game plan of what you want to
do. But I think part of our philosophy is not making it too complicated
for our players. I mean, the game plan is simple, play your
game, take your shots, take your swings and we're going to help guide
you through a game plan during the match. But these kids, these kids,
if you overload their brain with some complex game plan, then they're not
really letting it flow and letting it ride. And we want to certainly play
our own game. It also must be special that the women have done so
well and the men for a special year. It is I don't know if
they're I mean, besides the women's coaches and players, I don't think there
was a happier person in Tucson to see them do that. I mean it,
you know, they really are. Yeah, we're one program in a
lot of ways, and we share the court from the facilities, and we
watch their matches and we're really invested in each other. And there's this it's
a great storyline. Their first time in ten years, and they you know,
all these coaches work hard here at the u of A. But but
in particular, our women's staff has worked the bus off. Their players have
worked hard, and they they've they've they've been on the cusp the last few
years, and I was just so happy they got over the top and now
they can kind of set that bar of like, Okay, this is the
this is the bar. This is the standard, and each and every year
we're gonna be We're gonna be dancing and going to the tournament. Maybe one
last question for me, but tennis comes off as this this stuffy type of
game. But you guys kind of have fun on the sidelines and all that
stuff. Is that true? Is that accurate? It's college sports and this
ain't no country club. This is this is supposed to be the best moment
of these kids live. I want them to be their true and authentic self,
to play with passion and and our players play with that passion and joy.
The fans see that passion and enjoy and they want to join in with
them. And I think that is what you're going to see this weekend.
You come out to the matches at the Ropes and Tennis Center, you're gonna
see a bunch of a bunch of warriors that are going to be competing for
Arizona and they're gonna play their hearts out, and it's just you're gonna fall
in love with these kids right away because you see how hard they compete.
Okay, so tell us about tickets and all that kind of stuff, and
there's I mean, there's are there more than one match going on at a
time or is it or is just one at a time? There's one match
going on at one at ten am, which is going to be between Auburn
and Pepperdine and then we will play to follow them at one pm. No,
but I'm talking about individuals, like you know, is the one you
know singles match at a time or are there multiple matches going on during your
match? So there, it starts off with doubles. There's three doubles matches
that goes on and that's for the first point, right, And it's like
if anyone wants to watch tennis, you have to come to the doubles point.
It's fast paced, it's a ton of energy. There's three awesome storylines
going on. And then after that then we play six singles and it's the
first to four points. And so the great thing about college tennis is if
you don't like the storyline going on in court one, go to court two.
There's a great storyline over there. If you don't like that one,
go to courts for Herman, he's the most fun kid you'll ever watch play
any sport. I mean, it's just a fun team to watch and it
is a yes. The first to four points wins and it's usually around two
hours two and a half hours the match, and so get there early.
It's going to be a packed house. Fantastic, right, Okay, okay,
Clancy, Well, appreciate it. Best of luck this weekend, and
uh, you know, if you go win the national championship, we'll get
you on again. How about that. I love that. That sounds like
a plan. Thanks for having me on tap. We got to go to
break, Yeah, we got we do. We've got Ryan Stotland, the
women's tennis coach, coming on here in a few minutes. So he'll be
on about six minutes from now, So stick around for that and we'll talk
to more tennis. 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
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on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jake Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteenth fifty.
Hey, welcome back to I on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
I'm Steve Rivera, He's Ja Gonzales. Now on the phone, we
have Ryans Tott Lamb, the Arizona women's tennis coach headed to the tournament.
How you doing right, We're doing great. How are you fine? Thank
you? Congrats? Congrats? How did how did it feel? It feels
amazing. It's a great feeling. So. Uh, we've talked about the
fact this is the first time in ten years, so obviously something that you
know, as as Clancy said that you guys have been on the cusp of
this for a while. What was it that you think got you over the
top? I think just the confidence the kids had. Basically they believed that
we were better than anybody. We walked out onto the court with even top
ten teams that we competed against. So I think every we just battled harder,
we were mentally stronger and just getting through this. Uh, Basically,
these road trips and getting the wins are really tough, and so that was
a that was a big deal this year and it was a fun, fun,
fun progress really to see these kids grow. Some of them had to
come from you to kind of instill it into the into the players or how
did that come about? Just the confidence? Yeah, I mean, I
think just just setting the standards and expectations of what we what we can do
here, and so I think so in my first year, we had some
fun stories about you know, getting our first conference win for the seniors ever
and things like that that steps onto the court when I first got here,
and you know, just turning around to ending, like when we walk on
the court, there's nobody better than that. So it was just a long
you know, long I guess five years of being to play during COVID but
along five years of just building and instilling this this culture that there's there's nobody
better than Arizona. So uh, during the course of the season, you
know, obviously some ups and downs, you know, because you had some
wins and some losses, but you know what, what was there a sort
of any kind of a steadiness to what you guys were doing. And how
did that, I mean, how did that feel? How did you feel
about this team? Throughout the season. I think it's a special team.
Just even if we didn't make it, we we just have a special group.
We have a great kids. They they look out for as teammates and
that's just an individual sport. But this team is really together as a team,
and the culture is amazing and it just makes every day feel like it's
not work. They do a great job of just making it fun and also
doing the struggle of sports and the growth of what they want to become.
I would say, well, well, tennis being you know a bit of
an individual sport, but you know you have there's obviously a team aspect to
this. How does that work? You know when you know that you know
each individual has to go go out and do their job, but you know
they're they're trying to win their match. But then somehow it host to all
be to being in sort of a team concept. How do you as a
coach work that? Ah, well, you still every day just thing you
understand that they're going up there to perform and there are kind of an island
by themselves. I always compare to like boxing, because like physical tests where
you have to set out the pieces that you don't have anybody in for you,
So you got to figure out how how to juggle that. And I
think the biggest thing hitting the team carimaraderie, because in our sport, nobody's
played a team event probably ever until they get to college. And understanding how
important your energy and your body language and your demeanor really flexed upon the team.
And so I think we will focus mostly on the team and the individual.
We kind of a little bit trying to understand that I saw on TV
you guys were watching the brackets. Was there any doubt that you would not
get in? We didn't have a party because we didn't think we were getting
in. Wow. So when you saw the saw the name, you were
obviously very ecstatic. But what gave you that impression? Just because of our
ranking time to get in, we knew, you know, pretty deide where
we were at. Our season was very good and we were ranked where no
teams were not got in where we were, so we were very very confident
where we were at. All. Right, you're breaking up just to scope,
so I don't know if you can position your phone a little different to
help us out here. So tell us tell us a little bit about you
know, okay, going into this tournament. You're traveling, you know,
how do you you know, get as again, we talked to Clancy,
how do you do you foor you of getting in? Now you've got to
get back to business and take care of the business of you know, trying
to go and win you know, some matches. What's your what's your approach
to that? Well, I think we've been competing every weekend for many weeks
in a row. I can't remember how many, probably two months. So
we just got to prepare like we did for the conference championships. We have
a couple of days and we're out of here, so we're playing at our
highest level. We really don't need much. We just need to go out
the opponent and understand what we need to do individually and be ready to go.
But we're playing at a high level, so there's not much we need
to fix right now. So you got here six years ago, what were
your hopes uh to get to the tournament? Obviously? But did it come
faster than you thought? Did it come later than you thought? And did
you think this was possible? Yeah, we thought as possible. Obviously.
I think this is the start, is my my my hope is that was
always let's get to the NCAA's and start there. And so I don't know
wis coaches we want to get there our first year, but I knew it
would take the rebuild from where we started. So you know, for us
it's never fast enough as coaches, but I know it was. It took
some time, and it's it's it's bitter, it's sweet because those six years
that we've been dealing with all these close calls, the players have not given
up on anything, and now we're there, and I think this is only
going to just help promote our growth and get us there more and more often.
You talked about the start, so Plancy said when he first got here,
he didn't win his first nineteen matches. How was your start and what
were you thinking? Well, we started pretty well. Actually well we we
got off on a pretty good start and we won our first conference match,
I believe for our seniors. So it's a funny story with our first I
think it was against Utah Is our our girls won and it seemed like we
had won. Wimbled, and there was tiers everywhere and everybody was, you
know, ecstatic basically to baffle me a little bit to where I had to
set the standard and go, we're going to be these teams all the time
dat. So you know that reset the expectations that you know, this isn't
a this is a joyous experience, but we don't need to over celebrate because
we're going to do this on a routine basis. And so seeing seeing where
it's that now, where we go take care of business and the kids expect
it is just a fun, fun change to see from where we were six
years ago. So tell us a little bit about your team. Uh,
you know some of the individual players and you know who's kind of been you
know, sort of at the at the front of what you of what you're
doing in terms of you know, leading and being the examples and those kinds
of things. Talks a little bit about some of those players. Oh,
we have just a great team overall. But I mean our seniors always have
led by example and just get it done. So Kayla Wilkins and Brando intertial
Gingi they just they they do whatever it takes for the team on and off
the court. Uh. They they fight for everything. They're just awesome people.
They give back to the community. They're just they do every thing right.
They're just picture perfect student athletes. So okay, so now tell us
a little bit about what you know, what do you know about Oklahoma.
You've got them up. I don't know if they're gonna be a little mad
about the Alimo Bowl, if that even comes into this, but we know,
but you got them. Yeah, they're a very very good team.
Actually, one of my former assistance is there now, so we've kept in
touch and he's a great guy. And they're a very very good team.
They're probably the best team that didn't host so there. I think they're seventeen
or eighteen in the country. Is they're a very very dangerous team that has
made the national championships, some of those players before. So we have our
hands full, but we're excited for the challenge. Okay, okay, all
right, So well one more question because uh, you know, we talk
again. We talked to Clancy about the relationship between the two programs. You
know, and you see, you know, the programs at Arizona men's and
women's basketball a lot of success. You know, men's and women's golf a
lot of success. You know, softball and baseball, so the sort of
the like programs, but tennis maybe you see each other a little bit more
right because you know you're at the facility or whatever. What's the relationship like
and how do you feed off of each other to have success like you guys
are having now. I mean Clents he has changed the whole landscapes of college
tennis by just basically showing that anything is possible because he's broken records year in
and year out, and now he's breaking records that are almost a century old
and nobody's ever done. So. I've known Clancy since I think he was
eight years old, and I've been competitors and friends with him for basically our
whole lives. But just to work next to him, I get to see
everything that he's done and what we're trying to do and accomplish it together.
And he's so supportive of our program, and I love what he's done with
his program. I think it makes all the difference in the world when we
get to work and we get to share all the things, what we develop
and how we recruit and just share all the knowledge that we have. Well,
Coach, we appreciate your time, good luck, Thank you, appreciate
your time. Thanks for having me. All right, all the best talk
to you. Yeah, good good. He talked about Clancy like them,
well, they've known each other forever. And I was just going to ask
you, but I didn't want to kind of pull on the interview. How
everybody knows everybody when you're kids and you're at this level, you're playing each
other all the time at that national level, right, Well, I mean,
you know, Clancy's playing against his brother on Saturday. You know,
Ryan's got an assistant on on you know, on the other team. They
I mean, it's you think it's a big circle, but often it's not,
you know, And it's like that in a lot of volleyball, right
you know, if you're playing club volleyball, you know all the players in
town, or you know all the players, you know. I think tennis
is even more like that though, because it's individual, so there's just less
people who play. And then I kind of think growing up they play each
other, play each other, and they travel a lot to different tournaments,
and like, you don't have a team, so those are your friends,
your opponents, you know. Well, you know, We've a lot of
people have talked about you know, in the NBA, right these guys have
known each other since they were all playing club ball, and that it's it's
led to a friendliness and a camaraderie that as we were growing up, our
teams, you know, teams hated each other. They didn't know each other
because they didn't grow up playing against each other. But now, particularly in
the NBA where you've got travel teams going all over the country, from the
time these these guys are you know, in junior high or whatever, that
they do know each other. So if they're in the NBA together, they've
known each other for so long, it's hard for them to be enemy except
for the competitiveness when they compete and then they kind of get into it on
the court. But then after the game they hug and kiss and lobber all
over each other. But okay, like what Kevin Kevin uh uh, you
know Kevin Durant said about about uh Edwards, Anthony Edwards, you know,
just talk glowingly about him. In the immediate aftermath, begets his ass kicked
by them. You know, you just didn't see that. I mean,
you would see teams show some respect. Yeah, they were really good,
you know, they would played the good team they beat it, But you
didn't see a player. You didn't you know, at least what I remember
growing up, I didn't see, you know, Dick but gets talk about
how much he respected Johnny Unitas because like he wanted to tear john United's head
off before the game, during the game, and after the game, explained
to them, who they're looking at me with blank eys. But but you
know, but but say you know a great player, an NFL player,
for instance, you wouldn't hear him say how great he thought an opposing player
was because he wanted to kill that guy. So when you played your club,
do you play it against guys or women who have the verge of playing
in the in the considerable a one one in a division one division's kind of
the point of club is because you're not going to do that. But you
have you played. Maybe there's some maybe grades, maybe something else that they
just didn't care of school and you don't know what I'm saying, they're they're
just not good enough. Yeah, that's kind of why. Or they chose
to not commit their whole life to volleyball and just still play a little bit.
You know, that doesn't where it doesn't take over your whole life and
you can still have a totally normal yeah. I mean there are definitely some
girls on my team who could have played D one but chose to not dedicate
everything and drop everything for this sport. You can have a life, yes
exactly, but that's but it is kind of for most people, it's kind
of like, well, I really love this, but I'm not going to
make it to the next level, so let's take a step back and just
play for fun. But you're friendly, right with with other players, you
know, other schools, teams and stuff like that, maybe because you've seen
them around or whatever. Yeah, I mean there were some you know more
at the like California tournaments because me being from there, like the u C
schools, like I played girls that I knew. Yeah that's high school.
Yeah. So you kill him, but then you don't want to kill him,
sure, you want to be Yeah, but it's like you want to
beat them because it's kind of that almost makes you want to beat them more
because it's like there's history there, right, or you're good, you know
you're gonna see him again. Yeah right, yeah, all right, you
want to kill him, you want to kill m Okay, we gotta go,
Okay, we just got to go. So we're at the top of
the Howard and at least it's gonna be back with breaking news. Let's stick around.