I mean, it didn't just break. This isn't something that is developing as
we speak, but within I don't know, roughly the last forty five minutes
or so, we did learn that Dan Hurley, who has won back to
back national championships at Yukon, has decided to stay at Yukon, and he
has turned down the Los Angeles Lakers. So I know many of you,
in fact, probably all of you listening, do not give a damn about
Yukon basketball. But most of us around here we love college basketball. It's
mostly because of the love we have for our teams right Louisville, Kentucky.
I know we have some Indiana fans around here too. But if this was
going to be such a big hit to college basketball, right, like losing
this guy who is in the midst of potentially a run will never see happen
again. I mean, whenning back to back is already impressive enough, putting
him in elite status. But if it was going to be such a big
hit to lose a legend in the making, some would say his accomplishment's already
make him a legend. Then I would say keeping him in college basketball it's
got to be a big win for college hoops. Right So that is the
big news, and I could be wrong. We'll discuss it. I mean,
we're not going to spend three hours on it. But I got the
sense that a lot of people who aren't Yukon fans but you know, care
about college basketball, wanted him to stay. Maybe I'm wrong, Maybe that's
just the way I saw it because I am somebody that wanted him to stay.
But I kind of feel like, even though again Yukon they're not a
you know, they're not America's team. Again, I don't even think they
have, you know, a gigantic fan base compared to some of the other
big brands in the sport. But I'm happy that he's staying. Now.
Maybe if he wins, you know, six in a row and it's just
everybody else played for second, maybe I would have second thoughts. But I
don't think that's going to happen. But anyways, that is the big news.
Dan Hurley has turned down Yukon, meaning Dan Hurley in one offseason,
has turned down Kentucky's head coaching job and the Los Angeles Lakers. My man
is on top of the basketball world right now. All right, let's do
it. It's Coffee and Company. We are field By Thornton's here on Sports
Talk seven ninety. Appreciate you hanging out with us. Hopefully you had yourselves
a good weekend. My name is Nick Coffee. I hope you knew that.
If not, now you do the man with the plan, mister Austin
Montgomery in the saddle this week as he's filling in for the company man John.
So I'll start with this. What a weekend for I guess do we
call it combat sports? I mean that's UFC, But we also had SmackDown
on Friday, and I feel like the city did a really really good job
of, you know, making it clear that if you want to bring these
kind of events to our city, we will do our part as well.
Yeah, over nineteen thousand people showed up for the UFC Fight. I think
they said that that was the highest attended, engrossing like fight nights. They
called it the Fight Night. It's not like the official like UFC two thirty
nine or something with like huge names. It was like kind of one of
the more of their side shows. I guess they're just kind of testing it.
I am a I'm a bandwagon UFC fan, meaning like i'll get I'll
get in if it's like a big, big pay per view that's been built
up. But yes, you're right, I learned what UFC Fight Night means.
That's what because it's not pay per view, it's just one of the
one of their you know, I guess regular events. That's that's not quite
as big as as the pay per views that they build up for a long
long time. But yeah, many records broken on Saturday as Yeah, it
was the highest grossing US UFC fight of all time, so meeting for UFC
Fight Night. So for this kind of event, again not their biggest event,
this one grows to more money than any of them, bringing in more
than two point five million, which that has now been put out there just
about it. And I'm reading this from WDRB. But whenever Dana White posts
about it, and you know, the graphics up and he posts that,
I believe like either night of or maybe first thing the next morning. Maybe
he does that all time, but I kind of feel like, at least
it seemed like Dana White was very happy that they brought UFC Louisville and hopefully
they decided to come back. So yeah, this is also the highest grossing
single day sporting event ever at the UM Center with nineteen thousand, five hundred
and seventy eight fans showing up, which is good. Now, how did
SmackDown do it? Was? Uh? I think I don't know the actual
number, but it was, uh, it was pretty crowded, I guess,
like the the very MIDI wrestling shows. So I'm just curious, like,
you know, did you feel like we did a good job at city?
Okay? Good? Absolutely, you know, the ties do eew and
everything like that. People in this city do love wrestling. Obviously combat sports
ties back to Muhammad Ali, right yep. And then of course with you
know, the ww used to have their developmental system. But I felt like
it was it was a you know how they say it was the crowd was
hot, the crowd was ready to just tear at anything. So it was
it was really really cool, really fun. So so SmackDown is every Friday,
yes, Raw is still every Monday. How so did they do it
different? Like they're all still within both both events are clearly WWE events.
Yeah, but at one point, you know, way back in the day
when I watched wrestling, I think it was like towards the end of the
Attitude era, when when like they were just two weekly TV shows, right,
they were kind of the same thing, same storyline, and at some
point they were kind of I think, didn't they do like a draft where
somebody was going to be on Raw, Somebody's gonna be on Smacked Them?
They still do that. Yeah, they actually just did that, I think
probably like literally the weekend of the NFL draft. That's kind of how they
kept up with it and drafted people from their their NXT brand and people from
just everybody just went everywhere. So usually they they kind of stay specific to
their shows. But yeah, this this one was smacked Down. Of course,
SmackDown's only two hours on Friday, so we're we're raws like three on
TV. Yes, okay, that's what I thought. They had like a
couple like dark matches like announced like after the show went off, you know,
just kind of make you get what you paid for, so just not
only there for two hours, they give you about another like forty five minutes
of just stuff that's not on TV afterwards too. When's the last time we
had Raw? Have we had it recently? Like? Is it them Center?
Like I know the ww's come, but I don't remember if we've had
Raw at the UM Center. It's it's been here a couple of times.
I think it's here. They come about one. They come about twice a
year. They usually have a SmackDown Anna Raw usually once a year, either
here or up in Lexington, down in Lexington. What about a pay per
view? We haven't had one of those in a long time, So I
remember in May of two thousand, I had to look it up and I'm
glad. I thought, maybe there's I thought to myself, I watched wrestling
around this time. I was twelve years old, and I'm thinking, Okay,
maybe I'll remember the name of the actual pay per view, but I'm
thinking, you know where where you're going. I'm thinking, you know,
you know what, maybe maybe there's no owl. Remember, but was it
Judgment Day? It was Judgment Day Freedom Hall in two thousand, the Rock
Vers Triple h and a sixty minute Ironman match for the WWF Championships on Michael's
special guest referee. Wouldn't shock me if that's the last time we had an
event like that, or you know, pay per view for Yeah, I
think they probably had just like a few, but obviously probably wasn't during that
was like when wrestling was high, you know, oh, and of Attitude
area, and that was That was actually the show where the Undertaker came back
after being gone for about three four years, and he debuted the American Badass
gimmick, which everyone loves now. He came out on the motorcycle. He
wasn't the dead zombie like he usually was. I remember, like you could
obviously notice your like if you've been to the Young Center or Freedom Hall,
you could probably watch any event and you know, not realize where it is,
and you know, talking about events from previous years, you're like,
wait a second, that's that's a the Young Center. That's a Freedom Hall.
But make no mistake about it. At Freedom Hall, you always knew
because they never blocked off that thing. That's right there, like by where
the Hard came hard camera would be a Freedom Hall. Yeah, just his
Freedom Hall on the side of it. But yeah, yeah, good stuff.
There's that legendary image of the Undertaker coming back and he goes to choke
slam step phone McMahon and that's all you see is just the Freedom Hall behind
it. The camera was shaken, dude, that's wrestling. I was I
was really into both right around whenever they were really competitive with each other,
WCW and WWF. Yeah, I mean that was I feel like I was
into wrestling for a probably. I mean I was into it big time for
probably about eighteen months to two years. Yeah, And I feel like it
might and I'm sure everybody says it's about their era, but I feel like
it might have been the best time ever just because of where things were.
It was. Even today still people reference that era as, you know,
one of the best. But I remember when I was a little bit younger,
when Goldberg was a big deal, when he was undefeated, my dad
took me to see a WCW house show in Lexington, And I got to
be honest with you, at that time, I didn't know what a house
show was. I didn't realize the internet wasn't. I mean, the Internet
was kind of brand new at that point. So for me, I just
thought, the only time they're ever wrestling is whenever they're on TV. Like,
I didn't know that they're in like different cities every day. Yeah,
And so we ended up going to WCW LEXI. I don't remember what I
thought about the day because I knew it wasn't on you know, Monday night
nightro knew it wasn't a Sunday for a pay per view, but we went
and you know, of course they wait till the end. Goldberg comes out
and we were in like the nosebleeds, but he had I mean, it's
funny looking back now because I think his whole his whole gimmick was kind of
corny and kind of kind of stale. Really, I mean it was it
was not a whole lot of dynamic there, right, Like he wasn't really
entertaining. He just came out and he tackled people and looked like a badass.
A bunch of squash matches. Yeah. So but I remember they brought
out some dude to wrestle him at the end, and it was somebody I'd
never heard of. I don't remember who it was, but I remember like
not knowing who he was. I mean, it was just a jobb or
to come out there and get mopped. And I remember we were on the
way home and I was like asking, like who was that guy? I
think because my dad had to break it to me, like yeah, just
so you know, like every time, like you know, it's always they're
not always going to be these big events where they're gonna be live on TV.
So occasionally, you know, if you go see a you know,
a show that's not televised, like, you may end up seeing somebody you
don't recognize. I see something you've already seen before and they're just doing it
again. So yeah, I learned early, you know how how how it
works, and I remember kind of being disappointed. But yeah, wrestling,
were you an nWo or Degeneration X guy? Oh? I mean, honestly,
they were. I mean I had air. I mean, I like
when nWo went Wolfpack, I had a hard time, not like, you
know, thinking that those guys were badass. But I would say overall,
the group of of uh you know what do you call? I mean,
they they were a group, right, I mean you had the tag team
grow Dog and Billy Outlaw. Yeah, but they were. I mean,
that's the best group of wrestlers that work together collectively that I can think of
in my lifetime. But I that I was a fan of, right,
I'm sure everybody has their own preferences, but no, whenever, I mean
d X was cool as hell. Yeah, I mean we were all getting
in trouble, getting you know, getting written up at school for doing this,
for doing the sucking, you know what I mean. Yeah, of
course, yeah, so I had no clue what that was too, you
know, oh yeah, I mean we didn't realize how vulgar it was.
We didn't realize like what you were actually saying, and even if you did,
you kind of just quit. We forgot about it because you didn't care
because you're you know, you want to be the heartbreak kid. Shawn Michaels
or Triple H. Yeah, my first, my first time watching wrestling,
like and kind of like, you know, kind of knowing what was going
on a little bit. It was before Triple H became the Triple H.
It was when he was like the snobby dude from Connecticut. You remember that,
right, like Hunter Helmsley or he played like yeah, Hunter Hurst Helmsley.
He was like like an aristocrat something like that. It is funny seeing
the gimmicks that these guys had previously before they became you know where they became,
you know, over and had a great run that. But you like
that, you like that wrestling terminology to deep cut. That's something that I
think because I know, I know you like were probably one of the biggest
stars in Netflix. Wrestlers show absolutely your famous lines about losing money. It
made talk about burgers too. Yeah, it made wrestling ways. And I
know that you you kind of like, uh, I wouldn't that's as a
I guess you'd call yourself a casual, right, You're not really die hard.
If it happens to come one, you might just turn it on for
a little bit. Have you just noticed, because we talked to Cody Rhoades
was actually in your studio, the ww un Disputed Champion. He came through
the other day, And a lot of people in the wrestling community seem to
think that today's wrestling is kind of, at least with the WWE, it's
almost as big as was the Attitude era. Probably maybe not pop culture,
but I mean I see a lot of people reference it still. I mean
they obviously the WWE's kind of still sends belts out to teams like the championship
teams, even the Kentucky Derby winner. So like, as what do you
necessarily think about that? I know it's probably not just as popular, but
money wise and everything like that, you probably see it on your screens on
your Twitter just as much like what do you think about today's wrestling. It's
a really good question because I am an outsider. I am somebody who does
not tune in to watch wrestling really ever. In fact, if I am
in any way watching any kind of wrestling or keeping up with it, which
is not much, it's usually OVW because of my involvement with Craig and Matt
and those guys out al mostly now. But you know, so for those
who don't know, maybe we have listeners who don't know the story. Craig
Greenberg and Matt Jones bought into OVW years ago and had and brought me on
to not even really sure what it was they wanted me to do, but
basically help out with money, you know, part time thing to kind of
help him out and us. It's been an experience. I mean, it
hasn't turned me into some like big wrestling fan, but it has. I've
learned a lot about how a lot of the stuff works as far as business
that kind of stuff. But anyways, when I first met Al Snow,
who I still talk to all the time, work closely with him on some
stuff. He's a great guy. And if you watched show Wrestlers on Netflix,
what you saw is exactly who Al is. He's He's a great guy
and I really appreciate his friendship and it's been great getting to know him over
the years. But I was doing what normal people my age would do when
you first meet Al Snow talk about, Oh, I used to watch you
all the time on Monday night row we wanted, you know, yeah the
head like and I was just kind of you know, shooting the you know
what with him about it, and I'd you know, again, this is
somebody at this time I had. I mean, I still don't know much
about wrestling as it is today, but you know, I was that guy
thinking like, you know, back in the day it was big dud.
You know. He was just kind of saying what a lot of folks say
that that era, the Attitude era with Stone Cold and the Rock and all
that. I mean, that was a great era, and it was so
popular outside of just wrestling, like it became mainstream like it you know,
it seemed like if there are people that had a brief, just a brief
moment in their life where they were into it and kind of invested in keeping
up with the storylines. It was probably during that stretch just because of how
widespread it was as far as popularity, and I sort of asked him,
so, you know why, like what's changed that? Like did you know
why? Why isn't that the case anymore? And this goes back to your
question, Austin. With the power of social media and the Internet, you
can now just market yourself way differently, right, Like there are endless ways
to market wrestling to people. You know, the Internet didn't used to exist
at all, and then when it did at that point twenty something years ago,
it was nothing like it is now. There was no social media.
Probably a lot of people probably had dial up. So with that, you
know, there's limits. I mean again, you didn't know what you didn't
have because it didn't exist yet. However, now and this time, I
always remember we didn't have Like I couldn't go to Stone Cold Steve Austin's Instagram.
I couldn't, you know, I didn't. I didn't find him on
MySpace, right, I wasn't watching him on a YouTube podcast. So the
only time I ever saw him was when he was running out, chugging beers
and whooping ass. So it was the only image I had of him,
which made it very much, you know, it made it to where the
storylines. You know, you don't really you don't really find yourself like considering
is it real because the only instance you see this person is on television in
that character. Yeah, you know people, people would go to work and
you know probably think like, I hold, my boss didn't pissed me off
today because I'm I'm gonna whoop his ass like stone cold. Like you know,
like you could get caught up in it, you think if you really
give it some thought. I think everybody knows what's going on. It comes
to the storylines and that kind of stuff and how it works, but you
could actually have a bigger imagination because there was nothing in front of you to
distract you from what the character was now and and and and you know as
a bright guy, he's been in a business for forty something years. But
it makes total sense now. You see wrestlers that are in a storyline where
it's building for I don't know, weeks, maybe maybe months, depending on
who it is, But then they'll have Instagram stories and posts of them hanging
out with that person, being casual and friendly. Sure, and even though
we all kind of know what's going on, don't throw it in people's face
that it's that it's that it's you know, choreographed. Yeah, and I
never thought about that, but that's so true because I think in a way,
it's hard to argue that the Internet and social media and technology hasn't helped
a business like professional wrestling, because it's probably helped a ton of businesses,
right, like it's a new world. But also pre digital, pre internet,
you had the ability to capture people and hook them in because again I
think if they give it some thought, they know what's going on, but
you could get lost in it a little bit better. That makes sense.
Yeah, no, it makes perfect sense. I couldn't I couldn't have put
it to you anywhere. You can imagine if you would if you just had
the the heated rivalry those Snow Cold and and Vincent man had, right,
and then you just happen to go on the computer and just see them shaking
hand and just having a beer outside you you wouldn't be what you would think
it was fake or something, right, Yeah? Yeah, so I meaning
you know, like there's no way they're actually friends. They have to hate
each other. He just hit him over the head with a bedpan in the
hospital, Like great, stuff, dude. Right, So if anyone's never
went out to a WW event, go the production's amazing that they always have
a good time for the family. Yeah, and you know, it's one
thing I have I've really learned to appreciate with with Alan what they do at
OVW is because I'm not you know, I'm not I'm not I'm not into
wrestling itself, you know what I'm saying, Like, I'm not like,
Wow, that guy's got great in ring you know moves. Yeah, that's
just not me. So where you really can hook me, even if I'm
not really looking to get hooked and maybe watch for an hour or so,
it's with the writing in the storylines, and that's you know, that's really
really important. So and it's one thing you'll see if you haven't watched the
show on Netflix called Wrestlers that does feature obw Al Snow and Matt Jones,
Kreig Greenberg, those guys. I'm in a few episodes and my role is
so important. They didn't even put subtitles on when I was speaking like they
did everybody else. But anyways, it really does. I mean, would
I tell anybody who asked me about that show? Everything you saw is exactly
what it is. Like there's I mean, it's that's real. But the
wrestlers who put in like the time, the I mean, I just I
can't even I can't relate. Like, you know, you have people that'll
drive six hours to wrestle in a match for you know, fifty bucks.
Yeah, and you know drive back the same night, and like that's not
considered like something crazy to them. That's just what they do. They sacrifice,
and you know, you can be. One thing that does make me
kind of sad about it is you can have everything, like everything you would
ever need to be a superstar in that world. Meaning you could have the
look, you could have the charisma, you could have the skills to talk
to an audience, you could go heal, you could be a great face.
You could have it all, but you could still maybe never have your
big break. Because that's just like it's not just about I mean, it's
it's timing, it's opportunity and that h like that's something everybody I guess knows
when they get into that business. But man, yeah, you know,
seeing people who've done it for twenty something years that are still grinding away working
another job, just hoping one day they get a big break. Yeah,
I mean that's that's that's sacrifice though. Hustle man. Yeah, it's it's
a hustle Well well yeah, well welcome to the wrestling show, right,
Yeah, here we go. We're gonna talk wrestling the rest of the way.
Actually, what we'll do here is we'll take a quick time out.
But what I want to do on the other side, let you guys hear
some reaction from the Big News as Dan Hurley has decided to say no to
the NBA and remain at Yukon. Who else broke the story, of course,
it's Woje, so we can talk about that. Also. I don't
have any thoughts on Kentucky baseball making the College World Series, but it is
a big accomplishment for him, and I think what it's done has had some
Louisville fans, you know, kind of miss this part of the year where
it used to just be the norm. Right, you get to the regional
round, you host, you do the thing, and then you at times
have been able to host a super regional, and it's been a while since
that happened. In fact, Louisvill's missed the NCAA tournament three the last four
years. So Dan McDonald, I don't think he's going to South Carolina.
I think they've already. I don't know if he removed his name or what
happened, but I think fans just want this thing to be successful again.
So we can get into that and a lot more. Stick with us.
It is Coffee and Company. We are fueled by Thornton's right here on Sports
Talk seven ninety. Now back to Coffee and Company. A few of my
thortens on Sports Talk seven nine day. That's right, Coffee and Company.
You're rolling along here on a Monday afternoon. Hopefully you guys had yourself.
It's a good weekend, getting another week started here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
My name is Nick. Coffee to the company man. Mister John Alden
is on vacation. Hopefully he's enjoying himself. So we've got mister Auston Montgomery
in the house and much deserve for John. Yes he needs it. Yes,
I mean he told me about the thirteen hour drive he was making straight
through, which it just sounds I don't know. I have been, uh,
I've been looking at driving long distance much differently since having children, because
it's just a totally different world. And I know a lot of people say,
well, hey, just get you know, do it to the night,
give the kids a tablet. We tried everything. It's just not Oh,
I'm sure you haven't tried that one before. Our family is not meant
to do really long road trips unless we stop and make it like a two
day thing, which you know isn't usually convenient for people. So if we
can, we try to fly. But John didn't have many kids, just
him and his wife. They left on Saturday, I guess early Saturday morning,
and hopefully he's enjoying himself. Yeah, you're right, Well deserved break
for the company man. All right, So the big news is that Dan
Hurley has decided to stay at Yukon, not go to the Lakers, turn
down a seventy million dollar contract. We'll let you guys hear what Adrian woj
Narowski said as he broke this news earlier today. He's been I mean,
he's the first person who broke the story that he was even a candidate,
and that since the beginning of this search, they've had their eyes set on
Dan Hurley. And I feel like the way the news came out last week,
it seemed as if you know, it was about to be announced any
minute that he was leaving, right because I feel like that story breaking by
Woje while he was, you know, live on ESPN's National Show that morning,
it felt a little strategic. I don't know if it was on the
Lakers part or if it was on Dan Hurley's part, but either way,
I just felt like, if he wasn't going to take the job, it
wouldn't have it wouldn't have broke that way to where you know they want him.
He's gonna go visit him and his family, and sure enough, you
know he went heard LA's pitch. They were gonna make him, I think,
one of the top five highest paid coaches in the NBA and he decided
to stay at Yukon. Does this mean he stays at Yukon forever? Kind
of makes you wonder, right if you were, I mean, this would
have been the perfect time to leave. I'm glad he's staying, But you
just went back to back national championships. You can be a phenomenal coach,
you could be one of the best ever and not keep that momentum because it's
damn near impossible. And the Lakers, I mean, the Lakers. It's
the freaking Los Angeles Lakers. Now, when it comes to college, you
know, you CON's not the best job in the country by any means,
but he turned down Kentucky. So like, if you're Yukon, you must
celebrate this, like you just won another national championship. Who knows if you
get another one with Hurley, because again, those things don't come easy.
But being a Yukon fan for the last five days and then getting this kind
of news within the last hour, so it's got to be. I mean,
I bet the entire state of Yukon is partying. I don't know what
else they do up there. Never been to the state of Connecticut that I
just say this sires. Yeah, Yukon's not a state. Connecticut's the state.
Yukon is the school. But you guys know what I mean. So
yeah, I think it's good that he's staying in college basketball, and I'm
happy that he is. Seems very rare because now, especially the money's tight,
right, so everyone's looking for that next promotion. Sure, from any
any head coaching at any level, whether basketball or football or hell, even
in football, you hear one year of like a good offensive coordinator under somebody
the very next year. They're just taking the next better job. They hardly
ever stick around, so good for him. Yeah, And I'm curious how
two things One, what is the equivalent to this? Has there been a
coach at any level of any sport? And I guess you know you'd have
to be either high major, college or professional ranks. But think about it.
In what off season this guy turned down Kentucky, which I mean,
I know you know that you could say that Carolina or Kansas is the best
job in the sport. I can hear. I can hear an expl I
can hear a case for any of those three as far as the best jobs
in college basketball Kentucky, Kansas, and North Carolina. But if I'm being
honest with you, I would actually, you know, I hate to say
it, but it's just what I think this is. I can't even speak
because it's just it's uncomfortable, comfortable for me to say it, but I
think Kentucky is the best basketball job in the country, not by a wide
margin. And again I could hear a case for the other two, but
for him to turn down those two the Lakers in Kentucky. Give me an
example, of that something similar happening. I can't think of any in the
same offseason. I mean, it's crazy. So one thing though that this
could just be people piling on the Lakers for not getting who they wanted.
But Matt Norlander put this out there earlier today. He said, as we
wait for Dan Hurley's decision to stay at Yukon or leave for the Lakers.
One bit of context that I found interesting in talking to a few NBA sources
over the weekend is how lowly regarded the actual Lakers job is within NBA circles
and where it ranks versus other organizations. I mean, I can't be the
only one thinking it's because of Lebron. Yeah, I mean, I mean
you're not alone. I won't claim to know that if they're the best rand
organization as far as personnel on the front office, ownership, that kind of
stuff. I mean, I know enough, but Lebron is one of the
best of all time. But I can see teammates not wanting to play with
him, not because he's a terrible person, but just you know, he's
Lebron, Like, there's a lot that comes with that. He's you know,
it's just it can't be a normal situation for a franchise when Lebron's involved,
because Lebron kind of decided everything, and they can dress it up and
act as if, you know, he's not really calling the shots, but
we know he is. I mean, so I could see coaches, players,
really everybody involved like not really wanting to play with Lebron. But then
again, he's Lebron. Therefore, if you're somebody that's a GM or an
owner, I mean, that's that's why the whole Bronni James NBA draft situation
is just is it's unique because it sounds like the Lakers are going to draft
him, and they can try to tell us it's because of development and they
think he's got a lot of potential. No, in fact, don't disrespect
us, don't don't patronize us by trying to tell us that you would be
drafting Bronnie James for any reason other than his father wants you to draft him
and his father also works for you. But if another team drafted him,
it would be like, for example, if the Orlando Magic ended up taking
Bronnie James, I don't know, with like the fifteenth pick, it would
be because they know that would mean, Lebron James would then come and play
in Orlando, and what are they going to do? They're the right,
That's like they could probably have more jersey sales, more attendance, more eyeballs,
more viewership, more notoriety than they've ever had if Lebron's playing there with
his son. And I know a lot of you are thinking, like,
what are you talking about. Don't you remember when Penny and Shack were there?
Don't you remember when Dwight Howard took him to the finals? Yeah?
I remember all that. But like, Lebron is different, and there's a
reason he's talked about more than maybe any athlete on the planet because as much
as some of his opinions and the way you know, Lebron is just I
don't know. I don't know. I've had a tough time for years describing
Lebron because I do respect how great he is as a player. Sure,
I love that I've been able to watch his career from start to finish.
I think he exceeded expectations, which is insane considering what those expectations were.
But because he's been a superstar, and I mean like a global superstar since
he was like fifteen years old. He has zero ability to read the room
and understand how he comes off. He has no self awareness, and it's
it, you know, like he'll say things that I don't think he's doing
to be a jerk or to be you know, because I think he's done
many things that are that make make him appear to be a kind person.
But you know, just some of the things he says, I'm like,
come on, Lebron, Like, come on, Lebron, Like I want
to offend you. I don't want to look back in fifteen years when you're
retired and think of these nonsensical things that you say that I know you don't
believe, but you know you can't get out of his own way. I
just sort of feel like that definitely played into the factor, and Dan Hurley
seems very content with really trying to build himself as a college coach at the
place he's at. I think, I mean, just look at the turnover.
It just happened. Happens to be under Lebron and just coaches that he's
had with David Blatt, Tyron Lieu and then Dark Darvin Hammond's that was his
name with Darvin. You know, it's these these these slackles that that obviously
Lakers want to build now they're not going to sit around and want to wait.
I figure that that's something what Curl Turley has kind of been doing.
And the college thing ranks recently up until like the nil thing, and you
could probably equate it to I don't know the closest thing I could think of.
I mean, they just won a championship was Michigan, but Jim Harball
did. But I know, for the last couple of years, I'm sure
there's been like Florida jobs and maybe Florida state jobs. Hell, even during
the Texas A and M coach search a couple of years ago that a lot
of people you're just gonna stay at Michigan and he's and he's turned down several
jobs in the NFL up until leading to that national championship. So you're right,
there's really nothing like comparative about it in terms of coaching, like literally
on top of the college spectrum, and then the only place to go now
is go doing on a pro level, and they still turn that down.
Yeah. I think I'm glad you mentioned Harball because when he won a national
championship, he finally broke through, made a couple of college football playoffs,
then he won the National Championship, and it was quite clear he was going
to be pursued by some NFL teams. And when he left, I mean,
that's a national championship coach leaving his alma mater where he was on top.
But there really wasn't a whole lot of surprise because he's already been in
the NFL. And when you win the title, I mean, there's a
good chance that it's only going to go down from there. You may get
back and win another, but like that's not guaranteed. Like I think leaving
something in great shape, going out on top is you know, to me
that would be important, but to others, you know, I'm not sure.
I mean, with Dan Hurley two things. One I think I think
Dan Hurley is very, very comfortable in his own skin. He know.
I mean that the pardon my take interview that we played some clips from last
week that had him talking about the NBA, and again it's probably something that
nobody paid attention to when that interview actually happened months ago, but he did
say he always has had interest and will have interest in the NBA. But
he then went on to say that, like if you've watched you know,
he watches himself on the sideline, like he knows people in the NBA don't
coach like him. So I'm sure there's a lot that went into it,
but I do believe he was well aware that, Look, I know I
can I'm super competitive. I can win and be successful. Look at what
I'm doing at Yukon. Could I do it in the NBA? Yeah?
If I can coach the way I coach, the Lakers can tell him,
you know, we're going to support you. You're going to be able to
install your own offense, You're going to be able to really develop these players,
like you're going to have a close grip on everything we're doing here from
a basketball standpoint, from a personnel standpoint. But if he was to ask
them a straight direct question, can I coach the way I always? Can
I take what I'm doing the way I do it, the way I coach,
the way I motivate? Can I take what I'm doing at the college
level and do it here in the pro level with the Los Angeles Lakers,
They couldn't mean they could allie to them, but they couldn't with a straight
face tell him yes, because it's just different. And if you're so successful
doing it the way you're doing it, the way you want to do it
right, not really catering get anybody, but just doing your thing. I
mean, yeah, maybe money would be a motivator to potentially change, but
you don't even know if you'd be successful. Like I think you can look
at the look at how different those leagues are and how different it is coaching
college kids and it is coaching pros including Lebron James, And it's not like,
oh, I'm not very good, so I can't do it. It's
like, no, that's not my style. I'm not an NBA coach.
I'm a college coach. In fact, he used to be a high school
coach and he was like the biggest hard ass I've ever seen when it comes
to coaching high school kids. I mean there's videos of him from back in
the day before he got his start in college. So yeah, that's big
news for college hoops that Dan Hurley's deciding to stay at Yukon. And this
is the news when it broke by the one and the only mister Adrian coach
Nrowski, what can you tell us about how this all came to be Shay
Dan Hurley just informed his players, his administration that he's turned down the Lakers
job. He's going to remain at Yukon chase a third straight national championship.
I'm told he was offered a six year deal worth seventy million dollars that would
have put him among the top six highest paid coaches in the NBA. The
Lakers were relentless in their pursuit of Hurley, but ultimately his opportunity to make
history of Yukon to win a third straight title, to do that for the
first time potentially since the John Wooden UCLA teams was too much to walk away
from. At Yukon obviously back to back national championships, and Dan Hurley was
really taken away by the Lakers courtship. He spent Friday out in LA with
his family with Rob Polinka Genie Buss and there was a lot of momentum walking
out of that room that night. I'm told you know that Dan Hurley very
well could be the next Lakers coach, but he came back East, and
ultimately, I think the timing of this again with a team that's preseason top
five Alex Caraban, his best returning player, returning to school, pulling out
of the draft, a lot of factors, but the NBA has always been
an ambition of Dan Hurley's and the chance to talk to the Lakers, to
be offered the Lakers job and really sit with them on a vision of what
it looked like. This was not an easy decision for him. You know,
he viewed this. I'm told it's really a once in a lifetime offer.
Now, he had already been talking with Yukon about a new deal,
about another contract after winning his back to back title that will put him among
the highest paid coaches in college basketball. But they'll eventually, i'm told,
finish that up. But the Lakers' money was substantial, nearly twelve million dollars
a year, and again Hurley thought long and hard about this. This is
the twentieth anniversary of the Lakers courtship of Duke's Mike Krzyzewsky. He stayed at
Duke, and now Dan Hurley returns to the two time defending champion Connecticut Huskies.
So that's that's the thing to see that, you you know, Yukon
still putting together a contract for him. They I guess collectively have been working
through since he won back to back titles, which again, all that makes
total sense, but I just think, you know, he's so on top
right now. The Lakers were about to offer him seventy million. Can Yukon
really not dig deep and find a way to making the highest paid coach in
the country. I mean, maybe that's not as important to him. Right
He's gonna make enough money and he'll be compensated. He'll be doing just fine
financially. And I'm sure he understands that Yukon doesn't have the money that in
Arkansas or a Kansas has to throw at their basketball coach because they just don't
financially bring in that much money. Maybe Dan Hurley just likes biggies football.
Maybe, but I mean it could. I mean, I don't know.
It's to hear that he's turning down the Lakers after winning back to back titles
to come back to Yukon and yet he still won't be the highest paid coach
in college basketball. Just you know, it's not a crime. And again
there's an explanation and forth, they don't have the same amount of money.
But I just feel like with him coming back now, you would do whatever
you can to get round up every penny possible to make him, you know,
the highest paid coach in the league. But yeah, big news,
no doubt. Quick break. We need to get to uh right here,
and then we'll come back. Keep this thing rolling along, wrap at the
three o'clock hour. Don't go anywhere, keep it locked right here. It's
Cofee and Company and we are fuel bout Thornton's right here. On Sports Talk
seven ninety Well, this is not for real the field. Rohn't no where,
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Feel my Thorttens on Sports Talk seven nine day. WHOA, All right,
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questions, complaints, compliments, insults, whatever you've got, feel free to
send them our way. All right. So this TeX's a good question that
came in. It says Nick, if you were Dan Hurley and Lebron was
involved on your visit, would you be more encouraged to take the job or
more afraid to take the job. So I think that's sort of a I'm
assuming that you're kind of leading the question with these two things. One that
if he's there, it could be seen as he is really supportive and he
wants you to be the coach, and he's Lebron James, so he's he's
making it a priority to let you know that he's supportive of it. And
he can do that because he's Lebron. Right, like a lot of NBA
players, even the good ones, would not be asked to join the brass
of the franchise as they host a coach they want to hire. So that's
I guess the way you could say, Okay, well, at least this
guy looks like he so far, this guy seems like he likes me,
and he won't, you know, go to the GM and owner and get
me fired. But I mean, I'm sure he did that with a lot
of the coaches that have been high to coach Lebron and then you know,
they all get fired, and I don't think that's a coincidence. But if
he's not there, maybe it means that, you know, the Lakers told
him, no, we don't, we don't need your help here. We're
going to make the higher that is best for the franchise moving forward. For
many many many years to come, meaning years that you will not be here.
I mean, Lebron did say that he doesn't want them to consider him
and he wants the organization to make the best choice, the best higher for
the for them, which you know, that's that's the kind of thing Lebron
would say. But we know he would get in the he would get in
the way, like that's just that's that's that's a perfect example of the Lebron
stuff I'm referring to, Like he'll act as if he's you know, he's
fu humble. Oh I don't make it about me. Well, then he
literally makes every single thing on planet Earth about him. That's kind of how
he's it's kind of how he's wired. So anyways, I would probably be
more encouraged that he wasn't there, because that would at least give me some
level of indication that the Lakers front office would, you know, one not
even not want him around because they you know, any players shouldn't be consulted.
But either way, it doesn't matter because Stan Hurley is staying at Yukon,
and that's that's a good thing. That's a really good thing. All
right. So we got Father's Day coming up here, and I've got a
list here from Yahoo that I want to share with you guys before we get
to the top of the hour. Here. This is a list of the
worst Father's Day gifts. So, I mean, twenty I'm somewhat of a
newer father. I mean, I'm not brand new, but my kids,
like my kids don't buy me stuff because my son just turned four, my
daughter is eight, and they give me gifts for Father's Day every year,
and they spend time with me and they tell me Happy Father's Day, and
it's you know, it's great. But like they're not out shopping. They're
young children. So I can't say that I've gotten a bad gift. In
fact, I don't, you know, literally, just being with them and
having a day is usually all that I would need for Father's Day. But
twenty six percent of fathers say they'd be fine with any gift they get.
But others say, yeah, I prefer you not to get me a gift
if you're you know, gonna get this. But here's some takeaway from this
article from Yahoo trying to figure out how they came up with this, Like
who they surveyed, Yeah, so they asked about two thousand people about their
shopping habits for the holiday, and it reveals which presents are most and least
appreciative about fathers on this special day. It says, it seems a lot
of dads just aren't all that picky, as twenty six percent say they'd be
happy with anything. They're lying but I can appreciate you know why they say.
That says there are some items fathers would rather not unwrapped this year,
and fishing gear tops the list. I can't tell you I've never received fishing
gear for Father's Day, Austin. I know you're not a dad yet,
at least not that you know of you. I mean, have you ever
bought your old man fishing gear? No, that's a Father's Day is Actually
I think like the my dad is either of my dad. I had two
dads, I have a stepdad in a biological father I'm really close with,
but same here. Actually they're like the toughest I feel to buy for.
Like moms are very easy to please, dads always play the easy to please,
but you still want to get them something. Dads do play that car
though I don't need anything, And although I think sometimes genuinely they do mean
that they don't need anything. But what I've found difficult is getting Like my
wife and I we get each other gifts. And that's for not only birthday's,
Christmas, but again for like Mother's Day, Father's Day. You know,
I'm the one buying her gifts from Mother's Day. She's the one buying
me gifts of Father's Day because not only are we parents together, but you
know again our kids don't go buy stuff. But I don't know what.
Like my wife wants something and needs something, she's gonna go get it.
Same thing for me, right. And I don't say that as if I've
got unlimited money. You want a new house, We'll go buy a new
house. I just mean like things that I can't put together a list,
right, Like every Christmas, I get an email from my mom, Hey,
what do you I need? I need to start getting some stuff for
you. Give me a list, and I'm like, I don't even know
where to start. Like again, there's not a lot of things. I'm
like, whom this would be a great gift somebody, you know, somebody
go buy it for me. But anyways, back to this list. This
surprised me. The number two here as far as the Father's Day gifts dads
don't want coming in behind fishing gear is golf related items. I'm not a
big golfer, but I feel like that would be a really on brand Father's
Day gift if your dad golf's Now, if you get your dad golf stuff
and he doesn't golf, then that's really stupid if you to do But why
would you do that? Right? Number three Hawaiian shirts. Yeah, that's
a bad gift. It's a dad staple though. Yeah, but like that
that you're just like you're mailing it in with that, right, like,
oh this looks this looks dad? Once you go and throwing the Nike Air
Monarchs in there too. Just get him the dad the Dad Starter pack.
Right. My mom always talks about getting my dad something like it's always like
it's turned into something like that, like work shirts or something like a polo
or like, I don't know, something like I will say this, there
are gifts for dudes. This isn't just Father's Day. This is just like
a lot of dudes get socks and underwear for Christmas because they they're not going
to go buy them themselves, because they're not really funded by it. It's
not that's not a purchase that you're like, yeah, I can't wait to
go buy new socks at the store. So getting the getting that person a
gift like father, brother, whoever may be. I mean, it's it's
actually a good gift because you know they need it and you're buying it for
them they don't have to go buy it. Yeah, but it's also kind
of a wasted gift, right, Like I don't know, I guess it
all depends on how you look at it. If it's something that you need
and someone got it for you, then that's a thoughtful gift because it wasn't
just a gift, it was something you needed. Yeah, But also,
like you know, there's not a whole lot of excitement there, like the
opening it up, seeing what it is. That level of excitement might last
a millisecond if it sucks, because again, you know you need them,
but you know it's not an exciting gift. How do you react to like
when do you open ah sucks or do you act like it's like the coolest
thing, Because sometimes it's fifty to fifty for me, Like I'll appreciate some
socks and a good pair of week's worth of boxers but like, yeah,
like you said, it takes a thrill out of it sucks some people.
Sometimes you just don't have the energy to act like you's the best gift ever,
you know what I mean. And I'm with you. I'm with you.
Number four was bow ties and number five was coupling. So yeah,
of all those items, yeah, I've never I've never purchased any of those
things for a Father's Day gift for my dad, my stepdad, grandfather's nothing.
So yeah, use cuff links? Ever? Do you have like a
tailored suit like that? I got a suit for my buddy's wedding last year
and it came with cuff links and we didn't use them, and I wouldn't.
Yeah, I don't. I mean, I guess I'm not fancy enough
because cuf links. Again, don't. I've never, even when I've dressed
up as dressy as as possible for me, which again is wearing a suit,
which is a rare occasion, I've never thought, better get my cuff
links. I don't need my cuff links on my Cole's cash jacket. Yeah,
I'm with you, all right, we got to run. We got
two hours to go, though, so stick around one hour in the books.
We're gonna keep this thing rolling along. A Monday edition of Coffee and
Company. Feel about Thorton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety