Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue Insider. Dick Gabrielle with you
Speaker 1: on a Monday following Father's Day. I hope you had
Speaker 1: a great day. Hope you had a great weekend, especially
Speaker 1: you single moms out there. People forget about the single
Speaker 1: moms on Father's Day, but I had one myself, a
Speaker 1: single mom, so anyhow, I hope you had a good one.
Speaker 1: I got a chance to get with family because my
Speaker 1: wonderful daughter's birthday was yesterday as well, so we had
Speaker 1: a gathering on Saturday of the family, the granddaughters. We
Speaker 1: had a good time, and of course being Father's Day weekend,
Speaker 1: we got a chance to watch a little bit of
Speaker 1: the golf. I don't sit through the entire tournament. I'm
Speaker 1: a golf fan when it comes to the majors, but
Speaker 1: I don't watch every stroke of every tournament. But I
Speaker 1: did watch JJ spawn when the US opened at Oakmont
Speaker 1: Up in Pennsylvania. Typical US Open course, really difficult, And
Speaker 1: I heard an interview with Steve Sands at a golf
Speaker 1: channel prior to the tournament where he said that the
Speaker 1: greens for the tournament probably weren't as difficul as they
Speaker 1: are on a given week but they still look pretty
Speaker 1: tough to me. And you had in the rain, which
Speaker 1: became pouring rain at one point, So what a challenge,
Speaker 1: and what a great finish by JJ spawn a huge
Speaker 1: birdie putt. He only needed a two putt, but he
Speaker 1: drained one and I think was sixty four and a
Speaker 1: half sixty four, Yeah, sixty four and a half feet
Speaker 1: that rolled in there, And it was great. It was
Speaker 1: great TV, It was great drama. Then we come to
Speaker 1: find out that this gentleman had been up at three
Speaker 1: am because he had to go to the pharmacy to
Speaker 1: the store to get something for his daughter who had
Speaker 1: been throwing up. So he had a sick little girl
Speaker 1: and still came back and shook it all out of
Speaker 1: his head and rally. He wasn't the leader going into
Speaker 1: the last round, but he won the US Open, So
Speaker 1: I hope that was fun. Coming up tonight, we're going
Speaker 1: to talk to Jim Deopolis, who's a longtime friend and
Speaker 1: he's been on the show before, but now he is
Speaker 1: an inductee into the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame,
Speaker 1: so he will go in alongside former Wildcat Danny Trevathan
Speaker 1: among others. Coming up at the end of this month.
Speaker 1: So Jim is a friend from way back when he
Speaker 1: was a grad student at UK. I was a referee,
Speaker 1: umpire official in the Inner Murals program and Jim was
Speaker 1: my boss. He did our scheduling and things like that.
Speaker 1: And from there he went on to be a high
Speaker 1: school referee, a college ref in the OVC, at the
Speaker 1: SEC and the National Football League, and even worked a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. So now going into the Kentucky Pro Football
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame. And he's always been at these events.
Speaker 1: And I talked to somebody last year, so why isn't
Speaker 1: Jim Dappolis in the next thing? You know, I'm not
Speaker 1: saying because I said anything, but he certainly deserves it.
Speaker 1: Going in going to talk to John Hale of the
Speaker 1: Arow Leader about UK football, if it's merrow moving, how
Speaker 1: they're putting this team together these days, and we'll also
Speaker 1: talk football and UK women's basketball with Christy Thomas. Shankers
Speaker 1: are UK Radio Network pregame coverage along with Jeremy Jarman
Speaker 1: and Logan Stenberg. Season is right on top of it
Speaker 1: doesn't feel like it, but trust me, it is. It
Speaker 1: gets the summer gets shorter every year. I think we
Speaker 1: know this coming up next, we're going to talk about
Speaker 1: the College World Series. I know the Wildcats are not
Speaker 1: in it, although the state of Kentucky well represented with
Speaker 1: two teams in Omaha this year, Murray State and the
Speaker 1: University of Louisville. And I watched a lot of that
Speaker 1: over the last few days, and yesterday marked a great
Speaker 1: anniversary for UK baseball. We're going to relive that coming back.
Speaker 1: But I got to tell you, it's like anything when
Speaker 1: you get a chance to go to an event like
Speaker 1: the College World Series. Many of you have been to
Speaker 1: NC tournaments, to final fours, bowl games. They're fun and
Speaker 1: you want to go back. And yeah, I know I'm
Speaker 1: working these events, but it's still fun, and especially if
Speaker 1: it's for the first time, like the College World Series
Speaker 1: was for all of us last year. So we'll talk
Speaker 1: about that, we'll talk about some of the things that
Speaker 1: have gone on already in Omaha. But it's one of
Speaker 1: the great sporting events and I hope for all of
Speaker 1: our sakes, the program, the coach, the players, the fans
Speaker 1: of media, we get a chance to do it again.
Speaker 1: Say with us here on the Big bluon sider on
Speaker 1: six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the big bluon Sider
Speaker 1: coming up in just a few minutes. Jim Deopolis, former
Speaker 1: NFL referee. He's a UK grad. When I was there,
Speaker 1: he was in grad school and he ran the officials
Speaker 1: for the intermural program. So I worked for Jim. How
Speaker 1: little did I know he would go on to work
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl as an NFL referee. He is going
Speaker 1: into the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame coming up
Speaker 1: at the end of the month. So we'll talk to
Speaker 1: the ref in just a few minutes. But I did
Speaker 1: want to talk, of course about the College World Series,
Speaker 1: and I hope you had a great Father's Day yesterday.
Speaker 1: And Darren Hendrick posted are the radio voice of the
Speaker 1: baseball Wildcats, posted on social media reminding us that yesterday,
Speaker 1: a year ago, June fifteenth, a year ago, was the
Speaker 1: day Kentucky pulled off one of the great comebacks of
Speaker 1: last year's College World Series. Got a home run in
Speaker 1: the not bottom of the ninth inning and then a
Speaker 1: home run in the bottom of the tenth inning by
Speaker 1: Mitchell Daily to cap that come from behind when against
Speaker 1: North Carolina State. Here's a swinging of dribe today left
Speaker 1: Becos Nixon looking up.
Speaker 2: Daily wadens Daily Wins It Daily Wins It.
Speaker 3: Kentucky defeats at C State five to four on a
Speaker 3: walk off home run five Mitchell.
Speaker 1: Daily biggest home run in the history of the program.
Speaker 1: And it also was a game that included a two
Speaker 1: run homer by Nolan McCarthy, And I was watching some
Speaker 1: highlights somebody put up on social media as well from
Speaker 1: that game, and I had forgotten forgive me. But Kentucky
Speaker 1: had an outfielder named Ty Krittenberger last year. He had
Speaker 1: transferred in from Western Kentucky, played some early in the
Speaker 1: year and then kind of lost the starting job to
Speaker 1: Nolan McCarthy, became a pinch hitter, defensive specialist, and man
Speaker 1: they needed him because he made a huge catch, a diving,
Speaker 1: tumbling catch late in the game in centerfield to help
Speaker 1: preserve that win. And because he didn't get to play
Speaker 1: a lot, we didn't have much chance to talk about
Speaker 1: Krittenberger's background in the game notes. There were two Kentucky
Speaker 1: players last year on the roster who had relatives grandfathers. Well,
Speaker 1: I think one was a great grandfather. But Ty's grandfather
Speaker 1: was a well known general in the United States Army
Speaker 1: and was critical in World War Two, and in fact,
Speaker 1: I went back and re read his history and at
Speaker 1: one point General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme Allied Commander
Speaker 1: for the impending Allied invasion of Normandy in nineteen forty four,
Speaker 1: selected Krittenberger, the UK centerfielder's grandfather, as one of three
Speaker 1: core commanders for the invasion. But Lieutenant General Omar Bradley,
Speaker 1: who was selected later as the first Army commander by
Speaker 1: IKE for the D Day invasion, replaced all three of
Speaker 1: the core commanders. Looking for it says here different differing
Speaker 1: temperaments and commanders who had more combat experience, but still
Speaker 1: Krittenberger if you just google him, go to wiki. He
Speaker 1: had an incredible career and again one of his offspring
Speaker 1: went on to play centerfield for the Wildcats, a team
Speaker 1: that played in the College World Series. Yesterday's games were crazy.
Speaker 1: They usually are crazy, good, crazy, weird. You've got Louisville
Speaker 1: down to Arizona three to one going into the late innings.
Speaker 1: They make it three to two, and then they explode
Speaker 1: for six runs in the eighth inning to the Cardinals,
Speaker 1: and they beat Arizona eight to three. Arizona started that
Speaker 1: inning with an error routine ground ball to short and
Speaker 1: they brought in their great relievers and Louisville just started
Speaker 1: hitting the ball. An Arizona outfielder makes a mistake with
Speaker 1: nobody out, and a Louisville kid hits a sinking line drive.
Speaker 1: He tries to make a circus catch and misses it,
Speaker 1: and it goes and stead as a single for a triple,
Speaker 1: which came back to haunt Arizona. Obviously, there was an
Speaker 1: overthrow at first base. The catcher backs it up, snags
Speaker 1: the baseball, tries to throw it back towards second base.
Speaker 1: The ball popped out of his hand and landed behind him,
Speaker 1: and the kid didn't even know it. So meanwhile, the
Speaker 1: Louisville base runners are circling the bag and this kid
Speaker 1: finally realizes they yell at him and the ball is
Speaker 1: sitting behind you. It's not in the middle of the infit.
Speaker 1: It was just bizarre. But what U of l fans
Speaker 1: watching at home might remember is during the break between
Speaker 1: the six and seventh innings, ESPN's cameras caught Louisville coach
Speaker 1: of Dan McDonald getting into his team. I mean, and
Speaker 1: if if you like coaches that yell at players, you
Speaker 1: had to like this. It went on for quite a while.
Speaker 1: Here's here's about fifteen seconds of it.
Speaker 3: Hardly you get a bath ball in, right, you better
Speaker 3: showing out when the ball is going in, Fayed, We're
Speaker 3: not waiting coming out.
Speaker 1: I bring this up because I like Dan McDonald. I
Speaker 1: know UK fans are never going to cheer for U
Speaker 1: L but I got to tell you this is a
Speaker 1: good guy. He's a heck of a coach. But Doug
Speaker 1: Flynn and I talked to opposing coaches before games whenever
Speaker 1: we do broadcasts, and it's always just a real joy
Speaker 1: to talk to him. He is a real gentleman. He's
Speaker 1: a great coach, and he and Doug are very close.
Speaker 1: Doug goes and speaks to the Louisville team every now
Speaker 1: and then, you know, not necessarily just as an FCA speaker,
Speaker 1: but as a guy a former big leaguer, you know,
Speaker 1: just so he see. There's the same thing with UK players.
Speaker 1: But I really enjoy always talking to Damn McDonald. I
Speaker 1: respect what he's done at Louisville, and yeah, this was
Speaker 1: And by the way, don't think for a mint and
Speaker 1: Nick Manjeones doesn't do that. I've never seen him do
Speaker 1: it in the middle of a game. I'm sure he has.
Speaker 1: He generally waits till the game's over before he really
Speaker 1: gets into his team. But it was just interesting that
Speaker 1: it happened on this stage. You know, the College World
Speaker 1: Series National TV is teamed down, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 1: So that was a really interesting moment, and, like I said,
Speaker 1: a bizarre game as Louisville comes back still in the
Speaker 1: loser's bracket and has to fight its way out of that.
Speaker 1: Cardinals next play Oregon State tomorrow at two o'clock. Today's games,
Speaker 1: there's one going on right now because of course we
Speaker 1: pre record. My apologies, I cannot tell you what's going
Speaker 1: on right now between Arkansas and Murray State, but I
Speaker 1: will tell you this. One of the great moments came
Speaker 1: after Murray State's loss to UCLA. Racers fell behind, made
Speaker 1: it a game late, they fall six to four on Saturday,
Speaker 1: and in the interview room after a young man named
Speaker 1: Dustin Mercer, who is a right fielder, and Murray's five
Speaker 1: to four win over Kentucky back in March, Mercer had
Speaker 1: an RBI single, but he was asked by a reporter
Speaker 1: about the fact that He's sitting up on stage at
Speaker 1: the podium behind the mix with a smile on his face,
Speaker 1: and was always seemed to be smiling even though his
Speaker 1: team lost, and he gave a great answer.
Speaker 4: I thought, you keep smiling.
Speaker 5: I know, obviously the results not what you wanted, but
Speaker 5: just kind of talk about, you know.
Speaker 3: The attitude kind of going into obviously Monday, which is
Speaker 3: the opportunity to be playing here.
Speaker 5: I mean, obviously it's baseball heaven here. I was talking
Speaker 5: about it yesterday, Like I walked around. I've never felt
Speaker 5: famous before until I got here. Those kids don't care
Speaker 5: whether I'm going to the big leagues or I'm done
Speaker 5: playing in two weeks. They just wanted to talk to me,
Speaker 5: and I think that's a really awesome experience. So I
Speaker 5: know he lost and that's things he really does, but
Speaker 5: keeping that kind of mental attitude of those kids are
Speaker 5: here to watch us, and I mean that's super cool.
Speaker 5: I mean, Skirk's son, he just loves watching us playball
Speaker 5: and they look up to us, And yeah, about the smiling,
Speaker 5: I'm done playing baseball in two weeks, no matter what.
Speaker 5: So I'm just trying to keep that on my face
Speaker 5: and enjoy the ride.
Speaker 1: I just thought that was great, And I guarantee you
Speaker 1: he wasn't saying I were just glad to be here,
Speaker 1: because they are, but that's not what they want. They
Speaker 1: played well in that UCLA game. He just gave up
Speaker 1: some runs early and fought back and had the time
Speaker 1: run to play more than once, but just couldn't quite
Speaker 1: pull it off. So they're playing it. They may be
Speaker 1: done by now, but just a great answer by that kid.
Speaker 1: And what great for me watching the College World Series
Speaker 1: And I've watched it more this year than I ever have,
Speaker 1: excluding last year when I was there, because I was there.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if that makes much sense to you,
Speaker 1: And I don't know if that affects you as you're
Speaker 1: watching nca Tournament games. If you've ever been to an
Speaker 1: NCAA Tournament game at a neutral site with Kentucky playing,
Speaker 1: or maybe you're watching UK play and you couldn't go
Speaker 1: that year, you know what it feels like to be there.
Speaker 1: And ESPN does a great job at the College World Series,
Speaker 1: more so than with Pro Ball, showing the crowd, showing
Speaker 1: the color shots, showing kids, exterior shots of the stadium,
Speaker 1: interior shots. They do such a great job of capturing
Speaker 1: the mood and the field and the color at that place.
Speaker 1: It's just a different vibe than it is at a
Speaker 1: pro game. And I've never covered a World series, a
Speaker 1: pro World Series, but Omaha, Charles Schwab Stadium to call
Speaker 1: it the Chuck. It's just a really great place and
Speaker 1: it's a great event. And I'm listening to this kid
Speaker 1: from Murray make this comment in an interview room where
Speaker 1: I was at this time last year, and in fact
Speaker 1: a year ago yesterday, I was sitting in there listening
Speaker 1: to the Kentucky kids talk about Mitchell Daily's home run,
Speaker 1: talking about Nicholson's home run to tide the game in
Speaker 1: the bottom of the ninth. I was there when Nick
Speaker 1: Manjione accepted the Coach of the Year trophy, So it
Speaker 1: means a little bit more. Not trying to pair it
Speaker 1: a the SEC, but it's just kind of cool if
Speaker 1: you've been there, and in the time we were all
Speaker 1: there the media, we got to know her every inch
Speaker 1: of that place. So now watching it, yeah, I wish
Speaker 1: we were all back there covering the game, watching Kentucky play.
Speaker 1: But maybe next year. SEC still has two teams, one
Speaker 1: in the winner's bracket, one in the loser's bracket. LSU
Speaker 1: beat Arkansas on Saturday, so that's why Arkansas playing Murray
Speaker 1: State in the loser's bracket. Tonight UCLA LSU at seven
Speaker 1: o'clock in the winner's bracket, and again tomorrow, Oregon State
Speaker 1: takes on Louisville. Beaver's eliminated last year in Lexington, but
Speaker 1: they're making a run this year. And Coastal Carolina plays
Speaker 1: Wednesday at two o'clock. Coastal has won twenty five straight games.
Speaker 1: The Chantaicleers are on fire, so if Murray State is
Speaker 1: out today, that's your Cinderella, even though it's not. Coastal
Speaker 1: has been to the World Series multiple times and actually
Speaker 1: won it back in twenty thirteen, So those guys play
Speaker 1: on Wednesday afternoon. Up next, Jim Dappolis, UK grad and
Speaker 1: retired NFL referee and now a Kentucky Pro Football Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer, want to come on the Big Moved Sider
Speaker 1: six thirty WLAP joining us now on our celebrity hodline
Speaker 1: as a guy I used to actually work for back
Speaker 1: in the day when I officiated games at UK and
Speaker 1: Jim Dappolis went on too much, Bigger and better things
Speaker 1: went on to work high school, college and then in
Speaker 1: the NFL on the field for eleven years, as an
Speaker 1: NFL referee supervisor for twelve and now is going in
Speaker 1: to the Kentucky NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame along
Speaker 1: with four other notables. Ref. I couldn't be happier. Congratulations, Well,
Speaker 1: thank you, Dick.
Speaker 3: It's really an awful, great experience. What I'm getting right here,
Speaker 3: as we've discussed, this is something that it's just so
Speaker 3: humbling to me to be inclusied with these individuals. You know,
Speaker 3: words just can't express how thankful I am for this.
Speaker 1: I see you every year. We talk quite a bit
Speaker 1: on the phone, but I always see you at this event,
Speaker 1: and uh, and yeah, it's such a great So many
Speaker 1: great people show up. If you were from Kentucky and
Speaker 1: played in the NFL, or you know, or if you
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time in Kentucky and played in
Speaker 1: the league, it's great. And you got a heck of
Speaker 1: a class going in. Danny Trevathan, Michael Bush, Walt Yurowski,
Speaker 1: and Sam Gruneisen who played at sant X back in
Speaker 1: the day and played pro football. You're keeping pretty good,
Speaker 1: pretty good company there, ref.
Speaker 3: You know, Jick when when I look at those guys
Speaker 3: and I'm thinking, God, how am I in a group
Speaker 3: of them? You know they're going to be showing highlight
Speaker 3: films of you know, Danny making tackles and Michael Bush
Speaker 3: running with a ball, and you know what am I
Speaker 3: going to be doing? You know, I haven't thrown a
Speaker 3: football or you know, they probably showed me getting knocked
Speaker 3: down or given a signal for something. But like I said,
Speaker 3: it is just so so humbling to be included with
Speaker 3: this group of individual, unbelievable football players in their own
Speaker 3: right and be included with them is just a it's
Speaker 3: so exciting for me.
Speaker 1: I don't think I've ever asked you this. Why did
Speaker 1: you become an official in the first place?
Speaker 3: Well, it was kind of interesting. You know, we were
Speaker 3: topfully for the same reason you did. You know, we
Speaker 3: were students at the university, uh, trying to pick up
Speaker 3: a little bit of extra cash. I I just did
Speaker 3: it to kind of, you know, kind of enjoy the
Speaker 3: opportunity and pick up some extra cash when I was
Speaker 3: a graduate student at UK, and you know, I set
Speaker 3: some goals. I listened to Tommy Bell gave a talk
Speaker 3: one time through the Central Kentucky Football Officials Association, and
Speaker 3: I set a goal to get in the NFL. That
Speaker 3: I ever think I was going to get here, absolutely not.
Speaker 3: I just you know, I was hoping that I would.
Speaker 3: I was hoping i'd work a championship game, you know,
Speaker 3: one of those games up at Saint x Or, you know,
Speaker 3: one of the high school championship games. But I got
Speaker 3: some breaks, and then in the Ohio Valley Conference, I
Speaker 3: kept pursuing it. I really wanted to do basketball. I
Speaker 3: really wanted to get in the NBA at basketball, but
Speaker 3: my breaks came in football, so it gave me an opportunity.
Speaker 3: I got some great opportunities, so hey, I pursued it
Speaker 3: and very fortunate to end up where I did.
Speaker 1: So did you start with a khsaai zoom?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Oh yeah, absolutely Well even before that, I was
Speaker 3: working for the IBM club. An individual named Pete Owens
Speaker 3: gave me an opportunity to officiate some you know, flag
Speaker 3: football all games that they had over the IBM, which
Speaker 3: were probably the toughest games I've ever infistiated with those guys,
Speaker 3: But you know I did. I started with a K say,
Speaker 3: working junior high school games around the state. Go over
Speaker 3: to Jetsamane County and work, you know, five games on
Speaker 3: a Sunday afternoon. You know, it just took a lot
Speaker 3: of time. As you remember when you were doing your
Speaker 3: fat you know, you get to get there. But you know,
Speaker 3: it was a great way to get some additional income.
Speaker 3: I didn't want to have to sack groceries as at
Speaker 3: Kroger's on weekend, So just gave me an opportunity to
Speaker 3: pick up some money and pursue something that I really enjoyed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the thing people don't understand about KJSA officials
Speaker 1: to this days are not paid nearly enough. And you guys,
Speaker 1: I don't know how much traveling you mentioned going over
Speaker 1: to Jessmon County, but I've talked to guys in election
Speaker 1: and who have had it. On a Friday afternoon, take
Speaker 1: off and drive up into the mountains or or head.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, you put a lot of miles
Speaker 1: in your car.
Speaker 3: Don't you let me tell you I did games up
Speaker 3: in Whiteburg, get Lynch, and you know, I think one
Speaker 3: day we had a game in Lynch and they had
Speaker 3: a de snake the locker room before we went in there.
Speaker 3: You know, I had some great stories of my opportunities
Speaker 3: worked there. You know, I worked with Bobby Flynn, who
Speaker 3: you know, the former senator. We were on a crew
Speaker 3: together with Carl Elevation, John Clark, and Gary Paxson, and
Speaker 3: these are guys that were so that mentored me when
Speaker 3: I first started. Gave me the opportunity, and I'm so
Speaker 3: thankful that I had that opportunity. But I started doing
Speaker 3: it and I just fell in love with Talking to.
Speaker 1: Jim d'opoulos, who is a member of the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: five class the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame, will
Speaker 1: be honored at the end of this month, and we're
Speaker 1: talking about his career which started when he was a
Speaker 1: student in UK and worked his way through the OVC
Speaker 1: where it was it tough to get in. I mean
Speaker 1: where they need great officials now need officials period. Now,
Speaker 1: what was it like back then when you were trying
Speaker 1: to move.
Speaker 3: Up, Well, it was difficult. You know, you need to
Speaker 3: do spend a lot of time working scrimmages.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 3: You know, I had the opportunity, uh to work with
Speaker 3: individuals in Lexington and they would bring you to scrimmages.
Speaker 3: I'd go down over to Georgetown to work with scrimmage,
Speaker 3: I'd uh, then I would go to Eastern and Western
Speaker 3: and work scrimmages. And then I you know, you finally
Speaker 3: get a break and somebody sees you, and you know,
Speaker 3: you get that opportunity, so you know, and then you
Speaker 3: just start making your application and hopefully I know that
Speaker 3: if it hadn't been for Frank firsty, I probably would
Speaker 3: have never get the cell piece of conference because Fran
Speaker 3: was very instrumental in my getting in there. But it
Speaker 3: was every afternoon going over to Kentucky practices and working
Speaker 3: and putting my time in there. And it's a it's
Speaker 3: a time thing.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 3: Too often now, too many individuals, you know, they expect to,
Speaker 3: you know, sign up to work football and they want
Speaker 3: to work the state championship the first game, the first year.
Speaker 3: But it just takes time. It's like anything else. And
Speaker 3: you know, if you take your time, you know, pay
Speaker 3: you dues. It. Really it's a great it's a great
Speaker 3: opportunity for so many individuals.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, and and working those scrimmages. People don't understand.
Speaker 1: And then we'll talk about this more a little bit
Speaker 1: later on about that. You know, you guys are held accountable,
Speaker 1: but those scrimmages are basically your practice session just as
Speaker 1: much as the players. Right.
Speaker 3: Oh, absolutely, that's that's where you learned. You know, it's
Speaker 3: the repetition. The thing about officiating is, you know, you
Speaker 3: can learn the rules and you can do all this
Speaker 3: this to learn about the game, but it's watching situations occur,
Speaker 3: watching how they how they handle holding, watching how they
Speaker 3: handle catches on the sideline. It's the repetition which really
Speaker 3: kind of helps you develop it into a great official.
Speaker 1: You were an umpire in the NFL? Were you an umpire?
Speaker 1: A great deal? And that's the guy who stands behind
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage. Uh did you do that a
Speaker 1: lot as you were coming up?
Speaker 3: You know, I when I was coming up, it's kind
Speaker 3: of funny. You know I would have I would have
Speaker 3: worked on the sideline. I would have carried the water
Speaker 3: bottles to the officials, you know, get that opportunity. But
Speaker 3: you know, I I learned all the positions. I tried
Speaker 3: to learn all the positions and understand it. I even
Speaker 3: refereed a few games and uh, you know at the
Speaker 3: KHSAA back to the Central Kentucky Football Officials Association. But
Speaker 3: you know I had the opportunity to work different positions.
Speaker 3: I worked in the When I first got in the
Speaker 3: Southeastern Conference, you know, I was an umpire, and then
Speaker 3: I worked downfield. Uh, the NFL took me in as
Speaker 3: a deep official, and then I said, well, I'm never
Speaker 3: going to be an umpire again because I don't want
Speaker 3: to go in there with you know, with those guys
Speaker 3: that get killed. But my one of the officials that hurt.
Speaker 3: I was refereeing the do Dolphins and the Buffalo Bills,
Speaker 3: and I made I think I made three holding calls
Speaker 3: and I threw Brian Cox out of the games fighting,
Speaker 3: and and my boss called me on Monday and he says,
Speaker 3: you're an umpire next year.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: I said, okay, send me the NFL Europe. Give me
Speaker 3: a little season of training. But you know, my first
Speaker 3: year I worked as an umpire in the NFL. I
Speaker 3: loved it in there. And then my second year I
Speaker 3: refread the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: Golly, and when you worked NFL Europe, pat of that?
Speaker 1: Where did you have to fly back and forth? Did
Speaker 1: you stay in Europe throughout the season or how did
Speaker 1: that go?
Speaker 3: Well? What they did was when I was on the
Speaker 3: field in Europe, you'd go over You fly over on
Speaker 3: a Wednesday, and then you'd referee a game on Saturday,
Speaker 3: and then you'd probably start you'd start off and in
Speaker 3: London and then basically what you would do, you'd via
Speaker 3: there for a few days and then you'd go to Germany,
Speaker 3: maybe Berlin or Douseldorf or something, and in ten days
Speaker 3: over there at a time, work a couple of games
Speaker 3: and then back and forth. You do that. You know,
Speaker 3: you work maybe four or five games over there.
Speaker 1: Did you get a chance to do any sight seeing
Speaker 1: or anything? Was it fun?
Speaker 3: Oh? God, absolutely absolutely. And you know when I was
Speaker 3: in charge, When I was a supervisor, my one of
Speaker 3: my main responsibilities was NFL Europe. So I would go
Speaker 3: I would go over five or six times a season
Speaker 3: and spend time with the cruise. I would hire European officials.
Speaker 3: I would hire some college officials and some NFL officials.
Speaker 3: It would put them together and would work them and
Speaker 3: it would go over there. And the thing that was
Speaker 3: really interesting about it, Dick, was that we would go
Speaker 3: over there and you know, they can officiated, we could
Speaker 3: work for them. We wanted to see how they were
Speaker 3: hanging out, you know, for a week over there, you know,
Speaker 3: kind of you know, it became a family and does
Speaker 3: he fit in with the group. Do you want to
Speaker 3: spend You spend a lot of time with your your
Speaker 3: actual your crewmates, so you know, do you want to
Speaker 3: spend time with this guy. So that was what we
Speaker 3: kind of did over there. But yeah, it was a
Speaker 3: it was a great It was a developmental league. It
Speaker 3: was the best league that they had. It was great
Speaker 3: for NFL.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: You know, they would use it as a developmental program
Speaker 3: for the officials, the announcers uh Fox uh and especially Fox.
Speaker 3: We'd bring their young guys over there and teach them
Speaker 3: how to be announcers. Players were over there as a
Speaker 3: developmental league. So it was a great league, but it
Speaker 3: was costing the league a little money, so they decided
Speaker 3: to cancel after about ten years.
Speaker 1: He is Jim Dappolis. He is one of the newest
Speaker 1: members of the twenty twenty five Kentucky Pro Football Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame. And we'll come back and talk more with
Speaker 1: the ref in just a minute. On six thirty w
Speaker 1: l a P. Welcome back. We're talking with Jim Daopolis.
Speaker 1: He has been inducted into the Kentucky Pro Football Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame and the event, The Purple Jacket Dinner is
Speaker 1: later this month. There's a lot of festivities, but that's
Speaker 1: that's the big deal, and Jim has always been there
Speaker 1: as a supporter and now is going to be honored
Speaker 1: that night. Although it's sold out, Jim, I don't know
Speaker 1: if they're going to be able to fit anybody else
Speaker 1: in there, but it should be a lot of fun
Speaker 1: going in with Danny Trevathan, the former Wildcat, Michael Bush,
Speaker 1: the former Louisville cardinal, Walt Uarski who played at UK,
Speaker 1: and Sam grenaison from Louisville. But Jim, of course going
Speaker 1: in as are have you mentioned Tommy Bell? He became
Speaker 1: something of a local celebrity. How much did he influence you,
Speaker 1: if at all? I got to think he did well.
Speaker 3: I can tell you. You know, Initially I was at
Speaker 3: a meeting for the Central Kentucky Football Officials Association and
Speaker 3: Tommy was there, and Tommy gave us a talk. I
Speaker 3: talked about officiating in the commitment and doing all the
Speaker 3: things that you need to do to become an official.
Speaker 3: And it was that night that I sat there and
Speaker 3: I went home and I said to my wife, you know,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna I'm going to really pursue this NFL officiating
Speaker 3: and I'm going to see if I can get to
Speaker 3: the NFL. And as I said earlier, I never thought
Speaker 3: I would get there. I really didn't. But I talked
Speaker 3: to Tommy a lot, and when I was in the SEC,
Speaker 3: I had the opportunity to go to the NFL. And
Speaker 3: I actually spoke to Tommy prior to his passing and uh,
Speaker 3: you know, I said, I love the SEC. I was
Speaker 3: working great games, I had a full schedule, and he said, Jim,
Speaker 3: as an attorney, I'm going to tell you how I
Speaker 3: equated it. You know, do you want to work in
Speaker 3: front of the Appella Court or do you want to
Speaker 3: work at the Supreme Court and that, and that's pretty
Speaker 3: much kind of kind of sold it for me. And
Speaker 3: you know, I just felt so fortunate to, you know,
Speaker 3: have him there to be a mentor and let me
Speaker 3: ask some questions about it. And you know, he he
Speaker 3: was inducted into the Kentucky Coat Football Hall of Fame
Speaker 3: a number of years back, and I was very fortunate
Speaker 3: to give his induction speech, and you know, I was
Speaker 3: so proud to be able to do that and respected
Speaker 3: him so much, as you know, he refereated a number
Speaker 3: of Super Bowls and he was one of the most
Speaker 3: visual referees that they ever had in the NFL. People
Speaker 3: who he was.
Speaker 1: I remember his last year, Correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 1: We all thought he'd get to work the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: But they needed him his strong hand because apparently the
Speaker 1: AFC Championship game was going to be a real Donnie
Speaker 1: Brook if you will, and they really needed a firm
Speaker 1: hand there. And so they said, Tommy, sorry, but you
Speaker 1: know it's not going to be the super Bowl for you.
Speaker 1: It's going to be this game because that's where we
Speaker 1: need you. That says a lot about.
Speaker 3: Him, it sure does. And you know, a very close
Speaker 3: friend of mine and one of my mentors, Mik McNally,
Speaker 3: who was the only official who has been inducted to
Speaker 3: the Canton the Hall of Fame, and Andre Art was
Speaker 3: the supervisor and kind of the godfather of of officiating,
Speaker 3: and he said to me, he told me how much
Speaker 3: respect they had for Tommy and and just Tommy's manner
Speaker 3: out there. You know, I think I heard I heard
Speaker 3: his son Bruce said, Tommy used to say, you know, uh,
Speaker 3: on the during the week. You know, I'm a lawyer,
Speaker 3: but on the weekend, I am the law and that's
Speaker 3: that's who he is. That's who he was, you know
Speaker 3: he was. He was so unique at such a great individual.
Speaker 1: Jim and I in the past have talked about replay
Speaker 1: and how things have affected the NFL and all, and well,
Speaker 1: we may talk about that some other time. But what
Speaker 1: I did. I've only got a few minutes left, but
Speaker 1: one of my and naturally, having been an official, never
Speaker 1: not nearly as accomplished as you. But I am quite
Speaker 1: sympathetic as a media person, and I kind of twinge
Speaker 1: when I hear people say, you know, we need full
Speaker 1: time referees, and I always tell them, Look, if you
Speaker 1: knew the hours these guys put in away from the game,
Speaker 1: looking at video and talking to each other and meeting,
Speaker 1: it's basically like these guys are already full time when
Speaker 1: it comes to the hours they work and the scrimmages
Speaker 1: and things like that. Am I right that?
Speaker 3: You know? That's exactly right, Dick. You know, you know
Speaker 3: the thing about officiating, You know, so many people have
Speaker 3: this perception that you know that we get to the
Speaker 3: game on Sunday morning, we come out from the stands referee,
Speaker 3: the game and go home that Sunday night. And it's
Speaker 3: not like that. It's a seven day a week job.
Speaker 3: You get a couple of months off in the summer
Speaker 3: or in the fall if you I mean, I'm sorry,
Speaker 3: not the ball, but in the springtime if you want.
Speaker 3: But guys work right through the year. I mean, if
Speaker 3: you're not doing studying talking to someone every day. The
Speaker 3: best you know who the better officials are. They're the
Speaker 3: ones that spend the most time working this. It is
Speaker 3: not a part time job. It's a full time job.
Speaker 3: They finally, you know, they are compensated now accordingly. You know,
Speaker 3: it was a long time. You know, they say, well,
Speaker 3: you're only working games on Sunday. Well, I think the
Speaker 3: league has finally discovered that, you know, they need these
Speaker 3: individuals working, you know, and studying. So yeah, it's a
Speaker 3: it's a full time profession now, uh, and they do
Speaker 3: very well with it.
Speaker 1: People, especially here in Lexion, in a college town, as
Speaker 1: you know, uh, firmly believe there are people out there
Speaker 1: that you guys and officials are not held accountable. And
Speaker 1: again I try to say, look, I've known officials who
Speaker 1: are simply not invited back, which means their contracts weren't
Speaker 1: renewed or whatever. They don't make a huge deal about
Speaker 1: firing people. But if you're not good enough, they leave
Speaker 1: you behind and move on, don't they.
Speaker 3: That's exactly it. You know, you're graded on every every game,
Speaker 3: and they and the officials that work in the playoffs,
Speaker 3: you know, great out higher than the ones that you
Speaker 3: know that aren't working. You know, and they don't they
Speaker 3: don't advertise or they don't publicize hiring, nor do they
Speaker 3: publicize firings. You know, it's all kind of kept in house.
Speaker 3: But if an official is not doing the job, if
Speaker 3: he's not working in the playoffs, you know, he's not
Speaker 3: going to be rehired. And you know, it's a situation now,
Speaker 3: you know, you get hired by the NFL as a
Speaker 3: as an official, you know, it's almost like you hit
Speaker 3: the lottery. It's a it's a it's a it's a
Speaker 3: great situation. You know, great benefits, the great compensation and
Speaker 3: great retirement. So it's not a bad situation. But you've
Speaker 3: got to do the job. And if you don't do
Speaker 3: the job, you will be replaced.
Speaker 1: And you know what you just described the life of
Speaker 1: a player. You know, great money, great retire, great benefits,
Speaker 1: all this, but if you're not good enough, you get
Speaker 1: cut and they move on.
Speaker 3: And there's always somebody there waiting to take your plate, exactly,
Speaker 3: always somebody there.
Speaker 5: Ye.
Speaker 1: Well, before I let you go, I got to ask
Speaker 1: you this. Now. I'm sure at some point you work
Speaker 1: baseball somewhere. You probably work softball at UK when you
Speaker 1: were a grad student. All but they the pro umpires,
Speaker 1: Major leagu umpires. And again, my brother's been an umpire
Speaker 1: for fifty years. He's in the Coaches Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: as an umpire. I did it very sympathetic, but the
Speaker 1: way they call balls and strikes now is just out
Speaker 1: of control. And now they're talking about using robots, and
Speaker 1: you know, everybody has an opinion on that. But as
Speaker 1: a guy who has been a professional, either a supervisor
Speaker 1: or on field official, what are your thoughts on on that?
Speaker 1: And again, I don't you know, I don't want you
Speaker 1: to pile on to guys in another sport, but how
Speaker 1: does that sit with you as a guy who was
Speaker 1: a professional official.
Speaker 3: Well, when I got into the NFL and they had replay,
Speaker 3: you know, I feel that replay is a great tool
Speaker 3: for officials at every level. I think correct correctable areas,
Speaker 3: and that's what you want to do. You want to
Speaker 3: be as corrected and as perfect as possible. I think
Speaker 3: what they have done, and my feeling is is it's
Speaker 3: been overdone. I think a lot of officials have kind
Speaker 3: of lost their uh their guts to make calls. They're
Speaker 3: more concerned with getting you know that, well, we'll go
Speaker 3: to replay, Let replay, refix it, let replay do that.
Speaker 3: I think you've got to have confidence in the individuals
Speaker 3: that are working out there, but you have to have
Speaker 3: confidence in yourself as an official. And I think they
Speaker 3: used it too much as a as a crutch rather
Speaker 3: than you know, using it to correct those errors. They
Speaker 3: almost hit to a point, especially in football, where they
Speaker 3: want to officiate the game from instant replay, which I
Speaker 3: think is a big mistake. But you know, people expect
Speaker 3: NFL officials to be perfect. You know, they don't expect
Speaker 3: bank baseball guys to make everything correct, basketball officials, et cetera.
Speaker 3: But they expect football officials to get everything right, and
Speaker 3: it's not going to happen. They make mistakes out there,
Speaker 3: and uh, you know, I like the tool. I like
Speaker 3: to replay tool. The one thing I always would like
Speaker 3: to have done in my life was get behind the
Speaker 3: plate and call balls and strikes in a makes the
Speaker 3: League game. I have so much respect for those guys.
Speaker 3: I don't even know how they determine what is the
Speaker 3: ball and what is a strike? I mean the way
Speaker 3: that comes, you know. But it's like everything else, as
Speaker 3: you said earlier, it's the repetition, you know, when you're
Speaker 3: looking at thousands of them, thousands of them every year called,
Speaker 3: then you know, you know, everything flows down and makes
Speaker 3: it easier. But you know, I like replay, and I
Speaker 3: think people expect replay, but I think it all comes out.
Speaker 3: People really want everything correct, and it's just not going
Speaker 3: to happen.
Speaker 1: No, but robots behind the plate maybe maybe on the
Speaker 1: way because they are not calling balls and strikes as
Speaker 1: well as maybe they should. But and these guys have seen,
Speaker 1: like you said, thousands and thousands. But that's a topic
Speaker 1: for another night. We could talk about it all evening.
Speaker 1: I'm so happy for you, congratulations, looking forward to seeing
Speaker 1: you at the end of the month and seeing you
Speaker 1: in your purple jacket.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I appreciate it, Dick. I've you know, I've
Speaker 3: appreciated our relationship. We've known each other for a long
Speaker 3: time and we've had a lot of good talks together.
Speaker 3: And you know that I'm always available and look forward
Speaker 3: to seeing you at the Purple Jacket Affair this year.
Speaker 1: Sounds good. Ref have a good one.
Speaker 6: Take care, Dick.
Speaker 1: Thank you up. Next now we number two with John
Speaker 1: Hale of the Herald Leader and Christy Thomas or the
Speaker 1: UK Sports Network. We will talk a lot of Kentucky
Speaker 1: football next time. Six thirty wlap.
Speaker 4: Taken backed tact.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Blue and sider joining us
Speaker 1: now as a guy you know from his coverage of
Speaker 1: UK football for the Herold Leader in Kentucky dot com.
Speaker 1: Mister John Hale, John, a good Father's Day weekend, I trust.
Speaker 7: Yeah, absolutely. It's always good to take a little breather.
Speaker 7: Made sure to get plenty of football news and for
Speaker 7: us last week beforehand.
Speaker 1: But there was a lot of news and let us
Speaker 1: start with the headliner, which was of course Vince Merrow.
Speaker 1: And I had your colleague John Clay, who of course
Speaker 1: made a headline of his own last week by announcing
Speaker 1: his retirement. And I asked him if he was surprised,
Speaker 1: and he said, well, John Hale has been hearing some
Speaker 1: rumors about this for a while. Had you been hearing
Speaker 1: stuff like that?
Speaker 7: Yeah, it had been about three weeks since I first
Speaker 7: heard the rumor this was in the works. It was
Speaker 7: that week of the SEC meetings in Destin, because the
Speaker 7: way it was initially phrased to me was, hey, you
Speaker 7: see where like the source of the events is going
Speaker 7: to go to Mark later this week and lay out
Speaker 7: this opportunity of like kind of give them one last one,
Speaker 7: last chance to you to counter or whatever. And of
Speaker 7: course we've seen this play out so many times of
Speaker 7: Vince Marrow in the back of my mind and you know, okay,
Speaker 7: this is just another another thing that's going to end
Speaker 7: with a new contract or a new title or something
Speaker 7: like that, and read the end of it. And then
Speaker 7: that weekend came and it was like, well, they didn't
Speaker 7: talk today, They're going to talk next week. And then
Speaker 7: the next week it came and still heard nothing. And
Speaker 7: so by the end of that week I was like,
Speaker 7: I'm assuming this is not happening. And then the Sunday
Speaker 7: before it came out, I got a text that night
Speaker 7: that said it's a done deal as long as Ben
Speaker 7: doesn't back out at all. Whow, I well, that still
Speaker 7: leaves a fair amount of grace. This maybe he goes
Speaker 7: to Mark and they have that final conversation and everything
Speaker 7: gets worked out. And then the next afternoon, that Monday,
Speaker 7: I was trying to track stuff down and had not
Speaker 7: heard back from anybody in the ESPN report comes out
Speaker 7: as well, it's actually happening.
Speaker 6: So I was.
Speaker 7: I was surprised to see it actually get over the line,
Speaker 7: even after hearing the rumor for so long. But I
Speaker 7: had at least gotten a little bit of a heads
Speaker 7: up that it was possible.
Speaker 1: Were you And again, like you said, you had to
Speaker 1: ask yourself. It's just just another you know, And kudos
Speaker 1: to Vinz forgetting offers. I mean, you know, good people.
Speaker 1: That happens. But it seems like those balloons were floated
Speaker 1: over and over again. But when it all settled into place.
Speaker 1: How surprised were you if at all?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 7: I mean I was, because, like you just look at
Speaker 7: it and you say, you know, he's had these opportunits
Speaker 7: before to leave and has never done it. Is he
Speaker 7: really going to leave his childhood friend to not only
Speaker 7: go to another job, but go to the arch rival
Speaker 7: where he's going to be like, you know, roster management,
Speaker 7: and I had heard the title. The position was not
Speaker 7: a position to go to. It was kind of a
Speaker 7: general manager, you know, assistant associated ad kind of position.
Speaker 7: And that's like he was going to be in the
Speaker 7: roster manager part, which means like his whole job is
Speaker 7: going to be recruiting at Kentucky. That's that's a huge
Speaker 7: portion of it, Like he's actually going to do that.
Speaker 7: And especially when it was dragging out the way it was,
Speaker 7: when I was hearing behind the scenes, I was like, Okay,
Speaker 7: he's getting cold feet. He's not going to end up
Speaker 7: doing this. So to see it actually come through, yeah,
Speaker 7: I was surprised. I mean, and his comments you know,
Speaker 7: over the last week publicly when he's talked, we still
Speaker 7: haven't really heard from Mark Stoops other a statement they
Speaker 7: put out that relationship is very, very interesting, and it
Speaker 7: seems like Vince is trying to have it both ways
Speaker 7: where he wants Kentucky fans still love him and not
Speaker 7: being mad at him. I don't think that's realist stick
Speaker 7: in anyway. But it's going to be fascinating to watch
Speaker 7: moving forward. What's this means? You know, as as he
Speaker 7: goes out and recruits against Kentucky, and he's not been
Speaker 7: shy about poking all over the years and having done
Speaker 7: with the rivalry and how they're fans embracing him. Let's
Speaker 7: face at Kentucky's recruiting has not been very good the
Speaker 7: last couple of seasons. Their roster man has not been
Speaker 7: great with the results on the field. So can he
Speaker 7: get better results at Louisill was the philosophy change at
Speaker 7: Kentucky that kind of led him to make this decision?
Speaker 7: Is that going to work? Is that going to pay off?
Speaker 7: I wish Mark Stoops would have come out last week
Speaker 7: and done some interviews, but I guess the next time
Speaker 7: we're going to hear from his SEC media day, Yeah,
Speaker 7: in Atlanta in July, and that's that's going to be
Speaker 7: all we want to talk about.
Speaker 1: Well, and the other biggest question is, and at this
Speaker 1: end of the interstate it's the biggest question is now,
Speaker 1: you know, how will this affect Kentucky's roster management? Will
Speaker 1: there be a significant change in the way things are done?
Speaker 1: Because you're right, of late, it has not been and
Speaker 1: Stoops his I didn't met it as much.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that to me is the most interesting part because
Speaker 7: I think the change has already happened, and I think
Speaker 7: that's directly why Vince left, because even when I had
Speaker 7: heard that the rumor that like he might be leaving,
Speaker 7: he was going to be bark one last time, it
Speaker 7: was specifically to me, it's not about money, Like my
Speaker 7: understanding is, his salary at level was pretty much exactly
Speaker 7: the same as his salary here, So it wasn't only
Speaker 7: more money, but he wanted that power back in the
Speaker 7: recruiting process where he basically had final say over every
Speaker 7: player they pursued, and Mark has not approached it that way,
Speaker 7: especially over the last off season, probably the last year.
Speaker 7: In generally, you look at that that transfer portal class
Speaker 7: they put together over the winner and we'll see how
Speaker 7: it plays out. I mean, I don't think anybody can
Speaker 7: tell you for sure whether it's a good class or
Speaker 7: a bad class or whatever, but it's a very different class.
Speaker 7: So often before, so many of their transfer targets where
Speaker 7: guys that Vince had recruited out of high school and
Speaker 7: they you know, went to Ohio State or Tollabama or wherever,
Speaker 7: and they didn't get and then it came back. It
Speaker 7: worked with Wandell Robinson, although Wandell Sai didn't come here.
Speaker 7: If Lamponen's not the offensive court, it did not work
Speaker 7: with a bunch of other guys. You know, maybe Chip
Speaker 7: train and ends up being good last year if he's
Speaker 7: not hurt, but he was hurt, and then even after
Speaker 7: he was healthy, he wasn't really a part of the offense.
Speaker 7: So they clearly made a philosophy change in the transfer
Speaker 7: class to not do that anymore. And they had given
Speaker 7: each of their position coaches more power to decide who
Speaker 7: they recruit at their positions and ice in the high
Speaker 7: school classes. Obviously their twenty six high school classes gotten
Speaker 7: off to a really really slow start. I think they're
Speaker 7: up to three commitments finally, but don't had one going
Speaker 7: into June, which is kind of unheard of, And so
Speaker 7: that part of it had already changed. And Vince wanted
Speaker 7: that power, you know, to kind of have final say back,
Speaker 7: and Mark had not given it to him. So maybe
Speaker 7: that plays out. That's why I'm kind of surprised that
Speaker 7: she has not been more out in front of this,
Speaker 7: because I think you could have made a very compelling
Speaker 7: case to come out and say, hey, the results haven't
Speaker 7: been good enough. The last couple of years. I have
Speaker 7: to put the program first. So we made these changes.
Speaker 7: And you know, Vince is my friend, but he has
Speaker 7: to do what's best for him. And if he doesn't
Speaker 7: agree with the changes, you know, good luck to him
Speaker 7: somewhere else. And you maybe could have even won some
Speaker 7: battle that you've been struggling to win this summer with
Speaker 7: fans who want you to make changes. But they didn't
Speaker 7: do that, and they've kind of just had to be
Speaker 7: reactive to the whole situation, which is I'm sure frustrating
Speaker 7: for fans, but I do think they legitimately had already
Speaker 7: made changes in their recruiting approach, which kind of led
Speaker 7: to this now the questions whether those changes work or not.
Speaker 1: And now it's going to be really interesting to see
Speaker 1: what happens when these programs, as they often do, go
Speaker 1: after the same kid, you know, because I remember when
Speaker 1: when I'm a little bit older than you are, but
Speaker 1: when Rick Batino got here, he was throwing all kinds
Speaker 1: of flowers at Denny Crumb until they clashed over a
Speaker 1: recruit and then it got really sour. So I'm curious
Speaker 1: about that, you know.
Speaker 7: Yeah, And like that's a fascinating part of this too.
Speaker 7: Because obviously Jeff Brohm has been so good recruiting in
Speaker 7: the city of World in particular dating back to his
Speaker 7: days at Purdue in Western Kentucky to a lesser extent
Speaker 7: before that, But we had made such a big deal.
Speaker 7: He was the twenty nineteen class when Vince went into
Speaker 7: Louisville and took over recruiting there and had such success
Speaker 7: and got all these four four star guys from Woisill
Speaker 7: with five star guy in one case, and we made
Speaker 7: such a deal by it. But when you look back
Speaker 7: in hindsight, none of those guys really panned out. JJ
Speaker 7: Weewer was the only guy they got in Louisill in
Speaker 7: that stretch who was even a starter. The rest of
Speaker 7: them all left before their eligibility was up, and JJ's
Speaker 7: career didn't really pan out the way that we thought
Speaker 7: it was early in his career because the injuries and
Speaker 7: so like that really didn't work. They're in state recruiting.
Speaker 7: The last two or three years, they have not gotten
Speaker 7: star players from in state, and that's not Vince's fault necessarily.
Speaker 7: They got the best players in the state just kind
Speaker 7: of whoo who was available in those years, but there
Speaker 7: in state recruiting in this current class, Woisill was already
Speaker 7: cleaning up, or they got vents. Maybe that was a
Speaker 7: philosophy change because they hadn't worked recently. They do have
Speaker 7: young guys in their you know, freshmen coming into freshman
Speaker 7: year this year, their second year on campus from both
Speaker 7: Kentucky and Ohio that Vn's recruited who maybe turned into stars.
Speaker 7: But those pipe ones had not been nearly as successful
Speaker 7: the last couple of years as they were for most
Speaker 7: of Fence's tenure here. And so that's interesting to see.
Speaker 7: Are they is that because they were getting different players,
Speaker 7: they weren't getting as good players. Is the talent just
Speaker 7: dried up? But my understanding is the high school class
Speaker 7: in Kentucky, the junior class now is like one of
Speaker 7: the best in the state in a long time. Like
Speaker 7: that's going to be a huge deal with Wolwill gets
Speaker 7: all those guys in Kentucky does. But they also have
Speaker 7: to pan out, which has not been the case recently.
Speaker 1: Well that's what I wondered about the last few classes.
Speaker 1: You know, how many kids from the city of Louisville
Speaker 1: have become productive D one players any idea?
Speaker 7: I mean, not a ton because Kentucky was getting all
Speaker 7: the highest ranked guys in those classes, and it wasn't
Speaker 7: like they were just getting the best of what was available,
Speaker 7: like they were legitimately in the one class with j
Speaker 7: Ju Weaver and Jared Casey and T. K. Krums and
Speaker 7: like Shaun Kell Night Golf. I mean there was like
Speaker 7: four or five four star recruits in that class based
Speaker 7: on all of the Cree one so and just none
Speaker 7: of them really panned out. And so that you know,
Speaker 7: maybe the recruia websites were wrong. Maybe something else happened.
Speaker 7: Maybe in this constant era of constant you know, roster turnover,
Speaker 7: they didn't stay around long enough to developed somewhere. I
Speaker 7: don't know, but like that part of it has not.
Speaker 7: It just never paid out the way that we hyped
Speaker 7: it up on signing day. So it will be fascinating
Speaker 7: to see if Louisville has more success with those guys,
Speaker 7: assuming they're getting the down Kentucky's not.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I remember Ted J. CRuMs was supposed to
Speaker 1: be the answer, right and it just you know, along
Speaker 1: with the other guys. And I'm not knocking a kid,
Speaker 1: but just here it just didn't pan out. He is
Speaker 1: John Hale other Hair of Leader covers Kentucky Football, and
Speaker 1: we'll come back and talk more with John on the
Speaker 1: other side of the break here on six thirty WLAP
Speaker 1: Welcome back, We're talking with John Hale, beat writer for
Speaker 1: The Hero of Leader covers Kentucky football, among other things.
Speaker 1: One of the other bits of news about assistant coaches
Speaker 1: was an extension of the contract for Eric Woolford, who
Speaker 1: coaches the offensive line, which has been one of the
Speaker 1: most highly criticized lment of this team over the last
Speaker 1: two or three years. Did that surprise you, John, or
Speaker 1: did you hear about a job offer or you know,
Speaker 1: how did that go to?
Speaker 7: Yeah? Yeah, that's another one where I think they need
Speaker 7: to do a better job of coming out publicly and
Speaker 7: explaining what's going on. Like I have a fair amount
Speaker 7: of sympathy from Mark Stops this offseason in terms of
Speaker 7: public messaging, because the people who are out and think
Speaker 7: that the ship is sinking, nothing you say over the
Speaker 7: offseason is going to change their mind right to go
Speaker 7: out and win games. So I understand that part of it,
Speaker 7: But there are still casual fans who are giving you
Speaker 7: the benefit of the doubt and maybe aren't on Twitter
Speaker 7: all day long or whatever. Those fans like Vince Merrill
Speaker 7: leaving the Woolford extension like that, those are the kind
Speaker 7: of news that resonates to those fans, and you got
Speaker 7: to explain a little bit more. I am assuming I
Speaker 7: have not been told this. I haven't got it confirmed.
Speaker 7: I just don't see a scenario where they give Aeric
Speaker 7: Quill for an extension or any assistant an extension this
Speaker 7: offseason without some other school trying to hire them. So
Speaker 7: my assumption is somebody tried to hire him, and regardless
Speaker 7: of the results last year, they think he's a really
Speaker 7: good recruiter. They clearly gave him full autonomy to rebuild
Speaker 7: this offensive line the portal over the winter. They apparently
Speaker 7: like what he did there, and so they've kind of
Speaker 7: made their bed there in terms of, like, if we're
Speaker 7: going to get this fixed, it's going to be air
Speaker 7: Wolford who does it. And so at that point, if
Speaker 7: you believe in him that much, you can't you can't
Speaker 7: really have another offensive flying coach turned over and start
Speaker 7: from scratching in the summer. So you've got to do
Speaker 7: what you can to keep them. And so if it
Speaker 7: took an extension and one hundred thousand dollars Rays to
Speaker 7: keep them from whatever school came and pursued him. That's
Speaker 7: the decision you made. Maybe it's the wrong decision in
Speaker 7: the long run, but I understand why they would do that.
Speaker 7: But they need to come out and tell us that. So,
Speaker 7: I mean, like, come out and explain what's going on
Speaker 7: there and maybe people will understand a little more. I
Speaker 7: actually don't. I mean, one hundred thousand dollar Rays, I
Speaker 7: know he's gotten a lot of attension. I wouldn't read
Speaker 7: too much into that at all. That's just how these
Speaker 7: contracts work. When you give a guy an extension, the
Speaker 7: salary goes up by about that amount every time. So
Speaker 7: that's is what it is. The extra year is more
Speaker 7: interesting because they have I think five assistant coaches who
Speaker 7: are only signed through next season, and normally they don't
Speaker 7: let those contracts get down to the final year unless
Speaker 7: there's obvious like maybe this guy's not good enough, not
Speaker 7: going to come back, and like Brad White's only got
Speaker 7: one more year left, and Chris Collins, who they've promoted
Speaker 7: the convincesquarrias you only got one more year. Normally we
Speaker 7: would see those guys getting extended by Nail, and the
Speaker 7: fact they haven't done that seems to be a clear
Speaker 7: reflection of where the program is right now. And so
Speaker 7: since they've made the exception with Wolford, that's got to
Speaker 7: be because somebody came and tried to get him. Know,
Speaker 7: let's hear a about why that happened.
Speaker 1: Now, in a situation like this, where you know, this
Speaker 1: is such a critical year following such a disappointing year,
Speaker 1: really a span of three but ultimately you know, four
Speaker 1: and eight, you know, you've got to think stability is key,
Speaker 1: so you know, get these guys taken care of. But
Speaker 1: on the other hand, you've got the house settlement to
Speaker 1: deal with, You've got all kinds of budgetary challenges coming up.
Speaker 1: You wonder if that's all part of the pie.
Speaker 7: You know, yeah, absolutely, I mean that was the other
Speaker 7: news about last week is what their revenue sharing. They're
Speaker 7: going to operate at a deficit the next two years,
Speaker 7: which we know the Kentucky's Athletic Department has been financially
Speaker 7: independent for almost twenty years now at this point, so
Speaker 7: like that is a new thing. They're taking a loan
Speaker 7: from the university to cover that, and then an additional
Speaker 7: one hundred and ten million dollars loan from university to
Speaker 7: finance these facility improvements at Kroger Field. Like all of
Speaker 7: that speaks to a finances are a big deal, but
Speaker 7: also be like they have to find a new way
Speaker 7: to get revenue and control expenses. And the fact that
Speaker 7: all of these first this first wave of facility announcements
Speaker 7: they did are all at Kroger Field tells you that
Speaker 7: football is really really important to making that work. Like
Speaker 7: they have to be able to make the revenue off
Speaker 7: these new luxury suites at football whatever this entertainment district
Speaker 7: outside the stadium ends up looking like they have to
Speaker 7: get revenue from that to survive or to at least
Speaker 7: thrive in this new environment where you're going to spend
Speaker 7: twenty and a half million dollars every year in revenue sharing,
Speaker 7: and so part of that is definitely controlling expenses. But
Speaker 7: they have not laid people, They have not cut salaries
Speaker 7: and ask coaches to get money back like we've seen
Speaker 7: at other schools. Like they are spending money to make
Speaker 7: money and it's almost all on football right now, so
Speaker 7: that's they got to get better results too.
Speaker 1: They haven't cut sports yet either. I mean, other other
Speaker 1: universities are doing a way with the so called minor sports,
Speaker 1: non revenue sports, and that's that's going to be happening
Speaker 1: more and more, isn't it.
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 7: Absolutely, And Mitch martinheart his like mine, heeps say, is
Speaker 7: like we want to keep our family whole. It's the
Speaker 7: same thing he did during COVID when we were seeing
Speaker 7: layoffs and cuts everywhere else. Like, that's very important to him.
Speaker 7: To his credit, I you know, give him a lot
Speaker 7: of appross for that, because you know, those people who
Speaker 7: come to school to play soccer and whatever else, like
Speaker 7: it's important to them and I understand why you do it.
Speaker 7: But the finances are what they ought at some point,
Speaker 7: and to make this work, they're going to have to
Speaker 7: find a way to generate more revenue, which is the
Speaker 7: hope with these luxury suites and some other things. And
Speaker 7: that depends on football being good enough to sell the tickets.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, the champions blueboard that will oversee UK athletics.
Speaker 1: Do you know about it? And how do you feel
Speaker 1: about that? Yeah?
Speaker 7: It's interesting. I mean I still keep there's got to
Speaker 7: be more to the whole LC thing than we have
Speaker 7: figured out yet, because to me, it just seems a
Speaker 7: little bit like just shuffling things around behind the scenes
Speaker 7: for some reason that I had yet to see. They
Speaker 7: keep saying more flexibility and get out of some university
Speaker 7: like red tape that maybe was holding them back. But
Speaker 7: we have not seen an example yet of something they
Speaker 7: can do with this board, with this setup that they
Speaker 7: couldn't do previously. Like even the facilities the announced last
Speaker 7: week still voted on them the same way they did before,
Speaker 7: still got the loan from the university that they would
Speaker 7: have needed otherwise, the one accepted. That might be the board.
Speaker 7: They want to bring in people with outside expertise and
Speaker 7: pro sports that can consult and advise them on how
Speaker 7: to do this. And the three people they announced Jacob Tanney,
Speaker 7: and we know has this illustrious history both playing in Kentucky,
Speaker 7: playing in the NFL, and now is a guy who
Speaker 7: advises professional athletes on their money, so that's an important
Speaker 7: part of it. Shannon Arvin, the president's CEO Hngland, has
Speaker 7: been there while Keenland is undergoing their biggest renovation since
Speaker 7: the track open in terms of building some new seating
Speaker 7: and restaurants and the new paddock, like that's going to
Speaker 7: be helpful for them. And the third guy, Chris sitting
Speaker 7: in Prindeville, was an executive that Fanatics recently, was very
Speaker 7: involved in that nil space and their college licensing program.
Speaker 7: We're in a licensing company before the Kentucky was a
Speaker 7: client of, so he clearly has expertise in that space.
Speaker 7: It will be fascinating to go to these meetings and
Speaker 7: see like how active those three members of the of
Speaker 7: the board are and how much say they actually have.
Speaker 7: You know, I assume it's not just going to be
Speaker 7: window dressing where you put them on the board to
Speaker 7: get a headline and then they don't actually do anything right.
Speaker 7: I still don't think we have a lot of a
Speaker 7: lot of information yet about how that's going to actually
Speaker 7: work and what they're going to do. And the next year,
Speaker 7: my understanding, is going to be kind of a transition
Speaker 7: period where they're figuring that out themselves. But they're going
Speaker 7: to start meeting soon and we'll find out well, and.
Speaker 1: The season is going to be on top of us
Speaker 1: before we know. We've talked before about how vital this
Speaker 1: one is, and I've talked to more than one person
Speaker 1: about the fact that Toledo the opener is the typical
Speaker 1: It's going to be the typical MAC team that comes
Speaker 1: in here thinking it can win, planning on winning, not
Speaker 1: just coming down to pick up a check, you know.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean they got a bunch of people coming back,
Speaker 7: and they beat two Power five teams last year. Yeah,
Speaker 7: I mean, so they have full confidence that they can
Speaker 7: come win this game. And Kentucky absolutely is not in
Speaker 7: a position where they can overlook that team, especially with
Speaker 7: so many new players, like over half the roster will
Speaker 7: be playing for Kentucky for the first.
Speaker 3: Time this fall.
Speaker 7: Have no idea what to expect from that. There will
Speaker 7: certainly I think even if they're if they exceed expectations,
Speaker 7: there will be some growing things as they figure it out.
Speaker 7: And having that game week one is a perfect trap
Speaker 7: scenario where if something doesn't go right, so they have
Speaker 7: to be locked in immediately, because losing to Toledo is
Speaker 7: I think a realistic possibility, but also like an absolute
Speaker 7: worst case scenario in terms of getting people to buy
Speaker 7: in and get in any sort of positive vibes, it
Speaker 7: would be as aspect.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you got old miss next and I don't
Speaker 1: even know what they're going to be like, but they
Speaker 1: will be an SEC team. You know, they'll come in
Speaker 1: with the bigger, faster, stronger guys and I'll let you
Speaker 1: go with this, John, This is fascinating to me this
Speaker 1: period right now, because you know, receivers and running backs
Speaker 1: and quarterbacks they can go out and throw the ball
Speaker 1: around all they want. How do linemen improve, you know,
Speaker 1: other than the weight room? How do they improve as
Speaker 1: a unit on their own, you know, because they can't
Speaker 1: always be under the coach's supervision. If there's a way
Speaker 1: to do it, I'd love to know about it.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, I assume they're trying to work on
Speaker 7: that cohesion, which is going to be really important, and
Speaker 7: it was good they got all those guys in for
Speaker 7: spring to do some of that. But I mean, the
Speaker 7: weight room is huge for this group in particular, and
Speaker 7: we already heard it at the end of spring, which
Speaker 7: I think could be a little bit of a red flag.
Speaker 7: But also it's just kind of reality when you recruit
Speaker 7: a bunch of transfers from group of five schools underline,
Speaker 7: which they did. All those guys are experienced, they played
Speaker 7: a ton of college football. The one exception joshua' bron
Speaker 7: the left guard from Arkansas, so he said that he's
Speaker 7: played at this level. The folks, your tackles, the guy
Speaker 7: you brought it at the center, all of your depth
Speaker 7: that you run in the portal are our small school
Speaker 7: guys Bush and into the last week of spring practice
Speaker 7: like they have to hit the way from this spring
Speaker 7: this summer to get to the physical nature of the
Speaker 7: SEC to make that adjustment, they needed to put weight
Speaker 7: and muscle on this summer. And that is going to
Speaker 7: say I think as much as anything about whether this
Speaker 7: line is.
Speaker 1: Good good payoff in the fourth quarter. We'll see, We'll
Speaker 1: soon see. We will soon know about this team and
Speaker 1: John Hale will cover it for the Hair Leader. Follow
Speaker 1: him on exer Twitter at John j O n h
Speaker 1: l E Underscore HL. Thank you, sir, c down the Road,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me say with us. Christy Thomas is
Speaker 1: next here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the
Speaker 1: Big Moon side of joining us now is my longtime friend,
Speaker 1: colleague teammate on the UK Sports Network as well as
Speaker 1: back in the day at w KYT. Miss Christy Thomas,
Speaker 1: who anchors our pregame coverage, also works UK women's basketball.
Speaker 1: We shall discuss both here on the Big Blue Sider
Speaker 1: and there's never an offseason, Christy, you.
Speaker 6: Know that, right, Yeah, no, never. I've got two kids
Speaker 6: in baseball and softball, and that truckt me. Those seasons
Speaker 6: are year round. Two.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you post quite frequently about your kids, which
Speaker 1: is great watching them, just you know, knowing you when
Speaker 1: you were single and now you've got kids who are
Speaker 1: out winning ball games. It's it's so much fun. But
Speaker 1: I've got to think you are as stunned, I would
Speaker 1: imagine as the rest of the Big Moone nation with
Speaker 1: the word that Vince Merriw was changing addresses. Am I right?
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, I think rumor mill is always pretty wild,
Speaker 6: and I think at the end of every football season
Speaker 6: there's always some kind of talk about, well, people are
Speaker 6: going to go here, so and so is interested in
Speaker 6: so and so, and you know that kind of thing. So,
Speaker 6: you know, Vince's name has been tossed around for years
Speaker 6: about going places and being courted places and that kind
Speaker 6: of thing. So I think its departure wasn't necessarily a
Speaker 6: surprise as much as where. And that's probably the case
Speaker 6: for a lot of us, is that, you know, when
Speaker 6: you've been a part of this rivalry for so long
Speaker 6: and it. You know, really, when when the University of
Speaker 6: Kentucky becomes a part of who you are and a
Speaker 6: part of your identity, you really understand how bitter that is.
Speaker 6: Isn't how put that can be for anybody to swallow.
Speaker 6: So I think it wasn't as much, wasn't as surprisingly
Speaker 6: left as much as I was about the location.
Speaker 1: It's going to be interesting to see the impact it
Speaker 1: does have though on UK recruiting. But over the last
Speaker 1: three years, the years that have clearly been disappointing two
Speaker 1: UK fans, and ironically enough two of those years, you know,
Speaker 1: Kentucky's in a ball game. But now it's all about
Speaker 1: as much the transfer portal as it is you know,
Speaker 1: wooing the high school kids. So you've got to wonder
Speaker 1: about the direction now and the effect in miss of
Speaker 1: UK recruiting and can they get back to where they
Speaker 1: were because, let's face it, Levis comes through the portal,
Speaker 1: Wandale Robinson comes through the portal, and some others, But
Speaker 1: those are the key guys for the last really great
Speaker 1: year Kentucky had.
Speaker 6: Right Well, yeah, you know, I think the biggest understatement
Speaker 6: of the century could be that we're in the landscape
Speaker 6: of college athletics is different. That is so really it's
Speaker 6: kind of almost silly to even say anymore because it
Speaker 6: couldn't be more true. So that then means that recruiting
Speaker 6: is different. Everything about it is different. And so sometimes,
Speaker 6: you know, I'm a believer that gone are the days
Speaker 6: that a coach is going to stay somewhere, any coach
Speaker 6: at any level, within any regardless of where you are
Speaker 6: assistant coach, a position, coach, whatever, where you're going to
Speaker 6: stay somewhere for twenty thirty years. Those days are done.
Speaker 6: Those days are gone. And I think that's maybe what
Speaker 6: we're seeing, what we've seen here is just that sometimes
Speaker 6: it just runs. It's cool. Sometimes you've done all you
Speaker 6: can do at a certain place and then it's time
Speaker 6: to move on. And I think that's what we're seeing
Speaker 6: here with Vince is that you know, he did what
Speaker 6: he could do. He helped put UK in a really
Speaker 6: great position when he could really utilize his skills and
Speaker 6: what he did so well as a recruiter, and it's
Speaker 6: now different. And so I think because of that, it's
Speaker 6: just time to have a different perspective and a different
Speaker 6: face and different person doing that. And that doesn't mean
Speaker 6: that he won't go be successful somewhere else. I think
Speaker 6: that's fine, you know, So I'm not super bitter about
Speaker 6: the departure and about this being different. I think, Okay, great,
Speaker 6: you he did a great job at that time, was
Speaker 6: what Kentucky be did at that time, and now it's different.
Speaker 6: So now we're moving on, and you know, and I
Speaker 6: don't mind, Like if the dynamics are different inside the
Speaker 6: building and you know, then sometimes it's just time to go.
Speaker 6: Sometimes it's just the right time for everybody to do
Speaker 6: something else, and there's nothing wrong with that. So that's
Speaker 6: really where I'm at with this, is like, you know,
Speaker 6: now it has to be something that you know, you're
Speaker 6: looking for someone and something very different from what Vince
Speaker 6: brought to the table when he came on board at
Speaker 6: Kentucky years ago.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's interesting too that he goes to Louisville
Speaker 1: as basically the GM, not an assistant coach, a positions coach,
Speaker 1: even an associate head coach as he was here, not
Speaker 1: a recruiting coordinator, but he's the head honshow when it
Speaker 1: comes now to the NIL, I guess now he will
Speaker 1: still factor into recruiting. This is to me what's going
Speaker 1: to be fascinating, even if he's not an off campus
Speaker 1: guy when you get a kid on campus and Vince
Speaker 1: Merrill will be one of, if not the first guy
Speaker 1: the kid talks to about, you know, your potential future
Speaker 1: here at the University of Louisville. And you never know,
Speaker 1: the kid the next day or the next weekend might
Speaker 1: be in lexing and having the same conversation with Mark
Speaker 1: Stoops and Eddie Grant because they're going to be still
Speaker 1: going as they have for decades, to the same players.
Speaker 6: Right, Oh, yeah, no question. And you know, and I
Speaker 6: think we we've all heard them talk. We've heard him
Speaker 6: be in different situations. We've heard him do interviews and
Speaker 6: that kind of thing. And you know, I think when
Speaker 6: when you do come face to face with him, you
Speaker 6: know he's he's a charismatic guy. He's funny, he's relatable
Speaker 6: to these kids in a lot of ways. So you know,
Speaker 6: he does he has something to offer as far as
Speaker 6: that goes. But you know, I think to your point,
Speaker 6: it will be different. You know, I always wonder what's
Speaker 6: the pitch. There's a sales pitch every single time you're
Speaker 6: recruiting a kid, Right, And I said I would love
Speaker 6: to be in a living room and know what that
Speaker 6: sales pitch is from a head coach at Kentucky or
Speaker 6: a coach at Louisville, or a recruiting coordinator from Michigan
Speaker 6: or Ohios that what's the pitch. There's there's always a
Speaker 6: pitch to the kid and their parents about why they
Speaker 6: should come to or or you know, even consider coming
Speaker 6: to that football program. So, you know, I think I
Speaker 6: think that would be really interesting to know as you
Speaker 6: shift years now to to a level what's the pitch?
Speaker 6: But you know, because sometimes that kind of stuff can
Speaker 6: get nasty, there's no I mean, it's happened in other sports,
Speaker 6: you know, as you're recruiting the same kid, you know,
Speaker 6: I know back in the day women's basketball, and you know,
Speaker 6: it would get really testy and could get you know, interesting.
Speaker 6: So I think this could be so there could be
Speaker 6: a little of that, you know, I mean, there's some
Speaker 6: plenty of animosity to go around for.
Speaker 1: All of us. What kind of pitch did they make
Speaker 1: a Campbellsville to land you having grown up there, not
Speaker 1: much of one.
Speaker 6: I mean, it didn't take much, as you know I said,
Speaker 6: of anything. It was you know, some of the opposing
Speaker 6: coaches from other schools said, we didn't even bother. We
Speaker 6: knew you were going there, so we didn't you. We
Speaker 6: didn't even put you on our list of recruits to
Speaker 6: even offer you because we knew that's where you were going.
Speaker 1: So you didn't have to put up with a hard
Speaker 1: cell to trying to turn your head.
Speaker 6: No, the heart and cell was. You know, which was
Speaker 6: kind of interesting, is I was not a Division IE
Speaker 6: level player, but I was offered a walk on position
Speaker 6: at at Louisville. And you know, that was a situation
Speaker 6: for me where I, huh, you know that that's great
Speaker 6: and I could be really cool, but is it really
Speaker 6: what I want? You know, in terms of of of
Speaker 6: knowing I'm going to get beat up every day and
Speaker 6: have to just give everything I got for it. Like
Speaker 6: a very rooty situation, you know, where you end up
Speaker 6: one day, you know, maybe making a play in a
Speaker 6: game and you know, because you got in for about
Speaker 6: thirty seconds and I'm like, no, that's that's not really
Speaker 6: what I'm when I'm after. So that was it was
Speaker 6: a no brainer.
Speaker 1: You would have been the kid who when you stood
Speaker 1: up to go in the crowds, Oh, they're putting in
Speaker 1: the subject exactly. I mean that's great for some, but
Speaker 1: not for you. Uh. Before before I hit the break, Uh,
Speaker 1: the man who has been chosen to coach tight ends,
Speaker 1: Derek Shea, has been on staff. But what I think
Speaker 1: more importantly, he already knows Bush Hampden's offense. And I
Speaker 1: bring that up because looking ahead, Christy, this is the
Speaker 1: first season that ham Dan will have had the full
Speaker 1: year cycle to work with everybody on the roster and
Speaker 1: get that offense familiar. Uh. You know how much hope
Speaker 1: does that give you for the coming year?
Speaker 6: Well, it does give me a good bit of it,
Speaker 6: just because I think we're we're in a position with
Speaker 6: Kentucky football that we've not seen this where we've had
Speaker 6: that kind of consistency with offense. We've been wanting it
Speaker 6: and we've hoped for it, but we've just not seen
Speaker 6: it and it just hasn't happened. And I think that
Speaker 6: you know, that becomes they're you know, unrest, I think
Speaker 6: in the locker room, and you know that's where you
Speaker 6: I think run the risk of really losing us to
Speaker 6: the transfer portal when you just can't have some consistency
Speaker 6: to really start to build something and and that's what
Speaker 6: we're finally seeing. And I think once you can kind
Speaker 6: of figure out the offensive line again and you can
Speaker 6: kind of get that back on track where we are
Speaker 6: used to seeing that level of play, you can really
Speaker 6: get some consistency at the quarterback position, and you know,
Speaker 6: different things like that. All of that can really come together,
Speaker 6: and it just takes time and you have to be
Speaker 6: able to give it time. And you know, we're we're
Speaker 6: not a patient world, that's for sure. But I think
Speaker 6: that that that will certainly be beneficial to everybody involved
Speaker 6: in the program that there's finally you know, this is
Speaker 6: the guy they know. This is a guy Shay. I
Speaker 6: don't know much about him. You know he was involved,
Speaker 6: but not in a real high profile role or situation
Speaker 6: with the program. Third, it'll be interesting to see how
Speaker 6: that comes together and it'd be a totally different perspective.
Speaker 1: We're talking to Christy Thomas. She anchors our pregame coverage
Speaker 1: of UK football on the UK Radio Network. We'll come
Speaker 1: back and talk to UK women's basketball. Christy, of course
Speaker 1: works with Jeff Picarel on the UK streaming broadcast. Back
Speaker 1: in a minute on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to
Speaker 1: the Big Blue and Sider. We're talking with Christy Thomas,
Speaker 1: broadcast partner for jeff Pacarel on the SEC Network streaming
Speaker 1: channel for UK women's basketball. Before we talk about the
Speaker 1: upcoming season in this roster, Christy, this is going to
Speaker 1: be a season minus Georgia Aymore and we only got
Speaker 1: to see her for one year, but clearly she has
Speaker 1: the impact I think that Kenny Brooks needed and wanted,
Speaker 1: And what do you think this team's going to be
Speaker 1: like minus one of the best players in America.
Speaker 6: Well, outside of her play, which was just so impressive
Speaker 6: and so fun to watch and actually has me very
Speaker 6: disappointed that we only had her for one year, is
Speaker 6: is really her leadership this She was a young lady
Speaker 6: who just had such a presence on the floor. Was
Speaker 6: really a calming presence. I think she never got rattled,
Speaker 6: she never got overly emotional in a negative way. It
Speaker 6: was always in a very positive way. She's somebody who
Speaker 6: knew Kenny Brooks better than anybody else on the floor.
Speaker 6: So I think that to me becomes so crucial in
Speaker 6: terms of what you're missing without her on the floor.
Speaker 6: You know, listen, she can put in you know, twenty
Speaker 6: six points a night, and you know, tennisis and all
Speaker 6: those are wonderful things, but when you take on those
Speaker 6: intangibles like that, it made her so incredibly valuable to
Speaker 6: this team. So I think it definitely changes the dynamic.
Speaker 6: I think it now forces some young ladies to step
Speaker 6: up in a way that maybe they haven't normally, Like
Speaker 6: a Clara Strack is not a super vocal kind of
Speaker 6: leader and player, but she may kind of, you know,
Speaker 6: be forced into a situation like that where she's really
Speaker 6: got to take on more of that. But I think
Speaker 6: that that will be the biggest unknown. You know, when
Speaker 6: you have the transfer portal so readily available and players
Speaker 6: that you're bringing in like that, that is going to
Speaker 6: be the single biggest question mark for Kentucky is you know,
Speaker 6: who can kind of move lessen. Everybody needs to stop
Speaker 6: thinking who's going to be the next Georgia Amore because
Speaker 6: there's not one. So I mean it's not that's not
Speaker 6: the question, it's it's who can run the offense. Right
Speaker 6: now we're looking at not who's the next Georgia Amore
Speaker 6: and who does what Georgia does. There isn't anyone, So
Speaker 6: it's going to be who can run the offense efficiently
Speaker 6: to keep this team on that winning playing field here
Speaker 6: where where they're they're you know, Kenny brought them back
Speaker 6: last year, so they got to stay there, and then
Speaker 6: that'll be the question.
Speaker 1: Well, he did bring in Tony Morgan, the point guard
Speaker 1: from Georgia Tech. I have no idea what her games like.
Speaker 1: You cannot You're right, you cannot expect her to be
Speaker 1: another Georgia Amoor. But you know she started ninety five
Speaker 1: games and has scored twelve hundred points and you know
Speaker 1: his average five assists per games, so you got to
Speaker 1: think she knows a little something about playing point guard.
Speaker 1: Plus having come from the ACC, you know Kenny Brooks
Speaker 1: knows about her.
Speaker 6: That was a great get for them. I mean, there's
Speaker 6: no doubt about it. She brings a little more size
Speaker 6: at five nine, so she's got a little more size
Speaker 6: than what Georgia had. But there there was no question.
Speaker 6: You had to have somebody with some experience, somebody who
Speaker 6: was a little older be able to put this on
Speaker 6: that you know, this team is really you know, I
Speaker 6: say on their shoulders that that that that's not fair.
Speaker 6: I don't think that's right. A fair assessment that somebody
Speaker 6: who could come in and have some confidence about themselves
Speaker 6: to say I can do this. We need you need
Speaker 6: me to run the team. That's what I do. I'm
Speaker 6: a point guard. I run, you know, and I can
Speaker 6: run this offense. So you know, I think she is
Speaker 6: a great get for them in that way, you know.
Speaker 6: But again it's a matter of coming in and you've
Speaker 6: got to learn everybody. You're learning Kenny system, you're learning
Speaker 6: what he wants, how he wants things, but you're also
Speaker 6: learning Lexington and the university and a new place to
Speaker 6: live and classes and where am I going and where
Speaker 6: can I go eat? And you know all those things.
Speaker 6: So it's a lot for anybody that's coming in as
Speaker 6: a as a first year player here at any school,
Speaker 6: not just Kentucky. But I think that was a big
Speaker 6: get for them. But I'll tell you this, I am
Speaker 6: more excited than anything about watching the two young ladies
Speaker 6: who were injured last season, and that's Jordan Obi and
Speaker 6: Dominica Parova. They by all accounts were or could have
Speaker 6: been starters and so and when you lose them, and
Speaker 6: they've got great size, they can shoot, they can do
Speaker 6: so many different They're athletic. They're long, lots of things
Speaker 6: that these young ladies can do, and they were out
Speaker 6: all season long due to injury. So they'll both be
Speaker 6: back and I am so excited to see what they
Speaker 6: can do because there was so much talk about them
Speaker 6: going into last season as Kenny came on campus. So
Speaker 6: everybody watch out for those two. They're going to be
Speaker 6: really fun to watch well.
Speaker 1: And not only that, by default it means more depth,
Speaker 1: which is something that really affected Kentucky last year. A
Speaker 1: lack of depth.
Speaker 6: Oh they just didn't have it. Yeah, I mean, you
Speaker 6: know I said that there were every single time they
Speaker 6: took the floor and they played, I just kept thinking,
Speaker 6: don't get into foul trouble. Just no silly fowls, right,
Speaker 6: I mean, and that became an issue. I mean, like
Speaker 6: for Clara Strack, you know, she was a very aggressive
Speaker 6: type of player that you know, would get saddled with
Speaker 6: some fouls early. And I kept thinking that about Georgia
Speaker 6: aymore like, please just don't pick up two early fouls,
Speaker 6: and even when she did, she often still played, you know,
Speaker 6: in the first half. So yeah, you've got to have
Speaker 6: that depth to be able to play as aggressively and
Speaker 6: as you need to play in the SEC, you've got
Speaker 6: to have some depth because people are going to get
Speaker 6: in foul trouble. You're going to get beat up and
Speaker 6: bang around, and you've got to have some depth, and
Speaker 6: they definitely will have that this year.
Speaker 1: Well, let's talk a little bit about one of the
Speaker 1: other stars they have coming back, and it's Clara Strack
Speaker 1: and a tremendous defensively, but they're going to need more offense.
Speaker 1: I guess at her this coming sit, I guess they
Speaker 1: need a little more of everything. Right.
Speaker 6: Well, she she is an all everything player. I mean,
Speaker 6: this is a young lady who, to your point, can
Speaker 6: defend and can also score. But we saw last season
Speaker 6: that she's an excellent passer. She sees the floor so well.
Speaker 6: She can dribble, you know she can. She easily can
Speaker 6: bring the ball up the floor, and Kenny Brooks has
Speaker 6: no problem with that. So keianni Key's no different. I mean,
Speaker 6: she's also one of their post players at six four
Speaker 6: that many times rebounds the ball goes the distance. I've
Speaker 6: seen her take it coast to coast and go all
Speaker 6: the way up for a layup and no one stops her.
Speaker 6: So but that that versatility is really what Kenny is
Speaker 6: is actor and what he likes with his offense is
Speaker 6: you know, being able to do lots of things, like
Speaker 6: different things like that. And you know, Claire was somebody
Speaker 6: that I think really surprised me in that regard that
Speaker 6: about how how well she passed the ball, how well
Speaker 6: she sees the floor, and so I think that's a
Speaker 6: really fun thing to keep an eye out for her too,
Speaker 6: to see, you know, she will just continue to get better.
Speaker 6: And she's a hard worker. This young lady isn't isn't
Speaker 6: doesn't shy away from from the hard work. So, yeah,
Speaker 6: a little bit more of everything, right, I mean, when
Speaker 6: you lose twenty some points a game or you know,
Speaker 6: eighteen points a game with Georgia Amore, you've got to
Speaker 6: have a little bit more of everything from somebody like that.
Speaker 6: But again, I go back to this idea of her
Speaker 6: being a leader. They're going to have to have more
Speaker 6: of that more than anything is her leadership and her
Speaker 6: vocal leadership, and you know so so I think it'll
Speaker 6: be really interesting to watch her kind of move into
Speaker 6: a bigger role like that and to watch who else
Speaker 6: you are. I mean, that's always a fun thing as
Speaker 6: well too.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and the kid you talked about who missed
Speaker 1: last year, those were bigger kids, right. I mean that
Speaker 1: that's more size in the league where you've got to
Speaker 1: have size.
Speaker 6: That's they're both six to one and and what I
Speaker 6: love about you know, Jordan Obie's got some real personality
Speaker 6: and I think she'll be a lot of fun for
Speaker 6: fans to watch and get to know. You know, is
Speaker 6: a few times that that I've interacted with her, been
Speaker 6: able to see and interview with her. She's got a
Speaker 6: lot of personality and she really understood she's again older.
Speaker 6: She said she's going to be that graduate senior. So
Speaker 6: she's a little older and got some years on her
Speaker 6: and understands being around a little while. So she's going
Speaker 6: to be a lot of fun. I think she's somebody
Speaker 6: that could easily be turned into a fan favorite.
Speaker 1: She is Christy Thomas and before long you will hear
Speaker 1: her coverage of UK football. She hosts our pregame coverage
Speaker 1: along with uh Logan Stenberg. I'm sitting there looking at
Speaker 1: his picture Logan Stenberg and Jeremy Jarman.
Speaker 6: He'll be He'll be bad. You forgot it.
Speaker 1: Well, he needs to come back on the show. I
Speaker 1: keep trying to get him back on, so I didn't
Speaker 1: forget him. I'm looking right at him. But anyhow, it
Speaker 1: won't be long before our football covers begins. Thank you,
Speaker 1: young lady, thanks for having me and that'll do it.
Speaker 1: Thanks to my guest Christy Thomas, to John Hale and
Speaker 1: to Jim Dapolis and congrats again on Jim going into
Speaker 1: the Kentucky Pool Football Hall of Fame. That's a good
Speaker 1: night to the garage in Lexington sixty nine.
Speaker 4: He was giving him the business.
Speaker 2: Anything, doing anything, do anything at stake that anything I
Speaker 2: think from TAPS is undetta donating to the US