Speaker 1: All right, let's get a drive time Monday afternoon style.
Speaker 1: We're looking at about it eight minutes past the hour
Speaker 1: of two o'clock, hot day, August Day. It's about eighty
Speaker 1: eight degrees claire and sunny here in downtown.
Speaker 2: Salt Lake City, Utah.
Speaker 1: And as it is every single day, it's going to
Speaker 1: have you along for the ride.
Speaker 2: Spence Check.
Speaker 1: It's back behind the mic after a little bit of
Speaker 1: time off. Last time we spoke with you live was
Speaker 1: Wednesday of last week.
Speaker 2: Had a fun Thursday.
Speaker 1: I'm seeing the golf tournament for our friends at Murdoch Chevrolet,
Speaker 1: the Murdoc Auto Group, Murdock Hundai, Murdoch Genesis of Lyndon,
Speaker 1: my guy Blake Murdoch, Ben, the brothers. It was good
Speaker 1: time up there at Balley View and all the people
Speaker 1: that showed up.
Speaker 2: Appreciate you guys.
Speaker 1: And then spent the weekend in Middle America, in Indianapolis,
Speaker 1: in Indiana and Carmel, Indiana, hanging out with my brother
Speaker 1: and his wife and their six children. For any of
Speaker 1: you that have that many children, God bless you.
Speaker 2: You are doing the Lord's work.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what a lot of fun to be
Speaker 1: back there though, celebrated my son's birthday. Shout out to
Speaker 1: Connor turned twenty four over the weekend. That's right, I
Speaker 1: have a twenty four year old son. My son is
Speaker 1: twenty four and he's such a good kid. Could not
Speaker 1: be proud of him. But good weekend, Great to be back.
Speaker 1: Hopefully you guys had a great weekend. Happy Monday to you.
Speaker 1: Hopefully you're off to a great start to that work week.
Speaker 1: And it is almost time. It is almost time for
Speaker 1: college football. We are in game week for week zero.
Speaker 1: We have college football this weekend and then the following
Speaker 1: the weekend, our local teams will kick off as Utah
Speaker 1: will be at the Rose Bold to take on the
Speaker 1: UCLA Bruins byu host Portland State. Utah State is taking
Speaker 1: on Utah. A shout out to the Utah State players
Speaker 1: for earning their numbers. It's been a while since we've
Speaker 1: got Bronco Mendenhall and State. I forgot how corny this
Speaker 1: stuff gets with him, respectfully, the man's a great coach,
Speaker 1: and everybody who knows Bronco seems to like him and
Speaker 1: respect him. It's the dumbest thing. It's so cheesy, but congratulations,
Speaker 1: So I guess I should say the portion of the
Speaker 1: Utah state roster who's earned their numbers, so all of yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's my bad. I forget.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you got to earn your number. Are they doing
Speaker 1: the what did he have the BYU players wear on
Speaker 1: the back of the It was like spirit, tradition and
Speaker 1: honor or something.
Speaker 3: Hey, spirit tradition and honor.
Speaker 2: Don't don't spit it down.
Speaker 4: Those are our three staples I think of this program,
Speaker 4: this program.
Speaker 1: This the Afternoon Drive. You're on ESPN seven hundred. We
Speaker 1: are known for spirit, tradition and honor. You know what,
Speaker 1: that's actually not bad And.
Speaker 3: I couldn't say that without like, here's the deal.
Speaker 1: Before the end of the show, I'm going to decide
Speaker 1: whether or not you've earned that roan.
Speaker 2: Shirt you're wearing. Oh no, you might have to take
Speaker 2: it off.
Speaker 3: I don't know if they're a sponsor anymore, so.
Speaker 2: Not technically, but you and I wear it every day,
Speaker 2: so kind of they are.
Speaker 1: That's they provide free clothing. That's port reproduced of the show.
Speaker 1: My name is Spence Checkets.
Speaker 2: I host the show.
Speaker 1: It's good to have you guys with us on this Monday,
Speaker 1: and we are jam packed.
Speaker 2: We have Week.
Speaker 1: Three of the NFL preseason in the rearview mirror. Some
Speaker 1: of our local players solidify and roster spots. A lot
Speaker 1: of utes on the Broncos roster saw some action of
Speaker 1: the weekend. Caleb Lander had to catch Karene Reid had
Speaker 1: a couple of tackles. Jona Ellis cosm chaos in the backfield,
Speaker 1: Jackson Dark continues to impress for the New York Giants.
Speaker 2: He's not going to get that starting job.
Speaker 1: And a lot of NFL players, a lot of local
Speaker 1: NFL players trying to make their in roads. Look like
Speaker 1: Zach Wilson is going to lock in that QB two
Speaker 1: spot in Miami. Feels like BYU as a starting quarterback,
Speaker 1: they're kind of playing in a little KOI A Rod
Speaker 1: and Klaude and having announced and officially that bear Bachmeyers
Speaker 1: are starting quarterback in Provo, but it feels like that's
Speaker 1: kind of the deal. Speaking of Provo, our friends at
Speaker 1: the Salt Lake Tribune, Kevin Reynolds with a good piece
Speaker 1: today about a topic we've discussed quite a bit since
Speaker 1: nil became a reality. And I told you five years
Speaker 1: ago this stuff was going to be very beneficial for
Speaker 1: BYU and here we are. But they will not say
Speaker 1: the quiet part out loud. They will not tell the truth.
Speaker 1: It's disingenuous, it's inauthentic, and quite frankly, it's insulting when
Speaker 1: we all know the deal, yet they hide behind this cloak.
Speaker 1: And Kevin did a good job today. A sltrip dot
Speaker 1: com is where you go. So we'll dig into some
Speaker 1: of that stuff. When it comes to BYU's ability to
Speaker 1: compete with the highest bidders in college athletics to pay
Speaker 1: their players to play for their school.
Speaker 2: And yes, that's what they're doing.
Speaker 1: And by the way, there's nothing wrong with it.
Speaker 2: It's the weirdest thing.
Speaker 1: I think it's a microcosm of several weird elements down there.
Speaker 1: But whatever, Kevin did a good job today with that,
Speaker 1: so we'll get into it. So college football on the
Speaker 1: program today will get you ready for game day, which
Speaker 1: is under two weeks away now. Ohio State has a
Speaker 1: starting quarterback as well a couple of positional battles with
Speaker 1: the University of Utah scrimmage up on the Hill over
Speaker 1: the weekend that we'll get into as well. Get you
Speaker 1: guys ready for game day for the Utes. RSL another
Speaker 1: tough night. When it comes to the officials. I am
Speaker 1: not a soccer expert. We do cover the club on
Speaker 1: the show, as you guys know, and I always will
Speaker 1: because they're my friends and I want them to succeed
Speaker 1: and do well.
Speaker 2: But that looked like a handball.
Speaker 1: Well because the excuse me, the defender raised his arm
Speaker 1: and touched the ball with his hand.
Speaker 2: Again, not an expert over.
Speaker 4: Here me neither looked apparently like what happened to me.
Speaker 2: But you know, yep, yep.
Speaker 1: So RSL had a potential penalty kick taken away from them.
Speaker 1: There was a very violent tackle at least in the
Speaker 1: world of soccer at midfield where a Charlotte player probably
Speaker 1: should have been set off. Nonetheless, RSL two straight ls now,
Speaker 1: and they're below the playoff line with only eight matches
Speaker 1: to play. The good news is five of those matches
Speaker 1: are at home, starting on Saturday, and your boy will
Speaker 1: be there. I'm heading to the game Saturday night. Have
Speaker 1: not been to an RSL match since early in the season.
Speaker 1: So RSL trying to get across the playoff line to
Speaker 1: try to qualify for the MLS playoffs, because, as we've seen,
Speaker 1: once you qualify for the playoffs. You never know what
Speaker 1: could happen. Joe Flacco is your starter in Cleveland. Dylan
Speaker 1: Gabriel with a comment over the weekend. A lot of
Speaker 1: people are i think misconstruing as far as a shot
Speaker 1: at should or Sanders. So we are inching closer and
Speaker 1: closer to the NFL. You're probably preparing for some fantasy
Speaker 1: football drafts.
Speaker 2: So a lot of football on the show today.
Speaker 1: While we were gone of the Utah Jazz received their schedule.
Speaker 2: Do you give a rip?
Speaker 1: They have one national televised game and it'll probably be
Speaker 1: flexed out in January home opener October the twenty second
Speaker 1: against the Clips.
Speaker 2: New broadcast partners with.
Speaker 1: The NBA means a bevy of new scheduling all call
Speaker 1: it complications. I'm not sure we're going to see the
Speaker 1: inside guys until Christmas, which sucks in a lot of ways.
Speaker 2: But we'll go over some stuff with the Jazz.
Speaker 1: Lowry Markinen is absolutely crushing it at EuroBasket, just like
Speaker 1: he did a few years ago. And if you remember,
Speaker 1: that was the summer prior to Lowry's first season here
Speaker 1: where he had grown ups playing on the roster with
Speaker 1: him and he played well.
Speaker 2: He made an All Star team, so.
Speaker 1: A little NBA but mostly football on the show today,
Speaker 1: Good guest List. Our first guest will be the former
Speaker 1: athletic director at the University of Utah, good friend of
Speaker 1: the program, doctor Chris Hill, live in studio for an
Speaker 1: entire hour. Excited to have doctor hillan today. We'll talk
Speaker 1: about kind of what's going on behind the scenes this
Speaker 1: time of year and get his take on the future
Speaker 1: of Utah football.
Speaker 2: I want to talk a little college basketball.
Speaker 1: Last live show we did was last Wednesday up at
Speaker 1: the Red Zone store on campus, and let me mention,
Speaker 1: I cannot but it does not look like the store
Speaker 1: on campus when I was in school there in the nineties.
Speaker 1: We called it the bookstore because that's what it was.
Speaker 1: Brand new facility, new layout, great gear. They're gonna have
Speaker 1: drops every single week prior to Utah football home games.
Speaker 1: Tead you guys excited and geared up, ready to go
Speaker 1: for Utah football.
Speaker 2: Head up to the campus store check it out.
Speaker 1: But randon Alex Jensen and chatted with Alex for a minute,
Speaker 1: and he was with Wes Wilcox, who's the general manager
Speaker 1: of the Utah men's basketball program. So I want to
Speaker 1: talk to Doctor Hill about what we should expect from
Speaker 1: Alex year one as the head coach of the Utah
Speaker 1: men's basketball team. The voice himself, Bill Riley joins us
Speaker 1: on a Monday afternoon. It talks to you camp, some
Speaker 1: camp Kyle scrimmage and Utah scrimmage. Maybe some positional battles,
Speaker 1: namely along the defensive line, who's going to be cornerback
Speaker 1: number two across from Scooby? And then we'll get into
Speaker 1: some QB two talk and then how everything's looking shaping
Speaker 1: up to the season opener against UCLA at the Rose
Speaker 1: Bowl coming up an under two weeks from now. So
Speaker 1: Riles stop by today and then former RSL general manager
Speaker 1: Elliott Fall will roll by in studio for a hit.
Speaker 2: Elliott, really, I think.
Speaker 1: Deserves a lot of credit for the team he built
Speaker 1: up that this current iteration decided to break down for
Speaker 1: whatever reason. So we'll get with Elliott today, been wanting
Speaker 1: to have him on the show for a while, and
Speaker 1: then we'll go from there. So Doctor Chris Hill, Bill Riley,
Speaker 1: Elliott Fall, Me Spence check at all of you the
Speaker 1: great listeners, Hello, how are you? Thanks for making us
Speaker 1: a part of your Monday and him that guy Porter Larson,
Speaker 1: who produces the show.
Speaker 2: How was your weekend? Pal?
Speaker 3: It was good?
Speaker 2: It was good.
Speaker 3: How was your weekend?
Speaker 1: Well, you can't just say it's good. Give me one
Speaker 1: highlight from your weekend. What did did you do that
Speaker 1: was fun? Give me one thing and it was well?
Speaker 1: I drove a bunch. Unfortunately, that's not that. That's not
Speaker 1: a highlight. I kind of got my ass kicked by
Speaker 1: a large hoofed animal. That's somewhat of a highlight. But
Speaker 1: I did uh, I did get outside.
Speaker 4: I I did a little Central Utah exploring Severe Canyon area,
Speaker 4: Big Rock, Candy Mountain area. You're familiar. That's probably one
Speaker 4: of the highlights. Do we hanging out on the river?
Speaker 2: Do we swear on the show?
Speaker 5: Now?
Speaker 2: Is that something we do? Forgot about our well? I
Speaker 2: was gone?
Speaker 3: Is it forgot about our tenants?
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm just saying, I mean spirit tradition on her
Speaker 1: that's the that's what we do.
Speaker 2: And then you roll in.
Speaker 1: You just start dropping dropping asses like there's nothing wrong
Speaker 1: with it.
Speaker 2: I apologize for this. Be better or else you're not
Speaker 2: gonna earn your own shirt.
Speaker 3: Okay, I was talking about a mule.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's fair, I kind of you know, as my
Speaker 1: grandma used to say, it's also in the Bible. My
Speaker 1: grandma rest in Peace, had it like I used to
Speaker 1: love it. She would swear up and down. But if
Speaker 1: it's in the Bible, the Bible swears, there you go.
Speaker 1: Not the bad swears.
Speaker 4: Or if you're in the state of Utah one I
Speaker 4: hear very commonly. And my friends that sometimes listened to
Speaker 4: the show. And you know, I played sports with me
Speaker 4: back in the day. If you're between the lines, right,
Speaker 4: if you're in the between the lines of the court
Speaker 4: or the field, doesn't count.
Speaker 3: Doesn't count.
Speaker 1: Okay, brother, one of your ex teammates has been texting
Speaker 1: me quite a bit, dming me on social media. Oh really,
Speaker 1: it seems like a nice guy just listens to the
Speaker 1: show as he knew you when you were a kid. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's the end of the story. Some of them are
Speaker 1: very very nice guys. Okay, what about the others.
Speaker 3: Most of them the folk up in Camus, they are
Speaker 3: my people.
Speaker 1: S all to the earth people up in Camas. All right,
Speaker 1: A lot to do. Our first guest today live in
Speaker 1: the studio will be doctor Chris Hill. But before we
Speaker 1: get to doctor Hill, courtesy of our friends at Prize Fix.
Speaker 2: It is Todd Now for your opening tip. Welcome to
Speaker 2: the Drive with Spence.
Speaker 6: Check its on Utah's number one Sports Talk Now into
Speaker 6: the studios of ESPN seven hundred to set the scene
Speaker 6: for the show. Opening tip of the Drive is brought
Speaker 6: to you by Prize Picks. Use the code ESPN seven
Speaker 6: hundred and run your game with Prize Picks.
Speaker 2: Preseason. NFL football is here.
Speaker 1: College football is also here week zero this week, so
Speaker 1: don't miss out on any of the action this season
Speaker 1: on Prize Picks.
Speaker 2: Here's what you do.
Speaker 1: You download the Prize Picks app today, use that promo
Speaker 1: code ESPN seven hundred to get fifty dollars in lineups
Speaker 1: after you play your first five dollars lineup. Promo code
Speaker 1: ESPN seven hundred get fifty dollars in lineups after you
Speaker 1: play your first five dollar lineup Prize Picks. Run your
Speaker 1: game all season long. All right, it is here. It's here,
Speaker 1: I mean college football is here. It is the Monday
Speaker 1: of Week zero, which will be highlighted by Iowa State
Speaker 1: and k State. In Dublin, Ireland. Our buddy Chris Camaradnie
Speaker 1: will be live on site. I'm sure we'll check in
Speaker 1: with Ck next week about his experience. So that's coming
Speaker 1: up on Saturday. That will be your first game. Boise
Speaker 1: State South Florida Thursday, and then we launch into an
Speaker 1: entire slate big time college football. Some really good opening
Speaker 1: day matchups for week one. LSU Clemson might be the
Speaker 1: highlight at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina. A bunch
Speaker 1: of other good non con games, and of course Big
Speaker 1: Twelve needing to show well in non con as a
Speaker 1: lot of eyes on the Big Twelve conference this year.
Speaker 1: Can they get two teams in Notre Dame Miami will
Speaker 1: culminate and essentially wrap up the weekend. That's going to
Speaker 1: be a Sunday game on August to thirty first, But
Speaker 1: of course Utah on the road taking on UCLA.
Speaker 2: That's a nine o'clock kicktime on Fox.
Speaker 1: By the way, I want to mention that the debut
Speaker 1: of the Devin Dan Pier, a weekly interview on The
Speaker 1: Sean O'Connell Show, will come your way on Thursday. So
Speaker 1: a lot of you wanting to get to know Devin
Speaker 1: a little bit better. We are your home with the Utes,
Speaker 1: and so we will make sure that you guys are
Speaker 1: able to kind of get a little bit of insight
Speaker 1: on what makes them tick. Good kid, really nice kid,
Speaker 1: had a chance to kick the tires with them down
Speaker 1: Big twelve Media Day. Of course, a lot of to
Speaker 1: be asked of him. Under center is Utah's QB one.
Speaker 1: Utah remains essentially a touchdown favorite. That line's about six
Speaker 1: point five points against UCLA.
Speaker 2: So that will be your opener for the Utes.
Speaker 1: And you can hear the game on our radio station
Speaker 1: with Bill and Scott and Slide in the gang a
Speaker 1: ton of pregame coverage.
Speaker 2: Porter's gonna take care of you there.
Speaker 1: And then don't forget during home games this year, starting
Speaker 1: on September the sixth against cal Poly and continuing all
Speaker 1: season long, come chill out with us at our tailgate.
Speaker 1: We're right on Guardsman's right on the corner. It's like
Speaker 1: the Primus location. It's right outside of the big Smith's setup.
Speaker 1: I guess I should check if Smith's is back with
Speaker 1: the Utes this year, but that big setup on the corner.
Speaker 1: Have a lot of fun there. Out Load Distillery is
Speaker 1: gonna be serving some spirits. We all always have great
Speaker 1: food and it's a good time. I'd like to roll
Speaker 1: through there when I go up there and kind of
Speaker 1: say hi to my college buddies who have some tailgate
Speaker 1: spots up there. So Utah football is here, and I
Speaker 1: do think as I continue to talk about the piece
Speaker 1: of optimism I continue to kind of latch onto for
Speaker 1: the utes is that it doesn't appear to be really
Speaker 1: a lot of issues. Now, that's what we see as
Speaker 1: media members, it's what you kind of digest as fans. Obviously,
Speaker 1: behind the scenes with the coaches and players, I'm sure
Speaker 1: it's a little bit different.
Speaker 2: But when your main.
Speaker 1: Topics are like who's going to be the second cornerback
Speaker 1: for a defense that you never worry about, or who's
Speaker 1: going to be the other defensive end outside of Logan Fano,
Speaker 1: when those are the conversations, as opposed to is the
Speaker 1: quarterback healthy? Who's your starting quarterback? What does that look like?
Speaker 1: You got to feel really good as a fan. So
Speaker 1: I don't fully know what to expect this year when
Speaker 1: it comes to the landscape with the Big twelve conference
Speaker 1: front of the show. Josh Pate was tuning in to
Speaker 1: Josh's podcast earlier today and he did his conference picks
Speaker 1: and Joel Klatt did his conference picks as well a
Speaker 1: couple of the college football voices I like to listen to,
Speaker 1: and the consensus among the Big twelve is even more
Speaker 1: confusion than there typically is. You know, airs on a
Speaker 1: state prohibitive favorite. You look at Vegas, Utah is right there.
Speaker 1: There's some other teams. Of course, KSE State always seems
Speaker 1: to be in the mix. A lot of people love
Speaker 1: Texas Tech, Dave Brandon Baylor getting a lot of love BYU.
Speaker 1: It really depends on who you listen to, and it
Speaker 1: comes down to whether or not you believe that that
Speaker 1: staff can figure out the quarterback spot. They have not
Speaker 1: announced it officially, but it does look like the bear
Speaker 1: Bachmeyer kid, the true freshman who spent his spring football
Speaker 1: at Stanford, is going to be the number one quarterback
Speaker 1: for BYU. McKay Hillstead, who a lot of people just
Speaker 1: kind of assumed who was going to get the job
Speaker 1: because of his truncated experience up at Utah State where
Speaker 1: he received date starts, looks like he's going to be
Speaker 1: the backup. And the tracing Borgay kid looks like he's
Speaker 1: the odd man looking out or the odd man looking in,
Speaker 1: I should say, on the outside. So that continues to
Speaker 1: be the question that's percolating with the Cougars, not just
Speaker 1: who the quarterback is going to be, but what is
Speaker 1: the quarterback going to look like? Because no matter who
Speaker 1: a Rod lands on, they will be taking their first
Speaker 1: snaps for BYU and their first snaps on the Big
Speaker 1: twelve level, not necessarily college football for Trason and McKay,
Speaker 1: but certainly it'll be bear Bachmeyer's first experience when it
Speaker 1: comes to college football at that level, or college football
Speaker 1: at all, because he is a true freshman. A Rod
Speaker 1: during media availability last week discussed the dynamic and not
Speaker 1: really caring ultimately about whether or not as a freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, transfer, incumbent,
Speaker 1: and a Rod keeps using the same phrase. The standard
Speaker 1: is the standard at BYU when it comes to a
Speaker 1: quarterback position. For me, if all things are equal, go
Speaker 1: with the kid. If all things are equal, just go
Speaker 1: with the kid. Might as well start building now, and ultimately,
Speaker 1: in this era of college football, you just have to
Speaker 1: go with the guy you think is ready to play
Speaker 1: right now. But if you can have some sort of assurance,
Speaker 1: and I will not get on my collectively bargained soap
Speaker 1: box today unionize and negotiate with the powers that be.
Speaker 1: But if you can get some sort of assurance from
Speaker 1: Bear that he's going to be here for two or
Speaker 1: three years, I just think you go with the kid. Now,
Speaker 1: what happens these days in college football is you do
Speaker 1: run the risk of the players you elected not to
Speaker 1: name starters just to transfer. But they're working on more
Speaker 1: stringent guidelines in place to make sure that you know
Speaker 1: when it comes to in season stuff. Yeah, you'll always
Speaker 1: be able to withdraw and figure it out, but you
Speaker 1: can't like officially enter the transfer portal. I mean Jake
Speaker 1: Rhetz laugh who's now Tulane. That's not a situation where
Speaker 1: he entered the portal. It was too late, so Tulane
Speaker 1: officials couldn't even contact him. They had to go through
Speaker 1: his reps, even though the Tulane head coach recruited Jake
Speaker 1: out of high school. So we'll see how it plays
Speaker 1: out down in provo. I do think if you're a
Speaker 1: ute fan, you should feel very confident they were not
Speaker 1: hearing a lot of drama, both you know, front facing
Speaker 1: or behind the scenes. As we prepare for UCLA coming
Speaker 1: up on the thirtieth Saturday of next week.
Speaker 2: And so college football is here.
Speaker 1: Man, it's right around the corner, and I feel like
Speaker 1: no matter who you listen to most ever, but he
Speaker 1: is on the same page as far as not knowing
Speaker 1: what to expect. This is a sport, in my opinion
Speaker 1: twenty years at this now, I think it's harder to
Speaker 1: predict and analyze than any other sport on any other level.
Speaker 1: And I think it's even more so now as a
Speaker 1: result of roster changeover. I mean, at the very least
Speaker 1: you have thirty five to forty new players. At the
Speaker 1: very most, you have eighty new players up in logan
Speaker 1: like Bronco Menenhall is breaking in with only a portion
Speaker 1: of them earning their numbers so far. We got Ryles
Speaker 1: today voice the Ute, so stop by. We'll talk some
Speaker 1: Utah football scrimmage over the weekends. It is week three
Speaker 1: of four weeks for fall camp for the Utes before
Speaker 1: they go to the Rose Bowl to take on UCLA
Speaker 1: College basketball.
Speaker 2: Right around the corner. Had a chance to catch up.
Speaker 1: With Alex Jensen last week up at the Red Zone
Speaker 1: store on campus. If you're an old Ute like me,
Speaker 1: we used to call it the bookstore. It is definitely
Speaker 1: not just the bookstore anymore. It is a very nice facility.
Speaker 1: It looks a lot different than it did once upon
Speaker 1: a time when I was causing chaos on campus. I
Speaker 1: want to tell you about my friends at IFA country stores,
Speaker 1: like any good coach at the top, and update the
Speaker 1: game plan for a healthy green lawn. As the hot
Speaker 1: weather continues this month, make sure you're using IFA Step
Speaker 1: three Summer lawn food for healthy turf that stays green
Speaker 1: and every season IFA Step three lawn Food. It's the
Speaker 1: ultimate lawn owner power move at IFA. Speaking of old Utes,
Speaker 1: I'm not calling him old, but when I was on campus,
Speaker 1: the athletic director of the University of Utah was doctor
Speaker 1: Chris Hill, and he joins me live in studio, doctor Hill.
Speaker 2: How are you, sir? I'm doing well.
Speaker 5: There's probably two generations that were there, but I'm doing well.
Speaker 2: Can't complain. Great to see, a great time of year.
Speaker 1: So as we approach football and basketball, what are some
Speaker 1: of the boxes that you wanted checked before the football
Speaker 1: was kicked off?
Speaker 5: Well, I think that you know, I'm by no means
Speaker 5: close to it. You know, I live near a collocation
Speaker 5: or whatever, but s I kind of like some things
Speaker 5: I hear, you know. I mean, I'm probably going to
Speaker 5: try to go to practice in a week or two
Speaker 5: from now just to say hello.
Speaker 2: But I don't do that often, maybe once a year.
Speaker 2: But I kind of like what I hear.
Speaker 5: You know, it does take a genius to say the
Speaker 5: quarterback's got to do well and that get hurt.
Speaker 2: I mean, everybody knows that.
Speaker 5: One of the things I really like hearing it's about
Speaker 5: this offensive line. Yeah, and you know, to me, a
Speaker 5: good quarterback can become very good with the good line,
Speaker 5: for sure. I mean, it can't change the quarterback's ability,
Speaker 5: but you've got a little bit more time to throw.
Speaker 5: And this guy seems like a runner, you know, a
Speaker 5: defense I you know, I just kind of take it
Speaker 5: for granted, and maybe I shouldn't, but you know, I'll
Speaker 5: do the running back, I don't, you know, know, so
Speaker 5: I think when you have that kind of offensive line,
Speaker 5: when I'm here, one guy like projected is you know,
Speaker 5: top twelve picks or something, you know, so final from
Speaker 5: my chair, it's similar to yours. And you know, but
Speaker 5: I kind of like hearing that stuff, you know, and
Speaker 5: I think that you know, Harding's are really good coach
Speaker 5: on the line. So I think that though that'll happen,
Speaker 5: that'll be good for him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all five starters return, and you know, one of
Speaker 1: the players we don't even hear about much is Michael
Speaker 1: Mokafici who has thirty three starts. No, everybody talks about
Speaker 1: Spencer Fano and cayleb Blomo, the two tackles, but michaelast
Speaker 1: thirty three starts, Jaron is a captain, and the Tongia
Speaker 1: kid is returning as well.
Speaker 2: I mean, all five of those starters return. I wonder
Speaker 2: if you.
Speaker 1: Ever had experience when it comes to like last year
Speaker 1: was a disappointment. It was a disappointment for all of
Speaker 1: us that expected something different.
Speaker 2: It was certainly disappointment for Kyle himself.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he spoke about that during Big twelve media day.
Speaker 1: It feels like you taught football is so in trench
Speaker 1: now that you don't need to quote win anybody back. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but what do you look for after a season like
Speaker 1: last year that just didn't go the way any of
Speaker 1: us were expecting.
Speaker 5: Well, I just hope they start off well in b UCLA,
Speaker 5: the first one because then the next two. I can
Speaker 5: say this now is an ad I don't have to
Speaker 5: act like they're easy games. But we did schedule some
Speaker 5: of those for that reason. But I like what I hear,
Speaker 5: the thing that you don't worry about it, but just
Speaker 5: think now, our expectations are good, and that's really good. Yeah,
Speaker 5: that's cool. Yeah, Like we don't go in with our
Speaker 5: tail between our legs and we don't say, oh, last year,
Speaker 5: that's where it's going to be.
Speaker 2: I don't think anybody feels that way. You know.
Speaker 5: I don't know how people's expectations are, but you know,
Speaker 5: I think they're in line to have a very good
Speaker 5: year again, and the fans I think are still interested
Speaker 5: in coming, and so I'm optimistic about just the whole
Speaker 5: place they have in the pecking order of the Big Twelve.
Speaker 1: You know, it was interesting to hear Kyle a Big
Speaker 1: Twelve media day, and he said this on Sean Show
Speaker 1: last offseason, but he was more adamant about the fact
Speaker 1: that his decision to come back was colored in the
Speaker 1: context of how rough last year was, And I honestly
Speaker 1: wondered if that was even a factor. Because he's He's
Speaker 1: one of a handful of coaches in college football whose
Speaker 1: legacy is cemented at the institution where he's at there's
Speaker 1: nothing about last year that changes the thirty thousand foot
Speaker 1: view of what Kyle has done with the program.
Speaker 2: But knowing him the way you do is the competitor.
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts on what that must have been
Speaker 1: like for him and him really admitting front facing, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it wasn't good enough, And that's one of the reasons
Speaker 1: I decided to come back.
Speaker 5: Kyle's really tough on himself, and he's tough on everybody,
Speaker 5: you know, So I would imagine it was grinding pretty
Speaker 5: hard at him, you know, and especially because he got
Speaker 5: halfway through season and kind of going, oh, you know,
Speaker 5: I don't know how we're gonna get where I think
Speaker 5: we can get. So it made for and I'm just guessing,
Speaker 5: but it would make for a long season for me
Speaker 5: if I kind of knew that I had nobody to
Speaker 5: really come in and make it happen. And you don't
Speaker 5: want to think about the next year when you're sitting there.
Speaker 5: So it had to be really, really tough because he's
Speaker 5: done so well and kind of has control of things,
Speaker 5: and that's football coaches are all coaches are control flaps,
Speaker 5: and things were out of its control and that's not
Speaker 5: a pleasant thing for a coach like.
Speaker 1: That, what are the characteristics that make I mean, your
Speaker 1: hiring record, and I'm not buttering you up, sure, but
Speaker 1: your hiring record was very good, both on the football
Speaker 1: and basketball side and other sports as well, you know,
Speaker 1: the Red Rocks obviously. So when it comes to the
Speaker 1: process of looking for the right person to lead a
Speaker 1: program of football, basketball, gymnastics, whatever it is, what are
Speaker 1: those traits?
Speaker 5: Well, for me, you know, it's most of the really
Speaker 5: good coaches we had very smart, you know, and you
Speaker 5: know people might think you just roll the ball out
Speaker 5: and play and that's not the case. How to build
Speaker 5: a team, how to get kids to play together, you know,
Speaker 5: that's important. And for me personally, it was where somebody
Speaker 5: had the chance to put the pederalal metal. That was
Speaker 5: a mark in their career. They knew if they did
Speaker 5: well at Utah they'd either could run it out or
Speaker 5: they can had a bigger job, you know. So I
Speaker 5: like the people that were doing well, but they were
Speaker 5: just ready and this was their mark, you know. So
Speaker 5: I think they have to be smart, you know, they
Speaker 5: have to be around winning too. That you know, that's
Speaker 5: not obvious, but that is obvious. But I think the
Speaker 5: qualities are the personal qualities in this day and age,
Speaker 5: how to interact with people. You know, obviously team, but
Speaker 5: I think it's also I kept thinking in my mind
Speaker 5: and maybe that's because what Chase Peterson told me about
Speaker 5: when he hired me when I was just a kid.
Speaker 2: That it wasn't your make or break for you right now.
Speaker 5: I mean, if Kyle didn't do well, I mean, you know,
Speaker 5: and there's no slowing down for a guy like that.
Speaker 5: You know, he's just after this is his deal and
Speaker 5: he made it happen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, what did you Let's go back for a
Speaker 1: little bit.
Speaker 2: What did you see in urban.
Speaker 5: Well, I knew a lot of knew some things about him,
Speaker 5: and also there's there's other people you talk to, and
Speaker 5: and you know, it's interesting thing when a staff gets
Speaker 5: fired or moves on and they keep a guy that
Speaker 5: says something. And at Colorado State they kept him. Ye, well,
Speaker 5: because he was the best recruiter. He was this, he
Speaker 5: was that, you know when I met him, he was
Speaker 5: so enthusiastic, was organized as all hell, was a disciplinarian,
Speaker 5: and he had the guts of a burglar.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 5: So, uh, I think he could do and we needed juice.
Speaker 5: We needed juice, and he was not afraid of doing that.
Speaker 5: And he wasn't afraid of anything, you know. And you know,
Speaker 5: he was fortunate enough to get Kylon. But when I
Speaker 5: looked at him, and I'm not a genius, it's always
Speaker 5: a crapshoot. I tell people, you know, you hire ten people,
Speaker 5: if you're right seven times, that's a hell of a job.
Speaker 5: Of course, go to recruiting the same thing. Got an
Speaker 5: eighteen year old guy, you're right seven out of ten,
Speaker 5: that's crazy. But he had those quites so organized, so enthusiastic,
Speaker 5: very bright, you know, and this was really his mark.
Speaker 5: And you know, I told him when we hired him,
Speaker 5: I got it. You know, try to go on to you,
Speaker 5: but you hit the greatest, the greats, We'll give you
Speaker 5: a hug and becush you goodbye, and no, we'll be better.
Speaker 5: So you know, all those things ended up and I
Speaker 5: enjoined it personally. I think we got the best of
Speaker 5: urban What.
Speaker 2: Was it like?
Speaker 1: And I have a little bit of experience that with
Speaker 1: this through the prism of my father's career. The best
Speaker 1: example was learning pat Riley away from NBC to coach
Speaker 1: the Knicks, and there were a lot of questions about
Speaker 1: whether or not pat had the juice left that he
Speaker 1: had in La, And it became really apparent very quickly
Speaker 1: that he did. And it's funny as you're describing your
Speaker 1: Urban Meyer, pat Riley is coming in my mind. Sure
Speaker 1: organized guts of a burglar, which is a great line.
Speaker 1: You know, didn't take anything from anybody, knew exactly what
Speaker 1: he wanted and knew how to communicate that.
Speaker 2: With his players.
Speaker 1: What was it like to watch your decision to hire Urban?
Speaker 1: Because I say this all the time, Coach Mac deserves
Speaker 1: credit for laying the foundation. Urban built the mansion, and
Speaker 1: then Kyle expanded it right. So, sitting back and watching
Speaker 1: that two year peer in Utah football, that doctor Hall
Speaker 1: changed the landscape of everything around here? What was it
Speaker 1: like to sit back and watch your decision manifest itself
Speaker 1: the way it did?
Speaker 5: Oh? It was you know, it was great. I mean
Speaker 5: I got off the hook a lot quicker, you know.
Speaker 5: I mean, when you let somebody go and you hire somebody,
Speaker 5: they're two different decisions, but they're inextricably linked.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 5: So if the new guy comes in and wins right away,
Speaker 5: all of a sudden, you're a smart guy. Yeah, if
Speaker 5: it takes two or three years, you're getting beat up for.
Speaker 2: Two or three years.
Speaker 5: So he got me off the hook pretty quick, and
Speaker 5: you enjoyed our our favorite game, which we thought was
Speaker 5: a turning point. We both agreed upon this independently. Was
Speaker 5: his first year, and when they played cow third game
Speaker 5: of the year, packed house, We go down the field perfectly,
Speaker 5: Alex scores and a place goes crazy, and Urban's out
Speaker 5: in the crowd after that, and the town and you know,
Speaker 5: whipping people up, and we win the league and then
Speaker 5: it's like Nirvana.
Speaker 1: How much off field credit deserving get for the creation
Speaker 1: of Because the musk wasn't a thing when I was
Speaker 1: in school. The student section was barely a thing when
Speaker 1: I was in school, And so every time I'm up
Speaker 1: there for a home game, I take none of it
Speaker 1: for granted. I turn around to look at the musk,
Speaker 1: like this is wild to me. Still, Yeah, I haven't
Speaker 1: been in school, you know, twenty for twenty five, twenty
Speaker 1: six years now.
Speaker 2: It's just everything is different.
Speaker 1: And it felt like there was the on field tangible
Speaker 1: stuff that we all saw the winning Alex the number
Speaker 1: one pick in the NFL draft. We all could see
Speaker 1: that but as far as the endeavors off the field
Speaker 1: to create the culture that still permeates today.
Speaker 2: How much credit deserving.
Speaker 5: Get for that? Well, he gets a lot. He tireless,
Speaker 5: you know, tireless. And you know, we all know this.
Speaker 5: You know, we won, and we won in a big way.
Speaker 5: We were exciting. But he was fired up all the time.
Speaker 5: You know, I knew that I'd win a discussion with him.
Speaker 5: I I just was fired up about whatever he was doing. Chris,
Speaker 5: we got to do it. Yeah, yeah, and we may
Speaker 5: not have done it, but still, you know, so I
Speaker 5: think he deserves a lot of credit. A lot of people,
Speaker 5: which rightfully so worked hard at getting the Musco. But
Speaker 5: let's be honest, he got it on fire and then
Speaker 5: it's continued. But he he you know, the winning he
Speaker 5: won Saint Urban. As time goes on, but you know
Speaker 5: when he was here, it happened. Yeah, and you can't
Speaker 5: deny it.
Speaker 1: And Frank Layden, who passed recently at the age of
Speaker 1: ninety three, had this great saying.
Speaker 2: He said, winning cures a myriad of sense. Yes it does.
Speaker 1: Frank always used to say that, So winning is the
Speaker 1: secrets I speaking of which, while we're in this space,
Speaker 1: I would imagine you had several interactions with Frank over
Speaker 1: the years.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I'm glad. You know.
Speaker 5: We were on our trip and Frank and I two
Speaker 5: wise guy East Coast guys, gostlers, you know, and he
Speaker 5: and I would get together early on about once a
Speaker 5: month at the one of the coffee shops right near
Speaker 5: to the university and just solve all the world's problems.
Speaker 5: He would kind of do that with me and whatever.
Speaker 5: And as time went on, it was kind of fun
Speaker 5: for me to have him. After as he retired and
Speaker 5: getting older, we'd still do the same thing. And you know,
Speaker 5: I got everybody. Everybody was a mentor by Frank. You know,
Speaker 5: there's like if I lined up and said I was
Speaker 5: he was my mentor, they'd say, yeah, here's thirty seven
Speaker 5: hundred guys that he was a mentor. It gives me
Speaker 5: chills thinking about him. But you know, he got He
Speaker 5: had every one of his faculties. But people I wish
Speaker 5: understood that are you know younger, what he did for
Speaker 5: the city, what he made it good. He taught me
Speaker 5: one of the best things ever. He said, it takes
Speaker 5: a lot less energy to be good to people than
Speaker 5: to be me. And I never forgot Denny, and he
Speaker 5: taught me a lot of things. But you know, I'm
Speaker 5: glad you asked me because I wasn't here when it
Speaker 5: all happened. I mean I spent time visiting the hospital
Speaker 5: and everything. So it was fun when we used to
Speaker 5: meet with those things and Barbara and was really good
Speaker 5: with Kathy, and we went out at dinner once in
Speaker 5: a while. I love the coffee session, and of course
Speaker 5: I'd be there and they go, here's Frank Layton. I'm going, hey,
Speaker 5: what about me, I'm somebody too. Nah, that was Frank Layton.
Speaker 5: I was just his I was just his boy, carrying
Speaker 5: his coffee around. So I'm glad you bring it up.
Speaker 5: I mean, who doesn't like Frank find somebody?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, it's uh. He was almost like a second father.
Speaker 1: So I did an entire show dedicated to him. We
Speaker 1: had Coach Mac hop on.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Coach Mack was actually in Hawaii, uh, doing a football camp,
Speaker 1: and Richard Smith had texted him saying, Spence is doing
Speaker 1: a show about Frank today, and Max said, when can
Speaker 1: I hop on?
Speaker 2: And when Max says can I hop on? You say yes?
Speaker 1: Obviously, So he hopped on and Obviously, Frank's spirit will
Speaker 1: continue to permeate throughout the the marketplace. And it is
Speaker 1: interesting to consider both of you growing up back east
Speaker 1: in the Tri State area and landing here and making
Speaker 1: it home.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean it was Frank's home, and you know,
Speaker 5: he had chances of going the same with me, and
Speaker 5: people would say, well, you're so loyal. Well, it's a
Speaker 5: nice place to be. I got good people, I can win.
Speaker 5: I mean, yeah, I guess I'm loyal, but not really.
Speaker 5: It was a good job. I got paid, right, that
Speaker 5: was it, you know, And I just happened to like
Speaker 5: living here. Was like Frank was kind of was so
Speaker 5: interesting that way for me because I thought he validated
Speaker 5: here's a guy from the you know, New York and
Speaker 5: he loved it here and we had the accents. I
Speaker 5: tease him that he still kept his accent. I said,
Speaker 5: for sure, I said, who are you talking about? Man
Speaker 5: a couple of coffee, I could do that too, you know.
Speaker 5: But anyway, but he was great. I'm glad. I'm so
Speaker 5: glad you mentioned it. Not you know, everybody loves Frank.
Speaker 2: Sure.
Speaker 5: It's just like I was going to write a letter
Speaker 5: to the editor that I said finally we have some
Speaker 5: nonpartisan things in the states. Yeah, you know, we got
Speaker 5: one guy that you know whatever. So anyway, thank you
Speaker 5: for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the East Coast came out on him when he
Speaker 1: was fired up. You know, if there's something that got
Speaker 1: under his skin, then he went full like Brooklyn. You know,
Speaker 1: I wish I was enjoyed speaking of letter to the
Speaker 1: editor The Tribune today with an interesting piece about the
Speaker 1: nil and economic endeavors of Brigham Young. Keep up with
Speaker 1: the sure other football programs, basketball programs across the landscape
Speaker 1: of college athletics. I've never fully understood why there's this
Speaker 1: clandestine cloak that they use to cover their NIL endeavors.
Speaker 1: Like we have the reports. We know what you're paying
Speaker 1: these players. You're paying them an exorbitant amount of money.
Speaker 1: Kevin Young is one of the highest paid coaches in
Speaker 1: the Big twelve. Klinie got a new extension. I don't
Speaker 1: understand why the messaging isn't more authentic and honest about
Speaker 1: what they're doing, because there's nothing wrong with what they're doing.
Speaker 5: Oh no, no, no, have I talked to you since
Speaker 5: I played golf with Tomhomo?
Speaker 2: You have not? Oh?
Speaker 5: Okay, So I texted them after because a lot of
Speaker 5: people don't know we used to sit together at meetings
Speaker 5: and we had so much more in common in people. Sure,
Speaker 5: you know, I had my rough spots, but so I said,
Speaker 5: I'm gonna take you out to golf when you want to.
Speaker 5: And this was just when the thing happened with their quarterback,
Speaker 5: and then we talked about a lot of that stuff,
Speaker 5: and he says, now, I got somebody that wants to
Speaker 5: give X million dollars and the people at you know, uncomfortable,
Speaker 5: you know, in the board of trustees the LDS church.
Speaker 5: And he's saying, so you only take this guy that's
Speaker 5: worth billions and contributing ten percent here, and I'm going
Speaker 5: to tell him no, you know. So it's kind of like,
Speaker 5: you what do you do if people have that passion?
Speaker 5: You know, you do it? And you know what the
Speaker 5: numbers are. I don't pay attention to it, but I
Speaker 5: know they're big. But you know, there's no shame, just
Speaker 5: do it, and that's okay.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, And you know, it does feel like there's
Speaker 1: a messaging issue when it comes to the following, which
Speaker 1: is we all understand that the church is not writing
Speaker 1: these checks. These are alumni, right, these are boosters. But
Speaker 1: even with that caveat, even with that disclaimer, there appears
Speaker 1: to be a big portion of the culture and the
Speaker 1: fan base that's really uncomfortable. And maybe it's just steeped
Speaker 1: in the fact that we're all used to this being
Speaker 1: amateur right in college athletics, and this is new for
Speaker 1: all of us. But I just don't understand why the
Speaker 1: refusal to say the thing out loud seems to exist
Speaker 1: down there's no they want the b YU experience. Guess
Speaker 1: what aj Debonsa did not want the b YU experience.
Speaker 1: He took five million dollars. Okay, I can agree with
Speaker 1: you now. I couldn't like ten years ago, but I
Speaker 1: can agree with you now.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I mean, I'm not saying they didn't treat them well.
Speaker 5: He's not gonna have a great time and have friends.
Speaker 5: Kevin's a good coach. Yeah, yeah, so they'll be fine.
Speaker 5: But you know, you wonder where a little bit is
Speaker 5: you know, if we're if we don't spend quite much
Speaker 5: money as the other school, we're a little more pure,
Speaker 5: or we're you know, I don't know, I'm guessing, but
Speaker 5: you know, people want to be the they don't want
Speaker 5: to be Texas and Alabama, but they want to be
Speaker 5: Texas in Alabama, right, So it's kind of like you
Speaker 5: can't have it both ways. And you know, I just
Speaker 5: think they just got admit it going and do what
Speaker 5: they can do.
Speaker 1: Do you think this new era of college athletics would
Speaker 1: have been something that would have juiced you up if
Speaker 1: you were in that seat, or something that would have
Speaker 1: brought tremendous challengers or maybe a bit.
Speaker 2: Of both, a bit of both.
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, when you're in the chair, you
Speaker 5: do whatever you have to do legally to win. I mean,
Speaker 5: you know, but some of it I got in a
Speaker 5: while ago, a long time ago, and you know, you
Speaker 5: got to feel a little bit more like you were
Speaker 5: close to the school and close to the players. And
Speaker 5: you know, I was telling somebody the other day, they're
Speaker 5: worried about it, especially in basketball that you know, it's
Speaker 5: not the NBA, so you don't go to see the
Speaker 5: greatest players ever, you know, but you fall in love
Speaker 5: with a freshman and he's coming back next year, and
Speaker 5: all there's mom said's over there, and you know what
Speaker 5: would our experience be without Andre?
Speaker 2: For four years?
Speaker 5: Falling in love with him and you're buy season tickets
Speaker 5: and he's here and he's that. Now I'm not I
Speaker 5: understand intellectually why it's all happened, But if you ask me,
Speaker 5: I said that that wouldn't have been much fun, you know,
Speaker 5: because you really can't get attached to people. I got
Speaker 5: to know, you know, Alex's mom and dad got to
Speaker 5: know them. I mean, he passed, but we knew them,
Speaker 5: and it was just fun, you know. So there was
Speaker 5: a combination of fun and whatever came down the pipe
Speaker 5: and you had but you had to just so maybe
Speaker 5: maybe wouldn't have been as enthusiastic about it by any means,
Speaker 5: but you just would have had to, you know. But
Speaker 5: you know, and there's people that are like thirty years
Speaker 5: and thirty years old in the business and they don't
Speaker 5: see anything else. So they're in the business for that,
Speaker 5: so God bless them too. But it was just not
Speaker 5: it was just losing players that you like, you know,
Speaker 5: and that is difficult, you know, but you can't. I mean,
Speaker 5: if it's money, it's money.
Speaker 1: Well, and you know, I hate to beat this over
Speaker 1: the head. I'm looking something up real quick. I just
Speaker 1: because to your point about familiarity with players, it's one
Speaker 1: of the things that has always been in Now in
Speaker 1: the pros, it's kind of the same deal where these
Speaker 1: days there's more player movement in the NBA that there
Speaker 1: used to be. And certainly we got spoiled with John
Speaker 1: and Carl and Frank and Terry. Sure, but one of
Speaker 1: the nice things about, you know, college athletics is getting
Speaker 1: to know these young people to play at the school.
Speaker 1: And if they're transferring every year, it makes it hard
Speaker 1: to a build a program. Like if I'm a college
Speaker 1: coach these days, and if I don't have tex Tech
Speaker 1: money or t Boon Pickens or whatever it is, I'm
Speaker 1: not even sure I'd want to stay in the endeavor
Speaker 1: because you can't even keep up.
Speaker 2: But do you think at least a little bit. And
Speaker 2: I'm sure my listeners are so sick of this.
Speaker 1: I said this years ago, like, Okay, if this is
Speaker 1: where we're going, we need to lean into it. Yes,
Speaker 1: and we need to allow these players to unionize and
Speaker 1: collectively bargain, which I know brings a myriad of challenges,
Speaker 1: but if we can get some sort of agreement, and
Speaker 1: in this area, I'm mostly talking about football, I think
Speaker 1: there's space for basketball, but football, of course drives the
Speaker 1: whole thing because if you get in, Look, there are
Speaker 1: so many powerful lawyers that would love to take this
Speaker 1: endeavor on the best business if you're an attorney right
Speaker 1: now is being on the other side of the NCAA everything.
Speaker 5: Right, there's a name there, a lawyer, and I wish
Speaker 5: I could bring back his name, but he's been making
Speaker 5: money for fifteen to twenty years.
Speaker 2: Sure on this whole deal. Sure.
Speaker 1: Whenever I hear people say, well, they wouldn't be able
Speaker 1: to figure it out, I say, yeah, they would. These
Speaker 1: lawyers would step up to the plate and line up
Speaker 1: for this opportunity because if you can collectively bargain and
Speaker 1: come up with sipulations and guidelines.
Speaker 2: Players signed contracts and.
Speaker 1: You say, okay, you're here for two to three years, right,
Speaker 1: Sure that and that at least eliminates the whole nefarious
Speaker 1: I'm not playing or I don't like my coach, so
Speaker 1: I'm and you can you know, if you're an NFL
Speaker 1: guy and you get a feedback in the off season
Speaker 1: from the pros that you're a first round scout, Okay,
Speaker 1: exercise your third year option, go to the league, but
Speaker 1: as long as you're in college, you're here.
Speaker 5: Well yeah, and for me, one of the things are
Speaker 5: frustrating both about you know, universities moving very slow, you know,
Speaker 5: and and athletics is an emergency business. You know, your
Speaker 5: quarterback has a need problem. I'm sorry, you're going to
Speaker 5: get the MRI this afternoon, and Joey juke Bops is
Speaker 5: not going to be able to get in right away, right,
Speaker 5: And so it's an emergency business. It's something that happens fast.
Speaker 5: But I get tired of, like we all know where
Speaker 5: we need to be, all right. They're employees now, okay,
Speaker 5: now they meet you, and I can argue about that.
Speaker 2: They need to be students.
Speaker 5: And because I've seen too many and I know everybody
Speaker 5: in the radio now is rolling their eyes, but I've
Speaker 5: seen too many students that and players that were great players,
Speaker 5: even those who went to the NBA, I mean NFL.
Speaker 5: They didn't have the money when they left, or they
Speaker 5: it's gone. Everybody thinks a million dollars is like the
Speaker 5: end of your world and you can live till seventy
Speaker 5: five with that. No no, no, no no. As soon
Speaker 5: as you don't work, it's out the window. But you know,
Speaker 5: for me, I just wish they'd say they're student workers.
Speaker 5: Or football workers and collect the bargaining. That's where we
Speaker 5: need to be.
Speaker 2: We all know that.
Speaker 5: And they need contracts that they have contracts, then they
Speaker 5: have security too. You know, if you get a contract,
Speaker 5: you come in and you know you're really not what
Speaker 5: the coach expected. They've got to pay your tradere Yeah,
Speaker 5: you know. And so I think there's benefits all the
Speaker 5: way around. And you know, I don't know enough about
Speaker 5: the NFL money with the players, but I'm sure they
Speaker 5: do a lot of They do do a lot of commercials.
Speaker 5: I see them, but they seem legit. I don't know.
Speaker 5: I mean, so I don't get why we can't at
Speaker 5: least understand where we are and then figure out how
Speaker 5: to get there, to put roadblocks in the way before
Speaker 5: we Okay, do we all agree this, Yes, we agree this. Okay,
Speaker 5: that's what we agree, right, Okay, now we can start
Speaker 5: doing things. Yeah, but don't have these Oh well, they
Speaker 5: can't do this because it is and no, if we
Speaker 5: all agree this is where we need to be, put that.
Speaker 2: In a bank and try to get there. Yeah.
Speaker 5: Not, you know, I was gonna say no, not mess
Speaker 5: around and do it, you know, just get it done.
Speaker 5: But university has moved very slowly, and you know, university presidence.
Speaker 5: I want to pick on them, but you know you
Speaker 5: got to you know, chemistry professor, you know, being a
Speaker 5: president has you know, billions of budget and they don't
Speaker 5: have experience in athletics.
Speaker 2: Which is just athletics is a weird part of the university.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like and we'll catch a break because
Speaker 1: I do want to talk a little basketball coming up.
Speaker 1: On the other side, I've always sensed and you obviously
Speaker 1: have first had experience.
Speaker 2: I don't know if jealousy is the right term. They're
Speaker 2: just friction.
Speaker 1: I'll use the term friction in between academia and athletics
Speaker 1: states institutions.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's that. Yeah, there's three types.
Speaker 5: There's the ones that really really like you and sometimes
Speaker 5: that's not healthy in a way. Then there's the ones
Speaker 5: in between that accept it, understand it and don't whine
Speaker 5: about it. And then there's a group that just can't
Speaker 5: stand you.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I always told everybody, well, CAYL. Berkeley's is seventy five
Speaker 5: percent can't stand you. But we had a kind of
Speaker 5: that's how it is. And you know there are people
Speaker 5: that just don't like it, and you know they talk
Speaker 5: about the academic stuff and all this, and I said, well,
Speaker 5: wait a minute, don't don't call the office and say
Speaker 5: this player cheated, just flunk them like anybody else.
Speaker 2: Oh, I don't know if I can do that, you know.
Speaker 5: And so it gets kind of to the point where
Speaker 5: you understand where one group is, you're not going to
Speaker 5: change it, and you just have to kind of gut
Speaker 5: it up and get through that.
Speaker 2: The ones in the middle are the ones that can
Speaker 2: hold you accountable. Yep, you know.
Speaker 5: They're the ones that are care enough to hold you accountable.
Speaker 5: Understand when we got into pect well what it meant
Speaker 5: to their pool of applicants they could have for Professor
Speaker 5: Ja and all that. And the ones on the other
Speaker 5: then were the ones just scare me a little bit too,
Speaker 5: because I'm thinking, oh, they're going to give these players
Speaker 5: favors and I'm not going to do that. Yeah, oh
Speaker 5: my god. So you know so that that's my experience. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 5: it's real. And to your point, there are several layers.
Speaker 1: Certainly with the public you know, public institution like the
Speaker 1: University of Utah b YU operates a little bit differently
Speaker 1: because they're privately owned. I just think the issues that
Speaker 1: everybody brings up. I think it's a smoke screen and
Speaker 1: a distraction from where we need land to make sure
Speaker 1: that these sports continue to be the types of products
Speaker 1: that we want.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think we just got to accept where it's going,
Speaker 5: you know, and get there.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean that's all you can do now, I'm
Speaker 2: with you.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And you know, and we do have to take
Speaker 5: a look at how we're spending our money and all
Speaker 5: that stuff, and we could be smarter.
Speaker 2: Sure, I mean I don't want to. You know, Greg
Speaker 2: Mars and I used to talk about it.
Speaker 5: Now, you can have twenty people on gymnastics team, why
Speaker 5: you're going to have you know, eight spoiled kids are
Speaker 5: going to be mom and dad are going to be
Speaker 5: let the coach like Crease.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know. So there in football, did they really
Speaker 2: need one hundred and five people? Yeah? When fifty three
Speaker 2: play a game, that's the efforts. Yeah, that's fair point.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: We're gonna be joined by Bill Riley today to voice
Speaker 1: of the util stop by Elliott Fall later on. But we
Speaker 1: got one more segment with doctor Hill. One of my
Speaker 1: favorite guests live in studio, that is doctor Chris Hill.
Speaker 1: It is a mediocre. Pleasure to have Bill Riley on
Speaker 1: the show. Coming up at three point thirty today, Kitty Ryles,
Speaker 1: we love you, Bud Elliott Fall rolls by later on
Speaker 1: Week three of the NFL preseason. In the books, we
Speaker 1: are less than two weeks away for kickoff for the
Speaker 1: University of Utah Week zero this week including a game
Speaker 1: in Dublin, so that should be fun, Doctor Hill.
Speaker 2: Alex Jensen's first year.
Speaker 1: As head coach of the Utah men's basketball program.
Speaker 2: I'm a big al guy. Oh yeah, you know, have
Speaker 2: been for years.
Speaker 1: Got to know him really well when he was with
Speaker 1: the Jazz when I and I was over there, he
Speaker 1: was Quinn's lead assistant.
Speaker 2: I always thought he would be an NBA head coach.
Speaker 1: I don't know how much of his decision to take
Speaker 1: the Utah job was colored in the calculation he did
Speaker 1: and maybe came to the conclusion like, if I was
Speaker 1: going to be an NBA coach, I would have had
Speaker 1: an offer by now. First time around, when Larry was fired,
Speaker 1: Larry Skoviak, who was always good to me and I
Speaker 1: really liked as well, I thought they'd land on him,
Speaker 1: and they landed on Craig, who's a really nice guy
Speaker 1: and a really good coach. Hopefully he lands on his
Speaker 1: feet somewhere else. But you know, al well, I continued
Speaker 1: just to temper expectations because this conference is such a bear,
Speaker 1: and I think the Utah Athletic Department has some work
Speaker 1: to do to keep up with the Joneses to give
Speaker 1: out the supporting needs. But what are you expecting year
Speaker 1: one for out?
Speaker 5: I expect that he'll have some good players because he
Speaker 5: was very strategic about how he was recruiting guys. And
Speaker 5: when I was in the I told you Ara, when
Speaker 5: I had lunch with him, when he just I was
Speaker 5: on my bike and he said, let's go eat, and
Speaker 5: some of the guys were coming in, and I liked
Speaker 5: him looking at him, and I really appreciate him keeping
Speaker 5: the dogs kid. I thought he was the player, you know.
Speaker 5: So you know, I don't know what kind of players have.
Speaker 5: It's so hard with guys like we had at Utah,
Speaker 5: like Rick and Kyle and Urban and you know, all
Speaker 5: those coaches could coach him, and Alex can coach him. Yeah,
Speaker 5: now he's got to keep him. As we talked fifteen
Speaker 5: to twenty minutes ago. But I'm a little blind with
Speaker 5: Alex you know. I mean, I told him when I
Speaker 5: saw him, I said, the only thing you're missing is
Speaker 5: most coaches are rugged on the administration or on a
Speaker 5: lot of people, and you're not nasty enough. So you've
Speaker 5: got to find somebody that's going to push him, because
Speaker 5: you've got to push him. That's just natural tension between
Speaker 5: coaches and administrations.
Speaker 2: So you know.
Speaker 5: But he just laughed and I said, no, but he's
Speaker 5: a long story short. I just can't really see straight
Speaker 5: because I like him so much and I think he's
Speaker 5: got all the qualities. And we called him Saint Alex.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And that's the thing because the coaching pedigree is there.
Speaker 1: He was a g lead coach of the Year. I
Speaker 1: watched him. I'm telling you, and Dennis Lindsay, the Utah
Speaker 1: Jazz general manager, the piece together the team that Alex
Speaker 1: and Quinn coached. When Rudy Gobert was at the NBA
Speaker 1: Draft combine, Dennis on my show said he was treated
Speaker 1: like a circus clown. No one knew what to do
Speaker 1: with him, and Rudy's rookie year it looked awful. I mean,
Speaker 1: I didn't think he had a chance spend a lot
Speaker 1: of time in the G League. I had a front
Speaker 1: row seat watching Alex coach him up. And look, the
Speaker 1: bulk of the credit always goes to the player, but
Speaker 1: the work Alex did with Rudy and then later on
Speaker 1: Walker Kessler's rookie year where he became second Rookie the year,
Speaker 1: voting Dallas Mavericks, Luka, Doncic, Donovan Mitchell.
Speaker 2: He So you know.
Speaker 1: Kevin Young down a BYU was a coach with the Sons,
Speaker 1: and so his whole thing is like I coached Devin
Speaker 1: Booker and Chris Paul and Kevin Durant. Alex has that
Speaker 1: same pedigree. But to your point, most of the successful coaches,
Speaker 1: at least I know of, have a little bit of,
Speaker 1: for lack of a better term, jerk in them, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, They.
Speaker 2: Just can't do I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I would describe Kyle as a jerk,
Speaker 1: but he has bites, he has.
Speaker 2: I said, they got an edge, you know.
Speaker 5: And yes, what our mentor said that every coach breaks
Speaker 5: your heart sometimes I understand that, but you know, and.
Speaker 2: You had the ultimate jerk and Rick, who we all love.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, some complications seemed to rise
Speaker 1: from time to time.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was, but it was when I add it
Speaker 5: all up for sure. Yeah, you add it all up
Speaker 5: and you get someplace. But uh yeah, you know, you
Speaker 5: know more about his teaching with the pros and you
Speaker 5: were there, you watch. I don't profess to do that.
Speaker 5: I talked to have talked to some friends of people
Speaker 5: who knew that and everything. So I can't guarantee did that,
Speaker 5: but I wouldn't be surprised if he was the one
Speaker 5: that helped those guys with the fundamentals and to get this,
Speaker 5: to get that, because he's very measured, you know, he's
Speaker 5: let's be honest, he's Rick's favorite guy. Yeah, and Alex
Speaker 5: is dumb, you know, except when he came back from
Speaker 5: his mission and Rick said, oh my gosh, she's pudgy.
Speaker 5: Right now, I think that's a made up story.
Speaker 2: But you think you have to ask? Alex said, well,
Speaker 2: it's It's really interesting.
Speaker 1: The Rick thing has always fascinated me because for about
Speaker 1: six years I did Jazz per Off and Post Game
Speaker 1: with Brittain Britten Johnson. Oh yes, And whether you talk
Speaker 1: to britt or any of the players that were on
Speaker 1: those teams with Rick, they all had the same thing.
Speaker 1: With Alex, which was he was the only one that
Speaker 1: Rick seemed to like genuinely, like you know, like he
Speaker 1: was we were all he and Andre Andre and ye
Speaker 1: were like the two guys there were two of Rick's favorites.
Speaker 1: And look, I love my guy, Britt, but at times
Speaker 1: he probably didn't do himself any favors because he's a
Speaker 1: little bit of a kid at heart, which I love
Speaker 1: about him. But what does that say to you that
Speaker 1: Rick seemed to really like and respect Alex as just
Speaker 1: a person, not one of his players.
Speaker 2: I mean he went on coach with them at Saint Louis.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I you know, it's I think BRIT's right.
Speaker 2: You know what a good guy he is.
Speaker 5: By the way, and his brother Jeff and his parents,
Speaker 5: I know his dad was ill, but they I really
Speaker 5: liked them a lot. They were they were fabulous and
Speaker 5: so whatever he sailed to him when you see.
Speaker 2: But yeah, Rick was rugged. He was.
Speaker 5: He was an equal opportunity rugged guy except for those two,
Speaker 5: you know, so it was what he was. But you know,
Speaker 5: he he he had him define at what their job
Speaker 5: was and sometimes people didn't like it. You know, Alex
Speaker 5: could do the rebound, could shoot, could do that, you know.
Speaker 5: I remember I watched Rick practice one time, and I
Speaker 5: won't remember that guy's name, but he was one of
Speaker 5: our scorers early on in the game, early on when
Speaker 5: I was there and I sat a practice, Uh, and
Speaker 5: all of a sudden, our best shooter gives up a shot. Well,
Speaker 5: Rick golos Off talking about role playing, Well, you are
Speaker 5: the most selfish, freaking guy on the team. You're terrible,
Speaker 5: that's what you think. You're here to play defensive rebound.
Speaker 5: And then he talks about this guy set the screen,
Speaker 5: this guy did the where and all the kids there
Speaker 5: getting their role. And I'm convinced to this day he
Speaker 5: was one of the best and nobody could do it
Speaker 5: his way. But he defined their role. Sometimes that didn't
Speaker 5: like it, Yeah, but they knew if they were going
Speaker 5: to play because that was his other great answer. When
Speaker 5: the NTA Tournament they said, hey, how come your team
Speaker 5: so disciplined the bench?
Speaker 2: That was his answer. That's when he's ever given. Yeah.
Speaker 5: Plus it was shorts. I didn't worry about him going
Speaker 5: on and on and saying something would rive to be
Speaker 5: crazy anyway, That's that's what we got there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, do you I can't believe I'm gonna ask
Speaker 1: you this question because I'm quite sure the answer is
Speaker 1: emphatically know, do you see any of Rick and ol
Speaker 1: like the way they approach the game, the way they
Speaker 1: look at the game? Obviously personalities, they could not be different,
Speaker 1: more different, they cannot be more polar opposites. Is there
Speaker 1: anything about Rick that reminds you of Out or or
Speaker 1: anything about Out that they'll remind you of Rick?
Speaker 2: Is what I should say? Well, it'd be hard.
Speaker 5: I think the approach to the game in terms of
Speaker 5: a different, different personality, but you know they have the
Speaker 5: same values in putting a team together. I mean, you know,
Speaker 5: I mean the guys that went to pro said the
Speaker 5: best coach say that was Ricked. I mean, even though
Speaker 5: they had some scars on them. But you know, I
Speaker 5: can't imagine now. No, they're not like at all. No,
Speaker 5: I'm trying to answer a question, try to put something
Speaker 5: together about similarity.
Speaker 2: But you know, the way they'll teach the game will
Speaker 2: be similar.
Speaker 1: So I'm pulling up the Big Twelve here, and last
Speaker 1: year the SEC was the best basketball conference. They you know,
Speaker 1: all we have here is prognostications, and this year it
Speaker 1: will either be the SEC or.
Speaker 2: The Big twelve.
Speaker 1: So I reference the article that the Trip did on
Speaker 1: BYU earlier. The average Big twelve roster is projected to
Speaker 1: have cost about twelve to thirteen million dollars this year.
Speaker 1: BYU's projection is over fifteen. That puts them on par
Speaker 1: with Kansas when it comes to the Big twelve landscape.
Speaker 1: So until Alex gets that kind of financial commitment, I
Speaker 1: think it's going to be tough to expect right out
Speaker 1: of the gates. What does in your opinion year, what
Speaker 1: does success look like for al you're one of the
Speaker 1: Big twelve.
Speaker 5: I think finishing in the top half of the league
Speaker 5: be really nice, really nice. I mean, I you know,
Speaker 5: what we think of is that, yeah, there's going to
Speaker 5: be some schools that are ten twelve million dollars, but
Speaker 5: that's not the whole league. Yeah, and you can be
Speaker 5: fourth or fifth in that league and be seated very
Speaker 5: high in the nca tournament. That's a grand slang. Yeah,
Speaker 5: So maybe in a couple of years from now that
Speaker 5: might happen. I mean, I don't know. I mean I
Speaker 5: always think that, you know, they have some schools in
Speaker 5: the league that don't have that same support, you know,
Speaker 5: as the top guys there, so you know he's gonna
Speaker 5: have to battle them. But you know, I'm hoping that
Speaker 5: if we can get someone in the middle of the
Speaker 5: league this year, that'd be fantastic.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a top five finished year one for ABS. Oh,
Speaker 2: that'd be ridiculous. That'd be crazy.
Speaker 1: And it's hard for me to analyze because I you know,
Speaker 1: I'm out there are several people that do my job
Speaker 1: that will pull up the Utah Rosterbick. Yeah, I watched
Speaker 1: this guy at Southern. No, you didn't stop lying. I
Speaker 1: don't know enough about these plays. You're right about Kian,
Speaker 1: especially after Craig was let go the final like ten
Speaker 1: games of the season when coach Eilert started Keanu. I
Speaker 1: think he had eight double doubles the final twelve games.
Speaker 2: I mean easy, not easy, but not just ten and
Speaker 2: ten right right?
Speaker 1: Yeah, an athletic, you know, because this is a different conference,
Speaker 1: Like you need athletes. Kansas has is Darren Peterson kid
Speaker 1: that might be the number one pick in the draft
Speaker 1: next year.
Speaker 5: If it's not AJ, I tell you what it just
Speaker 5: made me. I'm sorry I interrupted you. I was just
Speaker 5: thinking something that when Al talked about he wanted to
Speaker 5: model some of his program against Houston and that Houston
Speaker 5: is long and defensive, and that reminds me.
Speaker 2: And nasty and they have to be that way. Yeah.
Speaker 5: So anyway, back to your question about by you, I
Speaker 5: think so, you.
Speaker 1: Know, you know b yu as Aj, and then Kansas
Speaker 1: has Darren Peterson, and then there's the Boozer kid who's
Speaker 1: going to be a duke. Those are the three players,
Speaker 1: and everybody's talking about the number one overall pick. But
Speaker 1: do you think Al's getting the support that he needs
Speaker 1: in order to build the roster to to stay competitive.
Speaker 5: You know, he's not getting a sup support you mean financially.
Speaker 5: There's billionaires at BYU. Yeah, and so I think people
Speaker 5: are digging as hard as they can, you know, and
Speaker 5: I think they're going to be in pretty good shape.
Speaker 5: But you know, I'm not close of it, and I
Speaker 5: don't mean to defer anybody else. But for me, I
Speaker 5: don't know what their budget is. I don't know how
Speaker 5: much money they have, and that would be totally arrogant
Speaker 5: for me to make something up and act like I do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, I understand.
Speaker 1: It just leads to a larger question that we continue
Speaker 1: to debate on the show because the information I've received
Speaker 1: is that BYU has at least and this is about
Speaker 1: a year old.
Speaker 2: This information is a little bit dated.
Speaker 1: But last year I was told BYU has nine seven
Speaker 1: figure donors and Utah is too. Yeah, yeah, so your
Speaker 1: connections in the community, does it feel like there's so
Speaker 1: The way I've phrased it, doctor is last year BYU football,
Speaker 1: excuse me, Utah football had the pressure of being the
Speaker 1: team that everybody thought was going to.
Speaker 2: Win the conference.
Speaker 1: I feel like the pressure this year is steeped in
Speaker 1: a community that is wondering whether or not Utah athletics
Speaker 1: has evolved and can keep up with the new reality
Speaker 1: of the sport, and a lot of that is deep pockets.
Speaker 1: Does it feel like in our community up here in
Speaker 1: Salt Lake people have confidence that there's enough money flowing
Speaker 1: through the university athletic department, like there is about forty
Speaker 1: miles down south.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 5: One of the challenges I always tell nobody really followed
Speaker 5: it much is that, first of all, we have a
Speaker 5: medical center, So you can have one hundred million dollars
Speaker 5: to cancer research or a one.
Speaker 2: Hundred million dollars to basketball, fair enough.
Speaker 5: So we have that we Also, there are three schools
Speaker 5: in the state that are the top divisions in the West.
Speaker 5: I don't know who else has that but California. And
Speaker 5: there's Colorado, Colorio State, Arizona, Arizona State. Here we got three.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Sure, so the money gets thin. And not to make light,
Speaker 5: a lot of people give a percentage of their money away.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 5: And uh, and we used to tease that when we
Speaker 5: played our schedule, we got we got our fans given
Speaker 5: both to air Force into b y U and those.
Speaker 5: So part of it is I think there's uh, some
Speaker 5: challenges inherent in Utah with uh where do you put
Speaker 5: your money?
Speaker 2: You know? And and I don't I don't see us US.
Speaker 5: I mean the Union. I'm done us anymore. But there's
Speaker 5: just a lot of money from what I understanding, Silicon
Speaker 5: slopes and when you add up when you divide, I
Speaker 5: was a Afican. When you divide the billion if if
Speaker 5: every mile were every inch or a mile, if you're
Speaker 5: a millionaire, you can go to sand you can go
Speaker 5: to holiday. If you're a billionaire, you can go to Seattle. Okay,
Speaker 5: how's that? Yeah, it does a little bit, a little bit,
Speaker 5: so you know, I mean, it's it's hard when somebody
Speaker 5: can just do that and they can still give to
Speaker 5: their other causes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, now you're right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you you were the steward over a program, You
Speaker 1: resided over a pro that for a number of different
Speaker 1: years had elite football and elite basketball. And you know,
Speaker 1: there's this conversation that's taking place because I cannot believe,
Speaker 1: and truly this is steeped in my own experience, and
Speaker 1: we're all, you know, we're all in our own echo chamber.
Speaker 1: You know, we all kind of approach this from our
Speaker 1: own prism and the fact that as a student at
Speaker 1: Utah in the nineties that I say into this microphone,
Speaker 1: as of this year, it has been ten years since
Speaker 1: we've made the NCAA Tournament.
Speaker 2: As a basketball program. That blows my mind.
Speaker 1: And so the conversation has kind of been like, well,
Speaker 1: you know, what's it like to strike that balance to
Speaker 1: make sure your football program and your basketball program are
Speaker 1: receiving the support they need in order to both be elite,
Speaker 1: because schools across the country do it. I think BYU's
Speaker 1: on the precipice, Bama is there. I mean, Bama's basketball
Speaker 1: program is very good, and I could keep going Florida
Speaker 1: won a national championship. They're a top fifteen football team
Speaker 1: this year. What are the ch challenges of striking that
Speaker 1: balance to make sure that you have football and basketball
Speaker 1: top shelf.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I don't think they're impossible by any means. I mean,
Speaker 5: we were fortunate enough to have that experience on several occasions,
Speaker 5: you know. And you know, with with football, it's it's, well,
Speaker 5: both sports are really money, money money. But you know,
Speaker 5: if you in basketball that head coach coaches a lot
Speaker 5: and doesn't have as many people around. And in football,
Speaker 5: once you establish it, it feels like it's harder to
Speaker 5: fall apart. Where basketball it's it's difficult to build that
Speaker 5: kind of tradition. And you know, to have a long
Speaker 5: standing coaches that helps. You know, you look at that
Speaker 5: and you see who's who's been at school X for
Speaker 5: a long time, and you know that really helps. But
Speaker 5: it's you know, I don't understand why it's so hard.
Speaker 5: You know, because your your community is the same one.
Speaker 5: And maybe now people are more interested because of the
Speaker 5: visibility of football and how big it is and TV
Speaker 5: and all that that, maybe people are inclined to more
Speaker 5: spend more money on football. You know which they do.
Speaker 5: And that's the way it's always going to be. But
Speaker 5: it's hard. But if you get good coaches, I'm still
Speaker 5: notive enough to think you can get in the tournament,
Speaker 5: win some games, do some damage. Now you might not
Speaker 5: be winning championships, but I mean once you get in
Speaker 5: the NSA tournament, you can win games. You know, as
Speaker 5: you all know. And when you talk to the number
Speaker 5: one draft choices this year, the guy Cooper fly, Cooper
Speaker 5: flag right, Cooper Fly. Yeah, I mean he brought them
Speaker 5: to the Promised Land. But how many guys have brought
Speaker 5: their team to Rutgers ma Alma Monter. Those two guys
Speaker 5: didn't bring them to the promises and they had two
Speaker 5: of them, not even so, how many guys have there
Speaker 5: have brought them to the Promised Land?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 5: You know, And you look at the number one draft
Speaker 5: choices and you can go through them when you get
Speaker 5: a chance, you'll say, huh, oh they lost in sixteen. Oh,
Speaker 5: the guy at LSU didn't make the NCA tournament, So
Speaker 5: that may be naivel When you only have them for
Speaker 5: five or six months, you've got to hope they're what
Speaker 5: you thought they were. And the guys around them got
Speaker 5: to do that, and they're gonna be players, not like
Speaker 5: this aj because I understand he's really a solid guy.
Speaker 5: He's yeah kid and a really good player. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 5: I've heard nothing but good things. So he'll fit in.
Speaker 5: Like I said earlier too, he'll fit in great in school.
Speaker 5: But there are guys that want to be that way.
Speaker 5: And I don't know what the Records guy were like,
Speaker 5: but maybe they were like just watching out for their own.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know. I'm not so sure to play
Speaker 2: for the Jazz. Yeah, I'm not so sure.
Speaker 5: You know, I want to set the screen for this
Speaker 5: other guy, but you know I'm gonna I can take
Speaker 5: it one on one. So you know, you're going to
Speaker 5: have so many these promise Land guys that don't bring
Speaker 5: him there.
Speaker 1: It might not be mutually exclusive, but did the evolution
Speaker 1: of the football program, you know, coach mac Urban obviously Kyle,
Speaker 1: with the.
Speaker 2: Way the football program kind of shot to the moon?
Speaker 1: Is there anything there as far as the basketball program
Speaker 1: going the other way?
Speaker 2: Are they related at all?
Speaker 7: That?
Speaker 5: It was funny though, And I'm glad Rick Rick couldn't
Speaker 5: you know, I'm not glad he's gone, But you know,
Speaker 5: when we were hot in the in the in football,
Speaker 5: in basketball, the years we siphoned the money off the football.
Speaker 5: You know, you look at what we didn't have a
Speaker 5: lot of facilities in basketball that were different and everything.
Speaker 5: But that was my deep dark secret with him. But
Speaker 5: you know, it's gonna be hard. It's gonna be hard, yeah,
Speaker 5: and I think if we can, you know, do well
Speaker 5: and people but everywhere I go, people want so bad
Speaker 5: for that guy to win.
Speaker 2: For sure. I mean I sound like champion. Maybe not.
Speaker 5: I don't want to seem like I'm in love with Alex,
Speaker 5: but I just really got optimistic that maybe he can
Speaker 5: build a little bit and get there, you know. But again,
Speaker 5: everybody thinks he's going to stay forever. Well, he's late forties, right,
Speaker 5: you know that, And you know, I mean, they better
Speaker 5: take care of him, does well, and I better start
Speaker 5: supporting him. And I think there are people that are
Speaker 5: I've talked to some people that say, hey, we got
Speaker 5: to make sure, you know, we come back. And we
Speaker 5: talked off air that you know, with John Hunchman Senior
Speaker 5: left that was that was a big deal, you know,
Speaker 5: left him and he passed away because he had a
Speaker 5: lot of juice and he encouraged others to help, So
Speaker 5: I'm hoping they can have some real champions.
Speaker 1: I agree with you, And what's not to like about
Speaker 1: al Al's It's like we were talking about Franklyton earlier.
Speaker 2: If you don't like Alex Jensen, it's a you problem. Yeah.
Speaker 5: If you walk around the state and walk around for
Speaker 5: days and days and days, if you find somebody that
Speaker 5: doesn't like Frank or Alex, let me know. Yeah, I'll
Speaker 5: call you in a month and you let me know.
Speaker 5: How's the golf game I've earned my handicaps?
Speaker 2: Not good? All right? I went a lot in my handicap.
Speaker 5: No, no, no, no, it's I've got the shortest backswing
Speaker 5: in America.
Speaker 2: That's good. Though I don't practice. That's not good. Doctor.
Speaker 5: I don't want to take a lesson. I'm sick of
Speaker 5: being coached and all that. So I just go out
Speaker 5: and play so short backswing and one day it's the
Speaker 5: drive works, and the next day you'd stub it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we know. I practice a lot. I like lessons,
Speaker 2: and that's the same with me.
Speaker 5: See when you practice, I read something the other day,
Speaker 5: you don't do it right, you get on it.
Speaker 2: What do you do?
Speaker 5: You get there and hit your wedge twenty in a row.
Speaker 5: Well on a golf course. How many times you do that?
Speaker 2: That's fair?
Speaker 5: So the person said, put you driver there, put your wedge,
Speaker 5: put your eight iron and your sandwich. Hit a drive,
Speaker 5: then hit your eight iron, then hit you with the way.
Speaker 5: I'm firing myself. See if you got four in a row.
Speaker 5: I like it on different clubs. Are you interested in
Speaker 5: giving me lessons? You want to coach me at all?
Speaker 5: I don't want to be a rental lesson. I don't
Speaker 5: want to coach. I just want to play and hang out.
Speaker 1: Well, look, it's always great to say thank you, Frevan,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for the time.
Speaker 2: Okay, we'll get doing it soon. Yeah, we got it, buddy.
Speaker 1: Doctor Chris Hill, former athletic director at the University of Utah,
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Speaker 2: You're talk showing some pressure. Now they back away from now.
Speaker 5: They bring a safety of four man runs, risk looking surveying,
Speaker 5: throwing down the field and.
Speaker 7: It's intercepted at the forty, at the fifty, at the forty,
Speaker 7: at the thirty, a convoy to the end.
Speaker 2: Zone and a touchdown. It's a Via Vaughn with a
Speaker 2: pick six and his final game as a ute.
Speaker 1: Zamayah Vaughan was on the field for the Vikings this weekend,
Speaker 1: trying to make the roster as an undrafted free agent.
Speaker 1: The man behind that magical call joins us now. The
Speaker 1: voice himself a talent I discovered long ago and have
Speaker 1: mentors to this stage in his career.
Speaker 2: Bill Riley, Hello, Ryles, how are you?
Speaker 8: It's the greatest MC in ESPN seven hundred VIP lunch
Speaker 8: and history. How are you?
Speaker 1: Spatt Thank you, sir, because that I think includes two people,
Speaker 1: and that would be me and you.
Speaker 2: Is that right?
Speaker 1: Well, it was great to see you last week. Thanks
Speaker 1: for stopping by. It's always fun to catch up with you.
Speaker 1: And it was great to see Coach mac. Hall of
Speaker 1: Famer coach Mack. Yeah, well deserved excited to watch that
Speaker 1: this year.
Speaker 8: That'll be fun to see him and Roy Jefferson, a
Speaker 8: couple of Utah legends go up on the Ring of
Speaker 8: Honor with Alex Smith in that game against cal Pauli
Speaker 8: on the sixth?
Speaker 1: Was I considered for the Ring of Honor this year?
Speaker 1: Did my name come up?
Speaker 8: I think that you were in the running for the
Speaker 8: Sigma Kai Ring of Honor, but you were not accepted
Speaker 8: this year. I think next year's your final year on
Speaker 8: the ballot, so you better hope that the Veterans Committee
Speaker 8: likes you.
Speaker 1: Sadly, I don't think I'll ever be named a significant
Speaker 1: SIG despite my great success and leadership in that House.
Speaker 2: But I'll move on from that bill.
Speaker 1: Here's my first question, most intriguing positional battle less than
Speaker 1: two weeks away from.
Speaker 8: Kick most intriguing positional battle, I will say the corner
Speaker 8: spot opposite that of Scooby Davis. I know that Kyle
Speaker 8: Whittingham said that Blake Cotton had had a good camp
Speaker 8: and had kind of maybe taken a little bit of
Speaker 8: the lead. But I'm gonna I'm gonna see if that
Speaker 8: holds up over the next twelve days before the UCLA game,
Speaker 8: because I think Cotton, Saunders, and Caldwell of all had
Speaker 8: really good fall camp. So I would say that's one battle.
Speaker 8: I think the receivers they kind of know who their
Speaker 8: top six or seven guys are. In what order those
Speaker 8: guys fall out spence, I think remains to be seen,
Speaker 8: but I think they know who that group is. But
Speaker 8: for me, because it is a starting position, it's a
Speaker 8: corner that's a starter. That's probably the one I've got
Speaker 8: my eye on.
Speaker 1: Any any thoughts on who the number one wide receiver
Speaker 1: is or maybe one or two. I know you said
Speaker 1: we've got a win and see how it plays out,
Speaker 1: but if do you have a best guess as far
Speaker 1: as what that looks like right now?
Speaker 8: When I asked Kyle Whittingham about guys. On Saturday at FanFest,
Speaker 8: the first two receivers he mentioned were Tobias Meryweather and
Speaker 8: Larry Simmons. So I don't know if that in his
Speaker 8: mind means those are one and two, But I can
Speaker 8: tell you those guys that both had very good fall camps,
Speaker 8: especially considering you know, they weren't really part of everything
Speaker 8: in the spring since they were late rivals. So I
Speaker 8: think Zipper, who's been here, has had had some moments.
Speaker 8: I think Ryan Davis has had some moments too, But
Speaker 8: based on the comments I got from Kyle Whittingham at FanFest,
Speaker 8: kind of sounds like Merriweather and and Simmons have had
Speaker 8: really good falls. So we'll find out.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of conflicted because I do think a bell
Speaker 1: cow running back indicate you really love the guy that
Speaker 1: you have, But it does also behoove any program to
Speaker 1: have more than one back that you trust, and you
Speaker 1: need death at every position.
Speaker 2: How's that running back room shaping out? As of now?
Speaker 8: I think they've got a good one in two. Then
Speaker 8: they've got a couple of youngsters behind those guys. After that.
Speaker 8: I think the way Sean Parker and the Kirie Rodgers
Speaker 8: are probably your one and two running backs. Wayshawn had
Speaker 8: great production a year ago at Washington State, and he
Speaker 8: didn't have an offensive line anywhere near what he's got
Speaker 8: this year. And Rodgers obviously was a guy who was
Speaker 8: in the offense with Beck and Dan Pierre last year
Speaker 8: as the number two running back last year, so I
Speaker 8: think they feel pretty good about that. Then you've got
Speaker 8: guys like Green and Bray and gil Roy as the
Speaker 8: backups to those guys. So I think they've got a
Speaker 8: good room. But I don't know that anybody is. I
Speaker 8: just think Spence the days of you know, John White
Speaker 8: and DeVante Booker and Zach Moss getting thirty carries a game,
Speaker 8: I think those are days gone by. I think you're
Speaker 8: gonna see guys get, you know, fifteen to seventeen carries
Speaker 8: if you're the lead back, maybe catch a few balls too,
Speaker 8: and then the backup running back, the number two guy,
Speaker 8: gets twelve to thirteen to fourteen carries, and then they
Speaker 8: split it after that. Now, maybe I'm wrong, Maybe somehow
Speaker 8: way Shawn Parker becomes that guy, but I think the
Speaker 8: way that and again that was in the Andy Ludwicksie.
Speaker 8: Maybe Jason Beck's a little bit different, but I think
Speaker 8: you'll probably see him divide the carries, you know, one, two, three,
Speaker 8: four teams, teams and then single digits after that.
Speaker 1: Feels like it's been a very low drama fall camp.
Speaker 1: Would you cooborate that and what does that say to
Speaker 1: you about just kind of the mentality state of the
Speaker 1: team leading into the season.
Speaker 8: I think that's a good thing because I've always said
Speaker 8: if you're breaking a lot of news in fall camp,
Speaker 8: one it means you've probably got a quarterback battle which
Speaker 8: you thought does not or two you've had a lot
Speaker 8: of injuries, which to this point at least you thought
Speaker 8: does not either. So I think that's good. Yeah, they've
Speaker 8: had some position battles to the corner spot, you know,
Speaker 8: the wide receivers, but again they've they've known who their
Speaker 8: group is. It's just kind of settling the hierarchy there.
Speaker 8: And kind of the same thing along the defensive line too.
Speaker 8: You've got a lot of good, young, talented players who
Speaker 8: didn't have a lot of reps coming into fall camp,
Speaker 8: so they're getting those guys reps. But I think when
Speaker 8: you I don't I think the word drama in of itself,
Speaker 8: you don't want any of that but they just haven't.
Speaker 8: There hasn't been a ton out there. I think they've
Speaker 8: they've just kind of known who they are coming out
Speaker 8: of the spring and into the summer and now into
Speaker 8: the ball and now they're tweaking it just a little bit.
Speaker 1: A lot of reports with the scrimmages, and you know,
Speaker 1: we kind of heard this a little bit last year
Speaker 1: as well, and I completely understand the approach as a
Speaker 1: result of the PTSD that everybody has because of the
Speaker 1: myriad of injuries that this program.
Speaker 2: Has suffered over the past couple of years.
Speaker 1: But the reports are maybe not as physical, maybe not
Speaker 1: as live wanting to keep the ones on ice. Have
Speaker 1: you kind of sensed that as well and seen it.
Speaker 8: Yeah. The thing that kind of how Whitningham's talked about
Speaker 8: this fall is taking a little bit more of an
Speaker 8: NFL model to his training camp, and the NFL is
Speaker 8: nearly as physical as it once was. I would say
Speaker 8: that Kyle Whittingham still probably runs one of the more
Speaker 8: physical college football camps, but I think they've even dialed
Speaker 8: it back a little bit from where they were, and
Speaker 8: some of the NCAA rules kind of force you to
Speaker 8: do that. Deucepench you're not allowed to have as many
Speaker 8: two a day practices as you us. They don't really
Speaker 8: do two a day practices anymore, so it's just it's different.
Speaker 8: I still think Kyle runs a physical camp kind of
Speaker 8: the same way and Andy Reid does in the NFL
Speaker 8: with the Chiefs, but it's just not to the same
Speaker 8: level it was five, ten, twenty years ago.
Speaker 1: And yeah, you know, ultimately that brings up an interest
Speaker 1: interesting question about balancing the dynamic of wanting to make
Speaker 1: sure your players are healthy what should be priority number one,
Speaker 1: but also being ready for live football bill in less
Speaker 1: than two weeks. How do you think they're doing with
Speaker 1: that type of the dichotomy and balance.
Speaker 8: I think because college doesn't have preseason games like the
Speaker 8: NFL does, I think the way that Kyle Whittingham runs
Speaker 8: it with a still a physical camp is probably the
Speaker 8: best way to do it. Until we get to that
Speaker 8: day where you can scrimmage a Utah State or a
Speaker 8: Weber State or even a junior college that's in your state.
Speaker 8: The best way to do it is to have your
Speaker 8: handful of physical practices. And you know, when you talk
Speaker 8: to the guys, they'll tell you these practices are still
Speaker 8: very physical, even towing back from where they were maybe
Speaker 8: a few years ago. So if you're right, it is
Speaker 8: spent striking the balance and trying to find that great
Speaker 8: because again, the college football season is longer now. Back
Speaker 8: in the day it was eleven games plus twelve game
Speaker 8: as a bowl game. Well now it's twelve games, and
Speaker 8: then if you play in a conference championship, it's thirteen games.
Speaker 8: If you make the college football playoff, it's fourteen fifteen,
Speaker 8: maybe sixteen games. And I know Utah's a programmed the
Speaker 8: plans to play in the post season and maybe make
Speaker 8: a run of the postseason. So I think you begin
Speaker 8: that mentality and mindset in August. The good news is
Speaker 8: you've got, you know, multiple bye weeks in some cases
Speaker 8: built into your schedule, so you can get some rest
Speaker 8: and rehab in season. But if you're approaching it and
Speaker 8: you think you're a team that's going to maybe be
Speaker 8: a conference championship or a playoff team, you've got to
Speaker 8: take that approach starting in August.
Speaker 1: In years past, and certainly in years past, we were
Speaker 1: able to, you know, witness practice in a way that
Speaker 1: we don't now. But you would hear a lot of
Speaker 1: reports and This isn't a surprise. This is a program
Speaker 1: that is built on the DNA and the blueprint of
Speaker 1: being defense first, and the numbers bear that out over
Speaker 1: the years.
Speaker 2: Certainly it was very easy to see a year ago,
Speaker 2: but in.
Speaker 1: Practice it felt like oftentimes it was the defense dominating
Speaker 1: the offense. Has it been a little bit more balanced
Speaker 1: with a new group of offensive personnel and a new
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator throughout the course to spring and fall, I
Speaker 1: think it's fair.
Speaker 8: To say both have had their moments. I've been to
Speaker 8: some practices where the offense looked really, really sharp, and
Speaker 8: you and I both know Morgan scally. He doesn't like
Speaker 8: his defense to lose on a regular basis. So I've
Speaker 8: been to some practices where they've turned up the they've
Speaker 8: turned up the intensity and had their way as well.
Speaker 8: But the one thing I will say is the new
Speaker 8: offense that Jason Beck has brought in has done a
Speaker 8: good job at times of keeping the defense a little
Speaker 8: off balance. I just think he gives you so many
Speaker 8: different looks, and there's a good energy about this offense too.
Speaker 8: That they've had some you know, despite the fact they're
Speaker 8: installing it for the first time, they've had some practices
Speaker 8: where they've looked really good.
Speaker 1: All right, So in years past, both coach Witt and
Speaker 1: Colonie have been very clandestaied about injuries, and it leads
Speaker 1: to another debate when it comes to which college coach
Speaker 1: you listen to about whether or not it actually gives
Speaker 1: you a competitive advantage. Lane Kiffin in the past has
Speaker 1: kind of mocked the idea, so.
Speaker 2: Is Lincoln Riley.
Speaker 1: That you know, keeping the injuries secret gives you an
Speaker 1: advantage that you know, there's some people that scoff at
Speaker 1: the notion. And look, as Kyle has always said, like
Speaker 1: I don't have to do this, and until I do,
Speaker 1: I'm just not going to because why tip your hand?
Speaker 2: And you understand that logic as well. Well.
Speaker 1: The Big twelve Riles has now joined the ACC the
Speaker 1: Big ten and in addition to the SEC, so all
Speaker 1: P four conferences are required to give injury reports three
Speaker 1: days prior to the game and then ninety minutes prior
Speaker 1: to kick our buddy Chris Comroddie equipped that he's excited
Speaker 1: to have Coach Wit list every player is either probable
Speaker 1: or questionable. And you know they ultimately mandate this in
Speaker 1: the pros and that doesn't stop the pros from kind
Speaker 1: of finding a way to circumvent the process either.
Speaker 2: But what's the bill Riley take on?
Speaker 1: Now every conference in every member institution being mandated to
Speaker 1: report injuries, I, you.
Speaker 8: Know, to be To back up on what you said
Speaker 8: about Kyle, he's always been in favor of injury reports
Speaker 8: if it was uniform, because he's always had kind of
Speaker 8: a pro mentality about things. But he said, if everybody's
Speaker 8: not going to be required to do it, I'm not
Speaker 8: going to do it either. Well, now that everybody's required
Speaker 8: to do it, Kyle's probably going to do it just
Speaker 8: to lay everybody else is too. So I think it's
Speaker 8: I don't think it's a bad thing in you know,
Speaker 8: I you know, I don't you know, being true, how
Speaker 8: how serious they report that's going to be up to
Speaker 8: the institution and things like that. But I can just
Speaker 8: tell you I asked Kyle about it years ago. He's like, Hey,
Speaker 8: I'm happy to do it if everybody else in college
Speaker 8: football is doing the same thing too, because I just
Speaker 8: don't think anybody should get a competitive advantage. I think
Speaker 8: it's tougher spense in college because these kids are still
Speaker 8: going to class to hide injuries if they're serious injuries.
Speaker 8: And you know, muscle pools are one thing, but you know,
Speaker 8: when the star running backs going to history class and
Speaker 8: he's got a boot on his foot, in the day
Speaker 8: and age of social media, his classmates are probably somebody's
Speaker 8: going to probably post that. It's a little bit easier
Speaker 8: in pro football, where you can hide players and they're
Speaker 8: you know, they're not walking around a campus where a
Speaker 8: lot of people have cameras that can hide themselves in
Speaker 8: their houses. So I've always said it's tougher to do
Speaker 8: on a college campus, just because if these kids are
Speaker 8: truly required to go to class, and they are, although
Speaker 8: some of them have a lot of you know, computer classes,
Speaker 8: online classes, now it's a lot harder to hide those injuries.
Speaker 1: I think the other dynamic here, and I want to
Speaker 1: be clear, I'm not, you know, throwing anybody under the bus.
Speaker 1: The widespread acceptance slash promotion of gambling has put these
Speaker 1: young men in a very precarious spot. The Athletic did
Speaker 1: a really interesting deep dive on all the direct messages
Speaker 1: that football players get from degenerate gamblers that just sacrifice
Speaker 1: their mortgage on a game line. Then the player sits
Speaker 1: and it's their fault that they're getting divorced now, and
Speaker 1: obviously it's not. But people are idiots, and when it
Speaker 1: comes to the ability via social media to access somebody's
Speaker 1: direct messages, I can't, like, I can't imagine the toll
Speaker 1: that that has to take. It you're no longer able
Speaker 1: to insulate these kids from the inundation of information. Once
Speaker 1: upon a time, you're just saying, like, don't go to
Speaker 1: the trip website or the Deseret News website or what
Speaker 1: like they're two daily periodicals or maybe a couple of
Speaker 1: sports socc radio stations.
Speaker 2: Don't read or don't listen.
Speaker 1: Now, I mean NBA coaches have stories of going into
Speaker 1: halftime to address their team.
Speaker 2: These are adults.
Speaker 1: These are pros that have their heads down checking their
Speaker 1: direct messages, checking their social media at halftime of.
Speaker 2: A pro game.
Speaker 1: I think what this does bill in addition to transparency
Speaker 1: from programs, it probably takes some of the pressure off
Speaker 1: these kids and maybe these morons that like to attack
Speaker 1: them all the time.
Speaker 2: We'll kind of take it easy.
Speaker 8: I hope so, because you and I both know it's
Speaker 8: the dark side of our of sports fandom is where
Speaker 8: these kids and you know, they're kids to a point,
Speaker 8: but they are still in a lot of ways younger
Speaker 8: and experiencing these things for the first time. Having to
Speaker 8: deal with these people that are just out of their minds,
Speaker 8: and then you throw the gambling component in there, it's tough.
Speaker 8: So I will say this now that I'm working, you know,
Speaker 8: on the university side of things, I can tell you
Speaker 8: they do a really good job of lecturing and telling
Speaker 8: these kids and educating these kids on all these things
Speaker 8: that you were just talking about the dark side of
Speaker 8: it all. Now you hope that it takes. There's no
Speaker 8: guarantee it does, but I could tell you, at least
Speaker 8: at Utah where I work, the education process on this
Speaker 8: stuff is really good and off the charts, and I'm
Speaker 8: going to guess most power institutions especially do a good
Speaker 8: job with that too. And you know, it's like everything
Speaker 8: in life, whether it's your kids, somebody else's kids, whether
Speaker 8: you're in a work, you can only educate people, whether
Speaker 8: they're student athletes or people that are working for you
Speaker 8: to here's the right way to do it, here's what
Speaker 8: we need you to do, and provide them with all
Speaker 8: the information. So but I do know that Utah does
Speaker 8: a really good job with it.
Speaker 1: What does success against UCLA look like to you? Game one,
Speaker 1: flying home from the Rose Bowl, players, coach is feeling good,
Speaker 1: What does that look like?
Speaker 8: I think a number one is a win, whatever that
Speaker 8: might happen to be, because you know, road wins in
Speaker 8: college football against power programs are not easy to do.
Speaker 8: So it's coming out of there with a w. I
Speaker 8: think it's coming out of there with the offense looking
Speaker 8: pretty close to what you wanted to look like with
Speaker 8: Devin dan Pierre, you know, not turning the football over
Speaker 8: in Utah, being able to kind of win at the
Speaker 8: line of scrimmage. And then I think probably defensively, you
Speaker 8: know you're you're gonna want to hold nico I Amaliava
Speaker 8: in check just a little bit. I think you want
Speaker 8: to avoid giving up big plays in week one, even
Speaker 8: though it's your first game of the season, So getting
Speaker 8: the win one, having that offense look really similar to
Speaker 8: what you think it should look like with dam Pierre
Speaker 8: in the offensive line, and probably preventing iam Aliava from
Speaker 8: having a big day because I don't think Ucla yet
Speaker 8: in year two of Deshaun Foster is quite where they
Speaker 8: want to be, or need to be from a talent standpoint,
Speaker 8: But they had some moments last year Spence. They got
Speaker 8: better as the year went along. It's going to be
Speaker 8: year number two. It is a first year quarterback in
Speaker 8: the system. He wasn't there in the spring. But I
Speaker 8: think that that, you know, UCLA is always going to
Speaker 8: be able to attract talent. But I think you still
Speaker 8: need to take advantage of that talent while you can
Speaker 8: if you're Utah, because I think the two programs are
Speaker 8: in a little bit different places.
Speaker 1: What are you hearing about, you know, road fan attendance
Speaker 1: this year, if anything at all, I mean Ucla.
Speaker 2: The Rose Bowl is the Rose Bowl. The venue is
Speaker 2: the venue.
Speaker 1: I do feel like with UCLA football maybe not being
Speaker 1: what it once was. Oftentimes I'll fire up my TV
Speaker 1: and wonder where everybody is. But atmosphere on the road game? One,
Speaker 1: are we expecting a large youth fan contingent.
Speaker 8: I know a lot of fans that are going down
Speaker 8: one because it's Labor Day weekend. Two, it's easy to
Speaker 8: get to in LA You've got the beach and Newport
Speaker 8: and stuff, and you know, Three, there's a lot of
Speaker 8: good memories down there, So I you know, I think
Speaker 8: there's gonna be I think there's gonna be a fair
Speaker 8: contingent of Utah fan to go to this first game.
Speaker 8: I've talked to a lot of my friends that they're
Speaker 8: going to go down for the weekend, especially because it's
Speaker 8: Labor Day weekend. So yeah, I think there'll be a
Speaker 8: good contingent of Utah fan. UCLA always has to fight it.
Speaker 8: I mean, Westwood in there camp it's beautiful, but the
Speaker 8: Rose Bowl and anything you spent you've spent time in LA,
Speaker 8: it's just it's not easy to get to from where
Speaker 8: the campus and where all the students are, and that
Speaker 8: game's late at night on a Saturday night. It's Labor
Speaker 8: Day weekend. So there's some challenges certainly they'll face, but
Speaker 8: I think Utah it's gonna have a good traveling party
Speaker 8: down there.
Speaker 2: And then you know Wyoming.
Speaker 1: I know it's Laramie, but you got to take advantage
Speaker 1: of the proximity because I mean, obviously they're at BYU two.
Speaker 1: That's another road game that's close by. But you know,
Speaker 1: you're at West Virginia, you're at Baylor. And then the
Speaker 1: final game, of course, is you're all my mater at Kansas.
Speaker 1: I would imagine the ability to go on the road
Speaker 1: with games that are close. You got three of them
Speaker 1: this year, which is a benefit because you're not going
Speaker 1: to see that most most years.
Speaker 8: You know, no, You're absolutely right, And you know Wyoming
Speaker 8: is you know, you can hop in. You can leave
Speaker 8: in the morning and be there kickoffs at like six
Speaker 8: I think so, I mean they're seven, so you could
Speaker 8: be there. You could leave at noon and be to
Speaker 8: the game and then drive back home after the game,
Speaker 8: kind of relive those old Whack and Mountain West Conference days.
Speaker 8: The BYU games not too far away. West Virginia is
Speaker 8: not an easy place to get to, but I do
Speaker 8: know there's I've talked to some fans are going to
Speaker 8: make that trip, and I've heard things great things about
Speaker 8: Morgantown in the fall. I was there in the winter.
Speaker 8: It was it was a little bleak for basketball, but
Speaker 8: I've heard great things about the fall, So I think
Speaker 8: there might be some fans. But it's not easy to
Speaker 8: get to. It's you know, fly to Pittsburgh and drive
Speaker 8: an hour hour and a half.
Speaker 2: Well, and the road trip to Laramie.
Speaker 1: You can enjoy a nice hard boiled egg at a
Speaker 1: flying Jay on your way, so it's a win win.
Speaker 8: Or maybe get a you know what are they now?
Speaker 8: They used to be ten tent cones at Little America.
Speaker 8: Maybe they're thirty five cent or fifty cent cones now
Speaker 8: on the west.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're worried about your budget, that's the
Speaker 1: trip you should take.
Speaker 2: All right, let's move over here.
Speaker 1: Oh I actually real quick, I wanted to ask you
Speaker 1: a QB two seems like that's and I love that
Speaker 1: we're not talking QB one. It's such a great sign.
Speaker 1: But QB two, riles, how's that battle shaping up?
Speaker 8: It's you know, it's been up and down Bird Fickland
Speaker 8: will have a good day of practice and Isaac will
Speaker 8: have a struggling practice. Then they'll turn right back around
Speaker 8: and Isaac will look great and he's made I'll tell
Speaker 8: you what. Isaac Wilson has made some great brows in
Speaker 8: fall camp. And then Fickland, because he's a freshman, will
Speaker 8: have some days. I think that's probably the one that's
Speaker 8: going to go down to the very end. May not
Speaker 8: be decided till next week sometime. Hopefully we don't need
Speaker 8: to find out who QB two is on the field.
Speaker 8: Right away, But I think that's still to be determined.
Speaker 8: You know, it's just picking up a new offense for
Speaker 8: both guys, and like I said, both guys have had
Speaker 8: great moments and both guys have had some struggles in
Speaker 8: fall camp. So I don't know that I can give
Speaker 8: you a definitive leader right now on that one.
Speaker 1: S Bence, what are you willing to say about the
Speaker 1: first six games of the season prior to the road
Speaker 1: trip down to Provo? So at UCLA, home cow Poly
Speaker 1: at Laramie, home Texas Tech, on the road Morgantown, then
Speaker 1: home Arizona State. Like the nice thing about this schedule,
Speaker 1: even though it's ranked as the top three, you know,
Speaker 1: one of the top three hardest schedules in the Big
Speaker 1: twelve is the top twenty five teams in your conference
Speaker 1: are all in Salt Lake City. But what are you
Speaker 1: willing to say about the first riles? You're nothing if
Speaker 1: not bold, So prior to the BYU game, what are
Speaker 1: you willing to say about what you think you talking
Speaker 1: to during those first six games?
Speaker 8: I think if Devin dan Pier is what we think
Speaker 8: he is and he can stay healthy, I can foresee
Speaker 8: Utah going to Provo undefeated. I really can if Devn
Speaker 8: or the offense, maybe the and I don't even think
Speaker 8: it's Devon. I think it would be more maybe the
Speaker 8: surrounding cast playmakers aren't maybe of all to the point
Speaker 8: where they need to be. I think that they might
Speaker 8: have a loss in their back pocket. But I think
Speaker 8: Utah could very easily be undefeated going to Provo. I
Speaker 8: could also see him being maybe five and one going
Speaker 8: to Provo too, because as you mentioned, they've got Texas
Speaker 8: Tech who's going to be very good. They've also got
Speaker 8: Arizona State who's going to be very good as well.
Speaker 8: On that trip to Morgantown is not going to be easy.
Speaker 8: They should be better with rich Rod there, and it's
Speaker 8: a tough place to play. But I think this team
Speaker 8: Spence is talented enough certainly to be undefeated. But I
Speaker 8: could see a five and one team going to Provo
Speaker 8: as well.
Speaker 1: I want to sneak in a basketball quote real quick
Speaker 1: Solid Tribune today with a good piece on the spend
Speaker 1: that BYU has made on both football and basketball. Their
Speaker 1: reports are the average Big twelve basketball roster this year
Speaker 1: costs about twelve million bucks. BYU's is about fifteen million dollars.
Speaker 1: I don't know what Alex has. It is disposal ran
Speaker 1: into him last week at the Red Zone Store. Definitely
Speaker 1: check out the Red Zone Store prior to football season.
Speaker 1: So what in your estimation does success look like? Ye're
Speaker 1: one for Alex Jensen and the running youths.
Speaker 8: I think it's a buy into Alex's philosophy, style and culture,
Speaker 8: because you've got to set that in place if anything's
Speaker 8: going to happen. Saw I'm Saturday night at Vanfest. He's
Speaker 8: really happy with where things are, and then you know
Speaker 8: from there. I think this team's going to be competitive.
Speaker 8: I think the athleticism is going to be really really good.
Speaker 8: Do they have enough shooting? We'll see that once they
Speaker 8: kind of get on the floor just a little bit.
Speaker 8: But I think success this year for Alex is instilling
Speaker 8: his philosophy and culture and being competitive and a lot
Speaker 8: of big you're gonna win games. That's not like Utah,
Speaker 8: They're gonna win games. Can you be competitive and pull
Speaker 8: off a few upsets this year, whether it's in Provo,
Speaker 8: or it's in Lawrence, or it's in Waco, wherever those
Speaker 8: might happen to be. Do you do you have a
Speaker 8: couple of Hey, we're gonna plant our flag. See, you know,
Speaker 8: we're competitive in this league and we've pulled off an
Speaker 8: upset or two as well. Utah was competitive with Craig Smith.
Speaker 8: They just in the biggest games they came up just
Speaker 8: a little bit short. I think it's being competitive but
Speaker 8: also being able to pull off an upset here and
Speaker 8: there too.
Speaker 1: All right, Ryles, before I said you loose, tell us
Speaker 1: about what we have going on with our good friends
Speaker 1: over at Handy and Handy.
Speaker 8: Well, they're they're kind of of Spence. They're great partners
Speaker 8: at ESPN seven under the sponsor this segment with you,
Speaker 8: and they want to do with Sean every week. You know,
Speaker 8: they say it big, big firm, experience, small firm. Uh,
Speaker 8: you know, attention. They're they're just great, President Garrett Handy,
Speaker 8: They've got forty five years combined experience between them. You know,
Speaker 8: My hope is that none of our listeners ever have
Speaker 8: to call because that means they weren't hurt in an
Speaker 8: injury at work or in a car or something like that.
Speaker 8: But if you are, and that's reality, President Garrett Handy,
Speaker 8: Handy Law Handy and Handy can take good care of you. You
Speaker 8: can find them online at Handy Law Utah. Let him
Speaker 8: know you heard it here on the ESPN seven hundred.
Speaker 2: Thank you, my friend, be good, appreciate the time with
Speaker 2: chat soon.
Speaker 8: Thanks bets fucking soon.
Speaker 2: All right. Shout out to our good friends at beer bar.
Speaker 2: Go to beer BARSLC dot com. I'm remote there all
Speaker 2: the time.
Speaker 1: My guy Nick Romondo, Ty Burrell, close personal friend, no
Speaker 1: big deal, everyone's favorite TV dad. You're home for all
Speaker 1: RSL watch parties and quite frankly, any watch party. If
Speaker 1: you want to go, check out a jazz game or
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Speaker 1: thank you to doctor Chris Hill live in studio for
Speaker 1: an entire hour. Early Bill Riley voiced the youth stop
Speaker 1: by Curtis of our friends at Handy and Handy.
Speaker 2: Our next guest. We've been working on this for a
Speaker 2: little while.
Speaker 1: Former RSL general manager and good friend Elliott Falls live
Speaker 1: in studio.
Speaker 2: Elliot, good to see you, man, How are you great?
Speaker 2: I'm great, great to see you.
Speaker 1: I know you're great now because we had a little
Speaker 1: Ed Sheeran bumping us in so that that's used juff.
Speaker 9: Yeah, oh that was I mean, and it was it
Speaker 9: was perfect. That's a good one. It's a that's a banger.
Speaker 2: So for our.
Speaker 1: Listeners that have no clue. Elliot and I play golf
Speaker 1: together from time to time. He is a very good player.
Speaker 1: I've learned a lot just watching him play. And we
Speaker 1: both have our like speakers going to the same time,
Speaker 1: so it's like rival music and we have pretty similar
Speaker 1: tastes in music. But occasionally I'll notice, like a shaggy
Speaker 1: song or something.
Speaker 9: I don't think you've ever heard a shaggy song. But
Speaker 9: that was when Trey's phone started ringing.
Speaker 2: It happened. Oh that would be so sick if that
Speaker 2: was his rent town.
Speaker 1: But one day I'm getting ready to tee off and
Speaker 1: I'm like, is that edg Shearon in the background?
Speaker 2: Cast on hill?
Speaker 1: And let me be clear, that's a banger. It's a
Speaker 1: good song. I just didn't know you were an D shirt.
Speaker 6: Nah.
Speaker 9: You know, you find us, you find some space, and honestly,
Speaker 9: when you're when you're out on the golf course for
Speaker 9: a while, you gotta you gotta change it up.
Speaker 2: You can't just have the same, same old, same old.
Speaker 2: Oh this is true.
Speaker 1: And you can't give Trey the the control. You can
Speaker 1: never give Tray the control. Let's be clear about that.
Speaker 1: How good do you think you are golf? Not very
Speaker 1: good right now? I haven't been playing well lately, that's
Speaker 1: not true. Like do you think if you allocated time
Speaker 1: and energy to just you get a great coach.
Speaker 2: You're playing every day, which you kind of do anyway,
Speaker 2: you're hitting balls all the time.
Speaker 1: Some people think so you're but but you genuinely try
Speaker 1: to be as good as you possibly can. Sure, how
Speaker 1: good do you think you could be? Because you're close
Speaker 1: to a scratch? I know you say you're not, but
Speaker 1: you are.
Speaker 9: Uh yeah, I don't know. I think I could get
Speaker 9: to a plus handicap, but I don't, you know, certainly
Speaker 9: nowhere near you know the the great players you see,
Speaker 9: you know in some places I've played, I've played around.
Speaker 9: I mean, it's always humbling when you play with really
Speaker 9: good golfers and I played around.
Speaker 2: You know this.
Speaker 9: A few of us like to play the Nibley Men's League, indeed,
Speaker 9: and Nibley's a fun place and you know, shout out
Speaker 9: to Andrew Meacham and he the pro there. He does
Speaker 9: an unbelievable job. It's a lot of fun, cool men's league. Fridays,
Speaker 9: we go out in the club Championship. None of my
Speaker 9: friends played with me, so I had to play. I
Speaker 9: got paired up by myself for a couple of us
Speaker 9: have jobs.
Speaker 2: Elliott. It was a Saturday and Sunday.
Speaker 1: Your job does but to qualify for that after play
Speaker 1: on Fridays, and I did the best I could.
Speaker 2: I'm not even talking about you.
Speaker 1: You're okay, Well I think friends, I hurt my feelings,
Speaker 1: but you retired early and we'll get there.
Speaker 2: But anyway, as you were a club.
Speaker 9: Championship anyway, you know, I got paired with a couple
Speaker 9: of guys and you know they they clean the clean
Speaker 9: my clock and there in the club Championship, I mean,
Speaker 9: you know, and I've actually played with with him a
Speaker 9: couple of times since. And you know, the one guy
Speaker 9: went out and shot five under this week at Nibbley.
Speaker 1: Who are these people? They're just good golfers, like college guys. College.
Speaker 2: No, they're they're about my age. Yeah.
Speaker 1: See, it always depresses me every time I feel like
Speaker 1: I'm improving a little bit to hear that there are
Speaker 1: so many people that are so much better at this time.
Speaker 9: Yeah, there's there's there's a lot of good golfers out there.
Speaker 9: There's a lot of good golfers in the state of Utah,
Speaker 9: there is. I'm better now than I was when we
Speaker 9: first started playing together. At least give me that, certainly. Okay,
Speaker 9: you're not a bad golfer. I don't think I'm a
Speaker 9: bad golfer. You're a good golf Sorry, I should I
Speaker 9: should be I should be more clear you were a
Speaker 9: good golfer.
Speaker 1: Well, that's kind of you to say. But you know,
Speaker 1: just when you think you're good, you play with somebody
Speaker 1: like our guys steal the Walt my guy.
Speaker 2: Sure. Yeah. And did you play against him when you
Speaker 2: were a.
Speaker 9: Judge Yeah, no, I think no, I think he was
Speaker 9: the same. I mean, I think I think we over
Speaker 9: I mean, I only played two years at Judge, but
Speaker 9: I'm pretty sure because he went to Park City. I'm
Speaker 9: ninety nine per sure. I think we overlapped at least
Speaker 9: one year, if not, if not both years.
Speaker 1: It was wild watching him play and watching and watching
Speaker 1: you like watching golfers like him like problem solve. It's yeah,
Speaker 1: they think of things that you would even would not
Speaker 1: even consider.
Speaker 9: Yeah, there's so many aspects of the game that are
Speaker 9: to challenge you, right and like that. If you're not
Speaker 9: if you're not proficient at you're you're gonna fall apart.
Speaker 9: Like you if you sure you can have a great swing,
Speaker 9: If you can't chip a ball, you're done. If you
Speaker 9: can't make a five footer, you're done. You you undo
Speaker 9: all the good work you do get in there. It's
Speaker 9: a tough game, man. It humbles you, it really does.
Speaker 9: And you know, at least for me, and I think
Speaker 9: this this goes for most golfers. As soon as you
Speaker 9: as soon as you feel like you've found something you've
Speaker 9: you lose it. You lose whatever it is, or you
Speaker 9: lose something else. I mean, it's it's a it's a
Speaker 9: tough game, but that's what makes a fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, it's it's quite a challenge.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 1: This weekend, I was back in Indianapolis with my brother
Speaker 1: and we played this great track. Four of the holes
Speaker 1: are actually in the Indy five hundred racetrack.
Speaker 2: I've heard of that.
Speaker 1: It's really cool Front nine and I'm not sure i've
Speaker 1: ever done this before.
Speaker 2: A birdie two of the first five holes.
Speaker 1: All right, then we're on a par three, We're about
Speaker 1: one seventy eight out. I wrote my seven iron. I'm like,
Speaker 1: that is all over it hit it within three feet.
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, this could be your third BIRDI in
Speaker 1: the first six holes. I don't know I've ever shouldn't
Speaker 1: have thought that correct because what I did was I
Speaker 1: pulled a two and a half foot or for birdie,
Speaker 1: tapped in for part, and then I melted down. I
Speaker 1: think I shot a I think I shot a thirty
Speaker 1: eight on the front and then a forty eight on
Speaker 1: the back because I was in my head about that
Speaker 1: birdie putt.
Speaker 9: It's yeah, it's I mean, the best thing it needs
Speaker 9: impossible to do, but certainly all the time. But the
Speaker 9: best thing you can do for your score is to
Speaker 9: not know what your score is. I mean, it's if
Speaker 9: you know where you are, that's when it gets in
Speaker 9: your head and you start playing defensive and yeah, you're
Speaker 9: toast and like, like you said, you got a three
Speaker 9: footer and you're like, oh man, I just got to
Speaker 9: make this day, and it's you know, and you know what,
Speaker 9: you know, what's what's crazy about it is we talk
Speaker 9: about this and then you watch the pros.
Speaker 2: On the weekend some of them do the same thing.
Speaker 9: And like we talk about how going out, you know,
Speaker 9: you end up playing with a with a great player.
Speaker 9: Don't you think all the PGA Tour guys who end
Speaker 9: up getting paired with with Scotty Scheffler these days feel
Speaker 9: the same way.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 9: It's like, oh, I'm feeling good about myself. I just
Speaker 9: won a tournament. Oh, now I gotta play Scotty Schefler.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And now it's funny you reference Scotty because I just
Speaker 1: pulled this up because you know I didn't used to.
Speaker 2: Well, I never played golf growing up.
Speaker 1: I got into it over the past few years and
Speaker 1: playing with people like you and getting better equipment and
Speaker 1: taking lessons has helped. But I never really covered it either.
Speaker 1: But it's it's such a behemoth. Now if you're in
Speaker 1: this space, you better become familiar a little bit at
Speaker 1: least with what's going on in the world of golf.
Speaker 1: And so I covered it in a way that I
Speaker 1: used to and bring it up in this context. I
Speaker 1: didn't cover it when Tiger was Tiger, which honestly depresses
Speaker 1: me because I've read I've read the book, and I've
Speaker 1: watched the documentary like ten times, and if the Golf
Speaker 1: Channel ever shows like hey, Tiger highlights coming up, I'm
Speaker 1: recording it and I'm watching all of it. I really
Speaker 1: wish I was watching and covering it when Tiger was Tiger,
Speaker 1: But because I didn't, and now I'm covering it in
Speaker 1: a different way, I do this thing where I'm like,
Speaker 1: it feels like Scotty's having this Tiger like run, and
Speaker 1: then you pull up these stats.
Speaker 9: So I was going to say something like you're going
Speaker 9: with heading tours, go ahead, well, and.
Speaker 2: I actually honestly want your thoughts.
Speaker 1: So Scotty just became the first golfer since Tiger to
Speaker 1: have two straight seasons of five wins or more on tour. Sure,
Speaker 1: and it's only Scotty and Tiger over the past forty years.
Speaker 1: So Scotty has done it once, yeah, twenty twenty four
Speaker 1: and twenty twenty five. So I heard, like, oh, first
Speaker 1: since Tiger. Okay, well, then he's having this Tiger like run.
Speaker 1: Tiger did it in ninety nine, two thousand, two thousand,
Speaker 1: two thousand and one, two thousand and one, two thousand
Speaker 1: and two, two thousand and three, two two thousand and two,
Speaker 1: two thousand and three, two thousand and five, two thousand
Speaker 1: and six, two thousand and six, two thousand and seven.
Speaker 1: He did it six times. He's back to back seasons
Speaker 1: with five or more wins on toy. Tiger did it
Speaker 1: six times. Scott he's done it once. They're the only
Speaker 1: golfers in forty years to do it.
Speaker 9: If you want to, if you wanna, if you're feeling
Speaker 9: good about yourself on the golf course, go read some
Speaker 9: Tiger stats and you will really humble yourself.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I.
Speaker 9: Mean they're just the most unbelievable, the one about you know,
Speaker 9: Scotty's been number one in the world for what three
Speaker 9: straight years that nobody's even coming close to him, right,
Speaker 9: He'd have to be number one in the world till
Speaker 9: like twenty thirty six to match Tiger's streak.
Speaker 2: That's just wild. It's I mean, Tiger.
Speaker 9: You know, you see the shot Scotty hit yesterday to
Speaker 9: win the tournament, yep effectively on seventeen. You sit there
Speaker 9: and you're like, that's one of the greatest shots you've
Speaker 9: ever seen, and then you think about the natural like
Speaker 9: comparison is Tiger's shot on sixteen in the Master in
Speaker 9: like yeah, yeah, and and like that shot makes makes
Speaker 9: Scotty's shot look like a three foot pott.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And it's just the things Tiger was able to do.
Speaker 9: And what what's crazy about Tiger is he's probably the
Speaker 9: best iron player of all time. Like he so he come,
Speaker 9: he comes into golf, right, and he hits it a mile,
Speaker 9: and he's overpowering courses and like everybody's heard it. You know,
Speaker 9: oh you got a Tiger proof golf courses. That's why
Speaker 9: they started lengthening them. All this stuff. It's not even
Speaker 9: close to what the best part of his game was.
Speaker 9: He's maybe the best iron player of all time. His
Speaker 9: short name is outrageous, as displayed by the you know,
Speaker 9: the shot on sixteen that the Master's among a million
Speaker 9: other shots. And then he was probably the best potter
Speaker 9: maybe to ever live. Yeah, I mean I saw a
Speaker 9: stat recently where it was like in I'm gonna I'm
Speaker 9: just making this up, but it's something like this where
Speaker 9: he had he had like eighteen hundreds inside four feet
Speaker 9: in two years and he missed two of them.
Speaker 2: It's just unfathomable. Now you give me eighteen hundred putts
Speaker 2: inside four inches. I think I'd missed two of them.
Speaker 1: It's I mean, it blows the mind in a different
Speaker 1: way when you actually try to be good at it,
Speaker 1: when you try to play the game, and then you
Speaker 1: realize like how hard it is to be good and consistent,
Speaker 1: and how wild it is that he did what he did.
Speaker 2: Now, he's not gonna get Jack's record.
Speaker 1: Injuries and then proclivity for Perkins waitresses and such kind
Speaker 1: of threw him off the rails.
Speaker 9: But do you think he's the greatest that's ever done it.
Speaker 9: I think he's the greatest that's ever done it. But
Speaker 9: I also think, you know, some day, I mean, he
Speaker 9: he may never have this conversation, who knows, but like
Speaker 9: he probably has to reckon a little bit with the
Speaker 9: fact that it was him. It like the injuries were
Speaker 9: even him in a lot of ways because it's the
Speaker 9: swing change. Yeah, okay, the swing stuff is wild to me.
Speaker 9: I mean, he went out and he won, He won
Speaker 9: the Masters in record breaking fashion, won he won the
Speaker 9: US Open Upebble Beach by a hundred shots, whatever it was.
Speaker 9: I mean, and you know that story, right, I mean
Speaker 9: that one's unbelieve he won that tournament by thirteen strokes
Speaker 9: or something like that, and then he goes out and
Speaker 9: completely changes his golf swing because he's and it's what
Speaker 9: got him where he was. So I also understand how this,
Speaker 9: like this is the mentality of an athlete, right, Like.
Speaker 2: There's this.
Speaker 9: There's this pursuit of perfection at least at the very
Speaker 9: top ends of sports, where you're never satisfied. You never
Speaker 9: think you're good enough, you never And of course the
Speaker 9: irony is like you also go out and you believe
Speaker 9: you're the best every day you're out there. So it's
Speaker 9: this weird, you know, dichotomy in your head. But he
Speaker 9: thought there was something to fix and so he went
Speaker 9: out and completely read it his golf swing, and you know,
Speaker 9: I think that led to some of the injuries. Obviously
Speaker 9: there's other things that happened, but like he was winning
Speaker 9: majors by fifteen strokes, Like what do you need to
Speaker 9: go change?
Speaker 2: Just go do it again, just keep keep at it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting you bring it out because I listened
Speaker 1: to an interview or you know what this is actually
Speaker 1: during one of the golf channels, Like, hey, this is
Speaker 1: when Tiger was Tiger broadcast and they interviewed Wyndham Clark.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think when Wyndham said his swing was
Speaker 1: at when Tiger's swing was at his best. Is there
Speaker 1: an era where you felt like his swing was in
Speaker 1: the best place and he never should have touched it?
Speaker 2: I think it's hard to argue against that.
Speaker 9: Like, you know, early twenty ninety eight to two thousand
Speaker 9: and three, kind of like winn he won the Masters,
Speaker 9: the first Masters, that that Pebble Beach US Open, when
Speaker 9: he had the Tiger Slam where he held all the
Speaker 9: majors at the same time, you know, I mean, and
Speaker 9: but by the way, we haven't talked about his amateur career.
Speaker 9: You know that you know that he won three consecutive
Speaker 9: US Junior Amateurs and then won three consecutive US Amateurs.
Speaker 2: Like that's mind blowing in and of itself. It's mind blowing,
Speaker 2: mind blowing. Yeah, that he did that.
Speaker 1: And also and again, yes, his career was derailed as
Speaker 1: a result of some poor personal decisions and the health
Speaker 1: as you referenced with his swing change. But the other
Speaker 1: thing that's interesting about this sport to me is how
Speaker 1: many great young golfers get derailed by fatigue, sure or
Speaker 1: not wanting to live. It was interesting talking to Steel
Speaker 1: about this because at the media tournament prior to the
Speaker 1: Utah am they paired me with him, and they did
Speaker 1: that intentionally because he's a pro now he's an amateur
Speaker 1: now because he's trying to qualify, and I'm learning all
Speaker 1: this stuff in real time, like can you qualify for
Speaker 1: the Masters in the US Open in the amateur route?
Speaker 1: And Steele has a very successful career, so he referenced
Speaker 1: how like money was immaterial to him. He didn't need
Speaker 1: to grind and make the money. But he tell me
Speaker 1: about the lifestyle. The grind to just get your car
Speaker 1: go to Q school is interesting. And I said during
Speaker 1: Q school, who was the one golfer that you played
Speaker 1: with or against that you felt was to it? He said,
Speaker 1: Xander said it was Xander. When he ran into Ander,
Speaker 1: He's like, Okay, that's different. I'm not sure that I
Speaker 1: can ever be that. But there are a myriad of
Speaker 1: different things that derailed these golfers before they ever even
Speaker 1: touched their apex. And again Tiger was derailed but after
Speaker 1: an incredible apex, like the fact that everything fell in
Speaker 1: the line the way that it did.
Speaker 2: It's one of the most remarkable stories in the history
Speaker 2: of sport, It really is.
Speaker 9: And then and then, by the way, the twenty nineteen Masters,
Speaker 9: like are you kidding? The comeback? And I watched that live.
Speaker 9: It was abelievable. Yeah, it was unbelievable. By the way.
Speaker 9: You know, you know our friend Matt who plays golf
Speaker 9: with us, he was there.
Speaker 2: Oh, he was at that.
Speaker 9: He left on he left on Sunday morning, so he
Speaker 9: wasn't there for the final round, but he was there.
Speaker 9: Do you remember It's actually funny. Do you remember the
Speaker 9: shot where Tiger hit a ball out of the trees
Speaker 9: and had had to curl it around and together and
Speaker 9: he had the gallery around him, and and that I
Speaker 9: believe it was a It was one of the security
Speaker 9: guards comes running by and slips on the wet grass
Speaker 9: and almost takes Tiger's leg out. In the TV shot
Speaker 9: you can see Matt. Oh really yeah.
Speaker 1: And that was Father's Day too, by the way, right,
Speaker 1: I believe no Father's Day is us open?
Speaker 2: Oh, yes, he's right.
Speaker 9: It might have been something about no because his father anyway, Yeah,
Speaker 9: but there was something something about it.
Speaker 2: It was an unbeliev I mean, just an unbelievable tournament. Well,
Speaker 2: and then the relationship with his dad is so fascinating
Speaker 2: to me.
Speaker 1: It's yeah, you know, because the fact of the matter
Speaker 1: is he's not Tiger without Earl. But there was still,
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of things about that relationship.
Speaker 2: It's not hard to make an argument it was an
Speaker 2: unhealthy relationship.
Speaker 1: And you just wonder how much of Tiger's ultimate downfall
Speaker 1: was learned behavior, right, like all of the things we
Speaker 1: learned about his dad later on in the womanizing And anyway,
Speaker 1: all right, before we catch a break, I wanted to
Speaker 1: have you in studio for a while now, and coming
Speaker 1: up next, I want to talk about, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: where you feel the club is at now, what it
Speaker 1: was like to build what I perceived to be for
Speaker 1: about eighteen to twenty matches last year. Is the best
Speaker 1: team we've had here. I truly believe that. But before
Speaker 1: we catch a break, let's get to know you a
Speaker 1: little bit. For our listeners who don't local kid, judge
Speaker 1: high kid, you tak kid yep, and you're not You're
Speaker 1: a little bit like me. You're not just like a
Speaker 1: soccer guy like you love Utah football. You grew up
Speaker 1: loving the jazz.
Speaker 9: Like, oh, I was listening to you with doctor Chris
Speaker 9: Hill today and you were talking about hiring Urban and
Speaker 9: the Muss. I was in the MUSS. I was in
Speaker 9: the MUSS for both undefeated seasons. Unreal, like literally brought
Speaker 9: chills to my down my spine.
Speaker 1: So tell us about your path, like and then we'll
Speaker 1: get to the rself stuff on the other.
Speaker 9: Yeah, so you know, like you said, local local guy,
Speaker 9: grew up you know, right within walking distance of Rice Ecles,
Speaker 9: going to games as a kid, huge jazz fan as
Speaker 9: a kid. I mean, you know, the Stockton to Malone
Speaker 9: pick role in the in the you know, the ninety
Speaker 9: six ninety seven finals runs are seared in my brain.
Speaker 9: I mean that's like, that's that's sports fandom to me.
Speaker 9: Like that is and then and then the utes going
Speaker 9: to the to the final four, and then the championship
Speaker 9: match and or championship game.
Speaker 2: There's this there's the soccer.
Speaker 9: Guy, you know, and you know, falling short against Kentime.
Speaker 9: I mean I literally like I remember where I was
Speaker 9: getting ready to like watch those games like.
Speaker 2: That was you know, that was my fandom.
Speaker 9: But yeah, I grew up, grew up playing soccer, played
Speaker 9: golf in high school too. You know, I would say
Speaker 9: it wasn't great at either one of them. I've I've
Speaker 9: gotten better at golf since then because I worked. I
Speaker 9: worked up at Mountain Dell for seven years and it was,
Speaker 9: you know, I tell people the best job I ever had.
Speaker 9: Uh it's tough when the best job.
Speaker 2: You ever have is the first job you ever have.
Speaker 9: But but yeah, so, you know, grew up in the area,
Speaker 9: went to went to the U again, you know, was
Speaker 9: was a student for both undefeated seasons, so that was
Speaker 9: that was a special time. Got my degree in economics,
Speaker 9: and was looking for an internship the summer before my
Speaker 9: senior year and and got connected, you know with with RSL.
Speaker 9: It was intern for Trey, which is just a lot
Speaker 9: of coffee rooms. I mean, yeah, he still owes me
Speaker 9: money for I'm sure twenty to thirty of them, but
Speaker 9: you know, it is what it is.
Speaker 2: But no.
Speaker 9: Got in at such a fun time at RSL. So
Speaker 9: I started in April of two thousand and seven. I mean,
Speaker 9: you know that time really well, and it was It's
Speaker 9: wild to see what the club and what the sport
Speaker 9: and the landscape is now compared to back then.
Speaker 2: It's just that you can't even compare it.
Speaker 9: I mean it was you know, we were in our
Speaker 9: offices at Trolley Corners and there had been groundbreaking of
Speaker 9: the stadium, but it was still you know, and you
Speaker 9: were right in the heart of it, you know, your
Speaker 9: dad getting you know, just get making things happen, and
Speaker 9: and the number of times that that was on the
Speaker 9: verge of falling apart. And obviously MLS was a totally
Speaker 9: different landscape then. So just got to be a part
Speaker 9: of that and grow up in that. And then you know,
Speaker 9: got lucky and was hired for a full time position
Speaker 9: at the end of my internship.
Speaker 2: And and where was your first full time Was it
Speaker 2: team admin? No? It was PR?
Speaker 9: So I so I came on the PR team full
Speaker 9: time January two thousand and eight, and uh did that
Speaker 9: for two years.
Speaker 2: So I was.
Speaker 9: I was on the PR team through the through the
Speaker 9: title run.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 9: In fact, I don't even know where I this is.
Speaker 9: This is a bummer to say I don't know where
Speaker 9: it is. I'd have to go, I'd really have to
Speaker 9: dig and try to find it. But I was in
Speaker 9: the locker room with a video cameraund my shoulder when
Speaker 9: David Beckham came in after after the final to congratulate,
Speaker 9: to congratulate the guys. Yea, And I mean I had
Speaker 9: it on video as far away as you wo. Yeah,
Speaker 9: I don't, I don't, I don't the I don't know
Speaker 9: where I ended.
Speaker 2: Up, but I feel like I've seen that footage.
Speaker 9: It's I think it's somewhere like I don't think it's gone,
Speaker 9: but I would not be that easy to find, but.
Speaker 2: Someday I probably should because it was. It was a
Speaker 2: cool moment.
Speaker 9: But yeah, so was on the PR team and then
Speaker 9: and then Garth brought me on as the team admin
Speaker 9: the next year and then worked as a team admin
Speaker 9: for several years and worked my way up from there.
Speaker 9: When Garth left, Wibel took over.
Speaker 2: Wible brought me.
Speaker 9: In his assistant GM and did that while Weibbs was
Speaker 9: there and you know, started the Monarchs and it was
Speaker 9: the first GM of the Monarchs and and got to
Speaker 9: got to you know, dip my toe in those waters there.
Speaker 9: And then when when Wibbs left, because guy the gym,
Speaker 9: you're the.
Speaker 1: Guy and that and built a really good club and
Speaker 1: we'll appreciate it. We'll leave it there for now and
Speaker 1: we'll do more on this coming up on the other side.
Speaker 1: Elliott is live in studio. Elliott fall Is live in studio.
Speaker 1: Former RSL General manager. Alrighty, So we talked about kind
Speaker 1: of your path before the break that led you to
Speaker 1: becoming the GM, and for the kids out there, it
Speaker 1: is quite a story. In turn two thousand and seven
Speaker 1: general manager climbed his way up the up the ranks.
Speaker 1: What was your reaction when de Looy at the time
Speaker 1: told you, like, okay, Gig's yours. Were you intimidated, were
Speaker 1: you surprised, were you grateful? Were you nervous?
Speaker 2: What were what were those emotions?
Speaker 9: I don't I don't know if I've ever said this publicly,
Speaker 9: I might have told you I said, I don't want it.
Speaker 2: Initially you pushed back a little bit.
Speaker 9: Yeah, interesting, I said, you know, look, I appreciate it
Speaker 9: the Loy, but you know, I I would love to
Speaker 9: have a conversation about expanding my role, you know, but
Speaker 9: you know, i'd i'd like to look at what it's
Speaker 9: like in a slightly different capacity or something like that.
Speaker 9: And he said, no, that's not that's not what we're
Speaker 9: talking about. And I said, you know, and look, I
Speaker 9: obviously I had been the GM of the Monarchs. I
Speaker 9: was the assistant GM of RSL. So it's not like
Speaker 9: it was a job that I didn't understand. Like I
Speaker 9: knew what the job was. I knew, I knew the
Speaker 9: demands of the job. And but truthfully, I think part
Speaker 9: of it was I also knew that when you take
Speaker 9: that job, you're starting a clock on your position.
Speaker 2: Yep, and you.
Speaker 9: You you don't necessarily know when that clock ends, but
Speaker 9: it's gonna end.
Speaker 2: And I don't know.
Speaker 9: That's not what I was, you know, I didn't necessarily
Speaker 9: want that. I wanted you know, I wanted to be
Speaker 9: at the club long term. So uh, all that said,
Speaker 9: I mean I said I don't want it. Was there
Speaker 9: ever any part of me that wasn't gonna take it? No,
Speaker 9: of course, like I was, I was going to take
Speaker 9: the job. I was excited about that. I mean, I
Speaker 9: loved the job. It was fun, it was I think
Speaker 9: it's a dream job. It's it's you know, millions of people.
Speaker 2: Want that job.
Speaker 1: No, you started as a coffee runner in two thousand
Speaker 1: and seven, you worked your way up to GM and
Speaker 1: the team.
Speaker 9: It's a wild I was tearing down downsizing banners, rice ecles,
Speaker 9: You know, yeah, I know anywhere, but like, you know,
Speaker 9: for free, that's what I was doing. And then it, yeah,
Speaker 9: it turned into what it turned into, and it was
Speaker 9: it was unbelievable. It was an incredible ride. Like I
Speaker 9: wouldn't trade a single bit of it for anything. But yeah,
Speaker 9: so that was kind of my initial reaction. That's you know.
Speaker 2: I was also really excited, and.
Speaker 9: It was it was fun to get to to lead
Speaker 9: the soccer side of the organization, and and uh, you know,
Speaker 9: it was it was a good time.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: You can be a mediocre senior VP of comms, temperamental,
Speaker 1: emotional angry and stay with the club for twenty years.
Speaker 2: But if you're the GM or the coach, you are
Speaker 2: hired to be fired. You just are.
Speaker 9: That's pro sports, Yeah, exactly, And and and look I
Speaker 9: knew that like it it it's it is what it is.
Speaker 9: So it's also and and this may I certainly hope
Speaker 9: that this doesn't come off as I don't know exactly
Speaker 9: what you'd say it comes off as, but in me
Speaker 9: complaining or anything like that, but it's a it's a
Speaker 9: really exhausting job. And uh I I gained a real
Speaker 9: perspective and and a real understanding of why, you know,
Speaker 9: people who are in those jobs don't stay in those
Speaker 9: jobs forever. It's just it's it's it's all consuming. So uh,
Speaker 9: it was, yeah, it was. It was a blast. It
Speaker 9: was unbelievable ride. But I you know, I think it
Speaker 9: also it worked out and we'll get there. We'll get
Speaker 9: there in a moment.
Speaker 1: What was what was the first major decision personnel wise
Speaker 1: you made? You remember the first big decision you have
Speaker 1: to you had to make personnel wise? You remember what
Speaker 1: that was?
Speaker 2: Selling Savorno?
Speaker 9: I think, I mean we so I took over, it
Speaker 9: was like August or September or whatever it was of
Speaker 9: twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2: Obviously there wasn't much to do at that point.
Speaker 9: I mean, you know, we were a good team, made
Speaker 9: the playoffs, made a little bit of a run in
Speaker 9: the one a game in the playoffs.
Speaker 2: You know, I think we lost to.
Speaker 9: Seattle that year on the road, So so I guess
Speaker 9: so then yeah, so then fast forward to the next offseason,
Speaker 9: which of course turned into the COVID season, which was
Speaker 9: its own wild, you know situation. But we had we
Speaker 9: did sell Sava before COVID hit, So I guess, I
Speaker 9: guess I would say selling Sava as was my first
Speaker 9: major decision as the GM. I was, you know, I
Speaker 9: that said I was involved in you know, a lot
Speaker 9: of major decisions before that, but like with my with
Speaker 9: with my name on the line, or my you know,
Speaker 9: my name in lights, whatever you want to say, it was.
Speaker 2: I think it was selling Sava, So you were. I'm
Speaker 2: trying to do the time I do.
Speaker 1: I don't remember what had for breakfast this morning, but
Speaker 1: I'm trying to do the timeline here I do.
Speaker 2: It was an uncrustable because they're so good, they're amazing.
Speaker 1: You were named the GM prior to the COVID the
Speaker 1: law drum. Okay, okay, okay, because I was wondering if
Speaker 1: any of your reservation was steeped in the information that
Speaker 1: the league was about to run the team and what
Speaker 1: that was like. But you were the GM prior to that. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: So let's move over to that timeline now, Okay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: So we.
Speaker 9: Might need our own we might need several shows set
Speaker 9: aside for this, for sure, And.
Speaker 1: You're welcome back anytime, as you know. But it's wild
Speaker 1: because I can remember. So this show just turned six
Speaker 1: last week. We've been doing this six years. Now, which
Speaker 1: both feels like yesterday and forever. It's hard for me
Speaker 1: to quantify. But when I first, you know, was back
Speaker 1: on air, a lot of people ask like, do you
Speaker 1: think Elliot's up to the task, and I said, well,
Speaker 1: only results will tell the story, because that's the way
Speaker 1: this thing goes. I mean, it is more than almost
Speaker 1: anything else or results orientated business. Obviously, if you're in
Speaker 1: other areas of commerce, you have to sell to make
Speaker 1: money or whatever. But if it's a good team and
Speaker 1: they win, then he's the guy. And if they go
Speaker 1: the other way, then it was the wrong call. But
Speaker 1: within three or four months of this show starting, Deloyd
Speaker 1: goes on X ninety six in the morning and says
Speaker 1: what he said, And there's this moment in time where
Speaker 1: RSL employees are furloughed, MLS is canceled. They have the
Speaker 1: MLS is Back Tournament, which is a name they actually
Speaker 1: came up with and somebody approved, like the dumbest name
Speaker 1: in the world. But suddenly we were gonna have an
Speaker 1: RSL game. We know the deal. That was a summer
Speaker 1: of real racial unrest and social justice and people expressing
Speaker 1: themselves in a very specific way, no matter what side
Speaker 1: of the aisle you're on.
Speaker 2: That was a hot time in our country.
Speaker 1: It was a passionate, heavy time where everybody was on
Speaker 1: edge for a myriad of different reasons, whether it was
Speaker 1: the person you didn't want in the White House being there,
Speaker 1: a pandemic potentially killing people, or you know George Floyd
Speaker 1: situation where everybody was really everything was heightened.
Speaker 2: Okay, so you.
Speaker 9: Want to throw you want to throw the earthquake in
Speaker 9: there too, because it happened right around then, two earthquakes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm living downtown, man, I thought we were all dying.
Speaker 1: So delay goes on X ninety six. You know I
Speaker 1: should rewind. RSL game is canceled, Okay. Players decide to protest, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, to be clear, every game of the league.
Speaker 1: Yes, RSL, along with every other team in the league,
Speaker 1: decides to stand in solidarity with the message, and we're
Speaker 1: not playing. Deloyde takes that as an affront, which, by
Speaker 1: the way, I understood at the time.
Speaker 2: I get it.
Speaker 1: You know, all the work they put in to make
Speaker 1: this event happen. Bringing employees back the we furloughed goes
Speaker 1: on X ninety six. This expresses his disappointment. My phone
Speaker 1: blows up in a way that it very rarely blows up.
Speaker 1: And then an hour later it's decided he's coming on
Speaker 1: this show to apologize, and I'm like, all right, I mean,
Speaker 1: he owns the station, he owns the team. If this
Speaker 1: is the deal, this is deal. Unfortunately damage was done
Speaker 1: at that point. Did the best I could to give
Speaker 1: Deloyd the space to express himself, which I thought he
Speaker 1: did in a very deloy way, to try to walk
Speaker 1: it back a little bit, but the damage was already done.
Speaker 1: And then Deloyd decides, this is something that's been lost
Speaker 1: in history.
Speaker 2: He was not forced to sell the soccer team.
Speaker 1: He decided he did not want to have the headache
Speaker 1: anymore and also was in an equity position to make
Speaker 1: some money. Okay, so he made a calculated decision to
Speaker 1: say what you want about Deloy's not dumb. Okay, sure
Speaker 1: as far as his business actionment goes.
Speaker 9: By the way, this is not to take us on attengent,
Speaker 9: but this is this is something like the scenario you
Speaker 9: just laid out is actually not really indifferent from nearly
Speaker 9: every team in every professional sport that where the owner
Speaker 9: has been seemingly pushed out of the league. Like people
Speaker 9: people perceive the owner to have been forced out. They
Speaker 9: almost always make that decision on their own. It's so
Speaker 9: so so difficult to force somebody out in these situations, right,
Speaker 9: It just it almost never happened.
Speaker 2: Don't even know if it ever has happened.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I think that was the narrative, like, oh, no,
Speaker 1: it is That's what I'm saying. Yeah, Yeah, he said
Speaker 1: some things that hurt some people's feelings and MLS said, okay,
Speaker 1: you have to sell the team.
Speaker 2: That's not how it went down.
Speaker 1: And I sat with him before he decided to do
Speaker 1: it because we were talking about some other things.
Speaker 2: He walked me through the process. Totally understood.
Speaker 1: You know, was again in a position to make some
Speaker 1: money and he has gone on to do some other
Speaker 1: things with his life as opposed to dealing with, you know,
Speaker 1: owning a soccer team, which comes with its own headaches, ye,
Speaker 1: which I am uniquely familiar with.
Speaker 2: Sure, But how was.
Speaker 1: That situation digested by the front office of the club
Speaker 1: when all that went down, and when you realized that
Speaker 1: there was going to be an ownership transition and for
Speaker 1: a moment in time you were going to report to
Speaker 1: the league because they were going to operate the team
Speaker 1: while Deloy found a buyer.
Speaker 2: What was that like for you because gave shot.
Speaker 9: Yeah, certainly, and and look to take a step back
Speaker 9: on the on the Deloye side of this. I mean,
Speaker 9: I am not like, I'm not defending the things that
Speaker 9: you know that Deloy said.
Speaker 2: I'm not.
Speaker 9: I they weren't they weren't things that that can be said.
Speaker 9: But I also kind of, like you alluded to, you
Speaker 9: understood where he.
Speaker 2: Was coming from.
Speaker 9: It's it's I I'm not saying I understood where he
Speaker 9: was coming from. But I think Deloy. I think Deloy
Speaker 9: was a very complex Uh He's a very complex person.
Speaker 9: And I think, you know, he said things that I
Speaker 9: have no I've never spoken to him about it. I
Speaker 9: don't know if he would, you know, I don't know
Speaker 9: what he would say about what he said at this point.
Speaker 9: But again, things that that, yeah, you can't say and
Speaker 9: shouldn't have been said. But I also think that there
Speaker 9: were you know, he he wanted to do right by
Speaker 9: people at you know.
Speaker 2: A lot of the time.
Speaker 9: I mean, he he he did a lot of hard
Speaker 9: work for a lot of people, and so it's it
Speaker 9: is a complex situation. So I I that was a
Speaker 9: wild That mean, that dynamic in and of itself was
Speaker 9: was kind of wild. And and to your point, having
Speaker 9: been given a chance by Deloy and all of those things,
Speaker 9: and you know, so obviously I had I had a
Speaker 9: relationship with Deloy. The that said, I mean, it was
Speaker 9: the wildest time I can remember in my life. I mean,
Speaker 9: it was that that forty eight hours or whatever it was.
Speaker 9: I mean, it was sleepless, it was you know, on
Speaker 9: the phone, constantly talking to people, like trying to trying
Speaker 9: to even get a grasp for like what how to
Speaker 9: handle it, what to do? I mean, it's just such
Speaker 9: a unique situation that there's no preparing you for that.
Speaker 9: There's you know, the kind of the firestorm of it all.
Speaker 9: And uh, it was, it was a it was a
Speaker 9: wild experience. I don't I don't even I don't know
Speaker 9: how else to say it. I It's not something I'd
Speaker 9: never want to go through again. I mean, it was,
Speaker 9: it was emotional, it was challenging. And so yeah, did
Speaker 9: he tell you personally that he was selling.
Speaker 2: Yeah, to get that information, Yeah, he yeah, he did.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 9: There was also and and I don't remember kind of
Speaker 9: sequentially how things happened, but there in addition to you know,
Speaker 9: I had I've probably like I probably had one conversation
Speaker 9: with Deloye after the you know, that day. But it
Speaker 9: was a conversation where he you know, kind of walked
Speaker 9: me through what was happening. And then there was also
Speaker 9: the league was stepping in, so the league was also
Speaker 9: kind of giving us information and that's when John Kimball
Speaker 9: came in, and so getting information from John. So I
Speaker 9: don't remember kind of which, Yeah, I don't remember what
Speaker 9: order it happened in, but you know I heard it
Speaker 9: from from all those sides.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Deloitte compartmentalized in a very interesting way.
Speaker 2: I mean when he was done, he was done.
Speaker 1: You know, he's at my time and now it's time
Speaker 1: for somebody else and I'm going to go on and
Speaker 1: do some other things of my life, which he's done.
Speaker 1: So then you're reporting to the league prior to the
Speaker 1: official transition, what was who were you talking to and
Speaker 1: when you went to make a decision?
Speaker 2: How did that mechanism work? We weren't really talking to anybody.
Speaker 2: You were just doing your thing.
Speaker 9: Well, I mean the edict was this, eventually, here's you know,
Speaker 9: here's your budget. Your budget is it was basically, here,
Speaker 9: your budget is what it was. We're not changing things. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 9: it was yeah, if there's a major decision that needs
Speaker 9: to be made, like we want to be clued in.
Speaker 2: And that was.
Speaker 9: More or less directly like with the Commissioner's office. It
Speaker 9: wasn't with you know, down himself, but with his office,
Speaker 9: and you know he works very closely so for me,
Speaker 9: like on the player side, you know.
Speaker 7: The.
Speaker 9: Todd Durban who runs the player side of of MLS.
Speaker 9: I had a few conversations with Todd here and there,
Speaker 9: but again it wasn't they were they were great, and
Speaker 9: they they let us do our thing.
Speaker 2: They did, let.
Speaker 9: Us just execute and in in some ways it was
Speaker 9: the most rewarding time I had there because and this
Speaker 9: isn't I really I don't really mean this as a
Speaker 9: shot at any any of the ownership situations that we had,
Speaker 9: but it was the one where we it was okay,
Speaker 9: go ahead, do your thing. Like you guys have a plan,
Speaker 9: you have a process, go ahead, execute the plan in
Speaker 9: the process, and you know, we'll let you know if
Speaker 9: anything's going to change.
Speaker 2: And that's what we did.
Speaker 9: And if you remember, you know, we made a run
Speaker 9: to the conference finals so you know, and there were
Speaker 9: ups and downs. I don't I'm not pretending that it was,
Speaker 9: you know, the easiest thing ever, but it was. It
Speaker 9: was rewarding then to have those successes and that was
Speaker 9: a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: Had to be a little bit liberating, not to be
Speaker 1: micromanaged too. But right, maybe like you have a little freedom.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, no question about it. I think I
Speaker 9: think I learned a lot from that time. I'm you know,
Speaker 9: about what it takes to successfully lead as well. And
Speaker 9: to your point, it is in a lot of cases
Speaker 9: to step away and to say I hired you. I
Speaker 9: hired you to do this job. Go do the job
Speaker 9: and let me know if you need anything. I don't
Speaker 9: need you to tell me every step of the way.
Speaker 9: Obviously as things go, I want to just know what's happening.
Speaker 9: But I don't, you know, And I think that is
Speaker 9: how really successful organizations in any in sports, in business,
Speaker 9: in anything, are built. That's that's that's how you you know,
Speaker 9: that's true leadership to me, So I learned a lot
Speaker 9: about it.
Speaker 1: I learned a lot, all right. I thought we might
Speaker 1: get long winded, so we got a couple of minutes here.
Speaker 1: So it's a couple of different things. It goes fast
Speaker 1: when you're talking about interesting things. So let's move over
Speaker 1: to the space of the club that you built, and
Speaker 1: it's interesting.
Speaker 2: Soccer fans are just miserable people. They just are.
Speaker 1: And you know, I think you took a lot of
Speaker 1: flak from people that wondered if you were just a lackey.
Speaker 2: I wondered if you were up to the task.
Speaker 1: And I know you're not like actively on social media,
Speaker 1: but in acdotally you and I went to watch an
Speaker 1: RSL game a couple of years back after after you
Speaker 1: were let go, and we went into beer bar and
Speaker 1: they started booing, and I wondered if they were booing
Speaker 1: you when we walked in. It turns out they were
Speaker 1: booing the game. But I'm like, wait, did they say yeah?
Speaker 1: I honestly thought they were booing you. But you took
Speaker 1: a lot of flat during the course of the roster construct.
Speaker 1: But really what it culminated in is and best laid
Speaker 1: plans aside, because sports is so fickle. For a moment
Speaker 1: in time, you may have built the best team we
Speaker 1: had here, and I truly believe that to be true.
Speaker 1: And I can remember when I heard about the chee
Speaker 1: cho stuff, and I went, damn it, Like I had
Speaker 1: this gut feeling that this could derail it, like derail everything, and.
Speaker 2: In retrospect, it kind of did, right.
Speaker 1: And obviously that's nothing that you could control or new ownership.
Speaker 1: Dave Blitzer, Scott Chrace, Ryan Smith, nobody was able to
Speaker 1: control the mitigating circumstances. But what was it like to
Speaker 1: build that team that last year for a moment in time,
Speaker 1: certainly the most entertaining soccer we've seen here and had
Speaker 1: a chance to be really really special if things just
Speaker 1: would have kind of stayed clean.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, honestly, it's a really kind of complex
Speaker 9: set of emotions because on the one hand, it's rewarding
Speaker 9: to look at it and say, yeah, like, look at
Speaker 9: the decisions we made. And while I was there, I
Speaker 9: think we were able to You don't get every decision right,
Speaker 9: there's no there's no chance, of course, but I think
Speaker 9: we were able to, you know, to hit for a
Speaker 9: really good average and and put ourselves in a position where,
Speaker 9: you know, we got a few major decisions right, and
Speaker 9: and it felt like it was starting to snowball, and then,
Speaker 9: you know, to your point, especially at the beginning of
Speaker 9: the last year. It was looking really good. But there's
Speaker 9: the flip side of that, which was, yeah, but I
Speaker 9: didn't get to be there for for a part of that.
Speaker 9: I mean, I was there for part of it. It's
Speaker 9: not that I didn't get to experience any of it,
Speaker 9: but I didn't get to be there for for a
Speaker 9: part of it. And and that was you know that
Speaker 9: it's kind of hard, but it's also sports miss the
Speaker 9: way it is, it's it's fine.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it was.
Speaker 9: It was complex, but it was I I'm proud of
Speaker 9: what we did while I was there, and and I
Speaker 9: don't have too many regrets. I don't have, you know,
Speaker 9: I'm not. I'm not bitter about it. I had I
Speaker 9: had great experiences. I had a lot of good times.
Speaker 9: And you know that chapter is basically over.
Speaker 1: Do you have any regrets about the Chia show stuff,
Speaker 1: because the interesting part of it is there there was
Speaker 1: some baggage there, right, I mean, in fairness, there was
Speaker 1: some baggage there. But when he was dialed in, when
Speaker 1: he was when he was fit, when he was committed,
Speaker 1: when he was doing cheat show things, you can the
Speaker 1: talent is so obvious. So two part questions, do you
Speaker 1: have any regrets about the chea show thing? And where
Speaker 1: were you when you heard the suspension was coming? And
Speaker 1: did you feel the same way I did, like this
Speaker 1: could be a really ominous thing.
Speaker 9: Do I have any regrets? Well, I'll answer the other
Speaker 9: question first, because that's a little more start forward.
Speaker 2: I don't. Actually I don't remember where I was.
Speaker 9: You know, it's you know how sports are, like it's
Speaker 9: all fickle and and you never know what can kind
Speaker 9: of derail things.
Speaker 2: So to be.
Speaker 9: Completely honest, I wasn't paying close enough attention or dialed
Speaker 9: in enough too, you know, and I didn't. I still
Speaker 9: don't really know what happened, Like I don't, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 9: I just know kind of what has has come out publicly,
Speaker 9: and so I you know, I would be lying if
Speaker 9: I told you I knew why. I had a really
Speaker 9: great feeling about what was going to happen. Either way,
Speaker 9: as for regrets, like no, I don't have regrets. I mean, look,
Speaker 9: you say there was baggage. I don't even kind of
Speaker 9: don't even know what baggage you're referring to. Like when
Speaker 9: we did background checks, when like he was fine, like
Speaker 9: you talked to he talk to LAFC guys.
Speaker 2: Like they adored him.
Speaker 9: There were locker room issues, there weren't behavioral issues like
Speaker 9: that wasn't that wasn't something that that wasn't something that
Speaker 9: came up really at all. You had conversations with him,
Speaker 9: he was engaged. Yeah, he's a personality, sure, and a
Speaker 9: lot of guys are and you know, respectfully, like that's
Speaker 9: where that the league is headed. Like as you get better,
Speaker 9: you deal with bigger personalities. Like that's that's the nature
Speaker 9: of sports, you know, when when you don't have the
Speaker 9: top guys, you also don't have the top egos and
Speaker 9: you don't have the top you know, personalities.
Speaker 2: So yeah, no, I don't have regrets. I mean I don't.
Speaker 9: You're never gonna get everything right and like, but I
Speaker 9: look back on it, and I think we we checked
Speaker 9: as many boxes as we could all.
Speaker 1: Right before I said you loose went on this and
Speaker 1: there's a lot of meat on this bone we haven't
Speaker 1: even touched for sure. They elected to kind of break
Speaker 1: it down brick by brick, and I'm sure they have
Speaker 1: their reasons. I think andres was proof of concept. So
Speaker 1: you go get your check. I get it. But you know,
Speaker 1: chi Cho Matt Crooks and oh like, the majority of
Speaker 1: the best attacking players were let go and the majority
Speaker 1: of the money was not reinvested in talent. Now, we
Speaker 1: don't need to get into MLS as a singularity to
Speaker 1: educate our listeners as to what that means.
Speaker 2: So it's not necessarily Yeah, I don't think that has
Speaker 2: anything to do with it. But they did.
Speaker 1: But they elected to break it down and get rid
Speaker 1: of most of the attacking players and in my estimation,
Speaker 1: did not do a good enough job at least to
Speaker 1: this point at bringing in reinforcements.
Speaker 2: We'll see what these new two players are able to bring.
Speaker 1: But there are two points below the line with eight
Speaker 1: matches to play, and it's gonna be tough for them
Speaker 1: even to make the playoffs. So last thing, what do
Speaker 1: you make of where the club finds itself now?
Speaker 9: I you know, yeah, it's I mean, you never it'd
Speaker 9: be hard to say, Oh, you got to feel awesome
Speaker 9: when you're below the line. I'm late in the season.
Speaker 9: I mean, that's always a hard place that we've been there.
Speaker 9: I like, I know how that feels, and you don't
Speaker 9: feel good about it. Kind of to your bigger question, Yeah,
Speaker 9: I think and again, I'm not there.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 9: I don't know all the reasons for the decisions that
Speaker 9: were made. I don't you know, I can speculate just
Speaker 9: like anybody else can. But if I've learned one thing
Speaker 9: when you're like when you work in a front office
Speaker 9: is like from the outside, you have ten percent of
Speaker 9: the information if you're lucky.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So like I don't.
Speaker 9: I don't want to pretend to have information and be
Speaker 9: able to say definitively, oh, this was the wrong thing
Speaker 9: to do, or this was the right thing to do.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 9: Yeah, the Andres one like that makes a lot of sense,
Speaker 9: and it is proof of concept. And if you can,
Speaker 9: you know, four x your investment in eighteen months, it
Speaker 9: is proof of concept and it allows you to go
Speaker 9: back and say, see, this is how we can you know,
Speaker 9: this is how we can make money. That that was
Speaker 9: the whole idea of signing Andres was to invest and
Speaker 9: he you know, before he broke out and then and
Speaker 9: and I think Chicho was a huge part of that
Speaker 9: return because you know, a young guy like Andres who's dynamic,
Speaker 9: has to have a somebody to teach him how to
Speaker 9: be a pro on the field, and somebody to be
Speaker 9: demanding of him on the field, and on top of that,
Speaker 9: somebody to finish the chances that he's going to create.
Speaker 9: And so I think I think that was you know,
Speaker 9: to me, those are the things that that really kind
Speaker 9: of became difficult to replace. And and yeah, I guess
Speaker 9: you know, they haven't been replaced. I think all of
Speaker 9: those individual situations, yeah, in a vacuum, like they probably
Speaker 9: make some sense, but when you look at him on
Speaker 9: the whole, it's, yeah, it's tough because you need to
Speaker 9: then reinvest and you need like Diego has been unbelievable, right,
Speaker 9: Like Diego's great, and you kind of knew when I
Speaker 9: was there we signed Diego, Like you could tell he
Speaker 9: he had something different about him, did you do you
Speaker 9: know he's going to make it? No, but you know
Speaker 9: you knew that, you knew there was something about him.
Speaker 9: So he's he's flourished. But in this league, like you
Speaker 9: you have to keep investing, and you have to keep
Speaker 9: like the one thing I'll say is even the top
Speaker 9: teams across the board almost like it's still a league
Speaker 9: where it's hard to hold on to your best players.
Speaker 9: Like they move around the league, they move, they move
Speaker 9: to Europe. Like, to be really successful year in and
Speaker 9: year out just requires you to be really disciplined in
Speaker 9: your decision making process. And you know, I think for
Speaker 9: any number of reasons, those things can be challenging. I think,
Speaker 9: you know, it always starts at the top. It starts
Speaker 9: with ownership, and it starts with you know, investment, and
Speaker 9: then and then the structure underneath that. And and I'm like,
Speaker 9: I'm not saying any individual part of that or collectively
Speaker 9: it isn't there. I don't I don't know. I'm not
Speaker 9: in the building. And like obviously it's a new ownership.
Speaker 9: I don't even know the new owners right, it's you know,
Speaker 9: it's it's a it's a totally different place than when
Speaker 9: I left it.
Speaker 1: Yep, there's no doubt. Look, there's a lot more we
Speaker 1: could do, and we'll do it soon. So thanks for
Speaker 1: the time, man, be good with chat. Thank you, Elliott Fall,
Speaker 1: former RSL general manager. We'll bringing Ryan from the Dish
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Speaker 1: Show wrapping it up for a Monday edition. Going to
Speaker 1: be back on air after a little time off. Great
Speaker 1: time of year, a little bit of everything going on
Speaker 1: of course, high speed out of college football. Monday Night
Speaker 1: Football tonight is the Bengals and the Commanders, and then
Speaker 1: week zero will start on Saturday with the big game
Speaker 1: over in Dublin between Iowa State and k State. So
Speaker 1: a lot of football on the show college football as
Speaker 1: we move most of our coverage over to that space
Speaker 1: in the coming weeks and months.
Speaker 2: Poor to have a confession to make. Are you ready
Speaker 2: for it?
Speaker 3: I am open to confessions.
Speaker 1: So I will disappoint some of my friends in the market.
Speaker 1: I will disappoint some of my golf fan friends. Over
Speaker 1: the weekend in Indianapolis, I had the opportunity to attend
Speaker 1: a live golf event and you broke a club there too,
Speaker 1: I did not break a club. I still okay, this
Speaker 1: is actually good news. We are in essentially late August
Speaker 1: and I've not broken a.
Speaker 2: Golf club this year.
Speaker 3: That's pretty good clubs.
Speaker 2: The over one hundred, I did not say.
Speaker 1: I have not thrown, and certainly over the weekend there
Speaker 1: may have been a couple of chucks because I thought
Speaker 1: I was going low and I very much did not.
Speaker 1: But no breaks over under was set at one point five.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give myself one club break this year, but
Speaker 1: I've not broken a club. But I'm a PGA tour guy.
Speaker 1: But the CEO of Live Golf is a guy named
Speaker 1: Scott O'Neil. Scott is a member of the LDS Church.
Speaker 1: My family knows him. He worked at Madison Square Garden
Speaker 1: and we reached out because we happened to be in
Speaker 1: Indianapolis and said, hey, can you help us out getting
Speaker 1: and he hooked us up with like the best access.
Speaker 1: So I'm not a live goolf guy, never will be.
Speaker 1: But saw Brooks, Kepka, Saw Bryson, Deshambeau, John and Rahm.
Speaker 1: They've got some really good players and I am one
Speaker 1: that is very rarely. Starstruck by celebrities does not happen
Speaker 1: very often. Did you ever get starstruck by any celebrity?
Speaker 1: Is there there have been a time where you saw
Speaker 1: someone and you're like, oh, my gosh, that is that person.
Speaker 4: Jordan is one that puts off a little bit of
Speaker 4: an aura, right. I was around him enough that it
Speaker 4: kind of faded off because he was kind of mean
Speaker 4: to people. It's around, but not really outside of that,
Speaker 4: especially not athletes. But when it comes to like maybe
Speaker 4: a musician, right, Like I had the chance to say
Speaker 4: one sentence to Willie Nelson and that was one of
Speaker 4: the standouts of my entire life. So yeah, maybe that
Speaker 4: maybe that, Like if I were ever to meet if
Speaker 4: I were able to meet a Johnny Cash, that would
Speaker 4: have been that would have been one of those moments.
Speaker 4: But yeah, maybe there's something to that as well, folks
Speaker 4: that aren't here anymore.
Speaker 1: So we were sitting in they called the whole fifty
Speaker 1: four to ten. It's the final hole of the tournament,
Speaker 1: and you're there in the tent and it's a bunch
Speaker 1: of like VIPs and we're sitting there watching the golf
Speaker 1: and I turn around and I look over my shoulder,
Speaker 1: and I turned to my son, I say, I think
Speaker 1: that's Lauren Hill. Okay, who's one of my favorite hip
Speaker 1: hop artists of all time. The Miseducation mis Education of
Speaker 1: Lauren Hill. She was with the Fujis, and I didn't
Speaker 1: know what to do. I was like frozen. Now, as
Speaker 1: the story goes, Lauryn Hill left the music business because
Speaker 1: she didn't like being famous, got a little trouble some taxes.
Speaker 2: Our girl had to spend a lot of time in
Speaker 2: the pen. Life goes on.
Speaker 1: But I'd say to Connor, I'm like, you've got to
Speaker 1: go around the other side and look behind me to
Speaker 1: make sure that's her, And if it is, you got
Speaker 1: to take a picture. Because she was literally standing three
Speaker 1: feet over my left shoulder. So Connor walks down and
Speaker 1: sees that it's her.
Speaker 2: It is.
Speaker 1: Lauryn Hill takes a picture, and the picture I have
Speaker 1: honestly looks like we took it together. But I did
Speaker 1: not have it inside of me to ask her to
Speaker 1: take a picture or say hello. It was maybe the
Speaker 1: first time in a long time that I was legitimately
Speaker 1: starstruck that Lauren Hill had a golf tournament of all
Speaker 1: people Lauren Hill is standing there and I didn't know
Speaker 1: what to do.
Speaker 2: I stopped in my tracks.
Speaker 4: That actually is a good one, and it's funny I
Speaker 4: mentioned Michael because there's something about like nineties culture where
Speaker 4: there's a little mystique there. It's not the access you get.
Speaker 4: Like for me, it wouldn't starstruck me to see Lebron
Speaker 4: because I number one, we've seen him in person and
Speaker 4: a bunch covering the jazz, but also because we know him,
Speaker 4: we see everything he does, We see every Instagram thing,
Speaker 4: we see all of it. Chris, Paul Russell, all these
Speaker 4: guys we know kind of there's a mistique about the
Speaker 4: Michael Jordan's obviously two POC guys that are not here anymore.
Speaker 4: And Laura Hill along those lines, someone who had some
Speaker 4: issues with the law. You know, she's got a little
Speaker 4: bit of that mystique.
Speaker 2: I think.
Speaker 4: So I'm actually with you on that one. That one
Speaker 4: would give me a little starstruck.
Speaker 2: Two.
Speaker 1: Yeah, such a talent and at a golf tournament of
Speaker 1: all things. And the wildest part is she was close
Speaker 1: enough that I could hear what she was saying. I
Speaker 1: don't know if she plays, but she like knows golf.
Speaker 4: Oh interesting, she was talking about like she's at that event,
Speaker 4: she probably plays a little or.
Speaker 2: I assume they like Peter or something.
Speaker 1: But she was like, okay, John rom he's like one
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy five yards out. This must be like
Speaker 1: a pitching wedge fan.
Speaker 2: I'm like, wait, Lauren Hill is like breaking down the
Speaker 2: game of golf. It was. It was pretty wild.
Speaker 1: So I did commit a cardinal sin for my friends
Speaker 1: that loved the PGA Tour. I actually went to a
Speaker 1: live golf event over the weekend. It's quite the atmosphere,
Speaker 1: a lot of loud music, a lot of people having
Speaker 1: a good time. They have a party hole as they
Speaker 1: call it. So yeah, I had that opportunity over the weekend.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get out of here for a Monday
Speaker 1: afternoon fun show today. Good to be back on air.
Speaker 1: Thank you guys for making us a part of your day.
Speaker 1: Today port what comes our way on a Tuesday edition
Speaker 1: of the show.
Speaker 4: On a Tuesday edition of the show, we'll check in
Speaker 4: with our guy Dave Fox, as we do each and
Speaker 4: every week on the program, Scott Mitchell. On the program tomorrow,
Speaker 4: we'll talk a little NFL with Sean Sayet of Sumer Sports,
Speaker 4: a little RSL action on the show tomorrow, and we'll
Speaker 4: hear from coach Witt after practice today, so we'll we'll
Speaker 4: have some sound to play.
Speaker 1: There you go, Week three of Camp Kyle rolls on.
Speaker 1: Only one more week after this and then it's time
Speaker 1: for college football Utah by U and Utstate special. Thank
Speaker 1: you today, Doctor Chris Hill, Bill Riley and Elie Fall
Speaker 1: for the sound you missed from the show today. Go
Speaker 1: to the website which is ESPN seven hundred sports dot com.
Speaker 1: Make sure to download our mobile app and take us
Speaker 1: on the go. That ESPN seven hundred app is available
Speaker 1: in the App Store the Google play Store for free.
Speaker 1: And then, finally, for what we do in our space
Speaker 1: every day for four hours in the afternoon, check out
Speaker 1: the podcast page. It is called The Drive with Spence.
Speaker 1: Check its It's available wherever you get your show. Subscribe,
Speaker 1: rate reviews, say nice things in the comments, give us
Speaker 1: all the stars. It helps reporter I'm spend saying tonight
Speaker 1: and enjoy your Monday evening. We'll talk to you on
Speaker 1: a Tuesday edition of the Drive. As always, you can
Speaker 1: find it right here on ESPN seven hundred ninety to
Speaker 1: ONEFM We are proud to be part of utah's ESPN
Speaker 1: radio network,