Speaker 1: I like Madonna as much as the next guy. Don't
Speaker 1: get me wrong. This might be the Is this the
Speaker 1: first Madonna track we've ever played in the history of
Speaker 1: the show. I'm not sure we've had a single other
Speaker 1: Madonna track.
Speaker 2: That might be a good question. You might be right
Speaker 2: on them.
Speaker 1: I know why you're doing it because our guys hopping on.
Speaker 1: Guy Holliday a long time college football coach, friend of
Speaker 1: the show. But it's been a number of years. Guy,
Speaker 1: how are you, sir? How you been been too long?
Speaker 3: I'm doing great. It's been a long time. How are
Speaker 3: you doing.
Speaker 1: I'm well, let's just get a life update. Of course,
Speaker 1: we know you from your time in our state, both
Speaker 1: with Brigham Young and the University of Utah. Is a
Speaker 1: high level coach. What what's coach Holiday.
Speaker 2: Up to these days?
Speaker 3: Well, I opened up a training facility in Phoenix twenty
Speaker 3: six thousand square feet and we train athletes all the
Speaker 3: way from eight years old up to several professional players.
Speaker 2: Oh good for you.
Speaker 1: So, I guess, as they say, when you actually become
Speaker 1: a coach and you do it a high level, it's hard
Speaker 1: to quit that life. Is that something you always want
Speaker 1: to do? To continue to develop young people and teach
Speaker 1: them about both football and life.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I did, I do, I still do.
Speaker 3: I had an opportunity to get back into the college games,
Speaker 3: several opportunities that just you know, and that and that game.
Speaker 3: It's all about who you work with, and then it's
Speaker 3: it's uh, it's maddening. Right now. I'm having a hard
Speaker 3: time wrapping my head around exactly all that goes on
Speaker 3: in college football world.
Speaker 1: And there's a lot that's going on in the college
Speaker 1: football world. Coach, and I do want to get your
Speaker 1: take on as much of as we can over the
Speaker 1: minutes that we have with you. And I want to
Speaker 1: start with the news that a guy you know really
Speaker 1: well in Kyle Whittingham, will be back on the sidelines
Speaker 1: for the University of Utah for a year twenty one.
Speaker 1: A lot of rumors about whether or not coach Wit
Speaker 1: would set aside as you know guy, but he has
Speaker 1: decided to come back.
Speaker 2: What do you make of coach went back on the sideline.
Speaker 3: Well, I still have Wit and I probably talked once
Speaker 3: a month, so it wasn't it wasn't a surprise to me.
Speaker 3: I think if you know coach and know his personality,
Speaker 3: I think, you know, and I obviously he didn't tell
Speaker 3: me this or I didn't hear this from anybody, but
Speaker 3: watching that, I watched him here at the Arizona State,
Speaker 3: got a chance to spend some time with him when
Speaker 3: he was here. And man, when I watched the BYU game,
Speaker 3: and you know, to turnout of the game, I never,
Speaker 3: for once start Kyle Whittingham wouldn't retire. And then watching
Speaker 3: even the Colorado game, the double reverse for the touchdown
Speaker 3: and the closing minutes. So there's no way which wanted
Speaker 3: to go out like this. You know, I just know
Speaker 3: him the competitor, the fearst competitor he is, and I
Speaker 3: just he's accomplished too much to let his last year
Speaker 3: and legacy be affected by that, in my opinion.
Speaker 1: And I'm with you there, and you know a lot
Speaker 1: of people last offseason, Guy kind of surmised that if
Speaker 1: Utah football had the year that we all thought that
Speaker 1: they were going to have. I certainly did, and they
Speaker 1: certainly did too, maybe that would be enough for Kyle
Speaker 1: to hand the program over to Morgan. But of course
Speaker 1: it didn't work out this year the way any of
Speaker 1: us thought that Losing the streak is something we haven't
Speaker 1: seen around here in a long long time. So I
Speaker 1: would be remiss if I didn't take the opportunity to
Speaker 1: have you on the show to ask you. You know,
Speaker 1: of course there are the injuries number one to your quarterback,
Speaker 1: which you can't have. But what do you make of
Speaker 1: a season this year in the Big twelve for Utah
Speaker 1: football that not many people, if anybody, guys saw coming?
Speaker 3: Wow, things that happened. I think, you know, I've been
Speaker 3: in locker rooms as a player and as a coach,
Speaker 3: and I think one of one of the tough things
Speaker 3: about managing the whole pay to play situation and whatever
Speaker 3: you want to call it, revenue reimbursement, I could care less,
Speaker 3: but I think one of the toughest things about that
Speaker 3: is when players are getting paid and they aren't performing,
Speaker 3: whether it's injury, whether it's they aren't holding up there
Speaker 3: into the bargain and other players, you know, and even
Speaker 3: in the NFL, you can sense this. When when you
Speaker 3: aren't holding up your in it affects the locker room.
Speaker 3: And so I do think Cam getting injured affected their
Speaker 3: locker room. I think, you know, there's other players who
Speaker 3: were connected to Cam who were dependent on Cam, because
Speaker 3: today kids with so many people in their ear every
Speaker 3: time something like that happens. Yes, it affects the team,
Speaker 3: but now it's affecting them individually, you know, as far
Speaker 3: as having the ability as everybody is saying to get
Speaker 3: the bag or you know whatever, whatever those things are.
Speaker 3: Now it's affecting. It's affecting the programs on deeper levels.
Speaker 3: And then when you factor in you know, yeah, the
Speaker 3: transfer portal is great. I mean, we can go back
Speaker 3: and forth about is it positive, is it negatives, that's irrelevant.
Speaker 3: It's how you manage it. And so at this point
Speaker 3: you got to make sure it's not just a print.
Speaker 3: It's about getting right people in because talent will cause
Speaker 3: an overlook of a fact that include team chemistry, work ethic,
Speaker 3: and things of that nature that affect team chemistry, and
Speaker 3: just the over attitude of the player because now you're
Speaker 3: looking at players strictly for that monetary value, and when
Speaker 3: you're looking at monetary value, you're looking strictly at their output,
Speaker 3: and so that affects your team chemistry. And I think
Speaker 3: all of those things play play the role. And I
Speaker 3: think Cam getting hurt, I think when you now in
Speaker 3: the middle of it. I think the team, you know,
Speaker 3: went down the same path like the fans. Oh no,
Speaker 3: here we go again, and that that takes this toll.
Speaker 3: And now that you have the media and easily able
Speaker 3: to communicate with players, and players read social media consistently
Speaker 3: for the most part, all of those things bleed out
Speaker 3: into your program. And and you know, let's let's be honest.
Speaker 3: Utah's mantra was one of the reasons why I embraced
Speaker 3: it so much. We don't become you, you become us.
Speaker 3: It was, in my opinion, built the same way that
Speaker 3: the squad, well, my school, we sc it was built
Speaker 3: that way on toughness. And you know, it's just hard
Speaker 3: to maintain that and develop players. When the moment you
Speaker 3: develop a player, you got to pay to keep them.
Speaker 3: So all of those things are going to play a part.
Speaker 3: And let's be honest. Now, you got to be able
Speaker 3: to manage a roster that turns over thirty percent every year.
Speaker 3: Every year, you got to be able to manage that
Speaker 3: and it may turnover as much as forty to fifty percent.
Speaker 3: And no other level of sports do you encounter that,
Speaker 3: not even the NFL. Are you turning your roster thirty
Speaker 3: to forty percent.
Speaker 1: Every year, and it can't be sustained. Guy, it can't.
Speaker 1: And it's not the coach's fault. It's not the player's fault,
Speaker 1: it's not the administrator's fault. The blame is squarely on
Speaker 1: the NCAA who was thrown out of the Supreme Court
Speaker 1: four years ago and was told that they are a
Speaker 1: serial anti trust violator and they had to figure out
Speaker 1: a new model, and they just never did. But this
Speaker 1: is what we're left with, Guy, This model now, where
Speaker 1: the transfer portal is open during the season, it can't last.
Speaker 1: This is an unsustainable model where, to your point, you
Speaker 1: have to rebuild every year. In pro sports, the tough
Speaker 1: reality of a rebuild will manifest itself. But if you're
Speaker 1: doing your business right, that's once every decade or something.
Speaker 1: In college sports, in college football, it's being rebuilt every
Speaker 1: single year. Do you foresee any other route other than
Speaker 1: simply leaning into the pro model where players sign contract,
Speaker 1: they unionize, they collectively bargain, and therefore they sign multi
Speaker 1: year deals so they stay on campus and they get
Speaker 1: paid as if their employees. I know that school administrators
Speaker 1: don't want that, but it feels like coaches and players
Speaker 1: would kind of welcome it because it leads to it
Speaker 1: provides some guidance and some guardrails.
Speaker 3: I don't see another way. I just don't know how
Speaker 3: you do it. I just I think something has to
Speaker 3: be done, and I think you're right on point. But
Speaker 3: then you have to collectively bargain. Then you have to
Speaker 3: declare them what they are. At this point, they are professionals.
Speaker 3: You can't tell me any different. When you receive money
Speaker 3: to play, you're a professional athlete. I think we all
Speaker 3: will agree with that, and so, yeah, I do I
Speaker 3: see another way. I don't. You can't go on like this.
Speaker 3: You can't just randomly have there's no salary cap. So
Speaker 3: let's be honest right now. If you're an SEC, you're
Speaker 3: at a huge advantage with revenue sharing because your television
Speaker 3: contract is bigger than everybody else's, so your revenue stream
Speaker 3: is higher. And so those are the things that I
Speaker 3: don't think the looked at. I know everybody begged for
Speaker 3: the college football playoffs, and I think that's great, But
Speaker 3: now you guys, we're looking at a team playing January twentieth,
Speaker 3: and now we're going to turn around and ask those
Speaker 3: kids to be ready for springball come March and have
Speaker 3: more contact. Well, I played the game, so I know
Speaker 3: your body only has with so many hits in it,
Speaker 3: and I had thirteen surgeries, and so I know what
Speaker 3: your body eventually breaks down. No, I don't think what
Speaker 3: we're doing is sustainable, but you have to manage it
Speaker 3: as is. You can't sit around and cry about it.
Speaker 3: You got to understand that, Okay, I'm losing forty percent
Speaker 3: of my team. I've got to be well versed in
Speaker 3: the portal and who's coming out so that I know
Speaker 3: who's going to replace XYZ with equal or better than talent.
Speaker 3: That's the critical part. And and he has to have
Speaker 3: character and be able to mess into a team. And
Speaker 3: then I have to sit back and look at and say,
Speaker 3: next year, I may be looking for this player all
Speaker 3: over again.
Speaker 1: Yeah not Yeah, it's simply just yeah, guy, it's not sustainable.
Speaker 1: It can't last like this and the NCUBA. It's amazing, really, guy,
Speaker 1: it's the power of college football that the sports and
Speaker 1: the product continues to receive the love and attention that
Speaker 1: it does when the business has been so poorly run.
Speaker 2: Because part of leadership is seeing around corners.
Speaker 1: What the NCAA has shown is that they cannot do that,
Speaker 1: so therefore they react when they realize something is broken,
Speaker 1: And this time around, what they're realizing is broken is
Speaker 1: leaving the transfer portal open during the actual season. Can
Speaker 1: you imagine guy being a coach for one of the
Speaker 1: twelve teams left playing for the National Championship, trying to
Speaker 1: practice to prepare for the CFP, and dealing with players
Speaker 1: while you're still in the middle of trying to win
Speaker 1: a national championship, dealing with players telling you they're leaving
Speaker 1: when there are games left to be played. This basic
Speaker 1: fundamental thing has to change as soon as possible.
Speaker 3: Yes, no question. Can you imagine being Penn State right
Speaker 3: now and your number two quarterback is gone. He's gone.
Speaker 3: He's got to do what's best for him. I get that,
Speaker 3: And people say, oh, you got to do what's best
Speaker 3: for the team. Oh no, hell, that's being gone. Like
Speaker 3: we're out of our minds. We need to stop living
Speaker 3: in this fantasy land of nineteen eighty four eighty three.
Speaker 3: When I was in college and you were like, I'm
Speaker 3: gonna do what's best for the team, I wouldn't win
Speaker 3: the National championship. All that's out the window. Right now,
Speaker 3: and the whole focus is I'm going to take care
Speaker 3: of me and my family, and the only chance that
Speaker 3: I have is to be on the field so I
Speaker 3: can get more money. And no I can imagine in
Speaker 3: January practicing and then coming off of that field preparing
Speaker 3: for a college football playoff game, knowing what's the state,
Speaker 3: and have to go right in and look at portal
Speaker 3: films because that's what they got to do. So and
Speaker 3: then they have to be because you cannot be unprepared
Speaker 3: and not be able to fill that position. And let's
Speaker 3: be honest, you can't bring a kid in in August
Speaker 3: and think he's going to be up to speed on
Speaker 3: your particularly offense. Like I don't think people realize how
Speaker 3: difficult that is. When when Witch said we need to
Speaker 3: pay a a plug and play offense, I don't think
Speaker 3: people understand what that means. It means Andy Luvewood's offense
Speaker 3: was the West Coast offense. I grew up in it.
Speaker 3: Love it. It is so technical, It is so detailed
Speaker 3: that any mistake can throw off the details. And you
Speaker 3: know in the past game you any mistake in that
Speaker 3: can really just screw up the whole play. Well, now
Speaker 3: you have to be more simplistic because your turnover pieces
Speaker 3: are high. Just saying, if you don't get that kid
Speaker 3: in there by the spring, you better get Sometimes your
Speaker 3: best players are going to be showing up July first,
Speaker 3: and that sucker better be up to speed to play
Speaker 3: or you're out looking for a job. That's the reality
Speaker 3: of it. That's the cold reality of it. So if
Speaker 3: your system takes time to learn, and if you look
Speaker 3: in the NFL and people pro teams that run the
Speaker 3: West Coast system, it takes you time. You look at
Speaker 3: worthy with the Kansas City Chiefs, the receiver, it's going
Speaker 3: to take him a minute to where that speed actually
Speaker 3: matters because he's got to study that offense is not
Speaker 3: like so sid implistic. You can walk in and look
Speaker 3: at the book one time a week. No, you got
Speaker 3: to study that book every day, every single day. And
Speaker 3: if you can't get an NFL player to do it
Speaker 3: and up the speed when they have nothing else to do,
Speaker 3: there's no way you can get a college kid to
Speaker 3: do it.
Speaker 1: Let me move over and we are catching up with
Speaker 1: Guy Holliday, longtime college football coach, played in the NFL,
Speaker 1: played college football back in the day, spent time with
Speaker 1: both Utah and BYU on their staff, and you referenced
Speaker 1: Andy Ludwig, who hopefully and should always be remembered for
Speaker 1: what a phenomenal job he did while he was here.
Speaker 1: And I don't know, guy, it feels like the offensive
Speaker 1: coordinator is always the dude who falls on the sort.
Speaker 1: Just feels like he's the guy that takes the brunt
Speaker 1: of the stuff. But Andy, of course exits the program.
Speaker 1: Jason Beck has now been hired as the offensive coordinator.
Speaker 1: I'd be curious to get your take on Utah's new wellc.
Speaker 3: I love him, I worked with him. I watched him
Speaker 3: take Tannermingham at BYU, who and Kristin Stewart both times
Speaker 3: Taysom Hill got hurt. I think at that time we
Speaker 3: were five and zero when Taysom went down the first
Speaker 3: year and he brought Kristin Stewart on walk on, completely
Speaker 3: changed offense. And that was the year we played University
Speaker 3: of Utah in the bowl game, and I think everybody
Speaker 3: remembers that was a shootout. Yeah, it took an amazing
Speaker 3: comeback to make it a close game. But after when
Speaker 3: Jason Beck left by U, Tanne Mangam was never the
Speaker 3: same player. And that speaks volumes about him. He took
Speaker 3: Christen Stewart a walk on that first year and made
Speaker 3: him a player. A walk on made him a player.
Speaker 3: What I know about Jason is he's super he's super smart,
Speaker 3: super intellectual, and his ability to communicate with a quarterback
Speaker 3: is exceptional. It's exceptional in my opinion. He went to Virginia,
Speaker 3: they took a transfer quarterback, he became a player, went
Speaker 3: to Syracuse, made a quarterback a player. What's the first
Speaker 3: thing he does at University of Mexico makes that kid
Speaker 3: a player? Okay, that speaks volumes about him. We can
Speaker 3: go on play calling ability and all that. Let me
Speaker 3: tell you something. Play calling is great when everything is equal,
Speaker 3: but in college football it comes down to players. The
Speaker 3: best players will win games. The best players will win games.
Speaker 3: And I think they've done a really good job hitting
Speaker 3: the road recruiting, and they hired one hell of recruiter
Speaker 3: in marky Atawaia. I'm telling you that guy can recruit.
Speaker 3: I was with him. I love him. He's like a
Speaker 3: brother to me, and I think he'll do a hell
Speaker 3: of a job. And if a kid gets out of
Speaker 3: Hawaii and nothing, come to Utah and Low has done
Speaker 3: a fabulous job. But as much as I love Lewis Poll,
Speaker 3: he is no marquee at the WII and Hawaii, I
Speaker 3: can tell you that. And that guy's a living legend there.
Speaker 2: Very interesting stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know obviously that pipeline is something that
Speaker 1: both Utah and by you and other schools too have
Speaker 1: capitalized on talent. Let me ask you about Jason's quarterback
Speaker 1: who is transferring to Utah coach, and that of course
Speaker 1: is Devin Dampier. And Isaac Wilson announces that he will
Speaker 1: be back on campus too. I don't know what the
Speaker 1: status is of Isaac's health, you have the knee injury,
Speaker 1: but I would imagine the idea is to have those
Speaker 1: two battle it out and maybe some other additions to
Speaker 1: that room as well. But what do you know about
Speaker 1: Devin Dampier and what do you make about the potential
Speaker 1: of what the Utah quarterback position could look like this
Speaker 1: upcoming season.
Speaker 3: Well, he's from here in Arizona and Phoenix, so I
Speaker 3: know a little bit more about him. Let me tell
Speaker 3: you about before we go down, Kyle Whittingham will always
Speaker 3: believe and he made me a firm believer in you
Speaker 3: need a mobile a quarterback that can hurt you with
Speaker 3: his legs. We know Dan Pierre can do that, and
Speaker 3: that's critical. And if you think about it, Tyler Huntley
Speaker 3: hurts you with his legs. Cam Rising when healthy, he
Speaker 3: hurts you with his legs. If you google and look
Speaker 3: at the majority of deep balls completed and deep passes,
Speaker 3: it is mainly done by extending the play because that's
Speaker 3: when coverage breaks down. Okay, So I think that's critical.
Speaker 3: I think Isaac Wilson will prosper under Jason Beck because
Speaker 3: Jason will reach him. Make it simple, and you're going
Speaker 3: to have an offense that does what the kid can do.
Speaker 3: He is a spread offense guy. Sometimes we all get
Speaker 3: caught up and what the you know what this recruits
Speaker 3: rated and so on and so forth. That's irrelevant. If
Speaker 3: he doesn't fit your scheme, you know, that's all irrelevant.
Speaker 3: So I think he fits the scheme and I would
Speaker 3: would not be surprised to see them excel on offense.
Speaker 2: Well, that's some real exciting stuff.
Speaker 1: Last thing, guys, since I set you loose, because I
Speaker 1: have not spoken to you since the announcement was made
Speaker 1: that Morgan Scally once again has been installed as the
Speaker 1: coach in waiting. He had that moniker once upon a
Speaker 1: time and it was taken from him and he was
Speaker 1: asked to do some things and I can't speak to
Speaker 1: that process.
Speaker 2: I was not a part of it.
Speaker 1: Apparently he did what he needed to do and receive
Speaker 1: that promise back. So whenever Guy Kyle has done it
Speaker 1: will be Morgan. Just wanted to get your take on
Speaker 1: that before we set you loose on this Wednesday.
Speaker 3: Morgan's very intellectual, very good defensive mind. We all know
Speaker 3: I think the key and Morgan Morgan is one of
Speaker 3: the smartest people I know. You know the key is
Speaker 3: going to be and he's learning from a great head coach.
Speaker 3: How does he handle all the responsibilities of being the
Speaker 3: head coach because it's not simple anymore, you know. And
Speaker 3: a defensive coordinator and a very good one for so long,
Speaker 3: and now you're adding in you got to handle so
Speaker 3: much more as a head coach, especially with the portal,
Speaker 3: and you got to re recruit your players every year.
Speaker 3: He's going to have to make adjustments to that. Because
Speaker 3: Morgan is a he's a grinder. Now he's a great
Speaker 3: human being and understands people, and so it'll just be held.
Speaker 3: He's got to hold the standard. As Witch says, the
Speaker 3: standard is the standard, and Morgan won't have a problem
Speaker 3: in doing that. And he's just got to figure out
Speaker 3: how to manage the responsibility of college head coach, which
Speaker 3: is so much different than NFL head coach NFL head coach.
Speaker 3: How many of them as staying on the sideline with
Speaker 3: the place she call him plays man, that's hard to
Speaker 3: do in college football. You don't see very many of
Speaker 3: them doing it because they have so many other responsibilities.
Speaker 1: Well, guy, I appreciate the time we miss you up here.
Speaker 1: You're always one of my favorite interviews. If you ever
Speaker 1: want to hop on the show for any reason, please
Speaker 1: reach out and we'll probably bug you again in not
Speaker 1: too long. Okay, Happy holidays, serve you well, Okay.
Speaker 3: I appreciate you all. You all have a happy Holidays,
Speaker 3: Merry Christmas, Happy New Years. I always love Utah, man,
Speaker 3: it's a great place, all right.
Speaker 1: The great guy Holiday spent a number of years with
Speaker 1: both Brigham Young and the University of Utah coaching wide receivers.
Speaker 1: He has now settled down in Arizona, where he continues
Speaker 1: to work with and develop young high school players to
Speaker 1: try to help them go on to college college football.
Speaker 1: Do appreciate guys time, truly. He was kind of like Sharif.
Speaker 1: Anytime he spoke, he wanted to listen to what he
Speaker 1: had to say. He is on Twitter on social media.
Speaker 1: You can get him at Eagle eight eight me Oh Chiladay,
Speaker 1: My god,