Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue and Cider. Dick Gabriel with
Speaker 1: you on a Tuesday edition of our program. Much to
Speaker 1: discuss tonight baseball, football, basketball. We'll hear from some of
Speaker 1: the basketball cats. We'll here from Mark Stoops also got
Speaker 1: to hear in a moment from Vince Merrow. At the
Speaker 1: bottom of the hour, Derek Shay joined us. He is
Speaker 1: a new tight ends coach for the Wildcats. Takes over
Speaker 1: that position group for Vince Merrow. Of course, Merrow was
Speaker 1: the associate head coach. We all know this recruiting coordinator.
Speaker 1: But Derek Shay, he's just going to worry about coaching
Speaker 1: tight ends and recruiting. He's got a really interesting backstory,
Speaker 1: as most of these coaches do. I had a chance
Speaker 1: to chat with him earlier. Today. We're going to talk
Speaker 1: college baseball as we put the show together. Yesterday, I
Speaker 1: was telling you, and many of you know by now
Speaker 1: we have to pre record early in the day. It's
Speaker 1: a long story. But Murray State in Arkansas we're playing
Speaker 1: while I was putting the show together, so I couldn't
Speaker 1: tell you what was happening. Turned out to be the
Speaker 1: no hitter by Arkansas. So Murray State bows out, but
Speaker 1: bows out incredibly, so gracefully, and you can see why
Speaker 1: Omaha and college baseball fans kind of fell in love
Speaker 1: with not just because Murray State was Cinderella, but just
Speaker 1: the way the players and the coach, Dan Skirka conducted himself.
Speaker 1: So we'll hear from them coming up very shortly. As
Speaker 1: I said Derek Shay at the bottom of the hour,
Speaker 1: Buddy Ken Spencer from WHAS formerly WTVQ, in hour number two,
Speaker 1: he'll talk Kentucky football and basketball. Can't of course play
Speaker 1: college football at Morehead States. I'm always interested to hear
Speaker 1: what he has to say his observations about college football.
Speaker 1: And a little bit later on Mark Stoops, who had
Speaker 1: some fun talking on camera with one of his players,
Speaker 1: but we mentioned Vince Merriw. He decided I thought this
Speaker 1: was interesting yesterday afternoon to release via social media a
Speaker 1: statement of his own and he had done a few interviews,
Speaker 1: And I'll be honest with you, I have not attempted
Speaker 1: to get an interview with Vince may simply because and
Speaker 1: it's the cynic in me, but I would love to
Speaker 1: know exactly why. It's the journalist in me. Why did
Speaker 1: he leave? And yeah, it's a great opportunity and Jeff
Speaker 1: Brohm are buddies. The college football landscape has changed. I'm
Speaker 1: sure the way they're doing business at UK has changed,
Speaker 1: and it affected Marrow. It's an offer he didn't want
Speaker 1: to refuse. He's had other offers, but were there underlying
Speaker 1: reasons that he left, And it's it's something that will
Speaker 1: probably never really know for sure, and that's fine. It
Speaker 1: may be none of our business, but just kind of
Speaker 1: dance around the topic, you know. You know, I'm not
Speaker 1: really interested in that, but I'm more interested in how
Speaker 1: it affects the program I cover University of Kentucky, and
Speaker 1: you know, I'll keep an eye on how it affects
Speaker 1: the University of Louisville as well, and if it affects
Speaker 1: UOL in a positive way, that could damage UK's recruiting efforts.
Speaker 1: In a course, they play on the field played, you know,
Speaker 1: they meet each other on the field of battle, as
Speaker 1: they say, so, I think what's more important now not
Speaker 1: as much why did he do it, as what's the effect?
Speaker 1: How will this affect the way Mark Stoops and his
Speaker 1: staff do business in terms of recruiting, in terms of
Speaker 1: developing players and moving forward to try to erase the
Speaker 1: memory of last year's disappointing season. Here's what Merrill had
Speaker 1: to say. This was a message that had nothing to
Speaker 1: do with his new job, but had everything to do
Speaker 1: with how he feels about UK fans. He knows, of course,
Speaker 1: how they feel about his move, but he kind of wanted,
Speaker 1: in his words, to put a bow on things. Maybe
Speaker 1: not a bow, but put a little perspective on it.
Speaker 2: I want to talk to you guys, the Big Blue Nation.
Speaker 2: I really love you guys, and I really really appreciate
Speaker 2: because you guys really helped me built my career with
Speaker 2: your support from when I first came here. I remember
Speaker 2: if Buddy told me why you're going there? You you
Speaker 2: guys are gonna be fired in two years. I was
Speaker 2: the lowest paid coach. I heard all the jokes. I
Speaker 2: wanted to build and bring players in so we can
Speaker 2: win and we can have some pride and dignity. It
Speaker 2: is hard. I'm not gonna even sugarcoat it. It's hard
Speaker 2: because of my loyalty to really you guys, the fans.
Speaker 2: But this is a job opportunity I feel I can
Speaker 2: pass up. I passed up several other ones that people,
Speaker 2: you guys as the fans know. But just like a
Speaker 2: lot of you guys, you got families. A lot of
Speaker 2: you guys had opportunities with different jobs, and you move
Speaker 2: and take it. You doing what's best for your family.
Speaker 2: I'm doing what's best for my career. I really enjoyed
Speaker 2: being here thirteen years with you guys, because you guys
Speaker 2: are a really good fan base to the Big Blue Nation,
Speaker 2: one of the best. I'm pretty sure y'all going to
Speaker 2: Blue when I come back, though, But I really do
Speaker 2: love you guys.
Speaker 1: I have to appreciate the fact that they laid in
Speaker 1: a little bit of music, you know, a little bit
Speaker 1: of dramatic music, kind of soften the blow. Look, a
Speaker 1: lot of you out there will never forgive him, and
Speaker 1: that's fine. That's what college rivalries are all about. That's
Speaker 1: what pro rivalries are all about. You know, Seinfeld did
Speaker 1: a bit on it. You know, you're not rooting for
Speaker 1: the player. He was talking more about the pros because
Speaker 1: one player can get traded, let's say, from the Yankees
Speaker 1: to the Red Sox, and then suddenly you hate them.
Speaker 1: You're rooting for the jersey, You're rooting for the laundry. Well,
Speaker 1: it's a little bit deeper than that with Vince Merrill,
Speaker 1: because he had such a profound effect in a positive
Speaker 1: way on the UK program, helping bring in guys like
Speaker 1: Benny Snell and others who helped carry the Kentucky program
Speaker 1: on a couple of occasions to double digit victories and
Speaker 1: a lot of fun for you and me and the
Speaker 1: media covering Bowl games down in Florida. That's important now
Speaker 1: of late things have said, we know this, but when
Speaker 1: you think about the new levels that Kentucky football has
Speaker 1: reached with Mark Stoops and Vince Merrow recruiting out of
Speaker 1: the state of Ohio out to Michigan, that's formidable and
Speaker 1: it cannot be overlooked. And I know a lot of
Speaker 1: you like to look at the most recent ski season
Speaker 1: and it did not go well. But I also see
Speaker 1: comments out there about how terrible the coach Stoops is.
Speaker 1: He is not. And I actually saw some snide remarks
Speaker 1: about how poor a recruiter a recruiter that Vince Merrow was.
Speaker 1: He's not because lately some kids haven't worked out. But
Speaker 1: that's sports. It's what have you done for me lately?
Speaker 1: So we'll move on. We'll talk to the new tight
Speaker 1: ends coach. At the bottom of the hour. Basketball Cats
Speaker 1: have been talking to us as well, including Colin Chandler
Speaker 1: and Trendoah and Chandler talked about the fact that even
Speaker 1: though there's a lot of moving college basketball, he was
Speaker 1: always coming back to be a Wildcat.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of different aspects to the game of
Speaker 3: basketball right now, and I've always been taught loyalty from
Speaker 3: my dad, but you're also taught to do what's best
Speaker 3: for you and your career, and so I was very
Speaker 3: prayerful about what I'm always thinking about, what is God's
Speaker 3: plan for me? What's the bigger plan for me? And
Speaker 3: I love my time here in Kentucky and through lots
Speaker 3: of prayer, and because you have to, you have to
Speaker 3: figure out what's best for you in your life and
Speaker 3: where you're supposed to be for purposes maybe greater than basketball.
Speaker 1: I believe there's.
Speaker 3: Purposes for for being here that's greater than basketball. But
Speaker 3: I feel and I know that I'm supposed to be here,
Speaker 3: So that was I was pretty sure about that in offseason.
Speaker 1: So, yeah, a lot of players improved under Mark Pope
Speaker 1: last year, but maybe cheap among them. What's Chandler who
Speaker 1: took some minutes from Travis Perry quite frankly at point guard,
Speaker 1: and he might have been one of the biggest reasons
Speaker 1: that Perry decided to transfer. A Chandler shook the rust
Speaker 1: and really helped his team down the stretch. And he
Speaker 1: talked about this coming season and what he's hoping to
Speaker 1: improve upon. But it's going to help. He said that
Speaker 1: he knows the environment so much better.
Speaker 3: I feel like I know my environment a little bit better.
Speaker 3: Is I was coming in a little bit blind last
Speaker 3: year of what to expect from just coming home as
Speaker 3: a missionary is kind of a whirlwind of life changing
Speaker 3: as well as playing basketball for the first time and
Speaker 3: then also playing basketball at extremely high level. I didn't
Speaker 3: really know what to expect how to go about it.
Speaker 3: Whereas I feel like this year off season, I know
Speaker 3: exactly what I'm supposed to be working on. I know
Speaker 3: what I can do. I have a lot of experience
Speaker 3: on the court for what I can do and things
Speaker 3: I can get better, and so I think I have
Speaker 3: a lot better of a vision of what I need
Speaker 3: to do. I think that's the biggest difference.
Speaker 1: Up next, we'll take a look at what's been going
Speaker 1: on out of Omaha. But a note that Oklahoma City
Speaker 1: fought off Indiana last night the Pacers who made a
Speaker 1: run late, but Shay Gilders Alexander was excellent as always.
Speaker 1: His teammate Jalen Williams was even better. He put up
Speaker 1: forty you know one twenty to one oh nine win.
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City is one went away from his first NBA championship.
Speaker 1: Technically when they were the Super Socks they won one
Speaker 1: back in nineteen seventy nine, but for Okasee this would
Speaker 1: be a first. It was tough. They had an eighteen
Speaker 1: point lead. Pacers cut it down to two, but oka
Speaker 1: See hung on and they and the MVP of the league,
Speaker 1: Shay Guilders Alexander the X Wildcat one went away from
Speaker 1: an NBA title and by the way, she had thirty
Speaker 1: one points. Tennissee actually blocked two shots, made a couple
Speaker 1: of big steals down the stretch. I want a couple
Speaker 1: of the Big bloon Sider Bottom of the hour, tight
Speaker 1: Ends coach Derek sha six point thirty wlap Welcome back
Speaker 1: to the Big boon Sider coming up at the bottom
Speaker 1: of the hour. Derek Shae, Kentucky's new tight Ends coach,
Speaker 1: a little bit later on Ken Spencer from w HS
Speaker 1: We'll talk to you kay football and basketball, but we've
Speaker 1: got to look back and tip the BBI cap to
Speaker 1: the Murray State Racers eliminated just as Kentucky was last
Speaker 1: year from the College World Series, although the Racers did
Speaker 1: not get a chance to experience a win, but just
Speaker 1: as Kentucky did last year, maybe even a little more
Speaker 1: so because Murray State was a more of a cinderella
Speaker 1: I think the Kentucky was last year. They really captivated
Speaker 1: the fans out in Omaha. I remember Nick menze Ownes
Speaker 1: sort of at a preliminary press conference in Omaha making
Speaker 1: a plee to fans who maybe didn't have a team
Speaker 1: to root for. He if you want to root for somebody,
Speaker 1: rooted for us, and a lot of people did because
Speaker 1: they liked the way Kentucky played, you know, the combination
Speaker 1: of power baseball and small ball doing whatever it took
Speaker 1: to win well. Murray State came in the greatest season,
Speaker 1: of course, in the history of Racers baseball, the first
Speaker 1: time a four seed came out of a regional since
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine. Played well in its opening loss to UCLA,
Speaker 1: but then yesterday no hit by gage Wood. I mean,
Speaker 1: of all times for a guy to have a historically
Speaker 1: great outing, here's a guy who was injured earlier in
Speaker 1: the year. He missed fifty four days on the injured list,
Speaker 1: and then last night throwed just a third no hitter
Speaker 1: in the history of the men's College World Series, in
Speaker 1: the first in sixty five years. Nineteen strikeouts, that's a record,
Speaker 1: and at one point struck out seven straight racers. Murray
Speaker 1: never came close to getting a base hit hard ground
Speaker 1: ball was about as good as it got, and he
Speaker 1: missed a perfect game by one at bat. He hit
Speaker 1: a guy in the eighth inning. He also hit a
Speaker 1: guy and knowing the seventh and he hit a guy
Speaker 1: in the eighth inning, but they took the Murray State
Speaker 1: hitter off first base called him out for interference, but
Speaker 1: that was a bogus call. The ball hit the guy
Speaker 1: in the right handed batter's box. They said he leaned
Speaker 1: into it. He did not, But anyway, they weren't going
Speaker 1: to get gauge anyhow, they weren't going to get to him.
Speaker 1: He was unbelievable. But after the game, as usual, the
Speaker 1: Murray State players and coach handled themselves so well, it
Speaker 1: was incredibly well And somebody asked the players about the memories,
Speaker 1: and they talked about just it wasn't so much the
Speaker 1: games on the field throughout the tournament. It was being
Speaker 1: together and making it happen. You know what, guys they
Speaker 1: worked with for so long in some instances, And this
Speaker 1: is Carson Garner, the Murray State third baseman, on what
Speaker 1: he's taking away and what he took away from the
Speaker 1: entire season.
Speaker 4: I told somebody the other day, I get to wake
Speaker 4: up every day and go play the game I love
Speaker 4: with my forty best friends.
Speaker 5: So that's what I remember most.
Speaker 1: I love that comment. But if you've been paying attention
Speaker 1: to the Murray State run, it's not surprising. And our man,
Speaker 1: Keith Madison, the Hall of Fame UK coach, was out
Speaker 1: there in home all for a little while, had his
Speaker 1: picture taken with Dan Skirka, tweeted it out. They know it.
Speaker 1: In fact, Keith Madison spoke to the Murray State team
Speaker 1: at Chapel on game day or the day before, so
Speaker 1: he knows Skirka thinks the world of him, and Skirka
Speaker 1: got a little emotional when he started thinking about this
Speaker 1: run made by his team.
Speaker 6: You know, one of my wife's favorite movies is The
Speaker 6: League of Their Own and say there's no crying in baseball, Well,
Speaker 6: you can throw that out the window. There's no way
Speaker 6: I'm making it through this right here. What these guys
Speaker 6: mean to me.
Speaker 7: And my family.
Speaker 1: And watching Skirka speaking. And by the way, again, this
Speaker 1: is a Murray team that beat Kentucky back in March
Speaker 1: five to four. His son Keegan was sitting on his lap,
Speaker 1: and it reminded me last year again at Kentucky being
Speaker 1: there and Nick manngeone through the regional, the Soupers and
Speaker 1: the World Series. He allowed his son Reeves to sit
Speaker 1: at the dais for the press conferences. Reeves actually fielded
Speaker 1: a question or two. During the postseason. He had his
Speaker 1: own placard up there with his name on it, and
Speaker 1: the Murray State player was so cool. And I've seen
Speaker 1: this before at basketball tournaments, but the official placard with
Speaker 1: their name with the emblem on it College World Series.
Speaker 1: When the Murray State players got up and left, they
Speaker 1: took the placards with them, and good for them. What
Speaker 1: a great souvenir, you know, So you can understand why
Speaker 1: fans really adopted the Racers and skirt Could talked about
Speaker 1: the effect his kids have had on college baseball.
Speaker 6: What these guys have done to inspire people, to inspire
Speaker 6: kids to play baseball, to inspire families to watch together,
Speaker 6: to inspire families to come here and visit and be
Speaker 6: a part of it. That's what's so special about this
Speaker 6: and it's amazing. I mean, it truly is amazing.
Speaker 1: Skirk had talked about the fact that one of his
Speaker 1: players said, don't be sad that it's over, be happy
Speaker 1: that it happened. They weren't there, They weren't just happy
Speaker 1: to be there. Of course, they wanted to win, but
Speaker 1: the way they just handle themselves was so great. But
Speaker 1: I also love the fact that Skirka tipped his cap
Speaker 1: and shouted out the parents of the Murray State players.
Speaker 6: I mean, the parents traveling all over the place, you know,
Speaker 6: providing for these guys. You know, nobody's on a full
Speaker 6: ride on our team. Nobody's making money on our team,
Speaker 6: and so the parents are sacrificing so much and the
Speaker 6: guys are putting so much into it, man, And to
Speaker 6: see them get to celebrate, you know, you say, into
Speaker 6: the year, only one team's happy. That ain't the case.
Speaker 6: This year, there's definitely more than one because these guys
Speaker 6: just the run they went on, and you're not gonna
Speaker 6: be able to wipe the smile off their face for
Speaker 6: a really long time. And that's why I told them.
Speaker 6: You know, they're gonna they're gonna share this for ages
Speaker 6: and people are gonna ask them about it for ages,
Speaker 6: and that's that's really the cool thing.
Speaker 1: And again, you gotta wonder because right now the money
Speaker 1: isn't there for college baseball. It's still eleven point seven
Speaker 1: scholarships plus whatever you can dig up with nil or grants.
Speaker 1: How many kids and their parents had to pay their
Speaker 1: way to play college baseball this year. It's gonna change
Speaker 1: next year, thank goodness. But again, you got to tip
Speaker 1: your cap to anybody who paid to be there as
Speaker 1: a player, as a parent, and tip your captain the
Speaker 1: Murray State Racers. What a great year. Derek Shay, new
Speaker 1: tight ends coach is up next year on six point
Speaker 1: thirty w l A P. Welcome back to the Big
Speaker 1: Blue and sider Dick Gabriel with you on a Tuesday
Speaker 1: edition of our show. And of course, in the wake
Speaker 1: of the Vince Merrow story comes the news that Derek
Speaker 1: Shay has been promoted. He is the new tight ends coach.
Speaker 1: He has been on staff for a year already more
Speaker 1: than a year now as the senior offensive analyst and
Speaker 1: run game specialist, basically helping Eric Wolford with the offensive line.
Speaker 1: He's got a long and interesting resume which includes stops
Speaker 1: at McNeese State on the one double A level FCS level,
Speaker 1: and right after that he goes to LSU to go
Speaker 1: to grad school and as a GA worked for ed
Speaker 1: Orgeron coaching tight ends and Ojeron had a full staff
Speaker 1: of ten assistants, but he made Shae the tight ends
Speaker 1: coach because he had seen him in action coaching at
Speaker 1: IMG Academy when he was recruiting and he liked the
Speaker 1: way Shae coach, so he added him to his staff
Speaker 1: at LSU, and he went from there to Missouri where
Speaker 1: he worked under Bush Hamdan as a senior offensive analyst,
Speaker 1: and now they've been reunited at UK. I had a
Speaker 1: chance to talk to him earlier today about the talented
Speaker 1: tight ends room, which includes the likes of the veterans
Speaker 1: Josh Katis, who's in his senior year, Willie Rodriguez, just
Speaker 1: a sophomore but played a lot last year. Justin Katis,
Speaker 1: a red shirt freshman. He is a Josh's brother. Henry Boyer,
Speaker 1: the transfer of Illinois's huge six six two sixty five.
Speaker 1: I saw him in the spring. He stands out, no
Speaker 1: question about that. Uh and a freshman six four to twenty
Speaker 1: five Michael Skinner. So it is a talented tight end room,
Speaker 1: and we talked about that among other things.
Speaker 7: It's a really good room. There's a good mix, you know,
Speaker 7: There's there's some older guys with some experience. There's some
Speaker 7: young guys that have talent and potential that we have
Speaker 7: to develop. And so it's an exciting time obviously to
Speaker 7: be the tight end coach here because I get a
Speaker 7: chance to get my hands on him and get a
Speaker 7: chance to develop them and get him better, try to
Speaker 7: get the most out of them. So I'm excited to
Speaker 7: tack about the room.
Speaker 1: Can I give you my theory about why people get
Speaker 1: excited when they throw to the tight ends. Generally a
Speaker 1: tight end play, if it's designed for a tight end,
Speaker 1: or even if it's a you know, second or third option,
Speaker 1: it takes a little longer to develop, and so people
Speaker 1: in the seats get a little antsy. All can the
Speaker 1: quarterback get it off, you gotta get sacked. And then
Speaker 1: when he does, as often as not, it's a tight
Speaker 1: end who's victimizing a linebacker who's not as fast as
Speaker 1: he is, and generally something good happens. Does that make sense?
Speaker 8: Oh?
Speaker 7: I love it. You know, you're exactly right. And that's
Speaker 7: so unique about the position you get. You know, we
Speaker 7: got to do it all. You got to block, you
Speaker 7: got to catch, you got to pass protect. There's not
Speaker 7: many tight ends in the National Football League that don't
Speaker 7: play special teams, right, so you have to get tribat
Speaker 7: on special teams. And so it's a it's became a
Speaker 7: unique position in that you better have some smart guys
Speaker 7: because they've got to know a little bit of everything.
Speaker 7: And you're exactly right, you got to be you got
Speaker 7: to be big enough to block, but you have to
Speaker 7: be athletic enough to stretch the field and and give
Speaker 7: us opportunities to catch the football down the field. And
Speaker 7: and uh yeah, like you said, that's always everywhere, ever been.
Speaker 7: Why are we not thrown at the tight end more?
Speaker 7: We got to give him more catches. That's not just
Speaker 7: unique to to Kentucky, I promise, But but but we do.
Speaker 7: You know, we've got to continue to develop them and
Speaker 7: give them a skill set to allow themselves to get
Speaker 7: open and catch a football and make plays down the field.
Speaker 7: And so that's that's our job is as coaches, and
Speaker 7: that's why I'm looking forward to doing.
Speaker 1: I can't believe Josh Katis is already a senior. Feels
Speaker 1: like he just got there. Uh, but that's a great
Speaker 1: guy to have in terms of experience. And uh, I
Speaker 1: know Willie Rodriguez, I mean, Mark Stews loves all those players,
Speaker 1: but uh, he especially likes Rodriguez because this is one
Speaker 1: physical kid. You talked about special teams. He you know,
Speaker 1: he forced that fumble at Ole Miss. It turned out
Speaker 1: it wasn't wasn't a fumble, but it was kind of
Speaker 1: a window as to what he's all about physically, is
Speaker 1: what was it?
Speaker 3: Not?
Speaker 7: No question the guy again, it's a testament to him.
Speaker 7: He came in as a true freshman and his body
Speaker 7: was physically ready to compete in the Southeastern Conference. And
Speaker 7: that quite frankly, that's what usually holds guys back in
Speaker 7: our league. You know, it's my fifth or sixth year
Speaker 7: in the conference and you look at all these body
Speaker 7: types and you look at these guys. It's not that
Speaker 7: they're not athletic enough, it's not that they don't catch
Speaker 7: the ball well enough. But the reality is that your
Speaker 7: body has to be physically ready to take on the
Speaker 7: battering of an SEC season. And to Willie's credit, you know,
Speaker 7: he came in ready to do so and because of that,
Speaker 7: he was able to get on the field. And you
Speaker 7: know he's got the athletic tools to go with it.
Speaker 7: He can move well in space, he catches the ball fluidly.
Speaker 7: This guy's a good player and I'm excited about him.
Speaker 7: And again, you know, I'm it's a challenge to me
Speaker 7: to get this guy to take a jump from his
Speaker 7: freshman to sophomore year and be a major contributor for
Speaker 7: us and quite frankly, help us win more football games.
Speaker 1: You work with bush hand In in Missouri. This is
Speaker 1: his first opportunity to take advantage of being a Kentucky
Speaker 1: for the full cycle, you know, spring, summerfall. What is
Speaker 1: it about his offense, Derek that that has you excited
Speaker 1: and that should have Kentucky fans excited when it's clicking.
Speaker 7: Yeah, no question. I think the first thing that he's
Speaker 7: you know, stressed continuity within your staff is important in
Speaker 7: this day and aging college football because you know, college
Speaker 7: football right wrong or indifferent is is more transient now
Speaker 7: than ever, you know, with players, coaches and everybody, and
Speaker 7: so when you create continuity on your staff, everybody gets
Speaker 7: on the same page in terms of, hey, when we
Speaker 7: install this play, this is the technique and fundamental we're
Speaker 7: going to use. This is the verbage we're going to use,
Speaker 7: and in the end that filters to the players. And
Speaker 7: so you know, we've got a chance to be better
Speaker 7: from that regard because our running back coach j bowl
Speaker 7: Where is obviously back again. Our offensive line coach Eric Wolford,
Speaker 7: who is as good of an offensive line coach in
Speaker 7: the country, is back game in the second year in
Speaker 7: the offense with Damian Washington, the receiver coach we just
Speaker 7: recently hired, was with Bush previously at Missouri, and then
Speaker 7: obviously I was I've been with hand in hand with
Speaker 7: Bush for for several years. So I think that that
Speaker 7: is our starting point and that it's going to help us,
Speaker 7: you know, on the field in terms of instruction and
Speaker 7: what Bush is looking forward, that that information is going
Speaker 7: to get you know, more fluid to the players and
Speaker 7: in terms of the offense and the scheme. You know that.
Speaker 7: You know, Bush has obviously had success at previous places.
Speaker 7: That's why he's here. And you know, we we've got to,
Speaker 7: you know, put our players in the best position and
Speaker 7: put our schemes in the best position to have success.
Speaker 7: And Bush has done that obviously, not only in the
Speaker 7: passing game, but also in the running game. You know,
Speaker 7: he's had great success at Washington, uh throwing the ball around.
Speaker 7: I obviously ran the heck out of the ball at
Speaker 7: Boise State. And so we've got to put all those
Speaker 7: things together and and obviously put those schemes together and
Speaker 7: go have a better year on offense, playing and simple,
Speaker 7: and we're working every day.
Speaker 2: To do that.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the old line. You have coached offense of
Speaker 1: lineman in your career, not just tight ends. Other people
Speaker 1: forget a tight end is an offensive lineman.
Speaker 6: That's right.
Speaker 1: You guys have worked so hard with recruiting, with a
Speaker 1: portal to make improvements and with the way as you
Speaker 1: know college football is now, it's hard to develop players.
Speaker 1: Hard to develop old lineman as a unit when everybody
Speaker 1: five guys have to work is one. How do you
Speaker 1: feel about what you saw in the spring and what
Speaker 1: do you think we might see in the fall.
Speaker 7: Yeah, well, obviously Kause Wolford did an excellent job of
Speaker 7: bringing in several transfer portal players in January. And because
Speaker 7: of that, you know, the one thing that's important that
Speaker 7: people get lost is especially at the offensive line position,
Speaker 7: Like you're saying, these guys have to work in unison together.
Speaker 7: I mean, five guys have to work in unison. And
Speaker 7: so because we got you know, the majority of those
Speaker 7: guys in January, we've able to you know, have an
Speaker 7: excellent spring with them, an excellent off season of lifting
Speaker 7: and conditioning, and those guys that have worked hand in
Speaker 7: handing together for the past six months and are obviously
Speaker 7: going to continue to do so throughout the season. So
Speaker 7: I think that's an advantage for us, and that these
Speaker 7: guys have been here together and uh, you know, they're
Speaker 7: they're working together day in and day out. And the
Speaker 7: other thing that we've got some older players there, you know,
Speaker 7: which I think is a positive. Again, you know, people
Speaker 7: are starting to study obviously the transfer portal and who
Speaker 7: has had success and in the variety of things, and
Speaker 7: I think what people are starting to find is Uh,
Speaker 7: you know, experience and maturity is important right now in
Speaker 7: college football, you know, and coach Wolf for the excellent
Speaker 7: job with bringing in guys that have played a ton
Speaker 7: of snaps in our older players. And I think that's, uh,
Speaker 7: that's going to help us, I really do. So we're excited,
Speaker 7: really excited about that group.
Speaker 1: We got a chance to talk to a lot of
Speaker 1: those guys even before spring began, when they came in,
Speaker 1: uh during the break, you know, came through the portal.
Speaker 1: I always envisioned people materializing, you know. But one of
Speaker 1: the guys, one of the old linemen, said that a
Speaker 1: great advantage in having the experience you just reference was
Speaker 1: the fact that they don't have to learn drills for
Speaker 1: the most part, they already know how to do it.
Speaker 1: So it's almost like you know, cutting to the front
Speaker 1: of the line. You know, they use obviously, they use
Speaker 1: that experience from and they know how to practice. I
Speaker 1: guess is what I'm saying, that's got to expedite the situation,
Speaker 1: I would think, Am I right?
Speaker 7: No, I think it does for sure. I think, like
Speaker 7: you're saying, the advantage of guys playing a bunch of snaps,
Speaker 7: and not only that, they're emotionally mature, which I think, yeah,
Speaker 7: Wolf is an excellent job of, you know, kind of
Speaker 7: going through the process of all right, yeah, this guy's
Speaker 7: a good player. I do want him, but I'm going
Speaker 7: to do my research. Makes for sure this guy is
Speaker 7: an emotionally mature person. And you know, I think we
Speaker 7: can say that about all those guys, and so what
Speaker 7: goes into that is they have a good self awareness
Speaker 7: and so even you know, hey, I've played all these snaps,
Speaker 7: I know I need to work on my inside zone
Speaker 7: step to the right because I've struggled with that over
Speaker 7: the course of my career. And so when they get
Speaker 7: out to the practice field there there they can you know,
Speaker 7: potentially be more intentional about about what they're doing, which
Speaker 7: is exactly what you're saying. I think. I think that
Speaker 7: group is doing a really good job of honing their
Speaker 7: techniques and fundamentals and working their tails off so that
Speaker 7: we can have a successful fault.
Speaker 1: He is Derek Shay, the new tight ends coach for
Speaker 1: the While Cast. We'll come back and talk more football
Speaker 1: with Derek in just a minute. Here on a Big
Speaker 1: bullone Sider six thirty wlap. We're talking to Derek Shay's
Speaker 1: Kentucky's new tight ends coach. You played your college football
Speaker 1: at Western Illinois. You were a leather Neck, and then
Speaker 1: you transferred to Eastern Illinois, which is where Tony Romo played.
Speaker 1: I happen to know, do they have like pictures and
Speaker 1: posters of him everywhere?
Speaker 7: There's no question, not just him though.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 7: I started Western, I finished up the Easter, started student
Speaker 7: coaching there. And while I was there, there's a gentleman
Speaker 7: by the name of Jimmy Garoppo, quarterback, and before Tony
Speaker 7: Romo was a guy by the name of Sean Payton.
Speaker 7: So all three of those guys, which is a story
Speaker 7: for another day, but not Sean Payton, but a guy
Speaker 7: that was on our staff by the name of Roy
Speaker 7: WICKI had been at Easternly for a long time and
Speaker 7: recruited Tony Romo and recruited Jimmy Garoppolo, and both those
Speaker 7: guys were obviously very very very under recruited, and he
Speaker 7: had nine for talent and obviously found those two guys,
Speaker 7: which is a book in itself, but yeah, you know,
Speaker 7: interesting place. The other piece of that is there's a
Speaker 7: lot of coaches that have been through Stern Annoy Mike
Speaker 7: Shanahan's and Eachell Annoy Grad. Brad Childers, the former head
Speaker 7: coach of the Vikings, the stern Illinoy Grad, actually one
Speaker 7: of my mentors who was a longtime special teams coach,
Speaker 7: won a Super Bowl with the Saints. Guy by the
Speaker 7: name of Greg McMahon is an Eastern Illinois grad. Obviously
Speaker 7: Sean Payton. So there's been some good players, but there's
Speaker 7: been some good coaches too.
Speaker 1: Credible of coaches say it's Miami, but you know, hey, man,
Speaker 1: Eastern Illinois got something on them. You play there, you
Speaker 1: coach there, You coach at the FCS level, You coached
Speaker 1: the high school, the prep school. Your first uh D
Speaker 1: one job was LSU. You work with at Orgron there.
Speaker 1: What was that like, Derek moving from McNee State which
Speaker 1: had a really good FCS program, but now LSU, which
Speaker 1: is you know the cream and look at the SEC
Speaker 1: and you got everything you'd ever want to have. You know,
Speaker 1: you always want more. You know, you're flying everywhere. I mean,
Speaker 1: what was that like to make that jump?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean I joked at the time, I went
Speaker 7: from the outhouse to the penthouse. Yeah, from McNee t LSU.
Speaker 7: But obviously was fortunate enough, Like we talked about the
Speaker 7: at Ozern, you know, you know, if whatever whatever it
Speaker 7: may be, found something in me and hired me there.
Speaker 7: And I think the thing about coaching, no matter what
Speaker 7: the level. You know, one of my most impactful jobs
Speaker 7: is I was a teacher and coach at Warren Central
Speaker 7: High School, Indianapolis. Right right at I GA for a
Speaker 7: few years, he's snowing only bowling green. I'm twenty four
Speaker 7: to twenty five years old, and I get a full
Speaker 7: time time job at Warren Central High School, Indianapolis, which
Speaker 7: is obviously one of the best programs in the Midwest
Speaker 7: at the time. And you know, I just think every
Speaker 7: experience gives you something. And you know, I learned how
Speaker 7: to coach there, you know, being a graduate assistant and
Speaker 7: then going and doing it on your own and learning
Speaker 7: how to coach, you know, not only not only Division
Speaker 7: I players, but guys that are going to just have
Speaker 7: just go to college and work regular jobs. You know,
Speaker 7: you learn how to coach. And so I say all
Speaker 7: that to say, you know, when I go to LSU,
Speaker 7: I use the same skills as I did at Warren Central,
Speaker 7: as I did at IMG, as I did at McNeice
Speaker 7: to just go coach players. And I think the big
Speaker 7: thing is, you know, all players are looking for how
Speaker 7: to get them better. They're looking for good instruction or
Speaker 7: looking for, you know, somebody to put their arm around
Speaker 7: them as you're walking off the field after you've ripped
Speaker 7: their butt. And I think I think that translates to
Speaker 7: every level. And so when I went to LSU and
Speaker 7: and started working there, although the lights were obviously a
Speaker 7: lot brighter than what I was used to, I just
Speaker 7: try to stay true to that and just continue to
Speaker 7: coach the heck out of the players and try to
Speaker 7: get them better. And we're fortunate enough there to have
Speaker 7: some really good ones and some guys that are now
Speaker 7: playing in the National Football League, and so that was
Speaker 7: a great experience, you know, and quite frankly, my experience
Speaker 7: and not to be conceded, but reputation working there has
Speaker 7: led me to the last five or six years of
Speaker 7: my career. And so you know, I've just tried to
Speaker 7: draw on that and try to do the best job
Speaker 7: every day, put your best foot forward and do the
Speaker 7: best for your players, and hopefully everything else takes care
Speaker 7: of it.
Speaker 1: So you were the co offensive coordinator at Warren Central
Speaker 1: and again at IMG Academy. How has that helped you
Speaker 1: as you further your career as a tight ends coach
Speaker 1: as an O line coach?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think the big thing sometimes office line coaches
Speaker 7: you can get stuck, right, all you know is those
Speaker 7: five guys. If you always joke, all you do is
Speaker 7: watch the game zone copy of the film. You don't
Speaker 7: watch the sideline copy, right, you know? And so I
Speaker 7: think by by you know, you know, having coordinate responsibilities
Speaker 7: at some places, it gives you just a better perspective
Speaker 7: of the big picture. And that's what the tight end
Speaker 7: position is. You know, you don't just you don't just
Speaker 7: have to know who you're blocking in the box. You
Speaker 7: have to obviously haven't understanding of the past game and
Speaker 7: how you fit into all the schemes. And so I think,
Speaker 7: you know, when you when you get coordinator experience, it
Speaker 7: makes you kind of expand your knowledge and get outside
Speaker 7: your box. And that's helped me progress to be able
Speaker 7: to coach both positions, and I think that's that's given
Speaker 7: me some flexibility.
Speaker 1: And org Ron gave you your first big break and
Speaker 1: arguably he is, to say the least, a live wire.
Speaker 1: Uh and now you work for Mark Stoops, and of
Speaker 1: course I'm going to ask you to brag about your
Speaker 1: your current boss. You're not going to say anything controversial.
Speaker 1: But what is it about Stoops that that you have found,
Speaker 1: I don't know, interesting, intriguing. What is it you like
Speaker 1: about him as a as a hands on coach?
Speaker 7: Yeah, well there's there's really there's two things that stick
Speaker 7: out me when people have asked me this question. And
Speaker 7: you know, obviously we've all experience, We've worked for quite
Speaker 7: a few head coaches at this point. The first thing
Speaker 7: is this is you know, in this profession you're always
Speaker 7: hunting a work life somewhat balance, which there's no such
Speaker 7: thing in this profession. But the reality is, you know,
Speaker 7: we all want to be good husbands, we all want
Speaker 7: to be good fathers, and we all want to be
Speaker 7: really good at football coaches. How can we try to
Speaker 7: do a little bit of everything? And coach Stups, better
Speaker 7: than anywhere I've ever been, values people's time, and he
Speaker 7: values his coaches times, and he values his players time.
Speaker 7: And because of that, you know, I mean Bush and
Speaker 7: I talk about it all the time, it allows us
Speaker 7: to try to be around our kids as much as
Speaker 7: we possibly can, allows us to try to be the
Speaker 7: best husbands we can and then obviously give the most
Speaker 7: to our players. And that's because coach Stops doesn't waste
Speaker 7: his coaches times. We get done what needs to get done,
Speaker 7: and you know, we're allowed to do other things outside
Speaker 7: of that, and that's not always case. And I've got
Speaker 7: unbelievable respect for the way coach has done it here
Speaker 7: because from my understanding, that's how he's done it since
Speaker 7: day one, and uh, that isn't that is an unbelievable
Speaker 7: trait that people in our profession are always on the
Speaker 7: hunt for. And then within that, it's it's the same
Speaker 7: exact thing with our players. You know, I've been places
Speaker 7: which I won't name them, where we grind them down,
Speaker 7: you know, like they're in the building probably more than
Speaker 7: they're supposed to be, you know, by rule, and they're
Speaker 7: they're they're in the building too much. And because of that,
Speaker 7: they're not excited about by the time August gets around.
Speaker 7: You know, when you show up a football camp in August,
Speaker 7: like you should be excited going the season play football.
Speaker 7: And that hasn't always been the case places I've been,
Speaker 7: and it's the same thing coach values these guys' time
Speaker 7: and he wants them to be excited to be in
Speaker 7: the building. We're not going to grind them down and
Speaker 7: do excessive amounts of work. Now, we obviously have to
Speaker 7: get the work done, but he values the player's time
Speaker 7: and because of that, you guy walk around here with
Speaker 7: smile on their face and are excited to go to work.
Speaker 7: And those are those are two traits that I've got
Speaker 7: an unbelievable amount of respect for coach Stukes because of
Speaker 7: those two things, and I think that's obviously why he's
Speaker 7: had success here for so long.
Speaker 1: That's a really interesting answer. And I have been covering
Speaker 1: Kentucky football really since the mid seventies, and one thing
Speaker 1: I've noticed about Stoops. I noticed this was Rich Brooks
Speaker 1: as well, and it didn't take long, and he was
Speaker 1: a successful coach. And I'm not saying it's at the
Speaker 1: expense of other Kentucky coaches, but just the way players
Speaker 1: respond and react to Mark Stoops. He used to produce
Speaker 1: his Coaches Show, so I'd see him interact with players
Speaker 1: and that's genuine, you know, he just he enjoys the
Speaker 1: players and they enjoy him. I'm not saying every one
Speaker 1: of them. Uh, because there's always going to be somebody
Speaker 1: out there as grumbling. But no, they really do enjoy
Speaker 1: their relationship. Well, speaking of time, I've taken up enough
Speaker 1: of years. I'll let you go with this. Uh, you're
Speaker 1: a young guy, But again, what are you thirteen years
Speaker 1: in to your coaching career if not more man the
Speaker 1: way college athletics in general has changed since you left school. Nil,
Speaker 1: the portal, all of that, lawsuits here and there. I
Speaker 1: know you still love your job, but this is a
Speaker 1: heck of a time to be a professional coach, isn't it.
Speaker 7: No, it is, it is, and there's no doubt about it.
Speaker 7: And you know one thing I just spoke at a
Speaker 7: coaching clinic about a month ago and this question, the
Speaker 7: very similar conversation was had. And the one thing I'll say,
Speaker 7: and this won't change for the eternity of time, is
Speaker 7: if you care about your players, and you coach the
Speaker 7: heck out of them, and you get them better, and
Speaker 7: at the end of the day you put your arm
Speaker 7: around them, I think you're going to always have success
Speaker 7: in this profession. And if you can try to block
Speaker 7: out some of the craziness, which is hard at times,
Speaker 7: and focus on those things. I think you can have
Speaker 7: a long, successful career, and I think by the end
Speaker 7: of it, your players will have a lot of respect
Speaker 7: for you. And everybody's different, you know, in terms of
Speaker 7: why they do it, but that's why I do it.
Speaker 7: At the end of this thing, and hopefully retire at
Speaker 7: sixty five, we'll see how this thing goes. But at
Speaker 7: the end of this thing, when it's all done, I
Speaker 7: do I hope that you know, the players say, hey,
Speaker 7: this guy treated me with respect, you coach the heck
Speaker 7: out of you, got me better, and I'm going to
Speaker 7: become a better person for it. And I think if
Speaker 7: we all stick to that and have the best intention
Speaker 7: of the players, at some point all this stuff will
Speaker 7: blow over and hopefully we'll nail it back down to
Speaker 7: what this thing's about. So that would be that would
Speaker 7: be my thought on that.
Speaker 1: Well, you've already got players and guys who are coaching
Speaker 1: singing your praises, so you're off to a good start.
Speaker 1: We'll put to you that way and best of lucky
Speaker 1: the upcoming season. Hope to see us soon in practice.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 7: Yeah, absolutely, thank you for your time. Day, Thanks for
Speaker 7: having me and look forward to seeing you this fall.
Speaker 1: Go cat and with any luck, this will be the
Speaker 1: year we see tight ends catching more footballs. But got
Speaker 1: to block that run game. First coming up next to
Speaker 1: hour number two, Ken Spencer from w h AS formerly
Speaker 1: wt v Q. He're Alexidon. We'll talk ing tucky football,
Speaker 1: a little bit of basketball as well on The Big
Speaker 1: Roman Siders six thirty Lap.
Speaker 9: The show Everything Thenthing Dot Sat, Don't have to back,
Speaker 9: Don't then Donning.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. Joining us down
Speaker 1: our celebrity Hodline is my buddy is a longtime friend
Speaker 1: of the show. Mister Kent Spencer, former sports director w TVQ.
Speaker 1: Here in lexingon now at w h A s over
Speaker 1: in Louisville, and ask such covers both ends of the
Speaker 1: interstate and when the Vince Merrill story broke, can't you
Speaker 1: were looking at the story from both ends of the interstate?
Speaker 1: Weren't you? This was maybe not a shock because of
Speaker 1: rumors in the past, but still a surprise when it
Speaker 1: comes to fruition. Right.
Speaker 8: I'll be honest with you, I was shocked, but it
Speaker 8: was because of the timing. Oh okay, it wasn't because
Speaker 8: he made the move. It was because the fact that
Speaker 8: like we're mid June and this thing goes down. Now
Speaker 8: you know, from everything, you're kind of here and now
Speaker 8: you know, apparently this is this had been in the
Speaker 8: works for quite some time. But it was still the
Speaker 8: fact that it was in mid June, you know that
Speaker 8: that was a little bit. That was a pretty big
Speaker 8: shot to me. Now, the fact that you know he
Speaker 8: made the move. I think while these things have happened,
Speaker 8: while Jeff Brom has has gone after Vince Marrow before
Speaker 8: when he was at Purdue and then already when he
Speaker 8: was at Louisville once, it's still like, you don't ever
Speaker 8: really think that he's he was gonna leave Mark Stoops
Speaker 8: and until he actually did, you know what I mean,
Speaker 8: it was like, oh my goodness, he actually did. At
Speaker 8: this time, he actually you know, he actually left Stoops.
Speaker 8: He actually left UK And then you know, Vince has
Speaker 8: got a lot of friends around the world in college
Speaker 8: football to go with to go to Louisville, and Jeff Brom, Yeah,
Speaker 8: that was that was a surprise, because you know, it's
Speaker 8: it's one thing to maybe talk about it or be
Speaker 8: some sort of negotiations, but to actually pull the trigger
Speaker 8: and do it. You know, I was surprised by it.
Speaker 1: You know, I thought you would leave from Michigan when
Speaker 1: Harball made that run at him, and I threw a
Speaker 1: lot of money at him, and uh, you know, some
Speaker 1: boosters came through on this end to keep him. But yeah,
Speaker 1: the timing was really bizarre. And the other thing too,
Speaker 1: kent of course, is the position, the job, you know,
Speaker 1: and Merrows has said, it's a job I couldn't turn down.
Speaker 1: Any program worth its weight now has a GM like that.
Speaker 1: So it's a bit of a step up for him,
Speaker 1: isn't it. Although financially maybe a lateral move, but uh,
Speaker 1: this is a different gig, isn't it.
Speaker 8: It's it's something that probably gives him more options now
Speaker 8: than he was ever going to have before. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 8: when you were at when you're at of Kentucky, you know,
Speaker 8: I think, you know, the most he was ever going
Speaker 8: to be somewhere was going to be either you know,
Speaker 8: a tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator. I don't ever
Speaker 8: think he was going to be hired to the to
Speaker 8: a similar position. I don't think he was ever going
Speaker 8: to be hired as an offensive coordinator. I don't think
Speaker 8: he's ever going to be hired as a head coach
Speaker 8: at a Power five. But you know, this gives him,
Speaker 8: this gives him so many more options on what to
Speaker 8: do with his career, and you know, kind of take it.
Speaker 8: Takes me off the practice field, you know it takes it.
Speaker 8: You know it it and it also gives him a
Speaker 8: level of focus that that he can that he can do. Now, now,
Speaker 8: let me just say this. Do I think that Vince
Speaker 8: Merrow would have made this move if everything was hunky
Speaker 8: dory with him in the Kentucky football program. This is
Speaker 8: just my opinion. No, no, my gut says absolutely not.
Speaker 8: So something I think that all of this was was
Speaker 8: was missing, which is why he probably entertained the offer
Speaker 8: the first time, or and well not even the first time,
Speaker 8: which is why he entertained this offer to begin with.
Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting because that was my next question
Speaker 1: for you, And as you know, I always preface my
Speaker 1: conversations with you by saying that you and Jeffikoor are
Speaker 1: the only guys on the beat and know what it's
Speaker 1: like to get hit in the mouth in a college
Speaker 1: football game. But that said, that's one day a week.
Speaker 1: The other six days of the week are about what
Speaker 1: goes on off the field, inside the building, inside the
Speaker 1: locker room, the weight room and all that. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it was all about the vibe over there and coming
Speaker 1: off a four and eight year nobody's happy, of course,
Speaker 1: So yeah, I've got to think that there's something going
Speaker 1: on over there, for better or worse, because something's got
Speaker 1: to change, right yeah, And.
Speaker 8: And honestly like and at that point, like it's all speculation,
Speaker 8: and to be honest with you, Dick, we would never
Speaker 8: get a straight answer in the public eye anyway, right,
Speaker 8: and by the way, should we. I mean, as much
Speaker 8: as I would love it, you know, like, nobody's ever
Speaker 8: going to come out and say this. Maryland is never
Speaker 8: going to come out and say I thought this was
Speaker 8: a nice deal. Because I don't know how much longer
Speaker 8: we have to be honest with He's never going to
Speaker 8: come out and say that. Mark Stoops is never going
Speaker 8: to come out and say to be honest, like, I
Speaker 8: didn't really like the direction that he was going, so
Speaker 8: we kind of changed things up and changed this role
Speaker 8: and he didn't really like it, so he bounced. I
Speaker 8: just don't think you're I don't think we would ever
Speaker 8: hear any of those things. But I do think like
Speaker 8: somewhere along the same path that I just laid out
Speaker 8: in a very quick manner is what led to this
Speaker 8: move in the first place. And you know, to be honest,
Speaker 8: if if some of that was if some of that
Speaker 8: was true, then it allows, honestly, like both sides to
Speaker 8: be able to move on. It allows you know, if
Speaker 8: if Mark Stoops, you know, didn't like the way that
Speaker 8: recruiting was going, or wanted to do different directions than
Speaker 8: what Vince Marrow wanted to do, then guess what. This
Speaker 8: allows them a clean break to be able to go
Speaker 8: do that the way that they want to do it.
Speaker 8: And then it allows Vince Marrow to land in a
Speaker 8: landing spot and a job that's really really good for
Speaker 8: him and that you know, he can work for somebody
Speaker 8: that he's known for a really long time, that you
Speaker 8: know what he's he shared the field of battle with
Speaker 8: a long time ago, and so you know, it allows
Speaker 8: it allows both sides to be able to move on
Speaker 8: if that's the case. And while in the in the
Speaker 8: media or the fans are saying certain things like maybe
Speaker 8: it maybe it is the best for both sides, you.
Speaker 1: Know what I keep thinking about and then after this
Speaker 1: I will move on to actual football questions for you.
Speaker 1: But I remember when when Louisville hired Brahm, and Mark
Speaker 1: Steups had a kind of a pained smile on his
Speaker 1: face because he liked, with all due respect to the
Speaker 1: previous staff, he liked what was going on over in
Speaker 1: Louisville because he owned U of L for a while,
Speaker 1: and he knew that when Jeff Brom was hired. The
Speaker 1: day Brom was hired, his job just got significantly tougher
Speaker 1: as the head coach at the University of Kentucky, as
Speaker 1: much for recruiting as for trying to play against Louisville.
Speaker 1: I keep thinking about, you know, that press conference when
Speaker 1: when Ark you know, was was gracious when he talked
Speaker 1: about Jeff Brom and admitted that, Yeah, things are going
Speaker 1: to get a little tougher now.
Speaker 8: You know, and even and if you look at it,
Speaker 8: you know, even in the in the high school ranks,
Speaker 8: right like even like recruiting the state you know, Kentucky
Speaker 8: had Kentucky had you know, the city of Louisville pretty
Speaker 8: much on lockdown.
Speaker 4: Yea.
Speaker 8: And but but I would say this, even when Jeff
Speaker 8: was at Purdue. You know, Jeff could still come in
Speaker 8: and get some high quality talent and bring them up
Speaker 8: to Purdue. When Jeff was at Purdue, one time, I
Speaker 8: was shooting a Thursday night. It was like a Thursday
Speaker 8: night game. I was at Western High School and you're
Speaker 8: from You're from Louisville, so you know what's all about.
Speaker 8: And they're playing another team. It wasn't It was too
Speaker 8: you know, not very good teams. On the other side
Speaker 8: in the visitor stands. Guess who I saw was the
Speaker 8: stands Jeff Brom you know what I mean like, and
Speaker 8: I mean that that was the grinder that that he
Speaker 8: was even at Purdue to come down here on a
Speaker 8: Thursday night, yes, and excuse to come home, but to
Speaker 8: go to that game and watch it and look into
Speaker 8: talent like, yeah, the dude, the dude gets after it,
Speaker 8: and you know it's it's you know, he has turned
Speaker 8: this program around quickly and the two years that he's
Speaker 8: been on the job, taking him to the a SEC
Speaker 8: Championship game and they were good again last year.
Speaker 1: Didn't he get a kid out of Trinity to Purdue.
Speaker 8: Who had a heck of a career, The one kid
Speaker 8: that yeah, Rondale Bore, he got Rod and then he
Speaker 8: got another kid out of cow that was really good
Speaker 8: in Milton. Right that that that went up, that he
Speaker 8: got to come up to Purdue and Rondelle Moore, I
Speaker 8: mean he's playing on Sunday. Yeah, so no, just just
Speaker 8: you know, and and this year, right like I know
Speaker 8: a lot of people in the LECs and community thought
Speaker 8: Rock Kaufman should should be a Kentucky Wildcat. Yeah, and
Speaker 8: he's a Louisville Cardinal and so they and they thought that.
Speaker 8: You know, I know a lot of people down there
Speaker 8: think that Kentucky made a mistake not getting his kids
Speaker 8: and so did something. Man, these things happen.
Speaker 1: Talking to Ken Spencer, WHAS sports director over in Louisville.
Speaker 1: We'll come back and talk more with Kent on the
Speaker 1: other side of the break here on six point thirty
Speaker 1: w l a P. Welcome back. We're talking with sports
Speaker 1: director Ken Spencer from WHAS formerly WTVQ here in Electionton.
Speaker 1: A lot going on with baseball and basketball, But one
Speaker 1: other football question for you, Ken. I've been talking to
Speaker 1: several people about the fact that this is going to
Speaker 1: be the first full cycle for bush Ham Dan, you know,
Speaker 1: being in the building, his system, players getting used to him,
Speaker 1: the way he does things. All that the year jumped
Speaker 1: from one to two for players is always big, but
Speaker 1: it's got to be big, I would think for an
Speaker 1: oc as well.
Speaker 8: Right, Yeah, you're teaching. You know that that first year
Speaker 8: you're teaching things. You know, left and right and and
Speaker 8: and by the way, it's not just in spring practice,
Speaker 8: it's not just in fall camp. It's all the way through.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 8: I'm sure that there are tweaks and everything that he's
Speaker 8: that he's making sure that his players are aware of.
Speaker 8: And you know, if if everything changes, I mean, you know,
Speaker 8: players play when when players are thinking, players are playing slow. Yes,
Speaker 8: when players just know and they can go, they play
Speaker 8: so much faster. And so I would imagine that there
Speaker 8: was a lot of thinking going on with Kentucky last
Speaker 8: year and this year. It gives them the ability. Now
Speaker 8: now look, I mean, obviously you've got a new quarterback,
Speaker 8: You're gonna have new pieces, but you know, for a
Speaker 8: for a decent part of that offense, you're gonna have
Speaker 8: guys that can play a lot faster, and I think
Speaker 8: that will be a big key, you know, moving forward
Speaker 8: for Kentucky.
Speaker 1: You played on the offensive side of the ball at
Speaker 1: more End State. Were you able to notice much about
Speaker 1: him Dan's offense last year to get a feel for
Speaker 1: what he tries.
Speaker 8: To do, you know, to be honest with you, I didn't,
Speaker 8: only because you know, for me, it wasn't that I
Speaker 8: saw games early on, but as the season goes on
Speaker 8: when you're watching them on TV. For me, it's a
Speaker 8: tougher thing when I don't get to see the all
Speaker 8: twenty two. Look, you know, in a press box where
Speaker 8: you get to see everything, it allows the field to
Speaker 8: open up a little bit. So you know, I didn't
Speaker 8: get that much of a feel for exactly what he
Speaker 8: wants to do and how he wants to do it.
Speaker 8: But to be quite honest with you, it's really really
Speaker 8: hard to even get that feel when the offensive line's
Speaker 8: not very.
Speaker 1: Good, That's true.
Speaker 8: And so like you know, I and I'll go back
Speaker 8: to remember when Neil Brown was here. It was the
Speaker 8: offensive coordinator in the first couple of years, and he
Speaker 8: was like, look, there's a lot of things that we'd
Speaker 8: like to do. We can't, that's right, like and and
Speaker 8: basically he was just saying, like, we're just not good
Speaker 8: enough upfront. To do anything that I really want to do. Yeah,
Speaker 8: And so you know, it's like, you know, it's kind
Speaker 8: of like that everybody. Everybody's got a plan until you
Speaker 8: get punched in the face. Well every offensive coordinator, they've
Speaker 8: got really fancy plays. But if you can't block anybody,
Speaker 8: you can't run them.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I was looking back, for whatever reason at that
Speaker 1: seven year which was the best offense really in the
Speaker 1: history UK football, and they could do so much, they
Speaker 1: had so many weapons, but what was underscored was the
Speaker 1: fact that Andre Woodson had time to throw right, so
Speaker 1: he could find Stevie Johnson, you could find Keenan Burton
Speaker 1: and Dickey Lyons and Rafael Little if he needed him.
Speaker 1: And of course Jacob Tammy, you know. And now they
Speaker 1: got a new tight end coach. We we just talked
Speaker 1: to uh and he's got all kinds of talented players
Speaker 1: in his room. But will they be able to leak
Speaker 1: out and catch footballs rather than have to stay in
Speaker 1: and chip or or full time block, right?
Speaker 8: Yeah, no, one hundred percent. Like and it's so funny
Speaker 8: you mentioned that seven and you started naming guys and
Speaker 8: my my instant reaction was Raffi, Rafael Little, right, and
Speaker 8: and when you're highlighting a running back, you know that
Speaker 8: you're good upfront to be able to highlight a running
Speaker 8: back like they don't just get they don't just get
Speaker 8: tough yards. You know, you've got to be you've got
Speaker 8: to have the holes and you've got to have the
Speaker 8: ability to get things done to be able to do that.
Speaker 2: And so.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's it's it's great to have, you know, flashy pieces.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 8: It's it's like there was a year in the NFL.
Speaker 8: I always I always point to this, the Tennessee Titans
Speaker 8: were like the number one seed in the AFC. This
Speaker 8: was years and years ago and Carrie Collins And this
Speaker 8: was not like New York Giants Carrie Collins. This was
Speaker 8: Tennessee tight with Kerry Collins. He was there, he was
Speaker 8: their quarterback. And Johnson was putting up video game numbers.
Speaker 8: Well what why were they so good? It wasn't just
Speaker 8: because Kerry Johnson had a resurgence. It wasn't because Chris
Speaker 8: Johnson was this all world thing. It's because they had
Speaker 8: the best offensive and defensive line in football. Look, I'm
Speaker 8: a wide receiver. I love the fancy plays. I love
Speaker 8: making you know, I back in the day. Like I
Speaker 8: love making plays, but I will be the first to
Speaker 8: tell you if you're not good up front on both
Speaker 8: sides of the ball, you've got no change. And that
Speaker 8: is what needs to continue an uptick this year. In fact,
Speaker 8: I say it needs to continue an uptick. It needs
Speaker 8: to make a drastic uptick for things to change in
Speaker 8: that program, if.
Speaker 1: You're absolutely correct. Just a few minutes level with Ken
Speaker 1: Spencer of whas over in Louisville. Last year was Kentucky
Speaker 1: going to Omah. This year Louisville gets back to Omah.
Speaker 1: And Uh, I've talked earlier about Murray State, but a
Speaker 1: couple of days ago I talked about Dan McDonald, who
Speaker 1: I know, Kentucky versus Louisville. I get all that, and
Speaker 1: I'm a UK baseball announcer, but I do like Dan
Speaker 1: McDonald a lot. And uh, he made some some headlines,
Speaker 1: didn't they With the fiery outburst in the dugout. They
Speaker 1: really lifted his team.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: I know that you guys respect him as well. Uh.
Speaker 1: That was a heck of a moment, wasn't it.
Speaker 8: Yeah. And sometimes look, sometimes your kids need a butt
Speaker 8: you that's right to get him, to get him in
Speaker 8: gear to get them. And sometimes you know, it's the
Speaker 8: passionate plea of I don't understand what's going on. I
Speaker 8: believe in you. You need to believe in yourself, and
Speaker 8: you need to You can't. You can't sit back and
Speaker 8: wait for something to happen. You got to go make
Speaker 8: it happen, you know. And and he even said in
Speaker 8: his post game he said, look, you know sometimes you
Speaker 8: got to love him hard. And and you know, like
Speaker 8: they know I love them, so they know that that
Speaker 8: comes from of a good place. And so yeah, it's
Speaker 8: it's you know, look, I mean the biggest thing, you know.
Speaker 8: And and Ova Hall is a tough place. And I remember,
Speaker 8: you know, watching the broadcast yesterday with Murray State in Arkansas,
Speaker 8: and you know, the announcers were talking about like, look,
Speaker 8: there's some people that try to change their offense when
Speaker 8: they get here because the park just plays completely different. Well,
Speaker 8: all season long, I mean, Louisville has an offense one
Speaker 8: through nine that is good and they've had it all
Speaker 8: season long.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 8: The thing that was really missing for this team for
Speaker 8: much of the season was they weren't very good on
Speaker 8: the on the mound. Yeah, and then all of a
Speaker 8: sudden in the In the postseason, they got a lot better.
Speaker 8: Patrick Forbes came back, became a lights out guy. You said,
Speaker 8: every a freshman really stepped up, you know what I mean, Like, yeah,
Speaker 8: they've got they've got guys that they've really started to
Speaker 8: throw the ball better. And McDonald told me before they
Speaker 8: left for OHLL, He's like, look, hitt is great, but
Speaker 8: but championships are won with pitching and defense. You got
Speaker 8: to be able to pitch it and you've got to
Speaker 8: be able to defend it, and and so like that's
Speaker 8: the reason why why they got here. However, you still
Speaker 8: need to be aggressive with the bat in your hand,
Speaker 8: and even though that park is tough, you still got
Speaker 8: to be able to get runs across the plate. And
Speaker 8: so I just think that, like, you know, they were
Speaker 8: in a lull, and I would say he passionately woke
Speaker 8: them up.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and maybe getting run ruled at Kentucky was
Speaker 1: the wake up call that they had that the bullpen needed.
Speaker 1: I still can't get over that one. Just a few
Speaker 1: minutes left. I do need to ask you about basketball.
Speaker 1: Watching these two programs UK and U of L coming
Speaker 1: together for the next season under their respective head coaches.
Speaker 1: You know, it occurs that both of these coaches, these
Speaker 1: programs will be paralleled in terms of how they're judged
Speaker 1: by the jobs their respective coach are doing.
Speaker 8: Uh.
Speaker 1: Now, you know, maybe until both of these guys have retired. Uh,
Speaker 1: because both of these guys roll in, they've got to
Speaker 1: rebuild rosters. They both have success, they both play exciting basketball. Uh.
Speaker 1: First of all, what do you think of what Pope
Speaker 1: has done with his roster of late.
Speaker 8: Well, and they both have huge signs out in front
Speaker 8: of the complexes of their program and online that have
Speaker 8: money we'll spend. That's the most important thing roster.
Speaker 1: That's true.
Speaker 8: Now, look, I mean I think, uh so with Kentucky Burst,
Speaker 8: I think Mark Well, you know, I think Mark Pope
Speaker 8: has done an excellent job building this roster, adding adding
Speaker 8: the right pieces. I mean, you know, you've got you've
Speaker 8: got quality in your in your front court and your
Speaker 8: back court. You know, you've added a national championship guard
Speaker 8: who's willing to and teams ready to take the next
Speaker 8: step in his game and be a more featured player.
Speaker 8: You return your leading scorer from a year ago. And Dick,
Speaker 8: I mean he may have already like he may have
Speaker 8: been feeling this for a while, but let me, I
Speaker 8: don't think you can underscore how big it was. Yeah,
Speaker 8: Mark Pope got Brandon Garrison back, and he got Trent
Speaker 8: Noah back, and he's got Colin Chandler back. You know,
Speaker 8: like those guys, getting those guys where, you know, to
Speaker 8: come back, we're key. But to get the guy who
Speaker 8: played you know, maybe maybe the most roster last year.
Speaker 8: I don't know about that, but I know we scored
Speaker 8: the most points to get Otega Way back. Just to
Speaker 8: lead those drills and to be back, it is invaluable.
Speaker 8: And I and I'll guarantee you that coach Spieger is
Speaker 8: ecstatic about that because, you know, I think within the offense,
Speaker 8: you know, we talked about you know, uh, Kentucky football,
Speaker 8: but for Kentucky basketball and the all sense of complicated,
Speaker 8: you know, the cuts and everything that they run to
Speaker 8: get familiarity back is oh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, especially with Pope's offense, which by his own admission,
Speaker 1: takes a little while longer to master. But when they did,
Speaker 1: and it's going to be up to Garrison to try
Speaker 1: to figure out, you know, how to be a better passer.
Speaker 1: He was okay last year, but he's got to try
Speaker 1: to emulate Amary Williams, which he says he did, you know,
Speaker 1: watching the way A MARII worked and did his thing.
Speaker 1: And Pope has said year one to year two for
Speaker 1: both his players and his staff within his system have
Speaker 1: always been dramatically good. And I'm wondering I would have
Speaker 1: think we'll see a similar move at U of l
Speaker 1: under Kelsey am.
Speaker 8: I right, yeah, here, now here's the thing about and yeah,
Speaker 8: like right, like both of them, I'm I always take
Speaker 8: a little bit of more of a cautious approach. Yeah,
Speaker 8: I know that's not sexy in today's day and age,
Speaker 8: but I looked at, you know, the things, the pieces
Speaker 8: that both teams added, and I say to myself, are
Speaker 8: they better than what they had last year? And in
Speaker 8: some cases, you know, you don't know. I think they've
Speaker 8: done an excellent job of reloading them, but are they
Speaker 8: Are they better than what they were last year? And
Speaker 8: I'm going to have to see it, like like at Kentucky,
Speaker 8: will Jalen Low be better than Lamont Butler?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 8: Man, that's a that's a that's a tough.
Speaker 10: But we got it.
Speaker 8: We got to see it, right, So let's now let's
Speaker 8: look at Louisville and and and you know, will they
Speaker 8: will it be a step up from Amari Williams. You know,
Speaker 8: like that's a sweet sixteen team. So in order to
Speaker 8: go deeper, you're going to have to have, you know,
Speaker 8: pieces be better than what they were last year. So
Speaker 8: at Louisville, you know, you've added these these transfers, and
Speaker 8: everybody has gone nuts about you know, Mike kel Brown Junior,
Speaker 8: you know Conway, you know, like these these guards they've
Speaker 8: added in the backcourt. Okay, so do you think they're
Speaker 8: better than Chucky Hepburn. Do you think they're better than
Speaker 8: Terrence Edwards? Do you think you know what I mean?
Speaker 8: Like so what we were talking about. I will say this,
Speaker 8: it is awesome that there's this much excitement at this
Speaker 8: point going into the season with both programs. Like that's
Speaker 8: that's something that's really cool to see. And they're both
Speaker 8: in the national conversation, which I don't really think they were.
Speaker 8: They were only in the national conversation last year because
Speaker 8: they had two coaches. Yeah, there's a lot of people
Speaker 8: that believe that they have the rosters to compete for
Speaker 8: this thing, and that's cool.
Speaker 1: I've seen Louisville ranked the head of Kentucky and some
Speaker 1: of those way too soon top twenty five, which is
Speaker 1: just fascinating. It's gonna be a lot of fun. Always
Speaker 1: fun talking to Ken Spencer is the sports director at
Speaker 1: wh has long time at WDTVQ, so he keeps an
Speaker 1: eye on both ends of the interstate. For sex so much, brother, Hey,
Speaker 1: always a pleasure. More from the basketball Wildcats when we
Speaker 1: come back on the Big Blue Siders six thirty WLAP.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Blue and Sider. Thanks again
Speaker 1: to Ken Spencer for joining us. If you are just
Speaker 1: joining us. Earlier in the show we heard from Colin Chandler.
Speaker 1: I have a little more from the UK guard who
Speaker 1: was of course in his second year, but is just
Speaker 1: now getting his basketball legs back. Really towards the end
Speaker 1: of last year he got him back. Had the two
Speaker 1: year mission coming out of high school where he was
Speaker 1: the top player in the state of Utah, but went
Speaker 1: on the church mission for a couple of years. Might
Speaker 1: have played some pickup ball, but otherwise no basketball. And
Speaker 1: now he drops in to lection in Kentucky to play
Speaker 1: for the storied University of Kentucky Wildcats in the toughest
Speaker 1: league in America under the new head coach who was
Speaker 1: so high on him, and we could see why he
Speaker 1: really came around. His best game in terms of points
Speaker 1: was LSU on March fourth. Played so well in the postseason,
Speaker 1: and now you wonder what are we going to see
Speaker 1: this coming year. Somebody asked him at the recent media
Speaker 1: gathering about the fact that he was able to shake
Speaker 1: off that rust, and we kind of saw it happening,
Speaker 1: but you know, you got to wonder when did or
Speaker 1: if he felt like, yeah, the rust is gone and
Speaker 1: I back.
Speaker 3: I don't have like an exact moment in my mind
Speaker 3: or an exact time of when I felt like it
Speaker 3: came off. But it's just been a big emphasis for me.
Speaker 3: Is getting better every day? Is is yeah, becoming a
Speaker 3: better player every day. And so I felt like there's
Speaker 3: a lot that VbN didn't see in my journey of
Speaker 3: getting back and feeling comfortable and feeling confident. So there's
Speaker 3: a lot that went into that. But so I don't
Speaker 3: know if there's like an exact time of where I
Speaker 3: felt like, oh, I'm playing where I want to be
Speaker 3: right now, because there's I mean, there's always more to
Speaker 3: improve on. And and honestly, I'm I feel like it's
Speaker 3: too far distant to remember how I really felt when
Speaker 3: I was in high school playing I like, so, I
Speaker 3: don't know. I get questions all the time of do
Speaker 3: you feel like you're back into your high school form
Speaker 3: or do you feel like you're playing as good as
Speaker 3: you were in high school? Honestly, I have no idea.
Speaker 3: I'm sure that I'm a whole lot better in a
Speaker 3: lot of aspects than I was, and I might be
Speaker 3: different in other aspects, and so I don't know how
Speaker 3: to really distinguish that.
Speaker 1: Maybe not. But it was kind of fun watching it happen,
Speaker 1: wasn't it. And it's going to be interesting to see
Speaker 1: him make a bid for playing time this coming season,
Speaker 1: what with the new faces coming in and all. But
Speaker 1: he's got that leg up year number two in the
Speaker 1: Mark Pope's system, and he should be able to help
Speaker 1: the new guys coming in. That's gonna be another plus,
Speaker 1: you know, because Pope talked about year one to year
Speaker 1: two in his system for the players, for the assistant coaches,
Speaker 1: and now with all the transfers coming in. When you
Speaker 1: got a guy like Chandler as a point guard, you
Speaker 1: can help the young guys on the floor during drills
Speaker 1: during games. Huge plus right direct your attention. I commend
Speaker 1: you to the UK Sports Network, the Twitter account or
Speaker 1: x if you will, and most recently they posted a
Speaker 1: conversation as Ty Bryant, the defensive back, interviewed Mark Stoops.
Speaker 1: I got a clip for I'm not gonna play the
Speaker 1: whole thing and you need to go find it yourself
Speaker 1: on X on Twitter at UK Sports Network. But Ty
Speaker 1: Bryant with some interesting questions for the UK coach.
Speaker 4: Do you practice your motivate those speeches before you give
Speaker 4: it to us on game day?
Speaker 10: I don't practice them, but I definitely put some thought
Speaker 10: into it and try to have like three bullet points,
Speaker 10: you know, as you know and sat in the room
Speaker 10: for a long time, you have your Monday messaging, yeah,
Speaker 10: you know of kind of football topics, and then you
Speaker 10: have the motivational keys, and then you have the football keys.
Speaker 10: So those are the things that I try to keep
Speaker 10: in mind and build up throughout the week. And then
Speaker 10: you know, prior to game, as you know, you were
Speaker 10: either ready to play or not. There's very little the
Speaker 10: head coach could say the five minutes before, three minutes
Speaker 10: before we take the field, that that's going to change.
Speaker 10: You know, the preparation, right, that motivation has been built
Speaker 10: up them.
Speaker 7: Throughout the week.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true, that's true.
Speaker 6: All right.
Speaker 4: So last of my questions. Then we'll get into some
Speaker 4: of my teammates questions and people.
Speaker 2: Around the building.
Speaker 4: But if we all had to switch positions for a game, So, oh,
Speaker 4: line plays, d line DB's play receivers, playbs, linebacker, play
Speaker 4: runn back, running back, play linebackers, who do you think.
Speaker 2: Will do the best?
Speaker 8: Man?
Speaker 10: Another good question.
Speaker 4: There is a right answer to this too.
Speaker 10: I mean I got to put you in there.
Speaker 1: I'm glad.
Speaker 10: You know, I'm glad You're not to put your position
Speaker 10: group in there.
Speaker 6: You and j Love probably you.
Speaker 1: Know what I mean, Jordan?
Speaker 10: Could you two could definitely go do some damage on offense?
Speaker 2: Yes, sir. Who do you think will do the worst?
Speaker 10: Probably the old lion trying to play the Okay, Yeah.
Speaker 2: All right, So that's all the question we have for me.
Speaker 4: But here's some of the questions that my teammates wanted
Speaker 4: me to ask you. Okay, not only my teammates, but
Speaker 4: people around the building.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 4: If I had asked me one question and it just
Speaker 4: had to be anything, It'll honestly be like, you know
Speaker 4: what I'm saying, Where where do he see us? You know,
Speaker 4: come August? You know what I'm saying, because every day
Speaker 4: has been like a progress to me. You know what
Speaker 4: I'm saying, Like just looking how many guys has transferred
Speaker 4: in and the progress we have made and the leadership
Speaker 4: you have stepped in and you know, showing us what
Speaker 4: the coach is over here and how it should be done.
Speaker 4: You know what I'm saying, And just looking back at
Speaker 4: last season, which I wouldn't here, but last season or
Speaker 4: this season, it's gonna be totally different. And that's what
Speaker 4: everybody don't know. So I just want to see kind
Speaker 4: of where his mind at because I know what mine at.
Speaker 2: Yeah, appreciate your brother, appreciate you.
Speaker 10: Yeah, Well, I don't know if they better not bring
Speaker 10: all the energy? Better bring energy. What I do like
Speaker 10: and you can attest to this, and I know you've
Speaker 10: seen it is I love the fit, you know what
Speaker 10: I mean. I like the way they've come in and
Speaker 10: really adapted. And I think we've been trying to be
Speaker 10: much more intentional about setting the standards. What is our culture?
Speaker 10: What we've been through for so many years, and you
Speaker 10: know is setting that bar high and making sure the
Speaker 10: accountability pieces there, making sure the buying is there. And
Speaker 10: I love this group, and I'm sure you could reiterate
Speaker 10: that they see these guys have been very good about
Speaker 10: buying in and you know, becoming a part of our
Speaker 10: team and you know, our standards and our expectations, and
Speaker 10: I really enjoyed those guys.
Speaker 1: By the way, that question came from Kendrick Law, the
Speaker 1: wide receiver who is transferred in from Alabama, but Stoops
Speaker 1: has said that more than once. I love the Fits,
Speaker 1: So I think they did a better job on their
Speaker 1: homework when it came to accepting kids through the portal
Speaker 1: and plugging them in, not just position wise, but you know,
Speaker 1: in terms of attitude and chemistry, it seemed to be
Speaker 1: lacking in the last couple three years really, So we'll
Speaker 1: see how that works out. But again, go to UK
Speaker 1: Sports Network on Twitter on X and watch the whole clip.
Speaker 1: Want to come six thir reap. Welcome back to the
Speaker 1: Big Blue Insider final segment. As we wrap up this
Speaker 1: edition of the show. I talked a lot earlier about
Speaker 1: the College World Series, and you know, we look back
Speaker 1: on last year Kentucky going to Omahawk. Will the Wildcats
Speaker 1: get back there? Well, Nick Minzewing and staff, like everybody
Speaker 1: in America right now reconstructing their rosters. I would love
Speaker 1: to see a Division One team, that is, any kind
Speaker 1: of contender that can point to a roster and say
Speaker 1: we're basically playing a pat hand, which is what Kentucky
Speaker 1: did last year. To a point. There were new faces
Speaker 1: last year on that team, but when you looked around
Speaker 1: the starting lineup, just about everybody was back from the
Speaker 1: year before. Grant Smith and Melean Pitree up the middle.
Speaker 1: You had, of course Devin Burk's behind the plate, Patrick
Speaker 1: Herrera and others at third base. Ryan walt Schmidt was
Speaker 1: back in left field and had an All American year,
Speaker 1: had a first round draft pick Connie year. They brought
Speaker 1: in a couple of center fielders, but it was Nolan
Speaker 1: McCarthy who wound up playing a considerable amount of time
Speaker 1: and made big plays in center field last year. He
Speaker 1: had played a lot of right field the year before,
Speaker 1: and of course James McCoy in rye field as well.
Speaker 1: There were some new faces in the pitching rotation, but
Speaker 1: for the most part, Kentucky was able to, as I said,
Speaker 1: play kind of a pat hand and take advantage of
Speaker 1: that experience, and everybody got bigger and better and had
Speaker 1: good years. And they go to Omaha right now, just
Speaker 1: about everybody in America rebuilding thanks to the portal, thanks
Speaker 1: to transfers, thanks to high school recruiting, and Kentucky no different.
Speaker 1: And of course the Wildcats really needed pitching and they've
Speaker 1: gotten it. They got a kid from New Orleans named
Speaker 1: Ira Austin. He's a right hander. They got Ryan Mullen
Speaker 1: or Mulan, he is from Loyal and Marymount. He's a
Speaker 1: right hander coming off Tommy John surgery. Missed last year,
Speaker 1: but has a couple of years remaining. Got other guys.
Speaker 1: Got a infielder from Indiana. May have seen this on well,
Speaker 1: I'm looking at backcat central dot com, but it's been
Speaker 1: on the interweb. Tyler Serne from IU from Indiana. Another
Speaker 1: pitcher from Grand Canyon, Connor Madison who committed Madison with
Speaker 1: two teas, a catcher from Elon, Alex Duffy, and by
Speaker 1: default he has a shot at being the starter because
Speaker 1: Kentucky's basically out of catching. So it's interesting to see
Speaker 1: how Nick Menjee owned and his staff are putting the
Speaker 1: record together, and you might wonder about whether or not
Speaker 1: these guys are going to be able to compete at
Speaker 1: the SEC level. Well, there's plenty of evidence to show
Speaker 1: they can. They got the kid from Nku, Kaden Eshman,
Speaker 1: he's a right hander. Berkeley Bounds from Eku, a right hander,
Speaker 1: Jack Bennett from that really good Western Kentucky team, Bryce
Speaker 1: and Trickle I think it is from North Florida. So
Speaker 1: I count right now in the portal six different right handers.
Speaker 1: Gonna need some left handed help. But right now Kentucky
Speaker 1: is putting together a transfer class that should give the Wildcats,
Speaker 1: given the returning players as well, a chance to compete
Speaker 1: in the SEC and as such get back to being
Speaker 1: able to host a regional. And if you can really
Speaker 1: get hot at the right time host a super regional,
Speaker 1: that's the secret. Really, it's no secret to getting to Omaha.
Speaker 1: Because we had seen Kentucky under nickmnzeone win regional titles
Speaker 1: but then have to go on and play in the
Speaker 1: super Regional at Louisville at LSU Louisville a couple times,
Speaker 1: and it's so much of an advantage to have that
Speaker 1: home field edge when you're playing in a super regional.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's interesting to see how it's coming together.
Speaker 1: I wanted to bring up one other note. I've been
Speaker 1: trying to get to this for a while, but I
Speaker 1: saw a story out there about the ad campaign by
Speaker 1: the NCAA and this actually began during basketball season and
Speaker 1: since then the powers that be have been studying research,
Speaker 1: studying the numbers. It was a PSA public service announcement
Speaker 1: about people who were attacking online and through emails and whatever,
Speaker 1: athletes and coaches when it came to gambling. And according
Speaker 1: to one story I saw, the NCA's campaign to curb
Speaker 1: betting related abuse has worked, but if you read the story,
Speaker 1: it's worked only to a point. Now. It's good because
Speaker 1: it has had some positive effect. But this all started
Speaker 1: coming out during March Madness, and it's one of these
Speaker 1: problems you could see coming with more and more gambling
Speaker 1: being legitimized. There's the betting services and things like that,
Speaker 1: and it's been happening for decades. Gamblers attacking again through
Speaker 1: crank calls, through emails, things like that, athletes and coaches,
Speaker 1: and the theme was don't be a loser, don't harass players,
Speaker 1: and basically coaches, and it's the kind of thing really said.
Speaker 1: There's losing and then being a loser. Game time comes
Speaker 1: with enough pressure. Way too often people are betting on
Speaker 1: sports losing and taking it out on the athletes.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 1: According to the NCAA, the campaign, which ran during both
Speaker 1: the men's and women's tournaments, has worked statistically, but again
Speaker 1: at least in part. The Signified Group, which was a
Speaker 1: data science firm hired by the NCAA, used AI to
Speaker 1: monitor more than a million comments on x, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok.
Speaker 1: ESPN shared the results and there was a significant drop
Speaker 1: in abuse aimed directly at athletes during March Madness. Fifteen
Speaker 1: percent of flagged abuse was targeted at players, down from
Speaker 1: forty two percent the previous year. Betting related abuse also
Speaker 1: dropped by twenty three percent, but that didn't mean that
Speaker 1: all that hatred disappeared. It simply shifted, particularly on the
Speaker 1: men's side, with social media abuse aimed at coaches and
Speaker 1: tournament officials up by one hundred and forty percent, and
Speaker 1: a lot of it was directed at the selections committee,
Speaker 1: which kind of surprised me. According to one account, Bubba Cunningham,
Speaker 1: the ad in North Carolina. He chaired the men's selections committee.
Speaker 1: He got hundreds quote unquote of angry, profane, and even
Speaker 1: threatening emails after the tar Heels barely made the field.
Speaker 1: So that was more about who made the tournament and
Speaker 1: who didn't at the expense of North Carolina than about gambling.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's a good thing. The student athletes got
Speaker 1: less abuse, but the hatred's still there. It just shifted.
Speaker 1: They looked at more than thirty one hundred abusive or
Speaker 1: threatening posts and in case you're wondering, referred some of
Speaker 1: them to law enforcement, but only ten of them, ten
Speaker 1: of the most serious cases to law enforcement. But this
Speaker 1: is one of those things that drives me nuts because
Speaker 1: when I say, and you know, I'm no genius, you
Speaker 1: know that didn't we see this coming?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 1: Who didn't see it coming? I mean, I remember when
Speaker 1: Bill Curry's wife got threats because the gamblers didn't like
Speaker 1: what was going on, but Curry's football team. So now
Speaker 1: it's happened, it's happened for a long time, it's going
Speaker 1: to keep happening. And the fact that they are monitoring
Speaker 1: and they are referring some of them to law enforcement
Speaker 1: at least gives you a little bit of optimisty, so
Speaker 1: that's going to do it. Thanks so much, thanks to
Speaker 1: my guest Derek Shay can't Spencer. That's it. Good night
Speaker 1: from the garage and Lexingdon.
Speaker 5: What you've just said is one of the most insanely
Speaker 5: idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in
Speaker 5: your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything
Speaker 5: that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this
Speaker 5: room is now dumber for having listened to it. I
Speaker 5: award you no points, and may God have mercy on yourself.
Speaker 9: I think don't showing can think anything, then stat I think,
Speaker 9: don't think the dons of scows