Speaker 1: All Star Toyota presents Off the Bench with Jacob Hester
and Matt Flynn.
Speaker 2: Okay, here we go where.
Speaker 1: The players get broken down and Science gets denied to
come off the bench. Hour two of Off the Bench
Live from the Mercedes Benz Baton Rouge Studio starts now.
Speaker 3: Walk back in, Oh tb Alburt number two. I got
a feeling. I know how this conversation is going to go.
Speaker 4: But it was in the news yesterday that apparently LSU
and LU Football are toying with the idea of adding
a logo to their jersey, and it would be a
company logo like you see in the NBA, like you
see in professional soccer.
Speaker 3: Now soccer obviously is different.
Speaker 4: I mean they've pay millions upon millions to have basically
their logo is the team logo on the jersey. You
got a small badge. This would be I'm sure a
jersey patch. It'd be somewhere on the shoulder. It would
be small, probably be the same size as the Nike
check on the jersey. And the report said it would
be to help LSU raise money to pay their athletes.
Because we all know what the settlement, it's going to
be a little bit over twenty million dollars per year
for the athletic department. How do we feel about the
potential of LSU football throwing a company's logo on their
historic jerseys.
Speaker 2: You better watch out because old man take incoming. So
I know, I feel like I'm driving really slow. It
is coming. Let me start with this. So I think
we're all for staying ahead of the curve when it
comes to nil, making sure that we secure good players. Uh,
in every other sport, not every other sport, but a
lot of other sports do it? Jacob skewed because he
watches European sports a lot, they certainly do it.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 2: Nascar cars have logos and sponsors all over that. Golf, yes,
but it's golf. Yes, but they have to wear a
shirt and a hat.
Speaker 3: It's a spot.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's a it's different. It's not like a
I believe it's different.
Speaker 3: The bag's got seventy two logos on it.
Speaker 2: The bag, Okay, the bag? Maybe? Yeah? All right?
Speaker 4: Every sport so except football Baseball big advertisements now Major
League Baseball on their sleeves.
Speaker 2: He didn't realize that I don't watch Major League Baseball.
Speaker 4: But isn't the aschos on of it is anymore a
landre like oxy clean, Like wasn't it for a while?
Speaker 3: Yeah it was.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a mattress bag now is it really? I
don't know. Probably yeah.
Speaker 4: Basically football is different to me because like the NFL's
practice jerseys even that's what I was gonna say, was
our practice jerseys in in Green Bay, and that gets
as much viewership eyeballs on it, especially like training camp times,
Like every picture you get is what it's like.
Speaker 2: I'd be all for that Bellen Healthcare, which is like
the big healthcare.
Speaker 3: Provider up in We were Buick for the Broncos.
Speaker 2: Just classic Classic should have been Toyota.
Speaker 3: Baiting that he had a Buick deal.
Speaker 2: Hey, coach, we're gonna go ahead and put these Buick
logos on all of our jerseys. They're giving me a
pretty good deal in a car. Okay, So, uh, I
guess first opinion is I hate it. I hate the
thought of it. Uh. Our classic jersey, we're just looking
at nuts here, just being a baller. Our classic jersey
has the LSU, which is nice, small not it's classy.
Speaker 3: We didn't wouldn't have that LSU when we play so.
Speaker 2: The logo whatever it is, whatever it ends up being,
is going to be bigger than the LSU on the jersey.
The font's going to be bigger. So you're going to
read that, you know, more than you're going to read
the lsue. I just hate that it has got to
this point now. I'm sure after a couple of years
of doing it, if it passes a couple years doing
we wanted the.
Speaker 3: N Cuba, that is a caveat to the n Cuba
has to approve this first.
Speaker 2: They have power in something.
Speaker 3: Sort of Wow, it's first time I've heard them.
Speaker 2: But like if they deny it, could we do it anyway? Then,
just sue at the stay low probably yeah, yeah, so
we can do it. So yeah, I think it's Uh,
I don't. I don't like it at all. Uh one
of those things if it happened a couple of years later,
we wouldn't really notice it, but like this is it's
I think college football fans are getting so much changed
so fast, Like it changed from amateur to professional. Know
now it's like we got revenue sharing like it was
the wild Wild West. It's still kind of is, but
at least there's like some sort of rules coming into
play now with the REV share and like in a
maximum amount of expenditures that you can use. And I
know people are you know, tightening their belts on budgets
on different aspects of athletics so they can afford to
go out and pay players and attract good But there's
other ways to do it. You know, they do have
to go spend more on players and to allow you know,
the people, the higher ups to still make their same
amount of money, I guess. But yeah, I think the
practice jersey would have been, let's just dip our toe
in it a little bit instead of putting it on
our classic uniforms, our classic college football. So like college
fans were dealing with so much change, let's not slap
us in the face this.
Speaker 3: Fast A Landra Tata, how do we feel about this?
Speaker 2: I hate it?
Speaker 6: Well, on football Saturdays, I'm not watching a NASCAR race,
I'm watching a football team. So nope, I'm out all right.
And I know what you're saying, Well, that gives more
money to LSU. I don't get any money out of it.
Speaker 2: I don't care, Laudre.
Speaker 7: I'm somewhere in the middle. I don't like it from
like a just general standpoint. It has nothing to do
with like football, Like, I'm just kind of sick of
ads being in my face twenty four to seven, Like
someone is always trying to sell you something. Your phone
listens to what you're saying because it's trying to push
stuff to get you to buy it. Like I'm just
sick of that kind of stuff. But I do get
raising money for a better program or whatever, but like
I'm just so sick of all the consumerism stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's there's ways to raise money.
Speaker 6: I mean games are already four hours because of all
the commercials. To her point, like ads are thrown in
our face constantly.
Speaker 2: Good have like drink drink my High.
Speaker 7: Yeah, drink my High.
Speaker 2: I put that okay, I was about saying you're good
with my High. Like, let's replace the numbers with just
the behigh logo. What about the just the LSU logo?
Take that off on the helmet, take the right side
off smart.
Speaker 4: So our boy Devin Snow aka hold the Mayo put
out some odds to who the company would be to
be on LSU's jersey.
Speaker 7: Gordon has the best ones.
Speaker 4: Second best, oh really second pains canes. So he goes
raising Canes minus two fifty Gordon McKernon minus one point
fifteen walk Ons plus one hundred, Labar's plus two hundred,
Fred's plus two fifty Community Coffee plus four hundred, Mike
Anderson's plus five hundred, Benny's car Wash plus six hundred
Zippies plus eight hundred and the long shot Hungry Howie's
plus twelve hundred Benny's.
Speaker 2: Is your best odds there? For sure. They got they
got some.
Speaker 4: Think if you're like, if you're a bet and you
want to get some actual juice, I think Community Coffee
plus four hundred.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because Creut Coffee got that money.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Like that's what I was thinking. That is like
some of those places don't really advertise, like Fred's doesn't advertise.
Speaker 2: I don't really see them exactly. Yeah, that's what Freds
would be like the coolest one that I think. There's
probably another company that's probably like minus.
Speaker 7: Like some industrial steel company or something.
Speaker 2: And familiar. I'm very familiar with their you know, their
with their game, their their game, but their company, their
relationship with you know, l SU. It's it would be power.
Speaker 3: That's yeah, we can't stand for that.
Speaker 2: We can't say no, we got to get my high.
Speaker 3: We can't stand for that. That can't happen.
Speaker 4: Howard, AD's better than Gatorade because gators in the title
of Gatorade.
Speaker 2: Well yeah yeah, but you know, because you're better than
that doesn't really meant you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I know, I know, I know, I know. Whyt
you just do my high on New Jersey.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, I'm sure that I would pass compliance.
I like buying the helmet, Yeah, just take the whole helmet.
Speaker 4: If fate they start putting decals on helmets, well I
my stand is I'm okay with it for practice. If
you want to do it during practice again, you go back.
And we've been doing this in the NFL for thirteen
seasons now, so this has been a thing. NFL jerseys
don't have logos. The NBA does, MLB does MLS does,
every NHL does not.
Speaker 3: I don't believe so.
Speaker 4: Like, but you've got a lot of the major sports
that that have done this, and so unfortunately, I think
it is inevitable that at some point it is going
to happen. Now NFL maybe it doesn't because NFL is
the biggest sport that we have.
Speaker 2: They protect the shield too pretty hard, right, I.
Speaker 3: Don't be the first either. No, I don't want to
be the first that does this.
Speaker 6: One about practice, Like out of Colorado did it last
year a couple of teams that it was like three
or four they did like the players social media to
like pump them up in practice, but like you're wearing
that during a game.
Speaker 2: That's that's why I started started this off by saying,
like we always know that we want to be on
the front line the cutting edge of like staying ahead
in this in ever changing in il world and paying
players world like this one is so such a sensitive
topic because you're dealing with something that's so traditional and
like we like we don't do a lot of crazy
uniforms because the traditionalism that is the LSU standard uniform.
We love it. It's beloved. So my hope is just
like you, I'm absolutely practice jerseys all day. Do it.
You want to put shirts on, you want to put
patches on everything. The players where in a press conference
after the a you know what, put them on. The
coaches put it on Brian Kelly. Yah. They already saw
that he gets shown as much as you know a
player does on the sideline where you can actually zoom
in and see a patch, right, So Brian Kelly gets
shown like and it benefits the coach to have more
money to pay for players. If that's what it's really for,
put it on them, but don't bastardize the college traditional uniform.
Speaker 4: Someone was asking, what if you put a small sticker
on the back of your helmet.
Speaker 3: The problem is with LSU.
Speaker 4: One of the iconic things about the LSU helmet is
you have the State of Louisiana flag and the American flag.
Speaker 3: On the back too.
Speaker 4: So even if you put it on the back of
the helmet, then you're taking away from, in my opinion,
the state flag and the American flag, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and there's always real estate back there too, like
if something happens in your program that there's always space
for a sticker for like a remembrance or something like that.
To me, the back of the helmet's kind of a
special special real estate there. Anyway, it's the world we
live in.
Speaker 4: I wish they would just put the American flag patch
like they had against was it on? Yeah, Well it's
a little bit better than that one from Burlington.
Speaker 3: Hey, that one looks like it's been through a lot.
Speaker 2: Old Glory went through a lot of meth. Francis Scott
Key was sitting there in his prison cell, looking at
his prison window, the bombs bursting in the air. It's
old glory flying, tattered, beating up. Never even thought the
college football teams two hundred and fifty years later would
be thinking about putting Dillard's logo on their jersey.
Speaker 3: I feel like dealers just caught a stray.
Speaker 2: Love.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was great.
Speaker 6: Just don't be the Lakers, like the Lakers are, like,
you know, what make our jersey look better?
Speaker 2: Wish dot com.
Speaker 3: I just wish dot com.
Speaker 2: It's like a It's kind of like Tu.
Speaker 7: Right, It's like it's like the t is like tu
wish dot com.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, Like is the original te.
Speaker 4: Where you can get stuff for dirt cheap and it's
dirt cheap made when you get it.
Speaker 2: I've never I have, and I just.
Speaker 3: Tiger.
Speaker 2: I just never cared enough to go. Well. China.
Speaker 7: Yeah, American really really cheap, and it's pretty American to
get cheap stuff from China.
Speaker 2: I feel like, yeah, I'm in to her point.
Speaker 4: Matt Flinn looking like Sea Bass from Dumb and Dumber. Absolutely,
you guys have Sea Bass.
Speaker 2: A couple of boiler makers.
Speaker 3: Not bad good see.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you, thank you because I look big, tough, strong, Yeah,
like I'm gonna whip your ass.
Speaker 3: All right, we'll step away when we I'm back.
Speaker 4: Well, Joe dirt well, Joe dirted one of the most
iconic scenes in the history of film. Then we've got
Jay Johnson joining us in fifteen minutes from now. Say
locked in OTB Doster Dens. All right, go to Central
Plumbing dot org. Central Plumbing dot Org is the website
for you. Guess it's Central Plumbing, but not only in
Central of course they can help you out in that area,
but we're talking to the entire greater Baton Rouge area.
If you have an emergency. Two two five nine two
five eighty five fifty two is the twenty four seven
three sixty five weekend holiday game day tomorrow, pretty important day,
fourth of July. A lot of people, most everybody, I
would say ninety nine point nine percent of people are off.
But if you've got an emergency, guess we'll be there.
Speaker 2: Uh, Central Plumbing.
Speaker 4: That's right, because three sixty five twenty four seven means
exactly that.
Speaker 2: You're gonna beating hot dogs and be a Hamburgers. You
can be an ice cream banana puddy. You're gonna beat
so many things mixed together. It could create some sort
of plumbing issue in your house, in your friend's house,
in your family South. Give them a call, see how
they can help you, whatever it is, whatever you're plumbing
in the twenty four to seven emergency service Central Plumbing
dot Org.
Speaker 8: Damp up and caught down this stage for my whole
Shoe Halm.
Speaker 1: We traveled back two thousand and seven. Shamps Purple and
Gold to the core. This is off the bench with
Hester and Flynn, Matt and Rougees go to for all
things Louisiana sports.
Speaker 5: Come off on this.
Speaker 3: Are you scared.
Speaker 2: Travel without a car?
Speaker 6: Been out back with the Beaver Pass and be Davis Slash,
Dirty Back, Stroll, Dirty Back, No Rocaine and the pro
paint ball.
Speaker 3: Got it heard this song since Moby Dick was a meno.
It's a nice pull. Well, I mean, speaking of kid.
Speaker 2: Rock, Well, hold on where you get to that? You
know every day every year?
Speaker 3: Take a great album, by the way, take egg.
Speaker 2: Kentucky Derby Trip A couple of years ago. Yeah, I
went shoe I think it's two years ago. Or three
years ago. Our table was right next to kid Rock. Yeah,
and so we're sitting there, we're kind of hanging out
with him a little bit throughout the day and uh,
you know, comes the Cole Pops. He comes over and
he comes out to me. It's like, hey, look over there,
and I'm like, where he said these nuts? I don't
think that worked. That is the delivery there, So I
got these nuts wrongly.
Speaker 7: So good story, kid Rock best concert I've ever been
to kid Rock.
Speaker 2: So I I don't know if it's the best I've
ever been to. But he played. He played at our
victory super Bowl victory party at the Marriotte Hotel in Dallas, Texas,
and it was just like the packer, like our player
and family and close friends whoever was like on the list. So,
I mean you're probably talking three hundred people. The dude
rocked his face off. Yeah, worked his ass off.
Speaker 7: I was exaggerating when I said back, but definitely like
top five concerts.
Speaker 2: It was actually kind of shocked a like how good
it was? So good?
Speaker 7: It was electric.
Speaker 3: So you were at the Kentucky Derby when so Virginity won, Yeah, yep.
Speaker 7: It was what Kentucky Derby first Saturday.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's why.
Speaker 4: That's why the video resurface is when Sovereignty one, I'm like,
so Virginity Mario and I had to play it. Yeah,
and now my phone continues to blow up.
Speaker 7: Tell you it was on a random three million views
right now, dude, I'm in that video for a total
of two seconds.
Speaker 6: Just when we panned to I'm in a wedding a
year and a half ago and we're lining up doing
a little sendof thing at the end of the wedding. Well,
like you line up on either side. Some girls sent
a cross from me go, hey, I know you. I
was like me, she was, yeah, the guy in that
Sovereignty video. I was like, I don't even think I
said anything in that video.
Speaker 2: Wait, what is I don't know the video?
Speaker 3: Okay, get that ready.
Speaker 4: But first, but first, speaking of kid Rock, he starred
in one of the greatest films of our lifetime, They
the World Joe Dirt and here is because tomorrow is
the fourth of July, a scene that everybody needs to see.
Speaker 9: As my head cleared, I realized I needed a different approach.
Then I got a brainstorm, hired Indian tracker to help me.
Man that's a great idea. They can find anything. It's
like in the movies. So I headed for a reservation.
You want me to put my ear to the ground,
Listen for hoof beats, check for footprints.
Speaker 3: Look for broken twist.
Speaker 2: But this is the modern age.
Speaker 8: That stuff doesn't work anymore, which is why I have
to open this fireworks.
Speaker 9: Then I wasn't getting buy them when tracking wagers come on,
you're supposed to be good at tracking stuff. Man, I
gotta find my parents and I've got to figure out
a way to sell more fireworks.
Speaker 2: I'm going broke with this spencer.
Speaker 9: Also, well, I see you got them snakes and sparklers.
But there's good stuff, man.
Speaker 2: Good stuff.
Speaker 3: This is the good stuff.
Speaker 2: Snakes and sparklers.
Speaker 8: Are you nuts, dude? You need stuff to explode?
Speaker 2: Go boom?
Speaker 9: Why is that good?
Speaker 2: Mostreet good? A lot of sunset good?
Speaker 3: Why Boom's good?
Speaker 9: Man?
Speaker 8: Firecrackers you stick them in mailboxes, you drop me toilets,
you shove them up bullfrogs.
Speaker 3: Ass, I would never do.
Speaker 2: That because I'm gonna be a veterinarian.
Speaker 8: Well there you go. Someone shoves THEMTI up of bullfrogs,
but blows him to piece. He comes back to you
to fix it. You win twice.
Speaker 9: Brother, it's good bitz.
Speaker 8: So you're gonna tell me that you don't have no
black cats, no roman candles or screaming mimis. No, Oh,
come on, man, you don't got no lady fingers, buzz butterles,
snicker bombs, church burners, finger blasters, gut busters, zippity do
dies or craft flappers.
Speaker 6: No, I don't.
Speaker 8: You're gonna stand there owning a fireworks stand and tell
me you don't have no whistling bungholes, no spleen splitters,
whisker biscuits, honkey riders, hooskerdoos hoosker, don'ts cherry bombs, nipsy
dazers with it without the scooter stick or one single
whistling kiddy chaser.
Speaker 2: No, because snakes and sparklers are the only ones. I like.
Speaker 9: What that might be wrong, it's not what you like.
Speaker 2: It's the consumer spleen splitters.
Speaker 4: But he's doing that scene, like is he just like randomly?
Like whatever's there's no way you can remember all of that.
Speaker 3: There's no way that.
Speaker 2: Took a couple of takes. He was too too good.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's way too good and.
Speaker 2: Chaser.
Speaker 4: God, my gosh, that was good.
Speaker 2: I guess said. We used to watch that in high school.
My junior year, we would watch it. I mean, the
lineman would get together. We'd go to Ryan's Steakhouse. Oh heck, yeah,
because Thursday was all you can eat steak, so we
go there, fill up.
Speaker 3: Great cut of meat.
Speaker 2: I'm sure that was absolutely the finest end of the cirlin.
And then we would go to somebody's house and we'd
watch Joe Dirt. That was our tradition every Thursday, every
Thursday for the Tyler Lee Red Raiders. Every Thursday, every Thursday.
All right, how else do you think we made an
incredible run to the second round of the playoffs?
Speaker 4: Y'all only made it to the I can't round of
the playoffs junior year, that's it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, who'd y'all lose to mesquite Le'skeete Skeeters.
Speaker 3: Wait, you lost to a team with the mascot the Mosquitoes.
Speaker 2: Uh no, the Skeeters of Skeeters. Yeah, that's short for
Mosquito mosquit Skeeters. They had a I think one of
the top defensive tackles in the whole country went to
ut I can't remember his.
Speaker 3: Name, I must have been dynamic if you can't remember, they.
Speaker 2: Put him that running back too. I don't remember anybody's name.
So at that time, my high school had never been
past the second round.
Speaker 4: This is my junior year, and you you think that
that school could come over to Shreveport evangel and get
a victory.
Speaker 3: Uh, my senior year, we could have how far y'all go?
Speaker 2: Then we gotta be in the semifinals.
Speaker 3: Okay, it's better.
Speaker 2: We should have won obviously. Would you lose to then Midland?
Speaker 3: What's your Midland?
Speaker 2: Midland High? They hadn't been playoff since nineteen fifty eight.
Maybeat us? Not Midland, Lee, not the second not.
Speaker 3: Cedric Benson went to Midland.
Speaker 2: Cedric Benson went to Midlandyuh.
Speaker 4: You lost to a school that had been to the
playoffs since Elvis dropped his first album.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then they got beaten by Converse Judson in
the state championship Taylor. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Did you at least get to go play like in
Cowboys Stadium in the semis?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, we played there after the first round. We
every year you play your first round at something like
the better team's home field, or maybe it was a
coin flip. But second round on, you were always playing
at Texas Stadium. Oh okay, all right, that's at least
that's cool. Nineteen fifty eight stats is probably something you
should forget. Don't tell people that again. I don't know
if anybody knows this, but that year LS won its
first national title? Did they? Oh?
Speaker 3: I thought I was so confused.
Speaker 2: I thought you were talking about I got it wrong.
Your face.
Speaker 3: I thought you were talking about two thousand and three,
your senior. I'm like, no, they didn't like you were
you were there. I was so confused. All right, somebody
that's never confused. He's always got a plan.
Speaker 4: The head baseball coach for the national champion LSU Tigers,
Jay Johnson, joins us when we come back here on
OTB off the bench, Hey, Matt, tell the people about
their sekies. Why I remind Jay that he's coming on
the show.
Speaker 2: Oh, you gotta send it a little reminder. All right.
Fourth of July America's birthday. We better way to celebrate
it than with a Mexican longer. Go stock up today.
You're gonna everybody's gonna go to their Fourth of July. Well,
you're gonna get together with family you're gonna get together
with friends. There's no nothing better to do than to
go for days. Go to your wherever it is, your
grocery store, your liquor store, the convenience store, they everywhere,
we know it. They got it, cool it down, get
yourself some ice cold lines, cut them up into slices.
There's nothing nothing better. Golden Mexican logger. And then they got
the amber. Whatever your choice is, go for dose. I'm
gonna delete some beers tomorrow, and I hope you delete
some beers.
Speaker 4: I've already got him in the fridge. They will already
be accounted for. You should already stock up as well,
be prepared for a party tomorrow, and go for dose.
Speaker 2: Time ago. I can still remember how that music used
to make me smile.
Speaker 1: Two thousand and seven Champs Purple and Gold to the core.
This is Off the Bench with Hester and Flynn, Baton
Rougees go to for all things Louisiana sports.
Speaker 4: All right, welcome back in OTB one oh four to
five ESPN, Betton Rouge and very excited for our next conversation.
Someone we caught up with every single week during the
baseball season, and now we get to talk to him
as a two time I'M national champion. It is the
head baseball coach for the LSU Fighting Tigers. Jay Johnson, coach,
We appreciate it. Thanks for hopping on with us. I
know it has been a whirlwin for you.
Speaker 5: Been a little busy, but the best kind of busy.
So how you guys doing.
Speaker 3: We are doing great.
Speaker 4: And you had look you have been because you know,
we were talking about it. After a national championship. You
see a lot of people Okay, let me go ahead,
take a rest, take a load off, let me you know,
reflect on what just happened. But that is not the
approach of Jay Johnson.
Speaker 3: It never has been.
Speaker 4: I mean, you have been working towards next year's team already.
It feels like coach since the moment that the final
out was recorded.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I definitely took a Sunday night to celebrate and
be with be with this team. It's just a crazy
dynamic that it's not avoidable. It's not anybody's fault. It's
just the way things all kind of matriculated and transpired,
particularly for baseball and the baseball schedule. It is what
it is, and you know that going in, you know
it was actually, when we beat Arkansas to not have
to play again on Thursday, I felt like that almost
saved us a little bit. It just gave us an
extra day not just to get ready for Coastal, which
was huge to have that extra day to prepare, but
to try to just hold serve in recruiting while we
were playing. And so that was good and set the
table for some things we're able to do when we won.
And yeah, the celebration was awesome. Definitely taking pockets at time,
like when I'm on a plane or something to watch
highlights of the series. But other than that, you gotta go.
We got some catching up to do. So it's been
pretty busy.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and really, like you said, there's nothing you can
really do. It's not that you don't want to enjoy
and celebrate with the team, it's because of the calendar.
And with the calendar, as we talked about the last
time we had you on, like the portal was open
and there was players that were making decisions. There was
you know, players that had already been in the portal,
out of the portal and gotten to their new school
and you're still playing baseball, and so like during that
entire process, coach, how do you make sure that you
your staff, everybody you're focused on the main thing, which
is to go win a national championship, but also knowing
that you probably have to start some of these conversations
just to make sure that when it does end, you
actually have an opportunity to get whichever players that you're
trying to get to LSU.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's a tough balance. I think we did a
good job prior to Omaha. We picked up a couple
veteran hitters that kind of have a dynamic that we
need for next year's team, so that that was helpful.
Then the Omaha thing, you'd really try to sell, like
turn on the TV man like this is like this
is this is what this is about, and you know
you want to be a part of that and just
hang tight for another week or so. And some guys
did and some guys didn't. Then that's okay, And yeah,
I mean I wouldn't trade Omaha for the world, and
I'm proud of our team. I think one of the
positives maybe this time around is we have a few
more guys that contributed to that that we'll be returning
than the last time, and so it's not quite as
much of an overhaul, if you will, Like I think
in twenty three, if I'm not mistaken, like maybe two
of the nine starters were coming back, and and this
year it might be might be four, might be five,
but it might only be three. But the young pitching
we have in the program with Case Evans, William Schmidt, Maverick,
Rizzy Cooper Williams, potentially a couple of guys coming back,
you know, hopefully Zach Kallen Jaden new like, there's there's
a really good foundation of a really good pitching staff there.
And just as our team proved this year, the game
is about pitching. So we'll find the right guys and
keep keep moving to the finish line hero the next
couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: Coach, I just want to start by telling you thank
you for a couple of things. One, you've made my
entire family like huge baseball fans. We all own proud
Runners of LSU baseball jerseys. Now we watched and had
such a good time throughout the entire run as a family.
But then at the celebration, somehow my little boy snuck
onto the field and was getting autographs after the celebration,
and you were very kind to him. You spent time
and said hi to him, and you signed his ball
and he's got a little glass case. I want to
start by saying thank you for that, thank you for
being kind to him. And I wanted to say, in
ten years from now, when somebody asks you reflect back
on the twenty twenty five LSU baseball team, how are
you going to how would you describe this team in
the season as a whole.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think two things come to mind. First off,
our motto for the season was tough and together, and
that was from day one of August. And I kind
of came up with that of you know where, I
felt like we needed to elevate the program and the
team from last year, and that's what they were I
mean through this entire deal. But the hallmark of the
team was consistency. And there was just so many points
along the way where you pointed to it and go like, man,
this is pretty good. Like I don't know if we're
the most talented team, even though we had exceptional talent,
especially on the mound, but we're doing this the right way.
These guys are doing this the right way. They're responded
to success. Well, they responded a failure. Well, they're motivated.
There was very few lapses in anything concentration, intent, and
that's why I'm just I'm really proud. There's a quote
from John Wooden that great teams play near their capability often,
and I really believe that's what this team did. And
you know, we're not just the national champions. I feel
like we played the best of anybody in the country
in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4: Because you know, with LSU had baseball coach Jay Johnson
here on OTB coach, one of the things you and
I often talk about is, Okay, you have this high
school recruiting class and you've put in so many hours,
so many days, weeks and months and really years into
trying to get this player on campus. Outside of actually
winning a national championship, is it the best feeling when
you get them through the MLB Draft or when they
call you and say, hey, coach, I know you probably
thought I was going to enter the draft. I'm actually
taking my name out all that hard work that you
and the staff did, I'm going to come play baseball
for you.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's a pretty good one, because the first thing
you mentioned doesn't happen without decisions. Like that, Like we're
not the national champions without Case and Evans, Derek Curiel,
William Schmidt, those guys that just did it last year
or Jared Jones returning, you know from last year's draft.
And you know, we just had one with with Omar
cerna freshman catcher who's a great player. Which man, you
put cater Embadie and him together. Not only are they
both great catchers, but they both have power and play
first base, DH maybe place third. That that's a really
big lift because there's a lot of questions right now
with how things are gonna shake out, Like we're gonna
wear it on the chin a little bit with our
high school recruiting class. There's just there's too much money
in this draft. Like I don't know if MLB got
tired of players choosing to go to college R L,
s U or what, But yeah, getting Omar through, you know,
to pair with Cad was a big deal and feel
great about that. And it's like, you know, thinking back
on it, like when you know Cason told me he's coming,
like that, that's how these championships and those things happen.
And same with same with a lot of these guys.
So yeah, It is a good feeling because you can't
get to that championship unless decisions like that are made.
And and hopefully we'll be fortunate, you know, with with
a few of them, and we're trying to prepare for
all scenarios. But yeah, I don't know what maybe League
Baseball did, but they're pumping a lot of money into
this this amateur draft this year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and to kind of piggyback on that too, I mean,
laying in a big recruit or getting someone to stay.
It's all validation, right, It's all validation of hard work
that jump put into it, the scouting reports, and then
what you put on the field, just like you said,
And another validation is when a recruit like that signs
with you, comes and has a lot of success. And
to that point, Derek Curie I named National Freshman of
the Year. What did this freshman class and specifically Derek
really mean to this team all year?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm really happy for him. He's had an outstanding
year and playing at LSU, you get a lot of attention,
and so he's gotten a lot of attention, but he's
deserved it. And then you know, kind of maybe narrowly
missed out on some of these awards, but that's the
one that counts because those the guys that know the
best and are most in tune with college baseball. So
to be the d one baseball dot com National Freshman
of the Year, that's the one that counts in my opinion,
and very proud of him for that. Just love how
he goes about baseball, like he builds his life around baseball,
and I thought that was well to serve. Now. I
liked your question too about this group. I think on
the twenty seven man roster in Omaha we had seven freshmen,
which was by far the most and very thankful for
that group because you know, we're going to really lean
into them and lean on to them next year and
then the year after that and expect some of those
guys to get better. And they a lot of them
contributed to a national championship team. I mean, like I said,
I mean Evan's freshman All American now pitched fifty plus
high leverage innings. William Schmidt was seven and zero. Maverick
Rizzy led our team in appearances. John Pearson kind of
became the right handed hitter we went to off the bench.
Derek obviously Kate Aaron Beattie. You know, we won several
SEC games with him behind the plate, and I feel
like he's poised and ready to take that deal over.
So really, uh, really excited, just really excited about that.
And you know we'll get another good class of probably
less of them to be honest with you, you know,
just the way that it is, but that's okay, And
try to blend it in with the you know, return
a few guys that maybe are on the cusp of
the draft or returning from our team, and then a
few guys in the portal and strap it on and
do it again and excited for that challenge.
Speaker 4: So coach, you mentioned William Schmidt there and has me wondering,
like you look at what Kate Anderson went from his
first year to his second year on campus, right, I
mean first year obviously he did some good things, but
the second year he explodes one of the best you know.
Speaker 3: Pitchers out there.
Speaker 4: Like so for William Schmidt with like when you see
the town you mentioned, he's seven to zero, right, but
he's gonna have a bigger role on this team. Do
you go about it in the same way as far
as developing the player, like Hey, here's what we did
with Cade, We're gonna do a lot of the similar
things with you. Or is like every player a little
bit different and you've kind of got your own plan
for William Schmidt.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's a good question, and I feel like we
have a few pictures in that boat, so like, I
think there's a lot of learning that can be done
for you know, William Schmid or a Cooper Williams, who
was awesome for us down the stretch. I mean, the
appearance in the Super Regional was huge, and I think
with both those guys you can take some similarities because
there are actually similar body types and good athletes, kind
of like Kate was. I've told everybody like if I
let Kate hit, I bet he would be a starting
outfielder for us. You know, he's a terrific athlete, and
if he wants to come back next year, I'll let
him hit two. So on the record, that's kidding, that's
the Nationals. Your ear up. You know, Kochesky is excellent,
and we have some really good plans you know for
for like I said, Cooper Williams, William Schmidt, Maverick, Rizzy
Maverick's going to throw up in the Cape Cod League
about four times over three weeks and get get on
the mound. We're going to send Cooper out to Arizona
to do some training stuff and then we have a
very specific plan for William that we're working through and
I'm really excited about that, Like I want to you know,
the portal is part of this thing, but I've always
been a program developer, program builder, and those guys are
at the heart of that. So really excited to dig
into that with them.
Speaker 2: So Coach Jacob and I we were both fortunate to
be a part of national championships and our respective sport.
And I was here in two thousand and three when
we won a national championship, and I remember the off
season for the two thousand and four season, so right
off that Coach Saban made it a point that we
all felt to let that new team understand that we're
not the old team. And it was the hardest physically
and mentally off season we had ever been through because
they wanted to reset everything, and he wanted to make
a point that like, we're not going to be complacent,
we are not gonna We're not gonna read our press
clippings We're going to work your tails off. And this
is a whole new team. So your strategy, you've already
done it once, but your strategy going into a brand
new team, a new offseason, and what kind of message
do you need to send it? And is that a
challenge coming off of a national championship?
Speaker 5: Yeah, it is, and I think we John Gordon, the
speaker writer ye become a friend of mine and I
actually had him help me with this last time, and
he talked about really clearly delineating this is not repeating
defending anything. This is attacking a new opportunity. And we'll
bring in a group of players that have not won
a national championship. So like, wouldn't be fair to them
for the staff the returning players to not give everything
they can so that those guys can be a part
of that. Also, I think, I know how hard this
is to do, and don't take it for granted. And
I said this somewhere like this just didn't happen overnight.
So you have to, you know, recommit, reinvest to what
we call our process of winning, and that starts the
first day of school. Like we start lifting the first
day of school, we start skill instruction the first week
of school to max out the days and opportunities to develop,
you know, because Date Anderson developing strength, developing a slider
like that just didn't show up in you know, April,
like he was in on that as soon as the
season was over. You know, the improvements that you know,
Jared Jones made with you know, contact with pitches in
the zone, like that was a lot of work over time.
And he's a talented player and because of that work,
being really deliberate, you get to those things. And I
understand that probably probably go overboard on it. I don't
think you can manufacture it artificially. I think the players
see right through it. So kind of what I do is,
you know, we'll have a ring ceremony for this team
that won the championship, and I think you have to
let those guys enjoy that or and be a part
of that and some of it otherwise like kind of
like what the hell are we doing it for in
the first place, So you have to like respect that
and at the same time, like when it's October twentieth
and we're in the fourth inner squad, like I'm not
thinking about last year's national championship, so it's just maturity
and actually feel like we have guys that were a
part of this thing that we're a part of. Maybe
the season before, which was still a successful season. We
won forty four games, and they know the difference and
we'll work accordingly. And there are so many positive things
that we can take from this team that are actually
transferable and translatable. But we won't take that for granted
because culture doesn't transfer from team to team. I believe
that's a big myth. You know, you have to reset
and re establish that every year.
Speaker 4: All right, there, he is head baseball coach for the
LSU Tigers, Jay Johnson. Good enough to join us all
season long? Coach, We can't thank enough for your time.
We appreciate it every single Thursday. When you join us,
I would say, like, enjoy the all season, but we
know the grind never stop, so we appreciate even today
giving us a couple of minutes.
Speaker 5: No problem. It's from the football experts. How many football
games are we going to win this year? What do
we got?
Speaker 4: Hey, we're going We're going double digit, coach, We're going
double Hey, we just got to get that opener.
Speaker 3: We got to get that opener. You got to start
out on the right foot.
Speaker 5: That's right, Absolutely Clemson, right, that's right, all right, let's
get it done.
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
Speaker 4: There is coach Jay Johnson every single Thursday here during
baseball season, was good enough to join us.
Speaker 3: Good? Let Jay Johnson go give give the boys a
little speech over there in ponder Rosa. I bet he
could fire a football team up.
Speaker 2: There's no doubt I may can fire anybody up.
Speaker 4: Because if you're a champion, I don't care what sport
it is, you got something to you.
Speaker 2: I just write this down quote, I love it. Culture
does not transfer from team to team.
Speaker 3: Does not talk about that when we come back here
on O TV.
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Speaker 1: Two thousand and seven, Shamps Purple and Gold to the core.
This is off the Bench with Hester and Flynn. Baton
Rouges go to for all things Louisiana Sports.
Speaker 3: Yalla Doll school Bus, Kick it up, Ran. What was
that quote you said you really liked it from Jay Johnson.
Speaker 2: Culture does not transfer from team to team. It does
not By Jay Johnson on Off the Bitch.
Speaker 4: A coach can create the culture and you can mimic
the the style, the way he goes about his business
of a coach. But I love that because every group
of people you put together, different things organically are going
to come out.
Speaker 3: They're going to happen.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 4: Like two thousand and six, LSU had a different culture
than two thousand and seven. A lot of the pieces
were the same, we just had a different mindset.
Speaker 3: The two thousand and seven football team that.
Speaker 4: We were a part of, I think for me had
the best culture of any team that I've ever been on.
Speaker 3: Like nothing fazed us.
Speaker 4: Now we were talented in two thousand and six, but
I just feel like we had a different mindset.
Speaker 2: Th Almost every championship team you can go back and
say it was just a little bit different for whatever reason,
and it's hard to even put your finger on, like
how was it different? Why was it different? What made
it different? It's just it's just the combination and a
group of people that do something special and it's hard
to put your finger on why. But culture doesn't transfer,
but expectations do.
Speaker 3: And W hit that as well when we come back
after bench.
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