Speaker 1: It's stick Gabriel taking a little bit of time off,
Speaker 1: so we thought we would replace some of the best
Speaker 1: interviews from over the last several months. Please enjoy the
Speaker 1: best of the Big Blue Insider. Joining us down the
Speaker 1: Celebrity hotline is assistant coach Cody Fieger, Mark Pope's staff. Uh,
Speaker 1: and I got to warn you, folks, he is I
Speaker 1: was conson native. He is a Packers fan, as am I.
Speaker 1: And we will talk Packers football before this interview is over.
Speaker 1: But Coach, let's let's start with the Wildcats. Just tell
Speaker 1: me what was your first year like for you when
Speaker 1: you came to Kentucky. You knew the brand, you knew
Speaker 1: the history, but you didn't really know it til you
Speaker 1: lived it, did you.
Speaker 2: No? No, you know, it was kind of like a
Speaker 2: you know, Coach Pope called and you know, asked if
Speaker 2: I was interested and wanted to come, and he has
Speaker 2: like a dream, you know, and you know, it's like
Speaker 2: everything I kind of thought of at this level, just
Speaker 2: the people that care and how much they love it
Speaker 2: and the passion for it. The only thing that I
Speaker 2: experienced it like this is growing up as a Packers fan,
Speaker 2: you know, so that that's kind of very similar how
Speaker 2: it is growing up in Wisconsin, where all it is
Speaker 2: Green Bay Packers all day long. That's the only thing
Speaker 2: you care about. And that's what Kentucky basketball is is
Speaker 2: to this state and to most people in the country.
Speaker 1: You worked with Mark Pope at Utah Valley, then it'd
Speaker 1: be y you when he called you. Was there any
Speaker 1: hesitation or was it?
Speaker 3: Did he?
Speaker 1: Did he finish his sentence before you said? Yes?
Speaker 2: Absolutely not. I mean I was, I was all in.
Speaker 2: I was so excited and you know, like I said,
Speaker 2: it's it's it's everything. You want to be a part
Speaker 2: of this place, he joked, go ahead, Yeah, it's it's
Speaker 2: grateful for this opportunity and great people here to work with.
Speaker 2: And you know, I've been lucky to work you know,
Speaker 2: alongside him for for you know, twelve years now.
Speaker 1: When he was introduced, he sort of joked about how
Speaker 1: quickly his daughters said yes, because a move like that
Speaker 1: was especially with teenagers, you know, they're gonna have to
Speaker 1: leave their friends and all that stuff. Uh, but they
Speaker 1: grew up Kentucky fans because of him, but they had
Speaker 1: never been here.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: What was was was was there a Kentucky presence at all.
Speaker 1: When it came to Mark Pope working at Utah Valley,
Speaker 1: working at Brigham Young. I mean, I'm sure there were
Speaker 1: some framed photos or something, but how much did you
Speaker 1: know about Kentucky and him?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so, uh, you know, growing up, I would go
Speaker 2: to the YMCA, and I had a good friend and
Speaker 2: we would He was actually a big Kentucky fan, so
Speaker 2: you know, we would we would play at the YMCA
Speaker 2: and we'd end up pressing. Would be the only you know, fifth, sixth,
Speaker 2: seventh graders pressing at the WYMCA, just normal pickup ball,
Speaker 2: and we'd be like, so Kentucky d fence time and
Speaker 2: just like what coach Tino did it, you know, Kentucky
Speaker 2: a long time ago. So like I knew Travis Ford,
Speaker 2: Jamal Mashburn, like all those guys were guys that I
Speaker 2: watched and I grew up, you know, really enjoying. And
Speaker 2: then you know, I grew up in Milwaukee. I'm a
Speaker 2: huge Bucks fan and and Coach Pope was on you know,
Speaker 2: some of the best Bucks teams ever. So he'd be
Speaker 2: starting in the Eastern Conference finals, and you know, I
Speaker 2: was just kind of grew up like watching Coach Pope
Speaker 2: and and you know, it's it's it's kind of crazy
Speaker 2: how it all all ended up. But yeah, he talked
Speaker 2: about coach Patino. He talked about how special Kentucky was
Speaker 2: and the people there, and you know, when we're at
Speaker 2: Utah Valley, we played at Kentucky UH for a by game,
Speaker 2: and you know, you know, one guy gave him a
Speaker 2: sword when we were out here. We're like, well, he's
Speaker 2: the real deal. Out of here, man, this place is awesome.
Speaker 1: We're talking to Cody Figure, assistant coach under Mark Pope
Speaker 1: at University of Kentucky. And again, you grow up, as
Speaker 1: you said, a Packers fan in Wisconsin, but you're a
Speaker 1: basketball guy. How did that happen?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I just I honestly, I loved playing football
Speaker 2: growing up, but I just I spent so much time
Speaker 2: just loving basketball. I would go to YMTA every single
Speaker 2: day when I was younger. I get to play basketball,
Speaker 2: you know, after school. My parents just dropped me off
Speaker 2: there and I hang out and play basketball for a
Speaker 2: couple of hours, and I just kept on getting better
Speaker 2: and I just enjoyed it, you know, and love watching
Speaker 2: the NBA. At any time you could you could play,
Speaker 2: I mean obviously I had to shovel my you know,
Speaker 2: driveway a ton of times in Wisconsin just to play.
Speaker 2: But I always really enjoyed it, and you know, I
Speaker 2: love to talk basketball and watch it, and you know,
Speaker 2: I grew up around you know, Rick and Jerris, going
Speaker 2: to his camps, and you know, he was he was
Speaker 2: so great to me when I was younger. He taught
Speaker 2: me a ton of the game, and yeah, it was
Speaker 2: just there's just so many great things that made me
Speaker 2: enjoy basketball.
Speaker 1: How did you end up at the University of Utah
Speaker 1: and not at Marquette or Wisconsin or somewhere up there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so Rick majeris, you know, former coach at Utah.
Speaker 2: He's from Milwaukee. Originally he would do camps in Wisconsin.
Speaker 2: So I went to those camps. My parents signed me
Speaker 2: up and I was I went there when I was eight, nine, ten,
Speaker 2: eleven every year for and Coach Majaris would always remember
Speaker 2: me every year. But like because I was, you know,
Speaker 2: the hardest worker at camp. I'd dive on loose balls
Speaker 2: and you know, take charges in camp, do all those
Speaker 2: sorts of things, and he kind of remembered me every year.
Speaker 2: And then you know, when when I turned fifteen, I'd
Speaker 2: go in the morning session or sorry, when I was fifteen,
Speaker 2: there was you know, the younger grade and then the
Speaker 2: other group in the afternoon, and he asked me to
Speaker 2: coach the younger grade, the younger group. So I was
Speaker 2: fifteen years old and I was coaching you know, eight, nine, ten, eleven, okay,
Speaker 2: twelve year olds, and then i'd be a camper in
Speaker 2: the second session, and you know, we just kind of
Speaker 2: formed a great relationship. He asked me to walk on
Speaker 2: at Utah, but I'm too cheap, and I knew I
Speaker 2: wanted to coach because I really enjoyed those camps. And
Speaker 2: you know, then he said, all right, come work for
Speaker 2: me and I'll give you scholarship. And that's kind of
Speaker 2: how I wound up there.
Speaker 1: And began as a video coordinator as a student and folks,
Speaker 1: you need to know this.
Speaker 2: Yeah go ahead, Oh sorry, Yeah, so I was. I
Speaker 2: was a student manager. I was with him twenty four
Speaker 2: steven every single day, gotcha for a couple of years
Speaker 2: and yeah, around them all day long. But I did
Speaker 2: every single type of job.
Speaker 1: Starting as a video coordinator, among other things. People need
Speaker 1: to understand. I'm sure you know this. Frank Vogel, who
Speaker 1: coached the LA Lakers to an NBA championship, began as
Speaker 1: a video coordinator, or at least that was early in
Speaker 1: his career at the University of Kentucky. So you know,
Speaker 1: video coordinators going to great things. People need to know this.
Speaker 1: And yeah, and Cody Figures now an assistant at Kentucky
Speaker 1: and is on our celebrity hotline talking basketball. And again
Speaker 1: another warning, we're going to talk Packers football a little
Speaker 1: bit later. But with this first year under your belt,
Speaker 1: tell me what it's like now on a recruiting trail
Speaker 1: working with coach Polk to put together the portal class.
Speaker 1: I don't want to use the word easier, but is
Speaker 1: it smoother now with the better lay of the land?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would, I would say, I mean this college
Speaker 2: basketball is changing every thirty seconds here to tell you
Speaker 2: the truth. But it is definitely a better feel of
Speaker 2: what we're looking for in the twenty five class, twenty six,
Speaker 2: twenty seventh class compared to last summer, when you know,
Speaker 2: I had to bringing a whole new roster in a month,
Speaker 2: and uh, you know, it's it's ever changing navigating waters
Speaker 2: right now. So because they have as fluid as possible,
Speaker 2: but it's definitely, you know, definitely able to see everything.
Speaker 2: The hardest part, honestly was we were still playing and
Speaker 2: then we were you know, the two biggest parts of
Speaker 2: our jobs were at the same time, and it was
Speaker 2: recruiting and we're still playing. That part was was complicated,
Speaker 2: and we missed out on a couple of guys because
Speaker 2: we're more worried about our team, Like these kids are
Speaker 2: like I want to come on visits this and that.
Speaker 2: We're like, we can't do that, Like we've we've got
Speaker 2: to do everything we can with these teams and and
Speaker 2: uh yeah, but that's that's that's kind of how it went.
Speaker 2: But we're really grateful with the team and the roster
Speaker 2: we have, and yeah, it's uh it. We had a
Speaker 2: better feel for this year.
Speaker 4: For sure.
Speaker 1: It was a tough season. In some ways it was
Speaker 1: rewarding and others. You had a nice NCAA tournament run,
Speaker 1: not as deep as you like, of course, but won
Speaker 1: some big games and Jackson Robinson goes down hurt that
Speaker 1: that was a huge wrench in your plans, I know.
Speaker 1: But then you had other guys begin to blossom like
Speaker 1: Otega Away and and Amari Williams. You know the thing,
Speaker 1: you knew he could play defense, but the things he
Speaker 1: did with your all's offense. I mean, what was it
Speaker 1: like watching this team develop and kind of grow and blossom.
Speaker 2: It was it was it was you know, you like
Speaker 2: you saw Mariy Williams have a triple double. Yeah, like
Speaker 2: you said, you just saw guys just developed, developed, develop
Speaker 2: all year long. And you know, Brandon Garrison, Colin Chandler,
Speaker 2: Trenton No. I mean, we can go down the line
Speaker 2: with every single one of these guys get better. Like
Speaker 2: you said, Otega Away, who just you know, we knew
Speaker 2: was going to be a great player. We recruit him
Speaker 2: at BUYU and then you know, it's a great, great
Speaker 2: transition here to Kentucky and we knew he was going
Speaker 2: to be really good and talented, and he just stepped
Speaker 2: up to the play eight and he was a second
Speaker 2: team All League and you know, if you got a
Speaker 2: chance come back, he's got a chance to be, you know,
Speaker 2: SEC Player of the Year.
Speaker 1: Or Chatting with Cody Fieger, Kentucky assistant basketball coach, we'll
Speaker 1: talk more UK basketball on the other side of the
Speaker 1: break here on six point thirty, Wlap It's Dick Gabriel,
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Best of the Big Blue Insider. Well,
Speaker 1: you're chatting with Cody Fieger, assistant coach under Mark Pope
Speaker 1: and a Milwaukee, Wisconsin native and Green Bay Packers fan,
Speaker 1: and he is a guy who has been out on
Speaker 1: the recruiting trail helping put together the transfer portal class.
Speaker 1: How pleased are you? It's kind of an obvious question
Speaker 1: with the group you come in he got coming in
Speaker 1: for next season. You carry over some some really nice
Speaker 1: players you're waiting to hear from. Will take a away,
Speaker 1: but strong freshman class, some talented kids coming through the portal.
Speaker 1: You got to be really excited.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm really excited. And you know, we talk to
Speaker 2: these kids every day, every other day right now, and
Speaker 2: they're really excited to represent Kentucky. And that's that's the
Speaker 2: part that's really exciting that they want to come here
Speaker 2: and just be a part of this program and you know,
Speaker 2: our goals within the National Championship. But yeah, we're really
Speaker 2: excited about these kids. They're hard workers, they want to
Speaker 2: get to the league and they want to win a
Speaker 2: championship here. So really fun group of kids. We had
Speaker 2: them all come on a visit kind of together at
Speaker 2: least four of them, and spend a lot of time
Speaker 2: with their friends, their family and and yeah, it's a
Speaker 2: great group of kids.
Speaker 1: We mentioned earlier how long you've been with Mark Pope,
Speaker 1: and he has a really interesting style of offense. And
Speaker 1: I know it took a little while for the guys
Speaker 1: this past season to adjust. Do you think this group
Speaker 1: will better suit not that your last group didn't, but
Speaker 1: will better suit the way you guys play offense and defense.
Speaker 2: I think we're gonna you know, every year offensively and defensively.
Speaker 2: You know, we've kind of changed things, like we keep
Speaker 2: it pretty fluid offensively and defensively and what we're doing
Speaker 2: and what we're looking for just depending on personnel. And
Speaker 2: we'll do the same thing this year. Like we'll be
Speaker 2: in practices and we'll see you guys do certain things.
Speaker 2: We're like, oh, we got to add that, we got
Speaker 2: to add this, we got to take this way. This
Speaker 2: could be better. So every year we've kind of been
Speaker 2: pretty fluid, and this team will this team will you know,
Speaker 2: they're athletic, good pastors, good decision makers, so well, we'll
Speaker 2: do a lot of things similar to last year. I'm sure,
Speaker 2: but like I said, we'll keep it fluid and make
Speaker 2: sure it fits exactly what we're looking for. Like I said,
Speaker 2: we didn't know. We didn't know Mariy Williams was going
Speaker 2: to be triple doubles and different things that he could do,
Speaker 2: and just got to, you know, do our jobs and
Speaker 2: put him in the best position possible at the end
Speaker 2: of the day.
Speaker 1: Coach you on more than one occasion the decision making,
Speaker 1: you know. But that's true really in any sport, isn't
Speaker 1: it If you don't have to think about it, If
Speaker 1: you just inherently know, then you're two steps ahead of
Speaker 1: your opponent, aren't you?
Speaker 4: For sure?
Speaker 2: For sure? And you know, we spend a ton of
Speaker 2: time with our guys, We sent them a ton of film,
Speaker 2: and they want to be great decision makers. They want
Speaker 2: to be efficient. We think we're pretty good teachers with
Speaker 2: that also, So it's you know, it's very important for us,
Speaker 2: is decision making.
Speaker 4: We don't want to call a ton of plays.
Speaker 2: We want to we want to let these guys read
Speaker 2: and make decisions out there. And because that's the best offense,
Speaker 2: that that's the best players making decisions and making plays
Speaker 2: for each other.
Speaker 1: Talking to Cody Fieger, assistant coach at the University of Kentucky.
Speaker 1: He is a Milwaukee native. Fair warning now begins the
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packer portion of our conversation. But you mentioned
Speaker 1: earlier just growing up in Wisconsin and Milwaukee and everything
Speaker 1: is all Packers all the time, just as it's for
Speaker 1: the most part in most of the state of Kentucky
Speaker 1: uk LT. I grew up in Louisville back back in
Speaker 1: the day when they didn't play each other, believe it
Speaker 1: or not, so you could actually root for both teams.
Speaker 1: But it's a pretty even split in Jefferson County. But
Speaker 1: but tell me what it's like on Packers Sundays in Milwaukee.
Speaker 1: In Wisconsin, I mean, and I lived in Dallas for
Speaker 1: two years. It's got to be like when the Cowboys
Speaker 1: are playing, everything shuts down. It's got to be that
Speaker 1: way in Wisconsin, true.
Speaker 2: Oh for sure. So you know, like I said, when
Speaker 2: I was born, my parents put me on the season
Speaker 2: ticket list. Of course, so I'm that was the first
Speaker 2: thing that happened.
Speaker 1: Where are you now?
Speaker 4: And I was.
Speaker 2: I was eighty thousand away when I was born, and
Speaker 2: now I'm not Now I'm at forty two thousand, I
Speaker 2: want to say, so, you know, hopefully my great great
Speaker 2: grandkids could get season tickets. My dad's got season tickets though,
Speaker 2: so excellent, you know, so I have a chance there.
Speaker 2: But yeah, so that was the first thing that was
Speaker 2: done when I was born. And then my parents also
Speaker 2: bought me a stock in the.
Speaker 4: Packers, just like me.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, come on, there's not many owners walking around
Speaker 2: the city of Lexington. Say I want a football team.
Speaker 1: We are NFL owners, You are correct, So we are NFL.
Speaker 1: That's right. We're important. By the way, I also own
Speaker 1: a share, a micro share of a horse that won
Speaker 1: the Kentucky Derby, So I'm not just an NFL owner,
Speaker 1: but a Kentucky Derby owner. So winner.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, graduating a.
Speaker 1: Pretty important guy coach sitting in here in my in
Speaker 1: my garage, recording this conversation. Uh, favorite player, favorite Packers
Speaker 1: player or players? Growing up?
Speaker 2: I mean, Brett Farb was my hero, right And you know,
Speaker 2: there's this new documentary that just came out yesterday and
Speaker 2: I'm about fifteen minutes into it and I don't know
Speaker 2: if I want to finish it because talking about his
Speaker 2: good stuff right now, right, But I love him, you know,
Speaker 2: Robert Brookes, you know, you know Sterling Sharp, you know.
Speaker 1: Defense, Reggie White, there you girls.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Clay Matthews. I mean, there's so many, so many
Speaker 2: greats that you know that I enjoyed for years.
Speaker 1: I have a Clay Matthews Jersey believe it or not.
Speaker 4: Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 1: No, he was, you know, and and Reggie. You know,
Speaker 1: I've been to Green Bay once and I remember I
Speaker 1: flew in with my buddies. We're all Packer fans, and
Speaker 1: we flew directly into Green Bay. We didn't fly and
Speaker 1: then drive, and I purposely looked out the window and
Speaker 1: thought about Reggie White, because, as you know, when Reggie
Speaker 1: White signed, people followed because he couldn't signed anywhere, but
Speaker 1: he signs with a little bitty Green Bay, And I thought,
Speaker 1: what must it be have been like for Reggie White?
Speaker 1: But then he was a boy from Tennessee, so it
Speaker 1: wasn't that big a deal, you know. So but I'm
Speaker 1: thinking when he flew into Green Bay and was looking around,
Speaker 1: and as you know, when you find a Green Bay man,
Speaker 1: it's farmland surrounding this tiny little city. But excellence followed,
Speaker 1: and the Super Bowl followed as well a few minutes
Speaker 1: left of Cody figure. We are talking about our beloved
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers. By the way, my favorite player I
Speaker 1: got some years on you, Mine was Bart Starr And
Speaker 1: so my dog's name is bark Starr. She's laying right here.
Speaker 1: But it's just it's such a generational thing, just like
Speaker 1: Kentucky basketball, isn't it. I mean, you talk to any
Speaker 1: Kentucky fan, whatever the age, and from their generation, they've
Speaker 1: got favorites. And now you've got kids who wanted to
Speaker 1: be John Wall and it wasn't that long ago John
Speaker 1: Wall was at Kentucky. But it doesn't make it's got
Speaker 1: to make you feel like it's all one and the same.
Speaker 1: Am I right?
Speaker 5: Oh for sure?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I got you know, Trent Now showed
Speaker 2: me a picture of him with John Walla. I'm like, wow,
Speaker 2: it looks like six seven years old. I'm like, this
Speaker 2: is this is insane? You know, it's crazy.
Speaker 5: It's crazy.
Speaker 2: Uh, next time, Well, if you do go up to
Speaker 2: Packer game. My dad's got season tickets, like I said,
Speaker 2: and the tailgates. He's missed like four home games in
Speaker 2: like forty years or something like that. So wow, you
Speaker 2: got to you gotta go up there and uh and
Speaker 2: start tailgating with him at seven am if the games
Speaker 2: at noon, and then you know, the games at three.
Speaker 2: He starts tailgating five hours before, so of course right
Speaker 2: across the street from Lambeau. It's it's a it's a great.
Speaker 1: Setup, you know, tailgating and the NFL is a real art.
Speaker 1: I mean it's pretty good at Kentucky and the SEC,
Speaker 1: but it's it's nothing like the NFL, I don't think,
Speaker 1: and I think the Packer tailgate and you know what,
Speaker 1: you may have seen this. I've seen the Packers once
Speaker 1: in Green Bay, but I've seen him in Nashville, Cincinnati, Dallas,
Speaker 1: a couple other cities, and Packer fans, as you know,
Speaker 1: are everywhere. We're everywhere. And and so it's the tailgating,
Speaker 1: isn't it yep?
Speaker 4: Yep? Yeah, oh for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Like I went to UH. I took my son to
Speaker 2: his first Packer game a couple of years ago into
Speaker 2: Edinburgh and good retailgated and had a great time and
Speaker 2: you know it was perfect Patch and some other friends
Speaker 2: out there. So yeah, well it's so similar to Kentucky
Speaker 2: basketball man, it's so similar.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, speaking of sons and Brett Farv. My son's
Speaker 1: team is the Denver Broncos because when we played them
Speaker 1: in the Super Bowl, I spent that week on the
Speaker 1: radio ragging about how we were gonna win. I was
Speaker 1: very obnoxious. So my son, being being a contrarian, he
Speaker 1: decided he was going to root for whoever the Packers
Speaker 1: were playing. It happened to be the Broncos, and of
Speaker 1: course they beat us, so I have to and I've
Speaker 1: actually purchased Broncos gear for him for Christmas. I hate
Speaker 1: to admit, but you know, you got you gotta be
Speaker 1: an honorable know.
Speaker 2: Yeah you're good, dad, Yeah you're good.
Speaker 1: But when my first granddaughter was born, you know, she
Speaker 1: got a Green Bay Packers doll and that did not
Speaker 1: sit well with with her parents. So anyway, it's you can.
Speaker 1: I got to be the subjective journalist, but when it
Speaker 1: comes to the Packers, that can be a real jerk.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of fun, That's what I say about
Speaker 1: owning stock. Yeah, it gives you license to be obnoxious,
Speaker 1: which is so great, so great. Uh does your dad
Speaker 1: still live in Milwaukee or where does he live?
Speaker 2: Yeah, my my parents still live in in Milwaukee, and
Speaker 2: you know they're Uh, you know, my brother lives up
Speaker 2: there and they still go to Packer games. And then
Speaker 2: you know, I'm hoping going to get up to Lambeau
Speaker 2: this year. Just gotta check kick at our schedule. But yeah,
Speaker 2: they're still living up there and they you know, when
Speaker 2: the Packers lose, I try to give my dad.
Speaker 4: A couple of days.
Speaker 1: The smart does.
Speaker 2: That's the way it's always been.
Speaker 1: Smart smart. And by the way, I was overjoyed when
Speaker 1: Randall Cobb ended up with the Green Bay Packers. It
Speaker 1: was so great. And of course, yeah, the the year prior,
Speaker 1: our punter for the Packers who won a Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: Tim Mastay was a Kentucky guy.
Speaker 2: Oh I didn't know that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, And I think he team maybe living back
Speaker 1: here in Lexingon. So I find out, I'll send him
Speaker 1: your way. We're listening to the Best of the Big
Speaker 1: Blue Insider. More to come here on six thirty w LAP.
Speaker 1: It's Dick Gabriel. Welcome back to the Best of the
Speaker 1: Big Blue Insider. My business partner and I Tim francis
Speaker 1: basically the exec producer of The Big Blue Insider and
Speaker 1: a guy who was quite active with the group that
Speaker 1: stages the Mark Stoops event in the summertime Coaches for
Speaker 1: Kids event. We took a trip over to Churchill Downs
Speaker 1: to watch Torpedo Anna and Mystic Dan training and also
Speaker 1: to get the trainer, Kenny McPeek, who signed some items
Speaker 1: for the Silent Auction, And it was obviously a terrible
Speaker 1: day to do that. We knew that rain was in
Speaker 1: the forecast, just not this kind of rain. We drove
Speaker 1: through them monsoon, which, well, it was still there when
Speaker 1: we got to Churchill. And I spent a lot of
Speaker 1: early mornings at Churchill Downs covering the Kentucky Derby and
Speaker 1: Breeders Cup and things like that. Never have I encountered
Speaker 1: rain like this. And then when Kenny McPeak showed up,
Speaker 1: it is born. We actually get those barn a few
Speaker 1: minutes before he did. Well, he showed up and of
Speaker 1: course he is driven back and forth between Lexington and
Speaker 1: Louisville for decades. Literally, he says, I've never seen rain
Speaker 1: like this coming to the racetrack. And I told my partner,
Speaker 1: I said, I bet they don't send these horses out.
Speaker 1: Well they did. They sent them out to gallop. We
Speaker 1: watched Anna gallop. They didn't gallop Dan until later on
Speaker 1: in the morning. But in the driving pouring rain, a
Speaker 1: lot of trainers had our horses out and Thorpina Anna
Speaker 1: was one of them, and of course she's a pro.
Speaker 1: She's a pros pro. Robbie Alberato, who works now for
Speaker 1: Kenny McPeak three, he's retired as a jockey. He galloped
Speaker 1: and this morning we're gonna hear from Robbie coming up
Speaker 1: a little bit later on. But I had a chance
Speaker 1: to chat with Kenny after the champion Philly galloped. And
Speaker 1: remember now, Thorpeda Anda won the Kentucky Oaks last year
Speaker 1: for Kenny McPeak and the next day Mystic Dan won
Speaker 1: the Kentucky Derby. Such a rarity for a trainer to
Speaker 1: win the Oaks on Friday and the Derby on Saturday.
Speaker 1: But Kenny McPeak, a UK product, a Tates Creek High
Speaker 1: School alum, did that and we had a chance to
Speaker 1: chat about it. I talked to him a couple of
Speaker 1: days after the race. He was on the show the
Speaker 1: Monday after Kentucky Derby. Well we caught up this morning
Speaker 1: between the rain drops. How bad was that rain this morning?
Speaker 6: Yes, all the years, all the years that I've been
Speaker 6: training at Churchill, I've never seen rain like that coming in.
Speaker 3: Or while I was there, so it's pretty it's.
Speaker 6: Sunny in the background there. But yeah, it kind of
Speaker 6: puts a gamer on our day.
Speaker 3: But it's okay.
Speaker 1: See, how does it affect.
Speaker 6: Your work, Well, everywhere you get frozen race tracks, you
Speaker 6: get sloppy race tracks, you get different different setups. But
Speaker 6: and sometimes it's too hot too. You try to get
Speaker 6: done early. So it's a typical. We have to just what.
Speaker 1: Has life been like for you. I mean, you haven't
Speaker 1: been a low profile but since you won the Oaks
Speaker 1: and Derby back to back.
Speaker 6: Well, I've signed a lot of things I've got I
Speaker 6: think the memborabilia people have actually learned how to forge
Speaker 6: my signature, which is interesting. But but that's you know,
Speaker 6: that's an honor to do all that, and you know
Speaker 6: a lot of people want to have selfies and things
Speaker 6: like that.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it's been kind of unique.
Speaker 6: It's a long way from you know, Tates Creek High
Speaker 6: School or growing up in Lexington.
Speaker 1: I hear you on with Tony Kornheiser and you're lobbying,
Speaker 1: lobbying to do the Five Good Minutes on PTI. But
Speaker 1: just the fact that you've got a little more notoriety now,
Speaker 1: which is great for the sport, isn't it. And I
Speaker 1: know you're not looking to promote yourself as much as
Speaker 1: you are the sport.
Speaker 6: Well, you know me a long time when I had
Speaker 6: that good Horse to Hana Run years ago, my mother
Speaker 6: would say, speaking full sentences, make sure you take your
Speaker 6: sunglasses off, and you do interviews.
Speaker 3: All that.
Speaker 6: She always critiqued all that. So I've learned to be
Speaker 6: relatively well spoken. So they then you all tend to
Speaker 6: gravitate to me, which is fine. I don't know if
Speaker 6: that's well, it's obviously it's always good. But I think
Speaker 6: this sport needs more openness, more information out there, and
Speaker 6: the more people understand it, I think the more they
Speaker 6: can appreciate what we do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting because you know, kind of growing up
Speaker 1: professionally covering races, ran into so many trains. You just
Speaker 1: didn't trust the media, which I can I can get
Speaker 1: if they're not used to that. But I mean, you guys,
Speaker 1: you're independent contractors and you're promoting.
Speaker 6: The game right well, I think anytime, like for example,
Speaker 6: you're you're you're helping talk about the sport right now,
Speaker 6: and and and anytime people can learn about it.
Speaker 3: I think it's just better. I mean, I've always.
Speaker 6: Been open and you and I've known each other a
Speaker 6: long time and I'm not going to change that. Whether
Speaker 6: I won the Derby or the Oaks or not, this
Speaker 6: conversation wouldn't be any different. But it's it's real, you know,
Speaker 6: an honor for somebody to seek out your opinion or
Speaker 6: certainly care about what you're up to. And and I
Speaker 6: think horse racing really does need to be much more open,
Speaker 6: and I wish more guys did.
Speaker 1: That helps to have a superstar like Anna, doesn't it.
Speaker 1: She was galloping today in the weather and Robbie the
Speaker 1: first thing he said when he got off is she's
Speaker 1: the smartest horse he's ever been on. That's got to
Speaker 1: be a huge plus. As a trainer, I would.
Speaker 6: Think, Well, I've said to my whole time, it's for
Speaker 6: a long time, Sonny, get over here, come here. I've
Speaker 6: said to my team for a long time. You know,
Speaker 6: we were always one good horse away from from uh
Speaker 6: really getting the lights shine shining on us a little
Speaker 6: bit more. And and it really is all about stock.
Speaker 6: I mean, I've got some great clientele, and you know,
Speaker 6: we worked those sales really hard. And if you could
Speaker 6: come up with a horse like Mystic Dan or Anna.
Speaker 6: And actually, you know, Mystic Dan's probably my proudest moment.
Speaker 6: I don't know if you know all the backstory on that,
Speaker 6: and I don't know people out there do. But so
Speaker 6: I bought his mother. Actually the ownership wasn't going to
Speaker 6: keep her as a mayor, and I convinced him to
Speaker 6: and then I did the mating and then we fold
Speaker 6: her at Magdalena and Lexington. Wow, and he's subsequently born.
Speaker 6: We raised him, Yeah, we raised him at Magdalena, we
Speaker 6: broke him to saddle. We obviously raced him and win
Speaker 6: the Derby. And then I mean all that that most
Speaker 6: people are happy to have their fingerprints on just one stage.
Speaker 6: We had her fingerprints on every stage. That's probably my
Speaker 6: proudest moment is as a horseman. I mean there are.
Speaker 3: People that are very proud to fold.
Speaker 6: A mayor or, made it a mayor and raised a
Speaker 6: Derby winner. And I mean, look, I probably should have
Speaker 6: quit on Sunday after that weekend.
Speaker 3: Anyway, it's all good.
Speaker 1: How's he doing.
Speaker 6: He's doing great, He's in tomorrow and he's a horse
Speaker 6: that I think we made some mistakes with him coming
Speaker 6: out of his Derby win, we maybe shouldn't run in
Speaker 6: the Belmont in hindsight, His two races late in the year,
Speaker 6: late three year old, early four were in hindsight, I
Speaker 6: wish I could kind of have a do over there.
Speaker 3: But then we backed up and.
Speaker 6: We regrouped, and his last race was superb and so
Speaker 6: we'd like to think we're getting back in the winter
Speaker 6: circle tomorrow.
Speaker 1: We won't have a triple crown winner this year, obviously,
Speaker 1: And I know you've been interviewed about Bill Mott's decision,
Speaker 1: and it's hard to second guess a Bill Mott. I
Speaker 1: know where are you on the calendar and in tradition
Speaker 1: and should things change in thoroughbred racing?
Speaker 6: Well, I think this should change it, and I think
Speaker 6: it should be the first Saturday in May, the first
Speaker 6: Saturday in June, the first Saturday in July.
Speaker 3: You know, there will be people who would argue with that,
Speaker 3: but every sport.
Speaker 6: Changes, you know, I can remember, you know, the NBA
Speaker 6: Finals are over much earlier than June.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 6: Now now March Madness goes into April. NFL you know
Speaker 6: they've gone from I don't how many games fourteen games
Speaker 6: now they play eighteen. You know, so those things do change,
Speaker 6: and I don't think it's a big deal, but I
Speaker 6: think pattern wise, for trainers to come back in two
Speaker 6: weeks three weeks, it's not the best thing for the horse.
Speaker 6: In hindsight, I wouldn't have run Mystic Dan in the Preakness.
Speaker 6: I would have skipped it and maybe just gone straight
Speaker 6: to the Belmont. That's would have been similar to Bill,
Speaker 6: and I respect Bill for his decision.
Speaker 1: Why did you run? I mean you did? Do you
Speaker 1: feel like that was part of the racing lore?
Speaker 6: Well, he was doing good and he ran well, he
Speaker 6: ran second, he didn't he didn't embarrass us at all.
Speaker 6: But after that race, you know, look he was over
Speaker 6: the top, and of course we didn't know that untill
Speaker 6: he ran really flat in the Beaumont. But it's not
Speaker 6: the first time that's happened to any horse. I guess
Speaker 6: that makes the Triple Crown that much more difficult. But
Speaker 6: you know, look, in this day and age, I think
Speaker 6: I think it'd be better for the horse, and we're
Speaker 6: all worried about the health and welfare of the horses
Speaker 6: and to adjust that, but you've got to get into
Speaker 6: He's like like Pimlico to agree and Belmont to agree,
Speaker 6: and how does that happen? And that's somebody with a
Speaker 6: higher pace scale than me.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll let you go with this. People may or
Speaker 1: may not know you're a huge UK fan. Keeping an
Speaker 1: eye on Mark Pope's stable. I mean, he's got some
Speaker 1: some pretty nice stock over there.
Speaker 6: Yes, So so Pat Kelsey comes around. We've got a
Speaker 6: horse named after coach, Yeah, Louisville coach. And my wife's
Speaker 6: a u of L graduate, and so that's a little
Speaker 6: bone of contention around our family at home. But I
Speaker 6: threw L's down with Kelsey here derby week and Pope
Speaker 6: called me the next day and actually reached out to
Speaker 6: somebody get me his phone number.
Speaker 3: So he reached out to me.
Speaker 6: So I've gotten to know each other a little bit,
Speaker 6: actually facetiming over another deal about a week ago, and
Speaker 6: we were chatting and Gino's formal affairs got some suits,
Speaker 6: some formal suits for the basketball team over there, and
Speaker 6: I reached out to Mark and let him know that.
Speaker 6: But yeah, I'm gonna My goal is and how you
Speaker 6: know this, this is to do the widet mid court
Speaker 6: gotta happen. I wanted to do it this year's U
Speaker 6: of L game. I gotta wait next year. I suppose
Speaker 6: Pope says I need to win another Derby. Man, be
Speaker 6: all right, I'm here working right now, right.
Speaker 1: Thanks, Kenny, You're welcome. Kenny's a great trainer. He's got
Speaker 1: more than two thousand career wins. He's won virtually every
Speaker 1: stakes race you can win in America, breeders Cup races,
Speaker 1: He's won the Belmont, He's won the Preakness and the
Speaker 1: Kentucky Derby, and has his own racing app called horse
Speaker 1: Racing Now. And through that app you can listen to
Speaker 1: his podcast. And on that podcast, he picked this year's
Speaker 1: Kentucky Derby winner and he believes that horse will win
Speaker 1: the Bellmont. He's picking Sovereignty. He's picking Sovereignty to win
Speaker 1: the third leg of racing's Triple Crown. There'll be no
Speaker 1: Triple Crown winner this year, of course, But yeah, he
Speaker 1: knows his stuff, and in fact, I got to know
Speaker 1: him fairly well in nineteen ninety five when he trained
Speaker 1: a horse call it the Hanno Run. He picked the
Speaker 1: horse out of a sale for six thousand dollars, purchased
Speaker 1: the horse for the Monroe's Roy and Joyce Monroe and
Speaker 1: trained him up to the Kentucky Derby. And you might
Speaker 1: recall this if you're a racing fan. He trained at
Speaker 1: Keenland all week long, didn't bring him over to Churchill
Speaker 1: Downs and people were throwing their hands up and scratching
Speaker 1: you can't do that. Well he did it, and now
Speaker 1: the horse ran second in the Kentucky Derby. Nine. That
Speaker 1: was as close as Kenny got until he won it
Speaker 1: with Mystic Dan this past year, and Donald Run by
Speaker 1: the way, went on to be a successful stallion up
Speaker 1: in Canada. So despite the whether, we had a good
Speaker 1: time talking to Kenny and coming up next week from
Speaker 1: Robbie Albarrado, and by the way, we enjoyed being around sunny.
Speaker 1: The Big Yellow Lab was excited about something this morning
Speaker 1: and let us know about it. You're listening to the
Speaker 1: best of the Big Blue Insider. More to come here
Speaker 1: on six thirty wlap. Hey, it's Dick Gabriel and you're
Speaker 1: listening to the best of the Big Blue Insider. Before
Speaker 1: we were at Churchill Downs this morning in the monsoon
Speaker 1: to watch Thorpedo Anna. I had a chance to talk
Speaker 1: to Robbie Albarado. He is one of the winningest jockeys
Speaker 1: of all time. Of course, he retired back in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one. He is third all time as a jockey
Speaker 1: at Churchill Downs in Victory, behind only Pat Day and
Speaker 1: Calvin Burrell. He's won more than five thousand races. But now,
Speaker 1: as we said, working for Kenny galloping horses in the morning,
Speaker 1: we talked to him right after he got off Torpedo Anna,
Speaker 1: because before and after he galloped that horse, he told
Speaker 1: us she is the smartest horse he has ever ridden. Robbie,
Speaker 1: this rain is something else. What is it like when
Speaker 1: you're out there galloping in weather like this?
Speaker 7: It's a little fun man, but it's always nice to
Speaker 7: be on a battle horse, a really talented horse, which
Speaker 7: I was on this morning. I was on the infamous
Speaker 7: Torpedo Anna. She's special. She's the smartest horse I've ever
Speaker 7: been on. I've ridden thirty thousand race thirty four thousand
Speaker 7: races and maybe another fifty thousand more in the mornings,
Speaker 7: and she's about for all, the smartest horse I've been on.
Speaker 1: What is the smart horse to do? How do you know?
Speaker 1: She's smart?
Speaker 7: But like the conditions is normally on a fast track.
Speaker 7: She will try to get rank and run off and
Speaker 7: try to she can't, but she tried to run off,
Speaker 7: get really strong. And today she got out there.
Speaker 8: It was raining really hard. She's seen the track condition,
Speaker 8: I guess, and she felt it.
Speaker 7: She was very calm and easy, whichy'all wanted that this
Speaker 7: morning from her.
Speaker 1: You've ridden great horses. I mean a lot of the
Speaker 1: great ones are pretty smart. They're not all that smart, though.
Speaker 4: Are they. They?
Speaker 8: You know, they're not all smart. Some of them are.
Speaker 7: Are. We get a lot of coach that get honoy
Speaker 7: and stubborn some time, and then some bunch of phillies
Speaker 7: have got there, you know. Some of them more sensitive
Speaker 7: and you can't do much much on them. But uh,
Speaker 7: the smart as they're different.
Speaker 8: They're they're the good ones. They're different.
Speaker 7: They breed different, their they move different, they act different.
Speaker 8: They sleep all day long in the stall. And that's
Speaker 8: a good telltale sign of a really good horseman. Why.
Speaker 8: I don't know. I don't know why.
Speaker 7: I guess sleeps to their advantage. They train hard. They
Speaker 7: train hard, so they sleep well.
Speaker 8: I don't know what it is.
Speaker 7: Curling horses right, curling course of the year, so lay
Speaker 7: down all the time. Mindshaft another horse of the year,
Speaker 7: So lay down all the time?
Speaker 8: Swis skydiver.
Speaker 7: I mean I can name read off some gulls I've
Speaker 7: been on that they slate, they sleep all day long.
Speaker 1: Well, we've seen Thorpedia and a wind. She's she's the
Speaker 1: greatest female out there right now. How does being smart
Speaker 1: do you think help for when she's actually racing?
Speaker 7: Well, I feel like and uh, she can overcome quite
Speaker 7: a bit of in a race, and she adjust to
Speaker 7: if you have to call anaudible, she's there for you
Speaker 7: if you need to give her back a little more,
Speaker 7: get a ford a little more. She's pretty manageable in
Speaker 7: a race. The morning time she gets ranged. But in
Speaker 7: the racetime she's managed, but looks like Brian says, she'd
Speaker 7: just about doing anything with her and uh, they execute
Speaker 7: off other horse's mistakes. It's like the humans. They see
Speaker 7: what happens. They're like athletes ball players, right, they see,
Speaker 7: they see a play about to happen.
Speaker 8: They adjust. Then it's a great feeling to be on them.
Speaker 1: Kind though, what she like around the barn, because not
Speaker 1: all great horses are great citizens.
Speaker 8: Well, right now she's walking around.
Speaker 7: She's got a bath this morning, she gets pampered pretty
Speaker 7: good around here. Obviously, she's walking around the barn now.
Speaker 7: And when they put her install, she'll probably he's a
Speaker 7: little hate and she'll lay down, take a nap. She'll
Speaker 7: get back out for a while, leaning against the right
Speaker 7: side of the stall or a but to the to
Speaker 7: the gate, and she don'tt be bothered. I mean, she
Speaker 7: don't want to be bothered, so she does that, and
Speaker 7: she wants to be bothered.
Speaker 8: She'll be facing the gate here this morning.
Speaker 1: With all this weather. We're hearing about all the scratches
Speaker 1: for the race car today, which is not unusual. But
Speaker 1: a lot of you guys were out there galloping horses
Speaker 1: in weather like this. I mean, that's all part of it, though,
Speaker 1: isn't it.
Speaker 8: I rode for thirty one years and I'm from Louisiana.
Speaker 7: We're called mudbugs from Louisiana, and I hate it right
Speaker 7: in the mud. I just absolutely hated it. I mean,
Speaker 7: I didn't like nothing about it. It's hard to focus,
Speaker 7: especially when it's raining hard like it was morning. It's
Speaker 7: hard to focus, it's hard to get up. You know,
Speaker 7: some horses don't like it.
Speaker 8: Some horses love it. You gotta call it make changes
Speaker 8: you got. There's so much involved in the mud and
Speaker 8: I want to other things.
Speaker 7: If you come from way back in their mud race,
Speaker 7: I mean you get drenched with water and mud, and
Speaker 7: so you're about ten pounds heavier than the horse that
Speaker 7: up front. So that's when people handicap if they take
Speaker 7: that in consideration. Come from behind horse and his muddy.
Speaker 7: By the time they get to the stretch, you can
Speaker 7: have ten pounds more mud and water drenched posts of
Speaker 7: the guy that's in front clean.
Speaker 1: And some horses would just stop. They hate that.
Speaker 8: You can tell. You can tell right away.
Speaker 7: Yeah, you can tell in the post ray when you're
Speaker 7: warming them up, you feel and you can feel they're
Speaker 7: you know, they're not like they're normally or uncharacteristic themselves,
Speaker 7: and so you can tell right away the ones that do,
Speaker 7: like you know what, I goes to their breedings, man,
Speaker 7: that the breedings of the mud runners are like if
Speaker 7: you ride of curling in the mud, you can almost.
Speaker 8: Go to the window because they're gonna be right there. One, two, three, Well.
Speaker 1: I'll let you go with this. Anna is gonna be,
Speaker 1: you know, forever known as one of the greats. But
Speaker 1: just tell me about what it's like to get on
Speaker 1: a nice day just to get on her as often
Speaker 1: as you do. I mean, is it still a thrill
Speaker 1: for you?
Speaker 7: Absolutely? Man, We have a good communication me and her.
Speaker 7: I could tell every move she makes. I know how
Speaker 7: she's feeling. I know how she's felt every time. I
Speaker 7: can tell you when she's ad a tip top shape,
Speaker 7: when she feels the best. But I heard telling me
Speaker 7: what I heard talking to him and telling me I
Speaker 7: can feel her. She does little things that makes her
Speaker 7: like only she's got.
Speaker 8: Her ears for it. Her r's far it bounding forward,
Speaker 8: she's doing well.
Speaker 2: She's doing ok.
Speaker 8: He's professional.
Speaker 1: Trobby Alvarado. You're listening to the best of the Big
Speaker 1: New Insider. Our number two is next here on six
Speaker 1: thirty w lap.
Speaker 9: Then anything any such, stating the show anything can anything
Speaker 9: to anything.
Speaker 1: He's Dick Gabriel. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider,
Speaker 1: our number two taking a little time off, so please
Speaker 1: enjoy with the best of the Big Blue Insider joining
Speaker 1: us now. And there are only seventy eight days to
Speaker 1: football season, so what a better time to speak to
Speaker 1: mister Van Hiles, the former Kentucky offensive back. We talk
Speaker 1: a lot of football with Van He talks a lot
Speaker 1: of football with everybody because of the great work he
Speaker 1: does on the interweb as the coast of driving with
Speaker 1: styles and a guy who you know you hear himoned
Speaker 1: with Tom leach Man. Everybody wants your knowledge. How about that?
Speaker 4: I actually thought we was gonna talk track and fields.
Speaker 4: We can we can understand.
Speaker 1: Because that's going on right now and UK's got some
Speaker 1: all Americans. But before we get there, I got to
Speaker 1: get your response and a reaction to the move by
Speaker 1: the big dog. I mean, everybody's weighing in on it.
Speaker 1: Is this something that will shake the foundation of the
Speaker 1: uk U of L rivalry? What do you think?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 4: It's his football with me is like as a FA
Speaker 4: and form a player and as someone who can understand
Speaker 4: what happens with sports and how people move on, it's
Speaker 4: it's it's a bad move from a fan and a
Speaker 4: former player because how dare you go to that team
Speaker 4: up more? But as a outside of that, people move
Speaker 4: all the time like this is not the first time
Speaker 4: it happened and it won't be the last.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 4: This This industry and profession is so cut throat that
Speaker 4: either you're hired to get fired or either you move
Speaker 4: before something bad happened. So I'm not shocked it happened.
Speaker 4: I am frustrated with how some things that have gone
Speaker 4: has transpired in the past couple of years. And I
Speaker 4: don't like what I've heard from some comments that on
Speaker 4: the way out and and those are things that I
Speaker 4: highly dislike with how well those students are taken care of.
Speaker 1: Them, be a little more specific comments by whom bye
Speaker 1: By vents with with.
Speaker 4: Some some statements about our situation with the Dolphins and
Speaker 4: good sales, like that's your job, if that's your job,
Speaker 4: and that means to me, you're backtracking on how significant
Speaker 4: your your your fingerprints were on this program if you're
Speaker 4: going to have excuses that didn't need to be said.
Speaker 4: So there are some things that I don't like that.
Speaker 4: I mean, when you're getting paid probably one of the
Speaker 4: highest salaries of a position coach because let's let's not
Speaker 4: forget he's a position coach with some additional titles. But
Speaker 4: the the recruiting aspect of in my opinion, I could
Speaker 4: be wrong because I don't know how their their their
Speaker 4: process was. That that is a that is a coaching staff,
Speaker 4: entire coaching staff thing is recruiting. It's not just a
Speaker 4: one guy thing, right. So those are some things that
Speaker 4: that really brought me the wrong way this morning. But
Speaker 4: you know, once set, when you leave, and that that
Speaker 4: to me means that he didn't totally leave on his
Speaker 4: own the court.
Speaker 1: Interesting. Yeah, and it sounds like and the only thing
Speaker 1: I had heard, uh is that with Kentucky looking more
Speaker 1: and more at the portal, you know, maybe the work
Speaker 1: he was doing as and you're right, he's in a
Speaker 1: position coach but also a recruiting coordinator also associate head coach,
Speaker 1: which I think you can't forget that this is your
Speaker 1: number two guy going out the door, and not only
Speaker 1: that going to the arts rival and they, as you
Speaker 1: well know, uh, they recruit many of the same kids, man,
Speaker 1: And and that that to me is no pun intended
Speaker 1: a big big red flag.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's well, and here's here's here, here's my thing.
Speaker 4: This is where we're going to figure out some things,
Speaker 4: right Because I like Vince because, like I said on
Speaker 4: the locker last Wednesday, this was our press secretary. He
Speaker 4: was the person who got out in front of everything
Speaker 4: and it smoothed the faithful out with with his charismatic
Speaker 4: aura I would say, so that was what he was
Speaker 4: really great at. Now let's see what happened after this.
Speaker 4: Let's see how the recruiting goes after this. Let's see
Speaker 4: if we take a backstep since he's now have moved on,
Speaker 4: is recruiting going to stay the same or is it
Speaker 4: going to go the other way. If it stays the same,
Speaker 4: then that means that it was the type of process
Speaker 4: that I think it should be and potentially was. If
Speaker 4: it isn't, that means now we lost our, as some
Speaker 4: people say, our best recruiter. So then if we lose,
Speaker 4: if you lose your best recruiter, things should not go upward.
Speaker 4: The creation should be a downward trend. So it's gonna
Speaker 4: be interesting what this this twenty sixth I guess this
Speaker 4: twenty twenty sixth class is going to be as we
Speaker 4: get into the season, because I wasn't gonna say it
Speaker 4: that when everything happens. Commitment means nothing from these kids anymore.
Speaker 4: Back when I played, when you committed, you pretty much
Speaker 4: stayed with that commitment. Now it's to the hour hour.
Speaker 4: Are those kids going to stay with that that commitment
Speaker 4: already going to move on to another team that came
Speaker 4: in the last minute and offered them a scholarship.
Speaker 1: That's It's very true, but sort of the secondary recruiting
Speaker 1: if you want to call it successful in some fronts
Speaker 1: because of Vince Marrow maintaining relationships and the best example,
Speaker 1: it's not the only example, but the best example was Wandale.
Speaker 1: They didn't burn that bridge. He can seriously consider Kentucky
Speaker 1: because Evince went to Nebraska events, maintained the relationship with
Speaker 1: him and his dad, and then when he when he
Speaker 1: needed to come back toward his hometown, he lands in
Speaker 1: the UK and has a huge season. So you can't
Speaker 1: discount that kind of stuff with Vince Merrill, Like.
Speaker 4: You say, yeah, and I will comment out with I
Speaker 4: think that was Vince's recruit, like that was his guy.
Speaker 4: So in retrospect you can say, well he left him
Speaker 4: somewhere else and then go with Vinc the first right,
Speaker 4: It is the recruiting. And that's why I say, like
Speaker 4: he's the press secretary. That is a tough job to
Speaker 4: have and he did a great job of that. And
Speaker 4: with that, sometimes the perception is you are the guy
Speaker 4: and the only guy, when then that discredits all the
Speaker 4: position coaches who have to have a relationship with the
Speaker 4: recruit anywhere. I consistently tell people that this. In order
Speaker 4: for a guy to come to your institution, he has
Speaker 4: to have at least a decent relationship with the guy
Speaker 4: that he's going to spend the most I'm with, which
Speaker 4: is his position coach. Right, So if you come into
Speaker 4: a visit and you and Coach Collins don't jail, well
Speaker 4: you're probably not gonna come to Kentucky.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So there is something that's a little bit more than that.
Speaker 4: Vince being a charismatic guy, and that's the only reason
Speaker 4: why certain individual came to Kentucky. Unless he is your
Speaker 4: he is your recruiter. If that's not the case, then
Speaker 4: I think that's more to it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, I understand that, because if it's a guy
Speaker 1: who recruited you, even if he's not your position coach,
Speaker 1: he's the first guy who showed up at your school
Speaker 1: or at your practice or you know, and maybe even
Speaker 1: offered you the schollarie. And uh, and you don't forget
Speaker 1: about that. We're talking uh to Van Hiuse, former Kentucky
Speaker 1: offensive back and a football analyst. Let's say on social media.
Speaker 1: I was talking to Tom Leach earlier this week and
Speaker 1: We talked about the fact that it's going to be
Speaker 1: interesting to see, now who becomes a good cop. And
Speaker 1: you've done some coaching, you've been a player. You know,
Speaker 1: every team does the good cop back of the coach.
Speaker 1: Head coach has to be the bad cop oftentimes, So
Speaker 1: who does the player turn to? And it's been Vince
Speaker 1: So now I think that's gonna be really interesting, don't you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, now that is a good one. Now from what
Speaker 4: I've I've heard, I don't know is that that could
Speaker 4: potential to be Coach Washington. He seems like that guy
Speaker 4: that players will gravitate to. I think, to me, there's
Speaker 4: two guys that I can see and it'll be Coach
Speaker 4: Washington and Coach Collins. I think those two guys from
Speaker 4: the outside looking in. I could be completely wrong. Those
Speaker 4: guys seem like they're younger guys. I think they might
Speaker 4: be able to relate to the players more, and they
Speaker 4: seem like they have. When I've seen Coach Collins on
Speaker 4: the sideline, he's not that yeller, that guy who's gonna
Speaker 4: get who's gonna go after Yeah, it seems like a
Speaker 4: guy who's gonna talk to you and we're going to
Speaker 4: get to a solution via communication more than me. I
Speaker 4: guess a two style of communication more than a one
Speaker 4: stole of communication. Yeah, so I would say potentially could
Speaker 4: be those two guys. But you are right that I
Speaker 4: know with Lyn Bowden that was his guy. I know
Speaker 4: with Barrion Brown that was his guy. So yeah, you
Speaker 4: are kind of losing that that guy where Coachtus can say,
Speaker 4: you know, I'm going to get on this guy. Hey,
Speaker 4: just know that he's gonna come to you. This is
Speaker 4: what I'm going to talk to him. And now you
Speaker 4: have the information Hofere, we can just move this thing
Speaker 4: over after I've ripped him a new one, so to speak.
Speaker 1: He is Van Hiles. He is a football analyst. You
Speaker 1: can take in his work at the Locker four one one,
Speaker 1: Driving with Styles, follow him on Twitter at v Style seventeen.
Speaker 1: Back with moren a minute on six thirty WLAP. It's
Speaker 1: Dick Gabriel. Welcome back to the Best of the Big
Speaker 1: Blue Insider. We're talking with Van Hiles. We've been talking
Speaker 1: about Vince Merrow and one of your pin tweets is
Speaker 1: about in U case football recruiting and the ability to
Speaker 1: identify talent early and be one of the first to
Speaker 1: give an athlete attention. Explain to our listeners, it seems
Speaker 1: like an obvious thing to say, but why that is
Speaker 1: so important? Obviously got I said to seventeen year olds,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that Unfortunately, I think it's changing. But for me,
Speaker 4: it's like I'll never forget. When I was in high school,
Speaker 4: the first team that came after me was Southern MISSISSISPI.
Speaker 4: When and when they came after me, it was aggressive
Speaker 4: and they were the first, and I always held that like, well, now,
Speaker 4: why is everybody else coming to me when I think
Speaker 4: I was pretty good the whole time. Yeah, And I
Speaker 4: think that that tappened to a young kid's ego. It's
Speaker 4: tapped into something like you have been with me since
Speaker 4: they want and has never left. I think those teams
Speaker 4: hold a high level of gratitude for young men. I
Speaker 4: think it still does. But I think there are some
Speaker 4: kids now that have a brand on the front of
Speaker 4: the jersey that can always come in the last minute
Speaker 4: steal you from someone who has been with you since
Speaker 4: your junior or sophomore year. But that is a great
Speaker 4: thing for a kid to know that someone saw something
Speaker 4: in me before somebody everybody else did. So they saw
Speaker 4: the talent. And not only they see the talent, they
Speaker 4: were aggressive with their they pursuit of me and my talents,
Speaker 4: and also they treated me well and they stayed in contact.
Speaker 4: So yes, that that can be a big thing. I
Speaker 4: think back in those days, we identify guys real early
Speaker 4: and then a great and did a great job of
Speaker 4: having those guys understand that you are a high priority
Speaker 4: for us, and it's not going to take anybody to
Speaker 4: knock you off of that. That list has been a
Speaker 4: high priority of us, because we're talking to you now,
Speaker 4: and I think we did get a couple of players
Speaker 4: here because of that ability to identify talents.
Speaker 1: But as you've pointed out a couple of minutes ago,
Speaker 1: things have changed so much dramatically cheap among them. You know,
Speaker 1: I could be on you when you're a freshman and
Speaker 1: make that acquaintance and develop a relationship, and three and
Speaker 1: a half years later you want to come to Kentucky
Speaker 1: or wherever. But then here comes brand X with twice
Speaker 1: the amount of money. You know, and I know the
Speaker 1: guardrails are starting to fall into place, but that that's
Speaker 1: just got a drive recruiters nuts.
Speaker 4: I would think, oh, for sure, when you have invested
Speaker 4: so much time. Yeah, and unfortunately I don't have the
Speaker 4: boosters or the ability to offer you. I don't know
Speaker 4: the numbers were true, but let's just say a million dollars.
Speaker 4: All I can offer you is one hundred and fifty
Speaker 4: So and honestly, as a kid, how can how can
Speaker 4: I say no to kind of in your estimation at
Speaker 4: seventeen eighteen life changing money? My parents probably haven't made
Speaker 4: a million dollars in their entire career of whatever their
Speaker 4: job is. For me to make it in a matter
Speaker 4: of a few months, it's something that I could not
Speaker 4: pass up, and I would understand is doing that. But
Speaker 4: that also leads to the thing of as a parent,
Speaker 4: that million dollars is great at the moment, but it
Speaker 4: might not be great for four years because it is
Speaker 4: an easy situation of that team taking some of that
Speaker 4: money back and now you have.
Speaker 1: To go in the transfer for Yeah, it's a mess
Speaker 1: right now, but perhaps this new there's a commissioner essentially,
Speaker 1: you know the CSC. I don't know how how much
Speaker 1: attention first of all, you paid to it. Secondly, if
Speaker 1: you're optimistic at all, but something's better than nothing in
Speaker 1: terms of guardrails, right, Yeah, I.
Speaker 4: Think I like it for football, and I think it
Speaker 4: can't add some element of restricting of a restrictive plate
Speaker 4: like and drive it. But the only thing I don't
Speaker 4: dislike is it's honestly, it's gonna hurt the smaller programs
Speaker 4: and as a as I talked about work person, Uh,
Speaker 4: I'm a track guy, and it's going to greatly, immensely
Speaker 4: hurt track, which is to me, is the best sport
Speaker 4: because it's the easiest sport and cheap the sport to
Speaker 4: get into. So I think it's great for football and
Speaker 4: basketball and even baseball because I had friends who play
Speaker 4: baseball who couldn't get a full scholarship. About time that
Speaker 4: those guys get full scholarships on the entire team. But
Speaker 4: then there's the auxiliary sports that are really going to
Speaker 4: get hit, and that's something that that that I don't like.
Speaker 1: No, I agree with you, and they're going to go away.
Speaker 1: They are going to be programs and it's already happening,
Speaker 1: you know. So well, speaking of track, as promised, we
Speaker 1: will talk about it. U K's got some individuals competing
Speaker 1: in Eugene, Oregon. Have you ever been out of that facility.
Speaker 4: I have not, and I had the chance I was
Speaker 4: working in Portland. I was like, nah, I'm too busy,
Speaker 4: but yeah, I have never been to it, but I
Speaker 4: heard it's like almost impossible to get there though.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Eugene is not super close to Portland, but uh
Speaker 1: yeah there. It's just like why tennis is always at
Speaker 1: the University of Georgia. The facility is tremendous. I've seen
Speaker 1: it on TV, and man, do they love it out there,
Speaker 1: don't they? The crowds they get. UK's got a freshman
Speaker 1: Janet jakimboy A Memo who is an All second team
Speaker 1: All American. Kentucky lost a great coach to the University
Speaker 1: of Texas and then hired another great coach. You got
Speaker 1: to be really proud of your alma mater for the
Speaker 1: track program.
Speaker 4: Yeah and here and quite honestly, I know people don't understand.
Speaker 4: And the track program was really good when I was there.
Speaker 4: It was just wasn't given the attention that it should
Speaker 4: have been.
Speaker 3: Well.
Speaker 4: We we had two Olympians on the team when I
Speaker 4: was there, so it is great to see it still progress.
Speaker 4: I am elated that they improved the facilities because our
Speaker 4: indoor track was horrible. And people want to say the
Speaker 4: football indoor was was bad, but that track around the
Speaker 4: indoor was worse than the football field. And I am
Speaker 4: glad that they tryal and moved it all there. And
Speaker 4: I'm gonna say something crazy, I'm glad they moved it
Speaker 4: all there, not because of football, because quite honestly, the
Speaker 4: football team had enough room to practice. I know they're
Speaker 4: going to complain about the indels, but come on, y'all,
Speaker 4: the track was atrocious. There was no loan jump pit,
Speaker 4: there's no provall pit. It was one of the worst
Speaker 4: in the conference. In I half the brand new facility.
Speaker 4: I am elated for I'm glad that they're getting the
Speaker 4: just due that they finally deserve.
Speaker 1: Well, somebody told me back when I was still working TV,
Speaker 1: and I don't think I ever got a chance to
Speaker 1: do the story, but UK had a pole vaulter and
Speaker 1: that was a big deal. Hey, we got a pole vaulter. Now,
Speaker 1: I didn't even know that there was a dearth of
Speaker 1: pole vaulters, which to me growing I used to go
Speaker 1: to the Mason Dixon Games and man, I love that stuff,
Speaker 1: and the pole vaulters were the people, not the sprinters,
Speaker 1: but it was the pole vaulters that captured my imagine.
Speaker 1: I couldn't imagine flying like that, putting your trust, you know,
Speaker 1: and you're running as hard as you can and you
Speaker 1: jam that pull into that pit and next thing you know,
Speaker 1: you're fifteen sixteen or higher feet off the ground. But no, now,
Speaker 1: have you been in a new indoor facility yet?
Speaker 4: I have not been, But I know people who out
Speaker 4: there and they say it's amazing.
Speaker 1: You got to come up next time you come up
Speaker 1: for football, make yourself a little extra time because it'll
Speaker 1: bring a tear to your eye.
Speaker 4: Coach, I'm telling you, okay, I'll do that. I'm because
Speaker 4: it was long overdue. I just as a track guy. Yeah,
Speaker 4: it was long over you for a team up that
Speaker 4: caliber and in the best conference. So yeah, it was.
Speaker 4: It was. It was all way over there, all right.
Speaker 1: You're also a grill master. I mentioned this. What's on
Speaker 1: the grill coming up anytime soon? Anything good? Anything challenging?
Speaker 4: No, this is this is something that everyone has to do,
Speaker 4: and I I can't believe I've done it. I can't
Speaker 4: believe I'm saying it is. My wife has been begging
Speaker 4: me to real steak bites, which is just huge, the
Speaker 4: steak up and really that way, and I was like, now,
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna do I'm not gonna do it. I
Speaker 4: mean years and because I'm a traditionalist, eat eat a
Speaker 4: full steak, like come on, well, because she's not a
Speaker 4: heavy eater, and she felt like sometimes she's wasting steak.
Speaker 4: So you cube it up. And the best thing about
Speaker 4: cubing it up is you get the seasoning and the
Speaker 4: smoke on all six That's that's the best thing. So now, honestly,
Speaker 4: I'm cubing up almost everything. I'm going overboard it because
Speaker 4: it is. It is so great. So that's what I'm
Speaker 4: I'm really doing. I'm I'm cubing up chicken or the whole,
Speaker 4: the whole deal.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to look into that.
Speaker 4: Hey, real too, and you do individual ribs, it'll change
Speaker 4: your life. And that's crazy for me to say, because
Speaker 4: I'm a big, real guy.
Speaker 1: Life changing grilling from v Style seventeen And if you
Speaker 1: go to his Twitter page, you'll see a nice little
Speaker 1: picture of him and his family, but the background picture
Speaker 1: is what four different types of meat. Yeah, it's so great.
Speaker 1: You tried to talk me through grilling fish next time
Speaker 1: we talk, I'm gonna have you do that.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 1: Have you talked to me again about that? Because I
Speaker 1: just don't have the courage to do it. But but
Speaker 1: I think you can get me through that. But we
Speaker 1: are out of time. V Style seventeen on Twitter. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much. Great as always talking to you.
Speaker 8: Anytime you know that you're listening to the Best of
Speaker 8: the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 1: More to come here on six thirty w LAP. It's
Speaker 1: Dick Gabriel, welcome back to the Best of the Big
Speaker 1: Blue Insider, joining us now from his home over in Louisville.
Speaker 1: Freelance writer Tim Sullivan, who's covered the Cats and the
Speaker 1: Cards and when he was with the paper up in Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: the Bengals, the Reds, and Tim, welcome back. Haven't talked
Speaker 1: to you in a while. How did you enjoy this
Speaker 1: last basketball season? Because you know you're over in Louisville,
Speaker 1: you're keeping an eye on UK and both of these
Speaker 1: teams were such a delight to their respective fan bases,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's been a really interesting season.
Speaker 1: And then the.
Speaker 5: Turnaround at U of L has been very dramatic. Jenny
Speaker 5: Payne to Pat Kelsey and I guess there's a meeting
Speaker 5: today where he's supposed to get a big grade. Yeah, so,
Speaker 5: and it's well deserved. It's been an interesting year to
Speaker 5: me just to see how the nil and has has
Speaker 5: changed the face of it. And a lot of people
Speaker 5: wrote about how you weren't getting Cinderella's anymore because all
Speaker 5: of the players are approached at the major level, and uh,
Speaker 5: you know, there's tremendous roster change really virtually everywhere. And yeah,
Speaker 5: I don't know that's a great thing for the sport,
Speaker 5: but I do think it's a great thing for the
Speaker 5: players to be able to make a buck.
Speaker 1: Do you agree with that though? Do you think they
Speaker 1: errow the age of the Cinderella is over for that reason?
Speaker 5: I don't know that's permanently over. And I think there
Speaker 5: they're going to be uh some changes. You know, Congress
Speaker 5: gets involved and it seems like they're they're trying to
Speaker 5: make their way to that. But you know, I'm not
Speaker 5: really sure what what you can do to give back.
Speaker 5: I mean, it's a free market. The school did lost money, uh,
Speaker 5: and the biggest alumni basis you Wan dominate, And I
Speaker 5: think we just have to assume that that's you know
Speaker 5: that's going to be the case going forward. You know,
Speaker 5: word number one seeds in the final four, and I
Speaker 5: don't think that was an accident.
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course that didn't happen last year. But there's
Speaker 1: there's been more time for the player movement to take
Speaker 1: hold at in there.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I think that the spectators may not enjoy
Speaker 5: it as much because you'd like to follow player's growth
Speaker 5: in your program. But you know, it's it's hard to
Speaker 5: tell a player who has a marketable asset that he
Speaker 5: can't capitalize on it. There really wasn't any place in
Speaker 5: an American society where other than college sports, where an
Speaker 5: individual was not able to seek their market value that
Speaker 5: I know of it. I think this has been a
Speaker 5: long time coming and it's going to be difficult for
Speaker 5: some people to adjust to it, and it's going to
Speaker 5: change the landscape, and not just in football and basketball,
Speaker 5: but I think you'll see it, you know, trickle down
Speaker 5: to weather sports as well.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah. Well, and some believe that the only answer
Speaker 1: is to present players with contracts that lock them into
Speaker 1: a school for anywhere from two to three years or
Speaker 1: and obviously I firmly believed Tim they've got to change
Speaker 1: the portal to where kids can't jump in there every year.
Speaker 5: Do you agree, Well, I think you have to negotiate that.
Speaker 5: You know, if you're going to have a limits on
Speaker 5: player movement, the players have to have a boye center.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they have.
Speaker 5: Do you agree? And you know that that probably means
Speaker 5: that they're going to unionize and have collective bargaining.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I don't see that happening quickly, but I think that
Speaker 5: may be where we're headed.
Speaker 1: We're talking to Tim Sullivan, freelance writer over and Louisville's
Speaker 1: worked for the Courier Journals, worked for the newspaper in
Speaker 1: San Diego, Cincinnati. Uh, and as you mentioned, Uh, you
Speaker 1: know U of L fans had to be overjoyed this year. Obviously,
Speaker 1: I know Kentucky fans were, But did you see this
Speaker 1: coming at all? But Kelsey, I mean, he's a ball
Speaker 1: of energy and just you know, instantly liked by the
Speaker 1: fan base. But uh, people here were hoping for the
Speaker 1: best with Mark Pope. I don't know how many predicted
Speaker 1: getting to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament. But
Speaker 1: what about U of L fans?
Speaker 5: Well, I think you know when season started and you
Speaker 5: had a completely new roster. A lot of people would
Speaker 5: have been happy with a five hundred season after what,
Speaker 5: you know, what they'd had the last two years. What
Speaker 5: ended up happening was I think beyond anybody's expectation, maybe
Speaker 5: except for Kelsey and the players, but you know, he
Speaker 5: he had an opportunity here. This is still an elite
Speaker 5: program in terms of arena conference, fan base and all that,
Speaker 5: and it just it took someone who could wield the
Speaker 5: modern weapons of a player movement to restore it to
Speaker 5: something close to its former glory.
Speaker 4: I saw a.
Speaker 5: Odds, you know, one of those two early odds on yeah,
Speaker 5: twenty twenty sixth season, and I think Louisville Frank third
Speaker 5: is in terms of the national championship hopes, which struck
Speaker 5: me as wow, I mean, but it apparently had.
Speaker 1: Now I saw the same thing. It's got Kentucky sixth,
Speaker 1: which is just crazy. But you know, hey, if you
Speaker 1: want to lay a couple of bucks down right now,
Speaker 1: you might make some money in the near future. But
Speaker 1: it does speak highly of now. The reputation is being restored,
Speaker 1: and I consider Louisville of Blue Blood up there with
Speaker 1: Kentucky and Duke in North Carolina and it's funny you
Speaker 1: talked about how the fans love Cinderella's and they truly do.
Speaker 1: But I also find it interesting, tim, having been in
Speaker 1: the line of work that I'm in for so long
Speaker 1: looking at TV ratings, once you get into the second
Speaker 1: and third weekends of the NCAA tournament, unless the big
Speaker 1: name schools are there, the ratings aren't as good, which
Speaker 1: I think is curious. What's good for basketball, isn't it?
Speaker 5: Well I think so, and you know it's it's good
Speaker 5: for the players. You probably get a higher level with
Speaker 5: you know, as the talent migrates toward you know, bigger programs,
Speaker 5: but you know there is an adjustment period because you know,
Speaker 5: so many of these teams are starting for the scratch
Speaker 5: or or near scratch. I think of the of the
Speaker 5: final four teams, you know, Duke and and Houston were
Speaker 5: you know, primarily comprised the holdover players, but you know,
Speaker 5: Florida and Auburn not so much. So you know, it's
Speaker 5: going to take a while, I think, for people to
Speaker 5: get comfortable with that unless there are some significant changes
Speaker 5: to the way this operates.
Speaker 1: What did you think of the Final four that had
Speaker 1: to be one of the best you've ever seen. I mean,
Speaker 1: that was incredible all three games.
Speaker 5: It was certainly, certainly as dramatic as any I've seen,
Speaker 5: the collapse of do the incredible ending of the championship game.
Speaker 5: That was almost ready to turn the TV off and
Speaker 5: go to bed. Some of those couldn't couldn't quite pull away. Yeah,
Speaker 5: I'm glad I stayed up.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Best of the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 1: More to come here on six point thirty w LAP.
Speaker 1: It's Dick Gabriel. Welcome back to the Best of the
Speaker 1: Big Blue Insider, chatting with Tim Sullivan, our friend from
Speaker 1: over in Louisville. He's a freelance writer. Yeah, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: get back to the UK and U of L. But
Speaker 1: I got to ask you, what's been your reaction? And
Speaker 1: you were in San Diego for a while, but all
Speaker 1: that time, the Bengals, since you've covered them, since you
Speaker 1: were away, were notorious, if that's the right word, infamous
Speaker 1: for not spending money. And now they've spent half a
Speaker 1: billion on a couple of players or more. I think
Speaker 1: I guess you got to say three players. What was
Speaker 1: your reaction that when you saw that they're finally loosening
Speaker 1: up the purse strings.
Speaker 5: Well, I think that tells you how profitable the NFL
Speaker 5: has become. They have really more money than they can
Speaker 5: justify spending. For years, you got the sense that the
Speaker 5: Bengals were this mom and pop operation and they didn't
Speaker 5: have other businesses that they could tap into to raise
Speaker 5: their payroll. But you know, now, geez, the NFL is
Speaker 5: just printing money. And I think that the Bengals recognized
Speaker 5: that they have an opportunity as long as you know,
Speaker 5: Joe Burrow is in his prime to make a run
Speaker 5: and maybe finally win a Super Bowl, and you've got
Speaker 5: to fortify him with the right pieces around him. And
Speaker 5: you know, I'm kind of reminded of when I was
Speaker 5: covering the Bengals. They the drafted Anthony munoz Uh in
Speaker 5: the with the third pick in the drafts all of
Speaker 5: a sudden, Ken Anderson was not getting hit from a
Speaker 5: blind size and he, you know, became the league m
Speaker 5: v P. I think, uh he was eighty one uh
Speaker 5: and and how one key player can make it an
Speaker 5: enormous difference. So they're they're never going to spend like
Speaker 5: you know, bigger market teams, I don't think. But Jeez.
Speaker 5: If if you if you have a player like Burrow
Speaker 5: and you know the other pieces that they assembled and make,
Speaker 5: and you don't commit to trying to get it done,
Speaker 5: you know what what it wire you a business and
Speaker 5: you know the other factory there is. They're they're trying
Speaker 5: to make a push for for stadium redevelopment, and uh,
Speaker 5: I think I think that that plays into this a
Speaker 5: lot too. They're you know, they're trying to show the
Speaker 5: the voters that you know, they're serious and that they
Speaker 5: you know, they want they want to win as much
Speaker 5: as the fans do, which you know, I think the
Speaker 5: fans have not always been convinced of that.
Speaker 1: You got sideways with people in San Diego about a
Speaker 1: stadium and it just befuddles me, Tim, And I'm I know, what,
Speaker 1: did you why there's this constant need for a new stadium.
Speaker 1: They're all just palaces, They're all just incredible, uh, monuments
Speaker 1: to excess, and yet there's always that need. It's keeping
Speaker 1: up with the Joneses, isn't it?
Speaker 5: Well it is, and sadly there's there's usually another market
Speaker 5: that will prostrate itself to get franchise. And you know,
Speaker 5: as long as that's the case.
Speaker 4: You know, these.
Speaker 5: Existing franchises are going to use the leverage they have
Speaker 5: and the desperation of the the locals to to keep
Speaker 5: a team or you know, to attract the team.
Speaker 4: To to get a new deal.
Speaker 5: I don't think you will find any economists of significant
Speaker 5: standing who will say that that the subsidizing sports stadia
Speaker 5: is a good idea. But you know, it's an emotional
Speaker 5: decision that's not really a private one.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And and TV there's a term for people who
Speaker 1: buy advertising and sporting events, and it can be what's
Speaker 1: called an emotional buy. You know, either whoever's in charge
Speaker 1: is a fan of that team or wants to cash
Speaker 1: in on the emotions of a fan base. And you
Speaker 1: and I have careers thanks to the emotions of fans
Speaker 1: who you don't want to follow teams and things like that.
Speaker 1: But when it comes to putting your money on the line,
Speaker 1: that's a different issue.
Speaker 2: Isn't it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, And you know, the the history of stadium construction,
Speaker 5: you know, has accelerated dramatically since since you and I
Speaker 5: started in this business. Yeah that I think it was
Speaker 5: the Miami Heat that, you know, their arena was this
Speaker 5: declared antiquated and they built a new one like twenty
Speaker 5: years after the first one opened. Yeah, this is this
Speaker 5: is not healthy. And you know, I was there in
Speaker 5: Cincinnati when the Paul Brown Stadium opened and I thought, yeah,
Speaker 5: this is going to be here for a long time.
Speaker 5: But I don't know that it will last as long
Speaker 5: as Riverfront Stadium did.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good point. And I remember when there
Speaker 1: was such a controversy about rupp Aerna what should be done?
Speaker 1: And it truly had become outdated. It would opened in
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven or seventy six, I guess I should say.
Speaker 1: But there were people who were, you know, saying, well,
Speaker 1: all you need to do is take the roof off
Speaker 1: build up, you know, with no idea what that would
Speaker 1: have done, or no thought would it would have done
Speaker 1: to the shops around the Civic Center and things like that.
Speaker 1: But everybody has an answer. Well, let's get back to
Speaker 1: the teams.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: We're looking at spring football. You know, Kentucky's guide its
Speaker 1: open practice coming up with a pledge to rebuild the
Speaker 1: offensive line. You know, they get all these new old
Speaker 1: linemen thanks to the portal, and I know that hopes
Speaker 1: are high over on your end, of the interstate. What
Speaker 1: are they say in this spring about the Cardinals and
Speaker 1: what should we expect when those two teams play in
Speaker 1: the fall.
Speaker 5: Well, I think that there's a certainly a lot of
Speaker 5: optimism on this end of sixty four. I don't know
Speaker 5: that it's quite the same UK. I think the fans
Speaker 5: are a little wary of what's become of the program.
Speaker 5: But you know, I remember when UK was a doormat
Speaker 5: and now it's risen and it probably hasn't broken through,
Speaker 5: or it definitely hasn't broken through to the Alabama George level,
Speaker 5: and it may never just look at the recruiting base
Speaker 5: because schools have versus UK. But you know, people are
Speaker 5: not going to be satisfied with with eight and five
Speaker 5: uh anymore.
Speaker 1: And that's.
Speaker 5: That's that's going to wear on a coach. I don't
Speaker 5: know that you can expect much better than that in
Speaker 5: the SEC, given the strength of all those programs. But
Speaker 5: we'll see. I mean, I know there's some money in
Speaker 5: Lexington and they should be able to track uh some players,
Speaker 5: but I don't know that they're ever going to get
Speaker 5: the five stars that go to LSU or Alabama or Georgia.
Speaker 5: So uh, you're not You're not going to be satisfied
Speaker 5: with that, I don't think indefinitely. And and that's uh,
Speaker 5: you know, that's the challenge, and I I wish them much,
Speaker 5: but I think in some ways feels like a make
Speaker 5: or break season over there.
Speaker 4: But I could be wrong.
Speaker 1: That's well, I think you are, You're right in so
Speaker 1: many ways, But I keep reminding people to your point.
Speaker 1: The other schools aren't stopping what they're doing. You know,
Speaker 1: as hard as Kentucky's working, those other schools with the
Speaker 1: traditional infrastructure are still pouring millions into their respective programs.
Speaker 1: But so much I think is laid at the feet
Speaker 1: of coaches. You know, I think at the college you
Speaker 1: covered a lot of pro sports, much more so at
Speaker 1: the college level. You know, the coaches are almost deified.
Speaker 1: You know, people believe that they can make it happen
Speaker 1: if they're just a good enough coach, which isn't entirely true.
Speaker 1: But now college coaches, as you know, are general managers
Speaker 1: as much as as head coaches. And most of them
Speaker 1: aren't happy with that, are they.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 5: I mean seeing quite a number of great basketball coaches
Speaker 5: who've left the business because they didn't deal with it.
Speaker 5: You know, presumably that's the reason that you know, Shoushevski
Speaker 5: and beh on and on have decided to move on.
Speaker 5: But uh, you know, I think if you look at
Speaker 5: it objectively, say you're a five star high school player
Speaker 5: and or or an elite transfer portal player, you know,
Speaker 5: if your goal is to get to the NFL, where
Speaker 5: are you going to go to? Kentucky? Going to go
Speaker 5: to some place that you know has four first rounders
Speaker 5: every year? And you know, I don't blame the players
Speaker 5: from seeking that the best deal they can, but you know,
Speaker 5: it's unless you have a home court, home field and
Speaker 5: managed from being a Kentucky resident, it's hard for me
Speaker 5: to see that you're going to be compete with with
Speaker 5: Ohio State and Michigan and USC and you know, all
Speaker 5: the traditional powers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, unless you can outbid the other teams. And as
Speaker 1: coaches have said, players are looking for the bag, and
Speaker 1: if they're looking for the bag and you can provide it,
Speaker 1: well then you've got a chance. So but that's unfortunate.
Speaker 1: That's where we are now, and we have to leave
Speaker 1: it at that. Tim Sullivan h follow him on Twitter,
Speaker 1: you're still on Twitter. I should ask you at it
Speaker 1: that Tim Sullivan.
Speaker 8: Okay, not as.
Speaker 5: Active as I was, but yeah, I still will put
Speaker 5: something up now on there.
Speaker 1: Okay, weak people, good talking to you, man, have a
Speaker 1: good one.
Speaker 5: Thank you all right, kick any time.
Speaker 1: That'll do it for now. Thanks for joining us for
Speaker 1: this special edition the best of the Big Blue Insider.
Speaker 1: That's it. Good night from the garage in Lexington.
Speaker 9: Such sect, such status taping, can anything only sat sing
Speaker 9: to lack the dips them tinging
Speaker 7: The