Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue Insider. Dick Gabriel with you
Speaker 1: on a Friday, wrapping up the week with UK Football
Speaker 1: Media Day and the talking season in full force. And
Speaker 1: of course what everybody was talking about earlier today when
Speaker 1: it comes to Kentucky football was the fact that the
Speaker 1: program has to forfeit victories based on the investigation it
Speaker 1: did a couple of years ago into players who were
Speaker 1: taking money for jobs that they weren't showing up to do.
Speaker 1: They weren't doing the work, but they were taking the money.
Speaker 1: And this was all reported on back. Like I said,
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, it's taken that long for
Speaker 1: the NSAID to process the information and issue the report.
Speaker 1: And as it's all said and done, the penalty is probation.
Speaker 1: But also all the wins from the twenty twenty one
Speaker 1: season when they went ten and three have been vacated.
Speaker 1: You can shrug that off. I know a lot of
Speaker 1: people just kind of snicker at that. Some people will
Speaker 1: be mad about it, but look, they broke the rules.
Speaker 1: They were apparently as many as eleven players who did this,
Speaker 1: and remember Chris Rodriguez was suspended for four games. So
Speaker 1: it's a serious thing and it is a blight on
Speaker 1: the program's record, and it's gonna be an asterisk from
Speaker 1: now on. When you talk about the record of Mark Stoops.
Speaker 1: You know how many wins did he rack up as
Speaker 1: the head coach at Kentucky. But twenty twenty one, that's
Speaker 1: the one that included went over Iowa that you remember,
Speaker 1: So those wins have been vacated. But also, this is
Speaker 1: media day, so we will be talking and hearing. We
Speaker 1: didn't know about this when we talked with Stoops earlier today,
Speaker 1: but I got comments coming up from the head coach
Speaker 1: and his coordinators. It's all good now. Nobody's bragging, nobody's predicting,
Speaker 1: but the players obviously are excited and optimistic. They've had
Speaker 1: two practice days going into media days, so they practiced
Speaker 1: again this afternoon and you're already probably seeing video online
Speaker 1: on local TV stations from the practice. They opened up
Speaker 1: the practice to local cameras today as well as the
Speaker 1: SEC Network. So yeah, if you're a Kentucky football fan,
Speaker 1: it is an exciting time. Question is will your team
Speaker 1: keep you excited all year? I think it will. I
Speaker 1: think Kentucky has a chance to be pretty good, probably
Speaker 1: better than last year. But will the schedule allow that reflection. Now.
Speaker 1: Stoops did not field one question interestingly about the schedule,
Speaker 1: you know, and he always says the same thing. I
Speaker 1: can't control that. It is what it is. I've said
Speaker 1: all along. It's not the teams on the schedule, it's
Speaker 1: the calendar. It's when they hit that South Carolina game
Speaker 1: second week Georgia so early in the year. A lot
Speaker 1: of people like that. I kind of like to see
Speaker 1: a team get its feet under it before it takes
Speaker 1: on those huge games. They're all big, I know, but
Speaker 1: I think South Carolina is crucial this year. Got to
Speaker 1: win that one and a chance to be Georgia. So anyhow,
Speaker 1: we did talk a lot with Stoops and the players
Speaker 1: about the Wildcats and Stoops in general. When he opened
Speaker 1: his comments said his team looks good. They're in shape,
Speaker 1: and so far, so good in practice.
Speaker 2: I like the way practice has started. The guys are
Speaker 2: in very good shape. They worked very hard this offseason.
Speaker 2: Credit to our strength and conditioning team with Mark Hill
Speaker 2: and Corey Edmund and their staff. The players look really good.
Speaker 2: The coaches have worked quite a bit, as I mentioned before,
Speaker 2: a little bit more freedom and autonomy for us to
Speaker 2: work with our players through the summer, and that's evident.
Speaker 2: But that's going to be the same way with everybody.
Speaker 2: I think teams are going to be further along than
Speaker 2: they used to be, just with the ability to work
Speaker 2: with them some more in the summer. So off to
Speaker 2: a good start.
Speaker 1: And they're having injuries. You talked about that, Josiah Hate.
Speaker 1: It looks like we'll be at most of the season
Speaker 1: and a lot of that information coming out. He was
Speaker 1: kind of cryptic with one comed He said, one player
Speaker 1: you all will be looking for at a soft tissue
Speaker 1: injury and is not out there, won't be practicing, and
Speaker 1: I'm not entirely sure who that is. We looked around,
Speaker 1: put our heads together. If somebody may have figured it
Speaker 1: out by now, but at the time we went on
Speaker 1: the field earlier today, we did not figure that out.
Speaker 1: Of course, we're not the brightest bunch in the world Stoops.
Speaker 1: Of course, as always asked about quarterbacks, Brock Vandergriff, everybody
Speaker 1: excited about him. Appears to be the starter, but there's
Speaker 1: a lot of talent in that room, including the young
Speaker 1: man from LCA.
Speaker 2: We feel really good about the high school guy we
Speaker 2: took and Cutter. He's going to be a special player,
Speaker 2: but we want to give him time to mature and grow.
Speaker 2: But Brock has done a very good job and you know,
Speaker 2: we're excited about him. And then also Gavin, you know,
Speaker 2: and what he brings to the table, and he's got
Speaker 2: some snaps under his belt in the Big Ten. He's
Speaker 2: a big, strong guy. He could throw it, he could run.
Speaker 2: And then you know, it was also really good to
Speaker 2: bring bow back. You know, you've seen what happened in
Speaker 2: years past when you're not deep at that position, some
Speaker 2: funny things can happen. So we feel like we do
Speaker 2: have some really quality depth of deposition.
Speaker 1: I like how he called Cutter Bully, the high school guy,
Speaker 1: but really compared to the other guys, he is. I
Speaker 1: had a chance to meet Gavin Wimsen. He's a very pleasant,
Speaker 1: outgoing guy who transferred in from Rutgers. You'll hear from
Speaker 1: him on the Big Blue Sider, but talked about going
Speaker 1: from the Big ten Rutgers to the SEC. And he
Speaker 1: of course is a Kentucky kid from Owensboro. But he's
Speaker 1: excited and they talk about him in terms of a
Speaker 1: running quarterback, the Wildcat. But he told me, he said
Speaker 1: in terms of the offense. I like the passing as well,
Speaker 1: so we'll see how much of a shot he gets.
Speaker 1: When it comes to defense, Stoops talked about the fact
Speaker 1: that this team needs to be much much better at
Speaker 1: getting off the field on third down so the offense
Speaker 1: can get the ball back, of course, to short circuit
Speaker 1: the other team's offense as well.
Speaker 2: You know, we want to get continue to get off
Speaker 2: the field. You know, we did a decent job at times,
Speaker 2: but we got to you know, get better at third down,
Speaker 2: you know, and execute and get some more three and
Speaker 2: ounce get off the field. I'd like to see the
Speaker 2: offense have more possessions, more plays. We've talked about that
Speaker 2: with the tempo with the offense, but that goes hand
Speaker 2: in hand. The defense has to play well, you know,
Speaker 2: and get off the field. When we have opportunities to
Speaker 2: get off the field. We have to do that, you know.
Speaker 2: I think we were disruptive last year. I like that.
Speaker 2: I like the fact that we created negative yardage plays,
Speaker 2: we had some more sacks. We're getting some pressure, but
Speaker 2: we've got to want to continue to build on that.
Speaker 2: You want to continue to be able to when you
Speaker 2: want to rush for and get good great pressure.
Speaker 1: That's the key, getting pressure on the quarterback. Everybody likes blitzing.
Speaker 1: I've heard people say, you know, why do they blitz more?
Speaker 1: The key Iss Stoops has said more than once is
Speaker 1: can you get to the quarterback? Can you create pressure
Speaker 1: without blitzing, without putting yourself in a week in State
Speaker 1: in your back seven? Remember when Josh Allen was here,
Speaker 1: they always said pressure on the quarterback, or at least
Speaker 1: it was perceived that they had pressure because he was
Speaker 1: crashing off the edge. And of course Dion Walker is
Speaker 1: going to be a huge plus again literally for this team.
Speaker 1: But pressure on the quarterback. And I asked Brad White
Speaker 1: about this last year. You like sacks, you like TFLs,
Speaker 1: but it's the hurries of the quarterback that sometimes are
Speaker 1: even more damaging than sacks. Yeah, you want, you like
Speaker 1: getting the down, you like it in the yardage, but
Speaker 1: a hurry can force the quarterback into making a mistake
Speaker 1: and throwing an interception. So that's got to be better.
Speaker 1: But it's really got to be better on third down.
Speaker 1: And of course, the most painful memory for fans, for
Speaker 1: people covering the game, and especially the players and coaches
Speaker 1: was the Clemson game and the ball game, couldn't get
Speaker 1: off the field, you know, kept killing themselves with turnovers,
Speaker 1: but then on the stretch, couldn't get off the field.
Speaker 1: Injuries and fatigue and all that and cost Kentucky the
Speaker 1: game when it comes to getting off the field. Brad White,
Speaker 1: that was one of the first comments he made was
Speaker 1: that's probably at the top of his bucket.
Speaker 3: List, specifically towards the back end of the season. Third
Speaker 3: and long situation, especially extra long, you know, was an
Speaker 3: area that historically, if you look, we've been we've been
Speaker 3: really good, and we were not, you know, not anywhere
Speaker 3: close to the standard that we need to be at,
Speaker 3: you know, and it cost us, you know, and when
Speaker 3: you give up third downs, you extend drives, you know,
Speaker 3: and extended drives leads to points, it leads to less
Speaker 3: opportunities for the offense. So obviously that was that's going
Speaker 3: to be a primary focus again. You know, the year
Speaker 3: before in twenty two was sort of our best year
Speaker 3: ever in third down defense, and there's a correlation to
Speaker 3: how what we played as a defense.
Speaker 1: So we need to get yes they do and give
Speaker 1: the ball back to the offense. The last thing Stoop
Speaker 1: said during his twenty minutes with us today was and
Speaker 1: he wanted to drive the point home. He said, when
Speaker 1: it comes to the offense and the tempo, we are
Speaker 1: not going to be an up tempo offense in the
Speaker 1: form of Tennessee or Ole Miss the jail what I
Speaker 1: call the jail break offenses. You know, the ones that
Speaker 1: where the lineman race to the line of scrimmage and
Speaker 1: don't give the defense a chance to set up, and
Speaker 1: the quick hits and things like that. Now you already
Speaker 1: know this from when he hired Hamden and really going
Speaker 1: back to when Liam Cohen was still here, Stoops really
Speaker 1: really wants more tempo in the offense to give more
Speaker 1: people a chance to touch the ball, to move the chains.
Speaker 1: He doesn't want to see the play clock winding down
Speaker 1: three two, one zero and Bush Hamden feels the same way,
Speaker 1: although he kind of kidded us a little bit when
Speaker 1: it came to tempo. We're going to.
Speaker 4: Run one hundred plays a game and be the fastest
Speaker 4: offense in the country. So oh, man, I think I lose,
Speaker 4: you know, lose sleep over the tempo question, and you
Speaker 4: guys come in here and asking me, I think the
Speaker 4: biggest thing this is with tempo in our systems that
Speaker 4: we've had. Again, if you go back to the tape, right,
Speaker 4: I think about last year at Memphis, we get down,
Speaker 4: we've got the ability. I think we put seventeen points
Speaker 4: up in like seven minutes because we have the ability
Speaker 4: to play extremely fast. We always want to be somewhere
Speaker 4: in the middle. And what that means is have the flexibility,
Speaker 4: depending on how the game's going to do whatever it
Speaker 4: takes to win the football game. And I think that's
Speaker 4: important for us all to know. For me, the checklist
Speaker 4: in fall camp is we got periods where we are
Speaker 4: playing as fast as anybody in the country. One word
Speaker 4: plays getting up there, snapping the ball within seven seconds.
Speaker 4: We also have that focus where we can huddle, operate, execute,
Speaker 4: take time off the clock.
Speaker 1: That's the balance that Mark steps has talked about really
Speaker 1: from day one since he got here, and he talked
Speaker 1: about it quite a bit in Dallas at media days
Speaker 1: and again today, and Bush Hampden knows this. Everybody wants
Speaker 1: to see the ball flying through the air, but more
Speaker 1: than anything, everybody wants to see points on the scoreboard.
Speaker 1: So you got to keep moving the chains. Now, who's
Speaker 1: going to be taking his snaps who's going to be
Speaker 1: triggering that offense. Well, we know, as we said earlier,
Speaker 1: Brock Vandergrip seems to be the number one candidate and
Speaker 1: he likely will be the starter, but you just don't know.
Speaker 1: Hampton has said Brock has looked good so far.
Speaker 4: A smart, smart player, tough, can run all those things. Again,
Speaker 4: I think we've had success with, probably in the last
Speaker 4: three to five years, a guy like Brady Cook at Missouri.
Speaker 4: You see what his skill set looks like, what Taylor
Speaker 4: Green did last year at Boise Maddix s Matthson. We
Speaker 4: think he's right in the mold of a guy we
Speaker 4: like for the system.
Speaker 1: Whenever you're asking oc about his quarterback, he inevitably mentions
Speaker 1: all of them. You'll see he's usually the QB coach.
Speaker 1: And I know Henshaw did this when he was here,
Speaker 1: and he Grant did this, Liam Cohen did this. But
Speaker 1: keep in mind that in twenty nineteen you could talk
Speaker 1: about all those guys, they all ended up hurt. Lynn
Speaker 1: Bowden was a QB. So you got to get everybody ready.
Speaker 1: And keep in mind as well, Stephen Johnson was ready
Speaker 1: when Drew Barker went down and Stephen Johnson got his
Speaker 1: chance and made the most of it. So yeah, they
Speaker 1: got to have every quarterback ready because as Vandergriff said
Speaker 1: earlier today, he said, you're an ankle away from being
Speaker 1: a starter when you're the backup. And that's the way
Speaker 1: he approached his job down at Georgia. But he said
Speaker 1: it was time to play football, so he transferred to Kentucky.
Speaker 1: One other Stoops comment before we hit the brake, somebody
Speaker 1: brought up the fact that Stoops is and he brought
Speaker 1: it up as well in Dallas the longest tenured coach
Speaker 1: in the SEC. We know this his twelfth year and
Speaker 1: it's amazing when you think about that, that it's Mark
Speaker 1: Stoops at Kentucky. That's how coaches have come and gone
Speaker 1: now with Saban retiring. But there's a question put to
Speaker 1: Stoops about the fact that it's It seems rather surprising, yes,
Speaker 1: but it's a job where he said to learn every day,
Speaker 1: Mark twelve years is not to call you old.
Speaker 5: But that's a long time.
Speaker 2: It's bell, No, you can't.
Speaker 1: It's about the sport.
Speaker 3: Obviously, it's changing so much, and then the rule changes
Speaker 3: college athletics as the whole.
Speaker 1: Does it ever surprise you how much you still have
Speaker 1: to learn.
Speaker 2: No, No, that doesn't, it doesn't. You know that's been
Speaker 2: that way, you know since day one when you walk
Speaker 2: in here. I said it, you know, twelve years ago,
Speaker 2: through some ups and some downs and mostly downs early on,
Speaker 2: but that I was prepared for. I knew what I
Speaker 2: was getting into. That doesn't mean that it's easy. That
Speaker 2: doesn't mean that you take it all in stride. Every
Speaker 2: day you walk in there, there's a new new challenge
Speaker 2: or you know, something you have to deal with, and
Speaker 2: I embrace that. You know, there's young men that are
Speaker 2: going through things in there that need counseling, that need talk,
Speaker 2: you know, to that you you got to put your
Speaker 2: arm around. Sometimes you got to push them when they
Speaker 2: don't want to be pushed. And I love that part
Speaker 2: of it. And so there's just different challenges each and
Speaker 2: every day. And I feel as good about that right
Speaker 2: now as I did that as far as embracing those challenges,
Speaker 2: and sometimes they're more difficult than others.
Speaker 1: That's the UK head coach Mark Steubs. More of the
Speaker 1: Big bluon Sider coming up a little bit later on
Speaker 1: Tom Hammond, a Hall of Fame broadcaster and a veteran
Speaker 1: of many many Olympics will join us to talk about
Speaker 1: this year's Summer Games and his new book. Also coming
Speaker 1: up in our number two, Justin Rowland of Katz Illustrated,
Speaker 1: and Kyle Motes, a long time assistant ad at Kentucky
Speaker 1: now he's the athletics director at Eastern Kentucky University. That's
Speaker 1: all ahead. We'll also take a closer look at the
Speaker 1: NCAA report on the other side of the break here
Speaker 1: on the Big Bluon Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome back
Speaker 1: to the Big Lunsider. Coming up, Tom Hammond will join us,
Speaker 1: the legendary sportscaster, Kyle Motz, new athletics director at Eastern
Speaker 1: Kentucky University, and Justin Roland, the publisher of Cats Illustrated.
Speaker 1: I'm guessing by now you have heard about the NCAAA
Speaker 1: announcing violations that occurred in the UK swimming and football programs.
Speaker 1: You need to understand that I'm not going to dismiss
Speaker 1: this as old news. This is basically the official follow
Speaker 1: up from the NSA Infractions Committee. And people who don't
Speaker 1: either understand the way the NCAY works, they don't like
Speaker 1: it and they want to do away with it. But
Speaker 1: even if you do, you're going to have a body
Speaker 1: that oversees college athletics, that creates rules and deals with infractions.
Speaker 1: That's all that you're doing, and that's what the schools
Speaker 1: do that people on the infractions committee work at other universities.
Speaker 1: They just don't meet around the clock every week. So
Speaker 1: this takes a while to to decide what to do
Speaker 1: and how to do it. Now what we're talking about.
Speaker 1: Of course, with regard that a swimming program was the
Speaker 1: controversy involving former coach Lars Jorgensen, UK has dealt with that.
Speaker 1: Legal people are dealing with it as well. There was
Speaker 1: at least one lawsuit in place, but UK had to
Speaker 1: go before the NCAA and take its lumps on that
Speaker 1: the school agreed that it failed to monitor swimming and
Speaker 1: diving programs and that the underlying violations demonstrated a head
Speaker 1: coach responsibility violation. When it comes to football, this dates
Speaker 1: back to you might recall Chris Rodriguez, the running back,
Speaker 1: had to sit out four games, and this isn't all
Speaker 1: on him. There were apparently eleven student athletes involved essentially,
Speaker 1: and many of them involved, as was Rodriguez, with being
Speaker 1: paid for work that was never done, so payment for
Speaker 1: work not performed between spring of twenty twenty one in
Speaker 1: March of twenty twenty two. As I said, this is
Speaker 1: not new violations, this is just new information coming from
Speaker 1: the infractions committee. Eight of the student athletes went on
Speaker 1: to compete and receive actual and necessary expenses while ineligible.
Speaker 1: No staff member, according to the enforcement staff in the
Speaker 1: athletics department, knew or reasonably should have known about the
Speaker 1: payment for work not performed. So the violations involving the
Speaker 1: football program, according to the NCAA did not provide additional
Speaker 1: support for the agreed upon failure to monitor violations. So
Speaker 1: cutting through all this, what it means is during that
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one season, Kentucky was using players who were
Speaker 1: improperly and basically illegally paid for work they did not do.
Speaker 1: This was not an extra benefit like a pair of
Speaker 1: pants or a pizza. This was money they should not
Speaker 1: have been given for doing work that they weren't doing.
Speaker 1: So that's why Kentucky has to vacate the ten wins.
Speaker 1: And again, ninety nine percent of you will shrug that off,
Speaker 1: some of you will be mad about it, and a
Speaker 1: lot of you, I know because you tell me about it,
Speaker 1: think that they shouldn't even worry about stuff like this. Essentially,
Speaker 1: what you're saying is there shouldn't be any rules. Everybody
Speaker 1: should be able to do whatever they want. Well, you
Speaker 1: know what, that's essentially what you're doing right now with
Speaker 1: a portal and with nil money. And you know it's
Speaker 1: it's it's like people say, it's the Wild West. Are
Speaker 1: you enjoying that? No players are enjoying it. They have
Speaker 1: more freedom, they're getting money and the money they deserve,
Speaker 1: but there are no guard rails. That's what they keep
Speaker 1: talking about. We need guard rails, We need guidelines so
Speaker 1: people can at least compete on the same level. It's
Speaker 1: never going to be equal, but it's got to be equitable.
Speaker 1: And that's why these rules are in place. And Kentucky
Speaker 1: broke rules, like I said, on probation for a couple
Speaker 1: of years and vacating the ten wins from the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one season, including the ball win over Iowa in
Speaker 1: the Citrus Bolt. Tom Hammond's next in six thirty WLAP
Speaker 1: welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider, joining us
Speaker 1: now as a longtime friend and the colleague. In terms
Speaker 1: of well we've covered a lot of sports, the same
Speaker 1: sports and played basketball together. In fact, Tom Hammond, Yeah, Tom,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna call you legendary, but I know that that
Speaker 1: some people think it just means you're old, But no,
Speaker 1: I mean you you got quite the resume and now
Speaker 1: you've got a book coming out. How are you well?
Speaker 6: I'm doing well, Dick, And you're right. I had a long,
Speaker 6: great run, and you know, it wasn't so much I
Speaker 6: think that of my talent as much as it was
Speaker 6: things falling into place at the right time for me
Speaker 6: in a lot of ways. So you know, I'm very
Speaker 6: grateful for that, and it was it was a wonderful run.
Speaker 6: And I'm enjoying decompressing a little bit as a retired
Speaker 6: although the book. But it's kind of frightening to come
Speaker 6: to think about all those things about your life now
Speaker 6: going out to the to the public in general, that
Speaker 6: you didn't ever think about. So anyway, Uh that that's
Speaker 6: where I stand right now.
Speaker 1: Well, so much of your great career involved the Olympics,
Speaker 1: and I will get to that because obviously the games
Speaker 1: are going on as we speak, But I want to
Speaker 1: know about the book. It's called Racist Games and Olympic
Speaker 1: Dreams and I heard you talking to Tom Leach. It
Speaker 1: was a lot of fun when you did Tom's entire
Speaker 1: show with him. But people were telling you you need
Speaker 1: to write a book. Did you hear what you're hearing
Speaker 1: that a lot? I assume you were.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I was, you know, just speaking to a to
Speaker 6: a group, or or even just sitting around telling stories.
Speaker 6: That's what old guys do, tell stories. So uh, they'd say, hey,
Speaker 6: you are to write a book. And at the time,
Speaker 6: it just seemed when I retired, it just seemed like
Speaker 6: too big a project to undertake you that time, because
Speaker 6: I just wanted to kind of let down a bit.
Speaker 6: So when when Mark Story signed on to the deal,
Speaker 6: that's sort of a sensitive for me. And we did
Speaker 6: an oral history for UK and then and then worked
Speaker 6: on the book for some time.
Speaker 1: Is that how it happened? Did Mark interview you for
Speaker 1: the oral history and it just kind of morphed into
Speaker 1: a book.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it made sense to use that as the basis
Speaker 6: for the book, and that's the way it worked out.
Speaker 6: He came out and he would interview me for the
Speaker 6: oral history, which has gone into the archives a k.
Speaker 6: And he also recorded for himself at the same time,
Speaker 6: so then he we go back over those recordings and
Speaker 6: flesh it out from there.
Speaker 1: I've told Mark this before. One of the things that
Speaker 1: he does I really enjoy, you know. John Clay does
Speaker 1: his thing, Mark does his thing. We're fortunate that they're
Speaker 1: both writing for the for the Hero Leader, but Mark
Speaker 1: really likes to do those perspective pieces looking back at
Speaker 1: the history of not just UK sports, with sports in Kentucky.
Speaker 1: So he's got a great feel for that, doesn't he.
Speaker 6: He does, and he, as you say, it takes in
Speaker 6: the whole state of Kentucky. He doesn't just do UK.
Speaker 6: And it's a it's a nice combination. He and John
Speaker 6: play together, make make a good combination. And I hope
Speaker 6: with all the changes as the Herald Leader, I hope
Speaker 6: there's no change to their status because I enjoy both
Speaker 6: of them. And Mark has been great to work on
Speaker 6: the book, of course, and when I tell some wild story,
Speaker 6: he'll go check it and sometimes, you know, sometimes the
Speaker 6: memory isn't quite right. So thanks to him for that.
Speaker 1: Was he able to pull things out of you that
Speaker 1: you had not even thought about for years?
Speaker 6: Yeah? I think so, I mean, and then then I'd
Speaker 6: go back and say, wow, I forgot about that. That
Speaker 6: was that was pretty good stuff. Yeah, so yes he was.
Speaker 6: He was good at that too, to find some little
Speaker 6: nuggets in there that that I hadn't thought about for
Speaker 6: a long time.
Speaker 1: What kind of prep did you do to be interviewed?
Speaker 6: I would just try to think back to the you know,
Speaker 6: I would know the topics we were going to cover
Speaker 6: that that week. We did him once a week, and
Speaker 6: I would you know, think about those times and try
Speaker 6: to recall all that had happened and try to remember
Speaker 6: some of those minute aspects as well. And then sometimes
Speaker 6: I wouldn't recall him until he brought them out of
Speaker 6: me with his questioning.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it had to be fun, though, I would think,
Speaker 1: wasn't it?
Speaker 6: It was great to relive most of those memories. And then,
Speaker 6: you know, some of the memories, like I say, you know,
Speaker 6: things about growing up and other things that I never
Speaker 6: have talked much about publicly to other people, just my family. Now,
Speaker 6: to have all those out there, it's kind of kind
Speaker 6: of frightening. It's just not something that you will broadcast,
Speaker 6: like the time I was I was shot and stabbed
Speaker 6: and came close to death, and you know that's not
Speaker 6: something that most people know about me. It's not something
Speaker 6: that I advertised, but it's in the book and and
Speaker 6: you know, just different things like that, that my relationship
Speaker 6: with my with my dad was complicated and that's in there,
Speaker 6: and so you know, I'm not sure how the rest
Speaker 6: to my family will react to that, but I just,
Speaker 6: you know, I had to relive it.
Speaker 1: You know, I read dick Enberg's book. And I don't
Speaker 1: know if you were aware of this. I know you
Speaker 1: knew dick Enburg, but he had he walked a similar path.
Speaker 1: He had a complicated relationship with his dad. I guess
Speaker 1: that's a coincidence, but it is kind of interesting.
Speaker 6: It is interesting. And not only was Dick my friend
Speaker 6: a good friend, but he was my mentor and you know,
Speaker 6: likely wouldn't have gotten some of the opportunities without his support.
Speaker 6: So yeah, I read his book, of course, and he
Speaker 6: was a He was a great, great friend, Dick, and
Speaker 6: I still think about him often. He was a huge
Speaker 6: influence on my life.
Speaker 1: I actually was a statistician as statman at a UK
Speaker 1: game once when I was in college, and couldn't have
Speaker 1: been kinder as you know, no surprise there we're talking
Speaker 1: with Tom Hammond his book Races, Games and Olympic Dreams,
Speaker 1: available now, And of course Tom the veteran from w
Speaker 1: l e X NBC covering horse racing, the Olympics, the NFL.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to ask you to pick a favorite,
Speaker 1: but I know how much you love horse racing, Tom,
Speaker 1: And you've told the story on my show and to
Speaker 1: a lot of people about how you basically ended up
Speaker 1: with an expanded role in the Breeders Cup. You had
Speaker 1: a role, you were helping the Breeders Cup people and
Speaker 1: something happened and you were ready for it because you
Speaker 1: knew the sports so well. So once again you know,
Speaker 1: luck meets hard work and it all worked out. Can
Speaker 1: you share that with people?
Speaker 6: Well, I made a lot of contacts when the NBC
Speaker 6: would come in to do a UK basketball game. I
Speaker 6: would try to go down and talk to the producers
Speaker 6: and to Dick Enberg, Billy Packer and Al mcguanire and
Speaker 6: tell them all that I knew to try to help
Speaker 6: them do the bag. Get Yeah, and I became friends
Speaker 6: with Dick. One time we cemented our friendship when he said,
Speaker 6: my flight doesn't leave until several hours after the game
Speaker 6: on Saturday. Is there any way you could take me
Speaker 6: to seat Secretariat. Oh, and I took you over over
Speaker 6: to Paris to see Secretariat, and in the course of
Speaker 6: looking at his paddock, uh, dick said, how do you
Speaker 6: know that a horse is going to be great? Seth
Speaker 6: Hancock of Crayburn Farm was with us, and I said, well,
Speaker 6: you look at their pedigree, and then you look how
Speaker 6: they're put together physically, and then it's you know, it's
Speaker 6: a crap shoot after that, and and Seth chime in
Speaker 6: and say, well, you know, sometimes you can just see
Speaker 6: it in their eyes. And at that word, Secretariat snapped
Speaker 6: his head around and looked dick Enberg right in the eyes,
Speaker 6: and that was something he never forgot, you know. So
Speaker 6: when I went when NBC first got the Breeders Cup,
Speaker 6: they were going to do four hours of live racing,
Speaker 6: and they'd never done horse racing before. And I said,
Speaker 6: you know, these races last two minutes each, how we're
Speaker 6: going to fill four hours? So they hired a lot
Speaker 6: of people, and dick Enberg said, you need to hire
Speaker 6: this guy, and so they hired me as a horse
Speaker 6: racing expert. And during that day, as the chronicle in
Speaker 6: the book, a lot of things went right for me.
Speaker 6: Dick just some pieces I did that we were a hit,
Speaker 6: including one with John Henry and who had a chance
Speaker 6: to be Horse of the Year but couldn't run in
Speaker 6: the Classic because he was injured, so I thought it'd
Speaker 6: be fun, but put a monitor up in front of
Speaker 6: his stall so he so he could watch the game.
Speaker 6: I watched the race, and just as I was getting
Speaker 6: ready to go on the air, somebody unknown to me
Speaker 6: delivered him a dozen red roses. I said, well, here,
Speaker 6: hand me those. So I had those roses in my hand,
Speaker 6: and John Henry proceeded as I was on the air,
Speaker 6: to reach out of his stall and began to nibble
Speaker 6: on those roses. And it made such a such a
Speaker 6: cute picture that they repeated it several times during the
Speaker 6: day and then and then after the big controversy in
Speaker 6: the Classic, all the bumping and stuff that went on,
Speaker 6: Pat Day, knowing me from Kentucky, came right over to
Speaker 6: be interviewed, even though I was supposed to be interviewing him,
Speaker 6: and that worked out well too. So at the end
Speaker 6: of that day, Michael Weisman, who was then the executive
Speaker 6: producer at NBC Sports, said, would you be interested in
Speaker 6: doing other things for NBC starting with NFL football, and
Speaker 6: that started thirty four years at NBC.
Speaker 1: Man, And again, luck meets hard work, and you were
Speaker 1: ready for it. I love the stories that you've told
Speaker 1: about preparing for the Winter Games, for the ice skating
Speaker 1: and things like that, where guys like us we don't
Speaker 1: get a chance to cover much ice skating, but you
Speaker 1: put so much work in the research. Tom, was that
Speaker 1: something you've always enjoyed because it seems like it came naturally,
Speaker 1: But all that means is you work your butt off.
Speaker 6: Well, I did enjoy the preparation, Dick, But you know,
Speaker 6: fear is a great motivator. Yeah, And to be going
Speaker 6: on the air and making a fool of yourself, it's
Speaker 6: not something you want to do. And so you know,
Speaker 6: I tried to learn as much as I could, as
Speaker 6: fast as I could. When I was to sign figure skating,
Speaker 6: and the skaters help me. Christy Yamaguchi in particular, was
Speaker 6: answering all my stupid questions. And when I went in thinking, well,
Speaker 6: this is some sort of feathers and fluff and flue food,
Speaker 6: but when I saw them in action, I've closed. I said, no, No,
Speaker 6: that takes a lot of athletic ability, and so I
Speaker 6: came to really appreciate the athleticism of the skaters, and
Speaker 6: most of all, I appreciated the pressure they're under. And
Speaker 6: when my friends like Mike Battaglia teased me for doing
Speaker 6: figure skating, I would say, I would say, I think
Speaker 6: that the ladies final in the Olympics is the most
Speaker 6: pressure packed event in all of sports. You're out there
Speaker 6: by yourself, there's nobody to get the rebound if you
Speaker 6: miss or anything like that, and you're likely to going
Speaker 6: to get no other chance. You've worked your whole life
Speaker 6: for this three and a half minutes knowing that if
Speaker 6: you make the slightest bobble that your life's work is
Speaker 6: going to go down the drain. And that's pressure. And
Speaker 6: you could see that pressure affect the skaters and many
Speaker 6: times that.
Speaker 1: You're on the thinnest of blades on ice. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm with you. I mean, when I watch that, I'm
Speaker 1: not a huge fan, but man, how can your heart
Speaker 1: not be in your mouth of you're a sports fan.
Speaker 1: It's just it's incredible.
Speaker 6: It turns out that the figure skating is the most
Speaker 6: watched Olympic sport winter or summer.
Speaker 1: Wow. Tom Hammond my guest. He, of course a veteran
Speaker 1: sportscaster from WLA XTV through NBC, horse Racing, NFL, the Olympics.
Speaker 1: We'll come back and talk more with Tom about his
Speaker 1: book and about his career on the Big Blue Sider
Speaker 1: six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with Tom Hammon,
Speaker 1: the veteran sportscaster, retired now but with a lifetime of memories.
Speaker 1: He's sharing them in a book that's available now called Races,
Speaker 1: Games and Olympic Dreams. But Tom, I love the fact
Speaker 1: that the cover photo is at Keenland. You know, of
Speaker 1: all places that that kind of underscores your love for
Speaker 1: horse racing.
Speaker 6: It does underscores my love for Kingland as well. Keenland
Speaker 6: has been very important to my development as a broadcaster. JB. Faulkner,
Speaker 6: who was the director of Publicity, was another mentor of
Speaker 6: mine who brought me along and sort of taught me
Speaker 6: the ropes when I discovered I was going to be
Speaker 6: a media person instead of a instead of a general
Speaker 6: manager of a horse farm somewhere, something which I intended
Speaker 6: when I started. So that yet and Keenland has been
Speaker 6: very important. I was the announcer at the Keenland sales
Speaker 6: for many years, which which enabled me to stay in Lexington,
Speaker 6: close to the horses, which I wanted to do, and
Speaker 6: not have to play the normal television game if you
Speaker 6: have ambition of trying to find a bigger market all
Speaker 6: the time. So Harry Barfield, the general manager at WLAX TV,
Speaker 6: was a kind to let me do these horse sales,
Speaker 6: give me the time off to do them and supplement
Speaker 6: my income so I didn't have to move to try
Speaker 6: to move to a bigger station. So it all worked
Speaker 6: out great well.
Speaker 1: That helped him keep you and he didn't have to
Speaker 1: pay you, so I was Ralph Gabberde was was kind
Speaker 1: to me in the same way. We're talking with Tom Hammond,
Speaker 1: who of course for the longest time was part of
Speaker 1: NBC's Olympics coverage that's covered in his book Racist Games
Speaker 1: and Olympic Dreams. Is it tough time for you? Before
Speaker 1: we went on the air, you told me you've been
Speaker 1: watching the Olympics, but when you first retired, was it
Speaker 1: tough to watch the Derby and the Breeders Cup and
Speaker 1: the Olympics Because I gotta think you're you're like a
Speaker 1: fire horse attention to.
Speaker 6: Go, yeah, you know, I missed the big events, and
Speaker 6: my brain would be I try to put it in neutral,
Speaker 6: but it would be you know, thinking about how would
Speaker 6: you have done that? Or do you think you could
Speaker 6: have done that better? Or what did you think they
Speaker 6: did on that one? Trying to critique those broadcasts. And
Speaker 6: I've gotten a little better about that now there's not
Speaker 6: so much trying to critique it and just enjoy it instead.
Speaker 6: But yeah, that was that was a you know, a
Speaker 6: way to have to change your mindset for a while
Speaker 6: to try to enjoy sports and not just try to
Speaker 6: be you know, how would I do it?
Speaker 1: I also felt like one of the really strong points
Speaker 1: in your career just as a viewer as a consumer
Speaker 1: was when you called the track and field the races.
Speaker 1: I mean, you you received a lot of praise for
Speaker 1: the way you did. That's a that's a difficult thing
Speaker 1: to do. I mean, that's a what a ten second
Speaker 1: race at one point or whatever. And maybe your horse
Speaker 1: racing background help you there. I don't know, but it
Speaker 1: just seemed like you took to that.
Speaker 6: Yeah I did. And you know, a race is a race,
Speaker 6: whether it's four lego or two legged. I mean, it
Speaker 6: still has kind of the same basics. But I think
Speaker 6: the most difficult thing I did in all those years
Speaker 6: was the Olympic hundred meters because it's over in nine seconds.
Speaker 6: Then there's no chance to think about it. You just
Speaker 6: have to react to covid all comes out great and
Speaker 6: knock on wood. I never miscalled one hundred meters and
Speaker 6: those and those Olympics that I did, so that was something.
Speaker 6: And yeah, you know, I think but the horse racing
Speaker 6: part helped, just the way you call a race and
Speaker 6: the things that happened during a race, and you know,
Speaker 6: track and field is to me, it's the it's the
Speaker 6: heart of the of the Summer Olympics. And I was,
Speaker 6: you know, pleased to be able to do that. And
Speaker 6: how I came about that is all in the book too.
Speaker 6: Dick Eversall, the chairman of NBC Sports. I'd done an
Speaker 6: NBA playoff game in Boston and Celtics and the Pacers
Speaker 6: on Sunday and Monday. I got a call and Dick
Speaker 6: Eversall said, I a good job on the game. What
Speaker 6: do you know about track and field? I said, well,
Speaker 6: I said, I've been to a couple of trap meets,
Speaker 6: but I don't really know much about it. He said, well,
Speaker 6: you'll be fine. I want you to do the US
Speaker 6: Championships in the in two weeks and then to Tokyo
Speaker 6: for the World Championships, and then if all goes well,
Speaker 6: the Olympics next year in Barcelona. So that was my
Speaker 6: introduction to track and field.
Speaker 1: Fantastic. I've only got a minute of two left, but
Speaker 1: I've got to mention and I didn't want to leave
Speaker 1: this out. You and Larry Conley for the longest time
Speaker 1: on the SEC Game of the Week that was must
Speaker 1: sea viewing, even when it was in Kentucky. You had
Speaker 1: to love that, especially the relationship you have with Larry.
Speaker 6: Oh gosh, you know, Dick, Larry and I have known
Speaker 6: each other since we were sixteen years old. And so
Speaker 6: to go throughout the South to all those places, we know,
Speaker 6: every barbecue joined in the Southeast days, we stopped at
Speaker 6: all of them sometime in those years. And I did
Speaker 6: thirty years of SEC basketball, starting with Joe Dean and
Speaker 6: then the last twenty years or so with Larry, and
Speaker 6: you know, to have two best friends doing a sport
Speaker 6: they love and the place they loved throughout the Southeast,
Speaker 6: that was just you know, are you paying us for
Speaker 6: this because we enjoyed it that much?
Speaker 1: Yeah, well you could tell. You could tell during the game,
Speaker 1: not even if the game wasn't great. You guys made
Speaker 1: it viewable and palatable, and I always appreciated that. Tommy.
Speaker 1: I'm in veteran sportscaster. The book is called Races, Games
Speaker 1: and Olympic Dreams. I can't wait to read it and.
Speaker 6: It comes out, Dick on August the twentieth, and he's
Speaker 6: a pre order excellent.
Speaker 1: I will do that, Thank you, sir. Great talking to
Speaker 1: you as always, and I hope to see you soon.
Speaker 6: Thank you Dick very much, and it's always a pleasure
Speaker 6: to be on the air with you.
Speaker 1: Thanks such a great voice and a great guy. And
Speaker 1: I can't wait to read Tom Hammond's book when it
Speaker 1: comes out later this month, and we'll keep you posted
Speaker 1: on that. Coming up an hour number two more football
Speaker 1: talk with Justin Rowland and Kyle Motes of the EKU.
Speaker 1: He's a new athletics director over in Richmond. Back in
Speaker 1: just a minute on the Big Bullingsider. Our number two's
Speaker 1: next on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big
Speaker 1: Blue and Sider joining us now is a guy who
Speaker 1: loves his football justin Rowland have cats illustrated. He is
Speaker 1: a publisher and he's been covering the wildcast for some time.
Speaker 1: How are you, sir?
Speaker 5: Doing great?
Speaker 1: Nick?
Speaker 5: Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1: You got a house full of young ands as your
Speaker 1: summer going.
Speaker 5: Oh man, it's been great. We've lived at the pool,
Speaker 5: we went to Lego Land a little while in Kansas.
Speaker 5: I not long ago, but I think they're almost ready
Speaker 5: for school. They've been in each other's spaces long enough.
Speaker 1: To believe it or not. Well, let's first talk about
Speaker 1: the breaking news earlier today. The NSA fractions report finally
Speaker 1: comes out. It's a long process. We all know, two
Speaker 1: years probation for Kentucky vacating ten wins. Some people scoff
Speaker 1: at that, but it's not a great look. Justin number
Speaker 1: one and number two. They could have been looking at
Speaker 1: some sort of postseason ban.
Speaker 5: Right, Yeah, I heard that a Bowl ban was possible,
Speaker 5: that it was on the table. But when they concluded
Speaker 5: that it was without the knowledge of Kentucky's coaching staff
Speaker 5: or the orchestration of that probably helped them, as well
Speaker 5: as Kentucky's cooperation. The work that they did internally, But
Speaker 5: you're right, but I think in real terms for fans,
Speaker 5: they still live through it. You still have those memories
Speaker 5: with s Rod and Randale and Levice and that great season,
Speaker 5: but it's a legacy thing and it's going to have
Speaker 5: an asterisk next to that second ten win season. I
Speaker 5: think that might have been their most complete team that
Speaker 5: they had. Unfortunately is there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you're right. And the other thing, one
Speaker 1: other note, somebody I know on the inside said this
Speaker 1: was a serious, serious matter with these players and it
Speaker 1: could have been a lot worse legally. So yeah, they
Speaker 1: were able to work through this and then put it
Speaker 1: behind him. And I got to think Stoops didn't know
Speaker 1: about it when the media met today with him at
Speaker 1: ten am. What was your takeaway anything jump off the
Speaker 1: page at you. You've already written for Cats illustrated of
Speaker 1: course about media day, but what did you take away
Speaker 1: from this morning's information.
Speaker 5: I feel like Stuops wanted to convey his confidence to
Speaker 5: the team, his excitement for the season, following first comments
Speaker 5: about Nil, which were kind of easy headlines like Stoops
Speaker 5: is frustrated, Stukes is really frustrated. He wanted to pivot
Speaker 5: to we got a team that I'm excited about. I
Speaker 5: have confidence in my first year offensive coordinator Bush ham here,
Speaker 5: and we got a lot of pieces to work with,
Speaker 5: and he's obviously thought a lot about what they need
Speaker 5: to improve from last season. They're just getting started with practice.
Speaker 5: But this was a pivot to I am excited about
Speaker 5: this year.
Speaker 1: After that those headlines, he brought up the fact and
Speaker 1: really emphasized today what do you talked about in Dallas
Speaker 1: about tempo? And of course his last comments you saw him,
Speaker 1: he said, I want to make it clear we are
Speaker 1: not going to be in I'm paraphrasing a jail break
Speaker 1: offense like Tennessee erro Miss, but they are looking for
Speaker 1: a better tempo and he said that was going to
Speaker 1: happen regardless of whether Liam Cohen stayed or left. He
Speaker 1: was wanting to do that. He was frustrated throughout last
Speaker 1: season watching that play clock run down.
Speaker 5: Yeah, there's a lot that went into that. You know,
Speaker 5: the quarterback has to be able to process quickly and
Speaker 5: communicate quickly and no things inside and out. And I
Speaker 5: think brock Frog vander griff is suited to that. He's
Speaker 5: been in a national championship program, learning from the best
Speaker 5: of the best in elite culture where they've done tempo. Oh,
Speaker 5: and you know, the son of a coach, that's gonna
Speaker 5: be a lot on him, but I think he's gonna
Speaker 5: be comfortable with it. Hamden has done it before. Last
Speaker 5: year was just such an operation. I mean, the fewest
Speaker 5: number of plays in the country, but if you really
Speaker 5: dig into it, they were one of the most explosive
Speaker 5: teams in college football play for play. It's everything that
Speaker 5: happened between those explosive plays.
Speaker 6: So whether it's.
Speaker 5: Tempo and getting physical in the run game, they're looking
Speaker 5: at all all the ways that they can just create
Speaker 5: a more sound operation, I think.
Speaker 1: And of course, when your defense scores as Kentucky's defense did,
Speaker 1: when it gives you a short field is it did
Speaker 1: against Florida two pick six is against Vandy kickoff return touchdown,
Speaker 1: you're basically taking opportunities in a happy way from your offense.
Speaker 1: So again, I fully agree with you that you got
Speaker 1: to dig a little deeper, don't you.
Speaker 5: There's a lot of stuff that went into that. I mean,
Speaker 5: negative yardage plays. They gave up too many of those.
Speaker 5: There's too many holding penalty, several guys flagged way too
Speaker 5: many times and a hole perst and twenty you're in
Speaker 5: a bad spot. And then it's also the defense is responsibility.
Speaker 5: We learned and heard a lot about complimentary football because
Speaker 5: it's so important for Mark Stups. But that goes both ways.
Speaker 5: The offense has to stay on the field, but the
Speaker 5: defense has to get off the field. They were twenty
Speaker 5: second in the country in red zone in third down
Speaker 5: defense two years ago, but that dropped one hundred and
Speaker 5: seven last year. And there's no reason that that can't
Speaker 5: improve with the personnel they have on defense. So we'll see,
Speaker 5: we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1: To that well. And that was something Stoops talked about.
Speaker 1: And thirty seconds into his comments, that's what Brad White
Speaker 1: was talking about as well. And he sided chapter in verse,
Speaker 1: didn't he He was not happy at all.
Speaker 5: No, no, he wasn't. And you can tell they've got
Speaker 5: a high standard and they should, I mean, especially this
Speaker 5: season they got they got really good personnel. I mean
Speaker 5: they have elite players at every level of the defense.
Speaker 5: So they also have that next generation, that next crop
Speaker 5: of talent with young guys you're excited about and what
Speaker 5: are they going to do? And you know, the only
Speaker 5: question in my mind. Well, I guess the two questions
Speaker 5: would be the help of the defensive line. They're going
Speaker 5: to be without several guys there, how do they perform
Speaker 5: around Dion? Do they have enough depth in the safeties.
Speaker 5: I thought they got good safeties, but they didn't play
Speaker 5: their best last season, and we'll see if they can
Speaker 5: bounce back a little bit.
Speaker 1: I talked to Octavius Oxen dying today about what it's
Speaker 1: like to play alongside Dean Walker, and he couldn't quit
Speaker 1: smiling because of course Deon's going to command double teams
Speaker 1: and that helps the other guys do their thing. But
Speaker 1: you mentioned DB's justin How concerned are you at all
Speaker 1: with the defensive backfield.
Speaker 5: I think there's reason for optimism. I mean, aside from
Speaker 5: the numbers. Last year, they gave up sixty eight percent
Speaker 5: completion and that's been a persistent thing. They kind of
Speaker 5: give up a high completion number because of the way
Speaker 5: they play, but you can't let the ball hit the ground.
Speaker 5: That's seldom. You got to cover better. I like their corners.
Speaker 5: I mean, Harrison's gonna be one of the best corners
Speaker 5: in the country. I'm assuming he's going to come out
Speaker 5: after this year. And then instead of just saying I
Speaker 5: hope j Q Hardaway is ready in his second year
Speaker 5: of college football to be a number two corner. You've
Speaker 5: got DJ Waller and you still have JQ, and you've
Speaker 5: got terry On Nichols and the Seer Addison and Jansen Dunn,
Speaker 5: and those guys are all a year older. So I
Speaker 5: just think the depth chart at cornerback looks a lot better.
Speaker 5: And Ty Bryant at safety is somebody that we got
Speaker 5: to talk about as well.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and he was one of the great surprises last year,
Speaker 1: wasn't he.
Speaker 5: Yes, yeah, he wasn't one of the highest ranked players
Speaker 5: in that class, but I was loved as intangible. He
Speaker 5: comes from a really good Frederick Douglas program. He tackles well,
Speaker 5: he's tough, plays and afraid, and he almost three hundred
Speaker 5: snaps last year. So could he push Zion Childress and
Speaker 5: Jordan love Itt for more of a starting job? Nichol
Speaker 5: is he gonna see versus Janson Dunn. He's kind of
Speaker 5: a Swiss Army knife back there, and they have a
Speaker 5: lot of nice pieces, so we'll see how it comes together.
Speaker 1: Well, we mentioned Maxwell Harriston, and of course he was
Speaker 1: the author of the two pick sixes against Vandy, which
Speaker 1: was such a great coincidence because the year prior he
Speaker 1: had been burned badly in the Vandy loss. And I
Speaker 1: talked to him about that today and he made it
Speaker 1: a focal point and bouncing back last year, putting it
Speaker 1: behind him as good good defensive backs do that short memory.
Speaker 1: But it made him, he said, work even harder and
Speaker 1: he's determined to do it again this year. So he
Speaker 1: may be sitting, like you said, justin on a big ear.
Speaker 5: You say afari, he said Harston, Oh, I said Harriston Harrison. Yeah,
Speaker 5: I think he's He's fantastic. He had some he had
Speaker 5: some bad moments in the Vandy games. I think he
Speaker 5: got flagged two or three times, but he just bounced
Speaker 5: right back and he has such great awareness. He keeps
Speaker 5: his eyes on the quarterback. He breaks. Some of guys
Speaker 5: just have a knack for being around the ball, and
Speaker 5: Harrison has a knot for being around the ball. But
Speaker 5: he's not just around the ball. He finishes plays and
Speaker 5: that speaks to that just speaks to how he's wired
Speaker 5: as a cornerback. And I don't think it was just
Speaker 5: a matter of being in the right place at the
Speaker 5: right time. I think he's a He's a really elite corner.
Speaker 5: They need that going against the top receivers they're going
Speaker 5: to be facing on this schedule.
Speaker 1: I couldn't agree more. And I did talk to Afari,
Speaker 1: who's moving out a linebacker, and he loves it. He said,
Speaker 1: anything he gets me closer to the ball, that this
Speaker 1: guy's been making plays justin since the day they put
Speaker 1: him out there, hasn't.
Speaker 5: He He has, he has, and he's got those gamer qualities.
Speaker 5: He likes being around the ball. He walks to the ball,
Speaker 5: he plays sideline the sideline. He's really good and unique
Speaker 5: matchups and it's just a matter of, like what is
Speaker 5: the best position for him to get him on the
Speaker 5: field to the maximum numbers last NAP. So that tells
Speaker 5: you they think he's one of their best eleven on defense.
Speaker 5: It's just a matter of how do we maximize his impact.
Speaker 5: And it makes sense that they would move him there
Speaker 5: because you got Weaver, Doumas, Johnson, Eric Jackson, and then
Speaker 5: what else do we have? Tyree Spearbery. But they could
Speaker 5: definitely use a body down there.
Speaker 1: Justin Roland my guest, the publisher of Cats Illustrated part
Speaker 1: of the Rivals Network. We'll talk more Kentucky football on
Speaker 1: the other side of the break here on six thirty
Speaker 1: WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with Justin Rowland. He is
Speaker 1: a publisher of Cats Illustrated, part of the Rivals Network,
Speaker 1: and he was on actually watching the media day festivities
Speaker 1: today as the coordinators talked to the media. Bush Hampden
Speaker 1: basically justin with the same message he's had. He likes
Speaker 1: what he sees in Brock Vandergriff. He kind of kitted around.
Speaker 1: He said I'd like to throw it a hundred times
Speaker 1: a game, and everybody laughed. But he recognizes the need
Speaker 1: for balance. How good can that balance be in your opinion,
Speaker 1: given the running backs they have.
Speaker 5: I thought the best thing that Hamden said for Kentucky's
Speaker 5: chances this year was he likes the depths on the
Speaker 5: offensive line. And I was surprised to hear that, because
Speaker 5: I mean, maybe Jalen Farmer emerges at guard and Dylan
Speaker 5: Ray kicks out and becomes a flex piece at guard
Speaker 5: and tackle. You've got guys like Malachi Wood and some
Speaker 5: others who have been developing behind him. But if they
Speaker 5: feel like they have good depths on the offensive line.
Speaker 5: That gives a little more margin for error than I
Speaker 5: thought they had. They were fortunate to stay really healthy
Speaker 5: up front last year, But the running back room is
Speaker 5: a concern. Then Tomorrow went in on the One Star
Speaker 5: Recruits podcast earlier this week and he said, if there
Speaker 5: is a concerns running back room, and then today Mark
Speaker 5: Steps echoed that and said, to an extent, they are unproven.
Speaker 5: We know that they wanted to bring in another running
Speaker 5: back from the portal and it just didn't happen. So
Speaker 5: a lot is riding on Chip, A lot is riding
Speaker 5: on Jamry and will Cox being ready this year. Jimmy Sumo, Karanbay,
Speaker 5: I'm not sure how much a workload he's going to
Speaker 5: carry in the backfield. He's more intriguing as a receiving threat,
Speaker 5: all purpose guy, third down back. And then Jason Patterson,
Speaker 5: the true freshman from Florida with great production at that
Speaker 5: prep level in Florida last year, somebody at Liam Cohen
Speaker 5: and also Bush Hamdon really liked could be an opportunity
Speaker 5: for him as a young.
Speaker 6: Guy as well.
Speaker 5: But the running game Stoops has always cited eighty percent
Speaker 5: of set games are won by the team that rushes
Speaker 5: for more yards, and we have to be able to
Speaker 5: run it. When other teams know we're going to be
Speaker 5: able to run it, that's when we've been at our best.
Speaker 5: And they got to get back to that well.
Speaker 1: I talked to Demi, I talked to train him. You've
Speaker 1: written about training him and his side. I mean you
Speaker 1: talk about passing the eyeball test. Justin that guy, man,
Speaker 1: he looks like he's chiseled out of granite chip.
Speaker 5: Yeah. I mean that's his role, that was his role
Speaker 5: at Ohio State. You're going to be the full back,
Speaker 5: the short yarded guy for the Ohio State Buckeyes, and
Speaker 5: the guy they want to push you over the goal lines.
Speaker 5: You're gonna be big, You're gonna be tough. You see
Speaker 5: some of the freaks that they that they have year
Speaker 5: in and year out. And now it's just a question
Speaker 5: of how does three hundred yards at Ohio State and
Speaker 5: spot duty translate to being the workhorse at Kentucky. And
Speaker 5: I don't think that's gonna happen. I mean, I think
Speaker 5: they said recently it could be more of a committee
Speaker 5: approach at running back. So let's see how many carries
Speaker 5: he gets it sounds like a f you guys might
Speaker 5: get a chance to prove himself.
Speaker 1: And I mentioned the seven straight thousand yard rushing seasons
Speaker 1: and he said his goal for himself is beyond a
Speaker 1: thousand yards, So even if it is a committee, he
Speaker 1: intends to rack up as much as he can when
Speaker 1: he's out there. We're talking with Justin Rowland, who cats illustrated.
Speaker 1: He has been covering Kentucky football for quite a while,
Speaker 1: and Justin I have said, I've beaten this drum to death.
Speaker 1: All summer schedules are always going to be tough in
Speaker 1: the Southeastern Conference. To me, it's the calendar that is
Speaker 1: the biggest challenge for Kentucky. South Carolina, Georgia, and Ole
Speaker 1: Miss so early, and we're gonna we're gonna know what
Speaker 1: Kentucky's got going for it right away, aren't we? Yes,
Speaker 1: we are.
Speaker 5: And uh, you know it's interesting that we get this
Speaker 5: season because Stoops has been around for so long, you
Speaker 5: kind of expect the schedule to play out a certain way.
Speaker 5: They're gonna be four and oh going into Florida. They're
Speaker 5: gonna play Florida, and they're gonna be riding high after Florida.
Speaker 5: They're gonna get beat by Georgia probably, and how are
Speaker 5: they going to respond after the Georgia game. And it's
Speaker 5: totally different this year. That South Carolina game in the
Speaker 5: second week the season is one of the biggest games
Speaker 5: in a long time for Kentucky. Can't lose to them
Speaker 5: three years in a row at home. Minus Spencer Rattler
Speaker 5: and the receiver that they had last year, it's gonna
Speaker 5: be a totally different team. They need to be two
Speaker 5: and zero going into Georgia. The flip side of that
Speaker 5: is Stoops has talked about how playing so many consecutive
Speaker 5: SEC games in the middle later part of the season
Speaker 5: just grinds you down, and that kind of explained some
Speaker 5: of the duds they've laid later in the season. Maybe
Speaker 5: sprinkling the schedule out and spreading out some of those
Speaker 5: games will will make it a little more rested in
Speaker 5: the latter half of the schedule.
Speaker 1: And two open dates, I believe for the first time
Speaker 1: in school history. So to your point, they should be
Speaker 1: well rested going into at least some of these games.
Speaker 1: A few minutes leff with Justin Rowland, who Catz illustrated,
Speaker 1: We've talked about a lot of stuff we haven't talked.
Speaker 1: We've talked about the offense, but not about the quarterback specifically.
Speaker 1: Brock Vandergriff and ham did mentioned him as you heard
Speaker 1: earlier today, along with some of the other guys he's
Speaker 1: worked with. But they've got more depth in the QB
Speaker 1: room than they've had in a while. And our pal
Speaker 1: Jeremy Jarman, he believes it's going to be a fight
Speaker 1: for the starting job right till till game week. What
Speaker 1: do you think.
Speaker 5: I think Brock's going to be the starter. That's that's
Speaker 5: my assumption. I like Gavin as a quarterback. Hamden has
Speaker 5: always seemed to downplay the possibility of Gavin taking the
Speaker 5: starting job. I think they like the idea of it
Speaker 5: being someone's team and everybody having that confidence in I
Speaker 5: mean the thing about Gavin, Hamden talked about him being
Speaker 5: in a wildcat running formation. Maybe Trick plays the two
Speaker 5: quarterbacks on the field. Maybe he saves Vandergriffs some hits,
Speaker 5: especially in shortyardedge rushing situations. And I do think that
Speaker 5: in a better situation, Whimsat can be a solid quarterback.
Speaker 5: You've seen at Kentucky in the past at twenty eighteen,
Speaker 5: twenty nineteen, twenty twenty. They had struggles at quarterback, but
Speaker 5: it really wasn't designed to make the quarterback look great,
Speaker 5: and that's kind of how Rutgers is. I mean, they
Speaker 5: run the ball three quarters of the time, so it
Speaker 5: wasn't a great situation for him. But he did have
Speaker 5: the lowest accuracy, remember in the country, for two years
Speaker 5: in a row. So I feel like Vandergriff is probably
Speaker 5: his job to lose.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree with you. I think bo Allen can
Speaker 1: push him, but I think Rock Vandergriff from everything I hear,
Speaker 1: is a guy who can carry this team, well maybe
Speaker 1: not carry it, but trigger this team. I should say.
Speaker 1: To do that, he's got to have receivers who hang
Speaker 1: on to the football. And I rewatched the Louisville game
Speaker 1: and the it went over Florida. Both of those games,
Speaker 1: justin on sec takeover, they included drops by Brown and
Speaker 1: Dante Key, but then huge plays by both guys. You
Speaker 1: got to have more consistency, I would think in their
Speaker 1: junior seasons, especially in a route running by Barry and Brown.
Speaker 5: You know, I think Kentucky fans are still getting used
Speaker 5: to having four star recruits all over the roster. The
Speaker 5: expectation was barry On and Dane were going to be
Speaker 5: great last season, and they're still true sophomores in the SEC.
Speaker 5: They gained like fifteen, sixteen, seventeen pounds respectively this year
Speaker 5: going into their junior season, so they're just now really
Speaker 5: at the size where you would expect a breakout season.
Speaker 5: And I thought the most promising thing from last year
Speaker 5: was they did struggle with those drops, but it didn't
Speaker 5: spiral for the rest.
Speaker 1: Of the year.
Speaker 5: They rebounded and Dane made some really tough competitive catches,
Speaker 5: and Barryon took over the Louisville and the Clemson games
Speaker 5: at the end of the season. So then you throw
Speaker 5: on they're kind of running it back with the Tavon
Speaker 5: Robinson experiment, except with Jamori Macklin, and I think he's
Speaker 5: a fantastic gets So much is riding on the running game.
Speaker 5: They need opponent to respect the run game for that
Speaker 5: play action to really work and for them to be
Speaker 5: able to leverage. Then I don't know that brock is
Speaker 5: a kind of clearer that's going to sit back and
Speaker 5: pick you apart. But if they have to respect the
Speaker 5: running game, those receivers are good enough that he can
Speaker 5: make you pay.
Speaker 1: I'm really curious to see you mentioned demy Simalcarnbay and
Speaker 1: I talked to him as I said how much they
Speaker 1: throw to the backs, and he was kind of elusive
Speaker 1: about that, but I think that can be a vital
Speaker 1: part of really this in any offense, as well as
Speaker 1: the tight ends. Of course, Justin Rowland is the publisher
Speaker 1: of Cats Illustrated, part of the Rivals Network. You can
Speaker 1: get it for nine to ninety five a month or
Speaker 1: a full year subscription for ninety nine to ninety five. Justin,
Speaker 1: thank you so much. Hope to see you down the road.
Speaker 5: I appreciate that, thanks, Vick.
Speaker 1: I always like how Justin takes the deep dive into
Speaker 1: the stats, looks a little deeper than just what's on
Speaker 1: the surface, and he's able to put it into proper perspectives.
Speaker 1: So that's one of the many reasons I like talking
Speaker 1: with Justin Rowland of Cats Illustrated. And he's got a
Speaker 1: piece on the website from earlier today from a media
Speaker 1: day when he talks about the run game, Bush Hampden's
Speaker 1: offense and the balance to Wildcats will have to show
Speaker 1: in order to compete against It's always tough. I know,
Speaker 1: but you know you can look at it as an
Speaker 1: opportunity as well. Got to beat South Carolina. You get
Speaker 1: the early shot at Georgia after the Ohio game. Your
Speaker 1: next conference game is Old Miss. So two of what
Speaker 1: I've always thought are the swing games. South Carolina and
Speaker 1: Old Miss comes so early in the schedule, but again,
Speaker 1: they can be opportunities. The unspoken word in all of
Speaker 1: this is they just got to stay healthy. They've had
Speaker 1: some preseason injuries, but they can't afford really anymore. Kyle Motes,
Speaker 1: the new add EKU welcome back to the Insider and
Speaker 1: joining us now in our celebrity hotline. Is an old
Speaker 1: friend and acquaintance and a guy who is back in
Speaker 1: the Bluegrass after several productive years away. But Kyle Motes
Speaker 1: is the new vice president and athletics director. I guess
Speaker 1: I shows a director of athletics make it more proper
Speaker 1: at Eastern Kentucky University. Kyle put in fourteen years in UK,
Speaker 1: four more U of L before heading over to Missouri State. Kyle,
Speaker 1: welcome back to the Bluegrass. I know you've been back
Speaker 1: for a little while. You've been really busy, but just
Speaker 1: tell me about what it feels like to be back
Speaker 1: in your familiar stomping grounds.
Speaker 7: Yeah, thanks, Dick, I appreciate that, and it is familiar
Speaker 7: stopping grounds, right. We spent a lot of time here
Speaker 7: in Kentucky. We love Kentucky in the Bluegrass. My son
Speaker 7: went to school at Louisville, my daughter went to Western Kentucky,
Speaker 7: my son in law went to Western Kentucky. So we've
Speaker 7: got a lot of ties to Kentucky. And I've always
Speaker 7: had a lot of size to Kentucky. So again, this
Speaker 7: opportunity came up, and it was just something a couple
Speaker 7: of reasons. One, the family was a big part of that,
Speaker 7: getting everybody back together. And then I really believe that
Speaker 7: Eastern Kentucky's done the right. A lot of good things
Speaker 7: are happening, and I wanted to be a part of
Speaker 7: that and to be able to do it with my
Speaker 7: son Dean here. I just thought it was a unique
Speaker 7: opportunity that couldn't pass up on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, just to dive right into your job.
Speaker 1: I was talking yesterday to Keith Madison, you know, coach Madison,
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame coach from UK Baseball. We were
Speaker 1: talking about all these changes and they'll benefit baseball in
Speaker 1: some ways and football in some ways. But he and
Speaker 1: I were talking about worrying about the Ekus of the world,
Speaker 1: the Missouri States of the world, as it just seems
Speaker 1: like the chasm between the huge schools and everybody else
Speaker 1: is widening. What kind of a challenge for a guy
Speaker 1: like you as an ad at a place like EKU
Speaker 1: with a strong athletics department, but you don't have the
Speaker 1: gazillions of dollars rolling in that the other schools have.
Speaker 7: Yeah, a good question, and that Lely, if I could
Speaker 7: fun you mentioned coach Madison because I when I was
Speaker 7: watching the Cali World series on on television and obviously
Speaker 7: you can't making that great run I saw I could
Speaker 7: think about with Keith, you know, coach Madison, and how
Speaker 7: proud he must be of not on how the program
Speaker 7: is done and the facilities that they have now. But
Speaker 7: just again, I thought about him a lot during that run.
Speaker 7: But yeah, you're exactly right, Dick. There's a lot of
Speaker 7: things that we're gonna have to probably prioritize.
Speaker 6: Right.
Speaker 7: We can't probably go down the road now of being,
Speaker 7: you know, something that we're great in everything. We're probably
Speaker 7: gonna have to prioritize because in the baseball situation, those
Speaker 7: numbers are going to take away from us right when
Speaker 7: they get to thirty four or thirty seven. That's going
Speaker 7: to hurt everybody else for the trickle down effect. So
Speaker 7: we're gonna have to figure that out. We're probably gonna
Speaker 7: have to be more strategic. We're probably gonna take chances
Speaker 7: on kids that we're gonna have to maybe develop a
Speaker 7: little bit at our level, which I know sounds a
Speaker 7: little counter predictive or productive of what what people are saying,
Speaker 7: But I do think you're gonna have to take some
Speaker 7: more projects and work with kids and work a little
Speaker 7: bit harder. That's what we're going to have to do.
Speaker 7: That's what we've always had to do. But you're still
Speaker 7: going to have some of the situations where some of
Speaker 7: those kids, let's say it's thirty two through thirty seven,
Speaker 7: that maybe aren't playing a lot yeah, and may say, hey,
Speaker 7: you know what, I don't know if it's great to
Speaker 7: be at a power five position of power four positions,
Speaker 7: but I don't play more well, then you have that
Speaker 7: trickle down effect. They may go to the next level.
Speaker 7: Then those folks are the same situation then go down
Speaker 7: to that next level. That's kind of how that evolution
Speaker 7: will occur. And you know, we can be the beneficiary,
Speaker 7: or we may not be, but I think that's how
Speaker 7: it's going to happen. And again doesn't mean we can't compete.
Speaker 7: It just means that the Power four is going to
Speaker 7: be stock final a little bit more of the talent.
Speaker 1: Certainly, can you make the same analogy when it comes
Speaker 1: to football, because you know they're going to cap rosters
Speaker 1: at one O five scholarships numbers may go up, but
Speaker 1: walk ons may be a thing of the past. And again,
Speaker 1: as you say, kids looking for playing time can use
Speaker 1: that portal and go in the other direction. Yeah.
Speaker 6: Absolutely.
Speaker 7: I know at our level, certainly at Eastern Kentucky and
Speaker 7: at Missouri State, we were the beneficiary of the transfer portal.
Speaker 7: I mean, I know a lot of people didn't like
Speaker 7: the transfer portal, but I think if you looked at
Speaker 7: how many kids that we got and where we got
Speaker 7: people from, we got a lot more value than we lost. Again,
Speaker 7: our best best players. Yeah, they probably went on that
Speaker 7: we get a lot more of those types of kids
Speaker 7: that were at Power forwards or that next level down
Speaker 7: that we were able to get. They just didn't get
Speaker 7: the playing time. And I think what helps is, especially
Speaker 7: in the football side of things, if you're playing, they're
Speaker 7: going to find you, right if they're going to find you,
Speaker 7: So you just have to play hard to give tape
Speaker 7: and hard to give video if you're not playing.
Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting all this talk and controversy about
Speaker 1: NIL and the portal and all of you ads are
Speaker 1: in the same boat, yet not everybody's going in the
Speaker 1: same direction, because really you can. You clearly have to
Speaker 1: do what's best for your universe. That's obvious. But I've
Speaker 1: been talking to Mitch Barnard more than once about this
Speaker 1: and actually did a panel discussion show with him on
Speaker 1: KT And you know, people talk about the NCAA. Well,
Speaker 1: I keep reminding people that is the membership the schools
Speaker 1: they are as you know, the NCAA leadership is vital
Speaker 1: from the nca structure and from university presidents and ads.
Speaker 1: But as Mitch has said more than once, getting all
Speaker 1: these schools go in the same direction, what a challenge
Speaker 1: that is. What's it been like for you to deal
Speaker 1: with that kind of thing.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I agree with Mitch completely, and it's it's relative
Speaker 7: based upon where you are in the pecking r Yeah, right,
Speaker 7: so no question. I'm okay with the transfer portal. I'm
Speaker 7: okay with nil. I just think we need to put
Speaker 7: some more guard brails on it and put some more
Speaker 7: deadlines and transfer deadlines and waiver deadlines and those are
Speaker 7: all pro terms, but that's kind of what we're dealing with.
Speaker 7: But as long as we kind of understand how the
Speaker 7: game's going to work, we'll have the ability to adapt.
Speaker 7: But we're capable of adapt. But I think in Interclasian athletics,
Speaker 7: we tend to go to one extreme or the other dick.
Speaker 7: We see something that's an issue, and then we overcorrect
Speaker 7: it too much. We don't just kind of ease into it,
Speaker 7: we just go the other way too much. And I
Speaker 7: think that's the difficulty, and it is difficult in terms
Speaker 7: of we are different than the Power for right, I
Speaker 7: mean Kentucky and the Louisl's and those folks are different
Speaker 7: than Eastern Kentucky's. There are two hundred million dollar budgets.
Speaker 7: I don't even know what you change is now, but
Speaker 7: probably close to two hundred million dollars or one hundred
Speaker 7: and seventy five million dollars. We're twenty three million dollars.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 7: And I've never I've never felt like and I've been
Speaker 7: in both places, right, I've been on both sides of it.
Speaker 7: I've never felt like we should necessarily have all the
Speaker 7: rights and all the say that those guys do. It's
Speaker 7: a different world, it's a different situation when they have.
Speaker 7: That doesn't mean that I don't think we can compete
Speaker 7: against them on certain situations. And hey, if we get
Speaker 7: an opportunity, we might beat you once a while. But
Speaker 7: when you make up the rules and you look at
Speaker 7: the NCAA, which again is us is after right, it's
Speaker 7: not you know people that are sitting in Indianapolis making
Speaker 7: all these rules. It's us that determine what those rules are.
Speaker 7: We just have to we have to understand that we're different.
Speaker 7: And I think there'll be a time when the power
Speaker 7: for at the right time, breaks a little bit, does
Speaker 7: what they need to do and has some rules that
Speaker 7: are different than the rest of us. And how that
Speaker 7: happens and how we're included in terms of the championship
Speaker 7: piece of it remains to be seen, but there certainly
Speaker 7: needs to be some differentiation between the two.
Speaker 1: We're talking with. Kyle motzis the new vice president and
Speaker 1: Director of Athletics, Edie Ku and Kyle. You came from
Speaker 1: a background of sports marketing, which has just I don't
Speaker 1: know if the word exploded is right, but it is
Speaker 1: so much more evident now in college athletics. How has
Speaker 1: that grown and changed since your days at UK when
Speaker 1: you were just a youngster and have worked your way
Speaker 1: up to where you are now.
Speaker 7: Yeah, you're familiar with that, Dick. We didn't even have
Speaker 7: sports marketing when I got to the UK, right, I
Speaker 7: mean that was just something that I'll throw out some
Speaker 7: old names gd Pilippo if you remember.
Speaker 5: Yeah, of course.
Speaker 7: That that was the area that we kind of we
Speaker 7: started along with Debbie Antonelli's that's right, and she and
Speaker 7: I both kind of started that. Deverly had it, but
Speaker 7: the multimedia rights thing was just going strong, right, k
Speaker 7: was way ahead of the game. There was those communications
Speaker 7: and what they were doing with the multimedia rights. But
Speaker 7: we started getting into promotional license and how we could
Speaker 7: use the royalties and the marks more effectively instead of
Speaker 7: just I would say standard radio, television and print, which
Speaker 7: is kind of what they had at that particular time.
Speaker 7: We started evolving to do some other things that made
Speaker 7: sense that we could get revenues from and and it
Speaker 7: has improved and it has been a big part of
Speaker 7: what your budget has to be. Right, You're you're counting
Speaker 7: on those dours significantly. Maybe when we start off, it
Speaker 7: was just an ad on, but now it is a
Speaker 7: part of your budget that that you rely on, and
Speaker 7: we continue to keep doing that. We have to do
Speaker 7: certainly a better job here in Kentucky, and I think
Speaker 7: we will. But but we have done a good job.
Speaker 7: We just need to keep improving that. And I think
Speaker 7: there's ways to do that, and I'm looking forward to
Speaker 7: seven them and trying to figure out what those are
Speaker 7: going to be.
Speaker 1: So much of it is a numbers game. How what
Speaker 1: kind of a staff do you have? How big of
Speaker 1: a roster do you have there in athletics, Kyle to
Speaker 1: to help you get the job done?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think we are I really think this, dick.
Speaker 7: We're funded, Okay, we're supported, Okay at a level that
Speaker 7: we didn't succeed Certainly, you always want to have a
Speaker 7: few more people, uh, and those people want to get
Speaker 7: paid more, right, nobody ever gets paid enough. I get that,
Speaker 7: But but I think this has been set up really
Speaker 7: well and in President Spad and Matt Roan who was
Speaker 7: there before I have done a really good job. So
Speaker 7: we're just going to try to tweak things a little bit,
Speaker 7: try to improve it. But I think we've got support staff.
Speaker 7: I think we'd like to have a few more people
Speaker 7: in the specific to student development. I think you'd like
Speaker 7: to have some more people there because the whole mental
Speaker 7: health thing has just exploded, Dick. That's the area I think,
Speaker 7: you know, between that and social media and the NIL
Speaker 7: those are the three biggest things that I think have
Speaker 7: hit Intercleagion athletics in the last five to ten years.
Speaker 7: So those are areas that we have to maybe improve
Speaker 7: a little bit more and invest a little bit more
Speaker 7: on student development to help our student athletes. Not so
Speaker 7: much on the field or the facilities. You know, you
Speaker 7: can always improve those, but those other areas to help
Speaker 7: your student athletes cope and be able to be able
Speaker 7: to perform, I think are the areas that we probably
Speaker 7: could invest a little bit more in.
Speaker 1: Talking to Kyle Motes, vice president and director of Athletics
Speaker 1: at Eastern Kentucky University, I'll come back with more for
Speaker 1: Kyle in just a minute. On the big lew In
Speaker 1: Sider here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're chatting
Speaker 1: with Kyle Mots, longtime assistant a d at the University
Speaker 1: of Kentucky and then moved on to ultimately Missouri State
Speaker 1: where he was the AD there and now is the
Speaker 1: new vice president and director of athletics at EKU over
Speaker 1: in Richmond. Let's talk about some fun stuff. You got
Speaker 1: a football season coming up that could be full of promise.
Speaker 1: I know you've got new faces in new places. You
Speaker 1: had to replace a really talented quarterback, but wal Wells
Speaker 1: on the job. It looks like you guys have a
Speaker 1: chance to do some things this year.
Speaker 7: Yeah. I agree, And again, we had an outstanding quarterback
Speaker 7: last year, one of the best in the country. So
Speaker 7: that's a big void, right, We've got to figure out
Speaker 7: who's going to do that and who can replace replace him.
Speaker 7: But I do I like what we have. I know
Speaker 7: coach is excited about his team, and I look forward
Speaker 7: to going around and look at the different schools and
Speaker 7: who we're going to play in this conference. But I
Speaker 7: don't think there's anything in this conference that scares me.
Speaker 7: You know, Central Arkansas was picked first. I think in
Speaker 7: this League, and we certainly played them at Missouri State
Speaker 7: quite often, and I know what they have. And again,
Speaker 7: I think we have better facilities. I certainly think that
Speaker 7: we have more support staff, more funding from a cost
Speaker 7: of attendance. We have a lot of things going for
Speaker 7: us that Coach Wells has done a good job with.
Speaker 7: And again, I'm really excited about the year. I think
Speaker 7: our fans should be excited and I look forward to
Speaker 7: us really competing well and have a chance to win
Speaker 7: Accountence Championship. I know it sounds like a D speak,
Speaker 7: but I believe that we've got the resource to be good.
Speaker 1: Well, you had a good program at Missouri State. I
Speaker 1: got to ask you. You hired at one point Bobby Petrino.
Speaker 1: I got to think you had a relationship with him
Speaker 1: after working at U of L. I'm wondering, and how
Speaker 1: did that work out?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I can tell you how that got started. Coach
Speaker 7: was out and I was the chair of the SCS
Speaker 7: committee that particular year, and he called me actually in
Speaker 7: the off season, right before the season is going to
Speaker 7: start and said, hey, you know, I know you're the
Speaker 7: committee chair. If something pops up, keep me in mind. Yeah,
Speaker 7: And I just I didn't think anything of it. We
Speaker 7: had a coach. It wasn't an antide with Missouri State.
Speaker 7: It was just more of, hey, can you help me
Speaker 7: if something pops up. Well, we go through the season,
Speaker 7: doesn't work out, we get rid of our coach late
Speaker 7: in the year, and I'm down at actually at the
Speaker 7: SCS National Championship in Frisco, and when we make that
Speaker 7: decision right before and then I had it down there
Speaker 7: and Bobby Kauff, I mean, he's the first call I get. Hey,
Speaker 7: I'm interested, Let's get this thing worked out. And long
Speaker 7: story short, our president, who was an Arkansas drad by
Speaker 7: the way, and realized, you know, the last time that
Speaker 7: Arkansas was pretty good was when Bobby was there. So
Speaker 7: it all kind of worked out because we had to
Speaker 7: have presidential support, as you do, and then you had
Speaker 7: to have the board support. But I didn't have any
Speaker 7: issue in terms of the football piece of it because
Speaker 7: he's one of the best football coaches in the country.
Speaker 7: I knew for us to be able to get somebody
Speaker 7: like that at Missouri State, that was a game changer
Speaker 7: for us, and he certainly proved to be that. We
Speaker 7: had into a playoff since nineteen ninety and Bobby got
Speaker 7: us the two of them.
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, had you lost a heartbreaker? I know
Speaker 1: to U T. Martin, But and you almost upset Arkansas?
Speaker 1: How about that? Yeah?
Speaker 4: We did.
Speaker 7: It was a great game. You know it's going down there,
Speaker 7: and of course people were fired up because Bobby was there.
Speaker 6: But we did.
Speaker 7: We made a great run, and we were in the
Speaker 7: game till till early in the fourth quarter, and that
Speaker 7: I think they kind of fatigue set in and they
Speaker 7: just have more numbers than we did. But we played really,
Speaker 7: really well with a fun game, really a fun game.
Speaker 1: I was on your campus. It was right about the
Speaker 1: time you got hired. You weren't here yet, I don't think,
Speaker 1: but we came over. We were given the opportunity to
Speaker 1: talk to some of your basketball players because of the
Speaker 1: new dates and they're working out. They're allowed to work
Speaker 1: out in the summertime with the coaches, and so I
Speaker 1: got a chance to talk again to aw Hamilton. I've
Speaker 1: had him on the show several times. Man, what a pistol,
Speaker 1: What a live wire that guy is, But what a
Speaker 1: what an outstanding coach. Uh, You're gonna have to work
Speaker 1: hard to hang on to him. I think you know that.
Speaker 1: But you talk about a passionate young man, you got
Speaker 1: to love that, Dick.
Speaker 7: You're exactly right. I mean that that was the first
Speaker 7: thing I was going to say, was passionate. He I
Speaker 7: just got done. I went over to a basketball camp
Speaker 7: because my grandson was at camp. I wanted to see him,
Speaker 7: and I mean it was fun to see him, how
Speaker 7: excited he was and energy he had for basketball. I mean,
Speaker 7: you had thought he was at you know, the conference championship.
Speaker 7: The way he was teaching those kids and the energy
Speaker 7: he was giving, which I think you got to have,
Speaker 7: right And I know from enough people I've talked about
Speaker 7: since I've had this job, he is very much community oriented.
Speaker 7: People love him within this community. He's out and about
Speaker 7: as much as he possibly can preaching the word. And
Speaker 7: that's what you have to have in these jobs. I
Speaker 7: believe that you've got to be out and connect with
Speaker 7: the people, and in aw is that he has got
Speaker 7: that done, and he has been very good at it,
Speaker 7: and we had success last year by winning the conference championship.
Speaker 6: I agree.
Speaker 7: I think those are things you Those are intangibles that
Speaker 7: people are looking for. If you can do the outside things,
Speaker 7: you can fundraise certainly you can pitch along with.
Speaker 6: It if you get the whole package.
Speaker 7: And I think he's got the whole package.
Speaker 1: You know. I've talked to a lot of the UK
Speaker 1: players and new ones under Mark Pope, and they've talked
Speaker 1: about how coach is right there in the drills with us.
Speaker 1: So's a w Hamilton, at least he was the day
Speaker 1: I was over there. But you're you're not gonna keep
Speaker 1: him on the sideline when they're teaching basketball at EKU.
Speaker 1: He's got to be in the middle of it, doesn't he.
Speaker 7: Yeah, he's like you said, he is very engaged and
Speaker 7: very passionate. And I think the kids notice that, right,
Speaker 7: that's not a fake. That's how he is. That's who
Speaker 7: he is every day, and he's genuine, and I think
Speaker 7: that makes a difference because kids respond to being genuine.
Speaker 7: They know when you're fake, or they know when you're
Speaker 7: not doing things the right way. And he's he's all
Speaker 7: about them. He's all about his program and he's all
Speaker 7: about giving an effort, energy and passion and that's what
Speaker 7: he does and that's what the kids. They see that
Speaker 7: and they emulate that, and that's how our kids play
Speaker 7: that forty minutes to hell. I guess I should say
Speaker 7: forty minutes to hell. That was no one right, forty
Speaker 7: minutes to something he's got ye. Nonetheless, that's how they
Speaker 7: play well.
Speaker 1: As we wrap this up with Kyle Motes, who, by
Speaker 1: the way, you can follow on ex for Twitter if
Speaker 1: you will at Kyle Motes m O A T S E. KU.
Speaker 1: You will see some entries of can Kyle, this is
Speaker 1: you what challenging your athletes and coaches getting to know them.
Speaker 1: They get to know you, and you get to show
Speaker 1: off your athletic ability. Tell me about that.
Speaker 7: Well, well, Dick, we use that term very loosely. I'm
Speaker 7: show enough my acadatic ability. There's not much there left.
Speaker 7: But it really is just to kind of familiarize myself
Speaker 7: with our coaches and our kids. That's really the reason
Speaker 7: I do it. And it's something that I can do
Speaker 7: with what makes them passionate what they like to do,
Speaker 7: which is our sports. So I can do most of them.
Speaker 7: I don't do all them very good, but I do
Speaker 7: enjoy doing it. As a matter of fact, I'm at
Speaker 7: four o'clock, I'm going to go do softball. So anyway,
Speaker 7: it's something that we that the social media content guys
Speaker 7: brought to my attention, which are really good, by the way, Dick,
Speaker 7: I mean this whole area of social content traffic, because
Speaker 7: these guys are really good here. It's one of the
Speaker 7: shining bright spots that we have. But they gave us
Speaker 7: that idea, or gave me that idea, and I said, hey,
Speaker 7: I'm all about it. I'll do whatever I need to do,
Speaker 7: and if I don't do too well, that's okay. I'm
Speaker 7: not too proud to fail, but certainly look forward to
Speaker 7: working with our coach, beginning to know them better and
Speaker 7: give you to know our student afters. That's what it's
Speaker 7: all about.
Speaker 1: You took on one of your veteran volleyball players in
Speaker 1: a serving challenge, and I've done that. It ain't easy.
Speaker 1: But you also took on your golf coaches over at Arlington.
Speaker 1: Now you've played a little bit of golf. I got
Speaker 1: to think that went okay.
Speaker 7: Well, that was really so far. If I if I
Speaker 7: were to judge in the trade how I've done, that
Speaker 7: might have been the worst or not, because I was
Speaker 7: just awful that day. I don't know what I was doing,
Speaker 7: but I might you know, I love to play golf
Speaker 7: as you know Jack, But yeah, the worst part of
Speaker 7: my game is puddy and we went to T Week Golf.
Speaker 7: I would have been better off sitting rains balls or drivers,
Speaker 7: but I didn't do very well on the TV week
Speaker 7: go off. Thing was cudding.
Speaker 1: Well, he also kicked field goals, folks, And I'm not
Speaker 1: going to to give it away, but just go to
Speaker 1: E k U Sports on Twitter or Kyle's Twitter site
Speaker 1: as well and you can find out about it. But
Speaker 1: I commend you, sir for competing and not being afraid
Speaker 1: to put yourself out there. But it's great talking to you.
Speaker 1: Looking forward to seeing you maybe on Media Day Sunday.
Speaker 7: Absolutely, and thanks for the call and I appreciate you.
Speaker 7: Anything I can do to help Jack, you know I will.
Speaker 1: And that'll do it. Thanks to all my guests. That's
Speaker 1: a good night from the garage in Lexington.
Speaker 4: Do you understand the words that are coming out of
Speaker 4: my mouth?
Speaker 1: Name