Speaker 1: It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day. Now here's Nick Coffee.
Speaker 2: It looks like the United States men's basketball team is
Speaker 2: half away from getting it done, which you know, that's
Speaker 2: the expectation.
Speaker 3: That's that's what you know.
Speaker 2: It's what we're supposed to do when it comes to
Speaker 2: Olympics is dominate in men's and women's basketball, and both
Speaker 2: have done that thus far. It was a big upset
Speaker 2: earlier Noah Lyles getting the bronze in the two hundred
Speaker 2: meter that certainly was not what a lot.
Speaker 3: Of folks expected.
Speaker 2: Turns out he had COVID while running, which is I
Speaker 2: don't know, I feel like that's kind of impressive to
Speaker 2: still metal while you're running despite being diagnosed with COVID
Speaker 2: just two days prior, Although is it more surprising that
Speaker 2: he was allowed to run? I mean again, I'm not
Speaker 2: trying to get into the COVID conversation today, trust me,
Speaker 2: but like, shouldn't this kind of speak to where where
Speaker 2: everybody is as far as like the worry about how
Speaker 2: dangerous it actually is.
Speaker 4: I mean, I just think about Michael Jordan playing with
Speaker 4: the flu, like yeah, and I don't want to say
Speaker 4: that it's the same thing, because they're both their own
Speaker 4: separate diseases.
Speaker 3: But at this point, I mean, I mean dangerous.
Speaker 2: I say that just just trying to get people riled up,
Speaker 2: because I know that was very That was a trigger
Speaker 2: statement that a lot of people like to throw out there,
Speaker 2: you know, during that awful time in our lives where
Speaker 2: we had to deal with it's.
Speaker 3: Hard to believe that that was four years ago.
Speaker 2: Gosh, it's starting to it's starting to feel like it
Speaker 2: was a lot longer like it used to be, Like, wow,
Speaker 2: that was two years ago.
Speaker 3: I feel like it was yesterday. Now.
Speaker 2: I'm to the point when it comes up, I'm just like, man,
Speaker 2: hopefully we never have to deal with any of that again.
Speaker 3: But you know who knows, right with the way things.
Speaker 2: Have played out, you know, in our country, we're at
Speaker 2: that point at least for me, where nothing really surprises me,
Speaker 2: and I mean nothing at all. All Right, it is
Speaker 2: coffee and company hour, remember two here on a Thursday.
Speaker 2: Appreciate you hanging out with us. We are fueled by
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Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 2: So the hurricane that was headed to Florida when I
Speaker 2: was heading back to Louisville has has left quite the impact.
Speaker 2: In fact, there's a story I want to get to
Speaker 2: here in just a moment of a really sad story
Speaker 2: about a local Louisville pilot who was flying to the
Speaker 2: Bahamas and they just they just found out they've been
Speaker 2: searching for his plane. He's been missing, and it sounds
Speaker 2: like they did find it, and obviously not good news
Speaker 2: by any means. But the storm itself has, I mean,
Speaker 2: slowly but surely it's and you know, maybe I'm wrong here,
Speaker 2: but I kind of feel like it's not getting the
Speaker 2: same type of coverage that you would typically see from
Speaker 2: a hurricane. That is, you know, I mean, it's a
Speaker 2: tropical storm here that let me just double check here,
Speaker 2: make sure I've got my numbers correct. But yeah, I
Speaker 2: said the storm made its second landfall last night on
Speaker 2: the South Carolina coast, and his forecast to bring an
Speaker 2: extra three to nine inches of rain on top of
Speaker 2: what has already fallen. Maximum storm rainfall totals as high
Speaker 2: as twenty five inches in South Carolina and fifteen inches
Speaker 2: in North Carolina. Which, man, that's a lot of a
Speaker 2: lot of rain for the Carolinas, And I think, yeah,
Speaker 2: it looks like let's see. Yeah, it says here that
Speaker 2: the Florida State Senator John Gruders, who represents Sarasota and
Speaker 2: Manatee Counties, is calling for a state investigation into why
Speaker 2: the floodwaters in sarasotaar is so deep and are lasting
Speaker 2: so long. So yeah, I guess that's the area of
Speaker 2: Florida that has been just completely I guess underwater, which
Speaker 2: is you know, which is awful. But let's see here,
Speaker 2: We've got a guest coming up in about fifteen minutes.
Speaker 2: We're gonna be joined by Ken Spencer from Whas eleven.
Speaker 2: So not a whole lot of time left here in
Speaker 2: this first segment. But this is a story that I'm
Speaker 2: not sure how much it's gonna interest you guys, but
Speaker 2: it's it's fascinating to me because for the first time ever,
Speaker 2: there will be a NFL player playing in an NFL
Speaker 2: game where you cannot purchase his jersey, and that is
Speaker 2: former Ohio State star Marvin Harrison Junior. He is in
Speaker 2: a weird and confusing legal battle with Fanatics. So every
Speaker 2: NFL rookie, I guess has the option to sign a deal. Yeah,
Speaker 2: he chose not to sign the NFL Players associationan's group
Speaker 2: licensing agreement that is with Fanatics. And if you don't
Speaker 2: know what Fanatics is, they they make jerseys and all
Speaker 2: kinds of team gear. I think they are, in fact
Speaker 2: the biggest. I think they are the biggest you know,
Speaker 2: whatever you want to call them. I mean, I don't
Speaker 2: think they just sell jerseys and team gear, but you
Speaker 2: know that kind of stuff. And I think they've actually
Speaker 2: put a lot of a lot of companies out of
Speaker 2: business who that was kind of their thing. But it's
Speaker 2: tricky because apparently he has his own like group, his
Speaker 2: own LLC, the Official Harrison Collection, and it's his father
Speaker 2: who kind of runs it. Of course, who is you know,
Speaker 2: Marvin Harrison Senior, legendary player himself, but yeah, the Official
Speaker 2: Harrison Collection LLC. They're registered in the state of Pennsylvania
Speaker 2: in February of twenty twenty three, before they before the
Speaker 2: entity signed its first deal with Fanatics. So Fanatics has
Speaker 2: followed a lawsuit against Marvin Harrison Junior, claiming that they
Speaker 2: do have a signature from him to where they can
Speaker 2: they can sell his jerseys. However, Harrison is claiming he
Speaker 2: never signed it, but somebody you know from his camp
Speaker 2: apparently did. But in the last and at least the
Speaker 2: last twenty years, as of course, jersey making has become,
Speaker 2: you know, a big deal. No top draft pick in
Speaker 2: any major US pro men's sport has ever had his
Speaker 2: jersey unavailable the first time he plays in a game.
Speaker 2: And that is what's going to happen here with Marvin
Speaker 2: Harrison Junior because of this current ongoing situation, which I
Speaker 2: I'm not sure what would make him like if every
Speaker 2: other NFL rookie and not only this current class, but
Speaker 2: in previous years, has agreed to sign the same agree
Speaker 2: like I just I don't know, does he feel like
Speaker 2: he's entitled.
Speaker 3: To more money. This whole thing is confusing.
Speaker 2: However, again, when I saw that he will be the
Speaker 2: first ever US men's pro athlete in the last twenty
Speaker 2: years to not have like, no right now can buy
Speaker 2: an Arizona Cardinal Marvin Harrison Junior jersey, and I'm sure
Speaker 2: people will live and they'll survive without being able to
Speaker 2: buy it, and eventually he'll probably have a jersey you
Speaker 2: can purchase. But I just found this to be very,
Speaker 2: very bizarre, and it sounds like a lot of people
Speaker 2: are blaming it on his father for I guess you know. Yeah,
Speaker 2: this is from Darren Heidner, who is a sports and
Speaker 2: business attorney. He says, it seems Marvin Harrison Senior signed
Speaker 2: with Fanatics as an authorized rep of the Official Harrison
Speaker 2: Collection LLC. Harrison Junior is the sole member of the
Speaker 2: LLC Harrison Junior hopes to escape power of personal liability
Speaker 2: throughout the corporate veil. So not a good look necessarily
Speaker 2: for anybody involved, it seems. But yeah, for the first
Speaker 2: time ever, maybe keep that in the back of your
Speaker 2: mind for some useless trivia that may come up at
Speaker 2: some point in your life, right like who is the
Speaker 2: only men's professional top draft pick that when he played
Speaker 2: his first snap as a pro athlete, Jersey was not available.
Speaker 2: Now you know it's gonna be Marvin Harrison junior the
Speaker 2: more you know, all right, So, Nolan Smith is one
Speaker 2: of the many names we talked about quite a bit
Speaker 2: throughout the last couple of years when it comes to
Speaker 2: the Louisville basketball just you know, clown show. And I'm
Speaker 2: not calling Nolan a clown, and certainly he wasn't the
Speaker 2: head coach, but you know, everything everything from the Louisville
Speaker 2: basketball program for the most part in the last couple
Speaker 2: of years was just an absolute mess. And again I'm
Speaker 2: not blaming at all on him, but I don't think
Speaker 2: he necessarily helped himself with how he went about some things.
Speaker 2: And you know, I I don't know for sure firsthand
Speaker 2: as far as what exactly transpired with him allegedly leaking
Speaker 2: out information that was not true, and that was that
Speaker 2: Kenny Paine was going to be fired after the Kentucky game.
Speaker 2: But if you remember, Eric Crawford did a write up
Speaker 2: on sort of like the you know, I guess the
Speaker 2: final in depth piece on this staff, this regime and
Speaker 2: sort of how it all kind of came to an end,
Speaker 2: and Eric included a little nugget in that piece that
Speaker 2: referenced that the University of Louisville did their own internal
Speaker 2: investigation as far as how information was leaking out that
Speaker 2: wasn't true.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: It's one thing if there's a leak and it's because
Speaker 2: somebody just had loose lips. It's another thing if there's
Speaker 2: an alleged leak of information that they know for sure
Speaker 2: is not true. And that was that Kenny was to
Speaker 2: be was It was a for sure done deal that
Speaker 2: Kenny was going to be let go after the Kentucky game.
Speaker 2: And they investigated the university, not just the athletic department,
Speaker 2: and they discovered that the source of that leak was
Speaker 2: Nolan Smith, and they alerted Kenny Payne of that, and
Speaker 2: Kenny chose not to take action. I don't know if
Speaker 2: it would have been a good look for Kenny at
Speaker 2: that point to fire Nolan, but clearly they had a
Speaker 2: falling out and they didn't work closely together towards the end,
Speaker 2: and you know that led to people saying, hey, he
Speaker 2: tried to sabotage Kenny Payne. He was telling people that
Speaker 2: can Paine was going.
Speaker 3: To be fired.
Speaker 2: So there's no like proof of that. But I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: I mean, if the if the university themselves is going
Speaker 2: to do their own investigation, and there and and and that,
Speaker 2: and that is their finding. Like, I don't think they're
Speaker 2: out to get Nolan. I think that's what they that's
Speaker 2: what they believe with the information that they have. And
Speaker 2: it's because you know, I think some of the people
Speaker 2: that put it out there, they had no problem telling
Speaker 2: U of L who gave him that info because they
Speaker 2: felt duped as well. I mean, I'm not gonna mention
Speaker 2: who was, but there was a college basketball uh you
Speaker 2: know insider if you will, that that was you know
Speaker 2: that is usually pretty spot on, and he was. He
Speaker 2: was sharing that he's hearing that Kenny Payne will be
Speaker 2: out and that Nolan Smith's going to be the interim coach.
Speaker 2: And you know who told him that? Apparently it was
Speaker 2: Nolan Smith and it wasn't true. So you know that
Speaker 2: that's a no no. I mean, and I wondered if
Speaker 2: Nolan would be hirable as as an assistant coach at
Speaker 2: the Division one level, and as of now he is not.
Speaker 2: There was if you remember, there was that he was
Speaker 2: going to be joining Johnnydawkins staff at Central Florida, and
Speaker 2: somehow that didn't work out. And I actually thought that
Speaker 2: that was going to be like the perfect scenario for him,
Speaker 2: because you know, I I feel it just seems it
Speaker 2: seems weird to me to say that like Nolan has
Speaker 2: a lot of growing up to do, because Nolan is
Speaker 2: is you know, he's my age. You know, he's thirty
Speaker 2: thirty five, thirty six years old, so it's not as
Speaker 2: if he's a young kid, but you know, he is
Speaker 2: young to be basically the associate head coach of a
Speaker 2: men's it's just not many guys that age. And at Duke,
Speaker 2: you know, he was there forever. He was there four
Speaker 2: years as a player, went to the NBA, and then
Speaker 2: got right into coaching at Duke. So, you know, I
Speaker 2: just the way he handled himself at times, you know,
Speaker 2: I felt like he could have you know, he just
Speaker 2: didn't seem like he was really going about it the
Speaker 2: right way. And I don't know Nolan ever met him.
Speaker 2: He blocked me on Twitter. He had family members reach
Speaker 2: out to me and you know, tell me what they
Speaker 2: thought of me. But I never engaged because you know,
Speaker 2: what would that do for me, But I hope it
Speaker 2: works out for him because you know, I mean, he's
Speaker 2: he's still a relatively young guy when it comes to
Speaker 2: to the business of college basketball. And when he came
Speaker 2: to Louisville Man, he had the he was believed to
Speaker 2: be one of the top upcoming assistants, a guy that
Speaker 2: had a super bright future.
Speaker 3: So I don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't know what happened with Johnny Dwkins, but Johnny
Speaker 2: Dawkins was really close to Nolan's father, Derek Smith, who
Speaker 2: of course has passed away. They were teammates in the
Speaker 2: NBA for a little while, and I thought that would
Speaker 2: have been a perfect landing spot, and somehow that fell through. Well,
Speaker 2: now there are reports that Nolan Smith is going to
Speaker 2: be joining Penny Hardaway's staff in some capacity. I don't
Speaker 2: know if that says an assistant coach or if that's
Speaker 2: just as like a supplemental staffer. But you know, I
Speaker 2: hope he does get an opportunity. Uh you know, I
Speaker 2: don't I don't have any reason to to to wish him,
Speaker 2: you know, failure and and and whatnot. I mean, hated
Speaker 2: that it played out the way that it did, but
Speaker 2: you know, I just of all the things that that
Speaker 2: went wrong, and of all the things that just made
Speaker 2: it sad that that was one of the hardest for
Speaker 2: me is because I just felt like Nolan Smith was
Speaker 2: somebody that like him. Coming home to coach under Kenny
Speaker 2: Payne at Louisville was like something you see in a movie.
Speaker 2: And then and you know, the movie ended up being
Speaker 2: a horror movie when it comes to the basketball program.
Speaker 2: And again, I'm not blaming Nolan specifically for that, but
Speaker 2: you know, he certainly didn't handle things the right way,
Speaker 2: and I would and I would imagine that even he
Speaker 2: would he would say that to be honest with you.
Speaker 2: But we'll see. All right, quick break, we'll come back
Speaker 2: on the other side, and welcome in mister Kent Spencer
Speaker 2: from w HS eleven right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 2: It's right coffee and company rolling along here on Sports
Speaker 2: Talk seven ninety. Appreciate you hanging out with us, and
Speaker 2: we now bring in a guest, mister Kent Spencer from
Speaker 2: WHS eleven.
Speaker 3: Long time, no talk, Ken. How's your summer going, brother?
Speaker 4: It went really really well. And then I'm one of
Speaker 4: those parents today that had three different schools, three different
Speaker 4: kids in three different schools with three different start times.
Speaker 3: Oh wow, that sounds like an absolute nightmare.
Speaker 1: I tell you what it is.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Mean it's a struggle. I mean, let's just say things
Speaker 2: go smoothly with you know, you know, getting everybody that
Speaker 2: that's just a lot, man, that's that's a lot to
Speaker 2: deal with.
Speaker 4: No, you know how it's aggressive. Yeah, and you have
Speaker 4: to have there has to.
Speaker 1: Be constant communication and it's super aggressive.
Speaker 4: At the We've got two out of three home, so
Speaker 4: at least we're chopping wood.
Speaker 3: There you go.
Speaker 2: That's I mean, that's I mean, so far, so good,
Speaker 2: And honestly, it does seem as if, for the most part,
Speaker 2: at least as of now, things have been fairly smooth,
Speaker 2: especially considering last year's big, big mess when everybody tried
Speaker 2: to go back to school. But uh, I guess i'll
Speaker 2: before we get into some football stuff, just any any
Speaker 2: takeaways from what you saw last uh last week in
Speaker 2: the Bahamas. I know you weren't there, but you know,
Speaker 2: seeing Pat Kelsey's team for the first time, tough to
Speaker 2: really know what to take from it as far as
Speaker 2: the competition they played against. But a brand new team,
Speaker 2: I think most fans myself included, feel pretty pleased with
Speaker 2: what Pat Kelsey is going to be working with in
Speaker 2: his first season here at Louisville.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I mean, honestly, like as far as massive, you know,
Speaker 4: takeaways from it, I think the biggest one for me,
Speaker 4: you know, Nick, is just the fact that they looked organized.
Speaker 4: They look like they had a plan on both offensive
Speaker 4: defense when it came to like result against competition. I
Speaker 4: don't take much away from it because, like I think
Speaker 4: in that first game, Karence Oakmalspeak, you know, said like Nick,
Speaker 4: I got that, dude, that's old. As far as that competition, Like,
Speaker 4: I just don't think they're going to go on a diet,
Speaker 4: but you know what they do, they have a plan.
Speaker 4: They want to play fast, you know. So I think
Speaker 4: all of that is such a positive sign. Like if
Speaker 4: you were feeling good about the momento, I think you're
Speaker 4: you know, I think that even got ramped up just
Speaker 4: just a little bit like it, right, you Sure there's
Speaker 4: still there's more hope for the future.
Speaker 3: No doubt about it.
Speaker 2: And I think, you know, just as you made the
Speaker 2: first thing you said as far as looking organized, I mean,
Speaker 2: they they've got an identity.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 3: I think you can see that there's gonna.
Speaker 2: Be clearly a style of play that they want to
Speaker 2: play at uh, and little things I think jump out
Speaker 2: quite a bit more than they used to. Whenever you
Speaker 2: went through as a fan, what what we saw the
Speaker 2: last couple of years, not a whole lot, lot of organization,
Speaker 2: not really being sure as far as what they wanted
Speaker 2: to be as far as a team, their style and
Speaker 2: all that kind of stuff. But yeah, basketball, the bar
Speaker 2: said pretty low, and I feel pretty confident that Pat
Speaker 2: Kelsey's going to be able to give to give this
Speaker 2: fan base a lot to be excited about moving forward.
Speaker 2: I mean, I can't remember a time at least in
Speaker 2: my lifetime as a Louisville fan where there was a
Speaker 2: situation quite like this one with a brand new team.
Speaker 2: Literally everybody from start to finish is brand new here.
Speaker 2: And you know, the type of seasons you had the
Speaker 2: last couple of years or something a lot of us
Speaker 2: never thought was possible. So there's gonna be wins against
Speaker 2: teams we've never heard of, and we'll we'll probably be
Speaker 2: celebrating it like it was something substantial just because of
Speaker 2: you know, what happened in in the last the last
Speaker 2: couple of years. But let's let's switch gears to football.
Speaker 2: I'll start with with Kentucky. Here the news last week
Speaker 2: they had to vacate really an entire season with some
Speaker 2: stuff that happened, you know, pre and I all that
Speaker 2: kind of stuff. I guess any thoughts as to UK's
Speaker 2: response to it, or maybe lack thereof when you heard
Speaker 2: about this happening as far as the decision from the
Speaker 2: NC DOUBLEA, did you expect to hear Barnhardt Stoops talk
Speaker 2: about it at all? I know that's been a topic
Speaker 2: with some I'm not really sure what they would say
Speaker 2: other than maybe just acknowledging that they worked through it
Speaker 2: with the NC DOUBLEA and this is what's happened. But
Speaker 2: just curious kind of your takeaway from that from that
Speaker 2: situation where they had to vacate a very special season.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, look, that news came out on media Day,
Speaker 4: and that news came out after Mark Stoops talked to
Speaker 4: the podium.
Speaker 3: I didn't know.
Speaker 4: I personally, I personally feel like that news should have
Speaker 4: come out before Mark Stoops took to the podium, so
Speaker 4: he had an opportunity to ask questions. You know a
Speaker 4: lot of times on media day. It's Barnhart is that's
Speaker 4: like one of his press conference days, right, sure he
Speaker 4: goes there. Well he didn't. He didn't hold that same
Speaker 4: news conference on that particular day, and I think that
Speaker 4: he should have been there to be able to answer
Speaker 4: some questions. I mean, you know, to be quite honest,
Speaker 4: like we all knew what the situation was, you know,
Speaker 4: with Chris Rodriguez and everything, you know, from a long
Speaker 4: time ago. But to be honest with you, you know, Nick,
Speaker 4: I could have forgot about the case because you know,
Speaker 4: Rodriguez has been gone for a couple of years now,
Speaker 4: and so like you and then you were like, oh,
Speaker 4: this is what it was and this and when it
Speaker 4: comes to vacating wins and you know all of that stuff.
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, everybody can probably have their own opinion.
Speaker 4: I mean, to be quite honest with you, you know, it
Speaker 4: kind of goes with with me in the twenty thirteen
Speaker 4: National title, Like I remember that I was there. I
Speaker 4: watched him cut down the bets, you know, and that
Speaker 4: year like I watched him win those games. So but
Speaker 4: but I do think that those two gentlemen should have
Speaker 4: answered questions that particular day.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think going back to even before Nil and
Speaker 2: the portal, whenever it was a much different world, whenever
Speaker 2: you would hear of somebody cheating, somebody getting money and
Speaker 2: permissible benefits, I think there was a lot of fake outrage.
Speaker 2: I don't think anybody truly cared. I think there was
Speaker 2: always just a belief that maybe not everyone is cheating,
Speaker 2: but like there's clearly some things happening to where you know,
Speaker 2: guys are getting paid. There is a benefit here and
Speaker 2: there that is taking place, that's leading to certain kids
Speaker 2: deciding where they want to go, that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: But now, man, I don't know if anybody could even
Speaker 2: fake it that they're bothered about this kind of stuff,
Speaker 2: because now you can. I mean, it's such a high
Speaker 2: dollar business. Now, there's so much money involved in it,
Speaker 2: and it's right in front of our face. The schools
Speaker 2: are going to be paying these players here soon, which
Speaker 2: is which is something that you know, that's that's just
Speaker 2: unheard of ten years ago, and now here we go
Speaker 2: it's about to happen. But with all that said, I mean,
Speaker 2: Mark Stoops, I'm just curious someone who's covered this program,
Speaker 2: and I know you familiar with how he how he's
Speaker 2: gone about things. I kind of feel like he would
Speaker 2: have been somebody that would have wanted to be upfront
Speaker 2: about it and be direct, and because I feel like
Speaker 2: he's usually pretty spot on when he when he gets
Speaker 2: a chance to talk to the media, he usually says
Speaker 2: all the right things and controls things, and I just
Speaker 2: think for him to be silent, it was kind of
Speaker 2: a surprise. Do you have any theorists do you think
Speaker 2: maybe there and again I'm just asking you to guess
Speaker 2: and maybe kind of read his mind. Do you think
Speaker 2: maybe there's a chance he could be unhappy with them
Speaker 2: deciding to, you know, take that as as as the
Speaker 2: punishment and Vakate wins. Again, I'm asking you to read
Speaker 2: his mind. But I just feel like this is kind
Speaker 2: of not the way those two guys specifically would go
Speaker 2: about this kind of thing.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, UK when they when they released the statement,
Speaker 4: they released video messages from doctor Eli Cappoluto and Mitch Barnhart.
Speaker 4: I would imagine this decision to hold that news until
Speaker 4: after media day. I don't think that was a Mark
Speaker 4: Stoop's decision. I think that was above his pay grade.
Speaker 4: And so you know there I think have been times
Speaker 4: in the past where you know, you you think these
Speaker 4: coaches have all this power, but sometimes you know, the
Speaker 4: powers that be they let you know how you're going
Speaker 4: to handle that. I mean, uh, you know a couple
Speaker 4: of years ago, remember when it was the football spat
Speaker 4: between John Calipari and Mark Stoops.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, okay, well.
Speaker 4: John Calipari wanted to issue an apology. I have seen
Speaker 4: the apology. It was even like it had a complete
Speaker 4: graphic and everything that he was ready to go out
Speaker 4: that day and his boss told him not to send that.
Speaker 4: So like, sometimes those things go above your pay grade
Speaker 4: and there's nothing you can do about it. I mean,
Speaker 4: if we look at like thee where we all are nowadays,
Speaker 4: within I l and all this stuff. I know of
Speaker 4: two local head coaches that flat out come out and say, look,
Speaker 4: it's about the money. This is now pay for play.
Speaker 4: Those two coaches, one is Mark Stops, the other's Jeff Walls.
Speaker 4: Everybody else likes the tap dance around it. Yeah, but
Speaker 4: not those two. Those two are you know, all about it.
Speaker 4: And so that's one of the things why I you know,
Speaker 4: he probably would have been upfront about this, but you know,
Speaker 4: you never know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think when it comes to Stoops's comments. I
Speaker 2: guess this was right around the time the SEC media
Speaker 2: Day's wrapped up, and if anything I can, I can
Speaker 2: appreciate and respect the full transparency. You know, I think
Speaker 2: there's probably some coaches that probably feel the way Stoops
Speaker 2: feels as far as his comments about man, I'm not
Speaker 2: sure how much longer I can do this. You know,
Speaker 2: it's just all about raising money now. I mean, do
Speaker 2: you get the sense that maybe not most coaches, but
Speaker 2: I've bet a lot of coaches feel the exact same way.
Speaker 2: But they feel as if they were to be so
Speaker 2: honest and transparent that it might you know, it might
Speaker 2: come off the way, it might come off as if
Speaker 2: they're unappreciative of their job and that you know, the
Speaker 2: money that's been raised hasn't been enough. Again, like you
Speaker 2: don't hear most coaches say the kind of things that
Speaker 2: Stoops had said right after media day at the SEC.
Speaker 2: When it comes to just the new this is such
Speaker 2: a new job for these guys now again, they make
Speaker 2: a lot of money to where I feel like asking
Speaker 2: them to make some adjustments is not asking too much. However,
Speaker 2: I will acknowledge that that job head coach at a
Speaker 2: major university for football and men's basketball, and even women's basketball.
Speaker 2: Throw baseball in there.
Speaker 4: Two.
Speaker 3: Heck, all the sports to some extent, Like these jobs
Speaker 3: are different.
Speaker 4: Now, you know, here's what I think about these coaches.
Speaker 4: And by the way, you've got coaches now, high profile
Speaker 4: coaches that are flat out and just getting out of
Speaker 4: the industry. And this is the reason why. And you know,
Speaker 4: part of it is it is not that you have
Speaker 4: to beg for me this or this. It's it's what
Speaker 4: you have to do to get the money. I've seen
Speaker 4: coaches with boosters and they look miserable.
Speaker 3: That's a good point. I have to now.
Speaker 4: People that are donating campaign money. Hey, people that people
Speaker 4: that are donating all this money, guess what they want.
Speaker 4: They want to know who their money's going to. They
Speaker 4: want access to the program. That's why, you know, I
Speaker 4: used to feel a certain amount of way when I
Speaker 4: go to an AAU event. I pretty much feel that
Speaker 4: way twenty four to seven and a lot of instances
Speaker 4: like it's just different. And I'm not saying like, you know,
Speaker 4: I've always been about players that should be paid, but
Speaker 4: the schools now, you know, when they start paying the players,
Speaker 4: you know, I hope it makes it, you know, feel
Speaker 4: a little bit more legit than what it it kind
Speaker 4: of currently feels like. And by the way, I don't
Speaker 4: know how this thing can continue.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it doesn't seem sustainable.
Speaker 4: How is anybody getting a return on investment? You know
Speaker 4: what I mean? Like, what are you getting? And you
Speaker 4: know the kind of money that we know that's kind
Speaker 4: of been dealt around with some of these players, How
Speaker 4: in the world can that continue?
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 4: I can't see it, but well, you know, we're just
Speaker 4: kind of riding the wave at this point.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I hadn't given it that. I hadn't thought
Speaker 3: about it that way.
Speaker 2: As far as some of these coaches, when when when
Speaker 2: you think of the conversations they have to have with
Speaker 2: these people who they need their mo money, and these
Speaker 2: people know that that money, that their money is needed,
Speaker 2: you know, kind of the smoothing and and whatnot. Like
Speaker 2: some of these coaches, especially those that have an ego
Speaker 2: that have had a lot of success, man, that is
Speaker 2: probably the last thing on earth they want to do
Speaker 2: is to go, you know, kind of kiss ass and
Speaker 2: suck up to somebody and hopes that they'll open up
Speaker 2: the check book and give them money to get players.
Speaker 2: But that's kind of the name of the game now.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's it's so different.
Speaker 4: And look and and let's just you know, and maybe
Speaker 4: I'm completely wrong, maybe, but let's just be honest when
Speaker 4: it comes to Lowell and Kentucky. You know, our our
Speaker 4: main programs that that we cover, they got some deep pockets.
Speaker 4: They ain't that deep, yeah, and they ain't that every year.
Speaker 2: Eventually, years in people are going to say, look, I'll
Speaker 2: continue to support, but I've given a lot of money
Speaker 2: and things have been okay, but man, like there's not
Speaker 2: really a whole lot to show for that. Like, eventually
Speaker 2: it's just gonna again, as you said, it's it's as
Speaker 2: you alluded to, I should say, it's just not it's
Speaker 2: not sustainable. But you know, well, we'll ride the wave
Speaker 2: until until it's not. All right, let's switch gears to
Speaker 2: to Louisville. Here any surprise as far as where Louisville
Speaker 2: came in in the preseason acc poll, I think they
Speaker 2: came in at number five, not featuring the coaches poll.
Speaker 2: Preseason rankings don't really mean a whole lot, especially in football,
Speaker 2: now that we actually have rankings that come out a
Speaker 2: little bit further after the midway point with the college
Speaker 2: full playoff rankings. But just any any thoughts as far
Speaker 2: as what you're hearing the buzz about Louisville, maybe lack
Speaker 2: thereof coming off a ten win season.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, look, I think a couple of things
Speaker 4: that you know, everything is so new to them. I
Speaker 4: think nationally, I think, you know, we see Tyler Schuck
Speaker 4: as he seems to be a really good quarterback that
Speaker 4: just can't stay healthy.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Well, okay, so now you're just really rolling the dice
Speaker 4: on a dude that's never been able to stay healthy.
Speaker 4: He's just go all of a sudden be able to
Speaker 4: stay healthy this year. And so you know, I don't
Speaker 4: know if that's any trepidation. I mean, and if we're
Speaker 4: being honest, they lost a lot on the offensive line
Speaker 4: from a year ago, and that offense blind was was
Speaker 4: really good last year, especially that running game and some
Speaker 4: running backs. I mean, like you're you're really betting on
Speaker 4: that they hit home runs in the transfer portal, that
Speaker 4: all of those guys that they brought in are gonna
Speaker 4: be able to hit and and to be able to gel.
Speaker 4: You know, I remember last year they weren't picked high
Speaker 4: in the preseason polls either won ten games played, you know,
Speaker 4: in the a SEC championship game, and so you're right,
Speaker 4: I I'm not surprised that they didn't, you know, they
Speaker 4: they ended up what is that, I think fourth or
Speaker 4: fifth picked in the a C C or something like
Speaker 4: that had into the into the preseason pol yep. So
Speaker 4: I'm not that doesn't that's not crazy shocking to me.
Speaker 4: But it's it's like this, it's this amazing thing that
Speaker 4: they get to try to prove it on the field,
Speaker 4: you know, starting in that first week of the season
Speaker 4: on through the rest of this thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think at times I found myself as
Speaker 2: a Louisville fan thinking, you know, could this be used
Speaker 2: as you know, is this legitimate bulletin bourb material to
Speaker 2: motivate this team or is it?
Speaker 3: Or am I manufacturing that right?
Speaker 2: Because I think, you know, nobody's saying that they're lousy,
Speaker 2: nobody's claiming they're going to take a huge step step back.
Speaker 2: The reality is they benefited from the way the schedule
Speaker 2: aligned last year. There were not I mean, they they
Speaker 2: got a good you know, they got a good break
Speaker 2: from the ACC As far as the opponents that they
Speaker 2: had to play.
Speaker 3: That's nothing they can do about that.
Speaker 2: But also, you know, just to see some I think
Speaker 2: Miami continues to get the benefit of the doubt. I
Speaker 2: think people are expecting enc he stated to be good
Speaker 2: once again. But I think from a personnel standpoint, you know,
Speaker 2: they've got a chance to be to be you know,
Speaker 2: a good team once again. But it does really come
Speaker 2: down to Tyler Schuck. What have you heard from folks
Speaker 2: as far as what they expect out of him. I
Speaker 2: know they're not going to run him the way he was.
Speaker 2: You use him the same way he was utilized at
Speaker 2: both Oregon at Texas Tech, and I think that's why
Speaker 2: they believe they can keep him healthier. But just any
Speaker 2: any buzz you're hearing as far as what they think
Speaker 2: they have with him at quarterback, I.
Speaker 4: Mean, I've seen several of the open practices. I mean,
Speaker 4: he does he throws a nice ball to have a
Speaker 4: really good command of the offense, his chemistry with the receivers.
Speaker 4: You know, you get a new quarterback and you know,
Speaker 4: like Chris Bell was their leading attorney received by a lot,
Speaker 4: and so you're adding pieces like uh, Jacquary Brooks and
Speaker 4: Colin lacy and stuff like that. So how's this chemistry
Speaker 4: gonna be? It seems fine in practice. We'll see when
Speaker 4: the lights, you know, get bright and you know there's
Speaker 4: there's fans in the seats. But every you know, from
Speaker 4: everything that I've seen, he looks.
Speaker 3: He looks good.
Speaker 4: Now, let me say this. I thought Jack Plumber looked
Speaker 4: really good last year in practice, and so really you
Speaker 4: really don't know until you get you know, against the
Speaker 4: opponents and in the stadium. But you know, even like
Speaker 4: his running ability, you know, I know they they weren't
Speaker 4: running a ton like he did in some of his
Speaker 4: previous stops, but you know that they used Plumber's legs
Speaker 4: pretty effectively last year in certain situations. So I mean
Speaker 4: I could still see them doing some of that this
Speaker 4: year because you know, like even last year, I think
Speaker 4: everybody was like, look, Jack Plumber better stay healthy because
Speaker 4: you know there's a drop off after him. Well it's
Speaker 4: the same, you know, the feeling I think, you know
Speaker 4: is the same this year going into it, so they
Speaker 4: desperately need to keep him healthy. I still think he'll
Speaker 4: run in spots, but you know, so far, like he
Speaker 4: looks apart from my.
Speaker 2: Eyes, yeah, I mean I it with the portal, man.
Speaker 2: You really just never know. There's guys that have come
Speaker 2: me like Grendo last year was not viewed as one
Speaker 2: of the big time editions in the portal. He was
Speaker 2: kind of a guy that came in a little bit
Speaker 2: later than others and just a nice piece who played
Speaker 2: at Wisconsin and then towards the end of the year.
Speaker 2: I mean he was he was their best running back
Speaker 2: and has now got a chance to play on Sundays.
Speaker 2: So you you know, you never really know how some
Speaker 2: of these guys are gonna how it's how it's all,
Speaker 2: how it's all gonna work out. All right, Well, we
Speaker 2: appreciate you giving you giving us a lot of your
Speaker 2: time into your very busy guy can't always great to
Speaker 2: catch up. Godspeed with with the smooth the smooth rest
Speaker 2: of the afternoon, with getting the kids back from school.
Speaker 4: Well well I can, I can. I can successfully report
Speaker 4: we were three for three, all right.
Speaker 3: Three for three.
Speaker 4: We've got them all in the house before five o'clock.
Speaker 2: Oh heck, yeah, that's a win. That's a win. Great
Speaker 2: way to get the school year started. Thanks Ken, I
Speaker 2: appreciate you, man.
Speaker 3: Thanks buddy, appreciate it, right, take care that is kid.
Speaker 2: Spencer from WHS eleven. How about that JCPS coming through
Speaker 2: getting it done. I mean, I'm sure other families won't
Speaker 2: have the exact same success that the Spencer family had,
Speaker 2: but hey again, I've not seen anything that tells me
Speaker 2: that we've got anything close to the mess that we
Speaker 2: had last year. And also, real quick, I mentioned earlier
Speaker 2: the beginning of the hour that Team USA was about
Speaker 2: to you know, you know, win the gold or whatever
Speaker 2: and keep it rolling. And you know, I can make
Speaker 2: a fool of myself often it happens. I totally had
Speaker 2: the score wrong. I thought US was up twenty on Serbia.
Speaker 2: Turns out they were getting beat by more than twenty
Speaker 2: by Serbia. And now they're on this crazy run with
Speaker 2: two minutes left as Lebron James just knife through the
Speaker 2: lane to give them an eighty nine to eighty six lead.
Speaker 2: Serbia crumbling. Yokic of course part of that team, and
Speaker 2: a lot of people clown in this Team USA team
Speaker 2: as if they as they were getting drummed, and now
Speaker 2: they've made some big comeback here, so who knows. I mean,
Speaker 2: still a little bit of time left, but another turnover
Speaker 2: from Serbia and another break here as Team USA now
Speaker 2: has a five point lead as Steph Curry going to
Speaker 2: the free throw line for a potential and one. So
Speaker 2: all right, quick break, we'll come back, wrap up be
Speaker 2: four o'clock our right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 2: I gotta tell you the commercial break there might have
Speaker 2: been the most into the Olympics I've ever been for basketball.
Speaker 2: A rare situation has has played itself out here, and
Speaker 2: I'm trying to like, here we go. Yeah, it looks
Speaker 2: like they're will I was a little bit behind because
Speaker 2: I hit pause whenever we were wrapping up the interview
Speaker 2: with Kent because I didn't want to, you know, I
Speaker 2: didn't want to be rude, and I'll be paying attention
Speaker 2: to a guest who's given us, given us his time.
Speaker 2: But it looks as if this thing is is well, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's over. The Team USA did in fact come back
Speaker 2: and win. I'm not sure how much they were down.
Speaker 2: I know it was more than twenty points. And it
Speaker 2: was a rare situation to where you were feeling as if, oh,
Speaker 2: are they gonna lose this game? And look, they've lost
Speaker 2: games before, but I mean they were getting killed. It
Speaker 2: looked like it was it was gonna be the end,
Speaker 2: and they come all the way back. Jowell and Beiie
Speaker 2: played huge in this run and they knock off Jokic
Speaker 2: and Serbia. And usually when you're watching Team USA play,
Speaker 2: I mean, it's good to see, you know, the United
Speaker 2: States dominate something, right, better than being dominated.
Speaker 3: You want to win.
Speaker 2: Everybody would love to be dominant in something, but it's
Speaker 2: not always that interesting when it comes to like, you know,
Speaker 2: excitement and like, oh, what's gonna happen. You kind of know,
Speaker 2: night in and night out, when you watch the United
Speaker 2: States men's basketball team play against other countries, they're gonna win,
Speaker 2: and more often than not, they're gonna be dominant.
Speaker 3: And that was not the case here.
Speaker 2: I mean, they were getting clowned all over Twitter by everybody,
Speaker 2: including you know, national analysts and whatnot, and a big
Speaker 2: run to come from behind.
Speaker 3: They got up five.
Speaker 2: That was the lead when we went to break, and
Speaker 2: then there was an and one from Serbia and then
Speaker 2: Kevin Durant hit a clutch bucket and that I think
Speaker 2: extended it to four, and then after that Yokics got
Speaker 2: a bucket. It was two, and then they were forced
Speaker 2: to foul late and some clutch free throws knocked down
Speaker 2: by I believe it was Steph Curry, and then Serbia
Speaker 2: was just you know, out of time, and the United
Speaker 2: States held on to win. So I don't know like
Speaker 2: it would have been the end of the world, Like
Speaker 2: I wouldn't have been devastated to see them lose, but
Speaker 2: to know that it looked like they were going to
Speaker 2: and then you know, you see what's on display, meaning
Speaker 2: that the best basketball players on planet Earth are from.
Speaker 3: The United States, and this is what we do. This
Speaker 3: is we dominate.
Speaker 2: And I'm glad I did go back and check because
Speaker 2: I'm sure I sent it like a real idiot, which
Speaker 2: I do. I'm sure I sound like that often, but
Speaker 2: I'm sure I sounded like a real idiot whenever I
Speaker 2: opened the four o'clock hour.
Speaker 3: Like, well, it's what we do, we dominate, And in
Speaker 3: fact it was the opposite. They were getting dominated. I
Speaker 3: mean I looked at the score. I saw a huge deficit.
Speaker 2: I think it was like a twenty two point lead
Speaker 2: for somebody, and I think, just my my eyes wouldn't
Speaker 2: let me see that it was Serbia up twenty something
Speaker 2: and not the United States because it just wouldn't like
Speaker 2: I can't.
Speaker 3: I can't process that.
Speaker 2: But yeah, that's got I mean I'm watching the the
Speaker 2: postgame handshake line and whatnot and all. By by the way,
Speaker 2: I did not realize Lebron James got like almost a
Speaker 2: full almost like a full gray Beard. I mean not
Speaker 2: full gray but like on the sides, it's it's mostly
Speaker 2: great silver Fox. Yeah, exactly, he's he's he's got the
Speaker 2: silver Fox going on. But yeah, I mean, these these
Speaker 2: Serbian players are devastated understandably, so, I mean they're I
Speaker 2: mean that was that was the game they were, you know,
Speaker 2: they they had full control of, only to uh to
Speaker 2: end up coming up short. I want to do it
Speaker 2: quickly here before we wrap up the four o'clock hour,
Speaker 2: talk a little bit about some of the some of
Speaker 2: the takeaways from Ken Spencer, which I thought is always
Speaker 2: is a great conversation. But he's so right about these
Speaker 2: coaches having to be involved. I mean, that was what
Speaker 2: Mark Stoops really was complaining about in the comments about
Speaker 2: him just basically doesn't know how much longer he can
Speaker 2: do it. It was just about him having to be
Speaker 2: involved in fundraising, raising money so they can go buy players,
Speaker 2: because that's what this is now, and I will I
Speaker 2: can't appreciate a coach that will just come out and
Speaker 2: say that now. I don't think coaches need to like
Speaker 2: lead their press conference with, hey, we got to go
Speaker 2: buy players. That's what's most important now. But some still
Speaker 2: tiptoe around it because I think it's just so unfamiliar,
Speaker 2: especially those that have been doing this their whole life.
Speaker 2: You've gone from any any acknowledgment of anybody getting paid
Speaker 2: five years ago was you know your career would be
Speaker 2: over if you're involved in a cheating scandal where there's
Speaker 2: a bunch of players getting paid receiving impermissible benefits like
Speaker 2: that could end it ends your career. You could get fired,
Speaker 2: you know, within violations, you could not even be entitled
Speaker 2: to the rest of your contract. The instable a can
Speaker 2: get involved and potentially punish you with a show cause
Speaker 2: or suspend you. So it went from quite literally something
Speaker 2: that would ruin a coach's career, a legacy, their lives
Speaker 2: maybe to where now you got to always be communicating
Speaker 2: with boosters and people who do have deep pockets that
Speaker 2: can fund your program because you got to go buy players.
Speaker 2: Now it's just so different than what it used to be.
Speaker 2: And I don't know much about Mark Stoops at all
Speaker 2: as far as like his personality, his ego, anything like that.
Speaker 3: But look, everybody's got an ego.
Speaker 2: I would say those that you know are high level
Speaker 2: college football coaches, college basketball coaches that make millions of dollars,
Speaker 2: I would say their egos are probably a little bit bigger.
Speaker 3: Than most understandably.
Speaker 2: So so for those guys to have to start basically
Speaker 2: making sales calls, right, smoothing people to get money, like,
Speaker 2: that's just so outside of what they're used to and
Speaker 2: it's just not them. And I think some will probably
Speaker 2: get out of I mean some probably already have gotten
Speaker 2: out of the business of coaching because of that. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's just so different. And I've always I've been pretty
Speaker 2: consistent about this stuff. I don't have a whole lot
Speaker 2: of sympathy for coaches when they complain about players now
Speaker 2: getting paid and having to coach differently, because guys can
Speaker 2: just leave in the portal, Like I do think that
Speaker 2: they sound like crybabies, because again, asking them to make
Speaker 2: some adjustments within their job and their craft is not
Speaker 2: that unusual for anybody, right, Like, how many times your
Speaker 2: job have you had a big adjustment, a big change.
Speaker 2: It's pretty common well these guys for them to have
Speaker 2: to make some adjustments and make a change. I don't
Speaker 2: think it's asking too much, especially when you consider the
Speaker 2: fact that some of these guys are the most are
Speaker 2: the highest paid employees within their state, right public employee.
Speaker 2: I mean, if you head coach in ukuve L, your
Speaker 2: public employee, like your public record what you make. So
Speaker 2: I don't think it's asking too much given how they're compensated. However,
Speaker 2: I will acknowledge how vastly different it is. It's not
Speaker 2: just a little minor change. It's a big change. It
Speaker 2: hasn't completely changed what the job is, but there's now
Speaker 2: a new component to the job that is a lot
Speaker 2: of work, and it's just so foreign compared to what
Speaker 2: that job used to be. And you and I think
Speaker 2: you'll see coaches in the next five six years the
Speaker 2: ones that really have adapted and have you know, that
Speaker 2: are comfortable being the relatable, fundraising pep rally guy, a
Speaker 2: guy you know by all accounts, And I'm not saying
Speaker 2: Pat Kelsey's going to be the star of college basketball,
Speaker 2: because he you know, he gets it, and he's somebody
Speaker 2: that you know, is is is willing to be in
Speaker 2: front of businesses and boosters and sell himself and tell
Speaker 2: them why they should invest in all that. But like
Speaker 2: that's what you need to do. But with Kelsey specifically,
Speaker 2: I mean, of all the people I've talked to that
Speaker 2: have gotten a chance to be around him a little bit,
Speaker 2: have met him, have heard him speak the most, I
Speaker 2: guess there's a lot of people who have you know,
Speaker 2: mentioned that they saw him somewhere or they talked to him,
Speaker 2: or they were around him. But the majority of those
Speaker 2: people are people who are, in fact, you know, either
Speaker 2: influential business leaders or they work for companies that have
Speaker 2: been corporate sponsors of u of L. And like I
Speaker 2: think Pat Kelsey knew right away, there's there's some there's
Speaker 2: some money that needs to be added for this thing to.
Speaker 3: Be for it to work.
Speaker 2: And he's made relationships with a lot of the people
Speaker 2: that have already been heavily involved in supporting U of
Speaker 2: L athletics, whether it be from corporate sponsorships or through NIL,
Speaker 2: and he's met a lot of other people that I
Speaker 2: think are now willing to do it that probably never
Speaker 2: would have had he not made such an impression on him. So,
Speaker 2: you know, I don't want to say coaches got to
Speaker 2: put their ego to the side, but the game has changed,
Speaker 2: and you can, like you can never just be comfortable
Speaker 2: with the money thing, right, Like you can never just
Speaker 2: feel like, Okay, we got enough rich people throwing millions
Speaker 2: at us. We don't need to be out there, you know,
Speaker 2: trying to bring in more money. I think it's going
Speaker 2: to be never ending. And that's again clearly something that
Speaker 2: a lot of coaches don't enjoy doing. All right, quick break,
Speaker 2: we'll come back, finish strong. Here the five o'clock hour
Speaker 2: is next. Right here, it's coffee and Company. Philbeth Thornton's
Speaker 2: on Sports Talk seven ninety