Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue and Sider Dick Gabriel with
Speaker 1: you on a Friday as we wrap up the week,
Speaker 1: and we will be talking football today, basketball as well,
Speaker 1: of course, but football in the news. And for one thing,
Speaker 1: seventy eight days away from Kentucky's football season beginning. We
Speaker 1: know this thanks to our buddy Corey Price. He is
Speaker 1: our statistician on the UK Network and he puts all
Speaker 1: kinds of interesting stuff on Twitter. And I got to
Speaker 1: tell you a couple of days ago. I mentioned the
Speaker 1: fact that he had eighty days away, of course, and
Speaker 1: had a photo of one of the football Wildcats and
Speaker 1: I was pretty sure that this is who it was,
Speaker 1: but I wasn't entirely certain that. Now I am checked
Speaker 1: it out, the number eighty. It was a player celebrating
Speaker 1: a touchdown. It was TC Drake. TC Drake was a
Speaker 1: tight end who played at Kentucky from six to nine.
Speaker 1: And like too many tight ends, and yeah, we're about
Speaker 1: to talk about Vince Merrow. They just don't catch enough
Speaker 1: football to satisfy you and me and Kentucky fans, everre
Speaker 1: for various reasons, chief among them, they have needed the
Speaker 1: tight end to stay in and block so much over
Speaker 1: the last several years, but we have yet to see
Speaker 1: anybody approach the effectiveness of a Jacob Tammy who played
Speaker 1: with Drake. That's why Drake didn't catch more balls as
Speaker 1: a tight end or James Well. I don't think you'll
Speaker 1: ever see anybody brake the James Whalen record. He was
Speaker 1: technically an h back but listed as a tight end
Speaker 1: and played of course under Mummy and was an All American.
Speaker 1: But Drake. The picture that Corey Price used was celebrating
Speaker 1: the only touchdown he ever scored at Kentucky, and it
Speaker 1: was huge. It was the first touchdown in Kentucky's upset
Speaker 1: win over then top ranked LSU Wildcats won that one
Speaker 1: in overtime forty three thirty seven three overtimes really and
Speaker 1: knocked LSU from the top of the polls. Kentucky was
Speaker 1: seventeenth that year. That was the best offense in the
Speaker 1: history of Kentucky football. Coordinated by Joker Phillips. Rich Brooks
Speaker 1: was the head coach, Andre Woodson Keen and Burton, Jacob Tammy, Dickey, Lyons,
Speaker 1: RAFFI had little Tony Dixon. They had it all offensively,
Speaker 1: really good offensive line, not quite enough defense, that year,
Speaker 1: they would have gone a lot farther, but anyhow, Drake
Speaker 1: caught a deflected pass in the back of the end
Speaker 1: zone on Kentucky's second drive and scored. It was a
Speaker 1: two yard touchdown pass that would be the only touchdown
Speaker 1: he scored in his entire career. It was the only
Speaker 1: pass he caught that season. He had played as a
Speaker 1: freshman year before, eight games special teams. Basically, he played
Speaker 1: in all thirteen games as a sophomore, even started one
Speaker 1: or two but was a blocker. But he did catch
Speaker 1: that touchdown pass and gave Kentucky the early and everybody
Speaker 1: was like, wow, Kentucky's leading LSU. And then it became
Speaker 1: the greatest game I've ever covered, not just because Kentucky
Speaker 1: won and upset the top ranked team in the country
Speaker 1: in overtime, so that there was added drama, you know,
Speaker 1: lon of seber Field goals and things like that, but
Speaker 1: it was just a great football game by two teams
Speaker 1: that were on top of their respective games that day.
Speaker 1: TC Drake the following year caught a dozen balls for
Speaker 1: a couple hundred yards, no touchdowns unfortunately for him, and
Speaker 1: average fifteen yards per catch then and nine things dropped
Speaker 1: off Randall, Cobb became more of the featured receiver, but
Speaker 1: he caught seven balls, played in eleven games as a
Speaker 1: senior in O nine, but that one touchdown was huge
Speaker 1: U TC Drake unfortunately, about three years later after he
Speaker 1: got out of UK, was seriously injured in a motorcycle
Speaker 1: accident in his home county, Nelson County. But the photo
Speaker 1: we saw the other day thanks to Corey Price, was
Speaker 1: TC Drake catching one of the biggest touchdown passes really
Speaker 1: in the history of UK football because it got things
Speaker 1: started for Kentucky. In the upset of LSU I mentioned
Speaker 1: Vince Marrow. It is so weird and the comments are
Speaker 1: circulated by now came out Lead yesterday. It's official, as
Speaker 1: Jeff Brahm announces Thursday that Vince Marrow has been added
Speaker 1: to the staff. It is so strange to read a
Speaker 1: U of L press release extolling the virtues of a
Speaker 1: coach from Kentucky as saying they said that the twelve
Speaker 1: highly successful seasons at Kentucky, well not all of them,
Speaker 1: you know, some better than others, some recruiting seasons better
Speaker 1: than others. But that's the nature, as you know of
Speaker 1: a pr release, You've got to put all your best
Speaker 1: stuff out there, Jeff Brom saying, the he amplifies the
Speaker 1: highest standards of collegiate coaching and recruiting success. Commitment to
Speaker 1: player development, exceptional ability to connect with young athletes, which
Speaker 1: is true, have made him one of the best in
Speaker 1: the business. And Vince will be a huge asset to
Speaker 1: the staff. I was reading this and I had forgotten
Speaker 1: that when Vince Merrow was in Nebraska, and that's where
Speaker 1: Mark Stoops plucked him, you know, brought him to Kentucky
Speaker 1: and immediately gave him a huge job right recruiting coordinator.
Speaker 1: He was a GA at Nebraska because he had been
Speaker 1: coaching primarily in the pro ranks, NFL, Europe, the UFL,
Speaker 1: but he had been a GA at Nebraska. This is
Speaker 1: when you look at what happened in Kentucky. That's a
Speaker 1: meteoric rise. And now he has the relationship with Jeff
Speaker 1: Brom going back to when they played in the XFL.
Speaker 1: He said, Jeff and I have known in the release,
Speaker 1: have known each other for more than twenty five years.
Speaker 1: I've always admired and respected him in the bron family,
Speaker 1: and he said, I love the state of Kentucky. This
Speaker 1: has become my home. The opportunity to take on this
Speaker 1: exciting role in the state where I have so many
Speaker 1: incredible relationships was something I couldn't pass up. Any thanks stoops,
Speaker 1: any thanks to fans and hopes that his lifelong friendships remain. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there are outspoken people on Twitter saying, don't bother because yeah,
Speaker 1: it's uku of l and my pal John Wong, the doc,
Speaker 1: the retired North Thedonis who writes a blog and covers
Speaker 1: UK for small town newspapers. If you go to Wong's whinings,
Speaker 1: we'll get John. I think John's out of the country
Speaker 1: right now. We'll get him on here soon. He wrote
Speaker 1: a scathing commentary that basically encapsulates I would think the
Speaker 1: feelings of a lot of Kentucky fans just about feeling
Speaker 1: heartbroken and betrayed. It's pretty funny actually, But yeah, it's
Speaker 1: official now, Vince Marrow and he hasn't yet spoken as
Speaker 1: I'm sure he has by the time you'll hear this,
Speaker 1: But as we record this, he has not yet spoken
Speaker 1: publicly about his move. So just another weird chapter in
Speaker 1: the history of Kentucky football. While we're talking to UK football,
Speaker 1: the stadium's going to get a facelift. Already, the Board
Speaker 1: of Trustees began consideration of proposed investments up to one
Speaker 1: hundred and ten million dollars in UK Athletics facilities over
Speaker 1: the next few years. Meanwhile, they're gonna have to come
Speaker 1: up with the money to pay players. And as my
Speaker 1: Paljepikoro sat in here with us yesterday, always wonders where
Speaker 1: are they going to get this money? Yeah, that's a
Speaker 1: good question. Now, this is just a proposal presented by
Speaker 1: UK Athletics, But as Eli Kapoluto said, the goal is
Speaker 1: to incentivize innovation remain a premier program by pushing to
Speaker 1: examine creative ways to grow generate revenues necessary to support
Speaker 1: our success. This will generate revenues means, of course, looking
Speaker 1: for more money, and they're looking right at you. Ticket
Speaker 1: prices will go up, that happens, but they're looking at
Speaker 1: fifteen million for maintenance at Kroger Field Stadium, thirteen million
Speaker 1: to renovate Kroger Field corners, suites and elevators. This is
Speaker 1: to take care of the people who foot the biggest
Speaker 1: chunk of the bill. Yes, you pay for your tickets,
Speaker 1: but those folks you might resent sitting up in suites.
Speaker 1: They're paying the big money, as you know, and you
Speaker 1: can resent them all you want, but you know what,
Speaker 1: you've got the opportunity to do the same thing. You
Speaker 1: want to spend that kind of money and invest in
Speaker 1: the entertainment that is UK football. You can do that,
Speaker 1: rent yourself a suite because those people who do that
Speaker 1: are right in the checks. We know this. Five million
Speaker 1: bucks to improve soccer and softball. UK Softball, by the way,
Speaker 1: is going to host the SEC tournament next season. Eight
Speaker 1: million bucks for initial design of a west end zone
Speaker 1: club space and Wi Fi improvements at croker Field. That's right,
Speaker 1: Why Fi improvements. It's always been terrible for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: but they believe they can make it better. And if
Speaker 1: you're wondering about how to pay for it, they've got
Speaker 1: a proposal for an additional thirty one million dollar operating
Speaker 1: loan to be repaid with interest as you can moves forward.
Speaker 1: And by the way, they've done this before. They have
Speaker 1: borrowed money paid it back with interest, so that's how
Speaker 1: that works. They're that's soaking state taxpayers. They're borrowing money.
Speaker 1: It's just when these figures get so huge, it's amazing,
Speaker 1: so roll that into the house settlement. There's a lot
Speaker 1: going on financially with college sports and with UK specifically.
Speaker 1: We talked about the acc SEC challenge for the men
Speaker 1: they're playing. North Carolina are going to play Miami in
Speaker 1: Miami Coral Gables on December third, so Kenny Brooks and
Speaker 1: his team will make a long road trip for that one.
Speaker 1: Em Plate Sin's December tenth of twenty seventeen. Wildcats lost
Speaker 1: that one, but they've won six of eight against the Hurricanes.
Speaker 1: Before we get to the break, a couple of basketball notes.
Speaker 1: Mock drafts are coming out now, ESPN's latest. They have
Speaker 1: some of the writers debating who's going to go in
Speaker 1: the first round. No second round, so we don't see
Speaker 1: any Kobe Bray or anybody else from Kentucky. But ESPN's
Speaker 1: experts obviously believe Cooper Flag will go first, but they
Speaker 1: also think at least one of them at Konkin Nipple
Speaker 1: will go second, shooting guard, shooting forward. That would mean
Speaker 1: that a school has the top two picks in a draft.
Speaker 1: And you know this first time since twenty twelve when
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis went number one and Michael kid Gilchris went
Speaker 1: number two a D. He's still playing. Michaels retired, but
Speaker 1: that was pretty cool, wasn't it that night to see
Speaker 1: him going to and a surprise? And MKG never had
Speaker 1: huge stats in terms of points and rebounds consistently in
Speaker 1: the NBA, but what he did have, even on bad
Speaker 1: teams was incredibly good plus minus numbers, which I always
Speaker 1: thought was fascinating. I don't always put a lot of
Speaker 1: stock in plus minus, but it seems like it makes
Speaker 1: more sense in the NBA. One other basketball note, Ole Miss,
Speaker 1: like everybody else, is out working with their basketball program,
Speaker 1: including brand new guard Travis Perry. He talked to the
Speaker 1: media after the very first practice and talked about what
Speaker 1: led him to Oxford. Yeah, you know, I was.
Speaker 2: I'm very pleased with my freshman season at Kentucky enough
Speaker 2: like we had a great group guys. I was able
Speaker 2: to learn a ton from and just kind of transform
Speaker 2: my game. It's hard for any freshman coming in, especially
Speaker 2: for a freshmen coming into the SEC at the best
Speaker 2: conference ever in college basketball. So I was very blessed
Speaker 2: to have that opportunity. So I have nothing but love
Speaker 2: and respect for those guys. Wish them all the best.
Speaker 2: But whenever I got into Portal, I felt like that
Speaker 2: Coach Beard's vision for me was exactly what I was
Speaker 2: looking for. And I felt like we had a lot
Speaker 2: of guys coming here that wanted to win, wanted to
Speaker 2: compete at a high level, and I felt like I
Speaker 2: could come in and impact that.
Speaker 1: Do you want to watch the entire media gathering, It's
Speaker 1: on YouTube. Just type in Travis Perry and it'll come up.
Speaker 1: But it's just so weird to see the kids sitting
Speaker 1: there next to Chris Beard, great coach, with an old
Speaker 1: Miss T shirt, you know, in the backdrop, whatever the
Speaker 1: sponsor was, but it's like a time warp seeing Travis
Speaker 1: Perry wearing an ole Miss T shirt. Up next, we'll
Speaker 1: talk Entucky basketball here from Brandon Garrison. He talked with
Speaker 1: the media this week and a little bit later on
Speaker 1: Chuck Culpe of the Washington Post formerly with The Hero Leader.
Speaker 1: Chuck covers a lot of college sports, so we'll get
Speaker 1: his take on what's been going on, and of course
Speaker 1: Van Hiles, former Kentucky football defensive back, will get caught
Speaker 1: up get his thoughts on the Big Dog. Moving on
Speaker 1: that and more on the Big Bloe Siders six thirty
Speaker 1: WLAP Welcome back coming up at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1: Chuck Culpepper of the Washington Post, formerly with the Hero Leader,
Speaker 1: we'll talk a lot about the state of college sports today.
Speaker 1: A little bit later, Van Hiles. He analyzes UK football
Speaker 1: SEC football on the interweb. He is a great commentator
Speaker 1: when it comes to Wildcat football, and of course, the
Speaker 1: former UK defensive back himself mentioned Brandon Garrison talked to
Speaker 1: him earlier this week. He was one of two Wildcats
Speaker 1: also talk with otega Oway. Garrison coming back was never
Speaker 1: much of a mystery. Like like Oway, and Garrison figures
Speaker 1: to get more minutes and if he can begin to
Speaker 1: match the effectiveness in the high post of Amari Willia,
Speaker 1: then the Wildcats are already ahead of the game literally
Speaker 1: and figuratively. But of course the question is, and he
Speaker 1: answered it more than once, how will you get better?
Speaker 1: What are we going to see this coming season?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: First thing, you can just fight the leader role. I'm
Speaker 3: improving on that, so I f like that held my
Speaker 3: game overall, just like the confidence point of building my game,
Speaker 3: you know, just handing on the offseason, improving my overall
Speaker 3: game just from like shooting him, you know, and just
Speaker 3: little things like that. So I fel like my game
Speaker 3: will improve a lot his upcoming year.
Speaker 1: Mark Pope has talked a lot about year one to
Speaker 1: year two with his players, with his staff, and he
Speaker 1: says he made it sound like it's inevitable that if
Speaker 1: a guy puts in the work, knowing the way that
Speaker 1: Pope's system operates, both on and off the floor, that
Speaker 1: guys make these huge strides. So somebody asked Garrison about
Speaker 1: what kind of conversations he did with Pope regarding how
Speaker 1: to get better from year one to year two.
Speaker 3: First of talking about like being the leader, trying to
Speaker 3: you know, leave this this team this year, but you know,
Speaker 3: him just telling me, you know, he got to be
Speaker 3: in the best condition, obviously improving my overall game, you know,
Speaker 3: just taking that next step. That's that's all he'd been
Speaker 3: preaching to me this offseason.
Speaker 1: Garrison last year had modest numbers overall six points a game,
Speaker 1: four rebounds a game, two assists per game as a sophomore,
Speaker 1: and played in all thirty five games When he was healthy.
Speaker 1: He had seven double figure scoring efforts and also led
Speaker 1: the team in blocks seven times and steals seven times,
Speaker 1: and on three occasions led the team in rebounding. So
Speaker 1: he had his moments. In the n SA tournament, went
Speaker 1: over Troy thirteen points, six boards, a couple of us,
Speaker 1: his two steals. He got better, I firmly believe as
Speaker 1: the year went on. Had a great game against ls
Speaker 1: Year fifteen points, four assists, three steals and the road
Speaker 1: win at Oklahoma his home state transferred in from Oklahoma State,
Speaker 1: but he had twelve points, four boards, three steals, two blocks,
Speaker 1: and you know, so we're talking about it was essentially
Speaker 1: like a lot of guys. But you know, compared to
Speaker 1: Mary Williams, was a part time player but had full
Speaker 1: time effects on teams when he had his big nights.
Speaker 1: So I think it's fair for fans and coaches to
Speaker 1: expect even more from Garrison. His averages were a little
Speaker 1: bit better at Oklahoma State, probably played more minutes average
Speaker 1: nearly twenty three minutes a game at Okay State. Average
Speaker 1: seven and a half, five and a half boards. So
Speaker 1: I'm curious to see what this guy does. And he
Speaker 1: mentioned leadership, so he said he's already talking to some
Speaker 1: of the younger guys, which is good news. Speaking of news,
Speaker 1: earlier this week, we talk with John Clay, who retires
Speaker 1: from The Hero Leader at the end of the fiscal
Speaker 1: year June thirtieth after forty plus years. Well, we got
Speaker 1: a response from Rick Bosic of WDRB dot com or reaction,
Speaker 1: I should say, because he and John Clay are our
Speaker 1: very close friends. They're on the road a lot together,
Speaker 1: they cover a lot of the same games. Well earlier
Speaker 1: today and we, as I said, talk to Rick on
Speaker 1: the show a couple of nights ago. He announced today
Speaker 1: that he is retiring. Rick Boset stepping down after fifty
Speaker 1: years of covering sports. Most of his career spent in
Speaker 1: the state of Kentucky. He's from Indiana, went to IU,
Speaker 1: started his career at a couple of newspapers there, but
Speaker 1: came to the Courier Journal in nineteen seventy eight. And
Speaker 1: I remember that I'm like, Okay, who's the new guy
Speaker 1: from the CJ. And you know I had delivered the
Speaker 1: Courier Journal. I was a stringer for the cur Journal
Speaker 1: like the Caurier Journal, and then Rick in twenty twelve
Speaker 1: went to WDRB, which I think has a tremendous digital
Speaker 1: platform when it comes to covering sports. And Eric Crawford
Speaker 1: came from the CJ. Rick's a great writer. He's a
Speaker 1: great journalist and we wish him the best. And as
Speaker 1: I texted him earlier today, I said, oh, you knew
Speaker 1: this all long. He said, I couldn't scoop myself. So
Speaker 1: best of luck to Rick Bosic. Chuck Culpepper another great writer.
Speaker 1: Next six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue,
Speaker 1: and sider joining us now is a longtime friend of
Speaker 1: the show. He is a documentary narrator for an award
Speaker 1: winning documentary, but probably best known as a sports writer.
Speaker 1: He is Chuck Culpepper of the Washington Post, formerly The
Speaker 1: Hero Leader and helped us narrate the special we did
Speaker 1: on the ninety eight Championship team, and is a world
Speaker 1: traveler himself. Chuck, how are you? How's your passport?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 5: I would say the pages have been a little too
Speaker 5: blank for me of late. Oh really need a few stamps.
Speaker 5: You know, not everybody gives those stamps anymore. They just
Speaker 5: wave you on through.
Speaker 6: But but I.
Speaker 5: Would say, yeah, I would say I'm kind of aching
Speaker 5: to go somewhere.
Speaker 6: I don't know where or when.
Speaker 1: I have a friend that you really ought to medium.
Speaker 1: He's a new York City Police officer, intelligence officer, but
Speaker 1: he's a huge UK fan living in NYC and his
Speaker 1: goal is to visit every country in the world. You
Speaker 1: guys could could have some interesting conversations I'm getting Is
Speaker 1: there anywhere in particular, uh, that you want to go
Speaker 1: next or that that you haven't visited that you'd like
Speaker 1: to see.
Speaker 5: I always try to keep a list of of say
Speaker 5: three most most wished to see places you know at
Speaker 5: any time, and then Vietnam is one. I've been to Cambodia,
Speaker 5: but I haven't been, uh to Vietnam, which is next
Speaker 5: to it. Probably Lows is next to that for a
Speaker 5: long time eleven and was on the list and it
Speaker 5: still is.
Speaker 7: But it's it's difficult now, you know it.
Speaker 5: And and I've got what else? Oh, I've got Peru
Speaker 5: on the list, and I've got Tnicha on the list.
Speaker 6: Wow.
Speaker 1: Right, Well, And obviously work takes you around the world
Speaker 1: and across the country. And one of the things that
Speaker 1: you cover, of course college athletics and the house settlement
Speaker 1: and is you know, kind of opened another doorway, another passage.
Speaker 1: But it's just incredible of late with the nil to
Speaker 1: transfer portaland all just how much of an uproar it
Speaker 1: seems there is to college athletics. Now, do you fear
Speaker 1: for college sports?
Speaker 5: I would say so far, I actually don't. I actually
Speaker 5: I did four of the games in the football playoffs
Speaker 5: last year and so and that just seemed, you know,
Speaker 5: as full as ever and has watched is maybe a
Speaker 5: little more watched. As I recall, you know, who, I
Speaker 5: think about a lot if I would start, I think
Speaker 5: about a lot. I think about Kentucky fans. Of course,
Speaker 5: of course I was there for a while. I have
Speaker 5: dear friends who are Kentucky fans. And but one of
Speaker 5: the things to me that was always sort of a
Speaker 5: hallmark of Kentucky fans was this idea that you would
Speaker 5: get to know a player across his four years, and
Speaker 5: that would be his or her four years. With the
Speaker 5: women's game grown as it has so, and I always
Speaker 5: found Kentucky fans really they enjoyed that almost as if
Speaker 5: it were their kid in some ways, you know, And
Speaker 5: they enjoyed seeing they know enough about the game, more
Speaker 5: than enough about the game to see where the areas
Speaker 5: of development are and to kind of.
Speaker 4: Thrill in those.
Speaker 5: And nobody anywhere really gets that that much. Anymore, right,
Speaker 5: because it's just quickly up and gone, you know.
Speaker 7: And so you don't.
Speaker 5: I have one Kentucky fan I'm a good friend with,
Speaker 5: and she said that there's one player who's in the NBA.
Speaker 5: I forgot which, but she said, I actually don't have
Speaker 5: any memories of him playing for Kentucky. It was just
Speaker 5: one season and you know, and so she said, I
Speaker 5: can't summon any memories of him playing. So yes, when
Speaker 5: I think about how it might wither across the century,
Speaker 5: maybe I think about that.
Speaker 1: And that's fair.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well fans will fans sour on the kind of
Speaker 5: the the revolving door up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember this isn't kind of an odd thing.
Speaker 1: But when we were talking to Randolph Morris, who I
Speaker 1: don't think stayed all four years, but he had been
Speaker 1: there a couple of years and we were just kind
Speaker 1: of informally talking to him, and he mentioned my name.
Speaker 1: And this goes way back to the Tubby Smith there,
Speaker 1: but I thought I was surprised that that guy knew
Speaker 1: my name, because even then players were starting to come
Speaker 1: and go. And now you know, I've all the NBA
Speaker 1: kids that that that Tubby's are the tubby that Calipari's
Speaker 1: got right now. I had spoken to each and every
Speaker 1: one of those guys. I guarantee none of them, not
Speaker 1: that it matters, but none of them have any idea
Speaker 1: who I am or who Most of the guys are
Speaker 1: going to be what they're and they might know our faces,
Speaker 1: but and it's it's not that big a deal personally,
Speaker 1: but it underscores what you just said. You know that
Speaker 1: they they were it was just a way station, wasn't
Speaker 1: it like seeing It was just a stop on the way.
Speaker 5: And now everywhere is kind of like that, Yeah, you know,
Speaker 5: these remade rosters, And now I get kind of a
Speaker 5: kick out of out of the idea that people build
Speaker 5: rosters on the fly, and I don't kind of don't
Speaker 5: know how they do it. And one way this has
Speaker 5: struck me in the past week is this Ury State Baseball.
Speaker 5: I've been studying that roster a lot of I think
Speaker 5: it's there were I think ten players on it who
Speaker 5: were on junior college rosters last year, ten different junior
Speaker 5: college rosters, and then others who were on junior college
Speaker 5: rosters and years before that or community college, and so
Speaker 5: I'm kind of amazed that people can have this cohesion,
Speaker 5: and as the Murray State players are saying, as they
Speaker 5: got to Omaha this week, you know, like love and
Speaker 5: trust that we have for each other, and that it's
Speaker 5: all built rapidly. That kind of floors me in some way.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, as you know, Kentucky made the World Series
Speaker 1: last year for the first time, with many many kids
Speaker 1: who had come in through the portal. Although you probably
Speaker 1: can remember back to when when you were a younger
Speaker 1: sports writer, it was not that big a deal for
Speaker 1: kids to transfer in and out win baseball because back
Speaker 1: in the day you didn't have to sit for a
Speaker 1: year when you transferred pre portal. But even when basketball
Speaker 1: and football players had to sit for quite a while,
Speaker 1: baseball players did not. And of course with eleven point seven, SCOTL.
Speaker 1: Ship's kids came and went all the time. But now
Speaker 1: with the new rules and a portal, it's probably doubled
Speaker 1: the amount of movement. But Kentucky's team last year a
Speaker 1: lot of those kids had come in Chuck the year before,
Speaker 1: and they won a regional, fell short, lost to Paul
Speaker 1: Skins and lsu Downe and Baton Rouge. But boy, a
Speaker 1: team to stay together for two years like that, that's
Speaker 1: kind of an anomaly. And yeah, so for them to
Speaker 1: get to Omaha, yeah, it was a pleasant surprise, but
Speaker 1: it was kind of unusual. But I don't know, maybe
Speaker 1: it's exactly exactly. Maybe it's the resilience of young people.
Speaker 1: What did you think of the way Mark Pope threw
Speaker 1: a team together last year and and the way that it,
Speaker 1: you know, went as far as it did.
Speaker 5: Well, I mean viewing it from a bit well from
Speaker 5: a distance. And I did go into see him one
Speaker 5: day last spring spring of twenty four, that had not
Speaker 5: seen him in twenty eight years I think at that point,
Speaker 5: and he said when I walked in, he said, I
Speaker 5: thought you would I thought you would look older.
Speaker 6: So that was really.
Speaker 5: Nice, you know. So so I'm on board totally with
Speaker 5: no But I thought it was the whole thing was
Speaker 5: so enchanting from Afar because it was I was, as
Speaker 5: was everyone else.
Speaker 4: Just absolutely floored by.
Speaker 5: The intro press conference, so to speak, which told a lot.
Speaker 5: I think there was a lot both obvious and hidden
Speaker 5: in that dumb in that day that after that Sunday.
Speaker 5: But I thought that through the years, I mean it
Speaker 5: just through the year.
Speaker 1: And chanting was a great word because Kentucky fans, they
Speaker 1: were so ready for a change, and there was I thought, oh,
Speaker 1: what was great, a great element to the story. There
Speaker 1: was such skepticism about Mark Pope, even among fans. You
Speaker 1: desperately wanted it to work. But of course, you know,
Speaker 1: instant take people's out, terrible move and all that. Uh,
Speaker 1: what was your reaction when you heard Kentucky had hired Pope.
Speaker 5: So I always am skeptical of the skepticism because I
Speaker 5: I'll bring up a name, Dabo Sweeney. He gets hired
Speaker 5: at Clemson mid season and you know, I think it's
Speaker 5: eight October he takes over that job. I don't think
Speaker 5: there's a soul in the entire nation. I think it
Speaker 5: was interim. I think he had he was he had
Speaker 5: to be, you know, kind of vetted across the half
Speaker 5: of the season and re upped so and and you know,
Speaker 5: look what went on there. And I just that's one
Speaker 5: of the and there are more examples of that. I
Speaker 5: think that whole idea that you want someone who's a
Speaker 5: split ashy hire has a lot of dent dents in
Speaker 5: the in the concept. It's it's just I mean maybe
Speaker 5: even a lot of times you get someone based on
Speaker 5: the splash who's who's really not at a good juncture
Speaker 5: in their career to match with a certain place. And
Speaker 5: I just think in this case, his match to Kentucky
Speaker 5: worked in so very many ways, even though you know,
Speaker 5: you could say his postseason coaching experience was light at
Speaker 5: that time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but a lot of that was about where he
Speaker 1: was and who he was coaching, and yeah, he probably
Speaker 1: should have gone further BYU. But I just always thought
Speaker 1: that the two elements people questioned, well, Canny recruit, Well,
Speaker 1: of course he's going to be a Kentucky, Sure he can't.
Speaker 1: But number two, you know Kenny win in the postseason. Well,
Speaker 1: there's one way to find out, and they certainly did
Speaker 1: it this year. He is Chuck Culpepper of the Washington
Speaker 1: Post will come back with more in just a minute
Speaker 1: on the Big Blue Insider six thirty WLP. Welcome back.
Speaker 1: We're talking with Chuck Culpepper of the Washington Post, formerly
Speaker 1: with the election and herowd leader, and we were talking
Speaker 1: about the hiring of Mark Pope, and we'll get back
Speaker 1: to football in a minute. But you mentioned the word splashy,
Speaker 1: and you're absolutely right. People love splashy hires. But I
Speaker 1: think Kentucky might be the best example of what can
Speaker 1: and cannot work in that Patino splashy Hire certainly worked,
Speaker 1: Eddie Sutton splashy Hire disaster, Billy Gillespie splashy Hire disaster,
Speaker 1: Tubby Smith not a splashy Hire. And at one point
Speaker 1: Kentucky and wins and losses winning its program in the
Speaker 1: country at that point. So it's all individual. You know,
Speaker 1: you got to take everything on its own, merit, don't you.
Speaker 5: Yes, And it's match up in some way in timing. Yeah,
Speaker 5: so much of its timing. You know, look at Joe
Speaker 5: Gibbs in Washington, you know, three Super Bowls, but when
Speaker 5: they brought him back later on, it's a whole different scenario,
Speaker 5: whole different ownership. That was a crucial, whole different situation,
Speaker 5: and it didn't work, you know, anywhere near as well.
Speaker 5: So it's it's win. Does it happen in a lot
Speaker 5: of cases, you know? And I just think, you know,
Speaker 5: with so many places across the country to the first
Speaker 5: press conference, which is kind of crazy. Okay, nobody's ever
Speaker 5: wanted more than Kentucky did in April of twenty twenty four.
Speaker 7: But and it was great fun.
Speaker 5: But is it legit as a way of measuring what's
Speaker 5: going to happen afterward. And I don't think so really.
Speaker 1: For Mark Pope to succeed, he said, we understand the assignment,
Speaker 1: of course, that is win national titles. He's going to
Speaker 1: have to do it in a way that his own
Speaker 1: coach didn't have to do, and that's with a never
Speaker 1: changing roster. And you know, you got the Florida Atlantics
Speaker 1: the San Diego States making the final four. I think
Speaker 1: it's a greater challenge now, even with everything Pope has
Speaker 1: going for him in Kentucky than it was for Patino
Speaker 1: coaching acumen aside, you know what I'm.
Speaker 5: Saying, Yeah, yeah, And I think one thing you've just
Speaker 5: alluded to is that I that I wonder about all
Speaker 5: the time, which is, Okay, we this volatility and this
Speaker 5: ability of people to transferm people always say that us
Speaker 5: like in football, for example, the SEC is just going
Speaker 5: to raid everywhere that has you know, anybody right at
Speaker 5: a lower level who's shown any promise, and that's going
Speaker 5: to harm the lower levels. What I wonder though, is
Speaker 5: is there a benefit to the lower levels also by
Speaker 5: the fact that the that it is so volatile and
Speaker 5: so nobody can really there. It is a role the
Speaker 5: dice in a lot of ways about chemistry and cohesion
Speaker 5: and and it maybe maybe it gives a little bit
Speaker 5: of a chance to teams like that, you know. So,
Speaker 5: I think the idea that we had that Final four
Speaker 5: and twenty three, and the idea that we had TCU
Speaker 5: in a National football title game right around that same
Speaker 5: time is to me says, well, wait a minute, maybe
Speaker 5: maybe there'll be benefiting the volatility for smaller schools as well.
Speaker 1: I agree, and I hope you're right. But I am
Speaker 1: deathly afraid that the powers that'd be are going to
Speaker 1: screw around. And I worry about March madness everything we
Speaker 1: all know football drives a bus I worry so much,
Speaker 1: of course, being at Kentucky and in Kentucky about March
Speaker 1: Madness and Chuck. I'm just scared of that they're going
Speaker 1: to screw that up and keep adding teams and adding teams,
Speaker 1: and all they're doing is adding mediocre teams and mediocre games.
Speaker 1: To me, what is one of, if not the greatest
Speaker 1: two week sporting event in the world.
Speaker 5: Well, and it reminds me of the World Cup in
Speaker 5: the sense that absolutely nobody seems to want this expansion. Yeah,
Speaker 5: I've never met anybody who wants it, you know. And
Speaker 5: it was the same with the World Cup and that
Speaker 5: thing expanded. So yeah, you think you can grab more
Speaker 5: money with it than you're going to do it. And yeah,
Speaker 5: and I think what you're saying too about I mean,
Speaker 5: there's a scenario out there where the big wigs will
Speaker 5: just kind of squeeze everybody else out, even the smaller
Speaker 5: versions of the big.
Speaker 8: Wigs will be squeezed.
Speaker 5: That's plausible too.
Speaker 1: When you started talking about how you worry about Kentucky fans,
Speaker 1: I kind of flashed on what I always say is
Speaker 1: I worry about the Eastern Kentucky's and the Murray States
Speaker 1: and the Bellerman's and schools like that. And schools are
Speaker 1: already dropping sports, and we're going to see more and
Speaker 1: more of that, which means more opportunities for kids who
Speaker 1: might have gone to school are going to go by
Speaker 1: the wayside. And I blame me, my brethren, are those
Speaker 1: of us in the media who sometimes forget that the
Speaker 1: tail off and wags a dog, if you will, and
Speaker 1: we think about kids going on to the pros when
Speaker 1: let's two across the board, do that. You know, I
Speaker 1: like covering baseball, I like covering I've done volleyball for
Speaker 1: thirty years, you know, women's sports, and I feel I
Speaker 1: fear that those are going to be falling by the
Speaker 1: wayside all across the.
Speaker 5: Country, you know, yeah, And is there some kind of
Speaker 5: a structure in all.
Speaker 8: Of that that, if it were.
Speaker 5: To erode, might really erode the fan bases because not
Speaker 5: necessarily because they would they frequented those those games, but
Speaker 5: because I don't know, I think about that in a
Speaker 5: sense of what just happened to the PAC twelve in
Speaker 5: recent years, you know, yeah, And you know, did that Okay?
Speaker 5: Those teams are all well most most all went to
Speaker 5: other conferences and they're still big, and they're still playing.
Speaker 5: They still have opportunities, most of them. But did that
Speaker 5: take something some kind of charm away from a whole
Speaker 5: region of the country having it the league there? And
Speaker 5: does that have like a slow erosion effect? I don't
Speaker 5: see it so far. But nobody likes that either. But
Speaker 5: that could be just those of us who've lived long
Speaker 5: enough to know that the you know, the Rose Bowl
Speaker 5: was something magical ever every New Year's Day, and so
Speaker 5: but maybe people don't need that. I mean, that's what
Speaker 5: the next generations will tell.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but if they've never experienced, they don't know how
Speaker 1: much they would enjoy it. Just a couple of minutes
Speaker 1: with Chuck culpepper Man. I worked in the old Southwest
Speaker 1: Conference back in the early eighties when half that league
Speaker 1: was on probation, and that was a conference. It was
Speaker 1: one of the greatest conference. I'm literally that was one
Speaker 1: of the greatest conferences in sports history. But it pulled
Speaker 1: itself to pieces because there were such backstabbers in that league.
Speaker 1: And that's one thing, because of poor leadership among the presidents,
Speaker 1: among the the commissioner's office. But that's one thing. You
Speaker 1: got to credit the SEC. It may be too big now,
Speaker 1: you know, growing like the incredible Hulk, you know, good
Speaker 1: for the SEC, but not good for college sports in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways. But at least they got a
Speaker 1: commissioner who is trying to do what's best for those schools,
Speaker 1: and that's all you can expect, right He works for
Speaker 1: the SEC, not for the good greater good of college athletics,
Speaker 1: right right.
Speaker 5: It kind of reminds me of the way sort of
Speaker 5: people always were talking about, well, Roger Goodell works for
Speaker 5: the owners you know, in the NFL, and and think
Speaker 5: all that he's done to expand that whole whole different
Speaker 5: thing because it's the only there are other leagues, but
Speaker 5: it's the only major booming one, you know, And so
Speaker 5: so you don't don't you don't have that same kind
Speaker 5: of wondering if if what the SEC is doing is
Speaker 5: healthy for all. So but but yeah, from a standpoint
Speaker 5: of that dreaded word coming up your brand, then yes, yes, uh,
Speaker 5: there's no question that he's he's grown. It's so funny
Speaker 5: to me, you know, I go to these press boxes.
Speaker 5: I'm trying to think of where I went last year Texas,
Speaker 5: Texas A and M was one Bama Georgia at Tuscalue signs.
Speaker 5: And now we all the writers and always surround the commissioner.
Speaker 5: You know, if if the commissioner is available before the game,
Speaker 5: we're all around him listening to everything that he says.
Speaker 5: You know, I'm like and I always strike him as like, wow,
Speaker 5: the commissioner is like Brad Pitt now or something, you know,
Speaker 5: what a what A what a strange era?
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, as I'll let you go. What's next for you?
Speaker 1: You're you're a world traveler for work and for uh,
Speaker 1: for pleasure. But what's next for you?
Speaker 5: I have been working on uh, some horse things and
Speaker 5: and and I've been working all this week on on
Speaker 5: learning about Murray State baseball. So it up next? Is that?
Speaker 5: So that's that's quite a I think everybody who doesn't
Speaker 5: have a rooting interest will be rooting for them or
Speaker 5: maybe Coastal Carolina, but probably them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, compared to Murray, Coastal is a fixture, and
Speaker 1: so I can't do. And having worked at that at
Speaker 1: Coastal Carolina's ballpark a couple of times, that's a modest
Speaker 1: at least when I was last there. Modest, but not
Speaker 1: nearly as modest as Murray stage. So and I've never
Speaker 1: been there, but I've seen the pictures. Anyway. You can
Speaker 1: follow Chuck of course in the pages of the Washington
Speaker 1: Post online and on Twitter or ex if you will,
Speaker 1: at Chuck culpeper one. Thanks so much, great talking to
Speaker 1: you again.
Speaker 5: You two, Dick, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: By the way, if you listen to Tony Kornheiser's podcast
Speaker 1: as I do, Chuck is a regular contributor there. He's
Speaker 1: a tremendous sports writer and corneiser is a huge fan
Speaker 1: of his as well. Coming up with our number two,
Speaker 1: we'll talk to Van Hiles. We'll also check on the
Speaker 1: week it was Hero Schools in play and more. What
Speaker 1: six thirty you.
Speaker 9: Like, Pete.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Bull Insider Johnny us now
Speaker 1: and they are only seventy eight days of football season,
Speaker 1: so what a better time to speak to mister Van Hiles,
Speaker 1: the former Kentucky offensive back. We talk a lot of
Speaker 1: football with bands. He talks a lot of football with
Speaker 1: everybody because of the great work he does on the
Speaker 1: interweb as a coast of driving with styles and a
Speaker 1: guy who you know you hear aimone with Tom leach Man.
Speaker 1: Everybody wants your knowledge. How about that?
Speaker 6: I actually thought it was gonna talk track and fields.
Speaker 6: We can we can understand.
Speaker 1: Because that's going on right now and your k's got
Speaker 1: some all Americans. But before we get there, I got
Speaker 1: to get your response and a reaction to the move
Speaker 1: by the Big Dog. I mean, everybody's weighing in on it.
Speaker 1: Is this something that will shake the foundation of the
Speaker 1: uk U of L rivalry? What do you think?
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's it's football with me? Is like as a
Speaker 6: fan and formal player, and as someone who can understand
Speaker 6: what happens with sports and how people move on, it's
Speaker 6: it's a bad move from a fan and a former player,
Speaker 6: because how dare you go to that team up more?
Speaker 6: But as a outside of that, people move all the time,
Speaker 6: like this is not the first time it happened and
Speaker 6: it won't be the last. Uh this this industry and
Speaker 6: professional is so cut through that either you're hired to
Speaker 6: get fired or either you move before something bad happened.
Speaker 6: So I'm not shocked it happened. I am frustrated with
Speaker 6: how some things that have gone has transpired in the
Speaker 6: past couple of years. And I don't like what I've
Speaker 6: heard from some comments that on the way out and
Speaker 6: and those are things that I highly disliked with how
Speaker 6: well those students are taken care of.
Speaker 1: Vents all right, be a little more specific comments by.
Speaker 6: Whom bye by vent with with some some statements about
Speaker 6: our situation with the offense and goody sales like that's
Speaker 6: your job, if that's your job, and that means to me,
Speaker 6: you're backtracking on how significant your your your fingerprints were
Speaker 6: on this program. If you're going to have excuses that
Speaker 6: didn't need to be said, So there are some things
Speaker 6: that I don't like that. I mean, when you're getting
Speaker 6: paid probably the one of the highest salaries of a
Speaker 6: position coach, because let's let's not forget he's a position
Speaker 6: coach with some additional titles, but the the recruiting aspect
Speaker 6: of in my opinion, I could be wrong because I
Speaker 6: don't know how their their their process was that there
Speaker 6: is a that is a coaching staff, entire coaching staff
Speaker 6: thing is recruiting. It's not just a one guy thing.
Speaker 6: So those are some things that that really rubbed me
Speaker 6: the wrong way this morning. But you know, when you
Speaker 6: leave and that that to me means that he didn't
Speaker 6: totally leave on his own the court.
Speaker 1: Interesting, Yeah, and it sounds like and the only thing
Speaker 1: I had heard, uh is that with Kentucky looking more
Speaker 1: and more at the portal, you know, maybe the work
Speaker 1: he was doing as and you're right, he's in a
Speaker 1: position coach but also a recruiting coordinator also associate head coach,
Speaker 1: which I think you can't forget that this is your
Speaker 1: number two guy going out the door, and not only
Speaker 1: that going to the arts rival and they, as you
Speaker 1: well know, uh, they recruit many of the same kids, man,
Speaker 1: And that that to me is no pun intended, a
Speaker 1: big big red flag.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's well, and here's here's here's my thing. This
Speaker 6: is where we're going to figure out some things, right
Speaker 6: because I I like Vic because, like I said on
Speaker 6: the locker last Wednesday, this was our press secretary. He
Speaker 6: was the person who got out in front of everything
Speaker 6: and and smooth the faithful out with with his charismatic aura,
Speaker 6: I would say. So that was what he was really
Speaker 6: great at. Now let's see what happened after this. Let's
Speaker 6: see how the recruiting goes after this. Let's see if
Speaker 6: we take a backstep since he's now have moved on,
Speaker 6: is recruiting going to stay the same or is it
Speaker 6: going to go the other way? If it's face the same,
Speaker 6: then that means that it was the type of process
Speaker 6: that I think it should be and potentially was. If
Speaker 6: it isn't, that means now we lost our as some
Speaker 6: people say, our best recruiter. So then if you lose
Speaker 6: your best recruiter, things should not go upward. The trend
Speaker 6: should be a downward trend. So it's gonna be interesting
Speaker 6: what this this twenty six I guess this twenty twenty
Speaker 6: sixth class is gonna be as we get to the season,
Speaker 6: because I won't gonna say it that when everything happens,
Speaker 6: commitment means nothing from these kids anymore. Back when I played,
Speaker 6: when you committed, you pretty much stayed with that commitment.
Speaker 6: Now it's to the fmal hour. Are those kids going
Speaker 6: to stay with that that commitment already going to move
Speaker 6: on to another team that came in the last minute
Speaker 6: and offered them as coolcium.
Speaker 1: It's very true, but sort of the secondary recruiting if
Speaker 1: you want to call it successful in some fronts because
Speaker 1: of Vince Marrow maintaining relationships and the best example, it's
Speaker 1: not the only example, but the best example was Wandale.
Speaker 1: They didn't burn that bridge. He can seriously consider Kentucky
Speaker 1: because events went to Nebraska, Events maintained the relationship with
Speaker 1: him and his dad, and then when he needed to
Speaker 1: come back toward his hometown, he lands in the UK
Speaker 1: and has a huge season. So you can't discount that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff with Vince Merrill, Like you say.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and I will comment out with I think that
Speaker 6: was Vince's recruit, like that was his guy. So in
Speaker 6: retrospect you can say, well, he left him somewhere else
Speaker 6: and then go with Vince. The first it is the recruiting,
Speaker 6: and that's why I say, like he's the press secretary.
Speaker 6: That is a tough job to have and he did
Speaker 6: a great job of that. And with that, sometimes the
Speaker 6: perception is you are the guy and the only guy,
Speaker 6: when then that discredits all the position coaches who have
Speaker 6: to have a relationship with the recruit anywhere. I consistently
Speaker 6: tell people that this in order for a guy to
Speaker 6: come to your institution, he has to have at least
Speaker 6: a decent relationship with the guy that he's going to
Speaker 6: spend the most time with, which is his position coach.
Speaker 6: So if you come into a visit and you and
Speaker 6: Coach Collins don't jail, well you're probably not gonna come
Speaker 6: to Kentucky.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 6: So there is something that's a little bit more than
Speaker 6: des Vince being a charismatic guy, and that's the only
Speaker 6: reason why certain individual came to Entucky. Unless he is
Speaker 6: your he is your recruiter. If that's not the case,
Speaker 6: then I think that's more to it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, I understand that because if it's a guy
Speaker 1: who recruited you, even if he's not your position coach.
Speaker 1: He's the first guy who showed up at your school
Speaker 1: or at your practice or you know, and maybe even
Speaker 1: offered you the Scollie and uh and you don't forget
Speaker 1: about that. We're talking uh to Van Hiuse, former Kentucky
Speaker 1: defensive back and a football analyst, let's say, on social media.
Speaker 1: I was talking to Tom Leach earlier this week and
Speaker 1: we talked about the fact that it's going to be
Speaker 1: interesting to see, now who becomes a good cop. And
Speaker 1: you've done some coaching, you've been a player. You know,
Speaker 1: every team does the good cop back of the head
Speaker 1: coach has to be the bad cop oftentimes, So who
Speaker 1: does the player turn to? And it's been Vince So
Speaker 1: now I think that's gonna be really interesting, don't you.
Speaker 6: Yeah, now that is a good one. Now from what
Speaker 6: I've I've heard, I don't know is that that could
Speaker 6: potentially be Coach Washington and things like that, guy that
Speaker 6: players will gravitate to. I think, to me, there's two
Speaker 6: guys that I can see, and it'll be Coach Washington
Speaker 6: and Coach Collins. I think those two guys from the
Speaker 6: outside looking in. I could be completely wrong. Those guys
Speaker 6: seem like they're younger guys. I think they might be
Speaker 6: able to relate to the players more, and they seem
Speaker 6: like they have. When I've seen coach Collins on the sideline,
Speaker 6: he's not that yeller, that guy who's gonna get who's
Speaker 6: gonna go after you. It seems like a guy who's
Speaker 6: gonna talk to you and we're gonna get to a
Speaker 6: solution via communication more than me. I guess the two
Speaker 6: style of community case more than one stid of communication. Yeah,
Speaker 6: so I would say patistic could be those two guys.
Speaker 6: But you are right that I know with Lyn Bowden
Speaker 6: that was his guy. I know with Barrion Brown that
Speaker 6: was his guy. So yeah, you are kind of losing
Speaker 6: that that guy where coach Susan can say, you know,
Speaker 6: I'm going to get on this guy. Hey, just know
Speaker 6: that he's going to come to you. This is what
Speaker 6: I'm going to talk to him, and now you have
Speaker 6: the information. Hopfully we can just move this thing over
Speaker 6: after I've ripped him a new one, so to speak.
Speaker 1: He is Van Hiles. He is a football analyst. You
Speaker 1: can take in his work at the Locker four one
Speaker 1: one driving with Styles, follow him on Twitter at v
Speaker 1: Style seventeen Back with moren a minute on six thirty
Speaker 1: WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with Van Hiles. We've been
Speaker 1: talking about Vince Merrow, and one of your pin tweets
Speaker 1: is about U CASE football recruiting and the ability to
Speaker 1: identify talent early and be one of the first to
Speaker 1: give an athlete attention. Explain to our listeners it seems
Speaker 1: like an obvious thing to say, but why that is
Speaker 1: so important? Obviously got I said to seventeen year olds,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 6: Yeah, that Unfortunately, I think it's changing. But for me,
Speaker 6: it's like I'll never forget when I was in high school,
Speaker 6: the first team that came after me was Southern MISSISSPI
Speaker 6: When and when they came after me, it was aggressive
Speaker 6: and they were the first, and I always held that like, well, now,
Speaker 6: why is everybody else coming after me when I think
Speaker 6: I was pretty good the whole time? Yeah, And I
Speaker 6: think that that tapped into a young kid's ego. It's
Speaker 6: tapped into something like you have been with me since
Speaker 6: they one and has never left. I think those teams
Speaker 6: hold a high level of gratitude for young men. I
Speaker 6: think it still does, but I think there are some
Speaker 6: kids now that have a brand on the front of
Speaker 6: the jersey that can always come in the last minute.
Speaker 6: Still you from someone who has been with you since
Speaker 6: your junior or sophomore year. But that is a great
Speaker 6: thing for a kid to know that someone saw something
Speaker 6: in me before somebody everybody else did. So they saw
Speaker 6: the talent. And not only did they see the talent,
Speaker 6: they were aggressive with their if they pursuit of me
Speaker 6: and my talents. And also they treated me well and
Speaker 6: they stayed in contact. So yes, that that can be
Speaker 6: a big thing. I think back in those days we
Speaker 6: identify guys real early and then a great and did
Speaker 6: a great job of having those guys understand that you
Speaker 6: are a high priority for us and it's not going
Speaker 6: to take anybody to knock you off of that that
Speaker 6: this has been a high priority of us, because we're
Speaker 6: talking to you now. And I think we did get
Speaker 6: a couple of players here because of that ability to
Speaker 6: identify talents.
Speaker 1: But as you've pointed out a couple of minutes ago,
Speaker 1: things would change so much dramatically cheap among them the
Speaker 1: nil you know, I could I could be on you
Speaker 1: when you're a freshman and make that acquaintance and develop
Speaker 1: a relationship and three and a half years later, you
Speaker 1: want to come to Kentucky or wherever. But and here
Speaker 1: comes brand X with twice the amount of money. You know,
Speaker 1: and I know the guardrails are starting to fall into place,
Speaker 1: but that that's just got a drive recruiters nuts. I
Speaker 1: would think, oh, for.
Speaker 6: Sure, when you have invested so much time, and unfortunately
Speaker 6: I don't have the boosters or the ability to offer you.
Speaker 6: I don't know the numbers were true, but let's just
Speaker 6: say a million dollars. All I can offer you is
Speaker 6: one hundred and fifty so and honestly, as a kid,
Speaker 6: how can how can I say no to kind of
Speaker 6: in your estimation at seventeen eighteen life changing money? My
Speaker 6: parents probably hasn't made a million dollars in their entire
Speaker 6: career of whatever their job is. For me, to make
Speaker 6: it in a matter of a few months is something
Speaker 6: that I could not pass up. And I would understand
Speaker 6: kids doing that, But that also leads to the thing
Speaker 6: as a parent that million dollars is great at the moment,
Speaker 6: but it might not be great for four years because
Speaker 6: it is an easy situation of of that team taking
Speaker 6: some of that money back and now you have to
Speaker 6: go in the transfer for Yeah.
Speaker 1: It's a mess right now, but perhaps this new there's
Speaker 1: a commissioner essentially, you know the CSC. I don't know
Speaker 1: how how much attention first of all you paid to it. Secondly,
Speaker 1: if you're optimistic at all, But something's better than nothing
Speaker 1: in terms of guardrails.
Speaker 4: Right, Yeah.
Speaker 6: I think I like it for football, and I think
Speaker 6: it can't add some element of restricting of a restrictive
Speaker 6: plate like and drive it. But the only thing I
Speaker 6: don't dislike is it's honestly, it's going to hurt the
Speaker 6: smaller programs and as a as I talked about with
Speaker 6: first guy, I'm a track guy, and it's going to greatly,
Speaker 6: immensely hurt track, which is to me, is the best
Speaker 6: sport because it's the easiest sport and cheap the sport
Speaker 6: to get into. So I think it's great for football
Speaker 6: and basketball and even baseball because I had friends who
Speaker 6: play baseball who couldn't get a full scholarship. About time
Speaker 6: that those guys get full scholarships on the entire team.
Speaker 6: But then there's the auxiliary sports that are really going
Speaker 6: to get hit, and that's something that that that.
Speaker 1: I don't like, no, I agree with you, and they're
Speaker 1: going to go away. They are going to be programs
Speaker 1: and it's already happening, you know. So well, speaking of track,
Speaker 1: as promised, we will talk about it. UK's got some
Speaker 1: individuals competing in Eugene, Oregon. Have you ever been out
Speaker 1: of that facility?
Speaker 6: I have not, and I had the chance I was
Speaker 6: working in Portland. I was like, no, I'm too busy,
Speaker 6: but yeah, I have never been to it, but I
Speaker 6: heard it's like almost as possible to get there though.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Eugene is not super close to Portland, but uh yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just like why tennis is always at the University
Speaker 1: of Georgia. The facility is tremendous. I've seen it on TV,
Speaker 1: and man, do they love it out there, don't they?
Speaker 1: The crowds they get. UK's got a freshman Janet jakimboy
Speaker 1: A Memo who is an All second team All American.
Speaker 1: Kentucky lost a great coach to the University of Texas
Speaker 1: and then hired another great coach. You got to be
Speaker 1: really proud of your alma mater for the track program.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and here and quite honestly, I know people don't
Speaker 6: understand and the track program was really good when I
Speaker 6: was there. It was just wasn't given the attention that
Speaker 6: it should have been. Well, we we had two Olympians
Speaker 6: on the team when I was there, so it is
Speaker 6: great to see it still progressed. I am elated that
Speaker 6: they improved the facilities because our indoor track was horrible.
Speaker 6: And people want to say the football indoor was was bad,
Speaker 6: but that track around the indoor was worse than a
Speaker 6: football field, and I am glad that they finally moved
Speaker 6: it out there. And I'm gonna say some crazy I'm
Speaker 6: glad they moved it all there, and not because the
Speaker 6: foot ball, because quite honestly, the football team had enough
Speaker 6: room to practice. I know they're going to complain about
Speaker 6: the angels, the kimono. The track was atrocious. There was
Speaker 6: no loan jump pit, there's no provall pit. It was
Speaker 6: one of the worst in the conference in the half
Speaker 6: of brand new facility. I am he made it for
Speaker 6: I'm glad that they're getting the to just do that.
Speaker 6: They finally the there.
Speaker 1: Well, somebody told me back when I was still working TV,
Speaker 1: and I don't think I ever got a chance to
Speaker 1: do the story. But UK had a pole vaulter and
Speaker 1: that was a big deal. Hey, we got a pole vaulter. Now,
Speaker 1: I didn't even know that there was a dearth of polevulters,
Speaker 1: which to me growing up, I used to go to
Speaker 1: the Mason Dixon Games and I man, I love that stuff,
Speaker 1: and the pole vaulters were the people, not the sprinters.
Speaker 1: But it was the pole vaulters that captured my imagine.
Speaker 1: I couldn't imagine flying like that and putting your trust,
Speaker 1: you know, and you're running as hard as you can
Speaker 1: and you jam that poll into that pit and next
Speaker 1: thing you know, you're fifteen sixteen or higher feet off
Speaker 1: the ground. But no, now have you been in a
Speaker 1: new indoor facility yet.
Speaker 6: I have not been in it, but I know people
Speaker 6: who out there and they say it's amazing.
Speaker 1: You got to come back next time you come up
Speaker 1: for football. Make yourself a little extra time, because don't
Speaker 1: bring a tear to your eye. Coach, I'm telling you.
Speaker 6: Okay, I'll do that. I'm because it was long overdue.
Speaker 6: I just as a track guy, Yeah, it was long
Speaker 6: over you for a team of that caliber, and this
Speaker 6: in the best conference, so yeah, it was. It was.
Speaker 6: It was all way over there, all right, you're.
Speaker 1: Also a grill master. I mentioned this. What's on the
Speaker 1: grill coming up anytime soon? Anything good, anything challenging.
Speaker 6: No, this is this is something that everyone has to do,
Speaker 6: and I have. I can't believe I've done it. I
Speaker 6: can't believe I'm saying it is. My wife has been
Speaker 6: begging me to real steak bites, which is just huge,
Speaker 6: the steak up and grill it that way, and I
Speaker 6: was like, now, I'm not gonna do I'm not gonna
Speaker 6: do it. I mean years and because I'm a traditionalist,
Speaker 6: eat eat a full steak, like come on, well, because
Speaker 6: she's not a heavy eater, and she felt like sometimes
Speaker 6: she's wasting the steak. So you cube it up. And
Speaker 6: the best thing about cubing it up is you get
Speaker 6: the seasoning and the smoke on all six That's that's
Speaker 6: the best thing. So now, honestly, I'm cubing up almost
Speaker 6: everything because I'm going overboard it because it is. It
Speaker 6: is so great. So that's what I'm I'm really doing.
Speaker 6: I'm I'm cubing up chicken or the whole, the whole deal.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to look into that and ribs.
Speaker 6: Too, and you do individual ribs. It'll change your life.
Speaker 6: And that's crazy for me to say because I'm a
Speaker 6: big rib guy.
Speaker 1: Changing grilling from V Style seventeen And if you go
Speaker 1: to his Twitter page, you'll see a nice little picture
Speaker 1: of him and his family, but the background picture is
Speaker 1: what three or four different types of meat.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I forgot it.
Speaker 1: It's so great. Uh, you tried to talk me through
Speaker 1: grilling fish. Next time we talk, I'm gonna have you
Speaker 1: do that. Manna. Have you talked to me again about that?
Speaker 1: Because I just don't have the courage to do it.
Speaker 1: But but I think you can get me through that.
Speaker 1: But we are out of time. V Style seventeen on Twitter.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Great as always, talking.
Speaker 6: To you anytime.
Speaker 1: You know that up next and look back at an
Speaker 1: eventful week in sports here on six thirty w LAP.
Speaker 10: That was the week over, let it go, that was
Speaker 10: the week. It's not it way up.
Speaker 1: That Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider, and yeah,
Speaker 1: it was quite a week. It has been not over yet.
Speaker 1: I don't know what else could happen between now and
Speaker 1: the end of the week, but you never can be sure.
Speaker 1: But in terms of sports, yeah, it was a big deal.
Speaker 1: We reacted to the house settlement earlier this week, but
Speaker 1: then anything that happened, Aaron Rodgers signed with the Steelers,
Speaker 1: anything in terms of the Big Blue Nation that might
Speaker 1: have happened, including Otega Alway coming back and talking to
Speaker 1: the media along with Brandon Garrison. So we got a
Speaker 1: little taste live and in person of UK basketball, but
Speaker 1: the Vince Merrow story superseded everything that was a shocker,
Speaker 1: and we were thinking back on UK football stories and basically,
Speaker 1: unless you're talking about, you know, a huge upset of
Speaker 1: a game or a coach being fired, maybe not so
Speaker 1: much a coach being hired, because that's an inevitability and
Speaker 1: generally those things leak out before the actual announcement is made,
Speaker 1: so it's not a shocker like that. You know, I've
Speaker 1: had the misfortunate of having to cover some NCAA investigation
Speaker 1: stuff and when they announce penalties and things like that.
Speaker 1: Those are the big shocking, you know, head turning stories
Speaker 1: when it comes to covering a programmer a sport. But
Speaker 1: Vince Merrill leaving and not just leaving, but going to Louisville,
Speaker 1: and as you know, he has flirted with other jobs
Speaker 1: in the past. Michigan Michigan State. Louisville came up a
Speaker 1: year or two ago when brom got there, and to
Speaker 1: be honest with you, Vince himself was the kind of
Speaker 1: guy who would just kind of let slip or a
Speaker 1: friend or an Asian or somebody, let's slip. And that's
Speaker 1: common business practice. To keep your name in the headlines.
Speaker 1: Helps you make a little more money. And he was
Speaker 1: paid well by Mark Stoops and Mitch Barnhardt. But boom,
Speaker 1: he's gone. And not just gone, which I thought would happen,
Speaker 1: but to Louisville and not just recruiting. And yeah, I
Speaker 1: know he's the GM, but he will be a recruiter
Speaker 1: even if he cannot go off campus and make in
Speaker 1: home visits. And he's valuable there when they get the
Speaker 1: campus when a recruit goes in to talk to the
Speaker 1: GM about nil and more, well, at Louisville, it's going
Speaker 1: to be Vince Merrill. And he's proven that he's one
Speaker 1: of the best in the country and he has helped
Speaker 1: Mark Stoops. Yeah, I know they've struggled of late build
Speaker 1: a solid football program in Kentucky. And one more time,
Speaker 1: I will say to those of you on the interweb
Speaker 1: who are slinging barbs. Now at Meryl, that's fine. I
Speaker 1: know that he's gone to the dark side and he
Speaker 1: has gone to the arch rival. You're mad at him,
Speaker 1: But don't say that he did a poor job recruiting here.
Speaker 1: I've seen that in a couple of Yeah, we don't
Speaker 1: need the recruits you're bringing in. Come on, now, look
Speaker 1: at the body of work. Maybe of late, nobody has
Speaker 1: really had a lot of success recruiting at Kentucky if
Speaker 1: you're looking at the one loss record, but look back
Speaker 1: through the years. But look back through the years and
Speaker 1: you will see a lot of success thanks to Vince Merriw.
Speaker 1: So as we look back through the week. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: talked with a voice Tom Leach earlier this week about
Speaker 1: the shocking story.
Speaker 7: Yeah, surprise, it's not stunned, just because you know, the
Speaker 7: Vince and U of L talk had popped up once
Speaker 7: or twice before. So that always, when you you know,
Speaker 7: when that happens, makes you think, well, there's you know,
Speaker 7: something there on one side or the other. And the
Speaker 7: fact that it happened in Jews kind of an odd timing,
Speaker 7: although you know that always is you know, we always
Speaker 7: don't think about these things. There's a business this element
Speaker 7: to this. Some you know, contracts end at the end
Speaker 7: of June on a coaching contracts, it's the fiscal year.
Speaker 7: So maybe that's you know why this is happening at
Speaker 7: this time to make the hire for the next you
Speaker 7: know contract wave that would start on July first, So
Speaker 7: could well be related to to that. But that's just
Speaker 7: you know, the business part of it. The fact that
Speaker 7: he's actually leading their story obviously, and yeah, it's yeah,
Speaker 7: definitely a surprise. You know, it's on one hand, surprising
Speaker 7: that it's.
Speaker 6: Going to the rival.
Speaker 7: On the other hand, I think Vince is gonna put
Speaker 7: down some roots here in Kentucky, Lexington specifically, up until
Speaker 7: this point married a girl from here in Lexington, So
Speaker 7: you know, they may well, you know, have if he
Speaker 7: was ready to move on for whatever reason. The fact
Speaker 7: that he could do it still stay in the state
Speaker 7: they have, you know, played a part in it too.
Speaker 1: And indeed that is something that was important to Vince Merrow,
Speaker 1: according to the statement released Thursday through u of L
Speaker 1: was he did want to remain in the state of Kentucky.
Speaker 1: One of the other people I talked to about the
Speaker 1: big Vince Merrow story was Keith Farmer from w l
Speaker 1: e X and BBN tonight.
Speaker 4: It felt like we had passed all that you said.
Speaker 4: Like you said, there have been head coaching jobs, There
Speaker 4: have been tithes in jobs, you know, different conferences, different schools,
Speaker 4: and it just felt like one of those that we
Speaker 4: were past that, and that he was just going to
Speaker 4: ride ride it out with stoops. And so I was
Speaker 4: a little bit shocked this time because I didn't I
Speaker 4: just didn't feel like it was ever going to happen.
Speaker 4: So hard to hear it and hopefully it doesn't have
Speaker 4: as big an impact as we think it could on
Speaker 4: the Kentucky program, because you know, he he really brought
Speaker 4: a lot of great players in and we'll do Educty
Speaker 4: goes from here.
Speaker 1: I was the same way as came in. I thought that,
Speaker 1: you know, Vince going somewhere else, at least for now,
Speaker 1: was over and done with the timing is what's so
Speaker 1: hard hitting in this story. I also talked to came In,
Speaker 1: who was a Steelers fan, about Aaron Rodgers signing. I
Speaker 1: talked to Jeff Drummond about that as well, Jeff with
Speaker 1: Cats Illustrated, and I talked also with Jay Drumm about
Speaker 1: the fact that up on their site right now, they've
Speaker 1: got a round table discussion as they prep for the
Speaker 1: upcoming college football season about the challenge facing and these
Speaker 1: are the guys with the Rivals Network who cover UK
Speaker 1: the challenge is facing Mark Stoops and his staff.
Speaker 11: He got to thinking about what what some of the
Speaker 11: big questions will be going into this season. I thought
Speaker 11: this would be interesting because typically your first game as
Speaker 11: an afterthought in a lot of ways, and you're supposed
Speaker 11: to win that game no matter you know who it
Speaker 11: is in most seasons. But I think there's a little.
Speaker 8: Bit of of.
Speaker 11: You know, extra weight to this one, not only in
Speaker 11: the fact that Toledo is a really good, solid MAC
Speaker 11: program capable of coming into Mexican and winning that game,
Speaker 11: but I think the Cats has to look good in
Speaker 11: that one too to kind of get the fan base,
Speaker 11: you know, back motivating for the rest of the season
Speaker 11: because right now the I don't know about the people
Speaker 11: that you have to in general, but it's it's ominous
Speaker 11: with everybody I talked about Kentucky football. It's just the
Speaker 11: optimism is that it's low points and probably you know,
Speaker 11: going into that year for uh with with Mark Steeps
Speaker 11: when a lot of people thought that Kentucky might need
Speaker 11: to start another coaching search, and you know with what
Speaker 11: they wound up with though after that was I think
Speaker 11: eight consecutive trips to the postseason with that one. It's
Speaker 11: it struged me is a little odd that things have
Speaker 11: turned so quickly and and far, you know, as far
Speaker 11: as the public opinion of Mark Stoops goes. But you know,
Speaker 11: last year obviously a bad season. I don't think the
Speaker 11: two years before you would consider bad, but there was
Speaker 11: definitely the start of a little bit of a downward trend.
Speaker 11: And when you combine that with the you know, the
Speaker 11: infamous pony up comment and the Texas A and M situation,
Speaker 11: I think that just a lot of people have kind
Speaker 11: of made up their mind that this is the end
Speaker 11: of the road. And you know, I don't, I don't
Speaker 11: necessarily I think that's the case, but it's going to
Speaker 11: be hard to win people.
Speaker 1: By Jeff Drumming accuts illustrated and he ain't wrong there.
Speaker 1: Toledo is a good MAC team, at least it was
Speaker 1: last year. Beat Mississippi State in Starkfield, beat Pittsburgh, and
Speaker 1: Mac teams through the years have come in here and
Speaker 1: been a real pain in the neck. Have come in
Speaker 1: here and won over Kentucky. So yeah, part of that
Speaker 1: roundtable discussion was you got to win that opener. You
Speaker 1: got to be as good as you can be on
Speaker 1: the first day, right. We talked with Rick Bosicch of
Speaker 1: WDRB dot com early in the week before we knew
Speaker 1: about Vince Merrow about the house settlement and how it
Speaker 1: might affect college sports in general, and as Rick pointed out,
Speaker 1: it's going to take a while to figure that out
Speaker 1: because at this juncture, really nobody knows for sure.
Speaker 8: No, I don't think any of us really have any idea,
Speaker 8: and even some administrators that I've talked to don't have
Speaker 8: any idea. I think we're going to see more separation
Speaker 8: from the you know, the top level schools. Yeah, like
Speaker 8: the schools in the SEC, in the Big Ten, especially
Speaker 8: from the rest of college sports. I worry about mid majors,
Speaker 8: I worry about low majors. I worry about you know,
Speaker 8: the non revenue sports yea, and what's going to happen
Speaker 8: to them. We've heard all the stories that at different
Speaker 8: schools where they'll be eventually moved to club club sports
Speaker 8: status because all the resources have to be poured into
Speaker 8: the sports that generate revenue.
Speaker 1: Rick Mozic of Fox forty one WDRB over in Louisville.
Speaker 1: We also talked with Colby Wilson, sports reporter and anchor
Speaker 1: at Fox fifty six here in Lexington. We just watched
Speaker 1: the Belmont Steakes on Fox Sports, not on NBC, but
Speaker 1: on Fox, and I talked to Colby, who played college
Speaker 1: soccer in Portland, but as from grew up in the
Speaker 1: LA area or dad's a football coach. But I talked
Speaker 1: to her about as so many youngsters have done, moving
Speaker 1: in no matter what the medium, to cover horse race,
Speaker 1: seeing in Kentucky and what that was like for her,
Speaker 1: especially covering the Kentucky Derby.
Speaker 12: You know, it's funny because coming from the West coast,
Speaker 12: you everyone knows about the Kentucky Derby, just because it's
Speaker 12: the Kentucky Derby, but no one knows what goes into it,
Speaker 12: the behind the scenes. You don't know owners or trainers
Speaker 12: or you know, you don't know any of the exes
Speaker 12: and oh's detailed stuff. So like you said, I knew
Speaker 12: absolutely nothing coming to Kentucky. All I knew is you
Speaker 12: better get caught up pretty fast because it's horse racing
Speaker 12: country here. But I will say, I mean, going on
Speaker 12: my I just covered my second derby is absolutely incredible.
Speaker 12: Everyone asked me like, how is it. Everyone I talked
Speaker 12: to They're like, it's on my bucket list, but you really,
Speaker 12: I can't even put into words.
Speaker 11: What it's like.
Speaker 12: I'm just like you have to come. But as a journalist,
Speaker 12: I mean, it's been super fun and I feel like
Speaker 12: just even in the morning times going out to the barns,
Speaker 12: you get to know these trainers, You get to know
Speaker 12: familiar faces, and then you really like become attached in
Speaker 12: a way a little bit like I U the only
Speaker 12: trainer I talked to ahead of this derby was billmont
Speaker 12: ah and so, and then last year the only trainer
Speaker 12: I talked to was Kenny McNee. So for me, it's
Speaker 12: been like it's been like a two out of two
Speaker 12: over here with me. So it's been super fun, but
Speaker 12: I've absolutely enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: It was indeed a big week and we're back with heroes,
Speaker 1: fools and flakes in just a minute here on six
Speaker 1: thirty w LAP.
Speaker 9: That was the week No let it Go.
Speaker 10: That was the week that was It's not it way
Speaker 10: up fluck and he's playing there.
Speaker 9: All.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Big Moon Insider, final segment of
Speaker 1: our program. Time only for Heroes, fools and flakes and
Speaker 1: our heroes tonight, Yes, plural multiple, because the College World
Speaker 1: Series begins tonight in Omaha. We've talked about it all week.
Speaker 1: A lot of you went there last year to follow
Speaker 1: the Wildcats, and Kentucky was a great feel good story
Speaker 1: last year, making its first appearance under Nick Bneiona and
Speaker 1: a lot of kids who had been good players elsewhere
Speaker 1: but transferred to Kentucky and became part of great team. Oh,
Speaker 1: it's a great time right now in the state of
Speaker 1: Kentucky because Murray State is there and is the Cinderella story.
Speaker 1: Everybody's favorite Cinderella right now when it comes to the
Speaker 1: College World. Seriously, everybody has learned the story of Murray
Speaker 1: State baseball playing in an eight hundred seat stadium that
Speaker 1: up until ten years ago did not have grand stand seating.
Speaker 1: The head coach, Dan Skirka, mows the grass, does the groundkeeping.
Speaker 1: I didn't know this until recently, but Johnny Reagan Field,
Speaker 1: named after the long time successful head coach, did not
Speaker 1: even have a padded outfield wall until less than a
Speaker 1: decade ago. And if you've seen the pictures, there are
Speaker 1: all kinds of rips and gashes in the padding because
Speaker 1: again before to get it fixed. So everybody's rooting for
Speaker 1: the Racers right now. And remember this name, Jonathan Hogart
Speaker 1: two home runs two and the game that sent Murray
Speaker 1: State past Duke in the Durham Super Regional into the
Speaker 1: World Series had one early in the game that had
Speaker 1: another one that put the Racers up five to four.
Speaker 1: It was your game winner. Stands in a tie for
Speaker 1: first place in program history with twenty two round trippers
Speaker 1: on the year. And keep in mind that that ballpark
Speaker 1: in Omah, Charles Schwab Stadium, all flies out of there.
Speaker 1: It's not like Hoover. It's not like the Hoover met
Speaker 1: where you really got to crank it to hit it out. No,
Speaker 1: all carries depends on the win that gets Windy over
Speaker 1: there in Omaha. But don't be surprised if he breaks
Speaker 1: that record with one or more home runs in this tournament.
Speaker 1: Hogart had hits in every postseason game and at least
Speaker 1: two home runs in every contest but one. Six home
Speaker 1: runs in postseason plays, So best the luck to the
Speaker 1: Racers also Coastal Carolina, but that's not really an underdog program.
Speaker 1: They've been. I think this is their ninth trip to
Speaker 1: the World Series and they've won twenty three straight. The
Speaker 1: Chanta clears one of the great nicknames in all the
Speaker 1: college sports. They're on a twenty three game winning streak.
Speaker 1: That's the longest streak any team is carried into the
Speaker 1: College World Series since nineteen ninety nine. They're back in
Speaker 1: Omhof for the first time since they won it all
Speaker 1: in twenty sixteen. Are fool tonight, and I say this
Speaker 1: with respective with love. Dick by Tal he is resigned
Speaker 1: with the ESPN. Good for you. I'm not a huge fan,
Speaker 1: but anybody who raises that kind of money and spends
Speaker 1: that kind of energy on childhood cancers is a hero
Speaker 1: in my book. But foolish. When he says the Knicks
Speaker 1: should rehire Tom Thibodeau, it's not a bad idea because, yeah,
Speaker 1: the coaching search, as he says, has been embarrassing. People
Speaker 1: keep turning them down. No, you cannot talk to our Coe.
Speaker 1: The bulls won't let him talk to Billy Donovan, and
Speaker 1: that the Mavericks don't want to to talk to Jason Kidd.
Speaker 1: If VI Taw believes they should rehire them, that's not
Speaker 1: going to happen. And you're a fool if you believe
Speaker 1: it will, because the Knicks aren't going to admit they
Speaker 1: were wrong. But keep in mind, Dick by Tale, with
Speaker 1: one exception that I know of, has never believed the
Speaker 1: coaches or any coach has ever done anything wrong, even
Speaker 1: coaches that have been caught red handed doing bad things.
Speaker 1: But there was that one exception, I will tell you,
Speaker 1: and that was way back in nineteen eighty nine when
Speaker 1: Eddie Sutton in the UK program were in a deep,
Speaker 1: deep trouble and Dick by Tale publicly stated Edie should
Speaker 1: resign in order to prevent any more damage to the
Speaker 1: Proud Kentucky program. And that week, on one of his
Speaker 1: nightly appearances on WKYT TV, Kill Litford remember Kaywood's comments.
Speaker 1: They ran every night at five forty five, but a
Speaker 1: ninety second commentary, and Kwood took Dick five talent the task.
Speaker 1: When I was stunned at the end of the commentary,
Speaker 1: he looked right at the camera and said, go to hell, Dick.
Speaker 1: I was shocked, but ironically enough, Edie sudden. Not long
Speaker 1: after that did resign because he said he didn't want
Speaker 1: to hurt the program anymore. Our flake tonight, This is easy,
Speaker 1: Vince Merrill, just a flaky situation, wouldn't you say? There
Speaker 1: are so many questions, so much speculation though about why
Speaker 1: he left. Was he deserting a sinking ship? Did Stoops
Speaker 1: and Merrill have a falling out? You know? Are they
Speaker 1: changing the direction of UK football and minimizing the role
Speaker 1: that had been occupied by Vince Merrill? Who knows what?
Speaker 1: And Mark Story wrote about this people going from UK
Speaker 1: to UL I haven't been that many. Marvin Stones in
Speaker 1: at basketball player, had one good game at U of
Speaker 1: L with all due respect, and I was against Kentucky.
Speaker 1: But you know, people don't realize this, and I'm getting
Speaker 1: off track here, but Tubby Smith it was done with Marvin.
Speaker 1: He was so frustrated. And at one point Marvin told
Speaker 1: Tubby I'm going to transfer to Auburn, be closer to home,
Speaker 1: and Tubby said that's fine, good luck. Marvin's mother stepped
Speaker 1: in and said, no, He's staying in Kentucky. So it
Speaker 1: doesn't happen very often. But this is the highest of
Speaker 1: the high profiles. With Vince Merrill leaving really flaky. If
Speaker 1: you ask me, I'll do it. Thanks so much to
Speaker 1: my guest Chuck Culpepper and the Van Hiles. That's a
Speaker 1: good night from the garage in Lexington. I believe.
Speaker 13: Any quality equality for everyone, no matter how stupid they are.
Speaker 1: Or how much better I am than they are.
Speaker 13: Any such such.
Speaker 9: Tact tact.
Speaker 13: The snack, change tack, and then I think the back tack.
Speaker 13: Then don don don don do