July 31, 2018 • 31 mins
It's the best of The Doug Gottlieb Show. Doug explains why the NBA's new partnership with MGM Resorts is going to have some unintended consequences that could send shock waves through the world of sports and why the "Championship Habits" LeBron wants to bring to Los Angeles better include practicing. Plus, University of Houston head football coach Major Applewhite stops by and explains how he plans to turn Defensive Tackle Ed Oliver into a Heisman Trophy winner.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the best of the Done Dot Leap Show
on Fox Sports Radio. But the news of the day
is not from baseball. It's not even from football. Yesterday
we had Sam Donald's signing and agreeing to terms and
coming out to practice while we were on air. Today
it's about the NBA. The NBA, for the first time
(00:21):
ever in the history of major professional sports has a
has a a betting sponsor. They have a betting sponsor.
Now look that this is and and UH I got
a chance to meet with our sales staff at I
Heart Radio. Can download UH the I Heart Radio applas
to our show wherever you go yesterday. And one of
(00:43):
the great things about sales is they can sell anything.
The NBA has become the first US sports league to
sign an official betting sponsor. Who knew? Who knew that
was something you could Today Adam Silver announced that the
league struck a deal with MGM that will give the
gaming company rights to use the league's highlights, names, logos,
(01:06):
and direct data feed, as well exclusivity marketing itself as
the official gaming partner of the NBA and the w
n b A. I've often said, you know you have
a gambling problem if you're betting on the w n
b A industry sources pegged the deal to be three
years and at least twenty five million dollars WOW. It
(01:27):
is not known if the NBA receives a quote integrity
fee that gives the league a percentage of the amount
wagered on NBA games and events. The league was looking
for to one per to one uh point two oh
percent to one percent cut based on the total bets
made on NBA to compensate for an increased compliance costs
(01:49):
the NBA believes will arise from expanded legal sports betting
in the US. The integrity fee is strongly opposed by
the American Gaming Association, whose position is that it unfairly
access operators whose margins already razor thin. In other words,
an integrity fee is the VIG, and Adam Silver is like, hey, listen,
(02:10):
you guys can collect the bets. We want to collect
the VIG to protect the integrity of the game. People
have been betting on sports for a long time. They've
been betting on basketball for a long time. They're in
betting on basketball legally in all of the in in
Las Vegas for a long time. But with the recent
(02:30):
um Supreme Court ruling which allows states to rule themselves
and to set their own betting laws. MGM, which is
in several different states around the country Nevada, Maryland, Mississippi, Jersey,
mrs uh I said Mississippi, um and Massachusetts is gonna
open books next week New York as well. MGM owns
(02:52):
properties there. Now they're gonna collect bets on NBA games
legally like they would and now they can be the
official gaming sponsor. I don't know what the true value
is to saying you're an official gaming sponsor. I do
know that what this is doing is eliminating a taboo
from our childhood. And I continue to tell you that
(03:15):
there is a downside. This is like, this is like
marijuana being decriminalized and then legalized. And what's what's amazing
about it is it's amazing about it is um like
on one hand, on one hand, marijuana and THHC and CBD.
(03:36):
You know, if properly used like these drugs are less
harmful in many ways, then legal drugs like alcohol, then
then definitely then prescription drugs which people become addicted to
if you're using it to manage pain, Like there is
a lot of good. On the other hand, once you
make something totally legal and you collect taxes on it,
(03:58):
and so you fund you know, schools and other budgets
that are out of whack, like we can't stop you
from waking bacon every day. And if you can do
it as an adult, what's the message we send to kids?
Like it is hard? The same is true with gambling.
When I go to Las Vegas, I only go to
(04:20):
the sports book. I just We've talked about this before.
I don't really know how to play craps, although I've
played craps. It's the most fun. It seems like the
most fun place, and it seems like somebody's always winning
at the craps table, even though I know that's not true. Right,
Just loud and people having a good time, and there's
always a guy with a nice looking jacket's got a
nice look of women and there, you know, and somebody's
blowing on the dice and it looks like a good time.
(04:41):
But I don't really know what I'm doing there, so
I stick to black jack a little bit. But black
jack can go good or bad in uh it's whereas
I feel like I get more bang for my buck
when I put twenty dollars down in the game or
on a parlay. Right, then I get to watch three
or four games. My entertainment value goes way way up.
So I'm not gonna sit here and be some curmudgeons
(05:02):
say I don't bet. But once you start having the
official betting sponsor of the NBA, you're telling everybody, you
know what, this is the way it's going. We're good
with it, we embrace it. Which is it's the reality
of of of the way of the time in which
we're living. But if you've ever met somebody that's got
(05:23):
a gambling problem, and maybe this maybe what you're telling
us is the reality is if you have a gambling problem,
this wasn't gonna change things. You have a gambling problem,
if you have that gambling addiction, you have the gambling bug.
Legalizing sports betting isn't going to change anything. And that
to which that you're probably right. But this is a
seminal moment in professional sports in many ways long overdue. Right.
(05:50):
The folks in Vegas, they do know how to handle
this stuff. They do know how to monitor betting. They
do so so they know if there's a spike in
a game that something's not on the up and up
like Vegas. These people are professionals. They have they went
legit a long time ago, a long time ago, because
otherwise the city would cease to exist. So half of
(06:16):
me loves this. Half of me knows that Vegas is
getting the Raiders, Vegas is getting a ridiculous stadium, Vegas
is gonna get n c A events. Vegas eventually should
get a super Bowl, which is the perfect super Bowl city,
and she get a Final Four because it's the perfect
Final Four city, and that's great. And people have been
(06:38):
betting for a long time. And this takes the taboo
away from sports betting. You know, it's like, look, you're
gonna legalize some and not legalize the other. You know,
you already had lottery tickets, which is the other terrible.
Plus there's no real entertainment value. Now you need to
watch the game and got a little money on it.
And I didn't have to call some guy like like,
we're trying to eliminate the black market, which is smart,
(07:02):
but I'm fascinating. I'm you know what I'm fascinating by.
I'm always fascinated by the law of unintended consequences. I
think the intention here by the NBA is a good one. Hey, look, people,
are you betting on games? It's going to be legal nationally.
Let's link up with MGM, huge name, respectable name. Let's
(07:24):
collect some money per year. And by the way, if
we can charge an integrity fee, make some money on
top of that to make sure that our players are
impervious to this sort of thing, like, look, our guys
make so much money. You know that's the idea. But
are there unintended consequences that we're not paying attention to?
(07:46):
You know? Do we open up players to be blackmailed
for things in their in their personal lives that they
don't want to become public? Do we? How do we
do this? And oh yeah, by the way, if you
or MGM, are you really going to see value in
that type of sponsorship. Maybe that's not anybody's worry other
than MGM. But mark this down. July two thousand eighteen
(08:12):
seminal moment. Professional Sports League links arm in arm with
um with a major gambling company and the NBA can
interact in a gambling space, which I mean you want
to talk about a great weight. I've abviously said this
about baseball. Look if you're gonna go in, go all in.
(08:34):
Give me an adult gambling section in Major League Baseball
game where only if I go to the site of
the game, I can get an iPad, I can run
my card and charge up my thing for two d bucks,
and I can bet on whatever I want to bet on.
Next pitch, well, well our pools ground out here? Or
will he get a hit? You know, will you get
a walk? What will happen this inn? And what will
(08:55):
happen with this pitch? What will happen with whatever it makes?
It makes the undane of regular season action incredibly thrilling.
Anybody who's had money on a game, has been has
experienced this. If this shot goes in, I win. If
it doesn't. I don't crazy as it sounds, but I
(09:15):
do think there's some unintended consequences we may not be
paying attention to. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three pm Easter
noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart
Radio app. I want to play for you a little
bit of what well Lebron James said last night. You
sit down interview with Rachel Nichols, and there's a couple
(09:37):
of points that he said about this year's Lakers team
that I think peaked up, perked up some people's attention.
This is Lebron on how he's trying to build championship
habits within the Lakers team. We don't have any right now,
but we definitely want to be better that we were
in the previous year and we wanna, you know, have championship.
(10:00):
You know, you guys know me when it comes to
the championship habits. That doesn't mean you can bring it
in a championship, but that mean you practice excellence every
day and I expect that from not only myself but
from my teammates. That's what Genie and that's what Magic,
That's what Rob will want, That's what Lucas gonna want.
And we shouldn't sell ourselves shorter that our plan. And UH,
I train and I set my mind every single day
(10:20):
to play for championships, and UH and Magic and Genie
and they and Rob and they believe the same thing
and that's what their goal is too. So when you
have when you're around people who have the same goal
in mind and you can live with the results. Wow,
how about that? How about that? Look it's about a
championship mentality. There's a couple of things that go counter
(10:41):
to that. Now, I think Lebron James works on his
body as well as any NBA player maybe ever has.
I think. I think Lebron James works on his game
to have at a very high level. I'm not gonna
say higher than anybody else, because there are there have
been times which there have been holes in his game.
Although he steadily improved, his shooting has always been a debt.
(11:02):
Passers ball handling has gotten better as well, But Lebron
doesn't practice. It's really hard to establish championship habits within
the team if you don't practice. So so missing within
this conversation by by Rachel Nichols, which was a really
good conversation, there was some politics that were discussed. There
(11:22):
was the amazing project that was completed and opened yesterday,
the school, the I Promised school. But there was no
discussion or question about whether or not he's going to
practice this year. I would expect him to practice. He said,
it's not going to be a rebuilding year, but it
doesn't mean it's gonna be a championship year. Now, I
(11:46):
don't know what you consider a rebuilding year. But usually
your rebuilding years when you take a step back. For
will he personally take a rebuilding year? I guess maybe
here's here's the push and pull to it. Okay, I'll
give you Lebron James is great. I'll give you Lebron
James has consistently been one of the top couple of
(12:07):
players in the NBA over the last decade. Has he
been the best player every year? The answer is now,
he hasn't. Um his best has been as good or anybody.
He has had years to which he's the best. But
remember we're talking about last fifteen years. We're talking about
you know, there was a year when Dirk won the
m v P. He was incredible. Dirk was never the defender,
(12:27):
never the pastor, but an incredible, incredible score. You had
Tim Duncan, you had Uh probably at the end of
the Jason Kidd run I probably wouldn't put him in
that mix. You had Kobe Uh and some of Kobe's
great years before he started a fade because of injury
and because of age even now hardened Westbrook, k D
(12:53):
and you have and you have kind of the new group.
Steph Curry had the year waves in unanimous m v P.
I've alway he thought Lebron James is a more valuable player,
but Steph Curry had a better year the year they
won seventy three and he was the NMS unanimous m
v P. Kevin Rant was better than than Lebron James
by my estimation in the past two NBA finals. He
(13:14):
just was and two years ago Lebron had to guard him.
It didn't work out well for Lebron, especially in the
second half. Part of that was the construction of the team,
too much weight put on his shoulders. Part of it
was Katie is just awesome, awesome. I can't guard him
with one guy. So um, I'll give you that. He's
(13:35):
an incredible player, a top five all time. Some people
believe he's the best player of all time. I'm I'm
still a Jordan guy, and truthfully, in their prime, I
would take Magic and Bird I would even though Uh,
there are things that he does that Magic and Bird
never did. There are things that they did he hasn't done.
(13:56):
But um, the idea that because he's been to the
NBA Finals so many times, like look, the Eastern Conference
has been has been uh has been the inferior conference.
It just had. It's been in arguable. And the perfect
example of that is if you took this exact same
roster and you stripped the let you said the Lakers
(14:17):
are going to play in the East this year, I'd
say they're probably the third best in the East, and
they would You would think they would finish, they would
play against the Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals. I'd
probably the second best needs but people would say, all
you got the Raptors. They want all those games, but
those that's it. It's the Celtics would have a better roster.
(14:37):
The Celtics are the better team, and then there's the
UH and then there's the the Lakers in the West, Houston,
Golden State obviously, and probably Oklahoma City. I think anywhere
between four and six is about reasonable expectations. It's real
(15:00):
reasonable expectations. And though it's not a rebuilding year for
the Lakers because they didn't make the playoffs, one thirty
five games, and if they can win fifty games this
year after thirty five last year, that's a building year.
That's an improved year. That's a year to which things
start to come together and they start to figure out
what out what's what and see what they do in
the playoffs. But that's personally gotta be a rebuilding year, right,
(15:24):
So maybe we're arguing semantics. But the challenge for Lebron
is gonna be Look, last year he showed he can
play at two games and still have juice in the playoffs.
Can he play eight two or close to practice and
still have it left to play in the playoffs. It's
a hard thing. I think he's a very smart guy.
I think he knows his body incredibly well. That's one
(15:44):
reason he's never been hurt. I think he knows when
to go hard and when when to when to take
his foot off the pedal. There's times in which he
doesn't guard people anymore. Um so it's gonna be a
challenge to get him to guard more often, to get
into practice more often, do him to continue to play
as close to eighty two games as possible. And I
(16:05):
was asked earlier today on first things first, how long
I thought he would have prime Lebron. I thought three,
But probably in the two years I think he's he's
going to slow down. He's not going to have and
he probably needs to start playing a little bit lighter weight.
But Um, the one thing about basketball and soccer has
(16:27):
a little bit of this. Football at quarterback has a
little bit this, or even you look at Larry Fitzgerald
as a as a wide receiver. You can evolve, you
can adjust. You have to be willing to do so.
And I think Lebron has shown the will, always shown
the willingness to allow other guys to play. So UM,
(16:48):
I think it's a fascinating thing. But he didn't say
they expect the championship. He said they expect championship habits.
Championship habits include practicing, practicing. We'll see if he has those.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app.
(17:10):
The story, though, is the Houston Cougars. Of course, they're
coached by Major Apple White. UH. There are massive expectations
this year, as there have been in previous years. Last
year a couple of unbelievable games which they lost a
close one to Texas Tech in a shootout, a close
one to to Memphis, and a close one UH in
(17:32):
the bowl game in the Hawaii Bowl to Fresno State.
Their head coach is major apple White. He joins us
on the Doug Gottlip Show on Fox Sports Radio. Major,
how are you? I'm doing break, Doug, how are you doing? Good? Man? Uh,
football is back, and I know this is a three
seven deal for you, but kind of as we get
tomorrow's August. You play a football game in August against Rice.
(17:56):
I think that's August against Rice. Um, give me your
your feelings right now about your team as we're less
than really a true month out from seeing you play football. Well,
I hate to bore you with with the typical coach speak,
but uh, you know we our whole focused on this
fall camp is development of our team. You know, it's
it's that's that's where our mindset is. We've got great
(18:17):
players in the offense defensive side. Guys have had a
tremendous spring um with with you know, some new scheme
on offense, two new coaches in the secondary on defense,
They've had a tremendous summer workout program, and now it's
time to just develop as as a team as a unit,
offensive defense, special teams, as players, and then at some
point we'll shift the focus and we'll focus on Rice.
(18:38):
The first game of the year. Okay. One of the
things that you guys have done, which is it's a
trend in basketball, which has become a trend in football,
is take a bunch of grad transfers and you've got
some some some high level grad transfers. How do you
have guys that have already been coached, but they've been
coaching different schemes by different people. What's that like in
trying to understand what you're gonna have when you take
(19:00):
you know, grad chancellors like a Terrence Williams, like a
like a Raylan Singleton, like like a Nick Watkins. How
have you gone about getting to know these guys and
getting them up to speed on how you guys want
to play in such short order. Well, there's a lot
of things that go into it. But number one, all
of these kids are from the state of Texas. So
Raylan Singleton's from Crosby, Nick Watkins is from Dallas, Quentin
(19:21):
Dormandy is from Barney, Texas. UM, you know Terence Willams
from Enna. So you already know a lot about these
kids did the first time around recruiting. So they're not
just you know, hired guns that you know nothing about. UM,
so that they have a foundation of Texas high school football.
It's the recruited state. We know them through our staff.
The second thing is you got to make sure they
(19:41):
fit into your culture. You know that that they're not
going to be you know, all and water. I mean,
they've got to be able to mix and be able
to fit in. And then lastly, you want to go
out and find guys that have produced. And whether it's
been Nick Stone nine games last year at at Notre Dame,
whether it's been Raylon being a starter and a contributor
at Utah, whether it's Normany having staffs in the SEC
or two as Williams lying for yards of sophomore Baylor.
(20:02):
All these guys have done a tremendous job where they've been.
It's not uncommon if these kids get their degrees early
and they finished and they want to come back to
the great State of Texas and develop their professional careers.
But they also got a little bit of football left
in them and uh and they want to finish out
their career the right way. So there's a lot of
things to go into it. Those are just kind of
the three. And then obviously you gonna have needs in
certain positions. UH, Ed Oliver. He's an incredible defensive tackle.
(20:26):
And um, as as you said, you're you're rebuilding the
coaching staff in your defensive backfield as well. But I
mean so good that you guys are building a Heisman
Trophy campaign around him. I'm now I feel like an
old fart now because I was in college when Charles
Woodson won the Highsman Trophies a defensive player, but as
a former quarterback, like like, what are you are you
(20:47):
going through the motions with this thing because you think
the world of the kid or do you think it's
it's actual a possibility could win the thing? I don't.
I don't put anything past to anybody, you know, in
terms of these awards, And I've seen seasons and things
take different turns, and um, you know, Ed's a guy
who's certainly worthy of being in the conversation. You know,
(21:08):
pass results, you know, future indicator probably not going to
a defensive lineman or offensive linement if we're all honest,
But he's a rare player. Uh if he continues to,
you know, keep his act together and play at that
high level and we do well as a team around him,
you know, I've seen guys have that opportunity. We were
coming off four and seventh season when Ricky Williams won
(21:29):
the Husman. But they coincided with not only a great
player with great stats, but a team that was winning,
a team that was under first year head coach Mike Brown,
and there was a lot of buzz around that team,
and it was able to stay on SportsCenter and highlight
shows and writers on the West Coast would stay up
to watch this guy run the ball. So there's a
lot of things that go into it. Um, you know,
(21:50):
as long as he continues to play a great level,
I think that will be the first to tell you
just let the play speak for itself. But you know,
you've got to do all that stuff as a school
of the sports information department, a foot all teams, So
you know, we welcome any kind of individual wards, but
obviously all our focuses on on the on the team awards.
Major Apple White, head coach of the Houston Cougars, joining
us in the Doug Gotlib Show on Fox Sports Radio.
(22:12):
How many times have you gone into a kid's house,
or you've gone recruited kid now, or it's the son
of somebody you played against. That that's you're getting to
that point where like, now I coach a U basketball
I'm like, wait, his kids in college already. Uh, you
know the Tray Trey Trey Young of course is the
son of Ray for Young. Why I played against he
played a tech? How many times that happened to you? Well,
(22:33):
I mean we all know, I said, we all know.
I know him because I played with him. The Casey Hampton,
he was the thirteen year pro for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
I think he went to seven, six seventh Pro Bowls,
Super Bowl champ He was at our camp with his
senior son this year and I'm picking. We used to
hang out with dorm and play Madden and eat pizza together,
and now I'm recruiting your senior son. You know. So
(22:54):
it's it's happening. Uh, it's not a bad thing, and
it's it's it's really good. Actually. I mean you you
have a lot of familiarity as you're gettingholder with the parents.
I think when you're in your twenties and your dirties,
you're trying to relate to what it is to be
a parent, when it is to have kids, and now
that you have your own children, and some of these
parents are went to school, high school, college, the same age.
I think I think it helps and creating relationships, having
(23:16):
something in common. What like, look, this is this has
been a wild ride for you, right, you know, taking
over before the bull game, going back a couple of
years ago. Last year, you know, by Houston standards, I mean,
you're it's a program, it's one ten eleven games, a
little bit disappointing. And this year, obviously people think you're
you're loaded for for bear. What have you learned? And
(23:36):
you know, now that you've had over a year on
the job, like, what do you know now that you
didn't know previously? A lot? I mean it's hard to
put a um, you know itally on it. But there's
just a lot of things that you're you're more in
tune to as a head coach versus an offensive coordinator.
You're you're worried about, you know, your forty years so
(23:57):
players on your side of the ball, your five quarterback,
how they're doing academically. Now you're worried about how is
academics in general? Um, you know, I'm worried about getting
Greg ords shoulder back so he can play at Depford
Stadium on a Friday night. Now I'm worried about everybody's shoulder.
So it's it's it's just a different scope, but but
it's something that you enjoy. And as a head coach,
(24:18):
you can see where your decisions help benefit players and
staff members more so than if you're in a position role.
So you take great pride in that. Um. You know,
you wake up every morning understand that everybody underneath your
your watch has hopes and dreams and your job isn't
work your butt off and give them all the resources
that they need and um in the encouragement when they
need it and kind of the you know, kick in
(24:39):
the rear when they need it. And that's that's the
fun part about in the head coaches, you see everybody
from a from a you know, bird's out of view, uh,
and you have appreciation for what they do. You don't
always see that at a position coach. You don't always
see how much pride that head trainer has in his
training around, how much pride that strength coach has in
his weight form, how much pride the equipment manager has
in his you know, locker room. So those are things
(25:01):
that you get to see in the head coach. You know,
it's kind of interesting you guys schedule. You got Rice first,
you know, a program that obviously you guys have dominated
in the city of Houston. Then you go take on Arizona,
coached by a former Houston head coach right in Kevin Summon.
And then you go take on Tech and they're coached
by Cliff who, of course you used to coach at
at at a u H as well. Like this is
(25:22):
it's like going and playing family kind of Uh that
your second and third game before you get in the
league play. Yeah, I mean that's that's Texas in general.
You know, it really is. I mean, everybody's within two
degrees of separation that state in terms of the coaching world.
So um, it's it's not uncommon. Um, you know, I
know those are storylines and things that create interested in
(25:43):
the game, of value around the games. But I'm not
gonna be playing Clove for Kevin. Hopefully none of us
are out there playing or people be get thoroughly disappointed.
But you know, it's at the end of the day,
I get it, we all get the entertainment value of it.
But it's gonna be the guys that that are out
there at home with playing the game and all our
kind of stuff. You do. You kind of you guys
kind of have created a little bit of a monster though, right, Like,
(26:05):
the success at Houston has brought attention not just to
your program, and obviously the facility is being upgraded, but
I think it's it's it's raised the level of other
teams in the league. Is that fair, right, that that
you're that the success at you h has brought a
higher level of football overall to the conference. Is that
a crazy statement? No, I don't think it's crazy. I
(26:26):
think you know that we had a great year. We
had a great year in fifteen. Uh we underachieved in sixteen,
under achieved in seventeen. I mean, just being point blank honest.
The thing I've always recognized as being from Baton Rouge, Louisiana,
growing up to four hours us playing and coaching in
the state, UM Houston has always been powerful. It's always
been powerful. I mean the alumni, the coaches, whether it's
(26:48):
Bill Yellman, someone are Brows, Deroy Burrell, Carl Lewis, Clide's
keep Elijah want from the couples, you know, Andre Ware.
Just because we're in a different conference, those that mean
that we're not who we are. It's a very influential,
very powerful city. Great Universities too, has worked their tail
off to raise the academic standards of our of our
(27:09):
campus and our school. I think there's a lot of
people that have contributed to being respected as a conference,
whether it's all Central Florida, South Florida, Memphis, going on
our own baby that you name them all. It's a
very competitive league. But um, you know, I don't I
don't think that there's been uh, you know, a real
big burst in terms of our football program. I've always
been proud of our program and our program has always
(27:30):
been a program that can win. And it's that a
great tradition and and it's uh not to be contraving,
but it's not kind of a Johnny come Lately deal.
This is something that's been going on for quite some
time in our school and so we're very proud of
our tradition. We just gotta keep doing our job and
carried on. Yeah. No, I don't think you've mean a
contraary And I think I think though that the national tension.
I also think that allows other teams in the league
to recruit Texas a little bit more and it's stepped
(27:52):
up kind of their level of recruit I just I
do find it fastating though that that the league, that
league has gotten better than I think the reception of
it was going back a couple of years ago. All Right,
you mentioned changing some offensively, how so, well, you know
coach Browns Kendall, you know our offensive coordinator and quarterback
(28:13):
coach and Randy Colintons are run game coordinator. Obviously they've
worked together for a while, created some explosive offenses together
at Taylor. Kendall then took it to Florid Atlantic and
did that for coach Kissing last year. Uh, the continuity
between the two, the relationship. Uh, they're bold, you know
they've been there are a lot of courage there. They attack,
(28:34):
They're not emotional, but they're very bold. Great is and
what they're trying to do offensively with the tempo and
the aggressive is the going downfield. But they still hang
their hat on the test of time principles in terms
of all security, being able to run the football, having
a physical mentality and what you're doing. So I saw
our team take to that spring. I saw our quarterback
develops a younger wide receivers who hadn't got an opportunity
(28:55):
to play as much step up in those roles. So
I'm just looking forward to the next twenty five days
starting for and which we get to develop and get
better as a football team. But coming out of spring
and and you know, a lot of that has been
made about the offense. Everyone want to talk about office,
but the same thing on the defense. The coach Morgan
and the safety and coach Williams, the corner, a lot
of experience, a lot of continuity in the staff just
(29:17):
reads the build on it. Quite honestly, it's hard watching
the wuch of exercise and him the June juliance down
to put a ball down. God's play, no, no, no
question about it. Last thing in regards to UH to
that offense, you know, Art Briles, Kennell's dad, that offense
was always described to me as Hey, you know, it's
really the it's really the veer from shotgun, right Like
that's kind of what the scheme is inside the tackles.
(29:39):
It's a vere and the only difference is now you're
out in shotgun and and you and then you you
also have the ability with with R P O S.
Is that is that a good way A layman's wave
explained to those of us who are in the field
room who don't understand the schematics of it. I think
that that's a part of it, Doug. Honestly, I think
that's a part of it. You know, there's some uh
you know, triple option type principles from the zone run
(30:01):
game quarterback and be involved in it like old school
triple options. There's the harps portion of it. Uh, there's
obviously the tempo, the spread nature of it. Um. You know,
it's it's hard to kind of coin at an offense
and one or two sentences. The thing that I really
was intrigued about, other than just how exponsive they were
great players, they've had splits and the tempo and all
that is how they've been able to do that with
(30:23):
different people, whether it's been a Hysman and RG three,
whether it's been Nick Florence who people have to go
who that is now but highly accomplished productive quarterback at Baylor,
whether you have no quarterbacks and you've got to play
a bowl game against the team with no quarterbacks and
a lot of six different guys at quarterback, but still
find a way to run for over four or fifty
yards in the game. Just innovativeness, creativity, things you have
(30:46):
to do as you're building a roster. And we're still
trying to build a roster from a lot of attrition.
Coaching turnover does that. So these are the type of
this type of experience, type of continuity, and the type
of creativity you need to put points on the board.
And you know, I just seen the relationship with the positivity,
the confidence and the building guys, and you know you
you're happy with who you fired. Well, listen, I can't
(31:08):
wait to see your team play against Rice and upcoming
in a month. I know you want to get out
there and get after the practice. We appreciate you join
us and uh and and thanks for letting us to
a little bit about Ed and and this campaign's gonna
be fascinating to watch his progression. I appreciate you having
me on the show. Go Cox
This is the best of the Done Dot Leap Show
on Fox Sports Radio. But the news of the day
is not from baseball. It's not even from football. Yesterday
we had Sam Donald's signing and agreeing to terms and
coming out to practice while we were on air. Today
it's about the NBA. The NBA, for the first time
(00:21):
ever in the history of major professional sports has a
has a a betting sponsor. They have a betting sponsor.
Now look that this is and and UH I got
a chance to meet with our sales staff at I
Heart Radio. Can download UH the I Heart Radio applas
to our show wherever you go yesterday. And one of
(00:43):
the great things about sales is they can sell anything.
The NBA has become the first US sports league to
sign an official betting sponsor. Who knew? Who knew that
was something you could Today Adam Silver announced that the
league struck a deal with MGM that will give the
gaming company rights to use the league's highlights, names, logos,
(01:06):
and direct data feed, as well exclusivity marketing itself as
the official gaming partner of the NBA and the w
n b A. I've often said, you know you have
a gambling problem if you're betting on the w n
b A industry sources pegged the deal to be three
years and at least twenty five million dollars WOW. It
(01:27):
is not known if the NBA receives a quote integrity
fee that gives the league a percentage of the amount
wagered on NBA games and events. The league was looking
for to one per to one uh point two oh
percent to one percent cut based on the total bets
made on NBA to compensate for an increased compliance costs
(01:49):
the NBA believes will arise from expanded legal sports betting
in the US. The integrity fee is strongly opposed by
the American Gaming Association, whose position is that it unfairly
access operators whose margins already razor thin. In other words,
an integrity fee is the VIG, and Adam Silver is like, hey, listen,
(02:10):
you guys can collect the bets. We want to collect
the VIG to protect the integrity of the game. People
have been betting on sports for a long time. They've
been betting on basketball for a long time. They're in
betting on basketball legally in all of the in in
Las Vegas for a long time. But with the recent
(02:30):
um Supreme Court ruling which allows states to rule themselves
and to set their own betting laws. MGM, which is
in several different states around the country Nevada, Maryland, Mississippi, Jersey,
mrs uh I said Mississippi, um and Massachusetts is gonna
open books next week New York as well. MGM owns
(02:52):
properties there. Now they're gonna collect bets on NBA games
legally like they would and now they can be the
official gaming sponsor. I don't know what the true value
is to saying you're an official gaming sponsor. I do
know that what this is doing is eliminating a taboo
from our childhood. And I continue to tell you that
(03:15):
there is a downside. This is like, this is like
marijuana being decriminalized and then legalized. And what's what's amazing
about it is it's amazing about it is um like
on one hand, on one hand, marijuana and THHC and CBD.
(03:36):
You know, if properly used like these drugs are less
harmful in many ways, then legal drugs like alcohol, then
then definitely then prescription drugs which people become addicted to
if you're using it to manage pain, Like there is
a lot of good. On the other hand, once you
make something totally legal and you collect taxes on it,
(03:58):
and so you fund you know, schools and other budgets
that are out of whack, like we can't stop you
from waking bacon every day. And if you can do
it as an adult, what's the message we send to kids?
Like it is hard? The same is true with gambling.
When I go to Las Vegas, I only go to
(04:20):
the sports book. I just We've talked about this before.
I don't really know how to play craps, although I've
played craps. It's the most fun. It seems like the
most fun place, and it seems like somebody's always winning
at the craps table, even though I know that's not true. Right,
Just loud and people having a good time, and there's
always a guy with a nice looking jacket's got a
nice look of women and there, you know, and somebody's
blowing on the dice and it looks like a good time.
(04:41):
But I don't really know what I'm doing there, so
I stick to black jack a little bit. But black
jack can go good or bad in uh it's whereas
I feel like I get more bang for my buck
when I put twenty dollars down in the game or
on a parlay. Right, then I get to watch three
or four games. My entertainment value goes way way up.
So I'm not gonna sit here and be some curmudgeons
(05:02):
say I don't bet. But once you start having the
official betting sponsor of the NBA, you're telling everybody, you
know what, this is the way it's going. We're good
with it, we embrace it. Which is it's the reality
of of of the way of the time in which
we're living. But if you've ever met somebody that's got
(05:23):
a gambling problem, and maybe this maybe what you're telling
us is the reality is if you have a gambling problem,
this wasn't gonna change things. You have a gambling problem,
if you have that gambling addiction, you have the gambling bug.
Legalizing sports betting isn't going to change anything. And that
to which that you're probably right. But this is a
seminal moment in professional sports in many ways long overdue. Right.
(05:50):
The folks in Vegas, they do know how to handle
this stuff. They do know how to monitor betting. They
do so so they know if there's a spike in
a game that something's not on the up and up
like Vegas. These people are professionals. They have they went
legit a long time ago, a long time ago, because
otherwise the city would cease to exist. So half of
(06:16):
me loves this. Half of me knows that Vegas is
getting the Raiders, Vegas is getting a ridiculous stadium, Vegas
is gonna get n c A events. Vegas eventually should
get a super Bowl, which is the perfect super Bowl city,
and she get a Final Four because it's the perfect
Final Four city, and that's great. And people have been
(06:38):
betting for a long time. And this takes the taboo
away from sports betting. You know, it's like, look, you're
gonna legalize some and not legalize the other. You know,
you already had lottery tickets, which is the other terrible.
Plus there's no real entertainment value. Now you need to
watch the game and got a little money on it.
And I didn't have to call some guy like like,
we're trying to eliminate the black market, which is smart,
(07:02):
but I'm fascinating. I'm you know what I'm fascinating by.
I'm always fascinated by the law of unintended consequences. I
think the intention here by the NBA is a good one. Hey, look, people,
are you betting on games? It's going to be legal nationally.
Let's link up with MGM, huge name, respectable name. Let's
(07:24):
collect some money per year. And by the way, if
we can charge an integrity fee, make some money on
top of that to make sure that our players are
impervious to this sort of thing, like, look, our guys
make so much money. You know that's the idea. But
are there unintended consequences that we're not paying attention to?
(07:46):
You know? Do we open up players to be blackmailed
for things in their in their personal lives that they
don't want to become public? Do we? How do we
do this? And oh yeah, by the way, if you
or MGM, are you really going to see value in
that type of sponsorship. Maybe that's not anybody's worry other
than MGM. But mark this down. July two thousand eighteen
(08:12):
seminal moment. Professional Sports League links arm in arm with
um with a major gambling company and the NBA can
interact in a gambling space, which I mean you want
to talk about a great weight. I've abviously said this
about baseball. Look if you're gonna go in, go all in.
(08:34):
Give me an adult gambling section in Major League Baseball
game where only if I go to the site of
the game, I can get an iPad, I can run
my card and charge up my thing for two d bucks,
and I can bet on whatever I want to bet on.
Next pitch, well, well our pools ground out here? Or
will he get a hit? You know, will you get
a walk? What will happen this inn? And what will
(08:55):
happen with this pitch? What will happen with whatever it makes?
It makes the undane of regular season action incredibly thrilling.
Anybody who's had money on a game, has been has
experienced this. If this shot goes in, I win. If
it doesn't. I don't crazy as it sounds, but I
(09:15):
do think there's some unintended consequences we may not be
paying attention to. Be sure to catch live editions of
The Doug gott Leap Show weekdays at three pm Easter
noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart
Radio app. I want to play for you a little
bit of what well Lebron James said last night. You
sit down interview with Rachel Nichols, and there's a couple
(09:37):
of points that he said about this year's Lakers team
that I think peaked up, perked up some people's attention.
This is Lebron on how he's trying to build championship
habits within the Lakers team. We don't have any right now,
but we definitely want to be better that we were
in the previous year and we wanna, you know, have championship.
(10:00):
You know, you guys know me when it comes to
the championship habits. That doesn't mean you can bring it
in a championship, but that mean you practice excellence every
day and I expect that from not only myself but
from my teammates. That's what Genie and that's what Magic,
That's what Rob will want, That's what Lucas gonna want.
And we shouldn't sell ourselves shorter that our plan. And UH,
I train and I set my mind every single day
(10:20):
to play for championships, and UH and Magic and Genie
and they and Rob and they believe the same thing
and that's what their goal is too. So when you
have when you're around people who have the same goal
in mind and you can live with the results. Wow,
how about that? How about that? Look it's about a
championship mentality. There's a couple of things that go counter
(10:41):
to that. Now, I think Lebron James works on his
body as well as any NBA player maybe ever has.
I think. I think Lebron James works on his game
to have at a very high level. I'm not gonna
say higher than anybody else, because there are there have
been times which there have been holes in his game.
Although he steadily improved, his shooting has always been a debt.
(11:02):
Passers ball handling has gotten better as well, But Lebron
doesn't practice. It's really hard to establish championship habits within
the team if you don't practice. So so missing within
this conversation by by Rachel Nichols, which was a really
good conversation, there was some politics that were discussed. There
(11:22):
was the amazing project that was completed and opened yesterday,
the school, the I Promised school. But there was no
discussion or question about whether or not he's going to
practice this year. I would expect him to practice. He said,
it's not going to be a rebuilding year, but it
doesn't mean it's gonna be a championship year. Now, I
(11:46):
don't know what you consider a rebuilding year. But usually
your rebuilding years when you take a step back. For
will he personally take a rebuilding year? I guess maybe
here's here's the push and pull to it. Okay, I'll
give you Lebron James is great. I'll give you Lebron
James has consistently been one of the top couple of
(12:07):
players in the NBA over the last decade. Has he
been the best player every year? The answer is now,
he hasn't. Um his best has been as good or anybody.
He has had years to which he's the best. But
remember we're talking about last fifteen years. We're talking about
you know, there was a year when Dirk won the
m v P. He was incredible. Dirk was never the defender,
(12:27):
never the pastor, but an incredible, incredible score. You had
Tim Duncan, you had Uh probably at the end of
the Jason Kidd run I probably wouldn't put him in
that mix. You had Kobe Uh and some of Kobe's
great years before he started a fade because of injury
and because of age even now hardened Westbrook, k D
(12:53):
and you have and you have kind of the new group.
Steph Curry had the year waves in unanimous m v P.
I've alway he thought Lebron James is a more valuable player,
but Steph Curry had a better year the year they
won seventy three and he was the NMS unanimous m
v P. Kevin Rant was better than than Lebron James
by my estimation in the past two NBA finals. He
(13:14):
just was and two years ago Lebron had to guard him.
It didn't work out well for Lebron, especially in the
second half. Part of that was the construction of the team,
too much weight put on his shoulders. Part of it
was Katie is just awesome, awesome. I can't guard him
with one guy. So um, I'll give you that. He's
(13:35):
an incredible player, a top five all time. Some people
believe he's the best player of all time. I'm I'm
still a Jordan guy, and truthfully, in their prime, I
would take Magic and Bird I would even though Uh,
there are things that he does that Magic and Bird
never did. There are things that they did he hasn't done.
(13:56):
But um, the idea that because he's been to the
NBA Finals so many times, like look, the Eastern Conference
has been has been uh has been the inferior conference.
It just had. It's been in arguable. And the perfect
example of that is if you took this exact same
roster and you stripped the let you said the Lakers
(14:17):
are going to play in the East this year, I'd
say they're probably the third best in the East, and
they would You would think they would finish, they would
play against the Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals. I'd
probably the second best needs but people would say, all
you got the Raptors. They want all those games, but
those that's it. It's the Celtics would have a better roster.
(14:37):
The Celtics are the better team, and then there's the
UH and then there's the the Lakers in the West, Houston,
Golden State obviously, and probably Oklahoma City. I think anywhere
between four and six is about reasonable expectations. It's real
(15:00):
reasonable expectations. And though it's not a rebuilding year for
the Lakers because they didn't make the playoffs, one thirty
five games, and if they can win fifty games this
year after thirty five last year, that's a building year.
That's an improved year. That's a year to which things
start to come together and they start to figure out
what out what's what and see what they do in
the playoffs. But that's personally gotta be a rebuilding year, right,
(15:24):
So maybe we're arguing semantics. But the challenge for Lebron
is gonna be Look, last year he showed he can
play at two games and still have juice in the playoffs.
Can he play eight two or close to practice and
still have it left to play in the playoffs. It's
a hard thing. I think he's a very smart guy.
I think he knows his body incredibly well. That's one
(15:44):
reason he's never been hurt. I think he knows when
to go hard and when when to when to take
his foot off the pedal. There's times in which he
doesn't guard people anymore. Um so it's gonna be a
challenge to get him to guard more often, to get
into practice more often, do him to continue to play
as close to eighty two games as possible. And I
(16:05):
was asked earlier today on first things first, how long
I thought he would have prime Lebron. I thought three,
But probably in the two years I think he's he's
going to slow down. He's not going to have and
he probably needs to start playing a little bit lighter weight.
But Um, the one thing about basketball and soccer has
(16:27):
a little bit of this. Football at quarterback has a
little bit this, or even you look at Larry Fitzgerald
as a as a wide receiver. You can evolve, you
can adjust. You have to be willing to do so.
And I think Lebron has shown the will, always shown
the willingness to allow other guys to play. So UM,
(16:48):
I think it's a fascinating thing. But he didn't say
they expect the championship. He said they expect championship habits.
Championship habits include practicing, practicing. We'll see if he has those.
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app.
(17:10):
The story, though, is the Houston Cougars. Of course, they're
coached by Major Apple White. UH. There are massive expectations
this year, as there have been in previous years. Last
year a couple of unbelievable games which they lost a
close one to Texas Tech in a shootout, a close
one to to Memphis, and a close one UH in
(17:32):
the bowl game in the Hawaii Bowl to Fresno State.
Their head coach is major apple White. He joins us
on the Doug Gottlip Show on Fox Sports Radio. Major,
how are you? I'm doing break, Doug, how are you doing? Good? Man? Uh,
football is back, and I know this is a three
seven deal for you, but kind of as we get
tomorrow's August. You play a football game in August against Rice.
(17:56):
I think that's August against Rice. Um, give me your
your feelings right now about your team as we're less
than really a true month out from seeing you play football. Well,
I hate to bore you with with the typical coach speak,
but uh, you know we our whole focused on this
fall camp is development of our team. You know, it's
it's that's that's where our mindset is. We've got great
(18:17):
players in the offense defensive side. Guys have had a
tremendous spring um with with you know, some new scheme
on offense, two new coaches in the secondary on defense,
They've had a tremendous summer workout program, and now it's
time to just develop as as a team as a unit,
offensive defense, special teams, as players, and then at some
point we'll shift the focus and we'll focus on Rice.
(18:38):
The first game of the year. Okay. One of the
things that you guys have done, which is it's a
trend in basketball, which has become a trend in football,
is take a bunch of grad transfers and you've got
some some some high level grad transfers. How do you
have guys that have already been coached, but they've been
coaching different schemes by different people. What's that like in
trying to understand what you're gonna have when you take
(19:00):
you know, grad chancellors like a Terrence Williams, like a
like a Raylan Singleton, like like a Nick Watkins. How
have you gone about getting to know these guys and
getting them up to speed on how you guys want
to play in such short order. Well, there's a lot
of things that go into it. But number one, all
of these kids are from the state of Texas. So
Raylan Singleton's from Crosby, Nick Watkins is from Dallas, Quentin
(19:21):
Dormandy is from Barney, Texas. UM, you know Terence Willams
from Enna. So you already know a lot about these
kids did the first time around recruiting. So they're not
just you know, hired guns that you know nothing about. UM,
so that they have a foundation of Texas high school football.
It's the recruited state. We know them through our staff.
The second thing is you got to make sure they
(19:41):
fit into your culture. You know that that they're not
going to be you know, all and water. I mean,
they've got to be able to mix and be able
to fit in. And then lastly, you want to go
out and find guys that have produced. And whether it's
been Nick Stone nine games last year at at Notre Dame,
whether it's been Raylon being a starter and a contributor
at Utah, whether it's Normany having staffs in the SEC
or two as Williams lying for yards of sophomore Baylor.
(20:02):
All these guys have done a tremendous job where they've been.
It's not uncommon if these kids get their degrees early
and they finished and they want to come back to
the great State of Texas and develop their professional careers.
But they also got a little bit of football left
in them and uh and they want to finish out
their career the right way. So there's a lot of
things to go into it. Those are just kind of
the three. And then obviously you gonna have needs in
certain positions. UH, Ed Oliver. He's an incredible defensive tackle.
(20:26):
And um, as as you said, you're you're rebuilding the
coaching staff in your defensive backfield as well. But I
mean so good that you guys are building a Heisman
Trophy campaign around him. I'm now I feel like an
old fart now because I was in college when Charles
Woodson won the Highsman Trophies a defensive player, but as
a former quarterback, like like, what are you are you
(20:47):
going through the motions with this thing because you think
the world of the kid or do you think it's
it's actual a possibility could win the thing? I don't.
I don't put anything past to anybody, you know, in
terms of these awards, And I've seen seasons and things
take different turns, and um, you know, Ed's a guy
who's certainly worthy of being in the conversation. You know,
(21:08):
pass results, you know, future indicator probably not going to
a defensive lineman or offensive linement if we're all honest,
But he's a rare player. Uh if he continues to,
you know, keep his act together and play at that
high level and we do well as a team around him,
you know, I've seen guys have that opportunity. We were
coming off four and seventh season when Ricky Williams won
(21:29):
the Husman. But they coincided with not only a great
player with great stats, but a team that was winning,
a team that was under first year head coach Mike Brown,
and there was a lot of buzz around that team,
and it was able to stay on SportsCenter and highlight
shows and writers on the West Coast would stay up
to watch this guy run the ball. So there's a
lot of things that go into it. Um, you know,
(21:50):
as long as he continues to play a great level,
I think that will be the first to tell you
just let the play speak for itself. But you know,
you've got to do all that stuff as a school
of the sports information department, a foot all teams, So
you know, we welcome any kind of individual wards, but
obviously all our focuses on on the on the team awards.
Major Apple White, head coach of the Houston Cougars, joining
us in the Doug Gotlib Show on Fox Sports Radio.
(22:12):
How many times have you gone into a kid's house,
or you've gone recruited kid now, or it's the son
of somebody you played against. That that's you're getting to
that point where like, now I coach a U basketball
I'm like, wait, his kids in college already. Uh, you
know the Tray Trey Trey Young of course is the
son of Ray for Young. Why I played against he
played a tech? How many times that happened to you? Well,
(22:33):
I mean we all know, I said, we all know.
I know him because I played with him. The Casey Hampton,
he was the thirteen year pro for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
I think he went to seven, six seventh Pro Bowls,
Super Bowl champ He was at our camp with his
senior son this year and I'm picking. We used to
hang out with dorm and play Madden and eat pizza together,
and now I'm recruiting your senior son. You know. So
(22:54):
it's it's happening. Uh, it's not a bad thing, and
it's it's it's really good. Actually. I mean you you
have a lot of familiarity as you're gettingholder with the parents.
I think when you're in your twenties and your dirties,
you're trying to relate to what it is to be
a parent, when it is to have kids, and now
that you have your own children, and some of these
parents are went to school, high school, college, the same age.
I think I think it helps and creating relationships, having
(23:16):
something in common. What like, look, this is this has
been a wild ride for you, right, you know, taking
over before the bull game, going back a couple of
years ago. Last year, you know, by Houston standards, I mean,
you're it's a program, it's one ten eleven games, a
little bit disappointing. And this year, obviously people think you're
you're loaded for for bear. What have you learned? And
(23:36):
you know, now that you've had over a year on
the job, like, what do you know now that you
didn't know previously? A lot? I mean it's hard to
put a um, you know itally on it. But there's
just a lot of things that you're you're more in
tune to as a head coach versus an offensive coordinator.
You're you're worried about, you know, your forty years so
(23:57):
players on your side of the ball, your five quarterback,
how they're doing academically. Now you're worried about how is
academics in general? Um, you know, I'm worried about getting
Greg ords shoulder back so he can play at Depford
Stadium on a Friday night. Now I'm worried about everybody's shoulder.
So it's it's it's just a different scope, but but
it's something that you enjoy. And as a head coach,
(24:18):
you can see where your decisions help benefit players and
staff members more so than if you're in a position role.
So you take great pride in that. Um. You know,
you wake up every morning understand that everybody underneath your
your watch has hopes and dreams and your job isn't
work your butt off and give them all the resources
that they need and um in the encouragement when they
need it and kind of the you know, kick in
(24:39):
the rear when they need it. And that's that's the
fun part about in the head coaches, you see everybody
from a from a you know, bird's out of view, uh,
and you have appreciation for what they do. You don't
always see that at a position coach. You don't always
see how much pride that head trainer has in his
training around, how much pride that strength coach has in
his weight form, how much pride the equipment manager has
in his you know, locker room. So those are things
(25:01):
that you get to see in the head coach. You know,
it's kind of interesting you guys schedule. You got Rice first,
you know, a program that obviously you guys have dominated
in the city of Houston. Then you go take on Arizona,
coached by a former Houston head coach right in Kevin Summon.
And then you go take on Tech and they're coached
by Cliff who, of course you used to coach at
at at a u H as well. Like this is
(25:22):
it's like going and playing family kind of Uh that
your second and third game before you get in the
league play. Yeah, I mean that's that's Texas in general.
You know, it really is. I mean, everybody's within two
degrees of separation that state in terms of the coaching world.
So um, it's it's not uncommon. Um, you know, I
know those are storylines and things that create interested in
(25:43):
the game, of value around the games. But I'm not
gonna be playing Clove for Kevin. Hopefully none of us
are out there playing or people be get thoroughly disappointed.
But you know, it's at the end of the day,
I get it, we all get the entertainment value of it.
But it's gonna be the guys that that are out
there at home with playing the game and all our
kind of stuff. You do. You kind of you guys
kind of have created a little bit of a monster though, right, Like,
(26:05):
the success at Houston has brought attention not just to
your program, and obviously the facility is being upgraded, but
I think it's it's it's raised the level of other
teams in the league. Is that fair, right, that that
you're that the success at you h has brought a
higher level of football overall to the conference. Is that
a crazy statement? No, I don't think it's crazy. I
(26:26):
think you know that we had a great year. We
had a great year in fifteen. Uh we underachieved in sixteen,
under achieved in seventeen. I mean, just being point blank honest.
The thing I've always recognized as being from Baton Rouge, Louisiana,
growing up to four hours us playing and coaching in
the state, UM Houston has always been powerful. It's always
been powerful. I mean the alumni, the coaches, whether it's
(26:48):
Bill Yellman, someone are Brows, Deroy Burrell, Carl Lewis, Clide's
keep Elijah want from the couples, you know, Andre Ware.
Just because we're in a different conference, those that mean
that we're not who we are. It's a very influential,
very powerful city. Great Universities too, has worked their tail
off to raise the academic standards of our of our
(27:09):
campus and our school. I think there's a lot of
people that have contributed to being respected as a conference,
whether it's all Central Florida, South Florida, Memphis, going on
our own baby that you name them all. It's a
very competitive league. But um, you know, I don't I
don't think that there's been uh, you know, a real
big burst in terms of our football program. I've always
been proud of our program and our program has always
(27:30):
been a program that can win. And it's that a
great tradition and and it's uh not to be contraving,
but it's not kind of a Johnny come Lately deal.
This is something that's been going on for quite some
time in our school and so we're very proud of
our tradition. We just gotta keep doing our job and
carried on. Yeah. No, I don't think you've mean a
contraary And I think I think though that the national tension.
I also think that allows other teams in the league
to recruit Texas a little bit more and it's stepped
(27:52):
up kind of their level of recruit I just I
do find it fastating though that that the league, that
league has gotten better than I think the reception of
it was going back a couple of years ago. All Right,
you mentioned changing some offensively, how so, well, you know
coach Browns Kendall, you know our offensive coordinator and quarterback
(28:13):
coach and Randy Colintons are run game coordinator. Obviously they've
worked together for a while, created some explosive offenses together
at Taylor. Kendall then took it to Florid Atlantic and
did that for coach Kissing last year. Uh, the continuity
between the two, the relationship. Uh, they're bold, you know
they've been there are a lot of courage there. They attack,
(28:34):
They're not emotional, but they're very bold. Great is and
what they're trying to do offensively with the tempo and
the aggressive is the going downfield. But they still hang
their hat on the test of time principles in terms
of all security, being able to run the football, having
a physical mentality and what you're doing. So I saw
our team take to that spring. I saw our quarterback
develops a younger wide receivers who hadn't got an opportunity
(28:55):
to play as much step up in those roles. So
I'm just looking forward to the next twenty five days
starting for and which we get to develop and get
better as a football team. But coming out of spring
and and you know, a lot of that has been
made about the offense. Everyone want to talk about office,
but the same thing on the defense. The coach Morgan
and the safety and coach Williams, the corner, a lot
of experience, a lot of continuity in the staff just
(29:17):
reads the build on it. Quite honestly, it's hard watching
the wuch of exercise and him the June juliance down
to put a ball down. God's play, no, no, no
question about it. Last thing in regards to UH to
that offense, you know, Art Briles, Kennell's dad, that offense
was always described to me as Hey, you know, it's
really the it's really the veer from shotgun, right Like
that's kind of what the scheme is inside the tackles.
(29:39):
It's a vere and the only difference is now you're
out in shotgun and and you and then you you
also have the ability with with R P O S.
Is that is that a good way A layman's wave
explained to those of us who are in the field
room who don't understand the schematics of it. I think
that that's a part of it, Doug. Honestly, I think
that's a part of it. You know, there's some uh
you know, triple option type principles from the zone run
(30:01):
game quarterback and be involved in it like old school
triple options. There's the harps portion of it. Uh, there's
obviously the tempo, the spread nature of it. Um. You know,
it's it's hard to kind of coin at an offense
and one or two sentences. The thing that I really
was intrigued about, other than just how exponsive they were
great players, they've had splits and the tempo and all
that is how they've been able to do that with
(30:23):
different people, whether it's been a Hysman and RG three,
whether it's been Nick Florence who people have to go
who that is now but highly accomplished productive quarterback at Baylor,
whether you have no quarterbacks and you've got to play
a bowl game against the team with no quarterbacks and
a lot of six different guys at quarterback, but still
find a way to run for over four or fifty
yards in the game. Just innovativeness, creativity, things you have
(30:46):
to do as you're building a roster. And we're still
trying to build a roster from a lot of attrition.
Coaching turnover does that. So these are the type of
this type of experience, type of continuity, and the type
of creativity you need to put points on the board.
And you know, I just seen the relationship with the positivity,
the confidence and the building guys, and you know you
you're happy with who you fired. Well, listen, I can't
(31:08):
wait to see your team play against Rice and upcoming
in a month. I know you want to get out
there and get after the practice. We appreciate you join
us and uh and and thanks for letting us to
a little bit about Ed and and this campaign's gonna
be fascinating to watch his progression. I appreciate you having
me on the show. Go Cox
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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