Hour 1- October 30, Damien Alameda

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on
Fox Sports fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services Ensure
your most prized possessions.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
God, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Iron the Ball here
on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. In today
with me is the new guest host, Jay John, formerly
of UVE and assistant under lut head coach at Oregon
State via cal Via south Point. You're like mister slash,
I got all these titles. Welcome Jay, Thanks Steve.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
Yeah, it's fun to be on and talk some talk, some.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Sports talks and sports. I'm relating on you to tell
me some stories. O. You you lived in Tucson until
you or you went to u A. Right, so you
sell point, you the sell point you basically you have
you have a lot of stories through that, and then
you became an assistant coach. Probably what was your dream?
What was your dream? Dream?

Speaker 3 (01:02):
To be honest, my dream initially is I wanted to
come back to South Point and be the head basketball coach.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
At what age was that dream? Probably when I was,
you know, seventeen eighteen years old.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
We were very blessed at soll Point in time, I
was there that are high school coaches now. They were
all in their twenties, but were like, when these guys
are good. And by the time I got out of
college in eighty one, my football coach is Jerry Davitch.
He was the head football coach at University of Idaho.
His offensive coordinator was Bill Tripp, who was also a

(01:37):
fig school coach of mine. Gary Heinz, who was my
high school basketball coach. He was at the UFA with
coach Snowden and Jerry Stip was winning national championships in baseball.
So those were our coaches and they made it.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
You know, you.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
Felt like there's a lot of kids from South Points
that I grew up with that went into coaching because
of the experience we had with those with those with
those men. So that was my dream. And then then
I realized as I went further, I was back at
South Point teaching the coaching. And then it dawned on
me that the head basketball coach, Jim Flannery, may rest

(02:12):
in peace, wonderful man. He was only thirty four. He
was over going to leave. I'm twenty four. I said,
he's not gonna leave right now. Yeah, And then was
again I went to the final four, was.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
An Albuquerque in eighty three. Yeah, and I'm like, okay,
and you're two years out of college.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
I am two years out of college, Okay, okay, And
so I'm like, you know, I'm gonna go see what
this is like. And I was there and I just
got a bug, you know, I said, you know, I
looked at some of the coaches there and I said,
I'm going to figure out.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
How to do this because this is what I want
to do. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
And then was very fortunate that my high school coach,
Gary heinz upon you know, things happened with coach Notton
and he gets let go. And you know, Gary was
originally from New York State and his cousin was the
vice president of a small college in Jamestown, New York,
near Buffalo, and Gary got the head job, and I

(03:08):
just said, can I come? And that's kind of one
thing led to another from there, just a journey.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
Yeah. And then that's what starts the coaching journey, right,
because there's no one outside of maybe being a sports writer.
If you want to move up the ladder, you got
to go places, right, yeah. And if you want to
go places and coaching, you got to know the right people,
network and be good and meet or have people like
that in your life. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
No, there's no question. When you're young you need that.
And you know, unless you were if you were a
player that everybody knew about. Okay, you see, you start
off with a different platform. But you know after the
Final four, I mean I always remember this Coach Olson
was introduced in March twenty ninth, nineteen eighty three.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Yeah, okay, final four.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
After that and I come back and I and I
decided I wanted to do this, and I just was bold.
I walked into the Arizona Basketball office and I asked
if I could have five minutes with Coach Olson. And shockingly,
at the time of year twenty four, you don't realize,
but this is when you first got here, when he
first got Shockingly, he came out and talked to me,
and you know, I asked him for I asked him

(04:10):
for a job would be ga And he goes, well,
we've got that position for John Bella Bradick. But I
tell you what, uh, Jay, I want to I want
to walk you down the hall and I want to
produce you to somebody, because once you get to the
manager manager. No, Scott Thompson.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
And and from that point on, Scott and I had
developed this relationship. He was a very significant mentor for
me in terms of advisement. Yeah, and he said, you know,
said Jay, wherever you end up, he says, I want
you to come back and work camp, and you know,
and so Scott became a very good person for me
to bounce things off of.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
Very good dude. Yeah. Well, so I thought, maybe you're
going to say I'll be a manager. Then, well, you know,
I had already been.

Speaker 3 (04:51):
Maybe I didn't think about that because one of the
things I always said to myself is like, well you're
from Tucson, Jay, you have you don't have your master's degree. Yeah,
and it wasn't that, you know, school wasn't as expensive
as it is now. Sure, It's like I could have said, coach,
will be a volunteer, right, you know.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah, let me say this because I'm mistaken, because managers,
you were already out of college. I was already at college.
What are you doing was teaching? And coach?

Speaker 3 (05:15):
I was teaching biology and coaching freshman high school and
basketball at.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
That point that point. Okay, okay, yeah, that makes total sense.
Then so that guess who were having today in about
ten minutes Scotts. It's funny low and behold, no, I
didn't know your your closest and your connection to him.
So okay, so then you you left, and then what
happened in after eighty three when you didn't get anything?

Speaker 3 (05:35):
Well, I ultimately went to Jamestown, New York for a
couple of years. It was a junior college, but it
was a junior college that had been to Hutcheson, Kansas
for like two or three of the previous five years.
So it was a big time program. And what I
learned at that particular time was how serious basketball was
in the East.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
Yeah, okay.

Speaker 3 (05:54):
For example, so John Beeline had just left the junior
college that was a rival for James down to Lemoyne.
Stan van Gundy was an assistant for Nick mccarcheck at
at Canisius High School. At Canisius College, Jeff Van Gundy
had just left, you know, college, he went to Providence.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
I got to know the people at Saint Bottom.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
It was just it was really serious stuff and I
was I mean, I had drink you know, more than
kool aid. I was in So yeah, two years there
and then by virtue of relationships, I got hired at
Oregon to go with Don Munson for one eighty five
eighty six.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
Yeah, another great coach in the West, you know.

Speaker 3 (06:35):
And then I went back to New York to be
the head coach at the Juco College, the Juco for
a couple of years. And then strangely enough, University of
San Francisco had recruited a couple of my players from Jamestown,
New York. Yeah, and so I turned that into an
opportunity to go work at at the University of San
Francisco for a year.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yeah. And then A got married at this time. No, no,
I was going to say, I was going to say,
how was your following?

Speaker 3 (07:00):
You? All these places couldn't have pulled that off, no way.
And so but when I was at Oregon with with
coach Munson, I shared an office with Barry Collier, another
big name. And Barry left Oregon in eighty six. He
went with coach Montgomery to Stanford. And then I stayed
in touch with Barry, and then in eighty nine he

(07:22):
got the job at Butler. Yeah, and that's and he
asked me to go with him as his top assistant
and then that that's where I moved to Indianapolis, and
you know I was there for eight years.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (07:35):
And and the Butler that we know today was started
under the vision and guidance.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
Of Barry call Yeah, yeah no. And they're a good program,
a heck of a basketball program. Because Butler then went
to the guy who went to Ohio State. Well then
it was bad moda okay.

Speaker 3 (07:51):
In fact, when I left as an assistant because it
was just kind of one of those I left to
go back to Oregon.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
But that time with.

Speaker 3 (07:58):
Ernie Kent, remember three years were there was that I
was just ninety seven, ninety eight.

Speaker 2 (08:03):
Oh, so they were good. That was Arizona's one, you
know that was they were good? Yeah, well it was.

Speaker 3 (08:07):
It was Jerry Green had just left and Ernie came
in and then there a year before coming to u A.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
But it's funny.

Speaker 3 (08:14):
You know, when I was gonna leave Butler, and Barry said, well,
who do you think I should hire as to replace you?
I said, there's only two people that you can consider, Barry.
It's one of them's sad Mada and the other Scott Drew.
You know, Scott was a manager for us at Butler,
oh my time there. Wow, And so he goes with
thatd not a must that you could not go wrong

(08:35):
with either of.

Speaker 2 (08:36):
Them, although that had more college experience.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
At the times, Scott had just gone up to Valpariso
with his father. Yeah, and and they were doing well.
And uh so Thad was there for a year. Then
he got hired at Xavier. They his top assistant was
a guy named Todd Lakleier. Todd did another you look
at these names throwing out telling you there was it
was a pipeline. And then so then Todd was there,

(09:02):
you know, for a number of years and then went
to Iowa.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
I was the head coach. But in the middle of
all that, Barry Caller had left to.

Speaker 3 (09:09):
Go to Nebraska and Butler was his alma mater, and
there was an opportunity for Barry to go back to
Butler and be the a D and he took that.
And then Barry made made the decision to to elevate
Brad Stevens when when Todd left and made it even better,

(09:33):
made it him better. Yeah, got him, you know, from
and then with Brad, you know, to from the Horizon
League to the eight to the A ten and then
one year later the A ten to the Big East. Yeah,
and so yeah, anyway, that that's that's the history.

Speaker 2 (09:49):
Then you're an Oregon and then you eventually got her
in nte something. When did you get here? Ninety eight?
Ninety eight? And Rodney came a little after you. Rodney
was a here before me. Okay, my years are little
next up. But right after the title, right the national title,
you came in, you guys came in. Well was it
for me?

Speaker 3 (10:08):
For me?

Speaker 2 (10:08):
Rodney? Did you know?

Speaker 4 (10:09):
For me?

Speaker 2 (10:10):
I came in after the next year of sweet sixteen? Okay,
in ninety eight? Okay, And how was I'm sure remembered
all that you kind of reminisced about the first time
you went into his office.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
Well, I mean I continue to stay in touch with him.
I mean I was a tuson guy, and I wasn't
going to you know, yeah, not not not not continue
to stay in touch with what was going on to you.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
And you're that guy anyway, That's how you develop all
these relationships, right, Yeah, So so did when you first
went in to see him when you were at eighty
three or whatever was did he have that you know,
Regal and Tallowy President.

Speaker 3 (10:42):
I always had that yeah. I mean that was just
something you could see on TV when he was at Iowa.
I mean, it's like this man carries himself right in
a way. And I'm gonna tell you when you went
into a home with him to recruit a twinkle in
his eye, yeah, I'm telling you what.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
I don't know how any but well it was the moms.
I loved him, There's no doubt about that. Yeah. Yeah,
this movie started coming into town and you know, going
to your office and or going into your your house,
you know, especially when he had that little ring or
that big ring issue, knucking on the big ring with it.
People don't People don't realize how big that man's hands
that I was. I was a victim of one of

(11:21):
those mans and those figures on my es, so I know.
But you know, a good dude, a good fair guy.
How was it coaching for him? Fabulous?

Speaker 3 (11:29):
I mean, because you know coach always was even keeled,
but you knew, you know, quite honestly. One of the
things was was his interesting when he came walking down
that ramp and you're like time to get ready, to
get ready. Yeah, and uh, there was a superpower in
him where you weren't gonna get swept on the road.

(11:51):
So if we lost a Thursday game, if we lost
a Thursday game, there was no no bs. I mean,
it was just a Friday. It could be as you
didn't know what was gonna come. We go live and
and uh and and break sweat and beat on each
other or whatever. But you knew, no, no, no, no,
we do not get swept.

Speaker 2 (12:09):
On the In fact, I do not remember, and maybe
because I just didn't pay attention, the times that you
got swept on the road. It had to be very few.
I don't know in my four years that we ever did.
I don't you know. I'm thinking that I can't remember
the time. You know, you gotta beat on Thursday. Surprisingly
and maybe you guys weren't up or whatever, but what's
that Saturday game boom? You guys came after it, especially
when you guys were an underdog wherever Washington or whatever,

(12:30):
and you guys were rarely underdogs. But and and and
you having worked at Stanford right or coach in the
Bay uh Arizona, Stanford to me was a fantastic series.
Oh again, I never worked at Stanford.

Speaker 3 (12:44):
But to your point, you know, cal the time to
count I mean that those those games in the Arizona
Stanford when I was when I was there, I mean,
uh and even in eighty nine, I remember I'm at
us F and I I Barry Caller gets me a
ticket to the Stanford Arizona game. And Arizona I think
it's number one in the country, you know, and those
and those guys are you know, showing at it, Elliott,

(13:05):
you know, I mean this was fantastic, Yeah, fantastic basketball.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
And especially with the with the kids there, smart kids,
the Bounty floor, the atmosphere. To me, and this is
just my opinion. I went to Duke two three years
ago and Arizona played there hadn't been the Duke, so
I wanted to make my bucket list, went out there
and I was impressed, obviously, so I'm made for TV gym, right,
But does not beat Stanford on a great day. To me,
it doesn't about that. I don't know how you feel

(13:31):
about that, but there's no better place Tiger Woods on
the sideline, these you know, come to Lisa Rice and
Jim Plunkett, just people on the sidelines at the Stanford
and just the two teams were fantastically good, going at
each other, I mean, couldn't ask for anything better?

Speaker 3 (13:48):
Yeah, no, I mean it when I got into two
there was a two year window where Montgomery was still
coaching at Stanford when I got into the league, and
just too you you guys into those rooms. You know
the reason why there wasn't a packed pack ten basketball
tournament for the longest time.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
Because of them, Because of those two. Yeah, why do
we need to beat each other up another time? True?

Speaker 3 (14:10):
You know, and then they've you know, ultimately, when Fox
moved to LA they got Lavin on a swing boat
so they could they had to get a third person
to agree to it, you know, and then that then
it started. But yeah, those two they said, no, we
don't need to do this. Sure started exhausting enough.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
Right right, because they beat the hell on each other
all the time. But you know, you're there everywhere, and
let's take a break. En get ahold of Scott Thompson.
Thanks everybody.

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Breaking down all the xys and ohs.

Speaker 1 (18:52):
This is I on the Ball with Steve Ravera on.

Speaker 2 (18:55):
Box Sports fourteen fifty. Hey, welcome back to I on
the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve
Rivera in today with me as former You have a
assistant coach, Jay John Mell on the phone. We have
k Old Sports director Damian Elmina. Gaman, how you doing?

Speaker 11 (19:14):
Oh man, it's been It's been an emotionally interesting week.
One of my more embarrassing press conference moments as a
journalists this week.

Speaker 2 (19:23):
So that was cool, was that, let's say Thursday, did
it happen Monday or Tuesday?

Speaker 11 (19:28):
Oh, it definitely happened Monday. It definitely happened Monday. And frankly, uh,
I gotta blame uh Mark. Mark is my cousin. I'm
gonna take you way back here real quick. We're gonna
jump in and jumping a time machine. I'm gonna travel
back like thirty plus years my cousin. I'm like ten, eleven,
twelve years old. We're sitting in Mark, my older cousin,
in his bedroom when he introduces me to the band Rush.

(19:52):
You got familiar with Rush, yes, of course? Okay, all right,
So for those who don't know Rush is a progressive
rock band out of Camp. They've been around since nineteen
seventy four. They were one of the most influential bands
of all time as far as I'm concerned. But when
when he introduced me to the band and the music,
I fell in love right, So I got so like

(20:14):
stir crazy over Rush that I mean, at one point
I had like every album of theirs from like seventy
four to eighty two. My first huge concert that I
went to was their test for Echo Stop in nineteen
ninety six at the Great Western form My cousin Mark
and I both went. I saw him again at the
concert pavilion like they were. They are like my most

(20:35):
favorite band of all time. So a few weeks ago
Rush announced that they were going back on tour. Back
in twenty twenty, their legendary drummer Neil Pierre passed away
from brain cancer, so at that point we all figured
that Rush was pretty much done. But they announced that
they were going back out on tour with the new drummer,

(20:56):
and so I got totally totally psyched about it. Try
to get tickets to their first show, which would have
been in Los Angeles next June, failed to do so.
So I was bummed about that, but then my wife
texted me since they had added twelve more shows. This
was on Friday. They added twelve more shows, including a
stop up here in Glendale. But when you know, the

(21:16):
pre sale tickets went on sale for a schedule time
of twelve noon this past Monday. And for those who
don't know, Wildcat head football coach Brent Brennan holds his
press conferences, his pregame press conferences at twelve pm Mondays.

(21:38):
So I get to the room over there at Arizona Stadium.

Speaker 12 (21:41):
It's quarter to noon.

Speaker 11 (21:43):
Because it's the presale thing, I'm allowed to go into
the queue and Brendan shows up at noon. Once the
clock strikes twelve, it opens up and by it I
mean the sales for the tickets, right, So they sent
me into a waiting room. Five minutes in, I'm in
there and it's like I'm like number like two and

(22:07):
forty six. Brendan's holding his press conference. In the entire time,
I'm basically looking at my phone. It looks like I'm
taking notes, but the reality is I just keep checking
to see where I stand in the in the line.
I raise my hand for a question, and at this
point I'm like six In like five minutes later, Bret

(22:28):
Lease and the sports information director calls on me and
I kid you not, gentlemen. At that very moment they
let me in, my mind.

Speaker 12 (22:40):
Went completely blank, right like I completely.

Speaker 11 (22:44):
Forgot what I wanted to ask Brennan. And I'm staring
at the phone and you can all you can see
this because Arizona posts it's a press conferences on their
YouTube channel. I just come up with this like word
vomit salad of something. To me, it sounded like, I mean,
it was like literally like the teacher from Charlie Brown,

(23:06):
like an absolute works out. And you watch Brendan's face.
He's looking at me and he's scrunching his brow because
he's trying to figure out what the heck I'm trying
to ask, and I have no idea what I'm asking.

Speaker 12 (23:18):
And at one point he even looks at me.

Speaker 11 (23:20):
He pretends like he's about to answer, but then he
stops and he knows better and he's like, what are
you ask that again? What are you saying? And I
just like vombit up something again. The entire time, I'm
like looking at my phone and he answers the question
of whatever I asked, and it was actually a great answer.
But it looks like I'm again taking notes of my phone. No,

(23:43):
I'm like trying to remember my credit card number and
the expiration date and the CBS code on the back
of the number.

Speaker 12 (23:50):
And just as he's finishing, like my finger.

Speaker 11 (23:52):
Is hovering over the confirm button, and you know, I like, you.

Speaker 12 (23:54):
Get in those rooms and you only have like like
four or.

Speaker 11 (23:57):
Five minutes to buy the ticket for it, you get
kicked out out and.

Speaker 12 (24:01):
I hit it and like right as he finished, I
hit confirmed and it went through and I got the ticket.

Speaker 11 (24:06):
And I have no idea what Brenton said. I don't
know what I asked. It was very embarrassing, but I'm happy.

Speaker 12 (24:13):
To report that I'll be seeing Rush next December, and
that's really all that matters.

Speaker 2 (24:17):
That's so funny. That's the story so far for Damian
Alina uh So. I saw the press convers and it
was he kind of asked, could you kind of repeat
that again? I think he said her was something like that,
that's right, that's right now. You know, why did you
tell h what's his name? That was going on the
s id?

Speaker 11 (24:37):
No?

Speaker 12 (24:37):
I should have just stopped everything.

Speaker 11 (24:39):
But like a coach, give me a second.

Speaker 12 (24:41):
I just got to get these tickets real fast. I
would I guarantee you you probably would have understood it, right, like,
you know.

Speaker 11 (24:48):
What, take your time.

Speaker 2 (24:50):
So that's funny. Well, there's still priorities, and there's priorities.
You know, Tommy Lloyd would have give him you grief.

Speaker 12 (24:56):
But it's okay, you know absolutely, I think I think
a part everyone will also understood it, no question.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
You know, he's a beastie guy. So what do you
think this weekend? Must win? I'm saying must.

Speaker 11 (25:07):
Win, yes, must win Capital m Yeah, yep, and I
think they will. I think they will the rest of
the way through. I think it's a coin flip. I
think they have a pretty decent shot at Kansas uh,
and then you've got that pseudo gauntlet of Sincy Baylor
and a su So this this, this is they must win. Absolutely.

(25:28):
If you're gonna up the remaining games, the one game
that you better win, it's got to be this game.

Speaker 2 (25:34):
I totally agree with you.

Speaker 3 (25:38):
I mean, they went to the be know, I've gone
to the football games, to the b YU game, and
you know it was it was a lost opportunity, and
I know they I'm sure they have to feel that way.
All felt that way both again as coaches. You know,
the the Houston one, I didn't that was the morning game,
and I was I was out of exercise and I
didn't get to watch a whole lot. I know, they
came back late and then they kick a field goal

(26:00):
there at the end. But you know, again, they're you know,
it's it's uh. Even though I was in the Bay
Area last year's to watch the games, it's far more competitive,
you know.

Speaker 2 (26:09):
So the team is the team is better, yeah, and
so yeah, but they got to win this one. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (26:16):
Otherwise, you know, your whole month before you since you
won your last game and you got right.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
You know, you've got Kansas coming in, so right, would
you agree with coach here that they've gotten better. I'm
I'm still waiting to see on that.

Speaker 12 (26:31):
You're waiting to see. Why why are you waiting to see?

Speaker 2 (26:33):
Because they haven't played any but they've got three victories
against teams that aren't very good.

Speaker 11 (26:38):
But here's the thing, right, like the games that they
were supposed to lose, they've lost the games that they
were supposed to win. They've won the games that were
fifty to fifty, they've been on the wrong side of Okay,
So like.

Speaker 2 (26:57):
And say the defense rests for RIVERA.

Speaker 11 (27:01):
Yeah, I'm just you know what, like coach, you say
they've gotten better, and I don't think anyone can argue that. Like,
I think they have definitely gotten better. They just haven't
gotten to that point where they absolutely know what it
takes to win. But they have improved for whatever it's worth. Like,
you cannot possibly tell me that a year ago if

(27:24):
they had found a lead against Houston and then imploded
that lead, that they would have ever had the heart,
character or stamina for that matter, to come back to
tie it late. That would have never happened last year.

Speaker 2 (27:37):
I would agree with.

Speaker 11 (27:38):
I would agree on that.

Speaker 3 (27:39):
And also, I mean, you know, we got Kansas State here,
and the Kansas State's you know, maybe not been.

Speaker 2 (27:44):
What the everybody predicted they be, but it is.

Speaker 3 (27:47):
You know, they they played with Iowa State and it
was in Ireland or whatever, I mean, down down to
the wire and they've won some games and that's a
good win here to me, not any you know, obviously
Olkahoma States, you know, way down all that in Viyu
was better. But you know, I just think they're they're
you know, from wire to wire there there there's there's
more heart to the team.

Speaker 2 (28:06):
I'll give you that. I'll give you that and and and.

Speaker 12 (28:09):
And there's no quit, no no, And I mean b
YU is a perfect example of that too.

Speaker 11 (28:14):
Like, uh, if if you would have gone in that
game and told anybody on the Wildcats sideline not affermilted
with the team, but just as a fan that Arizona
would take b YU the two overtime and then it
would be Arizona that would lose that game, like on offense,
Like I mean that that would be a stretch of
an imagination I would think.

Speaker 12 (28:37):
Now, all that being said.

Speaker 11 (28:40):
I think we've gotten the point where.

Speaker 12 (28:44):
There are really no positives to losses, Like we can
go ahead on the record and say, hey, this is
a good team, this is a better team than it
was last year. But like, don't don't come at me
and be like all that. But they took d YU
two over time.

Speaker 11 (29:03):
Yeah that's great, but they lost and the way they
lost was like unacceptable.

Speaker 2 (29:09):
Here's an example. Damon, thanks for going to the press conference.
You do a great job. What the hell was that
kind of question you asked, what did Yeah, well, yeah,
you don't want to say you did really well until
you asked that question. It was something really well into you.
Well you lost. You know, how do you explain that.

Speaker 11 (29:29):
That's exactly right? That's exactly right. And again that's that's
part of that, like learning how to close a lot
of the things that.

Speaker 3 (29:35):
I always know is is, you know, in this case,
even as college basketball coach, is that fine is a
fine line between you know, Okay, we're not gonna we're
gonna play, We're gonna play smart.

Speaker 2 (29:44):
Now, okay, we're not gonna we're gonna run.

Speaker 3 (29:46):
We're gonna take the shot clock down, you know, rather
than continuing to play. And you know, if I'm the
offensive coordinator at Arizona, I'm I'm kicking myself on the
one sequence after the field goal about and if we
get a first down. And again there's the logic key
the way because you're just you know, you protect the lead.
But again, you know your team. These guys they know

(30:08):
they do know their team better than any of the
rest of us. But you know, okay, well you know what,
you should have passed that first down. Well, that's easily
said than done. But nonetheless, those are the things with
teams that have a smaller margin victory against a better
team is what what level do you keep your foot
on the gas and what what speed did you play at?

Speaker 2 (30:27):
Right? And that's you know, that's a learning thing too
with your team and coach.

Speaker 12 (30:32):
You know better than anybody. You know, it's like you're
damned if you.

Speaker 11 (30:34):
Do, damn if you're don't. But at the same time, like.

Speaker 12 (30:40):
It's that killer instinct, that killer.

Speaker 11 (30:43):
Mentality that we're not going to finish until there's like
blood on the ground, right, Like there's no resurrecting here,
Like we're just going to go for the kill and
just take care of business. Well, and I mean you
look at both the BYU and the use of laws
is very similar way that loss that both Yu and
Houston had a quarterback who could run and walk that

(31:04):
deepense couldn't do anything about it.

Speaker 2 (31:06):
Well to that point, Damien, you have two coaches, at
least coordinators A Gonzales and Dagy who have that apparent
or seemingly a killer instinct, right, or at least they
come off that way, And it hasn't. It hasn't come
off that way. I mean, the present it. It just
hasn't happened.

Speaker 11 (31:25):
No, it hasn't. Uh So we're waiting. We're waiting to see,
like when it will finally think in.

Speaker 12 (31:32):
Right, because it looked like it was heading in that
direction for the first.

Speaker 11 (31:35):
Quarter of the season. Yeah, right, and then for whatever
reason again, like you mentioned, take the pot off the
gas pedal, and all of a sudden you kind of
come to a screeching halt.

Speaker 12 (31:45):
And now now we're here. Uh So, there's plenty to
be concerned about.

Speaker 11 (31:49):
But you know, like like coach mentioned, like you can't
question the hardest team. You can tell that they want it,
they care. It's just now a matter of just getting
to that, to that next level. So let me ask
you this, coach, Blake, you're in, you're in the coaching shoot.
How do you get the kids to buy into that
next level? How do you get I think that I
think that they have.

Speaker 3 (32:09):
Bought in into that because there's there's to me I
see a team that has decent leadership and decent culture,
because there there's there's not you know.

Speaker 2 (32:19):
So maybe how you rep that up? Well you know
some of it Again, I can't.

Speaker 3 (32:24):
I've just moved back here, right, So I'm not sure
what the talent level was with coach someone Okay, yeah, okay,
And so you know, if that's the case, the idea
of putting and stacking recruiting classes and in building some
some you know some uh you know depth along the way.
That's you know that that part may be in the

(32:45):
process of where they're at right now. I don't know
if they would say if you ask them the question.
You think in your rebuilder, you think your head of
where you want it to be or where are you
you know, but there is a there is a talent
factor that that that that comes into play in terms of,
you know, toward towards the end of a game, you know,
do you have playmakers? Do you not? I mean, Mississippi
State shouldn't lost the game last week, Okay, but they

(33:07):
did because the other team, you know, was it was
it was a better team. Yeah, so they beat you,
you know. So, And I'm not saying this, you know,
using this as a a comparison Arizona. I'm not being
judgmental there. But I do think if you have good
internal culture and and you and you're playing hard, that's
that that's that's something in the bottle that that can't be,

(33:27):
you know, I think they have the chance to get better,
I guess.

Speaker 2 (33:29):
And that's what I think you're saying, Damian, that they
they're they're they're fermenting that they have that and it
takes time to get.

Speaker 1 (33:36):
It to go.

Speaker 11 (33:39):
Yeah, but you know a while that nation, man, everyone's
just impatient with a capital I.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
Know, right right, they're jumping at the bit the come
on already, let's go, come aerady, let's go.

Speaker 12 (33:51):
And I think the toughest part about it is you
caught glimpses of that.

Speaker 11 (33:58):
You know, they they run over the first three teams
they play, including Kansas State, and you think yourself, okay,
like maybe there there's definitely something different about this squad.
They get tramped by Iowa State, which again you're looking
at You're like, okay, I kind of see that. But

(34:21):
then they take BYU to two to overtime, I think.
And the killer thing about the BYU game is the fact.

Speaker 12 (34:29):
That they had the game won. Yeah, yeah, that's what
That's the thing.

Speaker 11 (34:35):
Houston was competitive.

Speaker 12 (34:37):
BYU was an Arizona win.

Speaker 11 (34:39):
Until it wasn't, you know.

Speaker 12 (34:42):
And so you're trying to rationalize where you're.

Speaker 11 (34:46):
At, how you got there, and what's next and you
really you.

Speaker 12 (34:50):
Really don't know. So as much as I say, like.

Speaker 11 (34:53):
Yes, Colorado is they must win because it is am.

Speaker 12 (34:57):
I gonna say they are going to win that game.

Speaker 11 (35:00):
Man, I hope so, but it also won't surpribed me
if they don't.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
Right of course, just move to basketball really quick. We
have a couple of minutes Monday night, another one of
those season openers like kind of Duke was a while
back and some of the other big games. What do
you think on Monday?

Speaker 11 (35:14):
I'm just excited to see some meaningful basketball played against a.

Speaker 12 (35:18):
Team that, I mean, the rain National champ Like, what
more could you want?

Speaker 11 (35:22):
If you're an arison a men's basketball fan. You got
the rain National Champs at Michale North up in Vegas.
You got a freshman class who through two games. I mean,
let's let's be honest, man, Like I know their exhibition runs,
but it looks fun to watch, you know. Actually, could
I want to hear your opinion?

Speaker 12 (35:40):
What do you what do you think about the freshman class?

Speaker 3 (35:42):
Well, I have had the opportunity to go watch a
couple of practices I and uh, you know I I
again earlier in the year, like you said, you're playing
in a you know, defending national champion. You know your
your experience has to show up. Okay, I mean Bradley,
you know you have Bradley, you have you have THEA,

(36:03):
you know, and then and then uh the big fellow.
I mean those are those are your anchors and just
you know, knowing what because you can't really you don't
know what your freshman are going to be. Cole Piece
got a big reputation, you know, I'm here at two
thousand and one, uh after we lost all the seniors
from the from the nest, from the final four team.

(36:23):
You know, we've got all these freshmen playing. You know
what happens, Well, we go out to we go out
to New York and we beat Florida and Maryland and
we win a tournament. Then we go on a road
to meet Texas and all of a sudden, you know
we're we're in the top ten and we were nothing.
But again there were people, you know, Richard Jefferson, Jason Gardner.
You know, the moment wasn't wasn't that big and you
had and you still had your well Jason Gardner was

(36:46):
wasn't a freshman. Well, Luke, Luke Richard. You had Luke Richard,
you had Luke on that team. We had Luke, Jason
and Ricky with all the freshmen and so you know,
we had some calm. But you know those other kids
that that that came on and Salim and and Channing
and those guys, they were, you know, they were the
moment wasn't that big for me.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
You don't know how it's going to be. And that's
typical Arizona. I mean, that's typical Arizona. Tell them they
cant and they will, just how I remember it through
all my years.

Speaker 3 (37:13):
But I uh, you know, it'd be curious to see
again having having leadership at the guard position and if
if if Bradley's really really to take that next step
now that you know, then you know for Arizona, now
you've got your lead garden and that's a big deal.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (37:30):
I think also the other thing that they're going to
have to combat, actually no, they're not going to ask
about it or we're going to have to.

Speaker 12 (37:35):
Combat it is our like oversized expectations for what the
squad can do versus what they will do. I mean,
I think it's similar to what you were you were
talking about, Jay, but like in a in a different
I guess perspective.

Speaker 11 (37:50):
In that, Uh, You've got this incredible recruiting class, You've
got the returners that you talk about with Jade and
Moe coming back, you know, a walk Deli, and all
of a sudden you feel like, Okay, is this going
to be the year that they can break through? Well?
Game one, it's going to set the tone for if

(38:14):
not the non conference, at least the next couple of weeks.

Speaker 2 (38:19):
And.

Speaker 11 (38:21):
You just you just want to see that fight and
keep those fingers crossed that although that international player that
Cole went through means that he's ready for a stage
like this, you know, same with with Braden and in
terms of all those expectations put on his shoulders. So
I'm just hoping, you know, I'm just hoping that it's

(38:41):
just a good game that you can look back on
and say, hey, that was the beginning of a ride
that turned out to be pretty unforgettable.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
Right, no question.

Speaker 3 (38:51):
Well, one thing I would say about the freshman to
starting games, to start playing games like that rather than
some gimmes right away.

Speaker 2 (38:58):
It sets the tone for what this is about.

Speaker 3 (39:00):
You know, those those kids they do forget you know,
a high school court is smaller than a college court.
You know this. Getting back on defenses and covering those
passing lanes in transition is a big deal.

Speaker 2 (39:13):
And you have to run.

Speaker 3 (39:14):
You're running further, you're running harder, and everybody's stronger, and
the ball moves faster.

Speaker 11 (39:18):
Defense in general.

Speaker 2 (39:19):
Yeah, so they'll grow up, they start, they'll grow up
a lot quicker.

Speaker 3 (39:23):
Yeah, and when to come back to practice after that
game one way or the other like this, Okay, this
is real.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
Right, Damian, We got to go. Thanks a much for
joining us. Thanks for your story.

Speaker 11 (39:33):
Always, my man.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
Thank you man. That was Damian Almita Channel thirteen. You
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Streaming live on the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 1 (43:39):
This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on
Fox Sports fourteen fifty eight.

Speaker 2 (43:48):
Hey, welcome back to Iron the Ball here on Fox
Sports fourteen fifty I'm Steve Rivera. You're j John. Thank
you to Damian Leo for coming on with us, for
the story you told. You know, one of the things
that you brought up, uh, was the two thousand after
the titles, like the two thousand to one and two,
that's when Lauren had left, Richard had left, Michael Wright

(44:09):
had left, Gilbert, you know the Gilbert that to my
in my opinion, Jay, And you may have another team,
the best team ever here at Arizona. Well, I mean
I can't any coach.

Speaker 3 (44:22):
And the guys just kind of rallied and and uh,
it's interesting. You know the preseason that year, you know,
Duke was number It is either Duke number one and
Arizona number two, Arizona number one and Duke number two.

Speaker 2 (44:34):
And then you get to the final game and and
you know that's what it was. Yeah, that's what it was. Uh.
You know, everyone talks about eighty eight to me is
strong two ninety seven. Of course in ninety eight, which
should have been even better. H and some others. The
two three team two O three team, were you two
O three first or Oregon State? That's when they had

(44:56):
you know, they were the number one team for most
of the time or more than any other team in
u A history during the season. How was it even
here and going there? And you even knocked off lute?
We did.

Speaker 3 (45:08):
We did win in corrals a couple of times over
my time at four and six. You know, it was
it was uh, you know, for any for any coach,
you know, going up a ladder and moving around and
stuff like that. Your opportunity to be the head coach
was is you know something it's you know, you never

(45:28):
know if it's once in a lifetime, but you you
approach it like that, and it's like, you know, for me,
it was really an awesome experience.

Speaker 2 (45:35):
What was interesting was was, you know.

Speaker 3 (45:38):
Some of the places that people that I worked that
I had worked for, you know, for how I was
raised as a coach quote unquote, you know, now I'm
gonna go against you know, coach Wilsonce we we're going
to play the way coach Wilson played. Well, we don't
maybe have the talent, but I like the structure that
we did. You know, am I going to do like
what we did at Butler? You know, while what we

(45:58):
did at Butler was a pro of the whole that
Heath coach system that moved all its way all the
way down through Montgomery and Munson and whatnot. Like, well,
you know, coach he knows that stuff. So how do
you find what your what your your sweet spot is?
But you know, certainly, you know it is a is
a great experience. And you know, we we we broke

(46:21):
that losing streak there. We did go to go to
an n I T and got a top five finish
in the league after my third season.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
So but it was a good experience.

Speaker 3 (46:30):
And you know, I will say one thing that did
change for Oregon State at that time, and I kind
of knew it, I did. I didn't want it to happen,
was when when the NBA said no, you know, or
you have to go to college. Okay, you can't come
out of high school. You have to be a certain
age that it was two thousand and foursh this. So
at that point in time, I said, okay, it's gonna

(46:51):
change now because you know, they're maybe not as much
at the u of A. But kids were going to
u c l A signing and then not going. Okay,
well now it's hard to find somebody in the spring,
or they're going and they're leaving after one year. Same
with that se same so you had some transition, you
could get older, you know, at at Oregon State. But

(47:12):
then all of a sudden at that time, overnight, Okay,
the Lopez twins are not going to the NBA, that
are going to Stanford. Sure, you know, James Harden is
not going the NBA. He's going to Arizona State, you know,
and you know, same with same with Kevin, same with Kevin.

Speaker 2 (47:27):
Love and and uh, you know, so the talent and
the league.

Speaker 3 (47:30):
You know, DeRozan was on nine, you know, and so
it's like, well, you ended up with guys that would
have been one and you know, yeah, it would have
been you know, going out of high school. Now they're
they're in they're in there the league. So and then
the league got great you know that little window there.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
Yeah, yeah, So you were there, do you this is
this is uh just an observation by me. So you
go to Oregon State and and let me be honest
with you, it's a tough place to coach, especially in
this league. To me, and like my alma mater, if
you're a coach, you better be good or find a
way to win, because if you don't guess what's gonna happen,

(48:07):
you're gonna be let go. There are places, there are
places that you go to get fired. You better do.

Speaker 3 (48:13):
Really well, what was your intention? Well if you don't,
I say this with all due respect, you can't from
an intention perspective, you can't put B before a. Okay,
so your intention is to build a program. Correct, that's
that's gonna stay, stay in the top half of the league,
especially when that has not happened there. You know, it's

(48:34):
funny when you you bring this up, because there was
a there was a window there in two thousand and.

Speaker 2 (48:39):
Six and we we're making headway. Oh yeah, I'm going
to talk about the game, you know.

Speaker 3 (48:46):
So you know, we started the city, we started the
conference off with with three straight road games, and we're competitive,
competitive at Oregon, we're competitive att let's see where do
we play next? You know, I want to say maybe
with Stanford and Cal. Yeah, Stanford and Cal. You know,
we won. We let Cal wired to wire. They were
three and zero in the league, and we we lead

(49:07):
them wire to wire. I win the game, and now
we're going home to play Arizona Arizona State. So we
get Arizona first, and you know, I look up at
the scoreboard and with a minute to go in the
first half, we're ahead forty one to nineteen, okay, And
so we end up winning the game by ten. And
so now we're two and two in the league and
Arizona State's coming in and I come out of the

(49:28):
press conference and for the only time in my period there,
I walked down the hallway by myself and I go, Jesus,
maybe maybe, just maybe we're at we've got to We've
got someplace.

Speaker 2 (49:41):
Yeah, okay, you know, and you know, we've had a
good non conference record, and I was like, oh, maybe.

Speaker 3 (49:50):
And then the next game, you know, my four year
starter point guard Lamar Heard gets hurt and never plays again.
And the rest of the season. Yea, you know, so
we losing overtime in Arizona State, we lose in overtime.
They see we lose by two at Washington. We went
at Washington State on the road, but all of a
sudden not having that engine. And and that's the one
thing at these these programs that try to get over

(50:12):
the hump, you can't miss you well, you don't have
the depth.

Speaker 1 (50:16):
You know.

Speaker 2 (50:16):
We lost Richard.

Speaker 3 (50:17):
Jefferson in game three in in uh Stanford at Stanford,
you know, and who here comes redshirt freshman Luke Walton
and you don't skip a beat, you know. And so
that was that was one of the things that you
you know that you you learned that you're at Arizona.
It's like, you know what, you know, there is a
next man up. It's not as easy those other places

(50:41):
to get over.

Speaker 2 (50:41):
The margin for error. Is that well, look, I think
the same thing happens here at Arizona football, where if
some guy goes down, you're in trouble. Last year they
had the running back who became ineligible after the first game,
and we see that he was running back because he's
in the NFL now playing starting. Imagine what would have happened.
You've been able to play that that you know to

(51:02):
your point that that's real because my time at Cal.

Speaker 3 (51:06):
You know, when you know a couple of basketball seasons
we have, we were you know, we did with one
Pack ten championship, but we're a player short. And I
see it in Cal football in which they've got good talent,
but you lose at a certain position, you know, offensive lineman,
you know, type of things like you know what, now
your depth is challenged and it changes everything.

Speaker 2 (51:25):
Right, So that was your We only got about thirty seconds,
but that was your six fourth year, fourth year. So
and you're moving right along, and this happens. You got
your contract renewed a year before five Yeah, well a
year later, yeah, okay. And then you're thinking, okay, they're
giving me a chance, and you need time. These places
need time, right uh.

Speaker 3 (51:47):
And then well, you know there's some there's some debate,
like we'd gotten old before and then when I got
the new contract, I thought there would be enough time
for me to get young and really build. And we'd
signed some really good talent that benefited the guy that
came after me, you know. And in twenty ten, which
would have been these kids senior year, you know, uh,

(52:10):
Pack twelve, Pack ten Defensive Player of the aar Seth Tarvar,
you know, first team all the League, Ruin Shaft and Hour,
second team all the League, Calvin Haynes. And these were
kids who were freshman and sophomores that I had after
that sixth season.

Speaker 2 (52:21):
So it is what it is. Yeah, it is. Okay,
we gotta go. We'll come back and talk more about
all this stuff on this side.