June 10, 2025 • 42 mins
Shannon The Dude and Billy Rutledge talk Vince Marrow leaving for Louisville, Murray State going to the College World Series, and your calls.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome everyone. It is the KSR pre Show. It's Tuesday,
June tenth. I am Shannon the Dude to be enjoined
by Billy Relige and you can give us a call
on the Clark's Pupping Shot phone line. I suspect the
Clark's Pupping Shot phone line is going to be busy today,
but we'll have to see. You can be our whiskey
Thief call of the day. And the KSR Pre Show
is always being brought to you by Italics Fine Italian
(00:22):
Donning in Lexington. You know, Bill a. Normally about this
time of year, news gets really slow. We start doing
food brackets, we talk just random nonsense, not a whole
lot of sports going on, and then you have days
like yesterday to where you're like, well, I know what
we're gonna be talking about tomorrow, and man, you know,
(00:45):
I want to say I'm shocked, but I don't really
think I can say I'm shocked about this news with
Vince Merrow up. I mean, we already know by now,
everybody knows. It was reported yesterday that UK football tight
end coach, head recruiter, all around Louisville hater Vince Merrow
is now leaving Kentucky to become the general manager at Louisville. Billy,
(01:09):
this isn't Toledo, this isn't Youngstown State, this isn't Southern
miss This is Louisville, the one team you know you
can't leave for. You can't leave Kentucky to go to
your art rival. Yet here we are Vince Merrow actually
going to lois It feels like something out of a
fever dream that I never thought that would actually happen.
(01:31):
I joked about it, you know, on on Twitter yesterday,
saying that I knew when he was on with this
back in December that he was going to leave and
go to Louisville. Something was definitely up with that. We'll
get into that more in just a minute, but I
just want to say, uh, good morning to you and
get you get your get your reaction to the news yesterday.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Good morning, colonel dude. You know it's it's Can we
check the calendar? Is it not April Fool's Day? You
know you said you weren't that shocked by the news.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
I was stunt.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I could not believe the news that not only was
Vince Marrow leaving, and that's a guy that's entertained a
lot of job offers over the last few years, but
to go to the in state rival Louisville Cardinals, Like
you said, the Louisville hater. Vince Marrow, who has been
such a backbone for this program for the last twelve years.
I mean, the first person, or one of the first
(02:20):
person people that Stoops called when he got the job
at Kentucky all those years ago, a childhood friend of
Mark Stoops. I mean, these guys were in Youngstown together.
I mean, Vince Marrow was the freedo Zeton, lovable, most
you know, beloved assistant coach in Kentucky program history. And
in a WWE style heel turn here is Shannon unbelievable
(02:43):
by Vince. You know, we might get into, you know,
some of the comments he's made to KSR over the
last couple of months, but you know, simply put, this.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Is a pr nightmare. The timing of this is unbelievable. Shannon.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
I'd love to get into, you know, how much Vince
has met to the program and where Kentucky will go
from here. But in the short term, I mean, this
is just unbelievable that your head recruiter is leaving in June.
I mean, not at the end of the season, but
in June. I mean they're gonna have to find a
new tight ends coach. You're gonna have to completely scramble
for the next recruiting class when it comes to getting
(03:18):
freshmen and transfer portal guys.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
I am just shocked.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
And it just ends a great run with Vince Marrow
in this program. I mean there's been moves like this
in the past. I mean, I think of Kenny Payne.
I even think of Rick Patino to a degree, going
from Kentucky to Louisville. The some time had passed in
between there.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I think that's a big difference.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
But that's what I'm saying that I think there is
a huge difference here with Vince leaving right before the
season's about to start, and let's be honest, in a critical.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Time for this program.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
The last two years have been severely underwhelming, and with
Mark Stoops being motivated in this program trying to get
back to above five hundred and back to ten win seasons,
this is not a good perception. This is not It
is a pr nightmare shade. So that's kind of where
I stand on this. But I was stunned by the
news last night, and on the heels of giving your
(04:12):
offensive line coach one hundred thousand dollars raise, I guess
you had a little money to spread around since you
weren't going to be paying a million dollars to Vince
Marrow to recruit. But nevertheless, I I'm just I need
to hear from coach Stoops.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Don't you shan't have any Well, that's another thing, Like,
first of all, if you're Stoops, you've got to come
out very soon, sooner than later, and make some sort
of statement, because if you don't, then everybody else is
going to create their own narrative, their own you know,
their own stories without hearing from the coach. So if
your coach Stoops, you know you need to. I think
(04:46):
the sooner the better. You can't wait till July seventeenth
at SEC Media Days to address it. At that point,
he's already going to be officially announced as Louisville. And
here's the thing. When he's officially announced as the general
manager at louswell, you know they're going to be talking
about it. So if you're Stoops, you've got to talk
about it. You got to answer some questions. It's been
eerily quiet around the football team all off season long,
(05:10):
and I wonder if this right here was a big
part of it, you know. I mean going back to
again what we were talking about when Vince was on
with this in December. This isn't something that just came
out of the blue. Like on the surface, it might
look like this news just came out of the blue,
but I think this was brewing for a long time,
you know. I mean those rumors that were going, you know,
(05:32):
back in December of Vents going to Louisville, I don't
think those just were made up out of the blue
without some truth. You know, normally, when there's a rumor, Billy,
there's a shred of truth in there somewhere that got
the rumor started. I don't think that somebody just started
this rumor and put it out there just for the
sake of doing it. I think there were real conversations
with Vince Marrow and Jeff Brohm. You know, they have
(05:54):
a history. I believe that we weren't they teammates in
the XFXFL. Yeah, correct, so they have you know, they
have a friendship there. But man, so did Mark Stoops
and Vince Merrill. I mean, they were, they were best buds, right,
I mean that would be like leaving your best friend
to go over here to another good friend, and to
do it at your biggest rival. May man, oh man,
(06:15):
Like you know, I thought that, you know, one day
Vince was going to leave because he's flirted with so
many teams throughout the years, right, And I've always thought
that was a good thing. It's a good thing when
every other school wants one of your coaches once you're
a top recruiter. But man, I didn't think it was
going to be Louisville. You know, if if you told
me that he left for uh for for any other school,
(06:37):
I would say, you know what, I get it, he's
making more money. Here's the other thing, this three year deal.
He he's making just about the same amount of money
as he would a Kentucky So it's not it's not
a money thing.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
And not only that, Louisville does not have to pay
the buyout to get Vince Vince Merrill out of Kentucky
because they're not making him a coach. He's going to
be the GM. So I mean they get out of
the language there of having to actually pay the buy out.
You know, there is some local reporting. Nick Rausch has
reported that the final decision making when it comes to
authority in recruiting had been taken from Vince and given
(07:10):
to Eddie Grant.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
See. I think that's a mistake right there too. I mean,
why would you take that away from the guy who
has been your number one recruiter, who has brought in
all these players that we talked about. Can you believe
he's committing here to Kentucky. How many times have we
said I would love to be a fly on the
wall in the living room of a recruit just to
hear what Vince Marrow was saying, Like, how is he
able to get these guys to commit to Kentucky when
(07:33):
they've got all these other schools on their list, Ohio
State or Michigan, you know, to top notch programs, and
he's able to go in and get them to commit
to Kentucky. And he has been I think the most
valuable part of this coaching staff. And I would even
put them ahead of Mark Stoops just because of the
guys he's able to get to come to Kentucky.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
No, there's a reason why he was one of, if
not the highest paid assistant in college football. He meant
a lot to this program. I mean, think of names
like Lynn Bowden and Benny Snell and Darien Canard and
and Vincent's ability to keep relationships alive in a fluid situation.
You know, Wandell Robinson comes to Kentucky because Vince you know,
has a good relationship with him and keeps that door open.
(08:14):
It's just, you know, Shaneon, I get it, It's a business, right,
You hear that all the time. Football is a business,
and guys are gonna do what's best for their families.
But like the way that Liam Cohen left Kentucky twice
and now Vince Merrill leaving for Louisville, I keep feeling
Kentucky keeps getting spurned by these assistant coaches leaving like that.
You know, John Summer all seemed to be like subtweeting
(08:36):
a little bit as all this news was breaking. He's
you know, doing his thing at uh, you know, Tulane,
and you know possibly could be a coach at Kentucky
if Stoops were to move on eventually.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
But look, I mean this, the.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Pressure on this season has just gotten even more so,
don't you think. I mean, it's just the fact that,
you know, if things start to go wrong in this season,
and they very well might early on. I mean, I
think that if you had app in the fan base,
you're gonna get anger, and there's gonna be unrest, and
we're gonna see more photos of small crowd sizes like
(09:07):
we've seen in the past during Kentucky Football's darkest days.
But you know, we lament and we talk about how
this is such a betrayal, But you know, I also
want to wish Vince the best of luck because he
has brought a lot of good him the best.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
I will say this, I like Vince as a person.
I don't hate Vince as a person, but I don't
wish him best of luck at Louisville. I know, I
hope he fails at Louisville. I do, but I like
him as a person. He's a good dude, and I,
you know, personally, wish nothing but the best for him personally, professionally,
I hope he fails. I'm not gonna professionally root for
(09:45):
Vince Merrill anymore. I can't. He's at your rival school.
How can you say best of luck in your professional
career when you go to the rival again? Love Vince
as a person. Professionally, I cannot cheer for the guy anymore.
And he has to know that. You know, we joked
about him when he was on in December. You know, uh,
Drew was saying, we're going have to call you a
little dog. Now he's not big dog anymore. He's a
(10:06):
little dog. As far as we're concerned with this fan base.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
You know, you're there may be some truth to that.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
You wish him well personally, but should you root for
him professionally if he goes to the complete rhyme now
of your team and stoops has to be just furious.
I mean, the guy has to be read as a
tomato right now. Don't you think like it's just well,
I mean, look at this as a childhood friend that
ends up leaving and betraying you.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Like and going back to what you were talking about
in a minute ago about the timing of this, I
completely agree with you on that the timing is very suspect.
When coaches leave, it's normally within a week or two,
sometimes longer, but usually a week or two after the
season ends for it to happen. And you know, in
the middle of June. It tells me that something had
to be going on behind the scenes. You know, did
(10:51):
did something happen between Vince and Stoops? I think clearly
there was some friction going on there. Uh you know,
did Vince come to the realization that the Kentucky football
is a sinking ship and he wants to jump off
of it before it hits rock bottom? I think there
could be some truth to that too. So yeah, I mean,
for this to happen in June is not normal. It's
not a typical thing to have a coach just leave
(11:14):
in the middle of the summer, or you know, in
the middle of June, let's call it.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Well.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
To add to that timing, you have athletic departments trying
to decide how much money to allocate to these school
or to these programs, right, and you know, Kentucky has
a decision to make how much money will they give
to men's basketball, how much will they give to football?
So the timing of this is awful, like you said,
but you know, we can appreciate Vince's twelve years but
also realize that him leaving signifies I think what people
(11:42):
inside the football program think about what's going on as well. Yeah, right,
Because I mean, we can talk about it and lament
and have people call in. But when when you have
people like your lead recruiter and the guy that's been
there every single year that Stoops has leaving like that
for the rival school, Shannon the Ovenor's Cup. At the
end of the year, Vince is gonna be in red.
(12:03):
I mean, maybe not on the sideline, but hell, he
is going to be there representing Louisville. It's it's just unbelievable.
And I cannot wait to hear when Vince joins Matt.
He's gonna have to join KSR at some point, don't
you think.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Oh, Vince, I don't think so. Oh yeah, Vince has
got it. Vince is now he is going He's gonna
join Matt. No, I think he'll be on Louisvell Talk Radio.
I mean, why, what motivation does he have to be
on KSR anymore? I think Stoops needs to get on KSR.
I think Vince is, I mean, what you're You're at Louisville.
Now you're gonna go on the Lovell media outlet. You're
(12:37):
not gonna go to Kentucky. I don't think. I mean,
maybe I'm wrong, but I don't I don't think he
comes on KSR. You know, one person wrote yesterday and
I saw this, and I'm going this is incredibly short sighted.
They go, great, we just went from a four and
eight team to a four and eight team. Okay, well,
maybe maybe this year that's true. You know, maybe they
still finish four and eight with or without Vince Merrill.
(12:57):
But I'm talking about the long term effect of this.
This isn't a short term thing losing Vince Merrow. I
think this is a long term problem for Kentucky because
we're talking about your top recruiter. What's going to happen
after if we go four and eight? Okay, how are
you going to rebuild to get back to a seven
and five team. You've got to have good recruits. Your
top recruiter just left. I'm talking about the impact of
(13:20):
Vince Merrill leaving and how it's going to impact this
program for possibly years to come unless you get somebody
who is on the same level of a recruiter as
Vince Merrill. And I'm telling you, Billy, there are very
very few of those. You could probably count them on
one hand that exists.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
So well, you go four and eight, they're not going
to be an opportunity to get other recruits and build
the program back. I mean, you go four and eight,
I think there's a chance that you're fired, and so
it brings, you know, credence to your point of is
this a sinking ship? And you know, maybe he sees
the writing on the wall. I've seen that phrase written
a couple of times.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
But but I mean I believe that you know, if
they went four and eight, that Vince Merrill could still
bring in some good recruits and get this team. I'm
not going to say back to a ten win season,
but bring them back to Providence a little bit. I
think that you know, when you lose your top guy
or your second guy, there are bigger issues going on
behind the scenes, I believe than what we are aware of.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Well, you could be cynical and you could say, are
you going to lose out on some three star recruits
in Ohio now that Vince Marrow isn't on the with
the program.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Yeah, but if you get a two star recruit now
in Ohio, you know, I mean, it's things aren't going on.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
It's a transfer portal now, it's completely different. I mean,
it's going to be upfront money to these guys. That
have already played years in the SEC. So I mean
to play devil's advocate. I mean, could you transition into
that new world of recruiting, Sure, but I mean, well
to forget the twelve years of what Vince Marrow has
done and.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
No, no, no, no, I appreciate what he did here, absolutely, Again,
I appreciate what he did here, But now he's he's
at your rival school. And that also will come back
to you're talking about the transfer portal. Yah, it's going
to come back down to what Matt was talking about yesterday.
When these schools get their twenty one million or whatever
the number is, how do you allocate that? And if
(15:07):
you're Kentucky, you're traditionally a basketball school and you've got
other basketball you know, programs out there that are spending
more money on their their basketball program. Let's say they're
spending ten million in Kentucky is only able to spend
six or seven million and give it to football. You
can't do that. So my point is there that you're
going to be taking possibly more money from the football
(15:30):
program and maybe you're going to miss out on some
of these transfer portals because you simply don't have the
ni O money to pay them.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Yeah, how do you keep up in the new SEC
where there isn't an East and West. You've got even
more schools that are going to make it even harder
to get to that ten win mark. Ever again with
Oklahoma and Texas. So look, there's there's not an easy answer.
And you know, unfortunately that Louisville game may go off
the schedule if they move forward with the nine game
conference schedul or the big ten thing that they want
(15:57):
to do. But nevertheless, it's a gut punch, I think
to the fan base.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
I mean it's it's a gut punch, a slap in
the face. However you want to metaphorically put it.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
It is I want to hear from I want to
hear from Vince. You kind of poop pooed the idea.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
No, No, he's still got a connection with a lot
of people in the state. I'm not probably peaking with
the idea. I'm just saying I doubt that he would
want to come on Kentucky Sports Radio. Evince wants to
come on Kentucky Sports Radio, come on, let's do it.
I'm not saying that we would say no, absolutely, we
would say yes. I'm just saying, do you think he
would want to do that when he's now a card
L one C four, l's down, that he would Oh
my god, I mean, think about all the time, think
(16:33):
about all the times he would do l's down and
now he's he's he's l's up. That's where we're at
with this. It's absolutely Do you feel betrayed or do
you feel like it's just a business like that.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
That's kind of my question of the day.
Speaker 5 (16:45):
Man.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
There are how many NCAA Division.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
One programs on hundred thirty plus?
Speaker 1 (16:50):
I think no, there's over three hundred, oh maybe hundred
thirty plus. So you did you did say one hundred
and thirty plus, there's over there's over three hundred.
Speaker 6 (17:00):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
They keep adding them in, maybe even close to four hundred.
At this point, you could have chosen any of those schools,
and you went to the most bitter rival U of L.
And that is unforgivable. Eight five nine two, twenty two
eighty seven. We want to hear from you. Give us
a call and we'll take your calls. Coming up next
here on the KSR pre Show. All right, welcome back.
It is the KSR pre Show. Eighty five nine two
(17:23):
eight oh twenty two eighty seven. The lines are loaded, Billy,
So we're going to get to the calls in just
a minute at Shannon the Dude at Billy our Sports
on Twitter. Yeah, one person writes in his you know
I said long term the long term effects of this.
One person says long term Stoops is toast after this year,
Merroll wasn't coming back anyway. Well maybe, but maybe not.
(17:45):
I don't know. I can't see into the future. Who's
to say that if Stoops were to get fired or
were to leave, and who's to say that Vince Merrill
wouldn't still be here. Maybe he would. He's clearly without
Stoops right now, so why would he not possibly stick
a Kentucky without Stoops if he were to stay. I'm
not I'm not one hundred percent in on that. I mean,
maybe maybe he leaves off Stoops or to leave after
(18:07):
next season, but maybe not. You don't know that.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Maybe the Vince or maybe Vince is the next man
up in that situation, maybe you'd want to hire him.
But you know, this has been a bit for a while,
right It's been Michigan, Michigan State, I mean Toledo. Vince
has entertained many offers for many years. And while he
was a big part of what Mark stoops in, this
program has become over the last twelve years. It's you know,
(18:31):
it's a what have you done for me lately? Society,
and lately it's been abysmal. Shannon and Vince made a
business decision to go to a program that seems to
be on the rise.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Right now, Let's just go to the phones. Let's go
to Mark. What's up, Mark? You get the first word,
what's up?
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Hey, Mark?
Speaker 4 (18:47):
More than gentlemen, just kind of what you were talking about.
Though we haven't been super competitive and we're all worried
about a four and eight year anyway, And if he's
our lead recruiting, maybe it's time for change. Maybe we're
you know, maybe maybe he's doing us a favor. You know,
it's it's not the end of the world, and it
(19:08):
is what it is at the end of the day.
But in my mind, hey, good luck to the events.
I hate to see you go to Louisville. But maybe
this is a help stepping stone for soups and recruiting
and becoming more competitive in the SEC, because right now
we are competitive in the SEC. Mart it's time for change.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
I don't know, man, I'm saying, Yeah, we went four
and eight last year, but let's not pretend it can't
get worse than that, because it can. We've seen that,
you know, it's point before Stoops was here. We saw
that with Joker Phillips. So you know, my thought is
kind of the opposite of what you're saying. Mark. I'm saying,
if we're four and eight with a great recruiteral events,
what's gonna happen when we don't have a great recruiteral events.
We could be talking about a two win season.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
So I think a better recruiter we can hire.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah, they've got but they don't grow on trees, you know.
It's it's they're hard to find. And while maybe the
two or two or last three years have been severely disappointing,
you know, we can't argue the results of who he's
brought in and been able to develop. But let's not
you know, he's also a tight Ends coach, Shannon, and
we've talked for years how bad the tight Ends have been,
(20:15):
so maybe they can improve in that category as well.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Mark, yep, one hundred percent. I mean it's unfortunate, Yes,
it sucks. I hate that he's gone to Louisville. But
maybe this is, just like I said, just a different
look and a different avenue that we need and a
path that we.
Speaker 6 (20:31):
Need to.
Speaker 7 (20:33):
Bring it up.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
Is okay, let's go. Let's go find that guy.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Thanks for the call, Mark, appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Mark.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
So there you go, first caller saying maybe it's not
that big of a deal. I feel like it's a
huge deal, you know, I disagree.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Well, look, I'm usually the optimistic bordering a naive one,
and it's it's nice to hear somebody like Mark say
something like that, but it's it's tough to turn this
into a positive right now.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
I can't Vince is Yeah, I can't downplay I can't
downplay Vince leaving and go, oh, it's no big deal.
You know, maybe we need somebody to you know, I
could have been talked into that, maybe, you know, on
the basketball side of things, when the ship was sinking
with Calip Perry. But you know, again, it's Kentucky football
we're talking about here. The standard has never been all
(21:15):
that high for Kentucky football.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
But the similarities between Call and Stoops is just incredible.
I mean, with like Robic and Welch and all these
coaches leaving in the in the year prior to the
last year, and the term writing on the wall as
we see these coaches leave like that, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
I mean, it's got to motivate Mark Stoops, there's no time.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Let's get one more in here before the break, got
only a minute, Lance, go ahead quickly, Lance.
Speaker 8 (21:38):
Uh yeah.
Speaker 6 (21:38):
I just want people to remember Rick left us for
the NBA and then he came back to Louisville. He
didn't go from louisll to Kentucky. What Vince did is
far worse. So make sure all these fans the same
energy we brought where Rick and his family and his
wife and all of them weren't welcome in Lexington. That
same energy needs to come to Vince. And if you
(21:59):
look at it is recruiting Lim Bowden, Dane Key, barry
On Brown or Jagger Burton. He has recruited a lot
of the discipline problems that have caused the downfall of
our program in the last few years, especially with Key
and Brown. So him leaving when Brom's been baggining for years,
letting go, let him sink their program.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Thanks for the call Lance appreciate it. Yeah, you and
I were talking about a big difference between going from
one school to a the NFL or NBA then coming
back failing somewhere too. Yeah, we'll be right back, kosurpre show,
Welcome back. It is the KSR pre show shot him
the dude, Billy Rutledge. We had cut off by the
heartbreak there on that last segment, Billy. But to the
caller's point, yeah, it is more egregious to leave from
(22:44):
Kentucky and go straight to Louisville. You know. With Rick,
you know, at least he went to the NBA for
a few years then came, you know, back to Louisville.
But going straight for Kentucky to Louisville, you don't see
that a whole lot. And the other thing is like
Vince was so beloved, you know, like he would come
on the show. We love talking to him. You know,
(23:04):
he would get up on stage with Alice Blue Gown
and sing simple Man in Nashville at the SEC Tournament.
And now we got to dislike the guy. It's just, man,
it's such a gut punch. The good thing is, I guess,
as Cliff pointed out yesterday, we won't have to do
simple Man ever again. Now, so we only learned that
one just for Vince down in extishow.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
No more simple Man.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
No, we're retiring that one.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Okay, Well, you know there is a clear difference with Patino.
But Patino also said, which has been pointed out on
the text line, that he regretted leaving Kentucky, and I
wonder if Vince will ever feel that.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I think it all depends on how things go at Louisville.
You know, if he has great success there and you know,
doesn't get involved in a stripper scandal, he may not
say that. So one of two ways, the NBA Finals
are here. Game three is tomorrow night, and this is
your last chance to bet on the NBA until next season.
So get in on the action with DraftKings Sportsbook and
(23:57):
official sports betting partner of the NBA. Hey, they're pulling
out all the stops to make this the Finals to remember,
and you can try placing a bet on your personal
MVP to drop thirty forty, maybe even over fifty. If
you're ready to place your first bet, you can download
the DraftKings Sports Book app, lock in your bets, and
finish the season as a winner. If you're a new customer,
sign up with promo code KSR. When you do that,
(24:18):
you bet five dollars and if your first bet hits
and wins, you're going to get three hundred dollars in
bonus bets. Again, that's for new customers. Promo code KSR.
Bet five, your bet wins, you get three hundred dollars
in bonus bets. Only on DraftKings the Crown is yours.
Gambling problem Call one eight one hundred Gambler eighteen plus
Kentucky only. Eligibuddy restrictions apply. Bet must win to receive reward,
(24:38):
minimum minus five hundred odds required. Bonus bets expire one
hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. For additional terms
and responsible gaming resources, see DKNG dot co slash audio
our number here on the pre show eight five to
nine two eight oho twenty two eighty seven. And we've
got the phone lines loaded, so let's just keep going
to them. Let's go to Joe. What's up? Joe?
Speaker 5 (25:00):
Yeah, thank y'all quickly. On the first thing is Duke
and Murray State. For Duke fans, that was not a
good loss last night. I know nationally we're going to
portray it as all of Murray State. But for Duke fans,
that was not a good loss on this Merrill, bad mistake,
(25:22):
UK sugarcoat. It just stay away from him, a minority
hall of mister Merrill, and everything will be all right.
And my last advice is hower Benny Snell to take
his place. Benny. No, the state of Ohio probably just
as good as that would be my recommendation. And then
when summer all it takes over, hopefully he'll retain Benny
(25:44):
and we'll have our career up north in Ohio.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Thanks a lot, goodbye, Okay, thank you.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Joe.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
You know, Jeff Badett is a former Kentucky player that
was online last night talking about the situation, and he
was I think it was him that was calling for
more alumni to be on the coach staff and things
like that. So I kind of like Joe's idea of
bringing back a Benny Snell or somebody that can be
a representative. But I'm glad you brought up Murray State
because that was a hell of a win last Yes,
(26:11):
I thought that would be what we would lead with
until I saw this story. You texted me yesterday, You're like,
holy blank, And I'm like, did you mean to send
that text to me? You're like, yeah, go, look what's
going on with Kentucky football. So I was just sitting
there and you know, just just doing my thing and
nothing really going on, and I got that text for me, Like, Okay,
now I know what we're talking about tomorrow. We will
take your calls in just a second. But yeah, since
(26:33):
you brought up the Murray State duke game, congratulations to
Murray State.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
First ever trip to the College World Series and a
wild finish. I mean, did you watch all that game?
Did you see the ending? So Murray State's up by one,
bottom of the ninth, Duke has one runner on with
one out, ground ball to the shortstop. It looks like
it could be a double play, but then the Duke
player sliding into second is called if I guess, interference
(27:02):
was called on the runner, and that effectively was an
automatic double play, which would have ended the game and
sent Murray State to the College World Series. So as
soon as that is called, of course, Murray State dog
piles on the enfield. They're celebrating, they're going crazy. You know,
some of the players have taken their jersey off you
know they're going to the College World Series. Then the
(27:24):
duke head coach calls for instant replay, turns out the
calls overturned. And imagine that, Billy, I mean, imagine the
roller coaster of emotions that you've got when you think that, okay,
we're going to the College World Series. Then they go,
wait a minute, the guy at first is safe. You
got to still get one more out.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
Now.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Imagine if Duke had, you know, oh my, I hit
it hit a two run homer or something like. I
almost thought that's what's going to happen now because they
lost their focus. They thought they had already, you know,
secured a trip to the College World Series. You got
to go back out there and have laser focus and
get one more out. I've never seen a finish like
that before in baseball, have you.
Speaker 9 (28:00):
No?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
I started acting like Ryan Lemon. I got underneath the table, Shannon,
I mean, I was so nervous. If Murray State would
have lost that game after that premature dog pile, yeah,
it would have been an all timer, maybe one of
like the most I think historic losses when it comes
to like just bizarre circumstances. But you're right, Runner, interference,
they get one more batter, but luckily they were able
(28:21):
to get the out and Murray State advanced to their
first College World Series. Did they even have an NCAA
tournament win before this this tournament started. It's it's been
an incredible run and uh, really excited to get behind
this team and root from in Omah.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
I guess it's even sweeter though, when you get to
have two dog piles, you know, you get to celebrate twice,
I guess.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
But I mean, let's say somebody turns an ankle.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
In that dog pole the second look like the second
baseman got hurt on that play, you know, he went down.
That's when they called the interference and then he was
sort of hobbling over, uh, you know, to celebrate, and
then they had to go right back out there and
get another out.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Good game too, I mean Murray State a little back
and forth, had to come back late, a couple of
solo shots. So really happy for them, and you know,
hopefully they can keep it wrong.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
That's the thing instant replays calls too, like it's never
over until like you know, you would have that great moment,
but then no, it was taken away from them. They
had to go back out there and do it all. Well,
there's point two second, I can finger tip that into
the basket like in basketball when the crowd rushes, go oh,
we got get everybody off the court, you know. Then
it takes twenty minutes and we got to put that
two tenths of a second back on for it for
it to be a disaster. Yeah, last night, but happy
(29:27):
for the Racers. Hey, Jason, you're up next. What's up?
Speaker 9 (29:31):
Hey?
Speaker 10 (29:31):
Do you think that the SEC discussions about the equity
sharing might have an effect on the football team because
they're saying Kentucky basketball was complaining about that, but I
think it was more the university than just the basketball program.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Well yeah, yeah, sure. I Mean, if if Kentucky decides
to allocate more money towards basketball and less towards football,
then there's gonna be some programs that are gonna go
all in on football or all in on basketball. So
it's gonna create a really interesting situation to where some
schools are going to have to determine which one is
(30:04):
more important to us. Do we want to focus on,
you know, try to balance this out between football and basketball,
or do we want to go all in on basketball.
Do we want to go in all all in on football?
You know, football is going to be the money driver, right,
That's gonna be what makes you the most money for
the school is always going to be football. So you know,
(30:24):
how do you look at a football program that's bringing
in the majority of your money and go, well, you
know what, we're gonna give you less and give it
over here to basketball? Because historically Kentucky as a blue
blood that probably didn't sit right with So yeah, and
then like, okay, how does that affect a coaching search?
For instance, Like let's say let's say after this year
Stoops is out and you know, Barnhardt has determined that
(30:44):
we're going to give less let's just say in theory
to Kentucky football. How does an incoming coach go, you
know what, I don't I don't know that I want
to go play for that school because they're not taking
football as seriously as school be over here, who is
dumping an extra five, six, seven million dollars into their program.
It's gonna be interesting to see when all this plays out.
Speaker 10 (31:06):
Yeah, do you think that the SEC may start looking
at them the same way and say, hey, if these
schools are gonna concentrict more in baseball or basketball that
we're gonna maybe drop them and get programs in that
want to focus solely on football.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Yeah. I don't know, it's a great question. I could
see that maybe playing out that way, but Billy, I'm
not really sure how it's going to play out. We're
just to it's gonna be one of these things we
don't have to wait and see. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Yeah, they'll be varying motivation levels from different schools to
how much money they give to each different program. But
you know, Kentucky's gonna give more the basketball, right, Sure,
that's just tradition, that's the history. So maybe somebody like
Vincies that would rather go somewhere where they'll give more.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
To If you're Alabama, if you're Georgia, you're gonna give
more to football, right. If you're like a school like Vandy,
you might give more to women's basketball, baseball, and you
know what, maybe even I don't know if they have
scholarships in bowling, Billy, but they're more of a bowling
goal than they are, you know, a football school.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
So I'll say that lightly.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
I mean, they've beaten Kentucky at home the last two
times that San Diego Pavia. Yeah, became a sensation last
year they beat Alabama. That they've had more recent success
in the last.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Two or three years than the Kentucky Yeah, so maybe
that's why we should be so upset.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
That the lead recruiter is gone for your four and
eight seasons.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Yep, Jason, we appreciate thanks for the call. See yeah,
I am really intrigued as to how they're going to
each school allocate, you know, money to different programs. And
like Matt was saying, you know, if you're Saint John's,
you don't have football, so you just take all the
money and dump it into basketball. You gotta love that.
If you're Rick Patino, right.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Well, that reality has been set for a long time though, right,
I mean every duke football player has to know that
everybody cares more about the basketball team, right And if.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
You're doing baseball though your one went away from the
College World Series, they have a good program for baseball.
So I don't know, I don't know. Let's go to Jeff.
What's up, Jeff, Hey, Jeff.
Speaker 9 (33:00):
Daan, and what's going on with you in ble.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
We are just studying here, solving all the world's problems,
you know, that's what we do.
Speaker 9 (33:10):
I'll tell you. Look there there's just no loyal to
your sports is all you loyal to amongst friends anymore?
I mean, look between Mark and Benson. You know you
can come up with different reasons as to why events left,
but the timing of why he left, something happened. And
we know you're never going to get the story. You
you want students to come on, and man, he's not.
They're not going to air their dirty laundry, you know,
(33:33):
they're they're they're gonna be pros about it. So even
if he does come on, you're not going to get
the story. You're going to get some kind of coach feed. Yeah,
f my avengion. My opinion, I think it has something
to do with the disciplinary issues that I think Mark
kind of put in trusted in vents, you know, because
he's doing so many other things with N I L
(33:55):
and everything else, that I think he put a little
bit of that on Vince that you know, hey, I
entrusted in you these kids inline and you screwed me.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Yeah, what was that in the air? Mario?
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Sorry Mario, Yeah, he just came in here, Okay.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
Yeah, Jeff, I mean to your point. I mean, you know,
you can only trust what coaches say on the air
with the grain of salt. To begin with. You know
your coaches speak all the time. But will you hear
you know, a coach come on and go yes, I
will be here next year. I didn't believe it last year.
And I've talked about that the day that happened. Yeah, yeah,
(34:39):
and I didn't.
Speaker 9 (34:39):
I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
I didn't quite trust what he was saying when he
said it in the moment, just based on his demeanor.
So Jeff got right, man, I appreciate it.
Speaker 10 (34:48):
Hey, thank you.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
J Yeah, go ahead, go ahead, Jee.
Speaker 9 (34:54):
As far as a Patino issue, yes, he didn't strike
to Louisville or Ralph Hacker. I asked him a long
time ago on the radio show if he would ever
go to Louisville, and Patino said no, he would never
go to Louisville or Indiana. He would not do that
to the Kentucky fans. Ralph Packer played that audio after
Patino took the Louisville job. Ralph Packer was really upset
(35:16):
with Rick from doing that. But anyway, so we can
we can always appeal that oh Rick didn't go straight
to Louisville. But he knew that no matter what what
they was going to do whenever he took that job.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
So yeah, thanks for the coach. Anyway, we appreciate Jeff
speaking of playing audio of coaches saying they would never
go to Louisville. I have the audio from Iowa City
when KSR was live and the pizza rancher ran. I
remember that. I can remember it. We were sitting there
in the in the party room, Billy, not just not
just in pizza, we were in the we're VIP pizza
(35:50):
ranchers in Iowa City, and there was these rumors that
were swirling about Vince Merrow taking this job at Louisville,
and he wanted to come on and clear the air.
And at this very moment, I was like, you know
what something's up.
Speaker 11 (36:03):
Do you?
Speaker 7 (36:04):
I mean, I do think it's I just wanted to
make sure everybody's clear. You expect to be in Lexington
next year, yes.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Yep, yes, no, no, no, I knew you could hear
the hesitation in his voice. It was almost like somebody
being held hostage.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
But look, that's the time to do it, right. What
month was that?
Speaker 2 (36:29):
I mean, that was like December or right around there, December,
the December, Yeah, that's the time when some of the
coaches should leave, not in the middle of June, right like,
not a few months before the season gets started. That's
I think that's probably the biggest sore spot of this
entire thing because to a degree, like the caller said,
I don't know if Marrow is tethered to Stoops for
every single year that he's at Kentucky. I mean, guys
(36:51):
can can take other jobs, but one you go to
the rival and two you do it in June. I
think it puts your best friend Mark Stoops in a
tough spot.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
So I think, you know, going back to that rumor
again that was on December of the second, I think
that there was some truth to it then, and I
think that behind the scenes, this was all being worked
out for the last six months. And I think that's
why on June the ninth, we get the announcement that
Vince Merrill was leaving Kentucky to go to litl Bow
(37:19):
eight five nine to eighth, twenty two eighty seven. We'll
take more of your phone calls coming up next in
our final segment of the ksrppre Show Final segment of
the KSR pre show eight five nine two, eight oh
twenty two eighty seven KSRS up next, And I'm sure
Ma's gonna have a lot to say about this. Vince
Merrow going to Its going to be all right?
Speaker 3 (37:35):
Do you feel like it's going to be all right? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (37:38):
I don't know. I'm not sure. I didn't pick that
song based off of the look. You didn't? That was
just the right, was just yeah. You know, when you're
producing and you're hosting, you're trying to find a song.
You look up and there's twenty seconds left, you kind
of grab what'sever front, you know, whatever's in front of you.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
So well, I mean, even when you're not prepared, you're prepared.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
That's right. Uh, let's try to squeeze in a few
more calls before ksruh. Let's go to Dave. What's up? Dave?
Speaker 8 (38:00):
Hey, Dave, Hey, how's it going guys?
Speaker 1 (38:02):
All right? Man?
Speaker 5 (38:04):
Hey man. All I got to.
Speaker 8 (38:06):
Say is Vince did his best recruiting for Kentucky and
it wasn't good enough for the SEC. So he might
want us go to acc where he can dominate a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Well, I mean it will be easier, that's for sure.
I mean the SEC, you know, I guess you could
argue with it if you wanted to, But I think
the SEC is the dominant conference in college football. So yeah,
I would say going from there to the ACC is
a big ten.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Win seasons as well, though, I mean it was good
enough for the SEC for many years, it was good
enough for us. Yeah, I mean they raised the status
of this program. I don't think you can you can
argue that. Dave all right, he appreciate it that with
the call. Yeah, I'm speechless.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
Well that's true. I mean we went from Joker Phillips
to a couple of ten win seasons, you know, going
to a bowl on a consistent basis. Remember where we
were when it was just make Kentucky Bowl eligible again.
Then we got bowel eligible, and then it wasn't you know,
a good enough bowl. So you know, again, you can't
downplay the great job that Vince Merrill did here at
(39:12):
Kentucky throughout his time. There's no doubt about it. He brought,
you know, along with Stoops, this team to a level
that I didn't think we would ever see.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
But you know, sometimes you can find success and then
get complacent, right, you expect the same same things to
work over and over again, and it wasn't working over
the past few years, so both can be true.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
Let's go to Scott. What's up, Scott?
Speaker 11 (39:33):
Hey, how you guys doing good? Scott just wanted to
comment on the dirty dog. I don't call him big
dog any more.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Dirty dog. Okay, dirty dogs, big dog, a little bit
of a dirty dog.
Speaker 11 (39:42):
Okay, you got that right. But I'm glad. I'm glad
Vince went ahead and stepped out. You know, it's fine
if you want to go a little will do whatever.
But the timings terrible. This is the busiest recruiting time
that there is. You walk out on our program and
leave us with nothing. But he hasn't done anything in
the past couple of year, is bringing in that big
four five star guy. So I think it is time
(40:03):
to make a change. And I think it also shadows
of Stups is going to be out after this year.
If he does never tremendous year, it's time to just
have an overhaul and see what can bring some excitement
back to the game.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
Thanks for the call, Scott, appreciate it. You know, just
talking about you know, the offensive line coach and you
know the loyalty or the lack of loyalty that he
had showed by leaving and going to Alabama. And I
was like, well, you know you got Vince Merrill though,
you know, Vince Merrill has always been loyal, and I
was just bragging on him. What was it two weeks ago,
three weeks ago, when we were having this conversation when
(40:35):
the old line just got a raise, one hundred thousand
dollars raise, I would say, you know, Vince Merrill is
the guy that has stuck with us, and now when
you lose that piece, Billy, now all bets are off.
You know, when you lose that guy, your number two guy,
and the guy that you think, up to that point
had been the most loyal coach that you had next
to Mark Stoops to leave, now anything could happen at
(40:57):
this point.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
Well, let's add on to that.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
I mean, Liam Cohen was a guy and you had
gone through what seven offensive coordinators in seven or eight years.
He had told you he's coming back, and then he
had some surprise last minute meeting with the Jaguars and
ends up, you know, not holding up his end of
the bargain.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
So it's you know, I alluded to that earlier.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
It kind of feels like the Janga tower has just
been falling apart, and at.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
Some point that comes down to one person though. It
comes down to your head coach, right ultimately, I mean somebody, Yeah,
somebody has to answer to that, and whether it's fair
or not. When you're the head coach, you have to
ultimately answer to why your assistants are leaving, you know.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
So, do you think we hear from Stoops within the week,
Shannon or I would hope radio silence.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
I would hope you so like, you know, being silent
like they've been throughout the summers one thing. But after
you lose a guy like Vince Merrow, I think you've
got to come out and say something. You've got to
say something. Draft Kings. You got to say Draft Kings
promo code KSR bet five if you're a new customer.
If your bet wins, you're gonna ge three hundred dollars
in bonus bets. It's only on Draft Kings only with
promo code KSR. KSR is coming up next. This has
(41:59):
been the pre jo over Billy Rollits. I'm Shannon the Dude.
Thanks for listening. See it
Welcome everyone. It is the KSR pre Show. It's Tuesday,
June tenth. I am Shannon the Dude to be enjoined
by Billy Relige and you can give us a call
on the Clark's Pupping Shot phone line. I suspect the
Clark's Pupping Shot phone line is going to be busy today,
but we'll have to see. You can be our whiskey
Thief call of the day. And the KSR Pre Show
is always being brought to you by Italics Fine Italian
(00:22):
Donning in Lexington. You know, Bill a. Normally about this
time of year, news gets really slow. We start doing
food brackets, we talk just random nonsense, not a whole
lot of sports going on, and then you have days
like yesterday to where you're like, well, I know what
we're gonna be talking about tomorrow, and man, you know,
(00:45):
I want to say I'm shocked, but I don't really
think I can say I'm shocked about this news with
Vince Merrow up. I mean, we already know by now,
everybody knows. It was reported yesterday that UK football tight
end coach, head recruiter, all around Louisville hater Vince Merrow
is now leaving Kentucky to become the general manager at Louisville. Billy,
(01:09):
this isn't Toledo, this isn't Youngstown State, this isn't Southern
miss This is Louisville, the one team you know you
can't leave for. You can't leave Kentucky to go to
your art rival. Yet here we are Vince Merrow actually
going to lois It feels like something out of a
fever dream that I never thought that would actually happen.
(01:31):
I joked about it, you know, on on Twitter yesterday,
saying that I knew when he was on with this
back in December that he was going to leave and
go to Louisville. Something was definitely up with that. We'll
get into that more in just a minute, but I
just want to say, uh, good morning to you and
get you get your get your reaction to the news yesterday.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Good morning, colonel dude. You know it's it's Can we
check the calendar? Is it not April Fool's Day? You
know you said you weren't that shocked by the news.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
I was stunt.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I could not believe the news that not only was
Vince Marrow leaving, and that's a guy that's entertained a
lot of job offers over the last few years, but
to go to the in state rival Louisville Cardinals, Like
you said, the Louisville hater. Vince Marrow, who has been
such a backbone for this program for the last twelve years.
I mean, the first person, or one of the first
(02:20):
person people that Stoops called when he got the job
at Kentucky all those years ago, a childhood friend of
Mark Stoops. I mean, these guys were in Youngstown together.
I mean, Vince Marrow was the freedo Zeton, lovable, most
you know, beloved assistant coach in Kentucky program history. And
in a WWE style heel turn here is Shannon unbelievable
(02:43):
by Vince. You know, we might get into, you know,
some of the comments he's made to KSR over the
last couple of months, but you know, simply put, this.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Is a pr nightmare. The timing of this is unbelievable. Shannon.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
I'd love to get into, you know, how much Vince
has met to the program and where Kentucky will go
from here. But in the short term, I mean, this
is just unbelievable that your head recruiter is leaving in June.
I mean, not at the end of the season, but
in June. I mean they're gonna have to find a
new tight ends coach. You're gonna have to completely scramble
for the next recruiting class when it comes to getting
(03:18):
freshmen and transfer portal guys.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
I am just shocked.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
And it just ends a great run with Vince Marrow
in this program. I mean there's been moves like this
in the past. I mean, I think of Kenny Payne.
I even think of Rick Patino to a degree, going
from Kentucky to Louisville. The some time had passed in
between there.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I think that's a big difference.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
But that's what I'm saying that I think there is
a huge difference here with Vince leaving right before the
season's about to start, and let's be honest, in a critical.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Time for this program.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
The last two years have been severely underwhelming, and with
Mark Stoops being motivated in this program trying to get
back to above five hundred and back to ten win seasons,
this is not a good perception. This is not It
is a pr nightmare shade. So that's kind of where
I stand on this. But I was stunned by the
news last night, and on the heels of giving your
(04:12):
offensive line coach one hundred thousand dollars raise, I guess
you had a little money to spread around since you
weren't going to be paying a million dollars to Vince
Marrow to recruit. But nevertheless, I I'm just I need
to hear from coach Stoops.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Don't you shan't have any Well, that's another thing, Like,
first of all, if you're Stoops, you've got to come
out very soon, sooner than later, and make some sort
of statement, because if you don't, then everybody else is
going to create their own narrative, their own you know,
their own stories without hearing from the coach. So if
your coach Stoops, you know you need to. I think
(04:46):
the sooner the better. You can't wait till July seventeenth
at SEC Media Days to address it. At that point,
he's already going to be officially announced as Louisville. And
here's the thing. When he's officially announced as the general
manager at louswell, you know they're going to be talking
about it. So if you're Stoops, you've got to talk
about it. You got to answer some questions. It's been
eerily quiet around the football team all off season long,
(05:10):
and I wonder if this right here was a big
part of it, you know. I mean going back to
again what we were talking about when Vince was on
with this in December. This isn't something that just came
out of the blue. Like on the surface, it might
look like this news just came out of the blue,
but I think this was brewing for a long time,
you know. I mean those rumors that were going, you know,
(05:32):
back in December of Vents going to Louisville, I don't
think those just were made up out of the blue
without some truth. You know, normally, when there's a rumor, Billy,
there's a shred of truth in there somewhere that got
the rumor started. I don't think that somebody just started
this rumor and put it out there just for the
sake of doing it. I think there were real conversations
with Vince Marrow and Jeff Brohm. You know, they have
(05:54):
a history. I believe that we weren't they teammates in
the XFXFL. Yeah, correct, so they have you know, they
have a friendship there. But man, so did Mark Stoops
and Vince Merrill. I mean, they were, they were best buds, right,
I mean that would be like leaving your best friend
to go over here to another good friend, and to
do it at your biggest rival. May man, oh man,
(06:15):
Like you know, I thought that, you know, one day
Vince was going to leave because he's flirted with so
many teams throughout the years, right, And I've always thought
that was a good thing. It's a good thing when
every other school wants one of your coaches once you're
a top recruiter. But man, I didn't think it was
going to be Louisville. You know, if if you told
me that he left for uh for for any other school,
(06:37):
I would say, you know what, I get it, he's
making more money. Here's the other thing, this three year deal.
He he's making just about the same amount of money
as he would a Kentucky So it's not it's not
a money thing.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
And not only that, Louisville does not have to pay
the buyout to get Vince Vince Merrill out of Kentucky
because they're not making him a coach. He's going to
be the GM. So I mean they get out of
the language there of having to actually pay the buy out.
You know, there is some local reporting. Nick Rausch has
reported that the final decision making when it comes to
authority in recruiting had been taken from Vince and given
(07:10):
to Eddie Grant.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
See. I think that's a mistake right there too. I mean,
why would you take that away from the guy who
has been your number one recruiter, who has brought in
all these players that we talked about. Can you believe
he's committing here to Kentucky. How many times have we
said I would love to be a fly on the
wall in the living room of a recruit just to
hear what Vince Marrow was saying, Like, how is he
able to get these guys to commit to Kentucky when
(07:33):
they've got all these other schools on their list, Ohio
State or Michigan, you know, to top notch programs, and
he's able to go in and get them to commit
to Kentucky. And he has been I think the most
valuable part of this coaching staff. And I would even
put them ahead of Mark Stoops just because of the
guys he's able to get to come to Kentucky.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
No, there's a reason why he was one of, if
not the highest paid assistant in college football. He meant
a lot to this program. I mean, think of names
like Lynn Bowden and Benny Snell and Darien Canard and
and Vincent's ability to keep relationships alive in a fluid situation.
You know, Wandell Robinson comes to Kentucky because Vince you know,
has a good relationship with him and keeps that door open.
(08:14):
It's just, you know, Shaneon, I get it, It's a business, right,
You hear that all the time. Football is a business,
and guys are gonna do what's best for their families.
But like the way that Liam Cohen left Kentucky twice
and now Vince Merrill leaving for Louisville, I keep feeling
Kentucky keeps getting spurned by these assistant coaches leaving like that.
You know, John Summer all seemed to be like subtweeting
(08:36):
a little bit as all this news was breaking. He's
you know, doing his thing at uh, you know, Tulane,
and you know possibly could be a coach at Kentucky
if Stoops were to move on eventually.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
But look, I mean this, the.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Pressure on this season has just gotten even more so,
don't you think. I mean, it's just the fact that,
you know, if things start to go wrong in this season,
and they very well might early on. I mean, I
think that if you had app in the fan base,
you're gonna get anger, and there's gonna be unrest, and
we're gonna see more photos of small crowd sizes like
(09:07):
we've seen in the past during Kentucky Football's darkest days.
But you know, we lament and we talk about how
this is such a betrayal, But you know, I also
want to wish Vince the best of luck because he
has brought a lot of good him the best.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
I will say this, I like Vince as a person.
I don't hate Vince as a person, but I don't
wish him best of luck at Louisville. I know, I
hope he fails at Louisville. I do, but I like
him as a person. He's a good dude, and I,
you know, personally, wish nothing but the best for him personally, professionally,
I hope he fails. I'm not gonna professionally root for
(09:45):
Vince Merrill anymore. I can't. He's at your rival school.
How can you say best of luck in your professional
career when you go to the rival again? Love Vince
as a person. Professionally, I cannot cheer for the guy anymore.
And he has to know that. You know, we joked
about him when he was on in December. You know, uh,
Drew was saying, we're going have to call you a
little dog. Now he's not big dog anymore. He's a
(10:06):
little dog. As far as we're concerned with this fan base.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
You know, you're there may be some truth to that.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
You wish him well personally, but should you root for
him professionally if he goes to the complete rhyme now
of your team and stoops has to be just furious.
I mean, the guy has to be read as a
tomato right now. Don't you think like it's just well,
I mean, look at this as a childhood friend that
ends up leaving and betraying you.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Like and going back to what you were talking about
in a minute ago about the timing of this, I
completely agree with you on that the timing is very suspect.
When coaches leave, it's normally within a week or two,
sometimes longer, but usually a week or two after the
season ends for it to happen. And you know, in
the middle of June. It tells me that something had
to be going on behind the scenes. You know, did
(10:51):
did something happen between Vince and Stoops? I think clearly
there was some friction going on there. Uh you know,
did Vince come to the realization that the Kentucky football
is a sinking ship and he wants to jump off
of it before it hits rock bottom? I think there
could be some truth to that too. So yeah, I mean,
for this to happen in June is not normal. It's
not a typical thing to have a coach just leave
(11:14):
in the middle of the summer, or you know, in
the middle of June, let's call it.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Well.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
To add to that timing, you have athletic departments trying
to decide how much money to allocate to these school
or to these programs, right, and you know, Kentucky has
a decision to make how much money will they give
to men's basketball, how much will they give to football?
So the timing of this is awful, like you said,
but you know, we can appreciate Vince's twelve years but
also realize that him leaving signifies I think what people
(11:42):
inside the football program think about what's going on as well. Yeah, right,
Because I mean, we can talk about it and lament
and have people call in. But when when you have
people like your lead recruiter and the guy that's been
there every single year that Stoops has leaving like that
for the rival school, Shannon the Ovenor's Cup. At the
end of the year, Vince is gonna be in red.
(12:03):
I mean, maybe not on the sideline, but hell, he
is going to be there representing Louisville. It's it's just unbelievable.
And I cannot wait to hear when Vince joins Matt.
He's gonna have to join KSR at some point, don't
you think.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Oh, Vince, I don't think so. Oh yeah, Vince has
got it. Vince is now he is going He's gonna
join Matt. No, I think he'll be on Louisvell Talk Radio.
I mean, why, what motivation does he have to be
on KSR anymore? I think Stoops needs to get on KSR.
I think Vince is, I mean, what you're You're at Louisville.
Now you're gonna go on the Lovell media outlet. You're
(12:37):
not gonna go to Kentucky. I don't think. I mean,
maybe I'm wrong, but I don't I don't think he
comes on KSR. You know, one person wrote yesterday and
I saw this, and I'm going this is incredibly short sighted.
They go, great, we just went from a four and
eight team to a four and eight team. Okay, well,
maybe maybe this year that's true. You know, maybe they
still finish four and eight with or without Vince Merrill.
(12:57):
But I'm talking about the long term effect of this.
This isn't a short term thing losing Vince Merrow. I
think this is a long term problem for Kentucky because
we're talking about your top recruiter. What's going to happen
after if we go four and eight? Okay, how are
you going to rebuild to get back to a seven
and five team. You've got to have good recruits. Your
top recruiter just left. I'm talking about the impact of
(13:20):
Vince Merrill leaving and how it's going to impact this
program for possibly years to come unless you get somebody
who is on the same level of a recruiter as
Vince Merrill. And I'm telling you, Billy, there are very
very few of those. You could probably count them on
one hand that exists.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
So well, you go four and eight, they're not going
to be an opportunity to get other recruits and build
the program back. I mean, you go four and eight,
I think there's a chance that you're fired, and so
it brings, you know, credence to your point of is
this a sinking ship? And you know, maybe he sees
the writing on the wall. I've seen that phrase written
a couple of times.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
But but I mean I believe that you know, if
they went four and eight, that Vince Merrill could still
bring in some good recruits and get this team. I'm
not going to say back to a ten win season,
but bring them back to Providence a little bit. I
think that you know, when you lose your top guy
or your second guy, there are bigger issues going on
behind the scenes, I believe than what we are aware of.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Well, you could be cynical and you could say, are
you going to lose out on some three star recruits
in Ohio now that Vince Marrow isn't on the with
the program.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Yeah, but if you get a two star recruit now
in Ohio, you know, I mean, it's things aren't going on.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
It's a transfer portal now, it's completely different. I mean,
it's going to be upfront money to these guys. That
have already played years in the SEC. So I mean
to play devil's advocate. I mean, could you transition into
that new world of recruiting, Sure, but I mean, well
to forget the twelve years of what Vince Marrow has
done and.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
No, no, no, no, I appreciate what he did here, absolutely, Again,
I appreciate what he did here, But now he's he's
at your rival school. And that also will come back
to you're talking about the transfer portal. Yah, it's going
to come back down to what Matt was talking about yesterday.
When these schools get their twenty one million or whatever
the number is, how do you allocate that? And if
(15:07):
you're Kentucky, you're traditionally a basketball school and you've got
other basketball you know, programs out there that are spending
more money on their their basketball program. Let's say they're
spending ten million in Kentucky is only able to spend
six or seven million and give it to football. You
can't do that. So my point is there that you're
going to be taking possibly more money from the football
(15:30):
program and maybe you're going to miss out on some
of these transfer portals because you simply don't have the
ni O money to pay them.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Yeah, how do you keep up in the new SEC
where there isn't an East and West. You've got even
more schools that are going to make it even harder
to get to that ten win mark. Ever again with
Oklahoma and Texas. So look, there's there's not an easy answer.
And you know, unfortunately that Louisville game may go off
the schedule if they move forward with the nine game
conference schedul or the big ten thing that they want
(15:57):
to do. But nevertheless, it's a gut punch, I think
to the fan base.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
I mean it's it's a gut punch, a slap in
the face. However you want to metaphorically put it.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
It is I want to hear from I want to
hear from Vince. You kind of poop pooed the idea.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
No, No, he's still got a connection with a lot
of people in the state. I'm not probably peaking with
the idea. I'm just saying I doubt that he would
want to come on Kentucky Sports Radio. Evince wants to
come on Kentucky Sports Radio, come on, let's do it.
I'm not saying that we would say no, absolutely, we
would say yes. I'm just saying, do you think he
would want to do that when he's now a card
L one C four, l's down, that he would Oh
my god, I mean, think about all the time, think
(16:33):
about all the times he would do l's down and
now he's he's he's l's up. That's where we're at
with this. It's absolutely Do you feel betrayed or do
you feel like it's just a business like that.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
That's kind of my question of the day.
Speaker 5 (16:45):
Man.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
There are how many NCAA Division.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
One programs on hundred thirty plus?
Speaker 1 (16:50):
I think no, there's over three hundred, oh maybe hundred
thirty plus. So you did you did say one hundred
and thirty plus, there's over there's over three hundred.
Speaker 6 (17:00):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
They keep adding them in, maybe even close to four hundred.
At this point, you could have chosen any of those schools,
and you went to the most bitter rival U of L.
And that is unforgivable. Eight five nine two, twenty two
eighty seven. We want to hear from you. Give us
a call and we'll take your calls. Coming up next
here on the KSR pre Show. All right, welcome back.
It is the KSR pre Show. Eighty five nine two
(17:23):
eight oh twenty two eighty seven. The lines are loaded, Billy,
So we're going to get to the calls in just
a minute at Shannon the Dude at Billy our Sports
on Twitter. Yeah, one person writes in his you know
I said long term the long term effects of this.
One person says long term Stoops is toast after this year,
Merroll wasn't coming back anyway. Well maybe, but maybe not.
(17:45):
I don't know. I can't see into the future. Who's
to say that if Stoops were to get fired or
were to leave, and who's to say that Vince Merrill
wouldn't still be here. Maybe he would. He's clearly without
Stoops right now, so why would he not possibly stick
a Kentucky without Stoops if he were to stay. I'm
not I'm not one hundred percent in on that. I mean,
maybe maybe he leaves off Stoops or to leave after
(18:07):
next season, but maybe not. You don't know that.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Maybe the Vince or maybe Vince is the next man
up in that situation, maybe you'd want to hire him.
But you know, this has been a bit for a while,
right It's been Michigan, Michigan State, I mean Toledo. Vince
has entertained many offers for many years. And while he
was a big part of what Mark stoops in, this
program has become over the last twelve years. It's you know,
(18:31):
it's a what have you done for me lately? Society,
and lately it's been abysmal. Shannon and Vince made a
business decision to go to a program that seems to
be on the rise.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Right now, Let's just go to the phones. Let's go
to Mark. What's up, Mark? You get the first word,
what's up?
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Hey, Mark?
Speaker 4 (18:47):
More than gentlemen, just kind of what you were talking about.
Though we haven't been super competitive and we're all worried
about a four and eight year anyway, And if he's
our lead recruiting, maybe it's time for change. Maybe we're
you know, maybe maybe he's doing us a favor. You know,
it's it's not the end of the world, and it
(19:08):
is what it is at the end of the day.
But in my mind, hey, good luck to the events.
I hate to see you go to Louisville. But maybe
this is a help stepping stone for soups and recruiting
and becoming more competitive in the SEC, because right now
we are competitive in the SEC. Mart it's time for change.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
I don't know, man, I'm saying, Yeah, we went four
and eight last year, but let's not pretend it can't
get worse than that, because it can. We've seen that,
you know, it's point before Stoops was here. We saw
that with Joker Phillips. So you know, my thought is
kind of the opposite of what you're saying. Mark. I'm saying,
if we're four and eight with a great recruiteral events,
what's gonna happen when we don't have a great recruiteral events.
We could be talking about a two win season.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
So I think a better recruiter we can hire.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Yeah, they've got but they don't grow on trees, you know.
It's it's they're hard to find. And while maybe the
two or two or last three years have been severely disappointing,
you know, we can't argue the results of who he's
brought in and been able to develop. But let's not
you know, he's also a tight Ends coach, Shannon, and
we've talked for years how bad the tight Ends have been,
(20:15):
so maybe they can improve in that category as well.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Mark, yep, one hundred percent. I mean it's unfortunate, Yes,
it sucks. I hate that he's gone to Louisville. But
maybe this is, just like I said, just a different
look and a different avenue that we need and a
path that we.
Speaker 6 (20:31):
Need to.
Speaker 7 (20:33):
Bring it up.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
Is okay, let's go. Let's go find that guy.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Thanks for the call, Mark, appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Mark.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
So there you go, first caller saying maybe it's not
that big of a deal. I feel like it's a
huge deal, you know, I disagree.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Well, look, I'm usually the optimistic bordering a naive one,
and it's it's nice to hear somebody like Mark say
something like that, but it's it's tough to turn this
into a positive right now.
Speaker 1 (20:54):
I can't Vince is Yeah, I can't downplay I can't
downplay Vince leaving and go, oh, it's no big deal.
You know, maybe we need somebody to you know, I
could have been talked into that, maybe, you know, on
the basketball side of things, when the ship was sinking
with Calip Perry. But you know, again, it's Kentucky football
we're talking about here. The standard has never been all
(21:15):
that high for Kentucky football.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
But the similarities between Call and Stoops is just incredible.
I mean, with like Robic and Welch and all these
coaches leaving in the in the year prior to the
last year, and the term writing on the wall as
we see these coaches leave like that, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
I mean, it's got to motivate Mark Stoops, there's no time.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Let's get one more in here before the break, got
only a minute, Lance, go ahead quickly, Lance.
Speaker 8 (21:38):
Uh yeah.
Speaker 6 (21:38):
I just want people to remember Rick left us for
the NBA and then he came back to Louisville. He
didn't go from louisll to Kentucky. What Vince did is
far worse. So make sure all these fans the same
energy we brought where Rick and his family and his
wife and all of them weren't welcome in Lexington. That
same energy needs to come to Vince. And if you
(21:59):
look at it is recruiting Lim Bowden, Dane Key, barry
On Brown or Jagger Burton. He has recruited a lot
of the discipline problems that have caused the downfall of
our program in the last few years, especially with Key
and Brown. So him leaving when Brom's been baggining for years,
letting go, let him sink their program.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
Thanks for the call Lance appreciate it. Yeah, you and
I were talking about a big difference between going from
one school to a the NFL or NBA then coming
back failing somewhere too. Yeah, we'll be right back, kosurpre show,
Welcome back. It is the KSR pre show shot him
the dude, Billy Rutledge. We had cut off by the
heartbreak there on that last segment, Billy. But to the
caller's point, yeah, it is more egregious to leave from
(22:44):
Kentucky and go straight to Louisville. You know. With Rick,
you know, at least he went to the NBA for
a few years then came, you know, back to Louisville.
But going straight for Kentucky to Louisville, you don't see
that a whole lot. And the other thing is like
Vince was so beloved, you know, like he would come
on the show. We love talking to him. You know,
(23:04):
he would get up on stage with Alice Blue Gown
and sing simple Man in Nashville at the SEC Tournament.
And now we got to dislike the guy. It's just, man,
it's such a gut punch. The good thing is, I guess,
as Cliff pointed out yesterday, we won't have to do
simple Man ever again. Now, so we only learned that
one just for Vince down in extishow.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
No more simple Man.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
No, we're retiring that one.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Okay, Well, you know there is a clear difference with Patino.
But Patino also said, which has been pointed out on
the text line, that he regretted leaving Kentucky, and I
wonder if Vince will ever feel that.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I think it all depends on how things go at Louisville.
You know, if he has great success there and you know,
doesn't get involved in a stripper scandal, he may not
say that. So one of two ways, the NBA Finals
are here. Game three is tomorrow night, and this is
your last chance to bet on the NBA until next season.
So get in on the action with DraftKings Sportsbook and
(23:57):
official sports betting partner of the NBA. Hey, they're pulling
out all the stops to make this the Finals to remember,
and you can try placing a bet on your personal
MVP to drop thirty forty, maybe even over fifty. If
you're ready to place your first bet, you can download
the DraftKings Sports Book app, lock in your bets, and
finish the season as a winner. If you're a new customer,
sign up with promo code KSR. When you do that,
(24:18):
you bet five dollars and if your first bet hits
and wins, you're going to get three hundred dollars in
bonus bets. Again, that's for new customers. Promo code KSR.
Bet five, your bet wins, you get three hundred dollars
in bonus bets. Only on DraftKings the Crown is yours.
Gambling problem Call one eight one hundred Gambler eighteen plus
Kentucky only. Eligibuddy restrictions apply. Bet must win to receive reward,
(24:38):
minimum minus five hundred odds required. Bonus bets expire one
hundred and sixty eight hours after issuance. For additional terms
and responsible gaming resources, see DKNG dot co slash audio
our number here on the pre show eight five to
nine two eight oho twenty two eighty seven. And we've
got the phone lines loaded, so let's just keep going
to them. Let's go to Joe. What's up? Joe?
Speaker 5 (25:00):
Yeah, thank y'all quickly. On the first thing is Duke
and Murray State. For Duke fans, that was not a
good loss last night. I know nationally we're going to
portray it as all of Murray State. But for Duke fans,
that was not a good loss on this Merrill, bad mistake,
(25:22):
UK sugarcoat. It just stay away from him, a minority
hall of mister Merrill, and everything will be all right.
And my last advice is hower Benny Snell to take
his place. Benny. No, the state of Ohio probably just
as good as that would be my recommendation. And then
when summer all it takes over, hopefully he'll retain Benny
(25:44):
and we'll have our career up north in Ohio.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Thanks a lot, goodbye, Okay, thank you.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Joe.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
You know, Jeff Badett is a former Kentucky player that
was online last night talking about the situation, and he
was I think it was him that was calling for
more alumni to be on the coach staff and things
like that. So I kind of like Joe's idea of
bringing back a Benny Snell or somebody that can be
a representative. But I'm glad you brought up Murray State
because that was a hell of a win last Yes,
(26:11):
I thought that would be what we would lead with
until I saw this story. You texted me yesterday, You're like,
holy blank, And I'm like, did you mean to send
that text to me? You're like, yeah, go, look what's
going on with Kentucky football. So I was just sitting
there and you know, just just doing my thing and
nothing really going on, and I got that text for me, Like, Okay,
now I know what we're talking about tomorrow. We will
take your calls in just a second. But yeah, since
(26:33):
you brought up the Murray State duke game, congratulations to
Murray State.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
First ever trip to the College World Series and a
wild finish. I mean, did you watch all that game?
Did you see the ending? So Murray State's up by one,
bottom of the ninth, Duke has one runner on with
one out, ground ball to the shortstop. It looks like
it could be a double play, but then the Duke
player sliding into second is called if I guess, interference
(27:02):
was called on the runner, and that effectively was an
automatic double play, which would have ended the game and
sent Murray State to the College World Series. So as
soon as that is called, of course, Murray State dog
piles on the enfield. They're celebrating, they're going crazy. You know,
some of the players have taken their jersey off you
know they're going to the College World Series. Then the
(27:24):
duke head coach calls for instant replay, turns out the
calls overturned. And imagine that, Billy, I mean, imagine the
roller coaster of emotions that you've got when you think that, okay,
we're going to the College World Series. Then they go,
wait a minute, the guy at first is safe. You
got to still get one more out.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
Now.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Imagine if Duke had, you know, oh my, I hit
it hit a two run homer or something like. I
almost thought that's what's going to happen now because they
lost their focus. They thought they had already, you know,
secured a trip to the College World Series. You got
to go back out there and have laser focus and
get one more out. I've never seen a finish like
that before in baseball, have you.
Speaker 9 (28:00):
No?
Speaker 2 (28:00):
I started acting like Ryan Lemon. I got underneath the table, Shannon,
I mean, I was so nervous. If Murray State would
have lost that game after that premature dog pile, yeah,
it would have been an all timer, maybe one of
like the most I think historic losses when it comes
to like just bizarre circumstances. But you're right, Runner, interference,
they get one more batter, but luckily they were able
(28:21):
to get the out and Murray State advanced to their
first College World Series. Did they even have an NCAA
tournament win before this this tournament started. It's it's been
an incredible run and uh, really excited to get behind
this team and root from in Omah.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
I guess it's even sweeter though, when you get to
have two dog piles, you know, you get to celebrate twice,
I guess.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
But I mean, let's say somebody turns an ankle.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
In that dog pole the second look like the second
baseman got hurt on that play, you know, he went down.
That's when they called the interference and then he was
sort of hobbling over, uh, you know, to celebrate, and
then they had to go right back out there and
get another out.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Good game too, I mean Murray State a little back
and forth, had to come back late, a couple of
solo shots. So really happy for them, and you know,
hopefully they can keep it wrong.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
That's the thing instant replays calls too, like it's never
over until like you know, you would have that great moment,
but then no, it was taken away from them. They
had to go back out there and do it all. Well,
there's point two second, I can finger tip that into
the basket like in basketball when the crowd rushes, go oh,
we got get everybody off the court, you know. Then
it takes twenty minutes and we got to put that
two tenths of a second back on for it for
it to be a disaster. Yeah, last night, but happy
(29:27):
for the Racers. Hey, Jason, you're up next. What's up?
Speaker 9 (29:31):
Hey?
Speaker 10 (29:31):
Do you think that the SEC discussions about the equity
sharing might have an effect on the football team because
they're saying Kentucky basketball was complaining about that, but I
think it was more the university than just the basketball program.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
Well yeah, yeah, sure. I Mean, if if Kentucky decides
to allocate more money towards basketball and less towards football,
then there's gonna be some programs that are gonna go
all in on football or all in on basketball. So
it's gonna create a really interesting situation to where some
schools are going to have to determine which one is
(30:04):
more important to us. Do we want to focus on,
you know, try to balance this out between football and basketball,
or do we want to go all in on basketball.
Do we want to go in all all in on football?
You know, football is going to be the money driver, right,
That's gonna be what makes you the most money for
the school is always going to be football. So you know,
(30:24):
how do you look at a football program that's bringing
in the majority of your money and go, well, you
know what, we're gonna give you less and give it
over here to basketball? Because historically Kentucky as a blue
blood that probably didn't sit right with So yeah, and
then like, okay, how does that affect a coaching search?
For instance, Like let's say let's say after this year
Stoops is out and you know, Barnhardt has determined that
(30:44):
we're going to give less let's just say in theory
to Kentucky football. How does an incoming coach go, you
know what, I don't I don't know that I want
to go play for that school because they're not taking
football as seriously as school be over here, who is
dumping an extra five, six, seven million dollars into their program.
It's gonna be interesting to see when all this plays out.
Speaker 10 (31:06):
Yeah, do you think that the SEC may start looking
at them the same way and say, hey, if these
schools are gonna concentrict more in baseball or basketball that
we're gonna maybe drop them and get programs in that
want to focus solely on football.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Yeah. I don't know, it's a great question. I could
see that maybe playing out that way, but Billy, I'm
not really sure how it's going to play out. We're
just to it's gonna be one of these things we
don't have to wait and see. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Yeah, they'll be varying motivation levels from different schools to
how much money they give to each different program. But
you know, Kentucky's gonna give more the basketball, right, Sure,
that's just tradition, that's the history. So maybe somebody like
Vincies that would rather go somewhere where they'll give more.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
To If you're Alabama, if you're Georgia, you're gonna give
more to football, right. If you're like a school like Vandy,
you might give more to women's basketball, baseball, and you
know what, maybe even I don't know if they have
scholarships in bowling, Billy, but they're more of a bowling
goal than they are, you know, a football school.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
So I'll say that lightly.
Speaker 2 (32:04):
I mean, they've beaten Kentucky at home the last two
times that San Diego Pavia. Yeah, became a sensation last
year they beat Alabama. That they've had more recent success
in the last.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Two or three years than the Kentucky Yeah, so maybe
that's why we should be so upset.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
That the lead recruiter is gone for your four and
eight seasons.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Yep, Jason, we appreciate thanks for the call. See yeah,
I am really intrigued as to how they're going to
each school allocate, you know, money to different programs. And
like Matt was saying, you know, if you're Saint John's,
you don't have football, so you just take all the
money and dump it into basketball. You gotta love that.
If you're Rick Patino, right.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Well, that reality has been set for a long time though, right,
I mean every duke football player has to know that
everybody cares more about the basketball team, right And if.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
You're doing baseball though your one went away from the
College World Series, they have a good program for baseball.
So I don't know, I don't know. Let's go to Jeff.
What's up, Jeff, Hey, Jeff.
Speaker 9 (33:00):
Daan, and what's going on with you in ble.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
We are just studying here, solving all the world's problems,
you know, that's what we do.
Speaker 9 (33:10):
I'll tell you. Look there there's just no loyal to
your sports is all you loyal to amongst friends anymore?
I mean, look between Mark and Benson. You know you
can come up with different reasons as to why events left,
but the timing of why he left, something happened. And
we know you're never going to get the story. You
you want students to come on, and man, he's not.
They're not going to air their dirty laundry, you know,
(33:33):
they're they're they're gonna be pros about it. So even
if he does come on, you're not going to get
the story. You're going to get some kind of coach feed. Yeah,
f my avengion. My opinion, I think it has something
to do with the disciplinary issues that I think Mark
kind of put in trusted in vents, you know, because
he's doing so many other things with N I L
(33:55):
and everything else, that I think he put a little
bit of that on Vince that you know, hey, I
entrusted in you these kids inline and you screwed me.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Yeah, what was that in the air? Mario?
Speaker 2 (34:11):
Sorry Mario, Yeah, he just came in here, Okay.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
Yeah, Jeff, I mean to your point. I mean, you know,
you can only trust what coaches say on the air
with the grain of salt. To begin with. You know
your coaches speak all the time. But will you hear
you know, a coach come on and go yes, I
will be here next year. I didn't believe it last year.
And I've talked about that the day that happened. Yeah, yeah,
(34:39):
and I didn't.
Speaker 9 (34:39):
I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
I didn't quite trust what he was saying when he
said it in the moment, just based on his demeanor.
So Jeff got right, man, I appreciate it.
Speaker 10 (34:48):
Hey, thank you.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
J Yeah, go ahead, go ahead, Jee.
Speaker 9 (34:54):
As far as a Patino issue, yes, he didn't strike
to Louisville or Ralph Hacker. I asked him a long
time ago on the radio show if he would ever
go to Louisville, and Patino said no, he would never
go to Louisville or Indiana. He would not do that
to the Kentucky fans. Ralph Packer played that audio after
Patino took the Louisville job. Ralph Packer was really upset
(35:16):
with Rick from doing that. But anyway, so we can
we can always appeal that oh Rick didn't go straight
to Louisville. But he knew that no matter what what
they was going to do whenever he took that job.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
So yeah, thanks for the coach. Anyway, we appreciate Jeff
speaking of playing audio of coaches saying they would never
go to Louisville. I have the audio from Iowa City
when KSR was live and the pizza rancher ran. I
remember that. I can remember it. We were sitting there
in the in the party room, Billy, not just not
just in pizza, we were in the we're VIP pizza
(35:50):
ranchers in Iowa City, and there was these rumors that
were swirling about Vince Merrow taking this job at Louisville,
and he wanted to come on and clear the air.
And at this very moment, I was like, you know
what something's up.
Speaker 11 (36:03):
Do you?
Speaker 7 (36:04):
I mean, I do think it's I just wanted to
make sure everybody's clear. You expect to be in Lexington
next year, yes.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Yep, yes, no, no, no, I knew you could hear
the hesitation in his voice. It was almost like somebody
being held hostage.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
But look, that's the time to do it, right. What
month was that?
Speaker 2 (36:29):
I mean, that was like December or right around there, December,
the December, Yeah, that's the time when some of the
coaches should leave, not in the middle of June, right like,
not a few months before the season gets started. That's
I think that's probably the biggest sore spot of this
entire thing because to a degree, like the caller said,
I don't know if Marrow is tethered to Stoops for
every single year that he's at Kentucky. I mean, guys
(36:51):
can can take other jobs, but one you go to
the rival and two you do it in June. I
think it puts your best friend Mark Stoops in a
tough spot.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
So I think, you know, going back to that rumor
again that was on December of the second, I think
that there was some truth to it then, and I
think that behind the scenes, this was all being worked
out for the last six months. And I think that's
why on June the ninth, we get the announcement that
Vince Merrill was leaving Kentucky to go to litl Bow
(37:19):
eight five nine to eighth, twenty two eighty seven. We'll
take more of your phone calls coming up next in
our final segment of the ksrppre Show Final segment of
the KSR pre show eight five nine two, eight oh
twenty two eighty seven KSRS up next, And I'm sure
Ma's gonna have a lot to say about this. Vince
Merrow going to Its going to be all right?
Speaker 3 (37:35):
Do you feel like it's going to be all right? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (37:38):
I don't know. I'm not sure. I didn't pick that
song based off of the look. You didn't? That was
just the right, was just yeah. You know, when you're
producing and you're hosting, you're trying to find a song.
You look up and there's twenty seconds left, you kind
of grab what'sever front, you know, whatever's in front of you.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
So well, I mean, even when you're not prepared, you're prepared.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
That's right. Uh, let's try to squeeze in a few
more calls before ksruh. Let's go to Dave. What's up? Dave?
Speaker 8 (38:00):
Hey, Dave, Hey, how's it going guys?
Speaker 1 (38:02):
All right? Man?
Speaker 5 (38:04):
Hey man. All I got to.
Speaker 8 (38:06):
Say is Vince did his best recruiting for Kentucky and
it wasn't good enough for the SEC. So he might
want us go to acc where he can dominate a
little bit.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Well, I mean it will be easier, that's for sure.
I mean the SEC, you know, I guess you could
argue with it if you wanted to, But I think
the SEC is the dominant conference in college football. So yeah,
I would say going from there to the ACC is
a big ten.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Win seasons as well, though, I mean it was good
enough for the SEC for many years, it was good
enough for us. Yeah, I mean they raised the status
of this program. I don't think you can you can
argue that. Dave all right, he appreciate it that with
the call. Yeah, I'm speechless.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
Well that's true. I mean we went from Joker Phillips
to a couple of ten win seasons, you know, going
to a bowl on a consistent basis. Remember where we
were when it was just make Kentucky Bowl eligible again.
Then we got bowel eligible, and then it wasn't you know,
a good enough bowl. So you know, again, you can't
downplay the great job that Vince Merrill did here at
(39:12):
Kentucky throughout his time. There's no doubt about it. He brought,
you know, along with Stoops, this team to a level
that I didn't think we would ever see.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
But you know, sometimes you can find success and then
get complacent, right, you expect the same same things to
work over and over again, and it wasn't working over
the past few years, so both can be true.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
Let's go to Scott. What's up, Scott?
Speaker 11 (39:33):
Hey, how you guys doing good? Scott just wanted to
comment on the dirty dog. I don't call him big
dog any more.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
Dirty dog. Okay, dirty dogs, big dog, a little bit
of a dirty dog.
Speaker 11 (39:42):
Okay, you got that right. But I'm glad. I'm glad
Vince went ahead and stepped out. You know, it's fine
if you want to go a little will do whatever.
But the timings terrible. This is the busiest recruiting time
that there is. You walk out on our program and
leave us with nothing. But he hasn't done anything in
the past couple of year, is bringing in that big
four five star guy. So I think it is time
(40:03):
to make a change. And I think it also shadows
of Stups is going to be out after this year.
If he does never tremendous year, it's time to just
have an overhaul and see what can bring some excitement
back to the game.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
Thanks for the call, Scott, appreciate it. You know, just
talking about you know, the offensive line coach and you
know the loyalty or the lack of loyalty that he
had showed by leaving and going to Alabama. And I
was like, well, you know you got Vince Merrill though,
you know, Vince Merrill has always been loyal, and I
was just bragging on him. What was it two weeks ago,
three weeks ago, when we were having this conversation when
(40:35):
the old line just got a raise, one hundred thousand
dollars raise, I would say, you know, Vince Merrill is
the guy that has stuck with us, and now when
you lose that piece, Billy, now all bets are off.
You know, when you lose that guy, your number two guy,
and the guy that you think, up to that point
had been the most loyal coach that you had next
to Mark Stoops to leave, now anything could happen at
(40:57):
this point.
Speaker 3 (40:57):
Well, let's add on to that.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
I mean, Liam Cohen was a guy and you had
gone through what seven offensive coordinators in seven or eight years.
He had told you he's coming back, and then he
had some surprise last minute meeting with the Jaguars and
ends up, you know, not holding up his end of
the bargain.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
So it's you know, I alluded to that earlier.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
It kind of feels like the Janga tower has just
been falling apart, and at.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
Some point that comes down to one person though. It
comes down to your head coach, right ultimately, I mean somebody, Yeah,
somebody has to answer to that, and whether it's fair
or not. When you're the head coach, you have to
ultimately answer to why your assistants are leaving, you know.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
So, do you think we hear from Stoops within the week,
Shannon or I would hope radio silence.
Speaker 1 (41:38):
I would hope you so like, you know, being silent
like they've been throughout the summers one thing. But after
you lose a guy like Vince Merrow, I think you've
got to come out and say something. You've got to
say something. Draft Kings. You got to say Draft Kings
promo code KSR bet five if you're a new customer.
If your bet wins, you're gonna ge three hundred dollars
in bonus bets. It's only on Draft Kings only with
promo code KSR. KSR is coming up next. This has
(41:59):
been the pre jo over Billy Rollits. I'm Shannon the Dude.
Thanks for listening. See it
Hosts And Creators
Shannon Grigsby
Billy Rutledge
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.