August 29, 2025 • 43 mins
In the final hour of the show, the guys give you their predictions for Week 1 of CFB with the help of Chris Reynolds, talk with Mike Hill about Charlotte 49ers athletics ahead of the opener and walk it off with their predictions for Charlotte-App State.
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):
You were listening to the West and Walker Show. I
remember one recruiting victory that you did get. It's Wes.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
I know you remember my quarterback Paul Trot and he
and I came up there to East Carolina for a visit.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
In Walker Van's high school. Offensive lineman. Big Kid eventually
went to Florida. Do you remember Wes Bryant out of
Vance High there coach only on Sports Radio ninety two
point seven FM WFNZ. If Florida had come along, and
that young man told me he wanted to come to
East Carolina, I probably wouldn't take him because I think
he was not really bright.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
And just like that, we return on the West and
Walker Show. The two o'clock hour begins. It's almost party time.
I can Phil Walker over there. Just he can taste
that beer right now, you know what I'm saying, Chris
and he could TASiS.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
These two are ready to go.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
So now, man, great college football weekend, arguably the best
we've ever had. I hope it lives up to it.
So it is time for the season debut of balling
or falling?
Speaker 1 (01:07):
You know what to do? Baby drop that intro?
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Well, mean, doctor Beshet, you can't see my eyes bless
my head.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Has been show. I like some solid all right, let's
get to it.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Man.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
A lot of great games, not a lot of time,
so let's do it. Virginia Tech at number thirteen South
Carolina from Atlanta. This is the first meeting between these
two since nineteen ninety one. South Carolina Hole is an
eleven seven and two advantage all time in this series.
The Game Cocks on a five to one advantage. In
both Columbia and Blacksburg. The Hokies have won three or
(02:01):
four games played at neutral sites. But those neutral sights,
and I put the air quotes up, they were in
the state of Virginia. Shane Beamer owns a three and
three record against opponents from the ACC.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I will start this thing off, Kyle Bailey.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I love your baby, but I think Leonor's Sellers and
the Game Cox are gonna come out and make an
opening weekend statement.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Give me the Game Cox at home?
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Okay? So you gots all right? So he said, the
Game Cocks gonna be.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
Ball, and that's two balls they are with Leonora Sellers.
Coach Beemer after watching that Netflix documentary Give Me the
Game Cox.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
How much of a fan are you if Leonora sellers
real quick.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
I just think he's a freak.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Man.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
He's a freak. He does things that that many people
can do.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
With the football. I'm gonna go South Carolina. We did
this in team vague.
Speaker 6 (02:45):
I think South Carolina is gonna win every single game
up until I forget the first loss that I had
this suffering, but I got him. I think nine and
three on the year. This is not one of the lasses,
all right.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Man, And I got to get myself in shape, in
season shape, okay, because we're supposed to be saying who
wins and who will be or that they will be
balling when we talk about the local team here. So anyway,
all right, moving on, these are not local teams that
we have here. Notre Dame in Miami. Notre Dame six
seven and one when playing at Miami. Two signs have
met just four times since nineteen ninety. Carson Beck comes
(03:17):
over from Georgia. He's twenty four and three as a
starter in the FBS, and Notre Dame is two twenty
eighty four and three against ACC teams and has gone
ninety forty two and three in ACC away games. This
is going to be a massive massive game for Miami
and Mario Cristobaul. Give me the Miami Hurricanes to be
(03:39):
balling against the Notre Dame fighting Irish.
Speaker 5 (03:43):
This is tough, man, you know, going down to Miami,
you know Notre Dame traveling all the way down there.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
But I just love Marcus Freeman and.
Speaker 5 (03:51):
I love me too what he's built there at Notre
Dame culture wise, and these players just want to play
for him.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
And I see that momentum carrying into this year. Give
me Notre Dame.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Completely agree with you.
Speaker 6 (04:02):
If this game comes down to coaching, Yes, Mark, guess
who it comes down to in game coaching wise, because
Christ of ball, he'll lose you a game, he win game.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Freeman isn't going to really do that.
Speaker 6 (04:13):
One thing about Notre Dame I'm interested in seeing this
year is if the passing game opens up with CJ.
Carr compared to what they had with Riley Leonard, who
I like at QB, but a lot of his prowess
was running the football.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
CJ.
Speaker 6 (04:25):
Carr apparently can sling it, and I'm interested to see
if their offense looks vastly different, especially with Love being
a top tier running back.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I think Notre Dame's gonna win this game.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yeah, man, I'm just thinking about that last time that
they played, and you know Miami, when they get a
big opponent at home, that place is a mad house
and I feel like that they'll feed off it. But
we shall see tc you at North Carolina. Baby, first
meeting between these teams since nineteen ninety seven. Carolina's three
and oh all time versus the horn Frogs. CCU was
(04:54):
led by Josh Hoover, won the Big Twelves best and
one of the nation's best at quarterback.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
They have a dynamic passing attack.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
They bring back eight on defense from a team that
went nine and four last season. We know the North
Carolina Tar Hills seventy new players, but we also know
that the master mind is gonna be roaming the sidelines.
We know that he's probably been cooking up this game
plan for TCU since last year. If he watched the
TCU game, he probably already started planning and preparing himself
(05:22):
to take this job at North Carolina. And for that reason,
and what I think will be the greatest home environment
for a season opener in Tar Hills history, the tar Heels.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Will be bawling and get the bitch for Bill Belichick. Man,
I'm gonna have to count you there. Man, here's my thing.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
Everybody's talking about Carolina, Yod's talking about Bill Belichick in
the NFL mindset. You know, I just think, you know,
there's gonna be a couple of hiccups, you know, translating
his mindset there back to the college game. You know,
it's not easy translated like that. With a bunch of
returners for TCU Carolina, a bunch of turnover a returning
pass game receiver, corps strong.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
I gotta go with.
Speaker 6 (05:59):
Tc All the returners that you had coming back offensively
and defensively is the reason I'm going with TCU. Like
some sneaky college football playoff expectations for the horn Frogs
this year with some of the guys that they're bringing back,
and so because the stability is the name of the game.
With stars, it's not just normal returning starters. You got
some stars on both sides for them. I got TCU
winning the opener even if it is two.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So Carolina will be falling. It's all you're just saying,
all right, moving on to one of the biggies to
start the day off, baby, right at noon, you get
you a big breakfast.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
This is steak and eggs right here.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
This ain't no you know muffin and you know something continental.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
This is a big boy breakfast.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Texas number one in the land, number three Ohio State,
and Chris, I want some extra analysis from you when
I dropped one of these nuggets here. These two teams
meant just two hundred and thirty two days ago the
goodyear cotton bow Ohio State took them down twenty eight
to fourteen. Ohio State is six and fourteen all time
versus SEC member institutions. We've got two first time starters
(07:02):
in this game, Julian Saying and Arch Manning. In the
last twenty years, when a quarterback makes his first start
against the number one team, he is oh and eighteen winless.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
This is a very difficult game to pick.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
And I know what that stat says about oh and eighteen,
but give me young Arch Manning and Texas Longhorns to
go in there and be balling on Saturday one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Man.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
I don't know if everybody knows that last name, but
that's a Manning, right, and that's it's real, man, It's real.
That blood runs deep, right, there from grandfather. You know
he speaks for his grandson still this day. You know
they got a mindset to him. You're talking about two
rosters that are both filthy, strong, just dudes all over
the field. Obviously jeremih Smith is a beast, but you know,
first game of the year, Julian saying, I think Archman
(07:53):
has got a little bit more experience in ahead for this.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Give me Texas balling hold on now real quick.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
That that was the extra anoun says, that's that about
last twenty years quarterback making his first start against the
number one team owing eighteen and especially going on the road.
He doesn't get him at Austin as well. I mean,
what is the mindset for that? I mean, I remember
your first start. What do you feel like your mind
state would have been had you had to go up
against the number one team for your first ever start?
Speaker 5 (08:18):
Never try to do too much. You know you got
good players all the way around you can. You take
it one play at a time. And I've said it
all my career, but I really live and die by it.
One play at a time. Do what the play tells
you to do and get the ball to your playmakers.
There's no reason to push that shot down the field
when we're not ready for it yet. You know, keep
driving a ship, slow punch, slow punches, then you drop
the right hook, you know.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
I think Arch is capable of doing it.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
I think he is too.
Speaker 6 (08:38):
That's why I'm going with Texas to go into Columbus
and beat the Ohio State buck Guys. I do think
the Texans Texas Longhorns with Arch manning a little bit
of doubt. I guess with him just because we haven't
seen him a whole lot. I know people are questioning
whether we're putting too much stock into the surname or not.
I think he's the real deal. I do think he's
going to be awesome. So give me Texas in a
quarterback difference here being the biggest difference, I'm gonna go
(09:01):
with Argenton.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Yeah, and we swippering across the board.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
But Ohio State is the favorite in this game, so
we can't forget that as well. All right, baby, that
nightcap number nine LSU Brian Kelly and his loafers will
come down there to Clemson to take on Dabo Swingey
and his Nike Pegasus with the Clemson tccer guarb On it.
(09:25):
LSU is three and one all time against Clemson. The
most recent meeting, You remember that one, Joe Burrow and
the crew beating up breaks off at Clemson Tigers forty
two to twenty five in the National Championship Game. LSU's
roster very seasoned, even though they're retooling. Forty one players
have at least one FBS start to their credit, with
twenty two of those players having at least one start
(09:46):
in an LSU uniform. Clemson led the nation in ESPN's
Returning Production metric published in the spring twenty twenty five.
Squad has thirty six different players who entered the year
with at least one career start at Clemson. In this
game at Clemson's Memorial Stadium is the seventh matchup of
AP Top ten teams since the facility opened in nineteen
(10:07):
forty two. Okay, you got a great matchup going here,
this place. I can't wait to see this atmosphere, kid
klub Nick Garrett nussmaya great quarterback matchup. Clemson's defense is
loaded and we know the big NFL bodies that the
LSU Tigers are gonna bring. Walker Man, I'm staring off
into the heavens and I just envisioned all the trash
(10:27):
that Brian Kelly talked, and we want to play you know,
Big ten teams for non conference going on. Well, guess
what you're gonna want to play ACC teams again? After
Clemson gets in your keyster beats the breaks off. You know,
I'm not gonna say beats the breaks, but I think
this is gonna be a good game. Give me the
Clemson Tigers to be bawling on Saturday night.
Speaker 5 (10:48):
You want to talk about the Battle of Death Valley,
who can claim it? You know, two great rosters again,
different ways of building the rosters. You know, Dabblos really
got that graduation program. If you stick with us or
start paying you more, elsi's those pockets for you. A
quarterback battle I've ever seen one. You know, two great quarterbacks.
You know Garrett nels Meyer, whose data is I think
is the offensive coordinator for the Saints. Now, great mind,
(11:10):
great year. Last year they fought to get him back.
Kay Klubnick, a great touch on the interception ratio, is
going to protect the football, great players all the way around.
I like Kay Klubeck not, but I love Garrett Nelsmeyer.
Give me the tie the LSU Tigers more than Okay,
all right, huge dus Meyer fan myself, but I'm a
bigger Clemson fan of this game.
Speaker 6 (11:31):
Give me the Clemson Tigers to beat LSU. And despite
my love for Garrett Nusmeyer, I do think he's gonna
be a Heisman contender. I don't trust LSU's defense man.
They've been slipping the last couple of years. Brian Kelly
has not had that unit ballin. I do love what
they have at linebacker, but I keep looking at the
defensive lineman. The transfers that they got coming in, the
guys that are going to rely on are good, not great.
(11:52):
There's not any NFL draft picks on that side of
the ball. Clemson has NFL draft picks. They got three
in the top fifteen that are going to be selected.
And off offensively, we have Cater's also a Heisman contender.
It's the best wide receiving room that we've had down
at Clemson quite some time. I think Clemson wins by
double digits. All right, final, we hadn't forgot about you.
Back at the studio, man, who do you like out
(12:12):
of these crews? Virginia Tech, South Carolina?
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Quickly?
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Who you got there.
Speaker 7 (12:16):
I will go with South Carolina to be balling. I
will take Miami to be balling in the first game
of the season. Of course, I'm gonna go with TCU
to be balling in that one because I want to
shock everybody and maybe reverse jinks on that game. I'll
go with You know what, man, I feel really good
(12:36):
about Texas. But man, all you guys picking Texas has
me thinking Ohio State. I'm gonna go with Ohio State
be balling, and then Clemson I think will be balling
as well.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
All right, a couple quick picks before we get this
segment done.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
First off, let's just start real quick.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
We can say who is gonna be balling in these matchups,
Alabama and Florida State.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
I think Alabama's gonna be a bit too much.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
The line ons you ring your mouth too much and
you're about to take this whooping like when you got
in trouble at school and they had to call mama.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Alabama's gonna be balling.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
Yeah, Roll Tide gonna be balling. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
I'm gonna go with Alabama as well. They're gonna be
balling all right.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Coast of Carolina, Virginia, this is a sneaky little match
up that you're gonna want to be checking in on
as the evening progresses.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Uh, give me the Virginia Cavalier is to be balling, and.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
I agreed, Virginia. They're gonna get a Donahoma.
Speaker 6 (13:30):
Same thing, Virginia. I'm actually high on them this year.
I think they'll be Bowl eligible, they get a win.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
I think we are probably pretty universal here.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Kennasaw versus Wake West Broyn will be in the building tonight.
The Wake Forest Stephen Deacons better be balling the same thing.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
I won't go against your deeven Deacons in this, all right.
Another sneaky good game tonight.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Man. Georgia Tech and Colorado, But I think Georgia Tech
this year is gonna be the real deal. Colorado, man,
I think they will be good. But I like Georgia
Tech a lot. Haines King and the boys. Give me
Georgia Tech to be balling.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
I agree, man, a lot of returners, hard nose offensive line.
Hanes King's a baller, you know. I just I like
them a lot. I think they're top three a CEC
team exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Yeah, Yellow Jacket's gonna be balling here.
Speaker 6 (14:15):
I know, Flounders, a big fan of the back at
the Chandler Voulta studio. So am I I think Georgia
Tech is going to be an ac I don't even
know about dark Horse. I think people just outright respect
what's going on down there. I've got Georgia Tech balling
against the Buffs.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
All right, Well, that wraps up the first edition of
Balling or Falling.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
We'll see what happens this weekend.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
But next up, Mike Heal of the Charlotte forty nine
ers will join us on Sports ready than Chris, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, holds,
thank you.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Chris Reynolds appreciated joining us, man.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I was feeling like you said, But Chris, letting people
know one more time, man, where they can find you.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
CEE r QB Development dot Com.
Speaker 5 (14:52):
You can follow my social media Chris Reynolds Quarterback Training
or Twitter.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Chris Reynolds on his score three.
Speaker 5 (14:56):
Man, let me develop your quarterback, get him right with
the best of the best knowledge.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
All right, man, We're gonna let you go real this time.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
And we appreciate Tim is great and you will be
joining us this season, man, So we're gonna be having
a lot of great conversations.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Join us next.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
As I said, Mike Hill will be joining us Sports
Radio ninety two seven.
Speaker 6 (15:10):
WFNZ can't passive, people can't bassico. How many times you
think we danced to the bumper music today compared to
any other usual day.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Yeah, it's just that's the vibes, man, That's how it's going.
Speaker 6 (15:30):
The vibes are high around here at the doghouse. We
are live from the WFNZ Doghouse, powered by Jack Daniels.
We appreciate everybody joining us in the midday. We're getting
your set not only for college football weekend, but college
football tonight right here in the Queen City Bank of
America Stadium, the home of the Duke's Mayo Classic featuring
the app State Mountaineers and the Charlotte forty nine ers.
(15:53):
And we gave app their time yesterday, but it's been
all about the Charlotte forty nine ers today. It's a
damn family reunion around here. You got Chris Reynolds, thanks
to him for joining us for really an hour. We
asked him to overstay his welcome. His welcome was even
beyond that, but he did stay for an extra segment.
Then we got Mike Hill. He's in studio with us,
the athletic director of your Charlotte forty nine Ers. Mike,
(16:13):
how are you doing.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
I'm doing great, man, Thanks for having me this well awesome.
Speaker 6 (16:16):
I mean, you're a busy man today, so I really
appreciate you stopping by and being here in person.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
It's great to see you.
Speaker 6 (16:22):
And I know if I didn't see you dance a
little bit, but I saw you moving and grooving and
tapping the foot because of how excited you are today.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
I mean, listen, I had a hard time sleeping last night.
It's like Christmas Eve, Christmas day now, and I had
to come by the doghouse, you know that. I was like,
I've had a busy day so far, started out out
frank list part and watch our cross country teams compete
and their only regular season home meet of the year.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
They beat the Tar Hills, by the way, pretty well.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
You start any Our volleyball teams open up their season
today too, So a lot of stuff happening. But obviously
sitting here staring at Bank of America Stadium, how can
you not be fired up?
Speaker 6 (16:56):
Charlotte forty nine Ers athletic director Mike Hill joining us
in the studios here at the Doghouse power to buy
Jack Daniels, Mike, we were talking about it off, Mike,
just how monster of a win this would be. I
think it would be the biggest win in program history
if they were able to pull this thing off today
against that state. When you open up a season with
this type of opponent, one, it's a local rivalry that
(17:18):
you have tried to breed here by scheduling APP, getting
in touch with Doug Gillen and making this thing happen.
But now it happening Nboa for the first time Charlotte
has ever played a game here. What does it mean
for you as an ad to open up a season
like this.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Well, you want to play in games that are meaningful
and you want your fans to get excited about your opponents, right,
and college football is rooted in regional rivalries. And yeah,
we're a younger program or app State's been playing for
one hundred plus years, We've been playing for roughly a dozen,
you know. But the bottom line is there an hour
forty five minutes up the road, a lot of student
(17:51):
high school students, you know, go to APP or go
to Charlotte. Their friends, they know each other, You've got
alumni bases that are you know, connected in a lot
of ways. Now, we have one hundred thousand alums who
live in this city. I think they've got they've got
roughly eighteen to twenty. They got a nice alumni base here,
but we have about five times in number. So this
is our city, okay, And so we want to defend
(18:11):
you know, our turf here. And and to play a
game like this means a lot because it's the first
of a six game series that we've scheduled with app State,
because that this series matters, playing ECU matters, you know.
Obviously we've got the Carolina game coming up. Playing games
that fans get juiced about. That's what it's about. You said,
defend our city.
Speaker 6 (18:30):
It's the thing that you have really been emphatic on
ever since you were named the athletic director. I was
that twenty seventeen eighteen. Yeah, I think Charlotte fans really
resonate with that.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
That.
Speaker 6 (18:43):
How about how about I'm sorry to wait for US West,
but I don't want to see that logo in the
city nearliest much.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
I want to see the Charlotte logo.
Speaker 6 (18:49):
But no, the fact that you have like here we
are is an R one program now here. We are
as a team that's getting to play at Boa. We
don't want to be the best kept secret in town.
You have been trying to put this logo out there.
I think that's what fans appreciate most right now, is
that we understand we got to pass this threshold. We
got to clear that hurdle, and then we can see
exactly what happens after that.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
But I think just was that your number.
Speaker 6 (19:13):
One thing you wanted to do here with Charlotte when
you took over, like just make sure that our name
was more out there than what it had beened.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
There's no doubt it was about establishing our brand, establishing
our identity, identity, establishing our institution as the player, right
and we are this great city's great university. We have
thirty two thousand students this year, record enrollment for the
third straight year, okay, and so I think our second
largest undergrad rollment in the state behind NC State. So
(19:40):
this is a major institution that is a research one
university now, which, by the way, you'll see on the
back of our helmets we have an R one sticker
to celebrate that.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
That's a big deal. You guys worked hard on that.
I appreciate.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Yeah, that's awesome, you know so, But the bottom line
is this, Yeah, we want the Queen City to embrace
this institution and in large part, and that's not just
because we want on it, but because we have tens
of thousands of our alums who live and work in
this city.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
And it's just a new day.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
I mean, I think the second closest alumni base in
Charlotte is UNC Chapel Hill and they're at about twenty
two thousand. We've got one hundred thousand, right, So come on,
this is this city's green and white. We win the
big games like we've got today and others down the
road that can really accelerate the momentum of our institution.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Yeah, and so how important How important are factors like
that as far as that translating into attendance. You have
so many alums around here, and then getting them to
fill that stadium on a consistent basis, it's huge.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
And look, when I got here in twenty eighteen, we
weren't drawing great crowds.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
At that time. Our student attendance was below average.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
You know, some of the excitement maybe had worn off
from the start of football. At bottom line is you
know last year we were at or over capacity for
five of our six games.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
And we finished with a losing record. So what does
that tell you?
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Yeah, well we start winning under coach Albun, which I
know we're going to do. You know, listen, it's this
thing is going to explode. And that's why we're adding seats.
That's why we're expanding the stadium because we need those seats.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
And so what have you liked the most about coach
Albin to this point in his tenure.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
He's a pro and he is even keel. He treats
people the right way and you can just tell he's
got every aspect of his operation under control in a
way that you know gives you a lot of confidence.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
You talk.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
He and I talk a lot, obviously, and he just
has a way of communicating and I think super effective,
not just with the AD but with his players, with
his staff.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
He's hired.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
He'll tell you he's hired an elite staff. He loves
his coaching staff. And I agree. When I go to practices,
I see a lot of teaching. You know, it's not
a bunch of berating, a bunch of screaming. It is
teaching right. And if you watched his Ohio U teams
of the last three years, ten plus wins the season
for three straight years, two time Matt Conference Coach of
the Year, Conference champs last year for the first time
(21:57):
in five decades. Disciplined, right discipline football team. And that
is something we have lacked and how we've played. You
look at turnover margin, you look at penalties, you look
at just how we comported ourselves in general, we've lacked that.
And that's I think it's going to be a new
day under him, and that's his that's his motivation and Mike.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
It gets competitive with fans players, we know that coaches,
but how competitive does it get with a d's I mean,
are you going to be looking across the sideline and
Doug Gillen and you got to score test down or
you just look at him and give him a little
fist pump. Or you talked about the stadium expansion and
you might call one of your ad buddies and you're like, yeah,
you know, we're getting that new expansion coming up.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
You better catch up to him. I love that man.
We should start talking smack. Ads started throwing some elbow.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
That would make me instead of being these like stiff
guys in suits, right, I like that.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Now, you know Doug Doug Gillen.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Actually, Doug's one of my best friends in the business,
so you know. And also I'm a big believer. If
you talk smack, it comes back and bite you in
the butt. So I'm not a big smack talker. I
just want our team to do the talking on the field.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
We truly have. How can you not respect that.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Football program and what they've accomplished, right, I mean, so
much success at app State and they've they've done it
the right way, right. But yeah, we want to take
care of business tonight and I hope it. I love
Doug to death, but I hope he goes home tonight
and he's unhappy.
Speaker 6 (23:14):
One percent unhappy, Appy is what you want to Wes
and Walker Sports rated ninety two to seven WFNZ, Charlotte
forty Niners athletic director Mike Hill joining us here live
at the Doghouse. I want to talk more about scheduling
because it's interesting to me the mindset of an athletic director.
Right here, you are in charge of scheduling. Oftentimes you
have to schedule five years in advance. It's that kind
(23:34):
of crazy. But also you want to focus on local rivalries.
You just talked about how that breeds passion for college football.
How do you mix and match what you do by
scheduling a Georgia while also scheduling an app state. You
got ECU, We got that taken care of being in
the same conference, but even facing some of these other
schools around football basketball, what are the boxes you want
(23:55):
to cross off when trying to find your opponents.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Well, you know, in the end, again, you want to
play games at your fans get fired up about that.
They want to come see. Now, first, the first team
we wanted to come see is your own right. You
want to be excited about the Niners, But you know,
you want to play competition that's quality who they recognize.
And some of these games, many of these games on
football particular, non conference were scheduled while we were still
in Conference USA, and Conference USA was a fantastic home
(24:19):
for us. We will always be grateful for what they
did to give us an opportunity to start football at
the FBS level, But the reality is we did not
have as much in common. We're playing, you know, UTEP
and we're playing Louisiana Tech. These are great programs, right,
but it just did not resonate with our fan base
the way this league does. Now we're playing Army, you know,
we're playing Navy, We're playing Memphis that we're playing USF
(24:40):
who you saw what they did last night to Boise State.
In addition to the non conference games, so you know,
we've finished up this home and home now in North
Carolina coming up here next weekend. We've got NC State
on the schedule in the future. Next year we have
Lane Kiffin and the Old Miss Rebels coming to our campus,
probably a top ten, top fifteen team coming to our stadium.
Those are games that I think elevate the profile of
(25:02):
our program and people go, oh dang, the Niners are
They're playing at the highest level. So that's the goal
in the end, is to play opponents that your fans get.
Speaker 6 (25:09):
Jet feels like that's something you really wanted to do
early as well, Like as soon as you came over,
it felt like we were seeing these recognizable logos all
over the place, and who you were scheduling and speaking
of recognizable logos, Dukes Mayo around here, damn recognizable in
the South here you are playing app State in it?
How did that ball get rolling? Did you want it?
Did you contact for all the Sports Foundation? Were they
(25:31):
looking around? Did they contact you? How did that all
come about?
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (25:34):
So, you know Will Pitts, who runs that organization now
and Danny Morrison before him, who's still involved with the organization,
are fantastic partners. You know, they put on the ACC Championship,
They've been putting on this game for years, and we've
had conversations casual and more so over the years. You know,
there was an obvious awareness that they had that we
were going to look to play app State more and
(25:56):
so when an opportunity came about for this year a
few years ago, you know, we kind of planted that
seed with them and they were very excited and interested
in it, and in the end they had to make
the decision because they're the ones who this is their game.
They run the game, they market the game, they sell
the game. And we're so grateful to them and to
the volunteer leadership Johnny Harris and Andrew Smith and the
(26:16):
whole Charlotte Sports Foundation board for giving us this platform
in this offer. You think about all the programs that
have run through this stadium in this game. You've had Tennessee,
You've had West Virginia, You've had Clemson, You've had Georgia.
I mean, this is a big opportunity for us to play,
you know, in our home NFL team stadium, the Panthers.
We love the Panthers, and now we get to play
on their field and try to represent our city.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
And Mike, you talked about getting the alums and gage
and all the things you're doing to get Charlotte's name
out there and to be able to get those players.
Because I'm a wake for as guy, but I've always
cheered for Charlotte all my life and I've always wanted
to see them do good. How Charlotte evolved in continuing
to evolve in the NIL space.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
Yeah, so obviously NIL has completely turned our whole enterprise
on its head here in the last two or three years.
And this is the first year ever where institution schools
can actually directly have NIL deals with their players. So
on July the first, the House settlement passed and it
was effective this new academic year. Our compliance director has
a picture of me signing an NIL contract with one
(27:17):
of our student athletes, and she said, this is for posterity,
and I said, Katie, you know that like two years ago,
I would have been banned from the industry for scientists,
which is the truth, you know. But the fact is
what we have done is we're taking dollars that we
generate from our conference revenues largely funded by ESPN and
TV right which they ESPN pays our league for basketball
(27:38):
and football, that's what they're paying us for. We're using
a lot of those dollars to roster build, is what
we call it, for football and basketball especially. And you
have to if you don't, you have no shot. You
have to have those dollars to be able to recruit
and a compete.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Yeah, and I think Charlotte has a ton to offer.
I've been saying that for quite a while. So what
are some of the things that maybe you've seen as
coaching staff do or that Charlotte is doing as a
whole to be able to attract the Charlotte athlete because
we have more walking around here than ever.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Well, one thing we've learned very quickly and all of
our sports is if you get an athlete to our
campus to visit, our clothes rate is super high because
they're blown away by the campus.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
It's an absolutely gorgeous camp.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
It looks like an acc or SEC campus, right, I mean,
it really does.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
And so that's half the battle.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
But I think also the fact that we've got an
institution now that has such a great reputation academically. We're
top of eighty university now in the country. Like we
said before, R One University. We've got our Evergreen Facilities
master plan. And it's not just talk. People see we're
breaking ground now. We're going to build a tower at
that stadium. So things are happening. And for us to
attract a kay like Tim Albin to come lead our
(28:45):
football program, that sent a signal across the country.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Oh, Charlotte, serious, right?
Speaker 3 (28:50):
I mean I had texts from AD's across the country,
friends of mine saying how did you get him? And
knock on wood. I'm just glad we did. I'm not
sure how we did, right, but no, I think it
was timing and I think he was attracted to the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
I was worried that we wouldn't get him Thereah.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
That had to feel good though, for you to be
getting those texts from your pos to say, man to
let you know what a great hire that was.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Now, it did feel good. It certainly validated what we believed.
And you know the fact that we could attract Tim
Albun to come to this program. I mean, there were
a lot of programs interested in hiring him, and so
we're so grateful to him and his wife, Brooke, who
loved this area to want to come here to build
this thing.
Speaker 6 (29:25):
He also told us yesterday that when he was meeting
with the Chancellor, he was saying, now, I do feel
like the football program is the front porch. And he
said that he hadn't said this to anybody yet that
he was going to say for the first time on
our airway.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
So we appreciate that I got an exclusive.
Speaker 6 (29:38):
But he did say he feels like the football program
is almost like the front porch, essentially serving as the
welcome matt to growing a university. And he said he
felt like he got great vibes in return from Chancellor
and got great vibes in return on Yes, absolutely believing
in that, and so it felt like the right fit
for him. And a lot of that can sound like
hash posh whatever. Okay, oh yeah, i'ves felt right. Look man,
(30:01):
all you hear is you saying that. Tim Alban mentions
that as well, it did feel like the perfect marriage.
Now we just got to get victories out there on
the football field, but all the stuff that makes you
feel good beforehand feels like we're checking all those boxes off.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Now you're one hundred percent right, And everything he said
about that meeting is true. To have Chancellor Gaber in
the room, to have a chance to meet him and
for us to have a chance to really talk about
the opportunity, you could feel it. You could sense this
guy really is genuinely interested in this job, and so
we're so excited.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
To have him.
Speaker 6 (30:31):
You mentioned with you guys just breaking ground on some
of the renovations going over there at Jerry Richardson Stadium.
August twenty seven. It's just a couple of days ago,
is when that happened. You mentioned, why, Okay, this is
why we're expanding, because we're about to take off, because
we are so confident in our football program taking that
next step. I just want to talk about the pressure
part of your job, because I mean, you've got so
(30:52):
many things that you're trying to juggle as the athletic director,
and here we are expanding with the hopes of this
football program growing as much as it is, how much
does it rely on this higher like, how much does
the success and how much of that decision making progress?
I guess how much does it come down to the
confidence that this is going to be the right hire
and some of the other decisions that you make within
(31:13):
the athletic department go right.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
Well, I think hiring Tim Albn was obviously a critical
hire for our football program, and the timing was just right.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
We have to have our house in order.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
As we expand the stadium and begin selling those seats, right,
this is a chance for us now to be able
to connect with corporate Charlotte and individuals.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Who want premium seats.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Now we're adding regular seats as well, but we're for
the first time gonna have suites. We're gonna have club seats,
We're gonna have loas in ledge boxes, the kind of
seats you see it wake in Clemson and other programs
like that. Right, So you have to have that and
what happens from that revenue is we can plow that
back into the football program. Right, So it's all interconnected
right for it to work. So, and I think Tim
(31:53):
saw that as an opportunity. I said this to him
at the groundbreaking two days ago. I said, man, your
timing was pretty good because you get here and now
we're breaking ground on a brand new building where.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
We're also going to feed the team year around.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
We don't have a training table right now, so those
guys are gonna you know, spend seventy million bucks. You'd
like to use it more than six games a year,
So we use a year round to feed our guys.
You know, they can meet up there. So it's just
it's the synergy behind the higher The timing of the
stadium expansion could not be more perfect.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
And then Mike up here.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
We love Charlotte basketball, obviously Walker does as an alum,
and so we know that football looks to be in
a great space right now. Basketball, what do you feel
like that is at right now as we you know,
it's a little bit of a ways off, but it'll
be up on us before you know it.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Well, I'm look, I love basketball. I mean, you guys
know my background and having worked with the people I
work with in my pass and basketball is important to
me into this program, into this university. I know basketball
is in the DNA of this place. Basketball is here
long before football ever was, right, So we have a
lot of our fan base who are super passionate about
our basketball program and it needs to be successful. And
(32:56):
Aaron Fern in his first year did an off the
charts job.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Right.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
We're picked next to last. We finished the game out
of first. I mean, it was an incredible run, incredible year.
Speaker 6 (33:05):
You were Delta tough hand, by the way. You don't
have to say it, but you were Delta tough hand
in that situation.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
It was really it was really difficult, you know. And
then you look at last year. We took a step
back because we lose three guys who end up starting
at the power four level egor leagues for Tennessee top
five team. He's starting there, DJ Leaves starts for a
top ten Iowa state team, and Lukai Leaves to start
from Minnesota to the point guard. So we were decimated,
you know by that. And so, but what I can
(33:30):
tell you is that we have committed major dollars to
build this roster.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
And I know this.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Aaron Fern can flat out coach, he can develop talent,
and I'll put him against anybody on the sidelines of
a game day to make the strategic decisions necessary to
win a game. So you know, I can't I can't
wait for basketball. I'm excited first to get football going.
But yes, we got some great games on the schedule,
two in basketball, so it's gonna be a fun year.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Yeah, I just wanted to know. We don't want to
get too far ahead. Baby, it's football.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Yeah, now I'm with you. It starts.
Speaker 6 (33:59):
It starts in a little over four hours, seven o'clock
kick at Bank of America Stadium.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
It's time Dukes Mayo class.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
What are some of the things that you guys have
out here for alumni to do pre game?
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Yeah, so we've got we've got a couple of different
gathering spots around the stadium here, which is really awesome.
So we've got uh fans on the other side of
the stadium over at Clutch and we've got some lots
we reserve for our students.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
You know.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
And and if you notice, you probably got you didn't
notice because you're in the city.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
But as you come in the city, we've got.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
Billboards all over the place to say welcome a nine
or territory, because we want to make sure our friends
from the Mountain see that they're coming a nine or territory.
Speaker 6 (34:34):
Mike Hill, Charlotte forty nine ers athletic director, joining us
live at the doghouse, getting ready for kickoff at seven
o'clock Duke's Mayo Classic between the Upstate Mountaineers and my
yours should be yours if not.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Charlotte pourcepted you a little bit. Okay, Mike, thanks a tony. Thanks.
I appreciate it. You bet all right?
Speaker 6 (34:55):
Man, all right, we got one more segment to go.
It's the walk off coming up next. West and Walker
Sports rate seven w.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
F Z.
Speaker 6 (35:12):
Come out.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
I saw West do air guitar. I'm like, what is that?
I'm just playing new joint.
Speaker 7 (35:22):
Of course, so baby, and no, I'm not playing the
new joint. The new joint is terrible compared to this.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Wes likes MGK K is fine. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (35:31):
I always think of MKG and get reminded of Anthony
Davis memories anytime I think of MGK.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
But you like the MGK. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (35:40):
Colin just did the like almost both elbows at nine o'clock.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Shot jump shot for him. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (35:46):
Anyways, I always think of MKG, but I'm thinking a
lot about Charlotte football getting this victory. Tonight, Duke's Mayo
Classic is about to go down at Bank of America Stadium.
We've had a great day. It does feel look we will.
We want to do a little bit of a college
game day type of show on Weston Walker. We've got
people rolling in to the studios Doghouse, WFNZ Doghouse powered
(36:07):
by Jack Daniels, a lot of people showing up, man
and so, shout out to Chris Reynolds, Shout out to
Mike Hill, Shout out to you, Shout out to Flounder,
shout out to Shrappy. I'm ready to pick the game
here in just a moment. But it's been a great show, man.
I just wanted people to understand that, and I appreciate
them for tuning in.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
It's time for What's on Tap? It's about that time.
Speaker 6 (36:27):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Okay, I was looking at the camp
The porty is right in my face, So it's about
that time. What's on Tap? It's presented by Twin Peaks.
Twin Peaks has locations in Concord.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
And Fort Milk. Twin Peaks is your local sports lodges.
Come on in.
Speaker 6 (36:41):
Made from scratch food signature twenty nine degree Draft beers,
even all the scenic views.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
I'm right enough. What the ceremony Charlotte and Appstate?
Speaker 6 (36:49):
Yeah, huge robbery between these two monster people would say
app State is two and zero against Charlotte forty nine ers.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Home and home.
Speaker 6 (36:58):
App State took care of it on the mountain, and yeah,
they destroyed Charlotte and Jerry Richardson stadium as well.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
This ain't the mountains. This ain't even Jerry Richardson Stadium.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
I don't see nam mountain outside.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Where where is the better get you to be knocked?
It's hot here.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
I don't feel the weather ten degrees cooler, So we
definitely aren't the mountains.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Last time I checked, Wes. You know what I see?
What do you see? Our city? And it's time to
defend our city.
Speaker 6 (37:27):
Charlotte forty nine ers get to win, baby, let's go
Dukes Mayo Champions.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
All right, there we go. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (37:35):
I want the cutoff just for the pageantry of it,
but I don't want the results that come from the cutoff.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
All right, it's what you got, Walker, mail Man. We've
been saving this thing. And if the fans were listening,
I kind of let the cat out of the bag.
If they were really really listening, because I know how
the FANDU text line can get.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Man.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
I pick Appstate to go six and six. Uh oh,
Charlotte forty nine ers. Though you know, like I said,
it might have gone off your head because I didn't
really say explicitly who I was picking, Walker Mail, you
have gotten me quite amped up with your school passion,
with your school support, with your alumni love.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
And with that said, oh, I know what you're doing.
I know what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
If I picked the Charlotte forty nine ers, you know
what I'm saying. I got a lot of love for
the forty nine ers. We aren't in the mountains, but
Walker Mail, if I picked the Charlotte forty nine ers,
that means app State doesn't go bowling. My prediction is wrong.
I'm going with the app State Mountaineers. But it hurts
me Man, because you're so excited.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Yeah, I am excited.
Speaker 6 (38:37):
And you you went full heel, you embraced full heill
this week. You gave us four fizzles.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
My heart with Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
I want Charlotte one because you know how I feel
about app State. They're talking about it a real black
though they don't know their damn colors. Okay, it's yellow,
it's not gold. They come to the Wait games with
their app State stuff on and all of that.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
So you know, I got no love.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
For the Mountaineers, man, But you know, I just want
want them to But I really hope.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
That I'm wrong. I want to be wrong. Okay, Charlotte's
got gold though, right, we can have gold. You do
have goal?
Speaker 6 (39:06):
All right, Yes, that's all right, Flounder, We got to
get your pick into. Man, thanks for running the show
all day long. What you got for the people who
wins between Charlotte and app State.
Speaker 7 (39:16):
Well, man, I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna be rooting
for Charlotte, There's no doubt about that. I'm gonna be
pulling for my guy, Connor Harrell in this game. You know,
the last time that he was at Bank of America Stadium,
he didn't play bad. It wasn't his fault that Carolina
lost the way that they did to West Virginia. It
was that defense that really struggled in that game. I
think this game he comes out shows you a little
(39:37):
bit of why they went with him as the starting quarterback.
I think it's gonna be a great game. But I
I did the same thing I let you in with
a little hand yesterday that I thought they were gonna
win six games.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
I find it so hard.
Speaker 7 (39:50):
To not have app State in a bowl game, even
with dal Loggins on the sideline. So I think in
a close one, I got app State winning, all.
Speaker 6 (39:58):
Right, So I Charlotte finishing six and six on the season,
I got app State finishing I believe seven and or
six and six as well.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
Yeah, I got at yeah, just real quickly.
Speaker 6 (40:12):
I do think Charlotte it's if tim Albn is going
to be successful. I think this is going to have
to be a program that is built more so than
they just experienced all this success right away. I did
have them beating North Texas, maybe in part because you
and Flounder had Charlotte beating North Texas and I didn't
want to be the only one I did not have
them getting a victory. So possibly you could say my
(40:34):
real prediction is a five win football season for Charlotte.
Perhaps that's a little more realistic. But I do think
this program is headed the right direction, and I'm really
just real quickly. Do you give app some analysis today,
DW Loggins. I don't know if We've really talked about
how much we believe in Loggins and this program taking off.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
What is your belief for lack there of a.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Man like they said they went outside of the family
to go and get him.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
We know that he was at South Carolina s He's pedigree.
You know. I wasn't necessarily thrill.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
It felt, you know, like a hired It just didn't
really get my juices flowing as far as being like, man,
this is the guy that's going to be able to
bring it back. I feel like app State is in
a weird situation right now. But with that said, I
do think that he's good enough to get them to
a bowl game this year. I predicted six and six.
I feel like that he could be a guy that
could get them back on track. So if I had
the rate to hire today, I would call it probably
(41:27):
a be, just a solid BE.
Speaker 6 (41:29):
And I think he's a guy that'll do a good
job up there, and players seem to really like him.
I will say that interview that he had with Josh
Graham and that video goes viral and it's how much
he loves XL and XCEL just giving Dal Loggins the
footballs and all that. I do think that kind of
stuff matters like you got to win, of course, one
hundred percent. It always comes down to that. But when
you speak about the relationships, that stuff matters to me too.
(41:51):
If players are going to play for him, like XL
plays for Dal Loggins and he has that belief, I
am interested to see where this goes. He does not
have the win loss record that a Tim Alben does
at Ohio or at previous stops. If they would have
stayed within the family, maybe that would be a little
more palatable to the Mountaineer fans because, Okay, I don't
know what this resume is gonna look like, but he
does wear the black and yellow, as you might call
(42:12):
what they might call it the black and gold. They
went outside the family once when they brought an Eli
Drinkwitz and it was a nice season, really was, and
he used it as a stepping stone job. I don't
know if Dal Loggins is gonna do that. He might
if he gets a call from an SEC program. I
would imagine he does end up leaving for that job.
But I know that was their hesitancy to go outside
the family before, because even if they are successful in
(42:34):
one year, they might be gone and you've got to
do this whole thing over and over again, where one
the case was Sean Clark, but you had to move
on from Sean Clark because you can't put up results
like you did last year. I got I got some
hope for app I do. I think I've got some
belief in what they can do under Dal Loggins. But
I just hope it doesn't start today. Yeah, I hope
it stay not tonight at the Duke's Mayo Classic. All right,
(42:57):
we gotta get off the air. We got to give
these microphone owns to Kyle Bailey Smoke Ludwig back at
the Chandler Vaulta Studios as well. We'll wrap it up
live from the Doghouse WFNZ Doghouse powered by Jack Daniels
real quickly. Did want to thank our sponsors again today Pepsi,
Jack Daniels. Tito's Patio patio is not a new Tito's flavor.
By the way, it is not a new flavor. It
(43:18):
is the patio sponsored by Tito, so you can drink
your Tito's on the patio.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
Glad we got that cleared up. Also got some food trucks.
Speaker 6 (43:25):
JJ's Red Hots going to be here Alsie's ice cream
and then TJ exposure.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
You getting some Alsie's ice cream? Yeah? I might.
Speaker 6 (43:32):
Yeah, you know, it'd be the perfect day. It's the
only thing missing. It's the only thing missing from what
would be a perfect day. And then also, of course,
as Charlotte forty nine ers win, Kyle Bailey smoked Ludwig
Coming up next. Sports Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ.
Listen to the West and Walker show teas from noon
to three only on Sports Radio ninety two point FM FNZ,
(43:53):
the
Speaker 5 (43:53):
Official home of the Charlotte sports fan
You were listening to the West and Walker Show. I
remember one recruiting victory that you did get. It's Wes.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
I know you remember my quarterback Paul Trot and he
and I came up there to East Carolina for a visit.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
In Walker Van's high school. Offensive lineman. Big Kid eventually
went to Florida. Do you remember Wes Bryant out of
Vance High there coach only on Sports Radio ninety two
point seven FM WFNZ. If Florida had come along, and
that young man told me he wanted to come to
East Carolina, I probably wouldn't take him because I think
he was not really bright.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
And just like that, we return on the West and
Walker Show. The two o'clock hour begins. It's almost party time.
I can Phil Walker over there. Just he can taste
that beer right now, you know what I'm saying, Chris
and he could TASiS.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
These two are ready to go.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
So now, man, great college football weekend, arguably the best
we've ever had. I hope it lives up to it.
So it is time for the season debut of balling
or falling?
Speaker 1 (01:07):
You know what to do? Baby drop that intro?
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Well, mean, doctor Beshet, you can't see my eyes bless
my head.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Has been show. I like some solid all right, let's
get to it.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
Man.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
A lot of great games, not a lot of time,
so let's do it. Virginia Tech at number thirteen South
Carolina from Atlanta. This is the first meeting between these
two since nineteen ninety one. South Carolina Hole is an
eleven seven and two advantage all time in this series.
The Game Cocks on a five to one advantage. In
both Columbia and Blacksburg. The Hokies have won three or
(02:01):
four games played at neutral sites. But those neutral sights,
and I put the air quotes up, they were in
the state of Virginia. Shane Beamer owns a three and
three record against opponents from the ACC.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
I will start this thing off, Kyle Bailey.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I love your baby, but I think Leonor's Sellers and
the Game Cox are gonna come out and make an
opening weekend statement.
Speaker 4 (02:22):
Give me the Game Cox at home?
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Okay? So you gots all right? So he said, the
Game Cocks gonna be.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
Ball, and that's two balls they are with Leonora Sellers.
Coach Beemer after watching that Netflix documentary Give Me the
Game Cox.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
How much of a fan are you if Leonora sellers
real quick.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
I just think he's a freak.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Man.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
He's a freak. He does things that that many people
can do.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
With the football. I'm gonna go South Carolina. We did
this in team vague.
Speaker 6 (02:45):
I think South Carolina is gonna win every single game
up until I forget the first loss that I had
this suffering, but I got him. I think nine and
three on the year. This is not one of the lasses,
all right.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Man, And I got to get myself in shape, in
season shape, okay, because we're supposed to be saying who
wins and who will be or that they will be
balling when we talk about the local team here. So anyway,
all right, moving on, these are not local teams that
we have here. Notre Dame in Miami. Notre Dame six
seven and one when playing at Miami. Two signs have
met just four times since nineteen ninety. Carson Beck comes
(03:17):
over from Georgia. He's twenty four and three as a
starter in the FBS, and Notre Dame is two twenty
eighty four and three against ACC teams and has gone
ninety forty two and three in ACC away games. This
is going to be a massive massive game for Miami
and Mario Cristobaul. Give me the Miami Hurricanes to be
(03:39):
balling against the Notre Dame fighting Irish.
Speaker 5 (03:43):
This is tough, man, you know, going down to Miami,
you know Notre Dame traveling all the way down there.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
But I just love Marcus Freeman and.
Speaker 5 (03:51):
I love me too what he's built there at Notre
Dame culture wise, and these players just want to play
for him.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
And I see that momentum carrying into this year. Give
me Notre Dame.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Completely agree with you.
Speaker 6 (04:02):
If this game comes down to coaching, Yes, Mark, guess
who it comes down to in game coaching wise, because
Christ of ball, he'll lose you a game, he win game.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Freeman isn't going to really do that.
Speaker 6 (04:13):
One thing about Notre Dame I'm interested in seeing this
year is if the passing game opens up with CJ.
Carr compared to what they had with Riley Leonard, who
I like at QB, but a lot of his prowess
was running the football.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
CJ.
Speaker 6 (04:25):
Carr apparently can sling it, and I'm interested to see
if their offense looks vastly different, especially with Love being
a top tier running back.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I think Notre Dame's gonna win this game.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Yeah, man, I'm just thinking about that last time that
they played, and you know Miami, when they get a
big opponent at home, that place is a mad house
and I feel like that they'll feed off it. But
we shall see tc you at North Carolina. Baby, first
meeting between these teams since nineteen ninety seven. Carolina's three
and oh all time versus the horn Frogs. CCU was
(04:54):
led by Josh Hoover, won the Big Twelves best and
one of the nation's best at quarterback.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
They have a dynamic passing attack.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
They bring back eight on defense from a team that
went nine and four last season. We know the North
Carolina Tar Hills seventy new players, but we also know
that the master mind is gonna be roaming the sidelines.
We know that he's probably been cooking up this game
plan for TCU since last year. If he watched the
TCU game, he probably already started planning and preparing himself
(05:22):
to take this job at North Carolina. And for that reason,
and what I think will be the greatest home environment
for a season opener in Tar Hills history, the tar Heels.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Will be bawling and get the bitch for Bill Belichick. Man,
I'm gonna have to count you there. Man, here's my thing.
Speaker 5 (05:40):
Everybody's talking about Carolina, Yod's talking about Bill Belichick in
the NFL mindset. You know, I just think, you know,
there's gonna be a couple of hiccups, you know, translating
his mindset there back to the college game. You know,
it's not easy translated like that. With a bunch of
returners for TCU Carolina, a bunch of turnover a returning
pass game receiver, corps strong.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
I gotta go with.
Speaker 6 (05:59):
Tc All the returners that you had coming back offensively
and defensively is the reason I'm going with TCU. Like
some sneaky college football playoff expectations for the horn Frogs
this year with some of the guys that they're bringing back,
and so because the stability is the name of the game.
With stars, it's not just normal returning starters. You got
some stars on both sides for them. I got TCU
winning the opener even if it is two.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
So Carolina will be falling. It's all you're just saying,
all right, moving on to one of the biggies to
start the day off, baby, right at noon, you get
you a big breakfast.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
This is steak and eggs right here.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
This ain't no you know muffin and you know something continental.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
This is a big boy breakfast.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Texas number one in the land, number three Ohio State,
and Chris, I want some extra analysis from you when
I dropped one of these nuggets here. These two teams
meant just two hundred and thirty two days ago the
goodyear cotton bow Ohio State took them down twenty eight
to fourteen. Ohio State is six and fourteen all time
versus SEC member institutions. We've got two first time starters
(07:02):
in this game, Julian Saying and Arch Manning. In the
last twenty years, when a quarterback makes his first start
against the number one team, he is oh and eighteen winless.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
This is a very difficult game to pick.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
And I know what that stat says about oh and eighteen,
but give me young Arch Manning and Texas Longhorns to
go in there and be balling on Saturday one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Man.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
I don't know if everybody knows that last name, but
that's a Manning, right, and that's it's real, man, It's real.
That blood runs deep, right, there from grandfather. You know
he speaks for his grandson still this day. You know
they got a mindset to him. You're talking about two
rosters that are both filthy, strong, just dudes all over
the field. Obviously jeremih Smith is a beast, but you know,
first game of the year, Julian saying, I think Archman
(07:53):
has got a little bit more experience in ahead for this.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Give me Texas balling hold on now real quick.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
That that was the extra anoun says, that's that about
last twenty years quarterback making his first start against the
number one team owing eighteen and especially going on the road.
He doesn't get him at Austin as well. I mean,
what is the mindset for that? I mean, I remember
your first start. What do you feel like your mind
state would have been had you had to go up
against the number one team for your first ever start?
Speaker 5 (08:18):
Never try to do too much. You know you got
good players all the way around you can. You take
it one play at a time. And I've said it
all my career, but I really live and die by it.
One play at a time. Do what the play tells
you to do and get the ball to your playmakers.
There's no reason to push that shot down the field
when we're not ready for it yet. You know, keep
driving a ship, slow punch, slow punches, then you drop
the right hook, you know.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
I think Arch is capable of doing it.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
I think he is too.
Speaker 6 (08:38):
That's why I'm going with Texas to go into Columbus
and beat the Ohio State buck Guys. I do think
the Texans Texas Longhorns with Arch manning a little bit
of doubt. I guess with him just because we haven't
seen him a whole lot. I know people are questioning
whether we're putting too much stock into the surname or not.
I think he's the real deal. I do think he's
going to be awesome. So give me Texas in a
quarterback difference here being the biggest difference, I'm gonna go
(09:01):
with Argenton.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Yeah, and we swippering across the board.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
But Ohio State is the favorite in this game, so
we can't forget that as well. All right, baby, that
nightcap number nine LSU Brian Kelly and his loafers will
come down there to Clemson to take on Dabo Swingey
and his Nike Pegasus with the Clemson tccer guarb On it.
(09:25):
LSU is three and one all time against Clemson. The
most recent meeting, You remember that one, Joe Burrow and
the crew beating up breaks off at Clemson Tigers forty
two to twenty five in the National Championship Game. LSU's
roster very seasoned, even though they're retooling. Forty one players
have at least one FBS start to their credit, with
twenty two of those players having at least one start
(09:46):
in an LSU uniform. Clemson led the nation in ESPN's
Returning Production metric published in the spring twenty twenty five.
Squad has thirty six different players who entered the year
with at least one career start at Clemson. In this
game at Clemson's Memorial Stadium is the seventh matchup of
AP Top ten teams since the facility opened in nineteen
(10:07):
forty two. Okay, you got a great matchup going here,
this place. I can't wait to see this atmosphere, kid
klub Nick Garrett nussmaya great quarterback matchup. Clemson's defense is
loaded and we know the big NFL bodies that the
LSU Tigers are gonna bring. Walker Man, I'm staring off
into the heavens and I just envisioned all the trash
(10:27):
that Brian Kelly talked, and we want to play you know,
Big ten teams for non conference going on. Well, guess
what you're gonna want to play ACC teams again? After
Clemson gets in your keyster beats the breaks off. You know,
I'm not gonna say beats the breaks, but I think
this is gonna be a good game. Give me the
Clemson Tigers to be bawling on Saturday night.
Speaker 5 (10:48):
You want to talk about the Battle of Death Valley,
who can claim it? You know, two great rosters again,
different ways of building the rosters. You know, Dabblos really
got that graduation program. If you stick with us or
start paying you more, elsi's those pockets for you. A
quarterback battle I've ever seen one. You know, two great quarterbacks.
You know Garrett nels Meyer, whose data is I think
is the offensive coordinator for the Saints. Now, great mind,
(11:10):
great year. Last year they fought to get him back.
Kay Klubnick, a great touch on the interception ratio, is
going to protect the football, great players all the way around.
I like Kay Klubeck not, but I love Garrett Nelsmeyer.
Give me the tie the LSU Tigers more than Okay,
all right, huge dus Meyer fan myself, but I'm a
bigger Clemson fan of this game.
Speaker 6 (11:31):
Give me the Clemson Tigers to beat LSU. And despite
my love for Garrett Nusmeyer, I do think he's gonna
be a Heisman contender. I don't trust LSU's defense man.
They've been slipping the last couple of years. Brian Kelly
has not had that unit ballin. I do love what
they have at linebacker, but I keep looking at the
defensive lineman. The transfers that they got coming in, the
guys that are going to rely on are good, not great.
(11:52):
There's not any NFL draft picks on that side of
the ball. Clemson has NFL draft picks. They got three
in the top fifteen that are going to be selected.
And off offensively, we have Cater's also a Heisman contender.
It's the best wide receiving room that we've had down
at Clemson quite some time. I think Clemson wins by
double digits. All right, final, we hadn't forgot about you.
Back at the studio, man, who do you like out
(12:12):
of these crews? Virginia Tech, South Carolina?
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Quickly?
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Who you got there.
Speaker 7 (12:16):
I will go with South Carolina to be balling. I
will take Miami to be balling in the first game
of the season. Of course, I'm gonna go with TCU
to be balling in that one because I want to
shock everybody and maybe reverse jinks on that game. I'll
go with You know what, man, I feel really good
(12:36):
about Texas. But man, all you guys picking Texas has
me thinking Ohio State. I'm gonna go with Ohio State
be balling, and then Clemson I think will be balling
as well.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
All right, a couple quick picks before we get this
segment done.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
First off, let's just start real quick.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
We can say who is gonna be balling in these matchups,
Alabama and Florida State.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
I think Alabama's gonna be a bit too much.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
The line ons you ring your mouth too much and
you're about to take this whooping like when you got
in trouble at school and they had to call mama.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Alabama's gonna be balling.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
Yeah, Roll Tide gonna be balling. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
I'm gonna go with Alabama as well. They're gonna be
balling all right.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Coast of Carolina, Virginia, this is a sneaky little match
up that you're gonna want to be checking in on
as the evening progresses.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Uh, give me the Virginia Cavalier is to be balling, and.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
I agreed, Virginia. They're gonna get a Donahoma.
Speaker 6 (13:30):
Same thing, Virginia. I'm actually high on them this year.
I think they'll be Bowl eligible, they get a win.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
I think we are probably pretty universal here.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Kennasaw versus Wake West Broyn will be in the building tonight.
The Wake Forest Stephen Deacons better be balling the same thing.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
I won't go against your deeven Deacons in this, all right.
Another sneaky good game tonight.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Man. Georgia Tech and Colorado, But I think Georgia Tech
this year is gonna be the real deal. Colorado, man,
I think they will be good. But I like Georgia
Tech a lot. Haines King and the boys. Give me
Georgia Tech to be balling.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
I agree, man, a lot of returners, hard nose offensive line.
Hanes King's a baller, you know. I just I like
them a lot. I think they're top three a CEC
team exactly.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Yeah, Yellow Jacket's gonna be balling here.
Speaker 6 (14:15):
I know, Flounders, a big fan of the back at
the Chandler Voulta studio. So am I I think Georgia
Tech is going to be an ac I don't even
know about dark Horse. I think people just outright respect
what's going on down there. I've got Georgia Tech balling
against the Buffs.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
All right, Well, that wraps up the first edition of
Balling or Falling.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
We'll see what happens this weekend.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
But next up, Mike Heal of the Charlotte forty nine
ers will join us on Sports ready than Chris, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, holds,
thank you.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Chris Reynolds appreciated joining us, man.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I was feeling like you said, But Chris, letting people
know one more time, man, where they can find you.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
CEE r QB Development dot Com.
Speaker 5 (14:52):
You can follow my social media Chris Reynolds Quarterback Training
or Twitter.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Chris Reynolds on his score three.
Speaker 5 (14:56):
Man, let me develop your quarterback, get him right with
the best of the best knowledge.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
All right, man, We're gonna let you go real this time.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
And we appreciate Tim is great and you will be
joining us this season, man, So we're gonna be having
a lot of great conversations.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Join us next.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
As I said, Mike Hill will be joining us Sports
Radio ninety two seven.
Speaker 6 (15:10):
WFNZ can't passive, people can't bassico. How many times you
think we danced to the bumper music today compared to
any other usual day.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Yeah, it's just that's the vibes, man, That's how it's going.
Speaker 6 (15:30):
The vibes are high around here at the doghouse. We
are live from the WFNZ Doghouse, powered by Jack Daniels.
We appreciate everybody joining us in the midday. We're getting
your set not only for college football weekend, but college
football tonight right here in the Queen City Bank of
America Stadium, the home of the Duke's Mayo Classic featuring
the app State Mountaineers and the Charlotte forty nine ers.
(15:53):
And we gave app their time yesterday, but it's been
all about the Charlotte forty nine ers today. It's a
damn family reunion around here. You got Chris Reynolds, thanks
to him for joining us for really an hour. We
asked him to overstay his welcome. His welcome was even
beyond that, but he did stay for an extra segment.
Then we got Mike Hill. He's in studio with us,
the athletic director of your Charlotte forty nine Ers. Mike,
(16:13):
how are you doing.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
I'm doing great, man, Thanks for having me this well awesome.
Speaker 6 (16:16):
I mean, you're a busy man today, so I really
appreciate you stopping by and being here in person.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
It's great to see you.
Speaker 6 (16:22):
And I know if I didn't see you dance a
little bit, but I saw you moving and grooving and
tapping the foot because of how excited you are today.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
I mean, listen, I had a hard time sleeping last night.
It's like Christmas Eve, Christmas day now, and I had
to come by the doghouse, you know that. I was like,
I've had a busy day so far, started out out
frank list part and watch our cross country teams compete
and their only regular season home meet of the year.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
They beat the Tar Hills, by the way, pretty well.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
You start any Our volleyball teams open up their season
today too, So a lot of stuff happening. But obviously
sitting here staring at Bank of America Stadium, how can
you not be fired up?
Speaker 6 (16:56):
Charlotte forty nine Ers athletic director Mike Hill joining us
in the studios here at the Doghouse power to buy
Jack Daniels, Mike, we were talking about it off, Mike,
just how monster of a win this would be. I
think it would be the biggest win in program history
if they were able to pull this thing off today
against that state. When you open up a season with
this type of opponent, one, it's a local rivalry that
(17:18):
you have tried to breed here by scheduling APP, getting
in touch with Doug Gillen and making this thing happen.
But now it happening Nboa for the first time Charlotte
has ever played a game here. What does it mean
for you as an ad to open up a season
like this.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Well, you want to play in games that are meaningful
and you want your fans to get excited about your opponents, right,
and college football is rooted in regional rivalries. And yeah,
we're a younger program or app State's been playing for
one hundred plus years, We've been playing for roughly a dozen,
you know. But the bottom line is there an hour
forty five minutes up the road, a lot of student
(17:51):
high school students, you know, go to APP or go
to Charlotte. Their friends, they know each other, You've got
alumni bases that are you know, connected in a lot
of ways. Now, we have one hundred thousand alums who
live in this city. I think they've got they've got
roughly eighteen to twenty. They got a nice alumni base here,
but we have about five times in number. So this
is our city, okay, And so we want to defend
(18:11):
you know, our turf here. And and to play a
game like this means a lot because it's the first
of a six game series that we've scheduled with app State,
because that this series matters, playing ECU matters, you know.
Obviously we've got the Carolina game coming up. Playing games
that fans get juiced about. That's what it's about. You said,
defend our city.
Speaker 6 (18:30):
It's the thing that you have really been emphatic on
ever since you were named the athletic director. I was
that twenty seventeen eighteen. Yeah, I think Charlotte fans really
resonate with that.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
That.
Speaker 6 (18:43):
How about how about I'm sorry to wait for US West,
but I don't want to see that logo in the
city nearliest much.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
I want to see the Charlotte logo.
Speaker 6 (18:49):
But no, the fact that you have like here we
are is an R one program now here. We are
as a team that's getting to play at Boa. We
don't want to be the best kept secret in town.
You have been trying to put this logo out there.
I think that's what fans appreciate most right now, is
that we understand we got to pass this threshold. We
got to clear that hurdle, and then we can see
exactly what happens after that.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
But I think just was that your number.
Speaker 6 (19:13):
One thing you wanted to do here with Charlotte when
you took over, like just make sure that our name
was more out there than what it had beened.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
There's no doubt it was about establishing our brand, establishing
our identity, identity, establishing our institution as the player, right
and we are this great city's great university. We have
thirty two thousand students this year, record enrollment for the
third straight year, okay, and so I think our second
largest undergrad rollment in the state behind NC State. So
(19:40):
this is a major institution that is a research one
university now, which, by the way, you'll see on the
back of our helmets we have an R one sticker
to celebrate that.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
That's a big deal. You guys worked hard on that.
I appreciate.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Yeah, that's awesome, you know so, But the bottom line
is this, Yeah, we want the Queen City to embrace
this institution and in large part, and that's not just
because we want on it, but because we have tens
of thousands of our alums who live and work in
this city.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
And it's just a new day.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
I mean, I think the second closest alumni base in
Charlotte is UNC Chapel Hill and they're at about twenty
two thousand. We've got one hundred thousand, right, So come on,
this is this city's green and white. We win the
big games like we've got today and others down the
road that can really accelerate the momentum of our institution.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Yeah, and so how important How important are factors like
that as far as that translating into attendance. You have
so many alums around here, and then getting them to
fill that stadium on a consistent basis, it's huge.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
And look, when I got here in twenty eighteen, we
weren't drawing great crowds.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
At that time. Our student attendance was below average.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
You know, some of the excitement maybe had worn off
from the start of football. At bottom line is you
know last year we were at or over capacity for
five of our six games.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
And we finished with a losing record. So what does
that tell you?
Speaker 3 (20:55):
Yeah, well we start winning under coach Albun, which I
know we're going to do. You know, listen, it's this
thing is going to explode. And that's why we're adding seats.
That's why we're expanding the stadium because we need those seats.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
And so what have you liked the most about coach
Albin to this point in his tenure.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
He's a pro and he is even keel. He treats
people the right way and you can just tell he's
got every aspect of his operation under control in a
way that you know gives you a lot of confidence.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
You talk.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
He and I talk a lot, obviously, and he just
has a way of communicating and I think super effective,
not just with the AD but with his players, with
his staff.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
He's hired.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
He'll tell you he's hired an elite staff. He loves
his coaching staff. And I agree. When I go to practices,
I see a lot of teaching. You know, it's not
a bunch of berating, a bunch of screaming. It is
teaching right. And if you watched his Ohio U teams
of the last three years, ten plus wins the season
for three straight years, two time Matt Conference Coach of
the Year, Conference champs last year for the first time
(21:57):
in five decades. Disciplined, right discipline football team. And that
is something we have lacked and how we've played. You
look at turnover margin, you look at penalties, you look
at just how we comported ourselves in general, we've lacked that.
And that's I think it's going to be a new
day under him, and that's his that's his motivation and Mike.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
It gets competitive with fans players, we know that coaches,
but how competitive does it get with a d's I mean,
are you going to be looking across the sideline and
Doug Gillen and you got to score test down or
you just look at him and give him a little
fist pump. Or you talked about the stadium expansion and
you might call one of your ad buddies and you're like, yeah,
you know, we're getting that new expansion coming up.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
You better catch up to him. I love that man.
We should start talking smack. Ads started throwing some elbow.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
That would make me instead of being these like stiff
guys in suits, right, I like that.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Now, you know Doug Doug Gillen.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Actually, Doug's one of my best friends in the business,
so you know. And also I'm a big believer. If
you talk smack, it comes back and bite you in
the butt. So I'm not a big smack talker. I
just want our team to do the talking on the field.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
We truly have. How can you not respect that.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Football program and what they've accomplished, right, I mean, so
much success at app State and they've they've done it
the right way, right. But yeah, we want to take
care of business tonight and I hope it. I love
Doug to death, but I hope he goes home tonight
and he's unhappy.
Speaker 6 (23:14):
One percent unhappy, Appy is what you want to Wes
and Walker Sports rated ninety two to seven WFNZ, Charlotte
forty Niners athletic director Mike Hill joining us here live
at the Doghouse. I want to talk more about scheduling
because it's interesting to me the mindset of an athletic director.
Right here, you are in charge of scheduling. Oftentimes you
have to schedule five years in advance. It's that kind
(23:34):
of crazy. But also you want to focus on local rivalries.
You just talked about how that breeds passion for college football.
How do you mix and match what you do by
scheduling a Georgia while also scheduling an app state. You
got ECU, We got that taken care of being in
the same conference, but even facing some of these other
schools around football basketball, what are the boxes you want
(23:55):
to cross off when trying to find your opponents.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
Well, you know, in the end, again, you want to
play games at your fans get fired up about that.
They want to come see. Now, first, the first team
we wanted to come see is your own right. You
want to be excited about the Niners, But you know,
you want to play competition that's quality who they recognize.
And some of these games, many of these games on
football particular, non conference were scheduled while we were still
in Conference USA, and Conference USA was a fantastic home
(24:19):
for us. We will always be grateful for what they
did to give us an opportunity to start football at
the FBS level, But the reality is we did not
have as much in common. We're playing, you know, UTEP
and we're playing Louisiana Tech. These are great programs, right,
but it just did not resonate with our fan base
the way this league does. Now we're playing Army, you know,
we're playing Navy, We're playing Memphis that we're playing USF
(24:40):
who you saw what they did last night to Boise State.
In addition to the non conference games, so you know,
we've finished up this home and home now in North
Carolina coming up here next weekend. We've got NC State
on the schedule in the future. Next year we have
Lane Kiffin and the Old Miss Rebels coming to our campus,
probably a top ten, top fifteen team coming to our stadium.
Those are games that I think elevate the profile of
(25:02):
our program and people go, oh dang, the Niners are
They're playing at the highest level. So that's the goal
in the end, is to play opponents that your fans get.
Speaker 6 (25:09):
Jet feels like that's something you really wanted to do
early as well, Like as soon as you came over,
it felt like we were seeing these recognizable logos all
over the place, and who you were scheduling and speaking
of recognizable logos, Dukes Mayo around here, damn recognizable in
the South here you are playing app State in it?
How did that ball get rolling? Did you want it?
Did you contact for all the Sports Foundation? Were they
(25:31):
looking around? Did they contact you? How did that all
come about?
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (25:34):
So, you know Will Pitts, who runs that organization now
and Danny Morrison before him, who's still involved with the organization,
are fantastic partners. You know, they put on the ACC Championship,
They've been putting on this game for years, and we've
had conversations casual and more so over the years. You know,
there was an obvious awareness that they had that we
were going to look to play app State more and
(25:56):
so when an opportunity came about for this year a
few years ago, you know, we kind of planted that
seed with them and they were very excited and interested
in it, and in the end they had to make
the decision because they're the ones who this is their game.
They run the game, they market the game, they sell
the game. And we're so grateful to them and to
the volunteer leadership Johnny Harris and Andrew Smith and the
(26:16):
whole Charlotte Sports Foundation board for giving us this platform
in this offer. You think about all the programs that
have run through this stadium in this game. You've had Tennessee,
You've had West Virginia, You've had Clemson, You've had Georgia.
I mean, this is a big opportunity for us to play,
you know, in our home NFL team stadium, the Panthers.
We love the Panthers, and now we get to play
on their field and try to represent our city.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
And Mike, you talked about getting the alums and gage
and all the things you're doing to get Charlotte's name
out there and to be able to get those players.
Because I'm a wake for as guy, but I've always
cheered for Charlotte all my life and I've always wanted
to see them do good. How Charlotte evolved in continuing
to evolve in the NIL space.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
Yeah, so obviously NIL has completely turned our whole enterprise
on its head here in the last two or three years.
And this is the first year ever where institution schools
can actually directly have NIL deals with their players. So
on July the first, the House settlement passed and it
was effective this new academic year. Our compliance director has
a picture of me signing an NIL contract with one
(27:17):
of our student athletes, and she said, this is for posterity,
and I said, Katie, you know that like two years ago,
I would have been banned from the industry for scientists,
which is the truth, you know. But the fact is
what we have done is we're taking dollars that we
generate from our conference revenues largely funded by ESPN and
TV right which they ESPN pays our league for basketball
(27:38):
and football, that's what they're paying us for. We're using
a lot of those dollars to roster build, is what
we call it, for football and basketball especially. And you
have to if you don't, you have no shot. You
have to have those dollars to be able to recruit
and a compete.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Yeah, and I think Charlotte has a ton to offer.
I've been saying that for quite a while. So what
are some of the things that maybe you've seen as
coaching staff do or that Charlotte is doing as a
whole to be able to attract the Charlotte athlete because
we have more walking around here than ever.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Well, one thing we've learned very quickly and all of
our sports is if you get an athlete to our
campus to visit, our clothes rate is super high because
they're blown away by the campus.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
It's an absolutely gorgeous camp.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
It looks like an acc or SEC campus, right, I mean,
it really does.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
And so that's half the battle.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
But I think also the fact that we've got an
institution now that has such a great reputation academically. We're
top of eighty university now in the country. Like we
said before, R One University. We've got our Evergreen Facilities
master plan. And it's not just talk. People see we're
breaking ground now. We're going to build a tower at
that stadium. So things are happening. And for us to
attract a kay like Tim Albin to come lead our
(28:45):
football program, that sent a signal across the country.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Oh, Charlotte, serious, right?
Speaker 3 (28:50):
I mean I had texts from AD's across the country,
friends of mine saying how did you get him? And
knock on wood. I'm just glad we did. I'm not
sure how we did, right, but no, I think it
was timing and I think he was attracted to the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
I was worried that we wouldn't get him Thereah.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
That had to feel good though, for you to be
getting those texts from your pos to say, man to
let you know what a great hire that was.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Now, it did feel good. It certainly validated what we believed.
And you know the fact that we could attract Tim
Albun to come to this program. I mean, there were
a lot of programs interested in hiring him, and so
we're so grateful to him and his wife, Brooke, who
loved this area to want to come here to build
this thing.
Speaker 6 (29:25):
He also told us yesterday that when he was meeting
with the Chancellor, he was saying, now, I do feel
like the football program is the front porch. And he
said that he hadn't said this to anybody yet that
he was going to say for the first time on
our airway.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
So we appreciate that I got an exclusive.
Speaker 6 (29:38):
But he did say he feels like the football program
is almost like the front porch, essentially serving as the
welcome matt to growing a university. And he said he
felt like he got great vibes in return from Chancellor
and got great vibes in return on Yes, absolutely believing
in that, and so it felt like the right fit
for him. And a lot of that can sound like
hash posh whatever. Okay, oh yeah, i'ves felt right. Look man,
(30:01):
all you hear is you saying that. Tim Alban mentions
that as well, it did feel like the perfect marriage.
Now we just got to get victories out there on
the football field, but all the stuff that makes you
feel good beforehand feels like we're checking all those boxes off.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Now you're one hundred percent right, And everything he said
about that meeting is true. To have Chancellor Gaber in
the room, to have a chance to meet him and
for us to have a chance to really talk about
the opportunity, you could feel it. You could sense this
guy really is genuinely interested in this job, and so
we're so excited.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
To have him.
Speaker 6 (30:31):
You mentioned with you guys just breaking ground on some
of the renovations going over there at Jerry Richardson Stadium.
August twenty seven. It's just a couple of days ago,
is when that happened. You mentioned, why, Okay, this is
why we're expanding, because we're about to take off, because
we are so confident in our football program taking that
next step. I just want to talk about the pressure
part of your job, because I mean, you've got so
(30:52):
many things that you're trying to juggle as the athletic director,
and here we are expanding with the hopes of this
football program growing as much as it is, how much
does it rely on this higher like, how much does
the success and how much of that decision making progress?
I guess how much does it come down to the
confidence that this is going to be the right hire
and some of the other decisions that you make within
(31:13):
the athletic department go right.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
Well, I think hiring Tim Albn was obviously a critical
hire for our football program, and the timing was just right.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
We have to have our house in order.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
As we expand the stadium and begin selling those seats, right,
this is a chance for us now to be able
to connect with corporate Charlotte and individuals.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Who want premium seats.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
Now we're adding regular seats as well, but we're for
the first time gonna have suites. We're gonna have club seats,
We're gonna have loas in ledge boxes, the kind of
seats you see it wake in Clemson and other programs
like that. Right, So you have to have that and
what happens from that revenue is we can plow that
back into the football program. Right, So it's all interconnected
right for it to work. So, and I think Tim
(31:53):
saw that as an opportunity. I said this to him
at the groundbreaking two days ago. I said, man, your
timing was pretty good because you get here and now
we're breaking ground on a brand new building where.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
We're also going to feed the team year around.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
We don't have a training table right now, so those
guys are gonna you know, spend seventy million bucks. You'd
like to use it more than six games a year,
So we use a year round to feed our guys.
You know, they can meet up there. So it's just
it's the synergy behind the higher The timing of the
stadium expansion could not be more perfect.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
And then Mike up here.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
We love Charlotte basketball, obviously Walker does as an alum,
and so we know that football looks to be in
a great space right now. Basketball, what do you feel
like that is at right now as we you know,
it's a little bit of a ways off, but it'll
be up on us before you know it.
Speaker 3 (32:34):
Well, I'm look, I love basketball. I mean, you guys
know my background and having worked with the people I
work with in my pass and basketball is important to
me into this program, into this university. I know basketball
is in the DNA of this place. Basketball is here
long before football ever was, right, So we have a
lot of our fan base who are super passionate about
our basketball program and it needs to be successful. And
(32:56):
Aaron Fern in his first year did an off the
charts job.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Right.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
We're picked next to last. We finished the game out
of first. I mean, it was an incredible run, incredible year.
Speaker 6 (33:05):
You were Delta tough hand, by the way. You don't
have to say it, but you were Delta tough hand
in that situation.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
It was really it was really difficult, you know. And
then you look at last year. We took a step
back because we lose three guys who end up starting
at the power four level egor leagues for Tennessee top
five team. He's starting there, DJ Leaves starts for a
top ten Iowa state team, and Lukai Leaves to start
from Minnesota to the point guard. So we were decimated,
you know by that. And so, but what I can
(33:30):
tell you is that we have committed major dollars to
build this roster.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
And I know this.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Aaron Fern can flat out coach, he can develop talent,
and I'll put him against anybody on the sidelines of
a game day to make the strategic decisions necessary to
win a game. So you know, I can't I can't
wait for basketball. I'm excited first to get football going.
But yes, we got some great games on the schedule,
two in basketball, so it's gonna be a fun year.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
Yeah, I just wanted to know. We don't want to
get too far ahead. Baby, it's football.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Yeah, now I'm with you. It starts.
Speaker 6 (33:59):
It starts in a little over four hours, seven o'clock
kick at Bank of America Stadium.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
It's time Dukes Mayo class.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
What are some of the things that you guys have
out here for alumni to do pre game?
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Yeah, so we've got we've got a couple of different
gathering spots around the stadium here, which is really awesome.
So we've got uh fans on the other side of
the stadium over at Clutch and we've got some lots
we reserve for our students.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
You know.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
And and if you notice, you probably got you didn't
notice because you're in the city.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
But as you come in the city, we've got.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
Billboards all over the place to say welcome a nine
or territory, because we want to make sure our friends
from the Mountain see that they're coming a nine or territory.
Speaker 6 (34:34):
Mike Hill, Charlotte forty nine ers athletic director, joining us
live at the doghouse, getting ready for kickoff at seven
o'clock Duke's Mayo Classic between the Upstate Mountaineers and my
yours should be yours if not.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Charlotte pourcepted you a little bit. Okay, Mike, thanks a tony. Thanks.
I appreciate it. You bet all right?
Speaker 6 (34:55):
Man, all right, we got one more segment to go.
It's the walk off coming up next. West and Walker
Sports rate seven w.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
F Z.
Speaker 6 (35:12):
Come out.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
I saw West do air guitar. I'm like, what is that?
I'm just playing new joint.
Speaker 7 (35:22):
Of course, so baby, and no, I'm not playing the
new joint. The new joint is terrible compared to this.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Wes likes MGK K is fine. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (35:31):
I always think of MKG and get reminded of Anthony
Davis memories anytime I think of MGK.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
But you like the MGK. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (35:40):
Colin just did the like almost both elbows at nine o'clock.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Shot jump shot for him. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (35:46):
Anyways, I always think of MKG, but I'm thinking a
lot about Charlotte football getting this victory. Tonight, Duke's Mayo
Classic is about to go down at Bank of America Stadium.
We've had a great day. It does feel look we will.
We want to do a little bit of a college
game day type of show on Weston Walker. We've got
people rolling in to the studios Doghouse, WFNZ Doghouse powered
(36:07):
by Jack Daniels, a lot of people showing up, man
and so, shout out to Chris Reynolds, Shout out to
Mike Hill, Shout out to you, Shout out to Flounder,
shout out to Shrappy. I'm ready to pick the game
here in just a moment. But it's been a great show, man.
I just wanted people to understand that, and I appreciate
them for tuning in.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
It's time for What's on Tap? It's about that time.
Speaker 6 (36:27):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Okay, I was looking at the camp
The porty is right in my face, So it's about
that time. What's on Tap? It's presented by Twin Peaks.
Twin Peaks has locations in Concord.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
And Fort Milk. Twin Peaks is your local sports lodges.
Come on in.
Speaker 6 (36:41):
Made from scratch food signature twenty nine degree Draft beers,
even all the scenic views.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
I'm right enough. What the ceremony Charlotte and Appstate?
Speaker 6 (36:49):
Yeah, huge robbery between these two monster people would say
app State is two and zero against Charlotte forty nine ers.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Home and home.
Speaker 6 (36:58):
App State took care of it on the mountain, and yeah,
they destroyed Charlotte and Jerry Richardson stadium as well.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
This ain't the mountains. This ain't even Jerry Richardson Stadium.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
I don't see nam mountain outside.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Where where is the better get you to be knocked?
It's hot here.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
I don't feel the weather ten degrees cooler, So we
definitely aren't the mountains.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Last time I checked, Wes. You know what I see?
What do you see? Our city? And it's time to
defend our city.
Speaker 6 (37:27):
Charlotte forty nine ers get to win, baby, let's go
Dukes Mayo Champions.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
All right, there we go. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (37:35):
I want the cutoff just for the pageantry of it,
but I don't want the results that come from the cutoff.
Speaker 2 (37:40):
All right, it's what you got, Walker, mail Man. We've
been saving this thing. And if the fans were listening,
I kind of let the cat out of the bag.
If they were really really listening, because I know how
the FANDU text line can get.
Speaker 1 (37:51):
Man.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
I pick Appstate to go six and six. Uh oh,
Charlotte forty nine ers. Though you know, like I said,
it might have gone off your head because I didn't
really say explicitly who I was picking, Walker Mail, you
have gotten me quite amped up with your school passion,
with your school support, with your alumni love.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
And with that said, oh, I know what you're doing.
I know what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
If I picked the Charlotte forty nine ers, you know
what I'm saying. I got a lot of love for
the forty nine ers. We aren't in the mountains, but
Walker Mail, if I picked the Charlotte forty nine ers,
that means app State doesn't go bowling. My prediction is wrong.
I'm going with the app State Mountaineers. But it hurts
me Man, because you're so excited.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Yeah, I am excited.
Speaker 6 (38:37):
And you you went full heel, you embraced full heill
this week. You gave us four fizzles.
Speaker 1 (38:42):
My heart with Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
I want Charlotte one because you know how I feel
about app State. They're talking about it a real black
though they don't know their damn colors. Okay, it's yellow,
it's not gold. They come to the Wait games with
their app State stuff on and all of that.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
So you know, I got no love.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
For the Mountaineers, man, But you know, I just want
want them to But I really hope.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
That I'm wrong. I want to be wrong. Okay, Charlotte's
got gold though, right, we can have gold. You do
have goal?
Speaker 6 (39:06):
All right, Yes, that's all right, Flounder, We got to
get your pick into. Man, thanks for running the show
all day long. What you got for the people who
wins between Charlotte and app State.
Speaker 7 (39:16):
Well, man, I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna be rooting
for Charlotte, There's no doubt about that. I'm gonna be
pulling for my guy, Connor Harrell in this game. You know,
the last time that he was at Bank of America Stadium,
he didn't play bad. It wasn't his fault that Carolina
lost the way that they did to West Virginia. It
was that defense that really struggled in that game. I
think this game he comes out shows you a little
(39:37):
bit of why they went with him as the starting quarterback.
I think it's gonna be a great game. But I
I did the same thing I let you in with
a little hand yesterday that I thought they were gonna
win six games.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
I find it so hard.
Speaker 7 (39:50):
To not have app State in a bowl game, even
with dal Loggins on the sideline. So I think in
a close one, I got app State winning, all.
Speaker 6 (39:58):
Right, So I Charlotte finishing six and six on the season,
I got app State finishing I believe seven and or
six and six as well.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
Yeah, I got at yeah, just real quickly.
Speaker 6 (40:12):
I do think Charlotte it's if tim Albn is going
to be successful. I think this is going to have
to be a program that is built more so than
they just experienced all this success right away. I did
have them beating North Texas, maybe in part because you
and Flounder had Charlotte beating North Texas and I didn't
want to be the only one I did not have
them getting a victory. So possibly you could say my
(40:34):
real prediction is a five win football season for Charlotte.
Perhaps that's a little more realistic. But I do think
this program is headed the right direction, and I'm really
just real quickly. Do you give app some analysis today,
DW Loggins. I don't know if We've really talked about
how much we believe in Loggins and this program taking off.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
What is your belief for lack there of a.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Man like they said they went outside of the family
to go and get him.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
We know that he was at South Carolina s He's pedigree.
You know. I wasn't necessarily thrill.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
It felt, you know, like a hired It just didn't
really get my juices flowing as far as being like, man,
this is the guy that's going to be able to
bring it back. I feel like app State is in
a weird situation right now. But with that said, I
do think that he's good enough to get them to
a bowl game this year. I predicted six and six.
I feel like that he could be a guy that
could get them back on track. So if I had
the rate to hire today, I would call it probably
(41:27):
a be, just a solid BE.
Speaker 6 (41:29):
And I think he's a guy that'll do a good
job up there, and players seem to really like him.
I will say that interview that he had with Josh
Graham and that video goes viral and it's how much
he loves XL and XCEL just giving Dal Loggins the
footballs and all that. I do think that kind of
stuff matters like you got to win, of course, one
hundred percent. It always comes down to that. But when
you speak about the relationships, that stuff matters to me too.
(41:51):
If players are going to play for him, like XL
plays for Dal Loggins and he has that belief, I
am interested to see where this goes. He does not
have the win loss record that a Tim Alben does
at Ohio or at previous stops. If they would have
stayed within the family, maybe that would be a little
more palatable to the Mountaineer fans because, Okay, I don't
know what this resume is gonna look like, but he
does wear the black and yellow, as you might call
(42:12):
what they might call it the black and gold. They
went outside the family once when they brought an Eli
Drinkwitz and it was a nice season, really was, and
he used it as a stepping stone job. I don't
know if Dal Loggins is gonna do that. He might
if he gets a call from an SEC program. I
would imagine he does end up leaving for that job.
But I know that was their hesitancy to go outside
the family before, because even if they are successful in
(42:34):
one year, they might be gone and you've got to
do this whole thing over and over again, where one
the case was Sean Clark, but you had to move
on from Sean Clark because you can't put up results
like you did last year. I got I got some
hope for app I do. I think I've got some
belief in what they can do under Dal Loggins. But
I just hope it doesn't start today. Yeah, I hope
it stay not tonight at the Duke's Mayo Classic. All right,
(42:57):
we gotta get off the air. We got to give
these microphone owns to Kyle Bailey Smoke Ludwig back at
the Chandler Vaulta Studios as well. We'll wrap it up
live from the Doghouse WFNZ Doghouse powered by Jack Daniels
real quickly. Did want to thank our sponsors again today Pepsi,
Jack Daniels. Tito's Patio patio is not a new Tito's flavor.
By the way, it is not a new flavor. It
(43:18):
is the patio sponsored by Tito, so you can drink
your Tito's on the patio.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
Glad we got that cleared up. Also got some food trucks.
Speaker 6 (43:25):
JJ's Red Hots going to be here Alsie's ice cream
and then TJ exposure.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
You getting some Alsie's ice cream? Yeah? I might.
Speaker 6 (43:32):
Yeah, you know, it'd be the perfect day. It's the
only thing missing. It's the only thing missing from what
would be a perfect day. And then also, of course,
as Charlotte forty nine ers win, Kyle Bailey smoked Ludwig
Coming up next. Sports Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ.
Listen to the West and Walker show teas from noon
to three only on Sports Radio ninety two point FM FNZ,
(43:53):
the
Speaker 5 (43:53):
Official home of the Charlotte sports fan
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
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.
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.