September 30, 2025 • 42 mins
Join Darren Headrick for BBN Radio, presented by Clark's Pump-n-Shop. We talk with Kentucky Swimming & Diving Head Coach Bret Lundgaard and Kentucky Men's Golf Head Coach Gator Todd.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Okay, Hello everybody, Welcome in to BBN Radio presented by
Clark's Pumping Shop. It's another busy week for UK athletics.
Congratulations Men's soccer. They scored a road win over Coastal
Carolina last night, two to nothing. They'll host James Madison
(00:29):
at the Bell Saturday at seven pm. Women's Soccer's got
a big matchup at Florida on Thursday night. That's a
seven pm first kick. The women's soccer team off to
a three and one start in SEC play with a
couple of top twenty five wins.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Volleyball continues to roll.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
They'll be at Old Miss Friday night at seven o'clock
and then, of course, football's at Georgia this Saturday, a
noonkick down in Athens. Our airtime with the Jack Burford
Chevrolet countdown to kickoff will be ten am for that
noonkick at Georgia.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
JIP.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Coming up on our show tonight, we dive in with
Kentucky Swimming and Diving head coach Brett Lungard. Happy to
have him in studio with us, and later on we'll
catch up on the latest with men's golf head coach Gator.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Todd will stop by the show that's.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
All ahead on BBN Radio presented by Clark's Pumping Shop.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Here on the UK Sports Network.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
All right, man, you got a great voice.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Dang yeah, five seconds, let's have some fun. Welcome back
in to BBN Radio presented by Clark's Pumping Shop. And
here on the show first half hour, we're going to
catch up on Kentucky Swimming and Diving as they just
had their Blue and White Meat and head coach Brett
(01:56):
Luguard joins us in studio and coach to see and
just kind of getting underway with that blue white meat
this time of year.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
What is it you're looking for.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Out of your athletes when you get them in the pool, Well,
that is so much new.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
So just the opportunity to compete and observe.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
You know, we target this meet at this time because
it gives us about a month before we have an
official competition, so they get context for what it's like racing.
You know, a lot of them are are internationals, so
now we're going to twenty five yards instead of fifty meters.
So the walls are happening a little quicker. Everything's happening
a little quicker. The number of races are happening a
(02:36):
little quicker than what they're used to. It gives us
a month to have some context for what we were
practicing as we start to prepare for an awesome dual
meat lineup that we have coming up.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
You have so many athletes in the program. I think
it's around fifty right between the men and the women.
So with so many international players, what's that like for
you and your staff trying to get to know them
and communicate with them and get them ready for the
US collegiate competition.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Yeah, that's a great question. It's a lot of fun,
you know.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
I think one of the joys of our program right
now is that you have personalities from all different areas.
One of the things that we talk a lot about
is bring your personality, race your personality, and they do it.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
And I think that only happens if.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
You have a culture that really connects and celebrates one another.
I think one of the cool challenges for our staff
is to make sure that we have that relationship.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
You know, these people living on the other.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Side of the world for the first time ever, and
so it's really important for them to be able to
compete at the level that we're striving to do.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
They have to feel comfortable.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
They have to know that they trust us, they know
that we have their backs, and so a lot of
what we do, from honestly, from day one all the
way through the fall, is building that trust, building that
connection both with the team and with the staff.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
How do you use your practices in weekly training to
help build that as well?
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Well?
Speaker 4 (03:57):
You know, I think it starts with empowering our leaders,
you know, I think so in my first two years here,
there was so much acclamation, you know, getting used to
a new structure, a new organization, a new format. But
we very much want to have a player led model,
and I think it's really been rewarding to see the
upper classmen, to be honest, even some of our sophomores,
(04:21):
they're just in a position where they know what to
expect and they know what we're looking for as a staff,
and their voice has been grown, and so they're the
ones really guiding this.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
We meet with them regularly.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
I think in order to do what you're asking, we
have to have constant connection with those leaders and put
them in positions to use their voice and manage the
youth on our team.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
What's it like being the head coach of a combined
program with the men and women, especially here at Kentucky
where the men are coming off a great season last
year and the women historically they've won an SEC championship
in the past.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Well, you know, that was probably the one of the
biggest transitions for me, you know, prior to me being here,
I as the head coach of just a women's team.
And when you look at the size of that in
the organization, obviously smaller numbers with the student athletes, also
smaller numbers with the staff, and so you know, in
some ways it's easier right to manage, and it's easier
(05:19):
to feel to put your pulse on or have the
pulse on everything going on.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
I think right now. You know, one thing that I've
learned is that in enterprise this large, we have to
have an excellent staff.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
We have to have a staff who knows world class swimming,
who knows world class communication. And so I'm really excited
to have that partnership with our staff and put them
in positions where they they know what to expect. They
can run a team of teams inside of our enterprise
and they're leading the group.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
And you've brought in three new staff members right with Carisa,
Matt and Collige.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yeah, and they're fabulous.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Again, it's our mission here is to make this a
destination and for world class swimming. And these are three
coaches partnering with our current staff who they know what
that means, and they know what it means within their
specific areas of expertise. And it's been a lot of
fun to see their passion and fingerprint on our program
already in four or five weeks.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
When you first got to Kentucky, how big was it
having a diving coach and Ted hal Tall to help you.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
Yeah, he's I mean, Ted's one of the nicest guys
that you'll ever meet. And you know, I think we
had so much new it was refreshing to have somebody
with the veteran leadership that Ted brings, and he just
has a historical context for this place in this program,
and that helped me make some decisions and lead along
the way.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
We've talked about the amount of international players on this
year and building the culture in year number three. When
you look at recruiting and even in the transfer portal
now in this era, how have you used those to
help build the culture that you want here at Kentucky.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
Well, you know, it's been fascinating, even in my two
years here, the evolution and all the changes in the NCAA,
it's really impacted us. So now we're much smaller. We're
just talking about how big the team is. It's a
lot smaller than it used to be. And so now
what does it mean. It means that it means that
each student athlete matters more than ever.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
And to be honest, I think that is a part.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Of this equation that I'm really really excited about because
it's critical that we partner with them early on. They
know that this is a place where they're taken care of,
they're going to be challenged, they're going to be grown,
but they have a role. They have a role, and
they have accountability for putting their fingerprint on this program.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
And I think that's really important.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
And I think the more that we can illustrate to
them what their contribution is, what their role is, and
they can feel that they're contributing to something bigger than themselves,
I think that's a really key ingredient for fulfillment and
that's one of the basis of our program.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
You know, I think one of the obvious questions fans
might have when you talk about recruiting in these internets athletes,
how do they get on your radar?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Probably a dozen different ways, you know.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
And I think one of the things with our current staff,
they have origins all over the world, and they have
connections all over the world, and they're great communicators, and
I think they've earned the trust of a lot of
great club coaches all over the world, and so we
have some connections that go beyond just the domestic area,
and I think that allows us to have a little
(08:29):
bit of a lead in certain countries. You know, we
have a heads up on some prospects, and there's a
there's an international rhythm to recruiting, and it's slightly different
than the domestic one, and so I think you have
to you have to almost recruit in a three dimensional sense.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Even within one class.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
You know, men and women are slightly different, Domestic, international
is slightly different. And I think our staff does a
wonderful job at always looking at how to evolve their tactics.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Along the way.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
I was just curious how many flat miles you've logged
trying to meet some of these recruits in person.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
I mean, probably the best place I went last year
was was Denmark.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Wow, and that was that was fabulous.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
I got to spend some time in denmarkt country I've
always wanted.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
To go to.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
But our our staff, you know, you mentioned the three
that that you just said, within two weeks of them
being on payroll here, they were already in France, they
were already in California, They've been in South America. So
we're we're definitely leaving no stone unturned.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
And I imagine too, it's fun when they get here
to Lexington, introducing them to this city and the cultures
here in Lexington and letting them learn and maybe some
Southern slang.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
So cool and and and that's the personality part that
they've embraced so well. Yeah, you know, there's such a
wonderful culture here. I think one of the things that
I've appreciated about Kentucky is Kentucky is Kentucky. It has
it's it has its fingerprint, it has it's things that
are special to Kentucky. And I think I've loved embracing
(10:04):
that and watching our youth come in from all over
the world and embrace that. It's really cool because anybody
who's appreciating what this special place offers is going to
obviously live with gratitude and they're going to take advantage
of the opportunities that this university gives.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
We're going to get into some of the student athletes,
the swimmers and divers on the team and talk about
them and everything coming up in our next segment. But
not only with the international players, are they representing Kentucky,
But it's really neat to see all the different ones
that represent their own countries in international meets or you know,
Olympic trials or World Cup, whatever it may be. And
(10:42):
you've got what is it, Mexico, Canada, France, I think, Bolivia, Spain, Israel,
and plenty more yep.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
And I think for us to be the program that
we're going to be, we have to for anyone to
be a destination for world class swimming, you're almost responsible
for two sports in our world. You have the short
course twenty five yard and that's the NCAA system, and
that's almost a different song and dance than what you
(11:09):
see at the Olympic level. And that's the fifty meter pool.
And to have athletes coming in who are right on
the cusp of making those Olympic teams.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
They're on their national teams.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
You know, they're literally competing at the world's fastest meets.
There's a really cool blend that creates an environment of
really high purpose year round. In our world, this is
a year round endeavor. You know, we don't really have
off seasons. And again, having people who have so much purpose,
it makes our job so much more rewarding as a staff.
(11:41):
And then it really seeps into the DNA of our
team because they are striving for the greatest opportunities that
this sport offers, and I think that creates a really,
really hungry environment.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
We're chatting with Kentucky head coach Brett Lundgren from swimming
and Diving.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Will continue. Another segment with him is coming up.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
This is being Radio presented by Clark's Pumping Shop on
the UK Sports Network.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
I need to look more.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
No, you're fine, Okay. Sometimes my glance is just to
check the clock see how much time I've got left
to talk to you in the segment. Okay, welcome back
into BBN Radio presented by Clark's Pumping Shop here on
(12:34):
the UK Sports Network. I'm Darren Hedrick and again we're
joined by the head coach of Kentucky Swimming and Diving,
Brett Lunguard, who's with us in studio this morning or today,
and coach, let's talk a little bit about some of
the athletes. You got to see them compete in the
Blue White Meet. First of all, what was the friendly
competition like amongst your swimmers and divers going up against
(12:56):
each other.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
It's probably the opposite of the word friendly, And I
say that in an endearing way. They they love to compete,
and so to watch them take pride in this competition.
At face value, it could be glossed over and it's
an inner squad meet and it doesn't matter. But if
you're there and you know the build up of the
week before that, you see the signs, you see the traditions,
(13:19):
it matters.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
You know.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
One of the best parts is having alums who are
there and they're cheering on, you know, their respective blue
or White teams that they represented years ago. And so
it's one of the cool traditions at this program. We've
certainly carried over for many years and we will continue
to because it just brings out the best in everybody
when they're competing.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
In terms of setting the tone for the year. I've
heard the word disrupt. Can you kind of expand on
that for me?
Speaker 3 (13:44):
You know, it's I appreciate you asking that we I
think one of the shortcomings I've always had as a
coach is that it's really easy to talk about goals.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
You know, you look at goals and it's kind of
the what what are you trying to do? But to
be honest, anybody can look at our record, you know,
they can say, Okay, your men just got twentieth in
the country. My guess is the goal is to be
a little bit better, right, So maybe the goals eighteen
seventeen sixteen. That's great, and I think that is important,
and we want to have a process to that. But
(14:13):
I think for what we do, it requires so much
that you have to tap into the emotional piece. And
I think a mission it really connects with the why
and for us to disrupt, it has a couple meanings.
So in our sport, there's only so many teams that
have won a national championship. There's a bit of a
(14:33):
cast system, you know, historically in our sport. And I
want to challenge our staff, I want to challenge myself.
I want to challenge our student athletes, like, let's disrupt
that there's being at this university, being in this athletic department.
There's not a lot of things we cannot do. And
so just because it maybe hasn't been done historically, we
(14:54):
need to we need to take on this identity that
we're going to actively disrupt that and be in the thorn,
be the thorn and in the side of so many teams.
But maybe even more so, I think what disrupt means
is that we have an opportunity to define what is
holding us back individually. And I think ultimately, no matter
all the great teams that we're competing against, it will
(15:14):
be us that either has a disruption and it allows
us to evolve, or we will hold ourselves back. It
is us that we're actually competing against. And so for
me to disrupt is really defining what individually you know
has held you back historically.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
And so we're in the process of doing that.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
And when you do that in our setting and in
a healthy environment and you're doing it for your team,
I think it allows you to be a little bit braver.
I think it allows you to be a little bit bolder,
take more risks, compete at a different level. And so
that's the balance for us, and it's a mission that's
going to stick with us for a while and we
want it to be the DNA of our team.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
To that end.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
On the scheduling side, how purposeful are you in putting
together your meats for the season?
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Quite quite And to be honest, we always want to
be competing with people who are just ahead of us.
And fortunately, geographically we're in a terrific place. I mean,
three hours any direction we can drive to on any
weekend and we're gonna have a fabulous competition and so
it's going to be a lot of fun to to
(16:22):
For example, you know, we have Indiana coming here on
a Wednesday at ten am in the middle of October,
and we'll be in the middle of hard training and
you know, it's a Wednesday at ten am, and.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
We could have all the excuses in the world.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
And then we're going to turn around and we're going
to fly to Baton Rouge and I think their men
were nineteenth and so they've you know, they've done a
really nice job down there. And so to have that
quick turnaround, to have to travel while we are in
the thick of our training I think that's a lesson
you have to learn in the fall, and I hope
that it exposes plenty because then it allows us to
(16:57):
learn from that and grow to be really good.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
In February and March.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
And coach, before that home meet with Indiana, you've got
the World Aquatics World Cup in early October, tell us
a little bit about that event.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
So again, as we evolve into becoming a destination for
world class swimming, anytime that you have an opportunity to
compete with the world's best, you have to take advantage
of it. And the fact that the World Cup is
just three hours north of here and one of it
stops in Indianapolis. It's right outside of Indianapolis, we want
to take advantage of that.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
So look, we're going to be racing early.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
Our training won't necessarily be there, but it's so good
to get that progress report for our student athletes. Compete
against the best, see what gaps you need to improve on,
and again, just add purpose to what you're doing every day.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
When you're talking about training, especially this time of year,
what's a typical week And I know this is a
broad question, but what's a typical week of training like
let's say for a swimmer, and how different is it
for a diver.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
Yeah, that's a great question. So maybe number of workouts
are relatively similar. So our swimmers have nine in water workouts,
so we usually go two on Monday, one on Tuesday,
two on Wednesday, one on Thursday, two on Friday, one
on Saturday. We have anywhere from one to four different
lifts in there, depending on the group. Diving is about
(18:16):
the same, about eight in water workouts, and there are
three or four lifts as well.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
But it's a lot of time, you know, and and
I think the training.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
We're more diverse in terms of skill sets this year
than we've ever been, So the training also has to
represent that, you know, we have we have some speed
this year, we have some sprinters, and we've we've certainly
had it historically a great distance program. And so it's
it's really cool to see these two paths kind of
go in different ways, but still working really hard.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Uh I promised that we would get to some of
the student athletes with swimming and diving. You've got a
lot of returners on the on both squads. This year
also had some big summers. Avery guys had a huge summer,
she was bronze medal winner at the World University Games
for Team USA.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
That's awesome, so awesome, And you know, sometimes you have
these athletes who are are really understated and what they
do right and if you didn't know, they're not craving
the attention. If anything, they probably don't want it. And
every is one of those. It's just someone who comes
in every single day. She's a steady, consistent diver. And
the part that's been really cool is, you know, I
(19:24):
know she's worked through a lot, and you know, she
moved from California out to here. But the part that's
so cool is to see her at the world's biggest meets.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
She always does her best and.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
She has this kind of silent assassin in her that
that I think is a really good influence for that group.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
When you talk about competing for national teams. Carson Hick
was named a member of the twenty twenty five, twenty
six US national team too.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
Such a cool story with Carson, two time All American.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Yeah, and you.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
Know the other what last summer at Olympic Trials, EA
finaled and they do these parades right, and they have
such a great production. It was up in Indy this
last trials and they have this big jumbo screen and
they've got the person on there and they read the
bios and you know, they're they're introducing everybody of the
world record holder, you've got you know, national team member,
(20:14):
you've got this. And at the time, Carson has dropped
so much time and so really his biggest accomplishment that
they that they said was that he was the new
Mexico Sectional champion. And he almost had to laugh out
loud because it's like, you know, one of these is
not like the others. And I think it's so symbolic
of how much he has improved and how much he
(20:35):
has grown, and it's really cool to just see that
evolution happening in real time.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Well, coach, I have a bunch of other names written down,
but we've only got a couple of minutes left in
the program, so I'll just add or in this segment,
so I'll just ask this what excites you most about
your men and women this year?
Speaker 3 (20:51):
I think it's what they bring. They bring the energy.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
You know, we talk a lot about connection and there's
an interpersonal component to that, but they have a connection
to purpose and it's a solitary purpose, and it's a
connection that we're all going to do this together. And
anytime that you're a part of a group as a
coach where you feel like you can almost like take
a couple steps back and watch them and trust them
(21:16):
and know that they're rolling, that's when you know that
you're onto something good. And I've felt that more in
the first five five weeks than I probably have in
the previous two years. And that gives me a lot
of confidence that we're going to build something special and
it's not going to happen overnight, but we know that
we're on the right path with that.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
So we look forward to seeing your teams compete at
the Lancaster Aquatic Center. Big Blue Nation will be there.
Next home meet will be October twenty second against Indiana
at ten am.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Coach Brett Languard, thanks for joining us.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Thank you appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
When we come back here on BBN Radio presented by
Clark's Pump and Shop, we'll switch over to Men's Golf
as head coach Gator Todd will join the show. This
is the UK Sports Network. Any clear, awesome stuff. Thank you, Yeah,
we'll do this again.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
So I think I saw that in ten seconds.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Go ahead there, Welcome back into BBN Radio presented by
Clark's Pumping Shop here on the UK Sports Network. We
were just talking swimming and diving, and now we're going
to switch over to men's golf. We've already had gold
aborist from women's golf ons now we're going to catch
up with head coach Gator Todd.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Coach, thanks for joining.
Speaker 5 (22:50):
Us, Yes, sir, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
But you've had a couple of events under your belt already,
some tournaments. You went down to loud in Tennessee, and
you've also competed in the bear Cat Initational up in Cincinnati.
What's what have you learned about your team through two
events so far?
Speaker 5 (23:05):
I think, first off, I like our team a lot.
It's the most talent that we've had since I've been here,
and by far the best chemistry. We're We're a little
banged up right now, so it's very rare for golfers
to get injured, but our best player right now has
been dealing with the back injury all year. So I
think once we get healthy, I think this team is
(23:27):
really going to flourish. And just uh so, yeah, just
trying to be patient with that and just folks on
the process. You know, I think the first round of Tennessee,
I think we're in third place. After the first round,
there's sixteen teams there. For everybody who's not familiar college golf.
We go to, you know, whenever we go to a
termament's fifteen sixteen, eighteen teams there. It's a really good field,
(23:47):
one the strongest ones we play in all year. And
you know, I think when we got done with that round,
I was like, Okay, that's about what I expect with,
you know, from this team, and we end up finishing
six in that field, which is probably about where we
should finished. There's probably five or so top twenty teams there,
so I thought it was a pretty positive week for us.
And then at Bearcat, we just saw golf to a
really bad start. We were I think we were near
(24:09):
the bottom of the leader board after the first round,
but then battled back to finish right in the middle
of the pack, ninth out of eighteen teams. And uh,
I just think that's kind of what this team is.
They're they're pretty blue collar, they're pretty resilient, and yeah,
I just I really like to make up up the
squad we got this year.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
You've got a young squad too, with some freshman and
sophomorees this year. Cole Stockgard freshman out adult in Georgia.
I was looking at your results from the Bearcat and
he had a pretty good final day up there in Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
I think he shot at sixty nine, right, he.
Speaker 5 (24:40):
Did, Cole Is Cole's won the best player we've ever
signed here at Kentucky. He's he's a top twenty player
in the twenty twenty five class. He's he's a he's
a really strong ball striker. He had eighteen greens that day.
I walked all I walked. I walked the whole golf
tournament with him, and I think he's just learning, just
you know, just he doesn't have to be perfect, you know.
(25:01):
And you know when you go play college golf courses,
it's very different than junior golf, and you know, you're
seeing pens there are three and four off the edge
and can't just fire at every single flag, and so
you got to think a little bit more. And but
he he hit, he hits golf shots that are super
super high level, especially with his you know, with with
with his mid and long irons, and I think the
sky's limit for him.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
You mentioned walking with him during the tournament. With such
a young roster, how have you had to tailor or
maybe adjust the way you coach golfers with such a
young group.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
We tend to walk with the young guys their freshman year,
maybe a little bit into their sophomore year, but the
whole point is to kind of teach them kind of
how to manage their game and manage the golf course,
and we kind of expect him to kind of take
it over the summer, take ownership with it, and go
on and run with it, and by their sophomore junior year,
they kind of have it, you know, because there's another
(25:52):
slew of freshmen we have coming in that we have
to kind of train.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
So I walked.
Speaker 5 (25:57):
Basically the entire year with Jacob Lang last year, and
you know, now I feel like he's, you know, he
had a nice summer and now he's kind of taking
it and he's been one of our top players this year.
And hopefully the cole's gonna kind of take that next
up too. So yeah, this is kind of what we
do things here.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Yeah, we're chatting with a head coach Gator Todd from
Men's Golf and one of the other performers you've had
that's had a good first couple of tournaments, first couple
of weeks has been Jacob Laine and Kentucky Boy at
twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Mister Golf, what have you seen from him?
Speaker 5 (26:30):
Jacob is just super confident. He's what we call a dog.
He's just he's just he's just got that inner confidence
about him. And you can't teach it, you know. It's
nothing that we've taught him. It's just it's just something
that he has and kind of the way he was raised,
and he's he's I think he's just has an understanding
of how to play the game better, you know. I
just think he's he's he's he understands how to chicken
(26:51):
pick and choose his spots and not having to be
so aggressive with you know, long irons or whatever. He's
a he's a very elite wedge player, one of the
best I've ever seen, to be honest with you, I've
coached some really good ones throughout my day, and he
is I'll put him up against anybody with a wedges hand.
So he just understands that that's kind of where he
can get his separation. And yeah, again, you know, just
(27:11):
a much different skill set than maybe Cole, but just
like he understands who he is and I think he's
colorable in his own skin. And yeah, I'm just I'm
really excited about the steps he's taken right now.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, and he's also a legacy, I guess because his uncle,
Ron Layman played golf at Kentucky, so he's grown up
around the sport and comes in with a lot of
experience and obviously a lot of accolades. So sir, yeah,
in terms of what's coming up now, I wanted to
make sure we get to this while we had a minute.
Two tournaments down, but the next one is an exciting one.
(27:43):
October sixth through seventh, all day events at the Lexington
Country Club.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
It's the Cullen Brown Collegiate.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
That's a special tournament for the University of Kentucky and
it's going to be an exciting one.
Speaker 5 (27:53):
Absolutely. I'll be our second year hosting. We're grateful to
have Lexton country Club partner us and host this golf tournament.
When I pitched the idea to them about a year
and a half ago, they were all for it, and
uh yeah, just just it's just really cool to kind
of you know, you're always looking for different experiences and
you know, just to come to Lexington in October show
(28:16):
everybody a little taste of the blue grass yet Keenland
going on fall weather here is incredible. And then and
then obviously just to honor the you know, the memory
of Colan Brown is just super special. His sister Kat
plays in the women's team here and we see her
every single day. And just Colin Colan left a pretty
uh uh long lasting uh memory of of himself here
(28:40):
and uh at uh with the UK Golf and just
he's you know, you know, we're trying to always honor
him each year and we don't want him to be forgotten.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
We know you've put together a strong field for that
tournament to give us a little preview of what fans
who come out might see.
Speaker 5 (28:55):
Yeah, sure, we've got nine and we have nine top
power four teams coming. It's much better than last year
field wise. We've got Missippi State coming, Cincinnati's a top
twenty five team, West Virginia is a top twenty five
team right now, You've got n C State. I'm trying
to think who else is coming, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Michigan,
(29:16):
and then kind of you know, we have Eastern Kentucky
Western Kentucky coming back, which is always important to me
to kind of get the local Kentucky teams. But yeah,
it should be it should be a really great field
and looking forward to next week.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Yeah, and for fans that want to come, it's an
all day event. How can they come out and support
the golf team and the Cullen Brown Collegiate.
Speaker 5 (29:36):
Yeah, there's no admission or anything. We're playing all day.
Monday play thirty six holes, so I think we it's
a shotgun start at nine o'clock and we'll basically play
it all dark and then Tuesday will just be eighteen holes,
same thing. Shotgun starts, so nine o'clock both days.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Yeah, that's the.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Colen Brown Collegiate coming up, and again that's going to
be October sixth and seventh at the Lexington Country Club.
In terms of the course that you'll be competing on.
For those of us that haven't had a chance to
play the country club, what's it like?
Speaker 5 (30:03):
It's first class. In my opinion, it's the top two
or three course in the state. It's it's really tough.
I think having that rain last week that we have
is gonna make that rough grow up a little bit,
so it should be even more challenging. Yeah, it's it's
a beautiful golf course, and like I said, we're just
very fortunate to play out there. I really feel like
it's one of the best in the state.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
One thing that I asked Golda about and I'd love
to get your thoughts too, when you're putting together a
schedule of tournaments, how key is it to put one
where the guys are going to see all different manner
of layouts, but also different grasses and styles that courses play.
Speaker 5 (30:42):
My philosophy of scheduling is you never know what you're
going to run into. For NANCA a regional, so we
try to kind of play all over the place. I
think for us, like you can't really play up north
in the in the spring, so I try to kind
of play in Ohio, try to play and maybe Michigan
if we can play in Kentucky. But then the South,
(31:03):
you know, we're kind of always on Bermuda grass. You know,
we're playing in Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, all in
the spring, So I think it's kind of I just
I like a mix of kind of going all over
the place because you never know in May if you
get shipped to California or you get shipped to Texas
or wherever else. You know, just want to be ready
for whatever you see.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
We're chatting with men's golf coach Gator Todd, and we've
got another segment coming up with him as you listen
to BBN Radio presented by Clark's Pumping Shop here on
the UK Sports Network. I'll let just get a little
bit about the upgrades to the practice course.
Speaker 5 (31:40):
All right, it's big time. Yeah, we're back in about
fifteen seconds here, phellows.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Okay, final segment of our show for this week here
on BBN Radio presented by Clark's Pumping Shop, and we're
(32:07):
joined by Kentucky men's golf coach Gator Todd. And you
and I were chatting just before the end of the
last segment about the schedule and the different grasses and
courses you'll compete on. You've had some upgrades to the
practice course and I understand one of those is you
get a couple of different styles of grass. How big
is that when you're getting ready to go face or
(32:29):
go compete in another tournament.
Speaker 5 (32:30):
Yeah, it's huge. Like like we were talking about earlier,
we play on different kinds of grasses, and I feel
like now there's really no excuse not be ready. You know,
it's huge for our players to be able to simulate
what they're going to see on the road, but it's
also huge for recruiting and just taking a recruit back
there and just showing them that, hey, you know, we're
you know, there's nothing you can't practice here. You know,
(32:52):
we're very thankful for our administration, Mitch Barnhart, Mark Hill,
Donnie meffert A, Manda Brown, just for pushing this thing through.
And we're also very thankful for our donors who believe
in what we're building here. It's uh, it's I think
we added about two acres of grass. It's half bermuda grass,
half bent grass. We added three greens, one bermuda grass
(33:12):
green and two more bent grass greens to go along
with our existing bent grass greens. So it's, uh, it's
gonna be I'm ready for it to be done now,
but and I know our guys are too, But uh,
you know, it's it looks it looks so amazing back there,
and you can just see the shots you you know
that you can hit in practice, and I'm gonna be
really excited when we get everything done.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
So for the practice. So you've added some areas to
help with the short game practice.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
This may sound like a silly question.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
But how critical is that when you think about competing
at a collegiate level in these tournaments to be able
to have that short green practice or short game practice area.
Speaker 5 (33:50):
I feel like it's the biggest thing that we probably
struggle with compared to other teams in this conference, especially
when we go from from to Bermuda grass in the spring.
It's probably the it's probably the toughest transition for us.
So uh yeah, I just think being able to hit
all kinds of different shots, all different kinds of grass,
(34:11):
is different kinds of lies, you know, going going elevated
all Bermuda grass to a Bermuda grass green that's what
we see in the spring, or going like if you
have an end of the grain lie, you know, kind
of going kind of going uphill down here.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Whatever.
Speaker 5 (34:25):
There's nothing you can't practice out there, and you know,
I just think it's going to really help our players
evolve and really get to that next level.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Coach.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
We've already talked about the Colin Brown Collegiate which is
coming up October sixth and seventh at the Lexington Country Club,
but also October tenth, you've got UK Golf Day.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Tell us about that event we do.
Speaker 5 (34:44):
It's it'll be our second time doing it as well,
and it's just a it's just a it's just a
time for people to come out and get to know
the team. We'll have players hitting a shot for each
group on all the part threes and yeah, it's just
a it's just a good meet and greet and and
then helps kind of fundraise for the golf team as well. Yeah,
and it'll be our university club and we're super excited
(35:06):
about it.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Sign ups or anything to.
Speaker 5 (35:08):
There is sign ups, I believe you and go on
our website and sign up there.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
In terms of the roster, we've already mentioned Jacob and
Cole uh golf knows no offseason and it was a
big summer for Luke Coyle who's transferring back home after
being at Alabama for a couple of years.
Speaker 5 (35:25):
Yeah, Luke Bleed's blue and he's he's a huge Kentucky fan,
always has been. We were couldn't be more thrilled to
add him to our roster. He just came in and
fit perfectly from a chemistry perspective, and then his his
golf game is you know, speaks for itself. You know,
he's he's he's one of our top couple of players
and just super thankful to have him here. He along
(35:48):
with he just got the he's got the right attitude.
You know, he's just he's he's he's not in tim day,
he's not scared, he works hard, he's got the he's
got the blue collar kind of dog in him, you know,
and just he just fits perfectly here and I know
he's going to do great things.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
He's a junior out of Campbellsville, Kentucky, two time Mister
Golf in the Bluegrass State, and this summer he was
he won the Dogwood Invitational and the ninety sixth Southeastern Amateur.
As you were following along this summer, what did you
see out of the way Luke was competing out there?
Speaker 5 (36:18):
Well, I certainly love seeing him win. You it's uh,
it's uh, we we haven't had anybody win amateur events
like that in quite a while. And so just just
just just him carrying the torch for UK Golf out
there and kind of showing what we're capable of doing.
I think is huge.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
You've added a member to your staff in July, that
was Cole Ilmore from Wichitas State. What does he bring
to the table for your staff?
Speaker 5 (36:41):
Calls a shoot, a super sharp dude. He's he's been incredible.
I mean, guys love him. He's he's he's you know,
just hungry, young guy, will do whatever it takes kind
of get to the next level. And he's just been
he's just been an incredible addition to our team.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Chatting with coach Gator Todd from Kentucky Men's Golf, and
as you've come to Lexington and established your program and
put in the culture you've wanted, I asked coach Lunguard
from Swimming and Diving this question, how have you used
recruiting and the current landscape with the transfer portal and
all that to get the type of golfers that you
want in this program.
Speaker 5 (37:19):
Yeah, it's a I think we're still trying to figure
it out, you know, with roster limits being at eight
and the transfer portal, you know, I think we have
to use the transfer portal a little bit, so just
trying to kind of find that balance, you know, you know,
we always you know, we obviously want to lock up
this state. You know, if there's a good player in
the state of Kentucky, you know, we don't want.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
To let them leave.
Speaker 5 (37:38):
So that's kind of my main focus if is is
that there's a good high school player here, we're not
We're building a wall around them. And then outside of that,
just you know, I think I think the sec IS
is very prevalent in the Southeast, and I think that
I think that the other surrounding states are are really
big for us to recruit. And then obviously the transfer portal.
So yeah, that's kind of where we're doing things.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Uh, in terms of the recruiting and all of that stuff.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
What what are some things you look for in a
golfer besides the talent?
Speaker 2 (38:10):
What are some of those intangibles that you look for?
Speaker 5 (38:13):
I actually love watching them when they're struggling because there's
I mean, we all know if if I'm watching a
kid and I'm and i'm uh and I'm you know,
there's there's an attention there that we like this guy,
I know he's good enough, right, so we know that
his good stuff is good, but it's more about like
how can he handle adversity? Can he be resilient? How's
(38:34):
he how's he treating his parents, How's he treating his
playing competitors, How's how's he treating the volunteer out there.
We're looking for everything. It's not just one thing, but yeah,
I mean just just really watching everything that they do.
And then i'd say physically looking for just a good athlete,
you know, someone with some speed. That's kind of where
the game's going a little bit. You watch all those
guys playing the Ryder Cup, and you know most of
these guys got one seventy five and eighty five ball speed. Yeah,
(38:57):
and that's kind of just what kind of what you
have to have nowadays.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
I imagine your players were probably following the Ryder Cup.
Do you encourage them to watch pro tournaments when they
can and kind of see what these guys do at
such an elite level.
Speaker 5 (39:08):
I don't think I had to encourage anyboy to watch
the Ryder Cup yesterday. I think they were all gonna
watch it.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (39:14):
I just think it's great to just like learn about
situations out there you know that they're going through. I
think it's great when the TV has a player in
their caddy kind of talking through a shot and just
hearing what they're saying and just how they're picking a target,
how they're being very precise and being committed. Those are
things that we talk about in our program, and I'm
always encouraging our guys to kind of, you know, pay
attention to those little things.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
What's it like for you? This was one of the
big questions I had for you. What's it like for
you during a tournament when you're walking with the golfers
or kind of observing just maybe seeing little things in
their technique or their swing, or maybe it's just trying
to coach the mental aspect of the sport.
Speaker 5 (39:54):
I think it's just teaching them when to be aggressive
and when to be conservative. I think that's like the
biggest adjustment you have from junior golf to college golf,
because just the setups are much more difficult in college
golf and you can't just be aggressive all the time.
So I think that's the biggest adjustment. And then just
yet just trying to keep him mentally sound and not
not making not making emotional decisions out there. There's the
(40:17):
two biggest things I would say.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
And then I imagine too, it's also critical to learn
your guys so that way you know when's the time
to maybe be a little lighthearted, or when's the time
to come up and say, hey man, we got to
fix whatever it is that you're seeing.
Speaker 5 (40:31):
I think that's what you're trying to figure out early on,
is what buttons you can and can't push? Yeah, you know,
and I'm walking with Cole right now, and I've certainly
made some mistakes, maybe been a little bit too hard
on him at times, but you know, I'm learning those
things about him, Yeah, and seeing what he can't handle,
what he can't and that's just that's just kind of
part of coaching golf.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
Right right.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
And you know you've had the tournaments to walk with
him and stuff, But how do you use practice just
to get to know him more?
Speaker 5 (40:57):
Yeah, I mean you're just looking for certain tendencies in
practic you know, just looking for just little you know,
just little things that might do. And just I'm always
trying to hold guys accountable to the little things, the
body language, the self talk, you know, just we always
talk about just like you know when you know, when
college golf teams out there playing, there's five players out there,
so there's always going to be a guy behind you
or a guy in front of you. And we always
talk about having to have your house in order because
(41:19):
you don't want to show any negative or you know,
anything that could you know, kind of throw off that
plate behind you or ahead of you. So just you're
always trying to look positive, head up, you know, shoulders up,
like like you're in control.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
So and so with that, coach, we appreciate your time.
We're running out of time. It's great chatting with you
and that we wish you the best of luck again.
The Cullen Brown Collegiate October sixth and seventh, all day
events at the Lexington Country Club.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
Come support the Wildcats.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
It's it's a great tournament honoring a terrific young man
who he lost in twenty twenty. It's going to be
a strong field as well. Coach, thanks so much for
the time and thanks for joining us.
Speaker 5 (41:59):
Yes, sir, thank you.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
That's head coach Gator Todd from Kentucky Men's Golf and
that's our show for this week. If you missed any
of our chat with coach Lugard or coach Todd.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
You can find that on UKSN all Access.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
You can also check out the podcast anywhere you download
your podcast, whether it's Spotify, Apple, whatever, you can find
them there. And as always, we appreciate you for joining
us and we'll talk to you next Monday right here
on BBN Radio, presented by Clark's Pumping Shop.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
This is the UK Sports Network.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
Wow collaps, Well that's the first time we've had applause.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
Great job.
Okay, Hello everybody, Welcome in to BBN Radio presented by
Clark's Pumping Shop. It's another busy week for UK athletics.
Congratulations Men's soccer. They scored a road win over Coastal
Carolina last night, two to nothing. They'll host James Madison
(00:29):
at the Bell Saturday at seven pm. Women's Soccer's got
a big matchup at Florida on Thursday night. That's a
seven pm first kick. The women's soccer team off to
a three and one start in SEC play with a
couple of top twenty five wins.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Volleyball continues to roll.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
They'll be at Old Miss Friday night at seven o'clock
and then, of course, football's at Georgia this Saturday, a
noonkick down in Athens. Our airtime with the Jack Burford
Chevrolet countdown to kickoff will be ten am for that
noonkick at Georgia.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
JIP.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Coming up on our show tonight, we dive in with
Kentucky Swimming and Diving head coach Brett Lungard. Happy to
have him in studio with us, and later on we'll
catch up on the latest with men's golf head coach Gator.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Todd will stop by the show that's.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
All ahead on BBN Radio presented by Clark's Pumping Shop.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Here on the UK Sports Network.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
All right, man, you got a great voice.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Dang yeah, five seconds, let's have some fun. Welcome back
in to BBN Radio presented by Clark's Pumping Shop. And
here on the show first half hour, we're going to
catch up on Kentucky Swimming and Diving as they just
had their Blue and White Meat and head coach Brett
(01:56):
Luguard joins us in studio and coach to see and
just kind of getting underway with that blue white meat
this time of year.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
What is it you're looking for.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Out of your athletes when you get them in the pool, Well,
that is so much new.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
So just the opportunity to compete and observe.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
You know, we target this meet at this time because
it gives us about a month before we have an
official competition, so they get context for what it's like racing.
You know, a lot of them are are internationals, so
now we're going to twenty five yards instead of fifty meters.
So the walls are happening a little quicker. Everything's happening
a little quicker. The number of races are happening a
(02:36):
little quicker than what they're used to. It gives us
a month to have some context for what we were
practicing as we start to prepare for an awesome dual
meat lineup that we have coming up.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
You have so many athletes in the program. I think
it's around fifty right between the men and the women.
So with so many international players, what's that like for
you and your staff trying to get to know them
and communicate with them and get them ready for the
US collegiate competition.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Yeah, that's a great question. It's a lot of fun,
you know.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
I think one of the joys of our program right
now is that you have personalities from all different areas.
One of the things that we talk a lot about
is bring your personality, race your personality, and they do it.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
And I think that only happens if.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
You have a culture that really connects and celebrates one another.
I think one of the cool challenges for our staff
is to make sure that we have that relationship.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
You know, these people living on the other.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Side of the world for the first time ever, and
so it's really important for them to be able to
compete at the level that we're striving to do.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
They have to feel comfortable.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
They have to know that they trust us, they know
that we have their backs, and so a lot of
what we do, from honestly, from day one all the
way through the fall, is building that trust, building that
connection both with the team and with the staff.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
How do you use your practices in weekly training to
help build that as well?
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Well?
Speaker 4 (03:57):
You know, I think it starts with empowering our leaders,
you know, I think so in my first two years here,
there was so much acclamation, you know, getting used to
a new structure, a new organization, a new format. But
we very much want to have a player led model,
and I think it's really been rewarding to see the
upper classmen, to be honest, even some of our sophomores,
(04:21):
they're just in a position where they know what to
expect and they know what we're looking for as a staff,
and their voice has been grown, and so they're the
ones really guiding this.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
We meet with them regularly.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
I think in order to do what you're asking, we
have to have constant connection with those leaders and put
them in positions to use their voice and manage the
youth on our team.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
What's it like being the head coach of a combined
program with the men and women, especially here at Kentucky
where the men are coming off a great season last
year and the women historically they've won an SEC championship
in the past.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Well, you know, that was probably the one of the
biggest transitions for me, you know, prior to me being here,
I as the head coach of just a women's team.
And when you look at the size of that in
the organization, obviously smaller numbers with the student athletes, also
smaller numbers with the staff, and so you know, in
some ways it's easier right to manage, and it's easier
(05:19):
to feel to put your pulse on or have the
pulse on everything going on.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
I think right now. You know, one thing that I've
learned is that in enterprise this large, we have to
have an excellent staff.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
We have to have a staff who knows world class swimming,
who knows world class communication. And so I'm really excited
to have that partnership with our staff and put them
in positions where they they know what to expect. They
can run a team of teams inside of our enterprise
and they're leading the group.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
And you've brought in three new staff members right with Carisa,
Matt and Collige.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yeah, and they're fabulous.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Again, it's our mission here is to make this a
destination and for world class swimming. And these are three
coaches partnering with our current staff who they know what
that means, and they know what it means within their
specific areas of expertise. And it's been a lot of
fun to see their passion and fingerprint on our program
already in four or five weeks.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
When you first got to Kentucky, how big was it
having a diving coach and Ted hal Tall to help you.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
Yeah, he's I mean, Ted's one of the nicest guys
that you'll ever meet. And you know, I think we
had so much new it was refreshing to have somebody
with the veteran leadership that Ted brings, and he just
has a historical context for this place in this program,
and that helped me make some decisions and lead along
the way.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
We've talked about the amount of international players on this
year and building the culture in year number three. When
you look at recruiting and even in the transfer portal
now in this era, how have you used those to
help build the culture that you want here at Kentucky.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
Well, you know, it's been fascinating, even in my two
years here, the evolution and all the changes in the NCAA,
it's really impacted us. So now we're much smaller. We're
just talking about how big the team is. It's a
lot smaller than it used to be. And so now
what does it mean. It means that it means that
each student athlete matters more than ever.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
And to be honest, I think that is a part.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Of this equation that I'm really really excited about because
it's critical that we partner with them early on. They
know that this is a place where they're taken care of,
they're going to be challenged, they're going to be grown,
but they have a role. They have a role, and
they have accountability for putting their fingerprint on this program.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
And I think that's really important.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
And I think the more that we can illustrate to
them what their contribution is, what their role is, and
they can feel that they're contributing to something bigger than themselves,
I think that's a really key ingredient for fulfillment and
that's one of the basis of our program.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
You know, I think one of the obvious questions fans
might have when you talk about recruiting in these internets athletes,
how do they get on your radar?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Probably a dozen different ways, you know.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
And I think one of the things with our current staff,
they have origins all over the world, and they have
connections all over the world, and they're great communicators, and
I think they've earned the trust of a lot of
great club coaches all over the world, and so we
have some connections that go beyond just the domestic area,
and I think that allows us to have a little
(08:29):
bit of a lead in certain countries. You know, we
have a heads up on some prospects, and there's a
there's an international rhythm to recruiting, and it's slightly different
than the domestic one, and so I think you have
to you have to almost recruit in a three dimensional sense.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Even within one class.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
You know, men and women are slightly different, Domestic, international
is slightly different. And I think our staff does a
wonderful job at always looking at how to evolve their tactics.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Along the way.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
I was just curious how many flat miles you've logged
trying to meet some of these recruits in person.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
I mean, probably the best place I went last year
was was Denmark.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Wow, and that was that was fabulous.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
I got to spend some time in denmarkt country I've
always wanted.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
To go to.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
But our our staff, you know, you mentioned the three
that that you just said, within two weeks of them
being on payroll here, they were already in France, they
were already in California, They've been in South America. So
we're we're definitely leaving no stone unturned.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
And I imagine too, it's fun when they get here
to Lexington, introducing them to this city and the cultures
here in Lexington and letting them learn and maybe some
Southern slang.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
So cool and and and that's the personality part that
they've embraced so well. Yeah, you know, there's such a
wonderful culture here. I think one of the things that
I've appreciated about Kentucky is Kentucky is Kentucky. It has
it's it has its fingerprint, it has it's things that
are special to Kentucky. And I think I've loved embracing
(10:04):
that and watching our youth come in from all over
the world and embrace that. It's really cool because anybody
who's appreciating what this special place offers is going to
obviously live with gratitude and they're going to take advantage
of the opportunities that this university gives.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
We're going to get into some of the student athletes,
the swimmers and divers on the team and talk about
them and everything coming up in our next segment. But
not only with the international players, are they representing Kentucky,
But it's really neat to see all the different ones
that represent their own countries in international meets or you know,
Olympic trials or World Cup, whatever it may be. And
(10:42):
you've got what is it, Mexico, Canada, France, I think, Bolivia, Spain, Israel,
and plenty more yep.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
And I think for us to be the program that
we're going to be, we have to for anyone to
be a destination for world class swimming, you're almost responsible
for two sports in our world. You have the short
course twenty five yard and that's the NCAA system, and
that's almost a different song and dance than what you
(11:09):
see at the Olympic level. And that's the fifty meter pool.
And to have athletes coming in who are right on
the cusp of making those Olympic teams.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
They're on their national teams.
Speaker 4 (11:20):
You know, they're literally competing at the world's fastest meets.
There's a really cool blend that creates an environment of
really high purpose year round. In our world, this is
a year round endeavor. You know, we don't really have
off seasons. And again, having people who have so much purpose,
it makes our job so much more rewarding as a staff.
(11:41):
And then it really seeps into the DNA of our
team because they are striving for the greatest opportunities that
this sport offers, and I think that creates a really,
really hungry environment.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
We're chatting with Kentucky head coach Brett Lundgren from swimming
and Diving.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Will continue. Another segment with him is coming up.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
This is being Radio presented by Clark's Pumping Shop on
the UK Sports Network.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
I need to look more.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
No, you're fine, Okay. Sometimes my glance is just to
check the clock see how much time I've got left
to talk to you in the segment. Okay, welcome back
into BBN Radio presented by Clark's Pumping Shop here on
(12:34):
the UK Sports Network. I'm Darren Hedrick and again we're
joined by the head coach of Kentucky Swimming and Diving,
Brett Lunguard, who's with us in studio this morning or today,
and coach, let's talk a little bit about some of
the athletes. You got to see them compete in the
Blue White Meet. First of all, what was the friendly
competition like amongst your swimmers and divers going up against
(12:56):
each other.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
It's probably the opposite of the word friendly, And I
say that in an endearing way. They they love to compete,
and so to watch them take pride in this competition.
At face value, it could be glossed over and it's
an inner squad meet and it doesn't matter. But if
you're there and you know the build up of the
week before that, you see the signs, you see the traditions,
(13:19):
it matters.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
You know.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
One of the best parts is having alums who are
there and they're cheering on, you know, their respective blue
or White teams that they represented years ago. And so
it's one of the cool traditions at this program. We've
certainly carried over for many years and we will continue
to because it just brings out the best in everybody
when they're competing.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
In terms of setting the tone for the year. I've
heard the word disrupt. Can you kind of expand on
that for me?
Speaker 3 (13:44):
You know, it's I appreciate you asking that we I
think one of the shortcomings I've always had as a
coach is that it's really easy to talk about goals.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
You know, you look at goals and it's kind of
the what what are you trying to do? But to
be honest, anybody can look at our record, you know,
they can say, Okay, your men just got twentieth in
the country. My guess is the goal is to be
a little bit better, right, So maybe the goals eighteen
seventeen sixteen. That's great, and I think that is important,
and we want to have a process to that. But
(14:13):
I think for what we do, it requires so much
that you have to tap into the emotional piece. And
I think a mission it really connects with the why
and for us to disrupt, it has a couple meanings.
So in our sport, there's only so many teams that
have won a national championship. There's a bit of a
(14:33):
cast system, you know, historically in our sport. And I
want to challenge our staff, I want to challenge myself.
I want to challenge our student athletes, like, let's disrupt
that there's being at this university, being in this athletic department.
There's not a lot of things we cannot do. And
so just because it maybe hasn't been done historically, we
(14:54):
need to we need to take on this identity that
we're going to actively disrupt that and be in the thorn,
be the thorn and in the side of so many teams.
But maybe even more so, I think what disrupt means
is that we have an opportunity to define what is
holding us back individually. And I think ultimately, no matter
all the great teams that we're competing against, it will
(15:14):
be us that either has a disruption and it allows
us to evolve, or we will hold ourselves back. It
is us that we're actually competing against. And so for
me to disrupt is really defining what individually you know
has held you back historically.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
And so we're in the process of doing that.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
And when you do that in our setting and in
a healthy environment and you're doing it for your team,
I think it allows you to be a little bit braver.
I think it allows you to be a little bit bolder,
take more risks, compete at a different level. And so
that's the balance for us, and it's a mission that's
going to stick with us for a while and we
want it to be the DNA of our team.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
To that end.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
On the scheduling side, how purposeful are you in putting
together your meats for the season?
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Quite quite And to be honest, we always want to
be competing with people who are just ahead of us.
And fortunately, geographically we're in a terrific place. I mean,
three hours any direction we can drive to on any
weekend and we're gonna have a fabulous competition and so
it's going to be a lot of fun to to
(16:22):
For example, you know, we have Indiana coming here on
a Wednesday at ten am in the middle of October,
and we'll be in the middle of hard training and
you know, it's a Wednesday at ten am, and.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
We could have all the excuses in the world.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
And then we're going to turn around and we're going
to fly to Baton Rouge and I think their men
were nineteenth and so they've you know, they've done a
really nice job down there. And so to have that
quick turnaround, to have to travel while we are in
the thick of our training I think that's a lesson
you have to learn in the fall, and I hope
that it exposes plenty because then it allows us to
(16:57):
learn from that and grow to be really good.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
In February and March.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
And coach, before that home meet with Indiana, you've got
the World Aquatics World Cup in early October, tell us
a little bit about that event.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
So again, as we evolve into becoming a destination for
world class swimming, anytime that you have an opportunity to
compete with the world's best, you have to take advantage
of it. And the fact that the World Cup is
just three hours north of here and one of it
stops in Indianapolis. It's right outside of Indianapolis, we want
to take advantage of that.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
So look, we're going to be racing early.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
Our training won't necessarily be there, but it's so good
to get that progress report for our student athletes. Compete
against the best, see what gaps you need to improve on,
and again, just add purpose to what you're doing every day.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
When you're talking about training, especially this time of year,
what's a typical week And I know this is a
broad question, but what's a typical week of training like
let's say for a swimmer, and how different is it
for a diver.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
Yeah, that's a great question. So maybe number of workouts
are relatively similar. So our swimmers have nine in water workouts,
so we usually go two on Monday, one on Tuesday,
two on Wednesday, one on Thursday, two on Friday, one
on Saturday. We have anywhere from one to four different
lifts in there, depending on the group. Diving is about
(18:16):
the same, about eight in water workouts, and there are
three or four lifts as well.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
But it's a lot of time, you know, and and
I think the training.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
We're more diverse in terms of skill sets this year
than we've ever been, So the training also has to
represent that, you know, we have we have some speed
this year, we have some sprinters, and we've we've certainly
had it historically a great distance program. And so it's
it's really cool to see these two paths kind of
go in different ways, but still working really hard.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Uh I promised that we would get to some of
the student athletes with swimming and diving. You've got a
lot of returners on the on both squads. This year
also had some big summers. Avery guys had a huge summer,
she was bronze medal winner at the World University Games
for Team USA.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
That's awesome, so awesome, And you know, sometimes you have
these athletes who are are really understated and what they
do right and if you didn't know, they're not craving
the attention. If anything, they probably don't want it. And
every is one of those. It's just someone who comes
in every single day. She's a steady, consistent diver. And
the part that's been really cool is, you know, I
(19:24):
know she's worked through a lot, and you know, she
moved from California out to here. But the part that's
so cool is to see her at the world's biggest meets.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
She always does her best and.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
She has this kind of silent assassin in her that
that I think is a really good influence for that group.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
When you talk about competing for national teams. Carson Hick
was named a member of the twenty twenty five, twenty
six US national team too.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
Such a cool story with Carson, two time All American.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Yeah, and you.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
Know the other what last summer at Olympic Trials, EA
finaled and they do these parades right, and they have
such a great production. It was up in Indy this
last trials and they have this big jumbo screen and
they've got the person on there and they read the
bios and you know, they're they're introducing everybody of the
world record holder, you've got you know, national team member,
(20:14):
you've got this. And at the time, Carson has dropped
so much time and so really his biggest accomplishment that
they that they said was that he was the new
Mexico Sectional champion. And he almost had to laugh out
loud because it's like, you know, one of these is
not like the others. And I think it's so symbolic
of how much he has improved and how much he
(20:35):
has grown, and it's really cool to just see that
evolution happening in real time.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Well, coach, I have a bunch of other names written down,
but we've only got a couple of minutes left in
the program, so I'll just add or in this segment,
so I'll just ask this what excites you most about
your men and women this year?
Speaker 3 (20:51):
I think it's what they bring. They bring the energy.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
You know, we talk a lot about connection and there's
an interpersonal component to that, but they have a connection
to purpose and it's a solitary purpose, and it's a
connection that we're all going to do this together. And
anytime that you're a part of a group as a
coach where you feel like you can almost like take
a couple steps back and watch them and trust them
(21:16):
and know that they're rolling, that's when you know that
you're onto something good. And I've felt that more in
the first five five weeks than I probably have in
the previous two years. And that gives me a lot
of confidence that we're going to build something special and
it's not going to happen overnight, but we know that
we're on the right path with that.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
So we look forward to seeing your teams compete at
the Lancaster Aquatic Center. Big Blue Nation will be there.
Next home meet will be October twenty second against Indiana
at ten am.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Coach Brett Languard, thanks for joining us.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Thank you appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
When we come back here on BBN Radio presented by
Clark's Pump and Shop, we'll switch over to Men's Golf
as head coach Gator Todd will join the show. This
is the UK Sports Network. Any clear, awesome stuff. Thank you, Yeah,
we'll do this again.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
I appreciate it.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
So I think I saw that in ten seconds.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
Go ahead there, Welcome back into BBN Radio presented by
Clark's Pumping Shop here on the UK Sports Network. We
were just talking swimming and diving, and now we're going
to switch over to men's golf. We've already had gold
aborist from women's golf ons now we're going to catch
up with head coach Gator Todd.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
Coach, thanks for joining.
Speaker 5 (22:50):
Us, Yes, sir, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
But you've had a couple of events under your belt already,
some tournaments. You went down to loud in Tennessee, and
you've also competed in the bear Cat Initational up in Cincinnati.
What's what have you learned about your team through two
events so far?
Speaker 5 (23:05):
I think, first off, I like our team a lot.
It's the most talent that we've had since I've been here,
and by far the best chemistry. We're We're a little
banged up right now, so it's very rare for golfers
to get injured, but our best player right now has
been dealing with the back injury all year. So I
think once we get healthy, I think this team is
(23:27):
really going to flourish. And just uh so, yeah, just
trying to be patient with that and just folks on
the process. You know, I think the first round of Tennessee,
I think we're in third place. After the first round,
there's sixteen teams there. For everybody who's not familiar college golf.
We go to, you know, whenever we go to a
termament's fifteen sixteen, eighteen teams there. It's a really good field,
(23:47):
one the strongest ones we play in all year. And
you know, I think when we got done with that round,
I was like, Okay, that's about what I expect with,
you know, from this team, and we end up finishing
six in that field, which is probably about where we
should finished. There's probably five or so top twenty teams there,
so I thought it was a pretty positive week for us.
And then at Bearcat, we just saw golf to a
really bad start. We were I think we were near
(24:09):
the bottom of the leader board after the first round,
but then battled back to finish right in the middle
of the pack, ninth out of eighteen teams. And uh,
I just think that's kind of what this team is.
They're they're pretty blue collar, they're pretty resilient, and yeah,
I just I really like to make up up the
squad we got this year.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
You've got a young squad too, with some freshman and
sophomorees this year. Cole Stockgard freshman out adult in Georgia.
I was looking at your results from the Bearcat and
he had a pretty good final day up there in Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
I think he shot at sixty nine, right, he.
Speaker 5 (24:40):
Did, Cole Is Cole's won the best player we've ever
signed here at Kentucky. He's he's a top twenty player
in the twenty twenty five class. He's he's a he's
a really strong ball striker. He had eighteen greens that day.
I walked all I walked. I walked the whole golf
tournament with him, and I think he's just learning, just
you know, just he doesn't have to be perfect, you know.
(25:01):
And you know when you go play college golf courses,
it's very different than junior golf, and you know, you're
seeing pens there are three and four off the edge
and can't just fire at every single flag, and so
you got to think a little bit more. And but
he he hit, he hits golf shots that are super
super high level, especially with his you know, with with
with his mid and long irons, and I think the
sky's limit for him.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
You mentioned walking with him during the tournament. With such
a young roster, how have you had to tailor or
maybe adjust the way you coach golfers with such a
young group.
Speaker 5 (25:32):
We tend to walk with the young guys their freshman year,
maybe a little bit into their sophomore year, but the
whole point is to kind of teach them kind of
how to manage their game and manage the golf course,
and we kind of expect him to kind of take
it over the summer, take ownership with it, and go
on and run with it, and by their sophomore junior year,
they kind of have it, you know, because there's another
(25:52):
slew of freshmen we have coming in that we have
to kind of train.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
So I walked.
Speaker 5 (25:57):
Basically the entire year with Jacob Lang last year, and
you know, now I feel like he's, you know, he
had a nice summer and now he's kind of taking
it and he's been one of our top players this year.
And hopefully the cole's gonna kind of take that next
up too. So yeah, this is kind of what we
do things here.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Yeah, we're chatting with a head coach Gator Todd from
Men's Golf and one of the other performers you've had
that's had a good first couple of tournaments, first couple
of weeks has been Jacob Laine and Kentucky Boy at
twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Mister Golf, what have you seen from him?
Speaker 5 (26:30):
Jacob is just super confident. He's what we call a dog.
He's just he's just he's just got that inner confidence
about him. And you can't teach it, you know. It's
nothing that we've taught him. It's just it's just something
that he has and kind of the way he was raised,
and he's he's I think he's just has an understanding
of how to play the game better, you know. I
just think he's he's he's he understands how to chicken
(26:51):
pick and choose his spots and not having to be
so aggressive with you know, long irons or whatever. He's
a he's a very elite wedge player, one of the
best I've ever seen, to be honest with you, I've
coached some really good ones throughout my day, and he
is I'll put him up against anybody with a wedges hand.
So he just understands that that's kind of where he
can get his separation. And yeah, again, you know, just
(27:11):
a much different skill set than maybe Cole, but just
like he understands who he is and I think he's
colorable in his own skin. And yeah, I'm just I'm
really excited about the steps he's taken right now.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, and he's also a legacy, I guess because his uncle,
Ron Layman played golf at Kentucky, so he's grown up
around the sport and comes in with a lot of
experience and obviously a lot of accolades. So sir, yeah,
in terms of what's coming up now, I wanted to
make sure we get to this while we had a minute.
Two tournaments down, but the next one is an exciting one.
(27:43):
October sixth through seventh, all day events at the Lexington
Country Club.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
It's the Cullen Brown Collegiate.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
That's a special tournament for the University of Kentucky and
it's going to be an exciting one.
Speaker 5 (27:53):
Absolutely. I'll be our second year hosting. We're grateful to
have Lexton country Club partner us and host this golf tournament.
When I pitched the idea to them about a year
and a half ago, they were all for it, and
uh yeah, just just it's just really cool to kind
of you know, you're always looking for different experiences and
you know, just to come to Lexington in October show
(28:16):
everybody a little taste of the blue grass yet Keenland
going on fall weather here is incredible. And then and
then obviously just to honor the you know, the memory
of Colan Brown is just super special. His sister Kat
plays in the women's team here and we see her
every single day. And just Colin Colan left a pretty
uh uh long lasting uh memory of of himself here
(28:40):
and uh at uh with the UK Golf and just
he's you know, you know, we're trying to always honor
him each year and we don't want him to be forgotten.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
We know you've put together a strong field for that
tournament to give us a little preview of what fans
who come out might see.
Speaker 5 (28:55):
Yeah, sure, we've got nine and we have nine top
power four teams coming. It's much better than last year
field wise. We've got Missippi State coming, Cincinnati's a top
twenty five team, West Virginia is a top twenty five
team right now, You've got n C State. I'm trying
to think who else is coming, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Michigan,
(29:16):
and then kind of you know, we have Eastern Kentucky
Western Kentucky coming back, which is always important to me
to kind of get the local Kentucky teams. But yeah,
it should be it should be a really great field
and looking forward to next week.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Yeah, and for fans that want to come, it's an
all day event. How can they come out and support
the golf team and the Cullen Brown Collegiate.
Speaker 5 (29:36):
Yeah, there's no admission or anything. We're playing all day.
Monday play thirty six holes, so I think we it's
a shotgun start at nine o'clock and we'll basically play
it all dark and then Tuesday will just be eighteen holes,
same thing. Shotgun starts, so nine o'clock both days.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Yeah, that's the.
Speaker 1 (29:50):
Colen Brown Collegiate coming up, and again that's going to
be October sixth and seventh at the Lexington Country Club.
In terms of the course that you'll be competing on.
For those of us that haven't had a chance to
play the country club, what's it like?
Speaker 5 (30:03):
It's first class. In my opinion, it's the top two
or three course in the state. It's it's really tough.
I think having that rain last week that we have
is gonna make that rough grow up a little bit,
so it should be even more challenging. Yeah, it's it's
a beautiful golf course, and like I said, we're just
very fortunate to play out there. I really feel like
it's one of the best in the state.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
One thing that I asked Golda about and I'd love
to get your thoughts too, when you're putting together a
schedule of tournaments, how key is it to put one
where the guys are going to see all different manner
of layouts, but also different grasses and styles that courses play.
Speaker 5 (30:42):
My philosophy of scheduling is you never know what you're
going to run into. For NANCA a regional, so we
try to kind of play all over the place. I
think for us, like you can't really play up north
in the in the spring, so I try to kind
of play in Ohio, try to play and maybe Michigan
if we can play in Kentucky. But then the South,
(31:03):
you know, we're kind of always on Bermuda grass. You know,
we're playing in Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, all in
the spring, So I think it's kind of I just
I like a mix of kind of going all over
the place because you never know in May if you
get shipped to California or you get shipped to Texas
or wherever else. You know, just want to be ready
for whatever you see.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
We're chatting with men's golf coach Gator Todd, and we've
got another segment coming up with him as you listen
to BBN Radio presented by Clark's Pumping Shop here on
the UK Sports Network. I'll let just get a little
bit about the upgrades to the practice course.
Speaker 5 (31:40):
All right, it's big time. Yeah, we're back in about
fifteen seconds here, phellows.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Okay, final segment of our show for this week here
on BBN Radio presented by Clark's Pumping Shop, and we're
(32:07):
joined by Kentucky men's golf coach Gator Todd. And you
and I were chatting just before the end of the
last segment about the schedule and the different grasses and
courses you'll compete on. You've had some upgrades to the
practice course and I understand one of those is you
get a couple of different styles of grass. How big
is that when you're getting ready to go face or
(32:29):
go compete in another tournament.
Speaker 5 (32:30):
Yeah, it's huge. Like like we were talking about earlier,
we play on different kinds of grasses, and I feel
like now there's really no excuse not be ready. You know,
it's huge for our players to be able to simulate
what they're going to see on the road, but it's
also huge for recruiting and just taking a recruit back
there and just showing them that, hey, you know, we're
you know, there's nothing you can't practice here. You know,
(32:52):
we're very thankful for our administration, Mitch Barnhart, Mark Hill,
Donnie meffert A, Manda Brown, just for pushing this thing through.
And we're also very thankful for our donors who believe
in what we're building here. It's uh, it's I think
we added about two acres of grass. It's half bermuda grass,
half bent grass. We added three greens, one bermuda grass
(33:12):
green and two more bent grass greens to go along
with our existing bent grass greens. So it's, uh, it's
gonna be I'm ready for it to be done now,
but and I know our guys are too, But uh,
you know, it's it looks it looks so amazing back there,
and you can just see the shots you you know
that you can hit in practice, and I'm gonna be
really excited when we get everything done.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
So for the practice. So you've added some areas to
help with the short game practice.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
This may sound like a silly question.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
But how critical is that when you think about competing
at a collegiate level in these tournaments to be able
to have that short green practice or short game practice area.
Speaker 5 (33:50):
I feel like it's the biggest thing that we probably
struggle with compared to other teams in this conference, especially
when we go from from to Bermuda grass in the spring.
It's probably the it's probably the toughest transition for us.
So uh yeah, I just think being able to hit
all kinds of different shots, all different kinds of grass,
(34:11):
is different kinds of lies, you know, going going elevated
all Bermuda grass to a Bermuda grass green that's what
we see in the spring, or going like if you
have an end of the grain lie, you know, kind
of going kind of going uphill down here.
Speaker 2 (34:24):
Whatever.
Speaker 5 (34:25):
There's nothing you can't practice out there, and you know,
I just think it's going to really help our players
evolve and really get to that next level.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
Coach.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
We've already talked about the Colin Brown Collegiate which is
coming up October sixth and seventh at the Lexington Country Club,
but also October tenth, you've got UK Golf Day.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Tell us about that event we do.
Speaker 5 (34:44):
It's it'll be our second time doing it as well,
and it's just a it's just a it's just a
time for people to come out and get to know
the team. We'll have players hitting a shot for each
group on all the part threes and yeah, it's just
a it's just a good meet and greet and and
then helps kind of fundraise for the golf team as well. Yeah,
and it'll be our university club and we're super excited
(35:06):
about it.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Sign ups or anything to.
Speaker 5 (35:08):
There is sign ups, I believe you and go on
our website and sign up there.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
In terms of the roster, we've already mentioned Jacob and
Cole uh golf knows no offseason and it was a
big summer for Luke Coyle who's transferring back home after
being at Alabama for a couple of years.
Speaker 5 (35:25):
Yeah, Luke Bleed's blue and he's he's a huge Kentucky fan,
always has been. We were couldn't be more thrilled to
add him to our roster. He just came in and
fit perfectly from a chemistry perspective, and then his his
golf game is you know, speaks for itself. You know,
he's he's he's one of our top couple of players
and just super thankful to have him here. He along
(35:48):
with he just got the he's got the right attitude.
You know, he's just he's he's he's not in tim day,
he's not scared, he works hard, he's got the he's
got the blue collar kind of dog in him, you know,
and just he just fits perfectly here and I know
he's going to do great things.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
He's a junior out of Campbellsville, Kentucky, two time Mister
Golf in the Bluegrass State, and this summer he was
he won the Dogwood Invitational and the ninety sixth Southeastern Amateur.
As you were following along this summer, what did you
see out of the way Luke was competing out there?
Speaker 5 (36:18):
Well, I certainly love seeing him win. You it's uh,
it's uh, we we haven't had anybody win amateur events
like that in quite a while. And so just just
just just him carrying the torch for UK Golf out
there and kind of showing what we're capable of doing.
I think is huge.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
You've added a member to your staff in July, that
was Cole Ilmore from Wichitas State. What does he bring
to the table for your staff?
Speaker 5 (36:41):
Calls a shoot, a super sharp dude. He's he's been incredible.
I mean, guys love him. He's he's he's you know,
just hungry, young guy, will do whatever it takes kind
of get to the next level. And he's just been
he's just been an incredible addition to our team.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Chatting with coach Gator Todd from Kentucky Men's Golf, and
as you've come to Lexington and established your program and
put in the culture you've wanted, I asked coach Lunguard
from Swimming and Diving this question, how have you used
recruiting and the current landscape with the transfer portal and
all that to get the type of golfers that you
want in this program.
Speaker 5 (37:19):
Yeah, it's a I think we're still trying to figure
it out, you know, with roster limits being at eight
and the transfer portal, you know, I think we have
to use the transfer portal a little bit, so just
trying to kind of find that balance, you know, you know,
we always you know, we obviously want to lock up
this state. You know, if there's a good player in
the state of Kentucky, you know, we don't want.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
To let them leave.
Speaker 5 (37:38):
So that's kind of my main focus if is is
that there's a good high school player here, we're not
We're building a wall around them. And then outside of that,
just you know, I think I think the sec IS
is very prevalent in the Southeast, and I think that
I think that the other surrounding states are are really
big for us to recruit. And then obviously the transfer portal.
So yeah, that's kind of where we're doing things.
Speaker 2 (38:00):
Uh, in terms of the recruiting and all of that stuff.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
What what are some things you look for in a
golfer besides the talent?
Speaker 2 (38:10):
What are some of those intangibles that you look for?
Speaker 5 (38:13):
I actually love watching them when they're struggling because there's
I mean, we all know if if I'm watching a
kid and I'm and i'm uh and I'm you know,
there's there's an attention there that we like this guy,
I know he's good enough, right, so we know that
his good stuff is good, but it's more about like
how can he handle adversity? Can he be resilient? How's
(38:34):
he how's he treating his parents, How's he treating his
playing competitors, How's how's he treating the volunteer out there.
We're looking for everything. It's not just one thing, but yeah,
I mean just just really watching everything that they do.
And then i'd say physically looking for just a good athlete,
you know, someone with some speed. That's kind of where
the game's going a little bit. You watch all those
guys playing the Ryder Cup, and you know most of
these guys got one seventy five and eighty five ball speed. Yeah,
(38:57):
and that's kind of just what kind of what you
have to have nowadays.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
I imagine your players were probably following the Ryder Cup.
Do you encourage them to watch pro tournaments when they
can and kind of see what these guys do at
such an elite level.
Speaker 5 (39:08):
I don't think I had to encourage anyboy to watch
the Ryder Cup yesterday. I think they were all gonna
watch it.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (39:14):
I just think it's great to just like learn about
situations out there you know that they're going through. I
think it's great when the TV has a player in
their caddy kind of talking through a shot and just
hearing what they're saying and just how they're picking a target,
how they're being very precise and being committed. Those are
things that we talk about in our program, and I'm
always encouraging our guys to kind of, you know, pay
attention to those little things.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
What's it like for you? This was one of the
big questions I had for you. What's it like for
you during a tournament when you're walking with the golfers
or kind of observing just maybe seeing little things in
their technique or their swing, or maybe it's just trying
to coach the mental aspect of the sport.
Speaker 5 (39:54):
I think it's just teaching them when to be aggressive
and when to be conservative. I think that's like the
biggest adjustment you have from junior golf to college golf,
because just the setups are much more difficult in college
golf and you can't just be aggressive all the time.
So I think that's the biggest adjustment. And then just
yet just trying to keep him mentally sound and not
not making not making emotional decisions out there. There's the
(40:17):
two biggest things I would say.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
And then I imagine too, it's also critical to learn
your guys so that way you know when's the time
to maybe be a little lighthearted, or when's the time
to come up and say, hey man, we got to
fix whatever it is that you're seeing.
Speaker 5 (40:31):
I think that's what you're trying to figure out early on,
is what buttons you can and can't push? Yeah, you know,
and I'm walking with Cole right now, and I've certainly
made some mistakes, maybe been a little bit too hard
on him at times, but you know, I'm learning those
things about him, Yeah, and seeing what he can't handle,
what he can't and that's just that's just kind of
part of coaching golf.
Speaker 2 (40:48):
Right right.
Speaker 1 (40:49):
And you know you've had the tournaments to walk with
him and stuff, But how do you use practice just
to get to know him more?
Speaker 5 (40:57):
Yeah, I mean you're just looking for certain tendencies in
practic you know, just looking for just little you know,
just little things that might do. And just I'm always
trying to hold guys accountable to the little things, the
body language, the self talk, you know, just we always
talk about just like you know when you know, when
college golf teams out there playing, there's five players out there,
so there's always going to be a guy behind you
or a guy in front of you. And we always
talk about having to have your house in order because
(41:19):
you don't want to show any negative or you know,
anything that could you know, kind of throw off that
plate behind you or ahead of you. So just you're
always trying to look positive, head up, you know, shoulders up,
like like you're in control.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
So and so with that, coach, we appreciate your time.
We're running out of time. It's great chatting with you
and that we wish you the best of luck again.
The Cullen Brown Collegiate October sixth and seventh, all day
events at the Lexington Country Club.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
Come support the Wildcats.
Speaker 1 (41:49):
It's it's a great tournament honoring a terrific young man
who he lost in twenty twenty. It's going to be
a strong field as well. Coach, thanks so much for
the time and thanks for joining us.
Speaker 5 (41:59):
Yes, sir, thank you.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
That's head coach Gator Todd from Kentucky Men's Golf and
that's our show for this week. If you missed any
of our chat with coach Lugard or coach Todd.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
You can find that on UKSN all Access.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
You can also check out the podcast anywhere you download
your podcast, whether it's Spotify, Apple, whatever, you can find
them there. And as always, we appreciate you for joining
us and we'll talk to you next Monday right here
on BBN Radio, presented by Clark's Pumping Shop.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
This is the UK Sports Network.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
Wow collaps, Well that's the first time we've had applause.
Speaker 2 (42:35):
Great job.
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