December 25, 2025 • 42 mins
We’re doing a special episode highlighting some of the best interviews we had all year—moments you may have missed, plus a few that are worth a second listen. This collection features Heisman runner-up Diego Pavia, Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire, Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck, and longtime Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes.
Across these conversations, we get into what it takes to build a program, lead a locker room, handle pressure, and keep a team’s identity when expectations are high. It’s a quick-hit tour through four very different voices in sports, with stories, lessons, and a few behind-the-scenes details that stood out most from the year.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
This is a podcast called twenty five whist Stalking Parts,
and they were a whizz So yeah, it's too bad,
But what did you expect. It's a podcast called twenty
five Whistles twenty Wine.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
We've had some awesome guests sit down with us on
the podcast this year, so I want to look back
at some of our favorite interviews that maybe you missed.
First up, head coach of the number four seed in
this year's college football playoff, Joy McGuire from Texas Tech
Text twelve and one on the year they won the
Big twelve. Coach McGuire's put his name up there with
the best up and coming coaches in the country. He
(00:40):
just signed a new seven year contract extension with Tech,
so B congrats to him, and man, they're awesome here
he is Coach Joey McGuire. Let us welcome one of
my favorite coaches. He's now the hunter. The hunted has
turned into the hunter. Coach McGuire, let's up.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
And what's up?
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Brother?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
So good to see you and be on your show.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Man, where on the priority list is it for you
to make sure you guys have maybe an advantage or
are just ready to take a shot at the NFL.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
It's high.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
You know, we talk about it all the time. You know,
Number one, you're coming here to get a great education,
and one B, you're preparing yourself could be a pro.
Now we talk about being a pro like being a
great dad, being a great husband. You know, I mean,
you're a pro at what you do. But these guys
that we have on this team, there's a lot of
(01:34):
them that have the ability and athletic and mindset to
be in the NFL. So we want to make sure
we're preparing them for that. You walk into our team meetings,
everybody's going to have a notebook, everybody's taking notes, everybody's
locked in. Teach them how to watch film, watch an
extra film. One of my big deals that I talk about,
(01:55):
excuse me, every single day, it's taking care of your body.
Because you and I both know there's a lot of
guys in the NFL that are still in the NFL
because they can stay healthy. And there's a lot of
guys that have been cut over the history of the
NFL because they can't stay helpy. And they might be
better than one guy, but they just can't stay help
So we we spend a lot of time with that.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Are you all football all the time, even when it's
not your football?
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
I meat up with it, you know, especially college football.
I love watching It's just a pageantry and and you know,
it's it's almost like a movie at different stadiums, and
you know, it's I'm heat up with it. You know,
I'll watch a little bit of pros pro wise, I'm
trying to watch our guys. Anybody Wou's playing, you know,
I'll tune in and watch a couple of you know,
(02:42):
we have it in the background while I'm watching Feeling.
But yeah, I don't have a lot of hobbies. You know,
it's hanging out with my dog and my wife and
watch football.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Is it different every year what the players do as leaders?
You have some years where you just trust your captains
to actually have meetings with the team, and some maybe
your captains aren't established. Is it based on you know,
who the captains are every year?
Speaker 3 (03:03):
One hundred percent? You know, we we've got a really
strong group. Three of my captains are back. We had
five captains last year. Three of them returned Baron Morton,
Jacob Rodriguez and Brostromirez.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
But one thing that we did.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
There were some really strong alpha males that came in
and they had big voices. They had been captains at
their previous spools, and so we wanted to make sure
they had a voice. And so like a guy like
Skylar Gil Howard has been huge for us. And so
this is a player led team. You know, I can
(03:39):
send out one text to my leadership group. Whatever that
text says, it's gonna get taken care out.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Next up is the runner up in this just Heisman
Trophy race. Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia. Diego became Bandy's first
ever Heisman finalist, led Vanderbilt to their first ten win
season of program history, had thirty six total touchdowns and
had over four thousand total yards cards. The crazy part
is when we had Diego and studio before the season,
he said, Hey, I want to win the Heisman, and
(04:06):
we didn't like, oh yeah right, but it was like okay,
but he did it. Congrats to Diego on a great
season here. He is good to see you. Thanks for
spending some time with us.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
Appreciate you, Bobby, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
We were talking to coach Lee last year and he
was talking about, you know, it's hard to get into Vanderbilt.
Oh yeah, and to recruit players, it's got to be
a special type of player. I didn't realize that. You
It sounds like juniors and seniors can't transfer in. You
have to have graduated to come in. So that puts
a lot of stress on You didn at school right,
like to get all that done for sure.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
I mean I was taking twenty one credits. I was
still working out, you know, two three times a day,
still going to practice, watching them practice. But it was
all online, so that was cool.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Whenever I tried to do like online when I got
a ticket, I spent way less time invested in being
on because it was like easily available. So I did
terrible at taking like Driver's Head online. Yeah yeah, so
I feel like if I took online classes, I would
not pay attention.
Speaker 5 (04:57):
We should have just typed it into chagbt what we
got to do it?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
That's true, Yeah, different times, not.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
Saying I do that, not saying I do that. Just
a few students.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
What's Vandy like to go to class? I'm assuming you're
going to class.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
Oh yeah, you meet a lot of interesting kids at class.
They want to like basically own the world, you know,
where someone like like their parents are just really interesting
or they just tell you their background. And that's what
I like doing. I like learning about people and then
building relationships like that. And so I met a few
people just like in the hallways and stuff who are
just interesting, you know, their parents or something are high up,
(05:31):
or they're from Nashville, they own some like real estate.
And but I really like the students at Vanderbilt.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Can you go online classes now?
Speaker 5 (05:40):
So I have an all online major right now? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Awesome.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
So I'm really bought into football.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah did they make sure do most guys do that?
Speaker 5 (05:50):
No? Actually, not from Vanderbilt. We got a lot of
smart kids on our roster. That's what makes that's what
makes us elite.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, you know, why did you choose Vanderbilt? Well?
Speaker 5 (06:01):
I chose it because at New Mexico State are my
head coach, offensive coordinator, safety's coach, quarterback coach at think
who else running back coach? They took vander picked up
about six or seven of our coaches, and then they
took like four of our players, and then so I
(06:22):
was like, shoot, I might as well join them, you know.
And then once coach kill really went to Vanderbilt That's
when I was like, Okay, I'm bought in.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Whenever you come over or you're thinking about coming over,
are they like, hey, diego, there's a good shot you
can play or is it just you're just believing yourself
and go not really knowing I guess, not knowing how
to say it, but not really having an understanding of
where you're going to fit the depth chart.
Speaker 5 (06:43):
Well, there was a quarterback battle going in. I kind
of scouted that going into it, but the starter had
just left, so I knew the spot was open and
there wasn't going to be no favoritism or anything like that.
And all I asked for going in is because I
know there's a lot of politics in the SEC and
like these big conferences. So I told him I'll come
if you promised me that it's a fifty to fifty
(07:05):
shot and the better person will play.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
So you didn't even ask for the guarantee to start.
You just wanted a fair shot to win the job.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
I just wanted a fair shot to win the job.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
What was the scheme difference? Offensively from New Mexico to here?
Same thing Because the coaches came there, a lot of
it were running the same same terminology and everything same terminal.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
There was a little bit of a twist because of
our offensive line coach. He coached like Lamar Jackson at Louisville,
and so we took a slight little twist with that,
and so I had to learn a little bit, but
it wasn't too much learning that I had to do.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Did you feel that when you came in you were
equal to the guy immediately? And I don't know who
you run the quarterback battle with. Did you guys start
at the same place or did you come in a
little behind and you had to catch up.
Speaker 5 (07:48):
I would say I was probably ahead, just because I
was at New Mexico State for a year and a
half with the offensive coordinator and stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
So you knew what he was saying, Yeah, what you
were expected.
Speaker 5 (07:59):
And I was in the So I like practice. I
would go watch practice every single day in the spring
because they could in practice, and like on seven on
seven and team reps, I would take my drop back
when he said hike, I would take my drop back.
I'd go through my reads and I'd throw the I'd
fake throw the ball before like the quarterback would do it.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
So it's like being on the on deck circle and
time pitches. Yep, you're there taking cuts just you.
Speaker 5 (08:21):
Know, uh, timing it just mental reps.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
What are you like in the huddle?
Speaker 5 (08:24):
Oh, I'm a I'm real serious in the huddle, Like
once it's business, Once that clock starts, it's all business
from there on out. And then I try to just
get everyone prep give everyone confidence to go into the
next play and just succeed. If someone misses a block
or something, you know, I'm smacking him on his ass
and just tell him, hey, you got it.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Why do your guys believe in you?
Speaker 5 (08:46):
I think they just see that. You know, I'm not
going to go out without a fight, Like I want
to win more than anything else in life. Like this
is all I know. All I know is football. Without football,
I don't know what I would do.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Do you like before game to be extremely hype or
because we've had other guys come in like ma fighters,
they don't want to be hyped. They want to have
good adrenaline, but they don't want to be hyped because
then they don't react and think the same. They want
to be as calm as possible. Where are you before
the game starts?
Speaker 5 (09:15):
Oh I'm hyped. I'm jumping up and down. I'm ready
to go, you know. And then sometimes what's kind of
like embarrassing though, is sometimes when your energy is too
high and then you're just like starting to come down
and focus, you catch like these yawns that are like
really kind of embarrassing and you don't want no one
to see us, or you're like eating like one of
these or something like that.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
What are the facilities like at Vanderbilt? And I would
like for you to walk back to both schools because
I would assume each time was a big come up
and it felt different.
Speaker 5 (09:47):
So from coming from Juco, we worked out in a
tent literally, Uh, it was squat racks, like if you
walked out on the on concrete and you were working
out in the parking lot. We just put squat racks
on them. And it was a a dome kind of
kind of like Arizona State's indoor, but it was just
concrete and we just we squatted in there. We benched
(10:09):
in there.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
And then it sounds like prison I'll be honest with you,
that's what it kind of what it sounds like, the
prison yard with like a little ten over the top
of right right.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
It was a military school, and the only way that
you were able to get like an extra workout in
is they had like the pull up bars, the dip bars,
and so at Mimi, you really couldn't be up at
a certain time, and I would like sneak out of
my room four thirty in the morning, and I'm like
trying to like creep on the wall so no one
would see me. And I would go and like work
(10:37):
out from like probably like probably get there a four
forty five work out till about six and then at
or like five point thirty and then come back, take
quick shower, and be in formation by like five forty.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Five because it was military institute.
Speaker 5 (10:49):
Yeah. And then when when I went to New Mexico State,
it was like, oh my god, this is heaven, you know.
And obviously, you know, they had a really actually a
really good weight room there, but there was like no indoor,
no grass filled. And then I come to Vanderbilt and
I'm like They're serving steak every single day, chicken every
(11:13):
single day. I'm like, what, like what's going on?
Speaker 2 (11:16):
You know, the nutrition is a big difference, oh, the
biggest difference for sure, And so you can get whatever
food you want whenever.
Speaker 5 (11:22):
Yeah, shrimp. There's sometimes lobsters.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
That's what I was crazy.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
Yeah, no, and then the desserts are great too.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
So they just have like chefs, cooks, always cooking food.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
What about snacks, Oh, dude, they have like a thing
from this wall to this wolf filled with what's your
favorite snack?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
I mean, I love a lot of fruits. I love
a lot of cookies, So I'm a big fruit and
cookies probably.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
Yeah, they got that. Yeah, they got gushers. What's those
climb bars.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Or something, and those are any time one in the morning,
eight in the morning.
Speaker 6 (12:00):
Eight.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Yeah, all day, dude, they wouldn't have anything left. We
were there, dude, I know, we can't even have a
break room.
Speaker 5 (12:05):
Oh you should have saw my sister. So my sister
came down. Well, we took it into Mexico State. Obviously
there was like just bagels and stuff. We go over here.
She asked for a bag and she's like walking around
making sure no one looks, just like putting snacks in
the bag.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
We went to Auburn and worked out with the basketball team,
that's what we did, and we walked. We got They
had like a trail mix with Eminem's that's the whole Yeah,
so we took we were like putting them in our bag.
So like I understand what your sister was doing. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
Yeah, the stuff's expensive too.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Anything is awesome.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
Oh yeah, I remember I asked for like a protein
shake and they took me to the back and uh
there was like stack to the top with it was costco,
you know. And I remember I took like a protein
box just home, and I was like, I'm the man.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
I wouldn't tel the same way.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
What was your greatest high school game?
Speaker 5 (12:56):
Oh? Shoot, So junior junior year, I had to actually
play JV because of the transfer rule, and I would
say I probably had maybe six touchdowns in the half
and then like I just sat off like the rest
of the day.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
So they made you had to play JV and then
you just dominated. Yeah that's awesome.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
Yeah I played. Uh freshman, I played varsity. Uh, sophomore year,
I played varsity, and then my junior year I transferred
and uh they made me sit down and play JV.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
The whole year.
Speaker 5 (13:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
The whole year was that boring?
Speaker 5 (13:32):
Oh it was bad, you know, Like it was there
was like a crazy play. I was playing running back receiver.
I was just I just like told me, hey, just
throw me the ball real quick. And like we had
this other kid who played quarterback too, and if they
drew up the route for him, I'll be like, hey, switch,
you play quarterback real quick and I would run the route.
(13:54):
And so I would I would run the route. But
there was one time like I took, I took a
hand off and then running up the left side, I
curve it back to midway and then like some kid
facemasks me, I'd come back and score a touchdown. And
that was the day. I had like six touchdowns in
a half. And so I just like sat on the
sideline and it got it got really boring. I wish
I was able to play varsity. Maybe that affected why
(14:14):
I didn't get any offers, but I'm also from New Mexico.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
You know, how was your senior year? Then?
Speaker 5 (14:21):
Oh, I ended up getting hurt the first game and
I had to sit out for like six games. But
we were eleven and one and we lost in the
playoffs like forty nine to fifty six.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
So you missed your whole junior year, Well missed it.
You had to play junior varsity, and then you missed
a big part of your senior year because of injury. Yeah,
so is that why you didn't get the offers at
least any Division one offers?
Speaker 5 (14:42):
No, I felt like because towards the end, I was
still playing football and I was still playing really good.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
But were you playing quarterback?
Speaker 5 (14:48):
Yeah? And no, I don't think just no one wanted
a five ten, five eleven quarterback. They didn't believe in me.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
So why did you choose to go to what did you?
Speaker 5 (14:59):
How did you what do you call in New Mexico Military?
Speaker 7 (15:00):
Now?
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Why did you choose nim Oh?
Speaker 5 (15:03):
My brother chose it for me. Really, I was thinking
about maybe walking on to like a powerhouse, maybe like Oklahoma.
Obviously Baker Mayfield was a walk on Yeah, Oklahoma exactly.
And so I was thinking of doing like maybe one
of those. And it was like literally a week before
(15:23):
and then the Nimmy offensive coordinator, coach Kaiser came into
my school and was like, Hey, you need to come
to NIMI, Like this is it'll work out well for you.
We've had five Division one quarterbacks in three years. It'll
be great, Like you'll have a great opportunity. So we
kind of and that was when that Netflix show, Uh,
(15:43):
Last Chance You came out, and so Juco was big
at the time, and everyone was taking looks at it.
So I was thinking, just all right, I'm gonna go
Juco for a year and then I'll transfer D one.
And then so when Juco went UH six and four
and then and we went to UH. The next year
we went to the national CHAMPIONSHI won the national Championship,
(16:04):
and then that's how I ended up in Mexico State.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Did you start to get other offers other than New
Mexico State like Jeff oh I had.
Speaker 5 (16:11):
I'll tell you when the offers came in, so I switched.
My Twitter has all the offers like that's how you
get offered nowadays. And on my Twitter I said I'm
from Albuaque, New Mexico. I changed it to Tampa, Florida.
And then once I changed it, literally a week after,
I started getting offers and started talking to schools. It
was crazy.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Because you said, you're a Florida player, and they just
respected the Florida players more.
Speaker 5 (16:34):
I guess that's how it works, you know.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Are you sure they just didn't get put onto you.
Speaker 5 (16:38):
The same time. I don't switch it, Hey, I don't know.
But once I switched it. It was like, oh, now
these coaches want to talk to me. You know you're
a three star. No, I was a no star.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
You're a no star.
Speaker 5 (16:47):
I was a negative star.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
What sports did you play?
Speaker 5 (16:49):
I wrestled and played football.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Or a negative star?
Speaker 5 (16:52):
Okay, so they have your ranked as you wrestled, wrestled,
I played football and then I played baseball for two years.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Which sport were you the best at?
Speaker 5 (17:05):
People thought I was the best at wrestling, but I
believe that I just loved football so much.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
He loved football more?
Speaker 5 (17:11):
Yeah, way more.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Could you have wrestled in college?
Speaker 5 (17:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Could you play baseball in college.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
If I would have worked at it?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (17:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
What coaches had the most impact on your career? Jerry
kol Why what's special at him?
Speaker 4 (17:28):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (17:28):
He's hard, had lunch pill. He's just different, Like you
just talked to him, and he just realizes that you
realize that he would never like he's never lied to me.
Even at New Mexico State, I was going through a
bad time because I wasn't in the starting lineup. We
were one and five and it just sucked being one
of five, Like losing just is just terrible. And I
was like, hey, like I want to help the team.
I want to come back. I want to go to
a bowl game, Like, how can I step on the
(17:49):
field again? And he told me, just you know, stop
turning the ball over. Get better in my reads. And literally,
once I stopped turning the ball over and got better
my reads, he put me back in the start line.
And it's like he told the people there, hey, play
this kid, you know, just let him be, just let
him play. And so once that happened, he gave me
another chance. It was best off to the moon. But
(18:11):
I respect coach Kill because he's never lied to me.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
There have been times where if I were playing a
like a celebrity golf tournament, we're playing a big course
that I can play as a video game, I'll get
on and play the video game, or I have a
simulator in my house, or I get on and look
at the course. Yeah, do you get on? Can you
get on college football? Or do you have that that
like that? Jayde Daniels was famous for even doing stuff
in the simulator. Do you have any do you have
the ability to do that at all? Like look ahead?
Speaker 5 (18:32):
Oh well, we watch film, like uh so say we
play Kentucky, We watch film already in the Kentucky stadium,
but you don't realize what it is until you actually
play in that environment.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
What do you mean in the stadium?
Speaker 5 (18:46):
Like once, once you're in it, once you're there. Like
sometimes like Auburn's debt perception is kind of different than
Kentucky's because it just like goes up higher and stuff
on the on the walls, but.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
So I don't know what you're saying on the walls, like.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
Like like they don't.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Did they digitally put a room around you?
Speaker 5 (19:05):
No? No, no, no, Like this is like when you step
into the arena. Okay, in real life, real this is
real life. Okay, yeah, got it. Auburn holds like one
hundred and four thousand, Kentucky doesn't hold as much. Sure
how much they hold, but it's like a whole extra
layer you know, that goes up, so like the depth
perception is a little bit off.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Could you play college football twenty six though, and diagnose
like look at coverage as they're putting in and go, okay,
what would I do here? What would I do there?
Speaker 5 (19:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Have you played with yourself?
Speaker 5 (19:30):
I've only got to play once and that was at
the media days.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Can you call every defense. Though, Even even if you're
not good with your fingers on the sticks, could you
go okay, they're gonna blut safety, They're you know, go
to obviously, so we'll look at the hook here.
Speaker 5 (19:44):
Yeah. I always do that, But sometimes it's the video
game is different than real life, and so that's why
sometimes it's kind of cracked. But I also like to
mess around on the video game. Just throw one on
one jump balls to Eli.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Well, that's what you guys are doing in JV chunk balls.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
I try to get him to widen me out how
Cam Newton did at Auburn, But Eli's like man I
throwing a jump ball to No. Five time Mexican.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
What quarterback do you watch or did you watch as
a kid that inspired you?
Speaker 5 (20:15):
Johnny Manziel He was cold. He's a That guy is
just a different athlete.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Has he reached out to you at all?
Speaker 4 (20:23):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (20:23):
I we talked a few times. He's a real cool dude.
He's just when I watch his tape two, he's just
he's wired different. That's what I really like about him.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
What do you do right after a game for your body? Oh?
Speaker 5 (20:38):
Shoot, I usually just relax. Let me think that's a
good question.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Do you ever get in that like that the chamber
of the cold thing that the cryo.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Or the chiro therapy. No, we don't have one of
those at Vanderbilt. I probably I just go in the
next day. They have treatment, like at eight in the morning.
So I always go into there and just I'm big
on my legs, just making sure those are healthy because
my arm's always gonna come with it.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
After the season. NFL aspissions for sure.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
I mean they can't tell the highs and winner that
he can't get drafted.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
You know they can't. And it's also you know there
have been other five, ten, five eleven.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
Quarterbacks right that have gotten drafted and have played well exactly, Yeah,
I haven't. I had. I actually know more quarterbacks over
six foot one who have played I guess less not
as good than people under six foot.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
With coach Lee being such a defensive guy, do you
spend much time with him?
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (21:38):
Yeah, I asked him a lot of questions about the defense.
He's like thinking about different types of ways, Like we
see NFL coverages all day and like they'll get to
a cover two doing some weird stuff and it's like, bro,
how are you doing that? That's not even a true cover.
He looks like Cover three, you know, but that stuff
is just way different, just a lot of third, third
(22:00):
and long stuff that they get to Eddie have final question.
Speaker 8 (22:02):
Oh man, it's just awesome having you here. I mean,
my favorite was watching you in New Mexico because that
was like late for us, right, you know, so like
after I'd lost all my bets of the day in
New Mexico.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
So dude, it's really cool avening here. That's funny because
those are the games we watch after Central time Zone,
after all of our games Eastern and Central Go, we're
watching like Oregon State, New Mexico. Yeah, you guys been
playing later so we can watch those games later.
Speaker 5 (22:27):
I remember at New Mexico State we were like ninety
three against a spread or something like that.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
That's pret Eddie. You should know that. Yeah, that's why
he's watching diego. Good to see you. Man, really appreciate that.
Speaker 5 (22:38):
I appreciate you guys having.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Now let's get over to Minnesota head football coach PJ. Fleck.
Coach Fleck has been leading to Go First since twenty seventeen.
Known for his high energy and row the boat phrase,
coach holds the school record for most ball wins his
head coach with six, and he hopes to extend that
this week when they play New Mexico in the two
only twenty five Rate Bowl. Good luck to coach and
his team here he is coach PJ Flack, What up?
(23:05):
Coach Hobby Bones?
Speaker 3 (23:07):
What's up? Man?
Speaker 2 (23:08):
There's a lot of things that I do now in
the different jobs that I have where I can use AI.
Is Have we got to the point now where you
can just like stick other teams in AI to see
what their what their tendencies are through a computer program?
Speaker 5 (23:19):
You can.
Speaker 7 (23:20):
I think that we have been doing that for years.
We've been doing that in a very different way though.
The analytics have been around for a while, but AI's
taking it to a completely different level in my opinion.
But there's still a human element of football. Remember, our
product is people. Apple's product is the iPhone, the iPad,
the earbuds, and you know, like that's the product. When
(23:43):
you're dealing in a world where the product is eighteen
to twenty two year olds, there's still a sense of
the human part of it. So yes, like going forward
on fourth and one and having analytics on this and
that and what's the book say on this, and what's
the AI say on that? Which is fine if it
was all robots going out there and playing. Uh, these
are human beings, so there's still that human element. There's injuries.
(24:06):
What does your team really do well? What do they
not do well? The type of opponent you're playing, what
injuries do they have?
Speaker 4 (24:13):
That mean?
Speaker 7 (24:14):
It's crazy. It is the most unpredictable sport I think
in the entire world.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Have you been to a concert lately at all? Coach?
Speaker 7 (24:21):
Yes, love concerts, love concerts.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
What'd you go to?
Speaker 7 (24:26):
Well, we've been to a few concerts. We went to UH.
We took the staff last year to Bruce Springsteen. I'm
a big fan of Bruce.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Uh.
Speaker 7 (24:35):
We went to UH. We went to a small concert
for the TV one F Foundation, which is a great
friend of ours. She's a she's a teenage girl has
cancer and unfortunately's got it for the third time. But
she had like Graham Barham in and got to spend
some time around Grand Barham, who I thought was absolutely awesome. Uh,
you know, having that that oil Money song. And I'm
a big country music fan of Luke Combs, Riley Green.
(24:57):
I got to see those guys. Oh gosh, last one
Kenny Chesney.
Speaker 5 (25:02):
In the sphere?
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Did you go?
Speaker 3 (25:04):
How would I forget?
Speaker 1 (25:04):
That?
Speaker 4 (25:05):
Unbelievable.
Speaker 7 (25:06):
In fact, went to the show, not necessarily with but
met up with Matt Rule, the head coach from Nebraska
UNLV Dan Mullen, the head coach there, and we were
all at the show kind of together. Got to be
around Kenny a little bit. He was so gracious. Matt
Rule's friends with the guy, Dan Mullen's friends with the guy.
I'm not friends with him, so I was starstruck.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Man.
Speaker 7 (25:25):
I was like, hey, I met you outside this Malibu
hotel like five years ago ago, and I was like, fangirling, man,
it was crazy.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
I know Kenny Brellan overly well. And he invited me
out a couple of times and I didn't go. And
I was like, I've seen Kenny before, but that's Spear show.
Is it pretty special? Just that that venue?
Speaker 7 (25:43):
It is the greatest entertainment spectacle I think in the world.
I've seen lay Mis in London, I've done a lot
of like things. What people say, you have to see
this show. I love concerts. I go to a lot
of concerts. By far, the greatest thing I've ever seen.
Immersed in the experience I don't think I've had, and
we were sitting was perfect, but I don't even remember
(26:06):
looking at Kenny Chesney or the stage. Like it's the
only concert I've ever been to where I never looked
at the stage. You're immersed in this feeling and experience
of what Kenny Chesney is all about. The feeling he
wants you to feel.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
You feel it.
Speaker 7 (26:24):
I mean, it hits your heart, your soul. It's unbelievable.
I mean, I've never been and Heather and I love Vegas,
so it's great, but this fear is unbelievable. And Kenny
put on such a live show.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
What an entertainer, all right there he is Coach Flake,
good to see a coach.
Speaker 7 (26:38):
Big fan of you, Bobby, Thank you very much for
having us on the show.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Thanks coach. See later, let's change the sport for the
final interview of this episode and our talk with Tennessee
head basketball coach Rick Barnes. Coach Barnes spent a decade
at Tennessee turned them into a consistent contender in college basketball.
He built his name up with the Longhorns, where he
coached Kevin Durant. We talk about that he just signed
a lifetime contract with Tennessee. Here he is coach Rick Barnes,
(27:04):
hey coach. I was doing a little little intel onya.
I don't want to put my person out, but I
have a very close friend that has an sec official
and I said, I want to read you a quote
from him. I said, uh, And this is a very
close friend of mine who will come to the house
here sometimes in Nashville. And it doesn't live here though.
I said, uh, what's up a Rick Barnes. What kind
of guy is he? Because he'll tell me because some
(27:25):
coaches coach he's like, ain't good? He said, tremendous man
on and off the court. And I said, I'm about
to talk with him, and he said, Rick and I
have a great relationship. And so that's from somebody very close.
So now that I know you're a tremendous man, I'm
so excited to talk to you.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
Well, I appreciate it. Good to be with you.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
I was living in Austin almost the whole time that
you were there and then moved to Tennessee. Basically, when
you moved to Tennessee, some would say you chase me
that's fine. That's fine, coach, you can chase me if
you want. That's it's all good. But what's the real ut?
Speaker 6 (27:58):
Well, you know what, when I first got here, I
don't think I bet you for two or three years,
when I would go out and meet and speak, everybody says,
welcome to the real ut. And obviously their line was, hey,
you know what the line was or would not be
at Texas if it wasn't for Tennessee. And uh so
they I got to go with the University of Tennessee.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Whenever you leave a school that's color because you're in
two distinct you went from one very distinct. I mean,
even if it clems in distinct colors of the version
of the color. Do you all your burn orange stuff?
Does it go away like it's there's that fire cell
and then it's all now that the Tennessee orange.
Speaker 6 (28:37):
Oh yeah, yeah once I you know, the colors changed.
People that you know that are there, that you were
close to you, I've always said, hey, come get what
you want.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
It's all here. Getting ready to get a new wardrobe.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Well ties and everything. Yeah, you gotta think it's not
even just like the stuff with the logos on it
like ties, hats, everything you have, like all things must go.
So you guys at Tennessee have been it's an awesome experience,
Like you guys have a great game day atmosphere. Now
I've been there and I've lost. I'm an Arkansas guy
and you guys pounded us. That's terrible. It's miserable experience.
But I respected how passionate and how loud those fans were.
(29:13):
Do you feel when you came in that you have
amplified the basketball culture there? You and your staff? I
feel that way as outside looking in and where do
you guys, what do you kind of rank you guys
sec wise as far as like arenas well.
Speaker 6 (29:29):
You know, I will say this on that every People
tell me all the time just how hard it was
to play in Stokely Athletic Center back when before they
moved into the Foods which is now the food Citing Center.
They our fan base here is incredible. I mean you
think about it. We're the only programs in the country
(29:50):
that sell out, you know, women's softball, baseball, football, and basketball.
And I can.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Tell you this.
Speaker 6 (30:00):
We've had people tell us that they think this is
as hard a place play as there anywhere in the country.
I could say the same thing about what you're talking about.
You're an Arkansas fan. Uh, that's that Walton Arena is
a tough place.
Speaker 4 (30:12):
To play when that thing's cooking.
Speaker 6 (30:13):
Now it is that ceilings blow that that uh that
is we sit around a lot and we talk about
Justin Ganey and I and people have asked me the
question all the time in my lifetime of the hardest arenas,
the loudest arenas to play in. And I've always said
the loudest arena ever in my coaching career was the
old gall the Gallagher Iba Arena before they raised the
(30:33):
roof on it, that thing when we had some incredible
games in there, when Coach Sutton was there, and it
was so definitely you couldn't even hear and if a
person with three inches from your face. Sometimes the old
Rentals College Sam at NC State Colefield House. Obviously, Kansas
still has what they have going, but there are some
places that you that really stood out like that. And
(30:55):
but when I'm coaching a game, I'm kind of oblivious
to all that, to be quite honest. But I have
had a lot of people tell me how hard it
is to come in here.
Speaker 4 (31:04):
Employ.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Yeah, Tennessee sucks to play because you guys are so loud.
I'm biased Arkansas Auburn. It's small, but that's it to
Auburn gets loud and because it's so small and right
on top of you. So there's a dynamic there towards
the whole, like nine thousand people but doesn't allow freaking
nine thousand people.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Right, yeah, it is. I mean you know that, does
you know?
Speaker 6 (31:22):
I think about you know, Old miss can get going,
you know, I think now you know, obviously a lot
of people have cut their arenas down. You know, you
go out in Texas, now think about it. Baylor wins
the National Championship, goes from a ten thousand seed arena
to like of what the seven thousand and eight thousand
seed arena. Texas goes from a seventeen thousand seed arena
to a ten thousand seed arena. But there's still something
(31:45):
to be said about the arena that you know, twenty one, six, seven, eight,
and especially when.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
You fill it up.
Speaker 6 (31:52):
But there's a lot of them that can be loud
in some ways, obviously, but they all have their own
really unique personalities.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
What about stand in that box. I don't feel like
they give you enough room, and you know, you come
out of the box and give a little warning. You
feel like that box should be extended a little better way.
Speaker 6 (32:09):
Well, what I think they ought to do, they ought
to move the officials where I have the worst seat
in the house, where I sit on the bench the
officials but is right in my face the entire game.
His job is just staying at the foul line, and
my seat lines up with the foul line, and so
that makes me have to get up and move. But
sometimes I will literally he said, I'll push them to
(32:31):
the side a little bit.
Speaker 4 (32:32):
But that's where they're supposed to be.
Speaker 6 (32:33):
But uh, you know, back in the day, you know,
you know, you could walk down as far as I
remember when you could walk to half court. But uh,
you know, again, it just goes back to where they
want to try to feel like they got control of
the game and trying to keep people under control.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
When did they hit you though with the tech? Because
I'm assuming they'll say, coach, do they give you like
a quiet warning? First? Allowed warning? Second? Like, at what
level do they go that's too much? We've told you
twice three times already.
Speaker 6 (33:00):
Pends on each guy, you know, back earlier. I'll never
forget one night when I was coaching the province in
the Big East, and you know, coaches and referees, you know,
we all I thought we had pretty good relationships. We
knew each other. But Timmy Higgins one night, who I
loved to death and did a lot of games, and
games just started and you know, we weren't playing well,
(33:20):
and I'm getting after him a little bit, and next
thing I know, he comes by me and I said,
I just showed out Timmy and he turned around.
Speaker 4 (33:27):
He teed me up. I looked around.
Speaker 6 (33:30):
I said what and he looked down and I promise
you my foot was a half an inch out of
the box. He looked at me, he looked down and said,
you're out of the box. And then he turned back
and I said, are you kidding me? He said, Coach,
I had a bad day today. I don't want to
hear it, you know, And.
Speaker 4 (33:45):
That you know thing. But you know, I go back.
Speaker 6 (33:48):
I think there's guys that referee the game, and there's
guys that managed the game too. And if you asked
me what I'd rather have a guy that manages a
game or referee is a game, I'd probably I just
want referees to call the rules of the game, but
they need to mana is it too And I think
older guys probably are a little bit better at that. Uh,
as it gets experienced.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Do you have a person on your staff that whenever
you have been triggered so much, they go, all right,
coach stop that you actually will listen.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
To not really uh, you know, not really.
Speaker 6 (34:18):
I mean if when I get if, if I do
get going, I I.
Speaker 4 (34:22):
Want to get going. You know, this is really funny.
Speaker 6 (34:25):
I think I don't remember the last time I had
tactical I think I think it was here when John
was at Kentucky and he got a technical foul and
I looked at him and I was laughing because he
didn't I didn't think he had done anything. And he
turned around teed me up because because I didn't think,
I'm like, what did he do? And they teat us
(34:45):
both up, And that may be that's one of the
last ones I think I remember.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
That I got.
Speaker 6 (34:49):
But uh, you know, officials, you know, I think there's
been a lot that has gone into helping the officials
to learn how to communicate. That's the key between games
with coaches and referees and the communication level. And obviously
some coaches are going to get along better with others
and vice versa.
Speaker 4 (35:07):
But it's a communication factor.
Speaker 6 (35:10):
That has been You know Mike Keys, who is our
supervisor of official, he has done just an incredible job.
Incredible and I will tell you this, I really do
respect those officials. I was on the rules committee for
five years and knowing and learning how hard they work
at it, have to work at it, and it's a
(35:31):
really difficult game to officiate. Uh, that gave me a
whole different perspective. But it also helped me because I
can I know where they're supposed to be.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
They're not there.
Speaker 6 (35:43):
I can kind of get at it a little bit.
But they work at it and they want to get
it right. That's all I'm going to tell you. They
do want to get it right.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
It's important to them.
Speaker 6 (35:52):
And back in the day, everybody used to feel like
there's a part time job for those guys.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
It really isn't.
Speaker 6 (35:58):
Those guys you know that money if they might have
another job, and it feels important to them to help
take care of their families. And I think you got
to respect him because really it's a tough game to officiate.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
Beaddi, Hey, Coach.
Speaker 8 (36:12):
My first job out of college, I was a news
cameraman for News A and Austin. You were head coach
at Texas and I never did sports really, but they
sent me out to one of your press conferences because
the photographer wasn't available, so I'd go up there and
it's the first time I'd ever seen you in person,
and they had you guys had planned a fart machine
(36:32):
under one of the reporter seats, so every time that
reporter started to ask a question, you guys hit the
button and a fart noise would come out and he
just couldn't get his question out. I thought that was
the funniest thing in the world. I became a huge
fan of yours after that moment. After that, do you
still do that kind of stuff with the media? I
thought that was so great.
Speaker 6 (36:53):
Hey, if you want me to get up, I'll walk
in my locker and I'll get that machine.
Speaker 5 (36:58):
You remember that, Coach.
Speaker 6 (37:00):
Oh yeah, I'm sure I've done worse than that, but
you know, sometimes you just want to have fun doing
what you're doing. And I'm not sure who it was,
but I'm sure it was good reason why we put
it underneath their chair.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
That's funny. Okay, final two questions. I'll talk about Kevin
Durant for a second. How cold was he as just
a freshman at Texas?
Speaker 4 (37:20):
Man?
Speaker 6 (37:20):
Oh man, I could tell you, I could tell you
stories all day about him. I remember, you know, I
tell everyone, when you coach a guy like Kevin Durant,
he's the hardest workers. He's as harder worker, maybe the
hardest worker.
Speaker 4 (37:35):
That we've ever coached.
Speaker 6 (37:37):
He's just an incredible teammate, very unselfish. All he cared
about was winning. But you know, he just loves being
in the gym.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
And he still does even today.
Speaker 6 (37:46):
I mean, I mean he works as hard as now
or harder. I mean, he just loves the game of basketball.
And so when you coach a guy.
Speaker 4 (37:54):
Like Kevin, and you know, he came in and.
Speaker 6 (37:58):
We had lost three guys early to the NBA Draft
and Daniel Gibson, PJ. Tucker and LaMarcus Aldridge, and we
were down to three players in our program, and we
signed best recruiting class in the country. We had, you know,
Kevin and DJ Augustine, Damien James, and we signed seven
freshmen and four I'm started, but Franfretchell had called me
(38:20):
in September. He was doing getting ready for the season.
He says, what do you think about your team? I said, well,
we're going to start for freshmen and a sophomore and
or junior, and I don't know how good our team is,
but I've got the best player in the country. He said,
you mean you got the best freshman. I said, no,
I got the best player in the country. I said,
he is the very best player in the country. And
(38:40):
he became the first freshman to win the national uh all,
you know, I think seven National Player of the Year awards.
But he had an incredible game where he kind of
broke out. We were playing against coach Knight at Texas
Tech and is one of those nights where I think
he had thirty some points, you know, maybe twenty rebounds
and almost triple double. And game after that, we came
(39:04):
back a couple of weeks later and Kevin had We
went out there and he got rolleding in he was cooking,
he was.
Speaker 4 (39:12):
Rolling and playing at just an incredible level.
Speaker 6 (39:15):
And Texas Tech comes back and right before the game,
you know, five minutes before the game, you know you're
supposed to put your starting line up in and we
had prepared for Texas Tech to come in, and next
thing I know, they come in. It's a tax changer
line up. They're starting to walk on and I'm like,
what in the world I'm looking there, and I started thinking,
you know what they're doing. Another good player in the league,
(39:36):
Martin Zeno, was a really good one on one player,
And I said, by the way they're starting, and Kevin's
going to have to match up with him. And so
Coach Knight's gonna go at Kevin with Zeno, He's gonna
make kitting. And so I told Kevin, I said, look,
whatever you do, you don't even leave the lane. You
just stand in front of the basket. And we jumped
on those guys and we were up probably like something
like thirty to five, and all at once, I hear
(40:00):
somebody stomping her foot and I look around and coach
nice looking down there. He looks at me and he
calls me a name and starts laughing at me. And
we're up at halftime by thirty points. The second half,
it took thirty seconds, thirty minutes to get the entire
at half over. He went zoned and I'd never seen
him go z and after the game he told me
it's him. At halftime, he said, if anybody fouls, we're
(40:20):
going to get into two three zone. If anybody fouls,
you're going to walk back to Lubvick.
Speaker 4 (40:24):
I want to be out of here.
Speaker 6 (40:26):
And that game was that half was over in thirty minutes,
but Kevin put on and then I can just remember
some of the things he did. One of my favorite
stories is we go to Kansas and place as you
know is gone and we start that game and Kevin Durant,
I'm telling you it's one of the greatest twenty minutes
(40:47):
in entire college basketball history. And Danny Manning told me
later he was on the bench with Bill and I mean,
we were running a play that we couldn't guard. When
Carmelolo Anthony beat us in the final force just and
simple isolation.
Speaker 4 (41:02):
Put it's up to kd Just to pick it apart.
Speaker 6 (41:04):
And every gallon court had scored a point because he
neither made the pass or did something. And Danny, they
couldn't stop him. I mean, he was unstoppable. And Danny
told me that Bill looked at him and said, what
do you think? And Danny said, I looked at Bill
and said, Bill, that's a bad mother. But he gave
it to him any and every way you could.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
Everybody I know that knows you loves you, and so
it's really nice to talk to you. Thank you all right, Coch,
Thank you, coach. Thanks for listening to this episode and
some of our favorite interviews from twenty twenty five at
twenty five whistle Sports. If you want to follow us
and leave a comment. If you're on Spotify, leave a comment.
It helps us, helps the algorithm. Tell your friends. Appreciate
(41:46):
you guys so much. Have a great week. Theme song
written by Bobby Bones That's Me and performed by Brandon Ray.
Follow Brandon on socials at Brandon Ray Music.
Speaker 9 (41:56):
You can follow the show on Instagram at Bobby Bones Sports.
Thanks our crew co host at producer Eddie, Segment producer
at Kickoff Kevin, and executive producer at Mike Gestrove.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
But most importantly, thank you for listening. Bobby Bones.
Speaker 9 (42:10):
We'll talk to you next time here on twenty five
Whistles
This is a podcast called twenty five whist Stalking Parts,
and they were a whizz So yeah, it's too bad,
But what did you expect. It's a podcast called twenty
five Whistles twenty Wine.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
We've had some awesome guests sit down with us on
the podcast this year, so I want to look back
at some of our favorite interviews that maybe you missed.
First up, head coach of the number four seed in
this year's college football playoff, Joy McGuire from Texas Tech
Text twelve and one on the year they won the
Big twelve. Coach McGuire's put his name up there with
the best up and coming coaches in the country. He
(00:40):
just signed a new seven year contract extension with Tech,
so B congrats to him, and man, they're awesome here
he is Coach Joey McGuire. Let us welcome one of
my favorite coaches. He's now the hunter. The hunted has
turned into the hunter. Coach McGuire, let's up.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
And what's up?
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Brother?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
So good to see you and be on your show.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Man, where on the priority list is it for you
to make sure you guys have maybe an advantage or
are just ready to take a shot at the NFL.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
It's high.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
You know, we talk about it all the time. You know,
Number one, you're coming here to get a great education,
and one B, you're preparing yourself could be a pro.
Now we talk about being a pro like being a
great dad, being a great husband. You know, I mean,
you're a pro at what you do. But these guys
that we have on this team, there's a lot of
(01:34):
them that have the ability and athletic and mindset to
be in the NFL. So we want to make sure
we're preparing them for that. You walk into our team meetings,
everybody's going to have a notebook, everybody's taking notes, everybody's
locked in. Teach them how to watch film, watch an
extra film. One of my big deals that I talk about,
(01:55):
excuse me, every single day, it's taking care of your body.
Because you and I both know there's a lot of
guys in the NFL that are still in the NFL
because they can stay healthy. And there's a lot of
guys that have been cut over the history of the
NFL because they can't stay helpy. And they might be
better than one guy, but they just can't stay help
So we we spend a lot of time with that.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Are you all football all the time, even when it's
not your football?
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
I meat up with it, you know, especially college football.
I love watching It's just a pageantry and and you know,
it's it's almost like a movie at different stadiums, and
you know, it's I'm heat up with it. You know,
I'll watch a little bit of pros pro wise, I'm
trying to watch our guys. Anybody Wou's playing, you know,
I'll tune in and watch a couple of you know,
(02:42):
we have it in the background while I'm watching Feeling.
But yeah, I don't have a lot of hobbies. You know,
it's hanging out with my dog and my wife and
watch football.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Is it different every year what the players do as leaders?
You have some years where you just trust your captains
to actually have meetings with the team, and some maybe
your captains aren't established. Is it based on you know,
who the captains are every year?
Speaker 3 (03:03):
One hundred percent? You know, we we've got a really
strong group. Three of my captains are back. We had
five captains last year. Three of them returned Baron Morton,
Jacob Rodriguez and Brostromirez.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
But one thing that we did.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
There were some really strong alpha males that came in
and they had big voices. They had been captains at
their previous spools, and so we wanted to make sure
they had a voice. And so like a guy like
Skylar Gil Howard has been huge for us. And so
this is a player led team. You know, I can
(03:39):
send out one text to my leadership group. Whatever that
text says, it's gonna get taken care out.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Next up is the runner up in this just Heisman
Trophy race. Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia. Diego became Bandy's first
ever Heisman finalist, led Vanderbilt to their first ten win
season of program history, had thirty six total touchdowns and
had over four thousand total yards cards. The crazy part
is when we had Diego and studio before the season,
he said, Hey, I want to win the Heisman, and
(04:06):
we didn't like, oh yeah right, but it was like okay,
but he did it. Congrats to Diego on a great
season here. He is good to see you. Thanks for
spending some time with us.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
Appreciate you, Bobby, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
We were talking to coach Lee last year and he
was talking about, you know, it's hard to get into Vanderbilt.
Oh yeah, and to recruit players, it's got to be
a special type of player. I didn't realize that. You
It sounds like juniors and seniors can't transfer in. You
have to have graduated to come in. So that puts
a lot of stress on You didn at school right,
like to get all that done for sure.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
I mean I was taking twenty one credits. I was
still working out, you know, two three times a day,
still going to practice, watching them practice. But it was
all online, so that was cool.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Whenever I tried to do like online when I got
a ticket, I spent way less time invested in being
on because it was like easily available. So I did
terrible at taking like Driver's Head online. Yeah yeah, so
I feel like if I took online classes, I would
not pay attention.
Speaker 5 (04:57):
We should have just typed it into chagbt what we
got to do it?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
That's true, Yeah, different times, not.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
Saying I do that, not saying I do that. Just
a few students.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
What's Vandy like to go to class? I'm assuming you're
going to class.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
Oh yeah, you meet a lot of interesting kids at class.
They want to like basically own the world, you know,
where someone like like their parents are just really interesting
or they just tell you their background. And that's what
I like doing. I like learning about people and then
building relationships like that. And so I met a few
people just like in the hallways and stuff who are
just interesting, you know, their parents or something are high up,
(05:31):
or they're from Nashville, they own some like real estate.
And but I really like the students at Vanderbilt.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Can you go online classes now?
Speaker 5 (05:40):
So I have an all online major right now? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Awesome.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
So I'm really bought into football.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah did they make sure do most guys do that?
Speaker 5 (05:50):
No? Actually, not from Vanderbilt. We got a lot of
smart kids on our roster. That's what makes that's what
makes us elite.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, you know, why did you choose Vanderbilt? Well?
Speaker 5 (06:01):
I chose it because at New Mexico State are my
head coach, offensive coordinator, safety's coach, quarterback coach at think
who else running back coach? They took vander picked up
about six or seven of our coaches, and then they
took like four of our players, and then so I
(06:22):
was like, shoot, I might as well join them, you know.
And then once coach kill really went to Vanderbilt That's
when I was like, Okay, I'm bought in.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
Whenever you come over or you're thinking about coming over,
are they like, hey, diego, there's a good shot you
can play or is it just you're just believing yourself
and go not really knowing I guess, not knowing how
to say it, but not really having an understanding of
where you're going to fit the depth chart.
Speaker 5 (06:43):
Well, there was a quarterback battle going in. I kind
of scouted that going into it, but the starter had
just left, so I knew the spot was open and
there wasn't going to be no favoritism or anything like that.
And all I asked for going in is because I
know there's a lot of politics in the SEC and
like these big conferences. So I told him I'll come
if you promised me that it's a fifty to fifty
(07:05):
shot and the better person will play.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
So you didn't even ask for the guarantee to start.
You just wanted a fair shot to win the job.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
I just wanted a fair shot to win the job.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
What was the scheme difference? Offensively from New Mexico to here?
Same thing Because the coaches came there, a lot of
it were running the same same terminology and everything same terminal.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
There was a little bit of a twist because of
our offensive line coach. He coached like Lamar Jackson at Louisville,
and so we took a slight little twist with that,
and so I had to learn a little bit, but
it wasn't too much learning that I had to do.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Did you feel that when you came in you were
equal to the guy immediately? And I don't know who
you run the quarterback battle with. Did you guys start
at the same place or did you come in a
little behind and you had to catch up.
Speaker 5 (07:48):
I would say I was probably ahead, just because I
was at New Mexico State for a year and a
half with the offensive coordinator and stuff.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
So you knew what he was saying, Yeah, what you
were expected.
Speaker 5 (07:59):
And I was in the So I like practice. I
would go watch practice every single day in the spring
because they could in practice, and like on seven on
seven and team reps, I would take my drop back
when he said hike, I would take my drop back.
I'd go through my reads and I'd throw the I'd
fake throw the ball before like the quarterback would do it.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
So it's like being on the on deck circle and
time pitches. Yep, you're there taking cuts just you.
Speaker 5 (08:21):
Know, uh, timing it just mental reps.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
What are you like in the huddle?
Speaker 5 (08:24):
Oh, I'm a I'm real serious in the huddle, Like
once it's business, Once that clock starts, it's all business
from there on out. And then I try to just
get everyone prep give everyone confidence to go into the
next play and just succeed. If someone misses a block
or something, you know, I'm smacking him on his ass
and just tell him, hey, you got it.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Why do your guys believe in you?
Speaker 5 (08:46):
I think they just see that. You know, I'm not
going to go out without a fight, Like I want
to win more than anything else in life. Like this
is all I know. All I know is football. Without football,
I don't know what I would do.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Do you like before game to be extremely hype or
because we've had other guys come in like ma fighters,
they don't want to be hyped. They want to have
good adrenaline, but they don't want to be hyped because
then they don't react and think the same. They want
to be as calm as possible. Where are you before
the game starts?
Speaker 5 (09:15):
Oh I'm hyped. I'm jumping up and down. I'm ready
to go, you know. And then sometimes what's kind of
like embarrassing though, is sometimes when your energy is too
high and then you're just like starting to come down
and focus, you catch like these yawns that are like
really kind of embarrassing and you don't want no one
to see us, or you're like eating like one of
these or something like that.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
What are the facilities like at Vanderbilt? And I would
like for you to walk back to both schools because
I would assume each time was a big come up
and it felt different.
Speaker 5 (09:47):
So from coming from Juco, we worked out in a
tent literally, Uh, it was squat racks, like if you
walked out on the on concrete and you were working
out in the parking lot. We just put squat racks
on them. And it was a a dome kind of
kind of like Arizona State's indoor, but it was just
concrete and we just we squatted in there. We benched
(10:09):
in there.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
And then it sounds like prison I'll be honest with you,
that's what it kind of what it sounds like, the
prison yard with like a little ten over the top
of right right.
Speaker 5 (10:16):
It was a military school, and the only way that
you were able to get like an extra workout in
is they had like the pull up bars, the dip bars,
and so at Mimi, you really couldn't be up at
a certain time, and I would like sneak out of
my room four thirty in the morning, and I'm like
trying to like creep on the wall so no one
would see me. And I would go and like work
(10:37):
out from like probably like probably get there a four
forty five work out till about six and then at
or like five point thirty and then come back, take
quick shower, and be in formation by like five forty.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Five because it was military institute.
Speaker 5 (10:49):
Yeah. And then when when I went to New Mexico State,
it was like, oh my god, this is heaven, you know.
And obviously, you know, they had a really actually a
really good weight room there, but there was like no indoor,
no grass filled. And then I come to Vanderbilt and
I'm like They're serving steak every single day, chicken every
(11:13):
single day. I'm like, what, like what's going on?
Speaker 2 (11:16):
You know, the nutrition is a big difference, oh, the
biggest difference for sure, And so you can get whatever
food you want whenever.
Speaker 5 (11:22):
Yeah, shrimp. There's sometimes lobsters.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
That's what I was crazy.
Speaker 5 (11:28):
Yeah, no, and then the desserts are great too.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
So they just have like chefs, cooks, always cooking food.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
What about snacks, Oh, dude, they have like a thing
from this wall to this wolf filled with what's your
favorite snack?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
I mean, I love a lot of fruits. I love
a lot of cookies, So I'm a big fruit and
cookies probably.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
Yeah, they got that. Yeah, they got gushers. What's those
climb bars.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Or something, and those are any time one in the morning,
eight in the morning.
Speaker 6 (12:00):
Eight.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Yeah, all day, dude, they wouldn't have anything left. We
were there, dude, I know, we can't even have a
break room.
Speaker 5 (12:05):
Oh you should have saw my sister. So my sister
came down. Well, we took it into Mexico State. Obviously
there was like just bagels and stuff. We go over here.
She asked for a bag and she's like walking around
making sure no one looks, just like putting snacks in
the bag.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
We went to Auburn and worked out with the basketball team,
that's what we did, and we walked. We got They
had like a trail mix with Eminem's that's the whole Yeah,
so we took we were like putting them in our bag.
So like I understand what your sister was doing. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
Yeah, the stuff's expensive too.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Anything is awesome.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
Oh yeah, I remember I asked for like a protein
shake and they took me to the back and uh
there was like stack to the top with it was costco,
you know. And I remember I took like a protein
box just home, and I was like, I'm the man.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
I wouldn't tel the same way.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
What was your greatest high school game?
Speaker 5 (12:56):
Oh? Shoot, So junior junior year, I had to actually
play JV because of the transfer rule, and I would
say I probably had maybe six touchdowns in the half
and then like I just sat off like the rest
of the day.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
So they made you had to play JV and then
you just dominated. Yeah that's awesome.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
Yeah I played. Uh freshman, I played varsity. Uh, sophomore year,
I played varsity, and then my junior year I transferred
and uh they made me sit down and play JV.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
The whole year.
Speaker 5 (13:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
The whole year was that boring?
Speaker 5 (13:32):
Oh it was bad, you know, Like it was there
was like a crazy play. I was playing running back receiver.
I was just I just like told me, hey, just
throw me the ball real quick. And like we had
this other kid who played quarterback too, and if they
drew up the route for him, I'll be like, hey, switch,
you play quarterback real quick and I would run the route.
(13:54):
And so I would I would run the route. But
there was one time like I took, I took a
hand off and then running up the left side, I
curve it back to midway and then like some kid
facemasks me, I'd come back and score a touchdown. And
that was the day. I had like six touchdowns in
a half. And so I just like sat on the
sideline and it got it got really boring. I wish
I was able to play varsity. Maybe that affected why
(14:14):
I didn't get any offers, but I'm also from New Mexico.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
You know, how was your senior year? Then?
Speaker 5 (14:21):
Oh, I ended up getting hurt the first game and
I had to sit out for like six games. But
we were eleven and one and we lost in the
playoffs like forty nine to fifty six.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
So you missed your whole junior year, Well missed it.
You had to play junior varsity, and then you missed
a big part of your senior year because of injury. Yeah,
so is that why you didn't get the offers at
least any Division one offers?
Speaker 5 (14:42):
No, I felt like because towards the end, I was
still playing football and I was still playing really good.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
But were you playing quarterback?
Speaker 5 (14:48):
Yeah? And no, I don't think just no one wanted
a five ten, five eleven quarterback. They didn't believe in me.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
So why did you choose to go to what did you?
Speaker 5 (14:59):
How did you what do you call in New Mexico Military?
Speaker 7 (15:00):
Now?
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Why did you choose nim Oh?
Speaker 5 (15:03):
My brother chose it for me. Really, I was thinking
about maybe walking on to like a powerhouse, maybe like Oklahoma.
Obviously Baker Mayfield was a walk on Yeah, Oklahoma exactly.
And so I was thinking of doing like maybe one
of those. And it was like literally a week before
(15:23):
and then the Nimmy offensive coordinator, coach Kaiser came into
my school and was like, Hey, you need to come
to NIMI, Like this is it'll work out well for you.
We've had five Division one quarterbacks in three years. It'll
be great, Like you'll have a great opportunity. So we
kind of and that was when that Netflix show, Uh,
(15:43):
Last Chance You came out, and so Juco was big
at the time, and everyone was taking looks at it.
So I was thinking, just all right, I'm gonna go
Juco for a year and then I'll transfer D one.
And then so when Juco went UH six and four
and then and we went to UH. The next year
we went to the national CHAMPIONSHI won the national Championship,
(16:04):
and then that's how I ended up in Mexico State.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Did you start to get other offers other than New
Mexico State like Jeff oh I had.
Speaker 5 (16:11):
I'll tell you when the offers came in, so I switched.
My Twitter has all the offers like that's how you
get offered nowadays. And on my Twitter I said I'm
from Albuaque, New Mexico. I changed it to Tampa, Florida.
And then once I changed it, literally a week after,
I started getting offers and started talking to schools. It
was crazy.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Because you said, you're a Florida player, and they just
respected the Florida players more.
Speaker 5 (16:34):
I guess that's how it works, you know.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Are you sure they just didn't get put onto you.
Speaker 5 (16:38):
The same time. I don't switch it, Hey, I don't know.
But once I switched it. It was like, oh, now
these coaches want to talk to me. You know you're
a three star. No, I was a no star.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
You're a no star.
Speaker 5 (16:47):
I was a negative star.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
What sports did you play?
Speaker 5 (16:49):
I wrestled and played football.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Or a negative star?
Speaker 5 (16:52):
Okay, so they have your ranked as you wrestled, wrestled,
I played football and then I played baseball for two years.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Which sport were you the best at?
Speaker 5 (17:05):
People thought I was the best at wrestling, but I
believe that I just loved football so much.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
He loved football more?
Speaker 5 (17:11):
Yeah, way more.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Could you have wrestled in college?
Speaker 5 (17:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Could you play baseball in college.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
If I would have worked at it?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Uh?
Speaker 5 (17:20):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
What coaches had the most impact on your career? Jerry
kol Why what's special at him?
Speaker 4 (17:28):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (17:28):
He's hard, had lunch pill. He's just different, Like you
just talked to him, and he just realizes that you
realize that he would never like he's never lied to me.
Even at New Mexico State, I was going through a
bad time because I wasn't in the starting lineup. We
were one and five and it just sucked being one
of five, Like losing just is just terrible. And I
was like, hey, like I want to help the team.
I want to come back. I want to go to
a bowl game, Like, how can I step on the
(17:49):
field again? And he told me, just you know, stop
turning the ball over. Get better in my reads. And literally,
once I stopped turning the ball over and got better
my reads, he put me back in the start line.
And it's like he told the people there, hey, play
this kid, you know, just let him be, just let
him play. And so once that happened, he gave me
another chance. It was best off to the moon. But
(18:11):
I respect coach Kill because he's never lied to me.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
There have been times where if I were playing a
like a celebrity golf tournament, we're playing a big course
that I can play as a video game, I'll get
on and play the video game, or I have a
simulator in my house, or I get on and look
at the course. Yeah, do you get on? Can you
get on college football? Or do you have that that
like that? Jayde Daniels was famous for even doing stuff
in the simulator. Do you have any do you have
the ability to do that at all? Like look ahead?
Speaker 5 (18:32):
Oh well, we watch film, like uh so say we
play Kentucky, We watch film already in the Kentucky stadium,
but you don't realize what it is until you actually
play in that environment.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
What do you mean in the stadium?
Speaker 5 (18:46):
Like once, once you're in it, once you're there. Like
sometimes like Auburn's debt perception is kind of different than
Kentucky's because it just like goes up higher and stuff
on the on the walls, but.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
So I don't know what you're saying on the walls, like.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
Like like they don't.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Did they digitally put a room around you?
Speaker 5 (19:05):
No? No, no, no, Like this is like when you step
into the arena. Okay, in real life, real this is
real life. Okay, yeah, got it. Auburn holds like one
hundred and four thousand, Kentucky doesn't hold as much. Sure
how much they hold, but it's like a whole extra
layer you know, that goes up, so like the depth
perception is a little bit off.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Could you play college football twenty six though, and diagnose
like look at coverage as they're putting in and go, okay,
what would I do here? What would I do there?
Speaker 5 (19:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Have you played with yourself?
Speaker 5 (19:30):
I've only got to play once and that was at
the media days.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Can you call every defense. Though, Even even if you're
not good with your fingers on the sticks, could you
go okay, they're gonna blut safety, They're you know, go
to obviously, so we'll look at the hook here.
Speaker 5 (19:44):
Yeah. I always do that, But sometimes it's the video
game is different than real life, and so that's why
sometimes it's kind of cracked. But I also like to
mess around on the video game. Just throw one on
one jump balls to Eli.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Well, that's what you guys are doing in JV chunk balls.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
I try to get him to widen me out how
Cam Newton did at Auburn, But Eli's like man I
throwing a jump ball to No. Five time Mexican.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
What quarterback do you watch or did you watch as
a kid that inspired you?
Speaker 5 (20:15):
Johnny Manziel He was cold. He's a That guy is
just a different athlete.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Has he reached out to you at all?
Speaker 4 (20:23):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (20:23):
I we talked a few times. He's a real cool dude.
He's just when I watch his tape two, he's just
he's wired different. That's what I really like about him.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
What do you do right after a game for your body? Oh?
Speaker 5 (20:38):
Shoot, I usually just relax. Let me think that's a
good question.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Do you ever get in that like that the chamber
of the cold thing that the cryo.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Or the chiro therapy. No, we don't have one of
those at Vanderbilt. I probably I just go in the
next day. They have treatment, like at eight in the morning.
So I always go into there and just I'm big
on my legs, just making sure those are healthy because
my arm's always gonna come with it.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
After the season. NFL aspissions for sure.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
I mean they can't tell the highs and winner that
he can't get drafted.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
You know they can't. And it's also you know there
have been other five, ten, five eleven.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
Quarterbacks right that have gotten drafted and have played well exactly, Yeah,
I haven't. I had. I actually know more quarterbacks over
six foot one who have played I guess less not
as good than people under six foot.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
With coach Lee being such a defensive guy, do you
spend much time with him?
Speaker 3 (21:37):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (21:38):
Yeah, I asked him a lot of questions about the defense.
He's like thinking about different types of ways, Like we
see NFL coverages all day and like they'll get to
a cover two doing some weird stuff and it's like, bro,
how are you doing that? That's not even a true cover.
He looks like Cover three, you know, but that stuff
is just way different, just a lot of third, third
(22:00):
and long stuff that they get to Eddie have final question.
Speaker 8 (22:02):
Oh man, it's just awesome having you here. I mean,
my favorite was watching you in New Mexico because that
was like late for us, right, you know, so like
after I'd lost all my bets of the day in
New Mexico.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
So dude, it's really cool avening here. That's funny because
those are the games we watch after Central time Zone,
after all of our games Eastern and Central Go, we're
watching like Oregon State, New Mexico. Yeah, you guys been
playing later so we can watch those games later.
Speaker 5 (22:27):
I remember at New Mexico State we were like ninety
three against a spread or something like that.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
That's pret Eddie. You should know that. Yeah, that's why
he's watching diego. Good to see you. Man, really appreciate that.
Speaker 5 (22:38):
I appreciate you guys having.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Now let's get over to Minnesota head football coach PJ. Fleck.
Coach Fleck has been leading to Go First since twenty seventeen.
Known for his high energy and row the boat phrase,
coach holds the school record for most ball wins his
head coach with six, and he hopes to extend that
this week when they play New Mexico in the two
only twenty five Rate Bowl. Good luck to coach and
his team here he is coach PJ Flack, What up?
(23:05):
Coach Hobby Bones?
Speaker 3 (23:07):
What's up? Man?
Speaker 2 (23:08):
There's a lot of things that I do now in
the different jobs that I have where I can use AI.
Is Have we got to the point now where you
can just like stick other teams in AI to see
what their what their tendencies are through a computer program?
Speaker 5 (23:19):
You can.
Speaker 7 (23:20):
I think that we have been doing that for years.
We've been doing that in a very different way though.
The analytics have been around for a while, but AI's
taking it to a completely different level in my opinion.
But there's still a human element of football. Remember, our
product is people. Apple's product is the iPhone, the iPad,
the earbuds, and you know, like that's the product. When
(23:43):
you're dealing in a world where the product is eighteen
to twenty two year olds, there's still a sense of
the human part of it. So yes, like going forward
on fourth and one and having analytics on this and
that and what's the book say on this, and what's
the AI say on that? Which is fine if it
was all robots going out there and playing. Uh, these
are human beings, so there's still that human element. There's injuries.
(24:06):
What does your team really do well? What do they
not do well? The type of opponent you're playing, what
injuries do they have?
Speaker 4 (24:13):
That mean?
Speaker 7 (24:14):
It's crazy. It is the most unpredictable sport I think
in the entire world.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Have you been to a concert lately at all? Coach?
Speaker 7 (24:21):
Yes, love concerts, love concerts.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
What'd you go to?
Speaker 7 (24:26):
Well, we've been to a few concerts. We went to UH.
We took the staff last year to Bruce Springsteen. I'm
a big fan of Bruce.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Uh.
Speaker 7 (24:35):
We went to UH. We went to a small concert
for the TV one F Foundation, which is a great
friend of ours. She's a she's a teenage girl has
cancer and unfortunately's got it for the third time. But
she had like Graham Barham in and got to spend
some time around Grand Barham, who I thought was absolutely awesome. Uh,
you know, having that that oil Money song. And I'm
a big country music fan of Luke Combs, Riley Green.
(24:57):
I got to see those guys. Oh gosh, last one
Kenny Chesney.
Speaker 5 (25:02):
In the sphere?
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Did you go?
Speaker 3 (25:04):
How would I forget?
Speaker 1 (25:04):
That?
Speaker 4 (25:05):
Unbelievable.
Speaker 7 (25:06):
In fact, went to the show, not necessarily with but
met up with Matt Rule, the head coach from Nebraska
UNLV Dan Mullen, the head coach there, and we were
all at the show kind of together. Got to be
around Kenny a little bit. He was so gracious. Matt
Rule's friends with the guy, Dan Mullen's friends with the guy.
I'm not friends with him, so I was starstruck.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Man.
Speaker 7 (25:25):
I was like, hey, I met you outside this Malibu
hotel like five years ago ago, and I was like, fangirling, man,
it was crazy.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
I know Kenny Brellan overly well. And he invited me
out a couple of times and I didn't go. And
I was like, I've seen Kenny before, but that's Spear show.
Is it pretty special? Just that that venue?
Speaker 7 (25:43):
It is the greatest entertainment spectacle I think in the world.
I've seen lay Mis in London, I've done a lot
of like things. What people say, you have to see
this show. I love concerts. I go to a lot
of concerts. By far, the greatest thing I've ever seen.
Immersed in the experience I don't think I've had, and
we were sitting was perfect, but I don't even remember
(26:06):
looking at Kenny Chesney or the stage. Like it's the
only concert I've ever been to where I never looked
at the stage. You're immersed in this feeling and experience
of what Kenny Chesney is all about. The feeling he
wants you to feel.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
You feel it.
Speaker 7 (26:24):
I mean, it hits your heart, your soul. It's unbelievable.
I mean, I've never been and Heather and I love Vegas,
so it's great, but this fear is unbelievable. And Kenny
put on such a live show.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
What an entertainer, all right there he is Coach Flake,
good to see a coach.
Speaker 7 (26:38):
Big fan of you, Bobby, Thank you very much for
having us on the show.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Thanks coach. See later, let's change the sport for the
final interview of this episode and our talk with Tennessee
head basketball coach Rick Barnes. Coach Barnes spent a decade
at Tennessee turned them into a consistent contender in college basketball.
He built his name up with the Longhorns, where he
coached Kevin Durant. We talk about that he just signed
a lifetime contract with Tennessee. Here he is coach Rick Barnes,
(27:04):
hey coach. I was doing a little little intel onya.
I don't want to put my person out, but I
have a very close friend that has an sec official
and I said, I want to read you a quote
from him. I said, uh, And this is a very
close friend of mine who will come to the house
here sometimes in Nashville. And it doesn't live here though.
I said, uh, what's up a Rick Barnes. What kind
of guy is he? Because he'll tell me because some
(27:25):
coaches coach he's like, ain't good? He said, tremendous man
on and off the court. And I said, I'm about
to talk with him, and he said, Rick and I
have a great relationship. And so that's from somebody very close.
So now that I know you're a tremendous man, I'm
so excited to talk to you.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
Well, I appreciate it. Good to be with you.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
I was living in Austin almost the whole time that
you were there and then moved to Tennessee. Basically, when
you moved to Tennessee, some would say you chase me
that's fine. That's fine, coach, you can chase me if
you want. That's it's all good. But what's the real ut?
Speaker 6 (27:58):
Well, you know what, when I first got here, I
don't think I bet you for two or three years,
when I would go out and meet and speak, everybody says,
welcome to the real ut. And obviously their line was, hey,
you know what the line was or would not be
at Texas if it wasn't for Tennessee. And uh so
they I got to go with the University of Tennessee.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
Whenever you leave a school that's color because you're in
two distinct you went from one very distinct. I mean,
even if it clems in distinct colors of the version
of the color. Do you all your burn orange stuff?
Does it go away like it's there's that fire cell
and then it's all now that the Tennessee orange.
Speaker 6 (28:37):
Oh yeah, yeah once I you know, the colors changed.
People that you know that are there, that you were
close to you, I've always said, hey, come get what
you want.
Speaker 4 (28:46):
It's all here. Getting ready to get a new wardrobe.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Well ties and everything. Yeah, you gotta think it's not
even just like the stuff with the logos on it
like ties, hats, everything you have, like all things must go.
So you guys at Tennessee have been it's an awesome experience,
Like you guys have a great game day atmosphere. Now
I've been there and I've lost. I'm an Arkansas guy
and you guys pounded us. That's terrible. It's miserable experience.
But I respected how passionate and how loud those fans were.
(29:13):
Do you feel when you came in that you have
amplified the basketball culture there? You and your staff? I
feel that way as outside looking in and where do
you guys, what do you kind of rank you guys
sec wise as far as like arenas well.
Speaker 6 (29:29):
You know, I will say this on that every People
tell me all the time just how hard it was
to play in Stokely Athletic Center back when before they
moved into the Foods which is now the food Citing Center.
They our fan base here is incredible. I mean you
think about it. We're the only programs in the country
(29:50):
that sell out, you know, women's softball, baseball, football, and basketball.
And I can.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Tell you this.
Speaker 6 (30:00):
We've had people tell us that they think this is
as hard a place play as there anywhere in the country.
I could say the same thing about what you're talking about.
You're an Arkansas fan. Uh, that's that Walton Arena is
a tough place.
Speaker 4 (30:12):
To play when that thing's cooking.
Speaker 6 (30:13):
Now it is that ceilings blow that that uh that
is we sit around a lot and we talk about
Justin Ganey and I and people have asked me the
question all the time in my lifetime of the hardest arenas,
the loudest arenas to play in. And I've always said
the loudest arena ever in my coaching career was the
old gall the Gallagher Iba Arena before they raised the
(30:33):
roof on it, that thing when we had some incredible
games in there, when Coach Sutton was there, and it
was so definitely you couldn't even hear and if a
person with three inches from your face. Sometimes the old
Rentals College Sam at NC State Colefield House. Obviously, Kansas
still has what they have going, but there are some
places that you that really stood out like that. And
(30:55):
but when I'm coaching a game, I'm kind of oblivious
to all that, to be quite honest. But I have
had a lot of people tell me how hard it
is to come in here.
Speaker 4 (31:04):
Employ.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Yeah, Tennessee sucks to play because you guys are so loud.
I'm biased Arkansas Auburn. It's small, but that's it to
Auburn gets loud and because it's so small and right
on top of you. So there's a dynamic there towards
the whole, like nine thousand people but doesn't allow freaking
nine thousand people.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Right, yeah, it is. I mean you know that, does
you know?
Speaker 6 (31:22):
I think about you know, Old miss can get going,
you know, I think now you know, obviously a lot
of people have cut their arenas down. You know, you
go out in Texas, now think about it. Baylor wins
the National Championship, goes from a ten thousand seed arena
to like of what the seven thousand and eight thousand
seed arena. Texas goes from a seventeen thousand seed arena
to a ten thousand seed arena. But there's still something
(31:45):
to be said about the arena that you know, twenty one, six, seven, eight,
and especially when.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
You fill it up.
Speaker 6 (31:52):
But there's a lot of them that can be loud
in some ways, obviously, but they all have their own
really unique personalities.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
What about stand in that box. I don't feel like
they give you enough room, and you know, you come
out of the box and give a little warning. You
feel like that box should be extended a little better way.
Speaker 6 (32:09):
Well, what I think they ought to do, they ought
to move the officials where I have the worst seat
in the house, where I sit on the bench the
officials but is right in my face the entire game.
His job is just staying at the foul line, and
my seat lines up with the foul line, and so
that makes me have to get up and move. But
sometimes I will literally he said, I'll push them to
(32:31):
the side a little bit.
Speaker 4 (32:32):
But that's where they're supposed to be.
Speaker 6 (32:33):
But uh, you know, back in the day, you know,
you know, you could walk down as far as I
remember when you could walk to half court. But uh,
you know, again, it just goes back to where they
want to try to feel like they got control of
the game and trying to keep people under control.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
When did they hit you though with the tech? Because
I'm assuming they'll say, coach, do they give you like
a quiet warning? First? Allowed warning? Second? Like, at what
level do they go that's too much? We've told you
twice three times already.
Speaker 6 (33:00):
Pends on each guy, you know, back earlier. I'll never
forget one night when I was coaching the province in
the Big East, and you know, coaches and referees, you know,
we all I thought we had pretty good relationships. We
knew each other. But Timmy Higgins one night, who I
loved to death and did a lot of games, and
games just started and you know, we weren't playing well,
(33:20):
and I'm getting after him a little bit, and next
thing I know, he comes by me and I said,
I just showed out Timmy and he turned around.
Speaker 4 (33:27):
He teed me up. I looked around.
Speaker 6 (33:30):
I said what and he looked down and I promise
you my foot was a half an inch out of
the box. He looked at me, he looked down and said,
you're out of the box. And then he turned back
and I said, are you kidding me? He said, Coach,
I had a bad day today. I don't want to
hear it, you know, And.
Speaker 4 (33:45):
That you know thing. But you know, I go back.
Speaker 6 (33:48):
I think there's guys that referee the game, and there's
guys that managed the game too. And if you asked
me what I'd rather have a guy that manages a
game or referee is a game, I'd probably I just
want referees to call the rules of the game, but
they need to mana is it too And I think
older guys probably are a little bit better at that. Uh,
as it gets experienced.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Do you have a person on your staff that whenever
you have been triggered so much, they go, all right,
coach stop that you actually will listen.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
To not really uh, you know, not really.
Speaker 6 (34:18):
I mean if when I get if, if I do
get going, I I.
Speaker 4 (34:22):
Want to get going. You know, this is really funny.
Speaker 6 (34:25):
I think I don't remember the last time I had
tactical I think I think it was here when John
was at Kentucky and he got a technical foul and
I looked at him and I was laughing because he
didn't I didn't think he had done anything. And he
turned around teed me up because because I didn't think,
I'm like, what did he do? And they teat us
(34:45):
both up, And that may be that's one of the
last ones I think I remember.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
That I got.
Speaker 6 (34:49):
But uh, you know, officials, you know, I think there's
been a lot that has gone into helping the officials
to learn how to communicate. That's the key between games
with coaches and referees and the communication level. And obviously
some coaches are going to get along better with others
and vice versa.
Speaker 4 (35:07):
But it's a communication factor.
Speaker 6 (35:10):
That has been You know Mike Keys, who is our
supervisor of official, he has done just an incredible job.
Incredible and I will tell you this, I really do
respect those officials. I was on the rules committee for
five years and knowing and learning how hard they work
at it, have to work at it, and it's a
(35:31):
really difficult game to officiate. Uh, that gave me a
whole different perspective. But it also helped me because I
can I know where they're supposed to be.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
They're not there.
Speaker 6 (35:43):
I can kind of get at it a little bit.
But they work at it and they want to get
it right. That's all I'm going to tell you. They
do want to get it right.
Speaker 4 (35:51):
It's important to them.
Speaker 6 (35:52):
And back in the day, everybody used to feel like
there's a part time job for those guys.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
It really isn't.
Speaker 6 (35:58):
Those guys you know that money if they might have
another job, and it feels important to them to help
take care of their families. And I think you got
to respect him because really it's a tough game to officiate.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
Beaddi, Hey, Coach.
Speaker 8 (36:12):
My first job out of college, I was a news
cameraman for News A and Austin. You were head coach
at Texas and I never did sports really, but they
sent me out to one of your press conferences because
the photographer wasn't available, so I'd go up there and
it's the first time I'd ever seen you in person,
and they had you guys had planned a fart machine
(36:32):
under one of the reporter seats, so every time that
reporter started to ask a question, you guys hit the
button and a fart noise would come out and he
just couldn't get his question out. I thought that was
the funniest thing in the world. I became a huge
fan of yours after that moment. After that, do you
still do that kind of stuff with the media? I
thought that was so great.
Speaker 6 (36:53):
Hey, if you want me to get up, I'll walk
in my locker and I'll get that machine.
Speaker 5 (36:58):
You remember that, Coach.
Speaker 6 (37:00):
Oh yeah, I'm sure I've done worse than that, but
you know, sometimes you just want to have fun doing
what you're doing. And I'm not sure who it was,
but I'm sure it was good reason why we put
it underneath their chair.
Speaker 2 (37:12):
That's funny. Okay, final two questions. I'll talk about Kevin
Durant for a second. How cold was he as just
a freshman at Texas?
Speaker 4 (37:20):
Man?
Speaker 6 (37:20):
Oh man, I could tell you, I could tell you
stories all day about him. I remember, you know, I
tell everyone, when you coach a guy like Kevin Durant,
he's the hardest workers. He's as harder worker, maybe the
hardest worker.
Speaker 4 (37:35):
That we've ever coached.
Speaker 6 (37:37):
He's just an incredible teammate, very unselfish. All he cared
about was winning. But you know, he just loves being
in the gym.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
And he still does even today.
Speaker 6 (37:46):
I mean, I mean he works as hard as now
or harder. I mean, he just loves the game of basketball.
And so when you coach a guy.
Speaker 4 (37:54):
Like Kevin, and you know, he came in and.
Speaker 6 (37:58):
We had lost three guys early to the NBA Draft
and Daniel Gibson, PJ. Tucker and LaMarcus Aldridge, and we
were down to three players in our program, and we
signed best recruiting class in the country. We had, you know,
Kevin and DJ Augustine, Damien James, and we signed seven
freshmen and four I'm started, but Franfretchell had called me
(38:20):
in September. He was doing getting ready for the season.
He says, what do you think about your team? I said, well,
we're going to start for freshmen and a sophomore and
or junior, and I don't know how good our team is,
but I've got the best player in the country. He said,
you mean you got the best freshman. I said, no,
I got the best player in the country. I said,
he is the very best player in the country. And
(38:40):
he became the first freshman to win the national uh all,
you know, I think seven National Player of the Year awards.
But he had an incredible game where he kind of
broke out. We were playing against coach Knight at Texas
Tech and is one of those nights where I think
he had thirty some points, you know, maybe twenty rebounds
and almost triple double. And game after that, we came
(39:04):
back a couple of weeks later and Kevin had We
went out there and he got rolleding in he was cooking,
he was.
Speaker 4 (39:12):
Rolling and playing at just an incredible level.
Speaker 6 (39:15):
And Texas Tech comes back and right before the game,
you know, five minutes before the game, you know you're
supposed to put your starting line up in and we
had prepared for Texas Tech to come in, and next
thing I know, they come in. It's a tax changer
line up. They're starting to walk on and I'm like,
what in the world I'm looking there, and I started thinking,
you know what they're doing. Another good player in the league,
(39:36):
Martin Zeno, was a really good one on one player,
And I said, by the way they're starting, and Kevin's
going to have to match up with him. And so
Coach Knight's gonna go at Kevin with Zeno, He's gonna
make kitting. And so I told Kevin, I said, look,
whatever you do, you don't even leave the lane. You
just stand in front of the basket. And we jumped
on those guys and we were up probably like something
like thirty to five, and all at once, I hear
(40:00):
somebody stomping her foot and I look around and coach
nice looking down there. He looks at me and he
calls me a name and starts laughing at me. And
we're up at halftime by thirty points. The second half,
it took thirty seconds, thirty minutes to get the entire
at half over. He went zoned and I'd never seen
him go z and after the game he told me
it's him. At halftime, he said, if anybody fouls, we're
(40:20):
going to get into two three zone. If anybody fouls,
you're going to walk back to Lubvick.
Speaker 4 (40:24):
I want to be out of here.
Speaker 6 (40:26):
And that game was that half was over in thirty minutes,
but Kevin put on and then I can just remember
some of the things he did. One of my favorite
stories is we go to Kansas and place as you
know is gone and we start that game and Kevin Durant,
I'm telling you it's one of the greatest twenty minutes
(40:47):
in entire college basketball history. And Danny Manning told me
later he was on the bench with Bill and I mean,
we were running a play that we couldn't guard. When
Carmelolo Anthony beat us in the final force just and
simple isolation.
Speaker 4 (41:02):
Put it's up to kd Just to pick it apart.
Speaker 6 (41:04):
And every gallon court had scored a point because he
neither made the pass or did something. And Danny, they
couldn't stop him. I mean, he was unstoppable. And Danny
told me that Bill looked at him and said, what
do you think? And Danny said, I looked at Bill
and said, Bill, that's a bad mother. But he gave
it to him any and every way you could.
Speaker 2 (41:25):
Everybody I know that knows you loves you, and so
it's really nice to talk to you. Thank you all right, Coch,
Thank you, coach. Thanks for listening to this episode and
some of our favorite interviews from twenty twenty five at
twenty five whistle Sports. If you want to follow us
and leave a comment. If you're on Spotify, leave a comment.
It helps us, helps the algorithm. Tell your friends. Appreciate
(41:46):
you guys so much. Have a great week. Theme song
written by Bobby Bones That's Me and performed by Brandon Ray.
Follow Brandon on socials at Brandon Ray Music.
Speaker 9 (41:56):
You can follow the show on Instagram at Bobby Bones Sports.
Thanks our crew co host at producer Eddie, Segment producer
at Kickoff Kevin, and executive producer at Mike Gestrove.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
But most importantly, thank you for listening. Bobby Bones.
Speaker 9 (42:10):
We'll talk to you next time here on twenty five
Whistles
Hosts And Creators
Bobby Bones
Amy Brown
Lunchbox
Eddie Garcia
Morgan Huelsman
Raymundo
Mike D
Abby Anderson
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