Husky Talk- Brian Kozlowski

A special Husky Talk with a dream come true for me, being able to co-host with the I.C.O.N, best of the best, Voice of the UConn Huskies Joe D'Ambrosio. Plus, he was able to spend time with me doing shows two days in a row without me making his blood pressure go up. Our guest is one of the best players in UConn Football history, on the all-century team, along with playing 16 years in the NFL, former Tight End Brian Kozlowski. Joe covered football regularly around that era, his knowledge and expertise was huge, I appreciate, along with being grateful he did the episode with me.Thank you Procyon Partners, The Finch Firm LLC, Dynamic Human Performance LLC, and Trench Mob for being sponsors, we included their video advertisements in the show. Sean Rabinowitz, Pete Finch, Andre Dixon, Julius Trenches, your support has made a huge difference,Nedvonne Young with Fresh Fold Laundry Company opened on January 18th. We did an ad to promote his business as well. Please go to their website at www.freshfoldlaundry.com for more information their services, including offering subscriptions.Joe D and I talk with Brian about the current UConn football team. He broke the ice by joking at the Wasabi Bowl, with both teams having to share a sideline, his buddy .css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Hello and welcome to Husky Talk.I am your host, the best podcast
host in the universe, Steve Cully.
I would like to mention our sponsors.
First we have Procyon Partners who you will see a live
commercial from shortly and thenwe have the Finch Law Firm with

(00:27):
Peter Finch and currently with me.
My Co host from Husky Hoops is helping me out on Husky Talk
today. The best of the best, The icon
himself, the voice of the Huskies, Joe d'ambrosia, who has

(00:50):
to put up with me two days in a row.
I don't know if he's going to beable to do that.
We're going to see my. Sentence in purgatory, Kelly.
And the man of the hour, the guest?
He's too sweet to be sour, Mr. Brian Kozlowski, a Yukon legend.
Thank you for having me today. Thank you for being here with

(01:12):
us. I know you had an extensive NFL
career, 16 years, and I told youmy greatest memory is when you
when you caught the winning touchdown pass to beat the
Cowboys, as I was a massive Giants fan.
I just wanted to get your early thoughts on what you think so

(01:34):
far of the program and the team,the direction that we're going
in, because a lot's changed and you know, we're independent, but
we had it. We had a good season.
We made it to a bowl game. If you if you got to see us
play, I know out out West it's. I did.
I actually did see the game a little bit, a little bit.

(01:56):
I thought it was great. It was almost like a hockey game
because you guys are on the samesideline.
So I was like, I mean, go, I canI go.
I can only imagine if Bellcore was on the sideline he'd be
trying to. He'd be fighting them on the
tideline. Right.
He's going right at him. Like, what the hell?
I was like, Oh my God, yeah. I was like, yeah, I would have
been probably in a little trouble with that one too.

(02:17):
But but no, they're, I think they're doing a great job.
Coach Moore is, you know, I've actually met Coach Moore.
I used to go to his charity event back down in Atlanta in a
neighbourhood, you know, you dida lot with Special Olympics back
in the day there. I think he's still might be
involved with it. I'm not sure.
But so he's doing a great job, you know.

(02:38):
I mean, you know, that little offseason last year, but then he
bounced back great this year andthey had a good chance game in
the bowl and, you know, I like what he's doing and.
Cause under the most difficult of circumstances as an
independent, you know, as of next year, there's only going to
be 2 Notre Dame and UConn, whichwe all know is one in a lifetime

(03:01):
on the gridiron against, againstNotre Dame.
So what I I think what Jim has done is even more exemplary in
what's become such a different era for college football.
I can't imagine how much NIL money you and de Janeiro would
have made back in the day. Yeah, yeah.
Especially with my nice flow andmullet back in the day, I think

(03:24):
I I would have picked up a lot of good sponsors.
There's some hair products and everything.
So no, yeah, I just, I just, I still cannot believe these kids
are getting paid. But hey, God bless them, you
know, they just, it's, it's crazy how much money they're
making to play college football,even though they get a full

(03:44):
scholarship, food, great training facilities and feet
pampered and who else knows withit?
But you know, that's how it goes.
Today's football, I think it's alittle different.
But you know, and how, you know,this whole transfer portal
thing, I, it's that kind of drives me crazy too.
You know, there's no penalty. Before I used to, you know,

(04:05):
switch schools, you had to sit out a whole year.
So. Oh yeah, but you know, unless
you went to a lower level of 1 double AI think then you could
play the following year. But you know, that was the risk
you'd take. But.
It is getting out of hand now. Yeah, yeah.
And you? When you came out of Fork Union,

(04:25):
what was it that attracted you to UConn in the first place?
Well, first, I think who first showed up, I think college did
the offensive coordinator. And that was kind of funny
because, you know, panning good looking, kind of like, what the
heck is the Yukon guy hidden back here in the woods stores?

(04:45):
And but now he just kind of camedown and, you know, spoke the
truth right away. And, you know, I was talking
with some other teams and, you know, here you are, you're, you
know, I was only still 17 years old at prep school.
So and, you know, you know, talking to these other teams,
they promised the world. And I'm just like, well, I just
want to sign a scholarship and go play some football.

(05:08):
And, you know, I think that was the biggest thing that college
said. He goes, you know, I want you,
you know, you got a scholarship at UConn anytime you want it.
So you just spoke, you know, it really, you know, felt great to
me, you know, so I was like, I kept, you know, trying to go to
bigger schools. And then I was like, you know
what, I'm done with this. I called them and said, I'm
coming. And then, you know, and I did

(05:28):
have a great visit, which is actually good stories too,
because a lot of the you know, Imy first toast was who I got
she. I wish I could remember his name
right now. He probably remembers.
But then I had facto, which was a beautiful thing And and then
we actually became great friendsthroughout college after that.

(05:48):
So, and but you know, the biggest then, even when I met
coach Jackson back in the day, he goes, you know, I don't want
you. I don't want you to come to
UConn. He goes, I want you to come
contribute to UConn and be, you know, so you know, he wasn't
even talking about even a red shirt the first year.
He wanted me to come play. And you know, I took that to
heart and, you know, busted my butt over the summer and came in

(06:10):
and was ready to play and, you know, prove myself.
I, you know, we used to have thejerseys back in the day of, you
know, I think the third string was gold and then you went to
green and then blue and you know, I, you know, you know, so
I worked as hard as I could and I think I was in a blue jersey
after week 1 or 1 1/2 of camp. So, you know, I pushed myself to

(06:32):
make an impact. And I didn't know you originally
are from Webster. You went to Webster?
You're from Rochester, NY. Yeah.
Oh yeah. You're right by me, I'm in, I'm
in Utica. So that was.
Right by you, but it's close. Two hours away. 2 hours, yeah.
Yeah. But yeah, it's, yeah, actually,

(06:53):
you know, so that's where, you know, where, you know, I knew of
Mark Chapman pretty good back inthe, you know, because we played
high school. Well, we never even really
played against each other in high school because he went to a
private school. But, you know, we actually
played Pop Warner together. And then, you know, kind of that
made another nice deal coming toUConn, too, back in the day,
because I knew he was there fromWebster.

(07:14):
And, you know, he's always, you know, talking about so good,
good little Pop Warner football player.
He was. He was the son of a gun.
They used to run this single eyeor whatever and they they would
shotgun snap to him and he wouldjust run.
That was about it. But you know, so that that that

(07:35):
was, you know, that was a good another factor, you know, coming
to your time too, because I knewhe was there and you know, so I
got to know him. You know, we were good friends
all through college, did some good Rd. trips on spring breaks
and stuff together. So.
Very important, Very important. Very good.
For and you played for one of the more interesting
personalities in UConn football,head coaching history and TJ.

(07:59):
Oh, yeah, no, he was a great yeah, yeah.
I had some good stories about him.
You know, my favorite was, Oh myGod.
So one of my roommates was Robbie Moons and you know, he'd
take a field goal kicker. So we come in and I think he
missed a field goal right beforehalf time.
And we're all, you know, coming in and we're sitting in that

(08:20):
little, our little third world little locker and sitting in
there and Oh my God, he got so missing.
Mosey, why am I feeding you? I I remember looking at it was

(08:42):
either Chapman or something and we're like, oh God, poor
Moonsie. Bob Yeah, that was some good
Yeah, he was. He was a good coach, actually,
especially, you know, those first couple years there.
We, you know, we had some serious talent on that team my
freshman year. You know, we had, you know, even
with Burrell and Troy Ashley at reinbacker and, you know, even,

(09:08):
God, I forget we had a great other receiver with Didio and
some other guys. They I mean, we should yeah.
I mean, the only game we really physically lost I think is I
think it was my first. Yeah.
It had to be my freshman year upin Maine.
I mean, that team was, that teamwas that team was actually NFL
already. That was the biggest offensive

(09:29):
line I think in college that year.
And I think they all averaged like 3:20.
And, and I remember even our, I think even like our D lineman, I
remember trying to tackle this. They had this quarterback, Mike
Buck. He actually ended up playing for
the Saints. Oh yeah, yeah.
And I think that sucker is about65240.

(09:50):
Yeah, he's huge for a quarterback.
And we even, even if we got it, could get breakthrough.
They couldn't even tackle the guy.
He was so damn big. It was like cold, you know, So
that's the only truly game that I think we couldn't, you know,
win in that. And Bob good, you know, very
good time. Awesome.
You played with maybe one of thethree best quarterbacks in UConn

(10:13):
history in de Janeiro. Yeah.
Can you talk about your chemistry with him?
It started pretty early. He threw a lot to me in camp,
you know, 'cause I was only a freshman with him and then it
was a sophomore year 2 that we lived it up pretty good.
But you know, he, he, I tell youwhy, smart kid, you know, you
knew that offense that we ran. Unbelievable.

(10:36):
Knew where to put the ball, who,who would be open and, and just
threw a beautiful ball. I remember it's just, you know,
could zip it in, could just float it in.
And yeah, he did it. He was good.
And I enjoyed playing with him. And you know, I always see him
on LinkedIn or something, sayingsomething political, but he's

(10:56):
awesome. And you played with Courtney
Benton, who? Who had touch, right?
I mean, that kid was a talent, 'cause you know, I, I mean, even
after playing, going through allthe camps, so you see every
quarterback coming through camp and you know, then even our

(11:17):
starters. But I mean, Courtney compared to
like probably has one of the strongest arms besides Zic that
I probably played with. Yeah.
I mean, yeah, I mean, he had a cannon and I remember shoot, I
remember we used to we used to go down and gamble when he was
getting ready to, you know, go do some try out stuff for, you

(11:39):
know, do those little camp show things for the NFL guys that
would come in and look at you. But so I used to go catch with
him and I mean he used to throw like, I mean, I'd be staying at
one end of the basketball court now.
Then I mean he would throw up. I mean, just an absolute bullet
all the way across that thing without I mean, I've been
there's no arc in it or whatever.
He could zip it so and he could actually run.

(12:00):
That's you know, I'm surprised he couldn't.
He didn't last longer and got a chance in the NFL because he had
the talent to do it. Yeah.
And you played at Webster, Did you play all the way through?
Did you start at varsity it likewhen you were a sophomore?
Yeah, only 11th and 12th grade, yeah, because they just play a

(12:23):
little bit of quarterback and itwas actually fun because my my
JV games, you know, 9th and 10thgrade was JV.
So actually my brother would like to be the coordinator so
for our JV team. So it was kind of fun.
So I got, you know, he was a clown.
So we got to, you know, do all that.
But no, once I get then once I went to varsity, I started

(12:44):
that's when I started playing tight end and because they
played quarterback the other twoyears and then I went started
playing tight end and it was yeah.
And then just kind of played some strong safety and then, you
know, I just got played pretty well and made some great catches
and cut in high school. So then, yeah, and then, but you

(13:05):
know, the biggest thing was up there, you know, we didn't
didn't really get recruited. And that's how I ended up at
Fork Unions. Yeah, yeah.
Is that? Valuable.
Was that prep year for you, Kaz?What year was that?
How valuable was the prep? Oh.
It was huge. I'll tell you what, you know, if
you're, if you're missing that opportunity after high school, I

(13:27):
would highly, you know, promote that to go to a prep school that
was, you know, you don't lose a year at college.
And it's kind of. Like, you know, I was only 17
when I graduated high school, so, you know, I was still even
17 when I still went to prep school the following year.

(13:47):
So, you know, God, it was crazy.I remember showing up and some
of these kids are freaking animals.
Like we had this kid that, you know, he signed with, was
signing with Clemson. His name was Ashley Shepherd,
outside linebacker. I'm looking at him.
I'm like, I'm like, what? You know, he's kind of got like
a little beard, but this guy's chiseled like in a Greek Adonis.
I'm like, and, you know, here I am.

(14:09):
I had to like, holy Christ, you know, he was ready for the NFL
when he was in high school. And yeah, I was like, man, you
know, So I had to block that kidevery day in practice.
And. But yeah, but it's just going
back to, you know, definitely doing that and what Coach
Schumann does out at 4th Union, I believe he's still there

(14:30):
because I talked to him a coupleyears ago, he was talking about
raising some money, but I never heard back from him or whatever.
So but he does, I mean, he does a phenomenal job.
I mean, and he just, yeah, I mean, talking about a mean
coach, he was it. But he got he got his word
across. So we've kind of all fell in the
line behind him and but it was definitely very competitive.

(14:53):
It gave me a great opportunity. You know you but even like those
years, you know, so we'd play a lot of the IT was almost like a
prep teams for these college teams like you know, we'd so
we'd play a lot. Of Army, Navy, their JV teams.
Yeah, yeah, all those. We even played like Virginia
Tech. So it was a bunch of guys and,
you know, I guess and then. And so it was yeah, it was, it

(15:15):
was, you know, fun. The next we played James
Madison, it was like, not really.
They're starters, but they wouldplay against this with some
other guys. So, I mean, it was great
football and it was a great chance to, you know, showcase
what you could do and. But back back then, prep school
wasn't as prevalent as it is today.

(15:35):
Who pushed you to go to prep school to for that actually?
Somehow my high school coach learned about that and he told
me, oh, you should, you know, look into this.
And then we did, you know, me and my dad and my brother, we
jumped in the car and drove downto Virginia and checked it out.

(15:56):
I'm like, oh, my God. And, you know, so back then, our
prep school was actually a military.
So. So we actually had to go in
there and you know, we and but we visited, but let me finish
that part of it. So we had to go visit, checked
it out, talked to Coach Jim and he goes, Oh yeah, come on, you
know, you gave me whatever, a little grant money.

(16:18):
You know, back in the day, I think it was 6 or 7 thousand
$8000 to go there. I think they gave me a little
grant money of a couple grand sowe could go there.
So it made it easier and said, all right, we're coming.
So, but going down there, I meantalking about a little town.
I. Think and you couldn't even
really leave our campus, you know, there was no so we stuck

(16:41):
there there. I think it was like the
population of five down there. You know, I think there was a
church up church up the street, a pizza shop and that was it.
And you know, so it's in a little remote area of Virginia,
but it was, you know, once you got there, it kind of was great
because there's nothing you could do.
You're basically in, it was likeyou're basically in prison.

(17:05):
And you know, you had to put waxon your floors before you went
to bed. Then you woke up and you, you
know, you put these up. You had these little rug things
and you scurried around your floor, buffing the floor with
them. And, you know, you had to make
your bed with the hospital for all that.
Oh. My.
God, Jesus, it was torture. So you know, it is oh God, you

(17:27):
know, and that's you know, so itmotivated you to get the heck
out of there. So and.
Did they look number of PGS 'cause I know some schools do
that now. I think they did, but I think
they got rid of the the I don't know.
I think the post grads at 14 andnow don't even have to wear the
uniforms like we did. I don't think.

(17:50):
I don't think they have to do the whole military type thing
like we did, You know, where we were waking up in the morning,
going to grazing the flag and then we'd go out to class and
everything. You know, you had to salute and
do all that. That was another thing.
Walking through the things once in a while to the mess halls you
walk by an officer, you'd have to salute them and I'll, it was

(18:10):
like, wow, you know? Little.
Kids from Webster, NY here. I'm saluting little kids that
are younger than I was and it's like wow.
It definitely must have preparedyou as a freshman going to UConn
because you had an incredible freshman year and you were one

(18:32):
of the few that actually lettered as a freshman.
Yeah, I know they still say I didn't start that first game,
but I know I was on the field the first snap of that game in
my freshman year. So not sure where they came up
with that, but yeah, no, it was a great first year of, you know,
learning. You know, the only bad thing
was, you know, that's actually where, I mean, Belks became

(18:56):
pretty good friends back in the day.
You know, I think it was what I think it was our third game.
It was actually before the game where we were playing under the
lights against, I think, New Hampshire.
First night game, Everett Memorial.
Yeah, and they. Had to wheel the lights in.
Yeah. And it was supposed to be the

(19:17):
yeah, it was supposed to be on ESPN or something, but I don't,
I don't think it. Was the SMU game.
Yeah, yeah. So I went from that, but that's
like right when my my dad passedaway like the week before that
night game. So, you know, I we got home from
that one game, I had to fly home.
I think I was gone Monday. I came back or maybe threw it,

(19:41):
flew out Sunday and then came back Monday night and then
started, you know, and then practiced the rest of the week
and well, never forget old beltscoming over my locker and goes,
Oh my God, it goes, you know, sosorry to hear about your dad.
And, you know, and then, you know, it started our
relationship from there on, you know, you kind of always said

(20:01):
good things to me. And, you know, we started a good
friendship from there on out. You and Katie might have been,
and I'm not doing this to blow smoke, but haven't watched the
program for 50 years. You and Didio might have been
the best wide out tight end combination in school history.

(20:21):
You your names are still littered at the top of the
record book for it would be important receiving categories.
What is it like for you guys to play with a guy like Didio who
drew so much attention? This was great.
I mean, if you look at Ted's, you know, he's not creating big
in stature, but well, he ran, heran great routes, knew how to

(20:44):
get open, super smart kid, you know, and he was actually faster
than I think these kids took himfor.
So it kind of worked out great for him and just fun.
You know, he you know, he playedquarterback I think through all
high school, but he had great hands.
I mean, I don't think I ever think I saw him drop a ball even
in practice all the way through,you know, the years I played

(21:06):
with them and you made it, you know, you definitely, you know,
spread the field and you know that I, I just think it was that
we had a great offense too. And you know, I, I mean, it was
a great offense. I think even I still think about
it of how we used to run things and, and it made the
quarterbacks eyes kind of go to one side.
You know, we kind of flooded zones and it it made it, you

(21:29):
know, easy. Not that art, not that de
Janeiro wasn't a great quarterback, but, you know, put
out every, all the emphasis on, you know, high, low, middle.
And it it worked great, you know, and you had some great
things. But vids was, you know, he was
spectacular. And, you know, he deserves all
the things he got. And then he got a chance to go
into over to Pittsburgh. So.
Yeah. And you know.

(21:51):
Right about the offense. I mean, you always, you know,
back in that day, it kind of started the Yukon tradition
which followed through and, and it's still a part of it today of
always having a couple of great running backs.
You had Kevin Wesley, who was sogood, then Eddie Long came in,
then Wilbur and and it really, it really started the tradition

(22:13):
of having two great running backs at UConn.
Yeah, I know. I mean, Kevin Wesley was a
beast. I think he came in for, I think
from little, some junior collegeor something.
Like man, he was built and he could run and.
He was a rock, wasn't? He, he was an animal.
And I mean, that really helped us out.

(22:35):
And, you know, then from there, then, you know, Eddie came in.
He was from Rochester, NY, too. And he had.
Yeah. So he had, he was built the same
way. He had just some big old legs on
him. And he could.
But he had some speed. You know, I remember him
breaking a lot of big runs and he was, you know, he was a

(22:55):
pretty talented kid. And you started, I mean you, you
started 4343 straight games. You started from the freshman
year on and you had a great yearas a freshman, which I mean it,
it had to have been a little bitof an adjustment.
But 43 catches, 523 yards and a touchdown.

(23:20):
I mean, we don't, we don't get those numbers from our tight
ends today. I mean you, you must have earned
the trust of coaching the quarterback very fast.
Yeah, well, I mean, I think, youknow, just coming in, like I
said, I always had a little chipon my shoulder thinking I was
like, you know, I should have better chances and, you know,

(23:41):
and things and, you know, so I worked as hard as I could, you
know, I mean, even as a kid standing in front yard with my
brothers and I would, he would throw it in my left side.
I'd catch them one handed to theleft and then to the right.
And I used to do tons of drills just with my brothers when I was
growing up. Just, you know, I always took it
serious, you know, and, and justwanted to always get better and

(24:04):
better. And then we, you know, we're
going to college, you know, I worked hard, you know, then
really just trying to get bigger, faster, stronger always.
So I always trained hard and youknow, and just kept going from
there. And so I think these and you
know, those guys just kind of trust me to catch the ball.
So and they did. And you know, I was even like I
said that first night and I think I was my first touchdown

(24:26):
in that lights game. My dad must have been looking
down on me or something because I was in the back of the end
zone or something and they were actually threw it to someone
else. The ball got tipped and I dove,
caught 1 and got my first touchdown and they came.
So you know, it was kind of a little prayer for my guess my
suddenly my dad sent me down a little present or something.
So it was pretty good. Wow, that is.

(24:49):
That's awesome. And you also, you know, the, the
other thing about your error cause was you had some great
defensive players. You had Troy, you had Mike
Coleman, you had Reppy and Chapman who was an awesome punt
returner, you know, Rembish and,and as you mentioned,
Bellacourt, Paul Duckworth, who was terrific.

(25:09):
I mean, that was a that, that, that, that, that was a pretty
good era for UConn football. It kind of set the stage for the
mid 90s with Skip and finally going to the One AA playoffs and
then obviously when Randy came in and took over the FBS era.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, No, I mean, shoot, I think
it was some of the talent we hadon the team like that Troy

(25:32):
Ashley was just a he was a phenom linebacker.
He was mean. He remind me of it, you know,
so, you know, playing it with Atlanta, he was just like Jesse
Tuggle was down there and I meanhe could hit.
Oh my God, I'm I forget who we were playing.
I think it was one of the last games of the year we're playing
in Rhode Island. Oh, he took this kid was running

(25:55):
down the sideline. He clothes line that kid, I mean
just knocked this kid. I mean the first thing that hit
was almost the top of his head, you know, coming home man, it
was a hit and I mean I think they actually threw a flag, but
it was still a phenomenal hit. I mean.
It was. It was worth it.
It put the fear of God in his inthe case.

(26:16):
Oh God, yeah, that good Bryce still talks about today like I
don't even know how I'm alive. But no, but no, we that I mean,
our defence talent was pretty good, you know, and you know,
chap, you know, especially Chapman, he started off, you
know, as a receiver. And I think, I think it was
when, I can't remember the 1D coordinator came in from maybe

(26:40):
he was like Maryland guy. Was it Greg?
Williams. Was it the way?
Yeah. I think it was.
And you know, he really got, he pushed those guys, you know, he
made those DBS. They had to be a certain weight
and, you know, they would get, Iforgot what they had to do.
Like, you know, like they had tomake their certain way because
you want them to be able to run and, you know, push Chapman

(27:01):
really pretty hard. And and Chappie made some great.
You know, he was a ball hawk back there because, you know, I
always think that's a great way to, you know, ADB can learn.
I think they should all start out of as receivers.
You know, Chappie could do everything.
He was a different animal, but you know, knowing where that you
know, the the routes and you know, and finding the ball and

(27:23):
being able to pick it up. But then, you know, he would
make, you know, you'd think he was the receiver on a lot of the
plays where he was intercepting the ball.
So you know, that one, there's acouple years playing safety.
So I mean, he was he was a phenom and you know, he was
super fast and and you'd never know it.
That's why he was the punt returner, kick returner.
So, you know, I mean, he's enjoyed watching him.

(27:47):
And I also saw that you were part of the receiving group that
actually set a school record formost receptions by three
different receivers. In 1991, you had 207 receptions.
And that, that's just amazing tome.
So it's still that's and you had.

(28:09):
You had 10 catches as a sophomore against Villanova.
I mean, that was that was must have been an incredible game for
you. Yeah, I know that was a good
one, especially I still, you know, because a good friend of
mine who played at the owner over he played after I was
there, but you know, Finner and who played at the Falcons.

(28:30):
So you know, he's always like, oh, I owned UConn and all this.
I go, well, you didn't play us when we were there and I'm like,
well, I, I think I kind of ownedyou guys because I think I had a
game of 10 catches and stuff again.
So. So.
Yeah. So.
No, go ahead, 'cause I'm sorry. No, no, no.
It was that. And so, you know, so we always
battle back and forth, but it's pretty funny.

(28:51):
He had a good long pro career. What did it to you?
To have an to have a football award named after you, The Brian
Kozlowski Award for for toughness and grit and
determination. Your hard work.
You left your mark on the program.
Well, it means a lot, you know, it shows me what I, you know,

(29:11):
did you know, I, like I said, I,I always trained as hard as I
could and took football serious,You know, even my buddies I grew
up with, you know, I still go ongolf trips and they're always
like, I remember 'cause he'd be like, go always to the gym.
They were leaving early, He would stay in there.
And I used, you know, so you know, I took at the heart of

(29:32):
always training and I, you know,and that was probably one of the
best things. You know, when I meeting
Belcour, 'cause he was such a hard worker.
And, you know, we kind of workedout hard.
And, you know, and Coach Martin used to, he used to get after
us. He, I think he used to have fun
with us 'cause he, he, he would make us do anything we could do

(29:52):
and, and we would just keep coming and we'd be like, is that
all you got, coach? Wow, he.
Really, he was just say. To Jerry, that would have been
tough to say. To Jerry Martin he was.
Yeah, he was a son of a gun. So he was, I mean working under
him. I mean, God, he so I mean, and

(30:13):
he used to look at me in Belcourand he'd be like, he'd almost
give up on us 'cause he'd be like he goes, I can't get him
you. Guys can't get you guys.
Because he goes you 2 are animals and you know, so and so.
But yeah, I I love the old coachMartin.
I mean he was the son of a gun. But you know, if you worked hard
for him, it it paid back in dividends and great guy.

(30:37):
I can still can't believe you passed away, but you know, but
y'all help. My favorite story about him is
he he's having a kid. I remember and his kids just
started to walk. It's like, yeah, guys, I was
thinking about, you know, you know, those little things you
pulled around, they had the little pop things in there and
they kind of popped down in the little globe thing that when you

(30:58):
pulled, it goes up. So he goes, I think I'm going to
take the ball things out of there and put sand in there so
it's heavier for him to pull. I look at him, I go, you are out
of your mind. I'm going to let the.
That's so funny. That's classic.

(31:18):
So what do you think of your oldNFL team playing in the
conference championship game this weekend?
Oh my God, I still can't get over, I call him the Redskins
still. I can't get over this committee
thing. But, you know, you know, 'cause
I always just remembered Joe wassuch a big Redskin guy and he's
going, you know, and that's all we heard for four years while I
played for him was, you know, wedo it the Redskin way, you know?

(31:43):
So Jake Joe was always the biggest proponent of being a
Redskin, but these guys are playing.
I I mean, I can't get over this quarterback how poised this kid
is. And he's just, I mean,
unbelievable. I mean, nothing's phasing this
kid. And you know, they come at him.
Nothing, you know, he still makes plays.
He makes running play. It's it's going to be a good

(32:05):
game. I think, you know, especially I
mean, it will be tough. I mean that Barkley holy.
I mean come home. He's now.
Did you did When did you start having aspirations to play in
the NFL? Was it after your junior year?
And then because UConn wasn't like it is today where they

(32:28):
would get a lot of coaches to come to a pro day?
Did you have a pro day or did you have to go to other pro
days? I think it was actually just my,
I mean, I always wanted to do itand that's why I think I pushed
myself so hard and not not only during football season, but from
the second we were done, I neverquit training and always pushed

(32:49):
myself, you know, always, you know, as hard as I could and you
know, and so, I mean, I think itreally came.
I think, 'cause who do we play? Maybe our sophomore year, I
think we went down and maybe played North Carolina that year.
And I think I said, I think I had, I might have had 9 or 10
catches against the, it's 8 or 9or catches against them or

(33:11):
forget. But when I blocked them really
well. And I'm like, wait a second,
these guys are 1A football and you know, and I know some, you
know, some big names. So it kind of all started
popping in there. I'm like this, I can, you know,
I kind of knew I could compete against anyone, you know, 'cause
I knew it. So I think it's really when all
it started and just just always had a good mindset of, you know,

(33:35):
I always just felt like, you know, I, I because it's hard
working and I, yeah, football ismore about your heart I think
then whatever you do. But when you put hard work into
it and, you know, football players all about heart, you
know, I think even if he has bellcore and that's where he
came, you know, that guy's got the biggest heart and tried so
hard. That's why he could compete so

(33:56):
well 'cause you never, he never stop trying, you know, there's
no time to give up. And I think that's the biggest
thing of playing football. There's, you know, you can be
down and you know, you just got to keep going.
And I think, you know, and having that hard is what what
drives a football player. And you can see that and you
know, you can be all world and in college and all that and make

(34:19):
it to the NFL. And boy, but you know, you're
competing against that and you get to the NFL and you can see
who's got it and who doesn't, you know?
And. Where are.
You coming? Was it 92?
What's that? What was your last year at UConn
90? Two yeah. 92, yeah.
So here's here's 6° of separation.
My first game on the radio was the UNH loss.

(34:43):
Remember that That was disastrous.
Yes, losing to a. Division through school.
Yeah, yeah. Unfortunately, I think that was
the beginning of the end for TJ.I believe you're right.
Way way to bring up good times there buddy.
Well, I'm just, I mean, I'm talking about from my
standpoint, you know? No it.

(35:07):
Was before 18 but I remember that like it was yesterday.
I remember walking out of the booth thinking holy shit I hope
people don't think it's the new radio guy who caused this.
Yeah, no, shoot. We just, I, I don't know what
happened there. We just played like.
Well, add Mark as a coach and hewas pretty creative.

(35:28):
Yeah, he was. I think that's what kind of got
us. They kind of, they schemes
pretty good. They had some, you know, they
had some decent players too, I think.
Yeah, they had a pretty good quarterback.
I think they actually, you know,that it wasn't like they're a
horrible program and they but yeah, that was that was not good
losing to them. Yeah, that's kind of like, you

(35:49):
know, it's like Notre Dame losing to whoever this that,
what was it, northern Idaho or whatever.
They Northern Illinois? Yeah, Northern.
Illinois, whatever. Yeah.
So it's one of those gigs, but you know, they bounced back
pretty good and. Pretty good.
What was your experience when you came in and you were with
the Giants and coming in as an unrestricted free agent, I mean

(36:13):
as a rookie, because that's that's got to be a tough
experience. It was a tough experience, but
you know, I was, you know, I came in there from, you know, is
this something that was, I don'tknow, I just kind of came in and
I'm like I I, you know, I felt like I belong, you know, and
even like, so I actually didn't even have I wasn't even really a

(36:36):
free agent yet. I wasn't even like signed.
I went. It was almost like a free agent
camp. So they brought.
In. So I showed up with all the
draft picks and then all the free agents there sign.
I was just kind of there as a favour or something.
Oh, you were on contract. I got you.
I wasn't. On no, I wasn't even that shoot,
I was just basically, I went there and practiced with them

(36:59):
and those create in the you know, while all the rookies were
there, but everyone was there because everyone came in.
But you know, I, you know, I kind of understood the offense
pretty quick on what what we were doing, what Coach Reeves
was doing. I was making up playing tight
end and just was catching the, you know, caught all my caught
all the passes that were throwing to me and just played

(37:19):
hard. And you know, you know, you were
back down. We were.
We didn't even wear those shellfings then.
No. And so it's just, you know, so
you didn't really get a chance to really show you could do
blocking and stuff, but had somegood routes.
And that was actually when Phil Simms was that.
Was last year M and Lt. right? Yeah.

(37:40):
So it's just, you know, proved myself and then I think it was
like the second day of that camp, I had to go up and see
George Young up in his office and he goes, Ryan, we're
offering you. I think I actually signed like a
two year contract or something, which is, you know, which is
pennies compared to these even the college players are getting

(38:01):
now, you know, so and and no so I went up in Georgia.
He goes, OK, Brian, we're offering you this deal and he's
all right, all right, get back down on the field.
So. That was it.
I, I think they gave me 3 grand or something and, and then

(38:21):
signed the contract and then went down and finished practice.
I think that, you know, and thenI think we had a three day deal
or whatever where everyone firstcame in and I came a giant after
that and then just kind of went to camp and got ready and you
know, gosh, you know, I just I forget battling, battling,
battling. I fought, I mean, holy crap,

(38:42):
fights and every practical, you know, once we put pets, I
thought I was fighting everyone just trying to prove myself.
And that's, you know, I think Coach Reeves and, you know, you
know, too bad he passed away last couple years ago.
But but he believed in me and that's what kept me going.

(39:02):
And he always gave me opportunities.
So it's always meant a lot to me.
But yeah, that's that's how we started and and.
You had, you had Sims, you had Dave Brown, Kent Graham and
Danny Canal, right? Those were the quarterbacks when
you played there. Yeah, we probably, I think even

(39:23):
Maddox came in a little bit. Yeah.
Tommy Maddox. Yeah.
Yeah, I think that was the main ones that were on the field.
Yeah, not you know, but yeah, westruggled.
I mean, we, you. Know and then Fossil came in.
Yep. Then Fossil came in.
That's when I went to Atlanta with Dan, you know, and then
it's when we, you know, we actually had, we had some good

(39:45):
talent down there. We even our first year, we
started off a little slow, but we ended up finishing the season
at like 7:00 and 9:00. And then obviously the next year
we went fourteen and two to the Super Bowl, but.
Jamal Anderson. Talking about a talent holy
snakes, that kid was phenomenal.I mean good a hard running.

(40:09):
I mean, even in today's game he would, I mean, plus he could, he
had hands like a receiver. And so he was, he was
phenomenal. And you know, we had some good
talent down there and mostly, you know, a lot of good defense
and they brought in some guys. And but, you know, I just, I can

(40:29):
never, you know, Coach Reeves isstill one of my favorite guys
ever 'cause you know how much hebelieved in me and what he gave
gave me the opportunity to do. What was the experience like to
play in a Super Bowl? Wow, there's nothing better you
know you feel bad at. You'd love every player to get a
chance to get into that. You know, just the whole, you

(40:53):
know, especially when you get that week off in between and you
just get to relish all this stuff before you get to, you
know, the fans are going crazy and you know, just getting a
chance to mend the the hype of it all going down there the week
before. Media day.
Which I missed. You miss media day.

(41:18):
I thought that, you know, because I hear people talking,
they're all like, Oh yeah, Chandler, all you guys, you guys
are sorry. So, yeah, so we're all supposed
to go down in this little cafeteria thing in our hotel
down in Miami there. And so I was up in the training

(41:39):
room. I actually had AI had a high
ankle sprain that I played with that all at the end of the year
and I was getting some treatmentdone.
I'm like, well, shit, I don't have to go to that.
I think they're just talking to Chandler and Jamal and Cornelius
Bennett and all the big, you know, all the big name guys and
like rave, you can't. So I didn't show up.
Something goes, where the hell were you?

(42:04):
I go, I go. I was up in the training room
and, you know, everyone had their own table and in this
little cafeteria thing, you knowmine and but I guess my mind
empty, I'm not there. He goes, you know, that's like a
$10,000 fine. I go, what?
I go I didn't even know about because I tell I'm like, yeah,

(42:29):
so you know, I did the one at the stadium when we were there
after practice. But that one I missed that was
supposed to be. He was like, my God, it's like a
10. I'm like, oh God, please don't
find me. I had no clue.
So he just kind of laughed and was shakes his head at me.
He's like, you're unbelievable. So he really wasn't your
favorite coach and he he believed in you all the time.

(42:50):
Yeah. And you know, you, you know, he
always, you know, even, you know, I spoke to even his, you
know, his son-in-law, Joe D Camillus, that I think he's
coaching at South Carolina. Wow, he he was the special teams
coordinator. Right.
So yeah, he was our special teams coordinator.
So I had Joe from the Giants, then he can't, you know, that

(43:12):
was his first gig, a special teams coordinator with the Giant
State. And then he went to the Atlanta
with me and with Dan. And then, you know, then he
bounced around. I think he went to Jacksonville,
then Dallas, then he was at the Rams for two years.
I think out here you got the, I think he was on the Super Bowl
squad here and because that was his first year here.

(43:37):
And then he went to Texas and now he's, I think he's at South
Carolina with Beamer's kid. There.
Wow. OK, wow.
Then so so I always used, you know, we always had a great
relationship because you know, he always, you know, like he
respected what I because I played special teams pretty hard
for him. So we always had a good
relationship. And then, you know, he always
said that, you know, he always told me that Danny, he always

(43:58):
said I was his favorite player of all time.
So I was like, that means a lot.So not in a talent wise
probably, but you know, just overall hard working and gave it
all for him. What would you say your favorite
organization was to play for between the three?

(44:18):
I enjoyed Atlanta the most. I think we I think where we
where the whole deal was, was, you know, everyone was in such a
tight little area that, you know, we lived close together
and just a group of guys we had down there of the coaches and
mostly the players. I mean, our team, like Chandler
bought this huge house and this Country Club.

(44:41):
And I mean, we would go over there, you know, during the
season every Monday night. And I mean there would be 3035
guys, he'd order barbecue and wewould just hang out here, you
know, a little tap down in therein a nice little bar.
And so we all sit in the bait. We watch the Monday night game.
And it was just a close knit group.

(45:02):
And I think that's why we did sowell down there, you know, to
get to the Super Bowl and that obviously, you know, the year
after that, I think the the Smith family that owned it kind
of broke it down, you know, because they were trying to sell
the team then. And so we didn't sign back a lot
of the players and we kind of didn't have the talent we had
the year, you know, going to theSuper Bowl.

(45:23):
And so shoot, I think we went fourteen and two, then 3 and 13.
So they kind of showed you but. And and Jamal had to retire,
right? Because of.
The next year he held out and then it, you know, then I think
the first game back against Dallas is when he hurt his knee.
That's what it was, a big knee injury, yeah.
Trying trying to recoup from that and just never really got

(45:45):
to the same level. I think he was there for another
year and then you know, you know, back then shooting, you
know, the contracts were weren'tdear what they're getting now,
you know, shoot you guys are youguys are making in one year of
that big contracts were five years back in the day, you know
so. No.

(46:05):
And that's what that's, I'm afraid, like the way college
football going is going right now with the television revenue
and NIL money, these teams are going to have money that is
relevant to like what the NFL salary cap used to be.
Yeah, and that's the problem toowith the whole thing.
There's no they need a salary cap on the nil.

(46:27):
Yeah, yeah, I think so too. Oh, no question.
I think there should be something that, you know, you
can only have so much money going into the one program
because otherwise this is, you know, you're just building super
teams with some of these, you know, I mean, look at the what
did the SMU do there? They.
Weren't they're 100 million? Dollars, Yeah.

(46:50):
And you know here. They are and they make the first
college playoffs. So it's, you know, you get teams
like that. I mean, think about it, I mean,
the people that go to SMUI mean you're talking big, big money
and things like that. So, you know, you kind of got
some money, but we don't have oil money basically.
So it's not. And then but you know, then even

(47:12):
like, you know, I just think it's tough.
It's to compete in this new college football era going on.
I mean, I wish. I think that's what they really
need to rein in and maybe they would.
I'm sure they they got to do it.Something's good work, Joe said
that, Joe said. Something's going to have to
happen that's catastrophic, that's going to finally make

(47:37):
them see the errors of their ways, and then it'll change.
Well, it's got to be more legislation.
I, I, I, I think you can't have or else you're just going to
have super teams. You know, you're going to have
college football teams that are going to be one of the Dodgers
in making a good club now and then you know you're going to

(47:58):
have other teams that just, it'snot going to be able to compete
at that level. Yeah, it's, yeah, yeah.
It's got to be more fair than that, where you can do something
to make, you know, some of theseteams can't be competitive
'cause, you know, all you're, you know, 'cause especially with
the transfer portal. So it's like, hey, you know,
even here's, you know, my buddy's a, you know, huge

(48:20):
Georgia alumni gives a lot of money and knows, you know, Kirby
pretty good down there. So he goes to a lot of the
dinners that they have and he supports the team huge and you
know, he's made a bunch of money.
So he's actually given a lot of money to this stuff.
And, you know, perfect guy. So player I played with was Gary
Downs. He was talking, you know.

(48:41):
I remember Gary Downs, South Carolina.
Yeah, so Downs his kid now was you know #2 on defence for Ohio
State there that safety, you know, all American, a Rook, you
know, he was all Mr. Georgia before he went to college and he
went to Alabama was all American.
Then he transferred, you know, he was going to Georgia.

(49:02):
Wow, you know, going going to Georgia.
And I think actually while he was there at Georgia, Ohio State
called him and said hey, what are they offering you?
And then they offered like another He went up the Ohio
State and just won a national championship.
So it's like, you know, boom, boom.
You know, losing players like that just because you can't give

(49:22):
them the money that you want. And so it's that's a tough
business right there. Yeah, I see why old Sabin
couldn't help. Yeah, I was like, I do the same
you. Know I agree.
What would you attribute becauseI always wondered this, your

(49:45):
longevity in the NFL to because I mean the average career is
under three years and you playedfor a very long time.
Why do you think I mean was it your training?
Was it your mentality? What do you think attributed to
it? Well, I was always, I think a
lot of it came to the training. You know, I shoot.

(50:06):
I never took time off. Like the second high season was
over, one week of a little bit of travelling.
I'm going to see family about, you know, and then I was right
back in the weight room and preparing.
And then I think, I don't know, I was, I guess I was just
blessed with good ligaments or something 'cause I never heard
anything. You know, I had some sprains and
this stuff, but you know, I never missed a shoot.

(50:29):
I so I never missed a practice from Pop Warner through high
school, through college and through the NFL.
Not one practice. Not one practice.
So I was, I think that was the biggest, you know, always being
able to be ready and ready to play.
And I think that was the biggestthing that really, you know,

(50:51):
just being blast or whatever, however you want to put it, but
just being able to never you're really getting hurt.
Seriously. You know, the one time I would
have missed something, it was the last game of the Super Bowl.
My foot, you know, broke but I still played the rest of the
game on it so but that was that was just the biggest thing.
I was just working hard and y'all see them being ready and

(51:13):
and having a good fortune of notgetting any major injuries.
Right. And no, you're, I was just going
to say like after football because a lot of guys struggle
making that transition. What did you get into when you
retired from football and and moved on?

(51:34):
Actually, it was a cool little deal we did back in the day.
So when I finished up my, you know, I was great friends with
Chris Cooley, who was on the Redskins with me and him and his
brother, they created one of themost watched podcast or where'd
they go? No blogs.
So he did the, you know, it was one of the most red blogs.
So they would come up with this stuff and make this, you know,

(51:58):
they were just talented and creative kids, you know, because
and so they had this blog that was like the most watched blog
or red blog or however those things were.
And so his brother got met up with this guy that was coming
out with this. So we started a, he was doing a,

(52:20):
it was going to be a social media website for athletes.
It was going to be first it was called Mouthpiece sports.
That sounds crazy. Then it became sports buzz.
And So what it was was a basically you had a, you had a
Twitter page and a Facebook pagebasically all together on one
thing. So we gave that each athlete a

(52:44):
page. So, but everything linked
together, it was kind of cool. So the whole thing was to pay
these athletes to put out content.
And so I kind of got hooked up with them.
And then my job was basically togo out and recruit players and
the guys I played with. And it was, you know, it's
pretty fun because we got to go,you know, I was basically just
go talk to all the guys I playedwith.

(53:06):
And and you know, that's what right when Twitter kind of
started, but our whole thing waskind of awesome what we did.
So we would have it, we call them buzzes instead of tweets
and which is actually, I still can't believe no one's come up
with this thing since then. And if this come, if we kept
going. But so when we sent out a buzz,

(53:30):
it actually linked into their Twitter.
Twitter. Page and it was.
Linked it together so actually it would so I'd go to Twitter,
but on the bottom we would say sports buzz on, you know, so
kind of showed where he came from.
So it helped us get content going and shoot we have we have
you know, but when we finished it the the problem was the guy

(53:51):
that we was kind of finding it all.
I think his wife kind of got sick or something.
He was a little older gentleman,about 70 something, but I think
his wife got some cancer and youknow, he's just like, you know,
So we ended up shutting the pagedown, but we did it for two
years and we were pretty successful.
I think we ended up having about108.
You know, we even had Kevin Durant on it back in the.

(54:13):
Day. Oh my God.
Wow, yeah. And so we were rolling along,
but I put all the guys on there and then the biggest thing we
would do too is help help them, help them create content.
So we'd go out and video maybe like a charity event they were
at and how they were interactingwith the, you know, just the
people at the charity events anddoing things and whatever they

(54:36):
wanted to do, we would help them.
And you know, and it was actually, it was driving their
numbers way up. And so we had some guys that,
you know, we, we try to really go locate the guys that had
already a big following, a couple 100,000 people or
whatever. So, and then we get them on our
page and that would really boostour deal.
So it was close. It was a close little gig.

(54:57):
So we did that for two years andthen then I just did some other
things and I got into some. We had to move up to
Connecticut, my wife's mom and then timer.
So we were up there from 2010 to2014.
And then I started working at Buddy's motorcycle shop down in

(55:19):
Waterford there and kind of did some sales, but he let me kind
of run a different run my own kind of thing through the thing
that like I'd go out and buy motorcycles and we'd sell them
through the shop and kind of just split the profits on them
all and everything like that. And because I used to love that
stuff growing up with snowmobiles and you know, things

(55:40):
like that and four Wheelers and more.
So that's what I did up there for a while.
Then I then I moved out. So I've been kind of working,
doing my thing for the last couple years and now, but shoot,
I can't believe I've been out and I'm California now for
almost 11 years ago. And but we are, yeah, hopefully
looking to move here in September, maybe down to

(56:01):
Florida. I think I'm getting some.
OK. So that's a great.
Idea the what you were doing with the athletes.
Would the athletes pay for that?Would they pay for that?
No, no, no, no. We, no, we would set it up for
them. We were trying to get it to the
point where we could get the revenue going and that we are
going to pay these athletes for their for their content.

(56:24):
And so, so it would have been chance for them to make some
money doing this stuff instead of, you know, you know, now you
see, shoot, now we would have, you know, once the TikTok came
along, that would have been incorporated into that whole
bunch and it could all went through the one page.
And it was, you know, we tried to actually go a couple of guys

(56:45):
and I worked with another guy, his name was Paul Oregon.
And he was kind of our attorney and did the legal side of it.
And we did, we travelled a lot together to go talk to the
athletes because he'd have to have the contracts with them.
And so they would kind of join us.
But it was, it was it was fun. And, you know, I had a lot of
good times with that. Joe, isn't that what Mark

(57:07):
Demilio does? Does he work with the guys on
the social media side with trying to brand, get branding
and sponsorship? Is that all?
On himself, On his own. Oh, he does it on his own, OK.
Hey, I got a scoot I. Got a scoot?
Great to hear from you man. Even though you're.

(57:28):
In a tiny little square on my phone, I can't see a Pretty
Little face. I know, I know that.
Stay. Stay well, Steve.
I'll talk to you Wednesday. Thank you, John.
Appreciate you. I appreciate you.
I'll I'll, I'll finish up with you.
I just have to say thank you to Dynamic Human Performance.
It's a gym owned by Andre Dixon.We will have an ad for them as

(57:54):
well coming out. And we also have Julius
Williams. He runs the Trench Mob in
Georgia. They have their first camp
February 23rd in Miami. You will hear from him as well
and the National C Club is what we're trying to promote Brian.

(58:16):
Right now. Kevin Freeman is running the
National C Club and we're tryingto get people to join.
Basically, we're pairing alumni with graduating student athletes
to try to help them get started,whether it's with career advice,
guidance, helping them with the resume, helping them with job

(58:40):
interviews, helping them get a job.
We want to try to, to have a system in place where our
athletes graduate and you know, they'll have an easier time
finding a job or a place to go. It's kind of like some of the
Ivy League schools do where theythey just set you up and Kevin's

(59:00):
been running the C Club and growing it over the last couple
years. We're working to build it as
well. And we also are working to try
to get Yukon alumni to do business with Yukon alumni so
everyone can make money and keepit in the family.
That's the biggest thing becauseMike, Mike Burton's done an

(59:21):
incredible job with Store Central in our NIL collective
and raising money. We just have to get more people
involved and that's what we're trying to do.
We're trying to hold more events.
So I am working with the the C Club to try to get people signed
up connected. And obviously I've been able to

(59:46):
connect people to make to do business together so they make
money. That's, that's kind of where
we're at because like you said, the, the model isn't sustainable
for UConn as an independent. We need to get into a
conference. We need that television revenue.
We need to raise more money to be able to compete.

(01:00:06):
Now we, we went nine and four, but I mean, like we, we played a
schedule, the teams we could compete against before, you
know, we were playing like Clemson, Tennessee and those
type of schools, you know, because we needed the money and
we need the payday and we in Michigan and we we'd get smoked.

(01:00:27):
So now that you know, they've scaled back and they're playing
schools that were competitive against and it was our first
nine win season since 2003. So and, and next year it's a
similar schedule. I'd love to see us like be able
to go out and beat we we played Syracuse tough.
I was at that game. I think we I think we can beat

(01:00:49):
Syracuse. I'd love to see us beat
Syracuse. I'd love to see us beat Duke and
have some of those signature wins because we were this close
to going to the Big 12 before the before the Maryland game
happened. It's, it's amazing that we can't
get in there. I I, I still don't understand
why we're not in the ACC. Yeah, well.

(01:01:11):
It's because of Boston College. I don't understand what the what
their problem. I don't understand that one
iota. It's just like, why wouldn't you
want a school? It's like it makes sense.
You're actually, I feel and it goes that would be the only one
that makes no sense to them. These schools are, you know, way
over here and there, you know, Imean, or even like you got now
you got California schools in the big town.

(01:01:33):
I know, I know, it's crazy and Iwish.
They could do something like that.
It's like, 'cause the ACC is theperfect, you got the basketball,
you got the football and it, it would be, you know, especially
now it's, you know, it'd just bethe, I think it's a perfect
conference for him. And I don't understand what
Boston College has such. I mean, I've heard that forever

(01:01:54):
about that. Well, we, we, we sued Boston
College when they left the Big East early in 2007, I think it
was. And they've kind of held a
grudge against this ever since and have blocked us trying to go
into there. But I, I know the Big 12 does

(01:02:15):
want us. I know the ACC does want us.
The other issue is all the basketball fans don't want us to
leave the Big East. They love the big they want us
to be in the Big East. So they, you know, they want to
stay in the Big East for basketball and just play
football in the other sports, inthe other in another conference

(01:02:39):
and that's never going to work. The attraction is is basketball
too. So it has to come with a
complete package. So the next two years are really
pivotal and it's going to be interesting to see how how it
plays out because I think as long as we have a good season
next year, we can't stay an independent and we can't be like

(01:03:00):
UMass and go join the Mac or go or go join the Sunbelt.
Like we got to join a Power 4, Power 5 school and get the
revenue so we can compete every year because it it's so
difficult to go out and you haveto raise this money every year

(01:03:20):
because most of the NIL contracts are year to year.
They don't put them on like two or three-year NIL deals.
It's a one year deal because theteams that got in trouble, like
I don't know if you saw UNLV, their quarterback quit after the
first three games because he wasn't getting paid even close

(01:03:42):
to what he was being told he wasgoing to get paid.
And I, I think that I think they're just, they're offering
them money that they don't have.We'll say, oh, we'll pay you
$1,000,000 a year, but you know,we haven't raised $1,000,000
yet. Now we have to do it.
We have to get it done. Hey, show up.

(01:04:02):
We got some money for you. Oh, you know what?
Our piggy bank's empty. Sorry.
Yeah, that would that that doesn't work.
Well, you know, and then shoot, then you're going to only get in
trouble, probably getting sued by these kids and it's going to
cost you more. Money.
It is, yeah. There's been a bunch of
lawsuits, but that's great. I mean, your experience with,
you know, the branding and social media and trying to, to

(01:04:25):
get these kids out there, that'ssomething that, you know, we're,
we're trying to do with UConn tohelp them generate a little bit
more revenue so we don't have toraise that money.
I would definitely love to talk to Mike Burton about that and
let him know that you have experience doing it, because I
know that's something they want to do because they're they're

(01:04:48):
they're not doing it as much now, but I.
Mean Well, I mean, the perfect guy to get into that is, you
know, for Mark D'amelio there. I mean, he's.
Yeah. Mark Stewart.
And, you know, he's probably thebest guy you could ever talk to
because his daughters have crushed it.
So, yeah. But yeah, it's definitely
something like that you got to do.

(01:05:09):
And I, you know, I think it's a good opportunity for these kids
to, you know, put themselves outthere.
You know, I wasn't even I'm not even a huge I'm fan of all the
social media, but I think it's something you got to, you know,
something you got to do. You know, I don't have AI, don't
have any of that stuff. So but it's.
So I I tagged the wrong when I when I put the post out, I

(01:05:32):
tagged the wrong Brian Kozlowskion Instagram.
That's not you, no. You know what?
That's so funny because that someone made that good story
about that is yeah, Instagram. So we were driving.
Now this is way back when me andmy wife were like driving home

(01:05:53):
from the airport. She picked me up back saying I
was working doing the sports budstuff back then.
So she's picking me up from the airport and we're driving and
she ain't saying nothing. I'm like, what did I do wrong?
And next, you know, she fires back and she goes, I go, what's
going on? And she goes, oh, when were you
going to tell me about this or whatever?
Instagram. Was based about it.

(01:06:15):
I'm like, she goes, Oh yeah, I got this thing.
I'm like, that isn't even on me,especially if you look at the
page and I even reported that thing so many times or whatever.
But they and there's like stuff like this, I don't even know if
there's some web obvious. I'm like, what the hell, You
know, I even see people around there.
I'm like, so someone must have done something back in the day,

(01:06:36):
did that thing, and it's like. I'll be sure, yeah.
That's hilarious. I was just like, so yeah, I'm
getting grief at home for some page I have.
I don't even have it. I'm like, I don't have that.
You know, the only thing I had back in the day, you know, I
had, I had my sports buzz page and that was the only thing I
had because that was what I was working for.
So yeah, it's it's that was pretty funny.

(01:06:58):
And she's. Like, that's awesome if you get,
if you happen to get yelled at just you can, you can blame it
on me tonight. That's good.
I don't even know she she doesn't even look at her
Instagram page or nothing so. Did did you Do you have kids at
all too? Oh yeah, we had two.
One just graduated. Yeah, one just graduated from

(01:07:20):
the University of Tennessee and oh, wow.
Yeah. And so she's just out firing
around trying to find a job. And so if any of you kind of
alumni need any workers, she's ready to go.
Absolutely. And and my youngest daughter,
she's a senior in high school right now and they are.

(01:07:42):
So she's got all her res, you know, all her admission stuff
going out. So she's looking to go in the
Southeast too. She like my, you know, my
experience at college. So you know, she's got in
Alabama like cold miss and LSU, but oh, wow.
So she got wait listed at some of the other schools like
Clemson and Tennessee. And so, yeah, it's a, it's a,

(01:08:05):
it's amazing how much of A battle it is to get into school.
It is. You know, she's got a great
little resume or you know, she'sbasically a four O student and
works her butt off. It's, you know, that was one
thing I was blessed with these kids was I never even had to
tell them, you know, do their homework or nothing.
You know, it's they just get home, they do.

(01:08:25):
And I'm like, alright, that's good.
And so I don't, you know, somebody saw, you know, I sent
my daughter to Tennessee for whatever.
You never saw one report, no report, never even knew what she
even did there. And she was like, I go, good
thing I we paid for that. I never saw one thing.
I mean, I guess she, she did, you know, she had great grades,

(01:08:48):
but it was just a land. I'm like, what the heck, Never
saw any report, any grades or anything.
I go, so how'd you do it? She goes, oh, I did great.
Got a couple A's, couple B's. I'm like, all right, good
enough. Do you do you, do you come back
to Rochester at all? I was just curious about that.
Do you come back? Yeah, I did last year.
Let's see, last time I was there, I went there, I went in

(01:09:12):
what was it? May my buddy's huge in the
fishing on Lake Ontario. So.
Oh, really? For the salmon.
Yeah, So we went and I came up there and he goes.
So we went and we went to, you know, where will.
I think it's Wilson, NY. It's right near Buffalo.
Yeah, that's my favorite, yeah. So you go early in the season,

(01:09:37):
he's got his own boat and he's, you know, he studies his clinics
on the right trolling and all these little things.
And he knows where the depths ofthe water where you got to.
So we went over there. So all these guys were coming
out on their boats and we were putting the boat in and they're
all like, oh, killed him and allthat.
But he goes that last couple days.
But so the whole Lake Ontario isbased off the wind of how you

(01:10:00):
catch fish. And so if you get an east wind,
you don't catch fish. So we launched about and guess
what, you know, what do we have for three or four days?
WE wind or whatever. So we, you know, we went out
there, we battled, we caught a few good couple of good fish,
but you know, a lot of these guys were catching 20 fish a day
and you know, right before we got there.

(01:10:21):
And then next year the winds changed and it was kind of a
little chilly. But that was the last time I was
in upstate and actually got to get back up there soon.
I'll probably actually go do that fishing trip again in May
again with him. He he loves to do it so well the
next time. Do you go to the Adirondacks at
all? Have you been up to like old?
Porch. Oh, yeah, yeah.

(01:10:42):
My brother's huge in the snowmobile and he loves it.
So yeah, we used to. I used to do that all the time.
So actually, when I lived in Atlanta, I used to have a buddy
that had a car shop or whatever,so he used to get me into this
power sports auction. So I used to buy snowmobiles in
Atlanta and ship them up to upstate New York.
And then we used to, you know, I'd ride them for the week and

(01:11:02):
then we'd sell them and make a little bit of money on them.
Wow. Yeah, yeah, it's a lot of fun up
there during snow. There's nothing better.
Hopefully they get some snow because my brother still goes up
there. You know, he usually takes a
Monday off from work usually and.
Yeah, we got blasted. We got some snow now.
Oh, do you? That's good.

(01:11:23):
They needed it up there that youknow, because those places were
hurting because. You.
Know the last couple winters have been, you know, because
that's the biggest thing up there.
You ride from, basically you ride from one of the restaurants
or bars, whatever. It is.
You do the bar crawl. You do the bar crawl.
Yeah, you. Ride, you know, you ride 50-60
miles, you pull into one of those places, you grab a beer or

(01:11:45):
some or bowl of soup and jump back on ride 50-60 miles, have a
beer, you know, but she's, I mean, it's incredible.
My brother said all these new slides that they have now are
just nothing better. And he goes, you know, he's got
one of those 850 skidoos or whatever he goes.
He wants me to come up and go ride with him just so I could

(01:12:06):
ride one. And has it been a while since
you've been on one? Yeah.
The last time I think I went up was 2014 at Yeah, yeah, me and
my brother went up for a couple days and that was the last time
I rode, I think. So, yeah.
I that's oh, everyone should experience.

(01:12:26):
I had so much fun up there and Ilove it.
It's, it's a, it's a blast. Right.
Well, the last sponsor I have tomention is Green Street Trust
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(01:12:47):
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(01:13:11):
Brian Kozlowski. Wow.
I I, I thank you so much for coming on the Husky talk.
This is going to be a big one. This is going to be a big one.
It's been a pleasure, you know, and I'd love to do it again if
Bellcore we're going to have. We're definitely going to have
to do you and you and Bellcore together.

(01:13:33):
Yeah, That, that, yeah, that that's going to be.
That'll be a spectacular. Yeah, and if you want to have
fun and you're just doing nothing, go on LinkedIn.
Always. He's got some videos of him at
things. It's.
Yeah, I saw, I saw him. Speaking, Yeah, I love listening
to that. Oh my God.
It's like when I feeling whatever, a little bored and

(01:13:54):
it's like, Oh yeah, well, let mego on LinkedIn.
There's always a video of old Belk talking about something.
It's great. Yes, yes.
But he actually does my life. He he got, he sold me life
insurance, so. He, he contributed.
He contributed something, right?Yeah, he's, Yeah, he's.
Come through. He just, he, he told he, he just

(01:14:15):
told me like within the 1st 10 minutes that you guys like went
to war the first time you met. And then after the situation
with your father, that's when you became like really close and
best friends. So that's just such a great
story. That's such a great story.
And I'm, I'm happy that you're, you're, I, I got to meet him.

(01:14:38):
We, I, I scheduled a little event for us the night before
the bowl game. So I got to meet a bunch of the
guys from your generation because you got, I mean, you
guys were the real bad asses. You guys were tough.
You guys were beasts and we got we got a little bit Softers.
Here's one on you guys. Were the, the different

(01:15:00):
lifestyle, now you think about it, now they got all these, this
stuff, you know, I remember you,you know, we'd leave my leave
the house when I was a kid and go ride our little BMX bikes
through the woods and shoot BB guns and get in trouble.
And now no one, you know, start doing that stuff.
And you know, she's thinking about how many times crashing

(01:15:22):
your bike, getting up and scuffing your knees, you know,
no one's out there doing any of that stuff anymore.
No, they're on their phones and iPads.
Yeah. And yeah, it's even like they
can't even sit. You watch kids sit there
together and they all stare at their phones.
They they don't even talk to each other.
It's like what the? It drives me nuts.
My my friend, I went to his house to watch the game.

(01:15:45):
His son had four friends over. They sat on the couch.
Not one of them talked to each other.
All they did, they were on theirphones, just texting.
I was like, you know, what is this?
An Internet cafe? You bother having your friends
over? You're having your friends over
and you're not. None of you were talking to each
other. I love it.

(01:16:06):
It's amazing. It's amazing.
It's like, you know, I think that's the difference in how
kids are built today, you know? Technology a blessing and a
curse. Yeah, it is.
But I appreciate all the time today it was fun so.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, absolutely. For Yukon legendary tight end

(01:16:31):
Mr. Brian Kozlowski, who had a 16 year NFL career as well,
probably the longest NFL career of any UConn football player, We
appreciate his time coming on Husky Talk.
And again, remember the NationalC Club.

(01:16:52):
We got to get people to sign up and join.
That's the biggest thing. We're going to connect our
student athletes with our current alumni to help them get
jobs, career advice and guidance.
Kevin Freeman has done a fantastic job growing it, and we
will continue to promote it. And I, Steve Cooley, I am the

(01:17:18):
best podcast host in the universe.
This has been Husky talk. And remember, when life gives
you lemons, don't make lemonade.Take two oranges and throw them
back at life.