September 23, 2024 • 15 mins
THE GUYS TALK WITH UCONN ATHLETIC DIRECTOR DAVID BENEDICT.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining us on the Bobby Be's Hotline now is the
athletic director for Yukon Sports, David Benedict. And David, I
haven't talked to you since you guys re upp Dan
Hurley and gave him an extension on his extension, and
I just wanted to ask you behind the scenes, did
you know that he was coming back when he was
being courted by the Lakers.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, listen, that seems like so long ago. I don't
even I don't even remember now. Look, I was I
was always confident in my belief that Dan would would return,
only because I think that his his fit at Connecticut,
(00:46):
his fit in college basketball, the opportunity to continue to
compete with what with what he's established and go for
a threepeat, which is truly very unique. You know, not
many people have ever had the opportunity to do that.
And so, you know, while I don't want to suggest
(01:07):
that I was never nervous about it or you know,
wasn't thinking about what if, I just in my gut
at the end of the day, I certainly hoped. But
I believe for all those different reasons, in addition to
you know, their family and geography and all that that
he was going to come back. But at the same time,
(01:29):
you know, Dan and I are about the same age,
and we both grew up at a time where the
Lakers were showtime and their brand was, you know, significant,
So you know that part certainly had me concerned to
a degree.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
But we're rocking and rolling. The team is set, we
are reloading, and it looks like we could be competing
for back to back to back three situation for the
men's basketball. They did get honored on Saturday with their
back to back national championships during the FAU Football game
for Yukon football. Before we get into that fall sport,
let's talk a little bit about more fall sports, because
(02:11):
it seems like everyone is winning and not winning.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Everyone is kicking major.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Butt right now over there at stores. When it comes
to fall athletics, what field hockey's off to a great start,
volleyball is off to a great start. I know I'm
missing a bunch, but tell us more about other things
than football mental.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Women in ball. Yeah, men's and women's soccer are doing well.
The men are back in the top twenty five, field
hockey's in the top fifteen. Women's volleyball has had the
best start in our history. They're twelve to zero getting
ready to go into league play. So we just have
great performances out of these different programs, and I would
(02:51):
make sure our fans understand that while we're getting ready
to go into kind of a new era and evolve
into to nil and revenue sharing, the investments that we've
made in our facilities, plant here on campus and stores
is paying off. I mean, you can look at baseball.
(03:11):
We've been to two super Regionals in the last three years.
That's significant. There's not many schools that can say that
outside of the Southeast, and for us to be doing
as a as a Northeast team is you know, says
a lot obviously about coach Penders, but it also you know,
suggests that you know the facility both from a developmental
(03:33):
standpoint as well as a recruiting standpoint. Those things matter,
and so we just completed the facility renovation for women's volleyball.
They now have their own facility. They've got a total
of four courts to themselves and can work out any
time they want to. All of those things matter to
(03:54):
our coaches and to the prospects that we're recruiting and
the kids that are here now.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Talking to Dave Benedict, the Yukon's athletic director, and you
had a record for enrollment. So I mean, it's not
just athletics, it's the kids want to come to Yukon,
they want to study at Yukon. It's a great academic school,
et cetera. Let's talk about football. Had a huge win
over Florida Atlantic forty eight fourteen.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I was there.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
If you didn't know, we're season ticket holders, we were
up there and attendance was thin even with the season
ticket holders. And Ben and I talk about this all
the time, David that you know it coincides with winning,
But I've been doing this for ten years here and
they've never really attacked the rent with attendance, and I
(04:43):
can't understand it. I mean, all the other sports are
well supported. You got all the Boston sports, all the
New York sports. What do you think when it comes
to football and attendance.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah, I think it is directly co related to winning.
And you know, I understand what you mean, but but
we haven't had sustained level of success here since I've
been here, and there were some years prior to that
that we're very lean and so when you look at that,
(05:17):
it's a long period of time. We've lost some people.
Last year's opening game against mc State, you know, we
had thirty five plus thousand people there. People were excited,
we were coming off of a bowl season, and so
to me, that demonstrates that we have the ability to
get people out and people will come out and support
(05:38):
the team when we're having success. But you know, we've
got to have a sustained level of success and get
people to believe in the program. Now, look, if I
was a fan and I cared at all, i'd be
looking at Okay, Look, we're four games into the season.
We're two and two. We scored over one hundred points
at home, which we you know, if you look at
(05:58):
even two years ago and we went six and six,
we didn't have that kind of offensive production. And so
I think there's a lot to be excited about with
this football team. We've got a quarterback that is not
necessarily young, but he's inexperienced at the college level. Nick
Evers is someone that has an unbelievable amount of potential.
(06:19):
He's probably one of the best prospects that we've ever
been able to recruit to Yukon as a quarterback, and
I believe that he's going to continue to get better
every time he steps on the field. And so I
think there's a lot of reasons right now for people
to start to come out and support this team. And
I think we've got an unbelievable home stretch of games
(06:40):
where we can have a lot of success, and I
think our fan base will have something to do with that. So, yeah,
we would like our fans to come out. We need
their support in a lot of different ways. And look,
when I got here in twenty sixteen, Gamble and XL
were not packed for our men's basketball program, and that
(07:02):
got worse, you know, as we got further and further
away from the old Big East. And it wasn't really
until we got back into the Big East and started
winning that the place has started filling up again. And
this year, for the first time since I've been here,
we're completely sold out in both venues. So winning definitely
has a significant correlation, and that's, you know true any place.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
I've been yukontickets dot com that's the twenty four to
seventh spot you can go online to get tickets for
all events from Yukon Athletics, A Husky Ticket Project, a
foundation that's near and dear to our hearts. Here at
the Rob Doubles show also years as well for the
Yukon Athletic Department. They were loud and proud on Saturday night.
A lot of the usual suspects I know them by name.
Now I feel like I saw one hundred of my
(07:44):
family members that come every single week. But Dibbs is correct.
You are correct as well, So we need some new
blood in that stadium.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Now.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I don't know if you look at the Buffalo game
like this like I do. If we beat Buffalo, who
just beat Northern Illinois, who beat Notre Dame, who beat
Texas A we're sec babe.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, you don't look at it that way. No, I
don't look at it that way. I understand why you do,
and others probably do. Listen, I'm happy that Buffalo won
the game. I think that's better for our game. I
think it puts Buffalo in a position where we're certainly
(08:23):
because of what you just laid out, then there's going
to be a perception of Buffalo that is better than
had they come in here off of a loss against
more than Illinois. I think it's better from a mentality
and a preparation standpoint for our football team and in
those student athletes, because they're going to think that same thing. Hey, look,
we're playing a team that just beat someone that beat
(08:46):
Notre Dame. And so whether or not that all really
ties together, I'm not here to say it does or
it doesn't. But I looked at the box score of
the Buffalo Northern Illinois game, and you wouldn't story you
think the Buffalo in that game if you look at
them just the statistical part of the game. But they did,
(09:06):
and they're bringing in a three and one record, and
they obviously are playing with some confidence. And look, it's
another great opportunity for this football team to go out
and beat the team that's competitive and you know, be
the good Northern Illinois football team on the road.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Let's talk about that. Dan Hurley was honored with the
team the back to back championships over the weekend at
the fau U count football game. Let's talk about nil
if we could, David, and how are we doing? I
think we're probably doing good. Women's basketball, men's basketball. I
think if we're going to compete in football, we've got
to compete, especially with the financial situation as some of
(09:49):
these schools, how does that look and do we need
help in that department?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah, Look, we're gonna need help moving forward. We ask
for help from our fans all the time. And what
people need to understand is as we move into the
future with whatever the combination of nil slash revenue sharing
is going to be. And we'll probably learn more here
(10:14):
later this week. I think there's a hearing on the
twenty sixth about the house case, which if you're following
college athletics, you may have heard or read a lot
of information about the house case. There's a response that's
due back to the judge on that here later this week,
so hopefully we'll have some real detail as to how
we're moving forward and what the structure is going to be.
(10:35):
But this is going to play a pivotal role in
not just the University of Connecticut, but any college athletic
program that wants to maintain a level of competitiveness or
improve upon it. And I would tell you from a
football standpoint, the thing that probably jumped out to me
the most about this past weekend's game against Florida Atlantic
(11:00):
to be interested. You know, if you guys want to
talk about this with your listeners. That really is the
first time that a Florida team that has a history
of being very competitive at Florida Atlantic came to the
rent and we look like the more physical and more
athletic team and so you just typically haven't seen that.
(11:22):
And I would tell you that a lot of that
has to do with NIL, because coach Mora was given
the opportunity to go out and recruit some kids that
probably would not have chosen Yukon had there not been
opportunities with Bleeding Blue for Good and through NIL. And
so I think it's really an opportunity from a football standpoint,
(11:44):
specifically to level set and really make up some significant
rent quickly. Because back in the day before NIL, Yukon
offered a scholarship and X y Z schools offered scholarships,
and a lot of kids made their decisions, especially when
they were transferring, well I'm just going to go somewhere
(12:06):
closer to home. Well we know that there's not a
ton of Division I football players that are transferring back
to the New England area. So now because of NIL,
there's a different calculus about that decision. And I believe
that we're going to be very successful, but do we
need people to help? Sure we do. Part of the
(12:26):
way you can help is buy tickets and go to
the game because we are underperforming financially because we're not
filling the rent up and so not only will it
help our team because there'll be more excitement in the stadium,
but you'll be helping us financially because you'll be supporting
our athletic programs.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
David benedict I fe like director of Yukon John Ashmeaden
Studio with us part of the Yukon Sports Network. He
was running through Yukon Husky Athletics dot com and looking
at just the bios of some of the football players
and we notice this little dollar sign icon next to
the bios right now, and it's basically the opendoors dot
com that you guys have set up a couple of
(13:05):
years ago. But it's basically like a cameo for all
the existing players. I had no idea any of this
existed where you can. It's all priced out too for
almost I don't know if this goes beyond football or not,
but tell me more of what you know about this
open doors for each of these individual players. And we're
looking at Nick Evers right now and you can get
your autograph from Nick Evers. It's priced out. You can
(13:26):
connect to them immediately. But tell us what you know
about this and what the frontier is for your student
athletes using this service.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Yeah, I think for most people, the easiest way to
try to give you something to picture in your mind
is it's almost like a LinkedIn type of platform. And
so all of our student athletes they're not required to,
but all of our student athletes here you kind of
have the ability to go on to open doors, build
out their own profile, and as you said, you know,
(13:58):
if they want to sign up autographs, if they want
to know or if they're willing to sing happy Birthday
to someone to send a video message, or if they
want to go to places and do autograph sessions, any
of that stuff can be built out in open doors
so that as individuals or businesses are looking through our
(14:20):
collection of student athletes to potentially engage in different ways.
There's obviously, as you pointed out, Ben, there's a lot
of information on that site and on individual profiles, and
so not everybody necessarily at the University Connecticut from our
student athlete Gandpoint has a profile but a lot of
(14:41):
them do that obviously want to participate in ANIL activities.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
David Benedict, thank you so much for coming on today,
and we will get the word out there. We've been
talking about it for years, even before NIL was a reality.
Ben and I've been talking about trying to help this
program financially through all the companies around here. So we
always appreciate your time on the show.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you guys, and look
forward to seeing you this weekend.
Joining us on the Bobby Be's Hotline now is the
athletic director for Yukon Sports, David Benedict. And David, I
haven't talked to you since you guys re upp Dan
Hurley and gave him an extension on his extension, and
I just wanted to ask you behind the scenes, did
you know that he was coming back when he was
being courted by the Lakers.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, listen, that seems like so long ago. I don't
even I don't even remember now. Look, I was I
was always confident in my belief that Dan would would return,
only because I think that his his fit at Connecticut,
(00:46):
his fit in college basketball, the opportunity to continue to
compete with what with what he's established and go for
a threepeat, which is truly very unique. You know, not
many people have ever had the opportunity to do that.
And so, you know, while I don't want to suggest
(01:07):
that I was never nervous about it or you know,
wasn't thinking about what if, I just in my gut
at the end of the day, I certainly hoped. But
I believe for all those different reasons, in addition to
you know, their family and geography and all that that
he was going to come back. But at the same time,
(01:29):
you know, Dan and I are about the same age,
and we both grew up at a time where the
Lakers were showtime and their brand was, you know, significant,
So you know that part certainly had me concerned to
a degree.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
But we're rocking and rolling. The team is set, we
are reloading, and it looks like we could be competing
for back to back to back three situation for the
men's basketball. They did get honored on Saturday with their
back to back national championships during the FAU Football game
for Yukon football. Before we get into that fall sport,
let's talk a little bit about more fall sports, because
(02:11):
it seems like everyone is winning and not winning.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Everyone is kicking major.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Butt right now over there at stores. When it comes
to fall athletics, what field hockey's off to a great start,
volleyball is off to a great start. I know I'm
missing a bunch, but tell us more about other things
than football mental.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Women in ball. Yeah, men's and women's soccer are doing well.
The men are back in the top twenty five, field
hockey's in the top fifteen. Women's volleyball has had the
best start in our history. They're twelve to zero getting
ready to go into league play. So we just have
great performances out of these different programs, and I would
(02:51):
make sure our fans understand that while we're getting ready
to go into kind of a new era and evolve
into to nil and revenue sharing, the investments that we've
made in our facilities, plant here on campus and stores
is paying off. I mean, you can look at baseball.
(03:11):
We've been to two super Regionals in the last three years.
That's significant. There's not many schools that can say that
outside of the Southeast, and for us to be doing
as a as a Northeast team is you know, says
a lot obviously about coach Penders, but it also you know,
suggests that you know the facility both from a developmental
(03:33):
standpoint as well as a recruiting standpoint. Those things matter,
and so we just completed the facility renovation for women's volleyball.
They now have their own facility. They've got a total
of four courts to themselves and can work out any
time they want to. All of those things matter to
(03:54):
our coaches and to the prospects that we're recruiting and
the kids that are here now.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Talking to Dave Benedict, the Yukon's athletic director, and you
had a record for enrollment. So I mean, it's not
just athletics, it's the kids want to come to Yukon,
they want to study at Yukon. It's a great academic school,
et cetera. Let's talk about football. Had a huge win
over Florida Atlantic forty eight fourteen.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I was there.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
If you didn't know, we're season ticket holders, we were
up there and attendance was thin even with the season
ticket holders. And Ben and I talk about this all
the time, David that you know it coincides with winning,
But I've been doing this for ten years here and
they've never really attacked the rent with attendance, and I
(04:43):
can't understand it. I mean, all the other sports are
well supported. You got all the Boston sports, all the
New York sports. What do you think when it comes
to football and attendance.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah, I think it is directly co related to winning.
And you know, I understand what you mean, but but
we haven't had sustained level of success here since I've
been here, and there were some years prior to that
that we're very lean and so when you look at that,
(05:17):
it's a long period of time. We've lost some people.
Last year's opening game against mc State, you know, we
had thirty five plus thousand people there. People were excited,
we were coming off of a bowl season, and so
to me, that demonstrates that we have the ability to
get people out and people will come out and support
(05:38):
the team when we're having success. But you know, we've
got to have a sustained level of success and get
people to believe in the program. Now, look, if I
was a fan and I cared at all, i'd be
looking at Okay, Look, we're four games into the season.
We're two and two. We scored over one hundred points
at home, which we you know, if you look at
(05:58):
even two years ago and we went six and six,
we didn't have that kind of offensive production. And so
I think there's a lot to be excited about with
this football team. We've got a quarterback that is not
necessarily young, but he's inexperienced at the college level. Nick
Evers is someone that has an unbelievable amount of potential.
(06:19):
He's probably one of the best prospects that we've ever
been able to recruit to Yukon as a quarterback, and
I believe that he's going to continue to get better
every time he steps on the field. And so I
think there's a lot of reasons right now for people
to start to come out and support this team. And
I think we've got an unbelievable home stretch of games
(06:40):
where we can have a lot of success, and I
think our fan base will have something to do with that. So, yeah,
we would like our fans to come out. We need
their support in a lot of different ways. And look,
when I got here in twenty sixteen, Gamble and XL
were not packed for our men's basketball program, and that
(07:02):
got worse, you know, as we got further and further
away from the old Big East. And it wasn't really
until we got back into the Big East and started
winning that the place has started filling up again. And
this year, for the first time since I've been here,
we're completely sold out in both venues. So winning definitely
has a significant correlation, and that's, you know true any place.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
I've been yukontickets dot com that's the twenty four to
seventh spot you can go online to get tickets for
all events from Yukon Athletics, A Husky Ticket Project, a
foundation that's near and dear to our hearts. Here at
the Rob Doubles show also years as well for the
Yukon Athletic Department. They were loud and proud on Saturday night.
A lot of the usual suspects I know them by name.
Now I feel like I saw one hundred of my
(07:44):
family members that come every single week. But Dibbs is correct.
You are correct as well, So we need some new
blood in that stadium.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Now.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I don't know if you look at the Buffalo game
like this like I do. If we beat Buffalo, who
just beat Northern Illinois, who beat Notre Dame, who beat
Texas A we're sec babe.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, you don't look at it that way. No, I
don't look at it that way. I understand why you do,
and others probably do. Listen, I'm happy that Buffalo won
the game. I think that's better for our game. I
think it puts Buffalo in a position where we're certainly
(08:23):
because of what you just laid out, then there's going
to be a perception of Buffalo that is better than
had they come in here off of a loss against
more than Illinois. I think it's better from a mentality
and a preparation standpoint for our football team and in
those student athletes, because they're going to think that same thing. Hey, look,
we're playing a team that just beat someone that beat
(08:46):
Notre Dame. And so whether or not that all really
ties together, I'm not here to say it does or
it doesn't. But I looked at the box score of
the Buffalo Northern Illinois game, and you wouldn't story you
think the Buffalo in that game if you look at
them just the statistical part of the game. But they did,
(09:06):
and they're bringing in a three and one record, and
they obviously are playing with some confidence. And look, it's
another great opportunity for this football team to go out
and beat the team that's competitive and you know, be
the good Northern Illinois football team on the road.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Let's talk about that. Dan Hurley was honored with the
team the back to back championships over the weekend at
the fau U count football game. Let's talk about nil
if we could, David, and how are we doing? I
think we're probably doing good. Women's basketball, men's basketball. I
think if we're going to compete in football, we've got
to compete, especially with the financial situation as some of
(09:49):
these schools, how does that look and do we need
help in that department?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Yeah, Look, we're gonna need help moving forward. We ask
for help from our fans all the time. And what
people need to understand is as we move into the
future with whatever the combination of nil slash revenue sharing
is going to be. And we'll probably learn more here
(10:14):
later this week. I think there's a hearing on the
twenty sixth about the house case, which if you're following
college athletics, you may have heard or read a lot
of information about the house case. There's a response that's
due back to the judge on that here later this week,
so hopefully we'll have some real detail as to how
we're moving forward and what the structure is going to be.
(10:35):
But this is going to play a pivotal role in
not just the University of Connecticut, but any college athletic
program that wants to maintain a level of competitiveness or
improve upon it. And I would tell you from a
football standpoint, the thing that probably jumped out to me
the most about this past weekend's game against Florida Atlantic
(11:00):
to be interested. You know, if you guys want to
talk about this with your listeners. That really is the
first time that a Florida team that has a history
of being very competitive at Florida Atlantic came to the
rent and we look like the more physical and more
athletic team and so you just typically haven't seen that.
(11:22):
And I would tell you that a lot of that
has to do with NIL, because coach Mora was given
the opportunity to go out and recruit some kids that
probably would not have chosen Yukon had there not been
opportunities with Bleeding Blue for Good and through NIL. And
so I think it's really an opportunity from a football standpoint,
(11:44):
specifically to level set and really make up some significant
rent quickly. Because back in the day before NIL, Yukon
offered a scholarship and X y Z schools offered scholarships,
and a lot of kids made their decisions, especially when
they were transferring, well I'm just going to go somewhere
(12:06):
closer to home. Well we know that there's not a
ton of Division I football players that are transferring back
to the New England area. So now because of NIL,
there's a different calculus about that decision. And I believe
that we're going to be very successful, but do we
need people to help? Sure we do. Part of the
(12:26):
way you can help is buy tickets and go to
the game because we are underperforming financially because we're not
filling the rent up and so not only will it
help our team because there'll be more excitement in the stadium,
but you'll be helping us financially because you'll be supporting
our athletic programs.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
David benedict I fe like director of Yukon John Ashmeaden
Studio with us part of the Yukon Sports Network. He
was running through Yukon Husky Athletics dot com and looking
at just the bios of some of the football players
and we notice this little dollar sign icon next to
the bios right now, and it's basically the opendoors dot
com that you guys have set up a couple of
(13:05):
years ago. But it's basically like a cameo for all
the existing players. I had no idea any of this
existed where you can. It's all priced out too for
almost I don't know if this goes beyond football or not,
but tell me more of what you know about this
open doors for each of these individual players. And we're
looking at Nick Evers right now and you can get
your autograph from Nick Evers. It's priced out. You can
(13:26):
connect to them immediately. But tell us what you know
about this and what the frontier is for your student
athletes using this service.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Yeah, I think for most people, the easiest way to
try to give you something to picture in your mind
is it's almost like a LinkedIn type of platform. And
so all of our student athletes they're not required to,
but all of our student athletes here you kind of
have the ability to go on to open doors, build
out their own profile, and as you said, you know,
(13:58):
if they want to sign up autographs, if they want
to know or if they're willing to sing happy Birthday
to someone to send a video message, or if they
want to go to places and do autograph sessions, any
of that stuff can be built out in open doors
so that as individuals or businesses are looking through our
(14:20):
collection of student athletes to potentially engage in different ways.
There's obviously, as you pointed out, Ben, there's a lot
of information on that site and on individual profiles, and
so not everybody necessarily at the University Connecticut from our
student athlete Gandpoint has a profile but a lot of
(14:41):
them do that obviously want to participate in ANIL activities.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
David Benedict, thank you so much for coming on today,
and we will get the word out there. We've been
talking about it for years, even before NIL was a reality.
Ben and I've been talking about trying to help this
program financially through all the companies around here. So we
always appreciate your time on the show.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you guys, and look
forward to seeing you this weekend.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.