July 9, 2025 • 22 mins
Tony talks with former UC Quarterback Dustin Grutza about UC athletics and today's college sports landscape on ESPN 1530!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Three sixty About Cincinnati from Cincinnati, sponsored in part by
Penn Station East Coast Subs, handcrafted hot grilled subs, fresh
cut fries and lemonade. It's all about good taste. Pennstation
East Coast Subs order online today. This is ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome back since e three to sixty. ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station, as we embark on our number three,
thanks to our friends and our number three at Penn Station,
Thank you for listening. Big twelve Media Day was yesterday
for the Cincinnati Bearcats, and outside of hearing what Scott
Saderfield and a couple of the players had to say,
there is a lot of intrigue around not only this
(00:41):
football program, but the university itself as they have embarked
into year two in the Big twelve, the indoor facility
which is literally second to none right now with what
they have at their disposal. It is a huge year
and a lot of folks look at what's happening now,
what's happening next? So I wanted to bring in someone
today who's literally got his tentacles in about eighteen different
(01:04):
things going on in the world right now, but one
of those is tied to the University of Cincinnati. A
former teammate of mine, former quarterback at the University of Cincinnati,
Dustin Gruzza, kind enough to join us in studio today.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
What's going on? Thanks Sirm and Tony.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
What do you usually go with if someone is introducing you,
because you do wear so many hats? What's your lead
hat most of the time?
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Still? Yeah, probably just an entrepreneur, you know.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
It's staying active and being a leader in some different
things in the community or my teams, the different businesses
I'm in and trying to kind of incorporate that across
different avenues.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
You've tried to incorporate the team aspect literally in your
professional life now, yes, of course, which is the easiest
transition to make right?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Is all I knew? Yeah? Yeah, just keep running that course.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Let's talk about let's start the landscape of college football
and if I think of the University of Cincinnati in
this nil world, now, who got a great boost from
what CINTI Light meant to the university? And I don't
know if they even thought how much CINTI Light was
going to explode, and the folks at Cincy rains and
kind of spearheading this initiative for for many reasons. You
(02:18):
see was and is competing at the NIL level because
of the work that's been done. When you see the
sport at the level it is now in the NIL world,
what what comes to mind for you?
Speaker 3 (02:31):
I mean, of.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Course that's number one, But I do look at different
ways of doing things in general, right, I mean you
look at you need to get this money and you
gotta pay players. Now, you still need to upgrade facilities,
which we're doing it. You see obviously with this new indoor,
we're seeing massive shifts in just how all the operations
of the athletics are. It's a professional team now things
(02:56):
are different. You still have the school aspect and everything
you have to do there, and you're leading these young
adults and to being better people and what they need
to do beyond sport, beyond the university. But at the
same time you have find ways to pay him. And
I think since the light is a great option that
(03:17):
we created as being on CINCI Rains and being part
of that board. Yeah, working with Kim Tracy and working
with you know, Brian Fox and the NIL group.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Uh, you know that we were doing there.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
I had two of my really good friends, uh, Bob
Bonder and Bryan Golding at Ryan Geist is like, Roy,
can't we mess this partnership? And you do something like that,
You create something like Sincey Light that I'm sure has
been just you know, it's been lightning for both Cincey Rains,
the university and for guys. I mean it's been It's
been a major win obviously, and the city supports it
(03:48):
and the beer has gotten accolades across the country for
its taste. I mean, what better way to bring in
attention to Cincinnati as well as incoming and that thing
has brought in a lot of revenue that we want
to keep I think creating opportunities like that and finding
ways outside of the box of just asking donors after
year like hey we need some more money to pay
(04:08):
these athletes. It's like we have to find ways as
a community as a university to bring it in different way.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Not only the amount of people and visitors from other
teams that come in and talk about liking Sinci Light,
but what a great idea is to help the university.
And it goes to show I think in this city
in particular, they're gonna do whatever they need to do
from a fan base to support the teams in the
city of Cincinnati. There are two different aspects of the
NIL that I want to ask you about. One for
(04:36):
the athletes. You're now coming across a lot more money
than normally you would as an eighteen, nineteen, twenty year
old athlete. You know, I remember in our time just
hoping we could get swipes into the dining hall y
and not having to have an NCAA violation if someone
wanted to get us a dinner or something like that.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Exercises the pizza.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
You know, how much focus needs to be brought to
the athlete to making sure now that they're educated in
a way when they're getting a million dollars or five
hundred thousand dollars that for many of these kids, more
money than they've seen in their life, and now it's theirs.
How much of the education needs to be understood of
what these athletes are going through.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
Everything I mean, I mean coming in you don't they
don't have that knowledge. They haven't been taught those Oh yeah, yeah,
I've been really easy to spend that money way too
quickly and not think of how to reinvest and do
the right things. I think they are being educated a
lot more, both by families. There's agencies in the community.
I mean we couldn't talk to agents, let like a
(05:38):
manager or any of that. Like they have brand managers,
they have agents. They have people helping them figure out
how to utilize this money, how to save up and
allowing for those resources to be there is a big
part of this, and I think the university is doing
a good job. I think, you know, obviously there's rooms
to continuously get better to help them, and there's more
avenues that we can figure out as the university to
(05:59):
both help them and find, like we said, more ways
for money to come in and be more reoccurring and
do some different outside the box options.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
The other aspect I think of is a term we
use in sports often is culture. And I wonder in
today's football, where you don't have guys that are there
for three, four or five years together, how important the
culture becomes. Because every coach that I've talked to around
you see, they mentioned the word culture and how strong
it is. And it's great to have a guy like
Soresby and Corleone and Royer who are back that can
(06:30):
help build that culture.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
But I mean Let's be honest.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
If you're on the team and another kid's coming in
and he's making more money than you, it might be
harder to put your arm around that kid. I might
be saying, why am I not getting paid what he is?
Or you might not understand the ins and outs of
Cincinnati football, the blue collar nature of which has made
Cincinnati what it is. I don't want to say worrisome,
but how important is it to have people in place
(06:56):
to make sure the culture at UC stays what it
is even when you don't have guys that are spending three,
four and five years in the program.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
I think this is the.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Importance of the alumni and the alumni programs and kind
of what we've been trying to do outside of even
the university, creating the CFL, you know, the Cincinnati Football
Letterman's Club and different things to try to bring the
alumni in make sure they're there as a resource. But
you know, it's a difficult thing to navigate, especially as
coaches come in. You have changes in administration, the coaching,
all the different parts of it. So I really think
(07:24):
touching base with the alumni and bringing them in more.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Is going to help that. But you're exactly right.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Like Cincinnati has a culture, it has a certain grid,
there's a certain support element to it that we've seen
for years, and you know, things have definitely changed, but
trying to still keep that aspect of that. And I
think it's all top down. You know, Leadership is everything
in this environment, yep, and everybody to be leaders. You
got to extend that to the players. Those players have
to be leaders, and we, like you said, we've had
(07:51):
some key players stay that. You don't see a lot
of that even in across the board in all these universities,
you don't see that very often now and so to
have that and hopefully build off of that is going
to help create a better culture. But I agree that
that's probably the most difficult thing. It's like having an
all Star team every year for a lot of these
you saw, I think Caliperry do it.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
You can for years, right.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
They're gonna come well or they're gonna implow.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's a whole new team every year.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
And that I think that's the the hard slippery slope
about it. You bring guys in, things don't go well
midway through the season, can you keep them together? Or
is it well, I'm gonna go to the next place,
or I got one foot out the door. From an
alumni aspect that the Cincinnatiootball Letterman's Club, are you is
that kind of the one stop shop that you would
recommend alumni that are out there that hear this, that
(08:38):
that want to know how can I be more involved?
And I think it's hard because as an alumni you
go through top down changes in the athletic director changes
and coaches, and at times, from an alumni standpoint, if
you're not in the city as well, you can kind
of feel forgotten or you can kind of feel like
an out case. Are you directing those alumni to the
(08:59):
Letterman's Club as kind of that area to get back involved.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Yeah, I think that that's one of the best areas.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
I think UCATS goes across all sports, but for the
CFLC for the on the football side, that's a great
way because they reach out and talk to someone on
the board, me Alex, a bunch of the you know,
there's Randy, There's a bunch of people are on the
board really pushing and we can get them in touch
with getting into the new endoor facility. You're doing some
(09:24):
different things that they want to feel more connected. And
I think that's a hard the hardest part of it.
When you walk in you don't know anybody sure, you know,
like there's nobody here, but you know, right now you're
still walking, you might see Bob Henji, you might see
someone who we who we had from our era. But
as you continue and as we get older and as
you know generation before us or older alumni, it's a
(09:44):
lot more difficult when they go in and there's nobody
there that they recognize. So, yeah, that is the avenue
that I would recommend for our former football players.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
I saw you at the opening of the indoor facility,
and I kept thinking to myself when we were playing,
get dressed for practice and walking up the hill to
the Edward Center and sitting in school desk to go
through meetings and then going back to practice. When when
you think about, you know, morning workouts on the game field,
(10:13):
and for a lot of it, it was a sense
of pride because hey, we're practicing, where we're playing and
everything they were I was buying it. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
But when you think about from just when we were there,
and I remember at the time getting the new facilities
getting the new locker room, getting the new meeting rooms
was such a big deal. And then you fast forward
to now and seeing the indoor facility and what it is.
(10:36):
I've tried on the show to put it into words.
What do you make as a former player and someone
that is still very invested in this university, in this program,
what kind of tool is this indoor facility? And how
do you even describe it?
Speaker 4 (10:50):
I mean, it's like you said, second and the nation
and is the top level it's going to draw in
the talent that we're looking for at Cincinnati. I mean,
I think our city attracts people. I think there's a
lot of great things about Cincinnati as an overall city
that are attractive and people come here and enjoy it
more than maybe they would have expected. Right, We're not
We're a flyover city to a lot who are on
(11:11):
the coast and different things. But Cincinnati does have you know,
amazing art. It's amazing just I don't know a culture
that you were talking about, right, So I think that
draws in people. But then when you talk about the
indoor facility and kind of the advancements at the university
before and when what we came into it was about, like,
we want to play in the East, we want to
(11:32):
play in this conference, we want to compete at a
BCS level. Back when that was it and we wanted
all those things. And that's what since I provided and
this grit and grind, and we did that.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
We performed, We played.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Practiced in that same practice field was used for innamural
sports or same game field I'm sorry, nipper was used
for everything. Right, So you have the entire university. I
felt like that was part of that culture and vibe
that we created, of that blue collar mentality that you
also talked about. But now this this is its own thing.
It's I mean, I've been to fields across the country,
(12:04):
you know, been to the Notre Dames and inside of
the all their facilities, seeing these you know what draws
in the best talents. Yeah, and we have that, so
we can bring in that talent and now we can
perform at that level. There's no excuse for why we
can't be a top program in this country.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Well that's kind of where I look to now, because
before other schools can provide different avenues of why you
don't want to go to UC or what they don't
have because you have to tie in the NILS back,
which you see has been successful. Yes, in raising the money.
You mentioned the city. It's a great city to come.
You mentioned the university in itself, great university. Now you
(12:40):
talk about the history of the football program from BCS
appearances to the College Football Playoff appearance, they've they've brought
championship football to Cincinnati. So when you kind of start thinking, Okay,
how can other teams recruit against Cincinnati, Well, in years past,
it's the indoor facility, and now you don't have that.
So it does feel like from a standpoint, if you've
(13:01):
got all of those avenues covered now, you should be
able to go out and attract the talent that you
want to now compete as you get into year two
of the Big Twelve and to try to turn this
thing around as opposed to what the football program has
been in the last couple of years. So when you
think about that and you think about the team this year,
Big Twelve Media Day happens yesterday. They don't even vote.
The media doesn't even vote anymore on preseason polls because
(13:24):
no one in the media knows how good teams are
going to be because of the porter they voted Arizona
State dead last last year and they won the Big Twelve.
So it's never been easier in college sports to turn
it around quicker. But when you think about this team
this year, I do I start with Royer, I start
with Corleone, I start with Sowersby. There are not many
programs in the country that can return to NFL talented
(13:46):
guys on each side of the ball and return a
dual threat quarterback. I know it's hard to forecast because
there's so much overturned, but what do you think about
this year's team at this point in the offseason.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
I think what we started talking about with the leadership
is the first thing that we need to that you're
addressing right there, is you have these players. You have
these guys who have come back who want to do
something big with you see, and I think we have
them in place. I do think Soresby's uh, you know,
a great leader. I don't think everybody's seen his full talent,
(14:20):
which I'm excited about. I think you saw a lot
of flash. You saw that he can be the guy,
and I think there was a lot you know, there
was some hardships within the middle of the season. Forever
for the team, and like you said, you're having these
guys all try to come together and keeping them when
some bad things happen, keeping everybody on the same path
and believing like, hey, we still have this, we have
to come back, we have to fight harder. And I
(14:41):
think you're going to see that with this leadership coming back.
They've seen that, they've seen those struggles, and you know,
I feel like we saw that when when we were
playing Tony. I feel like we saw a lot of
guys who are who'd been there a few years. When
we first went to the Big East, we were we
were in those classes that started the Big East. You know,
we're the new recruiting class and we're in our way
up right. We're Big twelve this year too. They're obviously
(15:01):
able to recruit at a different level now with the
portal and everything else. But I think we're going to
see from having those leaders there and then pushing the
team in all aspects and really taking ownership, that that's
where it's going to come from. It's not the coaches
will do all they do, but you have to have
those players on the field who are the leaders in
order for it to really transition and to make that
(15:21):
type of a move.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
I think to have those cornerstone leaders at key positions
who are guys that could have went to the NFL. Yes,
who are guys that probably could have taken money elsewhere
and gone to a different school. But not only that,
I've heard Scott Saderfield talk often about relying on those
guys in portal acquisitions, regardless of how good the player
can be. When that player came in, the coaching staff
(15:43):
would rely on the players to say, Hey, is this
a good fit or not? And I think that ties
into the culture. And when you have players, especially in
Corleon and Royer, who are local players, Cole, Raine and Elder,
and you think about the teams that had a lot
of success. You see, it was a lot of Northern Kentu,
it was a lot of Cincinnati, and you you find
(16:03):
that success and you find that core in the hotbed
of recruiting, which is high school football around this area.
To be able to rely on guys who could have
made more money, could have went to the next level
and chose to come back to you see, that tells
me that something is being built in the right direction
down there in Clifton.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Yeah, I think you're making great points to that. I
feel like when you know, I hate to always keep
relating back to us, but I remember us going to
you know, I remember Trevor Canfield came in, He's already
already going to go somewhere else, and we're like, no,
we're probably going to be a part of our team.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
We're gonna do this. We're gonna make some big things happen.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Right, and as the players to keep being a part
of that recruiting process and say hey, no, we want you,
we need you, We're building.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
Something great here. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
Right, I didn't even know all that, And I love
that because I know that was happening when we were
trying to build something. To see that happening again and
know that, you know, all these players are getting so
involved in care that that's gonna make a lot of
movement towards a better team.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Year two in the Big twelve and you start thinking, Okay,
you've got the facility, you've got the money that you've spent,
you've got the roster. You start thinking about what's next
and what's unique about what this team has an opportunity
to do, and what you and I had an opportunity
to do is we both came in at a time
where the program hadn't been winning as much. I remember
(17:18):
the lights essentially being turned out in a game against
West Virginia and like, I probably just don't even finish
this thing. I mean, it was it was tough years
for a couple of years, but we had an opportunity
to kind of be part of the turnaround to put
UC back to where it ultimately got to. You you
can speak on it as well being a part of that.
(17:41):
How important was that and can you see the correlation
as you start to think, Okay, what's next for this
program would be the guys that are in place to
be a part of this turnaround that that gets UC
back to where we need to be.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
I mean, I think they got to show the great
and they got to they got to be willing to
tough all this out and keep pushing. But I think
you're exactly right, like there are going to be tough.
There's gonna be the you know, we've had these tough
moments last few years, and it's easy to like as
a community as well, to think like, oh, the bear
Cants aren't really there. The programs kind of died out,
But that's not the case. We've seen that, we've seen
(18:13):
this story before this. You have leaders stick around, you
have them them grind and bring everybody together.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
And you're talking even.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
Last year, a field goal here, a few offsides not
happening on this game, Like we're in a whole different.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Place midway through the season, yep.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
And so it's there's such little moments that if you
can stay disciplined, stay after it, and have the leadership
to like we are not we're gonna get through this drive,
we're going to score on this or we're gonna get
that big stop, and you make those moments happen, everything changes.
The entire season can change on one play like that.
And you know that you've seen it, so you know.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
I mean, the twenty one point lead at home against
pitt last year completely changes the way the season is going.
You get to five five ends and then you lose
out there. There are moments in place, and there are
players in place. Uh. And you can speak to it
as well, because you are you're so deeply tied into
so many avenues in Cincinnati right now. But when things
get moving in the right direction, whether it's Nippert Stadium,
(19:14):
whether it's the crowd, whether it's just the buzz that's
in the city. I remember the the college football playoff
run and coinciding with the Bangal success. There couldn't have
been anywhere else better to be than the city of Cincinnati.
And I think I think that's one of the other
key aspects here as well, from a listener standpoint, and
fans of football and fans of the University of Cincinnati,
(19:37):
the support matters, and coming out to games matters, and
and and showing that that you believe in the team,
because there is truly nothing better than a sold out
Nippert Stadium, and there's truly nothing better than the buzz
around Cincinnati when when you see football is.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
Winning, oh yeah, that feeling that buzz is amazing. And
even when there's hardship, when when the fans still show
up or something's going wrong in the game and you
of the fans being like let's go and like trying
to rally the troops, it's that brings your energy all
the way up. You're like, you're doing this for more
than just you know, the name on your shirt. You're
doing it for themas, You're doing it for the whole city.
(20:12):
The city is behind you and having that support around
the community. I think sometimes it gets lost where people
are like, Oh, they're not so good this year, and
they're kind of doing this and doing that. It's like,
don't do that, show them the support because everything can
change in an instant and you don't know. Sometimes we
don't realize the impact that we can have on others
just in general in life, right, we don't realize that impact.
(20:34):
And I think knowing that the community can have that
on the team or on how they perform or feel
about what they can accomplish in a year is really important.
And you know, we need everybody out there support right right.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
I mean, as an entrepreneur and a businessman in Cincinnati,
it's unbelievable the amount of success that can can breathe
life back into the city. I think at small businesses. Yeah,
you think of places around Clifton when things are going well,
those places are thriving as well. And it's just everything.
(21:07):
It's so much more than just a football schedule. It's
so it's it's a program, it's a university, and part
of what makes it so great is how it's deeply
tied right into the roots of the city of Cincinnati.
And again I've been like you, I've been to a
lot of different universities. I've been to games and a
lot of places, and I've played with a lot of
folks that come into Cincinnati, and so it was crazy.
There's nothing like Nippert Stadium and fans who come in
(21:30):
and say, like the game, the field is right here
in the middle of campus.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
It is.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
It's so much the lifeblood of the city of Cincinnati,
and uh, from the indoor facility to the NIL, to
the alumni that we talked about this year's team and
UH and what's next it is it is certainly some
some good times coming for Cincinnati and something to be
excited about.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
I agree wholeheartedly, Tony.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
So I mean, we'll see what they can uh what
they can do, but we'll keep pushing them. And I'm
trying to stay involved as I can, from bringing the
alumni in doing different things around the NIL and everything else.
So we just got to keep supporting them and have
a big year.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
It's awesome. This was awesome, man. Thank you for stopping by.
Good to catch up, Good to see everything that you
got going on and everything going on around the University
of Cincinnati.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
It's a good time to be a bearcat. I appreciate it.
Thanks for having me antony that is Dustin Gruzza.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
This is Sincy three sixty on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
More next here in our number three
Three sixty About Cincinnati from Cincinnati, sponsored in part by
Penn Station East Coast Subs, handcrafted hot grilled subs, fresh
cut fries and lemonade. It's all about good taste. Pennstation
East Coast Subs order online today. This is ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome back since e three to sixty. ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station, as we embark on our number three,
thanks to our friends and our number three at Penn Station,
Thank you for listening. Big twelve Media Day was yesterday
for the Cincinnati Bearcats, and outside of hearing what Scott
Saderfield and a couple of the players had to say,
there is a lot of intrigue around not only this
(00:41):
football program, but the university itself as they have embarked
into year two in the Big twelve, the indoor facility
which is literally second to none right now with what
they have at their disposal. It is a huge year
and a lot of folks look at what's happening now,
what's happening next? So I wanted to bring in someone
today who's literally got his tentacles in about eighteen different
(01:04):
things going on in the world right now, but one
of those is tied to the University of Cincinnati. A
former teammate of mine, former quarterback at the University of Cincinnati,
Dustin Gruzza, kind enough to join us in studio today.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
What's going on? Thanks Sirm and Tony.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
What do you usually go with if someone is introducing you,
because you do wear so many hats? What's your lead
hat most of the time?
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Still? Yeah, probably just an entrepreneur, you know.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
It's staying active and being a leader in some different
things in the community or my teams, the different businesses
I'm in and trying to kind of incorporate that across
different avenues.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
You've tried to incorporate the team aspect literally in your
professional life now, yes, of course, which is the easiest
transition to make right?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Is all I knew? Yeah? Yeah, just keep running that course.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Let's talk about let's start the landscape of college football
and if I think of the University of Cincinnati in
this nil world, now, who got a great boost from
what CINTI Light meant to the university? And I don't
know if they even thought how much CINTI Light was
going to explode, and the folks at Cincy rains and
kind of spearheading this initiative for for many reasons. You
(02:18):
see was and is competing at the NIL level because
of the work that's been done. When you see the
sport at the level it is now in the NIL world,
what what comes to mind for you?
Speaker 3 (02:31):
I mean, of.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Course that's number one, But I do look at different
ways of doing things in general, right, I mean you
look at you need to get this money and you
gotta pay players. Now, you still need to upgrade facilities,
which we're doing it. You see obviously with this new indoor,
we're seeing massive shifts in just how all the operations
of the athletics are. It's a professional team now things
(02:56):
are different. You still have the school aspect and everything
you have to do there, and you're leading these young
adults and to being better people and what they need
to do beyond sport, beyond the university. But at the
same time you have find ways to pay him. And
I think since the light is a great option that
(03:17):
we created as being on CINCI Rains and being part
of that board. Yeah, working with Kim Tracy and working
with you know, Brian Fox and the NIL group.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Uh, you know that we were doing there.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
I had two of my really good friends, uh, Bob
Bonder and Bryan Golding at Ryan Geist is like, Roy,
can't we mess this partnership? And you do something like that,
You create something like Sincey Light that I'm sure has
been just you know, it's been lightning for both Cincey Rains,
the university and for guys. I mean it's been It's
been a major win obviously, and the city supports it
(03:48):
and the beer has gotten accolades across the country for
its taste. I mean, what better way to bring in
attention to Cincinnati as well as incoming and that thing
has brought in a lot of revenue that we want
to keep I think creating opportunities like that and finding
ways outside of the box of just asking donors after
year like hey we need some more money to pay
(04:08):
these athletes. It's like we have to find ways as
a community as a university to bring it in different way.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Not only the amount of people and visitors from other
teams that come in and talk about liking Sinci Light,
but what a great idea is to help the university.
And it goes to show I think in this city
in particular, they're gonna do whatever they need to do
from a fan base to support the teams in the
city of Cincinnati. There are two different aspects of the
NIL that I want to ask you about. One for
(04:36):
the athletes. You're now coming across a lot more money
than normally you would as an eighteen, nineteen, twenty year
old athlete. You know, I remember in our time just
hoping we could get swipes into the dining hall y
and not having to have an NCAA violation if someone
wanted to get us a dinner or something like that.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Exercises the pizza.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
You know, how much focus needs to be brought to
the athlete to making sure now that they're educated in
a way when they're getting a million dollars or five
hundred thousand dollars that for many of these kids, more
money than they've seen in their life, and now it's theirs.
How much of the education needs to be understood of
what these athletes are going through.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
Everything I mean, I mean coming in you don't they
don't have that knowledge. They haven't been taught those Oh yeah, yeah,
I've been really easy to spend that money way too
quickly and not think of how to reinvest and do
the right things. I think they are being educated a
lot more, both by families. There's agencies in the community.
I mean we couldn't talk to agents, let like a
(05:38):
manager or any of that. Like they have brand managers,
they have agents. They have people helping them figure out
how to utilize this money, how to save up and
allowing for those resources to be there is a big
part of this, and I think the university is doing
a good job. I think, you know, obviously there's rooms
to continuously get better to help them, and there's more
avenues that we can figure out as the university to
(05:59):
both help them and find, like we said, more ways
for money to come in and be more reoccurring and
do some different outside the box options.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
The other aspect I think of is a term we
use in sports often is culture. And I wonder in
today's football, where you don't have guys that are there
for three, four or five years together, how important the
culture becomes. Because every coach that I've talked to around
you see, they mentioned the word culture and how strong
it is. And it's great to have a guy like
Soresby and Corleone and Royer who are back that can
(06:30):
help build that culture.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
But I mean Let's be honest.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
If you're on the team and another kid's coming in
and he's making more money than you, it might be
harder to put your arm around that kid. I might
be saying, why am I not getting paid what he is?
Or you might not understand the ins and outs of
Cincinnati football, the blue collar nature of which has made
Cincinnati what it is. I don't want to say worrisome,
but how important is it to have people in place
(06:56):
to make sure the culture at UC stays what it
is even when you don't have guys that are spending three,
four and five years in the program.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
I think this is the.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Importance of the alumni and the alumni programs and kind
of what we've been trying to do outside of even
the university, creating the CFL, you know, the Cincinnati Football
Letterman's Club and different things to try to bring the
alumni in make sure they're there as a resource. But
you know, it's a difficult thing to navigate, especially as
coaches come in. You have changes in administration, the coaching,
all the different parts of it. So I really think
(07:24):
touching base with the alumni and bringing them in more.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Is going to help that. But you're exactly right.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Like Cincinnati has a culture, it has a certain grid,
there's a certain support element to it that we've seen
for years, and you know, things have definitely changed, but
trying to still keep that aspect of that. And I
think it's all top down. You know, Leadership is everything
in this environment, yep, and everybody to be leaders. You
got to extend that to the players. Those players have
to be leaders, and we, like you said, we've had
(07:51):
some key players stay that. You don't see a lot
of that even in across the board in all these universities,
you don't see that very often now and so to
have that and hopefully build off of that is going
to help create a better culture. But I agree that
that's probably the most difficult thing. It's like having an
all Star team every year for a lot of these
you saw, I think Caliperry do it.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
You can for years, right.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
They're gonna come well or they're gonna implow.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's a whole new team every year.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
And that I think that's the the hard slippery slope
about it. You bring guys in, things don't go well
midway through the season, can you keep them together? Or
is it well, I'm gonna go to the next place,
or I got one foot out the door. From an
alumni aspect that the Cincinnatiootball Letterman's Club, are you is
that kind of the one stop shop that you would
recommend alumni that are out there that hear this, that
(08:38):
that want to know how can I be more involved?
And I think it's hard because as an alumni you
go through top down changes in the athletic director changes
and coaches, and at times, from an alumni standpoint, if
you're not in the city as well, you can kind
of feel forgotten or you can kind of feel like
an out case. Are you directing those alumni to the
(08:59):
Letterman's Club as kind of that area to get back involved.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Yeah, I think that that's one of the best areas.
Speaker 4 (09:04):
I think UCATS goes across all sports, but for the
CFLC for the on the football side, that's a great
way because they reach out and talk to someone on
the board, me Alex, a bunch of the you know,
there's Randy, There's a bunch of people are on the
board really pushing and we can get them in touch
with getting into the new endoor facility. You're doing some
(09:24):
different things that they want to feel more connected. And
I think that's a hard the hardest part of it.
When you walk in you don't know anybody sure, you know,
like there's nobody here, but you know, right now you're
still walking, you might see Bob Henji, you might see
someone who we who we had from our era. But
as you continue and as we get older and as
you know generation before us or older alumni, it's a
(09:44):
lot more difficult when they go in and there's nobody
there that they recognize. So, yeah, that is the avenue
that I would recommend for our former football players.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
I saw you at the opening of the indoor facility,
and I kept thinking to myself when we were playing,
get dressed for practice and walking up the hill to
the Edward Center and sitting in school desk to go
through meetings and then going back to practice. When when
you think about, you know, morning workouts on the game field,
(10:13):
and for a lot of it, it was a sense
of pride because hey, we're practicing, where we're playing and
everything they were I was buying it. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
But when you think about from just when we were there,
and I remember at the time getting the new facilities
getting the new locker room, getting the new meeting rooms
was such a big deal. And then you fast forward
to now and seeing the indoor facility and what it is.
(10:36):
I've tried on the show to put it into words.
What do you make as a former player and someone
that is still very invested in this university, in this program,
what kind of tool is this indoor facility? And how
do you even describe it?
Speaker 4 (10:50):
I mean, it's like you said, second and the nation
and is the top level it's going to draw in
the talent that we're looking for at Cincinnati. I mean,
I think our city attracts people. I think there's a
lot of great things about Cincinnati as an overall city
that are attractive and people come here and enjoy it
more than maybe they would have expected. Right, We're not
We're a flyover city to a lot who are on
(11:11):
the coast and different things. But Cincinnati does have you know,
amazing art. It's amazing just I don't know a culture
that you were talking about, right, So I think that
draws in people. But then when you talk about the
indoor facility and kind of the advancements at the university
before and when what we came into it was about, like,
we want to play in the East, we want to
(11:32):
play in this conference, we want to compete at a
BCS level. Back when that was it and we wanted
all those things. And that's what since I provided and
this grit and grind, and we did that.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
We performed, We played.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Practiced in that same practice field was used for innamural
sports or same game field I'm sorry, nipper was used
for everything. Right, So you have the entire university. I
felt like that was part of that culture and vibe
that we created, of that blue collar mentality that you
also talked about. But now this this is its own thing.
It's I mean, I've been to fields across the country,
(12:04):
you know, been to the Notre Dames and inside of
the all their facilities, seeing these you know what draws
in the best talents. Yeah, and we have that, so
we can bring in that talent and now we can
perform at that level. There's no excuse for why we
can't be a top program in this country.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Well that's kind of where I look to now, because
before other schools can provide different avenues of why you
don't want to go to UC or what they don't
have because you have to tie in the NILS back,
which you see has been successful. Yes, in raising the money.
You mentioned the city. It's a great city to come.
You mentioned the university in itself, great university. Now you
(12:40):
talk about the history of the football program from BCS
appearances to the College Football Playoff appearance, they've they've brought
championship football to Cincinnati. So when you kind of start thinking, Okay,
how can other teams recruit against Cincinnati, Well, in years past,
it's the indoor facility, and now you don't have that.
So it does feel like from a standpoint, if you've
(13:01):
got all of those avenues covered now, you should be
able to go out and attract the talent that you
want to now compete as you get into year two
of the Big Twelve and to try to turn this
thing around as opposed to what the football program has
been in the last couple of years. So when you
think about that and you think about the team this year,
Big Twelve Media Day happens yesterday. They don't even vote.
The media doesn't even vote anymore on preseason polls because
(13:24):
no one in the media knows how good teams are
going to be because of the porter they voted Arizona
State dead last last year and they won the Big Twelve.
So it's never been easier in college sports to turn
it around quicker. But when you think about this team
this year, I do I start with Royer, I start
with Corleone, I start with Sowersby. There are not many
programs in the country that can return to NFL talented
(13:46):
guys on each side of the ball and return a
dual threat quarterback. I know it's hard to forecast because
there's so much overturned, but what do you think about
this year's team at this point in the offseason.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
I think what we started talking about with the leadership
is the first thing that we need to that you're
addressing right there, is you have these players. You have
these guys who have come back who want to do
something big with you see, and I think we have
them in place. I do think Soresby's uh, you know,
a great leader. I don't think everybody's seen his full talent,
(14:20):
which I'm excited about. I think you saw a lot
of flash. You saw that he can be the guy,
and I think there was a lot you know, there
was some hardships within the middle of the season. Forever
for the team, and like you said, you're having these
guys all try to come together and keeping them when
some bad things happen, keeping everybody on the same path
and believing like, hey, we still have this, we have
to come back, we have to fight harder. And I
(14:41):
think you're going to see that with this leadership coming back.
They've seen that, they've seen those struggles, and you know,
I feel like we saw that when when we were
playing Tony. I feel like we saw a lot of
guys who are who'd been there a few years. When
we first went to the Big East, we were we
were in those classes that started the Big East. You know,
we're the new recruiting class and we're in our way
up right. We're Big twelve this year too. They're obviously
(15:01):
able to recruit at a different level now with the
portal and everything else. But I think we're going to
see from having those leaders there and then pushing the
team in all aspects and really taking ownership, that that's
where it's going to come from. It's not the coaches
will do all they do, but you have to have
those players on the field who are the leaders in
order for it to really transition and to make that
(15:21):
type of a move.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
I think to have those cornerstone leaders at key positions
who are guys that could have went to the NFL. Yes,
who are guys that probably could have taken money elsewhere
and gone to a different school. But not only that,
I've heard Scott Saderfield talk often about relying on those
guys in portal acquisitions, regardless of how good the player
can be. When that player came in, the coaching staff
(15:43):
would rely on the players to say, Hey, is this
a good fit or not? And I think that ties
into the culture. And when you have players, especially in
Corleon and Royer, who are local players, Cole, Raine and Elder,
and you think about the teams that had a lot
of success. You see, it was a lot of Northern Kentu,
it was a lot of Cincinnati, and you you find
(16:03):
that success and you find that core in the hotbed
of recruiting, which is high school football around this area.
To be able to rely on guys who could have
made more money, could have went to the next level
and chose to come back to you see, that tells
me that something is being built in the right direction
down there in Clifton.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Yeah, I think you're making great points to that. I
feel like when you know, I hate to always keep
relating back to us, but I remember us going to
you know, I remember Trevor Canfield came in, He's already
already going to go somewhere else, and we're like, no,
we're probably going to be a part of our team.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
We're gonna do this. We're gonna make some big things happen.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Right, and as the players to keep being a part
of that recruiting process and say hey, no, we want you,
we need you, We're building.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
Something great here. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
Right, I didn't even know all that, And I love
that because I know that was happening when we were
trying to build something. To see that happening again and
know that, you know, all these players are getting so
involved in care that that's gonna make a lot of
movement towards a better team.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Year two in the Big twelve and you start thinking, Okay,
you've got the facility, you've got the money that you've spent,
you've got the roster. You start thinking about what's next
and what's unique about what this team has an opportunity
to do, and what you and I had an opportunity
to do is we both came in at a time
where the program hadn't been winning as much. I remember
(17:18):
the lights essentially being turned out in a game against
West Virginia and like, I probably just don't even finish
this thing. I mean, it was it was tough years
for a couple of years, but we had an opportunity
to kind of be part of the turnaround to put
UC back to where it ultimately got to. You you
can speak on it as well being a part of that.
(17:41):
How important was that and can you see the correlation
as you start to think, Okay, what's next for this
program would be the guys that are in place to
be a part of this turnaround that that gets UC
back to where we need to be.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
I mean, I think they got to show the great
and they got to they got to be willing to
tough all this out and keep pushing. But I think
you're exactly right, like there are going to be tough.
There's gonna be the you know, we've had these tough
moments last few years, and it's easy to like as
a community as well, to think like, oh, the bear
Cants aren't really there. The programs kind of died out,
But that's not the case. We've seen that, we've seen
(18:13):
this story before this. You have leaders stick around, you
have them them grind and bring everybody together.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
And you're talking even.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
Last year, a field goal here, a few offsides not
happening on this game, Like we're in a whole different.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Place midway through the season, yep.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
And so it's there's such little moments that if you
can stay disciplined, stay after it, and have the leadership
to like we are not we're gonna get through this drive,
we're going to score on this or we're gonna get
that big stop, and you make those moments happen, everything changes.
The entire season can change on one play like that.
And you know that you've seen it, so you know.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
I mean, the twenty one point lead at home against
pitt last year completely changes the way the season is going.
You get to five five ends and then you lose
out there. There are moments in place, and there are
players in place. Uh. And you can speak to it
as well, because you are you're so deeply tied into
so many avenues in Cincinnati right now. But when things
get moving in the right direction, whether it's Nippert Stadium,
(19:14):
whether it's the crowd, whether it's just the buzz that's
in the city. I remember the the college football playoff
run and coinciding with the Bangal success. There couldn't have
been anywhere else better to be than the city of Cincinnati.
And I think I think that's one of the other
key aspects here as well, from a listener standpoint, and
fans of football and fans of the University of Cincinnati,
(19:37):
the support matters, and coming out to games matters, and
and and showing that that you believe in the team,
because there is truly nothing better than a sold out
Nippert Stadium, and there's truly nothing better than the buzz
around Cincinnati when when you see football is.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
Winning, oh yeah, that feeling that buzz is amazing. And
even when there's hardship, when when the fans still show
up or something's going wrong in the game and you
of the fans being like let's go and like trying
to rally the troops, it's that brings your energy all
the way up. You're like, you're doing this for more
than just you know, the name on your shirt. You're
doing it for themas, You're doing it for the whole city.
(20:12):
The city is behind you and having that support around
the community. I think sometimes it gets lost where people
are like, Oh, they're not so good this year, and
they're kind of doing this and doing that. It's like,
don't do that, show them the support because everything can
change in an instant and you don't know. Sometimes we
don't realize the impact that we can have on others
just in general in life, right, we don't realize that impact.
(20:34):
And I think knowing that the community can have that
on the team or on how they perform or feel
about what they can accomplish in a year is really important.
And you know, we need everybody out there support right right.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
I mean, as an entrepreneur and a businessman in Cincinnati,
it's unbelievable the amount of success that can can breathe
life back into the city. I think at small businesses. Yeah,
you think of places around Clifton when things are going well,
those places are thriving as well. And it's just everything.
(21:07):
It's so much more than just a football schedule. It's
so it's it's a program, it's a university, and part
of what makes it so great is how it's deeply
tied right into the roots of the city of Cincinnati.
And again I've been like you, I've been to a
lot of different universities. I've been to games and a
lot of places, and I've played with a lot of
folks that come into Cincinnati, and so it was crazy.
There's nothing like Nippert Stadium and fans who come in
(21:30):
and say, like the game, the field is right here
in the middle of campus.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
It is.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
It's so much the lifeblood of the city of Cincinnati,
and uh, from the indoor facility to the NIL, to
the alumni that we talked about this year's team and
UH and what's next it is it is certainly some
some good times coming for Cincinnati and something to be
excited about.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
I agree wholeheartedly, Tony.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
So I mean, we'll see what they can uh what
they can do, but we'll keep pushing them. And I'm
trying to stay involved as I can, from bringing the
alumni in doing different things around the NIL and everything else.
So we just got to keep supporting them and have
a big year.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
It's awesome. This was awesome, man. Thank you for stopping by.
Good to catch up, Good to see everything that you
got going on and everything going on around the University
of Cincinnati.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
It's a good time to be a bearcat. I appreciate it.
Thanks for having me antony that is Dustin Gruzza.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
This is Sincy three sixty on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
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