April 3, 2025 • 15 mins
New XU Head Coach Richard Pitino joined us on ESPN1530.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Goals like ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's sports. All right, here
you go, it's five oh five. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.
My name's Moweger. Thank you so much for joining us.
Hopefully you're having an awesome Thursday afternoon was a really
fun event at Zaba University on Tuesday, the university introducing
(00:20):
it's a new head men's basketball coach, a guy who
I would imagine has gotten very little sleep because he's
got to put together a roster. So we thank him
for his time because it's very valuable. And welcome to Cincinnati.
The new head coach of the Xavier Musketeers, Richard Patino coach.
It's good to have you. Welcome to Cincinnati. Thank you
for joining us.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
I think the description was pretty accurate.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
But I'm doing great.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
You know, got a lot of work to do, but
it's it's all good.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
I mean, I do think.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
A lot of coaches, regardless of new job or not,
they're just dealing with this right now. So it's hard,
but it's also not in surm hountable by any means
to put it all together, and we're going to do
our best.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
You accepted this position over a week ago. So how
would you describe the last eight or nine days.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
You know, it's been good. I mean the first thing
I really wanted to do was locking on a staff,
you know, I really times have changed a little bit
where it's not as much the normal old school recruiting
as before, which isn't horrible. So, you know, we had
great success in New Mexico with a lot of those guys,
(01:32):
and I just felt like they understand what I want.
I understand what I'm getting out of them, so, you know,
spoke with them, put them together, then came down here,
had to do all the you know, the press conference,
meet the boosters, meet fans, all that, which is great,
you know, but now it's time to get to work,
and it's been really exciting. I mean, it feels right
(01:53):
in so many ways.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
You you have to to put put together a roster
in this era where the transfer portal is not new
to college basketball. It's something we talk about this time
of year every year, but there's such sheer volume. So
how do you navigate just those hundreds of players who
put their names in and decide which ones you want
to reach out to, which ones you want to have
(02:16):
make a visit and ultimately which ones you want to
be a Xavier Musketeer.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Well, it's definitely more business transactional than ever before, you know,
And and my hope is that they still value the
other things.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Now.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
That does not mean that they're bad people for wanting
to be compensated financially, but they also have to understand,
like we got to put together a team, We have
to put together a roster. So you know, there's there's
certainly the things that we sell, whether it be Xavior
in the in the you know, the past success and
so many good teams, so many good players, so many
(02:53):
good coaches, and what the value of going to Xavier
is playing in the Big East, what it's like playing
for me with the system and all those things, and
talking about the success of previous guys. You know, so
early it's just such a blank canvas because you know,
you don't.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Really have a whole lot.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
But I think as the pieces start to get to
be put together, they'll be able to see it a
little bit more and just see how great the experience
of playing the Bexhavior is all about.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
You want to put together a team, but you want
to put together a good team, right you don't want
to just cobble together a roster, but you know, time
is of the essence. Is it hard this time of
year as you're doing that, whether you're taking a new
job like this one or a Jirole plays is is
it hard to be patient when it comes to putting
that roster together?
Speaker 4 (03:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:41):
It is, But you have to tell yourself that, Okay,
it's a April. You know, the portal is still open
for a little bit, and you don't need to sign
a whole team by the time the portal closes. You
just need to really get something in line by you know,
the summer when summer starts for us, which will probably
be the beginning of June. But you don't want to
make miss just to check a box. You know, you
(04:03):
have the are they good enough? Are they the type
of player that we want?
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Do the pieces fit with the other guys that we
will add?
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
And then there's the the financial component to it too,
you know, And that's just that's a moving target right now.
And the hard part for a lot of coaches is
nobody knows the truth, you know, so you've got to
do your best to try to put something together as
best you can, and you know, it's like it's like
at the blackjack table. Sometimes you're gonna walk away, you know,
(04:33):
And it's just kind of is what it is. And
you know, we'll get We'll get guys that want to
play a xavier and certainly want to play for me,
and I understand the value of the whole experience.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Would you add your voice to the chorus of people
who want to see the portal open up later, like
while the postseason tournament's not happening.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah, I mean, even if you wanted to open it
like now, just because it's down to four teams is fine.
But I just I don't understand why you can't do
do it. You know, if it's gonna be a month
or however many days it is, why can't you do
it right after the season and open it up because
school's not going to end. I meant most people are
not done until like second or third week in May,
(05:12):
so it makes a lot of sense. I mean, you know,
we can sit here and crap on the n C
doablea all we want, but you know, they've also got
a very hard situation as well, So I think there
they understand that it's pretty ridiculous and it's going to
change again. I know April seventh will change a lot
of things, but it's it is challenging. It's challenging for
(05:34):
the coaches, it's challenging for the fans to kind of get.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
Connected to these teams. And my hope is just there's.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
A little bit of just guardrails to this whole thing
moving forward. But the transfer portal opening right as the
tournament starts makes zero sense to me.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
We're on the same page there, New Xavier head man's
basketball coach, Richard Patino with us, your your first contacted
about the opportunity, And I'm sure there's a lot you know,
you know the Big East, you know the basketball history
of the school, you know how much basketball matters to
the Xavier community. But in any job interview that the
candidate wants to know more about the position that he's
(06:11):
applying for. So what were the things you asked about
Xavier University.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Well, not to brag by any means, but I had
a lot of conversations with several schools. Some felt right, some.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Did not feel right. You know, I loved New Mexico.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
New Mexico was great to me, but I'm not from
the West coast. I'm not from the Southwest, so that
took a huge adjustment for me. I've got little kids,
I've got a family. Majority of all my family are
on the East Coast, whether it's New York, whether it's Florida.
So when Xavier called, it was not as much about
(06:48):
asking questions as much as it was where do I sign, honestly,
because it just felt so right. So I was very fortunate,
you know the first thing I thought of, honestly, was
that they wouldn't go outside of the you know, they
had done it for so long, So I was grateful
when Greg called me. You know, certainly you want to
know about the financial investment, not necessarily for my salary,
(07:11):
but for revshare and because right now, more than ever,
it is clear that investment is affecting winning, you know,
So what exactly did that look like?
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Is that competitive in the Big East?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Obviously, I've got a good lens of another program in
Saint John's, so I understand kind of what they're doing
to compete. They want a title, and how can we
do that moving forward? Because the expectations are high here
and that's great. I want them to be high, but
it also needs to make sense financially, and I think
Greg really understands that as I continue to get in
(07:47):
front of booster or stakeholders and all these people, just
getting them to realize, like, if you want to see
the Cintas Center packed, if you want to see this
competing for Big East Championships, financial investment is huge. And
I think everybody really does understand that.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
You you bring a lot of your assistance with you.
You are going to retain Dante Jackson, who's connection with
this program goes back many a year. Give us an
idea of the qualities you saw in him that made
you want to retain him.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Well, I told him. I was pretty blunt with him.
You know, I'm not really a gray area guy. I mean,
it's pretty black and white with me. That's why I think,
you know, being back on the East Coast works. But
you know I just told him, I said, Dante, I'm
not hiring you because you played basketball at Zager. That
doesn't help me win a Big East championship. I'm not
hiring you because you're in this program right now. I
(08:37):
want to know, are you the right coach to work
under me for us to work together to go win
a Big East title? You know, that's great that you
have those extra things. It is going to open up
so many doors for me.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
To meet so.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Many great alumni and former players in the area and
so on. But I'm not hiring you if it's not
right for our staff. And the more I got to
know him, the more I had my staff kind of
connect with him, it felt right, you know. I mean,
it's not I'm putting together a team and that consists
of players working together, but also staff working together. And
(09:12):
you know, Dante was just a perfect fit. So he's
been great now since I've hired him. It definitely helps
on a day to day basis, whether it's official visits,
knowing all those things.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
So he has been terrific.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
I really enjoy being around him, and the chemistry with
the staff has been really good so far.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
We talk about the staff.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
We see the role of general manager becoming more and
more prolific in college basketball. Is that a position that
you could you could see yourself adding?
Speaker 3 (09:40):
I think at some point it's absolutely necessary. We're certainly
behind the eight.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Ball a little bit with what we're doing right.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Now, because when you inherit a roster of not a
lot of players. You just got to hit the ground
running and you don't necessarily have time for all the
other stuff. So we certainly have contacts with a lot
of agents. I mean, this is what it's become now.
I mean I feel like a general manager honestly, where
I'm having to decide where we're going to invest money
(10:09):
and so on. So I do think they're necessary, especially
with the potential growth of a big East program where
there's not you're not going to hit that twenty point
five million dollar cap. But you know, Kenna, GM work
tiresly to help with the fundraising with the people in
our in our department, as well as speaking to these
agents and understanding that the only hard part about this
(10:32):
whole thing is we just don't know what the truth
is on contracts all those things. So until there's transparency,
it's going to be very.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
Very challenging for everybody.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
But yes, in a long winded answer, I would absolutely
be open to it, but it's just it's hard right
now to focus on that. We got to put together
a roster first and foremost, and then see who the
right fit might be.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
All Right, another couple of minutes, because I know you
are are short on time because you have so much
going on. And it's not like you haven't lived close
to Cincinnati before because of your time at the University
of Louisville, So you were in our backyard. But how
familiar were you? Were you or are you with the
city that you're moving to.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Oh, it feels like home already. You know, I've spent
a decent amount of time here. I've coached at Xavier,
I've coached at Cincinnati, you know, as an opponent, I've
spent a lot of time up here. I've already had,
you know, good friends from Louisville.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
And Lexington who have come up to visit.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
You know, my wife and we loved Albuquerque. It's not
it's not a knock on Albuquerque, but she was here
with our kids for a couple of days and looking
around at the neighborhoods and everything, it just it just
felt like home. So and that's important to me, you know,
I mean, I want my family to be good. I
want obviously I'm raising children so that I can really
focus on on those two things, which is my family
(11:51):
and my job. And you know, if we've got kind
of both of those things in alignment, it makes me better,
makes our program better.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
So everybody feels really, really comfortable.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Are you even allowed to offer me a final four pick?
Speaker 3 (12:06):
I would say, you know, it's funny. I've been asked
this a lot on the radio, and I like, didn't
even know who was playing.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
So I'd look it up.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
But I would say, you're going to see two really
good games. I think the Houston Duke game will be
one of the ugliest basketball games anybody has watched. But
it depends on what you want to see, right. If
you love good defense, you're going to see that with
Houston and Duke. Because Houston is obviously a phenomenal defensive team,
(12:34):
Duke is long athletic, they could switch everything. Florida Auburn
I think will be way more aesthetically pleasing, But I'm
going to go with Duke to win it all, all right?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Four ones?
Speaker 1 (12:45):
I mean, are you worried like d n c naa
tournament there's no more Cinderella's that's like an awful thing?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Or is this a one year outlier.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
I'm not saying it's impossible and out of the realm
that the haves separate from the have nots, but I
think it's way too early to say this is a trend.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
This is the one year thing.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Now. We just have to realize everybody that is more
of a business now than it's ever been. And if
you want to compete at the highest level, you got
to invest, and some are just not going to have
the capacity to do that. So it's very very you know,
it's very prevalent who's doing it who isn't. And you're
looking at those four number one seeds and they certainly.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
Have done that.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
So we're all, you know, everybody's kind of moving on
the fly right now. Is it a concern a little bit?
But I do think when the house settlement kicks in,
there's going to be a little bit more law and order,
so to speak, and everybody's going to figure it out
a little bit more. But right now it's it's certainly
just a free for all and the people with the
(13:51):
most money are being able to do it. Doesn't guarantee
you that, no, it does not, but it certainly is
an advantage.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Yeah, no question about that. I can't thank you enough
for this. Welcome to Cincinnati. I hope we can do
this often both during the offseason and once you guys
get underway on the floor.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Welcome to town. Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Thank you appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
That's Richard Patino, the new head coach at Xavier University.
Good stuff there. Nineteen after five o'clock. I think we
have one more guest. We're gonna preview the spring Showcase
coming up here at Nippert in just about fifteen minutes.
The Reds aren't scoring tonight. They play a team and
(14:31):
Nester Cortez and the Brewers who have given up a
ton of runs eleven, twelve, and twenty in respective games.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
We'll get to that.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
And we got to spend a few minutes on Mike McConnell,
who will host his last show tomorrow. Thank the folks
at Xavier for lining up Richard Patina. That was a
fun conversation. It is twenty after five o'clock. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
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(15:21):
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Goals like ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's sports. All right, here
you go, it's five oh five. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.
My name's Moweger. Thank you so much for joining us.
Hopefully you're having an awesome Thursday afternoon was a really
fun event at Zaba University on Tuesday, the university introducing
(00:20):
it's a new head men's basketball coach, a guy who
I would imagine has gotten very little sleep because he's
got to put together a roster. So we thank him
for his time because it's very valuable. And welcome to Cincinnati.
The new head coach of the Xavier Musketeers, Richard Patino coach.
It's good to have you. Welcome to Cincinnati. Thank you
for joining us.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
I think the description was pretty accurate.
Speaker 4 (00:45):
But I'm doing great.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
You know, got a lot of work to do, but
it's it's all good.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
I mean, I do think.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
A lot of coaches, regardless of new job or not,
they're just dealing with this right now. So it's hard,
but it's also not in surm hountable by any means
to put it all together, and we're going to do
our best.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
You accepted this position over a week ago. So how
would you describe the last eight or nine days.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
You know, it's been good. I mean the first thing
I really wanted to do was locking on a staff,
you know, I really times have changed a little bit
where it's not as much the normal old school recruiting
as before, which isn't horrible. So, you know, we had
great success in New Mexico with a lot of those guys,
(01:32):
and I just felt like they understand what I want.
I understand what I'm getting out of them, so, you know,
spoke with them, put them together, then came down here,
had to do all the you know, the press conference,
meet the boosters, meet fans, all that, which is great,
you know, but now it's time to get to work,
and it's been really exciting. I mean, it feels right
(01:53):
in so many ways.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
You you have to to put put together a roster
in this era where the transfer portal is not new
to college basketball. It's something we talk about this time
of year every year, but there's such sheer volume. So
how do you navigate just those hundreds of players who
put their names in and decide which ones you want
to reach out to, which ones you want to have
(02:16):
make a visit and ultimately which ones you want to
be a Xavier Musketeer.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Well, it's definitely more business transactional than ever before, you know,
And and my hope is that they still value the
other things.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Now.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
That does not mean that they're bad people for wanting
to be compensated financially, but they also have to understand,
like we got to put together a team, We have
to put together a roster. So you know, there's there's
certainly the things that we sell, whether it be Xavior
in the in the you know, the past success and
so many good teams, so many good players, so many
(02:53):
good coaches, and what the value of going to Xavier
is playing in the Big East, what it's like playing
for me with the system and all those things, and
talking about the success of previous guys. You know, so
early it's just such a blank canvas because you know,
you don't.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
Really have a whole lot.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
But I think as the pieces start to get to
be put together, they'll be able to see it a
little bit more and just see how great the experience
of playing the Bexhavior is all about.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
You want to put together a team, but you want
to put together a good team, right you don't want
to just cobble together a roster, but you know, time
is of the essence. Is it hard this time of
year as you're doing that, whether you're taking a new
job like this one or a Jirole plays is is
it hard to be patient when it comes to putting
that roster together?
Speaker 4 (03:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:41):
It is, But you have to tell yourself that, Okay,
it's a April. You know, the portal is still open
for a little bit, and you don't need to sign
a whole team by the time the portal closes. You
just need to really get something in line by you know,
the summer when summer starts for us, which will probably
be the beginning of June. But you don't want to
make miss just to check a box. You know, you
(04:03):
have the are they good enough? Are they the type
of player that we want?
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Do the pieces fit with the other guys that we
will add?
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (04:11):
And then there's the the financial component to it too,
you know, And that's just that's a moving target right now.
And the hard part for a lot of coaches is
nobody knows the truth, you know, so you've got to
do your best to try to put something together as
best you can, and you know, it's like it's like
at the blackjack table. Sometimes you're gonna walk away, you know,
(04:33):
And it's just kind of is what it is. And
you know, we'll get We'll get guys that want to
play a xavier and certainly want to play for me,
and I understand the value of the whole experience.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Would you add your voice to the chorus of people
who want to see the portal open up later, like
while the postseason tournament's not happening.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah, I mean, even if you wanted to open it
like now, just because it's down to four teams is fine.
But I just I don't understand why you can't do
do it. You know, if it's gonna be a month
or however many days it is, why can't you do
it right after the season and open it up because
school's not going to end. I meant most people are
not done until like second or third week in May,
(05:12):
so it makes a lot of sense. I mean, you know,
we can sit here and crap on the n C
doablea all we want, but you know, they've also got
a very hard situation as well, So I think there
they understand that it's pretty ridiculous and it's going to
change again. I know April seventh will change a lot
of things, but it's it is challenging. It's challenging for
(05:34):
the coaches, it's challenging for the fans to kind of get.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
Connected to these teams. And my hope is just there's.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
A little bit of just guardrails to this whole thing
moving forward. But the transfer portal opening right as the
tournament starts makes zero sense to me.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
We're on the same page there, New Xavier head man's
basketball coach, Richard Patino with us, your your first contacted
about the opportunity, And I'm sure there's a lot you know,
you know the Big East, you know the basketball history
of the school, you know how much basketball matters to
the Xavier community. But in any job interview that the
candidate wants to know more about the position that he's
(06:11):
applying for. So what were the things you asked about
Xavier University.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Well, not to brag by any means, but I had
a lot of conversations with several schools. Some felt right, some.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Did not feel right. You know, I loved New Mexico.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
New Mexico was great to me, but I'm not from
the West coast. I'm not from the Southwest, so that
took a huge adjustment for me. I've got little kids,
I've got a family. Majority of all my family are
on the East Coast, whether it's New York, whether it's Florida.
So when Xavier called, it was not as much about
(06:48):
asking questions as much as it was where do I sign, honestly,
because it just felt so right. So I was very fortunate,
you know the first thing I thought of, honestly, was
that they wouldn't go outside of the you know, they
had done it for so long, So I was grateful
when Greg called me. You know, certainly you want to
know about the financial investment, not necessarily for my salary,
(07:11):
but for revshare and because right now, more than ever,
it is clear that investment is affecting winning, you know,
So what exactly did that look like?
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Is that competitive in the Big East?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Obviously, I've got a good lens of another program in
Saint John's, so I understand kind of what they're doing
to compete. They want a title, and how can we
do that moving forward? Because the expectations are high here
and that's great. I want them to be high, but
it also needs to make sense financially, and I think
Greg really understands that as I continue to get in
(07:47):
front of booster or stakeholders and all these people, just
getting them to realize, like, if you want to see
the Cintas Center packed, if you want to see this
competing for Big East Championships, financial investment is huge. And
I think everybody really does understand that.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
You you bring a lot of your assistance with you.
You are going to retain Dante Jackson, who's connection with
this program goes back many a year. Give us an
idea of the qualities you saw in him that made
you want to retain him.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Well, I told him. I was pretty blunt with him.
You know, I'm not really a gray area guy. I mean,
it's pretty black and white with me. That's why I think,
you know, being back on the East Coast works. But
you know I just told him, I said, Dante, I'm
not hiring you because you played basketball at Zager. That
doesn't help me win a Big East championship. I'm not
hiring you because you're in this program right now. I
(08:37):
want to know, are you the right coach to work
under me for us to work together to go win
a Big East title? You know, that's great that you
have those extra things. It is going to open up
so many doors for me.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
To meet so.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Many great alumni and former players in the area and
so on. But I'm not hiring you if it's not
right for our staff. And the more I got to
know him, the more I had my staff kind of
connect with him, it felt right, you know. I mean,
it's not I'm putting together a team and that consists
of players working together, but also staff working together. And
(09:12):
you know, Dante was just a perfect fit. So he's
been great now since I've hired him. It definitely helps
on a day to day basis, whether it's official visits,
knowing all those things.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
So he has been terrific.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
I really enjoy being around him, and the chemistry with
the staff has been really good so far.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
We talk about the staff.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
We see the role of general manager becoming more and
more prolific in college basketball. Is that a position that
you could you could see yourself adding?
Speaker 3 (09:40):
I think at some point it's absolutely necessary. We're certainly
behind the eight.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
Ball a little bit with what we're doing right.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Now, because when you inherit a roster of not a
lot of players. You just got to hit the ground
running and you don't necessarily have time for all the
other stuff. So we certainly have contacts with a lot
of agents. I mean, this is what it's become now.
I mean I feel like a general manager honestly, where
I'm having to decide where we're going to invest money
(10:09):
and so on. So I do think they're necessary, especially
with the potential growth of a big East program where
there's not you're not going to hit that twenty point
five million dollar cap. But you know, Kenna, GM work
tiresly to help with the fundraising with the people in
our in our department, as well as speaking to these
agents and understanding that the only hard part about this
(10:32):
whole thing is we just don't know what the truth
is on contracts all those things. So until there's transparency,
it's going to be very.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
Very challenging for everybody.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
But yes, in a long winded answer, I would absolutely
be open to it, but it's just it's hard right
now to focus on that. We got to put together
a roster first and foremost, and then see who the
right fit might be.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
All Right, another couple of minutes, because I know you
are are short on time because you have so much
going on. And it's not like you haven't lived close
to Cincinnati before because of your time at the University
of Louisville, So you were in our backyard. But how
familiar were you? Were you or are you with the
city that you're moving to.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
Oh, it feels like home already. You know, I've spent
a decent amount of time here. I've coached at Xavier,
I've coached at Cincinnati, you know, as an opponent, I've
spent a lot of time up here. I've already had,
you know, good friends from Louisville.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
And Lexington who have come up to visit.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
You know, my wife and we loved Albuquerque. It's not
it's not a knock on Albuquerque, but she was here
with our kids for a couple of days and looking
around at the neighborhoods and everything, it just it just
felt like home. So and that's important to me, you know,
I mean, I want my family to be good. I
want obviously I'm raising children so that I can really
focus on on those two things, which is my family
(11:51):
and my job. And you know, if we've got kind
of both of those things in alignment, it makes me better,
makes our program better.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
So everybody feels really, really comfortable.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Are you even allowed to offer me a final four pick?
Speaker 3 (12:06):
I would say, you know, it's funny. I've been asked
this a lot on the radio, and I like, didn't
even know who was playing.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
So I'd look it up.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
But I would say, you're going to see two really
good games. I think the Houston Duke game will be
one of the ugliest basketball games anybody has watched. But
it depends on what you want to see, right. If
you love good defense, you're going to see that with
Houston and Duke. Because Houston is obviously a phenomenal defensive team,
(12:34):
Duke is long athletic, they could switch everything. Florida Auburn
I think will be way more aesthetically pleasing, But I'm
going to go with Duke to win it all, all right?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Four ones?
Speaker 1 (12:45):
I mean, are you worried like d n c naa
tournament there's no more Cinderella's that's like an awful thing?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Or is this a one year outlier.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
I'm not saying it's impossible and out of the realm
that the haves separate from the have nots, but I
think it's way too early to say this is a trend.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
This is the one year thing.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Now. We just have to realize everybody that is more
of a business now than it's ever been. And if
you want to compete at the highest level, you got
to invest, and some are just not going to have
the capacity to do that. So it's very very you know,
it's very prevalent who's doing it who isn't. And you're
looking at those four number one seeds and they certainly.
Speaker 4 (13:28):
Have done that.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
So we're all, you know, everybody's kind of moving on
the fly right now. Is it a concern a little bit?
But I do think when the house settlement kicks in,
there's going to be a little bit more law and order,
so to speak, and everybody's going to figure it out
a little bit more. But right now it's it's certainly
just a free for all and the people with the
(13:51):
most money are being able to do it. Doesn't guarantee
you that, no, it does not, but it certainly is
an advantage.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Yeah, no question about that. I can't thank you enough
for this. Welcome to Cincinnati. I hope we can do
this often both during the offseason and once you guys
get underway on the floor.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Welcome to town. Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
Thank you appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
That's Richard Patino, the new head coach at Xavier University.
Good stuff there. Nineteen after five o'clock. I think we
have one more guest. We're gonna preview the spring Showcase
coming up here at Nippert in just about fifteen minutes.
The Reds aren't scoring tonight. They play a team and
(14:31):
Nester Cortez and the Brewers who have given up a
ton of runs eleven, twelve, and twenty in respective games.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
We'll get to that.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
And we got to spend a few minutes on Mike McConnell,
who will host his last show tomorrow. Thank the folks
at Xavier for lining up Richard Patina. That was a
fun conversation. It is twenty after five o'clock. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
Then you see Health Traffic Center. Don't lend it injur
where you slowly get down. You see Health Orthopedics and
sports medicine experts can help keep you moving. Schedule the
same day appointment. You see health dot Com traffic going
on to seventy five westbound at the Indiana Kentucky state
line with so it bounce back to Highway eight and southbound.
We have delays back to West fifty and Indiana. Also
(15:21):
seventy five southbound hopful to the Brench Spence Bridge, about
a twenty minute drive. I'm Rick shrump with traffic
Mo Egger News
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