5/13/25 - The Mo Egger Radio Show

Happy 513 Day! Mo is broadcasting live from the Lindner Center on the University of Cincinnati's campus, and is joined by Coaches, Athletes, Administrators and more.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yeah, clock, this is ESPN fifteen thirty on Boegger. Thank
you so much for joining us today. We are loaded
this afternoon broadcasting on five to one, three day at
the University of Cincinnati. Now, our best, our best laid
plans kind of fell apart. We were going to broadcast
from the concourse of the baseball stadium before a game tonight.
Unfortunately that game against Indiana has been canceled because of rain.

(00:23):
So we're doing the next past thing, broadcasting from just
inside the Lender Center and starting the hour with the
head football coach at the University of Cincinnati. How productive
was spring?

Speaker 2 (00:33):
I thought it was very productive for us, you know,
I was, you know, certainly pleased the fact that, you know,
we had our defensive coordinator for second year in a row,
which was awesome to be able to you know, start
we left off defense. We can try to get better
with that.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
So, you know, I thought that was good.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
You know, I think offensively, we brought in a bunch
of receivers, running back, you know, no lineman, a couple
of linemen actually, and yeah, I thought so, I thought
that was good. And then you know, specialist, you know,
we brought in a kicker, in and I think, you know,
that was good to see him go out and kick
in the spring.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
But other than that, I think just the.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Overall body of work that our guys were able to do,
it was very productive. We had a great winner coach
Nico and his staff in the strength strength room, and
you know, so now we're looking forward this summer. You know,
we added a few more pieces to the to the
team and we're looking forward to getting those guys here
next week.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
I gather, you know, over the course of the last
couple of months talking to players who were here last
year and talking to some new guys, those new guys
have inherited the chip on the shoulder that exists for
the players who were here last year.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah, you know, and I think you know, certainly, you know,
we started out strong last year and not finished strong
at all, and so that you know, it was a
bad taste in our mouths at the end, and I
think the guys that we added got a sense of
that throughout the Winner and how competitive the Winner was here.
But also one of the unique things I think you
know about the portal stuff is like a lot of
the guys that we went out and and got to
come in here. They're coming here for something to prove,

(01:53):
you know it just as an individual.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
And then when they got.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Here, they figured out, okay, about what the Bearcats did
last year, and how can we help this team? And
I think so you couple the fact of the individually,
I want to play better and I prove my worth,
but also what can I do to help this team
go compete for a Big twelve championship.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
You and I talked a few months ago about the
plan for special teams. It has changed. You've got a
special teams coach.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Now, yeah, you know, yeah, Luke Pascal. I think it's
coming from Middle Tennessee. And I think for us, we
wanted to go through the spring. Let's let's, you know,
evaluate where we're at with the special teams, let's utilize
our staff. Which we did that and we did some
really good things, I thought this spring. But after that,
you know, kind of go back and look at the program.
What can we do better in this program? And I thought,
you know, it was going to be best for us

(02:36):
to go out and try to get a guy that
will come in, you know, certainly a guy who brings
a lot of experience. You know, Luke's been doing it
for many, many years, and he's had some great teams
over those years. Actually, when I was at the head
coach at av STATEI was Arkansas State, we faced him,
you know, did some great things there. He puts a
lot of pressure on teams. It's not just getting by.
I mean I think it's being aggressive in the special

(02:57):
team aspect. And I think, you know, he's gonna be
a great addition to our staff.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Unique challenge to bring in someone like that so late
in the process.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
Yeah, very very unique. Usually this is not the higher season,
you know, for sure.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
I think what's unique about it really is the fact
that when they passed the rule a year ago whatever,
when you know, everybody can coach now and so there's
not a limit really, I mean, you just get you
get the best mixed that you want for your coaching staff.
And so for us, I mean we said, man, let's
go out and you know, go out and try to
get the best guy we can get for us and
what we need at this point in time, and talked
to several guys, thought Luke did a great job, was

(03:30):
the best for us, and we were able to get
him on board. You're right, I mean, here it is may.
I mean, so it's a late time in the year
really to go get a guy. But now we do
have all summer and the rules have changed where we
can work with our guys in the summertime. Now we
can implement a lot of things. We got some meeting
time with them. Of course we're going into our new
facility this summer. That'll really help us, you know, enhance that.
And I think I think he's going to be a

(03:51):
great addition to us and it really help us team.
We know how tight the marchiness already a Big twelve
the man. You know, every team lost at least two
games last year. You know, if you think about that
going into this year, we got a chance, and we
got a chance to go compete for this Big twelve championship.
And I know we got to get better at one
aspect with special teams, and I think he's certainly going
to help his that regard.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
You enjoy what feels like a luxury in modern college football,
which is continuity at quarterback. Where have you seen growth
from Brandon this offseason?

Speaker 2 (04:14):
Yeah, I think just you know, another year here last
year when he gets here, you know, he's trying to
earn everything earn the respect his teammates earned, his teammates trust,
learned the offense, all the type things that have to happen.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
And now haven't been here a year.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
You know, he certainly had some highlights of last season
and certainly some games he'd like to take back, and
I think he learned a lot from that. But I
thought what he did this spring was played with a
lot more poise, a lot more confidence. You know, we
surround him with some really good players. I thought this
spring as a wide receiver room Tylie Walker at the
running back position, I think our receiver room with those

(04:49):
three or four guys that we brought in. You know, really,
you know, he always to do as a trip to football,
don't try to do too much, and I think he
was able to do that this spring, and that'll be
something that will consistently try to get better at throughout
us this summer and as we head into fall camp.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
It just you have to benefit naturally from from having
the same quarterback as last year, which used to be
a given in college football and now frankly is not.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
No, it's not I as one one position.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
As you go back and love, particularly at the power level,
where just about every quarterback that comes in as a transfer,
and you know, fortunately for us, you know, we were
able to hold on him and have him throughout the
whole winter and obviously this coming summer, and he's earned
the respect of his guys that are around him, and
I think he's certainly got all the tools.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
He's worked hard in the weight room.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
I mean, he's up to I think he was two
thirty eight when he left, you know, for this break
that we had running really good, throwing the ball really good, and.

Speaker 3 (05:37):
So we expect nothing but big things from him.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
I think, you know, he could have one of these
years where he's one of the better quarterbacks in our league.
And and that's saying a lot because there's a lot
of good quarterbacks that are coming back this year in
this league that have won a lot of games. And
I think sometimes, you know, we all know that, you know,
your quarterbacks got to play at a high level if
you want to win games, and so that that includes
taking care of the football but also making the plays
when they're there to be made. And and hopefully this

(06:01):
year we're gonna have some receivers that can really push
the ball down the field. Is one thing we were
not very good at last year, you know, but Jeff
Calwells a guy who six forward that can knock the
top off on the outside. Cyrus Island, Caleb, Caleb Goody
are those guys that I think that can really you know,
split the middle of the defense.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
Felt like a year ago we were talking about the
installation of a of a new defensive scheme and it
took some time into the season. I think you would
agree for I think for everybody to kind of get it,
and so I think you'll just benefit from from that
as well. You're obviously teaching guys a new scheme, but
not your entire team.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
Yeah, you're exactly right, well, and you've got to learn
the personalities and of the coaches and the players and
all that. I mean, it's just just something that's got
a mess in jail and that takes time for that
to happen. And I think, you know, we were we
were real you know Vanilla did on defense last year.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
I think we had to be and we needed to be.

Speaker 2 (06:47):
I do think that, you know, this spring, we're able
to open up and do a little bit more with defensively,
and I think as we go through the summer and
head into camp, hopefully we can open.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
It up and do a little more, you know, as
we start the season.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
And I know, being in year two with the same defense,
they're used to, the calls, they're used to how we
do things, and it's only gonna help. And and the
other fact too, that we brought back most of the
majority of our front seven, uh front six guys, you know,
with the three linemen and three linebackers.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
I think that's gonna help.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
And then we did have some great additions I thought
in the secondary this spring that really gonna help us
this next next year.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
I know there's been a heavy emphasis on the weight
room this offseason as well.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yeah, Coach Nico and the guys, I mean they always
work hard, but I feel like we turned it up
really even more this winter and really made it difficult
and challenging for our guys.

Speaker 3 (07:30):
But man, our guys accepted the challenge of it.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
They didn't miss a beat and they almost look at
Coach Nika said, oh, you got to bring some more.
I mean that's kind of their attitudes in which we love,
and I think they're going to continue to enhance the summer.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
This summer will be big for us.

Speaker 2 (07:42):
But we got great leadership on our team this year
with with a lot of our older guys and and
the guys that we brought in, I felt like we're
natural leaders as well, and that's certainly gonna help. And
you know, you know, one of the other things that
that that you think about is shooting.

Speaker 4 (07:57):
Man.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
You know, we had We did a great job in
the classroom in the in the fall, and then we
did even better this this spring. I mean, we're we're
gonna ended up this spring over a three point four
gp A.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
And all that says is.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
Our guys do things right, and they're gonna work hard
in the classroom, They're gonna work hard to wait room
on the football field, and I think it's gonna translate
to some great stuff this fall.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
Awesome. I can't thank you enough for doing this, starting
our show off. You know, normally I come here in
the fall, and you guys don't look as well rested
and as fresh as you do when I come here
in May. It's kind of nice. Yeah, yeah, we're feeling.

Speaker 3 (08:24):
Good right now.

Speaker 5 (08:25):
You know.

Speaker 3 (08:26):
It's kind of like when we start camp. We always
tell our guys that.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
This is the best you'll feel all year, and it's
going down from here.

Speaker 3 (08:31):
That's kind of the way coaches are at this time
of year.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
But but we're excited about our guys getting back here
in Monday, you know, kick the season off, the summer
season off, and we're we can't wait for that, but
we appreciate you.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
You got it to Scott Saderfield joining us to us
start the show. Broadcasting from the Linder Center at the
University of Cincinnati. It is five to one three day.
The entire city celebrating u SEE celebrating as well. Five
to one three Day. You can learn more at go
Bearcats dot com slash five one three. We are vaded
with guests this afternoon. Our next one is going to

(09:02):
be the commissioner of the Big twelve. Brett your Mark's
going to call in part of five to one to
three Day as well. We'll get to some Trey Hendrickson
stuff a little bit later on as well. Plus Jordan Bischelde,
a baseball coach at U SEE. We were supposed to
be broadcasting from the ballpark today and it would have
been perfect, and then we got a bad forecast and
I guess it's gonna rain, and so no ballgame tonight,
no show from the ballpark. But again, this is the

(09:25):
next best thing. Fourteen minutes after three o'clock. My name
is Meggor Glad you're with us this afternoon on ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 6 (09:32):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 7 (09:38):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. You see health as
expert traumacare focusing on prevention, treating injuries, and supporting long
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On the Kentucky side, eastbound two seventy five's got a
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seventy five. The left shoulder is blocked off that ramp

(10:00):
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ramp to eastbound two seventy five in Ohio. On that
he sound like with traffic.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
This report is spawnable.

Speaker 8 (10:10):
One preset on your car radio and on the free
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ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (10:18):
It is sixteen minutes after three o'clock on ESPN fifteen
thirty on OEGGA, thank you so much for joining us.
We are broadcasting from the University of Cincinnati. It is
the five to one three day celebration all across town,
specifically here at UC. Learn more at go Bearcats dot
com slash five to one three getting set for with

(10:39):
the conclusion of the spring semester. Here year three academic
year three as members you see as members of the
Big Twelve conference. I think it's been a really interesting
time in the Big Twelve, and I think a really
good time in the Big Twelve as well. And the
commissioner of the Big Twelve, Brent Ormark, recently given a
contract extension for his work running the league and kind

(11:01):
enough on five to one three day to give us
a few minutes as after noon, Brett, it's awesome to
have you. Thank you for joining us. How are you.

Speaker 8 (11:09):
Thrilled to be here? Thank you so much. I am
in Dallas Fort Worth making my way back to my office,
but thrilled to be with you and thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (11:19):
I appreciate you coming on with this. I guess when
the conference says you're doing a good enough job that
we're going to give you an extension, it calls for
looking ahead, but first looking back. So in your time
overseeing this conference during a really interesting time in college
athletics as a whole. Give me an idea of the
accomplishments that you're most proud of.

Speaker 8 (11:41):
Well, listen, First of all, again, thanks for having me.
I work for a terrific board, and I work with
a bunch of great ads, and whatever I've accomplished is
really more about what we have accomplished as a collective
group now being sixteen. But when I do look back
on the last couple of years, I would say that
our progress started with that new TV deal, and we

(12:05):
enter into that new six year TV deal this fall.
But ninety days after I took the post as the commissioner,
we went early in our TV negotiations. We didn't know
at the time that there was really only one big
TV deal that was in the marketplace. We took it,
and I'm glad we did. Effectively, it led to, I

(12:27):
guess you could say, in some respects the demise of
the PAC twelve, But it also gave us the ability
to have some clarity, some stability, and gave us the
opportunity candidly to pursue the four corner schools, which we did.
Fast forward. We're now sixteen strong. We've got a great

(12:48):
TV deal in place, and I think that's been the
impetus for our growth. And as you know it, we've
integrated eight new schools in the last two years. So
the composition and makeup this conference today is very different
than what it was. In fact, half of our membership
is relatively new. But it's been an exciting time for
the Big Twelve. But we're just getting to know each

(13:10):
other right now, and it's a work in progress.

Speaker 1 (13:13):
Over the course of the next couple of years. I'm
sure you have a lot of things, a lot of
things you want to get done. What are the things
at the top of that to do list?

Speaker 8 (13:21):
Well, right now, you know, when you think about Colleague
of Athletics at a high level, you know we're working
on settlement. You know, it's a big topic for collegiate
athletics and hopefully settlement will be approved and you know
the next couple of weeks, which will afford us an
opportunity to welcome this new age of collegiate athletics and

(13:42):
rep share with our student athletes. That's certainly something that
is going to change the dynamics moving forward. We're talking
about a new governance model with the NCAAA and you know,
how to the powerful conferences maintain a little bit more autonomy,
and that comes with it that hopefully will lead to

(14:03):
greater opportunity to create value for our member institutions. You know,
we're in the midst of negotiating, if you will, with
our peers, what will be the next format if it
changes in year thirteen for the CFP. So at a
high level, there's two or three big things that we're
working on right now, and then in addition, it's you know,

(14:26):
running the big twelve and making sure that we ultimately
can be the best version of ourselves. And as I
said a couple of minutes ago, we've got eight new
members that we've integrate over the last two years. So
from where I sit, we're just getting started. Our best
days are ahead, you know. We we've evolved into a
conference that truly is national. We're in ten states, We've

(14:48):
got ninety million people in our footprints. So it's incumbent
upon me as the commissioner to figure out how do
we leverage the scale of being sixteen strong and continue
to well resource our member institutions by leveraging that scale.

Speaker 1 (15:07):
What has it been like navigating as as somebody who
came to the Big twelve from outside of college athletics.
What has it been like navigating the NonStop change that
has come your way across all of college boards over
the last couple of years.

Speaker 8 (15:24):
You know, listen, well, there's been a lot of change,
no doubt about it. But what change comes opportunity. And
I think we as a as a conference, have been
very opportunistic to realize that, you know, we kind of
we have a mindset, if you will, of being a
mature startup. You think about our conference and you know,

(15:46):
this fall would be thirty years that we're in business,
if you will, and you compare that to some of
the other conferences that have been around for eighty or
ninety years. So I truly believe we're this young startup
that's constantly urging and evolving, and there's real opportunity in
front of us despite some of the challenges, and as

(16:07):
a collective sixteen, we want to take advantage of those
opportunities in every way possible. And you know, for me,
you know, I came from professional sports. To some degree,
I was an outsider, but many of my you know,
the skills that I had and the learnings that I
had in professional sports have transferred over here very nicely,

(16:31):
because candidly, collegiate athletics and where we're going is closer
to where I came from, to the model that exists today.
So I think I'm well suited for it, and candidly
just working very closely with our ads and our presence
to make sure that we take full advantage of the
opportunities that are in front of us.

Speaker 1 (16:51):
When you hear, and I'm sure you do, when you
hear people who look at the state of college athletics
and they say, well, college sports are broken and they
need to be fixed. Uh, what's your reaction to those observations?

Speaker 8 (17:05):
In my observation is nothing's perfect in life. But I
can't I can't sit here today and say that college
sports is broken. College football is the second most popular
sport in America and in and in some respects Saturdays
are becoming bigger than Sunday, and it's only growing. You know,
Olympic sports is growing exponentially, especially women's basketball and gymnastics

(17:32):
and volleyball and wrestling. Real upside there, So I don't
I don't see anything but growth for for for collegiate athletics,
are there challenges. Certainly there are, and we'll work through those.
But where I see challenges, I see opportunities. But certainly
it's not growth. I mean, there's a reason why all

(17:54):
the TV networks are clamoring, you know, towards you know,
the content business that we're in, so that they're a
part of it. In fact, today during the ESPN Upfront,
because they're doing the upfronts this week in New York,
and for your audience, those upfronts are where these TV

(18:14):
networks introduced programming for next year. They're all highlighting ESPN
being one college sports, football, basketball, Olympics sports because you
have advertisers out there that have a strong appetite to
be involved in the business that we're in. So it's
certainly not broken. In fact, it's thriving. I think it'll

(18:37):
continue to grow. Yes, there are challenges, but we're managing
to those challenges.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
Well said, I can't thank you enough for the time.
I know you are very busy. Thank you so much
for doing this. I hope we can do it again
down the road.

Speaker 8 (18:49):
Lo, thank you so much. Glad to be with you.

Speaker 1 (18:52):
I appreciate you spending some time with us. Bret, you
or Mark the commissioner of the Big twelve. It's twenty
five minutes after three o'clock. That's a good one minutes
of radio right there. Up next gonna be a joined
by a guy who would rather be sitting in a
dugout than talking to me. Unfortunately for him, yes to
talk to me instead of sitting in the dugout to
Jordan Bischelde, ball coach here at the University of Cincinnati.

(19:12):
Broadcasting from the Lender Center. It's five to one three
day on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 9 (19:18):
Station SINCY three sixty with Tony Pike.

Speaker 10 (19:22):
Do we want to move on?

Speaker 9 (19:23):
They'd have to keep going and Boston Elmore.

Speaker 11 (19:26):
I think you should continue.

Speaker 12 (19:27):
Let me keep going there SINCY three sixty Tomorrow which
twelve noons on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

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Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center. You see health
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one seventy five. The left shoulder is blockedued off on

(20:00):
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Speaker 12 (20:09):
For the ESPN fifteen thirty Heydrian Window, Orange and Black
Schedule breakdown show live at Smoke Justice, the biggest sports brains,
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Speaker 1 (20:27):
Twenty seven away from four o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen
thirty on Moegger. It's five one three day. Around this
time yesterday, you may have heard me talking about how
I was so stoked for this aburnoon because we were
going to be broadcasting from the concourse at the UC
Baseball Stadium before the Bearcats played Indiana last week of
the regular season. And that's something that I've always wanted

(20:48):
to do, and we found a way to make it happen,
and we were going to have a slew a guess,
and it was going to be awesome. And then right
before we got off the here we found out, Well,
you're still coming to UCA to do your show, but
we're not going to play a baseball game. So I
was disappointed. I don't know how disappointed. Jordan Bishall was
the head baseball coach at U. See are you it's
been a You guys just came off a grueling road trip.
So do you view it as a respite? Do you

(21:11):
view it as we want to keep playing. We've got
a big series this weekend, Like what's yeah, look disappointed?

Speaker 11 (21:17):
Yeah, we like to play.

Speaker 13 (21:18):
Yeah, we we We are allowed fifty six games, and
we schedule fifty six. We try to get them in.
And Indiana is a great opponent. They've played in a
couple of regionals in a row, and we were excited
for it. But you know, there's pretty good chance of
storms yet this afternoon, and the last thing anybody needs
fifty plus games in the year sit and watch it
rain or you know, lightning completely cripples games because you
get thirty minutes where you have to be down. And

(21:40):
so we we had that a couple of weeks ago
against Oklahoma State, and we're a little worried. We'll play
three innings and sit for an hour and play and
We just didn't want to run into that late a year, but.

Speaker 11 (21:49):
Would have been great to just have a nice sunny
get a great crowd out here.

Speaker 13 (21:52):
But if there is a silver lining, we we get
to regroup a little bit for a big weekend here.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
Who makes the call to cancel the game? Uh?

Speaker 13 (21:59):
You know, there's every works together ultimately. You know, I'm
a meteorologist, probably more than a baseball coach, obviously, and
I saw the forecast was pretty if he had a
conversation with their coaching staff and they kind of agreed
with it, and obviously our staff understood, and so it's
kind of a collaborative decision.

Speaker 11 (22:15):
But I'm kind of the bad guy if nobody likes
a decision.

Speaker 1 (22:18):
Okay, all right, so we'll put it on you. Yeah,
you're why we're inside today.

Speaker 11 (22:21):
I get blamed for most things.

Speaker 10 (22:22):
I deserve it.

Speaker 1 (22:22):
I got you. There is college baseball bracketology, and I
know you don't want to hear this, but I look
at these things and there you guys are right there
going into the last weekend of the regular season with
a chance for an at large bid. Are these the
sort of things you pay attention to? Or are you annoyed?
With me for even bringing it up.

Speaker 13 (22:40):
No, I mean, listen, if I thought our guys were
naive to what was out there, I'd be a fool.
So I have to talk about it to our guys
a little bit and make sure they're aware of, you know,
what everything means, because they're going to come up with
their own answers and solutions either way. And ultimately, like,
we like this problem, right. I think when we joined
the Big twelve two years ago, the idea that we'd

(23:01):
be coming up in conversations about at large bids two
years in a row to start out our tenure in
the league was probably a little far fetched.

Speaker 11 (23:07):
To some people. So we're excited about it.

Speaker 13 (23:09):
And really, you know, if season ending now we know
we'd be in that field, which is exciting. We also
know the season didn't end, and so we got to
go and play good baseball. And I joke a lot
with our guys. I tell them, you know, I've got
a master's degree, and as part of my big project
to wrap up, I did a big study and it
showed that when you win, you generally go up in
these metrics, and when you lose, you generally go down.
And wow, this was your twenty of my study and

(23:31):
it's amazing. It's still coming to fruition. So we joke
about it. We know all we need to do, we
need to go play good baseball. But it's pretty cool
to be a part of that mix.

Speaker 1 (23:38):
I felt like Sunday was big because I know Howard
Saturday was.

Speaker 13 (23:41):
Yeah, it really was. You know, it was an eleven
day road trip. Some people may not realize we stayed
on the road. So we won three games at Kansas,
who came into that weekend really really in the hunt
to host a regional as a top twenty five team,
and I got three wins there, which.

Speaker 11 (23:55):
Was pretty incredible.

Speaker 13 (23:56):
We went to Oral Roberts, who's played in like twenty
of the last twenty three and Ornaments they were in
the World Series two years ago. We picked up a
nice road win there, so four and oh to start
the trip, and then we lose kind of a slugfest
on Friday and then really a heartbreaker on Saturday. Tight
game all the way to the end and end of
a long trip. Playing a team that's again probably in
a pretty good position to host a regionally. It would

(24:16):
have been pretty easy to kind of pack up the
bags and just get home and it was a great
We fell behind four to one short on the mound
and we just kept going and kind of a credit
to our guys. It's not that we're happy to lose
two out of three, but flip side, we go five
and two against some pretty tang good competition on the
road and that made a huge difference and kind of
the outlook down the stretch here, So it makes us
week really exciting. But that Sunday win was huge in

(24:38):
terms of the way our guys competed and didn't quit
and kept going.

Speaker 1 (24:41):
What is it like taking a college baseball team on
any eleven day road trip when you're playing for a lot.

Speaker 11 (24:48):
Yeah, yeah, you know.

Speaker 13 (24:50):
It's funny because we did it to start the year
and week two to three as well, and I'm glad
we did. We struggled on that trip, and I don't
think I did a good enough job of helping our
guys recognize that it will be really challenging. We went
to Vegas and San Diego to shoot that out to
be excited, but it is. It's a lot of baseball.
We played eight games and ten days and that that
can be a little grueling, and I think our guys

(25:10):
got a little warned down by it, and more mentally
than physically, they just they were ready to get home.
And so we really treated this trip as talked about
it being just eleven individual days, eleven one day trips,
and let's try to have eleven great days. And they
really bought into it, believed in it, stayed with it.
But it's tough. You know, they're ready to be home.
But flip side, you know, we make it sound like

(25:31):
their lives.

Speaker 11 (25:31):
Are so hard.

Speaker 1 (25:32):
School's over.

Speaker 13 (25:33):
We're playing at Kansas in front of a couple thousand fans,
TCU in front of four thousand fans, playing against guys
that are going to be top draft picks and one
of the best leagues in the country, and you're playing
with your best friends.

Speaker 11 (25:43):
In great weather. I mean, how cool is this?

Speaker 13 (25:45):
Yeah, you know, and I think they change that mentality
into realizing, man, this is an awesome opportunity.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
And so that was fun, and you have an awesome opportunity.
Three games a weekend series a Thursday through Saturday, two
six o'clock games, and a one o'clock game on Saturday,
and then you're done. And then it's the Big twelve
tournament described from my audience, the stakes this weekend for
this three game set with Kansas State.

Speaker 13 (26:07):
Yeah, I mean we spend all year really talking about
the next game is always the biggest game. But certainly
when you get to a point where there's you know whatever,
fifteen to twenty teams gunning for ten, twelve, fourteen spots,
every game can be a big swing. So ultimately it'll
play a pretty big part. But the last fifty one

(26:28):
played a big part too. But we know we're in
a great position right now. It's pretty darn exciting that
we're going to be on our home field knowing if
we play a good weekend that it's a virtual lock
we'll get to play into the NCAA tournament. That's awesome.
Even if it doesn't go great, we're going to be
in an okay spot, but we can really help ourselves
in Kansas State's in a similar position. Two teams that
are top forty in the RPI's. That's a big thing

(26:49):
for people to know. Like you come out to the ballpark,
you see the two of the top forty teams in
the country square and off with a lot at steak.

Speaker 11 (26:55):
It's pretty exciting.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
Cart's and Cross make the case Big twelve Player of
the Year.

Speaker 13 (26:59):
Yeah, I've said this to a lot of people that
there are I'm sure there are other coaches in the
league that can stunt for their guys and talk about
their guys. But if I had to make the case,
if the league came to me right now and said
you can take any player in the league, you just
have to give up Carrington Cross, we wondn't even have
a conversation. It's just a no brainer to me. I
don't know other guys value to their teams, but I

(27:22):
know I can't imagine having a player more valuable than Carrington.
The stats obviously take care of themselves. You don't hit
four hundred at this level if you're not pretty amazing
player in the stolen bases and the home rounds and
the defense. But the leadership, the work ethic, the baseball acumen,
the buy in ability to support teammates when they're struggling,
but get on teammates when they're having success. I mean,

(27:44):
it was funny because he didn't have very good game
on Sunday and we won, and at the end of
the game he said, thank god we won, because I
wouldn't have slept until and he's probably wasn't lying, And
I said, well, here's the deal, Carrington. Next year, we're
gonna have to learn to win without you. So I'm
glad we had to do it once today, and that'll
be a big challenge. He's incredibly valuable.

Speaker 1 (27:59):
It's interesting is we had him on with us five
or six weeks ago, and I want to talk about Brownsburg,
Indiana and him and his journey to UC and the
academic part of his profile here, which is impressive in
its own right, and all he wanted to do was
talk about his teammates.

Speaker 11 (28:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:15):
That's that's how caring and none in a cliche way either.

Speaker 11 (28:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 13 (28:18):
Now he doesn't, you know, he's aware of his success
because he takes a lot of pride in it. But
he would he would legitimately hit one hundred and sit
the bench if it meant a national title like he wants.

Speaker 1 (28:32):
I can do that for you.

Speaker 13 (28:33):
Yeah, yeah, half of it, right, yeah yeah, And I
could pay about half of that hundred. But he he's
been here five years. I think it's really become a
second home to him. And he had some opportunities in
professional baseball last year, and some of it was the
academic side. Ability to finish his degree in the classroom,
which was going to be tough. But there is certainly
an aspect where he viewed it as an opportunity to

(28:55):
be a part of a changing program and leaving a legacy,
not not his numbers, but as a team that was
doing things that were not believed possible a couple of
years prior. And you can tell that. I mean, if
you talk about playing in the NCAA tournament, we're not
going to make it be bigger than it has to be. Like, ultimately,
this has been a really successful season no matter what.
But heck, yeah, I want him to be a part

(29:17):
of playing in one of those things.

Speaker 3 (29:18):
He deserves it.

Speaker 1 (29:19):
This is year two, we're coming toward the end. Hopefully
not really close to the end. But I remember being
in your office before the first season and we were
talking about Bishal ball and what you wanted it to
look like, your vision for the program. Nearly two full
seasons in, do you feel like that's being realized? Do
you feel like you're close to where you want to be?
Where are you in that regard?

Speaker 13 (29:38):
Yeah, you know, last year we talked a lot. I
don't know where this Bischel Ball came thing, came literation. Yeah,
I guess I just thought it was baseball.

Speaker 3 (29:46):
But that's a litter too.

Speaker 13 (29:47):
But at anywhere, at any rate, I think we talked
a lot about identity, and I think if you went
to people in our league and talked about what it
meant to play against us, I think you'd get a
really clear picture of how fast we play, how much
energy we play with, how well we compete, get after
the strike zone. It's far from a finished product, and
I think there's still a lot of upside there. I

(30:07):
think we can still grow a lot. But I think
our guys have really bought into it, and I think
that's why you've seen us be pretty consistently successful. I'm
really proud of the time our guys have put into
making this happen.

Speaker 1 (30:17):
And it feels like you have fit in nicely from
almost day one of the Big Twelve, which is not easy.

Speaker 13 (30:23):
No it's not, and you can see it. You know
our entire department. We're in our infancy right it's year two,
and that's that's not a critique of anybody. It's really
hard to jump into this league and be successful, and
we've seen that across the board and it's been really
hard for us. But the other thing is we look
at some programs, you know, Central Florida, Houston BYU jumped

(30:43):
in with baseball with us, and you know, you pull
up the standings and they look a little different for
those schools. And that's again, it's not a criticism, it's
just it's a hard thing to do. And we've had
some good fortune. We've had had good support. John and
Joe and their teams have given us some tools and
resources to be sixul and then we just have players
that just get after it every day, our coaching staff

(31:04):
and some under the radar people that are hanging out
right now. Everybody that's pouring into this thing is where
the success is coming out. And that's what makes it
fun to show up every day is I just see
so many people around us that want so badly to
push this thing forward. And it's been fun. I mean,
we were now at thirty one big twelve wins in
two years, which means we'll be over five hundred our
first two years in the league, and that's that's an accomplishment.

(31:27):
I'm proud of a lot of people for what they
put into it.

Speaker 1 (31:29):
All Right before I let you go one technical question. Yeah,
and it's based on a call. No, it's based on
a phone call we got yesterday. So gentlemen called the
show and said, came to a game and saw the
double bag at first base. Now I did what I
could to explain it because I understand it, but from
your perspective in the sport, explain to my caller yesterday
the purpose behind the double bag.

Speaker 13 (31:51):
Yeah, it's funny you bring that up. I actually am
on the NCAA rules committee, okay, And I know that
American Baseball Coaches Association director pretty well, Craig KYLITTZH went
to Central Michigan. His dad is was former coach there
who's kind of a mentor to me. So I know
Craig really well. And about five years ago I actually
called Craig and I said, you know, we should really

(32:12):
consider this. I call it a softball base because we
see it, or youth base, but I said, we should
really consider this softball base. And I kind of laughed
about it because it looked really hokey and looked really weird.
And then a year or two later, we have a
bunt play in our first basement has a collision and
actually tears his ucl in one of his elbows and
misses almost a full season. And so this goes on
and I keep thinking, you know, why wouldn't we do this?

(32:33):
And traditionally in baseball it's pretty old school. Nobody wants
to do anything that's right. For years, you should have
played a shift, and it just started playing fifteen minutes
ago or fifteen years ago. You know, everybody doesn't want
to be embarrassed by something dumb. And so I'm on
this rules committee and I'm sitting in a room and
this is, you know, my first year on the job here,
and I'm sitting in a room with Tim KORbin and
Jim Schlasnagel just not wanted to look like a dumb butt.

(32:55):
I don't know what I can say on the air,
looked like an idiot. But finally I kind of is
my hand. I'm like, guys, if you want to laugh
me out of the room, it's fine. But you know,
if we had two bases there, we'd probably run into
each other a lot less and save some injuries. And
sure enough, like four other coaches in the room, go,
I lost my first basement, you know.

Speaker 11 (33:13):
And so we all had these horror stories.

Speaker 13 (33:14):
So we all were kind of like and so last year, thankfully,
the SEC who kind of leads the way in baseball,
they threw it out there. They used it in some games,
they use it in their tournament, and they realized it
was incredibly simple. It was easier for umpires. They now
a base runner doesn't have to run in that bunt lane.
He has to go to the outside because that's where
the base is. But I mean, most of these first
basement in this in this sport, at this level, are

(33:36):
two hundred plus pounds. In our base runners are big
kids flying down the line. That is four hundred pounds
of human that have seventeen inches of base to share.
It's fifteen inches, actually, I think, and I mean that's
a scary proposition. So just by doubling the size and area,
it's just a safety thing and it's been incredibly helpful.
They're probably in our games alone. They're probably been three

(33:57):
or four times this year where we say, man, that
could have been ugly, and it's it's not.

Speaker 11 (34:00):
So a handful of years ago bass coaches started.

Speaker 13 (34:03):
Using helmets instead of hats, and everybody thought they look
like idiots, And now they're out there with them managers,
and that's her tragedy for it to happen exactly, And
that was that was kind of the point, and everybody
thought it. Look, we're now just looks normally, and I
think this basse I would be I wouldn't be surprised
if you see it in professional baseball sooner than later,
because really it makes a lot of sense. I have
two massive humans moving the fastest they can sharing this little,

(34:25):
tiny square.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
Well, I always think about the picture covering first base
because he's got to find the ball, find the bag,
and then look over his shoulder, and so you're to
me significantly reducing the chance of the batter charging toward
first and the picture getting there at the same time.
And something equally disasters happened exactly.

Speaker 13 (34:41):
And umpires love it because it's just more space. You
can see more things. And again, all those plays around
home plate. You know, there was a play in the
College World Series a couple of years ago where the
game changed because a guy was running on the wrong
side of the line and the umpire had to call
him out.

Speaker 11 (34:54):
It would have maybe changed the outcome of.

Speaker 3 (34:55):
The World Series.

Speaker 13 (34:56):
Well, now umpires don't have to worry about that because
that runner has to.

Speaker 11 (34:59):
Get to the other. I had to get to the base.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
So it looks weird.

Speaker 11 (35:02):
But it's great, all right.

Speaker 1 (35:02):
I promised I would ask you.

Speaker 13 (35:05):
Hopefully it's an acceptable answer. If people want to boom
me for being a part of that process, I can live.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
Well, who would be? I don't know. It looks it's jarring.
I mean the first time I saw it last year,
I think it was during the SEC tournament. I'm going,
because it's one's orange and one's typical white, and I'm going,
what is that? And then you kind of do a
search on the internet. It makes sense.

Speaker 13 (35:23):
Yeah, Well in the good news is our dugout has
so much energy and we're so involved in the game.
We get compared to a softball team a lot anyway,
So I can just tell them we're just buying into it.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
You know my softball team we have beer in the dugout.

Speaker 11 (35:34):
Yeah we do that too. Oh good only for the
guys over twenty nine part of the deal.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
But I can't thank you enough for doing this. I
wish you guys were playing. Nonetheless, good to have you,
good luck this weekend, and.

Speaker 3 (35:45):
Beyond appreciate it.

Speaker 11 (35:46):
Thanks a bunch of mout Jordan.

Speaker 1 (35:47):
Bischel, the head baseball coach at the University of Cincinnati.
We are here until six o'clock. Joe Royer is going
to join us, coming up at four oh five on
five to one three day on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 9 (35:59):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

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By fifteen thirty from Radio.

Speaker 1 (36:42):
You know the answer to that question, right, it's five
away from four. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. You know
what I've enjoyed about this so far? Knock on wood.
We've been here for an hour. Joe Royer is going
to join us at four h five. My guy was
here fifteen minutes before his interview. Everybody we've had so
far today, knock on wood. We got two hours to go.
Everybody here not only on time, but like early, which

(37:04):
in this game, frankly, that doesn't happen all that often.
Joe Royer is gonna join us in just a few minutes.
We're broadcasting from the University of Cincinnati just inside the
Lindener Center. Our best laid plans kind of fell apart.
We were gonna do the show from the baseball stadium
before a game tonight. Obviously that has been canceled because
of the threat of bad weather. So the next best

(37:25):
thing is here inside the Lindener Center. John Cunningham's gonna
join us U see football GM, Zach Grant's going to
join us, West Miller a little bit later on, Katrina
Merriweather a little bit later on as well. Big UC
day here for us. Between now and six o'clock. We're
also going to jump on with our guys at Bearcat Journal.
They're doing like a marathon live show today, and we're

(37:48):
gonna see if we could achieve I think in the
history of this show. Maybe just the second ever simulcast
and certainly the first one we've done when we've been
on remote, so we are looking forward to that right
around for twenty Anything you might miss on this show,
go get on the iHeartRadio app. Also find on my
page at ESPN fifteen thirty dot com podcast of the
show our service of Long Neck Sports Grill with three

(38:11):
locations in northern Kentucky. No better place to post up
all spring and summer broadcasting on five to one Free
Day at the University of Cincinnati. The Pride of Elder
Joe Royer is going to join us when we come
back on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. You run
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Speaker 14 (38:31):
When a chance to win one thousand dollars enter this station?
Why Keward on our website fun? That's fun?

Speaker 1 (38:38):
Enter it now? Hey four four ESPN fifteen thirty on
my leger. Broadcasting is from the Lenders Center at the
University of Cincinnati. It is five to one free day.
You did not hear in that top of our update.
Breaking news, Keete Rose has been pulled off Baseball's ineligible
list along with shoeless Joe Jackson. That's a thing. That's
a thing that's happening. He's now eligible for the Hall

(38:59):
of Fame. We'll get to that coming up here in
just a bit. Broadcasting from UC for five to one
free day. Our best laid plans were to broadcast from
the UC Baseball Stadium. Because of the threat of rain,
we're not doing that, so we've moved inside to the
Lender Center, where we are joined by the Pride of
Elder and a guy who about a year from now
is going to be going through rookie mini camp in
the NFL. Joe Royer, what's going on?

Speaker 8 (39:21):
Hi?

Speaker 15 (39:22):
How you doing?

Speaker 1 (39:22):
I'm well, fifteen minutes early. You've had to sit here
with me.

Speaker 3 (39:26):
Thanks.

Speaker 1 (39:26):
No athlete time is typically not fifteen minutes early, So
thank you. What's going on?

Speaker 15 (39:32):
Not that much?

Speaker 5 (39:33):
We start up on Monday, Okay, I think that's the nineteenth.
Had a couple of weeks off, so I was down
in Florida for a week, just been hanging out, working out.

Speaker 1 (39:41):
Yeah, getting ready for your final college football season.

Speaker 9 (39:43):
Correct.

Speaker 1 (39:44):
What sort of emotions have come to mind when when
you hear that?

Speaker 5 (39:47):
Yeah, it's surreal. You know, it took a while to
get to where I'm at. So I just want to
you know, not take it for granted, live it up.
And I'm just I'm excited for the season to come around.

Speaker 8 (40:00):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (40:00):
I haven't really thought too much about it, but yeah,
this is my last one.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
All right. What's different about this team this year?

Speaker 5 (40:06):
Yeah, we added a bunch of great additions, you know,
starting on the offensive side, uh, you know, completely revamped
wide receiver room. You know, we got some playmakers over
there who will make you know, Brendan's job easy, my
job easier. Then we got ty Wie Walker running back.
Running backs room is going to be great. Evan Pryor's
hell of a player as well. And then obviously you

(40:28):
got Brendan, you know, great quarterback, great person. You know,
I wouldn't want to play for anybody else. Then our
oat line added some guys tearing Tyle. Then we just
got uh yeah, we got a couple other guys. I
think they'll get here in the summer. Then defensively, you know,
have a bunch of new edge rushers who will help
us because with the scheme we run, you know, it's

(40:49):
typically three down front and you gotta have some some
guys coming off the edge, and uh, that will help
Dante as well, so he's not getting double triple team
as well, So that would be great to see. And
then uh, you know, revamped a defensive back room as well.
I'm super excited about it.

Speaker 1 (41:03):
You talk about Brendan Sorosby and Scott Sadderfield and I
were talking about this before. It's what is sort of
a unique luxury in this day and age of college football,
which is continuity with the same quarterback. Yeah, same quarterback
and same go to a tight end. I would imagine
you have you both have to be really excited about that.

Speaker 5 (41:19):
Yeah, So with the way college football is nowadays, like
you said, you know, it's unfortunately it's kind of rare.

Speaker 15 (41:25):
To you know, play with the same guys.

Speaker 5 (41:27):
So yeah, I'm blessed at uh, Brendan and I get
to play together, you know, same coaching staff as well
for the most part, and I just think, you know,
we'll take another step this season and can only get better.

Speaker 1 (41:37):
When when the season ended the way it did last year,
it sets itself up for a longer offseason because you're
not preparing for a bowl game, and then you know
that taste in your mouth, It just it takes forever
to go away. I would imagine you guys who were
here last year are chomping at the bit to get going,
and yet we're still three and a half months away
from Yeah.

Speaker 5 (41:54):
Yeah, it's been it's been a long time. I felt
that way during winter workouts. I'm like, man, I can't
wait until we get the the spring ball so we
can actually play football again. And then, you know, summer's
honestly the longest part of the off season, just running
lifting every day. But I can't wait for camp, get
out the higher ground again, and yeah, just get the
season going.

Speaker 1 (42:13):
What things do you think you'll be able to do
offensively that maybe you couldn't do last year?

Speaker 16 (42:18):
Uh?

Speaker 5 (42:19):
I think from a receiving standpoint, you know, with some
of the guys we brought in, it was hard towards
the end of the season last year. I felt like
I was getting bracketed a lot. You know, there'd be
a guy up on me and a guy over top,
so it was hard for me to you know, get
open and get touches, and you know, had a receiver
room was pretty banged up as well. So with some
of these guys, that will make my job easier and

(42:41):
their job. You know, if you want to double cover someone,
we'll just throw it to that guy. Then if you
know that guy's going off or whatever and you want
to double cover him, we'll just throw it over here.
And that will make Brennan's job easier as well. So collectively,
just receiving I think will look totally different. I'm super
excited about it. And then from a running game aspect,
we got a Tawe. You know, he's kind of a

(43:01):
Cory Kinner guy, powerful downhill guy. And then we have
Evan Pryor coming out of the backfield. You know, you
can really do whatever with him. He's more like a
Scott backthrown stuff out in the flat check down and
you know he's got a great chance to score every
time we touched.

Speaker 1 (43:14):
Well, it feels like you guys will be more difficult
to prepare for.

Speaker 15 (43:18):
I agree.

Speaker 1 (43:19):
I would think, Sony, you bring in the tight end
room one of your former college teammates at Ohio State.

Speaker 5 (43:23):
Yeah, Patrick Patrick Gourd. I lived with him for a
year when I was up there, and you know, he's
one of my best friends. So excited to have him
down here. He'll compliment me in this offense. Well, when
we go twelve personnel. You know, he can do yn
h stuff on and off the ball, so he'll be
a great addition for us.

Speaker 1 (43:39):
I asked you this for part of one of the
pregame shows last year. When you're a tight end at
a place that has become known as tight end, you
that's pretty special.

Speaker 15 (43:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (43:47):
You know, there's a long list of a great tight
ends that we've had come through here, and you know,
I'm just glad to be a part of it.

Speaker 1 (43:53):
You decided to come back for one more season, that
you see, because you wanted to improve your draft stock.
Now we're wereld ways away from that, But did you
did you pay attention to the process a little bit
more closely this year with some of your former teammates
and just saw what they went through as they get
ready for the draft.

Speaker 15 (44:10):
Yeah, I was definitely.

Speaker 5 (44:11):
This was definitely the most kind of locked in I've
been on, you know, the process of everything and then
the draft itself. You know, guys are out in California
or Florida wherever, training for a couple of months and
they go off to the Combine, do all the interviews
and they had their pro day, more interviews and workouts
and then obviously the draft's kind of the last thing.
Then they report for mini camp. But yeah, just it's

(44:32):
been helpful for sure, having a bunch of friends, you know,
I've been getting drafted, just being able to talk with
them so I can kind of get a feel of,
you know, what it might look like.

Speaker 1 (44:39):
What do they tell you about the interviews, the questions
they get.

Speaker 5 (44:43):
Uh so it's really obviously they'll ask you about football,
you see what you know about the game and all
of that. But you know, I was talking with John Williams,
left tackle here last year and he was I forget
it might have been Green Bay where he ended up,
and he was saying, you know, they're just asking who
knows it was like anything? A bunch of crazy questions?
Is really kind of see how you responding.

Speaker 1 (45:04):
Answers nothing to do with no nothing. Yeah, had I prepared,
we could have done an interview like that. Well, I
just asked you a bunch of crazy stuff.

Speaker 5 (45:11):
Yeah, and uh some of the things, yeah, I probably
couldn't say on AIRA it was wild.

Speaker 1 (45:16):
Have you I mean, you came back because you wanted
to improve your draft stock. Have you gotten feedback? Hey,
here are the things we need to see from you
in your final season of college football as you prepare
for the National Football League.

Speaker 5 (45:27):
Yeah, I think the biggest thing for me is blocking.
I would say, you know, they want to see me
finish guys, you know, stay on blocks, longer finished plays.
And then from a receiving standpoint, you know, they just
went to trust that I can win and man when
it's you know, a dB on me, and then if
they put a backer, a bigger guy on me, you
know I can still win and get open and then.

Speaker 15 (45:48):
Just be because I agree.

Speaker 5 (45:51):
You know, at times, it was honestly my first year
really playing college football that many snaps covering with everything
that happened in my career at leading up to that point.
So there was times where you know, I still a
little hesitanting and you know, maybe not as confident as
you need to be. So I think have another year
would definitely help, and you know, I'll just be playing
more fluent and you know, not really thinking as well.

Speaker 1 (46:10):
Now you're getting ready for one more year of college football.
We're months away from fall camp. You have off season workouts,
but like, what how much downtime do you get?

Speaker 15 (46:19):
Yeah? Right now?

Speaker 5 (46:19):
So our last spring practice was I want to say
the twentieth maybe, yeah, of April, and you know that
following week we had just lifting one day through Thursday,
and then ever since then, we're just kind of been off.
You know, if you got in person exams or stuff,
you obviously got to stick around for that. But luckily

(46:40):
I didn't, and I was all online. So h yeah,
I went to Florida like the twenty fifth to like
May second or something, so I was there for a
little while. Then I've just been up here hanging out
and coming work out in the morning. And honestly, yeah,
I was talking to you a little bit about it
before we were on air. I really don't do too
well when we got all this time. You know, I'm

(47:00):
used to constantly doing something, so just trying to stay busy.

Speaker 15 (47:03):
Really.

Speaker 3 (47:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (47:04):
Uh the experience thrown at the first.

Speaker 15 (47:05):
Pitch, Yeah, that was awesome.

Speaker 5 (47:08):
I feel like that's damn near any Cincinnati peice.

Speaker 17 (47:12):
Uh.

Speaker 15 (47:13):
Yeah, it was funny.

Speaker 5 (47:14):
So before I went, Brendan Soresby and I we live
at the same apartment complex. We're just standing in the
grass outside.

Speaker 15 (47:20):
Just you know, throw it. I used to play baseball.
It was pretty good at it.

Speaker 5 (47:24):
But it's been a while since I threw it, and
obviously it doesn't really matter how good you are when
you get up there. Right, man, it looked like I
was Dante who caught it. Looked like he was a
thousand yards away. So, uh, just wanted to put a
good ball.

Speaker 1 (47:34):
So you're out there in the grass playing catch. Are
the neighbors like what are you guys doing?

Speaker 5 (47:39):
A couple of people like walked out and they're like,
you know, what's going on and what's the deal here
because Brendan and I are just tossing. We don't have
Brendan had a glove, but I didn't, so we're just tossing,
just catching them.

Speaker 1 (47:49):
You don't have a baseball club.

Speaker 5 (47:50):
I do, okay, not at my apartment, so I'm just
catching them base or bare handed.

Speaker 15 (47:54):
People are looking at us like.

Speaker 1 (47:56):
That looked like it was pretty cool. That was like
a thrill.

Speaker 15 (47:57):
Yeah, what are these two dudes doing?

Speaker 8 (48:00):
Well?

Speaker 1 (48:00):
Throwing at the first pitch was awesome. I cannot wait
for this fall. Whenever people talk about the upcoming season,
they mentioned two names, and you mentioned one of them,
Dante and Joe Royer both coming back, and you guys
at the foundation around which this team is built, so
I can't wait to see what you guys. Heaven Store
coming up in twenty twenty five. I can't thank you
enough for doing this.

Speaker 15 (48:18):
Yeah, thank you, thanks for having me on.

Speaker 1 (48:20):
Joe Royer, the Pride of Elder High School. Tight End
University of Cincinnati Here, tight End you. It's fourteen after
four o'clock. We're broadcasting from a UC. Today is part
of five to one three day. We'll spend some time
with the guys at Bearcat Journal. Next on ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 12 (48:39):
Join us for the ESPN fifteen thirty Heydrian Window, Orange
and Black schedule breakdown show.

Speaker 9 (48:46):
Hi, That's Smoke.

Speaker 12 (48:47):
Justice the Biggest sports Brains breaking down the schedule Tomorrow night,
beginning at six on ESPN fifteen thirty, The Official Hall
of the Bengals.

Speaker 1 (49:00):
One minutes after four o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty, My engineer,
producer Mike Mills and I are looking at each other
nervously because we've never done this before. We're simulcasting. We're
broadcasting from the Lender Center at U.

Speaker 11 (49:12):
See.

Speaker 1 (49:12):
By the way, Pete Rose has been removed from Baseball's
ineligible list, which boy that that uncovers a whole bunch
of different topics that we have to find time for
later on. But right now, I think, for the first
time ever, we're doing a remote simulcast. The guys at
Bearcat Journal dot com are going all day long at
part of five to one three day. And so I
see Chad, I see Aaron. Can they hear me?

Speaker 18 (49:35):
Can hear you can hear us?

Speaker 1 (49:37):
I can? I can hear you can? Can our audience
hear them?

Speaker 8 (49:41):
I hope?

Speaker 19 (49:41):
So?

Speaker 1 (49:41):
I hope?

Speaker 3 (49:42):
So well?

Speaker 1 (49:42):
Very good? Taren, can you hear Aaron and Chad?

Speaker 8 (49:48):
What up?

Speaker 7 (49:48):
Tered?

Speaker 1 (49:51):
Taren? You can hear him? Very I think we've accomplished this.
There's a little static that's probably more with my laptop
than anything else. I'm actually talking to two Mike phones,
one to those guys, one to our audience. How's it going, guys?

Speaker 10 (50:04):
Going good? We're on outward.

Speaker 16 (50:06):
We've been live for six hours, twenty three minutes and forty.

Speaker 10 (50:09):
Five seconds going.

Speaker 1 (50:10):
How long.

Speaker 10 (50:12):
We're going into probably ten o'clock.

Speaker 1 (50:14):
Wow.

Speaker 10 (50:14):
Hours.

Speaker 1 (50:15):
Unbelievable, unbelievable happy five to one three day. How's the
six hours going so far?

Speaker 10 (50:22):
It's been a it's been an adventure.

Speaker 18 (50:24):
We've had quite a few guests and it flies by.

Speaker 10 (50:30):
This is not the first time that we've done this.

Speaker 20 (50:31):
We did five and three day last year where we
had a similar situation, and then we did for our
our sabbath on to even get to one thousand subscribers,
we went fifteen hours.

Speaker 1 (50:42):
That was that was a real unbelievable. Well, what would
you guys like to talk about?

Speaker 16 (50:48):
Well as your radio like, that's what I'm kind of
wanting to ask you questions. Do you ask me questions
your radio show? But it's my live stream.

Speaker 1 (50:58):
Yeah, we do. We take her sure, we can take turns.

Speaker 16 (51:02):
You asked first, what was it like stealing Brett your
Mark from us?

Speaker 10 (51:08):
Right out under our feet?

Speaker 1 (51:09):
We had Brett your Mark instead of you guys.

Speaker 10 (51:12):
Yeah, it was our idea.

Speaker 16 (51:14):
Oh, we wanted to get Brett or mark and then
Snipe gave him to you instead.

Speaker 1 (51:21):
Sorry, it was fine, he was great. I didn't I
didn't know this. I was just asked, you guys want
Brett your mark, So if we've chucked we've chucked a
zach Stipe under the bus.

Speaker 3 (51:31):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (51:31):
He was. He was terrific. He was he was awesome,
he was he was wonderful. I feel bad that we
took him from.

Speaker 10 (51:39):
My money out of the Brett your Mark interview.

Speaker 16 (51:41):
Are you okay with me replaying it tomorrow on your
show when I host?

Speaker 1 (51:47):
You can do whatever you want. Yeah, you can do
whatever you want on the show tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (51:50):
I would.

Speaker 1 (51:51):
I would imagine there's gonna be a lot of regurgitation
from what you guys have done to tomorrow's show.

Speaker 3 (51:55):
Correct.

Speaker 10 (51:57):
Probably.

Speaker 16 (51:58):
Yeah, There's gonna be a lot to talk about them, though,
because you didn't talk about it today.

Speaker 1 (52:01):
Mm hmm, A lot you didn't.

Speaker 10 (52:04):
You didn't.

Speaker 16 (52:04):
I'm imagining You're not gonna get a whole lot of
Trey Hendrickson in today. I'm not going to get a
whole lot of heat in today, So I'll just come
in and talk about what you.

Speaker 1 (52:13):
Didn't, Okay, So you know, this could be my opportunity
to talk about both those things with you, right first
of all, the Trey hendricks thing, Trey Hendrickson thing, like,
there's gonna be ample opportunity this spring and summer to
talk about Trey Hendrickson, that thing that ain't going away.
If there was any any takeaway from today, it's this

(52:33):
is not going away. It was Trey telling the Bengals.
I'm going to be a distraction, and so this is
going to be a thing. You think it's annoying in may,
wait until August and maybe wait until September, and maybe
even wait until October.

Speaker 10 (52:48):
It's not gonna be fun. You're under contract, dude, go flight.

Speaker 1 (52:53):
Yeah, you know, I kind of feel the same. Like
I think that kind of gets lost in the sauce
here a little bit, Like we keep talking about with
the angles aren't doing and maybe what they should be doing,
Like Trey has a contract that he willingly signed less
than two years ago to keep playing for the for
the Bengals. Uh, and then there's the the Pete Rose
News today.

Speaker 18 (53:15):
Well, going back to the tray thing, I just wanted
to add the fact that he's already renegotiated once.

Speaker 10 (53:21):
Yes, this would be the second.

Speaker 18 (53:24):
Redn't negotiate a second time can be uncharted waters for them.
So to ask for a second contract while still technically
under your first contract having renegotiated, that's crazy.

Speaker 1 (53:35):
Well to me. The next layer in this is Joe
Burrow is supposed to talk on Tuesday of next week. Now,
he was supposed to talk today that that time ended
up being copped by Trey Hendrickson. So the next chapter
is when inevitably Joe Burrow has asked a thousand different
questions about Trey Hendrickson. And by the way, Joe was
at that practice today with Trey Hendrickson standing there looking
like a golfer, Joe could have come over at any

(53:58):
point put his arm around Trey and looked at all
the media and said, hey, they should sign this guy.
Like that would have changed things. I don't know what
today accomplished. I don't know. I certainly appreciate the content
mill continuing to turn. That's great, But I don't know
what Trey, like, did he get in his car today
and go, yeah, I'm closer to getting what I want

(54:18):
from the Cincinnati Bengals because I talked with the media
for twenty four minutes and kind of unloaded on the team, Like,
I don't. I don't know what got accomplished today.

Speaker 10 (54:29):
What didn't get accomplished?

Speaker 5 (54:30):
I don't.

Speaker 1 (54:31):
I don't know what got accomplished today.

Speaker 16 (54:34):
What didn't get accomplished today is Pete Rose is now
no longer on the ineligible.

Speaker 10 (54:39):
List for Major League Baseball. I had he Rose day tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (54:43):
Yeah, I think we all suspected that was going to
be the case like that. You know, we heard maybe
a week or so ago that Manford was said to
to mull it over. Well, I mean he's already moulded
over before. If you're going to mull it over to me,
you're gonna, you know, change her mind. He has I
And this is ostensibly what Pete Rose's family wants, and

(55:06):
so I'm happy for them. I think if you're a
Pete Rose die hard, if you're a Reds die hard,
is today joyous? I mean, the verbiage from the press
release made sense. He's no longer a threat to the
integrity of the game. It's a lifetime ban. Unfortunately, Pete's

(55:27):
lifetime is over. Everybody wants to know if this is
going to open the door for him to get into
the Hall of Fame. And I don't know the answer
to that. But I'm not the first person to use
this example. I watched Ron Santo in twenty twelve. It's
the same day Barry Larkin went in. Ron Santo went
in after he had passed. That wasn't joyous. I watched
Ken Riley go to Canton, or get into Canton. A

(55:47):
couple of years ago. Somebody who's candidacy we had talked
about a lot, somebody whose induction was overdue. His son
gave a beautiful speech. I thought that occasion was more
sad than joyous. Pete Rose going into the Hall of
Fame after he's long been gone is not for me
a moment of celebration. I could understand his family wanting it,

(56:09):
and I get that, and I certainly believe Pete should
have a place in the Hall of Fame. But the
key to any Hall of Fame induction is the induction.
If the inductee is not there, that's not fun, that's
not happy, and a Hall of Fame induction is supposed
to be happy.

Speaker 10 (56:27):
Fair enough, Any any questions for.

Speaker 1 (56:30):
Us, you know, I mean we we could, we could
cover what have you learned today from talking to all
the people you've talked to as part of five one
three day?

Speaker 16 (56:41):
A lot of really fun athletes that you see. You
had some really fun conversations already. Joe Royer was I
know he's on with you, he was just on with us.
Did he talk about his where where he's spending all
of his money?

Speaker 10 (56:56):
Money?

Speaker 1 (56:57):
No? I wouldn't felt comfortable asking that. What was spending his.

Speaker 10 (57:00):
Money MLB The Show starts stuff.

Speaker 16 (57:06):
Okay, he's buying He's buying players for his MLB the
Show team. Uh, Dante Corleon and bought a house. Joe
Royer bought Stubbs for MLB the Show.

Speaker 1 (57:16):
You know, to each their own. My guess is Joe
Royer is gonna have a lot of money to spend
on a lot of things. Yes, in a very short
amount of time. So this isn't a quick cash grab
for old Joe, nor is it, I think for Dante.
But we'll see.

Speaker 16 (57:31):
That is always one of the you know, especially you
get a chance. We talked to a couple of the
players from the women's volleyball team, from women's soccer, a
couple of the baseball guys gave us a great interview,
like we talked to the football and.

Speaker 10 (57:46):
Basketball teams all the time.

Speaker 16 (57:48):
Yeah, it's good to be able to u broaden the
horizons and and get to meet some of the other
great personalities from from around the building.

Speaker 1 (57:58):
Yeah, no doubt about it. It's it's uh, you're you're
right about that. I'll tell you one of the people
that I've enjoyed getting a chance to talk to and
we'll actually spend some time with her a little bit
later on. Is Daniella tomach Yeah almost. Yeah, She's fun
to talk to and I like talking to Jordan Bischel.
Jordan Bishell appreciates like a good technical baseball question, which

(58:19):
I like.

Speaker 16 (58:21):
And he's also he's got a good sense of humor
and it's very dry, which is my preferred sense of humor.

Speaker 1 (58:28):
Style, no question, all right, he could do this.

Speaker 10 (58:32):
He could do our jobs.

Speaker 1 (58:34):
Anybody could do this. Well, Uh, this has been We
have a clock did here too, as you well know.
So we have to go. Zach Grant, the GM for
the football program, is standing by, so I'm gonna say
go out to you guys and go talk to him.
But thank you for doing this. Has been fun.

Speaker 16 (58:51):
This has been fun. We should do this again sometime.
You're talking to me in different locations.

Speaker 1 (58:56):
I don't know how we did this technically, but we
pulled it off.

Speaker 10 (59:00):
Mike Mails is a rock star.

Speaker 1 (59:02):
There's no question about that. All right, man, you guys
enjoy two o'clock tonight.

Speaker 10 (59:07):
Ten o'clock tonight. You can come back later if you want.
You have the link, maybe I will. I'll love you.
Mofy here all right, see.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
You guys, say brother, I Grant, the football GM is
with us. Next. We're broadcasting from the Lender Center at
the University of Cincinnati. It's five to one, three day
on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 9 (59:25):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 7 (59:30):
Traffic from the UCE Health Traffic Center. You see health
as Expert Trauma tear focusing on prevention, treating injuries, and
supporting long term recovery and rehabilitation or more at u
sehealth dot com. Not heavy delays from an accident westbound
on Ronald Reagan Highway approaching Hamilton. That's got the right

(59:50):
lane blocked off. Traffic is stop and go from seventy
five up to a thirty minute delay as a result.
On southbound seventy one seventy five at Turfway on the
right shoulder on that. He's sound like with traffic.

Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
This report is going from five o'clock. This is ESDN
fifteen to thirty. Mol Wegger broadcasting from the Littener Center
at UC. It's five to one three day. The general
manager of the UC football program, Zach Grant, with us
here for a few minutes. I said this to Scott
Saderfield earlier. I come here in the fall, I come
here early in the winter, and you guys look war out.

(01:00:24):
You guys look fresh at may Man, well rested.

Speaker 17 (01:00:28):
Right, Yeah, Well, this is a period of time now
where the coaches are on the road. They're probably a
little less rested than we are. Yeah. You know, April
with the spring portal window, was a bit of a grind,
a lot of nervous nights trying to make sure we
kept our team intact during that time. But now we
get into a normal routine. We got four weeks here

(01:00:51):
in May leading right up tomorrow day where our coaches
are on the road evaluating the twenty six and twenty
seven class.

Speaker 1 (01:00:57):
All right, let's talk about the offseason work by you
and your staff. What do you like most about your additions.

Speaker 17 (01:01:03):
I think it was a well rounded off season compared
to the previous two. I felt like we had fewer
holes to fill, and we're kind of more calculated in
our approach, where, you know, we wanted to get revamped
kind of the playmakers on offense. We needed to replace
some very good players on the offensive line, and then

(01:01:27):
just enhance the overall team size and speed on defense
and you know, comparing it to the previous offseason, where
it felt like we needed to overhaul things, this was
more of like, all right, we feel like we have
a talented team, let's keep it in place, and then
from there, you know, let's add some players that are
going to make an impact. So I don't want to

(01:01:49):
use the word easy. It was just different because we're
you know, looking at it from more of a play
an advantageous place rather than more of an overall.

Speaker 1 (01:01:58):
Give me something. If there is anything that the average
college football fan doesn't understand about roster construction in this
day and age in the sport.

Speaker 15 (01:02:09):
That's a good question.

Speaker 17 (01:02:13):
The way we look at it, you know, which probably
differs from the overall fan is, you know, we are
truly trying to find the right body types with the
right traits that can be developed. And when I say that,
I'm talking about out of high school and then using

(01:02:35):
that in the mindset of the draft, you know, we
want as many picks as possible to get the right
body types or the right traits that we're going to
develop and trying to be cost efficient in that area too.
And then when we hit the portal, we're looking to
where do we need to make the team as competitive
as we can to win a Big twelve championship for

(01:02:57):
that season and the couple seasons beyond that. When you
look at multi year guys, I guess to answer your
question more specifically with a certain example. Yeah, you know,
right now, with the house case starting to you know,
it looks like it's going to be passed in the
next couple couple of weeks, college football is no longer

(01:03:22):
a head count sport with the scholarships. It's an equivalency sport.
So to the normal fan that might not mean anything.
But now you have a roster limit and there's obviously
a question about that with the judge. We'll see what
she says, but they're going to institute a roster limit
of some sort, but they can all be on scholarship.

(01:03:42):
So each team now has the decision to make Like
you know, we used to deal with just eighty five scholarships.
Any kid on scholarship on the team was on a
full scholarship. Right now, if we have a guy who
has only six credits that they need to graduate in
the fall, his scholarship is going to go from counting
as a full to you know, in our books, it's

(01:04:04):
like seventy five percent, and so we can squeeze that
number of scholarship players from eighty five to you know,
ninety ninety one ninety two, So the idea of your
roster numbers change a little bit. So that's added a
little wrinkle in.

Speaker 3 (01:04:19):
The last year.

Speaker 17 (01:04:21):
Kind of under the radar from the fan perspective, where
you know, you look on Twitter, you just kind of
see money. That's all everyone talks about. Yeah, there is
a little bit more to it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:30):
And I guess that was my question because I think
people focus on, well, you know, to replace this guy,
it's going to cost this, or they could have kept
this guy but they didn't because he costs that. And
I think there's more nuance to it.

Speaker 17 (01:04:43):
Yeah, there certainly is. I think what I'm learning and
I think what everyone in college football is learning as
we go through the months, in the years, in the
short term now is every situation is different from year
to year, player to player, every situation unique, just because
things are revolving and adapting at such a fast pace.

(01:05:05):
You can't even look at the market trends of last
offseason because everyone in college football had more money this year, right,
But beyond that each player situation is different based on
who is influencing them, what agents they have, what their
mentality is, and what their goals are, whether that's short
term focus or long term focused. You know, you might

(01:05:26):
we always want long term focused players, like we're going
to help develop you to the NFL and in your
life beyond football. But some players are really talented and
care about one year. If they can get them to
buy into the team, it's still worthy of that player
and their skills and using them. So that just kind

(01:05:47):
of adds when I say to a case by case, yes,
it's truly. We need to adapt to every type of scenario.

Speaker 1 (01:05:53):
There's two portal windows. There was the spring, which opens up,
you know pretty much right when spring ball is coming
to an end. Do you approach that maybe with a
little bit more specific position groups in mind, sort of
a shopping list where you go, we need this guy
on defense, we need a player who could do this
on offense. Maybe need a specialist that sort of thing,

(01:06:15):
or are you just looking for guys that could play
regardless of position.

Speaker 21 (01:06:19):
Yeah, a little bit of both.

Speaker 17 (01:06:21):
It starts with we evaluate our roster at the end
of spring ball and look at what specific positions. We
need to put ourselves in a position to be as
good as we can be the next year, right, I
guess that's probably step number two. Step number one is
keeping our team intact. This year it was a little

(01:06:43):
different than years past, where the house case hadn't been
passed and a lot of money that does encounter towards
a salary cap was being thrown around around college football,
which made us a little more nervous about whether we
could or could not keep some of our guys. And thankfully,
I think the relationships that our coaches have with the
players played a huge part. When we get into a
few of those conversations, they do want to stay here.

(01:07:07):
It's not just about the money. So we're able to
keep it together. And if it's not for those genuine relationships,
then you know, things can go left or right.

Speaker 21 (01:07:20):
So that's number one.

Speaker 17 (01:07:21):
Number two is the specific position but always and the
third thing is any avenue at which we can improve
the football team, especially along the lines of scrimmage, We're
going to do that.

Speaker 15 (01:07:32):
Right.

Speaker 17 (01:07:33):
So, we have a theory in our recruiting office. It's
from Bill Parcells, but it's called the planet theory, and
simply there just aren't a lot of big humans walking
the earth that are athletic enough to play football, right,
So if you think of it in that lens, like
we need to have as many of those big humans
as possible if we're going to try to be a big,

(01:07:54):
physical football team.

Speaker 15 (01:07:55):
Right.

Speaker 17 (01:07:57):
So the spring portal we look at as another opportunity
to acquire some of those pieces. You know, last off
season we did that with Cam Rutherford. This offseason in
the spring portal, we did it with Elijah Gunn from
SIU three year nose tackle. So you know, we're always
going to take that opportunity. But it does start with, all, right,
what specific positions do we need to be as successful

(01:08:19):
as possible, what resources do we have, and what's available
to make that happen.

Speaker 1 (01:08:23):
Of all the different things that have happened to college sports,
the proliferation of people who have your job is to
me what is most interesting. So I was gonna kick
out of getting a chance to talk to you. Enjoy
the off season, I mean, you'll be really busy and
hopefully we catch up once fall practice begins.

Speaker 17 (01:08:40):
Absolutely, I appreciate It's always a pleasure. Go Bearcats.

Speaker 3 (01:08:43):
There you go.

Speaker 1 (01:08:43):
Zach Rand, general manager, of the UC football program. We're
broadcasting from the Lender Center on five to one three day.
It's seventeen from five o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 9 (01:08:54):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 7 (01:08:59):
Traffic from the UCE Health Traffic Center. You see health
as expert trauma tear focusing on prevention, treating injuries, and
supporting long term recovery and rehabilitation. Earn more at ucehealth
dot com. Getting reports of police activity along westbound two
seventy five at the Hamilton Avenue. That's got traffic backed

(01:09:19):
up the Springfield Pike with a thirty minute delay at
the moment. Moro Conzadale Road, it's an accident in your Ludlum.
That is a single vehicle crash off the side of
the road. I'm at Ezelik with traffic mis.

Speaker 1 (01:09:31):
Report PSPN fifteen to thirty monegg or five one three
day at the University of Cincinnati. The of the folks
that you see have been kind enough to let us
broadcast from just inside the Lindner Center. The director of Athletics,
John Cunningham, is with us. Here's my first question, So
as you sat down with me, you're watching Ryan Ford
compete in the NCAA Individual Men's golf tournament. Core how

(01:09:54):
many days a year are you not paying attention to
a UC sporting event in some way, shape or form.

Speaker 22 (01:10:00):
Boy, there's there's a couple of days in July I
think where it doesn't it doesn't happen, and I'm hoping
we have a run in baseball that gets us gets
us well into June. So yeah, you know, it's it's
it's a lifestyle. We talked about that all the time
in my household, and my wife and my kids are
fantastic being along with you know, for the ride with

(01:10:22):
me and going to a lot of different things and
tracking on things, and you know, they're huge Reds fans,
and so we got the Fubuu package and the whole
thing to make sure we could watch it all. But
they haven't been watching the Reds games because they've been
locked in on the bark At baseball games, which you know,
on on ESPN Plus is so much fun to watch.
And we watch soccer on ESPN Plus and volleyball and

(01:10:42):
all kinds of things, so we were definitely tuned in
on that station.

Speaker 1 (01:10:46):
It has been kind of cool to watch baseball and
you know, I think ten fifteen years ago that wasn't
a possibility.

Speaker 21 (01:10:51):
Yeah, it's amazing.

Speaker 22 (01:10:52):
And then I you know, I think we've watched a
lot of production this year, you know, on road games,
and I think our production here at Cincinnati is the
best that I've seen.

Speaker 21 (01:11:03):
I mean a multi camera. The crew that does the.

Speaker 22 (01:11:06):
Games are phenomenal and just you know, they have a
lot of fun with it. But I think a lot
a big shout out to Trevor Tole and his group
in our in our production unit, I think we put
out great content. And it's a collaboration and cool collaboration
with CCM, which involves students that you see, not athletics students,
but just students that you see that are learning to

(01:11:27):
you know.

Speaker 21 (01:11:28):
Produce high level sporting events.

Speaker 22 (01:11:30):
So we're putting them out in the market now and
it's really kind of a cool thing that we need
to probably promote more so.

Speaker 1 (01:11:36):
Five to one three day, right is a huge day
for the University of Cincinnati, for the athletics department. And
the subtext of it is the house settlement. So here's
what I need you to do. Because I hear about
the house settlement and I was following some court stuff
on Twitter, and I just I stopped. It didn't make
any sense to me.

Speaker 21 (01:11:55):
You went to screensaver, I did.

Speaker 1 (01:11:57):
Yeah, like I'm nine years old. Explained to me the
House Settlement what it means for college sports specifically here
what you see.

Speaker 22 (01:12:03):
Boy, complicated, complicated topic to talk to a nine year
old about, but I'm gonna give it a shot.

Speaker 21 (01:12:09):
Essentially, it's a settlement between the.

Speaker 22 (01:12:12):
Four conferences, five Power or four Power conferences and the
student athletes.

Speaker 21 (01:12:18):
And it has two elements.

Speaker 22 (01:12:20):
One is back damages that were paying to student athletes
from the past who did not get a chance to
earn nil when they were a student athlete. So it
goes back to twenty sixteen is as far back as
it goes. And so there's back damages of approximately a
million dollars a year for ten years for each school
in the Power five.

Speaker 21 (01:12:40):
That's one part of it.

Speaker 22 (01:12:41):
The second part of it is what they call injunctive relief,
which is the go forward piece, and that's to try
to get some structure around college athletics. And the idea
is that you're going to create a salary cap just
like you have in professional sports. And so the salary
cap win House passes, I truly believe it will soon.
It hasn't passed yet, but when it passes, this cap
for next year will be approximately twenty million dollars and

(01:13:03):
every school around the country will have that as a
sary cap for all of their sports. And then within
that twenty million, every school makes a decision on how
you're going to distribute that, and you're going to do
individual nil name, image and likeness deals with your student athletes.
So you'll do all these individual contracts and that's how
you'll you'll compensate student athletes going forward. And then hopefully

(01:13:24):
if you do it right, the cap has some parameters
and rules around it, so you can't subvert the cap,
you can't go outside the cap, and you have some
real understanding of the game being played and everybody's on
the even playing field.

Speaker 1 (01:13:36):
So this feels like it's going to happen. Yes, this
is going to happen. Can I give you like the
one thing I don't like about it?

Speaker 15 (01:13:42):
Please?

Speaker 1 (01:13:44):
You're a public institution. Weirdos are going to look up
how much each player is making and have that information
at their disposal.

Speaker 4 (01:13:51):
I don't love that.

Speaker 22 (01:13:53):
They'll love it either, you know, we we have to
put some things around our student athlete experience that we
haven't had in the past. We have to put some
real financial education mm hmm. We've got to talk to
them like they are professional athletes in this town, and
that means that they've got to be aware of their surroundings.
They've got to be aware of those people that might
try to take advantage of them. The good thing is

(01:14:13):
they're in our building every day and we have we
have some potential to put some really good education pieces
around him and put some really good people around him
that can kind of protect them a little bit. So
we're gonna have to do that more than we ever.

Speaker 3 (01:14:25):
Have in the past.

Speaker 22 (01:14:25):
So it's it's gonna be a different experience, uh, for
those sports that are receiving nil. We think that we'll
have five sports that will receive it. It's going to
be slightly different experience than than what we've had in
the past.

Speaker 21 (01:14:37):
But we've got to adapt and we've got to change.

Speaker 22 (01:14:39):
And this is the new world and we still have
something so special with college athletics to protect and so,
you know, we feel like if we put rules around
this and get some parameters that it's gonna it's gonna
be better for everybody.

Speaker 23 (01:14:51):
All right.

Speaker 1 (01:14:51):
That makes me feel better because I know how we
talk about professional athletes and if a guy has a
bad game, I get the call, well so and so
is making nine million a year, And I just I
don't want an athlete in any school that has a
poor performance where we can look up what they're making
and now it's it's not that they had a bad game.
It's had a bad game and they're making X y Z.

Speaker 15 (01:15:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 22 (01:15:12):
Yeah, I mean we again, we we have to we
have to be aware that a little bit of that
will happen. We've got to educate our student athletes. We
have to have to educate our fans that these are
still eighteen to test two year olds. Yes they are,
and yes, and you know, we appreciate everything they do
and they bring value to the university, but they're still
young people that are still learning how to deal with
all these things and they're going to enter into a

(01:15:32):
really adult world, and so we've got to help them
get there.

Speaker 1 (01:15:36):
I got like two minutes here, five to one, three
day and it's significance to U se as.

Speaker 3 (01:15:41):
What yeah to me?

Speaker 22 (01:15:42):
I mean, it's the city, right, We wear the city's
name across our chest.

Speaker 21 (01:15:46):
We're really proud of that.

Speaker 22 (01:15:47):
We know that there's you know, almost everybody that's been
in this city for any period of time has a
connection to U see, and so we just feel that
we we represent that. We you know, we drive the
brand of UC through athletics, and so for us five
one three days a chance to celebrate Cincinnati, obviously, but
then also a chance to look at our athletics department

(01:16:07):
and say where where do we need to improve and
how can we improve? And one of the ways that
we can improve is just getting the masses. We have
three hundred and fifty thousand alumni and a lot of
them live in Cincinnati, are close to Cincinnati. How can
we get the masses to recognize the importance of athletics
and what it does for the university and to give
a little bit. Right, if everybody gives a little bit,
we can be really successful. We're going to have to

(01:16:29):
fundraise into that twenty million, and so we've started what
we call the Impact Fund, and today would be a
great day to give to that Impact Fund. You get bonus,
you catch points and all those good things, but really
it's just recognizing the importance of college athletics, the importance
of UC to this city.

Speaker 1 (01:16:47):
Whenever we ask you join us, I can't thank you enough.

Speaker 22 (01:16:51):
Well, it's great to have you guys here. You guys
are remarkable, and so we're happy we're to do it.
And I'm excited about all the guests you have because
there's great people in this building and you get to
talk to quite a few of them today.

Speaker 21 (01:17:04):
So thanks for this setup.

Speaker 22 (01:17:05):
I wish we were out at a baseball game, but
we've got next year baseball game this weekend, YEP, three
of them, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, So let's get everybody out
to those games.

Speaker 21 (01:17:14):
Impacked the house for the Bearcats baseball.

Speaker 1 (01:17:15):
Yeah, with a team that's playing for an NCAA tournament.
Berth the director of Athletics, John Cunningham, I appreciate the time.
Thank you so much. Brendanman and Jones on Baseball's.

Speaker 14 (01:17:23):
Next fifty entered this nationwide keyword on our website. Check
that's the chack enter it now?

Speaker 1 (01:17:33):
All right, six after five ESPN fifteen thirties. We are
moving right along.

Speaker 8 (01:17:37):
I'll ball edgard.

Speaker 1 (01:17:38):
Thank you so much for joining us. We have had
a blast today broadcasting from the University of Cincinnati. It's
a five to one three day on a busy day
for sports here in town. Five to one three day
celebrated all throughout the course of the city, but a
special day for UC athletics. And we've been here since
three o'clock. Our original plan we're going to broadcast in

(01:17:59):
the Baseball Stadium. There was going to be a game
at six, and we were going to do our show
from three to six, and then weather was iffy, so
we moved it inside. We're inside here at the Linder Center.
We've been joined by a slew of guests and that
continues here at the top of the hour with the
I was gonna say new, but this is our third
appearance on the show. Volleyball Coach here at UC. Danielle toomach,

(01:18:19):
what's good to have you.

Speaker 24 (01:18:20):
Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:18:22):
We've done a recorded interview that I brought my phone
in and then we did a phone interview and now
like I sit down here in person covering all our bases.

Speaker 24 (01:18:31):
I appreciate it.

Speaker 25 (01:18:32):
Anytime I can be out and promote our volleyball program
and University of Cincinnati, I'm all for it.

Speaker 1 (01:18:40):
Yeah, no question. The last five months I guess or
four months has been a whirlwin. I'm sure for you,
what's it been like?

Speaker 24 (01:18:49):
Exciting and frustrating.

Speaker 25 (01:18:52):
Sometimes it's not fun to come back to my new
apartment in an empty apartment with no furniture because I
didn't have a time to you do a full move.
I do, I know, I know, but I was, you know, moving.
I had a furniture in Valling Green. So anyway, it's
been it's been fun. A lot of first you know,
this is my also first five one, three days. It's

(01:19:16):
I always think, you know, the older we get, the
less of those first ones in life we have, and
I had a lot of first ones.

Speaker 24 (01:19:23):
So it's been good. I feel good about.

Speaker 25 (01:19:25):
The last four months. I moved here in January. A
great four months in the gym with the new team,
getting to know the players, we get better, we are
establishing a culture of excellence and get Today our team
GPA and I was very pleased with the strong finish

(01:19:46):
academically with three point seven three.

Speaker 1 (01:19:48):
Teams three GPS. Yes, that's not something I can relate to.

Speaker 25 (01:19:53):
Well, you know that's why you you we teach a
an excellence not just on volleyball core but in every aspect.

Speaker 24 (01:20:01):
So that's why you're not on a volleyball program.

Speaker 1 (01:20:05):
That's why, that's why I would do this for a living.

Speaker 8 (01:20:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 25 (01:20:07):
Yeah, So anyway, it's it's been good, exciting, learning a lot,
learning a lot about Cincinnati and athletics, this department, and
getting to know people.

Speaker 24 (01:20:18):
So all good.

Speaker 1 (01:20:20):
What are those first few moments like when when you
walk into the gym with your players that you're inheriting.
You have to learn about them, they have to learn
about you. A game is months away, so what are
those what are those times like?

Speaker 25 (01:20:35):
That's actually my favorite part. It's it's relationships, getting to
know our young women and uh, outside of just volleyball court,
you know. I mean, I've done this job for a
long time. It's it's my natural habitat, as you would say,
being in the gym and coaching volleyball, but getting to
know our student athletes at a deeper level, you know,

(01:20:56):
not just talking about how we can make them better
as an outside hitter or a defense is specialist.

Speaker 4 (01:21:03):
But just what do they like?

Speaker 24 (01:21:04):
Who are they?

Speaker 25 (01:21:05):
You know, what drives them, what's important to them, what's
their family like, their dreams, their aspirations. I see us
coaches as people who just guide our athletes, like you
got to know what they want and how can we
help them accomplish those dreams and goals, but within the

(01:21:26):
concept of a team too. So it's been actually my
favorite part getting to know our players and seeing them improve.
That's another thing. When you see those aha moments for
them in the gym and how much closer we got
as a team. I think that that was another big
positive thing that came out of this spring.

Speaker 1 (01:21:47):
You're obviously months away from from playing a match. The
season tickets are on sale right now, but this isn't
exactly a downtime for you. So we were talking off
air the transfer portal, so just maybe kind of walk
us through what the next three months are going to
be like as we turn the page from this academic
year to the next.

Speaker 24 (01:22:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 25 (01:22:06):
So most of our players are now home summer here around.
They're locals, so we see them from time to time.
They're still we always tell them, you know, take a
little break, but making sure when they come back at
the beginning of June that we are not starting from scratch,
like they've done a great work and when it comes
to strength and conditioning and we just want to build

(01:22:28):
on that. You know, I don't believe in maintenance. To me,
it's like you're getting better, you're getting worse. So it's
not like let's maintain what we have the gains that
we had this spring. For US coaches, it's a lot
of planning for the fall recruiting. I was just telling
you we are still completing. We need to add a
couple of pieces for this fall roster. So we had

(01:22:51):
some visits the last few weeks. The portal opened for
us on May first and it goes through May fifteenth,
but we have a couple more visits scheduled and hopefully
we will have our roster completed soon summer camps. Planning
for that, I think it's important for us also to
be visible in the community to recruit young young Bearcats

(01:23:14):
and grow the game also in our community. And we
will take some time also to sharpen our so you know,
we need to be as a coach is ready and
rested to come back in August. The season is the
time is just flying. But I personally, I'm going home

(01:23:36):
to Croatia to visit my family for a few weeks.
My mom still lives there and my sister, so it's
important to me to stay connected with them, and when
I feel good, my team also, I'm better for my team.
So I'm gonna get a little bit of time there
because I this is the first time in many years
I haven't had any break because of this change. Just

(01:23:59):
had a long season last four and coming here transitioning
to transitioning. Yeah so, but it's a lot of again recruiting.
You you mentioned, you know, it's not that we only
now recruit incoming players, but we have to continue to
recruit our current players. It would be nice if you
don't have to compose a new roster every year, you know.

(01:24:20):
So that's the plan, and uh so, a lot of
a lot of fun stuff for US coaches.

Speaker 1 (01:24:26):
All right, I speaking of downtime, I want to ask
you kind of a dumb question.

Speaker 24 (01:24:30):
Okay, there are no dumb question.

Speaker 1 (01:24:31):
So there's a lot of dumb questions. And that's that's
what I'm good and.

Speaker 24 (01:24:33):
Only them answers.

Speaker 1 (01:24:34):
I was. I was at a large party on Saturday, right,
lots of people, lots of kids. Volleyball net goes up.
When you're in that situation. What happens like sit on
the sideline, I'm not gonna play, I'm gonna play. I'm
gonna start coaching the players. How does this work?

Speaker 24 (01:24:52):
Are you asking me what you should do?

Speaker 5 (01:24:54):
Or no?

Speaker 1 (01:24:54):
I know what I did. I stood there and watched
all the kids play volleyball. What does someone like yourself do?

Speaker 25 (01:25:00):
I just watched them play. No, No, you're not gonna No.

Speaker 1 (01:25:05):
You don't have to show everybody how good you are.

Speaker 24 (01:25:09):
No, not anymore.

Speaker 25 (01:25:10):
You know, my players think I have never played volleyball.
That's when you you know, they have the internet.

Speaker 24 (01:25:16):
Well, you know, and I played. There was no YouTube.
So if there's nothing on YouTube, like it didn't happen, right.

Speaker 1 (01:25:21):
That's the school's website has your bio.

Speaker 24 (01:25:23):
I mean you know, I know, but it's still you know,
no video. It didn't exist.

Speaker 1 (01:25:27):
So the volleyball goes up. The volleyball and that goes up.
You're at a party, and you're just gonna sit there
and watch.

Speaker 25 (01:25:33):
If somebody asked me if they want my help, I
will have to be also, you know, very careful that
I don't get into my coaching mode and like the
kids who I've never met before, like you know, you
just don't go jump in.

Speaker 1 (01:25:49):
Well where I was, the kids could have used some guidance.
And it came from me and that didn't go well.

Speaker 25 (01:25:54):
So in that so what did you tell them? I'm
curious what did you tell them? What was your guidance?
What was your coach? I can get with this part
of your hand, with.

Speaker 24 (01:26:00):
The heel of your hand, Yeah, like hitting or serving?

Speaker 1 (01:26:04):
Serving? Serving?

Speaker 24 (01:26:05):
Okay, that's pretty good, it's not bad. Did you tell
them open your hand.

Speaker 1 (01:26:08):
Open your hand kind of well, it's been a while
since I played volleyball and gym class, but yeah, it
was serve up here.

Speaker 25 (01:26:17):
And then did you tell them to look at a
ball when they're serving? Because you would be surprised how
many kids do not look at a ball.

Speaker 1 (01:26:25):
What they do?

Speaker 24 (01:26:26):
I don't know.

Speaker 25 (01:26:27):
I actually had college players who told me they were
not looking at the ball when they were serving, and that.

Speaker 1 (01:26:32):
Was on those players. Aren't here, are they?

Speaker 25 (01:26:36):
I'm not going to say, but I do ask, now,
if somebody is having hard time connecting with the ball consistently,
I asked them, hey, pay attention on the next strap
if you're looking at the ball, okay, because they kind
of look in the space, all right.

Speaker 24 (01:26:49):
So I just hope you're not going to be the
last coach to those kids.

Speaker 3 (01:26:53):
Your coach this Saturday.

Speaker 1 (01:26:54):
Well, let's hope. Let's hope for their sake. I am,
I am not. Most of them were looking at me like, yeah,
you know what you're doing there. But I was just
I was when I was doing that this week, and
I knew I was going to talk to you. I
was just wondering in a situation like that, if you
felt the need to teach a few things.

Speaker 25 (01:27:11):
It depends again, if I new kids and they would
ask me, maybe I would if I if I saw
something like, really really, I'm thinking, what would be I
don't know, serving with a fist, right, I would say, hey,
try just try to see how you do it, like
make it the big hand like a pedal, and also
see what happens. I might tell them that, okay, you know,

(01:27:33):
I don't know. I would probably have that urge as
a coach, But then I would need to talk to
myself a lot and say, just let the kids play
like they don't need coach and they don't need our
adults to always be involved.

Speaker 1 (01:27:44):
If I know, to the same gathering next year, I'm
inviting you with me, and I'm gonna say hey, instead
of me having to show you how to play, volleyball.
We've got a high end Big twelve coach here, a
MAC Coach of the Year. Somebody who knows what they're
doing is going to show you.

Speaker 25 (01:27:58):
Only if those kids request my pre and so all come.

Speaker 1 (01:28:01):
If I request your presence, They're not gonna have a choice.

Speaker 25 (01:28:05):
We need to give them a choice. It's important that
the kids have a choice.

Speaker 1 (01:28:09):
This area is good for volleyball thought. It's a youth level.

Speaker 25 (01:28:13):
It is a lot of schools, a lot of good clubs.
I know you and I talked. I think the first
time we spoke just the importance of our presence and
developing relationships and working hard to keeping the best local
talent here. You know, when somebody is good, all the
coaches in the nation are gonna come and try to
recruit you. But I always our goal is first of all,

(01:28:34):
they're gonna hear from Cincinnati. They're gonna know that we
want them here. And I feel good everybody. I'm gonna
share this. We had a hundred We have one hundred
percent success right. All the kids who came to visit
our campus committed.

Speaker 3 (01:28:48):
Wow.

Speaker 24 (01:28:48):
So and the feedback we are.

Speaker 25 (01:28:51):
Getting from families and from recruits is they're just blown
away when they come and they see the facilities and
the beauty of this campus and the city because they
don't know. You know, you can watch the videos, but
you don't really.

Speaker 24 (01:29:05):
Get a good view of how.

Speaker 25 (01:29:07):
Close our athletics facilities are. And then the city of
Cincinnati is just beautiful. So our goal is just can
we get families on campus. We feel good about our
chances of getting yesses to those that we offer to
join our program.

Speaker 1 (01:29:26):
Hopefully more yes is hopefully yeah, hopefully hopefully.

Speaker 25 (01:29:31):
That's why it's important, you know, summer camps, getting kids
and families here and starting them early and just exposing them.

Speaker 1 (01:29:37):
You're to come help, you have to offer. You want
me to come help out at the summer camp.

Speaker 24 (01:29:41):
Let's talk, let's talk. Let's see.

Speaker 1 (01:29:42):
I don't know.

Speaker 24 (01:29:43):
I'll have to check a little bit more your your
volleyball knowledge.

Speaker 1 (01:29:46):
No, you just checked. You heard it all. So thank
you for doing this as always, thank.

Speaker 25 (01:29:51):
You, thank you for having us, having me here, and
I hope I just want to encourage everybody who is
listening to come come and check out our team. I
think you'll be First of all, you love the game.
It's exciting, and I always say it's very different. When
you watch it on a video, you don't hear the
sound of that ball and when it's hit, when it served,
when you know our players hit the floor to big

(01:30:13):
a ball, it's very athletic, very powerful and exciting. It's
it's still a very It's a team sport, a team
that's that you feel good teams. So if you're going to
win on volleyball, you have to play as a team.
So come and check us out. We are selling season tickets,
single game tickets, and if you absolutely don't love it,
I will refund you personally. That's how much I believe

(01:30:34):
that if you come to check Cincinnati Volleyball and our team,
that you're gonna love it. If not, my email is
on the website, contact me and I'll refund you personally.

Speaker 1 (01:30:45):
That's a heck of a gear.

Speaker 24 (01:30:47):
It's a great Yeah, it's a great deal.

Speaker 1 (01:30:48):
Thank you so much for doing that.

Speaker 24 (01:30:50):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:30:50):
Danielle A. Toomuch, the volleyball coach. Here at the University
of Cincinnati. Five one, three day broadcasting from the Lender Center.
It is nineteen after five on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 6 (01:31:01):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from the UCE.

Speaker 7 (01:31:06):
Health Traffic Center. You see health as expert trauma care
focusing on prevention, treating injuries, and supporting long term recovery
and rehabilitation. Earn more at u sehealth dot com. Northbound
seventy five, it's the right lane blocked from an accident
after Norwood Lateral. He's found two seventy five. Another accident
at the double A Highway that's got traffic moving slow

(01:31:28):
from Madison Pike with a seven minute delay, and eastbound
Highway sixty three accident at Corridor Park Drive. I'm at
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Speaker 14 (01:31:37):
This report is sponsored by and on the free new
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Speaker 9 (01:31:43):
ESPN fifteen thirty, twenty.

Speaker 1 (01:31:46):
Three minutes after a five o'clock This is ESPN fifteen
thirty on Bowagger. It has been a busy day between
pin Rose off the ineligible list, Trey Hendrickson making himself available,
all of our stuff here five to one, three days.
You see tonight or tomorrow night, I should say FC
Cincinnati is on the road against Toronto. If it was tonight,

(01:32:07):
I doubt we'd be joined by our next guest because
he just touched down in Canada, FC Cincinnati and Toronto.
Ross Smith has the call along with a Tony husband
on MLS Season Pass Apple TV and kind enough to
join us for the first time in over a year. Ross,
It's good to have you. I assume you've traveled safely.
Thank you for joining us. How are you?

Speaker 19 (01:32:27):
Thank you?

Speaker 7 (01:32:27):
Mom?

Speaker 19 (01:32:28):
Yeah, I can't believe it's been just about over a
year since we last chatted.

Speaker 11 (01:32:32):
I'm doing well. I'm doing all day.

Speaker 10 (01:32:33):
Next to have a midweek.

Speaker 1 (01:32:34):
Game, it is, it is a FC Cincinnati has kind
of been in this pattern of playing every Saturday after
a whole slew of games because of the Conka CAF
champions Cup to start the season. Your first FC Cincinnati
game this season, if I'm not mistaken. So what are
you looking forward to learning about the Orange and Blue
tomorrow night? Yeah?

Speaker 8 (01:32:55):
You know what?

Speaker 3 (01:32:55):
Well?

Speaker 19 (01:32:55):
I did cover Cincinnati when they went to Nashville and
a Vanderskifore free kick.

Speaker 11 (01:33:00):
I don't know if you remember that. Yea, so we
did do that.

Speaker 19 (01:33:03):
And seeing Evander in the Cincinnati shirt and the kit,
my goodness, I mean he is I don't know what
the talk is around around Cincinnati, around the city. I
mean he is worth the price of admission. M VP
of the league again in the conversations. But anyways to that,
I think we'll start to turn our attention towards midweek games.

(01:33:26):
You know what, can the can the top players turning
around again and play a three game week? Will the
Vanderby be starting a little den k? And then for Toronto,
the saying Toronto had a big win, a much need
to win, a relief win at the weekends, and so
they're looking to see can they start to string a
couple of wins together. Are they on the up and up?
Because they have been woeful to start this year. It's

(01:33:49):
been really difficult times in Toronto. The fans. There was
a huge outcry after the game prior to this Saturday,
fans starting to protest, fans going on social media. It's
probably one of the lowest moments, and there's been a
lot of little moments over.

Speaker 11 (01:34:03):
The last couple of years.

Speaker 19 (01:34:04):
But they turned it around in their last game and
had a big win and it just felt that the
entire city just reathed out a sigh of relief. But
they have to go again and so it'll be a
big game for Toronto on Wednesday.

Speaker 1 (01:34:15):
Night, no question about that. You talk about Evander and
I think the fun thing is this team is winning.
While at the same time, I think Pat Nuna would
be the first to acknowledge they need more offense. So
how can they create more goals with the guys they have?

Speaker 19 (01:34:34):
You need more of a Vander getting involved.

Speaker 15 (01:34:37):
Obviously.

Speaker 19 (01:34:38):
I started to see it austin their game against Austin
their first half, I thought it's probably the best half
that I've seen of Cincinnati this year. And their space
in their play it was slit. They had different ways
that they were able to attack Austin, but ultimately it
comes back to a Vander. And I have to say

(01:34:58):
one thing that tack Nonon has done really well with
the Vander. I think he's gotten and the Vander was,
you know in the talks of MVP of the league
when he.

Speaker 15 (01:35:05):
Was with Portland.

Speaker 19 (01:35:06):
But there were games when I watched the Vander play
for Portland where I thought he's actually taken away from
the team. He's not on today, he's actually given the
ball away, he's going out of position, he's trying to
do things all on his own, and he took away
from the performance. I haven't seen that nearly as much.
And I think Pat Noon and what he's done is
he's getting a Vander in better spots. He's allowing Evander

(01:35:29):
to roam here and there. But obviously there's there's a
bit more thought into a Vanders play that you're seeing
where he's in more advanced positions. Now he's starting to
look for den K Moore. I see that partnership getting better.
It's still not at his best. So for those two,
of course, you want them to really be clicking. And
I think both individually are such a big talent. And Orishana,

(01:35:52):
he was tremendous last year, hasn't been at his best
and you know, moved to the wing back position. He
was okay against Austin. Anyway, it comes back to where
you started this saying, you know they're getting results, top
of the table in the East, and they still haven't
quite been at their best.

Speaker 1 (01:36:10):
I was a little surprised because FC Cincinnati has signed
Kai Kamara and I'm thinking, well, he's played with everybody
who's ever touched foot on a major league soccer pitch.
But I guess he didn't cross pass on a team
with you.

Speaker 19 (01:36:23):
Yes, Oh my goodness, Kai Kamara but he it's amazing.
Is he forty one now or is he still forty?

Speaker 1 (01:36:31):
He's still forty?

Speaker 8 (01:36:32):
Yeah, I mean yeah, still forty.

Speaker 3 (01:36:35):
I mean he's still forty.

Speaker 19 (01:36:35):
He's a handful and it looks he's still got the
juice in his legs to you know, be any defender
in the air.

Speaker 11 (01:36:42):
I think he's he's a great and.

Speaker 19 (01:36:44):
He's a great locker room guy that you hear more
and more. I think that's a great addition and something
different than what what den K offers.

Speaker 1 (01:36:53):
I know you're busy. He just got to Canada. Have
a great call tomorrow night. Can't thank you enough. Hopefully
we do it again. Thanks so much, Thanks so much
for having me on more appreciate it. You got it
to Ross Smith Match Analyst mL Season Pass. FC Cincinnati
on the road tomorrow against Toronto at seven thirty on
Apple TV. Of course, you could also listen on ESPN

(01:37:13):
fifteen thirty. West Miller joins us.

Speaker 6 (01:37:15):
Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 7 (01:37:21):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. You see health as
expert traumacare focusing on prevention, treating injuries, and supporting long
term recovery and rehabilitation. Learn more at ucehealth dot com.
Northbound seventy five. It's the right lane blocked from an
accident after Norwood Lateral eastbound two seventy five. Another accident

(01:37:41):
at the Double A Highway that's got traffic moving slow
from Madison Pike with a seven minute delay, and eastbound
Highway sixty three accident at Corridor Park Drive. I'm at
ezelic with traffic. This report is sponsored by Love.

Speaker 12 (01:37:56):
Join us for the ESPN fifteen thirty A window, orange
and black schedule breakdown show bi A't Smoke Justice, the
biggest sports brains breaking down the schedule tomorrow night, beginning
at six on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of
the Bengals.

Speaker 1 (01:38:16):
From six o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty. Im Oeggar
broadcasting from the Lender Center here at the University of Cincinnati.
It is five to one three day. Learn moore at
go Bearcats dot com Slash five one three. We have
had a blast talking with coaches, administrators, athletes. Katrina Meriweather's
going to join us in just about ten minutes. My

(01:38:38):
only regret is he couldn't join us in person. But
he's a busy man. The head coach of the UC
men's basketball team, Wes Miller is with us. Coach. It
is awesome to have you on the phone. Good afternoon.
How are you.

Speaker 23 (01:38:51):
Goodmo. Great to be with you and glad you're doing
this on campus today. I'm sorry that I'm not there.
I am in Toronto. Andre Morgan on my staff were
up here visiting Jalen h Celestine and checking in on
him before he gets here in three weeks, so doing
something important, spending some time with him and his family.

Speaker 8 (01:39:13):
But I'm sorry I'm not with you guys today in person.

Speaker 1 (01:39:16):
That's all right, you have a valid excuse. What just
describe what the last five or six weeks have been like.
I know you've been busy.

Speaker 23 (01:39:24):
It's uh, it's been a whirlwind, and I think everybody
in basketball would say that right anywhere in the country.
But I'm proud. I'm proud of what we've accomplished. I
think we've put together the extremely, extremely good roster that's
prepared to go in and compete at the highest levels

(01:39:47):
of our league and of college basketball. Uh. And I
think it's balanced. It's it's it's more experienced, it's more skilled,
it's it's balanced across the board.

Speaker 8 (01:39:57):
So I'm proud of it.

Speaker 23 (01:39:58):
But it's been a it's it's it's in a while,
six seven weeks. But again, I think anybody in our
sport would.

Speaker 1 (01:40:04):
Say that, Yeah, no question. So you obviously hit the portal.
You're looking for players who fit, who fit your system,
who are going to mesh with the players that you
bring back from from the outset. To now give me
an idea of how you feel the new pieces are
going to mesh with with the players that you already
bring in.

Speaker 23 (01:40:27):
Well, yeah, I think you know, first off, you know,
retaining you know, key backcourt pieces was important. Guys that
I thought, you know, exemplified some of the things that
we all value in Cincinnati, certainly we value in our program.
Data and Kissel, you know, this will be their third
year coming up in the Big twelve. I expect them

(01:40:49):
to have off seasons to really improve. I think they're
extremely motivated to take some serious steps forward with this program.
So we were excited about their retention. We were excited
about Tyler McKinley and Halvean's retention. You know those guys.
You know, Halving didn't play a whole lot, but you know,
feel like he's going to be in his second year. Tyler,

(01:41:12):
you know, had that injury the first day of practice.
It's just going to be great to get him healthy
and going. But we felt like we had to add
guys that, you know, fit the style we want to
play defensively, the toughness that we wanted to play with,
but also you know that the skill that goes along

(01:41:33):
with that in our league and at this level of basketball.
And I think we've done that across the board without
sacrificing who we want to be defensively or how we
want to rebound, and the toughness we want to play with.
I thought we've also we've not sacrificed that at all.
We've gotten even tougher and more physical, but we've also
gotten extremely more skilled.

Speaker 1 (01:41:53):
I feel like you mentioned defense and toughness, and I
mean the prototype for that has to be Sincere Harris correct.

Speaker 23 (01:42:02):
Yeah, I mean he was the only perimeter player on
the Y'all defensive team in the Big twelve last year,
So that that's a great example of, you know, a
guy that I think embodies a lot of the things
that we believe in value and a lot of the
things that are you know, our fans are going to
resonate with with not just like some of the defensive

(01:42:25):
impact he has on the game, but with the passion
that he plays with right and the toughness that he
plays with on the court.

Speaker 1 (01:42:35):
The role of general manager in college basketball is not
entirely new, but it's it's growing. More and more programs
have one. University of Cincinnati has one now in Corey Evans.
I think you're going to have folks who don't know
what does a GM in college basketball do so so
kind of walk us through a what the role encompasses
and then b why Corey was the right guy for.

Speaker 23 (01:42:56):
The job, what's involving because mode right, It's a new position.
So I think you'll see a number of teams that
have that, especially at the highest levels of college basketball,
this upcoming season. I think by this time next year,
every program in the country will have somebody in that role.

(01:43:21):
Appro a little different, I think from our standpoint. You know,
having somebody that focuses twelve months a year on everything
player personnel, right and not is not involved in coaching,
is not vault in player development. It's spent twelve months
a year on all the aspects of player personnel that

(01:43:43):
that's that's the way we envisioned it. You know, certainly
somebody that can can interact with with the agents and
any other the people around the players in today's game
that isn't out there coaching. I thought that was really important.
And then and certainly you get into the nitty gritty

(01:44:04):
of contracts and at some point we're going to have
a cap we all hope and how to navigate that,
you know, I think all those things are areas we see.
We see Corey, you know, filling a big void. I
was really excited about him Mo because number one, we've
had a relationship for fifteen years, you know, when he
was doing scouting as a really young guy breaking into

(01:44:27):
the kind of the basketball world and I was a
young head coach. And then, you know what I liked
was the trust is there, the relationships there. But then
he spent the last five years with Oklahoma City, which
has been you know, arguably the best organization in the
NBA over that period of time. He worked hand in
hand with Sam Presti, who's been arguably the best general

(01:44:50):
manager in the NBA you know, for a really long
period of time. So I thought his experience on the
NBA side, connected to one of the best general managers,
and all the sports, the things he's learned, like he's
going to be able to apply that, you know, not
just the spring as we were kind of putting together
a roster, but as we continue to to build this

(01:45:11):
program and navigate this new era of college athletics. So
it felt like the other thing is he's just so
well connected in terms of his relationships globally. You know,
he's you know, spending two hundred and thirty two hundred
and forty days on the road a year for the
last five years for Oklahoma City. I mean, he does
have a ton of reach and information is valuable in

(01:45:34):
today's today's college basketball where you're making very quick decisions.
So we gained a lot with Corey and I think
his role will just continue to evolve here, you know,
over the next couple of years.

Speaker 1 (01:45:45):
Good stuff. I know you're busy on the road. I
came to where you works and now you have you
owe me an in studio visit Okay.

Speaker 22 (01:45:53):
Mo.

Speaker 23 (01:45:53):
There's a there's only a handful of people that if
they ask, it's automatic that I'm coming to see them,
and you're one of them. So you say that the
time and the place, and as long as it doesn't
take away from something that impacts whinning in our program,
I'll drop everything and get there.

Speaker 1 (01:46:11):
I Am going to take that piece of audio and
carry it with me all off season and hold you
to it. Thank you so much. Enjoy coach, appreciate it.

Speaker 8 (01:46:18):
You got it. Thanks mom.

Speaker 1 (01:46:19):
Yeah. Wes Miller, the head men's basketball coach at the
University of Cincinnati, routing out our list of guests. Katrina Meriwether,
the women's basketball coach here at the University of Cincinnati.
Head coach at the University of Cincinnati. She joins us
next on five to one three day on ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 9 (01:46:36):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 7 (01:46:41):
Traffic from the UCE Health Traffic Center you see health
as expert trauma care focusing on prevention, treating injuries, and
supporting long term recovery and rehabilitation. Learn more at u
sehealth dot com. He's found two seventy five at the
Double A Highways an accident blocking off the right. Lene
Hevy delays right now back from seventy one to seventy five.

(01:47:03):
It's about a twenty five minute slowdown in through there
on the Ohio side east found two seventy five as
an accident on the left shoulder after seventy one on
that Ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 10 (01:47:14):
This report Gasponsory.

Speaker 12 (01:47:15):
Dorian Window, Orange and Black schedule breakdown show Hi A't
Smoke Justice the Biggest Sports Brains breaking down the schedule
tomorrow night, beginning at six on ESPN fifteen thirty the
Official Hall of the Bengals.

Speaker 1 (01:47:30):
All right, twelve away from six o'clock. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty on Moegor. We are broadcasting, have been broadcasting
all afternoon from the Linder Center at the University of Cincinnati.
We have had a parade of guests and last but
most definitely not least a friend of the show ever
since she took over the o women's basketball program at
the University of Cincinnati head coach. You know she's important

(01:47:52):
because she has two phones with her. Katrina Merriweather is
with us.

Speaker 4 (01:47:55):
How you doing well? Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (01:47:57):
You always know you're talking to somebody of stature when
they have two phones.

Speaker 26 (01:48:00):
Oh, I'm telling you, it just means you know, this
is actually a really cool story Because Quentin Hillsman He
was the head coach of Syracuse at the time, and
we were out recruiting and my phone rang back to
back and he said, people have both numbers, and it said, well,
some people do, and he said, you need to divide
that into an energy giver and an energy taker phone.

(01:48:20):
Oh and so like my friends and family is one phone,
and then everyone affiliated with work is another phone, so
that when you turn one off, you know that you're
taking a break from one of the others.

Speaker 1 (01:48:33):
So you know, we've had you on the show on
the phone. I want to see which phone number we have.

Speaker 26 (01:48:38):
You have the energy taker phone, but but not but
not that it doesn't give me energy. But it's usually
just people who are like, hey, I need you to
do this, or need you to be here, I need
you to go there, and sometimes you just want.

Speaker 15 (01:48:52):
To sitet it.

Speaker 4 (01:48:54):
So that's what it is. But it's an important phone number.
It's the work phone.

Speaker 1 (01:48:58):
I get it. Okay, that's fine. As long as we
have one of them, that's what you do, and you can.

Speaker 26 (01:49:02):
Have the other one because I think it's a give
and take all.

Speaker 1 (01:49:07):
Good how'd you turn the page from last season to next?

Speaker 26 (01:49:13):
Yeah, I think for us it has a lot to
do with being really proud of what we've accomplished in
that space and then starting to look forward to recruiting
for the next year. And when we mean recruit, you
no longer mean high school kids even portal kids, you
mean your team. I think that that's something that you

(01:49:36):
do throughout the year, but I think it's a time
for you to reflect and say, the players that are
on the team this current year, are they the ones
that are continuing to buy in and what you want
to do and what you want to accomplish, And can
you be on the same page as you build a
new team, you know, because think about how scary it
is for returners to know that, yes, the freshmen are

(01:49:56):
coming right which they can pretty much know that because
that happens in November, but that the portal is open,
and there's a chance that you could go get someone.

Speaker 4 (01:50:04):
In their position that's older.

Speaker 26 (01:50:06):
There's a chance that you can get someone taller, bigger, stronger,
And to me, that's the biggest thing is making sure
you have returners on your roster that are committed to
being Bearcats and trust you to build the best team
that you can and be ready to compete no matter
what happens and how the team changes.

Speaker 1 (01:50:24):
There's that, and then there are the players you've brought
in from other programs and it feels like you guys
have been quite productive.

Speaker 4 (01:50:30):
That's been really fun.

Speaker 8 (01:50:32):
One.

Speaker 26 (01:50:32):
We always want kids to finish where they start, our kids,
their kids. We all know that that's easier academically, right,
especially in women's basketball, where we are putting a huge
emphasis on academics because there's no leaving early to go
to the WNBA, right, and just the financial responsibility at
the end most women are going to at this current moment,

(01:50:55):
which we all hope it continues to grow. You're going
to make more money in your profession. Then you are
playing basketball right, even with name, image and likeness and
all those things. So making sure that they're getting the
degrees and what they want the men is really important
and that's best achieved if you stay where you are. However,
things happen and sometimes you have to move on or

(01:51:18):
you want to move on. So then that's where we
get into this portal. And Maya Perry, who is an
Ohio native that's coming out of FAU.

Speaker 4 (01:51:27):
We're really happy to have her.

Speaker 26 (01:51:29):
She was ring to third in the country in three
point field goal percentage, and anyone who watched us play
very much may enjoy the rebounding and the defending and
the free throw line attempts.

Speaker 4 (01:51:39):
But we left much to be desired at the three
point line.

Speaker 15 (01:51:43):
So I was.

Speaker 26 (01:51:43):
Super excited to have her, and then Mary from Oral Roberts.

Speaker 4 (01:51:47):
We just needed more size.

Speaker 26 (01:51:49):
You know, we have Destiny who's coming back and we're
really happy to have her, and Delaney who took great
strides between her freshman and sophomore year, and we just
felt like we need some more girth and strength down there,
and Mary provised that. So those are the two that
we got out the portal.

Speaker 4 (01:52:06):
We're really happy about it.

Speaker 1 (01:52:07):
I don't think you're allowed to do an interview without
talking about d But it was neat watching a University
of Cincinnati commit in the McDonald's All American Game. And
once I got past that, here's what I liked. She
was I think the leading rebound rebounder for her team.
You talk about like you watch sometimes those games and
you wonder, okay, is it going to be a showcase?
Are they actually going to play basketball? Are kids going

(01:52:30):
to go get it off the glass? Are they going
to defend? And d in that game checked every box.

Speaker 4 (01:52:35):
I call d a fifteen foot killer.

Speaker 26 (01:52:37):
Now you get her that ball and that elbow in
and she can do some really incredible things with the
way that she finishes and just her power, exposiveness and strength.
What we love the most about her is that she's
going to do whatever it takes for the team to win.
That is one of the most humble basketball players. Humble
and decorated, sure, and a lot of the time those
two do not go together.

Speaker 4 (01:52:57):
She's a stat stuffer.

Speaker 26 (01:52:58):
She got rebound, she steals, she took two charges like
these are the type.

Speaker 4 (01:53:04):
Of things that's right.

Speaker 26 (01:53:06):
And you know, the fun part about her is that
you say I can't do an interview without talking about her.

Speaker 4 (01:53:11):
She would love it if it was the opposite way.

Speaker 26 (01:53:13):
You know, she doesn't need nor want the attention. She
wants to be a part of a team. She wants
to have teammates and be a great teammate. And I
think that her committing to us had so much to
do with where Kaleia de Villaci comes into play. You know,
it's one of the top point guards in the country
and who I refer to as our point guard.

Speaker 4 (01:53:31):
Of the future.

Speaker 26 (01:53:33):
We believe that she can do some incredible things as
a freshman and by the time she gets out, and
I think d committing to us made it reasonable for
Kalia to say, oh, you know, if the Alexander's going there,
then let me take a look. And then for the
rest of the freshman class to fill in, we have
sleepers and enjoy a crawl for people have no idea

(01:53:53):
how good she is. Callie Beard, who ended up winning
a state championship. I think people figure that out Page
Witt It also from Tennessee.

Speaker 4 (01:54:01):
No one has any idea how good she is.

Speaker 26 (01:54:03):
And then towards the end, we pick up Kylie Torrence right,
who had incredible high school stats and and honestly was
a third or fourth option in her club team because
she was Kalia's teammate.

Speaker 4 (01:54:16):
So even people have no idea.

Speaker 26 (01:54:18):
What her ability is to how you know, her ceiling
is incredibly high. So yeah, we're just excited about those
eight and think that it's it's just going to be
a good time.

Speaker 1 (01:54:29):
I can't wait until we get closer to the season
because you're always kind enough to join me and we'll
have a million things to talk about. Absolutely all right,
good stuff and We'll just tell me which phone we're
calling and when you answer, do you go caretaker or
what does the energy taker energy energy giver? Well, we'll
see what's what week get. Thank you very much for
doing this.

Speaker 4 (01:54:49):
No, for sure, that's always.

Speaker 1 (01:54:50):
Katrina Merriweather, the women's head basketball coach at the University
of Cincinnati. We want to thank the folks that you
see for having us today and the long list of
guests we have had. Everybody has been awesome. Thanks to
the folks at Bearcat Journal for simulcasting with us for
a few minutes as well, and we'll talk to you tomorrow.
Have a great night and enjoyed the rest of your

(01:55:12):
five to one three day. We've been broadcasting from the
Lender Center at the University of Cincinnati this and thanks
to Terrum Bland for producing as well as well as
Mike Mills on site. Yeomen's work. As always. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports station, United Heartland Insurance and

(01:55:34):
partner