Top 5, Goessling, Coyle, Kugler! - Bumper to Bumper 4/5/24 Hour Three

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Just in case you missed it,it's the top five Spource Dodgers of the
day. Now it's time for DanBarrero's Top five and five driven by Bordon
Volvo, America's most awarded Volvo retailer. Dan outguardsy in. I'm broadcasting live
from Radio Row at the Final fourin Phoenix, Arizona. Brett Blakemore has
the top five in a minute.We've got Ben Gesling coming up at five

(00:23):
point fifteen, and then athletic directorMark Coyle from the University of Minnesota will
join a little bit later as well. We've got Bruce Weber around five forty.
A lot of college talk after Guestling. But first, Brett, what
do we have? Yeah, we'llstart with some wolves, considering you're gonna
be at the game tonight in Phoenix, the Wolves take on the Suns.
My one question to you, willyou be wearing your Marlboro jersey. I

(00:45):
will not be wearing my Marbury jersey. My son will be wearing his Karl
Anthony Towns jersey that he brought thathe's wearing today. He will be wearing
his Timberwolves hat. I will bewearing my vintage old Shep logoed era Timberwolves
shorts. I'm debuting them, bythe way. I'm going to be a
total Rube tonight. I've got allkinds of the old school Timberwolves stuff,
have the new Unreal Timberwolves hat thatI bought a couple of weeks ago.

(01:08):
I'm going full Rube mode. I'mgoing into the belly of the beast all
the when we watch these road games, when we see all these Minnesota Timberwolves
fans that basically take over these arenasnow because people are traveling. I will
be one of those fans tonight.I'm not making the trip to Los Angeles
to watch them against the Lakers onSunday. I did consider it, but
I will be full Rube mode tonight, wearing basically the same things I would

(01:30):
have worn when I was my son'sage, including old logo and all,
but no Marlbury jersey. That didnot make the trip. But Cat will
be represented by the nine year old. What do you think of the game.
It's a huge game, you know. I've been listening to Phoenix Sports
Radio pretty much all week. Iopened the show with us yesterday. It's
been fun to hear how the otherhalf is living right now and the Timberwolves

(01:51):
being on the good side of thatledger where right now there's six games remaining,
including tonight, you got a coupleagainst Phoenix, You've got one at
Denver, and your half game upon the Nuggets. You got a gift
last night because the Clippers, whohave been kind of in free fall mode,
beat Denver one o two, onehundred, So you're a half game
up there. You're a game aheadof Oklahoma City. They've got a tough
schedule. You heard Jason Frederick talkingabout them almost feeling resigned to the fact

(02:12):
that they're going to be the threeseed. So it's a two horse race
right now for number one. Andwith Denver having some injuries as well.
Jamal Murray's kind of been in andout the last week a couple of weeks.
You're in a really good spot andPhoenix is clinging to the sixth playoff
spot right now. Their conversation herein Phoenix is trying to stay out of
the play in They're having the conversationswe had the last two years. That's
with Kevin Durant, that's with DevinBooker, that's with Bradley Beal. They're

(02:35):
having all the same conversations we've had, and it was just it's a beautiful
thing, and they've made the hostdown here is saying, well, the
Timberwolves don't have much to play for. I completely disagree. I think it
would be a feather for the Wolvesto have the number one seed in the
West, as it guarantee you you'regoing to the NBA Finals. Of course
not, but given where this teamcame from a year ago, the stuff
that they've gotten better at, whichwe talked about yesterday, the trusting of

(02:58):
Rudy, dealing with the cat injury, really not losing any ground, and
really not having that many bad performancesthroughout that whole stretch. The Bulls game
I was out last on Easter wasa buzzkill. That was a tough one
to lose. They couldn't make ashot. They had good looks, they
couldn't make a shot. Chicago islike the best five hundred team ever if
you listen to some of these otherNBA voices that they've just been so inconsistent.

(03:21):
But Phoenix has been like that too. They have not been able to
string together a great stretch all season, and that's why they're in the spot
that they're in, so I thinkit's a big game for both teams tonight
they're going to see each other lastgame of the season as well a Sunday
afternoon back at Target Center. ButI'm fascinated to see, like this Wolves
team on the road against some ofthe best teams in the West, including
Denver, including the Clippers, andhopefully tonight Phoenix. They've put it on

(03:42):
some teams. It's a team thatI know is frustrating at times because they
don't they don't always put together cleanhalves, especially in the first half.
But when they want to impose andwhen they want to hit the button,
we've talked about it all season,they've been able to do it, and
so I'm fascinated to see if tonightis one of those nights, because Phoenix
is trying to serge here the lastweek or so of the season and feel
good about themselves going into the playoffs. And I'm curious to see how this

(04:05):
Wolves team handles it because multiple timesthis season they've been in a similar spot
with an equally hungry opponent and they'veput it on them. So does that
continue tonight. You'll have to listenright here on the fan. Your favorite
club is your Timberwolves. My favoriteclub is the Minnesota Wild day loss last
night to the Avalanche five to twoagainst a team that has nothing to play

(04:27):
for. They're already locked in.Unless if I'm missing something, I think
the Wilds still have yet to beatthe team a team in the top three
of the Central that being Dallas andWinnipeg and Colorado. They haven't beaten one
the entire season. It's a completelydifferent class between the Trust and everybody else.
It's it's another nail in the coffinof the Minnesota wild season in my

(04:48):
opinion. Your thoughts, what's thebar game in the cabin game Hammerschlagger where
you just keep you have to keepnailing the nail. What's that game called
box six four six eight six.That's the Wild's coffin at the moment.
That's a weathered Hammerschlager game. It'sbeen at your grandparents cabin for thirty five

(05:09):
years. He cut the log himself, he got the nails himself. You
play it on the fourth of July. That's the Wild's coffin. Really the
last month or so, the firstnails started to go in the first month
or so, of the season whenthey got the coach fired. It's continued
now with the injuries. It's continuednow with the issues. And so yeah,
it's it's your favorite Fourth of Julybackyard cabin game right now, the

(05:30):
Minnesota Wild Hammer Schlager. I've gotnothing else for you there. Yeah.
They are now ten points out ofthe final playoff spot, not looking very
likely the Twins. They lost theirhome opener womp womp to Cleveland four to
two. Lopez got the l He'sone and one on the year. Strikeouts
the main story from everything that I'mreading and all the all the talking heads

(05:53):
seemed to keep harping on about thestrikeouts and it continues to be a problem.
And now for the second straight yearfor your Twins. Yeah, second
exactly. Corey Provis talked about atthe top of the show of Ellie Neil
talked about it the last segment.I asked him what the headline was for
the season so far. He said, swinging a miss. And you know,
there's the buzzkills, of course,with Royce Lewis being hurt. There's

(06:14):
the positives with Byron Buxton being inthe lineup every single day and playing some
center field, and then there's thepositive of Alex kirol Off off to a
really hot start in can he stayhealthy? It's this team is going to
strike out. That is just whothey are. It's it's for old school
fans, like the Lavelle talked about. When Cleveland got Runners on the other
day, it was like, Okay, here's a single, let's just knock
a couple of guys in no surprise. They're six and two. They kind

(06:35):
of play it a different way.It's just the way of the world with
this Twins club. They are sofeast or fam and they're not great at
manufacturing. You look at their lineup, they don't have a bunch of dudes
that are like that. It's thefirst week of the season. They're three
and three. They needed to getto win in Milwaukee the other day they
did. I think, you know, they do have to pull something together
here against Cleveland over the weekend.But yeah, really, the story right

(06:57):
now is the injuries. They've startedinjured, and because we know that they've
slashed their payroll, we know theydon't have a ton of depth. We
know that they've they're gonna have issuesin that regard. They're kind of just
weathering the storm here, But Ilook at the long term, it's the
get. Can you get what you'regetting out of Byron Bucks and the rest
of the season, that would begreat. Carlos Korea seems to be healthy.
That sounds great. It's a completebuzzkill on Royce Lewis because I think

(07:20):
he is really the energizer of thiswhole bit. You know, people talk
about him on that team like theytalk about Anthony Edwards on the Timberwolves.
That's the type of rarefied air theythink he can be at. So total
buzzkill that he's done for probably twomonths, and now you got to find
it elsewhere. We'll be here alotful, it'll be somebody else who knows,
but kind of an uneven start,and certainly with the hitting, a

(07:43):
less than uneven start for the Twins. Now stick with me here. WrestleMania
is this weekend. Rhodes versus Romantwo. Another marquee matchup in the sense,
in the spirit of WrestleMania, PageBeckers versus Caitlin Clark. It's a
WrestleMania have feel, it's a bigtime matchup. It's tonight at eight Women's
Final four. How excited are youfor this matchup. I'm excited And I

(08:05):
got a tweet when I was talkingabout pulling for Yukon that I didn't take
me out of context, but Ithink missed the point, you know,
talking about the plucky underdog Yukon thathasn't been at the top for so long.
We get it. They're the bigbad wolf, They're the blue blood,
you know, they're the top ofthe mountain historically until South Carolina has
really come through here and disrupted thingsand obviously LSU a year ago. My
allegiances tonight are to Page Beckers,and not because she's one of us.

(08:28):
That's a great angle. It's cool. I suppose it's like twenty percent because
she's one of us. But Ilike the redemption story of don't forget about
me, dude, Like, I'mhere too. I've been here the whole
time. I've been injured, I'vebeen waiting, and my team has been
you know, just just racked withinjuries all season. Yeah, no one's
gonna feel bad for Yukon, ofcourse, but it is interesting to note

(08:50):
that they have another player named AisyFudd, who was the number one player
in the country the year after PageBeckers the twenty twenty one recruiting class.
I think those two players in thosethree years have played like sixteen games together.
I think I saw one of themin the Bahamas when they played the
Gophers my first year doing the women'splay by play. They've been absolutely ravished

(09:11):
by injuries, and of course noone's going to feel bad for them.
They've got like seven or eight McDonald's, all Americans. But for Page to
do what she's doing, to comeback from those injuries and to bring this
team along with her, it's exactlywhat Kaitlin Clark is doing. Now.
She's not as spectacular as Caitlin Clark. She's not going to have the crazy
highlights like Kaitln Clark. But Italked a little bit about it earlier in
the show. Gino's been taking somestrays for not recruiting Kaitln Clark, and

(09:35):
I'd have to say, if youlook at it, they're the same recruiting
class. The reason he didn't recruitKaitlyn Clark is there's a kid named Paige
Becker's that he was interested in.And guess what she went there. She's
trying to win championship. Took himto the National Championship Game her freshman year
at Target Center, lost to SouthCarolina, second time the game Cocks beat
them this year. I was therefor the first one that season as well
in the Bahamas. It's just agreat story to see Page coming back from

(09:58):
it and being the player. ButI think all of us remember if you
were following it back then, beforeClark Mania took over. Page was unanimous
Freshman of the Year, unanimous Playerof the Year, first team All Americans
in Who knows what would have beenaccomplished had she stayed healthy these last couple
of years. You con that yourbeat Iowa and Caitlin Clark in the sweet
sixteen. I'm sure that bugs CaitlynClark and she's got one thing left to

(10:22):
hang on her legacy too. Soyour wrestling analogy, although I don't know
any of the names that you mentioned, is apt it's a good one because
this is an absolute heavyweight fight inCleveland tonight. The last thing I got
for you, Bronnie James, Idon't know how this works. Maybe you
can explain it to me. Hewill enter the twenty twenty four NBA Draft
while maintaining his college eligibility, sosays ESPN. Yeah, you can do

(10:46):
that. You can do that.There's a drop dead date where you have
to say you're either coming back tocollege or you're entering the draft, and
so it's not atypical. A lotof people do it. I saw tweet
today that's brilliant that Brownie has thechance to do the funniest ever. He
should do the Decision part two withJim Gray like Lebron did when he left
Cleveland and took his talent to SouthBeach Rell. Yeah, that would just

(11:07):
be outstanding. That would just beoutstanding. Eric Musselman, the new USC
coach, one of us we didn'tneed him. He's moving from Arkansas to
USC, and we're gonna get tosee him at least once a year now
because USC is in the Big ten. So we might not see Brownie James,
but we'll see Eric Musselman. Goodjob in the top five. Bred
appreciate that. We've got Bruce Webercoming up at the right around five point

(11:28):
forty. We've got Mark Coyle rightafter that for an extended conversation about a
lot of topics, including his thoughtson men's and women's basketball and how his
time on the Basketball Committee. Herehas informed what it takes to get to
an NCAA tournament and how that's informedhow he's going to handle both the men's
and women's programs moving forward. Thatcoming up about thirty minutes from now,
when we come back though, ourguy Ben Gesling joints for his weekly hit.

(11:50):
That's coming up next right here inthe fan fan here, Minnesota Timberwolves
are head of the playoffs and youcould be there for every electrifying moment.
Head over our contest page find outhow you can join our Timberwolves Verified fan
window and register for a chance towin a grand prize of tickets to every
home Timberwolves game for the twenty twentyfour NBA Playoffs. KFVN dot com keyword

(12:15):
contest center, Welcome back guards hehere in Phoenix, final hour or so

(13:13):
from Westwood Ones Radio Road. Don'tforget. You can hear the Final Four
on the fan on Saturday and Mondayand a sponsored by Marriott, you can
take your game day rituals on theroad with Marriott Bonboy over thirty hotel brands
for every kind of fan. Discovermore at Marriott Bomboy dot com. Slash
NCAA sports writer knows a Marriott.Let's see which brand Ben Goesling prefers.
He's on the Kinectico Water Systems hotline, making his weekly appearance here on Bumper

(13:37):
to Bumper, fitting us in arounda track meet, which we appreciate.
Are you do you subscribe to theMarriott Bomboy family, Ben Guestling, Oh
gosh, yes, I am.Like most sports writers, I am a
I think a lifetime platinum Marriotte members. So that goes back to the baseball
writing days, probably more so thanfootball when you got more points out of
it. But yes I am.I'm pretty much a Marriott or no doubt

(14:00):
about it. We're very happy foryour lifetime platinum status. We are extremely
extremely happy for you act a lotof nights in spring training and watching them
bad baseball team. You're true notalways glamorous, that's true. Let's I
want to talk quarterback Big Shock mybit here today. I had our guy
Softy from kJ R, kind ofthe Paul Allen crazy person from Seattle who

(14:22):
does the afternoon drive show out there. And a guy I've known for over
a decade, starting at a Finalfour in Indianapolis. He's big on Michael
Pennix. As you would as youwould imagine guestling because he watched his Washington
Huskies go to the National title game. Is there a scenario if the Vikings
can't get into the top five whereyou envision them being okay with taking a
bow Nix or Michael Pennix with alater first round pick, perhaps pick twenty

(14:46):
three. Well, I think they'dhave to feel like that guy is going
to be the guy they're going tobuild around. I think if they take
one in the first round, there'sgoing to be an understanding that this guy
is like a flag has been planted. Whether it's eleven or twenty three,
player is going to come in witha level of expectations that are just going
to be high because of the factthat it's the first round quarterback and there's

(15:07):
no obvious plan for the future beyondSam Darnold being signed for this year.
So I think if they're going totake one, they're going to take one
that they feel like can be thelong term solution and it's not a let's
take one at twenty three and haveto come back to this again in a
year or two. So the questionthen becomes, do you feel like there's
a player at twenty three that isworthy of that type of faith, that

(15:31):
type of almost anointing, I guess, and that's not in that status.
So do they feel like Michael Pennixor Bonix or whoever would be kind of
still in the mix at that pointis worthy of that? I think Pennix.
The question is the accuracy. Imean, certainly has the arm talent,
has shown he could be a dynamicplayer on a lot of levels,

(15:52):
but is he going to be accurateenough to play in Kevin O'Connell's offense,
which accuracy is the thing that KevinO'Connell says every time he's asked about it
is the most important thing he wantsfrom a quarterback. So guys like that,
I think that's some of the questions. And then guys like both Nicks,
it's did he do enough to showthat he can make NFL caliber throws
and do all the things that aquarterback would be tasked with at this level.

(16:15):
I think a lot of that iswhat they have to answer in these
evaluations, and that's probably going todetermine whether they feel like one of those
players at twenty three is worth theinvestment at that spot. Lavelle mentioned something
interesting that I hadn't really thought of, and you might know, you might
have followed the story as well thathe thought it was Kyle Rudolph, maybe

(16:37):
a former Viking, that was talkingabout the Kevin O'Connell offense being difficult to
pick up, and it struck itforward given that I think it was even
Kirk Cousins talking about it's nice tohave this offense for a second straight year
because the first time you know you'regoing through it, it's tough. I
mean, we all watch quarterback.We all watched him go through his like
meditations, driving, reciting the playcalls and doing all the bits. How

(17:02):
much is that going to factor intowho they end up picking or who they
end up you know, I guesstesting and trying out because we all know
O'Connell's proud of his offense, right, all these young bucks are, how
difficult it is, how intricate itis, all the moving parts, all
of that. That's something I hadn'treally considered that even if they do draft
a rookie quarterback, they probably I'dbe surprised if they were ready to just

(17:25):
turn the keys over to them,even if it was one of those top
five guys. Yeah, I thinkthat's right, and I think there is
a lot of complexity to the O'Connelloffense. I think he believes a lot
of what makes them successful is thefact that they have all of these different
options in it where they're calling toplays and then you can can things at
the line, and they have routeadjustments and a lot of things that the

(17:48):
quarterback has to see and adapt toon the fly, or I think what
they feel like gives them an advantageover a lot of these defenses. Now,
how much of that is going tocarry through with a rookie quarterback,
how much of that has to bechanged for that player, I think is
one of the big questions they'd haveto answer. And I think that's also
probably one of the reasons they don'twant somebody to have to come in and

(18:08):
start right away. They have saidthat several times, and I think that
it's probably still true even well withoutKirk Cousins as kind of your safe bridge,
even if it's Sam Darnold. Ithink they would prefer to have a
veteran in that spot and not haveto throw a rookie into it right away,
just because there is a lot tolearn and there's a lot on the

(18:30):
quarterback's plate in this offense, Sohow much of that are they going to
not dumb down but simplify or buildin some handholds if you want to call
it that. I don't know.I don't know that they are of the
mindset that that's the best way togo about it. I think it's probably
let's put in the time and investand teach and develop this quarterback so that

(18:52):
he can handle the whole thing.I think they probably prefer to go that
way rather than doing some type ofa delude version of the Kevin O'Connell offense.
That is going to be one ofthe big questions of this whole thing.
I think they'll build something that worksfor this player, but it's still
going to have a lot of complexityin it. I just I don't think
there's much way around that, andhow they handle that with a young guy

(19:15):
is certainly one of the things I'mmost interested to watch and ask about through
this whole process. If you havea question for Ben Gesling, hit the
KFA and Bradshawn Brian text line sixfour six eight six. And this text
just came in and it's actually kindof where I wanted to go because there
obviously, I think we understand whattheir plan is. Their preferred scenario,

(19:36):
I think is what they called it. They have to have a dance partner
though, as we know, andwe'll talk about maybe in a second,
who the more likely foil is there? I guess William partner is there.
This Texter from six to one totwo says, so is this the last
draft for quarterbacks ever? Are wejust going to take any quarterback from this
draft? There's a scenario where itdoesn't work out for him. I'm sure
they wouldn't have done all this stuffif they didn't feel pretty good about being

(19:57):
able to move up, or prettycomfortable about who they could take later in
the first round or whatever. Isthere a scenario where you think they'd be
comfortable it's going, you know what, the board didn't fall the way that
we wanted it to fall, andwe're going to punt it to next year.
How surprised would you be if that'sthe case. I would be fairly
surprised by that. But like Isaid, I don't think they're going to

(20:18):
force something. So that does putyou in a tough spot because you want
to come out of the draft forthe quarterback. The fact that they had
not resigned Kirk Cousins means it's alittle more imperative that they do have a
plan for the future, and justthe fact that this is a regime heading
into year three. My hunts isthey are going to do everything possible to
not have to face that scenario.I think they are going to do as

(20:44):
much as they possibly can, andthey are going into this, I think,
with their eyes open on what theprice is going to be to do
it. But I would be verysurprised if they don't come out of this
with a quarterback, in part becausethey are going to do what they have
to do to get into a spotto take the guy they want. Now,
it's not the last quarterback draft ever, that's true, there's no question
about it. I think there isa feeling with this one though, that

(21:07):
this is a special group, thatthis is the year to attack the position.
I think it's why they were probablya step or two short of making
the huge move up last year,because they knew this was coming, that
this draft class was coming. AndI don't think the feeling, at least
at this point is the same aboutnext year. Doesn't mean that there's not
going to be a great quarterback inthat draft, whether it's Quinn yours or

(21:32):
somebody else. But I do thinkthey look at this draft as a unique
class and this is one way youhave to make a move to get one.
I don't think that means to takeanybody, but I think what it
will look like is them saying,yeah, we know this is going to
be expensive, but let's go getour guy, because if he works out,
then nobody will care about what wouldpay to get him. If you

(21:55):
were a betting man, if youhad to bet on where they want to
get to and where they're going tobe able to get to, what pick
would that be? Which team Iguess is more likely to want to dance
with, not just the Vikings,but anybody to go ahead and move down.
Well, I think the most likelyis probably the Cardinals. I mean
that seems to make the most sensein terms of a team that you could

(22:17):
go to and say, let's makea deal because you don't need a quarterback.
Now, does the fourth pick getyou who you want? I think
that is a big question. Ifyou want to have a choice between Drake
May and JJ McCarthy, I thinkyou probably have to get to three,
assuming that Jim Daniels goes number twoto the Commanders. And maybe that's not
an accurate assumption at this point,but I think there's a lot of You

(22:41):
have a lot more options if youare able to get the Patriots to move
off of that third pick and thenmaybe they move back up to go get
somebody later on. I mean,we saw the Cardinals do that last year.
We've seen the Texans do that aswell. So teams are able to
do that. It's not like they'rethey're forfeiting every opportunity to get a quarterback
they move out of that spot,but you do have to have a quarterback.

(23:02):
Maybe team that decides I'm going toforfeit my option to take this player
at this moment, I do haveto do some more work to get there.
So that is what makes it difficultto get a team as the Patriots
to do it. But you know, there's a price for everything, and
I think the question will be canthey get one of those teams to say
yes to a deal to get tothree? I mean the one of those

(23:26):
teams, I mean the Patriots todo it, because I think that gives
them a better chance of having theoptions they want if it's the third overall
pick more so than the fourth.Last minute or two is Ben Gestling starts
being startsbing dot com making his weeklyappearance on Bumper to Bumper on the Kinetical
Water Systems hotline. I'm justin Gardenfor Dan Burreer today. I'm at Phoenix
in Phoenix at the Final four radio. Row your level of surprise that Stefan

(23:48):
Diggs is once again on the move. I guess it's not excuse me all
that high. I think it's certainlyhe's a guy that has a well,
I guess the shelf life is oneway to put it. He's been awfully
productive, he has been in theplayoffs and awful lot, and I think
he will continue to be productive inHouston. But I do think he gets

(24:11):
to a point where he's not goingto just kind of let things slide,
so to speak, or be kindof if something has gone differently than he
wants it. I don't think he'sthe type to just say, well,
it's fine, we'll move on andreconcile and go forward. I think he
is much more of the belief of, Okay, my time here has come

(24:33):
and it's time to move on.To the next thing. I think he
moved to a really good spot.I think that's a team that is on
the rise. I think he hasa chance to make some noise in that
division especially. But yeah, it'snot the most surprising thing in the world
to see it go the way itdid, I guess, especially after watching
what happened here. And he wasprobably right about a lot of the things
that made him upset with things here. But like I say, not a

(24:55):
guy that's probably going to let justbuy gone through bygones all the time.
Lastly, know you don't cover theBears, But given you know the Kevin
Warren playbook very well, how surprisedare you that even the same initials as
the suburb in Arlington Heights as opposedto Arden Hills has been used to get
a downtown stadium for Chicago. Andit looks like that's what they're trying to

(25:18):
roll with, a dull stadium fromthe latest report that I found. These
playbooks they never change, right,I mean, you just grab you just
grab the stadium playbook off the shelf, like the old game plan, you
put it into motion. And ourguy, Kevin Warren, it looks like,
has done it again. For asecond franchise. Yeah, it sure
does. And a lot of thisI think is repeat the same thing.
I'm sure they're going to do thesame with the facility. They'll probably do

(25:41):
a lot of the TCO Performance Centeraccouterments whenever they upgrade or replace the facility
that they have now out in thesuburbs. But yeah, I mean it's
kind of I think what everybody,I mean, people that work with them
as the Bikings thought too, ishe's going to run a lot of the
same plays back. And obviously itworked here. I mean, the Vikings
have a stadium and a practice facilitycombo that is the class of the NFL,

(26:03):
so it works. But yeah,he has got a formula that has
been repeatable and it looks like he'sgonna be able to do it again.
I'm I'm glad that that stadium isgoing to be in Chicago. I think
the Bears belong in Chicago. Iagree, but it'd be nice to have
more than one outdoor stadium in theNFC North. But you know, you
can't get a Super Bowl without aroof, and I'm sure that's on his

(26:25):
mind as well. That's going tobe the other part of his playbook is
let's get the super Bowl in Chicagoand everybody can kind of catch the windfall
from that as well. Lastly,my spring break ended here, Dan,
spring break is ongoing, which meansyou've got the big chair for Sunday sermons
nine to eleven. You've put yourproducer hat on, You've put your executive
producer hat on, and now you'vegot to put the host hat on.

(26:47):
What's coming up Sunday nine to eleventhat people need to pay attention to on
the Ben Gesling Show. Yeah,yeah, it should be a fun show.
I'm certainly going to talk a lotof vikings. There's going to be
a lot of that. That's anytype of big shock for anybody, but
kind of a a waterfall of ourwaterfront, I should say, of different
things. David Levak from the StarchTribune coming on to talk about name image

(27:07):
likeness deals for high schoolers, whichwe ran a storry about that last week.
That surprised me a lot, Sohe's going to talk about that.
Chris Hine from the Start Tribune checkingin on the West coast with a Wolves
update, and then Carrick Goucher BostonMarathon competitor two time olympian checking in to
preview the Boston Marathon, which Iam running in a week. So I'm
using a segment to pick her brainand steal free advice. It's great,

(27:30):
okay with people. Hopefully they findthat interesting and entertaining as well. Well.
Carrick Goucher is awesome. We hadher on when we did a show
because she's from De Luce. She'sone of us, as you know.
Yeah, and so when we didthe show up in Duluce, Man had
to be before the pandemic. Wegot put in touch by one of her
family members through in laws or something. And she's tremendous. I mean,
she's going to be good on amillion things, not just selfishly for you

(27:52):
to learn about Boston. But Iappreciate the hustle there. That's a good
flex by you. That's she's great. She's got a ton of thoughts.
Mean, if people follow her onsocial media, she's all over the doping
stuff, she's all over the highperformance stuff in her sport. She's tremendous.
So I'm glad that worked out becauseI think that's going to be a
fun listen. Yeah, it shouldbe a fun show. I think she'll
have a lot to say. She'sactually going out and I think am seeing

(28:15):
the post rates party in Boston.So she and Deslund and former Boston Marathon
champ to a podcast together now too, So should be a lot of fun
to have her on. Should bea fun show overall. Definitely looking forward
to it, and there'll be plentyof time to get texting and talk backs
on the vikings as well. Perfect. Thanks man for filling in. Thanks
for jumping in today. I knowyou've got track duties down in Mancato,

(28:37):
so enjoy the weekend, enjoy Boston. If I don't talk to you before,
maybe we'll talk next Friday, whoknows, but thanks as always,
Man, appreciate you. Well.Listen on Sunday, all right, Thanks
Gardy, we'll talk to you soon. That is Ben Gestling on the Connecticut
Water Systems Hotline. We'll get backto a little Wolf stuff and Women's Final
four stuff as well when we comeback. Don't forget Mark Coyle, Gopher's
athletic director, coming up about tenminutes from now. Well, as usual

(29:36):
here on Radio Row, they're tearingdown around us. That is the That's
what happens when you've got the afternoondrive spot and you're going to the Bitter
End and we're here until six thirtytonight guards you back from Phoenix. We're
sponsored by Coals. It's a newseason at Coals. You can find fresh
everyday styles for you and your homeat great prices. Shop Coals and Coals
dot Com. Today apropos of nothing. As I'm talking about Coals, I'm

(29:57):
gonna pivot to talk about Kirk Cousinsfor a minute because we found out or
he at least outlined the big numbergate Brett Blake Moore. I thought this
was interesting to spend a couple ofminutes on before we break and talk to
athletic director Mark Coyle. You knowhe's number eight, right, That's what
Kirk Cousins has worn basically his entirecareer. Correct. He was really hopeful
to have number eight in Atlanta.And I forgot that the NFL does this,

(30:19):
and I understand why they do,but there's got to be some I
guess there isn't a way to fixthis. And it wasn't because Kyle Pitts
wanted a bunch of money for numbereight, because that's what his new tight
end wears. But it's because ofthat rule that if you change numbers,
you have to buy every single jerseythat has been produced and already out there

(30:40):
on the market. Really to goaway, you have to pay for the
jerseys that are still there. Doyou remember this? Have you heard about
this? Yes? Hilarious? Yeah, have you heard about that? Yeah?
So Cousins Cousin said everybody was goodwith it. He said he wanted
to switch numbers anyway, so itwas a perfect fit. He was like,
I want to switch numbers. Youwant number eight, So it was
perfect. Then the league spoke onit. It was like, Kyle Pitts

(31:03):
has a lot of jerseys out therethat are number eight with pits on the
back. You would have to buyevery single one. Both of us would
have to write a check. Itwas several hundred thousand. So I was
like, I'm good with eighteen,and Kyle was like, I'm good with
eight. So we're going with eightand eighteen. Ever a frugal man that
Kirk Cousins, There's a reason whyhe loves Coole's cash. There's a reason

(31:23):
why he still has that minivan thathe's been driving since high school. There's
even though he's made what's he goingto make in this next contract one hundred
and eighty million dollars. Even though, as Mike Golik told us yesterday,
he's played the contract game as goodas well as anybody in NFL history,
I can't say I blame him,as rich as he is for a number

(31:44):
to have to drop a couple onehundred thousand dollars. Your thoughts, Yeah,
I'm of the other opinion, whereyou've got so oodles and oodles of
money, you won't even notice thatit's gone. It's a drop in the
bucket for Kirk, especially after thatcontract. I would have just I would
have just signed it and just getthe check away from me. As fair,
I want to forget about it asfast as possible. That would be
infuriating though, like that would takeaway from the ever man like it would.

(32:07):
It would bother me for someone tojust frivolously throw away that much money,
no matter how much you have,And trust me, I can frivolously
throw away money. I'm as good. I'm not Chris Hockey level, but
I'm not that far behind. LikeI can frivolously throw away money on a
whim. But that would infuriate me. You think about how a million other
ways that money could be used todrop a check for a couple hundred thousand

(32:29):
dollars just so that you could wearnumber eight. So I guess in this
case, I'm back on Kirk Cousin'sside. I'm glad that he didn't make
that termination. Charsy, It's notabout the money, it's about what the
money represents. You got that inmind. You're right, the money represents
number eight. A wise man oncetold us that. A wise man once
told us that we've got a bunchof recorded stuff. The rest of the
way, we're gonna hear from KevinCooler, who's gonna call this game.

(32:50):
These games on Saturday, he's doneI think sixteen final fours. Now he's
gonna help us wrap up the show. When we come back, though,
we're going to be joined by goFor Athletic director Mark Coyle. It's a
conversation that I taped last night.He's down here. People would text me
during the during the NCAA tournament andsay, why is Mark Coyle courtside right
now? At I guess Kentucky orOakland? Why is he in Pittsburgh?

(33:12):
And I say, well, he'son the NCAA Men's Basketball Committee, he
helps pick the teams and then hehas to go to sites. He's got
to basically be the representative from thecommittee at all these different sites, which
means he gets a great seat toall the action that includes the Final four
this weekend in Phoenix. But sohe had a bunch of stuff going on
this weekend, but was nice enoughto stop by last night after the show,
And when we come back, we'regoing to replay that conversation. And

(33:34):
he got into a lot just likehe did on the Golden Gopher podcast.
What three four weeks ago when hejoined me, we talked about PJ flex
contract amendment, why he felt likethat was the time to give PJ a
little bit more money, give hiscoaching staff a little bit more money,
and change buyout structure and all ofthat that was announced what about three weeks
ago something like that. We talkabout that, We talk about his expectations

(33:58):
now for go for basketball, thatwe did know at this point that Dawson
Garcia was coming back. They thinkthey're in a good spot with everybody else
that hasn't already entered the portal andthe women's run to the WNIT finals as
well, And I've gotten multiple textsabout why am I not there? Because
I had to be here because thisis my main job, and when I'm
tasked with doing my main job,I have to do my main job.
And the travel was crazy. I'mnot opposed to the travel, but there

(34:21):
was no way for me to getfrom Troy, Alabama on Wednesday night to
Phoenix, Arizona on Thursday morning,and so we had to hand it off
to Tanner Hoops. I'm bummed thatI'm not there. I'm bummed that I
had to make that choice, andI'm thrilled to be here. It's been
a great couple of days at RadioRow. But that's why I'm not on
the road with the Go for Womenas they try to win a WNIT title
tomorrow against Saint Louis at something calledSIU Edwardsville. So all of that coming

(34:45):
up. Don't forget to hit theBumper to Bumper iHeart channel to check out
everything that you've missed both today andyesterday from Radio Row. We had another
great run here, two of myfavorite days maybe in the ten plus final
fours that I've done the last coupleof days. All of that available on
the BREA channel of your iHeartRadio appWhen we come back, we hear from
Gopher's boss, athletic director Mark Coyle. That's coming up next right here on

(35:07):
the fan. Welcome back to Phoenix. Guards. You here in for Barrero
today on Bumper to Bumper day two, and we're joined by the boss at
the University of Minnesota, also amember of the NCAA Men's what do they
call it, Competition Committee, SelectionCommittee, Basketball Committee, Mark Coyle?
Yeah, Basketball Committee, Basketball Committee, Which means you've had a heck of
a month. This is week fouron the road. Started in Carmel,

(35:28):
Indiana for a week selecting the teams, got home for I think a day
and a half. Then I wassent to Pittsburgh for the first and second
round. That was awesome to spendsome time out there. Got home for
a day and a half in thesnowstorm, so I had a shovel and
then went to Detroit for the regional, got home for a day and a
half, and now came out hereand be out here for the week and
then look forward to getting back toMinnesota. I want to talk about the

(35:50):
finalization of the field and obviously yourtravels. What is your job entail as
part of the committee this weekend.What are you up to this weekend?
Yeah, well, great question.You know, we as I got in
the Phoenix yesterday and we had wedo a program where they call it Coffee
with the Committee, and we meetwith college kids in the local community who
have an interest in working in sports, and I try to talk them out

(36:10):
of doing that, but yeah,but we so we had that this morning,
and then we had committee meetings todayand then right now the fan fest
will open up tomorrow and they havethe four teams who are playing in the
final four come to the fan festtonight to let them kind of have a
sneak preview of it. And soI'll be there to meet the teams.
And since I was in the Troylast week with Purdue winning that regional,

(36:32):
I'm kind of assigned to them throughthe regional, through the final four,
whatever, So make sure everything's goinggood for them in their travels here and
all that type of stuff. Doyou, as a committee member keep score
on the results of the tournament likeeveryone else does to judge your work.
I guess it's this team should getin, that team shouldn't get or is
it just it's March madness? Andit's chaos and it's crazy, and you
did the best job you could andyou move on. Yeah, you know,

(36:53):
as you know, I'm a thirdgrader. I try to keep things
as simple as possible. And whenyou're going through that selection process, I
just finished my third year going throughthat selection process and guards it is crazy
the amount of information you have.And every year you're gonna make somebody mad.
This year, the Big East isfrustrated because I had three teams in
the Mountain West loves us because Igot I think five teams in the league

(37:13):
are when our six in the inthe in the tournament, our good friend
Richard got the a Q, whichwas phenomenal. Well, that's I want
to ask you about that. Iwas stunned. Everyone assumed when they won
Friday they were in and we foundout that they weren't. Shows you what
we know. I mean, whatwas the discussion on New Mexico space and
you know, have to tell meeverything, but that was wild to me.
Yeah. Well, well again,like when you look at a team
resume and it can be New Mexico, it can be Boise State where I

(37:36):
worked at, It can be Minnesota, can be Syracuse. You know,
Kentucky, these schools I've looked ator whatever, what what they look at?
Obviously you hear a lot quad onewins, and how do you do
in quad one wins? And thenyou have quad two wins? What do
those wins look like? And thenquad three and quad four you always want
to be clean and quad three andquad four you don't want to have bad
losses. And like, for example, Richard had a tough loss at Air
Force this year late in the year. That's a quad four loss form at

(38:00):
home, which is kind of akick in the shins or whatever. So
he had some work to do toget in. And as you know,
he and I talk quite a bitand a dear friend of mine and a
lot of respect for him, andand you know he was when he wanted.
You know, I had a chanceto shoot him a quick text message
congratulate winning the Mounta West Conference championshipand get n a Q. So that
gave him some breathing room to getin. But when when you look at
the overall work, you know,again, while I'm in Pittsburgh and I

(38:22):
watched Kentucky play Oakland and I hada chance to I was assigned to the
SEC this year. So I sawa lot of SEC basketball. I watched
a little bit of Horizon basketball,so I'd seen Oakland play a couple of
times. They're a dangerous team.Yeah, and they go out and they
beat Kentucky. So you know there'ssayings that that kind of catch off card.
But you don't have time to reviewuntil you get through the whole term
and then you kind of go backand I've got a group that helps me

(38:43):
back in the Twin Cities, andwe all sit down and kind of review
everything and what worked, what didn'twork, and kind of go from there.
Yeah, I would definitely be keepingmy own score. Like I'm sure
it doesn't get contentious in there,but I'm sure you have arguments in battles.
I would definitely if I if Ihad the right team in So I
told you guys, like i'd havethe group to I told you guys,
we should have put the team man. Yeah, I'm right, Yeah that
happened. No, you know theyou know, it's twelve different people with

(39:05):
twelve different opinions, and that's whatmakes the committee so good because people have
different different perspectives and different ideas whenthey look at stuff. But Greg burned
the edy at Alabama who's on thecommittee. He gets to be the ad
this week since Alabama we made theFinal four. And I had dinner with
Greg last night and I was tellingour people back at Minnesota who I worked
with on our picture, I said, watch out for Alabama. They're a
really dangerous team. I watched thema lot this year. Very athletic.

(39:28):
They can. They either shoot threepoints or they dunked the basketball, and
they do both very well. Right. They struggle a little bit on the
defensive side of the ball, butthey play really good offensively. And I
felt like they'd make a run.And I was telling Greg that last night
and he's like, could work.Well, he did the work, but
I kind of had my own Alabamathought they'd make a good run in the
tournament. So it's funny to gettext and tweets when people see you on
TV. I'm sure you get alot of them and they go, what

(39:49):
is Mark Coyle doing there? Isaid, read the paper. He's on
the committee. But you always havea great seat. And man, you
mentioned at the Pittsburgh first and secondround that was insanity with what happened.
I mean, just how fun isit as a sports fan to be part
of that with no horse in therace, you're just there watching. Yeah,
you know, it's awesome. Youknow. As part of the committee,
you know, you spend time withthe head coaches. So I have
a chance to meet all the coachesthere and always enjoy those conversations. You

(40:13):
get to know some of the studentathletes and spend time with them. And
you know, coach Kyle Perry hasbeen unbelievad to me. I will always
be a huge fan of coach andhad a chance to spend a lot of
time with him in Pittsburgh. Andthen they get upset in that first round
and I'm two feet from him theentire game, and I felt, you
know, I felt so bad forhim. But Oakland out played them.
Oakland played a really good game thatwhen they needed big that kid went off
on the three pointers and we hadten of them. And they had a

(40:35):
big kid down low who's a reallygood player who's in the portal by the
way. But but you know,they they they were a good team.
But yeah, the games there,I think are two on Saturday night.
Both went to overtime. The Organcran game went to double overtime. The
Oakland NC State game went to overtime, and uh yeah, good games to
see and it's amazing. Uh.I get mad, to be honest with
you, because I want to bethere as an ad and and that may

(40:57):
have been your next question, butif if you could see the messages to
my wife, you know, there'sno reason why we can do it at
Minnesota and somehow we've got to popthrough and get in there. And I
just that cow. I love thatcompetition and the pressure, and I'm absolutely
confident our kids would love that,and that's our goal to get there and
experience that pressure. Well, let'slet's pivot to Minnesota stuff. Because the
last time we chatted on the goalto go for podcasts, you talked about,

(41:20):
let's say, on the men's side, if they can keep the group
together, you think it's a toptwenty five team. By definition, that's
an NCAA tournament team. We obviouslyknow a couple of kids have entered the
portal, including for El Payne,but we got the big news. We're
taping this on a Thursday, planningon a Friday that Dawson Garcia is coming
back. I think they feel prettygood about the rest of the group.
So now that we kind of havesome portal resolution or your feelings the same

(41:42):
on what can be done next yearwith on the men's side, I am
you know, I think you know, we made great, great progress this
year. I think everybody would talkabout how much more competitive we were.
And you and I talked maybe threeweeks ago, a month ago, and
I said, hey, if weget everybody back, I think we're a
top twenty five teen preseason And Istill feel that way, and I've talked
to coaches. I mean, thegreat thing about this, I mean is
I'm meeting coaches from all over thecountry and they all talk about what Ben's
doing. I think we had oneof the younger teams in the country,

(42:05):
and we did lose Frell, wedid lose Braidon who went into the portal
or whatever. And that's all usto fort how we fill those two spots
and get other people in there tohelp us and continue to grow. And
you know, kylege Athletics has changed, you know, and Nil, I
think it's awesome for our student athletes, but there's no doubt it's created disruption
for everybody. You know. PaulRodneck, our MEATI relations director, shot
me a great tweet of the inthe Sweet sixteen. The number of transfers

(42:28):
on those teams, with the exceptionof Duke, I think everybody had at
least two, right, And Imean it's just the way it is.
And so now Ben and his staffhave done a great job. You know,
keeping Dawson is phenomenal, great,great player for us. If we
can keep our other kids, goout in the portal, find some good
kids. We've got a great freshmanclass coming in, so I feel like
we can do some special things nextfor your Minisa. On the women's side,
I saw a tweet of the finalfour. Iowa has all five starters

(42:51):
that their first school was Iowa.Nobody else has any correct. I think
Yukon might I might be correct,Yukon Mighty they have like seven players left.
But the other two schools right SouthCarolina, they that's just kind of
the world that we're in now andevery coach. I talked to Matt Morgan
Taylor today, he's on the NABCBoard of Directors. He said that there

(43:12):
are six coaches on his committee thatare not available this weekend because they're essentially
trying to keep all their players.I mean they're meeting their players right now.
That's a huge part of this deal. Right now, you have to
constantly recruit. You're rerecruiting them.And I can tell you again in Detroit
last weekend, in Pittsford the firstweekend, the number of coaches I talked
to who have staff who are literallyrecruiting their current kids. They're in the

(43:35):
portal watching that till three in themorning, and then they're coaching an NCAA
game ten hours late. I mean, it's crazy what they're trying to do
right now. And again, Ithink there's over thirteen fourteen hundred kids in
the portal right now and men's basketballalone, and so it's absolutely bonkers.
And again, just really grateful forBen in the way he does it and
how he represents our program. We'retalking with go For Athletic director Mark Coyle
here from the Final four. He'spart of the NCAA Men's Basketball Committee,

(43:57):
so he's got official duties here.We appreciate the time here and making this
work. So with your knowledge ofwhat goes into making the NCAA tournament and
the team we think Ben is bringingback. How much do you guys talk
about non conference scheduling now that youkind of know the team that he has
and what the opportunity could could present. Well, you know, one of
the great benefits about being on thiscommittee is, you know, I see
way too much college basketball now,and what I've learned is, you know,

(44:21):
those non conference schedules this year,we were very strategic. We we
had a lighter schedule, I wouldsay, and I think everybody would agree
with that in terms of that,and we wanted to get some wins and
get some confidence and Ben did that. But if you remember they were talking
about is in the NCAA tournament,you know, in January February, and
we were having some success and thenwe lost I think five to six or
six or seven down the stretch.But if we would have won some of

(44:42):
those games, you know, wecould have been a bubble team. And
I can tell you when you geton that bubble, the committee goes right
to that non conference schedule. Really, we would have been in a tough
spot, right, you know,that's one of the that's one of the
things I look at amongst other things. So you know, Ben and I
have had conversations, how do weschedule some more games and maybe that qua
two range that that would help us. So if we do make continued progress
with Big ten play, we canhave a better chance in terms of when

(45:05):
they start to look at other factors. That puts us in a really good
spot. You've had a crazy monthof travel. It pales in comparison to
your women's basketball team. The reasonI'm here, well, the reason I'm
not in Troy last night is becauseI couldn't get here to do this this.
As you said before, I meanGopher Sports Properties pays me. My
main job is KFA and radio.I can't miss cafe and radio all the

(45:25):
time for GOP, for Sports Properties. Apologies to our friend Greg Gerlock.
I would have loved to be inTroy. I wanted to be in Wyoming.
Couldn't make any of it work.Can't get to Saint Louis. It's
been a crazy week for them,but really a great opportunity and experience for
them to go through this WNIT firstwith Mara Brown, now without and Yeah,
they're not playing Power fives. Ithink we all know that, but

(45:45):
I think this has been good forthem. What have your observations been?
I could not agree more to youknow, in Don and I and Julie
Manning, who is one of ourdebut exstructors, and Joy Thomas, who
oversees our onom's basketball program. Foradministrative standpoint. You know, we sat
down and we met with Don youknow, at the end of the season.
Not when I say on the phone, I will never mislead anybody.
It was on the phone. Wehad conversations about do we playing the W

(46:07):
and I? Do we not playingthe W and I and I really challenged
on, you know, like Don, I want to understand why we think
this is important. She walked methrough two or three things and I'm like,
all right, let's do it.And then we got that first win,
and I'm like, well, wemight as well win the damn thing,
right, And then we get theone Northcota stay at home. Then
we go out, we get Wyoming, we get Troy last night in a
good game, and now we havea chance to play Saint Louis in the

(46:27):
championship game. And I think you'veseen a Maya battle. It's gotten a
lot better here in the last fewweeks, and she's had a really good
year. She's gotten better. Youknow, Mara tweaks the leg, the
scar tissue, some of those thingsis my understanding, but she not having
her the last two games, andGrace stepped up hit a big three pointer
last night. Sophie Heart's back playingwell. So again, I really think
our women's basketball team's going in theright direction. And before you and I

(46:49):
went on air, you heard mefussing about I mean, you're gonna The
number I want you to remember isthirty seven, Okay, And what I
simply mean if you remember, it'son my whiteboard in my office. I
don't have anything in my office,but I have thirty seven written on my
white board. There are thirty sixat large spots to get into the men's
our women's basketball tournament, we haveto be one of the best thirty six
teams. If you win the conference, you get the automatic That's so there's

(47:13):
thirty seven opportunities for Minnesota to getinto the basketball tournament for the men's in
the one, there's no reason.Our facilities what we have in place,
from academic advising to the nutrition centerto mental health services of strengthening a year
round our yep, it's all inplace right and now we need Down and
Ben to take that next step.So back to your question, I'm giving
you a long answer. I thinkthe WNET has been awesome for them because

(47:34):
they become road warriors. I texton every night, Hey, you're the
world. You know she's a roadwarriors. She's getting these big wins,
they're getting great experience, and it'sdone everything she said it would do.
So I'm really excited for her.My partner, Lynette Show was very angry
with me. She thinks, onvacation here you can confirm, like,
I'm not by the pool. I'vebeen here since nine o'clock local time.
And what was I doing when yousaw me? I was sitting for Lauren
out on the bench right, justwaiting like I'm not on vacation. Well,

(47:55):
the flip flops and the Lion Tshirt are kind of throwing me out.
Yeah, I mean I do havethirty two hons Hurricane and I've been
drinking that since noon. Yeah,but yeah, it's been it's been fun
to watch that. Obviously, it'sbeen a great experience. There. A
couple of last things from Mark Coylesince we last talked, not in an
extension for PJ. Fleck, butyou gave him a little bit more money.
I'm curious how you arrived at thatfor the resolution we talked on the

(48:17):
podcast that the UCLA stuff was real. Certainly was. They wanted to meet
him. I know, they talkedto him a lot. As I told
you. Then, he doesn't justrandomly send out tweets saying how proud he
is to be the Gofer coach whenhe's on an anniversary trip. So as
you went back and forth, howdid you guys come to that resolution that
this is something that we think bothsides because this really locks him up.
I mean in a lot of differentways, from him leaving to you letting

(48:39):
him go. He's going to bethe coach for a while here as I
read it, Yeah, and that'sour goal. You know, we talk
and when PJ got here, wetalked about continuity, and if you think
about it, I think he andI are now the We might be the
longest tenured ad dual. Yeah,because I with Beth getting the IWAD job,
Penn State would be the next one. Hey, but I was hired

(48:59):
before, So he and I mightbe the longest combo in terms of eighty
head football coach together. That maybe a good thing or a bad thing,
But we may be the longest comet. But you know, as you
know, he and I have avery unique positive relationship, and I am
absolutely convinced he's the right person fromMinnesota. People talk about Minnesota football now
across the country, which is important. This morning, I told you I

(49:21):
had a chance to meet with somelaw students in Arizona State, and you
know, they get up roll theboat and they're saying that too. I
mean, people talk about they knowwhat we are on that type of stuff.
And as we talked about, Iactually talked to you the day before
we announced pj's things. So Iapologize. Well, I'm mad at myself
because I needed one more follow upbut pressed. But I'm in the office.
You've got thirty seven there, rodnecksitting there. I pressed you a

(49:45):
little. I should have pressed youmore. Yeah, I should have pressed
you. Why did you call theBorder Region Center If there's no extension,
that's a journalism lesson. I'm goingto change my best. I'm gonna keep
my ore in the water. I'mhere to make you bet. Yeah,
but I was really mad at myself. I'm not gonna lie, but you
know when So that's why we contactto the board, by the way,
But yeah, I figured, butwe were light bulb just went on,

(50:06):
but UCLA was real. And againI think again the bullwinds are awesome.
Last year we talked about six andseven. Nobody wanted to go six and
seven. We've got to continue toimprove and show improvement on that side of
it. But I'm convinced what we'redoing off the field, the academic success,
the things we're doing there. Ithink the longer we have PJ Flag
at Minnesota, the better for Minnesota, and he keeps us relevant and people

(50:27):
talk about us. And again withthe recruiting class, I think for the
first time ever we got the numberone kid out of Minnesota, the number
one kid out of I with numberone kid out of was kind. I
mean that took him eight years todo. I mean, think about that
eight years and that type of stuff, and so I think the continuity those
things are important for us. Andgiven the transfer portal nil you don't want
to lose a football coach in Februarythat you do not want to lose a
football coach. I mean to talkto our friends at Washington, like say

(50:51):
you and I think I talked aboutWashington a day. I think they have
one kid on their too deep comingback from the National championship game. They're
now on their third ad in thelast year second football. I mean,
it's it's you cannot go through that. It's just such a hard hold to
dig out. Well, when peoplewould ask me about it, so,
well, what was Pj's leverage wasthe UCLA thing really said, Well,
leverage can be played both ways,but the timing of it. Yeah,

(51:12):
the timing of it changes everything.And you're going into this new era of
the Big ten, and it's ait's a tough time to start from behind
when all these schools are coming comingin, right. I mean, so
that's where you know, you don'tadd any years, give him a little
extra money, help the staff,which I know is important to everybody.
Yep. And it seemed like tome a good middle ground of just let's
just avoid what could be a reallytough situation. Yeah, and you know,

(51:35):
i'd be remissing. You know,President Edinger, who is absolutely awesome,
has done a great job in theinterim president role, and Chair mayeron
with the board and vice chair Hitsvice chair Kenyanya. We're awesome to work
through that process, and they understoodthe importance and I think we talked that
day when we talked a month andyou're going to see this happen more and
more. You're gonna see coaches leavein February. Uh. It's just it's
so different now, right. Andagain, could you imagine a month before

(51:58):
we go into stream ball, bringin a new coach, Yeah, trying
to navigate the transfer portal, tryingto navigate NIL balance all the academic I
mean. And again, as yousaid, with the Big Ten, with
the four new people coming in theirstuds, they're really really good, not
only in football but across the board, and so I think for us it
can be competitive. We got tokeep those people in place. Last thing,
let's talk Dinkytown athletes. We talkedat that time about the retention for

(52:19):
the football program. Obviously they've donea good job with the basketball side as
well. Seems like they're going tokeep most of that intact. I know
when the women's season's over, there'sgonna be some conversations there. How much
are you personally dealing with NIL stuffin terms of talking to people, talking
to coaches, talking to other peopleabout what they may or may not have,
which is probably harder than I wouldthink. Is this an everyday thing

(52:40):
for you? As well, Jess, I am not going to mislead you.
It is an every hour conversation.I mean when I encourage our fans
to go to Dianeytown Athletes dot com, I really mean it. I know
you do a great job talking aboutit, but you know, I want
people to understand, especially in Minnesota, like we are doing it the right
way. I mean, when akid, when a young man or young
woman gets into a partnership with DingeytownAthletes, they're doing work. They're not

(53:02):
just getting handed, you know,they're doing working. And I think the
perception is that these kids are,oh, they're getting a million dollars.
You hear about those kids that youknow, and awesome, that's two or
three kids across the country. They'regetting that type of money. Most kids
are looking at, you know,twenty five hundred, five thousand, ten
thousand dollars, right, that's realmoney that they can use send home,
take care of their family, thosetype of things. So again, it's

(53:24):
it's here to stay, it's notgoing away. And if for us to
continue to be competitive, it's partof the conversation recruiting, and I've learned
a long time ago. You know, if you have better Jimmy's and Joe's
or Jennie's and Joe. You're gonnabe a better program, right And if
you don't have them, you've gotno shot. And so we've got to
continue to be aggressive in our recruitingand for us to recruit talented kids that

(53:45):
come to Minnesota to compete in theBig Ten, which in my opinion is
the most competitive conference across the board. You need to have a successful ANNIL
program. So I talk about ithourly. I'm pretty I think I probably
talked a half dozen coaches today.I'll do the same thing on Friday.
It came up in every conversation andmost of them had their phone out on
the table because they're checking the portal. We say, and I told you
before we hit record. I talkedto one coach who's I think he's depressed

(54:06):
because they're in a bad ANIL situation. He's like, I know I can
coach, I've won everywhere, butI'm losing my players and I can't go
back and get ity. I meaneverybody, it's the theme here every single
day. Yeah yeah, right,yep. It will not go in.
And I can tell you when Iwas in Pittsburgh, talking to those coaches
Detroit when I get here, sameconversation. Whether we like it or not,
Nope, it's here, Yeah,and everybody's doing it. And if

(54:27):
you want to be relevant, you'vegot to be able to get in that
space and handled on that side ofit. So I would say, enjoy
Phoenix. You're working. I hopeyour family's enjoying Phoenix. Mine is that
I've been getting hourly pool text messages. Apparently they had a great day at
the pool. We're happy for them. I appreciate you coming up. I
know you got a lot going on, so thanks for fitness in tonight.
Yeah, it's good to see.And real quick, you've got the Minnesota
State basketball A shot out to them. That is awesome the success they had.

(54:47):
I had a chance to that athree pointer at the Crazy and their
women's team winning that. I mean, that is really really awesome. And
as a Minnesotan we consider that homeas you know, really excited for them
their success. It's awesome to seethat success. So a shout out to
Minnesota State on their national championships.Love it, Thanks for coming by.
We appreciate you, boss. That'sathletic director Mark Coyle More from Phoenix when
we come back. Welcome back toPhoenix. Guards you here on Radio Row

(55:09):
now joined by a guy you willhear calling the game and a guy that
you hear almost every day on nineto noon Alan a superstar bursting on the
scene on the Paul Allen Show.It's Kevin Coogler. And I know you
talked to Pa about that. Ithink way back in Minneapolis that you are
huge in Minnesota just because of thatmoment. Grayson Allen is big because he
beat the Badgers, which we appreciate. Yep, you are big because of

(55:30):
that. But it's great to seehim. Well. I appreciate that.
I love going up to the TwinCities, and I love being around the
Vikings when I get the chance todo Vikings games for Fox, and I
love getting the chance to come upeven to see the Gophers. Once Provis
gets out of there for baseball seasonand now relinquishes his iron grip on the
bar, and I can come upand see Ben Johnson's team a couple of
times too. Yeah, we haveProvis on every week, so I'll pass

(55:51):
along your high regards. I I'ma big Corey Provis fan. He's the
best, so let's get wonky becauseI'm a play by play guy aspiring to
be you one day and Paul Allenand others, are the boards done?
Are you ready to go? Ithink if it's tip time. If it's
tip time, are you ready togo? Up? They've got some highlighting
to do, okay, but Ilike it a folder. I got my
folder here as I walk away fromthe microhone because I'm an amateur at this

(56:12):
apparently, there we go. Butthen I'll highlight all the stuff that I've
written. I've got room for extranotes. But yeah, everything's ready to
go. Everything's set, you know, we got to be, got to
be if they decide to play thegame tonight, which they could, which
they who knows. I mean,schedules are changing all the time. Maybe
Yukon's flight gets delayed again. Idon't know. All of a sudden,
I'm ready to go. If wehave to play the game right now,
that's good. So how long didthat take? It depends on the team.

(56:35):
Like I have not had NC Statethis year, so it took longer
for them because I watched some NCState and then I wanted to make because
I wanted to make sure I knewhow to say names and all that stuff.
But for Purdue, I've had Purdueten times this season, so it
takes and I had them just lastweekend, so it takes less time to
put together a repeat chart versus achart for a brand new team. So
all in all, I spent mostof Monday and Tuesday doing that. I

(56:58):
came down here right after we getdone with Detroit this past weekend because why
go back to the Midwest when Ican come here where it's warm and work
outside. And that's what I didfor those couple of days, just working
on those boards. So how manyfinal fours? Now? Is this for
you? This is number sixteen?I knew I was. I knew you
we're gonna ask me that. SoI was walking around this morning thing all
go to count this up. Iwould have been seventeen, but obviously we
didn't have a tournament. It's crazy, well, it's nuts, yeah,

(57:21):
And I know Softy was just overthere. I heard him talking about Kevin
Harlan, who we also have onHe's done it before, he's done the
Super Bowls, and he always talksabout he still thinks about just how many
people are listening all over the worldright with Westwood One. Do you use
me? Can you even think aboutthat? Do you think about that for
a moment? Kind of how doyou balance all that? I think it's
cool, I think about it.Yeah, I mean, it's an absolute
dream to be for those of uswho grew up loving the art of play

(57:43):
by play, and I know KevinHarlan is certainly in that mix. The
idea of being able to broadcast abasketball game globally is sometimes if you allow
your brain to wrap it around,it's a little bit daunting. But after
all, all of the stuff wedo now is potentially global. I mean,
the show is potentially global. Ifsomebody wants to listen overseas, they
certainly can on the web. Butfor us to be able to do that

(58:06):
on the Armed Forces Radio networking,to be all across the globe is a
really it's a really cool thing.And for a kid who grew up loving
sports but not having the athleticism todo it beyond the high school level,
it's a pretty cool thing to beable to be involved in it at this
point in my life. So Iwould ask you about Perdue, but we
know about Purdue. We're sick ofPurdue in the Big Ten. We're certainly
all sick of Zach Edy. Lovethe guy, great story, Good luck

(58:28):
to you and your future endeavors.Not in the Big ten. Let's be
honest. It's cheating, all right. And I've told Matt Painter that before
because he's had seven footers for fifteenyears. He's got another one coming,
you know, And that's what everybodytells me. Go, Eidi, he's
done. They go, yeah,there's another seven for I got to go.
Great. Hopefully we'll get a yearwhere he's correct. Right, So
but you kin, obviously you knowwhat Danny Hurley's done there. I mean
what it's a great program. You'veprobably called three of their national championships or

(58:49):
at least two, yep, Andso what if they figured out or what
is Danny Hurley unlocked up there wherethey're just rolling, you know, one
of the things that and I hadtheir last loss. So don't tell Danny
Hurley that because I called their assloss at Creyton on Fox Fan. If
he knows that, I won't getto talk to him during the course of
this final four because as you've heard, he's a little bit superstitious. Underwear
thing's bizarre. It's a little bitstrange. The notion of bringing a washing

(59:12):
machine around is interesting, and hedid that last year too, so that's
not new. The one thing they'veunlocked is they have a playbook that is
as deep as anybody's in college basketball. The amount of sets that they run
is significant, and when you haveto, especially on short turnaround prepare for
a team like that, it's almostimpossible. They in the Big East.
It's them and it's Creighton, thetwo teams that run so much stuff that

(59:34):
it just makes your head spin.So you have to try to pick your
poison. What do you think they'regoing to do, and how do you
attack them. We saw how Illinoisattack them. That was not the way
to attack them. I think Alabamawill take a different approach. I don't
know if it'll be successful, butAlabama's a potent team. They can shoot
a lot of threes. They havethe opportunity to get it up and down
against Yukon, but yu Kon isvery difficult to get out of what they

(59:55):
want to do. It's one oftheir great strengths. They set the tone,
however, the they want to playand that's what this team has done
for the last two years and it'snot a fluke when you pound teams like
they've pounded they. I saw astaff the other day. They've trailed for
under six minutes since the Sweet sixteenand twenty twenty three in the NCAA tournament.
That's absurd. You're playing the verybest teams in college basketball and you've

(01:00:16):
been behind for six minutes, Right, that's crazy. Like he said,
they're bad at winning close games,so they do it the other thing.
They do it the other way.They just beat the snot out of you,
so last thing because they're getting youout of here, Houston. It's
a great story in the Midwest,is Grant Nelson's story where no one had
heard of him, you know,obviously outside of North Dakota and some of
us in the cities, and wedo a lot of NBSU stuff as well.

(01:00:36):
But is that as good a tournamentstory. That's the typical tournament story,
right guy, No one has everheard of. Everybody's googling Devil's Lake,
North Dakota, even me who livessomewhat close to it, trying to
figure out where the hell it is. Yeah. I talked with Grant the
other day when we were getting readyfor this event, and he's just as
he's exactly like you'd expect a NorthDakota kid to be real, calm,
real, cool, real, collected, just sort of even keel not on

(01:00:59):
a assuming he's an unassuming individual,and he's just he's taking it all in
stride because I mean, you lookat his story. The guy's a North
Dakota kid through and through. Heloves the State of North Kota, he
loves that program. But this isan opportunity for him on the biggest stage
and he has those moments, youknow, so few of us get a
moment, and he's got the NorthCarolina game ridiculous for the rest of his

(01:01:21):
life. How cool is that fora kid coming out of Devil's Lake to
have that happen to him on thatstage. And I asked him about it,
He's like, yeah, that wasgreat. It was really fun.
All right? Thanks Neat, Joemauerd I will say neat, So we
go with Neat. It was neat. I will enjoy Final four sixteen,
thanks to man, and hopefully we'llsee you next year as well. I
hope so too. Thanks. That'sKevin Cooler West. Would one listen to
him? Saturday's coverage right here onthe Fan that wraps up bumper to bumper

(01:01:44):
from Radio Row at the Final Four. More Final Four coverage tomorrow right here
on the Fan after Beyond the Pond. Thanks for listening the whole show podcast
well on that free iHeartRadio app,Fan on Demand, and Wild Weekly coming up next