Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to a Broncos Country Tonight, Benjamin al Brian,
Nick Ferguson, Grand Smith back there behind the glass five
six six nine Zero's the text line you'll welcome to
joined us bottom of the hour.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Thanks to Mark Johnson Voice the Bus for joining us
in the last hour.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Missed any part of that, you go Broncos Country Night,
dot Com, slash podcast or whereverach podcast, Apple, it Tunes, Spotify.
He told me free and awesome and redesigned iHeartRadio app
eyes did not nail that where you get to taken
for granted podcast as well, And uh yeah, I took
two cuts last night to two whacts at it, swung
(00:33):
for the fences and struck out both times as Arizona
loss to do Can Arkansas lost in overtime to Texas.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Good night for you.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Yeah, well, I mean, you.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Know, I went from first in the brackets.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
To not first in the brackets anymore, So at least
we don't have to hear you gloat anymore. Well, there's
still a path for me to win, so there will
be much gloating if that happens. I promise you, and
I assure you of that. Curly old miss tied up
with the Michigan State. You've got Tennessee up on Kentucky
forty nine thirty four to fifteen eight to go in
the second. That would Michigan Auburn a little bit later
(01:04):
as well as Purdue Houston, and you're in caa tournament.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Can't wait.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Tournament updates are presented by Exfinity Stream Lite of Sports.
What the best seed in the house? Nick, you think
some franchises fail.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
A lot of.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Franchises failed because they lack vision. Right if they think
about a lot of lens crafters, Well, maybe.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Maybe it's to take you a ferguson lens crafters and
maybe the.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Optical losion is closer than the actually thing. It takes
me back to the whole.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Taylor Jenkins situation.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
With what's kind of going on with the Memphis Grizzlies.
How they decided with the team playing well, they.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
In a position I think four to fifth position.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
Maybe tied with the Lakers, and they got a game
coming up that they decide to fire him.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
And what I don't agree.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
With with Taylor Jenkins, but also I know of coaches
who've been in similar situations and the situation with Memphis,
what they did was they said, Okay, well, we want
you to fire your entire coaches, deaff bring in the
people that we want run the scheme that we want
you to run.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
And oh, by the way, if you don't win, right,
then we fire you.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Even though Memphis is sitting still in a good spot.
So I liking it to the lack of competency, wisdom,
and individuals kind of somewhat being set in their ways,
because how can you hire you a head coach to
do a job but you would constantly interfering.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Well yeah, and on the surface, jenkins.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Dismissal seems pretty odd given Memphis season so far, Grizzlies
four to four to twenty nine. They're fifth in the
Western Conference. They're tied with the Los Angeles Lakers at fourth.
I guess in a conference battle they have that secured
a playoff first, but it looks like.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
One that's you know, incredibly likely.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Jenkins, who was hired in twenty nineteen, let the Grizzlies
to the second best record the last and his third
fourth seasons coach. In twenty twenty one, Memphis won a
playoff series for the first time in seven years. He's
coached All Star guard job Morant from rookie to two
time All Star. They had a forgettable season last year,
but at a strong season this year. They're second in the
NBA in points per game and rebounds per game, onere
(03:15):
of the fastest team in the league. Jenkins has the
most wins in franchise histories, had a two fifty to
two to fourteen record there.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
He was a two seasons assistant for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
And five year assistant with the Atlanta Hawks before that,
and likely to be a top candidate for any ad
coaching vacancy in the NBA this offseason.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
This thing looked.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Bizarre to me when this got announced him, Like, what
are what are they doing?
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yeah, they're making a huge, huge mistake.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
And a lot of this comes back to like stubbornness, right,
stubborness and accountability because we hear when teams and coaches
talk about culture.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Those are some of the things that come up.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
But it's almost like the rules are different for the
coaches in the front offense than they are for the players.
But we've seen a lot of stubbornness. And you you
could choose a team, you could choose a coach, you
could choose a professional league. We've seen coaches, we've seen
organization make bad mistakes because of stubborness. It's one of
(04:11):
those do as I say, not as I do type
of situations. And I think that puts the organization in
the fan base and it's tough spot. And I have
to ask you this because I think what's happening with Memphis, right.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
I would like to say that I'm wrong.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
I like to think that this similar situation could in
fact happen to the Denver Nuggets at some point.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Well, it's interesting because he and Michael Malone, she had
the same agent.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
By the way, I'm just saying it's weird to me,
And yeah, you could kind of see something like that.
I don't believe. I think the Nuggets are an organization
that wouldn't do that. I think they would wait till
the season concluded. I wouldn't be surprised if they swapped
Michael alone out for.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
James, to be honest with you, but you.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Know, you look at you look at what the Grizzlies
should be able to do.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
I mean, at the end of the best ford team in.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
The NBA, they're five to five in the last ten,
but you know, overall, the season. They're fourty four and
twenty nine. They're a good basketball team.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
They're a good basketball team, and they were a great
basketball team.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
And you so watch the way that they were trending
with John.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
Morant, Well, what happens is management got too involved. Even
John Moran was kind of upset with how the offense
was being run and how he's been incorporated to the offense.
On the Taylor Jenkins, they were running a lot of
pick and rolls, which a lot of teams in the
NBA run a lot of pick and rolls, but they
wanted this new system.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
And they changed.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
So we saw once John Moran got injured, things changed
significantly for the Memphis Grizzlies.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
And why I say that, regardless of.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
What people think, this could be a situation that happened
here in Denvern. Here's why John Moran out, the Memphis
Grizzlies struggled to produce offense, and we saw with Nikola
Jokic out for a couple of games what the Nuggets
offense kind of look like. So that's why it's always
been my worry that if Nikola Jokis were to get
(06:09):
injured for extensive period of time going on the idea
that everyone's used to the three time.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
MVP carrying the Nuggets team. He's out of the lineup.
I could see the.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Nuggets losing consecutive games because I don't think Jamal.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Murray is that type of guy.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
Is he talented, true, yes he is, but can he
carry the team in those moments like when Nikola Jokis
was out and then you take Aaron Gordon out, this
team could struggle.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
And then we've already seen that.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
There's been a difference in viewpoint between Calvin Booth and
Michael Malone, Michael Malone wanting experienced veteran players and Kelvin
Booth wanting more of the younger players for thinking more future.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
So this could be.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
A situation that could happen here in Denver.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Believe it or not.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yeah, I mean it's entirely possible.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
This is it's a factating thing because the what is
the thinking behind this?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Do they do they legitimately think they're going to get better?
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Who are they gonna find and why are you doing
this in the middle of a playoff? Rod Is there
something disciplinary behind the scenes that we're missing here? Because
this seems on the surface a frankly bizarre.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
Well, the reason the reason is bizarre been because it's
kind of things have been coming to your head when
you think about Taylor Jenkins being forced to fire his
staff and bringing a new staff, and there was a
European coaches being with a team I think for a
two season.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
I think his name is uh, let's.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
See, it's it's like too almost he's a little something
like that.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
So now he has kind of been implementing his style
of the offense, which is not what John Moran and
the Grizzlies are used to. So that is create somewhat
of a riff. So at this point they're like, Okay,
well we might as well. We know we're going to
do this, so we might as well several the ties. Now,
my idea was what did Grizzly get through the playoff run,
(08:02):
whether the play in or not? And then you make
that decision. But to do it right now, it's utterly ridiculous.
But we know sometimes owners can help but intervene. Think
about what's happening in Dallas right now?
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Yeah, I mean that's yeah, And that's one of those things.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
This is it is a fascinating thing I've seen.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
We've seen coaches fired before in all manner of sports,
that felt bizarre when the then Washington Redskins fired Marty
Schottenheimer to hire Steve Spurrier when it looked like Schottenheimer
had turned that team around after one season. We've seen
Schottenheimer get get fired in with the Chargers in a
(08:44):
situation where you know, I think that he probably should
have been retained. We look and you can look at
this and you can sort of see this around the league.
There are obvious firings that I think should have happened.
Nate Hackett getting fired mid season after the you know,
the players all on the sideline, you had, you know,
urban Meyer getting fired, you know, for his for cause,
(09:05):
for his conduct, those those kinds of things. Those makes sense.
But when you've got a guy who's in playoff contention,
you're probably they're probably making the playoffs. When the last
time an NFL coach got fired in the middle of
the season when you're in a playoff run.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
I don't remember anything of that magnitude, you know, ever
happening Now, I know it's happened in the NBA before,
where you had, uh, this would be the second time
a coach with somewhat of when in seventy games was
possibly fired to close out the season.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
But it's utterly ridiculous. But this just goes.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Back to just how the stubbornness of certain coaches and
organizations can just cripple the entire team, an entire fan
base based on the decisions that they make. Because think
about it, let's let's flip it to football for just
a second. We've seen coaches in certain certain situations.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
We're we're sitting at home, We're.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
We're sitting at the stadium, going okay, well, here's the best.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Thing that they should do.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
It makes the most obvious sense to do, maybe from
a play college standpoint or a personnel move, but they
do it to total opposite And you're like, well, that
makes absolutely no sense to me that the team or
a coach made this particular decision. But they do it
because they say, you know what, I'm the guy in charge,
so I'm gonna do what I want to do.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Yeah, And we've seen that. We certainly saw it in football.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
I think Dan Snyder was probably the owner that was
too interfering.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
How that work out for him?
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Well, I mean, ultimately, I think he's keeping two sets
of books got him removed, but you know, certainly his
interference with his team did make things difficult. And obviously
Washington was not much of a winning franchise, you know
when he did things like that. I just I don't
know in this particular situation, this one feels weird to me.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I can't think of a single parallel to this.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
I've seen plenty of over the years coaches fired at
the end of a season where you're like, well, they
might should have got one more year or that kind
of stuff. But I've never seen a coach get fired
in the middle of a playoff run where his team
is the top scoring team, you.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Know, and they're just like, I just I don't know.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
It baffles me to to sort of see what happened
there today, And certainly, I mean it surprised me, But.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Did it surprise you when you saw this? Were you
shocked at all?
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Or yeah, I was definitely shocked, because once again, it
doesn't make sense if a team is still in contention
to make the playoffs or the play in it doesn't
make sense to get rid of the coach. Now, some
of the excuses of justifications that the Memphis Grizzly organization
was giving this is the fact that when they started
(11:45):
the season they were one of the top teams in
the NBA offensively and somewhat defensively, and over the back
half of the season that is somewhat changed.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
So the idea is that, well, Taylor Jenkins lost the
locker room.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
And I'm thinking like, well, no, it's not a thing
of him losing the locker room. It's just the fact
that the players seeing what's actually happening. You have a
guy who's in a head coach position, but he has
no particular authority as a head coach. Everything that you
come to know of that individual as a head coach
has been stripped away from him. So does it or
(12:21):
could it make players look not look at the head
coach sideways, but the organization sideways. And they may say, well,
you know what, the organization is not as invested as
we think that they are or we thought they are,
So why should we go out and play as hard?
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah, And in this particular case, I wonder if you're
going to lose player buy in, you know, I mean
your team that's in the middle.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Of a playoff run.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
You know, you might even be a first round home state.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
You're tied for fourth in the West, you might have
a first round home series.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
Could you imagine being a head coach in any league
and the organization not allowing you to choose your own coach.
The staff they're gonna shoot, they're gonna chose your.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Coaches for you.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
We had that happen here.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
And then when it comes to player evaluation and selection,
you don't have any input on that. But we want
you to win though. Yeah, he wants you to win.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Are you talking about I'm not talking about it.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
You talk about Taylor Jenkins.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Youre talking about Vance Josh because I think you're selling
me the.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Other story, because I think we all know.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
You know, somebody who wasn't allowed to hire his own
coaching staff, had had an offensive coach on his own staffs,
knifing him in the back every chance he got. He
didn't have much input on players. They were gonna pick
those fom then expected.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Him to win. He didn't.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Well, see, I was talking about Taylor Jenkins because I
didn't even know what you just disclosed.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
You're you're describing Vance Joston's head coaching.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Career in Denver. Wow, that's if what you're saying is true.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
That's why that a coach was put into that position
where you are a head coach, but you don't get
a chance to shoose any of that.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
But you asked to win football game. Yeah, and if
you don't win, what happens? Right then you're gone?
Speaker 4 (13:54):
And then the fan base and the critics look at
you sideways like.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
That was the problem. And then what happened The next
two coaches didn't win either.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
But all that doesn't always come out in.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
The watch, though it doesn't, It doesn't.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
I just feel like that as an organization, you should
be there to empower and enable your front office and
your coaching staff, and as a coach, you're there to
empower and enable your players. And that's that's how that
should work. And in successful organizations you do see that.
But you know, perhaps an organization like Memphis, is this
a case of ownership getting too full of themselves? Like
I hired this guy and maybe he's the John Fox
(14:31):
who can get me here, but not here? Is there
is there some some sort of situation with you know,
with the Grizzlies where ownership believes they're going to find better,
because who are they going to find better than the
guy who has them as the top scoring option in
the league.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Yes, that is the case of the situation because people
think that the grass is always grinning on the other.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Side, but it's not.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
And that's the same thing I warned when the when
I got out here, the Nuggets fire George Carl and
they hired right after it was it Brianshaw Yesshaw, and
I was like.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Man, the grass ain't alway greener.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
I mean, with George Carl, you're at least you get
into the playoffs. You might be the Marts Sean Humer
of basketball, but you're at least getting to the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
Because ideas that oh, we got this shiny new toy
over here, Guess what that's gonna bring us untold riches
and victories.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
But it doesn't always work out that way.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
Because this is like some of the young coaches who
were hired, right, they're just like, Okay, well we get
this shiny new coach and he's gonna bring in this
this fancy new attitude. But then guys like Pete Carroll
was being pushed out because well agism. Yeah, but Carol,
It's still baffling to me.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
How when you think about Pete Carroll and you.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Compare Vic Fangio and Andy Reid to Pete Carroll and said, well,
what's one of these guys are older? And it's not
Pete Carroll. He's old as far as age, but when
you look at him, he's not the same.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
No, you wouldn't if you didn't know Pete Carroll's age,
you would never assume that he was the oldest.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
No.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
So it goes back to can you get ownership, can
you get head coaches?
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Can you get gms all on the same page? And
if that doesn't have and you get too.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
Much interference from front office, you get the whole thing
that's been happening with the Raiders for years on Al
Davis NC DOUBLEA interfering with the t U Buff's plans for.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
A spring scrimmage.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
We'll talk with Neil welk next here on Broncos Country Tonight,
Benjamin all Bright, Nick Ferguson, Grant Smith here with you.
Five six six nine zero is the text line. Get
head right out to the Kawa Common Spirit Health Hotline
and bring on our good buddy. Neil Welcomer, Editor cu
buffs dot com.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Been a busy day for seeing you, Neil.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
Well, I'll tell you what you know, when you make
your coach the highest bid guy in the Big twelve
has some pretty big news right there.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Certainly is they did make him the highest paid guy
in the Big twelve, one of the highest paid coaches
in the NC double A.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
Actually with the yeah, I think he's number four from
the list I've seen. I think it's number four, And
that's pretty good company when you're behind you know, what
is the Kirby Smart, Dabo Sweeney and Ryan Day.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
You know, anytime you can get in that kind of company,
I think you want to be five years, sixty four
million dollars.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
The question I guess to start this thing off, is
the unworth it?
Speaker 5 (17:10):
Hey? You know, well, what's interesting is that I've talked
to a lot of people about it today, obviously, and
I think this is more than just wins and losses
right now. I mean, obviously wins and losses are the
are the ultimate way a coach is going to be judged.
But what Deion Sanders has done for the University of
Colorado as far as making them nationally relevant again, as
(17:33):
far as getting them, you know, I think last year
they were in that they were one of the top
ten games every week on TV as far as the
TV ratings, as far as bringing in, you know, a
Heisman Trophy winner, as far as getting the publicity. Enrollment
is up, all applications are up. You know, all the
things that he has done, I think you have to say, yeah,
(17:55):
he's worth it. And the one thing that I think
you know is really important here is in four or
five years, people are saying the realignment is going to
happen again, and it's going to be you know, a
couple of major conferences. Dion Sanders puts Colorado in position
(18:15):
to be on that list when that happens.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
So, Noil, how does this change things for Boulder in
the sense of the grand scheme of things? Because you've
got coach promeince of twenty twenty nine and you got
Sundance coming to Boulder in twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 5 (18:32):
Well yeah, yeah, yeah, hey boy, you're you're paying attention
to all kinds of fun stuff. Yeah, you know, coming
from Park City, it outgrew Park City, Boulder made a
bid for it. Now it's going to be in Boulder,
and you know, certainly that'll put Boulder on the map
in a whole other way. But I think what it
does is for you know, for the city of Boulder,
(18:53):
for the state of Colorado, and certainly for the University
of Colorado. It puts them on the map. It makes
them relevant. People are going to be talking about the
University of Colorado all football season.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Again.
Speaker 5 (19:04):
They did all they did from the from the day
coach Prime stepped on campus to you know to today,
and this is only going to increase that. I think
it will improve their recruiting. People you know have been saying, oh,
coach Prime is gonna leave, he won't last too long
after his kids leave, blah blah blah. Well, now we
signed an extension and uh, you know already the social
(19:25):
media is coming out. You know, what's your excuse now
for you know, not coming to the University of Colorado.
So I think it's big in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Yeah, I do think that that is a key component
to this, having the long term money in there and
security in there, because that does uh, and that has
affected recruiting. The other part of this I think is
is it puts his name in with those coaching elites
in terms of the salary, and there's a perception I
think that comes with that. And even though Colorado has
not exactly been a national championship contender in these first
(19:56):
couple of years.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
It certainly puts your name in that mix. I guess
the question I.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Have here is at what point do results have to
get in line with that contract?
Speaker 5 (20:06):
Well, I think soon, you know, I think soon. I think,
you know, last year was a big step. They you know,
two years, three seasons ago they were one and eleven.
Last year they won or two years ago Dion's first year,
they won four games. Last year they won nine, and
so I think they've got to continue now. Going from
nine to ten or eleven is a big step. I
(20:27):
don't think people realize how much those last two games,
how much harder it is to win two or three
more games. But I do think he has to come
out and say, Okay, yeah, now we're going to take
the next step. He needs to win, get into the
big twelve championship game, get into the CFP. I'm not
saying that has to happen this year, but I think
that has to happen in the near future. The expansion
(20:49):
toward twelve game to twelve teams in the CFP certainly
makes it good, you know, a better chance for SeeU
to get in there. So I think the expectations go
a lot with that kind of contract. You don't get
paid that kind of money and not have the expectations
rise at the same time.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Well, everyone talks about coach Prime man. I call it
the coach Prime effect because you can see it throughout
the college football Just look at the North Carolina town
Heels and what they're doing with Bill Belichick. But the
person that we don't really hear much about is Rick George.
And Rick Geordans had a lot to do with this
deal itself, but also pulling coach Prime in And if
(21:29):
I'm not mistaken, Neil, Rick George's contract runs through twenty
twenty six. So what does this extension for Prime mean
for Rick George himself.
Speaker 5 (21:38):
Well, you'd have to ask Rick that. Rick told me
two years ago. I was talking to him about something Nelson.
We were talking about his anniversary, I think it was
his ten year anniversary to see you, and right in
the middle of the conversation on the record, he said,
I probably won't go past this contract. I don't think
I'll seek a renewal. Was two years ago. Since then,
(22:01):
he's hired coach Prime. Since then, he's done a lot
of stuff and Colorado was in the mix. Obviously, college
athletics is changing. It's just this unbelievable pace. But Rick
has not had an extension on his contract. It runs
out after next year, so that will be a really
interesting thing to see what happens if Rick decides that
(22:23):
he's seen enough, done enough, and is ready to walk away.
I haven't heard any indication that he's thinking that way,
but I also haven't seen the contract extension or him
asking for one. So that's a really important question that
Colorado's going to have to answer if Rick George does
decide to leave. The first thing that struck me today, guys,
(22:49):
when when that story was finally released, was I'm owe
enough to remember in nineteen ninety one or two? Right
around in there after Bill McCartney won the NASH Championship
in nineteen ninety A couple of years later, they rewarded
him with well, it was basically a lifetime contract fifteen years,
and his salary was made him one of the top
(23:11):
two or three paid coaches in the nation, and it
was one hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Points that seems now in the in the modern era
of coaching, salaries.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
I'm talking with Neil Welk for Metters cbuffs dot com.
Speaker 5 (23:26):
You've got I mean, you've got your half your team. Well,
I don't know, I don't know what the number is.
I'm saying a good percentage of your team is going
to be making more than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Yeah, so the putter makes more than one hundred fifty
thousand dollars at this point in the aisle money.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
I'm talking with Neil Welk, former editor at the c
bus dot Com.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Some other news came out today, the NCAA denying the
waiver necessary for the cu Buffs to take on Syracuse
in their spring game and sort of a controlled scrimmage.
I don't know if you've had a chance to read
over the NCAA's denial of that, but that reasoning seemed an,
I'm going to be charitable here, laughably ludicrous.
Speaker 5 (24:03):
I thought it was. I thought it was funny. I
you know, they said it was too late for other
teams to react, too late for you know, that they
had to think about it more, that it didn't give
it was an unfre I think that they say unfair
advantage or it didn't give other teams the same opportunity
to create something like that. And my answer is is, well,
everybody could do it tomorrow. You know what's stopping them.
(24:26):
I mean, it wasn't like Colorado and Syracuse came up
with this six months ago and have been planning this
all along. It you know, came out out of a
press conference basically Prime Prime saying yeah, he'd love to
play somebody, and I wish they would have done it,
But I can certainly see it happening a year from now.
I can certainly see it happening a year from now.
That's just one more way to get college football, you know,
(24:49):
in the eye of everybody, uh, you know, in the springtime,
during the off season, and especially if you do it
after the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Mail, I often talk about the coach Prime effect, and
I want to double down on that again because looking
at coach Prime and only being at CU for two
seasons and now getting this extension, do you think this
extension for him will now only escalate the salaries for
(25:18):
up and coming coaches?
Speaker 5 (25:20):
Oh? No. I was sorry to a friend mine today
and he said, two things happened today. Every coach in
America said, way to go. God. They love that because
whenever you get a coach that's been there for two
years and it's that kind of a raise, that jacks
up the bar for every other coach in America. You know,
that raises the salary bar for every coach in America. Meanwhile,
(25:42):
every athletic director in America is going, what the hell
did you guys do?
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Because now they have to They're going to have.
Speaker 5 (25:50):
To tell their coach as well. You know, we've got
to come up with a house money settlement.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
We have to do this.
Speaker 5 (25:55):
We have to do that in a time when every
dollar is warm important than ever. They're gonna have coaches
knocking on their door and saying, hey, you know, Colorado
just gave coach Prime a four million dollar rais you know,
he's been there for two years, had one winning season.
What are you going to do for me? So I
think there were two groups of people today that had
(26:15):
vastly different reactions to the news.
Speaker 6 (26:19):
Hey, Neil Grant Smith here and Benjamin Albright's been referring
to you as former editor of cubuffs dot com because
you have recently retired after forty years in the sports
journalism world. And I would love to hear from you
if you can narrow it down your favorite thing you
ever got to cover or witness and sports, and your
favorite memory of your time to see you.
Speaker 5 (26:41):
Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh. Favorite oof. The ninety
six Olympics were amazing. I got to see all of
Michael Johnson's Golden medals. I got to see Amy Amy
Van Dykon win five goals, Michael Johnson won three. I
think in that Olympics set a world record in the
(27:02):
two hundred. That would definitely stick out. The miracle in Michigan,
Colorado's Cordell Stewart to Michael Westbrook, you know, the last
play of the game, the touchdown that wins it. You know,
I've never heard one hundred thousand people go deathly silent
in just the flip of a switch. Those would be
two things that would stick out. Colorado winning a national championship,
(27:26):
Chouncey Billups leading Colorado to a win over Bobby Knight
in Indiana, the Dember Broncos. I got to see John
Elway finally win a Super Bowl. I mean stuck around.
He played, you know, he lost three. Everybody was saying, no,
They're not going to win this one. And I was
sitting next to Jack Elway in the press box just
because that's the way the seating arrangements were. He was
(27:47):
a scout for the Broncos, and when John did a
little helicopter play down on the goal line, they gave
him first down that they were going to basically won
the game for him. You know, Jack jumped up and
grabbed me and started squeezing me, and I was looking
at him, going, I can't cheer. This is a press box,
(28:07):
you know, and I wanted to say, yeah, that's amazing,
and he's he's Jack is squeezing me and saying, oh
my god, we did it. We finally did it, We
finally did it. And I was just kind of standing
there going yep, yep, yep, you did yep you so
things like that. I man narrowing it down to one is, yeah,
well that's.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
A that's a great story and of itself. And first
of all, congratulations on retirement. I didn't know if I
I didn't want to exactly spoil that on the on
the air, But now that we approach that topic, what's
what's next for you?
Speaker 2 (28:34):
You gotta write, You gotta write the memoirs.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
You gonna write the book.
Speaker 5 (28:38):
No, Actually, my wife and I bought a little place.
We bought a little place and moved to Mexico, up
in the mountains, and I'm busy remodeling the house and
building a barn and doing all kinds of fun stuff
like that. And the great thing is I can sit
down and watch a basketball game and when it's over,
I'm done. I don't I don't have to do anything.
I don't have to think about what I'm going to write,
(29:00):
and I don't have to worry about what I'm going
to write next week. And it's fun. For forty years,
I've been the sports writer, and now I get to
be a fan. So yeah, I'm looking forward to going
to some games and just sitting and watching them.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
Neil, After being around the game and covering so many
different professional sports for as long as you have, how
how is it that you're able to kind of work
that out of your system? Because for me, you know,
when I'm watching it, man, I'm all in.
Speaker 5 (29:31):
I have to admit it's tough, and I'm you know,
I watched all the Cus basketball games this year, and
I watched you know, I'll be sitting watching I'm watching
the ENCATE tournament as we speak. I was watching them
when you guys called. That's the hard part is realizing
that I that I don't have something to do, and
I kind of there are moments that I want to
(29:52):
take notes. There are moments that I when you got
when Grant called it and asked if I could do this,
I was like, oh, yeah, I'll do it, and I thought, no,
I got to tell him that I I'm retired, that
I'm no longer you know. Part of that scene, and
that's the stuff that I miss is is talking about it,
writing about it. I mean, I'd love to write something
about you know what this means for Colorado and all
the questions you've asked as coach Prime deserve this is
(30:14):
is that you know, a worthwhile extension. You know, I'd
love to write something about that. And and I think
there might come a time that I'll I'll just start
writing stuff for the front of it and doing a
blog or whatever. But it isn't easy just to step
away and say Okay, I'm done that that that I
thought it would be easy, and Nick, you kind of
(30:36):
made me admit that it's not. It's not as easy
as I thought it would be.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Well Russian you uh, tons of lucky and uh excuse me,
and retirement and enjoyment and the uh. I think there
is something to just being able to be a fan,
you know, and not having to be dispassionate about things,
or at least publicly dispassionate about things. And uh, there's
something about I think seeing how the sausage is made
that in a lot for a lot of people and
take that away, you know, it really does kind of
(31:03):
erode that fanship in a lot of ways. And I'm
hoping you're able to recapture that magic in retirement.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
I do have I had one question.
Speaker 5 (31:10):
I really appreciate that, And I had one question for Nick. Nick,
as you're watching this, how much would have NIL change
the game when you were in college A lot?
Speaker 4 (31:20):
I was just saying off air, like I wonder if
it was retroactive.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Yeah, Nick, sewing for back pay, you know.
Speaker 4 (31:30):
And it's wild the way nils are now because it's
for us some great coaches.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Out of the collegiate game.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
And I know coaches who were coaching in college, well
they might you know what.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
I can't deal with the NIL.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
I'm jumping back to the NFL and it's a whole
different world and trying to deal with it. But I've
always been a fan of the players should receive some
kind of conversation. If the institution and the coach is
going to make an absorbit a monet of money, something.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Should happen with them.
Speaker 4 (32:02):
But I didn't anticipate things would go off the roads
the way that they are now.
Speaker 5 (32:06):
Yeah, I never I never anticipated that happen. I never
saw never thought that i'd see the day where they're
talking about, you know, a college freshman making two or
three million dollars a year. I just I never thought
that that would happen. I never, I never foresaw something
like that. But those are the things I really don't miscovering.
I don't know. The landscape of college athletics is going
(32:28):
to be interesting. And one last thing on the prime effect,
what you've seen Deon Sanders do at the University of Colorado,
you've already seen Bill Belichick basically emulate, and I think
you're going to see more and more of that. It's
becoming and at the college. The college game is now
the NFL more more so than ever. I mean, you've
(32:48):
got to have a salary cap you've got to have.
You know, you go to the portal, you sign free agency,
don't you don't. You're not going to develop quote rookies
near as much as you used to. You're going to
get your ten or twelve guys, but you're not going
to have to develop twenty five guys. You're bringing in
pro coaches. Look at that staff that he has put together,
and look at the staff that Belichick is now putting together,
(33:09):
all the NFL experiences bringing in, and that to me
the prime effect that is, I think people haven't looked
at yet, but what he has done at the University
of Colorado and the way he's building that program that's
going to become a blueprint more and more and more
for college coaches.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Well, Neil, we wish you all the best in retirement.
Know that you've always got a place here. If you've
ever got something you need to say or want to
pop on and say something, No, you've always got a
home here, and we wish you the best and the
maximum amount of enjoyment.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Enjoy yourself. You've earned it. I know that we appreciate
you here.
Speaker 5 (33:41):
Hey, appreciate the time guys as all.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
This absolutely take care.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Neil bout Neil, former editor of cubus dot Com, always
enjoy talking about see you with him.
Speaker 7 (33:51):
We get the chance we come back. We're going to
get into a little bit of a fun segment. I
think we'll see if you guys feel the same. Something
you're grateful for today, Sports could be personal life. We
get into a little bit more nuggets, why teams get
the Super Bowl hangover? Of course, got an NFL six pack.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
A little bit later, he listen to Bronckus country to
night and here, okay away, I owe you time, time
Welcome back to a Broncos Country Tonight, Benjamin al Brian,
Nick Ferguson, Grand Smith back there behind the glass five
six six nine Zero's the text line you'll welcome to
joined us bottom of the hour.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Thanks to Mark Johnson Voice the Bus for joining us
in the last hour.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Missed any part of that, you go Broncos Country Night,
dot Com, slash podcast or whereverach podcast, Apple, it Tunes, Spotify.
He told me free and awesome and redesigned iHeartRadio app
eyes did not nail that where you get to taken
for granted podcast as well, And uh yeah, I took
two cuts last night to two whacts at it, swung
(00:33):
for the fences and struck out both times as Arizona
loss to do Can Arkansas lost in overtime to Texas.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Good night for you.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Yeah, well, I mean, you.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Know, I went from first in the brackets.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
To not first in the brackets anymore, So at least
we don't have to hear you gloat anymore. Well, there's
still a path for me to win, so there will
be much gloating if that happens. I promise you, and
I assure you of that. Curly old miss tied up
with the Michigan State. You've got Tennessee up on Kentucky
forty nine thirty four to fifteen eight to go in
the second. That would Michigan Auburn a little bit later
(01:04):
as well as Purdue Houston, and you're in caa tournament.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Can't wait.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Tournament updates are presented by Exfinity Stream Lite of Sports.
What the best seed in the house? Nick, you think
some franchises fail.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
A lot of.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Franchises failed because they lack vision. Right if they think
about a lot of lens crafters, Well, maybe.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Maybe it's to take you a ferguson lens crafters and
maybe the.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Optical losion is closer than the actually thing. It takes
me back to the whole.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Taylor Jenkins situation.
Speaker 4 (01:40):
With what's kind of going on with the Memphis Grizzlies.
How they decided with the team playing well, they.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
In a position I think four to fifth position.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
Maybe tied with the Lakers, and they got a game
coming up that they decide to fire him.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
And what I don't agree.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
With with Taylor Jenkins, but also I know of coaches
who've been in similar situations and the situation with Memphis,
what they did was they said, Okay, well, we want
you to fire your entire coaches, deaff bring in the
people that we want run the scheme that we want
you to run.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
And oh, by the way, if you don't win, right,
then we fire you.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
Even though Memphis is sitting still in a good spot.
So I liking it to the lack of competency, wisdom,
and individuals kind of somewhat being set in their ways,
because how can you hire you a head coach to
do a job but you would constantly interfering.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Well yeah, and on the surface, jenkins.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Dismissal seems pretty odd given Memphis season so far, Grizzlies
four to four to twenty nine. They're fifth in the
Western Conference. They're tied with the Los Angeles Lakers at fourth.
I guess in a conference battle they have that secured
a playoff first, but it looks like.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
One that's you know, incredibly likely.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Jenkins, who was hired in twenty nineteen, let the Grizzlies
to the second best record the last and his third
fourth seasons coach. In twenty twenty one, Memphis won a
playoff series for the first time in seven years. He's
coached All Star guard job Morant from rookie to two
time All Star. They had a forgettable season last year,
but at a strong season this year. They're second in the
NBA in points per game and rebounds per game, onere
(03:15):
of the fastest team in the league. Jenkins has the
most wins in franchise histories, had a two fifty to
two to fourteen record there.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
He was a two seasons assistant for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
And five year assistant with the Atlanta Hawks before that,
and likely to be a top candidate for any ad
coaching vacancy in the NBA this offseason.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
This thing looked.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Bizarre to me when this got announced him, Like, what
are what are they doing?
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yeah, they're making a huge, huge mistake.
Speaker 4 (03:38):
And a lot of this comes back to like stubbornness, right,
stubborness and accountability because we hear when teams and coaches
talk about culture.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Those are some of the things that come up.
Speaker 4 (03:49):
But it's almost like the rules are different for the
coaches in the front offense than they are for the players.
But we've seen a lot of stubbornness. And you you
could choose a team, you could choose a coach, you
could choose a professional league. We've seen coaches, we've seen
organization make bad mistakes because of stubborness. It's one of
(04:11):
those do as I say, not as I do type
of situations. And I think that puts the organization in
the fan base and it's tough spot. And I have
to ask you this because I think what's happening with Memphis, right.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
I would like to say that I'm wrong.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
I like to think that this similar situation could in
fact happen to the Denver Nuggets at some point.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Well, it's interesting because he and Michael Malone, she had
the same agent.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
By the way, I'm just saying it's weird to me,
And yeah, you could kind of see something like that.
I don't believe. I think the Nuggets are an organization
that wouldn't do that. I think they would wait till
the season concluded. I wouldn't be surprised if they swapped
Michael alone out for.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
James, to be honest with you, but you.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Know, you look at you look at what the Grizzlies
should be able to do.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
I mean, at the end of the best ford team in.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
The NBA, they're five to five in the last ten,
but you know, overall, the season. They're fourty four and
twenty nine. They're a good basketball team.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
They're a good basketball team, and they were a great
basketball team.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
And you so watch the way that they were trending
with John.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
Morant, Well, what happens is management got too involved. Even
John Moran was kind of upset with how the offense
was being run and how he's been incorporated to the offense.
On the Taylor Jenkins, they were running a lot of
pick and rolls, which a lot of teams in the
NBA run a lot of pick and rolls, but they
wanted this new system.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
And they changed.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
So we saw once John Moran got injured, things changed
significantly for the Memphis Grizzlies.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
And why I say that, regardless of.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
What people think, this could be a situation that happened
here in Denvern. Here's why John Moran out, the Memphis
Grizzlies struggled to produce offense, and we saw with Nikola
Jokic out for a couple of games what the Nuggets
offense kind of look like. So that's why it's always
been my worry that if Nikola Jokis were to get
(06:09):
injured for extensive period of time going on the idea
that everyone's used to the three time.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
MVP carrying the Nuggets team. He's out of the lineup.
I could see the.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Nuggets losing consecutive games because I don't think Jamal.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Murray is that type of guy.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
Is he talented, true, yes he is, but can he
carry the team in those moments like when Nikola Jokis
was out and then you take Aaron Gordon out, this
team could struggle.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
And then we've already seen that.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
There's been a difference in viewpoint between Calvin Booth and
Michael Malone, Michael Malone wanting experienced veteran players and Kelvin
Booth wanting more of the younger players for thinking more future.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
So this could be.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
A situation that could happen here in Denver.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Believe it or not.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yeah, I mean it's entirely possible.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
This is it's a factating thing because the what is
the thinking behind this?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Do they do they legitimately think they're going to get better?
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Who are they gonna find and why are you doing
this in the middle of a playoff? Rod Is there
something disciplinary behind the scenes that we're missing here? Because
this seems on the surface a frankly bizarre.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
Well, the reason the reason is bizarre been because it's
kind of things have been coming to your head when
you think about Taylor Jenkins being forced to fire his
staff and bringing a new staff, and there was a
European coaches being with a team I think for a
two season.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
I think his name is uh, let's.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
See, it's it's like too almost he's a little something
like that.
Speaker 4 (07:40):
So now he has kind of been implementing his style
of the offense, which is not what John Moran and
the Grizzlies are used to. So that is create somewhat
of a riff. So at this point they're like, Okay,
well we might as well. We know we're going to
do this, so we might as well several the ties. Now,
my idea was what did Grizzly get through the playoff run,
(08:02):
whether the play in or not? And then you make
that decision. But to do it right now, it's utterly ridiculous.
But we know sometimes owners can help but intervene. Think
about what's happening in Dallas right now?
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Yeah, I mean that's yeah, And that's one of those things.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
This is it is a fascinating thing I've seen.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
We've seen coaches fired before in all manner of sports,
that felt bizarre when the then Washington Redskins fired Marty
Schottenheimer to hire Steve Spurrier when it looked like Schottenheimer
had turned that team around after one season. We've seen
Schottenheimer get get fired in with the Chargers in a
(08:44):
situation where you know, I think that he probably should
have been retained. We look and you can look at
this and you can sort of see this around the league.
There are obvious firings that I think should have happened.
Nate Hackett getting fired mid season after the you know,
the players all on the sideline, you had, you know,
urban Meyer getting fired, you know, for his for cause,
(09:05):
for his conduct, those those kinds of things. Those makes sense.
But when you've got a guy who's in playoff contention,
you're probably they're probably making the playoffs. When the last
time an NFL coach got fired in the middle of
the season when you're in a playoff run.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
I don't remember anything of that magnitude, you know, ever
happening Now, I know it's happened in the NBA before,
where you had, uh, this would be the second time
a coach with somewhat of when in seventy games was
possibly fired to close out the season.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
But it's utterly ridiculous. But this just goes.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Back to just how the stubbornness of certain coaches and
organizations can just cripple the entire team, an entire fan
base based on the decisions that they make. Because think
about it, let's let's flip it to football for just
a second. We've seen coaches in certain certain situations.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
We're we're sitting at home, We're.
Speaker 4 (10:01):
We're sitting at the stadium, going okay, well, here's the best.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Thing that they should do.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
It makes the most obvious sense to do, maybe from
a play college standpoint or a personnel move, but they
do it to total opposite And you're like, well, that
makes absolutely no sense to me that the team or
a coach made this particular decision. But they do it
because they say, you know what, I'm the guy in charge,
so I'm gonna do what I want to do.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Yeah, And we've seen that. We certainly saw it in football.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
I think Dan Snyder was probably the owner that was
too interfering.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
How that work out for him?
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Well, I mean, ultimately, I think he's keeping two sets
of books got him removed, but you know, certainly his
interference with his team did make things difficult. And obviously
Washington was not much of a winning franchise, you know
when he did things like that. I just I don't
know in this particular situation, this one feels weird to me.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I can't think of a single parallel to this.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
I've seen plenty of over the years coaches fired at
the end of a season where you're like, well, they
might should have got one more year or that kind
of stuff. But I've never seen a coach get fired
in the middle of a playoff run where his team
is the top scoring team, you.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
Know, and they're just like, I just I don't know.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
It baffles me to to sort of see what happened
there today, And certainly, I mean it surprised me, But.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Did it surprise you when you saw this? Were you
shocked at all?
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Or yeah, I was definitely shocked, because once again, it
doesn't make sense if a team is still in contention
to make the playoffs or the play in it doesn't
make sense to get rid of the coach. Now, some
of the excuses of justifications that the Memphis Grizzly organization
was giving this is the fact that when they started
(11:45):
the season they were one of the top teams in
the NBA offensively and somewhat defensively, and over the back
half of the season that is somewhat changed.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
So the idea is that, well, Taylor Jenkins lost the
locker room.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
And I'm thinking like, well, no, it's not a thing
of him losing the locker room. It's just the fact
that the players seeing what's actually happening. You have a
guy who's in a head coach position, but he has
no particular authority as a head coach. Everything that you
come to know of that individual as a head coach
has been stripped away from him. So does it or
(12:21):
could it make players look not look at the head
coach sideways, but the organization sideways. And they may say, well,
you know what, the organization is not as invested as
we think that they are or we thought they are,
So why should we go out and play as hard?
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Yeah, And in this particular case, I wonder if you're
going to lose player buy in, you know, I mean
your team that's in the middle.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Of a playoff run.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
You know, you might even be a first round home state.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
You're tied for fourth in the West, you might have
a first round home series.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
Could you imagine being a head coach in any league
and the organization not allowing you to choose your own coach.
The staff they're gonna shoot, they're gonna chose your.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
Coaches for you.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
We had that happen here.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
And then when it comes to player evaluation and selection,
you don't have any input on that. But we want
you to win though. Yeah, he wants you to win.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Are you talking about I'm not talking about it.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
You talk about Taylor Jenkins.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Youre talking about Vance Josh because I think you're selling
me the.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Other story, because I think we all know.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
You know, somebody who wasn't allowed to hire his own
coaching staff, had had an offensive coach on his own staffs,
knifing him in the back every chance he got. He
didn't have much input on players. They were gonna pick
those fom then expected.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Him to win. He didn't.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Well, see, I was talking about Taylor Jenkins because I
didn't even know what you just disclosed.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
You're you're describing Vance Joston's head coaching.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Career in Denver. Wow, that's if what you're saying is true.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
That's why that a coach was put into that position
where you are a head coach, but you don't get
a chance to shoose any of that.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
But you asked to win football game. Yeah, and if
you don't win, what happens? Right then you're gone?
Speaker 4 (13:54):
And then the fan base and the critics look at
you sideways like.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
That was the problem. And then what happened The next
two coaches didn't win either.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
But all that doesn't always come out in.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
The watch, though it doesn't, It doesn't.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
I just feel like that as an organization, you should
be there to empower and enable your front office and
your coaching staff, and as a coach, you're there to
empower and enable your players. And that's that's how that
should work. And in successful organizations you do see that.
But you know, perhaps an organization like Memphis, is this
a case of ownership getting too full of themselves? Like
I hired this guy and maybe he's the John Fox
(14:31):
who can get me here, but not here? Is there
is there some some sort of situation with you know,
with the Grizzlies where ownership believes they're going to find better,
because who are they going to find better than the
guy who has them as the top scoring option in
the league.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Yes, that is the case of the situation because people
think that the grass is always grinning on the other.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
Side, but it's not.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
And that's the same thing I warned when the when
I got out here, the Nuggets fire George Carl and
they hired right after it was it Brianshaw Yesshaw, and
I was like.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Man, the grass ain't alway greener.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
I mean, with George Carl, you're at least you get
into the playoffs. You might be the Marts Sean Humer
of basketball, but you're at least getting to the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
Because ideas that oh, we got this shiny new toy
over here, Guess what that's gonna bring us untold riches
and victories.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
But it doesn't always work out that way.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
Because this is like some of the young coaches who
were hired, right, they're just like, Okay, well we get
this shiny new coach and he's gonna bring in this
this fancy new attitude. But then guys like Pete Carroll
was being pushed out because well agism. Yeah, but Carol,
It's still baffling to me.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
How when you think about Pete Carroll and you.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Compare Vic Fangio and Andy Reid to Pete Carroll and said, well,
what's one of these guys are older? And it's not
Pete Carroll. He's old as far as age, but when
you look at him, he's not the same.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
No, you wouldn't if you didn't know Pete Carroll's age,
you would never assume that he was the oldest.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
No.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
So it goes back to can you get ownership, can
you get head coaches?
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Can you get gms all on the same page? And
if that doesn't have and you get too.
Speaker 4 (16:01):
Much interference from front office, you get the whole thing
that's been happening with the Raiders for years on Al
Davis NC DOUBLEA interfering with the t U Buff's plans for.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
A spring scrimmage.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
We'll talk with Neil welk next here on Broncos Country Tonight,
Benjamin all Bright, Nick Ferguson, Grant Smith here with you.
Five six six nine zero is the text line. Get
head right out to the Kawa Common Spirit Health Hotline
and bring on our good buddy. Neil Welcomer, Editor cu
buffs dot com.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Been a busy day for seeing you, Neil.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
Well, I'll tell you what you know, when you make
your coach the highest bid guy in the Big twelve
has some pretty big news right there.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Certainly is they did make him the highest paid guy
in the Big twelve, one of the highest paid coaches
in the NC double A.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
Actually with the yeah, I think he's number four from
the list I've seen. I think it's number four, And
that's pretty good company when you're behind you know, what
is the Kirby Smart, Dabo Sweeney and Ryan Day.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
You know, anytime you can get in that kind of company,
I think you want to be five years, sixty four
million dollars.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
The question I guess to start this thing off, is
the unworth it?
Speaker 5 (17:10):
Hey? You know, well, what's interesting is that I've talked
to a lot of people about it today, obviously, and
I think this is more than just wins and losses
right now. I mean, obviously wins and losses are the
are the ultimate way a coach is going to be judged.
But what Deion Sanders has done for the University of
Colorado as far as making them nationally relevant again, as
(17:33):
far as getting them, you know, I think last year
they were in that they were one of the top
ten games every week on TV as far as the
TV ratings, as far as bringing in, you know, a
Heisman Trophy winner, as far as getting the publicity. Enrollment
is up, all applications are up. You know, all the
things that he has done, I think you have to say, yeah,
(17:55):
he's worth it. And the one thing that I think
you know is really important here is in four or
five years, people are saying the realignment is going to
happen again, and it's going to be you know, a
couple of major conferences. Dion Sanders puts Colorado in position
(18:15):
to be on that list when that happens.
Speaker 4 (18:19):
So, Noil, how does this change things for Boulder in
the sense of the grand scheme of things? Because you've
got coach promeince of twenty twenty nine and you got
Sundance coming to Boulder in twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 5 (18:32):
Well yeah, yeah, yeah, hey boy, you're you're paying attention
to all kinds of fun stuff. Yeah, you know, coming
from Park City, it outgrew Park City, Boulder made a
bid for it. Now it's going to be in Boulder,
and you know, certainly that'll put Boulder on the map
in a whole other way. But I think what it
does is for you know, for the city of Boulder,
(18:53):
for the state of Colorado, and certainly for the University
of Colorado. It puts them on the map. It makes
them relevant. People are going to be talking about the
University of Colorado all football season.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Again.
Speaker 5 (19:04):
They did all they did from the from the day
coach Prime stepped on campus to you know to today,
and this is only going to increase that. I think
it will improve their recruiting. People you know have been saying, oh,
coach Prime is gonna leave, he won't last too long
after his kids leave, blah blah blah. Well, now we
signed an extension and uh, you know already the social
(19:25):
media is coming out. You know, what's your excuse now
for you know, not coming to the University of Colorado.
So I think it's big in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Yeah, I do think that that is a key component
to this, having the long term money in there and
security in there, because that does uh, and that has
affected recruiting. The other part of this I think is
is it puts his name in with those coaching elites
in terms of the salary, and there's a perception I
think that comes with that. And even though Colorado has
not exactly been a national championship contender in these first
(19:56):
couple of years.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
It certainly puts your name in that mix. I guess
the question I.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Have here is at what point do results have to
get in line with that contract?
Speaker 5 (20:06):
Well, I think soon, you know, I think soon. I think,
you know, last year was a big step. They you know,
two years, three seasons ago they were one and eleven.
Last year they won or two years ago Dion's first year,
they won four games. Last year they won nine, and
so I think they've got to continue now. Going from
nine to ten or eleven is a big step. I
(20:27):
don't think people realize how much those last two games,
how much harder it is to win two or three
more games. But I do think he has to come
out and say, Okay, yeah, now we're going to take
the next step. He needs to win, get into the
big twelve championship game, get into the CFP. I'm not
saying that has to happen this year, but I think
that has to happen in the near future. The expansion
(20:49):
toward twelve game to twelve teams in the CFP certainly
makes it good, you know, a better chance for SeeU
to get in there. So I think the expectations go
a lot with that kind of contract. You don't get
paid that kind of money and not have the expectations
rise at the same time.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Well, everyone talks about coach Prime man. I call it
the coach Prime effect because you can see it throughout
the college football Just look at the North Carolina town
Heels and what they're doing with Bill Belichick. But the
person that we don't really hear much about is Rick George.
And Rick Geordans had a lot to do with this
deal itself, but also pulling coach Prime in And if
(21:29):
I'm not mistaken, Neil, Rick George's contract runs through twenty
twenty six. So what does this extension for Prime mean
for Rick George himself.
Speaker 5 (21:38):
Well, you'd have to ask Rick that. Rick told me
two years ago. I was talking to him about something Nelson.
We were talking about his anniversary, I think it was
his ten year anniversary to see you, and right in
the middle of the conversation on the record, he said,
I probably won't go past this contract. I don't think
I'll seek a renewal. Was two years ago. Since then,
(22:01):
he's hired coach Prime. Since then, he's done a lot
of stuff and Colorado was in the mix. Obviously, college
athletics is changing. It's just this unbelievable pace. But Rick
has not had an extension on his contract. It runs
out after next year, so that will be a really
interesting thing to see what happens if Rick decides that
(22:23):
he's seen enough, done enough, and is ready to walk away.
I haven't heard any indication that he's thinking that way,
but I also haven't seen the contract extension or him
asking for one. So that's a really important question that
Colorado's going to have to answer if Rick George does
decide to leave. The first thing that struck me today, guys,
(22:49):
when when that story was finally released, was I'm owe
enough to remember in nineteen ninety one or two? Right
around in there after Bill McCartney won the NASH Championship
in nineteen ninety A couple of years later, they rewarded
him with well, it was basically a lifetime contract fifteen years,
and his salary was made him one of the top
(23:11):
two or three paid coaches in the nation, and it
was one hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Points that seems now in the in the modern era
of coaching, salaries.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
I'm talking with Neil Welk for Metters cbuffs dot com.
Speaker 5 (23:26):
You've got I mean, you've got your half your team. Well,
I don't know, I don't know what the number is.
I'm saying a good percentage of your team is going
to be making more than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Yeah, so the putter makes more than one hundred fifty
thousand dollars at this point in the aisle money.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
I'm talking with Neil Welk, former editor at the c
bus dot Com.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Some other news came out today, the NCAA denying the
waiver necessary for the cu Buffs to take on Syracuse
in their spring game and sort of a controlled scrimmage.
I don't know if you've had a chance to read
over the NCAA's denial of that, but that reasoning seemed an,
I'm going to be charitable here, laughably ludicrous.
Speaker 5 (24:03):
I thought it was. I thought it was funny. I
you know, they said it was too late for other
teams to react, too late for you know, that they
had to think about it more, that it didn't give
it was an unfre I think that they say unfair
advantage or it didn't give other teams the same opportunity
to create something like that. And my answer is is, well,
everybody could do it tomorrow. You know what's stopping them.
(24:26):
I mean, it wasn't like Colorado and Syracuse came up
with this six months ago and have been planning this
all along. It you know, came out out of a
press conference basically Prime Prime saying yeah, he'd love to
play somebody, and I wish they would have done it,
But I can certainly see it happening a year from now.
I can certainly see it happening a year from now.
That's just one more way to get college football, you know,
(24:49):
in the eye of everybody, uh, you know, in the springtime,
during the off season, and especially if you do it
after the NCAA tournament.
Speaker 4 (24:58):
Mail, I often talk about the coach Prime effect, and
I want to double down on that again because looking
at coach Prime and only being at CU for two
seasons and now getting this extension, do you think this
extension for him will now only escalate the salaries for
(25:18):
up and coming coaches?
Speaker 5 (25:20):
Oh? No. I was sorry to a friend mine today
and he said, two things happened today. Every coach in
America said, way to go. God. They love that because
whenever you get a coach that's been there for two
years and it's that kind of a raise, that jacks
up the bar for every other coach in America. You know,
that raises the salary bar for every coach in America. Meanwhile,
(25:42):
every athletic director in America is going, what the hell
did you guys do?
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Because now they have to They're going to have.
Speaker 5 (25:50):
To tell their coach as well. You know, we've got
to come up with a house money settlement.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
We have to do this.
Speaker 5 (25:55):
We have to do that in a time when every
dollar is warm important than ever. They're gonna have coaches
knocking on their door and saying, hey, you know, Colorado
just gave coach Prime a four million dollar rais you know,
he's been there for two years, had one winning season.
What are you going to do for me? So I
think there were two groups of people today that had
(26:15):
vastly different reactions to the news.
Speaker 6 (26:19):
Hey, Neil Grant Smith here and Benjamin Albright's been referring
to you as former editor of cubuffs dot com because
you have recently retired after forty years in the sports
journalism world. And I would love to hear from you
if you can narrow it down your favorite thing you
ever got to cover or witness and sports, and your
favorite memory of your time to see you.
Speaker 5 (26:41):
Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh. Favorite oof. The ninety
six Olympics were amazing. I got to see all of
Michael Johnson's Golden medals. I got to see Amy Amy
Van Dykon win five goals, Michael Johnson won three. I
think in that Olympics set a world record in the
(27:02):
two hundred. That would definitely stick out. The miracle in Michigan,
Colorado's Cordell Stewart to Michael Westbrook, you know, the last
play of the game, the touchdown that wins it. You know,
I've never heard one hundred thousand people go deathly silent
in just the flip of a switch. Those would be
two things that would stick out. Colorado winning a national championship,
(27:26):
Chouncey Billups leading Colorado to a win over Bobby Knight
in Indiana, the Dember Broncos. I got to see John
Elway finally win a Super Bowl. I mean stuck around.
He played, you know, he lost three. Everybody was saying, no,
They're not going to win this one. And I was
sitting next to Jack Elway in the press box just
because that's the way the seating arrangements were. He was
(27:47):
a scout for the Broncos, and when John did a
little helicopter play down on the goal line, they gave
him first down that they were going to basically won
the game for him. You know, Jack jumped up and
grabbed me and started squeezing me, and I was looking
at him, going, I can't cheer. This is a press box,
(28:07):
you know, and I wanted to say, yeah, that's amazing,
and he's he's Jack is squeezing me and saying, oh
my god, we did it. We finally did it, We
finally did it. And I was just kind of standing
there going yep, yep, yep, you did yep you so
things like that. I man narrowing it down to one is, yeah,
well that's.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
A that's a great story and of itself. And first
of all, congratulations on retirement. I didn't know if I
I didn't want to exactly spoil that on the on
the air, But now that we approach that topic, what's
what's next for you?
Speaker 2 (28:34):
You gotta write, You gotta write the memoirs.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
You gonna write the book.
Speaker 5 (28:38):
No, Actually, my wife and I bought a little place.
We bought a little place and moved to Mexico, up
in the mountains, and I'm busy remodeling the house and
building a barn and doing all kinds of fun stuff
like that. And the great thing is I can sit
down and watch a basketball game and when it's over,
I'm done. I don't I don't have to do anything.
I don't have to think about what I'm going to write,
(29:00):
and I don't have to worry about what I'm going
to write next week. And it's fun. For forty years,
I've been the sports writer, and now I get to
be a fan. So yeah, I'm looking forward to going
to some games and just sitting and watching them.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
Neil, After being around the game and covering so many
different professional sports for as long as you have, how
how is it that you're able to kind of work
that out of your system? Because for me, you know,
when I'm watching it, man, I'm all in.
Speaker 5 (29:31):
I have to admit it's tough, and I'm you know,
I watched all the Cus basketball games this year, and
I watched you know, I'll be sitting watching I'm watching
the ENCATE tournament as we speak. I was watching them
when you guys called. That's the hard part is realizing
that I that I don't have something to do, and
I kind of there are moments that I want to
(29:52):
take notes. There are moments that I when you got
when Grant called it and asked if I could do this,
I was like, oh, yeah, I'll do it, and I thought, no,
I got to tell him that I I'm retired, that
I'm no longer you know. Part of that scene, and
that's the stuff that I miss is is talking about it,
writing about it. I mean, I'd love to write something
about you know what this means for Colorado and all
the questions you've asked as coach Prime deserve this is
(30:14):
is that you know, a worthwhile extension. You know, I'd
love to write something about that. And and I think
there might come a time that I'll I'll just start
writing stuff for the front of it and doing a
blog or whatever. But it isn't easy just to step
away and say Okay, I'm done that that that I
thought it would be easy, and Nick, you kind of
(30:36):
made me admit that it's not. It's not as easy
as I thought it would be.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
Well Russian you uh, tons of lucky and uh excuse me,
and retirement and enjoyment and the uh. I think there
is something to just being able to be a fan,
you know, and not having to be dispassionate about things,
or at least publicly dispassionate about things. And uh, there's
something about I think seeing how the sausage is made
that in a lot for a lot of people and
take that away, you know, it really does kind of
(31:03):
erode that fanship in a lot of ways. And I'm
hoping you're able to recapture that magic in retirement.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
I do have I had one question.
Speaker 5 (31:10):
I really appreciate that, And I had one question for Nick. Nick,
as you're watching this, how much would have NIL change
the game when you were in college A lot?
Speaker 4 (31:20):
I was just saying off air, like I wonder if
it was retroactive.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Yeah, Nick, sewing for back pay, you know.
Speaker 4 (31:30):
And it's wild the way nils are now because it's
for us some great coaches.
Speaker 3 (31:37):
Out of the collegiate game.
Speaker 4 (31:38):
And I know coaches who were coaching in college, well
they might you know what.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
I can't deal with the NIL.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
I'm jumping back to the NFL and it's a whole
different world and trying to deal with it. But I've
always been a fan of the players should receive some
kind of conversation. If the institution and the coach is
going to make an absorbit a monet of money, something.
Speaker 3 (32:01):
Should happen with them.
Speaker 4 (32:02):
But I didn't anticipate things would go off the roads
the way that they are now.
Speaker 5 (32:06):
Yeah, I never I never anticipated that happen. I never
saw never thought that i'd see the day where they're
talking about, you know, a college freshman making two or
three million dollars a year. I just I never thought
that that would happen. I never, I never foresaw something
like that. But those are the things I really don't miscovering.
I don't know. The landscape of college athletics is going
(32:28):
to be interesting. And one last thing on the prime effect,
what you've seen Deon Sanders do at the University of Colorado,
you've already seen Bill Belichick basically emulate, and I think
you're going to see more and more of that. It's
becoming and at the college. The college game is now
the NFL more more so than ever. I mean, you've
(32:48):
got to have a salary cap you've got to have.
You know, you go to the portal, you sign free agency,
don't you don't. You're not going to develop quote rookies
near as much as you used to. You're going to
get your ten or twelve guys, but you're not going
to have to develop twenty five guys. You're bringing in
pro coaches. Look at that staff that he has put together,
and look at the staff that Belichick is now putting together,
(33:09):
all the NFL experiences bringing in, and that to me
the prime effect that is, I think people haven't looked
at yet, but what he has done at the University
of Colorado and the way he's building that program that's
going to become a blueprint more and more and more
for college coaches.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Well, Neil, we wish you all the best in retirement.
Know that you've always got a place here. If you've
ever got something you need to say or want to
pop on and say something, No, you've always got a
home here, and we wish you the best and the
maximum amount of enjoyment.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Enjoy yourself. You've earned it. I know that we appreciate
you here.
Speaker 5 (33:41):
Hey, appreciate the time guys as all.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
This absolutely take care.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Neil bout Neil, former editor of cubus dot Com, always
enjoy talking about see you with him.
Speaker 7 (33:51):
We get the chance we come back. We're going to
get into a little bit of a fun segment. I
think we'll see if you guys feel the same. Something
you're grateful for today, Sports could be personal life. We
get into a little bit more nuggets, why teams get
the Super Bowl hangover? Of course, got an NFL six pack.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
A little bit later, he listen to Bronckus country to
night and here, okay away, I owe you time, time
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.