Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome in to the Leach Report for a Tuesday. We
are always presented by Bobcat Enterprises. Whatever will we be
talking about today?
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Hmmm?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Late yesterday afternoon, big news broke for Kentucky football. The
big Dog is headed to the Ville. Vince Marrow is
going to be a general manager for University of Louisville football,
and we'll talk about that with John Hale, who covers
Kentucky football for the Lexington Harold Leader, Larry Vatt from
your Sports edge dot com and Voughts Views, and then
(00:33):
we'll talk some basketball recruiting in particular with Travis Branham,
who's the national basketball analyst for twenty four to seven Sports.
Wile Cat News of the day always the service of
Giuseppes of Lexington. Vince Marrow is headed to UL to
serve as a general manager, so not in a coaching role.
He'll be helping with roster construction and transfer portal, et cetera.
(00:59):
The fact that he is not taking a coaching job
reportedly negates the buyout for leaving UK headline and the
Lexing Harol Leader says it is a perception hit for
Mark Stoops and there's certainly no doubt about that. We'll
talk about it with John and with Larry coming up
(01:20):
here in just a bit. But you know, Vince was maybe,
who knows, maybe coach Stoop's first call when Mark got
the job here in Lexington. They go back to their
childhood in Youngstown and Vince in particular talked many times
about how close he was to the Stoops family as
(01:43):
they were growing up, Cardinal Mooney High School, all of that,
and Vince came on board as the lead recruiter and
it was Stoops who gave him that shot to kind
of move it into the big time as a lead
recruiter an SEC school, and Vince knocked it out of
the park. Between the two of them and their connections
(02:06):
at Ohio, they tapped into that pipeline of talent that
drove a lot of success for Kentucky football for a
long time. So it's a a friendship that goes back
a long way. And now they are going in different
directions with Vince Marrow headed to be the gm at
(02:29):
U of l And again we'll spend a lot of
time talking about that as we moved through the show today.
What I thought might be our main topic of our
main topic but our lead topic of conversation today was
the Murray State baseball team, and they did it. They
are headed to the College World Series for the first time.
Held off Duke five to four. Blue Devil's got a
(02:53):
run in the bottom of the eighth to close the
gap to one, got the lead runner on in the
bottom of the ninth, there was a ground ball that
looked like it was going to end the game with
a double play, and then the Duke runner took out
the Murray State second baseman who was trying to turn two,
and the initial call was that it was interference in
(03:15):
a double play ending the game, but they ended up
overturning that and then Murray was able to still get
the final out. So the Racers become just the fourth
four seed to ever make it to the College World
Series in Omaha. So congrats to Murray State. It's a
really cool story. They will play UCLA in the first
game of the College were in their first game of
(03:37):
the College World Series on Saturday out of Omaha. Saw
a tweet from somebody covering this story that made note
of two things that the stadium in which Murray plays
seats eight hundred. They are now in the Missouri Valley
Conference and that the coach cuts the grass at the field.
(04:00):
So it's just a really cool story that will get
a lot of play, I'm sure this week as they
lead up to the start of the College World Series.
So congrats to the Racers. So two Kentucky schools will
be there as U of L played its way in
with a win over Miami on Saturday. Both Murray and
the u of L wins came in the third game
(04:22):
of a best of three series. Kentucky football has added
a commitment wide receiver, three star Prince Jean I'm assuming
that's how it's pronounced, out of Aldosta Georgia, six feet
one seventy third commit for the twenty sixth class. Georgia
had shown interests Mississippi State, Kansas State, and Virginia, but
(04:42):
he has committed to play for the Cats.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Links to the.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Stories that we talk about find them on the bud
Light Leachs repord page at Tom Leach kyd dot com.
Heading to a break back with John Hale from The
Herald Leader when we return. Wild Cat News of the
Day always presented by just Seppies of Lexington. They've expanded
their lounge area now so you have a greater opportunity
to sit there and enjoy Dave Hall's beautiful live jazz
(05:05):
music to a company of fantastic meal handcut steaks, seafood
shipped in fresh Pasta's homemade It is fantastic, a lot
of locally sourced ingredients that they use for their sides
and other dishes. So check that out at Giuseppe's Lexington
dot com see the menu, game plan your next visit,
(05:26):
and then go to open table and make a reservation.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
We'll be right back on the lead tri Report.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
It's the Leach Report presented by Bobcat Enterprises for locations
around Kentucky. For Bobcats, so google them when you need
to buy or rent heavy equipment for a job and
you can find folks that will take good care of you,
have what you need and give you great service after
the sale or the rental agreement where zero turn moors
for your home. Law too at Bobcat Enterprises. Join now
(05:53):
by John Hale from the Lexington Herald Leader Kentucky Sports
dot Com on the Club Blue Nil dot com hotline.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Thing going on in your world?
Speaker 4 (06:00):
John, No, Yeah, it's real quiet. It just one of
those random June weeks where nothing at.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
All is happening.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Yeah, was this surprising? Shocking? What was your reaction when
you heard the news about Vince Marrow to U of L. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
So I had first heard this rumor a couple of
weeks ago that they were like really close to him
taking a job at u of L, but he had
not gone to Mark Stoops or Kentucky, and like there
was still like a couple of hurdles to pass that
he needed to go and talk to them and give
them one last opportunity to kind of like see what
the situation was going to be moving forward, less about
(06:37):
money and more about what his role was going to
be on staff. And so I heard that a couple
of weeks ago, and then every day that went by
without any sort of update, I just kind of assumed, Oh,
this is just our annual or bi annual how often
happens Vince Marrow to somewhere else rumor, And it's going
to end the way they always have before. He's going
to stay at Kentucky. But then I did get a
message Sunday night that said it's almost it's basically done.
(07:00):
It's probably going to happen this week. Unless he had
a last minute change of heart. So I was it
was on my radar yesterday. I did not expect it
to come that early because it had drug out for
so long anyway, And so when it finally happened, of course,
there's some shock because we had been in this situation
so often before, or we'd heard about him being mentioned
for other jobs, and let alone the arch rival. In
(07:21):
the back of your mind, you're like, surely he's not
going to actually not only leave his childhood friend but
go to their arch rival and actively work against him.
When it came out, when the ESPN report came out,
and he was like, oh, wow, this is actually happening.
And now we've had almost you know, almost a full
day of an opportunity for somebody to come out and say, no,
it's it's not done. I'm staying after all, and so yeah,
(07:43):
it seems like this is this is where it is,
So certainly there's some shock to it will be very
strange to go out there to our first practice and
Vince marrill want to be there.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yeah, he's been there at everyone since Mark Stoops arrived
and this it's still not entirely done, right, but there's
no no thought that it's not going to get done,
is just finding getting lawyers to finalize contracts, that kind
of thing agents involved.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Yeah, and like the way I had heard, I mean,
the UFL role is it seems still kind of unclear
exactly what it's going to be. I know Pete Fami
will call it chief of staff, but Jeff Brohm's brother
already has the chief of staff title, Loisill. So that
was one of the reasons in the last couple of
weeks that I was like, that doesn't seem completely right.
But whatever the position ends up being, it is a
direct result of the revenue sharing the house settlement agreement
(08:30):
they got through Friday. So he's not going to be
one of their ten position coach, he's not going to
be the tight end coach or whatever. It's going to
be a fundraising, roster management, all that kind of stuff.
And because the settlement doesn't go into effect until July first,
I don't think vits would actually start there until July first,
And so that's probably what this kind of hazy in
between period is going to be about.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
It felt like previous situations where another school came after
Evancing Michigan was the first one several years ago, Michigan
State made a big run at him. It was the
recruiting prowess, and it was you know, somebody tried to
hire him away and keeping him. Basically, it always felt
(09:15):
like came down to just you know, they might make
some tweaks to what the role was, but it was
basically about a more pay. It sounded like in your
opening comment there that maybe this time it wasn't about
as much about money as previous times.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Would that be correct?
Speaker 4 (09:32):
Yeah? No, I think so. My understanding is his salary
what it's going to be essentially the same as his
salary a Kentucky has now he had two years left
on his deal at one point three billion a year.
The number I heard for this is going to average
out to one point three and maybe he has a
little extra you know, bonus incentives in terms of how
much money he raised for the program, but like it's
not a huge financial difference. The big turning point to
(09:54):
me and what I've heard is essentially you can go
back to the spring and like I would sit down
with events mayor and I think I wrote a couple
of stories about recruiting and the differences and what changes
they've made in the offseason, and Vince's explanations frankly didn't
make a lot of sense and so and part of
me was just like, well, maybe he's just not talking
very clearly. Like looking back at that now, one of
the main changes they've made is that Vince was not
(10:16):
as involved as he was previously. Like there, it's clear
that their position coaches have much more league way now
to pick the players they're recruiting each position and emphasize
that if you look at that portal class last year
over the winter, like previously, one of their main portal
strategies was let's go get guys that Vince recruited out
(10:36):
of high school that we didn't get that wind to
Ohio State or Alabama or wherever and build on those
relationships we already had. Well, they didn't do that this offseason.
I think Maquee Humphrey Grace is like the only guy
who was a Vince, you know, high school connection that
they got, and they didn't didn't recruit him ot of
high school because he wasn't perceived as that kind of
prospect And so that was a clear change. And so
I think for Vince it'll be interesting to hear from
(10:59):
him and see how she talks about that whenever he
goes public for this. But like it was pretty obvious
that like they needed, they've made some changes in terms
of his role with recruiting, and I think that that,
as much as anything, was him saying okay, like how
am I going to? What was my role looking like?
Moving forward? And maybe a different program is a better
(11:19):
fit because they've made some philosophical changes. Whether those changes
are the right decision for Kentucky, we'll find out in
the fall. But I think you can make a clear
argument that it didn't work out last year. The transfer
class was a bust. They needed to make some changes.
So maybe that's as much reason as any to be
optimistic that something is actually different with this team.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
So that changing role is it? Do you think primarily
relative to how things were working at Kentucky specifically, or
did I have anything to do with just the big
picture changes in how you know, players and rosters are
built in college sports now with respect to you know,
(11:59):
the il of transfer portal and all of that, I'm.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Sure it's a little bit both.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Probably.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
I mean, I think most of it was Kentucky because
the perception, whether true falls for most of his tenure
here was Vince had final say basically on all the
recruiting priorities, like these are the guys we're going after.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
You know.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Certainly early in March tenure there were some times where
you'd ask Vince about a linebacker from Florida or something,
and he clearly wouldn't know much about it because it
wasn't as territory. But by that middle to late part
of the tenure, like he was involved in almost every
single recruitment to some level, and that was not the
case for the last year, and so I think that's
part of it. Certainly, there have been rumblings behind the
(12:37):
scenes that you know, not just Vince, but some other
people maybe aren't thrilled with Kentucky set up in terms
of the staff and general manager positions and how they're
doing the roster management. They've made some changes this offseason,
so maybe those payout play out. But he clearly thinks
that Wouisville, for whatever reason, him being in that position
is a better way to use his talents in this
(12:57):
new environment than what is set up Duck.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
He was and coach brom has been interested in him
for a long time. I think even back to the
Purdue days, right, they have a little bit of history together.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Yeah, I can't tell if they actually played together in
NFL Europe, but they were on the same roster for
at least an off season, so they probably crossed pass there.
And then you know, since Vince took over recruiting Lowell
for Kentucky, I think that was the twenty nineteen class
with Jiji Weaver and all those guys. He has been
going head to head with Jeff bromp since then. Brom
was at Purdue then and even Western Kentucky before that,
(13:29):
and they have clearly a lot of respect for each other.
You know, Vince was obviously never afraid to kind of
poke the bear in terms of rivalry find but he's
never had anything but positive things to say about Jeff
brom publicly, and so clearly they have a relationship there.
There was a rumor earlier in the off season that
they were going after him, and and that was right
before signing day in December and kind of put that
one down. But whatever happened over the last three or
(13:52):
four months, I guess changed his mind.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Well, I don't know if Mark Stoops will have any
media sessions that doubt before sec media days.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
So uh, is that is that the first question in Hoover?
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Oh? Absolutely, and and like and honestly, and we'll see
how they how they handle it moving forward. But I
think that Mark needs to talk before them, like obviously
I wanted to talk to me, that would be my
first preference. But whether that happens or not, like he
needs to publicly address this in some form or fashion
because like, there is a segment of the fan base
that is online all the time that probably was already
(14:28):
kind of checked out on the season. But the casual
fans who you have in terms of who we're still
holding some optimism, who you know, give Mark the benefit
of the doubt because of everything he's done positive here,
Like those people know Vince Marrow and they see this
headlines say oh, Vince Marrow's leaving, and that might be
the red flag for them. So they have to address
this in some form and if it is coming out
and saying, like, you know, Vince is you know a
(14:50):
great friend. But we had to make these recruiting changes
because we thought that was the best path forward. That's
one option. Whether that's what he does or not, he
has to I think, but before or July address this.
But even if he goes on BB and Ton either
put out a video or whatever. When we get to Hoover,
that's going to be that's going to be the talking point.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Your pay for the Herald Leader. I think it was
your colleague Mark Story's column. The headline online anyway, users
the phrase a perception hit for Mark Stoops and that's
undeniable kind of speaking of what you're just saying.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean that's the biggest part of this,
Like that, whatever the reasons that Vin's left substantively were
probably already in effect for weeks, if not months at
this point, So those changes that aren't being made, but
the perception part of that when he leaves, and not
only he leaves, but he leaves for your arch rival,
like that is a huge PR issue that they have
to figure out a way to deal with. And frankly,
(15:44):
they were not in a spot coming off last season
where they can or they need any more PR hits,
and so that, as much as anything, it is going
to be fascinating to see how they just address it
because we know that Mark, you know, those relationships are
really important, and if he invents go back a really,
really long time to when they were like teenager and
so like, I'm sure there's probably some personal hurt feelings
involved there and we'll see how that part of it
(16:04):
plays out. But also like he needs to figure out
a way to weveradge talking about that relationship, but also
what's best for the program if he's planning to make
these changes and rebuild from last year.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
John, appreciate you jumping on short notice. Thank you, Thanks
tom As, John Hale Lexington Harold leader Kentucky Sports dot
com where he covers Kentucky football among other things and
always does a fantastic job with that, so he was
our go to guy with this story broke. Coming up,
Larry Vaught will give us his take on the big
(16:38):
story of the day for Kentucky football. It's the Leach
Report for the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return Refresh and
refuel at Clerk's twenty Hey Past the top of the hour,
Larry Vat joins us on the Club Blueennil dot com
hotline for your sports Edge dot com Voughtsviews dot com. Larry,
when you heard the news about the big story of
(16:58):
the day for Kentucky Athletic x Vince Barrow leaving to
go to u of L.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
And what was your reaction.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
I would say a little surprised.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
But not stunned, just based on things that may be
transpired over the last year that I've heard little bits
and pieces about. So I'm still surprised because Vince has
had a lot of chances to leave, but not totally
stunned because I think he felt like that maybe his
growth potential was going to be better somewhere else.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Guessing that most of the people who who cover Kentucky
football closely would probably feel similar in terms of the
you know, on the surprise scale that you know, it's
a little surprising, but not a complete shock because the
U of L rumors had been out there for a
couple of years about the coach, brom obviously interested in
(17:59):
and bring events into his program. We'll continue talking about
this in just a moment. Larry Vaughts with us. It's
the Leach Report, presented by bobcat Enterprises guests on the
lead report company on the club blunil dot com hotline.
Club Blues the official NIL fundraising partner for UK Athletics,
and they have introduced a new program called Club Blue Kids.
(18:20):
It's free to get your young Wildcat fan involved. They
get a T shirt, a membership card, a lanyard, plus
exclusive events that they'll have access to and there was
one with Brandon Garrison over the weekend athlete experiences, meet
and greets and more. Sign up for free by going
to Club Blueennil dot com and clicking on the kids
(18:40):
tab and Club Blue Kids is where future Wildcats rep
the Blue and White with pride. We're talking about Larry
Vott from Your Sports Edge and Voughts Views, and about
the big story in UK sports world with Vince Marrow
leaving Kentucky football for a new job at the University
of Louisville. We were talking with John Hale in the
(19:03):
opening segment and his paper called it a perception hit
in a headline for coach Stops. It's certainly that it's
a situation where you know, if you're the coach, it's
a long time you know friend that has now gone
to your rival, and there's nothing you can do to
(19:24):
deal with the perception until they start playing games. That's
the only way you get the chance to change the narrative,
and that doesn't happen till September, right.
Speaker 6 (19:32):
Right, I mean, let's be honest basically to me anyway,
Vince had been more the face of the program than
Mark Stoops, simply because Vince was out and about so
much more so, I think it is a big hit
perception wise. I've also been a little surprised at how
and maybe I shouldn't be at this point in my life,
(19:52):
but how some UK fans have reacted to Vince, who's
been here all along and has received a lot of praise,
a lot of things for the program. It's just kind
of being buried because he's leaving to go to Louisville.
I mean, in this day and age, to keep somebody
as long as you did Vents on your staff, it's
pretty It's pretty remarkable, I think. And none of us
(20:15):
exactly will know what went on between Mark and Vince
or whatever. But if it's a change that obviously Mark
must feel like maybe needed to be made, because it
doesn't seem like he's doing really anything to try to
make sure it didn't happen, and events feels like it's
something he needed to do that. I think you just
wish them both well in this day where everything changes
(20:39):
in college athletics, I don't think any more than anything
should surprise us at all.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
But I think if you don't appreciate for Vince.
Speaker 6 (20:46):
Barra has done in Kentucky just because he's going to Louisville,
I think that's a big mistake.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Yeah, he came on right from the start with coach Stops.
I said earlier, maybe it was Mark's first call when
he was putting his staff together. Yeah, the long time
friendship and Vince hadn't had a role as prominent as
he had here at Kentucky, so he got that opportunity.
But then once he got the opportunity, he knocked it
out of the park in terms of having success with it.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Yeah, he sure did.
Speaker 6 (21:15):
I mean he did a lot of wore a lot
of different hats at Kentucky and did a lot of
different things. Of course, he was the recruiting coordinator and
brought in a lot of four star players that helped
kind of change the course of Kentucky football. Very well
known in the state. You could, I mean, you could
go to just about any UK athletic event, there's a
(21:36):
pretty good change you're going to see Vince Mara out
there watching and supporting other UK teams. I think he
was more involved in fundraising than what some realize. But
I think there just had been a little difference of
opinion in the last eight nine months, maybe coming back
as far as a year, about what his role should
be or should not be going forward, And I think
(21:58):
Vince just felt like growth wise, maybe this was just
the right time to make a change. And as long
as he did as an assistant at one spot, that's
pretty rare in today's college football world.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
You think those differences were just related to roster construction
slash recruiting.
Speaker 6 (22:18):
I think so. And I think I mean, again, it's
Mark's program. He's got to do what he thinks is
best there. And for a long time, Vince seemed to
have a pretty big, pretty great handle on what was
going on recruiting wise and the evaluation. And maybe now
that things didn't go well in a four and eighth season,
(22:40):
maybe the side there were some changes that needed to
be made on who made those calls and who didn't
make those calls. And I think unless for inside the
war room, you don't really know how all that is
going is going down. But again, I think you just
appreciate what Vince Barra anyway. To me, you appreciate what
he's done at Kentucky. Wish him well and hope that
(23:02):
Mark Stoop's as a plan B to cope with this.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
I wonder what they do as far as just you know,
the role of tight ends coach. I mean, there's just
that particular part of it to the staff position you've got,
certainly these days, a lot of options on your staff
already with the quality control type coaches that are there,
you know, and it's you don't see a lot of
(23:28):
you know, hires being made in June.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Like this now.
Speaker 6 (23:32):
If it was if it was me, and I kind
of doubt that Mark will Colin asked me what I think,
But if he did, I'd say, there's a pretty good
young coach over at Eastern Kentucky right now that has
some really good ties to your program and has worked
under you as a graduate assistant.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
And my first guy would be the C. J.
Speaker 6 (23:49):
Conrad, especially as you say here we are almost in
the middle of June and you need somebody that can
get here and get here quick. That would be the
guy that I would reach out to first if it
was me, unless I had some already on my staff
that I think could do that. But I really can't
think of Abe on an his staff, it would be
as well qualified to coach tight ends, is what CJ.
Conrad would be.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
It's a challenging spot for coach Stoops right now because
of just you can't control always, you know, just what
a narrative is or what perception is.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
And the only way.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
You can, you know, go about changing, you know, trying
to change that is to get people talking about something else,
which would be you know, how your team's playing teams
I could be playing for a while, so uh, you know,
it's it's a lot of just negativity out there to combat.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
For a while till the game started. At least, yes,
it is.
Speaker 6 (24:45):
I thought John made a good point when he was
talking with you that that the mark I think doesn't
need to stay silent till mid July about events leaving.
He needs to get in front of this and explain
what the problem says it's going to be to go
forward with UK football. I think Priva needs to get
out there and thank Fance for what he has done
(25:06):
before the program and go ahead and talk about it
and get it out there, because every day that he
doesn't talk about it, it just lingers for another day.
As you said, and there are already a lot of
people that weren't exactly thrilled to what this football season
maybe was going to be. And I think as you're
talking about the perception now is that my gosh, they're
(25:27):
losing Vince Mara too.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
It must be over.
Speaker 6 (25:29):
So I think Mark hopefully will understand that it needs
to find a forum that he can get out there
and kind of deal with this.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
What's true in politics is also true in sports. Just
because you're not talking about it doesn't mean it's not
being talked about.
Speaker 6 (25:45):
Amen. And the more he doesn't talk about it, the
more it's going to be talked about, because then all
we can do is speculate.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Yeah, there's a there's a twenty four hour news cycle
that is going to be fed. There's more more places
than ever that are talking about stuff it, you know,
whatever the subject matter, and they're going to keep talking
about it because you know, it's it's scheduled, and nobody's
just going to say, well, nothing to talk about today,
(26:11):
you know, Well, you know, we're just going to replay
a past radio show because it's not much going on today.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (26:17):
Yeah, And I'm guessing when Louisville does make the official announcement.
I'm guessing Jeff Brown is going to talk and talk
a lot about adding vents to his staff.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
One quick thought on the Murray State story with their
baseball team has read whether the coach makes sixty eight
thousand dollars a year? The story here says many major
conference power players may make that much or more.
Speaker 6 (26:39):
Yeah, certainly they do, and in other sports, maybe not
in baseball, but in other sports they make way more
than that.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
And what a great story that is.
Speaker 6 (26:48):
For them to go and win at Olemiss the way
they did, go the do and win the way that
they did. I mean, the coach just seems like a
great guy. I mean, I've heard the stories about mowing
the field and other things that he did for his players.
And they normally ride buses and I all like that.
And now you get to go to the College World Series,
and I tell you, with the way they're playing, the
way they hit the ball, who knows what might happen
(27:09):
when they get there.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah, that's true. Wish them the best, certainly. Larry, thank
you as always.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
All right, Don thank you Larry Blue. Larry Blue.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Larry Vott on the Club Blue inil dot com hotline
from your sports Edge dot Com. We'll take quick break.
Travis Brannam'll join us. We come right back. I'm the
Lead Triport presented by Bob kat Enterprises. It's the lead
Triport coming to you from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio
and joining his next Travis Branna from twenty four to
seven Sports, where he is the national basketball Analyst. He's
(27:41):
joined us on the Club BLUEINIL dot com hotline. Travis,
before we get into talk a little bit about some
of the recruitment stories that are out there for Kentucky
Ben's basketball. I don't think we've talked since Kentucky has
put the final touches on the roster for next season
for Mark Pope's second year. What do you think about
the group he's assembled.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Yeah, he did a great job specifically in this transperport.
Speaker 7 (28:07):
Obviously in the high school ranks, took care of business,
took care of his home field, getting Jasper Johnson, malechaed Moreno,
but what he did in the transfer portal was really impressive.
Looking at this roster as a whole and looking across
the country, I find it hard to imagine, and I
keep coming back to this that Kentucky just has the
(28:30):
deepest team going into college basketball next season, and he's
gonna have a lot of options on his hands with
with about ten players that can play extended minutes on
any given night, just about there's gonna be uh.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Compared to to his first season.
Speaker 7 (28:50):
I think this roster is gonna be more tailor made
to what he wants to, how he wants to play,
and what he wants his.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Rosters to look like in the future. There's more talent
on this team.
Speaker 7 (29:01):
Obviously, getting a guy like Jaden Quains, which Kentucky fans
are very familiar with, with him having been committed here
at one point in time, just a tremendous talent, can
be a top five pick in the NBA draft next
season and want to be, and he can be one
of the premier defenders.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
And then getting guys like Modiabat.
Speaker 7 (29:19):
Out of Alabama, a guy that is just a very
reliable piece to a winning program. Denzel Aberdeen, a guy
who I think was a bit buried on that Florida
roster winning that national championship this past season, he didn't
get a ton of opportunity. I think he's better than
he was able to show, and that's not to discredit
or anything. He just had Walter Clayton, will Richard, and
(29:43):
Elijah Martin all ahead of him, three premier players in
the SEC. And I think Denzel Aberdeen is due for
a step up, and then Jayalen Lowe with dynamic point
guard that people continue to bring up his inefficiencies at Pittsburgh,
but I think his skill level, is feel for the game,
all are are special within college basketball, and I think
(30:03):
he's due for a big step up next year. So
this roster is a whole, extremely deep, more talented than
I think that they're going to be in contention with
among the very best teams in college basketball next season.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Kentucky will have, as you said, a lot of options
and a lot of different ways they can play. I
was interesting this on a show somewhere here in the
last few weeks that Otega, Oway and Jalen Lowe, if
anybody's playing north of thirty minutes, it's likely.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
To be those two.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
I would think go Otega because of his role on
your team, and Jalen Lowe because he's a point guard
and assuming he's playing well, you know he's gonna get
a lot of minutes after that, you know you could
see a whole bunch of guys averaging somewhere north of
I don't know, eighteen minutes a game, depending on how
it goes from game to game, And I would think
(30:55):
that that in that situation is important to have a
coach that is comfortable, you know, playing a lot of people,
and that has been Mark Pope's m O in his career.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Yeah, no question for for some coaches out there.
Speaker 7 (31:13):
I mean, it's a great problem to have, no matter
the coach, but it is definitely a juggling actor having
to navigate a lot of different personalities and keep a
lot of different people happy. But at the end of
the day, with the roster he has put together, competitive
drive he has and the real potential to go out
(31:33):
make a Final Four run with this squad next season.
As long as you're winning, I think most of it
will take care of itself. And I think that they're
gonna do that, especially obviously getting it to take.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
It away back that that is invaluable.
Speaker 7 (31:45):
Uh, the leadership he's going to bring to this program,
and obviously the impact he brings on the court, I
think that he's gonna have a lot of options and
should have a lot of fun putting together a bunch
of different lineups, like you said, to create a bunch
of different mismatches from game to game within the SEC
(32:07):
and national play.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Tyler Travis Brandam, the national basketball analyst for twenty four
to seven Sports. Tyrone Stokes making an official visit to
Kentucky over the last couple of days. Number one prospect
in the class of twenty twenty six by at least
some of the ranking services. What's your take on his
recruitment and what Kentucky's chances are of landing him.
Speaker 7 (32:30):
Yeah, I like Kentucky's chances, but that's not to say
that Louisville and Kansas aren't in there. I think it's
those are obviously the three teams up the top of
this recruitment right now. He's taken visits now to all
three programs and he is by far, I mean, based
on what he showed. I was out in Kansas City
a couple of weeks ago away. He showed he is
(32:52):
by far the number one player in this class. He's
made that loud and clear. There's a big separation there.
But I will see from just analyzing this recruitment in
which direction it's going to go and This isn't just
true of his, but every kid's recruitment at this point.
With the new rev share rule going into place last week,
everything's kind of been thrown up in the air coming
(33:14):
into it over the last few months, Like you had
a good idea of what the NIL budgets and everything
were around the country, and you knew that Louisville, Kentucky,
Kansas would all be extremely competitive, and now there's this
new rule in place that really shakes all that up.
And so obviously that's a very big factor in each
(33:34):
and every single recruitment just about now. So there's a
bit of smoke in there. But still anticipate that Kentucky
is gonna have their shot with him, as will Louisville
and as well Kansas. But I'm keeping an eye out
to see if there's gonna be any other teams that
are able to make a push and kind of get
involved in this recruitment over the next month or two.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Yeah, because you know how this is gonna work in
the NIL space, It's gonna you know, take a little while,
I would think, to sort out because they're you know,
it's supposed to be what would be quote unquote legit
NIL deals like you're doing a commercial players doing a
commercial for the local car dealer or whatever, and not
just you know, pay to play. But there's there's theory
(34:16):
and then there's practice and how does it actually play out.
Speaker 7 (34:19):
Yeah, what I imagine will happen and just will be
another general practice that we come, uh start singing again
in college basketball is there's gonna be coaches and people
out there just gonna find ways to get payments to players,
whether it be vetted by the ncblay or not. I mean,
that's just gonna be common practice again because you're gonna
be now competing with football for your funds and paying
(34:43):
your building out your rosters. So basketball teams not saying
this will be of Kentucky, I don't.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
I don't really think it will.
Speaker 7 (34:50):
I think they're gonna be among the top, Uh have
one of the top budgets in the country when it
comes to building their roster. But when it comes to
compete with football, there's gonna be a lot of teams
that lose a lot of money in this deal, and
so that could shake things up in the pecking order.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
And who really has the recruiting power now?
Speaker 7 (35:10):
And I think Big East more than anybody's gonna really
see a surge and what they can do out there.
But so things could change with Tyron Stokes recruitment still early,
We're only in June, but yeah, But the point is
there's a lot to shake out with a lot of
these kids.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
At Travis Brandham on x and he's the lead basketball
analyst for twenty four to seven Sports, so you can
read his work there as well.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
Travis appreciate the time anytime.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Thanks Tom, It's.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Said Travis Brandham, and we're gonna get to a quick
quick break and come back for our final segment of
the Leach Report, presented by Bob Cat Enterprises. I having
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stand a wow Cat History. It's a birthday Levon Williams
celebrating a birthday today. Happy birthday to Levon. I believe
was a freshman on the seventy eight championship team. Coach
Hall brought him in out of I think the Denver
area and Levon later in life became has become an
outstanding artist as well. Wild Cat History Notes each day
(37:11):
presented by Kentucky Roadshow Sports Cards and Memorabilia here in
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(38:00):
back up on a role, but also was the holder,
so maybe returns to that role.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
For Kentucky football this season. We'll see tomorrow on The
Lakes Report Radio Network.
Welcome in to the Leach Report for a Tuesday. We
are always presented by Bobcat Enterprises. Whatever will we be
talking about today?
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Hmmm?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Late yesterday afternoon, big news broke for Kentucky football. The
big Dog is headed to the Ville. Vince Marrow is
going to be a general manager for University of Louisville football,
and we'll talk about that with John Hale, who covers
Kentucky football for the Lexington Harold Leader, Larry Vatt from
your Sports edge dot com and Voughts Views, and then
(00:33):
we'll talk some basketball recruiting in particular with Travis Branham,
who's the national basketball analyst for twenty four to seven Sports.
Wile Cat News of the day always the service of
Giuseppes of Lexington. Vince Marrow is headed to UL to
serve as a general manager, so not in a coaching role.
He'll be helping with roster construction and transfer portal, et cetera.
(00:59):
The fact that he is not taking a coaching job
reportedly negates the buyout for leaving UK headline and the
Lexing Harol Leader says it is a perception hit for
Mark Stoops and there's certainly no doubt about that. We'll
talk about it with John and with Larry coming up
(01:20):
here in just a bit. But you know, Vince was maybe,
who knows, maybe coach Stoop's first call when Mark got
the job here in Lexington. They go back to their
childhood in Youngstown and Vince in particular talked many times
about how close he was to the Stoops family as
(01:43):
they were growing up, Cardinal Mooney High School, all of that,
and Vince came on board as the lead recruiter and
it was Stoops who gave him that shot to kind
of move it into the big time as a lead
recruiter an SEC school, and Vince knocked it out of
the park. Between the two of them and their connections
(02:06):
at Ohio, they tapped into that pipeline of talent that
drove a lot of success for Kentucky football for a
long time. So it's a a friendship that goes back
a long way. And now they are going in different
directions with Vince Marrow headed to be the gm at
(02:29):
U of l And again we'll spend a lot of
time talking about that as we moved through the show today.
What I thought might be our main topic of our
main topic but our lead topic of conversation today was
the Murray State baseball team, and they did it. They
are headed to the College World Series for the first time.
Held off Duke five to four. Blue Devil's got a
(02:53):
run in the bottom of the eighth to close the
gap to one, got the lead runner on in the
bottom of the ninth, there was a ground ball that
looked like it was going to end the game with
a double play, and then the Duke runner took out
the Murray State second baseman who was trying to turn two,
and the initial call was that it was interference in
(03:15):
a double play ending the game, but they ended up
overturning that and then Murray was able to still get
the final out. So the Racers become just the fourth
four seed to ever make it to the College World
Series in Omaha. So congrats to Murray State. It's a
really cool story. They will play UCLA in the first
game of the College were in their first game of
(03:37):
the College World Series on Saturday out of Omaha. Saw
a tweet from somebody covering this story that made note
of two things that the stadium in which Murray plays
seats eight hundred. They are now in the Missouri Valley
Conference and that the coach cuts the grass at the field.
(04:00):
So it's just a really cool story that will get
a lot of play, I'm sure this week as they
lead up to the start of the College World Series.
So congrats to the Racers. So two Kentucky schools will
be there as U of L played its way in
with a win over Miami on Saturday. Both Murray and
the u of L wins came in the third game
(04:22):
of a best of three series. Kentucky football has added
a commitment wide receiver, three star Prince Jean I'm assuming
that's how it's pronounced, out of Aldosta Georgia, six feet
one seventy third commit for the twenty sixth class. Georgia
had shown interests Mississippi State, Kansas State, and Virginia, but
(04:42):
he has committed to play for the Cats.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Links to the.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Stories that we talk about find them on the bud
Light Leachs repord page at Tom Leach kyd dot com.
Heading to a break back with John Hale from The
Herald Leader when we return. Wild Cat News of the
Day always presented by just Seppies of Lexington. They've expanded
their lounge area now so you have a greater opportunity
to sit there and enjoy Dave Hall's beautiful live jazz
(05:05):
music to a company of fantastic meal handcut steaks, seafood
shipped in fresh Pasta's homemade It is fantastic, a lot
of locally sourced ingredients that they use for their sides
and other dishes. So check that out at Giuseppe's Lexington
dot com see the menu, game plan your next visit,
(05:26):
and then go to open table and make a reservation.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
We'll be right back on the lead tri Report.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
It's the Leach Report presented by Bobcat Enterprises for locations
around Kentucky. For Bobcats, so google them when you need
to buy or rent heavy equipment for a job and
you can find folks that will take good care of you,
have what you need and give you great service after
the sale or the rental agreement where zero turn moors
for your home. Law too at Bobcat Enterprises. Join now
(05:53):
by John Hale from the Lexington Herald Leader Kentucky Sports
dot Com on the Club Blue Nil dot com hotline.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Thing going on in your world?
Speaker 4 (06:00):
John, No, Yeah, it's real quiet. It just one of
those random June weeks where nothing at.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
All is happening.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Yeah, was this surprising? Shocking? What was your reaction when
you heard the news about Vince Marrow to U of L. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
So I had first heard this rumor a couple of
weeks ago that they were like really close to him
taking a job at u of L, but he had
not gone to Mark Stoops or Kentucky, and like there
was still like a couple of hurdles to pass that
he needed to go and talk to them and give
them one last opportunity to kind of like see what
the situation was going to be moving forward, less about
(06:37):
money and more about what his role was going to
be on staff. And so I heard that a couple
of weeks ago, and then every day that went by
without any sort of update, I just kind of assumed, Oh,
this is just our annual or bi annual how often
happens Vince Marrow to somewhere else rumor, And it's going
to end the way they always have before. He's going
to stay at Kentucky. But then I did get a
message Sunday night that said it's almost it's basically done.
(07:00):
It's probably going to happen this week. Unless he had
a last minute change of heart. So I was it
was on my radar yesterday. I did not expect it
to come that early because it had drug out for
so long anyway, And so when it finally happened, of course,
there's some shock because we had been in this situation
so often before, or we'd heard about him being mentioned
for other jobs, and let alone the arch rival. In
(07:21):
the back of your mind, you're like, surely he's not
going to actually not only leave his childhood friend but
go to their arch rival and actively work against him.
When it came out, when the ESPN report came out,
and he was like, oh, wow, this is actually happening.
And now we've had almost you know, almost a full
day of an opportunity for somebody to come out and say, no,
it's it's not done. I'm staying after all, and so yeah,
(07:43):
it seems like this is this is where it is,
So certainly there's some shock to it will be very
strange to go out there to our first practice and
Vince marrill want to be there.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yeah, he's been there at everyone since Mark Stoops arrived
and this it's still not entirely done, right, but there's
no no thought that it's not going to get done,
is just finding getting lawyers to finalize contracts, that kind
of thing agents involved.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
Yeah, and like the way I had heard, I mean,
the UFL role is it seems still kind of unclear
exactly what it's going to be. I know Pete Fami
will call it chief of staff, but Jeff Brohm's brother
already has the chief of staff title, Loisill. So that
was one of the reasons in the last couple of
weeks that I was like, that doesn't seem completely right.
But whatever the position ends up being, it is a
direct result of the revenue sharing the house settlement agreement
(08:30):
they got through Friday. So he's not going to be
one of their ten position coach, he's not going to
be the tight end coach or whatever. It's going to
be a fundraising, roster management, all that kind of stuff.
And because the settlement doesn't go into effect until July first,
I don't think vits would actually start there until July first,
And so that's probably what this kind of hazy in
between period is going to be about.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
It felt like previous situations where another school came after
Evancing Michigan was the first one several years ago, Michigan
State made a big run at him. It was the
recruiting prowess, and it was you know, somebody tried to
hire him away and keeping him. Basically, it always felt
(09:15):
like came down to just you know, they might make
some tweaks to what the role was, but it was
basically about a more pay. It sounded like in your
opening comment there that maybe this time it wasn't about
as much about money as previous times.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Would that be correct?
Speaker 4 (09:32):
Yeah? No, I think so. My understanding is his salary
what it's going to be essentially the same as his
salary a Kentucky has now he had two years left
on his deal at one point three billion a year.
The number I heard for this is going to average
out to one point three and maybe he has a
little extra you know, bonus incentives in terms of how
much money he raised for the program, but like it's
not a huge financial difference. The big turning point to
(09:54):
me and what I've heard is essentially you can go
back to the spring and like I would sit down
with events mayor and I think I wrote a couple
of stories about recruiting and the differences and what changes
they've made in the offseason, and Vince's explanations frankly didn't
make a lot of sense and so and part of
me was just like, well, maybe he's just not talking
very clearly. Like looking back at that now, one of
the main changes they've made is that Vince was not
(10:16):
as involved as he was previously. Like there, it's clear
that their position coaches have much more league way now
to pick the players they're recruiting each position and emphasize
that if you look at that portal class last year
over the winter, like previously, one of their main portal
strategies was let's go get guys that Vince recruited out
(10:36):
of high school that we didn't get that wind to
Ohio State or Alabama or wherever and build on those
relationships we already had. Well, they didn't do that this offseason.
I think Maquee Humphrey Grace is like the only guy
who was a Vince, you know, high school connection that
they got, and they didn't didn't recruit him ot of
high school because he wasn't perceived as that kind of
prospect And so that was a clear change. And so
I think for Vince it'll be interesting to hear from
(10:59):
him and see how she talks about that whenever he
goes public for this. But like it was pretty obvious
that like they needed, they've made some changes in terms
of his role with recruiting, and I think that that,
as much as anything, was him saying okay, like how
am I going to? What was my role looking like?
Moving forward? And maybe a different program is a better
(11:19):
fit because they've made some philosophical changes. Whether those changes
are the right decision for Kentucky, we'll find out in
the fall. But I think you can make a clear
argument that it didn't work out last year. The transfer
class was a bust. They needed to make some changes.
So maybe that's as much reason as any to be
optimistic that something is actually different with this team.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
So that changing role is it? Do you think primarily
relative to how things were working at Kentucky specifically, or
did I have anything to do with just the big
picture changes in how you know, players and rosters are
built in college sports now with respect to you know,
(11:59):
the il of transfer portal and all of that, I'm.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Sure it's a little bit both.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Probably.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
I mean, I think most of it was Kentucky because
the perception, whether true falls for most of his tenure
here was Vince had final say basically on all the
recruiting priorities, like these are the guys we're going after.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
You know.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Certainly early in March tenure there were some times where
you'd ask Vince about a linebacker from Florida or something,
and he clearly wouldn't know much about it because it
wasn't as territory. But by that middle to late part
of the tenure, like he was involved in almost every
single recruitment to some level, and that was not the
case for the last year, and so I think that's
part of it. Certainly, there have been rumblings behind the
(12:37):
scenes that you know, not just Vince, but some other
people maybe aren't thrilled with Kentucky set up in terms
of the staff and general manager positions and how they're
doing the roster management. They've made some changes this offseason,
so maybe those payout play out. But he clearly thinks
that Wouisville, for whatever reason, him being in that position
is a better way to use his talents in this
(12:57):
new environment than what is set up Duck.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
He was and coach brom has been interested in him
for a long time. I think even back to the
Purdue days, right, they have a little bit of history together.
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Yeah, I can't tell if they actually played together in
NFL Europe, but they were on the same roster for
at least an off season, so they probably crossed pass there.
And then you know, since Vince took over recruiting Lowell
for Kentucky, I think that was the twenty nineteen class
with Jiji Weaver and all those guys. He has been
going head to head with Jeff bromp since then. Brom
was at Purdue then and even Western Kentucky before that,
(13:29):
and they have clearly a lot of respect for each other.
You know, Vince was obviously never afraid to kind of
poke the bear in terms of rivalry find but he's
never had anything but positive things to say about Jeff
brom publicly, and so clearly they have a relationship there.
There was a rumor earlier in the off season that
they were going after him, and and that was right
before signing day in December and kind of put that
one down. But whatever happened over the last three or
(13:52):
four months, I guess changed his mind.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Well, I don't know if Mark Stoops will have any
media sessions that doubt before sec media days.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
So uh, is that is that the first question in Hoover?
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Oh? Absolutely, and and like and honestly, and we'll see
how they how they handle it moving forward. But I
think that Mark needs to talk before them, like obviously
I wanted to talk to me, that would be my
first preference. But whether that happens or not, like he
needs to publicly address this in some form or fashion
because like, there is a segment of the fan base
that is online all the time that probably was already
(14:28):
kind of checked out on the season. But the casual
fans who you have in terms of who we're still
holding some optimism, who you know, give Mark the benefit
of the doubt because of everything he's done positive here,
Like those people know Vince Marrow and they see this
headlines say oh, Vince Marrow's leaving, and that might be
the red flag for them. So they have to address
this in some form and if it is coming out
and saying, like, you know, Vince is you know a
(14:50):
great friend. But we had to make these recruiting changes
because we thought that was the best path forward. That's
one option. Whether that's what he does or not, he
has to I think, but before or July address this.
But even if he goes on BB and Ton either
put out a video or whatever. When we get to Hoover,
that's going to be that's going to be the talking point.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Your pay for the Herald Leader. I think it was
your colleague Mark Story's column. The headline online anyway, users
the phrase a perception hit for Mark Stoops and that's
undeniable kind of speaking of what you're just saying.
Speaker 4 (15:23):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean that's the biggest part of this,
Like that, whatever the reasons that Vin's left substantively were
probably already in effect for weeks, if not months at
this point, So those changes that aren't being made, but
the perception part of that when he leaves, and not
only he leaves, but he leaves for your arch rival,
like that is a huge PR issue that they have
to figure out a way to deal with. And frankly,
(15:44):
they were not in a spot coming off last season
where they can or they need any more PR hits,
and so that, as much as anything, it is going
to be fascinating to see how they just address it
because we know that Mark, you know, those relationships are
really important, and if he invents go back a really,
really long time to when they were like teenager and
so like, I'm sure there's probably some personal hurt feelings
involved there and we'll see how that part of it
(16:04):
plays out. But also like he needs to figure out
a way to weveradge talking about that relationship, but also
what's best for the program if he's planning to make
these changes and rebuild from last year.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
John, appreciate you jumping on short notice. Thank you, Thanks
tom As, John Hale Lexington Harold leader Kentucky Sports dot
com where he covers Kentucky football among other things and
always does a fantastic job with that, so he was
our go to guy with this story broke. Coming up,
Larry Vaught will give us his take on the big
(16:38):
story of the day for Kentucky football. It's the Leach
Report for the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return Refresh and
refuel at Clerk's twenty Hey Past the top of the hour,
Larry Vat joins us on the Club Blueennil dot com
hotline for your sports Edge dot com Voughtsviews dot com. Larry,
when you heard the news about the big story of
(16:58):
the day for Kentucky Athletic x Vince Barrow leaving to
go to u of L.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
And what was your reaction.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
I would say a little surprised.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
But not stunned, just based on things that may be
transpired over the last year that I've heard little bits
and pieces about. So I'm still surprised because Vince has
had a lot of chances to leave, but not totally
stunned because I think he felt like that maybe his
growth potential was going to be better somewhere else.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Guessing that most of the people who who cover Kentucky
football closely would probably feel similar in terms of the
you know, on the surprise scale that you know, it's
a little surprising, but not a complete shock because the
U of L rumors had been out there for a
couple of years about the coach, brom obviously interested in
(17:59):
and bring events into his program. We'll continue talking about
this in just a moment. Larry Vaughts with us. It's
the Leach Report, presented by bobcat Enterprises guests on the
lead report company on the club blunil dot com hotline.
Club Blues the official NIL fundraising partner for UK Athletics,
and they have introduced a new program called Club Blue Kids.
(18:20):
It's free to get your young Wildcat fan involved. They
get a T shirt, a membership card, a lanyard, plus
exclusive events that they'll have access to and there was
one with Brandon Garrison over the weekend athlete experiences, meet
and greets and more. Sign up for free by going
to Club Blueennil dot com and clicking on the kids
(18:40):
tab and Club Blue Kids is where future Wildcats rep
the Blue and White with pride. We're talking about Larry
Vott from Your Sports Edge and Voughts Views, and about
the big story in UK sports world with Vince Marrow
leaving Kentucky football for a new job at the University
of Louisville. We were talking with John Hale in the
(19:03):
opening segment and his paper called it a perception hit
in a headline for coach Stops. It's certainly that it's
a situation where you know, if you're the coach, it's
a long time you know friend that has now gone
to your rival, and there's nothing you can do to
(19:24):
deal with the perception until they start playing games. That's
the only way you get the chance to change the narrative,
and that doesn't happen till September, right.
Speaker 6 (19:32):
Right, I mean, let's be honest basically to me anyway,
Vince had been more the face of the program than
Mark Stoops, simply because Vince was out and about so
much more so, I think it is a big hit
perception wise. I've also been a little surprised at how
and maybe I shouldn't be at this point in my life,
(19:52):
but how some UK fans have reacted to Vince, who's
been here all along and has received a lot of praise,
a lot of things for the program. It's just kind
of being buried because he's leaving to go to Louisville.
I mean, in this day and age, to keep somebody
as long as you did Vents on your staff, it's
pretty It's pretty remarkable, I think. And none of us
(20:15):
exactly will know what went on between Mark and Vince
or whatever. But if it's a change that obviously Mark
must feel like maybe needed to be made, because it
doesn't seem like he's doing really anything to try to
make sure it didn't happen, and events feels like it's
something he needed to do that. I think you just
wish them both well in this day where everything changes
(20:39):
in college athletics, I don't think any more than anything
should surprise us at all.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
But I think if you don't appreciate for Vince.
Speaker 6 (20:46):
Barra has done in Kentucky just because he's going to Louisville,
I think that's a big mistake.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Yeah, he came on right from the start with coach Stops.
I said earlier, maybe it was Mark's first call when
he was putting his staff together. Yeah, the long time
friendship and Vince hadn't had a role as prominent as
he had here at Kentucky, so he got that opportunity.
But then once he got the opportunity, he knocked it
out of the park in terms of having success with it.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Yeah, he sure did.
Speaker 6 (21:15):
I mean he did a lot of wore a lot
of different hats at Kentucky and did a lot of
different things. Of course, he was the recruiting coordinator and
brought in a lot of four star players that helped
kind of change the course of Kentucky football. Very well
known in the state. You could, I mean, you could
go to just about any UK athletic event, there's a
(21:36):
pretty good change you're going to see Vince Mara out
there watching and supporting other UK teams. I think he
was more involved in fundraising than what some realize. But
I think there just had been a little difference of
opinion in the last eight nine months, maybe coming back
as far as a year, about what his role should
be or should not be going forward, And I think
(21:58):
Vince just felt like growth wise, maybe this was just
the right time to make a change. And as long
as he did as an assistant at one spot, that's
pretty rare in today's college football world.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
You think those differences were just related to roster construction
slash recruiting.
Speaker 6 (22:18):
I think so. And I think I mean, again, it's
Mark's program. He's got to do what he thinks is
best there. And for a long time, Vince seemed to
have a pretty big, pretty great handle on what was
going on recruiting wise and the evaluation. And maybe now
that things didn't go well in a four and eighth season,
(22:40):
maybe the side there were some changes that needed to
be made on who made those calls and who didn't
make those calls. And I think unless for inside the
war room, you don't really know how all that is
going is going down. But again, I think you just
appreciate what Vince Barra anyway. To me, you appreciate what
he's done at Kentucky. Wish him well and hope that
(23:02):
Mark Stoop's as a plan B to cope with this.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
I wonder what they do as far as just you know,
the role of tight ends coach. I mean, there's just
that particular part of it to the staff position you've got,
certainly these days, a lot of options on your staff
already with the quality control type coaches that are there,
you know, and it's you don't see a lot of
(23:28):
you know, hires being made in June.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Like this now.
Speaker 6 (23:32):
If it was if it was me, and I kind
of doubt that Mark will Colin asked me what I think,
But if he did, I'd say, there's a pretty good
young coach over at Eastern Kentucky right now that has
some really good ties to your program and has worked
under you as a graduate assistant.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
And my first guy would be the C. J.
Speaker 6 (23:49):
Conrad, especially as you say here we are almost in
the middle of June and you need somebody that can
get here and get here quick. That would be the
guy that I would reach out to first if it
was me, unless I had some already on my staff
that I think could do that. But I really can't
think of Abe on an his staff, it would be
as well qualified to coach tight ends, is what CJ.
Conrad would be.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
It's a challenging spot for coach Stoops right now because
of just you can't control always, you know, just what
a narrative is or what perception is.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
And the only way.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
You can, you know, go about changing, you know, trying
to change that is to get people talking about something else,
which would be you know, how your team's playing teams
I could be playing for a while, so uh, you know,
it's it's a lot of just negativity out there to combat.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
For a while till the game started. At least, yes,
it is.
Speaker 6 (24:45):
I thought John made a good point when he was
talking with you that that the mark I think doesn't
need to stay silent till mid July about events leaving.
He needs to get in front of this and explain
what the problem says it's going to be to go
forward with UK football. I think Priva needs to get
out there and thank Fance for what he has done
(25:06):
before the program and go ahead and talk about it
and get it out there, because every day that he
doesn't talk about it, it just lingers for another day.
As you said, and there are already a lot of
people that weren't exactly thrilled to what this football season
maybe was going to be. And I think as you're
talking about the perception now is that my gosh, they're
(25:27):
losing Vince Mara too.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
It must be over.
Speaker 6 (25:29):
So I think Mark hopefully will understand that it needs
to find a forum that he can get out there
and kind of deal with this.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
What's true in politics is also true in sports. Just
because you're not talking about it doesn't mean it's not
being talked about.
Speaker 6 (25:45):
Amen. And the more he doesn't talk about it, the
more it's going to be talked about, because then all
we can do is speculate.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Yeah, there's a there's a twenty four hour news cycle
that is going to be fed. There's more more places
than ever that are talking about stuff it, you know,
whatever the subject matter, and they're going to keep talking
about it because you know, it's it's scheduled, and nobody's
just going to say, well, nothing to talk about today,
(26:11):
you know, Well, you know, we're just going to replay
a past radio show because it's not much going on today.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (26:17):
Yeah, And I'm guessing when Louisville does make the official announcement.
I'm guessing Jeff Brown is going to talk and talk
a lot about adding vents to his staff.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
One quick thought on the Murray State story with their
baseball team has read whether the coach makes sixty eight
thousand dollars a year? The story here says many major
conference power players may make that much or more.
Speaker 6 (26:39):
Yeah, certainly they do, and in other sports, maybe not
in baseball, but in other sports they make way more
than that.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
And what a great story that is.
Speaker 6 (26:48):
For them to go and win at Olemiss the way
they did, go the do and win the way that
they did. I mean, the coach just seems like a
great guy. I mean, I've heard the stories about mowing
the field and other things that he did for his players.
And they normally ride buses and I all like that.
And now you get to go to the College World Series,
and I tell you, with the way they're playing, the
way they hit the ball, who knows what might happen
(27:09):
when they get there.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah, that's true. Wish them the best, certainly. Larry, thank
you as always.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
All right, Don thank you Larry Blue. Larry Blue.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
Larry Vott on the Club Blue inil dot com hotline
from your sports Edge dot Com. We'll take quick break.
Travis Brannam'll join us. We come right back. I'm the
Lead Triport presented by Bob kat Enterprises. It's the lead
Triport coming to you from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio
and joining his next Travis Branna from twenty four to
seven Sports, where he is the national basketball Analyst. He's
(27:41):
joined us on the Club BLUEINIL dot com hotline. Travis,
before we get into talk a little bit about some
of the recruitment stories that are out there for Kentucky
Ben's basketball. I don't think we've talked since Kentucky has
put the final touches on the roster for next season
for Mark Pope's second year. What do you think about
the group he's assembled.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Yeah, he did a great job specifically in this transperport.
Speaker 7 (28:07):
Obviously in the high school ranks, took care of business,
took care of his home field, getting Jasper Johnson, malechaed Moreno,
but what he did in the transfer portal was really impressive.
Looking at this roster as a whole and looking across
the country, I find it hard to imagine, and I
keep coming back to this that Kentucky just has the
(28:30):
deepest team going into college basketball next season, and he's
gonna have a lot of options on his hands with
with about ten players that can play extended minutes on
any given night, just about there's gonna be uh.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Compared to to his first season.
Speaker 7 (28:50):
I think this roster is gonna be more tailor made
to what he wants to, how he wants to play,
and what he wants his.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Rosters to look like in the future. There's more talent
on this team.
Speaker 7 (29:01):
Obviously, getting a guy like Jaden Quains, which Kentucky fans
are very familiar with, with him having been committed here
at one point in time, just a tremendous talent, can
be a top five pick in the NBA draft next
season and want to be, and he can be one
of the premier defenders.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
And then getting guys like Modiabat.
Speaker 7 (29:19):
Out of Alabama, a guy that is just a very
reliable piece to a winning program. Denzel Aberdeen, a guy
who I think was a bit buried on that Florida
roster winning that national championship this past season, he didn't
get a ton of opportunity. I think he's better than
he was able to show, and that's not to discredit
or anything. He just had Walter Clayton, will Richard, and
(29:43):
Elijah Martin all ahead of him, three premier players in
the SEC. And I think Denzel Aberdeen is due for
a step up, and then Jayalen Lowe with dynamic point
guard that people continue to bring up his inefficiencies at Pittsburgh,
but I think his skill level, is feel for the game,
all are are special within college basketball, and I think
(30:03):
he's due for a big step up next year. So
this roster is a whole, extremely deep, more talented than
I think that they're going to be in contention with
among the very best teams in college basketball next season.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Kentucky will have, as you said, a lot of options
and a lot of different ways they can play. I
was interesting this on a show somewhere here in the
last few weeks that Otega, Oway and Jalen Lowe, if
anybody's playing north of thirty minutes, it's likely.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
To be those two.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
I would think go Otega because of his role on
your team, and Jalen Lowe because he's a point guard
and assuming he's playing well, you know he's gonna get
a lot of minutes after that, you know you could
see a whole bunch of guys averaging somewhere north of
I don't know, eighteen minutes a game, depending on how
it goes from game to game, And I would think
(30:55):
that that in that situation is important to have a
coach that is comfortable, you know, playing a lot of people,
and that has been Mark Pope's m O in his career.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Yeah, no question for for some coaches out there.
Speaker 7 (31:13):
I mean, it's a great problem to have, no matter
the coach, but it is definitely a juggling actor having
to navigate a lot of different personalities and keep a
lot of different people happy. But at the end of
the day, with the roster he has put together, competitive
drive he has and the real potential to go out
(31:33):
make a Final Four run with this squad next season.
As long as you're winning, I think most of it
will take care of itself. And I think that they're
gonna do that, especially obviously getting it to take.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
It away back that that is invaluable.
Speaker 7 (31:45):
Uh, the leadership he's going to bring to this program,
and obviously the impact he brings on the court, I
think that he's gonna have a lot of options and
should have a lot of fun putting together a bunch
of different lineups, like you said, to create a bunch
of different mismatches from game to game within the SEC
(32:07):
and national play.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Tyler Travis Brandam, the national basketball analyst for twenty four
to seven Sports. Tyrone Stokes making an official visit to
Kentucky over the last couple of days. Number one prospect
in the class of twenty twenty six by at least
some of the ranking services. What's your take on his
recruitment and what Kentucky's chances are of landing him.
Speaker 7 (32:30):
Yeah, I like Kentucky's chances, but that's not to say
that Louisville and Kansas aren't in there. I think it's
those are obviously the three teams up the top of
this recruitment right now. He's taken visits now to all
three programs and he is by far, I mean, based
on what he showed. I was out in Kansas City
a couple of weeks ago away. He showed he is
(32:52):
by far the number one player in this class. He's
made that loud and clear. There's a big separation there.
But I will see from just analyzing this recruitment in
which direction it's going to go and This isn't just
true of his, but every kid's recruitment at this point.
With the new rev share rule going into place last week,
everything's kind of been thrown up in the air coming
(33:14):
into it over the last few months, Like you had
a good idea of what the NIL budgets and everything
were around the country, and you knew that Louisville, Kentucky,
Kansas would all be extremely competitive, and now there's this
new rule in place that really shakes all that up.
And so obviously that's a very big factor in each
(33:34):
and every single recruitment just about now. So there's a
bit of smoke in there. But still anticipate that Kentucky
is gonna have their shot with him, as will Louisville
and as well Kansas. But I'm keeping an eye out
to see if there's gonna be any other teams that
are able to make a push and kind of get
involved in this recruitment over the next month or two.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Yeah, because you know how this is gonna work in
the NIL space, It's gonna you know, take a little while,
I would think, to sort out because they're you know,
it's supposed to be what would be quote unquote legit
NIL deals like you're doing a commercial players doing a
commercial for the local car dealer or whatever, and not
just you know, pay to play. But there's there's theory
(34:16):
and then there's practice and how does it actually play out.
Speaker 7 (34:19):
Yeah, what I imagine will happen and just will be
another general practice that we come, uh start singing again
in college basketball is there's gonna be coaches and people
out there just gonna find ways to get payments to players,
whether it be vetted by the ncblay or not. I mean,
that's just gonna be common practice again because you're gonna
be now competing with football for your funds and paying
(34:43):
your building out your rosters. So basketball teams not saying
this will be of Kentucky, I don't.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
I don't really think it will.
Speaker 7 (34:50):
I think they're gonna be among the top, Uh have
one of the top budgets in the country when it
comes to building their roster. But when it comes to
compete with football, there's gonna be a lot of teams
that lose a lot of money in this deal, and
so that could shake things up in the pecking order.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
And who really has the recruiting power now?
Speaker 7 (35:10):
And I think Big East more than anybody's gonna really
see a surge and what they can do out there.
But so things could change with Tyron Stokes recruitment still early,
We're only in June, but yeah, But the point is
there's a lot to shake out with a lot of
these kids.
Speaker 1 (35:30):
At Travis Brandham on x and he's the lead basketball
analyst for twenty four to seven Sports, so you can
read his work there as well.
Speaker 3 (35:40):
Travis appreciate the time anytime.
Speaker 2 (35:43):
Thanks Tom, It's.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Said Travis Brandham, and we're gonna get to a quick
quick break and come back for our final segment of
the Leach Report, presented by Bob Cat Enterprises. I having
trouble coming up with a gift idea for Dad for
Father's Day this weekend. How about going to corn Bradham
and letting Dad sample some of the products there. Maybe
(36:04):
if he has sore muscles, needs to get a little
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the golf course. Those infused gummies could take the edge off.
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from corn Bread Hemp. This is the good life and
(36:49):
stand a wow Cat History. It's a birthday Levon Williams
celebrating a birthday today. Happy birthday to Levon. I believe
was a freshman on the seventy eight championship team. Coach
Hall brought him in out of I think the Denver
area and Levon later in life became has become an
outstanding artist as well. Wild Cat History Notes each day
(37:11):
presented by Kentucky Roadshow Sports Cards and Memorabilia here in
Lexington and at Roadshowcards dot com. Shufflebean Coffee is the
official coffee of Rupp Arena and the KFCUM Center, and
you can make it the official coffee of your home
by picking some up today at a central Kentucky Myers
store or ordering through Amazon or through the company's website
Shufflebean dot Us, Kentucky based company that is all about
(37:36):
excellence from seed to cup is how they described the
process of following the quality of the coffee that you
get from Shufflebean Coffee. Group of Kentuckians came together to
form this company and they've been doing it doing it
right for more than a decade now. So if you
haven't tried Shufflebeing Coffee, give them a shot. Wilson Barry
Punter returning to the Kentucky football team, likely in about
(38:00):
back up on a role, but also was the holder,
so maybe returns to that role.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
For Kentucky football this season. We'll see tomorrow on The
Lakes Report Radio Network.
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