December 3, 2025 • 35 mins
Dick Gabriel talks with Darrell Bird and Chris Fisher.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning everybody. Dick Gabriel is sitting in for the Voice.
Tom worked really really late into the early morning hours
last night and he will be hosting the event over
on campus to introduce will Stein later today, So I
am more than happy to sit in for Tom on
the Leads Report presented by bobcat Enterprises. His full Wednesday
lineup actually had to change some things, had to move
(00:21):
some people around, but Chris Fisher will join us, the
veteran of the UK Beat. He'll be coming up in
segment number one, followed by Darryl Byrd. He is the
editor and featured columnists for The Cats Pause. Daryl was
at the UK North Carolina game last night and has
covered UK sports almost as long as I have, so
we'll chat with Daryl, and then Keith Farmer from LAX
(00:41):
eighteen BB in tonight also covered last night's game, so
we'll chat with the Kman as well. Onto Wildcat News
of the Day presented by just Sepies of Lexington. And
if ever there were a good news bad news situation
for the Big Blue Nation, it is today because as
I mentioned, Will will Stein will be introduced later today,
(01:02):
formally introduced at a PEP rally. Basically, it'll be reminiscent
of the one that we all attended, didn't we thirteen
years There are a lot of us thirteen years ago
when Mark Stoops was introduced. It'll be at the Nutter
Field House four o'clock. Gates open at three o'clock, and
there is parking of course around the stadium. But remember
(01:24):
now the schools in sessions, so there's limited space in
the lot. There will be limited space in the Nutter
field House, so try to get there early if you can,
but go in through the main entrance near gate one.
Eli Cappolluto will speak, which Barnhart will speak, and then
the man of the hour Will Stein, and I say
(01:45):
formally introduced because he met the Big Blue Nation last
night at Rupp Arena. If you were there, you were
part of one incredible ovation. I don't know if they
showed it on TV or not. I know Tom and
Jack talked about it. But what an ovation he got.
And you talk about excited. That guy was stoked. He
was pumped. You can tell this is a man who
(02:07):
wanted to be here. And it's not about the money.
He wanted this job. Money's good, but yeah, Will Sneine
wanted to be the head coach at Kentucky really ever
since he was a kid. He said, so, yeah, that
was that was quite a moment last night in Rupp Arena. Now, unfortunately,
I assume he stayed for the whole game. He had
to sit through Kentucky sixty seven sixty four loss to
(02:30):
the tar Heels. It was a grinder of a game.
It wasn't a good game, period, but it looked like Kentucky.
I won't say I control of the game, but had
the advantage right. And I go back to a moment
with about five and a half minutes to play, the
catcher up fifty six fifty with the basketball and they
(02:50):
had not scored since Brandon Garrison, of all people. His
three pointer made it forty eight forty four. They hit
from the free throw line and extended their lead to
fifty six to fifty. Otega Oway breaks for the basket,
looks like he's gonna lay one in and then somebody,
I think it was Kayleb Wilson, blocks his shot. North
Carolina goes down to the other end and scores. So
(03:13):
it goes from instead of an eight point advantage, it
was suddenly four, and then suddenly it was fifty eight
to fifty seven. I think it was Kentucky retook the lead,
but from that point on Carolina was able to make
the big shots when it had to. Dixon hits a
big three pointer. He also h's a layup with sixteen
(03:34):
seconds left that gave them the league. Got a free
throw at the end. But it was just a real,
real bad game. Cats went one to thirteen from beyond
the arc, didn't hit a shot for thirteen minutes, scoreless
for about ten pounded on the boards, gave up twenty
offensive rebounds, only got eight, and gave up twenty two
(03:56):
second chance points thirty four points in a paint. North
Carolina took full advantage of its size, and so Carolina
beats Kentucky in a game of the blue Bloods. Fun
to see those teams out on the same court, isn't it?
But not fun to see Kentucky go down that way.
So one other news item, the volleyball team will be
(04:19):
playing tomorrow opening NCAA tournament play against Wafford, oh And
by the way, the women play tonight as well at
five o'clock. To hear that game on most of these
same stations down in Miami, volleyball plays against Wafford tomorrow,
opening up the NCAA tournament in search of its second
national championship. Up next, Chris Fisher to talk to UK
(04:41):
Sports here on The Leach Report. Welcome back to the
Leach Report. Dick Gaberline for the Voice. A reminder of
the stories that we went over on the opening segment
available on the bud Light Leach Report page at Tom
Leachky dot com, and we welcome Chris Fisher, veteran of
the UK Beat, to the Leach Report. You hear him
every week on the show. Good morning, Chris, Good morning, sir.
(05:04):
Appreciate you getting up early. I know you're up late
last night watching that game. And as you pointed out
on your x feed or Twitter feed, that was just
not a real entertaining, high profile matchup, was it. And
it's not that Carolina, as you point out, was all
that good. It wasn't, but Kentucky was just worse. I'm
guessing you didn't anticipate. I'm sure you didn't anticipate a
(05:25):
Final Four caliber game, but I don't think you probably
thought you'd see a game like that, am I right?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah? That game was uglier than a bowling shoe. I mean,
simply put, you're just not gonna win a lot of
games where you go one of thirteen from three, you
go thirty, you go nearly, you know, thirteen minutes without
a basket, you give up thirty four points in the paint,
(05:55):
you give up twenty two second chance points. I thought,
really the only way that North Carolina could beat Kentucky
was if Caleb Wilson and Henry Vsar dominated inside.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
And that's exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
What Kentucky allowed them to do. I think they combined
for thirty two points and twenty two rebounds, and I
thought Kentucky's first shot defense was actually pretty good.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
They could just never seem to come up with the ball.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
And when you give up twenty two second chance point,
that's that's gonna hurt, especially when you're one of thirteen
from three.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
North Carolina hitches forty point six percent from the floor.
But it made a living on being you know, one
for two or even one for three per possession. You know, Kentucky,
I shot it at the free throw line, stayed alive
with free throws. But yeah, like you said, North Carolina
us so much length you could see that literally going in.
(06:49):
But I think You've got to tip your cap to
the game plan Carolina had when it came to guarding
the arc. I mean, the kids who covered Colin Chandler,
particularly Bolgovic. I think you say, you say they did
a phenomenal job chasing Kentucky's good shooters and there are
(07:10):
a couple off the three point arc and then allowing
I mean from Brandon Garrison, it's the only three.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Come on, yeah, it's not just that Kentucky only made
one three pointer.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
They only attempted thirteen.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yeh is just a really really low number for a
Mark Pope team. And you're right, they were hounding Kentucky
all over the court and it just did not seem
like Kentucky could get very many open looks from three,
and when they did, they weren't even close.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Which, you know, I'm starting to think that this is.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Just kind of what this team is without Jalen Lowe, Yes,
without Modiabat, without Jayden Quainton's like, after you know, eight
games of a visible proof, this is just what this
team looks.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Like without the guys. And you know, I think it
might be.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
A situation where Mark Pope may be zagged a little
bit too far.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
In the other direction.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I mean, the focus last offseason was getting more athletic,
getting better defensively, but offensively, this just does not look
like a Mark Pope team. They struggle to shoot the
ball from the perimeter. They're having trouble creating open shots.
There really aren't a lot of driving lanes. And as
(08:31):
much as he frustrated me at times last season, he
came on strong at the end, for sure. But Kentucky
really misses Amari Williams. You know, that facilitator in the
half court where he could stand at the top of
the key and do those dribble handoffs and hit those cutters.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Going to the basket.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
And Kentucky really just doesn't have a guy on the
roster that can do that. And I almost think, you know,
I think Mark Pope should put Andrea Yelovich in that
at the top of the key, because at least he's
a shooter.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Carolina was running two guys at the ball all night.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Maybe that having the kind of a stretch five at
the top of the key would open.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Up the floor a little bit.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Well, I think to back it up to your first comments,
and I kept reminding myself of this, and you don't
want to talk about it a lot because it sounds
like excuses. But if I had told you going into
the season, or right after he built this roster, if
I had told you, hey, by the way, you know,
through the first basically half of the season and beyond
into January, you're probably not going to have three of
(09:34):
the top six players, three of the guys. You know
you fashion this team around, guys like JQ and Jalen
Lowe and and dio Bote certainly would have helped on
the boards last night. If I had told you that,
at least through a palpable stretch of the games, uh,
you wouldn't have those guys. You'd be scratching your head
trying to figure out what this team was going to
be able to do. They're just gonna have to gut
(09:56):
it out, aren't they.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Yeah. I think I think Kentucky really missed moda bat
last night. He's a guy that can stick his nose
in there and come up with.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Balls, And it seemed like it felt.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Like Malcolm Moreno was really the only guy where when
the ball came off, if he was in the area,
you felt confident that he was gonna come up with
that Kentucky just doesn't really have anyone else like that
on this roster. And I do think Carolina's length really
gave them problems in that department. But I think Jalen Low,
I mean, everybody knew Quaintan's was going.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
To be out until probably SEC play, but.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I think Jalen Low is a guy that they're really
really missing. I think it would be the equivalent of
a football coach, you know, signing a quarterback out of
the portal to run his offense and then all of
a sudden you got to plug somebody else in at
that spot. It's just gonna look a lot different. And
I think this offense was built for Jalen Low to
(10:53):
run it, and he's not on the floor, and you're
just not going to get the same results with you know,
Denzel Aberdeen or you know As Johnson or whatever running point.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
It's just not going to look the same.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Kentucky had sixteen rebounds at the half, Moreno had seven
of them. Now he finished with only nine. They did
a great job again on him boxing out. He had
eight points, only was able to get up a couple
of shots, hit some clutch free throws down the stretch.
He blocked three shots, had a couple of steals. I
thought for a true freshman big man who's still learning
how to be seven feet tall, I thought he was terrific.
(11:25):
But you mentioned Jasper Johnson. And it's funny because in
the offseason, when I spoke with people about just what
you were talking about, how's this team going to score?
No Kobe Braa, Noahmari Williams, and people like to bring
up Jasper Johnson, And I think he is a singular talent.
He's going to be really, really good. But he played
six minutes last night, and I'm not saying he should
have played more. I'm saying that that's where he is
(11:47):
in his college career right now. So you know, to
look at the roster and say, well, there's your scorer. Yeah,
but not if he's not on the floor. It's the
guys who are in. Cam Williams, who worked his way
into the starting lineup, only took four shots. They chased
him off the line. So they don't really have a
creator other than oh way, at least I don't see
one right now, do you, Yellovich?
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Maybe no, Yeah, it's it's tough.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
I think Denzel Aberdeen is more of a combo guy,
but he's not a pure point guard. And the way
this team is constructed, they need him to score every
bit as much as they need him to facilitate, so
that puts him in kind of an awkward position. But
you know, I just think all around offensively, this team
(12:34):
is just really struggling right now. I think Malachai Morano
has been one of the few since surprises, but at
the end of the day, he's a freshman, and you know,
going up against a guy like Vsar last night, I mean,
he absolutely had.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Had his hands full. But you know, it doesn't get
any easier for Kentucky. They got Gonzaga and Nashville on Friday, and.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
They've looked really, really good so far in the non conference.
And so if your hand's not on the panic button,
it should probably be hovering over it at.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
This Here's Chris Fisher, veteran of the uk B. We'll
come back and talk a little bit more with Chris
on the other side of the break. Dick Gaberlin for
Tom on the Leach Report. Welcome back. Dick Gabriel is
sitting for Tom Leach on the Leach Report. Coming to
hear from the Clark's Pumpin' Shop Studio, Return, refresh and
refuel at Clark's. And we're talking, of course about last
(13:26):
night's lost to North Carolina. A bright spot if there
was one. Chris was the introduction. Really it was when
will Stein came out and made the why. And it
was interesting because they started doing that spell out the
Kentucky word during the first TV time out, which is
very unusual, as you know, and they did it twice
(13:46):
because they brought out Tayshawn Prince in the second half,
which was huge. Both they have used some three point
shooting like his last night. But will Stein came out
and here's here's a guy who Louisville native, which is fine,
a lot of UK fans in Louisville, but former U
of L quarterback, a guy who helped beat Kentucky at
(14:07):
least once and now he's the head coach at the UK,
and that place went crazy. I don't know if they
showed it on TV, but this is signing day and
how big is it? And you retweeted the tweet from
Matt Ponitowski, the quarterback slash baseball player from the Cincinnati area,
who less than an hour ago said we've signed. Get
(14:31):
to wake up being a Kentucky Wildcat from now on.
You know what that could mean for a recruiting class, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Matt Pontowski is a guy that went from saying he
wasn't gonna sign early and you know he might wait
until February to being on board, and so you have
to think he was a pretty big fan of that higher.
I think Oregon finished second in his recruitment the first
time around. I know Wilson On played a big role
(15:01):
in that as well, and so having a four star
quarterback is one of the first guys in the boat
for your recruiting class.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
I think it gets Kentucky.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
A lot of positive momentum, which is which is really
any of the case. Anytime you bring in a new guy,
you know, the energy, the excitement, the investment, all those
things are are going to be at a at a
high and so I think that there's a lot of
people in and around the Kentucky football program that are
excited about.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Will sin Oh. Yeah, and you bring up a great
point in that, Yeah, he was looking at Oregon. I
was always skeptical. I thought that's a long way to
be from home, But yeah, it happens, and the fact
that he had that relationship. If he's got Oregon in
his final list, that means he has spent a lot
of time researching that program or searching the offense they run,
(15:49):
of course, but also very likely talking in person and
on the phone with the guy calling the plays. And
of course that was will Stein, So that was a
built in advantage, wasn't it tire and now? And he
didn't want to wait and see who else is gonna
sign and things like that. Yeah, momentum is huge in
this situation, isn't it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
And he's a two sport guy, and I think he's
really excited about his opportunity to play baseball at Kentucky
as well.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
And you know, the quarterback position, as we've seen, is
just so.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Important in college football and really at every level of football.
You look at the way Diego Pavia has completely transformed
the Vanderbilt program, not to to discount you know, what
Clark Lee has done and what.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
The rest of the of the football program has done,
but they're not the same.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Team without Diego Pavia the last two seasons. And you know,
so that's where it begins and ends. I think it
will be refreshing to have a head coach that is a.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Little bit more offensive forward.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Kentucky's just so used to having a defensive coach and
so you know, he comes from the Bobby Petrino coaching tree,
and say what you will about Bobby Patrino, but that
guy knows offense.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
So you know, there's already some rumors that.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Will Stein might be bringing you know, one or more
of his former quarterbacks at Oregon, you know, maybe maybe
the quarterback from cal And So I think Kentucky's gonna
have a very very healthy quarterback room when the spring
rolls around.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Gonna need to sign some lineman, though, aren't they.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Yeah. I think that's one of the things that's been
missing with the program and kind of led to some
of the slippage.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I think, you know, Mark Stukes, when he was having success.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
His teams had a nastiness, They had an edge, they
had a physicality along both the offensive and defensive lines,
and that's just that was something that was sorely missing
here in the last couple of seasons.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah. Yeah, the big Blue wall. When they lost John Schlarman,
they lost it off a lot and quite get it back. Chris.
Thanks have a great day, all right, YouTube bud up.
Next Daryl Bird of the Cats Boss here on the
Leach Report. Welcome back to the Leech Report. Dick gabrielin
for the Voice and we joined now the publisher editor,
(18:14):
I should say, and feature columnist of the Cat's Pause,
mister Darryl Bird on him last night for the basketball game.
But I, darrely, I want to start with football because
of course this is a new era and you get
to know coaches as well as anybody because of obviously
the relationship the Cat's Boss has with UK Sports. But
putting together the preseason yearbook, my guess is you're already
(18:36):
thinking about cover ideas and your head's probably spinning already.
Got to wait and see what the roster is going
to look like. But again, you've been around for a
long time. What did you think of the ovation? Will
Stein Goott plus his reaction to that ovation when he
made the while last night.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
Yeah, his reaction was the best thing about the whole night.
It didn't surprise me that they cheered wildly for the
new code, which you could probably go back to when
Mark Stoops was introducing and it was very similar. But
his reaction, I'm old enough now to call that youthful exuberance.
That he was just fired up to be there. And
you better believe that's that's such a dramatic change from
(19:15):
the way it had become for the football program in
terms of just outward excitement and fired up about what
can happen. I don't think any of it was stage.
I think that was all genuine and that that was huge.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Such a great story. You know, here's a guy who
and I do remember when he played against Kentucky. Uh,
you know, and then he lost his job to I
believe it was uh lamar no to Teddy Bridgewater.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
And then you know, but grew up a Kentucky fan. Uh.
And I was down in Dallas when in the early
eighties when Clayburn's teams were doing their best things. But
you know, Matt Stein at one point room with Jefficoro. Uh.
So you know, his future son ends up being the
head coach of Kentucky. You can't write this stuff any better,
can you?
Speaker 4 (19:58):
No, you can't, And I'm dying to know him. I
may ask it later on today, but you just know
that that will Stein was one of those kids you
see in the tailgating lot throwing the football back and
forth when he was small. You know, it had to
be in a in a UK jersey. Yeah, absolutely, in
the UK Jersey. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
What do you make of the fact that this time
and they've done it before Kentucky goes for a head
coach was an offense background. I thought when they hired Stoops,
brought in a defensive guy, and he built a team
that was almost always good defensively consistently. We all know
he had his struggles picking the right oc Now they
(20:40):
go in the other direction. It's an injection of enthusiasm.
But you got to look at the future. But what
do you make of that.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Very very smart move you have to I don't in
this day and age. It's even if you have a
really good defense, a lot of times you have to
score at least thirty and that way, and it's just
it's just the way the game is trending. And Okay,
it's great to have a defense, but you're gonna have
to put points on the board. And part of it
(21:08):
is stand appeal. I mean, they had worn very thin
of you know, scoring twenty points hoping you get one.
If it's a crazy day, you may get two touchdowns.
For all the money you paid to get up there
and watch that, and and just you know, winning is great,
but if you're not winning, you better be entertaining. And
at the end they hadn't either one. And that's what hurts.
(21:29):
And it didn't surprise me they went that route, that
kind of reverse it. Yes, this time, I.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Know a lot of people are unhappy that they let
John somemmry, as though they had a say in the matter,
but they let John Sumrall get to Florida. And look,
let's face it, we all like covering UK sports. To
bet me in is what it is. But if you're
a if you're a head coach, a young head coach,
and you've got a choice between the two jobs right now,
you got to look at Florida for so many reasons.
(21:55):
But you know this, this was home for John when
it came to his college career. But yeah, he's a
defense guy and this offense Will Stein is bringing. We
all know what feed the studgs means now, right.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
Oh yeah, absolutely, And yeah I went back and forth
with some people on Twitter. That is basically I was
trying to tell him as painful as you think it is.
Right now, the only thing more painful would be to
have offered summer when he took Florida instead. That would
have really that would have hurt even more. But yeah,
I think it played out the way it's supposed to.
(22:28):
His life does so many times.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
You know, if there's a bright spot and all this,
You hate it when anybody gets fired, depending on who
the person is, of course, Yeah, but I felt like
Stoop's handled this thing as well as anybody I've ever seen,
quite frankly, And yeah, there are thirty eight million reasons
to handle it well. But we all saw what happened
on the highway between Oxford and Baton Rouge. It could
(22:50):
have gone really sideways and it didn't. And I think, well,
you talk about softening the blow. I thought that was tremendous.
The way he handled things in a statement he released yesterday,
how'd you see it?
Speaker 4 (23:04):
Statement was first class? But his move was I mean
his Without that move, I'm not sure we're having the
conversation we're having right now. They were locked into thirty
eight million payable in sixty days, and I guess they
could have figured out how to make that happen, But
I think it was the real sticking point and maybe
it wouldn't have happened. And for him to step in
the way they did. I've had people say, well, he's
(23:25):
doing for tax purposes. I don't care why he's doing it.
He let Uk off the hook, and that just shows
me that, you know all this stuff. He's saying that
Kentucky's his home and he loves his place. I think
that's reflected there and he's He's good either way, and
it was. It was a very nice mood. First class
moved to let Uk find a way to wiggle out
of this situation.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
One last football question before we shift over to basketball.
The fact that I am so appreciative as somebody who
covers the sport and I've been through a few of these.
The fact that it didn't drag on. I mean, we
started hearing the rumours, it was official on Monday that
Mark Stoops would be leaving, and the next thing you know,
(24:05):
will Stein Monday evening is basically coming out. I cannot remember.
And again, you know, you've covered a lot of these,
or a few of these, seems like a lot. I
don't remember anything happening.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
As quickly, you know, No, not even close. We were
talking about it last night. The basketball game that when
rich Brooks was hired, it felt like that was two months. Yeah,
I didn't go back and check, but it went on forever,
and for good reason. The situation the program was at
that time you had to flip it this fast. I mean,
I want to track down Mitch Barnhart because I want
I want to see that drawer in his desk where
(24:41):
he's got the next coach, the list of the next coaches.
As you you know, you hear about forever. The AD's
always have that list. They know who they're going to hire. Yeah,
at every at every position. And I want to see
that list because he must have been at the top
on speed dial.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Well, I can tell you this. After having conversations with
Barnhart about the Rich Brooks process. There ever, five or
six guys had turned them down because the program was
on probation and the penalties were so stiff. And some
of those guys, when Brooks it looked like, was in trouble,
began to reach out to the UK or their agency had
saying hey, if you make a change, we're over here. Well,
you didn't want the job three months or three years ago,
(25:17):
now did just right?
Speaker 4 (25:18):
Yeah, tip of the cat that was one of the
classic hires because it went on forever, and he Mitch
talked to Rich made rich Brooks his advisor to help
him find a new coach, and in the end rich said, hey,
why not me exactly? That worked out really well.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Plus, you know people on this side of the world
who you know. Barnhard had worked at Oregon. He had
worked both at OU and at Oregon State. He knew
rich Brooks was a legend in that part of the world.
They play on rich Brooks Field at Oregon. That tells
you everything you need to know. So he knew this
guy knew football, and yeah, it worked out. He and
Daryl Bird of the Cast Bulls welcome back and sorry Darryl,
(25:54):
We're going to talk basketball on the other side of
the right here on the Leach Report. The Least Report,
presented by Bobcat Enterprises for locations in Kentucky. When you
need to rent or buy have you equipment, google them
to find the closest location to you. We're talking to
Daryl Bird of the Cats Paws and Daryl, before I
asked you about that basketball game last night, I'm going
(26:14):
to ask you about a former Wildcat, Michael Kidd Gilchrist.
He tweeted about the fact that the Kid Stuttering Act
was introduced to the US House of Representatives. He tweeted
this last night and he thanked a couple of the politicians,
and as he said, every child deserves to have access
to early screenings and the support they need along the way.
(26:34):
I'm not sure the particulars we all seem to gravitate
toward him. And I remember recognizing the fact almost immediately
that here's a guy who has had to work at
his public speaking. And I found out later, Yeah, wow,
(26:57):
I did.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
Not know that get that little device on his wrist
that he would tap it would put out signals. I
guess I never really fully appreciate what I guess it
was a rhythm thing that he had to get into
a comfortable rhythm where he could get the words, and
it was a struggle.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
And I said, I was your take on last night's
last night's.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
Debacle, Oh goodness, I'm I haven't had a chance to
research it, but at this point, I think the fan
base is going to have to go back to and
hope this is twenty fourteen. There's a different reason that
that was that team had a five freshmen if I
(27:38):
remember right, and they just didn't know how to play together,
didn't know how to play the game at this level,
and went in as an eight seed and finally figured
it out just enough to barely get into the tournament
and water run all the way to the championship game.
And for different reasons, this team just hasn't figured it out.
And even when they do figure it out, they've still
got three more pieces. I've got to hopefully try to
(27:59):
work back to the rotation, and it's just going to
take a long time. And I think we're staring at
seven or eight seed hopefully, and hopefully they're picking up,
you know, they're getting it all together by the end
to make some kind of run. But you have the
pre season top five and all that stuff that's out
the window.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Daryl, thanks so much for the time.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Have a great day, brother, all right man, you too.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
At Darrow board of the cast BUSS. Keith Farmer of
BBN Tonight is coming up next here on the Leach Report.
Welcome back to the Leach Report. Dick Gabrielle sitting in
for the voice and scheduled Keith Farmer. We're trying to
break through Keith's voicemail out there, reminder of each report
presented by bobcat Enterprises four locations in Kentucky. When you
(28:44):
need to rent or buy have you equipment, google them
to find the closest location to you. And a reminder
that you have a chance. Maybe you won't meet him,
but you get to see him in person. Will Stein
will be introduced at the Nutterfield House this afternoon. It'll
start it for four o'clock, doors open at three, and
if memory serves, that place was jam packed thirteen years
(29:07):
ago when Mark Stoops was introduced, the marching band and
videos and lights and everything. It was. To me, it
signaled a real change in the way Kentucky was approaching
football because you know, like I said, I've covered so
many of these things in the past, coaching changes, primarily
men's basketball and football, and it's usually at the board
(29:28):
meeting at the top of Patterson Office Tower and it's
jam packed reporters and some lookers and you know, board
members and all that. But this was an event when
Mark Stoops was introduced, and I remember when he came
charging in there. But he's going to have the same
message will Steinweill that Mark Stuops had, and it's twofold.
(29:51):
It's going to take hard work, no shortcuts, and Stoops
was true to his word. And you might recall Stoop's
first couple of teams couldn't even compete because the talent
level had dropped off so much. That's not the case
now because Stoops and Company had built the talent level,
but it's not where it was obviously when the program
(30:15):
was at its best under Mark Stupis. So Stein's got
a lot of work to do, there's no question about that.
First and foremost hiring a staff. But Daryl Bird just
talked about how athletics directors had that list of head
coaching candidates for all the sports they have in their
pocket or in their desk drawer or whatever. And you
know Will Stein as he dreamed of being a head coach,
(30:37):
I'll guarantee you, like every guy who dreams of being
a head coach or gal in whatever sport, if I
got the job, this is the person I would approach
first or whatever. I'm guessing you may see some other
people as Daryl said, or Chris said, Chris Fisher with
U of L on their resume. So I think he'll
work quickly to put a staff together. He's already hired
(30:58):
Justin Burke, another guy who's actually flipped the script from
Lexing and went to u of L. But any guy
who played against Kentucky. But I'm sure dreamed of coaching
here at some point. So building that staff will come first,
and obviously hitting the recruiting trail, which they already have.
I'm sure they're burning up the phone lines, but they've
(31:19):
just got to rebuild that talent level. But today, thirteen
years later, as you well know Stein and company, every
coach in America is dealing with the nil and the portal.
So it's a different age, a different animal. But the
bottom line is what kind of program will he build here?
And you already know this if you've looked, if you
(31:40):
watch the video that says feed the studs. I've seen
so many different Twitter accounts that have excerpted that from YouTube.
And this is back when he was at UT San Antonio.
And I'm guessing that played a huge part, not just
that presentation, but the way the road Runners played like
road Runners. I guarantee you that had a great hand
(32:01):
and how he got the job at Oregon and he
kept right on winning, kept right on producing. Yes, Oregon
has I'm sure the best facilities and a great nil budget.
Thank you Phil Knight and Nike. And ironically enough, if
you open up the Portland, Oregon phone book, if there
is such a thing anymore, there's a long list of Gabriels.
(32:23):
Because my cousin, one of my one cousin moved there
temporarily during the eighties or late seventies, fell in love
with Oregon, with Portland, and settled there. They tried to
transfer him back to Pittsburgh. He said, nope, staying here,
and then he moved his mother and two sisters out there.
They raised families, so I have all kinds of cousins
(32:44):
and second cousins and their Oregon Duck fans. They were
Oregon State fans. And then one of their kids married
into the Oregon family. And I texted my cousin last night.
He said, you got a good coach, take good care
of him. Said, yeah, we will. But it's an interesting
chapter in the history of Kentucky football, interesting chapter in
(33:08):
basketball as well, kind of going in the other direction.
And you know, I saw a tweet earlier today somebody's saying,
you know, Mark Pope is so nonchalant. I'm tired of
this stuff. No, he's not. Just because the coach doesn't
run up and down the sidelines stomping his foot waving
his arms, that doesn't mean he's not working his butt off.
(33:31):
And if you missed it, yeah, I'm sure if you
were watching on TV you didn't see. Perhaps I believe
it was Aberdeen put up a shot that was not
the right shot and man Pope called time out. He
was as livid as I've seen him since he came
to Kentucky. He is not nonchalant about this. And if
you listen to the postgame radio show with Tom Leach,
(33:53):
if you look online at his postgame news conferences with us,
his answers are about his brief. They're not Kurt, but
you can tell it is chewing him up inside. And
I will tell you this, I think it is bothered.
I think these losses have bothered him, if you can
quantify these things, more than it did the guy who
(34:13):
came before him, and maybe even more, if possible, than
the guy he played for, Rick Mattino, because he just
feels it so badly and he knows his program right
now is in a difficult spot. He's missing three of
his top six players not an excuse. They got to
(34:33):
figure it out because the schedule's not gonna slow down
for him, right, all right, that's gonna do it. Our
final thoughts in UK history presented by Kentucky Roadshow Sports
cards and memorabilia right here in Lexid and learn more
about them at roadshowcards dot com. Twenty eleven. This day,
Anthony Davis, in a happier time, blocked John Henson's shot
(34:56):
to preserve the win over North Carolina. It was gonna
be the game winterer. Henson went up and the freshman
Anthony Davis gave us a great preview of things to
come and block the shot. Rupperena went nuts and it
was just a wonderful moment in Rupperena. Plus a happy
birthday to Jackson Robinson. Tom's back tomorrow. Thanks so much.
(35:19):
I'll be on the SEC plus coverage of Kentucky Volleyball.
Have a great day,
Good morning everybody. Dick Gabriel is sitting in for the Voice.
Tom worked really really late into the early morning hours
last night and he will be hosting the event over
on campus to introduce will Stein later today, So I
am more than happy to sit in for Tom on
the Leads Report presented by bobcat Enterprises. His full Wednesday
lineup actually had to change some things, had to move
(00:21):
some people around, but Chris Fisher will join us, the
veteran of the UK Beat. He'll be coming up in
segment number one, followed by Darryl Byrd. He is the
editor and featured columnists for The Cats Pause. Daryl was
at the UK North Carolina game last night and has
covered UK sports almost as long as I have, so
we'll chat with Daryl, and then Keith Farmer from LAX
(00:41):
eighteen BB in tonight also covered last night's game, so
we'll chat with the Kman as well. Onto Wildcat News
of the Day presented by just Sepies of Lexington. And
if ever there were a good news bad news situation
for the Big Blue Nation, it is today because as
I mentioned, Will will Stein will be introduced later today,
(01:02):
formally introduced at a PEP rally. Basically, it'll be reminiscent
of the one that we all attended, didn't we thirteen
years There are a lot of us thirteen years ago
when Mark Stoops was introduced. It'll be at the Nutter
Field House four o'clock. Gates open at three o'clock, and
there is parking of course around the stadium. But remember
(01:24):
now the schools in sessions, so there's limited space in
the lot. There will be limited space in the Nutter
field House, so try to get there early if you can,
but go in through the main entrance near gate one.
Eli Cappolluto will speak, which Barnhart will speak, and then
the man of the hour Will Stein, and I say
(01:45):
formally introduced because he met the Big Blue Nation last
night at Rupp Arena. If you were there, you were
part of one incredible ovation. I don't know if they
showed it on TV or not. I know Tom and
Jack talked about it. But what an ovation he got.
And you talk about excited. That guy was stoked. He
was pumped. You can tell this is a man who
(02:07):
wanted to be here. And it's not about the money.
He wanted this job. Money's good, but yeah, Will Sneine
wanted to be the head coach at Kentucky really ever
since he was a kid. He said, so, yeah, that
was that was quite a moment last night in Rupp Arena. Now, unfortunately,
I assume he stayed for the whole game. He had
to sit through Kentucky sixty seven sixty four loss to
(02:30):
the tar Heels. It was a grinder of a game.
It wasn't a good game, period, but it looked like Kentucky.
I won't say I control of the game, but had
the advantage right. And I go back to a moment
with about five and a half minutes to play, the
catcher up fifty six fifty with the basketball and they
(02:50):
had not scored since Brandon Garrison, of all people. His
three pointer made it forty eight forty four. They hit
from the free throw line and extended their lead to
fifty six to fifty. Otega Oway breaks for the basket,
looks like he's gonna lay one in and then somebody,
I think it was Kayleb Wilson, blocks his shot. North
Carolina goes down to the other end and scores. So
(03:13):
it goes from instead of an eight point advantage, it
was suddenly four, and then suddenly it was fifty eight
to fifty seven. I think it was Kentucky retook the lead,
but from that point on Carolina was able to make
the big shots when it had to. Dixon hits a
big three pointer. He also h's a layup with sixteen
(03:34):
seconds left that gave them the league. Got a free
throw at the end. But it was just a real,
real bad game. Cats went one to thirteen from beyond
the arc, didn't hit a shot for thirteen minutes, scoreless
for about ten pounded on the boards, gave up twenty
offensive rebounds, only got eight, and gave up twenty two
(03:56):
second chance points thirty four points in a paint. North
Carolina took full advantage of its size, and so Carolina
beats Kentucky in a game of the blue Bloods. Fun
to see those teams out on the same court, isn't it?
But not fun to see Kentucky go down that way.
So one other news item, the volleyball team will be
(04:19):
playing tomorrow opening NCAA tournament play against Wafford, oh And
by the way, the women play tonight as well at
five o'clock. To hear that game on most of these
same stations down in Miami, volleyball plays against Wafford tomorrow,
opening up the NCAA tournament in search of its second
national championship. Up next, Chris Fisher to talk to UK
(04:41):
Sports here on The Leach Report. Welcome back to the
Leach Report. Dick Gaberline for the Voice. A reminder of
the stories that we went over on the opening segment
available on the bud Light Leach Report page at Tom
Leachky dot com, and we welcome Chris Fisher, veteran of
the UK Beat, to the Leach Report. You hear him
every week on the show. Good morning, Chris, Good morning, sir.
(05:04):
Appreciate you getting up early. I know you're up late
last night watching that game. And as you pointed out
on your x feed or Twitter feed, that was just
not a real entertaining, high profile matchup, was it. And
it's not that Carolina, as you point out, was all
that good. It wasn't, but Kentucky was just worse. I'm
guessing you didn't anticipate. I'm sure you didn't anticipate a
(05:25):
Final Four caliber game, but I don't think you probably
thought you'd see a game like that, am I right?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah? That game was uglier than a bowling shoe. I mean,
simply put, you're just not gonna win a lot of
games where you go one of thirteen from three, you
go thirty, you go nearly, you know, thirteen minutes without
a basket, you give up thirty four points in the paint,
(05:55):
you give up twenty two second chance points. I thought,
really the only way that North Carolina could beat Kentucky
was if Caleb Wilson and Henry Vsar dominated inside.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
And that's exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
What Kentucky allowed them to do. I think they combined
for thirty two points and twenty two rebounds, and I
thought Kentucky's first shot defense was actually pretty good.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
They could just never seem to come up with the ball.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
And when you give up twenty two second chance point,
that's that's gonna hurt, especially when you're one of thirteen
from three.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
North Carolina hitches forty point six percent from the floor.
But it made a living on being you know, one
for two or even one for three per possession. You know, Kentucky,
I shot it at the free throw line, stayed alive
with free throws. But yeah, like you said, North Carolina
us so much length you could see that literally going in.
(06:49):
But I think You've got to tip your cap to
the game plan Carolina had when it came to guarding
the arc. I mean, the kids who covered Colin Chandler,
particularly Bolgovic. I think you say, you say they did
a phenomenal job chasing Kentucky's good shooters and there are
(07:10):
a couple off the three point arc and then allowing
I mean from Brandon Garrison, it's the only three.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Come on, yeah, it's not just that Kentucky only made
one three pointer.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
They only attempted thirteen.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yeh is just a really really low number for a
Mark Pope team. And you're right, they were hounding Kentucky
all over the court and it just did not seem
like Kentucky could get very many open looks from three,
and when they did, they weren't even close.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Which, you know, I'm starting to think that this is.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Just kind of what this team is without Jalen Lowe, Yes,
without Modiabat, without Jayden Quainton's like, after you know, eight
games of a visible proof, this is just what this
team looks.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Like without the guys. And you know, I think it
might be.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
A situation where Mark Pope may be zagged a little
bit too far.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
In the other direction.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I mean, the focus last offseason was getting more athletic,
getting better defensively, but offensively, this just does not look
like a Mark Pope team. They struggle to shoot the
ball from the perimeter. They're having trouble creating open shots.
There really aren't a lot of driving lanes. And as
(08:31):
much as he frustrated me at times last season, he
came on strong at the end, for sure. But Kentucky
really misses Amari Williams. You know, that facilitator in the
half court where he could stand at the top of
the key and do those dribble handoffs and hit those cutters.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Going to the basket.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
And Kentucky really just doesn't have a guy on the
roster that can do that. And I almost think, you know,
I think Mark Pope should put Andrea Yelovich in that
at the top of the key, because at least he's
a shooter.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Carolina was running two guys at the ball all night.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Maybe that having the kind of a stretch five at
the top of the key would open.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Up the floor a little bit.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Well, I think to back it up to your first comments,
and I kept reminding myself of this, and you don't
want to talk about it a lot because it sounds
like excuses. But if I had told you going into
the season, or right after he built this roster, if
I had told you, hey, by the way, you know,
through the first basically half of the season and beyond
into January, you're probably not going to have three of
(09:34):
the top six players, three of the guys. You know
you fashion this team around, guys like JQ and Jalen
Lowe and and dio Bote certainly would have helped on
the boards last night. If I had told you that,
at least through a palpable stretch of the games, uh,
you wouldn't have those guys. You'd be scratching your head
trying to figure out what this team was going to
be able to do. They're just gonna have to gut
(09:56):
it out, aren't they.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Yeah. I think I think Kentucky really missed moda bat
last night. He's a guy that can stick his nose
in there and come up with.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Balls, And it seemed like it felt.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Like Malcolm Moreno was really the only guy where when
the ball came off, if he was in the area,
you felt confident that he was gonna come up with
that Kentucky just doesn't really have anyone else like that
on this roster. And I do think Carolina's length really
gave them problems in that department. But I think Jalen Low,
I mean, everybody knew Quaintan's was going.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
To be out until probably SEC play, but.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I think Jalen Low is a guy that they're really
really missing. I think it would be the equivalent of
a football coach, you know, signing a quarterback out of
the portal to run his offense and then all of
a sudden you got to plug somebody else in at
that spot. It's just gonna look a lot different. And
I think this offense was built for Jalen Low to
(10:53):
run it, and he's not on the floor, and you're
just not going to get the same results with you know,
Denzel Aberdeen or you know As Johnson or whatever running point.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
It's just not going to look the same.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Kentucky had sixteen rebounds at the half, Moreno had seven
of them. Now he finished with only nine. They did
a great job again on him boxing out. He had
eight points, only was able to get up a couple
of shots, hit some clutch free throws down the stretch.
He blocked three shots, had a couple of steals. I
thought for a true freshman big man who's still learning
how to be seven feet tall, I thought he was terrific.
(11:25):
But you mentioned Jasper Johnson. And it's funny because in
the offseason, when I spoke with people about just what
you were talking about, how's this team going to score?
No Kobe Braa, Noahmari Williams, and people like to bring
up Jasper Johnson, And I think he is a singular talent.
He's going to be really, really good. But he played
six minutes last night, and I'm not saying he should
have played more. I'm saying that that's where he is
(11:47):
in his college career right now. So you know, to
look at the roster and say, well, there's your scorer. Yeah,
but not if he's not on the floor. It's the
guys who are in. Cam Williams, who worked his way
into the starting lineup, only took four shots. They chased
him off the line. So they don't really have a
creator other than oh way, at least I don't see
one right now, do you, Yellovich?
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Maybe no, Yeah, it's it's tough.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
I think Denzel Aberdeen is more of a combo guy,
but he's not a pure point guard. And the way
this team is constructed, they need him to score every
bit as much as they need him to facilitate, so
that puts him in kind of an awkward position. But
you know, I just think all around offensively, this team
(12:34):
is just really struggling right now. I think Malachai Morano
has been one of the few since surprises, but at
the end of the day, he's a freshman, and you know,
going up against a guy like Vsar last night, I mean,
he absolutely had.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Had his hands full. But you know, it doesn't get
any easier for Kentucky. They got Gonzaga and Nashville on Friday, and.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
They've looked really, really good so far in the non conference.
And so if your hand's not on the panic button,
it should probably be hovering over it at.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
This Here's Chris Fisher, veteran of the uk B. We'll
come back and talk a little bit more with Chris
on the other side of the break. Dick Gaberlin for
Tom on the Leach Report. Welcome back. Dick Gabriel is
sitting for Tom Leach on the Leach Report. Coming to
hear from the Clark's Pumpin' Shop Studio, Return, refresh and
refuel at Clark's. And we're talking, of course about last
(13:26):
night's lost to North Carolina. A bright spot if there
was one. Chris was the introduction. Really it was when
will Stein came out and made the why. And it
was interesting because they started doing that spell out the
Kentucky word during the first TV time out, which is
very unusual, as you know, and they did it twice
(13:46):
because they brought out Tayshawn Prince in the second half,
which was huge. Both they have used some three point
shooting like his last night. But will Stein came out
and here's here's a guy who Louisville native, which is fine,
a lot of UK fans in Louisville, but former U
of L quarterback, a guy who helped beat Kentucky at
(14:07):
least once and now he's the head coach at the UK,
and that place went crazy. I don't know if they
showed it on TV, but this is signing day and
how big is it? And you retweeted the tweet from
Matt Ponitowski, the quarterback slash baseball player from the Cincinnati area,
who less than an hour ago said we've signed. Get
(14:31):
to wake up being a Kentucky Wildcat from now on.
You know what that could mean for a recruiting class, right, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Matt Pontowski is a guy that went from saying he
wasn't gonna sign early and you know he might wait
until February to being on board, and so you have
to think he was a pretty big fan of that higher.
I think Oregon finished second in his recruitment the first
time around. I know Wilson On played a big role
(15:01):
in that as well, and so having a four star
quarterback is one of the first guys in the boat
for your recruiting class.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
I think it gets Kentucky.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
A lot of positive momentum, which is which is really
any of the case. Anytime you bring in a new guy,
you know, the energy, the excitement, the investment, all those
things are are going to be at a at a
high and so I think that there's a lot of
people in and around the Kentucky football program that are
excited about.
Speaker 1 (15:29):
Will sin Oh. Yeah, and you bring up a great
point in that, Yeah, he was looking at Oregon. I
was always skeptical. I thought that's a long way to
be from home, But yeah, it happens, and the fact
that he had that relationship. If he's got Oregon in
his final list, that means he has spent a lot
of time researching that program or searching the offense they run,
(15:49):
of course, but also very likely talking in person and
on the phone with the guy calling the plays. And
of course that was will Stein, So that was a
built in advantage, wasn't it tire and now? And he
didn't want to wait and see who else is gonna
sign and things like that. Yeah, momentum is huge in
this situation, isn't it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
And he's a two sport guy, and I think he's
really excited about his opportunity to play baseball at Kentucky
as well.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
And you know, the quarterback position, as we've seen, is
just so.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Important in college football and really at every level of football.
You look at the way Diego Pavia has completely transformed
the Vanderbilt program, not to to discount you know, what
Clark Lee has done and what.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
The rest of the of the football program has done,
but they're not the same.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Team without Diego Pavia the last two seasons. And you know,
so that's where it begins and ends. I think it
will be refreshing to have a head coach that is a.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Little bit more offensive forward.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Kentucky's just so used to having a defensive coach and
so you know, he comes from the Bobby Petrino coaching tree,
and say what you will about Bobby Patrino, but that
guy knows offense.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
So you know, there's already some rumors that.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Will Stein might be bringing you know, one or more
of his former quarterbacks at Oregon, you know, maybe maybe
the quarterback from cal And So I think Kentucky's gonna
have a very very healthy quarterback room when the spring
rolls around.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Gonna need to sign some lineman, though, aren't they.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Yeah. I think that's one of the things that's been
missing with the program and kind of led to some
of the slippage.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I think, you know, Mark Stukes, when he was having success.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
His teams had a nastiness, They had an edge, they
had a physicality along both the offensive and defensive lines,
and that's just that was something that was sorely missing
here in the last couple of seasons.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah. Yeah, the big Blue wall. When they lost John Schlarman,
they lost it off a lot and quite get it back. Chris.
Thanks have a great day, all right, YouTube bud up.
Next Daryl Bird of the Cats Boss here on the
Leach Report. Welcome back to the Leech Report. Dick gabrielin
for the Voice and we joined now the publisher editor,
(18:14):
I should say, and feature columnist of the Cat's Pause,
mister Darryl Bird on him last night for the basketball game.
But I, darrely, I want to start with football because
of course this is a new era and you get
to know coaches as well as anybody because of obviously
the relationship the Cat's Boss has with UK Sports. But
putting together the preseason yearbook, my guess is you're already
(18:36):
thinking about cover ideas and your head's probably spinning already.
Got to wait and see what the roster is going
to look like. But again, you've been around for a
long time. What did you think of the ovation? Will
Stein Goott plus his reaction to that ovation when he
made the while last night.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
Yeah, his reaction was the best thing about the whole night.
It didn't surprise me that they cheered wildly for the
new code, which you could probably go back to when
Mark Stoops was introducing and it was very similar. But
his reaction, I'm old enough now to call that youthful exuberance.
That he was just fired up to be there. And
you better believe that's that's such a dramatic change from
(19:15):
the way it had become for the football program in
terms of just outward excitement and fired up about what
can happen. I don't think any of it was stage.
I think that was all genuine and that that was huge.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Such a great story. You know, here's a guy who
and I do remember when he played against Kentucky. Uh,
you know, and then he lost his job to I
believe it was uh lamar no to Teddy Bridgewater.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
And then you know, but grew up a Kentucky fan. Uh.
And I was down in Dallas when in the early
eighties when Clayburn's teams were doing their best things. But
you know, Matt Stein at one point room with Jefficoro. Uh.
So you know, his future son ends up being the
head coach of Kentucky. You can't write this stuff any better,
can you?
Speaker 4 (19:58):
No, you can't, And I'm dying to know him. I
may ask it later on today, but you just know
that that will Stein was one of those kids you
see in the tailgating lot throwing the football back and
forth when he was small. You know, it had to
be in a in a UK jersey. Yeah, absolutely, in
the UK Jersey. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
What do you make of the fact that this time
and they've done it before Kentucky goes for a head
coach was an offense background. I thought when they hired Stoops,
brought in a defensive guy, and he built a team
that was almost always good defensively consistently. We all know
he had his struggles picking the right oc Now they
(20:40):
go in the other direction. It's an injection of enthusiasm.
But you got to look at the future. But what
do you make of that.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Very very smart move you have to I don't in
this day and age. It's even if you have a
really good defense, a lot of times you have to
score at least thirty and that way, and it's just
it's just the way the game is trending. And Okay,
it's great to have a defense, but you're gonna have
to put points on the board. And part of it
(21:08):
is stand appeal. I mean, they had worn very thin
of you know, scoring twenty points hoping you get one.
If it's a crazy day, you may get two touchdowns.
For all the money you paid to get up there
and watch that, and and just you know, winning is great,
but if you're not winning, you better be entertaining. And
at the end they hadn't either one. And that's what hurts.
(21:29):
And it didn't surprise me they went that route, that
kind of reverse it. Yes, this time, I.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Know a lot of people are unhappy that they let
John somemmry, as though they had a say in the matter,
but they let John Sumrall get to Florida. And look,
let's face it, we all like covering UK sports. To
bet me in is what it is. But if you're
a if you're a head coach, a young head coach,
and you've got a choice between the two jobs right now,
you got to look at Florida for so many reasons.
(21:55):
But you know this, this was home for John when
it came to his college career. But yeah, he's a
defense guy and this offense Will Stein is bringing. We
all know what feed the studgs means now, right.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
Oh yeah, absolutely, And yeah I went back and forth
with some people on Twitter. That is basically I was
trying to tell him as painful as you think it is.
Right now, the only thing more painful would be to
have offered summer when he took Florida instead. That would
have really that would have hurt even more. But yeah,
I think it played out the way it's supposed to.
(22:28):
His life does so many times.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
You know, if there's a bright spot and all this,
You hate it when anybody gets fired, depending on who
the person is, of course, Yeah, but I felt like
Stoop's handled this thing as well as anybody I've ever seen,
quite frankly, And yeah, there are thirty eight million reasons
to handle it well. But we all saw what happened
on the highway between Oxford and Baton Rouge. It could
(22:50):
have gone really sideways and it didn't. And I think, well,
you talk about softening the blow. I thought that was tremendous.
The way he handled things in a statement he released yesterday,
how'd you see it?
Speaker 4 (23:04):
Statement was first class? But his move was I mean
his Without that move, I'm not sure we're having the
conversation we're having right now. They were locked into thirty
eight million payable in sixty days, and I guess they
could have figured out how to make that happen, But
I think it was the real sticking point and maybe
it wouldn't have happened. And for him to step in
the way they did. I've had people say, well, he's
(23:25):
doing for tax purposes. I don't care why he's doing it.
He let Uk off the hook, and that just shows
me that, you know all this stuff. He's saying that
Kentucky's his home and he loves his place. I think
that's reflected there and he's He's good either way, and
it was. It was a very nice mood. First class
moved to let Uk find a way to wiggle out
of this situation.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
One last football question before we shift over to basketball.
The fact that I am so appreciative as somebody who
covers the sport and I've been through a few of these.
The fact that it didn't drag on. I mean, we
started hearing the rumours, it was official on Monday that
Mark Stoops would be leaving, and the next thing you know,
(24:05):
will Stein Monday evening is basically coming out. I cannot remember.
And again, you know, you've covered a lot of these,
or a few of these, seems like a lot. I
don't remember anything happening.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
As quickly, you know, No, not even close. We were
talking about it last night. The basketball game that when
rich Brooks was hired, it felt like that was two months. Yeah,
I didn't go back and check, but it went on forever,
and for good reason. The situation the program was at
that time you had to flip it this fast. I mean,
I want to track down Mitch Barnhart because I want
I want to see that drawer in his desk where
(24:41):
he's got the next coach, the list of the next coaches.
As you you know, you hear about forever. The AD's
always have that list. They know who they're going to hire. Yeah,
at every at every position. And I want to see
that list because he must have been at the top
on speed dial.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Well, I can tell you this. After having conversations with
Barnhart about the Rich Brooks process. There ever, five or
six guys had turned them down because the program was
on probation and the penalties were so stiff. And some
of those guys, when Brooks it looked like, was in trouble,
began to reach out to the UK or their agency had
saying hey, if you make a change, we're over here. Well,
you didn't want the job three months or three years ago,
(25:17):
now did just right?
Speaker 4 (25:18):
Yeah, tip of the cat that was one of the
classic hires because it went on forever, and he Mitch
talked to Rich made rich Brooks his advisor to help
him find a new coach, and in the end rich said, hey,
why not me exactly? That worked out really well.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Plus, you know people on this side of the world
who you know. Barnhard had worked at Oregon. He had
worked both at OU and at Oregon State. He knew
rich Brooks was a legend in that part of the world.
They play on rich Brooks Field at Oregon. That tells
you everything you need to know. So he knew this
guy knew football, and yeah, it worked out. He and
Daryl Bird of the Cast Bulls welcome back and sorry Darryl,
(25:54):
We're going to talk basketball on the other side of
the right here on the Leach Report. The Least Report,
presented by Bobcat Enterprises for locations in Kentucky. When you
need to rent or buy have you equipment, google them
to find the closest location to you. We're talking to
Daryl Bird of the Cats Paws and Daryl, before I
asked you about that basketball game last night, I'm going
(26:14):
to ask you about a former Wildcat, Michael Kidd Gilchrist.
He tweeted about the fact that the Kid Stuttering Act
was introduced to the US House of Representatives. He tweeted
this last night and he thanked a couple of the politicians,
and as he said, every child deserves to have access
to early screenings and the support they need along the way.
(26:34):
I'm not sure the particulars we all seem to gravitate
toward him. And I remember recognizing the fact almost immediately
that here's a guy who has had to work at
his public speaking. And I found out later, Yeah, wow,
(26:57):
I did.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
Not know that get that little device on his wrist
that he would tap it would put out signals. I
guess I never really fully appreciate what I guess it
was a rhythm thing that he had to get into
a comfortable rhythm where he could get the words, and
it was a struggle.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
And I said, I was your take on last night's
last night's.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
Debacle, Oh goodness, I'm I haven't had a chance to
research it, but at this point, I think the fan
base is going to have to go back to and
hope this is twenty fourteen. There's a different reason that
that was that team had a five freshmen if I
(27:38):
remember right, and they just didn't know how to play together,
didn't know how to play the game at this level,
and went in as an eight seed and finally figured
it out just enough to barely get into the tournament
and water run all the way to the championship game.
And for different reasons, this team just hasn't figured it out.
And even when they do figure it out, they've still
got three more pieces. I've got to hopefully try to
(27:59):
work back to the rotation, and it's just going to
take a long time. And I think we're staring at
seven or eight seed hopefully, and hopefully they're picking up,
you know, they're getting it all together by the end
to make some kind of run. But you have the
pre season top five and all that stuff that's out
the window.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Daryl, thanks so much for the time.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Have a great day, brother, all right man, you too.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
At Darrow board of the cast BUSS. Keith Farmer of
BBN Tonight is coming up next here on the Leach Report.
Welcome back to the Leach Report. Dick Gabrielle sitting in
for the voice and scheduled Keith Farmer. We're trying to
break through Keith's voicemail out there, reminder of each report
presented by bobcat Enterprises four locations in Kentucky. When you
(28:44):
need to rent or buy have you equipment, google them
to find the closest location to you. And a reminder
that you have a chance. Maybe you won't meet him,
but you get to see him in person. Will Stein
will be introduced at the Nutterfield House this afternoon. It'll
start it for four o'clock, doors open at three, and
if memory serves, that place was jam packed thirteen years
(29:07):
ago when Mark Stoops was introduced, the marching band and
videos and lights and everything. It was. To me, it
signaled a real change in the way Kentucky was approaching
football because you know, like I said, I've covered so
many of these things in the past, coaching changes, primarily
men's basketball and football, and it's usually at the board
(29:28):
meeting at the top of Patterson Office Tower and it's
jam packed reporters and some lookers and you know, board
members and all that. But this was an event when
Mark Stoops was introduced, and I remember when he came
charging in there. But he's going to have the same
message will Steinweill that Mark Stuops had, and it's twofold.
(29:51):
It's going to take hard work, no shortcuts, and Stoops
was true to his word. And you might recall Stoop's
first couple of teams couldn't even compete because the talent
level had dropped off so much. That's not the case
now because Stoops and Company had built the talent level,
but it's not where it was obviously when the program
(30:15):
was at its best under Mark Stupis. So Stein's got
a lot of work to do, there's no question about that.
First and foremost hiring a staff. But Daryl Bird just
talked about how athletics directors had that list of head
coaching candidates for all the sports they have in their
pocket or in their desk drawer or whatever. And you
know Will Stein as he dreamed of being a head coach,
(30:37):
I'll guarantee you, like every guy who dreams of being
a head coach or gal in whatever sport, if I
got the job, this is the person I would approach
first or whatever. I'm guessing you may see some other
people as Daryl said, or Chris said, Chris Fisher with
U of L on their resume. So I think he'll
work quickly to put a staff together. He's already hired
(30:58):
Justin Burke, another guy who's actually flipped the script from
Lexing and went to u of L. But any guy
who played against Kentucky. But I'm sure dreamed of coaching
here at some point. So building that staff will come first,
and obviously hitting the recruiting trail, which they already have.
I'm sure they're burning up the phone lines, but they've
(31:19):
just got to rebuild that talent level. But today, thirteen
years later, as you well know Stein and company, every
coach in America is dealing with the nil and the portal.
So it's a different age, a different animal. But the
bottom line is what kind of program will he build here?
And you already know this if you've looked, if you
(31:40):
watch the video that says feed the studs. I've seen
so many different Twitter accounts that have excerpted that from YouTube.
And this is back when he was at UT San Antonio.
And I'm guessing that played a huge part, not just
that presentation, but the way the road Runners played like
road Runners. I guarantee you that had a great hand
(32:01):
and how he got the job at Oregon and he
kept right on winning, kept right on producing. Yes, Oregon
has I'm sure the best facilities and a great nil budget.
Thank you Phil Knight and Nike. And ironically enough, if
you open up the Portland, Oregon phone book, if there
is such a thing anymore, there's a long list of Gabriels.
(32:23):
Because my cousin, one of my one cousin moved there
temporarily during the eighties or late seventies, fell in love
with Oregon, with Portland, and settled there. They tried to
transfer him back to Pittsburgh. He said, nope, staying here,
and then he moved his mother and two sisters out there.
They raised families, so I have all kinds of cousins
(32:44):
and second cousins and their Oregon Duck fans. They were
Oregon State fans. And then one of their kids married
into the Oregon family. And I texted my cousin last night.
He said, you got a good coach, take good care
of him. Said, yeah, we will. But it's an interesting
chapter in the history of Kentucky football, interesting chapter in
(33:08):
basketball as well, kind of going in the other direction.
And you know, I saw a tweet earlier today somebody's saying,
you know, Mark Pope is so nonchalant. I'm tired of
this stuff. No, he's not. Just because the coach doesn't
run up and down the sidelines stomping his foot waving
his arms, that doesn't mean he's not working his butt off.
(33:31):
And if you missed it, yeah, I'm sure if you
were watching on TV you didn't see. Perhaps I believe
it was Aberdeen put up a shot that was not
the right shot and man Pope called time out. He
was as livid as I've seen him since he came
to Kentucky. He is not nonchalant about this. And if
you listen to the postgame radio show with Tom Leach,
(33:53):
if you look online at his postgame news conferences with us,
his answers are about his brief. They're not Kurt, but
you can tell it is chewing him up inside. And
I will tell you this, I think it is bothered.
I think these losses have bothered him, if you can
quantify these things, more than it did the guy who
(34:13):
came before him, and maybe even more, if possible, than
the guy he played for, Rick Mattino, because he just
feels it so badly and he knows his program right
now is in a difficult spot. He's missing three of
his top six players not an excuse. They got to
(34:33):
figure it out because the schedule's not gonna slow down
for him, right, all right, that's gonna do it. Our
final thoughts in UK history presented by Kentucky Roadshow Sports
cards and memorabilia right here in Lexid and learn more
about them at roadshowcards dot com. Twenty eleven. This day,
Anthony Davis, in a happier time, blocked John Henson's shot
(34:56):
to preserve the win over North Carolina. It was gonna
be the game winterer. Henson went up and the freshman
Anthony Davis gave us a great preview of things to
come and block the shot. Rupperena went nuts and it
was just a wonderful moment in Rupperena. Plus a happy
birthday to Jackson Robinson. Tom's back tomorrow. Thanks so much.
(35:19):
I'll be on the SEC plus coverage of Kentucky Volleyball.
Have a great day,
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