2025-12-04- LEACH REPORT

Tom talks with Tim Brando, Jack Givens, and Justin Rowland.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good day, everybody, Welcome in, Welcome into the Leader Report,
the whole Frog in the throat. There we're presented each
day by Bob Kat Enterprises and coming up on the
show today, we'll lead off with Tim Brando from Fox Sports.
Know Timmy b forever and he has covered will Stein

(00:21):
through his work with Fox, but covered Kentucky and the
SEC for many years with Raycom and Jefferson Pilot Networks
and ESPN and CBS, so he is familiar with Kentucky
and it's football program as well as the new head
coach of the Cats, Will Stein. So we'll get Tim's

(00:42):
take on Stein and tape this with Tim. So the
the tease is that he's very high on will Stein.
Goose Gibbons will join us, and then Justin Rowland. So
that's the lineup today. Wildcat News of the Day presented
by Joseppes of Lexington and will Stein won the news

(01:02):
conference yesterday when he was announced as Kentucky's new head
football coach. Louisville, Kentucky product whose dad Matt played for
the Wildcats in the early eighties and a couple of
Hall of Fame Bowl teams. They showed a clip of
his Dad recovering fumble in the end zone for a touchdown.
He was an alignment played I guess what was called
the defensive end position in the wide tackle six. He

(01:25):
was out on the outside of the front line of
the defense. Was joking with him yesterday asking him if
he was going to urge his son to bring back
the wide tackle six for his defensive philosophy, and he
said that would would not be the suggestion he would make,
so you don't have to worry about that. But Will
was really good. We did an interview with him one

(01:47):
on one on the UK Sports Network All Access platform
and you can see that that's out there from yesterday
as well as the news conference. Within the news conference,
he said he didn't come here to be average and
wants to win now that his offensive plan is to
quote light up the scoreboard. Wants to be a head

(02:08):
coach more than a play caller, so he will be
very involved in the offense, but sounds like the offensive
coordinator will be the actual communicator with the quarterback calling
the plays. He said he wants to be aggressive on
defense and aggressive with special teams to try to steal
some possessions for the offense. He says that he believes

(02:31):
that he'll have the resources that he needs to succeed
when it comes to nil and Mitch Barnhardt did a
news conference after the Stein news conference. He was asked
about it in that media session, and he was very
firm and saying that any talk that Kentucky doesn't have
or won't have what it takes to be successful is

(02:53):
I think his word was ridiculous. So he is confident
Kentucky will have what it needs. There are reports that
coach Stein has already lined up a general manager, Pad Biondo,
who was Oregon's director of recruiting, and that he's lined
up in oc Justin Burke, who followed Will as the
offensive coordinator at UTSA Texas San Antonio. And Burke, of course,

(03:16):
was a Lexington Catholic quarterback who went on to play
at NC State and U of L played against Kentucky
in the Governor's Cup rivalry, as did Will. So those
are reports that are out there about a couple of
hires already lined up, and I'm sure there will be
more coming for will Stein here very shortly because things
are going to be moving fast. Yesterday it was National

(03:37):
Signing Day. The day he was announced as the coach.
We'll chat with Justin Rowling little later about how Kentucky
did in terms of signing up new talent and what
the plan might be moving forward. A big night for
Kentucky volleyball. They opened their run in the NCAA Tournament
as the number two overall seed and they will play
Wafford at Historic Memorial Coliseum. It says seven o'clock, but

(03:58):
they put out some messages on social media yesterday to
let fans know that the match will start thirty minutes
after UCLA Georgia Tech ends, so it could be earlier
than seven. So factor that into your plans when you're
making your plans to head over to the coliseum tonight,
and if Kentucky should advance, it would be UCLA or

(04:19):
Georgia Tech Tomorrow. Women's basketball Kentucky a big winner over
Miami on the road, sixty four to forty eight and
the sec ACC Challenge. Tony Morgan had twenty points to
pace Kentucky to that victory. Links to the stories that
we talk about you can find them on the Bud
Light Leach Report page of town Leachky dot com. Tim
Rando when we come right back on the Leech Report.

(04:40):
I opening segment presented by just Sepies of Lexington, and
they have gift cards for the holiday season for that
person that's hard to buy four on your list. They
can email them to you or they'll send out a
beautiful gift card a really nice envelope that would be
suitable for gift giving for whoever's on your list that
needs a Juseppes gift card and who doesn't need a

(05:00):
Jaseppes gift card, right, So go to Giuseppes Lexington to
get details on that, and we'll be right back on
the Leech Report, presented by Bob Kat Enterprises. It's the
Leech Reports coming to you from the Clark's Pumping Shop studio. Return,
Refresh and Refuel at Clarks says. We welcome in the Goose,
Jack Gibvens, and we get set to head down to

(05:22):
Nashville later today for Kentucky's matchup with Gonzaga. Goose will
break down the Tar Hills the lost to the Tar
Hills here in a bit. But I was just starting
to work on some Gonzaga prep yesterday. A similar team,
but I think probably a better version. I mean, they've
got two bigs that they play through, and they're big

(05:44):
and experienced and will be another big challenge on the glass.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
Again. They also play a lot of guys. It seems
as I looked at the numbers, there are even way
down into the rotation and there are guys on Gonzaga's
team who averages five or six points a game and
two or three rebounds, which means they get productive minutes
from a lot of people. So yeah, it's gonna be

(06:12):
another tough one for the Cats.

Speaker 1 (06:14):
It was a rough night on Tuesday, but causing large
part because of the the rebounding. What did you see
in that did what Carolina? How Carolina was able to
get twenty offensive rebounds.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
Well because a lot of times there was only one
color jersey jumping and going for rebounds. I mean, you know,
sometimes it's as simple as that, and you know, it's
it's a little bit frustrating because I thought Kentucky made
some really good strides defensively. I mean, that was probably

(06:51):
the best position defense except for the one play late
when they're allowed to got to do it straight line
drive to the basket. A big lay up there gave
them a lead. But other than that, there was some
great things defensively shown by Kentucky. But yeah, my thing

(07:13):
with defense, the biggest part of defense is rebound in
the basketball because you're not going to be able to
stop good teams two three times in a row when
they get that many offensive rebounds. And that is what
was happening.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
I'd like to see the stat on what Kentucky's defense
was on North Carolina's first shot if they had just
been able to get more of the rebounds. We'll continue
this chat will Goose will come right back all the
Leach Report. Leatroport is presented by Bobcat Enterprises for locations
around Kentucky so they can help you out when you
have a need to buy or rent heavy equipment for
a job site or if you know someone who does.

(07:49):
Bobcat Enterprises needs to be the call and you can
google them to find the location here in Kentucky that.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
Is closest to you.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
We're chatting with the Goose Chat givingson Goose and I
will be courtside in Nashville tomorrow night for Kentucky Gonzaga
on the UK Sports Network Goose. We were talking about
the loss on Tuesday to Carolina and even with getting
out scored seventeen on second chance points. Kentucky had built
a six point lead with about seven minutes to play,

(08:16):
and they went through a stretch, and even at that
point where they built that lead, they were in the
midst of a stretch where they went oh for thirteen
from the field. They were finding some ways for a
while to get to the free throw line and get
some points. But I went back and looked at all
the possessions, and this is something that you talked about
on the air, so I thought, I want to see
what this relative to Goose was thinking what actually actually

(08:38):
looked like. And with ten minutes to play, they were
up fifty three to forty nine, and they went through
about the next as I'm scanning this here real quickly,
about the next twelve possessions, and Otega I think had
the shot or the last pass for the shot twice
in all of that time. Because you were talking talking about,

(09:00):
you know, Kentucky's best player needed to get some touches.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
Then yeah, I mean, you know, it was interesting, and
all you had to do was look on the other
side that particular game with Carolina, and you know, when
they were struggling down the stretch, they made sure the
offense ran through Caleb Wilson. I mean, he touched it

(09:26):
all the time and made some great decisions with the ball.
Because it doesn't mean necessarily that he's going to shoot
it every time, but you want the defense that think
he's going to shoot it. And that is the same
thing I was wanting to see with Kentucky, because Oway
didn't need to shoot it every time, but Kentucky needed

(09:46):
to make Carolina think he was going to shoot it.
So now he can create off the dribble and find
someone wide open, as happened late in the game with Carolina,
and when that guy who has the respect of the officials,
he doesn't have the respect that some other players I've

(10:06):
seen half, but he has the respect of the officials.
They know who he is. He if he doesn't do
anything else, is going to get to the free throw
line in most cases in a tight game, especially if
they're putting Caleb Wilson on the line. So that's why
I just wanted him to touch it. It didn't matter

(10:28):
really if he scored it, but just run the offense
through him at that time.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
You see the practice more than anybody who's not on
the coaching staff and one thing they talk about a lot,
it's MP four team make plays for teammates. And I
was watching through going back through this, watching the second
half and through the sequence of when they were struggling
to score, and there were way too many times where

(10:59):
a shot came on of one or two or no
passes and early in the shot clock, and they didn't
make the defense work. And they were, you know, living
in Carolina, they were stayed ahead because they were defending well,
like he talked about earlier, but they had a chance
to deliver the knockout there. And when you don't do
that in a game, it can come back to bite you,

(11:19):
as he did that night.

Speaker 2 (11:21):
Yeah, that's typical Tom of a young, inexperienced team. And
I know you're going to look at the roster and say, well,
you've got this guy and that guy who played what
do you mean inexperience. Well, these guys haven't had to
lead a team other than a way and he really
didn't have to lead the team. He had to fall

(11:42):
in line and benefit from the team last year, which
is what he did. So these guys are inexperienced in
the fact that and I think I said during the game,
you know when you don't have a leader someone and
I said, if I was shooting the ball, and sometimes

(12:04):
even if I'm making shots, we would go into a
huddle and Rick Roby or James Lee or someone would say, Jack,
pass the ball. I'm wide open down in the hole.
Give me the ball. I can score. I mean, I
know Rick loved me. We put a lot of blood

(12:24):
and tears in it, man together. But sometimes that guy
has to grab you by your shirt collar and say, man,
what are you doing. I'm wide open, Throw me the ball.
And I would and Rick would score. And what I
learned from that is that makes it a whole lot
easier the next time I get the ball because I

(12:45):
just gave it up. They have to pay attention to
Rick or who remember that is that player is? They
have to pay attention to him. Now, Rick throws it
back out to me and I'm wide open for my
seventeen foot jumper. And that's the way I and the
reason I scored a lot of points. When you're young
like this, your thought process is I'm the only one

(13:07):
now who can get this done because you were in
high school a couple of years ago or last year.
And that's what they did, so you revert back to
these bad habits, and I think Kentucky was very guilty
of that at times during the game and took some
ill advised shots where one more pass, one more pass
would have got them the open shot they wanted.

Speaker 1 (13:28):
A lot of this would probably be taken care of
if they had Jalen low healthy, who's a natural point
guard and would have been a third year and that
even not in this system, but the third year as
a college point guard, and you know, understanding a lot
of that and probably you know, a time like that, Okay,
we need to you know, I need to get somebody
a good shot here, and that's not obviously that's not

(13:49):
available at the moment.

Speaker 2 (13:51):
The other thing, when you talk about Jalen Lowe, and
I know, you know, I talked to enough people unheard
from uh. I can't tell you how many people, yes,
who were negative and wanting to jump off off the building.
They were, you know, when I said man would just
need to get healthy, they didn't want to hear that.

(14:12):
But the fact of the matter is, I want you
to look in one area when you think about a
Jaalen low on the floor as opposed to off the floor,
Denzel has the ball with six seconds left. I'm just
throwing that out there, okay. And because he's not that

(14:33):
kind of guy number one, he's not quite good enough
for long stretches of time off the dribble to blow
by people to get to the basket, j Lo. He
can do that in those last five six seconds shot
clock management on the clock. You know, he can get

(14:55):
to the paints. He knows from experience that that doesn't
mean get to the basket again to score. It means
to get to the basket to make the defense move.
And now if they don't come to me, I can
take the shot to find somebody open. That's when Kentucky
makes threes. So in that situation alone, let alone running

(15:16):
the offense or putting Denzel in the position he loves,
just like with Colin Chandler that is running the two
or the three, spotting up. That is just a couple
of the things that a healthy Jalen Lowe will bring
to this team and we will be better just by

(15:37):
that having him out there will be better and we'll
win some games. So yeah, you know, we gotta get healthy.
I know people don't want to hear that, but that's
the fact and it is what it is.

Speaker 1 (15:48):
Goos, appreciate it. See you on the trip later today.

Speaker 2 (15:51):
All right, Tom, that's the Ghost.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
Jack Gibbitts joins us here on at Leach Report on Thursdays.
We'll get to a break and when we come back,
I gonna play a little bit of the clip that
is from the UK Sports Network All Access interview with
Will Stein that I did yesterday ahead of the news conference.
We'll have that, and then Justin Rowland coming up. It's
the late report for the Clark's Pumping Shop studio on
this Thursday, and Justin Roland's going to join us here

(16:16):
in just a second from Katz Illustrated. First, I want
to play a little clip from the interview that I
did yesterday with new Kentucky football coach Will Stein ahead
of the news conference. You can see this full interview
at UK Sports Network's All Access site and you can
sign up for all of these kinds of things that

(16:37):
you get access to. But this was how we got
started and then did a little edit to get you
one or two questions about is offensive philosophy? What's it
feel like to hear Will Stein, head coach of the
Kentucky Elkins.

Speaker 3 (16:51):
Well, Tom, when you say it sounds a little bit different.
You know, I'm a giant fan of yours, by the way,
listened to you on the radio ever since I was
a little kid. So it's pretty surreal talking to you
right now, and it feels really good. I asked my
wife last night, and really it might have been this morning.
I don't even know what time it is, to be honest,
So am I dreaming? Is this still a dream?

Speaker 2 (17:10):
Like?

Speaker 1 (17:11):
Is this actually happening?

Speaker 3 (17:12):
And I'm still alive, I'm still awake, so I guess
it's not a dream.

Speaker 1 (17:16):
And we're rolling. I said the other day, before we
knew who the Dex coach was going to be, said,
it just needs to be somebody that truly believes in
what you can accomplish here. And I'm guessing you're that
guy because you grew up around a lot of fun
times for Kentucky exactly.

Speaker 3 (17:33):
And listen, I had a great gig, and there was
one job that I always circled when I went out
there knowing that we could win, knowing that I potentially
have opportunities ahead of me if I did what I
was supposed to do and our team played well in
The University of Kentucky was the one that I circled
because I know what this place is, I know what
it can be, but I'm honestly tired of saying what

(17:55):
it can be. I'm ready to get some stuff done
and you know, bring Kentucky football irrelevance and to be
a major competitor in this conference.

Speaker 1 (18:03):
You've built your reputation in the sport with your work
as a play caller. Coming here as the head coach,
do you still want to be the play caller as well?

Speaker 3 (18:13):
I want to be the best head coach. And now
I've thought long and hard about that, and I don't
know if there is a right answer. I really don't,
but you know, my initial goal is to not do
it because I got to be the best for the team.
And when you look at the last guy that won
a national title calling plays, I believe it was Jimbo

(18:33):
at Florida State. Not to say it can't be done still,
but I want to be completely engulfed in the game
and making sure that I'm my best for our defensive
coordinator on a third down, best for our special teams coordinator,
to make sure we got all eleven guys on the
field on a punt return or an extra point, And
I'm not convinced that my offensive expertise, which which I

(18:58):
do believe is, you know, one of the best the
country is going to be best in that situation where
I can't be completely focused on being the offensive coordinator
play caller, So I will be highly involved in the
offense every single day in game planning and preparation. We'll
just have somebody else saying the play call into the microphone.

Speaker 1 (19:15):
Since you've had the expertise on the side of calling
plays and being on the offensive side, what do you
want your first offense as a college head coach to
look like?

Speaker 3 (19:26):
Relentless, NonStop, very multiple, to be able to run the
ball to win or throw the ball to win. Exciting.
You know, a team that can lap the scoreboard in
a multitude of ways. A team that you know showcases
the abilities of multiple players at all positions. You know,
a team that plays with multiple tempos and something that

(19:48):
you all get excited about and you can call some
great games because you're excited that the ball is going
through the air, running through the end zone. So you know,
we've looked different every year. It hasn't been a cookie
cutter system system is very adaptable to the personnel that
we have, the players that we have, to the changes
of the rules of college football. And I'm excited to

(20:10):
get with these players and really figure out early on
in this and really winter where we're at as a
roster and where we can go with this team.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
New Kentucky football coach Will Stein theres we bring Justin
Roland into the program from on three Sports and Cassillustrated
dot com. So justin, whether it's some of those comments
from Will about his offense or the news conference yesterday,
what did you like? What were some of the things
that you took most note of in his comments connection.

Speaker 4 (20:42):
To the program's history. He's somebody who gets it, you know,
for me, like he's my age, Like I was his
age at some of those exact games that he was at.
You know, he was in the stadium, same point in life,
same reference point. So he gets it. He's one of
the fans at least he was as a kid, and
he wants people to know the attachment is there. But

(21:04):
the most interesting thing from yesterday for me was during
the press conference he said they want to have an
attacking offense, attacking defense, open to fake punts on special
teams quote unquote, in order to maximize our points. He
didn't say in order.

Speaker 5 (21:22):
To win the game. He said in order to maximize
our points. And I think winning the game is implied.
But that speaks to a very different approach to football
than Mark Stoop's complementary approach, where the offense and the
defense and the special teams are kind of working in
tandem and unison, and you're kind of protecting the defense
here and protecting the offense there, and that's how you

(21:43):
get into these game management kind of like ugly football situations.
And it sounds like he's ready to go try to
outscore people to win football games. And that's a valid approach,
and we'll see if he can do it at Kentucky.

Speaker 1 (21:54):
And probably more in line with where the game is
right now.

Speaker 5 (21:57):
Right, Yeah, that's what a lot of people are doing
right now. And I don't have a huge preference as
far as like what time to coach you're getting right
NFL college head coach, college offensive coordinator, But it did
seem that one of the most important assets you could
have is a quarterback guru who can tweak his offense
from one year to the next because as much turnover

(22:19):
as there is in college football, given the likelihood that
you're going to be shopping for a quarterback in the portal,
that's something you have to get right every year. Quarterback
recruiting cannot be the cherry on top. Let's see if
we can maybe improve our team, which is what it's
been for the last twelve years. It has to be
along with building from the inside out with those lines

(22:41):
like the key to what you're doing, and you build
around that player. So I think that's what he'll do.

Speaker 1 (22:47):
Yesterday was National Signing Day, so interesting time to be
announced as the new head coach, But that's the time.
What the timetables are like these days. The portal's going
to open up in about a month. What did they
get accomplish signing day yesterday?

Speaker 5 (23:02):
They kept some nice pieces together. I mean, there were
some de commitments in the two months leading out to it,
where there was so much uncertainty around the program. But
you think about an athlete like Prince jan and Dallas Dickerson,
a quarterback like Matt Ponatowski, running back Deuce Austin has
some qualities that could make him interesting. I think they
got a couple of linemen that might be interesting, and

(23:26):
then they could end up with a couple of defensive
backs that could help them next year. But it was
light on defense. There weren't many defensive players in the class.
The good news is, I think that's kind of off
set by the fact that that twenty twenty four defensive
class looks like it's going to carry him for a
little while, and so Stoops did not leave. The covered
bear might seem like that to fans after two losing seasons,

(23:49):
but there is a fair amount of young talent in
the program and it's gonna help Stein build the roster
without having to scrap it down all the way.

Speaker 1 (23:57):
Yeah, that's a really good point, assuming they can hang
on to guys like you know, CJ. Works and the
Steven Soles and Lorenzo Kallen and Davian Gason, et cetera,
and you know some veteran guys like you know at
the Ty Bryant's big one day right to get back.
There's there's some good building blocks there in terms of
building his first roster. Do you think he can play

(24:18):
some catch up in the Ferry signing period or is
he gonna maybe be more transfer heavy than he might
be later.

Speaker 5 (24:26):
I think who might be able to move some pieces
by Mike count I think they've got about ten scholarships
to work with by the time they get to this
or into this early signing period deal, and you factor
in everybody, including the specialist. I think they got about ten.
But you know, there's gonna be turnover. Some guys are
gonna go out just because it's not a scheme fit,
or they didn't get a good review from their position

(24:46):
coach or whoever comes in, and so he's gonna have
some some leeway and some weagle room to build it.
But I think it'll the portal is what's gonna be
most important. I'm sure he has a quarterback in mont
I don't think you take your first head coaching job
in the SEC as a thirty six year old unless
you have a pretty good idea of who your quarterback
is going to be. That's just my opinion. And I

(25:08):
think he also had a pretty good idea who these
inner circle staff members are going to be beyond though,
and Justin Burke, who speculated and whatnot. So I think
he's probably got a pretty good idea and it's going
to unfold it by bit in the next few weeks.

Speaker 1 (25:21):
He's you know, been on the head coach track for
you know, last couple of years at least with the
success he's had at Oregon. So you know, right, ads
have their short list. I'm sure guys like him that
are coordinators on either side of the ball have their
short list for who they're going to talk to if
they get when they get their chance.

Speaker 5 (25:39):
Yeah, that's and that's a great quality. And one of
the things that struck me as he was being introduced
yesterday was this is a thirty six year old who
who wants the opportunity, his first opportunity in the national spotlight.
He wants to be introduced to the nation, essentially, to
the nation, not just to Oregon or Big ten media, whatever.

(25:59):
He wants to be introduced to college football as Kentucky's
head coach. And he thinks he's ready to do that
as a thirty six year old. So there's a lot
of confidence in Mitch Barnhard and making the higher but
I like that there's a lot of confidence in will
Stein and thinking he's ready to be here. As much
as we heard, we think Stein's ready to come to Kentucky.
For quite a long time. Yeah, I think he's definitely

(26:21):
confident he can do it. One of the comments he
made in the press conference was everybody wants to coach
with will Stein, and I thought that spoke to kind
of the interior makeup as well.

Speaker 1 (26:30):
Good stuff, justin Thank you, Thanks Tom, Justin Rowlandkatzi, Illustrated
dot Com and the On three Sports Network will come
right back to wrap things up for this Thursday in
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(27:36):
across the street to Bridge Stone Arena to watch Kentucky
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