2025-12-04 BBI

Will Stein says he wants to win now; Mitch Barnhart strongly defends financial backing for UK football; (10:00) women's bkb coach Kenny Brooks on his respect for Mark Stoops, and why; (19:00) Jon Hale on the Q he asked prompting the emotional response from Barnhart on funding; (39:00) Unforgettable guard Sean Woods on the challenges facing the bkb Cats; (59:00) West End Bureau Chief Gary Moore and sometimes you can tell a great golfer, just by his swing...

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I do believe I'm one of the best play callers
in the country, and I know on why I'm in
this position. But I don't want to be a great
play caller. I want to be a great head coach.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
There he is the new head coach, thirty six year
old Will Stein. He did a variety of interviews with
BBN tonight with a UK radio network following his press
conference yesterday, and we welcome you to the Big Blue
Insider Dick Gabriel with you. It is game night. There
is Kentucky volleyball happening tonight. We are of course pre recorded,
as we are almost every day every day been Monday

(00:29):
now during the season. So that means Georgia Tech UCLA
is either going on or wrapping up, and thirty minutes
after that match is over, Kentucky will play Wafford. So
if you're thinking about going, you might want to go
now if you're not on the way, because they passed
this new rule all of a sudden, where instead of

(00:50):
the announced time and in this case seven o'clock for
Kentucky and Wafford, it's thirty minutes after the first match.
I don't know why they did this. It makes zero
zero sense. It has nothing to do with television because
the matches are on SEC plus, ESPN Plus, not over
broadcast TV or cable TV. It makes zero sense, but

(01:12):
there we have it. Anyhow, I'll be working the match
with Cameron Schitzok, who played for the Kentucky National Championship team.
My normal broadcast partner, Leah Edmund is already in camp
with their pro team. But Cam and I watched practices
all day long yesterday and she's going to do a
great job. So join us on SEC Plus or ESPN Plus,

(01:33):
depending on what you have on your TV. As the
Wildcats open up a run at what they hope will
be a trip to the Final four. But we must talk,
of course about Kentucky's new head coach, Will Stein, who
did a nice job yesterday talking to the media. Hey
Trinity High School guy, It's going to be sharp, right.
But Mitch Barnard also had some comments to make about

(01:55):
how his program is funding football and about Mark Stoops,
and Kenny Brooks said some comments about Mark Stoops as
well as the UK women won last night, and he
talked to Darren Hedrick on the postgame show, so we
will hear that as well. But some of the comments
you me have heard already, but some of the highlights
from last night and the news conference from will Stein,

(02:17):
who said he wants to be a great coach. He
wants to win on behalf of the BBM.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
When you think about the guys that won national championships
recently at an Old, it's guys that are great head coaches.
And I'm going to be heavily involved in the offense
every step of the way. But just because I'm not
reading off into the mic to our quarterback doesn't mean
that I'm not meticulous about what plays are being called

(02:43):
and when it's being called.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
But no, I want to be a great head coach.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
And while the offense is on the bench getting adjustments,
I want to be able to tell the defense what's
going on and be able to prep for hopefully a
lot of extra points. And yeah, just be the best
head coach I can be.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
And when Mark Stoops got thirteen years ago, he referred
directly to the fact that it's going to take some time.
It's gonna take some time to build the program to
where he wants it, and he eventually got super close.
I mean, he competed for a couple times for SEC
Eastern Division titles and as you know, a couple of
ten win seasons. But he said, no Shortcut's going to

(03:19):
take a lot of hard work. But and Stein refer
to this, thanks to the hard work than Mark Stoops did,
they're in a good position to win and win. Now.

Speaker 4 (03:29):
The division's really simple. It's to win.

Speaker 3 (03:31):
It is to win.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
I didn't come here to be average. I didn't come
here to be mediocre. I came here to win and
to win championships. I've won at every single level of
it up. They're not high school college, and now the
goal is to win here and not win five years
down road, ten years down the road, to do it now.
And the way that you do that is you work.
You work right. Success is not for a ran. Is

(03:53):
do every damn day that we're here. And we're going
to work to get that done to make Big Blue
Nation proud and make our plays proud and do it
the right way.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
We talked yesterday about Will Stein's offensive coordinator, Feed the Studs,
and you can watch the presentation on YouTube. I think
maybe it was on TikTok as well, But anyhow, Stein
described his offensive philosophy feat the Studs get the ball
to your best players and give them a chance to
be successful. I asked them at the news conference yesterday

(04:26):
as a follow up, because he talked about offense, defense,
special teams, how do you feed the studs on defense?
And he rattled off some some creative things you can
do defensively. But he did say that he wants his teams,
of course, to excel in all three areas.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
Their offense, our plays a lot of the score. Why not, right,
I've seen him done here many times, and that's the goal.
It's not easy. Football is not he He's not meant
to be easy. It's the toughest game in the world.
Play about really tough, man. But I know doing it
the right way, doing it the way that I've seen
at the at levels in college football, it will be

(05:02):
done here in Kentucky. On defense, man, we're gonna play
relentless from point A to point B, attacking the football
and having great ball excellence special teams. We say we're
gonna change the game. I want to fake punt. I
want to one side a kid, right. I want to
take advantage of opportunities to steal possessions in the game
so we can maximize our points. We're a national brand.

(05:28):
We work in the best conference in the world. There's
no reason why we can't be successful here. Zero and
the excuses were done. It's time to get to work.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
I mentioned Mark Stoops earlier and will Stein did as well.
He paid homage to a guy who did things at
Kentucky that will Stein watched when he was a kid
as a Kentucky fan. His dad, as you know now,
played here for Jerry Clayburn. But will Stein grew up
a Kentucky fan. And of course he has been working
while Mark Juss has been doing his best work, but

(06:00):
he was he was a fan in the stands at
times watching the Rich Brooks teams. And he paid homage
to Mark Stoops.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
I'd be remiss not talk about coach Stoops and what
he's meant to this program. Really thankful for his thirteen
years here as a head ball coach. You know, Kentucky
Football and Big Blue Nation would not be where they
are without him. So we don't you know that we
all owe him an incredible amount of debt for his
efforts and successors.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
And that was nice, that was classy, a great hand
for Mark Stoops, who did incredible work here and Mitch
Barnard talked to the media about making a move, how
tough it was for him, and obviously tough on Mark Stoops,
and how gracious Stoops was when it came to the renegotiation.
But Barnard said, and I reiterate, I fully agree with this.

(06:54):
You got it when you look back in the Stoops era,
those eight straight bulls, that's what it was all about.

Speaker 5 (07:00):
Want to focus for Mark on the eight years that
he gave us in that middle stretch. We went to
eight straight Bowl games and ten to ten run that
we had in the middle. It was spectacl We hadn't
seen that ever here. And people get all hung up
at the very beginning when it was a struggle and
he inherited a program that was really really difficult, and
they want to get hung up on the end when
it was a struggle and we weren't doing what we
wanted to do forgetting the middle where he absolutely gave

(07:22):
this program a new set of boundaries and to move
the goalpost for us. So you can call it whatever
you want to call it. He raised the expectations of
what this place needed here, So let's not.

Speaker 3 (07:31):
Get hung up on what he didn't do.

Speaker 5 (07:32):
He did a lot, and that really irritates the snot
out of me when people take shots and say, you know,
and then and all of a sudden, then he does.
He does the he comes and says man and he
was great on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (07:44):
He's spectacular the conversation.

Speaker 5 (07:46):
He's a good man, and he has a lot of
love for this program in this city.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
It also irritates Mitch Barnard when people say that basically
he is not the athletics department is not supporting football financially.
Away should. And he answered a question from John Hale about.

Speaker 3 (08:03):
That, we're confident what we're doing.

Speaker 6 (08:05):
John.

Speaker 5 (08:05):
People have asked that question nineteen different ways, all the
stuff that's been going on, and it's exhausting.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
You know enough enough about have we got enough?

Speaker 5 (08:13):
We've got enough, and we're working at it just like
everyone else is working at it.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
We're no different. Everybody will JMI. They've got lear Field,
they've got lear Field.

Speaker 5 (08:20):
We've got JMI, they've got lear Field, they've got play Fly.

Speaker 3 (08:23):
So this notion that we.

Speaker 5 (08:24):
Don't have enough is ridiculous.

Speaker 3 (08:27):
We've got enough. We've got to you.

Speaker 5 (08:30):
Resource it the right way. We've got to assess talent,
the right way. We've got to acquire it the right way,
and we've got to make sure we're within the boundaries
and the rules. We're not going to break the rules.
That's flat out we're not doing that. All right, we
will do it the right way. We we don't need
to do that. We're good enough at what we do.
We've got good people. That's wark we hard. This guy,
he's really smart, really smart. He's put together a really

(08:50):
good game plan of how they're going to do it,
and they've in the first day they've made some really
nice adjustments to what we're doing and we'll be fine.
But that notion in all this nonsense has been create
variety of places that we don't have enough or we're
not working at It has got to stop.

Speaker 3 (09:06):
It's enough, and.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
John Hall will join us coming up at the bottom
of the hour to talk about the context of that
question and why he asked it, and quite frankly in
to say what you will. I'm on the UK network, yes,
but I couldn't agree more with Barnard. It irritates the
crap out of me the way it does him. When
my colleagues in the media. Fans can be fans, but

(09:28):
to judge a guy on what happened the last two
years of a thirteen year run is just incredibly silly
and disrespectful and that's one of the things I hate
about sports. But hey, we all got to live with it, right.
Kenny Brooks is next on Mark Stube six thirty WAP
Welcome back to the Big Blue Cider. Reminder, it is

(09:50):
game night for the UK volleyball team taking aim in
a national championship opening play this evening against Wafford, and
through the miracle of digital technology, I am, of course
speaking to you on the radio, but also broadcasting on
SEC Plus aka ESPN Plus as the Wildcatch take on Wafford.
And if you're on the way there, you might want

(10:14):
to hurry a little bit because they at the last
minute told us that they're going to start the Kentucky
Wafford match thirty minutes after Georgia Tech UCLA, so it
may not be and probably won't be at seven o'clock
straight up, And if you're gonna watch the match, thank
you very much. Yeah, fire up your computer now so
you won't miss it. But Kentucky opens with Wafford then

(10:35):
gets the winner of UCLA Georgia Tech and as we
pre record, I can't tell you what's going on with
that match, but it's gonna be fun and Kentucky could
host if it keeps winning. Obviously it could host all
the way through to the Final Four, which is in
Kansas City the week before Christmas. So we'll keep you
posted on that. Other sports happening, of course, the UK

(10:56):
women last night opened up against Miami bias say, I
mean they were in the tight game, opened it up
and won sixty four to forty eight. Tony Morgan, the
new point guard, got twenty points. Clara Strack doing it
again thirteen points, nine rebounds to one. Key had eleven
points as the Wildcats moved to eight and one. Kentucky

(11:17):
is a really good defensive team, gonna get even better.
Held Miami to thirty two percent shooting and from three
point range just eleven point one percent, And after the game,
talking to our man Darren Hedrick, the coach Kenny Brooks
flat at said we're a good defensive team and we're

(11:37):
gonna get better. And they were good last year. Clara
Strack was the defensive player of the year and so
now the Wildcats. I don't know what I said earlier,
but they're nine to one. Now they are rolling against
non SEC competition. I want to see what they do,
of course against SEC competition, but right now they look

(12:01):
pretty good. And it's a Kentucky team, as we said,
not just features defense, but features players who can score
in a number of different ways, and pulled away from
Miami in the second half, outscored the Hurricanes by thirteen points,
shot forty three percent for the game. And Tony Morgan,
a senior, has led the team now four times in

(12:24):
scoring and has a couple of twenty point games at
her disposal. So when you figure her on the outside
clarace track and more on the inside, they got a
lot of options. But of course competition will get much
stiffer as the season goes on, and that's fine. What
you sign up for when you play in the SEC.
That's what Kenny Brooks signed up for when he came

(12:45):
to Kentucky. I'm going to share with you though a
comment he made. I was listening to the game, and
this is how he and Darren Headrick wrapped up his
postgame show. You know, they talked about the great defense,
they talked about the work they've got that the team
has to do. But and Darren brought up the fact
that you may have seen this on Twitter that Kenny

(13:06):
Brooks was the first UK coach to meet will Stein
because the UK team plane heading for Miami they flew charter,
was delayed by weather, so they waited at Signature Air
used to be Tack Air for a little while and
they happened to be there when the Stein family got

(13:29):
off the private plane. You might have heard will Stein
say how cool it was to fly on a private
jet and he met up with Kenny Brooks. There are
pictures that I'm shaking hands and the family come in
and all that, and Brooks was very gracious about that.
But he was also incredibly gracious about the comment team

(13:49):
made about Mark Stoops. And I had no idea and
how would I, how would anybody other than close friends
and family of the relationship that Kenny Brooks had in
a short amount of time with Mark Stoops. But Kenny
Brooks told a story to Darren Hendrick. He said, do
we have time and Darren yeah, sure, and shared this

(14:09):
story about why he Coach Brooks is such a huge
fan of Mark Stoops, not just the coach.

Speaker 7 (14:19):
But the person BBN. You know, We were very fortunate.
You guys are very fortunate. I was very fortunate last
year and a half to be able to be alongside
with Coach Stops. Coach Stoops is the salt of the earth.
And I know a lot of people just look at
him and you know, they see a coaching figure. But man,
you get you get behind the scenes and you get
to know that man. I text him the other day

(14:42):
and I said, and I meant it. He is one
of the best people that I've ever come across in
my thirty five years of college athletics and the way
that he did for me. I'll tell you a quick
story if I have time.

Speaker 6 (14:55):
Sure.

Speaker 7 (14:56):
My wife, Man, I'm getting chill bumps right now.

Speaker 3 (14:58):
My wife is well.

Speaker 7 (14:59):
Docu minute was fighting cancer and she had just rung
the bell and we were going to go.

Speaker 3 (15:05):
We were going to go to we had to.

Speaker 7 (15:06):
I had to go to the SEC media meetings UH
in in May and Coach Stoops, uh he was going
to give me a ride on his on his charter
and I couldn't get there. I couldn't get there, and
I was going to have to, you know, go through
a couple of different areas, and he said, let me,
call you back, and he called me back and he
came and picked me up.

Speaker 6 (15:26):
Wow.

Speaker 7 (15:27):
And we we spent hours on the charter, just me
and him talking. And when I got to know him,
I mean, what he did for me, what he did
for my family. You know, he dropped me off, he
got out of the plane, he walked out, he went
met my wife, he gave her.

Speaker 3 (15:42):
A big hug, and ordinary people don't do that.

Speaker 7 (15:47):
He's a great person. And I know we want you know,
we want results, and I know we're in results business,
but man, that guy is one of the best people
that I've ever.

Speaker 3 (15:56):
Met in my life.

Speaker 7 (15:57):
And I'm sure he's gonna, you know, bounce back and
do wonderful things. But the lives that he's touched, he
is he issault of the earth. And you know, so BBN,
you know, you were very fortunate to have such a
class act as a coach, because sometimes in his business,
you know, he gets a little twisted, and that guy
always stayed the course and he is a wonderful person.
So I thank him for welcoming me and my family

(16:19):
to Lexington and in the way that he was so
gracious in his time, and it was so genuine and Uh,
you know, Coach Stein, you know he hasn't won for
opportunity to take this program.

Speaker 3 (16:28):
To the next level. But I bet you, I bet you,
I bet.

Speaker 7 (16:31):
You Coach Stoops will be right there cheering and rooting
for everybody, for for BBN, for the football program, because
he built it. I wasn't here. I heard about you know,
it wasn't it wasn't a whole lot of great things
to cheer for before he got here, and uh he may.
He made Kentucky football respectful. And so I just want
to say thank you to Coach Stops and for everything

(16:52):
he's done for me and and BBN. And he's a
class act. And I'm sure BBN feels the same way.

Speaker 2 (16:59):
That's a women's basketball coach. Kenny Brooks talking to Darren
Hendrick on the postgame show last night, classy comments about
really a classy guy from a classy guy. Coming up next,
John Hale of The Hero Leader. John covered the press
conference yesterday with Will Stein, and it was John's question
that's set off, as I mentioned earlier, Mitch Barnhart. So
we'll get John's take on that when we come back

(17:20):
a little bit later on our usual Wednesday lineup. Of
Gary Moore or Weston Bureau chief Sean Woods, the Unforgettable
Guard usually talked to them on Wednesday, but our schedule
was a little jangled yesterday because of the women's game,
So we slide them back a day and we'll get
their wisdom next actually an hour number two on six
thirty WLAP.

Speaker 8 (17:40):
Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
Joining us now is the guy who is going to
get to know the head coach at Kentucky very well
because he is a football beat writer for the Hero
Leader is John Hale. And John, before I get into
Will Stein, I've got to start, And I talked about
this earlier, a pretty provocative answer to your question to
Mitch Barnhardt, and I play I had the answer, and
he referred to you, But if you wouldn't mind tell

(18:02):
our listeners what was the context of the question you asked.
It brought about that pointed response from Mitch Barnhardt, and
that was about as fired up as I've seen him
in a group interview like that.

Speaker 9 (18:13):
Yeah, I don't know that I've ever seen him that
animated before, and I mean the background, Like I had
asked him something earlier. He talked about ten minutes, and
I had asked him about the decision to fire Mark
Stoups and how much Mark negotiating the buyout wasn't part
of that, And he got a little he did in
that answer too, because he wanted to make sure everybody
knows how much he loves Mark Stoops and how did
Mark stups for this program and all that, And so

(18:35):
that was the first question and second one, because I
could tell they were getting ready to cut us off,
I kind of shouted over somebody else to make sure
I got it in about you know, Mitch was on
the committee that created all of these revenue sharing rules
for the NCAA clearing house and all of this like
fair market value all that, Like he helped create all
that stuff. So he's not going to immediately ignore it.

(18:57):
But as we've seen in this coaching cycle, like a
number of these big powerhouse programs who have made new hires,
it's all about like we're promising them, you know, X
amount of nil money, which is what it was in
the collective era and is not what it's supposed to
be now. In the revenue sharing you're supposed to have
your revenue sharing budget from the school and then outside
INNIL is supposed to all the fair market value, legitimate

(19:20):
and IL deals. And if people are already promising they
have you know, a twenty million dollar budget or whatever,
that means they're not they're ignoring that. Then there was
a report yesterday, I think from Sports Illustrated that Texas
and Tennessee and some other schools refused to sign this
agreement that they were all all the schools had to sign.
They said they weren't going to sue the new clearing
house and all of this stuff. And so I said,
I asked nich like, Okay, it's clear that other people

(19:41):
are already ignoring these rules. How do you compete against that?
And are you confident you have the resources to do it?
And then he just kind of went off. And I
don't think he was necessarily as mad at me as
mad about that narrative, because it's what everybody has been
talking about. Rich Brooks tweeted it the other day. I
talked to Rich on the phone Monday, and he said,
many he said it even more, you know, definitively then

(20:03):
that he doesn't think that he thinks Stoops got fired
because they didn't have enough NIL money and so like
that had been the narrative for so long, and it's
clear Mitch wanted yesterday to be about this new era
and everything happening, and he was not not cool, did
not want to hear this narrative because Stein got asked
about it in the press conference too, and I'm sure
that was part of Mitch's frustration.

Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yeah, no doubt. And as I've said many times, you know,
everybody said, you know, Mitch fought this, Mitch dug in,
he didn't want to pay money and all that, when
in fact, as you point out, he was part of
the group that applied the framework. And I think I've
told you that I was on a KAT show with
Mitch in the early stages of this and they were

(20:45):
trying to ask me about it, and I pointed to
mitches it asked that guy. You know, he's the guy
dealing with it, you know. And back then he was like,
we need guard rails so we don't step out of
line inadvertently and have to pay the price later. And
lo and behold that happened with some players that they
had to, you know, declare some games, uh, null and

(21:06):
void because there were rules broken. So you know, and
and again this is a guy who was hired and
brought to a university that had just been drilled it
was twenty years ago by the NCAA, and and the
football program was was, you know, leveled by those allegations,
and it took a while to dig out. So you
can kind of understand his reticence, can't you.

Speaker 9 (21:27):
Yeah, And like it's it's it's just a philosophical thing,
like he's not going to he's just not a rule
breaker in that way. He said, like he said, say,
we're not going to break rules because other people are
breaking rules. He said that before he read it yesterday.
We're just not going to do that. But it as
a fan, it's easy to understand and say, like, okay,
well these teams are competing. It's clearly are breaking the rules.
How do you compete? And exactly they are breaking the

(21:48):
rule because they're making the bet and it frankly seems
like a smart bet that this clearing house and the
limits on fair market value and all that are not
going to stand up in court the next time they
get sued about it. And so like emptily doing that,
Mitch's bet is maybe it does get maybe it does
stand up. Maybe Congress surprises us all and actually comes
through with some sort of regulations. Maybe they get all

(22:10):
the schools to sign this agreement that you can't sue,
you know, the enforcement body, and so like all of
that is still out there, and Mitch is not going
to preemptively break the rules just because you know, everybody
else assumes they're not going to hold I can understand
why that's frustrated as a fan, but he is adamant
that they have enough will sign with adamant they had
enough yesterday. And the other part that you know, yeah,
I do a lot of defending Mitch on this point.

(22:31):
But the thing that could help him from having to
answer these questions is just to tell us what the
revenue sharing breakdown is. They have been so adamant about
not sharing that information. How they're splitting that twenty and
a half million dollars among their teams. They say it's
a competitive thing, and like that's why some of the
speculation happens, because the one thing we do know is
that Kentucky basketball men's basketball makes more money than almost

(22:53):
any other program in the country, and so they have
two money making programs and the basketball program. Let's all
be honest, is what people care about most and so
whatever the number is, whatever the percentage split, basketball is
going to get more at Kentucky and it should than
anywhere else, which means in relation to that, football is
going to get less. And they don't want to really
release th numbers because they don't want people to use

(23:14):
that against the football program. But if they don't tell
us what the numbers are, people are going to run
wild and assume things are different.

Speaker 2 (23:21):
Kentucky spends more on men's basketball than any program in America,
with the exception of Duke, and the difference is very slight.
I'm told, I don't know the exact dollar figures, but
I'm told it's you know, not even enough to talk about.
And you're exactly right, because what if that weren't the case,

(23:42):
what would fans be saying then? Right if oh my god,
basketball is not getting enough.

Speaker 9 (23:46):
Right exactly, and it does not help. And like we're
still in this weird, like in between section where these
current rosters were funded before the Revenue Sharing House Settlement
went to effect. So when you hear the basketball rosters,
twenty two million dollars or whatever, that's all collective money
from before July first, most of them and so we

(24:07):
don't know what that's going to look like moving forward
and how that's going to adjust, and until they tell us,
we're not going to get great answers on that and
what it's going to look like moving forward. This is
the first football class that's really going to be signed
under those rules, because all of their transfers last year
signed before July first. Now we've got to figure out,
both in terms of retaining current players and then getting

(24:27):
new guys in the transfer portal, what it's going to
look like. Mark Soup said last week before he got fired,
like one of the reasons the high school class that
you know partially signed yesterday was ranked like seventieth in
the country, where he had never signed a class lower
than thirty eighth before that is because like he does
not have the money to go throw at high school
players who he doesn't know are going to contribute next year.
He has to put that money on, you know, keeping

(24:49):
his current players and then filling holes in the transfer portal.
That was his philosophy. And so we'll see if that
changes into will Stein or I mean, goked yesterday a
lot about the importance of high school recruiting. He doesn't
want to be a transfer portal program, but they're going
to have to figure out how to adjust that budget
and and allocate it correctly.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
I think that very weak. Kentucky had half a dozen
or more juco's on campus, and it sounded the way
you may have asked the question of Mark Stoops that
he was looking to go back to the JUCO route.
He got away from it for a while with the portal,
and wisely so you got a better idea who you're
getting through from a D one through the portal, but

(25:27):
now the dollars and cents may points you back at
the JUCO route. Am I right?

Speaker 9 (25:32):
Yeah, that's that seemed to be his philosophy for sure.
I mean, they're cheaper. It's obviously worked for them at
times before. My question about that strategy is like, are
that the same caliber of players going to junior colleges now?

Speaker 6 (25:42):
I don't know.

Speaker 9 (25:42):
Maybe they're just going to small, small D one colleges
because they know they can transfer wide way. There still
will be guys who are talented athletically who couldn't qualify
academically to get into at FBS school, who after junior
college you can still find some diamonds in the rough
that way for sure, but they got I mean, they
had two junior college guys commit after the coaching change.
I mean one of them committed I think on Monday

(26:06):
and certainly had not talked to Willstein yet because they
hadn't even announced it. And then they had an offensive
lineman commit yesterday, had signed. It was recruited by the
former staff, even though Eric Fulford was apparently on his
way to LSU, and so like will Stein took those
signings and commitments, and so that's that's you know, clearly
he needs that. He knows they need the bodies of
the debt too. But it will be fascinating to see
if the new staff does that or wherever Mark plans

(26:28):
in the future, if he takes that or other schools
do too. But it's certainly a new wrinkle.

Speaker 2 (26:32):
Speaking of LSU, I was interesting that all of this
stuff is coming up this discussion, and as I'm listening
to Barnhardt's comments to your question, all I could think
about was when all of this first reared, it said
four or five years ago, and it was Lane Kiffen,
who you know often speaks his mind, who said, well,
it's legalized cheating and he's not far from wrong.

Speaker 6 (26:53):
Is he?

Speaker 10 (26:54):
No?

Speaker 6 (26:55):
And it's funny.

Speaker 9 (26:55):
I mean, if you want to talk about NIL situations
and what they're going to do, like Kentucky's parent new
chief of staff, the guy that will Stein is bringing
with him from Oregon. Before he was at Oregon, he
was a recruiting guy at Texas A and M. In
that three year window in A and M at the
end of the Jimbo Fisher era was spending so much
money on NIL and everybody was like, how are they
doing this? And Nick Saban was complaining publicly about buying

(27:16):
their roster and all of that stuff. So here's a
guy who's who's done it before and knows how to
manage some of that stuff, so that that will be interesting.
You're fascinating to watch too. But everything is just changing
so quickly that like every six months, the rules are different.
I think that's one reason that you you want a
young coach. You know, there are certainly risks and hiring
a thirty six year old who's never been a first

(27:37):
who's never been a head coach before, but like it's
also he's never really known much different. It's not a
guy who's spent twenty years coaching under the old system,
and it is going to be started with that point.
They're going to be willing to change as as the
situation changes.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
That's a great point. He is John Hale, the Harrol Leader,
will come back and talk more football on the other
side of the break here on six thirty WLAP Welcome
Back with chatting with John Haley is the football beat
writer for The Hero Leader. Of course, he was right
up front when Kentucky's Will Stein was introduced yesterday.

Speaker 8 (28:06):
Uh, he did a great job.

Speaker 2 (28:07):
I thought, you know, well prepared and hit all the
right talking points.

Speaker 9 (28:12):
Do you agree, Yeah, I think so. It was the
vibes were interesting because I think naturally we all would
just compare it to the Pope press conference because it
wasn't that long ago and that was the last time
we did that, and that Pope press conference was such
a you know, creature unto itself that was not really
couldn't compare it to anything else. And so, but like
I thought, yesterday felt like an actual press conference, whereas

(28:33):
the Pope thing felt like a party that there just
happened to be people asking a few questions, like Stein,
and it was pretty conversational. He went into pretty in
depth and all the answers and talked about it. It
felt like it was one of our something we would
have actually done at the media room across the you know,
little walkway there in the stadium, and it just happened
to be a few thousand people sitting there watching. So
that was that was interesting. But yeah, I thought he

(28:54):
did I thought he did great. I mean, he wasn't
quite maybe as high energy as I expected at times,
but I think it was just kind of a realization
of like, Okay, it's time to get to work, Like
he's got a crazy month ahead in terms of like
building a staff, building a roster here, and then still
coaching Oregon in the playoff, which is great publicity for Kentucky,
but it certainly adds a few more headaches to his
schedule and everything that's going to happen in the next

(29:16):
few weeks. And so that I think that was kind
of the business like tone we heard. He was shaking hands,
and my understanding he was on the phone on as
soon as he got the job on Monday, and Monday
and Tuesday after he was in Rude or whatever talking
to boosters, talking you know, raising money and getting the support,
so he knows that he can go out and build

(29:37):
this roster. At one point in his owne statement, he said, like,
it's not about being good five years from now, ten
years from it's about being good now. And so he
knows that, like, they got to get a lot of
work done in the next four or five weeks to
make sure that they can be competitive next season.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
Oh yeah, absolutely. But he if he weren't recruiting to Kentucky,
he'd be recruiting to Oregon at same time. So this,
like you said, this is a lifestyle that he knows.
And it was a tried and true line about recruiting
being like shaving. I've heard it from Toby Smith, from
Tommy Limbaugh when Curry was here, and he ain't wrong.

(30:12):
And you mentioned the fact that he's thirty six years old.
I often wonder is that a little bit of an advantage.
He's not as far removed from the playing field, you know,
when he's talking to recruits as other coaches. I might
make too much out of that, but I also like
the fact that he talked about Kentucky being a brand
man carrying that Oregon background. That's a brand in and

(30:35):
of itself. Isn't it.

Speaker 9 (30:37):
Yeah, And that's why it's going to be so big
for Kentucky that he's going to coach in the playoffs
because every time he's going to be on camera, whether complays,
it's going to say new Kentucky coach Will Steins if
they play well in the playoffs and they're scored a
bunch of points, like people are going to see that
and get excited. And like, I mean, the difference of
being if you had hired like a group of five
head coach, Like let's say that some of those guys

(30:57):
who got hired by Auburn, Arkansas or whatever on Sunday,
we're still available. You would think, oh, well, they're going
to bring half the roster with them. We've seen that
happen many times in the last couple of years. And
Will's not going to do that. Like he's not going
to bring a bunch of players from Oregon because those
guys want to go to Oregon. But there are probably
guys who are really talented in that second pier of
recruits that Kentucky was losing to other programs who can't

(31:19):
get to Oregon, and those are the guys that's going
to make a whole lot of difference too. Who are
going to say, like, Okay, yeah, I can do what
they're doing in Oregon somewhere else in the SEC, prove
myself and still have that same opportunity. And so that's
going to be really really important, I think for the
program in.

Speaker 2 (31:33):
Terms of what happens on the field. You know, as
I said in my question to him yesterday, you know,
feed the studs. Yeah, that's common sense. And you know,
I'm listening to this and I'm thinking, you know, why
is this not done more often? But as I also say,
and I didn't create this, a lot of play callers
fall in love with their play sheets and get away
from what they ought to be doing. I'm really curious

(31:55):
John to see specifically what they do on defense, because yeah,
you can hire an offensive mine and head coach and
that gets everybody excited and sells tickets. But as we
all know, it's a cliche because it's true and Stoops
his best team's had really good defense. That's what keeps
you competitive, as you know, and gives your offense a
chance to win the game. What did you think of

(32:16):
what he said about all that?

Speaker 9 (32:18):
Yeah, it's going to be I think that's the most
important hire is going to make a defensive coordinator. In
the same way, if you're talking about John Summer oft Florida,
his most important hire is going to be offensive coordinator.
For Will, it's going to be the defensive guy. I
mean the rumor out there and you know, we'll see
if this comes true. Is Charlie Strong maybe a defensive coordinator.
I've heard that name several times, but that seems to
be like a slam dunk. I mean, obviously he played
from there. I think Charlie's at the Bucks now is

(32:41):
defensive line coach. But I think it's going to be
If it's not Charlie, it's going to be somebody in
that mold, like a very well respected veteran defensive coach,
maybe somebody with head coaching experience, because I think Will
does need that on staff, somebody who has been there
before to help guide him through some of those things.
And certainly on defense, that's you could just have a

(33:01):
head coach of the defense and have it run there.
And Will's going to know with Alba, he's going to
have his hands and everything, I'm sure, and learn more
about that side of the ball as he becomes a
head coach, but like it is going to be fascinating, Like, yes,
Mitch Barnhart was very upfront about the goal in the
search was to find somebody who was going to score
a bunch of points. He heard the fans who are
kind of disillusioned with thirteen years of twenty one seventeen

(33:22):
wins or whatever. But you can't go back to the
hol Mummy, or it can't be a situation where you're
scoring forty points and.

Speaker 6 (33:28):
Give it up thirty eight. Everything like that's not.

Speaker 9 (33:30):
Like that's a that's a low ceiling. That's a you know,
you get the Music City Bowl occasionally doing that, but
you don't get to build the program, which is what
everybody says. The goal is to exceed what that bar
that Stoops set and so they got to be good
on both sides. So I'm fascinated to see what he
does on defense. Like it was I don't noteworthy that
Ann Marsh Stewart was still there yesterday. I think if

(33:51):
you're talking about assistant coach is the key that's the
number one one on my list because a their defensive
line has been really good and Arsh proved himself to
be a great coach and that could help keep some
of those guys around. Local guy knows the place, but
his whole defensive staff, it's going to be important. I
assume Brad White's going to take some of those guys
to Florida with him, right John Summer, because they're all
connected there. But Will has a background from his time

(34:14):
at Texas, from his time at UTSA, where Jeff Trailer,
the head coach, is the defensive guy like, He's got
connections to build that staff, and it's going to be
interesting to see what he does.

Speaker 10 (34:23):
You know.

Speaker 2 (34:23):
The one other thing I really like about anwar Stewart
and his track record, I mean his proofs in a
pudding you can see how d Line's developed and players developed.
Is his link to the past. He is so well
regarded I'm sure you've realized this by the Letterman, by
the past Letter Winners. I mean, everybody I've talked to,

(34:43):
they're so proud of him. But you know, they go
to practice, they watch him work, and they come away
raving about the job he does. And it's not just
because he's one of them. There have been Letter Winners
on staff before, but I've never heard a guy so
well respected by his former teammate and former players. Have
you heard the.

Speaker 9 (35:01):
Same Yeah, great, I mean I thought it was noteworthy
yesterday when he was there, Like I mean there were
two sections on either side of the media one where
where the current team and players were and that's where
like what Anim Washington was still there, Derek Shade at
tight ends coach, those are the other two assistants. But
an Lar was on the other side, like with those
former lettermen who had their section reserve the entire time,
like with that group, which is an important it's an

(35:23):
important bond to like to keep the legacy of the program.
I think certainly to keep a tie to that Stoops
era is important to know that you know those guys
who are around here who are in the NFL now,
like to be able to come back and welcome them,
have a familiar face. I think all of that's important.
So he makes a ton of sense to me to
keep around.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
Before I let you go. And this is kind of
a broad question. You don't have to be as too specific,
but National Signing Day for football is not what it
used to be. We used to do that big TV
show online and all that stuff, and now it's just
kind of up here. It is because of the way
things are structured now. But what did you think of

(36:01):
the hall that Kentucky made starting with a kid up
in Cincinnati, the QB slash shortstop who was going to
wait but then decided up, I'm going to sign and
all of this after a coach is fired and then
hired within a span of thirty six hours.

Speaker 9 (36:15):
Yeah, it's fascinating. I mean, I just keep thinking back
to that first recruiting class was Mark Stukes, and it
was obviously a different timeline because he got hired I
think on December second, and obviously didn't have to sign
anbody till February, and it was a month long question
about like how many of these joker Phillips commitments are
is he going to keep keep them? Like five maybe?
And there were a lot of guys who they made
it clear like Okay, we don't think you're good enough

(36:37):
to play here and end up going somewhere else. Will
did not have that much time, but I'm sure he
went through that pretty quickly. That he doesn't like scholarship spots,
roster spots are you know, are still precious, and so
he doesn't want to take guys that he doesn't think
are around, So the fact that they signed as many
guys as they did, I think says that they signed
off on those guys. The one other four star commitment

(36:58):
beside Tilson, the safety for Michigan, did not sign yesterday,
so we'll see what comes with him. It seems like
what Amian Washington was hitting on Twitter last night, they
might get a new receiver in the fold. See if
anything comes to that before the end of the week.
But it all starts with Matt Pontowski, the quarterback from
Boehler in Cincinnati.

Speaker 6 (37:15):
I mean, he.

Speaker 9 (37:16):
Said on Sunday after Soups was fired that he had
never planned to sign this week because he wasn't rolling early.
He was going to wait till February. And then when
Stein gets hired, he immediately says, Okay, I'm gonna sign
after all. I mean, Oregon was his other finalist, and
I think the perception at the time was he wants
to play college football and baseball, and maybe Oregon was

(37:36):
not willing to take that risk that he's never going
to make it to campus because of the draft. So
he picked in Kentucky. But he knows will Steinny knows
the offense and signed on right away. I don't think
it is a guarantee that he's going to get here. Still,
he's a very good baseball prospect eighth in the country
by Baseball America in the high school class right now.
If he's a first or second round pick in June,

(37:57):
he's probably signed a baseball contract in not coming, but
least an early recruiting win for Matt for will Stein
to be able to say, like, Okay, this guy who
was going to hold off immediately wants to play with us.
Was a star at the Illege eleven camp last last
last summer, and you can sell that to other recruits
and say, like, this guy's in, see what else we
can build.

Speaker 2 (38:16):
It is rare that you get a Tyler Bell who
was taken in the in the supplemental draft, basically a
first round pick. But uh, negotiations with the with the
Rays never materialized for Tyler and he said, fine, I'm
going to college. Uh that that's rare. So yeah, you're
right about that. But it would be fun if he came.
I'd really be curious to watch him play two sports

(38:38):
at Kentucky. He is John Hale of the Herald Leader,
and uh follow him where on ex John on.

Speaker 9 (38:44):
Twitter as John Hale j O n H A L
E Underscore h L and then Kentucky Sports dot Com.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
There it is. Thanks John, have a great day.

Speaker 6 (38:52):
Thanks for having me up next.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
Hour number two with Unforgettable Guard Sean Woods and our
West End Bureau chief Gary Moore here on six ers.

Speaker 10 (39:00):
You like this.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
Take Welcome back to the Big One Cider. It is Thursday.

(40:59):
We didn't have buch of a show last night because
of women's basketball, so we bumped the unforgettable Guard Sean
Woods day and Uh, coach, it's a rough time for
Kentucky basketball fans. Well, we'll talk a little football after
the break. But losing to North Carolina never good. Losing
when you can't score for ten minutes.

Speaker 10 (41:18):
Uh.

Speaker 8 (41:18):
They got a lot of work to do, don't they.

Speaker 10 (41:21):
Yeah, they do, Dick, And you know we've been standing
over and over again. You know, they're not getting any
easy buckets because they don't have a point guard that
can break down the defense and create for others. You know,
everything has got to be you know, administered by the
coach through a player or something like that, and you're
not gonna go very far score a lot of points that.

Speaker 6 (41:43):
Type of way. You know.

Speaker 10 (41:44):
That's why, you know, recruiting is such is so important.
You know, you can have all the x'es and o's,
but if you don't have those Jim and Joe's, and
the one Joe and Jim or whoever that we need
is a point guard. Yeah, and and and that's the
reason why it's just gonna be hard scoring at a

(42:04):
rapid rate because nothing's going to be fluent. You're asking
guys to become somebody that they're not. It's I mean,
Coach Pope is just you know, he's he and I
get it. You know, he's in an unfamiliar territory right now,
and you got to find a way. But no, when
you don't have a point guard, it's, man, it's it's tough.

Speaker 2 (42:26):
Yeah. And you know, well, the sad thing is even
a guy like me who's far from a genius when
it comes to basketball, I mean, you've forgotten more basketball
than I'll ever know. But I had concerns about this,
and a lot of people did, uh, you know, preseason,
But then they started rattling off names. Not Mark, Well yeah,
Mark did too, because people ask, you know, but yeah,

(42:46):
this guy could play point, that guy could play point.
But you've pointed out many times that you know, there
are point guards and there are guys who try to
play point guard, and that's what they're trying to deal
with right now, right no about it.

Speaker 9 (43:00):
I mean, you know, you got guys that don't want
to play point they're just scorer.

Speaker 6 (43:05):
Know, Averergen is.

Speaker 10 (43:06):
A score, Jasper Johnson is a score. You know, they're
not break you down guys. They can get by people,
get in the paint and make and create shots for others.
You know, the best player they got right now is
a high pick and roll deal for Malachi Marino throwing
over the top.

Speaker 6 (43:23):
But they're not going to you.

Speaker 10 (43:24):
Know, you can't do that all the time. So it's
I mean, it's evident. And guess what. North Carolina didn't
look very good either without their point guard. But at
least they had a backup point guard that can make
plays for others when their offense wasn't clicking, you know what.

Speaker 6 (43:39):
I mean.

Speaker 10 (43:40):
They have something that we didn't have, and that's the
reason why they won the basketball game.

Speaker 6 (43:44):
But I don't know, I mean, I.

Speaker 10 (43:47):
Hate it, you know, but realistically, you know they don't
look and sync at all. You know, you're asking role
players to be big time players.

Speaker 11 (43:57):
Now.

Speaker 6 (43:57):
I mean, I love al Way, but Alway is a
very effective playing off others.

Speaker 10 (44:03):
You know, whenever you know, when things are going good
and he sees creases to attack and things like that,
you know, that's when he's good.

Speaker 6 (44:10):
But when he's the prime offensive.

Speaker 10 (44:13):
You know, guy, he's that's not who he is. You know,
he's a very talented kid, but that's not He's not
a go to guy. And I don't see a go
to guy.

Speaker 6 (44:25):
You know. Me With this team being what they are.

Speaker 10 (44:28):
Right now, the makeup of it, I would start going
more inside to out. I would start getting more post
play and give him the ball to amount of Cay
Marino on the block and you know, create double teams
to where now you can throw it out and create
more open shots and more open lanes because and create
close out situations because the.

Speaker 6 (44:46):
Balls going inside the out.

Speaker 9 (44:49):
You know.

Speaker 10 (44:49):
But they're they're playing outside the end and they're not
that good of a three point shooting team. I mean,
look at the other night, North Carolina made him shoot
one for whatever, and the only three that was made
was by Garrison by Garrison. So we got some we
got some work to do and we got, you know
they I'm sure they have the meetings of the minds
in those coaches meetings, but when it ain't nothing there

(45:10):
from a Jim and Joe standpoint of what you really
really need or what you planned.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
And that's let me ask you this because again, you're
coaching at Scott County High now, but you put together
college teams. It's several different places, and I know it's
it's it's apples and oranges in terms of you know
where you coach versus Kentucky. But when you go into
a season with a roster you have, you and your
staff have a good idea of what you want to

(45:38):
accomplish and how you're going to do it. And with
this Kentucky team, everybody, we all got excited about the roster.
I know you had concerns about only one point guard
from jump, but if I were to tell people, oh,
by the way, three of your top six players are
going to be sitting on the sidelines for the first
half of the season, how excited would you be? You

(45:58):
mentioned a point guard, but a bate who is a
physical player could have helped him on the boards out
Quaintans isn't going to be there maybe until the beginning
of conference play if then, So the blueprint included these
three guys and they're not there. And I know it
sounds like an excuse, but that's real. Take the best
teams you've played on at Kentucky removed three of the

(46:20):
top six players. How good would you be? You know
what I mean? And you're paid as a head coach
to deal with it, but it's a reality.

Speaker 10 (46:30):
Yeah, you know, you know Quays was hurt before we
got them, Yeah, I know, So why would you You know,
you could have got another guy jess as good, maybe
not as as a first round you know, top three
picking the NBA draft, but you could have got somebody
to help you win basketball games from a physical standpoint,
more so than a guy that's you know, already hurt

(46:52):
and you know, a really severe injury and you're counting
on him this year. You know what I mean That
that wasn't very smart too, you know, like I said
from the beginning, you know you got to I mean,
I don't know what their salary cap is, betweenty two
million dollars and you only get one point guard out
of twenty two million dollars. I mean, that's not very
smart either. That's another thing. Okay, now you know you're

(47:16):
baking on guys that you really don't know that you're
saying that can play the point, which they never played
the point at this level. Alberdeen was not the backup
point guard at Florida.

Speaker 6 (47:30):
He wasn't.

Speaker 10 (47:32):
He was the two guard coming off the bench scoring
that's what he does. And we remember when the last
time Low played, Aberdeen had his best scoring outing because
he was playing with somebody that can get him off.
So you know, then you're asking the kid, the kid
from BYU, you know, where he can play point. He
showed you that, No, he can't play point, not at

(47:53):
this level. And you should have known that beforehand. You know,
I'm just I'm really you know, I listened to tamalw
mash Burning a little bit, and I've listened to Travis
Ford a little bit, and we all know because you know,
in our staple, we had three point guards in our staff.
We had three guys pretty much at every position, and
coach knew exactly what each one of them can do.

(48:13):
And when you're now, the difference now we're recruiting more
so than ever is you're getting somebody else's stuff, and
your stuff, what you do in your offense is totally
different from a lot of people, the way a lot
of people play.

Speaker 6 (48:30):
And these guys don't fit. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 10 (48:32):
You're trying to get a triangle in to a square.
It's not fitting the way his style of play is.
You don't have good enough shooters and your your your
offense is predicated creating a lot of gump shots for
really good shooters.

Speaker 6 (48:45):
That's not the case anymore. You don't.

Speaker 10 (48:48):
You don't have a point guard that can that can
set the table on both ends of the floor. Your
point guard dominates the other point guard. He creates havoc
on defensive end, and he creates habit breaking down the
defense and make and creating shots and scoring opportunities for others.
You don't have that either. And we already went through
that last year, how important the port guard was and

(49:11):
when he.

Speaker 6 (49:12):
Was on we were really good. When he wasn't, when
he was hurt, we wasn't.

Speaker 10 (49:15):
Now there is none at all, and you don't have
a point forward.

Speaker 6 (49:20):
We got lucky last year.

Speaker 10 (49:22):
With Williams because he was talented enough to be the
point forward. We don't have a point forward anymore on
this roster, so it's going to be I mean, it's
ugly you watch. I mean, they're not even fun to watch,
you know, if you.

Speaker 2 (49:36):
Let me, I hate you interject, But you brought up
Brandon Garrison, and for the life of me, I just
cannot figure out what's going on with him. A lot
of people are in the same boat. But you know,
it's like he's regressed. He's lost his starting job to Marino,
and he responded well the first time out, but then
he hasn't followed up with improvement, you know what I mean.

(50:00):
I just don't And I know some of that is
because they don't have a point guard, but I'm just
talking about the way he's carrying himself and the way
he's working inside or lack of same. What have you seen.

Speaker 10 (50:12):
I've seen lack of focus. You know, he's been missing
point blank layups. He's getting out, he's getting out hustled
for balls. Yeah, you know, it's not like he's with us,
you know what I mean, It's like he's got something
else going on because he's not even playing as good
as he played last year.

Speaker 6 (50:31):
And I don't know why that is. You know, you
would think that you know his next his neck.

Speaker 10 (50:37):
The next year he would come out more hungry, more focused.
But that doesn't seem to be the case. And you
know he's another kid that that that Mark was dependent on.
You know, Mark knew about him more so he knows
him about about Malachi because Malachi is a freshman coming
straight out of high school. And Malachi, to me, to
be honest with you, maybe the most complete basketball player

(50:58):
as far as knowing how to play basketketball, more than
so than anybody on that team. Wodding, I really I
see that. I think he really knows angles. I think
he really knows. I think he's our best defender. I
think he doesn't turn the ball over. He's very efficient
on the offensive end. He doesn't do things that he
can't do. And me personally, I think he needs to

(51:18):
me needs to be featured more than he.

Speaker 6 (51:21):
Is right now.

Speaker 10 (51:23):
I think you need to create situations where you go
upscreens and he's coming down and you got to give
him the ball in the post because he's so big
and strong. One on one, he's been been really good.

Speaker 6 (51:34):
You know, he dunks everything.

Speaker 10 (51:36):
He never balls, never get out of his hands. He
passes when it needs to be passed out. I think
he's got to be a more focal point in their
offense until they.

Speaker 6 (51:45):
Find a way.

Speaker 10 (51:46):
And now you create situations where you got to double
down on him he throws it out. Now you create
and close out situations to either get old white open
shots or guys closing out so aggressively. Now you create
driving lanes. That's how I would do it. With this
the makeup of this team.

Speaker 2 (52:01):
Right now, maybe we will see that this weekend. Seawan
Woods is the unforgettable guard of Jersey hangs in the
rafters of RUP. We'll come back with more after the
break on the big moving sider here on six thirty WLAP.

Speaker 8 (52:11):
Welcome back.

Speaker 2 (52:12):
We're chatting with Shawn Woods, his Jersey hangs in the
rafters of RUP, head coach at Scott County High School
and of course one of the unforgettables and Seawan, of
course the other side of campus right now is excited
about will Stein, the new head football coach. I know
you're still learning about him. You are a football fan.
And before we talk about the new coach and all that,

(52:34):
you've been through ups and downs. Every coach in America has,
and they always say coaches are hired to be fired.
You know, if you won championships, you've also been let
go to And I'm more and more the older I
get and I got whacked at a job when when
our jobs disappeared, Tell me about the emotional upheaval and

(52:55):
what it does to a family, because people in my
profession and the fans fire and move on, you know,
And it ain't that easy. It certainly is not. But
oftentimes I think people are just so insensitive to that
kind of thing and they want to point to the money.
There are a lot of coaches making a lot less
who get hired and fired.

Speaker 8 (53:14):
But you know, you've lived through that.

Speaker 2 (53:15):
What's it like?

Speaker 6 (53:18):
It's devastating.

Speaker 10 (53:20):
You know, you put all your heart and soul into
a situation, and sometimes people just don't appreciate it, you know.
And it's not that you're a bad coach, and maybe
just the circumstances that you're in from whatever, from administration
to finance to you know, everything comes in. And the
major thing is it's being a cottage coach. You got

(53:41):
to depend on eighteen and twenty two year olds, right right,
And that's what people don't understand, you know, what I'm
saying and you know, eighteen to twenty two year olds,
they're still you know, starting, they're still not.

Speaker 6 (53:52):
As mature as they should be. And the way social.

Speaker 10 (53:56):
Media is, you know, I think it hurts when you
know a coach is on the hot seat or whatever.
That affects the players because now they're going to either
rally behind you or see that you're not this or that,
and they're not gonna play as hard for you knowing
that you're not gonna be the coach, or you in trouble.
So it's tough. And all you do is can do

(54:18):
as a coach is try to motivate. But it's so
much money involved. How can you tell a guy making
a million dollars you know, he's got to he's got to,
you know, give give more, you know, when he's already
got the money, you know, and he knows he's not
an NFL guy, but you still need him to be
a good college basket I mean college football player or
basketball player whatever, and give give him, give his all.

(54:39):
But when he's got a nice car out there and
a nice apartment, townhouse or whatever, and he's making more
money than.

Speaker 6 (54:46):
The assistant coaches, that's.

Speaker 10 (54:50):
Hard to motivate. You know what I mean, And you're
at their disposal, and that's that's tough. And I feel
sorry for these guys right now, especially how how stupents
have to go through it, because I thought that Louisville game, I.

Speaker 6 (55:02):
Thought this team really just laid an egg for him.
I thought they gave it. I thought they could.

Speaker 8 (55:06):
Rick.

Speaker 2 (55:08):
It was Rick Patino. I wanted to say Caliperi, but
it was Rick Bettino who recently said that players at
least on his team, a lot of them. He made
a sound like a majority of them send the money home.
I don't know if you've, if you've been able to
talk to anybody, if you're familiar with any of that,
But that kind of surprised me. I don't know if
you saw that comment, would that surprise you to find

(55:29):
out that's true?

Speaker 6 (55:32):
I mean, I'm sure they're sitting at home.

Speaker 10 (55:33):
What can a eighteen to twenty two year old do
with a million dollars condo? Buy a car and a condo.
But that doesn't take a million dollars. You know, you
got people making forty fifty thousand dollars. You can do that,
you know, but you're talking about millions, So it's not
that they got the money in hand, which they do,
but they're they're financially set. You know, they're creating generational wealth.

(55:57):
So and we all do this to create general wealth.
When you see when you hear guys say I want
to make it to the NBA, I want to make
it to the NFL to help my family, that's what
they're doing. They want to help their family, and they're
helping their families earlier. So they're they're creating. They're reaching
their goals before becoming professionals. And everybody's not going to
be a professional, but can make professional money.

Speaker 6 (56:20):
And that's what's happening right now.

Speaker 2 (56:21):
They basically are professionals.

Speaker 6 (56:23):
Right exactly.

Speaker 10 (56:27):
From a financial standpoint, they're professionals for sure.

Speaker 2 (56:30):
Yeah, they sure are. And with a new coach coming in,
there's always that new excitement. And will Stein did a
nice job at his press conference yesterday and then you know,
let's get to work. There's no reason we can't win
now and that sort of thing. You've been on that
end of it. You've been introduced as a new head coach.
That's got to be quite a kick.

Speaker 10 (56:50):
Right, Yeah, I'm sure he's excited. This is his first
head job too, So he's gung ho. You know, the
main thing is can he get players.

Speaker 6 (56:59):
Into competing in the SEC? That's what it's going to
boil down to.

Speaker 10 (57:01):
Right, you know, I know he's an offensive jergger nut
because Oregon has been one of the top offensive teams
in the in the past, in the past ten, twelve, twelve,
fifteen years. So he I think he has the system
from an offensive standpoint, which a lot of Kentucky fans
thought that Stoops didn't have here lately because he hadn't
had a quarterback. We haven't had an NFL quarterback in

(57:24):
a while, and we haven't had major receivers in a while.
We've had big time running backs. But now can he
put together offensively enough talent to compete in the SEC?
And also, you know, is there enough around you know
what I mean? You know, that's what it's going to
boil down to. Can he create a staff to go
get players to come to Kentucky because it's not about

(57:47):
money anymore. It's about where they're going and who are you?

Speaker 6 (57:51):
You know what I'm saying?

Speaker 10 (57:52):
You know, do I want to come in and play
for you and give you everything I got even though
you got to give me a million dollars to come here.

Speaker 2 (58:00):
Yeah, and he's got a QB who could turn into
that kind of quarterback and cut her bowlie in this offense.
That's what's really intriguing, you know. But you're not going
to know till you can get to work. And we've
said before. Now you're on the other end. You're gonna
help your kids who are being recruited through that process
in this different day and age. And and like you said,

(58:21):
you feel sorry for the guys that they're coaching now
because the values that used to go into evaluating and
recruiting are kind of warped now, aren't they. I don't know,
there's probably a better word. But with all this money
flying around, you know, when you start talking with people
about tell me about this kid's character, this kid's work
ethic and stuff like that, and there's that dollar sign

(58:43):
hanging over everything, isn't there no.

Speaker 6 (58:46):
Doubt about it? And that's what it used to be.

Speaker 9 (58:47):
I can't coach a kid that I can't coach.

Speaker 6 (58:50):
I'm not don't want to. Yeah, And you know, like.

Speaker 10 (58:53):
I told you not too long ago, you're getting what
they were at the other school. They're not going to
be better. They're going to be that.

Speaker 9 (59:00):
That's what they were.

Speaker 10 (59:03):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so unless you see what they've given
to that team and that fits into your scheme of things,
getting a kid just because he put up good numbers
doesn't mean that he's gonna put up good numbers to
be that for you in the way you do things.

Speaker 2 (59:18):
You know that happens every once in a while, that happens.
Somebody transfers. And look at Joe Burrow couldn't get on
the field at Ohio State. Look at him now because
he was misevaluated. But that's rare in football. But you
name the sport. I wish I knew the numbers on this,
and it's difficult to judge. But so often a kittle
transfer and does he bloss him into an All conference player? No,

(59:44):
might be a role player, might get more clock. But yeah,
you're right, you put it a good way that you know,
you get what you get.

Speaker 10 (59:50):
Right, You're getting what you get. You know, Uh, look
at look at our roster right now. You know what
I'm saying, You're getting what you get that these.

Speaker 6 (59:58):
Are what they were.

Speaker 10 (59:59):
They you know, Lowe was hurt at Pitt, and Pitt
wasn't you know what I'm saying, wasn't the NCAA team
you know, you got you got kids. Now they're just
transferring just for money. They're not transferred for no other reasons.
Why how could you leave Florida a national championship team

(01:00:21):
and Florida is still good right now and you could
be an intricate part on that team right now that's
going to fight for a national championship.

Speaker 6 (01:00:29):
Again this year.

Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
He is playing a bigger role here. You can argue
about how effectively, but he's probably getting more minutes here.

Speaker 6 (01:00:39):
Yeah, yeah, he is, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 9 (01:00:41):
But he's getting more minutes on a team.

Speaker 6 (01:00:44):
When he was he was.

Speaker 10 (01:00:46):
Good enough with the minutes that he was playing at
Florida to help him win.

Speaker 6 (01:00:50):
A national championship. Okay, now no more, no less.

Speaker 10 (01:00:56):
Now he comes here, he plays more now that coach
at Florida and think he deserved to play more for
them to be as successful in the national championship. So
now you're taking a kid who's used to playing fifteen,
maybe twenty minutes a game. Now you're trying to play
him thirty minutes a game. Maybe he's not a thirty guy.
To help you be at that national championship level.

Speaker 2 (01:01:15):
Yeah, but in all fairness, if you were playing alongside
Jalen Low, we'd have a better idea what he.

Speaker 6 (01:01:19):
Is, no doubt doubt.

Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
It always comes back to the point guard.

Speaker 10 (01:01:26):
It comes back to the point guard. And guess what happens.
Look at this, dick, How about this North Carolina beat us?

Speaker 9 (01:01:33):
But they did have a backup point guard.

Speaker 2 (01:01:34):
That's right, he is Sean Woods. He is the unforgettable guard.
Head coach of Scott County High School season begins very
shortly here. We'll keep you posting on that, coach, have
a great day.

Speaker 6 (01:01:44):
Your two dick.

Speaker 2 (01:01:45):
Western Bureau chief, but we were bunked yesterday by women's basketball,
so we slide our Western Bureau Chief, Gary Moore to Thursday.
He of course, has been with us for a long time,
first as the West Coast Bureau chief when he worked
those many years Low those many years decades at kal
OS Radio. Now that he's back in LA the Louisville area,

(01:02:08):
he's at the west end of I sixty four.

Speaker 8 (01:02:10):
What's up, guy like you and will Stein, Kentuckian who
came home. That's right, we're talking about that in a minute.
But here we are two guys and a six pack.
Oh sports stuff. Our first swig here, Dick. Some years
you wake up and you say, hey, my old high
school's playing for a state championship this Saturday. Of course, you,
being the proud Trinity alum, you get to say that
about every year, right, That's right. It happens a bet,

(01:02:33):
including this one. But for the first time, Dick, since
nineteen ninety four, I can say that my Murray Hide
Tigers are playing for the state three A championship. It
has been They've been in A and DOUBLEA. Now they're
in three A. This Saturday high noon Kroger Field, the
fourteen and O Tigers, number two in the state, take
on number one Protestant powerhouse, Christian Academy of Louisville. I'm

(01:02:55):
Protestant's okay. The Centurions are also fourteen and oh and
of course in after the about four o'clock your number
one Trinity rocks twelve and two on the season, basically
twelve and zero in the state of Kentucky. Those two
games were like Cincinnati take on thirteen to oh South
Warren for the six A crown. I will be at
the stadium on Saturday where might you be, my friend.

Speaker 2 (01:03:16):
I just may work my way over there because volleyball
will have been completed by then. But I've got a
wedding to go to on Saturday, so I don't know
if I'll be free from that by then, So either way,
I'll be having a good time. But South Warren, there
are good football players in that part of the state.
I'm not being I'm not pandering or whatever, but yeah,

(01:03:38):
Trinity has become such a powerhouse. I will admit it's
almost unfair event is that we have over six a
but they can't. You know, they've talked, they flirted with
a separate division for the private schools, but that kills
your gate at the state playoffs, and that kills your
high school Athletic Association budget. So you just got a

(01:03:58):
soldier on.

Speaker 8 (01:04:00):
It's a good problem to have.

Speaker 4 (01:04:01):
I guess.

Speaker 8 (01:04:03):
Second swig here, speaking of your high school alma mater,
did you ever think you would see a day when
both Louisville and UK football head coaches are Trinity grads?

Speaker 2 (01:04:10):
Amazing?

Speaker 8 (01:04:11):
Will Stein? Of course, the new top cat imported from
Eugene back home here in the Commonwealth. What was it
that happy Chandler said? I never met at Kentucky and
who wasn't either thinking about going home or actually going home.

Speaker 2 (01:04:22):
Yeah, another example of that.

Speaker 8 (01:04:25):
And as you know, Dick, I've been a huge Oregon
football fan for a long long time. I've loved Will's
work last couple of years with the Ducks, some great,
great schemes. I cannot wait to see how he's finally
going to open up the oh there at Kroger Field.
And you know what, this is a really good omen
for UK getting the latest oc from Oregon. Last school
that did that, Arizona State got Kenny Dillingham. How'd that

(01:04:46):
work out last year in the playoffs? With that, the
Scataboo guy seemed to do okay. Will seemed to have
won the introductory press conference. How is he doing here
on what day? Three or four? With the BBN?

Speaker 2 (01:04:57):
So far, by all accounts, you know, he's won them over.
I think the enthusiasm did a great job with the
news conference yesterday. He was funny, he was reverential and
deferential and yeah, just from all accounts by social media,
and of course social media is never inaccurate, you know,
but and it'll stay that way Gary till he loses

(01:05:19):
his first game because look at how they've turned almost
instantly on Mark Pope. I mean, all the top fifteen
wins last year, the press conference, pep rally last year,
that is a fading memory because of the outrage right
now that a team missing three of its top six players.
By the way, thank you, is struggling right now. So yeah,

(01:05:40):
that's but that's college sports. That's the way it goes.
But I think you know he's pushing all the right
buttons as well as offering thanks and a tip of
the cap to Stoops, a guy you're about to talk
talk about.

Speaker 8 (01:05:55):
Yeah, our third swig here. The events over last weekend
locally here reminded me of a great Andy Griffith episode
where Sheriff or actually Deputy five, Deputy Fife cut this
one out. Let me fix that again, ye, where Deputy
five keeps accidentally releasing unwanted criminals and Sheriff Taylor has

(01:06:17):
to keep recapturing them, to which Andy says, Barney, we
can't have this. Those last four words may have been
the first four that Mitch said to Mark after the
forty one to nothing humiliation the last straw on Saturday.
Stoops is leaving, obviously with a platinum parachute and with
some class as well that you've pointed out everybody else's

(01:06:38):
pointed out. Agreeing to spread the buy out over time.
It's kind of like, how I'm buying this cool Oregon
Grateful Ducks Jersey. Just six more payments and it's all mine.
You've covered Mark's press conferences, You've spoken to him on
the sidelines year after year since what twenty thirteen. You
probably know him better than most in the media. You've
talked to him so much. What will you miss about

(01:07:00):
market and some of those chats?

Speaker 2 (01:07:02):
You know, that's a great question, because I was talking
on the state wide radio show that was supposed to
be the final Mark Stoop Show of the season, but
it just turned into We called it the Kentucky Football Show,
and it was Tom Leach and Jeppikorro and me from
the UK Radio network. And one of the things I
mentioned was the fact that when when Stoops got here,

(01:07:24):
the way he spoke to the media carried himself. I
studied his resume as we all did, and the way
he went about his job, for lack of a better term,
I kept saying, Wow, this is a professional football coach
and he handled himself that the same way, and I
was impressed with the way he handled the media, and
he was, you know, a little little rocky at first.

(01:07:44):
He had to learn his way, and he always talked
about sort of a half smile. I'm not going to
give you a SoundBite or a headliner. You're not going
to trick me into saying something. So he had his
little bit of his guard up. But I got to
tell you, Gary, I can't tell you how many times
during games where Kentucky was really struggling and either during
a commercial break, one of my colleagues or somebody on

(01:08:05):
the side, I would say, boy, I don't envy you
walking up to him at halftime, never a problem. Never
you know, there's been a coach in the past may
who made it tough, made it tough on me, win
or lose. But Mark Stoops, regardless of the situation, was
always professional and oftentimes the TV reporter would soften him up.

(01:08:27):
But many times if they were losing, I was the
only guy who talked to him, and always all I
can say is Gary very professional, and I really appreciated it.

Speaker 8 (01:08:37):
To that point I was listening to the to the
game on on the radio over the weekend and and
I heard you, you know, at halftime. What do you say? Well,
this was a perfect example of what every sideline reporter
should learn from. You went up to Mark and said, uh,
this is yeah what basically it was, Uh, you guys

(01:08:59):
have been shooting yourselves in the foot? How do you
fix this?

Speaker 3 (01:09:02):
Yeah?

Speaker 8 (01:09:02):
Bam done, Miccrop, thank you. That's all you need.

Speaker 6 (01:09:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (01:09:07):
Uh Mark. He always seemed like a very secure guy,
which is a lot of coaches are not so.

Speaker 2 (01:09:12):
And even if he's not, you're right, that's a great point.
Even if you're he's not. He projected that exactly fourth swig.

Speaker 8 (01:09:19):
Huge NFL game Dick at the end of this hour
tonight Cole Boys at the Lions, Detroit's three point favorite.
And you know, I love the Lions, but if they
couldn't cover your Wis Watson and Dobbs receiving law firm,
how can they possibly stop CD and Pickens and Ferguson
and Dak As much I hate to say a Dick,
I think Dallas is going to win this game tonight,
speaking of your pack. An NFL Championship restaurant Quality Games.

(01:09:43):
Sunday four, twenty five, Bears at Lambeau Pack six and
a half point favorites. I'm going to take your boys
unless they come out in one of those lame alternate uniforms.

Speaker 6 (01:09:52):
You like.

Speaker 2 (01:09:53):
Fix that.

Speaker 8 (01:09:53):
You're a stockholder, could do something about that, man mass
As for college conference championships, I got Tech Tech over
BYU again. I got Bama over Georgia again. And give
me Indiana was some payback for last year over some
university from the state of Ohio.

Speaker 2 (01:10:11):
Well, I would like to see that. That would be fun,
but I don't think it'll happen. Uh Yeah, I kind
of like Bama as well in that game, and I
do like Tech.

Speaker 8 (01:10:20):
My boys.

Speaker 2 (01:10:21):
The Packers have the worst throwback uniforms and there's more
than one we got, you know, the thing that makes
them look like bees, you know, the striped ones, and
I just I just can't stand them.

Speaker 8 (01:10:33):
And the Detroit.

Speaker 2 (01:10:34):
Yeah, Detroit's got to get to dak. If they let
Dax sit back there and pat the football, Dallas will win.
Now I need Dallas to win. I hate to say
that because of the divisional race, but I just can't
stand the Cowboys. So I share your concerns.

Speaker 8 (01:10:51):
Yeah, Fitzwig, let me get my two cents on the
story of the week. Obviously, football fans in Oxford finally
found out what fans and Knocks and Boca Ratone and Oakland,
and especially those of US media types who were out
in southern California for so many years already knew about
little Lane Kiffin. He's all about Numero uno himself, only

(01:11:12):
he doesn't use his index finger to show he's number one.
He uses the middle finger. Most recently at the Old
Miss players and fan base. We saw Dick his infinite
petulance in Los Angeles, first as this insufferable assistant to
Pete Carroll, then of course head coach at USC where
he was so hated they didn't even wait to get
his butt back to Heritage Hall on campus. They fired

(01:11:32):
him there on the tarmac. He's been despised by the Trojans,
still Raiders, Balls, Rebels, and basically anybody who believes you
don't leave the best team you've ever coached before, the
biggest game or games of your or your players's lives,
just for more money and perceived better situation. Of course,
that's what Brian Kelly thought to as well.

Speaker 2 (01:11:53):
Dick.

Speaker 8 (01:11:53):
I would wish Lane a lot of luck, but Mama
didn't raise a liar.

Speaker 2 (01:11:57):
You know, when Lane did exactly what he did, I
kept thinking, if you're LSU and you really want him,
you'll let him coach through the playoff. You want higher
moment it official, If you want to leak it, that's fine.
And if now Ole Miss did the smart thing and
demanded an answer, I thought, but you know, so they

(01:12:20):
were kind of trapped. But I do remember when Mike
Pratt was being recruited by Kentucky. He was looking at
his hometown Dayton and another school or whatever, and they
told him, you know you better commit because you know
Adolph Rupe's not going to wait. And as an eighteen
year old, Mike Pratt savvy said, if he really wants me,
he'll wait. But Ole Miss kind of kind of put

(01:12:40):
it to Kiffen, what are you going to do and
gave him a deadline, even though Kiffin said there wasn't
the most telling thing to me, Gary is that both
the ad and the players at all. Miss said that
what Kiffin has said happened in Oxford before he left
for bet Rouge was not entirely true, and one of
the linebackers tweeted, everybody that was in there can vouch

(01:13:01):
for this, saying it didn't match with what he said
to the players, And he made up a story apparently
about an Ole miss fan trying to run him off
the road, and the Mississippi Highway Patrol which escorted him
went on record saying Nope, nothing happened. You know, he
could go back later and say he was speaking metaphorically,
but we know he wasn't. He just told us once

(01:13:23):
again who he is.

Speaker 8 (01:13:26):
Absolutely. Sixth and final swig into all of that, Dick,
I may never watch ESPN Game Day again as long
as Sabin and Herb Street are there two guys who
shielled for Kiffin, f over his team and fan base.
What did Kirk say? Oh, you got to put your
emotions aside? Really, Kirk, how would you like it if,
right now, Ryan Day, your boy left your beloved Buckeyes for.

Speaker 2 (01:13:48):
Michigan and tried to take coaches with exactly would you.

Speaker 8 (01:13:51):
Still let him coach?

Speaker 2 (01:13:53):
Yeah?

Speaker 8 (01:13:53):
This is a case, Dick. I'm telling you of two
CAAA agent Jimmy Sexton clients defending a brother client. Now,
I made some calls this week. The people in LA
who know CAIA Creative Artist Agencies better than me I'm
told CIA clients do not publicly bad mouth other CAAA clients,
big reason why they don't want to get dropped from
the agencies. What the best in the business, Saban said.

(01:14:15):
Everybody should be thinking about the players. What's best for
the student athletes? Thank you, coach Saban of obvious Tech.
The best thing for athletes is not to lose your
freaking coach going into twelve team playoffs with a shot
at winning it all. Yep, okay, if this dick, If
this doesn't get the NCAA to adopt the NFL rules
of no contact yes for coaches before the season's end,

(01:14:37):
what will I agree?

Speaker 2 (01:14:38):
I think that would fix a lot of this. And
then someone will sue and make it go away. And
you're right, is it about the players or isn't it?
If it is, back it up, he is. Gary Moore
will come back with a couple of hot regions. Just
a minute here on six thirty WAP Welcome back. We're
chatting with our West End bureau chief, Gary Moore. We
have heard two guys in a six pack. Time to
throw a couple of hot reads at Gary and see

(01:15:00):
if he can scramble Gary. The finalists have been announced
for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and in the
final five Kenny Anderson, the Great Bengals QB should have
been in there a long time ago. I think we'll
all of the men, amen, But also coincidentally enough or
ironically enough, choose your words, Craft and Belichick, who together

(01:15:23):
built the Patriots. But what a delicious irony, isn't it.
You know that voters will choose between the two. I
know which way I would go, But just the fact
that they're both on the ballot at the same time.
It's not unusual for an owner to be on a
ballot and the un an owner. It deserves a lot
of credit. But this Craft deserved Hall of Fame Laurels

(01:15:45):
for what he did with the.

Speaker 8 (01:15:46):
Patriots, don't you just I'm just foaming at the mouth
thinking about seeing those guys on the same podium together.

Speaker 6 (01:15:54):
Bill.

Speaker 8 (01:15:54):
Once you stand right here, Ron, come on over here,
stand next to Bill. We want to get a shot
at you guys.

Speaker 2 (01:15:58):
Let's which your arm around him.

Speaker 8 (01:16:02):
Yeah, I'm glad you said pro football not college Hall
of Fame. Yeah, yeah, I think they'll get in. I
think both of them because you're not l owners love. Yeah,
I do. I think the NFL we're on the same ballot. Possibly,
Oh yeah, I won't be But put it this way,
I won't be surprised. I will not be surprised.

Speaker 2 (01:16:17):
Yeah, definitely, Yeah, I'd be okay with Belichick. But if
Kraft gets in and head of Kenny Anderson.

Speaker 8 (01:16:25):
Well no, no, no, no, no, I don't want to
see that.

Speaker 2 (01:16:28):
And one of the great experiences of my life my career,
such as it is, was covering DERMANI Dawson going up
you know, Steve Mawson. I drove up there and covered
it for Channel twenty seven. That is such a great
event and great moments, and it is seeing what it
means to these guys. It's phenomenal. Hot Rey number two.
We're going to go talk about a school that you
covered when you were working in Los Angeles, Southern Cal.

(01:16:51):
It is a Lakers and I guess Rams market, but
Southern Cal for so long was the big dog there.
And then we all know what happened with USC football. Well,
Lincoln Riley's got the Trojans playing good football again. They've
been in the conversation for the playoffs and now in
some corners has landed the top recruiting class not an

(01:17:13):
SEC team, not a Big ten team. Well technically it is,
but you know, an old Pac twelve team. But does
that mean Gary the Trojans are back with a capital B.

Speaker 8 (01:17:22):
First time they've had the number one recruiting class in
the country in two thousand and six, but they'd already
won championships by then. Yes, haven't won any since.

Speaker 2 (01:17:30):
So just a correlation.

Speaker 8 (01:17:33):
And this is Lincoln's last stand. Basically, you know, for
the first couple of three years he was there, it
was like, well the local guys, the California kids are
here just because it's local. Oh really, Okay, well then
thanks for that attitude. We're going to go and check
out what Oregon's doing and what Florida is doing. Yeah,
everybody else. But now they made a commitment and Jim

(01:17:53):
Bowden's boy is their general manager, ah now, and he
has made a complete difference in getting the California. Of
the thirty five recruits they've got, I believe twenty, at
least twenty are from right there in California. They han't
anybody from modern day the Powerhouse in three or four years.
So I do wonder what kind of nil money can

(01:18:16):
a kid get in southern California in Los Angeles when
the Lakers and Dodgers and Rams and whoever chargers are
scooping up all the endorsements, SC backers pockets are deep,
and now you're seeing it. I think finally you're finally
seeing a commitment to the local kids and some money
to back it up. I think at the bottom that's

(01:18:37):
the bottom line. And you've got a general manager who's
really working it. Yeah, so all these things are in
his favorites up to Lincoln.

Speaker 6 (01:18:42):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:18:43):
Yeah, people don't realize SC is not a big school.
It's a private school. It is, you know, but it's
got a lot of advantages, just as Gary Moore has
a lot of advantages as our West MBO chief. Find
him on Twitter or x at.

Speaker 8 (01:18:56):
At nine to five to five. Gary, that same fabulous
joint you're found at, Big.

Speaker 2 (01:19:00):
Blueing Cider one, Stay warm, a friend, have a good weekend.

Speaker 8 (01:19:03):
Go Trinity especially, go Murray High Tiger.

Speaker 2 (01:19:05):
And that'll do it for now. Thanks so much to
my guests, to Sean Woods and Gary Moore for sliding
things into Thursday, and of course to John Hale and
a reminder UK Volleyball and SEC plus right now, ESPN
plus as well, and we'll have it again tomorrow night,
win or lose, but the wack hats expected to be
wafford this evening. Thanks so much. That's a good night

(01:19:27):
from the garage in Leximo.

Speaker 6 (01:19:29):
He's got a beautiful bad dads.

Speaker 3 (01:19:31):
Oh he got all of that one. He's gotta be
pleased with that. The crowd is just on his feet here.

Speaker 2 (01:19:38):
He's a sender on a boy tears in his eyes.

Speaker 6 (01:19:41):
I guess he lies.

Speaker 3 (01:19:42):
Up this last shot.

Speaker 2 (01:19:43):
He's got about one hundred ninety five yards.

Speaker 3 (01:19:46):
Left and he's gonna looks like he's got about the.

Speaker 11 (01:19:48):
Da bat Statuta. Then back out stacks.

Speaker 4 (01:21:16):
To tatting

Speaker 10 (01:21:35):
To the