Sunday Morning Sports Talk - October 5, 2025 - Hour 3

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Stockyards Bank Sunday Morning Sports Talk presented by
the Lead Troop Borg Radio Network on six point thirty WLAP.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Welcome back Stockyards Bank Sunday Morning Sports Talk. I'm Anthony
White along with Larry Vaught, coming to you from Clark's
Main Street Markets Studios in Lexington, Kentucky, and we're now
happy to be joined by Stashia Macbeth to talk about
Hoops the Heels event that happened Friday at Memorial Coliseum.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Good morning, miss Macbeth. How was the event Friday?

Speaker 4 (00:35):
Good morning Anthony and Larry. Oh, the event was amazing,
just like growing up. I grew up in the mountains
of eastern Kentucky and was a huge Kentucky fan my
whole life, a big fan of the ninety sixteen. So
actually getting to meet Coach Poe and the players and
geta interact with them and all the ladies of the
Big Blue Nation, it was an incredible, amazing event.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
And do you guys get to participate? Do you guys
uh get to do drills and things like that or
you are the experience is really just watching it and interacting.

Speaker 4 (01:07):
So we didn't get to do any drills, but we
got to interact with the players, and then coach Alvin
Brooks did a little thing where he talked about how
they graved the players on their body language, so like
during games, if the players use negative body language, they
lose points and then if they have positive body languages
they get points. He talked about that, and then we

(01:28):
got to do a question and answer session with coach
Pope and his wife.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Leanne, And did they discuss any of the new technology.
I know basketball uses it, and I don't know how
neat you may find that that they have these equipments
that they hooked to the players and they can tell
how much energy you're exerting and if your heart rate
and all that stuff. Did they discuss any of those
type of things with you all.

Speaker 4 (01:54):
A little? Coach Pop talked about it a little bit,
and so did Coach Brooks, But most of it was
like get questions from the crowd. So the ladies were
asking questions like how Like one lady asked, how did
you feel when coach Patino took the job at Louisville
to coach Pope.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
There was more.

Speaker 4 (02:10):
Questions like that. Like the fans. They were taking more
like fan questions.

Speaker 5 (02:15):
Stationed did you go to Hoops and Hills last year?

Speaker 4 (02:19):
I didn't go to last I didn't go last year,
So this was my first time getting to do one
with Coach Pope. I did one with Coach Call. I
did several when Coach call was here, and then when
Coach Hoops and Coach Brooks did on my did thirst too,
But this is the first one I got to do
with coach Coach Pope.

Speaker 6 (02:35):
And I know it takes a lot to surprise Mark Pope,
but I think you've probably surprised him pretty good with
what you brought him for a little gift at the
Hoops and Hills.

Speaker 5 (02:46):
Tell folks a little bit about that.

Speaker 4 (02:48):
I think I did so. Like I said, when I
was twelve years old, Coach Pope was a senior and
that was the ninety six championship team, and he had
came to Allen Central High School to do an event
called the Barnstorming Tour, and it was him, Tony Delk
and Water McCarty. They like scrimamato, local players in the
area and people from the area. And I got to

(03:10):
meet him there and took a picture with him as
a twelve year old kid. So I printed off two
copies of that old picture. Took it with me and
showed it Coach Pope and asked him could he sign it?
And he was really excited. And then I told him,
I said, you don't have to take this if you
don't want to, but I did print a coffee off
if you would like to have it. And he was like, oh, yes,
I would love it, Thank you so much, and he

(03:30):
was very nice. I could tell he was excited because
he probably had never saw that picture before. And here
this picture had hung in my room, you know, from
the time I was twelve years old till I moved
off to college. So it was a pretty big deal
to me to get it signed with him.

Speaker 6 (03:45):
And then you were and then you were telling me
a little last night too that that Mark and Leahn's
daughters were a pretty big part of Hoops and Hills,
but that you also have kind of an interesting little
connection with the Pope girls because of your son.

Speaker 4 (04:00):
Yes, so I do love all the Pope girls. Avery
wasn't there, so I was kind said she wasn't there,
but the other three were there. They're very down to earth,
very sweet girls. So my little boy and I have
made a video on TikTok and we were doing like
the Who's in the House tonight UK And at the
end of the video he said, Mom, I sure hope
the Pope girls are there. So when I saw Ellis,

(04:21):
she remembered the video of him. So they made my
little boy a video and it's me and one of
my friends, Debbie, who he calls Aunt Debbie, and we're like, hey, Peyton,
guess who Mommy and Aunt Debbie's with. And then they
flashed it over to the Pope girls and they say,
the Pup girls, we love you, Peyton. We hope you
to see you soon. So I haven't got to get

(04:42):
his reaction yet because he was with my mom. He
spent the weekend with hers, so he's coming home today.
So once I get his reaction, I have to send
it to him. She told me sendator on TikTok. So
they're pretty sweet girls. And then they had a moment
that pretty much had everybody there in tears. They all
three talked about what their mom meant to them and
how special she was, and then they did one with

(05:04):
the players as well, so like all the players talked
about their moms too and how special they are. And
I didn't realize that Aj he's like ten thousand miles
away from home, and that's what somebody mentioned. So he
was like, I got all kinds of moms here, like
temporary moms because his mom's so far away. So that
was kind of like a little piece with the Pope
girls though, so mout Peyton will have that video to
keep forever.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
That is neat Is that exclusively for women or are
there any men or little boys with their moms or there,
or is it all completely all women?

Speaker 4 (05:38):
They have like some of the coaches of course, and
then I think some of the graduate assistants and some
of the kids that like work with the programs there
that were males, But as far as that, it was
all women. Because even Trent Noah, of which I sent,
I sent Larry the video too. He even talked about
how he was a little boy growing up if his
mom would have did one of those events, he would

(05:59):
have had to have a basketball and be asking her
every question coming home, wanting to know what happened. And
that's been both of mine. I have my thirteen year
old in my five year old, and those bunch were like,
what were they like? Were they nice? What was Jasper Johnson, like,
what was Otaia like? What was this one like? So
they've been drilling me with questions, just wanting to know
what the players were like.

Speaker 6 (06:17):
And speaking of so, was there any was there any
one or two players that really kind of stood out
for you with their personality station.

Speaker 4 (06:26):
Oh, so I'm from eastern Kentucky, so of course my
love for Trent though was unreal because he's a mountain boy,
like I'm a mountain girl. But I felt Jalen Lowe
he is a sweetheart and the best kid, and so
was well, they all were fleet. I have to say,
I can't just pick one because they all were unbelievably nice.

(06:47):
Touch Pup's an amazing job. You can tell that, like
he shaped these young men into being like great people
and maybe are set in the standard for university.

Speaker 7 (06:55):
They were all great.

Speaker 4 (06:56):
But Jaen Lowe really stood out to me too, just
because he is extra nice to me, Like it may
just been like he was just so nice. So I
guess I can say all of them, but he stood
out the most, like to me myself, but all of
them were unbelievably nice. I was really impressed, and like
I was saying, I was surprised that they were so nice,

(07:16):
like they were just so gracious and respectful, and you
could feel like they really wanted to be there, and
that makes it Oh yeah, absolutely, And I think I'm
with you on that.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
I think Mark Stuper and Mark both he is a
guy who you know, molds the guys. He leads by example,
and I wouldn't expect anything less. But what I find
extremely interesting if you can confirm, so there were basketballs
available to be purchased there that you could get autographed.
And it's so it says fifty dollars a basketball to

(07:49):
Walmart is forty five dollars, So that is the heck
of a deal. But I would assume that I would
assume there was a limited amount or they had that
many basketballs available for all.

Speaker 3 (07:58):
You women.

Speaker 4 (08:01):
Bought mine during the pre sale. So when I registered
to get my ticket, you got the option to purchase
the basketball.

Speaker 7 (08:07):
So I got my.

Speaker 4 (08:07):
Then I saw people with more than one basketball. So
but person when we registered, it said you know, one
per person and then you can bring something into sign
if you needed it. And then when they did the announcement,
they said one to two autographs per person, So that
could be why people have more than one, but I
had the one basketball, and then of course I took

(08:28):
my picture for Coach Pope to sign of me and
him when I was a little girl. But yeah, I
mean for five simply like you're saying, for five extra ballers,
you're getting autographed of the basketball team, and that's something
you can keep forever. And most of those players, like
I think quite a few of them, will probably play
at the next level, so you'll have players that are
going to be professionals autograph basketballs as well.

Speaker 6 (08:50):
And what is the what is is?

Speaker 2 (08:52):
I always find this interesting? What is the most interesting
thing that you saw someone getting autographed? Was there any
besides I'm sure a picture that was back from the
nineteen nineties.

Speaker 4 (09:05):
I saw some people getting shoes autographed. I don't know
the story behind them by getting autographed. And I saw
a pillow case. It was like a Kentucky like it
looked like it was a homemade one, so that was
to play something some they had made. That's really the
only real interesting things I've seen, because I was kind
of like my shoes I had worn were custom made,

(09:28):
like Kentucky shoes that had in the deep dark hills
of Eastern Kentucky for Trent Noah, you know, essentially like
to represent him. But I didn't think to get my
signed to a way after I saw other people getting
on sign so I say, oh, man, I should have
got my shoes signed. But yeah, that was the probably
the most interesting thing I seen with shoes in the
pillowcase the station.

Speaker 6 (09:47):
It impresses me that you just kind of calmly through
out there about AJ who I'm assuming let's talk about Jeliviick.
I mean a lot of people. That's the first time
anybody got to really see or be around him. One
is that going to be his nickname here in Kentucky?
And Two, what did you kind of think about our
international player for this year?

Speaker 4 (10:09):
I think that's gonna be his nickname because that's what
all the players was calling him. There's no way I
could have pronounced his name, so we rolled with it
because they were all called him AJ. Two, he seemed
extremely respectful, nice. You could tell he was grateful to
be here. Even when he did his little speech talking
about his mom, you could tell he was grateful to
be to be here in the United States and to

(10:31):
be at the UK. I mean, why not. It was
the greatest tradition in college basketball. That's why he's excited
to be here. But yeah, he was very respectful too,
like I said, they all were, but I didn't get
to interact with him as much because the way they
had the tables set up at first, so they gave
out different ristbands. They had like blue, gray, and white wristbands,
and Blue went to get autograph first, and I had

(10:52):
a blue wristband. And they had two players per table,
so you had to stand in line for each table,
and by the time I got to his table, we
had a like less than a minute less, so I
got to get his autograph and take a picture with him.
So I didn't get to really talk to him a
whole lot, but he was extremely nice what little I
got to interact with him. Then they figured out that

(11:12):
wasn't gonna work to at a table, so then they
just put them off one table and you just got
to go down the line. But I'd already got his autograph,
so I just moved to the ones I hadn't got yet.
So yeah, I didn't get interact with him a whole lot,
but what little I did, he seemed like very gracious
and he was excited to be here and ready to play,
and he in practice what little I got to see him,
he looked like he was gonna be a big contributor

(11:33):
to our team.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
And stationed My last question just for the directors and
typically try to help out the people. What would be
if there was any improvement or anything that you would
like to have seen happen, or any improvement to which
you experienced, what would that be?

Speaker 4 (11:50):
Probably with the player interactions, just because everybody wants to
talk to all the players and get to know them
and get to communicate with them. Make like a smaller
sections to go or like divide it down to be like,
you know, the first five players are going to be here,
this many people can go here first, the next five here,
you can go here, just kind of so you can

(12:12):
get to talk to them, because once they talked. We
didn't realize when we first started, you know, we have
twenty minutes. So, like I said, my friend Davey was
with me, so her and I, you know, spend a
lot of time talking to Malakite, and we spent a
lot of time talking to Trent because they're the Kentucky Boys.
So by the time we moved around and realized we
didn't have any time left. We're like, oh wait, we
don't have a time to talk to the rest of them.

(12:33):
So that would be the thing for me, is like,
if they're gonna let us re interact for a while.
But now Coach Pope he would talk to everybody as
long as they wanted to talk. Like when I left
at nine o'clock, they were still people in line waiting
to see him and talk with him. But yeah, just
maybe something more organized to get.

Speaker 5 (12:49):
To talk with the players and say.

Speaker 6 (12:52):
Shamila's question would be what was Was there anything that
either Mark Pope or his boss, Leanne Pope said that
really kind of stood out to you or maybe even
surprised you that they shared with you all.

Speaker 4 (13:05):
One thing for sure, Coach Pope, he always said that
Leanne's very protective of her boys, so that's all the
players on his team. And he said she had a
salty side to her, and I'll ever see her having
a sauty side, because every time I've been around her,
she's been so sweet. But he said she has that
Saudi side when somebody talks negatively of her, you know,
the players or his family. And he said, we'll get

(13:27):
to see that Saudi side, because she's very protective over
those kids. I haven't seen it yet, so I'm gonn
keep an eye on her during games to see if
she gets rowdy.

Speaker 2 (13:36):
Well, Stacia, thank you for joining usus this morning giving
us account of the hoops and hells. Hopefully next sure
you will be able to attend again.

Speaker 4 (13:45):
Yes, I plan on it, Lord Willing, I'll be there.
I'll be there every year, Lord Willing.

Speaker 3 (13:50):
All right, all right, well appreciate your time this morning.

Speaker 4 (13:54):
All right, thank you guys for having me join. It
was nice talking to you.

Speaker 7 (13:56):
Go cats, Thank you.

Speaker 3 (13:58):
We will be back after this year.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
Listen to Stockyards Bank Sunday Morning Sports Talk on news
radio six thirty WLAP.

Speaker 1 (14:04):
This is Stockyards Bank Sunday Morning Sports Talk presented by
the lead Troop Boards Radio Network on six thirty w LAP.

Speaker 2 (14:13):
Thanks to Station Macbeth for talking to us about what
happened with hoops and hoops and hills over at Moorial
Coliseum with Coach Brooks and Coach Pope, two wonderful guys.
We're blessed to have some good coaches and at one
point our football coaches a great coach and I'm not
certain he is anymore, not certain enough money spoiled him.

(14:34):
But I've always liked Mark, But after yesterday's press conference,
I don't know, he just I don't know.

Speaker 7 (14:40):
Now.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
I feel like the fan base felt like when he
asked the pony up, because I don't think he was
asking me to pony up, so it didn't offend me
because I don't think I should have to pay. But
Larry Vass someone asked on social media, and I just
want to ask you, there's another thing I got going on.
Who is Barron? Who does Borron? Her answered? Who's Barnhardt's boss?

(15:01):
Is what they asked. Would it be the president?

Speaker 5 (15:04):
The president? President?

Speaker 3 (15:06):
Who's the president? This art capaludo?

Speaker 5 (15:08):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (15:08):
Eli, okay, but he doesn't.

Speaker 2 (15:13):
Do you think he gets involved in sports decisions or
something where he just kind of governs the university. Do
you think he has enough knowledge or leverage to to
do anything on those behalfs?

Speaker 5 (15:24):
Well?

Speaker 6 (15:25):
I think he has knowledge and he has leverage, but
I think he tries not to do anything to interfere
with that. That's why he's got Mitch to make those
decisions and to balance that athletics budget and do what
he does. But I think if he wanted to, he
could drop a hint or two, or or just ask
a question or something like that. But to be honest,

(15:47):
I kind of doubt if he does, because it seems
like Eli just kind of stays out of that and
that Mitch is the guy that makes those decisions. So
I think I think this is all a mitch a
miss saying that Eli roll with whatever Mitch wants to do.
But uh, it's going to be something that Mitch is
gonna have to address, and if he's not going to

(16:08):
make a change, I think he's gonna have to come
out and explain to Kentucky fans why he's not making
a change unless something still gets turned around this year.
As you said, there are still seven games to go.
A couple of games yesterday that I thought might be
a little bit better Kentucky's favorite didn't look quite as good.
But I will say I don't know that Texas looks

(16:29):
as in near as intimidating in two weeks as I
thought they were going to be.

Speaker 2 (16:33):
I agree with you, there's another subject going on, and
I'm gonna get this out of the way because I
know after the break there's some people calling him back
because there were people at the top of the hour
wanting to call in so you can join the show
eight five to nine to eight zero two two eight
seven eight five nine to eight zero cats. But Larry
I wanted to ask when the caller called in and

(16:53):
brought up Jimmy Sexton. I've been looking up some information
on Jimmy second. He has some heavy hitters on the squad.
So it ain't like this ain't the first time he's
been at negotiation table. And you've had your nose in
the business for a very long time. This is something
that can it agent, Now you can see it happen
in pro sports? Can it agent say, Look, my man

(17:14):
wants nine million and we're walking I have never heard
of anything like that in college, like a coach walking
away because the money ain't right.

Speaker 6 (17:21):
Is that something you've ever heard of in college? Yeah,
I mean that goes on that agents want to negotiate
like that. Now, again, we're not in those rooms to know.
And I think Kentucky was very worried that Mark Stoops
was being his name was being thrown around in some
other places after his second ten win seasons in four years,

(17:46):
and so I think he was able to negotiate pretty
much like John Caliperry was able to when he was
flirting with the UCLA job and Mitch said, hey, can't
lose him after the run. He said, whatever his agent wants,
we'll just give it to him. It was the same
situation here.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
But John cally Perry has won the national championship, so
he kind of got that leverage my whole my point,
and hear that brown down because they're acting as if well,
no one was after him. But I and I would
hate to think, like you said, the people that were
in that room, I would hate to think that they're
not competent enough to say, well, he's not worth nine million.
So then I guess the next offer would be like, look,
we'll give him seven point five, we'll give him eight.

(18:24):
But I don't know how they stuck on nine, because
it's like you said, you've heard it before. I'm not
certain if I'm that person. And I know it was
a lot of money, like you said it was at
that point in time. It wasn't a lot of grumbling
about getting that money. But I would have to say, look, man,
look i'll do eight. I don't know if I can
do nine.

Speaker 6 (18:40):
Never remember he didn't get nine million a year in
the contract. The contracts started out like a six and
a half or seven something like that. But each year
that he went to another Bowl game where he won
a certain number of games or something like that, then
the contract got bonus money. Plus it went up by
so much per year to where it was going to

(19:01):
think camp out at eight million or something unless he
gets some of these incentives, which he has, and now
let's put it up to about nine million.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
This is Stockyards Bank Sunday Morning Sports Talk presented by
the lead troop BOARDE Radio Network on six point thirty WLAP.

Speaker 3 (19:17):
I misunderstood something.

Speaker 2 (19:19):
The twenty twenty one Mark Stoops was making five point
twenty five and the next year the new deal that
he signed, I think after the ten win season put
him at six point seventy five with the two hundred
and fifty thousand increase every year, which would make the
next year seven million. And I'm with you at that point,

(19:40):
but I think there was a couple of bumps to that.
So it was only you know, I ain't gonna say only,
so it was and we talked about this on our podcast.
So I think the reality of it is it really
as you stated, the tenure of his of his employment
is what kind of made it as like they just slapped.

(20:02):
And for some reason I thought there was a huge
jump like in twenty two or twenty three or something.
I thought there was a huge jump, like a two
million dollar jump. But no, it's really just the increases
every year that it was supposed to end an eight million,
But I think it it was so I don't know.

(20:22):
So with knowing that, just speaking to the fan base
and the listeners, Larry, is that different? Well, you you
obviously knew that all along.

Speaker 3 (20:30):
I didn't.

Speaker 2 (20:30):
But breaking it down that way, should the fan base
be more understanding with that information?

Speaker 6 (20:40):
Yes, and no, I still think it was a contract
that you would say was negotiated much heavier in Mark's
favor than it was in UK's favor. But again, when
you've won ten games twice in four years, something that
I'd seen done once in fifty years, it gives you
a pretty good bargaining position. And again, if you go
back and look and research, there wasn't a whole lot

(21:02):
of people raising hell, that's contract that Mark gott and
the incentives that were in there. And then, like I say,
when he won I think he went what seven and
six each of the next two years. That kicked in
some extra money. Along with there was also an annual
raise put in, which I don't think is unusual in contracts.
But the next thing, it's up there at a pretty
high rate for you have that won four games and

(21:24):
it's two and three this year.

Speaker 4 (21:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yeah, So I think the biggest thing with a lot
of fan base that is talking about now, I think
the biggest thing is that. And I don't know, think
of a point and this was something interesting in Bow
and I talked about at a point we did we
did talk about they were talking about statues if he
doesn't stop this decline or this slide, Because if he

(21:50):
doesn't stop this decline or slide, does that mean that
there's gonna be no statues at any point? Like say
he goes to Florida State or somewhere and wins a
national championship, goes to the playoff, so he continues his
Kirk continues to get better and then he's still the
all time winning his coach here.

Speaker 3 (22:07):
Or if he slides down this.

Speaker 2 (22:11):
Slide down this razor blade and ends in nine and
three or three and nine, is that out of the
does the fan base and everybody and not care no
more about Mark soops.

Speaker 6 (22:24):
I think the older fan base will still appreciate what
Mark did, much like they appreciate what Rich Brooks did,
because they remember all the years that just getting to
a bowl game was a realistic or maybe even unrealistic
goal at times, but was a goal that the Kentucky
fan base wanted to see reached, and Mark made that

(22:46):
has kind of become just kind of comment that he
did it for eight years in a row. I think
the younger fan base doesn't know any different. They think
Exucky football has always been able to go to bowl
games and win ten So.

Speaker 5 (22:57):
What's the big deal we've saw?

Speaker 6 (22:58):
We've seen it twice, so I think it depend on
your age, is the one perspective you'll have about what
Mark did here And.

Speaker 2 (23:06):
Think of the Brooks Brooks and I was around that time.
I knew a lot more about what Brooks had going on,
and Brooks may have been very intelligent man as well
as a good coach got out of here or decided
to leave for whatever reasons.

Speaker 3 (23:19):
There's a lot of speculation.

Speaker 2 (23:21):
Is Mark Steup's not feel like that because you think
it's solely money, and once you lose touch with the
I mean, I've seen Steve Spurrier again, a name Urban Meyer.
There's been a lot of people who walked away from
the game because of I guess the grass, the control,

(23:42):
or just you know, the relationship with the game had left.
So do you think Mark Stoup's only reason that he
decides not to do something different like Brooks did is
because the money you think of solely money, I.

Speaker 5 (23:55):
Think that would be part of it.

Speaker 6 (23:56):
And of course, like when Rich walked away, he was
older than what Mark is, and he also the money
wasn't anything near like what Mark hans either, and Rich
wasn't getting the facilities that he wanted. So I think
there was a lot that went in into what he decided.
But I think probably his age and the money wasn't
overwhelming at that time. I mean, it's hard for anybody

(24:19):
in any profession, I would think, just to walk away
from nine million dollars to hear I mean, to hear
the eleventh goal on the New York Knicks and you're
still making nine million a year, and you think, but
I want to stretch it out another year or two.
I just want to say I was pretty good ten
years ago. Now you'd probably stretch it out too, maybe,
but people walk away all the time.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
I understand that you keep saying nine million, And the
more I think about it, the thing that's in the
back of my mind as well, wasn't nine many his
brother walked away from the game. Bob walked away, And
so there's other people that I'm like that are really
great that walked away, and I'm not. I mean, to
be quite frank, I don't think Mark Stoops was as
good as some of those guys. I don't think he

(24:58):
was good as Bob. I don't think he's good as
Urban Steve. But like I said, only kind of denominator
that you keep ringing in the back of my mind.
Those guys have won national championships and played in the
national championships, So I just only thing it could.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
Be is money.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
But I don't even at those guys points in time,
they were making good money. I'm not certain how much
Bob was making, but I'm sure Erban was making good money.

Speaker 5 (25:25):
Well that's a good point, but still, I mean, again,
it's just me.

Speaker 6 (25:30):
I think it's hard to walk away if you get
thirty four thirty eight, me and on the table because
I think a lot of guys, no matter how much
they haveng they don't always like to have more. Now,
there are some exceptions, as you said, but I'm just
not sure Mark is one of those exceptions.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
So I didn't want to get back to the team
part of the aspect of it, because I'm not sure
how long the team is going to stay bought in.
And you know, I think we may have started seeing
that with Kevin Joseph and some of those guys who
didn't want to play Bowl game start doing bone head
things and said that. I'm not certain them stoops ever
lost control of them, but I think, uh kind of questioning,

(26:10):
you know, how long is the team gonna stay bought in?
And you know some callers were calling before and the
guy that said he was at the game, that looks
like maybe they weren't. I'm actually I don't know if
the passion is there, and I don't know if the
compassion continue to be there. If you continue to lose,
or your teammates continue to drop footballs, the quarterback continues
to miss you on the back side of routes, or
the offensive coordinator every time they want to get you

(26:32):
the ball they run the jet sweep or a jet pass, whatever,
because that's considered to pass. But I was just looking
at the game yesterday, and I don't know if you
scratch your head or you felt any type of way
about Cutter pulling himself up off the field so many times,
and you know they're over there working on his neck
and he wind up getting run out of bounds and
getting his neck drove into the ground after they were
just working on his neck. At a certain point, it

(26:54):
becomes punishment. I think he needs the reps to get better.
But that game is well out of hand. You obviously
looked like he had been banged up pretty good. Not
just football banged up, but he was banged up pretty good.
Did it not make you scratch your head that we
didn't at least go to.

Speaker 3 (27:10):
Bow Allen.

Speaker 6 (27:13):
Part of it a little bit, But no, because I
want I know what the competitor the Cutter is And
I do think, and maybe you'll tell me I'm wrong
on this, but I do think that last touchdown drive
they put together, why it didn't impact the game at all,
Maybe it impacted the confidence of the offense and anything
they could do to try to help that they certainly

(27:34):
needed to do.

Speaker 5 (27:36):
But I think Cutter is a tough guy. He wanted
to be out there.

Speaker 6 (27:41):
I don't think he would have wanted to have come
out So I think if you're going to ride with Cutter,
you just went ahead and rode with him there and
let him go ahead and see what he's got. And
you also knowing you have a bye week that hopefully
gets just banged up and bruised and beat up, and
as you tell me, nobody ever stays one hundred percent
anyway once the season gets going, you go ahead and
see how he rolls through that. And he seemed to

(28:03):
handle it pretty well. So it actually impressed me with
that he stayed in there and what he did.

Speaker 3 (28:09):
Yeah, I'm with you.

Speaker 2 (28:10):
I do think that last touchdown and just getting a
little confidence late, I think it did a little something
for probably receiving core, probably for Cutter himself, and maybe
even bush Ham didn't. I do think there's a part,
there's a portion of me, and there's probably a whole
lot of Georgia that feels like because you've heard team
said it, well, those were the backups that were in.

(28:30):
So if your starters in against the backups and you
score a touchdown. Can you be that happy? Because I
know if I'm on the other side and we're beating,
say we'd beat Eku sixty or don't matter who. But
I'm just you remember whooping Eku beat Eku sixty five
nothing and they scored late touchdown, So score sixty five
to seven. I'm sure me as a third string getting
in him scoring is fine, But when we had our

(28:52):
or your starters and you've scored against my third string,
then we're just kind of like, look, man, that was
that was against our backups, So don't even So there's
there's that part of it too. But let's get tough
the phone lines and see where Rick has to say,
good morning, Rick, what do you got for us?

Speaker 7 (29:07):
Well, he brought up a good word the other segment
where you mentioned confidence, And I know I'm calling the
Mitch Barnhart fang club, but I think that Mitch's confidence
needs to be questioned. After these contracts and also hiring
Joker and Billy Gillespie, I think he gets a free pass.
And I think anybody but Lee Todd would have fired

(29:29):
Mitch Barnhart a long time ago.

Speaker 2 (29:32):
Yeah, I mean, we're a fan club, but I will
say this, maybe the contract Rick, Timmy, if you agree
with is the contracts maybe questionable? But what John Caliperry
had done most of his time here wasn't bad. And
if Mark Steus decided to leave two years ago, is
it ded Mark? Did Barnhart do a bad job? Will

(29:53):
hire him? I mean maybe the Billy? The Billy was
a bad just bad all the way around it. I
think Joker was a coach in waiting thing that was
set up well before Brooks left.

Speaker 3 (30:06):
So do you give him.

Speaker 2 (30:07):
Are the contracts that what you've given him a problem
with or the personnel that he hired.

Speaker 7 (30:12):
I think it's a little of both. I mean, I
think both of those hires were just laziness on Barnhardt's part.
You know, I thought we should have had a nationwide
search and gotten the best guy and I who was
in the next office.

Speaker 5 (30:26):
And I just think he's got to pass.

Speaker 7 (30:28):
On a lot of things. And I think he's done
good providing, you know, things for the teams. I don't
think he's been all that great for the fans. My
father played for coach Bryant and Collier back in the day,
and you know, we've always gone and I think Cal
did a great job, and I think Stukes did a
great job. But I think we've been put in the

(30:48):
position when we have no leverage, and I think that
was a mistake.

Speaker 2 (30:53):
Well, I appreciate Carl Rick, I Larry Vo I don't
really disagree with a lot of stuff Rick said.

Speaker 3 (30:59):
Do you think that you think that it changes at
this point to pressure on Barnhart?

Speaker 4 (31:04):
Now?

Speaker 5 (31:07):
I think it probably should.

Speaker 6 (31:10):
I don't know that I necessarily think it will, but
I think it probably should, and we will see because
he's gonna have I mean, I think I think there
will still be good crowds for the Tennessee and Texas
games after that if things have not If you win
one of those two games, probably everything will be okay

(31:33):
in Mitch's mind. If you lose both of those games,
what happens in November, I think you're going to probably
not as many people at games at all. Of that
certainly has to get your attention. But again, I think
Mitch is a very loyal guy and he's certainly not
one to pull the trigger as FAST's what on people

(31:54):
is what a lot of us think maybe he should
or could, and spending that kind of money, I think
that's not something he's prone to want to do. And
again I don't really know, and fairness to him on
balancing budget, maybe they don't have forty million dollars or
thirty six million dollars. Maybe there's not people out there
they're going to come up with that kind of money

(32:17):
to do that. Because again, even the big donors, I
would think you can leave them drive at a certain point.
So I don't know if Kentucky is committed enough to
football to pay somebody thirty six million dollars, not the coach.

Speaker 2 (32:31):
Do you think you don't think we have you dobt
that we have twenty millionaires that will give two million
dollars apiece.

Speaker 3 (32:39):
That that's okay, And that isn't that the easiest way
to do it if you want to do it?

Speaker 5 (32:44):
Yeah, but I don't.

Speaker 6 (32:45):
I don't think Kentucky has twenty people that could that
could contribute two million dollars a piece to do it.

Speaker 3 (32:50):
You could say it, Nobody will get mad at you.
You could have said it, Larry.

Speaker 5 (32:54):
Now that's all I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (32:55):
I don't think us a pony up. Why did your
friend say.

Speaker 6 (33:00):
I just hate to keep us in that world. I
just hate the use of it because I think it
was a mistake for Mark to use it. I hate
to fall into his footsteps.

Speaker 2 (33:10):
And uh, before we go to break, do you think
you agree with what I told Rick that he said
he calls us the Barnhart fan club. Me, like I said,
I appreciate it because one thing about us, we cover
a lot of Olympic sports as well, so we appreciate
what he's done on that aspect. But my response to
Rick said a joker was a was coaching waiting, so

(33:32):
that was kind of maybe he said he didn't like it,
so at that point in time we had no idea,
but it was already pre established. If Mark Steups doesn't
overstay his welcome or just keeps control of his program,
then that doesn't become a bad hire. If he continues,
if he had continued to increase or at least seventy five,
eight and fours. At this point, it looks bad, But

(33:54):
up until the past few years, it didn't look terrible.
Caliperi didn't look terrible until the past to be people
overstayed there, but he said they were bad hires. Only
went out of all that. I think was a bad
hire because from everything I hear that Gillespie was.

Speaker 6 (34:10):
Yeah, I don't we warned about it he did, Yeah, yeah, exactly.
I don't think Mitch did a thorough enough check on that.
I think he got excited when Gillespie came in and
won games in the NCAA in Lexington, and I think
he jumped and he'd also got turned down by Billy
Donovan and he wanted to get somebody, and that's what
he did. I think hopefully he learned from that. I

(34:31):
think again Joker again was a very popular selection when
it happened. It was like the fan base was revoting, saying,
oh my god, how can you make him the heck
that was the coach that from my memory that all
the majority of fans wanted was Joker Phillips at the time.

Speaker 2 (34:47):
Yeah, it kind of reminds me Josh summer On in
that aspect. Now he's Kentucky boy, We're not Kentucky boy.
But actually, uh played here. Somebody could come back and
reinvigorate the program. You were listening to Stockyards Bank Sunday
Morning Sports Tacolus Radio six three WLAP