Softy & Dick 4-9 Hour 3: Jon Wilner, Penix in NFL, Brian Schmetzer

In the third hour, Dave Softy Mahler and Hugh Millen chat with Jon Wilner about the NCAA title game ratings, Caitlin Clark and Connecticut, then discuss how Michael Penix translates to the NFL before talking with Sounders FC Head Coach Brian Schmetzer.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's time for our weekly PAC twelveconversation with San Jose Mercury News reporter John
Wilner, brought to you by SimplySeattle. Our friends at simply Seattle dot
com have the most amazing collection ofall things Seattle Seahawks gear uw hats the
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(00:23):
something, something catch your eye atsimply Seattle dot com. Be sure and
use code kjar fifteen for fifteen percentoff anything on the website at simply Seattle
dot com. Here he is theoutgoing pope of the pack, the incoming
baron of the Big ten. Ourfriend from the San Jose Mercury News,
John Wilner, Johnny, how areyou man? I am good? Thanks?

(00:44):
Hey you guys good good? HuMellen's here. Dick is flying back
from Maui. He says, Hello, We'll talk with him next week.
Uh give me though your take.John is a guy that's covered college athletics
for as long as you have howhistorical a day and a weekend. This
was where, for the first timeever we can say the women out drew
the men when it came to theNCAA Basketball Championship game. How big a

(01:07):
deal is that. I think it'sa big deal, and I think it's
great, and I think that weneed to see what happens in the future
right before drawing, you know,full a final conclusion. Clearly, the
women's game is more popular than ever. Caitlin Clark is a phenomenon. They

(01:30):
had the perfect setup in the Finalfour with LSU as an opponent and then
with South Carolina as an opponent.They had close games, they had network
television, you know, broadcast TV. It all worked out perfectly, and
it's great. And the folks onsocial media and in the media ecosystem that
are trying to compare and contrast andcan say, well, it's good for

(01:53):
this, it's bad for that,they don't get it. It's good for
both sports. When women's basketball ispopular, that elevates it increases interest in
the men's game. And when themen's game is going good, it helps
the women's game. They build offeach other. Well, if you try
and isolate the variables, because there'sa number and you touched on there,

(02:15):
how much of it in your mindis just simply Caitlyn Clark and that's it,
you know, the Steph Curry ofwomen's basketball and doing things we haven't
seen in addition to her passing,What do you describe ascribe just her to
the phenomenon. Yeah, I don'tknow that I could put a percentage on

(02:36):
it, but she's a big partof it, there's no doubt about that,
more than half. And you know, I don't know if you're looking
at what I'd say is if youremove Caitlyn Clark, the numbers are still
higher than they've been for women's basketball, record breaking. It's there's still plenty
of evidence to suggest that it's morepopular than ever and it's very healthy.

(03:01):
But I also, you know,being realistic, right, I mean,
they are not the same ratings withwithout her. I think it's somewhere in
the middle. I think without herit's not like it is, but it's
way better than it was even threeor five years ago. Yeah, I
mean, look, nobody can knowfor sure the percentage. It's impossible to
pick that number and have an accurateresponse. But we I think, using

(03:23):
our frickin' brains, can understand thatCaitlin Clark has had an unbelievable effect on
the game. When when don Staleygoes out of her way to grab the
mic from Holly row last night andsay, look, I want to tell
people how impactful Caitlyn Clark has been. I think that's all you have to
know. But you know, John, I just wonder in the end,

(03:43):
what will this mean for women's basketballafter she leaves? Because I've made the
point with Hugh and I made ityesterday. We should be looking at the
numbers before Caitlyn Clark showed up andwhat they look like after she leaves to
have a real get, you know, feel for the impact, not just
looking at the numbers this year,saying well, if they're not as good
as they were this year, thenobviously they're just about a one off type
of thing. No, I totally, I totally agree with you, But

(04:06):
I think we need to let itplay out for a couple of years.
Right. We can't just use yeah, next year's numbers. I think it's
got to be multiple years. Andalso you have to, you know,
you have to take into account theplatform, right and being on ABC,
which is part of the new contractwith the ESPN, as well. Being
on ABC helps a ton, right, that there's zero doubt that over the

(04:30):
air television helps increase your your yourscope, no doubt. And the other
piece is and the Steph current comparisonis great because there is something about the
outside shooting that attracts fans who wouldn'tbe nearly as interested in you know,

(04:51):
somebody who is plays around the underthe basket, right. I mean there's
that attraction of the thirty or fortyfoot that you don't get with a player
that has a different style, whichis why it's going to be hard for
women's basketball to replicate Clark in anyway, shape or form. Juju Watkins

(05:11):
is phenomenal at the USC freshman,but she plays a different style. So
can she take be the heir apparentto Clark? I don't know because of
the way they play. Well,let's talk about last night and what you
saw. Obviously a dominant performance.We read that from a total net points
standpoint, this was the biggest winin tournament history, which obviously is saying

(05:34):
something. What did you learn fromDanny Hurley and the Huskies there that in
terms of a blueprint or a templatethat they're following, that's the way to
go for modern times? You know, I'm not sure if I could draw
like a full conclusion on a blueprint. He's got a great mix of players,

(05:58):
you know, he's got a freshmananswer. I mean, Tristan Newton
is two time most outstanding player atthe Final four. The guy was a
East He played for East Carolina forthree years, right, I mean,
and that's one thing. There's twothings that I think over and above Yukon's
dominance and clearly to me, besttwo year run certainly since Duke. Right,

(06:19):
it's the Hurley versus Hurley. It'sBobby Hurley's Duke teams in the early
nineties against Danny Hurley's Yukon teams.I think both of them are better than
that Florida back to back team was. But I look at the tournament two
things. One is the impact thatbig men had. I love it.
I really like watching the sport whenyou've got a seven footer or eediest case,

(06:45):
seven foot four guy who can scoreand play, and they had two
of them last night. And theother thing is the impact that transfers for
mid majors are having, right,I mean, look at Dalton connect the
guy from Tennessee. He you know, he's from northern Colorado, right,
Tristan Newton, East Carolina. There'sthis huge list of guys that came from

(07:05):
low and mid majors that are havingan impact in the tournament for the high
major schools, and I think that'sreally cool. Yeah. John Wilner's with
us from the San Jose Mercury News, Curtnesy of our friends, it's simply
Seattle dot com and John, Isaw where Damien Martinez, Oregon State running
back is going to enter the transferportal. I don't know if I was
impressed more by a running back thatplayed against the Huskies last year more than

(07:30):
I was Damien Martinez. He wasa pain in the ass to bring down,
by the way, and that OregonState game. Maybe some of it
was because of the rain, butI don't think so. This guy's like
best Mode part two. So howbig of a market do you think there
will be for Damien Martinez? Andbecause the Huskies already have the transfer from
Arizona in Coleman and Cam Davis,could you see Jedfish trying to get involved

(07:53):
in the Damien Martinez sweepsticks. Icould see I'm trying to get involved.
If I'm Martinez, I would bewary of going there when you've got the
you know, several established players,right. I think I agree with you.
I think he's terrific to me.You know, he's got that Stephen
Jackson power speed combo. But let'snot necessarily dismissed the possibility that he ends

(08:16):
up coming back to Oregon State.I mean, I think he's in the
portal. He's gonna see what hisnil options are. We'll see what the
Beavers do on that front. Maybehe comes back, but he will be
a prime commodity, there is noquestion about that. Well as so right,
you got it. When you're factoringin the transfers, you always have
to there's that home state factor,right. A lot of guys want to

(08:39):
end up their careers back in frontof friends and family. Now that's a
good point. You know what Ithought you were gonna say when you said
Damian Martinez should be wary because ofthe established guys. I thought you were
gonna say John that he should bewary because who the hell's playing offensive line
for the Huskies right now. Imean, if you're a transfer running back,
and yeah, I know Coleman camewith Jed Fish, but if you're

(09:00):
Damian Martinez, You're like, whothe hell's blocking for me? Dude?
They went from the best offensive linein college football that god knows what.
Yeah, no, great point.I still think Fisher's gonna find enough guys
to put together a decent line Okay, not very good, but decent and
the other pieces. You want toplay for a school that's gonna balanced offense.
If you're Damian Martinez, you don'twant all eleven guys on defense knowing

(09:24):
it's going to be a run andyou know so that means maybe going someplace
it's got an established quarterback and youknow so that the pressure is not entirely
on you. John Wilner with usand John back to hoops for a second.
You wrote or texted that David Rileyyou believe is a smart hire for

(09:48):
Washington State, especially when graded onthe Cougar curve. Kind of explained that
what do you like about Riley andwhat is the Cougar curve? Well,
I think the Cougar curve. Youcan't dismiss or ignore the backdrop of them
trying to make this higher when they'rean affiliate member of the WCC. They're

(10:09):
watching their their their penn You knowtheir pennies, and they got guys in
the transfer portal, and there's alot of uncertainty. So in the past,
if they're a packed club school,they can go into the WCC and
try and get a good coach.Now right now they're WCC school on basketball,
so it's more a matter of goinginto the big sky. And I

(10:31):
think, look the guy, youknow, he's a to me, he's
like Danny Sprinkle light. He doesn'thave quite as much head coaching experience,
but their paths are kind of similar, right, I mean, Sprinkle at
Montana State, Riley at Eastern Washingtonpretty comparable. Sprinkle, though, has
that great year at Utah State.But I think, you know, I

(10:52):
think he's a good higher for them, and he certainly knows the police,
right. He knows he's played againstgonzag he's lady against Washing State. He's
gonna be familiar with the terrain,and I think that's extra important for the
Cougars given their situation. Right.John Wilner is with us on the radio
show right now, and you mentionedthat you think that Jetfish can get a

(11:13):
couple of offensive linemen. I knowthat there is some I think enthusiasm from
their perspective that they might be ableto make a little bit of some progress.
So with the offensive line, andyou know, Jetfish was on with
us I think a month ago orso and said, look, I'm looking
for starting offensive linemen in the portal. So how likely is it, John,
that they can find two three startingoffensive linemen when the portal opens in

(11:37):
six days from now. I don'tthink there's any doubt that they'll find a
few starting offensive linemen. To me, the question is are those guys starting
offensive linemen that are good enough towin eight or nine games in the Big
Ten? Or they five and seven, six and six starting offensive line you

(11:58):
know what I mean? And that'sthe big question. Fish is a very
good recruiter, you know. Hehe he got a lot of good players
to Arizona, and he did itwhen Arizona was, you know, in
the gutter. So he's recruiting toWashington in the Big Ten, Washington's history.
I think he will find some guys. I just don't know if they're

(12:18):
going to be good enough for theHuskies to get into the top tier of
the conference. That's to me,that's the big question. Well, one
of the things he's selling right nowis just the NFL experience in the NFL
training, uh, he said.He said, he's not shy about saying,
look, everything we do is goingto be NFL style. And he's
got two coordinators, one Pete Carrollsoon one Bill Belichick's son, and in

(12:41):
fact Bill Belichick was on campus withwith with his famous sweatshirt in the hoodie.
But he's still has a w forthe Huskies. He's still out there.
Yeah, he's still out there.So he've been photographed out there.
What's your gut tell you as towhether or not that has anything tangible with
recruits in terms of that selling aspect. My gut is that that matters,

(13:05):
But it doesn't matter as much ashow much you got NIL. Right.
That's that that is ultimately the biggestindicator of success. And I don't know
where Washington stands within its NIL collectivesin terms of the amount of money they've
got available for offensive linemen and howmany offensive linemen and who they're going to

(13:26):
be competing against for those guys.But to me, I mean, Fish
can sell the NFL experience and hiscoordinators and staff and his experience all he
wants, and that's gonna help.But the key is going to be the
nil Yeah, no doubt. Well, look, I mean there's this donor
fatigue thing that's getting talked about rightnow, a lot about you know,

(13:46):
donors just getting sick and tired ofhaving to foot the bill for everything.
You know, fans asking buy ticketsby merchandise and hey, by the way,
now we need you to give usa bank roll to go out and
find players. And look, inthe end, you sell tickets and you
make money and all that stuff.But the NIL money that Washington has to

(14:07):
work with, John, if I'mnot mistaken, none of that is coming
directly still today from the university.This is still all about the collectives.
Is that correct? That is correctfor now? Yeah, there is gonna
be a change, and the NCUBLEAis gonna take the NIL piece in house.
It's gonna let the athletic departments brokerthe NIL deals with the athletes.

(14:33):
I don't know if that will beby twenty twenty five or twenty six.
With that is coming, donor fatigueis real. And the other piece is
is hard with the transfers. Right, it's so hard for donors to follow
what's going on because you got youryour whole roster's turn it over and they're
in a week. The NCAA isgonna allow transfers to be immediately immediately eligible

(14:58):
for this second and third time youtransfer. That's only going to add to
the difficulties that fans have kind ofgrabbing on to star players for multiple years
and feeling like you've got an emotionalattachment to the team and the and the
players. I think I think that'sgonna hurt not just Washington, but everybody.
A few weeks ago, Nick Sabanwas in Washington and he was meeting

(15:22):
with senators and congressmen about basically tryingto to get some type of anti trust
exemption, UH, to to getsome type of harness on all this.
Uh what's what do you know ofthe latest about those efforts on behalf of
administrators and what have you to tryand seek some type of legislation through Congress.

(15:46):
Yeah. See, that's the interestingpiece. He is NIL. At
the at the top level of collegesports where they're trying to figure out the
future, nil is an afterthought.Now. All the focus is on UH
players as employees, collective bargaining andand that kind of thing. And so

(16:07):
that's that's where the SEC and theBig Ten are in cahoots, and I'm
saying that in a good way,working together to try to figure out what
is gonna be the best model forour two conferences and for the rest of
college football, because we are gonnaget forced to bargain with these guys and

(16:27):
to pay them salaries and nil isalmost an afterthought in that whole calculation.
And we'll see it's gonna take it'sgonna take a little while. But that's
really where the concern is now,is the athletes's employees collective bargaining. Donn
I apologize. I interrupted you whenyou say they're going to be forced.

(16:48):
Who's doing the for scene? Andhow does that look the courts? I
mean the NCAA. I can't rememberthe last time the n CLA one in
in court, right. I mean, it just gets smacked around left and
right. And a lot of itstems from what was called the Austin case,

(17:11):
which went to the Supreme Court threeyears ago. Supreme Court ruled that
schools could pay athletes acted basically foracademic achievement. And the concurring opinion in
that Supreme Court ruling was from BrettKavanaugh, and he just skewered the nc
double A, and that basically openedthe door for a lot of attorneys to

(17:34):
come at the NCUBLEA to try tobasically dismantle its entire system. And I
don't know when the last time theywon NCAA won a case, but left
and right they're getting skewered. Andso they know the sec and the Big
ten know that the courts are goingto force them to pay the players,
so they're trying to figure out amodel to do it on their own terms.

(17:59):
And another side note on that,that wasn't the the plaint of Alston
taking that through the courts. Thatwas this. That was the NCAA A.
The NCAA lost it in the initialthey lost at the appellate level.
The NCAA appealed it to the tothe Supreme Court and then lost nine nothing.
So it's not just the High Court, it's it's all the lower courts

(18:21):
that have led to this and thisfeeling of exasperation, like there's no autonomy
that the NCAA has whatsoever, becauseevery time the structure, the compensation structure
is put to the courts, theystrike it down as as as not consistent
and not holding holding holding water withrespect to the anti trust laws. Think

(18:44):
about the worst teams in pack offhistory, I'm like, or recent history,
like the Huskies when they went winlesswith Willingham right, or the Washington
State teams with Paul Wolfs or someof those dreadful Oregon State teams. That
is the NC Douable A right,no question. John Wilner, great stuff.
We'll talking a week man. Appreciateit, buddy, Thank you,
pal, Thanks guys, Thanks youa gotting John Wilner with us on the

(19:08):
show We're gonna dive a little bitinto Roma Doonsday and Michael Pennox with Hugh
next on ninety three three kJ RFMO. Now back to Sophie and Dick Sports
Radio ninety three point three KJRF OWashington Huskies, see I'll crack. You're
home for the Huskies, all right, boys and girls. Back here at
Moss Bay Hall in Kirkland, gettingready for cracking coyotes at seven o'clock.

(19:32):
Frack God, come bine and trythe cracking stormy cracking black spice rum lime
ginger beer, one of the bigdrink drink specials. Here at the Moss
Bay Hall, one eleventh Central Way, the Old Wild Rover. Hugh,
I have not been in this locationsince hosting the Bryce Fisher Show about twenty
years ago when this was the WildRover. So here we are back at

(19:53):
moss By Hall. It's the QueenAnn Beer Hall's sister location in Kirklam.
Come by and check it out.Lunch special every day for ten bucks a
happy hour from three until six A. We got about ten minutes here.
You're on the thirty third team,the Big Think Tank with all you football
geeks out there, and you're gonnapresent a big presentation regarding Michael Petticks and
romadonsday. So give us kind ofa mini version. We'll start with Michael

(20:17):
on what you think is important forpeople to know about Michael Peticks. Well,
I think first of all, youjust go he's six foot two in
a quarter that is just slightly belowthe median two hundred and sixteen pounds.
The medians to nineteen, so he'sgot about average size, ten and a
half inch hands among the biggest rana four to five eight, which was

(20:37):
the fastest of the quarterback times avertical of thirty six and a half.
Really showed some some athleticism. Obviously, he was he led the nation in
passing in not just last year,but over the last two years. He
is first in college football nine fiveand forty four. Caleb Williams a second

(20:59):
at eight thousand, one and seventysome you know, thirteen hundred yards behind
a couple things. Between the hashes, Pennis has eighty five attempts, that's
tied for thirty fifth in the country. But outside the hashes he has four
hundred and thirteen yards. That's firstin all of Division one college football.

(21:21):
There have been forty nine. Lastyear, there was forty nine quarterbacks who
threw for over two thousand yards betweenmore than two thousand yards between the hashes.
Forty seven of those forty nine werebetween two thousand and three thousand yards.
Then you had Bo Nicks who hadthirty four to seventy nine. Pennix

(21:41):
was at four thousand and thirteen,and outside the numbers, Pennis two three
and fifty nine yards. That wasfirst in college football. The gap between
first and second is equal to thegap between second and twenty ninth. What
is that to He hammers the outsideof the field air yards plus twenty five

(22:03):
yards. He had seventy seven attemptswhere the ball was twenty five yards.
More, that was number one inthe nation. And of the of the
six quarterbacks who may go in thefirst round, the next closest was Drake
May at fifty seven. And Icould give the other numbers, so you
know, passes over thirty yards.His passer rating College football passer ratings three

(22:25):
hundred and five point one. Sothis is a guy that throws the ball
down the field, throws the balloutside the numbers. Now that some of
the highlights that al show, David, you know, one of the things
against Oregon in Husky Stadium, goingtowards the lake, he has what's called
the smoke rail, where a littlewide receiver screen, and then they're setting

(22:47):
up a double move off to hisright. He comes off that because the
corner comes down. Now he's gota double post concept and his feet are
all absolutely dead and perfect. Hedoesn't take one extra hitch step. He
throws the post route to the backof the end zone going into the late
against the Ducks, the the gamewinner to a doneesay when Chris Ballers said,

(23:07):
forget patience, right. I loveChris Fallor, by the way,
but he's got a wide receiver screenout there. On the trip side,
but he elects to take the oneon one and he throws the back shoulder
game winner to a Donezay Again sawbackup corner of the game as well.
On that play to y yep andagainst Texas, the touchdown pass to polk

(23:33):
there was a free runner with questionsabout his movement. You had the the
play where he slides to his right, hits Dounzy over the middle. There's
a play a touchdown there in thewhere where the defensive end for Texas comes
unscathed, totally unblocked, like clearcommunication breakdown of the offensive line because it

(23:55):
was a benign blitz look and theend just come. He completely makes the
end with throws a touchdown pass.It was a little bit of luck involved.
That was the one that got tippedto polk U. But that the
dime that he threw to McMillan wherehe had to beat the backside safety.
That that that ability right laser beam. Yeah, uh the the you know

(24:15):
what, Let me jump in fora second. I want to ask you
one question. This is gonna thismay sound like an idiotic question, and
if it is idiotic, please justsay, softy, that's idiotic. What
people feel differently about him if hewas a writing it's possible. I think
his Uh. I think he's gota whippy arm. He's got a relatively
low release. That left elbow isfrom my mind, and I like a

(24:37):
low release. I think a lotof people exaggerate how high the elbow has
to be. I think it theelbow should be right equal with the armpit.
But I think he's he's a littletoo low in that regard. Uh.
But but he doesn't need a lotof body. He's got a very
strong, whippy arm. The armtalent, you know, you know,
just because there's a difference between throwingwith velocity that implies that the body is

(24:59):
behind it. But can he throwwith velocity when only your arm is behind
it? He can. I thinkhe's aggressive with his RPOs when he had
when he's been given run pass options, he will have he'll have the running
play. But if he even remotelylikes the pass off of that, he'll
pull the ball, won't give it, and he'll throw the ball out to
the edges. As far as asthe offense, the Huskies were in shotgun

(25:22):
ninety two point one percent of thetime. The NFL averages sixty two percent,
So that's a little bit of acollege thing they were. The Huskies
were in eleven per personnel, that'sone running back, one tight end,
three wide receivers seventy eight point ninepercent. The NFL average is sixty two
percent. The Huskies played with twoor more tight ends nineteen point seven percent

(25:47):
of the time. The NFL averageis twenty seven percent of the time.
So there's some elements where it's moreof a college you know, these guys
always talk about, hey, isit a college offense? Is a pro
offense? So so some of thoseI think, for the most part is
pro. And definitely when you talkabout the the progressions, the route concepts,

(26:10):
We've got examples against California, there'sa pistol play where he goes pistol
play action, a deep over thatis absolute where he just drops it right
in like a satellite right and thatis absolutely NFL concept. So one of
the points that will be made isyes, in terms of their route concepts,
they will have they have NFL concepts. So I mean, I could

(26:32):
go on for Pennis for two moresegments. I'm gonna you know, as
for Roma Dunza, you got like, okay, well, Roma Dunes ran
a four four five. We talkedabout this a few weeks ago. If
you take the guys who ran betweenfour four three and four to four seven,
so just one of a second eitherway. Stefan Diggs, he's three

(26:52):
inches taller than twenty one pounds heavy. Rome Is George Pickens, same hype,
but twelve pounds heavy. Justin Jeffersonhe is an inch and a half
taller, but seventeen pounds heavier.Calvin Ridley, these are all all four
of those guys cut over a thousandyards of balls. My assessment, and
I've got highlights of Rome. Myassessment of Rome is he has elite size.

(27:17):
He does not have elite speed.He's got very good speed, and
I just mentioned the guys that haveI mean Justin Jefferson. You know many
consider the best in the game.Is essentially an identical forty yard time.
But he's an inch and a halftaller. What I think he has elite
He's an elite finisher when the ballis in the air. He had to
play against cal where he's going towardsthe lake, looking over his inside shoulder

(27:41):
on the left side slot the ballis to the outside. He whips and
he turns his head around at fullspeed and turns around and catches. I
mean that's like a willing May's stylecatch. So his finishing nobility. There
are literally countless highlights of Roma dunesay down the field, impervious to the

(28:02):
defender catching the ball, the contestedball. He had forty four contested catches
that led the country. So nowsome people call that that a detriment because
well, he's not getting enough separation. I don't see it that way.
But what lan Zerline said to uslast week, and we got a break
here, so thirty seconds or less, he said, hey, you can

(28:22):
get that separation. Count on thata little more and don't try to be
a hero every single route. Doyou agree with that? Yeah, I
think there's times where there's there couldbe more urgency in his post routes.
He doesn't really stick the route,so I think there's some room for improvement.
I don't think he's elite with theball after he catches. I think
his vision is very good and hispower is good. I don't know,

(28:45):
there's not elite twitchiness when you're talkingabout top ten players in the draft in
terms of make you miss A typeof style but as terms of a finisher
and the body control, what hecan do with his body both in his
routes and is adjustments to the ball, the late hands, all of that,
what he can do is absolutely elite. You are done and we'll see

(29:07):
you Thursday with Dick Man. Appreciatethis pal you mailing in for Dick Fame.
We're gotta break. Brian Schmetzer willjoin me and Jackson next before Cracking
hockey at six thirty. Face offat seven. We're live at moss Bay
Hall and Kirkland, one eleven CentralWay right here on the main Dragon Kirkland.
Coming by and say hi on ninetythree three KJRFM. Now back to
Sofie and Dick on Sports Radio ninetythree point three KJRFF. Washington Huskies,

(29:33):
I see, I'll crack. You'rehome for the Huskies and Thekking. All
right, boys and girls, backhere at moss Bay Hall in Kirkland.
The Queen Anne Beer Hall's sister restaurant, one eleventh Central Way in Kirkland.
All kinds of cool drink specials today, getting ready for the kracking and coyotes
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(29:55):
Happy Hour every day from three tosix with ten dollars lunch specials every day.
Was that at Moss Bay Hall inKirkland. Find him on the web
at Mossbayhall dot com. All right, here he is, my god Jackson.
How relieved is our next guest?And how relieved are we? We
get to finally talk to Brian Schmetzerafter a win. So Brian, thank
you. We can finally, forthe first time this year, have a

(30:18):
conversation about a victory. Jackson's relieved. I'm relieved. How relieved are you,
my friend? I'm relieved. Actually, where are you right now?
I'm gonna come down and meet youfor some tequila shots. Moss Bay Hall,
Central Way, the old wall,Yeah, the old car. After
the interview, Well, let's justcut it off now get down here.

(30:40):
We'll do it live at six pm. How far away are you by the
way, Yeah, probably twenty minutes. All right, well we'll just do
that later. Then I'll save thetequila for you, by the way.
But let's talk about what worked,especially on offense. Five goals and offensive
explosion against Montreal. Well it wasLook, maybe I didn't expect five goals,
but I any of the guys were, you know, going to score

(31:02):
at some point during the year.Look, I was softy. I would
have been happy with one nothing.You know, when we got to two
nothing, we were like going,okay, we're going into half dimes.
Is great, what can we do? And then they came on the second
half and scored that third goal,and that just opened up the floodgates.
I mean the third goal was areally well constructed goal. So guys were

(31:25):
feeling it. I mean, theteam is feeling it that night, and
you know, good for them.Brian Jackson here, I know you got
that new facility down there at LongAcres. When when you took when they
toured us around the facility, Ididn't see the fountain of youth that Rolready
seems to have jumped into. Thisguy looks like he's twenty seven years old.

(31:45):
What do you sing out a role, Well, he does look like
he's younger. He is, youknow, like a fine wine. He's
getting better with age. He's putthe work in, though, Jackson,
That's what I would tell last yearwas an anonymouly he you know, he
didn't have a good year, didn'tscore a lot of goals. I think

(32:07):
he took his career a little moreserious than the Star preseason. He's been
good in the weight room. He'sbeen doing all the strengthening they need to
do, so he's not been injuredthis year. Knocked on wood. I
better not to paint the devil onthe wall. And he's motivated, you
know. I don't know if itwas Jordan taking his spot, maybe that

(32:28):
was something to it, but he'scertainly motivated and I love it it well,
Brian, you mentioned Jordan Morris therehad his first goal of the year
against Montreal, and you moved himto left winger a couple of weeks ago,
and I just wonder if that kindof feels like the natural spot for
him now moving forward. Yeah,first of many, first of many goals,
I hope, softie, and Jordanhas played well. He played well

(32:49):
down in the Galaxy. You know, obviously he had a goal. He
had some other good plays in thegame against Montreal. So I think he's
a I think he's realizing that hecan be effective playing out there. It
looks out there. I've given hima little bit of freedom to kind of
come inside. If knew who getsup and down the line, or you

(33:10):
know, Cody Baker came in anddid a good job, or read if
he comes on so he can playinside a little bit. So he's not
necessarily a true winger, but hecertainly had a couple of good games so
far. No, Brian, Ithink the biggest smile I saw on Jordan
Morris's face after the game was whenwe asked him about Joel Paulo's return.

(33:30):
He certainly loves to have your numbersix back. What did it mean to
get JP back out there? Andis how fit is he? Could he
start in Dollas this weekend? Yeah, it was great. I mean,
the fans certainly got a big kickout of it. I know JP was
super happy. It was almost aperfect game for him to kind of test
his legs and you know, getsome get get the ball back at his

(33:52):
feet. We're up three, nothing, game was in hand. So that
was a good way to reintroduce himto the team because he did have some
significant injury. Jackson, I'm notgonna say that I'm not going to start
him, but I huh, probablyam not going to start him, okay,
and you know, we'll see howit goes. I mean, you

(34:13):
know, he's he's not quite gamefit yet, and the two young kids
played well in the middle, butit's nice to have him back in the
group. Well, Jackson, itsounds to me like he's starting him.
By the way, just so youknow, I'm reading series here on the
radio show, and that's what itsounds like to me. But Brian Schmester
with us and Brian Jackson, Iknow we're kind of going off script here
for a second, but just goback to the to the first conversation we

(34:34):
had about the relief. I mean, we know why, but I I
it's always interesting for me to hearcoaches say why why was it so important
for you guys to get this wSaturday? Because I think the team was
way better than our record showed.I just looked it up, softy.
We're not last place anymore. We'retwelve. We're twelve out of fourteen,

(34:58):
but we're working our way up.Team has too much quality and a game
like this is just the right antidotefor us to kind of get the train
moving, you know, get offthe schneide. We're gonna we're gonna,
you know, we're gonna cause Dallassome problems when we go down there on
Saturday. Yeah, and you know, Dallas, Brian, is a team
that I know is in past,like last year, right, you face

(35:19):
them in the end of summer whenit's you know, humid and it's hot
down there in Dallas, playing itat the start of April. I mean
you must have looked at the startof the year when you saw the schedule
come out and say, oh,good, we get Dallas when it isn't
you know, ninety degrees with ninetypercent of humidity I imagine. Yeah,
So, yes, you're absolutely right. It's great that we are going down

(35:40):
there now. And you know,certainly you know, Dallas has kind of
had some struggles coming out of thegate. They've they've been dealing with some
injuries, so I think it's agood time for us to go down there
and colluct some points. Yeah.You know, it's funny, Brian that
people sometimes ask me, Hey,what what golf courses do you like playing?
And typically the golf courses I likeplaying are the ones that I've played
well on. If I played terrible, then I usually hate the place.

(36:05):
But is there a place Is therea road trip that you really particularly enjoy
going to either a because because youguys have done well or b because you
just love the atmosphere. Interesting question. Softly, I probably have a longer
answer. Man. Look, Ilove going to New York. I think
New York's a big city kind oflike that, like Chicago. We've had

(36:25):
a lot of success up in Minnesota. We've had a lot of success up
in Vancouver. You know. Goinga little bit further south, I mean,
La is always a good trip becausemy daughter lives down there. I
got to see my grand baby UmaNice Dallas has been kind of hit and
miss though. You know, wehad some good playoff series with him in
twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen. Youknow, last year we were better than

(36:47):
them in the playoffs, but theyput up a good fight. So it's
a little hit and miss. Ilove it. Brian, you're the man.
Good luck. Congratulations on the winon Saturday. Keep it going.
We'll talking a week man. Appreciateabout thanks, coach. Take care of
softy Sea Jackson. You bet,Brian Schmetzer with us, We're going to
break a lot more to get tocracking Coyote. Pregame at six thirty,
face off at seven