Josh, James and Porter on how accurate they think the the Big12 preseason media poll is, his thoughts on how Cam Rising will perform this season, a look beyond the HC Kyle Whittingham era, and more!
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We officially begin hour two of theshow with no name. The name was
Midday Show whatever whatever you like bestthere James Peterson, Porter Larson sitting in
with you today. This will bethe last live show we have this week.
We're going to do a best ofBill Riley over the years and mixing
(00:32):
some Utah football calls as well fromBill Riley on Friday, and then tomorrow
we've got Major League Baseball and thisspot on the station from about eleven thirty
till about nine o'clock doubleheader on fourthof July for you tomorrow, Happy early
fourth to everybody, be safe asyou celebrate our nation's birthday. Here Josh
(00:59):
Furlong, I'm sure has some greatFourth of July plans. He's on with
us to start hour two. Howare you doing, Josh? How are
you guys doing well? Doing well? What's the what's the plan for the
fourth tomorrow? Man, you're notI'm sure you got a huge party going
on in the backyard. Oh yeah, we'll go to my in laws that
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okay close to us. They havea big backyard with pick a ball,
basketball, that kind of stuff.So yeah, you know, just enjoying
the day and celebrating and just anotherday to not have to work. Yeah,
good for you, Good for you. Enjoy that with the family.
Big twelve Media Days now less thana week away. First Big twelve Media
Days for University of Utah. You'llbe down there, I'm sure covering it
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all for KSL dot com, doinga great job as you always do.
What is it that is there anythingthat you're excited about that you're most curious
about? And as you begin tocover a new conference for the University Utah?
Me, I think it's I'm reallycurious to see how Brett Yormark manages,
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you know, his conference in comparisonto what Larry Scott and then obviously,
you know, you know, afterhim with I like claff cough,
there we go, we see we'vealready forgotten about him. I'm curious to
see how how kind of they managethat and the kind of the entertainment value
there, the fact that that Utahgoes into this the preseason favorite. I'm
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really curious to kind of see theconversations around the league and kind of what
they are around Utah, Right,I mean, obviously that's gonna be my
job is to kind of figure thatout. But I think you know,
for a new team to come intothe Big twelve, uh and immediately get
that instant respect. I mean,there's gonna be some there's gonna be some
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hostility for some of those teams thatwere, you know, left over from
the Big Twelve after Texas and Oklahomaleft, and so I think, you
know, as you've seen on Twitter, if anybody has been ominated, there's
there's some hostility there, right especiallywith the fans. They don't want Utah
coming in. It's expecting just tokind of roll. And that's kind of
what the media predicts right now.So that's that's kind of what my interest
is, right I'm curious to seehow those conversations are and kind of see
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how they work with the players andthe coaches and kind of what those what
that means for Utah moving forward.Yeah, Josh, he who must not
be named George kloffka King George Apology. I affectionately called him King George.
You do not speak his name,Josh. You Todd tabbed as the number
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one team in the Big twelve preseasonmedia poll. You'll obviously be down there
in Las Vegas in about a weekto discuss that and plenty more with all
of the conference. Folks, giveme a give me an idea of you
know, how close to reality youthink that poll is and how close do
you think the top half of theconference will be. It looks like there's
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a pretty clear delineation in the BigTwelve this year, at least from what
folks are are thinking preseason, betweenreally the top half in the bottom half
of the conference. Yeah. Imean, based on my research that I've
done so far on the Big Twelve, honestly, I see those top five
teams Utah, Kansas State, OklahomaState, Kansas in Arizona as really kind
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of being that first tier, rightAnd you could probably argue that Utah,
Kansas State, and Oklahoma State maybeare the top tier, with you know,
Kansas in Arizona and maybe some otherteams in tier two. I you
know, I'm not fully convinced onhow you want to work that, but
I think this is a good indicationof where things are, right. I
think this time of the year,everybody's looking at stuff on paper. You
say, Okay, who's come in, who they lost or they get back,
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you know, And I think basedon all that, I think this
shaps up really well. Right,Like whether you want to say Utah,
Kansas State, Oklahoma State, whatever, in whichever order. I don't fully
think that matters. Uta obviously getsthe respect that they got to be able
to know that they were at thetop, but it very well could have
been any one of those teams,and so I think, I think this
is going to be an interesting battle. I think this shows similar to some
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of those years in the Pac twelvewhere there was a lot of parody and
there's a lot of teams that couldkind of come away with it. I
know early on everybody was saying,oh, Utah is going to go roll
through the Big twelve, and maybethey do. Right, we haven't seen
it, and I'm curious to seehow that works. But there's some solid
teams in this league. There's youknow, there's going to be some great
competition. Utah has to play OklahomaState, so that's going to be tough,
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but they skip Kansas State, SoI think, you know, things
bode well for Utah. I thinkthe way this shapes up is good,
but I think by and large,this is probably a good indicator of where
things are. To me, TCUseems a little bit low. I think
they should have been closer to thatupper tier. I think they've got a
good team coming back, they'd rebuild. Iowa State got a good defense,
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can they do some stuff. WestVirginia's gonna around there. So there's a
lot of teams that can make themnoise. I mean, and for all
we know, Colorado could somehow actuallymake that jump that everybody expects Colorado to
make with their nine thousand transfers thatthey have. So I don't think this
is by any means over right.Obviously it's not because it's before the games
have been played. But I'm reallycurious to see how this shapes out and
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if this does come kind of true. I don't have a full understanding of
the Big Twelve like I did withthe Pac twelve, so it's harder for
me to gauge. But from myresearch, it feels like this is probably
a good landing spot and kind ofhow things have shaped out. Any surprise
Josh about just how close the votewas between Utah and Kansas State. For
me, I said this earlier.It's I feel like, once we start
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playing the games, we'll see thatUtah is there's gonna be a bit of
a wider gap between Utah and KansasState than what this poll would suggest,
Utah being a little bit farther aheadof what Kansas State can can do.
But Kansas State's no joke either.They they could potentd Utah could potentially see
them in the Big Twelve championship gameat the end of this year. And
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that's a team that you can't countout to beat, a team like Utah
that's the favorite to win the conference. Curious what you think. Yeah,
I think a lot of these preseasonprojection go hand in hand with who a
team has a quarterback? Right Ithink everybody looks at these and they'll look
at the personnel. Don't get mewrong, but if you have a high
end quarterback, I think that boostsyou up that extra notch. And I
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think that's what's happening with Kansas State, not that they don't have a great
team. I think they absolutely couldbe in the Big Twelve championship game.
So don't don't believe it. Idon't think that's already cut sent out on
social media. Sorry, Josh,can't stop. It wouldn't be the first
time, but I think, youknow, the preseason projection for Kansas State
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has to do a ton with theprojection of who Avery Johnson could be as
a quarterback, right, if he'sable to be the guy that everybody expects
him to be, I think thatthat's what puts Kansas State in that upper
echelon. Right if he struggles inhis first full season as a starting quarterback,
I don't know that Kansas State ismaybe in there. Oklahoma State probably
has a better chance in Arizona,Kansas. You know, there's a lot
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of other teams. You know,there's there's quarterbacks. Play is so big
and in this in the college gameas we've seen, but I think especially
in deeds types of ratings, that'swhere they get that extra boost. And
so I agree in the sense thatKansas State should be that close to Utah.
I think they actually are pretty similarteams and they could do well.
But I wouldn't all be surprised ifin the season Utah kind of starts separating
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from themselves, barring them doing whatthey need to do right on me,
obviously, injuries and other things thatcould take place, but I think Utah
has the potential to really separate fromthat group if everything goes to plan.
I still think Oklahoma State is probablystill in line with them, and I
think they could probably be an evenmore tough competition than Kansas State simply with
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who they're bringing back. But Idon't I don't know that it really matters
right like this all gets we allfind out how this shakes up in September,
October, November and kind of gofrom there. So either way,
it's fun to debate right now becauseit gets us talk about football. But
I mean, I think it bodeswell for Utah that they are where they
are, even though they are inclose comparison with you know, a team
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that's been to the Big Twelve championshipwith eacho a few times, Josh,
you mentioned during that answer how importantquarterback play is. Obviously that centers for
Utah around one Cam Rising. Fromyour perspective, how much concern is there
with Cam not having played football andnow a year and a half, also
the fact that he you know,hasn't been able to get through a full
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football season. We're a half decadethrough this, And how well is Utah
set up if they do have to, even for a week or two step
in for a Cam Rising. Yeah, I don't think you have to worry
that Cam hasn't played right. Ithink he's done enough work in the offseason.
He showed he was really crisp inspring game. Can I understand that
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simulated? Right? It's not.It's not perfect, but I don't.
I don't think there's any doubt thatCam can be who we've if not,
maybe even better. Right. Ithink he's had time to heal from his
shoulder, had time to heal fromhis knee. I think all these things
help and allows him to kind ofbe a more complete player, maybe get
more depth in his throwing motion,that kind of stuff. Now, the
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area that would concern me is,yeah, he hasn't completed a full season.
Granted he's spent most of all ofhis time completing a full season.
It's just that last game that getshim. But I think more than years
past, they have the depth thatI would feel comfortable with, right,
And I think that starts with SamHeward. I think he obviously has experience.
You're not coming into now a situationwhere you have a guy that is
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now a walk on that has earnedin his stripes because he was better than
you know, freshman or sophomores.You have a guy that's been proven on
the field. So if something doeshappen to Cam. I don't know that
they have quite the same death thatthey would have with Cam, but I
think they have somebody that could absolutelydo the job. And for all that,
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you know, you have somebody elsein waiting, maybe somebody like an
Isaac Wilson. Yeah, he's afreshman, so you take them lumps.
But I think you've got at leasta higher filling with this group than you've
had in years past. So youknow Cam raising Obviously, if he stays
healthy, that allows you how todo everything that they want to. If
he gets hurt, that can changeit a bit. But I don't worry
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as much this year as maybe inyears past, just because I think they
have more proven depth, especially inthat second backup spot with Sam Jeword,
that would get them to where theyneed to go beyond quarterback Josh Is there
are there other areas that stand out? Is maybe some question marks or maybe
you're just not as confident in andyou won't be as confident in until you
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see him play out on the fieldor in fall practice. Yeah. I
think I've always said that the secondaryright, and I think that's more just
a depth issue. I don't worrynecessarily as a you know, watching this
as the front line guys, theguys are going to get most of the
starter minutes. But I think anytimeyou get into this game you understand how
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physical it can be. Obviously,last year you saw the injuries that piled
up what helped Utahs they have thedepth. This year, I don't know
that they have quite the same levelof depth in that secondary that would allow
them to continually hit that same stride. But with that said, you know,
Morgan Scalley and Shreef Shah are goingto get everything out of these guys,
and so I don't think there's necessarilya worry. It's more just are
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there going to be times where theyget exposed because they might not have that
same experience, Right Like Zamaya VonHe's going to be fine. He's improven,
he's done it, he forever.You know, Nate Ritchie, he's
getting more into that. It's moreof these guys like it's six Noden who
has he comes into it and hedeveloped what is his level? Right,
Like we've seen him be able tohave glimpses of success, but he hasn't
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had those same reps that a coldBishop or you know, a SIONI Vaki
has had so to me. UntilI can see that that's always going to
be that area, that is kindof the question. But I don't know
that I worry about that the sameway maybe in years past where they've been
a lot more inexperienced. Josh MorganScalley was renamed the head coach in waiting
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for the University of Utah. Whatdo you take away from the development of
that story the timeline of that story. Of course, we now know that
a lot of that was agreed towhen USC was looking for a defensive coordinator,
but it didn't come public until UtahState was about to fire their coach.
I know there's not a direct linewith a lot of those, but
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we do know in this business,coaching news is very often related. What
do you take away from from thatstoryline and the timing involved. Yeah,
it was kind of one of thosethings that was the worst kept secret,
right. I think everybody knew that, we knew that as media that that
was there. I don't know whyit's suddenly just you know, percolated up
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to that on July first, right, like hy Pete Sammil decided to release
it. Then and why that waskind of used as a way to kind
of help I understand with kind ofthe changing landscape of college football, you
need to kind of keep things going. To me, if you were going
to release this without us, youknow, local media doing it, none
of us decided to do it,then, I think that's just because it
was kind of the standard story itwould have been before Utah had its official
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visits, Right, you get thatahead of that to say, hey,
you know, Kyle's still our guy, but if not, we've got this
proven guy all by the way,meet him when you come to take your
official visit. He'll be your headcoach. YadA, YadA, YadA.
I still think it plays well moreto recruiting than anything else. And yet
staving off you know, coaching rumorsat a Utah staid or some other places.
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But to me, this is morea recruiting advantage because these guys can
now see you know that there's goingto be stability, at least in terms
of coaching, personnel, the system, the culture, everything is going to
maintain. You get a guy that'sa proven Utah guy, he has no
interest to leave. That's not tosay he hasn't been offer job usc became
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harder than lost ball, right,and that's and that's why they put that
tag back in there and why thingshave kind of ramped up. But to
me, this is more on therecruiting front. You're going into a pivotal
time where you're competing against some ofthese big schools for some high level athletes,
and the more you can maintain thatconsistency take away any negative recruiting,
the better that does for you asa program. So to me, that's
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where this felt as kind of theimpetus to it. Yeah, there are
some coaching rumors, but I thinkby and large this is a good thing.
It was just to me kind ofone of the weirdest timings because we
had known about this for a longtime, and yeah, we didn't report
on it, which is unfortunate onour part, But there wasn't anything shocking
by any means. Yeah, andfollowing up on what led to the removal
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of that head coach and waiting statusnow four years ago, I'm curious as
you as in your conversations and inyour observations of what of what's going on
there in the program in the lastfour years. What's been your impression of
Morgan Scally's ability to make up forthe what the scandal that he that he
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found himself in with the with theuse of the racial slur and a text
message several years before that. Whatis it that you've heard and maybe seen
that the Morgan Scally has done tokind of build the trust back up and
kind of make up for that awfulmistake he made that that got this removed
from him four years ago. Yeah, Morgan is going to be the first
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to tell you he made a mistake, right, He owned up to it,
He understands the consequences that were there. It was a tough time for
him, right. I mean,I think anytime you get accused of doing
something, especially that you know thatyou did and it was made public,
that's a tough thing. But everyconversation that I've had with people up there,
they've talked about how hard Morgan hasworked to really understand that. Right.
I think it's really easy to bein a predominantly white culture and to
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be able to think that you cando something that maybe you thought was funny,
or or you had a relationship withsomebody that worked where you were allowed
to say that for whatever reason.I don't I don't. I don't know
that situation. Right. He's learnedfrom that time, rights, he understands
that this is more than just youknow, casual fund. This means something
to people. And by and large, you know, I've talked to some
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high level people there that they've said, he has done everything he needs to
do to be able to be thatgive them trust. Right, This wasn't
just giving him a coach in waitingjust because they felt like, Okay,
well he's the next best option andwhat else do we have. This is
a guy that, especially since thattime, has worked his butt off to
be able to train himself, tobe able to teach himself and go to
these classes to be able to helphim understand what these words mean to people,
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what they mean for him, youknow, all these different things,
and so I think that's helped himbecome a more well rounded person. Is
he going to make mistakes as ahead coach or as a person, of
course, I mean we all do, but I think he's under he understands
now at a higher level what allthis means. Right, and especially in
your relationship with athletes who are relyingon you to be able to be kind
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of their quote unquote father figure.Well there in your tenure. I know
they're adults and so that's not necessarilyyou need a father figure. But I
think the way that they operate inthis culture, it is a family environment,
and when somebody disrespects the family,even if it's not meant to be
as a disrespect, that hurts thefamily. And I think more than his
recognized that he understands it. He'sdone a really good job of being able
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to get to where he needs tothat. I know this is going to
follow him for a long time,and the day that he has made head
coach, that's still going to followhim, and it's going to be allowed
up or from some portion of people. But I don't doubt his ability to
be able to kind of push thataside, not as something that didn't happen.
He's always going to own that andhe's not going to try to run
away from it. But understand thathe used that as a benchmark to say,
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Okay, I need to be better, and here's how I have and
I think he has done that.So I don't know all the intimate details
like other people in that department,but everybody that I've talked to has said
that he is one made those stripesto become a better individual, especially for
his coaching as a person and everything, to be able to give them that
full confidence that he can be thatguy in Morgan Scaley now once again the
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youth's head coach in waiting. Nowmy question for you, Josh is how
long are we waiting? Oh that'sa good question. I you know that
that's one that I've always kind ofgone back and forth on. There was
a couple of years ago I honestlythought Kyle was walking away right and I
think you could see it kind ofin his demeanor and he was just I
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don't want to say the love wasn'tthere, because he's always done it.
He's a you know, high intensityguy. But I think those last few
years kind of grinded on him.But it's funny because like this last year,
even though they went through all ofthe craft that they went through,
I still saw a lot of passionand life from him. If anything,
this spring I saw the most passionatefrom him in spring. So I don't
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know that you know it's imminent.I wouldn't be surprised if it's after this
season and you get them through oneseason, in the Big Twelve, maybe
you win the Big Twelve championship getto the playoff. To me, I
think he wants to go out ona highlight that but I don't know that
we're going to know until probably theSteven ends. He's not the type of
guy that's going to go out thereand want to do like a stadium tour
and everybody praise him or do differentthings that way. I think it's honestly,
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you know, we'll find out theday he's ready to go, and
that'll be it. But I wouldn'tbe surprised if he sticks around for two
three more years. But I alsowouldn't be surprised if it's after this year.
So it's anybody's guessing game, andit's honestly just going to be how
witting him feels and his love andpassion for the game. And Josh that
actually jogged something in me that inmy memory of Pete Bamill's story there about
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the contract, I thought it wascurious that the language in the story was
if Kyle were to step away atthe end of this season, Scaley's starting
salary as as the head coach wouldbe five million dollars if he were to
step away at the end of thisseason stood out to me. It implies
that it might be a different numberif if Witt stays around beyond this season.
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What if you if you heard anythingabout about that, Are we to
assume that, no matter when hestarts, he's it'll probably be that five
million dollars salary number or or willbe different if Wit stays sticks around a
little bit longer. Yeah, Sothe way the contract is written is they
have it where if you know,Witt does retire now through the middle of
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January, he will make at minimumfive million. They specifically put in their
minimum five million, so it couldbe more. I don't think they want
to put a benchmark on that ora limit, I should say, especially
with the changing landscape of college coachingcontracts. But you're going to see a
minimum of five million now the wayit works, every single year that Whittingham
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doesn't retire, that number goes upby at least one hundred thousand. That's
that's chump changed in that realm,but it still goes up. And so
I think they're kind of laying thegroundwork to say, Okay, for the
next five years, you have atleast the potential to make a minimum five
million, then it's five point one, five point two, et cetera,
up until Kyle's you know, timesthat he leaves. If he stays forever,
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I assume that number continues to goup. But I think what they've
done is they've tried to set alimit there in terms of how low they
will go, which is not low. I mean, he's making two million,
now he's going to jump up tofive million. I think that bodes
well for him to be able tosay, okay, here's what it did.
Also incentivizes him to say, ifKyle stays on longer, that money
will go up. So it's interesting. It's interesting they even put that contract
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details are the money details in thereright now, especially in his current contract.
But I think that shows how seriousthey are about making him the head
coach, that they want to beable to kind of put a number on
that to kind of let other teamsknow, hey, here's what it is.
If you want to come after Morgan, you can try, but here's
what we're going to throw out theYeah, I thought that was interesting as
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well, And thanks for the forthe insight and clarification on that and more
information on that. Part of thecontract. Josh, enjoy the first big
twelve media days five five days fromnow at Allegiance Stadium in Vegas, and
we'll be sure to talk again soon. Man. Have a good rest of
your day. Thanks guys, appreciateit. Have a great for us.
(23:32):
Thanks. That's Josh Furlong, KSLdot com Utes beat writer, also the
sports editor for KSL dot com.We love Josh around here. Does such
a great job covering the University ofUtah and and the rest of the local
sports here in the market and beyondfor KSL dot Com. On the other
side, had some big NBA freeagent news porter that trickled down at least
(24:00):
the singular biggest name in the NBAis finally Lebron James has a new deal.
We'll talk about that. Also,they the Lakers added to their coaching
staff with a couple of jj Reddickis going to have the benefit of a
couple of good veteran NBA head coachesas his as some of his top assistants.
(24:22):
And we'll also chat about Jazz rumors, Lowry markin and is he on
the move and what they've done sofar and more. On the other side,
this is we're calling it the Showwith No Name or the Nameless midday
Show. Here. We're going elevenuntil two here with me James Peterson,
that guy, Porter Larson on Utah'snumber one sports stalk and home of the
US ESPN seven hundred and
We officially begin hour two of theshow with no name. The name was
Midday Show whatever whatever you like bestthere James Peterson, Porter Larson sitting in
with you today. This will bethe last live show we have this week.
We're going to do a best ofBill Riley over the years and mixing
(00:32):
some Utah football calls as well fromBill Riley on Friday, and then tomorrow
we've got Major League Baseball and thisspot on the station from about eleven thirty
till about nine o'clock doubleheader on fourthof July for you tomorrow, Happy early
fourth to everybody, be safe asyou celebrate our nation's birthday. Here Josh
(00:59):
Furlong, I'm sure has some greatFourth of July plans. He's on with
us to start hour two. Howare you doing, Josh? How are
you guys doing well? Doing well? What's the what's the plan for the
fourth tomorrow? Man, you're notI'm sure you got a huge party going
on in the backyard. Oh yeah, we'll go to my in laws that
(01:19):
okay close to us. They havea big backyard with pick a ball,
basketball, that kind of stuff.So yeah, you know, just enjoying
the day and celebrating and just anotherday to not have to work. Yeah,
good for you, Good for you. Enjoy that with the family.
Big twelve Media Days now less thana week away. First Big twelve Media
Days for University of Utah. You'llbe down there, I'm sure covering it
(01:42):
all for KSL dot com, doinga great job as you always do.
What is it that is there anythingthat you're excited about that you're most curious
about? And as you begin tocover a new conference for the University Utah?
Me, I think it's I'm reallycurious to see how Brett Yormark manages,
(02:04):
you know, his conference in comparisonto what Larry Scott and then obviously,
you know, you know, afterhim with I like claff cough,
there we go, we see we'vealready forgotten about him. I'm curious to
see how how kind of they managethat and the kind of the entertainment value
there, the fact that that Utahgoes into this the preseason favorite. I'm
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really curious to kind of see theconversations around the league and kind of what
they are around Utah, Right,I mean, obviously that's gonna be my
job is to kind of figure thatout. But I think you know,
for a new team to come intothe Big twelve, uh and immediately get
that instant respect. I mean,there's gonna be some there's gonna be some
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hostility for some of those teams thatwere, you know, left over from
the Big Twelve after Texas and Oklahomaleft, and so I think, you
know, as you've seen on Twitter, if anybody has been ominated, there's
there's some hostility there, right especiallywith the fans. They don't want Utah
coming in. It's expecting just tokind of roll. And that's kind of
what the media predicts right now.So that's that's kind of what my interest
is, right I'm curious to seehow those conversations are and kind of see
(03:08):
how they work with the players andthe coaches and kind of what those what
that means for Utah moving forward.Yeah, Josh, he who must not
be named George kloffka King George Apology. I affectionately called him King George.
You do not speak his name,Josh. You Todd tabbed as the number
(03:30):
one team in the Big twelve preseasonmedia poll. You'll obviously be down there
in Las Vegas in about a weekto discuss that and plenty more with all
of the conference. Folks, giveme a give me an idea of you
know, how close to reality youthink that poll is and how close do
you think the top half of theconference will be. It looks like there's
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a pretty clear delineation in the BigTwelve this year, at least from what
folks are are thinking preseason, betweenreally the top half in the bottom half
of the conference. Yeah. Imean, based on my research that I've
done so far on the Big Twelve, honestly, I see those top five
teams Utah, Kansas State, OklahomaState, Kansas in Arizona as really kind
(04:15):
of being that first tier, rightAnd you could probably argue that Utah,
Kansas State, and Oklahoma State maybeare the top tier, with you know,
Kansas in Arizona and maybe some otherteams in tier two. I you
know, I'm not fully convinced onhow you want to work that, but
I think this is a good indicationof where things are, right. I
think this time of the year,everybody's looking at stuff on paper. You
say, Okay, who's come in, who they lost or they get back,
(04:39):
you know, And I think basedon all that, I think this
shaps up really well. Right,Like whether you want to say Utah,
Kansas State, Oklahoma State, whatever, in whichever order. I don't fully
think that matters. Uta obviously getsthe respect that they got to be able
to know that they were at thetop, but it very well could have
been any one of those teams,and so I think, I think this
is going to be an interesting battle. I think this shows similar to some
(05:01):
of those years in the Pac twelvewhere there was a lot of parody and
there's a lot of teams that couldkind of come away with it. I
know early on everybody was saying,oh, Utah is going to go roll
through the Big twelve, and maybethey do. Right, we haven't seen
it, and I'm curious to seehow that works. But there's some solid
teams in this league. There's youknow, there's going to be some great
competition. Utah has to play OklahomaState, so that's going to be tough,
(05:24):
but they skip Kansas State, SoI think, you know, things
bode well for Utah. I thinkthe way this shapes up is good,
but I think by and large,this is probably a good indicator of where
things are. To me, TCUseems a little bit low. I think
they should have been closer to thatupper tier. I think they've got a
good team coming back, they'd rebuild. Iowa State got a good defense,
(05:45):
can they do some stuff. WestVirginia's gonna around there. So there's a
lot of teams that can make themnoise. I mean, and for all
we know, Colorado could somehow actuallymake that jump that everybody expects Colorado to
make with their nine thousand transfers thatthey have. So I don't think this
is by any means over right.Obviously it's not because it's before the games
have been played. But I'm reallycurious to see how this shapes out and
(06:08):
if this does come kind of true. I don't have a full understanding of
the Big Twelve like I did withthe Pac twelve, so it's harder for
me to gauge. But from myresearch, it feels like this is probably
a good landing spot and kind ofhow things have shaped out. Any surprise
Josh about just how close the votewas between Utah and Kansas State. For
me, I said this earlier.It's I feel like, once we start
(06:32):
playing the games, we'll see thatUtah is there's gonna be a bit of
a wider gap between Utah and KansasState than what this poll would suggest,
Utah being a little bit farther aheadof what Kansas State can can do.
But Kansas State's no joke either.They they could potentd Utah could potentially see
them in the Big Twelve championship gameat the end of this year. And
(06:54):
that's a team that you can't countout to beat, a team like Utah
that's the favorite to win the conference. Curious what you think. Yeah,
I think a lot of these preseasonprojection go hand in hand with who a
team has a quarterback? Right Ithink everybody looks at these and they'll look
at the personnel. Don't get mewrong, but if you have a high
end quarterback, I think that boostsyou up that extra notch. And I
(07:16):
think that's what's happening with Kansas State, not that they don't have a great
team. I think they absolutely couldbe in the Big Twelve championship game.
So don't don't believe it. Idon't think that's already cut sent out on
social media. Sorry, Josh,can't stop. It wouldn't be the first
time, but I think, youknow, the preseason projection for Kansas State
(07:38):
has to do a ton with theprojection of who Avery Johnson could be as
a quarterback, right, if he'sable to be the guy that everybody expects
him to be, I think thatthat's what puts Kansas State in that upper
echelon. Right if he struggles inhis first full season as a starting quarterback,
I don't know that Kansas State ismaybe in there. Oklahoma State probably
has a better chance in Arizona,Kansas. You know, there's a lot
(08:01):
of other teams. You know,there's there's quarterbacks. Play is so big
and in this in the college gameas we've seen, but I think especially
in deeds types of ratings, that'swhere they get that extra boost. And
so I agree in the sense thatKansas State should be that close to Utah.
I think they actually are pretty similarteams and they could do well.
But I wouldn't all be surprised ifin the season Utah kind of starts separating
(08:24):
from themselves, barring them doing whatthey need to do right on me,
obviously, injuries and other things thatcould take place, but I think Utah
has the potential to really separate fromthat group if everything goes to plan.
I still think Oklahoma State is probablystill in line with them, and I
think they could probably be an evenmore tough competition than Kansas State simply with
(08:45):
who they're bringing back. But Idon't I don't know that it really matters
right like this all gets we allfind out how this shakes up in September,
October, November and kind of gofrom there. So either way,
it's fun to debate right now becauseit gets us talk about football. But
I mean, I think it bodeswell for Utah that they are where they
are, even though they are inclose comparison with you know, a team
(09:07):
that's been to the Big Twelve championshipwith eacho a few times, Josh,
you mentioned during that answer how importantquarterback play is. Obviously that centers for
Utah around one Cam Rising. Fromyour perspective, how much concern is there
with Cam not having played football andnow a year and a half, also
the fact that he you know,hasn't been able to get through a full
(09:30):
football season. We're a half decadethrough this, And how well is Utah
set up if they do have to, even for a week or two step
in for a Cam Rising. Yeah, I don't think you have to worry
that Cam hasn't played right. Ithink he's done enough work in the offseason.
He showed he was really crisp inspring game. Can I understand that
(09:52):
simulated? Right? It's not.It's not perfect, but I don't.
I don't think there's any doubt thatCam can be who we've if not,
maybe even better. Right. Ithink he's had time to heal from his
shoulder, had time to heal fromhis knee. I think all these things
help and allows him to kind ofbe a more complete player, maybe get
more depth in his throwing motion,that kind of stuff. Now, the
(10:13):
area that would concern me is,yeah, he hasn't completed a full season.
Granted he's spent most of all ofhis time completing a full season.
It's just that last game that getshim. But I think more than years
past, they have the depth thatI would feel comfortable with, right,
And I think that starts with SamHeward. I think he obviously has experience.
You're not coming into now a situationwhere you have a guy that is
(10:35):
now a walk on that has earnedin his stripes because he was better than
you know, freshman or sophomores.You have a guy that's been proven on
the field. So if something doeshappen to Cam. I don't know that
they have quite the same death thatthey would have with Cam, but I
think they have somebody that could absolutelydo the job. And for all that,
(10:56):
you know, you have somebody elsein waiting, maybe somebody like an
Isaac Wilson. Yeah, he's afreshman, so you take them lumps.
But I think you've got at leasta higher filling with this group than you've
had in years past. So youknow Cam raising Obviously, if he stays
healthy, that allows you how todo everything that they want to. If
he gets hurt, that can changeit a bit. But I don't worry
(11:18):
as much this year as maybe inyears past, just because I think they
have more proven depth, especially inthat second backup spot with Sam Jeword,
that would get them to where theyneed to go beyond quarterback Josh Is there
are there other areas that stand out? Is maybe some question marks or maybe
you're just not as confident in andyou won't be as confident in until you
(11:39):
see him play out on the fieldor in fall practice. Yeah. I
think I've always said that the secondaryright, and I think that's more just
a depth issue. I don't worrynecessarily as a you know, watching this
as the front line guys, theguys are going to get most of the
starter minutes. But I think anytimeyou get into this game you understand how
(12:01):
physical it can be. Obviously,last year you saw the injuries that piled
up what helped Utahs they have thedepth. This year, I don't know
that they have quite the same levelof depth in that secondary that would allow
them to continually hit that same stride. But with that said, you know,
Morgan Scalley and Shreef Shah are goingto get everything out of these guys,
and so I don't think there's necessarilya worry. It's more just are
(12:24):
there going to be times where theyget exposed because they might not have that
same experience, Right Like Zamaya VonHe's going to be fine. He's improven,
he's done it, he forever.You know, Nate Ritchie, he's
getting more into that. It's moreof these guys like it's six Noden who
has he comes into it and hedeveloped what is his level? Right,
Like we've seen him be able tohave glimpses of success, but he hasn't
(12:45):
had those same reps that a coldBishop or you know, a SIONI Vaki
has had so to me. UntilI can see that that's always going to
be that area, that is kindof the question. But I don't know
that I worry about that the sameway maybe in years past where they've been
a lot more inexperienced. Josh MorganScalley was renamed the head coach in waiting
(13:09):
for the University of Utah. Whatdo you take away from the development of
that story the timeline of that story. Of course, we now know that
a lot of that was agreed towhen USC was looking for a defensive coordinator,
but it didn't come public until UtahState was about to fire their coach.
I know there's not a direct linewith a lot of those, but
(13:31):
we do know in this business,coaching news is very often related. What
do you take away from from thatstoryline and the timing involved. Yeah,
it was kind of one of thosethings that was the worst kept secret,
right. I think everybody knew that, we knew that as media that that
was there. I don't know whyit's suddenly just you know, percolated up
(13:52):
to that on July first, right, like hy Pete Sammil decided to release
it. Then and why that waskind of used as a way to kind
of help I understand with kind ofthe changing landscape of college football, you
need to kind of keep things going. To me, if you were going
to release this without us, youknow, local media doing it, none
of us decided to do it,then, I think that's just because it
was kind of the standard story itwould have been before Utah had its official
(14:16):
visits, Right, you get thatahead of that to say, hey,
you know, Kyle's still our guy, but if not, we've got this
proven guy all by the way,meet him when you come to take your
official visit. He'll be your headcoach. YadA, YadA, YadA.
I still think it plays well moreto recruiting than anything else. And yet
staving off you know, coaching rumorsat a Utah staid or some other places.
(14:37):
But to me, this is morea recruiting advantage because these guys can
now see you know that there's goingto be stability, at least in terms
of coaching, personnel, the system, the culture, everything is going to
maintain. You get a guy that'sa proven Utah guy, he has no
interest to leave. That's not tosay he hasn't been offer job usc became
(14:58):
harder than lost ball, right,and that's and that's why they put that
tag back in there and why thingshave kind of ramped up. But to
me, this is more on therecruiting front. You're going into a pivotal
time where you're competing against some ofthese big schools for some high level athletes,
and the more you can maintain thatconsistency take away any negative recruiting,
the better that does for you asa program. So to me, that's
(15:22):
where this felt as kind of theimpetus to it. Yeah, there are
some coaching rumors, but I thinkby and large this is a good thing.
It was just to me kind ofone of the weirdest timings because we
had known about this for a longtime, and yeah, we didn't report
on it, which is unfortunate onour part, But there wasn't anything shocking
by any means. Yeah, andfollowing up on what led to the removal
(15:48):
of that head coach and waiting statusnow four years ago, I'm curious as
you as in your conversations and inyour observations of what of what's going on
there in the program in the lastfour years. What's been your impression of
Morgan Scally's ability to make up forthe what the scandal that he that he
(16:15):
found himself in with the with theuse of the racial slur and a text
message several years before that. Whatis it that you've heard and maybe seen
that the Morgan Scally has done tokind of build the trust back up and
kind of make up for that awfulmistake he made that that got this removed
from him four years ago. Yeah, Morgan is going to be the first
(16:36):
to tell you he made a mistake, right, He owned up to it,
He understands the consequences that were there. It was a tough time for
him, right. I mean,I think anytime you get accused of doing
something, especially that you know thatyou did and it was made public,
that's a tough thing. But everyconversation that I've had with people up there,
they've talked about how hard Morgan hasworked to really understand that. Right.
I think it's really easy to bein a predominantly white culture and to
(17:00):
be able to think that you cando something that maybe you thought was funny,
or or you had a relationship withsomebody that worked where you were allowed
to say that for whatever reason.I don't I don't. I don't know
that situation. Right. He's learnedfrom that time, rights, he understands
that this is more than just youknow, casual fund. This means something
to people. And by and large, you know, I've talked to some
(17:22):
high level people there that they've said, he has done everything he needs to
do to be able to be thatgive them trust. Right, This wasn't
just giving him a coach in waitingjust because they felt like, Okay,
well he's the next best option andwhat else do we have. This is
a guy that, especially since thattime, has worked his butt off to
be able to train himself, tobe able to teach himself and go to
these classes to be able to helphim understand what these words mean to people,
(17:47):
what they mean for him, youknow, all these different things,
and so I think that's helped himbecome a more well rounded person. Is
he going to make mistakes as ahead coach or as a person, of
course, I mean we all do, but I think he's under he understands
now at a higher level what allthis means. Right, and especially in
your relationship with athletes who are relyingon you to be able to be kind
(18:08):
of their quote unquote father figure.Well there in your tenure. I know
they're adults and so that's not necessarilyyou need a father figure. But I
think the way that they operate inthis culture, it is a family environment,
and when somebody disrespects the family,even if it's not meant to be
as a disrespect, that hurts thefamily. And I think more than his
recognized that he understands it. He'sdone a really good job of being able
(18:32):
to get to where he needs tothat. I know this is going to
follow him for a long time,and the day that he has made head
coach, that's still going to followhim, and it's going to be allowed
up or from some portion of people. But I don't doubt his ability to
be able to kind of push thataside, not as something that didn't happen.
He's always going to own that andhe's not going to try to run
away from it. But understand thathe used that as a benchmark to say,
(18:56):
Okay, I need to be better, and here's how I have and
I think he has done that.So I don't know all the intimate details
like other people in that department,but everybody that I've talked to has said
that he is one made those stripesto become a better individual, especially for
his coaching as a person and everything, to be able to give them that
full confidence that he can be thatguy in Morgan Scaley now once again the
(19:18):
youth's head coach in waiting. Nowmy question for you, Josh is how
long are we waiting? Oh that'sa good question. I you know that
that's one that I've always kind ofgone back and forth on. There was
a couple of years ago I honestlythought Kyle was walking away right and I
think you could see it kind ofin his demeanor and he was just I
(19:42):
don't want to say the love wasn'tthere, because he's always done it.
He's a you know, high intensityguy. But I think those last few
years kind of grinded on him.But it's funny because like this last year,
even though they went through all ofthe craft that they went through,
I still saw a lot of passionand life from him. If anything,
this spring I saw the most passionatefrom him in spring. So I don't
(20:03):
know that you know it's imminent.I wouldn't be surprised if it's after this
season and you get them through oneseason, in the Big Twelve, maybe
you win the Big Twelve championship getto the playoff. To me, I
think he wants to go out ona highlight that but I don't know that
we're going to know until probably theSteven ends. He's not the type of
guy that's going to go out thereand want to do like a stadium tour
and everybody praise him or do differentthings that way. I think it's honestly,
(20:27):
you know, we'll find out theday he's ready to go, and
that'll be it. But I wouldn'tbe surprised if he sticks around for two
three more years. But I alsowouldn't be surprised if it's after this year.
So it's anybody's guessing game, andit's honestly just going to be how
witting him feels and his love andpassion for the game. And Josh that
actually jogged something in me that inmy memory of Pete Bamill's story there about
(20:51):
the contract, I thought it wascurious that the language in the story was
if Kyle were to step away atthe end of this season, Scaley's starting
salary as as the head coach wouldbe five million dollars if he were to
step away at the end of thisseason stood out to me. It implies
that it might be a different numberif if Witt stays around beyond this season.
(21:17):
What if you if you heard anythingabout about that, Are we to
assume that, no matter when hestarts, he's it'll probably be that five
million dollars salary number or or willbe different if Wit stays sticks around a
little bit longer. Yeah, Sothe way the contract is written is they
have it where if you know,Witt does retire now through the middle of
(21:38):
January, he will make at minimumfive million. They specifically put in their
minimum five million, so it couldbe more. I don't think they want
to put a benchmark on that ora limit, I should say, especially
with the changing landscape of college coachingcontracts. But you're going to see a
minimum of five million now the wayit works, every single year that Whittingham
(22:00):
doesn't retire, that number goes upby at least one hundred thousand. That's
that's chump changed in that realm,but it still goes up. And so
I think they're kind of laying thegroundwork to say, Okay, for the
next five years, you have atleast the potential to make a minimum five
million, then it's five point one, five point two, et cetera,
up until Kyle's you know, timesthat he leaves. If he stays forever,
(22:22):
I assume that number continues to goup. But I think what they've
done is they've tried to set alimit there in terms of how low they
will go, which is not low. I mean, he's making two million,
now he's going to jump up tofive million. I think that bodes
well for him to be able tosay, okay, here's what it did.
Also incentivizes him to say, ifKyle stays on longer, that money
will go up. So it's interesting. It's interesting they even put that contract
(22:47):
details are the money details in thereright now, especially in his current contract.
But I think that shows how seriousthey are about making him the head
coach, that they want to beable to kind of put a number on
that to kind of let other teamsknow, hey, here's what it is.
If you want to come after Morgan, you can try, but here's
what we're going to throw out theYeah, I thought that was interesting as
(23:07):
well, And thanks for the forthe insight and clarification on that and more
information on that. Part of thecontract. Josh, enjoy the first big
twelve media days five five days fromnow at Allegiance Stadium in Vegas, and
we'll be sure to talk again soon. Man. Have a good rest of
your day. Thanks guys, appreciateit. Have a great for us.
(23:32):
Thanks. That's Josh Furlong, KSLdot com Utes beat writer, also the
sports editor for KSL dot com.We love Josh around here. Does such
a great job covering the University ofUtah and and the rest of the local
sports here in the market and beyondfor KSL dot Com. On the other
side, had some big NBA freeagent news porter that trickled down at least
(24:00):
the singular biggest name in the NBAis finally Lebron James has a new deal.
We'll talk about that. Also,they the Lakers added to their coaching
staff with a couple of jj Reddickis going to have the benefit of a
couple of good veteran NBA head coachesas his as some of his top assistants.
(24:22):
And we'll also chat about Jazz rumors, Lowry markin and is he on
the move and what they've done sofar and more. On the other side,
this is we're calling it the Showwith No Name or the Nameless midday
Show. Here. We're going elevenuntil two here with me James Peterson,
that guy, Porter Larson on Utah'snumber one sports stalk and home of the
US ESPN seven hundred and
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