Welcome to the Big Blue Insider. Dick Gabriel with you on a Friday, wrapping up the week with UK Football Media Day and the talking season in full force. And of course what everybody was talking about earlier today when it comes to Kentucky football was the fact that the program has to forfeit victories based on the investigation it did a couple of years ago into players who were taking money for jobs that they weren't showing up to do.
They weren't doing the work, but they were taking the money. And this was all reported on back. Like I said, a couple of years ago, it's taken that long for the NSAID to process the information and issue the report. And as it's all said and done, the penalty is probation. But also all the wins from the twenty twenty one season when they went ten and three have been vacated. You can shrug that off. I know a lot of
people just kind of snicker at that. Some people will be mad about it, but look, they broke the rules. They were apparently as many as eleven players who did this, and remember Chris Rodriguez was suspended for four games. So it's a serious thing and it is a blight on the program's record, and it's gonna be an asterisk from now on. When you talk about the record of Mark Stoops. You know how many wins did he rack up as
the head coach at Kentucky. But twenty twenty one, that's the one that included went over Iowa that you remember, So those wins have been vacated. But also, this is media day, so we will be talking and hearing. We didn't know about this when we talked with Stoops earlier today, but I got comments coming up from the head coach and his coordinators. It's all good now. Nobody's bragging, nobody's predicting,
but the players obviously are excited and optimistic. They've had two practice days going into media days, so they practiced again this afternoon and you're already probably seeing video online on local TV stations from the practice. They opened up the practice to local cameras today as well as the SEC Network. So yeah, if you're a Kentucky football fan, it is an exciting time. Question is will your team
keep you excited all year? I think it will. I think Kentucky has a chance to be pretty good, probably better than last year. But will the schedule allow that reflection. Now. Stoops did not field one question interestingly about the schedule, you know, and he always says the same thing. I can't control that. It is what it is. I've said all along. It's not the teams on the schedule, it's the calendar. It's when they hit that South Carolina game second week Georgia so early in the year. A lot
of people like that. I kind of like to see a team get its feet under it before it takes on those huge games. They're all big, I know, but I think South Carolina is crucial this year. Got to win that one and a chance to be Georgia. So anyhow, we did talk a lot with Stoops and the players about the Wildcats and Stoops in general. When he opened his comments said his team looks good. They're in shape, and so far, so good in practice.
I like the way practice has started. The guys are in very good shape. They worked very hard this offseason. Credit to our strength and conditioning team with Mark Hill and Corey Edmund and their staff. The players look really good. The coaches have worked quite a bit, as I mentioned before, a little bit more freedom and autonomy for us to work with our players through the summer, and that's evident. But that's going to be the same way with everybody.
I think teams are going to be further along than they used to be, just with the ability to work with them some more in the summer. So off to a good start.
And they're having injuries. You talked about that, Josiah Hate. It looks like we'll be at most of the season and a lot of that information coming out. He was kind of cryptic with one comed He said, one player you all will be looking for at a soft tissue injury and is not out there, won't be practicing, and I'm not entirely sure who that is. We looked around,
put our heads together. If somebody may have figured it out by now, but at the time we went on the field earlier today, we did not figure that out. Of course, we're not the brightest bunch in the world Stoops. Of course, as always asked about quarterbacks, Brock Vandergriff, everybody excited about him. Appears to be the starter, but there's a lot of talent in that room, including the young man from LCA.
We feel really good about the high school guy we took and Cutter. He's going to be a special player, but we want to give him time to mature and grow. But Brock has done a very good job and you know, we're excited about him. And then also Gavin, you know, and what he brings to the table, and he's got some snaps under his belt in the Big Ten. He's a big, strong guy. He could throw it, he could run. And then you know, it was also really good to
bring bow back. You know, you've seen what happened in years past when you're not deep at that position, some funny things can happen. So we feel like we do have some really quality depth of deposition.
I like how he called Cutter Bully, the high school guy, but really compared to the other guys, he is. I had a chance to meet Gavin Wimsen. He's a very pleasant, outgoing guy who transferred in from Rutgers. You'll hear from him on the Big Blue Sider, but talked about going from the Big ten Rutgers to the SEC. And he of course is a Kentucky kid from Owensboro. But he's excited and they talk about him in terms of a running quarterback, the Wildcat. But he told me, he said
in terms of the offense. I like the passing as well, so we'll see how much of a shot he gets. When it comes to defense, Stoops talked about the fact that this team needs to be much much better at getting off the field on third down so the offense can get the ball back, of course, to short circuit the other team's offense as well.
You know, we want to get continue to get off the field. You know, we did a decent job at times, but we got to you know, get better at third down, you know, and execute and get some more three and ounce get off the field. I'd like to see the offense have more possessions, more plays. We've talked about that with the tempo with the offense, but that goes hand in hand. The defense has to play well, you know, and get off the field. When we have opportunities to
get off the field. We have to do that, you know. I think we were disruptive last year. I like that. I like the fact that we created negative yardage plays, we had some more sacks. We're getting some pressure, but we've got to want to continue to build on that. You want to continue to be able to when you want to rush for and get good great pressure.
That's the key, getting pressure on the quarterback. Everybody likes blitzing. I've heard people say, you know, why do they blitz more? The key Iss Stoops has said more than once is can you get to the quarterback? Can you create pressure without blitzing, without putting yourself in a week in State in your back seven? Remember when Josh Allen was here, they always said pressure on the quarterback, or at least it was perceived that they had pressure because he was
crashing off the edge. And of course Dion Walker is going to be a huge plus again literally for this team. But pressure on the quarterback. And I asked Brad White about this last year. You like sacks, you like TFLs, but it's the hurries of the quarterback that sometimes are even more damaging than sacks. Yeah, you want, you like getting the down, you like it in the yardage, but a hurry can force the quarterback into making a mistake and throwing an interception. So that's got to be better.
But it's really got to be better on third down. And of course, the most painful memory for fans, for people covering the game, and especially the players and coaches was the Clemson game and the ball game, couldn't get off the field, you know, kept killing themselves with turnovers, but then on the stretch, couldn't get off the field. Injuries and fatigue and all that and cost Kentucky the
game when it comes to getting off the field. Brad White, that was one of the first comments he made was that's probably at the top of his bucket.
List, specifically towards the back end of the season. Third and long situation, especially extra long, you know, was an area that historically, if you look, we've been we've been really good, and we were not, you know, not anywhere close to the standard that we need to be at, you know, and it cost us, you know, and when you give up third downs, you extend drives, you know, and extended drives leads to points, it leads to less opportunities for the offense. So obviously that was that's going
to be a primary focus again. You know, the year before in twenty two was sort of our best year ever in third down defense, and there's a correlation to how what we played as a defense.
So we need to get yes they do and give the ball back to the offense. The last thing Stoop said during his twenty minutes with us today was and he wanted to drive the point home. He said, when it comes to the offense and the tempo, we are not going to be an up tempo offense in the form of Tennessee or Ole Miss the jail what I call the jail break offenses. You know, the ones that where the lineman race to the line of scrimmage and don't give the defense a chance to set up, and
the quick hits and things like that. Now you already know this from when he hired Hamden and really going back to when Liam Cohen was still here, Stoops really really wants more tempo in the offense to give more people a chance to touch the ball, to move the chains. He doesn't want to see the play clock winding down three two, one zero and Bush Hamden feels the same way, although he kind of kidded us a little bit when it came to tempo. We're going to.
Run one hundred plays a game and be the fastest offense in the country. So oh, man, I think I lose, you know, lose sleep over the tempo question, and you guys come in here and asking me, I think the biggest thing this is with tempo in our systems that we've had. Again, if you go back to the tape, right, I think about last year at Memphis, we get down, we've got the ability. I think we put seventeen points up in like seven minutes because we have the ability
to play extremely fast. We always want to be somewhere in the middle. And what that means is have the flexibility, depending on how the game's going to do whatever it takes to win the football game. And I think that's important for us all to know. For me, the checklist in fall camp is we got periods where we are playing as fast as anybody in the country. One word plays getting up there, snapping the ball within seven seconds.
We also have that focus where we can huddle, operate, execute, take time off the clock.
That's the balance that Mark steps has talked about really from day one since he got here, and he talked about it quite a bit in Dallas at media days and again today, and Bush Hampden knows this. Everybody wants to see the ball flying through the air, but more than anything, everybody wants to see points on the scoreboard. So you got to keep moving the chains. Now, who's going to be taking his snaps who's going to be
triggering that offense. Well, we know, as we said earlier, Brock Vandergrip seems to be the number one candidate and he likely will be the starter, but you just don't know. Hampton has said Brock has looked good so far.
A smart, smart player, tough, can run all those things. Again, I think we've had success with, probably in the last three to five years, a guy like Brady Cook at Missouri. You see what his skill set looks like, what Taylor Green did last year at Boise Maddix s Matthson. We think he's right in the mold of a guy we like for the system.
Whenever you're asking oc about his quarterback, he inevitably mentions all of them. You'll see he's usually the QB coach. And I know Henshaw did this when he was here, and he Grant did this, Liam Cohen did this. But keep in mind that in twenty nineteen you could talk about all those guys, they all ended up hurt. Lynn Bowden was a QB. So you got to get everybody ready. And keep in mind as well, Stephen Johnson was ready when Drew Barker went down and Stephen Johnson got his
chance and made the most of it. So yeah, they got to have every quarterback ready because as Vandergriff said earlier today, he said, you're an ankle away from being a starter when you're the backup. And that's the way he approached his job down at Georgia. But he said it was time to play football, so he transferred to Kentucky. One other Stoops comment before we hit the brake, somebody brought up the fact that Stoops is and he brought it up as well in Dallas the longest tenured coach
in the SEC. We know this his twelfth year and it's amazing when you think about that, that it's Mark Stoops at Kentucky. That's how coaches have come and gone now with Saban retiring. But there's a question put to Stoops about the fact that it's It seems rather surprising, yes, but it's a job where he said to learn every day, Mark twelve years is not to call you old.
But that's a long time.
It's bell, No, you can't.
It's about the sport.
Obviously, it's changing so much, and then the rule changes college athletics as the whole.
Does it ever surprise you how much you still have to learn.
No, No, that doesn't, it doesn't. You know that's been that way, you know since day one when you walk in here. I said it, you know, twelve years ago, through some ups and some downs and mostly downs early on, but that I was prepared for. I knew what I was getting into. That doesn't mean that it's easy. That doesn't mean that you take it all in stride. Every day you walk in there, there's a new new challenge or you know, something you have to deal with, and
I embrace that. You know, there's young men that are going through things in there that need counseling, that need talk, you know, to that you you got to put your arm around. Sometimes you got to push them when they don't want to be pushed. And I love that part of it. And so there's just different challenges each and every day. And I feel as good about that right now as I did that as far as embracing those challenges, and sometimes they're more difficult than others.
That's the UK head coach Mark Steubs. More of the Big bluon Sider coming up a little bit later on Tom Hammond, a Hall of Fame broadcaster and a veteran of many many Olympics will join us to talk about this year's Summer Games and his new book. Also coming up in our number two, Justin Rowland of Katz Illustrated, and Kyle Motes, a long time assistant ad at Kentucky now he's the athletics director at Eastern Kentucky University. That's
all ahead. We'll also take a closer look at the NCAA report on the other side of the break here on the Big Bluon Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Lunsider. Coming up, Tom Hammond will join us, the legendary sportscaster, Kyle Motz, new athletics director at Eastern Kentucky University, and Justin Roland, the publisher of Cats Illustrated. I'm guessing by now you have heard about the NCAAA announcing violations that occurred in the UK swimming and football programs.
You need to understand that I'm not going to dismiss this as old news. This is basically the official follow up from the NSA Infractions Committee. And people who don't either understand the way the NCAY works, they don't like it and they want to do away with it. But even if you do, you're going to have a body that oversees college athletics, that creates rules and deals with infractions.
That's all that you're doing, and that's what the schools do that people on the infractions committee work at other universities. They just don't meet around the clock every week. So this takes a while to to decide what to do and how to do it. Now what we're talking about. Of course, with regard that a swimming program was the controversy involving former coach Lars Jorgensen, UK has dealt with that.
Legal people are dealing with it as well. There was at least one lawsuit in place, but UK had to go before the NCAA and take its lumps on that the school agreed that it failed to monitor swimming and diving programs and that the underlying violations demonstrated a head coach responsibility violation. When it comes to football, this dates back to you might recall Chris Rodriguez, the running back, had to sit out four games, and this isn't all
on him. There were apparently eleven student athletes involved essentially, and many of them involved, as was Rodriguez, with being paid for work that was never done, so payment for work not performed between spring of twenty twenty one in March of twenty twenty two. As I said, this is not new violations, this is just new information coming from the infractions committee. Eight of the student athletes went on to compete and receive actual and necessary expenses while ineligible.
No staff member, according to the enforcement staff in the athletics department, knew or reasonably should have known about the payment for work not performed. So the violations involving the football program, according to the NCAA did not provide additional
support for the agreed upon failure to monitor violations. So cutting through all this, what it means is during that twenty twenty one season, Kentucky was using players who were improperly and basically illegally paid for work they did not do. This was not an extra benefit like a pair of pants or a pizza. This was money they should not have been given for doing work that they weren't doing. So that's why Kentucky has to vacate the ten wins.
And again, ninety nine percent of you will shrug that off, some of you will be mad about it, and a lot of you, I know because you tell me about it, think that they shouldn't even worry about stuff like this. Essentially, what you're saying is there shouldn't be any rules. Everybody should be able to do whatever they want. Well, you know what, that's essentially what you're doing right now with a portal and with nil money. And you know it's it's it's like people say, it's the Wild West. Are
you enjoying that? No players are enjoying it. They have more freedom, they're getting money and the money they deserve, but there are no guard rails. That's what they keep talking about. We need guard rails, We need guidelines so people can at least compete on the same level. It's never going to be equal, but it's got to be equitable.
And that's why these rules are in place. And Kentucky broke rules, like I said, on probation for a couple of years and vacating the ten wins from the twenty twenty one season, including the ball win over Iowa in the Citrus Bolt. Tom Hammond's next in six thirty WLAP welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider, joining us now as a longtime friend and the colleague. In terms of well we've covered a lot of sports, the same
sports and played basketball together. In fact, Tom Hammond, Yeah, Tom, I'm gonna call you legendary, but I know that that some people think it just means you're old, But no, I mean you you got quite the resume and now you've got a book coming out. How are you well?
I'm doing well, Dick, And you're right. I had a long, great run, and you know, it wasn't so much I think that of my talent as much as it was things falling into place at the right time for me in a lot of ways. So you know, I'm very grateful for that, and it was it was a wonderful run. And I'm enjoying decompressing a little bit as a retired although the book. But it's kind of frightening to come to think about all those things about your life now going out to the to the public in general, that
you didn't ever think about. So anyway, Uh that that's where I stand right now.
Well, so much of your great career involved the Olympics, and I will get to that because obviously the games are going on as we speak, But I want to know about the book. It's called Racist Games and Olympic Dreams and I heard you talking to Tom Leach. It was a lot of fun when you did Tom's entire show with him. But people were telling you you need to write a book. Did you hear what you're hearing that a lot? I assume you were.
Yeah, I was, you know, just speaking to a to a group, or or even just sitting around telling stories. That's what old guys do, tell stories. So uh, they'd say, hey, you are to write a book. And at the time, it just seemed when I retired, it just seemed like too big a project to undertake you that time, because I just wanted to kind of let down a bit. So when when Mark Story signed on to the deal,
that's sort of a sensitive for me. And we did an oral history for UK and then and then worked on the book for some time.
Is that how it happened? Did Mark interview you for the oral history and it just kind of morphed into a book.
Yeah, it made sense to use that as the basis for the book, and that's the way it worked out. He came out and he would interview me for the oral history, which has gone into the archives a k. And he also recorded for himself at the same time, so then he we go back over those recordings and flesh it out from there.
I've told Mark this before. One of the things that he does I really enjoy, you know. John Clay does his thing, Mark does his thing. We're fortunate that they're both writing for the for the Hero Leader, but Mark really likes to do those perspective pieces looking back at the history of not just UK sports, with sports in Kentucky. So he's got a great feel for that, doesn't he.
He does, and he, as you say, it takes in the whole state of Kentucky. He doesn't just do UK. And it's a it's a nice combination. He and John play together, make make a good combination. And I hope with all the changes as the Herald Leader, I hope there's no change to their status because I enjoy both of them. And Mark has been great to work on the book, of course, and when I tell some wild story, he'll go check it and sometimes, you know, sometimes the
memory isn't quite right. So thanks to him for that.
Was he able to pull things out of you that you had not even thought about for years?
Yeah? I think so, I mean, and then then I'd go back and say, wow, I forgot about that. That was that was pretty good stuff. Yeah, so yes he was. He was good at that too, to find some little nuggets in there that that I hadn't thought about for a long time.
What kind of prep did you do to be interviewed?
I would just try to think back to the you know, I would know the topics we were going to cover that that week. We did him once a week, and I would you know, think about those times and try to recall all that had happened and try to remember some of those minute aspects as well. And then sometimes I wouldn't recall him until he brought them out of me with his questioning.
Yeah, it had to be fun, though, I would think, wasn't it?
It was great to relive most of those memories. And then, you know, some of the memories, like I say, you know, things about growing up and other things that I never have talked much about publicly to other people, just my family. Now, to have all those out there, it's kind of kind of frightening. It's just not something that you will broadcast, like the time I was I was shot and stabbed and came close to death, and you know that's not
something that most people know about me. It's not something that I advertised, but it's in the book and and you know, just different things like that, that my relationship with my with my dad was complicated and that's in there, and so you know, I'm not sure how the rest to my family will react to that, but I just, you know, I had to relive it.
You know, I read dick Enberg's book. And I don't know if you were aware of this. I know you knew dick Enburg, but he had he walked a similar path. He had a complicated relationship with his dad. I guess that's a coincidence, but it is kind of interesting.
It is interesting. And not only was Dick my friend a good friend, but he was my mentor and you know, likely wouldn't have gotten some of the opportunities without his support. So yeah, I read his book, of course, and he was a He was a great, great friend, Dick, and I still think about him often. He was a huge influence on my life.
I actually was a statistician as statman at a UK game once when I was in college, and couldn't have been kinder as you know, no surprise there we're talking with Tom Hammond his book Races, Games and Olympic Dreams, available now, And of course Tom the veteran from w l e X NBC covering horse racing, the Olympics, the NFL.
I'm not going to ask you to pick a favorite, but I know how much you love horse racing, Tom, And you've told the story on my show and to a lot of people about how you basically ended up with an expanded role in the Breeders Cup. You had a role, you were helping the Breeders Cup people and something happened and you were ready for it because you knew the sports so well. So once again you know, luck meets hard work and it all worked out. Can you share that with people?
Well, I made a lot of contacts when the NBC would come in to do a UK basketball game. I would try to go down and talk to the producers and to Dick Enberg, Billy Packer and Al mcguanire and tell them all that I knew to try to help them do the bag. Get Yeah, and I became friends with Dick. One time we cemented our friendship when he said, my flight doesn't leave until several hours after the game on Saturday. Is there any way you could take me
to seat Secretariat. Oh, and I took you over over to Paris to see Secretariat, and in the course of looking at his paddock, uh, dick said, how do you know that a horse is going to be great? Seth Hancock of Crayburn Farm was with us, and I said, well, you look at their pedigree, and then you look how they're put together physically, and then it's you know, it's a crap shoot after that, and and Seth chime in and say, well, you know, sometimes you can just see
it in their eyes. And at that word, Secretariat snapped his head around and looked dick Enberg right in the eyes, and that was something he never forgot, you know. So when I went when NBC first got the Breeders Cup, they were going to do four hours of live racing, and they'd never done horse racing before. And I said, you know, these races last two minutes each, how we're
going to fill four hours? So they hired a lot of people, and dick Enberg said, you need to hire this guy, and so they hired me as a horse racing expert. And during that day, as the chronicle in the book, a lot of things went right for me.
Dick just some pieces I did that we were a hit, including one with John Henry and who had a chance to be Horse of the Year but couldn't run in the Classic because he was injured, so I thought it'd be fun, but put a monitor up in front of his stall so he so he could watch the game. I watched the race, and just as I was getting ready to go on the air, somebody unknown to me delivered him a dozen red roses. I said, well, here,
hand me those. So I had those roses in my hand, and John Henry proceeded as I was on the air, to reach out of his stall and began to nibble on those roses. And it made such a such a cute picture that they repeated it several times during the day and then and then after the big controversy in the Classic, all the bumping and stuff that went on, Pat Day, knowing me from Kentucky, came right over to be interviewed, even though I was supposed to be interviewing him,
and that worked out well too. So at the end of that day, Michael Weisman, who was then the executive producer at NBC Sports, said, would you be interested in doing other things for NBC starting with NFL football, and that started thirty four years at NBC.
Man, And again, luck meets hard work, and you were ready for it. I love the stories that you've told about preparing for the Winter Games, for the ice skating and things like that, where guys like us we don't get a chance to cover much ice skating, but you put so much work in the research. Tom, was that something you've always enjoyed because it seems like it came naturally, But all that means is you work your butt off.
Well, I did enjoy the preparation, Dick, But you know, fear is a great motivator. Yeah, And to be going on the air and making a fool of yourself, it's not something you want to do. And so you know, I tried to learn as much as I could, as fast as I could. When I was to sign figure skating, and the skaters help me. Christy Yamaguchi in particular, was answering all my stupid questions. And when I went in thinking, well, this is some sort of feathers and fluff and flue food,
but when I saw them in action, I've closed. I said, no, No, that takes a lot of athletic ability, and so I came to really appreciate the athleticism of the skaters, and most of all, I appreciated the pressure they're under. And when my friends like Mike Battaglia teased me for doing figure skating, I would say, I would say, I think that the ladies final in the Olympics is the most
pressure packed event in all of sports. You're out there by yourself, there's nobody to get the rebound if you miss or anything like that, and you're likely to going to get no other chance. You've worked your whole life for this three and a half minutes knowing that if you make the slightest bobble that your life's work is going to go down the drain. And that's pressure. And you could see that pressure affect the skaters and many times that.
You're on the thinnest of blades on ice. Oh yeah, I'm with you. I mean, when I watch that, I'm not a huge fan, but man, how can your heart not be in your mouth of you're a sports fan. It's just it's incredible.
It turns out that the figure skating is the most watched Olympic sport winter or summer.
Wow. Tom Hammond my guest. He, of course a veteran sportscaster from WLA XTV through NBC, horse Racing, NFL, the Olympics. We'll come back and talk more with Tom about his book and about his career on the Big Blue Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with Tom Hammon, the veteran sportscaster, retired now but with a lifetime of memories. He's sharing them in a book that's available now called Races, Games and Olympic Dreams. But Tom, I love the fact
that the cover photo is at Keenland. You know, of all places that that kind of underscores your love for horse racing.
It does underscores my love for Kingland as well. Keenland has been very important to my development as a broadcaster. JB. Faulkner, who was the director of Publicity, was another mentor of mine who brought me along and sort of taught me the ropes when I discovered I was going to be a media person instead of a instead of a general manager of a horse farm somewhere, something which I intended when I started. So that yet and Keenland has been
very important. I was the announcer at the Keenland sales for many years, which which enabled me to stay in Lexington, close to the horses, which I wanted to do, and not have to play the normal television game if you have ambition of trying to find a bigger market all the time. So Harry Barfield, the general manager at WLAX TV, was a kind to let me do these horse sales, give me the time off to do them and supplement my income so I didn't have to move to try
to move to a bigger station. So it all worked out great well.
That helped him keep you and he didn't have to pay you, so I was Ralph Gabberde was was kind to me in the same way. We're talking with Tom Hammond, who of course for the longest time was part of NBC's Olympics coverage that's covered in his book Racist Games
and Olympic Dreams. Is it tough time for you? Before we went on the air, you told me you've been watching the Olympics, but when you first retired, was it tough to watch the Derby and the Breeders Cup and the Olympics Because I gotta think you're you're like a fire horse attention to.
Go, yeah, you know, I missed the big events, and my brain would be I try to put it in neutral, but it would be you know, thinking about how would you have done that? Or do you think you could have done that better? Or what did you think they did on that one? Trying to critique those broadcasts. And I've gotten a little better about that now there's not so much trying to critique it and just enjoy it instead.
But yeah, that was that was a you know, a way to have to change your mindset for a while to try to enjoy sports and not just try to be you know, how would I do it?
I also felt like one of the really strong points in your career just as a viewer as a consumer was when you called the track and field the races. I mean, you you received a lot of praise for the way you did. That's a that's a difficult thing to do. I mean, that's a what a ten second race at one point or whatever. And maybe your horse racing background help you there. I don't know, but it just seemed like you took to that.
Yeah I did. And you know, a race is a race, whether it's four lego or two legged. I mean, it still has kind of the same basics. But I think the most difficult thing I did in all those years was the Olympic hundred meters because it's over in nine seconds. Then there's no chance to think about it. You just have to react to covid all comes out great and knock on wood. I never miscalled one hundred meters and those and those Olympics that I did, so that was something.
And yeah, you know, I think but the horse racing part helped, just the way you call a race and the things that happened during a race, and you know, track and field is to me, it's the it's the heart of the of the Summer Olympics. And I was, you know, pleased to be able to do that. And how I came about that is all in the book too. Dick Eversall, the chairman of NBC Sports. I'd done an NBA playoff game in Boston and Celtics and the Pacers on Sunday and Monday. I got a call and Dick
Eversall said, I a good job on the game. What do you know about track and field? I said, well, I said, I've been to a couple of trap meets, but I don't really know much about it. He said, well, you'll be fine. I want you to do the US Championships in the in two weeks and then to Tokyo for the World Championships, and then if all goes well, the Olympics next year in Barcelona. So that was my introduction to track and field.
Fantastic. I've only got a minute of two left, but I've got to mention and I didn't want to leave this out. You and Larry Conley for the longest time on the SEC Game of the Week that was must sea viewing, even when it was in Kentucky. You had to love that, especially the relationship you have with Larry.
Oh gosh, you know, Dick, Larry and I have known each other since we were sixteen years old. And so to go throughout the South to all those places, we know, every barbecue joined in the Southeast days, we stopped at
all of them sometime in those years. And I did thirty years of SEC basketball, starting with Joe Dean and then the last twenty years or so with Larry, and you know, to have two best friends doing a sport they love and the place they loved throughout the Southeast, that was just you know, are you paying us for this because we enjoyed it that much?
Yeah, well you could tell. You could tell during the game, not even if the game wasn't great. You guys made it viewable and palatable, and I always appreciated that. Tommy. I'm in veteran sportscaster. The book is called Races, Games and Olympic Dreams. I can't wait to read it and.
It comes out, Dick on August the twentieth, and he's a pre order excellent.
I will do that, Thank you, sir. Great talking to you as always, and I hope to see you soon.
Thank you Dick very much, and it's always a pleasure to be on the air with you.
Thanks such a great voice and a great guy. And I can't wait to read Tom Hammond's book when it comes out later this month, and we'll keep you posted on that. Coming up an hour number two more football talk with Justin Rowland and Kyle Motes of the EKU. He's a new athletics director over in Richmond. Back in just a minute on the Big Bullingsider. Our number two's next on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue and Sider joining us now is a guy who
loves his football justin Rowland have cats illustrated. He is a publisher and he's been covering the wildcast for some time. How are you, sir?
Doing great?
Nick?
Thanks for having me on.
You got a house full of young ands as your summer going.
Oh man, it's been great. We've lived at the pool, we went to Lego Land a little while in Kansas. I not long ago, but I think they're almost ready for school. They've been in each other's spaces long enough.
To believe it or not. Well, let's first talk about the breaking news earlier today. The NSA fractions report finally comes out. It's a long process. We all know, two years probation for Kentucky vacating ten wins. Some people scoff at that, but it's not a great look. Justin number one and number two. They could have been looking at some sort of postseason ban.
Right, Yeah, I heard that a Bowl ban was possible, that it was on the table. But when they concluded that it was without the knowledge of Kentucky's coaching staff or the orchestration of that probably helped them, as well as Kentucky's cooperation. The work that they did internally, But you're right, but I think in real terms for fans, they still live through it. You still have those memories with s Rod and Randale and Levice and that great season, but it's a legacy thing and it's going to have
an asterisk next to that second ten win season. I think that might have been their most complete team that they had. Unfortunately is there.
Yeah, I think you're right. And the other thing, one other note, somebody I know on the inside said this was a serious, serious matter with these players and it could have been a lot worse legally. So yeah, they were able to work through this and then put it behind him. And I got to think Stoops didn't know about it when the media met today with him at ten am. What was your takeaway anything jump off the
page at you. You've already written for Cats illustrated of course about media day, but what did you take away from this morning's information.
I feel like Stuops wanted to convey his confidence to the team, his excitement for the season, following first comments about Nil, which were kind of easy headlines like Stoops is frustrated, Stukes is really frustrated. He wanted to pivot to we got a team that I'm excited about. I have confidence in my first year offensive coordinator Bush ham here, and we got a lot of pieces to work with, and he's obviously thought a lot about what they need
to improve from last season. They're just getting started with practice. But this was a pivot to I am excited about this year.
After that those headlines, he brought up the fact and really emphasized today what do you talked about in Dallas about tempo? And of course his last comments you saw him, he said, I want to make it clear we are not going to be in I'm paraphrasing a jail break offense like Tennessee erro Miss, but they are looking for a better tempo and he said that was going to happen regardless of whether Liam Cohen stayed or left. He
was wanting to do that. He was frustrated throughout last season watching that play clock run down.
Yeah, there's a lot that went into that. You know, the quarterback has to be able to process quickly and communicate quickly and no things inside and out. And I think brock Frog vander griff is suited to that. He's been in a national championship program, learning from the best of the best in elite culture where they've done tempo. Oh, and you know, the son of a coach, that's gonna be a lot on him, but I think he's gonna be comfortable with it. Hamden has done it before. Last
year was just such an operation. I mean, the fewest number of plays in the country, but if you really dig into it, they were one of the most explosive teams in college football play for play. It's everything that happened between those explosive plays.
So whether it's.
Tempo and getting physical in the run game, they're looking at all all the ways that they can just create a more sound operation, I think.
And of course, when your defense scores as Kentucky's defense did, when it gives you a short field is it did against Florida two pick six is against Vandy kickoff return touchdown, you're basically taking opportunities in a happy way from your offense. So again, I fully agree with you that you got to dig a little deeper, don't you.
There's a lot of stuff that went into that. I mean, negative yardage plays. They gave up too many of those. There's too many holding penalty, several guys flagged way too many times and a hole perst and twenty you're in a bad spot. And then it's also the defense is responsibility. We learned and heard a lot about complimentary football because it's so important for Mark Stups. But that goes both ways. The offense has to stay on the field, but the
defense has to get off the field. They were twenty second in the country in red zone in third down defense two years ago, but that dropped one hundred and seven last year. And there's no reason that that can't improve with the personnel they have on defense. So we'll see, we'll see what happens.
To that well. And that was something Stoops talked about. And thirty seconds into his comments, that's what Brad White was talking about as well. And he sided chapter in verse, didn't he He was not happy at all.
No, no, he wasn't. And you can tell they've got a high standard and they should, I mean, especially this season they got they got really good personnel. I mean they have elite players at every level of the defense. So they also have that next generation, that next crop of talent with young guys you're excited about and what are they going to do? And you know, the only question in my mind. Well, I guess the two questions
would be the help of the defensive line. They're going to be without several guys there, how do they perform around Dion? Do they have enough depth in the safeties. I thought they got good safeties, but they didn't play their best last season, and we'll see if they can bounce back a little bit.
I talked to Octavius Oxen dying today about what it's like to play alongside Dean Walker, and he couldn't quit smiling because of course Deon's going to command double teams and that helps the other guys do their thing. But you mentioned DB's justin How concerned are you at all with the defensive backfield.
I think there's reason for optimism. I mean, aside from the numbers. Last year, they gave up sixty eight percent completion and that's been a persistent thing. They kind of give up a high completion number because of the way they play, but you can't let the ball hit the ground. That's seldom. You got to cover better. I like their corners. I mean, Harrison's gonna be one of the best corners in the country. I'm assuming he's going to come out
after this year. And then instead of just saying I hope j Q Hardaway is ready in his second year of college football to be a number two corner. You've got DJ Waller and you still have JQ, and you've got terry On Nichols and the Seer Addison and Jansen Dunn, and those guys are all a year older. So I just think the depth chart at cornerback looks a lot better. And Ty Bryant at safety is somebody that we got to talk about as well.
Absolutely, and he was one of the great surprises last year, wasn't he.
Yes, yeah, he wasn't one of the highest ranked players in that class, but I was loved as intangible. He comes from a really good Frederick Douglas program. He tackles well, he's tough, plays and afraid, and he almost three hundred snaps last year. So could he push Zion Childress and Jordan love Itt for more of a starting job? Nichol is he gonna see versus Janson Dunn. He's kind of a Swiss Army knife back there, and they have a lot of nice pieces, so we'll see how it comes together.
Well, we mentioned Maxwell Harriston, and of course he was the author of the two pick sixes against Vandy, which was such a great coincidence because the year prior he had been burned badly in the Vandy loss. And I talked to him about that today and he made it a focal point and bouncing back last year, putting it behind him as good good defensive backs do that short memory. But it made him, he said, work even harder and
he's determined to do it again this year. So he may be sitting, like you said, justin on a big ear.
You say afari, he said Harston, Oh, I said Harriston Harrison. Yeah, I think he's He's fantastic. He had some he had some bad moments in the Vandy games. I think he got flagged two or three times, but he just bounced right back and he has such great awareness. He keeps his eyes on the quarterback. He breaks. Some of guys just have a knack for being around the ball, and Harrison has a knot for being around the ball. But
he's not just around the ball. He finishes plays and that speaks to that just speaks to how he's wired as a cornerback. And I don't think it was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. I think he's a He's a really elite corner. They need that going against the top receivers they're going to be facing on this schedule.
I couldn't agree more. And I did talk to Afari, who's moving out a linebacker, and he loves it. He said, anything he gets me closer to the ball, that this guy's been making plays justin since the day they put him out there, hasn't.
He He has, he has, and he's got those gamer qualities. He likes being around the ball. He walks to the ball, he plays sideline the sideline. He's really good and unique matchups and it's just a matter of, like what is the best position for him to get him on the field to the maximum numbers last NAP. So that tells you they think he's one of their best eleven on defense. It's just a matter of how do we maximize his impact.
And it makes sense that they would move him there because you got Weaver, Doumas, Johnson, Eric Jackson, and then what else do we have? Tyree Spearbery. But they could definitely use a body down there.
Justin Roland my guest, the publisher of Cats Illustrated part of the Rivals Network. We'll talk more Kentucky football on the other side of the break here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're talking with Justin Rowland. He is a publisher of Cats Illustrated, part of the Rivals Network, and he was on actually watching the media day festivities today as the coordinators talked to the media. Bush Hampden basically justin with the same message he's had. He likes
what he sees in Brock Vandergriff. He kind of kitted around. He said I'd like to throw it a hundred times a game, and everybody laughed. But he recognizes the need for balance. How good can that balance be in your opinion, given the running backs they have.
I thought the best thing that Hamden said for Kentucky's chances this year was he likes the depths on the offensive line. And I was surprised to hear that, because I mean, maybe Jalen Farmer emerges at guard and Dylan Ray kicks out and becomes a flex piece at guard and tackle. You've got guys like Malachi Wood and some others who have been developing behind him. But if they feel like they have good depths on the offensive line. That gives a little more margin for error than I
thought they had. They were fortunate to stay really healthy up front last year, But the running back room is a concern. Then Tomorrow went in on the One Star Recruits podcast earlier this week and he said, if there is a concerns running back room, and then today Mark Steps echoed that and said, to an extent, they are unproven. We know that they wanted to bring in another running back from the portal and it just didn't happen. So a lot is riding on Chip, A lot is riding
on Jamry and will Cox being ready this year. Jimmy Sumo, Karanbay, I'm not sure how much a workload he's going to carry in the backfield. He's more intriguing as a receiving threat, all purpose guy, third down back. And then Jason Patterson, the true freshman from Florida with great production at that prep level in Florida last year, somebody at Liam Cohen and also Bush Hamdon really liked could be an opportunity for him as a young.
Guy as well.
But the running game Stoops has always cited eighty percent of set games are won by the team that rushes for more yards, and we have to be able to run it. When other teams know we're going to be able to run it, that's when we've been at our best. And they got to get back to that well.
I talked to Demi, I talked to train him. You've written about training him and his side. I mean you talk about passing the eyeball test. Justin that guy, man, he looks like he's chiseled out of granite chip.
Yeah. I mean that's his role, that was his role at Ohio State. You're going to be the full back, the short yarded guy for the Ohio State Buckeyes, and the guy they want to push you over the goal lines. You're gonna be big, You're gonna be tough. You see some of the freaks that they that they have year in and year out. And now it's just a question of how does three hundred yards at Ohio State and spot duty translate to being the workhorse at Kentucky. And
I don't think that's gonna happen. I mean, I think they said recently it could be more of a committee approach at running back. So let's see how many carries he gets it sounds like a f you guys might get a chance to prove himself.
And I mentioned the seven straight thousand yard rushing seasons and he said his goal for himself is beyond a thousand yards, So even if it is a committee, he intends to rack up as much as he can when he's out there. We're talking with Justin Rowland, who cats illustrated. He has been covering Kentucky football for quite a while, and Justin I have said, I've beaten this drum to death. All summer schedules are always going to be tough in
the Southeastern Conference. To me, it's the calendar that is the biggest challenge for Kentucky. South Carolina, Georgia, and Ole Miss so early, and we're gonna we're gonna know what Kentucky's got going for it right away, aren't we? Yes, we are.
And uh, you know it's interesting that we get this season because Stoops has been around for so long, you kind of expect the schedule to play out a certain way. They're gonna be four and oh going into Florida. They're gonna play Florida, and they're gonna be riding high after Florida. They're gonna get beat by Georgia probably, and how are they going to respond after the Georgia game. And it's
totally different this year. That South Carolina game in the second week the season is one of the biggest games in a long time for Kentucky. Can't lose to them three years in a row at home. Minus Spencer Rattler and the receiver that they had last year, it's gonna be a totally different team. They need to be two
and zero going into Georgia. The flip side of that is Stoops has talked about how playing so many consecutive SEC games in the middle later part of the season just grinds you down, and that kind of explained some of the duds they've laid later in the season. Maybe sprinkling the schedule out and spreading out some of those games will will make it a little more rested in the latter half of the schedule.
And two open dates, I believe for the first time in school history. So to your point, they should be well rested going into at least some of these games. A few minutes leff with Justin Rowland, who Catz illustrated, We've talked about a lot of stuff we haven't talked. We've talked about the offense, but not about the quarterback specifically. Brock Vandergriff and ham did mentioned him as you heard earlier today, along with some of the other guys he's
worked with. But they've got more depth in the QB room than they've had in a while. And our pal Jeremy Jarman, he believes it's going to be a fight for the starting job right till till game week. What do you think.
I think Brock's going to be the starter. That's that's my assumption. I like Gavin as a quarterback. Hamden has always seemed to downplay the possibility of Gavin taking the starting job. I think they like the idea of it being someone's team and everybody having that confidence in I mean the thing about Gavin, Hamden talked about him being in a wildcat running formation. Maybe Trick plays the two quarterbacks on the field. Maybe he saves Vandergriffs some hits,
especially in shortyardedge rushing situations. And I do think that in a better situation, Whimsat can be a solid quarterback. You've seen at Kentucky in the past at twenty eighteen, twenty nineteen, twenty twenty. They had struggles at quarterback, but it really wasn't designed to make the quarterback look great, and that's kind of how Rutgers is. I mean, they run the ball three quarters of the time, so it
wasn't a great situation for him. But he did have the lowest accuracy, remember in the country, for two years in a row. So I feel like Vandergriff is probably his job to lose.
Yeah, I agree with you. I think bo Allen can push him, but I think Rock Vandergriff from everything I hear, is a guy who can carry this team, well maybe not carry it, but trigger this team. I should say. To do that, he's got to have receivers who hang on to the football. And I rewatched the Louisville game and the it went over Florida. Both of those games, justin on sec takeover, they included drops by Brown and
Dante Key, but then huge plays by both guys. You got to have more consistency, I would think in their junior seasons, especially in a route running by Barry and Brown.
You know, I think Kentucky fans are still getting used to having four star recruits all over the roster. The expectation was barry On and Dane were going to be great last season, and they're still true sophomores in the SEC. They gained like fifteen, sixteen, seventeen pounds respectively this year going into their junior season, so they're just now really at the size where you would expect a breakout season.
And I thought the most promising thing from last year was they did struggle with those drops, but it didn't spiral for the rest.
Of the year.
They rebounded and Dane made some really tough competitive catches, and Barryon took over the Louisville and the Clemson games at the end of the season. So then you throw on they're kind of running it back with the Tavon Robinson experiment, except with Jamori Macklin, and I think he's a fantastic gets So much is riding on the running game. They need opponent to respect the run game for that play action to really work and for them to be
able to leverage. Then I don't know that brock is a kind of clearer that's going to sit back and pick you apart. But if they have to respect the running game, those receivers are good enough that he can make you pay.
I'm really curious to see you mentioned demy Simalcarnbay and I talked to him as I said how much they throw to the backs, and he was kind of elusive about that, but I think that can be a vital part of really this in any offense, as well as the tight ends. Of course, Justin Rowland is the publisher of Cats Illustrated, part of the Rivals Network. You can get it for nine to ninety five a month or a full year subscription for ninety nine to ninety five. Justin,
thank you so much. Hope to see you down the road.
I appreciate that, thanks, Vick.
I always like how Justin takes the deep dive into the stats, looks a little deeper than just what's on the surface, and he's able to put it into proper perspectives. So that's one of the many reasons I like talking with Justin Rowland of Cats Illustrated. And he's got a piece on the website from earlier today from a media day when he talks about the run game, Bush Hampden's offense and the balance to Wildcats will have to show
in order to compete against It's always tough. I know, but you know you can look at it as an opportunity as well. Got to beat South Carolina. You get the early shot at Georgia after the Ohio game. Your next conference game is Old Miss. So two of what I've always thought are the swing games. South Carolina and Old Miss comes so early in the schedule, but again, they can be opportunities. The unspoken word in all of this is they just got to stay healthy. They've had
some preseason injuries, but they can't afford really anymore. Kyle Motes, the new add EKU welcome back to the Insider and joining us now in our celebrity hotline. Is an old friend and acquaintance and a guy who is back in the Bluegrass after several productive years away. But Kyle Motes is the new vice president and athletics director. I guess I shows a director of athletics make it more proper at Eastern Kentucky University. Kyle put in fourteen years in UK,
four more U of L before heading over to Missouri State. Kyle, welcome back to the Bluegrass. I know you've been back for a little while. You've been really busy, but just tell me about what it feels like to be back in your familiar stomping grounds.
Yeah, thanks, Dick, I appreciate that, and it is familiar stopping grounds, right. We spent a lot of time here in Kentucky. We love Kentucky in the Bluegrass. My son went to school at Louisville, my daughter went to Western Kentucky, my son in law went to Western Kentucky. So we've got a lot of ties to Kentucky. And I've always had a lot of size to Kentucky. So again, this opportunity came up, and it was just something a couple of reasons. One, the family was a big part of that,
getting everybody back together. And then I really believe that Eastern Kentucky's done the right. A lot of good things are happening, and I wanted to be a part of that and to be able to do it with my son Dean here. I just thought it was a unique opportunity that couldn't pass up on.
Yeah, and you know, just to dive right into your job. I was talking yesterday to Keith Madison, you know, coach Madison, the Hall of Fame coach from UK Baseball. We were talking about all these changes and they'll benefit baseball in some ways and football in some ways. But he and I were talking about worrying about the Ekus of the world, the Missouri States of the world, as it just seems like the chasm between the huge schools and everybody else
is widening. What kind of a challenge for a guy like you as an ad at a place like EKU with a strong athletics department, but you don't have the gazillions of dollars rolling in that the other schools have.
Yeah, a good question, and that Lely, if I could fun you mentioned coach Madison because I when I was watching the Cali World series on on television and obviously you can't making that great run I saw I could think about with Keith, you know, coach Madison, and how proud he must be of not on how the program is done and the facilities that they have now. But just again, I thought about him a lot during that run.
But yeah, you're exactly right, Dick. There's a lot of things that we're gonna have to probably prioritize.
Right.
We can't probably go down the road now of being, you know, something that we're great in everything. We're probably gonna have to prioritize because in the baseball situation, those numbers are going to take away from us right when they get to thirty four or thirty seven. That's going to hurt everybody else for the trickle down effect. So we're gonna have to figure that out. We're probably gonna
have to be more strategic. We're probably gonna take chances on kids that we're gonna have to maybe develop a little bit at our level, which I know sounds a little counter predictive or productive of what what people are saying, But I do think you're gonna have to take some more projects and work with kids and work a little bit harder. That's what we're going to have to do.
That's what we've always had to do. But you're still going to have some of the situations where some of those kids, let's say it's thirty two through thirty seven, that maybe aren't playing a lot yeah, and may say, hey, you know what, I don't know if it's great to be at a power five position of power four positions, but I don't play more well, then you have that trickle down effect. They may go to the next level. Then those folks are the same situation then go down
to that next level. That's kind of how that evolution will occur. And you know, we can be the beneficiary, or we may not be, but I think that's how it's going to happen. And again doesn't mean we can't compete. It just means that the Power four is going to be stock final a little bit more of the talent.
Certainly, can you make the same analogy when it comes to football, because you know they're going to cap rosters at one O five scholarships numbers may go up, but walk ons may be a thing of the past. And again, as you say, kids looking for playing time can use that portal and go in the other direction. Yeah.
Absolutely.
I know at our level, certainly at Eastern Kentucky and at Missouri State, we were the beneficiary of the transfer portal. I mean, I know a lot of people didn't like the transfer portal, but I think if you looked at how many kids that we got and where we got people from, we got a lot more value than we lost. Again, our best best players. Yeah, they probably went on that we get a lot more of those types of kids that were at Power forwards or that next level down
that we were able to get. They just didn't get the playing time. And I think what helps is, especially in the football side of things, if you're playing, they're going to find you, right if they're going to find you, So you just have to play hard to give tape and hard to give video if you're not playing.
You know, it's interesting all this talk and controversy about NIL and the portal and all of you ads are in the same boat, yet not everybody's going in the same direction, because really you can. You clearly have to do what's best for your universe. That's obvious. But I've been talking to Mitch Barnard more than once about this and actually did a panel discussion show with him on
KT And you know, people talk about the NCAA. Well, I keep reminding people that is the membership the schools they are as you know, the NCAA leadership is vital from the nca structure and from university presidents and ads. But as Mitch has said more than once, getting all these schools go in the same direction, what a challenge that is. What's it been like for you to deal with that kind of thing.
Yeah, I agree with Mitch completely, and it's it's relative based upon where you are in the pecking r Yeah, right, so no question. I'm okay with the transfer portal. I'm okay with nil. I just think we need to put some more guard brails on it and put some more deadlines and transfer deadlines and waiver deadlines and those are all pro terms, but that's kind of what we're dealing with. But as long as we kind of understand how the game's going to work, we'll have the ability to adapt.
But we're capable of adapt. But I think in Interclasian athletics, we tend to go to one extreme or the other dick. We see something that's an issue, and then we overcorrect it too much. We don't just kind of ease into it, we just go the other way too much. And I think that's the difficulty, and it is difficult in terms of we are different than the Power for right, I mean Kentucky and the Louisl's and those folks are different than Eastern Kentucky's. There are two hundred million dollar budgets.
I don't even know what you change is now, but probably close to two hundred million dollars or one hundred and seventy five million dollars. We're twenty three million dollars.
Wow.
And I've never I've never felt like and I've been in both places, right, I've been on both sides of it. I've never felt like we should necessarily have all the rights and all the say that those guys do. It's a different world, it's a different situation when they have. That doesn't mean that I don't think we can compete against them on certain situations. And hey, if we get
an opportunity, we might beat you once a while. But when you make up the rules and you look at the NCAA, which again is us is after right, it's not you know people that are sitting in Indianapolis making all these rules. It's us that determine what those rules are. We just have to we have to understand that we're different. And I think there'll be a time when the power for at the right time, breaks a little bit, does what they need to do and has some rules that
are different than the rest of us. And how that happens and how we're included in terms of the championship piece of it remains to be seen, but there certainly needs to be some differentiation between the two.
We're talking with. Kyle motzis the new vice president and Director of Athletics, Edie Ku and Kyle. You came from a background of sports marketing, which has just I don't know if the word exploded is right, but it is so much more evident now in college athletics. How has that grown and changed since your days at UK when you were just a youngster and have worked your way up to where you are now.
Yeah, you're familiar with that, Dick. We didn't even have sports marketing when I got to the UK, right, I mean that was just something that I'll throw out some old names gd Pilippo if you remember.
Yeah, of course.
That that was the area that we kind of we started along with Debbie Antonelli's that's right, and she and I both kind of started that. Deverly had it, but the multimedia rights thing was just going strong, right, k was way ahead of the game. There was those communications
and what they were doing with the multimedia rights. But we started getting into promotional license and how we could use the royalties and the marks more effectively instead of just I would say standard radio, television and print, which is kind of what they had at that particular time. We started evolving to do some other things that made sense that we could get revenues from and and it has improved and it has been a big part of what your budget has to be. Right, You're you're counting
on those dours significantly. Maybe when we start off, it was just an ad on, but now it is a part of your budget that that you rely on, and we continue to keep doing that. We have to do certainly a better job here in Kentucky, and I think we will. But but we have done a good job. We just need to keep improving that. And I think there's ways to do that, and I'm looking forward to seven them and trying to figure out what those are going to be.
So much of it is a numbers game. How what kind of a staff do you have? How big of a roster do you have there in athletics, Kyle to to help you get the job done?
Yeah, I think we are I really think this, dick. We're funded, Okay, we're supported, Okay at a level that we didn't succeed Certainly, you always want to have a few more people, uh, and those people want to get paid more, right, nobody ever gets paid enough. I get that, But but I think this has been set up really well and in President Spad and Matt Roan who was there before I have done a really good job. So we're just going to try to tweak things a little bit,
try to improve it. But I think we've got support staff. I think we'd like to have a few more people in the specific to student development. I think you'd like to have some more people there because the whole mental health thing has just exploded, Dick. That's the area I think, you know, between that and social media and the NIL those are the three biggest things that I think have hit Intercleagion athletics in the last five to ten years.
So those are areas that we have to maybe improve a little bit more and invest a little bit more on student development to help our student athletes. Not so much on the field or the facilities. You know, you can always improve those, but those other areas to help your student athletes cope and be able to be able to perform, I think are the areas that we probably could invest a little bit more in.
Talking to Kyle Motes, vice president and director of Athletics at Eastern Kentucky University, I'll come back with more for Kyle in just a minute. On the big lew In Sider here on six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're chatting with Kyle Mots, longtime assistant a d at the University of Kentucky and then moved on to ultimately Missouri State where he was the AD there and now is the new vice president and director of athletics at EKU over
in Richmond. Let's talk about some fun stuff. You got a football season coming up that could be full of promise. I know you've got new faces in new places. You had to replace a really talented quarterback, but wal Wells on the job. It looks like you guys have a chance to do some things this year.
Yeah. I agree, And again, we had an outstanding quarterback last year, one of the best in the country. So that's a big void, right, We've got to figure out who's going to do that and who can replace replace him. But I do I like what we have. I know coach is excited about his team, and I look forward to going around and look at the different schools and who we're going to play in this conference. But I don't think there's anything in this conference that scares me.
You know, Central Arkansas was picked first. I think in this League, and we certainly played them at Missouri State quite often, and I know what they have. And again, I think we have better facilities. I certainly think that we have more support staff, more funding from a cost of attendance. We have a lot of things going for us that Coach Wells has done a good job with.
And again, I'm really excited about the year. I think our fans should be excited and I look forward to us really competing well and have a chance to win Accountence Championship. I know it sounds like a D speak, but I believe that we've got the resource to be good.
Well, you had a good program at Missouri State. I got to ask you. You hired at one point Bobby Petrino. I got to think you had a relationship with him after working at U of L. I'm wondering, and how did that work out?
Yeah, I can tell you how that got started. Coach was out and I was the chair of the SCS committee that particular year, and he called me actually in the off season, right before the season is going to start and said, hey, you know, I know you're the committee chair. If something pops up, keep me in mind. Yeah, And I just I didn't think anything of it. We had a coach. It wasn't an antide with Missouri State. It was just more of, hey, can you help me
if something pops up. Well, we go through the season, doesn't work out, we get rid of our coach late in the year, and I'm down at actually at the SCS National Championship in Frisco, and when we make that decision right before and then I had it down there and Bobby Kauff, I mean, he's the first call I get. Hey, I'm interested, Let's get this thing worked out. And long story short, our president, who was an Arkansas drad by the way, and realized, you know, the last time that
Arkansas was pretty good was when Bobby was there. So it all kind of worked out because we had to have presidential support, as you do, and then you had to have the board support. But I didn't have any issue in terms of the football piece of it because he's one of the best football coaches in the country. I knew for us to be able to get somebody like that at Missouri State, that was a game changer
for us, and he certainly proved to be that. We had into a playoff since nineteen ninety and Bobby got us the two of them.
So yeah, yeah, had you lost a heartbreaker? I know to U T. Martin, But and you almost upset Arkansas? How about that? Yeah?
We did.
It was a great game. You know it's going down there, and of course people were fired up because Bobby was there.
But we did.
We made a great run, and we were in the game till till early in the fourth quarter, and that I think they kind of fatigue set in and they just have more numbers than we did. But we played really, really well with a fun game, really a fun game.
I was on your campus. It was right about the time you got hired. You weren't here yet, I don't think, but we came over. We were given the opportunity to talk to some of your basketball players because of the new dates and they're working out. They're allowed to work out in the summertime with the coaches, and so I got a chance to talk again to aw Hamilton. I've had him on the show several times. Man, what a pistol, What a live wire that guy is, But what a
what an outstanding coach. Uh, You're gonna have to work hard to hang on to him. I think you know that. But you talk about a passionate young man, you got to love that, Dick.
You're exactly right. I mean that that was the first thing I was going to say, was passionate. He I just got done. I went over to a basketball camp because my grandson was at camp. I wanted to see him, and I mean it was fun to see him, how excited he was and energy he had for basketball. I mean, you had thought he was at you know, the conference championship.
The way he was teaching those kids and the energy he was giving, which I think you got to have, right And I know from enough people I've talked about since I've had this job, he is very much community oriented. People love him within this community. He's out and about as much as he possibly can preaching the word. And
that's what you have to have in these jobs. I believe that you've got to be out and connect with the people, and in aw is that he has got that done, and he has been very good at it, and we had success last year by winning the conference championship.
I agree.
I think those are things you Those are intangibles that people are looking for. If you can do the outside things, you can fundraise certainly you can pitch along with.
It if you get the whole package.
And I think he's got the whole package.
You know. I've talked to a lot of the UK players and new ones under Mark Pope, and they've talked about how coach is right there in the drills with us. So's a w Hamilton, at least he was the day I was over there. But you're you're not gonna keep him on the sideline when they're teaching basketball at EKU. He's got to be in the middle of it, doesn't he.
Yeah, he's like you said, he is very engaged and very passionate. And I think the kids notice that, right, that's not a fake. That's how he is. That's who he is every day, and he's genuine, and I think that makes a difference because kids respond to being genuine. They know when you're fake, or they know when you're not doing things the right way. And he's he's all about them. He's all about his program and he's all about giving an effort, energy and passion and that's what
he does and that's what the kids. They see that and they emulate that, and that's how our kids play that forty minutes to hell. I guess I should say forty minutes to hell. That was no one right, forty minutes to something he's got ye. Nonetheless, that's how they play well.
As we wrap this up with Kyle Motes, who, by the way, you can follow on ex for Twitter if you will at Kyle Motes m O A T S E. KU. You will see some entries of can Kyle, this is you what challenging your athletes and coaches getting to know them. They get to know you, and you get to show off your athletic ability. Tell me about that.
Well, well, Dick, we use that term very loosely. I'm show enough my acadatic ability. There's not much there left. But it really is just to kind of familiarize myself with our coaches and our kids. That's really the reason I do it. And it's something that I can do with what makes them passionate what they like to do, which is our sports. So I can do most of them. I don't do all them very good, but I do enjoy doing it. As a matter of fact, I'm at
four o'clock, I'm going to go do softball. So anyway, it's something that we that the social media content guys brought to my attention, which are really good, by the way, Dick, I mean this whole area of social content traffic, because these guys are really good here. It's one of the shining bright spots that we have. But they gave us that idea, or gave me that idea, and I said, hey, I'm all about it. I'll do whatever I need to do,
and if I don't do too well, that's okay. I'm not too proud to fail, but certainly look forward to working with our coach, beginning to know them better and give you to know our student afters. That's what it's all about.
You took on one of your veteran volleyball players in a serving challenge, and I've done that. It ain't easy. But you also took on your golf coaches over at Arlington. Now you've played a little bit of golf. I got to think that went okay.
Well, that was really so far. If I if I were to judge in the trade how I've done, that might have been the worst or not, because I was just awful that day. I don't know what I was doing, but I might you know, I love to play golf as you know Jack, But yeah, the worst part of my game is puddy and we went to T Week Golf. I would have been better off sitting rains balls or drivers, but I didn't do very well on the TV week go off. Thing was cudding.
Well, he also kicked field goals, folks, And I'm not going to to give it away, but just go to E k U Sports on Twitter or Kyle's Twitter site as well and you can find out about it. But I commend you, sir for competing and not being afraid to put yourself out there. But it's great talking to you. Looking forward to seeing you maybe on Media Day Sunday.
Absolutely, and thanks for the call and I appreciate you. Anything I can do to help Jack, you know I will.
And that'll do it. Thanks to all my guests. That's a good night from the garage in Lexington.
Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?
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