2024-09-18- BBI

women's soccer. Off to a great start eight and oh they be an sec play at the bell seven point thirty against the Florida Gators who are three one and four. It is Ohio you week for the football Wildcats, and coming up a little bit later on bush Ham Dan will give us a progress report on the offense and what he saw after that disappointing loss to the Georgia Bulldogs.

But there's a lot of good things to like in that game, so we'll hear from him coming up a little bit later on, and of course at the twelve forty five kickoff ten thirty airtime for countdown to kickoff with Christy and Jeremy and Logan and then Tom, Jeff and I will have the call for the Cats and the Bobcats. They have played six times, all of them in Lexington, Ohio. You has won twice. First time they ever played nineteen seventy one, one of those John Ray

teams miserable afternoon. Wildcats lost that one, but then one the next three before Ohio you came in in twenty oh four, spoiled homecoming when Rich Brooks was here and upset the Cats. And then most recently Kentucky beat Ohio. You think it was ten years ago when the Wildcats beat the Bobcats. So Kentucky looking to snap a two game losing skid, and you'll hear it right here on six thirty WLAP. Biggest game in the conference, if not

the country. Well, it's the highest profile game simply because Tennessee plays at Oklahoma. It is the Sooners opening up SEC play. And there's such a great backstory there because Josh Hipel the Tennessee head coach and he's done a

good job. Man, He's got Tennessee back and relevant. He of course is part of Oklahoma University football tradition the lore of the Sooners because he helped lead them to a national championship under Bob Stoops, Mark's brother, but he came back as an assistant coach and at one point was fired. Hypel came to Norman in nineteen ninety nine, right after Stoops took over at OU. Now, since World War Two, Oklahoma won four hundred and forty three games,

more than any other school. But when Stoops got there in ninety nine, they hadn't had winning season since ninety three. So one of the first things he did. You remember this is hire Mike Leach. Stoops had been to DC at Florida. He helped Florida become successful under Steve Spurrier because Stoops coached the defense. Florida was always potent offensively,

but their defense stunk. Well. Stoops made it a championship level defense before he got the head coaching job at Oklahoma, and he thought, back, you've heard the story who gave us the most trouble offensively when I was at Florida. Well it was Kentucky, and of course how Mummy called the plays. But Mike Leach, who had the title of offensive coordinator, heavily involved in coaching quarterbacks and drawing up the air raid game plan, creating the air Raid along

with Mummy. So he hires Mike Leach away from Kentucky, and that only gives him the offensive coordinator title, lets him call the place because Stoops wasn't gonna call offensive plays, so Mike Leach did it. So they started looking for a quarterback and they're bringing in people. They're bringing in Jucos and Brent Venables, now the head coach at Oklahoma,

admits that they wanted somebody else. They wanted a ki Lee Smith, who ended up going to Oregon and became the third player, no second player taken in the draft behind Tim Couch. He was a bus with the Bengals, but a great college quarterback. But that's not who Mike Leach wanted. Mike Leach wanted a kid named Josh Hipel, a junior college kid from California. And Venables remembers the day that they first set eyes on Josh Hipel, who was in for a visit with the Sooners.

know anything about Josh. And but he was outside of the office windows. There's a quarterback. He's on a visit, and there was maybe two guys on a visit and he was one of them. And he was outside on the We had an old turf field down there and he was playing catch. And again I'm saying this with incredible appreciation and respect for Josh. Couldn't have been more wrong.

Don't judge a book by its cover. And he was skinny and just frail, and it was in the middle of winter, just kind of pasty, and the ball was coming on. It was south Paul probably hadn't played and you know, a couple of months and the ball was wildly you know, Josh could occasionally do that, and we're like.

who won the Heisman at Oklahoma. And when he became the OC, they averaged four hundred and seventy five yards per game, tenth best in college football during that span. But the offense went sour, so Stoops had to fire him, and he later called it the worst day in his eighteen years as the OU head coach. Well, now Hypel coming back with those Tennessee volunteers and a chance to get a weird kind of I don't know if you want to call it revenge. Maybe satisfaction he's done a

good job at Tennessee. Speaking of Tennessee, big story came out Adam Sparks from one of the newspapers, The Knoxville News Sentinel broke the story yesterday that Tennessee football tickets will be more expensive next year and the cost most of the cost will be going to a talent fee to pay players. That's right. This is basically building up the war chest for nil money. I don't know what

the rules exactly are on that. I didn't know if the schools could actually do this, but that's what's happening in Knoxville, and you better believe other schools will follow suit. But now the backlash is already starting for obvious reasons. We're already paying so much for our tickets. But Dan Murphy of ESPN reported to Tennessee last year in revenue for twenty twenty three, reported one hundred and thirty four million in football, fifty nine million on expenses, seventy five

million surplus. They've got seventy five million in surplus from last year alone, and yet they're adding a ten percent talent fee to ticket prices to raise the money. It's already giving it's players. So now you've got administrators being overpaid, coaches being overpaid, opulent facilities that have cost incredible amounts of money, but now the labor force needs more. But instead of curbing expenses elsewhere, the fans will pay for it.

And this has come as no surprise. And like I said, they'll make it work because fans really won't have any choice if they want to go, and right now they are successful. So you'll see other schools following suit before long, no doubt about that. There's another big story in the news involving college athletics, and of course it's the ACC naturally, Florida State and Clemson trying to leave the conference suing over there what they think is a right to leave

the conference. But now the ACC has come up with a different plan. They're trying to hang on to the Seminoles and the Tigers, And yeah, I know Clemson's football programs are wreck right now, but I got to think that's temporary. But what the ACC has come up with is a plan and this just might work. They're looking at shortening the current grant of rights agreement that's on the table with the ESPN. It runs through twenty thirty six under the new proposal would be set to end

at twenty thirty. And what they're looking at is a plan essentially where the money you make from the conference, if you're an ACC member, part of it would hinge on television ratings. So really, what they're doing, I think in a way they wouldn't characterize it this way. They're calling the bluff. Clemson and Florida State have said, look, we drive the bus in college football, so we drive the bus period in the ACC. And they're probably not wrong.

But now here's a plan that would allow the conference to say, all right, if that's the case, if you're making more money for the league and everybody else, you'll get a bigger slice of the pie. And if it works, it works, And if you're another ACC member, you really can't complain because if those two schools are right, if they're bringing in more money combined than anybody else, you're benefiting, that tide is raising your boat, and so maybe they

should get a bigger slice of the pie. But you know what, Clemson in that part of South Carolina, Spartanburg area, that's not the biggest TV market there is, and the Florida Panhandle isn't either, So they're going to be looking at, of course, the national ratings and maybe it'll work out. Maybe they'll be able to say, look, here are the numbers that indicate you're not as important as you think

you are. So stay tuned for that up next. UK offensive coordinator bush ham Dan a little bit later on Sean Woods here on six thirty WLAP, Welcome back to the Big Blue Sider abbreviated program. We're going to make way at the top of the hour for Kentucky Volleyball Wildcats taking on those Louisville Cardinals, and of course this weekend it's the Wildcats and the Ohio Bobcats playing football and we'll have it for you right here ten thirty pre game twelve forty five kickoff on your number one

spot for sports. Kentucky needs to bounce back in a big way. Needs a win, needs to try to match that intensity that the Wildcats had against the Georgia Bulldogs. They also need to run the football the way they did against Uga, and the biggest reason for that was the o line blocking for Demi Sumo. Carnbay and bush ham Dan talked about how they're pleasantly surprised a little bit by how well Demi has run the ball between the tackles.

Before the break, we talked in our last segment about Mike Leach, the former Kentucky assistant who of course went on the Great Things Greater Things with Oklahoma as an assistant and a head coach, an incredibly popular and funny, controversial, but it was five years ago yesterday. This got passed me yesterday as I was putting a show together. But since we talked about Leach in the first segment, you

might remember this. Somebody at a news conference asked Leach about, and I'm paraphrasing the question, but what might be the toughest mascot in what was then the PAC twelve to do battle against? And at one point, of course, he talked about the Washington State he was at WSU. He talked about Butch the Cougar, but he kind of went through virtually every mascot in the PAC twelve at the time.

Another bear up there, cow the tree. I mengine that trees can get chopped down unless we're going to go with the bird, and somebody might get picked or something I don't know, and then the duck might lose interest in just fly away and get out of there, which may be good advice under the circumstances. The husky, no chance. The beaver, well, we'll see how long that beaver can hold his breath. The uh the ute again, we're back to is he on horseback? Does he have a bow

and arrow? Did he trade for a rifle? I mean, you know, because the that you's got a rifle, there's some definite problems. You know, you'd have to get one of those Harry Potter activists to read up on how you kill a sun devil, because there's a lot of uh outside stuff there. Just as far as a beast alone, a buffalo is going to be pretty hard to tangle with. I mean, a buffalo is utterly outstanding. Well, but butch, Butch is gonna have to be clear minded and crafty.

I mean, butcher, but you'll find a way, There's no question the google find a way, uh, clear minded and crafty. A combination of stay out of arms way and and uh in attack when you get your your chances or your openings.

as well. At the top of the hour, UK Louisville Volleyball. That's all I had here on The Big Blue Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blueing Sider and joining us now as he does every Wednesday, is the Unforgettable Guard. Sean Woods is Jersey hangs in the rafters of RUP. We talked primarily about basketball, but Sean being a coach, we also talk about other sports. Sean, we talk a lot of football too here on the show.

You're a football fan, You're a UK fan. You've watched the struggles of this Kentucky football team, and Mark Toops has really taking a lot of flak right now. People have kind of turned on him. What are your thoughts when you see that hear your fan base whether it's Kentucky brothers. I gotta think as a as a professional coach, you must just kind of shake your head and rub your chin a little. Fans will be fans, right, no doubt about it.

that's what they should be be mad at. You know what I mean, because you know you're asking for something. You know, Kentucky's never been better than Georgia on a regular basis. Kentucky's never been better than Tennessee on a regular basis. Kentucky's never been better than a lot of these SEC teams. You know, our thing is, you know it's unfortunate, but it's just reality. You know, Kentucky football, if you get to a Bowl. You know, you've done

a good job. And Stup's has done that every single year. That's just like you know, Mike Tomlin at Pittsburgh. You know, he's had some great years, made to the Super Bowl. I actually won a couple, but then he's had some some some average, you know years a lie here lately, but he's still the coach of Pittsburgh and he still has the longest tenure in the in the NFL. I think Stupid is in the same position. You know, Are we ever gonna win an SEC title?

a comparison standpoint. You know what's important at these schools. You know, basketball is important on the North Carolina. Basketball is important at Duke. Basketball is important at Kentucky. You know how important is Kentucky. But football, you know, we get a lot of fans. We get for an average SEC team on paper and in history, we still have

a major fan base for college football. And for that, the more people that are in tune, the more unrealistic expectations start to take fun because as a coach, when you come in and you start doing great, expectations rise through the rooms.

there for twelve years. Half of his time. The first half of his period here, Kentucky struggled below five hundred, and like you said, they start going to ball games, fans always want more. But I also also think, as long as it's realistic, Sean, that's not necessarily a bad thing. No, but I know, Okay, I've heard Kentucky fans say, well, they wouldn't accept this in basketball. Well, no, but it's an entirely different animal, isn't it.

who's becoming good? You know what I'm saying. South Carolina is a team a lot like Kentucky, you know, even though they beat us this year, But we're along the same line. We're not Texas, we're not Oklahoma, and let history prevail, you know what I mean. We're not Florida, we're not Georgia, We're not LSU not in football, you know, so you know, let's be realistic and have realistic expectations. You know, LSU gets mad fire coach. Yeah, because the Nick Saban came in and you know, set some high

high standards, Jimbo all those guys. But LSU is known for that. You know, I don't think they're gonna get rid of my man mcmahond because he didn't win the sec tile. In basketball, you know, Kim Molky has come in and set the standards as far as women's basketball. But that's unique too because LSU women's basketball has been that and they've had some major players. But Kentucky football and you you know stuoss is in Vincent all those guys. They're doing a great job of getting kids that normally

they don't get. They're getting transfers, you know, big name quarterbacks that you know they normally don't get. They're putting people in the NFL more so than ever before. You know, But at the end of the day, you know, it's gonna take a lot more to beat the Oklahoma's on a regular basis, to beat the Texas on a regular basis, who's the number one team in the country, nor the Georgia's, who's won the last two national championships. You know it's gonna take more than that.

South Carolina was backing up, Kentucky didn't take good enough advantage. Georgia backed up a little bit. But now these programs, like you said, they're full steam ahead, and Kentucky's just trying to hang on and and not just past people, but even catch catch up with them. And and when you when you're you know, on the outside looking in at these other programs. It's hard to compare, isn't it.

of the human being factor. You know that the players hear the same bickering, you know, him the same deal. And you gonna have some players who's not playing very much. You know, who's unhappy even in a winning situation. Who jumps on that band wagon. You know what I'm saying, The misery left company and then you get it gets assessed into the locker room, and then it's pretty much downhill from there.

But it's like a car accident. You just can't not look at it. And I've got to think that either someone's telling stupids or he's checking it out. He knows how people and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Well, let me get your opinion. Because Rich Brooks used to listen to other calling shows down then he said it was important to him to know what the fans were saying. How did you feel about that?

at you with negative jazz and things like that. Now one of them been in the locker room. Not no, not one of them knows what's going on in the locker room. He's planned fighting for his life against Georgia. Okay, so now you're fighting against one of the premier programs in America. He's in a dog fight with him. Okay. When everybody before the game thought it was gonna be a twenty seven point blowout, thirty point blowout, okay, everybody was just there for the tailgate and it really was

trying to leave at halftime. And guess what, you know, we're in a dog fight. Oh, we should win this game. You know what I'm saying. You didn't give him a chance at first. He went back after having a subpart game against South Carolina, which people have, Okay, the season's not over, and you come into when you got this jurgernaut coming in and no one gives them a chance, and our defense steps up. We stopped him from scoring

a bunch of touchdowns. They couldn't defend our run. You know, we controlled the line of scrimis, but we just couldn't get over the hump. Yeah, but we were right there. Now you're trying to kill him, you know what I'm saying, Like that doesn't make any sense. He had no chance going into the game. Then he gave himself a chance, you know, and okay, well he didn't do this right. He didn't do that right. He is playing against Georgia. It becomes more strategic, especially when you get into the game.

So things that you used to seeing him do, you can't do that against Georgia. They're that good. So he did a great job and his staff did a great job of making adjustments to even give themselves a chance to win against a juggernaut like that. Unfortunately, you know, Georgia became Georgia, and they showed you why they're Georgia, and they won at the end of the game. Because that's who they are, They're supposed to win the game. So now.

and sports. I don't know if you've seen that as we speak, but you know Florida State and Clemson have been belly aching about getting out of the ACC. Well they're looking at a new revenue structure trying to keep those schools in that conference, which it's it's almost laughable now with Florida State the way their football is struggling

this year. But that's just another part of the craziness in college athletics these days, isn't it, Sean, Where you know, the SEC is so strong because through the years, for all the bickering and backbiting and competition and recruiting the same kids. The SEC has pulled together. At the end of the day, did you ever think you'd lived to see today where ACC schools are dealing with so much infighting?

and things like that. So this thing is changing, you know, it's changing, and some of these mid major schools are moving up replacing some of these traditional ACC Conference schools packed PAC twelve conference schools because they're going to the Big ten. You know, some of the stuff from a travels standpoint doesn't make any sense, but from a revenue standpoint and these ads getting together and things like that, that's what's changed, you know, And a lot of these

ads weren't athletes now, you know what I'm saying. So the mentality of this structure of athletics now has become more business like, more so than tradition and and and and what I want to say, districts where you're in the same area. You know, just because you're in Texas, that don't mean that everybody plays in the Big twelve of Oklahoma. Those guys are leaving. Just because you're in California doesn't mean that you stay in the Fact twelve

on the West coast. They're coming all the way to the Midwest to playing the Big twelve, meaning the big team. So it's not making sense from a coaching standpoint. And the coaches sadly to say they have no say in this for the most part, you know, But then you want to judge them on the decisions that you're making, you know, and they have no they have no skin

in the you know, in the decision. So it's interesting, you know that this is why coaches are when they do get these major jobs, they're looking at years instead of money for security, right because decisions.

had the most responsibilities and made the most money. But he said, I have a dozen assistants on my staff, and I've got to worry about them and their families. Your head coaches say that very often, but you know they think about that, and you have to deal with the same thing as a maybe not a staff that big, but you're responsible as a head coach for a lot of people. I think folks forget about that.

are playing on national television every week. Kentucky wasn't like that before, you know, so sometimes you got you know, we're we're interesting enough program to where people want to watch us play, and we're interesting enough to when we do play a good team, it is nationally televised. So evidently he's made Kentucky football a lot more relevant than

it has been in years past, which is good. He's been a major player, had some good players and things like that, which is attractive enough to where you're gett an opportunity to play on national television. What else do you want? I mean, win in the national championship. What do the os Kentucky winning the national championship? What are the os Kentucky winning the SEC championship. You know, as long as we're competitive and we're doing things and everybody knows,

you know, you're in for a dog fight. You know, It's like Philadelphia the other day in the NFL. You know, they had a lot of expectations. They're at home, they're they're they're winning, and all of a sudden they give up the game. So now want to fire the coach. You want to get rid of the quarterback, you know what I'm saying, which it was a receiver or the running back who actually missed the past yep. Stuss has had a great game plan everywhere has been but it takes those players to execute.