Welcome to the Big Blue and sider Dick Abriel with you on a Thursday edition of our program. As we draw one day closer to game night, but also one day closer to event night. This is the overlap period in October when there is so much going on in college athletics, including basketball and football. The games have not begun yet in college basketball, as you know, but Madness is upon us. That happens tomorrow night. Know radio coverage, but there will be TV coverage on the SEC Network.
In fact, Tom Hart has double duty this week for the SEC Network. He's the guy who called Vanderbilt Alabama with Coole Kublick and Alyssa Lang last week. He'll be working Kentucky Vanderbilt Saturday night, but also coming to town today early to work Madness, which he has done before. Tom's going to join us on the show tomorrow night, just ahead of the Madness telecast, but also he'll talk to us about Kentucky football as well. We'll have that
one for you at five thirty. Christy Thomas, Slogan Stenberg, Jeremy Jarman with Pregame, Tom Leach, Jeff McCory, Yours Truly with Commodore's Cats. It's a huge game for both both coming off huge upsets, Vandy of the two a little bit bigger upset, but boy to Kentucky need that win now, like Kentucky needed the win more than Vandy. Now. The Vandy people would argue that nobody expected. Of course, that went over Alabama, that was not circled as a win
on the Vandy schedule. And I don't know how many people expected Vandy to go to a bowl game this season. Of course, a huge step closer for the Commodores, but Kentucky had already given away that game to South Carolina, got it back against Ole miss Vandy fans could argue they gave away a game, which they did to Missouri.
So it's huge for both sides. And you know what, though, it always is, And I know I've said this before, but I always go back to the news conference when Rich Brooks was here early in his tenure, and he got a little testy a couple times, although I think it was more delivering this as a wry observation, but I remember he stood up in front of the media and Wildcat Den and he talked about the Vandy series and he was basically an unparaphrasing saying, you know, everybody
expects us to win this game every year. But he pointed out that at the time, and of course this was what twelve to fifteen years ago more, the series was deadlock. I want to say eighty one, eighty one and four. Both teams had won eighty one times with four ties. This is a game that both sides fully expect to win. I'm talking about the fans, not so much the coaches and players, but fans absolutely expected their respective teams to win this game. And yet it could
not have been more evenly split. And it's like that this weekend. You know, if Kentucky loses this game, people are going to be picked off and devastated and all that. Oh we lose to Vandy. It's it's just not the same And if Vandy loses, it's not the same Kentucky team. And in fact, Vandy came in here two years ago in Kentucky was flat through their helmets on the field and lost. Like, Hey, we're Kentucky or Vandy, We're gonna win. No, it doesn't work that way. I'll double back to Kentucky
football in just a minute. But I wanted to share a couple of stories with you. You know by now, the Mets beat the Phillies Francisco Lindor with a Grand Slam in the NLDS Game four. So the Phillies, who have said it's World Series or bust for us, they're busted. And the Mets, you know, one of the Cinderella teams still in the playoffs, are moving on. But the Phillies, for all the money they invested, you forget the Mets
spent a ton of money on indoor. They invested three hundred and forty one million dollars and thought, well, this guy can get us some playoff wins. And guess what he did. When you're a hedge fund billionaire like Steve Cohen, the owner, you can afford that kind of money, which he did. He shelled that out three years ago, got himself a star shortstop, thought he would have that position locked down for the next decade. And it looks like it was money well spent. Yankees beat the Royals last night,
so both New York teams are still alive. So are the Dodgers, who were on the brink, but they blanked the San Diego Padres bullpen got it done. Our man Gary Moore was almost us last night, our Weston bureau chief who covered the Dodgers for the longest time, and we both talked about how pitching has just been ravaged by injuries, but Dodgers still alive. Padres are one of those Cinderella teams the NFL, of course, the biggest story this week so far the Jets firing coach Robert Sala.
Now comes to the debate about the role of Aaron Rodgers. And I came across a column written by Mike Florio, who is a well re the calumnists, but he has his opinion and he sits down and he writes his column, and his opinion is that Rogers basically got Robert Sala fired, not that he went to the owner and said, I need you to fire this guy, which is what the cynic in you says what happened. But that did not. But as Foyo points out, he did not go to the owner and say, hey, man, don't fire this guy.
Here's the thing, I don't really know that that would have mattered, because from everything I've heard and read, the owner watched the latest mess by the Jets getting beat and made up his own mind, came to work, what was it Monday or Tuesday, and Sala came in and hey, mister Johnson needs to see you. So, yeah, Rogers had a lot to do with the fact that they're not playing well. Their defense is really good. Salah's a defensive guy, and he went on and guy Nathaniel Hackett, who is
rogers offensive guy, but they're just bad on offense. And I will say this, Tyler Conklin said, I don't think anybody inside this building, player wise or anything, thought that Aaron had anything to do with the firing. He told ESPN dot Com. He said, I honestly, truly believe Aaron
probably took this harder than almost anybody. Of course, he had gone on, Rogers said with Pat McAfee, and I didn't hear it, but I read the transcript, and you know, he talked about the emotional impact and things like that. Rogers can make things sound though like he's shrugging things off. But as long as he's got Hackett, I think he's If not happy, he's comfortable, Well, they better start producing points because whoever is the next head coach is going
to need more points or hit the unemployment line. Hey, remember when the Wildcats would prepare for South Carolina and quarterback Spencer Rattler, the guy who transferred from Oklahoma after being the Heisman favorite and fell off the table, transferred not a decent time in Columbia. Well, guess what he's going to start for the New Orleans Saints. Derek Carr is injured and Spencer Rattler has beaten out Jake Hayner for the starting job in the game with Tampa Bay.
And that's Billy Rutli's team and our own. Mister Rutlige will tell you Buccaneer Saints is a big rivalry. Saints fans and Buccaneers fans, they hate each other. Former Wildcat Karl Anthony towns now a New York Nick had a bad shooting night last night against the Washington Wizards, but it didn't matter. He ended up at twenty five and twelve.
He did go one for seven from outside from three point land, including an air ball, and apparently when that happened, the crowd groaned, but they gave him an ovation when he left the game. After his twenty five points and twelve rebounds, he was ten of eleven from the free throw line. They know he can shoot, but he's the big man. He's the inside guy, a post up player that Julius Randall was not. Julius was at a times
face to basket, back to the basket power forward. But the thought is that the Knicks have needed a true low post presence and that's Karl Anthony town So maybe he's that last piece of a puzzle for them. We're going to talk to our New York City Bureau chief Mike Sephaznik, super UK fan, super Knicks fan, coming up in the next day or two. All right, on to
Kentucky football. Now, the Wildcats, especially on defense prepping for a Vandy team that'll show you a lot, including quarterback Diego Flavia and Brad White, talked about the challenge that comes with a guy trying to stop a guy he can do almost anything.
Obviously, it starts, you know, with the quarterback, his ability to one handle the offense. The multiplicity of what they do, you know, that's a lot. And obviously he's been in that system, certainly understands, he understands what they're looking for. They stress you in a lot of different areas.
Kentucky did not have Maxwell Harriston against Olemiss and still got the job done thanks in large part to what happened up front. With a defensive line which is now drawing national acclaim being called elite. They're going to have to be elite in minimizing the damage done by Diego because obviously what that does is make life better for the back for they still got to do their job.
But if the d line can put the pressure on Diego the way they did against Jackson Dart, who still made some plays, but they forced him out of the pocket, forced him to throw in the run, did not let
him get comfortable. They've got to do that against Vanderbilt, and they got to do that with some young players, with some new players, including Christian Story, senior defensive back transferred in from Alabama and has played well, has made some plays, and he talked about the fact that communications in the back four, really the entire defense will be vital. They've got to keep the quarterback from working his magic.
Yeah, I feel like he's a really big part of the offense. And they all work together and play all.
You know what I'm saying. Everybody played on the same page a lot, and we just have to execute and everybody do our job on our hand, and I feel like we'll have a res successful game, and I feel like everybody's communicating and we're all playing as one, like everybody's doing their job, and I feel like there's going to be a big part of this game, everybody making sure that we're on the same pain and everybody doing their job.
Story is in his final year of eligibility after spending his first four years in college football at Alabama. Red shirted actually his freshman year, and then saw a lot of action after that, played in just about every game since. Started a couple of games as a junior, one again against Chattanooga and one against Kentucky, And of course he said he was as surprised as anybody by his former team losing the Vanderbilt didn't dwell on it, but everybody
was surprised by that. I think if you held the Commodorees down, they might have told you they were surprised. But they followed the game plan just as Kentucky did against Ole Miss, and not just that executed it perfectly. And yeah, I mean perfectly is a relative term. Everybody makes mistakes, but in terms of what they tried to accomplish going in control the football on offense to the tune of forty minutes of possession and keep from being
damaged terribly by big chunk plays on defense. Both Kentucky and Vandy got it done in their last respective games against Ole Miss and Alabama, and it may be a bit of a plus. Obviously playing at home is for Kentucky, but having to face another mobile quarterback is a plus I think for the Wildcats because they prepped for Old Miss real well. I got to think they'll do the same this week. Up next, angry betters are making life miserable for college athletes and coaches in a lot of
different sports. Bottom of the Hour, Van Hiles on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Blue and Sider. Coming up in a few minutes, we will talk Kentucky football with Van Hiles. Of coursemen are our favorites. You hear him all week long, really on a number of radio shows and podcasts, and he's just so good at breaking down UK football. Former UK defensive back and George Plaster,
my old buddy from Nashville, will join us. George's on TV and radio in Nashville for several decades and has the greatest sense of history when it comes to Vanderbilt. He's been part of their network on and off for many years as a radio sidelines guy and the Playboy play guy. At one point was doing Western Kentucky basketball and TV. So George will join us and our number two also Logan Salo, who is a Kentucky assistant baseball
coach and was a relief pitcher for the Wildcats. Spent five years in the minors, but injuries curtailed his pitching career. He was doing really well, was in the A's organization. They traded him to the Dodgers and was just he'd gotten up to Triple A but just couldn't stay healthy. And we'll talk to him about his decision to retire. But I looked up his minor league numbers. They were great, not just good, but I mean great. And he's left handed.
I mean, if you're left handed and you have a pulse, you have a shot at making it to the majors. And so that just tells you just how extensive his injuries must have been. But we'll talk to him about that difficult decision to step away as a player from baseball. And when he did, he came home He's an Ashland native and came home to work for Nick Minngiona now has been promoted to director of Scouting, so and of course he's helping out with the pitching staff when they
talk analytics as well. He's in charge of that, so that's coming up as well. In our number two, I wanted to share something with you though that I saw on the ESPN's website. David Purdham wrote a story about angry betters angry sports betters, and according to the lead in his story, it's one of the most common types of harassment that college athletes receive. Evidently, it makes up at least twelve percent of publicly posted social media abuse.
That's according to a new analysis conducted on behalf of the NCAA. They hired an outside group called Signify. The Signified Group, which looks into data science and the analyze social media accounts for more than three thousand college athletes. This isn't just shooting from the hip. Three thousand athletes, five hundred coaches, two hundred event officials, and one hundred
and sixty five teams overall. During the twenty twenty four college Football Playoff, Men's and women's basketball tournaments, men's and women's college World Series, plus volleyball and gymnastics championships, and it's out right now. The NCAA has published the full findings, and they've released excerpts on ESPN's website starting on Tuesday.
But it's phenomenal. They call angry sports betters people who I'm quoting now engage in problematic and intrusive communications due to match events and results, contradicting betters predictions in plain English, people who think they got screwed and lost money, lost their bets. And again, this is the kind of thing where you say, who didn't see this coming? Who didn't see athletes getting abusive messages after games? But before and
during games? Games? Right? The survey listed sexual abuse, racism, and homophobia as among other common harassment categories. But gambling, they said. Signify analysts found some abusive posts did not overtly mention gambling, but still it ties to betting. I'm talking abusive or threatening messages referencing betting or match fixing allegations. I see that all the time from Kentucky fans and fans in general too. But all the refs have fixed the games. You know when you think about what has
to happen, not for one individual. That's happened every decade. There's been a scandal, a gambling scandal in college athletics every decade at least since the fifties. But it's generally one or two guys fixing basketball games, which are so much easier to influence if you are a player with
influence who handles the basketball, who plays a lot. All these morons who keeps saying that the referees are fixing and again Tim Donaghy in the NBA fixed games or had influence on games, and I'm not naive, I know that can happen, but people indicate that they believe it's the entire crew. The entire crew is fixing games, which is just I mean, you think about the length of a conspiracy and a depth that would have to happen, starting at the top within the conference for that to happen.
You know so many people. I remember Roy Kramer is making sure the referees don't let Kentucky win. You know, Kramer, who was making six hundred thousand dollars a year, had an incredible golden parachute and he wants to risk it all to keep Kentucky out of the Independence bawl. Come on. But we should have seen this coming, and many people did that there would be abuse of players and coaches
and teams in general. When the betting picked up. Women athletes have gotten fifty nine eight percent more abusive messages than men, the analysis found. And you can't shrug it off because as long as there are games, men or women, there will be action, there will be betting. The issue occurred even in sports less popular with gamblers. It's said, including softball, we're twenty four percent of abusive messages flag were from angry betters. Softball women's sport. Well, there's a
winner and a loser. There's a spread. That means there's action, and that means there's going to be abuse. And you know what, I don't know what you can do about it. Probably nothing. You can be more diligent in chasing down people who make the worst threats, but I think it's only going to get worse. But you can dig it out for yourself. Just google it, Google angry betters and NCAA and I'm sure you'll find out a lot if
you're so inclined. And by the way, yes, artificial intelligence is involved signifies using it to flag potentially abusive social media posts. The tag athletes, coaches, teams, officials on all sorts of social media Facebook, TikTok, Instagram X. Yeah, it sounds like Big Brother, but quite frankly, it's really really needed right now. All right, when me come back, we'll talk football with Van Hiles, the former Kentucky d back. A little bit later on, we'll find out more about
Vandy from a man George Plaster down in Nashville. That's all I had here on the Big Moon Sider six thirty wlap Welcome back to the Big Moon Sider, joining us down our celebrity hotline. One of our favorite guests. You hear him on Sunday Morning Sports Talk with Tom Leach on Monday Morning Quarterback. He is become, he is blown up. He is so popular. Van hois, former Kentucky defensive back, getting together with us to talk about the Vanderbilt game and of course the win over ol Miss.
How surprised were you? I gotta think a bunch by Bandy's upset of Alabama.
Yeah, that that was in a moment, it was surprising, But then I looked at some things at that game later and it's kind of like our soccer Atlanta game. Alabama's not gonna win that game. Alabama lost possession out of possession. They had an illegal number on a punt after they after they stopped them, they got a legal, legal number, and that prolonged the drives they had rough
the passers. That prolonged drives like it was they gave their off, They gave drives away to pick six, the strip sack like nothing went Alabama's way in It was just meant for Vanda to win that game.
This pick six happens in games like that. I mean, you gotta steal points, you gotta steal possessions. But a lot of that other stuff you described that was mental, wasn't it.
Yeah, that that was man like as a player or because that's not a player fault. That is someone on the sideline's fault. That is like when we played Florida years ago and we left the guy open multiple times. As a player, I am thoroughly upset because coaches get on us for making a mistake, but we can't get on the coaches but when they make a mistake. So that to me was just a just a the marcro cosm of that game. Players messed up, coaches messed up,
the scheme, the discipline. I saw things on Alabama's defense that I haven't seen in years. And I mean when you have a captain that's kicking the ball and they missed the play, but before that where he actually twisted him and one of the guys running the ball, It's like you cannot come that on Rado so much in that game. I mean, I don't know, man, Bama's interesting this year because they haven't stopped anybody in six quarters.
Really, and meanwhile Vandy was good enough to take advantage of it. How good is Vandy in your opinion?
I've had the pleasure of meeting Clark Lee at my high school, and they are taking on his character. He found a quarterback that matched him a lot. Plus the guy played with the OC and the previous stop, so there's some continuity. And those guys play hard, they play sound, discipline, That defense flies around. They play like Clark played. That's impressive for those guys to buy into it and play like he played and play as hard and sound and physical.
Essay they have this year, they should have been a Missouri. To be honest with you, they should be too and oh in conference. So they are going to be a major test for us, and I think that fortunately just why we came at a perfect time for us to get healthy.
Well, let's talk about the test, because it starts with a quarterback with Diego, who is a troublesome guy man. I mean, got to keep him in the pocket. To me, he's kind of a Johnny Manzel with common sense, that kind of guy. How do you stop a guy like that or at least slow him down.
I think playing Jackson Dark two weeks ago is gonna help us because he extended drive. He extended the first to open the drive which they scored on against US two weeks ago. I think if they can kind of repeat what they did two weeks ago, kind of corral him a little bit. He is a better pass so than people will give him credit for. The kid hasn't thrown in a sception. I think he has about seven to eight touchdowns, so he knows how to protect the ball but also make big plays. That fourth and one
touchdown against Alabama. I don't think there's many quarterbacks that would have made that play. The initial red was taken care of, he came off the instal ree and threw a dot to the to the I can't remember the guy's name for a touchdown. That was a great play that not many quarterbacks will make.
Kind of reminded you of the big pass in the Kentucky Ole Miss game.
Didn't exactly that. That play right there, I think really broke Alabama. They had him in a situation and if they get the ball back after they lost a possession, they get the ball back again, I think they might win that game.
You talked about Clark Lee and then how the team reflects his his passion and the way he played. And good teams do that, don't they They take on the personality of their coach.
And I think that's what that's what made coach stups so great, is that they are taking on his kind of characters, specially defensively. When you when you find players and more importantly the leaders that can that be an extension of the coach on the field, because one thing players do respect us are their peers, and when you can you can extend that coaches to the players, and that goes on down to the to the to the followers. I guess you can have a great season and I'm
really feeling good about this season. I know it didn't start off like our one to start off, but I think they're fine picking it up. And I think I'm gonna say this, I think this Sad is gonna be a special game for us.
How Why Because.
I think there's something that that's starting to click offensively. I think they'll find their identity. I think coach Hampden has recognized what they do best and and I think that Bandy beating Bama woke us up. It's kind of like when we lost to South Carolina. Now that they know this is not a game that we can play around with. So now they had a week to kind of get themselves healed. Then they had a day to watch good football. Now that oh whoa. We have seen
these guys first hand, not on video. We've also seen them live. Because Washington live is different than Washington on tape. They understand how good this team is and they can come into to coming Wealth and just take it from us.
Mark Stuff kind of joked about the fact on Monday that he didn't have to come in and build up Vandy to us the media because we all obviously knew what had happened. And as you just said he didn't have to do that with his team, does he, because that's the way that the Alabama win.
Yeah, and plus we owe him one. They came into All Home a couple of years ago with Ray Davis and kind of handle one to us. Now we got to hand it back to them again on this Saturday back at home. I think this is a payback game for some of these guys who played in that game.
You know, Stoops was asked about that and he kind of said, ay, you know that was two years ago and played it off. I've never heard a coach man ever publicly say yeah, we owe him, so we got something for him. But I've seen video Rich Brooks for the LSU upset, the video of him talking to his team about things people have said about you, about us, about our team. You know they use that kind of stuff, don't they.
For sure? I mean I don't like to say would, could have, should have, but we remember that game. We were two players of away from being a nine win team. The legal procedure old miss payback game this year the hands to the face, a hand to the for for oxydyin on a pick yep by key drawing that ends that game. That's nine wins. I think the players remember that. Oxydn remembers that, Dion remembers that. So it is gonna play. It's not it's not gonna make it's not gonna help
us win, but it's gonna help the guys focus. The big thing about football is not not the bulletim board material that's gonna help you on Saturday and all. It's helped you Monday through Friday. Because now you're gonna be You're gonna be focused and better prepared and willing to take some of the things that happened during the week because you don't want to lose that game on Saturday.
Ox was the last week, was the defensive lineman of the week. As we you and I talked now him kind of he didn't exactly bookend Dion even they might be shoulder to shoulder. But I think it's becoming Kentucky's identity, isn't it the defense, especially that front line. I've heard the term elite thrown around. I don't know if they're at that level yet, Van, but they've got to be in that neighborhood for the rest of the year, don't they.
I think they are venturing to that point. I've said this many times. I don't think they've reached their ceiling yet. They are still doing some things that they can tighten up on. The One thing that is going to make them even to the elite elite is a secondary. They played their best game in a long time two weeks ago. If they continue that, that front seven that's been great the whole season. They have been minimizing run game. Now when we're forced them to pass the ball, then a
secondary has to feast on that. When we know they are going to pass, the guys on the back end has to feast on that. And they did that two weeks ago.
Well, let's talk about that defensive secondary. That's that's your area of expertise. And they may not have didn't look like they'll have Harriston again this week. And a guy who made a name for himself nationally against Vanderbilt last year with two pick sixer is now different scheme, different quarterback. But he's a really good d back. How concerned are you about that?
I'm always concerned because you just lost not just a good defensive back, a playmaker. He is a playmaker. Playmakers are not born, I mean, are not made they're born and he's just a natural playmaker. You lose that ability on defense that can take an interception of pick. I mean, what was that a couple of three weeks ago he had to pick six against Ohio. Like, those things are just playmakers, and that's one thing that I think we're
going to miss. But the thing that had me proud of that team was the cornerbacks rose to the occasion and played great defense. They played some man, They made great open field tackles. They didn't panic on a deep ball because usually corners panic on the deep ball when they're a little out of phase. And none of them panic. They all broke up the ball greatly with patients and reading the hand. So I'm okay with them this week. Because Vandy, to me, doesn't have an elite room of
wide receivers. They have a tough room of receiver because they will block you, they will put their hands on you an extent or run play. But I think those guys came a long way last week, and I feel like their cornerback is all about confidence, and a confidence is starting to build.
JQ Hardaway, I think struggled a bit and you know, you know you've forgotten more about d backs than I'll ever know. I'm still waiting for a chance to play college football. But just from the outside looking in, he struggled last year. He looks like a different player this year to me. Does he look that way to you?
Yeah, it's all about confidence. He's I don't think he played as much zone probably in his life, so I think that's a new scheme to him. And understanding how important eyes are and being a little patient. I think he was too worried about being off the receiver and getting beat deep. Now I think he's kind of settled in a little bit and being a little more patient in his pedal and not bailing all there although he's
seven yards from the receiver. He's starting to bail out now, He's starting to get a little more patient back pedal, letting receiver come to him, because remember we can jam in college. So I think that his patience and getting enough reps at zone is starting to pay off.
Yeah. Yeah, And the guys around him, some of those guys are so young and yeah, as you said, they came through in Oxford, didn't they.
Yeah, those were that was my word in Oxford. Wasn't the front It was just the ability because Ole miss has a great group of receivers, a really good, high end group of receivers, and honestly, nothing was really taking off of the corners. The biggest plays came off the safeties. So as far as the corners, I am so confident in them right now. I hopefully they can be on the street. That was only one game. Now we got to build off of that. They can build week after
week because now is the time to build. We're not facing the elite group that Tennessee would have to offer. Now the time with this group, then Florida than Auburn to start building that confidence. So then we play Tennessee. Those guys are really on a level that you can't knock them off of.
I want to come with Van Hiles on the other side of the break here on six point thirty Wlap Welcome back to the Big Blue Cider. Talking with former Kentucky defensive back Van Hiles. You mentioned eyes and going into the Georgia game, we were hearing when we interviewed the players the term of high discipline. Yes, and we learned about it if we didn't already know what that was, and we heard it much more going into the old
miss game for obvious reasons, different styles of offense. I know that's to you, that's probably d back one oh one stuff. But that's a that's a tough lesson to learn, isn't it.
It is the two toughest things to learn on the next level high school is eye disciplined in doing your job, and sometimes they come hand in hand. Sometimes your eyes take you to a position that you shouldn't be in because you're trying to do too much. We have ten other teammates who were probably the best guy on their team, just like you were. Let them do their job, and I don't have to overstem myself to make up for someone that might not be as talented as I am.
I heard that for years and years. Your gap, just play your gap, do your job, I know. And I remember Mike Archer telling me when he wouldn't tell me the player was, I kind of knew who it was, but he said, the best player in our defense. You know, he keeps leaving his gap and going over and trying to help it because he felt like he had to. But that's a sure way to give up a big play, isn't it.
That's the sure way of it's just weird. In this league, guys find the vacant gap, even though the play is not designed to go there. A guy a good runner back or cut back to a backside open gap one hundred time, even though the hole was supposed to be front side, he sees it and he hits it and it's touchdown. I've never coached ARTI call a perfect blitz, and we got a guy going to roll hole and then running back straight there hit his hand on the goal post.
Frankly, I do. I think he was talking about that simply because whoever you guys had played had so much success cutting back, you know, because everybody who was watching a game because oh my god, there's a lane that I could run through. So uh yeah, it is about discipline, especially with a Vandy team just a couple of minutes level with Van Hile's former Kentucky defensive back. We saw what happened in Nashville was Vandy upsetting an Alabama team
that had more fans than Commodore fans. And you've you've seen that as a player at Kentucky. That happens. I don't know if it's going to keep happening now, but I don't know how much faith I put in the crowd lifting a team and this and that up until the last few years. But I've seen it now with some of the teams Mark Stops has had. And it's weird to say and weird to think about the fact that a Vandy game is gonna need a good crowd turnout and the crowd being engaged, isn't it?
For sure? There is nothing better than to be on defense and to hear the roar. We can't hear all signals. We know we can't hear ours. We know they can't hear theirs, and that's more of an advantage for us.
So that plays a fact that you feed off the energy, You feed off the enthusiasm, you feed off everything that you can feed off in that in that in that moment, because you need energy, and the fans can give you that little bit of energy that you might have been might be leaking because you've on a ten play drive. If they get loud, it definitely does bring it back and and and it has a big effect on the opponent's offense. We saw it Florida a couple years ago.
It does matter. And I would say this, we have had a great group BBN. That's been awesome even when I was played when we're not winning games. So I have no doubt that they're going to be ready and come like crazy, like they've come for a long time now.
Those procedure penalties against Florida won that game for Kentucky. I felt like.
That as a defense, you get them at first and fifteen, you're probably gonna win.
You're calling the shots. Well, let you go with this. Dandy's time of position against Alabama you alluded to that. That was I think the difference in that game, just as it was for Kentucky in Oxford, almost to the minute forty to twenty, right. I think this is going to be an ugly game, a grind them out game. Whoever can put together those long offensive drives will be the one that comes out on top.
I think so Vandy stole two or three possessions. I think that was a difference in their game. We also just we just took the will of old Mess a little bit in that second half. I think it was a little bit of different game. I think if if we played to our best and Vandy plays to their best, we should come out victorious. But if we slip up just a little bit, just a little bit, they will. They will take advantage because they are not gonna make a mistake. They're not gonna give you possessions.
They're smart kids.
They are smart and tough.
Yeah, they are tough.
All right.
The million dollar question is is this a brisket weekend again for you?
I don't. Look, I'm really starting I need to be, but I am really really messing with this jerk And I did a jerk rib and normally I don't do anything, but I had my wife and daughter doesn't like the spice, so I put a little barbecue sauce. At the time. I'm like, wait a minute, that is got a little tang a.
Little huge with the jerk with the jerk season Was that with the jerk seasoning?
Yes, that's exactly what I said. So I had a little extra barbecue south. I'm like, I'm gonna just put on half of it and see what's going. I'm I'm I'm starting to.
Like it coming around, coming around and around. Okay. That's how That's how great chefs work, man. They get into the the lab and they try stuff.
Yeah.
Yeah, well keep me posted on that because I like I like the jerk spices, but I could see the mix with the with the barbecue show with the right barbecue sauce.
Just just a little bit, don't don't drown it, no, just it was actually I was pulling off and I was like, I just put a little bit on at the end and it was just enough.
Okay, sounds good. Now I'm hungry. Follow him on Twitter at v styles, also the Locker four to one one podcast, hearing him on Sunday Morning Sports Talk, and of course on Monday Morning Quarterback with Tom Lee Van Hiles. Hey Man, thanks so much, always a pleasure anytime. Up next hour number two, including my buddy George Plaster, who's worked TV and radio in Nashville for a long time. We'll get his thoughts on what happened against Alabama and the Vandy
team coming to town. That's next on six thirty.
Wlap says, join us on our celebrity highline and long friend, longtime friend, and a guy you've heard before on our show, mister George Plaster, who has worked TV.
And radio in Nashville for many many years. At one point was a sidelines reporter for Vanderbilt football, Playboy play man and now on his talk show, George, you guys have been turning over and discussing the greatest upset in the history of Andy football. What's happened like? Well, first of all, welcome, thanks, thanks for joining.
Us, Thank you.
But I got to dive right in. What's that beened like?
For you?
It's been a total shock. Anybody who says they saw this coming is lying. You know, I went into that game. I was up in the press box. And by the way, I'm proud of this. I believe I'm one of less than fifteen people who has physically been on site for Vandy's last three wins in football over Kentucky, over Alabama.
Sorry.
Nineteen sixty nine, Watson Brown was the quarterback. I was like ten years old, sitting in these wooden bleachers. That would you know, if you got a splinter in the wrong place, that wouldn't be good. In eighty four, I was Vandy's sideline announcer. We went down and mauled Alabama. But if you remember, a year later, Vandy got caught in the middle of a really the first steroid thing that any of us ever remember. And then there's Saturday here that I mean, who saw that coming.
Yeah, oh man, amazing. And you knew Diego Pavia was a different kind of quarterback, But did you think he had that in him?
Maybe not to beat Alabama. But I'll tell you a funny story. A year ago, you know, Conference USA signed this deal with ESPN where they'd get like a Tuesday and a Wednesday night game. And I kept seeing this guy, and finally one day on the air, I said to Kelly Holcombe, the former NFL quarterback who's part of my show, I said, have you seen this kid? Who is he? He's pretty good? And you know, little did I know at the time that he was going to end up
at Vandy. I don't know. There's just something about this kid, an it factor, an it factor of a leader, it factor of he makes all the plays, and yet you know he's not your prototypical six ' five to thirty five quarterback.
But he's like a Johnny Manziel, only with with a brain, only with discipline.
Right as well said, hadn't thought of it that way to me? The only question has been can you keep him upright? Because he takes massive hits. I thought Alabama tried very hard to go after him in that game. A couple of clotheslines, you know, And if I was playing against them, my strategy would be, Look, the rest of this group isn't good enough on its own. If we can keep Pavia under control, we're going to beat them.
I was talking with Chris Doring of the SEC Network, and I also mention this to Mark Troups at his news conference. I felt like Vandy matched Alabama's physicality and as the game went on, became even more and more aggressive. And we've seen this before. I remember a year Vandy put two or three kids off its defense in the NFL, but they were for the most part, secondary people. I just felt like, for that the entire afternoon, Vandy matched
or bested Alabama when it came to physical football. Was that to be expected from this team?
Oh?
Good lord No. And that's the part that shocked me. For whatever reason, I parked a good ways away from the stadium on Saturday, and so an hour and a half after the game, I had a long walk to my car that was really very peaceful and really a cool walk, and I remember thinking, you know, they really physically went toe to toe with Bama. And you know, as well as I do, the thought of that by Vandy. I never saw that coming.
No, And I got to think as much of that comes from Clark Lee and the coaches that he hired away from New Mexico State, Am I right?
Must be?
I mean, Jerry Kills has had a history of being a really good football coach, and you know the story. He's had epileptic seizures in the middle of games. It really has been kind of a sad story. I don't think that's why I left New Mexico State. He got into it with them about something and clark Lee apparently done the possibility of getting him, having no idea that
Pavia might be part of it. Because they signed a kid from Utah, Nate Johnson that they're paying way more money in NIL two and that kid can't throw a lick and Fabia blew him out. You know, I kept hearing open competition. I was like, I don't think so.
Well. You can see why, you know, I mean, this kid in Alabama just kept coming back and tell me the truth. It's okay because you've seen it before. You've seen Vandy, just as I've seen Kentucky flirt with upset.
I know where this is going.
They just get away, but it just did. It didn't feel that way to me. I mean it did a little bit innately, it did, but when Vandy would do something good, it didn't surprise me. How did you see it?
I had the exact same thoughts I used to have forty years ago when I did sidelines, and you would see players look around in sort of an uh oh, here we go again, Or if they got into the fourth quarter of the game that they really shouldn't win, they would all look around kind of going, what do we do now? And you've seen it in the old days of Kentucky football, So I mean it took me into early fourth quarter just say, well, wait a minute, yeah Andy could win.
This is there swagger now to Andy football.
I'm not willing to go that far because here's a scenario that I could see. I don't think they have any clue, They have no experience at pulling off something like this, and then seven days later they've got to get off the mat, you know, quit patting each other on the back. What happens, for instance, if they come up to your place and get beat thirty three to eight and don't look like they have any clue how to handle that, and that would be. That's a big worry.
And oh, by the way, that's a really good Kentucky team. That's not exactly some one double a Patsy. They're playing right well.
And you saw the upset of Ole Miss. What were your thoughts as you saw that happen.
You know, Dick, the longer it went on, the more I had to say, this is not a fluke. Kentucky looks like the better team, and you know, you've got glimpses of it in the Georgia game, where I use this term emptied all the barrels. I thought Kentucky emptied every barrel virtually at their resource to try to beat Georgia. And I'll admit I was rooting like crazy for because you know, like you, I know what a win over a Georgia for a Kentucky or an Alabama for Vandy,
what that can do. It's huge. Yeah, I wish it would have happened.
Would have been a great story, that's a fact. George Plaster is my guest. He is a veteran of TV and RADI sports coverage down in Nashville. Or of course, talking about those Vanderbilt Commodorees coming to town Saturday night, We'll come back and talk more with George in just a minute. Here in a Big Bonsider six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blue Sider on the Celebrity Hotline. Is George Paster, my longtime buddy from down in Nashville.
Has covered sports down in nash Vegas for many many years, has worked in Memphis. Has covered Western Kentucky basketball as well. But of course we're talking about UK Vanderbilt football. Mark Stoops, George, it looks like has dragged this Kentucky program around a corner. I don't know if it's around the corner because Rich
Brooks flirted with it, how Mommy flirted with it. But Stoops, through his recruiting, his development of talent, and the money that the school has put into facilities, has at least made Kentucky relevant in SEC football. I know it's way early for this, I'm sure, but do you see the potential for that with Clark Lee in place, the portal in place, which I know can can go terribly one sided, but also the facilities that we have seen for what the last couple three years under way down in Nashville.
You know, I'd like to say that I fully believe, but I don't. I guess I'm at a point in life where I've got to have a little bit more proof. Let's take the Kentucky thing for instance. You know there has to be a mental toughness about this guy, Mark Stoops. I don't know him the way you do, but there's
a mental toughness to him that is obvious. And never was it more obvious than when South Carolina took them behind the woodshed and it was ugly looking, and to me it was like, Okay, Kentucky's got a choice here. They can eat, continue to slide and get back down toward the bottom of the conference, or they can rise up and show everybody who now doubts them how wrong they are. Well, look at the effort they gave against Georgia. Not all Kentucky teams in the past would have done that.
I just I am so impressed with that guy, how to be his agent, because I just the job he has done. It's the most underrated job in the country. Wow, year after year what he had done.
Pretty strong words, brother, But again, you've covered the SEC for a long time and the challenge at Kentucky for the longest time. Similar to what happened in Vandy minus the academic hills that they have to climb at Vanderbilt. But you know, recruiting class you only need twenty five kids, I guess I would say you ought to be able to find kids who can do that kind of class work. The other thing, too, is, and I talked to some people around the Bandy baseball program. I mentioned a portal.
It is more of a challenge for Bandy to get kids through the portal because of academics.
Right suppose, Yeah, I mean that's what I hear that in particular with a baseball program that's you know, risen to heights nobody saw coming for a long period of time. That one of the frustrations has been that they don't accept all of the credits that kids earn at other school.
Right.
I don't pretend to know how you get around all that kind of stuff. So I'll just go to the money part of it, because Clark Lee told me back in the summer that they had been able to raise about six million in nil money. Even at that it's at the bottom of the league. You've got some schools ole myths and Tennessee appear to have jumped out ahead of everybody in that area. And you know, I sound like an old fuddy Doug, but I hate this system. This We have lost our way with this system.
Now.
You know, I look at Alabama at the end of the game, and you know, I've always had a really healthy respect for the way they've gone about doing their winning with class. But you know, I didn't see a lot of that Saturday at the end of the game. That was disappointing.
Male Im Moore acting out.
Yeah, you think he'd have done that if Nick Saban had been the head coach, I would think not too.
No, it's a different world, there's no question about that. And for the longest time, Nashville No, I guess maybe Austin's the biggest city now in terms of market size in the Southeastern Conference. But you know, you'd think that nil dollars would be there. But it's a pro town now, and Vandy is kind of a boutique school, isn't it.
Yeah, it's I mean, it definitely is not page one of the sports anymore. It's all Titans and then Predators, and it filters down to our business. I refuse to make every show about the Titans. I could care less you know to read everybody the depth chart every week and act like it's a religious experience. It's football, and so I try to do a little bit of everything. But it's a lot different than when I first started
in the talk show business. It's a different city and having grown up here, there's some parts of it I like, but there's some parts of it I don't like.
Weit on. One of the arguments is that because of the now legalized gambling, people are hungry for information. But as someone who's likewise and I'm not in a pro market, but the interest in the NFL is worldwide. You know, my feeling is, well, if they're looking for information, it can help them make a bet. There are plenty of other places they can go, you know. You and I like to get into the people stories and you know less about depth chart. Who's playing? Who should I start
on my fantasy team? I have an interest in that because I do play fantasy, but I'm not going to devote my radio show to that.
No.
And it's you know when I first got into this, and Dick, you'll appreciate this because basketball is loved in your area, right It's king Nashville used to be a great basketball city, that's right. And it wasn't just being you had Belmont, you had lipscumb You know that there was a lot of you know, here's a good game in the city tonight, even if you don't have a dog in the hunt. And that part's really changed and
that saddens me. That's one of the changes that's going on is the football, whether it's pro, college or both, has just sort of neutralized the basketball in this city.
You know, it's interesting. I had Jack Gibbans on the internet. He and I worked the UK Pro Day telecast on SEC Plus on Monday, and Jack, when he was a high school senior, on a couple of occasions, I believe played a regular season game George in Memorial Coliseum back when it held eleven thousand, and you've been there many times, oh yeah, and filled the place. I mean, if Fire
and Marshall had to turn people away. There are every once in a while big high school games in town, but what that means is filling the high school gym, not the coliseum. And I just don't know where that's gone. You know.
You know, one thing that I'm convinced of college basketball has made a mistake. To me, by starting at the beginning of November. When you and I were first getting in this, it was sort of a start of you know, Thanksgiving week is when it would all start. And I think what's going on is some really good games are getting lost in the football shuffle. Yeah, and I think that's a mistake. And I know that they hesitate, you know, they tell you, well, we've got to get March Madness
in in March. But you know, I would contend some TV network would shell out the bucks to do it in April. If that's what we had to do, it'll happen.
Well.
The other thing, too, is the NFL is a loaded plus. Every game's on television now. It's everybody's god given right to see every game. And I know we sound like a couple of it, we sulld like a couple of those Franks. Yeah, but I just I just really miss those days when in a town like Lexington, you know, where you've got the natural rivalries, the Brian Stations versus the Henry Clays and you know, yeah, shools like that. People are missing out and it's just but again, you know,
everything's on TV. Everybody's got a seventy inch set and nobody wants to go to a game, uh and sit up in the boonies and pay twelve bucks for a be even know you get beer now UK games.
You know, right? And God forbid you listen to a game on the radio. I mean you think about that. I grew up in the in the early seventies listening to k Wood, Ledford and Ralph Hacker.
Oh yeah.
And when I first got a chance to be part of Vanderbilt's broadcast. The first time I ever met Kwood was at the SEC broadcasters meeting and he looks at me and he goes, what's your story really? And I said, I've been listening to you since I was eight years old. And he goes, you had to tell me that.
But it was.
True, John Wart, same thing at Tennessee. You know it is. It's a different time. But man, k Wood was as good as it gets.
You got that, right. Brother. George Plaster is a sportscaster in Nashville. Tell everybody if they want to listen to you, how they can dial you up on the interweb.
Well I would, you know, I'm going to try to act like I know what I'm talking about. We do this as a podcast, but We also do it on radio, and the radio part is ninety four nine. It'll be three to five o'clock every day, Central day, Lifetime. And would love to have anybody tune us in. Would love to hear from somebody up in Lexington. I love your city. I've always loved your city because basketball is important, Got.
That right, brother? Hey, thanks so much, Looking forward to seeing you soon.
Hey, same here, love being on with you.
Want to come on the big Blues sider including a former UK baseball Wildcat now part of the coaching staff who just got a nice promotion back in just a minute here on six point thirty Wlap and a lot of you have been there for Kentucky basketball in nineteen ninety eight as the Wildcats were on their way to the championship under Tubby Smith. That's where they played the South Region semi finals. Now the first game they played a UCLA team that quite frankly wasn't very good and
Kentucky was great that night. The Wildcats won it ninety four to sixty eight, as Kentucky put five players in double figures, led by Scott Patchett with nineteen points and Jeff Shepherd was sixteen. Nazi Muhammad had fifteen. The Wildcats blistered the nets that night, and then came Duke and you know what happened there. Kentucky falls behind by what's seventeen in the second half with about eight or nine minutes left, came back in one at eighty six to
eighty four. That gave birth day rise to Cameron Mills, the shot heard around the Bluegrass. Although he will admit openly and freely, and whenever you talk to him about that bucket, he mentions the fact that Scott Paget's ensuing three pointer gave him a lead for good. But anyhow, that was a huge night at Tropicana Field. Those were the only two games Kentucky has played there in the NCAA tournament. But man, last night, it's some major damage
thanks to Hurricane Milton. Huge parts of the stadium ripped apart by the hurricanes. So everybody's safe, apparently, and they're already back at work putting it back together. But that was a great spot for Kentucky basketball back in nineteen ninety eight. Join us now our celebrity highline as a guy we knew as a player, and now we need to call him coach because he is coach Logan Salo, who's been promoted now to Director of Scouting and Analytics by head coach Nick Minjeone.
Coach, congratulations, No, thank you, dig I appreciate it.
Tell me a little bit about your new role. How it differs from what you've been doing.
So day to day life. It's not a whole lot different. So the reason we kind of found this role for me from last year was because as the grad manager last year, I found myself really feeling, you know, I tried to find how I could help this coaching staff. I mean, they had a lot of things taken care of obviously as I got in, so I was just trying to find my niche find where I could really help this team prosper And I found myself doing a lot of scouting report stuff with coach Cuzno and coach
a Muratti last year. And then the analytics side, you know, with with me being from professional baseball spent a lot of years there with the Dodgers, they really fine tuned, fine tuned us in in that in that realm to where you know, I found myself really enjoying the analytical part of baseball, whether that had been you know, the movement profiles of pitches or just really diving into deeper statistics that you know, weren't just the averages and the slugging,
but you know, trying to find the finer details in order to kind of refine my game. So those two things kind of put together, and as we sat down and talked about it, you know, that's where I found myself trying to help this team out in the most last year. So it kind of felt like the best fit moving forward.
So many questions. First of all, you're an Ashland, Kentucky native, and of course a guy who lived the dream of the wildcatch part of their regional title team back in twenty seventeen, and you talk about saving your best for last. Ye had a monster year that year. So when you recruit, when you talk to a young player, I mean, it is straight from the heart, isn't it. You've done what the guys did the last couple of years and what everybody helps to do. Right.
Well, yeah, I mean I'm not allowed to do a whole lot of that just yet, right, you know, when we get guys in, you know, I'm able to really speak from the heart. I mean, obviously I had to turn into this experience my four years here at UK.
So you know, when they get on campus and things like that, you know, I'm one of those guys that you know, I'm a Kentucky lifer, like I believe Blue and you know I like to like the kid coach Kuzno a little bit since he played for us too, But I was like, nobody wants this program to win more than I do. You know, we go back and forth on that a good bit, but you know, I feel that to be true. Like I love this place
with every part of my being. So for me, it's like when they get here, it's like hey, like, whatever it takes or whatever, wherever I can help you, whatever realm that may be. Maybe it is the stats, you know, the scouting, the analytics, but it's like, hey, man, like I've done it at every level or close to every level, and and I've and I've seen, you know, the successes and failures at every single level. So you know, like I've been there. I'm here for you in any way
I can help you. Know, you know I'm here for you because the number one thing, the main thing for me is how can we get this team to mesh fast? And how how can we win baseball games.
I know, you can't go on the road. You can't go on the road, you and do all that, but I got to think that anytime a pitcher's on campus, a perspective pitcher, you're going to shake hands with them at some point. Uh. You mentioned the Dodgers drafted by the Oakland A's and then you end up in the Dodgers organization and you're telling me they are. Do you feel like they're one of the leading franchises when it comes to using analytics?
Yeah, I would say so, especially during my time, you know, going into professional baseball, there was the craze about the you know, the the numbers that you see now typical on typical broadcasts, you know, they weren't originally, you know, back in back in twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen. There's a lot of numbers that pop up nowadays that that you know, that weren't there on TV on the broadcast that we
remember back in the early twenty ten. So when I got there, they really opened my eyes and in terms of you know, using the skills that I already had and not necessarily creating new things, but just augmenting what I did well already, and you know, whether that's manipulating a pitch gript slightly or recognizing, you know, how how I had success during games and used that in terms
of how I need a pitch going forward. So, you know, being able to know where I got to got most of my swing and miss or it got most of my weak contact. Now I was catering my bullpens in different things in order to you know, I am trying to throw every pitch where nobody hits me, you know. But they really opened my eyes to it, and I'm forever grateful for them. So and it just kind of made sense.
You know.
It's one of those things that's like, you know, it's like sugar. Man, if it tastes good, you keep eating it. And that was that was it for me. Now I was like, man, that's that's awesome. Information makes sense to keep doing it. So No, I love the Dodgers, and I definitely say that they are They're definitely at the front for sure.
And I know some some hardcore guys who go way back and baseball kind of roll their eyes about analytics. But my contention has been baseball people have always used analytics. It's just kind of being collected and collated a little more efficiently. Now do you see it that way?
Oh yeah, I totally agree with that. I mean, if you talk to any any coach across the country, especially at the collegiate level, they're using analytics to some degree, and those teams are typically using the exact same numbers across the board. It's it's it's how you use them in order to you know, fine tune or develop your
players from a from a more individual aspect. And when you have the ability to have extra coaches on staff as as you know we do now and a lot of these other bigger programs and do, that's where you see the most benefit is because you know, the pitching coach is the pitching coach, and they have to spend time with these kids each day teaching them how to compete, teaching them how to you know, fine tune their mechanics
and things. And I'm able to sit back and be able to you know, evaluate them from a more you know, statistical or metrical analysis and be able to kind of mesh the two together, and it really just kills you know, it takes time off Coach Zel's book and I'm able to you know, cut the time in half in terms of development, so well, at least that's the goal, you know, But that's the whole idea is that you know, you're
you're absolutely right. I mean they use it to a certain degree, but it's you know, when you when you start dialing in and focusing in on on how you can make each individual player better and not just look at the numbers as a whole, as when you really see progress.
Talking to UK assistant coach Logan Salo, he was a terrific left handed reliever, but a twenty seventeen regional title team and now director of scouting and analytics has rocked down is promoted the chief of staff. And you know, you mentioned the fact that you were with the Dodgers previously with the Oakland A's. They're the ones who've drafted you, by the way, man, isn't it crazy what's going on in Oakland and the fact that they're leaving and their
fans are so upset. I don't know if you're ever much of an A's fan, but that's nuts.
Yeah, it's uh, you know, that's that's part of that's part of it. Obviously, you know sometimes that that happens in different sports and stuff. But it does feel, it does feel a little bittersweet for everybody in Oakland just because you know, I mean, I guarantee you it would be the same as you know, somewhere ten twenty years down the road the Reds left town. I mean, I think that the heartbreak would feel the same, you know. So you know, it's I guess it's just the changing
of the times or whatever it may be. But man, it does really stink to not see that, you know, the green and gold in Oakland with the white shoes. Man, Like, you know, it's it's something that we'll always remember and potentially not not ever get to see again here in these coming years. So it definitely is a bummer.
Growing up in Ashland. Were you were a Reds fan?
Oh yeah, absolutely, I got to uh, you know what those early early two thousands is kind of when I fell in love with with baseball as a whole, I want to be honest with you. From Kentucky, you know, it's a it's a it's a basketball state.
You know.
And and when I was when I was young, I loved I loved UK basketball and that's what I fell in love with was I mean, I loved basketball, love football, love baseball, played them all and but you know, in early two thousands, you know, we get we get King Grifrey Junior in there in Cincinnati, and then you know we had Barry Lark in a short stop and you know, I remember the you know, the Dog days I got.
I remember Aaron Harang, I remember Eric Milton and Graves. Yeah, you know, I was you know, they were on TV all the time. So I grew up a Red fan.
Well, the old school Reds fans. The Dodgers were the arch enemy. And here you ended up playing a Dodgers Shane. That was kind of weird.
Oh yeah, oh yeah, that was my very first my little league team was the Dodgers. We're in white down in Ashland. We're murin and White down to Ashland. But but yeah, I was a Dodger then and it was pretty cool to be able to kind of full circle it and be able to be a Dodger in professional ball though. It was pretty neat.
Were Logan Salo when we come back on six thirty w l A P Welcome Back. We're talking with UK assistant baseball coach Logan Salo as the director of scouting now that the scholarship rules have changed and then the portal and all that, Uh, how has that affected that position that job?
Uh?
So far, we're we're kind of going business as status quo. You know, we're we're still evaluating players the same way we have. You know, we're we're waiting for that final word you know right now in terms of how that it's all going to shape out, in terms of how many people we can get on campus and everything before. I think, you know, you really see huge adjustments being made. But right now it's still, you know, still the same
same as always been. You know, you you want to go evaluate each player on the same level with no bias and and you know, be able to evalue them whether they can help your style of play and all that stuff. So so far, you know, we haven't seen too much change. You know, we're still trying to get the best athlete and the best picture or position player possible.
So so not much change yet. But you know, obviously in the coming years, as as as wins and losses can become part of you know, how you can continue to evaluate and continue to you know, revamp how you think about those things. Is when I think you'll see the biggest change.
Talking to Kentucky assistant coach Logan Salo, part of the team last year that went to o Mah for the College World Series. And I'll tell you right now, I am wearing my College World Series shirt. And I'm going to tell you, Logan, every time I go out, at least one person mentions the College World Series to me. What has it been like for you guys over on your side of campus? Uh, since that trip to Omaha? Because man, what a run.
Yeah, I mean, it's been awesome. I think that the community is still is still excited about what happened. I think that they, you know, the memories that we've created for this community and around campus has been awesome. So you know, our players are reaping the benefits of that, you know. Uh, the Kentucky Baseball T shirt you got, I stare your way a little bit more and different things like that, which I'm sure that our players are loving. But you know, for us, it's it's raised the bar.
It's raised the standard.
You know.
Now now we can sit there and say like, hey, like if you come to Kentucky, like the expectation is in the Super Regional that Omaha run and you know, the level of play that that dictates and and the type of focus, intensity and effort that that takes every day is now you know, we know what that looks like. And so for us, you know, we're we're probably going to be able to reach the benefits of you know, more players and more people looking our way in years
to come. But also what it does is it heightens the level of expectation here and it definitely heightens the level of of development. So it's been awesome for us, so and our guys are using that energy, and we know the job's not finished, you know. I mean, making it to Omaha is one thing. Win international championship is another. So move forward. That's still our goal. And making it to Omaha was awesome and that's a step in the
right direction. But ultimately we want to be national champions and be a winner on that last day of the season. So until that day comes, you know, the job's not finished and we're going to continue to develop and recruit and in order to make that happen.
Haven't had a chance to get over and see you guys scrimmage yet, but I've been reading everything I can and you've got so many new faces. Just from the pitching side of things, What can you tell us about the staff you've put together now as.
A unit, Oh, I mean, as a unit, I think you're going to see a bunch of guys that have a bilability to pitch. So far, we've seen anybody from a freshman to a seventh year senior and Nick McKay, I mean, like we have guys that understand what it takes access to the zone with all their pitches and and there's they're still you know, figuring out the compete piece some of them and things like that. But from a from a full staff top to bottom, you know,
we have we have really really good stuff. We have a bunch of different varieties on how to get it there. You know, we have a lot of lower lower slot guys as well as you know, pure over the top. We have guys that are shorter, taller. The the the variety in which we have and the ability for us to be very dynamic in terms of you know, we we can match up with you or we can just
go straight toe to toe with you. So that's you know, that's that's a really really good cool piece about our staff is that we are very dynamic and very different. But at the same time, the main thing is the main thing, and that's attacking the zone and and working really fast, and you know, trying to put guys away early, so they they're starting to understand that. And as we go forward, I see nothing but progress that that's bound to be made.
Well, before I let you go, I got to ask you because as you were pitching so well in the minor leagues, your overall numbers just terrific, and you're left handed. There's the premium a need for left handers, but injuries cut your career short. How difficult, logan was it to
say goodbye to the playing side of your career. I know you you got a great opportunity to stay in the game, come back home, be a part of a really strong college program, but I know there's nothing like playing and you had to you had to say goodbye to that.
Yeah, no, it was, obviously it was. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, you know, from a personal, you know, selfish standpoint, But you know, it ended up by the end of it, it was it was pretty easy. I tried the indie ball rat and I struggled, and for me, Uh, my priority shifted. You know, I had a wife now and for four years we didn't get to live together. We were married for three almost almost four years in professional ball, and we never got to we were never living in the
same city. And so you by, by the end of it, I got released from LA and you know, my priorities started to shift a little bit, and you know, making it to the big leagues ultimately wasn't, you know, number one on my list anymore. And I knew that, you know, if that wasn't a number one on my list, that the amount of effort and hard work that it takes in order to do that and is something that that was the piece that I wasn't I didn't want to
do anymore. You know, I didn't want to put the work that I know what it takes to get there. I know what I didn't do in order to get there. And it was just ultimately time to sit down and really think about, you know, what I wanted to do next, and that was coaching, and ultimately that was coaching at the University of Kentucky. Like I made one phone call when I got done, and it was to coach Min Jim,
So I knew what I wanted to do next. I knew where I wanted to be, and my wife spending at a plus supporter of it all and I couldn't thank her more for being on the ride with me, but also you know, allowing me to see the you know, the the reality, and and that was that I wanted to be with her a lot more than I wanted.
To be in the big league at that point.
So that that ended up being pretty easy by the end of it. But uh, but but during the time, no, it was. It was definitely really tough. But I knew I had a home here in Lexington. Coachman always made me aware of that, and so when I really sat down to do the thing, it was just like, man, that that was.
That was pretty easy.
So well, it is great seeing you back here. Congratulations on the move up and we'll see you at the ballpark.
All right, sounds good. Can't wait to see you there.
I was going to do it thanks to my guest, Van Hiles, George Paster Logan Salo. That's it. Good night from the garage in Lexington.
Gosh, you lo to get the ball around the Envy you lo gag you right there on.
The first you out of the dugout, did you know what that makes.
You same every sid