Welcome to the Big Blue and Sider this day after Christmas, Dick Gabriel with you, taking another day off here for the holiday. So this is the best of the Big Blue Insiders, starting with our conversation earlier in the month with Tim Couch just before he ended to Las Vegas for the ceremony inducting him into the College Football Hall of Fame. Here on the best of the Big Blue Insider.
I'm super excited, Dick. I mean, you know, it's a tremendous honor, very humbled by, you know, being recognized in this year's twenty twenty four Hall of Fame class, going in with a great group of guys, and you know, just very thankful for my time at Kentucky and for the coaches and teammates that I had an opportunity to play with, and you know, just just a great thanks felling the place for me, you know, with coach Mommy coming in and putting in the air raid offense, and
you know, very it suited my skill set perfectly and was able to have a great run by my time at Kentucky.
So I'm very, very thankful and grateful for it.
You were talking last night briefly on the show with Mark Stoops and Tom Leech, and I could tell what you really wanted to say was you would love to take all your teammates in there with you, wouldn't you?
Yeah?
Absolutely?
You know, you know this is you know, we played the ultimate team sport, and you know, so to get an individual recognition is you know, just something that.
I'm kind of kind of uncomfortable with, to be honest, because.
There were so many people that helped me get there, and you know, I wish I could take all those guys with me, and I certainly, you know, when I'm on that stage, I'll be thinking about my teammates and and very appreciative of you know, having them, you know, to play with in my time at Kentucky, and you know, hopefully they feel part of this as well.
You know what was part of how Mummy's genius with the passing game and obviously he had the right man pulling the trigger, but you also had the right guys catching the footballs and Craig Yeast and Anthony White and Michelson and all these guys. You guys made it look so easy on offense. Why is that with the air raid when it's run right you can't have a bunch of rum dumbs out there. But when you got the right people running it, why does it look so simple?
You know, I think the offense in itself is very simple. You know, the concepts are simple. It's a it's not a very complicated system to learn. It doesn't take very long to install. But like you said, Nick, it's you know, you can have the greatest, you know, scheme in the world, but if you don't have a quarterback who's who's accurate with the football, make quick decisions, you know, can can
get process information quickly. And then you have receivers who were great with run after the catch, you know, because a lot of the air raid is the short intermediate passing game. So you're relying on those guys to break tackles, the quarterback to be accurate, to put the ball on the spot where receivers can catch and run. And you know, so we had all those guys, like you said, we had Craig Yeast, who was, you know, one of the
best receivers in the history of the SEC. You know, Lance Michelson, Quintin mccoor, James Whalen, Jimmy Robinson, you know, so many guys Kevin Coleman. You know, obviously Anthony White was unbelievable out of the backfield. It's uh, we we just had a perfect, perfect fit of guys for to.
Run that scheme. It was.
It was just a match made in heaven with with coach Mummy coming in and the guys we had there on campus.
Okay, I've got you on the phone, So I got it because I have Anthony White on He's on every Sunday morning. But I always bring up the fact that his nickname was aunt B and you hung that on him. Why did you call him an b?
Uh?
You know, I can't remember exactly. It seems it seems like somebody in practice said that, you know, we called him aunt and then somebody said aunt me ballin or something, because you know, they couldn't stop him. You know, he was he was, you know, running for a hundred catching for one hundred some games, and he was just he was just a you know, all around kind of guy. So we just started calling him aunt bee her short and it just kind of stuck. But what what a t to minus football player?
He wan?
Oh, Now that helps me because I had the mental image of ant B from Andy Griffith. So now I know it's a short for Anthony. Okay, that helps me so much. But I also bring up the fact tim and you may embarrass him a little. I don't think it does that. When he left the UK, he was a top five all time combo back, wasn't he. I mean he was a perfect for that offense.
He really was.
I mean, if you're going to run that type of system, you know you need a running back. You know, Anthony had wide receiver skills. You know, he could have been a wide receiver, but he also had great running back skills as well, and he could and he could block. You know, he could pick up flitzes. You know, he was unbelievable catching the ball out of the backfield. You know,
third and third and medium, third and short. When we were in a passing game and I saw man coverage, you know, it was either you know, Craig one on one on the outside. If Craig didn't win, I was coming underneath to to Anthony because I knew he was going to be matched up with a linebacker or potentially a safety maybe, and he was going to win that match up every time. You know, with the option routes, and the angle routes we were running, uh, some of
those things. He was just literally a perfect fit for this game.
Yep.
And you mentioned Craig and his speed, and of course he not only caught passes but return kicks in the NFL. But people, somebody said this to me the other day, you know, Tim Kasch didn't throw deep berry off and I said, yeah, because they dropped two safeties back because they knew Yeast could kill it back there. But Craig could still, as you said, catch and run. I mean, he was just the greatest.
He was. He was, you know, in my opinion.
I know there's been a lot of great players at Kentucky, and no disrespect any of those other guys, but obviously I'm biased to Craig. I think he's the best receiver ever played at Kentucky. You know, he was just the guy was incredible, man. And you know, like you said, teams, that was how they tried to defend us with keeping two safeties back because they couldn't leave one on one on the outside with Craig. And when they did, that's
when we took our deep shots. But you know, as much as we were throwing the ball as kind of a ball controlled passing attack. So a lot of those screens and things we considered those runs, to be honest with, you know, those were just tall sweeps us get on the outside, you know, get the ball in Craig EA's hand in space, or you know, throw a screen to Anthony or something like that. Those were extension of the
run game for us. And if teams wanted to sit back and play cover two, cover four, and we just had to kind of you know, take our you know, you pick and shoes underneath and just take what the defense is given us.
You're one of three quarterbacks going in with the Clash of twenty twenty four. It also includes Alex Smith, who helped you tak to the top of of polls, and Urban Meyer, and I was really pleased to see as well, the kid from Apple Aachian State going in. Gosh, Harmani Edwards. Right, when you get together with guys like that, do they ask do you guys talk about the systems you're in? Do they ask you what it was like to run the air raid?
Yeah?
We always talk about, you know, schemes that we were involved in, players we played with, you know, things like that, and you know, it's it's a great class. Like you said, we've got Randy Moss going in, Larry Fitzgerald, Warwick Dunn, Julius Peppers who just went into the NFL Hall of Fame as well, So it's a very strong class loop. You know, it's just you know, list goes on and on, and you know, we just just you know, we got to take a look at that list. It's very humbling
to go in with those guys. And you know, I think the Hall of Fame sent me some information on the hall, and I think they said there's been something like five point five million people play college football and there's a little over a thousand guys that have been selected to the Hall of Fame. So obviously a very selective group of guys. And you know, completely honored to be going in.
Talking to Tim Kuch of course, UK Hall of Fame quarterback and now the College Football Hall of Fame going to be honored at the game on Saturday. But yeah, what a class. And I love seeing Danny woodhead. It was a running back at chaddern State, you know, a small college player, but man, what a great player. And then it kind of makes me feel a little bit old because I grew up watching the Nebraska Oklahoma series and Dewey Selman part of the Salmon family going in
he played at Oklahoma back in the early seventies. The game has changed so much, though, Tim through the years, and now it's it's much more about offense, isn't it.
Yeah, it's changed, you know, so much. You know, I think, you know, when I was coming into the SEC, the SEC was really, you know, very much a running conference that was known for having great running backs. Really the only team at that time that was kind of throwing the ball quite a bit was Coach Spurrier down down in Florida. And then you know, Coach Mummy and Leaks came in and just completely, you know, revolutionized the game,
and you know it. You know, I was doing broadcasting for several years after I was done playing, and it was it was always amazing to me to go to all these campuses and meet with these coaches that had different spots, and how all of them, you know, would come to me and say, hey, we we came to Kentucky in ninety seven or ninety eight and saw what you guys are doing, and we're still running a version
of that even today. You know, twenty years later, so you know, it was pretty cool to be on the ground floor that thing, the air raid, and to make it popular and to see that it's still very prevalent across the country today.
You didn't get to spend as much time, I know, as you like with Mike Leach because he just went on to great and greater things in college football, helped Oklahoma win a national Thailand and then made a name for himself. But what was it like, Tim? I mean, he was such a free spirit and a unique kind of guy, wasn't he.
Yeah, he was, you know, the most unique coach I think I ever played for.
And he was Mike was one of.
Those guys that you know, you go to his office and talk to him, and you know, he would talk talk to you about.
Anything except football.
You know, he wanted to talk about pirates and you know, wars, Andy and history and all this kind of stuff. And he was just a very different, very different guy. But he was also extremely intelligent. He was ahead of his time as far as the passing game goes, and he had a very clear vision for what he wanted an offense to look like and how he wanted to install it. And he was very precise. You know, he coached our wide receivers and was the offensive coordinator when I was there.
And what he was all those wide receivers every single day about you know, just doing the little things right where you know, if you're split is supposed to be, you know, inside the numbers, and that's where you better line up. If you're supposed to run at twelve yards, I don't want you at thirteen, don't want.
You at eleven.
And you need to be precise. And you know that's what made our offense so successful. We were all so dialed in and locked into the to the little details which made everything work.
It was all so shocking when he left us way too soon that that had to be a punch and a gut for you.
Yeah, you know, I really hated to see that. And you know, Mike and I have we kept in touch over the years and would talk and you know, I just talked to him a few months before that and was completely shocked by the news and sad and buy it, and you know, I really wish it, you know that
he was around. I know he would be, you know, in Las Vegas in December celebrating with me going into the Hall of Fame, and you know, really really just take that for his family, and he was such a great guy and surely he's very missed.
When we come back. More from my conversation back in the fall with Tim Couch, Say what us here on the Big Blue and Siders six thirty w l ap Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. Dick Gabriel with you. It is the best of the Big Blue Insider here on this Christmas Eve. We'll pick up with my conversation with Tim Couch from back in the fall. He talked about his upcoming induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. When you set foot, you come back quite often, when
you set foot on that field, inside that stadium. How does that make you feel?
You know, I think the very the first thing I feel is a sense of pride, you know what we were able to accomplish, and and just how fun that the game was when we were there, and you know how how into it the fans were. And you know, because Kentucky football was kind of in a rough point there when I first got to UK and and they weren't winning many games. They were running the option. It
was wasn't a very exciting style of football. And then we came in and you know, we were going spread offense, four or five wide receivers and throwing the ball all over the field, and uh, you know, it's just just you know, a great time to be playing at Kentucky. And and you know that coaching staff we had, you know, you talk about coach Mummy and Leash and Hatcher and Sonny Dykes and Tony Franklin and and all those guys. We had so many creative minds on the offensive side
of the ball. And you know, like we talked about earlier, we had a great fit of players who run that system as well.
So so yeah, just to sense the pride.
When I walked into the stadium about what we were able to accomplish while while I was playing there.
You know, you mentioned Mummy and it was You're right. He was such an interesting individual as well. You could see why he and Leech were so tight. Uh. But it was interesting to meet Tim. When things went went south for how Here course, the fans were all over him. And then when Kentucky was looking for a new coach a dozen years ago, people were lobbying like crazy for a how Mummy disciple somebody to be the next town mommy. So you know, as long as you win, that's what
it's all about. But that people want to be entertained too, don't they.
Yeah, I think so. And you know, it's just a you know, I think people see, you know, how teams have been very successful with that system across the country and other places, and and you know, it was a fun style of football to watch. I think it was very popular obviously with our fan base here a Kentucky and and people didn't want to see that come back, you know, and coach Sjuts did bring bring it back
for a little bit. He brought Neil Brown back here for a couple of years, and obviously Neils went on to do great things as a head coach at West Virginia. And uh so it's you know, it's uh it was a great, great, great offense to play in, and it's very popular, like I said, with the fans and obviously with cornerbacks and receivers love it. And you know, it's just it's just a lot of fun to play in that type of system.
Yeah. I got to ask you, being a father, do you have to queue up video to show your son what you do. Because I remember Jamal Mashburn when he wanted to the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame, he said his kids didn't really believe that he was a great player at the NBA. He had to show them video. Do you have to do that?
I've done it before. Yeah, yeah, when they when they were smaller, I had to do that. And you know they used to love to watch those videos when they when they were little. And you know, now I've got a I've got a freshman in college and a freshman in high school. My oldest son is he signed a scholarship to play for Holy Cross up in Boston, so he's, uh, he's playing defensive end up there. And then my youngest
son is a freshman at Lectern Christian Academy. So you know, they're they're both good athletes and good students and you know, certainly very proud of.
Them defensive ends. So you got to You've got to talk to him about what it's like to go attack a quarterback.
Yeah, I told him. You know, he was playing quarterback up until like eighth grade when he switched over the defensive end. And I was like, I can't tell you anything about playing defensive end.
Other than I don't like those guys.
That's all I know about it.
He's going to relish the licks he puts on quarterbacks. You mentioned broadcasting and you stepped away from that, and you and your brother now very successful businessman. And a tip of the cap to your brother. I always love what he did at EKU. I keep reminding people that Greg Couch was the last QB to lead EKU to an undefeated OVC record and an OVC title, so and always will be now that they're out of the league. But anyhow, you were on your way to a pretty
good broadcasting career when you stepped away. Now, Tom Brady, a guy you know, a little bit has started and it kind of got lukewarm reviews. But for crying out loud, he's a rookie. But if you could give him some advice, you giving Tom Brady advice on broadcasting.
What would it be? You know?
I think the biggest thing that I had to learn is, you know, you do have to prepare like you're playing, you know, I mean, it is so much prep work as far as you know, watching film, understanding schemes and systems and game plans, and talking to coaches and players throughout the week to get a feel from what they're going to try to do that week, so you can
go on TV and explain that. And you know, for me, you know, I don't want to say dumb it down, that's not the right word, but I wanted to talk like I was talking to like maybe like my mother at home, who knows who watches football, but she doesn't understand like the you know, really inside of x'es and O. So you can get on there and you know, obviously Tom could talk about you know, the game as in
depth as anyone who's ever played it. But you know, you have to make it simple for the people watching on TV so they you know, you can say, oh, it's cover too, but you know, no one, no one really knows what cover two is unless you you know, you've studied the game, played the game, So so you make it you know, you make it simple for the fans watching at home so they can follow along with
you and understand what you're talking about. But you know, Tom, you know he's going to be great in whatever he does. You know, it's it's very difficult to walk in that booth and call a game if you've never done it before. He's just going to get better and better with with with refs than each game he does.
Yeah, they keep comparing comparing him to Greg Olsen, who was not great when he started. None of us was not that I know.
No.
Yeah, before I let you go, I got to ask you. I'm sure your heart went out to the what your Wildcats and a rock Vandergriff He had a rough day at the office against South Carolina. But that's life in sec isn't it.
Yeah, that's the way it goes, you know. I mean this, Uh, in this league, anyone can embarrass you quickly if you're not not on top of your game. And obviously we didn't play well. You know, I'm not going to make any excuses. We didn't play well up front, quarterback didn't really have many opportunities to play well.
And uh, you know we just in South Carolina played great. Give him credit.
That's a good defense they got after us. And you know, things can go go go south on you pretty quickly in this league if you're not playing well. And you know, I think we'll bounce back. I think we've got a very talented football team. I love our coaching staff. Obviously, you know, coach Steps is the winning his coach we've ever had here, so I have all the faith in the world that he's going to get this, get these guys rallied rallied up, and get them going back in
the right direction. And obviously got a tough one this week with Georgia. But you know, it doesn't get any it done get easier, you know, I think I saw we played five of the top seven teams in the country coming up over the next several weeks. So those schedules just brutal, But you know, we got the guys that can go turn it around, and you know, I'm still confident in those guys.
People knocking the offense, of course, that's what fans do, but it's too soon that I have no idea what to make of this offense yet. And I'm sure you know more about this stuff than I do. But it's it's gonna be tough after this week, isn't it.
Yeah, you know you said it didn't get any easier, you know, with with Georgia and that defense coming into town, so you know, it is it is kind of hard to see what what we have yet offensively, you know, because you know we got to you know a little over half a game in week one with the weather, and then you know soon didn't play well at all, you know, only thirty yards passing or so in Week two. So you know, these guys, you know, just have to get it gone, get it to you know, get everyone
on the same page and executing a game plan. And you know, and it takes everyone. You know, it takes the you know, the offensive line gave protection and brought making quick decisions receivers, you know, getting that out of breaks, catching football is getting separation from the defenders, and you know, it takes all eleven guys on outside of the ball to make it, make it work and make it look good.
So you know, hopeing they can bounce back a little this week and get a little momentum build on that.
That's my conversation with Tim Katch back in the fall, and he was recognized prior to a UK football game. That was back in September when things were still looking better for the Wildcats. But life is good to Tim. He's got his healthy family and he's going into the College Football Hall of Fame tonight. It is out in Las Vegas, and it's going to be somewhere on ESPN
if you want to check it out. Up next more the Best of the Big Blue and Sider, we'll hear from Van Hiles, former Kentucky d back, conversation I had with him following the UK season earlier this month on the Best of the Big Blue Insider. Welcome back to the Big Blueing Sider on this Christmas Eve special edition. It is the Best of the Blue Insider and in this hour we've been talking football. You heard from Tim Couch a conversation I had with him before he was
inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. I'm going to take you back a couple of weeks to the chat I had with former Kentucky defensive back Van Hiles. He breaks down UK football on a number of social media stops, and we talked about this past Kentucky season a disappointment for anybody who played or rooted for the Wildcats. You hear Van Hiles all over the place. He is a co host of The Locker four one one host of Driving with Styles. Here him on Sunday Morning Sports
Talk with Anthony White. Tom Leech has him on every Monday morning. Is the Monday Morning Quarterback and we bug him in Renow and then here on the Big Blue Insider, Van, I've got to think that in a way, are you kind of glad this season is limped to an end for the Wildcats?
Geez, with all that you said, I think we found the reason why we had a bad season. I was on tom Leased Monday morning. Without me there, we don't lose out these games. Yeah, it was a hard season, not because of the results, but because of the expectations. And when you have expectations and in the season turns out the way it turns out, it's going to be a lot of disappointed people, a lot of people who want pitch folks outside of a lot of coaches halts.
When I look at expectations that fall way short, I always the first thing I say is was I wrong? How wrong was I to expect that? You know what I mean? I mean, were we because going in I still didn't have full belief in the offensive line. And that don't mean to keep banging on this position group. But we talked before it all starts there. But I mean the defense. What confuses me, Van is the Georgia game, the Old Miss game that they showed what they're capable of doing and it just fell apart.
Yeah, it is a comedy of errors out Here's my thing is people will blame the old line, and it's the easiest position to blame, just like the cornerbacks are the easiest position to blame. The miss mark for me on this season was a quarterback. I wasn't because look, there's there's two people who touch the ball every snap. It's a quarterback in the center. Those are the only two people who touch the ball all the time on
innyside of the ball. And that result was not what I envisioned it to be because a quarterback can make an old line look better and we did not do
well at that position this year. And as a guy who played on a team where the offense wasn't the strong part, the strong part of the team, at a point of the season, defenses start to do things that's out of character because you know that the offense is not going to be able to put in them points on the board to keep in games when you are going to falter.
Yeah, I'll tell you what though, And I was talking to somebody about this this week. I went back and I was looking at video from early in the year and Brock Vandergriff looked like a different guy. And I agree with Jeff Picory. He played with a couple of quarterbacks who got happy feet because they were beaten up
so badly because they couldn't protect him very well. And I know that's maybe over simplification with Rock Vandergriff, but he just looked like a different guy down the stretch for sure.
Look for sure. And here's I don't like to do this, but here's the thing. Certain positions requires certain elements, and that position requires more than any other position on the field, and sometimes you have to endure things that other players on the team does not have to endure because of When we win, it's because of the quarterback. When we lose, it's because of somebody else. So sometimes, even though it's a tough position, that's the responsibility you have to You
have to be able to eat that. And I would say that some of those stuff, some of the things early in the seasons were on the old line, but a lot of those things were on the quarterback. So it goes fit this this.
He made some bad decisions and force some throws or actually took some shacks he probably should have taken them exactly.
And that's and that's the thing is is we have to That's why football is the best team sport out of any sport because it really requires everyone. So for him, the old line needs him to be able to help them, and they need to help him. And sometimes as a quarterback you need to not hold the ball so long and throw the ball away. I mean, if you look at Colorado severe standards has at least has forty plus sacks. So it's not like every old line is a great old line and they wont gat Yeah.
Yeah.
Talking to Van Hiles, the former Kentucky defensive back V Styles driving with Styles, he breaks down Kentucky football on the interweb and is a frequent guest on the election and media outlets. And of course we're talking about this past season which ended with Cutter Bowley behind center. Now, Jeff Picoro and I have been debating over the last couple of weeks. Do you go ahead and commit to him even though you know he looked good at times, but it's not like he grabbed the program and threw
it on his shoulders. But man, they've got to get some continuity at quarterback. You know, the plan I keep going back to this, the plan was for Drew Barker to be the guy for three years and when he went down injured. Now that the door starts spinning with juco's and transfers. And there was some success with Steven Johnson and Will Evis, but there wasn't success as well. So do you go ahead and bite the bullet as a staff and say this is our guy, we're to hang with him.
I'm glad you stated that, because I've said that many times that one quarterback affected the evolution of the quarterback position. Here's the deal with Cutter. The next season. Let's just say we won seven games, or let's say we won six games. I think the transition to him and the expectation of him being a quarterback next year for potentially three seasons would be easier. But the fact that we
won four games. I don't think that the fans who would take on another potential five and seventh season learning to live with him as a quarterback. I truly think if you can find him, you have to find a quarterback that Bush Hampden loves and fits his scheme to a t. Because people forget that Bush came late because Liam left in February. So give him a chance to find his quarterback in a pour if it exists. If it doesn't exist, then we just got to get it the Cutter.
I gotta wonder what what is bush Hamden looking for if not Cutter Bowlie. You know that's a real interesting question to me.
Well, I will say this after the four in eight season. He needs someone there has had a lot of reps. Yeah, and that it's only based before an eight season. I not think I know Cutter has the ability with time to be a solid quarterback like I really he has some intangibles that I see on on film that you can't coach. Now, the problem is is he ready to take the keys full time? I'm not sure. I will put him on a learners permit first, let him drive with a parent in the con first, before I give
him total control over over the program. But it's not like he's not close. He's closed. But I think he needs a little more time, a little more season.
Yeah.
Well, Van played, as I said, d back and it made it all the way to the NFL. So he knows how to scout quarterbacks, how to study qbs on video. But he was also a quarterback himself. So when you talk about what you see and Cutter on video on film, as you guys like to say, what do you see?
I see a guy I don't know Cutter, but I see from a visual that he's a confident kid who's a fluent athlete, and being able to be fluid is weird. He's wired in a way where he never rushes, and that is a key component of a quarterback because I think his instinctual clock is where it should be, where I need to get out of there or I can extend the play. He did some great things against Texas with extended plays. However, it was after seeing what Texas could do and he got into the floid game on
the sideline this last guess. He didn't have that that that opportunity, and I think his clock sped up a little bit on him because of that. He has some issues, but as a whole, I like the way he throws the ball. He gets the ball his hand when he needs to, He uses every receiver. He doesn't lock on to his favorite receiver. Those are some things that you cannot coach his His mechanisms are great, his operations are great. I think he has a chance to be special for us.
But here's a deal. You cannot rush it because if you rush it, then that confidence he has now will be stagnant. We need him to get even more confident and more swag as you prolong in this program.
Yeah, but how do you do that in a program that, in terms of the offense is going to be an almost total rebuild this coming year.
Well, and that's the thing is if they can't find the right guy's And that's the thing that I've been saying in the past, I think Coach Steps has said recently, is finding guys to fit their programs, their system, their culture. You've got to find that guy. It doesn't have to be cam Ward. It can be Diego Papavilla. It can be someone who is just a solid presence in the locker room and a solid guy on the field. If they cannot find that, then you roll with Cutter Bowli.
And I think if you roll with him, you have to simplify the offense to get him comfortable early, and then it's kind of this. This would be a perfect example. When Lin Bowm became quarterback in twenty nineteen, the scheme was very simple. Each week, Eddie Grant adds some things to complement what he ran the previous week. I think
that's what we should be doing next year. If Cutter is the just the answer, you bring him along and you progress slowly, run the things that he and his teammates know how to run, to the to the to the free estate and run fast, and then you just add on to it as the season goes.
Vanheile's my guess when we come back, we'll talk about the portal and some big names that stepped away from the Wildcats. That's next year on the Big Blue and Sider six thirty w we'll come back to the best of the Big Blue Insider for visiting with Van Heiuser. Paller lives down in the Louisiana now but keeps a close eye on his beloved Wildcats, and you see him break down video on social media. No surprise, Barrion Brown
decides to move away from the program. I think a lot of us thought by now, if he had progressed in such a way, he might have been to the NFL by now, but we know that didn't happen. But also Dane Key, which was a real disappointment. But again we've talked about here on the show a couple of nights now that you know, if he wants to make that next big step toward the NFL, he's got to go to a more stable environment, a team with the stable offense for him. But they went out and recruited
four new Whiteouts, got the kid from Boyle County. Who's you know. I'm not gonna say he's as good as one Dale Robinson been in that mold, but those are those are big losses regardless fan. But you hate to see and they didn't get out of them what they had hoped this past season.
Yeah, that's the unfortunate nature of having so many systems in three to four years.
I'm lo, I am.
It's gonna be a weird thing to say. I am happy. I understand why Dan ain't left. I as a parent, I as a former player. I do not want to go through another coaching change in my position room. I don't think he has ever had back to back years of having the same wide receiver coach. You're correct, And if I'm going to go through that and my last chance, why not go through that with somewhere else Because I've
done it. I've held strong with this program for three years going through the turmoil of switching guys that are leading my room. If that's the case, let me go somewhere else, and I'm gonna be doing it again here anyway, So let me spread my wings and find a place and find an offense that suits my skill set that can propel me to the next level. We have to we have to not look at it as a negative, so to speak. It's just life. And I think he's doing what's right for him.
In his future.
I have no critique about it. I would love him come back, but I understand.
Oh yeah, And it's not like he didn't give everything he had. And I thought dan Key took a step forward this year. I thought, for lack of a better term, he was more professional and the way he did have that that that silly penalty in the in the Louisville game. But I thought just the way he ran his routes, and you know a hell of a lot more about that than I do. But that's the way he carried himself, you know. And and uh and obviously the way he played.
I was really impressed with that. I thought opposing teams and everything they could to take away Barran Brown this year didn't they.
Yeah, that look when you learn this and lack the best abilities availability and one thing that Dane are presented this year he was always available and not only available, he was he was a professional with the way he conducted himself, with his effort level and being and being still focusing and integrated to the game. There are some people who when things are I mean, just think about it.
The little look game. He didn't catch anyvolves, I don't think, and he could have easily solved him and been you know how some players get He wasn't. He still had that focus and effort in the game, the entire game.
So that to me carries a lot of weight for gms and for the future, to whomever his future employee is gonna because now they almost gotten employees wherever he goes to next I think they're going to take that as a positive and hopefully he takes the next step and improves enough to get himself in that first, second or third round next year.
Guy I know said he's sharing Dane Key is gonna end up at Georgia as can you imagine I mean seeing him in the Silver riches. But that would be a huge step for him. I don't know if that happens, but you know, again, the rich will get Richard.
Well, you just have a look. Find a place where you can still get your targets but also be coached by a guy whom you respect. It's not always about the name on the front of the jersey. It's also find a place that fits you and fits your skills that find that place more than where about the national championships in the name across the front of the jersey, because I think he has the skill set, when used properly, can propel him to a higher draft status.
Just a couple of minutes left with Van Heiles real quick. Where you're concerned. I don't know if you're the rumors about Brad White to Florida State. They filled that job. But his name is gonna come up this time of year, though, isn't it. He's he's pretty good.
Yeah, you know, I'm I'm hoping. Look, this is one thing that I have noticed about Brad White from the outside looking in, is he is one coach that is comfortable in his skin. I don't. I think he has an enormous ego, which it takes to be a head coach in college football. I think he understands what his skill sets are, and I think he likes to be He likes to have his hands on young men and lead young men. When you're a head coach, you don't you don't have the ability to touch a group of players.
You got to be the overseer of everyone. When you're a defensive coordinator, it's a little bit more. You get your hands on your twenty plus thirty plus players that now you can mold and become great men. Because one thing about coaching that is losing in the current landscape of college football is the ability to create, to create great young men, and I think he has done a
great job of that. And I think his ego and not comfortable, but knowing what his strength and skill sets are, I think he likes to be able to lead a room.
Yeah, that's a great point. In this day and age, guys like him are well compensated. I can relate just a little bit. When I was at UK, I wanted to be the editor of the newspaper, lost out by one vote to a buddy of mine, so I was the managing editor. And it turn out he had to go to meetings and make speeches. And I'm back hands on running the paper, and I'm like, man, I'm so glad I didn't get that job, now that you know it wasn't a multi million dollar job. All right, I
got two minutes left. Talk to me about cold weather food. You still, of course it ain't.
Cold where you are.
But but tell people up here hearing this frigid weather, who still want to grill? What's a good you know, bad weather, tough coldness kind of thing. They can go out and grill.
Oh, when I was in Chicago, I grew, I would think, so, So what you gotta do is is selling out your spot for your grill. And back then I didn't have as much money. I was on a little twenty one that's Weber kettle grill. Yeah, and you just gotta do what you gotta do. Now it's going to take you longer obviously to cook because of the elements. But get that thing. Don't do it in the garars now, don't do that now. Yeah, no, no, no, get yourself out, find a spot and you just got a man up.
As simple as that.
Is there anything in particular you think that lends itself to this kind of weather we have up here when it comes to grilling adders. It just the old reliable standards.
Well, I'll tell you this, I will not do a brisket or pool park that takes too long. You know, fourteen hours gets your steak. If you if you feel like you want to do a rib, do a rib that but then just speed it up. Maybe you just wrap it the entire time. It's not going to be the greatest rib, but wrap it for the five tick you two and a half to three hours. And then after you wrap it, then you you you unwrap it, put it on the brawler in the oven for as long as you need, and on how good you are.
But got to watch it and then cook it that way. That that you steak chicken and port of the things you can do outside when it's frigid. And if you man or nothing, you can do it. You do a rib. But you just ain't gonna stay out there for four hours.
Oh no, you can't stand there poking it for four hours. Well, man, always a pleasure, and I will not be I will not leave you alone because there's gonna be so much happening. Now, what's your portal? And with college football, we'll talk to the playoffs as well. But I appreciate it. It was a tough season for all of us, but we we thank you for helping us get through it.
I hope I did a good enough job to bring people off the edge and at least at least let us live another year. Look, there's nothing there's nothing positive that comes out of negativity, true, and so don't be as Coach Cerry's day of Fellowship of the Miserable. Find a way to find a little positive light out of this and this the pozzole light could be cut a bowling and Jamary and Wilcock find something that you can hold on to for the next few months.
It's the best of the Big Lom Sider here around six thirty w l av welcome back to the Big Blue and Sider. I re number two. It is the best of the Big Blue Insider here. On Christmas Eve, I'm gonna take you back to a conversation I had with a writer from the Athletic dot Com but the name of Brendan Quinn. He wrote a great piece about Mark Pope and Mark Pope's family, and it was a wonderful piece by a gentleman named Brendan Quinn who's on
our Celebrity Hotline. He wrote a great feature story about Mark, Pope and Brendan. Welcome to the show. I appreciate you joining us.
Thank you, Dick.
I got to tell me if you you're gonna need to check that hotline. If this is a celebrity status.
Here, I gotta.
Something is going to wry. But I appreciate. Yeah, I appreciate you having me on.
Here's the rule. While you're on the celebrity hotline. You're a celebrity once you have that's all. It's all you. It's all you.
Okay.
I will say this though, in the Big Bow Nation, if people read your story, you'll become a celebrity, at least locally. Here was a terrific piece on Mark, and there have been a gazillion stories written about him. Of course, you kind of went at the family angle, which I thought was fascinating. Tell me, first of all, why you chose that, and secondly, tell me about the access you got.
Yeah.
So this all of this kind of starts more so last basketball season when I wanted to do a story on BYU basketball and the intersection of you know, the school being owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ, of the Latter day Saint, right, and that's kind of the mission of the university and the athletic department being a vehicle for exposure for the religion, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
So that the.
Dynamic of that and the direction of college sports with pay for play with nil, you know what I mean, where there's this kind of it seems like there's a fundamental tension between those two goals, right, So that's what I wanted to write about. So I went out to Provo and spent three days with with Mark and had some behind the scenes access at in on some meetings, got to know him fairly well. You know, I thought
the story was interesting, et cetera, et cetera. But you know, we had a lot of conversations that had absolutely nothing to do with the story, and it was about him, and it was about his life, and it was about his family. And I'm the son of a coach, so I kind of grew up around. We're in a family that kind of was, you know, subscribed to the schedule of a college coach. And now my dad coached you know,
track and field, across country and all that stuff. But it was every week at us away recruiting all that stuff. But so we talked a lot about that and him having you know, a large family that he was raising, and you know, Leanne's experience of growing up as a coach's child. So I just have stored all of that
right in the recesses of the mind. And once you know, Mark at the Kentucky job, you know, one of my first thoughts with Wow, that family's about to get you know, a lot of exposure, and that's that's going to be difficult. And then obviously, once you know, the great Kyle Tucker decided to you know, take his talents elsewhere, you know, we had a void for the preseason, and you know,
we needed to do something on Mark. I would argue that, you know, it's they're interconnected, but him going to Kentucky and Calgo in Arkansas and those two and Cooper Flag are probably the three biggest stories of the preseason, so
you know, we needed to have them accounted for. So I reached out to Mark and said, listen, I would like to write something about you, but I think it needs to kind of come maybe from the perspective of your wife and your daughters, and maybe that can help kind of have a broader audience learn about you, because one of the big things that you like, you know is you know, the second the game starts, you know, the human sides over. No one cares anymore who you are,
right once there's wings and losses. You are a video game character and no one cares. So you know, I just wanted to maybe give a portrait of the person underneath the job title before before things got real.
Yeah, how did he respond, because a lot of coaches are very pretend as well they should be of the wife and especially the kids.
Yeah, you know, he he was. He was open to it. I basically just kind of painted a picture of what it would entail and all this, and like I said to the four girls, his daughters, like, you know, not profiling you, right, Like the story is about your dad. And and I think that gave everyone a degree of comfort of like, you know, what do you want to know about me? It's you know, it's not about you. So you know, I think that that was put put people
at ease a little bit. And then also it's like a matter of trust, you know that that that the job requires sometimes and knowing that there's no other agendas. There's no ulterior notice, there's you know, it's just trying to produce the best story for the audience. You know, I'm not a character in the story, right, It's it's just it's just them as a family, and the goal is just trying to make them as authentic as possible.
Talking to Brendan Quinn, he wrote a terrific piece about Mark Pope and his family, uh Leanne and the four girls, and you know, ultimately this story is about love, about their interpersonal relationships with their dad, with the husband and wife, and how much he loves this place. And I asked Mark the other day during we were broadcasting the pro day event, and I said, you know, your early fifties or whatever, you only lived here for three years, and
yet you are so passionate about this place. So there's a lot of passion in this story, isn't there.
Yeah, that's that's a great point. And you know, I think a lot of it is. You know, there's probably more digging to be done if you really want to kind of print the screws on that brain and try to figure out what's all in there. Like you know, he moved around a little bit as a kid. You know, he was in Washington and et cetera.
And then.
I think there was a fundamental disappointment with how things ended at Washington. He was a big time he was a big, big time recruit, and he and four other this was a wormhole.
I fell down.
I was reading all these old newspaper stories about when he committed to Washington in eighty nine. There it was a big deal. It was him and the program was in bad shape right that he and four other Seattle area players committed to the program, and that was supposed to be the turnaround. Yea, And two years later they weren't winning. The coach was fired, and you know, Mark had to go find a new place. You know, he gave the new coach a chance and met with him,
but ultimately decided to go elsewhere. And you know that he looked at looked at Utah, but but ultimately, you know, he was recruited by Kentucky the first time, and and then when Potito came back around, you know, I feel like that really became part of his identity, and that's where that passion comes from.
I remember hearing his name from Rick Patino when he was unhappy with the way his team rebounded at one season. He could next year. That's not going to be a problem because Mark Pope going to be here and he was already on campus, you know, practicing, So I thought, yes, send the bar pretty high for this guy. But I have heard Mark. I heard Mark maybe probably as a player in the past, talk about some element of failure he felt because of what happened. Had you done? But man,
you talk about second chances. He hit that one out of the park, didn't he.
Yeah.
And the thing that I'm kind of always been most fascinated by with his Kentucky experience was, you know, Rick telling him, you know, you're going to be kind of the glue guy that holds this whole thing together, and going from the guy I mean he was the Pac ten freshman of the year.
Yeah, yeah, its first.
Season at Washington. He started every game his first two years. You know, he was on his way to having a pretty prolific college career, and he he decided, you know, I'm going to go be the sixth guy on a real good team and with the aim of winning a national championship. And he ended up getting drafted. That's great, But you know, if you think about how big men were treated and thought of by the NBA in the
early nineties. You know, if he had played somewhere else and been you know, all conference this, all conference, that averaging you know, seventeen a game, blah blah blah, it could have been a first round pick. Yeah, you know that he likes to downplay how how big of a player he was. But you know, I'm sure if he had maybe gone to Utah, gone wherever as a transfer, it could have been very different in terms of how his his career went from there.
We're talking to Brendan Quinn of The Athletic about a PC wrote about Mark Pope and the family. Will come back with more and just a minute for Brendan. You're listening to the best of the Big Blue Insider here on Christmas Eve, six thirty wlap. Hey, it's Dick Gabriel. You're listening to the best of the Big Blue Insider.
My guest is Brendan Quinn. He is a fine writer with The Athletic, and you also see his work at times on the pages of The New York Times, which now owns the Athletic and uses that basically as its sports section. Kind of picks and chooses, did they pick your piece? I take the Sunday Times, But was it anywhere else in the New York Times yet?
You know, I would think usually a story of this length would probably fall on a weekend edition. Yeah, so I would look for it this weekend. For instance, last week, my story on John Califari at Arkansas ran on the Athletic on like a Tuesday or Wednesday, and then ran in print on I believe Saturday, with the leaders of the sports section in the print edition.
Well, and the Times did retweet it, So somebody up.
There like that.
Yeah, you know.
I was looking through the story about the girls because it was so interesting to me that the reason Scott Drew, one of the biggest reasons, as you know, he didn't take this job, was because Missus Scott Drew would not have been comfortable with the spotlight here on her and her family. And that's why Drew sent her in the plane to Lexing and to check things out while he stayed back in Waco. But one of the stories Mark told, I'm sure you know, at the PEP rally that served
as his welcoming back to Kentucky. He told about how all the girls were all in and you wrote about that how the youngest might have balked a little bit because it probably would have been the toughest on her, you know, yeah, picking up high schools, making new friends. But I was fascinated Brandon by the fact that they were all of them all in, weren't they.
Yeah.
I think part of it is, you know, they grew up Kentucky fans. You know, even while he was bouncing around jobs going Georgia, Wake Forest and then BYU and Utah Valley, et cetera, they were always at their core Kentucky fans. Yeah, And I think even beyond that, likes it's bigger than just oh, Kentucky's like the best job in the country, So we want that for dad, or
it's his dream, so we want that for dad. I think a lot of this goes to Lee Man and she grew up changing schools every two three years and being around a basketball team and like that is her. That is her normal, right, It is being a coach's kid is you know, seeing the highs of winds and the lows of losses and being there being part of a team like that was normal. So when Mark dropped it out of med school and wanted to go into coaching.
She was like, let's do it. And one of the things and this didn't make it into the final copy,
and it's because I'm a bad writer. But one of the things that got the most is when they were Leanne was explaining to me, She's like, you know the thing about or no, I'm sorry Mark said this to me, or wait, even one of the girls, I'm sorry, I apologize, but I think it might have been Layla actually said, you know, Mom never has never complained or take an issue with or been angry about Dad's schedule or when he wasn't there right, And it was because it was
always breakfast or framed as we have practice today, we have a recruiting trip, our team is doing this, our team is doing that. So it's not Mark as the head coach. They're all the head coach, you know. So that is the product. I think of Lehan coming up under her father, Lenn Archibald, who coached for twenty eight
years and had you know, he was fired. He knows what it's like to be fired as a job and he had yes that place that he took a team to the NCAA tournament as a head coach, and I think her understanding that made her as a parent so uniquely qualified for what's really challenging. It is not easy being a coach's spouse, and she's just so hardwired to what's most important. And she raced Boord Alltars who were in the same way.
I think really really fascinating. I saw that about Lynn Archibald and here's a quick aside. Lynn Archibald for just a union and took over for Jerry Pim at Utah, right, yes, Jerry Pim's Utah team in nineteen seventy seven. It was part of the seventy seven to seventy eight season which Kentucky won a national title. His Utah team upset Kentucky
in their Christmas tournament and won their invitational tournament. Cliff Hagen was so ticked off that as he handed him the trophy, he said, congratulations, I'm inviting you right now to come back next year and try to defend this. They did not. But and then as you know, probably Pim went on to U see Santa Barbara because he wanted to live on a boat. And that's why Archie.
Wanted to live on a boat. And he said it was a better job, and he just wanted to live in California.
I'd say the ocean had a lot to do with that. We got a few minutes left with Brendan Quinn. You know, it was interesting. Uh. The one of the stories Mark told about his girls, I don't remember which one it was, but there's a really famous video clip where his ninety six team, his championship team in the hallway before they came out on the on the court. You may have heard about it or seen it, where they chant who's in the house tonight?
UK?
And when Mark talked about that to his kids, one of his daughters started chanting that. That floored me. That was I thought that was one of the great anecdotes. So that told me that the family was all in.
Yeah, there's.
There's a there's a million examples of that. When I think it was Shay even it was one of the younger ones and went in Shay when there was a game when he had the Georgia job. When he got the George job as a you know, low level assistant assistant to the director of Best Operations, which I didn't know was the job. I don't think i've seen that listed anywhere in any other programs, the dobo having having hit to her own assistant, you know, just a six ten ball boy. But he, you know, he had he
got the position at Georgia. So the family went down and you know, one of the girls they grew up Kentucky fans and when they were going to their first game, realized that they were supposed to be rooting for Georgia and it was unacceptable, you know, it was like, we can't, we can't root for Georgia. So they had to stop and go buy a pair at Kentucky, a blue Kentucky stocks for her to wear at the game, Uh, to kind of put her at ease for root for an
out rooting, you know, for for for Kentucky. So yeah, you know, I think it's it's it's one of the things that really I think was kind of like the big picture thought and the idea that when he was hired is the notion that you know, the job's too big for him, is what you heard a lot.
And look, I have.
No idea how this is going to go, right, Like if you told me it's not gonna work and in three years, you know, there's a change in whatever, I'd be like yeah, I can see that. And if you told me they're gonna win a national championship, iuld say yeah, I could see that. So but but either way it won't be because the job is too big for him, you know, like, that's not that is not it. Who knows what else could happen, but I think it's anything.
It's the opposite. That's everything in a very unique life has been circumscribed for this exact opportunity or moment. So you know, let's see what happens from here.
Well, yeah, and that said, before I let you go, I got to ask you to take you back to Tuesday night when Mark Pope, just three games into his first regular season at Kentucky, gets a signature win over Duke of all teams, the team Kentucky fans love to hate. I know you were spending the dial that night in your role as a guy who follows college basketball nationally. But what were you thinking, knowing this coach and this family the way you know now as they put the finishing touches on this upset?
Yeah, I mean I think there was. It was a fine example of he's a Duke coach. I know that he presents as a certain way right. But I mean he is a really good basketball coach, and this team is is a very interesting blend of like guys that I think kind of has pieces of him where it's you know, there is it's almost a bunch of glue guys. Like I don't know who's the who's the star of this team?
I don't know.
I know and Andrew Carr was the leading scorer, right, but like, yeah, who's the guy who's the lottery pay I don't. I don't think that exists. It's a lot of pieces. There's a lot of bodies. I like that at any given time, the second that opposing team gets comfortable, he can roll a completely different lineup out there, give
you a wildly different look. You know, you sub in Kobe Brea for at one stop or to play that other team is a pandemic, he's gonna bang it for two threes, you know, or you know kerk Creed to coming off a bench, giving a you know, a big time change of pace at at the league guard position, you know, and they're going to get looks. It's gonna be you know if they if they go down. But that's that.
Was good basketball.
You know, three point thirty seven two use seventeen assists. It's they're going to play I think good aesthetic basketball. Do they have the star power to go, you know, to to reach April. I don't know, but but yeah, I think it's gonna be good ball.
It will be and Brendan Quinn will keep an eye on it for the Athletic. You can read him online or in the pages of The New York Times. Follow him on Twitter at b F Quinn. Tell me real quickly, what is what does your slogan mean? Is that is that Latin at astra per alasporchie.
At uh It translates to to the stars on the wings of a pig. And it was. It was what Steinbeck wrote on the first page of every novel he submitted to his publisher. And it was because when he was a grade school student, a teacher told him, yeah, you want to be a writer. You'll be a writer when pigs flock ah, And so he went with astruct
rally of ports. And I am no John Stevenbeck. But I did almost like basically fail out of every class I ever took, and was told by many, many people, you will not actually be a writer of any so nice reminder, Yeah.
No one ever said that to me, but I'm sure they were thinking it, so I'm right there with you. Brenda, Thank you so much again, congrats on a great piece, and I'll be looking for more of your work.
I really enjoyed the conversation Tick, thank you, and.
Again I really recommend that story in The Athletic by Brendan Quinn. You can search, go back and find it because there were so many things written about Mark Pope and his decision and Mitch Barnard's decision to bring him here, but how it was made as a family, how excited they were for him to come back to his alma mater. So I would check it out up next on the Best of the Big Moonsider, Ken Spencer from over in Louisville, whas here on six point thirty WAP Welcome back this
Christmas Eve. It's the best of the Big Blue Insider. And at the end of the football season, I thought I would check in with sports director over at whas Kent Spencer, who for the longest time was the sports director here at WTVQ and a guy who played college football and as I always say, a guy knows what it's like to get hit in the mouth of a football game, college football game. It is Kent Spencer of
WHS over Louisville formerly WTVQ here in Lexington. And as I mentioned before, Kent, in your job, you cover both ends of the interstate, and you and I have talked all season long about how this Kentucky football program is just sagging. Can I assume you weren't surprised by the outcome Saturday?
Actually I was a little surprised. My final score prediction was Louisville twenty eight fourteen, okay going into the game, So I was not surprised that one. I was not surprised that they were They won by a couple of touchdowns, but I was generally surprised with just the complete physical dominance in the game by the Cards over the Cats. And look, I didn't think that Louisville was going to win,
despite Kentucky being the much more physical team. Like I just if you never really see that out of this Kentucky football team, you can't expect them to show that kind of dominance over anybody. I mean, think about how many times Murray State got for the quarterback left, you know, a couple weeks ago and so so I wasn't surprised about that, but I was. I was certainly surprised by that dominant physically in the game and just how easy
it looked. Like we kind of talked about like, look, Kentucky just kind of looks like a team that's just ready for the season as they played like it.
Yeah, looking for a place to fall down. Yeah, and you know through the years, and I was, I've talked about this last week. Bud and my brother I always look them up in Louisville at the U L game and they always say the same thing, your linemen are so big. I don't know if size was the difference, but certainly execution and attitude were the difference in the trenches on Saturday, were they not.
Yeah, And I think that's kind of been a I think that's kind of been a sign of a lot of things over the course of this season for this Kentucky football team. I mean, you know, we make so much out of you know, the Cats offensive line and not being able to protect the quarterback. I think, you know, generally speaking like yards per rush. You know, I think
they were fine this year in that department. There was a couple of things you know, they didn't break big runs and they were really poor on short yarded situations.
Yes, you know, and those two.
Departments I think that they were they were lacking, but you know, in the in the general like down and distant stuff. I mean, I think they were fine getting the three the five to six yard runs and maybe you know, just a little bit longer than that every now and again. But those two departments, they just weren't good. But you know what, like the defensive line wasn't very
good this year, Eason. No, I mean, you know in case in point, and I think Louisville and I mentioned and I after the game, I think I asked Louisville running back Duke Watson and true freshman running back at that I said, did you see anything from their game against Texas that allowed you to that made you think
you could have some success? And he was like absolutely, because if you look back at that Texas game, I mean that defensive line and linebacker corps was just absolutely dashed the entire game into the run game, and in fact, when they got close and made it a game, Texas just ran the football all the way down the field. I mean we're talking like you know, seven eight nine ten yard runs each and every play, and that's just not something that you're accustomed to see from this defense.
Just was the case this year.
And you know, after that game, Van Hiles, who you probably know, I don't know if you've ever talked to Van, but former Kentucky d back analyzes a video on the internet. He said that Texas game really illustrated just how much, to your point, they missed Derick Jackson. You know, not that one guy's gonna stop everything, but as you know, there's a ripple effect. You know, he knew, he knows where to be or at least knew where to be
and when, and he could execute. You know, I thought Kentucky's tackling against Texas and at times against Louisville was so poor. You know, Texas running backs are bouncing off people that didn't happen with Jackson, so plus they're worn down as well.
Yeah, and think about think about this. You know, sometimes it's football can be a game of a half a second. Yeah, and Derick Jackson is somebody who's who's seen it all. And so if you're there, you know a second or you know, not even a second, but if you're there, like a half second sooner. Yeah, you know, the plays completely stopped. If you're a half second lay, that game's going for ten or more yards. And so you know,
I think you you probably saw a lot of that. Yeah, I mean Derek Jackson not being in the lineup absolutely, you know, completely stuffed him. But you know, even him not being there a linebacker like you know, the front four. I mean, it just it wasn't a good day for them, you know, at all. And it really wasn't a good season for that unit.
No, no, And you know the craziest thing was after the Old Miss win. For the next week or two, Ken, I heard some of the regional and national talking heads speaking of the Kentucky defense and using words like elite and when you go back and look at what they did against Georgia in all miss, I think that was fair. And then the bottom just fell out. Injuries took their toll. Uh, the offense left the defense out on a field for so long. So yeah, it was not clearly not a typical Mark shoots defense.
No, not no. And you're right, you know you mentioned national talking heads. I mean honestly this like I said that about Kentucky's defense. But but I would say that about Kentucky defense after the Old Myth game. You know, one of those things where you know, you don't know if they can score enough points to win a bunch of games, but they're at least going to stop people.
And they they stopped. They stopped people, and and to be honest with you, sometimes like they were their own worst enemy on that side of the ball as well. Fifteen yards, you know, with penalties and mistakes and different things along that, like like you know, all of the stuff about you know, there's so much there, but this just wasn't a disciplined football team. Yeh, from the from
the penalties, from the assignments. Like you know how many times, you know, after I say this, after the Old this game, how many times did this team just not look prepared and focused?
Yeah?
And so like to me, when you don't have a team that's prepared and focused, man, that's that that starts at the highest position and then it works its way down Like if you're not prepared and focused, it starts at the top.
Speaking of what did you make of Mark Tup's postgame comments.
I made of the postgame comments, I mean, it was I think it was much of the same that we've heard pretty much all year, not good enough, not going anywhere, going to put in the work. Like I've said this, and I've said this to my kids, and I've said it to other people. And this has nothing to do with about Kentucky football. This has everything to do about everything. But but I think it still stands true here. It's easy to use words. It's easy to say I am competitive.
It's easy to say we're going to go back to work and we're going to get this fixed. But do your actions back up your word?
Yeah?
Like, like when the hours that you're putting in each and every week to get this right, to get this fixed, are they matching the words that are coming out of your mouth. Nobody's you know, we're we're not in that complex. We don't see the things. But the proof and the pudding on the field doesn't match the words that are coming out of the mouth.
Yeah.
You know, I got to thinking about everything Stoop said, both on the radio and in the postgame news conference, and I thought back kent to when he first got here, a young, younger decoordinator looking for a chance to prove himself in a big boy league, and he did that, and he came in and he was a dervish, a buzz saw, whatever you want to call him. Brought a
great friend and Vince Merriw built a good staff. He said, some issues there, but you know, he knew he had a plan, the blue collar Youngstown approach of coaching football, and he did it. But now that approach would work to a point. But when you mix in the two things he abhors and every coach does the portal and nil, it's just I can't imagine him, you know, trying to throw himself back into this job the way he did twelve years ago because everything has changed so much.
Uh, yeah it has. And you know you mentioned, you know, twelve years ago when he got the job and he came in and the mindset that you have when you've tasted success, and you know, let's be honest, when you win, you know, what is it ten games and three years or earth? You know what I mean? When that ten win seasons or whatever a couple and that many and that timeframe at a place like Kentucky that's just not
used to ten win seasons. And then all of a sudden, you know, and look like it's all this is all part of the conversation. When you're making nine million dollars a year like now at this point, you're living on the yacht, and can you have the blue collar mentality when you feel like you're on the yacht now? Some people can't. Some people keep it? Did he keep it? Like I said, I'm not in that. I'm not in
that facility. I don't know, but what I'm seeing on the field says it seems like somebody took the foot off the gas.
Yeah, don't know how, when or why, but it was pretty evident this year and a lot apparently it will be happening fairly quickly in terms of personnel, according to Stoop's players, and he's hoping to keep his staff together over the next year three weeks.
Here's what I Here's what I would also say, Dick. This is my opinion, and you may agree with it, and you may you may not, But like, this isn't this isn't a this wasn't in my opinion, this wasn't a twenty twenty four problem. Was this was All of these things that we're talking about now they took place in twenty twenty three, But the biggest thing that happened that masked everything was they beat louis at the end of the year.
Yep.
And if they don't win that game, everything that we're talking about right now we would have talked about last year. But that mass and it was a band aid over a lot of stuff. And so instead of all of this coming to light after one season, now you've had two seasons of erosion. So it's probably, honestly, it's probably worse now than if it would have taken place last year.
Ken Spencer, my guest sports director whas formerly WTVQ, We'll come back and talk basketball with Kent on the other side of the break. You're listening to the best of the Big Blue Insider. Welcome back, my guest. Kent Spencer, sports director, whas over in Louisville and worked for several years here at WTVQ in Lexington. And being in Louisville, Kent covers both ends of the interstate. As I said, so now Kent, Kentucky basketball fun. Everybody's happy, Louisville basketball fun.
I don't know if everybody's happy over there, but they got to be happier than they were because good things are happening on both ends of the interstate, which means all is right with our world when it comes to covering college basketball, right.
Oh yeah, look, look I think I think Louisville fans and the Battle for Atlantis had so much fun, right Like, first off, they beat the Brakes off of Indiana and then they come and win a hard fought game against West Virginia. They're in the championship game of that tournament. And what a nice response for them after getting blown out at home by Tennessee a couple of weeks ago.
So you know, like they're already starting to match like win totals under the Kenny Paint era and certain and certain points right like like this is this is like there they are. They're on cloud nine. And I think for for Kentucky fans, like yeah, I mean, you know, I've been asked this a couple of times and I would say this, like has anything.
Gone wrong for Mark Pope?
Yet Nope, Like he said all the right things, He's done all the right things. They've had the results on the court. You know, there's the video of the Duke game and him calling what Cooper Flag was going to do? Like you know, all of these things are are are are happening and in the right way, and it really feels like this is a team that people really like as far as personality, how they play, the style. You know, it's just it's all, it's all really well right now.
You know I mentioned this more than once, and forgive me if I'm if I'm boring people with it, but I just think it's vital. Jack Gibbons made this point. And by the way, if you haven't had a chance to listen to Jack, because I know you work a lot, but he is. There's so much joy in his voice watching this team, especially because they're always jacking it up. You know, Jack was a shooter, unabashedly, unapologetically, and he loves what he's seeing. But he made this great point
Kent in this third or fourth game. He said, it's so refreshing to see this team working when the shot clock is winding down and a play has broken down and they fix it among themselves. They don't stop as freshmen need to do and turn to look at the bench so their maniacal coach can wave his arms and scream and yell and direct traffic. They know what to do, and it's it's kind of fun to watch isn't it.
Oh yeah, I mean, you know, sometimes it's it's changing the way that the game is played. You know, I thought, going back to a couple of weeks ago, right like in the first half, Duke's physicality was almost overwhelming to them in the first half, and they really struggled with it because up until that point, you know, when you're playing directional team, you there's not a whole lot of that going around. So they had to adjust to that, and at halftime they adjusted to that, and they just
kept chipping away. Like in the NCAA tournament or in college basketball in general, I think you have to your way just can't be the only way. You're going to have to win different ways. And for me, it proved that that team can win a different way. They still scored seventy seven points, and they had not a very good night offensively at all that game, and you found a way to win that game. And so there's one thing.
You know, some national folks out there will tell you that this Kentucky team and they're breaking down like other teams and stuff like that, and they're like, this Kentucky team is close to their ceiling. And I would I would push against that because this team has a new coaching staff that's only like Jackson Robinson is the only dude who's played for Mark Pope, and they've got so
many new pieces. Yes, are they older, absolutely, But are they close to their ceiling in my opinion when it comes to getting used to each other and this system on a court in the heat of the moment in games, absolutely not. I think it's a lazy take to be, to be quite honest with you, because they can, you know, being comfortable with each other and knowing what somebody is going to do in the fight and the fire is
completely different. And so I think that this team still has a long way to go as far as you know, reaching their ceiling. But watching them right now has it's been a lot of fun.
And that'll do it for now. On this special Christmas Eve edition, the best of the Big Blue and Sider coming up tomorrow on Christmas Night and Encore presentation of our postseason football special. Yes, there were some highlights, especially the upsetable miss and our celebrity monologue. That's all I had. Hope you have a great Christmas everybody.
That's it.
Good night from the garage in Lexington.
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