Thank you.
John. It is eight oh four here at Kentucky had his morning news with Nick Coffee on news radio eight forty wha s Scott Fitzgered alongside also John Alden and one of the stories you heard from John Shannon there is the the rise in scammers that are trying to let people know, hey, you didn't pay this traffic violation you owe for a toll that you you know you didn't pay for. And I talked about a little bit earlier. I'm surprised still some that people fall for that, but
maybe I shouldn't be so surprised. There are a lot of people out there, and all it takes is I mean, I would say the percentage of people who do fall for it, even if it's insanely low, that makes it worth it for the scammers because they're just sending out I mean, they're just mass texting probably you know, millions of people. And it reminded me of that, these scammers, because I felt bad after I said, who's still.
Falling for that?
Because sometimes you just have to no, no, no, I'll stop passing judgment because I nearly got got by a scammer and I the ultimate takeaway for me on this experience was how good they were at what they were doing to where you know, And I'm sure maybe some were thinking, well, yeah, they were good because they saw you as a sucker and you were the gullible idiot that they thought they were going to be able to take advantage of. But
we were on vacation in Destin, Florida. This was probably about four or five years ago, and we got a phone I got a phone call on my cell phone and it was a local number, and it wasn't one that I had saved in my phone. And because we were in another state, I mean, I honestly I probably wouldn't have answered if I was home, But because I was away, I'm thinking, Okay, this is somebody.
Maybe something happened at home. I don't know.
So I answered, and they said they were somebody from my bank. And I didn't really have any radar up as far as is this a scam?
Is it legit?
Because they just got right into it and asked me to verify something about me. But it wasn't where I really gave them any information they didn't already have. So it wasn't a question like, hey, can you give me your social Security number. It was something vague, and then they referenced something that I guess just made me feel like they were legit. And then they mentioned a place that we had shopped at in that area, a place
that's what is it called. It's a grocery store chain that is in Florida, but is not in this area at least not that I'm aware of. Quinn Dixie Publics. It was Publics or I think there may be a
Publix here now. But we went to a Publix and we ended up purchasing groceries for the week that we were going to be staying in Destined, and they said that there was a charge for this, and then there was a secondary charge where it looks like somebody got your information from that purchase and they ended up purchasing four hundred and something dollars worth of merchandise. There was a secondary purchase that is not yours. We flagged it for fraud. We want to get this, we want to
get this straightened out. So I'm thinking, Okay, thank you, thank you.
I'm so glad you caught it. Oh my goodness, I owe you one.
So they're they're asking me more information, and my wife she works in the financial industry, and she's hearing me answer questions and then she's looking at our account and she's thinking, the only charge that is there here. I am like, honey, you won't believe it. They've called, we're gonna they tried to scam us, but we're going to shut it down. And she's she's probably thinking, oh, you idiot, but she's looking at our bank account and sees that
the only charge was the legit one. There's not one pending that they've stopped. And I said, well, that doesn't show that it was there, and they said, well, it's because we put a stop to it. And my wife, thinking you know, she tells me, well, if it was if it was flagged and only you know, I shouldn't say only she would know this, but she would know way more than I do, because she works in the
financial industry, works for a credit union. So she she tells me, well, if they've stopped the charge that they have flagged as suspicious, it would still show as either a flag charge a pending charge. There's no indication on our bank account that any charge was pending other than the legit ones. So it's starting to smell funny. And then they started asking me if I could give them. This is where I knew there was a red flag.
But I probably would have been an idiot and given them what they wanted had it not been for my wife being real the brains of the family. But they were wanting me to give them log in information to my online banking, which if they're who they are, they wouldn't need that. They have the ability to do anything they want. So once once I said that, once, I said you want my why would you need a log into my account? And she was like, this has got to be a scam. It's got to be a scam.
So here I am my wife. My wife says this, this doesn't this I think I said something like my wife says, this smells funny.
Why why why would you need this information?
And that's when they hit me with, well, if you look at the back of your debit card, you'll see the phone number that we were calling from is the number that's on the back of your debit card. And at the time I didn't know what phone spoofing was. I thought maybe I should apologize because clearly they are calling from the bank. What in reality they use some kind of technology where they tricked your phone to thinking
it was being called from a different number. So sure enough, while I'm you know, still thinking, man, is this real or not? Because I don't want somebody to take all my money. Also I don't want to, you know, give them the information to where they take my identity and you know, ruin my life. So as I'm i guess deciding what I'm going to do, my wife gets an email from our bank that says, be aware of this
exact scam. Oh gave us the play by play of what they're going to do, and they follow it to a t and they're prepared for questions that you may have. They've got a response to it. So I remember, you know, thinking, wow, I was lucky that she was there to help, but also I almost got got And I think now you just know that there's so much of that going on, people trying to take advantage of those who will be
naive enough. And I shouldn't even call it naive. I mean, I think most people if you get a phone call and it says on your phone that the number calling you is your bank or is somebody else you're gonna I mean, some people would question if you'd even have the ability to.
Do that, the phone spoofing.
But yeah, again, a lot of crooks, a lot of criminals out there, if they used their savviness for something productive, they'd be very successful and not you know, be in jail.
Right.
But it's nice that folks like yourself are getting the word out and we keep going over these stories and going over and going over them because it registers. But every time you stop something here, somebody's gonna pop up over.
Here, yep. And it's not going away.
Yeah, you're right. There'll always be somebody trying to find a way to hustle you and scam you. And it's got to be prepared, gotta be careful, that's for sure. All Right, let's get another update of traffic in weather. We'll also revisit this piece of news in regards to Vince Marrow, the big Dog as they call them, leaving Mark Stoops's staff to come and join Jeff Brohm's staff. Also, we've got Rory O'Neil coming up here around eight thirty.
Scott Fitzgerald will have sports right before that, So stick around right here on there's radio.
Eight forty W.
It's eight seventeen here Kentucky had his morning news with Nick Coffee on News Radio eight forty whas in about eight minutes we'll have another update on sports with Scott Fitzgerald. Also, we'll bring in Roory O'Neal of NBC News to join us at eight thirty to get the latest on the protests going on across the country, but mostly in California.
The big story here when it comes to sports is something you don't often see, and that is a coach leaving a good position, seemingly at Kentucky to then take a somewhat similar position at the rival school, which is Louisville. So Vince Merrow, I mean he's the associate head coach
for Mark Stoops. Maybe I should say was the associate head coach, also served as the recruiting coordinator tight ends coach, a guy that has been believed to be really, really impactful in the success that Mark Stoops has had at Kentucky. He's bailing on Stoops and just heading south to Louisville and will join Jeff Brahms staff as the GM. That, of course, does not bode well for Mark Stoops in a year where it seems as if momentum really really
low schedule is always going to be really tough. They once again are going to have one of the toughest schedules in the country. And as far as this upcoming season, Marrow leaving right now, unless, of course, that leads to players who've already signed with Kentucky trying to get out of their letters of intent because of Marrow leaving, I mean, and that could happen, But overall, the scenario where Kentucky this upcoming season becomes a substantially worse football team because
Marro's not there, I don't think. I don't think that's the situation here. But the scenario where Stoops can dig out of this, meaning he can get back to being a respectable SEC program that is more competitive, that is consistently going to bowl games, I mean the bar. It's not as if he's got to take Kentucky to the playoff or compete at the top of the SEC. He just needs to get back to where he once was, where they were consistently winning enough games to become Bowl eligible.
And that's a lot easier said than done. And right now, what's needed to make that happen just doesn't seem to be there. Marrow being a guy who brought in some of the best talent Stoops had at Kentucky. In fact, some of the best talent that ever chose to go to Kentucky and play that guy. Now leaving for your
rival not exactly a great situation. And I think the reaction from Kentucky fans, most of them at least from what I've seen, has been, Yeah, this is just another disaster situation for Stoops and he probably won't be here that much longer, and maybe those folks will be right, But I think you're looking at roughly a thirty seven and a half million dollar price tag if you were to get rid of Mark Stoops by firing him, And that's a lot of money. And to be fair, how
much goodwill has Mark Stoops actually built up? Let's be honest, as bad as it is now, and it doesn't look as if they've got a whole lot of optimism. He did give them a stretch where he was. I mean, I know Bear Bryant coach there long ago, but he's the most winning, best coach they've ever had, and he's given them, at least in my lifetime, the most sustained success they've ever had. Now again, you can't live on that forever.
To say, could he keep winning in the new sixteen team? SEC thought he was before.
Though I don't think so. Here's what really, here's what seems really obvious. When Texas A and M was interested in him so much so too, I guess kind of offer him the job right after he beat Louisville and Brohm two years ago. That would have been the perfect timing for both Stoops to realize he's maxed out what he can do there, go to a new job, a better job with better resources.
A and M.
And then Kentucky I think probably would have been fine with the split and realized, hey, probably good for us to go in a different direction.
He's capped out. But it fell through.
Last year they were really really bad and now it seems to have only gotten worse. So yeah, it's not a lot of momentum for the football program in Lexington. But look, they're gonna have twelve games this season to prove people wrong and we'll see what Mark Stoops can do. All right, quick break, we've got traffic and weather coming your way. Also another update on sports from Scot Fish gild right here on his radio eight forty Whas eight forty six Here Kentucky had his morning news with Nick
Coffee on news Radio eight forty whs. We were about to hand it off to the fellas Tony and Dwight here shortly.
But I mean, what do you.
Think the Big Dog heading south on sixty four to Louisville to join Jeff BROHMS staff.
I mean, when's the first Yachtzi tweet gonna come out? Because he was the Yatzi guy, right, he would get a recruit and then all the UK fans would post Yachtzi.
I think, yeah, the program branded it overall, but they were doing it because the Big Dog was getting the Yatzis. He was very good at the game of yacht see getting recruits that were a big deal to Kentucky at that time. But you bringing that up makes me wonder will he will he do the rivalry thing, because I don't think he will unless it's unless it's truly gotten contentious between him and Stoops to where he wants to.
He wants to stick it to him. But then again, I mean, would you be coming to Louisville at this stage in your career given where Kentucky football is and needs you? I mean this guy to be a level of it being personal.
Right, Well, here's what I see. He turned in Belichick. Here's yeah, here's what I see. I see. And I keep telling my UK buddies and they don't want to listen.
I'm like, look, we didn't know Bobby Petrino had quit before that last year, but he essentially quit at the end of that season before Jurich had gone, and Bobby was there without Jurids, right, so he had essentially he wanted his fourteen million and he coached like it, like I want out. So they went two and ten And the most embarrassing Governor's Cup ever was that one at the end, coached by the because he had already been let go by the end I don't know two games left.
Or whatever it was.
We had a guy out there name Whammy. Uh do you remember coach Whammy Lorenzo something that had to fill in for Bobby, and I just remember we've got UK players. We got in the UKU L game there was a guy who tried to leave the leave the game.
The tight end left the game and said blank blank you and they put him back in the game to talk to me about it.
What is I said, this. I was like, oh, this is most embarrassing. Dat Wavey's gonna have to get him under control. And I'm like, we got a coach named Whammy. Yeah.
So here's what I think is happening. I think Stoops knows. Look, and he and Big Dog knows.
Yeah.
They also now they're like, look, I'm all I'm getting off the Titanic because this year is going to be two and ten. So that that's where they're barreling towards. Because Stoops knows he wants his buyout and at the end of the year he'll do that, he'll be rich. He's still single, right, he's not married, I don't Stoops. Yeah, No, he's divorced.
You're right.
So, yeah, he's single. So he's company got his thirty million dollars, what he has in the bank. I mean, what do you spend in Lexington. You can't spend all thirty million dollars in Lexicon. There was a time where they wouldn't take his money. I mean, now a little bit different.
So he'll end up somewhere.
I mean, somebody's going to hire him the second he's you know that he wants to work.
The perfect scenario would have been A and M pulling the trigger and actually giving him the job. And then they did, and it played out to where we're here, to where it last year was at his it shouldn't
have been nearly as bad as it actually was. And again I think people knew even before yesterday's news that that, I mean, this is a staff that has been very, very loud even when there wasn't reason to be loud about off season chatter about I mean, they put about a twenty five percent exaggeration on their level of success every off season about they were coming for the East right, And it's because the staff, and to be honest, it worked.
The fans got excited. They like that energy, especially coming from the big Dog. They've been silent, and it's not just because they're coming off of a bad season. I think it's because they they're probably pretty well aware that things aren't gonna be great this year. But him leaving has got to be the ultimate sign for Kentucky if they didn't already have the realization that this thing's run
its course and it won't likely end well. But for those that just assume, well, they're gonna buy them out, it's a lot of money.
The older. I get I'm fifty six years old, so I'm an old dude, right, so you can be quiet.
Not that old fifty six. But what I've learned is life is about this simple thing. It's the six inches between your ears. Life is all about mental You pay Stoops nine million dollars a year, what motivation? Because we're all men here, this is a man thing. You pay a guy nine million dollars, Guys got to get up in the morning and feel like they got to fight
for life. I mean, that's why most people's most successful years is when their kids are born and they start to grow because they have a responsibility and they're gonna make this happen for their kids, so they're motivated. It's all about the headspace. So when you pay him nine million dollars a year, no in no universe. Again, I don't want to say he's not worth it because of the sec money. But just because you have the money
doesn't mean you need to pay him. If he wants to go away because you're paying him four and a half or five, then you need to go get a new coach, which you should have done. But nine million dollars a year, what motivation? Do you have to get up in the morning and get after it.
But you're clearly gonna make them pay you every dime, right, yes, yeah, I mean that's like last year because he was seemingly checked out and it just went bad. I was I was amazed that some Kentucky fans were of the belief, well, you know, he's probably just gonna ride off and in the sun set, you know, he's he knows he's done all.
You think he's gonna walk away from forty million dollars. Who would know he's getting paid out. Crackthorpe did that to Jurich after the Rutgers game. He met him in the in the down the ramp to the bus and said, here's here's what we want to pay you out, and this is it. This is your last game. And Crackthorpe was with his wife, wife was crying, and he handed that piece of paper back to Tom and said, you'll pay me every dollar.
Here's the contract. That's right, Yeah, you'll pay me every dollar. We both signed this and yeah, and they should. Yeah.
What's going to be wild, though, and I want to talk about this a little bit more tomorrow, is that you're now going to see just how like the priorities are going to be exposed for schools as far as how much they value each program. And if you get rid of stoops at the time that you've just made it quite clear you're going to give football less resources than everybody else in the SEC. So your basketball can be top doll. That job is going to be attractive
because it's the SEC. But you're basically telling coaches you're going to have a tough time winning.
The football is king in basketball is secondary. And if you don't realize that your programs both of them.
Why even have a program if you're not going to at least try to put resources there to be successful. All right, Tony and do I are up next. We're back at it tomorrow morning, bright and early right here on news radio eight forty whis