This is I on the Ball with Steve Rovera on Fox Sports fourteen.
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Hey, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Eye on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rovera. I have Henry with me running the show today and the band is back together for at least one day. I wanted to hear the bitching today. I look up Jacob Zalad. Well, thanks for inviting me.
I'm not sure how much bitching you're gonna hear from me, but you're gonna have a lot of them.
So by trade, you're you're a writer. You've been a columnist way now and again I want you to write your lead and your nutcraft on what you've experienced on Saturday.
Probably as disappointing a game, a football game from a as opposed to you know, being let down for like say that the game of ninety eight that there was a loss to UCLA incredibly disappointing, but you didn't feel bad about the program. You just felt you were disappointed that they lost that game because it was such a big game, and there have been other losses like that, this one, you know.
With the with the Kevin Sumonlan lost right to seventy to seven, lost to Did they all fans in that game? No? No, no fans. Remember we had the show and then raced m and watched it. Right, No, but I went because I you went because you.
Were covering it. I did not, you know, no, no fans of the game. So that one was anger and like you gotta you gotta figure something else out, okay. And then this one, this one was an incredible disappointment.
I'm not angry.
I'm not angry, very frustrated that that that this is how the season ended up.
Did you okay, before the game started, did you have hope? No, so you knew something was they were gonna lose.
Right going in, going to the stadium, You're gonna laugh, I said to myself, And I didn't say this to anybody else around me. I just said to myself, it's twenty eight to nothing. At halftime, I'm leaving, okay. And so then it got to be twenty eight to nothing and I still hadn't said anything with my wife. And look, we took my grandson to the game.
Right, were there already hours before.
Right, We tailgated, had a great time. But I never, I never for a second thought Arizona was going to win this game. My son tried to talk me into you know, if Arizona comes out and they score, and you know, make a couple things happen, Arizona's gonna be Ace's gonna get really tight and Arizona has a chance.
And I said, no, they don't. But did he tell you this Thanksgiving Day? On Thanksgiving Day.
We're having a conversation, But did you tell him that?
You said, did you tell me? You didn't tell him about the No? No, And I said, Adam, they're not going to win.
Okay, there, you know, there's nothing that they you know, because of the way they've been beaten all year, Lawn got be really bad by bad teams. Right, this is a really good team. As much as we hate to minute, Ace is a really good team. And I just said, no, it's not. They're gonna lose, and they're gonna lose bad.
And you know, when they raced down and scored touched on right away, okay, it's side Comingone starts to move the ball a little bit right on their first possession, I thought, okay, if they score here, it might get it might be respectable, but you might get.
You And then they didn't spend the next time boom boom boom.
So when when they got the ball, when A got the ball, it's like a minute and a half left in the half and it's twenty eight zep. That's when I turned to my wife and I said, if they score here, we're going home.
And then they went and scored.
Yeah.
I made it thirty five days at half time and that's the first time you've done the first time ever.
Ever. Yeah, when you texted me about that, I started laughing. And Bill will hope you're listening and you haven't abandoned me yet. That's what the fans are experiencing. And do you blame them for being upset?
No?
Absolutely not no. And that was and that's a bad day, even that kind of mediocre. They just still leave. But no, you guys, you guys are suffering. Okay, So last night, did you think or Saturday night, even yesterday, did you think? Okay, maybe because of the score circumstances, maybe if you decided during.
The game as it was happening. All I said to you know, I'm on a regular text threat. It's it's a bunch of bunch of guys, mostly young guys. I've told you about them before on that text threat. I said he could be in trouble. I didn't say he was. I said he could be in trouble. What did that group young groups say agreed that this is this is bad enough that you would expect there to at least be a discussion of it, you know, in the u of a administration, And maybe there was, maybe there wasn't.
Maybe Desiree just said all along, Look, no matter what happens, we're not going to fire the guy.
One, we can't, right, That's that's an issue, and that was the number one issue. Okay.
But two we shouldn't. He should not get fired. Okay, it was bad. It wasn't, Ben lindsay bad. And he's the only guy who's ever been fired like that after a year, right, But it was bad. It was bad enough to say, you know, God, should he But I want, like I said, you can't just financially you can't, but b you fire him. Who's going to come and fill that spot? Knowing that if they have a bad year, they can be fired after a year. You can't set that precedent at all, and he deserves another year.
He just does.
He should have another year and another opportunity to do this. So people who are saying you should be fired, I think are they're just not being realistic about what took place, why and what you do about it. They're just not And I know there's some media people who are saying that that he should be You just don't know everything.
Right, Yeah, no question. I don't want to tell anybody how to spend their money. Arizona doesn't have very much of it, right because and there's other factors that you have to pay this guy, maybe more than ten million dollars, maybe twelve, I don't know what number. Whatever the number is assistant coaches, I think, I think they're obligated, and then they have to bring somebody new in, right, and then they have to pay their players. Right, who's gonna pulling up for that? Right?
Look, it make it's no coincidence that we're here at the end of the regular season and there's only four openings in division or in FBS. Yeah, there's only four I think maybe a fifth, But there aren't a bunch of openings because you know, schools don't have the money to just cashier. Coaches pay off their pay off their things. They've got other things to do, so they're going to have to be more patient. And and you know there have been cases where maybe you should have had more patients.
The guy gets fired at the school, you know after two years and three years later he's got his team, you know, you know, as a top ten program because you didn't wait right.
Right, And and we'll see what happens on Saturday. When I wrote the story, just you know what you gonna do, what they're gonna do. All that stuff, here's okay, okay, So now you know the circumstances you went through your one. My whole thing is if they went through your one. And you know how we've talked about this a lot when you were with me every day. He is what he is. He's not as he as he's as he watching. He doesn't say a whole lot he's not. He's a
good guy. And who's told you he's a bad guy? Probably no one? Right, no one? And did you read me yesterday? Did you read me? Okay? So I said that he's a good guy. We all know that. How many and I'm asking you a serious question, how many good guys are great coaches? Get very few, very few.
There's more bad guy, there's more pain in the ass, paint in the ass, rough rough around the edges. Guys who are good coaches and some of the great ones, right Nick Saban comes to mind.
They have they have they have an edge, Yes.
They have an edge to him that that somehow translates into how they coach and what makes the great coaches?
The only one I wrote that take a Yeah, yeah, let's do it. Hello, you're on the air and I on the ball. Who's this You're on the air, Yes, Brian, Brian, Hey, Jake comes on the show. You ca Okay, Brian, you need to start.
I was shocked. Well, but he has he already has vacation time on his new job, god kind of job.
Yeah, you know, Brian, there's there's a reason I did not respond to any of your text messages.
I don't want to talk to you.
It was ugly, Yes it was, And there's no way there was forty nine thousand people there.
Why Brian, would you have fired him?
No? Because no, no, because he was hired at a terrible time. Basically when all the good players in the portal were taken not much time to recruit, you know, and you have all your players, you have five players either graduating or leaving in the portal. It's you know, he was he was stuck. And then also too he put on all the injuries he had. I mean, you
can't do much about that. I know that people say, well, you got to fight the injuries, when when you don't have a lot of depth, the injuries are going to kill you. And it showed him the defense. I mean, I give the guys a lot of credit for you know, sometimes I thought they played hard. Other times I thought they didn't. I thought there was some some really stupid plays. When the guy ran onto the field on the field goal, just stay out the just stay out the field, right, don't even go out there.
You're right, you're right.
And I can't believe the coach didn't grab a guy and say get back, get your ass back on the on the sideline. But you know, you have to give him a year. You have to give Hi another year. And plus we don't have twenty million dollars to buy everybody out.
You're right, and that's the reasonable answer. Yeah, that's Brian, that's the reasonable answer. All these people seem fire him. Who cares nobody's gonna come to the games next year. Well, nobody's coming to the games next year no matter who you. Unless you go hire Nick Saban or Urban Meyer, you're not selling your more season tickets.
Here's the thing. And I asked one of the reporters earlier, says, Okay, the people bitching about firing him, how many of them reaching their pocket and say here's some money to do it?
And how many of them have been bad at their jobs at some point and still got to keep their jobs.
But you know what, Toy kind of said, Alabama goes but nine and three, and they want they want what that coaches head, I'm going, wow, you know we have nine and three, We have a parade.
Ryan Day, Man, they don't want Tom over there anymore either.
At Ohio.
I know there is a lot of talk that he will be out after the college football playoffs win win or lose. Well, he's gonna have to win the national championship almost to save this job.
You know what I You know, if I'm Ryan Day, I win the national championship and in the post game, uh, in the postgame interview, I throw the finger and state fans and drop the mic and that's what that's what I would do.
But that's just I would know.
You know, you can't. You gotta get fires and get all that.
Extra money because I don't know how how.
Long this contract is for. But yeah, we'll see, you know, make him pay you off.
Yeah, Bri, Well, thanks that you didn't lose the phone number.
Well, hey, you know I called. I called last Monday, but your phones weren't. Well, yeah, it showed busy all the time when I was out of town for a few days. Okay, so I do have time off like like Jay, not like Jays time off bankers and I retired and I have jas more time off.
I get bankers hours. That's what it is.
Thanks, very much better than bankers. Well, thank you very much. We'll talk later.
You got a couple more minutes change, so we'll talk about this other subject on the other side. Okay, football sucks and then basketball basketball.
You know, I was saying on the way in, remember remember when we're when you know, after Sean Miller got fired and after Kevin someone got fired, and we were talking about how the clouds parted, and there was a yeah, you signed around McHale.
It's dark again. Yeah right, I don't care if it's one hundred and fifteen. It's dark.
It's dark and cloudy again. And it's like, dang man, because that's what you know, everyone takes all about football bas basketball.
Right, it was just a bad weekend. We'll figure out the basketball after we have our first guest. You know, we'll talk at football is obviously the priority. We have. Marquis Flowers, who you know, obviously outspoken about the program, was in it played in the NFL. Uh So he'll be on the first hour, and then Jason Barr will be on the four seventeen time slot.
Up.
He came up to me at the game. He says, you remember Steve that we talked about this as Jason, I know, we'll talk about it because he was skeptical about it. Real quick, if we have time for a quick call, if you've got it maybe maybe not so okay, that's our lineup, Marcus, Marquis Flowers, Flowers and then yeah, yeah, hello, you're on the air.
Oh yeah, hey guys, George here. Uh you know when what Jay is saying is uh not not sorry, Uh, what you guys are saying is you guys need to show up. But if you need to, if you want us to show.
Up, you need to.
You need to show out.
On the field. And Jay was just saying, hey, if they score another touchdown, we're out of here. You know, like that there there's a lot of tail getting. That's a long day, man, Like, there is no like way that you want to spend your day just going to watch a loss. Like there's a whole reason we're fans. We're fans because we want to go see something.
We want to go see a win.
Like you're hopeful, You're like, there's that hope when you go like, ah, yeah, let's go, let's go. That's the whole reason you're doing it. But if if you're just going to keep seeing lots of we're not going to show up.
And and fans get to do and fans get to make that choice. And I, for the first time ever made that choice. It was kind of like, to me, I'm changing the channel because I can't watch this.
Did your wife say what really?
No?
Well she is she kind of like really, And I said, yeah, we're out of here.
I thought you'd never say this job, Yeah, no, we're.
Out of here.
George did you go. No, I didn't go.
We we had it was, you know, right before Thanksgiving.
I had family and town and stuff, and so it was twenty one to zero and I was like nope, and I just turned the I changed the channel.
YEP.
So if that's what's gonna happen.
I'm not gonna go tailgate all day to do that. I'm not going to spend my money to do that.
So unless you're putting out a.
Good product, you know, like, uh, there's a reason why we.
Want Nike instead of Adidas.
To brand Arizona.
You know, you want that better brand, you want that that cooler thing. And if you're gonna not show us that, well then we're not gonna We're not gonn to be there. And it's been like that all season. Right, No, I'm not going. There's no reason to like, I can't be like, hey man, it's Thanksgiving, please come in town and I'll take you to a game to go lose twenty one.
In the first quarter.
No, you're right, you're right, George to do that. You're right, George. Here' you right, George. Thanks for the call. We got to go to the commercial. Thanks much. Thanks, No good, No, he's right. Everything that he made is right. Now, you don't blame them, I mean, come on, yeah, okay.
And just real quick, I never left early too from a Macovic game or some game. This was the that's crazy. The weather was fantastic, tell you. With Macavic and someone, I was expecting that, and I was kind of expecting this, but I was like, that's you know, I just it was just frustrating.
Anyways, Yeah, okay, let's take a break, get ahold of our keys for hours and come back.
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Breaking down all the xs and os. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Box Sports fourteen fifty.
Hey, welcome back to On the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, and today with me is Jay Gonzalez. Now in the fun we have Marquise Flowers, former you of a football player NFL guy, Marquis, how are you?
I'm good? How are you fine?
Thank you? I love your stuff on Twitter all weekend. I'm not sure if you're sensible or you're mad. I don't what are you.
Bos? I'm a little funny guy. I remember I still use social media like like I used to when I was a kid back in the day. It's not that important to me. I don't take everything everybody's selling there's gold and hold everybody accountable off their social media account. So sometimes I'm just right up with it. They're saying exactly what it's on my mind turning in a funny way. It's about how you read it, how you respect on it. But it was a tough weekend for me.
So what do you think, you know when you're at the game. Who are you at the game? I think you were.
I did not go to the game. I did not. I just came back from California. Man, I was dapped out. I was not at the game. Plus you know, I'm glad I wasn't.
So what did you think when you watched the game?
I think, yeah, it was rough. It was tough to watch. And I'm not even gonna I'm not even gonna lie with tough to watch. I just think it was one of them things, you know, they hype the I didn't even realize that I was watching the Michigan Ohio State game. Big time rivalry in my opinion, not as bigger, bigger than ours, but you know, obviously two schools that the
college football world really cares about. But the football that they were playing out there, with the technique, phenomenal, physical, harrorball game, how much is hoping it was going to be another one of those you know, it puts over right to the next game. And then after seeing us, you know, not even you know, you know, compete. It's just it was hard to watch man, And you know, I get it defensively, a lot of injuries, a lot
of new guys in there. But I'm not more so the one kind of on the coaches on this one. I gotta I gotta get it. I gotta look at the players, mass what are you doing to get better?
Man?
Kazuster jakoinzal is good to talk to you again.
Hey, you know you went through you went through a firing right, you were at the you were at the tail end of of uh.
Mike up stoops U.
You know Tenure, you know went into the Ridge Rod year during that sea he gets fired in the middle of the season. But was there a time when you felt, you know, that could have that it? Could you know that that maybe you were at a point where that needed to be done?
And how could you.
Tell versus it doesn't look like Brennan's lost the players in the locker room, How can you tell that it's time? And could you back then when they fired Mike, When they.
Fired Mike back did I kind of knew what was coming. It was one of them things where we started I think We started off my freshman year like seven and one or seven six and one, and then we lost like five straight game. Right, We went into next season and started off like zero and five, Betty being the U of a team or sorry, you have an AU team, And I think that's when you know, you kind of
you kind of feel the sense of man. I think we went into Oregon State and played Oregon State and they were they were bad that year, and I think we lost, and I think we kind of knew and that's when he kind of got fired. I just think
it was a different situation. Yeah, obviously, you know when rich Roth first came and everybody goes on Rich Ross first year, we obviously had an absolute you know, monster at running back in court back in that Scott being red shirted, and then we had Kadeen Carry, so it was a it was a high tower offense, and it was like and they knew they we played together, they knew how to click. So when rich Rock came in and rich Rod is an offensive guru, now our defense struggled.
We struggled so bad that year, but no one really noticed us because again we I mean the coaches know this. We noticed the DEFENSI players notice, but no one knows because he had like the top five offense, and we really should have won probably two three more games. And in my opinion, defense, we kind of we kind of gave up the play Oregon State and the couple or was it Oregon State Rich Rod's first year in my Oregon State and Stanford we lost in some games that
we should have won. They would have put us in about ten wins that year. Now and Brennan's situation, it's a lot different man. He came in late in the season. I don't think he's lost the guys or the players. I just think he needs time. Obviously, we had high hopes. Yes, we got some very talented individual players and and mcmilly I call him mcmilly, and mcmilly and the and Fafida and you know, but we lost a lot of our defensive guys. And I think, you know, I'm a defensive guy.
So I think last year a lot of ourselves is how our defense played, how they got how they forced turn us, how they can't getting the ball back to the offense. We just didn't have it this year. So so I don't think.
That he lost it.
I just think he has to go back, and we got to give him time. He needs more time. He's still working off of leaving the school Lafe, and he was already planning for a season with coming in, you know, scrambling getting everything ready for a season, and it didn't go as we plan. Hey, we we lost a lot of guys. He needs time and he's trying to recruit, he needs trying to to to to do a lot of things. So I think this season, we'll give him time and we'll see what happened.
So I think early, unless I misheard you or misinterpreted you, kind of put this one on the players. Right when you're a former player, can you tell who is on If it's not the coaches, it's the players and vice versa.
I mean, yeah, the players got to hold their self accountable. It's about do they want to? I think a lot of times in this landscape of college football now, back then it was easy to put all the coaches because the players didn't get paid. The players are getting paid now this is they're like many pros. They have to take You gotta have some accountability now.
As a player.
That's what happens when they bring the money in. Yeah, but you gotta have some accountability as a player, and they got to play better man, even if he is you know guys, Yes, he lost some guys on defense, but in my opinion, one of my favorite guys who came in and excuse me, I about BOST's names, I'm not do with the names right now, I knowing by their numbers, but number twelve on defense, Jesus Smith, I thought.
He played well.
This is a guy who came in after you know, obviously lost a gunner Montinado, another good guy from Chandler High School. I've been looking at I've been looking at him a little bit, studying them a little bit. I then a guy from Chyla High School who he's a starter and obviously hard to replace. But a guy comes in and he's playing, he's playing hard, he's making plays. But when you've got a whole bunch of guys coming in and then we're it just looks bad on defense.
And it was hard because he's the blameing Dwayne and Quina. But these guys are practiced, these guys are doing what are they doing to get better? I'm looking, but they don't. We're not tackling. We're doing a lot of stuff. It's just like, yeah, it's not on the coaches. All the coaches, the players got their accountability too.
Is kind of a weird question, but I'm asking anyways.
You know, coaches never say everything, right, They never tell you everything that they're thinking in situations like this, right. It took us well twenty six years for us to find out, or twenty five years to find out from duayn A Keina that the reason that the ninety nine team was so bad after that great ninety eight season was because of some players that they lost, particularly Chris McAllister.
They didn't tell us that back then, we're not going to be any good because we don't have Chris McAllister. But they knew they weren't going to be any good because they didn't have christ McCallister, and he told us that preseason. This year, what would the coaches be saying if they could say everything they need to say about what happened this year? What do you think they would
be saying? Where would they where would they lay? I don't want to call it blame, but just what were the issues why they were so bad?
If they could speak freely, what do you think that's saying, I mean.
I'm not sure. I can't put nothing and nobody's nobody's I can't speak on what the coach came.
Would if you're a you'll.
Want to hear what I would say. I would say something because I don't know how to be a coach, but I would still take responsibility the coach. Coach is gonna take responsiblity. Good coaches, they're gonna take responsibility on them. But in how they're gonna talk. So you know some players and try to pick them up and go. Dwayne and Keen is a great guy. Like you said, I found out stuff about Dwayne na Keina this honestly this year when I went down to Tucson and saw him
in the office. He talked to me about why he left. When about why the real reasons of why he left, which I won't share obviously he didn't ship, but the real reasons of why he left when he was a coach my coach for a day when we got excited my sophomore year, I thought we were gonna have Dwayne and Keena's URDB coach. And you know, so some some guys are good. They you know, they keep it in house, in with which you need because some some people just
don't understand. You don't want to put it out there. Definitely don't put out there on Twitter if you're gonna put it out there, because some people are just gonna take it and twisted in their own words. But if they if they could say, they just say, we got to be better and then at the end of the day, that's all it is. You know, these teams trained too,
they have all season two. They have goals too. We got feet, we went to the Big Swell, we got feet, We lost some close, we lost some games, we got some games get away from us, and once she started losing, it was just it's hard to just turn it around. And you know, college is about momentum, having momentusm we didn't have none this year. Okay, we we were getting hit that, we got hit with injuries, but it's not the end of the world. Some kids need this, they
need this, honestly. That's why I don't like the transfer portal that much. Right now, they got to figure something. Now a lot of kids are going to run to the transfer portal when it was you know, I get it for the kids who didn't playing like they don't know your opportunity. But for the kids who was playing, you gotta get better. It's not just at the end of the day, that's just the end. Go You got to get better. You know that team, you know the team that we just played, they went to their rough
waters last year, they went to their rough patches. Last year. They beat up on last year. You know, they got a couple of guys got there and now this year that's fine. We got to just put our head down work. Obviously, changes are going to be made when you haven't season light that we know, change are going to be made. I want Brandon to have time to put together something special. We don't know when it's going to be special. You know. We gotta let him work and let him try to
get something special going. But it was just it was rough. It's over now, well I can, I can. Yeah, it was rough. It's over now. A couple of shots this weekend got to hill the pain. But it's over now.
To be fair, Brennan talked about it. It was tough. He was very honest. He said he hated it. Yeah, it was miserable. Yeah. Right, So let me ask you, because you were a player at this level and the next level. And I said this all along after maybe the fourth week, and I said, I've covered enough teams to know that there's gotta be some disconnect between the players and the coach. The new guy, his personality seems just by looking at him,
it's it's more nonchalant than it is fiery. I don't know if that's an issue or whatever, but there was to me a disconnected And I don't even know what other word to use, other than maybe he's not a motivator or whatever. Can you tell if a coach can be that guy or you know that guy, that fiery guy, even though he doesn't show it publicly.
Yeah, he can't be.
He honestly, he honestly can't be. I don't I don't know the connection between the players and the coaches. I don't even know if I believe in it all the way, because at the end of the day, you don't need no coaches to get you fired up or anything for a ribery game, or matter what your record is, for a team coming in here that you hate to play hard. A lot of times when I turn the TV on and watch you a this year, I put it on a player because to.
Me, it was the effort.
Well, it was the effort of some of the players on the field.
And that has nothing just not specific to the issue game. This is when you were starting to get blown out early the Kansas State game, the other games, and then you see it they pay attentions. You know what I'm saying, You don't get if you're halfway decent, you don't get beat by thirty, you don't get beat by twenty five. You know what I'm saying. You gotta exactly for the reason you said you're disappointed that the players didn't show up.
That was just nuts. This last game. It was a lot of the games.
In a lot of the games, and that's what it was hard to watch. But at some point the players got to play. I mean, he can't make the players give that for even if you get beating it, you getting blown out. Sometimes that happened, but it happens off of the players not executing the plays and whether they believe in it or not, whether they I don't know what needs to happen for them. They got to figure that out internally. Obviously new DC, new OC things like that.
But if Brent Brennan, if they want to if I know, the fans, we're all gonna look at it like you said, because they're gonna keep it in the house, which they should. But it's just his first year. He had a whole bunch of guys that that he didn't recruit, that he didn't know they had to fill him out. I don't think the guys gave up on him. I don't. I would hope not after one year. I don't think they did. It happens. You know, we had a we we I
went through a similar thing. Remember I told you we started off my freshman year seven and one really really hot beat in Iowa, and then we lost to Stafford. After that we lost out five straight games. But then going into next year, everybody back from Nick Foles to Jarron Kriner and then we're supposed to have a just great year and' hey man, we're gonna be even better. We're going to fix those losses we had and we start off owing by. So it happens. It happens, but
no one's gonna help. They're going magic pill to take there's nothing. They got to get their bus in the weight room, they got to get they got to take it personal. They gotta go get better. They got to go when they step on the field. They gotta go change the way. The players gotta go change it. We can't just rely on the coaches. Now, these guys are getting paid money. Now they're they're getting they're literally getting deals in nil because this is what comes with it.
Then that's just my opinion on it, not to not the players, because I will never knock a player, but to motivate them to get them. You guys got get your button.
Now.
It's not just the coaches. You guys got to come and meet the coaches that way.
That's a huge difference, right, the players are getting paid, that's a huge difference in terms of, as you said, the accountability that needs to take place. Say, okay, yeah, before you were't getting squat you know, you're getting barely enough money. You know, you're getting an education, generally making enough money to buy pizza. Okay, you're making money now,
you know, the standards are higher for you. And I don't know, maybe for some of those guys, that's you know, the pressure of it is is a little harder, it's a little different. It's maybe a little tougher. Maybe they're thinking about it on the field or something like that. But it's like, yes, but it hasn't been like that for these guys. So and that's and that's a big difference.
And they and and and because at the end of the day, and I look at it like we can always talk about we could talk about coaching all day. We could talk about coaching coming in here, we can talk about this and that. The players, it's trying to start saying, hey, players, we gotta we got to be more accountable. And it's going to take a player in the locker room and say, hey, we got to be more accountable for ourselves. Because you win, more stuff comes.
Put it that way, You win, more opportunity to run from man il does to everything when you win. So how bad do you want to win? The coaches they're gonna get They've always gotten there. We've always no coaches, not been getting paid coaches, the league coach, no penalty to coach. We always known that. But now that they're letting the players do it. Now the players can't just still sit back and say, oh, well, I'm into your
in transferport could be lost. Half of the players who enter the transport is the players on the field is losing, right, So I just I don't understand it. Sometimes you just got to get back and you gotta work. It's been embarrassed to get is it?
Is?
It?
Is it?
I dill know no one. No one goes out there and expects, hey, we're not gonna make a bowl game, or hey we're gonna be so bad we're not gonna be ranked after coming off a season like that, no one expects. No one tries to, but when it happens, it's a reality shot, and it just tells you need to go get better. We got to go get better. And that's all. That's all I can say, because I don't I don't play for Brendain. I don't want to baden out none of the coaches. I like the coaches.
I've been down there, I go down to U of A. I don't want to baden out there say anything. I speak my mind freely, and I don't. I don't like doing that because I played football for a long time. I played football for a very long time. I've been part of both wins and losses. Players got to help theirselfe more accountable.
Let me screw one more thing. You're in Phoenix, aren't you? Yeah? How is life going to be for you. Now, why are you gonna wear that red shirt? Now?
Yeah, I'm gonna tell you this and win or loss. I always rep my my wildcat, but I talked a lot of stuff that whole season. I talked a lot of smack. So I got to just nod and say yeah, yeah. I got a lot of ASU fans. You know, they got their little time right now. But I still tell them, hey, they stink.
It's still you know, I'm a wildcat.
I'm not a guy who portal guy or none of that. I told you of A. I rock with U of A through wins and through lost, tough seasons and through good season. It doesn't matter.
You and Jake Fisher need to go for a beer somebody.
That's my guy, Man, that's my guy. Jay and Jake can tell you, yeah, we watch the game together to be crazy stuff. And beginning I do be very mad.
Oh you gotta bubble up.
TV.
Hey, Markey says always, thank you very much. We gotta go.
Okay, Yeah, thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
You will, man, thank you appreciate it. Let's go take a break and talk more about this crazy situation. All right, If you're an Arson, a men's basketball fan. You know it's been successful for newly forty years. Now take a look back at the loudls in my new book, Let's from Loot. It was a labor of love through the eyes of twenty five former players, coaches and friends to give insight to the coach and the man who led them, competed against them, and inspired them. Twenty five chapters for
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Streaming live on the Ihearts Radio AAP. This is I on the Ball with Steve Roverra on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
Hey, welcome back. I'm Steve Rivera in today with these is my former partner or current partner with the Jay Goob Zalez partner for to day, partner for a day for a while. We know we have to do.
Our casino show, which is next one coming up December nineteenth. Okay at the at The Soul Sports Sports Book at Casino Del Soul for our show.
Come and visit. Bring us gifts Christmas time. Yeah, we'll buy your beer. What the hell? Yeah, yeah, no, it'd be it'd be nice. It was the last couple of shows or three shows we've done. It's pretty fun. Yeah, a lot of fun. We've had great guests, some great guests, some people that have come buying out with us. It's been a lot of fun.
Yeah.
Yeah, So there's that. Let's go to the phones. If you guys want to call to rent or whatever. Maybe get yourselves off the ledge if you want five two zero, four, one, six, seventy four forty, we'd love to hear from you.
Uh.
And we haven't talked about basketball, so this you can have breaking news. You can have season of breaking news. So we'll talk about basketball to a certain degree. Here. I think we're gonna get some new calls. But it's to be a UA fans. It's hard right now. Yeah, it's hard. My daughter, who I told you what it said? We got a call her. Yeah, let's go to the phones. Hello, you're on the air and line and the ball. Who's this? Yeah, this is Giljill. What's the word.
The word is.
Any talk of getting Red Brennan is way premature. I'm sitting here looking at the football standings. New England three and ten, Jacksonville's two and ten, Las Vegas is two and ten, Giants are two in ten, Carolina is three and nine. There's all sorts of teams are terrible, losing records. And these are professional teams with professional coaches, professional players, and they can't win more than two games. We're asking running to come in and turn around, well, not turn around, but continue.
The role that he had last year.
Is asking a lot.
How big of a fan are you? Oh?
I go to a lot of the games?
Did you go Saturday?
I didn't go. I tried, but I waited too late and the tickets were insanely expensive and I couldn't find any with three seats together.
You should, I would say, you should have called me. I had to. I had to. That didn't get used.
So Gil, you know as a fan though, right, I mean, we're you know, I'm a fan. We're all upset at what happened, but you know, again, as you said, and then I completely agree with you, the reality of what happens if you fire a coach after one year.
It's ridiculous for people to even think about that.
I think so too, Yeah, without a doubt. Yeah, well thanks, Yeah, and.
Who's going to want to come? You're exactly I got one year the programmers.
Even a coach. Yeah, absolutely, you're you're a good thinker. Gil. I like that. Gil thinks. Listen, Gil, I hope you listen to the show. We need more thinkers. Exactly. Thanks, kill. Yeah, you've got another call already. Hello, you're on the air nine the ball. Who is this?
This is Michael Man? What's going on?
Article? Another Voice of Reason?
Hey, yay that voalace my brother from another mother.
I love you because I'm a dodgor Jesus, I thought he got rid of the Dodgers fans.
Hey, well, Steve checked this out. It don't make no sense to fire coach after one year. If he get a man three years, if he ain't making if it ain't changing after three years, then you might want to look at moving on from him. But you don't just fire guy after one year. We don't know what went on or what happened. I mean, I'm a USC fan, man, I've been a USC fan for a long time.
I'm stuck with stinking Lincoln, and.
Stinking Lincoln has got a longer, bigger, fatter contract than Bret Brennan.
So these guys, they just need to be.
Patient and see if this man can do something when he gets his own crew of people in here. So of course there's probably some coaching changes because I got the office was lousy. You can't do nothing about the defensive stuff where people got hurt. But after they lost Cross be married. The guy that wound up in Elgibo's not talk on his situation. That running game was nil, you know, as my dad would say, it was like
basically slim to none and Slim just left child. So the bottom line is is, uh, they've just got to make some adjustments and do some things.
Uh.
I don't know if Fa FETI beback, but I know Tmac you should get the hell out of here.
Yeah, that's that's been discussed.
He's and he's yeah, he's gone, and he should be absolutely. I mean he's you know, he's he's gonna be a top top ten draft.
Are you gonna go to the Games next year? Are you gonna buy in? Well, let me ask it. Let me ask it this way.
What needs to happen this offseason for you to consider being a season ticket holder next year.
Well, you know, I like to I like to see him, you know, at least uh make some improvements in some different areas. Uh, you never know, because uh, fans don't know personnel. You know, we don't know personnel until we have an opportunity to see those guys on TV.
But uh, you know, I heard.
They've they've got some de commits and stuff like that. But they've got to go out and recruit their butts off, even if it's just three star guys, to get those guys in here, and hopefully those.
Guys want to play.
Hopefully they can convince them and some of the higher caliber players that you come here you get to play type of deal. So you know, uh, well we'll see what they do in recruiting.
Okay, Well, thanks for the call, as always, appreciate you.
Yeah, you guys, have a great day. You guys put on a good program.
Thank you, Thank you.
You know, one of the things that you know, asked him that question because you know, one of the things that's out there is if they don't fire him, right, who's coming to the games next year?
What you ask, and that's a fair question, free question.
But on the other hand, if they do fire him, all right, who's coming to the games next year?
Right?
And so I think I think in this situation, Arizona's in position where partly because of finances, partly because of that, they're just gonna have to bite the bullet and understand season ticket sales aren't going to be great next year before we and they're gonna have a tough time getting fans in the seats no matter what.
Yeah, yeah, because it's Arizona. Let me go before we get this call. One of the guys we know in our business, Arizona fans are so soft. That's the bottomne in period because they because their zonal fans don't think you should be fired. Well, they just so soft because of all the talk. You know, yeah, you know it's reactionary.
So well, saying that guy should be fired after one year doesn't sound soft to me. That sounds like a damn hardcore ridiculous opinion.
Okay, let's let's hold it there. We got a call. Hello, you're on the air and I on the ball. Hey, Steve, this is done John, another voice of crazy wisdom. Hell, are you done.
I'm all right, uh kay.
Yeah is it? Yeah?
Hey, hey, nice to hear you again.
We'll get blustered here, keep your mind.
No, no, I just want to I just want to echo a little bit of what you've been saying about. You know, you can't fire the guy after one year on the short term, that's part's already been discussed me. For the long term is I'm tired of these carpetbagger coaches, these tenures that are three years, four years. You know that if if if you were to fire Brennan now, I mean, you're just restarting the clock because you don't know what you're going to get right this. You might
get oh let's get this hot shot. Oh see that you know that was that Boise State. You know, well, calling plays at Boise State is going to be different than in the Big twelve. And then if you make you know, if he makes his bones in the Big twelve and the Big ten starts calling, you know, those guys are.
Going to be gone.
I'm hoping that that Brennan can can right the ship and get to those magic numbers that I've that I've mentioned in the past average between seven and nine wins a year and every once in a while get to ten and you know, and and and be here a long time.
I want a coach who wants to be here.
Right.
You know how many times did we almost lose loot Right? And we have a fan I've been thinking, I've been ahead, No, you go ahead.
No, I've been.
Thinking about it because it crossed my mind this could just be the curse of the loot Beino. I don't I don't remember which rally it was, if it was after the Final four of eighty eight or after they won the national championship in ninety seven, when lut said it was ninety seven because he was in the football state. No, no, that both rallies were in the football stadium.
But he said.
Arizona will always be a basketball school. And he said it in the in the in the football stadium. But I said it because because for a long time I detached myself from the basketball program, just trying to you know, wishing and hoping for the football program. Yeah, and you know, I want I want Arizona to be what they were when Tomy was here and I just saw it. I
couldn't believe it. It was fourteen years. It was a fourteen year tenure, and it was nobody wanted to play Arizona and nothing was left the week after they played Arizona.
It was like last year.
It was like last year's team where every every team that we played, win or lose, they were broken after they played Arizona.
And that's what I want.
I want Arizona to beat that wrecking ball, like you know, geez, Louise, these these guys are they're only seven and five, but they they steamrolled everybody that they played. They didn't, you know, nobody wanted to you know, there was nothing left to play afterwards. And that's that's what I'm hoping that that Brennan can you know, I know there's there's a lot of talk about his personality, that he's such a nice guy and everything else. I just hope he's a jerk behind closed doors.
Well, yeah, let me ask you, because I asked you this and I wrote about this on Saturday. How many good guys do you know? Are good coaches? Take your time?
You know, a lot of a lot of people like to say lou was a good guy. But but but back in the day when you could go to Michale and during practice, he was he was hard. He was a hard guy.
He was demanding. He was demanding. Everything was punctual. You you didn't cross him. You don't even know. Let me let me see this before thee the first couple of games. How many penalties they have all the all the time? A lot of penalties. Where does that come from? I mean it's like you don't care that that. No, that comes from bad players, That's what it does. A lot of that from.
Bad players, Guys who can't cover and they hold and well.
A pretty good player. It was like the late hits stuff.
A lot of it is is disciplined and not having that accountability that Marquise was talking about. Those are guys that aren't being held accountable for them for the dumb mistakes that they make. I mean, there's a certain guy number zero that can't get on the field, and why is that. Like he's a super talent, but he can't. He can't play in a structure and he couldn't do it last year. He couldn't do it last year, and
and and that carried over through this year. I mean, that's that's the thing is you got to have guys that are that are willing to They got to do the job, put their head down, do the job, run to play as it's planned.
And go forward.
You know, we had a lot of guys that from that were left over that came into this year. Like Noah last year, all he did was run the play. Was Was he a great leader? Was he a Tom Brady?
No?
He just ran They called the play and he ran the play and it was it was successful a lot of the time, you know, And and that's you know, the team has to be structured so the guys can you know, can can be successful and within that structure, do your job done.
We gotta go, We gotta go, We gotta go through your job. Taking a break.
Thanks for the call, you too, Jay, have we got on.
Thanks, We got to go right, We got to all right. Thanks, Let's go get some breaking news and go back to our subjects here