This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteenth fifth day, powered by Nova Insurance Services ensure your most prized possessiets.
Andy.
Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to I on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. I'm Steve Rivera. In with me today is a long time friend Cody Ritchie.
Yeah, what thirty thirty five years about?
Did you get hear? Like summer of eighty seven?
Summer of eighty seven?
So that so hop's me too, So we probably met a little while after that.
Yeah, I think you're like a month older than me.
Oh okay, no, what needs to do?
But we still are young.
Yeah, and Henry running the board today, so we should go smoothly. Did you think thirty seven years ago, thirty seven years ago you'd be in a situation you're in, position wise and stuff like that. Life?
You know, I don't know, I mean, I'm I mean, I don't know. I mean happy, I've alwa happy you.
You can't buy happiness, man, you know what I'm saying. If you're happy, more powered to you, because his happiness is tough to come by.
Yeah.
Well, I always kiddy, Steve, because I always like smile Steve, going.
Back when right, I'm smiling inside, you don't need to see you.
You're smiling now, But even back then, I mean, I don't know if if And a lot of the guys that we knew back then too have been like school teachers. My one friend Eric, who you knew Nember. Eric, he's a he retired as a school teacher. Now he's a school bus driver. And I think he's the happiest guy I've ever known in my life because he has half a day off and he golfs all the time. And so, I mean, I knew that I wanted to do something. I thought I was.
Gonna You were you were? What were you at you at that time?
Well, I went to University of Wyoming, got you green business, and came to u of A and to get back then they had a sports administration program.
So you were in your grad student, yes, make you and then you were there till when did you get that degree?
Ninety ninety one? Oh a little bit, yeah, okay, ninety because the first six months I didn't do that. I was doing something different, and then did that for.
Tea And the best thing that ever happened to you is you ran it to mister Mueller.
Mister and mister Fader and ran Mueller for sure, Bob Mueller and Rudy Matthews and all those guys that Mueller and essocially, it's wonderful.
Guys, right, because you are now and I haven't mentioned what you do, but you're you're kind of you're kind of one of the bigger gas and tussags. In my mind, I know you're gonna boom boo that, but no, you're out there, you shake hands, kiss babies. You Cody, your name is pretty popular in this town.
Well, I appreciate it, but it's it's we sell a service that people don't need unless they really need it, right, and so we have to have relationships. It's it's a relationship with interesting Well.
It's funny you say that, because I would say ninety five percent of the world is people business. Be nice to them, they'll be nice to you and pay back. You know what I'm saying. Right, it's a give and take. Right, You've you've established that in town because you you're everywhere, am you, Because you're the You're the CEO of Crest Right Insurance And you guys were up north in Phoenix. You guys are here in town, which has kind of started here right right for sure, and then all over the West.
Yeah, we have an office in Las Vegas, one in San Diego, several in Arizona. We just got one little, a little, tiny, tiny, tiny one, but it's still kind of cool. In Fort Worth, Denver's pretty significant, and Denver, Fort Collins, Longmont, and then up in you know, my old neck of the woods, Wyoming. But it's really funny because we're having our holiday party this Friday. Yeah, and our old friends Kevin McCabe and Brad Steinkey and Jody Jackson are the judges. And we had a clown and
the clown. You had it having Friday and we have a talent contest, and we had a clown and Tim Emory, you know TIMI works of the Boys and Girls Club up in Phoenix. He's Santa Claus. He shows up every year. We had a clown and the Corey Williams, who works with me, goes, you can't bring the clown back. People are creeped out by the clown. But you have to have like a fifth kind of funny judge. So we're trying to get the Phoenix Gorilla. We can't have the uf A Wildcat because there's too many.
There are hoops that you well.
Well, no, we have well that too, but we have a ton of wildcats and we have a ton of sun devils. So we're trying to get Louis the Lumberjack because nobody doesn't like.
Do you need an unbiased opinion?
Yeah, we need to unbiased opinion to be a judge and to help our flag staff team.
Very nice. You can see you all over the place, and you help. Part of the reasons why you're here. I wanted you here. You were here with me about four years ago while we were at the other station, right, you came in and.
Even way long time ago, one other time we did it.
So yeah, no, and it's great to see you all the time. I will see you with the games. Very cordial, very good. You're good. You're good, dude.
You know you're my friend.
You're good.
So for those of you who are who follow Steve, Steve's always been a uh he did football back everybody knows him mostly for basketball, but you did football before that baseball. We became friends when you were covering the tours, but used aid Steve Eustah hosts back in the day and is a part when you first moved here? Pay per view boxing match? Oh yeah, yeah, and I still remember going over. We watched that was so long Floyd Mayweather versus uh not de la Hoya hands. Oh yeah,
the Duran Roberta during not Roberta Dran. I'm a stone. Oh gosh, dang it, I don't remember this. It was. It was Floyd Mayweather versus the other guy from Mexico. We'll have to we'll look it up at the I remember right now. I don't remember, but it was at your place and you invited about twenty of us over and you paid for it, so I'm playing at.
For it was like thirty bucks maybe.
Yeah. We thought, well, you were like the wealthiest guy we knew because you had a time job. Yeah, you had a real job.
We had a real job. Yeah, those be those gods. That's a long time ago, in the late eighties, nineties already lived off for was that cold road was?
Yeah?
Well god, it was my I was I dating my my then my.
I think so, but she wasn't there. It was a solid Oh yeah, of course. Oh guy, get out of forty people in your apartment. That was the small apartment. Yeah, but it was fun.
Yeah, no, I remember that, And well I don't remember that, but okay, and then we you know, do some stuff. And I always misidentified you as the guy, the Toughy, the total guy who got.
No that I was involved in the Toughie the total deal. The second time I was. The first time was if we have time go ahead. For the first time was Mike Vader, who's both of our really good, but he was in last week. I love Mike. And Mike always was the master promoter, you know, minor league baseball, and
he had the dash for cash. Touffy. The Toros started on second base, guys would start at home and it was a progressive pot and so nobody could ever catch Toughie because it was you know, he had such a head start. But one day some guy who looks like your producer here, young athletic guy, caught him between third base and home and tackled him.
Do you remember that I pushed him from the back? Yeah.
I pushed him from the back, and it made CNN Play of the Year. Yeah, And and Mike was all bent out of shape because they interviewed Toughy and he spoke Mike because you're not supposed to speak here animal. And so two weeks later, the Chicken came into town for the Chicken Night. He had heard about it, so he went to Mic and said, let's recreate it, but let's make Toughie have a hamstring injury as he's going out to second base and it was a full capacity,
nine thousand people whatever. Back then, do you remember Mike used to have people on the warning track. Yeah, he used to rope it off. Well, we talked about that. He was with us because the crowds were huge. They were huge, and Kenny Lofton was playing everything, so they they so tough. He came in, came up with a hamstring injury. Bill Romer, who was a p a guy, goes, hey, kids, who should be the guy? And everybody said the chicken. So I think his name is Tedji and allis or whatever.
He does the flips, not the second but very athletic, super small guy, and they're like, Mike goes tonight, you're the guy, and so you have to tackle uh the chicken between third place and home, which I did because I caught him. Is embarrassing having people what you've run, you know, like I wasn't case Swiss, remember the old case Swiss. So anyways, I catch toughie, Uh, I mean the chicken tackle from behind, super small guy.
Did he know that that was gonna he told me to do. Oh okay, so he was brazen for it.
And when when I when I tackled him, he actually under his things, Oh you know, s hi whatever, and so get up and he started pecking me with his beak into my chest. And then all of a sudden, Chester, the Cheeto, the Red Bear and it was mascot night Toffee himself on crutches, beat me up, all of them. I didn't know that was going to happen. That's what they forgot to tell me. People are brewing me.
This is ninety one two, that was maybe.
Ninety yeah and uh. And then I told Mike I'm done. I'm like, I don't want to do this.
See how far you've come.
Well that was more fun to be honest with.
Yeah. Now you're now you're a big time dude in the city and helping you of a you're a big time UA fan. I'm sure there's concerns, both both positive and negative, but you know, football struggled. Basketball has has done very well up until kind of now. But that's just kind of like a warning. But what are your thoughts? Just we have but by the way, let's let me give the assignments today. Kim Adera will be calling us about three seventeen talk about their great game coming up
by their teams at three forty ish. And we're gonna get Corey Williams right who works for you covering basketball with me? With you where you Okay, see you're always Politican. Corey is great, great with insights and stuff. In the next hour, we're gonna have Max Marley and Dan Marley's son who plays at Pima. He's tearing it up up there. So we'll be busy today. Okay, great, busy today. Don't forget we have breaking news with Henry so great, thanks for coming in saving me. So just we got about
three four minutes. Just maybe a little quick synopsis. Are you what are your concerns? If you do have concerns, we can get it more on the other side.
Well, when I was working way back when when I.
Knew you were a fundraiser too, well.
I was I was intern with the Wildcat Club. Okay, and the other day a week ago, two weeks ago, I for my good friend G. D. Kessler fortieth anniversary retirement party. And so I was working there in the late eighties just as an unpaid intern, and so I was there when Cedric Dempsey was there, and then I saw Jim liven could come through, and then of course Greg and then Dave and now desire and my concern, I mean, college.
Athletics has changed easy, yeah, crazy.
And also, you know, ironically, I'm also in Kim's coming on a little bit. I'm a huge Wyoming guy too, because that's why I went to undergrad And so they face the same issues that Arizona's facing, but at a different level. They're a level below us. I'm concerned because what frustrates me and I can never really figure this out. It's a you know, one hundred million, maybe a billion
dollar industry and people are making decisions. And you and I talked offline about this at USC and UCLA and now here that may not even be in our community for five years from now. And I told you this and and I'm not saying this despite the football, because I really want Brent Brannon to succeed. He's a great guy. You and I both love Dick Tomy. So what I'm in the back of my mind, I'm hoping that he does a Dictomy type deal where everybody rides him off.
He finds a way, and I think, if there's anybody that could do it, Brent can do it. So I'm all in on Brent. However, in December of twenty twenty, my wife and I made a donation to the University Arizona,
fairly significant. It wasn't quid pro quode, nothing like that, but I just said, can I make a recommendation no one kind of building teams and being around people and cultures and stuff like that, and two sons of special community, but you want somebody that wants to be here, not as a stepping stone.
This was before Jen, before they hired Jed and Same time Prime.
Yeah, halftime of the game that we lost on TV SU seventy two to seven, I got a call from a very very very close friend of mine who used to coach with Richard. He goes, dang it, you can win at Arizona. You can win there, and he goes, I need you to touch bab with Dave hekey, which to Dave's credit took this seriously, took took my call seriously, and he said, and doctor Robins, I have that. I kept that as they say, the kids say the receipts. I don't know why you have the text or the culture. Yeah,
And it wasn't anything, It's not anything outlandish. But I'm like, I guarantee you I have the guys that you need to talk to you that could turn this thing around them, both of them. I talked to Dave and he said, go talk to doctor Robinson, who, by the way, I like, right, And I said, this guy here's a game changer. He's young. My friend Charlie recognized in reading the room that he didn't have the name ID to be the guy. But Charlie was the head coach at Chaparral High School. Coach here.
I think he didn't he lost one game in four years. Steve, he's he's an amazing guy, right, And he's like, I'll bring Kenny with me. I'll mentor him. We have a staff, we'll kick butt. And that was Kenny Dillingham. And I know that you have a talk to him. Kenny might deny it now and Ken Ken's a great guy. He came by our company holiday. I saw your photos years ago. Yeah, he came by with with with with Charlie and for the.
First time you saw him less we too the game.
Two years I saw Charlie, but I didn't see so two years ago they came by and I'm like, man, these guys are dynamic. And that's right. When Jed was building the thing up. Jed was a great coach, had a plan. But what I told doctor Robbins and Dave, you want somebody that wants to be here. And and now he's probably in the right place because he went there to school. But his brother, I understand it, and his father went here to u of A. And I thought it could have been like a coach Canrea situation
where you could be a son devil. But once you come in and builds something. But now they're going to have search committees and and think tanks and everybody like, how can we build what they have when we already had it? Sure it's authentic.
And we'll talk more about the conversation after after the fact, because that we're going to take a break, get a hold of Kim Kim Acoss and we'll talk about the great game. Kim adare right, and then we'll get back to your story because it's a very interesting story about what could have happened, what did happen? Stuff like that, or where we are now and where you're at because you're a big you have a big footprint of it. Okay, let's go.
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Conference streaming live on the iHeartRadio AB. This is I on the Ball with Steve Ravera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
Hey, welcome back to Iam the Ball Hero Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. In with me today's Cody Ritchie. Now in the phone. We have Kim Adair, the executive director of the Arizona Bowl. Give me a real name of the Arizona Bowl him.
With pleasure. It's the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin and Juice by Train.
Snoop.
See, that's a long one for me. That's great. Great. You must be on Seventh Heaven or whatever heaven you want to be on, because yesterday was a big day and you have Snoop coming in.
We're very excited. We announced our teams yesterday. We've got a terrific matchup. I think that these two teams are gonna go toe to toe on the field and it's going to be, you know, a grudge match. It's going to be awesome. So we've got Miami University coming from Ohio and Colorado State coming from outside of Denver for Colin.
Yeah. Uh, it's funny because I have Cody with me, and he's he's a Wyoming guy. I'm a New Mexico State guy. If you can get those type of fan bases in town, you're gonna kill it.
Well, first of all, Cody, if I could take Wyoming every time, I would, you know, I would.
I know.
There were three wins this here, so they weren't coming.
They weren't even do you know.
That Colorado State is is Wyoming's like arts rival Arts nemesis. Yeah, but it's a great, great city.
And the coach, the coach here has been here before.
Yes, Jane Arvell came as the head coach in Nevada a few years ago and Nevada won over Arkansas State that year. So he's been here as as a as a wolf Pack member, and now you'll be back as a ram for Colorado State.
Those guys, each team must be chumping at the bit to be here because they're gonna earn some money in addition to playing a game.
That's true. Yeah, Snoop announced you know, like I think in June that the intention was to give every player that played and you know that came to the game, not necessarily played in the game, an ni L deal. And so We're still working out the details of that, but every player that comes with the with the team will receive an NIL package.
What a deal. It's funny because I wrote my story on on you guys for BIZ Tucson. Are you any cooler with your daughter now? Because you're even saying you're not even Golden Dog. You're saying Snoop, Yeah, dressed the dog.
That's so funny, you know, yeah, I mean, I don't think I could be any cooler with my kids at this point. With all of the Snoop Dogg and dre integration, it's pretty fad fantastic, and it's just really more importantly, really excited for our community because we as Southern Arason
our brief the benefits of this partnership. Everything we do really is to elevate visibility for Southern Arizona, economic impact for Southern Arizona, and of course donations to our charities, and so bringing Snoop into the fold and having him be our partner for this game is fantastic for our community and that's what really really matters.
Do you know how bored that is? Right?
Oh yeah, it's you guys. Doe a phenomenal job. Camra and I think that, you know, I don't know what you kind of pencil in for Miami traveling. You know, maybe a thousand, two thousand and three thousand, Maybe they might have a big alumni base in the Phoenix area. But I know, I mean, Colorado State will travel. And I don't think they've been to a bowl game in a couple of years. Have they came?
Right, it's been five or six years, Cody, And you know, I talked to them today and their reception on this has been incredible. They're already selling out of their allotment and want more tickets. So that's a really really good sign for Colorado States fans coming and you know, really being a part of southern Arizona for the Snapdog Arizona. Well, and we expect Miami probably not to have the same numbers as Colorado State does, but to have a really good contingency of fans here to.
Support their the Maxicos always do.
Yeah. Yeah, Well, the thing is how far of a drive maybe eleven hours maybe less from Denver from Colorade.
Yeah well, Denver's like Collins is forty five minutes from Denver.
Oh so, so eleven hours maybe, And it's a simple dove twenty five cents.
I go up there a lot, Steve. We have an office in four Collins, and I mean there's a million flights even to Tucson, dreg flights. Oh really from from Denver to Tucson and then from Denver to Phoenix, there's just probably.
Forty well and when you're playing here, it's going to be seventy two pouty according to Ali, and it's gonna be about forty five up there.
So yeah, it's it's exactly That's why. I mean, it's sixty miles from Laramie and then Whyo. Many people are always complaining about how cold it was, and so four Collins is nicer weather. Yeah, it's not that much nicer, not as nice as they always say. Yeah, ten degrees maybe that.
So what was the reception. I didn't get to go out there, but I heard as a packed house, a lot of fun yesterday when you made the announcement.
Yeah, you know, we've got such a great group of supporters and volunteers that come out every single year and are there for us, and so they were out. They were out in droves yesterday for the big announcement. And we did that at the playground downtown and everyone is really excited. And you know Snoop he made the announcement himself via video. He can't wait for these two teams to get here too. And we you know, we hope we're working towards selling out forty thousand tickets for that
whole or bowl to be full. This is a game people don't want to miss. I mean, you know, the fear of missing out is real when it comes to the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl. Snoop will be here, he'll be engaged. You've got a sneak peek of what that looks like from his time at the Olympics, and you know he's bringing some really cool friends along as well.
So lots of surprises still to be had. But we want everybody out there supporting the game and having a really, really fantastic afternoon on December twenty eighth.
Kim, you want to hear a cool little story about Snoop. I've never met Snoop, but my sister knows Snoop and my cousin Judy knows Snoop. They went to his wedding. Really yes, yeah, because back in two thousand and four, whenever the Super Bowl was in San Diego. My younger sister, her name is Rainy, was living out there and they put on a charity Pop Warner football game and they had Ricky Williams Foundation hired my sister and she was
aspiring to be like you Kim way back when. But they put on a game and it was the Ricky Williams San Diego All Stars, and they had to find somebody to play. And that's when Snoop was coaching his kids, I think, way back when, you know, kind of during that USC days and stuff like that. Yeah, she said, he was just the nicest guy, just really loves football, and it's kind of cool to see how he's coming. Like I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't own an NFL T in the future.
Me neither. You know, he has the Snoopy Football League, which has had over sixty thousand kids go through it. And one of the things that we're excited about is that Snoop is bringing BSYFL National Championship to Southern Arizona during Bowl Week, So we'll have twenty four of the best tackle youth football teams from across the country and their families coming into Southern Arizona to participate in that tournament and then also come to the game as part
of that as well. So it's just another way that we're bringing in people into Southern Arizona to eat at our restaurants, stay at our hotels, and enjoy our hospitality here. So we're really excited about that piece, no.
Question, no question. So where are they going to be playing at. You guys have fields all over the city.
So primarily that tournament will be played at Rieto Park. We're going to make those soccer fields into football fields. And with the championships being held at the University.
Of Arizona, nice hotels.
Are they saying that this year the teams the big.
Teams, Well, we don't try to publicly.
The reason why no, I mean why. The reason why is because I know that for my buddies at University of Wyoming. Yeah, they just all they ever talk about is the beautiful resorts that that their artable puts them out up at it and I know they kind of move them around a little bit, but you make a favorable impression on those guys.
Well, we try, you know, we put our players and their bands and the spirit squads and you know, really first class resorts here in southern Arizona. You can imagine, you know, the ones we're talking about. Beautiful scenery, perfect hospitality, you know, great pools. Many of our players come. I have never been to our landscape.
Before, and I have to warn them not to touch.
The cactus, you know, because they're so interested in it. But I can't tell you how many players I've picked it from the airport and said did you bring your swimsuit? And they said no, And I said, let's stop a target on the way so that they could get to get to the you know, hotel and be able to go in the pools too. So they love it. It's so much fun, and we're we're really excited for people to be able to experience that part of southern.
Arizona as well.
So I think, correct me if I'm wrong. I think this is your sixth year as being the executive director. This must have some kind of special place because every year is different, right, You probably don't get bored because it's every year is different. And kudos to Nova who started this and then the Barstool the last couple of years. But this this is kind of special. It's got the city and all those Blue Blue Blazer people that you
have going bonkers and selling tickets. This must be just just it feels different.
It does.
It feels it feels like a step up, for sure. I think just the national attention that that the game has with Snooping involved, I think that this is you know, I think people here feel like, and.
This is true.
N you could have selected any of the forty three bowls to put his name on and be a part of, and he shows us. And I think we need to be really proud of ourselves with the community that we have this great thing to offer, you know, a celebrity of that stature, and we should be proud of our community. I certainly am. I love Southern Arizona. I think I'm like the number one ambassador. Maybe maybe there's a few other people, but I'm out there selling Arizona and Southern
Arizona particularly every single day. It's a great community and people. You know, ten years we've been this is our tenth tenth game if you count the one that was canceled. And you know, finally, I think people know who we are. I feel like everybody should know who we are. But it takes a while for the message to get out to the masses, and I think after ten years, we're finally getting more and more of that.
Let me ask you, I think i've asked you too before before in the previous months that you had this name. Is he going to perform which of course you don't have to answer and maybe you don't even know. And is he going to do some commentary because that's what he's kind of been known for now with the Olympics and talks a lot of crap and funny crap.
Yeah. Absolutely. The CW was really excited when we brought Snoop on board and as part of that, Snoop will be commentating during the game for the third quarter up in the booths, and so I think that will bring a lot of eyeballs back to the game into the CW just to hear and see we'll see that, to see what he was doing, to hear what he's saying. And I think it's going to add some extra attention on what we're doing. And of course he's so entertaining.
He's he's so marked when it, you know, in a lot of different areas and football especially he's you know, he's very very very astute when it comes to football. So and he's got such a great sense of humor, and so I'm so excited for everybody to be able to hear him calling part of our game on the CW broadcast.
You know, Steve Miami of Ohio, isn't that where Ben Roethlisberger played? I think he played there, So they've had some big out of that.
School, Cody, great job. Ben did play there, Yes, and you know Ben was a Steeler and do you know a bigger Steeler fan than Snoop Dogg? Maybe Allie for him?
And then I think Joy played at Colorado State, so that energy, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So now you have you have what's today's ninth or ten that ninth? You have about eighteen days, nineteen days. What's what's the urgency right now?
Well, actually, you know, I peeled myself away from meetings with one of our teams. The teams come this week for their site visits. We show them all of the great things we have played for them and get them settled in. So that's being taken care of this week, and then it's just about selling tickets act, you know, making sure all of our sponsorships are executed, making sure that you know, we put on an amazing event for all of our community, and really just finalizing the details.
This is something we've been working on and planning, you know, every single day for the last you know, three well since you know, since the last game. And so we're ready, we're excited. We're going to be a little with you know, a little bit with our hair on fire the next few weeks just getting it all done. But we can't wait for it to be done.
You you started, god, as I say, six years ago. I don't know how many people you started with, but like I said, the Blue Blue Jackets, the Blue Blazers, you guys have a ton of people helping now. Before before when you first started, it was probably you're not many, and now you've got a ton.
Yeah, you know, we've got our Blue Blazer group which is about one hundred people, plus our board which is another you know, twenty people. And so these are really awesome, dedicated volunteers who who make this happen for us.
Right.
We are a small but scrappy team of five people. We've been together for a long time, so we understand and and and have really built a great rapport in our team and know how to get this done, but we couldn't do it ourselves without our amazing Blue Blazers. And yeah, we've got a terrific group of really dedicated people. You see our homet out of football games at events, you see that we are out, you know, talking about the bull, you know, really at every major event in
southern Arizona. And we could only do that because of the great support that we have from our Blue Blazers.
Yeah. No, of course Cody must have left his blue Blazer in the car.
No, No, But what I wanted to say is that two son sets a big small town like Eric Spitzer is a Blue Blazer. He's a longtime friend of mine and our companies. Great guy, but probably one of my two best friends in Tucson is is a Blue Blazer. And you know him Steve, and you might not even know him by his real name, Jamison, remember Poke, and he and he absolutely loves it. I mean he he loves it. He has He is so much fun. He would probably pay you guys to be a volunteer. And
that's how much fun these guys have with him. And he's been doing it for years. And I know, Kim if he says, you know he has a whole another group of friends I don't even know. And you guys have done a great job of building the camaraderie and the culture and the and the and the pride and the group. And you know, I joke because Wyoming camp me in it every year. And uh, I guess I'll have to cheer from Miami of Ohio.
We'll allow you to do that, Cody.
Yeah, yeah, well, great, great, Kim, thanks for joining us. Good luck. We'll see you around and about all the next few days because you're gonna be busy.
Thanks, thank you so much. Thanks for having me, and go get your tickets at the Arizona bull dot com.
It's going back.
Yes, great, great Gray and make sure they do that. Okay, thanks Kim. Bye, But Kim a dare executive director. Let's go take a break. We're gonna get Corey Williams to see what the state of college basketball is going on right now. If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for nearly forty years. Now. Take a look back at the Ludelsen era in my new book,
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Streaming live on the Ihearts Radio WI. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rovera on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen.
Hey, welcome back to Eye on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. I'm Si Rivera and today with me is Cody Richie. And now on the phone we have Corey Williams, form you of a star and college basketball analyst. Corey, how are you?
I'm doing good. You know, the longer it's been, the better.
I was a movie star, now you were stars.
I didn't feel much like a star when I was there, but you know.
Well, how much did you get in an al? Now?
How much was he?
I asked for that? All the time.
I think Bobby Olson let me get her peanuts on a flight one time.
He didn't want her.
Peanuts, And that was pretty much right right.
All that was all the under under the table benefits we received back.
In and she let you be the dude in the back of the bus in your radio show. I forget his name. Check you white, check you white.
That's that's when we hit critical mass.
The time Missus Zoe stepped in and she let me interview her in front of the whole team.
That was That's when I knew I was.
Big time, right. I said, don't worry about it. Loot will never know it, doesn't have to know. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh he got a kick out of it. He couldn't believe it.
So so you've been busy. I saw you somewhere over the weekend. Were you in the West somewhere?
Oh, my gosh. Conference realignment.
I had Stanford at Cal for the ACC Conference. Like go figure, you know Pacific two teams that were part of the Pack eight I believe in the beginning, and now they're in the ACC. So yeah, I did the Stanford Cal game on Saturday. Both teams very talented, good bigs. I think they're gonna beat a lot of teams in the ACC that don't see them coming just because oh they're pack twelve.
Teams blah blah blah.
But both teams had good guard, play good big So those surprising folks.
You you were out and about all over the country. Now, I guess in the West you must have a pretty good boss or something to let you do this.
Well, it's, you know, the economy.
I'm close to all the hot places. I'm close to the LA schools u A, Arizona State, BYU Colorado.
You know they're gonna send me wherever's closest.
So I'm just I'm just fortunate that we got some good basketball being played over here in the West and and on the West coast. So it's been good. I wasn't, you know, not too thrilled about going to a lot of those big twelve cities. But I'll go if they call or if they send me.
Hey, Cory, I think he I think he's meaning working with me because I told him we worked together. I'm not your boss, but Steve's he doesn't smile very much, but he's smiling here to here here.
Yeah, I just say, your boss, lets you do a lot of stuff.
Now we're not Cory is my guy.
I mean, yeah, we've had a friendship going way well over twenty years. And when you played, when I played, I was I was a person that Cody was my sophomore year in like ninety three summer in ninety three, I think.
So, yeah, we go back a long time.
And the insurance industry is the kind of the industry where if you stay on top of your clients, you can work and travel and you know, you can kind of have a schedule. So I'm very grateful that I'm allowed.
To pursue on Friday Friday.
Yeah, the majority of my responsibilities that cres boiled down to this upcoming Friday, I'm going to be hosting our annual Christmas party, which is the most epic, insane party. I've never seen a company do what Cody and the guys do.
A crest for all the employees.
They fly in everybody from all the offices, and we have it in Scottsdale Food Drink Company dance competition, and of course I have.
To be the the ring leader, the grand mister.
Entry, the whole thing. Last year, Yeah, and of course Courty doesn't go anywhere without his DJ you know level because of Corey. Everyone loves Corey. They don't like me, they love you, don't know you, Yeah, they love Corey. Yeah.
So there's ever bad news that he needs to get delivered, it usually goes through me.
It's it's often to blow.
Yeah, I'm the bad news guy, right And you also see seven or something and and uh.
Yeah, we always joke. We always joke.
If we ever did write a screenplay on the last twenty five years of this agency, it would it would be it would be to be Oscar Oscar Award winning stuff, no question, It'd probably twenty years.
I don't know who would play Who would you want to play you.
Corey, Denzel, Denzil, Samuel Jackson, Samuel Jackson, No, I don't know.
I don't I don't know who could play me with the height and get away with it.
I don't know.
That's a good question.
Would it be a comedian or a serious actor? Would it be like a forced Winnker d Chappelle.
I need a serious act. You know who's a good actor? Emon Shumper used to be an NBA player.
Oh yeah, yeah, but Amon is in a ton.
Of stuff on cable New on cable and HBO. He's done pretty well from himself.
Here's how old Steve and I are. I don't know about you, Corey, Michael Warren, Hill Street Blues. Yeah, do you remember Michael Warren Corey? No, No, they played at E C O A. He was on that. He was on that really good looking guy you know, la dude, and then he became an officer on Hill Street Blues.
And you you know who the white channels would be that you're that guy would be.
You Ken Howard. That was a good show.
Yeah, hey, yeah, let's get back to some business here. College basketball. I'm sure you've had a chance to glance at you of a time or two. Yes, yes, what? And I had Rhino on the show last week, and I think the world of both you guys, because you guys are good at you at your job. And I had two things. One the can't defend the three point line. You know, imagine that. You know that's easy. But this team is unlike any other team that had, even Tommy had.
They can't get out on the fast break to get some fast break points and go and transition that team. You guys back in the day, that's what you lived by your ben and butter. This team cannot or has not been able to do that.
Well.
The reason that you don't see teams getting on on the break, this team does not force turnovers. The energy that you have to expand to get into passing lanes, to harass the guy's dribble, to get a deflection, to front the post, and all those things that lead to breakaway dunks and easy layups. You gotta be willing to burn that energy on the defensive end. And unfortunately it's not just Arizona, it's across the entire college landscape. Kids don't get scholarships for d and up. Reggie Gary was
a defensive scholarship. Kelvin Ethan was a defensive scholarship. There's tons of big men that have played at Arizona that were defensive scholarships.
Eugene Edgerson, Jesse.
Perry, like, we always kept enforcers and guys who could get out to you on the out front. You know, Kyle Fogg was a defensive scholarship. Who is going to sit there and sit down in a defensive position for thirty seconds and lock somebody up and close a turnover. It's really mental when you think about it because this team is athletic as hell, so I'd like to see them turn up the defensive intensity, deflection steals, and like you said, create some of those open court opportunities.
Let me ask you, and I've thought this, I've talked about it a lot on the show, and I Okay, back in the day, you guys didn't have it. You guys had to earn your keep all that stuff. My biggest concern, at least right now is the kids are getting paid. Now, why do they have to work? They're getting paid.
Yeah, that's the conundrum that all the college coaches find themselves in. That's why a lot of the old school college coaches have retired because back in the day, your job was to make two and two equal five.
Take the ingredients you had and cook up.
A good team and get some good results, get the most out of each player player, develop a player over multiple years, so you know what you've got coming back. All that's out the window with nil. Now you have this financial component where everybody's individually and agenda is financial. If I'm not getting playing time, then I'm not getting points. If I'm not getting points, I'm not earning nil.
So I'm going to transfer.
So every year the coaches have to re recruit their own guys, Plus they have to keep an eye on the portal for who's unhappy, because on every team, any team that gets over twenty five wins, players six, seven and eight are probably looking to transfer and cash in off that team's success.
Because that's just the way the portals set up right now.
So what you've done is you've destroyed the coach's ability to create chemistry.
You've destroyed his leverage that he ever had.
Over any other players, including in football, and you've totally destroyed the cohesiveness that every team needs. I didn't slide over and take a charge at Arizona because I wanted to.
I did it because I love the guys.
I was hooping with and that's what we needed to do to beat whoever we were playing. I didn't dive on loose balls. I didn't play hurt because I wanted to. I played hurt because the guys were asking me, yes, here.
Are you good? Can you go? And they needed me.
That is gone, now, completely gone, and it'll never come back.
So imagine coaching a team and.
They've taken your leverage, They've destroyed your chemistry, and they've made it impossible for guys to be selfless. Yeah, and that's the current state of college basketball.
So you would agree with me that that's a fair evaluation.
Oh, absolutely, I think guys are playing for themselves, and you.
Got a lot of guys now they don't even care.
It used to be the pathway that the NBA went through college, right, That's why you put up with the abuse and you ran the sprints and you did the six am workouts because there was some gold at the end of the rainbow and you were willing to do whatever you had to do.
For four years to try to get your shot at that gold.
Now you got guys coming into college like, Yo, I'm just gonna be a pirate. Cody knows we're a bunch of pirates in the insurance game. I'm just going to be a pirate and try to make two million dollars over three or four or five years and just ride.
Off into the sunset with that money. They don't even care about going to the NBA.
They're looking at college as this commercial enterprise that they can kind of step into. Get a bunch of money, go from school to school to school, get red shirts, years and then do whatever they have to do and they're content with the nil money. You got guys out here making two three hundred thousand dollars a year, and if he's a halfway decent player, he may make that for.
Four or five years, Corey, before sorry, see before you got on, Steve and I were talking about the good old days when we first met, and we thought Steve was the wealthiest friend we had because he had a full time job at the Citizen and he paid for pay per view fighting over it.
Is making twenty two twenty two.
Thousand bucks a year. Oh oh man, that was a lot. And can you imagine like eighteen nineteen twenty year olds are kind of even equipped have that kind of money, Like it'd be like one out of maybe ten will be able to invest it and make money on it. And then I just saw yesterday, I don't know, Steve, that Doug Gottlieb is now coach, first year coach. He benched.
I saw the.
Leading scorer in the country didn't play him a second, right, and they got Joe bid twenty five points right right? And what did you see that?
Corey?
I didn't see that story, but I mean, let me let me give you this, Corey, let me give you this other scenario. It's nineteen ninety six. Let's say nil is going on. I'll give you you JB, Reggie, Joe McClain, Ben and who am I'm missing point guard? I think that's about it. Five five seniors, right, So, so, okay, Corey makes two hundred, Reggie makes one fifty. Whoever makes one hundred, to me, that would be a problem because this dude's making more than me. How could that happen?
Blah blah blah. We're all seeing you know what I'm saying that that becomes an issue too.
Well, it doesn't. It doesn't because here's the thing about athletes. Athletes, no what's going on in the locker room.
We practice together.
And if someone is kicking the crap out of me every day in practice and he's getting two hundred and I'm getting one fifty, I'm not really tripping steed because I know it's real.
He's better than me. I know why he's getting more. There's a there's a there's a settling freshman.
Athletes, even in well, freshman has to prove his worth on the team.
You know they're gonna get Hayes.
Right back to Steve's question, what if what if you're a senior they have a freshman come in, you know, just insert name, and that freshman's getting four yeah, just to be here on reputation and you're making a hundred and you're kicking his better practice.
As a young person, yeah, you know, twenty one year old me would have a hard time swallowing that. Now that I'm older and I'm like, okay, this kid's the future.
Hey, we just got Mike Bibbie.
He's the number one player in the country and he's gonna make more than il than you as a senior. Well, I wasn't the number one player in the country, and I wasn't you know, so I could probably wrap my head around it, but it would be tough because athletes are competitive. We're talking about an era and I wanted to touch on the kJ Lewis thing. We're talking about the era where players earned everything they got. So when you give a kid nil money, he's still got to
prove something to his teammates. He still does the nil money equal playing time. I mean, you talked about Doug Gottlieb and what he did. There's this connection now between. You have to play who you pay. Otherwise you've got a donor base that's mad at you now, so it's really chaotic.
You're going to talk about go ahead, Well, you know.
I understand that he has to be taken out of the starting lineup so that they could develop Carter Ryan. And I'm like, I get it. It's Tommy's call ultimately, but I just can't think of any conceivable way that if I earned a starting position in the off season, if we don't function best with our strongest lineup, then what are we doing? And then it speaks to this thing. And I'm not specifically going at Tommy. I'm just wondering.
No one benefits from being given anything. So if you're not a starter, why are we giving you minutes and opportunities to kind of get you going, to build you up, to build you along. I come from an era where that took place at the end of blowouts. Okay, we're up twenty five four minutes ago, Freshmen, get out there and show me what you can do earn your playing time if you want more playing time.
Luke did not let the.
Final minutes of a blowout go to waste. He used it to see what the bench guys wanted to do if they could show themselves.
Now, you got a kid.
Who's got a tremendous upside, and I understand every coach has to quote unquote fine minutes for a kid, but why would you weaken the lineup to do it. I don't know if that's why they paid time the big bucks. I hope it works out. I think it's gonna work out. But when I heard that, it struck a nerve with me because I remember fighting for my starting spot, then ultimately losing my starting spot to Mike Dickerson, then fighting for it again and getting it back as a senior.
So I'm like, yo, I can't think of any universe in which I would ever asked to be taken out of the lineup.
Given the hell that I went through, from Chris Mills to Reggie Gary, to Mike Dickerson to Miles Simon, I had to fight for that small forward position at Arizona, and I would have never given up walking out there to jump Ball and McHale.
That's an honor.
If you're one of those five guys, your name isn't. It's not necessarily exeting history, but people know who you are when you make it to the starting lineup at Arizona.
So it is what it is. I'm curious to see how it's gonna work out. I hope it works out.
It's just something I probably never could have done. But then again, I played thirty years ago.
Yeah. Yeah, it's a totally different time. Corey, as always, thank you for joining us. Appreciate it, sure thing, no problem.
Make sure Cody sakes you out to dinner.
I don't even know it's going to be on this with Steve. I've done twice and two times in like three four years, three or four years something like that. That's kind of fine.
Okay, cool, cool, Thanks Cory again, appreciate it. You said him, he's who's writing the check. You were him for the dinners at Flemings. Uh, Corey, Okay, let's go. We're gonna take a break and get some breaking news from Henry on the other side.