This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services ensure your most prized possessions.
They're good enough to do and everybody welcome to Eye on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. In with me today is Ryan Hanson. Longtime you have a guy? Well, how wou's your Doug? Do you have a title? It's nice when you don't. I like the U of a guy. That's a that's your Carmel title. It is on my business card. Yeah.
My day job is I'm the president of Bomboyash Travel. So that's where I came from to join you on the air today. But color analyst for the men's basketball radio broadcast. That's what probably most people in town now would recognize the voice from you.
You have like slash like three one thing. One thing was slash Slash Slash. Then we've got Kobe running the show. Kobe, I hope this goes smoothly. We know that will, right, we know that it will. Anybody want to call in, please do. We're gonna probably look back at a lot of things that Ryan's been around since like the early nineties.
Yeah, I started as a student manager with Loud Olsen back in nineteen ninety two. So you think about who was here back then, So it's the Khalid Reeves, Damon Stodamaier here coming off right, the heels of Chris Mills and that group.
So Chris was already that was his final year.
Chris had left and I started the next year. So really my first year with the team as a student manager was the ninety three. I was a stat guy in ninety two ninety three, but my first year, which is why I loved claiming it was the final four year, right, not a first round last year.
Yeah, okay. And I started covering the team fully at ninety one ninety two, so it's our wheelhouse, right. I was here being backing up in the late eighties nineties for all that stuff. So cool, No, we might go back. We're reminisce to the good old days. But these times are crazy times, right, football, basketball and everything else. We
had Rita Stubbs yesterday. They're on that caravan of doing things right, you know, shaking hands, getting babies, trying to dren it generate enthusiasm at UVA, which I'm sure every school does or should this place. This place is unique in as much as it's not one of those top tier schools I'm not speaking out of turn, I don't think, but it's not also one of those bottom feeder schools.
It's right in the middle like it was in the PAC twelve, PAC ten, and now it's trying to climb its way back to or not back to the top. But finances are going to probably be an issue.
Yeah, the whole dynamic of college athletics, the landscape is something like we've never seen and we'll i'm sure potentially get into a little bit of that with some of our guests today. But one of the things that I look at, Steve, is I am impressed with what's going on in the athletics department right now, with the effort to try to generate that fan connection. And Tucson is a is a unique destination. It is a college town, but it's not, as you know, a generational Arizona Wildcat fan.
There's so many of the supporters and maybe fortunately or unfortunately the financially ones that are well off to make this significant donations. Many of them Arizona was not the school that they grew up watching as a kid because they didn't grow up here. They may not even be an alum of the University of Arizona, but they've retired here and so this is now their closest connection to
an athletics department. So, because you don't have that generational fandom that comes with the Southeast Conference and their football programs or some of the Midwest teams like a Michigan and Ohio State that it's handed down season tickets are passed down generationally, you almost have to rekindle the fire more often here in Tucson to generate that connection to the local community. So the Caravan is doing a really
good job. Some of the offseason wins. You know, I'd like to at least give major credit to Desiree and the hire of the new women's basketball coach. That was kind of an interesting dynamic of how that came about. I think ultimately that's going to be a win that's going to be a net positive for Arizona women's basketball.
And that's saying a lot. That's saying a lot because everyone loved most everyone loved Idea, right, and it's gonna be hard to replace her, But I like you think that she will fit in fine. It might take a little bit a minute or two, but yeah, I think I see what you see.
There's tremendous support here for women's basketball, maybe unlike many others in the in the conference. So we're excited about I am about what she's doing.
The new hire in becky Burg. We already got a call. Hello, you're on the air and nine on the ball. Who's this, Hey, Steve, This is Doug.
How you doing?
Hey, Doug, how are you good to hear from me?
Yeah?
Too, you know, I'm just running around town. I just flipped on the radio and I hear Rhino on there, and uh, I just want to say, Hey, Rhinos, Doug, you're one of the more underappreciated people in the in the basketball program. I just wanted to say that, you know, I recognize your insights are really valuable. I'm glad that you're still doing the radio show after all these years. And I always trust, I always trust what you say
on the air. I feel like you always understand, you know, the not just the x's and o's, but also like what's between the ears on the players. And I think the community doesn't really I don't know if the community really appreciates how much you have your finger on the pulse of the program. So I just wanted to say thank you for all that for many years of service.
Well thanks, Doug.
I absolutely remember you know who you are and love your support of the programs over the years. You've been an ardent supporter through all the thing of Arizona Athletics and your I do appreciate the commentary. I've lived a blessed life to be connected to Arizona Athletics and more particular Arizona basketball for as long as I.
I was gonna when you when I got you to come on yesterday, I was going to say that to you. I don't know a guy. I know a lot of guys who've had a lot of success and blah blah blah. You're one of them because you get to do what you want to do right. You're there, You're associated with the basketball team, they're successful, you get to do the play by player analyst, and then you have a real world job, which is a fan fantastic job. You work for a dude. I really like a lot Peter Evans.
I do.
And it's a local community owned, you know, family owned business, been in business, will be fifty years next spring, so to be to be connected to a locally owned business like Bomboyage. When I talk to people and they say, well, what do you do when you're not calling games? Well, we're selling vacations and I get to travel. So one week from tomorrow I'm headed to Ireland so for on a business trip. So my business trips aren't to the Tulsa Airport Marriott for a convention and a stale donut.
You know, I'll be staying at the Ashford Castle in Ireland. So I do live a pretty blessed life. And back to Doug's point, part of that blessed life is my partner on the air for the games, Brian Jeffries. He is to me the very best in the industry and he makes me sound better. So I appreciate Doug the comments about my inside. Yeah, I couldn't do it without Brian, that guy is speaking of, and I think people are
starting to recognize and realize. I don't think people don't appreciate who Brian is, but even as much as they do appreciate him, they don't appreciate him enough.
Because that guy's a pro. He is a pros pro and he was here Bone before.
Yeah, no doubt.
We hear every now and then we'll hear about, you know, like the play by play guy for X y Z School has retired or something, and it always just gives me chills because I can't stand the idea of someday Brian not doing our games. I will say that his son, Brody is I think a real talent up and coming. He's already doing you of a baseball and I think, as you do softball too, or women's basketball.
And he did women's basketball for Yeah, he did women's basketball for a season. And then he is stepping up his game and they'll be utilizing him more. As the Big Twelve requires all of these events to be on ESPN or ESPN Plus or some streaming network, you'll be hearing Brody quite a bit more. And I actually had an opportunity to broadcast in Arizona basketball three game series with Brody because Brian Jefferies couldn't make the trip for
the Battle for Atlantis this year. Doug, if you recall that he was staying back for the Arizona ASU Territorial Cup football game, which he should and we want him on that so to be able to join Brody on the air. I actually called him Brian and two or three times because he sounds so much like his father does. His cadences delivery is very professional and very much like
his dad. He has a very bright future in broadcasting if he chooses to do that, and I, like you hope that that is a start here and we get to see and actually hear him more on Arizona broadcast if it's I think he's done some gymnastics meets for Arizona. He's definitely stepping in on on the baseball side of things. But Brian and Brody are treasures of Tucson and where we really are blessed because those guys they care. They've got great passion. That's one thing I think you you've
touched on it, Doug. It's not just Brian's ability to deliver a great broadcast. It's the passion and the care for the school and the players and the coaches. It comes through his voice, doesn't it, Doug. I mean you hear that in his dogs.
Yeah, he lives it right. It's like family, It's his extended family. And it's not just the ex It's not just you know what happened on the field or on the court. It's it's the context all around it, and he really paints the picture and he you know, obviously he'll credit guys that he learned from for decades, you know, as a as a young man. But now you just you just pay it forward to the next generation. And
you know, two songs been blessed. A lot of really talented people have gone to lucrative or you know, successful careers and broadcasting. You know, Steve Rivera is one of them. You know how lucrative Steve, but you know successful. And then you look at you know, Ryan Ratkey, you look at Dan Hicks, and you know Tom Tolbert up in the Bay Area, and you know, all kinds of people on every walk of you know, every corner of the
athletic campus here. We've had a lot of a lot of guys and gals move on to success, which is pretty cool to see.
Thanks for calling that out.
Yeah yeah, but again, what I.
Ask you know, the name Hansen has come up a lot in you've a you know, athletics. I always forget are you connected family wise to any of the other people the name Hansen that have come through the athletics.
Department and it's an interesting quote.
And when I first started with the basketball program, obviously the sports writer for Therison a daily star, the great editor Greg Hanson. I am not related to Greg at all, so there was always a question of hey, are you the sports writer's son.
No, I'm not.
And then at the time, if you recall Doug, the packed Ten commissioner at the time was Tom Hanson spelled the same exact way, and we are not related either. Well, his son Brian was a student manager at the exact same time I was there, so I was connected to him. And then Erica and I have a different spelling name, so Erica Barnes formerly Erica. She's h anso n She's Norwegian descent. I'm Danish descent with the e en. But she and I we've known each other a long time.
She was a marketing intern in athletics when I started working in the Wildcat Club together and we shared an office. So she's gone to athletic greatness. I'm still doing the same old thing, so she's out kicked my coverage. She's an awesome person and we wish her the very best and her future endeavors. But what a great, great contribution she made for twenty plus years to athletics and bring back the handsome part of that Doug.
So yeah, absolutely, all right. So we've established her one of one and I just want to say we appreciate you. So I'll look forward to hearing more.
Thank you. Yeah, thank you, Doug. We'll see you soon, all right, you will. Yeah, thanks, good call, thank you. Let's say before we get to the break, we're going to have a pretty good show here. I think I always kind of a I come through with a late hit in the bottom of the ninth to save the game, and I'm just saving it. I'm not winning it. Uh. We're gonna have coach Candrea here at in about three eighteen, talked just about you know what's going on. He's still
helping with the softball program. I think he's still helping in the athletic department. So you know he still has his after never retired. Don't retire because you become a busier person to be Hey, you've got time. It's like I call coach Lopez all the time, can you come on, I got baseball. I gotta do this. And everybody wants to a piece of him, right, and Candrea is one of those guys. And then at four seventeen, we're gonna talk to John Fina, former U of A football player,
Buffalo Bill guy. I want to talk to him about football one and two, how it was for the draft when he was getting drafted, because today's draft, right, and we'll see if t Mac gets drafted early or mid first round. Yeah, there's so many varying Oh.
I know, and all the different experts at him. What was the latest I saw? Maybe tenth? Is that what I thought?
For doubt to Dallas, which is nice, the one of the lower ones, like twenty twenty two, and there was Have you watched the internet. I haven't watched it closely in the last couple of days. I hate the Twitter. Everyone's an expert. Everyone's an expert. Even the experts are saying, well this guy, I'm hearing this and this, and it's not good news about t Mac. And then you know, when you're in Tucson, you're saying, there's full of it. You and I both know this.
And when it comes to draft, either NBA or Major League Baseball or NFL, my hope for an Arizona Wildcat guy like a t Mac is that he just lands in the right situation. So if it's tenth, twelfth, twenty second to me, yeah, the money might be a slight variable there, but you want him in a great situation so that he can get off from the right places.
So many times, if you get drafted to the wrong franchise that has, in his case, maybe a quarterback that doesn't jive with you, or an offensive coordinator that doesn't utilize your strengths, then your career could be dictated based on those first couple of years.
Sure, I remember, and a lot of the comments are not always accurate. I remember when Richard came out and you both. I spent time with Richard in that group, Luke and Lauren and Michael Wright, that two thousand and one group when he was decided to come out as a junior. One of the pundits of a friend of mine he has been on the show a few times, said I don't think he's ready for the NBA. His
stats don't show it. You know, he's making you know, a certain percentage of his shots, he's averaging twelve points whatever a game, doesn't really have a handle on it. Yet again, I'm thinking, I know you're good at what you do, but you don't see what people see jump through the gym. He's kind of got a good hit at that time, a good IQ for basketball. Obviously, now he's doing what he's doing, he has a great IQ.
But you know what I'm saying, and I'm thinking, you don't see what he offers because you don't see him all the time.
Yeah, if you're right, and there's so many variables to to how you're going to be successful moving down the road, and Richard's one of those guys. I agree his stats maybe didn't jump off the page, but boy, talk about where he's taken his career.
Well.
Also during that time, let's throw that roster at you him, Gilbert, Jason, Luke, Lauren, Michael so and you're playing for LUT. I always can say this that who held Michael Jordan to sixteen points this seasoning being Smith exactly and in Lut's programs, unless you were Jason Terry in ninety nine, you weren't scoring a lot of points.
Right, and you weren't given the green light relatively speaking. You and I both have talked about this at nauseum. The two thousand and one team that you just referenced, arguably and maybe for my money, the most talented group of Wildcats, but an interesting group, a cast of characters to a certain degree when you throw in Eugene Edgerson in the mix with Luke and Richard and Gilbert and how those different dynamics worked personality wise, that was definitely.
A coaching job. Loud Olsoen it was.
It's easy to say, wow, great talent, but he had personalities to juggle to.
That said, you forgot. Another personality is Ricky Anderson who had oh he was a stick the Whippi boy from lut even though they were really close.
You know what, I'm great Ricky Anderson story. Every day Coach Rosboro would go to Ricky Anderson and ask him how he was feeling energy wise and what his health status was. And Ricky would respond with a percentage, and it was a very specific percentage every day. So if he was having an off day, Steve, he would tell you, yeah, seventy seven percent today, coach seventy seven percent. If he's feeling good, ninety three percent today, coach ninety three percent.
So Ricky what a great dude, great fun and he had a we had a fun time with Ricky on campus for his five years.
Yeah, Okay, you gotta go. We're gonna reach out Kendria in about four minutes and get back.
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This is I on the Ball with Steve Ravera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio AIPP just search I on the Ball.
Hey, welcome back to On the Ball here on Fox Sports forteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera in with b to d Is, Ryan Hanson, Rhino and now on the phone, Hall of Fame softball coach Mike Candrea. You may know who he is. Mike. How you doing.
I'm doing great. How are you guys?
We're fine. How's that retirement of your ghost going?
Oh? It is absolutely wonderful. You know, every day is a.
Saturday, Die, I would say kind of facetiously, because you're still busy as all hell.
Yeah, well, I've got one foot in, one foot out. But you know what, I'm having fun and doing what I can.
I was gonna say, you're not good at retirement, but you're very good at retirement.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Coach. It's great to look.
If you look at my golf game, you would not think.
That I was retired.
That's another problem altogether. But hey, coach, good to connect with you. Love love getting around you. And one of the things that I've noticed, and I know that is maybe a passion of yours, is coaching the coaches. And I think that's a really incredible part of the athletic administration is it's not just about coaching the student athletes.
That's that is the essence of what an athletics department does, but you've got to you've got to develop your coaches, and can you talk a little bit about the types of things that you're doing in addition to just the one on one connections that you're trying to help bolster and grow this next generation of great coaches so that they can they can really flourish as Hall of Fame potential coaches in their own right.
Well, right, you know, I just try to keep myself available for them. You know, they've got busy schedules, but they'll reach out to me every now and then and we'll sit down and talk about some things, whether it's issues that they're having or advice that they want. But you know, I just really wanted to be number one, have a seat at the table with the leadership team to represent our coaching staff because they don't have time
to do that all the time. And then number two, just to make myself available and if I can help in any way, whether it's whether it's some questions about team building, whether it's questions about leadership, whether it's questions about everything but the x's and o's.
You know, I stay away from that stuff.
But it's been a lot of fun and it's been very gratifying for me to be able to continue to kind of keep a pulse on you of a athletics, which is something that I love so dearly, and it's been a lot of fun.
So you retired, I want to say, I'm gonna guess now, maybe three four years ago, I'm guessing you were an ad here for a cup of coffee, for a couple of coffee. Let me take a guess here. You're thankful you're not the ad giferent the climate of what's going on, I was telling Rhino maybe fifteen minutes ago, I'm glad I'm kind of almost out of the business in a sense that it's a crazy world that you guys are living in.
Yeah, it is very.
A lot of moving parts, let's say, but I think an exciting time depending on how you look at it.
You know, it is what it is, and we have.
To find our way to continue to stay competitive. And there's some challenges ahead of us that I'm sure desires working really hard to make sure that we can meet those because we are all in you know, we're not looking to go backwards by any means, and so.
We're going to have to be creative and smart.
And yeah, the future is going to be quite interesting, to tell you the truth.
Coach Kendra, from your perspective, the local Tucson fan, what's the one thing they could do to support Arizona Athletics if they're if they're.
Not the Powerball winner?
Right, that'd be awesome if you had a couple of Powerball winners to write big checks.
We get that in this nil era.
But for that that twosone in that just loves the Wildcats, what's one or two things they could do to really just support this program? And like you said, it's ever evolving in this it is what it is. So if you love the Wildcats, you need to love the Wildcats.
Yeah, you know, I think basically the just the continued support. You know, we need to put people in the seats number one. So buying a ticket for a football season ticket helps us tremendously because you know, the two movers are going to be football and then it's basketball, and so we have to make sure that we do everything
we can to do our part. And I think any person can help by and I always said this, you know, even when I was coaching, I said, you know, the best way you can help our softball program is to buy season tickets for football, and I don't think that's changed one bit at all. I think, you know, we need everyone support and we need to make sure that the narrative around the community is a positive one. And I think there's a lot of things that are in my eyes that are moving in the right direction, and
they're very positive. To start with is our coaching staff. I think we have a tremendous coaching staff in all of our sports, and they all deserve support. And I think our community has always been the key to the success of Arizona Athletics.
One of the things that I agree with you. I had Rocky on maybe a week or so ago after the passion of Centric, and I've said this a few times over the last couple of years that these times, you know, when Jed was doing really well, and obviously Tommy was doing really well, and it rivaled the mid nineties when the glory years in at least in my time, and even before that, you were winning championships like crazy, and that this program was headed in that direction. It
kind of still is. Look at the look at the programs they are doing really well. Would you kind of agree with me with that?
No, I would.
I think right now we've got a lot of good things that are happening.
You know.
I think Chip Chip has got the baseball program going in the right direction.
I think our golf programs are doing well.
I think softball is I'm so proud of Caitlin and the j she's done. She has done a really a fantastic job, and I think they're going to be competitive in postseason. Tennis has been really good. You know, I think all of our sports right now are moving the needle in the right direction. You know, Unfortunately you only read a lot about men's basketball and football, but there's a lot to be proud of here.
You know.
I really like our coaches, and I know they're all in and they're all doing their part to make this transition as smoothly as we can because it is going to be challenging. And you know, we're still waiting for the case to get settled with the revenue share, and I think that's going to take us into a whole nother direction with college athletics.
Yeah, Coach Andrea, for those listeners that maybe are new to Tucson or maybe the last ten to fifteen years, you touched on something about the overall breadth of the Arizona athletics department, and Steve mentioned it back in the nineties and even in the two thousands, the success of.
So many different programs.
Yes, men's basketball won a national title in ninety seven, that was the flag bearer. You were winning national titles. But the other sports that just kept competing at an exceptionally high level. Bush right, the women's volleyball Bush Dave Rubio brought the volleyball program to a Final four in two thousand and one from a place where it wasn't
very competitive in the eighties. I wanted to take you back, coach ca Andrea to McHale of the nineties, and you were walking around McHale and you'd rub shoulders with the great Dick Tomy, You'd rub shoulders with Loud Olsen, a Hall of famer, Basketball Hall of Famer, Frank Bush.
Fred Harvey is still there.
But guys like like that, can you talk about just the camaraderie that you guys I knew have as had as coaches in the ultimate respect for each other because the programs were just being run at it at a very high level.
Yeah, you know, we I always go back and we had great leaders and great people, and we enjoyed one another.
We leaned on one another.
And we enjoyed the success of one another. And you know, the climate has changed tremendously with the TV revenue that's coming in now and the growth of the SEC and the Big Ten and and all that. But back in the nineties, you know, we just we put our mind to making our teams better and we helped each other recruit, which was another big thing. And I think that's a
big part of it is. You know, we have a great community here and I think two sounds of a wonderful place, and and we have to continue to use that to bring in athletes. But at the end of the day, Ry, you know, there's so many more choices, and you know, back in the day, we could pretty much dominate the southern California market, and you know, today those same people are moving all over the country and so it is much more challenging to get into great athletes. But coaching
is coaching, you know. I mean, I think we still have coaches here that do a great job of developing our athletes and preparing them for life after their sports are done. And I think sometimes that's overlooked. You know, our academic results have been extremely high over the last five years. We keep breaking records on our GPAs, and so I think there's just a lot of differences in today's world than there was back then.
I think life was simpler in.
The nineties, and you know, most of my coaching was done without social media, without cell phones, and you start adding those things, and I think just kids today have so much more to think about and to navigate through, and it has become tough. You know, I was talking to someone today about back in the day, we always
were concerned about mental performance. You know, how can we have our athletes be able to do their best job when when their best job was needed and handling pressure and all those things.
Well, today it's about mental health.
Yeah, And I mean it's a real thing. There's a lot of kids that are navigating very tough times, and some of these things don't make it any easier. But I think the University of Arizona and our athletic department do a great job in giving the resources that they need. And you know, I think at the end of the day, it's as long as you keep the student athlete in the center of everything, then you're going to be okay.
One of the things that I've learned in this business after being in it for a long time and having covering Loot and covering you to a degree and doing stories on Frankelnbellin, is that coaching matters. We've seen coaches other places in here come and go because they just weren't good enough, and you can kind of tell who
they are or whatever. But when you got here in the mid eighties and you're a baseball guy, right when you got here, what did you think you needed to do one to be established yourself as a guy who's going to be good at what he did. And eventually you do became that guy. And did you have a did you use your secret sauce early? Because you obviously had some kind of magic for doing it for so long? And Will.
Well, I think if I if I look at myself back then, it was it was all about building relationships, number one. And it was all about recruiting high character kids that were competitive. And then it was it was.
High standards, you know.
I mean, every day you walk out there, you can set a standard and it's your choice whether it's going to be high or low and many of those coaches you're talking about had very high standards and they held their athletes accountable.
Yeah, and I think that that's really.
It's not a secret sauce, but it's it's something that you have to work at each and every day because it can be tough. I mean, coaching can be a lonely job at times, and to stay true to yourself and follow your moral compass throughout your career can be sometimes challenging.
To that end, Coach, ke Andre, who were some of the coaches or administrators or people in your time when you were in the on the diamond that helped you through those ups and downs? There was a many many ups, coach, but I know you may you probably remember some of the losses in those championship series in games, maybe more than even some of the wins. Who are some of the people that you leaned on peer to peer.
Well, I mean there's so many. But I was blessed to have a locker next to loud Olson. So that's one of the big differences right now is that it seems like everyone's kind of in their own place, and there's never a time when all the coaches are in the same locker room. Well back then, we had one locker room, and so you know, I would I would dress next salute every day and we would talk shop and Jerry Kendall and Jim Wing and you know, Frank Bush was another one that kind of felt some of
the same pains that I did. And you know it was just Rick Lorose, a good friend of mine, and yeah, kind of comes out of the same mold. You know, he was very competitive and great recruiter, and you know, he knew how to handle kids.
He was a great relationship builder.
And so I took a little bit from everyone, you know, but I spent a lot of time My office was across from Jerry Kendall and Jim Wing and Jerry Stitt.
And obviously with a.
Commonality we had in the bad ball game, I used to spend a lot of time just sitting around there and she in the ball with him and bouncing things off. And you know, as a young coach, it's it's.
So important, you know.
I think sometimes when you're a young coach, you kind of feel lonely and you don't know where to go. But the one great thing about all of those people is they were they were always willing to share information and try to make you better. And Dick Tomy, you know, another one that just was a very very good friend of mine that did things the right way, and I learned from him, you know, And so I, yeah, I
always go back to my baseball background. And you know, in junior college baseball, I was surrounded by some really phenomenal coaches and like the Gary Wards of the world, and Jim Friese and you Rich all days, and you know, Freddie Nelson at Scottsdale, Herboletto plug Marriage and I used to be in their back pocket as much as I could,
because I think that's the way you learn. And when I came here with my baseball background, I was very comfortable to sharing information because all the information we have is not.
Unique, you know.
But but sometimes you realize that it's it's the delivery that matters most. And so I would spend a lot of time watching these guys operate and talk to the verbiage that they use. And at the end of the day, you know, you've got to be able to you've got to be able to get kids to love what they're doing and and then to treat them with respect and honesty and and build a relationship that's going to last a lifetime.
One quick question before we go, Mike, we talked. I joked about you being busy. Now tell me you're your association with the softball team now and and how tied into you are you?
Yeah, well, you know, I'm when when Erica stepped down, I became the sport administrator for softball this year, so I've I've been able to do a little more than planned with them, But truly I've been a fan since I left, watching Caitlin do such a great job with this program. And so I'm around quite a bit there and that's been a lot.
Of fun, you know.
And then I'm on a leadership team for Desiree and and that has been really good to be able to see college athletics from a ten thousand foot view versus I was always in the submarine worrying about softball, and that has been very enlightening and it really has helped me continue to grow about college athletics, you know. And it's fun to be able to go out to practices and watch Tommy work and be able to sit around
and talk with him. And We've got a new swim coach and a program that's doing very well and enjoying watching them. And then tennis with Clancy and Ryan have done a great job. I mean, there's just so many good things out here. Beca Morris and then now I'm very excited that we got to do you know, new women's basketball coach that I think is a young and hungry and and is willing to sit down and listen and and talk. You know, I'm going to try to help her as much as I can. And uh, I hated, hated to.
See a d go.
She she was a wild cat from back back in the nineties when when I'm when we were talking, and a great athlete and has done a great job. But you know, she's making a move to SMU, so we wish her the best, and.
I just I just like where we're at right now.
I think Desiree has done a really good job in navigating this new climate. And I'm just so glad that I'm not in that chair, because there's no way in hell.
I want to. You're right, Mike, as usual, thank you very much, thanks for doing this today.
All right, guys, good to see and thanks for all you do.
Thank you, Thank you, Mike Kenrea, a great guy, one of the great guys with us today. Let's tick the break. So 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 Ludolsen era. In my new book, Lessons from Lout 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
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Streaming live on the iHeartRadio app. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty eight.
Hey, welcome back to I in the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty I'm Steve Rivera. He's Ryan Hanson. Thanks for filling in here. We've got Kobe running the show here and already I don't know how we're gonna finish the next ten minutes. Got somebody texting me saying, great, great segment here, one of the best ever. Uh, thank you Rhino and coach. And I'm throwing all of that to the goat.
When you have Mike Candrea, one of the greatest of all time in any sport, on the air, talking about his experiences, talking about what he learned, who he leaned on that He is a master communicator, a very good department person for Arizona. To have him still on staff as a resource for Desiree and the rest of the coaching staff, I think is brilliant to keep him around and and just it's not just about keeping him around.
He that guy's contributing daily. And the second one I got was great to hear a voice of reason and appreciation for Arizona Athletics from coach Candrea. You know, I've said this and I mean this, and you know the guys better than me. The coach is better, Candrea. The coach Andy Lopez is the bushes up. They don't they don't win by accident, right. They know exactly what they're doing,
and they're they're firm, they're direct, and they're trusting. And the kids either know it or they don't write And they play for lout come on. And I've said this thousands of times when you were in the locker room more than more than me.
Uh uh.
They played hard for him because they didn't want to disappoint him, and he had a pretty good scheme.
Both were needed, Yeah, both were needed. It's not just about the ex's and o's And you've got to know the game. You've got you've got to be able to scout, you've got to be able to prepare, and Coach Olson one of the greatest preparation teachers in the game. But you obviously have to get your players to play better than they think. And guys like Chanting Fry and a Jason Terry come to mind, where you developed them into
better than who they maybe even hoped to become. But there is a common thread when you when you talk about the coaches that have been and come through Arizona Athletics and have been exceptionally successful, the common theme is they're good people. If you start there and they treat people well, they recruit and bring in coaches of high character. They don't just have success on the court. There's a plan.
They hold people accountable. You heard coach Kendrea talk about that, and that's something that in this day and age, is a different dynamic to hold this generation of student athletes accountable. With cell phone, social media, et cetera.
Good a call, Hello, you're on the air, nine on the ball. Who's this? I hate Bill? Hey Bill?
How are you good? Right?
Rhino, as much as you are a voice the Wildcats and as big as you've become. And I've been listening. I've been going to the football, baseball, and basketball almost my whole life here, and I'm sixty two now. But as big as you are and as stamlish as you are in our household, your mom's always number one because she taught all my kids in kindergarten.
I love it, Bill, Yeah, Jane Hanson. So they were at Richardson Elementary here in town.
Yep, yep. And no matter how big you get, chill always be bigger than you in our house.
I echo that sentiment.
My mom unfortunately passed away it'll be four years this coming month in May, and was an incredible supporter of me. And part of that what's interesting, Bill is she was a huge Arizona basketball fan, and after games and I would call the games, I would call her on the phone and she would tell me everything I should have said on the radio about the performance or what should have happened. And Arizona has never committed a foul in her books.
She is that ultimate fan.
I'm sure she passed on her love of the Wildcats through her teaching to your three kids. Thank you for mentioning that, and I don't know if you remember or even knew this. She was my kindergarten teacher as well, so I say she was the best at it.
That's awesome. Yeah, she made them love them even though you know they grew up in a Wildcat family. She perpetuated that with them and it was awesome. She was great. You were a manager when my oldest was in there, so we ran the gamut with that, but it was awesome. And I want to tell you thank you for what you do. You are very good at what you do in ourpreciate it, but your mom was the best.
I love that, and thanks for your love and support of the Wildcats and what they're doing now. It takes people like you to keep the community going. And coach Candrea talked about that, Steve. It's not just the nil and the money that's being thrown around. It's not just coaches being great at what they do. It still matters.
It's that community support and people like Bill and others that come to games that support from AFAR as best as they can because those things still matter to student athletes. They still want to play in front of full houses, They want to play in front of crowds that care about them. So all of these things, there's more to it now than ever, but all of these things matter.
Thanks Bill, Thanks, thank you. I appreciate you. Thanks for listening. Yeah, yeah, no question. Why do you think? How mush t we have? You got about five minutes? Right, We're good? Okay. We've seen players come and go, both the females and males very in sports. Is it the money? Is it? The need for change? Is what is it? What's like the top?
Give me the top three in order though, in order in order, because if you're coming here and we've seen it, we've seen it anyway before in ail, right, because they wasn't a fan, they weren't getting time whatever and time, so give me, give me. I'll start with the number one, which may not be what you might think it is. They can.
Start with the rule change, right, So transfer portal has opened up a whole new opportunity that you were penalized back in the nineties and two thousands, even not that long ago. If you wanted to transfer, you had to sit out right, So that was a punitive transfer rule. And I think some of the rule makes sense, but I also recognize that student athletes life changes around you coaching changes your own thoughts of what a school was.
You go to school and it's not what you thought, and so you may want to make a change, even as a regular student. Kolby knows this. As a student, you come here and it may not be what you think. So I would start with the opportunity to change has been presented to them. There's no doubt the financial upside, especially in the revenue generating sports. That would be Number two for me is the financial opportunity. And then I do think there is always and still will ever be
the grass is greener. So it's what is my opportunity, not just to make nil money, but it's to further my game. I'm going to get more playing time, the coach is going to like me better, I'm going to like my circumstances. I'm going to elevate to a program that is maybe viewed nationally as an elevation opportunity. We see that with mid majors making their moves, So it's not just Arizona that sees players leave. It's a lot of schools that see that. So those would probably be
the three for me. Okay, No, I think the first one is a little bit different. But yeah, it's number one before it with they're handcuffed a little.
Yeah, so to.
Say, oh man, look at all these kids leaving. They never used to do that. Well, they were penalized before. And so the change of rules, it's almost the self fulfilling prophecy. You give someone an open door, they're going to take it. If it's a wall, it's a little harder to go through.
Yeah, yeah, no question. I've asked this of Harvey Mason, Uthic and whoever else I could with, with Williams, Pete Limbs, all the guys that could have on. How would Loot handle today's world? Wow, it would have been tough for him.
He was a teacher and now as a as a basketball coach or even a coach in intercollegiate athletics. We know, yes, you still are teaching. You have to be a fundraiser, you have to be well, he was a fundraiser for for the program, not for individual players.
Right, there's a different no, no, no, no, no, that's and that's you are correct if that's distinguishing. Yeah, but he could do that. You know, he walked into the room and he was like the president coming. You know, we went to the White House, and he looked more presidential than the.
President he did, and he could get donations. He was the closer for most of our fundraising efforts in the Wildcat Club. When he walked in and said we need a new basketball practice facility, there were blank checks being being signed. But I think just the management of the egos he was very good at, and there were some that slipped through the cracks and ended up transferring and couldn't make it here under the way he liked to
do things. But when you throw the financial piece in there, Steve, it just becomes even more challenging for the coaches nowadays to have to manage the entourage that comes with that and the expectations. Coach Candorea throughout the phrase mental health versus mental performance. I think he's spot on with that.
Just the pressures that are on the student athletes now and the head coaches are responsible for managing that and shepherding the players and student athletes through those highs and lows, and how to manage the entourage. Now that there's an agent now, sure that's legal, So it's a whole new ball of axe.
And he had to deal with that back in the day too, because you can unit the handlers trying to manipulate blah blah blah. This Henry situation to me, I thought Henry was a fantastic player when he first got here. I was high high on him. Then this last year was fantastic because I could see it. I could see it, everyone could see it. And if he had a Henry guy, I think he would be unbelievably disappointed because Henry, I've coached to become this player and now you're leaving me.
Right now, you're leaving me after what I've done to make you this player. I think you would hate because that's what you did.
It's potentially true, Steve, that there's a lack of loyalty.
Yeah, a certain degree, and this gesture on that list right.
If it's probably three A if there was one, is what you and I grew up with, and how how people looked at institutions and looked at people. It's it's a far more and not at this is a bad thing. It's just it's evolved to a less loyal, more transient situation. And so as a student athlete, because I have opportunity, because there's financial gain beyond what the wildest dreams of many people as we've looked at what players are getting potentially paid now to three three and a half million
dollars for an eight month stopover at a school. And I don't think Henry's in that necessary stratosphere, but he's definitely done well for himself. How can you, as a co coach look at a student athlete and say you should be loyal to me and not take that money. I think that's almost unfair to the student athlete. But boy, that landscape has made it a much different situation for a head coach.
Walks you that six minutes went by like that with two quick discussions. We've got to go take a break. We'll get some breaking news from Kobe, and then talk to John Fieda after that.