This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services ensure your most prized possessions.
Thank good enough to do it, everybody. Welcome to Eye on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Roberta, You're Dave Silver, and we've got our guy Kobe at the gate here keeping control. I hope they hope you guys are hearing us. We're doing starting off nice, Dave. I'm doing well. Good to be back again.
Kind of the post game situation after the big basketball game last night, So what a game?
A lot to talk about. I was talking to somebody who's at the game last night during the game and after the game. What a to me?
I don't know who lost your opinion a second, but to me, it was a bunch of piranhas going at it one and two.
It was a sloppy, good fun game. Yeah it was. It was a very evenly matched game.
The oddsmakers had it right on with like a you know, one and a half point difference, and you know it's funny. I was thinking, well, Florida is actually gonna beat Houston at Houston's game, and they were playing tough defense and kind of making things ugly, and nobody really shot very well. Nobody could really you know, overpower anybody. You know, Houston had the lead, but you know it was kind of just hanging there for Florida to take.
Anybody smart from watching Saturday's game could have predicted this type of game because they saw two like this on Saturday.
Yeah, it was. It was fun to watch it, you know, anytime a game is close, you know, it was. It was good.
It was.
It was good TV and good to watch. Yeah.
No, no, and drama till the end. Unfortunately, a bad play for Houston, A couple of bad plays for Houston.
Yeah at the end.
Yeah, I mean they you know, they hesitated a big time obviously on that last on the last possession. That should have just fired it up there and try to get the offensive rebund because they were doing that almost all game anyway, so that could have been their chance to maybe you know, steal the win or at least tie it up.
I am not complaining to Dave. I know you did well. I did well yesterday. Yeah, I said it all week last week. What I had Bet and Jay Owes meat dinner Now that's always a beating jay on anything is fine for me.
Yeah, you know, I think I hate to say this.
I mean we were talking to Ryan Hanson yesterday and he was saying, you know, all of a sudden, I'm kind of rooting for the Big twelve, And that's kind of how I felt too. I was hoping a little bit just because you know, they're now part of that conference and we get to see these guys, we'll become sure they'll be coming into McHale again next year.
And their favorite their favorite. Next year, there are number two too. I think there are number one in the ESPN Early Early Pole, Early top twenty five. Yeah, their second betting favorite. And I want to say Duke was the first favorite, but Duke was rated number ten. I think it was just off the top next year.
For next year, they're going to lose three guys, probably right off the bat Duke.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But you know how they rebuilt Arizona was seventeen, and that's of course without the rosters being fixed.
Right now, Yeah, I mean, now it all begins again. It's going to basically be like just pick up the confetti, throw it up in the air and see you know, who lands where, And I'm sure it's the mad rush is underway.
So do you get more joy out of this season or not this season, this basketball seasons or the football seasons?
Probably basketball.
I mean it just culminates with this month of you know, drama. Basically, I think it's kind of cool. I mean, I'm not used to really the big college football playoff situation. I don't really have anything invested in any of these teams just yet. Maybe someday it'll happen here. But with basketball, it's something you know as an Arizona resident and you know you have a reporter for all those years.
I still get caught up in that.
Yeah, and this is the bread and butter of the city, of the University, of the fans. A little bread and butter has been with the women's program. Today we're gonna have Joan bon Messini, former you of a women's basketball coach, obviously now turned TV analyst.
Colored person.
I think she's the She's the colored person, right with with.
Cindy brun Sindy usually yes, but yeah, John, of course he's done. She's done a nice job of making the transition over to the broadcasting. But she did the pack twelve games and she's been doing it a while and then stuck with the ESPN plus.
So yeah, she's getting her chance to talk. Well, see how deep we go into the idea situation. Obviously she was her mentor and her coach, coach, and prob they're pretty very close. I'm gonna ask for the same question they asked Rhino yesterday about, uh, you have a person making decent money, uh, and how do you keep them happier?
Do you even care? You're talking about players? Players?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean it's a different, different era and she was, you know, in a different different spot where she was coaching when you know she had a you know, an a Da Barnes and players like that. You know, she's in that collection of coaches that were brought in by said Dempsey too. So that'd be a good thing to hear with. Yeah, she feels about Yeah, I think so. Yeah, well, okay, I thought maybe living good. We'll check be sure. Okowski, She replays Okowski, Okaykowski. Maybe
Olkowski was at the end she fired. You're probably right because you had to be like ninety two ish, yeah, ninety two okay, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, because Cedric came in well what in ninety three. Yeah, that's what we're talking about with, right, Yeah, Okay, we're gonna have her at three three, seventeen, three eighteen around there, and then at the four to seventeen how we're going to talk to Aaron Torres from Fox Sports. He was at the
games last night and we'll have him in. He's obviously covers Arizona very heavily, and then we'll talk about the national seed.
Uh.
He loves as Sean Miller and he loves oh yeah.
He's a he's a defender and frightly, so I guess you know, he was the one that kind of believed everything he was saying at the time.
That's gonna be an interesting story to watch too, what he can do and there in Texas with his you know, recruiting ability and his background and yeah, you know, they've got all the resources in the world.
You know, how is he going to make out here in the next couple of years.
Yeah, he's only fifty five, so well was young, and yeah, you still have a lot of wins.
Obviously we'll see a lot of success. So there's that.
Uh, you were talking about the the thing that we should have come out yesterday, the legislation still on hold, on hold.
Yeah, there there there's a judge that's going to decide all this and that's still on hold. So I guess we'll just have to, you know, let her sort things out. But it's gonna be it's gonna be a big deal for every university. The key couple of key things that are missing or delaying. You don't have to, yeah, I mean, dog in the ice, make sure the language can just.
Make sure that.
Yeah.
I don't want to.
I don't want to speak out of turn exactly, especially when it comes to the law. But I think everybody kind of knows that twenty million issues going to be coming just about every athletic department and how they're going to vv that up.
And we talked to Rocky and she said, you know it's soon to be seen. That brought up the time of line thing. Where does the the the divide of money sit with you?
Well, I mean it's obviously they with football brings in the most, so they're going to get the most and they have the most players, so that's kind of what they decided to do.
I think it's like seventy five.
Yeah, and then the basketballs are going to get kind of the next wrong men's for sure, and then everything else can be kind of spread out baseball, softball, swimming, golf, and guess.
What those teams do. They don't bring much. They don't bring any at all.
Track and you know, yeah, I mean softball and baseball get fans and stuff, but.
Those are losses, those are lost leaders, you know want these.
And women's hoops, I mean maybe still I don't know, it used to really be bad.
No, no, they're still got better still in the red.
But yeah, yeah, and that was one of the ideas, big complaints, you know that we're only getting this uh and she'll be able to get more at SMU given the given the nil and the backers.
Right right.
You know that's where you know, the view of a and they know they need to kind of pick up the pace when it comes to the fundraising, and that's gonna you know, maybe keep these coaches from going off to an SMU of the world or any of some of the other schools that have huge endowments and huge funds of money available.
When you when you were doing your fundraising and you went around the country, you were talking to UA alums, right right, did you kind of felt did you did you kind of feel as a as a like a second fiddle? This is this is a dumb question because I was thinking about it and then now I just lost my strength. Thought, like, you go into Dallas. I'm sure you went to Dallas a time or two.
Actually I didn't.
You didn't, Okay, So so it's just goes okay, and there's a lot of alums up there, right, but did you compete?
And I'm sure this is not the case.
Maybe it was Stanford because they have a kid at Stanford, or you know what I'm saying, they have a diverse or a conflicting.
Issue, right, I mean basically, you begin that process by looking at the alum and mainly what do they major in? Maybe you can find out some background about them, like what their job is now because it's just available on a LinkedIn or websites and things like that. But you know, almost every time you'd be surprised at what else you once you meet them.
You know, you've got they've got.
Other kids going to private schools or paying you know, seventy five thousand dollars a year to send their kid to SMU or to wherever you know, University of Pacific or someplace, so you would.
Run into that quite a bit.
So it wasn't like a given that just because these people were successful and they were lums, that they were going to give back to the school.
It just doesn't work that How how this is another question, how how success not successful? But well, yeah, successful, I'll give you ten ten targets.
Yeah, if you could get a meeting with two of them, real successful, just a meeting meeting. Yeah, a lot of people just aren't interested. They just know, you know, that you're there to just you know, kind of see what's going on in there if they want to stay connected in some way to the to the college.
Just getting the meeting that was a miracle sometimes soldered.
You said two, and then I guess if you get one of those two, that's a.
And you don't even know what you're going to get out of the two meetings. That's the you know, that's the difficult thing of raising money here anywhere. Maybe it's a little bit easier on some of the bigger schools that have you know, some pretty wealthy alums that are just going to okay, we're going to here, we'll write you a check. But usually the check isn't nearly as much as you expect it to be.
So so uh, given that you're not in that business forever and you happened upon it in the last part of your life.
Yeah, did you? Did you take no very well before you got into this business? Uh? Not really, but you you definitely have to learn. I would never survive that business now.
Usually the good thing about it is, even though it might have been a no today, they're still going to be there and you can still work and maybe go back to them in a couple of years. Say, listen, you know, I know things are going to be changing in your life. Your your kids are going to be graduating from these expensive colleges. You're not gonna have to send your kids to private high schools. YadA, YadA. You know, would it be good? Would it be okay?
If I gave you a call in a couple O case how it works? And I'm sure? Okay?
So I'm I'm alum b or a. Yeah, Dave, I really it was great to meet you, Dave. I saw you. I saw you on TV when I was at school. Good to see you, good guy. Uh, but uh, don't ever call you again.
Did you hear that, oh yeah, really something. Usually they weren't that mean about it. Usually it's just like we're not really interested. You know, Uh, I appreciate your you're reaching out. You know, I had a great time at the u of A Da Da Da da Da, and I would sometimes just take that as the end. But then there's other ways you can sort of work your way back into their good graces, sending them information, you know,
sending them links. I mean, there's all kinds of places available just around the U of A campus that has, you know, have news items if you will, that you can just send them. Hey, you know, you majored in history. Here's you know, here's the latest newsletter from the Department of History.
So I asked, and I've been leading these questions into this direction because I'm assuming that, uh that M I L and all that they're having the same issues, n I L. Well, trying to get the same money.
Probably Yeah, yeah, I mean I don't I think, you know, I'm probably not a good person to talk about that because I never really did it, but I would love to hear how they approach it. You know, a couple of people approached me saying, oh, the nil people gave me a call what is this all about? And I would have to kind of backtrack and come back to campus and try to find out, Well, who called them? I don't, you know, I don't even know who these people are, so it was a little bit of a
different group. But I think from what I understand, athletics is going to be involved more with NIL going forward, especially with this new ruling going on, and they're going to be allowed to raise money for NIL.
And they weren't before.
I don't think so well, because now they have to find twenty million dollars, right, they have to fight twenty million the user, the flight department, right on top of what if they don't make twenty million profit twenty million good question.
I don't know, it would be good.
I mean, I don't know if they're willing to talk about it, but it would be a good guess.
Yeah, I'll just kind.
Of explain when this passes, we'll get ahold of our NIL people that we've had on before, the ray Wells of the world, if you're still there, and talk real quick about what's going on, because it's it's not a it's not a great situation.
Yeah, I mean, it's just to me, it's confusing in that these athletes are so mobile. You know, Okay, you know you get another Omar Ballow and you're gonna give him all this money to go to Indiana and then is he gonna leave again?
And yeah, what happens is that million dollars creaso.
Yeah, he's been here, he's been washed West Virginia, Kentucky, now Cincinnati, and.
He's probably not getting a ton of money.
I mean, he's getting some, but I bet you he's not making what's a ton of money, not like a million dollars for six figures?
Maybe? Well, I think he was at West Virginia. I don't know, I don't know. I bet he's not. Yeah, tough to say. Be ready to go.
Let's go get ahold of Joan and talk more about UA women's hoops, hoops in general, and come back.
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Streamy Live on the iHeartRadio app. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Box Sports fourteen fifty.
Hey, welcome back to Winning the Ball Here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty.
I'm Steve Ribera. In with me. Today's Dave Silver.
Now on the phone, we have former UA women's basketball coach Joan baum Fascini.
Joan Howard you, I'm doing fantastic.
How are you?
We're doing fine. Long time no talk. I hope everything's okay with you.
And now that the season's over, Yeah, I'm doing great.
Watched a lot of great basketball and it's been fun. You know, there's a lot of changes on the horizon, but I'm doing fun.
Yeah, go ahead, David.
I was gonna say, what was your just your thoughts maybe on just the way the women's games ended this year with Gino winning another national championship. Just maybe your overall feelings on how that weekend went for women's hoops.
Well, you know, women's basketball has grown incredibly with attendance, with people watching it, the money involved. But Gino is fantastic coach, and yeah, some great players, but they hadn't won, and you know most people would say, may have one, but this is his twelfth. It's amazing, amazing run. And boy, they were the dominant throughout the tournament. They played fantastic.
Yeah, yeah, no question. David and I were talking about to you arriving here. I guess nineteen ninety one ish and the Cedric had hired you. Just your thoughts on that period of time and who the man was.
Well, said, Demse did hire me. You know, I only got to work for him for a couple of years because he then left two and you know, be in charge of the NCAA. But it was a fantastic leader. I you know, you don't realize that when you're hired, but there's you know, the people he hired were fantastic people. We had great people in administration, excellent leadership.
You know, and oh we had fantastic.
Coaches and we were all very close. You know. I was hired to change the program because I think they had one winning season when I was hired, and that was like fifteen and fourteen. No postseason. But it took longer.
Than it does today because it didn't have the you know.
The portal for kids to come in.
But so it took a.
Little longer than I wanted. But we ended up having pretty good teams.
And what what How did they sell you on Arizona because like you said, it was the cupboard was kind of bear and things.
Really, you know, there was not much here. You had great process.
Yeah, when I left Long Beach, I was the winningest coaches coach five percentage in America. I had more wins and you know, gone to a couple final fours. I was coach of the Year for the country. I had players of the Year for the country, a couple of Olympians. And what happened, to be very honest, is uh. I mean,
I'm a big I like to recruit. I'm one of the coaches who likes to recruit, and I was a very successful recruiter because I had good relationships with the players and we before when I first got to Long Beach, we were in the same conference with ea C, la UFC, Stanford, and we had won that conference. We were in six years,
we wonted five out of six years. We then went to it was then PC Double A and Big West and we were very successful again won I think we won the conference five out of six years, but the last couple of years in that conference because more money was going then into the pack at that time, PAC ten for women. So people that we would routinely be I would recruit, but they'd end up going to UCLA
or USC. And the real reason, the straw that broke the camel's back was Lisa Leslie, who was sort of a good player, the best really even now, probably the best post ever in women's basketball history. Uh. She actually committed to me on at Long Beach on a Sunday and on Tuesday that things changed, and you know, long story short, she went to USC. She had a fantastic career.
But I knew then that women's basketball was going to change and had changed, and I didn't want to get caught being on the short end because I'm so competitive, and I had met Cedric Dempsey previously, I had met Lude Olsen and his wife had some Nike you know, vacations and things, and so there was actually an intermediary who came to me in December, who was my former athletic director, John Casser, who used to work for SET at Houston. And John said to me, he said, I
was out at that time, you could scout. I think I was scouting Santa Barbara and this is December, and he said, Joan Arizona is really interested in you. And he goes, are you in interested in talking with them? And I said, yeah, I am, but I don't want to talk to them again until my season's over. So we went that year to the regional unfortunately lost in the sweet sixteen, and came back in the office. I don't know if it was Monday Tuesday. I do something
I only do after the season's over. I played some golf and I came in and got a message from Rocky. Rocky Lorose called me, and I thought it was some Italian person. But anyway, that's how because they had never called me until the season was over. But anyway, you know, it was a smart thing to do.
You know, it was a smart thing to do.
I probably looking back, there's things I would have done differently. I would have had players, because I wouldn't let kids transfer with me, and they all wanted to some really good ones, but I didn't want long each state to get mad, and looking back, you know, their careers weren't the same after I left, and would have helped me at Arizona. But you know, it is what it is. But you know, I loved working at Arizona. I mean there was you know, coaching is a tough profession, but
I loved it. I loved my relationship with the players and it was good. And I'm still obviously involved in the university. I'm now broadcasting their games and did that also with Pac twelve Networks.
But yeah, well you just talked about about coaching. What do you make of the idea situation now that she's gone.
I think in this case, both parties benefited, yes, and will benefit from the change. I think an idea. You know, no coach wants to go in and be a lame duck coach, and Arizona made it clear they weren't renewing her contract because that would have been done a long time ago, and I think fortunate for Ada she got in. I think she made a really smart move and I
think she'll be super successful at SMU. I do I think she's given a lot of resources, and you go to fresh start, you know, and she's someplace new athletic director who she knows. You know, I can't state enough. You know, when you are somewhere and someone really wants you, I think that's a strong emotion and you got something to prove. I learned a long time ago, never underestimate Ada Barnes.
So I think she'll be super successful in a very good conference at the ACC. And on the other hand, I.
Think Arizona has an opportunity to hire who they want. You know, they wanted to change, and now they have an opportunity to get someone that the athletic director wants because you know, I mean when you're in business, and this is business, I mean you want your own person. And so she's going to have an opportunity to hire someone she wants and then give them the resources to be successful.
I was going to say resources seems to be one of the key words in college sports these days. Does Arizona have the resources to get a high quality coach in your opinion, Well.
They had a high quality coach, and they paid a lot of money and they had you know, people are saying, well, why did you get paid. I mean historical, let me go quickly. A deal was the lowest paid coach by a lot when she was hired. I mean it was ridiculous low. Okay, let's be honest. She then was given a raise, which probably moved her about seventh in the conference four hundred thousand. Then the year she was on, she went to the sweet sixteen. Because they were top
ten for most of the year, they increased it. I want to say it about seven hundred or eight hundred significant. And then what do you know, because I was at the Games at the final four, she's she beats Yukon. I mean, beating Yukon is ahead. Go look at their record the last ten years. Beat them. I mean it
was unbelievable. And I'm walking out of the the arena and it was in San Antonio and Dave Pekey's there, and at that time President Robbins and I looked at it and they're looking at me, just smiling, and I said, I know, you just gave Ada a new contract, but I hate to say it, You're going to probably have to do something more. Yeah, I said that, and he goes, and this is Doc Robert. He goes, Joe I just told day of that. But that wasn't the thing that got idea. The more money. I mean that part of
it was. What it really was is that she not only was offered, I mean she was ready to go to Baylor. I mean, and they offered at that time, I think one point three million. They offered one point three million, and she had made an arrangement and I don't think I'm speaking out of turn that if if they could go, because she was ready to go. I mean he was ready. That ad was on I think, on the runway, ready to come here, and she said she would stay for a million, and that's how that's
why it got to where it was. But honestly, she was going to be gone. I mean I know that after because we talked. But that's how it got up there. And honestly, when you look at other people and what you know, go in the final. I mean she's a point away from winning the title. I mean, that's what you do. And if Arizona didn't come up with a million,
she would have left. I mean, and people think, well, she's an alarm I mean, let me see, I can say this like I was, I wanted to coach and most people I know in my you know, age group, whatever, we were in to coach for as long as we could. We were lifers. And I can't speak for everyone. You know, people aren't like Gino or Path Summit or Tara anymore. They want to make as much money as they.
Can, be successful and then get out on their turns. It's just different now, yes, but you.
Know that's the way it is.
And that's I'm just gonna say that's the way it is.
It's just different.
It's a lot different, right right. Well, you saw what well you started just to establish and you did very well. Obviously she took over the rings eventure and did what she did, which turned into.
Some great heights.
And is that program sustainable into doing it again?
You can, especially now you can do it again because I mean, you know, usually in the past you would get a contract and you get three to four years to turn the program around. Well, honestly, you have two to three now to turn it around because with the portal, if you're given I mean, and I hate to say it, it's about two things. It's about money and relationships. And I said money first, because before it was about relationships. That's not what people ask you know, kids asking if
you get take ten kids. You know, before it was about the relationship with the players, how do you get along? That's not what they asked first anymore. Whether it's the athlete, their parents, they're agent, their handler, that's what they want
to know. And I'm sure the things with the guy like I had a former coach call me this past week and I might have been Friday night, and after coaching, he was a Division one coach, he worked for me and then was head coach at Hawaii and University of San Francisco and then administrator, but very much involved in the NCAA still, And he said to me, he said, Joan, do you know what's going on? You know, most of the bigger time players, both on the men and women,
have agents. Now, so Steve, let's say I'm recruiting you, and let's say I'm the agent. In order for me to talk to you, and this is what's going on. I've got to pay the agent first before I can talk to you. I mean, it's it's just craziness. It just it's just crazy. This is what's going on.
With that said, go ahead, David, I was gonna just say what, So what what do you think is happening inside McHale when they have, you know, no coach and a lot of players have left. I mean, is it a how are they going to do this? How are they going to fill these spots? And where are they looking at?
Plays?
Yeah? I think Desiree and has a committee and I think they're looking at some good people, you know. I really thought it was gonna be Lindy Larroque from un l D. And I know Lindy very well. I know her dad. I recruited her very very heavy to Arizona and she ended up going to Stanford. Her dad's a very very famous high school coach in Las Vegas and very close to Lout and his family. I mean he used to come here and work for Loot, he worked for me, and Lindy came to camp and Lindy's done
really well at UNLV. I really thought that was a done deal, and because plus Desiree hired her there. But she decided not to go. She has two little kids or parents are there. There's going to be someone good, you know, hopefully, you know, I said to Desiree. She called me and I said, what are the She asked me, some quality you know now, you know, I want someone you know, if you can. Now this is different because I said, this, sir, has head coaches. I'd rather have
a head coach that's a great recruiter, proven recruiter. Don't rely on your assistance. You want your assistance to recruit. But honestly, it's the first thing is recruiting, particularly with the portal and everything.
But you know, and she said to me, Joan, you.
Know, Tommy Lloyd wasn't a head coach and neither was a dear And I said, you're right, But I said, I got hired by said Dempsey, and everyone he hired pretty much were head coaches. And it's not that she can't.
I'm and everyone has to start somewhere. But that's just my you know, And I'm not on the committee, but I'm just saying from the outside looking in, because then you've got someone who's proven, you know, when you hire a new coach, I mean, it's it's a wild card, you know, really, because it's hard to know how they're going to handle things. But honestly, in today's world, you know, you want to be compensated as a coach because it's
this is a hard job. But Honestly, nowadays it's on the you know how much money you're going to have for nil And what this was five years ago is completely different than it is today. And whether that's fair or what this is the reality of what's going on.
So let me ask you.
I asked Rhino this yesterday, but I have to preface it with the statement here. So Sean was here, a miller, was here for a long time off, so he got some great recruits. He had Stanley Johnson coming in for that one year and vallelyhood recruit as we all know, came in and there was a chance that he was going to come off the bench initially, and one of the reporters in the room says, Sean, Stanley's not starting right now. Are you concerned that he's not going to
be happy? And Sean turned around and said, I'm the coach. It's not my job to make him happy. Do we live in a time now when coaches, let's say you were a coach, you have to start making or having these kids happy because you know they're going to bolt either for unhappiness or money.
Well, I've never coached under those circumstances, you know, Steve, So you know, I'm very close to watching not just Arizona, but a lot of teams, you know, to watch how they handle it. I think some people handle it better than others. But they're going through this like everyone else. And I think it's on relationships still, but it's on money. And I don't know if you guys saw this, but this is now about five six weeks ago, I watched sixty Minutes and Danny Hurley from Yukon was on, you know,
and his brother Bobby is obviously at ASU. His dad's very famous. But Danny Hurley won up till this year, back to back championship, so obviously very successful, but a different He's a different kind of guy. I mean, just be honest of all the things. He said there. So this is six weeks ago, he said, and I was like stunned. He said, So, let's say this is like only February when it was filmed, or mid February. He said, I know right now on my player roster, there are
players that are ready to go in the portal. There are players that have already talked and know what school they're going for, and they also know how much money they're getting. Okay, Like I was stunned when I heard that. But this is the reality. You know, you're the coach of the roster you have. Your job is to you know, have a good culture and bring them together and win as many games doing things right way. It's just that
things are not the same. You know, what someone may tell a player, or a parent or their handler might tell you to you know, one day, it's changed the next day. So I think you just got to, you know, handle things the way you have right now, try to make it the best they can. But it's about money, and it really is. I mean, I'm a parent and now I have a granddaughter. I just became a grandparent.
But if my granddaughter and it's a little girl, and when she turns eighteen, whatever sport or whatever, if she gets offered a scholarship and they offer ten thousand dollars and it's a good coach, but someone else is offering a quarter million and they're a good coach, well, I hate to tell you what I'm gonna tell you, know, I mean, this is it's just the way it is, and whether that's fair or not, that's the way it is.
Yeah, I'm sure I bet you that ten thousand dollars. You don't miss this stuff.
No, it's just that we're living in a different world and and what you want to do. I mean, and it's easier for me to say it, but what I did is I wanted to win my conference for Pack ten. We should we want it once, I really want we should have won it twice. I mean, we had every opportunity. But you want as a coach the resources to compete
in your conference in win it and be successful. And then if you're you know, if you bring in good players, tend to compete and win a national title or you know, those are things are hard to do, but you want to be competitive. So you got to look at what other people are doing. So let's top Big twelve because I know this because I asked the coach. Right now, I know TCU winning because you've got a coach there. He's only been there two years, completely changed the roster.
I don't think he had much nil money two years ago, okay, but this year he had about a million dollars in nil money, and I know a quarter million of that was given the Maddie Connor. I'm not sure how much Sedonah Prince Scott, but he got a lot, and Haley Van Lift got a heck of a lot, and he had to pay other kids. But I think he's gotten more than that right now. So that's Big twelve that they won the conference, they won the conference tournament, they
went to the Elite eight. Now he's going to have a lot of new players. In fact, you know, I don't haven't looked today, but he's in on one of the big ones from Notre Dame, probably one of the top ones in the conference.
I think she's going I think I heard this morning that she's gone there.
Yeah.
Wow, So I want to tell you she's not going for free.
Though.
Hey, Joe, so this is it's not Is this fair? No, But this is the reality we're in. And so for let's go back to Arizona. Does Arizona can build a roster. They have to do this fairly quickly. If they get a head coach, maybe an assistant, they can bring some people from that team potentially if they had a good experience. And uh, and you're paying them, and but yes, this is.
Where we're at, Joe.
We got to go. We already way over. But with you, it was good, good stuff for you. We couldn't cut you off. Thank you, thank you this great stuff.
Okay, you guys have a great day.
Appreciate you talking with me. Yes, thank you, Joe. We got to go come back. Got about ten minutes left in that last segment. A man'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 Loot. It was a labor of love through the eyes of twenty five former players, coaches, and friends to give insight to the coach and the man who
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Streaming live on the iHeartRadio app. This is I on the Ball with Steve Ramira on Fox Sports fourteen fifty eight.
Hey, welcome back to I on the Ball here a Fox Sports fourteen fifty I'm Steve, you're Dave. And we got about seven minutes, very little time, but it was it was hard to not hard to cut her off, because she was doing some great stuff, telling us a lot of good stuff.
She was rolling along. Yeah, you know, it's funny.
She's she would never go back into coaching, obviously at the stage of her life now she's got a grandchild.
And things like that.
But it would have been interesting to see how she handled something like this, So what is your number one takeaway? Well, Matty Connor number was pretty big. I'm just never and I didn't know whymen were getting that kind of money.
Quarter of a million dollars.
Yeah, well again, she's going to going to the great State of Texas, where you wonder what Adia's stepping into, uh when she goes to SMU.
But that was a good one, you know.
I think again, we've seen a lot of coaches in the last five years just stepping away because of all the changes and it's just not the way it was, and both football and basketball especially, so you know, she's that generation to go, so I don't think she would be happy with the way they.
God she she changed the changed too. I hadn't heard this. Maybe it was a story that I never really knew about with Lisa Leslie to commit great story. But the coach Lopez, who I think the world of Andy Lopis, decided at sixty two, I think it was sixty maybe sixty three to get out of the business. He called it flipping. I just can't deal with the flipping. The people you know, say yes and I don't committed to you, and then the flipping Yeah.
I would have a hard time with that too, not only.
The flipping, but also when they get here and then you know, they're here for a year and no I don't like things and they're gone. I mean, it just disrupts any type of rhythm you had and any type of you know, plans you may have had for your program. It's it really is like from year to year, it's you just don't have these like three or four year plans you can put in place.
Especially if that player is a cornerstone person that you were relying on to change the direction of their.
Program, right you know picture, I mean, I know that the chip Hale had to basically replace his entire pitching staff from last year. It got to the post and they're good. They're having a great season. They're playing tonight. By the way, are they against New Mexico State over at High Corbett?
So I think great. I can't go any place near that. They're probably asked me for tuition money from forty years ago.
Any wait, we got a bill. Are you the rivera again? Who still alws those forty biks for that parking? Yeah?
So they played tonight, they played this. I saw them over the weekend issue. I think they got beaten that game that I saw, but.
They won too out of three. Yeah, the issues they've been playing great? Well were we talking?
Oh yeah, I mean just the quality of players that are you know, they pick up and they go, or they get drafted or I mean there's so many things, especially in baseball where you know what, you know, in the old days, you had to be on campus I think for three years maybe and then you could get drafted.
Nowadays, who knows.
Yeah, you know, I'll just keep switching schools and get drafted.
Eventually, the other thing that caught me is that she didn't want to take her players from this school the Long Beach to U of A, which, of course now it's like common that they do that, right, And she would have made this place a pretty heck of a tough place to play.
Yeah, and don't that yeah, because I can't remember that.
I mean again, she stepped into a conference that was filled with you know, blue bloods, with obviously Stanford and USC U c l A. Eventually, Oregon got good, Oregon State got pretty pretty, Washington, I mean really everywhere throughout the conference, teams had their have their had their moments in the last say, twenty years, but you know when she arrived it was a different time.
You know, who knows what was expected of her thirty four years ago.
Yeah she was, but she was, you know, really prominent in that old PC double A and logging state and getting her teams into the nc DOUAA tournament basically every year. She had this great resume, and you know she hung on here for a long time.
Yeah, she didn't answer my question though about about the player if if if to keep them happy? Oh yeah, she get at around it. She gave me a good answer obviously, but not directly.
To that question. What is happiness these days?
That's the whole thing, especially if they're getting paid, David, they're getting paid x amount of money a quarter of a million dollars and you're happy, but you could make a little bit more wink wink, what are you gonna do?
I don't know.
There's a lot to be said for happiness. But yeah, but when you're twenty one years old, after you're getting two fifty and you're gonna get three hundred, I don't know, you don't know.
I mean, you know, five years ago, happiness was playing time. It seemed like that was basically it. Or you know, do I get along with my coaches and things like that, or do I like the school things like, you know, things that you basically thought about as a college student or as a college athlete, but nowadays you got this this dollar sign hanging over you, and like some coach looks at her and go, wow, she's only making you know, twenty five thousand at Arizona.
I could pay her triple that.
Well.
One of the things in that thing that you still have to approve. I read and you partly read it better than I did. And I just saw a glance of things that you know on Twitter that the attorneys are now or the judges are now going to make it available where the coaches can fire the kids, they can fire them, they can fire them. That's what it seemed like, at least that's how I read it. I could be wrong, but you know what, in reality, that's kind of what they've done in the past. Anyway, I
think you're better suited somewhere else. And then so they sit out the year or they play the year and they're gone, you know what I'm saying, Or they don't make them happy or whatever. Did you ever meet did you ever see the movie One on One with with Henry Steel and with.
Rob Rob Benson. Yeah, back in the day, I probably saw it.
And you know the guy trying to run him off, try to run him off, and try to run him off until he saved his butt in the championship game or whatever it was, and now he loved him right, and the guy just said, I don't need this.
Yeah, I don't know.
Like I said before, you know, there's there's a it's a it's a different time. And it's interesting that the dollar figure seems to be as important as anything else playing time. You know, I can go make money going somewhere else and I'll still get the same amount of playing time. It's kind of a shame, but that's really what it is. And especially if you're a fan. I mean, you just we don't know what Arizona basketball is gonna look like next year.
You already got to go this.
Take a quick first hour, which was obviously good when we have a good first hour. So we'll come back, h Kobe has breaking news, and then we're going to talk to Aaron Torres later