This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jagon Zalez Sound Fox Sports fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services and Sure Your Most Prized Possessions katz R two sag at iHeartRadio Station.
Good afternoon, everybody, Welcome to Iron the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. He's Jacobs aus got a guy riding with us today.
I remember your name.
You're the only one I forget. Let me ask you both what you guys want to do when you grew up.
I want to give you a sports writer and you and then I did. And then it was like it was like, is that it?
No?
No, no, I get it. I toltally you get it. You know it's funny because I wasn't one hundred percent sure. Do you remember when I was trying to decide on a major You sually want to go into law or somebody? Well, my brother was a lawyer, and I couldn't think of anything else.
And were cops were the cops?
I wasn't going to be a cop? Were they already cops? Yeah? There was no chance I was going to be a cop. Zero. You've tried that line, Yeah, zero. I saw those guys and it was making a mess of them. So I and they were really good cops. No they weren't retired, no, no, no, but yeah they are now. I wasn't going to do that though. Look I had I decided early on I wasn't going to take any job that required that I have a gun for me to have the opportunity to go home every day.
So, okay, did it change? And living in your life?
What happened was I really had no idea. So I, you know, talking to my brother Rick, the lawyer, you know, he said, well, if that's what you want to do, don't do what I did. Which what he did is he he had he was a political science major, so coming out of college, he either had to go to law school or he was going to be a teacher. He said, get it. Get a major that you can get a job with. And you know I like to write in high school, you know, I love my English classes.
So I took journalism. Yeah, he said, don't don't be an English major, you know, journalist, be a bro journalist. Yeah, the journalism. And so I did, and probably my sophomore year, my first reporting class. The first day I said that's it. I'm not going to law school.
Yeah, okay, okay, So I'll come back to that in a second.
Riot baseball okay, okay.
Wow you know so both you guys, both you guys have the same dream II this So what then then what the reality hit?
And then what I turned sixteen? I was like, I want I want money, got a job, a.
Job, and you're still working for a degree and all that stuff.
Right.
Uh.
The reason I say, you know what I should have been maybe we should have been a GM of a college football program, especially at Alabama. Well you know GM, have you in our time? We didn't hear no GM. It's like a recruiting coordinator director.
That's what it should be, right or he said have a football or just the football program for the athletic park just to flip pop.
So the new GM at Washington at at Alabama, Courtney Morgan, he went with the boor to to Alabama. He's gonna make eight hundred thousand dollars a year now, the most highly paid GM recruiting coordinator. And that's how we knew him back for the day personnel, right, that guy eight hundred thousand dollars a year to do that, Uh to do that.
Didn't didn't you know the recruiting coordinator make you know, sixty thousand a year like two years ago pretty much.
There's another guy. I think it was to Texas Tech. He made about four hundred thousand, and he was the highest one till then. Now they got the eight hundred and twenty five and he came from Washington blah blah blah, so he went with him there. Now Alabama's gonna payhim eight hundred and twenty five. I was misspokes to do that.
Obviously.
We know chase players, to chase to chase players, and we know how much we love recruiting.
Right, you know I would do it for that. Yeah, of course, as much as I hated that, I would do it for that.
And Alabama can afford it. They have the money up the wazoo, right. Uh, No, wonder schools are hurting for money they're paying these guys?
What are they're exactly? Why do they think they need to pay him that much?
Recruit That's how important the recruiting is. Eight and twenty five dollars.
It's still pretty important if you're paying him two hundred thousand dollars.
Without question, without question. We've seen some guys in our time. God, who was the recruited was it? Bill Bullmorgan was not the recruiting guy back in the day, Pat Hill was not.
It was.
We'd have to go back in the archives to see who they were.
But uh, Rob Bianello is a recruiting coordinator, right right.
We're gonna get him on too. I try to do that pair next week. But recently even the GM was like kind of the right hand man to someone. Whoever that guy was, and what the hell did he do?
Well? That was the so is that is the GM? Now the director of operations?
Well depends how you have them, because the direction.
Of operations does more than recruiting. Well, this guy is just a recruiting guy. That's not. Well, I guess they're giving him a GM title, But to me, a GM is not somebody who just it's a general manager generally manages the program.
And that was the guy. That was that guy for something right right? He was also is kind of his driver or whatever, and I didn't understand what the hell he was doing there outside of protecting something right, And okay, so how is he gonna do that? He kind of ran interference and then now they have a couple of guys. Jet had his guy. I think he's still around, the skinny guy the dark hair. And now there's another guy out there just kind of helping out.
I don't get it. But do you really need these people? Well you can maybe you need those people because there's so much more to do. The bigger question, do you need to pay these people this much? Okay?
And there was another guy and now he's gone, he went to Oregon.
I'm happy. Well I'm calling up I'm calling up the football supports. Okay, yeah, okay. So we've got a chief of staff. Who is His name is Ben I think at theens or.
Okay, so I think he's new. I think he's new. Okay, he's the chief of staff. But you also have a gentle manager. See what gays guys Crowley my point? Okay, So then you have a director of football operations. How come then assistant athletic director football operations.
Okay, we didn't know about these jobs that were open. I couldn't applied he but you know what I mean. There's a long list right apparently.
Director of player development okay, which I thought should be the general manager. But then a director of recruiting operations. Isn't that the director of player development my appoint? Then a director of scouting.
My point, And maybe you should get Mike Flores in here one of these days, because he's back in our time.
He was kind of all this stuff. Yeah, he became. He was a recruiting coordinated for a while.
What were what were the nineteen eighties and nineties missing that these guys have now?
I mean, was it all bad back that they were missing the transfer portal? They were missing nil, they were missing social media and the internet where where people could easily communicate with other people at other schools. And so go down the list of people, just your top four their titles? Uh uh okay, chief of staff.
That wasn't there before.
We didn't general manager, we didn't have that Director of football operation. We probably had that. It's maybe underwell, because you have a director of recruiting operation. That's what you had, is a director of recruiting operations or the recruiting coordinator. Okay, and then all right, director player development. Okay, what does that mean?
Right?
It's four jobs. Director of scouting, I don't think that was it. That was the recruiting coordinator too. They were doing all the research on who was who and getting filmed and all. That was the one dude. So now you're looking at probably a million. It looks like there's four people, four people who did who are doing what the recruiting coordinators to do.
Back in the day, Yeah, where's schools in trouble?
Well? The director of football operations has an assistant director for football. I don't know.
I don't want to brought that out, but I bought it because Bama was paying. There was eight hundred and twenty five dollars. Eight hundred and twenty five thousand dollars, I should say, which is crazy to me. Crazy to me, and a time when money is of the essence in this programs. Maybe not to Alabama because they have it coming, like I said, out of everywhere, but people like cars or programs like Arizona and otherwise.
How do you find the money to do this? I don't know.
I just found it kind of funny, kind of funny and sad at the same time, because back in the day, we didn't need that.
Back in the day, we just needed what car to go to the grocery store. We didn't need three. I never understood that, like people have multiple cars. I'm gonna do this one for work and this one's for my A. Right, here's that one car. Yeah, you know, I want to travel waste now on gas and electric. I get it. But you're you're right? I mean, come on, how many times can you get in the car and go just one car? Yeah?
All right, you understand what I'm saying, right, Jake, you understand. I mean that's kind of crazy. It's kind of crazy all these people. And I guess they justified it because they did it. They hired these people. But I could I just imagine asking desire this or even Dave Ikey or even Jim Lavingdon.
Right, maybe next time.
We do that.
Is there really a need for this? I think it's one of those things where other people are doing it, so we gotta do it otherwise we're falling behind. Right, do you believe that? I know that's I don't know. I don't know. That's well, if you're the recruiting, if you're let's say you're the you're the one guy doing all four of those jobs. And you see that Oregon has four guys doing that job, and Washington has four guys doing that job, and UCLA as four guys doing
that job. Then you're thinking, wait a minute, what the hell am I doing? Right?
Right?
Doing them all the time. I'm gonna go do I'm gonna go somewhere where I can be one of those, one of four instead of one of one. Sure right, sure, sure, no, I'm sure.
I'm sure at the FBC's or the smaller schools that's there is one guy because you can't afford to pay for people, right, or the smaller schools like the Colorado States or the New Mexicos or whatever, or you have these these limited funds. Even more so, I just don't understand it. Yeah, I just found it kind of strange, not strange, but kind of funny that they're paying these money,
these types of money. A one hundred and twenty five thousand and under the three year contract to deal a deal the Boosters will put it into place for highest Paige front office figure. Unbelievable. That's a lot I should have become one of those guys.
Is it too like to change careers? I think so I have an easier time of being a pro baseball player. Yeah, well take me a couple of years to really get shape. It need be the Mirac, there'd be a movie on you. But you know I'm you already going through the roster. I'm actually in the u of a salaries day. Okay, okay, but you know, hey, if they can pull it off, they can pull it.
Off, and they needed to pull it off.
I understand that. And it's a criticism. You can get it. Why wouldn't Yeah, this is not criticism, it's just stuff.
The thought that I had because all these if one if monkeys see monkey do temping, kind of like you said, Well, these guys are doing it.
Why can't we? How can we pull this off? And and here we are? Yeah, okay, now I'll keep I'll keep searching, I'll.
Keep Okay, Well, welcome to the show. Today is what Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday, Tuesday. We have a pretty good show.
Today.
We're gonna talk to you of a volleyball coach. Tree of stuff, right, treet of Stubbs.
I shall be going in. This is the four o'clock hour. They're getting ready to get their season started. It's her second year, coming off a year right eight and twenty three last year. Her first year is as the head coach. She was a longtime assistant under under Dave Rubio, So we'll kind of talk to her about, you know, I know, just what she's got, what she's got in store for twenty twenty four, maybe some lessons she might have learned last year being in the in the main seat instead
of on the sidelines. Yeah, okay.
And then in the second hour we have mister Stewart, Is that.
Right, Yeah, Phillip Stewart, the head coach at Morana, head football coach at Marana. But also he's doing a thing this Thursday. Thursday, he's holding a media day at Morana for all the fall sports at Miranda, trying to generate some media attention, which is a great thing. It happens to be in the middle of our show, so we can't be a participant in that, but that's a cool
thing that he's doing. Right well, I mean I want to ask him, you know, is this a learning experience for these athletes to learn how to, you know, speak to the media. You know, you got guys like you know, Javier and Andy Morales and some of those who work through all sports toose on stuff and go interview a lot of these kids after games and stuff like that.
Then you you know, get get comfortable with the new person at the Daily Star.
Yeah, forgot to do. Yeah, they've got it. Yeah, they got a new person at the day at the Daily Star. So you know what one of those things. Okay, I just found what real quick? Lauren Bossler. Lauren, because you work at the University of Arizona, we get to see your salary. She is the director of football Operations. She is making seventy six and seventy five dollars a year. The chief of staff is not listed. So this is
the twenty twenty four uh fiscal your database. So he I don't know if you just started, or he wasn't in that database, or why why he's not in that database? I do not know, but there there's a one, so I you know, it's it's I almost hate, you know, jumping into these people's private stuff, but I guess it's not private fury. It's out there right right.
No power power to them. Hey, if I got that job, but I had that job, I'm go ahead and criticize me. I don't care I have that job. But to me, it's it's like, Wow, do you really need all this stuff? You need someone to clean the floors and and the kitchen, and the and the and the bathrooms. I think you need four people. I do because I don't do it. But you know what I'm saying. It's like the car analogy.
Just need one car, really, m you need a car, you need you need a truck, you need a convertible, you need a truck.
That's my point.
Now you're spending all this money for something that you kind of really don't need.
I got, I got the truck. Just have friends.
I need your truck. In fact, soon we'll talk. You gotta go, We gotta talk to mister Stewart.
All right, let's let's get out of here. We're gonna come back. Philip Stewart, head football coach, and Moranta will be on the window.
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Streamy Live I mean iHeartRadio app. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen.
Hey, welcome back to Myning the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. I'm Steve Rivera, He's Jickenszauz. Now on the phone, we have Philip Stewart, the head coach at Morana with the football program.
Coach. How you doing, I'm doing all right?
How about you?
We're doing well? Thank you?
Hey, We've had a few coaches here in the last week, or high school coaches talking about their program and what's up ahead, and to a man, they say, Morana is going to be a team to watch.
How's that sound?
Oh, hey, that's pretty good. You know, we've been doing a lot of work. So for teams to notice what we've been doing these fast years, you know that that goes out to my coaches, to my players, like the hardwork that didn't put in. So hey, that's exciting to hear.
And not just coaches.
Are you talking about a new g and uh the new guys cd O h Y McKee and the cell point guy or the former cell point guy, just dudes who know?
Yeah that that so? Like I said, man, that's shout out to my coaches, staff, you know, my players, they've been working hard these faster years. Than for people to start to take notice. Man, you know, that's all I can ask for as a head coach, like, hey, we are putting in the work and people out there are seeing the work that we're doing is starting to show.
Well, I was gonna say, what, what what has been the key to that? Though? You say you're doing the work, but you know this is building a program, right, and that that's what you're doing over there. What do you think has been the thing that you've done best to build this program? Steve? Steve calls the secret sauce over there.
So so I don't want to say it's a secret sauce. Is just I think first is you know, giving the guys a goal. Hey, what is all trying to do with this season? You know, I always knew with my seniors in May, hey what are you trying to do with this upcoming season? And once they tell me, like this senior class, this is my senior class. I happened since they were freshmen. And the first thing they said was we want to go in the stay titles. And I said, my job as a coach and the coaching
staff is to get y'all ready for that. So they gave me the goal of what they want to reach. So I put it up in the work. We show up every day in the summer twice a day. I mean in the day, we show up twice a day. Taking care of business off the field, you know, being in classroom now that we're in school, you know, making sure we take great grade because all those little things are going to add up to what we're trying to do,
you know what I'm saying. And I think the biggest thing is giving them a goal for them that's reachable. And I think we've been able to reach those goals every year. And I think now as a senior class, we want to put it all together and be able to go chase the state titles. So like I said, it ain't no secret to it. We're working, We're putting in the work. We're showing up every day, twice a day, every day in the summer, you know. And then now
that the school started, we're showing up the practice. We're doing the things in the classroom and doing the all the necessary off the field to get us ready for on the field.
So four years ago, if these were freshmen and you had them, did you see the potential in them? You know?
For three years later, four years later.
So seeing them as freshmans as babies just crazy. Now I see them driving, I'm scared, you know, So, you know, seeing them all grown up. But with this freshman class, they have seen My first year went seven and three, you know, the second year we went ten and two, last year went five and five, So they've seen all the ups and downs. You know, they see, hey, we have to show up in the summer if we want to win in August. Hey we have to have leadership
if we want to win games that are closed. They're seeing all these things year in the year out, and now that they're older, I think they're all ready to put together. I got eighteen seniors this year, so most of them have stuck around, you know what I'm saying. So they have seen all the ups and downs, the bumps and bruises. So I think this year is gonna be special due to the fact that a lot of
them stuck around. They trusted the process. And now I'm starting to see that from my younger class and my juniors, my sophomores, and my new freshmen that came in. I have one hundred and what forty kids in the program. Due to the fact that they're seeing the success, they're seeing the process. We're not trying to skip any steps, you know what I'm saying. We're not just trying to win one game. We're trying to, you know, chase the state championship, make the playoffs, right, So that's where the
program is getting field. Because this senior class has stayed and showed people, Hey, if we just put in the words, it's gonna work for us, you know what I'm saying. So that's where I think it's been going on the last four years.
You know, I'm looking at your schedule and you did this last year. You open with sell Point. You know arguably you know, the top or one of the top programs in the city. Are you doing that on purpose to keep your guys focused? I would say, you know in the off season and say, you know, we're not We're not sliding into the season. We're we're going all in game one. That is that on purpose or did you just kind of.
It's always impurpose and everything we do we have a purpose to it. If we want to be the best, we have to beat the best. And they said a state title, And the only way you're gonna get to a state title, you're gonna have to go through those teams and seen it. So why not play them, you know what I'm saying. So we scheduled team like South Point, we scheduled team like Igaly, and you know, we battle them all the way to the end.
You know.
Unfortunately we lost those two games, but our players seeing hey, we can play with anybody in the state. We just have to work at it. And like I said, it ain't no shortcuts. We're not skipping those steps. We're gonna keep working because we believe we can go out and win a state title. But we're gonna have to do it the right way. And it starts on August thirty versus Southwest And if we can get that win, we know we can compete with anybody else in the city.
How is in four years and we know who Morano is right, just kind of north of Tucson and just right on the outskirts. How has this happened? I mean we saw last week we talked to the coach from Wilcox a little league girls, right, and how in the world did that happen?
Right?
And they go to the World Series? Now, what's going on in Marana that's making this happen?
Hey, shout out to Willcox. That's why I started my coaching career about that what they did, coaching McCumber, Patrick McCumber taking those girls and did what they did, like shout out to them. But here in Willcox it reminds me a lot of Willcox. I mean here in Miranda, it reminds me a lot of Willcox small towns, you know what I'm saying. And I just think the players are seeing what the biggest thing is for people to
see what we're doing, you know what I'm saying. We, like you said, we twenty minutes off the freeway, so a lot of people don't get to see what we're doing.
The social media and all that, we're pushing what we're doing, and I think a lot of kids coming out of middle school it's like, wait, I live right here by Moround and they're doing all these good things, and we're starting to get a lot of these kids in the surrounding area to stay here, you know, and not drive thirty or forty because you know, most schools in southern Arizona's open enrollment, and not drive thirty forty minutes to go to South Point or go to Tucson High or
driving way down across the city to go to all these other schools when we can go to a school right here. So a lot of that is getting it out of what they're doing over here as a program and getting a lot of these kids to stay locally around And I think that's what's helping us build the program. And the last is to my coaching. Man, the one thing I believe they're doing with these kids, they're coaching them again trying to just win one game, win two games.
We're trying to build a program here, and you can't win it with just one or two players. You have to coach everyone, to build everybody up, because that's the only way it's going to I believe it's gonna work.
It's a bit of a loaded question, but you obviously you know so I'm very enthusiastic, very fired up. How much of this is work and how much of this is fun?
For you?
All of it's fun. I don't even think I sleep that night. My coach is like, dude, you always up. I'm not because this doesn't tire me out. You know, man, I played football for a long time. But I'm saying half of my life I played football, and now I get to coach and I get to be able to be inspirational to a lot of these kids. So that's not hard work because I think this is what I'm supposed to be doing. So it doesn't wear me out. I know where is. My family are like, you're always
doing this, You're always doing that. For the boys. I said, I know, but that's not it's not tiring me out. It's what I do. I get so a lot of them. To me, it's fun and being able to see these kids reach their goal, you know, go out and like coach, I want to get strong in the weight room and see them reach their goal in the weight room. Hey, I want to make all as reach their goal in the uh you know, in school. To me, that's it's all worth it, you know what I'm saying. So again,
it's not work. I think this is this is a good time. This is all fun for me. I going out to tunnel with them. It brings back the memories when I was playing. So to me, it's all fun and games. That's why you always see me smiling and I'm always excited to get to talk about the tigers. So I'm always down to talk about it.
Well wait a minute, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta call you out on this because I'm you know, looking for pictures for you for our social media that we posted that you look mean in all your pictures. You're not smiling. I don't know what you're saying about you smiling day like you look scary. You know you look you know who you remind me of having those pictures Calvin Fan and he was one of the meanest football players we ever ever passed through Tucson.
Maybe it's the stern look, it's the Cowboys. I'm another nice guy. I don't. I don't one thing I pride myself on. I don't have to yell at the guys. I don't have to purse them out. I don't have to do any of that. I'm like the nice guy. I'm the one that's saving them from all the other coaches like I'm here, man, let me talk to you. I don't know what you mean. And the pictures maybe just the camera getting.
The bad as well.
The funny thing about it, good coaching programs have the good guy and the bad guy, or do you know you what I'm saying, the guy who brings the hammer and the other guys who kind of sues them. So you're the good guy, and that's I'm.
The good guy. I threw there, I threwed it all over, you know what I'm saying. But but when I do get stern with them sometimes I have to, and they know I mean business. You know what I'm saying, And like I said, I believe I played the I played the sport now out of ten. A lot of those kids are out there because they want to be out there, So why make it hard, you know what I'm saying. The cutting them out and doing all that, they ain't doing nothing for him. So I try to love on them.
I try to show them that, hey, I love you out here. Man, I'm trying to push you to be the best you are. And a lot of them they respond to it, you know what I'm saying. They come to me when a coach today is not today. Hey man, take a day off today Today it might not be today. Take today off, come back tomorrow. We'll try it again, you know what I'm saying. So I'm just here trying to love on them. And I think they respect that I respect them as a person, you know what I'm saying.
And I think that that bond I have with my kids is the reason why they keep coming out every year.
So let me go back to a question that we asked and I'm hoping, well, you may have answered it. So you're you're taking on South Point. You're going after the guys to show them how good they are. And you said, you know, in order to be the best, you have to beat the best, but sometimes that Backfirst you get to play the team and then you get beat or whatever. You're not afraid apparently you're not afraid of losing the kids right away. We talked about this
with the Penn State ninety eight. Yeah, where Arizona was, you know, had reached the top and kind of felt like they were in the top four, top five. We're in the top four, top tip went to Penn State and got their ass kind of to them and that kind of just changed the trajectory of the season.
Well, yeah, what you do. And like, like you said, I don't think it a backfire to me as a teaching moment. Maybe we wasn't ready or what did we do you know that cost us to lose that game? Like last year we lost, and I think we lost the next three or four games and then boom it clicked. We went on a five game winn the Street still make the playoffs, you know what I'm saying. So it all depends on how you look at it. I looked at as a teaching moment, what were the things that
we did right? A lot of the reason why we lost that game last year. It wasn't what they were doing, it was what we were doing to ourselves. You know, the pymanties to self inflicted wounds. That's not going to help you be a good team, you know what I'm saying. Or doing your own thing out there, that's not going to help us be the good team. You know, when you want to be a good team, you got to be structure. You got to be sound defensively and offensively.
And I'm trying. I believe that me and the coaching staff were coaching our guys to be that way. So you can't say it backfire, But I don't look at his backflie. I think it was a teach moment and I think we learned from it this offseason, and I think we were ready this year to show the world that dang Miranda is pretty good, you know, saying so.
Yeah, good for You're talking to Philip Stewart, head football coach at Miranda High School. So you are the football coach, but uh, we see you're doing a media day for all of your all of your fall sports at Miranda. Tell us a little bit about you know where that came, about why you're doing that and what you expect to get out of it, if any man anything.
So for me me, I don't ever just think about my football players. I'm the te coach here. I also coached track here, so I work with a lot of different athletes daily. And my my me as a a person is we have a lot of good athletes here at Miranda, and I believe putting them on that pedal stool, like come having guys come out for the media day to interview all these different athletes that we have here, it's not only good for their sport, but it's good
for them, you know what I'm saying. Like you wouldn't even know that we have a top five swimmer in the state, or top five golf player or top five you know, cross country like team. Like people wouldn't even know that because football overshadows a lot of it. So me going into it, I'm like, how about we do this for all the sports? You know what I'm saying. Let's let everybody be on top. Let everybody be the face of the Miranda, you know what I'm saying. So
that's kind of how I look at it. And even the football players, like, hey invite the flag, football girls and you know they always trying to include everybody, because that's the one thing I always do. I don't ever let nobody not include somebody. I'm all about the inclusion. So I think the football players just rubbing off on them, like, hey, let's include everybody for our media day and make it a big Morana thing, you know what I'm saying. Eventually,
I'm hoping it grows that big. But like I said, I can only do so much. And I got a few people that's gonna come out on Thursday and do the media day. And I have a few coaches that's going to send a few players to try to put their players voice out there, like you know what I'm saying, hopefully draw bigger crowds to their games or to their sports. So, like I said, we all work together here, and I trained all these different athletes here, so why not want all let him to be a part of this.
All you have to do is give him that look and say come and.
Give it in the class. Now they think I'm hard on them. My boys think I'm so easy on all the other players. So I'm hard on all of them.
So let me ask you. I could be wrong.
You have somebody going big time to the Division one. Did someone commit for your program?
Yeah, so Dednel Roebuck right now is committed to the University of Washington. You know, I still don't believe a lot of people understand how big that is, you know what I'm saying. I think they just launt just another offer because he has a few of them, but then offered to one of those P five schools. It's huge, and I don't think a lot of people really understand that,
you know what I'm saying. Me growing up in Texas, you know, having those offers like that, it was like it's huge, Like you send to go get your school paid for, You're you're putting yourself in a rim with other players that you know what I'm saying. To be honest, I don't even think the people out of school understand
what's happening right now. They're walking with a guy that can potentially go play in the NFL, and they're looking at him every single day, speaking and talking to him every single day, and I don't even think they know this guy is gonna be one of those guys one day.
Awesome, that's that's terrific, But it's.
Very oftome and I tell him all the time, like, hey, dude, it's not a lot of people that gets this. It's not something that happens every day for people. Because I said, if you think about it, it's almost for twenty five hundred kids here, and we got one guy going to the University of Washington. That's how hard it is. You know what I'm saying, Like, that's how rare it is, right, And like I said, I don't think a lot of people really understand how rare that is for him to
have that. So I always tell him to like, hey, keep working, because you're going to be one of them guys that we look back, like, hey, I went to school with him, right, Like I used to coach that guy. He's going to get dressed in their.
One of those guys we'll coach who appreciate your time, good luck. We'll keep an eye on you.
All right.
I appreciated all for having me man smile, smile with those.
Lee and we appreciate that.
Thank you appreciate I appreciate it. Okay, we got to go a good, good interview pleady. You know say your calendar is August thirtieth at Marana High School, Morana, versus southl should be a good one. All right, We'll be right back. If you're an.
Arizona men's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for nearly forty years.
Now.
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This is High on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez soun Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio wipp just surgeer I on the Ball, Welcome back.
To IM the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. I'm Steve Rivera, He's Jakinsauce. We have fifteen minutes if you guys want to give us a call. Five two oh four one six seventy four forty.
That was a lot of fun. Stewart was a good guay. He sounds a good guy again, he looked mean in those he doesn't there's even do they even have the coaching staff on the website. Everyone was like arms crossed, you know, uh, not frowning, but just stern looking.
Jay Jay, this is football, the same backgammon. There was a fight, Yeah, there was a There was a fight this weekend. Fantastic fight Saturday night on ESPN, uh and UFC two and somewhere else, uh that I saw and it was. It went twelve rounds. It was a brutal one. It was fun to watch. I'm sure one dude didn't have his his left hand. He hurt his left hand like in the fifth round, so he's slugging with one hand. And one of the great lines from that fight at
the end was you don't play boxing. You don't play boxing. You don't play boxing. Right, this is a job, man, And if you're getting your ask kick there, you're kicking somebody else's ask. That's what you're paid to do. You don't play boxing. What a fantastic line.
That is kind of funny. You know, I stopped boxing, so I don't really you know, pay much attention you know, I was again one of those guys who loved the Heyday. Yeah right, yeah, well it was great. And I think the last time I really watched a lot of boxing was as far back as when you know, Marvin Hagler's Sugar Ras and that's been a while. Tommy, hearns all those guys.
I run into certain things. So I told you about all the Tyson thing, right to take a look at that. For that, I'm trying to get one of the documentary guys on the show. He went to New Mexico State. He's in New York down. Uh. He was at New Mexicoated about six years before I was, So I'm trying to get him on.
Uh.
And then they had the Muhammad Ali PBS Muhammad Ali kind of feature, which was fantastic too. There were certain things that I followed him forever, just about him and his his life and you know, the Parkinson stuff, and it was just what a fascinating man. Just obviously I'm telling you stuff you already.
Know, right, love him or hate him, he was interesting.
Interesting, yeah, to the very end. Yeah, you know, he became a humanitarian at the end, and he probably shouldn't have fought maybe half a dozen times after he was done.
Yeah, but he did. Yeah, you know, the only time I saw him in person was unfortunately when you know, he was already not doing well. And Louisville was that base regional, No a.
Regional that I well, there was there were they were here, they were here.
Yeah baseball. He but at a basketball regional, either regional or first and second round, and he was there and I saw him.
Okay, yeah, well he was here for baseball maybe twelve years ten years ago.
Uh yeah.
So if you have a chance for to watch those, the Tyson stuff was fantastic. Obviously become a really Tyson interesting, kind of a fun guy.
Tyson. Yeah. Yeah.
Have you have you listened to his podcast now, which you would never believe this is would be a great thing. It's pretty damn good. Yeah, because he's he's he's a philosophy guy. But you think, what did he just say? And it's kind of smart, you know, smart stuff. And then then he gets into the fights with Jake Paul. That should be fun. That should be fun. And he's sixty one sixty sixty one. Uh. Del Hoya was on a podcast too. He says he's got to be careful.
He's got to be careful, Jake Paul. It means something to Jake Paul and Tyson not so much, right, So he's got to be and but you but he's still Mike Tyson. Yes, you don't know who's gonna show up?
Wait yeah, wait, yeah, I still don't want to get hit by you. No, nor no, I still don't want to get hit by him. We shifted, Okay, I still don't want to get hit by him. He's fifty eight he.
I guess he said he was sixty, So sixty one, and Jake Paul's like twenty eighties ninething like that.
Oh yeah, he's there than me. Yeah all right, yeah now and you know, good interesting stuff. Hey were you doing? We're you gonna do this?
Uh?
Final for economic impact stuff for Phoenix is Phoenix? Yeah, I feel like we okay, we're gonna take it away from you. Jack mcgrudy reporting for Forbes. We all know he writes for the Forbes of sports money. Final four generated a four hundred and twenty nine million dollar economic impact for not just Phoenix, but the state of Arizona, according to a study done by an Asu. An ASU
study ye in the Sidemen Research Institute at ASU. It was four hundred twenty nine million dollars, which was more than one hundred million dollars more than what the twenty seventeen Final Four, which had an impact of three hundred and twenty four million. It's when it was held here, So what.
Well in today's dollars too. I mean you you were able to see it differently than I saw it. And I say that because I stayed in the Glendale area for four day whatever it was, and you know how much I didn't like. I don't like the separation right with the fund down there downtown and the games over here. For the game is you were able to you had a place.
Yeah, we stayed out and uh yeah, and uh you know, went into Temp a couple of times for dinner and stuff. And the place was it was hopping.
You know.
Now we didn't go into any of the Final four events, but the place was you know, the whole place was hopping. You know. We went to a sports bar and watched, uh, the the Iowa women's women's game. The place was jammed.
You know.
It took us, I mean it took us forty five minutes to get a to get a table, and then uh, it was it was and then it took service was slow because it was so damn busy. Right, well, they were busy as hell.
And my kind of point was too is because the distance it took you almost an hour to get across town.
Yeah, yeah, sometimes to get to the game, to get to the games, we would hit we were we were staying not far from the airport, really north of the airport. We got on the when we hit the freeway, when we got on the on the ten. It was slow from there all the way out to all the way out to the freeway and coming back.
But no, and and people came perdue. Yeah, Purdue came in droves, obviously, Yukon.
Yeah, so they said the championship game had the attendance of seventy four the third largest ever in the final four.
Which were the first two was the first one in Phoenix. Because man, we have decent seats, but even you had good seats.
Obviously I had these. I had pretty good seats at this one.
And my and my first two there at Phoenix. We're away from the you know court and blah blah blah. That's too many people, Yeah, just too many people.
Yeah, and then the combined combined attendance for the two days was one.
So there was more for the semi final. So it had to be win No. Seventy five yea seventy five plus seventy fours. Crazy, well, because you had all four teams. Yeah, you had four teams that were there having fun.
Yeah, it was fun. It was fun.
I just wish they all play it in Glendale. And I don't see why they couldn't have.
All everything in Glendale. Well I know, I mean, I guess Glendale has a convention center. I just don't know it's big enough to handle.
And there has the football field as a football field right there, they can have put everything in there, tail gates and all that, right, yeah, right, Well we talked about that with with our girl Jamie Jamie J Jay J Perry, Yah J Perry.
Yeah.
Yeah, and that was my big complaint to her and to uh Bagnano and yeah, but that was beyond her control obviously. Yeah, but you all want to stay centralized New Orleans, San Antonio, Indianapolis. Everything was downtown and everything's fun.
Here's a here's an interesting thing that so the the one in Houston you have before twenty twenty three, there was not there was not blown economic impact study, but it was estimated that the economic impact in Houston was two hundred and seventy millions. Yes, compared to the four twenty four, twenty four for twenty nine.
I think the site means something too. You know, Phoenix people go in March. Yeah, it's not hot, it's nice. Yeah, Scott stals around the corner. It was.
You know, it was beautiful the whole the whole week in there. You know that the Monday of the game, my son and I went golfing that morning at a great time. It was good. It was very cool and so yeah, you know, we did a lot of stuff there. It was It was a fun weekend, you know, the first time, the first Final four that that I worked up there. We came home every day. We just had
stuff going on. We didn't you know, we didn't stay, but we decided we wanted to take it all in, got a hotel room and stayed in the area, and it was it was way more fun. We had a great time doing it. I know when they'll do it again, but.
Probably another five years because they're realizing exactly the numbers right when you're making four to fifty four sixteen.
It was they said again in the story says whatever this means, right, two hundred and fifty six x point nine millions dollars over the three days was added to Arizona's gross domestic product.
I never remember stuff like this. And did he compare it it all to the Super Bowl?
No?
No, because those are obviously big dumbers. But remember super Bowl is one day. I know it's a week of stuff, but it's one game. You know, there's people who come in get out, right. You see the you see the uh the uh private planes park that uh you know fly in on you know sometimes on game day, fly in, go to the game, flyout.
So you're a gambling man. We get six minutes here and anybody want to call Please do to my question?
You think I am right? Would I say? You're not like addicted to it?
You to.
You're not too?
If someone kidnapped Jay and brings us in, here's so, here's here's your gamble. Uh. If I gave you five to one that Arizona five to one, Arizona's gonna make the Final four the next five years?
Would you take to take that? I think it's gonna would absolutely, Okay, I think I think my, yeah, I think my I think I take that you won't give.
Me that.
I possibly could. I'm just saying this because you pick that up from somewhere. No, no, no, no, because because we're talking about the final four. It's been a long time since, and we know how difficult it is. You gotta be lucky, you gotta be healthy, you gotta be good, all that stuff, and it just hasn't happened for whatever reason. You can go back and dissect every game the last five ten years.
Just gotta get hot, Steve, teams get hot. I mean who you said?
Just?
I mean, who would have thought San Diego State was gonna get to a championship game two years ago? And they did? True? It just there's just an episode players, I know. But a lot of things have to fall into place, you know that, and they fall into place for someone. Right And now, last year, yes, arguably the best team won the championship, right, But did you think that the year before when Yukon won it? Yeah, and
you know, I don't know that you did. I don't know that you thought Yukon's the team going in Well them in Houston, Houston. So it's it. You know, you gotta be good, which Arizona has been. Yeah, all right, but then all the things, all the things have to fall into place. You got to not have an off shooting night by your shooting guard, you know, to to to keep winning games and those kinds of things. You know, so it and look, you know you didn't think Arizona
was gonna win it a ninety seven. You know, they had first round loss written all over them, and they had first and then they and then they almost had the first round loss then won damn.
So what would you take if I give you five to one?
You wouldn't take three to one? Probably not.
Yeah, it's not enough. Yeah, I think it's maybe four to one, five to one, five years.
And five years, Yeah, I think I I yeah, I would be I'd I'd be willing to bet the time it can get a Final four in the next five years because he's what he's what he's established Steve, is that he's gonna have good players every year. Yeah, right now, the question is does it all come together.
Well, he's always gonna have anchest chance, always gonna have that bunch of chance. And it's funny because last year, after after remember he talked to Ball, he talked about bollowing what he meant to him, and he was like raising his son. He was important to remember that. It was a great press conference. I was walking out with him with Nate and I said, you know what, you're a smart man. I said, you're a smart man. Tommy
kind of joking with it because he was. He was being a dad, pretty much being a dad, and he says, you know what, Steve, We're gonna break through this one of these days.
Yeah.
I think he thought it was gonna happen this year, right, And it didn't happen obviously, but but I think so too. Over time, it's going to take some patience.
Right, and again, you know the way teams changed now too. You can, as you've said, you can get lightning in a bottle, you know, for one year because you got the right guys from the portal, you got the right guys who stayed.
You know.
I as at my breakfast club this morning and there's a guy in the club who played basketball in Indiana, so he's a big Indiana fan. But he's a big u of a fan too. We were talking about doing more Bollo and whether or not he fits with, well, just just get ready to you know, to grip the anytime Bala goes to the free throw line. Right, That's not really what I said, but you know what they probably said. But you know, and then we got to talk. He goes, do you think you know? He asked me,
are you happy Caleb Love is back? And I said, you know, And I sat there and I thought, I said, you know, I'm about fifty to fifty on that, because how can you not be welcome back to Pack twelve Players of the Year. But on the other hand, we think about how he finished last year. You know, is that Caleb Love gonna come out this year again? Right? Sure? But it gets back to the things of all the
things that have to come together. If Caleb Love doesn't shoot as poorly as he did over the last few games, five or six games of the season, maybe they win a national championship. And so if that doesn't happen this year, maybe they do win a national championship. I'm not putting it all on him, I'm saying, but you know, all those things have to come together, and when they do, and you've got the talent to win a national championship,
then you'll win one. But if they don't, you know, it hasn't been coming together for Duke, It hasn't been coming together for Michigan State. It hasn't been coming together for all these programs. You know, it came together twice for Yukon.
I do think that your fifty to fifty is about consistent with the regular general public. Yeah, I believe, because he's polarizing. Yeah, he very and that's about fifty to fifty.
There are people who feel that the way he played at the tail end of the season kind of let everybody down. And I'm sure he feels bad about letting everybody down. It wasn't like he was trying to play bad, he just didn't. He went into a slum.
I do think that because he was told he couldn't make it in the NBA this year and maybe done, he's got some incentive to be better, right, and not better by what he shows, but overall better, right, you know, blore games and pru more game exactly because we know he can score. Right now, it's maybe score more efficient. What else can you get everybody else involved? Because there's there's gotta be more to his game, right, That isn't.
Right he's shown that he's not a good enough shooter just just to be like, to be able to be able to get in the nbaker. You can improve his shooting a little bit, but he's got to be able to do other things. He's got to create more and better shots. Right, He's got to get open. He's gotta he's got to create a little bit.
And become more of an a sist guy. If I see this guy open.
Right, and guess who has to do that too.
I know.
He laughed at that question about because he goes downhill exactly. Okay, all right, let's take our break. Where to come back. Breaking news coming out to here at the top of the hour with Ryan. Sorry I'm rubbing off, so stick around.