Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Eye on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera, and today with me is who are you Lamont Honley.
I'll be Lamont today.
Yes, great, great and great to have Lamont Hunley in here today. My guy Kobe in to help me out here. I'm hoping you can hear us because Ris is another day where I got the control of the controls and we'll see how much control I have. Good you see, Good to see you la month. Have you recovered from Saturday's game?
I have not. I have not.
I'm still feeling what I felt. Oh wow, I had to kick off the kick off the game, and you know, I stayed the whole game, and I watched the whole game, and I'm just going into it. You can just feel something uneasy about it. Before the game started. The game even okay, I was with my brothers and stuff. We was watching and and he, my younger brother, made a comment, he said, they don't look good.
They don't look like they energize. Did it play?
And I and my comment was this, they got the red jerseys on, you know, and that's you know, and they got the white jerseys on. So in my head, you know, the red make you a little a little bit laid back and okay, okay, and not heat.
Yeah.
And and he saw that, he saw that, you know, the morale that was out on the field of kids, even in warm ups.
So living in the road just real quick. So you guys go together, when you guys watch games, do it together? Right?
Yes?
So I'm sure did you in your head think, well, when have they looked energized? I'm not I'm not gone to put it in the words in your mouth, but throughout the whole year we saw each other at at the casino maybe a month ago. What you use the word disappointment on it, and it is nothing's changed at that point. You know, you're right, the disappointment is still there.
But the hope, I mean, every every game I go to, there's always that hope.
But but when you went to the games live, there must have been two or three two games at least since the last saw you a month ago. Did you see that energy then in between?
No? Well exactly, I take that back live. You're right, we haven't seen the energy, that energy. But when we did play, I forgive Houston, it was defensively. I think the energy level was much higher than I have seen all year, you know, And and that energy comes from when you create turnobs. I mean, you make something excite,
exciting on the defensive side of the ball. And every game that we played this year, if that took place, you saw that energy level, excitement happen, give the ball to the offense in the right side of the field. But we haven't seen that happen most definite at home.
Yeah no, And guys like you and you were honest a month or so ago talking about how disappointed you were. I had David and Byron your guys in earlier throughout the weekends, and they say, I told him, you said that. He says, well, I guess, so all the guys should feel disappointed.
It hurts. I mean it hurts.
And and you know what would hurt more if the players that's still on this team and the coaching staff that's still part of this team, if they don't feel how we feel or worse, then we got issues, no question issues at that point in time, because they're the ones who really got to fix this mess.
And it's a mess, right it's gotta start. Did you listen to Brent on Saturday.
I did not. I did not.
He was very candid, very forthright to blame him. He's disappointed. Uh okay, we've known that for a long time. Right, he's the head coach, right, he's the one that's calling the shots, and you know how I feel he just doesn't show that energy right that you guys were talking about. Maybe I see it differently in a coach, correct, and maybe the kids follow that right.
And as you and I have spoken to, we don't know what goes on behind closing right, to be fair, to be fair to him, we have no idea what goes on behind closed doors. And you know, and we had to have coaches that show that energy, and Tucson didn't like those Doyle of coaches. So we really don't know what Brendan does behind closed door. But I can't only imagine this guy has to hurt all the time, you know, and and and and to stand in front of the Republic and got to defend himself.
I mean that that has to says a lot.
Too, So that given that happened, shouldn't that piss you off? And say, I'm going to make some changes, and we know that they're going to be changes. But I'm saying, you know, he mentioned looking at the mirror, blah blah blah. Okay, Laman, you're a good dude. I know you're a good dude. I don't know you outside of my our arrangements, you know whatever, You're a good dude. Can you get pissed off? Can you be a different dude when you need to?
Yes?
So that's the that's the something needs to happen.
And I and I pray that that's the type of coach we have in Britain. You know that he knows and and and we'll go see the pissed off if he make a change in his culture staff. And I think there should be changes made in the coaching staff. I'm one of those guys that think that players are
a product of their coaches who coaching them. I want to go there with you to you know, in regards to the actual style that you play on the field, Okay, being prepared day in and day out, play in and play out, it's a reflection of the actual coach who's coaching you.
Right right.
You said this before three, you said this about two bunchs.
Ago and I can go down.
I can go down the coaching staff and look at the players, their product, their production this year, this year, you know, and probably can make an assumption of who should stay who should not.
Are you giving me more than three names?
I can give you more than three.
Well, it's almost a clean house. Well you know five ish now I.
Have said three three, three four.
Okay, okay, that's not a clean house, but it's it's a significant amount, and.
It should be.
I mean, when you're four and eight, there should be a significant no argument here, A lot of changes should place. He can't fire himself, he can't fire the kids. So the next person in line has to go in order to make those changes and see those changes take place, you know, and uh and I foresee that coming.
Yeah, no, I think we all do. It became public history that there was going to be some changes. I don't know who. You can guess and I could guess, but we'll wait till we hear from from him and or them. We talked about disappointment. We talked about I just didn't see enough energy throughout the whole year. You know how I felt a just energy and just kind
of no motivation. And let me ask you something, because coming in were a lot of high hopes right from last year, especially especially, did everyone I'll say everyone miscalculate the talent they had.
I think so.
I think the talent they had and the talent they missed that they lost. I think that was that there was some hopes there, you know, offensively, I mean losing a couple of guys on an offensive line as well as I'm not talking about injuries before the yeah, and the tight end and went to the NFL. Colwyn who went to the NFL. I mean those some key players there and then Coman then a back right huge.
I thought that was huge, huge, you know.
You know, so you lose that talent and of course you lose some talent on the defensive side of the ball, so you know, with that in mind, I think Tucson still was expecting a ten and two team sure or was it eleven and two right with with the bowl game? So they were respected eleven two teams, you know, ten plus win team. You know, the reality we didn't have the talented to get to six obviously, but I expected six.
Truth expected six. I expect us to be in a bowl game this year.
We should be talking about a bowl game and not about what took place.
So you hang out with a different crowds than I do, at more different crowds than most people, because you know it's guys, and you're friends with a lot of the your businessmen locally, you know, stuff like that. I know you don't give up. You're not going to give up under any condition, right, Uh, your buddies.
Some have even really, Yeah, I think some guys have given up, you know, in regards to hope on giving up on the coach right himself. Some guys have given up naturally on the team in that case. But yeah, that there has been people who have got to this point where you know, enough's enough, right, right? But but but I'm not there. Yeah, I don't think I could ever be that.
No, you're not that type of fan because you're you're a former guy. You want to see them succeed, right, Yeah. Do we live in a time when and I would you and I talked a lot about this before. So then another getting paid. They may be getting paid better than you.
I'm sure.
I'm sure they're getting paid better than me. So they're getting paid. Do you think that that's enough for the kids today, or that you don't have to show out now even though because hey, I'm getting mine.
When you said enough for the kids, because they getting played, they paid.
Paid, you know, do they have that motivation to say, okay, I want to be better. I got mind coming in. I'm okay.
You know what. Unfortunately, that's the mindset of this generation.
And that's why, you know, and that's so we can't just put the finger on you know, the athletes that get played. I think it's a generation problem. You know that people want it now and they should get it now. They expect it now. So that's a generation problem to me. But I'm still a believer that who you are is
a product of your household. And if you come from a steady, committed household, especially a household that's you know, say that someone's giving you an education, first and foremost, you go do the right thing because they are giving you. I'm appreciating the opportunity to get this education, appreciate it. So you do what you need to do, you know, day in and day out, to show your appreciation for
that education that you're receiving. Everything else is gravy. I used to know the cake, you know, So that that's to me, what kind of household you come from. And that's gonna show the type of people if I'm a coach, that's the type of person I'm gonna try to recruit, you know, someone who's they know, they deserve it, and everything else is icing on the cake, you know, and they're gonna they're gonna give there all day in and day out to make sure their self is better as well as his team's sure.
Sure, Now, finding those kids that do that is.
The problem, but that's their jobs. That's the coaching job.
Did you I don't know if you heard my show with Coach Lopez here maybe two weeks ago, three weeks ago, did you fantastic? I think the world will ended opus? He talked about ones, twos, and threes, And you want the ones. You love the ones. There's fantastic talent, they
work their butt off, blah blah blah. You don't want twos because the twos want to be they think they're ones ones and they're not ones, right, And you love threes because they're just they're just the dogs because they want to be ones, but they don't have that talent. But they'll do anything for you one to become a one. Right, So those twos, so now they got to go after the threes and the ones because I'm sure, well, you know what the twos that were here. If there are twos,
how did chance to be ones? Because there was plenty of opportunity because the ones, because cons were either hurt or left.
Yep, you're absolutely right.
So again it goes back to the type of kid that you're recruiting that you're bringing into your system and you're bringing into your program. You know, So I believe everything that you know, Coach Lopez said in regards to that that thinking, you know, because I would want threes and I'll make them one.
Right.
Well, I think you guys when you played, were a bunch of a lot of threes with a lot of ones, and you had one one your brother.
Yeah.
Yeah, we had some other guys over cheer. They're the threes. The overchievers wanted to be ones. I'm sure you had a few twos and you knew who the twos were.
We did, We did, we did, and you know, and you know the thing is we we just we as a as a university got to go back to that way of thinking coaching, and we can't think that the universe of Arizona is a you know, Michigan or Ohio State, the Union love Arizona.
I love that, you know, and that's that to me. Take that pride. I love that.
And then when you have that opportunity knock them off the the hi horses, that means a lot when you you can go into note your dame and take it from them, to those schools and take it away.
And that's what you guys did a lot right back, and they and they still kind of did undertld me. And if you I've always said that Arizona and I've been here a while now, they can't prosperity. They can't handle prosperity. Had a great year, just what I'm gonna do this year right, even better? But they don't put in the work or they do something well.
Yeah, but have we had opportunity to keep a coach yourself around long enough to keep because like every time we we have that prosperity, someone's gone, you know. So now we got to regroup again and figure out how we fix it. So you know, maybe maybe Brendan staff and this this staff is the ones that keep going.
Who knows right, right, No, I talked about we're gonna take out let me tell you who's gonna be on the show today. So we have Lamont here today. We're gonna have coach Jerry Stitt at the first hour in about five six minutes talking about his situation at Pima and coach Wing because they had a ceremony for coach Wing.
Yeah, you're probat of here.
We'll talk about all that and what would what would Kendall think of all this money stuff?
You know him?
Like lut right, Like Luton says, you know, what the hell do I do?
What am I doing here where they wouldn't be coaching?
Would?
This is more power to you?
Right? Uh?
And in the second hour, we're gonna have Kent Middleton, the state champion of a push ridge. So we'll talk you a lot about success on the other side of the hour. Okay, no, thanks for coming in, Laman. Let's take a break. Hope this goes smoothly, and we'll come back with Coach Stitt.
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Streaming live on the iHeartRadio WIP. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty eight.
Hey, welcome back to I the Ball Here on Fox Sports.
Fortune fifty.
I'm Steve Rivera and ther P. Today is the month Hunley. Now on the phone, we have coach Jerry Stick. Coach, how are you.
Do. I'm doing very well. Thank How are you guys doing?
We're doing well too. We wanted to talk to you about a number of different type of things here. First, the memorial you have for Coach Wing. How was that? And I'm sure it was very heartfelt.
It was, it was. It was very well attended. Guys from came from all over the country. We had representatives from every era Wildcat baseball.
The current Wildcat team was there.
They sang Bear down Arizona at the end of the memorial and.
It was it was really really good.
What did he mean to you?
Well, he was.
He was my mentor for years and years and as we say in in baseball, he coached me up.
For just over fifty three years. Uh.
I first came in contact with him, My very first contact with Coach Wing was when I was coaching at South Point. I was a rookie coach and not ready to be a varsity head coach, but I was doing it anyway, and and I went over to play the Palaverty Titans and coach Wing and he was already a legend and we were we were in the game for about five minutes and then we got some pretty good Afterwards, he talked to me at home plate and he just told me to hang in there and keep being positive,
work hard. You know, these guys are going to be pretty good. And you know that if you don't, if you need anything, just don't hesitate.
And so.
For all those years afterwards, I didn't hesitate. And we worked a clinic, uh the camp in the summer of seventy one, at the end of the season.
We worked together for two weeks for you know, morning and.
Afternoon sessions and I just, I don't want to say picking his brain because he didn't need to, because once he started talking it it just flowed and uh yeah, and I just learned so much, and you know, it did take us a while, but we eventually got to be pretty good the Lancers, and so.
We just we just kind of stayed in touch.
I worked at the camps at Wildcat and got to meet coach Kindle and when the hitting job came over came open after the after the seventy eighth season, coach Coach told JK that absolutely had to hire me, and I might have gotten the job if he without Coach Wing, but I doubt it, you know, he he just he just really stood up for me and said, you got to hire this guy.
And so.
I went in there and in the fall of seventy eight, and that was a start of something great. You know, we all said that the most important thing Coach Kennel ever did was hire Jim Wing. And Coach Coach said many times over the years that coach was the guy that taught us all how to coach.
Wow, Coach Stiff just Lamon Hundley, how you doing.
Sir Lamart good good to hear from him.
Bless you brother, and Michael Dolens to you guys, man, Uh And I recall walking in McHale back in the day, Man when when when all the teams was in McHale and the baseball team, football team, we all like to, you know, meet in the hallway and I could tell you you guys, was was some of my favorite gentlemen to look up to. And Uh and Coach Wing most most definitely was one of those guys man, and we could look up to and and and and make sure you know that that we did the right thing as
student athletes. So I wanted to give you that those words and Michael Doles that you and your family, brother, I appreciate that.
Laman. You're right.
You know we you know I said my talk yesterday that he was the absolute epitome of what it meant to be a wildcat.
You know.
He always said that that we're we represent something greater than ourselves, and we're fighting and and and working playing for for something greater than ourselves.
Right, man, it was always it was always the team first.
Let me let me ask you, because you guys, I like to sage you guys. You guys are wisdom guys. I've been around a long time, seeing a lot of stuff. I'm sure in your in your discussions, uh together, you guys must have talked a lot about N A L and what the heck's going on in the world today.
Yeah, we we did.
And and you know, uh, Tip and and tripped outs the recruiting coordinator for Chip and they would come by and he said there and trying to explain N I L and transfer portal and and just shake his head. He said, there's just no loyal anymore. What's happening? Yeah, what's happened? What's happened? And and he says, how do you build a program? And some of the coaches aren't even trying.
To do that anymore.
But but but you know there there are a few around, more than a few, like Chip are building a program on tradition, on loyalty, on doing the right thing and.
Coach way, you would say, the ship.
You know, if if these kids parents brought him up right, they wouldn't even think about transferring.
They they say, you you you recruited me to play here. I'm going to play my whole career here.
You know, Coach I mentioned that to see just some moments ago. You know, it's I mean, it's it's the foundation of a home, you know. And and I think that's that goes with the you know what type of coach would reach out to look for that type of a family. And and yeah, and and and that's what we need. We need that more than ever these days, in my personal opinion.
We do we do you need you need to recruit the right kind of guys and and just there's uh many many of the nineteen eighty national championship team was there yesterday, and you know they say they came from all over the place, and and back a while back. They have a they're really a tight group, and they
have a text thread that everybody's on. And and so when at the end of the last season, when you know, transfer portal was loading up, I sent a text out to him and I said, what would you guys do if one of our guys went in the transfer portal and and Ronnie quick text back would hunt him down and beat the living you know what out of it.
So let me go one further. Coach, uh, because you were with Kendall for forever, how would he how would he have handled this or cared about this?
You know, That's that's what we would say all the time that when we were talking about it, I don't know if coach could have handled this.
Yeah.
No, I say the same thing about Loot because you know.
Yeah, I don't think coach Smiff could handle this.
No it It'd be a tough one. I'll tell you.
Really, you just you want you want to you want to bring in freshmen and coach him and get him to improve and make him to the point where they can compete. Then if you need to fill in with j see kids, you want to do that. But now it's just fill in with the transfer portal. How much money? How much money do you want? Well, yeah, and you know some some schools like us, we can't compete within iow money was say any pick any school in the SEC.
We just can't. We can't compete.
And and so we have to do it a different way.
And you know, you know that you mentioned, you mentioned the group of kids that were there, the nineteen eighty kids. Let's let's look ten years from now or twenty years from now, you know, and there'll be a gathering. We would never see that that big group of the kids together together again like that because everybody's moving around, they transferring, so's there's no commitment of four years, no family, nothing, I mean, just a group of kids staying together for
four years. So eventually, you know, reunions, it's not even going to exist anymore. You know that it won'tn't exist anymore because there's nobody to reunion for.
That's a good point.
And you know, some of the coaches flat out say I'm gonna buy the best team I can.
For this year, right, and typically coach, that doesn't necessarily mean you're gonna win.
Because somebody else got bore money, Well, no.
Not so much. Even even you've got the great players, you got, chemistry, you got, well he's got more than I do. What am I going to do? Make people happy? When back in the day you played and you just you played and if you were good, you were good.
Right, Coach Wing would always say, what about that guard that sucks the block because he's on making them as much money as the quarterback.
Right exactly, no question, no question.
Or somebody never get hit a three porter, but keep trying.
But he still checked his check still check is still catching. Are you are? You're an administrator now at PIMA and we have the coaches on from there a lot. Now, Uh, it's gonna start to affect the jcs. I assume.
It is, in fact the n j c a UH National Junior College.
So that's leg associated we have.
We have the same rules pretty much across the board as the n c a A so U n I L money is the same rules as as the four yr schools. And now the n j c a a is UH has different organizations that will will come in and show you how to operate on our level for n I L money. And you know, I'm here. I am old school, been around forever. You got Ken hockey, you know, same way Todd holds House, Peabody, you know Cosgrove when the oldest of old school guys, how are we going to deal with N I L And Junior?
You guys have to be s.
You guys have to turn into.
Say we do, We're gonna have, We're gonna and the kids are gonna have to sell themselves. They don't have to go out in the community and get sponsorships and right, and it's it's a good way to get out in the community.
But we do that already.
But the funny thing, that's why they call it a community college.
Well let me say this though, If the kids go out and sell themselves at the end, at the end of the day, and it's uh and it's definition. Isn't that what N I L was? Hey, that was That's what thats to be right now, It's like, hey, junior, come here, here's a here's a bag of money, come here. But before is you want to go? You want to go convince a car dealer to go right ahead.
And that's exactly that's what it was set up for, right you know.
But yet and still it allow the greedy in the rich to get richer, and and and it's it's a mess.
To me, it's a mess, And it's not.
Criteria in the beginning.
Nay, maybe your likeness was that you had to do something for your money. You had you actually had to had to show something that you had done for whoever was offering you that bag of money. Now, but you're right now, it's just, hey, I take the bag of money and do nothing.
Do nothing. And and here's the here's an issue that I kind of want have a few of them. But okay, Steve or Eric gives a junior a bag of money and he turns out to be a dud. I'm thinking, I ain't gonna do this money thing again. I don't think it works that way. No, no, no, the next year, I'm I'm done with giving money to go.
But some of these people who giving them money to kid, they're doing it for their self worth.
Too, good good luck.
I mean, it's.
It's it's a legal way of being illegal.
Coach, aren't you glad you're out of this? Aren't you glad you're out of this?
I am? You know, we we would we would.
Uh talk about this because back back when there really were rules, you know, there were there were guys who I could name a few who we were n I l before there was that they're paying paying kids to play and and uh, you laugh, but you know a few of them, right, And and Coach Kendle we would do we would make it the tiniest infraction to an n C two A rule and he would immediately call our compliance officer and and what do we do about this?
And most of the time is Bill Morgan.
He'd say, don't worry, coach, that's not even worth reporting.
But that that was Coach Kendall. That was Coach Kendall.
So so let me let's go back to the beginning where we talked about Coach Wing and and Jerry and Jerry coach Coach Kendall for you, a long time guy who loved the guys heavily. Uh and this may be a personal tough question. How much do you miss Coach Kindling And how much do you think you're gonna miss Coach Wing?
Yeah, you know it did.
It did empty a pretty good hole in in uh my background, you know, because I was with him for so long, right, coach with Coach Ken over eighteen years, and as I was sharing an office and roomed with coach Wayne for fifteen and and it was his friend and and uh he still we coached each other all the way up until his passing a few weeks ago. But it did, it did leave a pretty good gap in in my life. And I'm just going to say thanks thanks to the Wildcats and Chip Hale that that that.
He has really helped fill it.
And the Cats have you know they they they.
Were all there.
Every every player on the team was there, he say, the whole staff and uh, just honoring some some someone that also those kids didn't even knowing they know.
Who he they know who he was. That tells you they really didn't know him.
That tells you the impact people have on people, even if you didn't know them.
Right, right, that's exactly right. And he did have a huge impact.
And that's one of my messages to the to the guys were there and even people who never played baseball, but he touched and helped and guided, and I said, we know that none of us will be who we are where we are without coach Wayne.
Well, I'm one of those student athletes telling you, both of you guys always touched us man and uh, I can still remember up and walking down that halls and McHale and and and seeing you guys on my shoulders, just like a football coach and a big you know, a father figure.
Let me ask you, coach, go through because were you were you there when in the mid eighties when your brother.
Ricky was on the baseball do you really Oh yeah, tell me about tell me about that.
Ricky still still says, to my face, you guys were the best coaches I ever had.
I loved you guys.
And he saying, wait a second, Ricky, he says, no, it's it's true.
You guys were great.
And and you know he he was. He was a good player and could have played baseball, but you know how it is, he was too great football to bother with us guys.
I guess I don't know. He Yeah, he still says.
That he did the right thing. He did. Yeah, no doubt about it. You know, coach, I saw this.
I think Greg Hanson put something in the paper regards to and you just mentioned this earlier. You both coming out of high school and coming to the University of Arizona.
I mean, who does that?
You know, in regards to picking two classic guys like you guys out of high school and placed them on your on his staff and believeing in you guys. And look how long I mean, you guys been as far as I'm successful and successful at that university.
I mean, that's that's awesome.
It really is awesome.
And you know, yesterday there is this is one of the things that I knew a few guys were coming that I still stay in contact called with high school coaches from Phoenix.
And one of the guys, Roy Miller, who who he was. He's a legend in his own right.
At in Phoenix, and and I've known him forever.
And he says to me, there's no question in my mind that you three.
Guys were the greatest coaching staff in college baseball history. And I said, well, I wouldn't argue with you, but I don't know that there's any way approved.
But I think at there for a while we were pretty darn good.
Yeah, well, coach, we appreciate your time. Thanks a bunch for looking back and talking to us about all this.
Well, I appreciate you having me anytime.
Great, thank you.
Thanks.
Don't promise those thieks because i'mbody calling you to come in.
He'll be calling you. So he needs someone to do the board for him.
Yet the board it's like hitting a signal up the middle.
I can't do that either. All right, coach, thank you, thank you, thank you, Coach Baredown.
We're going to take a break here now and come back on the other side. If you're an Arizona Man's Basketball fan, you know it's been successful for nearly forty years. Now take a look back at the Ludelsen era. In my new book, 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 led them, competed against them, and inspired them. Twenty five chapters for his twenty five years as Arizona's
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This is I on the Ball with Steve Robera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio while just search Eye.
On the Ball.
Hey, welcome back to Iron the Ball here with Steve Barbera. And if you can't still know me and Lamana are like pain in the next to well, I like him animated. But my hand's a little bigger than yours. So yeah, and irazed, You're still run faster than I doubt it.
I have to watch my words because you've closer to the exactly, But I can still tackle.
I'm sure you could give me a four up today.
It was right one.
Yeah, Yeah, that was good to talk to Stevey. You probably hadn't talked to him in a long long time.
No, well, yeah, I shouldn't say that. I still see him around at basketball game.
Oh yeah, you're like mister personality of basketball.
Get right in the middle.
Hello, how you doing? You're like the mayor. You're shaking hands, good seats.
No, I just you just I love people.
You should your business love me. You're you're a businessman, exactly your business.
Do it for the reason.
You want to get on a treadmill like that one? You haven't you never purchased one from st I have one maybe I didn't have one.
Yeah, it's got more dust than Well, you're very dusty and I'm very dusty. You're right.
You Actually Jean was over the store the other day about a couple of weeks ago.
J j Or was he not j his brother?
Oh Jean?
Did I not say g You said, Jean?
But who do I know?
What's gen? I wouldn't know, j Jean? Okay, yeah he was old at a month ago. Yeah he did. We got him in a nice treadmill for himself. Oh did he well to see this?
See if that could be a coat hanger or a jacket hanger or no, he's gonna use it, he promised me.
Okay, yeah, you know he promised.
How many promises have you been made through the years? They promise? I wish I'm here to deliver. Well, you do have some good stuff over there. It's a nice it's a nice cozy shop. It's it's it's not a big one. You don't need a big one. That said perfect size.
We got the right square footage to have the right product. The people, cup and touch and field. You've been there, we've been in that location. Thirty I was gonna say thirty two years. Were you somewhere else? We used to have a store on Oracor and Prince. Okay, we first existed and then we had a store on Orange and Gold. I do, I do, That's I do, because I'm in Orange Girl right now.
That's where I live.
But the Prince one Prince and yeah, I do remember. It's right by am Fi High School. Yeah, there's your partner, Scott Scott. Yeah, that's actually started right there in that location. That's what I remember. Okay, no, good, What did you decide to stay?
Oh wow?
Good?
Well you left and then you came back.
Yeah, well I really didn't leave because all season I still came back to Tucson. And I think that the thing that really kept me here is see I think the relationship that I created with people in town here and you know, and how you're kind of good guy. Well, I mean I think I think that would kept me here pretty much. In my my weather, the weather that was here just as well. And you know, my only option was where I played and or back home in Virginia.
And it was too cold.
Yeah, no, which is smart. Here was good, which is smart. And we talked about this all the time. Joe Nell's Corey Williams, Bill Buck.
David Adams. I mean it's a lot of Brander Robbins.
Yeah, well it's not the guys that the guys are from here. You don't count guys that came here, played here, fell in love at the place, uh and found too soon to be home? Right, And partly because you were popular, people loved you and you were in a jerk. No, I'm no, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, exactly. And you know that thing too.
It's a small town. It's the only show in town, you know.
So people still relate to me as playing football University Arizona, and that's been forty plus years, right, I know.
I mean I look like I still can play.
But I told you I run at you with the up in the concourse just I looked at you and I said, you've been losing weight, haven't you. And you say, eh, what are you talking about? Because you're you're doing some stuff you're dancing now or whatever you're doing it you get the weight off.
Yeah, that's a different movement.
It's a different movement, you know. You people see people with Dancing with the Stars and they lose like twenty pounds.
It's not dancing with the stars.
No, no, but you know what I'm saying, you do it enough that you get some good exactly, and it does it fools the muscles and makes the muscles work in different ways. But it's you know, and again just being here, and like I said, the community's just been good to myself and my family, being able to raise a couple of kids here and.
With my wife. Naturally, it's just maybe it's my home. Virginia is not my home anymore.
Right.
Let me just give the phone number, and anybody wants to call and talk to it to us until what five two zero, four one, six seventy four forty we'd appreciate the call. Maybe you ask a question about the football team, basketball team, and maybe will come up with an answer because there's a lot of issues. I think in the next day or so, then we'll start hearing about the coaching the players. I guess the players with
the recruiting starts tomorrow at least with the notification. If they don't hit a home run, recruiting worse and it's always a hit or miss, right, do you think they have to hit a home run in the recruiting tomorrow because that's the signing.
Well, I think the whole run has to come through the transfer porder. Okay to me, I think that's where it's all going to allow this team to you know, better themselves and the players that need it more than anything is on the offense and defensive line. They have to get some you know, some seasoned guys who's who's been played somewhere else who can step right in and because that's that's the most needed thing right now, it's the offensive line defense.
Let me ask you, and I don't want you to alibi him or whatever, because that's not what you do or that's what I do. But do you think and it's I think it's a fair question. He came in February, uh, February ish, late last minute, you know, Keiki hired him. Then later he was gone, but under tough conditions, right right before the right before the another cycle there. Hold on, hold on, well, hold that thought, because we've got another call. We got a call. Hello, you're on the air and
I on the ball. Who says, fine, fine, don how are you?
I'm I'm doing good. I go I'm glad le Monson today because I'd like to ask.
Him a question ahead.
Okay, all the talk and chatter on social media and everything is talking about how Arizona if they don't do this and they don't do that with the nil and competing and everything, is a national championship? Really, what Arizona is trying to compete for? I think in my opinion, No, when I was a kid, there was Arizona and then there was the big schools. We competed with the big schools, and a lot of times we beat some of those guys.
But I don't see Arizona becoming in Ohio State. It's a lot easier to do it in basketball than it would be in football.
You talked about that probably you talked about go ahead.
Yeah, well, Odon, are you still asking the question? I'm sorry, yeah, I'm here.
Yeah.
Well, in regards to your question, I truly believe that we can't compete, cannot cannot compete. But you have to as a coaching staff, you have to use that language. You have to use that language. You have to say, you know, I'm going for everything, but being who we are here at this university, in this little small city.
And you've always been, always been, Know who you are, Okay, know who you are?
Know what level you are and and and bring in players that can coach, can play under your coaching ability, and you and you will get there.
And the last and sipen here, Donna and me and me, uh, they've caught lightning in a bottle almost a couple two, a couple two three times?
Right?
Well, well I would I would say, I mean if if the twelfth team, well, we wouldn't have qualified for the twelve team playoffs last year because we we won the bowl game and we ended up Top ten. But if that team would have had a shot, I mean, they might have made a game out of that first round or might be even wanted that team. But what you know, what what a lot of people are whining and crying about on social media is is, Oh, it
sounds like they want to compete with those teams. Now, if we catch like I told this to Steve and you know I've said this on the show, I'd like to have a team that averages seven to nine wins a year, and every once in a while we jump up and get that double digit win season and and we're smacking everybody around. But what I want to see is a tough team that competes every week and that nobody wants to play.
That's not a tough ask, No, seven ninety, not at all.
I mean in this conference and being able to brain kids to this community is not a tough ask at all. And I and I and again, you know, I'm one of those that truly believe that, you know, we're capable of doing what we can do up to a certain point and eventually that one exciting year is going to take place.
So let me ask you to Don's point about the money. Will it take money to get the seven to nine? Yes, it will take money.
It's always it's going to take money to get to any level because that's the landscape we're playing in right now. But there's only so much money that's going to be given. And that's his point too, right, there's no so much money we can get here in this community. So now get what we can get. Coach up with who we got on this football team. Coach these kids up and
let them believe in who they are. You're not a national championship team, you're not Ohio State, you're not Notre Dame to name a few, You're the University of Arizona, Don, that's what you're.
Kind of going with right, well, exactly well, And the other thing is the other thing is not only the money, but these roster sizes are going to drop because they're dropping the walk ons since everybody's going to be getting paid. So there's going to be a lot more players that trickle down to us, the three and a half four stars. There's gonna be players, there's gonna be players to be had that don't have that don't have that monster nil
deal that they thought they were going to have. And if we've got you know, if we've got a good, a good solid program here, we're going to be able to get some of those guys and and competing in the conference. I mean, and you know, if you listen to national media and stuff like that, it seems like everything is everything is the world championship, everything's the national championship. But winning the conference championship is nothing to sneeze at.
But the baseball team last year winning the regular season and win in the tournament, that was absolutely nothing to sneeze at.
You know, that was you know, that took some doing, and I think.
Winning a conference, winning the Big twelve conference, that's going to take some doing. And if you win that you're going to get that opportunity to play in the tournament for the national championship. So I think that I think that the sites don't necessarily need to be in.
The sky so much, and they never have been. I don't think they never happened. We gotta go, We gotta go. Thanks for calling you, guys. Yep, good find good first hour, guys up, We're gonna take our break. Come back on the other side. We're gonna have Kobe with some breaking news, talk to coach Middleton at the mid hour here at four o'clock, and then talk more about UA sports.
That's gone that quick.