This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services and Sure Your Most Prized Possessions katz R two SAG and iHeartRadio Station at Hey. Good afternoon, everybody, Welcome to RI on the Ball Hero Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. You're not Jagan's Aunes, but you're Matt Reynoldson. Back for your last day. Yeah, glad to be back here and back in the studio. A couple
of times last week Jake comes back. I don't think you're gonna be like, uh, what's that show? I always forgetting. I'll remember this after a while where he gets his brakes cut and do well. He doesn't. He lost his job and you're you're in, you know what I'm I'm ready to fill in and anytime, though, call me a pinch hitter up on the dugout. Yeah, show girls, showgirls. Yeah you remember that she tripped her and she took over the job. Okay, so but you know
that's for another day. And we got our boy Ryan and Ryan, good to see you. You scared me there for about ten minutes. Sorry about that that's a that's age real quickly. I used to have dark hair. No, I don't thank you Ryan for coming in. I guess did you guys see that Tommy Lloyd's gonna have only eleven scholarship players on the roster and you know the faithful crazy fans that Arizona has. Oh, they don't have depth, they don't have this. What are your thoughts, because I have
mind? How many times are you playing thirteen scholarship players? Exactly? We talked about it a little bit last week, the same thing, you know, and Tommy Lloyd goes eight, he does, He'll maybe go ten early, but then guess what in the big games, he's going seven or eight, right, And they figured out that rotation pretty early on last year and that made a big difference kind of down the stretch of that back twelve season
when they wrapped up the regular season conference title. No disrespect to Tommy, but I don't know he knows how to spell depth because he doesn't use it. No, but they could add to potentially it leaves open for potentially a
late portal edition or maybe even another high school scholarship piece. Another after a five star guard and a six' ten guard and Will Riley, who could reclassify from the twenty twenty five class to the twenty four class, so could be another edition to the roster that could play a role in that rotation this year. So just joking, so nobody can create a big Facebook page and sudden, you know what I mean that Tommy was joking, of course with
a depth thing. But he doesn't. He doesn't. He doesn't use it a whole out, not in crunch time. And guess what time it is in crunch time in March all the time, right right, So, and I mean it's way basketball is approached right now. You know, you have to look at who your best players are, who your closers are, who
you can trust to make the right plays at the right times. And you know, I think we saw it in March last year of they really shrunk that rotation after having a lot of turnover issues against Long or against Long Beach and against Dayton, and they shrunk that rotation a little bit in the second half of that Dayton game and kind of cleaned up a lot of the turnovers
because they were able to run away with that. And they got yeah, and they got a little scared because they were you know, they were doing stuff they don't usually do with the turnovers. Like you said, yep, they eventually pulled away, but but then came the next game and it was over. Yeah. Yeah, it's what happens when you shoot what two for twenty eight from three or something like that was bad and who knows that could always happen again at any time, but it only matters in March. That's
basketball. That's uh. Yeah, we should start a podcast on something. I'll throw this idea at you later, right. I know you're looking for issues to get out out of town and get a job, but well, we can do podcasts from anywhere. That's the beauty of twenty twenty four, you know, true, Steven, Steve and I will dominate the podcast market. You know. It will bring everybody with us and we'll have love great listeners that follow us, just like they do here on Fox Sports fourteenth fifty.
Right. No, I like the way you're thinking. We'll bring on Ryan to monitory our podcast and we'll be fine. Yeah, Ryan, you're gonna keep us in line. I got it. I'll be there. Okay, good. We need a monitor, we need a monitor, okay, cool? Cool, Last day for you, Ryan, You not you Ryan. But Matt Jay comes back tomorrow and we'll see how tan he is. But we have a good show today. I've got Rocky of the Rose coming
in for the first hour. I wanted to talk to her about kind of kind of going back to what we're doing before reminiscing about the PAC twelve Pack ten when she was involved a long time ago as an AD, as a player, as an AD and an administrator, talking about some of the great stories. And I also want to get her take on what's going on today with women's sports and obviously the hot topic with Caitlyn Clark we've been talking about the last couple days. Obviously, did you see the game this weekend.
I'm sure you've seen enough for the highlights and all that. Yeah, what's your take? You know, I think they women's sports have grown in such an exponential way. I think over the last five years that it might just discredit the overall movement in it to credit it to one player. You know, I've seen volleyball grow exponentially to the point where there is you know,
professional volleyball taking off, you know all around this country. You know, women's soccer has been huge, especially with the US women's national team leading the way and then the National Women's Soccer League really having a bunch of momentum. I know in Kansas City they built a stadium specifically for the Kansas City Current, which is the soccer team there. And so I think, I think
we're seeing growth in those realms all across the country. And I think as much as NIL grows and as much as the interests in the college games grow, you start to see, you know, these athletes that are representing schools that people love in so many different ways, carry their careers forward and maybe do it in more of a four year sense as opposed to a one and done sense, and I think that will create some more momentum, continue to
create more momentum and women's sports. And we see at the u of A as well, what more momentum from you? And you're out the door there right, just kidding and of course your guests for those who don't know, Steve is very anti momentum in sports. But this is more of a trend talk. You know it is and then that is it and it's trending up.
Obviously in a huge situation for kiddon car gonna ask here about that because at no point in my life, probably no question in yours, that has has have the women dominated the headlines like they are doing now, outside of maybe the USA soccer team a few years back when they were doing so well, right and taking out their uniforms and all that stuff, you know, kind of the highlight of the teams back to back World Cups for them, and I mean they're just they were a dominant team, and I think that
really rallied the country around soccer like it maybe hasn't been. I think with the generation younger than me, I consider myself a back end millennial, but with the generation younger than me, I think a lot of them have gravitated towards soccer in the international sense. And you know, the US men are getting better, but they they're never going to be a perennial, you know,
World Cup final contender, I don't think in my lifetime. But you know, the women have set the stage and set the standard I think for international soccer for a long time. And I think that was maybe a spur of momentum in and of itself, because people love rallying around teams, and I think that's a really unifier. They like winning teams and that's what they
were so rocky at the first hour. And then we're going to go to Tempe and Hoad Rabino from Devil's Digest I wanted to get his take and then we've had him on a few times before, but wanted to get his taken. What the people on Tempe think about the new recruits for basketball? Right? You know? The it was a trickle effect with Lloyd and with Love coming here, Arizona losing a couple one going to Tempe and now they have
like two or three pretty good players up there. I already saw something today that kind of struck me where they're saying they're maybe one or two people a big deal, that the Sun Devils could be a sleeper for the Big twelve champion or whatever. Up up, tie because they got a couple of good players. Shut up, Shut up. Two dudes is not going to move the needle all that much for a team that needs to get a lot more
players. Yeah, and that's my humble opinion. Take it for what it's worth, and I'll say that two dudes, two young dudes, Good luck with that. Good luck? You know what? And I think I know there's a there's a very very obviously as there should be, you know, slant toward the U of A down here in southern Arizona, and U of A has been the better program. And I think you could say it every sport too, because you know, the Territorial Cup stays in Tucson this year.
But you know, the ASU has quite a bit of momentum now that they finally settled down the athletic director search, killing were mooted from it, promoted from within. They have positive news, finally a su they got Edwards out of the door. They have finally some recruits coming into Bobby Hurley's program. Kenny Dillingham is a very likable guy, a good young coach, and
they have better things going their way in the Big Twelve given. But when it comes to basketball, I can't make even any argument under the sun that they're going to be a top eight team in that conference totally degree. There would have to be a lot of things that go well for that to happen, even top eight, top top half ten. Good. Weal with that, it's not going to be easy. It's a loaded league. Yeah, we'll see, we'll see what the optimism is up there. It's shirt.
It's very high, as it should be, but realistically where it fits into the whole scheme of things right and basketball, they the Big twelve lost Texas and Oklahoma, but those were not two of the best basketball programs in the conference. I mean, you've got Kansas, Houston, We've talked about Baylor, Texas Tech has an incredible home Homecoor State, Iowa State, West Virginia
has an incredible home. So that's already five or six. That's six six at Colorado always going to have a tough time surviving that place, especially on the road, tough out where guess what they're they're gonna get the kid in Clark treatment because hey, you're the new kid in town or in the conference. We're gonna show you how it works here and welcome in, well, come in, come with the water's warm. Yeah, and and let's see how this plays out. Those games will be so fun to watch. It's
gonna be fantastic because those crowds will be juiced. You're not you're not going up to Oregon State or going to cal or Stanford where they're you know, happy, half half sleep, half asleep, half arenas Most of the kids are in the library. You know. No, that's not the case in Morgantown, West Virginia. That's not the case in Lubbock, Texas or Lawrence, Kansas. These are fun home court arenas and they're gonna be ready for Arizona, Yeah, to come back into town, just as Arizona should.
Should have the same type of feeling with these teams coming in. In fact, UVA doesn't pay me a cent, but if you don't have tickets to if you have money to buy tickets for basketball, you should get them. Do it. I'm in that schedule next year. It's gonna come out probably in the next month or two. But you will see Duke on the home schedule. We know that already. You know. We'll talk maybe a bit a little bit about a potential rebirth of the rivalry with UCLA coming up later
in the show. There's a little teaser for you. But you know, you have better teams coming in to McHale this year in conference, potentially Kansas, potentially Houston, Baylor. They'll bring all of these teams into McHale because they want those cash cow basketball games, because that's where the Big twelve makes up for the gap between the Big Ten and SEC and football the Big twelve makes it up in back skip all because it's so much better than those conferences
with the addition to these fourteams. Yeah, and it'll be a lot of fun to go to those games. In fact, the people who've had tickets for a long time and haven't really got their money's worth over the last five ten years are going to start to get their money's worth now because of those big games. Yes, well it's going to be exciting, certainly. Yeah. The unfortunate thing is I could already see it like I saw against North
Carolina when No North Carolina came into town. The people had tickets were scouring those babies for the big, big prices. And you're talking fifteen sixteen years ago when Luke played the you know, coach Williamson, he brought him in and North Carolina kicked the crap out of Arizona. Arizona Blut was on his final years and and people sold those tickets because there was worth. They were worth a lot of money. I hope that doesn't happen here because you know,
the loyal fans will love the will love the schedule. Yeah, and not to put the car ahead of the horse. But how do you win in the Big twelve? You win with grown men, and Arizona has a roster roll of grown men right now, up class and guys that have seen a lot of balls. And we'll find out how tough they're gonna be, because we've seen that needs still need to get tougher. The key shot.
You lose an enforcer and Keyshot Johnson, do you bring one in and Trey Townsend, do you bring a guy in like Tobyo Walka to be that guy? Can Mo creeve us, you know, extend to that level of what Whomarbala was from a physicality standpoint. That's part of the fun of the off season. We'll kind of see that grow, right and you've toll these games out with the guys that are coming back, you know, with Crevis obviously be one amoment the back court. I think they're gonna be fantastic too.
It's doesn't matter from November to March tenth, because after that it's that's what it counts. And I know they've looked more toward the transfer portal than maybe high school recruiting, especially with losing a couple high school recruits, which we will talk about coming up in the show. But I think with the guys that they brought in from the high school standpoint, Carter Bryant and Emmanuel Steven, those two guys look the part of guys that could come in and contribute
it right away. They're gonna have a nice first year because they'll play they'll play Steven's I'm not too sure, but they will definite play. I mean that five star with that. I love the mix. But we'll see how Caleb Love adjusts to his new role if he does have one, or his adjustment to his new role. Uh, and then Bradley how he fits in with the ball in his hands most of the time. Yeah, I want to bring that up a little bit. You talked about Caleb Love adjusting to
a new role. Could one of those roles be a backup point guard to Jaden Bradley. Yeah, because you don't see a one behind Jayde and Bradley on the match, and that's where the depth, that's where the concerns are. Yes, because he'll have to be Uh. You don't know how he adjusts to it, but guess what at the next level, guess what he'll have to be that guy he'll be true combo so you'll have to say, okay, as the shot not as good as the pass should be and he'll
have to pass more. And his assister turnover ratio took a big jump last year. I think it was the best year of his career from that in all aspect. And that's what you want for that's what you want with a true combo guard, a true guy that's going to be in the point guard rotation. Jaden Bradley gets a breather, right. I just my whole thing, with the whole thing is these two guys who love the ball in their hand. How are you going to how are you going to adjust to that?
There's always only one basket, that's right, and there's five dudes on the court, yep, with the other dudes winning the ball too, But the big things, you still have to have them motivated to the end result, which is winning the ball game. It's not about me, it's not about stats. It's about getting the ways. Okay, you millennials, you got to you gotta figure that out, right, you gotta figure that out.
The W. It's all about the W. Okay, We're going to take a break, get a reach going to try to tracktail Rocky and then talk about the good old days and maybe some things that are going on today. The Window Depot has everything you need to create the kitchen or bathroom of your dreams. Frowsy aisles of instock cabinets available in a variety of sizes and configurations, and instantly elevate your space. Today, visit a showroom and let
our experts guide you. Whether you're choosing for money to go designs or creating a custom masterpiece. We can help you select the perfect wood type, color and style and top it off with unique hardware to complete your love. Find a location near you at the window deepot dot com. The Window Depot more than a windows store. Steve Rivera here to talk about Dorato Rock Materials. I needed a lot of gravel for my driveway, so I called Eric at
Dorato Rock. He found out the amount and color I needed and boom, it was taken care of and at a great price. How do I know radio commercials work? I heard one of his on the radio. Dorato Rock Materials provides a wide range of landscaping materials, including decative rock, boulders, gravel, soil and sand for residential and commercial use in the Tucson area.
They are locally owned and have been around for more than fifteen years. Give them a call at five two zero four zero zero four two three three. Where do you buy exercise equipment? Arizona Health Arizona Health Arizona Health. Of course, to feel better and look better, it makes sense to buy your fitness equipment from the people who know it better than anyone else. At Arizona Health, our goal is to help you choose the equipment you need to reach
your goals. Your health and fitness deserve the best you deserve. Arizone net Health the leading edge and exercise equipment on twenty seconds just west of will Not We're into twenty twenty four and it's time to think of recognizing your employees, salespeople, managers, team members and agents with the Creative Award for the great job they did in twenty twenty three. Come visit Creative Awards beautiful showroom with over one thousand items to choose from, located the two to twenty eight West
Drachman Street, or visit their website at Creative Awards az dot com. Celebrate fifty years in business and see all the creative products they carry from recognition to promotional products and premium gifts for your special clients. Give creative awards A call today five two oh eight A two eighty six seventy seven. At Nova home Loans, we believe everyone deserves the opportunity to enjoy the independence that comes with home ownership. Paul Volpi is ready to help you find an option that best
fits your needs. Whether you're a first time or veteran home buyer or want to get cash out with the refinance. Nova has a variety of home loan programs to meet your unique situation. Visit voltpeteam dot com, that's volpe team dot org or call five to two oh six eight five six two six today in MLS three oh eight seven Arizona ko Ninez two nine four two Equal Housing Opportunity, How to commitment to lindrixon credit rates and available loan programs or subject
to change with Unumbice. Did you know sports cards that memorabilia are setting record sales last month of nineteen fifty two tops Mickey Mantle SO for twelve point six million, Lebron James Rookie SO for five point six Also, collecting cards is a family fun hobby that can be very profitable. If you want to start a collection or expand your collection, check out Showtime Cards. They are one of the leading card shops in the country and have served our local community for
twenty five years. They are located on e Speedway. That's show Time Cards. Ready to save but not sure where to begin? Take the Pyramid Federal Credit Union ten thousand dollars saving Challenge and we'll guide you along the way. Save five hundred dollars over six months as a member and you could win big. Watch your savings grow to help you reach goals like buying a car, owning a home and more. Visit Pyramid FCU dot com Slash ten k challenge
to get started today. That really insured and see you ay. It's that time of year, Summer in Tucson. Time to take control with Temperature Control for all your air conditioning needs. We'll keep you cool during all the hot streaks. All you have to do is stay in control with Temperature Control where we handle everything you need with prompt response, affordable pricing, and sound solutions. We also excel in plumbing and electrical work. We handle everything you need.
Give us a call at five two oh eight one five five six sixty five or visit our website at tempdash con dot com and remember stay in control with temperature control. Need concrete, hard Works Concrete has it. We have more than twenty five years of experience with all things concrete. Installing sidewalks and patio floors are our specialty, and handle masonry work and retaining walls. We're locally and family owned. Just let us know what you need, how you
want it, and we'll take care of it. Leave the heart hard work up to us. We're Hardworks Concrete. Call us at five one two nine six two five six six zero or visit our website Hardworksconcrete dot com. We'll put the work in for you. Gut bugs, termites, bees, are rodents, Arizona Pest Control will hunt them down. Arizona Pest Control is your complete desert pest management. Specialist tests can't run or hide from Arizona Pest Control.
They use only the latest and most technologically advanced methods of pest elimination available, which minimizes the effects on the environment. Let Arizona Pest Control get rid of your bad bugs, termites, bees, or rodents serving Tucson and Southern Arizona since nineteen forty seven. Go to azypest dot com to schedule your free evaluation Today streaming live, I'm the iHeartRadio WAPP. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jacin Salez on Fox Sports fourteenth fifty. Hey,
welcome back to I'm the Ball. Heare on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. He's Reynoldson, got Ryan with us and now you have Rocky the Rose former. You a associate A D. Is that right? Associate Deputy a D and athletic directors just a short period of time. No, no, yeah, right right, there's been a few here. Welcome to the show. We've been wanting to have you on to kind of go back
in time and reminisce about the PAC twelve. Now, back in the day Pac ten you played in it. Here was the PAC ten back then? What was it? Actually? We were the Inner Mountain Conference. The women joined about see the men joined in seventy eight, women joined in eighty six. Okay that late? Okay? God does it seem forever ago or no? It just does seem forever ago. Well, it's like all things,
you know, You're like, where did the time go? I mean, in some ways, it seems like yesterday, right right, you must be amazed at how things have progressed for women, women's athletics and women totally in this league and in every other league. Oh I can't. I am so happy and proud what's happening these days with women's athletics. I mean, we've worked hard over the last three years to grow women's athletics and then all of a sudden, it just seems like it's kick starting and it's taking off,
which is just wonderful. Right right, let's go to today. What's going on today? Then we can reminisce about the ten and PAC twelve. Okay, so you must how are you looking at the Katelyntle Clark situation. I kind of don't want to get into the weeds, but if you can, she's brought the game to a new level, but there seems to be some hiccups. Well, there's no denying she's the star of women's basketball and she has brought attention directly to the game, and I mean there's just no denying
that, and it's amazing. All these years we've said what we need is a star, what we need is winning, you know, as much money and marketing and TV exposure that you can throw there, you still need that spark and Kate lends the one that has brought it right right. You've had through the years a number of people who have come through in a number of
different sports obviously, but she's kind of been the beacon. Well, it's kind of like, you know, all the storms came together finally, you know, we've been building and building and building, and then she comes on the scene. I mean, it's just been incredible to watch. It really has been so one thing. You played sports. You played softball, very good at it. You played a lot of different sports probably, but I'm sure you were a tough competitor. How would you describe yourself? And today
everyone's talking about competing and being tough and being rugged. I'm sure it hasn't changed forty years later now, it hasn't. We were just as competitive back then. I was so fortunate to be on a national champions national champion team for a fast pitch tria A softball and then later played for the USA in the World Cup in Tokyo, Japan, So we were just as competitive.
I will say this, I think the difference is in softball. You know, we were pretty strong one through six, but now they're strong one through nine. I mean, you know, the women, the depth of all the teams and the athleticism is so much better that there's no doubt about that.
But competitive, we were just as competitive. Yeah, well, said Rocky matt here trying to connect it, you know, throughout the history of women's athletics, especially you know, bringing it into a focus at the u of a from your standpoint and seeing it kind of from the external view.
This year it was we celebrated fifty years of Arizona softball, and that got a chance for the current team to connect with all five decades of the Wildcat softball program, which is obviously one of the most accomplished in any level of college athletics, in any sport, but certainly means a lot to the community here in Tucson. How did you see that and how do you think that the players on this current team were able to connect and make it mean something
more than just oh, this is a celebration before a few games. Well, that was a wonderful celebration. It truly was seeing everybody back and down on the field and then yes, seeing the connection between our alums and the current student athletes, you could tell they were truly in awe, especially prior to the game when we had a chance to talk to some of them, and then after the game. Yeah, it was really it was heartwarming.
And then you know, especially to hear some of the current players that said they looked up to, you know, some of the former players that played on national championship teams and that they were their mentor and now they finally got to meet them. That was really special. Back in ninety one, I was there with Kendrea at Oklahoma City, I think it was ninety won maybe ninety two when he won his first title. You were what was what was
your capacity? I think you may have been an assistant to said at the time. How was that did coming of age? That's right, Yeah, I was. As I said, Dempsey was our director of athletics. One was our first championship. All I remember from that was I didn't ride with the team to the stadium, and since we won, I could never ride with the stadium from then on. So superstitious. So ninety two, I don't know. They wanted back in ninety two too, So you didn't take
that you didn't take that trip either. Well, yeah, that became our our second summer home, I guess, so to speak. I mean you'd be there for like two weeks and try to avoid the tornadoes and the whatever. How many you know, you're right, because I remember there were tornado warnings that that that two year, those two years, how many times in rain delay or we'd be playing at midnight? And I'm glad they've kind of
switched up some of that now and don't allow that to happen anymore. But right, well, yeah, we had some late nights in that stadium for you. For you though, because you played the game and you played it here, it must have been I don't know, did you party cry or get emotional? Because throughout the career of Kensrea, it was like, we're going back to Oklahoma. We're going back to Lahoma. We have a chance to win it all. Yeah, you just sort of planned on it,
you know, ut least on going to the College World Series. We never planned on winning because you know, you had to focus on that part.
But oh, it was just tremendous. But the nerves, you know, would get so much to me. I would end up I just couldn't sit in the stand, So I would either be on the sidelines or somewhere somewhere in the outfield because it just got It would be so intense sometimes and then so exciting when it happened, And of course I'd have to whip out my camera at the end, you know, and try to catch those special celebration moments. Yeah, Rocky. Before we circle back on the PAC twelve,
one more thing about Arizona softball. The two teams playing for the national championship tomorrow through Friday will be Texas and Oklahoma, two teams in the Big Twelve. They're obviously moving to the SEC, but now Arizona has a chance to come in and be one of the flag carriers for the Big Twelve in now a new era of softball for the conference. Obviously the PAC twelve was so success, but what kind of opportunity awaits the Wildcats in this new league.
Well, that's an interesting question because you know, we've always considered the Pac twelve to be a strong softball I mean conference, right, maybe the best with when you put together UCLA and Arizona's victories over the years, I don't know, I don't think there are two teams that would equal up to those national championship titles. So so I don't know, I think, well, it's a great opportunity moving into the Big twelve and show what we can do.
You know, Texas and Oklahoma's incredible how their programs have grown over the years. You know, they've put a lot of money into it, a beautiful stadiums, so it'll be interesting. I just think it's kind of a new challenge. So maybe it's take a deep breath and you know, get at it and see what we can do. So being an administrator for all these years too, outside of softball, you've got a couple of championships, well a lot of them in swimming obviously, golf and baseball. So what
were some of your prouder moments to kind of be at and witness. Well, it's always the first, I have to tell you, the first time you win national championship, it just feels like nothing else. I mean, it's so exciting. So i'd have to say the first, you know, I remember winning men's golf when we were in Albuquerque. I also remember the last I remember, you know, being at the College World Series when Andy
Lopez's team won in twenty twelve. So gosh, they're all so exciting, you know, being with the women's golf, just seeing those athletes when they've worked so hard and the coaches and everything they've put into it to all come
together. Those are just incredible, incredible moments. But you know what, I also remember, I also remember winning our first Pack ten or PAC twelve championships, because those were major steps, you know, the pack man, that Pack ten the PAC twelve was one tough conference, and so to win a conference championship and then to look back and know that we've won what sixty seventy of them over the you know, over the years, amazing what kind
of a run we had in the pack Rockey. The EU of A has a very long and good history of strong women's administrators within the athletic department, between yourself and now in current day at Erica Barnes as well. But Desiree Reed Francois is the first female athletic director in the University of Arizona's history. How much does that take athletics to another realm and just open doors for female administrators really around the country and the region, but especially at the u A.
Well you just said it. It opens the doors I mean to actually see that and have someone as successful as Desiree and what she's done in her career and what she's accomplished so far to this point, it just absolutely opens doors. But we had to take all those small steps along the way. You know, I was proud to be the first woman in the country to oversee football men's basketball day to day operations thanks to said Dempsey who put me
in that position in the early nineties. And then you know, once some of those little uh, positions and challenges started to fall for the women. Uh, it's been great to see it grow and to finally, you know, come to a head and see not only does Arae but some other women. You know, Jennifer jan over at USC and uh, you know, Barbara Hedges was the first A D and packed twelve. I believe what she
had been packed ten when she became the A D at Washington. Uh. You know, slow, slow growth, but you see the win changing. Were you the administrator in charge of basketball when they won in ninety seven? Sure so, cheer what so then again, let's go back there because you know, who would have thought, who would have thought? Realistically? Uh, Arizona wins the title they're a four seed. Uh, not having a great season in the Pac twelve, but you know packed ten at the time.
Uh. And then here they are playing the title game with Kentucky. Yeah, had beating the number one seeds all the way up. How about that? Yeah, I'll tell you what though. You know, I love photography, and my nightmare was missing a shot with Now I'm drawing a blank to coach at Kentucky, Patino Patino, So I, you know, ran down on the court, we're celebrating, I'm taking photos, and then afterwards I come back down into the hallway and he's walking towards me and his head
is bowed and I just couldn't lift my camera. And I'm too sick to the day that I didn't get that. Photos are respect, the respect for him or because Yeah, I think so. I think it is because I know how coaches feel when you know they work so hard and it doesn't come to fruition, and you know they get that close and they don't win. But it's just one of those photos I can see in my mind that I wish I had captured self estential, Where do you where do you keep these
photos? Do you have them? Oh? I've donated them all back to the UFA and this time went I you know, gave them all my negatives and stuff. So yeah, you know, some memories like after that, we got invited to the White House for Yes, yeah, President Clinton and I went there and they only allowed the official White House photographer and myself to take images. So that was pretty special, was Matt and having the team
have a private meeting with the president. That was that was pretty spectaculars So because I have the photo and it's one in your champions think with when Loot's at the podium and and Clinton's to the side and Gors to the back right next to him, and and Loot looks actually more presidential. You could tell everybody when the President Clinton and and Lout walked into the East room, Oh my gosh, all eyes were on Loot. It was it was it was
a magical moment. Was that your photo or the press the the But I think that's my photo, Yeah, that's my photo. The the official White House photos were the ones that were kind of stage with the people looking forward, you know, I did not know that all up on the bleachers, and I think the one when Miles presented the Jersey to uh to President Clinton. Those were the official White House. I mean I got them too, but I think we in that presentation in the Hall of Champions, I think
those are the official White House. That was a lot of fun. That was a lot on because I think Santra dal O'Connor took took the us. Yeah, so all the rest of the photos are mine up in that display. But yeah, we met the We took the team to meet Sandradale O'Connor. We also, yeah, we uh Congressman Colby took us around. This is the women's softball team too. You know. We later went to the White House and met George Bush with the softball team twice actually, and uh,
Congressman Colby toured the teams. We you know, put them on a bus. We went around to everything, to the Jefferson, the Lincoln Memorial. Uh actually got to get right down on the Senate floor, and so it was. It was quite an educational trip along with just a celebration for nice Rocky. Real quickly, before we wrap up here, I just wanted to ask you with the Obviously, the TV contracts were a big reason that
the PAC twelve dissolved. But now that We're entering this new era of really college athletics finances when it comes to TV contracts and il everything like that, and the popularity of women's sports is growing with it. How much of responsibility do these conferences themselves, who own the TV contracts now have to continue to prop up women's sports and continue this a word Steve hates, but I love momentum moving forward. Oh wow, that's just a huge question. And you
know, time will tell what's going to happen down the road. I mean, yeah, they have an obligation, you know, federally through Title nine first of all, so but just morally also right, And it's not just the women's sports, it's the Olympic sports. It's our men's non revenue sports that I worry about even more than the women's. At this point, more
and more money gets fed in and football more and more. The talk of football peeling off into their own power conference, which, to be honest with you, I am for that, and I can get into that with you if we have time. But I'm for that. And then let the Olympic sports have their own separate regional conferences. I think I really believe that's the direction we should go in and they likely could go into that one last question. So you must be very pleased that you're taking photos all over the world
and the wilderness great photos. In fact, if you ever need to see her stuff, she's got the displayed. But very very pleased that you're no longer an ad given the NIL and the craziness that we're going to start to have to go through. Oh my gosh. I just said that the other
day. I said, you know, because when I was acting AD at the university for several months and I really contemplated going for it, and I thought, no, no, And now when I think back, I think, oh my gosh, it was a heck of a lot easier back then and it is now now it's just a nightmare. So all my kudos to Desiree and all the ads out there because they have one tough job, and
not just them, the coaches. I don't know how the coaches are going to deal with this, honestly, you know, with NIL and transfer portal and you know, and now we're going to pay athletes if this house settlement goes through, which I think is great, but it's just how are we going to do that? I mean, I just don't know where the money is going to come from. Unbelievable. That's the that's the stickler, because twenty million from schools that don't have the money, right, but don't have
the money that are already in debt. Yes, yes, now where is that going to come from? And sometime we're going to have donor fatigue and they're giving to the nil And then now the talk is we'll bring the nils within the department, so they'll have to manage that, which means you hire have to hire more people. Oh my goodness. I honestly don't know how we can survive. And in some ways I hope it kind of all falls apart and we still start over again. That's that's a good talk Ageally think
it through, you know, a little bit, good possibility. I I have, things have been coming at us so fast that it's just it's been hard for them to really, you know, contemplate, right how we really should move forward? Right right? Well, Rocky, thanks again for joining me. Thank you appreciate it, thank you. Yeah, be well, thank you see you soon. Rocky Loose, former u of a administrator for
a long time, a former athlete as well. I'll just take a break, we're way over and then we'll come back and kind of digest some of it. If you're airs on 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 led them, competed against them,
and inspired them. Twenty five chapters for his twenty five years as Arizona's beloved coach. Lessons from Lut is an insight to how he built the program into a national powerhouse. Want one Email me at Steve dot RIVERA ninety five at gmail dot com. Hi, this is formal while get leman huntly with Arizona Health. Imagine how home GM can change your health, your comfort, and your time. Arizona Health is everything you need to transform your personal space and
your life. We off a complete line of cardio machines, multi gms and freeway equipment. I'll certify fitness experts and technicians will set you up with the right equipment and training to get you started to keep you going. Visit our share room today at twenty second in Wilmot, Arizona Health the lead edge and exercise equipment. What's your goal a new career or career advancement? How about transferring to a four year college. PEMA Community College can help you make Someday
today and reach your goals affordably on your schedule. With over one hundred programs to choose from in financial laid available, It's time to earn the degree or certificate you need to prepare for the career you want. PEMA offers free career exploration classes so you can choose the field that's right for you. Learn how at PEMA dot edu, slash someday eat compare working a state up differ.
Are is it hot in here or is it just me? Honey? I always think you're hot, but it's June and we all know it's gonna get hot in Tucson. It doesn't have to be hot in our house, Honey. You should call Picture Rocks Cooling, eating them Plumbing. They have the solutions for us for all your air condition needs all today by few zero four nine two zero seven four eight or visit us at Picture Rockscooling dot com chic Sure Rocks doing cheating and plumbing. This is I on the Ball with Steve
Rivera and Jay Gonzalez Sound Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app Just Surgeon I on the Ball. Hey, welcome back to our on the Ball here Fox Worts fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. He is mister Matt Reynoldson's got Ryan with us. We got twelve minutes. We went overboard, a little lushed, lush, the show lust of segment. I have a question for you Ryan. I'm not Ryan, I'm that both of you guys. Well, Ken, you guys have money in your
pockets. You gears are loyal to the UBA for years. You've been giving money. Does a booster? Now you see that the school's going to have to pay them twenty million to various athletes throughout the whole school. Do you still dig deep? That's the question? Right it? Does donor fatigue come into play when it comes to athletes being considered workers instead of students, or instead of scholarship athletes, or instead of what the traditional definition of amateurism within
the NCAA is, Because as you mentioned, this pool of money. Now under this new agreement with the NCUBLEA that came down from a legal decision in New York just this last week, actually, it creates about a twenty two million dollar pool for schools to both revenue share and pay their athletes on a yearly basis. And now, does that only go towards the revenue generating sports, because at most schools, the only revenue generating sports are football, best
men's basketball. Women's basketball at a lot of schools makes a profit margin, but not a very big one at a very few schools. Volleyball makes a profit margin at almost no schools. Baseball and softball make any profit margin. In fact, they are one of the most in the red because of the travel schedule, because of the weekends on the road, and because of the
equipment costs that come with baseball and softball. So, I mean, when you look at the entire pie, and not just the football part of it, and not just the media rights deals and revenue sharing, it's a very complicated discussion. So Stephanie who's on the swim team, Margaret who's on the softball team, are saying, Hey, I work as hard as a football players. I work as hard as a basketball players, right, what about
me? And I think a lot of schools have good things in place already preparing for this, bracing for this to where they do give all of their athletes a cost of attendance stipend, which does get the base side out. It depends on the school and it depends on the agreement with that that some schools actually have worked that into an you know, I'm from Nebraska, I
grew up in Lincoln. I went to the University of Nebraska. And what the football roster, what the football team does with nil there is they give everybody on their roster a baseline nil that has you know, a certain amount of the contribution from the collective, every single person from the very last walk on on the roster to the starting quarterback who's you know, making a lot
of money. It's the same baseline. And then every and then people get different things based on their individual endorsements, but also their you know, their money from the collectives and how much they're getting paid. And that'll continue with the extra twenty two million. That's the question, right, Doude. Does the do the boosters and do the collectives continue to give the same amount and continue to give at the same level when the schools are paying these athletes.
Because the way this structure is set up, with the twenty two million that will be shared among all the athletes on campus, or that's supposed to be shared and among all the athletes on campus and not just the football players, is that will be the contribution. But the collectives will also continue to exist outside of the university's realm because the university's technically I put a very big emphasis
on technically here because it's a very gray area. But the university is technically, in a legal sense and an attack sense, have no control over the collectives. So the collectives will still continue to exist outside of this university revenue sharing. And see if you mentioned it at the top of this block, how much does that just donor fatigue kind of whittle that away from the collectives.
Sure, and a lot of the donors are doing it because they love the school, they love the purpose of the school, and they have some loyalty to it and they want to see the kids succeed and have some money. But now that it's been taken care of somewhere else, well, I know what I would do. I definitely know what I would do. Good luck, and I'm going to be cheering for you. But Steve, but you have a very good mindset about the donors. The donor's mindset being altruistic,
wanting to help the athletes, everything like that. But what's the other factor on the other side of this. Donors and alums that are very involved with these programs are fiercely competitive. Sure, so they pay to beat the other school. So if it's Arizona versus ASU, donor in Tucson wants to spend more than donor in Tempe, sure, sure depends. Okay, no question, I don't disagree with you. But let's assume for a second that
you're not competing as much as you should basketball. Right, I pay for this, right, and I got this, And then it starts to be diminishing returns. Are these athletes not living up to the money that I'm paying And we're starting to see that a little bit too. But sure, that's been kind of prevalent through the advent at social media too, with people having unparalleled access to athletes and saying, well, I pay the university this much,
I pay for my seats and you're not performing. We want this coach fire. We want this player to play better. And you see and you see people jumping ship from their tickets exactly and not returning. But that's on them. You know, football will see because to go to a new conference a lot of people. You know that, you know you were here long enough to see the football program where where there's a lot of apathy here, but it's gaining more interest because they're winning or gonna win. Maybe here is
a fickle town. I've written the story a thousand times for the paper. It's a fick ole place, and it's a walk up place. And if you're good, they'll come. If you're not so good, I'll watch all right, and they'll prove it to me. But if they prove it again, I mean, we saw it in that four game winning straight over ranked opponents at the end of twenty twenty three and that seven game win straight to the end of the season. People care. Then how did you say,
if they win again? If they win again, and what's that key word? There are no guarantees. If they don't win, you're back to where you were before. So, of course, in two sons specifically, and I'm sure every college town, winning solves a lot of problems or issues, and one of them is ticket sales. But it'll never be a ghost town inside Arizona Stadium, even if even in the tough times, what would you
be considering a ghost less than ten thousand. Oh yeah, no, it'll never It'll never be that because I mean we've seen universities even on the West coast here. Yeah, you know, Stanford and UCLA are jokes a lot of times, no tendence. I think though, that the Mendoza line here would be about forty thousand, thirty eight thousand. Yeah, that's typically if you know, a non non good team it comes into town. But if
they're winning, yeah we'll show up. Yeah, you go, and it's something to do, and it's something great and you want to support your team. But at the same time, there will never be a there will never be just a complete brush it off to the side where nobody's showing up. No, I mean even someone era, people showed up. People showed up and then they had the COVID year and yeah yeah, So no, I don't disagree with you with that because that's that's not gonna happen, right,
So we'll see. Good luck with the boosters. I mean, you have the money, that's your money, spending spending how you want to? Right, how are you spending how you're spending your money? You're still giving the if the if you know your athletes are getting paid, I'm definitely spending it. There you go, see you're gonna give it to them? Oh yeah,
yeah, really yeah, definitely they deserve it. I think, you know, I think he speaks for a lot more people than we probably think, because you know, Steve, you make the probably a really good hard line argument of a hardline stance of Okay, if they are getting their money somewhere else, why do I have any motivation to pay them or go overboard?
But you know, I talked about the competitive nature of it, and when you see somebody across the road throwing money at this, even when there's already money there at the pot, so you're gonna throw money at your pot, and it's it turns into like just a I guess the question is how important is it to you and Ryan? I guess it's important to you to see that a U of A does better than ASU, that does better than Stanford, that is better than whomembers in the league, the better than Kansas.
Well, yeah, absolutely. I mean, you want to see your hometown team do good, do better than their their rivals, especially like ASU. And I'm not too sure the money is the motivator though. To me, it's not are you playing for the money? Are you playing for the pride of the U of A Well And I think there's a deeper level to this discussion too, when it comes to the layers of collectives and the layers of nil because it's not just hey, you're paying for Caleb Love to come
back to school. It's Ada Barnes saying that, hey, we need NIL money to be competitive with the women's basketball program. Yeah. Kaitlin Lowe is saying, you know, we have great fans support, but these softball players need to have NL opportunities to sure, you know, Chip Hale baseball. These baseball players need to have NL opportunities. Football saying, okay, we need a little bit better defenders. It's not just no Fafiita and Tetero McMillan.
How many we need more guys, five hundred and fifty student athletes, five hundred and five hundred and fifty mouths to feed, right, to make everybody happy, and sometimes you're not making them happy, even if they're getting paid fairly. Well, Steve Ivia kind of pie into five hundred and fifty pieces because I never have no no. But let me tell you, I've had two kids. I've had two kids, and I don't envy people with
ten kids. And Christmas comes and you know junior junior, junior, junior, George Foreman, junior jun Sorry, kids, guess what Christmas is gonna be a little tight this year. We're gonna get what we get and you better like it because or there's no trip to Disneyland. By the way, when does the well run dry with all of this? And that's the thing I think she I think Rocky kind of brought that up. It's gonna maybe eventually crash and then you'll have to kind of pick up the humpty dumpty pieces
and put them back together afresh. It's so easy to look at the finances and say this will always be fine because the TV contracts are fine, because the these we have these multi billion dollar deals coming in from the television networks.
But then we on the other side of that coin, we fail to realize the kind of uncertain direction of the broadcast medium, and how do these contracts come about when the TV networks themselves are currently wrestling within a battle of how do we balance linear and streaming and how do we get this transition and going, and how do we continue to monetize things that people are trying to find for free and then at some point maybe the money crashes from the TV
contracts. So let me ask you, did you go to the baseball games? Okay, so you saw it in person. I know that you were on ESPN Plus here. I did not watch the game on Friday or Saturday. I just didn't things to do. But people were bitching about ESPN Plus. We'll have the best teams here and then the ESPN Plus. That's just the way it is, right And if you don't see him, you don't see them right, right, And that goes to your kind of your linear
digital blah blah blah. And eventually it's all going to go to that. Eventually it's all going to go to especially in college baseball and college softball, because that's just the easiest platform for ESPN to put it all out there and not try and sandwich this on ESPNU or sandwich this on ESPN News. It's different than when we had maybe a cable boon back in the late two thousands or even early twenty tens. It's gone a lot to ESPN Plus. And
you know that's how I watched Saturday's game. I wasn't going out there one hundred and five your heat to watch Arizona and Dallas Baptist in an elimination game. And Arizona certainly made my decision worthwhile with the way they played on Saturday. Sure, sure so, But so you didn't go there physically and on Sataturday? Right, And I'm sure a lot of people didn't, right,
because they're already disappointed for the night before. Yeah, plus, I mean that afternoon versus the six GM sure, first past yeah two Sona's no know what it is if one o'clock in the afternoon, Okay, no, no good. Let's we're gonna go to Ryan here after the break for breaking news.
There's a lot of things going on, I think, right, you have a few things, at least, there's a lot of a lot of big news, big news, Okay, And uh, then we have at four fifteen for seventeen, we have Hod Rubino from Tempe to talk about Ashue stuff, the kind of related to Arizona basketball. Everything is sort of in lockstep a little bit when it comes to Arizona and as they're going to this new conference together and do you follow do you follow the I'm sure you do.
We got to go. But just the Internet, the rivalry and the hatred and the you suck. We saw tah blah blah blah and uh and now it's the basketball. But now it's like it's got a little bit crazier. You know, it just has to become crazier. Let's take a radio and I don't even know what words to use it without cussing, So let's go the break