Wednesday, April 23, Hour 1

This is I on the Ball with Steve Rovera on Fox Sports fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services Insure your most Prized POSSESSIONETS.

Hey, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to you.

I on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera in with me today. Is gonna be Blake eager and running the control is Ray?

Thank you?

Ray.

What's going on on Wednesday? O?

Not too much?

I mean, you know, just another another great day to be be here in the studio.

Oh yeah, yeah, you're not getting to raise You're not.

You don't even think about it.

Not even a couple of dollars.

Man, I guess some gas, your Mickey D's and your Mickey D's fish for lay.

Yeah, what's going on out there? Everybody want to call? Please do or anybody wants to call five two zero four one six seventy four forty. I think we have things under control today. Ray.

If it's not, it's on you, that's right. It's okay. Though.

Blake's coming in pretty soon here. He's coming in from downtown, so I'm sure he's just a few miles away. So we're gonna talk to a couple of people here today. Brandon Sanders, who just recently ran the Boston Marathon. Everyone knows him, the former U of A football star back in the day New York Giant I think he was, and now he's with the U of A in the high school recruiting or facilitating world of what he does.

I think they were at one yesterday.

Right, yeah, I believe. So, yeah, what do we have on We had, oh, the marketing guy, the marketing marketing guy. Yeah, So we'll talk more about that. They're trying to make a push for you fans to go and see and say hello and get you guys engaged with what's going on. So there's that. I'm not sure where they're at this week. I want no gallaus. I think yeah, I think he said no gallous after this and then somewhere. I think there's two places. Yeah, so they're busy. They're busy right now,

Yeah, I go to the usually just mostly the football games. Okay, because of my internship with Brian, but yeah, just uh yeah, never.

Been his oh with with Brian and Brian Jefferson. Oh okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, I forget. I forgot that. You know the spotter. Do you get paid there? Yeah, there's your gas money there.

You go.

That's a good job too. That's cool job. I used to do that when I was in college. Yeah, it's really fun.

I mean, you know, I've always been like more of a football guy, and so it's just it's nice to you know, get get.

The you're on the outdoor right, you're in that outdoor little area. No, we got we got windows.

Oh do you you didn't before? I think that you just had railings.

Yeah, next to us, next to us is only the railings. Oh okay, but yeah, okay, yeah yeah, you got a suite there.

Oh yeah, yeah it's usually cold.

Though, yeah, well and cold for her Tucson, Yeah, cold like it is in his room, exactly for me, exactly.

Okay. Cool.

So a lot of things going on, obviously, you can have I don't want to step on your toes to breaking news stuff. People coming and going with the portal, football, basketball, last night's softball game, NBA stuff. Yep. Yeah, women's golf, they're women's golf. They headed out somewhere yep. Okay, you can tease it, but don't talk about it because then you run out of stuff. We're just waiting for Blake

Right, Yeah, so if you go to Albuquerque or you.

Go to New Mexico, you're one of the guys they want to be playing, not the guys that were staying there.

Well, I mean you gotta assume too that it's like if they want you to go after you in the portal, it's like you're probably a little better, right, you know, you have something more different that you can offer to the team, sure, compared to the guys who've been there who haven't played before.

There was a book that I've said this in a couple on the show a couple of times, called Sway a really good book about so if I invested half a million dollars in Ray to come to play and he turns out to be mediocre. You're gonna damn play the guy because you spend a half a million dollars to prove that you're right, right until you can't anymore right, because you spent a lot of money and you brought

Yeah, And I feel like more professional leagues are a bit more kind of like political like that. I don't think we've seen it too much yet in terms of college sports, but I mean, you know, yeah, futures coming eventually, so I s see where that's sure.

And you're right though in basketball or football, if you're not good enough, you're just not good enough, and then money at that point doesn't really matter for sure. Yeah, Blake, Hey, guys, after the show, you gotta run about twenty laps?

Yeah, that's not gonna happen. Can I just gripe a little bit?

Though?

Like there is what's the easiest way to get here from downtown?

I would say twenty second or Broadway East to Swan and North. Yeah it's miserable out there, of course. Yeah, well it's still it's still the snowbird season. Yeah, you always complain about that. I ran off the road by Mercedes.

What do you be always complained about?

You asked me a question and then you could you want you can't handle the truth.

I will definitely go Jack.

Nicole said on you you can't handle the truth.

You ask me a question, don't like my answer.

Guess what?

Stop asking me questions.

It's true. That's a good point. So Mercedes. Oh, they twenty people. She was just a little older.

She was taking up about a quarter of my lane and decided to be half of my lane. Then she went back in her lane and she was like, this lane is not nice enough. Really like that lane. She kept just trying out my lane, but she never fully committed. Didn't you know who he is? Don't you know who he is?

Yeah? That line works all the time, right, Yeah, it just gets you more embarrassed. Really, what's going on? You try to get us?

Garman?

We had him on the show yesterday. He was a good dude.

Yeah, we're working. We're working really hard on it. Really excited. Uh, they're looking to do the marathon in November. But to be able to have a you know, an organization like Garman in our our backyard running a marathon. It's going to be downtown course. I think the course looks Amay, what do you mean by that downtown? Of course, you've got twenty six miles of this. Yeah, they they haven't mapped out.

It's like, well he said he didn't want to go there. Yeah, he didn't tell us. Well it's not official. Yes, I just shared too much, right, Well you said just down. Well he told us we're going to start it downtown. Yeah, it's gonna be it. It's going to incorporate downtown. Yeah, yeah, yeah he said that. Yeah, so he'll let us know later. What's going to look like. I know what we go through at El Tour. I mean we kind of peel a lot of people because we're on the roads and they have to stop travel.

So I was thinking about this in the meeting one of the meetings today that I had, and I wanted to have this conversation with you and with Ray because of his age. We have to disrupt our life for a couple hours once a year, right to be able to have the ability. I mean, El Tours humongous garment, this international brand, right is humongous. Do we really should we really be getting upset with that? You're talking about

It's one day out of the year and it's only for a few hours. Only for a few hours, right, So I just I that's a question. I don't should we be getting upset with that? No, but they do, and we try to make here's the issue, here's the issue. So in my role, I'll tour and I'm sure you'll be a role over there with the garment. We let them know the places are going to be shut down

And people, oh, I didn't see it or I didn't see it because.

They're not looking one and they we have it at the same time every year for last forty two years. They don't see it. They don't know, they don't see it. So what are you looking at?

TV? Not TV?

We put it everywhere everywhere you can see it websites like yeah, yeah, and we didn't see it. We didn't know. That's is that our We we do as much as we can, and you're gonna have to do the same thing for this for this event.

Yeah, I mean that's you know, it's we're not taking the driver's seat like we did in the World Baseball Class by any means. We just want to be a good partner. That's what we're here for. But it kind of brings us back to the last topic I think we spoke about last week, the three of us with one was do we have a centralized Uh do we have something that centralized that people can go on and find out information?

Right?

No? And that's I think that do you know the answer are you asking? I know, I don't think there is right is it? Is it visit Tucson? Is it you know, city of Tucson, what is it? Pema County? Like?

But there should be something where people are like, Okay, I'm getting some kind of source of.

Little Danny notebook from the stuff that we talked about. I already forgot what we talked about last week, you know for a project. This is another one of those Maybe that's how things like this are started. Yeah, I think it is.

I think there's a I mean, you're looking at other cities our size, right, and we are a city, whether we like to admit it or not. I feel like they have maybe a little bit better grasp and understanding on how to promote the events or things that are

I don't. I don't.

I used to get it in the Tucson Weekly, right, and I don't get that.

I don't get that. Yeah, but yes, exactly another source that nobody reads.

Now, Yeah, I mean it's apology equated, whatever you want to say. I still enjoy reading. So but there's got to be a way. Like the technologies that we have, we're all walking around with supercomputers in our pocket.

Sure, but you know what, a lot of the people who complain and I'm sorry, I apologized now are older like me and maybe not you so much, but and they're not on their phones.

Like yeah, I mean I can complain with the best of them. But yeah, you might be right, but maybe there's two. Maybe there's two or three forms, but they're all going back to one thing, right, that we have one centralized hub.

I like that idea. What were the things we were talking about last week? You don't, well, I have to go on the shows and review the show.

No, we were I think what we were talking about, because who do we have on last week?

Was it? Maybe? Was it?

Now?

It was before Kim who was on Wednesday? Last week? That was Thursday? Okay, we'd have to go anyway. It was something happening, and we were talking about like with the World Baseball Classic, right where I run into people and they're like, well, I didn't know anything about it.

It's like I don't know who, I don't know what they I hear that about everything though, right, I didn't know anything about that. I didn't know about that.

Where are we? Where's the disconnect? Right?

Right? No? No, no, And that's the fine. We're not going to please everybody or make you really happy. Because everyone gets her news sources or from different places, whether it's Facebook, Twitter, newspaper, TV, or whatever, or not at all. And it may be the sign of the times, of the times we live in.

I was thinking about, you know, we all kind of get the mass text messages, whether it's during campaign season or I got one today that was for It's the first time I've got. Was like, Hey, we're in your neighborhood redoing somebody's cabinets.

Can we stop by and do it? And like, yeah, what no, But maybe it's a mass texts start with everybody with a five too oh number or you g o fence it, and then people can opt out of that. I don't know who knows. By the way, do you need solar? I'll send you my text. How about that car repair? I get a roofing call. I don't four times a day. I don't know how many roofing companies there are, but they're in my neighborhood. In your car, don't forget that warranty bit.

Yeah, you get the ones where it's like we're looking, do you want to sell your house?

Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I get those cars. Yeah yeah for the price? Yeah price lo bolly me man, what's up with that? Hey, welcome to the show, mister Blake. We're gonna have Brandon Sanders on the show. Here in about ten minutes. He just ran the marathon. I want to see what gave him any thought to do this. It's like, why, maybe he'll run into the do so

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Steve Rivera, He's got his eye on the ball on Tucson's sports station yet Fox Sports fourteen fifty.

Hey, welcome back to iron the Bar here a Fox Sports fourteen fifty.

I'm Steve Rivera. You happen to be Blake Eager from Southern Arizona Sports Tourism and Film Authority.

Yes, great to have you here, and now we have coach Stubbs from the volleyball team at UVK.

Coach, how are you.

I'm wonderful, how are you?

We're doing fine?

Hey, the last time we spoke, I know everybody remembers when they speak to me. Right, damn yeah, sure, you were on your way to become the championship, the winner of the tournament. Let us talk about that real quick. How did that go and how did that feel? And then how did that help move forward?

You know it felt good.

Anytime you get a chance to win in front of your home crowd and play that late into the month of December, you know, you walk away feeling like a champion. And our players enjoyed every minute of it, even though going into it, you know, we were a little sad and by the fact that we didn't make it to the NCAA tournament. But once I let the girls know, let's go out there and be the sixty fifth.

Best team in the nation, and they bought in and we did it and it was awesome.

Yeah, no question. I think the crowd reflected that, right. You had some people in the stands and it gives you I hate to use this word, momentum, but it gives you a nice run into next year.

Yes, it was because I was on the radio. You know, I got a chance to talk and tell people about.

Everything that we're doing and why is the fun sport to come out and watch, and the support and you know, just being able to have it.

Was a ton of basketball.

Fans there, which was really.

Cool, and so just educating them a little bit on.

The sport was fun.

You're always welcome on the show. You're checks in the mail, by the way, thanks for seeing that.

Thank you, thank you.

So now what you get ready? I'm sure you guess already practicing or what's the schedule like?

So we had our spring season.

We actually concluded our practices yesterday. We still have some lifting to do for the next couple of days. But we had a tremendous spring season. We had four weekends of competition. And the spring is different than the fall in the sense that we're not allowed to travel by plane.

That's the nc double A rules.

So we take a bus.

We'll leave Friday.

After everyone's out of class. We'll drive to.

San Diego or Utaps where.

We went this year, and up to ASU.

And then we'll compete all day and then get.

Back on that same bus charter bus, mind you, and head back home.

So it was a great spring for us in terms of competing.

We had four of.

Our newbies graduated high school early, so they were able to play with us this spring, which was really good. That's a huge advantage by having your kids in school early.

So you lost me at NC double A rules. There are still some what's oh.

Yeah, we still have a few.

It's a few.

And then I think you spoke just now about stuff that I didn't know even though we know about it in football, where kids are coming in early trying to you know, start their their schedule here at u of A and other schools, I didn't you know. I'm not assuming this because you see them football and basketball when they come early. But your sports are affected too well.

Yes. One of the reasons why it's so important for our sport is because we start.

Writing in August, and so you imagine being a freshman coming in and having to take classes.

And you know you have about.

Ten days to get ready for your competition.

Season and it's a lot.

And so now the athletes are wanting to finish their club season.

Early, so you'll get a lot of juniors.

Playing at the eighteens level so that they're in a position to leave and enjoy that last hourah and then come into college.

But the reps and.

The classes they get to take and bonding with.

The team is invaluable.

Hey, coach, to kind of stay on that same topic, So could you enlighten everybody, that's all the listeners and even ourselves. What's your summer schedule like from a coaching standpoint, and what's the schedule like from a student athlete standpoint? Like for me, I played college baseball, so my summers I was in the North Woods League, playing pretty much the whole summer. What's it like for a college athlete? And then what's it like for a college coach from

Well, they'll go practice and they'll have weights until Tuesday of next week, and then we're not allowed to do anything with them again until August. So that's the reason why having our freshmen come in from January till the beginning of May is invaluable because we get a chance to work with them and they will report data. Is August eighth, where the athletes come back and then we are allowed to start working with them in volleyball. So one of the things that we encourage them to do

And that's a rule that has been.

Always in place for volleyball.

And soccer, and we're the main ones.

Pushing to be able to have some summertime with our athletes and football, they're allowed to do it from a safety precaution and it makes sense.

I'm not anti that, but.

I just want to be able to eat a piece of that pie as well. Let me as a coach.

Oh go ahead, Sorry, no, it's just going to say only makes sense, especially with the timing of your season.

You you, I mean you should have.

You should be able to be afforded some time with those players, especially from a bonding standpoint and a practice standpoint. Sorry, keep going on. We want to know about your personal side of it.

Yeah, and so me personally.

So I will recruit this weekend. This will be my last recruiting weekend before we go into what's called our quiet period, and that means that I can't go out for the month of May. But because the transfer portal is open, I'm still recruiting, trying.

To get kids on campus and working.

Hard to make sure that you know everything is going well. So May technically is our downtime, but it's not because you're in the portal trying to navigate getting kids on campus. But it's a lot of handwriting letters and making phone calls and things.

Of that nature.

Because June fifteenth is when we were allowed to get on the phone call phone and start talking.

To the uprising juniors.

In high school.

And so then I'll do.

That all of May, and then June hits and then I'm back out on the road. And from June technically May thirty first until June twelfth, I will be out of Arizona. I'll be traveling around to different clubs and doing clinics and talking and willing and doing, and then I'll come back for a day, do a clinic, and then I'll get back out on the road and start recruiting.

That's your downtime.

And yet you're getting ready for your upcoming season, so you know, May it's supposed to be our downtime, but we really don't get any downtime coaching.

Truth.

You've been a coach for a long time, obviously an assistant here for a long time, and now you moved over in a chair, and no one would ever thought you'd have to deal with a lot of stuff that's.

Going on here right now.

Nil other factors, you probably would have never thought this possible. But now when you go recruit, I know what happens with every football basketball Did they say, so, how much are you going to give me?

Well? I do hear it.

I don't hear it as much because most of the kids out there that are the high profile kids in terms of requiring and wanting a lot of money. They already know what program do it, so the.

Information's out there.

Are the best recruiter that is available with social media, and so these athletes walk in.

Knowing what schools.

Will give and will not give, or don't have or do have. But you know, at the end of the day, I don't I'm not anti nil or anti you know.

Paying the athletes.

I just want to be in a position where they I know that these are good athletes, these are good kids. You know. I want to continue to raise up and help develop young women to be the best that they can be. And I believe that relationships is the way that you do that. So, you know, we're selective on you know, a kid maybe like.

Oh how much can you give me?

I'm like, well, how good of a person are you? And so I spend more time in our staff, we spend more time trying to get to know the athletes as people, because at the end of the day, that's what it really boils down to. So you'll see a lot of kids make decisions to change schools because it wasn't all that it was cracked up to be when they were chasing that money.

You had no question and you were I think you were around with when Luke was here, right when he was coaching here. Yes, yes, his number one thing was if you recruit good people, good things happen because they're good people.

Yes.

Yes, I one undred percent buy into that and believe that.

Yeah, let's go to one of the things you wanted to talk about. They wanted to talk to you about this caravan that keeps going on. I think, where are you guys headed next?

Listen here? These Beardown takeovers are awesome.

Yesterday we were at the Monica and it was a good turnout and just being able to talk to the community.

And give that. Tomorrow we're actually going out. I'm excited for the song.

We're off at Drackman's Track and we'll be doing some cleanup, which is pretty impressive.

And I hear it's going to be a large group of us out there and people are like, really, are you doing this?

Are you being made to do it?

No?

This is something I truly believe in because Tucson.

Is all about community, and I think the more the.

Community gets to see us do the takeover and see us putting our you know, getting.

Out there doing work.

And one of my favorites of all is when we do the how may I help you at football games? Yes, I put on that shirt and I'm ready to answer questions and.

Direct people to their seats.

And so I think that's a good bonus that Desiree has brought to us, which I think is really important. And then also tomorrow.

There's one down in No Gallus.

So the nice thing is we're up to twenty two this year.

I think we did.

Eight last year, but we're at twenty two and we're going around. We're going to hit every corner of the state.

And so you become more cohesive. I guess as a group, right, are you getting the bus and down there?

Is that what you guys do?

Yeah, we'll take buses or we'll take bands or whatnot.

And you know, we.

Get to talk to a lot of the coaches, and you get a.

Lot of athletes are going this year, and.

Just our support staff. You know, we're a unit. We're not going to ever be the place where.

It's a one man show. You know, me going out.

And talking to people on behalf of football is just as important as me going out talking to people on behalf of volleyball. I think that's how we grow our business and our communit unity.

What do you think the number one or two concerns of the general public Maybe somebody who doesn't what do they ask?

The number one question asks is what are y'all using the money for?

Are you really just chating the athletes? And it's like, no, that's not everyone across.

The board and you know, and do you really support one another?

I get that question a lot, and I can tell you I have a group.

Text with all the head coaches and yes, we do talk all the time.

Yeah, that makes total sense. Well, the first question, for sure is because I get it too, says I'm not too sure where to give money because I'm not sure where it's going. Well, you don't know until you ask, right, So that makes sense to ask, right, you guys? Right?

Yeah. We put it towards the scholarship fund, you.

Know, making sure that we can contain to support our athletes, and all of that goes towards our academic services and medical staff. We also put it towards our operations, you know, to offset things everyone knows is real and you know, we want to be able to compete and desiree has done an awesome job of allocating funds in the right direction and promoting and supporting one another. And that's why we're all willing.

To get in. If it weren't that way, you wouldn't get to buy in and support of everyone.

Coach, you had some pretty big shoes to fill with Dave Rubio, and you've done a phenomenal job there. I know his son Dylan really well, what were the changes going from the assistant world to the manager head coach role that that you were really prepared for, you felt like, and then some things that were that kind of caught you off guard, especially with the ever changing landscape of the NC double A. Can you give us some insight there?

Well, and let me ask you say this because you're talking to Blake Eager, who's with the tourism industry here. He's a former manager in pro baseball.

So yes, well, I can tell you the biggest change.

And when I got offered the job, you know, a lot of the kids were smiling, and I'm wondering.

Like, is this for real? You're really smiling or you're just.

Acting that way because I'm the head coach. So it took me a minute.

And so I've done one and sat.

On the bean bag and I said, you, guys, my biggest fear is that you're going to think that I've changed as a person because I'm now the head coach. So as an assistant coach.

The kids come to you for everything.

You know, they tell you things you probably don't want to hear and you shouldn't know, but they're comfortable with you. And I am a relational person. I am not transactional at all, like I shriek at transactions, but I'm a relational person. So I wanted to maintain the relationship with my players and then let them know that I'm still the person that they can talk to. But I said, I do understand that now the decisions lie with me, but I'm still going to be there for you, you know,

I'm like, hey, Rickan, I'm like, Okay, this is a little weird. But I'm vulnerable with them.

And that's something I learned from my when I was at NC State is that I wasn't vulnerable. Then I thought that you had to have this facade as a head coach, and you know, there's a certain way to act. And I used to think I was too immature to be a head coach because I love to laugh and

Want to do this for.

You, and I'm like, I'm just one person. I put my pants on one leg at a time. Please don't put me on a pedal. Still, that's too much pressure for you, and quite honestly, I don't want the pressure on me.

No, I can. You said it perfectly because I've said this historically that it's hard. It's hard to replace the head coach with an assistant coach because it's like a substitute teacher filling in for the main teacher. But I think your approach is perfectly because one you are who you are, right, and you haven't changed that? Yeah, So and they know and you've told them that I'm not changing.

I'm just in a different role.

Correct, And I said, if anything changes is you towards me, it will.

Never be me towards you. And so I worked hard at that.

And you know, the piece that helped me out the best was being able to get to write assistance around me so that it allowed me to lie in my strength and I didn't have to be someone or something that I wasn't And I think that the players appreciate.

That as well.

Right, sometimes you have to be well all the coaches. I've most of the coaches are good cop, bad cop, right, so the assistants kind of the good top blah blah blah. But if you're but if you're a good cop bad cop all in one, then that helps too.

Right, Yes, yes, And like I said, I'm always transparent. Don't like surprises, so I worked.

Hard to never surprise them.

And I think that's something that they appreciate, that they know that they can come to me and.

Good or bad. If you want to know the answer, come.

On, I'll tell you.

And I don't hold back. And so it.

Opens the door for them to be the same way. And I even let them know if I don't know the answer, I'll go find the answer and I'm not gonna try to make it up. So don't do it to me either.

Lastly, real quick, tell us explain to us the draftman clean up one last time.

Yes, So basically we will meet over there tomorrow morning about seven forty five, and they're gonna give us some gloves and some hats, and hopefully I had I may take my own, But nonetheless.

We're gonna walk around.

The community and we're gonna pick up the trash and clean up and get engaged and talk to one another.

I'm gonna bring some music.

Because I'm all about music, but it's people within the athletic department, and I believe that there's a local charter school that will be out there with us as well, and so they'll be next to us, and I.

Have to pick their brain and they'll get to pick my brain.

Say the most important as for about two hours.

Most important question of the day. What are you listening to right now? What's your what's your joy? Yeah? What do you what do you put on?

Listen? Anytime? I'm in my car because I.

Think I can sing. I really can't sing, but it is typically a song by Monica and I built it out.

Listener.

You know.

Yes, Blake's a music guy. That's why he asked you the question. He loves this stuff. But thanks, coach. Thanks coach, have fun tomorrow if you can have fun doing what you're doing. How many people are out there?

I know at least twenty, at least twenty. It could be more, but I know it's at least twenty of them.

Okay, So if anybody's out there seeing you, guys, give him a honk, get thumbs up.

Yes, brother horn on, Please I'll be waving.

Thanks a bunch, have a good summer, and we'll see you in the fall.

Okay, thank you so much.

I appreciate it, right, coach, appreciate it. Those Arita Stubbs from volleyball. Let's go back because I want to ask you some questions about being the good copper back cop because you probably had to do that transition wise. Well, let's take the If you're an Arizona men's basketball fan,

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This is I on the Ball on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Want to take part in the show call out? Steve now went five two oh four one seventy four.

Bank to why about here? On Fox Sports fourteen fiftee.

I'm Steve Rivera and will me today is Blake Biger and we got ready with us running the controls here if you want to call five two zero four one six seven four four zero. So so I'm gonna ask you what I asked her, and she kind of chuckled, figuring that was a on the spot. Uh good cop, bad cop? Were you one or the other? Depends on the role. Oh we got a call hold that thought. We got a call.

Hello you on the air and one of the ball.

Who's this Steve?

What's up is it?

Hey? Blake? What's going on?

Man?

What's up?

How are you doing? Man?

I'm great. I just called to say hey, I just love to call when you're on. I love your baseball stories and and I had a real quick one. You're talking about Steve Good Cop, Bad Cop, and Blake.

Last week you.

Had touched on kids that, uh that that aren't allowed to fail. Yeah, I just want to tell you, did you know John Young Blake I did intrumental in RBI Baseball?

Yeah no, but I know, I know you were talking about. I didn't know him personally, but yeah, oh.

Well, my my daughter's played for his softball part of RBI and uh, we were the only white guys on the team, white girls on the team, and our coach was Frank Price, and he was out of Crenshaw High School and the guy was an f bomb and mother and one of my daughters just hated him, hated him, so she wanted to quit. We stuck with it, and she actually worked her butt off because of the competition on her own team.

And she, like I said, she hated this guy.

But they went away to Texas and she was going to this horrible slump and she calls crime, Dad, you got to come and then get tea work with me. And I said, jes Me, going to Texas and doing tea work ain't going to get you out of your slum, dude. And so a couple of weeks later, fast forward, and she breaks out with a vengeance. She goes something like thirteen for fourteen and I said, so what happened? She goes, You're not going to believe this, And I said, what's that?

That's a good story.

I was laughing because I've had I've had that playing experience with those kind of coaches. Yeah uh, but I mean one that we speak at total is like just be better. You wanted to be better, be better.

In sadly, the more the coaches get on you, the more they're they're they're concerned about you because they see some promising.

I just say this, and Vic, you know this from being in that world. When a coach stops talking to you, and that's that's the problem, no question.

So that's why I like calling when you're on Blake And like I said, I know you're talking with coach stuffs about that, and I honestly, just real quick, I know there was a coach in Northern twos on the loss his job today, and he's a pretty darn good one and it was because of parent pressure and all that.

And that's just ridiculous.

Yeah, the worst thing that happened to kids are the parents and all that stuff, the pressure.

Vic.

You know what I got from your conversation, for that five minute conversation, that you're white. That you're white. That means you know what, I'm white. Were given your last name.

Okay, we're the only brown guy.

We have to change the name of the show to the Whos.

There there you go, But you.

Guys got a great show.

And I tell you, Steve, when this guy's on, I love because I have baseball in my life every day, whether it's softball or going somewhere. It's uh I, I just can't get that. And you know what, that little yellow ball has kept me and my daughters together. And they're thirty now, and and I call him and our conversation begins with softball. So some form.

Well, let me tell you, he's no Andy Lopes, but he's a good three.

He's a little bit behind, but you're right.

And actually I love the.

When Andy's son in law was on the other day.

That was odd Dallas. Yeah, yeah, thanks, yeah, thanks Vic.

Okay you guys take care.

Thanks Vic Wost I tell you that was a good call. Well to hold that thought. Uh the good cop bad cup? Yeah?

Is that where we're okay? Were you one?

Okay?

Go ahead? So were you won both? Can you do both? I think you started where you start losing facete to players. Right, you don't want to be you want to be yourself. So, like coach Stubbs said, you have to be vulnerable, set an example.

You're there.

You care for the kids. You care for, whether it's not a stop right, you want to see them for the rest of their life, a successful and you can be an a hole when that time comes, and it's deserved to be an a hole, and you have to be honest. But I think playing a role just it's a it's a facade.

It's a fake facade.

And kids are too smart, young men, young women are too smart or smart and they're gonna say no exactly.

It's like parents are getting divorced. The kids know exactly what's going on. You can go close the doors and start yelling at each other and they can't hear you. Right, No, of course, but I think you're right about coach Stubbs saying that you have to be who you are, you can't. I don't know if I could do that in a sense. Is I could be a jerk? I could be. I'm sure you ask a couple of people. But I'm too nice of a guy to be that jerk. You know

I mean, this is Andy Andy's Lopez is famous for this. Right, you're talking like two hour player meetings after games, right lights are off, He's still in the outfield. It's a little bit different because he is maybe the greatest, one of the greatest public speakers around. But I had assistant

Just because you made you made the point here us players know exactly who's the best player on the team, or you can depend on who's going to come through with a hit when you need one. I'm not sure about being a captain or non captain blah blah blah, because you know, without naming names, who's gonna come through for you at whatever time, whether he's a captain or not captain.

You know what I'm saying. Yeah, and I've we've I've coached teams that we've had one captain, we've had two captains, we've had no captains, we've had three captains. You have to know we talked about with you a basketball the time and place or the level of where you're at. Yeah, and level where you're at, and who is actually going and it might not be your most likely one of them is not going to be your best player. When when people just start appointing the best players on the

Right.

You want the guy that's going to show up first and leave last, like people will follow that guy. And then you want your first, second, or third best player to be the other co captain because they're like, okay, now this goes in hand.

Well.

So some of the best coaches were the guys who didn't play. They have sat on the bench and they observed, they observed, you know, what to do in time in circumstance.

I had a coach in double A Brewer was my pitching coach, and he was I don't want to say it because I was so close with two other coaches, pitching coaches, but just from a like like he was no nonsense, like he was like, I'm not talking about anything else. You want to talk about pitching when you talk to and he's like, this is how you're gonna attack hitters, That's how you're gonna set up. And it blew me away in a good way, a great way. And he never played I mean he played college baseball.

He was analytical, but he had to work so much harder because he didn't have namesake, no, no, I hear you so and it goes you want a guy that knows has been there, done that right and you can speak to it, but you also want a guy that's going to grind with you.

Guys.

Well, it's also a reason why like Michael Jordan them could coach, because you're thinking player in the world, there's nobody that has his ability. Like you're gonna say, you're gonna say, how can you not do this? I did it all the time.

Well it's different where uh I was just watching a video and I ray, you might know this. There's a it was like Kwame Brown, but it wasn't Kwame Brown with somebody that was like I can I should play. I should be playing more. I can beat anybody. I could beat Michael Jordan one on one. And he heard it, and and Michael Jordan's showed up to the gym like two days later and they played one on one and Jordan like he was like eleven to one.

Yeah.

So to your point, as a coach, like, there's just there's no there's no comparable player to you or skill level.

And there have been those players who are good players, great players who have been able to coach, but they have that special.

How many how many Hall of Fame coaches are Hall of Fame players? Yeah, I don't have to go in any sport, right, I mean I think Bird was a pretty good coach with Indiana when he first got there, but he didn't. But you're not not a Hall of Fame coach by any means, right, Yeah?

No, No, I don't think he's a Hall of Fame coach.

I mean I say, say Thomas was somewhat of a dumpster fire.

Yeah no, And he was kind of like a wishy, washy type of person too, you know, you know Paul Westfall the Sons.

Yeah, pretty good coach. It didn't last long.

But like we were talking before you have like a ten game swing and you're done. Malone, who just was player of the Year, player coach of the year two years ago, he's gone.

You see what he's getting paid?

Though, Okay, here's my question, Like these coaches that just get fired, right, just that just got fired, right, they still have to pay out their remaining contract. Yeah, so I think it was Malone is still owed, Like is he fifty one million dollars? Well, to your point, I think did you say with the Phoenix Suns guys seventy five million? That was an exaggeration?

Was it was forty nine million dollars for the Sons because it was pasted it was his past contract and this contract from a line from Malone.

Yeahh so you were you were being a little exaggerate. But but they had three coaches, Williams, Vogel and now this guy, yeah, in three or four years.

Yeah, and that they're still all paying.

You're paying more for those coaches, right than you are for players that you're currently on your roster. Like, don't how much money there is and at the next level, sure, maybe, I don't know. Is that a good way to spend money? I don't know.

I'd Like for me, we talked about this from an NBA standpoint, it doesn't make sense to me because you can't build a culture and what is the culture? Is it driven by a coach? Now? Is there really is there really coach in the NBA outside of I mean, I can think about maybe Golden State, maybe San Antonio, and maybe I'm wrong on a couple other ones, maybe Boston, But I think that's more front office that you're They're led by that front office, right, Yeah. I like the way okay, okay, see plays.

I like the way that.

Look hot Miami.

Yeah, Houston, Miami. Houston.

Miami is a good one too. Yeah, in Houston.

The guy who played at Boston, right, he just had some personal issues that you could but all of a sudden he's got Houston. Yeah, but he's a great coach. You could tell that. That doesn't happen by accident. You just don't stumble into a good situation.

But then you look at the other side of it, like and then people are you're getting fired mid season. I just that's to me, that's just too much turnover, right right, or even like right before the playoffs. But here's my question. Okay, so let's say, you guys are seconds. Both you guys are headquartered or head coaches. Right, you get next five years, you're guaranteed forty nine million dollars. Are you looking for another job? Are you like that's it?

I want I told Josh Josh Pastor, who's pretty good at being on TV. Very why would you deal with other crap? I think it's just it's a routine, right, You're so used to call the ego, and it's it's what you do.

So we gotta go. You ruined it.

You ruined it. I'm sorry.