Loading summary
Transcript125 lines
- [00:01]
A
Welcome in to the flagship podcast, everybody. I'm Chip Brown, horns247.com joined as always by my esteemed colleagues, the one and only Eric Henry of Horns 247 and David Eckert of Horns 24 7. We're gonna get right into it today. We got a great show for you as always. Little football, little baseball. E is in his hotel room in Omaha where the Longhorns will take on the Georgia Bulldogs again tonight. We'll get his take on how that will go. But for those of you who follow direct underscore cup dates for all your Directors cup updates, we're bringing the man behind the Twitter handle, Brett Wilkinson, who provides all those Directors cup updates because Texas wins its third straight Directors cup and fifth in the last six years under athletic director Crystal Conte. I just published a story interview with Crystal Conte about the secret or the reveal on why he's prioritized the Director's Cup. But Brett, welcome in to the flagship podcast. How's it going?
- [01:31]
B
Hey, I'm great. Thanks for having me on. Always fun to come on and talk about a Texas victory.
- [01:37]
A
Yeah. And you know, we'll, we'll go big picture, but just give us your thoughts in general about this year's Directors cup win. The third straight for the Longhorns, fifth in the last six years. Any anything stand out more? So about this year's Directors cup win. And of course, let me quickly say the Directors cup is a points performance based competition across 19 sports and five our must count sports, men's and women's basketball, volleyball, baseball, and now women's soccer. With that, Brett, your thoughts on this year's win?
- [02:26]
B
Yeah, I think the narrative for this year, if you look at it chronologically here in the fall, things were not looking great for Texas, obviously women's soccer, which as you mentioned is now a required sport that's only been ongoing for two years, you know, they failed to make the postseason. They put up a zero. And as you said, CDC takes this very seriously. This is a good stand in way to see how well his athletic department is functioning. And you know, obviously the lack of success led to a change in the women's soccer head coach. Football did well, but obviously not as well as they've done in the past. Same with volleyball. They did well, but not as successful as they've been in the past. And the cross country teams really struggled. So in the fall, my, my hopes were not too high that Texas was going to get it done this year. But you know, fast forward and all of the fall. All of the winter sports, including a big surprise by men's basketball, had a lot of success. And then Texas has always been so strong in the spring sports, and they really brought it. And that was enough for Texas to win their fifth Directors Cup.
- [03:44]
A
Yeah, that softball national championship didn't hurt. Three national championships for Texas, men, swimming and diving, softball and rowing. Rowing a juggernaut for. For. For Texas. And they were not favored in rowing either. They were the number two seed going in. Stanford was number one, and Texas flipped that. I'll turn it over to my. Well, Eric, why don't you jump in here?
- [04:17]
C
Yeah, Brett, first off, appreciate you making the time. I. I don't have a Texas specific question about the Director's cup as much as I do just a general question about the Director's cup, and I'm coming at this a bit of a novice. Could you kind of explain, you know, for those who may not be familiar, the scoring and. And just maybe kind of, I guess, the nuances in the scoring. Right. Because, you know, not every athletic department, you know, fields the same amount of teams and so on and so forth. Could you just talk about the nuances in scoring from that aspect?
- [04:49]
B
Yeah, absolutely. So the NCAA sponsors now 39 sports, so they added women's wrestling this year. And, you know, if you want to talk about nuance, they split fencing into men's and women's fencing. It used to be coed, so there's now 39 sports. Okay. Like you mentioned, most athletic departments are not sponsoring all 39 of these sports to be in D1. I think the number is 14 sports that you're required to have. I think there's some nuance between FBS, FCS, football, etc. But that's the minimum. Minimum requirement. So some schools sit right at that minimum. And then if you look at your, you know, power four programs, they're sitting mostly around 19, 20, 21. The overall average in the country is 19 athletic departments or 19 athletic programs. I should say. So I believe that is why the Directors cup said, we're going to count your top 19 scores. That's the average number of departments. It used to be 20. Before 2018, they dropped it down to 19, I believe, to match that average of sports on most campuses. Now, as Chip mentioned earlier, there's those five required sports. So. So no matter what you score in those, you have to include that score. And then you look at your top 14 out of the rest of what you have. So looking at a school like Stanford, which now has 32 athletic programs on campus, they get to count their five required and then they get to pick their top 14 out of what's remaining. Texas has 21 athletic programs on campus. So I always say that they're a little guy in this, which, you know, they're definitely a Goliath in other ways, but in terms of number of athletic programs, they only sit at 21. So they have two programs that they get to trim at the end of the year versus Stanford that has 13. So it's definitely an advantage to have a large athletic department, but that's not enough to get it done. You still have to have a lot of success. There are schools like Ohio State with 33 programs. Michigan's right around 30, 31. North Carolina, who's the only other school outside of Stanford and Texas to win. They have about 26 or 27 programs, so there is some variety. Having more programs definitely helps. And for Texas, it's really been the really insane amount of success they're having top to bottom, that's allowing them to win this award.
- [07:21]
D
EK yeah, Brett, I'm glad that you, I didn't know the fact that, you know, you only count the top 19, that's really interesting. And it kind of leads into. I feel like you're the only one in this universe that like understands this, you know, because it's just such a complex competition. I'm curious about you. I mean, how much time do you spend into like figuring all of this out? What kind of time commitment is this? Because you're obviously the authority in this space.
- [07:50]
B
Well, that's a fair question. And you know, I have some peers that exist out there. They're not maybe as forward facing, but it is nice to have some colleagues in this, so to speak, you know, time, it's not a lot, you know, I'm pretty, pretty manual with what I'm doing. There's probably better ways and smarter ways to go about what I'm doing, but I've got a system that works. And, you know, each time athletic season wraps up NCAA championships, you know, it's probably 30 or so minutes punching in scores, and it's always tough when there's multiple championships wrapping up all at the same time. You know, that, that starts to, to add up time wise, but it's not bad. I just stay on top of it, plug away at it when I can. And ultimately, you know, I'm probably spending cumulative 20ish hours or so inputting scores, but really it gives me the opportunity and the information to share so much with people to interact so much with people. So knowledge is power and I'm able to accumulate that power in this space without a whole lot of effort, to be honest.
- [09:00]
A
Well, Brett, this year seemed kind of ho hum compared to last year. Last year was nuts. Like Texas probably should not have won the Directors Cup a year ago because it came down to what, like a 5,000 meter race at the, at the NCAA track meet.
- [09:24]
B
So, so last year was really an anomaly. This competition normally does not end with such close margins between first and second and even first and third place last year. And it was really insane how this thing ended and it did come down to track. Stanford had a distance runner. I think it was the 5k race there at the end. Had that runner finish one place higher, Stanford would have leapfrogged Texas and USC to win the cup. So that was a huge moment. And then I believe it was in the men's track the day before. Yeah, it was Texas A and M tied USC and that dropped their scores both by five points because they had to share the points for first and second. That five point difference is the reason why USC didn't win the cup. So you know, thanks and gig em to the Texas A and M Aggies for tying usc. And that actually allowed Texas to stay in front of USC to win the Directors cup last year. So that one was incredibly close. It has never even been close to that margin. Usually it's about a 50, 60 point margin or more like we're seeing this year. And yeah, the finish isn't so, so exciting when we have a little bit of a margin here. But that's typically how it goes.
- [10:45]
A
Well, and real quick and then I'll let Eric fire in here. Women's beach volleyball has turned into a juggernaut for, for Texas and the programs only existed what, two years?
- [11:01]
B
Yeah, it depends on when you count their start date. You know, they had a couple of seasons there where they weren't NCAA competitive, they weren't eligible for post season, they were using a lot of indoor athletes to fill out the roster. But yeah, they've really been competing in earnest for two years now and they're already seem to be one of the perennial favorites. It was really impressive to watch them throughout this season actually. They were doing pretty good, pretty good top 10 team. And then they really started having some success against the number one, number two ranked teams out there. And yeah, they've arrived on campus and you look at the programs like rowing you mentioned earlier, you know, they, they really existed on campus, but they weren't all that competitive. And then you bring in Coach o'. Neal. You know, CDC clearly saw that program and said, hey, we've got to compete for championships here. And, you know, I think since Dave O' Neill's been on campus, it's been all top 10 finishes. And then, of course, this flurry of championships here recently. So it's nice that those programs are now competing year over year, perennial favorites, top of the sport, and that's what it takes to win the Director's Cup. To be honest,
- [12:13]
C
Brett, I'm going to editorialize for a bit, and I promise there'll be a question on the back end of this. You know, I was told just in my career covering sports. Yeah. I had a old football coach who told me that, you know, football is the front porch of your athletic department. Right. You know, your house. Inside your house might be great, but, you know, your front porch, that's what draws people in. And I guess I'm wondering if you can maybe help those who may be curious as to why the Directors cup is a. Is a solid indicator of overall athletic success. Athletic success of the department, because I'll just use Texas as an example. Right. You know, football did not win a national title. Basketball, we all know, had a good year. They didn't, you know, make a Final Four. We'll see what happens with baseball. Right. So could you just explain to maybe, you know, Texas fans, just fans in general, why the Directors cup is a indicator of overall athletic department success when maybe those, you know, frontline sports don't capture a title?
- [13:10]
B
Yeah, it'd be nice to have a. It's great to have a great front porch, but you want the rest of the house to be nice, too, Right. So I've heard from a lot of former athletes, especially at Texas, over the years. You know, those. Especially in the early 2000s, all of the sports on campus that were successful, it was. They were all pushing each other, right? So we had a great run. The Big Three were doing well, but they were looking around at swimming and diving, volleyball, and really being pushed by those sports as well. Right now, you can't walk into an athletic department function without seeing champions in their sports. People that are competing at the highest level at their sport. And if you're one of those other athletes, that's just going to drive you to also compete at that level. So I think that's huge. Rising tide lifts all ships, definitely. As the athletic department has success across the board, that's just going to drive more and more success. And, you know, there's a Lot of other sports that are really drawing a lot of attention. Of course, softball, volleyball, these are getting more and more popular. So that's great as well. I have no disillusionment about what matters at Texas. It's football first. I know there's plenty of people that would trade in these directors cups for a football championship, and I'm not sure that I would say any different. You know, a huge college football fan. Texas football is number one for me. The big three sports definitely capture most of my fandom, but there's so many great athletes out there competing at the highest levels. These are going to be athletes going on to, you know, be on the US Olympic teams in the future playing for our country. So there's a lot to enjoy and appreciate about these other sports as well.
- [14:59]
D
Yeah, Brett, I know we only have you for a little bit, but I'm in Omaha covering Texas baseball. I just wanted to jump in with a baseball question. What can a baseball championship do for the margin here as the Longhorns kind of close out this academic year? The margin of victory.
- [15:17]
B
Yeah. I mean, the nice thing is the cup is over. Texas has won. Nobody can pass them at this point. We sit right now at 1322 points. Texas baseball, if they go on to win all of their games, win a championship, that would add 22 points to that. Move them up to 1344. It's icing on the cake and nothing more than that. They're going to finish somewhere between 1322 and 1344. I do think it would be a crowning achievement for the athletic department to get a big three sport championship under their belt.
- [15:55]
A
What? So if you win a national championship, is it 100 points?
- [16:00]
B
That's right.
- [16:01]
A
Okay. And as we mentioned, Texas with three national championships, men swimming and diving, back to back, softball back to back, and rowing, which is won three in the last four years. Brett, anything else that you think is important for folks to first of all follow? Brett, at direct underscore cup dates. It's a fun follow and it gets real fun in June, especially under Crystal Conte's leadership. But anything else that you think stands out about this year's cup win?
- [16:41]
B
Well, you were asking about points for a championship, so I like to, you know, put things into context here. So the athletic department as a whole, if you average up all, all of the scores across all 21 sports, it comes out to an average of 64 points per sport. That's about a. That's equivalent to a sweet 16 finish in a tournament or a 12th place finish. In a sport that's not, you know, a tournament format, which that's, you know, far and away the top athletic department in the country on a per sport basis. So I'll put out those rankings here once baseball has wrapped up completely and I can crunch all those numbers. But that's what it takes for Texas to win this high level of success. If you're looking at the other top departments, you're looking at, you know, 50, 50 points of sport. That's probably about where Stanford will be. So that's, you know, a round of 32 finish, to put it in those terms. So Texas is finishing around above, you know, most of the rest of the best of the best. That's how far in a way these sports are performing compared to their peers. So it's really impressive what they're doing. This is nearly an impossible feat for a school like Texas. I think we're losing sight of that as Texas has now done it five out of the last six years. But it's incredibly impressive. What's happening. Hats off to cdc, who I know is supporting these athletes and these coaches, and hats off to the coaches and athletes who are putting in the work to make it happen on the field. But it's very impressive what's happening. I don't know how long it's going to continue. I hope it does, but this is something that, that probably won't go on forever, but we really need to enjoy it while, while it's here.
- [18:23]
A
Yeah, it's a great point. It's a great point. Is there. You know, Stanford has always been there. Stanford won 25 in a row before Texas broke their stranglehold on the Directors Cup. Are there any other programs that are moving up and like threatening to, to get in, involved?
- [18:45]
B
There's not one that I would point to. I think every year there's going to be programs that kind of punch above their weight a little bit. You know, USC was right up there last year. This year they're going to finish in the top 10. But they were never a threat to Texas or Stanford. UCLA had a great season, had their softball and baseball teams succeeded to the level that we were expecting. They might have been right up there. It seems like every year it's Texas, it's Stanford, and then there's a group of schools that have a chance to punch at that level, but not many end up doing it. Last year was pretty unique with USC being in the hunt. All the years that I've tracked, you know, five or six years, it's really been Texas And Stanford, USC was the first competitor that I've witnessed so far in my short time doing this.
- [19:36]
A
Okay, well, Brett, listen, we appreciate you jumping on with us. Great job. Keep up the good work. We all appreciate it so much. Again, follow Brett. Brett Wilkinson, Director's cup expert at direct underscore cup dates. Brett, thanks so much, man.
- [19:55]
B
Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me on. And as always, hook em Horns A.
- [20:01]
A
That's good stuff right there. Yeah. Rex St. Charles says Brett can now go on vacation. So that's. That's a plus. And in here, I did publish a story this morning on, you know, from Crystal Conte's point of view. And I hope people get over to horns247.com and read it, because Crystal Conte said it was a priority from the beginning to be strong enough across all sports to compete for the Directors Cup. He called it the national championship for athletic administrations. And he said he only hires coaches who have the expectation and the desire to win national championships that. Who are willing to put in that work and have done it before. You know, he said we. We hire people who've established a high level of success in previous programs, maybe even at a couple previous programs, because Texas is not a place where you learn on the job and try and figure it out. He said there are a lot of nice boats on Lake Austin. We're an aircraft carrier, and you gotta. You gotta know how to steer an aircraft carrier. E. Henry, you. You seem a little skeptical of the Director's Cup. What. What say you, my friend?
- [21:45]
C
Well, listen, and I appreciate Brett for. For coming on, and I. I hope it didn't come across if I was interrogating him as a representative. That wasn't the case. But, Chip, you know, here's the thing, right? I will view the Director's cup and whatever measure of success you want to assign to it through the prism of, hey, There are about 10 to 12 to 15 schools who will compete for this thing yearly, and I guess maybe five who are capable of winning it. Right? It's just, for me, the definition of the Director's cup. And I. I googled it just to make sure I had it right via Wikipedia. It is given out to the colleges and universities in the United States with the most success in college athletics.
- [22:28]
B
Right?
- [22:28]
C
I mean, that's just. To me, Chip, that's a little subjective. And as I noted in our roundtable, you know, in the history of the cup, there's never been a team outside of a power conference, a program outside. I shouldn't say a team, a department outside of a power conference that has ever placed in the top 10. Right. So, I mean, is that truly indicative of overall athlete department success? I don't know. What I do believe, Chip, is it is something that Texas should feel accomplished for having. Because I do believe that to what Brett's point when I asked him the question, you know, hey, if your big three don't win, where's that kind of. How do you kind of take into account. I do believe that if swimming or track, obviously Texas, you know, certain sports. Texas. Gymnastics. Texas doesn't have gymnastics. So I'm using that as an example. If they compete at a high level, that deserves to be recognized in a way overall by the department in the same way that a football national title would. Right. That's just my. My only case is just that, you know, it's. We're talking about 12 to 14 schools here. Right. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's the same thing in football, same thing in basketball. Right. But I. I just. For something that is. Is purported to be overall colleges and universities, I just wish there were a more whole holistic way of doing grading things, that's all.
- [23:44]
A
Yeah. Yeah. And look, there are a lot of Texas fans that are like, hey, how about getting a football championship, a basketball championship, a baseball championship in here to. To really make me feel fired up about the Directors Cup? That I don't think. I don't think that's an isolated thought, but. Ek, any final thoughts before we come to you on baseball?
- [24:09]
D
Yeah, no, I thought the part that he said. I didn't know that you got to, like, cut off after 19, was it?
- [24:16]
A
Yeah, 19. You have five required counters and then your best 14 others.
- [24:21]
D
Yeah. So, I mean, that makes it impressive to me because obviously Texas doesn't have the kind of options that some of these other schools do, But I don't know. I do think that, like, in the realm of public opinion, probably not a huge thing. But what I do think, though, is, is it's a nice way to incentivize, you know, athletic departments to. To give a darn about swimming and, you know, and I'm not saying that Texas wouldn't if it weren't for this, but I don't know. I. I think it's a nice little kick in the butt to say, hey, you should probably should have a good tennis coach. You should have a good rowing, you know, I think. I think it's positive in that regard.
- [25:03]
A
Well, and just real quick, Stanford won the national championship in men's gymnastics, something that Texas does not offer and their women's wrestling team finished sixth and earned 73.5 points. So just some little interesting nuggets there because Texas pretty much offers the meat and potatoes of, of, you know, the college athletics sponsored sports and added beach volleyball three years ago, depending on when you want to count when they actually started competing in a. They don't, they don't compete in the SEC and women's beach volleyball, they compete in the, you know, Pacific Region Conference and, and they've jumped in and you know, finished third, got to the semifinals this past year. Yeah. Thanks again to, to, to Brett Wilkinson for jumping on with us. Ek you are in Omaha and Texas baseball. Wow, what a difference between game one and game two. Two. I mean, Texas what they're one through four hitters, go over 15 in the blowout loss to Georgia. They're one through four hitters yesterday go what se. 7 for 10 with six RBI and Adrian Rodriguez was the number five hitter and he went 5 for 5 with seven RBIs. I mean, wow. Your thoughts?
- [26:49]
D
Yeah, it was, I mean, really, you said it right. Very different, you know, and going into Monday, I mean Zane Adams, Alabama starter, was a guy who had just dominated Texas, you know, earlier in the year, I think six scoreless, seven strikeouts, maybe five hits. You know, so there was precedent for that to not go so well. But yeah, they, you know, they, they did what they needed to do. I mean Adrian Rodriguez, man, like you can't say enough about this kid, like what he is going through. I, I hope now like the casual Texas fans who maybe aren't following this team day in and day out are starting to have enough people tell them like this, this, his hand is not good, you know, like, like that, that hand is still very much injured. I mean, if you look at it right, like it's, it, it's, it's clearly, you know, something, something's wrong and you know, for him to gut through, got through it at all, never mind, you know, do what he's doing right now. Just crazy. I mean he had the big hit to send Texas to Omaha in, in the super regional. He, you know, he, he gets two hits off of Joey Volchko when nobody else is doing that. And then you know, maybe the best individual performance by a batter in Omaha that Texas has ever had yesterday. So just crazy. And, and he's had to change his swing because his, his, because of his hand, his bats, his bat speed maybe isn't where he wants it to be. So he and Troy Tulitzki worked and you know, simplified it, made him quicker to his spot, and I mean, just incredible stuff.
- [28:48]
A
Well, before I throw it to Eric, everybody get over to horns247.com because E wrote about extensively about Adrian Rodriguez, the pain, mental, physical that he's gone through to. To continue to compete for Texas. Really great detail in there about his, you know, conversations with Troy Tulowitzki about how Tulowitzki said, you know, your time is coming. It's all gonna happen at the College World Series, and. And it's happening at the College World Series. A great story. Everybody head over to Horns 247 to check it out.
- [29:29]
C
Yeah, just kind of piggyback off a chip there. Can't, you know, yes, I'm biased, but I can't stump for X coverage enough. It's been phenomenal out there in Omaha, Dave. I want to go back to Texas's loss to Georgia.
- [29:42]
D
Yeah.
- [29:44]
C
Believe the quote was that he was disappointed in the Longhorns mental approach, considering how much, you know, kind of time and effort and finances they spend. You know, those, know, with Nolan. Nolan Kane, Brian Kane, in terms of the mental game. What did you make of that?
- [30:00]
D
In a little bit, too.
- [30:05]
C
What did you make of that, Dave?
- [30:06]
D
Yeah, I mean, I thought it was prescient, right, because, look, I. I thought Carson Tinney, you know, seized up a little bit. Certainly, you know, defensively, they just made uncharacteristic, simple mistakes that they have not been making for, you know, months. And so I do think the stage got to them a little bit. I think probably I would attribute their defense to that. I would. I would not attribute their problems at the plate to that. I think. I think Joey Volchka was just on otherworldly. Good. We were talking to Schloss on Monday, and he said that, you know, Tulo had received texts from, like, several big leaguers that were like, holy crap, this guy is unreal. You know, so it. I think defensively. And look, defense, you know, defense probably decided that game. I only. Not decided it, but played a big role in it because only. Only two of the runs that Texas allowed were earned. So defensively, really, I do think they, you know, maybe choked a little bit. They. They didn't. They didn't meet the moment. And they work so hard at. At regulating their heart rate and. And, you know, avoiding that. But, yeah, not. Not great. Didn't. Didn't. Didn't. The investment did not pay off in that moment.
- [31:32]
A
Yeah. The stunner was Carson Tinney. You know, two dropped third strikes where he overthrows first Base. I mean, that is debilitating, and it leads to an avalanche of unearned runs. You know, Casey Borba Bobble had an error at third, and. And Dylan Volantis, could he not grip the baseball in the heat because he hit four batters. He hit seven all year.
- [32:04]
D
Yeah, he's been. That his control. The last couple of starts has been weird, and maybe it is the humidity, you know, as it picks up for the summer. I don't. I don't know. He hasn't talked about it. You know, if we get a chance to talk to him again, that's probably something he needs to be asked. But, yeah, he's. He was. I thought he was very gritty and impressive in that game because, look, did not have his stuff, did not have his control, facing maybe the best lineup in college baseball, and, I mean, gives up two earned runs, you know, and eight pitches into the seventh inning. Like, maybe you'd like for him to pick up the defense a little bit more than he did, but. Yeah, not awesome. But I thought, you know, for him to bear down, given the circumstances was, you know, was impressive and just no support from anywhere else.
- [33:01]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was. I totally agree. I mean, he gave you five really good innings after disaster. None. Not much of which, you know, I mean, he put some traffic on base for sure, and it. And it got him. I thought he got squeezed a couple times. I thought he got squeezed on the. On the. The walk that, you know, right before the home run. Yeah, I thought it. I thought it should have been one, you know, one earned run that he gave up. But that. That was just me, I guess. But, Ek. It's Georgia again. And now we're down to the third starters for both.
- [33:44]
D
Yeah, they. Neither team has said who they're throwing. Okay. So, I mean, I think. I think it'll be Luke Harrison. I don't know yet. If I were Texas, I would think long and hard about Sam Kozart, just because I think Sam. Sam misses more bats. And when. When you're facing a lineup with. With this much power, I mean, 174 home runs headed into the College World Series. I think they hit three yesterday and one against Texas, so. 178 now. Yeah, I would think about it, but, you know, I think Texas is. Pitching depth is better than Georgia's, but obviously Georgia has the advantage lineup wise, so, you know, we'll see. But I think. I think this is a good outcome for Texas. I do. I think, you know, with respect to Oklahoma, they're riding, like, just this unbelievable heater. Yeah, I think Texas would probably prefer the path that only allowed only forces them to beat Georgia once and that's what they got. So, you know, here it is. Can you get it done? And then you get to go face an OU team that you know, doesn't have the same threat threatening lineup and you know, maybe your pitching depth can, can handle that a little bit better.
- [35:11]
A
E. Henry
- [35:15]
C
Eric, from what you've seen from this team in Omaha, just let's, you know, let's just kind of reset the table here. Yeah, I'm trying to think how I want to phrase this question to you. I don't want to be hot. Take you but I'll just ask it, you know, pretty directly. Where do you feel Texas is kind of in the pantheon the teams who are left to compete for national title? I, I, I think that has been something to me as I've kind of, you know, watched the, the series play out, you know, of all the teams there that I'm like, it doesn't feel to me and I guess maybe you can correct me if I'm wrong, it doesn't feel to me as if there's one clear cut team that's above the, the rest, if that makes sense.
- [35:51]
D
No, I, I, I agree with you. I think I would probably group North Carolina, Georgia and Texas similarly. Right. Based on the body of work as far as how they're playing right now. I mean, Oklahoma's got to be there too, but yeah, I don't, I, I don't get the feeling that they're overmatched. I don't, I don't get the feeling that they're demonstrably worse, you know, but you know, I'm the other side of the bracket. North Carolina, I mean they've, they've got, with respect to the teams over there, just a pretty, pretty easy romp, in my opinion. And the SEC side of the bracket is, is, you know, just a bloodbath. But you know, look, whatever, you know, your opinion about the quality of Texas's team now, they've put themselves in a position where, you know, they've won one, but now they got to go win three games in a row against, you know, one of which, you know, maybe the best team remaining in this, in this event and two of which against a team that is just smoking hot, you know, especially at the plate. So it's, it's, it's not an easy, not an easy path here.
- [37:09]
A
Well, act your, your lead to your game story was yesterday was Texas baseball's win Over Alabama on Monday afternoon was brought to you by ice packs and gritted teeth. Explain to the folks what, what you meant by that.
- [37:31]
D
Yeah, I mean, first and foremost I was trying to, you know, allude to a rod. Right. You know, we just talked about it with his hand. But also, huge day for Ethan Mendoza and I mean, it looks like his shoulder is killing him every time he swings the bat. You know, he, I think he left the game yesterday after, you know, the game was in hand, so it makes sense to get him out. But he, you know, he had hit a single and they pinch ran for him. He had left the game against Georgia after, you know, really seeming, seeming to aggravate it. He's already not playing defense because he can't throw. Yeah.
- [38:05]
A
And then you injured his shoulder diving for a ground ball.
- [38:09]
D
Yeah.
- [38:10]
A
When was that?
- [38:11]
D
That was the Tennessee series. So scratch my brain dates wise. Maybe, maybe a month ago.
- [38:17]
A
Yeah.
- [38:19]
D
And, but that's a continuation. He had had shoulder problems last year, so his, his shoulders are just really, you know, an issue. But. And then, you know, Ruger Riojas too. Right. I mean, this is a guy who has shoulder tendonitis and, and you know, just gutted through it for, pitched through it for months and you know, now finally is starting to feel, feel himself and you know, he gives you six innings, a two run ball, I think seven strikeouts. So, you know, I think just the three stars of that game alongside Anthony Pack who is really good. Just all guys who have fought through it for Texas.
- [39:06]
A
That's how I know Joey Volchko was on fire because he made Anthony Pack look silly. And nobody makes Anthony Paak look silly.
- [39:17]
D
Yeah, yeah, definitely. They, they attacked him with curveballs and if you look at his numbers, he's much better against fastballs than curveballs. But he's usually good enough at, I guess, pitch selection to, to know what he can hit and what he can't and, you know, not the case. What I really think was happening, especially with Texas lefties against Volchko is when Volchko doesn't throw a straight fastball, he doesn't throw a four seamer, he throws a cutter. Right. So it's bearing in on you and you have to start early to get to your spot when a pitch is bearing in, bearing in on you like that. And so when you start early, obviously you come with the off speed. That's a problem. Right. You're, you're ahead. So, you know, just elite performance and you know, just really toyed with Texas and you're right. I think you know the two contrasts. Texas puts up 14 runs against very good pitching by the way. Like Alabama never got to. You know, those were not. Hey, this is over. Here's some scrubs. Alabama's playing for its life. So you know, the, the contrast is, is really remarkable and tells you a lot about, about Volt Cup.
- [40:27]
A
Yeah. And I thought Schloss was, was on point when he said, you know they got some lucky breaks in that. Those down the line shots were like within inches of being ins. You know what, three doubles in the, in the first inning. But yeah, good stuff. Everybody get over to Horns 247 and read everything that X got going from Omaha. It's. It's great reading it. It's getting you all the, the detail and background of what's going on with this team as they take on Georgia tonight to keep the season alive and try to get to a point where they're playing Oklahoma. And just like Texas softball going through the losers bracket is, is no picnic. So that game is tonight at 7 Central?
- [41:26]
D
Yep. 7 o'.
- [41:26]
B
Clock.
- [41:27]
D
Okay.
- [41:28]
A
All right, let's touch on. Well, I guess while we're in the breaking news mode, Texas softball has landed its second transfer. After landing Samantha Swan, the catcher transfer from Arizona State, they've now brought in another Samantha, Samantha Lincoln, six foot lefty from Texas Tech. So for the second year in a row, Mike White taking a lefty from Texas Tech in the transfer portal. Last year it was Brinley Gonzalez who played, you know, a, a minor role on the pitching staff. Texas is looking to replace Sitlali Gutierrez who was the number two starter for Texas. So can everyone hear my dog barking in the background?
- [42:24]
C
We absolutely can, Chip. After, after Maggie graduated, the 11 lone remaining member of the Brown household is a she hungry.
- [42:32]
A
Oh my God.
- [42:33]
D
Very excited about the softball edition.
- [42:35]
A
It's little Ollie. He's probably staring at a gecko on the sidewalk and he wants to go get his hands on it. But Samantha Lincoln, talented, actually was recruited out of high school to Texas Tech which is rare. But Texas Tech also just signed Jaden have. Oh God, the LSU. I should. Jaden Havner who was LSU's you know, go to pitcher lefty. You know, went 13 and nine last year with a 2.81 ERA. They lost Nigel Kennedy obviously. And did everyone see that Reese Atwood's first home run as a pro softball player came off Nigel Kennedy, for crying out loud. Nigel Kennedy wants to get away from Texas as much as possible after going 0 and 9 against Texas. Some, some of those games she started five of those. She started some, you know, didn't. But anyway, yeah, sorry about that. My dog is going nuts and my wife is not home at the moment. So there you have it. Samantha Lincoln, Texas, is not done in the Portal. Texas softball, so stay tuned. Over at Horns24.7, we've got a softball portal tracker that you can check in on. And E. Henry, Issa Torres is kind of the big prize out there. E. Henry got the scoop that Issa Torres from Georgetown, who batted over.500 for Florida State, was ACC Player of the year infielder. She could play. She's a shortstop. Vivy Martinez could play second or short for Texas, but Texas loses Leanne Good at second base. So Texas would love to have another experienced infielder to go with Katie Stewart and vivi Martinez and J.C. nichols at third base. Obviously, Samantha Swan replaces Reese Atwood at catcher, and Texas needs to fill a couple of outfield spots. Kyle Altmire leaving and Ashton Maloney. But I think Mike White likes Alisa Snead, the freshman who got some run this year. All right, I'm going to turn it over.
- [45:13]
D
Let's.
- [45:14]
A
Let's talk a little football. Any. Any. Unless anyone has a thought on softball, we can.
- [45:22]
C
We can go to football.
- [45:23]
A
Okay. All right.
- [45:24]
D
Football.
- [45:24]
A
Steve Sarkeesian was on with. Hey, K. Adams, former NFL Network K. Adams. And. And she said, hey, have you talked to arch Manning about 2027? He said, no, we haven't had that conversation yet. But I wouldn't be shocked if Arch Manning came back for the 2027 season. E. Henry, what did. What'd you think of that?
- [45:57]
C
I'm gonna say this slowly and plainly and very clearly for our audience. I'm willing to bet a week of CHIP salary that Arch Manning will not be back at Texas 2027. How about that? All right, I will give a week of chip. A week of chip salary direct St. Charles, if that's the case. Listen, Archmac's not gonna be back next year, right?
- [46:19]
A
It's nice of you to bet my money.
- [46:22]
C
Well, listen, listen, of the fine listeners and viewers, you know, out of the three of us, you got to go
- [46:27]
D
for the big fish, right? I mean, that's common sense, right?
- [46:29]
C
Playing the lottery. You got to go big. Here's the deal. All right, like, anyway, here's the thing. For me, the case that Steve Sarkeesian was making, and if you heard the entire comment, he said that he wouldn't rule it out, but he also said that he wouldn't rule it out, that Arch would leave Right. Just as they haven't had the conversation yet and pointed to, you know, Arch Manning's nil earnings at Texas. Right. And Arch Manning certainly does have Chip and Dave. Here's the big thing. Arch Manning has a measure of flexibility that the average college athlete. Right. Doesn't have because of his last name.
- [47:10]
A
Right.
- [47:11]
C
You know, it's not like he needs to go get this NFL money immediately. So because of that. Sure. That does, in theory, provide a measure of. All right. Could Arch think maybe, hey, I want to come back and spend another year in Austin and be a college kid? And so, sure. I, I just don't see that happening. I, I think, you know, specifically I'm gonna point towards Texas's, you know, success this year that I think they will have. I just don't see a reason why Arch Manning, and I'm not talking about winning national title. I think if Texas is cultural playoff team and they advance, I don't see a reason for Archman to come back just based on what's left there for him, unless he truly feels a desire to win a national title. And his collegiate experience would not be complete without it. I, I, I, this isn't a discussion in my mind.
- [48:00]
D
Yeah, I, I just, I don't know. I, I, I'm with you. I think there are like, fringe cases where, all right, you know, he gets hurt or something, you know, but look, it's just, there's no, there's no reason for Steve Sarcasian to come out and say, hey, yeah, he's, he's gone. You know, like, like, there's no, I mean, really, what that was, was it's a non answer. Right? It's, it's, and Steve is great at those, you know, credit where it's due. Elite non answerer. And, and it's nothing, you know, it's, it's just shirking the question. It's not opening the door. It's nothing else. It's just, I don't, I don't want to answer this. And so I'm not going to. And, you know, the Internet is blowing up over it, but I don't, I don't think there's anything more to it than that.
- [48:53]
A
Well, it's a good June sound bite. Right? It's a good June sound bite for sports talk radio, which has nothing, you know, and is starving for anything college football. But we know that this upcoming season is going to determine all of this. Just like Eric said, if Texas does what it's supposed to do with a super talented all in roster, then Arch Manning's moving on. If for some reason it falls short, maybe there's enough there for him to think about coming back if he feels like the roster is still there. And of course, that leads us to, you know, is Colin Simmons gone? Is Cam Coleman gone to the NFL and all that.
- [49:41]
C
So,
- [49:43]
A
yeah, and of course, we have to mention, because we talked about it last week, the Brennan Sorsby case. How about this? The Big 12 sues in federal court. I wish I could sue my dog to be quiet. The Big 12 sues in federal court for the right to get this. Impose its own rules. We just want to impose our own rules. Now, you know, all, all the other 15 schools in the Big 12 joined the, the legal action Texas Tech. You know, who knows? I know the Brendan source. We met with Texas Tech regents. That's according to reporting from Ross Dellinger of Yahoo. And, and so Brendan Sorsby is headed to the supplemental draft for the NFL, which should close the door on the Brennan Sorsby aspect of this. But, wow, this was a wild month of, of drama and, you know, checking the, the, you know, where, where does the, the. The principles of college athletics stand? Can college athletics impose. Enforce its own rules? So, wow, I feel like we were in a wind tunnel. But at the end of the day, guys, I thought the most ironic thing was Michigan canceling a volleyball game against Texas Tech. Michigan, which had, you know, a Netflix documentary done on its signal stealing and, and all that. Michigan canceling on Texas Tech. Oh, go ahead.
- [51:45]
D
I say this as a Big Ten graduate. Right. There is nothing that the elite Big Ten schools love doing more than pretending they're clean when they're not. They are so great at it. They're so good. So, yeah, that just, I mean, that's their M.O. right? That's, that's, that's what they do.
- [52:05]
C
Yeah. You know, I'll be quicker. I'm glad EK made that point because I was gonna say, I mean, if that isn't, you know, the pot calling kettle black, I don't know what is. Really quick. David Eckert, you know, called Steve Sarkeesian an elite non answer. I will be asking David Eckert in his asking anything, his top five list of elite non answers. And if that list does not include Arch Manning, I'll be disappointed because that isn't non answer right there. Okay, really quick is the Brendan Sorsby. This is the thing. I'll just say about it, right. Chip Eck. It was going to be a circus. If Brendan Sorsby, you know, stayed at Texas Tech. I made this point on another show. I don't think I made it here. Whether this is fair or foul, any interception that Brendan Sarsby threw in college or quite frankly for maybe the rest of his professional, the rest of his career playing football is going to come under a level of scrutiny that he put himself in that situation. I've made my feelings clear on the nuances of gambling. I know it's not the popular take, especially being on the Texas site. Save that for another time. But I just felt like the level of circus that would have come with any act Chip.
- [53:10]
A
Right.
- [53:11]
C
And Dave, it's probably best for all parties that source me just goes to the professional ranks and someone could take a chance on him and Tech can try to find another quarterback.
- [53:21]
A
Yeah, I mean, it's a great point. And I'm. I was thinking this morning, who on earth is gonna, you know, I'm sure he'll go to camp with somebody, but is it worth the. The drama and the distraction? No. I mean, hell, teams didn't want Tim Tebow and he, he was a winner. You know, they didn't want the distraction of Tim Tebow. So what makes anyone think that a pro team is going to want the distraction of Brennan Sorsby who admitted, you know, to betting on thousands of games, including his own team? But. Yeah. So the residue for Texas Tech in the Big 12 should be interesting to say the least. All right, real quick, before we get to take it or leave it, gotta give some love to Farah o' Keefe from Austin. Austin Anderson. She's a Trojan woman. I love this story because her parents, you know, were not the big AJGA parents. She didn't play the high profile AJGA events. She played local events. And kudos to Ryan Murphy, the former women's Texas women's golf coach, for spotting the talent right in his backyard. Texas member did not offer Drew Brees out of Westlake. But they, you know, Ryan Murphy spotted that talent, brought her in, and now she is just piling up one. I mean, she won the Heisman Trophy for women's golf, the Onyko Award. She won the NCAA individual championship this past weekend. She led the, the Curtis cup team. This is the top amateur women golfers from the United States against the top women amateur golfers from Great Britain and Ireland. And she went 5, 050. She didn't tie any matches. She won them all. She played in every match. She one of three members of the team to play in all five matches because there are eight team members and only six play at a time. And she won the Honda Award for women's golf and is now, you know, a candidate to win the overall Honda Award, which is one of the top honors in college athletics. And she will be competing in the. The world Women's Amateur championship that she finished runner up in last year. And. And then she will play for the Arnold Palmer cup team, which is men and women amateur golfers taking on from the usa, taking on the rest of the world. And the American team is being co. Coached this year by Laura Ianello, the. The Texas women's golf coach. So I don't know how she's doing it because since the SEC championship, she has played in a major golf event every weekend, except one. She went from sc. The SEC Championship to the Chevron Championship where she finished sixth. That's a. That's a major for the lpga. She finished six and was teeing off in the final three groups. This kid is. I'm telling you, she reminds me so much of Scotty Scheffler, it's ridiculous. Just. Just marches to her own beat, loves the big moment, plays better, hits better shots when there's more pressure. I'll tell this real quick, and then I know we got to move on. In the high school state championship, when she was at Austin Anderson, her team was dead in the water. She had to eagle the final hole for her team. She had to birdie it to tie. It was a par five. She hit a five wood to six feet, made eagle, and her team won the state championship outright instead of getting into a playoff. That's the kind of baller she is. And. And so big shout out to Farrah o', Keefe, a name you will want to remember if you follow golf at all, or even if you don't, because it'll probably, you know, surface down the road in pro events. Oh, my God. My dog has stopped barking. Let's knock on wood. All right, are we ready to get to some. Take it or leave it, Eric Henry.
- [57:45]
C
Let's do it.
- [57:46]
A
All right, you tell us who's serving to who.
- [57:50]
C
I will serve this up to you, Chip. Start off take it or leave it. Number one. The greatest impact of Texas winning directors cups is the standard sets for the entire athletic department. Take it or leave it, sir.
- [58:05]
A
Yeah, I'll take this. I think, really, it's hard not to give the credit to athletic director Chris Del Conte, who came in and look, I. I may be the only one old enough to remember what he came into because it was such a disaster. At Texas when DeLoss Dodds left and they brought in an athletic director for the sole purpose of firing Mack Brown in Steve Patterson. And then Patterson didn't fire Mack Brown. And, you know, it cost them a chance to try to court Nick Saban because the big money guys at that time wanted to court Nick Saban. And the morale was terrible in the. In the program to the point where. And I wrote extensively about it, I linked to it in our roundtable over the weekend that, you know, Steve Patterson's tenure lasted 22 months before he was fired by Greg Fenvis. And they brought in an interim athletic director, Mike Perrin, a trial lawyer who had no experience as an athletic director. That's when we had things going on, like, you know, the president of the university flying to Tulsa to help hire an offensive coordinator. Like, no one wanted to come to Texas. It was toxic. Toxic. So when you think about that and where the program is now, Crystal Conte's overseen nearly a billion with A B facilities upgrades and renovations. He's hired coaches who've won national championships. I agree with Brett Wilkinson. Texas fans savor this. Savor every second of it, because, you know, the facilities upgrades, the winning, and obviously, football, basketball, baseball, need to get it done. But, yeah, I'm going to take this because it does. You hear all the other coaches talk about, you know, the. The synergy of winning big, and I think that's happening.
- [60:24]
D
Yeah, I'll take it. I just. Yeah, you hear Schloss, you hear Sark talk about this, right? They're like, hey, we just saw, you know, Mike White win a national championship. Like, that reminds us what we need to do. I'm sure, you know, Sean Miller says similar things, Eric, although I don't spend as much time around him. But so, you know, I just. Yeah, I think that's an easy take.
- [60:54]
A
Henry.
- [60:54]
D
Yeah.
- [60:55]
C
You know, you asked if Sean Miller says similar things, that Crystal Conte has got all of his. His head coaches trained in saying that message because they all say the same thing. You know, I. Listen, I. I've made my feelings kind of clear on the Director's cup, and. And. And, you know, it is what it is.
- [61:11]
D
Right.
- [61:11]
C
But in terms of Texas, I will take it. Here's why. Chip can probably speak to this, you know, probably better than. Than EK or I. Crystal Conte seemingly does hold all of his head coaches at the same standard, regardless of, you know, Steve Sarkeesian, of course, is the football coach and is making $10 million. You would think it any other university. Right. It's like all right, that person's going to get a little more leeway than insert coach of you, the women's soccer team. Right, Rex, I'll answer that question with you off air. If you look at Ange Kelly, I'll use her as an example. Right, Chip. I'm going to read off Angie. Ang Kelly's records for getting fired. Sweet 16, NCAA first round, first round was CO year, first round, second round, Sweet 16, second round, and then the women's soccer in 412 and 1. She was fired. Right.
- [62:02]
D
That title in there too.
- [62:04]
C
Right? Exactly. That at least tells me that Crystal Conte is saying, hey, we don't have time for rebuilds or any of this. Like you underperform. You will go.
- [62:15]
A
Right?
- [62:16]
C
So because of that, with that being consistent, I will take it.
- [62:21]
A
All right. Take it or leave it. Number two, my dog has found another gecko. He will. He will be in his crate next week for the flagship podcast. Eric, I'll serve this to you.
- [62:38]
C
Sure.
- [62:39]
A
All right. If Texas football misses the CFP again, College Football Playoff again, the most likely reason will be the 2026 schedule. Take it or leave it.
- [62:54]
C
If you want to know my level of confidence in this Texas football team, you're going to pretty much be able to ascertain it here. I'm going to leave it. I think it's going to be the offensive line. I think Texas, if they can protect Arch Manning, this team is talented enough. We have talked about it. Not so directly on the show, but it's in general. Texas is a team that's. If Arch Manning comes out and Colin Simmons comes out, we expect them to. And you know, Cam Coleman, etc, this team could have three, four, five first round picks. Right. This is a team that could have players selected, you know, 1, 2. For the first time since Penn State, you know, Courtney Brown, lavar Arrington, it's a talented football team. They can protect their quarterback. I, I think they're going to be good enough to make the cfp. Good enough to make a SEC title game. Win it, lose it, doesn't matter. I think, you know, even if you lose the SEC title game, you'll end up in the CFP if you're Texas, so. No, I'm gonna leave it, Chip.
- [63:49]
D
Okay. Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna take it. I just think the cumulative effect of playing all these really good teams matters. You know, I just. Look, you know, I, I wrote a story where I kind of did the math like none of the other national championships. And I get it. We're talking About CFP qualification, not national title here. They've, they haven't played a schedule like this, you know, so I just think, just asking, needing your best, needing to expend maximum energy week after week after week after week, I think that's tough. And to me, when I, you know, look at this roster, that's. That's the biggest obstacle for them getting where they want to be. Chip, what do you think?
- [64:33]
A
All right, I'm going to, I'm going to leave this and just say to me, it's going to come down to staying healthy. So, you know, I think, I think the healthiest, if Texas can stay healthy, they're going to be in the College Football Playoff. If they don't stay healthy, that, to me, is the biggest threat to Texas not making the College Football Playoff. All right. Take it or leave it. Number three. Three E. Henry, you want to serve that service to Dave?
- [65:08]
C
I will. To bring us home. Take her leave at number three. Texas will in fact beat Georgia, then take down the Sooners twice to reach the College World Series final. David Ecker, take it or leave it.
- [65:19]
D
Yeah, I hate to be the Debbie Downer. I'm going to leave it. I just. That's just asking a lot, you know? It is. They've already, They've used their first, their best two starters. Maybe you can bring Dylan Flantis back for the last game in this stretch if you need to. I don't know. I just, I think that's asking a lot. It would, it would be intellectually dishonest, in my opinion, to say that, you know, them doing that is more likely than not. So I'm going to leave it. What do you guys think?
- [65:51]
A
Yeah, I mean, I said whoever won that first game between Texas and Georgia probably wins it all. So I, I probably shouldn't, you know, wheel back on that. But after watching Oklahoma beat Georgia, still, it's a lot, man. And it's not softball. You can't, you can't run Tegan Kavan out there every day or, or just have a two pitcher rotation. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna leave it. I hope, I hope I'm wrong because this team has been a. A lot of fun to, to watch and battle and Texas fight and all that. But. Yeah, I'll, I'll leave it. Hey, Henry.
- [66:42]
B
Yeah.
- [66:42]
C
I'll bring us home and I'm gonna leave it as well. It's been a hell of a year for the Longhorns. I think this in the pantheon of things, when Jim Schlossingel does win a national title at Texas. I do believe that is a winner. I think this will be a foundational year. You'll look back at and say that this one kind of set the stage for whatever success they have down the road. But I don't believe it's going to happen this year.
- [67:02]
A
And this, this is a team that's built to win now. I mean, it's Aiden Robbins, senior, Carson Tenney, senior, Ruger Rioja, senior, Luke Harrison, senior. So now let me ask you this, Ek. Do you think they beat Georgia tonight?
- [67:18]
D
Yeah, yeah, I'll take them, I'll take them. Beat Georgia. I, you know, I, I have more faith in their pitching depth, you know, and, and you know, I think their lineup will get it going. But I want to touch on what, before we go, what you just said, right. College football, college baseball dominance kind of ebbs in, in two year flows because, you know, the teams that are in Omaha are not devoting the time that the teams who are not are to the transfer portal. Right. And, and so, you know, you should not, in my opinion, say, hey, they're gonna get back here next year because that's just what they do because it might be two years, you know, so, yeah, it's, it's, it's a challenge to sustain it even look at lsu, it's every other year, so it'll be tough.
- [68:13]
A
How would you size up the recruiting in the transfer portal right now?
- [68:16]
D
Well, they haven't, they haven't done much. They've, they've missed on a couple of their, of their, their lineup targets. You know, Waters went to lsu. Hodgkin's went to Arizona State, Savoy went to the Aggies. So, you know, I wouldn't say it's, it's going great, but there's still some time and you know, maybe a silver lining if you get bounced. You get to go home and, and try to figure this out.
- [68:47]
A
All right. All right. Good stuff. Good stuff. Hey, thanks everybody for tuning in to this episode of the flagship podcast. Thanks to Brett Wilkinson, Director's cup expert. You can follow him on social media at direct underscore cup dates and you know, thanks for tuning in. And please like and subscribe to the Horns24Seven YouTube channel so that you get notifications and never miss an episode. And until next time, for David Eckert, for Eric Henry, I am Chip Brown. We'll see you over@horns247.com get over there and read all of X. Reporting from Omaha. He's sitting in his hotel room right now slaving over a hot laptop for you. So, you know, at least do him the justice of reading all of his his fine work. And until next time, stay safe and keep the faith. Hello and welcome to Plutofo.
- [69:51]
C
If you know the name of the
- [69:53]
A
movie, you'd like to see the Matrix,
- [69:56]
C
Transformers, Rise of the Beasts, or Mean Girls.
- [69:59]
B
That is so fetched.
- [70:00]
C
Just stream it for free on Pluto tv. Stream now. Pay never.