Caller (1:37)

Segregation in the day, integration at night. It was like stepping in another world.

Emily Simpson (1:42)

Was he a businessman? A criminal, A hero?

Matt Jones (1:46)

Charlie was an example of power.

Shannon (1:50)

They had to crush him.

Emily Simpson (1:51)

Charlie's Place from Atlas Obscura and visit Myrtle Beach. Listen to Charlie's place on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Ryan Lemond (2:00)

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Shannon (2:59)

welcome to hour two of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Now here's Matt Jones.

Matt Jones (3:05)

Welcome back. It is hour number two, Kee Sports Radio, 859-280-2287. Text machine is 772-774-524. I do have one piece of information. I've gotten multiple text from people I assume Drew that are listening who say that the south minister is a UK fan.

Drew Franklin (3:26)

Okay, good, good, good.

Matt Jones (3:29)

There are people not following the rule and listening and I don't want to call him a U of L fan if he's not.

Drew Franklin (3:34)

No, it's a horrible accusation. That's like the worst.

Matt Jones (3:37)

You can't do that. You cannot call somebody a U of L fan. That's not that. That's a UK fan. They're struggling, by the way, U of

Shannon (3:44)

L, it's fell out of the top 25.

Ryan Lemond (3:46)

Top 25 first time all year.

Matt Jones (3:48)

Kelsey only has one win in the two years he's been there over a team that was in the top 30 in the net. Now, unfortunately, that was us. So you can't talk too much trash about it. But they can't be anybody good. They play Syracuse at home tonight. They'll crush them. Then they go to Miami Saturday, might lose another one. So, you know, a lot of UFL fans work in this building. Very upset. Drew like they, they, they in some ways seem almost more upset than Kentucky fans were at Pope because I don't think they have that connection with Kelsey where like they want him to succeed because he's one of them. We like we do with Pope.

Drew Franklin (4:27)

That and Pope at least has several, you know, top AP wins where Kelsey, that's one of the problems is he's not winning those games. Also his less, less press conference. He didn't have his glasses on. I didn't really know who I was looking at. He, he looked all sad. It just fallen so far from when he was popping the cafeteria, getting all the fans fired up when he first

Matt Jones (4:45)

got there for a long time and now I don't know. So we'll see. The tournament can change a lot of stuff. Tyron Stokes has is according to is it fram for Shell? Is that who Said that. Who was it

Drew Franklin (5:04)

about taking another trip?

Matt Jones (5:05)

Yeah, about Tyron Stokes coming to Kentucky.

Drew Franklin (5:07)

It came from his coach to someone at espn.

Matt Jones (5:09)

Yeah, his coach, Fran, for Schiller, that Tyron Stokes is, has not only not made his decision, he's going to visit Kentucky one more time. What do we make of this news?

Ryan Lemond (5:23)

I mean, encouraging, because it sounded like before he had kind of eliminated Kentucky, at least the door is still cracked a little bit, that he wants to come back for another visit and entertain the thought of maybe committing at one

Matt Jones (5:33)

point to Paul being Cardi. Stokes is planning another visit to UK after the season. Okay, so clearly we want him, right? Clearly. You know, Pope sees the value in high school recruiting, which I like. There are people who tried to make the argument we don't get these guys. Oh, that's kind of. Because that's not what Pope does. Pope wants this guy. At this point, you still want this kid, right?

Ryan Lemond (5:59)

He's the number one player in the country. Absolutely. I don't. Like I said earlier, if you're not, I don't care if you're a third choice, fourth choice, fifth choice. If he picks you, you. You want him.

Matt Jones (6:07)

Are you worried at all about this whole question of attitude? I mean, that's been something we've heard for years with this kid. And then Kansas had to kind of deal with whatever they've been dealing with Darren Peterson. So there are some people saying, well, they don't want to, they don't want to deal with that again. Drew, I, I, I think he's the tech. When you get the number one player in the country, I think you take the risk. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. But I think you have to take the risk. Right?

Drew Franklin (6:31)

Yeah. There's some stories about him with some locker room stuff. You know, you don't love that. But Kentucky's kind of in desperation mode. I mean, I would take him regardless, even if you had a class. But right now, you got to get bodies for next year. And if the number one recruit in America wants to be a part of that, you absolutely have to take him. Also, it seems Kansas pretty much had this locked up. It just keeps trickling and trickling and trickling. So now that Kentucky gets a visit, if Kansas doesn't close soon, maybe, maybe you are back in the mix more than we thought.

Matt Jones (6:59)

We had it locked up. This may just be a guy, you know, that's when they're in a relationship at the end, Shannon, they're like, I just can't commit. Yeah, yeah, you Wouldn't know anything about.

Shannon (7:10)

No, no, no, no. You wouldn't either. No.

Matt Jones (7:13)

So, yeah, I mean, that might be. That might be what it is. Do you agree with me, Shannon? You take this kid no matter what.

Shannon (7:21)

You know, he's. He's the top rated guy. So I think you take him no matter what. Unfortunately, it could work out to where you have a situation with Peterson at Kansas, and you get a guy that has an attitude problem, and it's hard to manage that.

Matt Jones (7:32)

But do we think we would be bet? I guess my question, Ryan, is do you think we'd be better without him? Cause if you don't, then you'd give it a shot. I. Unless you can convince me there's somebody out there we can get that would be better than getting him. I'm taking him. And yeah, it might not work out. But you know what? There are other guys people get that don't work out. You know, Mark.

Ryan Lemond (7:55)

Mark Pope needs this as nothing else for perception purposes, that I can go out and recruit the top kids in the country and can get them to come to Kentucky. He needs that more than anything.

Drew Franklin (8:05)

And earlier this year, we weren't exactly leading the country in positive attitudes on the team either. So, I mean, remember how the year started? I mean, okay, might have another locker room situation coming in, and maybe they'll

Matt Jones (8:15)

play chess and get along, you know, feels like that's. That's a big part, is maybe they play chess and everybody will. Everybody will be happy. Now, Kentucky, the SEC women's tournament starts tomorrow. More morning, so let me just go over some stuff. Kentucky women play tomorrow morning at 11:00am Eastern Time. 11:00am Eastern Time. First game of the SEC Tournament. Kentucky plays at 11:00am now, as you know, we're on the air then. So tomorrow morning, just as a heads up, we're going to do the show as regular. It'll be on all the same things at 10:00am Then at 10:45, we will have to. We will lose the Lexington and Louisville affiliates. You all will go to the game, but we will keep doing the show. You'll need to turn on the Somerset affiliate if you're listening on streaming. If you're listening at home, you just listen on the station. Is that W, S, F, C, Something like that.

Ryan Lemond (9:11)

Something.

Matt Jones (9:11)

Mario is going to make a graphic as to how you do it. All right? But just so you know, when you're listening tomorrow, we'll still be on podcast full and. And we'll still be doing the show, but at 10:45, they'll switch to the women And I understand if you want to keep listening, listen to women. I get that at the bar. Tomorrow we're going to be doing the show at the bar. We will have cash will be there, but we will also have the women's game on while we're doing the show.

Drew Franklin (9:34)

And it is wsfc. Actually, just yesterday, Gus sent an updated affiliate list that I put on KSR every morning. So if you get lost, you can go find that too and find what's close to you.

Matt Jones (9:45)

Wsfc. And so if you're in Lexington tomorrow, you can come watch the show. We will also have the game and they'll both be going on. And so that's, that's an exciting morning. Let's go to Chase. Go ahead, Chase.

Caller (9:59)

Morning, gentlemen. Shannon got quick thing.

Shannon (10:05)

You saying I'm not a gentleman.

Matt Jones (10:06)

Is that.

Drew Franklin (10:07)

Yeah.

Matt Jones (10:07)

Was that a shot at Shannon gentleman and Shannon, go ahead.

Caller (10:12)

I would never disparage a good name as Chan to do with the prospect of certain announcements on the horizon. I'm wondering about our 80s department's approach to coaching and in game environments. Do you think that a new ad who may button the shirt a little lower may have less concern with moral superiority, more concerned with winning and a better home game advantage? And along those lines, what's stopping us from poaching whoever's in charge of the in game environment at South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, any of these places that are just electric? Why can't we get any of those people?

Matt Jones (10:44)

Well, I think appreciate the call if there were to be a transition at the top of UK athletics, I think without question the question is going to be what's next and what is the philosophy? I'm of the belief that college sports are so fundamentally different today than they were even four years ago that you have to hire somebody who's eager to embrace that change. Whoever that is. Okay. Whoever that is. You know, it's sort of like saying if you are, I don't know, if you're a computer person and you don't like AI, then you probably shouldn't hire that person to run your AI department. Right? You should hire someone who understands and probably embraces the technology to run your AI department. Even if I don't. So, like, I wouldn't be who you should hire because I don't like AI. If you're somebody that doesn't like what's happening in college sports, then don't hire that person to be in charge of college sports. So I think it's gonna be very important for Kentucky, whenever that job were to Come open to hire someone who embraces the future and who says, whatever the future is, we at Kentucky will be at the front. That's what I want to hear, Ryan, from whoever ends up with that job, whenever it comes open.

Ryan Lemond (12:18)

Yeah. Because it's. It's ultimately a business. They're trying to make money, and you can't be afraid to spend money to make money. You know, everybody's in competition for the entertainment dollar. You want to make your product good enough where they want to come and spend their money and watch your Internet, watch your product.

Matt Jones (12:31)

Have any hesitation about the sport.

Ryan Lemond (12:34)

Correct.

Matt Jones (12:34)

If you don't like college sports, that is totally fine. But my view has been for years, if you don't like college sports as it is that you're right, then you need to not be in it. It's that simple. Because just look around the country. Just look at college basketball. Look at the coaches that are succeeding. All right? Dusty May, John Shire, Nate Oates, Todd Golden, Danny Hurley. You don't hear, Drew, those coaches on TV going, I don't like what's happening with college basketball. They just go win. Right? They just go win. And that's what I want in the jobs at Kentucky. Not. Will Stein did that. He came in, he was like, look, whatever the rules are, we'll make them work. That's what we need. Yeah.

Drew Franklin (13:23)

You just know that's what's so excited about Will Stein. He even said exactly that. His press conference, like, if you want to complain about how this job is now, you're going to get left behind the rules and what's in front of us. It is what it is. So jump in and embrace it and love it, or you're not going to be able to succeed. That's why, I mean, he showed up with two GMs. He's an example of a young guy that's. That's ready for what's next in the future. And hopefully the rest of the athletic department kind of. We see more of that you youthful and exciting movement coming in.

Matt Jones (13:49)

And it's not a criticism. If you don't want to do it, just don't do it. Give it to somebody who wants to. Dan. Go ahead, Dan.

Caller (13:58)

Yeah. Hey, Matt. Can I talk football?

Drew Franklin (14:01)

Yeah,

Caller (14:04)

yeah. Look, Stan from Rocky Mount. I got a tour through the Joe Craft Athletic Center a couple weeks ago on a Saturday. Let me tell you, me and my buddies, we had such a positive vibe, man. We were so excited when we left there. We got to meet a lot of the football players. Courtney loves one who took us through there. He won the Warfare award back in 2017, something like that. But we got to watch. They were practicing. A quarter of the team was practicing, you know, in the indoor facility. And I'll tell you, every time we met these players, and they were also cordial. I am so pumped up about UK football this year. I tell you, everybody should be. Will Stein is just changed the whole vibe, man. It was just fantastic tour.

Matt Jones (14:57)

Well, good. I'm glad. I appreciate you letting me know, Dan, and nice to hear from you. Yep, Appreciate the call.

Caller (15:04)

I.

Matt Jones (15:04)

We hope to have Will Stein, Ryan on the show on Monday, just for people to know.

Ryan Lemond (15:09)

Yeah, he's kind of making the rounds, talking to some people, getting ready for the spring football season to start. You could tell his. His energetic level is going to be infectious on everybody else. They're excited to get out there.

Matt Jones (15:21)

Shannon. His energetic level is going to be infectious.

Ryan Lemond (15:27)

I think it's true.

Shannon (15:28)

We know what Ryan means. We've been around so long, like you wouldn't want to read that from the transcript for the people at the church. Make sense.

Matt Jones (15:35)

I mean, infectious. Yeah, Not a word, Brian. Righteous. Infectious.

Ryan Lemond (15:41)

Yeah, that too.

Matt Jones (15:45)

His energetic levels were infectious.

Shannon (15:49)

Put that on a T shirt.

Matt Jones (15:50)

That's right, Jacob. Go ahead, Jacob.

Caller (15:54)

Hey, Matt. Just wanted to talk. Two things. One, the. The new ad, whoever, whenever that time comes, I think that, respectfully, they need to kind of like what you were saying. Embrace, you know, modern. You know, the modern college sports. I think specifically, we need to really be mindful of somebody who really understands college basketball as, you know, as the athletic director for the University of Kentucky. I think that, you know, basketball is definitely our flagship program when it comes to sports, and they need to approach basketball with modern eyes. And I think that that means that it can't be a Mitch 2.0. All right? We can't. We can't have just a repeat of what we have had. I know that Mitch has done a lot of good things, and I'll appreciate that, but. But we can't have him, you know, again.

Matt Jones (16:55)

Well, I. I appreciate that's going to be. I mean, that's going to be the conversation. And I think. I'm not saying that I don't think the person who can be the next one can't have a connection to him, but in my opinion, they can't have his view that has pervaded the last five years about what college sports is, because it's not that anymore. If Cats fans, if you haven't checked out the Kentucky Sports factory, now's the time it's a 92,000 square foot indoor sports factory in Madisonville. We were just there Friday. Amazing. Six basketball courts, 12 volleyball courts, 2022 pickleball courts, 60 yard indoor turf field. They got a great restaurant which had awesome food, sponsorship opportunities. You can go play a game there. You can rent it out for an event. It's great. It's in Madisonville. I think it's the best facility in the state. The Kentucky Sports Factory or Kentucky Sports Factory.com really was an impressive place to be. We'll take a break. Be right back.

Ryder Strong (17:54)

KSR this is Ryder Strong with a podcast called the red weather. In 1995, my neighbor Anna Trainor disappeared from a commune. It was nature and trees and praying and drugs.

Caller (18:06)

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Emily Simpson (18:12)

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Emily Simpson (19:25)

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Ana Navarro (20:09)

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Matt Jones (20:45)

The Justice Department through, I think we

Emily Simpson (20:48)

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Ana Navarro (20:54)

Listen to BLEEP with Ana Navarro as part of the My Cultura Podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Matt Jones (21:08)

Welcome back. Welcome back. It is Kentucky Sports Radio, 859-280-2287. Conference Tourney Madness week really starts today. Ton of tournaments all over the place. Drew, I love the small tournaments tonight. Lot going on tonight in terms of you got Kentucky playing and then all these smaller tournaments. I love watching them. ESPN plus has them all and then you get the big games going into the, you know, the championships. Are you a fan of, I guess they call it madness Week?

Drew Franklin (21:40)

Oh, absolutely. Today, not as much because every SEC game except one is tonight. There's one Wednesday game. The rest are all loaded into tonight. So I'll be locked in our conference. But tomorrow I love like at noon you just sit down and watch a little a son, I'll admit. Yeah. Mostly tuned in for the gambling, I won't lie. But of course you can watch basketball in the middle of the day while you're working. Of course I'm excited about all of them.

Matt Jones (22:06)

Yeah, I wish I try to go to one of those most years, although I don't think it's going to happen this year. But I, I, I do really enjoy the Sunbelt.

Shannon (22:14)

Goes on for like a week.

Matt Jones (22:16)

Yeah.

Shannon (22:16)

What do you think?

Matt Jones (22:17)

Tournaments where? All right, you know, there's the regular white conferences can do a bracket the way the SEC does, but they have these tournaments where they're trying to protect their top seeds. So it's like nine plays 12, 10 plays a letter and then the winners play eight and seven and then the winners play six and five. Do you like it like that, Shannon? To give the, to give the best teams a little bit of an advantage.

Shannon (22:38)

A lot of weight on the regular season because the bottom four have to win seven games and seven days to win the title. And it starts today and doesn't end until next Monday.

Matt Jones (22:48)

Yeah, I mean, I get it though, don't you? I mean, I get you're trying to protect.

Shannon (22:53)

You want your best team to represent your league in the turn in the NCAA tournament because you have the best

Matt Jones (22:57)

chance to get a seed where you could pull off an upset, right?

Shannon (23:00)

Yeah, but man, I kind of pull for those bottom four teams to run the gauntlet, though. That would be really cool to see.

Matt Jones (23:06)

Which one do you prefer if you were running a conference? Ryan, you're doing a regular tournament, you're doing a gauntlet.

Ryan Lemond (23:12)

I think you got to do this way for like Miami will how's a perfect example this year.

Matt Jones (23:17)

And they're a regular bracket, so they're like they're getting no advantage.

Ryan Lemond (23:21)

Miami of Ohio, I think you want to. You'd want to modify the bracket to kind of protect them a little bit to kind of get them in the tournament. But I'm with Shannon. I would pull for one of those underdog guys to kind of win four or five, six games in a row and maybe make this Cinderella run and get into the tournament that way.

Matt Jones (23:34)

Speaking about Miami, what do you think about Bruce Pearl versus Miami? Bruce Pearl is st, like holding the ground of if they lose, they're out, they're not. And he went as far as to say that if they were in the Big east, they would come in last place.

Shannon (23:53)

Those are strong words, by the way.

Matt Jones (23:56)

I don't think he's wrong.

Drew Franklin (23:57)

Yeah, last.

Matt Jones (23:59)

I don't think he's wrong.

Shannon (24:00)

First of all, gotta play somebody good.

Matt Jones (24:02)

I think Miami of Ohio, if they go undefeated, I think it would be cool to see him in the tournament. But I also think they would come in last in the sec. I do now.

Shannon (24:15)

I want to see them make the tournament and actually beat somebody.

Matt Jones (24:17)

But that's a one game scenario. And maybe they will, maybe they'll lose by 25. But if they had to play home and away in the first of all, Miami Ohio would win no games on the road. Can we agree on that in the sec?

Ryan Lemond (24:29)

I think that's fair.

Matt Jones (24:30)

Oh, and nine. Now, could they pull off one or two in their home arena? Maybe. But Drew, I think they go. If they're in the SEC, I think they go 2 and 16.

Drew Franklin (24:43)

I think they lose every game in the SEC. Mean they just played like the 298th team and needed a layup at the buzzer to win it. Their conference, they barely have any teams in the top 200. I'm completely with Bruce Pearl. For me, it's very Simple. If they win their conference tournament, they went undefeated, so they're in anyway. And if they don't win their conference tournament, they lost. Everyone shut up. They're not undefeated. They don't get it.

Matt Jones (25:05)

Yeah, that's how I am. And by the way, did you see the Miami of Ohio, Coach Ryan? Did you see him kick the speaker over? I did.

Ryan Lemond (25:13)

Without. What's the speaker do to him? Man, take it out on the speaker.

Matt Jones (25:16)

You saw this, right? Drew Shannon. You saw? Yeah, so? So he broke the speaker of for Western Michigan. But here's what we just learned on espn. Learned the speaker was actually not Western Michigan's. It was their halftime entertainment, the most incredible DJ Chuck. Okay, so it was DJ Chuck's speaker. And by the way, he doesn't just call himself DJ Chuck. He calls himself the most incredible DJ Shock Chuck.

Shannon (25:45)

Well, speakers blown out.

Matt Jones (25:47)

His speaker caused DJ Chuck 3,000 worth dollars worth of damage. Miami of Ohio has agreed to reimburse DJ Chuck, as they should for his speaker.

Ryan Lemond (26:00)

So did DJ Chuck not get to perform at halftime?

Matt Jones (26:03)

DJ Chuck was not able to perform at halftime.

Shannon (26:05)

It's an easy payday for him.

Matt Jones (26:07)

And he's incredible.

Shannon (26:10)

His speaker just got chucked.

Matt Jones (26:12)

Yeah, poor DJ Chuck.

Ryan Lemond (26:16)

I didn't know that was part of the halftime entertainment. Speaker.

Matt Jones (26:18)

And first I. Now I want to go here the most you think you could get him to open for you at 10 maroon? Maybe.

Shannon (26:25)

Well, maybe we should open for him if he's that incredible.

Ryan Lemond (26:28)

I don't know.

Matt Jones (26:28)

You all are not the most incredible.

Shannon (26:30)

I mean, if somebody wants to give in and chuck our equipment and pay us and give us new equipment, that'd be all right. Not have to play, still get paid.

Matt Jones (26:35)

Let's go to John. John,

Caller (26:41)

How y' all doing?

Matt Jones (26:42)

Doing good.

Caller (26:45)

You think we're gonna win tonight?

Matt Jones (26:49)

Well, I mean, our picks are at the end of the show.

Drew Franklin (26:51)

What do.

Matt Jones (26:51)

What do you think?

Caller (26:53)

I think we do. I think we go down there and win by 15. I think the way we've been playing, if we play like we did against Vanderbilt, I think. I think we win.

Matt Jones (27:03)

Well, I hope you're right. I appreciate the call. We got a minute here. Is that right, Sherry? Go ahead, Sherry.

Caller (27:11)

Hey, this is just a funny. You wanted somebody funny, so here you go. Why does Ryan Lemon take his clothes off all the time?

Shannon (27:19)

I've been wondering the same thing for years.

Matt Jones (27:22)

Is this a joke or an actual question?

Caller (27:25)

No, no, Matt, it's an actual question. Every time. Every time y' all do something, he takes that shirt off.

Shannon (27:33)

Why the nudity?

Matt Jones (27:33)

That's right. That's a good question, Ryan. And actually don't ask Ryan. He'll try to be funny. Why does he do it?

Caller (27:39)

He'll say, because it's for lovers.

Matt Jones (27:42)

Yeah, I think the reason, Sherry, is he's kind of got like, he's kind of funny looking. And I think when he takes his clothes off, it's, it's just, it's kind of like a comedy thing.

Ana Navarro (27:55)

Right?

Matt Jones (27:55)

Like, it's like, oh, look, Ryan, there he is.

Caller (28:00)

I just love him. And so I just wonder. But, you know, I love all y', all, but it's so funny. He was just rubbing his chest on them women at that one place.

Matt Jones (28:09)

Yeah, I didn't encourage that. You know, when he said I thought that was.

Caller (28:12)

I didn't think so.

Matt Jones (28:13)

Yeah, I didn't encourage that. I appreciate.

Caller (28:16)

You wouldn't know that. I appreciate.

Matt Jones (28:19)

Yeah. I will not be taking.

Ryan Lemond (28:22)

Sherry was thirsty.

Matt Jones (28:26)

Drew, I'm not there. This is supposed to be your responsibility.

Drew Franklin (28:29)

He's, he's beyond controlling at this point.

Matt Jones (28:32)

Remember, he's the one that's almost 60. 859280, 2287. We'll take a break. Very bad.

Emily Simpson (28:39)

T.J. smith, personal injury attorney.

Matt Jones (28:42)

Call T.J. he'll make him pay.

Shannon (28:44)

Now more of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Here's Matt Jones.

Matt Jones (28:49)

Welcome back to Kentucky Sports Radio. We have breaking news. Runny na na. I hinted at this earlier today and it has now also been reported by Pete Thammel of espn. Mitch Barnhart is expected to retire as soon as today, but likely this week. After 24 years as the athletic director, Mitch Barnhart is expected to retire. So I've heard it's going to be today, but I don't, I think if it's not today, it will be this week. Conversations have been ongoing in the last four or five days over the weekend with folks that make decisions in the university, both boards, board of trustees, et cetera. And this is where they ended up. I think, Mitch, I'm going to give you my quick take and then we'll go around. I think Mitch is 24 years has been a tremendous athletic director who you could make a pretty strong argument that virtually every sport was better after he was AD than it was before. A lot of really good hires in major sports, some that come to mind, you know, Rich Brooks, Mark Stoops. See what happens with Will Stein, obviously. John Cal Perry. We'll see what happens with Mark Pope on the women's side, Matthew Mitchell, Kenny Brooks, Nick Mingion, you know, volleyball. Craig Skinner They've had a lot of success in softball, track, you name it. He. He, I think sort of took UK athletics from a school, school that was good at basketball and occasionally to be good at something else, to really a great athletic department across the board and in the process helped make the University of Kentucky a much better place than when he got there from an athletic standpoint. 24 years, longest serving AD in the history of. Of UK Athletics. And now will retire. No word on what happens next or when. If you remember, we talked in the fall, his contract allowed him to be paid a certain amount a year if he got through Christmas. And I said back in the fall, I expected him to retire this spring. And he will now. And I think he leaves this legacy as a great athletic director for the University of Kentucky who is stepping away at a time that I think is correct for him to do leading into the next generation. Ryan, what do you think?

Ryan Lemond (31:35)

It's a loss, man. You're right. You hit all the highlights. That's a big chair to fill with what he did here at the University of Kentucky. But if he's not the kind of guy that wants to adapt to the changing college athletic world, maybe it is the right time for him to step down and get a breath of fresh air in there. But outstanding work he did here at the University of Kentucky. She will always like him or not. Of course, he made some decisions a lot of people weren't happy with. Overall, he was a great, great improvement for the University of Kentucky.

Matt Jones (32:00)

Yeah, I mean, 24 years, you're going to make decisions that people don't like. And I will just on a personal level, like, I don't know that he ever particularly loved us, but I will say this almost without fail, always kind couple times in my life, did really, really kind things at times that were important. I think he's a really good man who, who, you know, just on a personal level people should really appreciate was. Was head of this school for so long. Drew.

Drew Franklin (32:33)

Yeah. You listed his accomplishments. I'll add internally, some people in the building speak really highly of him and working for him, people I know well, including, like, during COVID when a lot of athletic departments were having to, you know, cut bait with some people. He did a good job of making sure UK didn't have to do that and has kept UK in the green for a long time. So I know, you know, we know his, like, his accomplishments in sports and all the secondary stuff you listed, but I know behind the scenes, a lot of people liked working for him.

Matt Jones (33:01)

Very loyal Person who produced, produced a lot of, over the years. You know, a lot of people that worked at UK are running other athletic departments around the country. And I think Drew's right, like a person who really stuck by his people. And you know, I think there's a lot to say about that. I, you know, if you were going to give the pros, I think he is very good at managing people a con. He was very difficult with dissent. Doesn't like to never particularly like to be told that people had different opinions than him. Had a oddly quick temper sometimes. But you know, when you talk about hiring coaches, hiring Cal, when he did that went against probably what he normally would have done, but he did it and obviously that had a ton of success. Stuck with Rich Brooks when it wasn't popular and that ended up being successful. Took basically an unknown Mark Stoops and had success. Now you also had Billy Gillespie, you also had Joker Phillips, you also had Kyra Elz. I mean like they, he had mistakes. So. But I think overall a hiring record, Ryan, that's, that's pretty good.

Ryan Lemond (34:17)

And usually for athletic directors that that's your legacy. Who did you hire? Who did you set the program up with? And overall I, you know, you mentioned three misses. The rest of them have been home runs, grand slams. And you also mentioned his, you talk about a coach's tree, his ad tree. Scott Strickland, Greg Byrne, Dwayne Peavey, John Cohen, Rob Mullins.

Matt Jones (34:37)

Yeah, I want you to think about where the people that started here are. The ad at Florida, Alabama, Oregon, all came from here.

Ryan Lemond (34:48)

Yeah.

Matt Jones (34:49)

DePaul,

Ryan Lemond (34:52)

John Cohen was at Mississippi State.

Matt Jones (34:53)

Mississippi State. I mean, just think about Florida, Alabama and Oregon.

Ryan Lemond (34:57)

Three pretty big time power players programs

Matt Jones (35:01)

and their ads came from here over the years. So I wish Mitch the best. I think it'll be the big question is what's next? You know, we should take a second, everybody, to celebrate his tenure because I do think it was very positive. But what's next is the most important thing and we'll dominate the discussion. And will UK hire someone internal? Do they already have the person picked or will they do a nationwide search and kind of open it up and go outside the family? These are the questions. You know, you hear the names people he. I think you have two different ways to go. Eric Monday is a name you've heard a lot. Does he switch from working under the president to the athletic director? Does Mark Hill, who's second in command to Mitch, does he take the job? Do you bring back Dwayne Peavey, who's at DePaul to take the job? Or do you say we're not going in that direction at all. We're going to get someone none of us know. That to me will be the question that we figure out here over the next week or 10 days. And it'll be interesting to see Eli Capilouto. I don't know how much longer he's going to be the president. So is he going to be making the decision? There's still a lot of questions to me that are up in the air that we'll find out here soon. Let's go to flower power. Go ahead.

Caller (36:24)

Hey, man, how you doing?

Matt Jones (36:25)

Doing good.

Caller (36:27)

Hey, listen, that change over Tomorrow is station 1240am 1240.

Matt Jones (36:35)

All right.

Caller (36:37)

It's a Somerset station, 1240am and I have a statement, I want your reply off of it. Acquaintance. But we played Georgia and that surreal kid, he tore us up. If we had Quaint's in there, I don't think he'd have done that.

Matt Jones (36:56)

No, I agree with you. That would have been a game, that would have been a game where he would have been very useful. You're right.

Caller (37:03)

Yeah. But we're going to meet up on a big in the, in the ncaa. But we're probably needing, you know, that's true.

Matt Jones (37:10)

No, that's, I think that's a very valid point. There would be a game. Yeah. No, I agree with that. I appreciate the call that, that I think is a very valid point of a game where you could just, even if it's just one game where he could come in and make a difference. National Sleep Month is here and the better rest is on your mind. It might be cornbread before bed. Not the food, but the organic hemp gump gummies crafted with all natural botanicals like valerian root, chamomile and lavender. It's all there. Cornbread hemp. I take them. I know these other guys do. It helps you rest, helps you relax. It's cornbread hemp dot com. Try it now and I promise if you like it, you'll be using it forever. It's cornbread Hemp. We'll take a break. Be right back. Kentucky Sports Radio, this is Ryder Strong

Ryder Strong (37:54)

with a podcast called the red weather. In 1995, my neighbor Anna Trainer disappeared from a commune. It was nature and trees and praying and drugs.

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Matt Jones (40:44)

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Matt Jones (41:07)

That's definitely be true about Mitch.

Drew Franklin (41:09)

Yeah.

Ryan Lemond (41:09)

Yes.

Matt Jones (41:10)

He certainly never certainly had that stubborn I'm doing it the way I'm doing it. If you don't like it including how I button my shirts all the way to the top.

Shannon (41:23)

We have our next ad. Just have like no buttons. Like just have it all hanging out.

Matt Jones (41:27)

You got to show chest hair the next day.

Shannon (41:29)

That's right. Yeah.

Matt Jones (41:31)

Got to show a little bit of it. If your dream home awaits you@thebluegrasshomecenter.com you can now choose the siding, the shutters, the kitchen colors and more. Whether you're looking for your first home or upgrading to something better, bigger. Bluegrass Home center is a family owned business specializing in meeting the needs of home buyers with standard built, single, single section and multi section manufactured homes. It's in Rudy Bear road in London, Kentucky. 606-215-3300. It is the Bluegrass Home Center. Come check it out today. Bluegrass homecenter. Com One person writes. Matt, I think Mitch did a good job. But if you're going to talk about his legacy, I think you can't skip over the contracts given to Caliperry and to Mark Stoops. That put us in a bond with both of them. He kind of lucked out on the cow one, but we ended up having to pay the Stoops one. I don't think you can skip over that. Drew, do you agree

Drew Franklin (42:26)

the cow hires weird for me with the credit to Mitch because I mean, he did hire him, but you know, it was always reported that he didn't really want to and then when Cal was here, they didn't talk. So when I'm looking at Mitch's legacy, the Caliper era of basketball, I don't know how much credit to give him, but he did make that higher and ended up with a banner. So I guess he's good there. It was just weird that they never really had a connection when they worked together for so many years.

Matt Jones (42:49)

Give him credit for the hire because while I do think, I think it's easy sometimes to go, well, you know, when he get a bad hire, it's on him. But when he gets a good hire, it was Mike Pratt. Or it was. It was like Mike Pratt was part of it. But Mitch still made the decision. Mitch still had to be the one to do it. And his initial inclination was no. I think he initially wanted to hire Tom Izzo, but Cal won him over because of Cal's charm and. And Mitch made the hire. So, Ryan, I do still give him credit for that. Now. The fact that their relationship was bad, I actually think is on both of them. You know, they both could be stubborn and I think they just didn't connect

Ryan Lemond (43:27)

I think Mitch was smart enough to include a guy like Mike Pratt in that search. And when he hired Mark Stoops, he was smart enough to include a guy like Tim Couch, you know, in that

Matt Jones (43:35)

search and get that researchtein included Jacob Tammy. I mean, he always did that. He always kind of felt like having that connection to a former player was part of it.

Ryan Lemond (43:44)

And I feel like I can almost give him a slide for the Cal lifetime contract because you could not let Cal go at that time to ucla. I mean, you had to lock him up somehow. And I don't fault as much of that one as I do the Stoops. Now that the Stoops contract was a little different.

Matt Jones (43:59)

It was a mistake. But you know what? At the time, they didn't think it, but, yes, I do think that that gets noted now. This is Scott. Is this the minister at Southland? Is that what you said?

Drew Franklin (44:09)

Yeah.

Matt Jones (44:10)

All right.

Scott (44:10)

Yes, sir. Just want to buy being called a lot of things. I can. I can abide being called a lot of things, but a Louisville fan. I have to clear my name on that one.

Matt Jones (44:20)

We did clear it. We heard that that was incorrect information. So I agree with you.

Ryan Lemond (44:24)

We cleared it.

Scott (44:25)

My phone's been blowing up.

Matt Jones (44:27)

But we could not call you a Louisville fan. I appreciate you calling in. So. So I saw the thing you posted at the church about what to tune out. Did you mean ksr?

Scott (44:39)

I did not. I think that's important to. To point out there's nothing about sports on there. Now, you can interpret some of those to where it might apply to you guys, but there's nothing about radio or sports.

Matt Jones (44:50)

But you did say podcast that weren't

Scott (44:52)

about Kell Sports Radio.

Matt Jones (44:53)

You did say podcasts that were not about Jesus. We're not about Jesus.

Scott (44:57)

But I wasn't. I wasn' of you guys as a podcast only. You're called Kentucky Sports Radio.

Matt Jones (45:02)

Okay. All right, Good deal.

Scott (45:04)

It's not a legalistic thing. So as is obvious, because my phone's been blown up today, we have a whole bunch of people who are still listening to me, so.

Matt Jones (45:12)

Well, I mean, we talked about it initially. Yesterday, did you hear about it?

Scott (45:15)

Then I started hearing rumblings. And then today, I don't know what set it off, but my phone just started going nuts. I don't think if I had confirmation.

Matt Jones (45:24)

I don't think people wanted to admit that they were listening that to because that would be. Exactly so. So explain real quick. I've got, like, just a minute what. What your. What your goal with the challenge was or is.

Scott (45:37)

Yeah, Man, I think you guys would probably agree with this. Like, we just have so many voices. So much of our algorithm is shaped around creating like an echo chamber. We were just trying to reshape people, people's algorithms. So what if we just took a little time and just said, hey, let's just tune into one voice and see if that would maybe bring down the anxiety level that we all experience and many other things. So that was the goal.

Matt Jones (45:57)

Okay, good. Well, I, first of all, I appreciate you calling in way to be a good sport. And you listen, the, the, the couple people I heard from about it were doing it. So they were doing your, your, your, your challenge. They were just saying to me that they missed the show. So clearly, I think people have been following.

Scott (46:15)

There you go. There you go. And if people think that's what they need to tune out for a little while, that's their deal. But we're not trying to be legalistic with it. And hey, in all seriousness, all good fun. Great to hear from you guys.

Matt Jones (46:25)

Great to hear from you and give my guy, James Talrico another chance. Scott, you have, you have a good day.

Drew Franklin (46:30)

All right.

Scott (46:31)

All righty.

Matt Jones (46:32)

Appreciate it. 859-280-2287. Let's go to Stanley. Go ahead, Stanley.

Caller (46:38)

Hey, Matt, you coming to the 13th region at Corbin arena tomorrow?

Matt Jones (46:42)

We'll be there. Ryan and Mario and I'll be there tomorrow night.

Scott (46:46)

Good.

Caller (46:46)

We'll see you there. And I just wanted to say that about this season has been. I've been, you know, I'm old, and this has been one of the most exciting seasons that I can remember. I mean, just, you know, everybody's got such high expectations and, and what's made

Matt Jones (47:02)

it so exciting for you is it just because you don't know what's going to happen game to game?

Caller (47:06)

You never know, man, what you're going to get. And it's just been, you know, I've watched him all the way back to Islam and even Cotton Ash. I remember. I remember him, you know, listening to him on the radio there in Barberville and. Well, you certain a great year, man.

Matt Jones (47:20)

And you certainly don't know what things are going to happen. That's exactly right.

Caller (47:23)

Never know.

Matt Jones (47:24)

Appreciate the call. You certainly don't know what you're going to get. I don't know what we're going to get tonight. Marcia, Go ahead, Marcia.

Caller (47:30)

Well, hello there.

Matt Jones (47:32)

Hey there.

Caller (47:33)

I just wanted to comment on you telling the guy that they might beat the players tonight, and I hope they do. But I want to tell you I went to South Carolina and they run us out of the gym.

Matt Jones (47:48)

Did they really?

Caller (47:49)

I was. Yes, they did. I was fired up. I. I was looking forward to seeing Pope in them. And we were. Went over there and. I mean, and all that. There was nobody. South Carolina people left. None of their players came out. I didn't. But we're standing down there. If you do not have a blue band on, you must leave. And that only included.

Matt Jones (48:17)

I wonder why that doesn't usually happen at these road games. Maybe South Carolina was just particularly frustrated.

Caller (48:26)

Yeah, they run us out and Tommy happened to have a blue band on. So he snuck down there and he got to meet the Noah's and they were nice to him and he said only Noah and Malachi came out and that was it. They run us out there.

Matt Jones (48:47)

Well, I'm sorry.

Caller (48:47)

And I went to. Oh, it's okay. I'll have another time sometime.

Matt Jones (48:52)

I hate to cut you off, but I gotta. I gotta finish this. I appreciate it.

Caller (48:55)

Good to hear from you.

Matt Jones (48:56)

Nice to hear from you. All right, let's do a little DraftKings bet 5. You can win up to $200 in bonus bets. Get yourself ready for March Madness. Big games coming this weekend and conference tournament week. Let's take our. Let's take our pick tonight. I'll start with you. You, Drew. We are a two and a half point underdog at A and M. What do you think?

Drew Franklin (49:15)

I like the Cats tonight. Obviously got a lot of momentum going with how well they played against Vanderbilt. I know it's a road game, but they've played well in a lot of road games this year. Last one of the season. I think the Cats get it done and take advantage of A and M collapsing and on a late slide here.

Matt Jones (49:31)

So no bucky ball for Drew Shannon.

Shannon (49:33)

I'll go. Kentucky stills one on the road. 77, 76. I think Colin Chandler is going to continue to be.

Matt Jones (49:39)

You think we hit like a shot at the buzzer or something like that?

Shannon (49:43)

No, I just think it's just a really, really close game. So. Yeah, about like a one point game.

Matt Jones (49:47)

All right, let's. Ryan?

Ryan Lemond (49:49)

Yeah, I'm with Shannon. I think it's going to be a really close game because it means that this game means a lot for Texas A and m for their NCAA tournament life. So I think Kentucky gets it though. 79, 77. I think it is. I think it's a rock fight for most of the game. I'll go away. He's been this. You can't go against him anymore.

Matt Jones (50:04)

I'm going to take Kentucky 82, 80. Think it'll be a tough battle. I say oh way we need to have him with a game winning shot down the stretch. I think he gets an AN1 light. That gives Kentucky the win. Now, do they announce the Mitch retirement officially by 12:30. Were they waiting until this show ends?

Shannon (50:27)

So yes, yes, yes.

Ryan Lemond (50:30)

Always happens any minute now.

Shannon (50:32)

They didn't want that to leak out. Probably. I, we, we announced it first. They didn't want that.

Matt Jones (50:36)

Well, that will be the bed of the day because I think I said when the show started 1205, didn't I?

Ryan Lemond (50:44)

Yes.

Matt Jones (50:44)

If this comes out in the next 35 minutes, that will really make me laugh. We'll see. Right now it's just Pete Thaymore reported it but I do think it's going to come out today. We'll see if it happens in the next 35 minutes. We'll be back 4:30 for the pregame show. You can watch the game at the bar tonight as well. But we will be at 4:30 in studio for the pregame. This has been Kentucky sports radio.

Caller (51:10)

Then she says, have you seen a

Matt Jones (51:12)

photo of my son?

Caller (51:13)

And I'm like, who is this person?

Boys and Girls Podcast Host (51:15)

Welcome to the Boys and Girls Podcast. Arranged marriage is basically a reality show and you're auditioning for your soulmate. And who's judging? Only your entire family. I sacrificed myself to this ancient tradition hoping to, to find love the right way. And instead I found chaos, comedy and a lot of cringe. Listen to boys and Girls on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Ryder Strong (51:40)

This is Ryder Strong and I have a new podcast called the red weather. In 1995, my neighbor Anna Trainor disappeared from a commune. It was nature and trees and praying and drugs.

Caller (51:52)

So, no, I am not your.

Ryder Strong (51:55)

And back then, I lied to everybody.

Emily Simpson (51:58)

They have had this case for 30 years.

Ryder Strong (52:01)

I'm going back to my hometown to uncover the truth. Listen to the Red weather on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Emily Simpson (52:11)

Hey, everyone, it's Emily Simpson and Shane Simpson from the Legally Brunette podcast.

Matt Jones (52:16)

Each week we're bringing you true crime through a legal lens.

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Whether you want all the facts on the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie or you still need to wrap your head around the Diddy verdict, we're breaking it all down step by step.

Ryder Strong (52:29)

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Shannon (52:30)

We're also husband and wife.

Matt Jones (52:32)

It makes for some pretty entertaining episodes.

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Listen to Legally Brunette on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. When segregation was a law, one mysterious black club owner, Charlie Fitzgerald, had his own rules.

Caller (52:47)

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Matt Jones (52:57)

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Drew Franklin (53:00)

They had to crush him.

Emily Simpson (53:01)

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