2026-03-04- KSR - Hour 1

Summary

Kentucky Sports Radio (KSR) – March 4, 2026, Hour 1

Main Theme / Purpose

This episode of Kentucky Sports Radio, hosted by Matt Jones with Drew Franklin and the KSR crew, centers around the aftermath of a crushing Kentucky men’s basketball loss to Texas A&M, the ramifications for SEC tournament seeding, and the broader issues facing the current team, including in-game coaching decisions and roster management. The episode also covers the retirement of long-time UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart and his controversial new university role, as well as the news about radio broadcasting legend Dave Baker retiring from the UK Sports Network.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Kentucky Basketball’s Collapse at Texas A&M

• Overview: The Wildcats blew a 12-point lead, surrendered a massive run, and left questions about coaching and player management.

• Timestamps: [02:53]-[16:45]

  Key Issues Highlighted:

  • Mass substitutions and poor rotation choices, particularly sitting key ball handlers (Away, Aberdeen) simultaneously.
  • Lack of timeouts during opposition runs, allowing momentum to swing.
  • Analytics vs. gut feel: Matt compares the current coach’s (Mark Pope’s) reliance on analytics to ChatGPT stubbornly insisting on wrong answers. He contrasts this with former coach John Calipari’s stubbornness for tradition.
  • Fatigue excuse is universally rejected by hosts—team depth and playing time are compared to A&M.
  • Inconsistency and unpredictability are seen as defining this season.

  Notable Quotes:

  • Matt Jones: “Cats lose up 12 early. Somehow turned a 12 point lead into a 13 point deficit at halftime. And then in the second half, never really able to crawl back and they lose to A and M.” [03:46]
  • Drew Franklin: "It was a complete and utter collapse there at the end of the first half. And some very critical, in my opinion, coaching mistakes during that run." [05:15]
  • Matt Jones: "They were both out [Away and Aberdeen] for combined 71 seconds, and A&M was up 8–nothing in those 71 seconds." [05:37]
  • Caller/Co-host: "To have that start to get us all excited and then to completely lose it like that, to go from up 12 to down 12 in eight minutes is really some impressive work. I mean, you got to tip your cap at how bad you are at that point." [06:17]
  • Caller/Co-host: "Call a damn timeout and try to stop it. You're on the road, shut them up." [06:44]
  • Matt Jones: "You lose one timeout in the first half, you get four for the game, but you have to use one in the first half. So if you don't call it, you lose it. And he didn't call it. And I'll never understand that." [06:57]
  • Matt Jones: “What they do in those scenarios does not work... all of a sudden he was like, you know what, let's just see what happens if I take all my good players out. That'll work.” [09:16]
  • Drew Franklin: "It's a missed opportunity...we got outcoached, we got outplayed, we got out hustled. All the outs, we had it last night." [12:52]
  • Matt Jones: "We're just inconsistent. Right. That's just what this team is going to be." [13:25]

2. Critique of Coaching and Rotation

• Substitution Patterns: Heavy criticism for simultaneously benching both primary ball handlers and best defenders.

• Timeout Usage: Frustration with Coach Pope for not stopping A&M runs with a timeout, despite losing the unused first-half timeout.

• Fatigue Excuse Disputed: The hosts debunk “roster fatigue,” noting the team isn’t uniquely shorthanded compared to their peers.

  Timestamps: [04:00]–[15:30]

  Memorable Moment:

  • Comparing analytics-based in-game decisions to “asking ChatGPT for truth and getting Matt Jones as the prime minister of France.” [07:23]
  • Matt Jones: "He didn’t say, I'll get the exact [quote]...‘The Saturday, Tuesday turnarounds have been a little bit challenging for us with our limited roster size right now.’ That's a bad, terrible excuse." [14:20]
  • Drew Franklin: “There should be no fatigue whatsoever. You need to keep your best guys on the floor at all times when you're here in March, and it doesn't matter if you're not fatigued, if you're down 19.” [09:00]

3. Player Performances and Key Moments

• Highlights: Diabate performed well; Jasper contributed as a backup.
• Struggles:
  • Chandler was largely locked out of the offense.
  • Brandon Garrison’s questionable decisions and turnovers in key moments.
  • Trent Noah’s promising surge, only to turn his ankle after a breakout.

Memorable Quotes:

• “Trent Noah hits two threes and then turns his ankle. On our own coach...a summary of the season.” [24:09]

• Nicknames and Humor: Segment on “Ramadan Mo” (Diabate’s lock-in during Ramadan) and “Fruit Cup Mo” after eating on the bench.

  • “They used to say at Alabama, when Ramadan hits, Modi Abate takes it up a notch. And he's kind of done that here, hasn't he?” [24:55]
  • [Fun sidetrack about “Mandarin” vs. “Mandarin” oranges, [25:04]-[25:27]]

4. SEC Tournament Implications

• Seeding Impact: Kentucky potentially drops from a 3-seed to as low as 10-seed due to the A&M loss.
• Next Steps: Must beat Florida, plus specific results around the league, to avoid playing on Wednesday.
• Bracketology / Math: Matt Jones breaks down all the possible permutations and what Kentucky needs from other teams. [26:34]

5. Mitch Barnhart’s Retirement and Role Change

• Announcement: Mitch Barnhart steps down as AD, takes “Executive in Residence for the UK Sport and Workforce Initiative” at nearly $1M per year.

• Controversy: Hosts question the appropriateness, clarity, and necessity of such a lucrative “career placement” role.

  Timestamps: [29:40]-[35:40]

  Key Points:

  • Role is apparently outside athletics—focused on preparing student-athletes for careers.
  • Noted lack of transparency in UK’s communication about Barnhart’s future and the creation of this role.

  Quotable Moments:

  • Matt Jones: “It is to create a organization on campus that helps students get careers in the sports workforce...He will not be working in athletics and his, his office will not even be in the UK athletics building.” [31:10]
  • Caller/Co-host: “Gotta be a lot of careers. Great to see these numbers. Congratulations to the students of the university.” [33:16]
  • Matt Jones: "...your ad of 24 years is retiring and you don't even give the man a press conference. Like you don't even give the man a chance... It's like you're giving him a... you didn't even get a cake lunch at the end of a Friday." [34:48]

6. Broadcasting Legend Dave Baker Retires from UK Sports Network

• Announcement: Dave “Buzz” Baker, mainstay of UK sports broadcasts for 37 years, will no longer be part of JMI’s team after this year.

• Tributes: Reflections on his long career, impact on UK athletics, and broadcasting.

• Personal Anecdote: Matt reminisces on Dave’s early support of KSR.

  Timestamps: [20:16]-[23:25]

  Notable Quotes:

  • Matt Jones: “Dave Baker has been part of the UK broadcast for 37 years. My entire time here in Lexington. That’s part of Dave’s Persona, man. A legend in this town.” [20:49]
  • Drew Franklin: “Not just a legend, he was a titan in this town.” [22:56]
  • Matt Jones: “When Billy Gillespie was hired, [Dave] put our blog on the TV screen...I remember thinking it was the coolest thing in the world.” [21:54]

7. Who Will Be the Next UK Athletics Director?

• Inside Candidates: Mark Hill and Rachel Baker; both heavily involved in recent high-profile hires, but neither has been an AD before.

• UK Alumni Elsewhere: Dwayne Peavey (DePaul), Rob Mullins (Oregon), Scott Strickland (Florida), Martin Newton (Samford).

• “Outside” Possibilities: Unspecified candidates without current UK ties.

• Selection Process: New university president and donors will have major influence; transparency and perception matter.

• Unifying Figure: Hosts agree Peavey could unite fans, donors, and staff.

  Timestamps: [40:24]-[49:49]

  Memorable Quotes:

  • Matt Jones: “I think the most likely scenario is if you made me bet. I think they go, your pv, you’re Strickland, you’re...that group. Then my second most likely would be the people that are here.” [47:59]
  • Drew Franklin: “I think it’s Dwayne Peavey. I think he was doing that when he was here. Kind of the bridge between Cal and Mitch back then. The boosters, big boosters and UK, he was there, kind of negotiated with all that.” [49:26]

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Memorable Moments & Entertaining Asides

• Running Weather/Tornado Jokes: Tornado drill coinciding with Kentucky’s basketball collapse—“That’s what the tornado drill was for.” [12:38]
• Discussion about Ramadan fasting and “Fruit Cup Mo”: A light-hearted segment on Diabate’s eating schedule and on-bench orange consumption. [24:55]–[25:37]
• Inside Media/Radio Banter: On broadcasting legends, in-jokes (“What about you, boy?” [23:02]), and tongue-in-cheek tributes to Dave Baker.
• University Perks: Story about UK previously buying CM Newton a beach house in the Bahamas as a retirement gift. [39:06]

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Timeline of Important Segments (Timestamps)

• [02:53] – Show proper begins; recap of Kentucky’s women’s and men’s basketball updates.
• [03:46] – Postmortem of the men’s loss at Texas A&M begins.
• [05:15] – In-depth critique of player rotations and coaching.
• [06:44] – Timeout management discussion.
• [13:25] – Consistency and overall season outlook.
• [14:20] – Discussion of “roster fatigue” and debunking excuses.
• [16:11] – Individual performances and Aberdeen’s impact.
• [20:16] – Dave Baker leaves UK Sports Network; tributes.
• [24:55] – Nicknames: “Ramadan Mo” and “Fruit Cup Mo.”
• [29:40] – Mitch Barnhart retirement details; university’s new lucrative role for him.
• [40:24] – Discussion on who will be UK’s next AD, candidate breakdowns.
• [47:40] – Emphasis on importance of transparency and public process.
• [49:26] – Who can unify UK Athletics? (Consensus: Dwayne Peavey.)

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Tone and Language

KSR retains its conversational and humor-laced tone throughout. Matt Jones sets a direct, sometimes sardonic mood (“just tip your cap at how bad you are at that point”) but pivots to sincere tribute for legends like Dave Baker. Disagreements are lively but never hostile, and the hosts strike a balance between frustrated fan commentary and behind-the-scenes analysis.

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For Listeners Who Missed the Show

If you missed this episode, you’d walk away with a clear sense of the basketball program’s current frustrations (on-court and sideline), the tough questions facing the athletic department in leadership transition, and the unique flavor of Kentucky sports culture—equal parts passion, nostalgia, and wit. The segment on legendary broadcaster Dave Baker and the revelations about UK’s high-priced post-retirement perks drive home just how distinct and influential the university’s athletics orbit really is.

Transcript

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[Drew Franklin]

this

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is Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Now here's Matt Jones.

[Matt Jones]

Welcome everyone. Kentucky Sports Radio, Wednesday, March 4th. I'm Matt Jones here at the KS Bar and Grill. You can give us the Clark's Puppet Shop phone line 859-280-2287. A Vision Auto GL machine is 772-774-5254. In this edition sponsored by the TJ Smith Law Office, call TJ will make them pay. We are here. It's wings day. Dollar Wings today. Ryan Lemon and Drew Franklin lot going on today. First of all, in about three minutes they're gonna have a tornado drill. I don't like it, but you know, they still do it. So you'll lose this for like 30 seconds and then you'll be back. The Kentucky women played 11 o'. Clock. Yes, we'll have it here at the bar. We're gonna keep doing the show but at 10:41 you're gon to a different station. So we'll talk more about that. So be ready to go to a different station at 1041 on your streaming WSFC.

[Drew Franklin]

Right.

[Matt Jones]

But you're with us until then. And, and then the game and then on podcast we will have the full show. There is actually a ton to do today. All right. Mitch Barnhart retires. We find out a lot more about his role which we will talk about. Kentucky women's start their tournament today. We have a football player with one of the great resumes of all time returning to Kentucky. But I guess we have to start with the game last night which was a huge bummer just all the way around. Cats lose up 12 early. Somehow turned a 12 point lead into a 14 point deficit. Excuse me, a 13 point deficit at halftime. And then in the second half, never really able to crawl back and they lose to A and M. Missouri lost. So had we won, we could be looking at the three seed in the SEC tournament. And now as it stands, we have a chance to get the 10 seed in the SEC tournament. So one loss takes you from potentially three to 10. Playing on Wednesday is now not only possibly on the table, it's probably more likely than not if we lose to Florida. Just a complete devastating collapse the game. What are you going to say? I mean, I guess Diabate played pretty well you know, away at Aberdeen had their moments, but in general, just a poor performance. You're right.

[Drew Franklin]

It was a complete and utter collapse there at the end of the first half. And some very critical, in my opinion, coaching mistakes during that run. I mean, I don't know how you can not have Away Chandler, Aberdeen, two of those three guys has to be on the floor at all times.

[Matt Jones]

I'm going to go further. I don't think you can have a moment when away and Aberdeen are both out.

[Drew Franklin]

Agreed.

[Matt Jones]

I just don't think you can. They were both out for combined 71 seconds, and A&M was up 8 nothing in those 71 seconds. I just don't. I mean, Chandler, I love Chandler, but Chandler can't handle the ball.

[Drew Franklin]

No.

[Matt Jones]

And so if you don't have Away in Aberdeen, one of them in, you're asking for destruction. And then if you are going to take them out, Drew, you cannot have your five worst defenders on the team on the floor at the same time, which is what they did. Our four best defenders are, in some order away. Aberdeen, Diabate, and Moreno, all four of them on the bench.

[Drew Franklin]

And just look what happened.

[Matt Jones]

Game changes.

[Caller/Co-host]

Yeah. To have that start to get us all excited and then to completely lose it like that, to go from up 12 to down 12 in eight minutes is really some impressive work. I mean, you got to tip your cap at how bad you are at that point.

[Matt Jones]

27 to three run in the last nine minutes, the first, and then you

[Caller/Co-host]

throw in the beginning of the second. 36 to six run. A team that has lost six out of eight games. I mean, what are we doing? But it wasn't even the substitutions that made me so mad. Call a damn timeout.

[Drew Franklin]

That's it.

[Caller/Co-host]

Buckyball was flying. The eight people that were at that game found some energy and got behind the team. That's what they do. They get in the roll and they get moving and they put you away like that. Just call a damn timeout and try to stop it. You're on the road, shut them up,

[Matt Jones]

and you lo a timeout at halftime. Like he's not saving it for the end of the game. You lose one timeout in the first half, you get four for the game, but you have to use one in the first half. So if you don't call it, you lose it. And he didn't call it. And I'll never understand that. I use this analogy last night because somebody called in the postgame show and said, well, are these two years kind of like the last two years? Of Cal. And it was an interesting question because I hadn't really thought about it like that. And it. I think, oddly, Cal and Patino. Or Patino. Cal and Pope have the same stubborn issue. Cal's issue was like, old man, this worked for me. I ain't changing. Er. And I think Pope is like a dude who. I use the analogy of created chat GPT and. And the. And you put something into chat GPT and it comes back and you know it's wrong, and you go, no, this is chat GPT. It works. It's the truth. And you're like, this is saying Matt Jones is the prime minister of France. Well, he must be. Pope has his analytics, and he's like, hey, this is what works. I don't care what you're seeing. And I think both of those. That stubbornness is. Is hurting.

[Drew Franklin]

There's got to be analytics that say you can't have a mass substitution like this time after time after time and time and keep losing the lead. There has to be analytics that say you can't have these two of those three guys on the bench at the same time. There's a smart guy. You know, even Tom Hart, Jimmy Dykes said that Mark Pope told them he was worried about fatigue in this game because they play a lot more backcourt guys 20 minutes a game. We play our backcourt guys 30 minutes a game.

[Matt Jones]

What do you say after the game?

[Caller/Co-host]

He said, our guys are struggling with the Saturday to Tuesday game. They've had that.

[Matt Jones]

He didn't say that turnaround. He said the Saturday. Well, you know, in the NCAA tournament, it's two days, not three. Don't stop. He didn't say, I'll get the exact.

[Drew Franklin]

We're the only team that does that.

[Matt Jones]

Need you lying today.

[Caller/Co-host]

That hurt me almost more than giving up a 36 to 6 run.

[Matt Jones]

I mean, he didn't say that.

[Drew Franklin]

The practices are cut down like an hour this time of year. There should be no fatigue whatsoever. You need to keep your best guys on the floor at all times when you're here in March, and it doesn't

[Matt Jones]

matter if you're not fatigued, if you're down 19.

[Drew Franklin]

Good point.

[Matt Jones]

You can be the healthiest down 19 person in the world. That's not gonna matter. I mean, I don't know. I know this. What they do in those scenarios does not work. And you know what was funny is when he went through his first set of substitutions, I thought to myself, mark has finally got. Because when they got to the first substitutions, I watched, they brought Jasper in and they took away out and it was Jasper and Aberdeen. And then they go, okay, we need to get Noah in. So they brought O way back and then took it like they were taking one of them at a time. And I was like, look, he's got. And Jasper was playing well, right? Because he, he didn't have to bring the ball up every time. Aberdeen was. And then, I don't know, all of a sudden he was like, you know what, let's just see what happens if I take all my good players out. That'll work. And then, I mean, this isn't on him. But I got that knot in the pit of my stomach when we were up 12 and oh, and Noah had that wide open three and he missed it and they came down and immediately hit a three. And I thought that's going to be a moment we remember. Could have been 15 cut to 9 like that. I was like. And then it was on after that

[Drew Franklin]

around that time too. I think Brandon Garrison took a three.

[Matt Jones]

Oh, the Brandon Garrison. Heat check three. And he was playing so good. He had been so good. And then he took. And I was okay. I was like, all right, one heat check three. I'm okay with that. And then he throws it away on the. Why does he take the ball out? Can you help me understand why he takes the ball out on the press? Because the guy that takes the ball out may have to help you bring it up. So why do you want him to take it out?

[Drew Franklin]

Made a bad turnover taking it out at one time.

[Caller/Co-host]

The guy with respectfully, probably the lowest basketball IQ on the team, who we kind of lose in spurts. Right. I need a ton of responsibility. I will say in the beginning though, he and Jasper looked like an NBA jam two man combo. The bench held their own in the first wave.

[Matt Jones]

But they, but when Jasper and Garrison were in, they were playing with three starters and I kind of count the abate a little bit as a starter at least when he's. But. But when Jasper came in he had two other guards with him. But then when you give him no, it's just not the same.

[Caller/Co-host]

Is a starter because yellow Vich I is he. I understand Diabate is playing great. I know it's hard to slot him in in the second half, but it's like he starts and then just sits down and never comes back again.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, that's true.

[Drew Franklin]

I don't know what also you mentioned at the analytics say you get. You put out your four worst defenders on the team on the floor at the same time. That can't be a good idea. And he did it. All our four worst defenders were out

[Caller/Co-host]

there and we were watching exactly what they do. They get you kind of in some chaos where you're turning it over, they're playing fast and they just launch those threes. And once you could see that bucky ball get going. And that was their big run. And that's why I don't care who's on the floor, call a timeout and regroup and get out of that mess, because that's where they want you to play well.

[Matt Jones]

And then the game was just kind of. I mean, the second half, we bait. It was basically an even game. Back and forth. They'd get up. We. We cut it. Whoa.

[Drew Franklin]

It's a massive storm happening right now.

[Matt Jones]

Good night.

[Caller/Co-host]

Was that expected?

[Drew Franklin]

That's what the tornado drill was for.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, that. That hit. All that hit immediately. You know, we cut it a couple times to nine and it felt like, okay, if we could get a stop here and one time score. And then we just weren't. We just weren't able to do that.

[Drew Franklin]

It's a missed opportunity because like you said, you had it with Missouri losing last night. Really, you had a chance to set yourself up for next week in Nashville. Instead, when I were staring right the face of the plan again on the first down Wednesday, you had nobody to blame it yourself last night. That was a coaching mistake. We got out coached, we got outplayed. We got out hustled all the outs. We had it last night games, they

[Caller/Co-host]

have these long stretch. They went one of 12 to in the half. I mean, Vandy Saturday we had a full game that was awesome. But it seems like most of the time we have these long stretches where they just can't get a bucket. And that's what keeps them from getting over the hump in the second half. Is the gap got too big.

[Matt Jones]

What. What do you. What do you think at the end of the day? We got one game left in the regular season. We're just inconsistent. Right. That's just what this team is going to be. We're going to be inconsistent. And it is what it is, right?

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah. Tom called on the unpredictables a couple times last night and they are. This has been like a roller coaster season. Coming off maybe their best game they've played in the entire SEC season against Vanderbilt and come back and throw in that turd. Last night was awful.

[Caller/Co-host]

Yeah. Florida ahead. I mean, at one point they were up by like 50 last night. It's looking like a regular season under 20 wins. And with the inconsistency, I know we all have hope they can string together run, but I just can't see them playing consecutive games that, you know, getting enough wins, especially starting on Wednesday in Nashville.

[Matt Jones]

Well, yeah, I mean, we're not going to win. Five straight games are too much of a turnaround.

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I've got that exact quote if you want it here.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, read me the Saturday, Tuesday.

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The Saturday, Tuesday turnarounds have been a little bit challenging for us with our limited roster size right now.

[Caller/Co-host]

I can't listen.

[Matt Jones]

That's a bad, terrible excuse.

[Drew Franklin]

Yep.

[Matt Jones]

I mean, that is a terrible excuse. You got nine guys. First of all, the roster is not that limited. How many teams are out there playing more than nine guys consistently? How many guys did A and M play? Just. Just so I can look and see.

[Caller/Co-host]

Well, they have the deepest bench in the country, so they play.

[Matt Jones]

But how many did they play? I mean, I'm sure they do have the deepest bench, but how many did they play? Do they play 10, and we played nine, probably.

[Caller/Co-host]

Nine or 10?

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. Okay, so they go one deeper than us. They played. No, they only played nine guys, too. They played nine guys. We played nine guys.

[Drew Franklin]

And they had to do a Saturday, Tuesday turnaround just like we did.

[Matt Jones]

The only difference is we played our backcourt probably five to six minutes more than they played, but they are backcourt, and they played a couple of their bench guys a little bit more than we played our. That's it.

[Caller/Co-host]

Well, also, people were wearing canvas converse and belts in basketball doing Saturday, Tuesday turnarounds. That's the sport that's not changing.

[Matt Jones]

Canvas converse. Well, they were also.

[Caller/Co-host]

I was trying to look it up on the fly. I don't even know if away is top 10 in minutes in the SEC. Well, you're talking about exhaust. They were acuff plays three more minutes a game than him.

[Matt Jones]

Florida's Aberdeen got two fouls and they took him out. I also was like, you got to put him back in. I don't care if he has two fouls. What's good? I mean, how many. This was some. This something. A lot of coaches do they keep their got out with two fouls. How many fouls did Aberdeen finish with? Three. You know what? It could have taken another one.

[Drew Franklin]

Yep.

[Matt Jones]

I mean, I. Generally speaking, I think it's good to take your guy out with two fouls, but not if the game's getting away from you. Especially if the game's getting away from you because you don't have a point guard.

[Caller/Co-host]

Then you're playing him in the second half and he's down by 15.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah Aberdeen, I've said this, he's the key to the game. Without him we just look atrocious most of the time.

[Drew Franklin]

Like you said though, when Jasper did come in for him and him that, you know he didn't gave you some good minutes but then he didn't surround Jasper with other guys on the floor that could help him.

[Matt Jones]

And also Chandler only took five shots and a couple of them were like I was that surprised.

[Drew Franklin]

They did a really good job locking him up and keeping him out of the offense but he's got to find a way to get shots. He has to. Yeah he was a non factor hit that first one. Then he was a non factor pretty much the rest of the game.

[Matt Jones]

859-280-2287 tough loss. What are you going to do? But we got a lot of stuff to talk about. We will talk about the game. Feel free to give a call. We're going to talk about the Barnhart situation and more. We are here at KS Bar and Grill. The women tip off at 11am in the first game. Both the men and the women may be in the nine seat at 11am in the in the in the SEC tournament. We'll take a break. Great backs.

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[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Matt Jones]

DraftKings sportsbook puts you right in the middle of basketball's biggest star driven moments. Whether it's regular season all star, they can bet player props bet live and when a game turns fast, DraftKings has your back with an early exit. If your player gets injured in the first half, the bet stays alive. You're not out of it if one of the guys falls. And once it settles, you still get paid in cash. Built in protection for star driven bets backed by DraftKings. That's the way you're not at the whim of a freak injury. So go ahead and download the DraftKings sportsbook app. Use the code KSR. New customers bet just $5. If you bet wins, you'll get $200 in bonus bets. It's the code KSR. It's what I use. What all the guys at Kentucky Esports Radio use. KSR is in partnership with DraftKings. Check out the bets. The crown is yours. If you have a gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER 18 plus Kentucky only eligibility restrictions apply. Vet must win to receive bonus bets which expire in seven days. Minimum odds required. For additional terms. Responsible Gaming Resources see DKNG co Audio limited Time Offer Support for the show

[Sponsor Announcer]

comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures welcome back.

[Matt Jones]

It is Kentucky Sports Radio 859-280-2287. Some news coming from Dave Baker. He he is is. He says time with the UK Sports Network is coming to an end. Dave Baker has announced that he is no longer going to be part of the JMI broadcast and that JMI has let him go so Dave Baker has been part of the UK broadcast for 37 years.

[Drew Franklin]

My entire time here in Lexington. That's part of Dave's Persona, man. You know, he's going to be doing the game, did a lot of halftime games during their, you know, their TV broadcast, did a lot of radio thing broadcast. So a legend in this town. He's really a broadcasting legend in this town.

[Matt Jones]

He really is. I mean, you know, UK basketball. I mean, Dave Baker. Yeah. 37 years, that's a pretty. That's a pretty amazing long run. So salute to our guy.

[Caller/Co-host]

Buzz.

[Matt Jones]

He is going to continue doing work at wkyt, but will no longer be after this year on the uk. Brock is going to finish the year, it looks like.

[Drew Franklin]

You know, he did other sports. He did, you know, soccer, volleyball, baseball, softball. He did a lot of other play by playing stuff for. For jmi.

[Matt Jones]

So who's going to yell with Cameron?

[Caller/Co-host]

I don't know. Andrew Campus. I don't know.

[Matt Jones]

Do they. Do they yell?

[Caller/Co-host]

I don't think Andrew Campus yells.

[Matt Jones]

I feel like Cameron will yell at anybody, though. I feel like he's.

[Caller/Co-host]

He just barged in last night, just started talking to us during the pregame show. We saw Dave last night. If I had known this was the end, I would have given him a big hug. I didn't realize till I'd gotten home.

[Matt Jones]

But personal level, I just want to say, Dave Baker, what was open and good to us early, early on when a lot of people were not. And when. When Billy Gillette, when, When Tubby left and Billy Gillespie was hired, he put our blog on the TV screen as, like, as sort of a. He literally put a video of our blog on the TV screen because we were reporting something about Billy Gillespie. And I remember thinking it was the coolest thing in the world. They're like, they put our blog on the television. So you wonder why I say the TV. They put our blog on the TV. And so I will always appreciate Dave. And in 37 years, that's probably. I would think that's longer than anybody, right? I mean, only, only K. Wood and Ralph Packer could be in that vicinity.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah. Between him and Dick Gabriel, these guys have been involved with the UK sideline gigs and radio gigs forever. So like I said, he's.

[Caller/Co-host]

He was a.

[Drew Franklin]

Not just a legend, he was a titan in this town.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. So what about you, boy?

[Drew Franklin]

I'm Dave Baker. Canyon tip off. What about you, boy?

[Caller/Co-host]

Made Matt jump so much.

[Matt Jones]

That was. Well, why did you do that?

[Drew Franklin]

My little tribute today, Baker, that's your Tribute.

[Matt Jones]

You know, when they give people tributes, it's usually like heartfelt emotions. It's not.

[Caller/Co-host]

What about you, boy?

[Matt Jones]

All right, well, I'm sure he feels.

[Caller/Co-host]

That's our official statement from ksr.

[Matt Jones]

One person writes on the text machine. Matt, I like Mark Pope, but I just don't think he is a great coach. Your caller last night hit it. He might be good, he might even be successful. But we need great. And I don't see from him, great, great coaches don't lose by the amounts we sometimes lose to.

[Drew Franklin]

By last night, maybe in the first time, I really got mad at him. Like Drew mentioned, you didn't call a timeout during that run. You had some erroneous substitution patterns. Didn't make the, you know, get. Find a way to get Chandler the basketball, get him some shots. Just a couple things happened last night. Like, man, what are you doing?

[Matt Jones]

You got mad.

[Drew Franklin]

I. Yeah.

[Caller/Co-host]

He almost injured Trent Noah.

[Drew Franklin]

He did.

[Matt Jones]

Oh, man.

[Drew Franklin]

Took out Trent Noah.

[Matt Jones]

Trent was five trip, finally hits a shot. Nine straight points. First of all, March is Trent Noah month. February may not be, but March is. And then he gets hurt on. I mean, what is that? Not a summary of the season. Our Trent Noah hits two threes and then turns his ankle. On our own coach, I did like,

[Caller/Co-host]

it seemed to be pretty over. I think most of us thought the whole second half it was over. But Trent there for about a minute. Trent didn't hear no bell. He had nine points in a hurry. Drew that foul. If he had gotten that four point play to cut it to seven or whatever it would have been, I might have started thinking some thoughts. But a nice little spurt from him only to have his breakout moment end on rolling, people.

[Matt Jones]

He's all right though, right?

[Caller/Co-host]

They didn't say anything, but we had Adam Stratton there with KSR and said he saw Trent walking around the arena after. It didn't look like he had any problems.

[Matt Jones]

You have to give a shout out to Ramadan Mo.

[Drew Franklin]

Yes.

[Matt Jones]

You know, they, they used to say at Alabama, when Ramadan hits, Modi Abate takes it up a notch. And he's kind of done that here, hasn't he?

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah. Sitting over there eating Mandarin oranges during the game because what kind of oranges? Mandarin.

[Matt Jones]

I mean, you, you, you are kind of adding syllables to things now.

[Drew Franklin]

Well, just Mandarin makes it more special.

[Matt Jones]

Mandarin. Where did you come up with Mandarin?

[Drew Franklin]

I saw the word in my head. It kind of looks like Mandarin. Mandarin.

[Matt Jones]

Okay, that's not it, but it helped him.

[Caller/Co-host]

I was calling him fruit Cup Mo. Because the moment. The moment he got a little fruit in him on the bench, he came in and was unstoppable.

[Matt Jones]

I like fruit Cup Mo.

[Drew Franklin]

I do too.

[Matt Jones]

I have to tell you, I got some pride on my drive here from Louisville this morning I was listening to Bill Simmons podcast and they were talking about best nicknames in basketball. They brought up Cream Abdul Jabbar. Nice. And I kept waiting for him to say my name, and he didn't. But nevertheless, he was like, cream Abdul Jabbar is a great name. And I was like, yes, but you

[Caller/Co-host]

knew he was talking to you. You felt it.

[Matt Jones]

Well, I mean, he didn't mention my name. That's okay.

[Caller/Co-host]

But you had that connection.

[Matt Jones]

He didn't have to. It's still the. It's still the. It's still the connection. But yes, that. It's crazy to me, you know, he doesn't get to eat or drink during the day, so he, like, they took him out so he could have a meal as sun comes down on the bench. I do wonder if you get in the SEC and NCAA tournament if you can't drink water during the game. I mean, I guess he's already done that. He did that in the Vandy game.

[Drew Franklin]

So yeah, he'd been waking up, what, at 5:30 in the morning to get some breakfast, get something in him, and then nothing until the sun goes down. So it's gonna be tough.

[Matt Jones]

It is. Who's up? But he's playing well during.

[Drew Franklin]

Played well.

[Matt Jones]

Who's up first?

[Sponsor Announcer]

Andy.

[Matt Jones]

Andy. Go ahead, Andy. Hey, what's up, guys? Just got a couple questions. If we lose to Florida Saturday, what would need to happen for us to. To play on Thursday? So if we lose to Florida, I think the best we can do absent a crazy set of circumstances is the eight seed there. There are a crazy set of circumstances where I think we can get to the seven. But if we lose to Florida, so Texas, we need to lose to Arkansas tonight. And then we would need Vandy to lose Vandy and Texas to lose next week. And Vandy plays Tennessee so they could lose. And Texas, I think, plays Oklahoma. So we need Texas to either lose to Arkansas or Oklahoma. So basically we need a Texas loss and Vandy to lose to Tennessee. All right. And I just want to touch on what you're talking about just a minute ago about Pope. I agree that Pope can be good and successful, but probably not great. But my question is how many coaches are out there right now that could be great at coaching? I mean, I think there's probably a lot of people that could be great. I'll give you an example and I appreciate the call. Take Todd golden, right? I mean, how many people knew who Todd golden was before he got to Florida? You had to be a big time college basketball fan and follow San Francisco and then he goes there and he has a lot of success. So there's a lot of guys like that we'll just have to see. We'll take a break. Be right back. Remember, you're gonna have to change the channel at 10:45. We'll be right back.

[Drew Franklin]

KSI TJ Smith, personal injury attorney. Call TJ.

[Matt Jones]

He'll make him pay.

[Sponsor Announcer]

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

[Matt Jones]

Welcome back. Techie Sports Radio. P Rats is a locally owned and operated appliance furniture and mattress store that has served the area for 75 years. But even after 75 years, P rats gets better with age. Being voted the best appliance retailer in the bluegrass the last six years in Unlike the big box stores, we make your house a home. Go to P Rats in Lexington, Richmond and Pratts.com we use P rats to help outfit a home. That's right. And you know what? I'm gonna do this other one really quick as well because we're gonna have to do this break court.com if you need physical therapy, go to court.comkort.com don't let aches and pains following you in the new year. Start 2026 strong at court. Make a physical therapist where you do not have pain. Go kort.com it's court.comp rats in court now. No more ads the rest of the show. All right. So well, I mean we have the commercials but we switch at 10. We will take a break at 10:41 and people switches it to WSFC. Why are you looking at me like that? You need to know Mario.

[Drew Franklin]

For streaming sfc.

[Matt Jones]

Okay. WSFC for streaming. A lot of your stations will keep us. If you have the UK Basketball network, you'll lose us. Go to SFC to hear the rest of the show.

[Drew Franklin]

They play Arkansas. They've already beat Arkansas by 20 this year. So we may be doing the same thing tomorrow.

[Matt Jones]

We'll keep track with the game. With the game here. Okay. Before we go back to phones, let's talk for a second about Mitch Barnhart. We mentioned yesterday that he retired. We now know a little bit more about what he's going to do. I will tell you I have his role will be going forward. Head of the read Me the job title again, Drew, because we talked about in the pregame show. It's an amazing job title you got.

[Caller/Co-host]

He is the executive in residence for the UK Sport and Workforce Initiative.

[Matt Jones]

Lots of words, executive in residence. As we said on pregame show that usually in residence means temporary. So he is an executive that will be in residence. He's not working remote. Okay.

[Caller/Co-host]

Better not for a million.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. For $950,000 a year for the sports.

[Caller/Co-host]

The UK Sport and Workforce Initiative. We'll call it UK SWI UXWE.

[Matt Jones]

So a lot of people were worried. We talked about in the pregame show, essentially, are we keeping him around to have his eyes overlooking the new ad. And some people were saying, does this mean they're hiring from within? And basically Mitch will still control everything. I called the UK spokesman yesterday, Jay Blanton, or well, excuse me, I texted with him and I asked him that question and he said to me and I, Jay has always been wonderful in the last. He's been doing this since I've been doing it. So if he says it, I, I believe it. He said that this new initiative is not with athletics. It is to create a organization on campus that helps students get careers in the sports workforce. Okay. He basically is trying to create a way to place UK athletes in the world of sports and in the fields that of nil, whatever that means. He will not be working in athletics and his, his office will not even be in the UK athletics building. He's basically moving across campus to the academic side. Okay. So even though I think Mitch Best AD maybe in the history of UK and has done great things, I believe when it's over, it's over. You don't, you don't linger. So good thing is this means the new AD will be in charge. Whoever it is now, you could argue does that job of essentially workforce career development, is that a million dollar a year job with a country club membership and all that? You know, I don't know, but I guess as Drew says, that's not my money. So. And it sounds like it's not UK athletics money. Sounds like it is UK the, you know, academic money. So. But I am glad, Ryan, that that means it's not like he's not going to be kind of athletic director, senior athletic director.

[Drew Franklin]

After hearing what you just said, it makes me feel a little better about it because yes, when we talked about it yesterday, if he was in the same building and if it's somebody that worked under you and you're right down the hallway, I would think he Had a hard time keeping his nose out of the business. You bring in a new somebody, think he's over looking over your shoulder. What's he thinking about me? So the fact that Mitch's position is not even in the building has nothing to do with athletics. Makes me feel a little bit better about what they're trying to develop.

[Matt Jones]

It's a million dollar career development placer.

[Caller/Co-host]

Gotta be a lot of careers. Great to see these numbers. Congratulations to the students of the university.

[Matt Jones]

Everybody's gonna be getting jobs. Yeah.

[Caller/Co-host]

I still think it's outrageous. It is a little better that it's not coming out of the UK athletics pot because I think it would be crazy to ask your fans, your blue collar people for money. We need every penny we can get to make UK good and then a million of that is going to him.

[Matt Jones]

It's still a crazy amount of money. It's still crazy.

[Caller/Co-host]

But not being UK is. Athletics is a little uk.

[Matt Jones]

Especially on the heels of this, of the contracts they gave to Stoops and Cal and the Bile and all like it's, it's a crazy amount of money. UK in my opinion, completely screwed up. This announcement. Like why didn't they say that? You know, nobody knew that. I, I had to ask and I don't think people still know unless you're listening to me. Should have had a press conference. Did not have a press conference. Should have had somebody answering questions. Did not have somebody answering questions. Continues. What we've talked about, which is I think this, this, the PR has been so bad for so long that, you know, your, your ad of 24 years is retiring and you don't even give the man a press conference. Like you don't even give the man a chance. I mean to a be asked questions about his role, but also to be celebrated. It's like you're, you're giving him a, you didn't even get a cake lunch at the end of a Friday.

[Caller/Co-host]

We got 950 a year. That's why they don't have a press conference.

[Matt Jones]

But that's looks skeptical to people. Mm. I mean the contract said 800,000 a year. They just raised it to 950 and added more years. And. Yeah, so.

[Caller/Co-host]

And what is the UK sport? I know they, there was no mention of that before. I mean, but you have to explain these things.

[Matt Jones]

I agree. They don't even tell you what it is if Jay doesn't answer my question. So again, congrats to Mitch. I think he's been a great ad. Once again, UK just I don't understand how they handled this, but that's the way it is. So then now the question is who will be the next ad, right? And you need to turn to WSFC because we will talk about that after this and take your calls. And we're 15 minutes away from the UK women's team. We will take a break. Be right back. This is ksr.

[Weatherbug Announcer]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Are you looking for a refresh this spring? Make sure you take some time for self care with savings on all your favorite hair care Essentials now through March 31st. Shop in store or online for participating hair care items from Pantene, Head and Shoulders, Aussie and Old Spice and earn four times points. Points can be redeemed later for discounts on groceries or gas. Offer ends March 31. Restrictions apply. Promotions may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Sponsor Announcer]

Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIP Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or Advice Complete Disclosures available at public.comDisclosures Time for

[Caller/Co-host]

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[Matt Jones]

Welcome back Techie Sports Radio. Ryan gave first of all, welcome to everyone at wsfc. I assume we are breaking that Somerset station streaming records.

[Drew Franklin]

Yep.

[Matt Jones]

So for those of you listening on podcast, hello again. Hope you're enjoying your afternoon. Now I you told me something that I could not believe. Ryan. What happened when CM Newton retired?

[Drew Franklin]

When CM Newton retired UK bought him a beach house in the Bahamas because he wanted to retire there and fish down there.

[Matt Jones]

That's crazy to me that they bought him a beach house in the Bahamas.

[Drew Franklin]

It would cost what back late 90s? 300,000, 400,000 or something. They bought him a beach house for him to go down there and fish in the Bahamas.

[Matt Jones]

If there was a KSR then I would have been like are you kidding me? I mean what I I don't understand the idea of buying people things in retire. Get them a watch. Right? Whatever happened to that?

[Caller/Co-host]

I thought they were paid for the job while they were there.

[Matt Jones]

Yes. You know, at least people always love to complain when people don't get things that they work for. But, and I get that but giving things for people when they're not even working. And if he's really doing career development as, as one of the the people here watching the show said, what do the other career development officers at Kentucky make?

[Caller/Co-host]

I would want to be negotiating if I were a career developer. In fact guys, I've been thinking and I think I'm starting the KSR Sports and Workforce initiative. It's been great working with you. I'll be over here on this side of the room.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah.

[Caller/Co-host]

Making more money.

[Matt Jones]

I like it. You're going to have to go sit at jalapenos. Oh, so there's a. So there's a separation. All right, well, let's talk about who's next. Okay. Because I. In terms of ad, I think there's basically three sets of candidates. So let's start with who's going to make the decision. I think the reality is this decision will be made by a handful of people. Eli Capilouto says he's going to go on a listening tour. That reminds me of something Bill Clinton would say. I feel like that's what politicians say. I'm going on a listening tour. I went on a listening tour when I was thinking about running for Senate and it was mostly me talking and there wasn't a lot of listening. So I don't know. I don't know what that means. But. But Mitch is going to be here till June 30, so there's not a rush to go and hire someone. I think the. The people that are going to make this decision basically is the guy that'll probably be the next president of UK is Eric Monday. I think if you talk to anyone around the university, they'll tell you that they think he will be the person that will have the biggest impact on the decision. There will certainly be some donors, handful that will have some impact. And then you have the board of trustees. I made a lot of calls yesterday and I genuinely don't think they have a decision. I think people who think they already know who it is, I actually don't think that's true. There are three different ways they can go way. One is they will hire some from within UK if that happens. There are essentially two candidates. Mark Hill is basically been Mitch Smartheart's number two for a number of years. He's taken a very large role over the years with football and he is, you know, I think the person that people have thought for a while would be the most likely candidate. Rachel Baker is kind of right there with him in terms of taking on a role. She has a lot of experience, worked for the. Has worked for other schools, has been in college athletics a lot. I always hear positive things about her. She is, as people know, married to someone at jmi, which I think will be something that people will bring up in that process. So that's group one. Group two would be people, I think, that have been at Kentucky and are now somewhere else. And I think the head person in there would be Dwayne Peavey. I think Dwayne Peavey connected to UK's golden age of basketball. He's the AD at DePaul. Probably the best person that has been at Kentucky with donors. So I think when you're saying what is it that people would really like about Dwayne? It would be connection to donors. Probably the best person at getting donors since I've been doing this and basketball. He's at DePaul. The. The negative to him for people would be he's never been in a football school. Right. He's never run football. So that. But I think he's the most likely person with Kentucky connection that somewhere else. You know, you got Rob Mullins in Oregon. The AD at Wichita State is from here. Is from there. I would be surprised if Rob Mullins would come. I think Scott Strickland at Florida is someone that they would at least inquire about. He was the SID here for a while. He. I like Scott. So that's your. Outside of uk but connections here. And then number three would be somebody we don't even know where. They just say we're going off the board and looking for whoever we think is the best. I would be surprised if you were to ask me in likelihood of it happening. I'm gonna make my bet that they get somebody in that number two category. I think they get somebody who has a connection here and is somewhere else. I think any. I think Dwayne Scott or Rob Mullins could all be great. I don't really know the guy that's at Wichita State, but that would be my guess. But I also could be talked into going off the board to somebody new.

[Drew Franklin]

What do you guys think on your first group? Mark Hill and Rachel Baker, both probably very actively involved with recent coaching hires. I mean just hired Mark Pope and Kenny Brooks two years ago.

[Matt Jones]

Mark Hill definitely involved a lot in the Will Stein hire for sure.

[Caller/Co-host]

So that is a Utah guy. I'd be shocked if he wasn't involved in the Pope hire.

[Drew Franklin]

So I think that's probably.

[Matt Jones]

Probably right.

[Drew Franklin]

Yeah.

[Matt Jones]

No, that's a good big Utah. That's a good thing.

[Drew Franklin]

So I think that's a positive when they are involved with the hiring of your most prominent coaches. Negative maybe. Might be. Neither one have ever been an athletic director before. Be. You know, this is not really an entry level position.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah, I saw some people criticizing Dwayne for not having run football. Well, some of these people have never been ads. And this is not. And then this is an entry level. You know, is it an entry level job to be the ad. So you're right. That's true. I forgot about. You're right about Mark Hill and Mark Pope, because Mark Hill is Mormon and I do think he was heavily involved in that hire.

[Caller/Co-host]

I thought that the moment Pope was announced, I even had my antennas up. Like, what does this mean for the future of the athletic department? How involved was Mark Hill? I would call some of that your second group and at least get no's from them. You got Mulligan, Mulligans, Mullins at Oregon with all the Nike. You just got Willston and some Oregon coaches. That should be smooth there. He'd probably say no, but I think you at least got to call him even at Alabama. Greg Byrne. I know it's Alabama, but he kind of is not on a hot seat. But he hired Kaylin DeBoer without really looking around.

[Matt Jones]

Well, he and Scott Strickland aren't beloved by their fan bases.

[Caller/Co-host]

If Alabama football doesn't get back to what it was, he might be looking for a reason to get out of Tuscaloosa. So he and Strickland, Mullins, those three, even though they're better situations right now, at least make them tell me no.

[Matt Jones]

What about Dwayne?

[Caller/Co-host]

Of course, we all love Dwayne. I'd love to have Dwayne personally. That'd be great for us because we know him so well. But also I thought he was great here with uk, especially on the basketball end where it's not a big secret. We're not exactly killing it in basketball in the last several years. So I think he'd be good for that and for us personally. And then on our pregame show, I don't know how serious of a candidate he'd be, but I would entertain Martin Newton with the CN connection.

[Matt Jones]

I agree with that.

[Caller/Co-host]

Nike connection, but.

[Matt Jones]

And also connected to the university was here.

[Caller/Co-host]

And it's Sanford, you know, not a powerhouse. But he hired Bucky, who we just lost to last night, from a high school to coach their basketball program and has some success in other sports there.

[Drew Franklin]

And Eddie, too, right in the.

[Matt Jones]

All those people that we talked about that have. One of the things Mitch has done a really good job is producing ads at other schools. All those people to me are pretty good candidates. That's where I would go. I would go to one of those people, knows the university, but has been out on their own and has enough separation to where they're kind of not under Mitch's thumb. That's what I would do. I think if they're going to keep Mark Hill or Rachel Baker, they've got to sell those people to the fan base, because the fan base does not know who those people are. And so that's an issue. I do like that they're going to take time. I think whatever they do, Ryan, they have to interview a lot of people. They cannot let people think this was predetermined. Like they have to actually do the due diligence.

[Drew Franklin]

You know, when Mitch was ad, he always had a list in his back pocket in case he had to make a move on a coaching change really quick. Do you think UK Capilouto on Monday kind of knew this was coming. And I've already started the process of venting with some candidates.

[Matt Jones]

Betting, betting.

[Caller/Co-host]

They're really complaining about everything.

[Matt Jones]

I think I have in my mind what I think the most likely order of likelihood of doing it is. But I will say to you, I'd probably have four people right next to each other. I will be surprised if they go off the board. I'll be surprised if they hire someone that has no connection to this school. I'm not necessarily against it, but I'll be surprised just with how this school does things. I think. I think the most likely scenario is if you made me bet. I think they go, your pv, you're Strickland, you're. You're that group. Then my second most likely would be the people that are here. And then I think the third most likely is they just go elsewhere. But I will say to you, nothing's going to shock me because I don't think there is a yes, that's who it's going to be.

[Caller/Co-host]

And it's a weird time. I mean, we all have a pretty good idea of who will be next, but Eli is about to turn 77 and he's involved in this.

[Matt Jones]

Is he that old?

[Caller/Co-host]

Yeah. I mean, no matter what, Eli is not going to have a long career with whoever's being hired right now.

[Matt Jones]

Who do you think unifies all the various people in play? Donors, fans admit. Who is the person that does what I do think needs to happen, which is bring UK athletics all together. Who's the person most likely to do that?

[Drew Franklin]

I think it's Dwayne Peavey. I think he was doing that when he was here. Kind of the bridge between Cal and Mitch back then. The boosters, big boosters and uk, he was there, kind of negotiated with all that. I think it's Peavey.

[Matt Jones]

I think you're probably right. I think Peavey, I think Scott Strickland could do that.

[Caller/Co-host]

Fans are most familiar with Peavey just because he was so out in front when he was here.

[Matt Jones]

Yeah. Do you worry about him not having done football?

[Caller/Co-host]

No, not that much. Because I mean, like I said, if you promote someone, they haven't done the job at all. I mean, he did just as much football when he was here as the associate or whatever they named him. I mean it's a hit compared to the some of the other candidates, but I don't think it's like a full stop. No. Because he didn't have football program.

[Matt Jones]

Well, we got some time to figure it out. They got to get it right. And I think the fan base will be following this more than you know. What's interesting is we've. This is the only ad we've had since I've been doing this, which is crazy. I mean, 21 years, this is the only ad I've ever done a show with about so in high school, when he was hired. I mean, that's. Wow. All right, we'll take a break, come back hour number two, do some fun stuff and then take your calls. Ksr.

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