1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Army-Navy Success/ Talent in the DMV- October 23rd, 2024

Episode Date: October 24, 2024

Army-Navy Success/ Talent in the DMV- October 23rd, 2024Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Let's get it, baby. It is Wednesday. It has been a busy, busy, busy week, and it'll be a busy week going forward. I'm going to see some football this weekend. We'll talk about that with the coach here in a minute. Talk about some of the things that are happening in football. And he's the right person for it. But before we get into that and bring him in, 40246, 4-5-6-85.

Start on the Heiman-Tex line if you want to be a part of what we are doing. we invite you in you're welcome come on in come hang out uh questions to the text line if you want you'll follow in the live video stream facebook youtube x alo channel nine sixty one if you're nasty jump over and you can pay attention to what we're doing and be a part of it uh as well um it's become such a big part of what we do that introduction connection etc setting the tone setting the table, setting the standard for how we're going to do the next hour of sports radio

here on the ticket. And to do so, you go to one of the great voices to ever grab a microphone. Harrison, if you would please. The autumn wind is a pirate. Blustering in from sea with a rollicking song he sweeps along,

swaggering boisterously. His face. is weather beaten he wears a hooded sash with a silver hat about his head and a bristling black mustache he growls as he storms the country a villain egg and bow and the trees all shake and quiver and quake as he robs them of their go the autumn wind is a raider pillaging just for fun he'll knock you round and upside down and laugh when he's conquered and won. Let's bring him in.

AADP, we good? We good. We good? That's how you know when you ask the people, you go, hey, we good. What you see is what you get. Hey, man, you know, are we good? It's been a spectacular. Got to spend some time with Barry this past weekend,

I was in the DMV. Shout out to your magnificent brother, Edwin Thompson, coached baseball coach at Georgetown University and the Hoyas and what he's building. Harrison, I got to watch some fall baseball as the Hoyas took on Rutgers. So I got a sneak peek at some Big Ten baseball and what it was going to be like, but I'm always thoroughly impressed by time spent with Coach Thompson one or two, or both, and it's spectacular to watch them.

Tell me, please explain to folks who your brother is and how this thing happens for him to find his way in a space that's not normally, there aren't a lot of folks that look like your brother as a head baseball coach in a P5 conference. But who is Edwin Thompson? Give us a little bit of that. Wow. He's the best brother in the world. Let's start with that.

He's the best brother in the world. He was born into a family of football players. He kind of played it. But from early on, he just kind of took to swinging things, whether it was hockey or golf or baseball. And baseball kind of became his thing, however it happened. You know, there's a north-south split in my family, so it's tough to explain.

But my dad remarried and divorced. So Edwin basically grew, even though he's born in Virginia, literally grew up in Maine. Maine. And so to add to the rareness, right, he's in Maine and he decides to pick up baseball and does pretty well. And just keeps going, keeps going, wanted to go to Howard. I went there, excuse me, their program Foley, went to University of Maryland, transferred to Weber down at Florida, did really well. And then he immediately knew he wanted to go into coaching. So he started the substitute coaching teaching coaching thing.

And he was locked in on the coaching deal. And as all coaches will know, he kind of took that climb at a Division III directional school, you know, University of Maine at Farmington and working his way through there. And right from the beginning, he always had a template that was bigger than where he was. So he was very active in recruiting, even though he was at a small Division III school. He caught the attention of Bates College. they wanted him to coach, be the head coach, but they needed him to coach football.

So he coached football and baseball. And he led Bates to the best season that they had in their 150 year history. And then soon after that, and by the way, when he was at Bates, he was always recruiting nationally. And so when he would go to an event, you know, a Duke would come up and they'd say, what are the three schools you're looking at? And they would say, the Duke guy would say, you know, I'm looking at Stanford, looking at Vanderbilt and Bates. and they go, baits. So he kind of got the attention to some people because he was getting attention to players.

He moved to Duke, was there, had a great kind of mentors or apprenticeship, I think, at Duke. And then from there, he was really ready to be a head coach. And he got a job, head coach. It went to Georgia State. Then he got a head coaching job at Eastern Kentucky. And he did some things there. Again, he's always never been right where he's.

He was. So even when he was at Eastern Kentucky, he was busy raising money. He raised like $5 million, $7 million, that type of thing. And then the Georgetown job came open. He took it in the COVID year. He had seen his players, I think, two weeks before the season, other than Zoom stuff. And they started off in one, six games that first year. And then, again, you know, they didn't have an on-field campus, but that stuff never

stopped my brother. You know, he reached out. He found a way to play at Nationals. park. And then through that, he explored some relationships with Capital One. And then now that's their home. He's always recruited nationally. So he had players from Stanford, that plays from Lafayette.

Jake Boss just went to Lafayette, went to Georgetown, he's got three degrees and is now pitching for the Blue Jays. So he set up a system where you come to Georgetown to get a great degree. And if you're that type of guy, you can go on and play professional football. I hope I've done him justice. Probably could take another 45 minutes, but he's a good person, good guy.

He's a type of guys that his players remember him. They still connect. Some of them are coaching. Stays in touch with this. But he's a really, really good coach. Really good coach. Barry, what's the thing, what are the traits that make him the good coach?

Because listen, to be able to transition across the country in various portals in different spaces and have success and keep moving forward and up. What is it about him? What are the traits as a human as a coach that make your brother so successful? Well, from the outside, he's good at listening. He's always reaching out and talking to other people. He reaches out to me and he'll, you know, he'll, you know, he'll have coaches talks with me even though I'm in the football world. He's in the baseball world. So that's been going on for a long time. But I would say that on a macro level, he's He's just never a coach where he, wherever he is, he doesn't kind of look at it and say,

oh, I can't do this, I can't do this, I can't do that. He kind of looks at it and says, okay, how can I find a way to get this done? How can I find a way to get that done? He's been more of that type of coach. And I think that's held him in good stead. The volume of money that he's raised while he's been at Georgetown has helped them endow a couple additional scholarships. They're doing all this stuff, consecutive 31 seasons, a game away from the championship.

championship game. They're doing all that stuff, and they were on the low end of the scholarship deal. But he's found, reached out to some alumni and pulled them in. They kind of believe what he's doing. So, you know, it would have been easy for a coach to say, well, we don't have an on-field facility, you know, the players don't have priority, you know, all that. But he's just not that type of guy. And I think, you know, I guess to sum it up, he's a guy that always has a vision. I've talked about that several times. There's no leadership without vision. So when he lands somewhere. He kind of has a vision of what this team's going to be, how it's going to compete. And then he just goes out and works hard and makes it happen.

And he does a real good job of tracking the right kind of staff to put around the players. He's just a really wonderful coach. Barry, in the college football game and in this era of transfer portal, NIL, all of the all of the catchphrases and letters. that jump up and try to steal the news as the thing that's driving college football right now. Right now, transfer portal, that, do, no, NIL. Okay, all the catch phrases and easy layups of recruiting, recruiting, recruiting, location, location.

Money is everything. Size, everybody has to be bigger. Everybody has to be faster. everybody has to be stronger in order to compete in these tough conferences. It's really tough to compete and win games. But somehow, somehow, Barry Thompson, there are teams who have figured out how to win football games that don't normally stand at the top of the ranking system. And they don't get notoriety and exposure.

Talk to be kind, sir. that liberty, liberty. Yes. Having one of the great runs in college football. Yes. Army is in the top 25. Navy in the top 25. Indiana.

Football powerhouse. Listen, undefeated winning games. Pit. We haven't talked about Pitt as being a football power since the days of Tony Dorset and Dan Marino. Right. We don't give them that.

sort of love. It doesn't happen for them. Oh, let's me further know. Iowa State. Iowa State is undefeated and figuring out a way to win football games. So when somebody tells me that you have to have all of the water cooler talking points to win football games. Yes. I say, Bob. Oh, God. Well, two things on that. And I've never walked in the, you know, FBS shoes.

So there's, you know, there's a set of dynamics, but we're just talking, you and me are just spitballing, right? We know that young people and people in general always run too good, like sprint to good. And they are quick to recognize what's good, what has integrity, and that's a huge thing. And you've got to remember in this football thing, there's a lot of talk about height and weight and size and speed. And that is extremely important, extremely important. But you cannot lose sight that it's a people business. Those are human beings that are performing that stuff.

And so when you treat people the correct way, you have some integrity of what you're doing, you're honest with folks, that type of stuff, you're going to attract some really good people. because good people tend to run to good things. Now, the other part of this portal, where everybody's been saying, you know, well, it doesn't teach them resilience and they're just going the easy route and this and that. Well, those other schools have been real quiet, have been real quiet because they didn't say anything.

And what they've been able to benefit from is solely collecting another level of talent that they wouldn't normally see. And what I think, you're beginning to see the trickle-down effect of the talent being reshuffled because it doesn't have to sit behind somebody for three years, right? That it can go somewhere and maybe get on the field in a year or so or a year and a half of so. And it's bringing development back into the game, I think, which was originally started by Wake Forest. That was their model.

They were taking these players that people were kicking the tires on, but they knew that could play. And they said, hey, we just give this guy a year or a year or two. Let him understand what college football is about. He'll perform, right? So that's been their model. And I think you've seen other coaches now move in, spot the opportunity. Like, you're, that guy's in the portal?

Yeah, I'll take him. That guy's in the portal? No problem. Come here. Right? And then you, at the end of it, you can't be a salesman. You've got to be a leader. Right?

And you've got to be up front and honest with them and say, hey, this is a deal if you come here. This is a deal. And you can't break that deal, right? Once you say this is a deal, you agree to it. That's where the integrity part comes in. And there are a lot of shenanigans. I'm telling you, I won't use any words,

but I'm telling you I'm close to my quarterbacks. And I got a lot of them. I got a fair amount of them. I've got 25, 26 hours. They're playing college football all different levels. And there are some shenanigans. that go on. And so you can easily understand why a player may want out of one situation and just wants to go play football, right? And I think slowly the message is getting across that if you're a

player and you're looking at a school, it may not be in your best interest to chase that offer, right? It's in your better interest to find, hey, I don't need to play right away, but is there a path for me on the field, right? Is there a way that I can kind of work my way to that? Because if you don't, you wind up at, you know, the biggest college you can find. And then you're just in the back of the pack. You're going to meetings 20 hours a week. You're practicing. You're riding your behind off.

And you're not moving up the debt chart at all. And you don't know when they're going to move. And when you think you're going to move, they go to the portal and get somebody else because they're transactional. So you got one end of the business that's becoming transactional. And in my opinion, you can't complain if the other party is transactional. You're transactional, so why wouldn't they be? And now you've got these other spots where they're saying, hey, we're not transactional. Come in here.

We'll treat you the right way. We think you can play big time football. Let's get after. There's so much in that. And when you say shenanigans, Barry Thompson, without naming programs, we're not talking about, I'm not asking you to name programs or finger point. I'm just trying to give the listeners some idea of the definition. of football, college football shenanigans, the moving coconuts as they were,

where they will put a, take a diamond. I'm going to give you two gentlemen. And I think these are general examples that could have happened to anybody. So I'm not going to mention names, but these dynamics could have happened to anybody. Let's say that you're in a spot and you've got a guy in front of you and he's just going to be the guy. I mean, there's no question. You've made a deal that you're going to wait your turn. that guy finally finishes his eligibility.

You step up and the season end and it's finally your part. Two days after that happens, two of the coaches from your side of the ball leave. And you're like, holy crap, all right, what's going on? So then you're hoping that one guy gets a position, the other guy, and the other guy that you didn't want gets a position. And you go and talk to him to find out, you know, hey, coach, how we're going to do this? And he tells you, we're going in the portal. we've got a guy coming in, you're going to have to compete for your job.

In that world, that is in essence telling you, we don't really think much of you. Now, there's no kind of fighting through that, right? When you've been in a program three years, this guy takes the job and he looks you in the eye and says, yes, you know, you've done everything, but I'm going in the portal for a guy, which means you don't go in the portal for a guy to sit on the bench. I'm going to the portal for a guy, and I'm bringing in a freshman. That's a situation. I'm sure it's happened hundreds of times. So what do you do?

Then the other situation is sometimes a decision to play or not play is suddenly based on nothing but a judgment. So in these programs, they measure everything. They have the catapult deal. They're tracking reps and, you know, how many tackles and mistackles and how many completions and incompletions? Who shows up? you know, did you,

improved every workout, everything, right? They're measuring everything. And then suddenly your position coach comes in the room, says, we're starting the other guy. And you're going, what? We're starting the other guy. And the environment around there is such that the players know that the one thing that they should never do

is to complain about playing time. Right. And so they have this exact, it is tough inside these programs. It is tough. And I'll finish the thought. from a quarterback perspective, you know, I was one of those guys when you would see a team up by 50, you'd say, hey, why don't they take them out? It's a smart thing to do. Well, now being exposed to what these guys have to do to get on the field and stay on the field,

I know why they never come out the game. They don't ever want to come out of the game. There'll be no Wally Pip here. You guys are old Yankee fans. But go ahead. It's that thing, right? Listen, it took a lot for me to get here, to get noticed. Yeah. to get in a position to get notice, to get in position to get recruited, to get into a position to negotiate a deal, to agree to that deal and outwork the deal,

and then have that deal pulled from under you. And I think it's this thing that we talk about that everything in college football is either coached or learned. Right. You say, allowed or coached. And that behavior, the young people watch the grownups. they watch them. And if the grown-ups say,

hey, we're here for now. We're not here for long. And then wonder why young people then say, oh, well, I guess that's how we're doing business. Because I can't, I cannot give permanent loyalty to temporary agents.

Yep. That's where college football is. But there are people who work from integrity and character and building. And guess what? They're not in the transfer portal NIL business. Yeah, they're not. They are military academies. Barry Thompson, we're going to talk about how are they winning?

How are the world? How let's let me ask the question properly. Yes. How in the wide, wide world of sports, yeah, are Navy and Army undefeated? We will ask that and get a response from Barry Thompson here, one-on-one, 93-7 the ticket. Welcome back to one-on-one Wednesday night. 93-7 of the ticket, DP, Harrison Arns, manning the ones and twos.

Barry Thompson, breaking it. down for us coach barry thompson kind sir at the time of this recorded navy army liberty b yu undefeated and yes it gets interesting because for whatever reason army navy continually schedule notre dame right so that's on the schedule and notre dame who again again falls in the category of, yeah, they have some talented players, but undefeated is a thing. And they're one loss away. They're still in the playoff contention. Yeah, that's right.

When you look at Navy. What are they doing, what are they doing? Let's take the Navy example, because I pulled up for things here. And I just wanted to see if my mind was right. Yep. When you look at Navy from about 20-0-20-0-203 on, you can see. that the expectation was an eight or nine win season. Now, when it got below that, there's a string of that three, three win, four, win, four,

win, there was a change that was made, right? So you can tell the expectations, and you look at that span of time, they were regularly an eight, you know, nine win team. So first of all, ask yourself, how much do you have to step things up to get from eight to nine to nine to ten? Not much, right? And again, the trickle-down thing of this portal, how many times are they in the market for a kid that is looking at the Naval Academy

and then maybe looking at maybe Vanderbilt or maybe looking at Notre Dame, right? And they didn't get them. Well, now they're in the market to get them, right? And Army, as quiet as is kept, still has that prep school model, right? The old prep school model where you could have a guy that maybe he wasn't ready to get in school, right? He could do a prep school year at that school that school that they have and then step into the program. So what I'll say about what I've said about these, you see these teams is one, people run the good. And two, these guys have brought development back into the picture, right?

Guys actually making them better once they get there. And so you put those two things together, maybe you're getting a kid or two that you wouldn't normally get. You're able to get somebody out of the portal, one or two. you have your development model in place, why wouldn't you win games? Through all of it, there are positions that carry more weight literally and not figuratively.

Right? That, hey, fullbacks matter. Yes. Nose tackles matter. Yeah. Special teams matter. matter, right? That you can get people to fly down on a punch,

do their job, stay in a lane, be disciplined, be on time, be on purpose. Right. And none of them, none of them are five-star. Right. Five-star humans. Yes. Not five-star football players.

Right. And when you look at those positions, right, you're talking a matter of inches and a few pounds, right? That he's, you know, he's 6.3 and they want him to be 6.4. He's 6.3 and he weighs 275 and they want him to be 300 and 25 pounds in the big man world. You know, that can happen, right? And so then we'll say, well, we'll take 63, 275 or whatever it is. We can make that work. We have time, right, because we can put 10 or 15 pounds on him. He can, for our level of competition. I think the other thing that's interesting about these programs is it brings something back in.

When you're watching big time football, you have a tendency to say, hey, they should run this play, or they should do this, or they need to run this defense. The other thing that has to happen in programs like this is they have to have a defined way that they're going to win a football game. And then the third layer to what I've been saying is that now you're matching talent to what you want them to do, right? And so you get better at doing that. And now you've got a team that takes the field and we can go.

And obviously got to be strong in the line, right? You got to be strong. Think about how many linebackers get passed up because maybe they're 225 or 230, but they're not 240, 240. I mean, how many good linebackers get passed up, right? We were talking about Erlacher a while ago, yes? Yep, right? Who was a free safety, yes?

Yep. And is that New Mexico? Is that right? New Mexico? Yep. Like how many big schools passed over him because he was too lean? you see what I'm saying? And I think these schools are just reaping the benefits of that.

I think you'll see it trickle down. I think you're going to see some outstanding Division II play. You'll see more players come out of there. And if you're really a hardcore football fan, you'll see some outstanding Division III guys too come out of there. You see more of that happening. Well, there's a thing that's happening in Bloomington, Indiana, where Signetti speaks to it in full.

with full amplification and other and says, listen, I win. Yes. And he then took 13 players from, I don't know, James Madison University. Right around the DMV, check the background. Right around the corner, right that you took player, 13 players from James Madison. And they've impacted the Big Ten so much so that Indiana is in playoff discussion. Yeah, yeah. So, Barry.

Let me stop here. I'll give you, Justice Ellison, who I know well. Who I know well. I know Justice Ellison because. Scored two times Saturday? Yeah, that Justice Ellison. Yeah. Because he was part of that Fun Hill crew that we were able to coach.

We called the Dirty 30 because there were only 30 players in the total program. And you guys may be familiar with Trey Rucker, number nine for Oklahoma State. He was part of that team. But I bring it back to how this assessment goes. I remember that there was a coach at the University of Connecticut. Think about that. Who was kicking the tires on justice. Who wanted to know, hey, how did he practice?

Now, my nickname for justice was hard work because that's all he ever did every time. Like if you wanted a half-speed rep, you'd have to take justice off the field. But anyway, he winds up at Wake Forest. right and then now he's having a starting role there so to think that you would look at a kid like that and you're at the University of Connecticut and you don't pull the trigger on him like he's not automatically hitting you this is an offerable kid now we're looking for somebody else okay give me a guy in this class it's better than justice as a human being as a teammate and as a productive runner give me a guy I mean, it's going to be a short list.

Right. Right. I mean, that was the thing, like sitting down at Big Ten Media, he came through, and it was so much joy sitting at the table and listening to a young man celebrate being magnified and amplified because there are people that told him no. Yes. They told him no. And you and I have had this discussion. And it's mind-blowing to me.

How many players are not offered by? Yeah. Said schools. Yeah. I won't name them because I don't know. But, and then proceed to spank your bottom. Yes. Happens all the time.

Right. To ask the question, if your school is not recruiting the DMV, how purposeful are you in winning and getting the right talent? People that fit into your culture, people that are willing to, work hard, people who have the talent, they're coachable, great families. Like, there's a bit of mind-blowing part of it to me that there are people. Like the people in Nebraska could call Barry Thompson. Hey, man.

Is that anybody? Yeah. I'm pretty sure. If I spot a real one, I'll tell you. Yeah, no, I mean, it's, they're around here. I think the thing with our area is, one, it's not really known. for like football and that type of thing. But the,

the Big Ten for years, as we know, has come in at various different times. Last time Illinois has had their big run. Mm-hmm. Who was Ron? What was his name? He, you know what I'm talking about. Yeah, he's gone.

He included heavy. Yes, he plucked people out of the DMV in D.C. left and right and got him out there. Ohio State has a history of coming in and pick them. So they'll come in and pluck them out. And they'll put them in, and people just miss the overall. The one thing our Arikana blacks, I think,

is those three or four schools where it's easy for the coaches to kind of go to. You have the WCAC, right? And that's whatever you want to pick over there. So very powerful player. But there's all these other schools like Battlefield. They have some players that think schools have discovered them. We have Gainesville. We have Patriot where there's some guys.

Well, Centerville, Stonebridge. There were places that, I, By the way, Stonebridge is a good point. Kedric Goldston, former Skinn, is a head coach there. Hasn't had a great first year. But I'm telling you, there are some bodies on that field that next year you'll be talking a lot about. So it's those types of things that players, I think coaches miss. Yeah, and it is frustrating to know that there's talent out there,

that coaches out there who could help programs actually grow. and develop and elevate themselves. But hey, we can't force anybody to do that thing. And it's mind-blowing, again, that the dirty-thirty had just ate them. Harrison, you could have went grocery shopping for football players amongst the 30. Didn't have to look hard because all the stuff was whole foods and it was all healthy and good. And by the way, let me just walk in the store and took anything from the store and it was going to be good. And by the way, Coach, let me not leave out one important guy

that he's a guy named Jordan Houston. Jordan is now at Marshall, and they're beginning to use Jordan the way that he can be used. And you're going to start to see his name pop up a lot too. He was part of that crew with Justice and Trey as well as some other really good players. But, yeah, he was another guy. They kind of kicked the ties on, went down to NC State, and whatever the thing was.

He got in the rotation. They were using them very differently. And now at Marshall, you're starting to see him be, used in a way that really accents what he can do. But again, a player, here's the great thing about these guys, though. They continue to fight. They continue to fight. And despite the misjudgments, they do find a way to rise to the top.

So I'm real happy for justice. And it's been amazing to watch his maturity. And I think we're going to hear a lot more about Jordan Houston. And then you have trade record Oklahoma State's doing well to do. Oh, by the way, who was the kid that led Maryland to a comeback, went over USC? Billy Edwards Jr. I talked to Billy. There's a couple of Northern Virginia kids on the team.

One is a linebacker named Caleb Wheatlin. There's been a couple times when I've watched my quarterbacks have kind of that moment on the field. Last year, it was Tony Musket. He was on the road against UNC. They were ranked 10th in the nation at the time, and he took them down. It was that moment, right, where big play you dream about. and then Billy had his moment with the flex and the little swerve that he did. You know, and they rushed the field.

And I talked to him Sunday afternoon. And I said, hey, that was one of those things you dream about. And he said, yeah, after they went to treatment, him and Caleb were just sitting in the locker room saying, you know, you can't, you believe what happened. And I ruined the moment and said, yeah, what's next? I think it goes to Minnesota. But Billy's another outstanding football mind comes from a coaching family. and if you were ever to all anybody needs to do with him when it comes to drafting, it's just sit down and talk to him.

They don't need to see him throw. They don't need to see him run. They don't need to see him lift. Just sit down and talk to him. Get the chalk out and you will draft him. Keep saying it that there's work behind all of it. We'll throw the break. We'll come back.

We'll close that one on one with Barry Thompson. Barry Thompson, you know the question, what are you cooking? We'll get all of that. Here on one of the one when we come back. One-on-one Barry Thompson. Yes, sir. Question for you, sir?

Yes. What are you cooking? Tuscan bean soup. You know, it's that time of year. You think of soups and stews. A thousand different recipes out there, so just Google, whichever one makes you feel good. But it starts out with what's called a Mirapaw.

It's kind of a fancy name for carrots, celery and onions, certain proportion. We're going to get about four amps. It's a panchetta. I guess bacon would be fine. A pound of those canelli beans, maybe soak those overnight. About six cups of stock would be enough. A little bit of red pepper. Excuse me.

Some olive oil. And we're going to take a whole head of garlic and kind of slice the top, just the top of it. Pour a little oil, a little salt and pepper. Put that in a foil. wrap it up and full, put it in the oven at $3.50 for about 30 minutes or so because we're going to roast that garlic if you've never had it. It's a really sweet, delicious tasting thing. Put the mary. I put the panchette in a little bit of oil, let it crisp up, and it's fat. The mirro plaw goes in on top of that, go till it's soft. And then at that point, it's time to put everything in, put the beans in. We'll put the stock in. We're going to put in two kind of sprigs of rosemary, maybe a big base. leaf. If you don't have a big one, two small ones, put that in, let that cook until your beans really, really get soft. And then, of course, you'll need a little bit of a crusty loaf of bread. So you'll toast that on the side. Get that piece of that head of garlic out. At the end,

you want to squeeze that roasted garlic into the Tuscan bean soup and stir it up. And if you like it whole, keep your beans whole, but you can either use a immersion blender or you can mash it up against the side to give it a little consistency that you like. Drizzle a little olive oil on the top and sit down with that spoon of a piece of crusty bread and have yourself a good old soup. Yeah, you just warm the hearts of Nebraska's from one corner to sit to the other and giving them an idea about how to put this thing together and get it done. Barry, it is interesting in that, okay, so we exchange items via social media.

on several occasions. So Barry sends me this video of a guy who's talking about the change in the landscape of college athletics and that leverage. Coach's leverage has been thrown out the window because transfer portal. Barry, break this down from me in a way that makes sense to me because quite frankly, seems to me that, right? Let me start with a big point.

So in this video, there's a coach, he's on some talk show, And he's just a cry in the portal. And he's saying that, and he keeps talking about that it takes away the leverage from his standpoint that a coach has. So if you need to jump on somebody's bud, if you need him to, you know, you need him to ram into somebody and he's not doing it. He needs it. Like he's saying that that part of the game is gone. And as far as he was concerned, if I heard it right, D.P, he's saying that it's gone to crap because you don't have the kind of whip to make those people do some things. that maybe they're not doing the way they should do them or not doing what they're supposed to.

And I, you and I kind of, I sent it to you because I know you would kind of laugh about it a little bit. Again, I've never walked in those FBS shoes before, but I just know that, for instance, at Indiana, that's not going on. I know at Navy, that's not going on, right? That John Thompson said the motivation is in the choosing, right? You choose the right people. you don't have to have a lot of those conversations, right? You're talking about when you wind up, and he was to cry and this idea of leverage.

So think about that you're a college player and there's a coach out there who wants to maintain leverage on you to force you to do certain things. You could understand how maybe some people might not like that work environment, right? And if you're a coach, and that's all you were relying on to get players to do what you want to do is leverage and, let's say it, fear. right then that that is a tactic that just doesn't have a long shelf life it just doesn't it was the thing that jumped out to me that there are too many people speaking out that there's only one way to lead and there's only one way to coach and it is straight through the wall anger fist to the sky voice at at 10 and the reality is as i know better that it If I know what I'm coaching, I know what I'm doing, I don't have to do that.

Yeah. It doesn't have to be done. So Barry, I appreciate the fact that you understood that. And I felt less guilty about it. So, guys, sir. And real quick, thought as we get out here, you know, it's funny about the NL stuff. I keep hearing people complain about the money that players are getting. But the same people, I didn't hear him complain about the money that coaches were getting.

And I didn't hear him complain about the revenue that the schools are generating. It just seems kind of weird that the only way the game's going to go to pot is that the players have status and they get paid. I'm not saying it's the best system in the world, but, man, don't tell me that this game's going to hack just because you're paying some players. Let's figure it out. We'll figure it out. Barry Thompson, appreciate you, love you, brother.

We'll do it again next week. Yes, sir. Don't go anywhere to take a week night. Keeps it moving. Yeah.