1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Olympic Sports: Should Nebraska poor more into it: April 21st, 2026, 11:25am

Episode Date: April 21, 2026

Should Nebraska put more into other Olympic sports they currently have?Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Welcome back. Thank you, David's Dethery. Top match. The Lincoln Challenger. And listen, when we have these conversations about facilities and we asked Vermont yesterday, right?

Like, what's, where does it rank and what's the importance of facility? And it all needs to make sense. And it's all relative. But to know that the Dillon Tennis Center, for the number of Husker fans that have, not been to Dillon Tennis Center, indoor or out. That's the thing that you need to do.

And you can just drive down there and check it out, right? You can just drive down there if you're in the neighborhood. But this event, July 12th through the 19th, you know, they're working on the ticket price, but it will not be some ridiculous, copious amount of money to go watch tennis. But you'll have an entire week of tennis and we'll be in the space and be down there. so we'll pay attention to what we're doing. But shout out to Peter Cobalt

and the athletic department for letting us to be a part of it. But Lincoln can be proud of itself. Lincoln can be proud of itself. When the big boys come calling, it makes all the sense in the world. It makes all the sense in the world. So Lincoln is doing its thing.

The Dillon Tennis Center is, as he said, one of the premier of facilities in the country. and then trying to evolve and expand eyes on the sport itself, and then specifically the programs, those two programs, women's tennis and men's tennis at the University of Nebraska. It's there. There are a couple of things in the conversation, especially sports talk in this area.

I get asked to do other shows around the country, Bach have other conversations. And what do you think the rest of the country ask about the most when it comes to Nebraska? Now that we're out of basketball season. And let me tell you,

this was the first time that basketball was the lead. Let me, let's be clear. That needle has swung. It was not and not often is it Nebraska basketball. But when people ask about Nebraska, what do you think the rest of the country, even the rest of the Big Ten,

what do you think they ask about? Well, and normally I would think football, but we've talked about how that's a little bit running into some hype problems maybe this year. So I think, you know, volleyball might be the first question that you might get. Yeah, it usually goes like this. And these are sports professionals around the country, right?

These are sports professionals. There are a couple of things that, you know, first of all, I get asked, why are you there? Why Nebraska? Right? But then it's what's up with football. And then the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the avalancheon. of compliments about all the other sports.

That's usually, one, why are you there? Like, bro, how'd you, how'd that happen? Second, what's up with the football team? Third, man, Nebraska really knows how to, whether it's volleyball, fan support, basketball, and then the way it always finishes is the brand. The colors are known.

The logo is known. It's not a real difficult or complex logo. It's the end. It's the end and the colors. And it's recognizable. It's loud.

Again, I'm constantly amazed for a state that only has two million people. how many people are at the airport when I'm at the airport around the country. I was like, you're everywhere. Like, are you replicas? Are you multiplying like that? How many people in the state? How many people in the state, Bob?

I think around two million. Right? Two million, give or take. Yeah, it's a constant thing. So what other people say, and I would think I'm honest in saying that it is, my belief that Nebraska fans don't particularly care what other fans think about them. Is that fair? It is.

I always, I cared for the longest time. I remember talking to a, um, a coworker, you know, years ago and, and he had the exact opposite opinion.

Like how, why would we care at all what anybody else thinks about us? And, you know, there's, there's, there's, there's probably good pros and cons to both brains of thought.

Who, who, yeah, that's, that's, that's the lead. That is, that is,

That is the path we're taking. That what is more likely true? What Husker fans believe about Husker fans or what the neighbors think about Husker fans. Again, that's tough to say because if you haven't been there, like more often than not, experience will probably tell you, tell you quite a bit, but then there's also maybe less of an experience if you haven't left, right, if you haven't left Nebraska.

So it's a bit, again, always a bit of true. truth and in both kind of ways of looking at it's the third's box right it's it's it's constantly the third that a third of the of husker fans pay attention to what others say right they pay attention because you know what there's some self-esteem issue in it right you got figured out this is the third does care like we're the best and we don't care what anybody else thinks we're we're the best i only want to i only want to talk about Nebraska i only want to separate Then there's that middle third that, hey, I'm open to the conversation. If I asked you whether Nebraska fans know Iowa fans better than Iowa fans, what would you say?

No. So you understand how funny it is, right? That Nebraska will tell you, hey, we know ourselves and we know you better than you know you. That's a lot of what happens in the sports conversations. And then it becomes, why is it that football can't get right when it seems like all the other sports are closer to getting it right? Now, it was that part the way that it was phrased to me this morning that I was asked, is it more likely that football gets it right or the other programs get it right first? And I pause, Bach, I pause. because they asked, well, is it more likely that Nebraska football,

Nebraska basketball wins a Big Ten title first? Bach, what say you? Well, I mean, Nebraska basketball was second in the tournament standings this past year. I think that would probably be fair at this moment. But, I mean, I wouldn't paint it as this like everybody else can get it right. I mean, that's part of the Nebraska basketball stories. They hadn't gotten it right for like 100 plus years. So they finally were able to turn the corner.

Obvious that volleyball is closer? Oh, yeah. Softball. Yes. Baseball. Yes. Women's basketball. Yes.

I mean, they've flirted with the top 25. It's still got a little work to do. I mean, the top of the women's, to get from where Nebraska is to where UCLA's and women's basketball is a jump. Wrestling. Yeah. Although that's Penn State there too. It's ridiculous.

But yeah, absolutely. Right. I mean, listen, if we said Husker fans pride, the pride of Lincoln, Nebraska, Husker athletics is that if you talk about bowling,

top five, wrestling, top five, track and field, top five, men's gymnastics, top five, right? Yeah.

in the country. I mean, men's gymnastics just went to nationals. And were they fifth or sixth? Would they finish? I don't know the final. I was so happy for Asher Cohen. I didn't see the team finish. Yeah, they were, I want to say that they were, they were,

when I did notice, I mean, of course you got the announcement for Asher, but they were, one, for them to get to the final day where all but six teams were eliminated. And then the final three teams, compete for the title. Nebraska was in the top six.

At one point, I saw them being six, but then I thought they finished fifth as a team. Let's see. And then that's a big part. So, and then here's a, there were four. Yeah. Okay, good deal. Thank you.

So teams in the top nationally. And that's not even a Big Ten finish. That's a national finish. right we're talking about in the top of it right at the top of it on the Texas is most of the Olympic sports you can get ranked by virtue of just devoting some resources to them because many schools won't do that for what football is more competitive because everybody is all in well no they're not because Creighton doesn't have football like there are programs that have football I went

to VCU there's no football there's there places Georgetown doesn't really have football like it it's kind of the thing if you go to the big east Conference, the focus and emphasis and direction of resources is not the same. The Southeast Conference, you're not really dealing with some of the things that apply at Stanford and Cal or in the Ivy League, right? I mean, Nebraska doesn't have rowing. It doesn't have crew, right? There's certain lacrosse.

There are things that it doesn't have. Iowa has snuck in the door and gotten points for women's wrestling, which is a space that Nebraska could get into. But this is part of my question is, if the Olympic sports take less to do better, why wouldn't you do that? So if it takes less, and again, you're not necessarily calling them all high revenue sports.

But remember, in calling revenue sports, revenue sports, you're going against the idea. I understand that the athletic department is a nonprofit. It's supposed to push the edge on what it spends versus what it brings in. Nebraska is a unicorn when it comes to athletic departments around the country. But even with their surplus, their annual surplus,

they still zero out at the end of the year because they have to. So if you're going to zero out, return on investment, quality of business investment decisions are based on return on investment. So if you tell me that I'm putting money into it, then if you tell me I need to make profit, well, if profit isn't your business, then you're having a different discussion. But if it takes $50 million to get good at football and $50,000 to get good at tennis, does that make sense?

like we understand. No, you're not going to make millions off tennis, but you could still be dominant in it. Yeah, it could be in it, especially when you kind of think about the NIL era. But I do want to say, you know, Nebraska generally does have some pretty darn good facilities because of football.

In like bowling, men's gymnastics, we just talked about, or excuse me, tennis, the soccer fields. I mean, so in general, I think it has bled down at least facilities-wise. Yeah, I mean, that's kind of, the thing, right, that if the athletic department is a collective that is not just about football,

yes, if football generates the most, right? Runza, right? Runza is the thing. Runza is the thing. Runza sandwiches are the thing that the thing that greases the wheel, right? It is the brand. It is the thing that brings, you know, as the song said, it's the milkshake that brings all the boys to the yard. That's right. Right. But, but what's the best thing about Runza? Well, it depends on who you ask. Right.

You like the, people like the fries. The Frings. The Frings, right? We will battle over there. Some will say that Runza has the best cheeseburger in town. Oh, yeah, yeah. Right? So, but if you stopped selling those things, people would notice.

Right? And that those things often get you back to the store. French fries will often get you back to the store. Burgers will get you, right? It brings additional ears to the radio. Yeah, I know several people that don't like Runza's that routinely go to Runza. That routinely go to Runza because, right, it is a good thing. You count out it.

It's consistent. You go for the fries. You go for the fries. You'll get the Runza. You'll go for the fries. Or you may go for the shake. You may go for the burger. It's added value.

And yes, Runza is the brand. But if you just focused on Runza, yeah, you still be in business. Yes, I did, Eric. I quoted milkshake to the yard. Yes, I did. I 100% did. My apologies, but yeah, I did that. And that's why I just find it interesting, Bach,

that in the place that we're working from. Now, a thing happened in that conversation. Yeah, Texas says, I go for, I go for, that, right? This is a this is a different era. You can think, we just named eight sports that are sitting at, in striking distance of Big Ten and National Championship. We just mentioned several sports where literally Nebraska could have the best at that

thing here at the University of Nebraska, Jordi, Jordi Frum, Ridge Lovett, Antrell Taylor, Chris Permanto, Axelina Johansson, Gillian, And Martin, Asher goes through and wins the national title. You understand it. Like, it's not, it doesn't happen on accident. But once you've opened the pathway to that level of success, support that success. Copy success.

Don't copy failure. Don't copy the things that don't work. Copy the things that work. If you tell me that recruiting and getting people to, to link in Nebraska to compete athletically because you can win national titles. There's a poster now of national champions. Current national champions, current players of the year.

And you can highlight that because that covers more people than the lack of success you're having in the feature sport. But here's the question that has popped in, right? It's popped in. And it's been said so many times. But the text has just said a thing,

and I need, because I had several hosts say this to me. So we'll go to break with this. And then I'll have your, I need y'all's opinion. I need box opinion. And y'all's opinion of this. But it's been said several times, and this texter says this. If I've said it once,

I've said it a thousand times, football will never come back as long as the, in air quotes, sellout streak is still a thing. The program has not earned a sellout in over a decade, and it's breeding a level of, complacency and entitlement that they cannot and will not get past. Bach, I need your response to that.

Text line, I need your response to it is, why is the sellout streak ever considered a negative when it comes to winning football games at Nebraska? We'll be right back. Watch live on Facebook, YouTube, or Twitch. You're listening to one-on-one with DP on 93-7 the ticket and the ticket FM. com.