1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Sweet 16 is almost here: March 25th, 2026, 1:45pm

Episode Date: March 25, 2026

What stands out among the Sweet 16. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This time of year, the school calendar really starts to fill up, spring activities, testing season, and that final push toward the end of the year. It's a great moment for kids to stay focused and build confidence in what they're learning. That's where Iexel comes in. I Excel is an award-winning online learning platform that helps kids truly understand their schoolwork, from math and reading to writing and science. It's designed for pre-K through 12th grade, with personalized interactive content that adapts to each child's level and pace. I-Xcel makes it easy to stay on track with instant feedback and clear explanations, skills organized by grade level, and simple progress tracking. It fits into even the busiest spring schedules. It's also trusted nationwide. In fact,

Iexel is used in 96 of the top 100 school districts in the U.S. Make an impact on your child's learning. Get Iexel now. Listeners can get an exclusive 20% off Iexel membership when they sign up today at Iexel.com forward slash today. Visit Ixl.com forward slash today to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. Ah, yes, back on one-on-one here on 937. The ticket, thanks for joining us as we have a few more minutes to close out this hour. As we're talking about this past segment, North Carolina is a job that is open in college basketball now.

Kansas not. Bill Self is denied the rumors that around this morning that he was going to retire there. certainly his job still out there possibly as he has dealt with some recent health issues, recent health scares in the last couple of years. So that's why he is kind of considering here this offseason. And we talked about whether North Carolina or Kansas, which job would you take was offered to you? It took me a while to land here. I finally got to a point where what we say often in this business, you don't want to be the guy that follows the guy, right?

And so maybe that's why I would lean toward North Carolina more I think about it. both teams have underwhelmed a little bit in the last couple of years. So as far as immediate pressure might not be there as much. But you're going to be compared to Bill Self at your time at Kansas, at least at North Carolina for a while, for a few years. Maybe you could be compared to Hubert Davis. And that might allow you a little bit more growing room in time to kind of figure things out. So that's where would arrive.

It took me some time to get there because everything else, And we talked about all the other things pretty equal at two of the top jobs in college basketball. Nice. Yeah, I agree. I think that's always something, too, that just with like Matt Rule, for example, like the person before you wasn't anyone that we kind of, kind of universally love here. So it's like no matter what any type of improvement's going to make you look like you're a million bucks. So yeah, I like that. I like that thought process coming in there for sure. When it's so interesting with Matt Rule, too, is, again, as we, a big discussion on the show has been, what is the buzz is there less so and certainly there is going into the spring game but kind of

where is that and where are we he's feeling for for Nebraska basketball fans I'm so amazed by that too is part of it not amazed I'm not amazed uh I should say that is that they that they have gone to bowl games every time I say that back to back bowl games you know I get all that's something and I get again nobody goes out there with their goal to be seven and six but you know those are steps forward. And so my kind of saying this off season has been, you know, yeah, you're kind of in seven and six purgatory, but it's better than the hell that you were in before that. So, you know, there's at least something there. And, and that's where you want to see is, are they going to be able to, um, continue that in, and obviously improve again, because nobody sets out a goal

to win seven games. But, you know, I, I think that more than anything, it's not the seven wins, obviously that hurts the buzz last year. It was the way that that broke down. specifically, I think the ceiling or the like prime excitement point for Nebraska football last year was Matt Rule for a few days. This time of year, the school calendar really starts to fill up, spring activities, testing season, and that final push toward the end of the year. It's a great moment for kids to stay focused and build confidence in what they're learning. That's where Iexel comes in. I Excel is an award-winning online learning platform that helps kids truly understand their schoolwork from math and reading to writing and science. It's designed for pre-K through 12th grade, with personalized interactive

content that adapts to each child's level and pace. I-Excel makes it easy to stay on track with instant feedback and clear explanations, skills organized by grade level, and simple progress tracking. It fits into even the busiest spring schedules. It's also trusted nationwide. In fact, I-XL is used in 96 of the top 100 school districts in the U.S. Make an impact on your child's learning. Get I-Exel now. Listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at Iexel.com forward slash today. Visit Ixl.com forward slash today to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. Being in the Penn State job discussion. And then, of course, that what happened after that was a complete disaster. The loss of Minnesota and then the way the

season ended there. So, you know, I think things couldn't have gone a whole lot worse from post Matt Rule Penn State interest and specifically contract extension. And that is why, you know, more so than the final record, we are where we are today at the Nebraska football discussion. Yeah, and I think too, I never like, I think

the extension that kind of was brought upon last season, I don't think it was a bad move at all. I just feel like when that happened, I feel like, okay, like that's another, because that one happened, I believe right before. I don't want to say a couple days, I want to say, but I know, was right before the USC game here. And I was like, okay, there's a lot going on. But it kind of makes sense, but kind of just adds more to it. Like we just extended you.

Now you got to go out here and do this. And then obviously we lose that USC game here. But I think that where we're at as fans, I think we kind of put a lot more pressure and expectations on this team than I think. Not that we need to because, again, like you're saying, no one's goal should be just to make a bowl game at the very most. But I do think that when you do take a step back and it's like, okay, where are we at before this and we had three wins and this and that?

And it's like, okay, yeah, like that. This, this in retrospect, looks a lot better now. But I think for what we are kind of not promised either, because nothing's promised. But I think for the way we expected the season to go last year, it definitely did feel like a down year, especially just with how the season started. You didn't play anybody great, but it was a lot of promise from those games, too. So, I mean, I think we do it to ourselves sometimes,

but I do agree that that standard's there for a reason. You're in Nebraska football player. I expect a little more. I want to see more. So it's a tough predicament to be in there now. But I agree. Matt Rule's doing. doing better than what we had.

And I think that's a good thing to always note on to. It's just we expect a little more sometimes as all. Yeah, yeah. And then when you make those hires again, you're not, you're not hoping for where Nebraska currently is, but at least there is a little bit of, a little bit of stability.

But again, that's even hard to say because of the coaching changes, the constant kind of coaching changes. But again, another thing that I will say with Rob Orge coming in is even though this is your third defensive coordinator, here in year four. The first, through the first two cycles, I mean, you've been able to rely on that defense. I mean, so maybe, maybe it changes. Maybe there are too much changes at some point, but it doesn't really, it hasn't mattered

a whole lot of who's been the defense coordinator at Nebraska under Matt rule. You've had a solid unit. Did the unit kind of fall out last year? Absolutely. And again, that's where they had to make the change. But don't, don't forget. was the top, what, number two in past events? You know, there are some strengths there as well.

And so hopefully with the third defensive coordinator here, you can continue to kind of have at the very least a top 25 defense there. It'll give you a shot to win some of these ball games. That'll wrap it up for our number one on one on one today. Thanks again to Rudy Gras the fourth for jumping in with me today. Yep, that was awesome. Yeah, had a lot of fun. We will be back with our number two of one on one coming up next.

This time of year, the school calendar really starts to fill up. spring activities, testing season, and that final push toward the end of the year. It's a great moment for kids to stay focused and build confidence in what they're learning. That's where Iexel comes in. Iexel is an award-winning online learning platform that helps kids truly understand their schoolwork, from math and reading to writing and science. It's designed for pre-K through 12th grade, with personalized interactive content that adapts to each child's level and pace.

I-Excel makes it easy to stay on track with instant feedback and clear explanations, skills organized by grade level and simple progress tracking. It fits into even the busiest spring schedules. It's also trusted nationwide. In fact, Iexel is used in 96 of the top 100 school districts in the U.S. Make an impact on your child's learning. Get Iexel now. Listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at Iexel.com

forward slash today. Visit Ixel.com forward slash today to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price.