1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Trev Alberts (Nebraska Athletic Director): July 26th, 10:30am

Episode Date: July 26, 2022

Trev Alberts, NIL, trust with coaches, and much more from the Huskers ADAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Back to one-on-one with DP, sponsored by Mary Ellen's Food for the Soul, on 93-7 The Ticket and the Ticket FM.com. Disturb. Welcome back. One-on-one is now full-on. It's a party. We've got the boss. We want to thank you guys for hanging out with us.

You guys are on the video, stream, Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and Twitter live. We see you. Textline, thank you for what you've contributed so far. Let's bring in the boss. Athletic Director, Treb Alberts. sir thank you for doing this how are you i'm doing great i'm here because of j foreman see see see you just you just see set it on fire set it on fire tref you just made v j poke his lip out remember when you're young and they don't get some ice cream

they got the lip poked out look at him he's salt you just a mess he just a mess he just salted me the number the other 34 just salted me up for a black shirt listen i can't be mad i can't be mad they're black search they stick together that's what they do I can't be mad at that but I'm glad you over here anyway big bro no I'm I'm here for all of you I appreciate appreciate you guys this has been exceptional like to be in this space and to know that the leadership has a plan your presence changes the space like that's a thing that's obvious to me that the people's response to you what message do you have for Husker Nation as they sit on the eve of a big football season well I would just say I always start with this

because it's real and it's genuine, is that I'm just so grateful to all of our fans. And I'll tell you, you know, I sat in a day-long meeting with all the other ADs, Commissioner Warren, Big Ten leadership, as we're trying to, you know, sort through and think through what the future looks like, you know, and what does Intercollegiate Athletics look like?

And it's challenging, you know. And then we start walking through other issues. And almost every time these agents, these talk about, well, at Nebraska, I mean, the amount of respect that, you know, nationally people have for our fan base and for the way they support their Huskers is unparalleled. And I think sometimes when we live in the little bubble we live in, that we sometimes, if we're not careful, we take it for granted. And so, first and foremost, I just want to say thank you to them.

And we're going to do everything we can to not take them for granted. We haven't been perfect and we're not always going to be perfect, but we're going to try to do what we can to make sure. And part of that is is playing the field, let's be honest, right? I mean, we have to have a product that so, you know, I want Husker Nation to know that we have really good alignment in the university. There are no excuses. There's no politics getting in the way. I have a really strong relationship with Coach Frost, the assistant coaches.

I think everybody is working really hard. We're likely to make some mistakes. But I think, you know, There's been a lot of change, and it's going to be, you know, this camp is going to be critically important to, you know, you can have a lot of talent, but it doesn't mean you have a team. And so how successful are we taking a new group of coaches and a new group of players and creating a team where they love each other, they care about each other. You know, great teams play for each other, not just for themselves. And, you know, I played for Vichon. He said that on air every day for about two weeks. But my point is, and, you know, not trying to be funny, but in a sense.

But that's what we did have. I mean, you really genuinely cared for the brother next to you. And so I'm really interested to see how well and how successful we are at that. But I've been just really pleased with how willing, administratively, and our coaches have been to do some tough stuff and look at ourselves inwardly and say, hey, there's no guarantee that this will work, but there was a guarantee that what we were previously doing, wasn't being successful, so it'd be unwise to continue doing the same thing. So, proud of it.

I'd like to ask one question before I get out of the way and let the family talk. Are your family? I'm the weird uncle looking. Stop all that. I'm the weird uncle looking in the window. He's Uncle Rollo. He's Uncle Rollo. Right.

This is, you, you, you're special. You are special kind, sir. For everything that happens in space, you wear several. You wear several hats all the time. A part of your competitive nature is what made you great. Your knowledge of football, your football IQ, your presence amongst elite athletes as well. How do you draw the line from the football guy and the administrator? Like, where is that line for you?

Well, it's hard, you know, and I often find myself thinking beyond the line, and I try to hold myself accountable to that. And a lot of times what I think about is I think about my bosses, and I think about the Board of Regents, and I think about even the governor, you know. And so, you know, if Ronnie Green, which, by the way, he does not do, Ted Carter, came to me and said, you know, Trevor, I'm taking a look at your executive staff here, and I'd like you to get rid of these people, get rid of that person. You know, I'd have a real hard time with that. Because in a sense, it would be, you know, if you don't trust me to run this department, then get rid of me. Right. And so at the same time, I think it's wholly acceptable, and they do that, by the way, for them to ask questions and to say, you know, have you thought about this?

And so I've tried to take a similar approach. You know, I played football. I'm not an X as an O's guru guy. You know, what I played is a long time ago. What they're doing now is nothing. So I don't want to overstate that. On the other hand, I think, you know, as you build some trust in relationship with people, you can. have honest, transparent, and authentic conversations.

And, you know, I think some of the things that Scott and not just Scott, but Amy and Fred and the rest of our coaches are more comfortable challenge is the wrong word. But, you know, seeking my, you know, asking the question why, why administratively are we doing this today than they were a year from, you know, ago. So I think so Scott and I, I think can have, and we have had more. poignant conversations. They're not tension-filled. They're just, hey, you know, why are we doing this? And but that comes with time. It comes with trust. And trust goes both ways. You know, we're, I'm seeking hard to earn the trust of our coaches. You know, I think the coaches have to work hard and earn

the trust of administration. And when you do that together, you can have family conversations. And you don't, we're not always going to agree. And so, but, but they've been, they've been really productive. You can't make progress if you don't listen and talk to people. Friction is required. It is absolutely required for self. Oh, man, you know, I'm going to lighten the load a little bit, Trevi. Because how does it feel to walk back up? Was this here when you was here? No, no, this is a real upgrade.

We played a lot. You don't know how old I am. I played on the turf that they zipped up. Dang. That was on the concrete. Yes. And the RCA dome was just a, remember that dome? And it's come a long way.

It's Peyton Manning. He was pretty good to the Colts. Yeah. But no, it's, it's wonderful. My wife's from Indiana. She got two degrees from Indiana. Got her law school degree here in Indianapolis. So her family still lives in northern Indiana.

So a lot of great memories here, a lot of bad memories. I wish I wouldn't have been such a poor NFL player. But it was, it's good. If you had a long career of NFL, you wouldn't be here today. That might be true. You know, God has a plan for all of our lives, and you just humbly accept it. You do the best you can with what you got and where you are. Well, I want to tell you, thank you for taking it easy on me. You brother-in-law, did you brother-in-law me when I was at Nebraska?

No, no, no. Okay, I wanted to make sure that didn't happen. Vijay has always been easy work. You know, if you want to go up the depth chart, you just find VJ or Tim. I mean, you. Trevor. Hold on. See, I was trying to be politically correct.

but now you're going to make me take the gloves off Jay for me. Because you've never been able to deal with me, sir. Ever in your career. But this is how this is the beauty of how this works. Jay's opinion, and it said between his opinion, your opinion, now we'll get the right opinion, and we'll get it straight from Trev Island.

How did this go down? He wasn't even in the building. He wasn't even in the building. One common denominator, which is Vijay. We both had success. VJ helped it. So we got to help. You never had success against me, sir.

Treb, on the other hand, yeah, I was a freshman, true freshman. You? I taught you, young pup. Don't forget that. Trev, I wanted to ask you one thing, just once. BJ was a really good player. Yeah, he was. Yeah, he was a good mouthpiece.

He always kept everything light, you know. I wanted to ask you, you know, as far as, like, you know, recruiting, and then obviously with, like, coaches and stuff, and as the season goes, how important is like when you look at coaches like it's not just wins and losses because it's just as important in recruiting. We talked to Coach Alvarez about how much character is the essence of physicality. You know, if you want to be a physical team, you got to have, it's got to, you know, there's got to be everything you do in life. So I just wanted to see how you guys, how you navigate that because that's got to be hard, you know,

because you got to always dig deeper into what really makes somebody ticking this day and time. It's a great question, you know, And I think it's one of the things that Coach Osborne, as he grew in his career as a coach, was really, really good at. I mean, he identified the right type of people. He knew it. He was kind of the player he was looking for. Not everybody would have been successful at the University of Nebraska. And quite frankly, you know, they were way more talented guys than me that weren't successful because there was, to your point, a certain type of mindset and a certain mental, I think, acuity that was necessary.

But I also think that's part of a young coach and his or her growth. You know, I think when you look at what Scott has done, not only from a coaching perspective, but I think they've tried to make some changes, you know, in the recruiting area. And, you know, it's so hard I can only imagine as a coach, and I've never been one. But if you're trying to build a program and you look at your roster and you're saying, hey, and you look at film and you see this young man and, my goodness, he can run and he can jump, and you get lulled into the athleticism, that doesn't mean he can play.

And I think it takes security, it takes experience and wisdom. You know, the world is full of, not just Nebraska, five-star recruits who look incredible, who will end up with seven career catches for 118 yards. You know, and so, you know, so I think I'm gaining some confidence that I think we're growing in that area.

I'm certainly not suggesting that, we're done, but a willingness to think differently in that area is going to be critical. All right, Trevor, this is the best question. I've been meaning to ask you this. Ever since the first time I met you, actually on my recruiting trip, or not after, well, once you got to the NFL. How was it when you interviewed Bruce Smith that time and he passed? Hey, Tripp, Tripp, I got, I got to ask you.

Because I was at that party the night before, and I watched it live. It was me and Mike Rucker. We were in Atlanta. Yeah. And Bruce Smith had his Super Bowl party at Atlanta Athletic Club. And we were literally watch. I'd watch you all the time. You know, I think you're at CNN then, CNN sports.

I got to give it to you. Hey, if you ever want to know Trevor's composed under pressure, it was live, right? Yeah, just let him fall. Hey, it was live. Give it the backstory. Well, Bruce Smith, we had, he had a party, a Super Bowl party. It was, I mean, I left at four. Bruce was still going.

I don't know what time he interviewed with Treve the next night or day. but we were all recovering still before we were going to go out the next night. So we just flipped it on. It was me, Mike Rucker, Jason Wilts, all former Nebraska players saw Trev. He was working for CNN at that time. It was on TBS. Or TBS, excuse me. And he was interviewing Bruce, and Bruce was interviewing him.

And I was like, he don't look right, you know. And he literally just went over like timber. Boom. Trev looked at him, and then they panned back to Trev. He kept it cool. And then Bruce Smith said that he was dehydrated. I was like, bro, you weren't dehydrated. I was with you all last night.

I'm dehydrated. I wouldn't have fell out like that. So I just had that afterboard with that like that. Let's do this. We'll run a quick station hour break. It'll take 30 seconds. I do want to ask him about the predators that we have on base. This is Lincoln's home for sports talk on the FM dial.

Also online at the ticket. On the internet. KNTK FM Firth, 937 the ticket. laugh he didn't do it we're we're we're we're we're we're here with the boss and Trevor Edwards I look this is what the comedy is I know that this is what happens and I appreciate you sitting in for it the current edition of this this Huskers team now has guys guys who play your position

who must at some level get you excited about the possibilities of having an O'Shawn Mathis a Garrett Nelson a Caleb Tanner etc what do you want for them. What would you say to them? They can change this entire program as you did. Well, you know, it's just interesting. You look back to those days and we just, I mean, Coach Samuel did such a great job of identifying, you know, people in every single year, man, I don't know when it, you had Jeff Mills, Broderick, Tom. I mean, it was every single year. We had a first round draft pick who got pressure on the quarterback, you know, and it was a position that you really wanted to play because you knew it was important to the team. But I, I see, I see, I see.

some talent that can get pressure in a quarterback. And I think as you look at what the portal's been able to do and you're able to identify areas of need, I think, you know, having a left tackle, having a quarterback and having a guy that can get pressure on a quarterback is critical, especially in the Big Ten conference. You have to be able to win one-on-ones. And I think Nebraska, and I think they've got other players too. You know, I mean, I think across the board, they have a chance of getting some pressure on the quarterback. And if you can't get pressure on a quarterback, you you just can't cover guys that long. I need to ask you this professionally

because we at this station try to help maneuver NIL and all of the inner workings. And I just want to say this. If there is a way for us to help you with that, we are open to that. Because I don't want to put you in a tough spot. I don't want to, we don't, that's not what we do.

But I think the idea of you being able to hear your student athletes have voice. be heard, be seen, would be helpful to them. How are you maneuvering through the whole NIL responsibility, reboundering, resetting the GPS and such? Because we want to follow your lead. So what is the approach and what should we be looking at? Well, first of all, thank you for the help, number one.

Number two, I would just say, you know, where we are today is light years from where we were six months ago. And this has been a space that's been really hard for me to understand. You know, as I've said before, trying hard to thread the needle in. You know, the VJ, if they were still players, I want to do everything I can to let them monetize their name image and likeness at the highest level. Right. I don't want to do anything that takes a tool out of the toolbox from Scott or Fred or John Cook. Right.

At the same time, I'm kind of responsible for protecting the integrity of this brand. Right. That doesn't mean something. And so how do you thread that needle? Well, the problem is there's no rules. and you know and there's really ambiguity around which rules still exist. It's one of the things we're tackling in the Big Ten conferences is how do we approach it? So we've got help and I think we're slowly being more aggressive in that area.

I've just taken the approach. I don't know if this is right or not, but we're never going to be first, but we're not going to be last. And so we're going to try to, you know, just manage it. And I think we've, you know, done a good job with it. But we're always looking and I think we'll have some, you know, within the next couple months, some additional resources and announcements that will help us in that space. But eventually, I think we're going to, as an association and as a conference, have to come up with some sort of, not to eliminate it, not to manage it, but we have to put, you know, the big word was guardrails. I mean, how do we have at least some consistency around it so that we don't have one instrument, institution, by the way, California state law mandates certain things.

They're now coming into our conference in 24. So now politics enter into how we're handling this. So that's what we spent a day on yesterday. And how are we going to maintain some competitive equity? How do we create these opportunities for young people? And by the way, there's a Title IX component to it. We can't spend all of our time just getting these two guys, you know, NIL deals.

We've got student athletes on the female side that we're focused on as well too. A lot of work, but, you know, I think these types of things better positions Nebraska than the alternative structure that we've currently had. TRIF, when you think camp is getting ready to open in the next couple days, what are you looking forward to say we took some steps forward? Via practice in terms of practice? Well, I mean, I think you want to see a level of intensity. I mean, everybody's going to be focused real quick on the offensive line. You know, the hardest thing for me, and I back in my day doing a little bit what you guys were doing for 12 years, I learned a tough lesson.

You can get yourself fooled by going to a practice because you think, you know, that that defense isn't very good. And all of a sudden you find out later the offense is really good after they start playing other people. And the defense wasn't as bad as you thought. Or you can get tricked into thinking, this offense is really, really good. Well, you've seen them against your own people. You haven't really, it's hard to make an evaluation until you get into it. the game. I think, you know, I know there's some risk to play a conference opponent in another country in week zero. It's very true. But I think as if I was a player, I don't know about you guys,

but if I knew we were playing a conference game week one, I'd have a different level of mindset and intensity. And I think that's to our advantage given where we are as a program and the amount of change that we've had in the offseason. I think this is a good thing for us. I know there's risk. But so I'm, I'm looking forward to seeing, you know, I mean, what Nebraska? Effort. Focus. Mistakes that are made are corrected in the appropriate way. Focus on special teams. That's all a lot of it in Springball. So you're going to see some change and you're going to see some effort that they'll look a little bit different. And you're going to see some people that I mean, we've got a great opportunity. I mean, I know it's just us old guys, but, you know, I hope these

young people understand the window of time is so narrow. Man, take advantage of this. Enjoy it. The greatest blessing in the world. You get to be a football player for the University of Nebraska. Right. In the Big Ten Conference. Bringing that attitude back is what we need.

You get to go to the greatest university and play for the greatest team in America. You can't change. You can't buy that anywhere else. You can't go to Wisconsin. Can't go to Madison and get that? Nope. What would you have done if you went to Madison? J. Foreman?

You'd have been getting walked by Nebraska. Yeah, eventually. And Ohio State, Michigan. Yeah. Terrible, the elephant in the room is USC and UCLA and what it brings to the conference. From operation standpoint, it changes. Like you've got to replay and redirect some new rivalries to create even in other sports. And I don't want to lose it just on football.

Right. That bringing in USC and UCLA brings in a whole lot more for a. a whole lot of other programs. What in your mind is the priority and focus when we here in Nebraska look at USC and UCLA joining the Big Ten Conference? Well, first and foremost, the nice thing is we have two years to onboard them.

And so we're going to start immediately, and one of the things we've talked about is, you know, the Big Ten takes very seriously the core values in terms of principles on who we are. And at the end of the day, you know, and Kevin talked a little bit about this, you know, at his press conference, While the world is changing and, you know, we'll probably continue to change in terms of player movement and NIL and dollars and compensation, wherever that goes.

At the end of the day, there's still going to be a conference that's really focused on student athletes and their health, well-being. The educational component is going to be really important will always be important. So I think that, you know, we're not concerned about that with UCLA or USC, but we're going to make sure that the Big Ten core values don't change. So you get two years to onboard them to make sure they're part of what we're doing. But there's just so much to sort through. There's our media deals. There's numbers of conference games, divisions, no divisions. Can I sit in on that media?

The media deals, can we? Well, I will only tell you. Fly in the room. Fly on the wall. It's fascinating stuff. It's all good. Yeah. But I would just tell you, because I know, and I'll end with this,

When I took the job in Omaha in 2009, one of the local successful business people, I will say, said, Trev, welcome to Nebraska. You're going to love it here. Nebraska's will expect and demand progress, but they hate change. So good luck. And who are you, brother, put that on a shirt. Put that. I wish somebody giving me that shirt when I got here. Like that one told me a lot.

When you get into Omaha and says, you know, welcome to the Nebraska. That's what you need to put that. Oh, put that underneath that. So what I have talked about as much as I can, and obviously I can't, you know, talk about everything. But I just want our fans to know, and I've talked about the amount of change. And, you know, this is going to look different. It's going to feel different. We're going to be playing different folks.

Travel will be different. You know, it's already different with freedom of movement in NIL and 14 new player. So I just think for us, you know, an institution that really values tradition. which I do too, you know, making sure that we're open-minded enough to embrace because the change, we're not driving or leading the change, but our ability to adapt to the change will be critically important in our ability to be successful. I've said it before. There's going to be winners and there's going to be losers that emerge out of this. And I feel a burden that my job is to do everything I can to help make sure that we're winners and not a loser out of this deal. And so

that's where we're focused. I know you need to get going. Success. If you could give me a description of Husker football and what it should be, what would that be? Well, I just think it's a team that's reflective of Nebraska's and our alumni, you know, and guys that used to play. I mean, when I say this, I'm not meaning to infer or imply that we're not there today.

I'm sure we're going to have to make progress. But I just wanted to be a team that, you know, Nebraska's value hard work. they value doing the little things right, being fundamentally sound, you know, playing for Nebraska, playing together, and never, ever, ever quitting, no matter what the circumstance is. I mean, you talk about people in Nebraska in our state, you know, that, you know, it never ceases to fascinate me. We'll have a flood and, you know, we'll have local farmers that lose their entire herd. They don't complain. They just pull up their bootstraps and go figure it out.

You know, and we do that in Nebraska, but we do it together. When the going gets really tough, we come together. And, you know, I think, you know, listen, I mean, we're in a state with 1.8 million people. There's a lot of strengths about Nebraska, but let's just be honest. We have some drawbacks, too. Well, there's some strengths about USC. There's some drawbacks. They've got some challenges there, too.

Let's not get fixated on our challenges. Let's leverage our strengths and be who we are. And let's not be ashamed to be who we. are. And that's not just in our programs coaching. That's administratively, too. And so, man, I'm proud to be a corn husker. I'm proud to be a Nebraska. And for all that entails. And what I think Nebraska is so special, as you look at Omaha, you know, you look at what Omaha brings, and you look at business leadership, and you look at just entrepreneurialism, you look at Lincoln, you look at Western Nebraska. We got it all. We have a state that has everything that represents America. And

And our job is, and we can use Husker athletics to bring people together, not divide, but bring people together. I think we can be a powerful tool in that. But winning helps. And so we're going to, VJ said I had to do that. So we're going to try to. It's the only reason why we brought him. Just think how many sacks my man would have if he was on this team where they get to play all the time and didn't have to rotate with, you know, the Dante Jones. Yeah, that's true.

I look at these lineback. Duane. And they talk about. playing 80 plays. I'm like, man, look, I don't remember going through practice and only playing Pacific or the team. And you know you're getting 12 plays and you get a, they were like, oh, you get a series in the second half. Okay, cool. We go three and out. It's not even really worth warm enough. They playing ain't the fink. Just imagine how many sacks. I always tell people, Domiconsu was a bad boy. But Jason Peter and those guys and Trev and Grant will get to play the amount

of plays that they got to play. But if you think if they play, if they play, those amount of plays we wouldn't be winning yeah well it might not be effective and then the depth wouldn't be yeah the j formers of the world that was number two your rare first reshirt freshman year you know that guy that was number two out there if if no i couldn't had to take that back couldn't if if matt could you imagine the plays that you make we take those plays away but if you imagine if you have the kind of depth yeah and talent where you're just reloading where where you're basically you know part of when i came out i needed to come out because if you play every play all out right it's okay to get a break right and we you know i mean coach sammy we

watch the film and he he just go back is that are you sprinting here right and you get every guy on defense sprinting every single play yeah you need to rotate but we you got to have the depth to be able to do that to do that yeah it be hard to do it's hard it was hard to beat us because of that though yeah kind sir thank you guys thank you for what you do thank you for how you do it That's important, and it matters. We appreciate you. Yeah, we appreciate this. Kind of, Big Red.

The first 34. That is Trevor Alberts. We'll throw the more from Big Ten Media Days when we come back.