Andy & Ari On3 - Bringing home the W in San Antonio

Episode Date: April 5, 2025

Whataburger fans, it’s time to celebrate — the Mushroom Swiss Burger is BACK! And, honestly, it deserves a welcome party. Two juicy, all-beef patties, melty cheese and two layers of perfectly grilled mushrooms bring the rich, hearty goodness. And let’s not forget the creamy au jus sauce tying it all together like a perfect bite-sized symphony. But here’s the catch— it’s only here for a limited time. So if you love mushrooms, this one’s for you. Don’t be the person wishing they got it after it’s gone. Grab yours today! (0:00-1:27) Intro from San Antonio!(1:28 -12:11) Final Four Preview(12:12-22:25) Whataburger's Executive Chef James Sanchez joins(22:26-32:54) NIL Marketing Agent Landon Goesling joins(32:55-37:03) Whataburger Wing Eating Contest(37:04-40:38) "Cooper Flagg" joins(40:39-44:53) Debbie Stroud, Whataburger CEO joins(44:52-45:26) Conclusion from San Antonio Welcome to a very special edition of Andy & Ari On3 from San Antonio, Texas! We bring you the ULTIMATE preview before the Final Four in San Antonio. Join us to talk to the masterminds behind the incredible Whataburger restaurant. Go inside Whataburger and preview the incredible Final Four in San Antonio here! Watch us LIVE on YouTube, M-F, at 9:30 am et! https://www.youtube.com/@On3sports Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey  

the final four. Welcome to Andy and Orion three. We are here in San Antonio, home of the final four. Join by our friends at Water Burger. We are bringing home the W today, Ari. We got the water wing eating contest. We're gonna get to

meet their executive chef. We got the one of the guys from the Houston Collective to explain how they helped Kelvin Sampson find a bunch of dudes in the NIL era who are still tough and play hard. It's going to be a fun day. Yeah, it's unbelievable to be here. These mics are really, really good, but you can't hear the music's blaring. We got Whataburger behind us. I'm already a few burgers deep. Oh yeah.

Hasn't been the great day for a calorie deficit, but I'm excited because it's worth it, man. It's really awesome to be here. This is unbelievable. I believe we're going have Cooper Flagg joining us later in the show which is amazing because he's playing tonight. Yeah he just stopped by and he looked a little bit different than I thought he'd on TV. Well we had to we had to when we saw him we had to interview him. Um the Final Four is awesome we got a hell of a day. Great matchups. One, one, one, one. That's right. Best fast food. Not foe foe foe foe, but one, one, one, one. And like, it's happy to be here, man. Yeah. What a life we have. This is unbelievable. Unbelievable.

All right. All right. Well, let's get into the games first because we got to talk about how these guys got here, who's going to win tonight, who moves on to Monday. Let's talk about that right now. Ari, this is a crazy Final Four because if you look at the advanced stats, one of these four teams in another year probably would be the runaway favorite to win the national championship

and they all happen to be here at once. Yeah, you know, you talk about sports in general. I'm trying to think like back in the past, Annie, of whether or not any other final four, whether it be football or basketball, has featured this type of scenario. In 2008, you had the four number one seats, but they weren't historically great number one seats. Like you look at the season Auburn had, the season Duke had, the season Florida had, the season Houston had, like it's a national championship profile.

It's really similar to what UConn did last year, except you can't didn't run into three other Yukon's in the final four. And I mean, when you think about what's compelling in sports Titans first Titans biggest stage and you know, it's just like you could feel the energy just even on the streets out here, man. Oh, yeah, it's a pretty exciting situation and like the game should be high-level basketball. That's the thing like not everybody loves college basketball, but I think part of the

reason why some people become dis enamored of it is because when you have lower middle quality college basketball, it's not as sloppy. Yeah, right. So if you watch really good teams playing really good teams, you have the highest level of basketball. That's what makes us most well. And you're watching you're watching NBA players. You're watching old good watching NBA players you're watching

Old good college players a mix of all of these and because like the duke guys. Yes Cooper flag is gonna be the number one pick in the track Cockanipple is gonna be a lottery pick malawak's gonna be a lottery pick. They're young guys. They're gonna but They've got tyrese proctor who's a little older and then then you go to Houston where they're extremely old across the board. LJ Cryer has been a role player on a national championship team as a freshman at Baylor. Florida has this mix of young guys and old guys. Elijah Martin is starting in a final four

for a different team. Like he started in a final four for Florida Atlantic two years ago, it's wild. It is kind of crazy. And the thing that is interesting is like in college basketball, Andy, do you take the team that has two lottery picks on it, the younger kids or do you take three lottery picks? But even like the point though is like, do you go with the lottery picks who are younger? Do you go to season veterans or do you go with the combo? It's interesting

because I think you want the combo, which is really more of Duke in Florida. Excuse me, of Florida and Auburn. Duke is younger, but Duke has enough age and experience that it sort of overcomes that. And Duke also is young and generational, right? I know we throw that word around a lot, but does Cooper flag meet that? This is a very good Duke team.

If we're talking about, is it as good as say, now remember Mike Susefci's best Duke team probably was the one that didn't win the title. Like they lost to the Caledon-Lamien-Yukon team in 99. But if you look at the talent, like the Christian Leitner-Grant Hill type teams, we don't know if this group will wind up being as good as those guys were going forward. But it's entirely possible that we are looking at that and

because we're in a different era of college basketball, we don't get to see them play together for three or four years. We may only get this one year of this, but this may be a generationally special team. Well, I mean, the thing that's funny is you know this about me, Andy, and love it or hate it. I'm very prisoner of the moment. I'm reactionary.

I think things but when I said this Duke team is the best team I've ever watched statistically it held up like people were comparing it to other great teams they are they are among the best statistical teams ever literally in that moment living that moment right now and like is Cooper flag one of the best NBA prospects in Slebron? Yes. Yes. I mean, now it's where we're at. So here's the thing. Grown man strength though matters. It matters in college football. It matters in college basketball. Houston's a bunch of grown ass men. 23 year old dudes

who are very experienced. Joawan Roberts has seen it all. He's done it all. Like, and it's interesting because you look at Houston, and obviously we talk about Duke and their height, where the 6'6 is the shortest starter, 6'5 is the shortest rotation player. Houston, you know, their best post player is 6'8. But Jawan Roberts has a 7' wing span.

And they got a couple guys with a 7' wing span. It's not going to be as easy for Duke inside as it has been for some of these teams that they've played. The thing that I've really been impressed with when it comes to Duke is that they aren't just like, I mean, first of all, when Cooper flag, it's barreling to the hoop, I don't think Shaq and his prime could stop him. Um, you know, I don't know. Well, they're running sets. It's a very advanced system. Yeah. That's the thing is the system and the way that they're running sets. It's a very advanced system. That's the thing. It's the system and the way that they

play their basketball. It's not, let's just roll these great athletes out and let them play. But if you are going to be the team that gets in Duke's way of winning this national championship, you are going to want brute strength, but also discipline. Because when you're this old and have been playing this, you know how to use that strength

in the right capacity. And the thing is, LJ Cryer is not going to be afraid of the moment. He's not going to be like, oh my god, I'm in a dome, I'm playing Duke. He doesn't care, he's done all this before. Yeah, so I mean, in terms of like the compelling matchups of the day, I don't know if you, you live in Gainesville, so you'll probably hear more about the Florida stuff.

Yeah. But like this Duke-Houston game as the nightcap, I can't wait for, but also too, like when you talk about brute strength, running clean sets, being disciplined, fighting for loose balls in the first half, like their backs are against the wall. I think Auburn exhibits that very well, too.

So Auburn and Florida is going to be so much fun. They played once, but Florida went and won at Auburn. And if you look at that game, the Florida people are like, well, Elijah Martin didn't even play in that game. And the Auburn people are like, yeah, but you hit a bunch of shots that you're not going to hit another time. I don't think you can take anything from that.

I think both these teams are good enough to win the national championship, and it's going to be about who makes shots tonight. Yeah, right. And it's like sometimes in basketball, we do all this analysis of back and forth of age breakdowns and lottery picks versus veterans. Like, sometimes it's as simple as who's making their shot and who's making their

open look. Jani Broom is he playing with one arm? How healthy is he? We watched that injury it looked like his elbow came out a joint on his right arm. He's a lefty. How the hell did that man come back in the game? Because he's tough but he was knocking down threes and I know and getting rebounds it was crazy so that is the thing about this game is how healthy is Jani Broom how does he handle playing against Alex Condon and and Florida's front line which they'll you know they'll throw they'll go twin towers on you they'll throw Micah Hanglot in there and you're playing as two seven footers

so that's the question and then um yeah it's going to be a war down there underneath. But then the guard play, obviously, Walter Clayton Jr. Tahad Pettiford is one of the most exciting players. Like, Walter Clayton Jr. and Tahad Pettiford playing against each other in the same game, you have no idea what will happen, because they're both kind of no, no, no, no, yes guys.

Well, that no, no, no, no, yes moment that Walter Clayton Jr. had might have been one of the better no, no, no, no no yes guys. Well that no no no no yes moment that Walter Clayton jr. had. Might have been one of the better no no no no yeses as somebody who had skin in the game. Yeah. Literal skin in the game. I was like oh my god and like you want to talk about the onions on that guy. That's right and but to hot pettiford. Grilled onions. As a freshman also grilled onions. And grilled mushrooms and mazza. Chad Baker Mazzara for Auburn, he's the grilled jalapenos. So like honestly, the Final Four is always one of the best events of the year, but when you think about these teams, I think that best case scenario won, won, won, won. You know?

Alright, let's do it, Ari. First game, Florida-Auburn, who you got? So do we have to stick to what we had before? You can do what you want How am I supposed to do that I Guess because I'm guessing you're gonna you're gonna place a wager on How are we feeling what are we thinking I love Florida I Love the way they shoot the ball. I love how streaky they are when they get hot they rolled out deal I went to school there. I don't care. Not so fast, my friend.

Oh, OK. I'm going to stick with my original pick. I love the way that Auburn plays the game, their tenacity. Broom is one of the most versatile and tough players out there, and I just like their muscle. And I feel like, you know, I think the game that you said earlier is going to come down to who makes shots.

I don't know. Like in football, when we break down games, I think it's easier. And you know how impossible that is. Sometimes you don't know who's going to come down to who makes shots. I don't know, like in football, when we break down games, I think it's easier. And you know how impossible that is. Sometimes you don't know who's going to be on and who's going to be off. But if you have to know, if you don't know who's going to be on

and who's going to be off, I think that maybe Auburn has some things in the tank there that might get them over the edge in a bad shooting night if they have one. Well, I am sticking with the Gators. Call me a Homer, if you will. But I think they have too many weapons and I also think their interior defense is something that can make Jani Broom a little bit

uncomfortable. That's really like if Cotton gets in foul trouble if he twists his ankle again then you got a problem but if they are fully healthy like they have been I like Florida in this game. Nightcap. Houston Duke. I've got Duke winning it all Andy. I do Duke. I've got Duke winning it all, Andy. I do too. I've got Duke winning it all and I hate myself. I'd like to try to make this more dramatic, but they're just, they have too many weapons and they can beat you your way,

they can beat you their way, it doesn't seem to matter. I think a lot of times too, in sports, this happens a lot in football. We try to talk ourselves out of what's right in front of our faces. And like, you know, I think that Houston brings a lot to the table. Everything that you just illustrated, I think is a great point. I like age. I like toughness. I like being brute. Brute toughness. But Duke is, they play basketball in a beautiful poetic way. And it doesn't, I don't even think it matters if they're making shots or not. They're gonna find their way to the cup.

They're gonna draw fouls. That's the problem. They're gonna beat you in any type of way that they can. And guess what? I've watched some Duke basketball this year. I don't think I've seen a team, even for five minutes stretch, make them play a type of game they don't wanna play.

And maybe it feels that way because they can play multiple types of games. Because they can beat you however they want. And that's what's scary about them. So I'm with you. So you got Auburn Duke in the title game, I got Florida Duke in the title game. Let's see who's right. Yep, I can't wait.

And you know what? No matter who's right and wrong, it's gonna be great. It's gonna be a great event, great thing to watch. And the best thing about basketball is you get two games in one building and more games earlier in the tournament. Wouldn't it be great if a football had like five games on the same stage? My god.

You get there at 9 AM on the opening round. With Wattaburger outside? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's amazing. What a day. What a life we live. We are blessed. Next up, we're talking to Waterburger's executive chef about how he comes up with all these

amazing creations. Be right back. We are honored to be joined by James Sanchez, the executive chef at Waterburger. This is the genius who comes up with things like the Mushroom Swiss Burger. James, tell us how you got to what a burger It's a long road, man. I've been I've been cooking for like 36 years and somehow a Couple years back. I didn't realize that I I wanted to

Reach more folks instead of being in a restaurant. I wanted to breach and reach without the restaurant the reaches like, you know A thousand people a week. I wanted to reach a thousand people a day and so I converted over to the quick service restaurant business and landed in the probably the best restaurant out there. You know, the thing that Andy and I talk about, we have dream jobs. Look at us. We get to go to sporting events and talk about it. And then I meet someone like you and I feel like my life sucks. Why don't you explain to the people when you say executive chef, like when you reach these people, what is the actual details of your job? And how do you go about doing it? Yeah, so, you know like the executive chef of a

Place like this creates or kind of cascades the thought the idea the flavor Inspiration so I'm all about inspiring the people on my team So that ultimately the folks at the front line, the family folks, our family members that execute these burgers, they're just as inspired. So my job is inspiration. My job is planning. My job is, you said dream job earlier, like this is ultimately the dream job

of the culinary world, no doubt. So how does the creative process work? Like with the mushroom Swiss burger, are you just sitting around, okay, I love a mushroom Swiss burger, but like it's different because you've got to put it across hundreds of restaurants. You've got to have 16 year olds able to recreate it. How do you how do you do that? Yeah it's it starts with an idea and inspiration being like you know there's a traditional sauce that goes on a steak called a apwav and I wanted to make anivre on a burger. And that's how it all started.

So it started with a poivre and then, and then we made it into like an emulsified or a mayonnaise based. So it was just like really beefy, umami, delicious, robust flavor that kind of accompanies and extends the mushrooms. And then this, you know, that salty sweet cheese, Swiss cheese, just really put it together.

So it's just iteration. It's this idea after idea for us to get together and do it. What do you think your best idea was and where were you when you came up with it? You know, we have this this iconic burger. It's a one thick and hardy that everybody wants us to bring back. And we love it. But we've we've retired it forever. So we just made a knockoff of the A1 Thicken Heart

and we called it the Chop House Cheddar was number two. The next one we did was a steak, like a, as an amazing steak burger, right? And it was just me at a steak house, having a burger with the right products that just inspired me. It's like, I gotta really figure out this creamy steak sauce burger and make it into something that's gonna be ridiculous. So it you know inspiration comes everywhere comes in restaurants. It comes in experiences

He wanted you to stay within the shower That's where I get all my ideas so The thing about it is and this is what people are saying you got to be able to scale it you got to be able That's what I was talking to your vice president of marketing, she's like, you know, everything he does has to be recreated by all of the employees in the restaurant. So how many tests do you go through before you get to a point where like, this is ready to go, we can make this now?

That's a great question. You know, like we have, we normally start with sauces, right? And there was a sauce that had a, it was on a, like a smoke, smokehouse burger, like bacon, like bacon black pepper sauce. That, that sauce, that barbecue sauce took iteration 28. So we went, you know, sauce number one, version one, version 28 was where we finally landed. And that was just a sauce. And then seven or eight different types of cheese grilled onions fried onions raw onions

Spicy pickles no pickles extra pickles coleslaw all these different versions of it So 18 months and two years to get a burger across the finish line the the Outcomes of that burger are more diverse than the NCAA tournament. It's true, it's true. It was our sauce bracket, like number 28 is going to make it. Yeah, it's funny, like Cinderella. It's a minor tweak of like, oh, up the cayenne, drop the thicker, you know, chunk of pepper,

put a smaller fine piece of pepper in there so that it lays out differently. It's two or three different layers of what you're trying to accomplish from a flavor and also a texture. And then bringing it all together with like the cheese and the patties and the, just the gooeyness of how it eats. I know that's hard to say, right? The gooeyness. It's not.

I'm just, I'm getting hungry. We've got burgers over there. But all right, I gotta ask you, what is the one concept or the one? Item that you've said that's my my holy grail. That's what I've got to be able to figure out how to put in Whataburger stores? Oh, there's so many You know, I would love to figure out a way to bring truffles, right and and funny thing is like years ago It was blue cheese like

we wanted I wanted to put blue cheese between two burger patties and everybody thought I was wild and we got it across the finish line we sold it as an amazing burger but if I could figure out a way to have really cool truffle flavored something I think that would be pretty ridiculous so we're working on it what's the craziest idea that didn't make it across the finish line that you think would have hit? I would say like a like a bun that was shaped like a waffle and it had a spicy what it was a bun shaped like a waffle I had a chicken like a fried chicken filet fried egg and a spicy hollandaise. Whoa!

Respectfully, what the hell went wrong? Try again! Respectfully, what went wrong? It just wasn't the right time with the right organization and the right leaders. So those are those things that I put in a parking lot, and then one day I bring them back and I'm like, all right, here we go.

It's game time. So that's like, we haven't looked at that idea for five years, so it's gotta come back. I will be beating down the door when that... I've had that before, that if you get a really good piece of chicken and you put it between two waffles, the chicken and waffle sandwich, but what you just described is the ultimate version of that. We were just too early. That happens a lot, right? We had a Mexican hot chocolate shake. right? Like we had a Mexican hot chocolate shake. They just... yeah we just we just took it off the menu. It was a limited time offer but we designed that

four years ago. We took it to leadership. Everybody loved it and you know you look at that one leader that just looked at you like are you serious? It's like how are we gonna pull this off? And sometimes it's just too early and you gotta respect the idea. It's the man who was born before his time you know. I say we go over here and look at what you've been doing now. Let's go check this out. All right so we have a lot here we've got we've got your sauces we got Nashville hot we got sweet and spicy, honey barbecue, buffalo but here's this is the limited time this is the mushroom Swiss. That's it. Look, it's hot

Two patties mushrooms in two different places what a doctor feels like when they're Baby comes into the world Got the applause. This is right. Yeah, like this I can buy him at a steakhouse and I order the op-op and they're charged me eight bucks to put that on my state That's right. Yeah. Oh Alright, Andy go for it. Are you talk? I'm just gonna watch too. I just think I feel like the nurse you're the medical doctor So are you will tell you I am vehemently anti mayonnaise but

We get something he spent the leader acts with the mayonnaise to chemically change it as you have done here. Thank you It is spectacular. This is amazing like like I said earlier you know we have our frontline family members we just we think the world of and it's all about them right I want to I want them to be just as inspired 18 or 20 months that I put this together I want them to every time they execute it to just love the burger and I stay up at night in the shower. In the shower, there you go. Looking for inspiration in every place I can,

just so that we can impress our family members and just make them want to execute this amazing food. I don't have a question, I just have a request. Will you hold this please? Of course I will, yeah, for sure. This is so freaking good. So I have not had one of these because I have not been able to get to a Whataburger during the limited time

that they've been out in the past. Oh my god. We do all right. You do better than all right. Thank you, bro. Thank you. This is incredible. It doesn't taste like fast food.

No. No. Somebody would pay $25 for this in one of these fancy hotels. And you know, that's the amazing thing. Like, you know, I have a culinary background. I cook professionally for 30 something years. I've been on this side of the business for about 15. And you know, it's just the best, it's a, you know, you guys said dream job.

It is the best job I could ever find. So. You gotta keep talking. I'm sorry. I appreciate you guys. I'm just chewing. James, thank you so much. Thank you.

Thank you guys for having me. Thanks for having, thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you guys for having me. Thanks for having Water Burger. Don't cut this yet. This shirt. We gotta talk about the shirt. I need one of these. We're all about the swag. Ari is on point. Oh yeah. Well, Ari's gonna need... Are we large now? We're a medium. No, we're in between large to get a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a

little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a

little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a And then, all right.

Next we're going to learn how in the NIO age did Houston put together this team of tough dudes. One of the main contributors to Houston's collective, Link U, is going to join us, Landon Gosling. Also he was on The Bachelor, so I know Ari has questions. Let's get to it now. We are joined now by Landon Gosling of the Link U Collective. You guys have helped Houston to get here.

And I got to ask, you're a former Houston basketball player. You actually were a grad assistant for Kelvin Sampson. What has it been like watching this program become what it is now? Man, it's been unbelievable. It's been special. I think I was talking to a bunch of folks in the lobby earlier today.

It's like, this is what those June 1st workouts, everybody's heard about it, right? June 1st and a Kelvin Sampson workout. It's military style. Everyone's throwing up. Everyone's calling mom, like, why am I here? From day one, when you go down and break the huddle, it's it's final four on three Like that's the goal. That's the standard in that program. I think we've been so close, you know the last couple years

So to finally get here, you know, it's a sense of accomplishment But it's like, you know, we belong here and we're not finished right? We're trying to be here until Monday night The thing that I think is interesting is like when you you know, we're gonna get back to the basketball questions I can't do this right now because I'm supposed to have the best hair on this podcast What's going on with it? What a flow? I can't I can't take my eyes off of it funny story about that is I shaved my head for like all the way up to tell my sophomore year in college and then One day my buddy and my mom, you know, they're sitting there talking

They're like you try to grow your hair out, right? So I started growing it out realize I had a little bit of curls, which is not in the family. So I've stuck with it ever since and it's worked. I mean, it's working really well. It's your handsome man. And that's how you're going up in the bachelor. Yeah, yeah, definitely.

I ended up on the bachelor short lived, but a great experience. And I'll save those stories for later. Yeah, Katie Thurston's just not smart if she let you go pal. I got a question. This lady did fine for himself. It all worked out. All right. that's why I said she's dumb. That's my lovely wife, okay, so it all worked out. So the question I do have though is like,

I don't think people realize or appreciate how much work goes in behind the scenes and assembling a roster, both making numbers work, picking the right people, the deployment of funds in the correct way and stuff. Can you take us into what it's like to be on that side of it? And how difficult is it to,

even if you have the money to use it correctly, to get to build a team that's good enough to get here? What's crazy about that is we're in such a unique position at the University of Houston with Coach Samson, right? He's like, he's an old school coach that, this program is all about culture and the kids that come here, he always says it, if you don't want problems, don't recruit them.

It sounds so simple, but he's done a tremendous job. And so the kids that come through this program, they wanna get better. They wanna get to the next level. And I think Milo's, Milo Suzanne's a perfect example. Came from Oklahoma in the last three or four months. He's played himself into a really, really good spot. And so that whole process starts super early, right?

But I think it all goes back to the trust factor playing for Coach Sampson, being a grad assistant. You know, Coach has a small circle and that trust factor is there. And again, we get kids that come to the University of Houston that want to be there, that want to develop as young men, as young leaders in the community and on the basketball court, obviously.

Well, and, but how do they find guys like that? Cause you hear coaches complaining that though in the NIL era, that's very hard to do. But you watch Houston play, and you just talk about the workouts that people have to go through. And Kelvin Sampson hasn't changed. So how do you find that type of person?

And not necessarily that you recruit out of high school, but like an LJ Cryer who watched play at Baylor for three years. I think the answer to that is, and I won't get into too much of the secret, Saul, but it's doing due diligence and homework. And again, I've been on both sides now, right, as a graduate assistant in kind of behind the scenes. And this is a true story. You know, in the office with Coach one day,

crude and a kid, and he calls the schools and asks to speak to the lunch lady. This is a true story, right? What is this kid like? How are his kid like? How are his manners like? So that's how far Coach goes into this process and how much in depth he looks for these kids

and goes through the whole vetting process. And I don't know how he does it, but again, there's a secret sauce, but that's just a story that just still blows my mind to the day. Hey, the lunch lady might not have some nice things to say about me, because I want my stuff down already,

but hey, that's really cool. For you though you though personally like you said some sense of accomplishment do you feel really good right now about what you guys are doing and yourself and how you did this I feel amazing you know they hang banners for Final Four again you know our work is not complete but I think you know a couple of things that are different about this team is one we're healthy right like the last several years we've been down at least one starter, sometimes multiple starters, and then we're just balanced, right? We have multiple guys that can go out and get it on a night-to-night basis.

We're not so dependent on one player. I think we've always been there defensively, one of the best teams in the country, but offensively this year, I mean, we're the second- and third-best three-point shooting team in the country. So they're flowing, they're playing their best basketball in March, and as Coach Sampson says, now we're 40 minutes away from being 40 minutes away. So how has this process evolved?

And obviously we're sitting here Saturday. Monday is gonna be a very different day for you guys in the collective world. How much has the world changed between 2021 and now? It's unbelievable. I mean, it's already starting, right? We're in the final four, but we're already dealing with everything, right? Roster retention, you know, what's

everything going to look like? And I'm heavily involved in that process the last 48 hours, right? And it's like, it's the way college athletics has shifted. And it's changed a lot just since I got in the NIL space when it first started, right? And I think, again, it goes back to having a special culture and a special program and having a special leader in coach Samson. Let me ask you this, this is all changing still right like there's some pretty big changes in terms of how players are going to be compensated right around the corner here how do you think that's going to impact you and what you guys are doing? You know I think for us it's a day-to-day it's a day-to-day sometimes hour-to-hour process

right and I think we we positioned ourselves we said it from day one to do NIL the right way and I think if it's done the right way there's so many good things that can come out of it, but we have to be quick on our toes and things change, like I said, by the hour. So we're positioned ourselves to be able to do that, but always lean and know that we're doing it the right way. We're developing young men. And we always say our biggest goal is to bridge the gap for when these guys are done playing

and they enter the real world. And it gives them, that's probably my biggest joy to this point is seeing the growth in these young men the last two years. The first time we go do an NIL experience, two or three years ago, everybody's on their phone and then to seeing the growth in these young men the last two years. You know, the first time we go do an NIL experience, you know, two or three years ago, everybody's on their phone and then to see the growth and now everyone's phones in their pocket and it's a race to go talk to the business owner. It's a race to go talk to the supporters, right?

How's your wife? How's your family? That goes so far with these guys. So to see their growth has been unbelievable. How do you handle the push and pull? Like your partner Austin is a former football player. You've obviously got to help coach Fritz and his team too. How does that work out of the conversations go between you guys and coach Sampson and coach Fritz and then your AD? I think it all goes back

again to the culture and I think the number one thing is coach Sampson has been such an advocate for coach Fritz in his program because coach Fritz is a he's very similar to coach Sampson. He's all ball coach he's gonna uh... teach the right things develop young men and be all about culture right and so we know as a university you know to take the next step we've got to get our football program there in coach samson's been the number one advocate for that so you know they say they'd say uh... uh... i can't remember the phrases but all are

are raising tides the top of somewhere along those lines but i know that coaches been co-sets been so so heavy on pushing coach Fritz and the culture and again support from the football standpoint because at the university that's how we take the next step. Thank you for the perfect segue because my foaming at the mouth talk about football a little bit. So I do think it's interesting when you say you know the rising tide lifts all boats and stuff how much does basketball and being on TV, being in the Final Four help football? And then the other part to this too is, Andy and I talk about this all the time as it pertains to the Big 12,

it feels like it's like a wide open race on which team now is going to take that conference over, be the next. And it seems on paper, if you were just like starting at year zero right now, that Houston would have all the things that you would want especially being located in one of the most densely Populated cities in the country for high school football town. What do you think the ceiling is for that football program? And how does this help that that ceiling? Well, I think the ceiling is goes back to coach versus history He's won everywhere. He's been right and a football you're dealing with a hundred kids opposed to 15 And I think as you guys can see the recruits that we're getting the kids we have coming in, you know They talk about all the time. We got to win the grassroots first right so we

have to win and recruit our backyard and win in the city of Houston in the state of Texas before we go elsewhere and so I think it's starting to trend in the right direction I'm really excited about this football season with coach Brits at the helm you know and coach Samson right there backing him and also you know Eddie our AD Eddie Nunez has been absolutely tremendous in this process and has been very at the forefront of NIL and kind of a call to action of, hey, we need you guys to step up in a big way to your point. You know, we're playing in the Big 12 that we believe is, you know, the best conference

in college athletics and we can go out and compete for championships in both football and in basketball. So, here's my question. Obviously, you don't want to get ahead of yourself, but if you win tonight and Florida wins tonight, your AD is an ex-Florida basketball player. How is he going to handle that? He's going to be wearing red and he's going to be saying go Cougs. I actually had a conversation with him that's funny.

But you know, he's all in from day one. He's been all in leaning on the people that have been there, but also, you know, speaking up, being at the forefront and getting engaged in the community. I think it's been very important. And so we had some great people that laid the foundation, but also you know speaking up, being at the forefront and getting engaged in the community I think has been very important. And so we had some great people that laid the foundation but I think you know we're taking the next step here and putting Houston on this national stage is just unbelievable for the for the university and for the city of Houston. Lando we got a little something for you. We got these custom water burger basketballs that is for you to take home and put

that right in the foyer of your house so first thing that anybody looks at when they come into your place look at that thing my front room I have a big office with all my jerseys for my former players and basketballs right in and this is awesome shout out to water burger man my wife was over there eating about three three burgers she's gonna get mad at me for saying that but we love water burger well awesome well hopefully maybe it'll be a commemorative of a national championship run who knows. Let's do it let's do it. We're 40 minutes away from being 40 minutes away. Yeah well you know the thing that I think you're in a good position is you

want this moment to last forever because it's great you get the second game you can watch the first game as a little bit of an appetizer and then you can enjoy the evening. When we shut these cameras off just give me what your hair product guy is and we'll be in good shape but thank thank you. As soon as the camera's off, I'll keep it inside. Yeah, all right. Thank you so much, Lander, man. I really appreciate you. Appreciate you. Next up, Ari, we got a little one-of-wings eating contest. I don't know how much I can handle. We are several burgers deep, but I'm going to do my best. Yeah, I mean, I think people

train for eating competitions, let alone eating four burgers before we start. I'm not going to promise any great performances, but I'm excited to dig in and see how I can do. I will give it the old college try. All right, you have heard us talk about Whatta Wings on the show. We are now going to have a little contest to see who can put down an order of Whatta Wings the fastest. I are now gonna have a little contest to see who

can put down an order of water wings the fastest. I've got Adam here from Water Burger. He is gonna MC slash referee. Are you ready? I'm ready. So to go fantastic. Alright to go over the rules we have team sweet and spicy water wings versus team honey barbecue Whatta Wings. The winner of this championship round will get our bling bling blind W, which is a prized possession in our Whatta Burger world. And so when I go on three on three, we will start this competition. Anybody who's listened to the show knows what's going to happen here.

Okay, so I'm going to do my best. Three years ago, I went to a steakhouse and had to get rushed to the emergency room to get something removed from my esophagus. So good luck with you. See how fast you can eat them, but I'm gonna do my best. All right, going down in history. All right, gentlemen, you start on three. One, two, three. All right. The competition is fierce. We are taking these 100% all white breasted tenders, well soft, honey barbecue sauce and our sweet and spicy, which is one of our fans' favorites. the Whataburger chain. We are slowly getting into a position where...

Oh, there it is. Looks like we are getting down to the wire. And if anybody's green contest at this point, I will say, Andy's definitely got a little bit of an upper hand at this point I will say Andy's definitely got a little bit of an upper hand at this point but time will tell. Oh absolutely. I see Ari's got the look of a champion in his eyes. Yeah this is River here emceeing this Andy is wearing them out. Ari's trying to catch up but he looks like he's struggling a little bit. Right I think we're getting down to the uh about Ari's trying to catch up but even thinking struggling with it. I think we're getting down to the uh the last tender bite. Last one Andy's got nine down.

Ari's slowing up. Andy is teams in the foul. Wow. It is for the win. Andy has won. We have a winner. Andy thank you. Ari thank you. Those are all big pieces a winner. Andy, thank you. Ari, thank you.

Those are all big pieces of meat. Andy, what's the smaller one for me? You know what? We can protest this. I got it. It's under protest. Whataburger does everything big. That's why it is Whataburger.

So I commend you both. But we will have to name a champion, which is Andy. And we now crown Andy as our champion for the wing eating contest. Look at that chain. What a chain. What a day. What a wing. These are awesome. Next up Ari, Cooper flag. The man, the myth, the legend. Maybe the biggest guest we've ever had like four minutes before he plays All right, we are honored special guest here turn around Cooper flag we got Cooper flag right here as a spur sit out Cooper flag now What sort of chicanery are the San Antonio Spurs pulling to land you in the lottery,

Cooper Plank? Well, I made a phone call to Adam Silver and told him, this is the place that I want to be. I know from history that this is the best city, lots of culture. It's a great town. I think I would be great alongside Wimby with Darren Fox and Castle. It would be awesome. Is there any nervousness about playing with Wimby, who's one of the most young, exciting players in the league?

He's so conscientious and seems like such a good teammate who's got a lot of versatility to him. I think he'll be a leader who can help teach me. Can you even speak French? Oui? No. No French for me. Poquito espion for San Antonio.

How relieved were you that the Wizards didn't win the lottery? Oh, I am really hoping that doesn't happen. I know I saw the- You could just go back to Duke, right? Yeah, yeah, I would rather go back to Duke. I'll transfer to UTSA before I go play for the Wizards, man. I'll talk.

So this is David. He's Wishcasting here, but then again, so are the Spurs. So I looked it up. They are the fifth most likely team. We get the number one overall pick 10 and a half percent odds. Uh, I hope we get up to that high. I think we were a little bit lower than that, but either way it's the lottery. Anything can happen. And, um, it would be great for this city. It would just be awesome to have him in Wimby, but we can't be selfish cause we did get the Victor Wimbenyama lottery and this would be double

dipping. So I grew up in Orlando, Magic fan. So there was the Shaq lottery followed by the draft Chris Webber in trade for penny lottery. So it can be done, but have you, have you, you know, since you've been here, you're from San Antonio, have you gone to see actual Cooper flag to put the bug in his ear? No, not yet. I tried to make a phone call to his agent You can't get a hold of these guys, and I know you as a magic fan Y'all that Tim Duncan movement that almost came to try it. Yeah, are you going to the games today? Not going to the games today My brother's a big Red Raider, and we had big plans and unfortunately his bitterness kind of took us a different direction

Yeah, Walter Clayton, Jr Just strove a dagger through your hearts, but that's okay. Yeah You got another chance Cooper flag So if you see Cooper flag coming out of the dome tonight, you're gonna be like hey Unless it's the Spurs go back to Duke You've got a you got to go to NBA comm and get the personalized jersey with his name sewn in there just to really make it Happen. Yeah Absolutely, man, if I saw Cooper flag, I would tell him he knows this is the place where he would want to be the final jersey with his name sewn in there just to really make it happen. Yeah,

absolutely, man. If I saw Cooper flag, I would tell him he knows this is the place where he would want to be. Um like I said, great areas, good military town, great healthcare industries, lots of local parks. It'll feel just like home

tourist events. Here we are. The final form and Antonio and Durham are very similar, aren't they? Well, he's from Maine. So, I don't know if that's true but the small town feel the small town feel. Oh yeah yeah listen wish you the best of luck good luck in the lottery and sorry about the Red Riders. That's okay what can you do there's always next year right? Dallas Cowboy Fance Motto. Thanks for being here buddy. Appreciate you. Coming up next, Waterburger CEO, Debbie Stroud.

Really the biggest guest we've ever had on this show. Most important. Yeah, when you think about impressive people we've had on this show, Andy. I mean, it's pretty incredible to have a CEO of a company, not just a CEO of a company, but a company that large. And that awesome. That amazing.

We are honored to be joined by Debbie Stroud, the CEO of Waterburger, our first CEO guest. It's an honor to be here. Thank you. Yeah, I was telling Debbie before we started shooting, we've had eighties, we've had coaches, we've had players, we've had some pretty famous people on the show before pretty regularly and I think you're our number one. So welcome to the show.

Thanks for being here. It's an honor to be here with all of you. Thanks for showing up for all of the fans that are in to see the games. It's great. So how do you how do you get to be the CEO of a major restaurant chain like this? I know you worked at McDonald's in the past and are you allowed to say that anymore? Is it because we've all worked for different media companies. So like we've worked for the competition so we know what that's like.

But what is it like when you then take over and you have to go against your old teammates? Well, first of all, Wetterberger is a very unique and iconic brand. It's our 75th year. It's our 75th birthday this year on August 8th. And so I always tell people, it may have taken me a while to get here,

but now that I'm here, I'm bleeding orange. So I love what a burger. You sound like a football coach or a basketball coach. These have always been my favorite colors. It's my dream job. It is my dream job. You know I get to lead 53,000 wonderful family members every day and they're the heart and soul of the brand for sure. I just had a heart attack thinking about 53,000 people like being responsible for their well-being. I don't even know how you do that. Well, it's easy because when you're serving patty melts or mushroom Swiss burgers, the energy is high usually. Yeah, well, the thing that I think is interesting too is that there are some people like Andy who had the unfortunate nature of growing up in a place that didn't have Whataburger. I did.

But what's it like, you know, kind of guiding the expansion of this new places, new cities, new customers, new family members, and how do you pick what places you expand to next? Yeah, so there's a few things. I'll start with the end, which is this is a fun iconic brand, which is fun to introduce people to. So it does take a minute to explain to everybody like what is a never frozen, all fresh, made to order burger like, because it's different than maybe the burgers that they're used to getting in their hometown. And then the orange and white stripes are iconic. So when we show up, we try to show up in a special way. And that's fun. That's fun to introduce to new customers.

How do we choose? Well, our supply chain is a big deal. So when we talk about our beef, you know, you can't stretch too far But we like to go where the people are, you know and where there's loyal fans that are asking this regularly on social media You know come here come here. Well got a lot of Florida fans back there. I live in Gainesville I can drop you some pins Potential location. So whatever you're ready to come on where the pin is potential location so whatever you're ready to come on where the pin is. Tampa 2026 we boot track to Tampa so Tampa's next next year so. Lucky folks in 813.

Every single time Andy takes a flight out of Gainesville he goes out of Tampa or Orlando so I think he's gonna be making a few pit stops. I had nothing wrong with that I just bring it back to the plane. That's right and North Carolina this year so you know some of the Duke fans that are in town might be excited too because we're coming to North Carolina this year. So, you know, some of the Duke fans that are in town might be excited too, because we're coming to North Carolina this year. How much do you think being at a place like the Final Four, being visible to fans,

and how much can the brand align with just sports in general and how does that help the growth of the company? Well, we're known as a gathering place. I think that's a big part of the 75 years is we're the place where people go after football game on Friday night and The bring home the W is really like a fun thing, you know for us to share but we're known as a gathering place where people can have great food great connections and and celebrate and

You know enjoy enjoy all the flavors awesome. Well, Debbie. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for bringing us here This has been amazing Yeah, I'm gonna go finish that burger over there. What are you looking for? Well, I went to Florida, so wait a minute. We're trying not to be a homer now. I'm just here for good basketball. I'm just good at it. My team got eliminated, so being an Arizona grad, one day they'll get there, but you know, maybe I'll be alive, maybe I won't, but we're waiting for it. Yeah. It's going to be a great weekend regardless. Thank you so much for having me. Really appreciate you. Thanks Debbie.

Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. So Water Burger, thanks to everybody who came by in San Antonio today, who had some delicious patty melts, who got some Water Burger swag. Ari, nothing to do now but play the games. Can't wait to watch these games. It's been really exciting tournament and you know basketball snob here but I'm excited for some high quality awesome entertaining games between really good teams. One seed versus one seed followed by one seed versus one seed. Let's go Auburn and Florida right now.